In the opening scene of the 1957 western The Tall T, a man on horseback is spotted from afar by a boy and his father, prompting the elder homesteader to fetch his rifle. The audience shares their uncertainty, seeing this figure through a telephoto lens from a great distance, but when the stranger gets closer to the ranch, he’s recognized by the boy as an ally.
It’s the film’s hero, Pat Brennan (Randolph Scott), a fellow rancher, and the gun is therefore set aside. The Tall T is the first in a series of westerns grouped under the name Ranown (after producer Harry Joe Brown and Scott’s production company) that director Budd Boetticher made in the late ’50s and concluded with the release of Comanche Station in 1960, and in this inaugural scene, Boetticher establishes a crucial theme and visual pattern of this spiritually unified set of potboilers.
It’s the film’s hero, Pat Brennan (Randolph Scott), a fellow rancher, and the gun is therefore set aside. The Tall T is the first in a series of westerns grouped under the name Ranown (after producer Harry Joe Brown and Scott’s production company) that director Budd Boetticher made in the late ’50s and concluded with the release of Comanche Station in 1960, and in this inaugural scene, Boetticher establishes a crucial theme and visual pattern of this spiritually unified set of potboilers.
- 10/2/2023
- by Carson Lund
- Slant Magazine
Mafia-related murders. An improbable constellation of 20th-century icons. Belated accessibility to the public after decades of obscurity. Are we talking about the JFK assassination or Winter Kills, William Richert’s 1979 film inspired by it?
Adapted from Richard Condon’s 1974 novel, the film flamed out on its initial release for many of the usual reasons: a troubled production, the short-sightedness of critics, and a willingness on the part of the filmmakers to potentially confuse, alienate, or offend audiences of the day. But even if you don’t go in with a conspiratorial mindset, one viewing of this riotously entertaining, chillingly perceptive film could leave you wondering if some larger force is at play, protecting the targets of this should-be New Hollywood classic by keeping it in the dark after all this time.
The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Unable to secure...
Adapted from Richard Condon’s 1974 novel, the film flamed out on its initial release for many of the usual reasons: a troubled production, the short-sightedness of critics, and a willingness on the part of the filmmakers to potentially confuse, alienate, or offend audiences of the day. But even if you don’t go in with a conspiratorial mindset, one viewing of this riotously entertaining, chillingly perceptive film could leave you wondering if some larger force is at play, protecting the targets of this should-be New Hollywood classic by keeping it in the dark after all this time.
The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Unable to secure...
- 8/8/2023
- by Brad Hanford
- Slant Magazine
"I met the true assassin of my brother." This restoration and re-release of Winter Kills is presented by author/filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, a longtime fan and champion of the movie. Film Forum will play a 35mm restoration of the 70s comedy thriller Winter Kills in August. It's a spin on JFK: the younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter. There's also more: "the story behind Winter Kills is as convoluted, mysterious and downright incredulous as the movie itself. The two main producers went bankrupt – one was later sent to a federal prison for drug trafficking, the other tied to his bed by a creditor and shot in the head – and production was suspended for two years while" the director found more money. Camera op John Bailey, who oversaw the restoration,...
- 7/21/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Jim Brown, the NFL Hall of Famer and Civil Rights activist who turned to acting and appeared in films and TV shows ranging from The Dirty Dozen and I Spy to Draft Day, Mars Attacks! and The A-Team, died Thursday night in Los Angeles. His wife, Monique Brown, said in an Instagram post that he died peacefully, but she did not provide a cause.
Brown is considered among the greatest football players of all time. Drafted sixth overall in 1957 by the Cleveland Browns out of Syracuse University, his bruising running style redefined the running back position. As a rookie, he ran for 237 yards in a game against the Los Angeles Rams — a record that would stand until the 1970s.
Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries
Among his myriad NFL records and milestones, he was the first to top 100 career rushing touchdowns and set single-season and career rushing...
Brown is considered among the greatest football players of all time. Drafted sixth overall in 1957 by the Cleveland Browns out of Syracuse University, his bruising running style redefined the running back position. As a rookie, he ran for 237 yards in a game against the Los Angeles Rams — a record that would stand until the 1970s.
Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries
Among his myriad NFL records and milestones, he was the first to top 100 career rushing touchdowns and set single-season and career rushing...
- 5/19/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Although “Schmigadoon!” is now campaigning for this year’s Emmys as a scripted variety series, its cast members can still be nominated as comedic actors. According to Gold Derby’s odds, the performer most likely to score a supporting bid for the Apple TV Plus program’s second season is Jane Krakowski, who plays the show-stopping role of singing lawyer Bobby Flanagan. With Best Comedy Supporting Actress notices for “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” already under her belt, she could now make Emmys history as the first actress to be nominated in the same category for regular performances on three different continuing series.
SEEApple TV+ musical-comedy hit ‘Schmigadoon!’ moves from comedy series to scripted variety series category
Krakowski, who earned her four “30 Rock” nominations between 2009 and 2013 and her sole “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” bid in 2015, could now become one of the 12 most-recognized actresses in her category. She is currently...
SEEApple TV+ musical-comedy hit ‘Schmigadoon!’ moves from comedy series to scripted variety series category
Krakowski, who earned her four “30 Rock” nominations between 2009 and 2013 and her sole “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” bid in 2015, could now become one of the 12 most-recognized actresses in her category. She is currently...
- 5/2/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Western movie star John Wayne frequently rode a horse to complete his cowboy image. However, he grew an affinity for one animal in particular. Wayne went out of his way to ensure that he could ride the same horse named Dollar across seven of his movies.
‘True Grit’ (1969) L-r: John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn and Glen Campbell as La Boeuf | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
The first time that Wayne worked with Dollar the horse on the silver screen was in 1969’s True Grit, directed by Henry Hathaway.
A 14-year-old named Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) seeks out U.S. Marshal “Rooster” Cogburn (Wayne), a man of “true grit.” He’ll need every ounce of it on a mission to track down a hired hand named Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) after he killed Mattie’s father.
Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) joins them on the hunt, looking to bring Tom...
‘True Grit’ (1969) L-r: John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn and Glen Campbell as La Boeuf | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
The first time that Wayne worked with Dollar the horse on the silver screen was in 1969’s True Grit, directed by Henry Hathaway.
A 14-year-old named Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) seeks out U.S. Marshal “Rooster” Cogburn (Wayne), a man of “true grit.” He’ll need every ounce of it on a mission to track down a hired hand named Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) after he killed Mattie’s father.
Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) joins them on the hunt, looking to bring Tom...
- 3/23/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
James Arness starred as lawman Marshall Matt Dillon on "Gunsmoke" for an incredible run of 20 seasons from 1955-1975. Until "The Simpsons" surpassed it in 2018, the epic series dramatizing the American West was the longest running television show in history. Originally, John Wayne was offered the role but turned it down because he had no interest in committing to a weekly TV series. If he had accepted the part, it's incredibly unlikely the series would have ever run that long, and more TV movies of "Gunsmoke" probably would have hit the airwaves instead.
During the first couple of years of "Gunsmoke," filming took place at the legendary Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio, one of the premiere Western movie towns of the 1950s with multiple locations and a working train helping to fill in for the real Dodge City. Arness received a Walk of Western Stars award presented to him at Melody...
During the first couple of years of "Gunsmoke," filming took place at the legendary Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio, one of the premiere Western movie towns of the 1950s with multiple locations and a working train helping to fill in for the real Dodge City. Arness received a Walk of Western Stars award presented to him at Melody...
- 3/18/2023
- by Drew Tinnin
- Slash Film
When producer Mike Frankovich set out to make "The Shootist," he did not initially pursue John Wayne for the role of J.B. Brooks, a lawman-turned-gunfighter who discovers he is dying from cancer. Given the elegiac tone of Glendon Swarthout's novel, and Wayne's real-life battle with cancer, you'd think he would've been at the top of Frankovich's list. Alas, Wayne's health was in steep decline; he'd struggled through the shoot of 1975's "Rooster Cogburn," and was likely not up to the task of one last leading-man part. But when top Hollywood stars like Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, George C. Scott, and Gene Hackman passed on the project, the universe seemed to be telling the producer there was only one man for this particular job.
Frankovich finally caved and offered the part to Wayne, who not only accepted but proved to be a boon to the film's casting prospects.
Frankovich finally caved and offered the part to Wayne, who not only accepted but proved to be a boon to the film's casting prospects.
- 10/12/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
This Civil War thriller has so much truth to say about War, Patriotism and combatant-vs.-civilian terror that we can hardly believe it was released in 1954. It’s based on a true event from 1864, a daring undercover mission that hit the Union far away from the conventional fighting. Van Heflin is the vengeance-seeking advance agent, Anne Bancroft a war widow, Richard Boone a maimed Union veteran and Lee Marvin a loose cannon with a hair trigger. The anti-war message is stronger than anything from the Vietnam years! The 20th-Fox release is not on quality home video, and is in great need of restoration.
The Raid
Not on Home Video
CineSavant Revival Screening Review
1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 83 min.
Starring: Van Heflin, Anne Bancroft, Richard Boone, Lee Marvin, Tommy Rettig, Peter Graves, Douglas Spencer, Paul Cavanagh, Will Wright, James Best, John Dierkes, Helen Ford, Lee Aaker, Claude Akins, John Beradino, Robert Easton,...
The Raid
Not on Home Video
CineSavant Revival Screening Review
1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 83 min.
Starring: Van Heflin, Anne Bancroft, Richard Boone, Lee Marvin, Tommy Rettig, Peter Graves, Douglas Spencer, Paul Cavanagh, Will Wright, James Best, John Dierkes, Helen Ford, Lee Aaker, Claude Akins, John Beradino, Robert Easton,...
- 10/8/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Henry Silva, an actor with a striking look who often played villains and had credits in hundreds of films including “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Manchurian Candidate,” died of natural causes Wednesday at the Motion Picture Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif., his son Scott confirmed. He was 95.
One of Silva’s most memorable roles came in John Frankenheimer’s classic thriller “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962), in which he played Chunjin, the Korean houseboy for Laurence Harvey’s Raymond Shaw — and an agent for the Communists — who engages in a thrilling, well-choreographed martial arts battle with Frank Sinatra’s Major Bennett Marco in Shaw’s New York apartment.
Silva appeared in a number of other movies with Sinatra, including the original, Rat Pack-populated “Ocean’s Eleven” (1960) with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., where he was one of the 11 thieves, and 1962 Western “Sergeants 3.”
His death was...
One of Silva’s most memorable roles came in John Frankenheimer’s classic thriller “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962), in which he played Chunjin, the Korean houseboy for Laurence Harvey’s Raymond Shaw — and an agent for the Communists — who engages in a thrilling, well-choreographed martial arts battle with Frank Sinatra’s Major Bennett Marco in Shaw’s New York apartment.
Silva appeared in a number of other movies with Sinatra, including the original, Rat Pack-populated “Ocean’s Eleven” (1960) with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., where he was one of the 11 thieves, and 1962 Western “Sergeants 3.”
His death was...
- 9/16/2022
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
The year was 1976, and John Wayne was cheesed but good at King Kong.
The gargantuan ape with a fatal penchant for blonde starlets was all the rage at Paramount, and for good reason. The studio had sunk 24 million (equivalent to 124 million in 2022) into the John Guillermin-directed remake, and desperately needed it to hit the box-office jackpot when it opened in December. Though studios have huge marketing departments that, when professionally run, know how to manage multiple releases at once, Wayne felt the film that was to be his big-screen swan song, "The Shootist," was getting ignored by Paramount's advertising team. And it was all because of that big, stupid monkey.
The Duke Vs. King Kong
According to Scott Eyman's "John Wayne: The Life and the Legend," Wayne groused to his former secretary and then present companion Pat Stacy, "Those people are putting all their damn time into King Kong.
The gargantuan ape with a fatal penchant for blonde starlets was all the rage at Paramount, and for good reason. The studio had sunk 24 million (equivalent to 124 million in 2022) into the John Guillermin-directed remake, and desperately needed it to hit the box-office jackpot when it opened in December. Though studios have huge marketing departments that, when professionally run, know how to manage multiple releases at once, Wayne felt the film that was to be his big-screen swan song, "The Shootist," was getting ignored by Paramount's advertising team. And it was all because of that big, stupid monkey.
The Duke Vs. King Kong
According to Scott Eyman's "John Wayne: The Life and the Legend," Wayne groused to his former secretary and then present companion Pat Stacy, "Those people are putting all their damn time into King Kong.
- 8/22/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
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By Fred Blosser
“Binge-watching” is a relatively recent addition to our vocabulary, thanks to 24/7 streaming TV channels, but the concept itself isn’t new. On summer weekends in the 1970s, drive-in theatres offered the same opportunity for immersing yourself in cheap, all-night entertainment. There, you’d binge not on multiple episodes of “Peacemaker” or “Walking Dead” but instead on their Disco-era equivalent: triple or quadruple features of B-Westerns, soft-core sex comedies starring ex-Playboy Centerfolds, Kung-fu imports, and populist vigilante dramas.
Back then, one film on the bill in scratchy, tinny celluloid might have been “God’s Gun,” starring Lee Van Cleef. In the 1976 Western, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, an outlaw gang led by Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) sweeps into town, demolishes the saloon owned by pretty Jenny (Sybil Danning), and kills a man at the poker table. Jenny is furious when...
By Fred Blosser
“Binge-watching” is a relatively recent addition to our vocabulary, thanks to 24/7 streaming TV channels, but the concept itself isn’t new. On summer weekends in the 1970s, drive-in theatres offered the same opportunity for immersing yourself in cheap, all-night entertainment. There, you’d binge not on multiple episodes of “Peacemaker” or “Walking Dead” but instead on their Disco-era equivalent: triple or quadruple features of B-Westerns, soft-core sex comedies starring ex-Playboy Centerfolds, Kung-fu imports, and populist vigilante dramas.
Back then, one film on the bill in scratchy, tinny celluloid might have been “God’s Gun,” starring Lee Van Cleef. In the 1976 Western, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, an outlaw gang led by Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) sweeps into town, demolishes the saloon owned by pretty Jenny (Sybil Danning), and kills a man at the poker table. Jenny is furious when...
- 2/16/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
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By Fred Blosser
We moviegoers are a caring, law-abiding community, or at least we’re assumed to be, but regardless of how timid or tender-hearted we are, producers know that we’re usually pushovers for movies about Big Heists. As long as the crime is perpetrated against an institution like a bank, a multinational corporation, or a casino, and no person is threatened or injured, the protagonists’ antisocial behavior becomes an abstraction. We’re free, vicariously, to admire their ingenuity and tenacity as they carry out their complicated scheme. But what if the story is based on a big payout that directly endangers an innocent person? Then it becomes harder to sell the concept as escapist entertainment, as journeyman filmmakers Stanley Kubrick and Hubert Cornfield discovered in the mid-1950s, when they both became interested, independently, in a 1953 novel by Lionel White.
By Fred Blosser
We moviegoers are a caring, law-abiding community, or at least we’re assumed to be, but regardless of how timid or tender-hearted we are, producers know that we’re usually pushovers for movies about Big Heists. As long as the crime is perpetrated against an institution like a bank, a multinational corporation, or a casino, and no person is threatened or injured, the protagonists’ antisocial behavior becomes an abstraction. We’re free, vicariously, to admire their ingenuity and tenacity as they carry out their complicated scheme. But what if the story is based on a big payout that directly endangers an innocent person? Then it becomes harder to sell the concept as escapist entertainment, as journeyman filmmakers Stanley Kubrick and Hubert Cornfield discovered in the mid-1950s, when they both became interested, independently, in a 1953 novel by Lionel White.
- 5/22/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Hubert Cornfield’s smoothly directed, moody kidnapping story is mysterious, engaging and well acted, but opts for an anti-thriller vibe with a curiously unsatisfying ending. Was this really the plan, or did the irksomely capricious Marlon Brando just not want to cooperate with the director? Brando is terrific anyway. The well-cast Rita Moreno, Richard Boone and Pamela Franklin are short-changed by directorial and editorial decisions that don’t give us enough of a purchase on the characters. The overcast weather on the French coast is a plus, but not the director’s choice of a downbeat, arty finish.
The Night of the Following Day
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date May 25, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Marlon Brando, Richard Boone, Rita Moreno, Pamela Franklin,
Jess Hahn, Gérard Buhr, Hugues Wanner, Jacques Marin, Al Lettieri.
Cinematography: Willy Kurant
Film Editor: Gordon Pilkington
Art Direction Jean Boulet
Original...
The Night of the Following Day
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date May 25, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Marlon Brando, Richard Boone, Rita Moreno, Pamela Franklin,
Jess Hahn, Gérard Buhr, Hugues Wanner, Jacques Marin, Al Lettieri.
Cinematography: Willy Kurant
Film Editor: Gordon Pilkington
Art Direction Jean Boulet
Original...
- 5/1/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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By John M. Whalen
In “Wings of the Hawk” (1953), Van Heflin stars as Irish Gallagher, an American mining for gold down in Mexico. He and his partner Marco (Mario Siletti) are ripped off by local military ruler Coronel Paco Ruiz (George Dolenz), who takes over the mine and kills Marco. Irish barely manages to escape on horseback and is rescued by insurrectionists led by Raquel Noriega (Julia Adams), who gets a bullet in the shoulder for her trouble. Irish patches her up in exchange for his freedom and romance rears its ugly head. Jealousy also flares when revolutionary leader Arturo Torres (Rudolpho Acosta), who had been her lover, sees what’s going on. Enter Pascual Orozco who asks for Arturo’s help in taking Ciudad Juarez. They’ll need $5,000 to buy 200 rifles but the revolutionaries have no money. However, they come up with a brainstorm.
By John M. Whalen
In “Wings of the Hawk” (1953), Van Heflin stars as Irish Gallagher, an American mining for gold down in Mexico. He and his partner Marco (Mario Siletti) are ripped off by local military ruler Coronel Paco Ruiz (George Dolenz), who takes over the mine and kills Marco. Irish barely manages to escape on horseback and is rescued by insurrectionists led by Raquel Noriega (Julia Adams), who gets a bullet in the shoulder for her trouble. Irish patches her up in exchange for his freedom and romance rears its ugly head. Jealousy also flares when revolutionary leader Arturo Torres (Rudolpho Acosta), who had been her lover, sees what’s going on. Enter Pascual Orozco who asks for Arturo’s help in taking Ciudad Juarez. They’ll need $5,000 to buy 200 rifles but the revolutionaries have no money. However, they come up with a brainstorm.
- 3/5/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Viavision’s first deluxe Film Noir boxed set gives us four titles that emphasize star power — Glenn Ford, Ray Milland, Kirk Douglas and Lee J. Cobb. The Australian release includes three Columbia titles and the home video premiere of a rare Paramount picture. Which ones are core Noir and which are merely ‘noir adjacent?’ The special extras invest in a quartet of audio commentaries from the top experts and Film Noir Foundation creators Eddie Muller and Alan K. Rode. There’s nothing that pair doesn’t know about these pictures.
Essential Film Noir Collection 1
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 18, 19, 20, 21
1947-1957 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 366 min. / Street Date October 28, 2020 / Available from Viavision [Imprint] / 149.99
Starring: Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan; Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell; Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, Joseph Wiseman, Lee Grant; Lee J. Cobb, Richard Boone, Kerwin Mathews.
Directed by Richard Wallace, John Farrow, William Wyler, Vincent Sherman
The Australian disc boutique...
Essential Film Noir Collection 1
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 18, 19, 20, 21
1947-1957 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 366 min. / Street Date October 28, 2020 / Available from Viavision [Imprint] / 149.99
Starring: Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan; Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell; Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, Joseph Wiseman, Lee Grant; Lee J. Cobb, Richard Boone, Kerwin Mathews.
Directed by Richard Wallace, John Farrow, William Wyler, Vincent Sherman
The Australian disc boutique...
- 1/16/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Join Joe Friday and Frank Smith as they make a case against the rotten gangland crooks that moiderized Dub Taylor with a shotgun, point blank! See detectives loiter about while smart remarks and Big music stings provide the excitement! The big-screen version of the hit TV show has a surfeit of guest crooks, unhappy women, and a script that wants to grant cops the right to harass and wiretap whoever they wish without restraint. Jack Webb’s ‘interesting’ ideas of script, performance and direction are really… interesting. The Joe Friday-fest comes with an informative commentary by Toby Roan, laying down plenty of Dragnet and Jack Webb history I didn’t know, not ‘just the facts.’
Dragnet
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:75 widescreen + 1:37 unmatted / 88 min. / Street Date November 17, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jack Webb, Ben Alexander, Richard Boone, Ann Robinson, Stacy Harris, Virginia Gregg, Victor Perrin, Dub Taylor,...
Dragnet
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:75 widescreen + 1:37 unmatted / 88 min. / Street Date November 17, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jack Webb, Ben Alexander, Richard Boone, Ann Robinson, Stacy Harris, Virginia Gregg, Victor Perrin, Dub Taylor,...
- 11/7/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Region B Blu-ray-capable noir fans have a formidable six-pack of noir crime pictures on tap: a WW2 espionage thriller, two caper pix and the show that launched the notion of a hit man who’s both charismatic and psychopathic. The list of leading actors is stellar as well: Glenn Ford, Kim Novak, Eli Wallach, Brian Keith, James Whitmore and Nina Foch. Do you like extras? Like to read about the movies you see? No video extra has been left behind, and Pi’s big yellow box contains a 120-page book. Plus — several newly remastered Three Stooges shorts. Don’t forget, Noir and Stooges go together like sanity and American politics!
Columbia Noir #1
Region B Blu-ray
Escape in the Fog, The Undercover Man, Drive a Crooked Road, 5 Against the House, The Garment Jungle, The Lineup
Powerhouse Indicator
1945-1958 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen, 1:37 Academy / 8 hours, 11 min. / Street Date November 30, 2020 / available...
Columbia Noir #1
Region B Blu-ray
Escape in the Fog, The Undercover Man, Drive a Crooked Road, 5 Against the House, The Garment Jungle, The Lineup
Powerhouse Indicator
1945-1958 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen, 1:37 Academy / 8 hours, 11 min. / Street Date November 30, 2020 / available...
- 11/7/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In a world where a Democrat presidential candidate can insult a Us voter by calling them a "...lying, dog-faced 'Pony Soldier'...", referencing the 1953 John Wayne western "Hondo", the title "Pony Soldier" was actually a 1952 feature starring Tyrone Power as 'Constable Duncan MacDonald' of the 'North-West Mounted Police':
"...in 1876, the 'North-West Mounted Police' send 'Constable Duncan MacDonald' (Power) and 'Blackfoot' scout 'Natayo Smith' (Thomas Gomez) to negotiate with the 'Cree' to sign 'Treaty 6' with the Brit Crown. Initially hostile, the Cree are influenced by a mirage they mistake for the power of 'Queen Victoria'. In addition to negotiating with the Cree, MacDonald rescues hostages 'Jess Calhoun' (Robert Horton) and 'Emerald Neely' (Penny Edwards), arrests a killer and adopts a Cree son (Anthony Earl Numkena)..."
Cast also includes Cameron Mitchell, Howard Petrie, Stuart Randall, Richard Boone, Frank deKova and Earl Holliman, with ending narration by Michael Rennie ("The Day The Earth Stood Still...
"...in 1876, the 'North-West Mounted Police' send 'Constable Duncan MacDonald' (Power) and 'Blackfoot' scout 'Natayo Smith' (Thomas Gomez) to negotiate with the 'Cree' to sign 'Treaty 6' with the Brit Crown. Initially hostile, the Cree are influenced by a mirage they mistake for the power of 'Queen Victoria'. In addition to negotiating with the Cree, MacDonald rescues hostages 'Jess Calhoun' (Robert Horton) and 'Emerald Neely' (Penny Edwards), arrests a killer and adopts a Cree son (Anthony Earl Numkena)..."
Cast also includes Cameron Mitchell, Howard Petrie, Stuart Randall, Richard Boone, Frank deKova and Earl Holliman, with ending narration by Michael Rennie ("The Day The Earth Stood Still...
- 2/10/2020
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
One of the more satisfying costume adventures of the ‘sixties is also one of its star’s best vehicles. Charlton Heston was born to play bigger-than-life historical types, and his Norman knight in this film has the benefit of an intelligent screenplay and a terrific supporting ensemble. This hero’s armor doesn’t shine — he’s more than willing to risk everything to possess a pagan woman with whom he’s become infatuated. Many would-be epics want us to think that the charms of unlikely damsels like Virginia Mayo and Claudette Colbert changed the course of history, but this show makes it seem more than possible. Plus, it features great action scenes and a terrific music score by Jerome Moross.
The War Lord
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 123 min. / Special Edition / Street Date January 21, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth, Maurice Evans, Guy Stockwell,...
The War Lord
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 123 min. / Special Edition / Street Date January 21, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth, Maurice Evans, Guy Stockwell,...
- 1/14/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Cinematographer Adam Greenberg, who earned an Oscar nomination for his work on James Cameron’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” began to learn the craft of filmmaking working in the Israeli Army’s photo section.
Landing a technician job in a one-room production lab in Tel Aviv, he used his downtime wisely. “Reading old copies of Cinematographer magazine was my training,” says Greenberg (born Grinberg), who wound up in the Middle East at age 3, after fleeing from the Nazi war machine in his native Krakow in 1942 with his two sisters. “The articles taught me how to shoot newsreels.” Using “short ends” — partial rolls of unexposed film stock left in a camera — he applied techniques he learned from the magazine and processed the film himself.
Eventually earning an assistant’s job, Greenberg interned on David Perlov’s seminal 1963 short documentary “In Jerusalem.” That led to work on Israel Becker’s far-out Hebrew-language musical comedy “The Flying Matchmaker.
Landing a technician job in a one-room production lab in Tel Aviv, he used his downtime wisely. “Reading old copies of Cinematographer magazine was my training,” says Greenberg (born Grinberg), who wound up in the Middle East at age 3, after fleeing from the Nazi war machine in his native Krakow in 1942 with his two sisters. “The articles taught me how to shoot newsreels.” Using “short ends” — partial rolls of unexposed film stock left in a camera — he applied techniques he learned from the magazine and processed the film himself.
Eventually earning an assistant’s job, Greenberg interned on David Perlov’s seminal 1963 short documentary “In Jerusalem.” That led to work on Israel Becker’s far-out Hebrew-language musical comedy “The Flying Matchmaker.
- 11/29/2019
- by James C. Udel
- Variety Film + TV
Man Without a Star
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1955/ 2.00:1 / 89 min.
Starring Kirk Douglas, William Campbell, Jeanne Crain, Claire Trevor
Cinematography by Russell Metty
Directed by King Vidor
King Vidor, the director behind the bucolic Kansas sequences in The Wizard of Oz and the histrionics of Duel in the Sun, has it both ways in 1955’s Man Without a Star starring Kirk Douglas.
Douglas follows his director’s lead – acting primarily with his teeth, the eager to please ham gives a performance almost as broad as his wayward sailor in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But as screenwriter Borden Chase slowly pulls back the masks on his characters, Douglas settles into a more reasonable approximation of a human being.
Closing in on 40, the irrepressible show-off plays a wandering cowpoke named Dempsey Rae who follows constellations for clues to his destiny and so far he’s come up empty – the “man without a star.
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1955/ 2.00:1 / 89 min.
Starring Kirk Douglas, William Campbell, Jeanne Crain, Claire Trevor
Cinematography by Russell Metty
Directed by King Vidor
King Vidor, the director behind the bucolic Kansas sequences in The Wizard of Oz and the histrionics of Duel in the Sun, has it both ways in 1955’s Man Without a Star starring Kirk Douglas.
Douglas follows his director’s lead – acting primarily with his teeth, the eager to please ham gives a performance almost as broad as his wayward sailor in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But as screenwriter Borden Chase slowly pulls back the masks on his characters, Douglas settles into a more reasonable approximation of a human being.
Closing in on 40, the irrepressible show-off plays a wandering cowpoke named Dempsey Rae who follows constellations for clues to his destiny and so far he’s come up empty – the “man without a star.
- 8/27/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Irony of ironies, Franklin Schaffner’s 1965 epic, The War Lord, was based on a play called The Lovers. Stalwart Charlton Heston plays a medieval knight tasked with defending a Druid village where he promptly falls in love with local lass Rosemary Forsyth. Richard Boone co-stars along with Maurice Evans who would reunite with Schaffner and Heston under far different circumstances in 1968’s Planet of the Apes.
The post The War Lord appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post The War Lord appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 10/15/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Bid welcome to five westerns guaranteed to make one fall in love with the genre all over again. Each stars the ultra-virtuous man of the West Randolph Scott, pitted against some of the most colorful antagonists on the range: Richard Boone, Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins. Indicator’s extras constitute the best collection of research materials ever assembled on the underrated director Budd Boetticher.
Five Tall Tales: Budd Boetticher & Randolph Scott At Columbia, 1957-1960
The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, Comanche Station
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
Color / 1:85 and 2:35 widescreen / 380 min. / / Street Date May 28, 2018 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £42.99
Starring: Randolph Scott.
Leading Ladies: Maureen O’Sullivan, Karen Steele (2), Valerie French, Nancy Gates.
Noble Villains: Richard Boone, John Carroll, Craig Stevens, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins.
Hopeful Sidekicks: James Best, James Coburn, Skip Homeier (2), Henry Silva, Noah Beery Jr., L.Q. Jones, Richard Rust.
Five Tall Tales: Budd Boetticher & Randolph Scott At Columbia, 1957-1960
The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, Comanche Station
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
Color / 1:85 and 2:35 widescreen / 380 min. / / Street Date May 28, 2018 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £42.99
Starring: Randolph Scott.
Leading Ladies: Maureen O’Sullivan, Karen Steele (2), Valerie French, Nancy Gates.
Noble Villains: Richard Boone, John Carroll, Craig Stevens, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins.
Hopeful Sidekicks: James Best, James Coburn, Skip Homeier (2), Henry Silva, Noah Beery Jr., L.Q. Jones, Richard Rust.
- 5/22/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Pity the poor exhibitors in 1953 that splurged on 3-D equipment, only to see the payroll soar and the profits fall. Nope, Anamorphic Widescreen was the innovation that swept the world. It proved perfect for stories with scenic grandeur, such as Fox’s very early mini-epic shot on Florida locations. Thanks to Bernard Herrmann’s impressive music score, this one’s not going away.
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1953 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date September 19, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, Gilbert Roland, J. Carrol Naish, Richard Boone, Peter Graves, Jay Novello, Angela Clarke, Jacques Aubuchon, Harry Carey Jr., Gloria Gordon.
Cinematography: Edward Cronjager
Film Editor: William Reynolds
Original Music: Bernard Herrmann
Written by A.I. Bezzerides
Produced by Robert Bassler
Directed by Robert Webb
Four years have passed since the now dormant 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives DVD-r label stealth-released a surprise...
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1953 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date September 19, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, Gilbert Roland, J. Carrol Naish, Richard Boone, Peter Graves, Jay Novello, Angela Clarke, Jacques Aubuchon, Harry Carey Jr., Gloria Gordon.
Cinematography: Edward Cronjager
Film Editor: William Reynolds
Original Music: Bernard Herrmann
Written by A.I. Bezzerides
Produced by Robert Bassler
Directed by Robert Webb
Four years have passed since the now dormant 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives DVD-r label stealth-released a surprise...
- 10/3/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
As Scream Factory continues to release pared-down catalogue titles on their now five-year-old label, the brand keeps expanding to include all different kinds of movies. Once known for releasing deluxe special editions of horror fan favorites, the company has diversified over the last half decade and begun releasing new films (as part of their deal with IFC midnight), unknown (and sometimes previously unavailable) cult films, a handful of classics, and even their own in-house productions. This last batch of catalogue titles, the majority of which have been released with only minimum bonus features but new HD scans, continues to broaden the reach of the Scream Factory brand to include a range of titles from secretly successful ’70s sexploitation sci-fi to well-intentioned failures of the 1990s.
First up is the 1958 cult classic I Bury the Living, directed by Albert Band (father of low-budget horror legend Charles Band, who would go on...
First up is the 1958 cult classic I Bury the Living, directed by Albert Band (father of low-budget horror legend Charles Band, who would go on...
- 5/19/2017
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
I Bury The Living
Blu-ray
Shout! Factory
1958 / B&W / 1:85 / / 76 min. / Street Date April 25, 2017
Starring: Richard Boone, Theodore Bikel.
Cinematography: Frederick Gately
Film Editor: Frank Sullivan
Written by Louis Garfinkle
Produced by Albert Band, Louis Garfinkle
Directed by Albert Band
I Bury the Living implicates us in a primal childhood thought-crime… what if you stepped on a crack and really did break your mother’s back? What if simply wishing someone dead made it so? Guilt, pure and simple, gives this off–kilter 50’s chiller its lasting power.
The film boasts an off–kilter leading man as well with the crater-faced Richard Boone as Robert Kraft, a small town business man railroaded into managing the family run cemetery. To make matters worse, the perennially gloomy Kraft, already skittish about his disconcerting new position, is saddled with a decrepit, unnaturally chilly workplace watched over by an unnerving bit of decoration, an...
Blu-ray
Shout! Factory
1958 / B&W / 1:85 / / 76 min. / Street Date April 25, 2017
Starring: Richard Boone, Theodore Bikel.
Cinematography: Frederick Gately
Film Editor: Frank Sullivan
Written by Louis Garfinkle
Produced by Albert Band, Louis Garfinkle
Directed by Albert Band
I Bury the Living implicates us in a primal childhood thought-crime… what if you stepped on a crack and really did break your mother’s back? What if simply wishing someone dead made it so? Guilt, pure and simple, gives this off–kilter 50’s chiller its lasting power.
The film boasts an off–kilter leading man as well with the crater-faced Richard Boone as Robert Kraft, a small town business man railroaded into managing the family run cemetery. To make matters worse, the perennially gloomy Kraft, already skittish about his disconcerting new position, is saddled with a decrepit, unnaturally chilly workplace watched over by an unnerving bit of decoration, an...
- 4/29/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
A cemetery is the site of chills and thrills in Albert Band's I Bury the Living, and with Scream Factory releasing the 1958 horror film on Blu-ray beginning April 25th, we've been provided with three copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.
————
Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of I Bury the Living.
How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:
1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:
https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/
2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “I Bury the Living Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on May 1st. This contest is only open to those who...
————
Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of I Bury the Living.
How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:
1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:
https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/
2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “I Bury the Living Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on May 1st. This contest is only open to those who...
- 4/24/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
World War, a solemn vow, and a promise betrayed lead to a ‘night of the living war dead’ – all cooked up by the director of Napoleon, Abel Gance. The early, famed pacifist fantasy is back in near-perfect condition and restored to its full length. It’s a reworking, not a remake, of Gance’s 1919 silent classic.
J’accuse
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1938 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 120 min. / That They May Live; J’accuse: Fresque tragique des temps modernes vue et Réalisée par Abel Gance / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou, Jean-Max, Paul Amiot, Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcel Delaitre, Renée Devillers, Romuald Joubé, André Nox, Georges Rollin, Georges Saillard.
Cinematography Roger Hubert
Film Editor Madeleine Crétoile
Original Music Henri Verdun
Written by Abel Gance, Steve Passeur
Produced & Directed by Abel Gance
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Around 1973, UCLA film school professor Bob Epstein...
J’accuse
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1938 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 120 min. / That They May Live; J’accuse: Fresque tragique des temps modernes vue et Réalisée par Abel Gance / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou, Jean-Max, Paul Amiot, Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcel Delaitre, Renée Devillers, Romuald Joubé, André Nox, Georges Rollin, Georges Saillard.
Cinematography Roger Hubert
Film Editor Madeleine Crétoile
Original Music Henri Verdun
Written by Abel Gance, Steve Passeur
Produced & Directed by Abel Gance
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Around 1973, UCLA film school professor Bob Epstein...
- 11/19/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Randolph Scott's final 'Ranown' western is a minimalist masterpiece, an unusually gentle story about a great westerner on a forlorn romantic quest. It's also a showcase for the underrated Nancy Gates and Claude Akins, and a pleasure to watch in wide, wide CinemaScope. Comanche Station All-region Blu-ray Explosive Media / Alive 1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 74 min. / Street Date July 22, 2016 / Einer Gibt Nicht Auf / available at Amazon.de/ EUR14,99 Starring Randolph Scott, Nancy Gates, Claude Atkins, Skip Homeier, Richard Rust. Cinematography Charles Lawton Jr. Film Editor Edwin H. Bryant Music supervisor Mischa Balaleinikoff Written by Burt Kennedy Produced and Directed by Budd Boetticher
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
One must be careful when ordering Blu-ray discs of Hollywood films from overseas. Foreign distributors license American movies that the studios won't release here, but sometimes they don't have access to good video masters. In a few cases the films being offered are simply being pirated.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
One must be careful when ordering Blu-ray discs of Hollywood films from overseas. Foreign distributors license American movies that the studios won't release here, but sometimes they don't have access to good video masters. In a few cases the films being offered are simply being pirated.
- 9/12/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The 1961 MGM Western A Thunder of Drums has been released by the Warner Archives. The film was regarded as a standard oater in its day but has since built a loyal following who have been eager to have the movie available on the home video market. What sets A Thunder of Drums apart from many of the indistinguishable Westerns of the period is its downbeat storyline and intelligent script, which was clearly geared for adults as opposed to moppets. There's also the impressive cast: Richard Boone, George Hamilton, Charles Bronson, Arthur O'Connell, Richard Chamberlain and Slim Pickens among them.The film opens with a sequence that was very unsettling and shocking for its day: an Indian attack on a tranquil homestead. A little girl is forced to witness the gang rape and murders of her mother and teenage sister. The plot then shifts to the local fort where commandant Boone is overseeing an understaffed cavalry contingent that has to find and defeat the marauding tribe, which has already slaughtered numerous settlers and soldiers. The Indians are window dressing in the story: nameless, faceless adversaries who are not given any particular motivation for their savagery. (These was, remember, far less enlightened times and such conflicts were generally presented without nuance.)
George Hamilton is the by-the-book West Point graduate assigned to the fort as Boone's second-in-command. He gets a frosty reception from minute one. Boone tells him he doesn't meet the requirements of a seasoned officer who can survive in the hostile environment. The two men spend a good deal of their time in a psychological war of wills. Adding to Hamilton's discomfort is the discovery that his former lover, Luana Patten, is not only living at the remote outpost, but is engaged to one of his fellow officers. The two rekindle their own romance and this leads to scandalous and tragic results.
The film is based on a novel by popular Western writer James Warner Bellah and probably represents the career high water mark of director Joseph Newman, who was destined to toil for decades helming B movies. He gets vibrant performances from his cast. The ever-watchable Boone is in his predictably crusty mode, cynically second-guessing his officers and men, tossing out insults and sucking on an omnipresent stogie. Boone was so dominant in every role he played, one wonders why he never reached a higher status as a reliable box-office figure. Hamilton is in his standard pretty boy mode, but holds his own against macho men Boone and Charles Bronson, who is cast against type as a somewhat dim-witted character of low scruples. Singer Duane Eddy, who was a teenage pop star at the time, made his film debut here with a degree of fanfare, but it was obviously last minute stunt casting as Eddy is given virtually nothing to do except strum a few chords on his guitar. The film boasts some magnificent scenery and some rousing action sequences that are more realistic than those found in most Westerns of the time. A Thunder of Drums isn't art or even a great or important Western - but it is fine entertainment and the Warner Archive edition looks terrific. An original theatrical trailer is included.
Click Here To Order From The Cinema Retro Movie Store...
George Hamilton is the by-the-book West Point graduate assigned to the fort as Boone's second-in-command. He gets a frosty reception from minute one. Boone tells him he doesn't meet the requirements of a seasoned officer who can survive in the hostile environment. The two men spend a good deal of their time in a psychological war of wills. Adding to Hamilton's discomfort is the discovery that his former lover, Luana Patten, is not only living at the remote outpost, but is engaged to one of his fellow officers. The two rekindle their own romance and this leads to scandalous and tragic results.
The film is based on a novel by popular Western writer James Warner Bellah and probably represents the career high water mark of director Joseph Newman, who was destined to toil for decades helming B movies. He gets vibrant performances from his cast. The ever-watchable Boone is in his predictably crusty mode, cynically second-guessing his officers and men, tossing out insults and sucking on an omnipresent stogie. Boone was so dominant in every role he played, one wonders why he never reached a higher status as a reliable box-office figure. Hamilton is in his standard pretty boy mode, but holds his own against macho men Boone and Charles Bronson, who is cast against type as a somewhat dim-witted character of low scruples. Singer Duane Eddy, who was a teenage pop star at the time, made his film debut here with a degree of fanfare, but it was obviously last minute stunt casting as Eddy is given virtually nothing to do except strum a few chords on his guitar. The film boasts some magnificent scenery and some rousing action sequences that are more realistic than those found in most Westerns of the time. A Thunder of Drums isn't art or even a great or important Western - but it is fine entertainment and the Warner Archive edition looks terrific. An original theatrical trailer is included.
Click Here To Order From The Cinema Retro Movie Store...
- 6/11/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Summer is here and that means it’s time for racing in the streets. Or, if you’re not Bruce Springsteen, it’s a time for rest, relaxation, and binge watching. For nostalgia fans from various generations, CBS Home Entertainment is offering up a tasty assortment of television series from country comedy to ripped from the headlines detectives to our favorite science fiction.
The gem of the set may be the complete Blu-ray sets of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation, part of CBS and Paramount’s celebration of Gene Roddenberry’s creation.
Here are the details:
Beverly Hillbillies: The Official First Season
Release Date: April 26, 2016
Synopsis
Join the Clampett family as they move to the most famous zip code in the world when the seven-time Emmy award®-nominated series The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official First Season arrives on DVD April 26 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution.
The gem of the set may be the complete Blu-ray sets of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation, part of CBS and Paramount’s celebration of Gene Roddenberry’s creation.
Here are the details:
Beverly Hillbillies: The Official First Season
Release Date: April 26, 2016
Synopsis
Join the Clampett family as they move to the most famous zip code in the world when the seven-time Emmy award®-nominated series The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official First Season arrives on DVD April 26 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution.
- 5/28/2016
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
John Wayne’s attempt to plant his legendary persona into an arena potentially more hostile than any he’d ever faced before: The Seventies. Thanks to a cadre of good friends, who also happen to be good actors, including Richard Boone and, touchingly, Maureen O’Hara, he nearly succeeds. This quasi-retread of The Searchers’ basic plot (Wayne is on the look for his kidnapped grandson) is helped mightily by Elmer Bernstein’s rousing score and a seventies-friendly screenplay from Dirty Harry scribes Harry and Rita Fink.
- 5/23/2016
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
When I was a kid, I used to love a scary movie. I remember catching the original The Haunting (1963) one night on Channel 9’s Million Dollar Movie when I was home alone. Before it was over, I had every light in the house on. When my mother got home she was screaming she’d been able to see the house glowing from two blocks away. The only thing screaming louder than her was the electricity meter.
That was something of an accomplishment, scaring me like that. Oh, it’s not that I was hard to scare (I still don’t like going down into a dark cellar). But, in those days, the movies didn’t have much to scare you with. Back as far as the 50s, you might find your odd dismemberment and impaling, even an occasional decapitation, but, generally, the rule of the day was restraint. Even those rare dismemberments,...
That was something of an accomplishment, scaring me like that. Oh, it’s not that I was hard to scare (I still don’t like going down into a dark cellar). But, in those days, the movies didn’t have much to scare you with. Back as far as the 50s, you might find your odd dismemberment and impaling, even an occasional decapitation, but, generally, the rule of the day was restraint. Even those rare dismemberments,...
- 10/6/2015
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Theodore Bikel co-starred in one of the scariest movie ever – I Bury The Living. The 1958 shocker was about a director of a cemetery director (Richard Boone) who begins to believe that he can cause the deaths of living owners of burial plots by merely changing the push-pin color from white (living) to black (dead) on a large wall map of the cemetery that notes those plots. Theodore Bikel played Andy MacKee, the Groundskeeper Willie-esque caretaker of the cemetery. It’s one of those movies I saw on TV when I was about 7 years old that terrified me. Bikel’s other accomplished screen roles include The Defiant Ones (for which he received an Academy Award nomination), The African Queen, My Fair Lady, and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof. Theodore Bikel had performed the role of Tevye on stage more than 2,000 times!
- 7/22/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
I was not always a big fan of Westerns. My knowledge/memory of them were largely drawn from TV shows of my childhood – and not always the best ones. They were dominated by The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry (although I was never a big Autry fan) and shows like them. Westerns dominated TV in those days in ways that I don’t think any genre dominates any more.
It was my late wife, Kimberly Yale, who really schooled me in movie Westerns and the difference between a John Ford Western, ones by Howard Hawks, and Budd Boetticher’s Westerns. I finally learned and grasped what powerful movies they were, Just a few years ago, I got to see John Ford’s masterpiece The Searchers on the big screen and it was only then that I really understood how powerful it was and why its star, John Wayne, was such an icon.
It was my late wife, Kimberly Yale, who really schooled me in movie Westerns and the difference between a John Ford Western, ones by Howard Hawks, and Budd Boetticher’s Westerns. I finally learned and grasped what powerful movies they were, Just a few years ago, I got to see John Ford’s masterpiece The Searchers on the big screen and it was only then that I really understood how powerful it was and why its star, John Wayne, was such an icon.
- 1/18/2015
- by John Ostrander
- Comicmix.com
What do actor Theodore Bikel, author Steven Pressman, who wrote the HBO Holocaust documentary Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus, and Tracey Davis, daughter of Sammy Davis Jr. and May Britt, have in common? They will all three be guests at this year’s St. Louis Jewish Book Festival! More than 49 writers make up this year’s lineup including award-winning producers, novelists, bakers, historians, and humorists – there’s something for everyone but We Are Movie Geeks is most interested in these three guests because of their contributions to cinema.
The venue is the Jewish Community Center – Staenberg Family Complex – 2 Millstone Campus Drive in St. Louis
Details and ticket info can be found at the Fest’s site Here
http://www.stljewishbookfestival.org/index.html
Theodore Bikel will speak Sunday, November 2, at 7pm – Tickets are $40
It’s not mentioned in the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival press release,...
The venue is the Jewish Community Center – Staenberg Family Complex – 2 Millstone Campus Drive in St. Louis
Details and ticket info can be found at the Fest’s site Here
http://www.stljewishbookfestival.org/index.html
Theodore Bikel will speak Sunday, November 2, at 7pm – Tickets are $40
It’s not mentioned in the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival press release,...
- 10/20/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Peter Hyams Takes Us Closer
By
Alex Simon
Peter Hyams has been making movies for over forty years. A native New Yorker, Hyams has the distinction of being one of the only directors who also serves as his own cinematographer on his films, a hyphenate that has caused him some controversy among cameramen (see below for more details). After making his mark with such classics as Capricorn One, Outland, The Star Chamber, 2010, and many others, Hyams hasn't slowed down, bringing us his twenty-first feature film. Enemies Closer is a white-knuckle thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as the ruthless (and flamboyant) leader of a drug cartel on a search and destroy mission for his missing cache of product, which sits at the bottom of a lake on the U.S.-Canadian border. Tom Everett Scott plays the U.S. Park Ranger with a murky past who tries to stop him, along...
By
Alex Simon
Peter Hyams has been making movies for over forty years. A native New Yorker, Hyams has the distinction of being one of the only directors who also serves as his own cinematographer on his films, a hyphenate that has caused him some controversy among cameramen (see below for more details). After making his mark with such classics as Capricorn One, Outland, The Star Chamber, 2010, and many others, Hyams hasn't slowed down, bringing us his twenty-first feature film. Enemies Closer is a white-knuckle thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as the ruthless (and flamboyant) leader of a drug cartel on a search and destroy mission for his missing cache of product, which sits at the bottom of a lake on the U.S.-Canadian border. Tom Everett Scott plays the U.S. Park Ranger with a murky past who tries to stop him, along...
- 1/28/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2013—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2013 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
- 1/13/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Hollywood stuntman and film director who scored huge successes with Smokey and the Bandit and The Cannonball Run
Upset by the critical response to his work, the stuntman turned film director Hal Needham, who has died aged 82, took out advertisements in Variety and other trade papers. They featured quotes from negative reviews for his movies including Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and The Cannonball Run (1981), alongside a wheelbarrow overflowing with dollar bills.
Needham made a point. His rumbustious 1977 directorial debut had grossed over $100m – an enormous return on its modest budget. He was still milking that particular creation some 20 years later, producing and directing a series of television movies, including Bandit Goes Country and Beauty and the Bandit.
These and other films, many of which starred Burt Reynolds, were seen by an audience of hundreds of millions worldwide, yet few reference books acknowledged his 45-year-long career — an unjustified omission, if only...
Upset by the critical response to his work, the stuntman turned film director Hal Needham, who has died aged 82, took out advertisements in Variety and other trade papers. They featured quotes from negative reviews for his movies including Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and The Cannonball Run (1981), alongside a wheelbarrow overflowing with dollar bills.
Needham made a point. His rumbustious 1977 directorial debut had grossed over $100m – an enormous return on its modest budget. He was still milking that particular creation some 20 years later, producing and directing a series of television movies, including Bandit Goes Country and Beauty and the Bandit.
These and other films, many of which starred Burt Reynolds, were seen by an audience of hundreds of millions worldwide, yet few reference books acknowledged his 45-year-long career — an unjustified omission, if only...
- 10/28/2013
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s not many stuntmen who can spin a wildly successful career making film stars look good by doing all the really dangerous work into a job writing and directing a cult classic. Hal Needham was one who managed it. He died on Friday morning at the age of 82.Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Needham was initially raised in Arkansas and Missouri before enlisting as a paratrooper in the Korean War. Following his service, he worked several jobs, including tree maintenance and modelling (he was the face of Viceroy Cigarettes), but his true calling was as a stuntman on TV and in movies.Needham got his first job working as the stunt double for Richard Boone on Western series Have Gun, Will Travel and, thanks to extensive studies with Chuck Roberson (John Wayne’s stuntman of choice), he went on to become one of the top performers in his industry.After...
- 10/27/2013
- EmpireOnline
Stuntman and Burt Reynolds director Hal Needham dead at 82: Received Honorary Oscar in November 2012 Veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator Hal Needham, whose stunt-work movie credits ranged from John Ford Westerns to Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, and who directed a handful of popular action comedies starring Burt Reynolds, died today, October 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. Needham, who had been suffering from cancer, was 82. (See also: "Stunt Worker Hal Needham: Honorary Oscar 2012".) Born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 6, 1931, Hal Needham began his long Hollywood stuntman career in the mid-’50s. A former tree trimmer and paratrooper, and a motorcycle and car racer, Needham performed stunts in both big-screen and small-screen Westerns, such as John Ford’s 1962 classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, starring John Wayne and James Stewart; the all-star 1963 Best Picture Academy Award nominee How the West Was Won; and the television series Have Gun - Will Travel, doubling for star Richard Boone.
- 10/26/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
One of Hollywood’s most famous stuntmen and the writer-director of Smokey And The Bandit died this morning. Hal Needham, who received an Honorary Oscar this year, was 82. The co-founder of Stunts Unlimited performed and/or coordinated stunts for hundreds of films and TV shows during his long career. He also pioneered a number of technical gadgets that furthered the art — and safety — of Hollywood stunt work, including the high-fall air bag, the air ram, the car cannon turnover and Shotmaker Elite camera car and crane, for which he won a Scientific Oscar in 1987 and an engineering Emmy three years later. The Memphis native and Korean War paratrooper was Richard Boone’s stunt double on Have Gun — Will Travel from 1957-63 and also worked on such classic series as Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible and Mannix. By the mid-’70s, Needham was focusing mostly on movies, working...
- 10/25/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Stuntman-turned-movie director Hal Needham has died, at the age of 82. Needham broke into TV and movies in the late 1950s, doing stunt work in such films as Pork Chop Hill, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, How The West Was Won, Donovan’s Reef, Major Dundee, In Harm’s Way, The War Lord, Hells Angels On Wheels, Little Big Man, and many others. His big break, in terms of steady work, came in 1957, when he was hired as Richard Boone’s stunt double on the Western TV series Have Gun—Will Travel, where he also served as stunt ...
- 10/25/2013
- avclub.com
According to IMDb, close to 40 films and TV shows have Elmore Leonard’s name attached, some as creator, some as screenwriter, but about three-quarters because they’re based on one of his novels or short stories. Leonard, who died August 20 of complications following a stroke, didn’t like most of them. Actually, that’s something of an understatement. He hated most of them, the distinction being he hated some more than others.
Leonard had a love/hate thing going with Hollywood. He loved taking movie money, but usually hated what Hollywood did with his material. He went public with his revulsion over Burt Reynold’s thoroughly lousy 1985 adaptation of his novel Stick, and while I don’t know this for a fact, I’m sure he was shaking his head – at least at first — when Quentin Tarantino cast Pam Grier in Jackie Brown (1997) to play what had been a white character in his source novel,...
Leonard had a love/hate thing going with Hollywood. He loved taking movie money, but usually hated what Hollywood did with his material. He went public with his revulsion over Burt Reynold’s thoroughly lousy 1985 adaptation of his novel Stick, and while I don’t know this for a fact, I’m sure he was shaking his head – at least at first — when Quentin Tarantino cast Pam Grier in Jackie Brown (1997) to play what had been a white character in his source novel,...
- 8/22/2013
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Randolph Scott Westerns, comedies, war dramas: TCM schedule on August 19, 2013 See previous post: “Cary Grant and Randolph Scott Marriages — And ‘Expect the Biographical Worst.’” 3:00 Am Badman’S Territory (1946). Director: Tim Whelan. Cast: Randolph Scott, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Ann Richards. Bw-98 mins. 4:45 Am Trail Street (1947). Director: Ray Enright. Cast: Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys. Bw-84 mins. 6:15 Am Return Of The Badmen (1948). Director: Ray Enright. Cast: Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, Tom Keene aka Richard Powers, Robert Bray, Lex Barker, Walter Reed, Michael Harvey, Dean White, Robert Armstrong, Tom Tyler, Lew Harvey, Gary Gray, Walter Baldwin, Minna Gombell, Warren Jackson, Robert Clarke, Jason Robards Sr., Ernie Adams, Lane Chandler, Dan Foster, John Hamilton, Kenneth MacDonald, Donald Kerr, Ida Moore, ‘Snub’ Pollard, Harry Shannon, Charles Stevens. Bw-90 mins. 8:00 Am Riding Shotgun (1954). Director: André De Toth. Cast: Randolph Scott, Wayne Morris,...
- 8/20/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Cinema is a kind of uber-art form that’s made up of a multitude of other forms of art including writing, directing, acting, drawing, design, photography and fashion. As such, film is, as all cinema aficionados know, a highly collaborative venture.
One of the most consistently fascinating collaborations in cinema is that of the director and actor.
This article will examine some of the great director & actor teams. It’s important to note that this piece is not intended as a film history survey detailing all the generally revered collaborations.
There is a wealth of information and study available on such duos as John Ford & John Wayne, Howard Hawks & John Wayne, Elia Kazan & Marlon Brando, Akira Kurosawa & Toshiro Mifune, Alfred Hitchcock & James Stewart, Ingmar Bergman & Max Von Sydow, Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina/Marcello Mastroianni, Billy Wilder & Jack Lemmon, Francis Ford Coppola & Al Pacino, Woody Allen & Diane Keaton, Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro...
One of the most consistently fascinating collaborations in cinema is that of the director and actor.
This article will examine some of the great director & actor teams. It’s important to note that this piece is not intended as a film history survey detailing all the generally revered collaborations.
There is a wealth of information and study available on such duos as John Ford & John Wayne, Howard Hawks & John Wayne, Elia Kazan & Marlon Brando, Akira Kurosawa & Toshiro Mifune, Alfred Hitchcock & James Stewart, Ingmar Bergman & Max Von Sydow, Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina/Marcello Mastroianni, Billy Wilder & Jack Lemmon, Francis Ford Coppola & Al Pacino, Woody Allen & Diane Keaton, Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro...
- 7/11/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
Eleanor Parker today: Beautiful as ever in Scaramouche, Interrupted Melody Eleanor Parker, who turns 91 in ten days (June 26, 2013), can be seen at her most radiantly beautiful in several films Turner Classic Movies is showing this evening and tomorrow morning as part of their Star of the Month Eleanor Parker "tribute." Among them are the classic Scaramouche, the politically delicate Above and Beyond, and the biopic Interrupted Melody, which earned Parker her third and final Best Actress Academy Award nomination. (Photo: publicity shot of Eleanor Parker in Scaramouche.) The best of the lot is probably George Sidney’s balletic Scaramouche (1952), in which Eleanor Parker plays one of Stewart Granger’s love interests — the other one is Janet Leigh. A loose remake of Rex Ingram’s 1923 blockbuster, the George Sidney version features plenty of humor, romance, and adventure; vibrant colors (cinematography by Charles Rosher); an elaborately staged climactic swordfight; and tough dudes...
- 6/18/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
CBS continues its old TV show DVD rollout with the final season of popular western show Have Gun - Will Travel (divided up into two separate volumes with 16 episodes a piece). Long before the days of Craigslist, the “knight without armor” Paladin (Richard Boone) is a hired gun eager to seek out justice on behalf of paying clients in the San Francisco area in the late 1800s. This popular series aired from 1957-1963 before spawning its own popular radio show and managing to rack up a couple Emmy nominations.
The series’ scope is solely focused on this white knight of the west. Each half-hour episode follows his chivalrous quests to right whichever wrongs his clients require.
Read more...
The series’ scope is solely focused on this white knight of the west. Each half-hour episode follows his chivalrous quests to right whichever wrongs his clients require.
Read more...
- 6/6/2013
- by John Keith
- JustPressPlay.net
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