CHRISTINE among MSN's 20 best movie cars

MSN has an article titled, "Movie cars: 20 best of all time." (msn.com)

OF COURSE -- Christine has to make that list!

Along with the leading man or woman, sometimes a car becomes a co-star in a certain movie — or even eclipses a film's animate characters. After all, can anyone name an actor from the cult horror classic "Christine"?

Christine comes in at #12 with this note:

Based on Stephen King's novel about an evil hunk of automotive metal, the 1983 horror classic "Christine" featured a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury as its title character. A sentient but possessed car that could mysteriously repair herself, Christine could also communicate her murderous intentions. Although there were some human actors in the movie, they've long been forgotten. Who could upstage an evil 1950s land yacht with huge tail fins?

The list includes:
 1962 Volkswagen Beetle, ‘The Love Bug’
1981 DeLorean DMC-12, ‘Back to the Future’
1961 Ferrari 250 GT California, ‘Ferris Bueller's Day Off’
1981 Porsche 928, ‘Risky Business’
1983 Wagon Queen Family Truckster, ‘National Lampoon's Vacation’ (haha!)
1977 Pontiac Trans Am Special Edition, ‘Smokey and the Bandit’
1974 Dodge Monaco, ‘The Blues Brothers’
1941 Lincoln Continental, ‘The Godfather’
2008 Audi R8, ‘Iron Man’
1970 Porsche 917K, ‘Le Mans’  (never saw it)
1958 Plymouth Fury, ‘Christine’
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’
1949 Mercury Eight, ‘Rebel Without a Cause’
1959 Cadillac Ecto-1, ‘Ghostbusters’ (that car was great!)
1963 Aston Martin DB5, ‘Goldfinger’
1968 Ford Mustang GT, ‘Bullitt’
1932 Ford Coupe, ‘American Graffiti’
1973 Ford XB Falcon GT351, ‘Mad Max’
1980 Lamborghini Countach LP 400S, ‘The Cannonball Run’
1970 Dodge Charger, ‘The Fast and the Furious’

what about 
1948 Fruehauf Tank Trailer, DUEL.  (Steven Spielberg)

Capacity:  7000 Gallons
Length:  33 Feet Overall Length
Number of Product Compartments:  5
Construction:  Steel
Suspension:  Page & Page 60/40 spring suspension

(You can buy it at www.stlouisdumptrucks.com0

If King Had Written Poltergeist

10,000 Magazines, #9992
Forrest J. Aackerman's Monster Land, April 1985 

Monster Land is -- well, the best.  I love it!  Forrest J. Ackerman was an early fan and collector of old horror props.

Magazine's are like time capsules  Locked in the pages are reviews and all kinds of cultural references.  There was a completely new Godzilla, and an article on the popular scifi television series "V."  It was actually dreadfully bad, but when I was a kid I liked it.

Charles Grant's interview with King is a great peek in a young Stephen King.  they discuss Tabitha King's writing, King's book Danse Macabre and Creepshow.  The  discussion also turns to what is now well worn ground: The Kubrick version of The Shining.

Grant also asked King if he would like to adapt one of his own works, and specifically asks about The Stand.  King quickly responds with a hearty, "No."  Interesting, since King did write the script for the mini-series of The Stand. "I'd like to do another feature," King says.  "something long.  God help me, I'd even like to do a novel for television.  Everyone has their own sword planted int eh sand and they go by it twice a day and say, Sooner or later I must rush on that sword; disembowel myself.  I think that's mine."

King goes on to say that he's convinced that network tv is still viable.  And he's stuck to that conviction, sans Under The Dome.  But then things get interesting as King begins to imagine the Dukes of Hazard as a horror flick.  "If you give somebody enough time and get the audience involved in the characters, you can scare people," King said. "You could even scare people over programs like The Dukes of Hazard if you could kill off one of those creepy kids.  Can you imagine the reaction of all those nerdy 11 or 12 year-olds sitting in front of their tvs watching The Dukes of Hazard and some 10 wheeler comes and just rams those duke boys right down!

When asked if there is a particular director he'd like to work with, King names Spielberg.  'i think that would be fun," King said.  "I came very, very close to writing Poltergeist."  WOE!  i wish the interview had backed up at that point for some more info, because that movie was SCARY!  And, not to mention there was that nasty creepy awful clown in Poltergeist.  I wonder what the movie would have been like with a King script.  Personally, I think I'm glad King didn't write that script.

King also says he would have liked to have worked with Don Siegel, the guy who did the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  Which, by the way, is on Netflix this October.

Stephen King, 1985

Here  are some of my favorite bits of the interview:

Grant: would you like to direct?
King: I'd like to do it once.  I've always had the feeling i could probably do a horror picture and scare people.  But that is yet to be proven.  There comes a moment when you're writing, that you see something some other writer has done and been paid for and you say, "I know I an do better than that!"  i don't know that I could do better than anybody else but sometimes I'd like to try it.  I think it would be possible to really give people the tremors, send them out of the theater straight to an ambulance.

Grant: Which of your stories is your favorite?
King: Think my favorite novel is still Salem's Lot in terms of the way it makes me feel.  I don't think it's the best but it's my favorite.  As far as short stories are concerned, I like the grizzly ones best.  however,r the story Survivor Type goes a little bit too far even for me.  After 4 years of fruitless efforts to get the thing published, Charlie Grant bought the story.

Grant: Do you really think that story is funny?
King: I think it's hilarious!  A guy cuts himself up and eats himself, piece by piece.  It's the grossest thing you've read!
Grant: Why did I buy that?
King: You bought ti because of King's name!

CBS Goes Under The Dome

Deadline reports that CBS will go Under The Dome next Summer:

13-episode straight-to-series order to Steven Spielberg and Stephen King‘s Under The Dome, a drama based on King’s bestselling 2009 novel, which will be produced by Spielberg’s Amblin Television. 

13 episodes certainly gives the series some room to breath!  That's good, since the book is full of complex  characters and a twisting plot.

Let's see. . . 13 episodes. . . Stephen ing. . . Stephen Spielberg .  . . what's not  to be excited about?!

There is a lot of cool information about how the deal went down at deadline.com.