RUSHING THROUGH JOHN SCHLESINGER'S 'HONKY TONK FREEWAY'

<p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEj1aR3MPGUCgSdttv3tF2NQ6-21jYsnpiRLXMZnn_bVn8TdVl2z2MkcQHUTz_GCdB5DNdzb05A2_DDsi0MOHh2GJUhTW3DmivgTtAmK0aEEIOliL2nRUBPGCj4Q6wX5Gc9E-hGRQ-PVyo8f4QfmOW9sPlqzQxCvL7INOm7CA40Es2z9kfDpWxd06ZIYUKI1/s1280/maxresdefault%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aR3MPGUCgSdttv3tF2NQ6-21jYsnpiRLXMZnn_bVn8TdVl2z2MkcQHUTz_GCdB5DNdzb05A2_DDsi0MOHh2GJUhTW3DmivgTtAmK0aEEIOliL2nRUBPGCj4Q6wX5Gc9E-hGRQ-PVyo8f4QfmOW9sPlqzQxCvL7INOm7CA40Es2z9kfDpWxd06ZIYUKI1/s16000/maxresdefault%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HONKY TONK FREEWAY Year: 1981 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>John Schlesinger's HONKY TONK FREEWAY has two composers: Elmer Bernstein doing his usual triumphant march while Beatles producer George Martin's melancholy interludes are thrown in randomly for an offbeat cross-country road-movie with everything...<br><br>And while known for having cost and lost tons of money, FREEWAY is both a fast-moving adventure and witty ensemble-comedy with only a few central characters representing both points on the map...</p><p></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></span></p>

beau bridges, beverly d'angelo, comedy, deborah rush, howard hesseman, hume cronyn, jessica tandy, john schlesinger, road movie, teri garr

RUSHING THROUGH JOHN SCHLESINGER'S 'HONKY TONK FREEWAY'

Title: HONKY TONK FREEWAY Year: 1981 Rating: **** John Schlesinger's HONKY TONK FREEWAY has two composers: Elmer Bernstein doing his usu...

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

<p></p><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/AVvXsEipGiYCQfl5g-_AoEQ_Z_SksNItElfanALiYJFj9O5YhVF7E3JA7rBvmQcxSh92MZwVp9MfZYIWwBTXv0tsM3D8e_HNV7IdMtEtgZImvxqjhc1lxu7woT1-haf46Ib32yMbQDs05NuqTR_WW051Jog9TNlzL-RAmgRVjGxILZ7Ugbq0jikyhyphenhyphenTAelZCSXCx/s929/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-04%20at%208.10.47%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="929" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGiYCQfl5g-_AoEQ_Z_SksNItElfanALiYJFj9O5YhVF7E3JA7rBvmQcxSh92MZwVp9MfZYIWwBTXv0tsM3D8e_HNV7IdMtEtgZImvxqjhc1lxu7woT1-haf46Ib32yMbQDs05NuqTR_WW051Jog9TNlzL-RAmgRVjGxILZ7Ugbq0jikyhyphenhyphenTAelZCSXCx/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-04%20at%208.10.47%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking they're taking part in just another paid gig that turns out to be incredibly real and dangerous... in a way began with Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER where Lance Guest plays the oldest son of a trailer park landlady... in the kind of lonely Middle American town that Steven Spielberg practically created for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (and a bit like the "there's something better somewhere else" planet of Tattooine in STAR WARS)...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Castle includes other Speilbergian touches, like a highway speed-limit-sign rattling from the power of a spaceship.... here belonging to scene-stealer Robert Preston, who, with his signature speaking voice that practically sings every line, is beyond perfect as the pre BACK TO THE FUTURE DeLoreon-driving alien-in-human-form recruiter for an actual "star war" that Guest's Alex Rogen is hired to fight in...</p><span></span>

action, catherine mary stewart, cult, dan o'herlihy, fantasy, lance guest, nick castle, robert preston, rural, science-fiction, war

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking ...

JACK STARRETT DIRECTS JIM BROWN VS RIP TORN IN 'SLAUGHTER'

<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/AVvXsEieYnH7WtGUXz-HImPWCfsCGwX9Zxag9ath0XkbdOh0KYY0xYNftucwiAdSSUR-9bji6lMCs_tzP93cAtx1d_32_nQsuVru1iFaRX7elpUBcxxzjdtP_Btr8AWSdPaeOw9FI9WPGdWxfbuOiaJkqRkct-Sp-ywRI0p4gZjoSIoGQYcfkiBaCO4IcBHG0fGi/s2679/1111%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="2679" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYnH7WtGUXz-HImPWCfsCGwX9Zxag9ath0XkbdOh0KYY0xYNftucwiAdSSUR-9bji6lMCs_tzP93cAtx1d_32_nQsuVru1iFaRX7elpUBcxxzjdtP_Btr8AWSdPaeOw9FI9WPGdWxfbuOiaJkqRkct-Sp-ywRI0p4gZjoSIoGQYcfkiBaCO4IcBHG0fGi/s16000/1111%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SLAUGHTER Director: Jack Starrett Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the time Rip Torn as a mobster's main hit-man kills the very boss who hired him to kill Jim Brown's titular black tough guy SLAUGHTER... seeking revenge for his father's mob-ordered death... the 1972 anything-goes/gun-blasting extravaganza is only halfway through...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And has already featured some worthwhile actors including Cameron Mitchell and sidekick's sidekick Don Gordon, right at home in a b-movie that passes for mainstream... like something from the Bond franchise as Jim Brown, wearing a dapper tuxedo, walks coolly into the antagonist's crooked casino, winning money and even landing a sexy moll, who at least three of the uncompromisingly racist mafiosos are after...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, blaxploitation, cameron mitchell, jack starrett, jim brown, mafia, marlene clark, revenge, rip torn, robert phillips, seventies, stella stevens

JACK STARRETT DIRECTS JIM BROWN VS RIP TORN IN 'SLAUGHTER'

Title: SLAUGHTER Director: Jack Starrett Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2 By the time Rip Torn as a mobster's main hit-man kills the very boss...

ROBERT FOXWORTH BEARS JOHN FRANKENHEIMER'S 'PROPHECY'

<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/AVvXsEhTRU2lpqqTEH237rUdv97n5kIWRD37xW2MtCSnkFSe1VzqtXilPAY4xK_4SPMY5WMDBmq7mL8RsonAQ5jsicFu5jKAmLu9NoBDWmWbVHP_03YZ3xO1J47ZrPkFt0iz2K5IDvEiz2yFCuwrBH46yUSeqxtmP67uIMhMzf85A99CPBzvLuoMomjRwiOeNPX8/s1717/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="1717" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTRU2lpqqTEH237rUdv97n5kIWRD37xW2MtCSnkFSe1VzqtXilPAY4xK_4SPMY5WMDBmq7mL8RsonAQ5jsicFu5jKAmLu9NoBDWmWbVHP_03YZ3xO1J47ZrPkFt0iz2K5IDvEiz2yFCuwrBH46yUSeqxtmP67uIMhMzf85A99CPBzvLuoMomjRwiOeNPX8/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: PROPHECY Year: 1979 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At one point, when idealistic city doctor Robert Foxworthy and quiet musician wife Taila Shire are in the Oregon woods investigating strange happenings around a Native American community, we cut to an immense paper-mill with formidable music that would usually prelude a march of Nazi soldiers, or their mustached leader...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Meanwhile polite antagonist Richard Dysart, a few years before being part of a gory monstrous takeover in THE THING, is subtly covering things up: overall making the liberal-minded eco-horror PROPHECY far more ambiguous than if it were made today (or in the last thirty-years)...</p><span></span>

armand assante, eco-horror, john frankenheimer, mia bendixsen, richard dysart, robert foxworth, talia shire

ROBERT FOXWORTH BEARS JOHN FRANKENHEIMER'S 'PROPHECY'

Title: PROPHECY Year: 1979 Rating: ***1/2 At one point, when idealistic city doctor Robert Foxworthy and quiet musician wife Taila Shire are...

DARRELL HOWE WITH JUDY HOWARD IN 'ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO'

<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/AVvXsEhGqdQAX_se_9ruyNc6qDGpKL7Npsq5gYJ1sAj3wXsT0S31Jc8wpVu6Pe8DfcxSAN5s-Rk3Zg9QzyKrU981nONTpyZp5L13m7cNHxwZfM00oKXF2UJJ64cTOWpoB7Fo-wGBlBhMgUri28Rf8H2d9owcMfo_qJIu_Vt-kRpIhXENEfV-xZFmlsPQ5QOj4_Oi/s1164/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqdQAX_se_9ruyNc6qDGpKL7Npsq5gYJ1sAj3wXsT0S31Jc8wpVu6Pe8DfcxSAN5s-Rk3Zg9QzyKrU981nONTpyZp5L13m7cNHxwZfM00oKXF2UJJ64cTOWpoB7Fo-wGBlBhMgUri28Rf8H2d9owcMfo_qJIu_Vt-kRpIhXENEfV-xZFmlsPQ5QOj4_Oi/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Judy Howard in ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO Year: 1962 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>When token investigator Michael Granger is kind of affably/subtly questioning local hoodlum Darrell Howe on he and his gang's whereabouts when some people got beat up the night before, Howe's facially-scared Chet lies about going to a movie... specifically <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/03/cpn.html">CRIME AND PUNISHMENT</a>... an ironic parallel the cop instantly understands...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet is only partially what ANATOMY is inspired by... as the law's only around right after bad things happen: like a rich man's house burning because his son hooked up with Chet's loose and lithe <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/DragstripH.html">GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW</a> ingenue Judy Howard, who, with only a few scenes, smoothly combines passionate seduction with perplexed vulnerability...</p><span></span>

don devlin, exploitation, frank killmond, gang, judy howard, michael granger, neo noir, pamela lincoln, ronnie burns, russ bender, russell howe, sixties

DARRELL HOWE WITH JUDY HOWARD IN 'ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO'

Judy Howard in ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO Year: 1962 Rating: **** When token investigator Michael Granger is kind of affably/subtly questioning loc...

MARLON BRANDO & VAL KILMER RUIN 'THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU'

<p></p><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/AVvXsEiZcpkoBSsUNliEi-EKOlUGI5kMxQSZdYCRnnU5XByWA3e_K_Gj7YSOQalshkw41o-6CJ8iQpu5jK3RCGpCbg-UJYY8RyQjkdS6YsMnKnbUAIvmZr7ND2IKcRNuDMxCtw0N66-tVh46AcTtt7h2pnh1bsy96uxXEsr2AA9NhbB1yN7700q2uflPUbuJwIfE/s1869/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-02%20at%2010.20.55%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="974" data-original-width="1869" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcpkoBSsUNliEi-EKOlUGI5kMxQSZdYCRnnU5XByWA3e_K_Gj7YSOQalshkw41o-6CJ8iQpu5jK3RCGpCbg-UJYY8RyQjkdS6YsMnKnbUAIvmZr7ND2IKcRNuDMxCtw0N66-tVh46AcTtt7h2pnh1bsy96uxXEsr2AA9NhbB1yN7700q2uflPUbuJwIfE/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-02%20at%2010.20.55%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Val Kilmer in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU Year: 1996 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As the story goes, original director and screenwriter Richard Stanley was fired from THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, replaced by veteran John Frankenheimer who, prone to making action movies, seems confused whether it's an aggressive PLANET OF THE APES creature-uprising prequel or the quirky sci-fi/horror that the quirky Richard Stanley probably intended...<br><br>What's really strange is that big-budget superstar Bruce Willis was going to star in <i>that</i> original arthouse horror... replaced with offbeat British actor David Thewlis, seeming more like he'd be Stanley's choice over Frankenheimer's, who would have been able to do a high-octane Bruce Willis flick with his aged-eyes closed... meanwhile the more ambiguous Thewlis allowed the strange story to unfold before his vulnerable eyes as opposed to Willis (or Rob Morrow even), who would probably seem far above and beyond the situation... Thewis is there for the audience <i>and</i> the story... <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><span></span>

creature, horror, john frankenheimer, marlon brando, nineties, science-fiction, val kilmer

MARLON BRANDO & VAL KILMER RUIN 'THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU'

Val Kilmer in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU Year: 1996 Rating: ** As the story goes, original director and screenwriter Richard Stanley was fired...