CharlesDurning Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Time for your daily AOL /SlashControl fix of deliciously free movies! After Henry Fool and frightening Frogs, I'm going with my second choice for pick numero uno: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Is it weird that this was one of my favorite flicks as a kid? My youthful bad taste not withstanding, I have no idea why or how I saw this flick a number of times as a youngin'. It was rated R after all. My best guess is that I saw 9 to 5, adored it, and somehow convinced one of my family members to let me rent and watch Dolly Parton's next film. In fact, I know I rented it a number of times. Oh, the perks of being an only child who can hide away with saucy Burt Reynolds movies...

Based on the play, the film stars Parton as Mona Stangley, a woman who operates a whorehouse that's been around for more than 100 years. Her illegal shenanigans are safe because she's canoodling the sheriff (Reynolds). But then a reporter (based on Marvin Zindler, played by Dom DeLuise) starts messing with her business and things get complicated. It might have a paltry 5.3/10 user rating on IMDb, but it not only has a great kitsch factor -- it also has Charles Durning as the Governor, in a role that won him an Oscar nomination. Need I write more?

Head to /SlashControl and get your free fix of Burt and Dolly.

I was already taken with the idea that Burt Reynolds was going to star in an upcoming theater film called A Bunch of Amateurs, which I told you about earlier this month. The film focuses on aging action star from Hollywood (Burt) who joins a Shakespearian theater company thinking that its the Royal Shakespeare Company. Instead, he's surprised to discover that it's a group of amateurs in Stratford St. John. Due to marketing and charity, he has to stick with it and be King Lear on the amateur stage.

Now the film has just gotten 100% irresistible. Variety reports that Charles Durning (who got a hugely-deserved lifetime achievement award from SAG recently) has joined the cast as "a sleazy Hollywood agent" who tricks Burt's character into the theatrical company. I wish he was going to be one of the players, so we'd get more screen time and Charles doing Shakespeare, but I'll take what I can get.

The character actor is a total scene stealer, as Jette Kernion blogged about back in 2006. He has been in a slew of great films, but to me, he'll always be the angelic Charlie from Two of a Kind. Yes, I realize I have weird tastes sometimes. So... What's your favorite Durning role?

Finally Josh Brolin received an award for his excellent performance in No Country for Old Men. He and the rest of the film's actors won the Screen Actors Guild Award for best ensemble cast Sunday night, giving No Country its second big win of the weekend (Joel and Ethan Coen received the top Directors Guild of America award Saturday). Along with Brolin, trophies went to cast-mates Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Garret Dilahunt, Tess Harper and Javier Bardem, who also won the SAG award for best supporting actor. While I'm not sure how many of No Country's performers actually received their own trophy, I'm hoping that both Kelly Macdonald and Barry Corbin were also included. No Country is one of those movies that wouldn't be the same without all of its main and supporting actors, and it is certainly fitting for it to have picked up this honor.

Other film winners from Sunday night include Daniel Day-Lewis, who surprised no one by being honored with the leading actor trophy. Even I'm getting a little bored with all of his awards, despite my agreement that his is the best performance of the year. I didn't even notice if any of the other nominees (George, Emile, Viggo and Ryan) showed up to the ceremony, which was one of the first red carpet awards events of the season. Picking up the award for leading actress was Julie Christie, further cementing the fact that I really need to see Away From Her already. The supporting actress honor went to Ruby Dee, who deserves it just for being the cutest old lady on screen last year, let alone for going up strong against both Denzel and Brolin in American Gangster. Finally, The Bourne Ultimatum won the new SAG award for best stunt ensemble and Charles Durning -- one of Cinematical's favorite character actors ever -- received a lifetime achievement award. Be sure to check out Moviefone's coverage of the awards for plenty of red carpet and ceremony photos.