TERENCE STAMP (1938 - 2025)

Terence Stamp, the handsome British actor who broke through with his first film, "Billy Budd" and went on to have significant career including appearances in "Superman" and "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", has died on August 17th at the age of eight-seven.

Born and raised in East London, Stamp became enamored with acting when he was a child after seeing Hollywood movies. Growing up during World War II, he enduring the constant blitz in London which did leave a traumatizing effect upon him. Stamp won a scholarship to study acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and performed in many theatrical productions. During this time, he became friendly with fellow aspiring actors, Peter O'Toole and Michael Caine, who Stamp would later share a flat.

Stamp got his first major break in 1962 with actor, Peter Ustinov's fifth feature as a director, "Billy Budd" which he also wrote the screenplay and co-starred. This British historical adventure, based on the novella by Herman Melville, has Stamp playing Budd, a young sailor who is falsely accused of attempting a mutiny by the cruel master-at-arms and accidently kills him, leading to his court-martial. The film was not a big hit but did earn Stamp a Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and winning him a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer (Male).

He would go on to work with several notable filmmakers throughout the rest of the '60's: William Wyler with "The Collector"; John Schlesinger's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's "Far from the Madding Crowd"; Ken Loach in "Poor Cow"; Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Teorema" and co-starred in the spy comedy, "Modesty Blaise" with Monica Vitti. Stamp was even considered for replacing Sean Connery as James Bond after his departure from the role but apparently his ideas for the dashing spy character made the producers uncomfortable.

During this time, Stamp became a popular fixture of the swinging London party scene and renowned for his high-profile romances with two of the celebrated women of that era; supermodel, Jean Shrimpton and actress, Julie Christie who co-starred with Stamp in "Far from the Madding Crowd".

Stamp would make his mark again by appearing in the 1978 big-screen version of "Superman" playing the Kryptonian villain, General Zod and would play the character again in the sequel. He would also been seen in a variety of films throughout the '80's like "The Hit", "The Sicilian", "Legal Eagles", "Young Guns", and "Wall Street".

Stamp would surprise viewers with his sensitive yet hilarious turn as a transgender woman in the 1994 Aussie indie, "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" by director, Stephan Elliott. This road-trip comedy on a tour bus across the Australian Outback with his two drag-queen friends (played by Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce) would win the Oscar for the outrageous costumes and this campy farce has gone on to become a popular cult classic. Three years later, Steven Soderbergh (a fan of the actor) gave Stamp a lead role in his crime drama, "The Limey". This critically acclaimed film did poorly at the box-office upon it's initial release but has since been found by more appreciative modern audiences. Stamp's last screen appearance was in Edgar Wright's (another big fan of the actor) psychological horror drama, "Last Night in Soho" in 2021.

Stamp also found some success as a writer, having written three memoirs, a novel and co-writing a cookbook that featured alternative recipes for those who are lactose-intolerant.

THE NAKED GUN (2025)

Written by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand and Akiva Schaffer



Directed by Akiva Schaffer



Where & When: TCL Chinese Theatres, Hollywood, CA. August 3, 2025 5:10 PM



After David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker had incredible success with "Airplane!", their wacky spoof on aerial disaster movies back in 1980, they moved to television with a parody on police procedurals. With Leslie Nielsen (who had a long career as a dramatic actor before his gift for deadpan comedy was revealed in "Airplane!") as Detective Frank Drebin, "Police Squad!" premiered two years later but was cancelled after only six episodes. But the comedy team still had faith in the concept and transferred the idea to the big screen. Reaching theaters in 1988, "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" became a huge box-office hit and spawned two equally successful sequels.

Now "The Naked Gun" has been rebooted for a continuation of the movie series directed by Akiva Schaffer, one third of the musical comedy outfit, The Lonely Island which features his childhood buddies, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. Liam Neeson, the Irish actor best known for his brooding and deadly serious performances in many popular action films, is on board to let loose and make us chuckle as the son of Frank Drebin. This version certainly has the uproarious looney spirit of the previous films and there are plenty of laughs to be found. But this "Naked Gun" feels somewhat restrained compared to the other movies, too timid to really go all the way in with jokes that some might consider too outrageous and potentially offensive.

Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (Neeson) may have single-handedly stopped a violent bank robbery while disguised as a little girl but his unorthodox methods puts him in hot water with the police chief (CCH Pounder) who reassigns him to less public duty. During an investigation of a fatal car crash involving a software engineer, Drebin decides it was a suicide. But Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), a crime novelist who is the sister of the victim, visits Drebin at the station trying to convince him that her brother was actually murdered.

This leads Drebin to Edentech, the tech company Davenport worked with and the billionaire owner, Richard Cane (Danny Huston). Connecting over the hip-hop group, the Black Eyed Peas, the two men get on well enough that Cane even gives Drebin a self-driving electric car. However, Cane is behind a secret sinister plot involving a device, P.L.O.T. (get it?) which will convert the average man back into wild, primitive state while the wealthy will be unaffected to rule over them.

What we have in between this basic plot are rapid fire jokes, comical sight gags and hilarious puns. There are moments I found myself laughing out loud, particularly during an oddball romantic interlude between Frank, Beth and an amorous snowman. But some of the jokes land with a thud and running gags (Anderson's goofy jazz scatting at a club and Drebin trapped in the racing EV that Cane uses in an attempt to kill him comes quickly to mind) go on far too long. And as the film progresses to reach the conclusion of Drebin trying to defeat Cane's plan, the pacing becomes more slack and the humor feels more forced.

Neeson and Anderson may not be fully comfortable (or skilled) with performing the broad comedy in the film yet they give it their all with exuberance and gusto. We know that what was considered funny has changed considerably since the original movie was made and there is now a much stronger desire not to offend anybody. But this film pushes just enough to create a sense of outrageously silly fun. "Naked Gun" is a very welcome return of the big-screen comedy and hopefully will spark a much needed revival of the genre.