THE BILL BUKOWSKI 3-D EXPERIENCE

Since Michael forwarded the Hollywood Reporter obit, which references a time in my brother's life that I refer to as the “Bill Bukowski 3-D Experience", I thought that I would follow up with a little more info on “Comin’ At Ya!”, “The Man Who Wasn’t There” and the Optimax III lens system. So here is the link to the Optimax III Patent along with pictures of the movie posters and links about the movies.


Optimax III Patent



COMIN' AT YA

IMDb Listing
Stereoscopy.com Movie Database Listing
AMC-TV Review
Box Office Mojo Domestic Standings
Austin Chronicle Review (1981)












THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE

IMDb Listing
Movie Trivia











If you’re interested, “Comin’ At Ya!” is apparently available on DVD and comes with glasses. I read a review online which stated that the glasses seem to place the red and green lenses over the opposite eye as the glasses that were used in the past with 3-D films. The review warns against reversing these since it defeats the 3-D process. Of course, if you remember seeing the film in a theater you’ll remember that the lenses were polarized and dark in color.

FROM THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Thanks to Bill's longtime friend (since the Dean Street days), Michael Groob, the following appeared in the Hollywood Reporter on April 19:

A funeral mass will be offered Friday in Doylestown, Pa., for Bill Bukowski, a film technician whose development of the Optimax III system was instrumental in a revival of 3-D cinema in the early 1980s. He died late last month at age 54 after a fall at his home in North Hollywood, Calif.

Bukowski served as 3-D technical supervisor for the spaghetti-style Western “Comin’ At Ya!” (1981) and “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (1983), starring Steve Guttenberg. He edited numerous trailers and worked as an assistant director and sound technician.

Michael has also contributed the following pictures of Bill - first with Michael in 1978 and Bill alone in 2003.

THANK YOU

Perhaps you sent a lovely card, or sat upon a chair.
Perhaps you sent us beautiful flowers. If so, we saw them there.
Perhaps you spoke the kindest words that any friend could say.
Perhaps you were not there at all, just thought of us that day.
Whatever you did to console our hearts,
We thank you so much, whatever your part.

On behalf of my family, I would like to thank everyone who called or emailed, visited the funeral home in Brooklyn and/or attended the funeral in Pennsylvania.

REST IN PEACE

HIS JOURNEY'S JUST BEGUN

(I received a sympathy card in the mail the other day and this poem appeared on the cover. I found it comforting, so I thought I'd share it.)

Don't think of him as gone away.
his journey's just begun,
life holds so many facets -
this earth is only one.

Just think of him as resting
from the sorrows and the tears
in a place of warmth and comfort
where there are no days or years.

Think how he must be wishing
that we could know today
how nothing but our sadness
can really pass away.

And think of him as living
in the hearts of those he touched...
for nothing loved is ever lost
and he was loved so much.

MEMORIAL SERVICE AND FUNERAL INFORMATION UPDATE

Here is more information on the funeral on Friday:

A bus will depart from the funeral home at 9:00 AM on Friday morning. If you plan on taking the bus, please forward an email no later than 10:00 AM on Wednesday morning, to:

bukowskibigbukowski@yahoo.com

Also, please be at the funeral home by 8:30.

The funeral mass at the Shrine Of Our Lady Of Czestochowa will be in the cemetery chapel. It is scheduled for 11:00 AM.

If you are driving to the mass / interment, you can find directions here:

Driving directions to the 'Shrine Of Our Lady Of Czestochowa'

Please note that there was an error in the previous post concerning the afternoon hours of visitation at the funeral home on Thursday. The correct afternoon hours are 2:00-4:00 PM.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to forward them via email and I will answer promptly.

MEMORIAL SERVICE AND FUNERAL

Here is some information about Bill's memorial service and funeral. Bill's ashes will be interred at the Shrine Of Our Lady Of Czestochowa, in Doylestown, PA. The following link should help you locate the shrine:

Shrine Map & Directions


If you need anymore information (phone number, etc.) about the Shrine, here is the link:

Our Lady Of Czestochowa Shrine


If you are coming to New York, the memorial service will be held on Thursday evening at the Stobierski-Lucas Gardenview funeral home. Here is a link that should help you locate the funeral home:

Funeral Home


At this point, an exact times is not known for the service at the Shrine. I would imagine that it will happen sometime between 11:00-1:00. More information will be available next week. As for the memorial service in Brooklyn, the funeral home is open from 2-5:00 PM and from 7-9:00 PM.

WILLIAM ALFRED BUKOWSKI 1952-2006

This blog is dedicated to the memory of my brother, Bill Bukowski, who suffered an accidental death in his bedroom in North Hollywood, California, on or around March 19, 2006. His body was found on Friday, March 24.

As time passes, I hope that you will not only continue to visit this site but that you also share your memories of my brother with the other visitors. No memory is insignificant, so please share.

I hope to publish photos or entries at least twice a week. Please feel free to comment on any of the entries that are posted. However, if you have a detailed story, memory, or photo that you would like to share (and I really hope you do), please forward it (or them) to:

bukowskibigbukowski@yahoo.com

If you have photos that you would like to share but do not have them in electronic format, please drop me an email and I will provide an address. I promise to return all photos.

Thanks in advance for helping me keep the memory of my brother alive.