HARVEY KEITEL
April 27, 2008 by hoopscoach
We can all agree that Mr. Keitel is a solid actor and has been pretty popular over the years. Keitel, for those who are unaware hails from Brooklyn, New York. In the early 90’s, he made a film ‘Smoke’, with William Hurt directed by Wayne Wang. The filming took place in the old Post Office on the corner of 9th avenue and 16th street. I’m currently reading Keitel’s ‘Unauthorized Biography’ Harvey Keitel: The Art of Darkness.
On page 239 there is a rather interesting, yet comical passage:
While filming on a Friday night, the production drew a crowd of onlookers from the neighborhood, who turned the event into a kind of low-key party, drinking beer and having a good time. At one point, they watched the cast go through five takes of a scene before they got it right - which prompted one wit in the crowd to yell out, ‘If I drove my bus the wrong way five times, I’d be fired,’ cracking up both crowd and the cast.
I wasn’t there that night but I did happen to walk by on occasion and try to get a peek of Keitel in action. Was anyone there the night the bus driver chimed in?
I wasn’t there that night, either but it must be Windsor Terrace Smarts that brought me to say something similar at my kids’ old school one day….(this was after I’d walked by a classroom where a teacher was, again, SCREAMING at first graders. I mean really letting loose.) I told the principal that there was no job on the planet where you could SCREAM at the customers and still keep your job. I’m a waitress. If I screamed at those dining in the restaurant, I’d be fired on the spot.
All vocations are different. Teaching and coaching requires screaming.
If you display some sort of love after the scolding, the players/students know you are looking out for their best interest.
There are many ways to be successful in teaching/coaching; not all take the calm route. Case in point, Bob Knight and Pat Summit - two of the most successful coaches in college basketball; both scream at their players.
Kids need to grow thicker skin and parents need to step up the discipline!
I bet that busdriver was my nephew, Billy Hopkins!
How about when they made “Dog Day Afternoon” up on the Avenue? The crowd scenes were great. I think most of the guys from Farrell’s must have signed up as extras!
“Attica! Attica!”
Maureen,
Wonder if Al showed up at Farrell’s or maybe Gerard’s?
my dad was part of the morning/afternoon crew that hung out in dead man’s corner with Hooley and a Friday night is more a time for the youngins, but…it sounds like a crack my dad would have made!
OKay, seriously, Red, SCREAMING like a lunatic at a six year old. Like spit coming out of her mouth, losing it all over this little tiny kid. Not okay.
I’m not talking about yelling, like in coaching and you know what? No one needs to be demeaned to be taught or coached. Just sayin.
Eileen, I should probably know this, but your dad drove a bus? By the way, Eileen, it’s a pleasure to “read” you. My friend’s father drove a bus and I thought it was amazing when he’d come by driving the B68….it was the coolest job, to me.
I enjoy Harvey Keitel immensely, by the way…..
Hey Annemarie
my dad was old enough that he started on the trolleys when they used to roll down the avenue!
by the time I was growing up (remember there were 7 in front of me) my dad had “promoted” to being a supervisor and he would either work the 5thAVe depot in the little shack on 37th? street, checking buses in and out or work the express buses downtown Manhattan
but yeah, my dad was the prototype for Jackie GLeason!
Oh, Eileen, that is amazing. I can’t get a vision of your dad in my head right now but, yes, I knew there were more than, say, two of you, lol……the trolleys. How wild is that?? My mother loved the trolleys.
So, did your family get a kick out of The Honeymooners??
I remember walking by Farrell’s one day and Val Kilmer was standing there, leaning against the back wall……but I never saw Harvey Keitel.
I was living far away from Brooklyn when I saw one of those movies they made in the old post office on the corner of sixteenth and ninth….it was so…weird. It made me so homesick to watch the neighborhood right in front of me.
annemarie
picture Archie Bunker, and you’ve got my dad.
Living on the avenue, I caught glimpses of a lot of stars over the years with all the commercials in Farrells and the various movies….I remember trying to catch a glimpse of Val Kilmer, but didnt see him.
I love watching AS GOOD AS IT GETS and seeing Howard Place and kids in their Holy Name uniforms…so many great memories
Hey Steve, you need to continue the tour of the neighborhood and hit 16th St . The Lot, site of many an imaginary game and the place I got my first stitches….the garages, just above 10th - site of many a buck buck or stick ball game.
Howard Place, growing up was always full of kids I pretty much lived there. Loved playing wiffle ball with Tommy, right outside the Dixon house. And then of course we had the school yard at our disposal …
Loving the tour, keep it going