cult film freak: August 2020

Written by James M. Tate / 8/05/2020 / No comments / action , adventure , alfred hitchcock , carolyn conwell , cold war , espionage , julie andrews , paul newman , russia , science , suspense , thriller , wolfgang kieling

PAUL NEWMAN DEFECTS ALFRED HITCHOCK'S 'TORN CURTAIN'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paul Newman battling Wolfgang Kieling Year: 1966 Rating: ***</u></td></tr>
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Alfred Hitchcock's Cold War Thriller TORN CURTAIN brings back the auteur's use of teaming-up a man and woman for the best use of retaliation, which includes leading man Paul Newman but not his dutiful wife Julie Andrews: instead the <i>she</i> is Carolyn Conwell as <i>Farmer's Wife</i>, who not only has more importance than her tractor-driving husband, Mort Mills, spouting exposition to Newman's American scientist, pretending to defect <i>within</i> Russia to get secret plans to take back Stateside...  <br>
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But the good strong Russian woman helps Newman's Professor Michael Armstrong kill a seemingly impenetrable, solidly built Soviet henchman named Gromek, played by Wolfgang Kieling who, once he's out of the picture, it's all pretty much downhill, leaving the handsome, reluctant hero to deal with the film's weakest link: And in that, Julie Andrews basically stands around staring pale-eyed, hoping her husband isn't really doing what he's really not doing while she obstructs the overall suspense from its cinematic Master, only half-successfully covering new ground here (<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/08/topaz.html">TOPAZ</a> is a slight improvement).<br>

action, adventure, alfred hitchcock, carolyn conwell, cold war, espionage, julie andrews, paul newman, russia, science, suspense, thriller, wolfgang kieling

PAUL NEWMAN DEFECTS ALFRED HITCHOCK'S 'TORN CURTAIN'

Paul Newman battling Wolfgang Kieling Year: 1966 Rating: *** Alfred Hitchcock's Cold War Thriller TORN CURTAIN brings back the auteu...

ALFRED HITCHCOCK TAKING ON COLD WAR CUBA FOR 'TOPAZ'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frederick Stafford & Karin Dor in TOPAZ Year: 1969 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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In Alfred Hitchcock's Cold War Thriller TOPAZ, by the time there's someone to root for in French James Bond-looking Frederick Stafford, seeking information in Castro's Cuba with the aid of scene-stealing sneak-around Roscoe Lee Browne, we've forgotten it all started with John Forsythe helping an important Russian family defect in what feels like its own suspenseful short film...<br>
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The problem is length: After the splendid demise of beautiful Karin Dor in the only <i>moment</i> TOPAZ is linked to Hitchcock's legendary style... a dress seeming to bleed into the floor... there's a lot of talky running-out-the-clock with villain John Vernon as a Cuban General; what's really shocking is he only <i>seems </i>miscast. His input early on is actually quite effective. But it's one outdoor sequence involving two hungry seagulls (from the director of THE BIRDS no less!)... screwing up a perfectly good spying-on-the-villains-picnic... that really feels like Hitchcock's dark comedy touch. He simply needed more touches here. <br>

adventure, alfred hitchcock, cold war, espionage, frederick stafford, john forsythe, john vernon, karin dor, sixties, spy, thriller

ALFRED HITCHCOCK TAKING ON COLD WAR CUBA FOR 'TOPAZ'

Frederick Stafford & Karin Dor in TOPAZ Year: 1969 Rating: ***1/2 In Alfred Hitchcock's Cold War Thriller TOPAZ, by the time the...

WES CRAVEN'S ORIGINAL EXPLOITATION 'THE HILLS HAVE EYES'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Not one horror film geek hasn't had a crush on Suze Lanier in THE HILLS HAVE EYES Year: 1977</u></td></tr>
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THE HILLS HAVE EYES is generally regarded as a classic horror 
film. Because of the blood, guts, and killer cannibals, but especially 
since Wes Craven, who’d later scare us on ELM STREET and make the next 
generation SCREAM with delight, wrote and directed: Thus the plot has 
the usual horror elements: a trailer-traveling family gets derailed in 
the middle of nowhere and, like the title implies, they’re not alone.<br>
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The setting is fitfully spooky: the surrounding valley of sharp canyon 
cliffs where just about anything is possible, especially after the 
antagonists show themselves in the bright daylight — yet perhaps too bright 
for a movie meant to keep us on edge in a genre where darker is better. 
The Neanderthal hillbillies are liken to a group of mutant hippies had 
they wandered into the Town of Bedrock after hearing The Beatles White 
Album. Or something. <br>

body count, cult, dee wallace, exploitation, horror, indie, michael berryman, seventies, suze lanier, wes craven

WES CRAVEN'S ORIGINAL EXPLOITATION 'THE HILLS HAVE EYES'

Not one horror film geek hasn't had a crush on Suze Lanier in THE HILLS HAVE EYES Year: 1977 THE HILLS HAVE EYES is generally regard...

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Written by James M. Tate / 8/05/2020 / No comments / action , adventure , alfred hitchcock , carolyn conwell , cold war , espionage , julie andrews , paul newman , russia , science , suspense , thriller , wolfgang kieling

PAUL NEWMAN DEFECTS ALFRED HITCHOCK'S 'TORN CURTAIN'

Written by James M. Tate / 8/02/2020 / No comments / adventure , alfred hitchcock , cold war , espionage , frederick stafford , john forsythe , john vernon , karin dor , sixties , spy , thriller

ALFRED HITCHCOCK TAKING ON COLD WAR CUBA FOR 'TOPAZ'

WES CRAVEN'S ORIGINAL EXPLOITATION 'THE HILLS HAVE EYES'

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PAUL NEWMAN DEFECTS ALFRED HITCHOCK'S 'TORN CURTAIN'

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