18 years ago Today in Movie History – January 19 – From Dusk til Dawn opened to #1 at the box office. With a script from Quentin Tarantino, the Robert Rodgriguez helmed picture starred George Clooney, Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, and Salma Hayek. Mixing the crime and horror movie genres, Dawn was a modest commercial success which has since achieved cult status and spawned two direct to DVD sequels. It also has one of my favorite openings scenes of all time:
As for birthdays, Dolly Parton is 68 today. Known most for her huge country music career, Parton made a highly successful transition to film with 1980’s 9 to 5, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She would have another hit in 1982 alongside Burt Reynolds in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, but critics and audiences would reject Rhinestone with Sylvester Stallone in 1984. Parton would become a part of an impressive female ensemble in 1989’s Steel Magnolias.
Going a little outside my typical box for birthday entries, Justin Clarke has been my lifelong friend and he turns 36 today. How many movies has he been in? None – but his brother-in-law Brad Wise directed A Strange Brand of Happy, which recently became available on DVD. You can read my blog post about the film from July here:
https://toddmthatcher.com/2013/07/21/a-strange-and-innovative-brand-of-film-marketing/
The cast includes Oscar winner Shirley Jones and I found a way to connect my good buddy and Dolly Parton in Six Degrees of Separation so let’s get to it!
Dolly Parton was in Steel Magnolias with Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts was in The Mexican with Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt was in Moneyball with Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill was in Grandma’s Boy with Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones was directed by Brad Wise in A Strange Brand of Happy
Brad Wise is Justin Clarke’s brother-in-law
And there you have it – January 19th in Movie History. And happy birthday Justin!
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