Dino De Laurentiis, the master of campy action films, died yesterday.
I think Dune was my favorite, but any of his films were great popcorn movies.
I should go watch Flash Gordon again in his honor.
I like his King Kong the best of all of them.
I know it’s pretty much reviled today, but when I was a child his *King Kong *remake was my first exposure to that story, and I loved it. The whole Skull Island bits really thrilled me, and Jessica Lange became one of my first crushes. I cried at the end of the movie when Kong fell.
One of he features of the Flash Gordon DVD is an interview with the writer, who had some interesting insights into how Dino made movies.
I could never get a handle on him. The same guy who did La Strada does Conan the Barbarian and Barbarella? I like that apparently he made the movies he wanted to make, and to hell with the critics.
RIP. I worked with him on Taipan. Class act.
Let’s not forget Camus’ The Stranger. Dino was the real deal. And Giada, his granddaughter, is really hot.