KICKING FRONT THROUGH THE FOURTH SEASON OF 'COBRA KAI'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiAPxg4QPwWQuQmpdjiwEftlBpkNpuvW_Ivc3UEeoqBtY9czSZn5CsPQqJN-NDFHdi7Egg1XXiuGLaP1zXsdCNO9FHw1lR5cVxCX3vj3WeindoycBts5I35NYHVKLAXXz5xkbFIA4HHMGEcNw7F7nGeKL_ZA-C-mLXcgVGDA0sURB4GvZ055bRCH5u4g=s907" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="907" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiAPxg4QPwWQuQmpdjiwEftlBpkNpuvW_Ivc3UEeoqBtY9czSZn5CsPQqJN-NDFHdi7Egg1XXiuGLaP1zXsdCNO9FHw1lR5cVxCX3vj3WeindoycBts5I35NYHVKLAXXz5xkbFIA4HHMGEcNw7F7nGeKL_ZA-C-mLXcgVGDA0sURB4GvZ055bRCH5u4g=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Zabka and a Coors Banquet in COBRA KAI Season Four DATE: December 31 2021 Overall Season SCORE: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Right before 2022, Netflix's Season Four of COBRA KAI has dropped, and for a show with mostly great seasons it's by far the worst... which is like the weakest album of a band that's had only exceptional ones... The main problem being the main antagonist in Martin Kove's John Creese having to share the titular dojo with the USA-Channel-style co-sensei-villain from the horrendously awful and infamous third <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/01/waxing-on-karate-kid-franchise.html">KARATE KID</a>... </p><p></p><p></p><p>Ironically, whenever Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso mentions that particular timeline (usually the failed Banzai Tree store as compared to his successful car lot) he shakes his head in sheer disbelief (almost as if, say, THE GODFATHER III were remade with Robert Duvall alongside George Hamilton)... </p><span></span>

2021, action, binging, cobra kai, franchise, karate, martin kove, netflix, new, ralph macchio, thomas ian griffith, william zabka

KICKING FRONT THROUGH THE FOURTH SEASON OF 'COBRA KAI'

William Zabka and a Coors Banquet in COBRA KAI Season Four DATE: December 31 2021 Overall Season SCORE: *** Right before 2022, Netflix's...

LEONARDO DICAPRIO & JENNFER LAWRENCE IN 'DON'T LOOK UP'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKBUqVcHUrtxZIJSoXj2eo3JIA2FVB1tytNFO6wvbh9nZ4c6YZP6y37W1Po3T6lwFHBcx00jUWIM3AcsiDO2cZrQe4Do2Ms0oatx4BY2qJNRy5LxGW8X8mVVWHYyDW_UJSqA31x3a8Pj8oPIuvZf9btX0h9XBVXTDbHqOUaKzQ7d42fxiWKePC-IKwSA=s1692" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="1692" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKBUqVcHUrtxZIJSoXj2eo3JIA2FVB1tytNFO6wvbh9nZ4c6YZP6y37W1Po3T6lwFHBcx00jUWIM3AcsiDO2cZrQe4Do2Ms0oatx4BY2qJNRy5LxGW8X8mVVWHYyDW_UJSqA31x3a8Pj8oPIuvZf9btX0h9XBVXTDbHqOUaKzQ7d42fxiWKePC-IKwSA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DON'T LOOK UP Year: 2021 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Adam McKay's DON'T LOOK UP is as much a satire of <span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">the gigantic-falling-space-rock-about-to-destroy-Earth DEEP IMPACT and ARMAGEDDON as MARS ATTACKS was to INDEPENDENCE DAY, and the anticipated political bias by the unapologetic liberal director isn't completely one-sided since capitalistic big-tech Mark Rylance channels mousy Covid guru Dr. Anthony Fauci </span><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">— while Meryl Streep's intentionally-vapid female American President suffers a nude-text scandal liken to New York's once-beloved Democrat Anthony Weiner... </span></p><p></p><p></p><p><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">But the two genuine main-characters are both intensely camera-shy, awkwardly idealistic, science-minded astronomers, one a student the other academically-legit in Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio respectively (the latter falling into what aging sex symbols rely on when the movie itself has to continuously mention how handsome they are)...</span></p><p><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading"><span></span></span></p>

2021, ada mckay, disaster, jennifer lawrence, leonardo dicaprio, mark rylance, meryl streep, netflix, new, political, satire

LEONARDO DICAPRIO & JENNFER LAWRENCE IN 'DON'T LOOK UP'

Title: DON'T LOOK UP Year: 2021 Rating: **1/2 Adam McKay's DON'T LOOK UP is as much a satire of the gigantic-falling-space-rock-...

JAMES CAGNEY'S GRAND NATIONAL 'SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWAvfkUucK9w2XhBk8RzLtEEUqOP8aFUVcYRWusDGnFi7-aHhe4cyB-9YIzyVmlycsSPADxSyhN_AA37BCI8b-a8qbyGn080eP2xpWVY7-H-5eg-pfGUK-EVmwih0fbPAAfBAyZDg47MoOSc2rwbFeBP6WnHOJMtQcWr4t6c7tQUWwGaA-WAAlFXhy7g=s701" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="701" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWAvfkUucK9w2XhBk8RzLtEEUqOP8aFUVcYRWusDGnFi7-aHhe4cyB-9YIzyVmlycsSPADxSyhN_AA37BCI8b-a8qbyGn080eP2xpWVY7-H-5eg-pfGUK-EVmwih0fbPAAfBAyZDg47MoOSc2rwbFeBP6WnHOJMtQcWr4t6c7tQUWwGaA-WAAlFXhy7g=w400-h323" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Something to Sing About Year: 1937 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The better of the two and the last picture Cagney did with the independent Grand National Pictures after GREAT GUY before returning to Warner Bros where he got to play by his own rules is SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT, showcasing Cagney's dynamic ability as a song and dance man with his own East Coast big band swing show...  </p><p></p><p>This is one of the earliest makings of a movie-within-a-movie to poke fun at the phony shenanigans centering on the hypocrisy and downside of Hollywood... </p><p>A shallow place Cagney's character wants nothing to do with the further he progresses on set in a star-making role as a smooth, romantic, crooning leading man. And for Universal Horror Fans it's great seeing Dwight Frye, in his second Cagney picture: Frye played Renfield in DRACULA, stealing the movie from Bela Lugosi himself, and Dr. Frankenstein's loony, hunchback assistant (who isn't named Igor) in FRANKENSTEIN and here a suspiciously feminine" makeup artist — something you probably wouldn't see so upfront and obvious during the Hays Code. But the real standout is Philip Ahn, a kind of stereotypical Chinese assistant who eventually shows he knows more than he lets on...   </p><p></p><p></p><table 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/a/AVvXsEihADTVhCQyGi17PFWnjacMwp1xPbmJdmQj70LvfnQLFP1PEmn14nED7nQETkRkDWomeDHGvtum9UjWNyAtsI-P9nDfDNdym9hzP5x7o2-1TURo8Z3ruqQGZ1sY433LjTfYC6fHknZGRKta6QNdaUyJmRiQL2-x9XVGvk--IzkfaL0bHKvp6XH5qLTT1A=s823" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="823" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihADTVhCQyGi17PFWnjacMwp1xPbmJdmQj70LvfnQLFP1PEmn14nED7nQETkRkDWomeDHGvtum9UjWNyAtsI-P9nDfDNdym9hzP5x7o2-1TURo8Z3ruqQGZ1sY433LjTfYC6fHknZGRKta6QNdaUyJmRiQL2-x9XVGvk--IzkfaL0bHKvp6XH5qLTT1A=w400-h228" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Cagney goes big for Grand National Pictures</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The plot shadows an earlier Cagney programmer from Warner titled LADY KILLER where he plays a con man/thief on the lam, winding up an Extra on a studio lot and then becomes an overnight star on the big screen... </p><p></p><p>Only here he has practically no fun at all, leading to a dragged-out finale about this dream job turned nightmare nearly ruining his marriage...  </p><p></p><p>In a film without a genuine antagonist, I LOVE LUCY landlord neighbor William Frawley is a sneaky agent who plays up to the media that his client is having a possible affair with the movie's movie starlet, who can't hold a candle to singing actress Evelyn Daw: that marriage, according to his contract and to appease female fans, has to be kept secret. Like any lighthearted romantic comedy, the initial breezy setup is the most fun while the task of fulfilling a buried plot detours slowly into a dead end. Still though, as a whole, the movie works just fine.</p><p><span></span></p>

dwight frye, hollywood satire, james cagney, musical, philip ahn, thirties, william frawley

JAMES CAGNEY'S GRAND NATIONAL 'SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT'

Something to Sing About Year: 1937 Rating: ***1/2 The better of the two and the last picture Cagney did with the independent Grand National ...

JAMES CAGNEY IN 'FRISCO KID' WITH MARGARET LINDSAY

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-52KXpD3y8osOJ2sVhnho3EH5Ora_MwqV0r9cy7K6LOQ8ct7iup3uohpts314obzljRlqXYL4aLWOLZTjf0qTDRaQZaGsxpehViwxwq_OS_ZB07BUWNrF2Hv3BufkmPjNNJHE4JBS-yhT9vFY9QJIafm83wQbKYbZ4EYgtZxXRA1R8A5N7-emZHMvcQ=s746" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="746" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-52KXpD3y8osOJ2sVhnho3EH5Ora_MwqV0r9cy7K6LOQ8ct7iup3uohpts314obzljRlqXYL4aLWOLZTjf0qTDRaQZaGsxpehViwxwq_OS_ZB07BUWNrF2Hv3BufkmPjNNJHE4JBS-yhT9vFY9QJIafm83wQbKYbZ4EYgtZxXRA1R8A5N7-emZHMvcQ=w400-h271" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1935 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the more severe early James Cagney features features Cagney as a character with a name so tough, once he's almost shanghaied in San Fransisco's 19th Century cutthroat/bar-brawling territory, you just know that new-guy-in-town "Bat Morgan" will get his revenge, and then some...</p><p></p><p>And that <i>some</i> is the kind of "let's band together to make one unbreakable monopolizing outfit" that occurs in just about every gangster flick that FRISCO KID is a time-period version of... </p><p>With either extremely shady or friendly characters surrounding our initially sympathetic turned determined casino-owner, from big boss Barton MacClane's hook-hand henchman The Shanghai Duck to gambler Ricardo Cortez as Cagney's backstabbing second to an affable sidekick to classy ingenue Margaret Lindsay flanked by token idealist Donald Woods (foreshadowing THE ROARING TWENTIES Paul Kelly, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, Patricia Lane and Jeffrey Lynn respectively); the latter a newspaperman ready to stomp the unlawful shenanigans that Cagney's Morgan is only partially responsible for, providing yet another "crime doesn't pay" plot-line that needed more levity climbing to that inevitably unsteady pinnacle... only this time it's all pretty serious business.  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, classic gangster, donald woods, george e. stone, james cagney, margaret lindsay, ricordo cortez, thirties, time period

JAMES CAGNEY IN 'FRISCO KID' WITH MARGARET LINDSAY

Year: 1935 Rating: ***1/2 One of the more severe early James Cagney features features Cagney as a character with a name so tough, once he...

STANLEY KUBRICK'S PARANOIAC FILM NOIR OF 'EYES WIDE SHUT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggKbgavRlx8RIsE4_bzFwb1l0stWYK0261BW1EUz6g5W4_CxtQnQ7h5ko6p1bgTvyWSpkEke1EGkz3L3HxnB_Qbmu-dpkIuZWv8SBswpCSdaTfXaDbmDFHf-3F7j-PXN5AwrMR2axWt0fwAXgH7BvvJ0MBPGLSlV9o0ur9vlFU2iBp3xSzirvRR4Vp2w=s1043" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="1043" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggKbgavRlx8RIsE4_bzFwb1l0stWYK0261BW1EUz6g5W4_CxtQnQ7h5ko6p1bgTvyWSpkEke1EGkz3L3HxnB_Qbmu-dpkIuZWv8SBswpCSdaTfXaDbmDFHf-3F7j-PXN5AwrMR2axWt0fwAXgH7BvvJ0MBPGLSlV9o0ur9vlFU2iBp3xSzirvRR4Vp2w=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT Year: 1999 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Some films seem created to be despised and misunderstood... <i>Misunderspised</i> is not a word but fits the subliminally insane, intensely mellow and tortuously strange EYES WIDE SHUT that, too slow for a thriller and too tame for sheer outright sexual exploitation, is the final feature of legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and stars Tom Cruise as a seemingly perfect Manhattan doctor with a seemingly contented wife in Nicole Kidman...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> Beginning with a plush (yet secretly lush) party thrown by Cruise's millionaire "house calls" patient Sydney Pollock, who later partakes in a terrific finale monologue, both men playing a game of fancy red-velvet pool while discussing an earlier upscale, mansion-set, masquerade orgy that Cruise's Dr. William Harford character should <i>not</i> have attended...</p><span></span>

christmas, epic, marie richardson, melodrama, neo noir, nicole kidman, nineties, stanley kubrick, sydney pollock, todd field, tom cruise

STANLEY KUBRICK'S PARANOIAC FILM NOIR OF 'EYES WIDE SHUT'

Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT Year: 1999 Rating: ***1/2 Some films seem created to be despised and misunderstood... Mis...

EARLY JAMES CAGNEY MILITARY COMEDY 'HERE COMES THE NAVY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_gkxTUoOsREc705RQ3cSGDY2r1Ap69VvBgVirEAaeoP2AUFPkBnfEicOrN2jkE3kvf1JwU-FhJqzXTvWNoAHkl1SzylVFETG5-UA3Ob8Inj2t4nAPplmb4SRWlTg503tdJJBFHinUmgFAaQi9qX3-MQ_waN-SZr_4l3onOz96E-WSKgvcfb2j296J8Q=s531" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="531" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_gkxTUoOsREc705RQ3cSGDY2r1Ap69VvBgVirEAaeoP2AUFPkBnfEicOrN2jkE3kvf1JwU-FhJqzXTvWNoAHkl1SzylVFETG5-UA3Ob8Inj2t4nAPplmb4SRWlTg503tdJJBFHinUmgFAaQi9qX3-MQ_waN-SZr_4l3onOz96E-WSKgvcfb2j296J8Q=w400-h345" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR: 1934 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>James Cagney as feisty construction worker/dance-contest running Chesty O'Brien has a row with Navy braggart Pat O'Brien, so he joins-up to simply punch out his rival in Lloyd Bacon's HERE COMES THE NAVY, another early Cagney programmer, here with most of the screen-time onboard the doomed/legendary U.S.S. Arizona aircraft carrier, in 1934...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Cagney, along with his usual tubby comic-relief sidekick Frank McHugh, meet up in a 90-day boot camp that flies by too quickly.... </p><p>But with HERE COMES THE NAVY, featuring bad (as in flirtatious two-timing) dancing girl Dorothy Tree followed by the token perfect girl <i>who just happens to be O'Brien's little sister</i> Gloria Stuart predictably falling for Cagney yet in an equally mutual fashion, the best scenes showcase how Chesty cuts corners onboard the Arizona, from taking an illegal liberty to working extremely hard to NOT have to work as hard as everyone else... That's until the inevitable tables turn and Cagney goes from snarky clown to intrepid hero, equally a stretch to how and why he'd joined in the first place... but it's all lightweight fare with the resilient young Cagney once again making pure adventure out of just a few locations.  <br></p><span></span>

action, adventure, comedy, dorothy tree, frank mchugh, gloria stuart, james cagney, military, pat o'brien, thirties

EARLY JAMES CAGNEY MILITARY COMEDY 'HERE COMES THE NAVY'

YEAR: 1934 Rates: **** James Cagney as feisty construction worker/dance-contest running Chesty O'Brien has a row with Navy braggart Pat ...

JAMES CAGNEY 'LADY KILLER' MAE CLARKE & MARGARET LINDSAY

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-PjgA3mYV5jPxIn_fnZrnop3pdu4MegL-nV2kZexaRe8e8_FiOtClOnTVMk3bvBjCQXaq8BtlVP4TseDOc5Z4ot2xp7sPlyUR1kbF1b4ZMfQlh85lPsWyuFTfGnm2czCRa3TnUsxFyx62s5mQDeBLNsdQJGYaNdcpJC1lGamr3icmXvr23015p1CmAQ=s1079" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="1079" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-PjgA3mYV5jPxIn_fnZrnop3pdu4MegL-nV2kZexaRe8e8_FiOtClOnTVMk3bvBjCQXaq8BtlVP4TseDOc5Z4ot2xp7sPlyUR1kbF1b4ZMfQlh85lPsWyuFTfGnm2czCRa3TnUsxFyx62s5mQDeBLNsdQJGYaNdcpJC1lGamr3icmXvr23015p1CmAQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: LADY KILLER Year: 1933 Cast: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Mae Clarke Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>James Cagney plays a shifty usher at a movie theater, so his character’s already geared towards the lights, camera and especially action (and distraction from the very start. But he’s quickly derailed, conned by PUBLIC ENEMY siren Mae Clarke into a rigged card game involving Douglass Dumbrille and his gang of crooks... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But Cagney's Dan Quigley, after catching on, instead of getting angry, or even, or both, he joins and eventually leads the group into nightclub ownership and then a bigger heist that lands them in real dough, and real trouble...</p><p><span></span></p>

comedy, crime, douglass dumbrille, hollywood satire, james cagney, mae clarke, margaret lindsay, thirties, warner archives

JAMES CAGNEY 'LADY KILLER' MAE CLARKE & MARGARET LINDSAY

Title: LADY KILLER Year: 1933 Cast: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Mae Clarke Rating: **** James Cagney plays a shifty usher at a movie th...

JAMES CAGNEY AND PARTNER JOAN BLONDELL IN 'BLONDE CRAZY'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhN5Bpb1dQXmDQPASd7wD4Qe_2UUlosNEf8pJuiOWTKciobBdvw7n4keimFu6dsf-2Fa8DvDbqUflUGkzkAFJG30wbRKhvco4vJqNRn3iq7ZJB0QrmVucIS_uWWuANIAD3Q4dmBMzz24BCA1tQLzTCrmQrsOyTfVugbE1iAXrsOQ6dAkremzoOKGB4qcg=s778" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhN5Bpb1dQXmDQPASd7wD4Qe_2UUlosNEf8pJuiOWTKciobBdvw7n4keimFu6dsf-2Fa8DvDbqUflUGkzkAFJG30wbRKhvco4vJqNRn3iq7ZJB0QrmVucIS_uWWuANIAD3Q4dmBMzz24BCA1tQLzTCrmQrsOyTfVugbE1iAXrsOQ6dAkremzoOKGB4qcg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BLONDE CRAZY Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell Year: 1931 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Something about James Cagney, especially in his youthful early-1930's energetic programmers, and how he brings out the best, and worst, from his leading ladies — as in the best performances and the worst attitudes...<br> <br> Enter Joan Blondell dealing with Cagney’s conniving Bert Harris, half the fun of this con-game comedy/drama centering on Harris, a suave hotel employee who sees the right girl is hired: and it’s the blonde cutie Joan, as Anne Roberts, who fits the bill since men simply melt at her feet...<br></p><p></p><span></span>

comedy, con man, heist, james cagney, joan blondell, louis calhern, noel francis, ray milland, roy del ruth, thirties

JAMES CAGNEY AND PARTNER JOAN BLONDELL IN 'BLONDE CRAZY'

Title: BLONDE CRAZY Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell Year: 1931 Rating: **** Something about James Cagney, especially in his youthful early...

JAMES CAGNEY'S NO DIRTY RAT IN THE BRISK MELODRAMA 'TAXI'

<p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIWRoAtFQG5JGJW8gg3Bkk-lRThX8RRBfwlk5sw2IwfdIi3PUKIOGbOgFTeVdb5cCUm8I-8xWjhi3gFkepjkfLPdSA1sA0Hpn1TwpywZXWUlDPHVvql0Xd1t2LNXoImKBr50ZNN1MQM0YvvbSSWczhncYcmQmuKue1yQmUnR2Y7vry9tVV9TRGHLzg8A=s745" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="745" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIWRoAtFQG5JGJW8gg3Bkk-lRThX8RRBfwlk5sw2IwfdIi3PUKIOGbOgFTeVdb5cCUm8I-8xWjhi3gFkepjkfLPdSA1sA0Hpn1TwpywZXWUlDPHVvql0Xd1t2LNXoImKBr50ZNN1MQM0YvvbSSWczhncYcmQmuKue1yQmUnR2Y7vry9tVV9TRGHLzg8A=w400-h251" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TAXI Year: 1931 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Begins as a predictable, cliché melodrama dealing with the haves… a monopolizing consortium cab company… against the have-nots: independent cabbies trying to make it on their own without getting whacked in the process...</p><p></p><p>But soon the message peels into involving crime fare with James Cagney as Matt Nolan, who... along with future <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/12/shanghaiduck.html">FRISCO KID</a> sidekick George E. Stone... never actually says "You dirty rat" but barks something similar to best girl Loretta Young...<br></p><p></p><p>The movie gets better as the more stress enters Nolan's life: various thugs from the consortium move in, and every dame... from the one good to the several bad/untrusting... annoy the hell out of him: providing the cocky firebrand the usual classic tantrums, and so, Matt Nolan is like most of Cagney’s early-era tough guys, only with a real cause he's extra ticked-off and super edgy. Fighting the good fight you'll back him all the way, so much so the other characters seem nonexistent whether he's on, or off, the screen.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, crime, george e. stone, james cagney, loretta young, melodrama, thirties, union, warner archives

JAMES CAGNEY'S NO DIRTY RAT IN THE BRISK MELODRAMA 'TAXI'

Title: TAXI Year: 1931 Rating: *** Begins as a predictable, cliché melodrama dealing with the haves… a monopolizing consortium cab company… ...

MALCOLM MCDOWELL IN RICHARD LESTER'S 'ROYAL FLASH'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyo9G4d8pb3AD7lIhAVBISbfUP_H0B68SSLZ5DUgRl7aGoHgN4dgN7etiNGd3F3Rj0jDLtksuy9YfrERCULExbwYbCxTVR2dcH8MthbJKfrttBvZ-E0QBgxQCkFbMSCeaa40d5Ioj3IZRS3frSCdoRLd2EfpwvWqRXadGiZsZlcD876oa0Kk2amIyMUg/s1192/AVvXsEjXFQ0SxL7sgxD2-qvXGrex3S2DD0dijlQsU01JiIFNOXQ8W1q5RC5XIXFFsjqBNdzSAzwqIMiucEdMWpWT01OX7ZFqttp9vV1_3_uXMOnhK8QsEFQGJO53v-wQWC5WuCG59LOV67aQ6FeSa0nPFjEcob0R22cC4BwUMcuktfVF2gzUy3s-36HRD-uvJA=s16000.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyo9G4d8pb3AD7lIhAVBISbfUP_H0B68SSLZ5DUgRl7aGoHgN4dgN7etiNGd3F3Rj0jDLtksuy9YfrERCULExbwYbCxTVR2dcH8MthbJKfrttBvZ-E0QBgxQCkFbMSCeaa40d5Ioj3IZRS3frSCdoRLd2EfpwvWqRXadGiZsZlcD876oa0Kk2amIyMUg/s16000/AVvXsEjXFQ0SxL7sgxD2-qvXGrex3S2DD0dijlQsU01JiIFNOXQ8W1q5RC5XIXFFsjqBNdzSAzwqIMiucEdMWpWT01OX7ZFqttp9vV1_3_uXMOnhK8QsEFQGJO53v-wQWC5WuCG59LOV67aQ6FeSa0nPFjEcob0R22cC4BwUMcuktfVF2gzUy3s-36HRD-uvJA=s16000.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Malcolm McDowell as Harry Flashman in ROYAL FLASH Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Malcolm McDowell himself stated via commentary he was perhaps miscast for the role of Captain Harry Flashman based on the popular British novels by Thomas Hughes, and ironically, judging by the covers, Flashman's depiction is almost a dead-ringer to McDowell's ROYAL FLASH co-star Alan Bates... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Who would have then possibly fared better in the outwardly-perfect/inwardly-cowardice title role, giving his own secondary character to underused villain Oliver Reed, formidably scowling as ever and a solid leftover from director Richard Lester's THREE MUSKETEERS and FOUR MUSKETEERS...</p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglJ6rJ-HWX_PQhNmXZr3vCF2z1n4zFT7e8ELVmK_0B91no-P_cxSsv62bf6YMzMywKp9-HqufgdsMawAhLPPSSK5BOjXQevkJZMOb1PSzUlu1J0jt3X3NV10nNa5cnm6PgOakyzRAS_R9FRY9FF6pzhgNHDm-sJp3_cRUS2TH6LI0g3cYW2mzCLNq_Bg=s1354" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="1354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglJ6rJ-HWX_PQhNmXZr3vCF2z1n4zFT7e8ELVmK_0B91no-P_cxSsv62bf6YMzMywKp9-HqufgdsMawAhLPPSSK5BOjXQevkJZMOb1PSzUlu1J0jt3X3NV10nNa5cnm6PgOakyzRAS_R9FRY9FF6pzhgNHDm-sJp3_cRUS2TH6LI0g3cYW2mzCLNq_Bg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>ROYAL FLASH co-stars Oliver Reed and Alan Bates</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Successful films that consecutively proceeded this rather forgotten, overlooked anti-epic's epic sharing the same period-genre (herein the crest of the Victorian Era): only this fictional hero's surrounded by actual historic ones...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And IF the <i>Flashy </i>shoe didn't fit McDowell visually, he was, following A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and O LUCKY MAN, the perfect choice for an oblivious pawn thrown from one perilous misadventure into the next, overwhelmed while "riding the whirlwind" yet remaining the same knowingly-crooked scoundrel from beginning to end...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, alan bates, british, florinda bolkan, history, lionel jeffries, malcolm mcdowell, oliver reed, richard lester, seventies, tom bell, victorian

MALCOLM MCDOWELL IN RICHARD LESTER'S 'ROYAL FLASH'

Malcolm McDowell as Harry Flashman in ROYAL FLASH Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2 Malcolm McDowell himself stated via commentary he was perhaps mi...

INSANELY BIZARRE CRIME MELODRAMA 'BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqpufCfZdIbvv7xXtvmvzMJiznge5C38UUcBTLW3Q_fL6v8s60RdKfoj8CtZEKCO22DqI8Uck0H7muOCxxPSi5jCyKQn8LxzKymaMQG4SU0SNFjYWiPonNUzs5JjOceNvd4z4yi9IrAnLVq8CWnewgCCB0A6VGeZ6qQmwWTZg-T4d35-3_z-nbhZ2lPw/s1397/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1129" data-original-width="1397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqpufCfZdIbvv7xXtvmvzMJiznge5C38UUcBTLW3Q_fL6v8s60RdKfoj8CtZEKCO22DqI8Uck0H7muOCxxPSi5jCyKQn8LxzKymaMQG4SU0SNFjYWiPonNUzs5JjOceNvd4z4yi9IrAnLVq8CWnewgCCB0A6VGeZ6qQmwWTZg-T4d35-3_z-nbhZ2lPw/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Wallace Ford and Patricia Ellis in BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN Year: 1939 Camp Value: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the strangest, most awkwardly melodramatic and yet somehow insanely intriguing 1930's crime flicks ever made, beginning with the fact that a skinny Jimmy Lydon, as young harmonica thief Frankie Rogers... who shares a single scene in a classroom with kids that would turn into adult actors playing them later... bares absolutely no resemblance to bulky Wallace Ford, who always seemed as if he'd never been young...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>By the time Frankie's an adult, locked up in a prison after... having been locked up as a kid... a few minutes will pass before you realize it's supposed to be the same person... like a new character's introduced that will eventually meet the kid we've been following...  Yet now we're in the second act as if the first never happened...</p><span></span>

crime, jimmy lydon, melodrama, patricia ellis, thirties, van heflin, wallace ford, william redfield

INSANELY BIZARRE CRIME MELODRAMA 'BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN'

Wallace Ford and Patricia Ellis in BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN Year: 1939 Camp Value: *** One of the strangest, most awkwardly melodramatic and yet ...

THE MONKEES MIND THEIR MALIGNED BUSINESS THROUGH 'HEAD'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXVmljhqzNZ0qhQPY08IuoRJ0PDBin0Q3HLUhIi6Yia4v5RAylJ_Z_WIGsQeSUOVFd_aPhzqnaeDknlGwq2a5l8eHsbk3G6niqMgIwtR-KGRgfMA06Ujmi9U1wCik6-6sr7KLPdqY9x9gjD-AcCD8iSgPqcG2d7JMqVepWIoz0dIHgTlp8Ofp2U8jDJA=s1278" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="1278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXVmljhqzNZ0qhQPY08IuoRJ0PDBin0Q3HLUhIi6Yia4v5RAylJ_Z_WIGsQeSUOVFd_aPhzqnaeDknlGwq2a5l8eHsbk3G6niqMgIwtR-KGRgfMA06Ujmi9U1wCik6-6sr7KLPdqY9x9gjD-AcCD8iSgPqcG2d7JMqVepWIoz0dIHgTlp8Ofp2U8jDJA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Micky Dolenz & Mike Nesmith in artwork more 1980's than 1960's for HEAD Year: 1968 Rates: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>No rock group nor any music act in history would take part in a motion picture created primarily to ruin their image; but The Monkees, who were infamously NOT an actual band, had no <i>real</i> image to either ruin or protect...  </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Except their immensely popular and beloved TV show THE MONKEES, in which, after the second season cancellation, producer Bert Schnieder with producer/director Bob Rafelson alongside Rafelson's future FIVE EASY PIECES star/then-writer Jack Nicholson created a big-screen HEAD... </p><p><span></span></p>

bob rafelson, counter-culture, davy jones, ensemble, jack nicholson, michael nesmith, micky dolenz, montage, music, peter tork, psychedelic, the monkees, timothy carey, victor mature

THE MONKEES MIND THEIR MALIGNED BUSINESS THROUGH 'HEAD'

Micky Dolenz & Mike Nesmith in artwork more 1980's than 1960's for HEAD Year: 1968 Rates: ** No rock group nor any music act in ...

REST IN PEACE MONKEES RENAISSANCE MAN MICHAEL NESMITH

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSkKc8z_vs25Y5gdAYRApO6LI09tyzPz9Uf67RxGF3bKUDTNMxkxqHaCO1hSlOQbJg0Qol0V0qFKJms-LlYwyePOXrB_S1V2xRVoepea1HwOKV4XsZW-RxYe0yBvJheIcHZv-kpOJvyuSMZq-xJsmtAekI8_pJ9uvDwsOIC8gy7yfdnAYZ4jl1SzeyKA=s1360" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSkKc8z_vs25Y5gdAYRApO6LI09tyzPz9Uf67RxGF3bKUDTNMxkxqHaCO1hSlOQbJg0Qol0V0qFKJms-LlYwyePOXrB_S1V2xRVoepea1HwOKV4XsZW-RxYe0yBvJheIcHZv-kpOJvyuSMZq-xJsmtAekI8_pJ9uvDwsOIC8gy7yfdnAYZ4jl1SzeyKA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>RIP Michael Nesmith here in THE MONKEES montage opening credits</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The fact the 1960's counter-culture generation were angry that four comedic actors (who could also sing/play a little music) on an obvious sit-com-parody of The Beatles' eclectic stab at movies is like the cast of FRIENDS being blamed for not hanging around together at a local coffee shop...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And while there are two Beatles left, THE MONKEES are down to one, and sole-surviving Micky Dolenz was currently on a "Farewell Tour" with recently-departed Michael Nesmith, the lanky wool cap-wearing straight man who, with a fortune from his mother's Liquid Paper invention, never financially needed part of various Monkees reunions... </p><span></span>

counter-culture, cult, davy jones, eighties, memorial, michael nesmith, micky dolenz, music, peter tork, sixties, the monkees

REST IN PEACE MONKEES RENAISSANCE MAN MICHAEL NESMITH

RIP Michael Nesmith here in THE MONKEES montage opening credits The fact the 1960's counter-culture generation were angry that four come...

ROBERT MONTGOMERY'S 'RIDE THE PINK HORSE' WANDA HENDRIX

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNekp1faeqQA1MOXppz9-FhQfB6ID44qpkFuG_HSHfewtF9Ae55u09Opf_pzj4s_4bxoYcd-Hr2x77lvq-qj05PlmsysM3dhOyk44v23M96bsm3uvnrBnabYnIc_JMh-RwrCsiJy_cFalI7399Da_NUX7Q3UtqQ4n2VBjv0p4qpIKf-HumqdTx9j1scKAU/s1207/436367341_1094778905501776_8254241899528071062_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="1207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNekp1faeqQA1MOXppz9-FhQfB6ID44qpkFuG_HSHfewtF9Ae55u09Opf_pzj4s_4bxoYcd-Hr2x77lvq-qj05PlmsysM3dhOyk44v23M96bsm3uvnrBnabYnIc_JMh-RwrCsiJy_cFalI7399Da_NUX7Q3UtqQ4n2VBjv0p4qpIKf-HumqdTx9j1scKAU/s16000/436367341_1094778905501776_8254241899528071062_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: RIDE THE PINK HORSE Year: 1947 Director/Star: Robert Montgomery Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the biggest flaws of Robert Montgomery's Mexico-set film noir RIDE THE PINK HORSE is pretty much flawless, and that's Wanda Hendrix as Pila, a different kind of ingenue...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And if Montgomery... a vengeful rogue named Lucky Gagin who turns up in a one-street carnival-fiesta Mexican town to blackmail criminal tycoon Fred Clark for having killed his war buddy... well let's just say if our roving hero's eyes were open, he'd have noticed that this "too skinny" peasant girl resembles an even prettier Gene Tierney...</p><p><span></span></p>

andrea king, art smith, film noir or melodrama, forties, fred clark, mexico, revenge, robert montgomery, thomas gomez, thriller, wanda hendrix

ROBERT MONTGOMERY'S 'RIDE THE PINK HORSE' WANDA HENDRIX

Title: RIDE THE PINK HORSE Year: 1947 Director/Star: Robert Montgomery Rates: ***1/2 One of the biggest flaws of Robert Montgomery's Mex...

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS FRED WARD AS 'TIMERIDER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEKV5FKA8OyhCN6O8fd58BTUY30EzAoSJcSGGAFmtxVSI6y0v87E3alfXDFvddhQrzRguKBRNZg7O0tb4sQmyufcUAWtJwMvHt68Nm8Dyk4mLCqo-UcesX355RJ2cP6ywVjZZ1l3cKZ9dkrvFbl3ayDWFBp-BramOiWdXqOrLB433yBnnuyH5iGpAniw=s900" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEKV5FKA8OyhCN6O8fd58BTUY30EzAoSJcSGGAFmtxVSI6y0v87E3alfXDFvddhQrzRguKBRNZg7O0tb4sQmyufcUAWtJwMvHt68Nm8Dyk4mLCqo-UcesX355RJ2cP6ywVjZZ1l3cKZ9dkrvFbl3ayDWFBp-BramOiWdXqOrLB433yBnnuyH5iGpAniw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TIMERIDER Producer: Mike Nesmith Cast: Fred Ward, Belinda Bauer Year: 1982 Rates: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before executive producing REPO MAN, Micheal Nesmith not only produced but co-wrote and composed a crunchy rock guitar score for a low-budget time-travel flick TIMERIDER: THE ADVENTURE OF LYLE SWANN, starting out with titular dirt-bike champ Fred Ward's perspective of a desert race course that we learn... cutting to and from the interior of a nearby scientific center... has a metallic device set up to...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Long story short, Swann winds up a hundred-years back in the 1870's post-Civil War, making TIMERIDER that <i>Western with a dirt bike</i> movie co-starring Belinda Bauer as the Arizona past's tough Mexican firebrand Claire Cygne, who, less than an hour after seeing our muscular hero skinny dipping, gets his clothes off again for a literal roll in the hay... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, belinda bauer, chris mulkey, cult, ed lauter, eighties, fred ward, l.q. jones, michael nesmith, modern western, peter coyote, science-fiction, time travel

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS FRED WARD AS 'TIMERIDER'

Title: TIMERIDER Producer: Mike Nesmith Cast: Fred Ward, Belinda Bauer Year: 1982 Rates: ** Before executive producing REPO MAN, Micheal Nes...

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS ALEX COX'S PUNK NOIR 'REPO MAN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFsIbBuKKRULHfqWSr1ijboYAhZlqmO6yGKFcqUq-4WLC2iw1YTlY8qQSV0uf3kN1g6XeRUfAX3msuib5hucSCg8cfiAEfhWikJwge7_XE7JPsXu8wRI7JoReKLqXPjCU-a6LIkh-RAIUUvIufNK60HNL1kymfkycC6VgIwfoaYOqHdBMUOIk-pg6f1g=s1391" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="1391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFsIbBuKKRULHfqWSr1ijboYAhZlqmO6yGKFcqUq-4WLC2iw1YTlY8qQSV0uf3kN1g6XeRUfAX3msuib5hucSCg8cfiAEfhWikJwge7_XE7JPsXu8wRI7JoReKLqXPjCU-a6LIkh-RAIUUvIufNK60HNL1kymfkycC6VgIwfoaYOqHdBMUOIk-pg6f1g=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> Title: REPO MAN Executive Producer: Michael Nesmith Director: Alex Cox Year: 1984 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>British director Alex Cox's REPO MAN produced/presented by philanthropic Michael Nesmith is to punk rock cinema what KISS ME DEADLY is to Film Noir: a Los Angeles-based odyssey starring Emilio Estevez as Otto, a slacker without purpose or motivation, and whether drinking generic beer or working at a generic grocery store, he's got time on his hands and very little money in-between...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p> So fate has him joining Harry Dean Stanton's Bud in “legally stealing” a car, and he soon becomes a REPO MAN, which is dangerous business, especially in the bad part of town where Otto learns the ropes along with Bud's randomly insane philosophies (hating both Christians and Communists equally) as they go from one task to another... </p><p><span></span></p>

alex cox, cult, dark comedy, eighties, emilio estevez, ensemble, harry dean stanton, michael nesmith, olivia barash, science-ficiton, sy richardson, tracey walter

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS ALEX COX'S PUNK NOIR 'REPO MAN'

 Title: REPO MAN Executive Producer: Michael Nesmith Director: Alex Cox Year: 1984 Rating: **** British director Alex Cox's REPO MAN pro...

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS 'TAPEHEADS' WITH TIM ROBBINS

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeLntt-stGfDfWtiL27-v6lq5hMplQiakKmnwFdkz29Jl8wrZFcgHjLphvWBFEmfQsaO68d_ZiLNiNbYYvb5wIKP7JcLa7mAsB5c9h8M0e1coTeAS4d9fznzbKmhNtRNeD1vM5FXD-sHU-JCY4g5EZE5ptZGeno4Vkdt5nuFtBRlS2BPd_hZvzaj8M4A=s1879" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="1879" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeLntt-stGfDfWtiL27-v6lq5hMplQiakKmnwFdkz29Jl8wrZFcgHjLphvWBFEmfQsaO68d_ZiLNiNbYYvb5wIKP7JcLa7mAsB5c9h8M0e1coTeAS4d9fznzbKmhNtRNeD1vM5FXD-sHU-JCY4g5EZE5ptZGeno4Vkdt5nuFtBRlS2BPd_hZvzaj8M4A=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tim Robbins in Bill Fishman's cult comedy TAPEHEADS Year: 1988 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Monkee turned millionaire Michael Nesmith, after backing the cult classic REPO MAN, joined that film's producer Peter McCarthy who co-wrote TAPEHEADS with music-video director Bill Fishman... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The perfect director for a video-making parody about a twenty-something odd couple in salesman-type John Cusack as Ivan and best friend Josh played by a meek/mellow Tim Robbins, the artistic side of this underdog duo who start out as unambitious multi-monitor security guards...</p><p><span></span></p>

bill fishman, comedy, eighties, indie, john cusack, katy boyer, mary crosy, michael nesmith, music, tim robbins

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS 'TAPEHEADS' WITH TIM ROBBINS

Tim Robbins in Bill Fishman's cult comedy TAPEHEADS Year: 1988 Rating: *** Monkee turned millionaire Michael Nesmith, after backing the ...

NEVILLE BRAND AND ROBERT OSTERLOH 'RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsUbhau1isuHzhAsz2yAaL9akzQk6SxRMjGaHHwB59opUxf3UBaTzeCFWWXMkzu3vncnqw6af371U0eJbDwo18PCn_37UN2VkJ1BtFDHrO9f-VBpX6hzTGE7BiqxlA_zxMhANxpvuqEaIMatszgeS_g-sdc22QcfKIH3mYV7N9iiChzFKX9KHNXTXrA/s1194/Screen%20Shot%202021-12-06%20at%208.06.28%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="1194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsUbhau1isuHzhAsz2yAaL9akzQk6SxRMjGaHHwB59opUxf3UBaTzeCFWWXMkzu3vncnqw6af371U0eJbDwo18PCn_37UN2VkJ1BtFDHrO9f-VBpX6hzTGE7BiqxlA_zxMhANxpvuqEaIMatszgeS_g-sdc22QcfKIH3mYV7N9iiChzFKX9KHNXTXrA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202021-12-06%20at%208.06.28%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 Director: Don Siegel Producer: Walter Wanger Year: 1954 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of those 1950's Film Noirs that starts out a documentary, in this case an actual warden speaking about the "riot problem" in American prisons while a montage of news footage is shown... </p><p></p><p></p><p>All occurring after the opening credits to blend with the grainy B&W story-line... as if both fact and fiction were one in the same... despite supposedly hard-edged prisoners Alvy Moore and Dabbs Greer's goofy smiles, donning upturned long-brim caps more befitting a keystone comedy...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

dabbs greer, docudrama, emile meyer, exploitation, fifties, film noir or melodrama, leo gordon, neville brand, prison, robert osterloh

NEVILLE BRAND AND ROBERT OSTERLOH 'RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11'

Title: RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 Director: Don Siegel Producer: Walter Wanger Year: 1954 Rating: **** One of those 1950's Film Noirs that st...

STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS KURT RUSSELL SELLING 'USED CARS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhznkORU5byTHQ2R-NRrzR2y-BSgPM9z7epSOeUG7SbP6TUW18Fdrip_8OGJjgg7dw6UgBM03Y13e0OEEDHmyOiXXC5n59OMdCRQ91SovXNL-Lw7_HITV3zy1tw5IjDyk2qb_7dqxQ0ED6f3ptoDV1OLAiiwq6nb2CTk-uNOtbWd9ZG0FsaZplbnKJndw=s1439" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="1439" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhznkORU5byTHQ2R-NRrzR2y-BSgPM9z7epSOeUG7SbP6TUW18Fdrip_8OGJjgg7dw6UgBM03Y13e0OEEDHmyOiXXC5n59OMdCRQ91SovXNL-Lw7_HITV3zy1tw5IjDyk2qb_7dqxQ0ED6f3ptoDV1OLAiiwq6nb2CTk-uNOtbWd9ZG0FsaZplbnKJndw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: USED CARS Producer: Steven Spielberg Director: Bob Zemeckis Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Around the time that <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/11/1941.html">Steven Spielberg's WWII comedy</a> started vanishing from the collective moviegoer memories, the entire <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/11/1941.html">1941</a> team, also including producer John Milius co-writing with Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, had a new movie out that bombed in theaters, unlike 1941 that, despite its maligned reputation, <i>did</i> turn a profit...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The irony is the Robert Zemickis directed USED CARS, co-written by Gale and produced by Milius and Spielberg, was getting the kind of "sleeper" attention within its predecessor's ebbing wake... <br></p><span></span>

bob gale, comedy, deborah harmon, eighties, exploitation, frank mcrea, gerrit graham, harry northup, jack warden, kurt russell, robert zemeckis

STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS KURT RUSSELL SELLING 'USED CARS'

Title: USED CARS Producer: Steven Spielberg Director: Bob Zemeckis Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2 Around the time that Steven Spielberg's WWII...

DUSTIN HOFFMAN & WARREN BEATTY WANDER THROUGH 'ISHTAR'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7EtOiCaXcV6QGcjLurONrznclMMo6BZr_c7n6sh5TzIzN7hqpWDWvTwo_dkl9vFRj6qcImJLvROptaSmrapVHHZ-PMnPGPHlOdDHfjg2d1JcqZk-JFYVUHoAE5n4mCZKcP5ZKg7npjrYKL3rsl7ax746AxoMd-SAPj5kt7n01Dd1Ai8l9D5XaixtL6spS/s2208/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1234" data-original-width="2208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7EtOiCaXcV6QGcjLurONrznclMMo6BZr_c7n6sh5TzIzN7hqpWDWvTwo_dkl9vFRj6qcImJLvROptaSmrapVHHZ-PMnPGPHlOdDHfjg2d1JcqZk-JFYVUHoAE5n4mCZKcP5ZKg7npjrYKL3rsl7ax746AxoMd-SAPj5kt7n01Dd1Ai8l9D5XaixtL6spS/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dustin Hoffman in ISHTAR Year: 1987 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In one scene from the famously infamous 1987 mega-flop ISHTAR, a shy and introverted Warren Beatty admits that, in order to get women, he wished he looked more like Dustin Hoffman: which is funnier than anything else in the movie... <br> </p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p> Both are straight men without comic relief (Beatty's sweet and stupid while Hoffman's stupidly confident), and there isn't a touch of humor to be found: Especially not in the muddled screenplay written by director Elaine May and centering on two awful lounge singers, Lyle Rogers and Chuck Clark, who don’t seem realistic enough to be genuine failures... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, buddy, charles grodin, comedy, desert, dustin hoffman, eighties, elaine may, espionage, isabelle adjani, jack weston, warren beatty

DUSTIN HOFFMAN & WARREN BEATTY WANDER THROUGH 'ISHTAR'

Dustin Hoffman in ISHTAR Year: 1987 Rating: ** In one scene from the famously infamous 1987 mega-flop ISHTAR, a shy and introverted Warren...

SUE LYON & JENNIFER ASHLEY IN 'TOWING' WITH JOE MANTENGA

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPYC3vbtzQFqa0M2Ck6jWo9H4j4ckBMWAsxSETkq4qWdYw78Hdvj7gGcgSo_-WW9nv513J1V77o3NaZP-675KJnVfu9uMpT3ATNW_t9g8shKQOJUqeet4cMk_iPBikjI3NlNSAYagdT16fri7M0yAZoP0v1cDMNccICfAOcQGz-HokTa2mhbAp7toy7A=s1283" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPYC3vbtzQFqa0M2Ck6jWo9H4j4ckBMWAsxSETkq4qWdYw78Hdvj7gGcgSo_-WW9nv513J1V77o3NaZP-675KJnVfu9uMpT3ATNW_t9g8shKQOJUqeet4cMk_iPBikjI3NlNSAYagdT16fri7M0yAZoP0v1cDMNccICfAOcQGz-HokTa2mhbAp7toy7A=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jennifer Ashley and Sue Lyon verses J.J. Johnston in TOWING Year: 1978 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before calling it quits after <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/sue-lyon-swan-song.html">ALLIGATOR</a>, Sue Lyon starred alongside Jennifer Ashley in what was once the Holy Grail of the former Lolita's low-budget 1970's flicks, finally coexisting with <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/evelyon.html">EVEL KNIEVEL</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/sue-lyon-tarot.html">TAROT</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/clockwork-lolita.html">MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/sue-lyon-crash.html">CRASH!</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/09/AssFactor.html">THE ASTRAL FACTOR</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/LYON-i5.html">SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE  5</a> and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2015/12/lyon-end-of-world.html">END OF THE WORLD</a>...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Her penultimate feature TOWING is a low-budget street-set sex-comedy influenced by CAR WASH, with a similar funky theme playing from beginning to end, starring Ashley and Lyon as barmaid besties... </p><p><span></span></p>

bobby di cici, cult, drive-in, exploitation, indie, jennifer ashley, joe mantenga, seventies, sue lyon

SUE LYON & JENNIFER ASHLEY IN 'TOWING' WITH JOE MANTENGA

Jennifer Ashley and Sue Lyon verses J.J. Johnston in TOWING Year: 1978 Rating: *** Before calling it quits after ALLIGATOR , Sue Lyon starre...

CAPTURING THE PANDEMONIUM OF STEVEN SPIELBERG'S '1941'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlbSPe9sVXXftLMWxHNcpQWrGh5TScreklJzpYU-z1sijR7Zc3qUxkbhawj11R5EhAARBD4vn6pOcQcUlleLpnrjugd5CJ1aqcdfCkUna4YpNmpnhy2t-Exju9iQAqJeyFJUgDjFr6lpryrhOziYx5i2y-IQdp97VPKz_FsE6R8ZpHsob_Z4vGXLSwiw/s1936/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-12%20at%209.31.51%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="1936" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlbSPe9sVXXftLMWxHNcpQWrGh5TScreklJzpYU-z1sijR7Zc3qUxkbhawj11R5EhAARBD4vn6pOcQcUlleLpnrjugd5CJ1aqcdfCkUna4YpNmpnhy2t-Exju9iQAqJeyFJUgDjFr6lpryrhOziYx5i2y-IQdp97VPKz_FsE6R8ZpHsob_Z4vGXLSwiw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-12%20at%209.31.51%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: 1941 from 1979 Director: Steven Spielberg Pictured: John Belush, John Landis Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>While considered by many to be Steven Spielberg's worst film... especially compared to DUEL, JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND... the 1979 blockbuster 1941 is actually his most important motion picture... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>For a director whose camera-flowing style REMAINS the prototype for other big budget (including comic book adapted) extravaganzas, 1941... from the warplane dogfight to the climactic rolling Ferris Wheel... moved Spielberg from action-BACKED thrillers to action-PACKED thrills...</p><p><span></span></p>

bobby di cici, comedy, dan aykroyd, dianne kay, ensemble, john belushi, john candy, mickey rourke, murray hamilton, nancy allen, ned beatty, seventies, steven spielberg, treat williams, world war II

CAPTURING THE PANDEMONIUM OF STEVEN SPIELBERG'S '1941'

Title: 1941 from 1979 Director: Steven Spielberg Pictured: John Belush, John Landis Rating: ***1/2 While considered by many to be Steven Spi...

SUZAN FARMER ENLIGHTENS 'DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGmLHlIu5IgOyJMskcsbqewIf84vKlBZnYgVePVYLZsLmy1acPIgkYma8DIC1e_CRbPmRyUGPjtpStwaelgQypOm68RmT7vxD5IapYoV07eMXGo_xadVjQBuoctV8fNeI6KsovzYazROwOqlrxU-YDYcQg5bsvCm-AxIG3ovaM3mcrPgqB6Cmv05OO_g=s1712" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="1712" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGmLHlIu5IgOyJMskcsbqewIf84vKlBZnYgVePVYLZsLmy1acPIgkYma8DIC1e_CRbPmRyUGPjtpStwaelgQypOm68RmT7vxD5IapYoV07eMXGo_xadVjQBuoctV8fNeI6KsovzYazROwOqlrxU-YDYcQg5bsvCm-AxIG3ovaM3mcrPgqB6Cmv05OO_g=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Suzan Farmer & Barbara Shelley in DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS Year: 1966 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Another suitable name for DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS would be HAMMER HOTEL since the basic premise is the luring of two couples into Dracula's castle and featuring two gorgeous women, one in her experienced-hot thirties the other her lithe-naive-twenties... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But the <i>luring</i> isn't really a temptation but rather, like most Hammer Films, tons of expository dialogue (mostly uttered by intensely bearded Andrew Kier) that, halfway through, finally gets this lost stranded foursome into the murky manor where of course, DRACULA will inevitably rise in the form of the iconic Christopher Lee...</p><p><span></span></p>

barbara shelley, body count, christopher lee, dracula, hammer films, horror, philip latham, sixties, suzan farmer

SUZAN FARMER ENLIGHTENS 'DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS'

Suzan Farmer & Barbara Shelley in DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS Year: 1966 Rates: *** Another suitable name for DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS...

HAMMER'S 'STOP ME BEFORE I KILL' AKA 'THE FULL TREATMENT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgo7ZuzJwwtQWo9V1CvjRWVhbmY9hCRGGSg_EaDBx7ORSOF3_B_Fgrjp17ZHs34Dty-3C4HT0fU7blVxbtxnIJQzPlFwNMXHJKdpmH98b8xQR5Bhw3JNw_JA7zSvbN9j9B7fhyX1j_LlLPYi9nzPI-BlSago96MKQuVWRmf8tFkctYXm6YcucSZfF48Jw=s1006" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="1006" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgo7ZuzJwwtQWo9V1CvjRWVhbmY9hCRGGSg_EaDBx7ORSOF3_B_Fgrjp17ZHs34Dty-3C4HT0fU7blVxbtxnIJQzPlFwNMXHJKdpmH98b8xQR5Bhw3JNw_JA7zSvbN9j9B7fhyX1j_LlLPYi9nzPI-BlSago96MKQuVWRmf8tFkctYXm6YcucSZfF48Jw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Claude Dauphin and Ronald Lewis in THE FULL TREATMENT Year: 1960 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>For a lovely, talented Australian actress (who worked mostly in England), Diane Cilento made a horribly annoying French girl in an otherwise edgy, deliberately nervewracking film by director Val Guest working again for Hammer...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And THE FULL TREATMENT was retitled STOP ME BEFORE I KILL probably because it didn't sound... Hammery enough... but like Guest's HELL IS A CITY, it's not horror but neo noir... </p><p><span></span></p>

bernard braden, claude dauphin, diane cilento, hammer films, jack hedley, neo noir, race car, ronald lewis, sixties, thriller, val guest

HAMMER'S 'STOP ME BEFORE I KILL' AKA 'THE FULL TREATMENT'

Claude Dauphin and Ronald Lewis in THE FULL TREATMENT Year: 1960 Rates: ***1/2 For a lovely, talented Australian actress (who worked mostly ...

ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN 'ASH WEDNESDAY' WITH KEITH BAXTER

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6U5bGdzo32rjbIOuU6-TYhTwYtooqn0IaRZp-8V0p-nL6_kerKZFd3F5WKtV-7lAMtbIh-qo3s30wUcGoT482QeGPCFnnULeqHy5d-Quh0S9fIa0jlNJn0ufMYqUXHBRAF-b3PibYO0UmllV4hfzn4VCjyn_5nslxC3ffVL9nulgHaIzOWpjLYSTzDg=s1391" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="1391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6U5bGdzo32rjbIOuU6-TYhTwYtooqn0IaRZp-8V0p-nL6_kerKZFd3F5WKtV-7lAMtbIh-qo3s30wUcGoT482QeGPCFnnULeqHy5d-Quh0S9fIa0jlNJn0ufMYqUXHBRAF-b3PibYO0UmllV4hfzn4VCjyn_5nslxC3ffVL9nulgHaIzOWpjLYSTzDg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Elizabeth Taylor in ASH WEDNESDAY Year: 1973 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A brilliant plot-device for any forty-year-old actress who was once an ingenue, ASH WEDNESDAY has a middle-aged Elizabeth Taylor circa 1973 playing a character well over sixty...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Beginning at a Swiss resort for plastic surgery far ahead of its time, ASH combines wistful melodrama and a touch of science-fiction since, when the procedure is finished... after being shown in uncomfortable detail from what seems a training film for med students... she winds up the real Elizabeth Taylor at that age... her age, then... thus looking comparably better than ever...</p><p><span></span></p>

drama, elizabeth taylor, helmut berger, import, keith baxter, margaret blye, melodrama, romance, seventies

ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN 'ASH WEDNESDAY' WITH KEITH BAXTER

Elizabeth Taylor in ASH WEDNESDAY Year: 1973 Rating: **** A brilliant plot-device for any forty-year-old actress who was once an ingenue, AS...

SERIOUS MEL BROOKS PRESENTS 'SOLARBABIES' WITH JAMI GERTZ

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcXCkYrVbRsME4HXpndDAOtwKIAXjgxPUEqHbeV1APKqniW9Lmf-C5cJ6-CDC7cKLxVatWtrR5areskWDCpFvnHDLLFSm15_cYulsP9Shh6HcITqKRrgxNSN-e5dZiXXVIe7SZKo0CRyxWA7YU62PDUI1pPMLgG9xrk2UF1_iMBXl2cn7sJyz9p5CSkA=s1433" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcXCkYrVbRsME4HXpndDAOtwKIAXjgxPUEqHbeV1APKqniW9Lmf-C5cJ6-CDC7cKLxVatWtrR5areskWDCpFvnHDLLFSm15_cYulsP9Shh6HcITqKRrgxNSN-e5dZiXXVIe7SZKo0CRyxWA7YU62PDUI1pPMLgG9xrk2UF1_iMBXl2cn7sJyz9p5CSkA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SOLARBABIES Cast: Jami Gertz, Jason Patric Year: 1986 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The 1980's post-apocalyptic SOLARBABIES seems inspired by MAD MAX (especially BEYOND THUNDERDOME) by the scorched-earth setting and ROLLERBALL for a skating game the titular kids play to relieve tension...</p><p></p><p>But it's actually an unspecified remake of Hammer Films' 1962 nuclear-cautionary thriller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/12/jami-gertz-as-one-of-damned-from.html">THESE ARE THE DAMNED </a>as a group of futuristic orphans are politely held captive (where captivity is commonplace) while, <i>completely</i> monitored by grim adult superiors, they only THINK they're breaking the roles by going slightly outside allowed perimeters...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBjapgOGAWvto5yUN9EJMFd4E0ygqsk7BosDftDklcUt15F8RErhzGQ_1bqSeTKMYuMBkkoiU4oJoWwa8tbZU0Ma-nPus6YTuvawK-CGKOu2f8fK87ZENQONX7nyPA8W-a2j1o7WDWTLt8mOgaXKMfIltAxwxmCzvFduhaQSBNtBFBGeUEitvnpTnW1g=s1891" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="1891" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBjapgOGAWvto5yUN9EJMFd4E0ygqsk7BosDftDklcUt15F8RErhzGQ_1bqSeTKMYuMBkkoiU4oJoWwa8tbZU0Ma-nPus6YTuvawK-CGKOu2f8fK87ZENQONX7nyPA8W-a2j1o7WDWTLt8mOgaXKMfIltAxwxmCzvFduhaQSBNtBFBGeUEitvnpTnW1g=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Claude Brooks and Peter Deluise in SOLARBABIES with Jami Gertz and Lucas Haas</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>For warden Charles Durning (like Alexander Knox in THE DAMNED), the minor rebellions are to boost morale while evil henchman Richard Jordan's Grock (ala Walter Gotell) wants all freedom gone, contrived or otherwise...</p><p></p><p></p><p>So when the kids <i>do</i> escape, rollerskating off into the desert/canyon terrain of unlimited limitations within various sand-dilapidated villages, Grock (with the aid of nefarious SUPERMAN villain Sarah Douglas) hires a pair of grungy assassins to rid the <i>youth problem,</i> once and for all...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, charles durning, eighties, jami gertz, jason patric, mel brooks, peter deluise, post-apocalyptic, richard jordan, sarah douglas, science-fiction

SERIOUS MEL BROOKS PRESENTS 'SOLARBABIES' WITH JAMI GERTZ

Title: SOLARBABIES Cast: Jami Gertz, Jason Patric Year: 1986 Rating: **1/2 The 1980's post-apocalyptic SOLARBABIES seems inspired by MAD...

MICKEY ROONEY CAUGHT IN 'QUICKSAND' WITH JEANNE CAGNEY

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_PiOvnpXYL2_iRPGNu_xmACAHUDcwbZXLOm7QqM_0lq6IEQ49e3BdB6gd-c1sEHKeuMA0L-RGwVgXsdwvFB5Qpy-YMAkWUfch9Tbs9ohI6OCJ95Qlnk0NSefrKE9Dd6RjG5kjg1tZFa1N7OK8ij-1ckhW-loHzZ1jstq7A04lGJwI3cCywLyXVYh6Ng=s1732" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1732" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_PiOvnpXYL2_iRPGNu_xmACAHUDcwbZXLOm7QqM_0lq6IEQ49e3BdB6gd-c1sEHKeuMA0L-RGwVgXsdwvFB5Qpy-YMAkWUfch9Tbs9ohI6OCJ95Qlnk0NSefrKE9Dd6RjG5kjg1tZFa1N7OK8ij-1ckhW-loHzZ1jstq7A04lGJwI3cCywLyXVYh6Ng=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: QUICKSAND Cast: Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, Peter Lorre Year: 1950 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>An epitomizing trait of film noir is... if you take a short cut you'll get in lots more trouble than you started out with, and for that QUICKSAND completely epitomizes noir cinema when a young and cocky, girl-loving mechanic played by Mickey Rooney finds the girl of his... immediate dreams...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And quickly winds up landing a date with this sexy blonde waitress Jeanne Cagney as Vera... but back at the garage he realizes two things: not only does he have no money, but his cohorts... including both workmates and those on the phone who owe him... are all equally broke...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, barbara bates, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jack elam, jeanne cagney, mickey rooney, peter lorre

MICKEY ROONEY CAUGHT IN 'QUICKSAND' WITH JEANNE CAGNEY

Title: QUICKSAND Cast: Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, Peter Lorre Year: 1950 Rates: **** An epitomizing trait of film noir is... if you take ...

ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN AN ARTHOUSE RIDE FOR 'THE DRIVER'S SEAT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_SCnYcip5Lz2hcUlLFy2ac2SaXfmW-C6Y_HvtkjVxvlpX4OzbvgjwrGtcNdtXQIizY6ZyYOK6xbWqRsxLI85KfjXtpmzGV3ET6Gh8FJpktHngru3cwBCGcAgt_U7LE94WlDrPt40vJ5-WjnAY2FaqkTUWud44aO0hKPqctO6E6WY5lT4r37Q9EF04Aw=s1918" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1918" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_SCnYcip5Lz2hcUlLFy2ac2SaXfmW-C6Y_HvtkjVxvlpX4OzbvgjwrGtcNdtXQIizY6ZyYOK6xbWqRsxLI85KfjXtpmzGV3ET6Gh8FJpktHngru3cwBCGcAgt_U7LE94WlDrPt40vJ5-WjnAY2FaqkTUWud44aO0hKPqctO6E6WY5lT4r37Q9EF04Aw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE DRIVER'S SEAT aka IDENTIKIT Year: 1974 Rating: ***1/2 </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Since this Italian-shot art film... looking science-fiction futuristic with hypnotic phosphorescent interiors from an ominous airport to a vibrant shopping mall... stars screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, it's considered an utter travesty...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet THE DRIVER'S SEAT is actually a unique, sparse yet hallucinatory neo noir in which the central plot's completely spoiled from the online description all the way back to the back of the VHS tapes: <i>A woman travels through Italy to find someone to kill her</i>... But are we really supposed to know that?</p><p><span></span></p>

arthouse, dino mele, elizabeth taylor, ian bannen, import, italian, mona washburn, neo noir, seventies

ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN AN ARTHOUSE RIDE FOR 'THE DRIVER'S SEAT'

Title: THE DRIVER'S SEAT aka IDENTIKIT Year: 1974 Rating: ***1/2 Since this Italian-shot art film... looking science-fiction futuristic ...

ORSON WELLES ANSWERS A LAST-MINUTE DICK CAVETT QUESTION

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjW3E6qrHmRb6u_k7QC2mK8Lt0qgd-ubWQueiJaOX52luq9mB-8RDV6Fv1HdqOqCHek0UPc7w8W4_YK7fml5az26w1xP2h1dcrwnvJi8WdRue4q4Mxkk8do3fpryAs7vKvuCl-LhxCEcK9rWdkYJcixmg1Fr4JVAo7s-UL27M67oneVhFu82vJEfY6oTQ=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1043" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjW3E6qrHmRb6u_k7QC2mK8Lt0qgd-ubWQueiJaOX52luq9mB-8RDV6Fv1HdqOqCHek0UPc7w8W4_YK7fml5az26w1xP2h1dcrwnvJi8WdRue4q4Mxkk8do3fpryAs7vKvuCl-LhxCEcK9rWdkYJcixmg1Fr4JVAo7s-UL27M67oneVhFu82vJEfY6oTQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Orson Welles's companion/actress Oja Koder in THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In a 1970 interview on The Dick Cavett Show, Orson Welles was asked a final question after an hour discussing subjects ranging from Adolf Hitler to Winston Churchill, and with literally <i>two minutes left</i> Dick threw a bizarre, risque, avant-garde "left field pitch" that Orson QUICKLY hit out of the park...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And while the question/subject has NOTHING to do with these accompanied screen-captures from Welles's risque/avant-garde labor-of-love THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, his gorgeous girlfriend/collaborator Oda Kodar is the perfect representation of timeless, stimulating beauty, so, here goes...<br></p><span></span>

dick cavett, interview, norman foster, oja kodar, orson welles, seventies

ORSON WELLES ANSWERS A LAST-MINUTE DICK CAVETT QUESTION

Orson Welles's companion/actress Oja Koder in THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND In a 1970 interview on The Dick Cavett Show, Orson Welles was a...

ROB LOWE W/ ANDREW MCCARTHY & JACQUELINE BISSET IN 'CLASS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwf3KEGHZwiRf1hlS08RqPeR5JuNtq2Qc4qduC5J9psRy4SocNtqH2tscSU9ltbK3Wo9N8pSHfEFqZpwf0HQl5AwvWOo9LBJpyRrdQDv5vs6oWX1cYBTyuitmc5cglhDR207quZjYUI7LZ5YJgzEFxoSoQi-TCRVRVzLYJ1VaIxRKjMhKKnIHD3LtttZL0/s2246/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-12%20at%209.51.07%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="2246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwf3KEGHZwiRf1hlS08RqPeR5JuNtq2Qc4qduC5J9psRy4SocNtqH2tscSU9ltbK3Wo9N8pSHfEFqZpwf0HQl5AwvWOo9LBJpyRrdQDv5vs6oWX1cYBTyuitmc5cglhDR207quZjYUI7LZ5YJgzEFxoSoQi-TCRVRVzLYJ1VaIxRKjMhKKnIHD3LtttZL0/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-12%20at%209.51.07%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Opening credit for CLASS from 1983 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>While CLASS stars future <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/brat%20pack">Brat Packers</a> Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy before <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/05/rob-lowe-films.html">ST. ELMO'S FIRE</a> made them both 11th hour qualifiers after SIXTEEN CANDLES and THE BREAKFAST CLUB (then cemented with ABOUT LAST NIGHT and PRETTY IN PINK), it relies on the two previous decades while epitomizing the eighties Sex Comedy template including a hapless virgin, a partying rich kid and a sexy older woman straight out of THE GRADUATE...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Leading to the inevitable (and at the time heavily promoted) May/December romance between McCarthy and Jacqueline Bissit is a sort of devil-may-care prep school ANIMAL HOUSE with students smoking and drinking, and where Lowe's cocky practical joker character recalls Tim Matheson's HOUSE chief Otter Stratton... </p><p><span></span></p>

alan ruck, andrew mccarthy, brat pack, eighties, jacqueline bisset, john cusack, rob lowe, romantic comedy, sex comedy, stuart margolin

ROB LOWE W/ ANDREW MCCARTHY & JACQUELINE BISSET IN 'CLASS'

Opening credit for CLASS from 1983 Rating: *** While CLASS stars future Brat Packers Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy before ST. ELMO'S FIR...

RICHARD HARRIS IN LINDSAY ANDERSON'S 'THIS SPORTING LIFE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj35Crnyo-L5y7h2Z-myHWz26dA2T_McgUG6L8nIzDlkseevj4zZfHyz_7qC53mKG7Ia-0H7x9RwSQeM8VevAD03bNgn-EEPdRHmshAsjWIHFIqxwQOenOjklUtTbQBtjrUSO_pSOuU7Kk3UdjDri_HM1m7-68848r0LjS_q4SOSMbiGshmhIYsrIl8ig=s1759" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1759" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj35Crnyo-L5y7h2Z-myHWz26dA2T_McgUG6L8nIzDlkseevj4zZfHyz_7qC53mKG7Ia-0H7x9RwSQeM8VevAD03bNgn-EEPdRHmshAsjWIHFIqxwQOenOjklUtTbQBtjrUSO_pSOuU7Kk3UdjDri_HM1m7-68848r0LjS_q4SOSMbiGshmhIYsrIl8ig=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THIS SPORTING LIFE Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the British New Wave/Kitchen Sink Drama THE SPORTING LIFE, non-famous extra Glenda Jackson can be seen singing at a crowded party... funny since, years before her macho co-stars Oliver Reed and Alan Bates wrestled naked in WOMEN IN LOVE, so did coal mining rugby player Richard Harris and teammate Colin Blakely... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Not for very long, and they're not fighting but celebrating a victory; yet the title sport's not seen enough given that everything centers on Harris, as Frank Machin, gifted with a prowess on the field that piques the interest of bigwig Alan Badel and his flirtatious wife Vanda Godsell, who can change the poor lug's life overnight...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

alan badel, anne cunningham, british new wave, colin blakely, lindsay anderson, rachel roberts, richard harris, sixties, sport, vanda godsell

RICHARD HARRIS IN LINDSAY ANDERSON'S 'THIS SPORTING LIFE'

Title: THIS SPORTING LIFE Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2 In the British New Wave/Kitchen Sink Drama THE SPORTING LIFE, non-famous extra Glenda Ja...

GLORIA SWANSON DECOMPRESSES SUNSET IN '3 FOR BEDROOM C'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVZA2CDZBpJmeJ4oipfa2OUEXhHwvwy35C17CH3qbs1aXym6gSBUJeEVtdfn3OL9-E3KyuUpbKwtLvZcfn5MT-qtN5I_t0ykp8ZsKmfVlUTXe5eSjdIiJGY9SDt086xqJMClx_eJxVX8og8sBsCDkzLl0a61K2YpAzsMnomMalJWhwGMLYlvIP_1Kxog=s1159" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="1159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVZA2CDZBpJmeJ4oipfa2OUEXhHwvwy35C17CH3qbs1aXym6gSBUJeEVtdfn3OL9-E3KyuUpbKwtLvZcfn5MT-qtN5I_t0ykp8ZsKmfVlUTXe5eSjdIiJGY9SDt086xqJMClx_eJxVX8og8sBsCDkzLl0a61K2YpAzsMnomMalJWhwGMLYlvIP_1Kxog=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Warren and Gloria Swanson in 3 FOR BEDROOM C Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the most bizarre career choices perhaps in the history of cinema was when the once has-been silent film star Gloria Swanson, after playing has-been silent film star Norma Desmond in the beloved smash hit SUNSET BOULEVARD, turned down script after script attempting to turn her into what she easily could have become... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Something like, say, a female Vincent Price since, while deemed a Film Noir/Drama, SUNSET is nothing short of a terrifying claustrophobic Horror that inspired the likes of PLAY MISTY FOR ME that inspired FATAL ATTRACTION, both involving obsessive women desperately clinging to a man by slitting their wrists, and even MISERY... </p><p><span></span></p>

fifties, fred clark, gloria swanson, hans conried, import, james warren, janine perreau, romantic comedy, steve brodie, train

GLORIA SWANSON DECOMPRESSES SUNSET IN '3 FOR BEDROOM C'

James Warren and Gloria Swanson in 3 FOR BEDROOM C Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2 One of the most bizarre career choices perhaps in the history o...

WILLIAM CONRAD'S 'BRAINSTORM' AND 'MY BLOOD RUNS COLD'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zoZfSRNjZ8SnbFfH0rJ3ERA99wBxdz2qYCL8S0HOgWS-HaZ4F6kORKShSo2lA9KzC1f_9RKrsfVkmBBpcUDPQ4lCNKA6IuqpSbGrmh1KxonLs4fYWVc699wcJbjwtnP43PxuAXCOtdNqoTJe_6C8jr9Y0XJTNvJFsrEX5_RYWBESnuHsCbclyJtV-g/s1362/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-27%20at%207.59.03%20PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1362" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zoZfSRNjZ8SnbFfH0rJ3ERA99wBxdz2qYCL8S0HOgWS-HaZ4F6kORKShSo2lA9KzC1f_9RKrsfVkmBBpcUDPQ4lCNKA6IuqpSbGrmh1KxonLs4fYWVc699wcJbjwtnP43PxuAXCOtdNqoTJe_6C8jr9Y0XJTNvJFsrEX5_RYWBESnuHsCbclyJtV-g/w400-h269/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-27%20at%207.59.03%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Conrad Directorial Double Feature from 1965</u></td></tr></tbody></table>From his sinister beginnings as one of the two title hitmen who cast an ominous shadow across a small<i> </i>town diner in THE KILLERS, taken from an Ernest Hemingway short story that only involves a single act of what became a three-act classic Film Noir: While igniting the career of Burt Lancaster, William Conrad was recognized as one of the two titular baddies in the beginning and end...<br> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br> A flipside to Orson Welles, including the rich, deep voice; overweight. And few people know that Conrad was also a director, and while not one of the greats, the big man was good, and efficiant given the b-movie scripts for a pair of low-budget thrillers, BRAINSTORM and MY BLOOD RUNS COLD, both made in 1965 and for director Conrad it was a busy year (especially given the fact he also directed the haunted house horror TWO ON A GUILLOTINE, not reviewed here, not very good)...  </div>

anne francis, dana andrews, drama, drive-in, jazz-score, jeffrey hunter, kathie browne, neo noir, nicolas coster, richard kiel, sixties, strother martin, thriller, troy donahue, viveca lindfors, william conrad

WILLIAM CONRAD'S 'BRAINSTORM' AND 'MY BLOOD RUNS COLD'

William Conrad Directorial Double Feature from 1965 From his sinister beginnings as one of the two title hitmen who cast an ominous shadow ...

JEAN GABIN IN 'PORT OF SHADOWS' AKA 'LE QUAI DES BRUMES'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKaepC0KaGQRJfTM7ZF8JNYf_1yi-1ASefdCaEH0s_DAI79dU8OBhJ9FYyLCU9YCUThjiqUUMUU1xvugYRu1W4ZO_-jkkMvXEZVC-M8OLP9jBlHqnOJE6mP_iX-yMF_PXGa--lgKX99QVLmg2dDQrZd9BEJ8k2m-1uoVG8nn47fNEgcnxnOQ332G6XvQ=s1484" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="1484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKaepC0KaGQRJfTM7ZF8JNYf_1yi-1ASefdCaEH0s_DAI79dU8OBhJ9FYyLCU9YCUThjiqUUMUU1xvugYRu1W4ZO_-jkkMvXEZVC-M8OLP9jBlHqnOJE6mP_iX-yMF_PXGa--lgKX99QVLmg2dDQrZd9BEJ8k2m-1uoVG8nn47fNEgcnxnOQ332G6XvQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michèle Morgan and Jean Gabin in PORT OF SHADOWS Year: 1938 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Jean Gabin stars in a <i>French Old Wave</i> late-1930's crime thriller with one of those plots you still see where a group of desperate people wind up in the same small interior locale while danger lurks outside: in this case a fog-shrouded shack in a fog-shrouded town where a big ship's on the verge of leaving... soon...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Perfect for our enigmatic hero, a soldier played by Gabin who, for whatever reasons beyond strength and temper neither we nor his far-too-easily-matched love interest Michèle Morgan has any idea of (like <i>her own</i> wild past is clouded to him)... And then Gabin's Jean quickly gets a new identity, and in most features the story would be just beginning....</p><p><span></span></p>

crime, film noir or melodrama, french, gangster, jean gabin, michel simon, michèle morgan, pierre brasseur, romance, thirties

JEAN GABIN IN 'PORT OF SHADOWS' AKA 'LE QUAI DES BRUMES'

Michèle Morgan and Jean Gabin in PORT OF SHADOWS Year: 1938 Rating: ***1/2 Jean Gabin stars in a French Old Wave late-1930's crime thri...

EISENHOWER ON ACID: BLUE BOY VS JOE FRIDAY ON 'DRAGNET 1967'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinJJzOalxyoGMx7xsB0yQsfnVQufX-V2pza4NoPM6gPhLdcXi33E0Slh6qYwb9BzLcCruRa1AheGerEoRUjkE0oHQdhXkDQ7SgCc--M7O45h3_zbQH0Y7l4Z67i4Snf6_6ry8JCDpQTNssaBZ_nWXde1cYwpyHzldpPxVpg6PVcn2CeG_QSciwi-FCjw=s2014" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1386" data-original-width="2014" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinJJzOalxyoGMx7xsB0yQsfnVQufX-V2pza4NoPM6gPhLdcXi33E0Slh6qYwb9BzLcCruRa1AheGerEoRUjkE0oHQdhXkDQ7SgCc--M7O45h3_zbQH0Y7l4Z67i4Snf6_6ry8JCDpQTNssaBZ_nWXde1cYwpyHzldpPxVpg6PVcn2CeG_QSciwi-FCjw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday on DRAGNET 1967: The LSD Story Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The 1950's crime-series DRAGNET epitomized the 1950's more in the 1960's revival than it did originally. The title alone represents the Eisenhower-era B&W  noir aesthetic with deadpan narration when bad guys were bad and good guys were usually cops: Thus making <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/06/daFACTS.html">DRAGNET</a> 1967-1970 (each season titled after the year) that much more of a bizarre and entertaining time-capsule treat... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's basically two 1950's cops suddenly thrust into the psychedelic 1960's, no longer dealing with the simple days of edgy armed robbers but pampered young drug dealers, drug takers... or in the case of THE LSD STORY, both in one person, the first villain in the first episode, and his nickname is Blue Boy...</p><p><span></span></p>

cop, counter-culture, cult, harry morgan, heather menzies, jack webb, jerry douglas, michael burns, psychedellic, sixties, tv series

EISENHOWER ON ACID: BLUE BOY VS JOE FRIDAY ON 'DRAGNET 1967'

Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday on DRAGNET 1967: The LSD Story Rating: **** The 1950's crime-series DRAGNET epitomized the 1950's more ...

CHARLTON HESTON & NICOLE MAUREY IN 'SECRET OF THE INCAS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaXnZhmlvK4jWqs3DeajjCltVwRC40yeSeU_M-79C47dcQiTyuddaSIFKAsUsNMWdhFweyUITVWUC2TLLi4L8Rgi9OCUHB-Y4N97yZ1LTelKaE6McQspiaUR5rrxstJC5XC50SR2qJYp68KwublmZUSP9q8G0X0THCluQwwIR9_MthoPUOPfhvSQMI-w=s1111" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaXnZhmlvK4jWqs3DeajjCltVwRC40yeSeU_M-79C47dcQiTyuddaSIFKAsUsNMWdhFweyUITVWUC2TLLi4L8Rgi9OCUHB-Y4N97yZ1LTelKaE6McQspiaUR5rrxstJC5XC50SR2qJYp68KwublmZUSP9q8G0X0THCluQwwIR9_MthoPUOPfhvSQMI-w=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1953 Rates: **1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table>Jerry Hopper's cult film <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/06/secret-of-incas_17.html">SECRET OF THE INCAS</a> is already established to have inspired not only the iconic Harrison Ford as <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/05/raiders-of-lost-ark.html">Indiana Jones</a> outfit including leather jacket and fedora, but both get reminded how attractive they are... girl student eyelids there and smitten lady tourists Marion Ross and Glenda Farrell here... </p><p></p><p></p><p>More importantly, each adventurous hero... paired with an equally rogue dame... piece together an incomplete curio to find out exactly where the archeological treasure is, and <i>that's</i> the SECRET...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, charlton heston, glenda farrell, jerry hopper, nicole maurey, thomas mitchell, treasure, yma sumec

CHARLTON HESTON & NICOLE MAUREY IN 'SECRET OF THE INCAS'

Year: 1953 Rates: **1/2 Jerry Hopper's cult film SECRET OF THE INCAS is already established to have inspired not only the iconic Harris...

CATHY LEE CROSBY AS THE FIRST/ORIGINAL 'WONDER WOMAN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoaKP950bDWjis9zDA-gGSQWrrxLPk2Um_Y5lJAcK8U2NsQCdC3zz2y8hDF_c3mtPFdtFZcC3NQyGtmgF3EDLjeTjMlDWcywqk7KyBdBerykLBWPOcRFSF2IxllPmhsL1_7TbKwebgAcBIXZQvjVwBy0vejDlLF0CtKovaUcJlth0NUDW1na-kqZrEeQ=s988" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="988" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoaKP950bDWjis9zDA-gGSQWrrxLPk2Um_Y5lJAcK8U2NsQCdC3zz2y8hDF_c3mtPFdtFZcC3NQyGtmgF3EDLjeTjMlDWcywqk7KyBdBerykLBWPOcRFSF2IxllPmhsL1_7TbKwebgAcBIXZQvjVwBy0vejDlLF0CtKovaUcJlth0NUDW1na-kqZrEeQ=w400-h293" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1973 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Young Gal Gadot fans don't want to know anyone else played WONDER WOMAN and older Lynda Carter fans are no different...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Even Google, if you type "the very first Wonder Woman" will provide Carter's name... but it's Cathy Lee Crosby, an athletic BLONDE, who was the first Diana "Supposed to be Dark-Haired" Prince and donned the outfit albeit resembling patriotic Olympics garb instead of the DC Comics suit Carter wore in the following years' series... </p><p></p><p>A shame because this TV-movie isn't too shabby; but it's no Superhero story... Instead, during the Spy Genre/James Bond era, this WONDER WOMAN seems as if a resilient Bond girl took over the 007 mantle. And instead of powers she has karate skills and can catch a high flying spear... thrown by one of her former island dames played by Anitra Ford, a leggy model who, gorgeous and BRUNETTE, while killing it as an underused nemesis (exceeding a slow-speaking money-stealing Ricardo Montalbán or a flirtatiously lethal Andrew Prine) would've aesthetically made a better WONDER WOMAN. But Crosby does a pretty decent job for a decent-enough time-filling/action-packed curio: So she alone deserves credit for initially laying out the iconic character's groundwork... even if what ended up working went completely against her portrayal. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, andrew prine, anitra ford, cathy lee crosby, espionage, pilot, ricardo montalban, robert porter, seventies, spy, superhero, tv movie

CATHY LEE CROSBY AS THE FIRST/ORIGINAL 'WONDER WOMAN'

Year: 1973 Rating: *** Young Gal Gadot fans don't want to know anyone else played WONDER WOMAN and older Lynda Carter fans are no differ...

PATRICK WAYNE AND LEIGH CHRISTIAN REACH 'BEYOND ATLANTIS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqszcaqdY3RP8-GeUAOyGNrqdkXGzwZqZfA5AozJx_g_bhATpVyvX83aWV_9ubAqUL08Eiy679zWmkAt0daRpmKpkPzy2X1caFMVEd3oT-c6b9ro6ctTNo55e94GqZlz_L41SitJfVHVxJZElszsTuYvzcFl9dxaqExHvIN9ZNcX25VwkaJ-p82Zor7w=s1082" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="1082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqszcaqdY3RP8-GeUAOyGNrqdkXGzwZqZfA5AozJx_g_bhATpVyvX83aWV_9ubAqUL08Eiy679zWmkAt0daRpmKpkPzy2X1caFMVEd3oT-c6b9ro6ctTNo55e94GqZlz_L41SitJfVHVxJZElszsTuYvzcFl9dxaqExHvIN9ZNcX25VwkaJ-p82Zor7w=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title BEYOND ATLANTIS Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table>About the only thing remembered about BEYOND ATLANTIS by fans of Philippines-shot exploitation flicks of the early/mid 1970's is that the PG-rating doomed it from succeeding grindhouse-style like THE BIG DOLL HOUSE, WOMEN IN CAGES and THE BIG BIRD CAGE... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And that star Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne, wanted this to be a "family-oriented" feature instead of the usual ultra-violent chicks-with-guns R-rated stuff...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6prO8387kweR80wFA9T4pWeux5G4ldrd3hSZQ0tL4qBb5ezficWxbPb07HRUS0RKgFSBgxQ6NFfiLxVT0Fod0MQQ4kh_G0ojZ2FBcxkSWrN22kVGmk_QgJgSBAiOek_LieIiFth3ZDE18CQgsc2y1HGVwTgAv3fAa8ndxq80SpDbChsBxZRjVs5eRpg=s2340" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="2340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6prO8387kweR80wFA9T4pWeux5G4ldrd3hSZQ0tL4qBb5ezficWxbPb07HRUS0RKgFSBgxQ6NFfiLxVT0Fod0MQQ4kh_G0ojZ2FBcxkSWrN22kVGmk_QgJgSBAiOek_LieIiFth3ZDE18CQgsc2y1HGVwTgAv3fAa8ndxq80SpDbChsBxZRjVs5eRpg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Leigh Christian swimming sexy in BEYOND ATLANTIS</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>That said, ATLANTIS is one of the most bizarre of the lot, and features a prolonged scene of bikini girls swimming underwater led by island queen Leigh Christian, whose sublime blonde beauty is its very own exploitation... </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile her native followers wear cheaply-placed bulging bug eyes since they were in-bred from having distant relatives from Atlantis, or something...</p><p><span></span></p>

exploitation, john ashley, leigh christian, lenore stevens, patrick wayne, seventies, sid haig, treasure, vic diaz

PATRICK WAYNE AND LEIGH CHRISTIAN REACH 'BEYOND ATLANTIS'

Title BEYOND ATLANTIS Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2 About the only thing remembered about BEYOND ATLANTIS by fans of Philippines-shot exploitati...

ARCHIVE REVIEW OF THE CLASSIC JAPANESE MONSTER 'GAMERA'

<p><u></u></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0J9hSLZxo5a69Q6qtjfGYghnc2e7RgDQIvr3N5Wml_3gHSql1XPCmw4Sml5pDlG9vdRLdqPjxV7n0iY1PIPR0tzQ9e0Gl1x8PzH2vrbpWTeDq4P0aL-udjNVWRQs-dasAdcoVulfEQHBL5JcPa2IhH9XazPiEk5exjzqhknVbmFFPt8l4t4Z9IHdFEw=s1822" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="1822" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0J9hSLZxo5a69Q6qtjfGYghnc2e7RgDQIvr3N5Wml_3gHSql1XPCmw4Sml5pDlG9vdRLdqPjxV7n0iY1PIPR0tzQ9e0Gl1x8PzH2vrbpWTeDq4P0aL-udjNVWRQs-dasAdcoVulfEQHBL5JcPa2IhH9XazPiEk5exjzqhknVbmFFPt8l4t4Z9IHdFEw=s16000" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1965 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There are so many versions of this giant turtle epic that it's hard to find the actual source: the real thing is obviously the version without the Americans thrown in, but what's patch-worked together is an intensely terrific man-in-monster-costume ride... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A side-story involving a kid who loves turtles provides more color than the rambling dialog of the scientists figuring a way to destroy a beast: who ferociously thrives on whatever weapon's thrown its way. But it's the savory battles, and the last ten minutes providing the much-mentioned "Plan" to finally rid of "Gammera" (the actual spelling) that makes the whole romp worthwhile. </p>

creature feature, japanese, monster, sixties

ARCHIVE REVIEW OF THE CLASSIC JAPANESE MONSTER 'GAMERA'

Year: 1965 Rating: ***1/2 There are so many versions of this giant turtle epic that it's hard to find the actual source: the real thi...

SUSAN HOGAN & LISA LANGLOIS SUFFER JOHN HUSTON'S 'PHOBIA'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuDLpXx117oUJH0rMXm29I9Fq9odXphgBaViDtL3qr-pFRZ0z4sKhCxKxjbMK19bWpYDNsr69IQyTz2flgjgFclnluS2lWjufvIMhiPZAhC363KJMaIfHXWz2E7iE1T8v1jc-oZwkIDExbgNnbYwOIixTMSEubpaR8Ymml3X_kd5VXEiuJUmTxeAHUlw=s1468" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1106" data-original-width="1468" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuDLpXx117oUJH0rMXm29I9Fq9odXphgBaViDtL3qr-pFRZ0z4sKhCxKxjbMK19bWpYDNsr69IQyTz2flgjgFclnluS2lWjufvIMhiPZAhC363KJMaIfHXWz2E7iE1T8v1jc-oZwkIDExbgNnbYwOIixTMSEubpaR8Ymml3X_kd5VXEiuJUmTxeAHUlw=w400-h301" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Colicos & Susan Hogan in Phobia 1980 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's something <i>different</i> about Canadian-shot b-horrors and how they look, and feel... kind of sparsely enigmatic, lonesome and hollow, Noirish in tone... ranging from native <i>canook</i> David Cronenberg and sometimes imported Americans — in this case the legendary and still hard-working John Huston, directing what resembles a violent TV-movie fitfully titled PHOBIA wherein the body count aspect flows strategically with the plot...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Starring Paul Michael Glaser <i>right after</i> STARSKY AND HUTCH and when partner David Soul moved to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/10/SLot.html">SALEM'S LOT</a>, he's a seemingly helpful psychologist using a face-your-fear approach on his hospitalized patients as each of the eclectic group suffers from the same intense, specified fears that — during the best parts within an otherwise talky, by-the-numbers exploitation-horror — ultimately seals their fate: from heights to drowning to snakes while providing good roles for two lovely Canadian actresses, and is the first for 1980's scream queen <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/11/nest.html">Lisa Langlois</a> (pulling a Janet Leigh but in a tub) and Glaser's love-interest, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/10/cronenbrood.html">THE BROOD</a> ingenue Susan Hogan. John Huston's PHOBIA is a mystery-thriller curbed by token investigative cop John Colicos that pays off in predictable yet twisty, entertaining death scenes and that, if it <i>really were </i>made for television and with a less famous/legendary director, just might've gotten the attention it deserved... or any at all.  </p><p><span></span></p>

body count, eighties, exploitation, horror, john colicos, john huston, lisa langlois, mystery, paul michael glaser, susan hogan, suspense

SUSAN HOGAN & LISA LANGLOIS SUFFER JOHN HUSTON'S 'PHOBIA'

John Colicos & Susan Hogan in Phobia 1980 Rates: *** There's something different about Canadian-shot b-horrors and how they look, a...

TRACKING 'HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH' FOR HALLOWEEN

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNFNqaOSuiMPUEiqUpw393qscwtpN4uRvH4cpfaAmwp4nt8jIdCzshO1XJsoAErES3gfXCQ20yu9bIqFvuaTLKpTwZE7w6IMYOTwIMqI0hj6niy0qeWFq66R-e7h0j4jHNVQNJv7QJhVt29ImkpUVJZQ1J5m4WXdR8KMpdBZ0f67O6-MeHahCXBJ1bfw=s1097" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="1097" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNFNqaOSuiMPUEiqUpw393qscwtpN4uRvH4cpfaAmwp4nt8jIdCzshO1XJsoAErES3gfXCQ20yu9bIqFvuaTLKpTwZE7w6IMYOTwIMqI0hj6niy0qeWFq66R-e7h0j4jHNVQNJv7QJhVt29ImkpUVJZQ1J5m4WXdR8KMpdBZ0f67O6-MeHahCXBJ1bfw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>HALLOWEEN III SEASON OF THE WITCH 1982 Rates ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The plan was to have a separate Halloween yarn within each HALLOWEEN movie, but John Carpenter had no idea how gigantic his relatively low-budget horror/slasher with Michael Myers would become, so, following the Carpenter-produced followup with Myers, they went back to the drawing board, which confused audiences since the Shatner-mask-donning spree killer's image was synonymous with the franchise...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH takes the MASK element and runs, basing this horror/science-fiction tale around an Irish-built Halloween mask company in a small Northern California town that a doctor, Tom Akins, checks out with Stacey Neklin (too young and hot for Atkins), the daughter of a slain toy store dealer... </p><p><span></span></p>

body count, dan o'herlihy, eighties, franchise, horror, john carpenter, science-fiction, stacey nelkin, thriller, tom atkins, witch

TRACKING 'HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH' FOR HALLOWEEN

HALLOWEEN III SEASON OF THE WITCH 1982 Rates **** The plan was to have a separate Halloween yarn within each HALLOWEEN movie, but John Carpe...

REST IN PEACE TO SCOTTISH TOUGH GUY ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIunBsTgPsg14fk6xWTJBOExTKioE3YZ8agk4YaCVtnydQKCdZHHWZ12FhZUdi5jtetIqSPevTPCkw5M7rjxTVa_Sd9qLkJT84THzEbkfUvBiAW4F3JpI5BShMfRyq9g0ShwRZijBD-cP1z-awstQfWmRrPHFuYxYdZGS6JU-VkvlGkzUMmPXNV2HApQ=s1870" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIunBsTgPsg14fk6xWTJBOExTKioE3YZ8agk4YaCVtnydQKCdZHHWZ12FhZUdi5jtetIqSPevTPCkw5M7rjxTVa_Sd9qLkJT84THzEbkfUvBiAW4F3JpI5BShMfRyq9g0ShwRZijBD-cP1z-awstQfWmRrPHFuYxYdZGS6JU-VkvlGkzUMmPXNV2HApQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The late Ken Hutchison warms up for another blag in SWEENEY 2 circa 1978</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before delving into the career of Scottish tough guy actor Ken Hutchison with an anticipated review of STRAW DOGS, here's an RIP to one of the truly great character-actors... </p><p></p><p>In the Sam Peckinpah cult classic he plays the meanest of a group of local rural Brits vs Dustin Hoffman: The fierce-looking Hutchison's a character-actor whose characters share the same deadly glare, particularly SWEENEY 2 as a Malta-dwelling British bank robber who returns to England to rob banks with just-enough cash to bring back home... </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZLc5tBwf47XUyOFOtjWBTz7M0X2aoKvA62E6hAmg5t0oDf_3s5dkchmrxahVaQa2dVE6j-6uvgYpEPvIuqNGiWDlEctaj3rzP2OVNRmzrlYrcBt6ymt-85hWa2i8iAKc-K3kxf7ekjTHNIH5PI_XQS8luOdxIBi4s93epv_DD0sx8Pj5OqeF7lX7_rw=s1448" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="1448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZLc5tBwf47XUyOFOtjWBTz7M0X2aoKvA62E6hAmg5t0oDf_3s5dkchmrxahVaQa2dVE6j-6uvgYpEPvIuqNGiWDlEctaj3rzP2OVNRmzrlYrcBt6ymt-85hWa2i8iAKc-K3kxf7ekjTHNIH5PI_XQS8luOdxIBi4s93epv_DD0sx8Pj5OqeF7lX7_rw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Was so typecast he was even hired to beat up GANDHI of all people (Ben Kinglsey)</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>And he would attempt mainstream as a good guy scoundrel in THE WRATH OF GOD opposite Robert Mitchum and later beat up GANDHI and try killing Matthew Broderick in LADYHAWKE before vanishing altogether..</p><p></p><p>So... either way... here's to Mr. Hutchison. Described by STRAW DOGS ingenue Sally Thomsett as a "Fun-loving rogue" in a Cult Film Freak interview, he was something else, entirely.  <br></p><span></span>

british, cult, eighties, ken hutchison, memorial, robert mitchum, seventies

REST IN PEACE TO SCOTTISH TOUGH GUY ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

The late Ken Hutchison warms up for another blag in SWEENEY 2 circa 1978 Before delving into the career of Scottish tough guy actor Ken Hutc...

SYDNEY CHAPLIN STARS IN THE BRITISH FILM NOIR' CONFESSION'

<p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrR43MNPBWOqIdLxoKhuuBcjc7IERwevZjlQErwIDr_wbAl8-vX11HGm2dOda_E5TOhNeC31jOdVasvuuxYAbYi_4vXCiEEd09eucn8KbDDYXIdLHtZALp44qKptPKd1sIpWJ4JJl0q1AxueMtdJpOOMmKGF5UjPgiQvene-WN5_YoqZXEl9TVtaMK-g=s818" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="818" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrR43MNPBWOqIdLxoKhuuBcjc7IERwevZjlQErwIDr_wbAl8-vX11HGm2dOda_E5TOhNeC31jOdVasvuuxYAbYi_4vXCiEEd09eucn8KbDDYXIdLHtZALp44qKptPKd1sIpWJ4JJl0q1AxueMtdJpOOMmKGF5UjPgiQvene-WN5_YoqZXEl9TVtaMK-g=w400-h310" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for THE CONFESSION Year: 1955 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney Chaplin gets first-billing in a British Film Noir titled CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN; the melodramatic alternate references a priest hearing the confession of a killer admitting what he's done, sort of, before he himself is killed right there and then...<br></p><p>And it's all the fault of Chaplin as prodigal son Mike Nelson, returned home from America (having no British accent left), again living with his crippled father and gorgeous sister Audrey Dalton...</p><p></p><p></p><p>She thinks big brother's as clean as the driven snow, providing what others have noticed is similar to Alfred Hitchcock's "cute niece loves her charming yet secretly vicious uncle" SHADOW OF A DOUBT as well as I CONFESS with a targeted priest, leaving Chaplin little to do but look ominous and secretive, especially after sister loses trust since her boyfriend (and both their childhood friend) is the one killed after committing a defensive murder of square-jawed Patrick Allen, who was blackmailing the suitcase-full-of-cash Chaplin in a thriller where the important side-roles die off too quick to matter, and, sadly, what began as a chance for Sydney Chaplin to shine darkly (looking more like he'd be Victor Mature's brother than Charlie Chaplin's son), the picture winds up in the hands of cop John Bentley, who... as the tail wags the dog... would have been better left on the sidelines.  </p><p><span></span></p>

audrey dalton, british film noir, fifties, john bentley, patrick allen, sydney chaplin, thriller

SYDNEY CHAPLIN STARS IN THE BRITISH FILM NOIR' CONFESSION'

Poster for THE CONFESSION Year: 1955 Rating: **1/2 Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney Chaplin gets first-billing in a British Film Noir titled...

KRISTY SWASON IN WES CRAVEN'S SCIENCE-HORROR 'DEADLY FRIEND'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWxQKrn64lW1wEHi4k-3mH8bsnlFl6gEzcvP6y7KCVdF_6IJlihQ4udaczMgFZYKTW3IQ48IgcmJeb-MqbEY_c2cpyKm8WTyWxu-OkmfdEFFqKUTc4OZNUDucnITkMghj07hMhn-8Lb9F8b3JLN7RJEa3XVgMJto8HjzLd5QpibseHNIE0XmcNhiAO9Q=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1041" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWxQKrn64lW1wEHi4k-3mH8bsnlFl6gEzcvP6y7KCVdF_6IJlihQ4udaczMgFZYKTW3IQ48IgcmJeb-MqbEY_c2cpyKm8WTyWxu-OkmfdEFFqKUTc4OZNUDucnITkMghj07hMhn-8Lb9F8b3JLN7RJEa3XVgMJto8HjzLd5QpibseHNIE0XmcNhiAO9Q=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Blu Ray Cover Artwork for DEADLY FRIEND Year Released: 1986 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A year before giving her class the lowdown about FERRIS BEULLER'S DAY OFF and around five years until losing her adorable baby fat for the deliberately camp-filled BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, Kristy Swanson starred in another Classic Monster-inspired b-movie directed by Wes Craven, a horror-genre director having so much silly fun here it seems he hadn't yet realized A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET had blown up on video...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Thank God because DEADLY FRIEND, a modern take on the FRANKENSTEIN tale, packs one helluva wallop, particularly a basketball beheading so pivotal and scene-stealing it should be backed by celebratory fireworks... </p><p><span></span></p>

anne ramsey, body count, cult, eighties, horror, kristy swanson, matthew labyorteaux, robot, science-fiction, wes craven

KRISTY SWASON IN WES CRAVEN'S SCIENCE-HORROR 'DEADLY FRIEND'

Blu Ray Cover Artwork for DEADLY FRIEND Year Released: 1986 Rating: **** A year before giving her class the lowdown about FERRIS BEULLER'...

KEN RUSSELL'S EXPLOITATION NEO NOIR 'CRIMES OF PASSION'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhR9GkxYHlbtfz_W_3fxyNJqzGB5jl1xSwuqA4r6DDRN3HPOhzcoTBEHuY7ELKxDx3HfkBs1m-or22B5OA3URqlW3ylXuQfN5uud4MpJB-rm1iTjHpX0A5FldnGVtSq6-N7MS9K2XLjmgq_g2F6kesFCZ48cobG_m49u9GO06R6xQAj8NGKF0LPa4yg/s1858/Screen%20Shot%202021-12-18%20at%204.00.22%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1858" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhR9GkxYHlbtfz_W_3fxyNJqzGB5jl1xSwuqA4r6DDRN3HPOhzcoTBEHuY7ELKxDx3HfkBs1m-or22B5OA3URqlW3ylXuQfN5uud4MpJB-rm1iTjHpX0A5FldnGVtSq6-N7MS9K2XLjmgq_g2F6kesFCZ48cobG_m49u9GO06R6xQAj8NGKF0LPa4yg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202021-12-18%20at%204.00.22%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CRIMES OF PASSION Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>If Brian De Palma and Paul Schrader had a baby, it'd hang around Ken Russell's CRIMES OF PASSION starring Kathleen Turner as a fashion designer by day, anything-goes hooker by night, crossing paths with sexually-frustrated family man John Laughlin who, in a Neon Neo-Noir fashion, is hired by Turner's daytime boss to trail her nightlife... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Buried lead John Laughlin, more comfortable as a fourth or fifth banana (like the faithfully protective muscle-head in the same years' FOOTLOOSE), tries his very hardest to wield the intensity to learn the taboo trade and, fitfully curious, becomes one of her most loyal (and beloved) customers in sexy/steamy scenes perhaps too intense for casual viewers and not enough for the hardcore crowd...</p><p><span></span></p>

annie potts, anthony perkins, bruce davison, drama, eighties, john laughlin, kathleen turner, ken russell, louise sorel, neo noir, romance, seth wagerman, thriller

KEN RUSSELL'S EXPLOITATION NEO NOIR 'CRIMES OF PASSION'

Title: CRIMES OF PASSION Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 If Brian De Palma and Paul Schrader had a baby, it'd hang around Ken Russell's C...