FILM 1817: HARD TICKET TO HAWAII

FILM 1817: HARD TICKET TO HAWAII

TRIVIA: First collaboration between writer/director Andy Sidaris and actor Rodrigo Obregón, who would appear in almost every one of Mr. Sidaris' subsequent films.

There is a scene where a poster of Malibu Express (1985) is shown in a wall. The movie is a reference to Andy Sidaris' previous movie.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: Andy Sidaris: Whitey the TV director.

FILM 1792: MILLER'S CROSSING

FILM 1792: MILLER'S CROSSING

TRIVIA: Writers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen suffered writer's block while writing Miller's Crossing(1990). They took a three week break and wrote Barton Fink (1991) a film about a writer with writer's block. The name of Tom Regan's residence is "The Barton Arms". In one of the newspapers an article reads 'Seven Dead in Hotel Fire,' another reference to Barton Fink.

The character Eddie Dane was originally written for Peter Stormare and was to be named The Swede. Stormare had to decline as he was appearing as Hamlet in the Broadway production. The part was then re-written and re-cast, and became The Dane.

The Coen Brothers reportedly turned down Batman (1989) because it would have interfered with this film.

'Twist' is a slang term for a girl or woman, often used derogatorily.

In the script, the film takes place in 1929.

Steve Buscemi was cast as Mink Larouie because he could speak faster than anyone else.

The fight poster in Drop Johnson's apartment has as the under card a fight featuring "Bunky Knudsen." Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen was the President of Ford Motor Company in 1969, and before that a top executive at General Motors. the poster also includes the name Lars Thorvald, which is a reference to 'Alfred Hitchcock''s Rear Window (1954).

FILM 1739: TANGO & CASH

FILM 1739: TANGO & CASH

TRIVIA: Patrick Swayze was originally cast as Cash, but he dropped out to star in Road House(1989).

The glasses Sylvester Stallone wears early in the film are his own, not props. He usually wears contact lenses in his films. The lenses show that he is very near-sighted in one eye, less so in the other. Plus, he has astigmatism.

When Tango and Cash escape from the prison, Cash turns to Tango and asks if he stopped "for coffee and a Danish." Tango says, "I hate Danish," an in-joke referring to Sylvester Stallone's recent divorce from Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen.

When Brion James was originally hired to play Requin, it was a very small role with only two lines. In an effort to give the character something that would make him stand out, James decided to speak in a horrible "cockney" accent. Sylvester Stallone loved it, and re-wrote the script to give Requin a much bigger role.

The production was beset with problems from the start. The intended star, Patrick Swayze, dropped out. Principal photography began without a completed script. Sylvester Stallone had the original Director of Photography, Barry Sonnenfeld, fired. Then, Jon Peters fired Andrey Konchalovskiy. The film ultimately went $20 million over budget, and had to be completely re-edited by Stuart Baird prior to release.

Film 955: Gangster Squad

Trivia: Ashley Greene, Teresa Palmer, Camilla Belle, Aly Michalka, Lily Collins, Emmy Rossum, Amanda Seyfried and Maggie Grace auditioned for the role of Grace Faraday.

Bryan Cranston was cast as Max Kennard but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with his other movie, Argo.

Adam Brody, Joel Edgerton, Luke Evans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were on the short list for the part of Sgt. Jerry Wooters but Ryan Gosling was cast.

The original trailer for this movie was pulled after the Aurora, Colorado Century 16 massacre due to a shot in which four gangsters fire machine guns through a projection screen into a crowded movie theater. Warner Bros. then ordered the film back into production for a reshoot of the scene, necessitating a rescheduling of the film's release and rewrite of the script.

Sean Penn went through 3 hours of makeup each morning.

In the movie, the Gangster Squad is assembled to go after Mickey Cohen. However, in real life Chief W.H. Parker set up the squad to prevent other gangsters from taking over Cohen's rackets after Cohen went to prison on income tax evasion. Whenever the squad learned that out-of-town gangsters were coming to Los Angeles to try to set up new operations, the Gangster Squad would kidnap them, beat them up (some rumors say torture) and then send them back to wherever they came from with the warning that if they ever returned, they would be killed.

De'aundre Bonds' first film role in ten years. He served ten years in prison for manslaughter.