KUMI MIZUNO IN GODZILLA VS 'INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER'

<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/AVvXsEhQhplmfm1bp5ndAkBucLRyRuDThWzSEZ3wRUsL7SjYVniN_t0d-FzOhrICoBcg73nx5Tqv1gVLj3lmPPbVvOfI0_IB9uraUbAgLJd1LO0h84GcJfcTDLH0mQtXXfNfE1rx1bx_81Gc11LAFZZPs1hIAmWKswT9jwmfKax6JgU2MQt6UWD73ku4Z7roNExe/s2536/Z.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1362" data-original-width="2536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhplmfm1bp5ndAkBucLRyRuDThWzSEZ3wRUsL7SjYVniN_t0d-FzOhrICoBcg73nx5Tqv1gVLj3lmPPbVvOfI0_IB9uraUbAgLJd1LO0h84GcJfcTDLH0mQtXXfNfE1rx1bx_81Gc11LAFZZPs1hIAmWKswT9jwmfKax6JgU2MQt6UWD73ku4Z7roNExe/s16000/Z.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER Year: 1965 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ironic that American actor Nick Adams, who did a horrible job dubbing the dead James Dean's voice in GIANT, is dubbed horribly in INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER, the second Godzilla feature where Godzilla and Rodan are sort of helpful until being turned into their true monstrously-destructive selves when...</p><p></p><p></p><p>Well there's so much going on in what's the first truly science-fiction Godzilla, as in men in space including Adams as Astronaut Glenn (get it?) and franchise regular (albeit in different roles) Akira Takarada as Astronaut Fuji, the investigative heroes in what are the best, most suspenseful scenes during their mission to a hidden Planet X, forcefully-yet-politely invited into a high-tech underground dwelling ruled by mind-bending locals called Xiliens...</p><p><span class="sc-42125d72-1 igbBrx" data-testid="plot-l" role="presentation"><span></span></span></p>

akira takarada, godzilla franchise, keiko sawai, kumi mizuno, monster, nick adams, science-fiction, showa era, sixties

KUMI MIZUNO IN GODZILLA VS 'INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER'

Title: INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER Year: 1965 Rating: ****1/2 Ironic that American actor Nick Adams, who did a horrible job dubbing the de...

YURIKO HOSHI UNCOVERS 'GHIDORAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER'

<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/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenTdOzA4UP5HFwhQUHKJqMd48bLNHF5ndWondtFQYW__pXhTexJNOVF5thTj-o6o40ra8TOz8WDNqUqVNGWkNpJaGW4oZzCgIT2MEctxTp-GIaeveLFR4DBmRDWRwQHeXJrEFxNzFHx6JVunmQLGABduBPgumjmgzDtg1oP1E4Cn7XKfh3Vrc5PyTE9gB/s1854/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-31%20at%209.25.42%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="1854" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenTdOzA4UP5HFwhQUHKJqMd48bLNHF5ndWondtFQYW__pXhTexJNOVF5thTj-o6o40ra8TOz8WDNqUqVNGWkNpJaGW4oZzCgIT2MEctxTp-GIaeveLFR4DBmRDWRwQHeXJrEFxNzFHx6JVunmQLGABduBPgumjmgzDtg1oP1E4Cn7XKfh3Vrc5PyTE9gB/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-31%20at%209.25.42%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster Year: 1964 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's ironic that Japanese bombshell Akiko Wakabayashi would soon be the first Bond Girl in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE since GHIDORAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER has her character, an Asian princess turned into a Venusian/alien spokesperson, being dogged by a bevy of suited spy-goons looking straight out of the Ian Fleming universe...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But the real scene-stealing ingenue is the adorably energetic Girl-Friday reporter Yuriko Hoshi, returned from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/03/yuriko1.html">MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA</a>, which this is a direct sequel in what's overall more of a connected double-feature than merely part of the long line of Showa-era Godzilla films that began in 1954, all with the same visionary director, Ishirô Honda...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, akiko wakabayashi, fantasy, franchise, godzilla, ishirô honda, monster, science-fiction, showa era, sixties, yuriko hoshi

YURIKO HOSHI UNCOVERS 'GHIDORAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER'

Title: Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster Year: 1964 Rating: **** It's ironic that Japanese bombshell Akiko Wakabayashi would soon be th...

YURIKO HOSHI UNCOVERS ISHIRÔ HONDA'S 'MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA'

<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/AVvXsEjb-R666z4F-DbDzfKDa2Wc3XHCKmR4dxdsHKzklI0gSHTA9xO_V0Oc3HdZokUZzlvLKvtM8jNcPZdqro0ZGXWHW-Urweab1B8KJnJRn95dXjIwbcbUy8EBNRjuEwPb0vMsbHmUxk2uXgBhTQYNTiV2Yh-YOsjmxIa78m1-IFlpsjPf95T3gLkJDa-scXlp/s1136/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="1136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-R666z4F-DbDzfKDa2Wc3XHCKmR4dxdsHKzklI0gSHTA9xO_V0Oc3HdZokUZzlvLKvtM8jNcPZdqro0ZGXWHW-Urweab1B8KJnJRn95dXjIwbcbUy8EBNRjuEwPb0vMsbHmUxk2uXgBhTQYNTiV2Yh-YOsjmxIa78m1-IFlpsjPf95T3gLkJDa-scXlp/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA Year: 1964 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Japanese actress Yuriko Hoshi is one of the best Toho starlets, appeared in both GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA and GHIDORAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER as a reporter named Junko, a perfect combination of the lovely leading lady and the spunky leading lady's quirky best friend that steals the show...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Original GODZILLA franchise director Ishirô Honda uses the same KING KONG theme/plot from his standalone MOTHRA about a corporation exploiting the titular beast, but only as a starting-off point: after a giant colorful egg washes up on a Japanese island, it's greedily purchased to headline a billion dollar theme park... but Mothra's two tiny twin-fairies have a dire warning for Japan... return the egg to their island, or else...  <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, akira takarada, fantasy, franchise, godzilla, ishirô honda, japanese, monster, science-fiction, showa era, sixties, yuriko hoshi

YURIKO HOSHI UNCOVERS ISHIRÔ HONDA'S 'MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA'

Title: MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA Year: 1964 Rating: ****1/2 Japanese actress Yuriko Hoshi is one of the best Toho starlets, appeared in both GODZI...

MEGUMI ODAKA IN 'GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH'

<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/AVvXsEjhYTMJeJZjA1LGwOp43vnhZu643HbrQGZdmbly9Mj8WXsvsQvA2LWkmgtfclJp15qSH4ghDrd1vXosAbT1xAhRblN9NFjSIoxm5t-eEt_OG0Tv6YZ_Yf03X5BExnUDxJ61WHOnkoD-BYqV2Re-vTbRI11Vyxu8vh477or5OD1L7HgJfkM7v88jjp2AtCMp/s2028/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-22%20at%2011.52.21%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="2028" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYTMJeJZjA1LGwOp43vnhZu643HbrQGZdmbly9Mj8WXsvsQvA2LWkmgtfclJp15qSH4ghDrd1vXosAbT1xAhRblN9NFjSIoxm5t-eEt_OG0Tv6YZ_Yf03X5BExnUDxJ61WHOnkoD-BYqV2Re-vTbRI11Vyxu8vh477or5OD1L7HgJfkM7v88jjp2AtCMp/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-22%20at%2011.52.21%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH Year: 1992 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The previous installment <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/03/kinggodzilla.html">GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH</a>, the first sequel to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/06/MikaZilla1.html">GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE</a> after GODZILLA 1984 rebooted the franchise, actually has a character as Steven Spielberg's father in a time-travel sequence during the Second World War, witnessing a space-ship landing, which is a vision he'll pass down to his son...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And in the followup's followup GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH, the young  lead is straight out of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, a maverick archeologist reluctantly teamed with his spunky ex-wife and a corporate gopher in what's also a TEMPLE OF DOOM style adventure that results in the discovery of a large colorful egg... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, franchise, godzilla, heisei era, megumi odaka, monster, nineties, science-fiction

MEGUMI ODAKA IN 'GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH'

Title: GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH Year: 1992 Rating: ***1/2 The previous installment GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH , the first s...

BARBARA BOUCHET STARS IN 'THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES'

<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/AVvXsEjeMdmv_RwD2n3cUP_iOVdE8gOP6iBubdzg9Bb91H60CdmI9SRoU7jdIvSiPRlL8UyyNycEP5Xm5HRCkladVa5Zm3dQnxIBP8SJRmolv-tXcl6kPvrBC7QhF4KuDmpaRpOKZXNa4HpaU_E6KOQ35aSJFM8-W8NaQ3aklHQh8C76-yK5ztmCOTvu4FTufno_/s1274/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-27%20at%2010.19.35%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="1274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeMdmv_RwD2n3cUP_iOVdE8gOP6iBubdzg9Bb91H60CdmI9SRoU7jdIvSiPRlL8UyyNycEP5Xm5HRCkladVa5Zm3dQnxIBP8SJRmolv-tXcl6kPvrBC7QhF4KuDmpaRpOKZXNa4HpaU_E6KOQ35aSJFM8-W8NaQ3aklHQh8C76-yK5ztmCOTvu4FTufno_/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-27%20at%2010.19.35%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES Year: 1972 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Italian giallo director Emilio Miraglia created the gothic thriller THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES where the title anticipates the body-count horror aspect of sporadic victims surrounded by insanely gorgeous Barbara Bouchet as troubled rich girl Kitty Wildenbrück...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>She's the affable blonde of a bullying brunette sister only seen in the youthful prologue... traipsing around a castle while their passive father watches the bad daughter insanely shredding the good daughter's cherished doll... </p><span></span>

barbara bouchet, barbara magnolfi, body-count, emilio miraglia, giallo, horror, marina malfatti, marino mas, mirella d'angelo, pia giancaro, seventies, sybil danning

BARBARA BOUCHET STARS IN 'THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES'

Title: THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES Year: 1972 Rating: **** Italian giallo director Emilio Miraglia created the gothic thriller THE RED Q...

SUE LYON KILLING STANLEY KUBRICK FOR 'MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD'

<p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjot_Odp27lljTweiXqTMtjblemU53eYGW3wN0GVVJ2P9ITMvBqg1ClpzDlgatF6M3qrAN5CeyY82F51omFOwh45KtVl4OAFvz9EK7EQpkuveEo749H3m-sBfZRm8M3jvYzqVRMtJAxWCyCSbBsknzxjJcRCdCWgTRDbP7_MWT-uaa5ncCBsIxojuo8GDvy/s1476/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-27%20at%2012.43.56%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjot_Odp27lljTweiXqTMtjblemU53eYGW3wN0GVVJ2P9ITMvBqg1ClpzDlgatF6M3qrAN5CeyY82F51omFOwh45KtVl4OAFvz9EK7EQpkuveEo749H3m-sBfZRm8M3jvYzqVRMtJAxWCyCSbBsknzxjJcRCdCWgTRDbP7_MWT-uaa5ncCBsIxojuo8GDvy/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-27%20at%2012.43.56%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sue Lyon in MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD Year: 1973 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>On the surface, Spanish low-budget director Eloy de la Iglesia's MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD is set in a future where young gangs are directly influenced by Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, and speed around pulling off home invasions almost exactly like that movie, banned in Europe during this time...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></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, handsome doctor Jean Sorel is experimenting on a way to shock criminals into submission to become normal citizens, also like the Kubrick classic, one of his most controversial since LOLITA...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, alfredo alba, charly bravo, christopher mitchum, exploitation, import, jean sorel, ramón pons, seventies, spanish, sue lyon

SUE LYON KILLING STANLEY KUBRICK FOR 'MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD'

Sue Lyon in MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD Year: 1973 Rating: *** On the surface, Spanish low-budget director Eloy de la Iglesia's MURDER IN A ...

STOMPING THROUGH THE JAPANESE SEQUEL 'GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN'

<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/AVvXsEjuYy6StJtFIuHKwqYjrOlny216GHYCU45cUZgyWyl2hT99gBZAwezuipBZVWAFx0E2jHyHfXHOQo_jj0SLMPrPb4_dPqD7YNvafNtyeW3mJ3Md5-v_OADJWAykM9q42iEqEraZUOUqiOybwiNb4BkBc2IuXIvsyS0MNv1zV80EC0WiuvCx6Y6InKg7mW9i/s1490/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-25%20at%209.03.43%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="868" data-original-width="1490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYy6StJtFIuHKwqYjrOlny216GHYCU45cUZgyWyl2hT99gBZAwezuipBZVWAFx0E2jHyHfXHOQo_jj0SLMPrPb4_dPqD7YNvafNtyeW3mJ3Md5-v_OADJWAykM9q42iEqEraZUOUqiOybwiNb4BkBc2IuXIvsyS0MNv1zV80EC0WiuvCx6Y6InKg7mW9i/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-25%20at%209.03.43%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN Year: 1955 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the original Japanese GODZILLA from 1954, it takes almost the entire third act to completely destroy the nuclear-powered monster... which is far too easily brought back in the following years' rushed sequel GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN when two flyers land on an island that, like the original KING KONG sequel SON OF KONG, a new Godzilla simply exists already, battling a more sturdy and stocky dinosaur...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As half of RAIDS AGAIN has the two monsters fighting among the cities and the sea while bringing back wise scientist Takashi Shimura: to merely inform the audience what's already obvious... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

fifties, franchise, godzilla, hiroshi koizumi, ishirô honda, japanese, motoyoshi oda, sequel, setsuko sakayama, showa era, takashi shimura

STOMPING THROUGH THE JAPANESE SEQUEL 'GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN'

Title: GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN Year: 1955 Rating: **1/2 In the original Japanese GODZILLA from 1954, it takes almost the entire third act to co...

DIRECTOR ISHIRÔ HONDA'S 'GOJIRA' AKA THE ORIGINAL 'GODZILLA'

<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/AVvXsEjqZcHuDkODkOWuZIjUz_-PnZvE7cw4eClWT0YdE_uGg8XIi-yvJH52q0iYPhY1AFzD0BU4dCSL3U8SJFY9ZsC_SrzvKaIZfV8h-mcsffrAdodSNKwQzvfsfd7hCmldl79Dm9k3EOLf29TMosaBQaTVMkqR6bgHBljq4tZ04-YzsFo2o_IxGfibqIRDc3dx/s1724/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-25%20at%209.11.39%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="1724" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqZcHuDkODkOWuZIjUz_-PnZvE7cw4eClWT0YdE_uGg8XIi-yvJH52q0iYPhY1AFzD0BU4dCSL3U8SJFY9ZsC_SrzvKaIZfV8h-mcsffrAdodSNKwQzvfsfd7hCmldl79Dm9k3EOLf29TMosaBQaTVMkqR6bgHBljq4tZ04-YzsFo2o_IxGfibqIRDc3dx/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-25%20at%209.11.39%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: GORJIRA/GODZILLA Year: 1954 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ironically, the original grainy black-and-white GODZILLA, that spawned countless colorful sequels and reboots, seems intended as a one-off, being more of a symbolic cautionary-tale presentation about the effects of using nuclear weapons in the past and testing nuclear weapons in the future...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In Japan, a prehistoric dinosaur was hibernating/surviving in a cave for millions of years... until H-bomb testing made the creature indestructible since, if a nuke doesn't kill you, it will only make you stronger...</p>

akihiko hirata, akira takarada, fifties, franchise, godzilla, ishirô honda, japanese, momoko kōchi, monster, showa era, takashi shimura

DIRECTOR ISHIRÔ HONDA'S 'GOJIRA' AKA THE ORIGINAL 'GODZILLA'

Title: GORJIRA/GODZILLA Year: 1954 Rating: ****1/2 Ironically, the original grainy black-and-white GODZILLA, that spawned countless colorful...

MEGUMI ODAKA & ANNA NAKAGAWA 'GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH'

<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/AVvXsEjAUPIwJc7iib8-MX-g4dt8esbVAAXPHJPT7xNVApP5fbwHwdBujH8mlycQ6IOv1EdhzNA-j2P3dHDpCoHatRw1qdhKhCKryJHA1EATnjvvp80WiFiAxRagKjSFnMnacHOfc1dQ2f8c5PhSOuG06BHAjeQidaSNiTsJb8SfSJXatOp1awp8lPsjuX1XNYet/s1130/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-22%20at%2011.54.02%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUPIwJc7iib8-MX-g4dt8esbVAAXPHJPT7xNVApP5fbwHwdBujH8mlycQ6IOv1EdhzNA-j2P3dHDpCoHatRw1qdhKhCKryJHA1EATnjvvp80WiFiAxRagKjSFnMnacHOfc1dQ2f8c5PhSOuG06BHAjeQidaSNiTsJb8SfSJXatOp1awp8lPsjuX1XNYet/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-22%20at%2011.54.02%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title; GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH Year: 1991 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before Toho's comeback <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2023/07/toho-goes-speilbergian-for-godzilla.html">GODZILLA MINUS ONE</a>, which was an all-out tribute to American filmmaker Steven Spielberg's JAWS, the late 1980's/1990's Godzilla franchise was paying him tribute as well...<br><br>In GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH it's an Indiana Jones inspired archeologist, and before that GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH uses time-travel straight from BACK TO THE FUTURE where a group of 23rd Century envoys wind up in modern day Japan, including gorgeous Anna Nakagawa as Emmy... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, anna nakagawa, dinosaur, franchise, godzilla, heisei era, japanese, megumi odaka, nineties, robert scott field, science-fiction, time travel, world war II

MEGUMI ODAKA & ANNA NAKAGAWA 'GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH'

Title; GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH Year: 1991 Rating: **** Before Toho's comeback GODZILLA MINUS ONE , which was an all-out tribute to Am...

MEGUMI ODAKA MINDING MONSTERS IN 'GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE'

<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/AVvXsEj_12sbvTT2Foq9WgbYQNu6vUm6jt7bdN16D7TSi9aOxbs8qbf7BcAAEB2DVGGDnOGDgQJVJTkCuzZSx59_LRI3G8suT2u6a-2ohUFnIlGOa_dmnxWx91dPLn6T78EFssTnZJ7OZuFh7WuHBZVZLIPb0TAcNGBO63KxD1WX7PPlovgqVIXcImtiOeGQ49F0/s1066/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-18%20at%209.41.07%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1066" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_12sbvTT2Foq9WgbYQNu6vUm6jt7bdN16D7TSi9aOxbs8qbf7BcAAEB2DVGGDnOGDgQJVJTkCuzZSx59_LRI3G8suT2u6a-2ohUFnIlGOa_dmnxWx91dPLn6T78EFssTnZJ7OZuFh7WuHBZVZLIPb0TAcNGBO63KxD1WX7PPlovgqVIXcImtiOeGQ49F0/w400-h270/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-18%20at%209.41.07%20PM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR: 1989 RATING: ****1/2 </u></td></tr></tbody></table>Strange that a movie about Godzilla fighting a giant plant with the head of a red rose would be one of the best of the entire franchise, dating back from the groundbreaking original classic, but it's true... GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE is also the first of five co-starring Japanese starlet Megumi Odaka as Miki Saegusa,  bringing to light another miracle...<br> <br> That a young, cute, vulnerable and sympathetic Japanese girl (with upturned leafy ears giving her a unique koala bear pixie look), gifted with ESP, could actually read Godzilla's mind without it being too lame, corny or contrived: She's what Amy Irving is to THE FURY (think CARRIE with powers in check)... and her four other "Heisei Godzilla" films (reviewed here soon) lasted throughout the entire 1990's...<br>

action, adventure, creature, disaster, eighties, franchise, godzilla, heisei era, japanese, kôji takahashi, megumi odaka, science-fiction, yoshiko tanaka

MEGUMI ODAKA MINDING MONSTERS IN 'GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE'

YEAR: 1989 RATING: ****1/2 Strange that a movie about Godzilla fighting a giant plant with the head of a red rose would be one of the best o...

WINGS HAUSER, GARY SWANSON & SEASON HUBLEY IN 'VICE SQUAD'

<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/AVvXsEhIxiFTfldnFY0zAlm3JFxtkey1oMCwIyXFtLu7C6iv6jBNDFkTOm3f5sx4z6THD68CD18ejRfxnJ3LZwQpgVCajffsiPu7a1lv81QaIYSo2l4jGkN1MTlgcWINMFZIvagbRXm46nuXyHkyxwW4zJlACAhN3A2QDNDIHWAjem07JBPvkFom54A0zu22H2iO/s1620/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="1620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxiFTfldnFY0zAlm3JFxtkey1oMCwIyXFtLu7C6iv6jBNDFkTOm3f5sx4z6THD68CD18ejRfxnJ3LZwQpgVCajffsiPu7a1lv81QaIYSo2l4jGkN1MTlgcWINMFZIvagbRXm46nuXyHkyxwW4zJlACAhN3A2QDNDIHWAjem07JBPvkFom54A0zu22H2iO/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Wings Hauser in VICE SQUAD Year: 1982 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director Gary Sherman's VICE SQUAD combines three genres: involving a revenge-driven psychopath <i>body-count/horror</i> as Wings Hauser's killer pimp Ramrod murders hookers leading to the one that ratted him out, alongside an edgy <i>drama/expose</i> on the seedy prostitution nightlife, and what kind of strange customers are put up with...<br><br>The latter involving central character Season Hubley as a hooker with a heart of gold, and most importantly a young daughter, both who... after Hubley's talked into setting up friend Nina Blackwood's killer by character-actor cop Gary Swanson... becomes a vengeance-driven target that he has to protect... <br><span></span></p><p></p><p></p>

action, beverly todd, cheryl smith, cop, eighties, exploitation, fred berry, gary sherman, gary swanson, lynda lei, nina blackwood, pepe serna, season hubley, wings hauser

WINGS HAUSER, GARY SWANSON & SEASON HUBLEY IN 'VICE SQUAD'

Wings Hauser in VICE SQUAD Year: 1982 Rating: **** Director Gary Sherman's VICE SQUAD combines three genres: involving a revenge-driven ...

RICHARD WIMARK IN SAMUEL FULLER'S 'PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET'

<p> <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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3HxjhKFuIalC7jnKzg8FXKR0WHuMKApuPYdmvAiIRlLioW0JnDdnYZ96_xaVTAhWMcopvrlg9IA4VP6yW-f1FMAWghv8qWGuvS4MnRUYxmob20UkuswWJihRMyvO2b7gf8tg5oKJOXhXX3ifcciSUCv6ziHmY1R6FXavDxGXZcR5MFjRK-5ztURK4ZRQ/s1036/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-17%20at%2012.18.35%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1036" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3HxjhKFuIalC7jnKzg8FXKR0WHuMKApuPYdmvAiIRlLioW0JnDdnYZ96_xaVTAhWMcopvrlg9IA4VP6yW-f1FMAWghv8qWGuvS4MnRUYxmob20UkuswWJihRMyvO2b7gf8tg5oKJOXhXX3ifcciSUCv6ziHmY1R6FXavDxGXZcR5MFjRK-5ztURK4ZRQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-17%20at%2012.18.35%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Samuel Fuller's PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is arguably his best movie... if not his most conventional... a film noir that despises "Reds" and uses that word abundantly, which is a real treat given how much the moniker's been protected since the 1960's because of the paranoia-driven "witch hunts" the decade earlier.</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">..<br></span></p><p></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">And yet, Fuller tows the line of patriotism by having his antagonist a lifestyle lowlife/career-criminal pickpocket in New York City — who's a war vet, like Sam himself, and when the cops start "waving the flag," goading him into returning a microfilm that was inside ingenue Jean Peters' pocketbook, he demands they don't force patriotism...</span></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>

cold war, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jean peters, milburn stone, parley baer, richard kiley, richard widmark, samuel fuller, thelma ritter, willis bouchey

RICHARD WIMARK IN SAMUEL FULLER'S 'PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET'

Title: PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2 Samuel Fuller's PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is arguably his best movie... if not his...

GENE BARRY IN SAMUEL FULLER'S NOIRISH WESTERN 'FORTY GUNS'

<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/AVvXsEjT24G5Ge62fRJnBFGWSddENUKeSf6Jl9jkH-0cLIrul1AuBhqfuYp-g3PuktNizZ3aD1xTWEX7a1RaS30lrWBYDaVNk0T0Lqqaj79ulYy1EKVy2hyoBfX1g2IHxJ3SRQ3NkJ85fF5v86MPQtLR-V2AIQeojYe5NnTKbB8xFr-blWg1p1spol0tLZ733mQt/s1914/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-16%20at%203.54.23%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT24G5Ge62fRJnBFGWSddENUKeSf6Jl9jkH-0cLIrul1AuBhqfuYp-g3PuktNizZ3aD1xTWEX7a1RaS30lrWBYDaVNk0T0Lqqaj79ulYy1EKVy2hyoBfX1g2IHxJ3SRQ3NkJ85fF5v86MPQtLR-V2AIQeojYe5NnTKbB8xFr-blWg1p1spol0tLZ733mQt/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-16%20at%203.54.23%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan in FORTY GUNS Year: 1957 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's not that Samuel Fuller was an entirely overrated director, but more modern and outright artistic auteurs, from France to America as well as the myriad of rabid Fuller fans, try way too hard finding controversial symbolism in just about everything he does... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which is downright stretching it for FORTY GUNS, a deliberately sparse and simple 90-minute Western-Noir that somehow feels extremely long: which isn't entirely bad as several of the characters seem created for something more vastly epic and thematically significant... <br></p><span></span>

action, barbara stanwyck, dean jagger, eve brent, gene barry, robert dix, samuel fuller, western

GENE BARRY IN SAMUEL FULLER'S NOIRISH WESTERN 'FORTY GUNS'

Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan in FORTY GUNS Year: 1957 Rating: *** It's not that Samuel Fuller was an entirely overrated director,...

CLINT EASTWOOD IN SERGIO LEONE'S 'FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE'

<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/AVvXsEihUd8QOdfu4Ftod1moKxmTrrg0f2N5E8GO3mQ36UuznKcaojaJLUp3GOIcsNVI5Zfj12kA7R4TMTCRObPfMLS3l8SIYkhdcVAuZveIvY36Xkfuum8ahnkV8uTomwDvsoSaWmGQv46qlfLvLxB5LpHy2OxItuCXpsjsK5AONVYB6IVbgzb8Hv3ShtoXdVGh/s1218/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-14%20at%202.30.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="1218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUd8QOdfu4Ftod1moKxmTrrg0f2N5E8GO3mQ36UuznKcaojaJLUp3GOIcsNVI5Zfj12kA7R4TMTCRObPfMLS3l8SIYkhdcVAuZveIvY36Xkfuum8ahnkV8uTomwDvsoSaWmGQv46qlfLvLxB5LpHy2OxItuCXpsjsK5AONVYB6IVbgzb8Hv3ShtoXdVGh/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-14%20at%202.30.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE Year: 1965 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Sergio Leone's <i>Man With No Name</i> or <i>Dollars Trilogy</i> was mainly interpreted as such from the second movie's sustaining title, A FEW DOLLARS MORE, sounding as if Clint Eastwood's Joe character were returning after FISTFUL OF DOLLARS... but he's named Monco here, a resilient bounty-killer with initially reluctant partner Lee Van Cleef as older, more experienced and slightly superior sharp-shooting Col. Douglas Mortimer... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>The best scenes take place in the small town buildup before the screen-time's stretched twenty-minutes too far in holed-up, sparsely rural locales, where at one point Eastwood watches Cleef mentally-squaring off with the violently villainous gang, as if he too were hearing Ennio Morricone's tension-building score... <br></p><span></span>

clint eastwood, ennio morricone, gian maria volontè, klaus kinski, lee van cleef, sergio leone, sixties, spaghetti western

CLINT EASTWOOD IN SERGIO LEONE'S 'FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE'

Clint Eastwood in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE Year: 1965 Rating: ****1/2 Sergio Leone's Man With No Name or Dollars Trilogy was mainly inte...

GENE HACKMAN IN FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA'S 'THE CONVERSATION'

<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/AVvXsEh6iVlS7sQbigBayBqiGYRnVaDU7BnfUzK9B4mqcoMmXdBTIXIQ4h9hgvK1MM1AH5Hn8zeBdxxVJi0MDnn4zA3o3riJLJPZDu52EwppJkJbcOSSEIzlqa6d0hkJyweg63C8ObVY7F3b6v-tKnUz5CNfKuzUsvKNVrDXTOBs_vecSNcvoZe7kqD64M5Z74To/s1496/0-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="1496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iVlS7sQbigBayBqiGYRnVaDU7BnfUzK9B4mqcoMmXdBTIXIQ4h9hgvK1MM1AH5Hn8zeBdxxVJi0MDnn4zA3o3riJLJPZDu52EwppJkJbcOSSEIzlqa6d0hkJyweg63C8ObVY7F3b6v-tKnUz5CNfKuzUsvKNVrDXTOBs_vecSNcvoZe7kqD64M5Z74To/s16000/0-1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Hackman in THE CONVERSATION Year: 1974 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the time Gene Hackman's <span class="sc-42125d72-1 igbBrx" data-testid="plot-l" role="presentation">surveillance expert Harry Caul attends a convention of lesser experts who consider him an icon, we've already learned about how surreptitious his methods are: turning this comparably fast-moving second-act of Francis Ford Coppola's otherwise slow-burn THE CONVERSATION into more of a climatic peak than what eventually becomes a paranoid Hitchcockian thriller involving the murder of the powerful man who had initially hired him...</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span class="sc-42125d72-1 igbBrx" data-testid="plot-l" role="presentation">In one of Gene Hackman's greatest performances mainly for what he holds back, having already proven what he can explosively unleash in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/03/hackmanconnection.html">THE FRENCH CONNECTION</a> while THE GODFATHER auteur Coppola provides the same kind of subtlety: intentionally hiding more than revealing... <br></span></p><p><span class="sc-42125d72-1 igbBrx" data-testid="plot-l" role="presentation"><span></span></span></p>

allen garfield, cindy williams, francis ford coppola, frederic forrest, gene hackman, harrison ford, john cazale, mark wheeler, michael higgins, neo noir, ramon bieri, robert duvall, seventies, thriller

GENE HACKMAN IN FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA'S 'THE CONVERSATION'

Gene Hackman in THE CONVERSATION Year: 1974 Rating: ****1/2 By the time Gene Hackman's surveillance expert Harry Caul attends a conventi...

GENE HACKMAN WITH ROY SCHEIDER IN 'THE FRENCH CONNECTION'

<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/AVvXsEiKMb7AxHMg6bciaQsv7VhcKHCZSGVY0vxgip4ot8YOtcsvXptxL4WOvt0nuKwWqjgoSokHRbiE4LLoLMO4o4yhzchUOkeoaf0GRq65ckobuXlsVSV2PiXUi8RjvzBVczAyQiIcVs01NR-K2aTJSXItR9C8knL1s9Sgly1_oK2DYWVfxBbD1bpdcf8SgFBK/s1624/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-03%20at%203.23.54%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1624" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKMb7AxHMg6bciaQsv7VhcKHCZSGVY0vxgip4ot8YOtcsvXptxL4WOvt0nuKwWqjgoSokHRbiE4LLoLMO4o4yhzchUOkeoaf0GRq65ckobuXlsVSV2PiXUi8RjvzBVczAyQiIcVs01NR-K2aTJSXItR9C8knL1s9Sgly1_oK2DYWVfxBbD1bpdcf8SgFBK/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-03%20at%203.23.54%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE FRENCH CONNECTION Shown: Gene Hackman, Marcel Bozzuffi Year: 1971 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>After becoming a legendary yet sometimes difficult actor, Gene Hackman would put vulnerable young directors through the ringer, ranging from two of his best known films, HOSSIERS and THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS... and years earlier, the Oscar-winning blockbuster that turned him from a recurring co-star into a bonafide movie star, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, was not much different...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Except that William Friedkin didn't bend to Hackman's initial reluctance to fully<i> </i>embrace the sordid, uncompromising nature of New York City cop Popeye Doyle within the pallid purgatory aesthetic... ironically encroached by classy and sophisticated French drug-smuggler Fernando Rey aka "Frog One" (with deadly henchman Marcel Bozzuffi)... </p><span></span>

alan weeks, arlene farber, bill hickman, cop, drugs, eddie egan, exploitation, fernado rey, frédéric de pasquale, gene hackman, patrick mcdermott, roy scheider, william friedkin

GENE HACKMAN WITH ROY SCHEIDER IN 'THE FRENCH CONNECTION'

Title: THE FRENCH CONNECTION Shown: Gene Hackman, Marcel Bozzuffi Year: 1971 Rating: ****1/2 After becoming a legendary yet sometimes diffic...

GENE HACKMAN RETURNING FOR 'THE FRENCH CONNECTON II'

<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/AVvXsEiTw8c1vhHV36_v2zP7lbef6uscchCk6jZIAxEcbRdBby_jf-Ra-0HJHJexFtqemS41eH_MCIiIN5TEXzCauVuGCQzJnzEUjTwtTSBzl5HxVIsL87x-q40IfFw238q_qaLDmkgBJzdrcCW_JtCnj_9IJJToi0021p_vVm7sFZW42hbFUjBfjFneE8c4LU2F/s1312/1-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTw8c1vhHV36_v2zP7lbef6uscchCk6jZIAxEcbRdBby_jf-Ra-0HJHJexFtqemS41eH_MCIiIN5TEXzCauVuGCQzJnzEUjTwtTSBzl5HxVIsL87x-q40IfFw238q_qaLDmkgBJzdrcCW_JtCnj_9IJJToi0021p_vVm7sFZW42hbFUjBfjFneE8c4LU2F/s16000/1-1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II Year: 1975 Rating: ***</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a kind of guilty pleasure watching a thinned-down Gene Hackman as New York's favorite tough cop Popeye Doyle being force-fed heroin in a Euro-slum, and then kicking it cold turkey whilst squirming, vomiting, and eventually screaming about Mickey Mantle... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>We begin in France and this time remain there. Unlike his New York stomping grounds, Doyle can't get a decent whiskey buzz, this time gets beat up by a black guy, finds it impossible interrogating perps, and is without partner/anchor Roy Scheider, who, that same year, was busy hunting a Great White Shark for Steven Speilberg...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, bernard fresson, cop, drugs, ed lauter, exploitation, fernando rey, gene hackman, john frankenheimer, sequel, seventies

GENE HACKMAN RETURNING FOR 'THE FRENCH CONNECTON II'

Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II Year: 1975 Rating: *** There's a kind of guilty pleasure watching a thinned-down Gene Hackman ...

GENE HACKMAN MINING THROUGH NICOLAS ROAG'S 'EUREKA'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEiCRfM7Ghj5zLUvUYIqIUKoAsAs8vExn4gmt3QfjjJP-LLP-5l9fhSRfcHcHWLIVxtHTIwSMDD2M-W0ogvEwCWZ_uBMs_J2jfGiY1nqxDHLFdeii6cASgCnaDb4mfJEhbzY53CW3JzUfqVrl99cmeulEvNCo98mHJW5pgGE096wd7ZNfqmt0JT6YBfu_E1e/s1036/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-01%20at%2010.15.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="1036" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRfM7Ghj5zLUvUYIqIUKoAsAs8vExn4gmt3QfjjJP-LLP-5l9fhSRfcHcHWLIVxtHTIwSMDD2M-W0ogvEwCWZ_uBMs_J2jfGiY1nqxDHLFdeii6cASgCnaDb4mfJEhbzY53CW3JzUfqVrl99cmeulEvNCo98mHJW5pgGE096wd7ZNfqmt0JT6YBfu_E1e/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-01%20at%2010.15.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Hackman in EUREKA Year: 1983 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Following the game-changing THE FRENCH CONNECTION turning 2nd-lead and/or villain-role character-actor Gene Hackman into a leading man/movie star, he did two independent art-films, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/02/scarecrow.html">Jerry Schatzberg's SCARECROW</a> and Francis Ford Coppola's THE CONVERSATION that, because of their underpar box office (albeit both being critically praised), he swore to only mainstream movies thereafter...<br><br>But after THE FRENCH CONNECTION sequel, a few action thrillers and two SUPERMAN blockbusters, he went back to low-budget basics with the most offbeat auteur of them all, Nicolas Roeg, for a deliberately dismal melodrama EUREKA where the best scenes exist in the relatively short-lived first act: when Gene Hackman as solitary yet formidable minor Jack McCann (when not frequenting a brothel with FIVE EASY PIECES rambling-actress Helena Kallianiotes) has put everything into one lucrative gold strike...</p><p><span></span></p>

ed lauter, eighties, gene hackman, helena kallianiotes, indie, joe pesci, mickey rourke, nicolas roeg, rutger hauer, theresa russell

GENE HACKMAN MINING THROUGH NICOLAS ROAG'S 'EUREKA'

Gene Hackman in EUREKA Year: 1983 Rating: **1/2 Following the game-changing THE FRENCH CONNECTION turning 2nd-lead and/or villain-role chara...

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 SHOTGUNS 'GET SHORTY' STARRING JOHN TRAVOLTA

<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/AVvXsEgyLjkIlQfn9Ga06Tms2N6YJSTfa3qTdqlMJrJ8s3eg6zP9CzvrgIOXxqg7Wblm9CbCxQXTQbJFEcFekY79Z948VUIXpFz7jz-CAM3FHNSUeozu6Wlb25S7gkXqPmOgnY-4NmFQYGCOLSsZJJrIayHKTvaigcAqqAP4uPofZObj7T5fPjA19DPGLc4xhviZ/s1612/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-12%20at%201.32.33%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="1612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLjkIlQfn9Ga06Tms2N6YJSTfa3qTdqlMJrJ8s3eg6zP9CzvrgIOXxqg7Wblm9CbCxQXTQbJFEcFekY79Z948VUIXpFz7jz-CAM3FHNSUeozu6Wlb25S7gkXqPmOgnY-4NmFQYGCOLSsZJJrIayHKTvaigcAqqAP4uPofZObj7T5fPjA19DPGLc4xhviZ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-12%20at%201.32.33%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Hackman co-starring in GET SHORTY Year: 1995 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the late Gene Hackman's least Gene Hackman-style roles is Barry Sonnenfeld's hip/slick adaption of novelist Elmore Leonard's Hollywood satire GET SHORTY, where, on the other hand, John Travolta's central <span data-huuid="18436563072568921884"><span>shylark</span></span> Chili Palmer <i>is</i> very much in Travolta's wheelhouse... since he'd just played another likeable yet dangerous wiseguy in Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet his character here's far more smooth, confident and upfront, using his own resilient quick wits (and sometimes fists) instead of a gun, or armed partner... although this particular lone wolf's surrounded by many characters straight from Leonard's usual arsenal of fast-talkers, including Hackman's passive-aggressive b-movie-directing boob Harry Zimm, who gets beaten to a <i>pulp</i> by the film's first of two sharply-dressed antagonists... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

comedy, danny devito, delroy lindo, dennis farina, elmore leonard, gene hackman, james gandolfini, john travolta, jon gries, martin ferrero, neo noir, nineties, rene russo

GENE HACKMAN SHOTGUNS 'GET SHORTY' STARRING JOHN TRAVOLTA

Gene Hackman co-starring in GET SHORTY Year: 1995 Rating: ****1/2 One of the late Gene Hackman's least Gene Hackman-style roles is Barry...

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...