Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine are having quite the good time with each other. I'm not exactly sure when or where this was. Any ideas? Whether we know the details or not, it's still a fun picture of two great friends having a good time together.
P.S. I was given the Better Than Ice Cream award by my ultra cool sister Stephanie at her very absolutely fabulous blog Chic Femme recently. I want to thank her very much. I'm glad she enjoys what her big brother does her. I know that I really dig her blog. If you haven't checked it out yet, I hope you will do so.
It looks like Shirley MacLaine is getting fresh with Dean Martin as they rehearse. She did have a thing for him at one time. Have a cool & swingin' weekend. Cheers!
I had been wanting to post some quotes from Dean Martin. The King of Cool always had some words of wisdom for us. Many of them are downright hilarious. Dino has always known how to make us laugh. I enjoy reading his take on other celebrities and the world at large. Dino understood what the world was all about. He knew how to live life to the fullest.
It was a woman who drove me to drink, come to think of it I never did hang around to thank her for that.
Hey lady! do I look all blurry to you? 'Cause you look blurry to me!
If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.
I'd hate to be a teetotaler. Imagine getting up in the morning and knowing that's as good as you're going to feel all day.
I once shook hands with Pat Boone and my whole right side sobered up.
Milton Berle is an inspiration to every young person that wants to get into show business. Hard work, perseverance, and discipline: all the things you need...when you have no talent.
I've got seven kids. The three words you hear most around my house are 'hello,' 'goodbye,' and 'I'm pregnant.'
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. They wake up in the morning and that's the best they're going to feel all day.
There's a statue of Jimmy Stewart in the Hollywood Wax Museum, and the statue talks better than he does.
When Jerry Lewis and I were big, we used to go to parties, and everybody thought I was big-headed and stuck up, and I wasn't. It was because I didn't know how to speak good English, so I used to keep my mouth shut.
Sorry, Buddy. We've already got three.
Routine plays that we have been making, we just didn't make them.
We try to find chemistry; we don't do a lot of situational baseball.
We will play a little more situational now, where runs are more important. I feel pretty good about our team.
You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
(On Phyllis Diller) Phyllis is the women of about whom Picasso once said, 'Somebody throw a drop cloth over that.'
(On Don Rickles) Don`s idea of a fun evening is to show home movies of the attack on Pearl Harbor...with a laugh track.
(On John Wayne) Someone else, would have laid around, feeling sorry for himself, for a year. But Duke, he just doesn`t know, how to be sick ... he`s recuperating the hard way. He`s two loud speaking guys in one. Me, when people see me, they sometimes say, `Oh, there goes... '
(On Jerry Lewis) At some point he said to himself, "I`m extraordinary, like Charles Chaplin." From then on nobody could tell him anything. He knew it all.
(On Shirley MacLaine) Shirley, I love her, but her oars aren`t touching the water these days.
(On Joey Bishop) Most people think of Joey Bishop as just a replacement for Johnny Carson. That`s NOT true. We in show business know better: we don`t think of him at ALL.
Motivation is a lotta crap.
(On Frank Sinatra) In high school, Frank never participated in extra-curricular activities, like nature study, paintings or ceramics. Frank`s hobby was a most interesting one: he was an amateur gynecologist.
I can`t stand an actor or actress who tells me acting is hard work. It`s easy work. Anyone who says it isn`t never had to stand on his feet all day dealing blackjack.
(Upon filing for divorce from his second wife) I know it`s the gentlemanly thing to let the wife file. But, then, everybody knows I`m no gentleman.
(On Orson Welles) What can you say about Orson Welles that Don Rickles hasn`t already said about him?!
I drink because my body craves, needs alcohol. I don`t drink, my body`s a drunk.
If people want to think I get drunk and stay out all night, let `em. That`s how I got here, you know.
(On Bob Hope) As a young boy, Bob didn`t have much to say. He couldn`t afford writers then.
(On singer Eddie Fisher) The reason I drink is because when I`m sober I think I`m Eddie Fisher.
(On Johnny Carson) Johnny Carson is a comedian who is seen every night in millions of bedrooms all over America...and that`s why his last wife left him.
(To those who felt he joked his way through songs during concert and nightclub appearances) You wanna hear it straight, buy the album.
(On Frank Sinatra) When he dies, they`re giving his zipper to the Smithsonian.
I do hope you got a kick out of all those quotes from Dean Martin. I really had fun finding all of them. Some of those I had never seen before. This was a pleasure for me to put this post together. Let me know what you think. Thanks. Cheers!
P.S. I wanted to make mention that Altovise Davis, the widow of Sammy Davis Jr., died Saturday in a Los Angeles hospital of complications from a stroke. She was 65. My heart and prayers go out to her family.
I love this picture of Dean Martin with Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra. These three look like they are having such a great time together. Dino's got a smoke in one hand, while his other arm is around Shirley's waist. Frank and Shirley both have drinks. All three have big grins on their faces. I wonder if Dino told them a joke. I bet it would have been so much fun hanging out with this crowd. Cheers!
Cannonball Run II was released in 1984. The film is considered by most critics and fans to be inferior to the original movie. There were a couple of things I enjoyed about this one. There were some great cast additions, such as Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra. It was neat to see them acting alongside Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. While I think Dino and Sammy had some great lines in the first movie, they also had some really cool ones this time around too. Here's a clip of a scene between Sammy (as Morris Fenderbaum) and Dean Martin (as Jamie Blake). It's when Fenderbaum is trying to convince Blake to team up again for the latest Cannonball race. This scene really plays up on some of the qualities many of us find so cool about Dino. I really love the part about the dry martinis. I hope you enjoy it.
I wonder what Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine are looking at. I also wonder if Dino told Shirley a joke to crack her up. She definitely has a case of the giggles.
I really love this picture. We know that these two were great friends. They played in quite a few films together, including Artist and Models, Some Came Running, Ocean's 11, and Cannonball Run II.
Shirley had a huge crush on Dino. Here are a few excerpts about her feelings for him.
Veteran actress SHIRLEY MACLAINE had a secret crush on DEAN MARTIN back in the 1940s, while the Hollywood legend was still married. The 73-year-old actress, who went on to wed businessman Steve Parker, was coy about defining her relationship with the Rat Pack star at the time, because he was married to Elizabeth MCDonald, the mother of his four children. But MacLaine - who divorced Parker in 1982 - now admits she was beguiled by him. She says, "It was a crush for about six weeks. He was so funny. We had the same agent and we would all have dinner together. He would try out his material on me because I'm a great laugher. And I would try out material on him, and Mort, the agent, would be the referee. "He was an interesting man, Dean. Totally uneducated. And then he self educated..."
Ocean's 11, starring the Rat Pack, was released in 1960. It was directed by Lewis Milestone (his credits include All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930 and The Halls of Montezuma in 1950). While not the first film to star any members of the Rat Pack together (Sinatra and Martin had done Some Came Running in 1958), this is the film that defined the Rat Pack. It is most certainly one of the coolest flicks of the swingin' 60's. The film highlighted what made the Rat Pack so cool and hip. It would help set the mood for an entire era.
Frank Sinatra played Danny Ocean. He's a bit of a cad, who enjoys living life dangerously. His marriage to Beatrice (Angie Dickinson) has been wrecked due to his attitude and lifestyle. With the backing of Spyros Acebos (Akim Tamiroff), Danny masterminds a heist to rob five Las Vegas casinos on New Year's Eve. The casinos are the Sahara, the Flamingo, the Sands, the Desert Inn, and the Riviera. He recruits his buddies from the 82nd Airborne Division to help him in this plot. These guys had all served together during World War II. The first part of the movie is spent rounding up all the old buddies. Dean Martin plays Sam Harmon, a nightclub entertainer who seems reluctant to join in on the caper. Peter Lawford is Jimmy Foster, a guy who is tired of living off the wealth of his multi-time married mother. Sammy Davis Jr. is Josh Howard, a demolitions expert turned garbage collector. Joey Bishop is Mushy O'Conners. I'll be honest that I could never quite figure out what he was up to. He seemed like the assistant to Spyros Acebos. The other friends all had specialities from their military service that can be put to good use in the heist. They agree to join in because they really could use the money. The heist is planned out like a military operation.
The men are split up between the casinos. Explosive charges are planted on an electrical transmission tower that controls the power for Las Vegas. The backup electrical systems are rewired so they will open the cashier cages instead of powering the emergency lighting systems. The lights go out in Vegas at the stroke of midnight as people are celebrating the ringing in of New Year's. The men deployed in the different casinos rush into the cashier cages and collect all the money. There are millions and millions of dollars there. The loot is put into garbage bins. Josh, driving a garbage truck, goes around the city and picks up the bags.
The plan seems to go off with a hitch. Of course, we know that can't be the case. Crime usually never pays in the movies. One of the men has a heart attack and dies out on the Vegas Strip. The casinos also make a deal with Duke Santos (played by Cesar Romero, who deliciously chews up the scenery). Santos is a reformed ganster, who is engaged to Jimmy's mother. He has his suspicions of who might be behind the crime. He knows that Jimmy and his pallies are really in Vegas, when they supposedly were going to be away somewhere else. I won't spoil the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it.
Shirley MacLaine, as well as several other stars, had a cameo in the movie. She had a pretty hilarious scene with Dean Martin. While Shirley received a car as a gift for her cameo, she said that she did the part so she could spend time with the Rat Pack. Much of the film was done in the late hours of the night and the early morning because the the Rat Packers were performing at the Sands at night. When the guys are walking down the street at the end of the film, you can see that the Rat Pack is billed on the sign at the Sands. Sammy was forced to stay at a "colored only" hotel during their time in Vegas. That was only changed after Sinatra demanded that the casino bosses allow Sammy to stay with his pallies.
Ocean's 11 is one of the iconic films of the 1960's. It's the definitive representative of what made Las Vegas, Sin City itself, the playground of the Rat Pack and others with class and style. Some complain that there's not much of a plot or action in this movie. I don't think this movie was trying to be rocket science. It was a fun ride for a bunch of pallies to take. The Rat Packers were all essentially playing themselves. The movie was a great excuse for them to hang out and have a good time. All the witty banter that goes back and forth between these cool cats is worth seeing. This film perfectly sums up what it is we all love about this swingin' era. If you haven't seen it, I hope you will check it out. Any fans of this flick here? Let me know what you think.
The Cannonball Run is a wild and raucous comedy smash that hit theaters in 1981. The film, directed by Hal Needham, centered around an illegal cross-country car race from Connecticut to California. The top prize was a million bucks. Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise headline an ensemble cast, featuring Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Farrah Fawcett, Roger Moore, Adrienne Barbeau, Jackie Chan, Jamie Farr, Peter Fonda, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Tillis, and many others.
Burt Reynold stars as J.J. McClure, a randy race car driver who has seen better days. Dom DeLuise plays his mild-mannered buddy, Victor Prinzim, who is a mechanic. Victor morphs into the courageous and strong Captain Chaos in times of danger. They decide to run the Cannonball race in a modified ambulance. To appear more legit to any police that might stop them, they hire Nikolas Van Helsing, an inebriated and creepy doctor, played by Jack Elam. Once the race starts, they come across a minor accident involving Arthur J. Foyt and Pamela Glover. Foyt, played by George Furth, is a government official who is trying everything in his power to stop the Cannonball race. He's an anti-car activist because of environmental and safety issues. Foyt spends the movie doing all he can to catch various Cannonballers, which leads to some pretty hilarious moments. The guys end up kidnapping Pamela, a photographer who loves trees, to act as their patient. Pamela, played by Farrah Fawcett, is at one point drugged and masqueraded as a Senator's daughter being rushed to UCLA for emergency medical care.
Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. are partners in the movie. Dino plays Jamie Blake, a former race car driver. Sammy plays con artist Morris Fenderbaum. They disguise themselves as Catholic priests, while driving a red Ferrari in the race. Some of the funniest lines in the film come from the womanizing lush Father Dino as he's flirting with any beautiful girl he comes across. He tells someone that he's from a more liberal wing of the Church. He also complains that if he was a Methodist then he would be getting laid that night. Dino and Sammy practically steal this movie. I'm not just saying that because I'm a big fan. They have such wonderful chemistry, working well off one another. The teams of McClure/Prinzim and Blake/Fenderbaum are always trying to one up each other. When Blake is supposedly blessing the ambulance and its occupants, Fenderbaum is letting the air out of the tires. J.J. and Victor get their revenge by informing the police that the two are flashing perverts. Later on during a heated moment of name calling, Sammy's Fenderbaum gets called a "chocolate monk."
Roger Moore plays the character of Seymour Goldfarb, Jr. , who is a parody of himself and James Bond. The Jewish Goldfarb, an heir to the family's girdle fortune, pretends to be Roger Moore. He, of course, displays many Bondish qualities in the way he acts. He even drives an Aston Martin as his race car, using Bond-styled gadgetry to elude the authorities, etc. Besides the scene when Seymour's mother confronts him about pretending to be a goy actor, another funny scene is when one of the girls riding with him mistakes Goldfarb for George Hamilton, but not Roger Moore. After this film was released, it's rumored that Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli made Moore sign a contract forbidding him to spoof or refer to 007 in any non-Bond film.
Some of the other Cannonballers are worth mentioning here as well. Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman are the Lamborghini babes, Marcie and Jill. The girls, clad in tight Spandex race suits, unzipped enough to show off some sexy cleavage to any cops who might stop them. This did, however, backfire on them once when they are stopped by a female police officer. Jackie Chan plays Jackie Chan, the Japanese driver of a Subaru, packed with computers and high-tech gadgets. Michael Yui plays the Subaru's engineer and navigator. They are able to cut the Subaru's headlights out and drive in the dark. One of the coolest scenes in the movie is a big fight scene involving a biker gang, which is led by Peter Fonda. Jackie's martial art skills are on fine display here. Captain Chaos is pretty funny in this scene as he whips some biker ass. Jamie Farr plays Sheik Abdul Ben Falafel, a wealthy Arab oil baron. He races a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. Terry Bradshaw and Mel Tillis play Terry and Mel, a couple of rednecks who race a Hawaiian Tropic Chevy Malibu stock car. There are more Cannonballers, but these are some of the more popular ones featured in the movie.
So who wins the Cannonball race in the end? I'm sure not going to tell you that if you haven't seen it. Rent it and see for yourself. There was a sequel in 1984 that featured much of the cast from the first movie. I've heard mixed reaction from fans about the sequel. While I do think it's inferior in many ways to the first one, it's still a pretty enjoyable movie. It's got some good laughs and action, especially from Dino and Sammy. It's also got quite a few new additions to the cast, such as Ricardo Montalban, Shirley MacLaine, Marilu Henner, Telly Savalas, Charles Nelson Reilly, Doug McClure, Catherine Bach, Susan Anton, Tony Danza, Frank Sinatra, and several others. I would recommend it, but it's not the cult classic that the first one is to me.
Is The Cannonball Run a high brow film that should have won lots of Oscars? Of course, it isn't in the least. Most critics hated this move and savaged it in reviews. Do we really care what the critics think? I know I don't give a flip what some stuffed shirt elitist thinks of this fan favorite. This movie doesn't take itself too seriously. The various stars here are collecting a paycheck, while having lots of fun doing it. It's got fast cars, hot babes, lots of action, funny gags, and so on. It's great escapist fun for a little over 90 minutes. I loved this movie as a kid, and you know what, I still love it as an adult. Watching this movie always reminds me of all these stars that I remember seeing in movies, tv shows, and games shows when I was a kid. There is so much great chemistry going on here. The two teams of Burt/Dom and Dino/Sammy are fantastic in any scene they are in. They work well off one another. It's really fun when all four of these guys on are screen at the same time. Besides these four guys, the movie belongs to Roger Moore. While never my favorite 007, Moore does a good job parodying himself and Bond in this movie. He is quite good at more lighthearted comedy.
This movie also featured bloopers during the closing credits. Director Hal Needham had already done this with movies, such as Smokey and the Bandit, which also starred Burt Reynolds. Jackie Chan was inspired to do this in the closing credits of most of his movies. The movie looks like it was a blast to make, plus I know it's a blast to watch. It's one of the best fun flicks of the 80's. If you've never seen this movie before, you definitely need to give it a rent. If you've got any sense of humor at all, you'll get quite a few chuckles out of watching it. If you've watched this before, you might want to give it another viewing. I know that I'm itching to pop it in again. Put the pedal to the metal, but watch out for those boys in blue.
I mean no copyright infringement by the posting of pictures, videos, etc. on this blog. I do not in any way claim the rights of ownership to any of them. They totally remain the property of their respective owners. I have posted them purely for entertainment purposes only. All written content, unless otherwise noted as being quotes, has been written and copyrighted by me.
