cult film freak

Written by James M. Tate / 10/15/2018 / No comments / angie dickinson , claude akins , clu gulager , crime , don siegel , ernest hemingway , john cassavetes , lee marvin , norman fell , race car , ronald reagan , sixties , thriller

DON SIEGEL VERSION OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S 'THE KILLERS'

angie dickinson, claude akins, clu gulager, crime, don siegel, ernest hemingway, john cassavetes, lee marvin, norman fell, race car, ronald reagan, sixties, thriller

DON SIEGEL VERSION OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S 'THE KILLERS'

Dutch angle assassins Clu Gulager & Lee Marvin YEAR: 1964 Ernest Hemingway's short story THE KILLERS is indeed quite short. Most...

JACQUES TOURNEUR 'WAY OF A GAUCHO' WITH RORY CALHOUN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Rory Calhoun rarely looks behind Year: 1952 Rates: ***</u></td></tr>
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Jacques Tourneur makes very stylish Westerns, from CANYON PASSAGE before to WICHITA after, and WAY OF A GAUCHO is about the "original cowboys," the titular Spanish Argentine bandits who "Go with God" and are as patriotic as they come, and go: Making the famous "last refuge of a scoundrel" quote more pro than con, at least for one in particular who rides in the glory of the Old Days...<br>
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That we never really learn about so we can only follow the intrepid horse-clopping footsteps of Rory Calhoun's "condor eyed" Martin Penalosa as the best scenes have our anti-hero breaking the law, sent under Richard Boone's harsh military command and eventually finding his own way. This is where things slowly collapse upon an overly grandiose soundtrack and a maze of plotlines marring what should've been a more simple, honest Western that Tourneur's good at...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Tierney in Way of a Gaucho RATES: ***</u></td></tr>
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Painted with broad strokes, the surrounding countrysides feel like another world entirely, so there's a Fantasy element underneath the deep brown saddles and painted red scarves, as if Penalosa's more a lean Barbarian than maverick horseman, and with Tourneur, a Gothic undertone lurks as well...<br>
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But our man needed more of a goal, an urgency, than to ride along (with forced ingenue Gene Tierney when guitar-strumming Everette Sloane would've made a terrific sidekick) full of stubborn, woeful pride. Which doesn't mean the battle scenes with horses flowing along the sweeping camera isn't extremely worthwhile. Above and beyond everything else, this GAUCHO <i>looks</i> fantastic. <br>
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everette sloane, fifties, gene tierney, jacques tourneur, richard boone, rory calhoun, western

JACQUES TOURNEUR 'WAY OF A GAUCHO' WITH RORY CALHOUN

Rory Calhoun rarely looks behind Year: 1952 Rates: *** Jacques Tourneur makes very stylish Westerns, from CANYON PASSAGE before to WICHI...

ROBYN HILTON AS LINDA LOVEMAN IN 'THE LAST PORNO FLICK'

comedy, exploitation, michael pataki, mike kellin, robyn hilton, satire, seventies

ROBYN HILTON AS LINDA LOVEMAN IN 'THE LAST PORNO FLICK'

Tom Signorelli presents Robyn Hilton on set YEAR: 1974 Robyn Hilton, best known as the ditzy redhead girlfriend of Mel Brooks' Gover...

FINALE OF 'BETTER CALL SAUL' IS STILL MILES FROM GOODMAN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn on Better Call Saul: Winning</u></td></tr>
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Turns out BETTER CALL SAUL, at least concerning Season Four, isn't 
following its predecessor's footsteps. Instead, SEINFELD seems to be the
 muse. For this has been a season about nothing... which still can be pretty entertaining and addictive... But not much ground was covered... <br>
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Having gone 
back to rewatch BREAKING BAD, the slimy, lip-puckered, pudgy, balding, crooked-as-hell (and awesomely hilarious) Saul Goodman <i>still </i>has almost nothing to do 
with this show's endearing Jimmy McGill fella who, with the perfect 
girl's perfect girl, Kim Wexler, faithfully by his side, would never, 
ever amount to Walter White's sociopath lawyer: a guy who easily contacts master criminals ranging from a meth kingpin to paid assassins. Sure, he's dishonest and getting proverbially worse. But the BAD Saul is so crooked, his world leans conveniently in his own direction so that, in another reality, he's standing completely upright.  <br>

bob odenkirk, cable, crime, jonathan banks, neo noir, rhea seeborn, rhea seehorn, series

FINALE OF 'BETTER CALL SAUL' IS STILL MILES FROM GOODMAN

Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn on Better Call Saul: Winning Turns out BETTER CALL SAUL, at least concerning Season Four, isn't follo...

SCOTT WILSON 'THE GYPSY MOTHS' REVIEW & EXTERNAL TRIBUTE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>RIP Scott Wilson Gypsy Moths Year of Release: 1969 </u></td></tr>
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John Frankenheimer's THE GYPSY MOTHS has some incredible aerial shots, and it's a shame they had to, right off the bat, provide studio inserts of two of the actors: one who should have been famous from IN COLD BLOOD and the other soon to make his breakthrough in THE FRENCH CONNECTION...<br>
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When Scott Wilson and Gene Hackman, as the gold and white suited jumpers, are shown in an obviously contrived setting with a counterfeit sky-blue backdrop, supposedly far up and descending with their own colored parachutes open, it's impossible <i>not</i> to tell we're watching a motion picture... But Frankenheimer, in what's his personal favorite film, and, despite a dated made-for-television style main theme, gives us the impression, otherwise, that these guys are the genuine article: not only by the myriad of actual footage, but in a more harmonious, less obvious rhythm, combining these with close-up expressions of each actor, about to jump for what may be their very lives...<br>

action, burt lancaster, deborah kerr, drama, gene hackman, john frankenheimer, romance, scott wilson, sheree north, sixties, sport, suspense, william windom

SCOTT WILSON 'THE GYPSY MOTHS' REVIEW & EXTERNAL TRIBUTE

RIP Scott Wilson Gypsy Moths Year of Release: 1969 John Frankenheimer's THE GYPSY MOTHS has some incredible aerial shots, and it'...

JOHN PAYNE/PHIL KARLSON 1950'S FILM NOIR TRIPLE FEATURE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR of Release: 1953 River Street SCORE: ****</u></td></tr>
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<u>99 RIVER STREET</u>: An excellent Film Noir, the second of three directed by Phil Karlson and starring John Payne, is bookended by two boxing matches: one in the ring, playing on television in a cheap apartment, and another in a shipyard between is a stark, mazy tale of defeated slugger/cabbie John Payne, a the stock bad girl  and then tricked by the nicer dame (Evelyn Keyes), a would-be actress proving her worth on stage in a clever scene with a big twist...<br>
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But Payne, who's the good guy but no nice guy since "he broods about things... then he explodes!" says Peggie Castle as his extremely gorgeous/and extremely cheating double-crossing wife. Although he's got far more than woman trouble with niche heavies Brad Dexter and Jack Lambert on his trail... Not to mention the law for both a murder he didn't commit and a perfectly-landed punch as the pace doesn't falter and the camerawork's topnotch. And the finale fist fight at a murky shipyard, as Payne flashes back to his fighting days, is a standout. While not a boxing Noir the likes of THE SET-UP, the character's boxing champion past is part of the essence of the story deeper than most pictures connected with the sport. It's in his mind, memories, soul. "I gotta hit... I gotta hit... I gotta go back to the one thing I know how to do!"  <br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Heist Date: 1952 Overall Score of ***</u></td></tr>
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<u>KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL</u>: The actor and director's first collaboration is a Wrong-man/Film
 Noir involving John Payne trying to redeem himself after being blamed 
for a successful armored car knockoff...<br>
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Featuring famous heavies Jack 
Elam, Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef, it's Preston Foster's character, 
as the mysterious leader of the thugs, all gathered together in South 
America to retrieve the loot and, since they wore masks during the 
robbery don't know each other, adding dimension as he keeps the truth from
 beloved lovely daughter Colleen Gray, a law student who (along with 
Payne) figures things out: except her father's involvement. At times a 
bit sluggish, meandering within the sheer inevitability of hiding out and getting edgy and stir crazy because of it, this is a minor classic for the cast alone.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mary Murphy's the hypnotic ingenue on HELL'S ISLAND circa 1955</u></td></tr>
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<u>HELL'S ISLAND</u>: Much lighter, more efficient b-movie mainstream entertainment than the edgy and driven 99 RIVER STREET and especially the intentionally claustrophobic KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL...<br>
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John Payne and Phil Karlson's HELL'S ISLAND borrows from the adventure genre in its set-up of a Las Vegas bouncer sent to the title Spanish location to find a ruby, and it's rather confusing since we begin with Payne's character telling his story (and thus the overall narration) to a cop and then, during the flashback of getting the assignment we go back, again, as he discusses two time lapses at once... or something: But things get rolling, slowly but in an entertaining fashion, once the mission's underway, and one that, despite the title, doesn't have a lot of danger in store for our hero, whose main problem is getting back in touch with the dark woman (with light hair) who had broken his heart...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>HELL'S RATING: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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And this is where the Noir element pours on: The sappy heart leading the otherwise tough guy around as he goes to various locations to gather clues in what becomes less of a plot and more a <i>Fog of Love</i> resulting in what's Payne and Karlson's weakest effort although...<br>
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This seems as intentional as a great band inserting a breezy ballad between two intense rockers (although this is their last collaboration following, in order, KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL and 99 RIVER STREET). And the look distinguishes from the other films' black and white, which of course is the Film Noir usual: This color/aesthetic is enhanced from a wonderful technology (that ranged from 1950's Alfred Hitchcock to the special effects shots in 1977's STAR WARS) known as...<br>
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fifties, film noir or melodrama, jack lambert, john payne

JOHN PAYNE/PHIL KARLSON 1950'S FILM NOIR TRIPLE FEATURE

YEAR of Release: 1953 River Street SCORE: **** 99 RIVER STREET : An excellent Film Noir, the second of three directed by Phil Karlson an...

JAMES STEWART & ARTHUR KENNEDY IN 'BEND OF THE RIVER'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Arthur Kennedy and James Stewart in Bend of the River directed by Anthony Mann YEAR: 1952</u></td></tr>
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Of James Stewart's "Cowboy Pictures" under the direction of Anthony Mann, WINCHESTER '73 is the most famous, THE NAKED SPUR his edgiest, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE the most underrated, and the most uneven is BEND OF THE RIVER, starting out as one of many wagon trailer adventures until leading to Portland, Oregon, making this a North Western much like Jacques Tourneur's CANYON PASSAGE, which this uses chopped-tree-falling stock footage of...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Julia (Julie) Adams takes a while to get the point RATES: ***</u></td></tr>
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At first Stewart, helping a group of mobile settlers, has a distracting voice. Not the usual alum-jawed, slow-paced drawl, it's more like he's imitating Edward G. Robinson. Which kinda fits. Stewart's Glyn McLyntock is a former outlaw, something we learn later after an outlaw friend, saved from a kangaroo court's noose and played by Arthur Kennedy who turns... well... that's a spoiler: What's important is that with Kennedy's initially friendly charm turned cocky bravado, BEND wouldn't be much at all. Rock Hudson as a handsome gambler adds very little...<br>
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It's about Kennedy and Stewart — the latter turning into what we'd later refer to as the "Rambo" character or, before that, MR. MAJESTYK: an underrated guy who shows his resilient worth against a ton of odds and proves he's more cunning and badass than any other badass within an untamed terrain that he's become used to. A shame that it took so long for this too happen, before which we got otherwise good actress Julia Adams reacting hilariously slow to an arrow through her chest, and too many familiar character actors talking about what's about to happen. When it finally does — blink once and it's gone.<br>

action, adventure, anthony mann, arthur kennedy, fifties, james stewart, jay c. flippen, julie adams, rock hudson, western

JAMES STEWART & ARTHUR KENNEDY IN 'BEND OF THE RIVER'

Arthur Kennedy and James Stewart in Bend of the River directed by Anthony Mann YEAR: 1952 Of James Stewart's "Cowboy Pictures&q...

RICHARD FLEISCHER DIRECTS GEORGE C. SCOTT IN 'THE LAST RUN'

action, caper, chase, colleen dewhurst, crime, george c. scott, neo noir, richard fleischer, seventies, tony musante, trish van devere

RICHARD FLEISCHER DIRECTS GEORGE C. SCOTT IN 'THE LAST RUN'

Smoking opposites George C. Scott & Tony Musante YEAR: 1971 There's something about Tony Musante that makes you want to punch hi...

NEO NOIR DARK COMEDY CHAOS OF 'A SIMPLE FAVOR'

2018, anna kendrick, blake lively, dark comedy, neo noir, new, paul feig, thriller

NEO NOIR DARK COMEDY CHAOS OF 'A SIMPLE FAVOR'

Year of Release: 2018 Whoever gets in the middle of a husband and wife in any kind of Film Noir... old or new; serious, comedy or somewh...

JOHN CASSAVETES IN 'DEVIL'S ANGELS' & 'CRIME IN THE STREETS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1956 Rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>CRIME IN THE STREETS</u>: If REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE met WEST SIDE STORY at a carnival where all the rides were broken... </span></span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">No, sadly, not even a young "introducing" John Cassavetes, as a street savvy teenage gang member, at odds with a rival group of boy-thugs and pestered by the usual Film Noir (though this is hardly that despite its place in a Noir box set) pestering cop James Whitmore... And the fact it's directed by Don Siegel and co-stars future director Mark Rydell... None of this could save, or even preserve, this corny "urban" dud. Sal Mineo, naive as ever, plays the youngest member of the gang, a fact that alone dooms him from the start.</span></span><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D98GXnr6vCg/W560i5WhKyI/AAAAAAAA5bo/AXeXuZLHE0A7TkzO8adjdMo7kgn4F0HPwCLcBGAs/s1600/devils-angels-1967-photo-still-8x10-e1436268675665.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="423" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D98GXnr6vCg/W560i5WhKyI/AAAAAAAA5bo/AXeXuZLHE0A7TkzO8adjdMo7kgn4F0HPwCLcBGAs/s320/devils-angels-1967-photo-still-8x10-e1436268675665.jpg" width="196"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1967 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>DEVIL'S ANGELS</u>: Sixties' biker flicks are usually the same: Noisy hog-riders roll into a 
small quiet town making a mess of things. One of the bikers takes things
 too far and a "freak verses pig"<i> </i>battle ensues. That's it in a 
nutshell here... </span></span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The adventure doesn't venture far from the single 
peaceful town where, after crashing an afternoon carnival, The Skulls 
are (falsely) accused of raping a local girl stupid enough to party with
 them. </span></span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Leo Gordon, as the understanding Sheriff, adds essential realism 
and John Cassavetes, as the thinking-man's gang leader, while embodying 
his usual askew charm, seems more like an acting teacher than a ruffian (this often occurred during the early sixties, before films caught up with method acting);
 more attributes of "Franco", his scruffy, scene-stealing character in 
"The Dirty Dozen", were needed. But no matter, this Roger 
Corman-produced biker-outing delivers the goods just-good enough, and is
 exactly as entertaining as it should be. It's a biker flick, after all.  </span></span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></span><br>

crime, don siegel, drama, fifties, john cassavetes, mark rydell, teen

JOHN CASSAVETES IN 'DEVIL'S ANGELS' & 'CRIME IN THE STREETS'

Year: 1956 Rating: *1/2 CRIME IN THE STREETS : If REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE met WEST SIDE STORY at a carnival where all the rides were broke...

JOHN BROMFIELD BEL AIR PRODUCTIONS NOIR DOUBLE FEATURE

<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/-OF2AfCwkpQg/W7BQzGkCjuI/AAAAAAAA6No/N_EF6hAN68IdEHV38faq-XIMeQdq6kfBgCLcBGAs/s1600/14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="958" height="282" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OF2AfCwkpQg/W7BQzGkCjuI/AAAAAAAA6No/N_EF6hAN68IdEHV38faq-XIMeQdq6kfBgCLcBGAs/s400/14.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kathleen Hughes facing Marla English and John Bromfield</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"Say, Joe, park the hot rod in the hanger, wontcha," says John Bromfield, here as a small business owner/pilot named Jim in THREE BAD SISTERS before playing another guy named Joe in CRIME AGAINST JOE, both 1956 Film Noir low-budget vehicles by Bel Air Productions, the company behind Bromfield's greatest picture, and one of our personal favorites, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/HotCARS.html">HOT CARS</a>...<br>
<br>
In <u>THREE BAD SISTERS</u>, only two are <i>really</i> bad, and just one is downright sinister: a gorgeous, manipulating, blonde snake played by Kathleen Hughes as Valerie Craig of the sisters Craig, whose father's killed (off-screen) in a plane crash where only the pilot... John Bromfield's Jim... survived. Maria English and Sara Shane play Vicki and Lorne; the latter our stock wholesome girl, in this case afraid to take a near-death-defying leap off their beachfront cliff in their mansion's backyard: it's something her sister's have already survived, making Sara Shane's Lorne stand out as both the family underdog and self-loathing, co-called coward..<br>
<br>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table align="center" 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/-5EV-dxlZPLU/W6lwUT-EfHI/AAAAAAAA57c/bEgP4vJuluAXKZwtT-lZ2NGawMnqVtqqQCLcBGAs/s1600/4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="960" height="337" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5EV-dxlZPLU/W6lwUT-EfHI/AAAAAAAA57c/bEgP4vJuluAXKZwtT-lZ2NGawMnqVtqqQCLcBGAs/s400/4.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Bromfield with Marla English in Three Bad Sisters</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
And yet she quickly winds up with big, handsome, dark-haired Jim, making both bad sisters' flirtation not mean much more than sultry dialogue that only comes from Film Noir: and while these Bel Air Productions lack the signature lighting and stylistic angles, they wield all the proper formulaic attributes, in spades...<br>
<br>
Since the OUT OF THE PAST type of Noir classics were b-movies in their day, these Howard W. Koch produced 1950's programmers were either C's or B's twice-removed, and play out very economically. In this case, story-wise, the plot's a bit too mazy and complicated. It takes several viewings to really center on each of the siblings' motive or lack of. As for Bromfield, he's caught in a triangle that's technically a box being four people are involved, and the most fun's had figuring out each distinctive personality, clinging to the muscular pilot and they pose in various locations... from land to sea to miles in the air... A cemented, determined hero unlike his bizarre title role in... <br>
<br>
<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VV0rbf9a6PI/W6lu1s7R-jI/AAAAAAAA56I/7NbPW5Z-0D0ssmL93952GF-Z1tc6DorHQCLcBGAs/s1600/45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="556" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VV0rbf9a6PI/W6lu1s7R-jI/AAAAAAAA56I/7NbPW5Z-0D0ssmL93952GF-Z1tc6DorHQCLcBGAs/s400/45.jpg" width="322"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Patricia Blair & John Bromfield in Crime Against Joe</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>CRIME AGAINST JOE</u>, taking the popular Film Noir "Wrong Man" template to the hilt, and beyond. This isn't the picture to turn people onto John Bromfield since, during the first act, he slurs in the exaggerated manner of those "old movies" where "town drunks" speak from the side of their mouths in the same annoying, garbled, haranguing manner... <br>
<br>
Although the content during the blackout binging set-up is intriguing, half occurring in the day-lit hours as Joe, after being established as a complete mother's boy loser despite heroic Korean War experience, isn't quite playing with a full deck. Ma supports his dreams of becoming a professional painter, and he attempts painting beautiful women but can't seem to get them <i>just right</i>: think Norman Bates meets Vincent Van Gogh...<br>
<br>
The fact each and every dame he comes across takes to him instantly... from nice girl Julie London as "Slacks," a carhop with a heart of gold, to torchlight lounge singing Alika Louise as Irene Crescent... is a reminder that he's a very handsome fella, and a strong "real man" type despite the fact his character's personality, drunken or otherwise, borders on mental retardation: which altogether feels contrived and awkward. But JOE is an intriguing melodrama that works despite the fact it's completely miscast. Bromfield fits more into the womanizing diver role in perhaps his most well-known mainstream venture, Jack Arnold's BLACK LAGOON sequel REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, which came out around the same time he was reigning here in proverbial movie hell. And yet, his cool cat characters have brains and a genuine soul while this creepy, whining loser lacks the usual inborn charm he's more comfortable with as an extremely affable and comfortable actor... <br>
<br>
<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQdB1WtQ7Zc/W6lvIJ-WfuI/AAAAAAAA56Y/6VopNth12nIjD_t3PDU6QnlBVtHkOlOngCLcBGAs/s1600/22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="960" height="310" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQdB1WtQ7Zc/W6lvIJ-WfuI/AAAAAAAA56Y/6VopNth12nIjD_t3PDU6QnlBVtHkOlOngCLcBGAs/s400/22.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Nice artistic title sequence with Noir lighting and neat font</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Despite holding onto that cliché soused slur, even through some of the police procedural process of being semi-accused of the singer's murder while hungover the next day...<br>
<br>
His performance and the picture itself narrows into a decent little thriller where Joe, with faithful Julie London, goes on a makeshift investigation and, thankfully, is sober soon enough... <br>
<br>
The culprits are a handful of his former high school classmates (one had left behind a class ring), who seem to make up half the town: a friendly cab driver; a quiet, timid lawyer; a shallow politician; a jealous, ticked-off bartender; and mysterious "cowboy" Rhodes Reason (brother of THIS ISLAND EARTH actor Rex Reason), who is a temperamental "obvious choice" in what also dips into the Mystery genre (which the IMDb main photo spoils completely)...<br>
<br>
<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nAt8StH3XWE/W6yU4iIzC3I/AAAAAAAA6CM/fyRV_xhaYyUKxhI-Po1xvS8aYP-1mYkKACLcBGAs/s1600/0%2B4.15.31%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="681" height="278" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nAt8StH3XWE/W6yU4iIzC3I/AAAAAAAA6CM/fyRV_xhaYyUKxhI-Po1xvS8aYP-1mYkKACLcBGAs/s400/0%2B4.15.31%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Scores for Three Bad Sisters: ***1/2 Crime Against Joe: ***</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
This blind spot ups the suspense despite a lack of urgency since there's no real "race against time" element (despite Joe's stress that there is); but at least some of Bromfield's edginess (his voice sounds like Ralph Meeker here) creeps into the tight, new improved 11th hour. There's also an underlined theme of the battle fatigued war veteran's awkward and painful return to hometown life... <br>
<br>
Overall, CRIME AGAINST JOE is Bromfield's weirdest role, and yet it's a decent if standard venture for Bel Air Productions. What really stands out about these forgotten, neglected, backroom Noirs, including and especially <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/HotCARS.html">HOT CARS</a>, are the bleak yet sunny California exteriors of sparse industrial tracts and suburbs that were most likely barren desert terrain or orange groves a mere decade earlier. <br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HfBR-CnR8kM/W6yZ2H3tr7I/AAAAAAAA6DI/wfaWfJiNMJo0ZiVoVtVt8spFX4v8BQBlgCLcBGAs/s1600/3.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="930" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HfBR-CnR8kM/W6yZ2H3tr7I/AAAAAAAA6DI/wfaWfJiNMJo0ZiVoVtVt8spFX4v8BQBlgCLcBGAs/s1600/3.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Bromfield with Kathleen Hughes in Three Bad Sisters</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>

bel air productions, film noir or melodrama, jazz score, john bromfield, julie london, kathleen hughes, marla english, mystery, sara shane, thriller, wrong man

JOHN BROMFIELD BEL AIR PRODUCTIONS NOIR DOUBLE FEATURE

Kathleen Hughes facing Marla English and John Bromfield "Say, Joe, park the hot rod in the hanger, wontcha," says John Bromfie...

WARREN DOUGLAS IN THE GANGSTER NOIR 'BELOW THE DEADLINE'

<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/-Ae4JVKP3Kss/W6yca0EIzYI/AAAAAAAA6DU/Hbc5xtvDr7s8mRfpUtO9VEeX6Q6FHi_LgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-09-27%2Bat%2B1.59.49%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="1032" height="269" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ae4JVKP3Kss/W6yca0EIzYI/AAAAAAAA6DU/Hbc5xtvDr7s8mRfpUtO9VEeX6Q6FHi_LgCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-09-27%2Bat%2B1.59.49%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warren Douglas and Ramsay Ames in Below the Deadline 1946</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Little known or discussed Gangster Film Noir where our main man "Jumpin' Joe" Hilton is just that... And in the role, 
Warren Douglas is perfect. He seems ready for anything and yet is cool as that proverbial cucumber... in an ice box: Just 
returned from World War II, having inherited his slain, more proper and distinguished (and pretentious) older brother's 
gambling outfit, he's got just about everything, literally...<br>
<br>
Including a
 beautiful young dame in Ramsay Ames's Lynn, going from a roulette wheel
 worker to the girl who chips at his icy heart... Which is what makes Joe a worthy Noir persona, initially moving forward like a torpedoed shark: But as cold-blooded as he may be, his recent-past... which had lasted 
five grueling years... provides a light at the end of the tunnel...<br>

film noir or melodrama, forties, gangster, ramsay ames, warner archives, warren douglas

WARREN DOUGLAS IN THE GANGSTER NOIR 'BELOW THE DEADLINE'

Warren Douglas and Ramsay Ames in Below the Deadline 1946 Little known or discussed Gangster Film Noir where our main man "Jumpin&#...

BLAZING THROUGH 'BUTCH AND SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS'

<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwvCI5j0L2c/W6TCs1N73lI/AAAAAAAA5y4/_Vbvj0OOXP8Og7NjGgq7qbMZOJLLT6lZgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-09-21%2Bat%2B3.01.49%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="1343" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwvCI5j0L2c/W6TCs1N73lI/AAAAAAAA5y4/_Vbvj0OOXP8Og7NjGgq7qbMZOJLLT6lZgCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-09-21%2Bat%2B3.01.49%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Butch & Sundance The Early Days Year Released: 1979</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For those <i>not</i> diehard BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID fanatics, this 
prequel isn't blasphemous like it must be to many nostalgic cinema goers...<br>
<br>
It's
 actually pretty entertaining, following a young Butch, played by a more loose, affable and resilient Tom 
Berenger than his psychopathic LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR role which he'd already watered-down with two forgettable romantic comedies, and who does in fact resemble a young Paul Newman, only bigger, more primal: herein freed from 
prison and, despite his promises to the warden, quickly returns to a <i>brand old life</i> of
 crime, where he witnesses the coming and going of a skinny blond "kid" 
robbing a saloon: that being CARRIE prom king/BIG WEDNESDAY lifeguard/future GREATEST 
AMERICAN HERO and haunted HOUSE pawn William Katt as a young Sundance...<br>

brian dennehy, prequel, seventies, tom berenger, western, william katt

BLAZING THROUGH 'BUTCH AND SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS'

Butch & Sundance The Early Days Year Released: 1979 For those not diehard BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID fanatics, this preque...

SUE LYON BATHES IN 'THE ASTRAL FACTOR' W/ ROBERT FOXWORTH

body count, elke sommer, exploitation, frank ashmore, horror, leslie parrish, robert foxworth, science-fiction, seventies, stefanie powers, sue lyon, supernatural

SUE LYON BATHES IN 'THE ASTRAL FACTOR' W/ ROBERT FOXWORTH

Year of THE ASTRAL FACTOR is 1977 One of those bad movies that isn't so bad since it tries to be so many things at once. When you th...

LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA 'MIDNIGHT' WITH MELANIE VERLIN

body count, eighties, exploitation, horror, indie, lawrence tierney, melanie verlin, rural, slasher

LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA 'MIDNIGHT' WITH MELANIE VERLIN

Melanie Verlin rides a groovy van to hillbilly hell YEAR: 1982 A teenage girl runs away from home, and with good reason: Her alcoholic c...

LAURA JOHNSON HAUNTS GENA ROWLANDS IN 'OPENING NIGHT'

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p3vzjyF-Ew4/W562sHb3w7I/AAAAAAAA5b0/49EsFak8eYgwhJpVRX45wP2YJMGuC3anACLcBGAs/s1600/41843222_572848109811036_8834029222793052160_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="960" height="258" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p3vzjyF-Ew4/W562sHb3w7I/AAAAAAAA5b0/49EsFak8eYgwhJpVRX45wP2YJMGuC3anACLcBGAs/s400/41843222_572848109811036_8834029222793052160_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1977 pictured here is haunting beauty Laura Johnson </u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A movie with everything. Not only centering on an 
actress portrayed by director John Cassevete's wife Gena Rowlands 
preparing for a Broadway play making initial rounds in New Haven and 
other small venues...<br>
<br>
But beneath the surface of this 
play-within-a-movie, there's an intense and spooky, eerie "ghost story" 
involving a beautiful young emotional fan, who's killed by a car after the first performance: a primal, lusty, jarring, hauntingly gorgeous Laura Johnson stalks throughout as Cassavetes takes us on a voyeuristic journey with many layers albeit with the same frantic vibe, as if real life and fiction were inseparably hybrid: 
backstage, on stage, and in various locations where other characters, 
including Ben Gazzara as the director, Joan Blondell as the writer, Paul
 Stewart as the producer, and Cassevetes himself as the co-star all try 
desperately to get Rowlands on track before <i>opening night.</i>..<br>

ben gazzara, drama, gena rowlands, independent, joan blondell, john cassavetes, laura johnson, paul stewart, seventies

LAURA JOHNSON HAUNTS GENA ROWLANDS IN 'OPENING NIGHT'

year: 1977 pictured here is haunting beauty Laura Johnson A movie with everything. Not only centering on an actress portrayed by direct...

JOHN GUILLERMIN GROUNDS IRWIN ALLEN'S 'TOWERING INFERNO'

action, disaster, faye dunaway, gregory sierra, irwin allen, john guillermin, mike lookinland, o.j. simpson, paul newman, robert vaughn, seventies, steve mcqueen, william holden

JOHN GUILLERMIN GROUNDS IRWIN ALLEN'S 'TOWERING INFERNO'

Year of Destruction: 1974 The mother of disaster films, THE TOWERING INFERNO still holds up... Stars Paul Newman and Steve McQueen… o...

JAMES CAGNEY & VIRGINIA BRUCE SPAR IN 'WINNER TAKE ALL'

boxing, drama, james cagney, sport, thirties, virginia bruce

JAMES CAGNEY & VIRGINIA BRUCE SPAR IN 'WINNER TAKE ALL'

Year of Release: 1932 Director: Roy Del Ruth Definitely one of the oddest boxing movies ever made, and the first time in James Cagney...

ACTOR/DIRECTOR MARK STEVENS 'ESCAPE FROM HELL ISLAND'

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pgztSH0a9WU/W4qNxYIrC8I/AAAAAAAA4_8/2F4KgGpBL8AROPpq2-VsGYFGTKOerNBHgCLcBGAs/s1600/p47210_p_v8_aa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="890" height="288" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pgztSH0a9WU/W4qNxYIrC8I/AAAAAAAA4_8/2F4KgGpBL8AROPpq2-VsGYFGTKOerNBHgCLcBGAs/s400/p47210_p_v8_aa.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-size: large;">FROM HELL ISLAND" </span>year: 1963</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There's filmmaking, and then there are films that somehow get made but that still don't seem like actual movies: Which is what the misleadingly titled ESCAPE FROM HELL ISLAND is... Basically an early 1960's remake of TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT since actor/director Mark Stevens's ex-smuggler Captain James, a charter boat captain, is hired by two exiled Cubans to pick up refugees living in Fidel Castro's title island...<br>
<br>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Made during JFK's presidency, an unpopular Cuba is the proverbial HELL: A locale we see for only a split second as military gunman fire at Captain James's boat while he's picking up the human cargo, and one in particular is supposed to mean everything. Surprisingly, given the tagline, "Sharing a Love That Was Not Theirs To Take," the second lead <i>isn't </i>the sexy Cuban girl played by sexy, usually blonde WESTWORLD and PSYCH-OUT actress Linda (Gaye) Scott (yet it looks nothing like her: is this an IMDb blunder?). Rather, her abusive, deranged husband is not only the main antagonist, he pretty much steals the entire show. If HELL ISLAND were made ten years later, Bruce Dern would play the part had by a skinny, chaotic Jack Donner as Kyle Dennison, who even gets the standalone "And" treatment in the opening credits...<br>

adventure, drama, indie, jack donner, jazz score, linda gaye scott, mark stevens, neo noir, sixties, thriller

ACTOR/DIRECTOR MARK STEVENS 'ESCAPE FROM HELL ISLAND'

FROM HELL ISLAND" year: 1963 There's filmmaking, and then there are films that somehow get made but that still don't seem l...

VINCE EDWARDS NOIR W/ 'MURDER BY CONTRACT' & 'CITY OF FEAR'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Vince Edwards and Caprice Toriel YEAR of RELEASE: 1958</u></td></tr>
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<u>MURDER BY CONTRACT</u>: Mechanical and metronomic character/case-study of a professional hitman is interesting at 
times, dull at others. Scenes with a calculating yet creative 
professional killer played by handsomely bulky Vince Edwards (co-star of THE KILLING and headlining here) offing 
folks with hypnotic background jazz (a baritone guitar version of THE THIRD MAN 
theme) is a cool treat.<br>
<br>
Having proven his worth with 
clean hits shown in efficient rudimentary detail, he's given a big job in L.A. to terminate a woman 
who will appear in court, and has a couple days to do it. Two men, who 
work for the main crime boss, tag along and try figuring out how he 
works. Edwards takes his sweet time without preparation: hanging out on 
the beach, deep sea fishing and playing golf. Meanwhile, his tagalongs 
don't  understand his habits and/or why he isn't getting the job over
 with, quick... But what's the use of this intrusive peanut gallery at all? <br>
<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>This would be considered an action scene here RATING: **</u></td></tr>
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This undynamic duo only fill 
empty space with dialogue. Without getting very deep inside the killer's head ourselves, what's here feels like half a movie. But it's a pretty entertaining and strange one, and slightly Gothic...<br>
<br>
The scenes that do work... letting us in on the physical preparation and precision of a contract assassin... work well and
 makes for an original and unique crime thriller with Vince Edwards (who wants to buy a big house, and doesn't like the though of killing woman, fitting the Noir template of the ambiguous anti-hero), stealing a
 show that should have been ENTIRELY HIS to begin with. At one point, during the first act, he tells the two to leave because 
they're getting on his nerves. Our thoughts exactly! A curious sidekick would have filled their spot a lot better. <br>
<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1959 rating: ***</u></td></tr>
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<u>CITY OF FEAR</u>: An
 escaped convict, played by Vince Edwards, steals a metal container of what he thinks is uncut 
heroin, but is really radioactive cobalt. As he ventures through the 
city, slowly dying, the cops are after him.<br>
<br>
The edgy, underlined brilliance of this film... trumping the somewhat 
sluggish pace when our ailing anti-hero, not on screen, gets discussed 
by other cast members, especially the cops... is the symbolic comparison
 to the cobalt 
and the criminal...<br>
<br>
One character warns Edwards that he
 can't show his face for fear of exposure: which means being seen, but
 can also mean contagious. And the container itself is liken to a 
fugitive criminal: the police, not wanting to cause citywide panic, 
warns anyone involved about how <i>dangerous</i> he is... And only 
we know what they're <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> talking about. Proof that heavy-handed symbolism can only usually really work within this genre.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>From Murder by Contract: This "warehouse full of murder" and the swastika is Hollywood's old school anti gun stance... same as today</u></td></tr>
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fifties, film noir or melodrama, jazz score, vince edwards

VINCE EDWARDS NOIR W/ 'MURDER BY CONTRACT' & 'CITY OF FEAR'

Vince Edwards and Caprice Toriel YEAR of RELEASE: 1958 MURDER BY CONTRACT : Mechanical and metronomic character/case-study of a professi...

JOHN PAYNE IN THE FILM NOIR 'HIDDEN FEAR' W/ ANNE NEYLAND

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>At the jazzy cusp of the Film Noir meter in the year 1957</u></td></tr>
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There's something rotten in 
Denmark, and as a Film Noir it's more like a few rotten things and 
they're people, in this case counterfeiters, and in André De Toth's HIDDEN FEAR, John Payne 
isn't a Wrong Man but his sister could be a Wrong Dame... <br>
<br>
So
 it's up to her tall, tough and determined brother to figure things out,
 even if he knows little sister's prone to trouble wherever she winds up, and 
might not be so innocent, giving his mission a more ambiguous edge... A stranger on foreign soil, it's hardly New York's shadowy urban landscape: From the city lined with neat looking apartment buildings in an antique, dollhouse fashion to the sparse waterfront boatyard, director Toth makes such ample use of Denmark's genuine exterior, even the studio-shots within the usual dark atmospheric nightclubs or restaurant feels like a far away place...<br>

anne neyland, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jazz score, john payne

JOHN PAYNE IN THE FILM NOIR 'HIDDEN FEAR' W/ ANNE NEYLAND

At the jazzy cusp of the Film Noir meter in the year 1957 There's something rotten in Denmark, and as a Film Noir it's more lik...

BURT REYNOLDS 'RIVERBOAT' COMMAND & EXTERNAL TRIBUTE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Burt Reynolds in RIVERBOAT season one circa 1959</u></td></tr>
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The late Burt Reynolds held a fine line between movie star and cult actor: Before he got really famous, he appeared in edgy movies like DELIVERANCE and THE LONGEST YARD, HUSTLE, SHARKY'S MACHINE, to name a few...<br>
<br>
After he skyrocketed in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT and became a superstar, he'd been around the car movie block in more subtle vehicles like WHITE LIGHTNING and GATOR. And for some, his immense fame became a cult in itself. Following two Hal Needham directed BANDIT flicks was arguably his greatest "race car" movie (also directed by Needham), CANNONBALL RUN, and the entertaining stunt man tribute, HOOPER. Alas, like most big stars, a string of mediocre romantic comedies and sequels disintegrated these fun, frolicking romps that seemed made for everyone. Worse than even BANDIT 2 was the second CANNONBALL RUN, which hardly involved a race at all, and then... STROKER ACE provided the hammered nails in a coffin that'd already been pretty much closed...<br>

burt reynolds, darren mcgavin, fifties, tribute, TV

BURT REYNOLDS 'RIVERBOAT' COMMAND & EXTERNAL TRIBUTE

Burt Reynolds in RIVERBOAT season one circa 1959 The late Burt Reynolds held a fine line between movie star and cult actor: Before he ...

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