cult film freak: July 2016

Written by James M. Tate / 7/31/2016 / No comments / charlton heston , dana andrews , disaster , efrem zimbalist jr. , erik estrada , franchise , george kennedy , gloria swanson , karen black , linda blair , nancy olson , norman fell , sequel

DANA ANDREWS CAUSES THE MAIN CRASH IN 'AIRPORT 1975'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews has a sky-high problem in Airport 1975</u></td></tr>
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Like ZERO HOUR! and unlike AIRPLANE!, things are dead serious but so corny they're just begging to be morphed into punchlines, including a sick young girl played by EXORCIST starlet Linda Blair, who'd become LOVE BOAT kiddo Jill Whelan in AIRPLANE!, being serenaded by a nun (Helen Reddy, whose name is used as a punchline in AIRPLANE!)...<br />
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A stuffy surgeon in an office talking about said girl... And our main couple; one a stewardess in buried lead Karen Black and the first-billed Charlton Heston, mainliner from the original AIRPORT, who, along with another AIRPORT veteran, George Kennedy, plan to rescue the plane that'd been swiped by none other than Dana Andrews, a jet-set businessman with a fatal heart condition...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Airport 1975</u></td></tr>
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The reason the plane starts going down, and why the pilots are killed, is because Dana's Scott Freeman crashes into the (side of the) cockpit, causing the famous (or infamous) visual of our heroic stewardess, Karen Black, sitting at the controls, an iconic moment in camp cinema: with her intense cross-eyes on fire and acting to the hilt, Karen not only steals the show, she practically owns it...<br />
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But the producers still got their money's worth with Heston during the 11th hour when he risks his life in a small rescue plane, eventually flying parallel with a cable "rope" connecting both: attempting to slide over into the cockpit to aid his girlfriend while injecting genuinely palpable suspense.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fPr4Ke85xe0/V50-faKU9cI/AAAAAAAAtxM/Xq4-UjYqlUwPVc06txYUCq23PWBX-QSZwCLcB/s1600/43.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fPr4Ke85xe0/V50-faKU9cI/AAAAAAAAtxM/Xq4-UjYqlUwPVc06txYUCq23PWBX-QSZwCLcB/s320/43.png" width="284" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>SUNSET BLVD meets EXORCIST Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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The passengers are, as is usual with the Disaster Genre, a bevy of semi-famous folk including three drunks, Jerry Stiller, Norman Fell and Conrad Janis and playing herself is SUNSET BLVD's Gloria Swanson. And although they don't share a scene together, that Noir classic's ingenue "girlfriend" of TOWERING INFERNO veteran William Holden... Nancy Olson... plays Linda Blair's mom...<br />
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And of all the AIRPORT flicks, not only does this have the most in common with AIRPLANE!, but it's arguably the most entertaining of the four-film series also including AIRPORT '77 and the franchise-killing <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/09/the-concorde-airport-79.html">CONCORDE: AIRPORT '79</a>, which actually isn't altogether horrible... With a spooky harpsichord invading a cliche symphonic soundtrack, there's a bit of strange horror underlining what's considered one of the campiest pictures of all time: And another important bit of trivia that's already covered online, and isn't altogether original here: While Efrem Zimbalist Jr's jet fighter crashed into Dana's commercial airliner in THE CROWDED SKY, Dana gets his revenge... The FBI television actor is the main pilot in this film, and much unluckier than Dana was: In fact, the swarthy actor didn't have it too good in both features, making TV a much safer medium...

charlton heston, dana andrews, disaster, efrem zimbalist jr., erik estrada, franchise, george kennedy, gloria swanson, karen black, linda blair, nancy olson, norman fell, sequel

DANA ANDREWS CAUSES THE MAIN CRASH IN 'AIRPORT 1975'

Dana Andrews has a sky-high problem in Airport 1975 Like ZERO HOUR! and unlike AIRPLANE!, things are dead serious but so corny they...

Written by James M. Tate / 7/30/2016 / No comments / bert freed , british film noir/melodrama , cop , dana andrews , fifties , gary merill , gene tierney , karl malden , otto preminger , suspense

ANDREWS, TIERNEY & PREMINGER 'WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana and Gene a third time YEAR: 1950</u></td></tr>
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A sort of Film Noir in reverse as a downright bad and brutal cop does something accidental and pretty awful, covers it up and then, a bit later, gets half-a-heart, which is how Noir leading men usually start: this after he falls for the Falsely Accused Wrong Man's daughter in Gene Tierney's gorgeous, as usual, Morgan Taylor... Even her name is lovely...<br>
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Dana Andrews, who resembled a hybrid Sean Connery before there was one famous enough to resemble, and Steve Martin had he been a tough and tall leading man type, stole scenes in the post World War Two classic, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/BYOOurLIVES.html">THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES,</a> and, brother of Steve Forrest, has the same square-jaw and no-nonsense style, and is a lot more edgy and desperate than his snoopy cop in the previous, more lavish and high-budgeted crime melodrama, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/Loir.html">LAURA</a>, with the same director and gorgeous co-star...<br>

bert freed, british film noir/melodrama, cop, dana andrews, fifties, gary merill, gene tierney, karl malden, otto preminger, suspense

ANDREWS, TIERNEY & PREMINGER 'WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS'

Dana and Gene a third time YEAR: 1950 A sort of Film Noir in reverse as a downright bad and brutal cop does something accidental and pre...

PREMINGER, TIERNEY & ANDREWS CLASSIC FILM NOIR 'LAURA'

clifton webb, dana andrews, film noir or melodrama, forties, gene tierney, otto preminger, vincent price

PREMINGER, TIERNEY & ANDREWS CLASSIC FILM NOIR 'LAURA'

LAURA HAS MOVED HERE

Written by James M. Tate / 7/27/2016 / No comments / dana andrews , exploitation , forties , jeanne crain , road movie , romance , sixties

ANDREWS & CRAIN DOUBLE: HOT RODS TO STATE FAIR HELL

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain 1967</u></td></tr>
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Not a stranger double-feature you'll find, so just relax and unwind... First a 1945 trip to the STATE FAIR where Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain made a terrific couple...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GcQAia0T-Hg/XHaRyfVda6I/AAAAAAABAXs/Kd7VDQ3VtU0_C_fD0URsnBg7JW89JpilgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-02-27%2Bat%2B5.33.48%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1314" data-original-width="634" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GcQAia0T-Hg/XHaRyfVda6I/AAAAAAABAXs/Kd7VDQ3VtU0_C_fD0URsnBg7JW89JpilgCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-02-27%2Bat%2B5.33.48%2BAM.png" width="154"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana & Jeanne 1945</u></td></tr>
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Then, a whole twenty-two years later (following their DUEL IN THE JUNGLE and MADISON AVENUE), on a violent hwy in the desert under the scorching sun, a trio of violent teens stalk our once young couple, Andrews and Crain, now both adults, married with two kids, trying for a new start and, so far, not doing too well while escaping from HOT RODS TO HELL! It's strange that STATE FAIR, a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that wedged Dana Andrews in-between the mysterious classic Film Noir LAURA and perhaps the greatest post-war movie ever, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, wherein, although married to a shallow nightclub floozy, Virginia Mayo, his older, manly, vulnerable character fell in love with a young lady played by the always-adorable Teresa Wright. And in STATE FAIR, his part is much smaller although he receives second billing to the star, as in the central character along with her family; another lovely young lady, and this one more outright and outrageously gorgeous: that being Jeanne Crain...<br>

dana andrews, exploitation, forties, jeanne crain, road movie, romance, sixties

ANDREWS & CRAIN DOUBLE: HOT RODS TO STATE FAIR HELL

Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain 1967 Not a stranger double-feature you'll find, so just relax and unwind... First a 1945 trip to the S...

WESTERN ON A DIFFERENT CHANNEL

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<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/01/convict-stage.html">CONVICT STAGE HAS MOVED HERE</a><br />
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action, don red barry, hanna landy, harry lauter, heist, joe patridge, sixties, thriller, western

WESTERN ON A DIFFERENT CHANNEL

CONVICT STAGE HAS MOVED HERE

Written by James M. Tate / 7/23/2016 / No comments / everette sloane , film noir or melodrama , forties , glenn anders , orson welles , rita hayworth , ted decorsia

ORSON WELLES CINEMA PRESENTS 'THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>Poster of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI Year Released: 1947</u></td></tr>
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Another potentially great Orson Welles post-CITIZEN KANE motion picture: a flawed yet intriguing 1947 Film Noir, hacked by studio editors during post-production with a melodramatic score that Welles detested...<br>
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In order to make (his then ex-wife) Rita Hayworth a nefarious femme fatalle, or to set her on another path aesthetically, he cut the iconic long hair that had sensuously draped down upon her lithe shoulders in GILDA, breaking hearts of men worldwide (which was timeless as years later, Morgan Freeman would get bedazzled in SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION). The studio didn't want their starlet to be so downright... vicious and cunning, which takes much of the bite out of this particular vehicle, named after THE LADY who learned her wily trade in one of the most cutthroat locales on Earth that both main characters had been to; and yet, while he merely visited this place, she worked and lived there...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Welles the actor's actor's actor</u></td></tr>
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Upon a yacht on a cruise Welles's Black Irish maverick Michael O'Hara is hired to charter, our gal sings a drowsy tune titled, "You Don't Love Me," a failed attempt for the studio to garner a number one hit, used as a "Variation of the Theme" within the overall soapy, melodramatic soundtrack. Mostly because of this, our beautiful antagonist becomes more of an ambiguous victim that perhaps Welles had intended, going far beyond her necessary act of reeling in a "Useful Idiot..."<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> Ted de Corsia for the set up</u></td></tr>
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Orson had already chosen a patchwork of stock music to drive his sparse yet convoluted maze forward, and yet, while much of the final cut belongs to the director (billed as <i>Production By</i> as opposed to <i>Directed By</i>)... surprisingly, he actually didn't mind how SHANGHAI turned out... the score broke his heart in this pulpy adventure that takes about twenty minutes to pick up, getting past a contrived, uninspired scene the studio ordered Welles to shoot at the 11th hour: where O'Hara and Hayworth's Elsa Bannister meet on a carriage ride seeming straight out of a musical – he the intrepid hero, she the lovely lass.<br>

everette sloane, film noir or melodrama, forties, glenn anders, orson welles, rita hayworth, ted decorsia

ORSON WELLES CINEMA PRESENTS 'THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI'

Poster of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI Year Released: 1947 Another potentially great Orson Welles post-CITIZEN KANE motion picture: a flawed y...

MAURY DEXTER'S HEIST FLICK 'RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release and Capture of Raiders: 1964</u></td></tr>
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A cross between beatnik frantic-bongo jazz and a ball game organist grinding between innings, the background music's not fully intended to be paid attention to...<br>
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As it starts and stops again and again, louder than even the external noises of an apartment building or one street on Catalina Island's Avalon, where the RAIDERS, not really <i>FROM</i> BENEATH THE SEA — the title making this b-caper heist-thriller sound like some kind of aquatic creature feature...<br>
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But leading crook Ken Scott, a tall, handsome, square-jawed part-time diver and full time building manager plans on wearing frogmen scuba gear in order to, well...<br>
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At first the plan, conceived in various rooms by Bill and his ragtag, thrown-together "gang" (straight out of a hybrid of gutsy pulp and Ernest Hemingway) consisting of a professional yet timidly reluctant old diver and his polar opposite flip-side in a young and shirtless, flirtatious, beer-drinking loser who spends his life hanging around wives of tenants and especially yearns for big Bill's beautiful girlfriend...<br>

booth coleman, crime, floyd crosby, garth benton, heist, jazz score, ken scott, maury dexter, merry anders, neo noir, russ bender, sixties

MAURY DEXTER'S HEIST FLICK 'RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA'

Year of Release and Capture of Raiders: 1964 A cross between beatnik frantic-bongo jazz and a ball game organist grinding between inning...

A THURSDAY NIGHT REVIEW OF STAR TREK BEYOND

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 2016 Cast: Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg</u></td></tr>
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If anyone else was a bit... taken out of the far future of the STAR TREK universe when the new James T. Kirk, a wayward James Dean style rebel not yet a Starfleet Captain, listened to The Beastie Boys, then there's bad news and good news. First off the song, Sabotage, one of their better tracks and not sounding too hip-hop, is used in an extremely important scene. The good news, for just about everyone, is the song doesn't go to waste – there's perfect reason for it to be played, and loudly.<br />
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STAR TREK BEYOND aka ANOTHER STAR TREK III is the new franchise's way of getting back to basics, so the title is a bit misleading. Finally off on that brutally lonesome five-year mission, our reposeful Captain is suffering the turmoils of being in the far reaches of space – but with an Americanized planet so close by, they don't seem so "out there" (or dare it be described as "far, far away") like the iconic TV series. Speaking of, BEYOND begins with the kind of campy aliens that most adored from the original 1960's television series; yet with so much CGI it's like a millionaire wearing ripped blue jeans. The humor's in the Marvel AVENGERS style, coming at a fast sarcastic tongue-in-cheek pace, usually from the odd couple that made the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/04/original-star-trek-movies.html">Original Cast Movies</a> shine: Spock and Bones. While their reluctant camaraderie works, it's a bit much after a while... As is the villain, who, like Eric Bana's galactic barbarian from the 2009 film, seems like an angry WWF Wrestler seeking world domination using brute strength and half-explained vengeance. But at least, unlike the second venture, he's completely original – and to fit the usually-creative TREK plot-lines, there's a neat twist that ties the whole proverbial room together.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8FIVizYnBgM/V5G1b1ismLI/AAAAAAAAtrE/O6KAM99-yKM9sA0eZUFjkhmUFBQqK3ZcQCLcB/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8FIVizYnBgM/V5G1b1ismLI/AAAAAAAAtrE/O6KAM99-yKM9sA0eZUFjkhmUFBQqK3ZcQCLcB/s200/2.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>TREK-BEYOND Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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With tons of action wielding the power of last minute suspense to the hilt, and BEYOND, this is an entertaining movie that never suffers downtime or bouts of tedious exposition. Most of the film takes place on a planet that also resembles the OS (Original Series) Universe, and like those computer generated exterior shots added to that same series so Millennials don't shy away from anything considered too "dated," there's an equal balance of primal-retro nostalgia with modern technology that couldn't work in the Sixties <i>or</i> the post-1977 STAR WARS era, when William Shatner's Kirk and Leonard Nimoy's Spock (the latter <i>alternate universe vulcan</i> mentioned throughout) had their own six movie run, and, in <i>their</i> THIRD FILM, the Enterprise is destroyed while here... well... see for yourself.

2016, franchise, science-fiction

A THURSDAY NIGHT REVIEW OF <b>STAR TREK BEYOND</b>

A THURSDAY NIGHT REVIEW OF STAR TREK BEYOND

Year: 2016 Cast: Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg If anyone else was a bit... taken out of the far future of the STAR ...

Written by James M. Tate / 7/20/2016 / No comments / dalton trumbo , fifties , film noir or melodrama , john garfield , shelley winters

JOHN GARFIELD'S FINAL BOW IN 'HE RAN ALL THE WAY'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KDUkGOr12Z8/V5BDCtHXfJI/AAAAAAAAtqg/jmGrkvJRbUYeyVdRhO8DMpAsxWpKPjynQCLcB/s1600/1.jpg" 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/-KDUkGOr12Z8/V5BDCtHXfJI/AAAAAAAAtqg/jmGrkvJRbUYeyVdRhO8DMpAsxWpKPjynQCLcB/s400/1.jpg" width="345"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kino Blu Ray Cover MOVIE RELEASED: 1951</u></td></tr>
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The death of John Garfield, especially for rabid fans of Film Noir, is that of a martyr; if ever there was a martyr caused by the Hollywood Blacklist, it's Garfield. But for those who rely on fiction over fact, happening upon a "classic old movie" without knowing a backstory on the actor on screen, sadly enough, John – though still tough and sturdily handsome – looked that of a man nearly finished...<br>
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Very noticeably aged from THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, which has become a sort of GONE WITH THE WIND of the b-crime genre, he could have very well played the older fella who hires a young handsome stud to hang around his trophy wife...<br>
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But the desperate HE RAN ALL THE WAY criminal has only one buddy left – who ain't around for long: Like many slowburn melodramas, RAN begins in full stride and then progressively mellows. On the run for killing a cop – dogging his heels right after a heist gone extremely wrong – Garfield's Nick Robey meets the ingenue, a different sort of love interest: and neither seem that interested at all...<br>

dalton trumbo, fifties, film noir or melodrama, john garfield, shelley winters

JOHN GARFIELD'S FINAL BOW IN 'HE RAN ALL THE WAY'

Kino Blu Ray Cover MOVIE RELEASED: 1951 The death of John Garfield, especially for rabid fans of Film Noir, is that of a martyr; if ever...

KOLCHAK VS 'THE NIGHT STALKER' & 'THE NIGHT STRANGLER'

carol lynley, claude akins, dan curtis, darren mcgavin, gumshoe, horror, jazz score, jordan rhodes, kent smith, larry linville, neo noir, ralph meeker, seventies, simon oakland

KOLCHAK VS 'THE NIGHT STALKER' & 'THE NIGHT STRANGLER'

Reviews of NIGHT STALKER & STRANGLER Years: 1972-73 Darren McGavin's Kolchak is a throwback in an era that at this point is a th...

DAN DURYEA AND JAYNE MANSFIELD STEAL 'THE BURGLAR'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wimF6zqnH4A/V4y9cSH_eVI/AAAAAAAAtoE/1PJZmUN8lCEFt7gfxx7-W0Eo8VCF7q6XgCLcB/s1600/13767342_144516732644178_1382499727680812918_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="391" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wimF6zqnH4A/V4y9cSH_eVI/AAAAAAAAtoE/1PJZmUN8lCEFt7gfxx7-W0Eo8VCF7q6XgCLcB/s400/13767342_144516732644178_1382499727680812918_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dan Duryea breaks in in THE BURGLAR Year: 1957</u></td></tr>
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Dan Duryea is Nat Harbin, a man with a mission… but first there’s inspiration. The film begins with a vignette of newsreels (which, taking up the entire screen, doesn't seem as such), including a piece about a rich woman/charlatan spiritualist holed up in a plush mansion. And what's this have to do with crime? Well eventually we see our title character watching from his theater seat. The only thing missing is the lightbulb flashing over his head... but his expression says it all.<br />
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The initial heist inside the mansion is right out of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE but there are fewer people involved. Nat’s partners wait outside as he does the real work, about to lift diamonds from the safe. Yet the real suspense occurs after the heist is nearly finished: Two curious policemen are standing outside Nat’s vehicle, parked across the street from the mansion. Instead of taking off, like his partners suggest, the intrepid thief strolls right up to the policeman and acts like the car had broken down. After the cops leave, Nat goes right back in to finish the job. A coolheaded pro at work.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c_8zf-d3VoA/V4ytMS1ElfI/AAAAAAAAtnU/8Or5OlVUQ54wd5ZY3bCGUDmFEKY5gOlKQCEw/s1600/13698094_144443552651496_8754140495265417454_o.jpg" 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/-c_8zf-d3VoA/V4ytMS1ElfI/AAAAAAAAtnU/8Or5OlVUQ54wd5ZY3bCGUDmFEKY5gOlKQCEw/s320/13698094_144443552651496_8754140495265417454_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Captures the Loneliness of Being Crooked</u></td></tr>
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Describing the first part of THE BURGLAR is important to summarize the rest of the film. A mysterious person is tailing Nat and his girlfriend Gladden, played by voluptuous blonde Jayne Mansfield, the team's mansion-casing dame with a backstory with Nat, and who ain't too crazy about being holed up with his partners, one in particular...<br />
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Of the two edgy thugs bookending the coolheaded leader, Mickey Shaughnessy’s square-jawed bully Dohmer is the real treat for the genre, igniting Noir into Gangster just a bit and through all the pathos, reminding us we’re watching a bonafide crime flick: He's is as no-nonsense and ultimately lethal as this group gets, yet the quiet Nat Harbin is still in charge. Duryea, who usually played antsy characters, is remarkably subtle here – this isn’t a powerhouse performance but a foundational one.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jayne Mansfield enters sexy in THE BURGLAR</u></td></tr>
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Deep pockets of downtime occur within the mid-section, especially when Nat finds a new lady love in BIG SLEEP blonde beauty Martha Vickers and Gladden takes up with a stranger who might have something to hide, and a lethal agenda. Meanwhile Dohmer, our token wild card, holed up in the tiny house and just about ready to explode, has to weather the most annoying character...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uwFqXjqTRAo/V4y43-lDRaI/AAAAAAAAtnw/tezqZj0tKOEBmTAauKu0uiAi7-kN2wBHwCEw/s1600/the-burglar-movie-poster-1957-1010400975.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uwFqXjqTRAo/V4y43-lDRaI/AAAAAAAAtnw/tezqZj0tKOEBmTAauKu0uiAi7-kN2wBHwCEw/s1600/the-burglar-movie-poster-1957-1010400975.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>MOVIE SCORE: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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Peter Capell's Baylock, repeating like a scratched record how much he loathes prison, does tends to overact, and yet he successfully provides an edgy third fiddle in the tight yet completely mismatched band of thieves. <br />
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As a whole, THE BURGLAR stands out from THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, THE KILLING, ARMORED CAR ROBBERY and other Heist-Noirs by use of surreal flashbacks and creative camera angles. And while the robberies are pivotal or climactic in those films, it's the springboard for this one: All leading to an inevitable showdown inside a fun house, kind of a mellow version of the famous Orson Welles LADY FROM SHANGHAI climax: Yet there are no mirrors or tricks, only Duryea, diamonds, two beautiful ladies, and a determined, desperate killer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3qcY7xW84M/UXmGcxlacwI/AAAAAAAAYK0/okyEkCUWxwA/s1600/burglar10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3qcY7xW84M/UXmGcxlacwI/AAAAAAAAYK0/okyEkCUWxwA/s1600/burglar10.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mickey Shaughnessy should have done more since he's great in this, making the bad guys bad</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-urFeTQ_fqts/UXmGV4T8BXI/AAAAAAAAYKo/3WQLN9eofFE/s1600/burglar1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-urFeTQ_fqts/UXmGV4T8BXI/AAAAAAAAYKo/3WQLN9eofFE/s1600/burglar1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Great Opening Credit Sequence featuring our leading crook walking outside a theater about to...</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_oryILB4yjo/UXmGoL5VarI/AAAAAAAAYK4/XMlnUlfD-js/s1600/burglar3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_oryILB4yjo/UXmGoL5VarI/AAAAAAAAYK4/XMlnUlfD-js/s1600/burglar3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u>Light up a cigarette while the title, his character, is read in a cool lower case font</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jayne Mansfield as Gladden on the beach with a mysterious stranger</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aivXmFn92g4/UXmGxg5ccnI/AAAAAAAAYLI/3Kh0Dgs9J7k/s1600/burglar8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aivXmFn92g4/UXmGxg5ccnI/AAAAAAAAYLI/3Kh0Dgs9J7k/s1600/burglar8.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Martha Vickers as Della with Dan Duryea in THE BURGLAR</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Though hard to find, and a bit pricey now, THE BURGLAR is terrific viewing, right Dan? </u></td></tr>
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crime, dan duryea, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jayne mansfield, martha vickers, mickey shaughnessy

DAN DURYEA AND JAYNE MANSFIELD STEAL 'THE BURGLAR'

Dan Duryea breaks in in THE BURGLAR Year: 1957 Dan Duryea is Nat Harbin, a man with a mission… but first there’s inspiration. The film b...

Written by James M. Tate / 7/16/2016 / No comments / creature , dinosaur , irvin s. yeaworth jr. , jack h. harris , sixties

JACK H. HARRIS & IRVIN S. YEAWORTH JR. PRESENT 'DINOSAURUS!'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ao3CbswNh4k/V4nVaPAnLlI/AAAAAAAAtlQ/fYdNik_hl34R0iEXaYm94_hOFpoXuCWzwCLcB/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="363" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ao3CbswNh4k/V4nVaPAnLlI/AAAAAAAAtlQ/fYdNik_hl34R0iEXaYm94_hOFpoXuCWzwCLcB/s400/1.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>DINOSAURUS battles a tractor in this obscure cult flick from 1960</u></td></tr>
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Every cult sleeper phenom is eventually considered a classic; even those that don't sleep at all and, with zero expectations, score huge at the box office upon release...<br>
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But THE BLOB, one of the most popular b-movies of all time, was a complete accident and not altogether perfect. Director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. was really, deep down, anything but tremendously capable, at first: His initial forte was religious filmmaking – what would be considered propaganda now...<br>
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And this BLOB idea <i>might just</i> make Yeaworth and producer Jack Harris a little money to sustain their good work, and, well, obviously the duo found gold. Not the film's star, though, a young Steve McQueen playing a teenager in his twenties and looking in his early-thirties, who decided, given the script and title, to pass on the gross cut – a Goliath mistake he spent the rest of his life angry about, even after becoming one of the biggest (and highest paid) stars in Hollywood following THE GREAT ESCAPE.<br>

creature, dinosaur, irvin s. yeaworth jr., jack h. harris, sixties

JACK H. HARRIS & IRVIN S. YEAWORTH JR. PRESENT 'DINOSAURUS!'

DINOSAURUS battles a tractor in this obscure cult flick from 1960 Every cult sleeper phenom is eventually considered a classic; even tho...

FEMALE REBOOT OF GHOSTBUSTERS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pQZjl10eskA/V4h6ajSXKdI/AAAAAAAAthA/rIVNW6HAFQUCtANRuRo2GIXVVt3t3-O9QCLcB/s1600/555.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pQZjl10eskA/V4h6ajSXKdI/AAAAAAAAthA/rIVNW6HAFQUCtANRuRo2GIXVVt3t3-O9QCLcB/s400/555.jpg" width="268"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 2016</u></td></tr>
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When word hit the streets Bill Murray would provide a cameo, the anticipated GHOSTBUSTERS reboot, with dolls instead of guys, was rumored to be a sequel – nothing doing. Bill, the sarcastic cool dude who grounds the original, plays another version of "Dickless" here... True fans will get that reference and for newcomers, Bill plays a complete jerk – but he's not <i>the</i> villain, by any means...<br>
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That title should go to the writers, Katie Dippold and Paul Feig. And yet as director, Feig provides some scary, suspenseful moments, almost as if he really, deep down, wanted to make a bonafide horror flick with a side-dish of comedy. And there are times when the four girl Ghostbusters geek-out with a genuine flow of scientific expository dialogue, especially Melissa McCarthy as Abby, a hybrid of Dan Aykroyd's soulful buried-lead and a cerebral Harold Ramis... Meanwhile, Kristin Wiig has the most to lose, at least at first, about to get tenure at a University while forgetting her Paranormal Research past when it rears back up in a book she previously co-wrote: Uptight and anxious, she's goaded by tomboy Kate McKinnon as Jillian, the token wild card who acts as if we know her character already. In fact, in many ways, Feig's GHOSTBUSTERS seems more like a dull sequel to a first (proverbial) venture that,  like SPY and BRIDESMAIDS, actually worked...<br>

2016, bill murray, comedy, franchise, kristin wiig, melissa mccarthy, paul feig, reboot

FEMALE REBOOT OF GHOSTBUSTERS

Year: 2016 When word hit the streets Bill Murray would provide a cameo, the anticipated GHOSTBUSTERS reboot, with dolls instead of guys,...

LOVELY MERRY ANDERS GETS ENTRANCED BY 'THE HYPNOTIC EYE'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cJGzMyZap8g/V4dCUXzEKKI/AAAAAAAAtgE/wyPihkR5rlEhVvDYBpSXYcpCYrhSEMeVgCLcB/s1600/4543.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cJGzMyZap8g/V4dCUXzEKKI/AAAAAAAAtgE/wyPihkR5rlEhVvDYBpSXYcpCYrhSEMeVgCLcB/s320/4543.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lovely dame Merry Anders being levitated YEAR: 1960</u></td></tr>
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How a Horror or Suspense film is catapulted from a prologue is extremely important – that rudimentary <i>push</i> sticks with you for the rest of the story as everything basically relies on it, which is as important as the end of a Mystery, sans the inevitable twist: A woman (Evan MacNeil) in her mid twenties enters frame: Then cut to the perspective of a kitchen stove and, in the blink of an eye, her hair's on fire: And if <i>you're</i> not screaming at this point, <i>she's</i> loud enough for everyone, and then some...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Evan MacNeil on fire</u></td></tr>
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The entire movie follows this scene by going beneath the shock value exploitation in a deliberately slow, meticulous, detailed fashion on how a stage hypnotist, using a blinking HYPNOTIC EYE to seal the deal, pulls off his nightclub act. Meanwhile, various women do horrible things to themselves, from drinking lye (unseen) to using acid for facial soap...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xHabxSiUAwQ/V4dBAN-jdXI/AAAAAAAAtfg/9Of9ZSsorgw4TBCChqxMvyhmlBu6e0cvgCLcB/s1600/13692797_140733296355855_2284463725427391476_o.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xHabxSiUAwQ/V4dBAN-jdXI/AAAAAAAAtfg/9Of9ZSsorgw4TBCChqxMvyhmlBu6e0cvgCLcB/s400/13692797_140733296355855_2284463725427391476_o.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Merry Anders gets a LIFE stalker</u></td></tr>
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The latter happens to our favorite beauty, whose four-pack of b-movies (and a semi-regular role on DRAGNET 1967) is covered throughout this site and also includes AIR PATROL, RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA, THE DALTON GIRLS, HOUSE OF THE DAMNED, THE TIME TRAVELERS, and more. While important in those ventures, here, alas, she's but the last straw that ignites a pivotal investigation... a lovely third wheel to Detective Dave Kennedy and his girlfriend Marcia, played by lead ingenue Marcia Henderson, providing an undercover Noir-inspired snoop to unravel how Jacques Bergerac's mesmerizing Desmond, a visual hybrid of Rock Hudson and Dracula, might be doing more than putting beautiful women in a trance before a stunned audience...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c7KA2J01kxs/V4dBbsa807I/AAAAAAAAtfw/H79to23JvLIJB5oiIFcdoLnzan8bGoj_wCLcB/s1600/12.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c7KA2J01kxs/V4dBbsa807I/AAAAAAAAtfw/H79to23JvLIJB5oiIFcdoLnzan8bGoj_wCLcB/s320/12.png" width="204" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marcia Henderson RATES: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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It takes half the time for Marcia to convince her banal beau cop, Dave (Joe Patridge), one of the slowest lawmen in the history of cinema, that there might be a connection, even after Merry Anders' character is hospitalized for becoming facially disfigured following her role in the nightclub act...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kwO7eHzK5-8/W7i0s3bLWXI/AAAAAAAA6Sk/Ib1Mwu6ZsFwGoqRWvsHWJvYOonxxP1_HwCLcBGAs/s1600/43206426_581908655571648_9127134743308009472_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="368" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kwO7eHzK5-8/W7i0s3bLWXI/AAAAAAAA6Sk/Ib1Mwu6ZsFwGoqRWvsHWJvYOonxxP1_HwCLcBGAs/s400/43206426_581908655571648_9127134743308009472_n.jpg" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Evan MacNeil as "Victim"</u></td></tr>
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This is followed by the most effective scenes in which, after closing her own eyes to the hypnotic one and telling the men about the experience back home, Marcia goes <i>deeply</i> under a wanton spell, successfully evoked by that neon blinking light in the villain's theatre lair, and then, surreptitiously tailed by Joe and a wise police department hypnotist, using these skills for "good things," she's practically jumping in the Frenchman's trousers... <br />
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Painting the town green at a fancy restaurant and then a ludicrous Beatnik Lounge where bad poetry's read by an old fat guy, to the "beat" of a standup bass: hilariously dated and showing how awkwardly Hollywood related to pre-hippie craze...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0PLEwqG6Kq0/XMizC2X_cUI/AAAAAAABDbg/U7SiiDYvx1U8XQznxYusHhsJ_R-0QzqhwCLcBGAs/s1600/19905010_1471398019583463_4694299592225879345_n.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="716" height="308" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0PLEwqG6Kq0/XMizC2X_cUI/AAAAAAABDbg/U7SiiDYvx1U8XQznxYusHhsJ_R-0QzqhwCLcBGAs/s320/19905010_1471398019583463_4694299592225879345_n.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Merry Anders hypnotized by The Hypnotic Eye</u></td></tr>
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It's the buried lead Marcia Henderson who has both a girl next door appeal and the housewife you dream of... cuckolding, that is... making her scenes with the subtle yet formidable Bergerac ahead of its time in provocative undertones...<br />
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Yet it turns out that the most important 11th hour cog in the wheel plot-wise is someone that had appeared throughout...<br />
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With a chiseled face narrowing into an alluring, determined gaze, Allison Hayes, best known for ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, becomes more of a worthy antagonist than the man she assists (even subtly helping him choose the next beautiful victim in the audience) during those stage performances that are much too long, often derailing an otherwise contained and uncomplicated, entertaining low budget ride that could've been better had Merry Anders had a much bigger role. Of all the beauties herein, she's the most hypnotic.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marcia Henderson and Joe Patridge and Merry Anders in THE HYPNOTIC EYE</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Merry Anders, Marcia Henderson and Joe Patridge in THE HYPNOTIC EYE</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lpwvdul18CE/XMiizoK7uxI/AAAAAAABDaY/6d4e_SU30l8RVXgtK2keYxrRw-sioxgEQCLcBGAs/s1600/58659938_694336877662158_8246258438619791360_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="960" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lpwvdul18CE/XMiizoK7uxI/AAAAAAABDaY/6d4e_SU30l8RVXgtK2keYxrRw-sioxgEQCLcBGAs/s1600/58659938_694336877662158_8246258438619791360_n.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jacques Bergerac with Merry Anders in The Hypnotic Eye</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O9zz1roNzO0/XMiizhqnbYI/AAAAAAABDaU/JC69DLLgKIgA7QEJV1meok96ZRZtWkMaACLcBGAs/s1600/58659976_694336870995492_3505368834582249472_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="960" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O9zz1roNzO0/XMiizhqnbYI/AAAAAAABDaU/JC69DLLgKIgA7QEJV1meok96ZRZtWkMaACLcBGAs/s1600/58659976_694336870995492_3505368834582249472_n.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jacques Bergerac with Merry Anders in The Hypnotic Eye</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jacques Bergerac with Merry Anders in The Hypnotic Eye</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Merry Anders in The Hypnotic Eye</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pVE3XeZBstg/XMii09hQnJI/AAAAAAABDao/KKC-qtu75Q82Z9tHzncbLqbEYE6WjtKAwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-04-30%2Bat%2B12.20.10%2BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="1114" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pVE3XeZBstg/XMii09hQnJI/AAAAAAABDao/KKC-qtu75Q82Z9tHzncbLqbEYE6WjtKAwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-04-30%2Bat%2B12.20.10%2BPM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A hypnotized Merry Anders makes herself ugly in The Hypnotic Eye</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J_LPYIH0BwY/XMikwMcG2LI/AAAAAAABDa4/9RRSWbQMnzwtLULXC-YKg1Qebj7_0GGVgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-04-30%2Bat%2B12.37.52%2BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1103" data-original-width="1079" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J_LPYIH0BwY/XMikwMcG2LI/AAAAAAABDa4/9RRSWbQMnzwtLULXC-YKg1Qebj7_0GGVgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-04-30%2Bat%2B12.37.52%2BPM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marcia Henderson with Joe Patridge and <u>Jacques Bergerac in The Hypnotic Eye</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Merry Anders under THE HYPNOTIC EYE Merry Anders THE HYPNOTIC EYE</u></td></tr>
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allison hayes, body count, cult, evan macneil, exploitation, horror, jacques bergerac, joe patridge, marcia henderson, merry anders, sixties, suspense, thriller

LOVELY MERRY ANDERS GETS ENTRANCED BY 'THE HYPNOTIC EYE'

Lovely dame Merry Anders being levitated YEAR: 1960 How a Horror or Suspense film is catapulted from a prologue is extremely important –...

Written by James M. Tate / 7/11/2016 / No comments / film noir or melodrama , gumshoe , kim tracy , mickey spillane , shirley eaton , sixties

MICKEY SPILLANE WIELDS HIS OWN HAMMER IN 'THE GIRL HUNTERS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mickey Spillane as his creation in THE GIRL HUNTERS</u></td></tr>
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It's not just how an actor delivers a line, but how they actually sit and/or stand there and actually... <i>listen</i>... Not something you really notice until a non-actor calls attention to the important process of <i>reaction</i>. And in this case, God is playing his own creation... Imagine if, instead of providing a quick fun cameo, Alfred Hitchcock took over Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart's job as leading man...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hammer and Pat battle</u></td></tr>
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Then again, Mickey Spillane, who acts in an extremely subtle manner, and reacts with a stonewall countenance, does look much tougher and genuinely street savvy than most writers of tough guy fiction. And several actors played Mike Hammer; Ralph Meeker in KISS ME DEADLY was by far the best, most quintessential although you can't imagine him writing about his exploits, or doing any sort of personal narration, which is what the books are...<br>
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Robert Bray from MY GUN IS QUICK seems as if Hammer were real and they based a comic book on his exploits which became a motion picture, and Bray took on the part like George Reeves did Superman... TV's Darren McGavin seemed like Hammer's charming used car salesman brother who filled the gumshoe's shoes and, instead of the dames coming to him, he had to flirt his way into their hearts: And so, by 1963, writer Spillane, a visual cross between Eli Wallach on growth pills and "Thug Number Three" from any mobster flick you choose, took the mantle... And it'd been exactly seven years, within the story, that Hammer was a working Private Eye and eight years since KISS ME DEADLY hit theaters with a menacing growl...<br>

film noir or melodrama, gumshoe, kim tracy, mickey spillane, shirley eaton, sixties

MICKEY SPILLANE WIELDS HIS OWN HAMMER IN 'THE GIRL HUNTERS'

Mickey Spillane as his creation in THE GIRL HUNTERS It's not just how an actor delivers a line, but how they actually sit and/or sta...

MARQUEE SPOTTING: CROWN AFFAIR ON DRAGNET

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marquee of THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR on DRAGNET 1970</u></td></tr>
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What we call <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/09/movie-marquees-spotted-in-motion.html">Pop Culture Contraband</a> is the art of spotting either movie marquees or posters or any kind of contraband from one motion picture or television show shown within another vehicle, mostly in an accidental, natural way and making for a literal sign of the times within something that represents an era: a double whammy, so to speak...<br>

marquee, sixties

MARQUEE SPOTTING: CROWN AFFAIR ON DRAGNET

Marquee of THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR on DRAGNET 1970 What we call Pop Culture Contraband is the art of spotting either movie marquees or ...

DOUBLE NOIR VEHICLE OF 'THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT' & 'ROADBLOCK'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Roadblock YEAR: 1951</u></td></tr>
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<u>ROADBLOCK</u>: Charles McGraw usually plays a cop with a gritty, no-nonsense, straitlaced exterior. That's the real McGraw. And yet he's not always so predictable: For instance, when ROADBLOCK starts out, he's playing someone else entirely in order to get what he's after – it's the best part of the entire film, so why spoil it...<br />
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Insurance Detective "Honest" Joe (another Joe with a nickname) Peters strays from the straight-and-narrow, and it's because of a dame... no shock there... <br />
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Usually the man has to melt the stone-cold female but in this case, Jean Dixon's Diane has a trick up her sleeve, pretending to be Joe's wife to get half price on a plane seat – and not telling him until they're in flight. She has to basically, and not so easily, seduce this granite mug with her lovely full lips like Gene Tierney held together by a gorgeous face all her own. And it's a matter of time, seeming longer than it actually is, that these two are a match – a criminal duo.<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="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AgH7igNFk4A/V39ZGW4pDSI/AAAAAAAAtaE/d1k4s4MwwA8Mx8YxgACKP1K7hMrFsLfsgCLcB/s1600/RoadblockPoster.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AgH7igNFk4A/V39ZGW4pDSI/AAAAAAAAtaE/d1k4s4MwwA8Mx8YxgACKP1K7hMrFsLfsgCLcB/s320/RoadblockPoster.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released:**1/2</u></td></tr>
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A pretty good movie but not a truly great Film Noir as it stretches the guilt device as far as it will go, and beyond. McGraw's character has second thoughts on pulling off "the perfect score" while on a particular case, thinking he needs money to land this particular woman that didn't bat at eye, earlier on, at his cop's meager salary. Suddenly, though, for no reason whatsoever, she gets nice and doesn't care how much he makes. This is good news for him but destroys an interesting character we've grown to enjoy, and who'd created the story before our very eyes in the first place. Plus, the robbery he set in motion cannot be undone. So what follows is a decent amount of suspense as the score, by reports from his radio during their rural honeymoon, is pulled off, and here's when things hit a wall...<br />
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The main problem with ROADBLOCK is the guy who turns out being the hero. Joe's old partner Kendall Webb, played by a sturdy-eyed Lowell Gilmore, isn't the person you'll want to root for, or enjoy playing cat to the proverbial mouse in a vulnerable anti-hero McGraw eventually becomes, who did try to do the right thing but couldn't get out: so when the clock's running, and the title becomes clear. And being a Film Noir, crime doesn't ever pay. But in this case, and in film's like, for example, THE PROWLER and a handful of others, you might want the "bad guy" to actually win, especially if a sore winning go-gooder is dogging their heels.<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="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E9f7QG4X96Y/V39Zo4yQvoI/AAAAAAAAtaQ/BTGxARiutXEtCMJghjYduJAAERcnHLi_gCLcB/s1600/they_drive_by_night_ver7_xlg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E9f7QG4X96Y/V39Zo4yQvoI/AAAAAAAAtaQ/BTGxARiutXEtCMJghjYduJAAERcnHLi_gCLcB/s400/they_drive_by_night_ver7_xlg.jpg" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Foreign Poster looks more Casablanca</u></td></tr>
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<u>THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT</u>: An early Noir that, like many a Humphrey Bogart vehicle, inspired the genre, THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT doesn't belong to Bogart really at all, playing a sidekick, at best...<br />
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Alas, this should have been his first starring vehicle as the capable yet sometimes drowsy George Raft plays his older brother, a truck driving tough guy who thinks on his toes and never falls asleep at the wheel, unintentionally hypnotizing two beauties – a tall waitress and a rich man's trophy wife – as if he didn't resemble a pygmy hobo...<br />
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Then again, James Cagney and even Bogie himself weren't exactly Clark Gable types, making the dames dizzy without trying very hard... It just too far fetched here, and Raft doesn't even seem to be in the same movie most of the time. Not only that but the story – another of several (to come) A.I. Bezzerides adaptations dealing with the struggle of the working class trucker against the big bad companies – detours into a dizzy romantic triangle with murder thrown in, taking away from the adventurous plight of the two male leads right when it was getting good and as their job was becoming second-hand knowledge for the audience, feeling their hardship as truck driving underdogs.<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="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xpbUBPGiMTQ/V39aENO0zBI/AAAAAAAAtaY/diCJ-kpt480dCWtYxisid9n_oXiqgY5ygCLcB/s1600/rough_ride.jpg" 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/-xpbUBPGiMTQ/V39aENO0zBI/AAAAAAAAtaY/diCJ-kpt480dCWtYxisid9n_oXiqgY5ygCLcB/s400/rough_ride.jpg" width="372" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released: 1940 MOVIE SCORE: ***</u></td></tr>
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There's a bit too much GRAPES OF WRATH moping where the characters only talk about their desperation without enjoying any peripheral humor or an escape from the long ride, so what should be a character-driven piece is too plot-heavy and preachy. Raft, though, while not a perfect romantic lead, is the best thing the movie has going. His narrowed yet grinning, knowing and world-weary eyes seem as if they were part of the road we hear about more than experience...<br />
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The best scenes involve his wheeling and dealing with independent dealers while Bogart stands nervously behind. It's too bad murder, which does actually catapult this into the Film Noir Melodrama category with gusto when the second act veers into the third, and Raft gets higher up in the company owned by Alan Hale's happy drunk rich guy with a lustful trophy wife in Ida Lupino, who takes the proverbial baton and runs with it – not only is she smitten, but is willing to throw everything away for her dream man, and, for better or worse, you'll forget all about the plight of the working man once she's in the spotlight.<br />
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fifties, film noir or melodrama, forties

DOUBLE NOIR VEHICLE OF 'THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT' & 'ROADBLOCK'

Roadblock YEAR: 1951 ROADBLOCK : Charles McGraw usually plays a cop with a gritty, no-nonsense, straitlaced exterior. That's the r...

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