YI YI (2000, TAIWAN)

MILLENNIUM MONTH (MM): MOVIES FROM THE YEAR 2000...

AND IN MEMORIAM

(Post 9 of 11)

Yi Yi

You ever have a movie that you think you'll really like and simply can't get into even if it is the type of movie you thought it would be? That's Yi Yi for me. I usually like multi-character character stories, but I just found this one too long and too confusing. Perhaps I should give this one another chance some day. You win some, you lose some.

Obituary of person with 1001 movie connection: When I was looking over the obituaries from 2000, I came across the name Billy Barty (1924-2000) and really wanted to include him somewhere on this list. Billy began his career as a child actor and had an acting career that lasted in spite of (or maybe because of) his short stature of 3' 9."

I first heard of Billy on talk shows on the 70's whenever a short joke seemed to pop up, he was often used as the punch line. To Billy's credit, he always seemed to be able to take a joke in some of the sillier roles he took, but had a long marriage, a family and a more successful career than most actors of greater height.

Billy's movie and TV credits are two numerous to name, but I did need to find a 1001 movie with his name to be official. I came up with two: Billy as an uncredited baby in Bride of Frankenstein and as a baby in Goldiggers of 1933. Close enough.

I did want to mention his most memorable role for me. That was as Sigmund in the early 70's Saturday morning Sid and Marty Krofft kid show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters that I watched. If you were a kid watching TV in the 70's you probably have very fond memories of this one. If you don't fit into that category, you might find this show more than a bit lacking. You probably had to be there for this one.

That's Billy Barty as Sigmund
in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters