cult film freak: August 2010

Written by James M. Tate / 8/21/2010 / No comments / andy griffith , drama , fifties , lee remick , patricia neal , politics , walter matthau

A FACE IN THE CROWD

<span style="font-weight: bold;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_61_rx4oqy1ajsdYT8A9lGk9DudxcizY25Ibb723JNvDRgIhej_TtpyEpeRANALtuCXfkU9T2XVABOmvNv2eBff68gYiA-tSL6XICG5KTjZSbKPaJf0Ss0zoWycUQXlAEiH1_r628lnqXD6BIX2S_YdNGgsok1lD5Ns7y9qQyqO0_XK6BFKvxp2UDZA/s1330/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-16%20at%209.59.15%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="1330" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_61_rx4oqy1ajsdYT8A9lGk9DudxcizY25Ibb723JNvDRgIhej_TtpyEpeRANALtuCXfkU9T2XVABOmvNv2eBff68gYiA-tSL6XICG5KTjZSbKPaJf0Ss0zoWycUQXlAEiH1_r628lnqXD6BIX2S_YdNGgsok1lD5Ns7y9qQyqO0_XK6BFKvxp2UDZA/w200-h181/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-16%20at%209.59.15%20PM.png" width="200" /></a></div></span><span>title:</span> A FACE IN THE CROWD<span> year:</span> 1957<span> cast: </span>Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Walter Mattau, Lee Remick<span> director:</span> Elia Kazan <span>rating:</span> ***<br />
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The first half has charm and a nice story arc of a guitar-slinging slick-talking bum turned radio personality then TV host i.e. the man of the people aka "Lonesome Rhodes", played with sublime gusto by Andy Griffith. Patricia Neal, as a radio show producer, pulls the strings, falls in love, and eventually Rhodes glides into womanizing and worse yet, backing a politician. This occurs during the second half as the characters, and the story, declines into an overly-obvious over-the-top message: not that too much fame will ruin a normal man, but that politics, when mixed with television, doesn't work and can be America's downfall. (Ironic how, three years after this film, one of the most popular presidents of all time would be elected for that very reason.) Rhode's climb to the top, from rags to riches, is a treat; but once he arrives, the movie, like the main character, loses focus and never quite regains.

andy griffith, drama, fifties, lee remick, patricia neal, politics, walter matthau

A FACE IN THE CROWD

title: A FACE IN THE CROWD year: 1957 cast: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Walter Mattau, Lee Remick director: Elia Kazan rating: *** ...

Written by James M. Tate / 8/16/2010 / No comments / comedy , forties , margaret o'brien , marshall thompson , wallace beery , western

BAD BASCOMB

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/TGnTqiHwFVI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/SCv_mTvyQrw/s1600/200px-Bad_Bascomb_1946.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506164747104425298" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/TGnTqiHwFVI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/SCv_mTvyQrw/s200/200px-Bad_Bascomb_1946.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 161px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: pointer" /></a><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">title:</span> BAD BASCOMB<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">year: </span>1946<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">cast: </span>Wallace Beery, Margaret O'Brien, Marshall Thompson<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">rating: </span>**<br /><br />A Western involving a few salty marauders who happen upon a stagecoach-circle with woman of slain soldiers, and one little girl, played by Margaret O'Brien, who ends up melting the lead baddie's heart. Scenes with Wallace Berry and child actress O'Brien (around six years of age) are the creepiest thing I've witnessed in an "old movie" as O'Brien keeps telling Beery she wants to marry him, and in one particular scene they are off in the brush away from the camp, and she teaches him how to kiss. I realize this film, about the old codger being changed by the cute little girl, has its heart in the right place: but the beat is highly irregular. Other than that the story moves along pretty decently, although seems quite stagy and claustrophobic overall.

comedy, forties, margaret o'brien, marshall thompson, wallace beery, western

BAD BASCOMB

title: BAD BASCOMB year: 1946 cast: Wallace Beery, Margaret O'Brien, Marshall Thompson rating: ** A Western involving a few salty marau...

Written by James M. Tate / 8/04/2010 / No comments / alfred hitchcock , anthony dawson , crime , fifties , film noir or melodrama , grace kelly , perfect murder , ray milland , robert cummings , suspense

DIAL M FOR MURDER

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a7cYRIBwMn4/UBRgeAH4elI/AAAAAAAAJgY/l3UNJOEP2V4/s1600/dial+m+for+murder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="138" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a7cYRIBwMn4/UBRgeAH4elI/AAAAAAAAJgY/l3UNJOEP2V4/s640/dial+m+for+murder.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year: </b>1954 <b> rating: </b>***</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Perhaps it's Alfred Hitchcock's fault. He made his villain so likable that the third act of this classic melodrama becomes a let-down when the somewhat one-dimensional good guys, including a cop and a crime novelist, hone in on the wrathfully delightful Ray Milland...<br />
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The always-intense actor deliciously plots a "perfect murder" of his rich wife during a gloriously long scene (with Anthony Dawson) in that sublimely <i>executed</i> second act, thus leading to the pivotal "homocide" that still packs a wallop.<br />
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What Hitchcock and his actors do with few locations, and tons of dialogue, is amazing.<br />
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alfred hitchcock, anthony dawson, crime, fifties, film noir or melodrama, grace kelly, perfect murder, ray milland, robert cummings, suspense

DIAL M FOR MURDER

year: 1954 rating: *** Perhaps it's Alfred Hitchcock's fault. He made his villain so likable that the third act of this classi...

Written by James M. Tate / 8/03/2010 / No comments / action , bio , lawrence tierney , robert shaw , robert siodmak , sixties , suspense , western

CUSTER OF THE WEST

<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/TFhqYkOyUJI/AAAAAAAAAiE/-nsDoeuia94/s1600/custer+of+the+west.gif"><strong><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501263915108159634" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/TFhqYkOyUJI/AAAAAAAAAiE/-nsDoeuia94/s200/custer+of+the+west.gif" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" /></strong></a><strong>title:</strong> CUSTER OF THE WEST<br /><div><strong>year:</strong> 1967</div><div><strong>cast:</strong> Robert Shaw, Lawrence Tierney, Ty Hardin, Mary Ure</div><div><strong>director:</strong> Robert Siodmak</div><div><strong>rating:</strong> ***1/2 </div><div><br />Two action-packed scenes sum up this entire film of the famous general who died infamously: or vice versa. One has two miners tied down by Indians to a stage coach trying to survive as they wind along a mountainous trail; another has a soldier riding down a log-jam as he escapes from a band of Indians. In both situations, the characters wind up like our title character, and yet the suspense, thanks for director Robert Siodmak, keeps the viewer interested till the bitter end. Sporadic conversations between Custer and General Sheridan (Lawrence Tierney), showing Custer in a sympathetic light, are highlights in a somewhat muddled bio that goes on too long but has some great moments: Robert Shaw's mesmerizing style of delivering monologues enhance a mediocre script. The last twenty minutes, leading up to, and then rushing the battle of, Little Big Horn, is a let-down: but it's the build-up, thanks to a capable director and cast, that works. </div>

action, bio, lawrence tierney, robert shaw, robert siodmak, sixties, suspense, western

CUSTER OF THE WEST

title: CUSTER OF THE WEST year: 1967 cast: Robert Shaw, Lawrence Tierney, Ty Hardin, Mary Ure director: Robert Siodmak rating: ***1/2 T...

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1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)ANATOMY OF A MURDER 10)THE CROWDED SKY 11))THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE SYSTEM 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)CURSE OF THE DEMON 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE BREAK 25)AIR PATROL 26)HANNIBAL BROOKS 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE ROARING TWENTIES 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)STANLEY KUBRICK 4)ORSON WELLES 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)JOHN LANDIS 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)VAL GUEST 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER