cult film freak: steve forrest

Written by James M. Tate / 11/09/2022 / No comments / alfred werker , carla balenda , claude rains , dana andrews , fifties , ghost ship , mystery , onslow stevens , philip dorn , race against time , skip homeier , skip homeler , steve forrest , thriller , war , world war II

DANA ANDREWS IN THE WAR NOIR THRILLER OF 'SEALED CARGO'

<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/AVvXsEh1W1rjv86R3ZArQCkZ_JJZFK6rz1YCVD-nFXL2okN6T8ZCXnGWzTYrxB2qH8rIeuVFHRAFc7TX6LohycJbmdWdNTX-I7wB2EUCFatmqUURfZyNIhqzMRT7GjRbcOP-M7SmGlxeakB4OmZQThMGPH2U_2hWpUmnBTkD5mmPb03bd-6UdGQRfndRmNZY_w/s1268/Screen+Shot+2020-06-24+at+7.42.25+PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="1268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1W1rjv86R3ZArQCkZ_JJZFK6rz1YCVD-nFXL2okN6T8ZCXnGWzTYrxB2qH8rIeuVFHRAFc7TX6LohycJbmdWdNTX-I7wB2EUCFatmqUURfZyNIhqzMRT7GjRbcOP-M7SmGlxeakB4OmZQThMGPH2U_2hWpUmnBTkD5mmPb03bd-6UdGQRfndRmNZY_w/s16000/Screen+Shot+2020-06-24+at+7.42.25+PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: SEALED CARGO Stars: Dana Andrews, Claude Rains Year: 1951 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Director Alfred Werker's darkly atmospheric potboiler SEALED CARGO initially plays like a Ghost Ship mystery/thriller as fisherman Dana Andrews (sustaining the harsh determination from WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS) climbs aboard what seems an abandoned larger vessel... Where Claude Rains, as an enigmatic sea captain, is met with the kind of cautionary distrust that owns this wartime espionage, ultimately shaping into a heist/caper: but instead of stealing money it's about blowing up the titular contraband... or else...

alfred werker, carla balenda, claude rains, dana andrews, fifties, ghost ship, mystery, onslow stevens, philip dorn, race against time, skip homeier, skip homeler, steve forrest, thriller, war, world war II

DANA ANDREWS IN THE WAR NOIR THRILLER OF 'SEALED CARGO'

Title: SEALED CARGO Stars: Dana Andrews, Claude Rains Year: 1951 Rating: **** Director Alfred Werker's darkly atmospheric potboiler SEA...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/01/2018 / No comments / biopic , drama , eighties , exploitation , faye dunaway , frank norris , jocelyn brando , mara hobel , steve forrest

DEFINING & DEFENDING THE CULT VALUE OF 'MOMMIE DEAREST'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMOS8MF1HrdL5d68hV5TNkcMfwGmhMadknSYAekaqNLnMVjZBBrUpbMu1fAv98tUio58R8IfrH_N-6mKE59RdW5tkOxnEurJOF3ddHK6K5F44wt40vfMvmecTqr3FlL6d6gIGk1SNsQwL5/s1600/g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="872" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMOS8MF1HrdL5d68hV5TNkcMfwGmhMadknSYAekaqNLnMVjZBBrUpbMu1fAv98tUio58R8IfrH_N-6mKE59RdW5tkOxnEurJOF3ddHK6K5F44wt40vfMvmecTqr3FlL6d6gIGk1SNsQwL5/s400/g.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year of Release: 1981</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Maybe because it wasn't about real life despised icons like Richard Nixon, or Senator Joe McCarthy, that a bio got trashed by critics before audiences turned MOMMIE DEAREST into a quotable punchline of bizarre biopic cinema. And yet, anyone who grew up watching this addictive, child-beating, temperamental show biz nightmare really did enjoy the damn thing... 
 
Dare it be said and agreeing with indie director John Waters on the DVD commentary: This maligned motion picture is solid entertainment as Director Frank Norris takes us back to the 1930's up into the 1970's with a colorful yet grainy, lived-in aesthetic as if we're there to suffer along with an incredibly talented child starlet, Mara Hobel as Young Christina Crawford who, grown up, wrote the bestselling tell-all novel that not only became a famous (if infamous) movie, but was her own final word to a rich mother who left her completely out of the will... Ouch!

biopic, drama, eighties, exploitation, faye dunaway, frank norris, jocelyn brando, mara hobel, steve forrest

DEFINING & DEFENDING THE CULT VALUE OF 'MOMMIE DEAREST'

Year of Release: 1981 Maybe because it wasn't about real life despised icons like Richard Nixon, or Senator Joe McCarthy, that a bio...

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)FALLEN ANGEL 20)THUNDER ISLAND 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER