A Hollywood tragedy

Let's pause for a moment to think of director Bob Clark and his family. Clark and his son were killed in an automobile accident a few days ago, hit head-on by a (alleged) drunk driver in California.

Clark is a favorite of mine, not just because he made some pretty good films, but because he may have one of the most unique - I know, what a horrible turn of phrase - ah, most unique oeuvres of any director I've ever heard of.

After all, how many people could direct these three completely different cult classics:

"A Christmas Story,"a cult favorite family holiday classic known for the kid who sticks his tongue to the metal pole and the immortal "You'll shoot your eye out" line.

"Black Christmas,"a very different kind of holiday movie, a horror classic that's one of the truly visionary forerunners of the "slasher" genre.

"Porky's,"the father of all cheesy toilet-humor sex comedies, and possibly the strangest statement on anti-Semitism ever ("It's not 'kite,' it's 'kike!' 'K-I-K-E,' kike! You know, you're too stupid to even be a good bigot!").

And that's not even mentioning another film with plenty of fans, "Turk 182,"and one of the all-time great titles: "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things."

Rest in peace, sir.