Sound Of Music Reunion
In an anniversary sure to make baby boomers feel old, The Sound of
Music is 25 this year. On Aug. 23, Julie Andrews, who charmed
moviegoers the world over as the singing nanny of the Von Trapp clan,
reunited with most of the cast in Los Angeles for the film's 25th
birthday party. The event kicked off the movie's limited rerelease in
theaters, as well as a silver anniversary video edition, which includes producer-director Robert Wise's recollections
about making the movie in Austria.
''This was the gateway to my career,'' says Andrews (above, center, with six of the seven actors who played the Von Trapp kids), ''and it's brought so much joy to so many people.'' Though all but two of the seven actors who portrayed the Von Trapp children have since left the acting profession, they've stayed close. ''We've been at each other's birthday parties and weddings and everything over the years,'' says Kym Karath.
Crew Cut
Blockbuster Video, the country's largest chain of video stores,
has announced that its corporately owned outlets won't carry the new
documentary about the controversial rap group the 2 Live Crew, Banned
in the U.S.A.. ''The music videos we carry tend to be
mainstream,'' says Blockbuster's senior vice president of
merchandising, Ron Castell. ''We don't consider this one mainstream.''
''We weren't surprised by the decision,'' says Debbie Bennett, spokeswoman for the 2 Live Crew's Luke Records in Miami, who noted that many record stores have also declined to stock the album.
''I'm surprised anybody is carrying it,'' says the video's director, Penelope Spheeris. ''When we filmed those girls climbing up on stage and simulating sex with the band, even I was shocked. But keeping it out of stores only perpetuates ignorance.''
Who's Watching What
Spike Lee, writer-director-producer-hyphenate who has been charged
with anti-Semitism in his new film, Mo' Better Blues: ''Right now I'm
looking at movies that deal with Italian families like True Love and
The Godfather because my next film, Jungle Fever, has a female lead
that's Italian.''
