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 1639: WHITE HEAT

TRIVIA: The character of Cody Jarrett was based on New York murderer Francis Crowley, who engaged in a pitched battle with police in the spring of 1931 at the age of 18. Murdered on January 21, 1932, his last words were: "Send my love to my mother."

The unusually close relationship between Cody Jarrett and his domineering mother was inspired by real life bank robbers Kate Barker (aka "Ma Barker") and her sons.

All the locations and bearings radioed back and forth during the triangulation tracking of the gasoline truck, as it moves southwest across the Los Angeles basin, are accurate. They can all be found on a modern map of Los Angeles. Even the view of the Los Angeles City Hall shows up at the appropriate time.

The movie's line "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" was voted as the #18 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

FILM 1596: KEY LARGO

TRIVIA: In a classic case of a director being emotionally manipulative, John Huston informed Claire Trevor that they were to film her song that very day. Trevor was not a trained singer, and had not even rehearsed the song yet. She also felt very intimidated by the A-list actors seated directly in front of her. The result was a hesitant, nervous, uncomfortable rendition, exactly the feeling Huston was hoping to get.

In the film, James Temple describes the 1935 hurricane that devastated Matacumbe Key. This was one of worst hurricanes in U.S. history and many of the victims of the storm were World War I veterans who were building the Florida Keys portion of U.S. Highway 1, also known as the Overseas Highway. A portion of the highway is seen in the film's opening. The storm also produced the lowest-ever recorded barometric pressure over land in the North American continent.

The character of Johnny Rocco was modeled on Al Capone, who retired to Florida and died there of complications due to advanced syphilis a year before this film was produced. Screenwriter Richard Brooks later revealed he had also incorporated biographical details about another famous gangster, Lucky Luciano, into Rocco's character as well.

Fourth and final film pairing of Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall. A fifth film was planned several years later, but Bogart died before it could be made.

The ramshackle hotel where most of the drama unfolds was constructed on the Warner Bros. lot along with the beach area. Exterior shots of the hurricane were actually taken from stock footage used in Night Unto Night (1949), a Ronald Reagan melodrama made the same year at Warner Bros.

Apart from the opening shots, the movie was filmed entirely at Warner Bros. Studio head Jack L. Warner - still reeling from the cost of shooting John Huston's previous film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), on location - refused to approve any more location filming for the director. The pier scenes were filmed using the studio tank with miniature boats in the background to give an illusion of depth. The shipboard shots at the end were also filmed using the studio tank, with fog used to mask the artifice.

Felipa Gómez, who played the Old Indian Woman, was born just five years after the U.S. Civil War ended.

When John Huston was scouting for locations on the Florida Keys, he asked a hotel owner where the storm cellar was. The man informed him that if you dug three feet down you would hit the ocean.

FILM 1438: BLACK MASS

TRIVIA: Johnny Depp said that this is his favorite out of all the films he has done.

In order to ensure that Johnny Depp's performance was true to the actual Whitey Bulger, Scott Cooper hired some of Bulger's old associates as consultants to the film with each of them praising Depp's performance by simply saying, "That's Whitey."

In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003), Johnny Depp stated that he picked up his Boston accent for the film from hanging out with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry.

Despite filming a substantial amount of scenes as Catherine Greig, Sienna Miller's part was cut for pacing reasons.

Guy Pearce was originally cast as Billy Bulger but dropped out of the project for undisclosed reasons.

On its opening weekend, Black Mass grossed $22,769,179. 10% of that gross came from the Boston area alone.

Johnny Depp's fourth role playing a real-life gangster. He portrayed John Dillinger in "Public Enemies," Donnie Brasco in "Donnie Brasco," and George Jung in "Blow".

Cult icon Mark Mahoney was cast as "Mickey Maloney" without reading or auditioning for the role on the strength of his performance in Blood Ties. The famous Venice Beach tattooer, scenester and owner of the Shamrock Social Club was "audacious, to say the least" (according to executive producer James Packer) in regards to the renumeration he demanded for his relatively minor role. Director Scott Cooper insisted that an agreement was to be reached with Mahoney - partly because he was frustrated by constant difficulties securing then loosing then (in the most part) re-securing key cast members, and partly because "the amount of money he demanded and the manner in which he demanded it was in someways the best audition I've ever seen!...it reminded me why I wanted him for the part in the first place!" Cooper allegedly quipped on set. In his downtime during shooting Mahoney would set up and put a shamrock tattoo on any member of the cast and crew who wanted one.

FILM 1437: CARLITO'S WAY

TRIVIA: The exterior of the hospital where Carlito visits his bedridden attorney is the same one where Vito Corleone is taken in The Godfather (1972), also starring Al Pacino.

The name of Carlito's (Al Pacino's) nightclub is "El Paraíso", the same name as the food stand that Pacino's character operated in Scarface (1983).

Al Pacino and Penelope Ann Miller became romantically involved during filming. Miller spoke publicly about their romance in interviews. But Pacino was in a relationship with Lyndall Hobbs at the time. Pacino attended the film's premiere with Hobbs and avoided Miller entirely.

According to Brian De Palma, Sean Penn demanded 30 takes of the shot of Kleinfeld asking Carlito to help him with Tony T's escape. When De Palma wanted to move on to the next shot, Penn screamed at De Palma. He continued to yell at De Palma on the ride back to New York City. He later called De Palma on the phone to continue yelling at him. De Palma said that was the only argument they had on the film.

John Leguizamo turned down the part of Benny Blanco four times. He finally took the role after Brian De Palma allowed Leguizamo to improvise much of his lines.

According to John Leguizamo in his autobiography, he and Penelope Ann Miller did not get along during filming. He claims he got revenge on her by having the wardrobe department take in her clothes an inch at a time causing Miller to go on a crash diet.

When the mob guys stop Carlito at the club and had him sit down to size them up, they joke with him about looking Italian. In actuality Al Pacino (Carlito) is Italian-American.