Eclectic Film Career

Considering the idea of a true ACTOR since blurbing a snippet about Leo G. Carroll - it comes to mind that being an actor, developing characters and only performing for the love of the work is much more pervasive than we can imagine. The recent loss of the lovely Clarice Taylor (September 20, 1917-May 30, 2011) brings this idea to fruition.......


"Play Misty For me" (1971) - Intelligently creepy, Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this stalking film. Clarice Taylor plays her small role with a sense of humor. 




 "Sommersby" (1993) - What is with Richard Gere remaking incredible French films? The story of Martin Guerre is compelling because its true...I'm not sure a translation to the American Civil War does it justice........Clarice Taylor has only moments,  I don't think it does her justice either....


"Smoke" (1995) - Based on a novelette by Paul Auster, this quirky major actor film is fun and just weird enough to remind you of characters from your own childhood neighborhood.........Clarice is delightfully well placed with this group. 

Where is it?

Nestled in to a cozy corner, you'd never know it was there unless you knew it was there. Cradled along one side by a major freeway, the neighborhood consists of three streets heading north and south with four streets heading east and west. A mish mosh of housing styles forced up against each other invites a variation of residents, from extended families in duplexes to squat apartment buildings holding young singles, elderly retirees or couples with growing families. Around one entire block sits an elegant grouping of Victorian structures, complete with fireplaces and wrought iron, where you might find student housing divided up into tiny rooms or long time residents shaking their heads at the changes around them. Some of the newer neighbors might even be divorcees, a fact which most of the inhabitants politely ignore. 

Bronx, the new guy.

Fourth Street was easy to survey because it was a short clip of a street hidden between a freeway, a college/cultural center and an industrial complex. No one really knew it was there unless they knew it was there. The coming and goings of residents and visitors could be monitored in a simple formulaic manner. 


Brackus found Fourth Street a pain in the ass to keep under surveillance because everyone watched everything happening on the street. The unfamiliar was noted, strangers were boldly asked what they wanted and helpful neighbors guided friends and family to the right door. Anyone home during the day pretty much knew who he was and why he was there. 


Bronx had begun to take this duty seriously. He could see the importance of keeping the street safe.  The neighbors had easily accepted him as part of  the street, but trusted him more now that he kept watch. From his stoop, Bronx questioned anyone who was not familiar to him. His aged friendly tone, slight limp and dark glasses offered him a mask from which to ask, "Who you know here?" 


Seeing Brackus parked off the next block gave Bronx a moments pause. Then he shrugged it off. One thing he wouldn't do was interfere in a domestic situation. Especially when one of the spouses was FBI. 

Character Development ?

Frankie leaned across the window sill watching the street, trying to catch the last of the cooler night air. Early on summer mornings the action came in segments. First Mr. Bronx came back from his nightly stroll, then dueling paper boys from the Press and the News made thud slip sounds as they tossed rolled papers to the stoops from their bikes. Shortly after that it was a frenzied 10 minutes as screen doors clicked and hard shoes shuffled along the sidewalks. The scoop dance of newspaper retrieval and a quick dash to the car or the corner bus stop then the street was quiet as the sun rose higher. 


Heat started at the edge of the freeway, bent and leaked along the sides of buildings and hovered over the sidewalk. Across the street from Frankie's apartment building the duplexes all had one or two trees in the front yard. It was here that the only fragment of relief could be found from the summer sun. You had to know someone, be friends with them and the family to be granted the treasure of a share in a shady spot. Lucky for Frankie, she made friends easily.