Magazine clipping that, unfortunately, I don’t know what magazine it comes from. However, I do know it’s from England. This was part of a small collection of foreign clippings related to Robert Culp I found on eBay a couple of years back.
Hickey & Boggs: The Trailer
Part of my 40th Anniversary look at Hickey & Boggs, here’s an original trailer, this being a 55 second television spot that ran back in 1972 that I found on YouTube sometime back in 2011.
I’ll be honest in that I wasn’t really bowled over by this trailer – and I had already seen the movie multiple times. The disadvantage, of course, is I’m looking at this from a perspective forty years after the fact and I’ve been spoiled over the years by the likes of voice over folks like Don LaFontaine. (Can you imagine if Don LaFontaine had done the trailer for this one?). The voice over here sounds like Jack Webb and it has almost a Dragnet feel to it. The music –although definitely early 70’s flavor – is totally wrong for the film (infact, it’s not even music used in the film). The clips used are great and certainly show the down and out feel of the characters and the good action scenes in the film, but the music and voiceover just don’t cut it. And the line about “they’ll knock you out of your seat” …um, eeeyeah.
Having been kind of disappointed in the original trailer (I think the movie deserved better), I was inspired to try to edit together one of my own. Now, mine’s probably no better than the original and I’ll admit my editing skills are pedestrian. Plus, I don’t have Don LaFontaine to do the voice over (in fact, I have no voice over with this). But, ever have an idea grab at you and not let you go until you do whatever it is it asks?
Hickey & Boggs: 40th Anniversary
It was 40 years ago this September/October of 1972 that Robert Culp’s only feature length directing effort, Hickey & Boggs was released. The film starred Bill Cosby along with Culp and although it was not a big commercial success at the time of its release, the film has obtained something of a cult status and is now considered a lost gem of early 70’s noir.
I’m biased, of course, but this movie really is a lost gem. As such, and since Hickey & Boggs truly was a significant milestone in Robert Culp’s career, it seemed natural that my next “capapalooza” post would be for the film and I would have it ready by the time of the 40th anniversary. I actually started working on the post way back in January since I knew it would probably run a little long between the number of screens caps I had and doing the overview of the film.
A little long? The whole thing literally got away from me. I have hundreds of screen caps, the overview ran waaay too long plus I had tons of commentary. The whole thing ended up a monster.
So instead of one great big LONG overkill of a post, I decided to break things up into smaller parts. There will still be the usual big capapalooza post (with some restraint on the overview) but I will separate out most of my commentary and other tidbits and gems about the film into other posts. So stay tuned over the next few weeks for more on Hickey & Boggs.
DVD Release: Hickey & Boggs
Finally, finally, finally!! Hickey & Boggs is being release on DVD August 23rd under the MGM Classics Collection (manufacture on demand) and will be available through Screen Archives. You can pre-order now (I already have!). Granted, I downloaded the movie from iTunes and have watched it several times already but having it on DVD ensures two things: 1. My future cap n’ yap on this movie will be easier to do. 2. When I’ve burned through five computers (I’m on #3) I won’t have to worry about losing any “permissions” to continue to watch the movie on any future computers.
Thank you MGM!
Can You See?!
I set up a Google alert recently for “robert culp” and have gotten back alerts the past few days for blog posts talking about the movie Hickey & Boggs. It’s great to see the film discussed because it’s a good film and one worthy of discussion but too often in these posts I’m seeing the character names be mixed up. Either the wrong character is attributed to the wrong actor or the characters first names are swapped.
For the record: Al Hickey was played by Bill Cosby. Frank Boggs was played by Robert Culp.
“Can you see?!”