Halloween images are flooding our social media feeds right now, offering a much-needed respite from the looming, suffocating dread of the current socio-political climate. You think Halloween is scary? Ha! I’ll take fun and spooky thrills and chills over real-world horrors any day, and twice on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, what better day to sleep … Continue reading Season of the Witch: Morgan Fairchild
Category: 1980s
Susie—not Suzie—Diamond
Google searches for Susie Diamond constantly ask me “Did you mean Suzie Diamond?” No, Google! I mean Susie! You know, Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1989 Steve Kloves masterpiece The Fabulous Baker Boys? That Susie Diamond. Susie is the role that should have won Michelle an Oscar. She won every other major award for her stunning, … Continue reading Susie—not Suzie—Diamond
The Ethereal Amy Irving
Sissy Spacek deserves all the praise she gets for Carrie (1976), but it’s always bothered me how few people (beyond my fellow Carrie obsessives) seem to appreciate how beautiful and heartbreaking Amy Irving is as Sue Snell. As a kid I felt I was supposed to dislike Sue—she was popular! Boo! And was she trying … Continue reading The Ethereal Amy Irving
Men Love Scrambled
Recently, while watching a favorite film of mine, Ron Howard’s Night Shift (1982)—about a pair of unlikely “love brokers” in early eighties New York City—I had an epiphany. Specifically, this moment of clarity occurred during an early scene when Shelley Long’s character Belinda, a gorgeous and statuesque hooker with a heart of gold, scrambles up … Continue reading Men Love Scrambled
Tequila Sunrise
It's been a week or two now since I revisited Robert Towne's criminally underrated neo-noir classic Tequila Sunrise (1988), and I'm still obsessing over falling in love again with both the film and Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance. A sharp Towne script, packed with crackling dialogue, along with gorgeous cinematography from Oscar-winner Conrad Hall and a stellar … Continue reading Tequila Sunrise
Back to School Again…Maybe
Grease 2 is on my mind a lot under normal circumstances, but with school districts and states across the United States unveiling the myriad, well-meaning but crazy-complicated and nerve-wracking plans for sending children back into Covid Petri dishes....well, I’m thinking about Grease 2 even more these days. I won’t bore you with the details. Short … Continue reading Back to School Again…Maybe
Bombshells and Sunshine
Earlier this week, a friend on social media posted a set of four photos of Michelle Pfeiffer, taken from various early career projects, and asked if anyone could name the films and television series. As you might imagine, I moved faster than the speed of light to answer. My fingers started tapping so fast and … Continue reading Bombshells and Sunshine






