riding the echo down

was able to borrow a copy of the book through partner's university job. i know monette best from his scene-stealing turns in find the lady so i was curious whether his book says anything about his film roles. not really, since the focus is understandably on his stage career and how he became director of the stratford festival, but it's still an interesting read, especially when he's talking about his time in the stage version of "oh! calcutta".

won't be ordering a copy of this for my dane archive, so here are some notes about items of interest to my research project.

- page 41, while discussing his turn as hamlet at the crest theater in 1963/1964, about ken james (with dane in rituals, the heatwave lasted four days, cop, and others): "Horatio, Hamlet's friend and fellow student at Wittenberg University, was played by Ken James, a pugilist as well as an actor, and a man considerably older than me, even though we were supposed to be peers. One day, he turned to Marigold [Charlesworth, one of the directors] and asked, in his throaty boxer's voice: 'Hey, Marigold. How come I'm still in school with this guy? Am I a dummy?'"

it's not clear to me if this anecdote is james intending to be mean towards monette for his being 19 years old at the time, or if it's a good-natured joke about the age difference. monette doesn't indicate either way.

- page 236, about his appearances on television: "...I'd appeared in such other CBC TV dramas as Mary of Scotland, The Reluctant Agent, and Certain Practices."

the reluctant agent was a serial that lawrence dane co-wrote, and there's a couple surviving episodes available through LAC. it doesn't seem as though dane acted in it, and it's not clear to me how involved he would have been on set.

still, it's a little striking to me that he completely omits any mention of find the lady. as a proud canadian, why not mention working with john candy? was it really that much of an unmemorable blip, or did he not want to talk about it for some reason? well, we'll never know.

the way his handwriting stands out, the height difference, the playing with his suspenders, the hhggrAAAGH

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 2.5/5

the plot: a small-town lumberjack gets injured in a lumberjack competition with money riding on it, and our doggy hero smells sabotage. also there's hockey-related posters wherever possible. could this be any more canadian? it's very much a children's show and it shows in the writing and overall lack of imagination in the direction, though at least unlike wishbone there's no annoying children (not in this episode anyway).

that said, dane's acting is more than decent given the context and he has so much screentime. so so much. i wanted to rate this more highly because he's in this a lot and he's still in the era where to me he is in peak physical form (roughly speaking my preference is for 1967-1987, 1990 at the latest, though of course he's devastatingly handsome prior to 1967 too) but i showed this to an objective yet still supportive second party and they said that in their opinion it'd merit a 2 at most because, well, it's a children's tv show episode. nothing especially artistic about it, and even from a cultural studies angle there's not a lot going on that'd be interesting to analyze. which isn't to say there's nothing--i do find myself curious about the way they styled the appearances of the "bad guys" and the hint of a backstory for one of them that goes completely unexplored--but if i take off my horny goggles i'm compelled to agree with the lower rating since you wouldn't be missing much by not watching this, so the 2.5 is my compromise between id and ego.

this is pretty easy to find online with autocaptions at the moment, though it seems that the only version available is one specific vhs rip of a tv recording since i've yet to see any uploads with better quality. here's the episode on youtube, and here it is on the internet archive (episode 5x08).

highlight: those eyes......

( there is so much in this children's tv show episode that can be taken out of context it makes me feel ill )

a while back i intended to write an updated review of HBTM reflecting my newer position of "ok it wasn't that bad, i was just expecting something different, so it could have a higher rating" but now i'm getting 'round to it.

so:

the "is this worth watching for lawrence dane" rating: 3/5
dane's not in this a ton but his part is reasonably substantial and he's very cute in each of his scenes and when he's finally hamming it up at the end he's so fun to watch. he's very handsy and god i wish that girl were me, etc. it's a pretty bad movie but charmingly bad for the most part, as opposed to just boring. certainly more entertaining than some of the other bad movies he's been in. i might make/link a dane cut later.

the plot: whenever people talk about this movie they talk about how the twist ending was written at the last minute after they'd filmed like half the story. there's no way to avoid talking about that because the plot is a mess and executed in a bizarre way with all these comically ominous attempts at making everyone a red herring. is it a good movie? no. but it's a fascinating one. there was something at its core that could have been really good, and the wildly uneven acting skills just drive that home. dane and his character's wife are the best actors in this movie, plus one of the "high school" guys. there's a threat about keeping them out of harvard so i assume they're not college age? but they all look way too old for high school, every last one of them. very confusing. anyway, i stand by my original conclusion that "if you get drunk/high you'll probably have a great time watching this".

note to self for website version/later: find those reviews mocking how often dane said ginny lol.

yes i made this my icon a while back, just look at that absolutely adorable face

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 1/5

it looks like my original rating for this episode was 0.5/5, but i rewatched it recently in order to write this post and would have given it a 1.5, maybe a 2, so i'll split the difference by giving it a one. i was prompted to put this together because i was reminded that dec 10 was the anniversary air date of this episode, though the post itself was delayed because i've been fighting covid.... maybe that's why i was feeling more generous with my rating this time around. but burr debenning is good as the sleazy Bad Guy du jour and anne helm gives a solid performance, so it's not a drag watching the dane-less parts.

the plot: a visibly young-looking guy who i guess was a new series regular or something is sent to take care of business instead of the main character, since the main character has to deal with something more urgent. he suffers some frankly comical prejudice from older men who are skeptical of him due to his age, then proceeds to basically prove them right when he gets scammed by a man and woman who make off with a shitload of money meant for a business deal. he tracks them to the canadian border where lawrence dane is helping them hide out.

you don't need to know anything about the series to watch this one, really, since all the important facts are communicated pretty well early on. the pacing is slow - the episode is about 75 minutes long and dane shows up for the last third of it - but if you think of it as a short film then the pacing works better. the acting isn't terrible, though dane's character as written is kinda cartoonish (still cute tho) and the plot twist during the climax felt a little like an ass-pull. also, the conflict in the second half was kind of incomprehensible to me: baby-face man is mad at the female half of the con artist team because she took "his" money, but she points out multiple times that it's not his but rather his boss's money and it's money that was gonna go to yet another rich asshole so it's not worth risking getting murdered for, and he simply has no argument for this. he just goes "you don't understand" and that's the end of that? lmao. he'd probably report desperate walmart shoplifters to the police.

at least dane's character is less morally confused - he'll help whoever pays him best but he's not gonna risk actually getting arrested. is he a "good" guy? no, but honestly i respect him more than the guy who seems like he'd defend shitty landlords. and the man knows how to cook omelettes! i can ignore the attempt at a french-sounding accent because at least he tried and he's still a delight to watch. such an easy physicality....

dane cut is here, no autocaptions, sorry, but this season 8 episode isn't hard to find online with captions if you're willing to sit through ads or watch a low-res vhs rip (or pirate it, but it's been difficult for me to locate english subtitle files). if you're just curious about dane, then skip to about 47 minutes in.


highlight: *screaming white cat gif* *disney stitch licking glass gif*

( he sure looked good in westerns )

legit one of my fav images of him - the framing is so interesting and also fuck he's super cute. so cute. also. the eroticism of that pose..... hfdhgfjkd

the "is this worth watching for lawrence dane" rating: 4/5

ohhh my god he is so young in this. this was made three years after "lion of quebec" so he wouldn't have even been 30 yet.... this is a short film, around 25 minutes, and he's what amounts to the lead character inasmuch as training videos can have a lead. he's super handsome and tall and he smiles a bunch in this and you can see him singing! in a group so you can't make out his voice, but still.... one point off since it's a video by and for cops - even worse, prison guards specifically lmao.

the plot: as noted above, this doesn't really have one in the typical sense. apparently it's based on a true escape story, according to a guy who worked on the production. we follow dane's character from intake through his attempts to ingratiate himself with the officers and then his escape. it's a bit funny how lax/incompetent the security would have been at the time compared to current understandings of prison practices, and it's interesting in a depressing way to see what hasn't changed at all.

at the time of my writing this post, "control of inmates" isn't listed on his wikipedia or imdb pages. but digging into the bowels of an internet search for larry zahab led me to that letter linked above and i knew i had to see if i could find it since the NFB also produced "lion of quebec" and the surprisingly good 1975 tv movie "the heatwave lasted four days". earlier this year i emailed them and did my best to describe the movie based on the information given in the guy's letter, and they said they had a 1965 police training film by douglas jackson under the title of "control of inmates". i promptly checked to see whether it had an imdb entry to potentially cross-check any acting credits and the answer was yes but the only credits are director douglas jackson and the narrator. since jackson worked with dane again for "heatwave" that made me sure this was the movie i was looking for. (heatwave will get a review eventually, don't worry lol.) still a bit of a gamble, though, so it was super exciting when the dvd arrived and i could prove myself right!! there were no actor credits in the film itself but my man is unmistakable.

highlight: waist................................. the only time i've wanted to be a cop


you can view a version with autocaptions here. and now for the selected screencaps! none of them has been altered.

( since it's so short there's not a ton of screencaps here. could have done more but i did try to exercise some restraint. enjoy the treat! )

 [this is what i've managed to gather so far from various newspaper findings and other public records - it's entirely possible there's more comprehensive information out there in resources i haven't been able to access yet (toronto public library...let me in.......) but for the time being this is the best i can provide. some biographical basics were already covered here with a discussion of a relatively in-depth profile from 1960, and in my introduction post for him here, so will try not to re-tread those too much. if there's access issues with the newspaper.com links or other difficulties i can re-upload the news items elsewhere so please let me know if that's needed.]

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 3/5

dane only has a handful of scenes, but the story and quality of the acting overall means that the rest is still fun to watch imo. the movie itself has gotten mixed reviews - stephen king loved it, apparently, while other critics felt it didn't have much substance. i think that criticism is fair; it does feel like a story where the strength would be in the interior narration, which we lose without having a voiceover or anything like that in the movie. there's a note in the credit that claims no animals were injured, but i'm not a fan of the use of what looks like footage from lab experiments of rats being made to attack each other. that's still animal cruelty, even if it wasn't instigated for this movie specifically.... could be worse tho, i could be watching the beginning of nothing personal again lmao.

the plot: the one-sentence summary would be something like, a classic wall street yuppie stays home to finish a business deal while his family goes on vacation but discovers he's not alone - a giant rat has decided his house is its territory. when it comes to the office setting, this is a very different beast (heh) than films like, say, scanners or american psycho. whatever the corporation is doing, it's nothing blatantly nefarious or parasitic. (i had to look it up - they're investment bankers? so closer to parasitic than not but at least we're shown them actually doing things rather than dicking around like bateman lol.) i've seen people argue that the film is a type of commentary on the "emptiness" of corporate success and i can see where they're coming from, but in my opinion the movie doesn't really lean into that. maybe the book it's based on is more explicit with this theme? the movie feels more like a classic man versus nature narrative, with the setting serving as a means of visual contrast - the clean buttoned-up office appearances vs the disheveled "uncivilized" look main character bart is rocking by the end.

lawrence dane plays eliot riverton, his boss, who seems to be very sympathetic and tolerant of bart's difficulties - up to a point. the last interaction they have, he tells bart to go home before any of the other employees see him like that. he doesn't inquire after what's been happening, but bart also doesn't choose to seek support. in a way it's a very macho movie - he tries to get help from other men who fail and eventually has to take matters into his own hands, alone, and make his home safe for his heterosexual nuclear family. eliot does what he can to support his employee, but.... despite the big company dinner party, there's no real familiarity there between them. so, again, i can see where the social commentary argument comes from, but it seems largely incidental to the actual plot of the movie.

that said, i did enjoy watching this! i've seen it thrice now in different environments and it's held up each time. peter weller of robocop fame gives us a solid performance as the main character and the supporting cast is great as well. it was fun to see louis del grande in the same movie as dane again, lol, and i look forward to seeing him once more in the dane episode of, well, seeing things. the female actresses aren't given a lot to do with their characters imo. jennifer dale as the secretary gets more screen time than the wife, which isn't saying much given the depth of their roles or lack thereof. their acting helps them sell what they're told to hawk. the practical effects with the giant rat are fun and there's a lot of close-ups of cute little rat feet. the overall tone of the movie feels a bit tongue-in-cheek/self-aware at times but not to its detriment. (eliot keeps expressing disapproval of a minor character smoking, which is morbidly amusing to me since afaik dane kept smoking most/all of his life.)

i had to upload the dane cut to the internet archive here, since i guess warner brothers doesn't want people sharing the dinner party scene on youtube? lol whatever. but that means it's not easy for me to include autocaptions or anything like that, since i chose to keep subtitles off when i was editing the original video. the movie isn't hard to find with subtitles/captions though; i checked out a library dvd the first time i watched this, and it's easy to find online whether torrenting or streaming.

what a busy winter holiday season. not busy in terms of socializing (covid precautions...) but i had to finish up edits for the magazine publication and then i got a fair amount of personal writing done. nothing quite completed yet, but since they're both xmas/nye-themed i'd like to have them done by the end of this month, lol. i've also been enjoying playing elder scrolls online again - my laptop finally stopped being able to run it back over the summer, but after i built a new pc it runs so fucking smooth it's a whole different experience. still trying to figure out why my pc keeps rebooting instead of staying asleep but it's not a huge problem yet, just a pain in the ass.

it was tough spending yet another batch of holidays away from my family, since i am on good terms with them, but i'm still trying to find a new job that'll put me close enough to make day trips feasible. at least i could do some things online with them, and watch things together with friends via discord. finally got around to seeing the first episode of our flag means death and it was honestly just as funny as people made it out to be. i'll have to watch more soon. i also bought my partner a single by a local musician for hanukkah (we only exchange gifts on the first night) and it was cool comparing how it sounded on our record player to when we've seen him perform it live.

one really nice holiday treat (for me, anyway) was a new ebay listing for a press photo/lobby card i hadn't seen before. the seller also had a listing for the scanners lobby card with dane on it, but they only do reproductions so i hadn't felt like it was worth buying. this new photo, though, hasn't been posted anywhere else and it was covered in watermarks so obviously my only choice was to buy it (and grab a copy of the scanners one while i was at it). i don't know why this seller won't just list the original because it's not like anyone else would want it lmao. nobody likes running (1979)...or if they do, they don't like it for dane. i get the impression that he might've had a scene or two that were cut from the final production, or from the version of the movie i found anyway, since i also have a press photo of a scene that i don't remember seeing in the movie. i have a lot of press photos/lobby cards, lol.


i call this my "panorama of dane" because my mother and her friend, during their teen years, were obsessed with joel grey in cabaret and went to all these stage performances of his and collected various memorabilia that they called their panorama of joel. there's a polaroid of them displaying their panorama and it was really a quite impressive collection, lol, much larger than what i have. i should put these in frames at some point, but i'd have to get a custom frame for a lot of them so that isn't happening (yet). the main thing was just having something nice to look at when i'm shackled to my telework desk. there's a couple other photos i could include but i'd have to get them printed. other than those i thought my collection was finished, especially since none of the lobby cards for nothing personal includes him, but, well... i look forward to potentially being proven wrong yet again.

i'm not going to make any new year's resolutions - i just want to write more and finish another story with an eye towards publication. signed up for the ygorarepairs reverse minibang and might try to sign up for other fan events, but one thing i'd like to do this year is keep my goals realistic so i don't try to take on too much. i also want to do more dane reviews/research! there's one i started drafting last year and i'll have to finish it soon so we can ring in the new year with a short film where he has like three sex scenes within 20 minutes. it's so much...........

here's hoping everyone's new year is off to a good start!