GENE HACKMAN MAKING AND BREAKING 'THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS'

<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/AVvXsEgVF1SaAknZPbsMooda_vzqbkObuK6hhAWqKl2gHeG8WaSKRUyAaUFLKO9_t_7xW1xnHTJBLCTZslGNhlRHFPNGBbjvrGemgGfBkdxHE2tBwqONeU08AzuyfrNLW_b81uoPw_iYctS2TA8qrtu7d4MCkj-oxKIsf2ii44mxQZiQERXeDmCEpj0Q7FH5sopA/s1918/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-03%20at%203.57.31%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1026" data-original-width="1918" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF1SaAknZPbsMooda_vzqbkObuK6hhAWqKl2gHeG8WaSKRUyAaUFLKO9_t_7xW1xnHTJBLCTZslGNhlRHFPNGBbjvrGemgGfBkdxHE2tBwqONeU08AzuyfrNLW_b81uoPw_iYctS2TA8qrtu7d4MCkj-oxKIsf2ii44mxQZiQERXeDmCEpj0Q7FH5sopA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-03%20at%203.57.31%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Hackman in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS Year: 2001 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's not so ironic that Gene Hackman was extremely (infamously) difficult to director Wes Anderson working on THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS because his character, the tremendously flawed patriarch of an eccentric New York City family, is the one person who brings the deliberately offbeat movie down to a relatably grounded level... <br><br>In Anderson's breakout indie RUSHMORE, Bill Murray did the same thing, sort of... but not so most of the characters couldn't stand him, and spend almost the entire story battling his vices that, in Hackman's case as Royal Tenenbaum, led to the family breaking up early on... opening with child prodigy's setting the stage, creatively coddled by newly single mother Angelica Huston as Etheline...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

angelica huston, article, bill murray, danny glover, dark comedy, gene hackman, gwyneth paltrow, luke wilson, memorial, owen wilson, wes anderson, zeroes

GENE HACKMAN MAKING AND BREAKING 'THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS'

Gene Hackman in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS Year: 2001 Rating: ****1/2 It's not so ironic that Gene Hackman was extremely (infamously) difficul...

GENE HACKMAN AND AL PACINO TRAPISE THROUGH 'SCARECROW'

<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/AVvXsEii6aqKbSJ0PSdqdt4arXSjssUv6e3x8IOZaRx-kG1GhS4zF-mwGnbEhujs_F-WFYATJDdLvyeSQOLU11NpkmoehAu8lhI_5Z7RawoK6LMh3wN6jcuHUdfGK5KtGAJIztjxBKLxu791ulPMylEjMLp5rzSj6_EG1o_T0kYwP-EBvp5-4cBXx_EQPDu38AmT/s1976/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-27%20at%202.19.39%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1232" data-original-width="1976" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6aqKbSJ0PSdqdt4arXSjssUv6e3x8IOZaRx-kG1GhS4zF-mwGnbEhujs_F-WFYATJDdLvyeSQOLU11NpkmoehAu8lhI_5Z7RawoK6LMh3wN6jcuHUdfGK5KtGAJIztjxBKLxu791ulPMylEjMLp5rzSj6_EG1o_T0kYwP-EBvp5-4cBXx_EQPDu38AmT/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-27%20at%202.19.39%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SCARECROW Stars: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In a roundabout way, independent director Jerry Schatzberg made Al Pacino a star by providing him a zesty role in the low-budget street-addict-drama THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK that inspired Francis Ford Coppola to cast him as Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER... while Gene Hackman had already won an Oscar for THE FRENCH CONNECTION, leading to their combined 1973 offbeat road movie SCARECROW...<br><br>Where Hackman and Pacino seem like if Jack Kerouac had written MIDNIGHT COWBOY as the duo are already ON THE ROAD as polar-opposite tall-and-short vagabonds venturing across rural America (from traipsing feet to freight trains) where, serving as the only actual plot-line, Hackman's Max wants to open a gas station while Pacino's Lion has a child somewhere that he yearns to connect with, or something...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

al pacino, ann wedgeworth, dorothy tristan, eileen brennan, gene hackman, indie, jerry schatzberg, richard lynch, road movie, rutanya alda, seventies

GENE HACKMAN AND AL PACINO TRAPISE THROUGH 'SCARECROW'

Title: SCARECROW Stars: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2 In a roundabout way, independent director Jerry Schatzberg made Al...

AL PACINO AND KITTY WINN WEATHER 'THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEg8hAmoJjOF-7rc_UvaikfjSoaNVvO6w2Wj0cpr80aXtu2aPUYftsJNzzeQBcEUXcO3gv5HSJS-At7dUoLNbqkQprr0UVIMmk_IQkHE_lsl_hV9P7L7iT0A2kVtULYpJ5OP9IAML-kFsu2m35KXVejLUQ1cZp1akwsZeiyG6mxsqAcVlP8EV627E1oMlAIU/s2230/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-24%20at%2011.42.09%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1356" data-original-width="2230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hAmoJjOF-7rc_UvaikfjSoaNVvO6w2Wj0cpr80aXtu2aPUYftsJNzzeQBcEUXcO3gv5HSJS-At7dUoLNbqkQprr0UVIMmk_IQkHE_lsl_hV9P7L7iT0A2kVtULYpJ5OP9IAML-kFsu2m35KXVejLUQ1cZp1akwsZeiyG6mxsqAcVlP8EV627E1oMlAIU/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-24%20at%2011.42.09%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Al Pacino in THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK Year: 1971 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There are four minutes left of independent director Jerry Schatzberg's heroin-addict expose THE PANIC AT NEEDLE PARK when Al Pacino does the kind of screaming tantrum that would become legendary...<br><br>Yet before he was the gruff-voiced screamer, Pacino had a nasally, higher-pitched tone... and his Bobby seems like the cooler, girl-getting brother of Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/06/git-along-little-doggie.html">MIDNIGHT COWBOY</a> (same cinematographer), which would have a similar opposites-pairing vibe in Schatzberg's subsequent indie SCARECROW starring Gene Hackman and Pacino: right after becoming famous thanks to this movie's kickstart that convinced THE GODFATHER auteur Francis Ford Coppola to gamble on the comparably normal-looking, pint-sized, scruffy-haired, method acting no-name... <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><span></span></p>

al pacino, counter-culture, drugs, jerry schatzberg, joe santos, kitty winn, larry marshall, raul julia, rutanya alda, seventies, warren finnerty

AL PACINO AND KITTY WINN WEATHER 'THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK'

Al Pacino in THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK Year: 1971 Rating: **** There are four minutes left of independent director Jerry Schatzberg's her...

DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'LAURA'

<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/AVvXsEimd-Hf86aZKkNUPDYRjFrE9YcsaKCFHfoEmcjk94MGlr4L5d2eNFPD_H-O6g0TFh-yHnxwQqdmgtc8jzW2W4aywHTNBKimwKjuCy6Ig0z8Wp3_IAz-O5QUH7DAaVV4ieiYCwP0oXpmlqGiRmGizGrewO2nhti3iYbN7abBfaD4FdSHpbmL9dNpP2ntJI98/s1846/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-24%20at%2010.06.02%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1364" data-original-width="1846" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimd-Hf86aZKkNUPDYRjFrE9YcsaKCFHfoEmcjk94MGlr4L5d2eNFPD_H-O6g0TFh-yHnxwQqdmgtc8jzW2W4aywHTNBKimwKjuCy6Ig0z8Wp3_IAz-O5QUH7DAaVV4ieiYCwP0oXpmlqGiRmGizGrewO2nhti3iYbN7abBfaD4FdSHpbmL9dNpP2ntJI98/w400-h295/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-24%20at%2010.06.02%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1944 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Dana Andrews as Det. Lt. Mark McPherson has fallen in love with a ghost, kind of, and that's not to be spoiled for anyone who hasn't seen LAURA with its particular dreamlike camera panning from a sleeping McPherson, and we get the murderous yarn, spun all over again in a different fashion and with a twist that could be something else entirely as our hero deals with two creeps connected with the ingenue: especially a cerebral "sugar daddy" in a sophisticated Clifton Webb...<br> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <br> Word is the producer frowned on this important casting because of... well... what's pretty apparent about the futzy fella, and he can't shake that aspect from his character of a character, Waldo Lydecker. But Webb is perfect as LAURA seems to be the only girl who can rid the sophisticated and manipulative Lydecker from his daily uptight uptown lunch, all by himself with a contented life all mapped-out...<br>

classic, clifton webb, cop, crime, dana andrews, film noir, forties, gene tierney, mystery, otto preminger, vincent price

DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'LAURA'

Year: 1944 Rating: ***** Dana Andrews as Det. Lt. Mark McPherson has fallen in love with a ghost, kind of, and that's not to be spoile...

DANA ANDREWS & ALICE FAYE IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'FALLEN ANGEL'

<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/AVvXsEgTWpLk2K0he59eAcyZzeXtL6cO56fog-X9GPxGlJ0xBlK70cuigd4MstArYkOdDhciSLaFjg7XMTPHZATxSXIvqkR_kgULb4xpNyuRVxN58_puPD5IR2dD5GZY-lgbH-EM-BLbVO_5CTNc01pgUgBVQAeTahU4UMWBHxX-GLYhOin4sd8EVsL5rKAyiTrR/s1372/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-06%20at%2011.49.47%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1372" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWpLk2K0he59eAcyZzeXtL6cO56fog-X9GPxGlJ0xBlK70cuigd4MstArYkOdDhciSLaFjg7XMTPHZATxSXIvqkR_kgULb4xpNyuRVxN58_puPD5IR2dD5GZY-lgbH-EM-BLbVO_5CTNc01pgUgBVQAeTahU4UMWBHxX-GLYhOin4sd8EVsL5rKAyiTrR/w400-h310/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-06%20at%2011.49.47%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table>If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Alice Faye, as naive June Mills, who's mentored by an older, wiser, more cautious Ann Revere as Clara: Both had prosperous careers in that decade, the 1940's, and then their 50's resume reads like a clean slate...<br> <br> Sadly, more of a <i>Black</i>list for the NATIONAL VELVET Oscar-Winning Revere (who co-starred with Andrews in the lobster-diver drama DEEP WATERS)... But the 20th Century Fox starlet Faye basically quit acting for a long while... Ironically, till she was old enough to be a teenage girl's mother in the remake of STATE FAIR, the original co-starring Andrews... And her career's demise was all because of Otto Preminger's underrated and mostly obscure/unknown Dana Andrews (with Gene Tierney) Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL in-between classics LAURA and  WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS... <br>

alice faye, ann revere, bruce cabot, dana andrews, film noir, film noir or melodrama, forties, linda darnell, otto preminger

DANA ANDREWS & ALICE FAYE IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'FALLEN ANGEL'

Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2 If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Al...

DANA ANDREWS & GENE TIERNEY IN 'WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS'

<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/AVvXsEgJhPb8JjRRH1wWt-iiX7FYG10-nzeRLO8EErcY5OVLHm6Cx7A09fIsAMDqJaGjP7rFsUpKG6V4hzwku6nWNYwKWUAjyLP5cCaXulAmaqn5QhZwvwexT3oKaoEHFX9v8ft1uGBpVPgDzMLzv_9qg9KkC0f5a9XRzOcLIkzOE3WKZVtI3oaUUeJbyFQoZFy0/s1270/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-02%20at%202.50.48%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1270" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJhPb8JjRRH1wWt-iiX7FYG10-nzeRLO8EErcY5OVLHm6Cx7A09fIsAMDqJaGjP7rFsUpKG6V4hzwku6nWNYwKWUAjyLP5cCaXulAmaqn5QhZwvwexT3oKaoEHFX9v8ft1uGBpVPgDzMLzv_9qg9KkC0f5a9XRzOcLIkzOE3WKZVtI3oaUUeJbyFQoZFy0/w400-h306/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-02%20at%202.50.48%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana and Gene a third time YEAR: 1950</u></td></tr></tbody></table>A sort of Film Noir in reverse as a downright bad and brutal cop does something accidental and pretty awful, covers it up and then, a bit later, gets half-a-heart, which is how Noir leading men usually start: this after he falls for the Falsely Accused Wrong Man's daughter in Gene Tierney's gorgeous, as usual, Morgan Taylor... Even her name is lovely...<br> <br> Dana Andrews, who resembled a hybrid Sean Connery before there was one famous enough to resemble, and Steve Martin had he been a tough and tall leading man type, stole scenes in the post World War Two classic, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/BYOOurLIVES.html">THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES,</a> and, brother of Steve Forrest, has the same square-jaw and no-nonsense style, and is a lot more edgy and desperate than his snoopy cop in the previous, more lavish and high-budgeted crime melodrama, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/Loir.html">LAURA</a>, with the same director and gorgeous co-star...<br>

bert freed, british film noir/melodrama, cop, craig stevens, dana andrews, fifties, gary merrill, gene tierney, karl malden, otto preminger, suspense

DANA ANDREWS & GENE TIERNEY IN 'WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS'

Dana and Gene a third time YEAR: 1950 A sort of Film Noir in reverse as a downright bad and brutal cop does something accidental and pretty ...

BRIAN KELLY & LLOYD BRIDGES 'AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA'

<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/AVvXsEg86oQmLHt8QovRaAY4Bxpc4WYVTtbOqUU8CBm9X_5FhltSOa42cYKkFZM7OqJjwa4W0eidckBS4Kh7vg4dYSZcFfEm-g7slHKkzCw7DAlN4OOh3yJv1BByXKhDrwXWUAH5ByrV4kC-E5nbm6bak8N4toNlk1YJWILIGpedOsSd_F5bRBDI-fp3SZQshRGl/s1704/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1704" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86oQmLHt8QovRaAY4Bxpc4WYVTtbOqUU8CBm9X_5FhltSOa42cYKkFZM7OqJjwa4W0eidckBS4Kh7vg4dYSZcFfEm-g7slHKkzCw7DAlN4OOh3yJv1BByXKhDrwXWUAH5ByrV4kC-E5nbm6bak8N4toNlk1YJWILIGpedOsSd_F5bRBDI-fp3SZQshRGl/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA Year: 1966 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It takes exactly forty-minutes before the entire crew's aboard a relatively small submarine that's to drop sonar sensors to predict earthquakes in AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That being SEA HUNT star Lloyd Bridges, FLIPPER dad Brian Kelly, beautiful scientist Shirley Eaton, old oddball specialist Keenan Wynn, and just like he was on THE MAN FROM UNCLE has David McCallum as a Russian... with the motivation to make a terrific villain since he wants to score hefty salvage, and the fact that affable Marshall Thompson's pseudo-girlfriend Eaton used his be his own...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, brian kelly, david mccallum, gary merrill, keenan wynn, lloyd bridges, marshall thompson, science-fiction, shirley eaton, sixties, underwater

BRIAN KELLY & LLOYD BRIDGES 'AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA'

Title: AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA Year: 1966 Rating: ***1/2 It takes exactly forty-minutes before the entire crew's aboard a relativ...

CHARLES BRONSON AND JILL IRELAND IN 'FROM NOON TILL THREE'

<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/AVvXsEjTCUbsRtPiqvn4ypqvIQejiaECI5WMzysBiKX5yHIZnBYIEQfBREgWmW5sM6rKXCa39y2OfUWLvaz-fvIPMagUGZ1WXR1w3nzLIVWPVqVAA3xmuJEyri4uSgxYn-ZIlybm-k-lgZq0GuEMavjyUw61X69q4I3u8gVYX4ZGh9X47HJWz-hWGEtNN5M68tTa/s1366/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-18%20at%201.45.30%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTCUbsRtPiqvn4ypqvIQejiaECI5WMzysBiKX5yHIZnBYIEQfBREgWmW5sM6rKXCa39y2OfUWLvaz-fvIPMagUGZ1WXR1w3nzLIVWPVqVAA3xmuJEyri4uSgxYn-ZIlybm-k-lgZq0GuEMavjyUw61X69q4I3u8gVYX4ZGh9X47HJWz-hWGEtNN5M68tTa/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-18%20at%201.45.30%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland in From Noon Till Three Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In another 1970's Charles Bronson vehicle that aesthetically looks more like a high-quality backlot-shot TV-movie than theatrical b-movie, Charles Bronson and wife Jill Ireland star in what seems like (and is promoted as) a comedy/western... when it's actually an offbeat fable that's ultimately <i>Meta</i>...<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>Part of a gang of the usual surly outlaws, which turns out being mostly a dream turned nightmare, Bronson eventually... while the boys hit a bank off-screen... holes up at rich sophisticated lady Jill Ireland's middle-of-nowhere-mansion... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

ann ramsey, charles bronson, comedy, dennis fowley, don red barry, frank d. gilroy, jill ireland, seventies, stan haze, western

CHARLES BRONSON AND JILL IRELAND IN 'FROM NOON TILL THREE'

Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland in From Noon Till Three Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2 In another 1970's Charles Bronson vehicle that aesthe...

MARLON BRANDO, ROBERT REDFORD & ROBERT DUVALL 'THE CHASE'

<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/AVvXsEgJ2S1R9c0adhBwlPqAXtfNCbQebk3kXQ2OypuoC2cwhnDJ3T_40lmVyuZDjWn1Ii9tBcVCqZW26NyyuBHPDnxlRBpNiwFoBRubuhCMKQOi4327IdF9ZbX6fArpcm2zfYBMyPwx0DzsiIRBm-DAeP1ClYHAuPxp4tOOCES4csBOchyphenhyphenYcqISo1JkTyxkr014/s1116/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="1116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ2S1R9c0adhBwlPqAXtfNCbQebk3kXQ2OypuoC2cwhnDJ3T_40lmVyuZDjWn1Ii9tBcVCqZW26NyyuBHPDnxlRBpNiwFoBRubuhCMKQOi4327IdF9ZbX6fArpcm2zfYBMyPwx0DzsiIRBm-DAeP1ClYHAuPxp4tOOCES4csBOchyphenhyphenYcqISo1JkTyxkr014/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marlon Brando in THE CHASE Year: 1966 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Whether deliberate or coincidental, director Arthur Penn attempts what Richard Fleischer pulled off a decade earlier for <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/01/VS-take2.html">VIOLENT SATURDAY</a>, combining subtle yet eventually vicious bank robbers within a comparably predictably-conservative small town bustling with the kind of soapy Douglas Sirk-style soap-operatic characters, ironically displaying behavior as flawed as the antagonists... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But it doesn't work here because the Robert Redford character... the town's former bad boy/escaped convict on the run in that titular CHASE that never really happens... isn't shown enough to counter within the gossiping town anticipating his return, where mumbling sheriff Marlon Brando seems to passively watch the fancy rich folk as if he were part of the movie's audience... </p><p><span></span></p>

angie dickinson, arthur penn, drama, e.g. marshall, ensemble, james fox, janice rule, katherine walsh, marlon brando, robert redford, sixties

MARLON BRANDO, ROBERT REDFORD & ROBERT DUVALL 'THE CHASE'

Marlon Brando in THE CHASE Year: 1966 Rating: ** Whether deliberate or coincidental, director Arthur Penn attempts what Richard Fleischer pu...

JAMES ARNESS, JAMES WHITMORE AND EDMUND GWENN IN 'THEM!'

<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/AVvXsEhSn5L2SfKtN5IGuJic2rKKzr7oJtyqEDDeodGxMzSOFBXiBMstCwfKJwq7aKUY0NbF10QsNdmPOULxEjDXsUYB298saCHrSixYx1KjcV56rgGNyviQYlDRuDVMFlMp6tJn3EQ7b2PCDGjTxzyLwYzWvnljnNCLlPU8UDpEUKfWbrjRGr0M9PFg8lXRCH4O/s2058/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-06%20at%206.41.21%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1284" data-original-width="2058" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSn5L2SfKtN5IGuJic2rKKzr7oJtyqEDDeodGxMzSOFBXiBMstCwfKJwq7aKUY0NbF10QsNdmPOULxEjDXsUYB298saCHrSixYx1KjcV56rgGNyviQYlDRuDVMFlMp6tJn3EQ7b2PCDGjTxzyLwYzWvnljnNCLlPU8UDpEUKfWbrjRGr0M9PFg8lXRCH4O/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-06%20at%206.41.21%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THEM! Year: 1954 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director Gordon Douglas's THEM could have had three different lead perspectives: the investigation of FBI agent James Arness, not used to working in the scorching desert; scientist father and daughter in extremely quirky Edmund Gwenn and pretty yet resolute Joan Weldon; and workaday, everyman local desert cop James Whitmore investigating random deaths, including his own partner, wherein the story begins...<br><br>Almost like a film noir (with many stylistic-auteur touches by the underrated Douglas)... then adding layers with the aforementioned characters developed from their occupation: Arness and Whitman acquire a government-agent-to-local-lawmen bond as Edmund Gwenn spouts the kind of scientific expository information that only he and his daughter (with a semi-attraction to Arness) understand, and that the law (and military) eventually have to defeat...</p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, booth colman, creature, edmund gwenn, FBI, fifties, gordon douglas, james arness, james whitmore, joan weldon, leonard nimoy, science-fiction, sean mcclory, thriller, william schallert

JAMES ARNESS, JAMES WHITMORE AND EDMUND GWENN IN 'THEM!'

Title: THEM! Year: 1954 Rating: **** Director Gordon Douglas's THEM could have had three different lead perspectives: the investigation ...

PRODUCER WILLIAM ALLAND PRESENTS 'THE DEADLY MANTIS'

<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/AVvXsEgye4zQbbXK4qSDkqmTIIYM0BqyqH7pE7UbGqGPRRDuz_5z16l9DxEPJqbFcb9eK8qt17VHMG2hRVYmEqmUW-Te4Hm2u1bj-S-CvNzzMoODIwJQOJe3xgUkeERgHc7FuPojruVUFX4JcI9uxyS9nUIPNoxfj7Nq92V_PGHI5D0jUyzznxGiG4-9GOfauwru/s1920/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-04%20at%208.44.58%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgye4zQbbXK4qSDkqmTIIYM0BqyqH7pE7UbGqGPRRDuz_5z16l9DxEPJqbFcb9eK8qt17VHMG2hRVYmEqmUW-Te4Hm2u1bj-S-CvNzzMoODIwJQOJe3xgUkeERgHc7FuPojruVUFX4JcI9uxyS9nUIPNoxfj7Nq92V_PGHI5D0jUyzznxGiG4-9GOfauwru/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-04%20at%208.44.58%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE DEADLY MANTIS Year: 1956 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Various military compounds are attacked by an unseen yet formidable menace — an impenetrable force of some kind, and, in that, only the title reveals the deck — the first half playing out like a mystery rather than a creature-feature, and these are the most effective scenes — TV's PERRY MASON towering gumshoe William Hopper is the only Scientist that may be able to learn the source of what's leftover from a wrecked plane: a piece of whatever had obviously caused it...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"> </div><p> The interior shots are effective in sparse B&W, making terrific use of scientific knowledge spouted from Hopper with confident-until-she's-terrified ingenue Alix Talton at his side — how the mysterious cause of destruction is... through pages of exposition, narrowed down into an insect feels like a rare science class that won't put you to sleep...</p><p><span></span></p>

alix talton, craig stevens, creature, cult, fifties, nathan juran, pat conway, science-fiction, william alland, william hopper

PRODUCER WILLIAM ALLAND PRESENTS 'THE DEADLY MANTIS'

Title: THE DEADLY MANTIS Year: 1956 Rating: **** Various military compounds are attacked by an unseen yet formidable menace — an impenetrab...

STEVE COCHRAN DRIVING ROBERT CUMMINGS IN 'THE CHASE'

<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/AVvXsEhMkoJJYm1_7oDh0HrN3zub7wlMlYSzYAAr7jRVcXfiXpWEdyTraVSab0nD1QFTwbaqzjkTk7YhXqPQl100BlaDOCJJdzFKExwo_q0h2GgTn1FmouwpDgZhAOxGaCR8sDbiuy_of3FtcPBz_85NhC_45BoSfkdvlDbo_4BK7x4XRLGI1h_IKSi7sSwUpp36/s1856/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-04%20at%2010.56.24%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="910" data-original-width="1856" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMkoJJYm1_7oDh0HrN3zub7wlMlYSzYAAr7jRVcXfiXpWEdyTraVSab0nD1QFTwbaqzjkTk7YhXqPQl100BlaDOCJJdzFKExwo_q0h2GgTn1FmouwpDgZhAOxGaCR8sDbiuy_of3FtcPBz_85NhC_45BoSfkdvlDbo_4BK7x4XRLGI1h_IKSi7sSwUpp36/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-04%20at%2010.56.24%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Robert Cummings and Michèle Morgan in THE CHASE Year: 1946 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Since  some 1940's film noirs are very surreal, it's not strange that one-third of THE CHASE is actually a dream by penniless war veteran turned mobster's chauffeur Robert Cummings suffering PTSD... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The irony is how much weirder the real stuff is, and, literally driven by Steve Cochran with an accelerator in his limo's backseat while Cummings steers (after racing alongside) a moving train, both Cochan and henchman Peter Lorre get their kicks by cheating death... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

film noir or melodrama, forties, michèle morgan, peter lorre, robert cummings, steve cochran, wrong man

STEVE COCHRAN DRIVING ROBERT CUMMINGS IN 'THE CHASE'

Robert Cummings and Michèle Morgan in THE CHASE Year: 1946 Rating: *** Since  some 1940's film noirs are very surreal, it's not stra...

JOHN GUILLERMIN'S 'THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN' WITH BEN GAZARRA

<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/AVvXsEhGzNP0XqbXX9lYFs7JEbEOsq4bs8SI9AQuBjBkNNqkLS6N1A6zYDVmDpBXi7S_Jd4URsKbjKMzwLSXQuvhwGGD84mEAMBjtRyC9XmOZVTT6YKUqistWW-9HYrJ6AGEwsUXNmwvAFChM4X4JV7mGX3cvQDaCHDRHu10T7nf1YAs7vwFywV9TpOx_zdpyS_B/s1554/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-30%20at%2011.06.04%20PM%203%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzNP0XqbXX9lYFs7JEbEOsq4bs8SI9AQuBjBkNNqkLS6N1A6zYDVmDpBXi7S_Jd4URsKbjKMzwLSXQuvhwGGD84mEAMBjtRyC9XmOZVTT6YKUqistWW-9HYrJ6AGEwsUXNmwvAFChM4X4JV7mGX3cvQDaCHDRHu10T7nf1YAs7vwFywV9TpOx_zdpyS_B/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-30%20at%2011.06.04%20PM%203%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>George Segal and Ben Gazzara in The Bridge at Remagen Year: 1969 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>George Segal had already played a resilient soldier in a World War II movie, KING RAT, who scrounges off the dead and unlucky to make money from the living...<br><br>Which is Ben Gazarra's scene-stealing maverick role in British director John Guillermin's THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN as secondary-lead to Segal's authority-hating, war-weary lieutenant...</p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

anna gaël, ben gazzara, bo hopkins, bradford dillman, e.g. marshall, george segal, hans christian blech, john guillermin, matt clark, robert logan, sixties, steve sandor, world war II

JOHN GUILLERMIN'S 'THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN' WITH BEN GAZARRA

George Segal and Ben Gazzara in The Bridge at Remagen Year: 1969 Rates: *** George Segal had already played a resilient soldier in a World W...