Written by James M. Tate / 8/31/2021 / No comments / alexandra hay , comedy , counter-culture , groucho marx , jackie gleason , otto preminger , prison , sixties
OTTO PREMINGER'S COUNTER-CULTURE DISASTER OF 'SKIDOO'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/31/2021
Year: 1968 Rating: *For their time and in a matter of aesthetics, Otto Preminger's Film Noirs LAURA and FALLEN ANGEL (both with Dana Andrews) were "psychedelic" for their time, with a camera-gliding flow; yet there's NO flow here in the
Written by James M. Tate / 8/29/2021 / No comments / beryl reid , british , coral browne , homosexual , melodrama , robert aldrich , sixties , susannah york
SUSANNAH YORK IN 'THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE' W/ BERYL REID
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/29/2021
Title: THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE Year: 1968 Rating: ***After director Robert Aldrich exploded with THE DIRTY DOZEN he returned to an independent style melodrama in the fashion of WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE although THE KILLING OF SI
Written by James M. Tate / 8/28/2021 / No comments / claude rains , film noir or melodrama , forties , helene reynolds , jean gabin , jerome cowan , robin raymond , romance , thomas mitchell
JEAN GABIN IN 'MOONTIDE' WITH THOMAS MITCHELL & IDA LUPINO
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/28/2021
Jean Gabin in MOONTIDE Year: 1942 Rating: ***1/2Begins with an intentionally surreal barroom scene with the headless body of pouting-lipped barfly Penny Raymond, her head speaking a few feet away as tough and talkative Jean Gabin reaches
Written by James M. Tate / 8/27/2021 / No comments / action , body count , british , creature , exploitation , frank finlay , guy doleman , horror , sixties , suspense , suzanna leigh
BRITISH CREATURE HORROR SUSPENSE YARN 'THE DEADLY BEES'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/27/2021
title: THE DEADLY BEES year: 1966 cast: Suzanna Leigh, Frank Finlay, Guy Doleman, Michael Ripper director: Freddie Francis rating: ***1/2Don't mistake THE DEADLY BEES as one of those by-the-number creature-feature bug flicks where bees fly
Written by James M. Tate / 8/26/2021 / No comments / beatie edney , british new wave , drama , indie , jack macgowran , joanna dunham , mark burns , maurice roëves , peter sellers , road movie , roman polanski , seventies
ROMAN POLANSKI'S 'A DAY AT THE BEACH' WITH MARK BURNS
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/26/2021
Mark Burns and Beatie Edney in A DAY AT THE BEACH Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2Ironically, while Roman Polanski was in Europe the same year The Manson Family would violently crash Sharon Tate's party, he was preparing for two movies with the wo
Written by James M. Tate / 8/24/2021 / No comments / concert , eighties , hal ashby , mick jagger , music , rolling stones
RIP CHARLIE WATTS DRUMS UP 'LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/24/2021
Charlie Watts in LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER Year: 1983 Rating: ****Nearing the end of British Movie Month on Cult Film Freak we say goodbye to one of the all-time great British drummers, Charlie Watts, who, like bassist Bill Wyman, had
Written by James M. Tate / 8/23/2021 / No comments / action , adventure , bob hope , bruce davison , chevy chase , comedy , dan aykroyd , eighties , james daughton , john landis , nuclear , political , ray harryhausen , road movie , team-up , terry gilliam , tom hatten
CHEVY CHASE AND DAN AYKROYD SEEK HOPE IN 'SPIES LIKE US'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/23/2021
Title: Spies Like Us Year: 1986 Rating: ***Spouting technical jargon with a computer-like brain, Dan Aykroyd could have made the perfect GHOSTBUSTERS type straight man... so it's strange John Landis made him equally buffoonish as Chevy Ch
Written by James M. Tate / 8/22/2021 / No comments / action , comedy disney , denise lynn , disney , don ameche , kelly thorsden , lynn borden , mickey shaughnessy , norman fell , phil silvers , robert morse , seventies , stefanie powers , wally cox
ROBERT MORSE IN 'THE BOATNIKS' WITH STEFANIE POWERS
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/22/2021
Opening Credits for THE BOATNIKS Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2Like THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG five-years later, Disney juggles two stories in one with wacky villains and a kindhearted underdog in a World War II hero's son taking over a West Coast/
Written by James M. Tate / 8/21/2021 / No comments / action , adventure , body count , cannon , charles bronson , eighties , exploitation , james staley , jill ireland , political , randy brooks , thriller
CHARLES BRONSON, JILL IRELAND & JAN GAN BOYD 'ASSASSINATION'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/21/2021
Charles Bronson & Jan Gan Boyd Year: 1988 Rates: ***1/2Jill Ireland's last collaboration after many with husband Charles Bronson gives her her biggest role as a bratty First Lady goading head of Secret Service Bronson with mind-games and me
Written by James M. Tate / 8/20/2021 / No comments / charles bronson , exploitation , jill ireland , marc mazza , marlene jobert , mystery , rene clement , seventies , thriller
CHARLES BRONSON IN THE FRENCH THRILLER 'RIDER ON THE RAIN'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/20/2021
Kino Lorber inside cover Year: 1970 Rates: ***The reversible Kino Lorber Blu Ray cover(s) for RIDER ON THE RAIN has one image of a shirtless and muscular Charles Bronson torturing ingenue Marlène Jobert at gun point; on the other side they
Written by James M. Tate / 8/18/2021 / No comments / body count , charles bronson , exploitation , jack palance , michael winner , richard jordan , seventies , simon oakland , western
MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'CHATO'S LAND'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/18/2021
Charles Bronson in CHATO'S LAND year: 1971The first act of CHATO'S LAND should have an alternative title, since we don't experience his land, along with his wrath, till much, much later on. Perhaps THE MOSSY POSSE would have fit being tha
Written by James M. Tate / 8/15/2021 / No comments / action , alex winter , charles bronson , death wish , ed lauter , eighties , exploitation , franchise , gavan o'herlihy , jimmy page , martin balsam , michael winner , revenge , sequel
MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH 3'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/15/2021
Charles Bronson and Gavan O'Herlily foreign poster artwork Year: 1985 Rating: ****By the third DEATH WISH, a gray-haired Charles Bronson was showing his age. Although compared to a group of helpless elderly residents of an apartment build
Written by James M. Tate / 8/13/2021 / No comments / action , anne helm , arthur o'connell , elvis presley , gordon douglas , joanna moore , musical , romantic comedy , simon oakland , sixties
ELVIS PRESLEY HIDING HIS STRENGTHS IN 'FOLLOW THAT DREAM'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/13/2021
Year of Broadcast: 1962 Rating: ****Every album from any rock band or artist has that one song that glides smoother, grooves while keeping a steady hand-sweeping guitar rhythm, and it's not a sappy ballad but a kind of soft boogie, in-bet
Written by James M. Tate / 8/11/2021 / No comments / all night , bernard lee , british new wave , caroline mortimer , colin campbell , david lodge , erika remberg , francesca annis , heather sears , inigo jackson , nigel green , sixties , the searchers , vera day
CAROLINE MORTIMER & HEATHER SEARS IN 'SATURDAY NIGHT OUT'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/11/2021
Caroline Mortimer from the poster artwork for SATURDAY NIGHT OUT Year: 1964 Rating: ***Not to be mistaken with the famous British kitchen sink drama SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING; the next day hardly matters and there are hardly any sin
Written by James M. Tate / 8/08/2021 / No comments / ann lynn , british neo noir , british new wave , charles kay , dennis price , heist , john crawford , mai zetterling , sixties , terence morgan , william hartnell , yoko tani
YOKO TANI AND JOHN CRAWFORD IN 'PICCADILLY THIRD STOP'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/08/2021
Yoko Tani gets the cover from 1960 Rating: ***The British crime-heist b-movie PICCADILLY THIRD STOP could also be known as Your Fault Jungle since there's never been a more spiteful, argumentative group to rob a safe together... Which inclu
Written by James M. Tate / 8/06/2021 / No comments / bernard lee , british neo noir , british new wave , colette wild , con man , haya harareet , mystery , norman bird , sixties , stewart granger , thriller
STEWART GRANGER WITH BERNARD LEE IN 'THE SECRET PARTNER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/06/2021
Granger, Lee & Harareet Year: 1963 Rating: ****Hybrid of THE THIRD MAN where steely London never looked so menacing with science-fiction/horror with the title menace's mask and spooky voice-box, and who exactly THE SECRET PARTNER is can't b
Written by James M. Tate / 8/04/2021 / No comments / british neo noir , british new wave , colin blakely , crime , derren nesbitt , faye craig , frank finley , katherine woodville , margaret whiting , michael coles , nigel patrick , sixties
NIGEL PATRICK IN 'UNDERWORLD INFORMERS' AKA 'THE INFORMERS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/04/2021
Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2No matter what title's used, UNDERWORLD INFORMERS or simply THE INFORMERS, it's right up front about those shady characters desperate enough to run to the law and name names: Only here it's Scotland Yard's Nigel Pat
Written by James M. Tate / 8/03/2021 / No comments / anthony bate , british neo noir , british new wave , edgar wallace , john carson , justine lord , mystery , sixites , thriller
JOHN CARSON IN THE OFFBEAT MYSTERY THRILLER 'ACT OF MURDER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/03/2021
Anthony Bate in Act of Murder Year: 1964 Rating: **John Carson may look like a leading man, but the handsome square-jawed British b-crime staple can play both good or bad... even ugly when needed... so he's really a character-actor and a co
Written by James M. Tate / 8/02/2021 / No comments / brian weske , british neo noir , british new wave , carol white , courtroom drama , dudley sutton , jess conrad , mystery , richard todd , robert morley , ronald lacey , roy kinnear , sidney j. furie , sixties , teddy boys
BRITISH NEW WAVE 'THE BOYS' WITH RONALD LACEY & JESS CONRAD
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/02/2021
Tony Garnett with Jess Conrad and Dudley Sutton in THE BOYS Year: 1962 Rating: ***1/2A kind of depending upon perspective RASHOMON of the rebellious teen set has a gang of four young Brits accused of murder; yet THE BOYS is more a street-se
Written by James M. Tate / 8/01/2021 / No comments / british , camille coduri , comedy , crime , cross-dressing , eric idle , george harrison , handmade films , heist , jonathan lynn , nineties , religion , robbie coltrane
ERIC IDLE AND ROBBIE COLTRANE BECOME 'NUNS ON THE RUN'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/01/2021
Year: 1990 Producer: George Harrison Rating: ***1/2The late dark horse Beatles guitarist George Harrison’s Handmade Films produced a mixed bag of projects: The established cult favorites include MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN and LIVE AT THE
DERREN NESBITT STALKS A DARING BRITISH NEW WAVE 'VICTIM'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 8/01/2021
Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2If watching the 1961 British crime film VICTIM with no idea about the plot, the spooked young "Boy Barrett" seems like he owes money to the mob as the creatively filmed, suspense-driven direction... moving from busy
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ROBERT WISE NOIRISH THRILLER 'THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL'
Title: THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL Year: 1951 Rating: ***1/2 If anyone but subtle Italian actress Valentina Cortese had starred in Robert Wi...
