Cult Film Freak: March 2014

Presented by James M. Tate / 3/31/2014 / No comments / horror

ANOTHER BLOODY BAGFUL OF ECLECTIC HORROR

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3_-tWF5hWwI/UzmTVG99A5I/AAAAAAAAeFM/7r5TFll3sv0/s1600/31966_117684458274518_114286515280979_90987_2058846_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3_-tWF5hWwI/UzmTVG99A5I/AAAAAAAAeFM/7r5TFll3sv0/s1600/31966_117684458274518_114286515280979_90987_2058846_n.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year released: 1971</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN</b>: </span>Here's an Al Adamson directed b-movie so tailor made for a drive-in theater, you might have to roll your car inside the living room to watch it...  <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-anuZBYeyXo4/WGM7gm-h8GI/AAAAAAAAvl4/h-k9Ur56d58dxNypRBOK3w84JGeDjn43QCLcB/s1600/220px-Draculavsfrankposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-anuZBYeyXo4/WGM7gm-h8GI/AAAAAAAAvl4/h-k9Ur56d58dxNypRBOK3w84JGeDjn43QCLcB/s1600/220px-Draculavsfrankposter.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DraculaVFrankensteinSCORE: **</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Not exactly a pairing-up of two classic monsters, DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN is more of an exploitation horror: Involving monolog-driven mad scientist J.  Carrol Naish working out of a
 carnival fun house with an axe-wielding  idiot man-child, Lon Chaney, 
sent to kill women for experiments to give  his other employee, a 
brooding Count Dracula, eternal life, all the  while reanimating 
Frankenstein's Monster who resembles a melted  cabbage... But the worst thing is that it can
 be quite boring with tedious bouts of dialogue,  spouted mostly by two 
love-struck heroes: A man helping his new  girlfriend find her lost 
sister and eventually happening upon... all  that stuff already 
mentioned. Although at times it can be somewhat involving: A fact which remains completely unexplainable.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XWMkDSMf8ak/UzmULFlgHTI/AAAAAAAAeFk/9z6MRhfohhY/s1600/209867.1020.A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XWMkDSMf8ak/UzmULFlgHTI/AAAAAAAAeFk/9z6MRhfohhY/s1600/209867.1020.A.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1982 rating: ***</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>THE FOREST: </b>The  set-up to this woodsy body count low
 budget slasher: the massacre of two  couples arriving at the forest... 
The women first and their boyfriends, who, for some reason, arrive later
 on... </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">This is merely a bizarre platform for a subplot involving the ghosts 
of  two children and their crazy, cannibalistic father played by 
director Don  Jones's stock actor Gary Kent (SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS), who
 kills, then eats, all females that  cross his path. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">A lot of activity, 
including a backstory involving the  then-normal dad, kids, and a 
cheating wife just screaming to be killed keeps you interested enough  
to forget it's yet another FRIDAY THE 13th ripoff, but with a unique  
personality all its own.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6f-CfFhjP_s/UzmThuc_sHI/AAAAAAAAeFU/YrGjmOFtIb0/s1600/SPIDERBABYT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6f-CfFhjP_s/UzmThuc_sHI/AAAAAAAAeFU/YrGjmOFtIb0/s1600/SPIDERBABYT.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1964 rating: ***</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>SPIDER BABY:</b></span> Whenever there's a horror film about a backwoods family of dimwitted yet
 dangerous loons, it's usually compared to, or accused for stealing 
from, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE... but no longer.<br />
<br />
This film, written 
and directed by Jack Hill ten years prior, starring Lon Chaney as the 
caretaker of two lethal sisters and their lanky, lughead brother played 
by scene-stealer Sid Haig, is not only groundbreaking and shocking, but 
lots of fun as most of the fear is implied: when outsiders visit the house, 
will Lon be able to stop the twisted clan... especially gorgeous Jill 
Banner, using knives like spider's teeth... from murdering them? And although things drag in the middle, it's still a minor classic.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HhXKuj2gd7c/UzmUeHWGfkI/AAAAAAAAeFs/mdDUVhxxM7I/s1600/stee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HhXKuj2gd7c/UzmUeHWGfkI/AAAAAAAAeFs/mdDUVhxxM7I/s1600/stee.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1987 rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE STEPFATHER</b></span>: A fantastic, fully-satisfying suspense/horror from Canada about a man 
who always needs a new family to kill starring Terry O'Quinn, years 
before gaining fame on LOST...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">As the title character, one minute he's extremely bland 
and unassuming, the next an intensely driven, strict "family values" 
patriarch, and eventually a complete psychopath, yet never showing<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>the
 cards... Keeping protagonist Jill Schoelen, as the unfortunate new 
step-daughter, on her toes. Meanwhile, a</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> side-story involving a young man's search 
for the Stepfather (before he strikes again) adds a nice peripheral 
balance, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchock and Brian De Palma's best work.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YkYNi5DPD04/UzmUp-xAd8I/AAAAAAAAeF0/qOBtoGNop1g/s1600/INNOCENT+BLOD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YkYNi5DPD04/UzmUp-xAd8I/AAAAAAAAeF0/qOBtoGNop1g/s1600/INNOCENT+BLOD.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1992 rating: **</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>INNOCENT BLOOD:</b> Decent</span> premise with good beginnings: A sexy, hungry 
french Vampire (Anne Parillaud) in America sets her sights on mafia kingpin Robert Loggia... a clever gag has her being repelled by 
Loggia's breath before she bits him... he's Italian, therefore reeking 
of garlic.<br />
<br />
Our anti-heroine bloodsucker, while feasting on various evil 
mobsters, falls in love with undercover cop Anthony LaPalgia while they 
both try stopping Loggia, who's not only head of the mob but now a 
powerful vamp himself while director John Landis, returning to horror a decade after AMERICAN 
WEREWOLF IN LONDON, balances humor and horror okay, but there's not 
enough going for either genre... Unlike the Werewolf classic, BLOOD is neither
 funny or scary: The choice of the vamps screeching like 
rabid cougars is pretty lame. And in the Landis fashion, there are many 
clips of other classic movies being watched on television by various 
characters, but homage becomes too excessive: making one long for those 
films instead.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5omn64vlZg/UzmePCO14gI/AAAAAAAAeG4/75B_ouiPV8o/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5omn64vlZg/UzmePCO14gI/AAAAAAAAeG4/75B_ouiPV8o/s1600/Picture+1.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1983 rating: *1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><b>AMITYVILLE 3D</b></span>: Gone are the days when 3D meant things moving towards the camera in a 
contrived manner. It's hilarious seeing this in 2D years later after the
 gimmick not only wore off, but is seen as merely that. Yet this film 
suffers from more than pretension of a 50s-era trend trying desperately 
to regain itself in the 1980's...<br />
<br />
Although the first ten minutes as Tony 
Roberts and Candy Clark trick a pair of seance-giving charlatans is not 
bad, the rest of the movie, after Roberts moves into the ghostly manor 
with his gorgeous daughter Lori Laughlin (visited by her friend, Meg 
Ryan), is quite stale. And those ever-buzzing flies just aren't scary... In fact, they never were.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FHD2UITOwyg/UzmmhcHDpkI/AAAAAAAAeHg/HU3uDEo9Xdg/s1600/cove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FHD2UITOwyg/UzmmhcHDpkI/AAAAAAAAeHg/HU3uDEo9Xdg/s1600/cove.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1987 rating: ***</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE COVE AKA BAY COVEN:</b></span> Occasionally, made for TV films delving into the supernatural are 
surprisingly good. GARGOYLES and SATAN'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS come to mind, 
and here’s another... </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Pamela Sue Martin and Tim Matheson are a city couple
 who decide to move to the salty, old-fashioned island of Bay Cove, 
which, it turns out, has some strange content: including an eerie old 
man who stares out his window, neighbors who really hate dogs, and a 
cemetery that's most recent headstone dates back to the 1700s. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Martin is
 the main protagonist, much like Mia Farrow in ROSEMARY’S BABY (without 
being impregnated); while the in-denial Matheson, who loves fixing up 
the house, adheres way too quickly. The suspense and intrigue goes hand 
in hand: </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">As our heroine discovers the truth behind the residents, her 
life becomes more in danger. The original name's BAY COVEN, yet without 
the N lies a more suitable title, since much of the film consists of 
obscuring that element: </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">A bit simplistic and cliché, but entertaining.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE WARD:</b> </span>Anyone hoping for the old John Carpenter… Or rather, the young John 
Carpenter’s old films… will be disappointed in this mind-trip thriller 
that only passes as a horror whenever the antagonist… the zombie of a 
former patient inside a psychiatric ward… shows up and kills.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RrxYsvTtKoE/Uzmnbe2Il9I/AAAAAAAAeHo/-e1LOpS4aew/s1600/ward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RrxYsvTtKoE/Uzmnbe2Il9I/AAAAAAAAeHo/-e1LOpS4aew/s1600/ward.jpg" width="134"></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">2010 rating: **</span></td></tr>
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The
 plot is simple if nonexistent: A beautiful young girl is admitted into a
 sanitarium, and she’s not sure why. All we know is she burned down a 
house – and with some exposition-clues provided by chief doctor Jared 
Harris, we’re led to believe there’s something else to learn: keeping 
the viewer somewhat intrigued.<br />
<br />
The inhabitants are five
 beautiful girls, and this seems like Carpenter’s cup of tea… His 
groundbreaking HALLOWEEN served up young beauties as victims, but these 
characters aren’t interesting enough to care about: even if they all act
 crazy.<br />
<br />
There are some good frights i.e. sudden 
unexpected jolts, but any director can pull that off. The only 
reminiscence of the master’s style is the first-person glide-cam: giving
 the feel the girls are being watched and stalked. But 
that persistent aura of dreaded doom, which makes any horror movie 
worthwhile, just isn’t there – unless the killer’s around to remind us 
to be scared while a thunderstorm persists outside. And the 
conclusion/twist is somewhat creative, but that’s for you to decide.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ya85_lmxSPA/UzmfWDxkdSI/AAAAAAAAeHQ/fYZ0FdGNN-4/s1600/CONNELLY.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ya85_lmxSPA/UzmfWDxkdSI/AAAAAAAAeHQ/fYZ0FdGNN-4/s1600/CONNELLY.JPG"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1985 rating: *1/2</td></tr>
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<b>PHENOMENA: </b>It's hard to stare at bugs, especially maggots, for very long... Some can't even say the M word out loud...<br />
<br />
But not 
for teenager Jennifer Connely who has the power to read their little 
minds, thus aiding Donald Pleasence, as a insect forensic expert, in 
finding a serial killer roaming around much like the phantom in Dario's 
SUSPERIA, which this is either a ripoff or, since it's the same man 
behind it, a homage by crashing girl's heads through windows, using a 
Goblin soundtrack but this time adding Iron Maiden and Motorhead tunes: So if you enjoy watching Jennifer Connelly, right after a flashback role in ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA and before playing a sexy ingenue in her career making CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, this isn't bad... but
 if you want a good horror flick, or a movie that actually goes 
somewhere: best try something else.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fiBlPXJk51M/UzmWLrEtmzI/AAAAAAAAeGc/g4R8chRFsUM/s1600/28204.1020.A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fiBlPXJk51M/UzmWLrEtmzI/AAAAAAAAeGc/g4R8chRFsUM/s1600/28204.1020.A.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1981 rating: **1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE HAND:</b></span> Michael Caine is terrific in this otherwise mediocre 
thriller by first-time director yet already screenplay Oscar winning Oliver Stone. Story centers on a 
cartoonist (Caine) who loses his hand in an automobile accident – 
technically the most riveting scene. After which he rehabilitates while 
the severed limb is, or seems to be, crawling around doing his dirty 
work for him.<br />
<br />
Stone’s best direction occurs during taut conversations 
between Caine and the people around him, providing a suspenseful base 
liken to stage-influenced British horror films, building character 
development in lue of cheap shocks. But scenes involving The Hand itself
 look a bit cheesy, and sporadic cuts to black and white seem misplaced,
 contrasting from our protagonist turned antagonist and revolving 
side-characters Annie McEnroe (THE SURVIVORS, THE HOWLING II) as a tempestuous college student, Bruce 
McGill as a temperamental shrink, and Caine’s cheating wife 
Andrea Marovicci: his ultimate target.<br />
<br />
The film has moments, but loses 
its grip less than halfway through. Although, witnessing Michael Caine 
slowly going mad – a role that, according to Stone, took a toll on the 
actor’s real life – is worth the ninety minutes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q56w0dc689A/Uzmbkekgk1I/AAAAAAAAeGs/kXLinpq-P_0/s1600/n1111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q56w0dc689A/Uzmbkekgk1I/AAAAAAAAeGs/kXLinpq-P_0/s1600/n1111.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1982 ***1/2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>MIDNIGHT:</b></span> A teenage girl runs away from home, and with good reason: Her 
overweight, alcoholic policeman step dad tried to rape her, and he’s 
played by Noir legend Lawrence Tierney, ten years shy from his revamp in
 Quentin Tarantino’s RESERVOIR DOGS, and who is always an intimidating presence on (and off) screen.<br />
<br />
The girl hitches a ride with two 
dudes in a van that eventually veers off on a back road – and like any 
low-budget horror film, this is a very bad mistake for the characters but heaven to the viewer as eventually, our heroine faces a psychotic 
hillbilly clan ala TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE with plenty of violent, gory 
murders served up by makeup guru Tom Savini, who creates an eerily hellish 
daytime nightmare – ultimately peaking with a satanic ritual at, you got
 it, midnight.<br />
<br />
Despite the anemic budget; and with the exception of 
Tierney and MARTIN star John Amplas  (along with his psycho siblings), 
there are a few meager performances, but no matter: Here’s an 
exploitation that entertains from the bloody beginning to the bloody 
end.

horror

ANOTHER BLOODY BAGFUL OF ECLECTIC HORROR

year released: 1971 DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN : Here's an Al Adamson directed b-movie so tailor made for a drive-in theater, you might...

DARREN ARONOFSKY DIRECTS NOAH

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6dzBULAxE20/UzUTsaqoBVI/AAAAAAAAeCU/yPUldGCCYns/s1600/680x478.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6dzBULAxE20/UzUTsaqoBVI/AAAAAAAAeCU/yPUldGCCYns/s1600/680x478.jpeg" width="202"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">year: 2014 rating: **</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">If you think building a giant boat that will protect a few selected humans from God’s forty day/forty night torrent, or the pairing up of every animal, including reptiles, is detailed that much in director Darren Aronofsky’s fantastical epic, think again… All these important elements occur as quickly as falling raindrops… </span><br />
<br />
Thanks to giant spiderlike rock trolls – formerly fallen angels who have risen from the Earth – constructing the Ark is easy enough. The real task is Noah himself... will he ever come to his senses? Figuring God must want all humans dead, eventually, Russell Crowe’s bearded prophet becomes more of a tormented villain than a Biblical icon, and as doggone stubborn as two mules put together.<br />
<br />
Once the Ark is built, and the Trolls have battled hordes of evil men wanting a free ride, and the floods have taken over completely, scenes where Noah’s vengeful middle child is tempted by a nefarious stowaway provides the only suspense. Meanwhile, the best <i>visual</i> shows Creation as Noah tells the story around a cozy on-deck fire… This is about the only time dad gets any respect from his family, all on the verge of mutiny, and then some.   <br />
<br />
While it’s understandable that poetic license must be taken when basing an entire motion picture from a surprisingly few amount of verses, it seems Aronofsky’s either making the flood story seem as engagingly farfetched for Believers as the Bible itself is to Non-Believers, or perhaps he simply wanted to direct a big budget disaster film for everyone, no matter what their religion or lack of. But NOAH is much too slow and brooding for its own good…<br />
<br />
What we can use right now is some old school Charlton Heston: over-the-top or not, that man delivered!

2014, biblical, darren aronofsky, disaster, emma watson, jennifer connelly, russell crowe

DARREN ARONOFSKY DIRECTS NOAH

year: 2014 rating: ** If you think building a giant boat that will protect a few selected humans from God’s forty day/forty night torren...

Presented by James M. Tate / 3/30/2014 / No comments / horror

A BLOODY BAGFUL OF ECLECTIC HORROR & SUSPENSE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XIbUI62oYvA/UzhpsUIQ_8I/AAAAAAAAeEw/BZbRGr2M2hw/s1600/FRIDAYTHE13THG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XIbUI62oYvA/UzhpsUIQ_8I/AAAAAAAAeEw/BZbRGr2M2hw/s1600/FRIDAYTHE13THG.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1980 rating: ***</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><u><b><span class="Apple-style-span">FRIDAY THE 13TH:</span></b> </u></span>After so many sequels and a remake, and the fact this is the beginning of one of the biggest, most successful and inspired horror franchises ever, one would expect the original to be an extravagant horror flick...<br />
<br />
But <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2015/06/betsy-palmer-friday13-king.html">FRIDAY THE 13TH </a>is a low-budget exploitation with a cast who, except for a young Kevin Bacon, don't look like actors at all, underlining the realism as each doomed counselor gets picked off by an unseen menace who isn't Jason but Jason's mother, played by Betsy Palmer who, as a human being, adds an important element separating this from the other films...<br />
<br />
Sole survivor Adrienne King actually has somewhat of a chance. And after the first hour there are plenty of fantastic Palmer/King cat-fights, and it's during this final act when the suspense builds to one of the scariest finales ever: involving the introduction of (a very young) Jason Vorhees.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ULNKnfOJPYA/UzhbNS3Y7GI/AAAAAAAAeC0/N4M3xndl2e4/s1600/3678403_std.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ULNKnfOJPYA/UzhbNS3Y7GI/AAAAAAAAeC0/N4M3xndl2e4/s1600/3678403_std.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1986 rating: ****</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><u><b><span class="Apple-style-span">HOUSE:</span></b> </u></span>No this isn't about a pill-popping, grouchy doctor... And if you missed this in theaters, HOUSE is a fun horror flick you might want to see for yourself...<br />
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William Katt is a horror writer with good reason to not only inhabit a haunted house but to stay: even after gardening tools, formidable monsters, and a mounted marlin tries either killing or scaring him off. Katt's son disappeared in the swimming pool years before, and the house might hold the secret of his existence: All coinciding with traumatic Vietnam flashbacks while writing a serious memoir, and visits from scene stealer George Wendt as a pesky but lovable next door neighbor. This extremely underrated comedy/horror is terrific from start to finish. Thanks for b-movie director Steve Minor, the humor is dark enough for rabid horror fans and the horror is never very grotesque or unengaging.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CqSDN0NfHGM/UzhcW6cVPWI/AAAAAAAAeDE/HS9B360WBRI/s1600/2162611888_fd2cbc1c24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CqSDN0NfHGM/UzhcW6cVPWI/AAAAAAAAeDE/HS9B360WBRI/s1600/2162611888_fd2cbc1c24.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1976 rating: **</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>GOD TOLD ME TO:</u></span></b> </span>The first half... as a dedicated Catholic cop played by FRENCH CONNECTION connector Tony Lo Bianco investigates random public killings... including a bizarre Andy Kaufman cameo as a police officer going berserk at the St. Patrick's Day Parade... and each assassin mutters, GOD TOLD ME TO as their last words... is mysterious and interesting. The last half, as the murders cease and the "God" in question is revealed, is absolutely banal, and yet, as usual, Larry Cohen's camerawork has flowing, artistic grace, but after the good parts even the cool shots are all dressed up with nothing to show.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MAT-jlKPVWI/UzhjOFwEVJI/AAAAAAAAeEI/wYgtYUQl3YI/s1600/MOUTH-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MAT-jlKPVWI/UzhjOFwEVJI/AAAAAAAAeEI/wYgtYUQl3YI/s1600/MOUTH-1.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1995 rating: **1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS:</u></span></b></span> Decent mindtrip/horror about a insurance investigator, Sam Neill, thrust in a maniacal maze involving a famous writer's books turning the readers into lunatics, including himself.<br />
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Seeming at first like a gimmick from the author's promotional department, including stuffy editor Julie Carmen who joins Neill to a small town the author writes about (like Stephen King's Castle Rock). So many strange things happen it's hard to keep up with the "madness", you'll never get bored trying to figure what's real, a nightmare, or both at the same time.<br />
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John Carpenter's direction keeps the viewer interested, although the barrage of special effects can get tiresome.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IaM7Q-LfFvQ/Uzhj7DO808I/AAAAAAAAeEQ/iEloCT4E6AI/s1600/princeofdarknmess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IaM7Q-LfFvQ/Uzhj7DO808I/AAAAAAAAeEQ/iEloCT4E6AI/s1600/princeofdarknmess.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1987 rating: ***</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>PRINCE OF DARKNESS (HAS MOVED TO A NEW LOCATION IN HADES):</u></span></b></span> This review has moved and is longer and has improved after buying the Blu Ray by Shout Factor with a terrific new cover showing most of the main characters including Alice Cooper's homeless zombie leader... We're keeping the thumbnail pic for internet search purposes but please <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/11/POD.html">CLICK HERE</a> to read the new writeup of what's possibly John Carpenter's most personal horror film...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rytli9tQ5hw/Uzhdi749QEI/AAAAAAAAeDc/sv9LkZNztBg/s1600/LEECHWOMAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rytli9tQ5hw/Uzhdi749QEI/AAAAAAAAeDc/sv9LkZNztBg/s1600/LEECHWOMAN.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1960 rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>THE LEECH WOMAN:</u></span></b></span> Here's a movie where Coleen Gray, usually cast as the good girl in film noirs such as KISS OF DEATH, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL, and THE KILLING, gets to be evil, desperate and naughty. </div>
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She plays a whiskey-addicted older woman who wants her youth back to keep husband Philip Terry. Her need for booze will shadow, later on when she discovers an African potion that makes her into the bombshell of yesteryear, the need to remain young before turning into a hideous old woman c/o some great prosthetic makeup. And she's a killer to boot: men must die for the potion to work. This classic b-flick is misleading due to the creature-feature title... in actuality, it's a suspenseful ride where Coleen Gray proves her worth: and then some.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LU8DybPUpuU/Uzhq2VwgRnI/AAAAAAAAeE8/1jZ2E442sRA/s1600/Picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LU8DybPUpuU/Uzhq2VwgRnI/AAAAAAAAeE8/1jZ2E442sRA/s1600/Picture+2.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1970 rating: *</td></tr>
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<u><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span">HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS:</span></b></span> </u>Warning, this is not a real movie... Yes, we realize the title is incredibly awesome, but don't get fooled into this patchwork catastrophe...<br />
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After a three minute montage involving vampires running through a city street, segments taken from a Filipino flick "Tangini" are spliced into a weak story of astronauts on a planet who witness scenes from said movie having to do with fanged neanderthals and crab people, cutting back and forth to either John Carradine giving orders from the ship, or, back home, Robert Dix in a control room, and then a bedroom, with Vicki Volante: having futuristic sex without penetration, strapped with electrical charges and wishing for the good old days: Really, really bad stuff, but will make you curious about the <i>other </i>film that makes up most of this one.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vsZSJimN64s/Uzhh7W3rWNI/AAAAAAAAeD8/fYZk9oK-TJQ/s1600/Picture+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vsZSJimN64s/Uzhh7W3rWNI/AAAAAAAAeD8/fYZk9oK-TJQ/s1600/Picture+4.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1980 rating: **</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS:</u></span></b></span> Groundbreaking for Disney, this was their leap into the PG-rated horror genre.<br />
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Most of the film is a perspective camera aimed at a large house owned by Bette Davis, sold to a family consisting of a husband, wife and two kids. The eldest, real life ice-skater Lynn-Holly Johnson (FOR YOUR EYES ONLY), sees images of a blinded young girl in the mirror, hears voices in the forest, and thus investigates Davis's long lost missing daughter.<br />
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What begins as somewhat spooky turns into a mystery-based scavenger hunt as Johnson rounds up elder locals with a connected backstory: gathering clues resulting in a dull, yet happy, conclusion.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aunCj1YYhR0/UzhfdFdr_3I/AAAAAAAAeDo/pKSX6hPwSes/s1600/bishopofbattle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aunCj1YYhR0/UzhfdFdr_3I/AAAAAAAAeDo/pKSX6hPwSes/s1600/bishopofbattle.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1983 rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>NIGHTMARES:</u></span></b></span> A compilation of CREEPSHOW inspired horror tales. The first, TERROR IN TOPANGA, later updated in URBAN LEGEND, is about a woman played by Cristina Rains, who drives around at night while there's a killer on the loose. Very cool, and by now quite familiar, twist ending. Very reminiscent of THE TWILIGHT ZONE in tone and rhythm...<br />
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The second story, by far the best, has Emilio Estevez as a video game hustler trying desperately to beat THE BISHOP OF BATTLE... And when he does, he plays the game... for real. Basically TRON in reverse. There is a terrific set-up, getting into the intense brain of Estevez, playing a character bordering on geek and rebel, ultimately paying the price for not being able to choose one in particular.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lance H.</td></tr>
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In our third outing, THE BENEDICTION, Lance Henriksen stars as a faithless priest versus the Devil himself in the form of a black monster truck. A slow build-up has the always engaging Henriksen moping about losing his faith inside a dark church.<br />
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But thank God when things rev up when he's out on his own, faithless and alone on the long desert highway, suddenly stalked by a demon-driven vehicle. The best scene involves the hell on wheels rising up from the earth, reminiscent of the Chuck Norris flick LONE WOLF McQUADE if driven by Stephen King's CHRISTINE. </div>
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And the fourth, fitfully titled NIGHT OF THE RAT, is, unintentionally, the funniest, centering on a suburban family with a <i>really </i>big rat problem. That is, there's a giant howling rodent that can't be killed, and it looks so superimposed there's never a sense the formidable antagonist is involved in the same story as the actors and actresses including the always-working Richard Masur, SAVANNAH SMILES starlet Bridgette Andersen and ALIEN screamer Vernonica Cartwright, who all deserved much better than this wannabe Bert I. Gordon sham.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NIGHTMARES dvd autographed by Lance Henriksen</td></tr>
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horror

A BLOODY BAGFUL OF ECLECTIC HORROR & SUSPENSE

year: 1980 rating: *** FRIDAY THE 13TH: After so many sequels and a remake, and the fact this is the beginning of one of the biggest, m...

Presented by James M. Tate / 3/27/2014 / No comments / list

TEN THANKLESS ACTOR ROLES

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b02MObHFHiU/UOUdTcujDQI/AAAAAAAAUUI/QPnmyuU9UdM/s1600/murrayhamiltonjaws-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b02MObHFHiU/UOUdTcujDQI/AAAAAAAAUUI/QPnmyuU9UdM/s640/murrayhamiltonjaws-1.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1) MURRAY HAMILTON (JAWS)</td></tr>
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“Look, fellas…” Murray’s portrayal of the financially stressed Mayor of Amity lets the main characters and that great white shark get all the credit, but without this land-antagonist goading the Sheriff to keep the beaches open, there’d be much less of a problem and hardly a movie at all...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CgAc_2YICJQ/UKMzm0ktypI/AAAAAAAARDY/PT-dr5f4Xcc/s1600/APOC+NOW+CHIEF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CgAc_2YICJQ/UKMzm0ktypI/AAAAAAAARDY/PT-dr5f4Xcc/s640/APOC+NOW+CHIEF.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2) ALBERT HALL (APOCALYPSE NOW)</td></tr>
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This might be Willard’s mission but it's the Chief’s boat… Yet he takes the backseat to a character with almost the same nickname, Chef, and the other crew including an acidhead surfer and a trigger-happy gunner… But Chief’s always in charge and his perpetual reluctance keeps the audience on constant edge...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CqhNYJ6tYJI/UKMz1u7F2qI/AAAAAAAARDg/GCEg57CF3XA/s1600/reservoir+dogs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CqhNYJ6tYJI/UKMz1u7F2qI/AAAAAAAARDg/GCEg57CF3XA/s640/reservoir+dogs.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3) KIRK BALTZ (RESERVOIR DOGS)</td></tr>
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“He was so good in that scene,” Michael Madsen wrote of Kirk Baltz (in a Cult Film Freak interview from 2010), whom Madsen’s Mr. Blonde tortures in Quentin Tarantino’s first movie. “Sometimes someone can be so good you don't even see it.” And that’s the epitome of a thankless role… Kirk’s rookie cop Marvin Nash gets beaten to a bloody pulp while his ear gets the Van Gogh treatment, and not many people know the actor's name... </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ur2xOAtrmLA/UKM0CUZAsGI/AAAAAAAARDo/IFpGZ7i-1aA/s1600/shining.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ur2xOAtrmLA/UKM0CUZAsGI/AAAAAAAARDo/IFpGZ7i-1aA/s640/shining.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4) BARRY NELSON (THE SHINING)</td></tr>
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With all the axe-wielding fun, and the bloody REDRUM, the wordy setup to this Stanley Kubrick horror masterpiece gets lost in the mix… Providers of exposition are often forgotten, but Nelson spouts so much information about the Hotel’s bloody backstory, he should land a promotion…</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qu3zw1U_A1o/UKM0MJ_58BI/AAAAAAAARDw/LBHksvv7FK0/s1600/l_62622_cbaa5532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="408" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qu3zw1U_A1o/UKM0MJ_58BI/AAAAAAAARDw/LBHksvv7FK0/s640/l_62622_cbaa5532.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5) GARY LOCKWOOD (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY)</td></tr>
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With prehistoric apes throwing objects that "turn into" spaceships, and another guy in charge of the mission to Jupiter named Dave Bowman, played by Keir Dullea and not Gary Lockwood… And of course that computer Hal 9000 that, voiced wonderfully by Douglas Rains, steals the Stanely Kubrick space odyssey... second in command Frank Poole deserves credit for staying fit, instigating the failed Hal shutdown, and flying hopelessly into space…</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-38g--EcC6KU/UKM0dJaouZI/AAAAAAAARD4/y0zcVbYGutQ/s1600/coversation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-38g--EcC6KU/UKM0dJaouZI/AAAAAAAARD4/y0zcVbYGutQ/s640/coversation.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6) ALLEN GARFIELD (THE CONVERSATION)</td></tr>
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Originally intended for Timothy Carey, Garfield plays the role as surveillance expert Moran with sleazy ease, and his input keeps the second act of the Francis Ford Coppola minor classic rolling and bugging competitor Gene Hackman on his toes… </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_4LYaSPGK_Q/UKM0mLsXyDI/AAAAAAAAREA/dbiTOBJ6cjA/s1600/jackie+brown.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_4LYaSPGK_Q/UKM0mLsXyDI/AAAAAAAAREA/dbiTOBJ6cjA/s640/jackie+brown.png" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">7) MICHAEL BOWEN (JACKIE BROWN)</td></tr>
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Hey that’s Michael Keaton as the guy busting Jackie Brown, but who’s the dude next to him? Cinema fanatics know the answer: Michael Bowen, known for playing handsome jock jerks in 80’s films like VALLEY GIRL, THE WILD LIFE and NIGHT OF THE COMET <i>(and since this post was written, appeared as a lethal Nazi in BREAKING BAD) </i>is the cop who comes on strong during the first interrogation of the put-upon stewardess…</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZNCIC1LwDGk/UKM0uhcLZbI/AAAAAAAAREI/qd55setAVOo/s1600/bullitt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZNCIC1LwDGk/UKM0uhcLZbI/AAAAAAAAREI/qd55setAVOo/s640/bullitt.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">8) DON GORDON (BULLITT)</td></tr>
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Besides waking Frank Bullitt up with early-morning orange juice, and then drinking some of it, Don Gordon’s Officer Delgetti is always by his partner Steve McQueen's side through the entire investigation…And Don can also be seen as "Cappy" with McQueen in TOWERING INFERNO and plays second fiddle to Dennis Hopper in THE LAST MOVIE and OUT OF THE BLUE...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F2o-0gHVAUk/UKM06PVyPZI/AAAAAAAAREQ/Aod212AXL2Y/s1600/dog+day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F2o-0gHVAUk/UKM06PVyPZI/AAAAAAAAREQ/Aod212AXL2Y/s640/dog+day.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">9) SULLY BOYAR (DOG DAY AFTERNOON)</td></tr>
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The epitome of a character-actor, Sully plays the bank manager in this classic film starring Al Pacino and John Cazale with the patience of a man under pressure, keeping his employees safe without being a hero and hardly raising his voice... The stout character-actor also runs the funky CAR WASH a year later...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7XXOx97DI5A/UKM1Be92iAI/AAAAAAAAREY/aqJ52KgEnC8/s1600/fast+times1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="504" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7XXOx97DI5A/UKM1Be92iAI/AAAAAAAAREY/aqJ52KgEnC8/s640/fast+times1.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10) SCOTT THOMSON (FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
“I hope you had a hell of a piss, Arnold!” shouts Brad Hamilton (Judge Reinhold) at his nerdy friend Arnold, who’s often hard to notice when Sean Penn’s pot smoking surfer, Phoebe Cate’s smoking hot babe and rest of an ensemble cast get more screen time than the one guy who knows the secret sauce at Bronco Burger is “Ketchup and Mayonnaise.”</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gM_y7sGcuoE/UKM1JkwwmBI/AAAAAAAAREg/AuGjWJPQc6g/s1600/fast+times2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="410" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gM_y7sGcuoE/UKM1JkwwmBI/AAAAAAAAREg/AuGjWJPQc6g/s640/fast+times2.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">THANKLESS ACTOR ROLES LIST BY JAMES M. TATE</td></tr>
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list

TEN THANKLESS ACTOR ROLES

1) MURRAY HAMILTON (JAWS) “Look, fellas…” Murray’s portrayal of the financially stressed Mayor of Amity lets the main characters and th...

Presented by James M. Tate / 3/26/2014 / 1 Comment / 2014 , danny trejo , muppets , ray liotta , tina fey

THE MUPPETS MOST WANTED

<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="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2x7lPW3REls/UzNWwuOkncI/AAAAAAAAeCE/rM-NjzeUeBc/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2x7lPW3REls/UzNWwuOkncI/AAAAAAAAeCE/rM-NjzeUeBc/s1600/Picture+1.png" width="237"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">year: 2014 rating: *1/2</span></b></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Thank Goodness for Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, a scientist anal enough to remember, during the opening MUPPETS MOST WANTED song about the idea of making a sequel, that in fact there are now seven films including their first motion picture, THE MUPPET MOVIE, created under the brilliant, watchful eyes of the late Jim Henson… So it’s good to know someone else remembers the Muppets aren’t a new concept… </span><br />
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The 1978 original was a road trip introduction to the eclectic gang, and they wound up making a movie in Hollywood at the end of that particular story... This was followed by THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER, a mystery spoof taking place in England… And in 2011, the MUPPETS reboot had the gang traveling to Los Angeles to put on a stage show and now, like CAPER, they’re traipsing throughout Europe, also spoofing the crime genre: this time with a surreptitious heavy actually named Bad Guy, played by Ricky Gervais, but the real villain is Kermit himself… Well not exactly…<br />
<br />
The main plot has Bad Guy teaming with an escaped Russian frog, Constantine, almost identical to Kermit, who winds up putting a fake facial mole on the loveable croaker and then covering his own so that Kermit is falsely accused and sent to the same Siberian Gulag that Constantine escaped from... Meanwhile, the Muppets are being led by this awkward impostor, who winds up wooing Miss Piggy into marriage, and somehow their stage plays, despite misdirection and unstructured skits, are selling out everywhere… <br />
<br />
The real shock is with so many cooks in the kitchen, nothing really gets accomplished… And while the Muppets are known for their songs, turning each movie into an adventurous musical, the tunes here seem more like distractions from lack of plot than singing-dialogue to carry the story, which worked especially good in THE MUPPET MOVIE… Does the tune “Moving Right Along” ring a bell? Well in fact those songs did move things along… But now the numbers, all uncatchy and completely forgettable, feel intrusive and downright annoying.   <br />
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<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="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8twurdhGDuc/UzM1h5ynoJI/AAAAAAAAeBQ/z9DIlzMW1fA/s1600/muppets2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8twurdhGDuc/UzM1h5ynoJI/AAAAAAAAeBQ/z9DIlzMW1fA/s1600/muppets2.jpg" width="126"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">A schnooky cameo</span></b></td></tr>
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For nostalgic Muppet fans, the limited screen time of classic characters such as Gonzo, Beaker, Swedish Chef and just about everyone except Kermit, Fozzy, Piggy and Animal, is annoying and unforgivable… But worse yet is that Jason Segal, who starred in the original reboot and doesn't show up at all, has left behind his awful human Muppet brother Walter, a weak replacement for Scooter, who, like just about everyone else including that funky rock band, are merely wallpaper. <br />
<br />
The famous co-stars besides Gervais include Tina Fey as the Gulag head guard and Ty Burrell as a European detective, the latter joining Sam the Eagle. These humans try really hard but there’s not enough story for them to matter. And the cameos range from Ray Liotta and Danny Trejo as Russian inmates and a mixed bag other celebs thrown in for good, or in this case, pointlessly boring measure.<br />
<br />
But the real crime is that Kermit doesn't sound <i>anything</i> like himself at all, and that's not only when he's being purposely imitated by the villain... providing t<i>wo</i> bad impersonations in a single motion picture: We sure do miss you, Jim!

2014, danny trejo, muppets, ray liotta, tina fey

THE MUPPETS MOST WANTED

year: 2014 rating: *1/2 Thank Goodness for Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, a scientist anal enough to remember, during the opening MUPPETS MOST WAN...

Presented by James M. Tate / 3/25/2014 / No comments / anne heche , harrison ford , ivan reitman , nineties , romantic comedy

SIX DAYS SEVEN NIGHTS VS KNIGHT AND DAY

<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="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wxatvz0aAUk/Uyt6eZdBx_I/AAAAAAAAd8w/83CKlUGIx2I/s1600/H0xSwk150VJY3mVB0QxFk8L0r7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wxatvz0aAUk/Uyt6eZdBx_I/AAAAAAAAd8w/83CKlUGIx2I/s1600/H0xSwk150VJY3mVB0QxFk8L0r7.jpg" width="256"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763;">year: 1998 rating: *1/2</span></b></td></tr>
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<i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763;">Not to drop names, but watch your feet because here comes one now: There was a memorable afternoon spent at famous movie critic, author and television personality Leonard Maltin’s house, and he was discussing his abhor for the (at that time) new release KNIGHT AND DAY, where Tom Cruise and a reluctant Cameron Diaz go on a somewhat unexpected adventure… </span></b></i><br />
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Being quite nervous, and trying to relate with a real critic, yours truly chimed in: “That seems like a high tech version of SIX DAYS SEVEN NIGHTS,” wherein Leonard’s face narrowed to a caustically annoyed scowl, and he retorted loudly: “Well it’s not that bad!”<br />
<br />
No, Len, it certainly isn’t, and in actuality, NIGHTS, directed by GHOSBUSTERS genius Ivan “Who Should Have Known Better” Reitman, is even worse than… most things, really, being that Anne Heche had absolutely no chemistry with… not only Harrison Ford’s grungy small time tropical pilot Quinn Harris but just about everyone else: she seems completely awkward in a mainstream film, and simply tries too hard to be a universally likable, or in this particular case, a bankable actress…<br />
<br />
Starting with our futzy heroine, Heche’s Robin Monroe, a New York magazine editor whose fiancé Frank, played with horrendously forced, mopey countenance by FRIENDS star David Schwimmer, gives her an anniversary gift: a week long trip to a tropical island.<br />
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<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="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ycMNO5q3yNM/Uyt6kC4gpVI/AAAAAAAAd84/iMstu7M0TBU/s1600/Picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ycMNO5q3yNM/Uyt6kC4gpVI/AAAAAAAAd84/iMstu7M0TBU/s1600/Picture+2.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763;">My Lunch With Leonard</span></b></td></tr>
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So far what we’ve learned about these characters isn't interesting enough to command cinematic attention, so it takes Ford’s cocky pilot… channeling Humphrey Bogart and yes, even Han Solo… to bring some intrigue to the proceedings, which never happens. Even when, after Robin is called back to New York for a work emergency, and she and polar opposite Quinn crash-land on a deserted island, his maverick persona never achieves the kind of rogue charm needed to counter Heche’s neurotic dizziness. Han and Leia they ain't.<br />
<br />
Backing up a bit: Heche’s performance is exceptionally horrific when, while the plane is about to crash land, she takes a load of pills and begins singing and acting… that’s right, <i>acting</i>… zany and humorous, achieving neither state... And when the unlikely couple finally begin to spark interest after battling snakes, drug pirates, and opening up about their own empty lives, the audience is left with a mediocre adventure that tries really hard for suspense despite the hollow characters.<br />
<br />
Sporadically cutting back to the resort, where Robin’s dopey fiancé dodges the seductions of Quinn’s sexy belly dancer girlfriend, is not only banal and unfunny but takes the viewer away from the deserted island, where, even though the most unlikely, uninteresting, an uneventful romance is shaping up, at least it's the story we paid for… Who needs two nightmares for the price of one?<br />
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<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="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tVTk4Jh65m8/UyuGmH6PA4I/AAAAAAAAd9I/lFwGbOmEkqk/s1600/DownloadedFile.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tVTk4Jh65m8/UyuGmH6PA4I/AAAAAAAAd9I/lFwGbOmEkqk/s1600/DownloadedFile.jpeg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763;">year: 2010 rating: ***</span></b></td></tr>
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763;">Okay so here's an archive review, or more of a summary write-up, of KNIGHT AND DAY, being that Mr. Maltin despised this film, and it was (as described above) clumsily compared to SIX DAYS, SEVEN NIGHTS with the premise of a sturdy man and his reluctant damsel caught up in an unexpected odyssey...  And d</span></i></b><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763;">uring this time, pre GHOST PROTOCOL, Tom was at the peak of his downturn following the Brooke Shields medical lecture, the Oprah couch leaping, and a string of box office duds... </span></i></b><br />
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<i>KNIGHT AND DAY: It seems America is sick of the resilient, seemingly perpetual superstar Tom Cruise, which may be the reason for the disappointing returns of this over-the-top team-up involving rogue ex-CIA Cruise helping the "girl next door," Cameron Diaz, survive attacks from trains, planes, and automobiles. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>But the movie itself isn't altogether bad, and being a satire of high-octane thrillers, delivering too much action with characters surviving too many close-calls than humanly possible, it works despite itself: on purpose. Without being too overly aware/LAST ACTION HERO about it, Tom is parodying his action-packed persona while Cameron Diaz never quite knows if her knight is on the right side, and either does the audience: except that it's Tom Cruise, who's always (excluding TAPS and COLLATERAL) gonna win. </i></div>
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<i>While the turnout is predictable, the twists in-between are still a fresh surprise. So while Leonard was right... compared to SIX DAYS, SEVEN nights, it's not that bad... On its own, KNIGHT AND DAY isn't altogether awful, either.  </i></div>

anne heche, harrison ford, ivan reitman, nineties, romantic comedy

SIX DAYS SEVEN NIGHTS VS KNIGHT AND DAY

year: 1998 rating: *1/2 Not to drop names, but watch your feet because here comes one now: There was a memorable afternoon spent at famo...

Presented by James M. Tate / 3/23/2014 / No comments / 2014 , bill murray , f. murray abraham , quirky , ralph fiennes , wes anderson

WES ANDERSON DIRECTS THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

<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="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P5j6e0WHa9I/Uy-GhDWi93I/AAAAAAAAd_0/N0ZbLUr4kw8/s1600/willem_dafoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P5j6e0WHa9I/Uy-GhDWi93I/AAAAAAAAd_0/N0ZbLUr4kw8/s400/willem_dafoe.jpg" width="241"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **1/2</td></tr>
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Prepare to delve into yet another intentionally bizarre Wes Anderson rabbit hole, guided by no less than three narrators providing flashback upon flashback... And then, somewhere in there, an actual story begins…<br />
<br />
Skipping to what’s really important is Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave, concierge of the neglected European GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL during the 1930’s. He sleeps with spinsters and runs the place with an iron fist – more polished silver than heavy chrome. His young mentoring bus boy, Zero, the one narrating in the form of an aged F. Murray Abraham, sticks to his boss like gum while the duo, like the story, jumps all over the place…<br />
<br />
Although a real plot is chiseled down from a horde of bantering dialogue when an extremely rich woman dies, bringing Gusave to an estate where he could inherit, to the chagrin of her nefarious son, a pricey painting. The first half ends with Gusave and Zero stealing the painting, and the intrigue builds nicely. Then something happens… Or perhaps, you can say, too much happens far too soon…<br />
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When Gusave is sent to prison, director Anderson abandons his quirky character-driven romp and throws several genre-devices into the pot, including a heavily planned old school prison escape and a ruthless hit man: The latter in the form of motorcycle riding Willem Dafoe, a cross between Steve McQueen and Al Pacino's muggy bodyguard in the second GODFATHER: Dafoe's mobile loon kills anyone connected to Gustave, including pets.<br />
<br />
There are darkly humorous moments here and here, and always something to gander at, especially the picturesque locations resembling popups from an antique children's book… But with so much running around the central plot is all but forgotten, and Fiennes gets lost in a mix of wasted detours and distracting star cameos (including Bill Murray, who could have been played by anyone)…<br />
<br />
And last but not least, in the true leading role, young actor Tony Revolori displays the perfect amount of spacey deadpan that befits hipster-friendly arthouse fare, but alas, he’s not that interesting or, in a movie full of mischievous devils, someone worth rooting for.

2014, bill murray, f. murray abraham, quirky, ralph fiennes, wes anderson

WES ANDERSON DIRECTS THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

year: 2014 rating: **1/2 Prepare to delve into yet another intentionally bizarre Wes Anderson rabbit hole, guided by no less than three ...

Presented by James M. Tate / 3/21/2014 / No comments / 2014 , action , adaptation , ashley judd , science-fiction , shailene woodley , theo james , tony franklin

SHAILENE WOODLEY & THEO JAMES IN DIVERGENT

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rRy83fsk8FM/UyyY5VpqREI/AAAAAAAAd9c/N7XpHvZGTz8/s1600/divergent_poster_hq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rRy83fsk8FM/UyyY5VpqREI/AAAAAAAAd9c/N7XpHvZGTz8/s400/divergent_poster_hq.jpg" width="260"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">FIRST AND SO FAR, THE BEST</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">ALL REVIEWS OF THE <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/03/DIV-SERIES.html">DIVERGENT FILMS</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/03/DIV-SERIES.html">HAVE MOVED HERE</a>...</span>

2014, action, adaptation, ashley judd, science-fiction, shailene woodley, theo james, tony franklin

SHAILENE WOODLEY & THEO JAMES IN DIVERGENT

FIRST AND SO FAR, THE BEST ALL REVIEWS OF THE DIVERGENT FILMS HAVE MOVED HERE ...

Presented by James M. Tate / 3/19/2014 / 3 Comments / list

7 FILM ROLES THAT ALMOST WENT TO SOMEONE ELSE

<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="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kuGwctkkGzw/Vg8bgWfGpSI/AAAAAAAApQ4/Rl0hIqet568/s1600/midnight2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kuGwctkkGzw/Vg8bgWfGpSI/AAAAAAAApQ4/Rl0hIqet568/s200/midnight2.jpg" width="200"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost: Lee Majors</td></tr>
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<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="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8CW731E2wiw/Vg8bkbx-9vI/AAAAAAAApRA/IOoyhO5K1ls/s1600/midnight1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="119" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8CW731E2wiw/Vg8bkbx-9vI/AAAAAAAApRA/IOoyhO5K1ls/s200/midnight1.jpg" width="200"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alright: Jon Voight</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>MIDNIGHT COWBOY</u>: Lee Majors is cool, mellow, and, especially in his bionic years, downright awesome, but let's face facts, his acting style can be a bit on the mellow side, which fits on television, but he never made the big screen transition for a reason... So then, originally cast as naïve Texan Joe Buck, who travels to New York City to become a gigolo, Lee's good looks and the Stetson hat would have fit just fine, but thankfully Jon Voight, an intense young method actor, took the lead: And while Dustin Hoffman's crippled sidekick headlined and ultimately stole the show, the Oscar winning masterpiece truly belonged to Voight, whose movie career was just beginning: As for Majors, co-starring on the Western television series THE BIG VALLEY at the time, he's not the last actor held back by a television contract...<br />
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<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="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4RAeHa6QGhA/Vg8bxg4xIDI/AAAAAAAApRI/fW5bNtidmZM/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.07.47%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4RAeHa6QGhA/Vg8bxg4xIDI/AAAAAAAApRI/fW5bNtidmZM/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.07.47%2BPM.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost: Tom Selleck</td></tr>
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<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="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aFIsyJPk8-M/Vg8b2WafRCI/AAAAAAAApRQ/9lk_PX4t8t8/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.07.52%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aFIsyJPk8-M/Vg8b2WafRCI/AAAAAAAApRQ/9lk_PX4t8t8/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.07.52%2BPM.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alright: Harrison Ford</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK</u><b>:</b></span></span> Like Lee, there’s nothing wrong with Tom Selleck: he’s handsome, likable, laidback and has universal appeal…<br />
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But he was signed onto MAGNUM P.I. and wound up in Hawaii instead of circumnavigating the globe in the now legendary adventure yarn that spawned, for better or worse, three more in the franchise: Sure, Tom was built for the part, but with a somewhat whiny voice and an everyman demeanor more befitting television than motion pictures, we can thank God that Harrison Ford, who gained fame as Han Solo in producer/writer George Lucas’s STAR WARS, was able to play the intrepid archeologist in George and Steven Spielberg’s action classic. Meanwhile, Tom attempted making up for lost RAIDERS with two pulpy time-period flicks, HIGH ROAD TO CHINA and LASSITER.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1UeHE4diU5U/Vg8cCgMEK-I/AAAAAAAApRY/jQ3pEmosk48/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.08.46%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1UeHE4diU5U/Vg8cCgMEK-I/AAAAAAAApRY/jQ3pEmosk48/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.08.46%2BPM.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost: Danny DeVito</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uHenNgyVqxY/Vg8cHX2Rj8I/AAAAAAAApRg/NoO89_nRvMk/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.08.53%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uHenNgyVqxY/Vg8cHX2Rj8I/AAAAAAAApRg/NoO89_nRvMk/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.08.53%2BPM.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alright: John Rhys-Davies</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK</u>:</span></b></span> One can imagine Tom Selleck as Indy much more than Danny DeVito as Sallah... Yikes!<br />
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The lovable sidekick, Sallah, helps Jones traipse through Cairo, saves him from bad date poisoning, digs for the Ark, jovially croons after a lady's kiss, and was thankfully played by larger than life character actor John Rhys-Davies, who peaked director Steven Spielberg's attention on the TV miniseries SHOGUN: Danny, held under contract for the sitcom TAXI, went on to play a similar middleman in another adventure, ROMANCING THE STONE, a far more befitting character for the pint-sized funnyman.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--VpJ5JQH8L4/Vg8cRkNIhiI/AAAAAAAApRo/ltYBO9hvqrI/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.09.55%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--VpJ5JQH8L4/Vg8cRkNIhiI/AAAAAAAApRo/ltYBO9hvqrI/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.09.55%2BPM.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost: Roy Schieder</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z17J7vJlJTc/Vg8cXgGGIWI/AAAAAAAApRw/BQzaIIPdSYE/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.10.01%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z17J7vJlJTc/Vg8cXgGGIWI/AAAAAAAApRw/BQzaIIPdSYE/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.10.01%2BPM.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alright: Robert DeNiro</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>THE DEER HUNTER</u>:</span></b></span> Yes, it's true, JAWS is the personal favorite movie of this particular film fanatic, and Roy Scheider’s performance as Chief Brody, as well as his iconic "We're gonna need a bigger boat" improvised line, was sublime and topnotch… And he was also fantastic before and after the shark in two William Friedkin films, THE FRENCH CONNECTION and SORCERER… But during DEER HUNTER pre-production, Roy and director Michael Cinemo saw things differently, and <i>this is this</i>, and that was that... A true blessing, because imagining him in Robert De Niro’s role as Michael is absolutely unfathomable, not because of what Roy would have added, but what we wouldn't have gotten otherwise: For De Niro brought a quirky, lonesome edge to the rogue, rugged outdoorsman who winds up turning tables during a Russian roulette Vietnam sequence, pulling off emotions that no other actor could possibly equal. And back home, can you imagine Roy matching Robert's expression when he looks at John Cazale's new mustache? Didn't think so...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HbMH9a7cSWE/Vg8cghqcQVI/AAAAAAAApR4/hEQxaEQ-ELs/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.11.00%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HbMH9a7cSWE/Vg8cghqcQVI/AAAAAAAApR4/hEQxaEQ-ELs/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.11.00%2BPM.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost: Rip Torn</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BLyp2hrI6-A/Vg8cnrAcu_I/AAAAAAAApSA/pwkNCVJD-XY/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.11.05%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BLyp2hrI6-A/Vg8cnrAcu_I/AAAAAAAApSA/pwkNCVJD-XY/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.11.05%2BPM.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alright: Jack Nicholson</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>EASY RIDER</u>:</span></b></span> Director and actor Dennis Hopper was sued when, on David Letterman, he recalled a situation where he pulled a knife on Rip Torn (which would fit his name), originally cast as the Southern lawyer George Hanson in the independent road trip odyssey EASY RIDER…<br />
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Or was it Rip who pulled the knife? Well with that kind of reefer madness going on during  the "turbulent 1960's," God only knows what really went down... Or if it happened at all: Thankfully, not only was a struggling b-movie actor cast in the pivotal role, but we were introduced to Jack Nicholson, and he never left the spotlight. And while Rip Torn is incredibly talented, what might have been a rousing performance became an offbeat, scene-stealing mascot: one of the greatest in counter culture cinema.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VRYWPzLwvtA/Uykw8Si0MlI/AAAAAAAAd4Y/-j_SZvRQ9l8/s1600/first1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VRYWPzLwvtA/Uykw8Si0MlI/AAAAAAAAd4Y/-j_SZvRQ9l8/s1600/first1.jpg" width="148"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost: Kirk Douglas</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ienfilKm270/Uykw8OH63-I/AAAAAAAAd4c/5stu2davbaM/s1600/first.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ienfilKm270/Uykw8OH63-I/AAAAAAAAd4c/5stu2davbaM/s1600/first.jpg" width="200"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alright: Richard Crenna</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>FIRST BLOOD</u>:</span></b> </span>It would be very difficult if downright impossible to imagine anyone besides Richard Crenna delivering the classic <i>body bags</i> line, so perfectly suited for the Sylvester Stallone action flick…<br />
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Based on a more realistic and liberal minded novel, with John Rambo a completely unhinged, lethal war machine, killing hundreds of lawman on his trail as opposed to merely setting traps, Kirk Douglas was on board and there are even promotional posters, including one shown above, with Kirk's stalwart image as the tough but tender Colonel Trautman: An severely idealistic Douglas wanted the movie to end like the book, which would lead to <i>no more</i> sequels while holding firmly to a 70's style Left-Bent, as this book was thrown around Hollywood for a decade... But Stallone probably already had a franchise in mind... And so, literally at the last moment, Crenna stepped in and delivered!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Rb5OZBOKww/UyktvbUbkeI/AAAAAAAAd4E/Zd8KZxpUe6s/s1600/back1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Rb5OZBOKww/UyktvbUbkeI/AAAAAAAAd4E/Zd8KZxpUe6s/s1600/back1.jpeg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost: Eric Stoltz</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HUdftlJR4-Y/Vg8c-BOvZGI/AAAAAAAApSI/YI4UNo2IyFA/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.12.54%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HUdftlJR4-Y/Vg8c-BOvZGI/AAAAAAAApSI/YI4UNo2IyFA/s200/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-02%2Bat%2B5.12.54%2BPM.png" width="200"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alright: Michael J. Fox</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>BACK TO THE FUTURE</u>:</span></b></span> Last, and certainly not least, here's the epitome of a close call, or more of a second chance, since, like Harvey Keitel in APOCALYPSE NOW, the scenes were already being filmed and production was under way...<br />
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In this case it took director Robert Zemekis and writing partner Bob Gale to realize that Eric Stoltz, while a capable actor who'd provide terrific dramatic roles later on, just didn’t have the comedic timing that would work as Marty McFly in the time travel comedy adventure. And if you look at the two pictures of each actor's expressions in the same scene, you might notice how Fox goes one step further: While Lee Majors, Tom Selleck and Danny DeVito lost their big screen opportunities due to TV contracts, Michael J. Fox, who was chosen to replace Stoltz and was beyond perfect for the part, also had a series… And thankfully for us, FAMILY TIES allowed Michael the (big) break... the rest is cinematic history!<i> AND COMING SOON: ACTRESS NEAR CAST ROLES...</i>

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