End of the week head scratcher:

I was checking my onscreen program guide last night to see what was on Turner Classic Movies for the next 24 hours. The drama, THE BEST MAN, starring Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson, is airing (this morning, I think), and the guide description lists Pupi Avati as director. I actually wasn't familiar with the film, and I started thinking, "Wait a minute, the guy who did HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS also did a Henry Fonda movie in the early 60s?" I grabbed Maltin's book, and soon discovered the onscreen info was an error, probably a database mixup on the programmers end, I figured. Still, for a moment there, it was totally disorienting, and I was scratching my head, all puzzled, going back and forth through the movie description and feeling like I was in a Twilight Zone episode or something. Fonda, Robertson and...Pupi Avati? Huh? (We have had some record heat the last few days here in LA, like 110 degrees.)

What will I see next--BLOOD AND BLACK LACE directed by Stanley Kramer? Hmm...

Even if Pupi Avati directed the 1964 THE BEST MAN, that still wouldn't be as odd as Fonda being directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis in the Italian JAWS ripoff TENTACLES (1977). The last time I watched TENTACLES (on purpose, mind you), I had a strange feeling that Fonda was completely unaware that he was in a horror movie about a giant octopus. He has a few brief scenes, mostly bitching to either John Huston or Caesar Danova on the phone, and nothing specific is said about the plot. Or rather, the things Fonda says never specifically pertain to an octopus--his statements are vague enough that they could be about anything. This kind of stuff happened a couple of times to Christopher Lee, or so he claims (EUGENIE: THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION and HOLLYWOOD MEATCLEAVER MASSACRE), but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Assonitis pulled a near-BOWFINGER on the legendary, iconic Henry Fonda.

I don't know. Fonda was fully aware of what was going on in THE SWARM. It was the animal attacks phase of his career. :)