Unsung Heroes- Jeffrey Boam 1946-2000

   The world of film is filled with unsung heroes. There are many names you wouldn't recognize, that played an integral part in the creation of some of your favorite movies. Late screenwriter Jeffrey Boam is definitely one of them. This UCLA graduate hustled on the fringe of the industry for much of the '70s, before breaking out with Dustin Hoffman's criminally-underrated 1978 drama "Straight Time". With his foot finally in the door, Boam developed a reputation for killer commercial instincts during the frenzied Reagan era, with his diverse work on David Cronenberg's "The Dead Zone", Joe Dante's "Innerspace", Joel Schumacher's "The Lost Boys", and George Roy Hill's "Funny Farm" comprising his most productive period. In the mid-'80s, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were stuck with inadequate scripts for the third Indiana Jones film. Boam entered with the winning formula in the summer of '87, and many consider the exuberant "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" to be just as good as the original. Jeff made a similar franchise rescue a year later, when mega-producer Joel Silver and director Richard Donner deemed Shane Black's "Lethal Weapon 2" script unconducive with their crowd-pleasing plans. Boam's rewrites added many humorous elements and expanded the role of hyperactive federal witness Leo Getz(memorably played by Joe Pesci), and most importantly, RIGGS SURVIVED the rip-roaring climax. Boam's voice was brought back for 1992's "Lethal Weapon 3", solidifying Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as cinema's premier buddy cop duo(his million-dollar salary likely kept him out of "LW4"). After being sidetracked by television jobs for a few years, a 53 year old Boam sadly succumbed to heart failure in the new millennium, with his last completed movie script being 1996's "The Phantom". There's no doubt that many filmmakers in the last two decades could have benefitted from his eight-hour-a-day writing sessions.

Filmography(nine produced screenplays, the successful ones are darkened)

"Straight Time"(1978)
"The Dead Zone"(1983)
"Innerspace"(1987)
"The Lost Boys"(1987)
"Funny Farm"(1988)
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"(1989)
"Lethal Weapon 2"(1989)
"Lethal Weapon 3"(1992)
"The Phantom"(1996)

R.I.P. Kirk Douglas 1916-2020

   Hollywood was saddened to learn of the death of Kirk Douglas today at age 103. The last remnant of cinema's Golden Age, it was starting to look like the indestructible Douglas would never leave us. But unlike many of the chiseled characters he played, Kirk was human after all. An impoverished immigrant turned Navy officer(his birth name was Issur Danielovitch), Douglas moved to NYC after WWII to pursue work in radio and theater, where it quickly became clear that his crackling voice couldn't be contained to the stage. At the urging of friend Lauren Bacall, Douglas broke into films, and his powerhouse performance in the 1949 boxing drama "Champion" was a star-making role if there ever was one. There's nothing dated about the work Douglas did at the height of his 1950s fame- "Ace in the Hole", "The Bad and the Beautiful", "Lust for Life"(he's Vincent Van Gogh), "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral"(he's Doc Holliday) and "Paths of Glory" are all still great, relevant movies. That last one was directed by Stanley Kubrick, a partnership that would lead to perhaps his most famous role, in the 1960 epic "Spartacus". As Douglas aged out of leading man roles in the '70s, he began to mentor his son Michael, a screen legend in his own right. Film lovers will never forget the larger-than-life presence and explosive charisma of Kirk Douglas.

"We're not hitchhiking anymore. We're riding".  

Complete Filmography(76 films, the successful ones are darkened)

"The Strangle Loves of Martha Ivers"(1946)
"Out of the Past"(1947)
"Morning Becomes Electra"(1947)
"I Walk Alone"(1948)
"The Walls of Jericho"(1948)
"My Dear Secretary"(1948)
"A Letter to Three Wives"(1949)
"Champion"(1949)
"Young Man with a Horn"(1950)
"The Glass Menagerie"(1950)
Along the Great Divide"(1951)
"Ace in the Hole"(1951)
"Detective Story"(1951)
"The Big Trees"(1952)
"The Big Sky"(1952)
"The Bad and the Beautiful"(1952)
"The Story of Three Loves"(1953)
"The Juggler"(1953)
"Act of Love"(1953)
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"(1954)
"The Racers"(1955)
"Ulysses"(1955)
"Man Without a Star"(1955)
"The Indian Fighter"(1955)
"Lust for Life"(1956)
"Top Secret Affair"(1957)
"Gunfight at the O.K. Corral"(1957)
"Paths of Glory"(1957)
"The Vikings"(1958)
"Last Train from Gun Hill"(1959)
"The Devil's Disciple"(1959)
"Strangers When We Meet"(1960)
"Spartacus"(1960)
"Town Without Pity"(1961)
"The Last Sunset"(1961)
"Lonely Are the Brave"(1962)
"Two Weeks in Another Town"(1962)
"The Hook"(1963)
"The List of Adrian Messenger"(1963)
"For Love or Money"(1963)
"Seven Days in May"(1964)
"In Harm's Way"(1965)
"The Heroes of Telemark"(1965)
"Cast a Giant Shadow"(1966)
"Is Paris Burning?"(1966)
"The Way West"(1967)
"The War Wagon"(1967)
"A Lovely Way to Die"(1968)
"The Brotherhood"(1968)
"The Arrangement"(1969)
"There Was a Crooked Man..."(1970)
"To Catch a Spy"(1971)
"The Light at the Edge of the World"(1971)
"A Gunfight"(1971)
"The Master Touch"(1972)
"Scalawag"(1973)
"Mousey"(1974)
"Posse"(1975)
"Once Is Not Enough"(1975)
"Victory at Entebbe"(1976)
"Holocaust 2000"(1977)
"The Fury"(1978)
"The Villain"(1979)
"Saturn 3"(1980)
"Home Movies"(1980)
"The Final Countdown"(1980)
"The Man from Snowy River"(1982)
"Remembrance of Love"(1982)
"Eddie Macon's Run"(1983)
"Draw!"(1984)
"Tough Guys"(1986)
"Oscar"(1991)
"Greedy"(1994)
"Diamonds"(1999)
"It Runs in the Family"(2003)
"Illusion"(2004)