Thirty years ago, a young up-and-coming actor, Craig Wasson, starred in Ghost Story, a beautifully-shot adaptation of the Peter Straub horror novel. The film was very well received critically, not least because of the casting of several elderly classic actors, including Fred Astaire. I recall it being very new England; and a scene on a wintry country road. It was like Frost meets King. I think this film has become forgotten; it is not available on DVD in Britain, at the very least. Googling for Wasson, I was disappointed to learn that, after 1984's Body Double (which has a Frankie Goes to Hollywood cameo) he mostly slipped into soaps, and one-off appearances on TV. Wasson was born in 1954, so he'd be around 57 now. I'd like to see some director bring him back and give him a good role again.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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