cult film freak: August 2017

Written by James M. Tate / 8/31/2017 / No comments / fifties , james cagney , sixties , vic morrow , warner archives , western

THE OTHER/FORGOTTEN WESTERNS OF JAMES CAGNEY

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Vic Morrow with James Cagney in TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN</u></td></tr>
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In GOODFELLAS, when Joe Pesci's Tommy asks the group of thugs, gun in hand, poised to shoot the doomed houseboy,  the name of the Western... singular... that James Cagney starred in?<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>RUN FOR COVER Artwork</u></td></tr>
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After a sarcastic answer, "Shane", followed by a burst of rowdy, drunken laughter, someone names what's referred to as the <i>only</i> Cowboy Picture that Cagney, known for ruling gangster/crime flicks, headlined: that being THE OKLAHOMA KID, which came out in his heyday during the 1930's. To film historians it's was a miscast for such an urban wise guy to appear in the time-period, spur-kicking genre at all... But there are two other Cagney Westerns made two decades later during the 1950's: First is Nicolas Ray's RUN FOR COVER but let's start with...<br>

fifties, james cagney, sixties, vic morrow, warner archives, western

THE OTHER/FORGOTTEN WESTERNS OF JAMES CAGNEY

Vic Morrow with James Cagney in TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN In GOODFELLAS, when Joe Pesci's Tommy asks the group of thugs, gun in hand, poi...

LAST STRETCH AND DECLINE OF RODNEY DANGERFIELD CINEMA

<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When he turned fifty, the age most comic-actors would be considered has-beens, he was cast in a now classic golf comedy, CADDYSHACK, that was originally written about the caddies, like ANIMAL HOUSE (with the same co-writers, SHACK director Harold Ramis and Doug Kenney) centered on the Delta fraternity house. It's impossible to imagine the evil Dean Wormer (John Vernon) and the hippie professor (Donald Sutherland) as the focal points, leaving all but one rebellious frat boy in the buried lead role, like Michael O'Keefe's Danny Noonan in CADDYSHACK... But sometimes the side-characters shine brighter than the leads, or at least the most memorable, iconic...</span><br>

andrew dice clay, burt reynolds, cindy williams, comedy, howard stern, john byner, jonathan brandis, nineties, randy quaid, retrospective, rodney dangerfield, sidney j. furie, sport, vinessa shaw, zeroes

LAST STRETCH AND DECLINE OF RODNEY DANGERFIELD CINEMA

Twelve Year Decline of Rodney Dangerfield Movies from 1992 to 2004 Rodney Dangerfield was one of the most beloved comedic actors of all ...

GENE RODDENBERRY SCI-FI 70'S PILOT OF THE QUESTOR TAPES

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>We'll take this writeup's main picture literally YEAR: 1974</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are two trivia facts about another Gene Roddenberry science-fiction television pilot during the 1970's as the iconic 1960's STAR TREK was beginning its nostalgic cult climb towards yet another future...</span><br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">First, the android named QUESTOR, played by Robert Foxworth, would extend into Roddenberry's NEXT GENERATION character, Data: right down to the cozy charm mixed with a Vulcan's strict leaning on fact and logic paired-up with </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Mike Ferrell, not long before replacing Wayne Rogers on MASH, as a tall and lanky straight man, worrying "his robot" could give them away with a blunt speech pattern and chicken-like head-pecking motions... The latter like Jeff Bridges in STARMAN... Only here it's much more subtle and endearing... </span><br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Import DVD Cover</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Well that's obviously the attempt, which leads to the second piece of trivia: unlike GENESIS II, PLANET EARTH and SPECTRE, this was <i>almost</i> picked-up for a series despite the fact not much happens but a proverbial Oscar and Felix (or really, Felix and Felix) searching for the android's creator while traipsing around a casino, wherein the best moments occur. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And yet, this creative, sparse and breezy pilot opens doors for other adventures since it doesn't have a beginning, middle and end. In other words, THE QUESTOR TAPES, being the most incomplete of the batch, succeeds as a would-be catapult. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Throw in a few more fish outta water situations and cut back on random scenes with greedy corporate villain John Vernon, there might've been even more reasons for this vessel to actually take flight. </span><br>

gene roddenberry, john vernon, mike farrell, robert foxworth, robot, science-fiction, TV, warner archives

GENE RODDENBERRY SCI-FI 70'S PILOT OF THE QUESTOR TAPES

We'll take this writeup's main picture literally YEAR: 1974 There are two trivia facts about another Gene Roddenberry science-fi...

SCI-FI TV PILOT OF STRANGE NEW WORLD WITH JOHN SAXON

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Saxon, Kathleen Miller & Reb Brown YEAR: 1975</u></td></tr>
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STRANGE NEW WORLD is a lot like Gene Roddenberry's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2017/07/ohohhhThisIsPlanetEarth.html">PLANET EARTH</a> also starring John Saxon but a bit more creative, bizarre and twisty: The crew of a floating space station takes a cryogenic freeze nap and, like Saxon on the other show, wakes up 200-years later, only this time on purpose, sort of...<br>
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Turns out the Earth had been destroyed and altered by a meteor storm, so the threesome were preserved up there and now must find the Earthlings, called-upon from a random distress signal, who hid in the mountains and hibernated on their own. Here's where the first of two adventures begins, having to do with a colony of survivors that don't seem like they've survived anything at all...<br>

catherine bach, john saxon, reb brown, science-fiction, seventies, tv movie, warner archives

SCI-FI TV PILOT OF STRANGE NEW WORLD WITH JOHN SAXON

John Saxon, Kathleen Miller & Reb Brown YEAR: 1975 STRANGE NEW WORLD is a lot like Gene Roddenberry's PLANET EARTH also starrin...

ORIGINAL 'V' MINISERIES WITH 'THE FINAL BATTLE' & TV SHOW

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Reviews of V: THE ORIGINAL MINISERIES with THE FINAL BATTLE and the TV SERIES 1983-1985</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: large;">V: THE ORIGINAL MINISERIES</span> (1983):</u> About every five years it's time to rediscover the brilliance of a miniseries that, for a number of reasons, has gotten a bad rap as being pure, unapologetic camp: But it's wise not to mistake camp for cult, and to realize that every original vehicle with cheesy followups did begin with something worthy of being followed-up in the first place...</span><br>

eighties, faye grant, franchise, jane badham, june chadwick, marc singer, michael ironside, mickey jones, miniseries, science-fiction

ORIGINAL 'V' MINISERIES WITH 'THE FINAL BATTLE' & TV SHOW

Reviews of V: THE ORIGINAL MINISERIES with THE FINAL BATTLE and the TV SERIES 1983-1985 V: THE ORIGINAL MINISERIES (1983): About every...

FRANCES RAINES IS BEAUTIFUL IN 'RYDER P.I.' W/ HOWARD STERN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frances Raines will be subject for other reviews YEAR: 1986</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Suffering an awful weeklong cold when awful movies seem good, let's veer back to Really Bad Movie basics with a vehicle created on a shoestring budget featuring an obscure gathering of Long Island comics and a future shock jock icon...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Up front is fat comic David Hawthorne, the sleepy-eyed "moron" who, a decade later, as a restaurant bartender, served a heartbroken Jack Nicholson a glass of "the last free drug" in AS GOOD AS IT GETS: he throws in a Jack imitation along with a bagful of quick quips and a thin plot-line for RYDER P.I., a Humphrey Bogart Era Film Noir parody that, surprisingly, keeps up the entertainment value alongside the feeling of, "How much worse can this get?"</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frances Raines dries off with a smile</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hawthorne is comfortable in front of the camera despite being uncomfortable to look at — but that seems an intentional thread of the overall punchline: he's the antithesis of any sort of leading man on-screen persona. So some local help was obviously needed...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At that time, in 1986, Howard Stern was climbing as a New York morning radio talkshow host.  Random scenes as a television newscaster aren't that funny because Howard's not doing his own thing, or poking fun at his crew. And yet the aggression and annoyance does feel genuine: his character, Ben Wah, can't stand the network he's on, and obviously Stern felt the same about this project. And he's not alone. Not completely...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Howard Stern when he was only known back East</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">His writer, Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling, provides the voice of a "Fat Eddie" doll that, when Hawthorne's P.I. character, Skylar Ryder, pulls a string, it unloads insults, each ending with Martling's chortle that'd soon become famous within the Stern universe... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But what makes RYDER easy viewing on the eye is b-starlet Frances Raines, who isn't blood related-to but is technically a relative of THE INVISIBLE MAN Claude Raines. Her vulnerable, girl-next-door beauty, seeking the titular snoop for protection from a woodwork of goons, makes this trainwreck worth watching. Plus, she appears during the midway point when desperately needed...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A jokey doll voiced by Jackie Martling CAMP VALUE SCORE: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The worst of the cast is Ryder's hairbrained partner, overacting "the retard" to the hilt and almost forcing the viewer to either change the channel or destroy their television... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For those brave or patient enough, or in this case, who pay by the month, Amazon Prime members can stream this extremely low budget comedy. And for fans of the classic era Howard Stern it's a rare gem to behold, or rather, to survive: There's a feeling of bizarre accomplishment lasting through these kind of movies that aren't really movies. Added to that, RYDER doesn't have a cult following to join the ranks of worthy Camp Schlock unlike a couple others we'll review in the future starring</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Frances Raines... Stay tuned. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frances Raines and a monkey in RYDER P.I.</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frances Raines in RYDER P.I. </u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frances Raines dries off in RYDER PI</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frances Raines in RYDER PI</u></td></tr>
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<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/-2Knt-2QxxCA/WZjKWvrdafI/AAAAAAAAyms/RcMhq229Nm0yh6BQVl0TYR6jT6rOgT8nwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-17%2Bat%2B9.01.44%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="1037" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Knt-2QxxCA/WZjKWvrdafI/AAAAAAAAyms/RcMhq229Nm0yh6BQVl0TYR6jT6rOgT8nwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-17%2Bat%2B9.01.44%2BPM.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hell, might as well get at least one picture of the film's star, Bob Hawthorne</u></td></tr>
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comedy, eighties, frances raines, howard stern, jackie martling, neo noir, parody

FRANCES RAINES IS BEAUTIFUL IN 'RYDER P.I.' W/ HOWARD STERN

Frances Raines will be subject for other reviews YEAR: 1986 Suffering an awful weeklong cold when awful movies seem good, let's veer...

Written by James M. Tate / 8/14/2017 / No comments / 2017 , horror , new

BELATED WEEKEND REVIEW OF ANNABELLE: CREATION

2017, horror, new

BELATED WEEKEND REVIEW OF ANNABELLE: CREATION

Year Released: 2017 Combining horror sub-genres like Haunted House, Body Count and Demon Possession, ANNABELLE: CREATION is more exploit...

RICHARD WIDMARK SCORNED IN THE FILM NOIR ROAD HOUSE

<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/-CbRGTQcaMus/WYf0BB1iBkI/AAAAAAAAyjc/XJqByLMj7WoREJzmUAykdQWf3cVOfJg7wCLcBGAs/s1600/368c6860ec14ea5fb4e4fd05eb362546.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1165" height="271" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CbRGTQcaMus/WYf0BB1iBkI/AAAAAAAAyjc/XJqByLMj7WoREJzmUAykdQWf3cVOfJg7wCLcBGAs/s400/368c6860ec14ea5fb4e4fd05eb362546.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR OF RELEASE: 1948</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">No this doesn't star Patrick Swayze... ROAD HOUSE was originally a Noir title </span>—<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> t</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">he third of Richard Widmark's sleazy villain roles igniting with the staircase-shoving Tommy Udo in KISS OF DEATH followed by a nervous and edgy gang-boss in THE STREET WITH NO NAME...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Widmark is the guy who, in these early roles, is far from pretty, or even manly, but does have either power or money, or both, and here he's just the rich part, owner of the title location where bowling is the forefront till he brings Ida Lupino to sing in the lounge: starting out, me mostly see her from the perspective of hero Cornel Wilde as Peter, the manager and bouncer who does all the work: one scene taking down a large and lusty drunk equalling two of Patrick Swayze's rowdy opponents. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So Peter has the least amount of fun. That is, until Lupino begins to shun the man who hired her... </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And like in many a Noir, the rich guy practically hands a woman, his woman (in this case, only in his mind) into the arms of the younger, handsome stud, and seems completely puzzled when they turn out falling in love... Although at one point, when Lupino describes her scary boss to Pete, he responds: "You don't understand </span>—<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Jefty just needs to have somebody around." And how!</span><br>
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british film noir/melodrama, cornel wilde, ida lupino, richard widmark

RICHARD WIDMARK SCORNED IN THE FILM NOIR ROAD HOUSE

YEAR OF RELEASE: 1948 No this doesn't star Patrick Swayze... ROAD HOUSE was originally a Noir title — t he third of Richard Widmar...

EXTREMELY BELATED REVIEW OF SNATCHED

<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/-PQvXsPLgfto/WYv-xTlFKwI/AAAAAAAAyjs/jH9RTh4d178-N53TrUkZjQVBgDaDsKlDgCLcBGAs/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="1251" height="220" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PQvXsPLgfto/WYv-xTlFKwI/AAAAAAAAyjs/jH9RTh4d178-N53TrUkZjQVBgDaDsKlDgCLcBGAs/s400/maxresdefault.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here's a double-edged question: Is the first twenty-minutes of SNATCHED weak and flimsy because the characters end up going on a dangerous adventure... Or are these characters so flimsy and weak from the get-go that they <i>have to</i> be thrown into deadly peril?</span><br>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Well it's 50/50 here. Not much is done to "flesh out" these ladies, SNATCHED from their balmy vacation, other than showing both are frightened fish-outta-water in a hostile region of Columbia... But who wouldn't be? </span><br>

adventure, amy schumer, buddy, comedy, goldie hawn, new, team-up

EXTREMELY BELATED REVIEW OF SNATCHED

YEAR: 2017 Here's a double-edged question: Is the first twenty-minutes of SNATCHED weak and flimsy because the characters end up goi...

WOODY ALLEN'S WOODYLESS 'THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO'

<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/-Y3Q2vYEE9_I/XCmiK1JPscI/AAAAAAAA-MA/CNB_MPM8OeEuyp7z3pQSUVZSJ3rDviaRwCLcBGAs/s1600/49062792_627256261036887_5146968496902504448_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="960" height="345" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3Q2vYEE9_I/XCmiK1JPscI/AAAAAAAA-MA/CNB_MPM8OeEuyp7z3pQSUVZSJ3rDviaRwCLcBGAs/s400/49062792_627256261036887_5146968496902504448_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1985</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By far the best Woodyless Woody Allen film during what we call the PIVOTAL WOODY ALLEN CINEMA TIER TWO period starting with ANNIE HALL and ending with HUSBANDS AND WIVES... </span><br>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being a motion picture he wrote and directed and did not star in or appear at all (it happens all the time nowadays): the first being the Ingmar Bergman style melodrama INTERIORS that didn't quite wash, or dry – the opposite occurring in this, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, wherein all scriptwriting students can learn how to take a far-fetched, impossible premise, in this case an actor literally walking through a movie screen to have an old fashion romance with his biggest fan... during the Great Depression... and have it make sense with one simple explanation: "It's New Jersey," says one character, explaining the bizarre event. "Anything can happen!" </span><br>

danny aielo, jeff daniels, mia farrow, woody allen

WOODY ALLEN'S WOODYLESS 'THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO'

Year of Release: 1985 By far the best Woodyless Woody Allen film during what we call the PIVOTAL WOODY ALLEN CINEMA TIER TWO period star...

ROB REINER GOES NORTH W/ ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES EVER

<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/-27Tb1zixZXI/WYbGI1KqSiI/AAAAAAAAyio/c-5EU9QxKaAu7nK_b7m0cFMeIl4qhZrMwCLcBGAs/s1600/collegehumor-e612df21125dabca34af1332c7a852ba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="480" height="207" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-27Tb1zixZXI/WYbGI1KqSiI/AAAAAAAAyio/c-5EU9QxKaAu7nK_b7m0cFMeIl4qhZrMwCLcBGAs/s400/collegehumor-e612df21125dabca34af1332c7a852ba.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR RELEASED: 1994</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Director Terry Gilliam's first directed feature outside the Monty Python spectrum is TIME BANDITS, where a lonely, imaginative pre-teen, ignored by a pair of boorish, overly-typical suburban parents, is thrust into a portal where he discovers, along with a handful of thieving dwarves, the kind of manly dream-dad he, and any kid, would want in Sean Connery's brave, middle-aged from the Middle Ages warrior, much like an intrepid and serious version of our NORTH narrator Bruce Willis, who Elijah Wood finds after running away — ala Drew Barrymore in a courtroom liken to IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES — from a terribly depressing, equally annoying home-life, and he serves as a sort of mentor/guide, appearing as various characters, from a man in a bunny suit to a cowboy to an eskimo, for guidance beyond mere parental wisdom; more of a cool uncle but "enough of my yackin'... Here's a movie that killed a sublime winning streak of director Rob Reiner, who reigned in a decade of great to very-good movies from SPINAL TAP to PRINCESS BRIDE to MISERY... This is possibly the worst motion picture ever made, and one that might be suited to the "So Bad it's Good" category but really more of a "So Horrendously Awful it's Torturous Yet Intriguing, somehow..."</span><br>

nineties, rob reiner

ROB REINER GOES NORTH W/ ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES EVER

YEAR RELEASED: 1994 Director Terry Gilliam's first directed feature outside the Monty Python spectrum is TIME BANDITS, where a lonel...

A BIG RED THREAT IN SAM FULLER'S PICKUP ON SOUTH 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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eGBHwMA1yps/WYV1hR8CdoI/AAAAAAAAyiA/OMIMg3-Plt4f9DMQ4woJDvwWPFeOJEcHQCLcBGAs/s1600/pickup_on_south_street_ver3_xlg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1128" height="301" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eGBHwMA1yps/WYV1hR8CdoI/AAAAAAAAyiA/OMIMg3-Plt4f9DMQ4woJDvwWPFeOJEcHQCLcBGAs/s400/pickup_on_south_street_ver3_xlg.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR RELEASED: 1953</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is arguably Samuel Fuller's best movie... surpassing even his most famous, THE BIG RED ONE... It's a Film Noir that despises "Reds," and uses that word abundantly, which is a real treat given how much the moniker's been protected since the 1960's because of the paranoia-driven "witch hunts" the decade earlier... So that's that: If Sam says the Communists are a threat, well then, sorry, Intellectuals...</span><br>
<br>
<div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And yet, Fuller tows the line of patriotism by having his antagonist a lifestyle lowlife pickpocket in New York City — who is a war vet, like Sam himself, and when the cops start "waving the flag," goading him into returning a microfilm that was inside ingenue Jean Peters' pocketbook, he demands the law doesn't get Patriotic "<i>to me." </i>This also establishes Richard Widmark's McCoy, holed in a dilapidated sea shanty that's like a character in itself, as being one of the most ambiguous Noir characters in a genre full of them... </span><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/-Vm39jEVj9mA/W6WKX6-e51I/AAAAAAAA50w/qeuw3fxmXYYsrFEybbdLuiMcBiFxQ8JbwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-09-21%2Bat%2B5.17.13%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="746" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vm39jEVj9mA/W6WKX6-e51I/AAAAAAAA50w/qeuw3fxmXYYsrFEybbdLuiMcBiFxQ8JbwCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-09-21%2Bat%2B5.17.13%2BPM.png" width="296"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Thelma Ritter, Pickup on South Street</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But it's not the leading man or lady, thrown together by chance as she wants back what he stole that belonged to an abusive boyfriend who's selling the film (a plot-driven device known as McGuffin) to Communists — it's Thelma Ritter who not only steals scenes, she carries the mantle as also being, technically speaking, the most important character herein...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A streetwise bag lady-style con-artist "fink" who provides names for a price. This endearingly rough, tie-selling street hustler is the one person connecting McCoy with Jean's Candy, who also plays it smooth and natural — despite falling way too hard, far too soon with Widmark, and is the only device seeming rushed, contrived: even someone resembling a Robert Mitchum or Cary Grant would have to work harder to melt a starlet this quickly... It takes minutes here... Or less...</span></div>
</div>

fifties, film noir or melodrama, jean peters, richard kiley, richard widmark, samuel fuller

A BIG RED THREAT IN SAM FULLER'S PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET

YEAR RELEASED: 1953 PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is arguably Samuel Fuller's best movie... surpassing even his most famous, THE BIG RED ON...

THURSDAY REVIEW OF STEPHEN KING'S THE DARK TOWER

2017, fantasy, matthew mcconaughey, new, stephen king

THURSDAY REVIEW OF STEPHEN KING'S THE DARK TOWER

Year Released: 2017 Stephen King is both a popular, highly successful, bestselling author, and at the same time has a cult following: Th...

IF DOG RABBIT AKA ONE LAST SCORE AKA GOING SOUTH

<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/-IZl6YjtFtn0/WYGDkY5xW6I/AAAAAAAAygo/fnMNlFToFkk0dXqiusUnvP7K99sHijDpQCLcBGAs/s1600/Golpe_A_Traicion-Caratula.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IZl6YjtFtn0/WYGDkY5xW6I/AAAAAAAAygo/fnMNlFToFkk0dXqiusUnvP7K99sHijDpQCLcBGAs/s400/Golpe_A_Traicion-Caratula.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released: 1999</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If a dog sees the rabbit, as the saying goes, then there's no longer a reason to chase it. The secret's out. Or else, when he sees the rabbit, without knowing the truth, the instinct is to catch the thing at all costs...</span><br>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Either can be the meaning behind what seems to be one of the worst titles of all time, IF... DOG... RABBIT, later changed to the more conventional, simplistic and unfitting ONE LAST SCORE, a Neo Noir heist drama written and directed by Matthew Modine, taking place DOWN SOUTH (which is another video release title), first near Mexico and then within its sun-exposed streets where our anti-hero hides away with crazy brother Kevin J. O'Connor; the latter who smashed Modine's parole officer, played by David Keith, on the head after too much snooping around (Lisa Blount, Keith's girlfriend in AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, has a small role here)...</span><br>

heist, john hurt, matthew modine, neo noir, nineties