cult film freak: March 2022

Written by James M. Tate / 3/31/2022 / No comments / action , british , british neo noir , british tv , buddy , cop , crime , dennis waterman , heist , john thaw , myra francis , robert swann , seventies , suspense , sweeney , tv series

JOHN THAW AND MYRA FRANCIS ON 'THE SWEENEY: COUNTRY BOY'

<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/AVvXsEgSCzeHztwGIU8x1Zmpfm-bnNryyNSJTWEiHiu-DEf7oBzEXWy5-OZo35-xpyAO-J8GSHIB3PBFmi6A8jj16WjcCbxzhO5ZA7K-h2Ya2YvIPFCMyyctgPLtJofjUPTUF4Hkuuhpyu8aWYri8SJwMra2o2pHiOa9qeYynPy3V-6RT-jiXfIeq9RJQPgJow/s2025/count1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="2025" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSCzeHztwGIU8x1Zmpfm-bnNryyNSJTWEiHiu-DEf7oBzEXWy5-OZo35-xpyAO-J8GSHIB3PBFmi6A8jj16WjcCbxzhO5ZA7K-h2Ya2YvIPFCMyyctgPLtJofjUPTUF4Hkuuhpyu8aWYri8SJwMra2o2pHiOa9qeYynPy3V-6RT-jiXfIeq9RJQPgJow/s16000/count1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Myra Francis on The Sweeney Year: 1975 Rating: ***** </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>THE SWEENEY: COUNTRY BOY has our London boys joined by a well-dressed/educated tech guy, naïvely grabbing the front car seat where <i>only</i> John Thaw's Det. Insp. Jack Regan: And as the central crime involves banks robbed by an inside man using underground wiring, the plot thickens when Myra Frances is introduced as... well... at first the flirtatious Regan thinks she's merely the annoying new guy's old college friend... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But Thaw thaws out to Det. Sgt. David Keel (Robert Swann) before he's shot in a warehouse and laid out, bleeding badly, exposed in the open: And with every attempt Regan and Dennis Waterman's Det. Sgt. George Carter make to locate the hidden shooter, another bullet's intentionally fired into another non-vital yet painful spot... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, british, british neo noir, british tv, buddy, cop, crime, dennis waterman, heist, john thaw, myra francis, robert swann, seventies, suspense, sweeney, tv series

JOHN THAW AND MYRA FRANCIS ON 'THE SWEENEY: COUNTRY BOY'

Myra Francis on The Sweeney Year: 1975 Rating: ***** THE SWEENEY: COUNTRY BOY has our London boys joined by a well-dressed/educated tech guy...

MAUREEN LIPTON COLORS 'THE SWEENEY' EPISODE 'SELECTED TARGET'

<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/AVvXsEiG7GIB8HSj1uIggzGM1ZaIs83aa61s0OM_D1ua6HJll4Gu7w__ACqVlGfaHvKOcDRBw8zOcG8e-J5wEKtwdslvNEcEnjAiIl8rVTeYoYmaECzi4-WQ3R6_ZOkcZ-tRzM1pGLvJlWr1ndeouZTdGejDVrY_AacbCbog76LP1gYlk4yNB7PlD5Hl1qIIFA/s1802/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1095" data-original-width="1802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG7GIB8HSj1uIggzGM1ZaIs83aa61s0OM_D1ua6HJll4Gu7w__ACqVlGfaHvKOcDRBw8zOcG8e-J5wEKtwdslvNEcEnjAiIl8rVTeYoYmaECzi4-WQ3R6_ZOkcZ-tRzM1pGLvJlWr1ndeouZTdGejDVrY_AacbCbog76LP1gYlk4yNB7PlD5Hl1qIIFA/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Maureen Lipman and Dennis Waterman in The Sweeney: Selected Target 1976 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>With so much going on in THE SWEENEY season three's kickoff SELECTED TARGET... including two veteran criminal cellmates feigning a last-minute spat when they're really teaming for a big score outside... happens in the 11th hour as Dennis Waterman's affable young Sgt. Carter winds up in a seemingly mild suburban house to get secondhand information from Maureen Lipman's Mrs. Smedley, a possible swinger dressed in bright counter-culture colors and stealing the show outright...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Crime-wise TARGET is a bit of a let-down but does feature the more outright-gorgeous starlet Judy Matheson as a sexy yet pouting moll of the leader, Lee Montague, with more screen-time than moon-faced partner Ronald Coleman in an episode with some memorable action including a gang in motorcycle helmets literally crashing a hotel that, except for that inevitable suburban home, is where much of the sparse, pulpy plot-line takes place. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, british, con man, cop, crime, dennis waterman, john thaw, judy matheson, maureen lipton, ronald coleman, seventies, sweeney, tv series

MAUREEN LIPTON COLORS 'THE SWEENEY' EPISODE 'SELECTED TARGET'

Maureen Lipman and Dennis Waterman in The Sweeney: Selected Target 1976 Rating: **** With so much going on in THE SWEENEY season three's...

UNKNOWN RAY WINSTONE GUESTS ON 'THE SWEENEY: LOVING ARMS'

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibh28--f9FQ8OUwd9HKCv3O8ikUsKfSsvrGHIR2u_VjUBA5qCYI_VFw_HaH5QNOFekntp7rTuGJB0J8vc4C-lLV420qDxj5A-7Dts68CsTw7lG-AvG-7LLrriAmfHm5FlpjzPZAQ88_Sa2PMp3noj_zsN5cvx_77Wz65ECM-CsbteFYVnn7xApeWjSEA/s1875/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-31%20at%2012.29.38%20PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="1875" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibh28--f9FQ8OUwd9HKCv3O8ikUsKfSsvrGHIR2u_VjUBA5qCYI_VFw_HaH5QNOFekntp7rTuGJB0J8vc4C-lLV420qDxj5A-7Dts68CsTw7lG-AvG-7LLrriAmfHm5FlpjzPZAQ88_Sa2PMp3noj_zsN5cvx_77Wz65ECM-CsbteFYVnn7xApeWjSEA/w400-h235/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-31%20at%2012.29.38%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Sweeney: Loving Arms Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the best episodes of the third season for THE SWEENEY, a 1970's British gritty cop series that defined hard-edged dialogue and roving-camera action, is also the strangest... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>With an offbeat plot centering on an ultra-religious (Christian Science) dying woman's desperate husband, who makes toy guns that are partially converted into real ones, kind of...</p><p></p><p>The catch is they don't shoot properly, and in-between is one of the slickest actors to ever guest in an unknown lanky fella named Ray Sone, who, resembling fan-favorite Dr. Who's Tom Baker, plays a unique kind of top-hat-donning, gun-dealing con artist, selling to punks on the street including a young Ray Winstone... who'd end up playing John Thaw's starring role of Chief Inspector Regan in the horrendous 2013 big screen SWEENEY adaptation... before getting in the kind of mob-centered trouble the otherwise trailing cops, including Thaw's partner Dennis Waterman as Sgt. George Carter, have to help him out of. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, british, cop, crime, dennis waterman, george tovey, john thaw, ray winstone, seventies, sweeney

UNKNOWN RAY WINSTONE GUESTS ON 'THE SWEENEY: LOVING ARMS'

The Sweeney: Loving Arms Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2 One of the best episodes of the third season for THE SWEENEY, a 1970's British gritty...

DAVE GROHL POSSESSES THE FOO FIGHTERS HORROR 'STUDIO 666'

<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/AVvXsEgpdNXk1RhrodkI5yVWEenwymS3jpWzEvM45VHmw4ZYZuevYJ5tsgwLnxjUcjcc6AGKuMRpebI3syQ5VJeV9hGV0ft1pUbeaxHF54ifsuPWQeRuMcsGeQ9k2Q1OT0y7vJqE7lEqfw4RXPFI0dJcCaYVcgzt1_1fYaGM83DEhuwKQrdIcUo7I5s-Schhlw/s2140/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-27%20at%207.59.36%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="2140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdNXk1RhrodkI5yVWEenwymS3jpWzEvM45VHmw4ZYZuevYJ5tsgwLnxjUcjcc6AGKuMRpebI3syQ5VJeV9hGV0ft1pUbeaxHF54ifsuPWQeRuMcsGeQ9k2Q1OT0y7vJqE7lEqfw4RXPFI0dJcCaYVcgzt1_1fYaGM83DEhuwKQrdIcUo7I5s-Schhlw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-27%20at%207.59.36%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: STUDIO 666 Year: 2022 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's common in horror movies to center on a novelist suffering writer's block so that whatever terrifying situation he-or-she winds up in will then become inspiration for their next bestseller... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So The Foo Fighters made their own comedy/horror flick where Dave Grohl, forced to hurriedly record a 10th album, is fresh out of <i>song</i> ideas, and, after moving into a spooky and dilapidated, infamously haunted mansion in Encino California to record, he obsesses on a heavy metal riff that (to the chagrin of bandmates Pat Smear, Chris Shiflet, a quirky Rami Jaffee and late drummer Taylor Hawkins) has no hook, bridge, chorus, or ending... </p><span></span>

2022, body count, comedy, dave grohl, exploitation, foo fighters, horror, horror satire, john carpenter, music, new, pat smear, taylor hawkins

DAVE GROHL POSSESSES THE FOO FIGHTERS HORROR 'STUDIO 666'

Title: STUDIO 666 Year: 2022 Rating: ** It's common in horror movies to center on a novelist suffering writer's block so that whatev...

GLENN FORD IN 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><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/AVvXsEj2WpAcgQ1EW290ypOs8CJiUws2wLFVw9E3WwkeTilOufLg3Ekuotism34PWOIsdF-ETK8NPuxRhSY9T6PsWG-vybGcX3xTJrmN9vX4FPy_fdYqWZn21JgBYvEPPvlT5_96X_A5U9-YCKrVgjbxHsb0KFTCF12ki4mglORwmhMr3dlHne9a4WSmrfJIsQ/s1170/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-27%20at%204.49.20%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="777" data-original-width="1170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2WpAcgQ1EW290ypOs8CJiUws2wLFVw9E3WwkeTilOufLg3Ekuotism34PWOIsdF-ETK8NPuxRhSY9T6PsWG-vybGcX3xTJrmN9vX4FPy_fdYqWZn21JgBYvEPPvlT5_96X_A5U9-YCKrVgjbxHsb0KFTCF12ki4mglORwmhMr3dlHne9a4WSmrfJIsQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-27%20at%204.49.20%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR: 1962</u></td></tr></tbody></table>In GET SHORTY, John Travolta's movie fanatic gangster brags about going to see "Charlton Heston playing a Mexican" on the big screen, a pop culture punchline for the classic border killing Film Noir TOUCH OF EVIL, probably since there wasn't anywhere to go from that point... I</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">n actuality, Heston, known for chewing up intentionally overboard roles (many based on Biblical stories) is at his most subtle and genuine, turning in a surprisingly realistic and earthy performance while the likes of, "You damn dirty gringo!" is nowhere to be heard... </span><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67bdGiuiIoBoJWxt9tV1LvHQghEOA9Hw0rcgxWX66eL3zK15ND8_wI19WgVU1WywqTh3WHIY9P1LgHQz61pwygoI9ba6P_MjFcn5yjopmg27srYGFq2P3kmWohbqz0YEQgzLiE4DGdmlX/s1600/%2524%2528KGrHqV%252C%2521nsFJv%2529qWSH4BSeCeuekbg--60_1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67bdGiuiIoBoJWxt9tV1LvHQghEOA9Hw0rcgxWX66eL3zK15ND8_wI19WgVU1WywqTh3WHIY9P1LgHQz61pwygoI9ba6P_MjFcn5yjopmg27srYGFq2P3kmWohbqz0YEQgzLiE4DGdmlX/s400/%2524%2528KGrHqV%252C%2521nsFJv%2529qWSH4BSeCeuekbg--60_1.jpg" width="277"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archive Original Blue Cover</u></td></tr>
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The same goes for Glenn Ford, a much more subtle and overall dependable actor to begin with, as the rich grandson of boisterous old-timer Lee J. Cobb; both are from Argentina; Ford a flaky, would-be painter hanging around Paris during the late 1930's without a care in the world — other than seducing a classy married French society dame played to perfection by Ingrid Thulin, whose husband is sent overseas to fight the Nazis: Those infamous devils being all too human here, including Ford's own cousin who was a med student in Germany before joining the Third Reich. This soft-spoken yet proud and intense young man is also the grandson of the family patriarch, Lee J. Cobb, who stretches a small amount of time onscreen to the hilt, and beyond...<br>
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Leading to the most intense, memorable and important scene, and (arguably) the campiest. Cobb, who, along with grandson Ford, both bear the name of Julio (while looking entirely Caucasian), loses his mind after finding out, at a dinner party reunion, that one-third of his clan serve proudly under Adolf Hitler, making Cobb's Julio Sr. suffer a panic attack followed by a heart attack. Before which, he hallucinates the four title horsemen from the Bible's book of Revelations: a creepy and sinister vision riding the darkened clouds. This catapults a two-hour-plus soap operatic melodrama separating those against the Nazi takeover of France, like Julio's sister, a young idealistic college beauty, Yvette Mimieux, who tries to get her brother to stop having so much fun and to join the cause.<br>

charles boyer, epic, glenn ford, karlheinz böhm, lee j. cobb, melodrama, nazi, romance, sixties, war, warner archives, yvette mimieux

GLENN FORD IN 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

YEAR: 1962 In GET SHORTY, John Travolta's movie fanatic gangster brags about going to see "Charlton Heston playing a Mexican" ...

ROD STEIGER STARRING AS 'AL CAPONE' FEATURING FAY SPAIN

<table align="center" 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/AVvXsEiSUHQ-ROHfRSEMHYItdbj0IegmSYi-0HXz4JeTkUH_RhXgQsTdwsy4By_CNReGATLzrJ5hrCLmldIgs7wEk6k7WUZMkrfyLHOUyk0pSHX-HiffInZPzKsEWB2zS3D-wpmpNxfr97UpzK3xaVJqZepHgK_BcLawLmCtv5XY1BC1Aw1714ebJNING_PYfA/s399/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-24%20at%208.21.40%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="399" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUHQ-ROHfRSEMHYItdbj0IegmSYi-0HXz4JeTkUH_RhXgQsTdwsy4By_CNReGATLzrJ5hrCLmldIgs7wEk6k7WUZMkrfyLHOUyk0pSHX-HiffInZPzKsEWB2zS3D-wpmpNxfr97UpzK3xaVJqZepHgK_BcLawLmCtv5XY1BC1Aw1714ebJNING_PYfA/w400-h261/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-24%20at%208.21.40%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>AL CAPONE Year of Release: 1959</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Like Jack Nicholson (intentionally or otherwise) displayed a little of pal <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/11/the-shining.html">Bruce Dern in THE SHINING</a>, perhaps Marlon Brando was influenced by his ON THE WATERFRONT brother in THE GODFATHER since Rod Steiger had played AL CAPONE with facial contortions that seem so natural that, if done by a lesser talent, would look contrived and pretentiously overboard...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfuL1aSiO_Lks15ZNCdXaPtnWM3Hxssi0o0y_fyh-t0ShqhF-4_05wRfmy9hNfzO_KWKAq5uOuBMztI4sTFtoDF33MIxCwbO-pL8sdcJ9A7sctyY-0H5qy5FdVjgB2iq2EEoiukG93Ykq/s1600/77.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="551" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfuL1aSiO_Lks15ZNCdXaPtnWM3Hxssi0o0y_fyh-t0ShqhF-4_05wRfmy9hNfzO_KWKAq5uOuBMztI4sTFtoDF33MIxCwbO-pL8sdcJ9A7sctyY-0H5qy5FdVjgB2iq2EEoiukG93Ykq/s320/77.jpg" width="182"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Capone Scores **** Bulletholes</u></td></tr>
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In fact, this biopic is so subtle he seems more a blue collar ruffian than outright gangster: A sort of throwback to the olden days of Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson, Steiger's performance brings the mafia henchman turned head honcho through sparse narration by James Gregory as a trailing cop...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7acn5aWhszJx1JZyxdcrpM-PgS4DCdN42NtfearJ1p9A0esb2ht4u9iAiy0TweHSeT6L2FS4TKvWJiOQbqlgOac0Qkm0pmka_MCkz4iMnMUNXJwLiTuYPokx9r-pkSiFSv4XaYAq8iOU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-11-21+at+4.54.34+AM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="586" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7acn5aWhszJx1JZyxdcrpM-PgS4DCdN42NtfearJ1p9A0esb2ht4u9iAiy0TweHSeT6L2FS4TKvWJiOQbqlgOac0Qkm0pmka_MCkz4iMnMUNXJwLiTuYPokx9r-pkSiFSv4XaYAq8iOU/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-11-21+at+4.54.34+AM.jpeg" width="273"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archive Blue Cover</u></td></tr>
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Although there's no suspense that he might be kept from doing what he does best: killing to climb the ladder with a string of creative <i>whacks</i>, and yet the most improbable con is landing the wife of one of his otherwise incidental hits: And in that, Fay Spain, who'd be Hyman Roth's walk-on yet memorable wife in THE GODFATHER 2, is beyond a common love interest since it <i>is extremely</i> interesting how he seduces this beautiful mother and widow with the same determination that he takes on surrounding, paranoid and lethal enemies during the superior first half while the second deals mainly with his waning popularity leading to a rushed exile in Miami...<br>
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But no matter where and how the film rides out, and along with crooked reporter Martin Balsam who verbally toys with Capone as if he were the moll instead of Fay, it's Steiger's his job alone to make an otherwise pretty-good feature pretty damn fantastic to watch, and keep rewatching again and again. You'll always see something different in his reactions to the spontaneously violent actions: He steals both the movie <i>and the story </i>that it's all loosely based upon. Forget the overrated Robert DeNiro UNTOUCHABLES Capone. It's Steiger's that can't be touched. <br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Photos Screen Captures of the Warner Bros Neo Classic Gangster Rod Steiger starring AL CAPONE</u></td></tr>
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al ruscio, biopic, fifties, gangster, james gregory, jazz score, martin balsam, mobster, nehemiah persoff, neo noir, rod steiger, sally todd, warner archives

ROD STEIGER STARRING AS 'AL CAPONE' FEATURING FAY SPAIN

AL CAPONE Year of Release: 1959 Like Jack Nicholson (intentionally or otherwise) displayed a little of pal Bruce Dern in THE SHINING , perh...

GLENN FORD IN GEORGE MARSHALL'S WESTERN 'THE SHEEPMAN'

<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/AVvXsEgEXNQ8CKMx0Yr5N8Fk0lF6F8km9hhtZrqDWGN4GpKvZk9b1PxJ3K_gstDt212cII61YNBtLpnn5f8QD-_yuzGwtj85-xYk6rm9vjBJ_FB2lhXwXI0436FSDtKyhi4sx_qzlqXVfs4PwQ5N1jtJEZ1QQIqvZs3rEQ4FDDdJUMYUOwhSMaDzdVouicFpXg/s1115/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-26%20at%201.35.44%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="1115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEXNQ8CKMx0Yr5N8Fk0lF6F8km9hhtZrqDWGN4GpKvZk9b1PxJ3K_gstDt212cII61YNBtLpnn5f8QD-_yuzGwtj85-xYk6rm9vjBJ_FB2lhXwXI0436FSDtKyhi4sx_qzlqXVfs4PwQ5N1jtJEZ1QQIqvZs3rEQ4FDDdJUMYUOwhSMaDzdVouicFpXg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-26%20at%201.35.44%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE SHEEPMAN Year: 1958 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>George Marshall's THE SHEEPMAN could have been a genuine satire, deliberately playing upon Western tropes as "stranger in town" Glenn Ford knows there's always the expository-spouting "cracker barrel philosopher" (Edgar Buchanan); the brawling bully everyone fears (Mickey Shaughnessy); and Leslie Neilsen as the powerful yet sophisticated villain, an old acquaintance of Ford's Jason Sweet about to marry local tomboy Shirley MacClaine.<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Co-written by William Bowers, THE SHEEPMAN resembles his later <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/03/support1.html">SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF</a> with a resilient sharpshooter who, no matter what's thrown at him, from fists to bullets, deals with cowboys protecting their cattle with the prospect of sheep... </p><p><span></span></p>

edgar buchanan, forties, glenn ford, leslie nielsen, mickey shaughnessy, pernell roberts, shirley maclaine, warner archives, western, william bowers

GLENN FORD IN GEORGE MARSHALL'S WESTERN 'THE SHEEPMAN'

Title: THE SHEEPMAN Year: 1958 Rating: **** George Marshall's THE SHEEPMAN could have been a genuine satire, deliberately playing upon W...

FINAL CINEMA TURN FOR MONTGOMERY CLIFT IN 'THE DEFECTOR'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5WX262LykKEfN0U70vaarqee4gCvEv41a2g0EnuR7YdehZaUpJlLkclMBcO6O8Jad-q6NaS-fdVrgcKwBwAOvsWLGFXx9NP_RavypN4Gi48q3gb3gAXdEkR6aYstIIDkP8pHtfunQKHaDN1kNkM3MXkTO5dzCEJVW8ulS_fh58th6uRg1aZqzKHgdvQ/s1169/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-22%20at%2010.53.53%20PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5WX262LykKEfN0U70vaarqee4gCvEv41a2g0EnuR7YdehZaUpJlLkclMBcO6O8Jad-q6NaS-fdVrgcKwBwAOvsWLGFXx9NP_RavypN4Gi48q3gb3gAXdEkR6aYstIIDkP8pHtfunQKHaDN1kNkM3MXkTO5dzCEJVW8ulS_fh58th6uRg1aZqzKHgdvQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-22%20at%2010.53.53%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DEFECTOR Year: 1967</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the Sixties, the Cold War genre, which began in the Forties, was in full swing, sometimes with bullets flying, and usually taking place in Europe... Yet THE DEFECTOR is extremely low-key, low budget, very subtle, taking its time and may require several viewings to pick up every nuance.. <br>
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And for the sake of cinematic history, there is an importance in this otherwise forgotten vehicle, mostly known as the legendary Montgomery Clift's final role, which isn't a surprise when you see that, very sadly and extremely noticable, he resembles a man very near death and ironically, less than a decade prior, he was equal with (and was around before) James Dean and Marlon Brando, and this was his first step back in action...<br>
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<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/AVvXsEhGzbgtoxY-F2OdhpHsYBV2bbesYoQZQSbWei5SPlDTEMSdC6Ty9ydeXdPvO6XZuBTxBOsJC3D5JwMHABAN_1wglGasN40GUWIh8LAXJcDdGITDbWB_SBQaDw4pq0ADBcyhGmrUCBvXiCioDCJuBHjHMRqJAAyD7xfE70KWBFYRwW9pRZuANFKyTaaO2g/s1600/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-04-15%252Bat%252B4.28.29%252BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzbgtoxY-F2OdhpHsYBV2bbesYoQZQSbWei5SPlDTEMSdC6Ty9ydeXdPvO6XZuBTxBOsJC3D5JwMHABAN_1wglGasN40GUWIh8LAXJcDdGITDbWB_SBQaDw4pq0ADBcyhGmrUCBvXiCioDCJuBHjHMRqJAAyD7xfE70KWBFYRwW9pRZuANFKyTaaO2g/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-04-15%252Bat%252B4.28.29%252BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DEFECTOR with Montgomery Clift</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>And he does a good enough job despite the fact it seems as if his character, Professor James Bower, in East Germany to visit a Russian friend for whom he translated several novels, hadn't eaten or slept in a very long while. Perhaps it should have been written into the script; his character riddled by some mysterious illness might have actually worked in this already strange and tight, extremely contained, atmospheric movie where prison-like surroundings of dull brown buildings exist in a locale that's cold and desolate...<br>
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He could have been equally as hopeless and desperate, especially since he may have to stick around permanently. But his pallid and gaunt, sickly appearance isn't mentioned yet should have been because, whether he was handsome in previous films or not, it's not only tragic but downright distracting...<br>
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<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/AVvXsEgoCiyIaTHZag7YgJs9SCWevaJf25LPKEZ5iuXtm9Hhaxra2Xiik6YtoUM3m3GIhFiOFT6X7mBH2GQj0l6V8e6X6XM1YSmwBfcJmAg3-YQqpId44c5n76OFUTdZxT-vhbxhN-loJJiJO6JoA_q-FE8bWRHxe3TJZ-Gsb4YRzue1JFB63MXij_IU4GRV3g/s1600/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-04-09%252Bat%252B8.09.29%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCiyIaTHZag7YgJs9SCWevaJf25LPKEZ5iuXtm9Hhaxra2Xiik6YtoUM3m3GIhFiOFT6X7mBH2GQj0l6V8e6X6XM1YSmwBfcJmAg3-YQqpId44c5n76OFUTdZxT-vhbxhN-loJJiJO6JoA_q-FE8bWRHxe3TJZ-Gsb4YRzue1JFB63MXij_IU4GRV3g/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-04-09%252Bat%252B8.09.29%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DEFECTOR with Macha Méril and  Montgomery Clift</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Especially in the extremely contrived and awkward romantic angle involving several encounters, and a solid port in the impending storm with the young and gorgeous German actress Macha Méril, her shared "commune" apartment the only comfortably safe harbor around (she even has a comic book of Smurfs, and it's political!).<br>
<br>At this point, the spy genre had turned into a jovial carnival ride with the James Bond franchise, and the fact much of the story plays out in long scenes of important dialogue rather than non-stop action. Yet the Thriller genre (in any film) does tend to move (or not move) in this fashion, tickling the brain over driving testosterone and in that, THE DEFECTOR is a success though beyond subtle and ambiguous in its page-turning approach as the plot and/or purpose is handled right up front: so the mystery relies on how and when things will pan out, and in what direction.<br>
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<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/AVvXsEhpbkXZnefMHblyaHzJLPOh-nmGQiFQCq1M2vTB7eQIYpJaT0isACjVf1AEZMp0p9GXydOhVJk-4Ez3FW_kzAArtNn-52JVxWK-fZ7QCC0S7UIUCY2DSF4zr1MsNpUsmaqAwWdgJW9vMHbLD8oxDYzfFwSjfRccvG6AElx7W_tiuYEzl0fwIp7WlLssMQ/s1744/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-23%20at%201.39.01%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="1744" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpbkXZnefMHblyaHzJLPOh-nmGQiFQCq1M2vTB7eQIYpJaT0isACjVf1AEZMp0p9GXydOhVJk-4Ez3FW_kzAArtNn-52JVxWK-fZ7QCC0S7UIUCY2DSF4zr1MsNpUsmaqAwWdgJW9vMHbLD8oxDYzfFwSjfRccvG6AElx7W_tiuYEzl0fwIp7WlLssMQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-23%20at%201.39.01%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa ht8s03o8 a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><u>Montgomery Clift in THE DEFECTOR with Hardy Kruger</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Interior scenes mostly involving intentionally stuffy offices used for "polite" interrogations occur between the characters in a steady course, and of all the cast, including Roddy McDowell... as a CIA man spouting all the exposition for his reluctant inside man... is German actor Hardy Krüger as Counselor Peter Heinzmann, given an almost impossible task of trying to persuade the American scientist to defect after the Russian he had traveled to see in East Germany was killed (unseen), and who had this genre's most coveted McGuffin – microfilm...<br>
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So Krüger provides the only real conflict, making him the actor to watch for his expressions and reactions alone; that is, if you don't count Clift having to survive a slowburn nightmare of being stuck in this purgatory, softly batted about as a pawn (although he's hard to really feel sorry for since he hooks up so easily with the moon-faced German beauty)... <br>
</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/AVvXsEj6Dna9RBpm3aac2fLRHs2Pj6SbAnnJRKnu6ZrbapBfZt0jtT11o8dKmlk-3hjEjDd6EFlqKWyA4zfwSM9L-STvt0gU2504aWjgTGyO1nIitbBt6MwaFQs6TbwTfnSZcDPHcK5qHir9Qdb33raH0fIaAHVJD9e5im0yP0my6kj7LHvyoWapFgZXbeN66w/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-04-09+at+5.13.32+PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Dna9RBpm3aac2fLRHs2Pj6SbAnnJRKnu6ZrbapBfZt0jtT11o8dKmlk-3hjEjDd6EFlqKWyA4zfwSM9L-STvt0gU2504aWjgTGyO1nIitbBt6MwaFQs6TbwTfnSZcDPHcK5qHir9Qdb33raH0fIaAHVJD9e5im0yP0my6kj7LHvyoWapFgZXbeN66w/s16000/Screen+Shot+2020-04-09+at+5.13.32+PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DEFECTOR with Christine Delaroche and Mache Meril</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In a sparse study of existential anti-espionage, one particular mind-trip scene (much like Dick Powell's trip in MURDER MY SWEET) stands out as Bower half-sleep hallucinates inside his barred-widowed hotel room and giving this pointed, grounded vehicle a bit of foreign film surrealism...<br>
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But the entire DEFECTOR is, in a literal sense despite the Germans 
speaking perfect English, a Foreign Film without subtitles while 
maintaining an even-keel through strategic wordplay over gunplay, and a 
palpable sense of doom without a single bomb ticking. Winding up with 
11th hour action that, though quite rushed and begging for the film to 
close, is more like suspenseful-movement as our subtle if bland yet 
determined and intriguing hero tries to get out of the country, the hard
 way: on foot, and all alone.</p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

christine delaroche, cold war, espionage, hardy kruger, macha méril, montgomery clift, roddy mcdowall, sixties, thriller, uta levka, warner archives

FINAL CINEMA TURN FOR MONTGOMERY CLIFT IN 'THE DEFECTOR'

THE DEFECTOR Year: 1967 By the Sixties, the Cold War genre, which began in the Forties, was in full swing, sometimes with bullets flying, a...

STEVE COCHRAN GANGSTER NOIR REVIEW OF 'HIGHWAY 301'

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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"></span></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/AVvXsEhqSOAdYbkYs700BS-ToGhVf77h09kdhePWong4wfp9vf3v2UQAUO8bM-jJ0S-uUzg1rRfwjn1_q03IGhynErnw38dNiTn8fUqF6IbUwu93QQOtve2sbHyptFPppUvLgPUrLiP40rW2SWwdK9QUSKRp6qeWLd8RqZO3jyngT3N8HP5S_F0QKiYJedBDag=s1039" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1039" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqSOAdYbkYs700BS-ToGhVf77h09kdhePWong4wfp9vf3v2UQAUO8bM-jJ0S-uUzg1rRfwjn1_q03IGhynErnw38dNiTn8fUqF6IbUwu93QQOtve2sbHyptFPppUvLgPUrLiP40rW2SWwdK9QUSKRp6qeWLd8RqZO3jyngT3N8HP5S_F0QKiYJedBDag=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HIGHWAY 301 Year: 1950 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Steve Cochran will be no stranger in the months to come. From playing heavies in popular Film Noir flicks like THE DAMNED DON'T CRY to heroes in b-pictures like our popular "thiral" review of <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2017/05/qR.html">QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS</a>, and plenty of others spanning two and a half decades...</span><br>
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br></span>
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Let's begin with a quick summary of one of his more blunt, by-the-numbers Noir movies that features, within his shadowy gang of hat-donning hoods, the actor who'd play Joan Crawford's straitlaced husband in the aforementioned DAMNED, Richard Egan, his character introduced by name through a stern, steady narration following eerie, monotone real life politicians, seated behind their desks, lecturing the audience how <i>Crime Doesn't Pay</i>... </span></p><p></p><p></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>

fifties, film noir or melodrama, richard egan, steve cochran, warner archives

STEVE COCHRAN GANGSTER NOIR REVIEW OF 'HIGHWAY 301'

Title: HIGHWAY 301 Year: 1950 Rating: **1/2 Steve Cochran will be no stranger in the months to come. From playing heavies in popular Film N...

JAMES STEWART WITH JEAN HAGEN IN 'CARBINE WILLIAMS'

<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/AVvXsEhdbXLuA5iZFJzv9yeOf3dVj0zjRIzqtx0QDjitIsdJqZztiNENQkK_DQt6JEOu_BcmKn-jEIfkrrp3yNC21-zJbputXU88O19wuqiSf1dbSSmmpgZZ8Hh4S59ZWNYQN3-VQMyFFzVYCNhrqKxm0uP7V_9V9T5xmd9apchfCeYaSUF8YA47UkCei05epQ=s966" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="966" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdbXLuA5iZFJzv9yeOf3dVj0zjRIzqtx0QDjitIsdJqZztiNENQkK_DQt6JEOu_BcmKn-jEIfkrrp3yNC21-zJbputXU88O19wuqiSf1dbSSmmpgZZ8Hh4S59ZWNYQN3-VQMyFFzVYCNhrqKxm0uP7V_9V9T5xmd9apchfCeYaSUF8YA47UkCei05epQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CARBINE WILLIAMS Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Famously likeable James Stewart did his share of dramatic roles, although most were of simple, everyday fellas, so in CARBINE WILLIAMS he plays a determined, insanely stubborn white trash loser...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Although he starts out nice enough in a frame story about the titular gun-maker whose backstory begins with a perfect marriage contrasting a secret, very illegal and dangerous moonshine gig... </p><p><span></span></p>

biopic, fifties, james arness, james stewart, jean hagen, melodrama, paul stewart, prison, warner archives, wendell corey

JAMES STEWART WITH JEAN HAGEN IN 'CARBINE WILLIAMS'

Title: CARBINE WILLIAMS Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2 Famously likeable James Stewart did his share of dramatic roles, although most were of sim...

IRWIN ALLEN'S 'CITY BENEATH THE SEA' WITH STUART WHITMAN

<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/AVvXsEiftNDBTZqw8ZR_q_9CHPYATRVwnrYtIxLLaQLTsdmlFGeDqKuqUJvIV3-3_dnL8SsezRrmGreXOKjfdK5vtQgPfEJYjquScxdmJppI_s6I3X1XFxyNK6x_xlR2_FIQGteTZECmUNOYyeq8dSWUcpWVgLN6c7QPfvw8-CiJ5I2NqUBNwLKHu9wNpXFeCg=s1171" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiftNDBTZqw8ZR_q_9CHPYATRVwnrYtIxLLaQLTsdmlFGeDqKuqUJvIV3-3_dnL8SsezRrmGreXOKjfdK5vtQgPfEJYjquScxdmJppI_s6I3X1XFxyNK6x_xlR2_FIQGteTZECmUNOYyeq8dSWUcpWVgLN6c7QPfvw8-CiJ5I2NqUBNwLKHu9wNpXFeCg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CITY BENEATH THE SEA Director: Irwin Allen Year: 1971 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Between his b-science-fiction series and a-list disaster films, Irwin Allen combined both in a TV-Movie that plays out like a hopeful series pilot, CITY BENEATH THE SEA stars Stuart Whitman who, halfway through the 21st Century, is called back into the Modern-Atlantis underwater world he once ran...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Feeling more like a sequel to a previous installment since so many plates are dangling, including a beloved employee who'd been killed, blamed on Whitman by sulky ingenue Rosemary Forsyth... completely overshadowed by insanely-gorgeous secretary Susana Miranda alongside a fish-man diver and the token bad guy in Robert Wagner, out to rob Fort Knox's gold, placed within the city...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, disaster, irwin allen, joseph cotten, paul stewart, robert colbert, robert wagner, rosemary forsyth, science-fiction, seventies, stuart whitman, susana miranda, tv movie, warner archives

IRWIN ALLEN'S 'CITY BENEATH THE SEA' WITH STUART WHITMAN

Title: CITY BENEATH THE SEA Director: Irwin Allen Year: 1971 Rating: *** Between his b-science-fiction series and a-list disaster films, Irw...

VIRGINIA MAYO IN 'SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE'

<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/AVvXsEj2yKv5HnzIqNlVpSyayKHCAGVA-qPehN0R7yt5DElFfSCXNdfj6RMV1f5-svpZkBSF7wazGtoEK06snuySZfyy6mg-HY8sTOf9gPdrRsojPj_zzdh3T80D4ZxwfTVmJ4OTIY5cY4Ny568I5ItESV8xWUm_FZDfrOByzmnj0iFZPp1rpMXfkoxbH6zyMQ=s1159" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2yKv5HnzIqNlVpSyayKHCAGVA-qPehN0R7yt5DElFfSCXNdfj6RMV1f5-svpZkBSF7wazGtoEK06snuySZfyy6mg-HY8sTOf9gPdrRsojPj_zzdh3T80D4ZxwfTVmJ4OTIY5cY4Ny568I5ItESV8xWUm_FZDfrOByzmnj0iFZPp1rpMXfkoxbH6zyMQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"I don't know what there is about the pelts of 
dead little animals that makes them so attractive to women when one 
little mouse scares them silly," says Ronald Reagan to Virginia Mayo in SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE. "A confusing sex, yours," he slurs, just slightly, with a hazy grin. "But a delightful 
confusion."<br>
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<span class="caption">There's nothing like seeing the future President playing a friendly yet uptight college professor given a cold remedy with a fair amount of codeine that he didn't "Say No" to. But no man refuses Mayo, one of the prettiest actresses ever filmed. Having catapulted as James Cagney's sexy yet put-upon, cheating wife in WHITE HEAT, she headlined a string of musicals during the 1950's, and this is one of the most memorable... </span><br>
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college, comedy, fifties, gene nelson, musical, patrice wymore, ronald reagan, virginia mayo, warner archives

VIRGINIA MAYO IN 'SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE'

Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2 "I don't know what there is about the pelts of dead little animals that makes them so attractive to wom...

COCHRAN HOLDS THE MAYO AGAIN IN 'SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY'

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In the first two of three films, Virginia Mayo was snatched from Cult Film Freak's two all-time favorite actors by tall, dark and viciously handsome b-actor Steve Cochran: First in THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, finishing Dana Andrews (not so happy) marriage so the perky dame can enjoy the nightlife... And her most famous role as a reluctant gun-moll for ultra-violent James Cagney... </p><span></span>

fifties, frank lovejoy, gene nelson, melodrama, musical, patrice wymore, steve cochran, virginia mayo, warner archives

COCHRAN HOLDS THE MAYO AGAIN IN 'SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY'

Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2 This is more than a review of the 1952 feel-good comedy loaded with as many hardships and frowns as smiles, takin...

STEVE COCHRAN AND LEO GORDON IN 'QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS'

<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/AVvXsEhuO-05-tqXLorPJpYdZKFU6ZR6vOXehzPhGuTiAAbIZo9rqkPSbOWkVi3-k6ywrVaZu8ynx4-F_w5ASsfWcXJt8hvxfhcj4Kd_rcFbtIQq7Y-paMeClTddx0ruXG76fjIouf9HicBrhsMmtnS554Y-Jn_AtSssY8SK7Fzu-W6GMY3H4fujzmii_ca5DA=s843" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="843" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuO-05-tqXLorPJpYdZKFU6ZR6vOXehzPhGuTiAAbIZo9rqkPSbOWkVi3-k6ywrVaZu8ynx4-F_w5ASsfWcXJt8hvxfhcj4Kd_rcFbtIQq7Y-paMeClTddx0ruXG76fjIouf9HicBrhsMmtnS554Y-Jn_AtSssY8SK7Fzu-W6GMY3H4fujzmii_ca5DA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Underrated <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/12/WhiteHeat.html">WHITE HEAT</a> actor <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/steve%20cochran">Steve Cochran</a> plays a smooth gent sent to trick a small town of Northerners, unaware they're soon to be attacked by the titular gang of redneck roughnecks: mercenary thugs (albeit celebrated in a handful of films and literature) that were useful cutthroats for the Rebels against the Yankees... 
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Peacetime scoundrels can make reliable warriors, and at the helm here is tough guy character actor <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/12/block11.html">Leo Gordon</a>...  But with such a square-jawed, muscular mug and formidable disposition equaling some of the great all-time celluloid heavies, he doesn't get enough scenes for his vicious persona to be exploited like it should be...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, civil war, diane brewster, fifties, gale robbins, kim charney, leo gordon, steve cochran, warner archives, western

STEVE COCHRAN AND LEO GORDON IN 'QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS'

Title: QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2 Underrated WHITE HEAT actor Steve Cochran plays a smooth gent sent to trick a sma...

TROY DONAHUE IN RAOUL WALSH'S WESTERN 'A DISTANT TRUMPET'

<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/AVvXsEg-b_LPd98vxUqqzTAoBXaAsJrofREBP1C_B_PvHgvBIv2Z1xBZ_JGOdVV67-jegadMdn9sbLuRvzg4VpcmFcq09e-xkzOFHmZ6Q0IRkU1rudB1Qotk0XGG3A836mrPEuvhlGowPXAWRA43Hqv5E4g_slFccVlrQyxcbY1eyKlIKfXr0fSoTeo0CL-AzA=s1165" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-b_LPd98vxUqqzTAoBXaAsJrofREBP1C_B_PvHgvBIv2Z1xBZ_JGOdVV67-jegadMdn9sbLuRvzg4VpcmFcq09e-xkzOFHmZ6Q0IRkU1rudB1Qotk0XGG3A836mrPEuvhlGowPXAWRA43Hqv5E4g_slFccVlrQyxcbY1eyKlIKfXr0fSoTeo0CL-AzA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Troy Donahue from 1964 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Raoul Walsh finished his iconic directing career providing the otherwise wooden Troy Donahue his best performance that's still kind of wooden, but deliberately since his fresh from military school 2nd Lt. Matthew 'Matt' Hazard, put in charge of a Fort that's "like a toe waiting to be stomped" by surrounding Indians, must remain hard and callous to what he feels are a troop of lax soldiers...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Sadly, the least interesting aspect is pushed to the forefront since Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette were the melodrama Rock Hudson/Doris Day, and their contrived romance is sparked the minute Pleshette... the loveless wife of departing William Reynolds as the quirky 1rst Lieutenant... visits the new leader's quarters, filled with pictures of fiance Diane McBain, who, more classy than Pleshette, promises a kind of wistful, verbal-driven cat fight that never pans out...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, claude akins, diane mcbain, james gregory, kent smith, raoul walsh, sixties, susan pleshette, troy donahue, western, william reynolds

TROY DONAHUE IN RAOUL WALSH'S WESTERN 'A DISTANT TRUMPET'

Troy Donahue from 1964 Rating: ***1/2 Raoul Walsh finished his iconic directing career providing the otherwise wooden Troy Donahue his best ...

VICTOR MATURE, PETER LORRE & KATHRYN GRANT 'THE BIG CIRCUS'

<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/AVvXsEglr--JXms8YdA6doIPfXQfC35B-MOHGmCDNk9Y-yKmOCH0Z8VZMU7zXs62MXcImt6F9xHDpSjfMGF8kbczZnZoY3ABYxRliw2Yf8o3tiAbHrpzcZK6UF-PbL66sqkUSsp9V5d9F9cuVS8UyvsVFhA3W7uoJE7qMtH8btPIg4ykDEaI0_HOYoADjwm6ZjjO/s2248/44.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="2248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglr--JXms8YdA6doIPfXQfC35B-MOHGmCDNk9Y-yKmOCH0Z8VZMU7zXs62MXcImt6F9xHDpSjfMGF8kbczZnZoY3ABYxRliw2Yf8o3tiAbHrpzcZK6UF-PbL66sqkUSsp9V5d9F9cuVS8UyvsVFhA3W7uoJE7qMtH8btPIg4ykDEaI0_HOYoADjwm6ZjjO/s16000/44.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE BIG CIRCUS Pictured: Petter Lorre Year of Release: 1959 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Circus movie with the same plot as <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/03/RINGofFEAR.html">RING OF FEAR</a> where someone is sabotaging the acts, threatening lives <i>and</i> the entire traveling business, only in THE BIG CIRCUS we don't know who the culprit is... although with so many menacing shots of famously-menacing Vincent Price as the ringleader, one thing's for certain: it isn't him...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Run by bigger-than-life promotion king Henry Jasper 'Hank' Whirling, played by a confident, capable <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/victor%20mature">Victor Mature</a>, he's saddled with a sidekick in Red Buttons as an accountant from a bank about to close down the show... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, charles watts, circus, fifties, howard mcnear, kathryn grant, mystery, peter lorre, red buttons, rhonda fleming, thriller, victor mature, warner archives

VICTOR MATURE, PETER LORRE & KATHRYN GRANT 'THE BIG CIRCUS'

Title: THE BIG CIRCUS Pictured: Petter Lorre Year of Release: 1959 Rating: ***1/2 Circus movie with the same plot as RING OF FEAR where som...

DIRECTOR JACQUES TOURNEUR'S 'WITCHITA' STARRING JOEL MCCREA

<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/AVvXsEiCAJt2qWOCh27p8cS7U6E_SjJbANwpihQUA1ckhRe4Yy0kU8CJWzBWkTUg9JYC0t5Jc79WOYOLPgiE-ReonBNu3q9gJDk3Vb1Yf6lFWjVRsS4OWJV4N_rB5gzgj_lTSdEMkzt5WTX16d6Ie5tHanozdApRrvmx-g5Fs9St1nP6sNMRORqI9pG3sZNnDQ=s1181" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCAJt2qWOCh27p8cS7U6E_SjJbANwpihQUA1ckhRe4Yy0kU8CJWzBWkTUg9JYC0t5Jc79WOYOLPgiE-ReonBNu3q9gJDk3Vb1Yf6lFWjVRsS4OWJV4N_rB5gzgj_lTSdEMkzt5WTX16d6Ie5tHanozdApRrvmx-g5Fs9St1nP6sNMRORqI9pG3sZNnDQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: WICHITA Year: 1955 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This Jacques Tourneur's Western is as basic and entertaining as they come, centering on what begins as a distant dot viewed by men camped on the plain surrounded by cattle and all on their slow, deliberate pace to that Promised Land of WICHITA harboring many saloons...<br>
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That dot nears, and turns out being buffalo hunter Wyatt Earp, played by Joel McCrea, visually perfectly suited (though too old) for the real life legendary lawman, at first reluctant to become Wichita's Sheriff until the rowdy cowboys ignite drunken gun-blazing pandemonium...</p><span></span>

edgar buchanan, fifties, jack elam, jacques tourneur, joel mccrea, john smith, lloyd bridges, peter graves, robert wilke, sam peckinpah, wallace ford, warner archives, western

DIRECTOR JACQUES TOURNEUR'S 'WITCHITA' STARRING JOEL MCCREA

Title: WICHITA Year: 1955 Rating: **** This Jacques Tourneur's Western is as basic and entertaining as they come, centering on what beg...

GEORGE MONTGOMERY IN 'CANYON RIVER' WITH PETER GRAVES

<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/AVvXsEiX_0XWl8dPWt7X83QGxQadvnN10zdIiair4EvYDjslHpcVGkJmm05hoEEDbjLLJrOIElA0m62Vc6i02wHxjixv5MuD6_5-jD64_LA7Sp6a7WmzGDI7ll6QX6U8ZKdFw4WHysjM-qXoWQAEi4csFVMznRWZopfPDdwAGLSwvsjH3NHMjbA3yIojjvEy3w/s1172/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-25%20at%2012.24.31%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="1172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX_0XWl8dPWt7X83QGxQadvnN10zdIiair4EvYDjslHpcVGkJmm05hoEEDbjLLJrOIElA0m62Vc6i02wHxjixv5MuD6_5-jD64_LA7Sp6a7WmzGDI7ll6QX6U8ZKdFw4WHysjM-qXoWQAEi4csFVMznRWZopfPDdwAGLSwvsjH3NHMjbA3yIojjvEy3w/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-25%20at%2012.24.31%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> CANYON RIVER Year: 1956 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>George Montgomery's character
 has two first names, and both are so damn perfect: As Steve Patrick,
 a creative rancher breeding a new hybrid 
of beef cattle, about to travel through the
 harsh and sometimes deadly Wyoming winter to sell on time for the 
best price, he has one gigantic flaw, and 
it's not his taste in women...<br>
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Although he shouldn't get credit for landing Marcia Henderson, as a pretty widow, Janet, since she — along 
for the ride (with her young son) as a chuck wagon cook for the small 
group of cowpunchers — practically throws herself upon our 
almost-flawless leading man: And his Achilles Heel isn't noticeable, to him,
 yet <i>we</i> know all about it...<br>
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action, adventure, alan hale jr., fifties, george montgomery, marcia henderson, peter graves, robert wilke, romance, warner archives, western

GEORGE MONTGOMERY IN 'CANYON RIVER' WITH PETER GRAVES

CANYON RIVER Year: 1956 Rating: ***1/2 George Montgomery's character has two first names, and both are so damn perfect: As Steve Patr...

RON ELY AS 'DOC SAVAGE: MAN OF BRONZE' WITH ROBYN HILTON

<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/AVvXsEiMshmmh8oL-LVPWz3LaUhA-PhQ-9cUiibxhDc60Wg1ZNFvl13jHgAyfTJzgCQIrBXx594CyEQg4xLusqrCCu_fSIojXcGoisVhyK6rne-oDgSFv6hCx4hk1L0pp2tBL02yitFkePGnQdGyZ12GP-jGdphLi9scf-QQ_-Ml65-R5iargxlbRzBFhKY_6Q/s1168/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-23%20at%208.25.11%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="1168" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMshmmh8oL-LVPWz3LaUhA-PhQ-9cUiibxhDc60Wg1ZNFvl13jHgAyfTJzgCQIrBXx594CyEQg4xLusqrCCu_fSIojXcGoisVhyK6rne-oDgSFv6hCx4hk1L0pp2tBL02yitFkePGnQdGyZ12GP-jGdphLi9scf-QQ_-Ml65-R5iargxlbRzBFhKY_6Q/w400-h258/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-23%20at%208.25.11%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Doc Savage YEAR: 1976</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Just when you thought you'd seen everything, up comes something you missed because of being too young at the time and then, older, you discover a curio that epitomizes lost cult phenomena...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Robyn Hilton</u></td></tr>
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For DOC SAVAGE, the last film backed by the original WAR OF THE WORLDS producer George Pal and directed by Michael Anderson before the beloved LOGAN'S RUN and maligned MARTIAN CHRONICLES, is almost beyond words, centering on TARZAN stud Ron Ely playing a scientist just as smart as he's fit and equally tough and well-read and who, along with five partners including muscular construction developer William Lucking and young BREAKFAST CLUB detention lord and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/02/VForce.html">VIGILANTE FORCE</a> thug Paul Gleason as a few of the men under Doc's supervision that really don't do much but marvel at boss's glory, which includes gadgetry the likes of the then-popular Roger Moore James Bond films...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01sgogJRFsxJwYPmsKzVdJP_upnRFj64CDu8e-HIUxa4Pi1GhQdniXC5yjNDLLI1Me8wxWpiMDWgG3pNIEUgjJLelEuiijTnVPZd-3Ch-l7PWTT4Wxx9-g6K48B8Hj5zToUKmv8t2tZ9c/s1600/22448477_382730862156096_7310787344182298371_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="960" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01sgogJRFsxJwYPmsKzVdJP_upnRFj64CDu8e-HIUxa4Pi1GhQdniXC5yjNDLLI1Me8wxWpiMDWgG3pNIEUgjJLelEuiijTnVPZd-3Ch-l7PWTT4Wxx9-g6K48B8Hj5zToUKmv8t2tZ9c/s400/22448477_382730862156096_7310787344182298371_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sexy bimbos Janice Heiden and Robyn Hilton </u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And fight scenes trying for the Kung Fu craze and mirroring just about everything the drive-in 70's had to offer and, although theatrical, SAVAGE plays out like the pilot episode of a television series that never came to be (a sequel was mostly filmed and then scrapped following poor box office returns), with a low-voiced, antique radio SHADOW style narrator basking in what sounds like intentional camp yet Ely's ultra-serious nature within the plot-line, trying to find out how his father was killed in South America while being toyed with by an intentionally charming villain named Captain Seas, wherein the late Paul Wexler looks so much like the Stanley Kubrick and John Cassavetes stock actor (and beyond) Timothy Carey, if you narrow your eyes it's as if Carey were, actually, during the KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE era, right on board...<br>

action, camp, darrell zwirling, ensemble, janice heiden, pamela hensley, paul gleason, paul wexler, pulp, robyn hilton, ron ely, seventies, warner archives, william lucking

RON ELY AS 'DOC SAVAGE: MAN OF BRONZE' WITH ROBYN HILTON

Doc Savage YEAR: 1976 Just when you thought you'd seen everything, up comes something you missed because of being too young at the time...

JAMES GARNER & KATHARINE ROSS 'THEY ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS'

action, crime, doberman, hal holbrook, james garner, jenifer shaw, katharine ross, lane slate, mystery, neo noir, rural, small town, thriller, warner archives

JAMES GARNER & KATHARINE ROSS 'THEY ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS'

year: 1972 Rating: *** One of the first vehicles of the 1970's catering to the 1970's Doberman craze; although this particular pooch...

RAOUL WALSH REMAKES 'HIGH SIERRA' WITH 'COLORADO TERRITORY'

<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/AVvXsEi1MafS0mlp22qhXfWM6HIkUoBssSTnJiDAmzbVGHvF8qnF19Z1xNHF5Mjzr8w2AyGXUaK6FmKdG1ev6fxyLVc7TqhDkZStCvKiopYjQTbUffnTTFKUu3P9xe1bwqOUoxTw2JyZiUqgMY2ApuHyV47t6-Uv3eG0bB6omqLtUKHCs8GvfzcJjWC3bQLwcw=s1144" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="1144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1MafS0mlp22qhXfWM6HIkUoBssSTnJiDAmzbVGHvF8qnF19Z1xNHF5Mjzr8w2AyGXUaK6FmKdG1ev6fxyLVc7TqhDkZStCvKiopYjQTbUffnTTFKUu3P9xe1bwqOUoxTw2JyZiUqgMY2ApuHyV47t6-Uv3eG0bB6omqLtUKHCs8GvfzcJjWC3bQLwcw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: COLORADO TERRITORY Year: 1949 Rating: *1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Raoul Walsh directed the Western remake of his classic "modern" noir (yet set in a Western-like exterior setting) HIGH SIERRA, titled COLORADO TERRITORY, starring Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo in place of Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino, and with Dorothy Malone replacing Joan Leslie, here's proof that not all capable formula's work twice...<br></p><p></p><p>Unlike Bogart's cool and edgy Roy Earle, a hopelessly benign Joel McCrea's Wes McQueen lacks the anti-hero of his once-outlaw hero, wanting nothing of the pivotal heist that each film centers on, and here, with a cliché dream of owning his own ranch, he's so adverse to his fellow outlaws he's supposed to mentor, the entire purpose is chalked down to a lackadaisical melodrama with long bouts of dialogue — superfluous distraction in place of of essential action...  </p><p><span></span></p>

dorothy malone, forties, ian wolfe, joel mccrea, raoul walsh, remake, virginia mayo, warner archives, western

RAOUL WALSH REMAKES 'HIGH SIERRA' WITH 'COLORADO TERRITORY'

Title: COLORADO TERRITORY Year: 1949 Rating: *1/2 Raoul Walsh directed the Western remake of his classic "modern" noir (yet set in...

FRANK TUTTLE DIRECTS BARRY SULLIVAN & BELITA IN 'SUSPENSE'

<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/AVvXsEhDwgzFCXWWwHdzo8imGd7GV_IuTr_NeKJQkIURtwMcjlp6ftgHRy2Mn8HytSzkrN8uU4HABNXljO4mr0uwBiXveo0jZ8JR8UO8HZADRBpjEwhlW8xpTbz5yWn5NZeZlDTnMEmnq3jpGpmLZh31pH4c7SlaQ8pMZ8v1dtT5BicrOLe65_ap898zCF19gg=s1168" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="1168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDwgzFCXWWwHdzo8imGd7GV_IuTr_NeKJQkIURtwMcjlp6ftgHRy2Mn8HytSzkrN8uU4HABNXljO4mr0uwBiXveo0jZ8JR8UO8HZADRBpjEwhlW8xpTbz5yWn5NZeZlDTnMEmnq3jpGpmLZh31pH4c7SlaQ8pMZ8v1dtT5BicrOLe65_ap898zCF19gg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Belita and Barry Sullivan in SUSPENSE Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's hard living up to such a broad yet existential title as SUSPENSE; but the very beginning does it perfectly... albeit lasting only several seconds as an armed woman, flanked by two goons, aims her pistol at a ratty-looking fella, and then fires... hitting a target and winning the teddy bear prize, handed over by her "victim" working the stand...</p><p></p><p></p><p>Who then gives homeless-looking loser Barry Sullivan's Joe Morgan directions to an ice skating rink/auditorium... and what follows are the best sequences as Sullivan talks his way from being a popcorn vendor to security guard to practically running the show by making it more dangerous and thus... suspenseful... <br></p><span></span>

albert dekker, barry sullivan, belita, bonita granville, circus, con man, dewey robinson, eugene pallette, film noir or melodrama, forties, nestor paiva, sport, warner archives

FRANK TUTTLE DIRECTS BARRY SULLIVAN & BELITA IN 'SUSPENSE'

Belita and Barry Sullivan in SUSPENSE Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2 It's hard living up to such a broad yet existential title as SUSPENSE; b...

FLASHBACK TO WARNER'S AIRLINE DISASTER 'THE CROWDED SKY'

<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><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/AVvXsEiX5ZJ3ao4Dfm4pGM80mvNxFMzK8UFc6gfO2vPSBTpOqRjKKEjgG1lcELZ-Oqd2FTutG90oOFfwa3d2Eh6FV2hC2Z4PJL-dyT57Tq448OdWiJ9HUK8a_HfBW-uKo7rFGm89LJW9AfrXFlHxzkZm_Or-FGGZpQzJ2sG4JqN2iskGtlWOOROux8AGTGAkCCGQ/s2246/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-27%20at%201.20.06%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1172" data-original-width="2246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5ZJ3ao4Dfm4pGM80mvNxFMzK8UFc6gfO2vPSBTpOqRjKKEjgG1lcELZ-Oqd2FTutG90oOFfwa3d2Eh6FV2hC2Z4PJL-dyT57Tq448OdWiJ9HUK8a_HfBW-uKo7rFGm89LJW9AfrXFlHxzkZm_Or-FGGZpQzJ2sG4JqN2iskGtlWOOROux8AGTGAkCCGQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-27%20at%201.20.06%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Kerr with Joe Mantell & Dana Andrews in THE CROWDED SKY Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In one of the most bizarre airplane disaster films, Dana Andrews, fresh from playing the original Ted Stryker in ZERO HOUR that, decades later, became AIRPLANE, flies again, only this time on purpose as his commercial jet and its passengers are juxtaposed by two Navy men on a peace-time 1960 jet-fighter mission to Washington D. C. simply because the youngest, Troy Donahue, needs to see his girl... <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></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Meanwhile Navy lifer Efrem Zimbalist Jr is tumbling from a bad marriage with Technicolor Queen Rhonda Fleming, second-billed despite never boarding either the big or small destined-to-collide vehicle but given sporadic flashbacks (featuring sulky daughter Karen Green) from her husband's winsome reveries...</p><p><span></span></p>

anne francis, dana andrews, disaster, efrem zimbalist jr., joe mantell, john kerr, joseph pevney, keenan wynn, melodrama, rhonda fleming, romance, sixties, troy donahue, warner archives

FLASHBACK TO WARNER'S AIRLINE DISASTER 'THE CROWDED SKY'

John Kerr with Joe Mantell & Dana Andrews in THE CROWDED SKY Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2 In one of the most bizarre airplane disaster film...

ANTHONY QUINN IN 'A DREAM OF KINGS' WITH INGER STEVENS

<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/AVvXsEhw58c88w9PcfOG5TFNUMQfXzqai_vWjmndxuIIQBlTTNP0m7BAYh9QudYoGDcDYrLg2JCA3rmUG07giBiyQ0lW1EKmMh9lFhBrLx4zfEzcrIGwdEcN3jLLuji8MuD9rNEBtDBg7ZFTElkbfHa-2iz1l5HoymsipkQYDek_6CStOFWnPXNMLmqm-NGQtw=s1175" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="1175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhw58c88w9PcfOG5TFNUMQfXzqai_vWjmndxuIIQBlTTNP0m7BAYh9QudYoGDcDYrLg2JCA3rmUG07giBiyQ0lW1EKmMh9lFhBrLx4zfEzcrIGwdEcN3jLLuji8MuD9rNEBtDBg7ZFTElkbfHa-2iz1l5HoymsipkQYDek_6CStOFWnPXNMLmqm-NGQtw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: A DREAM OF KINGS Stars: Anthony Quinn Year: 1969 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In A DREAM OF KINGS, Anthony Quinn plays Leonidas Matsoukas, a ZORBA THE GREEK in late-1960's New York with smoggy industrial backdrops and absolutely no trace of the colorful counter-culture... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Despite being a hopeless gambler, roaming philanderer and with a dying son, he has the immense/intense zest for life Quinn was known for, making this a kind of Quinnspoitation and overall fairly entertaining...</p><p><span></span></p>

anthony quinn, drama, gambling, inger stevens, irene pappas, melodrama, sam levene, sixties, warner archives

ANTHONY QUINN IN 'A DREAM OF KINGS' WITH INGER STEVENS

Title: A DREAM OF KINGS Stars: Anthony Quinn Year: 1969 Rating: ***1/2 In A DREAM OF KINGS, Anthony Quinn plays Leonidas Matsoukas, a ZORBA ...

PAUL MUNI & BETTE DAVIS IN THE PRE-NOIR OF 'BORDERTOWN'

<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/AVvXsEiU_vmpAz5esDOdEq79i7Zb0NEe2qri_2C69tpBgwmc69P_ETNNpqurCpJxTMgZyalINw3pEDax0VRlr1zn4mNLzLLEtQTuL_XiENSqkPOyKCIyLiVSwUiCDg1KkN64bV9Y7LWB-uL6bxXij6Zg45UXtmr5fYmQuczM1wwvua2A4YEin2Dc8w2Jjc-WQw=s1426" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="1426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU_vmpAz5esDOdEq79i7Zb0NEe2qri_2C69tpBgwmc69P_ETNNpqurCpJxTMgZyalINw3pEDax0VRlr1zn4mNLzLLEtQTuL_XiENSqkPOyKCIyLiVSwUiCDg1KkN64bV9Y7LWB-uL6bxXij6Zg45UXtmr5fYmQuczM1wwvua2A4YEin2Dc8w2Jjc-WQw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BORDERTOWN Year: 1935 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The early Noir THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT starring George Raft and Humphrey Bogart was a remake of the earlier Noir BORDERTOWN starring SCARFACE actor and Gangster-genre pioneer Paul Muni, starting out as a poor lawyer so overly-idealistic he's bound to fail in business, and love...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Herein classy-rich, out-of-his league Margaret Lindsay is the roundabout reason Muni's forced to retire his law practice and, like I AM A FUGITIVE OF A CHAIN-GANG, he wanders montage-style by foot, winding up where most of the programmer's action takes place...</p><p><span></span></p>

bette davis, film noir or melodrama, gangster, margaret lindsay, mexico, paul muni, thirties, warner archives, wrong man

PAUL MUNI & BETTE DAVIS IN THE PRE-NOIR OF 'BORDERTOWN'

Title: BORDERTOWN Year: 1935 Rating: *** The early Noir THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT starring George Raft and Humphrey Bogart was a remake of the ear...

TELEVISION AIRPLANE-HIJACKING THRILLER OF 'HOSTAGE FLIGHT'

<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/AVvXsEgWW-V_Eq0sYAnHfyheEYisk5FUp-xBqrf2wevO2VaxKdoRM17zVtzY_ivqfwcZvlxheF4C2_suo-mBGaVGWitSGZqyFFx5knMUJvnioSqS8BOZzehMr3VYGeND2UbuORyMNFO3spn75c93oYnoJma94dehi0KgF87W-OjV26cZGlEdROQoUp41RfQHOQ=s1170" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="1170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWW-V_Eq0sYAnHfyheEYisk5FUp-xBqrf2wevO2VaxKdoRM17zVtzY_ivqfwcZvlxheF4C2_suo-mBGaVGWitSGZqyFFx5knMUJvnioSqS8BOZzehMr3VYGeND2UbuORyMNFO3spn75c93oYnoJma94dehi0KgF87W-OjV26cZGlEdROQoUp41RfQHOQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frank M. Benard and Kristina Wayborn in HOSTAGE FLIGHT Year: 1985 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The 1985 TV-Movie HOSTAGE FLIGHT is one of the better hijacking dramas, which includes theatrical features with the1970's All-Star-Cast device only here with actors and actresses mostly known for television, at that time... </p><p></p><p></p><p>Except Ned Beatty as the man in charge on the ground (with gunman Morgan Paull at his beckon call), stressing on the situation in the air, filmed with a worthy amount of suspense and for very good reason... </p><p><span></span></p>

airplane, body count, dee wallace, eighties, ensemble, frank m. benard, hijack, kim johnston ulrich, kristina wayborn, mitchell ryan, morgan paull, thriller, tv movie, warner archives

TELEVISION AIRPLANE-HIJACKING THRILLER OF 'HOSTAGE FLIGHT'

Frank M. Benard and Kristina Wayborn in HOSTAGE FLIGHT Year: 1985 Rating: **** The 1985 TV-Movie HOSTAGE FLIGHT is one of the better hijacki...

GARY LOCKWOOD IN THE COLD-WAR SCIENCE'FICTION 'EARTH II'

<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/AVvXsEgh7rOvcRKsziLCew3GNSa00om3jY1KPrik-3kegW5_GTfs2dBgdU9fhJlWuERrVaSw-S3w0NTQWWe7brveuurhlBIap2vqXg5JwMja4qMBGdhxF8L2W8DmJPMC8iPJKyFB0QmH-JAXk9ETFNzFaSACd_W10Ezxo4z1H78cAprnNL5y0oCYo2D17LqdWQ=s1167" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgh7rOvcRKsziLCew3GNSa00om3jY1KPrik-3kegW5_GTfs2dBgdU9fhJlWuERrVaSw-S3w0NTQWWe7brveuurhlBIap2vqXg5JwMja4qMBGdhxF8L2W8DmJPMC8iPJKyFB0QmH-JAXk9ETFNzFaSACd_W10Ezxo4z1H78cAprnNL5y0oCYo2D17LqdWQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><u>Title: EARTH II Year: 1971 Rating: **1/2</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>E<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">ARTH II is <i>not</i> a sequel to EARTH, and despite Gary Lockwood being one of Gene Roddenberry's stock actors, having starred in THE LIEUTENANT from 1963 to 1964, and then as a villain who starts out as Captain Kirk's Academy friend on STAR TREK, this is not a Roddenberry production, who did create a handful of likewise 1970's pilots with similar beginning-of a-new-world themes including another co-starring Mariette Hartley, GENESIS II...</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">The disco era was to science-fiction what the previous year was to cold war spy flicks... And while taking its time, and full of political dialogue with hardly any action at all, EARTH II is a somewhat decent if filler TV-Movie-of-the-Week, basically a Detonate-the-bomb-before-t-blows slow-thriller, resembling what Lockwood is best known for — 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY....</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> </span></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>

gary lockwood, science-fiction, seventies, warner archives

GARY LOCKWOOD IN THE COLD-WAR SCIENCE'FICTION 'EARTH II'

Title: EARTH II Year: 1971 Rating: **1/2 E ARTH II is not a sequel to EARTH, and despite Gary Lockwood being one of Gene Roddenberry's ...

EDWARD G. ROBINSON'S FISHY LOVE TRIANGLE OF 'TIGER SHARK'

<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/AVvXsEi2Cmmbx2wI1_p3enNu6QDW1kred9ZXXQmMA3Cew99Z0Rwgt73AkJksEiXmftHcYlr-O1-2hBbeFtjkCudTgUeWryxaTTrQY8bK3SVJiy5982WdScZo6hxQq6sfauxa3NRGLmk_v-Dk9Dyrp7XJ-vJR6QlR6qPGJGow0dgDhunm1bBzVEOR3DqXkbSwvg=s1159" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi2Cmmbx2wI1_p3enNu6QDW1kred9ZXXQmMA3Cew99Z0Rwgt73AkJksEiXmftHcYlr-O1-2hBbeFtjkCudTgUeWryxaTTrQY8bK3SVJiy5982WdScZo6hxQq6sfauxa3NRGLmk_v-Dk9Dyrp7XJ-vJR6QlR6qPGJGow0dgDhunm1bBzVEOR3DqXkbSwvg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TIGER SHARK Stars: Edward G. Robinson Year: 1932 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Had the antique fishing-village-set TIGER SHARK come out ten years later, it would've made a pretty intriguing Film Noir, following the trope of the pretty young girl marrying an older businessman while falling in love with the handsome younger fella who has no money, and is friends with the rich guy...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In this case that rich guy, before there was any money and when he had both hands... during the more adventuresome Hemingway-meets-Melville first act... saves the life of Richard Arlen as common fisherman Pipes Boley by losing one hand to the titular (yet thereafter unimportant) TIGER SHARK, later replaced with a hook...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, edward g. robinson, love triangle, melodrama, richard arlen, romance, shark, thirties, warner archives, zita johann

EDWARD G. ROBINSON'S FISHY LOVE TRIANGLE OF 'TIGER SHARK'

Title: TIGER SHARK Stars: Edward G. Robinson Year: 1932 Rating: *** Had the antique fishing-village-set TIGER SHARK come out ten years later...

OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND & DICK POWELL IN WARNER'S 'HARD TO GET'

<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/AVvXsEgaAtg1PmYdv7r8VC_ig8M9npMLtr3pVZxFkCp72ar9fFFiMt6O5mdWa0IumZ4ySQgrAVvGjpOINNFpceF_0iv95pvwA3v7h59wJoU0lG2qHN8xXtW2Ss6em2YlwxhWAyoroLn6el1EEKnRvPHqWtLFXp0TECMRY_QwTcu9hgZxo29dyFF3uo1kX0EZeA=s1172" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaAtg1PmYdv7r8VC_ig8M9npMLtr3pVZxFkCp72ar9fFFiMt6O5mdWa0IumZ4ySQgrAVvGjpOINNFpceF_0iv95pvwA3v7h59wJoU0lG2qHN8xXtW2Ss6em2YlwxhWAyoroLn6el1EEKnRvPHqWtLFXp0TECMRY_QwTcu9hgZxo29dyFF3uo1kX0EZeA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Olivia de Havilland & Dick Powell in 1938 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Gas station attendant Dick Powell punishes cash-less rich girl Olivia de Havilland, forcing her to scrub floors of the adjoining motel: Yet <i>she's the one</i> who seeks the plot's revenge, pretending to be her rich dad's maid instead of daughter (replaced by real maid Penny Singleton); and Powell's more than a poor man's dreamer, holding a grand idea for a "modernized" gas station...<br>
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Long story short, Olivia falls in love after Powell croons "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" by moonlight, and then has to get out of the hole she's dug herself involving that lie... </p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

bonita granville, charles winninger, dick powell, olivia de havilland, penny singleton, romantic comedy, slapstick, warner archives

OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND & DICK POWELL IN WARNER'S 'HARD TO GET'

Olivia de Havilland & Dick Powell in 1938 Rates: ***1/2 Gas station attendant Dick Powell punishes cash-less rich girl Olivia de Havill...

WILLIAM CONRAD'S PRODUCTION 'FIRST TO FIGHT' CHAD EVERETT

<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/AVvXsEjLBNuYrVt2QcbdA1E_gOlFB2IaGZk0L7D3pEpsL83mSRL_EJw4nS0U7h6yh_0TV78hG95Y6H0mr3_02jxZNzOqgGEDOihyG1MOxZGC8ohZ50oHwYJ3HIR-A2G7n5sztKITJGdakbSadZdyO7fj-e0XwUuY5mP4BrC_05vOcnE8_nQHdDPrdsmVq4YX8Q=s1164" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLBNuYrVt2QcbdA1E_gOlFB2IaGZk0L7D3pEpsL83mSRL_EJw4nS0U7h6yh_0TV78hG95Y6H0mr3_02jxZNzOqgGEDOihyG1MOxZGC8ohZ50oHwYJ3HIR-A2G7n5sztKITJGdakbSadZdyO7fj-e0XwUuY5mP4BrC_05vOcnE8_nQHdDPrdsmVq4YX8Q=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: FIRST TO FIGHT Year: 1967 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Starting out an old school hunkered-in-the-trenches World War II action flick with heroic Chad Everett holding off approaching Japanese soldiers in an off-river jungle setting, FIRST TO FIGHT... produced and narrated by William Conrad with direction by Christian Nyby... makes an abrupt shift into a budding Stateside romance...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Progressively ignited between Everett's surviving and returning Sgt. Jack Connell and the lovely, classy and hard-to-get war bond touring chief Marilyn Devin; yet the best scenes have our true blue veteran competing with cocky cad Bobby Troup, who's not good enough to win this lady over...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, bobby troup, chad everett, dean stockwell, gene hackman, james best, marilyn devin, romance, world war II

WILLIAM CONRAD'S PRODUCTION 'FIRST TO FIGHT' CHAD EVERETT

Title: FIRST TO FIGHT Year: 1967 Rating: ***1/2 Starting out an old school hunkered-in-the-trenches World War II action flick with heroic Ch...

WARREN BEATTY & SUSANNAH YORK SHUFFLE 'KALEIDOSCOPE'

<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/AVvXsEjUUz5Z59W0QxWAhnwC5Z9bqJdSy5k7rcBpai37vXsnrl0G4HOx8Xgp9UYWxeClOXKEQ-UqOgbt7ttfXbdaOcbREh1-XwIVr4YdZxMeacbqtjps4o6BXvMy9sM4esg35cdVRDDraxkcncwpmq4mBWpKp0xvOeeNYDZ2py_RIlW1u9mfU1RiPvsYOBzp9g=s717" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="717" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUUz5Z59W0QxWAhnwC5Z9bqJdSy5k7rcBpai37vXsnrl0G4HOx8Xgp9UYWxeClOXKEQ-UqOgbt7ttfXbdaOcbREh1-XwIVr4YdZxMeacbqtjps4o6BXvMy9sM4esg35cdVRDDraxkcncwpmq4mBWpKp0xvOeeNYDZ2py_RIlW1u9mfU1RiPvsYOBzp9g=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1967 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The famous scene in THUNDERBALL, the first James Bond feature featuring supervillain Bloefeld, has his associates seated around a table, wondering which one of them will be found out as a traitor... for then to die in front of everyone... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And the same thing happens here with jovially sinister, talky antagonist Eric Porter as Dominion, more like Le Chiffre from CASINO ROYALE since American import cat burglar Warren Beatty is sent by British police to break the bank with a single night's poker match on the baddie's home turf, a castle with groovy interior befitting the rest of the cheerfully dated late-60's aesthetic... </p><p><span></span></p>

british, clive revill, gambling, romantic comedy, sixties, spy, susannah york, thriller, warner archives, warren beatty

WARREN BEATTY & SUSANNAH YORK SHUFFLE 'KALEIDOSCOPE'

Year: 1967 Rating: ***1/2 The famous scene in THUNDERBALL, the first James Bond feature featuring supervillain Bloefeld, has his associates ...

JOHN AGAR AND FRANK LOVEJOY FIGHT IN 'BREAKTHROUGH'

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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"></span></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/AVvXsEia8PSwqVIPsmtFDktHuZRNG-iR4DhgrDn_5xMB04bcBcITd8-vSexWR-JZOpaLxrOEzDIDkUhkYvFYLc4VMLfWZMQ-Ctct39vvbk5an-94H1_hZKRgS06xKBZ1Cxka_1A3F5bGsyCn6G7GPUDSd68WhfkoNajyQg4-kePTLhntXPiI9MT0ywcei0IyOA=s1168" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEia8PSwqVIPsmtFDktHuZRNG-iR4DhgrDn_5xMB04bcBcITd8-vSexWR-JZOpaLxrOEzDIDkUhkYvFYLc4VMLfWZMQ-Ctct39vvbk5an-94H1_hZKRgS06xKBZ1Cxka_1A3F5bGsyCn6G7GPUDSd68WhfkoNajyQg4-kePTLhntXPiI9MT0ywcei0IyOA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1950 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">It's refreshing to find an old B&W World War II flick that's more adventure than melodrama, despite the corny trope of the nicest guy on board showing-off a picture of his wife and kids, and winding up predictably dead...</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">There's also the comic relief; a kindhearted simpleton; a muscle-bound dolt; a nervous, really young small town kid; a wise, head-strong Sergeant; an educated Lieutenant who lacks actual fighting experience; and his jaded, too-experienced Captain, trying to get him ready to, in this particular story, lead men onto the beaches of Normandy...</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> </span></p><p></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>

action, david brian, dick wesson, fifties, frank lovejoy, john agar, war, warner archives

JOHN AGAR AND FRANK LOVEJOY FIGHT IN 'BREAKTHROUGH'

Year: 1950 Rating: **** It's refreshing to find an old B&W World War II flick that's more adventure than melodrama, despite the...

WARNER ARCHIVES MELODRAMA 'CONVICTS 4' WITH BEN GAZARRA

<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/AVvXsEgNUXT7Vjqn9Jgh2hAek_dogirXD5QCgKnVAhWa7_TaINaAjs7cwSlc7mAoL5UBtkYuk_Pcf48VjcQQuOcBUKOa7A4yoIYTgmon8-irrvvLLItKNo4-U750xbfKx1QCzl8r68mtD0WWcV_PasVGAeeaBdzS2WbPU5Cw1Ulvmpr2U5ZwOM0YtZQaWxOTbA=s1178" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="1178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNUXT7Vjqn9Jgh2hAek_dogirXD5QCgKnVAhWa7_TaINaAjs7cwSlc7mAoL5UBtkYuk_Pcf48VjcQQuOcBUKOa7A4yoIYTgmon8-irrvvLLItKNo4-U750xbfKx1QCzl8r68mtD0WWcV_PasVGAeeaBdzS2WbPU5Cw1Ulvmpr2U5ZwOM0YtZQaWxOTbA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ben Gazarra and Sammy Davis Jr. in CONVICTS 4 Year: 1962 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a point in the prison drama CONVICTS 4 when Ben Gazzara, after standing-through a rowdy lecture from one-scene-only chief guard Rod Steiger, complains about bedbugs in his cot: Which wouldn't seem all that questionable if the film actually began with Gazarra's John Resko being thrown into this not-so-cleanly prison...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But what the audience and main character had suffered through during an entire first act was a waiting game for impending execution on death row, harboring the most suspenseful and effective scenes and making those gripes about the next prison's subpar prison-conditions seem outright ludicrous...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

andy williams, ben gazzara, broderick crawford, death row, drama, prison, rod steiger, sammy davis jr., sixties, stuart whitman, timothy carey, warner archives

WARNER ARCHIVES MELODRAMA 'CONVICTS 4' WITH BEN GAZARRA

Ben Gazarra and Sammy Davis Jr. in CONVICTS 4 Year: 1962 Rating: ** There's a point in the prison drama CONVICTS 4 when Ben Gazzara, aft...

JMT

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Written by James M. Tate / 3/08/2022 / No comments / action , crime , doberman , hal holbrook , james garner , jenifer shaw , katharine ross , lane slate , mystery , neo noir , rural , small town , thriller , warner archives

Written by James M. Tate / 3/07/2022 / No comments / dorothy malone , forties , ian wolfe , joel mccrea , raoul walsh , remake , virginia mayo , warner archives , western

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