History, Legacy & Showmanship
“It is very simply the greatest disaster movie ever made.” — Nat Segaloff, author of More Fire! The Building of The Towering Inferno: A 50th Anniversary Explosion
The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of The Towering Inferno, Irwin Allen’s popular production about a fire in a San Francisco skyscraper.
Based upon the novels The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, the 20th Century-Fox/Warner Bros. co-production was directed by John Guillermin (The Blue Max, King Kong [1976]) and featured an all-star cast headed by Steve McQueen (Bullitt), Paul Newman (Cool Hand Luke), William Holden (Sunset Boulevard), and Faye Dunaway (Network). [Read on here...]
“American Graffiti is one of those films where a filmmaker brings his youth to the screen with such a sense of sweetness and genuine nostalgia, that his or her personal recollections somehow become universal for the audience.” – Gary Leva, director of Fog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Francisco
The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this longform retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of American Graffiti, George Lucas’s popular film that nostalgically asked, “Where were you in ‘62?”
American Graffiti starred Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Ronny Howard (The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days), Paul Le Mat (Aloha, Bobby and Rose, Melvin and Howard), Charles Martin Smith (Never Cry Wolf, The Untouchables), Candy Clark (The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blue Thunder), Mackenzie Phillips (One Day at a Time), Cindy Williams (The Conversation, Laverne & Shirley) and Wolfman Jack (popular radio DJ), plus a small, early-career performance by Harrison Ford (Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark). The film was nominated for five Academy Awards (Picture, Director, Supporting Actress—Candy Clark, Screenplay, and Film Editing). In 1995 the Library of Congress selected American Graffiti for preservation in the National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Its most recent home media release, on 4K UHD, was in November of this year (but received less than high marks for A/V quality in most reviews).[Read on here...]
“Like all great art, people take from The Exorcist what they bring to it. For some it is a spiritual affirmation. For others it is simply a scary movie. For a few, it remains too challenging to watch.” — Nat Segaloff, author of The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear
The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of The Exorcist.
Directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection, To Live and Die in L.A.) and based upon William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel, the classic film chronicled a mother’s attempt to save her possessed daughter through an exorcism and scared millions of moviegoers in the process.
The Exorcist starred Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore), Max von Sydow (The Seventh Seal), Lee J. Cobb (On the Waterfront), Kitty Winn (The Panic in Needle Park), Jack MacGowran (The Fearless Vampire Killers), Jason Miller (The Ninth Configuration/Twinkle, Twinkle, ‘Killer’ Kane), and Linda Blair (Roller Boogie).
The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and the winner of two (Adapted Screenplay and Sound), and for a period of time was Warner Bros.’ most successful motion picture, spawning a series of films and television series and, of course, no shortage of imitations and parodies. [Read on here...]
“The Animated Series was the first real demonstration that Star Trek had a life beyond The Original Series. It was the beginning of a huge period of Trek merchandise and fan interest that eventually paved the way for the Trek movies and subsequent TV shows, and it was an Emmy-winning program that brought some of Trek's sophistication to Saturday morning.” — Jeff Bond, co-author of Star Trek: The Motion Picture—Inside the Art & Visual Effects
The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 50th anniversary of Star Trek: The Animated Series, the first “sequel” show to Gene Roddenberry’s legendary 1960s science-fiction series.
For the occasion, The Bits has reached out to several Treksperts and animation authorities and even an original Trek writer, each of whom reflects on the series, its virtues, and where it stands in the Trek franchise. [Read on here...]
“E.T. is the perfect balance between epic and intimate. It is an incredible example of how cinema can transport us into a world of limitless possibilities through imagination, and it showcases filmmaking at the highest level in its use of technology, skill, and craft.” — Brian Herzlinger, director of My Date with Drew
The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg’s classic family film about the friendship between a boy and an alien visitor who is afraid, totally alone, and three million light years from home.
E.T. was the winner of four Academy Awards (visual effects, sound, sound editing, and John Williams’ original score) and starred Dee Wallace (The Howling), Henry Thomas (Cloak & Dagger), Robert MacNaughton (I Am the Cheese), Drew Barrymore (Firestarter), and Peter Coyote (Timerider). [Read on here...]