WARREN BEATTY IN ALAN J. PAKULA'S 'THE PARALLAX VIEW'

<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/-pA2NUyr83t0/YJhrF7HvzmI/AAAAAAABgJw/ybqImCX6gvYQTfevRkGPrcqSL5Hz1FNzACLcBGAsYHQ/s757/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-05-03%252Bat%252B12.40.51%252BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="757" height="358" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pA2NUyr83t0/YJhrF7HvzmI/AAAAAAABgJw/ybqImCX6gvYQTfevRkGPrcqSL5Hz1FNzACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h358/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-05-03%252Bat%252B12.40.51%252BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warren Beatty in THE PARALLAX VIEW 1974 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN director Alan J. Pakula's THE PARALLAX VIEW has a doomed politician, even before taking Seattle's Sky Needle elevator to his last speech, described as being too independent for his own good; so this political thriller is set to please any audience... </p><p></p><p>With mainstream action from a car chase to a bar fight to an exploding boat, maverick reporter Beatty investigates the growing deaths of witnesses from the rudimentary assassination...</p><p>Wielding his laidback style around the more animated likes of Hume Cronyn as his working-class editor; veteran baddie Kelly Thorsden as a small town crooked sheriff; William Daniels as this film's possible Deep Throat... </p><p>And last but not least, a shady, expository Walter McGinn, introducing Beatty into the titular PARALLAX Corporation (along with an intentionally bizarre montage meant for hypnotic indoctrination), which is basically a School for Assassins, and, right when our timid hero goes undercover as one of the students, about to embark upon the first mission, he keeps getting distracted, following "real killer" Bill McKinney around like any detective flick. Director Pakula, meanwhile, tells a nice tight story with big sets and gorgeous widescreen cinematography as the camera remains an impartial observer (or spy)... and yet, in the process, with all the running around, he ultimately lets the more intriguing premise get away.  </p><p><span></span></p>

alan j. pakula, bill mckinney, earl hindman, hume cronyn, jo ann harris, kelly thorsden, paula prentiss, political, seventies, thriller, walter mcginn, warren beatty, william daniels

WARREN BEATTY IN ALAN J. PAKULA'S 'THE PARALLAX VIEW'

Warren Beatty in THE PARALLAX VIEW 1974 Rates: **** ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN director Alan J. Pakula's THE PARALLAX VIEW has a doomed...

RICHARD RUST STEALS SAMUEL FULLER'S 'UNDERWORLD U.S.A.'

<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/-j0TT0vTa6uA/YJdCZEppKDI/AAAAAAABgIQ/6MThBZHF54kHOZkKyYnat0GI9O-Dut2mgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1182/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-08%2Bat%2B7.00.42%2BPM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1182" height="329" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j0TT0vTa6uA/YJdCZEppKDI/AAAAAAABgIQ/6MThBZHF54kHOZkKyYnat0GI9O-Dut2mgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h329/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-08%2Bat%2B7.00.42%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The underwold of UNDERWORLD U.S.A. Rates: ***1/2<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This gritty Samuel Fuller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/neo%20noir">Post-Noir</a> has a teenage hood trained by his hoodlum father while raised by a bar-owning lush with a heart of gold, setting up your basic revenge tale since the kid witnesses his old man beaten and killed in a shadow-filled alley by four men — but only actually <i>sees</i> one of them...</p><p>Thus he grows into Cliff Robertson, whose Tolly Devlin, during a two-year sentence, finds the solely recognized killer dying in jail, of natural causes, but not before naming names so that, when Tully gets out, the body count vengeance trail begins... </p><p>Sadly, this intriguing set-up is encroached upon by too many distracting glimpses into the titular UNDERWORLD of big time business-minded bosses, making deals that matter very little to the overall plotline: What should have remained tighter to Robertson's dogged perspective loses its punch... yet is made up for <i>not</i> by his character, dealing with melodramatic ingenue Dolores Dorn, kept safe by experienced surrogate-mother Beatrice Kay (sublimely channeling tough/resilient old gal Thelma Ritter from Fuller's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2017/08/big-red-microfilm.html">PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET</a>), whose creepy doll collection adds to the director's surreal arthouse-aesthetic that'd continue with SHOCK THERAPY and THE NAKED KISS... But the scene-stealer is coldly handsome, shades-donning thug Richard Rust as Gus, chain-smoking while killing left and right (even a little girl), narrowing-down what would have been a far less effective crime-thriller without him, and a reminder to the audience of what's the unapologetic <i>heartless</i> of the matter.  </p><p><span></span></p>

beatrice kay, body count, cliff robertson, crime, david kent, dolores dorn, neo noir, revenge, richard rust, robert emhardt, samuel fuller, sixties

RICHARD RUST STEALS SAMUEL FULLER'S 'UNDERWORLD U.S.A.'

The underwold of UNDERWORLD U.S.A. Rates: ***1/2 This gritty Samuel Fuller Post-Noir has a teenage hood trained by his hoodlum father while...

BILL ELLIOTT IN 'CHAIN OF EVIDENCE' WITH TIMOTHY CAREY

<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/-u4-p02BRugo/YIwcJxAnivI/AAAAAAABf6s/B_jTn5GA-_sP2qEooo1w5k4Ij_L02J2ZACLcBGAsYHQ/s805/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-28%2Bat%2B4.41.47%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="805" height="280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u4-p02BRugo/YIwcJxAnivI/AAAAAAABf6s/B_jTn5GA-_sP2qEooo1w5k4Ij_L02J2ZACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h280/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-28%2Bat%2B4.41.47%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Bill Elliott in Chain of Evidence Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The low-budget, room-to-room, television-like direction aside, CHAIN OF EVIDENCE — the penultimate thriller with former cowboy actor Bill Elliott as friendly cop <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/01/blindfaith.html">Lt. Andy Doyle</a> — is intriguing enough, featuring Jimmy Lydon as an ex-convict with amnesia,  a favorite Film Noir disease allowing the plot to fall into two other Noir staples: a wife and lover kills her rich husband, and poor Jimmy Lydon becomes the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/wrong%20man">Wrong Man</a>...</p><p></p><p>Why he'd gone to jail in the first place has to do with cult actor Timothy Carey, who once again clenches his teeth while talking as yet another clenched-teeth lowlife... this one a victim of getting beat up for flirting with the otherwise nice guy's girlfriend (Tina Carver); the latter whining through the more melodramatic sequences as her man goes through accusations that seem impossible to clear: he'd fought with the husband right before the wife's lover finished the job. And while these kind of cuckold pot-boilers spend most of the time building a "perfect murder," the quick pull-off is a letdown for the audience yet allows main star Elliott a chance to wander around, ask a lot of questions and chain-smoke, like movie-cops do — providing scheming wife Polly Gunther a suburban femme fatale role that deserved a better platform; yet her input here makes EVIDENCE better than it would've been otherwise. </p><p><span></span></p>

bill elliott, cop, don haggerty, fifties, film noir or melodrama, franchise, jimmy lydon, perfect murder, polly gunther, ross elliott, sequel, thriller, timothy carey, tina carver, wrong man

BILL ELLIOTT IN 'CHAIN OF EVIDENCE' WITH TIMOTHY CAREY

Bill Elliott in Chain of Evidence Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2 The low-budget, room-to-room, television-like direction aside, CHAIN OF EVIDENCE...

RALPH MEEKER AND MARLA ENGLISH IN 'DESERT SANDS'

<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/-NSm5DDQt__0/YIlf9F90jrI/AAAAAAABf4E/wYpnIW-tdXY-rNRcazVa92fJYq4iHfuNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-04-25%252Bat%252B1.12.52%252BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="400" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NSm5DDQt__0/YIlf9F90jrI/AAAAAAABf4E/wYpnIW-tdXY-rNRcazVa92fJYq4iHfuNwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h308/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-04-25%252Bat%252B1.12.52%252BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marla English in DESERT SANDS Year: 1955 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A kind of ZULU one decade earlier, b-movie company Bel Air made this Foreign Legion adventure about a group of soldiers trapped in their fort in the middle of the Arabian desert... </p><p>During act two they fight off Arabs, and act three, after being captured from within, try outsmarting the captors, led by a very American Keith Larsen as El Zanel with sexy sister Marla English: thus the biggest flaw is how many other Americans or Brits work within the French army, and it's never really explained why Ralph Meeker's the captain or young Texan John Smith's there with Australian scoundrel Ron Randell barked at by sergeant J. Carrol Naish...</p><p>Yet DESERT SANDS is an above average war movie with many layers, including a forced yet intriguing romance between Meeker and Marla English, and a backstory where John Carradine's lethal Arab had tricked his niece and nephew into becoming the vengeful legion-haters they'd grow into, with the power to take over the fort, which includes a neat bloody battle leading to what could've been superfluous downtime as the men await their doom, but having been properly fleshed out in act one, ironically griping about not having enough to do, not only does their fate matter, but their dialogue, never filler, does as well. </p><p><span></span></p>

bel air productions, exploitation, fifties, j. carrol naish, john carradine, john smith, keith larsen, ralph meeker, ron randell, war

RALPH MEEKER AND MARLA ENGLISH IN 'DESERT SANDS'

Marla English in DESERT SANDS Year: 1955 Rating: **** A kind of ZULU one decade earlier, b-movie company Bel Air made this Foreign Legion ad...

MARY MITCHEL & RAQUEL WELCH DIGGING 'A SWINGIN' SUMMER'

<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/-DUS3MzcDpjQ/YIxcJF4tt5I/AAAAAAABf7U/ZWwoMrF001UTMs6DXJmjNzRQZi_GSJmygCLcBGAsYHQ/s391/swingin-summer-japanese-b2-movie-poster-raquel-welch-bikini-1966-nm.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="391" height="334" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUS3MzcDpjQ/YIxcJF4tt5I/AAAAAAABf7U/ZWwoMrF001UTMs6DXJmjNzRQZi_GSJmygCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h334/swingin-summer-japanese-b2-movie-poster-raquel-welch-bikini-1966-nm.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Raquel Welch in A Swingin' Summer 1965 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This forgotten, parenthetical beach bikini movie actually takes place on a lake... Arrowhead, to be exact... where two guys and a girl run an abandoned low-rent dance-festival...</p><p>Which is pretty easy given that pretty redhead Quinn O'Hara has her rich father secretly funding the operation... A secret since her great-looking boyfriend William Wellman Jr. has too much pride to want/need anyone's help...</p><p></p><p>Well that's the plot, with hardly any urgency except a quick breakup as a local jerk eyes the girl while a sexy scheming cougar nabs the guy — plus there's a water-skiing bully and a few 11th hour thugs... </p><p>But with girl-next-door b-starlet Mary Mitchel as O'Hara's flirtatious, junk-food consuming friend and future iconic bombshell Ra<span><span>quel</span></span> Welch initially wearing geeky glasses, progressively revealing her perfect body while (for reasons unexplained) jotting notes about the main character's affably attractive sidekick James Stacy, A SWINGIN' SUMMER is more about the good times than those attempting to ruin them... A fairly decent time-filler balanced between the glossy Frankie/Annette flicks and that, despite the misleading title, came out right before hippies were too damn hip for this kind of lightweight, old fashioned (even then) entertainment.<br></p><p><span></span></p>

beach, comedy, james stacy, lili kardell, mary mitchel, music, quinn o'hara, raquel welch, sixties, william wellman jr.

MARY MITCHEL & RAQUEL WELCH DIGGING 'A SWINGIN' SUMMER'

Raquel Welch in A Swingin' Summer 1965 Rates: ***1/2 This forgotten, parenthetical beach bikini movie actually takes place on a lake... ...

DANA ANDREWS AND GEORGE SAUNDERS IN 'ASSIGNMENT: PARIS'

<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/-Ydx7pdXlvNg/YIGHbZRMU_I/AAAAAAABfog/IiQkfLOpJHUlxfODmY-hXtYhO5wHwyWzACLcBGAsYHQ/s330/assignment-paris-movie-poster-1952-1020280717.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="257" data-original-width="330" height="311" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ydx7pdXlvNg/YIGHbZRMU_I/AAAAAAABfog/IiQkfLOpJHUlxfODmY-hXtYhO5wHwyWzACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h311/assignment-paris-movie-poster-1952-1020280717.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Märta Torén in Assignment: Paris Year: 1952 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>George Saunders, the classy Brit who all but stole Alfred Hitchcock's FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT despite being third billed, is number three again and has plenty of time to stand out in act three...<br></p><p>When mainline Dana Andrews, again playing a reporter like in another correspondent, BERLIN CORRESPONDENT, gets captured illegally, held hostage and whose enemies, in this case communist Yugo, winds up altering his voice, another BERLIN trait only more realistic as it's a far better picture... </p><p></p><p>And while the thrills aren't extremely thrilling there's a good use of suspense when needed... </p><p>Plus romance as Andrews puts on his kind of breezy, second-hand charm from the 1950's when, during this Lost Decade of drinking, he'd phone in some performances, even in good films and also, good performances, as ASSIGNMENT: PARIS is and has... also starring love-interest ingenue Märta Torén, who co-starred with Dana in SWORD IN THE DESERT, and underused Noir starlet Audrey Totter, brooding around the Paris newspaper office jealous about Torén, two-fold. </p><p><span></span></p>

audrey totter, cold war, dana andrews, fifties, film noir or melodrama, george saunders, märta torén, thriller

DANA ANDREWS AND GEORGE SAUNDERS IN 'ASSIGNMENT: PARIS'

Märta Torén in Assignment: Paris Year: 1952 Rates: ***1/2 George Saunders, the classy Brit who all but stole Alfred Hitchcock's FOREIGN ...

MARK DANA AND ZIVA RODANN STARRING IN 'PHARAOH'S CURSE'

<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/-izU1xVwNVBE/YH_iVxXntII/AAAAAAABfjo/kVRElDT5YhEp2208p97itLLA5fsPuQ1EwCLcBGAsYHQ/s812/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-21%2Bat%2B12.04.16%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="812" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-izU1xVwNVBE/YH_iVxXntII/AAAAAAABfjo/kVRElDT5YhEp2208p97itLLA5fsPuQ1EwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-21%2Bat%2B12.04.16%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ziva Rodann in Pharaoh's Curse Year: 1957 Rates: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Infamously shot in six days, mostly in Death Valley, the Bel Air Production PHARAOH'S CURSE stars their next years' <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/12/Hot-Cars.html">HOT CARS</a> villain Mark Dana... </p><p>Here in the square-jawed lead, awkwardly juggling a British and American accent while subtly romancing a greedy archeologist's wife, Diane Brewster, during the initial twenty-minute trek through the desert where gorgeous Israeli bombshell Ziva Rodann appears with the usual "turn back or die" warning...</p><p></p><p>But none heed her call, as the journey winds up at a pharaoh's tomb, which is actually a pretty neat-looking set full of secret doors and shadowy corridors, but the body count deaths from a <i>cursed</i> local, morphed into an ancient unbandaged mummy, sucking the blood of horses and humans, trudges along as clumsily as the monster... A shame since the rudimentary aura is spooky enough, making this CURSE a let-down of ungodly proportions... but the ladies are great to look at. It's a b-movie after all. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, bel air productions, body count, cult, diane brewster, exploitation, fifties, horror, mark dana, thriller, ziva rodann

MARK DANA AND ZIVA RODANN STARRING IN 'PHARAOH'S CURSE'

Ziva Rodann in Pharaoh's Curse Year: 1957 Rates: **1/2 Infamously shot in six days, mostly in Death Valley, the Bel Air Production PHARA...

VICTOR MATURE AND TREVOR HOWARD BATTLE IN 'PICKUP ALLEY'

<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/-usE1McPA8FI/YIGD8faYszI/AAAAAAABfoY/l2sJDRfbh8QmkbbjvCvuplVGSGQYWBsXACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/44%252B1.02.20%252BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="400" height="304" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-usE1McPA8FI/YIGD8faYszI/AAAAAAABfoY/l2sJDRfbh8QmkbbjvCvuplVGSGQYWBsXACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h304/44%252B1.02.20%252BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster art for Pickup Alley Year: 1957 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Sometimes those late 1950's anti-drug, jazz-soaked neo noirs feature shaky method actors mimicking shaky legend James Dean, and for a reason... they're coming off heroin... and preachy melodrama ensues. But this British import starring American actor Victor Mature only begins that way... </p><p>What everything narrows down to is Mature, a U.S. drug enforcement agent, going after classy drug-smuggling kingpin Trevor Howard, himself after an eventual load of heroin in a port among various countries, from England to Greece to France, yet this was all filmed in Italy while making terrific use of their iconic Roman ruins...</p><p></p><p>Each place where the trailing Mature winds up has terrific fist-fights and chase sequences manned skillfully by British director John Gilling. Alec Mango plays Howard's scar-faced thug and is a menacing scene-stealer, but only <i>thinks</i> he's tougher than tough-as-nails Anita Ekberg, who Mature is actually following since she's following Howard. And since the bombshell (wearing too much makeup) really doesn't provide the femme fatale role as advertised, PICKUP ALLEY is really Mature vs Howard, and one of them is desperate, cuts corners and makes shady deals while the villain takes his sweet old time. </p><span></span>

action, alec mango, anita ekberg, british film noir, drugs, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jazz score, john gilling, maurice browning, trevor howard, victor mature

VICTOR MATURE AND TREVOR HOWARD BATTLE IN 'PICKUP ALLEY'

Poster art for Pickup Alley Year: 1957 Rating: **** Sometimes those late 1950's anti-drug, jazz-soaked neo noirs feature shaky method ac...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN HAMMER'S 'HELL IS A CITY'

<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/-toiQ-FK06uY/YE1kTZU5CqI/AAAAAAABeJY/eKGjxERtgHAow-jZ57jvI7EPEmIRE0olgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1201/z.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1201" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-toiQ-FK06uY/YE1kTZU5CqI/AAAAAAABeJY/eKGjxERtgHAow-jZ57jvI7EPEmIRE0olgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/z.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Crawford & Lois Daine Year: 1960 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The second and final Hammer feature with Val Guest directing his <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/YE.html">YESTERDAY'S ENEMY</a> leading man Stanley Baker, HELL IS A CITY is not only a Noir-like Police Procedural but an Escaped Convict Procedural as sinister John Crawford hops from various former colleagues and lovers while intense cop Baker, who'd originally put him away and is revenge-driven to nab him back, visits/questions the same people, from a bookie's cheating wife (Billie Whitelaw ignoring rich husband Donald Pleasence who employed doomed Lois Daine); a flirty waitress; a stubborn salesman with a gorgeous deaf/dumb daughter (Sarah Branch); and featuring various locales run by a shady gang with deliciously pulpy nicknames like Clogger Roach...</p><p>A gritty hybrid of action and thriller, CITY hits a slight wall <i>only</i> during the third act after Crawford's equally desperate and resilient and entirely scene-stealing menace vanishes for a bit, focusing more into Baker sweating-out the <i>real</i> accomplices aided by faithful young partner Geoffrey Frederick: But overall the tightly-wound cadence, juxtaposing the tough good and rough bad guy — shifting smoothly from busy Manchester to the outlying Moors to a brawling rooftop climax — features raw violence even for 1960 after Film Noir had ended... yet this kind of stylistic crime thriller was just reigniting it with the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/british%20new%20wave">British New Wave.</a> <br></p><p><span></span></p>

billie whitelaw, british neo noir, british new wave, donald pleasence, geoffrey frederick, hammer films, jazz score, john crawford, lois daine, sarah branch, sixties, stanley baker, val guest, vanda godsell

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN HAMMER'S 'HELL IS A CITY'

John Crawford & Lois Daine Year: 1960 Rates: **** The second and final Hammer feature with Val Guest directing his YESTERDAY'S ENEMY...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS DISASTER IN 'THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE'

<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/-_j5CK33-Tt8/YHd1WE0XXFI/AAAAAAABfXU/8M_s93fJyEwPe08USCBLn06K0819VsaYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1903/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-13%2Bat%2B5.59.47%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="1903" height="297" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_j5CK33-Tt8/YHd1WE0XXFI/AAAAAAABfXU/8M_s93fJyEwPe08USCBLn06K0819VsaYQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h297/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-13%2Bat%2B5.59.47%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE Released in 1961</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A rat-a-tat dialog hybrid of THE FRONT PAGE and the doomsday-anticipation of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Val Guest's disaster opus THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE has ice caps melting decades before the standard trend...<br></p><p>And there's a fair amount of preaching (albeit far ahead of its time) like any cautionary science-fiction... but everything flows not only with the dire situation at hand but the hustle and bustle of a hustling/bustling newspaper office... </p><p>Where boozy yet intellectual veteran reporter Leo McKern and tattered, has-been, single father Edward Judd are in the nervy dilemma of figuring exactly what to write about — despite the fact both America <i>and</i> Russia tested nuclear weapons not only one day apart, but an entire week earlier, so, with <i>that </i>important game-changing aspect out of the way, the story begins as if the viewer arrived fifteen-minutes late as Judd's snarky, sarcastic reporter is a bit much to take so soon, all at once: Yet his obnoxious persona makes more sense the closer the slow-burn, possibly-apocalyptic future nears...</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/-FIUrWUb9g58/YGq-4aPprRI/AAAAAAABfAI/7gBzW7x-NaYPNan4U7S8qmegteFDpc-xQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1329/738329247997.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1329" height="274" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FIUrWUb9g58/YGq-4aPprRI/AAAAAAABfAI/7gBzW7x-NaYPNan4U7S8qmegteFDpc-xQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h274/738329247997.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Top Half of The Day BLU RAY Rating: ****1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>That director Val Guest initially progresses with mild catastrophes, from a heat wave to a dense fog, ultimately leading to the primary flaw, which, in 1961, couldn't be helped... although, mainly set in a press-room, the starkly contrasting/randomly inserted film-aesthetic of actual storms, fires and floods <i>could</i> be attributed to news footage as opposed to stock footage...<br></p><p></p><p>And like any Disaster tale there needs a human angle... and Judd's romance with gorgeous and assertive Janet Munro, coinciding with each of nature's setbacks, is the true mainline... </p><p>Since, as a government secretary, she picks up on important information first, their heated chemistry... along with various eruptions of newsroom politics and deadlines... flows smoothly yet frantically, making DAY a counterpart to Val Guest's police procedural <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/HellisACity.html">HELL IS A CITY</a>: the underrated auteur (usually employed by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/hammer%20films">Hammer</a>) is key at moving an intense, suspenseful film's pace neatly in-step with the all-too-human characters, desperately trapped in-between. <br></p><span></span>

action, bernard braden, british, cult, disaster, edward judd, gene anderson, geoffrey frederick, janet munro, julie samuel, leo mckern, michael caine, nuclear, sixties, val guest

VAL GUEST DIRECTS DISASTER IN 'THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE'

THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE Released in 1961 A rat-a-tat dialog hybrid of THE FRONT PAGE and the doomsday-anticipation of THE DAY THE EART...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN'

<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/-HWjg_5ZpHl4/YH7ogIjVEbI/AAAAAAABfgc/iO_-uNkrs68f_O_Ub5LCnD_0L4zh2tjvQCLcBGAsYHQ/s722/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-19%2Bat%2B10.21.15%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="722" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HWjg_5ZpHl4/YH7ogIjVEbI/AAAAAAABfgc/iO_-uNkrs68f_O_Ub5LCnD_0L4zh2tjvQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h328/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-19%2Bat%2B10.21.15%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>If only it were only this exciting Year: 1956 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>When Hammer's thriller director Val Guest made a creature feature, it was the kind of mind-game-in-the-snow motion picture that might have influenced John Carpenter's THE THING... <br></p><p>And with selfish American entrepreneur Forrest Tucker barking orders at the assorted team of hiking researchers out to discover the legendary Himalayan Yeti, i.e. THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF THE HIMALAYAS, there's a patient British Peter Cushing to add an intriguing scientific spin because he plays a scientist so well...</p><p>The main problem is the initial setting at a Buddhist monastery. The wise shaman raises too many vague questions that needed answering through action instead of dialogue...</p><p>What should've been a more terrorizing journey becomes predictably doomed in that "Don't mess with nature" fashion. Liken to the anticipation of KING KONG, with men exploiting the unknown wilds, if that had played as cautiously there wouldn't be any story at all: Making SNOWMAN a kind of half-adventure relying more on intermittent suspense than a revealing payoff. Ultimately, ABOMINABLE wields a hoarse roar. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, creature, fifties, forrest tucker, hammer, monster, peter cushing, thriller, val guest

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN'

If only it were only this exciting Year: 1956 Rates: *** When Hammer's thriller director Val Guest made a creature feature, it was the k...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STEVE COCHRAN IN 'THE WEAPON'

<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/-SiGMWsWfcec/YIPc3kmYkiI/AAAAAAABfzk/FqYNh-2Wx3Ij0rMl0NUvmSGzcOYOAG26wCLcBGAsYHQ/s331/lf.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="257" data-original-width="331" height="310" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SiGMWsWfcec/YIPc3kmYkiI/AAAAAAABfzk/FqYNh-2Wx3Ij0rMl0NUvmSGzcOYOAG26wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h310/lf.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE WEAPON Year: 1957 Rating: **** </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A British Post War movie ten years past, hence the real-life antique ruins where THE WEAPON is buried from the previous decade's unsolved murder, and local little boy Jon Whiteley finds it, accidentally shoots a bully, and runs like hell... </p><p></p><p>Morphing <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/val%20guest">Val Guest's</a> thriller from war to noir as Whiteley's Erik hits the dark shadowy streets while worried American widow/mom Lizabeth Scott, in her penultimate still-young big screen role, hitting the right emotional marks, is charmed by shady Brit George Cole while putting up with ultra-serious military investigator Steve Cochran... </p><p>And Cole, as the sole heavy, has the most fun here, getting to both sneakily and violently interact with side-characters, including scene-stealing French starlet Nicole Maurey as a tough yet wispy showgirl just past her prime. Meanwhile, in a thankless leading role, Noir veteran Cochran (slowly warming up to Noir veteran Scott) plays THE WEAPON like a throwback gumshoe more than an MP, and for the sparse 80-minute run time, director Val Guest throws everything into the potboiler plot including sudden deaths, chases, rooftop fights and race-against-time suspense.  </p><p><span></span></p>

british film noir, drama, fifties, george cole, herbert marshall, jon whiteley, lizabeth scott, mystery, sally anne field, steve cochran, thriller, val guest, war

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STEVE COCHRAN IN 'THE WEAPON'

Title: THE WEAPON Year: 1957 Rating: **** A British Post War movie ten years past, hence the real-life antique ruins where THE WEAPON is bur...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S 'THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT'

<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/-_sbKgvIy6Ek/YGpTuM6ehNI/AAAAAAABe_E/E-e2vbLz9lgDiEjvg1KuCw7nRiVhnfLiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s541/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-04%2Bat%2B4.58.50%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="541" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_sbKgvIy6Ek/YGpTuM6ehNI/AAAAAAABe_E/E-e2vbLz9lgDiEjvg1KuCw7nRiVhnfLiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h283/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-04%2Bat%2B4.58.50%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for Quatermass Year: 1955 Rates: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>An episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE four years before THE TWILIGHT ZONE, Hammer went from Noir to Sci-Fi with Val Guest's THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT before their groundbreaking Classic Monster outing THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN... </p><p></p><p>And, right down to a little girl befriending a monstrous beast close to water, this XPERIMENT is basically James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN had he returned from a rocket ship sent up prematurely by our more impatient than mad scientist in title character Quatermass, played by American import Brian Donlevy, letting all the intrigue swirl around his usual mellow cadence... </p><p>And the more animated British co-stars, primarily token constable Jack Warner, wind up chasing the human creature that inevitably turns into a bigger alien creature. But the best scenes occur during the enigmatic buildup when the characters, and audience, aren't sure why of three astronauts only one returned in long-faced Hammer regular Richard Wordsworth who, beloved by an oblivious wife, is a lot more horrifying before he springs into town-trudging life... of the reanimated kind... in a neat and nifty hybrid of Science-Fiction and body count Horror. </p><p><span></span></p>

body count, brian donlevy, creature, fifties, gordon jackson, hammer, horror, jack warner, jane asher, richard wordsworth, science-fiction, val guest

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S 'THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT'

Poster for Quatermass Year: 1955 Rates: **** An episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE four years before THE TWILIGHT ZONE, Hammer went from Noir to S...

MICHAEL CRAIG KILLING IT FOR 'PAYROLL' AKA 'I PROMISED TO PAY'

<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/-OvvyLsNQ7xo/YFryL-5aOWI/AAAAAAABey0/TnyBrEab1DMr685DKrJwL3xcJTocAJ4FgCLcBGAsYHQ/s476/MV5BMDdhZjgxMDktZTJiZi00MjhlLTkxOTMtZWRkMTJhMDAzOWM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDUyOTUyNQ%2540%2540._V1_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="447" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OvvyLsNQ7xo/YFryL-5aOWI/AAAAAAABey0/TnyBrEab1DMr685DKrJwL3xcJTocAJ4FgCLcBGAsYHQ/w376-h400/MV5BMDdhZjgxMDktZTJiZi00MjhlLTkxOTMtZWRkMTJhMDAzOWM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDUyOTUyNQ%2540%2540._V1_.jpeg" width="376"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Originally titled PAYROLL Year: 1961 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Early example of girl power encroaching a manly action flick, or more like widow power in that Billie Whitelaw only initially <i>seems</i> the docile suburban wife/mother, married to the literally <i>driven</i> creator of an armored vehicle — whose invention thwarts a gang's plan to rob a factory safe, now mobile...<br></p><p></p><p>But the equally driven <i>and</i> dangerous Michael Craig (contrasting to the heroic <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/Misland.html">MYSTERIOUS ISLAND</a> role) is hell-bent on the blag going down... </p><p>And like the likely inspiration of Richard Fleischer's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/11/ACR.html">A</a><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/11/ACR.html">RMORED CAR ROBBERY</a>, there are four crooks and one of their wives is smitten for the vicious leader...</p><p>Making for a racy romance between killer Craig and French beauty Françoise Prévost, married to inside man <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/gimme-a.html">William Lucas,</a> one of the plan's two guilt-ridden weak links along with nebbish Kenneth Griffith, who, unlike the frantic/paranoid Lucas, doesn't really belong here (as an actor <i>or</i> character)... </p><p>Leaving the best for last in wild card Tom Bell, starting a career of edgy, argumentative, irritated young thugs and, like in another British heist thriller, A PRIZE OF ARMS, he even blindly rebels against the smarter, much stronger criminal boss: Their tension setting the unpredictable mood far more capably than widow Whitelaw, whose vengeful trail is not only contrived but sometimes laughably convenient... Morphing the sparse Noir-suited title of PAYROLL into I PROMISED TO PAY, sounding more Harlequin than Hardboiled.<br></p><p><span></span></p>

billie whitelaw, british, british neo noir, british new wave, françoise prévost, heist, jazz score, kenneth griffith, pauline shepherd, revenge, sixties, tom bell, william lucas

MICHAEL CRAIG KILLING IT FOR 'PAYROLL' AKA 'I PROMISED TO PAY'

Originally titled PAYROLL Year: 1961 Rates: ***1/2 Early example of girl power encroaching a manly action flick, or more like widow power in...

STANLEY BAKER IN 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' WITH PETER CUSHING

<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/-VUneStiZ3K0/YGCiO5CClyI/AAAAAAABe6Q/E9z5IDqpj30LfFZ8JPVyQTfXkZjAAnvhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s420/MV5BOTNkZjcxOTAtZDRkYS00ZTc4LTliMmMtMjJhODI5NjA5MTNhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI4MjA5MzA%2540._V1_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="420" height="314" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VUneStiZ3K0/YGCiO5CClyI/AAAAAAABe6Q/E9z5IDqpj30LfFZ8JPVyQTfXkZjAAnvhwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h314/MV5BOTNkZjcxOTAtZDRkYS00ZTc4LTliMmMtMjJhODI5NjA5MTNhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI4MjA5MzA%2540._V1_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>VIOLENT PLAYGROUND Year: 1958 Rates: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A year after playing brothers in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a>, making Stanley Baker famous and putting cameo David McCallum on the map, they both starred equally in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND, with Baker as a detective reluctantly demoted to juvenile liaison because he couldn't close an arson case... </p><p>Little does he know McCallum's street punk leader, Johnny, is the fire-starter. And as the movie begins with a <i>Rock Around the Clock</i> ripoff, inspired by BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, this gang not only fights but dances to that new thing called Rock N' Roll...<br></p><p></p><p>And while Baker wields his usual square-jawed hero, he also displays a vulnerable side, keeping two children out of future trouble while falling in love with their hard-working, cop-hating sister Anne Heywood, who, like oldest brother Johnny, only trusts local priest Peter Cushing (channeling Dana Andrews from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/08/EOD.html">EDGE OF DOOM</a>). The best scenes involve the trouble Baker gets into by pressing the truth after figuring it out. Leading to an overlong but still intense third act as gun-wielding Johnny holds a classroom of children hostage, morphing from James's Dean to Cagney i.e. rebel to psychopath. Yet here the picture mostly belongs to the ingenue, playing mind-games to calm her brother, at which point both McCallum and Baker turn from lead actors to audience members. With front row seats.  <br></p><p><span></span></p>

anne heywood, david mccallum, fifties, film noir or melodrama, music, peter cushing, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER IN 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' WITH PETER CUSHING

VIOLENT PLAYGROUND Year: 1958 Rates: **** A year after playing brothers in HELL DRIVERS , making Stanley Baker famous and putting cameo Davi...

WOODY ALLEN'S CINEMATIC FANTASY 'THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO'

<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/-GIRE09LCIqQ/YHax-oPLugI/AAAAAAABfXM/lI1uvmzRGcwweEQhRN1YWdmA66WTSznSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-04-13%25252Bat%25252B3.46.04%25252BAM%25252B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GIRE09LCIqQ/YHax-oPLugI/AAAAAAABfXM/lI1uvmzRGcwweEQhRN1YWdmA66WTSznSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-04-13%25252Bat%25252B3.46.04%25252BAM%25252B2.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Juliana Donald plays a theater worker who's very cute in THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO Year: 1985 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As creative as PLAY IT AGAIN SAM is, with Humphrey Bogart appearing to Woody Allen's movie-buff character with advice on dames, the Depression-era PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO goes much further, deeper, with Jeff Daniels as both the actor, Gil Shepard, who brought a character, Tom Baxter, to life, literally... </p><p></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Written for the screen and having walked right through it, not only tired of being stuck in the celluloid purgatory and wanting to delve into the real world, he's smitten with Farrow's underdog cinefile, who he'd noticed in the audience during matinee screenings, again and again: Farrow's Cecelia lost her job  after her husband cheats right in front of her face: the theater is her only place to remain safe, and sane...</span></p><span></span>

danny aiello, deborah rush, dianne wiest, edward hermann, eighties, fantasy, jeff daniels, juliana donald, mia farrow, romantic comedy, woody allen

WOODY ALLEN'S CINEMATIC FANTASY 'THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO'

Juliana Donald plays a theater worker who's very cute in THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO Year: 1985 Rates: **** As creative as PLAY IT AGAIN SA...

WILLIAM CAMPBELL & KATHRYN GRANT IN 'CELL 2455, DEATH ROW'

<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/-S7NUBED-9tg/YHw7xUgKn4I/AAAAAAABfe8/I_M0wFS1ZUwGbY52LZbRCTjNlL-lldMsgCLcBGAsYHQ/s974/111.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="974" height="351" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S7NUBED-9tg/YHw7xUgKn4I/AAAAAAABfe8/I_M0wFS1ZUwGbY52LZbRCTjNlL-lldMsgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h351/111.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kathryn Grant with Robert Campbell in 1955 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>William Campbell plays it snarky, sneaky, cocky and blocky enough to be a young James Cagney in a homage of those 1930's gangster flicks... </p><p>And Campbell, as real life death row inmate Caryl Chessman changed to Whit Whittier, has little brother Robert playing his younger self, stealing hot rods for thrill moll Kathryn Grant; eventually switching dame-gears to a faithful Marian Carr, waiting for her grown-up prison-hopping  career criminal boyfriend to come home. <br></p><p>The action-packed bravado flows nicely from one set of scores to the next, and eventually includes future star Vince Edwards as one of many partners-in-crime (also including Joe Turkel)... </p><p>Sometimes b-movie director <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/fred%20f.%20sears">Fred F. Sears</a> rushes through what should be more fleshed-out, like a stint at Folsom using stock footage, but the death row inmate's eclectic (narrated) crimes on the outside is what matters. Too bad the 11th hour mysteriously-shot scenes of a Lover's Lane Killer, who may or may not be our likeable yet cursed, no-good loser, only adds to the now too-obvious agenda to get the real guy (who'd die five years later in 1960) from the gas chamber. Basically, CELL 2455, DEATH ROW is a better action-packed Film Noir than biopic melodrama. </p><span></span>

biopic, fifties, film noir or melodrama, fred f. sears, joe turkel, jonathan haze, kathryn grant, marian carr, michael granger, paul dubov, vince edwards, william campbell

WILLIAM CAMPBELL & KATHRYN GRANT IN 'CELL 2455, DEATH ROW'

Kathryn Grant with Robert Campbell in 1955 Rates: **** William Campbell plays it snarky, sneaky, cocky and blocky enough to be a young James...

CAROL WHITE IN 'POOR COW' FEATURING TERENCE STAMP

<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/-g5DBt8OE1vU/YGZxXmnOljI/AAAAAAABe-Y/S6WXEyyuK7sJTcZUWURHy64sxHoutmlzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1630/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-01%2Bat%2B4.19.48%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="1630" height="259" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g5DBt8OE1vU/YGZxXmnOljI/AAAAAAABe-Y/S6WXEyyuK7sJTcZUWURHy64sxHoutmlzwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h259/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-01%2Bat%2B4.19.48%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Carol White in POOR COW Year: 1967 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Since selections of POOR COW were used in the 1999 thriller THE LIMEY showing star Terence Stamp's younger self, and the plot involves crooks, there's an assumption this is another British crime flick... <i>starring</i> Terence Stamp... and both are far from the truth: In fact we only see the police or judge cleaning up each heist's aftermath...</p><p>An aftermath's aftermath that belongs entirely to Carol White, resembling one of several English blondes including Julie Christie, Judy Geeson and Susannah York only going far beneath the usual pretty actress performance... </p><p>In that POOR COW harbors a non-performance within a documentary-style, right down to title cards and narration as White's Joy, always with her baby (at various stages) nearby, goes from an idyllic tryst with Stamp's nice guy burglar Dave, ending abruptly in an arrest where she's on her own, working various jobs, from a cocktail waitress to a nude photo model. And with bad husband John Bindon imprisoned before Stamp, and with the laidback aura of a friend's cool little sister, she takes up with just about any man, at any age or make, for simply flirting in her direction: An uncomfortable, non-glamorous role where White, despite her perky cuteness, never poses or relies on looks, often seeming like a hardened woman past her prime, yet somehow narrowly optimistic... A part Julie Christie would never have dared to play, POOR COW is the tattered noose of The Swinging Sixties, and is another ultra-realistic art film too good for its own good to receive the awards, accolades and cult following it deserves. </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/-Eue3zlu4iss/YGcTshnOMuI/AAAAAAABe-0/Qskyena7cFgImOVSsYO9vp-aotR9gKhKACLcBGAsYHQ/s1824/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-04-01%252Bat%252B11.41.11%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1824" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Eue3zlu4iss/YGcTshnOMuI/AAAAAAABe-0/Qskyena7cFgImOVSsYO9vp-aotR9gKhKACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-04-01%252Bat%252B11.41.11%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Carol White in POOR COW</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

british new wave, carol white, crime, drama, exploitation, john bindon, ken loach, pseudo documentary, romance, sixties, terence stamp

CAROL WHITE IN 'POOR COW' FEATURING TERENCE STAMP

Carol White in POOR COW Year: 1967 Rating: ***** Since selections of POOR COW were used in the 1999 thriller THE LIMEY showing star Terence ...

CLINT EASTWOOD STARS/DIRECTS DIRTY HARRY IN 'SUDDEN IMPACT'

<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/-HNTA8g1tcHA/YHRIMcfuAKI/AAAAAAABfQU/c8Dm6vJNqjM0dTl2OWrlef0uBsG8E_UfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s399/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-04-08%25252Bat%25252B7.06.21%25252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="399" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HNTA8g1tcHA/YHRIMcfuAKI/AAAAAAABfQU/c8Dm6vJNqjM0dTl2OWrlef0uBsG8E_UfQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h276/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-04-08%25252Bat%25252B7.06.21%25252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact Year: 1983 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The penultimate Dirty Harry is an exploitation of slick, mechanized 1980's violence, body count style, twofold, as vengeful killers stalk Callahan while the mainline has artist Sondra Locke seeking her own revenge from a group of small town San Paulo locals that, years earlier, under a carnival pier, raped her and her sister, inspiring morbid gallery paintings, and, hiding in plain sight, she's restoring the same carnival's carousel while randomly killing off the rapists...<br></p><p>Meanwhile, Harry is, ironically, being punished for leaving a trail of dead villains who wanted <i>him</i> dead first... sent on what he thinks is a busman's holiday/nowhere murder case, also in San Paulo where the second act has an investigatory town-with-secrets noir vibe, connecting the picked-off perverts with a stern local sheriff. And while most of the fun's had during the rudimentary non-stop action involving Harry and Locke's Jennifer on their own, SUDDEN IMPACT remains worthwhile throughout, including the usual over-the-top lead antagonist. But it's "The Dyke" (Audrie Neenan), a wicked witch of cackling butch-lesbian bravado, who steals the evil side of things, and, despite mostly playing out in sunlight ("Make my DAY" after all).... and neatly directed by Eastwood while funky Lalo Schifrin provides a record-scratching theme as black regular Albert Popwell pops up again... IMPACT is an intensely dark entry in the iconic franchise that should have ended right here. </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/-1g_o4-NM4lo/YHL00YHdX2I/AAAAAAABfQE/7nvx4f4cb0ATwaP9wfu7ZYRylaZVoSgAACLcBGAsYHQ/s1537/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B6.02.03%2BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="1537" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1g_o4-NM4lo/YHL00YHdX2I/AAAAAAABfQE/7nvx4f4cb0ATwaP9wfu7ZYRylaZVoSgAACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B6.02.03%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood in SUDDEN IMPACT</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, albert popwell, audrie neenan, body count, bradford dillman, clint eastwood, cop, dirty harry, eighties, exploitation, franchise, mara corday, pat hingle, sondra locke, thriller

CLINT EASTWOOD STARS/DIRECTS DIRTY HARRY IN 'SUDDEN IMPACT'

Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact Year: 1983 Rates: **** The penultimate Dirty Harry is an exploitation of slick, mechanized 1980's violen...

STANLEY BAKER BONDS ESPIONAGE IN 'INNOCENT BYSTANDERS'

<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/-4lGAXpvE0r8/YFqytevhmQI/AAAAAAABevk/U0MRAsLEyTsVBPzpFfya61-j_UqG1NM7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s977/s-l1600.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="977" height="315" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4lGAXpvE0r8/YFqytevhmQI/AAAAAAABevk/U0MRAsLEyTsVBPzpFfya61-j_UqG1NM7ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h315/s-l1600.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Bond style poster art from 1972 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Square-jawed British actor Stanley Baker was "considered" for James Bond... ironically he resembles Sean Connery and <i>starred</i> in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a> where a young Connery began...<br></p><p></p><p>Skip to... fifteen-years later, after super-star Connery left the iconic spy role, Baker starred in a movie so Bondish that... just hearing the flaunting, jazzy, repetitive score, you'd think INNOCENT BYSTANDERS was yet another 007 entry, including power-hungry villains, led by the most famous of Bond foes, Donald Pleasence, danging a carrot to lesser corporate heavy Dana Andrews...</p><p>The first who Baker's agent/assassin John Craig works for, sent on what's basically a suicide mission to retrieve a rogue Jewish scientist, making the action-packed scenes when he's in the dark work best — and is where <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/01/wacky-action-heist-crime-for-englands.html">ITALIAN JOB</a> director Peter Collinson uses enough signature 1970's zoom shots to put a dozen Kung Fu flicks to shame... BYSTANDERS even includes karate fights between "Craig" and scene-stealing mercenary couple Darren Nesbitt and Sue Lloyd, who call him "old man" and needed more overall screen-time... Instead, forced, semi-likeable comic relief Warren Mitchell as an Australian con man and the INNOCENT character in Geraldine Chaplin's mousy ingenue, conveniently kidnapped and along for the ride — from England to Turkey — slows both the pace and Baker's no-nonsense tough guy, who becomes so pitifully vulnerable, anyone expecting daring-do adventure from a daring-do adventurer will eventually tire of the poor guy getting captured, tortured, and recaptured: What <i>Wouldn't</i> Bond Do.    <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, dana andrews, darren nesbitt, donald pleasence, espionage, geraldine chaplin, pauline chamberlain, peter collinson, seventies, spy, stanley baker, sue lloyd, warren mitchell

STANLEY BAKER BONDS ESPIONAGE IN 'INNOCENT BYSTANDERS'

James Bond style poster art from 1972 Rating: ***1/2 Square-jawed British actor Stanley Baker was "considered" for James Bond... i...

STANLEY BAKER & PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED'

<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/-cGMmFUBEiQs/YFrXrcsOZUI/AAAAAAABexM/iqLeg7X6F2AiJ70SbyjnOhPw6G-KTWPlACLcBGAsYHQ/s348/Z.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="348" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cGMmFUBEiQs/YFrXrcsOZUI/AAAAAAABexM/iqLeg7X6F2AiJ70SbyjnOhPw6G-KTWPlACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h283/Z.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker on poster Year: 1963 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun drawn on a train during the climax following CURSE OF THE DEMON, but THE THIRD MAN has been knocked-off once again...</p><p>And this time it's a pretty good effort as former German child now adult British citizen/jazz pianist Stanley Baker returns to Germany after getting a mysterious call about his father, who he thought was dead twenty-years ago, and is now dead again, only it happened a week earlier...</p><p>And as this effective mystery thriller progresses, the dad, like Orson Welles's Harry Lime, could have been involved in some bad things, covered up by a doctor played by Peter Cushing (protecting widow Mai Zetterling and directed by Hammer's Quentin Lawrence), while also helping  gorgeous ingenue Georgina Ward, whose father was buried in the same grave that, well... there are too many twists to count or spoil, but Baker, donning Ray Charles-like sunglasses even indoors, goes from place to place in his usual strongarm, no-nonsense fashion, only a bit more vulnerable, and deliberately confused, like the audience. <br></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

georgina ward, mai zetterling, neo noir, niall macginnis, nigel green, peter cushing, sixties, stanley baker, thriller

STANLEY BAKER & PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED'

Stanley Baker on poster Year: 1963 Rating: **** Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun drawn ...

DANA ANDREWS & FALLEN ANGEL BRUCE CABOT IN 'TOWN TAMER'

<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/-XECDXzFiXFg/YG8cHYJHVoI/AAAAAAABfHM/a7xieuKHWssz0MNWbUNlVd5ChSqD0sYsgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/11.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="400" height="378" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XECDXzFiXFg/YG8cHYJHVoI/AAAAAAABfHM/a7xieuKHWssz0MNWbUNlVd5ChSqD0sYsgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h378/11.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews TOWN TAMER Year: 1965 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the Sixties, A.C. Lyles produced a cram-session of "Old Fogey Westerns" using aged movie stars as newly-revived leading men... </p><p>And it's D<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/dana%20andrews">ana Andrews</a> turn as vengeful gunman TOWN TAMER reignited after wife Coleen Gray's gunshot death that was meant for him...</p><p>Which was orchestrated by a casino-owning villain lording over another TOWN, using local loser DeForest Kelley to thwart Dana's mission to rid his decades-earlier <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/08/FallenAngel.html">FALLEN ANGEL</a> Linda Darnell rival Bruce Cabot: yet the real scene-stealer is the hired gun played by enigmatic rogue Lyle Bettger... </p><p>As the guilt-ridden wife-slayer, Bettger (posing as a Marshal) becomes a confidant to an oblivious Andrews, unaware who's on his side... <br></p><p>Except Terry Moore, providing a cocky love interest more interesting than most, along with familiar faces Barton MacClane (who hires Dana), Richard Arlen (doctor), Richard Jaekel (corrupt deputy), Lon Chaney Jr. (stable manager), James Brown (tough local), Pat O'Brien (crooked judge), Roger Torrey (a giant baddie providing the best fist-fight), all aptly directed by Lesley Selander, and, while not the existential, ultra-violent Spaghetti Western the genre had morphed into, TOWN TAMER — with sudden deaths and a mob-gathered gunfire finale — definitely isn't tame.  </p><p><span></span></p>

a.c. lyles, action, bruce cabot, coleen gray, dana andrews, deforest kelley, lesley selander, lyle bettger, michael landon, revenge, richard jaekal, roger torrey, sixties, terry moore, western

DANA ANDREWS & FALLEN ANGEL BRUCE CABOT IN 'TOWN TAMER'

Dana Andrews TOWN TAMER Year: 1965 Rates: **** In the Sixties, A.C. Lyles produced a cram-session of "Old Fogey Westerns" using ag...

WILLIAM SYLVESTER DIGS INTO 'OFFBEAT' AKA 'THE DEVIL INSIDE'

<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/-BmFvfBupRY4/YFknBSHYp0I/AAAAAAABesc/FBcZNPckxO4AMFRHpbzLGCI1wl4FaYD8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s393/OFFBEATHR.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="393" height="316" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BmFvfBupRY4/YFknBSHYp0I/AAAAAAABesc/FBcZNPckxO4AMFRHpbzLGCI1wl4FaYD8gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h316/OFFBEATHR.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William resembling Chevy Affleck Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There was a reason American actor William Sylvester was available for an American director who filmed in England, where both he and Stanley Kubrick ala 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY literally felt right at home... </p><p>And OFFBEAT provides the usually cool/collected William Sylvester real edge and intensity: starting out in dark sunglasses while robbing a bank... then meeting with fellow cops for whom he's a resilient, somewhat roguish undercover agent. </p><p></p><p>Taking place mostly during one heist... a tunnel job on a quiet city street... the mission's to infiltrate a syndicate of criminals...</p><p>Yet this particular den harbors pool playing, working-class types so crooked they're almost normal, including by-the-numbers leader Anthony Dawson and affable everyman John Meillon, who, along with muscle-thugs Neil McCarthy and Harry Baird, pose as construction workers. But the gang's token ingenue Mai Zetterling <i>really</i> stands out... she's pretty, experienced and tough despite falling too hard too fast for our anti-hero, constantly dogged by his stubborn Scotland Yard boss... which, as he and we learn, could be for understandable reasons, and, directed by veteran Cliff Owen, who'd soon make his best heist thriller with A PRIZE OF ARMS, this is Sylvester's best role, juggling a kind of criminal/cop ambiguity like only Noir can. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

anthony dawson, british neo noir, british new wave, cliff owen, cop, harry baird, heist, john meillon, mai zetterling, neil mccarthy, sixties, william sylvester

WILLIAM SYLVESTER DIGS INTO 'OFFBEAT' AKA 'THE DEVIL INSIDE'

William resembling Chevy Affleck Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2 There was a reason American actor William Sylvester was available for an American...

REST IN PEACE BOND VILLAIN & ACTING LEGEND YAPHET KOTTO

<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/-1Fua2t1PxU4/YFOBIXypW1I/AAAAAAABeic/OA_jzb7Uq1U6ODjLfD05As-j54576fAmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/161697547_4024577994253117_3570165528362675602_o.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1113" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1Fua2t1PxU4/YFOBIXypW1I/AAAAAAABeic/OA_jzb7Uq1U6ODjLfD05As-j54576fAmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/161697547_4024577994253117_3570165528362675602_o.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YAPHET KOTTO on his role as the first black Bond villain in LIVE AND LET DIE</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Roger Moore's first James Bond venture LIVE AND LET DIE, the 1973 spy blaxploitation throwing everything into the pot including pimp cars, voodoo, killer crocodiles, serpents, zombies, a boat chase and so much more, wasn't so beloved by actor Yaphet Kotto, who played the drug lord Kananga... a memorable performance as a groundbreaking Bond heavy, being the first black villain in the franchise...</p><p></p><p><u>YAPHET KOTTO</u>: There were so many problems with that script… I was too afraid of coming off like Mantan Moreland… I had to dig deep in my soul and brain and come up with a level of reality that would offset the sea of stereotype crap that Tom Mankiewicz wrote that had nothing to do with the Black experience or culture...</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/-XYv1DMFrtzg/YFHP8-iqFHI/AAAAAAABeX0/SA6uR1eOMMAMEr7sq4zx-Iomk1O2G0cwACLcBGAsYHQ/s847/title06_204014107.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="847" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XYv1DMFrtzg/YFHP8-iqFHI/AAAAAAABeX0/SA6uR1eOMMAMEr7sq4zx-Iomk1O2G0cwACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/title06_204014107.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Roger Moore, Jane Seymour and Yaphet Kotto in LIVE AND LET DIE</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p><u>YAPHET KOTTO</u> (CONTINUED): It was the first Black Bond villain, I wanted to be original… but there was nothing I could draw on from Tom’s script. It was a trap... <br></p><p></p><p>If I had played it the way it was written, every Black Organization in the world would have been on my case. I had to draw on a real life situation I was going through and that saved me…But the way Kananga dies was a joke… and… well… the entire experience was not as rewarding as I wanted it to be. There were a lot of pitfalls that I had to avoid, and I did.  </p><p><span></span></p>

blaxploitation, interview, james bond, jane seymour, roger moore, seventies, yaphet kotto

REST IN PEACE BOND VILLAIN & ACTING LEGEND YAPHET KOTTO

YAPHET KOTTO on his role as the first black Bond villain in LIVE AND LET DIE Roger Moore's first James Bond venture LIVE AND LET DIE, th...

DENISE GALICK GETS ATTACKED IN 'HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP'

<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/-Xyk8egsAgRk/YFJFdGgXwTI/AAAAAAABebE/TUFMQMTtwBkYybOsWO2DVZlIIjHT3fNFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1518/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-03-16%252Bat%252B4.48.57%252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1207" data-original-width="1518" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xyk8egsAgRk/YFJFdGgXwTI/AAAAAAABebE/TUFMQMTtwBkYybOsWO2DVZlIIjHT3fNFwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h318/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-03-16%252Bat%252B4.48.57%252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Denise Galick in Humanoids of the Deep 1980  ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Not only did Roger Corman produce a JAWS-clone (directed by Barbara Peeters) where sexy young women are raped by mutated fish-humans, but there's a scientific excuse that's all Darwin's doing...</p><p></p><p>And as bad as HUMANOIDS OF THE DEEP seems as an exploitation horror, it actually fails only when going too far and showing too much... </p><p>Not of the lady victims, but the creatures who, resembling ALIEN superglued with seaweed, pilage a local seaside town that, like the JAWS mayor wants business flourishing during shark attacks, goes one step further as Vic Morrow, in order to provide bigger fish for his in-coming cannery, has unintentionally created these monstrosities... </p><p>Making this an Eco-Horror Creature-Feature but thankfully, unlike the previous years' howler PROPHESY, which also includes an idealistic Native American aiding the man/woman heroes (fisherman Doug McClure and scientist Ann Turkel), there's no sermonizing involved: just the stalking and tormenting of beauties that include super-cute girl-next-door Denise Galick; voluptuous, sexed-up Lynn Theel; housewife Cindy Weintraub; and Linda Shayne as the town's carnival beauty queen these monsters crash in an overboard finale that needed more an implied approach, which actually kinda worked for a good fifty-minutes there.  </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/-zLq7-D9TS1E/YFJG4l72KbI/AAAAAAABebI/pT5KbvvwodctwIf1AfnN6XT3ylf_Jt_DwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1556/0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1327" data-original-width="1556" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLq7-D9TS1E/YFJG4l72KbI/AAAAAAABebI/pT5KbvvwodctwIf1AfnN6XT3ylf_Jt_DwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/0.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Denise Galick in HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></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/-2dD_ESCCT_c/YFFCXJRp34I/AAAAAAABeW4/ZPNKFEMbp8kLGaExvulqg5EyMazMwkBlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1931/11.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1321" data-original-width="1931" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2dD_ESCCT_c/YFFCXJRp34I/AAAAAAABeW4/ZPNKFEMbp8kLGaExvulqg5EyMazMwkBlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/11.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Breck Costin and Denise Galik in HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

ann turkel, anthony pena, barbara peeters, body count, cindy weintraub, denis galick, doug mcclure, eighties, exploitation, greg travis, horror, jaws-clone, lynn theel, roger corman, vic morrow

DENISE GALICK GETS ATTACKED IN 'HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP'

Denise Galick in Humanoids of the Deep 1980  ***1/2 Not only did Roger Corman produce a JAWS-clone (directed by Barbara Peeters) where sexy ...