cult film freak: May 2017

Written by James M. Tate / 5/29/2017 / No comments / action , dick wesson , fifties , frank lovejoy , john agar , war , warner archives

MEMORIAL DAY REVIEW OF 'BREAKTHROUGH' W/ JOHN AGAR

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6i-78cdOQyc/WSvK-un7G1I/AAAAAAAAx5M/GTYh5v1FGtcNGKN3UeCGjCa-GpN_fRE_QCLcB/s1600/F-31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="636" height="270" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6i-78cdOQyc/WSvK-un7G1I/AAAAAAAAx5M/GTYh5v1FGtcNGKN3UeCGjCa-GpN_fRE_QCLcB/s400/F-31.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archives front and back of DVD Year: 1950</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">An unplanned writeup for Memorial Day since, as a collector of the Warner Archive DVDs, it's refreshing to find an old B&W World War II flick that's more an intriguing, suspenseful journey than cliché melodrama... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Despite the fact the nicest guy on board shows-off a picture of his wife and kids, and winds up predictably dead: </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's also the token jester i.e. comic relief; a kindhearted simpleton; a muscle-bound dolt; a nervous, really young small town kid; a wise, head-strong Sergeant; an educated Lieutenant who lacks actual fighting experience; and his jaded, too-experienced Captain, trying to get him ready to, in this particular story, lead men onto the beaches of Normandy...</span><br>

action, dick wesson, fifties, frank lovejoy, john agar, war, warner archives

MEMORIAL DAY REVIEW OF 'BREAKTHROUGH' W/ JOHN AGAR

Warner Archives front and back of DVD Year: 1950 An unplanned writeup for Memorial Day since, as a collector of the Warner Archive DVDs,...

COCHRAN HOLDS THE MAYO AGAIN IN 'SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY'

fifties, frank lovejoy, gene nelson, melodrama, musical, patrice wymore, steve cochran, virginia mayo

COCHRAN HOLDS THE MAYO AGAIN IN 'SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY'

Lobby Card with Virginia Mayo and legs YEAR: 1953 This is more than a review of the 1952 feel-good comedy loaded with as many hardships ...

ORIGINAL CORMAN CULT CLASSIC OF DANTE'S PIRANHA

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MHL9d_vOMgo/WR6zyIiUcQI/AAAAAAAAx3Q/vfVMA6pLRMg7WEdZYfL7qox1Cm1OvfLjwCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-19%2Bat%2B1.45.27%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MHL9d_vOMgo/WR6zyIiUcQI/AAAAAAAAx3Q/vfVMA6pLRMg7WEdZYfL7qox1Cm1OvfLjwCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-19%2Bat%2B1.45.27%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Great Foreign Poster with the P of Piranha with Razor teeth YEAR: 1978</u></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Joe Dante trusted me enough to listen and allow the freedom to write scenes in every show I ever did with him...</blockquote>
<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/-R2I0rOPA6tQ/WR5jCfZvtZI/AAAAAAAAx1w/s2vaXudHkn884FID9Z-4p_A1tNKJyHRhwCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-18%2Bat%2B8.12.39%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R2I0rOPA6tQ/WR5jCfZvtZI/AAAAAAAAx1w/s2vaXudHkn884FID9Z-4p_A1tNKJyHRhwCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-18%2Bat%2B8.12.39%2BPM.jpg" width="120"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>JAWS-like image</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That from the director's regular troupe member, Belinda Balaski, who we'll continue with later as now, from the origin is, at that time, a future arthouse/indie director, John Sayles, starting out a scriptwriter with terrific pulpy creature-features. Two for Joe Dante: PIRANHA, which you're reading about now, and years later THE HOWLING, very loosely based on a sparse, uncomplicated novel, and the screenplay's far more creative and edgy. And for director Lewis Teague, Sayles wrote ALLIGATOR, one of those "title says it all" flicks but with some depth and, best yet, an actor like Robert Forster who can legitimize anything...
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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/-IDFguKVu3B8/WR4kYJDB_mI/AAAAAAAAxz0/IHVyGlu8hwk2XSQ3Q9ajg29-A34QhvBtgCLcB/s1600/18519827_316957655400084_7360665445922273565_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IDFguKVu3B8/WR4kYJDB_mI/AAAAAAAAxz0/IHVyGlu8hwk2XSQ3Q9ajg29-A34QhvBtgCLcB/s400/18519827_316957655400084_7360665445922273565_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>Bradford Dillman and Heather Menzies</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And anyone familiar with COMPULSION knows that Bradford Dillman, who had won the Cannes Festival Best Actor award back in 1959, was no slouch either... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As a bearded alcoholic divorced-dad living in a rural cabin, he makes an otherwise limited character interesting and humorous. Which, of course, has a lot to do with the script... </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But Dillman's chemistry with 70's scream queen Heather Menzies, who shrieked brilliantly at the end of SSSSSSS a few years earlier, makes a really good movie great: And there's no mystery as to homage since </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Joe Dante says, right up front on the DVD commentary, that PIRANHA is an intentional JAWS clone. But it's no carbon copy of the Steven Spielberg shark classic, taking place on a rural river instead of the ocean... the latter where the deadly Gov't-Created-for-Vietnam fanged-fish are ultimately headed. Plus there's a car chase/race against time: popular back then. But it's no shock that in PIRANHA, the real action takes place in the water...</span><br>

belinda balaski, bradford dillman, creature, heather menzies, horror, interview, joe dante, roger corman, seventies, suspense

ORIGINAL CORMAN CULT CLASSIC OF DANTE'S PIRANHA

Great Foreign Poster with the P of Piranha with Razor teeth YEAR: 1978 Joe Dante trusted me enough to listen and allow the freedom to w...

AN INTREPID JOHN MILIUS DUTIFULLY DIRECTS RED DAWN

c. thomas howell, charlie sheen, eighties, jennifer grey, john milius, kevin reynolds, lea thompson, patrick swayze, powers boothe, war, william smith

AN INTREPID JOHN MILIUS DUTIFULLY DIRECTS RED DAWN

On an Optimistic Note, He was Failing History YEAR: 1984 Two toughest kids on the block... I guess, sooner or later, they're gonna ...

MIDNIGHT SPOOK OF THE ORIGINAL 'THE BLOB' W/ STEVE MCQUEEN

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DNoy_n8vjHw/X1b_e6cEifI/AAAAAAABX8w/w_h7K9upNAQc599USulCgUBVFjEeA_f2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%252BShot%252B2017-05-10%252Bat%252B6.40.33%252BPM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="400" height="317" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DNoy_n8vjHw/X1b_e6cEifI/AAAAAAABX8w/w_h7K9upNAQc599USulCgUBVFjEeA_f2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2017-05-10%252Bat%252B6.40.33%252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR of The Blob: 1958 </u></td></tr>
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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Make them listen to me. There <i>is</i> a monster! We saw it again at dad's store, and it's BIGGER now!</span></blockquote>
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">During the prelude of an eclectic and highly successful career, Steve McQueen, billed as Steven McQueen as a dude named Steve, has never played a character so untrusted, underrated or downright frustratingly unappreciated: He knows what everyone, including his best girl, has strong, stubborn doubts about. And we're not only supposed to believe that the rugged-looking, world-weary McQueen is a teenager but that he'd actually get taunted, goaded and bullied by the small town by a bunch of car-jerks who look as if they'd follow him, and not the other way around...</span><br>
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action, cult, dinosaur, exploitation, fifties, horror, irvin s. yeaworth jr., jack harris, james congdon, jazz score, lee meriwether, robert fields, robert lansing, sixties, steve mcqueen, suspense, thriller

MIDNIGHT SPOOK OF THE ORIGINAL 'THE BLOB' W/ STEVE MCQUEEN

YEAR of The Blob: 1958 Make them listen to me. There is a monster! We saw it again at dad's store, and it's BIGGER now! Durin...

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER'S TOUR-DE-FORCE OF 'FADE TO BLACK'

body count, dark comedy, dennis christopher, eighties, exploitation, horror, linda kerridge, marcie barkin, mickey rourke, morgan paull, neo noir, tim thomerson

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER'S TOUR-DE-FORCE OF 'FADE TO BLACK'

Dennis Christopher in FADE TO BLACK Year: 1980 "That was a lot of fun and I got burnt by squibs, they’re called," is not a qu...

PAUL SCHRADER DIRECTS WILLEM DAFOE IN LIGHT SLEEPER

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SPGfyHAw9tY/WRD02jwxo4I/AAAAAAAAxqQ/EvQq5DsXD1UnxeTisuAbzEAjU6AAT-qIgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-08%2Bat%2B3.39.13%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SPGfyHAw9tY/WRD02jwxo4I/AAAAAAAAxqQ/EvQq5DsXD1UnxeTisuAbzEAjU6AAT-qIgCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-08%2Bat%2B3.39.13%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Susan Sarrandon and William Defore YEAR: 1992</u></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I feel my life turning... All it needed was a direction</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Well Paul Schrader gave Willem Dafoe plenty of direction, having worked with him a handful of times, and he preferred the otherwise intense actor, who other directors would use as an angry, vicious or intense type of fella, to be desperate, laidback, vulnerable and sympathetic: In AUTO FOCUS, the true crime story of HOGAN'S HERO actor Bob Crane's sexual journey into out-of-control oblivion with the help of his go-to guy, was played by Dafoe, who might as well have been a controlled, even-keeled drug dealer like he is, literally, in LIGHT SLEEPER, since Crane, played by Greg Kinnear, got high on videotaping his sexcapades using, at that time, high-end recording equipment, thus depending on real life best friend and future number one murder suspect John Carpenter (not the HALLOWEEN director): both films couldn't be more different, sharing only Schrader and Defoe in common: two kings of edgy cinema made for each other...</span><br>

biopic, greg kinnear, nineties, paul schrader, willem defoe, zeroes

PAUL SCHRADER DIRECTS WILLEM DAFOE IN <b>LIGHT SLEEPER</b>

PAUL SCHRADER DIRECTS WILLEM DAFOE IN LIGHT SLEEPER

Susan Sarrandon and William Defore YEAR: 1992 I feel my life turning... All it needed was a direction Well Paul Schrader gave Willem D...

RUMMAGING THROUGH THE LOST CULT HORROR FLICK 'PIN'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NIJUtEOpaTo/WQ89pvczpEI/AAAAAAAAxps/kfSQmbrEVmMV6Yv8Z4Bn2QPC3i_atGbqACLcB/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NIJUtEOpaTo/WQ89pvczpEI/AAAAAAAAxps/kfSQmbrEVmMV6Yv8Z4Bn2QPC3i_atGbqACLcB/s400/11.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hereby one of our favorite horror starlets Cynthia Preston YEAR: 1988</u></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Adding a layer to the otherwise cliché twisted persona so he's not just another young tortured soul...</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Canadian horror flick PIN came out a year after THE STEPFATHER; that movie starring and this one featuring Terry O'Quinn — here he's a strict father who, a doctor by trade, uses a medical dummy... wherein all veins and innards are visible... to speak to his children. Although very different, and only having Canada in common, both THE STEPFATHER and PIN share the same visual aesthetic and budget, but PIN is more of a PSYCHO clone, albeit a unique and extremely original one, borrowing from the iconic Hitchcock thriller right down to the image of a static and spooky human figure/silhouette staring out the upstairs window (or a SENTINEL, perhaps). There's one scary house in every neighborhood and this is it... Peaking the curiosity of the same neighborhood kids that double as hardcore bullies at school, targeting the doc's passive son, Leon, played by David Hewlett once he's of age, in high school, after what seems like a backstory but is really Act One of the standard Three...</span><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wTphgpRUanQ/WQ7cLlg9O2I/AAAAAAAAxoc/7mQFCNvAwts2hT5NpWZy10vnH3ooJgKFgCEw/s1600/18268529_311989192563597_6477607676544455706_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wTphgpRUanQ/WQ7cLlg9O2I/AAAAAAAAxoc/7mQFCNvAwts2hT5NpWZy10vnH3ooJgKFgCEw/s320/18268529_311989192563597_6477607676544455706_n.jpg" width="160"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>PINScore: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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As for the plot, PIN is the only solace in the poor kid's life, and the title, on the poster, DVD, VHS and even the opening credit itself ends with a three-period ellipsis as the rest of the word is covered up — that being the medical dummy's full name, based on the legendary children's story puppet who turns into a jackass when he parties and can't tell a lie without it showing. So Pin's first master, controlled by father doing his best Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy imitation, throws his voice while teaching both shy son and curious, confident daughter about everything ranging from the the birds and the bees to your basic household chores...<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/-3PNPJNiwRO8/WQ88RkbH0bI/AAAAAAAAxpg/T-w7ZM5NDSczocYjEuXHSyGyjI6FdxpeACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-07%2Bat%2B8.23.00%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3PNPJNiwRO8/WQ88RkbH0bI/AAAAAAAAxpg/T-w7ZM5NDSczocYjEuXHSyGyjI6FdxpeACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-07%2Bat%2B8.23.00%2BAM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>PIN the dummy before & after: Going from Peter Weller-esque to Preppy</u></td></tr>
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What seems like a short story in itself when as the kids are young has a beginning, middle and.. Skip to high school, and Leon needs the doll to continue his education — terrified and annoyed by the opposite sex, he begs that PIN be allowed to be moved from dad's office to their home. The most important death of this body count horror allows for Leon to be free. So PIN, his sister, and for a little while, a bickering aunt live at the house...<br>

cynthia preston, david hewlett, eighties, horror, jonathan banks, suspense, terry o'quinn

RUMMAGING THROUGH THE LOST CULT HORROR FLICK 'PIN'

Hereby one of our favorite horror starlets Cynthia Preston YEAR: 1988 Adding a layer to the otherwise cliché twisted persona so he'...

BRONSON & DUVALL STAR TOGETHER YET APART IN 'BREAKOUT'

charles bronson, prison, robert duvall, seventies

BRONSON & DUVALL STAR TOGETHER YET APART IN 'BREAKOUT'

Charles Bronson as Nick Colton in Breakout YEAR: 1975 The quick, violent, to-the-point prologue to the 1975 Tom Gries jailbreak flick is...

GLENN FORD IN 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

<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/-M-7gvaHacfk/WQtoTWGDBGI/AAAAAAAAxkY/ZVEbb6G7JnIeKm7HM7Hnrg5a8ITjzufLQCLcB/s1600/four33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M-7gvaHacfk/WQtoTWGDBGI/AAAAAAAAxkY/ZVEbb6G7JnIeKm7HM7Hnrg5a8ITjzufLQCLcB/s400/four33.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster Art Showing the title mares predicted in Revelations YEAR: 1962</u></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This isn't a war picture but more of a thematic tale of how peace can't last forever...</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In GET SHORTY, John Travolta's movie fanatic gangster brags about going to see "Charlton Heston playing a Mexican" on the big screen, a pop culture punchline for the classic border killing Film Noir TOUCH OF EVIL, which has been considered the last Noir ever made, probably since there wasn't anywhere to go from that point... I</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">n actuality, Heston, known for chewing up intentionally overboard roles (many based on Biblical stories) is at his most subtle and genuine, turning in a surprisingly realistic and earthy performance while the likes of, "You damn dirty gringo!" is nowhere to be heard... </span><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D-3vLRnbEb0/WQtrpK-rVWI/AAAAAAAAxkk/Roe5TU7y5S4EPU7qjZuxN7eL_Hpa9igRgCLcB/s1600/%2524%2528KGrHqV%252C%2521nsFJv%2529qWSH4BSeCeuekbg--60_1.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/-D-3vLRnbEb0/WQtrpK-rVWI/AAAAAAAAxkk/Roe5TU7y5S4EPU7qjZuxN7eL_Hpa9igRgCLcB/s400/%2524%2528KGrHqV%252C%2521nsFJv%2529qWSH4BSeCeuekbg--60_1.jpg" width="277"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archive Original Blue Cover</u></td></tr>
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The same goes for Glenn Ford, a much more subtle and overall dependable actor to begin with, as the rich grandson of a boisterous old-timer; both from Argentina. Ford's more all-American looking than Charlton Heston, and with a slightly darkened face he's somewhat out of his element i.e. completely miscast. Although for an actor with his talent it's no surprise he takes the role of a womanizing twenty-something (despite being much older) with finesse; a would-be painter hanging around Paris during the late 1930's without a care in the world — other than seducing a classy married French society dame played to perfection by Ingrid Thulin, whose husband is sent overseas to fight the Nazis: Those infamous devils being all too human here, including Ford's own cousin who was a med student in Germany before joining the Third Reich. This soft-spoken yet proud and intense young man is also the grandson of the family patriarch, Lee J. Cobb, who stretches a small amount of time onscreen to the hilt, and beyond...<br>
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Leading to the most intense, memorable and important scene, and (arguably) the campiest. Cobb, who, along with grandson Ford, both bear the name of Julio (while looking entirely Caucasian), loses his mind after finding out, at a dinner party reunion, that one-third of his clan serve proudly under Adolf Hitler, making Cobb's Julio Sr. suffer a panic attack followed by a heart attack. Before which, he hallucinates the four title horsemen from the Bible's book of Revelations: a creepy and sinister vision riding the darkened clouds. This catapults a two-hour-plus soap operatic melodrama separating those against the Nazi takeover of France, like Julio's sister, a young idealistic college beauty, Yvette Mimieux, who tries to get her brother to stop having so much fun and to join the cause.<br>

charles boyer, epic, glenn ford, karlheinz böhm, lee j. cobb, melodrama, nazi, romance, sixties, war, warner archives, yvette mimieux

GLENN FORD IN 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

Poster Art Showing the title mares predicted in Revelations YEAR: 1962 This isn't a war picture but more of a thematic tale of how ...

WEEKEND REVIEW OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2

2017, chris pratt, franchise, marvel, michael rooker, new, sequel

WEEKEND REVIEW OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2

Return of The Guardians of the Galaxy Year: 2017 ...Instead playing out like an intricate, talky episode of the original Star Trek... ...

RITA HAYWORTH & ALDO RAY IN 'MISS SADIE THOMPSON'

<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/-73Bf1UYAjS4/WQsI-pYN3OI/AAAAAAAAxkE/aBf07cJxG5kHxb5NXjqIYACF1aujMdiWgCLcB/s1600/14639637_215651372197380_277614793308736147_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73Bf1UYAjS4/WQsI-pYN3OI/AAAAAAAAxkE/aBf07cJxG5kHxb5NXjqIYACF1aujMdiWgCLcB/s400/14639637_215651372197380_277614793308736147_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson looks over Rita Hayworth YEAR: 1954</u></td></tr>
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While almost too old for this kind of sexually-driven role, she's actually the perfect age given the world-weary experience </blockquote>
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Whether he hypnotizes Gene Tierney right up front or rapes Peter O'Toole off-screen, from WHIRLPOOL to LAWRENCE ARABIA to playing the scholarly buzzkill in Woody Allen's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY while frowning-around in pretty much everything in-between, Jose Ferrer is known for his creepy characters driven by lust, greed, and in this case, what Hollywood considers worse than both, hypocritical Christianity...</span><br>

aldo ray, charles bronson, fifties, jose ferrer, musical, rita hayworth, romance

RITA HAYWORTH & ALDO RAY IN 'MISS SADIE THOMPSON'

Charles Bronson looks over Rita Hayworth YEAR: 1954 While almost too old for this kind of sexually-driven role, she's actually the ...

HENRY WINKLER & MICHAEL KEATON IN NIGHT SHIFT

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Night Shift YEAR RELEASED: 1982</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As a director, Ron Howard got his groove before realizing he really had it. Then he became more confident behind the lens for big budget catchall mainstream flicks like BACKDRAFT, and therein the Emperor was naked to the bone...</span><br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Henry Winkler's Anti Fonz</u></td></tr>
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Wedged between Howard's Roger Corman car crash production, GRAND THEFT AUTO, and his ultra entertaining hit phenom SPLASH upon becoming a legit filmmaker, NIGHT SHIFT is one of the most original and unique buddy comedies of all time starring Henry Winkler under his former HAPPY DAYS co-star's easygoing yet equally edgy direction, the popular icon revealing a side much different than Fonzie and more like himself (or who he appears to be in interviews, etc): A whining beta male b-side to Woody Allen rather than television's leather clad James Dean. Thus the character-driven plot centers on Winkler as a morgue attendant, formerly a Wall Street whiz, contentedly working by himself on the NIGHT SHIFT until getting stuck with a crazy idea man in Michael Keaton. If viewed after knowing Keaton from the likes of BEETLEJUICE or THE DREAM TEAM, it may seem like just another hyperactive man-child performance — but this was his first real role, and still remains one of his funniest: he's a bonafide comic relief in a comedy film...<br>

eighties, henry winkler, michael keaton, ron howard, shelley long

HENRY WINKLER & MICHAEL KEATON IN NIGHT SHIFT

Night Shift YEAR RELEASED: 1982 As a director, Ron Howard got his groove before realizing he really had it. Then he became more confiden...

STEVE COCHRAN VS LEO GORDON IN 'QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve Cochran tries <i>not </i>romancing the Diane Brewster YEAR: 1958</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cult Film Freak's two favorite actors are, in order, Dana Andrews and James Cagney. So their antithesis: tall, dark and deadly Steve Cochran, is important enough to be mentioned even before this review of one of his few starring vehicles...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Fact is Asian Posters Are Best</u></td></tr>
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In THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES he moonlighted with Dana's frustrated, nightlife-addicted spouse, and in WHITE HEAT strategically hooked up with Cagney's cranky gun moll: In each case it was Virginia Mayo, and Cochran appeared in several other Mayo vehicles including SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY but went on his own as well: For QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS is neither a gangster flick or musical. Although, like BEST YEARS, it <i>does</i> center on harsh human rivalry but during, not after, the Civil War. His character is initially hard to discern, relate with or root for...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archives Blue Cover</u></td></tr>
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A smooth gent that also goes by another name to trick a small town of Northerners, unaware they're soon to be attacked by the titular gang of redneck roughnecks. Historic both in text book legend and cinematic adaptations, and centering on a bloodthirsty band mentioned in a handful of movies including Quentin Tarantino's latest, HATEFUL 8, these Raiders were a group of mercenary thugs that were useful cutthroats for the Rebels against the Yankees: Picture if John Dillinger reigned in the 1940's and was sent to Germany to stickup enemy headquarters, or simply refer back to THE DIRTY DOZEN and you'll get the idea... <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve Cochran takes a shot at the bad guys</u></td></tr>
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Peacetime scoundrels can make reliable warriors, and at the helm here is tough guy character actor Leo Gordon (known to Generation X as the aged sympathetic Russian wrestler on one of the better episodes of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE)...<br />
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Alas, with such a square-jawed, muscular mug and formidable disposition equalling some of the great all-time celluloid heavies, he doesn't get enough scenes for his vicious persona to be exploited like it should be. For the most part he sits behind a desk and frowns at orders given by Cochran's gentleman double-agent, Wes, who, beyond the hideaway and in plain site, is given a fake story that needs literally backing up: to purchase horses in order to continuously meet with Quantrill in secret, a few miles off from the small town while trying hard not to romance (or be romanced by) lovely dream girl Diane Brewster, who runs a boarding house with her little brother i.e. the token starry eyed ten-year-old...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>RaiderScore: ****</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Both are crazy about the swarthy stranger who seems on the level, like Gordon's Quantrill was a year earlier (with his own fake name) and mentioned of the soap operatic dialogue... </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Leo Gordon squares off with Steve Cochran</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Between the melodrama, random fight sequences consist mostly of noisy shootouts as a wide-shot camera points at the action like being ten rows up at a football game, not allowing the viewer to get<i> inside</i> the characters plight but, instead, to view the bullet-spraying gunplay bookending this programmer from the beginning, on an open range ambush when Cochran joins up with/warms up to the Northerners he plans to ruse, to the semi-suspenseful finale at the usual dusty town's main street with more than the usual two gunslingers — mob verses mob as the question mounts... </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Leo Gordon and Steve Cochran in Quantrill's Raiders</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Will our anti-hero be able to save the good people (including the pretty dame) from the same goons he was sent to help in the first place? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Most likely yes since QR is an intentionally simple, predictable time-filler, while it <i>does</i> have enough layers to keep the 1950's double-feature audiences awake after the A-feature they <i>really</i> paid for. So for a bonafide history lesson of Americana, QUANTRILL'S is anything but a reliable source, and yet it's an intriguing character-driven Western that will only disappoint audiences who expected more of a movie they'd never even heard of.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve Cochran in Quantrill's Raiders</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Leo Gordon and Steve Cochran, Quantrill's Raiders</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hooker with the heart of gold/Quantrill's bitch turns to the good side, for a shot</u></td></tr>
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action, civil war, diane brewster, fifties, leo gordon, steve cochran, war, warner archives, western