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Sad news. I remember her from the Whitesnake videos Is This Love and Here I Go Again, and the 1986 film CRYSTAL HEART, featuring a great Joel Goldsmith score.
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Scored by Mark Snow!
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Tawny Kitaen went to Paris for the lead role in her first feature film, GWENDOLINE. The film was inspired by a cartoon strip which first appeared in the US magazine "Bizarre" in 1946. In the film, “Gwendoline” (Kitaen), a runaway nun, arrives in Hong Kong on a mission to find her father, who was last seen in the legendary Land of the Yik Yak searching for a rare butterfly. She's guided on her perilous journey by the selfish mercenary “Willard” (Brent Huff).
Tawny Kitaen and Brent Huff in GWENDOLINE
Just Jaeckin (EMMANUELLE) wrote and directed the 1984 film. Pierre Bachelet’s score was released on an RCA LP in Europe, but has not been re-issued on CD.
Unlike most such adventure films, GWENDOLINE had plenty of bondage and fight scenes involving the stars as well as a group of scantily clad models playing the warrior women of the Yik Yak. When The Samuel Goldwyn Company distributed GWENDOLINE in the U.S. in 1985, they had to cut the film by 17 minutes in order to qualify for an [R] rating. Goldwyn retitled the film THE PERILS OF GWENDOLINE IN THE LAND OF THE YIK YAK, but with that title and rating, the film generated little interest at the U.S. box office, finishing with a $1.3 million gross.
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Posted: |
Aug 10, 2021 - 1:25 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Tawny Kitaen’s first American film saw her co-starring with a young Tom Hanks, in just his third feature himself. As it happened, Paul Reiser and Kelly McGillis were originally cast as the leads. However, after two days of filming, the pair was dropped, and replaced a month later by Hanks and Kitaen.
In the film, “Rick Gassko” (Hanks) is finally pulling the trigger and marrying “Debbie Thompson” (Kitaen). His friends have decided to throw him the be-all-to-end-all BACHELOR PARTY and plan for things to get wild. As his fiancée and her friends try to determine if Rick is cheating on her, Rick’s future father-in-law (George Grizzard) and his preferred suitor “Cole Whittier” (Robert Prescott) are out to break Rick and Debbie up.
Tawny Kitaen in BACHELOR PARTY
Producer Bob Israel initially sold the idea for the film, inspired by his own bachelor party, to Indian producers Raju Patel and Sharad Patel based on the title and a poster. Neal Israel directed this 1984 comedy. None of Robert Folk’s score appeared on the IRS Records song-track LP, which was reissued on CD by EMI in 2003. The $5 million BACHELOR PARTY ranked in the top 25 films of the year, with a $38.3 million gross.
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Posted: |
Aug 10, 2021 - 11:48 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In CRYSTAL HEART, “Christopher Newley” (Lee Curreri) has an unusual medical condition, which has hampered his life ever since birth. He has no immune system, which means he has to exist in a specially controlled room, away from the world and looked after by his parents and his nurse who attend to his every need, but do not stave off his loneliness. To soothe those feelings of isolation, he likes to watch music videos on television, which he plays along with on his keyboards, and his favorite star is “Alley Daniels” (Tawny Kitaen), a pop singer well known for her fashionable look. What if they were to meet?
Tawny Kitaen and Lee Curreri in CRYSTAL HEART
Gil Bettman directed this 1986 romance. The film, which was a Spanish-U.S. coproduction, had only a limited release in the U.S. in 1987. Only two cues of Joel Goldsmith’s score appeared on the song-track LP released by RCA in Italy, Spain and Mexico only. It has not had a CD re-issue.
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Posted: |
Aug 11, 2021 - 12:37 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In WITCHBOARD, “Brandon Sinclair” (Stephen Nichols) and “Jim Morar” (Todd Allen) used to be best friends until Jim began seeing Brandon’s ex-girlfriend “Linda Brewster” (Tawny Kitaen). When Jim and Linda throw a party and Brandon is invited, Brandon demonstrates his belief in the supernatural by conjuring the spirit of a boy named David with his Ouija board. Linda immediately seems to form a connection to David, but the connection becomes deadly as David seems to lash out at Jim and those around him. Now, Brandon and Jim are in a race against time to save Linda from the spirits, and a detective named “Dewhurst” (Burke Byrnes) suspects Jim could be the real killer.
Tawney Kitaen made this movie first and then made three Whitesnake music videos while this film was in post-production. Both were released around the same time, so the music videos not only made her famous, they helped drive sales for WITCHBOARD.
Todd Allen and Tawny Kitaen in WITCHBOARD
Executive producer Walter Josten discovered a script, then titled “Ouija,” written by thirty-year-old University of Southern California film student Kevin S. Tenney. The 1986 film, renamed WITCHBOARD, marked Tenney’s feature film screenwriting and directing debut. Josten financed the film’s $2 million budget through private investors. The film produced a decent profit for those investors, with a $7.4 million box office gross. The theme from Dennis Michael Tenney’s score was released on a 45rpm from Lunaris Records.
Tawny Kitaen in WITCHBOARD
Shooting a shower scene was difficult for Tawny Kitaen, as she felt nervous being totally nude in front of the crew. To make her feel more comfortable, all the crew except the director and second-camera loader assistant were kicked off set once effects were set up and ready to shoot. But, while it made Kitaen feel better, it really upset the crew who wanted to hang around and watch. They shot that scene multiple times from several different angles, so Kitaen spent a lot of time naked and wet.
During an interview, Kevin Tenney was asked if Kitaen was game for the shower scene. "Yes and no," Tenney replied. "She'd done nudity before and I think she's probably done it since, but unlike Linnea Quigley who has no problem just taking her clothes off and being naked on camera [Tenney directed her in NIGHT OF THE DEMONS], Tawny made sure it was a very closed set and was very worried about how she looked. So, it took a little longer to shoot her shower scene than it did to shoot Linnea's nude scene."
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Posted: |
Aug 11, 2021 - 10:49 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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After WITCHBOARD, seven years would pass until Tawney Kitaen appeared in another feature film. During that time, she did guest shots on television, co-starred in a short-lived HBO series (“Glory Days”), did more Whitesnake music videos, had a 47-episode arc on the soap opera “Santa Barbara” in 1989, did direct-to-video films, and co-starred in the syndicated television series “The New WKRP in Cincinnati,” which lasted 47 episodes. When her next feature came, THREE OF HEARTS (1993), she was relegated to a brief appearance as a “woman in bar.”
The syndicated television series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” began with a set of five made-for-television films that aired between April and November 1994 before series episodes began appearing in January 1995. The films were: “Hercules and the Amazon Women,” “Hercules and the Lost Kingdom,” “Hercules and the Circle of Fire,” “Hercules in the Underworld,” and “Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur,” the last of which served mostly as a "clip show" of the previous movies as a lead up to the series.
Kevin Sorbo starred as Hercules and Tawny Kitaen appeared in the last three films as Deianeira, the woman who would become Hercules’ wife. In HERCULES AND THE CIRCLE OF FIRE, Hercules and Deianeira go in search of fire to save the world from cold. All the world's fires are fast going out. Hercules' father, Zeus (Anthony Quinn), is on hand to help (and sometime hinder) the two. Doug Lefler directed the film. Joseph LoDuca’s score was released by Varese Sarabande.
In HERCULES IN THE UNDERWORLD, a woman asks Hercules for his help because a hole leading to the underworld has opened up in her village. Hercules wants to help her, despite knowing that she comes from a group of women notorious for leading men to their doom.
Tawny Kitaen and Kevin Sorbo in HERCULES IN THE UNDERWORLD
Josh Becker directed the film, which was scored by Joseph LoDuca.
HERCULES IN THE MAZE OF THE MINOTAUR finds Hercules settled down with his wife and children. But he misses the good old days travelling around having exciting adventures. Then one day he is coaxed out of his farming "retirement" to help a distant village that is being attacked by an unseen monster.
Kevin Sorbo and Tawny Kitaen in HERCULES IN THE MAZE OF THE MINOTAUR
Josh Becker directed and Joseph LoDuca scored the film.
In addition to the three 1994 television movies, Tawny Kitaen also appeared in three episodes of the subsequent “Hercules” series, in 1995 and 1997.
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"Gwendoline" is one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasure films. The two leads look totally fabulous unclothed, and they spend a great deal of screen time in various states of undress. I saw the film in its US cut form when it opened in NYC in 1984 and became a fan almost immediately. I thought it was a hoot. I mean Bernadette Lafont as the Lesbian Queen! I dragged my best friend to see it, and he thought I'd lost my mind. But that had happened years before.
Severin Films released a limited edition blu-ray set of "Gwendoline" with both the US and the unrated version, along with extras like lobby cards, pins, and a commemorative T-Shirt. Ms. Kitaen and Mr. Huff both autographed the set. It'll always be a bit sad now to watch the film and glance at her autograph. Way too young!
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Posted: |
Aug 12, 2021 - 4:26 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Tawny Kitaen’s final film was 2015’s COME SIMI. In this independent feature, “Jenica” (Jenica Bergere) is a pregnant actress weeks away from giving birth who, in addition to the stresses of pregnancy, is responsible for taking care of her elderly mother “Helene” (Karen Landry). Helene has suffered multiple strokes and has dementia, which have left her wheelchair bound and nearly mute (although she certainly remembers how to say “fuck”). Helene’s sister “Maxine” (Fionnula Flanagan) wants to see her for the first time in eighteen years, so it’s left up to Jenica to take her.
However, Jenica does not want to go alone and asks her ditzy porn star half-sister “Dee Dee” (Tawny Kitaen), whom she is similarly estranged from, to accompany her on the trip. Along the way Jenica wonders about the actual contents of a metal box that her mother carries with her, which she claims contains $50,000, and how that money — if real — can change her life.
In addition to starring, Jenica Bergere also directed and co-wrote the film. Johnny Harris provided the unreleased score.
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