GLENN FORD IN GEORGE MARSHALL'S WESTERN 'THE SHEEPMAN'

<p></p><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1UPZl1-JMz8/YAGqz-yjQLI/AAAAAAABbhc/oJ0dK6TiKOoDtZg1lQYc1phc-NqYrUSFACLcBGAsYHQ/s889/il_1588xN.1629494799_3apg.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="889" height="315" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1UPZl1-JMz8/YAGqz-yjQLI/AAAAAAABbhc/oJ0dK6TiKOoDtZg1lQYc1phc-NqYrUSFACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h315/il_1588xN.1629494799_3apg.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE SHEEPMAN Year: 1958 Rating: ****</u><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>George Marshall's THE SHEEPMAN could have been a downright satire, deliberately playing upon Western tropes as "stranger in town" Glenn Ford knows there's always the expository-spouting "cracker barrel philosopher" (Edgar Buchanan); the brawling bully everyone fears (Mickey Shaughnessy); and Leslie Neilsen as the powerful yet sophisticated villain, an old acquaintance of Ford's Jason Sweet about to marry oblivious local tomboy Shirley MacClaine.<br /></p><p></p><p>Co-written by William Bowers, THE SHEEPMAN is a lot like his latter <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/03/support1.html">SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF</a> with a resilient, revenge-seeking sharpshooter who, no matter what's thrown at him, from fists to bullets, deals with cowboys fearing sheep messing up their cattle-laden landscape. </p><p>The only real flaw is both THE SHEEPMAN movie <i>and</i> character doesn't always take itself/himself completely serious. Then again, like James Garner in SHERIFF, it's practically an unflappable superhero Western flick, so why worry? That's left to everyone he's conning or, in headstrong-stubborn MacClaine's case, romancing... And yet, even for a picture that toys with so many purposeful clichés, it's never too predictable. <br /></p>

edgar buchanan, forties, glenn ford, leslie nielsen, mickey shaughnessy, shirley maclaine, western, william bowers

GLENN FORD IN GEORGE MARSHALL'S WESTERN 'THE SHEEPMAN'

Title: THE SHEEPMAN Year: 1958 Rating: **** George Marshall's THE SHEEPMAN could have been a downright satire, deliberately playing upon...

FILM NOIR 'THE BIG COMBO' W/ CORNEL WILDE VS RICHARD CONTE

<p></p><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gu-7z2FcRm8/X_ld6LQ_OiI/AAAAAAABbbQ/5jLYxuk75uIo8A-vQ13_YFx7upp1V3WVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s630/lf%2B2.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="630" height="274" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gu-7z2FcRm8/X_ld6LQ_OiI/AAAAAAABbbQ/5jLYxuk75uIo8A-vQ13_YFx7upp1V3WVgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h274/lf%2B2.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE BIG COMBO Year: 1955 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Given a dollar for every time Richard Conte's big time bad guy says he makes more money than good cop Cornel Wilde, well... you'd be richer than Conte's Mr. Brown, a criminal kingpin with an Achilles Heel shown right off the bat: his reluctant and guilt-ridden, suicidal moll, Jean Wallace...</p><p></p><p>Who becomes more of a wishbone between Wilde and Conte, and it's a gritty, sleazy, jazz-soaked time reaching a conclusion that becomes more  unpredictable with another dame in the mix... </p><p>And low-rent showgirl Helen Walker has more of the femme fatale dialog and attitude despite being the cop's girl, "used like a glove when he's cold" and, with Wallace's Susan spitefully in love with Conte, things get chilly in this underrated crime flick that, like most late Noirs, recalls the sparse 1930's gangster style over the sinfully lavish programmers of the 1940's: But the real scene-stealers are Conte's two thugs, dumbbell Earl Holliman and his iron-clad counterpart Lee Van Cleef, part of the best scene<i> </i>when Conte's put-upon number two (formerly number one) in semi-deaf Brian Donlevy doesn't hear the gunshots (along with the audience). Some great tough stuff here... And with one woman's word threatening the gangster's entire operation, tailed by the determined cop, there's some BIG HEAT going on as well. <br></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

cop, cornel wilde, earl holliman, film noir or melodrama, helen walker, jazz score, jean wallace, lee van cleef, richard conte

FILM NOIR 'THE BIG COMBO' W/ CORNEL WILDE VS RICHARD CONTE

Title: THE BIG COMBO Year: 1955 Rating: **** Given a dollar for every time Richard Conte's big time bad guy says he makes more money tha...

RICHARD DIX MURDERS LAWRENCE TIERNEY IN 'THE GHOST SHIP'

<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uT589RN80AU/X_hIYQBt8JI/AAAAAAABbYs/UXJF5wijM44go78IT27LedojVWGpIiYOACLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/0%2B2.31.08%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="1000" height="255" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uT589RN80AU/X_hIYQBt8JI/AAAAAAABbYs/UXJF5wijM44go78IT27LedojVWGpIiYOACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h255/0%2B2.31.08%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE GHOST SHIP Year: 1943 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A darkly atmospheric Val Lewton production using RKO's fog-shrouded KING KONG ship (literally in one shot) now captained by subtly manipulative Richard Dix, who takes new 3rd Officer Russell Wade under his philosophizing wing... right before crew members start dying mysteriously on the cold, mysterious vessel: The most recognizable being wise guy Lawrence Tierney, who Dix posthumously describes as "a sea lawyer full of windy complaints, seasoned with bad comedy.”  </p><p>And when the kid catches on, trying to get the Captain's faithful, borderline brainwashed crew on his side, he hasn't got a prayer, turning THE GHOST SHIP into a kind of reverse CAINE MUTINY and, after the deadly body count leads to a quick trial, things slow down considerably. But it's that gloomy ship's setting backed by Mark Robson's slowburn direction that provides an aura of lurking evil. Added to that a creepy narration by a mute sailor whose foreboding whispers (a sort of Grim Reaper with a guilty conscious) adds to what's really more noir than horror. Which can be said of all Lewton's better work. </p><span></span>

body count, dewey robinson, film noir or melodrama, horror, lawrence tierney, mark robson, richard dix, russell wade, thriller, val lewton

RICHARD DIX MURDERS LAWRENCE TIERNEY IN 'THE GHOST SHIP'

Title: THE GHOST SHIP Year: 1943 Rating: ***1/2 A darkly atmospheric Val Lewton production using RKO's fog-shrouded KING KONG ship (lite...

DIRECTOR MIKE HODGES BEATS MICHAEL CAINE TO A BREEZY 'PULP'

<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23HgF6ud99I/X_bVjhGNAHI/AAAAAAABbT4/2UCGorvKMNYZhBMOiPwGy93yJFi8Q8rUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-12-30%252Bat%252B8.24.42%252BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="400" height="384" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23HgF6ud99I/X_bVjhGNAHI/AAAAAAABbT4/2UCGorvKMNYZhBMOiPwGy93yJFi8Q8rUwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h384/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-12-30%252Bat%252B8.24.42%252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine gets fiction in PULP Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director Mike Hodges and his severe <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/12/getCarter.html">GET CARTER</a> anti-hero Michael Caine found the perfect antidote in PULP, a dark comedy in which a deliberately bad "gangster fiction" novelist becomes part of his own style of flimsy storytelling, narrating along in the Noir Gumshoe fashion... finding its plot/purpose after forty-minutes of anticipation for a has-been actor that Caine's slippery scribbler will ghostwrite an autobiography for... </p><p></p><p>Enter Mickey Rooney as a George Raft/James Cagney type who, for no real reason, annoys Caine immediately. Sure he's obnoxious but doesn't seem bad enough to steer the audience to dislike. Meanwhile, Hodges trades his dreary and dangerous GET CARTER Newcastle, England location for the sunny biblical-like island of Malta... <br></p><p>Replete with a typing pool of shocked ladies transcribing King's sexual prose; Lionel Stander as Rooney's affable mafioso partner; a Lewis Carroll quoting British gent; Noir veteran Lizabeth Scott as a Fascist candidate's sultry wife; stock ingenue Nadia Cassini as the stock ingenue; GODFATHER villain Al Lettieri as an enigmatic patsy and Al Pacino's GODFATHER II bodyguard Amerigo Tot as an idealistic communist (seeming to project the director's political symapthies): all reminding the main character <i>and</i> audience there's a movie going on that he's more stuck inside of than an integral part in. Which seems the entire purpose. You just have to do what Caine's Mickey King aka Guy Strange does — between the talky meantime and the sporadic <i>sudden bursts </i>of jarring, noisy violence, simply <i>let go</i> and <i>go with it.  </i></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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oPUR8uCP9oY/YAQyOOOs9zI/AAAAAAABbiE/4lpQ7bGiy9QRUsyMghxsfyTGCwo8HD9EQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/140044977_1162465477515960_4403292500727350974_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oPUR8uCP9oY/YAQyOOOs9zI/AAAAAAABbiE/4lpQ7bGiy9QRUsyMghxsfyTGCwo8HD9EQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/140044977_1162465477515960_4403292500727350974_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>"Outside I hailed a cab... Stop..." Michael Caine and unnamed hottie in PULP</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p><i></i></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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MW1csYLOA4s/X_w1CEKTSCI/AAAAAAABbgs/dIjRb124XqQrLUG3rUHzOEP7xo8qi2SNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/138126557_1158639257898582_556055636586819859_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MW1csYLOA4s/X_w1CEKTSCI/AAAAAAABbgs/dIjRb124XqQrLUG3rUHzOEP7xo8qi2SNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/138126557_1158639257898582_556055636586819859_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine and Al Lettieri in PULP</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><i><span></span></i></p>

al lettieri, amerigo tot, cult, dark comedy, lionel stander, lizabeth scott, michael caine, mickey rooney, mike hodges, neo noir, seventies, thriller

DIRECTOR MIKE HODGES BEATS MICHAEL CAINE TO A BREEZY 'PULP'

Michael Caine gets fiction in PULP Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2 Director Mike Hodges and his severe GET CARTER anti-hero Michael Caine found th...

MIKE HODGES DIRECTS A KILLER MICHAEL CAINE IN 'GET CARTER'

<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mbKXXlr03u0/X_bWWr69-lI/AAAAAAABbUA/tlx9VrETKiICrwhdHZUOZiVtKB2Nx2j1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-01-05%252Bat%252B8.20.30%252BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="400" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mbKXXlr03u0/X_bWWr69-lI/AAAAAAABbUA/tlx9VrETKiICrwhdHZUOZiVtKB2Nx2j1gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h326/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-01-05%252Bat%252B8.20.30%252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine in GET CARTER Year: 1971 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The plot of Mike Hodges' GET CARTER is simple enough: London-based gangster Michael Caine as Jack Carter returns to the squalor of Newcastle to find out how his brother died, which was supposedly a drunk driving accident that Jack thinks was murder...</p><p>Easy so far, sure, but how he finds out the truth is more complicated than memorizing Shakespeare in Klingon... And in the opening scene he's reading Raymond Chandler<i>,</i> a nod to the kind of Film Noir that GET CARTER embraces by the myriad of last names spouted in a dizzying barrage that needs <i>close</i> paying attention to... </p><p></p><p>But instead of a <i>discovering the truth</i> mystery/thriller it's a nihilistic <i>avenge the truth</i> exploitation that's said to have started the <i>Second</i> <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/british%20new%20wave">British New Wave</a>, providing the usually charming anti-hero Caine his all-time coldest performance. The women involved he either cares nothing about or is about to kill as violently as the men. Meanwhile, the action is filmed with a 1970's zooming-precision between the voyeuristic documentary style buildup set against the grungy "crap house" Newcastle landscape — a soulless purgatory where our proverbial shark swims through a maze of piranha (who can only kill him<i> </i>if he slows down), making the excessive violence not only common, but commonplace. "Remember," Jack's both told <i>and</i> warned before the opening credits. "They're killers... <i>just like you</i>!" </p><p><span></span></p>

action, british neo noir, exploitation, gangster, michael caine, mike hodges, neo noir, seventies, thriller

MIKE HODGES DIRECTS A KILLER MICHAEL CAINE IN 'GET CARTER'

Michael Caine in GET CARTER Year: 1971 Rating: **** The plot of Mike Hodges' GET CARTER is simple enough: London-based gangster Michael ...

MICHAEL CAINE IN THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF 'THE ITALIAN JOB'

<p></p><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5xdExcOGcJg/X_aFodhCmQI/AAAAAAABbSU/bVeCvXx2x5s5tqgJgPAke7ZdChbNIOTzgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1071/71eYsxOOsHL._SL1488_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="1071" height="281" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5xdExcOGcJg/X_aFodhCmQI/AAAAAAABbSU/bVeCvXx2x5s5tqgJgPAke7ZdChbNIOTzgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h281/71eYsxOOsHL._SL1488_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine looking McQueenish Year: 1969 Rating: **</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A stern, turtleneck-clad Michael Caine resembles BULLITT Steve McQueen on THE ITALIAN JOB poster, a misleading heist film as slapstick impairs what could have been a damn cool action vehicle... </p><p></p><p>Which <i>it is</i> during the 11th hour when those famously nifty minis zip through Italy after Caine's gang of British criminals robbed millions in gold... but the chase follows what's a far too easy heist with very few hitches, and the main problem — other than Quincy Jones's horrendously dated hippie-dippy soundtrack — is the overlong setup: a shame since the "collecting of ensemble misfits" is usually involving and fun...<br></p><p>But only Michael Caine — fresh out of prison then breaking back in to talk Noel Coward into funding the heist — seems like he knows what the hell's going on and how the hell to get there, and back: Even the experienced getaway bus driver at the literal cliffhanger ending was the wrong choice, taking mountainous corners like a wacky open road joyride, and... While many viewers loathe the ambiguous ending, it's actually the best (and most suspenseful) scene in the picture since, for the first time, all of the otherwise goofy characters are dead serious, literally for their very lives, which should have happened a lot more times and a whole lot sooner. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, caper, comedy, cult, ensemble, heist, margaret blye, michael caine, noel coward, sixties

MICHAEL CAINE IN THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF 'THE ITALIAN JOB'

Michael Caine looking McQueenish Year: 1969 Rating: ** A stern, turtleneck-clad Michael Caine resembles BULLITT Steve McQueen on THE ITALIAN...

ANTS MARCH ON MELODRMA IN BYRON HASKIN'S 'THE NAKED JUNGLE'

<p></p><p></p><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zy5aaPzttFU/X_Jp_-VPBlI/AAAAAAABbPM/kp5h2tTUh5w4g1W2BKfKzTLca7bB3zcFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1790/1.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1314" data-original-width="1790" height="294" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zy5aaPzttFU/X_Jp_-VPBlI/AAAAAAABbPM/kp5h2tTUh5w4g1W2BKfKzTLca7bB3zcFgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h294/1.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charlton Heston & Eleanor Parker Year: 1954 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>No Killer Ant movie is as strange (or as lacking of ants) as Byron Haskin's THE NAKED JUNGLE, which covers over fifty-minutes of a bizarre melodrama concerning a North American plantation owner in South America, being not so welcoming and unimaginably rude to gorgeous mail-order bride Eleanor Parker... </p><p>But Charlton Heston, over-dramatic in straight-forward drama, is more natural during the 11th hour whilst attempting to thwart hordes of ants marching closer and closer home. </p><p></p><p>Haskin, fresh from WAR OF THE WORLDS, directs with a stage-play finesse as the camera glides along with the conversational "action" between the couple: while Heston fights the urge to lust for a once-married "used" beauty, she resists his manly, open-shirt arrogance. Meanwhile, chief servant Abraham Sofaer is no stranger to playing butler to a rich plantation owner with a young, lonely trophy wife since it happened the same year in ELEPHANT WALK, and both films are extremely similar: only in WALK the elephants are mentioned a few times leading up to their inevitable attack, while here the ants simply invade as if let loose by a disgruntled crew member allergic to Harlequin-style romance. Still though, somehow, THE NAKED JUNGLE flows decently enough since Haskin's beyond capable at moving humans along what's basically a losing game. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

abraham sofaer, action, byron haskin, charlton heston, creature, disaster, eleanor parker, fifties, melodrama, romance, william conrad

ANTS MARCH ON MELODRMA IN BYRON HASKIN'S 'THE NAKED JUNGLE'

Charlton Heston & Eleanor Parker Year: 1954 Rates: *** No Killer Ant movie is as strange (or as lacking of ants) as Byron Haskin's T...

BYRON HASKIN DIRECTS A VENGEFUL EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'WARPATH'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YJHBVv9pWkU/X_K7hTf891I/AAAAAAABbP8/lHzeE78CmFMMN794AIk_mGGjPJnMiRgKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/MV5BODhlMzEyZjUtNjk3Zi00NmI2LWI3ZDgtNjMzMjBjNWNlYzY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzg1ODEwNQ%252540%252540._V1_.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="400" height="241" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YJHBVv9pWkU/X_K7hTf891I/AAAAAAABbP8/lHzeE78CmFMMN794AIk_mGGjPJnMiRgKgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h241/MV5BODhlMzEyZjUtNjk3Zi00NmI2LWI3ZDgtNjMzMjBjNWNlYzY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzg1ODEwNQ%252540%252540._V1_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: WARPATH Year: 1951 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>An epitome of a filler b-Western that still looks pretty grand with all the epic outdoor shots, specifically the Cavalry vs Indians, eventually led by none other than Custer, not a bad sort here, quickly seeing a problem with middle-aged (and pudgy for a leading man) former captain Edmond O'Brien as a private... but there <i>is</i> a reason...<br></p><p></p><p>Enter the Revenge aspect where O'Brien, after killing one of three split-up badmen who killed his "true love" years earlier, has trouble with big bullying Forrest Tucker... </p><p>First saving pretty ingenue Polly Bergen from the drunken sergeant's clutches, and then serving in Tucker's regiment of old-timers like Wallace Ford and Paul Fix. The problem is how soon things are figured out, and O'Brien isn't kept the dark longer longer for that particular vengeful element to blend more smoothly with the gun-blasting Indian fighting, seeming like another picture altogether. But still, director Byron Haskin moves the camera nicely, and he was one of the most "capable" directors around: one reason he never got the due he's worth.  <br></p><p><span></span></p>

byron haskin, dean jagger, edmond o'brien, fifties, forrest tucker, paul fix, wallace ford, western

BYRON HASKIN DIRECTS A VENGEFUL EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'WARPATH'

Title: WARPATH Year: 1951 Rating: ***1/2 An epitome of a filler b-Western that still looks pretty grand with all the epic outdoor shots, spe...

TOASTING NEW YEARS WITH NEW YEARS PARTY FLICK 'GET CRAZY'

<p></p><p></p><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xT0EICA28l8/X--cTxHM-TI/AAAAAAABbKE/61BoRjvNl3MUShEGPUUga3ol50xfmNgRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-12-30%252Bat%252B10.55.21%252BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xT0EICA28l8/X--cTxHM-TI/AAAAAAABbKE/61BoRjvNl3MUShEGPUUga3ol50xfmNgRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-12-30%252Bat%252B10.55.21%252BPM.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: GET CRAZY Year: 1983 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The "Stoned <i>Out</i>" device from EASY RIDER to BREAKFAST CLUB overdoses in Alan Arkush's GET CRAZY where drugs allow the characters to miraculously change their ways...  <br></p><p>Not like there's any doubt things wouldn't have turned out perfectly for Bill Graham-inspired Max Wolfe (Allen Garfield), preparing for his club's New Year's 15-year anniversary concert with acts from blues-man Bill Henderson to campy anthem-rocker Malcolm McDowell's Reggie Wanker, who, living up to his last name and high on groovy juice provided by a magical drug dealer, talks and listens to his own... um... wanker...</p><p>Meanwhile, club managers Daniel Stern and Gail Edwards almost amount to a romance but there's so much ongoing music and old style physical comedy shenanigans exploding in every direction, no real plots can bother with GET CRAZY: Mixing an eclectic ensemble also including McDowell's hot Swedish girlfriend Anna Bjorn, crooked mogul Ed Begley Jr. trying to purchase the club using the owner's selfish nephew while Lou Reed walks the streets thinking up a comeback song, Lee Ving stage dives and Stern's gorgeous little sister Stacey Nelkin's dying to meet a rock star, any rock star that, again... comes to nothing but noise. Which must be deliberate. A shame since the characters have potential to stretch beyond the surrounding good times.<br></p>

allen garfield, bill henderson, comedy, daniel stern, ed begley jr., eighties, ensemble, gail edwards, lee ving, lou reed, malcolm mcdowell, miles chapin, music, slapstick, stacey nelkin

TOASTING NEW YEARS WITH NEW YEARS PARTY FLICK 'GET CRAZY'

Title: GET CRAZY Year: 1983 Rating: ***1/2 The "Stoned Out " device from EASY RIDER to BREAKFAST CLUB overdoses in Alan Arkush...

DANA ANDREWS CRASHES CHRISTMAS FOR 'HOT RODS TO HELL'

<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4nM8eSrU2g/X_LQogaKFlI/AAAAAAABbQ0/QxoMrZBITfMIofWVAV_TLWPncQydruVjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/0.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="400" height="286" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4nM8eSrU2g/X_LQogaKFlI/AAAAAAABbQ0/QxoMrZBITfMIofWVAV_TLWPncQydruVjwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h286/0.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine in GET CARTER Year: 1971 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"The horns blowing, the lights, the brakes," says a jaded Dana Andrews to wife Jeanne Crain. "<i>Jingle bells </i>(on the radio), the whole thing!" </p><p>As HOT RODS TO HELL only <i>begins</i> as a Christmas movie after East Coast traveling-salesman Dana Andrews suffers a major car accident on December 24th, and, after months of traction, winds up with a motel in Arizona... But only IF he and his family can survive the red convertible (titular) menace with only 80 miles left to their new destination...<br></p><p></p><p>The cocky speed demon behind the wheel is Paul Bertoya with jerky sidekick Gene Kirkwood riding shotgun while instigating blonde Mimsy Farmer holds the roll-bar in-between... </p><p>And while her fickle driver/beau seduces Dana's daughter Laurie Mock... first at a rest stop and then at the motel's connected live-band nightclub (a better climax than the overlong midnight "chicken" match later on)... SHE flirts with the middle-age swinger who sold the motel being tired of those bratty delinquents... who are now dead set against the "square" new owners (with a peppy son Jeffrey Byron) in what's mostly a stalking car chase along the daytime desert highway... that actually <i>can</i> <i>be</i> intense until the heated havoc shows up on Jeanne Crain's hilariously overacting expressions. Meanwhile, one-time A-list Andrews spouts vapid dialogue like "What kind of animals are those?" for which he gets no reply, only a whole lotta HELL that's pure heaven for b-movie fans who thought they'd seen everything!<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, cult, dana andrews, drive-in, gene kirkwood, george ives, jeanne crain, laurie mock, mimsy farmer, race, road movie, sixties

DANA ANDREWS CRASHES CHRISTMAS FOR 'HOT RODS TO HELL'

Michael Caine in GET CARTER Year: 1971 Rating: ***1/2 "The horns blowing, the lights, the brakes," says a jaded Dana Andrews to wi...

DANA ANDREWS & JEANNE CRAIN RETURN FOR 'MADISON AVENUE'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9aReRQhIRCE/X9PwfpGC_MI/AAAAAAABajc/RRT3oXXSVzUeSk-dgZcTu9g8ic3EjmNqACLcBGAsYHQ/s1174/81OcNqar1zL._AC_SL1500_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="1174" height="305" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9aReRQhIRCE/X9PwfpGC_MI/AAAAAAABajc/RRT3oXXSVzUeSk-dgZcTu9g8ic3EjmNqACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h305/81OcNqar1zL._AC_SL1500_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews & Jeanne Crain in Madison Avenue Year: 1961</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Based on the novel <i>The Build-Up Boys,</i> Dana Andrews is similar to a resilient, hard-sell con artist twenty-years earlier from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/08/FallenAngel.html">FALLEN ANGEL</a> — only with a place to sleep and worth far more than a crumpled bottom dollar, his suit-and-tie, smooth-talking Clint Lorimer is out of a job after being duped by his big boss — a classy backstabber wary that his top employee's skills could tempt away any and all clients in an advertising firm on MADISON AVENUE... </p><p></p><p>Dana's Clint seeks tunnel-vision vengeance by going over his now rival by thinking outside the box and joining with a nowhere agency — to turn dented bronze into shiny, luminescent gold... </p><p>That's where much of the story plays out, concerning a business relationship between Dana and sophisticated yet vulnerable beauty Eleanor Parker as Anne Tremaine. Their chemistry is smart and interesting while Jeanne Crain, as a smitten reporter who Clint uses, again and again — till she eventually has a personal grudge and score to settle — takes a backseat: Thus the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2017/01/DUEL-In-The-JUNGLE-Madison-Avenue.html">STATE FAIR</a> (and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/06/andrews-crain-two.html">DUEL IN THE JUNGLE</a>) couple aren't as important despite sharing plenty of scenes. Instead, most of Clint's time is spent not only making Parker's Anne go from a plain-Jane to a beautiful woman on the move, but they're both challenged to turn Eddie Albert's eccentric, hands-on milk company owner into a terrific speech maker, and possibly a politician...</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wlCYv6TYCIU/X9Pw2kKKTwI/AAAAAAABajk/HtWj0R_jVusL2dBtAULhseN62H-6b67BACLcBGAsYHQ/s951/19247911_828805787322567_7077877181247472501_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="951" height="321" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wlCYv6TYCIU/X9Pw2kKKTwI/AAAAAAABajk/HtWj0R_jVusL2dBtAULhseN62H-6b67BACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h321/19247911_828805787322567_7077877181247472501_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews in Madison Avenue Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A pivotal scene has Eddie Albert's Harvey Ames reading from Clint's assorted cue cards, and then having to wing the rest of an important, game-changing speech on his own...</p><p>Initially a nervous, oddball underdog, Eddie's character is the most intriguing and likable, which makes it awkward and contrived when the tables turn, and the inevitable conflict of ideals arise in which Dana has to knock the suddenly overconfident Ames off his newfound pedestal...</p><p></p><p>Thankfully we're finally left with more meaningful interplay between Dana and Jeanne, stuck in the ruins of so many twists and turns that aren't explained enough to be completely involving or that make complete sense...</p><p>But it's still an entertaining b-picture, directed by eclectic veteran H. Bruce Humberstone. And the two ingenues aside, Andrews's most endearing co-star is homely secretary Kathleen Freeman, more faithful than anyone else on board. Even during a muddled third act when it's Andrews against former boss Howard St. John (now joined with Crain), she gives both <i>her own</i> boss, and the audience, a smooth, relaxing baseline. </p><p><span></span></p>

bruce humberstone, dana andrews, david white, drama, eddie albert, eleanor parker, howard st. john, jeanne crain, kathleen freeman, romance, sixties, wall street

DANA ANDREWS & JEANNE CRAIN RETURN FOR 'MADISON AVENUE'

Dana Andrews & Jeanne Crain in Madison Avenue Year: 1961 Based on the novel The Build-Up Boys, Dana Andrews is similar to a resilient, ...

OLIVER REED DOES ITALIAN CRIME IN 'REVOLVER' W/ FABIO TESTI

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kehbwn3nBWg/X8To79mwS-I/AAAAAAABaRA/7bx06wGaA1smOFtUs_i6jQA7KjUOOY5qACLcBGAsYHQ/s599/213d893b595fbac41c737dab309c3718.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="599" height="291" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kehbwn3nBWg/X8To79mwS-I/AAAAAAABaRA/7bx06wGaA1smOFtUs_i6jQA7KjUOOY5qACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h291/213d893b595fbac41c737dab309c3718.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Oliver Reed in Revolver Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A promising, clever premise of a government official, played by the genuinely tough Oliver Reed, who surreptitiously allows a prisoner to escape and quickly abducts him as exchange for his kidnapped wife... occurring between steely, intentionally claustrophobic scenes in dingy offices harboring dingier jail sells... almost succeeds...</p><p></p><p>The best moments of this action/crime/thriller hybrid involve polar opposites Reed ("a stray dog without a home") and prisoner Fabio Testi on the run, the latter's rogue territory... </p><p>Testi teaching Reed to steal a car is a standout, and there needed more of this kind of Noir-inspired ambiguity combined with a two movie star teamup instead of the pretty boy musician connected to a powerful politician subplot... Leading to an 11th hour escape by use of hiking a mountain border. But Italian ingenue Paola Pitagora brightens up the joint, and Reed, using the same fake American accent he did in the Beatnik drama THE PARTY'S OVER (sans the goading irony) and THE SYSTEM, doesn't need to overact to show the audience his love for this woman. Any sane man would.  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, crime, escape, fabio testi, italian, oliver reed, seventies, teamup, thriller, wrong man

OLIVER REED DOES ITALIAN CRIME IN 'REVOLVER' W/ FABIO TESTI

Oliver Reed in Revolver Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2 A promising, clever premise of a government official, played by the genuinely tough Oliver...

GLOSSING OVER 'BLOODTIDE' AKA 'DEMON ISLAND' AKA 'BLOOD TIDE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cfpIx9h4KTQ/X_HMSYYxoaI/AAAAAAABbOA/3tmVBLYqJskPYaC9EAUcvlTyDEDQlTeRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1335/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-03%2Bat%2B5.51.50%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="1335" height="268" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cfpIx9h4KTQ/X_HMSYYxoaI/AAAAAAABbOA/3tmVBLYqJskPYaC9EAUcvlTyDEDQlTeRwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h268/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-03%2Bat%2B5.51.50%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mary-Louise Weller & Martin Kove 1982 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Martin Kove and Mary-Louise Weller visit a Greek island to find <i>his</i> missing sister (Deborah Shelton) who turns out alive but "isn't quite there."And the mystery is what happened to her before, during and... basically the entire movie is <i>the after</i>... <br></p><p></p><p>As James Earl Jones eventually helps out: a kind of Robert Shaw hybrid from both JAWS and especially THE DEEP (advising handsome young marrieds that dive while he's interested in hidden treasure)... </p><p>Meanwhile the town locals, led by a grimacing Jose Ferrer, have something to hide as young women begin to vanish/die, in particular Frye’s girlfriend Barbara, played by bubbly-blonde Lydia Cornell, victim of a JAWS-like attack (much <i>too close for comfort</i>) by a mysterious underwater predator. And another girl, this was a pre-teen, could be next. And if this review reads more like a patchwork of ideas, that’s what BLOODTIDE (actually BLOOD TIDE) is... yet it’s not completely awful, Horror fans however will be disappointed as the creature's hardly seen... But according to Mary-Louise Weller: “It wasn't scripted to be about any monsters, but since it was actually blocked currency from numerous countries... Mexico, UK, Greece, USA... they used the movie as a way to move cash around. It was just amazing that it even cut together at all.” And now it's on Blu Ray! Hip Hip...</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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eT1ISCz6mPM/X_LS89PMWqI/AAAAAAABbQ8/ZsJ9EKJsvwwmuSD1_F3xgtImmu4SJgUYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s840/135517446_1153906368371871_9144435897815874566_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="840" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eT1ISCz6mPM/X_LS89PMWqI/AAAAAAABbQ8/ZsJ9EKJsvwwmuSD1_F3xgtImmu4SJgUYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/135517446_1153906368371871_9144435897815874566_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Martin Kove and Mary-Louise Weller in BLOODTIDE</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table>

action, beach, deborah shelton, eighties, exploitation, horror, james earl jones, jaws-clone, jose ferrer, lydia cornell, martin kove, mary-louise weller, thriller

GLOSSING OVER 'BLOODTIDE' AKA 'DEMON ISLAND' AKA 'BLOOD TIDE'

Mary-Louise Weller & Martin Kove 1982 Rates: ***1/2 Martin Kove and Mary-Louise Weller visit a Greek island to find his missing sister ...

DECEMBER 7TH POST OF RICHARD FLEISCHER'S 'TORA! TORA! TORA!'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tMez7bUgzl8/X83zjjYJJII/AAAAAAABacI/S7qLX3zBDIgNzVlZfAfDr8uv8NxuriNyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1031/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-07%2Bat%2B12.06.41%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1031" data-original-width="885" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tMez7bUgzl8/X83zjjYJJII/AAAAAAABacI/S7qLX3zBDIgNzVlZfAfDr8uv8NxuriNyQCLcBGAsYHQ/w344-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-07%2Bat%2B12.06.41%2BAM.jpeg" width="344"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Tora! Tora! Tora! Year: 1970 Rating: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>American director/producer Richard Fleischer mans only half of TORA! TORA! TORA! centering before and during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, leaving the rest to the equal perspective of Japanese military leaders by Japanese filmmakers Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda, a device you wouldn't get about the German Leaders' side of World War II... </p><p></p><p>But what really works is perhaps what made the movie fail at the box office: No big stars to outshine the subject matter, rapid-fire subtitles, a non-dramatic, documentary realism and the true <i>main characters</i> are E.G. Marshall and Wesley Addy playing two Washington D.C. insiders using an early "fax machine" that provides enigmatic yet foreboding information, inserting a little espionage into the war genre... <br></p><p>While on the other side of the Pacific, Sô Yamamura plays Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto with far more empathy and prowess than Navy flakes Jason Robards and Martin Balsam as Generals Short and Kimmel: One demanding/commanding an extremely unwise location for all "parked" aircraft, the other ready for a cozy round of golf (exactly 79-years from today) on the fateful early morning of December 7th, 1941...</p><p>Taking up the action-packed third act with explosive widescreen glory mixed with cold and calculating reality like actually being there, though mostly as an<i> </i>impartial observer since there aren't any cliché movie-soldiers (like some naïve freckle-faced kid with a "girl back home" or the cynical cigar-chomping maverick he'd look up to): Unlike most other films on this subject, TORA! TORA! TORA! is about historical accuracy, not fictional history... <i>take that </i>Michael Bay!</p><p><span></span></p>

e.g. marshall, espionage, history, japanese, jason robards, martin balsam, richard fleischer, seventies, war, wesley addy, world war II

DECEMBER 7TH POST OF RICHARD FLEISCHER'S 'TORA! TORA! TORA!'

Title: Tora! Tora! Tora! Year: 1970 Rating: **** American director/producer Richard Fleischer mans only half of TORA! TORA! TORA! centering ...

DONALD SUTHERLAND & JULIE CHRISTIE IN 'DON'T LOOK NOW'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XdOhZvdP0uw/X7spaC73fEI/AAAAAAABaBQ/YveBbmTlgBwe1uUl4LRurmON3pckIn4bACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/6.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1235" data-original-width="1280" height="386" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XdOhZvdP0uw/X7spaC73fEI/AAAAAAABaBQ/YveBbmTlgBwe1uUl4LRurmON3pckIn4bACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h386/6.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Julie Christie in Don't Look Now 1973 Rates: ***12</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Never let your young daughter play outside, around water, and if she plays with dolls, why a windup military man with a gas mask? That aside, caution is the pulse to Nicolas Roeg's strange thriller DON'T LOOK NOW taking place in Venice where marrieds Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie deal with their daughter's prologue-drowning a few years prior... </p><p></p><p></p><p>And while Christie is always great, the mainline is Sutherland's John Baxter, restoring the antique ruins of a Catholic church and, while most likely an Atheist, he cares more about the significance of Catholic art than priest Massimo Serato...</p><p>The best scenes involve Sutherland's dark, brooding journey into the ancient city of channels surrounding by gorgeous, dilapidated buildings; and inside, the famous overlong sex scene seems like director Roeg finishing an unrealized student film, far less important than what we're <i>really</i> after... <br></p><p>Julie Christie's haunted Laura is more in touch with her deceased child because of a creepy yet gentle, blue-eyed Hilary Mason, a blind seer led around by a talky sister. But Sutherland's as aloof to that concept as the priest is to the restoration. Meanwhile, the second half gets into a Neo Noir investigation with baby-faced detective Renato Scarpa. And the scariest sequence happens at the end, and you'll know where THE BROOD children came from after witnessing the most nightmarish of nightmarish female demon dwarfs in an eclectic, arthouse horror that, while all over the place textually, <i>does </i>have a destination... just as long as you know who to follow. And what's following them. </p><p><span></span></p>

cult, donald sutherland, exploitation, hilary mason, horror, julie christie, massimo serato, mystery, nicolas roeg, renato scarpa, seventies

DONALD SUTHERLAND & JULIE CHRISTIE IN 'DON'T LOOK NOW'

Julie Christie in Don't Look Now 1973 Rates: ***12 Never let your young daughter play outside, around water, and if she plays with dolls...

JOANNA GOING AND REBECCA STAAB IN A NEWER 'DARK SHADOWS'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-533nR3L_ReY/X7YNymhbeHI/AAAAAAABZ54/MDRCdBoMKNwbf6N9PAQT7W4KTpww8WKuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1719/00.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1719" height="358" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-533nR3L_ReY/X7YNymhbeHI/AAAAAAABZ54/MDRCdBoMKNwbf6N9PAQT7W4KTpww8WKuwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h358/00.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Joanna Going in Dark Shadows Year: 1991 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Dan Curtis turned his daytime soap DARK SHADOWS into a nighttime soap/miniseries that holds up pretty well with a younger Barnabas Collins in Ben Cross, seeming more like a lovelorn college professor than vampire, but he does bare his fangs enough times into the likes of Rebecca Staab for a Body Count element that ups (and progresses) the terror and suspense, mostly taking place in an old seaside manor where Collins rises/returns to an eccentric family that only knew him through a looming portrait from many, many years ago...</p><p></p><p>And it's no wonder the poor fella falls so quickly in love with the newly arrived (yet very familiar) babysitter of troubled boy Joseph Gordon-Levitt — and Joanna Going is the most beautiful actress to ever hit the small screen, ever, and is what makes this DARK SHADOWS intriguing and worthwhile. </p><p>Also like the original, we go back in time to Collins' own turf, the 1700's where snaky/flaky uncle Roy Thinnes can act sinister with the other family members, all somewhat benign before the Salem Inspired/Religious Zealot transition. But the show hits a big wall with the otherwise talented Lysette Anthony as an all-knowing/all-seeing phantom/wraith so powerful, vicious and vile, Collins loses his bite, and purpose (a young girl ghost is also a cop-out). Although by the end of the one and only season, Going and Cross's romance keeps the viewer intrigued... as we shall be, for eternity. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

ben cross, dan curtis, franchise, horror, joanna going, joseph gordon-levitt, nineties, roy thinnes, TV, vampire

JOANNA GOING AND REBECCA STAAB IN A NEWER 'DARK SHADOWS'

Joanna Going in Dark Shadows Year: 1991 Rating: ***1/2 Dan Curtis turned his daytime soap DARK SHADOWS into a nighttime soap/miniseries that...

ANTON DIFFRING WITH ERIKA REMBERG IN 'CIRCUS OF HORRORS'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i5L8fOmRhzY/X7CKo65YoeI/AAAAAAABZrA/n-u2RyiHD7Ic6SD7fT8DLY4Y0eG61OXRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s922/zzz.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="922" height="294" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i5L8fOmRhzY/X7CKo65YoeI/AAAAAAABZrA/n-u2RyiHD7Ic6SD7fT8DLY4Y0eG61OXRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h294/zzz.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>title: Circus of Horrors Year: 1960 rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Anton Diffring's England-exiled German plastic surgeon character Dr. Schuler is <i>really</i> into <i>madly</i> reconstructing once-beautiful women's injured/deformed faces, and winds up running a circus after he and two followers happen upon German drunk Donald Pleasence, who trades his small rural circus for his war-scarred daughter to be Patient X of the big tent spectacle a decade later...</p><p></p><p>When the now successful circus owner/secret doctor Schuler meets his match in Erika Remberg as a lethal, facially-deformed whore... later yearning to be the show's rope-dangling main attraction instead of voluptuous blonde <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/jungle.html">Vanda Hudson</a>, stunt-riding on horseback before spinning against flying knives... </p><p>Ironically, CIRCUS OF HORRORS is more a body count thriller than horror: the deaths "mysteriously" occur to the doctor's post-surgery beauties who are <i>just about</i> to move on from the "Jinxed Circus", so there's plenty of suspense hindered only by the grownup little girl, now in her beautiful twenties and romanced by an intrusive cop, sniffing around the mad yet never hammy or overboard lead antagonist's schemes far too soon, making even gorgeous British starlet <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/yvonne%20romain">Yvonne Romain's</a> vulnerable and dangerous third act feel both rushed and overlong. <br></p><span></span>

anton diffring, body count, british, circus, donald pleasence, erika remberg, exploitation, horror, sixties, thriller, yvonne romain

ANTON DIFFRING WITH ERIKA REMBERG IN 'CIRCUS OF HORRORS'

title: Circus of Horrors Year: 1960 rating: **** Anton Diffring's England-exiled German plastic surgeon character Dr. Schuler is really ...

SIAN BARBARA ALLEN IN THE TV-HORROR 'SCREAM, PRETTY PEGGY'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W-CR0zDM-E4/X7nmsh155uI/AAAAAAABZ9k/AUbebLyqPuQat9PmyeWfipypGytQ_a_fgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1145/0.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="1145" height="288" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W-CR0zDM-E4/X7nmsh155uI/AAAAAAABZ9k/AUbebLyqPuQat9PmyeWfipypGytQ_a_fgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h288/0.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sian Barbara Allen & Ted Bessell Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Sian Barbara Allen is one of those artsy-looking actresses that could only derive from the 1970's: A round-faced Jessica Harper type that a guy would hopelessly crush on <i>after</i> being her friend a little while, and is so down-to-earth she doesn't quite realize how PRETTY she is, even when that aspect pivots the title SCREAM, PRETTY PEGGY... yet all she really does is <i>whine</i> the name, "Jeffrey..."</p><p></p><p>Who's a sculptor living in a dark Los Angeles mansion with mom Bette Davis, a mellower BABY JANE here... but since horror leans on youth, Sian Barbara Allen is both the ingenue <i>and</i> antagonist...</p><p>Extremely antagonistic and pushy to her new boss (for which she was hired to do some light housekeeping) played by benign THAT GIRL actor Ted Bessell, who, it turns out, harbors a crazy sister in the guest house and... the end of PRETTY PEGGY is both predictable and blasphemous to another movie about a man-child with mommy-issues. And yet the dark and contained setting serves up a nicely balanced combination of old school haunted house and modern exploitation body count, which only includes two victims but it's genuinely terrifying how "the sister" looks, knife-poised in semi-darkness, and it's no surprise this kinda show scared television audiences when we all had relatively small screens. A wider view uncovers all the dated flaws, but there's still a nice little short-story vibe extended to the usual 90-minutes, and is only on YouTube where these last-known-photo photos come from. But what the hell... it adds to the creepiness of the story, and the monkey-cuteness of the ingenue. </p><p><span></span></p>

bette davis, exploitation, haunted house, horror, seventies, sian barbara allen, ted bessell, tovah feldshuh, tv movie

SIAN BARBARA ALLEN IN THE TV-HORROR 'SCREAM, PRETTY PEGGY'

Sian Barbara Allen & Ted Bessell Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2 Sian Barbara Allen is one of those artsy-looking actresses that could only der...

JOHN CARPENTER'S UNDERRATED GHOST STORY OF 'THE FOG'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gRQuKdQhprM/X9U04KmAl6I/AAAAAAABaoA/ilWHrSiiGQMw9zh1AIbxRVUeIeXoRQBIACLcBGAsYHQ/s540/44877151_592334171195763_9043340000082526208_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="463" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gRQuKdQhprM/X9U04KmAl6I/AAAAAAABaoA/ilWHrSiiGQMw9zh1AIbxRVUeIeXoRQBIACLcBGAsYHQ/w343-h400/44877151_592334171195763_9043340000082526208_n.jpeg" width="343"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Fog autographed DVD Year: 1980</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Depending how you look at it, John Carpenter's THE FOG is a zombie flick since the titular weather-pattern wraiths move in a slow, nightmarish pace. And within that mobile-moving, misty shroud are what you'd get from a good old fashion ghost story, which this is John Carpenter's homage version of...</p><p>Literally starting with old timer John Houseman spinning a campfire legend to kids while setting the plot in motion about their small seaport town, founded on a deception that a ship of lepers was accidentally destroyed by nature — with enough gold to get the town's proverbial ball rolling...</p><p>And now in the 100-year Centennial Celebration, the wraiths, brandishing giant hooks, blades and resembling demonic fisherman with obscured hoods and lighted eyes, are after exactly six people — their own unlucky number now unlucky for the surprisingly low body-count in what's also Carpenter's mellow "drinking movie" of sorts...</p><p></p><p>Starring Adrianne Barbeau, the director's then-wife, as a sultry-voiced deejay of mellow jazz, and otherwise providing a sort of strategic Roman Chorus for the fog's momentum, alerting both the characters where it's headed and the audience where the characters should go because of it... while Carpenter's HALLOWEEN ingenue Jamie Lee Curtis falls (way too quickly and unrealistically) head-over-heels for an older-man, and one of the director's regulars, tough guy actor Tom Atkins; both he and Curtis investigate his best friend's disappearance on a fishing boat leading to a cool "ghost ship" scenario... the duo provides an added bonus to alleviate Barbeau from having to work too hard...</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w7hzZgHJHFg/X9U4kJ-6Q-I/AAAAAAABaoo/Y2WdU5dvZxUSHAQozLv9v_VioCbauR6_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s934/44544442_590180974744416_988086316258295808_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="934" height="301" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w7hzZgHJHFg/X9U4kJ-6Q-I/AAAAAAABaoo/Y2WdU5dvZxUSHAQozLv9v_VioCbauR6_wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h301/44544442_590180974744416_988086316258295808_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jamie Lee Curtis in THE FOG Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Different than HALLOWEEN and similar to THE THING and PRINCE OF DARKNESS, this is more of an ensemble, and, just as he would later on, Carpenter juggles his characters nicely... <br></p><p>And unlike most main female characters of this genre, the voluptuous brunette Barbeau is definitely no cliché uptight novice: well into her thirties, she has a curious young son who, while they are separated, gives Atkins and Curtis someone to protect along with an actual urgency and purpose leading to a narrowed-down third act. But it's the town's basement-dwelling priest, played with sublime ambiguity by Hal Holbrook, who steals the show while telling half of it...</p><p>Meanwhile, added to the mix is Jamie Lee's mom, legendary PSYCHO starlet Janet Leigh who, alongside another HALLOWEEN ingenue and Carpenter regular Nancy Loomis, provide a second duo to follow towards a particular location — where everyone winds up except the lighthouse-trapped Barbeau... And the split-second surprise-ending is one of the greatest ever in this solid, vastly underrated, personal favorite Carpenter vehicle that, compared to his more celebrated films surrounding, seemed to roll under the pop culture horror movie radar: A cult film's cult film, if you will.  </p><p><span></span></p>

adrienne barbeau, eighties, george buck flower, ghost ship, horror, james canning, jamie lee curtis, janet leigh, john carpenter, john houseman, nancy loomis, thriller, tom atkins

JOHN CARPENTER'S UNDERRATED GHOST STORY OF 'THE FOG'

The Fog autographed DVD Year: 1980 Depending how you look at it, John Carpenter's THE FOG is a zombie flick since the titular weather-pa...

JOHN AGAR AND JUNE KENNEY IN 'ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--WFFbDxQluk/X6jMQhRcnkI/AAAAAAABZmM/dztU79a75v4HgSZS9QswpVQVf65sAP_mwCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-18%2Bat%2B12.48.20%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="750" height="246" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--WFFbDxQluk/X6jMQhRcnkI/AAAAAAABZmM/dztU79a75v4HgSZS9QswpVQVf65sAP_mwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h246/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-18%2Bat%2B12.48.20%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Attack of the Puppet People Year: 1958 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A better-suited title for ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE would be A CASE OF DOLLS, and <i>literally</i> as dollmaker John Hoyt places real people, from strangers to former employees to, as tiny hero John Agar goes, an employee's fiance, into sealed packages, and all with one thing in common...</p><p></p><p>Their last mistake was entering the dollmaker's backroom where a sci-fi genre laser-cannon awaits... </p><p>And although director Bert I. Gordon — aptly nicknamed Mr. Big since his forte was either extra large/small protagonists in a normal sized world — is known as being campy and silly, he can tell a pretty decent story, and this is one of his best, save for that vapid title since they're NOT Puppets (although there's one creepy Dr. Jekyll puppet) and never attack anyone, being totally harmless as the best sequence has the passive ensemble realizing they're all stuck together in a world that consists of a huge dial-up telephone and a phonograph... They have a nightly recess so their mostly polite captor isn't all that bad, just really lonely, and his rudimentary kinship with secretary June Kenney is pathetically endearing... It's just too bad we couldn't hang out with these dolls... ranging from a vain beauty to a young girl singer to a soldier to a cool teenager (TOUCH OF EVIL hophead/beatnik Ken Miller)... for longer: Their interaction is so relaxing, it's a shame they decide to escape so soon, which is understandable, and also quite suspenseful but... Mr. Big knew how to make the most of his character's downtime, no matter what size.</p><p><span></span></p>

bert i. gordon, cult, exploitation, fifties, horror, john agar, john hoyt, june kenney, ken miller, science-fiction

JOHN AGAR AND JUNE KENNEY IN 'ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE'

Attack of the Puppet People Year: 1958 Rates: **** A better-suited title for ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE would be A CASE OF DOLLS, and liter...

MAURY DEXTER WESTERN 'THE PURPLE HILLS' WITH KENT TAYLOR

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0MlBgnNweR8/X8n7LaNpPHI/AAAAAAABaa0/cLl2qiVngOMAynQN5s_ghYZptQidXElAwCLcBGAsYHQ/s863/23%2B2.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="863" height="353" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0MlBgnNweR8/X8n7LaNpPHI/AAAAAAABaa0/cLl2qiVngOMAynQN5s_ghYZptQidXElAwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h353/23%2B2.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Purple Hills Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Another Maury Dexter Western following WALK TALL that Kent Taylor played a character that tries conniving and convincing a beautiful woman to go against the good guy, who doesn't seem all that good: in this case bounty hunter Gene Nelson, collecting on a bounty he has to fight for... </p><p></p><p>The twist is that classy lowlife Taylor also wants credit for the hefty sum but without being blamed by the bounty's younger, vengeful brother played by stuntman Jerry Summers, supposedly raised by beautiful Joanna Barnes, much too young as he's far too old for the role...</p><p>But Russ Bender as the aged sheriff is perfectly cast by Dexter, per usual, as most of the picture has four people after a dead body whilst fearing the inevitable collision of angry Apaches...</p><p>Winding up the finale on a dilapidated bridge where the "good guys" hole up against approaching Indians (fighting each other as well), and it's as good a shoot-em-up as anything John Ford could do. Plus these b-Western programmers (especially Maury Dexter's) get right to the point, yet there's still tons of pulpy dialogue, especially by Taylor, a genuine scoundrel while Gene Nelson stands around looking strong, blond, determined and, as they say... The Devil gets all the great lines. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, gene nelson, jerry summers, joanna barnes, kent taylor, maury dexter, russ bender, western

MAURY DEXTER WESTERN 'THE PURPLE HILLS' WITH KENT TAYLOR

The Purple Hills Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2 Another Maury Dexter Western following WALK TALL that Kent Taylor played a character that tries c...

MACKENZIE PHILLIPS DRIVES 'RAFFERTY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3ULlz9ZoP6g/X6U2Vq3JrSI/AAAAAAABZfE/cnLhPVCSVlsd3MdXP4Y7o1ww5H4ifYIqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1609/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-05%2Bat%2B11.57.30%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1042" data-original-width="1609" height="259" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3ULlz9ZoP6g/X6U2Vq3JrSI/AAAAAAABZfE/cnLhPVCSVlsd3MdXP4Y7o1ww5H4ifYIqQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h259/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-05%2Bat%2B11.57.30%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Martin Smith & Mack Phillips Year: 1975 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Combine the personalities of Sally Kellerman and Mackenzie Phillips... one a mellow dreamer, the other a gun-toting schemer... and you have Kellerman's entire character from the previous years' road movie, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/04/james-caan-and-peter-boyle-in-noir.html">SLITHER</a>, making this affable performance seem like she's merely along for the ride, leaving all the scene-stealing edginess to her better half Phillips...<br></p><p></p><p>And basically making Alan Arkin's Rafferty, a boozing ex-Marine/DMV instructor kidnapped by the pair, along for the ride's ride as RAFFTERY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS goes from scene to scene/town to town gathering mossy strangers along the way...</p><p>From victimized gas station attendants to Las Vegas con man Alex Rocco to Arizona barfly Harry Dean Stanton to young soldier Charles Martin Smith (sharing a terrific motel scene with <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/07/american-graffiti-theatrical-experience.html">AMERICAN GRAFFITI</a> alumni Phillips), they all merely serve witness to the eclectic trio who find predictable camaraderie along the breezy trip; although Arkin lacks initial reluctance: Seconds after Phillips sticks a gun to his head (and even fires it off <i>over his head</i>), elevator music lazily orchestrates a freeway wide-shot like a TV-production, which this often resembles a grungy, freewheeling version of... actually a good thing since RAFFERTY has nothing to lose or gain to either educate or annoy an audience, which refers to both the character and the movie — one worth watching over and over for that reason alone: Lethargy on wheels can be infectious.  </p><p><span></span></p>

alan arkin, alex rocco, comedy, drama, exploitation, harry dean stanton, mackenzie phillips, road movie, sally kellerman, seventies

MACKENZIE PHILLIPS DRIVES 'RAFFERTY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS'

Charles Martin Smith & Mack Phillips Year: 1975 Rates: ***1/2 Combine the personalities of Sally Kellerman and Mackenzie Phillips... one...

STEVE MCQUEEN'S FINAL LIFETIME BOUNTY FOR 'THE HUNTER'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t818RZyHi8Y/X6OdFJaoeqI/AAAAAAABZZY/OlELjM34nx4N3z8nyZRvOaTbSkM5u_0GwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1797/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-04%2Bat%2B9.46.36%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="1797" height="279" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t818RZyHi8Y/X6OdFJaoeqI/AAAAAAABZZY/OlELjM34nx4N3z8nyZRvOaTbSkM5u_0GwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h279/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-04%2Bat%2B9.46.36%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Debbie Miller & Steve McQueen Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Steve McQueen began his career as a bounty hunter on television's WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE and ended as one on the big screen, twice: TOM HORN was also a <i>rebounder</i> tale, and actually resembled a theatrical motion picture while THE HUNTER looks and plays-out like a made-for-TV movie... </p><p></p><p>But a pretty good one as McQueen's real life Ralph 'Papa' Thorson seeks various bond-skippers, each more difficult and troublesome than the next: In one case the violent powerhouse nephew of McQueen's GETAWAY foe Ben Johnson; and later a literally explosive tractor vs Trans Am cornfield chase... </p><p>Leaving the best for last... That<i> finally </i>suits the big screen involving a desperate, hostage-taking young "shooter" on a subway train, obviously influenced by THE FRENCH CONNECTION as opposed to McQueen's classic BULLITT<span data-offset-key="e5ebh-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span> that THE HUNTER deliberately contradicts, particularly since real life car-fanatic McQueen plays a terrible driver, which is effectively humorous compared to more contrived setups: like Papa's crowded house of poker buddies, a crooked cop friend, and a much too perfect pregnant girlfriend (Kathryn Harrold), sporadically stalked by a vengeful speed-freak adding furious camp value and yet, overall, THE HUNTER delivered for McQueen's fans what they (and even he) didn't realize was a swan song. Plus it's the first and last time he'd utter the cliché line, "I'm too old for this" in a vehicle that's both the end of phase one and the beginning of a comfortably aging phase two — that sadly never came to pass. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, ben johnson, cop, crime, eighties, eli wallach, kathryn harrold, steve mcqueen, tribute

STEVE MCQUEEN'S FINAL LIFETIME BOUNTY FOR 'THE HUNTER'

Debbie Miller & Steve McQueen Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2 Steve McQueen began his career as a bounty hunter on television's WANTED: DEA...

STEVE MCQUEEN LITERALLY STEALS SAM PECKINPAH'S 'THE GETAWAY'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mN7s9qgnrFI/X7Mksy079aI/AAAAAAABZuE/ejha6VZX4oc4Pj-zznYt5JMpNzmE_RF9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-16%2Bat%2B5.16.27%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1405" data-original-width="2048" height="275" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mN7s9qgnrFI/X7Mksy079aI/AAAAAAABZuE/ejha6VZX4oc4Pj-zznYt5JMpNzmE_RF9QCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h275/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-16%2Bat%2B5.16.27%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ali McGraw & Steve McQueen Year: 1972 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The machine-pounding prologue/montage of Sam Peckinpah's THE GETAWAY embodies caged hopelessness of prison life better than most <i>entire</i>ly-<i>set-in</i>-<i>prison</i> prison flicks... plus it's the only sequence centered solely on Steve McQueen as career criminal Doc McCoy sans the uninspired acting of ingenue/partner Ali MacGraw...</p><p></p><p>During a pivotal meeting — what <i>seems</i> like her being tempted by Texas millionaire Ben Johnson after having sex to get Doc paroled and then tortured with envy — she has a vacant expression as opposed to McQueen's sharpened countenance... </p><p>Meanwhile, GODFATHER <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2015/06/dirtier-rats1.html">villain Al Letteri </a>(initially partnered with a doomed and vain Bo Hopkins) would have <i>perfectly</i> contrasted against McQueen, only <i>Al too</i> gets burdened by an annoying actress role as a screeching Sally Struthers plays Letteri's traveling gun moll — all the characters on a post bank-heist GETAWAY (including the posse of crooked Texas businessman) in a road movie that, despite the flaws, is loaded with classic Peckinpah slow-motion gunfights, fistfights, slap-fights, car chases, cars exploding and a gritty aesthetic best described as classic 1950's Film Noir B&W soaked into 1970's brick-red, cash-green, burnt-brown, pallid-blue, dusk-yellow, faded-gray exploitation... Yeah, that'll do.   <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, al bright, al lettieri, ali macgraw, ben johnson, bo hopkins, crime, exploitation, heist, modern western, road movie, sally struthers, sam peckinpah, steve mcqueen

STEVE MCQUEEN LITERALLY STEALS SAM PECKINPAH'S 'THE GETAWAY'

Ali McGraw & Steve McQueen Year: 1972 Rating: **** The machine-pounding prologue/montage of Sam Peckinpah's THE GETAWAY embodies cag...

PETER YATES GIVES MORE THAN CHASE IN THE CLASSIC 'BULLITT'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PAkpqQbztHM/X6CBvNDC70I/AAAAAAABZUw/JybVD25_ehgurf82GbiEFprZh8jX0wzsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/0.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2048" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PAkpqQbztHM/X6CBvNDC70I/AAAAAAABZUw/JybVD25_ehgurf82GbiEFprZh8jX0wzsQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h260/0.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve McQueen as BULLITT Year: 1968 Rating: ****1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The iconic car chase is the only thing that seems to matter in BULLITT, and not just for the media since director Peter Yates's prior chase in his British heist thriller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/AR.html">ROBBERY</a> was so admired by Steve McQueen, Yates got <i>this</i> gig... But there's more than just action in ROBBERY, and the cop/crime classic BULLITT is more about words than wheels...<br></p><p></p><p>In particular, McQueen's Frank Bullitt taking a blind chance to prove climbing politician Robert Vaughn wrong, and without even realizing what's <i>not exactly right</i> in the first place... </p><p>Hiding a dead witness that Frank and partner Don Gordon were hired to protect, the best scene has McQueen and Vaughn facing off in a quasi-polite <i>conversation</i> ("<i>who else</i> knew where he was?") leading to several less sterile c<i>onfrontations</i> (with police chief Simon Oakland as a wishbone). And what occurs <i>before and after </i>that hilly San Francisco road romp epitomizes the Police Procedural sub-genre: putting the viewer into the slow-paced, ultra-realistic, concentrated and methodical shoes of Lt. Frank Bullitt and, after proving what needed proving there's only one big action scene left, giving BULLITT two climaxes for the price of one edgy, daring and timeless (though sporadically dated) motion picture that should be celebrated beyond a speedy green Mustang. Although that's pretty damn cool too. Icing on a cake... with layers.  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, classic, cop,