cult film freak

Written by James M. Tate / 9/18/2018 / No comments / ben gazzara , drama , gena rowlands , independent , joan blondell , john cassavetes , laura johnson , paul stewart , seventies

LAURA JOHNSON HAUNTS GENA ROWLANDS IN 'OPENING NIGHT'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1977 pictured here is haunting beauty Laura Johnson </u></td></tr>
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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'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1932 Director: Roy Del Ruth</u></td></tr>
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Definitely one of the oddest boxing movies ever made, and the first time in James Cagney's early career where his performance is obvious: As punchy Jimmy Kane, he speaks in a forced, dumb-guy dialect that shouldn't have gotten past the rehearsal stage...<br>
<br>
Introduced as a total has-been, with crowds throwing money in the ring before a newer, more relevant fighter's bout, he's sent to a strange and remote New Mexico health farm (taking up the first act in a lonesome, flickering black & white that feels like another movie altogether) where he meets the good girl with a sick son, whose hopeful/helpful input pales to the gorgeous but shallow, conceited and suffocating dame who, back in New York, owns poor Jimmy right down to his flat nose and cauliflower ear —hence surgically altered to fit with her stuffy, pseudo-intellectual crowd... <br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>One day this will be Jack Nicholson WINNER Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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So to protect his facial investment, he dances around the ring instead of fighting, turning off fans and especially Virginia Bruce's sexy society gal Joan Gibson as the entire second half's ruled by her impatient, fickle attitude...<br>
<br>
But then, finally aware of the deplorable situation known to everyone but his hypnotized, duped self, Cagney's limited performance expands into a familiar street savvy edge. Along with fists flying in the right direction (with a jumping-bean style only Cagney could or would pull off), it's a comeback/turnaround that's long overdue. <br>
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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'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-size: large;">FROM HELL ISLAND" </span>year: 1963</u></td></tr>
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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>
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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 American actress Linda Gaye Scott. 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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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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, Payne 
isn't a Wrong Man but his sister could be a Wrong Dame... <br>
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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...

YOUNG BURT REYNOLDS TRIPLE COMMAND ON 'RIVERBOAT'

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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...<br>
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Before he got really famous, he appeared in edgy movies like DELIVERANCE and THE LONGEST YARD, HUSTLE, HOOPER, SHARKY'S MACHINE, to name a few. After he skyrocketed in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT and became a superstar, he'd been around the car movie block in smaller, more cult oriented vehicles like WHITE LIGHTNING and GATOR. And for some, his immense fame became a cult in itself. Following two BANDIT flicks was arguably his greatest "race car" flick (also directed by Hal Needham) CANNONBALL RUN. Alas, like all big stars, The Sequel disintegrated these fun, frolicking movies that seemed made for everyone. The second CANNONBALL hardly involved any race at all, and then... STROKER ACE provided the hammered nails in a coffin that'd already well been shut...<br>

burt reynolds, darren mcgavin, fifties, tribute, TV

YOUNG BURT REYNOLDS TRIPLE COMMAND ON 'RIVERBOAT'

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

GENE NELSON AIMS AT JACK NICHOLSON'S 'THUNDER ISLAND'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Assignment: 1963</u></td></tr>
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Here's a movie that almost was, and nearly could've been — something pretty good: As one of many low budget programmers by 20th Century Fox in the early sixties, THUNDER ISLAND just happens to be co-written by a young starving actor named Jack Nicholson (who doesn't appear), and the set-up is cool enough...<br>
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On a balmy locale straight out of KEY LARGO style Film Noir, Brian Kelly, best known as the two young boys' dad on TV's FLIPPER, ironically runs a boat charter business, and his ex wife and daughter just happen to show up for a visit while, right inside the only hotel, a hit man's being paid by slick Latin beauty Miriam Colin, whose family suffered the wrath of a former dictator from a Cuba-like country, and he's exiled on a nearby, heavily guarded island... you can call it THUNDER ISLAND although the 11th hour bursts of rushed gunfire would hardly be mistaken for cinematic lightning...<br>

action, brian kelly, crime, fay spain, gene nelson, jack nicholson, miriam colon, neo noir, sixties

GENE NELSON AIMS AT JACK NICHOLSON'S 'THUNDER ISLAND'

Year of Assignment: 1963 Here's a movie that almost was, and nearly could've been — something pretty good: As one of many low bu...

KELLY BOHANON & CAROLINE HILDEBRAND IN 'IDAHO TRANSFER'

adventure, apocalyptic future, caroline hildebrand, eco-horror, exploitation, indie, keith carradine, kelly bohanon, peter fonda, road movie, science-fiction, thriller

KELLY BOHANON & CAROLINE HILDEBRAND IN 'IDAHO TRANSFER'

Kelly Bohanon as Karen Braden in Idaho Transfer circa 1973 Director Peter Fonda went the "minimalist" route in his futuristic ...

DANA ANDREWS SIXTIES DISASTER FLICK 'CRACK IN THE WORLD'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xE4IeXMjzJI/W4P5SOGmkZI/AAAAAAAA4sk/7QvR6PtITQIcCsDVSBG4P8yU2b2OCDctwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-27%2Bat%2B12.05.53%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1600" height="246" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xE4IeXMjzJI/W4P5SOGmkZI/AAAAAAAA4sk/7QvR6PtITQIcCsDVSBG4P8yU2b2OCDctwCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-27%2Bat%2B12.05.53%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews charts a Crack in the World YEAR: 1966</u></td></tr>
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Not really a Mad Scientist but more an 
impatient one, with a soft yet distinguished voice, Dana Andrews is surprisingly 
secure and relaxed – and perhaps that fits, since brilliant lunatics 
don't know they're going a little off-kilter, and his Dr. Stephen 
Sorenson is only driven by a lack of time...<br>
<br>
Dying of a blood disease, he 
wants to put his immense experiment beyond the testing stage, a great 
risk in the eyes of younger British scientist Kieron Moore as Dr. Ted 
Rampion, the older doc's student turned antithesis who would actually make a better fit
 for Dana's young trophy wife – another scientist, Maggie, played by gorgeous
blond-haired  b-starlet Janette Scott (Moore and Scott <i>did</i> play husband and 
wife in THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS)...<br>

dana andrews, disaster, janette scott, kieron moore, nuclear, race against time, science-fiction, sixties

DANA ANDREWS SIXTIES DISASTER FLICK 'CRACK IN THE WORLD'

Dana Andrews charts a Crack in the World YEAR: 1966 Not really a Mad Scientist but more an impatient one, with a soft yet distinguished...

JOAN CRAWFORD PLAYS 'DAISY KENYON' WITH DANA ANDREWS

dana andrews, film noir or melodrama, forties, henry fonda, joan crawford, otto preminger, romance

JOAN CRAWFORD PLAYS 'DAISY KENYON' WITH DANA ANDREWS

Joan Crawford fights Dana Andrews YEAR of Release: 1947 Joan Crawford stated that if it weren't for director Otto Preminger, DAISY K...

OTTO PREMINGER DIRECTS DANA ANDREWS IN 'FALLEN ANGEL'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AFQ4s3FVkzY/W35HQj4PSaI/AAAAAAAA4eA/z0KL3quLmEsnV5DcVxqZb-Q72cO4fpSVgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-22%2Bat%2B9.27.12%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="526" height="336" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AFQ4s3FVkzY/W35HQj4PSaI/AAAAAAAA4eA/z0KL3quLmEsnV5DcVxqZb-Q72cO4fpSVgCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-22%2Bat%2B9.27.12%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1945</u></td></tr>
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If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Alice Faye, as naive June Mills, who's mentored by an older, wiser, more cautious Ann Revere as Clara....<br>
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Both had prosperous careers in that decade, the 1940's, and then their 50's resume reads like a clean slate...<br>
<br>
Sadly, more of a <i>Black</i>list for the NATIONAL VELVET Oscar-Winning Revere (who co-starred with Andrews in the lobster-diver drama DEEP WATERS)... But the 20th Century Fox starlet Faye basically quit acting for a long while... Ironically, till she was old enough to be a teenage girl's mother in the remake of STATE FAIR, the original co-starring Andrews... And her career's demise was all because of Otto Preminger's post-LAURA Film Noir collaboration with Dana Andrews, FALLEN ANGEL...<br>

alice faye, ann revere, bruce cabot, dana andrews, film noir, film noir or melodrama, forties, linda darnell, otto preminger

OTTO PREMINGER DIRECTS DANA ANDREWS IN 'FALLEN ANGEL'

Year of Release: 1945 If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Ali...

IF 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA' INFLUENCED 'STAR WARS' SEQUELS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JknReUssSaM/W06nppBK_OI/AAAAAAAA3l8/d5reMsohvtQwezX1n_jHnf9WQITEKdNogCLcBGAs/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="851" height="276" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JknReUssSaM/W06nppBK_OI/AAAAAAAA3l8/d5reMsohvtQwezX1n_jHnf9WQITEKdNogCLcBGAs/s400/1.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Star Wars: 1977 Battlestar Galactica 1978-1979 Empire: 1980 Jedi: 1983</u></td></tr>
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The original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA wasn't very original, snaking special effects and overall style, cadence and character-types from STAR WARS... But there are several elements of Galactica that would end up being used, intentionally or otherwise, in both THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI, starting with...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4HTkf66k31c/W3q-aWyNSBI/AAAAAAAA4Ws/L7Tq09SiBZs1xh7zVm_8qiiGF1bzEjyvgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-20%2Bat%2B4.16.30%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4HTkf66k31c/W3q-aWyNSBI/AAAAAAAA4Ws/L7Tq09SiBZs1xh7zVm_8qiiGF1bzEjyvgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-20%2Bat%2B4.16.30%2BAM.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stormtrooper in Hoth Gear</u></td></tr>
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1) <u>ARMORED HENCHMEN IN THE SNOW</u>: The Cylon in the snow from an episode titled THE GUN AT ICE STATION ZEBRA, based on the classic war movie THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, which, along with THE DAMN BUSTERS, influenced the main plot of STAR WARS: blowing up a massive and powerful, highly destructive weapon...<br>
<br>
There's something about both the chromed, primeval BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Cylon and the white-plated, deadly yet poor-aiming Stormtroopers, contrasting against the pure white snow, that looks very cool, slick and downright formidable, menacing. So as we stridently <i>Imperial March</i> forward with this bizarre and far-fetched premise that should be taken with a grain of Tatooine sand... that perhaps the house stole from the thief... let's continue with... <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oXr3wWW71Vo/W3rGBzrPoqI/AAAAAAAA4Xs/VaEb7h2OfecbiGcYOTj8wBXhkWVkRfDOQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-20%2Bat%2B6.23.16%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="1082" height="321" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oXr3wWW71Vo/W3rGBzrPoqI/AAAAAAAA4Xs/VaEb7h2OfecbiGcYOTj8wBXhkWVkRfDOQCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-20%2Bat%2B6.23.16%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Cylons traipse through the forest with a captured Starbuck</u></td></tr>
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2) <u>ARMORED HENCHMEN IN THE FOREST</u>: In the Galactica episode THE YOUNG LORDS, Lt. Starbuck, a cocky pilot the likes of Han Solo, goes to a forest planet and is rescued from foliage-stomping Cylons by an unlikely band of heroic underdogs...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ebcUTVDycTQ/W08EQzhMMvI/AAAAAAAA3nc/nh2ZVvDKbGgT08r157vKsLl0E2Ibs2ewwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-07-18%2Bat%2B2.11.01%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="475" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ebcUTVDycTQ/W08EQzhMMvI/AAAAAAAA3nc/nh2ZVvDKbGgT08r157vKsLl0E2Ibs2ewwCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-07-18%2Bat%2B2.11.01%2BAM.png" width="208"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stormy Goes Green</u></td></tr>
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Not Ewoks but ragtag kids who help Starbuck overtake the Cylons using primal and makeshift techniques they learned from surviving in this element. Also like Ewoks, they blow a horn that echoes throughout the forest in almost the same exact manner and tone. So while Battlestar might have influenced Star Wars to bring the Stormtroopers to the snow, now it's another remote location...<br>
<br>
Also, in RETURN OF THE JEDI, while Luke becomes the main element with his fight against his father, Darth Vader, Han Solo provides the b-story: to find the generator that turns off the New Death Star's shield. In this Battlestar episode, Starbuck and the YOUNG LORDS are also searching for a weakness among the Cylon fortress within a castle. And, so, like the armed, masked villains shown against the snow, here it's the surrounding green forest: nature abhorring a villainous vacuum that seems so much more suited to the fleshy likes of mankind. <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Faid8Z0Tv0g/W0615-WoJtI/AAAAAAAA3mM/ggwLr4q3We0pr_UAb9mg33duAQ7peguTQCLcBGAs/s1600/2.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="960" height="285" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Faid8Z0Tv0g/W0615-WoJtI/AAAAAAAA3mM/ggwLr4q3We0pr_UAb9mg33duAQ7peguTQCLcBGAs/s400/2.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jane Seymour, Richard Hatch and Lorne Green</u></td></tr>
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3) <u>PYRAMID SCHEME:</u> For George Lucas, between EMPIRE and JEDI was RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK about archeologist Indiana Jones...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lVhgkubx2QM/W3qsq6xnq5I/AAAAAAAA4WE/UFjEt10XvHYac6es1hcLNqv5ldG19B49QCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-20%2Bat%2B4.56.54%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="266" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lVhgkubx2QM/W3qsq6xnq5I/AAAAAAAA4WE/UFjEt10XvHYac6es1hcLNqv5ldG19B49QCLcBGAs/s200/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-20%2Bat%2B4.56.54%2BAM.png" width="132"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Digging Indy Jones </u></td></tr>
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In one Galactica episode we see our usually space-set heroes literally down to earth on a planet much like Egypt, like in the yet to-be-created Indiana Jones world, and both RAIDERS and STAR WARS were based on pulp books, comics and serials: Jones epitomizes action and adventure with a confidence all his own, and yet Harrison Ford plays him just as daring, funny and vulnerable as Solo. But what's most telling about the Galactica episode (THE MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS) is what's inside a particular crypt, very much like the RAIDERS Staff of Ra: a device moving particular secret stones around is very familiar indeed.  <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IsBnpuOG4Io/W062Ca5GErI/AAAAAAAA3mU/H2975G0mvuo_bkCqvdbayEzPaUQbTIl8gCLcBGAs/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="960" height="275" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IsBnpuOG4Io/W062Ca5GErI/AAAAAAAA3mU/H2975G0mvuo_bkCqvdbayEzPaUQbTIl8gCLcBGAs/s400/4.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Starbuck chewed out by Maren Jensen's sexy Athena</u></td></tr>
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4) <u>SEXUALLY FRUSTRATED CORRIDOR SPAT</u>: In EMPIRE, when Han Solo and Princess Leia argue in an icy corridor of the Hoth planet Rebel outpost, and at one point reluctantly fall into each others arms, a similar thing occurs in the original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA movie in which Lorne Green's Adama's pretty daughter begs Starbuck to help out instead of backing out...<br>
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Starbuck, played by Dirk Benedict... who would gain even wider television fame on THE A-TEAM as a handsome mercenary named Face... is the epitome of how Galactica borrowed heavily from the STAR WARS template: That said, Richard Hatch as Captain Apollo was the Luke Skywalker main character, yet was nothing close to the Solo/Starbuck similarities. And poor Hatch never got over the fact the writers seemed to prefer the cocky womanizing hotshot over his own stalwart, dependable hero... <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0VU0VBIhEPQ/W064_LvB3OI/AAAAAAAA3mw/2g178Sn6gGQhFOCoph7_KxkHQ9Fw_gCvwCLcBGAs/s1600/4.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="875" data-original-width="1600" height="217" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0VU0VBIhEPQ/W064_LvB3OI/AAAAAAAA3mw/2g178Sn6gGQhFOCoph7_KxkHQ9Fw_gCvwCLcBGAs/s400/4.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Something about a repressed yet mutual crush in a tight space</u></td></tr>
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"Why  do the girls always go for the bad guy or the naughty guy?" Hatch pondered in a <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2010/03/richard-hatch-battlestar-galactica.html">Cult Film Freak interview</a>. "I think 
 writers love to write for deliciously bad characters or flawed  
characters, and when a character is kind of the, you know, good guy,  
they’re not as interested."<br>
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And the same can be said for a sometimes thankless Mark Hamill. Despite being the masthead of a trilogy that's always been regarded as "From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker," Han wound up stealing the show. And yet, even with a price on his head, the rogue eventually succumbs to doing the right thing for the right people. So the point here is... no matter how far, far away you go... whether in the STAR WARS or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA universe... While men might rule the universe, women control it. And may the <i>feldercarb</i> be with you, always.<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MGoAk20MVHc/W3uCo1IjfzI/AAAAAAAA4X4/6228ukBr3XQyciyu3Gur7KDgIxXTVh-jwCLcBGAs/s1600/39605961_557537424675438_681973487287402496_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="1600" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MGoAk20MVHc/W3uCo1IjfzI/AAAAAAAA4X4/6228ukBr3XQyciyu3Gur7KDgIxXTVh-jwCLcBGAs/s1600/39605961_557537424675438_681973487287402496_o.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Novelizations tie in books were also an important part of both franchises, of course started by Star Wars by Alan Dean Foster</u></td></tr>
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adventure, battlestar galactica, dirk benedict, eighties, george lucas, glen a. larson, list, richard hatch, science-fiction, seventies, star wars

IF 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA' INFLUENCED 'STAR WARS' SEQUELS

Star Wars: 1977 Battlestar Galactica 1978-1979 Empire: 1980 Jedi: 1983 The original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA wasn't very original, snaki...

QUICK DRAW OF 'THE LAST SHARKNADO: IT'S ABOUT TIME'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kHl4V8YWR1E/W3pVflC_dVI/AAAAAAAA4Ug/m8Gb9Rj43DkKTSH8_vwOTp2iRGbOZnlkACLcBGAs/s1600/39535887_556615521434295_720082315492982784_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="880" height="261" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kHl4V8YWR1E/W3pVflC_dVI/AAAAAAAA4Ug/m8Gb9Rj43DkKTSH8_vwOTp2iRGbOZnlkACLcBGAs/s400/39535887_556615521434295_720082315492982784_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Down to Dee (Snider) List cameos in Sharknado 6 Rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
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It happens in every action movie and you're not supposed to realize it. Characters spout what's called Exposition Dialogue about what's gonna happen, and it happens throughout the action. Then they discuss the next/upcoming obstacle, and so on and so forth...<br>
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But in THE LAST SHARKNADO — with a title that may or may not be a send-up on the Italian-made JAWS clone THE LAST SHARK — the characters talk about what they're about to do while in the process of <i>actually doing</i> it, making this <i>extra</i>-cheap-looking intentional epilogue a tedious, tiresome adventure that, even though meant to be bad (i.e. so-bad-it's-good), isn't very enjoyable even with a time-traveling device that could have at least been interesting. But no matter where they go... or rather, <i>when</i> they go... from Prehistoric Times to The Revolutionary War to The Wild West to the Beach Blanket Fifties, it's basically the same scene repeating itself. And at this point, the actual Sharknados are not only silly, they have little to do with the plot, overall. Which is a good time to quit. (Wonder what Ian Ziering, who looks very young for his age... especially compared to fellow BEVERLY HILLS 90210 veteran Tori Spelling... and especially Tara Reid, can possibly do next? That anyone would see, that is...)  <br>

2018, action, franchise, ian ziering, new, sequel, shark, tara reid

QUICK DRAW OF 'THE LAST SHARKNADO: IT'S ABOUT TIME'

Down to Dee (Snider) List cameos in Sharknado 6 Rating: *1/2 It happens in every action movie and you're not supposed to realize it....

WALTER MATTHAU & ROBIN WILLIAMS STAR IN 'THE SURVIVORS'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcTCnzLxDgE/W3N-zpg9hvI/AAAAAAAA4RM/qBcPk-e5qXY1CIFL8POSGLe8I4SAtO4wQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-14%2Bat%2B6.11.10%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="1600" height="287" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcTCnzLxDgE/W3N-zpg9hvI/AAAAAAAA4RM/qBcPk-e5qXY1CIFL8POSGLe8I4SAtO4wQCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-14%2Bat%2B6.11.10%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1983</u></td></tr>
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In THE SURVIVORS,  Robin Williams and Walter Matthau make a pretty good team. And while this comedy isn't hilarious, it's pretty damn entertaining...<br>
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The first half, anyway, where both unlucky losers lose their income... one his fancy job, the other his grungy gas station... and deal with a string of things-go-wrong-situations highlighted by a greasy spoon diner robbery that just might've inspired Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION: Cut to another familiar scene where Robin Williams, in the passenger's side of Matthau's car, points a safety-off handgun at the film's edgy third-tier character, a sitting duck (albeit not a vulnerable one) in the back seat who's a plot in itself: Jerry Reed plays the diner's holdup man who also claims to be a hired assassin and wants the only witness... Matthau... dead... or so he says...<br>

annie mcenroe, buddy, comedy, eighties, jerry reed, john goodman, joseph carberry, kristen vigard, michael ritchie, robin williams, walter matthau

WALTER MATTHAU & ROBIN WILLIAMS STAR IN 'THE SURVIVORS'

Year of Release: 1983 In THE SURVIVORS, Robin Williams and Walter Matthau make a pretty good team. And while this comedy isn't hila...

DANA ANDREWS IN THE JEAN RENOIR RURAL 'SWAMP WATER'

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPGVemCYIi0/W3OpSBmtVRI/AAAAAAAA4RY/OTNxhglx0MA5Gd5QUB9f-A-GU5S--jW4gCLcBGAs/s1600/swamp-water-hd-movie-title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="632" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPGVemCYIi0/W3OpSBmtVRI/AAAAAAAA4RY/OTNxhglx0MA5Gd5QUB9f-A-GU5S--jW4gCLcBGAs/s400/swamp-water-hd-movie-title.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Opening Credit Sequence with Terrific Swamp Water font</u></td></tr>
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Despite critic Leonard Maltin's opinion that Walter Brennan was outrageously 
miscast in Jean Renoir's SWAMP WATER, set in the mysterious Georgian 
Okefenokee with more of a rural John Ford style than Renoir's own 
"foreign film" masterpiece, GRAND ILLUSION, Brennan's actually, surprsingly quite 
effective as an escaped convict with a "Wrong Man" backstory; a bizarre 
mental ability to survive otherwise deadly Cottonmouth bites... <br />
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And last 
but not least, a love for Dana Andrews's hunting dog that chased a doe from the canoe to the land, past a spooky skull on a post in the river, a warning to never go 
beyond that dangerous, even legendary, restricted area. So on his next trip, this time alone, just for the pooch, fitfully named Trouble – the best
 hunting dog around –  Dana's Ben Ragan goes that extra dangerous mile to 
retrieve him...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v9YLE7D2Rhc/W3OpZW1zHNI/AAAAAAAA4Rc/UTRSoJRMtQQUuDOLj_Sf-vhtrRU_AbN5wCLcBGAs/s1600/29541294_859681770901635_832391017372039314_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="421" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v9YLE7D2Rhc/W3OpZW1zHNI/AAAAAAAA4Rc/UTRSoJRMtQQUuDOLj_Sf-vhtrRU_AbN5wCLcBGAs/s400/29541294_859681770901635_832391017372039314_n.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Release Year: 1941</u></td></tr>
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This
 ghostly, suspenseful, contained yet sporadically adventurous programmer
 is only hindered by a few side-characters (including the otherwise 
capable Ward Bond) who seem more befitting a dusty saloon town then 
backwater nowhere, and, surprisingly enough, Western-genre staple 
Brennan – seeming as agile and dangerous as his threats spoken in that 
signature drawl – isn't a culprit of the Cowboy cliche...<br />
<br />
Dana
 Andrews, early in his career before the star-making turn in LAURA, is 
natural and effective – how surprising such a "Hollywood Handsome" 
leading man with a "city" voice could realistically portray someone so 
rural, who's never been outside the murky swamp-surrounded village – 
smaller than even one horse.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KXpEi4KetY8/W3OpkPUU0OI/AAAAAAAA4Rk/JtQHfzuL6X0pmAjHYng4ojecm7bn5qN1ACLcBGAs/s1600/30442898_868091733393972_3284548116170145792_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="421" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KXpEi4KetY8/W3OpkPUU0OI/AAAAAAAA4Rk/JtQHfzuL6X0pmAjHYng4ojecm7bn5qN1ACLcBGAs/s400/30442898_868091733393972_3284548116170145792_n.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews in Swamp Water</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Despite third-billing to the 
already-established Brennan and his stubborn father played by Walter 
Huston, Andrews is the buried lead throughout, and what he holds back 
from the gossiping village overrides the pretty local girl he plans to 
marry, or the fact he desperately yearns to move out of his daddy's tiny
 shack: That being, the secret of Brennan's Tom Keefer, a 
fugitive accused of murder, rumored to be long gone yet actually lurking
 very nearby: a living/breathing wraith beyond the spiked skull, always 
keeping a tight eye on gator hunters, including the men who sentenced 
him to hang – mostly, though, he's tortured about the daughter he left 
behind.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ETRcWl3fgm4/W3OtffieslI/AAAAAAAA4SA/imlBhV-4-2UXUKIyZvBqlo87wLYq5gvEACLcBGAs/s1600/19488502_737320136471133_2359611093185938129_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="241" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ETRcWl3fgm4/W3OtffieslI/AAAAAAAA4SA/imlBhV-4-2UXUKIyZvBqlo87wLYq5gvEACLcBGAs/s400/19488502_737320136471133_2359611093185938129_o.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Swamp Score: ****</u></td></tr>
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Fresh from his scene-stealing, sympathetic turn in 
THE GRAPES OF WRATH, John Carradine plays the most ambiguous and bizarre
 <i>character,</i> a skinny pole of a man with a strapped-on guitar and a lusty penchant
 for Huston's young wife and, most importantly, he keeps a deep, dark secret that 
Andrews has to figure out, for someone else...<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m76LSUqcROk/W3cPxXUDG8I/AAAAAAAA4Tw/czUx2Lm01Zs_8uizC4bSDiYpNOusW819ACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-17%2Bat%2B10.58.19%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="740" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m76LSUqcROk/W3cPxXUDG8I/AAAAAAAA4Tw/czUx2Lm01Zs_8uizC4bSDiYpNOusW819ACLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-17%2Bat%2B10.58.19%2BAM.jpg" width="289" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Rollin'... Rollin'... Rollin' on a...</u></td></tr>
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The only slight but non-distracting miscast is
 Anne Baxter's half-crazy "wild girl," Keefer's daughter, looking like a
 starlet in a cave-girl costume – of course she's attracted to our 
leading man, and vice versa (Linda Darnell, Dana's future FALLEN ANGEL 
and ZERO HOUR co-starlet, almost landed the role: which might've worked 
better given her tempestuous, savage beauty): But 
Renoir doesn't veer down that many predictable avenues, at least not for
 very long. For his core fans, this isn't a genuine art film while a 
conventional audience may yearn for more action – but with just enough 
brawn and brains to go around, this dusty little gem shines for a 
steady, even-keeled 90-minutes. The director, recently exiled from 
German-occupied France, made his very own American popcorn flick with an
 underlying pulse and atmosphere of something more important.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews Swamp Water Dana Andrews</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>DANA ANDREWS IN SWAMP WATER REVIEWED BY JAMES M. TATE AT CULT FILM FREAK</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>

anne baxter, dana andrews, forties, jean renoir, john carradine, walter brennan, walter huston, ward bond

DANA ANDREWS IN THE JEAN RENOIR RURAL 'SWAMP WATER'

Opening Credit Sequence with Terrific Swamp Water font Despite critic Leonard Maltin's opinion that Walter Brennan was outrageously ...

CORMAN DIRECTS BRONSON IN 'MACHINE GUN KELLY'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zZx_bXnPT-k/W295JVyTYZI/AAAAAAAA4J8/fpm3eSzjcUkjoSofHJe2wH7yggZL7ppMgCLcBGAs/s1600/MV5BMzg0MzkwYTItZTU5YS00ZWViLTgwYjQtYzhiMTYyNDk4NWU1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUyNDk2ODc%2540._V1_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="761" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zZx_bXnPT-k/W295JVyTYZI/AAAAAAAA4J8/fpm3eSzjcUkjoSofHJe2wH7yggZL7ppMgCLcBGAs/s400/MV5BMzg0MzkwYTItZTU5YS00ZWViLTgwYjQtYzhiMTYyNDk4NWU1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUyNDk2ODc%2540._V1_.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Rampage: 1958 Bullet Holes: ***</u></td></tr>
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There's a fine line between atmospheric and 
claustrophobic as Roger Corman directs Charles Bronson as
the title character, MACHINE GUN KELLY. He goes from one Noir-Lit room to the next: arguing with moll Susan Cabot about robbing banks while angering his former gang, who
 eventually want to kill him for being so unpredictable: Kelly's either really tough or breaking down like a child. Not the narrowed, tough guy you'd get from Bronson fifteen years later....<br>
<br>
The one bank robbery and 
getaway is filmed well enough, but the best scenes take place at a gas station 
where the owner, one of Kelly's inside men, owns a caged mountain lion 
that represents the fierceness building within our anti-hero — a 
<i>character </i>as unsympathetic as they come, and perhaps too unlikable for the film's own good. In an ironic turn, his humanity 
heightens after kidnapping a rich man's daughter, and that's when Susan Cabot 
who emerges with sharper teeth. Not much for action fans, but the dialogue
 is neat and pulpy and the acting exceeds most Corman-directed outings. With the usual stagnant camera, he'd soon be a much better producer mentoring much better directors. That was his style, niche. <br>

biopic, charles bronson, fifties, gangster, roger corman, susan cabot

CORMAN DIRECTS BRONSON IN 'MACHINE GUN KELLY'

Year of Rampage: 1958 Bullet Holes: *** There's a fine line between atmospheric and claustrophobic as Roger Corman directs Charles ...

MAURY DEXTER YOUTH AT THE BEACH TRIPLE FEATURE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnG1uKFtbrs/W3HwMOZQZYI/AAAAAAAA4Ls/t5UGcPbODbMoi_U5drwI7T9qLpK50jAIwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-13%2Bat%2B1.42.30%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1215" height="306" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnG1uKFtbrs/W3HwMOZQZYI/AAAAAAAA4Ls/t5UGcPbODbMoi_U5drwI7T9qLpK50jAIwCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-13%2Bat%2B1.42.30%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Bobby Vinton teaches Patricia Morrow and friends to surf YEAR: 1964</u></td></tr>
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<u>SURF PARTY</u>: Bobby Vinton plays a nice guy who runs a surf shop, and gets the last song in this, the second Maury Dexter teen movie and first bonafide beach movie, and by far, the best. Well written and character-driven, this SURF PARTY has three babes driving to the beach in a trailer to meet one of the girl's brothers, Skeet, a champion surfer and leader of a grungy pack of beach bums...<br>
<br>
Though this blond-haired girl-next-door looks like someone's cute young mom compared to the two bookend bombshells, Patricia Morrow is a standout as the legend's passive sister. Eventually she has to talk sense into both a smitten Vinton and her troubled, mysterious sibling (Jerry Summers, who'd become a stunt man legend). Each girl has a boyfriend including one guy who's the token dip, trying hard to be part of the surf club even by risking his life, which initially cold-hearted Skeet can care less about. In most movies about youth at this time, there's always a snoopy yet ultimately friendly cop. Since no real laws are broken except loitering the beach, this particular detective gets in the way but it doesn't matter. The kids, each with their own distinctive personalities, make up for the built-in flaws of a b-surf drive-in flick with more to offer than even the famous ones. <br>

beach, bobby vinton, booth coleman, cindy malone, jack younger, jazz score, maury dexter, patricia morrow, russ bender, sherry jackson, sixties, sport

MAURY DEXTER YOUTH AT THE BEACH TRIPLE FEATURE

Bobby Vinton teaches Patricia Morrow and friends to surf YEAR: 1964 SURF PARTY : Bobby Vinton plays a nice guy who runs a surf shop, and...

VIRGINIA MAYO IN 'SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE'

college, comedy, fifties, gene nelson, musical, patrice wymore, ronald reagan, virginia mayo, warner archives

VIRGINIA MAYO IN 'SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE'

Virginia Mayo with Patrice Wymore YEAR: 1952 "I don't know what there is about the pelts of dead little animals that makes the...

SECOND RAOUL WALSH 'HIGH SIERRA' IN 'COLORADO TERRITORY'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1h9nv5hG3n8/W25ohtzGV8I/AAAAAAAA4HQ/RxqxpRSmFakhrU1ayBeNoPBGN6EKE5UVwCLcBGAs/s1600/38869736_547048152391032_4796251891396771840_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="938" height="280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1h9nv5hG3n8/W25ohtzGV8I/AAAAAAAA4HQ/RxqxpRSmFakhrU1ayBeNoPBGN6EKE5UVwCLcBGAs/s400/38869736_547048152391032_4796251891396771840_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Virginia Mayo as Colorado in Colorado Territory circa 1949</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
HIGH SIERRA is not only a great movie, afterward making second-billed Humphrey Bogart a first-billed movie star as a convict, freed from what was supposed to be a much longer prison term, joining with a gang of less savvy thieves for a big score planned by a sick and old, once important honcho — it's also a fantastic story (by W. R. Burnett). But with the same director, Raoul Walsh, directing the Western remake starring Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo, there's proof that not all capable formula's work every time...<br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WBwwjZMtCMM/W25Ltda_P7I/AAAAAAAA4Gw/X8TP0-aqTjEgskD5wN_-hdnr24oHqLspACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-10%2Bat%2B7.22.55%2BPM%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="771" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WBwwjZMtCMM/W25Ltda_P7I/AAAAAAAA4Gw/X8TP0-aqTjEgskD5wN_-hdnr24oHqLspACLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-10%2Bat%2B7.22.55%2BPM%2B2.jpg" width="227"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Rare Blue Cover SCORE: **</u></td></tr>
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Unlike Bogart's cool and edgy Roy Earle... dull, lanky and hopelessly benign Joel McCrea's Wes McQueen lacks the <i>anti</i> of his once-outlaw <i>hero</i>. Wanting nothing of the pivotal heist that each film centers on, and with a cliché dream of owning his own ranch, being so allergic to his fellow outlaws he's supposed to mentor, the entire purpose is chalked down to a lackadaisical melodrama with long bouts of dialogue — superfluous distraction in place of of essential action...<br>
<br>
The words don't build the characters while the sporadic gunfights doesn't move the story. The best asset is Virginia Mayo as the tough girl who can handle any man, and predictably (and rather quickly) falls in love with McCrea. She's got the looks of the younger, more innocent secondary ingenue that Bogart fell in love with from SIERRA but lacks the tough-but-tender edge of b-girl Ida Lupino, whom she's replacing, and there's little to no chemistry between them. Although directed with flowing style and precision by the otherwise master, Walsh, COLORADO TERRITORY is but a slick yet grainy postcard from someone else's idyllic holiday. The third sequel (also on Warner Archives), I DIED A THOUSAND TIMES, starring Jack Palance and Shelley Winters, while also paling to the original's original, is a thousand times better than this.<br>

forties, ian wolfe, joel mccrea, raoul walsh, remake, virginia mayo, warner archives, western

SECOND RAOUL WALSH 'HIGH SIERRA' IN 'COLORADO TERRITORY'

Virginia Mayo as Colorado in Colorado Territory circa 1949 HIGH SIERRA is not only a great movie, afterward making second-billed Humphre...

LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA SUSTAINS W/ BADMAN'S TERRITORY

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yopYhfk5JFk/W24v37Qn95I/AAAAAAAA4Fo/oUklZ3g647ESnSMzMPwtfIV77611JFrugCLcBGAs/s1600/38875555_546905312405316_195428188858351616_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="900" height="321" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yopYhfk5JFk/W24v37Qn95I/AAAAAAAA4Fo/oUklZ3g647ESnSMzMPwtfIV77611JFrugCLcBGAs/s400/38875555_546905312405316_195428188858351616_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lawrence Tierney gets scant screen-time, but looks cool YEAR: 1946</u></td></tr>
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George "Gabby" Hayes is a Cinematic National Treasure; it's too bad his obnoxious, notice-me, gummy-mouthed role wasn't buried in an otherwise half-decent if strangely paced, offbeat Western misleadingly titled BADMAN'S TERRITORY, after a strip of land/purgatory between Indian land and where no white man law and order exist... <br>
<br>
Thus Randolph Scott and tacked-on younger brother fit like loose, leafy gloves, and it takes a while to figure out why these seemingly stalwart heroes are hanging out with The James and Dalton Gangs, which adds to the overall uneven cadence that only sporadically attempts the kind of swift action the Western genre relies on. Leaving one desperate hope in our man Lawrence Tierney who plays, of all people, Jesse James himself; ironic since he'd become famous as another folk-hero outlaw in DILLINGER three years earlier (his moll Anne Jeffreys appears in the BADMAN'S sequel)... <br>

ann richards, forties, gabby hayes, lawrence tierney, randolph scott, steve brodie, warner archives, western

LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA SUSTAINS W/ BADMAN'S TERRITORY

Lawrence Tierney gets scant screen-time, but looks cool YEAR: 1946 George "Gabby" Hayes is a Cinematic National Treasure; it&#...

SEAN S. CUNNINGHAM PRESENTS 'HOUSE' STARRING WILLIAM KATT

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jbrR_9WUhM4/W2luPqAwoXI/AAAAAAAA4FE/4sDfwG-18v8TXbPFarbJW7jGL6gKfjOlACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-07%2Bat%2B3.00.14%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="1358" height="335" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jbrR_9WUhM4/W2luPqAwoXI/AAAAAAAA4FE/4sDfwG-18v8TXbPFarbJW7jGL6gKfjOlACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-07%2Bat%2B3.00.14%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Foreign Poster art from the Arrow Blu Ray MOVIE YEAR: 1985</u></td></tr>
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One of those comedy/horror flicks that, in 1985, wasn't so "one of those" since, years before, they were either <i>one</i> or the other, unless an intentional satire... But during the last twenty-five years, post SCREAM, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN and many others, horror combined with comedy (where death can be funny yet still scary and final) has been commonplace, even cliché, and those movies were most likely inspired by AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and, for people in-the-know, HOUSE... <br>
<br>
Wherein William Katt's character, a horror novelist named Roger Cobb, is really more likable and affable than funny or trying for laughs: The perfect ambiguous pawn for what happens in the HOUSE he moves back into, once owned by his "crazy" old aunt, ranging from communication with his actress ex-wife (Kay Lenz) to flirting with a gorgeous blonde neighbor (Mary Stavin) to fighting a mounted marlin to strategically battling a jovial yet nightmarish "witch" monster leading to a formidable humanoid creature resembling  Eddie from the Iron Maiden album covers....<br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-swVPx4iRj1I/W1hdvbwZo4I/AAAAAAAA3vQ/YqJXja9BB2wkiHP0xHeo6DQ8oA9AxLERQCLcBGAs/s1600/37789990_530083124087535_9154198839773626368_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="953" data-original-width="799" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-swVPx4iRj1I/W1hdvbwZo4I/AAAAAAAA3vQ/YqJXja9BB2wkiHP0xHeo6DQ8oA9AxLERQCLcBGAs/s400/37789990_530083124087535_9154198839773626368_n.jpg" width="335"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Autographed by William Katt and George Wendt</u></td></tr>
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The best scenes occur within the HOUSE as Cobb and next-door neighbor Harold, played by George Wendt, investigate the two-story interior... for a purpose. By day, Cobb struggles on a non-fiction book that conjures up palpable war memories of his personal experience in what was extremely popular during the 1980's: Vietnam...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hMAZ4Y_LwQ8/W1hd_tf-CjI/AAAAAAAA3vY/8sRjKViJ42YophTHkHbEOoaJneqbhF7fQCLcBGAs/s1600/37733371_530083117420869_7216628570154598400_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="728" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hMAZ4Y_LwQ8/W1hd_tf-CjI/AAAAAAAA3vY/8sRjKViJ42YophTHkHbEOoaJneqbhF7fQCLcBGAs/s320/37733371_530083117420869_7216628570154598400_n.jpg" width="244"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>HOUSE SCORE: ****1/2</u></td></tr>
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The flashback jungle sequences (featuring giant cult actor Richard Moll) look glossy and contrived, obviously filmed on a back-lot location liken to a TV show (MAGNUM P.I., etc), but the primal direction from Steve Miner is edgy, fun and full of suspense: He was a b-movie student of the film's producer Sean S. Cunningham, who were both catapulted by the
 original FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise: Sean directing the first while associate producer Miner directed parts two and three. So there's a genuine and spooky, omnipresent feeling we're watching an authentic haunted house flick as opposed to a parody, and the severe main plot has Cobb searching for his son, who'd vanished in the swimming pool a year earlier. Present time and backstory connect within the multi-layered title location with something lurking around every corner; even when nothing's there, it always feels close. Simply put, HOUSE is a movie with everything.<br>

alan autry, comedy, eighties, george wendt, horror, kay lenz, mary stavin, richard moll, sean s. cunningham, steve miner, suspense, vietnam, william katt

SEAN S. CUNNINGHAM PRESENTS 'HOUSE' STARRING WILLIAM KATT

Foreign Poster art from the Arrow Blu Ray MOVIE YEAR: 1985 One of those comedy/horror flicks that, in 1985, wasn't so "one of t...

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