NORMIE, DENISE AT S’TOWN

■ Normie Rowe and Denise Drysdale have been friends since they were teenagers and are excited to be performing their brand new show The Two Of Us on Friday, June 30 at Shoppingtown Hotel, Doncaster and Saturday, July 1, at The Sphinx Hotel, Geelong.

The Two Of us is an opportunity to enjoy the skills and charm of these two national treasures. There will be hits. There will be surprises. There’ll be loads of fun.

When they met in the 60s, he was an emerging recording artist appearing on The GO!! Show and she was recognised as Australia’s first go-go dancer on a new music show, Kommotion

Normie’s hits ‘Shakin’All Over’, ‘Que Sera Sera’, ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’, and ‘Ooh La La’, just a few of his hits that sound as powerful today as they did when they were Australian hits on the charts.

Their careers since have seen them enjoy success across the entertainment spectrum.

Normie was at the peak of his pop stardom when he was called up and spent two years in the Army including service in Vietnam.

On his return, he re-established his career in major Sydney clubs, and on television, along with his most memorable role as Jean Valjean for the national stage tour of ‘Les Miserables’.

Denise’s dancing career took a back seat when she became Ernie Sigley’s barrel girl on his very popular national ‘The Ernie Sigley Show’. Ding Dong had arrived.

Her television and theatre credits are too many to mention but her love of entertaining continues in theatres and clubs across the country.

The Two of Us might not be politically correct but you can be guaranteed to enjoy the songs, the banter, the dancing and the atmosphere these two performers always bring to the stage

Dates: Friday, June 30 –Shoppingtown Hotel, Doncaster

Saturday, July 1– Sphinx, Geelong

Tickets: Shoppingtown Hotel – 19 Williamsons Road, Doncaster https://liveatyourlocal.com.au/event/ normie-rowe-denise-drysdale-in-thetwo-of-us/ Sphinx Hotel, 2 Thompson Road, North Geelong https://events.ticketbooth.com.au/ event/the-two-of-us-starring-normieWeb site: https://normierowe.com/ Facebook: https://www. facebook.com/NormieRoweAM

Instagram: https://www. instagram. com/normierowe/

Dragged Across Concrete

■ (R). 159 minutes. Now available on Blu-ray and DVD. After coming out of nowhere with the attention-grabbing Bone Tomahawk in 2015, followed by the outstanding Brawl In Cell Block 99 in 2017, Zahler continues to provoke audiences with this deliberately morally ambiguous concoction, and like his previous efforts, will lead to highly divisive reactions and opinions.

The story centres on police detectives Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn), who have just been suspended after being filmed performing an illegal drug bust on two suspects.

Acquiring a bagful of cash from the bust, the duo, who feel out of step with today’s attitudes towards law enforcement, come across information regarding a major money exchange, and decide to intercept this criminal meeting so they and their families can live an easier life.

Of course, nothing goes quite to plan. Dragged Across Concrete may cover familiar ground, but Zahler cleverly subverts the multiple tropes that are present in the plot.

Sharman’s future for NIDA

■ Boundary pushing creative and NIDA alumnus Jim Sharman (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar) is auctioning 47 works from his personal art collection with all proceeds going to seed the creation of the NIDA Future Centre.

The NIDA Future Centre will be NIDA’s research and innovation lab. It will foster courageous ambitious new ideas for entertainment experiences created through new technologies, new forms, and new relationships with audiences.

It will take a global perspective and draw on a diversity of influences from arts, media, interactive entertainment, and generative AI. It will be a space for imagining and inventing the future of entertainment.

The hugely celebrated avantgarde creator and arts mentor has additionally made a significant donation through the Jim Sharman Future Fund towards initial funding of the NIDA Future Centre.

This includes supporting a triennial Future Award, which will be one of the key activities of the Centre

The public auction will feature 47 artworks from Sharman’s personal collection – paintings, photographs and select stage and film posters – curated by art specialists Adam Sims and Litsa Veldekis of

Sims Veldekis for Shapiro Auctioneers. The auction will take place on Tuesday June 20 at 6 pm both online and in person at the Annex Gallery, 46 Balfour St Chippendale (near White Rabbit Gallery). The works are available to view online now and at the gallery from tomorrow (Thurs., June 15).

The collection includes a masterwork by Tom Polo, major works from important periods of Bill Henson’s career, Archibald-Prize winner Nigel Milsom, Michael Ramsden, Geoffrey Proud, Andrew Purvis, and many others, including for theatre buffs, rare posters signed by Jim for his productions of the musicals Hair and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Martin Sharp’s poster for Jim’s Adelaide Festival and the historic revival of Patrick White’s A Cheery Soul that was the highlight of the inaugural Sydney Theatre Company season.

Liz Hughes, NIDA CEO, said:

“Jim Sharman has been a trailblazer in the entertainment sector for decades, innovating at every turn. Jim’s vision for the future is well aligned with NIDA’s . We are delighted to be sharing an ambition with Jim to imagine the future of entertainment through cross disciplinary collaboration and courageous experimentation with form and technology.”

Working from his novelistic type script, Zahler again dares to swim against the tide, taking his time to build character and story, allowing every hot topic to develop nicely.

Performances across the board are first-rate. Gibson is cleverly cast, and delivers one of his best performances. Vaughn, who I am not normally a fan of, seems to respond to Zahler’s ultra-focused direction, and while not as good as his career-best turn in Brawl In Cell Block 99 , he is still excellent, reminding one of his good work in the under-rated 1998 thriller Clay Pigeons.

Kudos must also go to Tory Kittles, Jennifer Carpenter, Laurie Holden, Udo Kier and Don Johnson.

Dragged Across Concrete will infuriate and offend some with its deliberate pacing and non-judgemental approach to its incendiary material, but Zahler is obviously striving for something more than standard genre thrills, and for those who pick up on this, will be completely enthralled.

RATING - ****

At Eternity’s Gate

■ (M). 111 minutes. Now available on DVD.

Vincent van Gogh has been the subject of many a film, most notably in Vincent Minnelli’s Lust For Life (1956) and Robert Altman’s Vincent & Theo (1990), although I always like to mention Martin Scorsese’s turn as the revered artist in Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (1990). The latest to hit screens is At Eternity’s Gate, with Willem Dafoe playing the tortured painter, and under the intimate, uninhibited guidance of former painter-turnedfilm-maker Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell And The Butterfly), manages to give audiences a fresh perspective on this much-written about person.

While familiar relationships are covered, such as van Gogh’s deep bond with his brother Theo (Rupert Friend), and the at-times volatile encounters with Paul Gauguin (Oscar Isaac), what makes this film so fascinating is the way Schnabel utterly submerges the audience into van Gogh’s frame of mind (with the camerawork sometimes resembling a possession horror movie), and the ultra close-up manner in which we experience the painter’s highly variable reactions to his works (a scene involving Mads Mikkelsen as a bemused priest is a perfect example). Dafoe is extraordinary as van Gogh, and totally earned his Oscar nomination, while other recognisable faces in a strong supporting cast include Isaac, Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner and Niels Arestrup. RATING - ****

Triple Frontier

■ (MA). 125 minutes. Now streaming on Netflix.

After wallowing in development hell since 2010 (Kathryn Bigelow was originally slated to direct), Triple Frontier finally crossed the finish line in 2019 with J.C. Chandor (Margin Call, All Is Lost, A Most Violent Year) at the helm, but despite offering undeniable entertainment value, is a slight disappointment given the talent involved.

A group of former special ops soldiers (Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Garrett Hedlund, Charlie Hunnam, Pedro Pascal) team up to raid the South American home of a high profile crime boss, who is sitting on $75 million in cash.

Of course, the mission doesn’t go to plan. Chandor pays homage to muscular adventures from the 40s and 50s, but more notably to 80s tough-guy actioners, especially those directed by Walter Hill (the film is highly reminiscent of Hill’s 1987 effort Extreme Prejudice, with echoes of Southern Comfort (1981) later on), but the characters aren’t as vividly etched, making the film feel somewhat hollow and familiar. Worth a look, with some well-staged action sequences.

RATING - ***

■ Alan Ladd was one of the great film stars of the Golden Years of Hollywood.

He became one of the popular ‘tough guy’ actors and appeared in about 95 films during his career.

Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot S prings, Arkansas, in 1913. His father died when Alan was only four.

His mother moved with her son to Oklahoma where she married a housepainter and eventually the family re-located to California

Alan was about five foot six inches tall and was given the nickname ‘Tiny’ in his teenage years but he was a very handsome young man with a remarkable speaking voice.

He appeared in school plays and was an active sportsman. In the early 1930s Alan got small jobs in radio shows and then did ‘bit parts’ in films.

He supported himself by opening a hamburger stand which he called ‘Tiny's Patio’.

Alan married Marjorie Harrold in 1936 and their son Alan Ladd Jnr was born in 1937. He is a famous film executive and producer these days and was responsible for approving production of the film Star Wars.

Alan Ladd began getting speaking parts in films during the early 1940s and his voice can be clearly heard as one of the ‘faceless reporters’ in the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane.

Alan was divorced in 1941 and married his agent Sue Carol the following year.

Whatever Happened To ... Alan Ladd

By Kevin Trask of 3AW and 96.5 Inner FM

His ‘break through’ role came when he starred opposite Veronica Lake in This Gun for Hire

Alan played a ‘hit man’ with a conscience and this role virtually took him from being a small time bit player to a major international star.

His next films The Glass Key, Lucky Jordan and The Blue Dahlia were all box office hits. In 1948 Alan started his very successful radio series Box 13 where he played the reporter Dan Holiday

He was cast in the lead role in the film The Great Gatsby in 1949. The film he is most remembered for came in 1953 when he played the title role in Shane opposite Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde and Jack Palance.

The simple line delivered by Brandon De Wilde as Shane rides away, " Shane. Come back!" has become one of the most famous lines in cinema history.

Most film buffs regard Shane as a classic and it was nominated for five Academy Awards

I know many of our readers are fans of Alan

Ladd and recently Tommy Dysart demonstrated to me the unique way that Alan Ladd had of walking down a staircase.

The best remembered films of Alan Ladd include Saigon, Two Years Before The Mast, Appointment With Danger, Whispering Smith, Hell Below Zero and Boy On A Dolphin

In 1955 he made a film with June Alyson and they fell in love but it is said that the breakdown of the affair led to his depression in later years.

In 1964 Alan Ladd was found dead in Palm Springs due to an overdose of pills and alcohol at the age of 50.

He had completed work on his final screen role in The Carpetbaggers but did not live to see the film. He was survived by his wife Sue and three children.

In a 1961 interview Alan Ladd was asked, "What would you change about yourself if you could?"

He replied, "Everything."

The fact remains that his work in films has given great enjoyment to his legion of fans throughout the world.

Kevin Trask

Kevin can be heard on 3AW -

The Time Tunnel - Remember WhenSundays at 10.10pm with Philip Brady and Simon Owens. And on 96.5 FM That's Entertainment - Sundays at 12 Noon. www.innerfm.org.au