In “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” the gorilla has a new adversary: Skar King, the cunning, lanky, red-haired orangutan-like creature, who lords over the subterranean realm of Hollow Earth like a sadistic bully to keep his ape minions in line. With Shimo, the ancient ice Titan, whom he controls as his slave, Skar King is so formidable that it takes the two titular Titans to stop him from achieving world domination.
In creating the best villain yet in the five-film MonsterVerse franchise, director Adam Wingard relied on Wētā FX — the king of ape films, with “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” right around the corner — to animate Skar King. They overhauled the design concept to ensure his biomechanics worked in line with the desired motion and also roughed him up, complete with a cat-eye reflection in one of his eyes.
Wētā additionally aged Kong by altering his fur...
In creating the best villain yet in the five-film MonsterVerse franchise, director Adam Wingard relied on Wētā FX — the king of ape films, with “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” right around the corner — to animate Skar King. They overhauled the design concept to ensure his biomechanics worked in line with the desired motion and also roughed him up, complete with a cat-eye reflection in one of his eyes.
Wētā additionally aged Kong by altering his fur...
- 4/13/2024
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
There’s a lot that’s frustrating about George Clooney’s new film “The Midnight Sky,” from its egregious borrowing from any number of better movies to its pacing issues, but thanks to a few grace notes, its shortcomings are mostly forgivable.
Premiering December 23 on Netflix, it’s a film that sees Clooney entering a new phase of his acting career, and it also represents an uptick among his directorial output, on the heels of the misbegotten “Suburbicon” and “The Monuments Men.” Audiences will find much of “The Midnight Sky” familiar, but that familiarity puts its original moments and ideas into sharp relief.
Some cinematheque or other needs to host a “George Clooney in space” retrospective, connecting his acting efforts in films as philosophically diverse as “Gravity,” “Solaris,” and “Tomorrowland,” and each of those efforts has certainly flavored this new feature, written by Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”), based on...
Premiering December 23 on Netflix, it’s a film that sees Clooney entering a new phase of his acting career, and it also represents an uptick among his directorial output, on the heels of the misbegotten “Suburbicon” and “The Monuments Men.” Audiences will find much of “The Midnight Sky” familiar, but that familiarity puts its original moments and ideas into sharp relief.
Some cinematheque or other needs to host a “George Clooney in space” retrospective, connecting his acting efforts in films as philosophically diverse as “Gravity,” “Solaris,” and “Tomorrowland,” and each of those efforts has certainly flavored this new feature, written by Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”), based on...
- 12/23/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Christopher Knopf, the prolific screenwriter behind Emperor of the North, 20 Million Miles to Earth and a host of TV Westerns in the 1950s and '60s, has died. He was 91.
Knopf died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, a family member told The Hollywood Reporter.
Knopf wrote for the CBS Western Zane Grey Theater, starring Dick Powell, and its spinoff, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp; penned the pilot episode for ABC's The Big Valley; and created CBS' Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman.
His much-admired television work also included 1977's Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (for which he won a Writers ...
Knopf died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, a family member told The Hollywood Reporter.
Knopf wrote for the CBS Western Zane Grey Theater, starring Dick Powell, and its spinoff, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp; penned the pilot episode for ABC's The Big Valley; and created CBS' Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman.
His much-admired television work also included 1977's Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (for which he won a Writers ...
- 2/16/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Christopher Knopf, the prolific screenwriter behind Emperor of the North, 20 Million Miles to Earth and a host of TV Westerns in the 1950s and '60s, has died. He was 91.
Knopf died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, his wife of 44 years, Lorraine, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Knopf wrote for the CBS Western Zane Grey Theater, starring Dick Powell, and its spinoff, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp; penned the pilot episode for ABC's The Big Valley; and created CBS' Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman.
His much-admired television work also included 1977's Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (for which he ...
Knopf died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, his wife of 44 years, Lorraine, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Knopf wrote for the CBS Western Zane Grey Theater, starring Dick Powell, and its spinoff, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp; penned the pilot episode for ABC's The Big Valley; and created CBS' Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman.
His much-admired television work also included 1977's Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (for which he ...
- 2/16/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Hang on for action adventure that roars like thunder!”
When I was growing up, my dad introduced me to a 1973 film called Emperor of the North. This movie had a lasting impact on me because while we watched it, my dad would tell me stories of my grandpa and the similar experiences that he had during the same time period that the film is set in.
This is a favorite film of mine, and I know a lot of people that aren’t really familiar with it. So, I thought I’d take the time to talk about it a bit and recommend to those of you looking for an incredible film that you may have never seen before. If you have seen it, this is just a reminder to revisit it!
Emperor of the North is set in 1933 during the great depression, and it pits legendary actor Ernest Borgnine against legendary actor Lee Marvin.
When I was growing up, my dad introduced me to a 1973 film called Emperor of the North. This movie had a lasting impact on me because while we watched it, my dad would tell me stories of my grandpa and the similar experiences that he had during the same time period that the film is set in.
This is a favorite film of mine, and I know a lot of people that aren’t really familiar with it. So, I thought I’d take the time to talk about it a bit and recommend to those of you looking for an incredible film that you may have never seen before. If you have seen it, this is just a reminder to revisit it!
Emperor of the North is set in 1933 during the great depression, and it pits legendary actor Ernest Borgnine against legendary actor Lee Marvin.
- 12/18/2018
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
There's something preternaturally destructive about Lee Marvin, something dangerous. “You’re a very bad man [...] a very destructive man,” spits a threatened Carroll O’Connor, with the sweaty haste of a hypochondriac, in John Boorman’s Point Blank (1967), a split-second after Marvin blasts a telephone into oblivion with his hand cannon. O’Connor could be describing any of Marvin’s roles, from the stoical hitman in Don Siegel’s The Killers (1964) to his gun-for-hire in Richards Brooks’s The Professionals (1966) to his Sergeant leading a gaggle of undisciplined men sentenced to die in Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen (1967). He exuded an odd kind of menace, a disciplined minatory authority. The six-foot-two actor possessed a weathered, world-weary malaise and uncalculated brutality that suggested internal turmoil, an indignation that manifested in abrupt bursts of violence. For all the pain he inflicted on screen, he seemed to be carrying his own, an ineffable kind,...
- 3/29/2018
- MUBI
Blu-ray fans are now well aware that many great movies unavailable in the U.S., can be easily found in Europe. One of the best westerns of the ’70s is this jarringly realistic cavalry vs. Apaches drama from Robert Aldrich and Burt Lancaster, which used the ‘R’ rating to show savage details that Hollywood had once avoided. In this case it works — the genuinely scary movie is also a serious meditation on violent America.
Ulzana’s Raid
(Keine Gnade für Ulzana)
All-region Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Explosive Media
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date November 9, 2017 / available through the Amazon Germany website / Eur 17,99
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Richard Jaeckel, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke, Joaquín Martínez, Lloyd Bochner, Karl Swenson, Douglass Watson, Dran Hamilton, Gladys Holland, Aimee Eccles, Tony Epper, Nick Cravat, Richard Farnsworth, Dean Smith.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by...
Ulzana’s Raid
(Keine Gnade für Ulzana)
All-region Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Explosive Media
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date November 9, 2017 / available through the Amazon Germany website / Eur 17,99
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Richard Jaeckel, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke, Joaquín Martínez, Lloyd Bochner, Karl Swenson, Douglass Watson, Dran Hamilton, Gladys Holland, Aimee Eccles, Tony Epper, Nick Cravat, Richard Farnsworth, Dean Smith.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by...
- 11/18/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A happy discovery! This is a major late- silent-era gem on the order of Von Sternberg’s Docks of New York — a special treat that will please fans of director William Wellman — he revisited parts of it in a later talkie. It’s also a key movie in our education/adoration of the maverick actress Louise Brooks, the erotic sensation too hot and too independent for Hollywood.
Beggars of Life
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1928 / B&W / 1:33 Silent Aperture / 81 min. / Street Date August 22, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Louise Brooks, Blue Washington, Roscoe Karns, Robert Perry, Guinn ‘Bog Boy’ Williams.
Cinematography: Henry Gerrard
Film Editor: Alyson Shaffer
Assistant Director: Charles Barton
Music: The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Written by Jim Tully and Benjamin Glazer from a novel by Jim Tully
Produced by Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor, William A. Wellman
Directed by William A. Wellman
Director...
Beggars of Life
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1928 / B&W / 1:33 Silent Aperture / 81 min. / Street Date August 22, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Louise Brooks, Blue Washington, Roscoe Karns, Robert Perry, Guinn ‘Bog Boy’ Williams.
Cinematography: Henry Gerrard
Film Editor: Alyson Shaffer
Assistant Director: Charles Barton
Music: The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Written by Jim Tully and Benjamin Glazer from a novel by Jim Tully
Produced by Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor, William A. Wellman
Directed by William A. Wellman
Director...
- 8/8/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Fans of The Exorcist TV series have rallied together to get the attention of Fox and hopefully get a second season of the show. Their latest campaign, as well as a video featuring fans from all over the world, is included in today's Horror Highlights, which also features a Q&A with the director of Parasites and Hunting Grounds VOD release details.
Details on The Exorcist TV Series's 'Fear the Feathers' Campaign: Press Release: "The Global Fandom for the Fox Television show "The Exorcist" launch[ed] their latest campaign "Fear The Feathers" on Friday, December 30, 2016, in an effort to plead with the network to renew the show for a second season.
The 10 episode series has recently ended its season one run with no news of a renewal from the Fox network. Passionate fans of the show, who have named their cohesive group the "Exorcist Congregation,” have been very vocal on social...
Details on The Exorcist TV Series's 'Fear the Feathers' Campaign: Press Release: "The Global Fandom for the Fox Television show "The Exorcist" launch[ed] their latest campaign "Fear The Feathers" on Friday, December 30, 2016, in an effort to plead with the network to renew the show for a second season.
The 10 episode series has recently ended its season one run with no news of a renewal from the Fox network. Passionate fans of the show, who have named their cohesive group the "Exorcist Congregation,” have been very vocal on social...
- 1/3/2017
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where he began working as a plumber. The acting bug bit after filling in for an ailing summer-stock actor and he studied the art at the New York-based American Theater Wing. Upon making his debut in summer stock,...
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where he began working as a plumber. The acting bug bit after filling in for an ailing summer-stock actor and he studied the art at the New York-based American Theater Wing. Upon making his debut in summer stock,...
- 8/30/2016
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
I’ve been back from my Oregon vacation for a couple of weeks now, and though the getaway was a good and necessary one, I’m still in the process of mentally unpacking from a week and a half of relaxing and thinking mostly only about things I wanted to think about. (I also discovered a blackberry cider brewed in the region, the source of a specific sort of relaxation that I’m still finding myself pining for.) It hasn’t helped that our time off and immediate time back coincided with the bombast and general insanity of the Republic National Convention, followed immediately by the disarray and sense of restored hope that bookended the Democrats’ week-long party. The extremity of emotions engendered by those two events, coupled with a profoundly unsettling worry over the base level of our current political discourse and where it may lead this country, hasn...
- 8/7/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
In this special episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the best DVD and Blu-ray 2015.
Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.
Follow-Up Ryan buys the Ernest and Celestine Blu-ray from Plain Archive Ultra HD Blu-ray Pre-orders Live, March 1st release: Fox, Sony, WB, Shout! and now Lionsgate Curzon Tarkovsky Ryan’s Top 10 List of 2015 Classics from the Van Beuren Studio (Thunderbean Animation) Thunderbirds: The Complete Series (Timeless Media Group / Shout! Factory) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Arrow UK) Twice Upon A Time (Warner Archive Collection) Journey to the Center of the Earth (Twilight Time) Watership Down (The Criterion Collection) Walt Disney Animation Studios: Short Films Collection (Disney) 3-D Rarities (Flicker Alley) Spartacus: Restored Edition (Universal) The Apu Trilogy (The Criterion Collection)
Honorable mentions:
Arrow Video: Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism, The Train, The Criterion Collection: The Fisher King, Moonrise Kingdom...
Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.
Follow-Up Ryan buys the Ernest and Celestine Blu-ray from Plain Archive Ultra HD Blu-ray Pre-orders Live, March 1st release: Fox, Sony, WB, Shout! and now Lionsgate Curzon Tarkovsky Ryan’s Top 10 List of 2015 Classics from the Van Beuren Studio (Thunderbean Animation) Thunderbirds: The Complete Series (Timeless Media Group / Shout! Factory) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Arrow UK) Twice Upon A Time (Warner Archive Collection) Journey to the Center of the Earth (Twilight Time) Watership Down (The Criterion Collection) Walt Disney Animation Studios: Short Films Collection (Disney) 3-D Rarities (Flicker Alley) Spartacus: Restored Edition (Universal) The Apu Trilogy (The Criterion Collection)
Honorable mentions:
Arrow Video: Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism, The Train, The Criterion Collection: The Fisher King, Moonrise Kingdom...
- 1/13/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Kon Ichikawa (The Burmese Harp, Fires on the Plain, Tokyo Olympiad) was born 100 years ago today. Also in today's roundup: Melissa Anderson remembers Chantal Akerman, André Bazin and Jean Renoir on television, Girish Shambu on Gina Teleroli's Here's to the Future! and Kurt Walker's Hit 2 Pass, J. Hoberman on Robert Aldrich's Emperor of the North and Nicholas Ray's Wind Across the Everglades, a roundup on Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, Laurie Anderson on Fresh Air, independent Chinese cinema in San Francisco, Soon-Mi Yoo's Songs from the North in Los Angeles, plus news of an animated feature from Edgar Wright and the latest on that sequel to Trainspotting. » - David Hudson...
- 11/20/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Kon Ichikawa (The Burmese Harp, Fires on the Plain, Tokyo Olympiad) was born 100 years ago today. Also in today's roundup: Melissa Anderson remembers Chantal Akerman, André Bazin and Jean Renoir on television, Girish Shambu on Gina Teleroli's Here's to the Future! and Kurt Walker's Hit 2 Pass, J. Hoberman on Robert Aldrich's Emperor of the North and Nicholas Ray's Wind Across the Everglades, a roundup on Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, Laurie Anderson on Fresh Air, independent Chinese cinema in San Francisco, Soon-Mi Yoo's Songs from the North in Los Angeles, plus news of an animated feature from Edgar Wright and the latest on that sequel to Trainspotting. » - David Hudson...
- 11/20/2015
- Keyframe
What would seem the perfect project for tough-guy director Robert Aldrich still commands a high reputation with some. Ambitious top-dog hobo Lee Marvin squares off against Ernest Borgnine's nearly demonic railroad conductor who routinely murders bums that dare to hitch a ride. The mayhem culminates in a battle on a moving flat car, between Ernie's log chain and Lee's fire ax. But the poetic dialogue and allegorical pretension may be more lethal. Emperor of the North Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1973 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120 min. / Ship Date September 8, 2015 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, Charles Tyner, Malcolm Atterbury, Simon Oakland, Harry Caesar, Hal Baylor, Matt Clark, Elisha Cook Jr., Joe Di Reda, Liam Dunn, Diane Dye, Robert Foulk, Sid Haig, Vic Tayback, Dave Willock, Lance Henricksen. Cinematography Joseph Biroc Art Direction Jack Martin Smith Film Editor Michael Luciano Original Music Frank De Vol...
- 9/29/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This week on Off The Shelf, Ryan is joined by Brian Saur to take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the week of September 8th, 2015, and chat about some follow-up and home video news.
Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.
Episode Links & Notes Follow-up Masters Of Cinema: Shane aspect ratio Jacques Rivette Collection News Monkees Box Set Bray Studios Kickstarter We’re Back: A Dinosaur Story on Blu-ray Arrow Video Sale New Olive October titles Kino – The Mask 3D (1961) New Releases
September 1st
Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters Collection BackCountry Dark Star: H.R. Gigers World Good Kill Mad Max: Fury Road Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume 1 Peter Pan – Starring Mary Martin Robot Carnival Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season 1
September 8th
10 to Midnight The Age Of Adaline Angst At Close Range Over the Garden Wall Defiance Dressed to Kill The Editor Emperor of the North...
Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.
Episode Links & Notes Follow-up Masters Of Cinema: Shane aspect ratio Jacques Rivette Collection News Monkees Box Set Bray Studios Kickstarter We’re Back: A Dinosaur Story on Blu-ray Arrow Video Sale New Olive October titles Kino – The Mask 3D (1961) New Releases
September 1st
Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters Collection BackCountry Dark Star: H.R. Gigers World Good Kill Mad Max: Fury Road Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume 1 Peter Pan – Starring Mary Martin Robot Carnival Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season 1
September 8th
10 to Midnight The Age Of Adaline Angst At Close Range Over the Garden Wall Defiance Dressed to Kill The Editor Emperor of the North...
- 9/9/2015
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
By Don Stradley
The final image of Arthur Penn’s “Night Moves” certainly gets the movie pundits in a lather. The scene consists of Gene Hackman as private eye Harry Moseby, shot to pieces but still trying to steer his motor boat to shore. Bleeding badly from his wounds, he’s unable to reach the gears; he ends up setting the boat in a circling motion. From above, we see Harry’s boat circling aimlessly in the Gulf Stream. This scene, which brings the film to a finish, has been described as a metaphor for many things, including America’s lost identity after the Watergate era, to Moseby’s own fruitless search for the truth, to Penn’s own floundering career. To me, it always looks like the boat is going down a drain (or a toilet). It’s the sort of ending that leaves a viewer wondering if you’ve missed something,...
The final image of Arthur Penn’s “Night Moves” certainly gets the movie pundits in a lather. The scene consists of Gene Hackman as private eye Harry Moseby, shot to pieces but still trying to steer his motor boat to shore. Bleeding badly from his wounds, he’s unable to reach the gears; he ends up setting the boat in a circling motion. From above, we see Harry’s boat circling aimlessly in the Gulf Stream. This scene, which brings the film to a finish, has been described as a metaphor for many things, including America’s lost identity after the Watergate era, to Moseby’s own fruitless search for the truth, to Penn’s own floundering career. To me, it always looks like the boat is going down a drain (or a toilet). It’s the sort of ending that leaves a viewer wondering if you’ve missed something,...
- 1/11/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
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
It’s a given that a movie poster needs to be both visually and verbally succinct. It must grab your attention in the amount of time it takes to walk past it in the street; it must tell you all you need to know—or enough to make you want to know more—in one arresting image and with one pithy tagline. One of the challenges of movie poster design and movie marketing is to say as much as possible in a small space and few words.
But then there are posters which break those rules, which, for one reason or another, feel the need to make you stop in your tracks and read. I own a couple of posters for Robert Aldrich films—The Longest Yard and The Emperor of the North— which I’ve always loved because they are anything but succinct. In place of taglines these two tough-guy movies have long-winded,...
But then there are posters which break those rules, which, for one reason or another, feel the need to make you stop in your tracks and read. I own a couple of posters for Robert Aldrich films—The Longest Yard and The Emperor of the North— which I’ve always loved because they are anything but succinct. In place of taglines these two tough-guy movies have long-winded,...
- 11/23/2013
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
News.
Starting this week, filmmaker, editor, critic and Notebook contributor Gina Telaroli will be seeing the premiere of her exquisite short feature Traveling Light, "a small-scale silent (aesthetically “silent”, but with a dense sound mix) charting a trip among friends from New York to Pittsburgh carefully constructed as a string of tiny moments" (Christopher Small), around the world in a variety of venues. The most ambitious on the ground presentation will be at New York's Anthology Film Archives, in whose series "Closely Watched Trains" Traveling Light is showing alongside such other brilliant train cinema as Shanghai Express, Emperor of the North, and The Narrow Margin. For those not in New York, stay tuned for news of the film's online premiere.
As Dave Kehr prepares to take on his new position as Adjunct Curator at MoMA, it has been announced that J. Hoberman will be taking over his video column in...
Starting this week, filmmaker, editor, critic and Notebook contributor Gina Telaroli will be seeing the premiere of her exquisite short feature Traveling Light, "a small-scale silent (aesthetically “silent”, but with a dense sound mix) charting a trip among friends from New York to Pittsburgh carefully constructed as a string of tiny moments" (Christopher Small), around the world in a variety of venues. The most ambitious on the ground presentation will be at New York's Anthology Film Archives, in whose series "Closely Watched Trains" Traveling Light is showing alongside such other brilliant train cinema as Shanghai Express, Emperor of the North, and The Narrow Margin. For those not in New York, stay tuned for news of the film's online premiere.
As Dave Kehr prepares to take on his new position as Adjunct Curator at MoMA, it has been announced that J. Hoberman will be taking over his video column in...
- 11/13/2013
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
Stocky supporting actor who won an Oscar when he was cast against type as a lonely butcher in Marty
With his coarsely podgy features, bug eyes, gap-toothed grin and stocky build, Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95 of renal failure, seemed destined to remain one of nature's supporting actors in a string of sadistic and menacing parts. Instead he won an Oscar for a role which was the antithesis of all his previous characters.
In 1955, the producer Harold Hecht wanted to transfer Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay Marty to the big screen, with Rod Steiger in the title role, which he had created. But Steiger was filming Oklahoma! so was unavailable. Borgnine was offered the role after a female guest at a Hollywood reception quite disinterestedly remarked to Hecht that, ugly as he was, Borgnine possessed an oddly tender quality which made her yearn to mother him. "That," Hecht said later,...
With his coarsely podgy features, bug eyes, gap-toothed grin and stocky build, Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95 of renal failure, seemed destined to remain one of nature's supporting actors in a string of sadistic and menacing parts. Instead he won an Oscar for a role which was the antithesis of all his previous characters.
In 1955, the producer Harold Hecht wanted to transfer Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay Marty to the big screen, with Rod Steiger in the title role, which he had created. But Steiger was filming Oklahoma! so was unavailable. Borgnine was offered the role after a female guest at a Hollywood reception quite disinterestedly remarked to Hecht that, ugly as he was, Borgnine possessed an oddly tender quality which made her yearn to mother him. "That," Hecht said later,...
- 7/9/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Los Angeles – Ernest Borgnine was the movie star who was America’s “every man,” with roles like his Best Actor Oscar winning “Marty” (1955), Quinton McHale in TV’s “McHale’s Navy” (1962), tough guy Fatso Judson in the classic film “From Here to Eternity” (1953) and even as a cartoon voice (Mermaid Man) on “Spongebob Squarepants.” Borgnine died Sunday in Los Angeles at the age of 95.
I interviewed Ernest Borgnine twice for HollywoodChicago.com, and his wit, passion and voice was as strong in his 90s as it was sixty years earlier. He told me stories from the sets of “Marty,” “Emperor of the North” (1973) and “September 11” (2002), as if they had happened yesterday, with the same emphasis on the love of life that sustained him in his long career in show business, appearing in unforgettable film and TV roles.
Ernest Borgnine in Chicago, March 26th, 2011
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.
I interviewed Ernest Borgnine twice for HollywoodChicago.com, and his wit, passion and voice was as strong in his 90s as it was sixty years earlier. He told me stories from the sets of “Marty,” “Emperor of the North” (1973) and “September 11” (2002), as if they had happened yesterday, with the same emphasis on the love of life that sustained him in his long career in show business, appearing in unforgettable film and TV roles.
Ernest Borgnine in Chicago, March 26th, 2011
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.
- 7/9/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Legendary film and television actor Ernest Borgnine has died this afternoon from kidney failure, he was 95. His wife, Tova, and children were at his side at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles reports CNN.
After serving in the U.S. Navy in the Second World War, the gap-toothed Borgnine made the move into television and then film, forging out a six decade long career as a widely liked and respected character actor.
His first big break was the role of the cruel Sgt. 'Fatso' Judson in 1953's "From Here to Eternity" along with a few villain roles in films like "Vera Cruz" and "Bad Day at Black Rock". In 1955 though came "Marty" in which he played a lovelorn butcher, a performance that won him the Best Actor Oscar over the likes of James Cagney, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy.
He worked with filmmaker Sam Peckinpah on both the...
After serving in the U.S. Navy in the Second World War, the gap-toothed Borgnine made the move into television and then film, forging out a six decade long career as a widely liked and respected character actor.
His first big break was the role of the cruel Sgt. 'Fatso' Judson in 1953's "From Here to Eternity" along with a few villain roles in films like "Vera Cruz" and "Bad Day at Black Rock". In 1955 though came "Marty" in which he played a lovelorn butcher, a performance that won him the Best Actor Oscar over the likes of James Cagney, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy.
He worked with filmmaker Sam Peckinpah on both the...
- 7/9/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Ernest Borgnine, the rugged, stocky actor with a brassy voice and the face of the local butcher, died today in Los Angeles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of renal failure. He was 95.
Borgnine was known for playing characters both brutal and gentle. On the brutal side was the cruel Sgt. "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity, Coley Trimble, the right-hand goon in Bad Day at Black Rock, Dutch Engstrom, in the enduring classic The Wild Bunch and Shack, the train bull after Lee Marvin in Emperor of the North. On the gentle side he was known as the love-lorn Marty in the 1955 film of the same name (for which he earned an Oscar for Best Actor), Lt. Commander Quinton McHale from "McHale's Navy," Rogo, the cop with the prostitute-wife in The Poseidon Adventure and, to a whole new generation, as the voice of the starfish-donning, geriatric Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants."
A first generation American Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. His father was Camillo (later Charles) Borgnino of Ottiglio, in northern Italy and his mother was Anna Bosselli, from Capri, Italy.
Borgnine showed no real interest in acting until well after a ten-year stint in the Navy. He was 32 when his mother suggested that he become an actor, observing "you like to make a fool of yourself in front of other people" so Ernie enrolled in the Randall School of Drama in Hartford and then moved to Abingdon, Virginia for Robert Porterfield's famous Barter Theatre.
Times were lean for Borgnine. He had married for the first time and moved from the Barter to New York, quickly getting noticed for his role as a male nurse in a Broadway production of "Harvey" but he soon moved back to the Barter school again. He then returned to New York but the nascent medium of television, not the stage, sustained him for a while. Borgnine prided himself on not being picky. His original TV work included a stint in the action serial "Captain Video and His Video Rangers." He was noticed by Delbert Mann, himself a budding director, who encouraged Borgnine and gave him small roles.
Borgnine's true break came when he moved to Los Angeles and landed the role of Sergeant "Fatso" Judson in Eternity, a smash hit that, in addition to launching Borgnine's helped reinvigorate numerous careers including Frank Sinatra's and Deborah Kerr's. He played the bad guy again, though one of the goons this time, in Johnny Guitar. Borgnine then parlayed his new-found notoriety with the lead in a screenplay written by Paddy Chayefsky, that of Marty, in the film of the same name, slated to be directed by his mentor, Delbert Mann. The story was about an underdog named Marty, a self-avowed ugly man, who has to evolve beyond his dedication to his overbearing mother and his bonds with his best friend, when he falls in love with Clara, a woman who is also unpopular and unattractive, played by Betsy Blair.
Marty was a surprise hit, was nominated for eight Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director for Mann) and won four, including Borgnine's unexpected win over a very crowded field which included his co-star in Bad Day at Black Rock,Spencer Tracy, and a posthumous nod to James Dean (who had died the previous September in a car crash) for his role in East of Eden.
The Oscar helped keep the actor in the game and the next seven years included a mix of TV and film work including A Catered Affair, Jubal, The Vikings and various "Playhouse" appearances on the small screen.
1962 brought "McHale's Navy," with Borgnine assaying the role of Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, the put-upon chief of PT boat 73. The cast included Joe Flynn and Tim Conway (Conway would, 35 years later, team up again with Borgnine as the voice of Mermaid Man's sidekick, Barnacle Boy, on "SpongeBob SquarePants"). "McHale's" had a healthy following for four years.
Borgnine had a mid-life Renaissance in the late '60s and early '70s. He played a small but pivotal role in The Dirty Dozen, was Boris Vaslov in Ice Station Zebra and was Dutch Engstrom, the taciturn but decisive bandit throwing in with Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch. He also joined the capsized cast of The Poseidon Adventure, played Shack, the train bull in The Emperor of the North Pole and was the simple-minded but helpful Cabbie in Escape from New York.
Borgnine was married five times. His second marriage was to the fiery actress Katy Jurado. It began in 1959 but was over four years later. Reports differ on when he met his third wife, Ethel Merman. She claimed it was in November of 1963, the same month that he was finalizing his divorce to Jurado. He insisted it wasn't until the next spring. Regardless they were married on June 24th, the following year. It lasted less than a month. In her autobiography entitled "Merman," the actress intimated that Borgnine was abusive stating, "I just feel lucky to have been able to 'walk' away from the marriage." She devoted an entire chapter to their union, entitled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine"--it consisted of one blank page.
His last marriage, to Tova Traesnaes, lasted over 35 years and until his death. Borgnine had four children: Gina Kemins-Borgnine, the child from his first marriage to Rhoda Kemins, and three from his fourth wife, Donna Rancourt, named Diana Rancourt-Borgnine (born December 29th 1970), Sharon (born 1965) and Cristofer (born 1969). Oddly, in his autobiography, "Ernie" Bornine only acknowledged the first three children, dropping Diana out entirely.
Borgnine was known for playing characters both brutal and gentle. On the brutal side was the cruel Sgt. "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity, Coley Trimble, the right-hand goon in Bad Day at Black Rock, Dutch Engstrom, in the enduring classic The Wild Bunch and Shack, the train bull after Lee Marvin in Emperor of the North. On the gentle side he was known as the love-lorn Marty in the 1955 film of the same name (for which he earned an Oscar for Best Actor), Lt. Commander Quinton McHale from "McHale's Navy," Rogo, the cop with the prostitute-wife in The Poseidon Adventure and, to a whole new generation, as the voice of the starfish-donning, geriatric Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants."
A first generation American Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. His father was Camillo (later Charles) Borgnino of Ottiglio, in northern Italy and his mother was Anna Bosselli, from Capri, Italy.
Borgnine showed no real interest in acting until well after a ten-year stint in the Navy. He was 32 when his mother suggested that he become an actor, observing "you like to make a fool of yourself in front of other people" so Ernie enrolled in the Randall School of Drama in Hartford and then moved to Abingdon, Virginia for Robert Porterfield's famous Barter Theatre.
Times were lean for Borgnine. He had married for the first time and moved from the Barter to New York, quickly getting noticed for his role as a male nurse in a Broadway production of "Harvey" but he soon moved back to the Barter school again. He then returned to New York but the nascent medium of television, not the stage, sustained him for a while. Borgnine prided himself on not being picky. His original TV work included a stint in the action serial "Captain Video and His Video Rangers." He was noticed by Delbert Mann, himself a budding director, who encouraged Borgnine and gave him small roles.
Borgnine's true break came when he moved to Los Angeles and landed the role of Sergeant "Fatso" Judson in Eternity, a smash hit that, in addition to launching Borgnine's helped reinvigorate numerous careers including Frank Sinatra's and Deborah Kerr's. He played the bad guy again, though one of the goons this time, in Johnny Guitar. Borgnine then parlayed his new-found notoriety with the lead in a screenplay written by Paddy Chayefsky, that of Marty, in the film of the same name, slated to be directed by his mentor, Delbert Mann. The story was about an underdog named Marty, a self-avowed ugly man, who has to evolve beyond his dedication to his overbearing mother and his bonds with his best friend, when he falls in love with Clara, a woman who is also unpopular and unattractive, played by Betsy Blair.
Marty was a surprise hit, was nominated for eight Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director for Mann) and won four, including Borgnine's unexpected win over a very crowded field which included his co-star in Bad Day at Black Rock,Spencer Tracy, and a posthumous nod to James Dean (who had died the previous September in a car crash) for his role in East of Eden.
The Oscar helped keep the actor in the game and the next seven years included a mix of TV and film work including A Catered Affair, Jubal, The Vikings and various "Playhouse" appearances on the small screen.
1962 brought "McHale's Navy," with Borgnine assaying the role of Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, the put-upon chief of PT boat 73. The cast included Joe Flynn and Tim Conway (Conway would, 35 years later, team up again with Borgnine as the voice of Mermaid Man's sidekick, Barnacle Boy, on "SpongeBob SquarePants"). "McHale's" had a healthy following for four years.
Borgnine had a mid-life Renaissance in the late '60s and early '70s. He played a small but pivotal role in The Dirty Dozen, was Boris Vaslov in Ice Station Zebra and was Dutch Engstrom, the taciturn but decisive bandit throwing in with Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch. He also joined the capsized cast of The Poseidon Adventure, played Shack, the train bull in The Emperor of the North Pole and was the simple-minded but helpful Cabbie in Escape from New York.
Borgnine was married five times. His second marriage was to the fiery actress Katy Jurado. It began in 1959 but was over four years later. Reports differ on when he met his third wife, Ethel Merman. She claimed it was in November of 1963, the same month that he was finalizing his divorce to Jurado. He insisted it wasn't until the next spring. Regardless they were married on June 24th, the following year. It lasted less than a month. In her autobiography entitled "Merman," the actress intimated that Borgnine was abusive stating, "I just feel lucky to have been able to 'walk' away from the marriage." She devoted an entire chapter to their union, entitled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine"--it consisted of one blank page.
His last marriage, to Tova Traesnaes, lasted over 35 years and until his death. Borgnine had four children: Gina Kemins-Borgnine, the child from his first marriage to Rhoda Kemins, and three from his fourth wife, Donna Rancourt, named Diana Rancourt-Borgnine (born December 29th 1970), Sharon (born 1965) and Cristofer (born 1969). Oddly, in his autobiography, "Ernie" Bornine only acknowledged the first three children, dropping Diana out entirely.
- 7/8/2012
- IMDb News
Times are tough all over. Nowadays, a desperate man might enter a winner-take-all Mma tournament and end up on a collision course with his estranged brother, as Joel Edgerton does with Tom Hardy in Warrior. Rewind to 1933, and that same man might become a hobo, riding the rails across America, and end up on a collision course with an angry, sadistic, downright mean son of a bitch, as Lee Marvin does with Ernest Borgnine in Robert Aldrich's Emperor of the North. Borgnine plays a bug-eyed conductor known as Shack, the absolute ruler of Engine 19. He will brook no hobos on his train, and he has become legendary for his steel hammer, which he is known to wield with a wicked smile on his...
- 9/10/2011
- Screen Anarchy
We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness! Condensed versions (all run 18 minutes) of these great Lee Marvin films will be screened on a big screen on Super-8 sound film: The Wild One, The Dirty Dozen, Cat Ballou, The Professionals, The Klansman, and Emperor Of The North. We’re also bring our 16mm projector and showing a 16mm print of an episode of M-squad, the rough, hard-boiled detective TV series that Lee Marvin starred in in the late ’50s. We’ll have some Lee Marvin trivia with great prizes as well as the usual T-Shirt and Poster giveaways.
Be sure to read our Top Ten Tuesday: The Best Of Lee Marvin Article Here
The non-Lee Marvin Super-8 films we’ll be showing September 6th are: A ’70s Vampire Trailer Reel, Abbott and Costello...
Be sure to read our Top Ten Tuesday: The Best Of Lee Marvin Article Here
The non-Lee Marvin Super-8 films we’ll be showing September 6th are: A ’70s Vampire Trailer Reel, Abbott and Costello...
- 9/2/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys and one of our favorite actors September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness.
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where...
We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys and one of our favorite actors September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness.
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where...
- 8/30/2011
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This article originally ran here at We Are Movie Geeks in October 2009. I’m re-posting it to help promote Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness September 6th at The Way Out Club here in St. Louis.
Only in the 1970.s could Hollywood have turned its attention to the subject of racism in the deep south and come up with something so jaw-dropping in it.s political incorrectness as The Klansman. On the surface the 1974 film is a serious depiction of the bigotry and the racial confrontations that tear apart an Alabama town in the 1960.s, but watching it today The Klansman comes off at times serious, laughable, meanspirited, sleazy, and racist. I.m sure the movie wasn’t meant to be racist, but it is filled with characters mouthing so many racist beliefs and committing so many racist crimes that the movie seems to gloat gleefully in its outrageous depiction of bigotry and delivers one ham-fisted,...
Only in the 1970.s could Hollywood have turned its attention to the subject of racism in the deep south and come up with something so jaw-dropping in it.s political incorrectness as The Klansman. On the surface the 1974 film is a serious depiction of the bigotry and the racial confrontations that tear apart an Alabama town in the 1960.s, but watching it today The Klansman comes off at times serious, laughable, meanspirited, sleazy, and racist. I.m sure the movie wasn’t meant to be racist, but it is filled with characters mouthing so many racist beliefs and committing so many racist crimes that the movie seems to gloat gleefully in its outrageous depiction of bigotry and delivers one ham-fisted,...
- 8/23/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – The wonderful bonus of the Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show is the opportunity to meet the real stars of past film eras. Ernest Borgnine and Bruce Dern were there during the show in March of this year.
Both actors carved out character careers during the period of the 1950s to the present. They have often explored the cowboy genre, and each starred opposite some legendary movie gunslingers. Ernest Borgnine appeared in one of the greatest westerns of all time, “The Wild Bunch” (1969). Bruce Dern starred opposite John Wayne in “The Cowboys” (1972).
The Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show is a biannual event that brings celebrities to Chicago to meet, sign autographs and interact with their admirers. Hosts Ray and Sharon Court announced at the March show that the upcoming October show would be their last, as they are retiring.
HollywoodChicago.com got the chance to interview Borgnine and Dern, and Joe Arce...
Both actors carved out character careers during the period of the 1950s to the present. They have often explored the cowboy genre, and each starred opposite some legendary movie gunslingers. Ernest Borgnine appeared in one of the greatest westerns of all time, “The Wild Bunch” (1969). Bruce Dern starred opposite John Wayne in “The Cowboys” (1972).
The Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show is a biannual event that brings celebrities to Chicago to meet, sign autographs and interact with their admirers. Hosts Ray and Sharon Court announced at the March show that the upcoming October show would be their last, as they are retiring.
HollywoodChicago.com got the chance to interview Borgnine and Dern, and Joe Arce...
- 7/5/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Flix Picks is a semi-regular feature that explores the depths of my Netflix queue and allows me the chance to catch up with some older films that I’ve not yet seen. Since Hobo with a Shotgun is currently in theaters, I thought it would be a good time to highlight another hobo-centric film, Emperor of the North, just in case anyone out there should be craving more hobo-related stories. Unlike the recent release, this film is not a grindhouse-style shocker but, comparatively speaking, a more mainstream action/adventure flick. Emperor of the North takes place in 1933 during the height of the Great Depression when many struggled just to survive. During this time, a new class of poor people developed, often gathering together to form makeshift communities. Low on basic necessities, the unemployed and homeless would often hitch rides on trains as a means of transportation. While some trains might...
- 5/1/2011
- by Aaron
- FilmJunk
Tonight "the American Cinematheque will present Los Angeles moviegoers with a rare opportunity to see Robert Aldrich's masterful Emperor of the North (1973) projected on the Lloyd A Rigler Auditorium's massive screen inside the Egyptian Theater," writes Dennis Cozzalio. "The Cinematheque will also feature as its special guest the movie's screenwriter Christopher Knopf.... Emperor of the North is, as far as I can perceive, well-regarded, but I think it deserves a more rarified position in Aldrich's filmography, if not on the grand stage of movie history, as one of this rugged, nail-hard director's very best achievements. My enthusiasm for the movie, which I first saw on a drizzly summer night at my hometown drive-in during the summer of 1974, was gloriously confirmed when I finally had the chance to revisit it again four years ago for the Robert Aldrich Blog-a-thon."...
- 8/12/2010
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.