Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession Page #9

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held at the Westwood Marquis...

and Jerry, in his contribution

to the ceremony...

was to add lines

from "Ride the High Country."

You know, he had

the minister say...

"I am not a man of the cloth"...

and this is not

a religious ceremony.

It's a civil marriage...

but it's not to be entered

into unadvisedly...

but reverently and soberly.

A good marriage has a kind of,

well, a simple glory about it.

A good marriage is

like a rare animal.

It's hard to find.

It's almost impossible to keep.

You see, people change.

That's important for you

to know at the beginning.

People change.

It was an occasion at which,

you know...

Jerry's circle of friends

was small...

but very potent

and in attendance.

There was me, Michael Cimino was

best man at the wedding...

and... let's see...

there was James B. Harris.

There were a whole group of

really terrific people there...

and Deri's very large family,

they all were in love with Deri.

You know, and who wouldn't be?

I mean, it was just

a really terrific gathering.

The market had been created

after "Heaven's Gate"...

for director's cuts...

and "The Leopard" had been

in a botched cut...

and even the studio knew it

to be a botched cut.

And so "The Leopard" was

restored to its full strength...

with an eye

toward the video market...

and Jerry was there the night

they screened it...

for the first time,

and he made sure...

there was an offer

on the table...

and that when we showed it

on Z Channel we highlighted it.

I have seen

the uncut version of it...

and they restored it...

to more or less

its IB Technicolor stature...

and, oh, it's fantastic.

"The Leopard" is about

one night in the life...

of a Sicilian prince,

and this prince may be dying.

There's a feeling of mortality

that's plaguing him.

You know, he's got

a bad heart it seems...

and he's just sort of moving...

through the chambers of his life

in a kind of melancholy way...

but really what's

happening is...

that an era

is ending around him.

Because of the length that

Visconti gave to that story...

that prince, in this

single night of his life...

we actually feel the world

moving through this man...

and we feel that, you know, when

he goes, a world goes with him.

I met Jerry in 1986 or 1987.

I met Jerry in 1986 or 1987.

I was working at a video store

in Westwood called Video Tech...

and that I was going

to college here at UCLA...

and I was a clerk there,

and Jerry was one...

of the many industry customers

who used to come in.

He made me a bit uncomfortable.

He just seemed very strange...

very... just... he gave off

an uncomfortable vibe.

His wife on the other hand

was a sweet, charming woman...

and she gave off a great vibe.

Jerry would go in there

and rent videos...

and they would get

into conversations...

and Jerry realized...

"Hey, this guy knows

what he's talking about."

And he asked me if I was...

if I'd be interested...

in working at Z

as a programming assistant...

and at that point,

my attitude changed greatly.

I was very happy to see him.

I think one reason Jerry was

such a great programmer...

was the knowledge and the taste,

the showmanship...

the creativity,

and then the passion to do it...

or the commitment to do it.

HBO and Showtime each launched

a second channel...

that was more movie-focused,

more film buff-focused.

Showtime did the Movie Channel,

HBO did Cinemax...

and, you know, they certainly

were aware of Z Channel...

and tried to steal some

of our thunder.

We didn't think they were doing

a very good job of it.

I mean if we ran it, even

certain foreign films...

would end up running

on the other places.

They would have to be

pretty sexy usually.

Our "Night Owl" films tended

to show up a lot...

on Movie Channel

and Showtime and HBO...

just because that's like,

well, tits and ass.

Much to my surprise,

when I asked Jerry...

what was the most successful

aspect of our programming...

he said the "Night Owl" series.

I said, "You got to be kidding."

He said, " No, we're

killing Nightline.

"We're killing the 11:00 News."

"Night Owl" programs were

our late night...

kind of soft-core things,

movies with sex, T & A...

stuff like that.

My objectivity breaks

right the f*** down...

when I think

of those "Night Owl" films...

because those girls, the women

in those films were so pretty.

I mean, they always found...

you know, even in the lamest

of the "Night Owls"...

you know, even in the one that

has, like, no plot...

or it's just like,

"How... why am I watching this?

"I know I'm only watching this

till the next nude scene...

"but I'm gonna stay

in there, you know."

You know, the one " The Lady

on the Bus," I remember.

Someone like Laura Antonelli or

Sonia Braga would hit it big...

with a respectable film,

but their backlog...

was full of all kinds of early,

nudey kind of films...

and we would get them all.

So basically, we would have

Laura Antonelli festivals...

that had every last movie

she'd made...

you know, with all

the nude scenes.

Laura Antonelli, it's like,

what ever happened to her?

I think she was, like,

the first actress...

that I ever, like, fell

in love with in a movie...

that I went to, like,

see her films...

and they were genuinely sexy.

I mean, I don't think I knew

what sexy was before then.

I had crushes on actresses,

and I was, like...

thought I was in love with them,

all right?

But I'm watching "Wifemistress."

There's a scene and she's

with this actor.

He's trying to get her

to his room...

and they're making out

on the stairs...

and he reaches and grabs her

in her crotch...

and it was really sexy

to see that.

And when he did it, she went...

and she almost like,

collapsed in his arms.

Please take me to bed. Please.

And then they didn't go

into the room...

and I was pissed!

The great divergence

between European cinema...

and American cinema

really is about sex.

If you want to do nudity

in a movie...

you have to do it

in a certain way.

That's... or because

it's interesting...

because it's so natural

because you see things...

with... that people do

with other...

that you were not aware of,

that could be done.

I mean, we got many, many calls

after "Turkish Delight"...

saying " You enriched

our sex life." So...

"Turkish Delight," well,

it was a great book.

You know, I loved the book...

It was like, in Holland

was doing...

"Gone With the Wind"

in the United States, you know.

Everybody was interested

and was having an opinion...

if it should be Vivian Leigh

or not, isn't it?

And who should be her lover,

Clark Gable or anybody else?

And this was like...

this is our book.

It was so phenomenally

important...

that book in Holland

at that time.

I had worked with Rutger Hauer

on the television series...

was called "Floris."

Because he was

a television person...

I didn't even think about him

strangely enough.

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