cult film freak

Written by James M. Tate / 8/24/2019 / No comments / action , caesar danova , connie stevens , cop , crime , cult , exploitation , greg evigan , seventies , william smith

CONNIE STEVENS IN 'SCORCHY' AKA 'NARKOBANDEN SPRENGES'

action, caesar danova, connie stevens, cop, crime, cult, exploitation, greg evigan, seventies, william smith

CONNIE STEVENS IN 'SCORCHY' AKA 'NARKOBANDEN SPRENGES'

Scorchy with Connie Stevens YEAR: 1976 Score: ***1/2 Here we have a woman with layers in Connie Stevens as an undercover cop out to th...

SUSAN FLANNERY IN THE TV-MOVIE 'ANATOMY OF A SEDUCTION'

jameson parker, melodrama, midlife crisis, rita moreno, romance, susan flannery, tv movie

SUSAN FLANNERY IN THE TV-MOVIE 'ANATOMY OF A SEDUCTION'

Susan Flannery in Anatomy of a Seduction YEAR: 1979 Susan Flannery is natural and lovely in a midlife crisis while Jameson Parker, as c...

GLANCE AT MARTIN SCORSESE'S PIVOTAL CLASSIC 'MEAN STREETS'

crime, david proval, harvey keitel, interview, kevin corrigan, martin scorsese, mob, robert deniro, robert romanus, seventies

GLANCE AT MARTIN SCORSESE'S PIVOTAL CLASSIC 'MEAN STREETS'

The tail-end of MEAN STREETS w/ the Warner worm logo YEAR: 1973 Fans of the more bloody and gory, deathly and formidable in-your-face ma...

KAREN BLACK REFELECTS HER ORIGINS & 'EASY' COUNTER-CULTURE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Karen Black on her career beginnings and sporadic cinema in this first of three parts of our transcribed Interview</u></td></tr>
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The lovely and talented KAREN BLACK has played 
both leading ladies and character roles: the bigger parts with lots of 
character and the smaller ones standing out, quite often stealing the 
show...<br>
<br>
And to honor this incredible actress, who died Wednesday, at 74, 
we'll go back to the beginning as Karen discusses how she got into the 
business of acting...<br>

dennis hopper, donald sutherland, henry jaglom, interview, jack nicholson, karen black, karen black interviews, seventies, sixties

KAREN BLACK REFELECTS HER ORIGINS & 'EASY' COUNTER-CULTURE

Karen Black on her career beginnings and sporadic cinema in this first of three parts of our transcribed Interview The lovely and talent...

KAREN BLACK REFLECTS 'KILLER FISH' INCLUDING MOVIE REVIEW

antonio margheriti, creature, exploitation, frank pesce, heist, james francsiscus, jaws-clone, karen black, karen black interviews, lee majors, margaux hemingway, marisa berenson, neo noir, seventies

KAREN BLACK REFLECTS 'KILLER FISH' INCLUDING MOVIE REVIEW

Karen Black reaches a scream queen hand in KILLER FISH Year: 1979 This infamous low-budget Brazilian import isn't so bad: Centering ...

KAREN BLACK REFLECTS 'TRILOGY OF TERROR' AND 'NASHVILLE'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Karen Black with the famous Zuni Fetish Doll in TRILOGY OF TERROR</u></td></tr>
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KAREN BLACK was an amazing actress... Known for 
her work on the big screen in groundbreaking indie films like EASY RIDER
 and especially her Oscar nominated role in FIVE EASY PIECES, she 
followed up with low and big budget movies alike, and television... 
Perhaps her most popular performance, or rather, in the case of the Dan 
Curtis made-for-TV anthology TRILOGY OF TERROR, <u>performances</u> was playing three (or depending how you look at it, four) characters in three chilling vignettes...<br>
<br>
The
 most memorable has Karen battling a killer doll... Although the first 
story really shows her range as an actress, playing a shy college 
professor with hidden layers...<br>

cult, dan curtis, horror, horror anthology, interview, karen black, karen black interviews, music, robert altman, seventies, thriller

KAREN BLACK REFLECTS 'TRILOGY OF TERROR' AND 'NASHVILLE'

Karen Black with the famous Zuni Fetish Doll in TRILOGY OF TERROR KAREN BLACK was an amazing actress... Known for her work on the big s...

KAREN BLACK RELECTS ALFRED HITCHCOCK & THE GREAT GATSBY

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Karen Black on Alfred Hitchcock during the filming of Family Plot</u></td></tr>
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<u>You
 starred in FAMILY PLOT with Bruce Dern... This was the last film to be 
directed by the legendary Alfred Hitchcock... How was it working with 
Hitchcock and what was he like? </u><br>
<br>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
I’m so 
happy that happened to me. In my life it’s a great thing. He was very 
playful, truly, truly playful. He loved games. He loved to sort of…<br>
<br>
There’s a story, he was on an elevator and he started this terrible 
story at the top of this building, you know, and everyone in the 
elevator could hear him as he was talking to a chum. “Oh there was a 
terrible murder. The body was on the floor. There was blood all over.” And
 he was telling the story and he was about to solve the problem of the 
crime very quickly and say who did it when the elevator doors open, and 
everybody had to walk out. And he knew it. He was just doing it to be 
funny.<br>

alfred hitchcock, bruce dern, interview, karen black, karen black interviews, quentin tarantino, seventies, thriller

KAREN BLACK RELECTS ALFRED HITCHCOCK & THE GREAT GATSBY

Karen Black on Alfred Hitchcock during the filming of Family Plot You starred in FAMILY PLOT with Bruce Dern... This was the last film ...

TWO TWO-THOUSAND ERA SCIENCE-THRILLER ACTION REVIEWS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 2006 Rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
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<u>SUPERMAN RETURNS</u>: You've got to give credit to X-MEN director Bryan Singer for, in 2006, trying to make his SUPERMAN RETURNS literally that: returning from the 
1978 original with the same opening credit look and starting it after
 the events of SUPERMAN II with Brandon Routh as,
literally, the Christopher Reeve Superman...<br />
<br />
But if there's any one thing Reeve did best in the title role, it was playing 
Clark Kent in an endearing underdog manner: something Routh just can't pull 
off. Instead of clumsy for the part he seems awkward in the role, and 
while on paper Kevin Spacey's the dream Lex Luther, he seems like he 
doesn't want to be there, and with the same exact world-damning 
land-deal goal as Gene Hackman's Luthor, it makes the arch villain feel 
even more bland, unoriginal, overly familiar and basically a frustrating 
afterthought...<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S3p0VLaBHDA/XU5o0_2QhDI/AAAAAAABFnk/HmDmhimWiEcs8fzqsCIZqN-7Q1kNeD9SgCLcBGAs/s1600/superman-returns-wallpapers_16583_1024x768_0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1005" height="270" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S3p0VLaBHDA/XU5o0_2QhDI/AAAAAAABFnk/HmDmhimWiEcs8fzqsCIZqN-7Q1kNeD9SgCLcBGAs/s400/superman-returns-wallpapers_16583_1024x768_0.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Brandon Routh has CGI strength and nothing more</u></td></tr>
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Meanwhile, an otherwise witty (in Christopher Guest movies) Parker Posey
 is perhaps the weakest moll in film history...<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BqPtyDxlMJc/XU525-50DCI/AAAAAAABFoY/jHl4OAvnxYU9H6Gmy8waVAn3B2ey8N3xQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-08-10%2Bat%2B12.48.41%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1562" data-original-width="616" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BqPtyDxlMJc/XU525-50DCI/AAAAAAABFoY/jHl4OAvnxYU9H6Gmy8waVAn3B2ey8N3xQCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-08-10%2Bat%2B12.48.41%2BAM.png" width="157" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marsden in Returns</u></td></tr>
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But worse yet is Lois 
Lane... Played by a much too young Kate Bosworth, her character lacks Margot Kidder's edge and experienced charm, 
intrepid screen presence and, in having been in her thirties, and while looking 
older than Reeve, Kidder's Lane really did seem like what she played: a solid
reporter who's been in the game and knows more in the arena of reporting 
and taking risks...<br />
<br />
The latter giving Kent-turned-Superman a reason to 
protect her, constantly, as the audience wants her around too: But the biggest shame here is James Marsden's throwaway role as Lois's 
seemingly too-perfect boyfriend, trying too hard to be "dad" to a 
horrible child actor who's really Kent's Superboy. And come to think of 
it, Marsden, under Singer's direction as Cyclops in X-MEN, would have 
made a much better Superman: Being the right age he seemed more in tune 
with the natural fit Reeve had in the part, and he's great looking, has a
 properly muscular build, and to play the clumsy Kent, he's a good 
actor... How could Singer not know what/who was staring him in the face?<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gkNRDR3qoRo/XU5o-GDcUqI/AAAAAAABFno/pIp6UsKfuZYaVw1Kvb9MV5HV8IE22ZSowCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-08-09%2Bat%2B11.41.13%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1384" height="286" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gkNRDR3qoRo/XU5o-GDcUqI/AAAAAAABFno/pIp6UsKfuZYaVw1Kvb9MV5HV8IE22ZSowCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-08-09%2Bat%2B11.41.13%2BPM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 2002 Rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
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<u>MINORITY REPORT</u>: Looking as if filmed with a lens splattered with icky green goo, 
MINORITY REPORT takes us into yet another Philip K. Dick futureworld 
where the government is doing what seems is the best for society 
(preventing murder) but is actually... no good at all...<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jessica Capshaw</u></td></tr>
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The entire set-up is preposterous: Like MACBETH had three foreseeing witches 
igniting the plot, here there's a trio of half-naked bald "precogs" (one the pretty Samantha Morton) in a large tub of liquid within the bowels of a formidable police station, 
projecting images of murders that haven't yet happened...<br />
<br />
And Tom Cruise 
arrests these poor semi-guiltys and is, soon enough, like the Film Noir/Wrong 
Man movies that inspired Steven Spielberg to try replicating (pun 
intended) the Neo Noir magic of BLADE RUNNER, is framed for 
almost-murder and chased down like the criminals he used to... chase 
down: But the over abundance of now dated-looking CGI, and the fact no 
characters have any chemistry with each other or the altered-reality 
world in which they reluctantly and awkwardly exist, makes MINORITY 
REPORT a tedious, tiresome waste of noisy bedlam.

action, brandon routh, cop, dc comics, james marsden, neo noir, sequel, steven spielberg, superhero, thriller, tom cruise, zeroes

TWO TWO-THOUSAND ERA SCIENCE-THRILLER ACTION REVIEWS

Year: 2006 Rating: *1/2 SUPERMAN RETURNS : You've got to give credit to X-MEN director Bryan Singer for, in 2006, trying to make his...

Written by James M. Tate / 8/02/2019 / No comments / andrew stevens , body count , cannon , charles bronson , cop , crime , eighties , exploitation , gene davis , horror , kelly preston , lisa elibacher , serial killer , thriller

CHARLES BRONSON CANNON CONTINUES WITH '10 TO MIDNIGHT'

andrew stevens, body count, cannon, charles bronson, cop, crime, eighties, exploitation, gene davis, horror, kelly preston, lisa elibacher, serial killer, thriller

CHARLES BRONSON CANNON CONTINUES WITH '10 TO MIDNIGHT'

Christine's Kelly Preston also in 10 TO MIDNIGHT circa 1983 Charles Bronson's Cannon Films were a nightmare for Left Wingers, an...

VENETIA STEVENSON ALMOST STARRING IN 'THE CITY OF THE DEAD'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Built-in Spoiler Poster for The City of the Dead YEAR: 1960</u></td></tr>
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Style over substance, THE CITY OF THE DEAD involves a terrific old Massachusetts locale in modern times (with a burned-witch intro) resembling the village from Universal's FRANKENSTEIN: fitting since the Brits' own Monster, Christopher Lee, is a professor who recommends his hottest student in blonde beauty Venetia Stevenson literally study-up on the town's use of witchcraft...<br>
<br>
Given the genre it's no surprise her character Nan Barlow is more ambitious than smart, lacking common sense to return home after a frightened gas station attendant warns her to... return home. From there she picks up a mysterious hitchhiker that, once arriving in town, vanishes before her eyes. But she's got a paper to do, and her forty-minute screen-time is liken to Janet Leigh in that very year's PSYCHO, which opened a week earlier...<br>

actress, christopher lee, cult, england, horror, occult, patricia jessel, sixties, thriller, venetia stevenson

VENETIA STEVENSON ALMOST STARRING IN 'THE CITY OF THE DEAD'

Built-in Spoiler Poster for The City of the Dead YEAR: 1960 Style over substance, THE CITY OF THE DEAD involves a terrific old Massachus...

QUENTIN TARANTINO'S 'ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD'

2019, al pacino, brad pitt, bruce dern, counter-culture, dark comedy, exploitation, hollywood satire, leonardo dicaprio, margot robie, new, quentin tarantino, thriller

QUENTIN TARANTINO'S 'ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD'

Film poster within a film for Leo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton YEAR: 2019 Make a note while watching Quentin Tarantino's entirely diff...

ECLECTIC CULT TRIPLE-FEATURE FEATURES CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON

alex rocco, american international, anita sands, burt topper, christopher robinson, exploitation, fifties, horror, jazz score, seventies, sixties, snake

ECLECTIC CULT TRIPLE-FEATURE FEATURES CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON

Dull nice guy Ron Foster and scene-stealing villain Christopher Robinson YEAR: 1959 THE DIARY OF A HIGH SCHOOL BRIDE : What's set up...

HARVEY KEITEL 'THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD' CYNTHIA BOSTICK

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Harvey Keitel and Cynthia Bostick driving fine YEAR: 1975 </u></td></tr>
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A music group's outright propaganda vehicle, promoting the soulful funk band Earth, Wind & Fire. And with Harvey Keitel as a sane version of record-producing phenom Phil Spector, this should've been a goldmine... or at least silver...<br>
<br>
But THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD spends too much time on an uninteresting romance between Keitel's Coleman Buckmaster and the lead singer of a white milquetoast singing trio, who have as little talent as Earth, Wind & Fire's fictional band The Group has soul and motivation. Sadly, we only see the latter jamming twice: the best during an opening credit sequence liken to, say, a car racing flick with a line of rod rods revving at the starting gate as The Group warms up each instrument with funky delight in the studio. Then when Keitel's given the task to instead record a single for the other outfit, called The Pages, the ingenue alone is the best thing going: But mostly for her looks — think exploitation starlet Angel Tompkins had she joined The Partridge Family morphed with a disco-era Bridget Fonda...  <br>

cynthia bostick, ed nelson, harvey keitel, melodrama, michael dante, music, romance, seventies

HARVEY KEITEL 'THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD' CYNTHIA BOSTICK

Harvey Keitel and Cynthia Bostick driving fine YEAR: 1975 A music group's outright propaganda vehicle, promoting the soulful funk ba...

ROCK HUDSON 'BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY' W/ MARCIA HENDERSON

action, adventure, fifties, hugh o'brien, joseph pevney, marcia henderson, remake, rock hudson, steve cochran

ROCK HUDSON 'BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY' W/ MARCIA HENDERSON

Dog attacks Steve with a whipped Rock at bay YEAR: 1953 BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY, based loosely on two silent films, leans on the stren...

ROBERT REDFORD CHILLS 'DOWNHILL RACER' W/ GENE HACKMAN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Robert Redford looking down on Downhill Racer YEAR: 1969</u></td></tr>
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A movie has to be about <i>something</i> or <i>someone</i>, and reading any synopsis for DOWNHILL RACER, you'd think the main character, played by Robert Redford, was the biggest jerk on the planet. And while he<i> is</i> difficult and stubborn, childish and bitter, aren't all great athletes? At least the ones who have only winning on the brain...<br>
<br>
Which is what RACER is about: not only striving to win but the formidable urge to never lose. And the U.S.A. Men's Ski Coach, Gene Hackman, along with his assistant Dabney Coleman and team captain Jim McMullan, knows right off that Redford's golden-haired upstart isn't a team player. But what seems to matter one minute is forgotten the next since there's hardly a plot in this underrated, avant garde curio, directed by future comedy icon Michael Ritchie, maneuvering the camera like we're on the snow with the athletes, including strategic P.O.V. shots of Redford's rushing and crushing Dave Chappellet...<br>

camilla sparv, carole carle, dabney coleman, drama, gene hackman, jim mcmullan, kathleen crowley, michael ritchie, robert redford, sixties, sport

ROBERT REDFORD CHILLS 'DOWNHILL RACER' W/ GENE HACKMAN

Robert Redford looking down on Downhill Racer YEAR: 1969 A movie has to be about something or someone , and reading any synopsis for DO...

DANA ANDREWS STARS IN 'SMOKE SIGNAL' WITH WILLIAM TALMAN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews with William Talman YEAR: 1955</u></td></tr>
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Dana Andrews was both right and 
wrong for SMOKE SIGNAL, an Western Adventure where the good 
guys must survive against advancing and surrounding Indians while 
battling a formidable water-splashing menace called a Wild River...<br>
<br>
Originally,
 Charlton Heston was intended to play the part of Brett Halliday, a 
Calvary deserter who'd previously sided with some good Indians, which 
these particular antagonists are not...<br>
<br>
Actually, they're the same tribe whose minds have been changed, and it's blood they're after in a 
group of Calvary men led by an extremely determined and stubborn William
 Talman, who does have some reason for bitterness and resentment: 
because of Halliday's help with the Redskins, his brother had been 
killed...<br>

action, adventure, dana andrews, fifties, milburn stone, piper laurie, rex reason, robert wilke, western, william talman

DANA ANDREWS STARS IN 'SMOKE SIGNAL' WITH WILLIAM TALMAN

Dana Andrews with William Talman YEAR: 1955 Dana Andrews was both right and wrong for SMOKE SIGNAL, an Western Adventure where the good...

DANA ANDREWS & JEANNE CRAIN BACK FOR 'DUEL IN THE JUNGLE'

action, adventure, british, dana andrews, david farrar, england, fifties, import, jeanne crain, team-up, wilfrid hyde-white

DANA ANDREWS & JEANNE CRAIN BACK FOR 'DUEL IN THE JUNGLE'

Dana and Jeanne under the rainbow in Duel in the Jungle YEAR: 1954 "Destiny seems to insist on throwing us together," Dana An...

JACK NICHOLSON 'GOIN' SOUTH' W/ DANNY DEVITO 'GOING APE'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lobby Card w/ Jack Nicholson & John Belushi YEAR: 1978</u></td></tr>
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Jack Nicholson channelling Strother Martin while giving his CUCKOO'S NEST fans the eyebrow-raised crazy-fun guy in a Comedy/Western that Jack himself directed about a scruffy outlaw who, to avoid being hanged, marries a classy gal with plenty of heart and even more gold.<br>
<br>
Quirky ingenue Mary Steenburgen begins her career as June Tate, using new husband, Nicholson's Henry Moon, for menial chores...<br>
<br>
Putting him through a sort of honeymoon 
boot camp wherein they eventually, inevitably, predictably fall for each other. "Women love outlaws 
like little boys love stray puppies," he grins mischievously in this decent time-filler (think of Nicholson's 1976 Western misfire THE MISSOURI BREAKS with a slightly tighter aim) that works until the last half-hour, when Henry's foes return to steal the gold...<br>

action, christopher lloyd, jack nicholson, john belushi, mary steenburgen, romantic comedy, western

JACK NICHOLSON 'GOIN' SOUTH' W/ DANNY DEVITO 'GOING APE'

Lobby Card w/ Jack Nicholson & John Belushi YEAR: 1978 Jack Nicholson channelling Strother Martin while giving his CUCKOO'S NEST...

ROBERT DUVALL & JOE DON BAKER STEAL FROM 'THE OUTFIT'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sheree North & Robert Duvall poster art YEAR: 1973 Rates: ***</u></td></tr>
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After serving two years in prison, a paroled bank robber learns his brother was killed (shown in the prologue) by 
the same mob that set him up. So he gets all kinds of revenge with the help of his former partner/sidekick while cranky gun moll Karen Black basically goes against the grain of the boys crashing various hot spots where the money's at (Sheree North would have fit this role better)...<br>
<br>
The two main characters played by Robert 
Duvall and Joe Don Baker seem so protected by the gods, there's little urgency or suspense since nothing and no one can stop 
them... <br>
<br>
Meanwhile, the targeted mobsters include Film Noir icons Timothy Carey and Robert Ryan, and THE OUTFIT has a Neo Noir template combined with a modern day Western's guns, guts and bravado. And about the only challenge is assassin Felice Orlandi, moving through night shadows after the small town boys do all their stealing and shooting in the daylight. Making this a kind of CLYDE AND CLYDE meets THE GETAWAY. <br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Nice and simple VHS for THE OUTFIT with Robert Duvall and Karen Black</u></td></tr>
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gangster, joe don baker, karen black, neo noir, road movie, robert duvall, robert ryan, seventies, sheree north, small town, timothy carey

ROBERT DUVALL & JOE DON BAKER STEAL FROM 'THE OUTFIT'

Sheree North & Robert Duvall poster art YEAR: 1973 Rates: *** After serving two years in prison, a paroled bank robber learns his br...

RONALD REAGAN IN 'KINGS ROW' ALSO STARRING ROBERT CUMMINGS

ann sheridan, drama, forties, melodrama, robert cummings, romance, ronald reagan

RONALD REAGAN IN 'KINGS ROW' ALSO STARRING ROBERT CUMMINGS

Year of Release: 1942 Rating: ***1/2 There's something thoroughly hypnotic and intoxicating about this melodrama centering on a han...

JOHN CANDY GETS HIS OWN FLETCH IN 'WHO'S HARRY CRUMB?'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>VHS/DVD Slip-Cover YEAR: 1989 Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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This underrated comedy, with the title-character going from place to place to figure out who kidnapped a rich man's gorgeous daughter, learning he's inept at filling the shoes at his
 family-owned detective agency while always screwing things up, is an enjoyable time-filler... <br>
<br>
It's John Candy's FLETCH and, while paling to the Chevy Chase classic (yet far superior to FLETCH LIVES), both wear disguises for each undercover scenario, taking the Film 
Noir gumshoe/snoop template into the bright and glossy late-1980s (there's even a mini orange tree on Harry's desk, a subtle nod to CHINATOWN)... <br>
<br>
The funniest moments don't seem intentional like the forced Peter Sellers style physical gags, especially as Crumb flounders for the right words around comparably classy, educated tricksters (like Annie Potts and snobby villain Jeffrey Jones). And despite the overall humor being hit and miss, the eclectic RUTHLESS PEOPLE style characters interact well, especially the unique and flowing chemistry between Candy 
and "ugly duckling" Shawnee Smith as the younger sister of the kidnapped supermodel. And beware of the <i>totally awesome</i> video rental cover (shown above): it's merely a flimsy cardboard slip-cover over the actual DVD/Blu Ray with same artwork sans the retro VHS gimmick.   <br>

annie potts, comedy, eighties, jeffrey jones, john candy, neo noir, shawnee smith

JOHN CANDY GETS HIS OWN FLETCH IN 'WHO'S HARRY CRUMB?'

VHS/DVD Slip-Cover YEAR: 1989 Score: ***1/2 This underrated comedy, with the title-character going from place to place to figure out who...

WHERE 'CRASH DIVE' FITS WITHIN EARLY DANA ANDREWS CINEMA

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews w/ Anne Baxter in CRASH DIVE Year: 1943 Rates: ***</u></td></tr>
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In CRASH DIVE, Tyrone Power is credited with his actual war rank, adding to the WW2 propaganda about a PT-boat enthusiast under the submarine command of Dana Andrews and also featuring Harry Morgan in the second of four pictures together. But it's the romance that matters as a flirtatious courtship between Power and Anne Baxter takes up most of the love-triangle story... <br>
<br>
Enter Dana's SWAMP WATER (and NORTH STAR) ingenue Baxter, who winds up under Tyrone's inevitable and predictable spell. Which comes to very little once their secret is revealed but gives Andrews a little more than a one-dimensional role as the stalwart captain. And the following the next years' LAURA, Andrews would be done losing the girl, but a decade later would return to the third wheel spot in films like ELEPHANT WALK and BRAINSTORM.<br>

action, dana andrews, forties, harry morgan, love triangle, tyrone power, war, world war II

WHERE 'CRASH DIVE' FITS WITHIN EARLY DANA ANDREWS CINEMA

Dana Andrews w/ Anne Baxter in CRASH DIVE Year: 1943 Rates: *** In CRASH DIVE, Tyrone Power is credited with his actual war rank, adding...

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