Showbiz History: La Dolce Vita, La Haine, and the return of Willow
Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at 7:36AM 
The Golden Globe nominations nominations are announced today so there's no time to gaze fondly back. And yet we're so OCD about doing this. Here are 5 things that happened on this day, February 3rd, in showbiz history...
1945 Walt Disney's The Three Caballeros opens in theaters
1959 A plane crash kills three popular musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and "the Big Bopper" J.P. Richardson. This tragedy became known as "the day the music died" due to the classic song "American Pie" by Don McLean...
1960 Federico Fellini's gigantic in length and eventual cineaste stature La Dolce Vita world-premiered in Rome on this day. It would open in the US a year later and pick up four Oscar nominations, including Best Director, and win for Best Costume Design... presumably for Anita Ekberg's black dress in the fountain.
1971 Doctors Wives, a drama about unhappy marriages with an incredibly stacked cast: Gene Hackman, Dyan Cannon, Carroll O'Connor, Richard Crenna, Diana Sands, Rachel Roberts, and Ralph Bellamy arrived 50 years ago today. Mama Cass sang the theme song. Have any of you seen it?
1996 The 21st annual César Awards in France happened 25 years ago on this day. 90s youth classic La Haine (1995) won Best Picture and made stars out of its cast membres but who are still movie regulars today like Mathieu Kassovitz (behind the camera) though he would soon co-star in Amélie, Benoit Magimel, Hubert Koundé, and of course its leading man Vincent Cassel. It was also the screen debut of Saîd Taghmaoui (Three Kings, Wonder Woman, American Hustle). Koundé, Cassel, and Taghmaoui were all César nominated as "Most Promising Actor".
Today's Birthday Suit
<-- Happy 51st birthday today to Warwick Davis, who first came to fame playing "Wicket" the Ewok in Return of the Jedi (1983) and parlayed that moment into a longterm career. Which isn't easy to do, if your face wasn't seen for your big breakout role. Especially, one presumes, if you're 3' 6". Davis, who has popped up in numerous franchises over the years - most recently in The Rise of Skywalker and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, will next be seen reprising his most famous role in the Disney+ series based on the fantasy hit Willow (1988). He'll be playing the sorcerer again but the series will otherwise have new characters.
Other showbiz birthdays today: Broadway icon Nathan Lane (The Producers, The Birdcage), Japans Eihi Shiina (frightening star of Audition), Blythe Danner (I'll See You In My Dreams, Meet the Parents), Iran's Shahab Hosseini (A Separation, The Salesman), Warwick Davis (Willow, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Maura Tierney (The Affair, ER), Bridget Regan (Paradise Lost, Jane the Virgin), Morgan Fairchild (The Seduction, Friends), Denmark's Søren Malling (A Hijacking, A Royal Affair), MCU director Anthony Russo (Captain America Winter Soldier), Terry Chen (The Expanse, Jesssica Jones), director Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter), Peggy Ann Garner (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), Oscar nominee Victor Buono (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), Director Carl Theodor Dreyer (Ordet, The Passion of Joan of Arc) Tallulah Willis daughter of Bruce & Demi, Amal Clooney wife of George, Mary Carlisle (The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, Dead Men Walk), Broadway's Ann Harada (Avenue Q), writer Paul Auster (The Music of Chance, Smoke), and two directors of interest to LGBT audiences -- Italy's Ferzan Ozpetek (Facing Windows, His Secret Life), and underground film legend Kenneth Anger (Fireworks, Scorpio Rising).
Reader Comments (14)
I watched Three Caballeros in my lockdown 1940s movie club and it's pretty wild!
I need to see La Haine - I love Cassel, Magimel and Taghmaoui - so much. We talk about 1999 supporting actor a lot, but Tahgmaoui is rarely mentioned - I would have had him on my own ballot for three Kings.
Warwick Davis has had quite a career. His episode of Doctor Who is one of my favorites, largely because of him.
Mike -- omg yes. Saïd was AMAZING in Three Kings.
I like all those actors listed for La Haine, but have never actually seen the movie. It seems to have fallen through the cracks and any movie that old and that foreign might be impossible to find in the streaming era.
Speaking of old movies, I've seen La Dolce Vita a couple of times but the quality of the prints shown on TV (probably TCM?) were severely lacking. Choppy and blurry is how I recall it.
Warwick Davis appears to be one of those few actors who got better looking as he got older. He looks like a successful business tycoon.
3rd Annual Cesars? It was the 21st (2 +1 = 3 I guess). La Haine is very good and well worth seeking out.
Doctors’ Wives has a shocking twist.
I've never heard of Doctors' Wives, but what a great cast. Maltin calls it "super-sudsy soaper" so I'm in.
amy -- oh whoops... the february 3rd thing got in the way. fixing.
Doctors Wives is probably not that great of a movie but it's one of my Grail titles because of its lack of availability. I been looking for it for years, because of the cast mostly, and haven't been able to find anything more than a brief clip of Dyan Cannon. Hopefully some day.
La Dolce Vita.... mmm... I LOVE THIS FILM! Me gusta The Three Caballeros. So does my nephew.
"La Dolce Vita" is a masterpiece of world cinema ....I read about "Doctor's Wife" in Bad Movies We Love is sounds like a sex crazed mystery soap opera
I just saw the trailer for "Doctor's Wives" on you tube. This movie needs to be released on Blu ray
@ Dave in Hollywood - you can stream La Haine on Kanopy and The Criterion Channel.
Thanks MDA. I have Kanopy!