cult film freak: April 2018

Written by James M. Tate / 4/26/2018 / No comments / 2018 , action , dwayne johnson , new

CLASSIC CULT VIDEO GAME 'RAMPAGE' AS A MOTION PICTURE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kong-like Ape, Wolf & Lizzie Liz from 1986 arcade YEAR: 2018</u></td></tr>
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Upright. Those were the days. When monsters, no matter what they really were... Those were the days, that's all: When huge deadly creatures stood upright, just like in one of the coolest 80's arcade games ever created  — where the player controls either a giant pissed-off Gorilla, Wolf or some kind of Lizard: All of them destroying city buildings while swatting military copters...<br>
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Since the re-imagining of MIGHTY JOE YOUNG or worse yet, Peter Jackson's multi-million dollar vanity remake of his (and history's) favorite b-movie adventure, KING KONG, these modernized titular apes were just that. Apes. Getting around with four arms and backs bent. Same with the new PLANET OF THE APES trilogy where the victimized simian wears a scowl like a teenager punished for something he didn't do...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ralph Wolfs down A Building</u></td></tr>
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Enter George, a physical clone of the others and donning the same pathetic, misunderstood expression: An albino gorilla who'd been rescued from poachers by the nicest of trainers, Dwayne Johnson as Davis, another <i>gentle giant who can kick ass when needed </i>role for the former wrestler formerly known as The Rock...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Grade: B—</u></td></tr>
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He and a few other humans, including an embarrassingly awful Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a rough yet helpful G-Man, not even trying to shake his WALKING DEAD Negan persona — still sounding like a stoned used car salesman who was once a stoned southern preacher... Along with a meaningless villainous vixen and a pretty ingenue who'd once worked for a nefarious scientific corporation that...<br>
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Ugh, it's all so confusing... But when the movie based on the video game actually becomes like the video game, allowing the trio... Ape, Wolf and Reptile... to RAMPAGE through the city — thankfully for the audience it stays that way, and for a nice little while, too. The CGI is good, which is no surprise given how cable shows and even commercials all have equal quality special effects nowadays...<br>
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But once again, the problem is — these creatures, no matter how monstrous, just aren't monsters. Nor are they even creatures. They're simply animals. Altered and blameless, dangerously enlarged versions of what they'd been (except one sprouts wings for absolutely no reason). And because of the sappy relationship between our muscular, huggable human star and the dullest aggressor, even in the video game (the wolf was always a personal favorite), the previous cool stuff is soon enough dead and forgotten. Leading to that aforementioned <i>one word</i> that... while it might be a stretch for modern audiences to absorb (at first)... could bring the classic Creature Feature genre literally back on its feet again... And that's, Upright! <i>Those were the days</i>...
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2018, action, dwayne johnson, new

CLASSIC CULT VIDEO GAME 'RAMPAGE' AS A MOTION PICTURE

Kong-like Ape, Wolf & Lizzie Liz from 1986 arcade YEAR: 2018 Upright. Those were the days. When monsters, no matter what they really...

JAMES CAAN AND ALAN ARKIN PLAY 'FREEBIE AND THE BEAN'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The best scenes take place in a public restroom YEAR:1974</u></td></tr>
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FREEBIE AND THE BEAN was very popular upon release, which is understandable. Unlike other movies directed by Richard Rush, these characters are likable right from the start...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>FBScore: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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Two cops that make for an odd couple in James Caan's reckless Freebie and a more patient yet equally spontaneous Bean, referring to a derogatory Mexican nickname — this sure isn't PC... At one point, Caan is described by BEAN's famously glib actor Alan Arkin as an "Archie Bunker," the 70's term for funny racist... <br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>and Alan Arkin, The Bean</u></td></tr>
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Despite these spitfire insults and fast-paced comebacks, it's obvious Freebie and Bean are very close. Maybe too much since the audience never really learns about the guys before both explode with perpetual arguments, tirades, monologues: Like an old married couple's screaming (more than even Alan Arkin and his sexy cheating wife played by Valerie Harper) heard from the apartment next door, most of the picture has that edgy element up-close, but never too personal. And the bad guys they beat up or bully aren't known for how bad they are for their punishment to be rooted for. Yet despite all the frantic running around, the quirky undercover recreants don't beat around the bush when it comes to their mission...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> And there's James Caan, Freebie</u></td></tr>
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While THE FRENCH CONNECTION — then the gold standard for partnered-up cop films — provided a rudimentary glimpse into how the detectives work, separate from the mainline plot,  FREEBIE begins like watching a TV show's first episode after having missed the pilot, or as if you'd walked into the theater fifteen-minutes late — our timid staked-out anti-heroes watching an alley cat invade a trashcan full of (what we soon learn are) possible clues. And yet the plot, to bust a fancy, upper-class crime boss while at the same time protecting him from hit men, takes backseat to the shenanigans derived from behind the wheel...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>and with Paul Koslo as Whitey</u></td></tr>
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From chases and wrecks (in both cars <i>and</i> a motorcycle), fist fights, palpable threats (Paul Koslo forcefully shown the edge of a high-rise construction site) and various other hijinks that turn New York City on its ass — with all the testosterone pumping gusto, super-skinny, weak-<i>looking</i> transvestite Christopher Morley provide the duo with their biggest challenge...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christopher Morley kicks ass</u></td></tr>
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Some of the comedic frenzy is hit or miss but there's enough purpose and reason to make each demolished location more than just a result from the ongoing gratuitous bedlam: But there's a lot that too, and not without a price...<br>
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A disgruntled Caan and Arkin didn't promote the picture, both having desired more dialogue than disaster from their action-paced director. Pretty lame since there's enough rambling for ten buddy-cop flicks here. Meanwhile, Richard Rush followed this up with his true masterpiece, THE STUNT MAN — ironic since FREEBIE AND THE BEAN uses a whole lot of them. But the intrepid, underappreciated though not underpaid phantom heroes (especially Charles Bail, who's in both films) would have to wait six-years to get their due... In a flawed masterpiece where the actors <i>loved</i> Mr. Rush. <br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Caan gives Paul Koslo a knuckle-sandwich in FREEBIE AND THE BEAN</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Alan Arkin, Paul Koslo and James Caan in FREEBIE AND THE BEAN</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Caan, Paul Koslo and Alan Arkin in FREEBIE AND THE BEAN (and Whitey)</u></td></tr>
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action, alan arkin, buddy, christopher morley, comedy, cop, james caan, paul koslo, richard rush, seventies, valerie harper

JAMES CAAN AND ALAN ARKIN PLAY 'FREEBIE AND THE BEAN'

The best scenes take place in a public restroom YEAR:1974 FREEBIE AND THE BEAN was very popular upon release, which is understandable. U...

BRITISH BLACK MAMBA THRILLER EXPLOITATION OF 'VENOM'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N_RL2GWBGC8/Wt7RVhwP43I/AAAAAAAA1Z8/_J3Ge0mIl3AOceZTJ68B5ehPjFZ-IIEmgCLcBGAs/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="1288" height="223" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N_RL2GWBGC8/Wt7RVhwP43I/AAAAAAAA1Z8/_J3Ge0mIl3AOceZTJ68B5ehPjFZ-IIEmgCLcBGAs/s400/1.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>DVD Menu for the Snaky VENOM Year of Release: 1981</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A sickly British rich kid and his grandfather are taken hostage in the family mansion: Earlier that day, the boy picked up the wrong snake from a pet shop </span><span style="font-size: small;">— now a</span><span style="font-size: small;"> deadly Black Mamba slithers around, mostly inside the vents for a snake-eye viewpoint... </span><br>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A clever enough device for a group of otherwise hardened, DESPERATE HOURS style characters to be terrified while cloistered in a doubly-dangerous setting, but it's a kidnapping story first, liken to an episode of a TV crime series with Nicol Williamson as the overly confident police captain outside, hindering the intensity lurking within the premises where Oliver Reed, as an edgy, violent yet initially reluctant/timid chauffeur and Sterling Hayden, as the family patriarch (having shared African snake tales with his grandson), are initially intriguing but ultimately somewhat wasted... </span>
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cornelia sharpe, creature, drama, eighties, exploitation, horror, hostage, klaus kinski, nicol williamson, oliver reed, sarah miles, snake, sterling hayden, susan george, suspense, thriller

BRITISH BLACK MAMBA THRILLER EXPLOITATION OF 'VENOM'

DVD Menu for the Snaky VENOM Year of Release: 1981 A sickly British rich kid and his grandfather are taken hostage in the family mansion...

ROBERT BLAKE & ELLIOTT GOULD 'BUSTING' CORNELIA SHARPE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Cornelia Sharpe in court to avoid BUSTING Year: 1974</u></td></tr>
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Starring Elliott Gould and Robert
 Blake as determined vice  cops BUSTING hookers, making a scene in a sex shop and, as the curtain opens, dogging a
high price call  girl: Enter the insanely gorgeous Cornelia Sharpe, who the year before played cop Al Pacino's girlfriend in SERPICO...<br>
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Liken to a mazy Film Noir, the proverbial shoes stick on her, and eventually stumble upon a monopolizing, untouchable mega-pimp 
played by underrated  Allen Garfield backed by henchman Sid Haig who, it 
turns out, doesn't  have much to do since his boss owns the courts <i>and</i> 
the cops (Sid stated in our podcast interview that the script was being rewritten the entire time, but on the Blu Ray commentary, a much too soft-spoken Peter Hymans seemed to feel all went pretty smoothly and, other than a lot of deliberate improvising by Gould and especially Blake, production flowed according to his own script: the only trouble he had was with the Gay Community after the release).<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Blake, Gould, Slattery in BUSTINGScore: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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To keep it from being as jumpy, there should/could have been more off-course scenes establishing our dusty heroes against lesser villains in the dark city. Instead, the second act rushes a rogue-cop sub-genre (times two) as Gould and  Blake go on their own to nab Garfield, which is highlighted by an adventurous climb to the top by 
hanging around (after being punished) at the bottom...<br>
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Meanwhile, their immense hatred for Garfield's Rizzo is more than the audience can 
feel or relate with given the little time to establish his power and 
villainy... We have to take their word, which is far too much dialogue 
about a guy who seems pretty-run of-the-mill in the heavy department... But it's entertaining as they wait, and wait for a lead: like by waiting inside a filthy public restroom to nab random perverts: showing the kind of torturous meantime (vice) cops go through that most movies leave out, or edit down to a springboard for an upcoming action sequence... <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EprdzS8YyjM/Xgv_LszAdwI/AAAAAAABM48/tYgZ4Y7QtXoNQvhsrEkG7CgsKQYw_yotQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/81103530_871461359949708_1306860047392833536_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="501" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EprdzS8YyjM/Xgv_LszAdwI/AAAAAAABM48/tYgZ4Y7QtXoNQvhsrEkG7CgsKQYw_yotQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/81103530_871461359949708_1306860047392833536_n.jpeg" width="208"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Cornelia Sharpe in Busting</u></td></tr>
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But casual viewers, don't despair — there's more than a touch of mainstream thrown in as a long FRENCH 
CONNECTION-style chase (here on foot) takes place in-and-out of a large outdoor  bazaar, which helps make future CAPRICORN ONE director Peter Hyams' grungy exploitation an addictive pleasure, but not a guilty one — while far from sublime, like, say, BULLITT, or even MAGNUM FORCE, it's still a decent entry...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dvO8D5t5oSM/W9Bl9GHlmeI/AAAAAAAA604/gkjxoyHo8FAvN10nVYcSniiGl-MH73ZowCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-10-24%2Bat%2B5.30.19%2BAM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="444" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dvO8D5t5oSM/W9Bl9GHlmeI/AAAAAAAA604/gkjxoyHo8FAvN10nVYcSniiGl-MH73ZowCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-10-24%2Bat%2B5.30.19%2BAM.png" width="196"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The lovely Cornelia Sharpe</u></td></tr>
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Robert Blake, amazing in IN COLD BLOOD, plays the epitome of a second-banana... sans the usual sidekick comic relief since he and Gould share similarly caustic, world-weary attitudes, with just-enough chemistry to seem more than two actors thrown together...<br>
<br>
And, for a device/activity, Blake dangles an omnipresent unlit cigarette in his mouth — warming up for an upcoming cop TV-series featuring a cockatoo? Only it's Gould who (at one point) dons the schlocky costume/fake accent gag. Overall, his performance is natural and 
easy with some fifth gear intensity when needed...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rAIyJTYR4UE/Wt2BVxBN9RI/AAAAAAAA1Wc/I49BEzD0XXMkPQTpzz3wgGubMNqYlKSkwCLcBGAs/s1600/51ZX4KRV3TL._SY445_.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="236" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rAIyJTYR4UE/Wt2BVxBN9RI/AAAAAAAA1Wc/I49BEzD0XXMkPQTpzz3wgGubMNqYlKSkwCLcBGAs/s1600/51ZX4KRV3TL._SY445_.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Fans watched this for years before any disc </u></td></tr>
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And, as usual, maybe wanting to appeal to younger (stoned) audiences who weren't big law enforcement buffs, Gould harbors (beyond "hip threads" and a bushy mustache for undercover purposes) some residual 1960's-era hippie spite, at one point actually referring to two uniformed cops as "Pigs!" And of course the partners work for an irritable, lecturing police chief, and a baffled desk sergeant (Richard X. Slattery)...<br>
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Also, for fans of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, Peter Hyams would direct the cold-war-leaning sequel, 2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT, and there's a rare glimpse at the original's cerebral centerpiece, Dr. Heywood Floyd ala character-actor William Sylvester (played by Roy Scheider in the sequel) as a defense lawyer in a grungy courtroom displaying all of that decade's cinematic street trash: from junkies to whores to pimps to trannies and, in the previous scene, a hopped-up, sexually-charged homosexual in a gay bar, seeming intentionally overplayed byAntonio Fargas, making a lusty, physical pass at Blake as if political-correctness would never take over Hollywood (Hyams basically apologizes in the commentary) — and such "blatant stereotyping" would not be allowed. Who knows, maybe that kinda thing kept this buried treasure buried for so long.<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t8Upyf4o3rA/Wt2DTHVCDfI/AAAAAAAA1W4/BQNhI7Eg2Cc5QjA5mV3EdKMDpkRETij1wCLcBGAs/s1600/44.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="960" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t8Upyf4o3rA/Wt2DTHVCDfI/AAAAAAAA1W4/BQNhI7Eg2Cc5QjA5mV3EdKMDpkRETij1wCLcBGAs/s1600/44.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Busting William Sylvester who played Floyd on 2001: A Space Odyssey, here he's a lawyer for Cornelia Sharpe</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Elliott Gould and Robert Blake in BUSTING </u></td></tr>
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action, allen garfield, cop, elliott gould, exploitation, richard x. slattery, robert blake, seventies, sid haig, william sylvester

ROBERT BLAKE & ELLIOTT GOULD 'BUSTING' CORNELIA SHARPE

Cornelia Sharpe in court to avoid BUSTING Year: 1974 Starring Elliott Gould and Robert Blake as determined vice cops BUSTING hookers, ...

LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA FORTIES FILM NOIR 'BORN TO KILL'

<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/-gAxOabpADOY/WtrJseCgsUI/AAAAAAAA1Qw/_AUkzci-pAYGaqUizCu6FSE7pI2LTYfCgCLcBGAs/s1600/8cebd891a52ed3a6c24a2ef34fe41c74.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="943" height="302" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gAxOabpADOY/WtrJseCgsUI/AAAAAAAA1Qw/_AUkzci-pAYGaqUizCu6FSE7pI2LTYfCgCLcBGAs/s400/8cebd891a52ed3a6c24a2ef34fe41c74.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1947</u></td></tr>
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For better or worse, BORN TO KILL is the epitome of Film Noir. All to love and hate 
about the genre is here: the shadows, the melodrama, the erupting musical 
score, the love-struck, the love-wary, the gross (much too lucky snoop Walter Slezak), the beautiful (Claire Trevor), the hammy (Esther Howard, begging to be killed), the classy (Philip Terry) and, of course, the viciously vile...<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/-5WAOqxqwf9E/WtrKAilt5rI/AAAAAAAA1Q4/VMQHFLFczFgkSMXShI5PYTX8SlGFwyi1gCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-04-20%2Bat%2B10.19.44%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1058" data-original-width="486" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5WAOqxqwf9E/WtrKAilt5rI/AAAAAAAA1Q4/VMQHFLFczFgkSMXShI5PYTX8SlGFwyi1gCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-04-20%2Bat%2B10.19.44%2BPM.png" width="145"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>BornToScore: ***</u></td></tr>
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Enter Lawrence Tierney as a 
killer aptly named Sam Wild — and the only thing truly worthwhile: During scenes as our proverbial shark glides within a lavish goldfish bowl... with actors and actresses brimming with boundless 
stage-like energy... one thing becomes abundantly clear: this man, personifying the 
film's title, isn't messing around. Only there's not enough vent for the 
ventilator... <br>
<br>
Tierney, with his usual understated, 
timeless acting style, seems like an intruder on the wrong set: as if 
he's waiting for everyone (except Elisha Cook Jr. as a fellow ex-con) to relax a bit. Perhaps if it were 
made twenty years later, anti-hero-villain Tierney would've had more to
 do (and more to murder). Then again, the handsomely detailed 
time-capsuled aspects of this striking 1940's previously-neglected gem, studiously directed by former editor Robert 
Wise, makes BORN TO KILL, in its own unique way, a plush and cerebral, intoxicating 
journey: Only it needed more of the snake and less of the garden.
<br>

claire trevor, elisha cook jr., film noir or melodrama, forties, lawrence tierney

LAWRENCE TIERNEY CINEMA FORTIES FILM NOIR 'BORN TO KILL'

Year of Release: 1947 For better or worse, BORN TO KILL is the epitome of Film Noir. All to love and hate about the genre is here: the ...

PETER O'TOOLE RETURNS TO THE DESERT-SET EPIC FOR 'MASADA'

anthony quayle, biopic, clive francis, eighties, ken hutchison, miniseries, peter o'toole, peter strauss, tv movie, warren clarke

PETER O'TOOLE RETURNS TO THE DESERT-SET EPIC FOR 'MASADA'

Clive Francis & Peter O'Toole Year: 1982 It doesn't get much better than suffering along with Peter O'Toole as a vulnera...

STACY KEACH & SCOTT WILSON IN 'THE NINTH CONFIGURATION'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vriFDctxZZ4/WtMggqU5zxI/AAAAAAAA1M4/9dV1bcNMemENvpxz-xQ2fuA1skws9UDkgCLcBGAs/s1600/30707081_462728544156327_7884275141759205376_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="960" height="260" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vriFDctxZZ4/WtMggqU5zxI/AAAAAAAA1M4/9dV1bcNMemENvpxz-xQ2fuA1skws9UDkgCLcBGAs/s400/30707081_462728544156327_7884275141759205376_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Good guy, Bad guys, and Linda Blatty YEAR OF RELEASE: 1980</u></td></tr>
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Writer/Director William Peter Blatty, whose novel THE EXORCIST was made into a groundbreaking horror masterpiece by THE FRENCH CONNECTION Oscar-winner William Friedkin, takes personal, independent pride in his very own picture, THE NINTH CONFIGURATION...<br>
<br>
Mostly because the critics deemed how insanely original it is since "Robert Loggia sings Al Jolson in blackface" and "Jason Miller rehearses HAMLET using dogs" and "Moses Gunn wears superhero spandex" or "a man dressed as a nun tries exorcising a soda machine" or "an image of the crucifixion on the moon," and on and on the weirdness goes but, in the reality of this surreal anti-war, existentialist vs religion fable — set inside a castle that serves as an insane asylum, there could have been even more nutty stuff... Anything goes in a story about human beings who are seemingly without logic or limits... And in that, NINTH is actually an extremely grounded vehicle...<br>

eighties, jason miller, military, richard lynch, robert loggia, scott wilson, stacy keach, thriller, william peter blatty

STACY KEACH & SCOTT WILSON IN 'THE NINTH CONFIGURATION'

Good guy, Bad guys, and Linda Blatty YEAR OF RELEASE: 1980 Writer/Director William Peter Blatty, whose novel THE EXORCIST was made into ...

CULT WONDERMENT OF 'ROLLER BOOGIE' STARRING LINDA BLAIR

action, comedy, linda blair, seventies, sport

CULT WONDERMENT OF 'ROLLER BOOGIE' STARRING LINDA BLAIR

Our very own screen-capture YEAR of Release: 1979 B-movie/drive-in director Mark L. Lester takes a simple script and throws in enough di...

TIM CONWAY IN 'THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY & THAT-A-WAY'

<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/-G7ibG4t2FXQ/WsrlyQ0s7PI/AAAAAAAA1FM/6rzYBFoch8cnJ6UR-5n3CBmhRwsyrarXACLcBGAs/s1600/1RrJiKD.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="619" height="307" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G7ibG4t2FXQ/WsrlyQ0s7PI/AAAAAAAA1FM/6rzYBFoch8cnJ6UR-5n3CBmhRwsyrarXACLcBGAs/s400/1RrJiKD.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1978</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Back in the days of movie tie-ins, or what was mostly referred to as novelizations, the rural buddy comedy THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY & THAT-A-WAY made for good reading since the story, much like the Dana Andrews' courtroom thriller BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT before and Sylvester Stallone's ESCAPE PLAN after, used the same primary template...</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In this case, two guys are sent to prison undercover and only one person... the governor... knows about it and, when said sole witness dies, the boys are completely screwed: locked-up possibly for good, and, strangely enough, the dullest scenes take place there in lockup, with character-actors such as Lenny Montana, Dub Taylor and "Jaws" from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, Richard Kiel, as the big, tall, scary tough guy...</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8APc2nmSTWY/WsrnTd0u3oI/AAAAAAAA1Fc/S8JJUvdR-IYH30GA43YGkZ8GJOlz5gaDQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-04-08%2Bat%2B9.07.10%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="394" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8APc2nmSTWY/WsrnTd0u3oI/AAAAAAAA1Fc/S8JJUvdR-IYH30GA43YGkZ8GJOlz5gaDQCEwYBhgL/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-04-08%2Bat%2B9.07.10%2BPM.jpg" width="197"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here it's an old school Southern CHAIN GANG setting while the team is Tim Conway, only given first billing for his popularity and the fact he wrote the story... </span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Meanwhile, like when opposite Tom Bosley in GUS, the alpha male has more lines and overall input, as in recently departed Chuck McCann, more of a bully to Conway's usual deadpan idiot: the latter with the expression of a loyal dog waiting for scraps from the table that never come...</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span><span style="font-size: large;">The boys are hick town policeman who don't know their "asses from their elbows" in a setting popular during the 1970's with cars kicking up dirt </span>—<span style="font-size: large;"> and eventually, during the final act, there's an all-out chase scene that the title gives away: Here's IT'S A MAD MAD (etc.) WORLD styling that keeps the entire ride entertaining enough to where you may not have to suffer-through with the queasy feeling, "What was I thinking for ever liking this movie?" Time's spent (served) well enough here. </span><br>

chase, chuck mccann, comedy, prison, richard kiel, seventies, tim conway

TIM CONWAY IN 'THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY & THAT-A-WAY'

Year of Release: 1978 Back in the days of movie tie-ins, or what was mostly referred to as novelizations, the rural buddy comedy THEY WE...

MICHAEL GREENE TAKES TWO TOP BILLINGS IN 'THE CLONES'

<span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile, the</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> actors seem like they're merely collecting paychecks, sleepwalking through the roles while that same year, serving in heaven as opposed to this scant reign in hell, Sierra would be the hunted in PAPILLON; Otis Young would take THE LAST DETAIL with a never-better Jack Nicholson; and a year earlier, Greene bullied Woody Allen in PLAY IT AGAIN SAM. So they do have merit... The irony is, their CLONES paycheck was probably hardly worth slumming down to. </span> </span><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RcEu4SUsMw4/WsRoRYUp8uI/AAAAAAAA1Dw/Nz8VoDg3o_opcUPLqxYwpa45QJNIEWR5gCLcBGAs/s1600/T7UvPNT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="895" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RcEu4SUsMw4/WsRoRYUp8uI/AAAAAAAA1Dw/Nz8VoDg3o_opcUPLqxYwpa45QJNIEWR5gCLcBGAs/s1600/T7UvPNT.png"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Trippy Imagry from THE CLONES during a meditation sequence... ugh, stoopid hippies...</u></td></tr>
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action, gregory sierra, michael greene, otis young, seventies, thriller, wrong man

MICHAEL GREENE TAKES TWO TOP BILLINGS IN 'THE CLONES'

Year of THE CLONES is 1973 Who knew there was a genre called "Psychedelic Action"... Well there isn't, technically, but t...

DIANE KEATON STARRING IN 'LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR'

<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/-ku-nX6y1QuE/Wr96ReCAWzI/AAAAAAAA1Cg/n0_ctp2GqKUBi92NCEOKSrDmFi8sjtxzgCLcBGAs/s1600/20543347555.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1239" data-original-width="1600" height="308" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ku-nX6y1QuE/Wr96ReCAWzI/AAAAAAAA1Cg/n0_ctp2GqKUBi92NCEOKSrDmFi8sjtxzgCLcBGAs/s400/20543347555.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1977 Cast: Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Tom Berenger Score: ****</u></td></tr>
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A movie that can make even the most jaded viewer 
dead silent as the end  credits roll...<br>
<br>
Following the sexual exploits of
 a newly independent woman, played by Diane Keaton,  beginning with an infidelity with her 
college professor then escalating  into a wild singles scene that 
includes a hopped-up gigolo (Richard  Gere), cocaine and a score of 
random sexual encounters...<br>
<br>
IN COLD BLOOD director Richard Brooks juggles Keaton's wild nightlife (featuring a creepy Tom Berenger), her day job as a  deaf-school teacher, and her
 frustrating family squabbles with ease, sporadically 
glimpsing into her vividly morbid imagination as  if it were really 
happening. And while many films about a character's escalation  
into an out of control lifestyle will have a message intact, Brooks 
 brings the viewer so close to the madness it all seems normal somehow, 
 making the odyssey more energetically adventurous than foreboding.  
Meanwhile, Diane Keaton (who won an Oscar for ANNIE HALL that same year) has never been so good, flawlessly mixing determination,  
sensuality, stubbornness and vulnerability. So no matter how callous you 
are as an exploitation cinema buff: This one <i>will</i> stick with you.
<br>

diane keaton, drug culture, exploitation, neo noir, richard brooks, richard gere, seventies, thriller, tom berenger