A FACE IN THE CROWD

<span style="font-weight: bold;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_61_rx4oqy1ajsdYT8A9lGk9DudxcizY25Ibb723JNvDRgIhej_TtpyEpeRANALtuCXfkU9T2XVABOmvNv2eBff68gYiA-tSL6XICG5KTjZSbKPaJf0Ss0zoWycUQXlAEiH1_r628lnqXD6BIX2S_YdNGgsok1lD5Ns7y9qQyqO0_XK6BFKvxp2UDZA/s1330/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-16%20at%209.59.15%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="1330" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_61_rx4oqy1ajsdYT8A9lGk9DudxcizY25Ibb723JNvDRgIhej_TtpyEpeRANALtuCXfkU9T2XVABOmvNv2eBff68gYiA-tSL6XICG5KTjZSbKPaJf0Ss0zoWycUQXlAEiH1_r628lnqXD6BIX2S_YdNGgsok1lD5Ns7y9qQyqO0_XK6BFKvxp2UDZA/w200-h181/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-16%20at%209.59.15%20PM.png" width="200" /></a></div></span><span>title:</span> A FACE IN THE CROWD<span> year:</span> 1957<span> cast: </span>Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Walter Mattau, Lee Remick<span> director:</span> Elia Kazan <span>rating:</span> ***<br /> <br /> The first half has charm and a nice story arc of a guitar-slinging slick-talking bum turned radio personality then TV host i.e. the man of the people aka "Lonesome Rhodes", played with sublime gusto by Andy Griffith. Patricia Neal, as a radio show producer, pulls the strings, falls in love, and eventually Rhodes glides into womanizing and worse yet, backing a politician. This occurs during the second half as the characters, and the story, declines into an overly-obvious over-the-top message: not that too much fame will ruin a normal man, but that politics, when mixed with television, doesn't work and can be America's downfall. (Ironic how, three years after this film, one of the most popular presidents of all time would be elected for that very reason.) Rhode's climb to the top, from rags to riches, is a treat; but once he arrives, the movie, like the main character, loses focus and never quite regains.

andy griffith, drama, fifties, lee remick, patricia neal, politics, walter matthau

A FACE IN THE CROWD

title: A FACE IN THE CROWD year: 1957 cast: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Walter Mattau, Lee Remick director: Elia Kazan rating: *** ...

BAD BASCOMB

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTUyXwww-CiYYb07sC7XMF4X7uyqvSvo2shRMcJ_-pqD2h-4npIn9mCMprVMazqHq5X0we3-G1wiSsIg437dTb9lhNQTM314RWEuCLlH34B5RYlNiSe3HB3Xl_22Ttzf2wQdUk7j5qa4/s1600/200px-Bad_Bascomb_1946.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506164747104425298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTUyXwww-CiYYb07sC7XMF4X7uyqvSvo2shRMcJ_-pqD2h-4npIn9mCMprVMazqHq5X0we3-G1wiSsIg437dTb9lhNQTM314RWEuCLlH34B5RYlNiSe3HB3Xl_22Ttzf2wQdUk7j5qa4/s200/200px-Bad_Bascomb_1946.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 161px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: pointer" /></a><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">title:</span> BAD BASCOMB<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">year: </span>1946<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">cast: </span>Wallace Beery, Margaret O'Brien, Marshall Thompson<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">rating: </span>**<br /><br />A Western involving a few salty marauders who happen upon a stagecoach-circle with woman of slain soldiers, and one little girl, played by Margaret O'Brien, who ends up melting the lead baddie's heart. Scenes with Wallace Berry and child actress O'Brien (around six years of age) are the creepiest thing I've witnessed in an "old movie" as O'Brien keeps telling Beery she wants to marry him, and in one particular scene they are off in the brush away from the camp, and she teaches him how to kiss. I realize this film, about the old codger being changed by the cute little girl, has its heart in the right place: but the beat is highly irregular. Other than that the story moves along pretty decently, although seems quite stagy and claustrophobic overall.

comedy, forties, margaret o'brien, marshall thompson, wallace beery, western

BAD BASCOMB

title: BAD BASCOMB year: 1946 cast: Wallace Beery, Margaret O'Brien, Marshall Thompson rating: ** A Western involving a few salty marau...

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqMLaHPAmrQEtq7JnQwJR-jiiWVcijQQXJp14DyoieyeuqriwhLSALA9QVOEYCQVDhOMdhL-VRuGzf8IFnhgbDatV1bZtpiLIheRCEdNheuRm5ce9sG5AWvib1DmF5BqrHPazGkrxx9Fo/s1600/gwangi7.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505843812654901842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqMLaHPAmrQEtq7JnQwJR-jiiWVcijQQXJp14DyoieyeuqriwhLSALA9QVOEYCQVDhOMdhL-VRuGzf8IFnhgbDatV1bZtpiLIheRCEdNheuRm5ce9sG5AWvib1DmF5BqrHPazGkrxx9Fo/s200/gwangi7.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 112px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title:</span> THE VALLEY OF GWANGI<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>1969<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">cast:</span> James Franciscus<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">effects: </span>Ray Harryhausen<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> ****1/2<br /> <br /> This late sixties "Rexploitation" is Ray Harryhausen's best special effects film. The deliciously paced plot involves cowboys driven to find their "pot of gold" with a freak miniature horse led to the title valley where dwells a giant blue dinosaur named Gwangi, a prehistoric beast that isn't very friendly. Sure the last twenty minutes rips off "King Kong", the film Ray watched as a kid, causing him to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Willis O'Brien (who conceptualized this film in the forties)... but that's like a son having his father's voice.

creature, dinosaur, james francsiscus, ray harryhausen, sixties, stop-motion, western

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI

title: THE VALLEY OF GWANGI year: 1969 cast: James Franciscus effects: Ray Harryhausen rating: ****1/2 This late sixties "Rexp...

DIAL M FOR MURDER

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRb3rcptmgIX0Up4G1xR5wZ4OC5PEtaDtoyAzYUQpkBgMFOyJlTvzSuEnifxlWPi-e3f8f6dxn2F_WaBPIDigltcRk0NvRDzxFG9tb_b40AyLaMJDOYoySTbgnodinkXljXdysuZZ-jKN/s1600/dial+m+for+murder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRb3rcptmgIX0Up4G1xR5wZ4OC5PEtaDtoyAzYUQpkBgMFOyJlTvzSuEnifxlWPi-e3f8f6dxn2F_WaBPIDigltcRk0NvRDzxFG9tb_b40AyLaMJDOYoySTbgnodinkXljXdysuZZ-jKN/s640/dial+m+for+murder.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year: </b>1954 <b> rating: </b>***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Perhaps it's Alfred Hitchcock's fault. He made his villain so likable that the third act of this classic melodrama becomes a let-down when the somewhat one-dimensional good guys, including a cop and a crime novelist, hone in on the wrathfully delightful Ray Milland...<br /> <br /> The always-intense actor deliciously plots a "perfect murder" of his rich wife during a gloriously long scene (with Anthony Dawson) in that sublimely <i>executed</i> second act, thus leading to the pivotal "homocide" that still packs a wallop.<br /> <br /> What Hitchcock and his actors do with few locations, and tons of dialogue, is amazing.<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

alfred hitchcock, anthony dawson, crime, fifties, film noir or melodrama, grace kelly, perfect murder, ray milland, robert cummings, suspense

DIAL M FOR MURDER

year: 1954  rating: *** Perhaps it's Alfred Hitchcock's fault. He made his villain so likable that the third act of this classi...

CUSTER OF THE WEST

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip351Bgu0hWOtQssbyrB2G_TKZcw5slQeEQNNyd_8eDOYEPAp3CgB5ahZpsGDoBVwp3hUIfGAWksrsyHcP1lDqUsNG5q60Bpa8jhId0-vdeI5jrFCK8bBO-85lLTv3h-m1MEunCMNTqBg/s1600/custer+of+the+west.gif"><strong><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501263915108159634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip351Bgu0hWOtQssbyrB2G_TKZcw5slQeEQNNyd_8eDOYEPAp3CgB5ahZpsGDoBVwp3hUIfGAWksrsyHcP1lDqUsNG5q60Bpa8jhId0-vdeI5jrFCK8bBO-85lLTv3h-m1MEunCMNTqBg/s200/custer+of+the+west.gif" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" /></strong></a><strong>title:</strong> CUSTER OF THE WEST<br /><div><strong>year:</strong> 1967</div><div><strong>cast:</strong> Robert Shaw, Lawrence Tierney, Ty Hardin, Mary Ure</div><div><strong>director:</strong> Robert Siodmak</div><div><strong>rating:</strong> ***1/2 </div><div><br />Two action-packed scenes sum up this entire film of the famous general who died infamously: or vice versa. One has two miners tied down by Indians to a stage coach trying to survive as they wind along a mountainous trail; another has a soldier riding down a log-jam as he escapes from a band of Indians. In both situations, the characters wind up like our title character, and yet the suspense, thanks for director Robert Siodmak, keeps the viewer interested till the bitter end. Sporadic conversations between Custer and General Sheridan (Lawrence Tierney), showing Custer in a sympathetic light, are highlights in a somewhat muddled bio that goes on too long but has some great moments: Robert Shaw's mesmerizing style of delivering monologues enhance a mediocre script. The last twenty minutes, leading up to, and then rushing the battle of, Little Big Horn, is a let-down: but it's the build-up, thanks to a capable director and cast, that works. </div>

action, bio, lawrence tierney, robert shaw, robert siodmak, sixties, suspense, western

CUSTER OF THE WEST

title: CUSTER OF THE WEST year: 1967 cast: Robert Shaw, Lawrence Tierney, Ty Hardin, Mary Ure director: Robert Siodmak rating: ***1/2 T...