cult film freak: March 2018

Written by James M. Tate / 3/31/2018 / No comments / adventure , bill mumy , biopic , don gordon , drama , dustin hoffman , francis j. schaffner , john quade , prison , seventies , steve mcqueen , woodrow palfrey

STEVE MCQUEEN ESCAPES IN 'PAPILLON' ORIGINAL ADAPTATION

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Capture & Release: 1973</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Director Francis J. Schaffner and scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo convert Henri Charriere's riveting biographical novel to the big screen, providing Steve McQueen with a more fleshed-out role than usual and rebooting Dustin Hoffman's minor character in the book to main sidekick on screen: </span>Both have a realistic aura, serving hell as they work a swampy chain-gang and eventually plan their escape, and each scene is like a movie in itself, beginning with a slave ship to the initial prison (initially along with a grownup but still young Bill Mumy and McQueen's BULLITT and TOWERING INFERNO partner Don Gordon). <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">As an examination of the hellish existence in the French penal colonies, and eventually Devil's Island, there's gritty realism held back for mainstream audiences, seeming at times like a well-made television melodrama with some widescreen blood and guts thrown in: </span><span style="font-size: small;">But as a straight-out adventure flick there's plenty of eventful situations to keep the viewer interested, and completely entertained, in the struggling journey of one tough cookie who refused to stay-put.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve McQueen, Billy Mumy, Don Gordon and Dustin Hoffman in PAPILLON</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve McQueen's PAPILLON in his first of two solitary sentences</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Bill Mumy autograph on original Papillon Jerry Goldsmith LP Soundtrack "You're Dead" from dream sequence</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Smithers lectures Steve McQueen's PAPILLON that he'll live on bread... and circuses</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve McQueen's PAPILLON makes a deal with Citizen Kane veteran George Coulouris</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve McQueen tries talking sense to Dustin Hoffman in PAPILLON</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Quade and Steve McQueen's PAPILLON make a surprise deal</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve McQueen looking Indy Jones before there was one in PAPILLON w/ Anthony Zerbe</u></td></tr>
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adventure, bill mumy, biopic, don gordon, drama, dustin hoffman, francis j. schaffner, john quade, prison, seventies, steve mcqueen, woodrow palfrey

STEVE MCQUEEN ESCAPES IN 'PAPILLON' ORIGINAL ADAPTATION

Year of Capture & Release: 1973 Director Francis J. Schaffner and scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo convert Henri Charriere's riveting ...

Written by James M. Tate / 3/28/2018 / No comments / 2018 , new , science-fiction , steven spielberg

STEVEN SPIELBERG GOES FUTURE-PAST IN 'READY PLAYER ONE'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Real of Release: 2018 Years of Celebration: 1980's</u></td></tr>
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Most films begin slowly, and then open up into an adventurous middle with pockets of character-developing downtime leading to the kind of crescendo that READY PLAYER ONE ignites from the get-go.<br>
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Taking place about fifty years from now in the usual raggedy dystopic future, this particular urban wasteland's known as The Stacks, which the living quarters are, one atop the other. But a virtual reality game-world, Oasis, has become a sparkling haven beyond the squalor, and as people play into the games wearing helmets, walking on treadmills, etc., their avatars fight to stay alive while... and here's the plot... trying to find three keys that Oasis's dead founder left — for then the winner takes over the half-a-trillion dollar company...<br>

2018, new, science-fiction, steven spielberg

STEVEN SPIELBERG GOES FUTURE-PAST IN 'READY PLAYER ONE'

Real of Release: 2018 Years of Celebration: 1980's Most films begin slowly, and then open up into an adventurous middle with pockets...

JACQUES TOURNEUR DIRECTS THE WYATT EARP FILM 'WICHITA'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Joel McCrea rides smoothly, coolly into WICHITA Year: 1955</u></td></tr>
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This Jacques Tourneur's Western is as basic and entertaining as they come, centering on what begins as a distant dot viewed by men camped on the plain surrounded by cattle and all on their slow, deliberate pace to that Promised Land of WICHITA harboring many saloons...<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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That dot nears, and turns out being buffalo hunter Wyatt Earp, played by Joel McCrea, whose acting had improved throughout the years, his lanky build toned and muscular and a once spry face aged into raw experience, mellowing into a John Wayne meets William Holden countenance — perfectly suited for the real life legendary lawman, at first reluctant to become Wichita's Sheriff until the rowdy cowboys ignite drunken gun-blazing pandemonium.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archives DVD</u></td></tr>
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It's not a perfect Western as the story is concerned, and hardly works as a genuine biopic, but it's a picture that takes many viewings to grow tired of since the formula keeps paying off with each new sequence: Like what would happen in JAWS exactly twenty-years later... the mayor and a bigwig developer forcing the new Sheriff to ignore a killer shark to keep the paying tourists happily oblivious... as is Wyatt questioned by the very men (including a mayor) who'd initially hired him after a terrific bank robbery turnaround...<br />
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Then, later, realizing the drunken cowpunchers that Earp imprisoned for goading drunkenness all keep the town in a steady flow of cash. Wielding a firm stance and lone wolf determination, McCrae turns in an apt performance eclipsing what one would expect in a 90-minute mainstream, if sometimes cliché, programmer... So it's necessary to throw in the usual faithful sidekick (a young future-famous journalist, Bat Masterson: an uncomplicated Robin to McCrea's beyond-capable Bruce Wayne) and a contrived romance with Vera Miles...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Walking the bad guy out of the titular township</u></td></tr>
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But what's really needed for the audience flows steadily along with the action...<br />
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Including gun-fights and horse-stomping chaos with one great twist involving Peter Graves in this grand little B-Western that provides a subliminal lesson in the art of concise storytelling, sparse dialogue, headstrong performances (also including the genre's regular heavies, Robert Wilke and Jack Elam plus Lloyd Bridges along with THE MAN FROM LARAMIE friendly stout old fella, Wallace Ford), all enveloped by tight and precise direction: You can say that the dark horse CAT PEOPLE and OUT OF THE PAST auteur Jacques Tourneur even sells-out majestically.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Wider view of one of the most coolest wide shots in Westerns</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Earp and brothers ride in for the kill... Specifically, Jack Elam...</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Joel McCrea Wichita Joel McCrea Wyatt Earp Joel McCrea Wichita Wyatt Earp Joel McCrea</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Like the great Man From Laramie, this starts with a cornball song (Tex Ritter), a common genre trait... cool artwork though, huh?</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>DVD Cover before Warner took over</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Future PSYCHO starlet Vera Miles and former FRANKENSTEIN ingenue Mae Clarke in Wichita</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Future Western directing legend Sam Peckinpah as a Bank Teller in WICHITA w/ Joel McCrea</u></td></tr>
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fifties, jack elam, jacques tourneur, joel mccrea, lloyd bridges, robert wilke, warner archives, western

JACQUES TOURNEUR DIRECTS THE WYATT EARP FILM 'WICHITA'

Joel McCrea rides smoothly, coolly into WICHITA Year: 1955 This Jacques Tourneur's Western is as basic and entertaining as they come...

Written by James M. Tate / 3/25/2018 / No comments / boxing , felice orlandi , fifties , film noir or melodrama , frank silvera , jamie smith , jazz score , mobster , stanley kubrick , thriller

STANLEY KUBRICK'S FILM NOIR BOXING FABLE OF 'KILLER'S KISS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lobby Card for Killer's Kiss YEAR OF RELEASE: 1956</u></td></tr>
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When it's not a primal, jazz piano, mamba-like rhythm as gangster/dance club owner Frank Silvera tries keeping his trophy girl from being romanced by someone truly deserving, the deepest, more soulful orchestration is very reminiscent of (years later) THE GODFATHER score...<br>
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Despite director Stanley Kubrick referring to KILLER'S KISS as a student film, his rudimentary Noir is a beautiful, intentionally-simplistic tale with the auteur's metronomic, haunting rhythm intact. Harboring such a flowing, naturally offbeat groove throughout, it's hard to fathom that, at this point, with only an even more low-budget (and unreleased) movie under his belt, he already possessed a vibe and structure all his own, which would then fully establish itself in, a year later, the multi-structured Noir, THE KILLING, and then his signature style would be cemented with the anti-war courtroom drama masterpiece, PATHS OF GLORY...<br>

boxing, felice orlandi, fifties, film noir or melodrama, frank silvera, jamie smith, jazz score, mobster, stanley kubrick, thriller

STANLEY KUBRICK'S FILM NOIR BOXING FABLE OF 'KILLER'S KISS'

Lobby Card for Killer's Kiss YEAR OF RELEASE: 1956 When it's not a primal, jazz piano, mamba-like rhythm as gangster/dance club ...

ROD STEIGER & FAY SPAIN IN THE SPARSE DEADLY 'AL CAPONE'

al ruscio, biopic, fifties, gangster, james gregory, jazz score, martin balsam, mobster, nehemiah persoff, neo noir, rod steiger, sally todd, warner archives

ROD STEIGER & FAY SPAIN IN THE SPARSE DEADLY 'AL CAPONE'

Year of Release: 1959 Like Jack Nicholson (intentionally or otherwise) displayed a little of pal Bruce Dern in THE SHINING , perhaps Mar...

DANA ANDREWS IN 'CANYON PASSAGE' WITH SUSAN HAYWARD

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A rainy, Noir Western look for Gothi auteur Jacques Tourneur</u></td></tr>
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Over a decade before <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/08/feardemon.html">CURSE OF THE DEMON</a> and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/08/feardemon.html">THE FEARMAKERS</a>, Jacques Tourneur directed Dana Andrews in a well-dressed & comfortably-paced (North) Western, CANYON PASSAGE, taking place mostly within a small, makeshift town built from — and tucked within the shade of — the surrounding forest, a knee-jerk away from an uneasy peace with brooding Indians... <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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Yet the suspense relies more on how two particular characters develop 
than the horse-clopping action taking most of the third act: In almost every Western with Dana Andrews there's an edgy gallows kangaroo court involved, and here it's the least important aspect although would-be victim Brian Donlevy, as extremely unlucky, altogether-cursed gambler, George, sharpens Dana's workaholic, mule running/cargo moving entrepreneur, Logan, since he has to keep covering his old pal from gambling debts and other vices: including a possible murder. This is really a tale on how far a friendship can stretch... and stretch...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Riding into the Portland Oregon rain</u></td></tr>
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And there's only a hint of romance between Andrews... engaged to a Stepford Prairie Girl played by British import Patricia Roc... and future MY FOOLISH HEART co-star Susan Hayward as a beautiful tomboy — both share a cool friendship almost too perfect to hinder with complications: Actually, she already belongs to the flaky loser/dreamer, Donlevy... kind of... though it's obvious where her heart is...<br>
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Meanwhile, the fleshed-out and interesting side-characters include another frequent Dana co-star, Hoagy Carmichael (NIGHT SONG, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES), as a mandolin playing moral conscious and Lloyd Bridges spitefully ruling a kangaroo court: But the true antagonist's played with gusto by Ward Bond (Dana's SWAMP WATER foe), who causes all sorts of bruised-up and/or deadly havoc, especially in a sublimely choreographed saloon fight scene, where director Tourneur's otherwise rich, artistic lens flows with testosterone-fueled bravado.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>From the Spanish import Blu Ray YEAR of PASSAGE: 1946</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>DANA ANDREWS STARRING</u></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Classy Font fits the classy Western directed by Jacques Tourneur Canyon Passage Jacques Tourneur</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Considered by some a Noir Western, Canyon Passage's font makes clear it's more a Renaissance Western type</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The opening takes place in the big city of Frisco, where Dana gets his mission, his girl (friend), and beaten up a bit</u></td></tr>
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action, andy devine, brian donlevy, dana andrews, drama, forties, hoagy carmichael, jacques tourneur, lloyd bridges, susan hayward, ward bond, western

DANA ANDREWS IN 'CANYON PASSAGE' WITH SUSAN HAYWARD

A rainy, Noir Western look for Gothi auteur Jacques Tourneur Over a decade before CURSE OF THE DEMON and THE FEARMAKERS , Jacques Tourn...

BLOODY REMAKE OF 'DEATH WISH' STARRING BRUCE WILLIS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Bruce Willis in what looks like a golf swing follow-thru YEAR: 2018</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The difference of the original Charles Bronson crime exploitation classic DEATH WISH and its four sequels is the same between Eli Roth's modernized take with Bruce Willis... </span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Instead of one man becoming a freelance, anything-goes vigilante <i>because of</i> his wife's death and daughter's coma </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">(aided by a young Jeff Goldblum)</span>, he sets out after the real killers. Which makes 2018's DEATH WISH more of a sparse Neo-Noir extension of Denzel Washington's surprisingly good THE EQUALIZER than a high-octane "yippee ki yay" update of the 70's cult classic...</span><br>

2018, action, bruce willis, elizabeth shue, exploitation, new, remake, suspense