BRITISH NEW WAVE 'THE BOYS' W/ RONALD LACEY & JESS CONRAD

<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/-J-olG9kH9EM/YQpKBK3BaFI/AAAAAAABkgg/nIedsK_Y5cY9-7v1T-GqQcQGCOLYORrRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1225/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-04%2Bat%2B12.41.40%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="1225" height="339" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J-olG9kH9EM/YQpKBK3BaFI/AAAAAAABkgg/nIedsK_Y5cY9-7v1T-GqQcQGCOLYORrRwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h339/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-04%2Bat%2B12.41.40%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Soundtrack Album THE BOYS Year: 1962 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A kind of <i>depending upon perspective</i> RASHOMON of the rebellious British youth set has a gang of four "Teddy Boys" in court for murder, but this is only partially courtroom drama and more a street-set thriller with director Sidney J. Furie's on top of his game, creating a mystery for the viewer (and not the characters) where only the four suspects know the exact truth leading to an inevitable twist ending that's worth the wait... which does get pretty long... <br></p><p></p><p>Starring the memorably offbeat Dudley Sutton as the group's shifty instigator while pop singing heartbeat Jess Conrad's the most sympathetic with nerdy/likeable Ronald Lacey and a muggy Tony Garnett caught in-between... </p><p>All ultra realistic and morally ambiguous in the noir fashion while in the adult roles, character-actor Roy Kinnear as a nervous youth-hating bus driver is more effective than preachy-stiff court prosecutor Richard Todd, himself usurped by hardened yet lively defender Robert Morely, both handed the thankless task of moving the courtroom expository since what's being remembered really counts... and you can't trust any of it, which makes suspenseful viewing. And had THE BOYS not been on trial... just watching them hanging out on the genuine London streets, causing trouble in and out of juke joints and backrooms while striking out (with Carol White) is all worthwhile. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

brian weske, british neo noir, british new wave, carol white, courtroom drama, dudley sutton, jess conrad, richard todd, robert morley, ronald lacey, sidney j. furie, sixties, tony garnett

BRITISH NEW WAVE 'THE BOYS' W/ RONALD LACEY & JESS CONRAD

Soundtrack Album THE BOYS Year: 1962 Rating: ***1/2 A kind of depending upon perspective RASHOMON of the rebellious British youth set has a...

JOHN CARSON IN THE OFFBEAT MYSTERY THRILLER 'ACT OF MURDER'

<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/-IcF7Y_jvG7E/YQjHHTLP7xI/AAAAAAABkc0/uBExI6UKBPMAlNiveh_98j95n2_IaGSZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s621/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-02%2Bat%2B3.37.49%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="621" height="280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IcF7Y_jvG7E/YQjHHTLP7xI/AAAAAAABkc0/uBExI6UKBPMAlNiveh_98j95n2_IaGSZgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h280/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-02%2Bat%2B3.37.49%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Anthony Bate in Act of Murder Year: 1964 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>John Carson may look like a leading man, but the handsome square-jawed British b-crime staple can play both good or bad... even ugly when needed... so he's really a character-actor and a combination of all three in ACT OF MURDER where Carson's Tim Ford, a stage actor, had had an affair with a former actress now ready to finally become a faithful upper-class suburban wife... </p><p></p><p>Making this MURDER a mishmash of cat & mouse mind games and vengeful dirty tricks by a sociopath hardly given enough reason to become one since paranoid ingenue Justine Lord is not alluring enough to be so obsessed with... nor is bland husband Anthony Bate interesting enough <i>for her </i>to be obsessively contented with. Making this particular ACT beg for the kind of nutjob the audience can guiltily root for... had the right actor been chosen: As an affable insurance salesman in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/11/smokescreen.html">SMOKESCREEN</a> to a stalker/killer in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/ellis.html">ACCIDENTAL DEATH</a>, this in-between role doesn't really pan out for Carson, not dynamic enough for the big screen. But there <i>is</i> a reason since MURDER<i> isn't </i>a movie, really, but an episode of EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERIES that since has been passed as a standalone British Noir. In that, it's really not that awful; although there are far better episodes... and much better movies. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

anthony bate, british neo noir, british new wave, edgar wallace, john carson, justine lord, mystery, sixites, thriller

JOHN CARSON IN THE OFFBEAT MYSTERY THRILLER 'ACT OF MURDER'

Anthony Bate in Act of Murder Year: 1964 Rating: ** John Carson may look like a leading man, but the handsome square-jawed British b-crime s...

YOKO TANI AND JOHN CRAWFORD IN 'PICCADILLY THIRD STOP'

<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/-JymMdaFYFc0/YQgZ64He3SI/AAAAAAABkY0/TwPAM2VifG0Fbz0G-66p6nh1vGNWzme-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s726/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-02%2Bat%2B9.04.47%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="726" height="359" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JymMdaFYFc0/YQgZ64He3SI/AAAAAAABkY0/TwPAM2VifG0Fbz0G-66p6nh1vGNWzme-gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h359/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-02%2Bat%2B9.04.47%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Yoko Tani gets the cover from 1960 Rating: ***</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The British crime-heist b-movie PICCADILLY THIRD STOP could also be known as <i>Your Fault Jungle</i> since there's never been a more spiteful, argumentative group to rob a safe together... </p><p>Which includes usual suspect ingredients like the safe-cracker himself, the backer, the weak link, the leader, and instead of the usual Noir two are three dames, and the most important isn't British but Asian in French-born starlet Yôko Tani as a rich ambassador's initially virginal daughter until played by womanizing lead Terence Morgan... </p><p></p><p>After which she becomes part manipulated Geisha part trophy Marilyn Monroe ala THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, including not only an anticipated double-cross but attempted triple-cross... </p><p>Particularly with <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/HellisACity.html">HELL IS A CITY</a> edgy/grouchy American import John Crawford, in-dept to crooked casino-owner Dennis Price while unhappily married to ingenue <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/third-man-finally-died.html">Mai Zetterling</a> (sleeping with the sneaky Morgan, who lives with an underused <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/ann%20lynn">Ann Lynn</a>). So basically STOP is dialog-driven as the suspense lies not in the heist or whoever might be killed but who'll get a punch in the nose for annoying one another. That's except for quirky safe-cracking scene-stealer William Hartnell... who needed more screen-time since when he's around, the gang (and movie) becomes more centered, driven, professional. </p><span></span>

ann lynn, british neo noir, british new wave, charles kay, dennis price, heist, john crawford, mai zetterling, sixties, terence morgan, william hartnell, yoko tani

YOKO TANI AND JOHN CRAWFORD IN 'PICCADILLY THIRD STOP'

Yoko Tani gets the cover from 1960 Rating: *** The British crime-heist b-movie PICCADILLY THIRD STOP could also be known as Your Fault Jungl...

NIGEL PATRICK IN 'UNDERWORLD INFORMERS' AKA 'THE INFORMERS'

<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/-oda58ZoRjkE/YQOGtbn-XoI/AAAAAAABkUg/JpXSQm-8Nh4nTij1g5G-EDusxfox8JLegCLcBGAsYHQ/s1287/0%2B8.52.46%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1199" data-original-width="1287" height="373" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oda58ZoRjkE/YQOGtbn-XoI/AAAAAAABkUg/JpXSQm-8Nh4nTij1g5G-EDusxfox8JLegCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h373/0%2B8.52.46%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>No matter what title's used, UNDERWORLD INFORMERS or simply THE INFORMERS, it's right up front about those shady <i>characters</i> desperate enough to run to the law and name names: Only here it's Scotland Yard's Nigel Patrick who takes foot after <i>them</i>... actually one particular snitch/<i>snout</i> in a newly-slain informer's ex-con brother Colin Blakely, so intensely energetic he needed far more screen time...</p><p></p><p>But it's pretty boy criminal <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/strongroom.html">Derren Nesbitt </a>on the freewheeling forefront, strutting his wealth as he and more cautious partner Frank Finlay hang out in a crowded nightclub while their planned bank/safe heist (after several previous knockoffs) happens simultaneously elsewhere... <br></p><p>And so Nigel Patrick's Chief Inspector John Edward Johnnoe... vulnerable to strict chief Harry Andrews since he cuts corners to begin with... dives into a dog-eat-dog plot saturated enough for three crime flicks while curbed by two dames that, like any Noir, has one naive the other wicked. Unfortunately the gorgeous <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/08/TPO.html">Katherine Woodville</a> is benign and underused as the cop's wife, leaving the good stuff to bad girl/moll Margaret Whiting who, despite framing our hero, is equally sympathetic as a single mom mentally and physically abused by that rich pompous crime lord Nesbitt... And yet <i>he</i> really has the most fun since, unlike everyone else... dizzy from all the complicated bedlam... he's grinning till the end, and with an unapologetic villainy that — possibly inspired by the likes of Robinson and Cagney — becomes downright infectious. </p><span></span>

british neo noir, british new wave, colin blakely, crime, derren nesbitt, faye craig, frank finley, katherine woodville, margaret whiting, michael coles, nigel patrick, sixties

NIGEL PATRICK IN 'UNDERWORLD INFORMERS' AKA 'THE INFORMERS'

Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2 No matter what title's used, UNDERWORLD INFORMERS or simply THE INFORMERS, it's right up front about those...

SHARY MARSHALL IN STEVE COCHRAN'S 'TELL ME IN THE SUNLIGHT'

<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/-GJq-Lly9y3k/YQHzuBnfyJI/AAAAAAABkSo/hNVH_cxS_uY-TPQHKq2595rAQnCUQNfXACLcBGAsYHQ/s915/zz%2B2.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="915" height="306" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GJq-Lly9y3k/YQHzuBnfyJI/AAAAAAABkSo/hNVH_cxS_uY-TPQHKq2595rAQnCUQNfXACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h306/zz%2B2.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>SUNLIGHT was Filmed: 1962 Released: 1965 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>First time director Steve Cochran directs himself against his usual villainous type in TELL ME IN THE SUNLIGHT as a laidback sailor on the coast of Nassau, Bahamas, wandering the nighttime town on what feels a never-ending leave from the parked ship, picking-up on a young Mexican girl more than half his age and getting nowhere till the next night when, after a shave & haircut by another toned-down usual-villain Jay Robinson, he meets a stripper named Julie played by drop-dead-gorgeous Shary Marshall... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>And after crowded smoky shots in a noisy bamboo-filled strip joint, most of the picture has the new couple hanging around town at night, providing TELL ME the kind of indie project that'd seem commonplace a decade later but in the early 1960's, when it was actually made then released upon Cochran's death, it's a poor man's b-movie romance both steamy and sexy yet without any sex... So Marshall's heart-of-gold stripper is a different kind of girl-next-door while Cochran, usually a slap away from getting what he wants from a dame, is even more subdued, patient, and cautious... like his film, the only he'd direct as, on the same  yacht he'd be found dead on, he was scouting the next tropics-set locale. Making the plot-less yet thoughtful SUNLIGHT shine brighter knowing it's not just the last, but the only. </p><span></span>

indie, jay robinson, jazz score, neo noir, romance, shary marshall, sixties, steve cochran, stripper

SHARY MARSHALL IN STEVE COCHRAN'S 'TELL ME IN THE SUNLIGHT'

SUNLIGHT was Filmed: 1962 Released: 1965 Rating: **** First time director Steve Cochran directs himself against his usual villainous type in...

VAL KILMER & LUCY GUTTERIDGE SEND UP SPIES IN 'TOP SECRET!'

<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/-UePMxvAOVL0/YQGHmY3YLyI/AAAAAAABkOo/aK0PG4QFAAApfbuD7kwnZmoP30hrPyDOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2014/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-28%2Bat%2B6.36.55%2BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1273" data-original-width="2014" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UePMxvAOVL0/YQGHmY3YLyI/AAAAAAABkOo/aK0PG4QFAAApfbuD7kwnZmoP30hrPyDOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-28%2Bat%2B6.36.55%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Val Kilmer as Nick Rivers in TOP SECRET! Directors: Jim Abrahams, David & Jerry Zucker Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Nonstop humor with a real plot is called funny... without a plot, silly... and the creators of the extremely funny AIRPLANE! deliberately set out to make a fast-paced, extremely silly satire covering a bagful of genres...</p><p></p><p>Particularly WW2 spy thrillers with Elvis Musicals thrown in... in the form of Val Kilmer as Nick Rivers, a somehow contemporary Rock N' Roller booked to play a Nazi German concert that sort of comes and goes... </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HqL-sKKRleA/YQFmhGm71KI/AAAAAAABkMY/pQ180DJZUgQ1lYEFmn41Br9m85YBxq3RACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-28%2Bat%2B6.38.45%2BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1185" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HqL-sKKRleA/YQFmhGm71KI/AAAAAAABkMY/pQ180DJZUgQ1lYEFmn41Br9m85YBxq3RACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-28%2Bat%2B6.38.45%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lucy Gutteridge as Hillary Flammond in TOP SECRET!</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Meanwhile the actual attempt at a primary plot involves ingenue Lucy Gutteridge's scientist father needing rescue by the help of a goofy band of French Resistance fighters, only around to finish off a busy, somewhat exhausting story that the jokes leading up served an almost constant bulwark for... </p><p></p><p>They're mostly action-based visual gags since this <i>is</i> an action/adventure, albeit more like Mel Brooks (parodying movie-making itself) than Abrahams, Zucker & Zucker's previous (POLICE SQUAD) and future work (the NAKED GUN franchise, in which Omar Sharif foreshadows OJ Simpson's accident-prone Wile E. Coyote type)...</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UIq024pJZuQ/YQFmmLfbPyI/AAAAAAABkMc/jhF6I7Bo2RU2jk7Hm8a8icfmE7uYcpvAwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-28%2Bat%2B6.50.28%2BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UIq024pJZuQ/YQFmmLfbPyI/AAAAAAABkMc/jhF6I7Bo2RU2jk7Hm8a8icfmE7uYcpvAwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-28%2Bat%2B6.50.28%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Cows through binoculars from TOP SECRET!</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Perhaps the writing/directing trio worked too hard to accomplish a multi-satire that's gained a pretty decent cult following despite (and because of) the disappointing opening-weekend... Or those who tire of the AIRPLANE! accolades while pushing the dark-horse notion that this one's a lot better, funnier... </p><p></p><p>Overall TOP SECRET! is yet another "underrated failure because it wasn't treated fairly" that <i>does</i> deserve more recognition... including Val Kilmer's naturally appealing comic timing sustained in REAL GENIUS... but perhaps more for the entertainingly energetic ambition than end result. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, amar sharif, eighties, escape, ian mcneice, lucy gutteridge, musical, peter cushing, satire, spy, val kilmer, warren clarke, world war II

VAL KILMER & LUCY GUTTERIDGE SEND UP SPIES IN 'TOP SECRET!'

Val Kilmer as Nick Rivers in TOP SECRET! Directors: Jim Abrahams, David & Jerry Zucker Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 Nonstop humor with a re...

HAMMER'S 'THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL' WITH CHRISTOPHER LEE

<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/--_HxBkhSjUI/YP5sqF2TMkI/AAAAAAABkJA/da6I2kVPxdMRF8sbOg4R7pHDIXlQwRCdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1159/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-24%2Bat%2B9.36.47%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="959" data-original-width="1159" height="331" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--_HxBkhSjUI/YP5sqF2TMkI/AAAAAAABkJA/da6I2kVPxdMRF8sbOg4R7pHDIXlQwRCdQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h331/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-24%2Bat%2B9.36.47%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dawn Addams & Christopher Lee Year: 1960 Rating: ***</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The titular scientist in Hammer's usual Victorian era fits the 1800's in his stuffy demeanor until turning into a bohemian wild man frequenting swinging nightclubs and nightlife, providing future real life party animal Oliver Reed a bit part opposite <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/jungle.html">Joy Webster</a>... <br></p><p></p><p>And in the legendary double lead is Paul Massie, not a bad actor but is hardly interesting enough to carry an entire picture like, say, Peter Cushing or, in this particular case, Christopher Lee as a leech rather than neck-sucker... </p><p>His gambling scoundrel character Paul Allen takes advantage of old friend Jekyll by spending his money and romancing his wife... </p><p>Meanwhile, neither Lee or ingenue Dawn Addams recognizes Hyde as being Jekyll with a little less facial hair to differentiate between the same actor; but one has to separate reality from what's a fantastical kind of offbeat thriller with not nearly enough good times when they're rolling, mostly because of the distracting token fatale in snake-charming stripper Norma Marla, whose affair with Jekyll is like... pun-intended... watching two serpents screw in Eden. But, either way, manipulative cheating wife Addams is far more interesting, surreptitiously wicked, and beautiful. Perhaps she too needed two faces. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

christopher lee, dawn addams, exploitation, hammer films, janina faye, joy webster, oliver reed, paul massie, pauline shepherd, sixties, thriller

HAMMER'S 'THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL' WITH CHRISTOPHER LEE

Dawn Addams & Christopher Lee Year: 1960 Rating: *** The titular scientist in Hammer's usual Victorian era fits the 1800's in hi...

JOHN LANDIS WRITES/DIRECTS 'AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON'

<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/--oW9wRiuGqA/YQAiiaoUtZI/AAAAAAABkLU/OiyzAP7Fd4MC8F8mPFGSfEHoLxwqj6zIACLcBGAsYHQ/s942/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-24%2Bat%2B4.29.25%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="942" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--oW9wRiuGqA/YQAiiaoUtZI/AAAAAAABkLU/OiyzAP7Fd4MC8F8mPFGSfEHoLxwqj6zIACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h313/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-24%2Bat%2B4.29.25%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON Year: 1981</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Shame there were such bland DVD covers after years that finally made AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON a cult phenomenon: Like the howling wolf with Big Ben pasted cheaply behind; <i>still</i> the best image is the original... </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/--DhipVXFJiI/YPryhOX9ROI/AAAAAAABkBg/alirEaSjH2IEchznt2IV8xBjByidIzaOQCLcBGAsYHQ/s444/512VM8DRN1L._SY445_.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="305" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--DhipVXFJiI/YPryhOX9ROI/AAAAAAABkBg/alirEaSjH2IEchznt2IV8xBjByidIzaOQCLcBGAsYHQ/w138-h200/512VM8DRN1L._SY445_.jpeg" width="138"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>1981 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Two hikers beneath a full <i>blue moon</i>, spooked by what's unseen... </p><p>Enter the perfectly suited David Naughton as David Kessler, whose idea it was to hike the English Moors in-step with reluctant scene-stealer Griffin Dunne as Jack Goodman, making WEREWOLF a sublime buddy flick... despite the latter being torn to shreds during act one, mostly taking place in a rural village's pub (The Slaughtered Lamb) replete with great British character-actors like Brian Glover as the barroom's boisterous yet superstitious lead keeping an eye on timid David Schofield while Lila Kaye pours the ale...</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/-anFoEUnXHa8/YPqJ_mgytSI/AAAAAAABj-c/0JFbbp124kU_q0BdUauHZirRnklWA1tlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1566/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-23%2Bat%2B12.58.16%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1149" data-original-width="1566" height="294" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-anFoEUnXHa8/YPqJ_mgytSI/AAAAAAABj-c/0JFbbp124kU_q0BdUauHZirRnklWA1tlQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h294/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-23%2Bat%2B12.58.16%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Landis sustains See You Next Wednesday IN LONDON</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Then the hospital where David recovers (and Jack is dead), perfectly dotted with eerie, surreal nightmares leading to Jack himself returning in grotesque yet affably charming corpse form... </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/-v8y445CZbcQ/YPsGXsN_r-I/AAAAAAABkCY/gbopDAmGBQk4ecVzd6oEGaAxNXGEVjxEACLcBGAsYHQ/s745/218198370_1283853108710529_2841510828798217356_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="612" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v8y445CZbcQ/YPsGXsN_r-I/AAAAAAABkCY/gbopDAmGBQk4ecVzd6oEGaAxNXGEVjxEACLcBGAsYHQ/w164-h200/218198370_1283853108710529_2841510828798217356_n.jpeg" width="164"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Original Artwork Returns</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of several unique quirks comedy director John Landis was unfairly critiqued, years before humor and horror were inseparable... <br></p><p>Meanwhile nurse Alex ala Jenny Agutter provides not only the gorgeous ingenue-girlfriend but is as strong-willed as vulnerable; and the wise doctor, played by slowburn exposition-spouting John Woodvine, brings an intelligent <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/hammer%20films">Hammer Films</a> style investigatory aspect — a sophisticated ringer of sorts. But it's makeup shaman Rick Baker who steals the show: His Oscar-winning man-to-wolf transformation has never been equaled since, leading to the inevitable body count massacres (like Michael Carter stalked in an ominous tube station) as each sequence feels like its very own ghostly, gothic, offbeat campfire tale.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, brian glover, cult, david naughton, david schofield, eighties, england, griffin dunne, horror, jenny agutter, john landis, john woodvine, lila kaye, michael carter, monster, thriller, werewolf

JOHN LANDIS WRITES/DIRECTS 'AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON'

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON Year: 1981 Shame there were such bland DVD covers after years that finally made AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDO...

CHARLES BRONSON IN 'THE WHITE BUFFALO' WITH CLINT WALKER

<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/-qF08SOGq9cY/YPUf6lS3THI/AAAAAAABj3s/gCv-BdIKbt0T8Eu7-16SiIDFT8I-1k7BACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-07-18%252Bat%252B2.28.49%252BPM%252B2.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="391" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qF08SOGq9cY/YPUf6lS3THI/AAAAAAABj3s/gCv-BdIKbt0T8Eu7-16SiIDFT8I-1k7BACLcBGAsYHQ/w391-h400/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-07-18%252Bat%252B2.28.49%252BPM%252B2.jpeg" width="391"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE WHITE BUFFALO Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Within THE WHITE BUFFALO is a different kind of Western that Charles Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson not only wanted to make, but did... at least halfway through: One where Clint Walker has the kind of vengeful spite to kill main character/real life legend Bill Hickock because of the past he's both dodging and facing... thrust towards the gigantic titular beast that, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/jaws-clone">like JAWS</a>, a trio of contrary men band together to expire...</p><p></p><p>In particular Native American Will Sampson who, like the other gentle giant actor Walker, have never been so formidable, also portraying a fictionally-set true legend, Crazy Horse, with his own revenge towards the buffalo that killed his child... giving an overboard performance more than a touch of camp...</p><p>And the always capable Jack Warden is a one-eyed trapper... the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2015/06/triad-jaws.html">Robert Shaw</a> here and, though full of tough dialogue, is rather underused. Then again BUFFALO is Bronson's slowburn ride while that offbeat Indian injects a metaphysical vibe into the otherwise mainstream adventure, with exploitative deaths (like lush Cara Williams with Stuart Whitman as a stagecoach-riding racist<i> just askin' for it</i>) and a grungy-looking tavern shootout despite period-clothing that, like the superior BREAKHEART PASS, seems straight out of wardrobe<i>.</i>.. Leading to a climax that's more anticipatory than the blunt violence the first half had already disposed of and is, overall, a unique passion-project from its very conception, so there was probably no other choice than for THE WHITE BUFFALO to become a cult film.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, cara williams, charles bronson, clint walker, creature, cult, exploitation, jack warden, jaws-clone, martin kove, seventies, stuart whitman, western, will sampson

CHARLES BRONSON IN 'THE WHITE BUFFALO' WITH CLINT WALKER

Title: THE WHITE BUFFALO Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2 Within THE WHITE BUFFALO is a different kind of Western that Charles Bronson and director...

CHARLES BRONSON IN 'LOVE AND BULLETS' FEATURING PAUL KOSLO

<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/-rvfiLp2t6sg/YO2J8HTUUzI/AAAAAAABjdU/KuskzliagRs2QDg9FlO8XkanlFyOzlAWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s782/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-13%2Bat%2B5.16.59%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="782" height="270" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rvfiLp2t6sg/YO2J8HTUUzI/AAAAAAABjdU/KuskzliagRs2QDg9FlO8XkanlFyOzlAWQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h270/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-13%2Bat%2B5.16.59%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson Love & Bullets Year: 1979 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>For some, during Charles Bronson's Cannon era, sadly gone felt the MGM days. But it was Lew Grade's ITC that bridged the action star in-between, and LOVE AND BULLETS... once again casting Bronson alongside wife Jill Ireland, keeping her protected from killers... makes the similar, decade-later action/adventure ASSASSINATION seem like THE MECHANIC by comparison... </p><p></p><p>Only instead of the Secret Service protecting the President's wife it's an Arizona cop protecting a gangster's moll from being killed by a hit man hired by said gangster. Providing Henry Silva another coldblooded turn, partnered with Bronson-flick regular Paul Koslo, both working for (or rather getting paid by) a stuttering mobster overacted by Rod Steiger, whose performance still fares better than Ireland's incessant dumb blonde (in a dumb blonde wig). Not only does she drag Bronson down as the two traipse throughout snowy Switzerland, from trains to boats to tunnels backed by a nice Lalo Schifrin score that deserved a better platform, her southern accent and overall presence is an annoying bulwark in a feature that <i>does</i> include some terrific moments of Bronson style violence, like lethal axe-throwing, creating a makeshift blow-dart, and being one step ahead of the killers that often seem as bored as their prey... The latter without any real LOVE and hardly dodging any BULLETS either. And being more a slowburn adventure than sporadic action, it is, particularly after midnight, not an altogether terrible way to kill time. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, bradford dillman, charles bronson, europe, jill ireland, mafia, paul koslo, rod steiger, seventies

CHARLES BRONSON IN 'LOVE AND BULLETS' FEATURING PAUL KOSLO

Charles Bronson Love & Bullets Year: 1979 Rating: **1/2 For some, during Charles Bronson's Cannon era, sadly gone felt the MGM days....

CHARLES BRONSON & JASON ROBARDS REUNITE IN 'CABOBLANCO'

<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/-5Q96CQhLqI4/YPVIJUPasTI/AAAAAAABj6U/iLH-S_Co_hsqGUiANb9rMVYqsMFbkzxWACLcBGAsYHQ/s921/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-18%2Bat%2B11.43.11%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="921" height="304" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Q96CQhLqI4/YPVIJUPasTI/AAAAAAABj6U/iLH-S_Co_hsqGUiANb9rMVYqsMFbkzxWACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h304/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-18%2Bat%2B11.43.11%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Cabo Blanco Year: 1980 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This spiritual remake of CASABANCA about an American who runs a Peruvian hotel/nightclub harboring a French woman who knows about a local sunken ship's treasure is also similar to future blockbuster TITANIC; and for some reason the cache-seeking ship's captain, played by youthful surrogate hero <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/10/jaws-3-sucks-greatly.html">Simon MacCorkindale</a> sending a mini-sub to investigate, also narrates, eventually injured since this <i>is</i> a <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/charles%20bronson">Charles Bronson</a> vehicle: But unlike the Bogart classic, Dominique Sanda and Bronson's Giff Hoyt didn't have a previous affair... </p><p>And yet she <i>did</i> have a former French lover (his friend) who provided details about that treasure which... sadly, since <i>fortune hunting neo noirs</i> are usually pretty good... is quickly <i>buried</i> in a limited plot concerning pressure from the second/third of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Jason Robards as the Nazi main villain (hooked with blonde moll <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/07/downhill-racer.html">Carmilla Sparv</a> who should have replaced the wooden Sanda).... even less threatening than his native law-leg Fernando Rey or Aryan assassin <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/04/theparty.html">Denny Miller</a>. Meanwhile the biggest shame is that CABO has fantastically manned camera-direction by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/06/ClockworkPassage.html">J. Lee Thompson</a>, seeming more in-tune with a modern (1980) thriller that the wardrobe and certain technological aspects also resemble. And while primed to beat a lot of people up, Bronson's hardly in any <i>real</i> danger throughout — so why even bother?<br><span></span></p>

camilla sparv, charles bronson, denny miller, dominique sanda, eighties, fernando rey, j. lee thompson, jason robards, mystery, nazi, neo noir, simon maccorkindale, thriller, time period, treasure

CHARLES BRONSON & JASON ROBARDS REUNITE IN 'CABOBLANCO'

Title: Cabo Blanco Year: 1980 Rating: **1/2 This spiritual remake of CASABANCA about an American who runs a Peruvian hotel/nightclub harbori...

CHARLES BRONSON TRAINING ELVIS PRESLEY IN 'KID GALAHAD'

<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/-3DvYthplEZY/YPE5Uc6gFyI/AAAAAAABjg4/hK1N0TowtVodW9Bjr48CX3RNqdc1bYIvQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1608/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-15%2Bat%2B10.15.40%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1045" data-original-width="1608" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3DvYthplEZY/YPE5Uc6gFyI/AAAAAAABjg4/hK1N0TowtVodW9Bjr48CX3RNqdc1bYIvQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h260/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-15%2Bat%2B10.15.40%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson & Elvis Presley Year: 1961 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>If there's one Elvis Presley vehicle where the songs would be best left out altogether it's KID GALAHAD since his performance, as sparing partner turned titular phenom <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/boxing">boxer</a>, is fantastic, especially surrounded by Gig Young as a rural boxing-camp owner/mob-bullied manager and trainer <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/charles%20bronson">Charles Bronson</a>: it's better than just a mainstream remake or another commercial attempt to manufacture hit Elvis tunes...</p><p>One he croons about how lovely moonlight walks are in the daylight, and our token ingenue in Gig's younger sister Joan Blackman is outshined by Lola Albright as his put-upon girlfriend with an actual character-arc, desperately wanting her man to take their relationship seriously (if mentioned at all) while Blackman and Elvis gel too quickly to matter. But in the male ego department it's said Bronson avoided Elvis on-set despite their on-screen chemistry; not only is The King's acting surprisingly natural here but the usually iron-clad Bronson plays gentle and vulnerable, eventually maimed by mobster <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/richard%20devon">Richard Devon</a> between capably shot bouts by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/phil%20karlson">Phil Karlson</a> despite Elvis having requested CASABLANCA director Michael Curtiz: So for Bronson and Presley this was <i>not</i> the start of a beautiful friendship, which is sad since they fit so nicely together. </p><p><span></span></p>

boxing, charles bronson, elvis presley, gig young, joan blackman, lola albright, melodrama, michael dante, music, phil karlson, richard devon, sixties

CHARLES BRONSON TRAINING ELVIS PRESLEY IN 'KID GALAHAD'

Charles Bronson & Elvis Presley Year: 1961 Rates: ***1/2 If there's one Elvis Presley vehicle where the songs would be best left out...

WALTER MATTHAU STEPS UP FOR DON SIEGEL'S 'CHARLEY VARRICK'

<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/-zHohb0WR5Uk/YPOvZSW0iRI/AAAAAAABjsQ/8AsKmtRJCI4gFtcGWJUByzwbzdbDtijvQCLcBGAsYHQ/s412/3727912-2491004.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zHohb0WR5Uk/YPOvZSW0iRI/AAAAAAABjsQ/8AsKmtRJCI4gFtcGWJUByzwbzdbDtijvQCLcBGAsYHQ/w364-h400/3727912-2491004.jpeg" width="364"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Charley Varrick Year: 1973 Rates: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ironically the opening credits stating A <i>SIEGEL FILM</i> appears beneath a full moon in an otherwise bright-lit/daytime Neo Noir, referring to director Don Siegel, best known for DIRTY HARRY and before that a string of actual Noirs followed by action flicks and a classic sci-fi... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet CHARLEY VARRICK is his best work, and a chance for Walter Matthau to stretch beyond comedy while keeping his usual glib persona, mixed with a calloused experience needed as a bi-plane stunt flyer turned crop duster turned one-time bank robber with tightly-wound partner Andy Robinson and getaway driving wife <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2010/03/jacqueline-scott-planet-of-apes.html">Jacqueline Scott</a>, whose minimal screen-time provides a genuinely violent half to this middle-age Bonnie & Clyde... soon narrowed into just Matthau and young brash Vietnam vet Robinson, winding up with mob cash... So crooked banker John Vernon hires deadly tracker-assassin Joe Don Banker... </p><p>The contrasting villains each going from place to place in the rural west to find and KILL CHARLEY VARRICK (the British title), who's also hopping around, keeping one step ahead in a cat-and-mouse thriller also starring Woodrow Parfrey as the spooked blagged-bank manager; William Schallert the vengeful local sheriff; old man Tom Tully connecting Varrick with sexy passport forging Sheree North; John Vernon's classy moll Felicia Farr; and hooker Christina Hart annoying Joe Don Baker's Molly, put up in a cat house... and other than his palpably nightmarish/unstoppable human ox it's Andy Robinson that shines without overacting like his DIRTY HARRY Scorpio, keeping the title character <i>and</i> audience on edge... Fully rapt in this smart and intriguing, cold-blooded page-turner of an underrated gem that obviously inspired Quentin Tarantino's greatest film, the equally underappreciated cerebral caper JACKIE BROWN. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

andy robinson, crime, cult, don siegel, felicia farr, heist, jacqueline scott, joe don baker, john vernon, seventies, sheree north, thriller, tom tully, walter matthau

WALTER MATTHAU STEPS UP FOR DON SIEGEL'S 'CHARLEY VARRICK'

Title: Charley Varrick Year: 1973 Rates: ****1/2 Ironically the opening credits stating A SIEGEL FILM appears beneath a full moon in an oth...

ROGER MOORE IN 'ESCAPE TO ATHENA' WITH TELLY SAVALAS

<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/-BUlyrjSQ1dw/YOwZ7kpgHyI/AAAAAAABjb4/oMGiE4rA82MDJvGf1m2YTe6vDoqLrWFmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s467/escape-to-athena-movie-poster-1979-1020551523.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="467" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BUlyrjSQ1dw/YOwZ7kpgHyI/AAAAAAABjb4/oMGiE4rA82MDJvGf1m2YTe6vDoqLrWFmQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h360/escape-to-athena-movie-poster-1979-1020551523.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Escape to Athena Year: 1979 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>About the only thing ESCAPE TO ATHENA is known for is how miscast the famously British James Bond actor Roger Moore is at playing a WWII Nazi... but Moore's actually a charming German major reluctantly running a Greek Island-set POW camp and can care less about Hitler... </p><p>In fact he's what true Nazi villain Anthony Valentine calls "an antique collector" so, as a German Archeologist flirting with sassy ingenue Stefanie Powers, Moore fits much better than scene-wrecker Elliott Gould, partnered with Powers as a captured USO team... and the goofy, flamboyant Gould seems lost in the wrong movie...</p><p>One that's tonally-challenged either way, showing a public execution one minute and silly pratfalls the next: Yet ESCAPE <i>is</i> beautifully directed by George P. Cosmatos, using creative camera shots to cover what feels like every inch of the sea-cliff Greek village of antique buildings and glorious ruins, where the other characters fare better like Sonny Bono as an endearing Italian chef, David Niven as an experienced old Brit and Richard Roundtree as a token black con man, eventually joining Greek cutthroat Telly Savalas and heart-of-gold-hooker Claudia Cardinale. So despite the maligned reputation, ATHENA has loads of neat action, explosions, gun fights, twists, turns, and only the overlong race-against-time climb to a treasure-laden mountain slows down this adventurous/ambitious Lew Grade produced b-picture... that ultimately tries too hard for epic mainstream status. A far better action than heist flick. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, claudia cardinale, comedy, elliott gould, ensemble, heist, prison, richard roundtree, roger moore, seventies, sonny bono, stefanie powers, telly savalas, william holden, world war II

ROGER MOORE IN 'ESCAPE TO ATHENA' WITH TELLY SAVALAS

Title: Escape to Athena Year: 1979 Rates: ***1/2 About the only thing ESCAPE TO ATHENA is known for is how miscast the famously British Jame...

RIP WILLIAM SMITH 'ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN' CLINT EASTWOOD

<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/-_yYOVYnVduA/YOmVw4tg-nI/AAAAAAABjVg/MDxCqGsRl5wSdnJAdjUZ5feU0S95QSVBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1354/23.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1071" data-original-width="1354" height="316" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_yYOVYnVduA/YOmVw4tg-nI/AAAAAAABjVg/MDxCqGsRl5wSdnJAdjUZ5feU0S95QSVBgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h316/23.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Smith pointing the way Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The popular sequel ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN surpasses BUT LOOSE by getting the bickering love story between Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke out of the way, and while Geoffrey Lewis as Clint's junkyard business partner deserved more scenes, William Smith adds genuine bad ass legitimacy and alone takes the place of the random HARD TIMES style money-brawls spread throughout the original, as it's all one big anticipated match here, a kind of QUIET MAN moveable bout filmed nicely by Clint's stuntman buddy Buddy Van Horn who, like Smith himself, also died recently, so let this be a quick memorial for both...</p><p></p><p>William Smith was one of the great heavies of cinema, and television, peaking a few years back as villain's villain Falconetti in both <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/06/falcon-eddie.html">RICH MAN, POOR MAN</a> series, and before that swung fists in a slew of biker, horror, blaxploitation and exploitation flicks. But what made the more mainstream ANY so great is he's a nice tough guy, who becomes friends with Clint's Philo Beddoe before the match... Philo friends with that famous orangutan pet Clyde, doing the same "Right Hook" to knock down a biker gang, one of several repeats including Ruth Gordon doing her noisy old broad character: So ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN allows the viewer to hangout with these hangout-movie characters instead of going through the motions of getting to know them. And so, Beer's To You, William Smith... and Buddy Van Horn too. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, clint eastwood, comedy, eighties, geoffrey lewis, ruth gordon, sondra locke, william smith

RIP WILLIAM SMITH 'ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN' CLINT EASTWOOD

William Smith pointing the way Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2 The popular sequel ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN surpasses BUT LOOSE by getting the bickerin...

CHARLES BRONSON IN 'MAN WITH A CAMERA' WITH ANNE NEYLAND

<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/-GxfmDW9jvQw/YOko9Z7OEuI/AAAAAAABjOI/Y56CaTyGpQYxkK32agw5vA_PnJgjnFQwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s914/13.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="914" height="306" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GxfmDW9jvQw/YOko9Z7OEuI/AAAAAAABjOI/Y56CaTyGpQYxkK32agw5vA_PnJgjnFQwwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h306/13.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson & Anne Neyland Year: 1959 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Few know that Charles Bronson had his very own television series, and it was a pretty good one in the days when some of those Fifties' B&W crime shows don't stand up very well: But MAN WITH A CAMERA takes a unique view in that Bronson's Mike Kovac is a professional photographer, not a cop or a private investigator, so his input is that of a specialist, and for camera buffs there are a lot of great old equipment and techniques... </p><p>But for Noir-leaning fans there's tons of action, great actors and a lot of gorgeous dames, some good girls others femme fatale types; the latter in the second/last season THE POSITIVE NEGATIVE is Susan Cummings who, like Bronson himself, would wind up on a science-fiction series called THE TWILIGHT ZONE, and while Bronson played a post-nuclear Adam (and Eve), Cummings found out/and famously shouted that TO SERVE MAN was a cookbook! But the good gal here is the primary reason for this post and these pictures, and the Film Noir HIDDEN FEAR starlet Anne Neyland is one of the most beautiful actresses, and didn't do a lot and should have, here playing a nightclub photographer that haphazardly snaps a picture of a married mobster and his moll/lover (Cummings), and her friend Mike has to clean up the mess, getting kidnapped and dodging bullets in the process, making this one of the best episodes. </p><p><span></span></p>

anne neyland, charles bronson, crime, fifties, film noir or melodrama, susan cummings, suspense, TV

CHARLES BRONSON IN 'MAN WITH A CAMERA' WITH ANNE NEYLAND

Charles Bronson & Anne Neyland Year: 1959 Rates: **** Few know that Charles Bronson had his very own television series, and it was a pre...

ANNE NEYLAND & CARL ALFALFA SWITZER IN 'MOTORCYCLE GANG'

<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/-oaMBwDwByQA/YOlo_5PGo9I/AAAAAAABjSI/SeYmOXEEtHUkznxqQ-8qvmdS1ob0QP7EACLcBGAsYHQ/s1536/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-09%2Bat%2B11.49.14%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1255" data-original-width="1536" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oaMBwDwByQA/YOlo_5PGo9I/AAAAAAABjSI/SeYmOXEEtHUkznxqQ-8qvmdS1ob0QP7EACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h326/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-09%2Bat%2B11.49.14%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Anne Neyland in Motorcycle Gang Year: 1957 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Camp is the one description given to American International's MOTORCYCLE GANG, obviously influenced by THE WILD ONE with Marlon Brando, and both use equally embarrassing rear-projection road shots... Meanwhile, that ONE is considered a classic while GANG wallows in obscurity... <br></p><p>But it <i>does</i> have some nifty b-roll of real bikes cruising the boulevard and ultimately a rural race track... for a dangerous finale between two male rivals with one girl in-between...<br></p><p></p><p>That being new-dame-in-town Anne Neyland in a standout performance since in other roles, like the Andre de Toth Film Noir <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/09/fidden-ear.html">HIDDEN FEAR</a>, she basically stands around looking gorgeous... </p><p>Here she's also intense, defensive, edgy, and can't seem to choose between local good guy Randy, part of a community-run biker group, or returning bad boy Nick, who'd lead the MOTORCYCLE GANG when it really was one... before he landed in jail for something Randy caused... and even complains  during overlong party sequences that distract from a more edgy programmer this could've been. But the real standout is a grown-up Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer as the token joker/comic relief, and, from the legendary OUR GANG to this obscure MOTORCYCLE GANG, he wasn't a bad adult actor at that. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, anne neyland, biker, carl alfalfa switzer, exploitation, fifties, jean moorhead, john ashley, raymond hatton, sport, steven terrell

ANNE NEYLAND & CARL ALFALFA SWITZER IN 'MOTORCYCLE GANG'

Anne Neyland in Motorcycle Gang Year: 1957 Rating: *** Camp is the one description given to American International's MOTORCYCLE GANG, ob...

CHARLES BRONSON 'SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR' ANTHONY PERKINS

<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/-em1kKjztRFk/YOVp9685EXI/AAAAAAABjG0/UgquX6JT2BgAoZtpnvxxpZ2sWqzLmh98QCLcBGAsYHQ/s848/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-06%2Bat%2B7.21.50%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="848" height="390" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-em1kKjztRFk/YOVp9685EXI/AAAAAAABjG0/UgquX6JT2BgAoZtpnvxxpZ2sWqzLmh98QCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h390/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-06%2Bat%2B7.21.50%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frenchy Arthouse cover fitting the year 1971 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>French shot/English speaking psychological thriller mirroring François Truffaut mirroring Alfred Hitchcock has a perfectly cast Anthony Perkins as a neurosurgeon taking an amnesiac patient to his plush home in order to (supposedly) help the nameless stranger, played by an only slightly miscast Charles Bronson, pacing taut and timid like a caged beast during his pre-fame <i>European Phase</i>... </p><p>But this is really Perkins' ride, providing another hiding-a-dark-secret creepy guy role...<br></p><p></p><p>And from the mellow cadence, what could have been cat-and-mouse is more like mouse-and-mouse, or mouse and toothless cat, even during Bronson's sporadic tantrums in a noirish plot involving Jill Ireland as the doc's cheating wife (employing a cute Agathe Natanson as their maid, who'd have fit the ingenue role better)... <br></p><p>It's no irony that both Bronson and Perkins are ultimately best remembered playing killers the audience sympathizes with, maybe even roots for, and director Nicolas Gessner uses effective zooms and strategic camera angles/setups to the advantage of this "chessboard mystery" (involving one set) where both antagonist and protagonist seem equally sinister and vulnerable. And despite SOMEONE BEHIND THE WINDOW wielding an art-house short film plot-line stretched to 90-minutes, it doesn't drag either way. </p><p><span></span></p>

agathe natanson, anthony perkins, charles bronson, french, jill ireland, mystery, nicolas gessner, seventies, thriller

CHARLES BRONSON 'SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR' ANTHONY PERKINS

Frenchy Arthouse cover fitting the year 1971 Rating: **** French shot/English speaking psychological thriller mirroring François Truffaut mi...

CHARLES BRONSON SERVES VINCENT PRICE IN 'HOUSE OF WAX'

<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/-scU8-3I9K5A/YOQUK4sKFvI/AAAAAAABjCc/OWeXgRILsjEK8Lo8lW3uJhfdwMBZpUigQCLcBGAsYHQ/s823/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-05%2Bat%2B7.42.09%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="823" height="355" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-scU8-3I9K5A/YOQUK4sKFvI/AAAAAAABjCc/OWeXgRILsjEK8Lo8lW3uJhfdwMBZpUigQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h355/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-05%2Bat%2B7.42.09%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Bronson carries HOUSE OF WAX Year: 1953 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The best part of HOUSE OF WAX is the drawn-out prologue setting up how Vincent Price adores his dramatically historical wax creations ranging from Joan of Arc to John Wilkes Booth to his prize, Marie Antoinette... </p><p>As he goes on and on about each piece and how much time and dedication was put in, the fire set by his greedy antagonist partner is not only heartbreaking but feels like the end of a brilliantly beautiful short film in itself: Which doesn't mean the rest of director André De Toth's visually stunning 3D classic completely falls short... </p><p>Although Price's transformation from a sophisticated artist into a crippled mask-wearing madman is a bit clumsy, and somewhat confusing, jammed with uninteresting would-be male heroes yet is eventually reignited by de Toth's previous year's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/7777/03/CrimeWave.html">CRIME WAVE</a> ingenue Phyllis Kirk, missing her missing roommate Carolyn Jones... who ends up in wax and <i>she could</i> be next. But the most intense character is played by Charles Bronson in his character-actor days, also from CRIME WAVE, here as a borderline psychotic mute servant Igor, and not surprising, given his now legendary prowess — with Price on the sidelines he alone takes the action mantle; a genre that WAX molds into after the colorfully Gothic-horror catapult. But hey, it's 3D... where movement is a must. </p><p><span></span></p>

3D, andre de toth, body count, carolyn jones, charles bronson, cult, exploitation, fifties, horror, phyllis kirk, vincent price

CHARLES BRONSON SERVES VINCENT PRICE IN 'HOUSE OF WAX'

Bronson carries HOUSE OF WAX Year: 1953 Rates: ***1/2 The best part of HOUSE OF WAX is the drawn-out prologue setting up how Vincent Price a...

CHARLES BRONSON & ROBERT DUVALL BANDED APART IN 'BREAKOUT'

<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/-0WhR3UYzcXA/YOPqveQI9VI/AAAAAAABjAA/E09qgCaT-L0refvPhUpLGyYh6d83ciU8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s716/4b981aa4-bd9a-4076-a1d8-d1ec8d4b5167_1.a0f1daf583fd45463629eb56a1747fee.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="605" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0WhR3UYzcXA/YOPqveQI9VI/AAAAAAABjAA/E09qgCaT-L0refvPhUpLGyYh6d83ciU8ACLcBGAsYHQ/w338-h400/4b981aa4-bd9a-4076-a1d8-d1ec8d4b5167_1.a0f1daf583fd45463629eb56a1747fee.jpeg" width="338"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BREAKOUT Year: 1975 Rates: ***</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The violent prologue of the 1975 Tom Gries jailbreak flick is so Sam Peckinpah you could call it BRING ME THE HEAD OF ROBERT DUVALL, and the Bloody Sam similarities include echoed gunshots under the hot Mexico sun; a white shirt soaked with gory, bright red blood; a body falling to the ground in slow motion as the opening credits appear across  paused-images; and Jerry Goldsmith's score beginning soft/subtle with skeletal vibes leading into a Spanish groove... </p><p></p><p>And even beyond all that, BREAKOUT is a modern Spaghetti Western (released the same year as Gries/Bronson's real Western BREAKHEART PASS) wherein action hero Charles Bronson is similar to his colorful MR. MAJESTYK character but even more playfully cocky and wisecracking... </p><p>A small-plane pilot who doesn't just narrow his eyes to get what he's after — more of a human being than a big screen steel-jawed demigod, giving this otherwise sparse and gritty, rural crime-based melodrama more than a dash of genuine personality throughout. Although the flip-side can be tough and downright frustrating, that is, having one of the all-time great actors, Robert Duvall, incapable of doing anything except suffer inside a Mexican prison cell, only to fail at several escape attempts, getting buried alive and beaten/bullied by guards: Yet the glass is half full with the adventurous Bronson in the air while the grounded Duvall waits/hopes on the ground; the latter whose wife, played by Jill Ireland, is stuck in-between these polar opposites: One's a rich man (grandson of business tycoon John Huston) facing a thirty-year sentence, and the other a working class pilot living from paycheck to paycheck — finally happening upon this proverbial goldmine. </p><p><span></span></p>

charles bronson, escape, jill ireland, john huston, prison, randy quaid, robert duvall, seventies, tom gries

CHARLES BRONSON & ROBERT DUVALL BANDED APART IN 'BREAKOUT'

Title: BREAKOUT Year: 1975 Rates: *** The violent prologue of the 1975 Tom Gries jailbreak flick is so Sam Peckinpah you could call it BRIN...

CHARLES BRONSON WITH ALAIN DELON IN 'FAREWELL, FRIEND'

<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/-JkFnliASYnc/YOfYg-UWh-I/AAAAAAABjLE/Q8l0IhMnktsBMxQkEwfQNxBS7lcnrCIwACLcBGAsYHQ/s794/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-08%2Bat%2B9.34.57%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="794" height="349" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JkFnliASYnc/YOfYg-UWh-I/AAAAAAABjLE/Q8l0IhMnktsBMxQkEwfQNxBS7lcnrCIwACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h349/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-08%2Bat%2B9.34.57%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>FAREWELL, FRIEND Year: 1968 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The title FAREWELL, FRIEND makes no sense yet are actual words spoken by one of two anti-buddy buddies who'd spent years in the Foreign Legion without knowing each other, but they get off the same boat with a load of expository dialogue that you best keep a scorecard to follow the shoddy pulp-inspired plot as, basically and ultimately, this odd couple... one a French medic, the other a crooked American... attempt to crack a big safe in a large, well-armed, multi-guarded building... And why the title's nonsensical is that Bronson's pimp character says things for no apparent reason, especially "Yeah!" whenever something happens that makes him feel like saying... "Yeah!" </p><p></p><p>But Alain Delon is the tough silent type, and this film's obvious lead, actually having hand-picked Bronson from admiring his zesty performance as <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/08/early-chuck.html">MACHINE GUN KELLY</a> eight-years earlier... What's ironic is Delon keeps Bronson from reaching equally ferocious heights by either a punch in the nose or a macho wrestling match, especially in a painfully overlong sequence where, during that epic second-act heist, both get locked inside a strongroom, close to death, followed by Bronson being beaten/interrogated and Delon beating-up the film's nice girl Brigitte Fossey while having initially fallen sap to sneaky double-crossing femme fatalle Olga Georges-Picot... Perhaps if FAREWELL, FRIEND was a dark comedy, and didn't take itself so seriously, it'd have a more even-keeled groove... And get this... Bronson <i>wouldn't </i>be the straight man!</p><span></span>

alain delon, brigitte fossey, buddy, charles bronson, crime, exploitation, french, heist, mob, olga georges-picot, seventies

CHARLES BRONSON WITH ALAIN DELON IN 'FAREWELL, FRIEND'

FAREWELL, FRIEND Year: 1968 Rating: *** The title FAREWELL, FRIEND makes no sense yet are actual words spoken by one of two anti-buddy buddi...

LEE MAJORS & CHRIS MAKEPEACE TAKING ON 'THE LAST CHASE'

<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/-ONfuu9ih4yQ/YOpoDQ6hO2I/AAAAAAABjVw/xYx37NpIVsYT1RXKIde1L_0LiQMlcJfUACLcBGAsYHQ/s969/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-10%2Bat%2B8.25.48%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="831" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ONfuu9ih4yQ/YOpoDQ6hO2I/AAAAAAABjVw/xYx37NpIVsYT1RXKIde1L_0LiQMlcJfUACLcBGAsYHQ/w343-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-10%2Bat%2B8.25.48%2BPM.jpeg" width="343"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: The Last Chase Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Well here’s a movie description you won't see today: "In the near future, evil fascists have forced everyone to recycle and drive electric cars...” Made during the tail end of the oil crisis in the early eighties, this low budget science-fiction wears its agenda on the main character’s sleeve...</p><p></p><p>Lee Majors is an ex race car driver who, living in a world where disease (with people wearing masks and take vaccines, sound familiar?) has taken many of the inhabits, and it's all been blamed on oil and automobiles... so he makes a statement by (after decades of being paid to warn students about automobiles) driving a 917-10 Porsche race-car past the outskirts of town, and he’s not alone: MY BODYGUARD actor Chris Makepeace, as the only student not “brainwashed” by the rascally environmentalists, joins Lee while Burgess Meredith, a seventy-year-old Vietnam Veteran (about the age they are now), is sent in a jet fighter to dispose of our revving heroes.<br> </p><p></p><p>There’s not much of what the title promises, just the Porsche cruising idyll through mountain roads and at one point taking a break at a rural location for Majors to have a quick fling. All the while Meredith keeps on their tail, but even he’s kept in check by the main villain, watching on a big screen from a domed building, ready to wield a mountaintop laser-beam if the old veteran, who has a heart of gold, fails his mission... Here’s when, during THE LAST ten minutes, not only the most suspenseful moments occur, but there’s an actual CHASE! Overall a pretty bad sci-fi flick if you want non-stop action and/or if you prefer a movie to live up to its title, but there are moments of pleasantly cheesy, time-filling fun. And the final line, muttered by the dictator, sums everything up: “This could set us back to the 1980s.” Which at this point in the game isn't so bad at all!<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, burges meredith, chris makespeace, cult, exploitation, lee majors, road movie, science-fiction

LEE MAJORS & CHRIS MAKEPEACE TAKING ON 'THE LAST CHASE'

Title: The Last Chase Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2 Well here’s a movie description you won't see today: "In the near future, evil fas...

ANTHONY QUINN MOUNTS 'THE PASSAGE' W/ MALCOLM MCDOWELL

<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/-ZMDVIfO9DHg/YNzqZ5TTq_I/AAAAAAABiwk/VtUYIwmEwUIGLMqpmkCb2J-uT2t6MT2XgCLcBGAsYHQ/s789/123.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="789" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMDVIfO9DHg/YNzqZ5TTq_I/AAAAAAABiwk/VtUYIwmEwUIGLMqpmkCb2J-uT2t6MT2XgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h360/123.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster art for THE PASSAGE Year: 1979 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's already been written and spoken about that the infamous World War II flick THE PASSAGE is two movies in one; and in the critic's collective opinion, neither are very good: The first being the usual traipsing behind enemy lines action/adventure... </p><p>In this case the snowy mountainous region of Pyrénées France that headliner Anthony Quinn, returned with GUNS OF NAVARONE director J. Lee Thompson, is paid to move a family... led by patriarchal scientist James Mason (with the brains to do a lot of damage if he winds up in Germany's hands)... into neighboring Spain, and the trek's a much anticipated, possibly lethal chore, predicted by Quinn's gruff Basque Shepard that Mason's crippled wife (Patricia Neal) doesn't have a prayer... <br></p><p></p><p>And there are two kids, supposedly teenagers.. The first is the youngest in ultimately intrepid but initially reluctant, mistrusting and whiny son Paul Clemens (sounding as if dubbed at times); and then this film's exploitation-starlet Kay Lenz, who seems cast just to be nakedly manhandled and (possibly) raped by <i>villain's villain/one man Nazi show</i> Malcolm McDowell, channeling his bratty and demented A CLOCKWORK ORANGE character so heavily he could call the French Resistance member Michael Lonsdale his "Droogie" which, in the Stanley Kubrick classic (from the Anthony Burgess novel), means friend, compatriot...<br></p><p></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/-Hgnmgc32AZ8/YNyngbZR3CI/AAAAAAABivs/DbP5fAXhK_MJU0r4oGvw1_339gDuNIt3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s933/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-30%2Bat%2B5.00.16%2BAM%2B4.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="933" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hgnmgc32AZ8/YNyngbZR3CI/AAAAAAABivs/DbP5fAXhK_MJU0r4oGvw1_339gDuNIt3wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h283/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-30%2Bat%2B5.00.16%2BAM%2B4.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster Art for THE PASSAGE</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Which is how McDowell's quirky psychopath Capt. Von Berkow enters into the interrogation... a charming/appreciative <i>Columbo</i> tactic making the captured character AND audience think everything may possibly turn out fine... </p><p></p><p>For which auteur and actor work nicely together and, like Quentin Tarantino's obviously-inspired INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Nazi-villain Hans Landa's Oscar-winning prelude-monologue, the suspense leading up to each interrogated victim's fate is what really matters... </p><p></p><p>But it's not only McDowell providing the ultra-violence as some of the deadliest moments are given to tough/experienced old Quinn... leading the family from shadow-filled alleyways to a Hitchockesque train-ride to the titular mountain journey... he kills any questioning German, and is quite good here, not just going through the motions. Meanwhile, real life war hero Christopher Lee's given a quick yet important Gypsy King cameo along with FRENCH CONNECTION assassin Marcel Bozzuffi, playing nice this time... Then again, compared to crazy Malcolm, they're all pretty affable. But at the same time both sides mean business. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, anthony quinn, christopher lee, exploitation, j. lee thompson, james mason, kay lenz, malcolm mcdowell, michael lonsdale, patricia neal, paul clemens, seventies, war

ANTHONY QUINN MOUNTS 'THE PASSAGE' W/ MALCOLM MCDOWELL

Poster art for THE PASSAGE Year: 1979 Rates: **** It's already been written and spoken about that the infamous World War II flick THE PA...

JACQUES TOURNEUR DIRECTS TOM NEAL IN 'THEY ALL COME OUT'

<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/-Oh-UpnF7sKI/YNy7fXZZRSI/AAAAAAABiwE/q5nQNHjy2uQG5l_2tcOuhGsByCTvRMaVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-06-28%25252Bat%25252B11.23.26%25252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="400" height="353" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oh-UpnF7sKI/YNy7fXZZRSI/AAAAAAABiwE/q5nQNHjy2uQG5l_2tcOuhGsByCTvRMaVwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h353/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-06-28%25252Bat%25252B11.23.26%25252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster art for They All Come Out Year: 1939 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/jacques%20tourneur">Jacques Tourneur's</a> first feature is the polar opposite of edgy Prison Noirs since THEY ALL COME OUT is unapologetic propaganda of the U.S. Correctional System, even more than FBI-backed vehicles like THE STREET WITH NO NAME or G-MEN wherein hard-boiled crime fare plays out from beginning to end following a sparse introduction while this is half-and-half... starting with the usual Depression-era <i>gangsters robbing banks</i> where Rita Johnson's Kitty makes a terrific femme fatale... but with a soft side... working for no-nonsense gang boss Bernard Nedell, who leads muggy thugs and a young handsome driver that the dame actually discovered: Enter future DETOUR actor Tom Neal displaying genuine toughness... yet there's some good in <i>him</i> too... </p><p>And just as the rudimentary rugged crime flick picks up steam, turning into a violent highway trek with cars crashing and guns blasting, the girl and men are suddenly captured and thrown into various prisons. But Tourneur keeps the stories interesting, even when the propaganda kicks into high gear, and, as supportive, open-minded officials decide upon what's <i>best</i> for their inmates sans cliché sadistic wardens, bullying guards and shiv-shoving inmates, THEY ALL COME OUT maintains a pulpy page-turning cadence, keeping the viewer intrigued about how things'll turn out despite being fairly obvious. </p><p><span></span></p>

film noir or melodrama, gangster, jacques tourneur, prison, rita johnson, thirties, tom neal

JACQUES TOURNEUR DIRECTS TOM NEAL IN 'THEY ALL COME OUT'

Poster art for They All Come Out Year: 1939 Rates: ***1/2 Director Jacques Tourneur's first feature is the polar opposite of edgy Priso...

JOHN THAW AS JACK REGAN IN THE FIRST THEATRICAL 'SWEENEY!'

<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/-DOhIsM7yVts/YNbOjGe0R2I/AAAAAAABigI/9TTO0AjwcCcSX934_yI8Hryp1J1mxJ2kQCLcBGAsYHQ/s527/MV5BNjI0YjcwMzEtMTY5NS00Yzg5LWFjNTgtYTM1M2RmNzBlZGJiL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTA2NDc4OA%2540%2540._V1_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="527" height="376" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DOhIsM7yVts/YNbOjGe0R2I/AAAAAAABigI/9TTO0AjwcCcSX934_yI8Hryp1J1mxJ2kQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h376/MV5BNjI0YjcwMzEtMTY5NS00Yzg5LWFjNTgtYTM1M2RmNzBlZGJiL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTA2NDc4OA%2540%2540._V1_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster art for SWEENEY! Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>While <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/sweeney">THE SWEENE</a>Y television series spent equal time with John Thaw's Jack Regan and his younger partner Dennis Waterman as George Carter, they worked overtime turning the devil-faced Thaw into a womanizing sex symbol, hence this theatrical feature hybrid of NORTH BY NORTHWEST about Regan turned Wrong Man force-fed booze (to crash his car and lose his badge), and ALL THE KING'S MEN being that SWEENEY! is a paranoiac Political Thriller with a villain in politician's spokesman Barry Foster, taking out anyone in his path (including Woodward/Bernstein style Collin Weiland) by calling a thug service that seems phone-book ready,  far too easy despite the complicated plot involving... not water like another inspiration CHINATOWN... but oil... </p><p></p><p>And so, with Waterman benign, Thaw's involved in gun fights with tons of running, ducking and hiding. But it's this film's Eva Marie Saint in hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Diane Keen, working for the villain before reluctantly then willingly not only aiding our runaway rogue, but falling madly and predictably in love: Which is normal since every woman in almost every episode of THE SWEENEY melts for the conventionally unattractive Thaw... but it's England where not only J.R.R. Tolkien writes fantasy. And while SWEENEY! is a violently fun, gritty rollercoaster ride... being based on a series about cop partners, two would have worked better than one: another reason to see SWEENEY 2 instead.    <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, barry foster, body count, collin weiland, cop, dennis waterman, diane keen, john thaw, political, seventies, sweeney, thriller, wrong man

JOHN THAW AS JACK REGAN IN THE FIRST THEATRICAL 'SWEENEY!'

Poster art for SWEENEY! Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2 While THE SWEENE Y television series spent equal time with John Thaw's Jack Regan and ...