Caffeinated Clint
One of them, a remake of the 1950 thriller “Panic in the Streets”
I dunno about you, but I wish Mel Gibson would return to our screens. In front of the camera, ya know? Not behind it.
Despite the fact that he says damn-ass silly things when he’s drunk (but don’t we all?), he’s one of our generation’s best actors. No way around it. The guy is solid. Just revisited the first two “Lethal Weapon” movies a week or so back, and it reminded me just how good he was…. How good he could be again.
In near everything Gibson has done – even the slipshod stuff like “Forever Young” and “Tequila Sunrise” – he’s good. Just got the new DVD of “The Man Without a Face”, which he also directed, and he was remarkable in that movie, too.
But I digress – Gibson’s not planning a return to acting just yet.
According to the International Herald Tribune, the larrikin Aussie could be soon scouting locations in Panama for his next directorial effort. Accompanied on his visit by his 24-year-old son, Edward, Gibbo dined Sunday night with tourism spokesman and singer Ruben Blades (“Predator 2”), who suggested he do a remake of the 1950 film noir “Panic in the Streets”.
Elia Kazan’s “Panic in the Streets” was a ripper. It told of a doctor (Clint Reed) and a policeman (Tom Warren) in New Orleans who have only 48 hours to locate a killer (Blackie) infected with bubonic plague.
That’s the kind of thing Gibson could direct and star in… he could play the policeman in his sleep.
At the same time, the paper reports that Panamanian filmmaker Jose Severino was quoted as saying that he was in negotiations with Gibson to produce a movie about Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from its eastern shore.
Both sound OK, but yeah, I’d rather see Gibson back in front of the cameras…
He’s been attached to “Under and Alone” for a spell now – that’s the movie about ITF undercover agent Billy Queen, who infiltrated the notorious and violent Mongols Motorcycle Club – in an acting capacity, but I’m not sure whether he’s still onboard it. Gregor Jordan (“Ned Kelly”) recently took over as director on it, from Antoine Fuqua (“Shooter”), so he might be starting with a clean slate.
