TARZAN BEGINS AGAIN IN THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wxGeVgn-a5U/V4iQa78vL7I/AAAAAAAAtiQ/vRhTGCGNEfcJp0RjbxGmyhLMra7Ol3HYgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B12.27.15%2BAM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wxGeVgn-a5U/V4iQa78vL7I/AAAAAAAAtiQ/vRhTGCGNEfcJp0RjbxGmyhLMra7Ol3HYgCLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B12.27.15%2BAM.png" width="320"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sam Jackson watches Tarzan run </u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Edgar Rice Burroughs' second TARZAN novel was THE RETURN OF TARZAN, and while this movie, THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, is in no way inspired by or based upon that particular title, the same template exists: We all know about the Lord of the Jungle and since this is basically a comeback for the iconic character, why not start out with his need to... to quote The Beatles... "Get back to where you once belonged"?<br> <br> But Tarzan, holed up in his British Estate and going by his born name, John Clayton, doesn't quite feel the jungle-fever as much as his wife, Jane, played by the beautiful Margot Robie, who wants her old life in Africa back, and so her persuasiveness has to make up for Alexander Skarsgård's lack of emotion, or any pulse. Along for the ride (and to further help the wooden lead) is a token comic relief in Samuel L. Jackson, working for President Harrison to thwart a possible slave trade going on while speaking in a modern jive that doesn't fit the 1800's...<br>

2016, action, christoph waltz, franchise, margot robie, samuel l. jackson

TARZAN BEGINS AGAIN IN THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

Sam Jackson watches Tarzan run Edgar Rice Burroughs' second TARZAN novel was THE RETURN OF TARZAN, and while this movie, THE LEGEND ...

IRVIN KERSHNER DIRECTS 'STAKEOUT ON DOPE STREET'

<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vs07SYSN9Vk/V3M8OlPVMxI/AAAAAAAAtNE/YpHtS_ysjCEFSzE4BsGtJFgtWpcqMDdngCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-28%2Bat%2B8.10.04%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vs07SYSN9Vk/V3M8OlPVMxI/AAAAAAAAtNE/YpHtS_ysjCEFSzE4BsGtJFgtWpcqMDdngCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-28%2Bat%2B8.10.04%2BPM.png" width="293"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1958 Cast: Steven Marlo, Jonathan Haze</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> By the time George Lucas went to USC Film School, one of his favorite teachers, Irvin Kershner, who would direct the followup to STAR WARS titled THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK years later, had directed a few things including a B&W Film bordering on but not quite Noir that, right on the verge of that genre's end and liken to CRIME IN THE STREETS, is more a precautionary adolescent tale than melodrama, and yet there's plenty of melodrama to go around...<br> <br> <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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f4NRdYoSFvY/W3NNHX65CDI/AAAAAAAA4OY/H25lsYVko-oZzPfzUdzEb0oNSM-ZTcdzACLcBGAs/s1600/Stakeout%252Bon%252BDope%252BStreet%252B%25281958%2529_011%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="409" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f4NRdYoSFvY/W3NNHX65CDI/AAAAAAAA4OY/H25lsYVko-oZzPfzUdzEb0oNSM-ZTcdzACLcBGAs/s320/Stakeout%252Bon%252BDope%252BStreet%252B%25281958%2529_011%2B2.jpg" width="276"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Yale Wexler in SODS</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Especially one ponderously overlong sequence where an old junky's telling one of three teens all about kicking heroin. The momentum leading to that point, especially by the group's muscular, instigative Steven Marlo as Nick ("The Medic" in GARRISON'S GUERRILLAS), who had just gone through his own diatribe about getting the guts to sell the stuff, which his buddy Ves, played by Roger Corman stock actor Jonathan Haze, found in a bag while the buried lead seems initially the most unimportant, a mellow cat named Jim – good looking Yale Wexler is the brother of famous cinematographer Haskell. Little did the guys know this bag was left over from a gritty prologue where cops are shot down (in the same grungy, off-road locale the kids hang) while busting the junky who had that bag in the first place. And while Found Money is a sort of Noir genre all by itself, Found Drugs is, in this case, more intriguing since the boys have no idea how to make bundles out of the powdery potential goldmine. Plus there's a strict cop narration, par for the course in these kinda morality tale crime flicks.<br>

fifties, film noir or melodrama, irvin kershner, jonathan haze, steven marlo

IRVIN KERSHNER DIRECTS 'STAKEOUT ON DOPE STREET'

Year: 1958 Cast: Steven Marlo, Jonathan Haze By the time George Lucas went to USC Film School, one of his favorite teachers, Irvin Kersh...

STAYING AWAKE FOR THE JOHN LANDIS NOIR INTO THE NIGHT

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-45q-knbvrd4/V2-JgHJ8a4I/AAAAAAAAtKc/4_T6Unr-SHgLhZZziOdWZlgVJS0DHd2VgCLcB/s1600/3.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/-45q-knbvrd4/V2-JgHJ8a4I/AAAAAAAAtKc/4_T6Unr-SHgLhZZziOdWZlgVJS0DHd2VgCLcB/s400/3.jpg" width="271"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clu Gulager's take on things</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Ed Okin, our hero/pawn in the John Landis Neo Noir INTO THE NIGHT, works as an Aeronautical Engineer, which, by the looks of his workplace, with certain pictures around the white walled interior, might have to do with the space shuttle: And a tragic, coincidental irony is that Challenger exploded the year after this movie hit theaters with a box office thud, and famously, or infamously, in Landis's previous venture, a segment of the highly anticipated TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, actor Vic Morrow and two children were killed in a helicopter accident...<br> <br> Going behind the scenes... of this website... in meeting John Landis at a horror genre convention (his AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON is an all-time classic), the first thing he said as he prepared to sign the B.B. King-laden album soundtrack (pictured to the right and below), was: "You know, this was my first financial failure," and then he offered a cookie. "Wanna cookie?" he asked, holding one up with a sly Felix the Cat grin. And while hanging with classic veteran actor Clu Gulager in a parking lot of the same venue, the Burbank Marriott Hotel, but on a different date, he stated that John Landis probably needed a lot of established people on board (this movie) since it was, basically, after the Vic Morrow tragedy, his way of sneaking back into Hollywood by, in this reviewer's opinion, going in the <i>back door... </i>using a slow, atmospheric story with a handful of cameos that only rabid movie fans (and not even them) would recognize, and that's <i>not</i> including superstar musician David Bowie as a hit man and even Landis himself as one of four bumbling yet lethal Iranian killers trying to find the McGuiffin: diamonds stolen from the Shah of Iran that Michelle Pfeiffer's Diane has, and, once she meets poor Ed, inside the LAX parking structure, about to possibly catch a flight to Las Vegas for something workmate Dan Aykroyd advised, he gets catapulted... that's right... INTO THE NIGHT.<br>

art evans, clu gulager, david bowie, don siegel, eighties, jeff goldblum, john landis, michelle pfeiffer, neo noir, rick baker

STAYING AWAKE FOR THE JOHN LANDIS NOIR INTO THE NIGHT

Clu Gulager's take on things Ed Okin, our hero/pawn in the John Landis Neo Noir INTO THE NIGHT, works as an Aeronautical Engineer, w...

BEL-AIR PRODUCTIONS 'BIG HOUSE U.S.A.' WITH RALPH MEEKER

<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/-ch3cgmBRcXw/Xt4cQK5_aXI/AAAAAAABUvc/qno5tPzh6u8Cl6QrYZ9eOf_ysCVQthKVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/13466408_117412688687916_8554622694944624349_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ch3cgmBRcXw/Xt4cQK5_aXI/AAAAAAABUvc/qno5tPzh6u8Cl6QrYZ9eOf_ysCVQthKVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/13466408_117412688687916_8554622694944624349_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster Image for BIG HOUSE USA</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> A strange, investigative, manipulative, adventurous sort of crime/prison flick begins at a rural setting with Ralph Meeker involved in the botched kidnapping of a sickly young boy at summer camp...<br> <br> This gritty b-picture has been disputed by some of the more uptight viewers as a legit Film Noir since the main character doesn't have the necessary "moral ambiguity," although the otherwise vicious convicts serving at THE BIG HOUSE must realize, with a "child abductor" residing in the cell, maybe they're not so bad after all: perhaps, then, it's a kind of Film Noir in reverse...<br> <br> One scene has pre-PERRY MASON lawyer and post-ARMORED CAR ROBBERY and THE RACKET firebrand William Talman suffering guilt-ridden doubts when cold-blooded kingpin Broderick Crawford tells him, once the gang has escaped from the island fortress and are "hidden" on a fishing boat within a foggy ocean, to strategically kill a sleeping friend...<br> <br> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vqcn686ZSB0/XDJX5KvrywI/AAAAAAAA-dw/qAFHSlgEFfM3TxKbjvyV9WcbNgxcFsZFACLcBGAs/s1600/49948292_400661070700002_3724220791525474304_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="960" height="238" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vqcn686ZSB0/XDJX5KvrywI/AAAAAAAA-dw/qAFHSlgEFfM3TxKbjvyV9WcbNgxcFsZFACLcBGAs/s400/49948292_400661070700002_3724220791525474304_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Felicia Farr as the camp, not campy, nurse </u></td></tr> </tbody></table> And with WOLF MAN Lon Chaney Jr., whose sad droopy eyes are vulnerable from the get-go, providing the friendliest of the hardened lock-up boys, the Noir exists within the prison itself, and outside, too, so perhaps it's transferred to other places <i>other </i>than our buried lead, Meeker...<br> <br> Nicknamed The Ice Man, who remains quiet and brooding yet is the only reason the men are willing and able to leave the cold comfort of their purgatory cell, eventually taking part in a fairly taut escape (reminiscent of the French classic GRAND ILLUSION before and THE GREAT ESCAPE, also co-starring Bronson, after), thus catapulted from a ponderous frying pan into an unknown fire: he alone knows where the loot is hidden.<br>

bel air productions, broderick crawford, charles bronson, fifties, film noir or melodrama, lon chaney jr., prison, ralph meeker

BEL-AIR PRODUCTIONS 'BIG HOUSE U.S.A.' WITH RALPH MEEKER

Poster Image for BIG HOUSE USA A strange, investigative, manipulative, adventurous sort of crime/prison flick begins at a rural setting ...

BURT LANCASTER IN BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ

<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/-xZvJTukOG9k/V2v-pfIpFkI/AAAAAAAAtF4/EhrPhHEoJCQzrfRuo7C2dpiLc_InSzUcQCLcB/s1600/41YLRRL%252B1rL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZvJTukOG9k/V2v-pfIpFkI/AAAAAAAAtF4/EhrPhHEoJCQzrfRuo7C2dpiLc_InSzUcQCLcB/s400/41YLRRL%252B1rL.jpg" width="305"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Twilight Time Blu Ray YEAR: 1962</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> It's impossible to know the truth, the real truth, about something, or in this case, someone who gained fame from accomplishing <i>something</i> pretty amazing. That being Robert Stroud, given the name THE BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ, which was more of a legendary status. On the infamous island fortress, he was already known and famous for what he did in Leavenworth, given free reign to work with birds since he was downright violent around people. Meanwhile, in Alcatraz, he had nothing to do with those feathery friends at all... His reputation proceeded him, and Alcatraz is a much edgier nickname than where he truly broke ground: A more lenient prison that, thankfully, the warden (or actually, several wardens) permitted this strange, desperate lone wolf, in prison for murdering a man who supposedly beat up one of his "girls," be able to keep a good number of birds inside his isolation cell. Much of the film, directed in a beautifully contained and hypnotic manner by John Frankenheimer, shows Stroud during the good times and bad, the birds he raised eventually dying from unnamed illnesses; one he eventually cures them of, which is what made Stroud famous – a violent man with a "third grade education" was able to find a vaccine to save birds – first his own, a mere microcosm for the world, including farm chickens and... Anyhow, when it came to his studies, Stroud, the BIRDMAN OF LEAVENWORTH, was more than an expert: He was a guru and a genius. And that brooding aura is captured nicely by Burt Lancaster in the first two acts in Leavenworth where he's treated like a king, befriended by guard Neville Brand in a surprisingly passive role, and an endearing lunatic in the cell-next-door played by Telly Savalas, who was able to have his own winged pet. But being more than pets to Stroud, Lancaster, with his expressions alone and no dialogue at all, captures the love one man had for a species, other than his own!<br>

burt lancaster, john frankenheimer, prison, sixties, telly savalas

BURT LANCASTER IN BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ

Twilight Time Blu Ray YEAR: 1962 It's impossible to know the truth, the real truth, about something, or in this case, someone who ga...

PRISCILLA LANE DOUBLE & LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA

<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/-qUhd1x3uh1E/V2gswdtrITI/AAAAAAAAtFI/TqgHmvPN-pskYJX9mVm8uyiy9gSz83WEQCLcB/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qUhd1x3uh1E/V2gswdtrITI/AAAAAAAAtFI/TqgHmvPN-pskYJX9mVm8uyiy9gSz83WEQCLcB/s400/2.jpg" width="282"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SABOTEUR Year: 1942</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> In keeping with our LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA posts, covering anything either starring or featuring the gruff Noir turned Crime Exploitation actor one at a time, a collection that already includes write-ups ranging from KILL OR BE KILLED to RESERVOIR DOGS, there's an opportunity for another highlight...<br> <br> <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/-iK0d-aO0-JI/WB2j0IXQe0I/AAAAAAAAvJQ/koSmv07ytfISki6HHAyEkOx6q4rgca4bgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-11-05%2Bat%2B2.15.58%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iK0d-aO0-JI/WB2j0IXQe0I/AAAAAAAAvJQ/koSmv07ytfISki6HHAyEkOx6q4rgca4bgCLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-11-05%2Bat%2B2.15.58%2BAM.png" width="135"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>LT is a BODYGUARD</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> That being Priscilla Lane, best known as the apple of James Cagney's eye in ROARING TWENTIES, so she can hold her own; despite a limited acting range, she's paid some dues... And the second in the Lane Double Feature, she's the co-starring good girl ingenue to Tierney: one movie directed by the iconic Alfred Hitchcock; the other by the underrated Richard Fleischer, and written by a young future film-making genius, Robert Altman.<br> <br> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <u>SABOTEUR</u>: Although he fits as a preppie, not so nice third banana hired-hand in Alfred Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER, it takes a little bit getting used to Robert Cummings in a starring turn as The Wrong Man in yet another Hitchcock Wrong Man thriller, his blue color airplane mechanic thrust in an adventure that could be called NORTH BY NORTHEAST... He has a breezy, affable charm of a cross-country pawn, intended and believable for this arduous task with as much dialogue as pandemonium.<br>

alfred hitchcock, film noir, forties, priscilla lane, robert cummings, suspense

PRISCILLA LANE DOUBLE & LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA

Title: SABOTEUR Year: 1942 In keeping with our LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA posts, covering anything either starring or featuring the gruff N...

JACK WEBB IN DRAGNET 1967: EISENHOWER ON ACID

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/--qtULYkSMLM/V2Yr1xk_75I/AAAAAAAAtCQ/uYIf-4s3f-8_u2Y4GUyuij2SEfeIBzSjACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-18%2Bat%2B10.21.01%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--qtULYkSMLM/V2Yr1xk_75I/AAAAAAAAtCQ/uYIf-4s3f-8_u2Y4GUyuij2SEfeIBzSjACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-18%2Bat%2B10.21.01%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>"In my job, I meet a lot of losers. I carry a badge." Joe Friday, Dragnet</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> This continuation of the famous 1950's Film Noir detective series DRAGNET 1967 (followed by DRAGNET 1968, DRAGNET 1969 and DRAGNET 1970) seems like a science-fiction tale of two time-traveling Eisenhower era cops thrust into the late 1960's where they have absolutely no place to be and yet, with the law on their side, both see fit to fight not only crime but drugs and Nazis whilst crossing paths with other such counter-culture topics including protests and whatever else was relevant and worthy of exploiting: And so, we begin with our two well-suited lawmen, Joe Friday and Frank Gannon, up against the effects of a very popular drug, used beyond-recreationally during that time, the Summer of Love… "This is the city," Webb, as Joe Friday, narrates in his usual dry fashion, but about an entirely new generation. "Los Angeles, California... It's a fine place to enjoy life... There are places reserved just for kids when they're young, and feel young. Places they go when they're young and feel old... Beginning the big search for something that often doesn't exist in the places when they look for it... Their search might end with a college degree... One thing's sure, whatever they're looking for cannot be found inside a number five capsule... When they try, that's where I come in... I carry a badge!"<br>

cop, dragnet, drug culture, film noir, harry morgan, heather menzies, jack webb, sixties

JACK WEBB IN DRAGNET 1967: EISENHOWER ON ACID

"In my job, I meet a lot of losers. I carry a badge." Joe Friday, Dragnet This continuation of the famous 1950's Film Noir...

JAMES CAGNEY BRUTAL FILM NOIR OF 'KISS TOMMORROW GOODBYE'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixCWm1fcnIr9-AbUjFg6MQoDKY8HhbCU31_2n2jrAKmjEILl0PC6H4JfGVqtOGoKH5STrZPQxmmUe8ElxhV8OvjY4EzWZA5cgU5czTYpSexyNZfP1ly2tFDNtdzvtI74rPwqbqjCDMDgWzOtskkHdc_l9e-rhfrav1KToN_pWAKETTsBBHdnXzU1HgEQ=s785" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="785" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixCWm1fcnIr9-AbUjFg6MQoDKY8HhbCU31_2n2jrAKmjEILl0PC6H4JfGVqtOGoKH5STrZPQxmmUe8ElxhV8OvjY4EzWZA5cgU5czTYpSexyNZfP1ly2tFDNtdzvtI74rPwqbqjCDMDgWzOtskkHdc_l9e-rhfrav1KToN_pWAKETTsBBHdnXzU1HgEQ=w400-h219" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Cagney's different kind of violent mayhem 1950</u></td></tr></tbody></table>After the peak of James Cagney crime cinema, wildly popular during the programmers of the 1930's where his characters are crooked yet charming and fun...<br> <br>Blasting off in PUBLIC ENEMY and ending the Depression Era as a much nicer though still lethal and established rum-runner in the Raoul Walsh semi-epic ROARING TWENTIES and as a more idealistic yet equally street savvy boxer in CITY FOR CONQUEST and then, following patriotic films during the Wartime 1940's, at the crest of that decade he was "Top of the World, Ma" in the prison classic WHITE HEAT, at which point, to move forward, he could only go underneath...

barbara payton, fifties, film noir or melodrama, gangster, helena carter, james cagney, luther adler, william frawley

JAMES CAGNEY BRUTAL FILM NOIR OF 'KISS TOMMORROW GOODBYE'

James Cagney's different kind of violent mayhem 1950 After the peak of James Cagney crime cinema, wildly popular during the programmers...

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE FEATURING HUGH JACKMAN

<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/-vpsNfJRl_KY/V4lwDSOAvtI/AAAAAAAAtjo/4q6P_5CaMWYF8PSiWoFTmPpC-Ll7QywIACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.20.44%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="383" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vpsNfJRl_KY/V4lwDSOAvtI/AAAAAAAAtjo/4q6P_5CaMWYF8PSiWoFTmPpC-Ll7QywIACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.20.44%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE X-MEN MUPPET BABY FILMS SUSTAIN BREEZILY Year: 2016</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The vessel has gone full circle. Not only do we begin with a mutant in a public display of fighting, like Wolverine in the first movie, but there's another great music montage scene liken to the last film, where Evan Peters, as Quicksilver, does his thing, befitting the particular era: last <i>time</i> it was Jim Croce in the 70's and "now", set in the techno 80's, The Eurythmics SWEET DREAMS plays as he <i>quickly</i> rescues a bunch of student mutants about to... Spoil the movie, although the title of this latest venture says plenty in what's become the FIRST CLASS cast as the X-MEN are more X-KIDS, not only before they become adults but, like the STAR TREK reboot, in an alternate timeline: the past is in the past and the future is, for the characters we once knew, started over again i.e. recycling.<br>

2016, franchise, hugh jackman, jennifer lawrence

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE FEATURING HUGH JACKMAN

THE X-MEN MUPPET BABY FILMS SUSTAIN BREEZILY Year: 2016 The vessel has gone full circle. Not only do we begin with a mutant in a public ...

JUXTAPOSED CINEMA: NEEDLE IN THE GRADUATE

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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/-Qu1NSzhbNZw/V1-r3fERCDI/AAAAAAAAs-o/PKyy2ezTYqcWZ8NaFgiQNFM-mS8we0C-gCKgB/s1600/ThePanicInNeedlePark_BD_HighRes__73942.1463624074.1280.1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qu1NSzhbNZw/V1-r3fERCDI/AAAAAAAAs-o/PKyy2ezTYqcWZ8NaFgiQNFM-mS8we0C-gCKgB/s400/ThePanicInNeedlePark_BD_HighRes__73942.1463624074.1280.1280.png" width="316"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>Twilight Time Blu Ray</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> A little of what we call a PHOTOBREAK from the routine of reviews, interviews and essays, here are two pictures, below this writeup, one from the famous cult film, THE GRADUATE, the other from the not so famous but pretty well known, in more obscure cult circles, THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK...<br> <br> Both have several things in common. For starters, two short, swarthy, energetic and iconic character-actors who quickly became leading men got their start with each project: DUSTIN HOFFMAN as THE GRADUATE, who, at the very end, sitting in the back of a bus after winning over his woman the hard way by, with the help of Paul Simon's acoustic guitar, driving across California to crash a wedding and... well, you know the scene. Meanwhile, the end of PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK is far more ambiguous and, being about two junkies as opposed to high class college students, downright depressing... But not really. Because no matter what Kitty Winn did to make Al Pacino angry – which shouldn't be spoiled here or in the upcoming review – was surely something pretty low... But like Dustin and Katharine, both are heading towards an unseen, unknown future and yet, these futures are obviously shared by each couple, together, for better (GRADUATE) or <i>most likely</i> worse (PARK). And last and certainly not least, both couples wind up staring off in opposite directions, right at the last moment, and yet are completely connected... This must have been homage by NEEDLE director Jerry Schatzberg to Mike Nichols' iconic GRADUATE ending or else just a wonderful coincidence. Either way, there it is!<br>

photobreak

JUXTAPOSED CINEMA: NEEDLE IN THE GRADUATE

Twilight Time Blu Ray A little of what we call a PHOTOBREAK from the routine of reviews, interviews and essays, here are two pictu...

COOPER & WIDMARK RIDE IN GARDEN OF EVIL

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Ypl6UJHjmU/V4luvh83LcI/AAAAAAAAtjc/bvCBZmTt8JoJSRoeC_wjOhAOqqi1XT7tQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.15.30%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Ypl6UJHjmU/V4luvh83LcI/AAAAAAAAtjc/bvCBZmTt8JoJSRoeC_wjOhAOqqi1XT7tQCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.15.30%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gorgeous wideshot of Hayward and Cooper YEAR: 1954</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> A year before GARDEN OF EVIL, an adventurous Cowboy Film Noir taking place in Mexico starring, primarily, Gary Cooper and Susan Hayward, the wonderfully sinister Ralph Meeker kidnaps, or rather, hijacks or you can even say, <i>bums</i> a pistol-pointed ride off Barbara Stanwyck, whose husband is buried beneath a piece of a dilapidated pier and as the tide rises, time runs out...<br> <br> That was the underrated JEOPARDY, and in GARDEN OF EVIL, the urgent <i>drive</i> is not that much different. Only Susan Hayward isn't being taken. Instead, her red-haired beauty with a load of cash persuades a group of basically strangers, who "washed-up" (boat broke down) in a Mexican town so rural not even good time gambler Richard Widmark can have any fun. Enter the "friendly antagonist," our third banana who's the most like Meeker. That being the usually-villainous, explosive human bobcat, Cameron Mitchell, going bonkers when his lusting testosterone gets the best of him: His postman only rings once...<br>

cameron mitchell, fifties, film noir, mexico, richard widmark, susan hayward, treasure, western

COOPER & WIDMARK RIDE IN GARDEN OF EVIL

Gorgeous wideshot of Hayward and Cooper YEAR: 1954 A year before GARDEN OF EVIL, an adventurous Cowboy Film Noir taking place in Mexic...

CFF 2016-2017 FAVORITE MOVIE LIST

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sj--zI7OG1g/V4ltNU4p6vI/AAAAAAAAtjM/zPtLWXdAIe0zpDmu4WnOCHR9TYRJ8yk0gCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.09.03%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sj--zI7OG1g/V4ltNU4p6vI/AAAAAAAAtjM/zPtLWXdAIe0zpDmu4WnOCHR9TYRJ8yk0gCLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.09.03%2BPM.png" width="320"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>LIST FOR THIS YEAR</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> First thing to know is this FAVORITE MOVIE LIST isn't the same as <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/08/jmt-film-institute-ten-greatest-movies.html">BEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME</a> or even FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME but is related to a <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/09/my-15-movies-stuck-on-desert-island.html">DESERT ISLAND PICK</a> list since they're movies that can be watched over and over, again and again, this year, summer to summer, to be exact...<br> <br> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <u>THE GIRL HUNTERS (1962)</u>: While JAWS will always forever be tops on the ALL TIME FAVORITE list, for this year the award goes to a "late Noir" from 1962 wherein Mickey Spillane played his own invention, Mike Hammer, with acting that's... not too... Or that is... Too shabby... But something happens, and the eerie vibe with last names being thrown around, and dizzy red herrings and lustful dames: it all just creeps right up and grows on you, somehow, through and through... And what a title too!<br>

fifties, james cagney, list, seventies, thirties

CFF 2016-2017 FAVORITE MOVIE LIST

LIST FOR THIS YEAR First thing to know is this FAVORITE MOVIE LIST isn't the same as BEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME or even FAVORITE MOV...

DAVID CARRADINE PLAYS WOODY GUTHRIE IN 'BOUND FOR GLORY'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-HH4Bc-gcs/V4lyQTyLwKI/AAAAAAAAtj0/bz74H1Wcd2IQNqdeNCklm4OvkHuT0upAQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.29.58%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-HH4Bc-gcs/V4lyQTyLwKI/AAAAAAAAtj0/bz74H1Wcd2IQNqdeNCklm4OvkHuT0upAQCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.29.58%2BPM.png" width="386"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Beautiful Twilight Time Blu Ray for BOUND Movie Year: 1976</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> John Carradine, father of David, Keith and Robert, is best known for co-starring in the idealistic John Ford motion picture somewhat loosely based on John Steinbeck's GRAPES OF WRATH, playing a former minister preaching Unions over the "pie in the sky, that's a lie," as Ronny Cox sings here in BOUND FOR GLORY...<br> <br> And sitting right beside him, within a vagabond strip of rough California land where people park and wait for work – while those who work, hardly earn a cent – is TV's KUNG FU star, all ready, willing and able to take the big screen by storm...<br> <br> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> While father John was part of a road-trip where a truck, resembling a pin cushion full of grungy farmers, travels to California where work was supposedly bursting up through the seams, the best moments of this highly entertaining biopic titled BOUND FOR GLORY... which is a song sung with a mouthful of smiling sarcasm... are on the train to get there, or simply how the man plays the guitar: like he really, truly knows how to...<br>

biopic, david carradine, hal ashby, seventies

DAVID CARRADINE PLAYS WOODY GUTHRIE IN 'BOUND FOR GLORY'

Beautiful Twilight Time Blu Ray for BOUND Movie Year: 1976 John Carradine, father of David, Keith and Robert, is best known for co-starr...

SCOTT BRADY JAZZES WILD WEST TV ON SHOTGUN SLADE

<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gICThm65xk0/V1mc5F2euWI/AAAAAAAAs58/fk1yMNgnyzkNj5Lt0b5QyWP3MysaDo11gCLcB/s1600/slade3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gICThm65xk0/V1mc5F2euWI/AAAAAAAAs58/fk1yMNgnyzkNj5Lt0b5QyWP3MysaDo11gCLcB/s400/slade3.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1950 Show Title: SHOTGUN SLADE Starring: Scott Brady</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Having been visiting several obscure TV Westerns, including one that's a personal treat for yours truly, called TATE (write-up coming soon); SHOTGUN SLADE starring Scott Brady as the title character, whose real name isn't Shotgun but he sure uses them well, really stands out. Is he a Gun for Hire? A Cowboy with a Vengeance? A Bounty Hunter? A Sheriff? An Outlaw with a heart of gold? A Rogue Gambler? <br> <br> None of the Above, actually... Slade is a Detective... rare in this genre... and a narrating one at that: making this more Gumshoe than Horseshoe. And to note, Scott Brady's born name is Tierney. He's the younger, equally tough though much more conventional, mainstream and "pretty" than his rowdy, anvil-faced brother Lawrence Tierney, who, in his heyday during the 1940's, was cast as a sort of menacing monstrosity in Film Noir projects like BORN TO KILL, in which he was a proverbial snake in an otherwise classy, backstabbing Eden, ready to strike anyone and anything, and was far more effective as DILLINGER in a b-movie biopic loosely based on truth and, in a dime-novel fashion, covers the country-hopping crime spree of bank stickup jobs with non-stop action...<br>

fifties, jazz score, scott brady, TV, western

SCOTT BRADY JAZZES WILD WEST TV ON SHOTGUN SLADE

Year: 1950 Show Title: SHOTGUN SLADE Starring: Scott Brady Having been visiting several obscure TV Westerns, including one that's a ...

STRANGE ON STRANGE INVADERS & BEHAVIOR DOUBLE FEATURE

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j32PxJIINhQ/V4l1aGwtYUI/AAAAAAAAtkk/GiLZBqlUwOYBruD4j_3gSEBgPvP3toxwQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.42.15%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="363" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j32PxJIINhQ/V4l1aGwtYUI/AAAAAAAAtkk/GiLZBqlUwOYBruD4j_3gSEBgPvP3toxwQCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.42.15%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A Look at Strange Invaders & Dead Kids YEARS: 1981-1983</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> "Do you feel like going to the gym or working out?" young SUPERMAN photographer Marc McClure says to future young TRON byte warrior Dan Shor. "I feel like I'm in a dream or something..." And how!<br> <u><br></u> <u>DEAD KIDS</u>, from 1981, has that very title in the opening credits, proof that <u>STRANGE BEHAVIOR </u>is obviously a studio retitle, which, until the Blu Ray release, it's been known as, beginning with the video rental along with the popularity of its near-namesake, the 1983 bizarre yet more conventional and (comparably) mainstream STRANGE INVADERS...<br> <br> Plus the fact director Michael Laughlin and writer Bill Condon planned for a STRANGE trilogy that never came to pass, the DVD (or in this case, Blu Ray) title was finally altered back to the original. And like how poor Marc felt, DEAD KIDS does have a dreamy aura and aesthetic. Filmed in the lush region of New Zealand and supposedly taking place in small town America (which is never that green and lovely!), the scenery is beyond-gorgeous while the vibe seems as if the very film were somehow cursed (a similar feeling derives from THE EXORCIST, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, KISS ME DEADLY and several other vehicles), or as if the mind-altering, experimental heavies had made the film instead of an ambiguous "middleman" i.e. filmmaker.<br>

body count, dan shor, dey young, diana scarwid, eighties, horror, louise fletcher, marc mcclure, michael murphy, paul lemat, science-fiction, scott brady, slasher

STRANGE ON STRANGE INVADERS & BEHAVIOR DOUBLE FEATURE

A Look at Strange Invaders & Dead Kids YEARS: 1981-1983 "Do you feel like going to the gym or working out?" young SUPERMAN...

A SEMI NOSTALGIC REVIEW OF GHOSTBUSTERS II

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-chh9PYi9nEA/V4lz_BBa1CI/AAAAAAAAtkM/mHZZiukPpuo9ofIOuOmK5XH2OnF_3pe0QCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.37.00%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-chh9PYi9nEA/V4lz_BBa1CI/AAAAAAAAtkM/mHZZiukPpuo9ofIOuOmK5XH2OnF_3pe0QCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-15%2Bat%2B4.37.00%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Working On The Old Familiar Sign</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> "One day," says Ernie Hudson's fourth Ghostbuster, Winston, in GHOSTBUSTERS 2, "these kids," referring to a party where he and Ray Stanz, played by film creator Dan Aykroyd, are desperately performing for. "They won't even know who we are!"<br> <br> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> That's true and untrue. Oh we remember. And how. Especially with the female reboot a month away from hitting theaters. But it's the classic original, a big budget phenom that acquired everlasting cult status because, like JAWS or STAR WARS, it could have easily <i>not </i>worked – like this sequel, for instance: As most know, Breaking the Fourth Wall refers to a character looking into the camera (the audience perspective of any setting is that of the phantom structure's side we don't see) or simply smiling or winking. In this case, it's shattered audibly as the Ray Parker Jr. hit song blares from a "Ghetto Blaster" while those party kids, instead of yelling "Ghostbusters" following the song's buildup, "Who You Gonna Call?", scream repeatedly, "He-Man! He-Man!"<br>

bill murray, dan aykroyd, eighties

A SEMI NOSTALGIC REVIEW OF GHOSTBUSTERS II

Working On The Old Familiar Sign "One day," says Ernie Hudson's fourth Ghostbuster, Winston, in GHOSTBUSTERS 2, "thes...

THE TIMELESS IMPRESSION OF GHOSTBUSTERS

<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bm6ZZLM0cOo/V49Fc70jsoI/AAAAAAAAtps/_eauTPcp3J8y5LquDo-tFDHJAEBiHGF4gCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-20%2Bat%2B2.32.56%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bm6ZZLM0cOo/V49Fc70jsoI/AAAAAAAAtps/_eauTPcp3J8y5LquDo-tFDHJAEBiHGF4gCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-07-20%2Bat%2B2.32.56%2BAM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE TIMELESS ORIGINAL CIRCA 1984</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> John Winger, Bill Murray’s lovable loser in the boot camp comedy STRIPES, the second of three collaborations with director Ivan Reitman beginning with MEATBALLS, had his very own theme song: a lazy piano-bar riff, whose likeness can be heard in GHOSTBUSTERS throughout Elmer Bernstein’s immense score, but only when Murray’s sarcastic Peter Venkman flirts with Signourney Weaver or clashes jovially with Dan Aykroyd's rambling Dr. Raymond Stanz, who Venkman describes as “the heart of the Ghostbusters.”And that would make Harold Ramis's Egon the lungs (or as Ramis and Reitman described him, the brains). Murray’s reluctant sidekick in STRIPES and the director of CADDYSHACK and GROUNDHOG DAY, Ramis is an essential ingredient to make the gadgets and demonic backstory completely believable and, as a team-up, one of the great things about GHOSTBUSTERS is seeing Murray play off of two science-minded serious guys. Aykroyd and Ramis wrote the film and obviously knew Murray had the stuff to steal scenes. Although the lead role was originally intended for Aykroyd’s cinema partner, the late John Belushi: who inspired the iconic green ghost, Slimer.<br>

annie potts, bill murray, comedy, dan aykroyd, eighties, franchise, harold ramis, ivan reitman, rick moranis, science-fiction, william atherton

THE TIMELESS IMPRESSION OF GHOSTBUSTERS

THE TIMELESS ORIGINAL CIRCA 1984 John Winger, Bill Murray’s lovable loser in the boot camp comedy STRIPES, the second of three collabora...

BRUCE DERN TAILS RYAN O'NEAL IN WALTER HILL'S 'THE DRIVER'

<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/-BUOR_OyAlmo/XhhZAXz2qYI/AAAAAAABNFg/WAxP4XMv1Gc6xMv1A03kChoe6V93-TbUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-01-10%2Bat%2B2.56.14%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="992" height="293" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BUOR_OyAlmo/XhhZAXz2qYI/AAAAAAABNFg/WAxP4XMv1Gc6xMv1A03kChoe6V93-TbUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-01-10%2Bat%2B2.56.14%2BAM.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ryan O'Neal relaxes in THE DRIVER Year: 1976</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> An action vehicle but not entirely, Walter Hill's THE DRIVER is more a meticulous, character-driven Neo Noir than rollercoaster ride: This includes a brooding Ryan O'Neal as a getaway DRIVER sought after by a determined cop played by not only scene but<i> entire film-stealing</i> Bruce Dern as... The Detective...<br> <br> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1GIfZwS1g_w/XKnh1ySYWUI/AAAAAAABCac/5iveWSPIOEocmCq12a_uJtBAs4DW-HPigCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-04-07%2Bat%2B4.39.51%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1420" data-original-width="909" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1GIfZwS1g_w/XKnh1ySYWUI/AAAAAAABCac/5iveWSPIOEocmCq12a_uJtBAs4DW-HPigCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-04-07%2Bat%2B4.39.51%2BAM.jpeg" width="204"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Driver Mileage Rates: ****</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div>As each character's named after what they are within a sparse, stark, slowburn template as no one means anything beyond what they're doing, who they're after or protecting, The Player in particular, Isabelle Adjani caught in-between as... speaking in monotone like everyone else except Dern... her best moments occur while listening...<br> <br> Scenes when Dern questions her or THE DRIVER or a more honest detective in Matt Clark are even better than the chase scenes: Which, of course, directed by future WARRIORS and SOUTHERN COMFORT icon Walter Hill, are topnotch suspenseful and easy to follow – either dodging police prowlers or one of the bad guys who winds up after the titular bad guy we're rooting for. And the most intense screeching tires occur as THE DRIVER shows his stuff inside a parking garage, with no one chasing behind: deliberate car-porn at its finest.<br>

action, bruce dern, car, crime, edward walsh, getaway driver, isabelle adjani, matt clark, neo noir, rudy ramos, ryan o'neal, seventies, suspense, thriller, twilight time, walter hill

BRUCE DERN TAILS RYAN O'NEAL IN WALTER HILL'S 'THE DRIVER'

Ryan O'Neal relaxes in THE DRIVER Year: 1976 An action vehicle but not entirely, Walter Hill's THE DRIVER is more a meticulous, ...

MARVIN VS BORGNINE IN 'EMPEROR OF THE NORTH'

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KgCNeBEVD8U/VzDzpBZy2GI/AAAAAAAAsbg/61tOCC-YZrYYngWWjEclPEppjHOfDIcCQCLcB/s1600/emp0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KgCNeBEVD8U/VzDzpBZy2GI/AAAAAAAAsbg/61tOCC-YZrYYngWWjEclPEppjHOfDIcCQCLcB/s400/emp0.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lee Marvin & Robert Carradine in this Robert Alrich action flick</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Arguably, director Robert Aldrich turned in his best work over a decade before he got down and DIRTY DOZEN...<br /> <br /> That is, the entire Film Noir genre was practically named after his severe yet subdued, intensely claustrophobic KISS ME DEADLY, adding cult status with the risky thriller WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, but it's a movie like EMPEROR OF THE NORTH, pitting a folk-hero hobo against a lethal Railroad man in the height of the Depression in a sort of cat and mouse game with taut action and gorgeous exterior that Aldrich pulls of splendidly... <br /> <br /> <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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zel207XUmyY/VzDz_JT3tSI/AAAAAAAAsbk/mtrPc43BXVwD96ADy6giaIlPKZe6D96sQCLcB/s1600/emp3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zel207XUmyY/VzDz_JT3tSI/AAAAAAAAsbk/mtrPc43BXVwD96ADy6giaIlPKZe6D96sQCLcB/s320/emp3.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sid Haig joining in</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The eclectic filmmaker's work resembles the antique film stock of a, for instance, Franklin J. Schaffner, or even Richard Fleischer, keeping an "old style" antique look, almost seeming like color was added to black & white film stock, counterbalancing the more modern realism of the 1970's, providing a throwback vibe and allowing actors to, like in NORTH, break into sudden bursts of hysterical laughter wherein you can almost hear the director yelling "Action" and "Cut" in-between the over-the-top hysterical outbursts...<br /> <br /> Hell, it even happened in what's considered Sam Peckinpah's greatest achievement (not agreed here), THE WILD BUNCH, after the title bandits, surrounding a campfire, found out they stole bagfuls of slugs. Long story short, some movies didn't have the timeless vibe of a FRENCH CONNECTION or GODFATHER during that time: even though there's a degree of exploitive violence that you won't see in the other more realistic projects. And talk about violent: Ernest Borgnine plays the horrendously awful villain, Shack, equally despised by his employees and fellow railroad workers as he is the bums who know his legendary ways of cleaning up infamous Train 19: by finding any particular stowaway hobo and busting his skull with a mallet, and that's the end of that. It's as if they never existed.<br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbKRhWk11gI/VzD0cmkHDPI/AAAAAAAAsbw/5Y-d4vUCkkIpNh_52bEAl0pGwZw0I_zLQCLcB/s1600/emp11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbKRhWk11gI/VzD0cmkHDPI/AAAAAAAAsbw/5Y-d4vUCkkIpNh_52bEAl0pGwZw0I_zLQCLcB/s320/emp11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Borg9 going overboard again</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The best scenes are the interplay between veteran actors Lee Marvin and Borgnine; Marvin's character a folk hero amongst train-jumpers and vowing to ride old 19 despite the fact it's an almost impossible task. The way he plays tricks on both the machine and the machinist throughout the gorgeous location makes not only for mobile adventure, but dark humor and loads of suspenseful momentum: The irony is that the DOZEN veterans don't spend much time on screen together at all, save for their final battle, which could very well be one of the best man-to-man fights ever filmed. And beforehand, for anyone to "accuse" Borgnine for overacting, well... it's not that much a stretch. But with his face, he can get away with just about anything; and does here, in droves. <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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/-btvLGOObH5E/W2_iyTet8AI/AAAAAAAA4Kw/vMe8Zpvw9RQIfkS71qYePaMiDI8ySfMfQCLcBGAs/s1600/EmperorOfTheNorth_BD_HighRes__29466.1522683638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1241" data-original-width="766" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-btvLGOObH5E/W2_iyTet8AI/AAAAAAAA4Kw/vMe8Zpvw9RQIfkS71qYePaMiDI8ySfMfQCLcBGAs/s320/EmperorOfTheNorth_BD_HighRes__29466.1522683638.jpg" width="197" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Limited Edition Blu Ray</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> On the softer, younger and more vulnerable side, Keith Carradine's cocky yet vulnerable upstart, Cigaret, who Marvin's character, known simply as "A Number 1," is reluctant to take in as a partner. Lee's no mentor and yet, with Carradine's persistence, he has no choice. Think Jon Voight and Eric Roberts in RUNAWAY TRAIN years later, only they were on the same proverbial boat from the beginning, and here we have no unnecessary love interest to derail the bloody, sweaty ride that, although contrived at times, is never unfocused on what, or rather, who the important elements are: two men doing their jobs, and only one getting paid for it.<br /> <br /> <u>RATING</u>: ***1/2<br /> <u>TRIVIA</u>: Many faces turn up quickly without much of a part other than the main four or five leads including Western favorite Matt Clark and THE LONGEST YARD snitch and always villainous Charles Tyner, the ultimate YARD rat who doesn't think much of James Hampton... Speaking of that film, underrated black actor, Harry Caesar, whose bug-eyes seem like they've seen just about everything and everyone, is the coal shoveling man on the train, and as pictured, an actor who'd become a b-movie legend years later, Sid Haig, plays one of many laughing bums, this one holding a turkey, while Marvin's in the process of derailing Borgnine's legacy.

adventure, ernest borgnine, keith carradine, lee marvin, robert aldrich, seventies, sid haig

MARVIN VS BORGNINE IN 'EMPEROR OF THE NORTH'

Lee Marvin & Robert Carradine in this Robert Alrich action flick Arguably, director Robert Aldrich turned in his best work over a de...

CHEVY CHASE AND MADOLYN SMITH STAR IN 'FUNNY FARM'

<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/-aQSObbJhZX0/V09eRaQbjeI/AAAAAAAAs04/3gX8h7tPIAA0eOpGxqK9oGVCJtGe8PENACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-01%2Bat%2B7.04.30%2BAM.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aQSObbJhZX0/V09eRaQbjeI/AAAAAAAAs04/3gX8h7tPIAA0eOpGxqK9oGVCJtGe8PENACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-01%2Bat%2B7.04.30%2BAM.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Dog gets a bone in George Roy Hill's Swan Song FUNNY FARM</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> At first viewing, FUNNY FARM, on the heels of Chevy Chase's best performance and most hilarious vehicle backing up a perfectly suited character in the Neo Noir comedy FLETCH, and following his most "doing something <i>other</i> than being himself" turn as an obliviously optimistic suburban dad in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION, following an underrated role that goes beneath yet equals Rodney Dangerfield in CADDYSHACK, feels like it could have starred any comedic actor and not just the tall subtle performer whose roles all seem intentionally catered to. He began his career as a sort of deadpan M.C. of the original SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and then wound up a charming leading man in hit and miss cinematic ventures including the Hitchcock sendup FOUL PLAY with Goldie Hawn and then a followup adhering to his brand of physical action, SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES... So it's never been like Chevy to fill in anyone's else shoes but his very own...<br /> <br /> <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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OVuGgJiyrCk/V09ecDevbjI/AAAAAAAAs08/QwYr7vTwTj05cXsoi2sIiGAm85zrZJhcACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-01%2Bat%2B7.14.20%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OVuGgJiyrCk/V09ecDevbjI/AAAAAAAAs08/QwYr7vTwTj05cXsoi2sIiGAm85zrZJhcACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-01%2Bat%2B7.14.20%2BAM.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sarah Michelle Gellar Funny Farm cameo at the front right</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> So not only is FUNNY FARM one of the last great Chevy Chase vehicles before he hit rock bottom with FLETCH LIVES and, after losing too much weight, floundered for purpose during the 1990's before hitting <i>beneath rock bottom </i>on his own late night talk show...<br /> <br /> But it's the last motion picture directed by BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE STING ACCORDING TO SLAPSHOT George Roy Hill. Beyond the 80's techno-fun soundtrack, sounding like "Harold Faltermeyer Light", the film plays out splendidly by unveiling the misadventure of a city couple, Chase and scene-stealing wife Madolyn Smith, stuck in a Murphy's Law purgatory template, "What might go wrong will go wrong and DOES go wrong," taken to the edge of the nerves but without being too much for the audience to handle. In other words, our heroes are more tortured than we are. Thus it's a blast watching their lives continuously deconstruct, with the aid of perfectly-timed inserts and non-punchline/character-driven payoffs, caused by either the animals and hijinks within their rural "dream house" setting or the surrounding small town of Red Bluff, a Twilight Zone with no escape.<br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-73ZGoLTpTH4/V09eoS8MsBI/AAAAAAAAs1A/uX5vn-yTsrULs9ur8_RkAOuAFr5Y4EJBACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-01%2Bat%2B7.08.05%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-73ZGoLTpTH4/V09eoS8MsBI/AAAAAAAAs1A/uX5vn-yTsrULs9ur8_RkAOuAFr5Y4EJBACLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-01%2Bat%2B7.08.05%2BAM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dog's dead-pan hangover</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> FUNNY FARM never hits a peak too soon to where the best scenes peter out by the time the last act has to follow the storyline through, like many a comedic film...<br /> <br /> <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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6kMs4oEDMSo/V0--XN_Q64I/AAAAAAAAs1Y/ewRWu2ea7aAmBR-QR86Vpowxk1cHYKeRQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-01%2Bat%2B10.03.25%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6kMs4oEDMSo/V0--XN_Q64I/AAAAAAAAs1Y/ewRWu2ea7aAmBR-QR86Vpowxk1cHYKeRQCLcB/s200/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-01%2Bat%2B10.03.25%2BPM.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>MovieScore: ****</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> In fact everything is so closely tied together that the dwindling marital relationship, exceeding all the misfires around them and becoming downright personal, is key – especially for poor Chevy's Andy Farmer, who, during one scene where he's watching his wife reading his novel manuscript (that he left his cozy sports writing job to complete), anticipating what he wants her reactions to be: anyone who's written anything will know how it feels when <i>someone else </i>reads your artistic endeavor, in the same room! Leading to Madolyn Corey's best moments involving a breakdown that's not only hilarious but, like the movie itself, trumps the Comedy genre and makes the people mean more than what they're constantly tugging from their audience: making FARM not only FUNNY, but completely entertaining.<br /> <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="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ooQsY3DHww8/W0CODcM8YeI/AAAAAAAA3c4/nLN3pujA29IvNtr0uk8tgUHia5w7cZmQgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%252BShot%252B2016-06-01%252Bat%252B10.03.25%252BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="1473" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ooQsY3DHww8/W0CODcM8YeI/AAAAAAAA3c4/nLN3pujA29IvNtr0uk8tgUHia5w7cZmQgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%252BShot%252B2016-06-01%252Bat%252B10.03.25%252BPM.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Chevy Chase Madolyn Smith Funny Farm Madolyn Smith Chevy Chase George Roy Hill Funny Farm Chevy Chase </u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

brad sullivan, chevy chase, comedy, eighties, george roy hill, jack gilpin, kevin conway, madolyn smith, small town, william duell

CHEVY CHASE AND MADOLYN SMITH STAR IN 'FUNNY FARM'

The Dog gets a bone in George Roy Hill's Swan Song FUNNY FARM At first viewing, FUNNY FARM, on the heels of Chevy Chase's best p...

REVIEW OF ME BEFORE YOU STARRING EMILIA CLARKE

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1RdL4y6jGaY/V1hN-Po2UQI/AAAAAAAAs5s/LAzfgakFLRohGljWhf4DvFJtOTLqwR7xQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-08%2Bat%2B9.54.51%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1RdL4y6jGaY/V1hN-Po2UQI/AAAAAAAAs5s/LAzfgakFLRohGljWhf4DvFJtOTLqwR7xQCLcB/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-06-08%2Bat%2B9.54.51%2BAM.png" width="209"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 2016</td></tr> </tbody></table> A hybrid of EDUCATING RITA, in which a short, spunky, awkward working class girl perks up the life of a stuffy, brainy and contented University Professor; PRETTY WOMAN where "the hooker next door" shows a corporate raider a thing or two about relaxation; and LOVE STORY involving two young people falling in love and one isn't so lucky. And yet, ME BEFORE YOU is, for the most part, a one person show...<br> <br> That being Emilia Clarke as Lou, who dresses to the beat of her own crazy, offbeat fashion and, living in a working class home, really needs a job and finds a good one at a family's castle estate where an extremely rich couple's son is a paraplegic. Much of the first half plays out like many a film of this ilk: it takes the special kind of personality to make a grouchy guy finally melt to the extreme cuteness of the girl, and in this case she goes a bit overboard with facial expressions that scream out "Adore Me" with every curve of her radiant face, lovely thick lips and distinguished eyebrows. Bottom line, she's cute as a button... A lot of buttons, actually, with a few extras to boot. <br> <br> But for the sake of popularity, she doesn't hold a candle to our handsome leading man, once a famous playboy type who, like Richard Gere in that PRETTY chick flick, bought and sold companies before the accident. His grim perspective isn't only because of his horrific condition, but since he had lived such a great life previously, like no one on earth except maybe George Clooney or Hugh Hefner, the bed and wheelchair existence just doesn't cut it... No matter how much his new girl-friend tries, it seems like he wants to take part in... well:<br> <br> Now that's where ME BEFORE YOU hits a giant wall, and by the end, unlike the tragic tear-jerking of LOVE STORY or DYING YOUNG or any Big Screen Disease Soap you choose, the audience is left with more of a cerebral discussion of "Was that the right thing for him to do?" rather than, "Wow, that was so lovely and moving!" which 'date movies' usually provoke. When the second act rounds to third, as their relationship <i>seems</i> to grow stronger, we merge into the morality issue climax where Sam Claflin's Will Traynor becomes a character very hard to feel sorry for, especially since so many are in his condition who want to live and DON'T have castles and Sunny Bunny nurses (meanwhile, he puts his parents through a slow, torturous ringer). Making this another of many recent vehicles that use an otherwise involving and ultimately misleading story to lead to an agenda/statement that provides a reason for the story to exist at all. In the old days, this was called being "taken for a ride." And for a ride, it's not too shabby. But for a romance, it lacks the necessary magic needed to work as a whole. <br>

2016, emilia clarke, romance

REVIEW OF ME BEFORE YOU STARRING EMILIA CLARKE

Year: 2016 A hybrid of EDUCATING RITA, in which a short, spunky, awkward working class girl perks up the life of a stuffy, brainy and co...

CHARACTER-DRIVEN TRINITY OF THE 1972 THRILLER 'CHILD'S PLAY'

<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZXrpAPVowQ/XL2gQ0Dt83I/AAAAAAABC-g/lbqyIMHe5g0rbtNLaH_gN-15t_A05WpDwCLcBGAs/s1600/1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="757" height="316" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZXrpAPVowQ/XL2gQ0Dt83I/AAAAAAABC-g/lbqyIMHe5g0rbtNLaH_gN-15t_A05WpDwCLcBGAs/s400/1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Beau Bridges faces the boys of Child's Play YEAR: 1972</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> In CHILD'S PLAY, from way back in 1972 and not involving a red-haired serial killer doll named Chucky, the development of the characters drives the suspense, and for today's standards, this could seem like a slow-moving, over-brooding, thrilless arthouse thriller, or a stage play adapted to the big screen. But what's really intriguing are the similarities with THE EXORCIST, which was being filmed when this hit theaters, but the book had been on the stands for several years...<br /> <br /> So for anyone who hasn't seen or doesn't want to see William Friedkin's brilliant and timeless GODFATHER of horror flicks, that opened the door for a number of slowburn Catholic-centered horror-thrillers, there are three particular characters: an old priest, a younger priest, and a possessed young girl. Replace the girl with an entire Catholic School of mostly bullying boys who, as we witness their odd behavior, are in some sort of... spell, or something... adding Mystery to the myriad of genres...<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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/-4rB9VrVAXuo/XL2fiVjX90I/AAAAAAABC-Q/5VT7lVP_s6skBogeSfVsbEbn8ZoopKKHwCLcBGAs/s1600/58373150_689264531502726_7606556118243868672_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="242" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4rB9VrVAXuo/XL2fiVjX90I/AAAAAAABC-Q/5VT7lVP_s6skBogeSfVsbEbn8ZoopKKHwCLcBGAs/s400/58373150_689264531502726_7606556118243868672_n.jpeg" width="161" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Child's Play Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> We learn of everything through token white rabbit Beau Bridges, a former student who had returned as a teacher and greatly admired Robert Preston's vivacious, progressive English teaching priest, Joseph Dobbs, while immensely fearing a bitter old coot – Jerome Malley played by James Mason – who seems to be our primary antagonist, but as "the case" unfolds he could very well be a temperamental red herring...<br /> <br /> Leading to the best scenes involving conversations between Beau's pivotal and, for the most part, eventually ambiguous Paul Reis with the polar opposite instructors while the kids are but a sporadic break that really need no escaping from...<br /> <br /> <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/-nkTuue8hPWU/V0siHAt-jmI/AAAAAAAAszk/gym6QjGmGR0HtWqKqNu5hatjAqhLQKbEACLcB/s1600/13315623_10209762738287604_8314142365979052978_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nkTuue8hPWU/V0siHAt-jmI/AAAAAAAAszk/gym6QjGmGR0HtWqKqNu5hatjAqhLQKbEACLcB/s400/13315623_10209762738287604_8314142365979052978_n.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Child's Play DVD Artwork</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> For CHILD'S PLAY is more of a "Courtroom Drama" without a court and gavel. Bridges proceeds over the "testimonies" of both men although one is sold as being far more likable from the onset; yet this opinion remains more decided by the students than we, the hyper-alert audience, anticipating a twist to occur, especially with a character (Preston) so flawless. Meanwhile, we're (through Bridges) the Jury being swayed, maneuvered from one side to the other: Preston is charming and understandable on a universal level as Mason has a tortuous life that can be pitied, even beyond the death of his mother. And the characters develop from there.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m-4iEszA5-0/V0siaoPw2UI/AAAAAAAAszw/JukBqSBP1aklne-X_jny8YEjKffmRqbmQCLcB/s1600/a7a579d80651866692a03da4d66cfb9e.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m-4iEszA5-0/V0siaoPw2UI/AAAAAAAAszw/JukBqSBP1aklne-X_jny8YEjKffmRqbmQCLcB/s400/a7a579d80651866692a03da4d66cfb9e.jpg" width="281" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>If you can't beat it, show it just to kill it</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Director Sidney Lumet channels his signature New York gritty realism into the Gothic school where statues and cold walls keep that heated far-off reality as distant from the lens as it is the students, inhibiting a power, or perhaps merely channeling a hypnotic strength that needs no real explanations like, say, a ROSEMARY'S BABY. Leading to a conclusion with so much buildup it begs for palpable closure. And yet, CHILD'S PLAY clings to words beyond action and an enigmatic dark aura over nail-biting suspense. In some strange way, there doesn't need to be any end at all. You can hear these two men speaking for days.<br /> <br /> Sure there could have been scarier moments here and there, or even a dugout of fellow priest/teachers introduced to individually buy the farm when they wander off alone through the spooky campus. (Alright, that's very 1980's, but there are pockets of downtime when a few deaths would have livened the picture.) Hell, even THE EXORCIST had palpable "gotcha!" moments: cinematic caffeine never hurts. But CHILD'S PLAY centers more on the dark hypnosis than what derives from it. Adding to one of several films using THREE main male leads to override a more conventional formula, intriguing enough to keep the viewer tuned in even after the purpose becomes all too clear.<br /> <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="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BwbciNl00bo/XL2NlFQPIfI/AAAAAAABC8A/YHJ98eED5F8JvUBcDTiN0ctTXY2ytyW9gCLcBGAs/s1600/58380939_689252578170588_4107557604924850176_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="946" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BwbciNl00bo/XL2NlFQPIfI/AAAAAAABC8A/YHJ98eED5F8JvUBcDTiN0ctTXY2ytyW9gCLcBGAs/s1600/58380939_689252578170588_4107557604924850176_n.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Beau Bridges and James Mason in CHILD'S PLAY Year: 1972</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </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="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b8qaIjI5hxk/XL2WJIoiPzI/AAAAAAABC9A/ToGvBmzpLWYZ5MtD8QKt3ozoc9hpBbeAQCLcBGAs/s1600/58373150_689264531502726_7606556118243868672_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="960" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b8qaIjI5hxk/XL2WJIoiPzI/AAAAAAABC9A/ToGvBmzpLWYZ5MtD8QKt3ozoc9hpBbeAQCLcBGAs/s1600/58373150_689264531502726_7606556118243868672_n.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Beau Bridges, James Mason and Robert Preston in Child's Play</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table 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="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ylCofWiZMGc/V0shwMEyTuI/AAAAAAAAszg/c9GlTPAeYzscO0NkXO5ZRcsXTEcc1z4awCLcB/s1600/13330914_10209762737607587_3836383268092112766_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ylCofWiZMGc/V0shwMEyTuI/AAAAAAAAszg/c9GlTPAeYzscO0NkXO5ZRcsXTEcc1z4awCLcB/s1600/13330914_10209762737607587_3836383268092112766_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Beau Bridges and Robert Preston in Child's Play </u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: right;"> </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="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o1gwvMO5UC4/XL2YkNEIHmI/AAAAAAABC9M/mkdGVdAYb7IUEV18yIxWxSplC0tftgP2wCLcBGAs/s1600/57541755_689269471502232_6271058251123523584_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="846" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o1gwvMO5UC4/XL2YkNEIHmI/AAAAAAABC9M/mkdGVdAYb7IUEV18yIxWxSplC0tftgP2wCLcBGAs/s1600/57541755_689269471502232_6271058251123523584_n.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The boys of the music man as Robert Preston faces Beau Bridges in Child's Play</u></td></tr> </tbody></table>

adaptation, beau bridges, gothic, horror, james mason, religion, robert preston, seventies, suspense, thriller

CHARACTER-DRIVEN TRINITY OF THE 1972 THRILLER 'CHILD'S PLAY'

Beau Bridges faces the boys of Child's Play YEAR: 1972 In CHILD'S PLAY, from way back in 1972 and not involving a red-haired ser...