WILLIAM LUCAS RISKS ENGLAND'S BIG FREEZE IN 'CALCULATED RISK'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8hnKnip2Cyrc-TCBctybk4haS-hrZhWTaQeTGblptKDVFudT5ETzO9YwytavJB3Tsh1rzuOG-IrjxxFTMWD4TAOHb7QwfAeyV-k5aG4ZkwE-pLl1vJ24JSDs6A2YS_-Dg4IBBmXNhtiMjOKLU3Tu03KJhBfWbNDXgG1YeuH4gZwj_yTyQ5eaD1q75Yg=s1600" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="877" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8hnKnip2Cyrc-TCBctybk4haS-hrZhWTaQeTGblptKDVFudT5ETzO9YwytavJB3Tsh1rzuOG-IrjxxFTMWD4TAOHb7QwfAeyV-k5aG4ZkwE-pLl1vJ24JSDs6A2YS_-Dg4IBBmXNhtiMjOKLU3Tu03KJhBfWbNDXgG1YeuH4gZwj_yTyQ5eaD1q75Yg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Lucas smokes in the snow for CALCULATED RISK in freezing 1963 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Low-budget thriller has <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/gimme-a.html">THE BREAK</a> baddie and overall capable <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/british%20new%20wave">British New Wave</a> actor William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK, a hybrid of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE as a newly-released older short guy has big plans for a big heist (John Rutland doing Sam Jaffe) and LARCENY INC since they must dig through a pair of locations to reach the targeted goal... </p><p></p><p></p><p>Which aren't stores but bombed-out houses from twenty-years past, leading to a lucrative bank vault while Lucas, as a sophisticated yet crooked businessman (like ASPHALT backer Louis Calhern), who really doesn't need the bread (unlike Calhern and more like shifty Marc Lawrence), heads up a group of thugs resembling dockyard barflies...<br> </p>

british neo noir, british new wave, caper, dilys watling, george martin, heist, john rutland, sixties, terence cooper, warren mitchell, william lucas

WILLIAM LUCAS RISKS ENGLAND'S BIG FREEZE IN 'CALCULATED RISK'

William Lucas smokes in the snow for CALCULATED RISK in freezing 1963 Rating: ***1/2 Low-budget thriller has THE BREAK baddie and overall c...

THE BREAK HAS MOVED

<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/gimme-a.html">THE BREAK HAS MOVED HERE</a><br />

THE BREAK HAS MOVED

THE BREAK HAS MOVED HERE

BRITISH NEO NOIR 'JUNGLE STREET' AKA 'JUNGLE STREET GIRLS'

<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/-xhXJyB_Strc/X2CIdVTI2iI/AAAAAAABYMQ/LKx3MK4jkdAAPJXqRdS1mQYYeyoFqfXlACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/0.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xhXJyB_Strc/X2CIdVTI2iI/AAAAAAABYMQ/LKx3MK4jkdAAPJXqRdS1mQYYeyoFqfXlACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/0.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>David McCallum and Gillian Watt with Anne Scott in JUNGLE STREET aka JUNGLE STREET GIRLS Year: 1960</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> After having met and married after working together in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a> where they were basically glorified cameos, three years later David McCallum and Jill Ireland — as an aimless <i>still at home</i> loser hanging around a strip joint to catch that joint's top stripper — actually <i>starred in</i> another B&W British flick that's far superior: a heist thriller that takes an entire film to reach that heist with creative twisty avenues, and our two stars aren't alone...<br> <br> The third lead in the triangle is freshly-sprung convict Kenneth Cope, a handsome and experienced lad with a romantic background with Ireland (one scene as he charmingly converses with McCallum's kitchen sink mother is a standout); he also wants payback from former partner McCallum, who <i>didn't</i> get caught from what landed him in prison...

brian weske, british new wave, charles saunders, david mccallum, faye craig, guido coen, howard pays, jill ireland, joy webster, julie shearing, kenneth cope, marian collins, sixties, stripper, vanda hudson

BRITISH NEO NOIR 'JUNGLE STREET' AKA 'JUNGLE STREET GIRLS'

David McCallum and Gillian Watt with Anne Scott in JUNGLE STREET aka JUNGLE STREET GIRLS Year: 1960 After having met and married after w...

CAROL REED'S BELFAST NOIR 'ODD MAN OUT' WITH JAMES MASON

<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/-I66lIZGOBao/XJ1Ov1MNz7I/AAAAAAABBvU/FGjsDegkb8UQPxYu1hzUohYLMKDa82TYgCLcBGAs/s1600/55865125_675646786197834_3391611282808373248_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="794" height="362" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I66lIZGOBao/XJ1Ov1MNz7I/AAAAAAABBvU/FGjsDegkb8UQPxYu1hzUohYLMKDa82TYgCLcBGAs/s400/55865125_675646786197834_3391611282808373248_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Robert Beatty bribes an urchin for help YEAR: 1947</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> James Mason is always intense, even when he's playing comedy, and this is no comedy: The most riveting scenes seem initially very standard and, for this seemingly doomed, wounded Irish nationalist leader left for dead, staggering through darkened alleys and hidden rooms, he seems to come across things that, at first, seem much different than they turn out being, making this ODD MAN way, way OUT there while at the same time, the audience struggles within the desperate man's perspective...<br> <br> So the suspense relies on a fish out of water almost drowning while perhaps the best moments occur in the set-up as we see through what's truly a semi-deranged mind to begin with: having been holed-up indoors, and before that prison, even his own gang don't trust his instincts and capabilities to pull off a relatively otherwise in-and-out office heist, but in fact, Mason's intrepidly lost Johnny McQueen is backed by tough, assertive Robert Beatty; weaselly, gun-toting Cyril Cusack; timid Dan O'Herlihy; and the lovely, soulfully sad yet dedicated and stubborn-tough ingenue Kathleen Ryan...<br>

british film noir/melodrama, carol reed, cyril cusack, dan o'herlihy, drama, forties, IRA, james mason, kathleen ryan, robert beatty, thriller

CAROL REED'S BELFAST NOIR 'ODD MAN OUT' WITH JAMES MASON

Robert Beatty bribes an urchin for help YEAR: 1947 James Mason is always intense, even when he's playing comedy, and this is no com...

RACHEL ROBERTS & ANNETTE WHITELEY IN 'GIRL ON APPROVAL'

<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/-I6ZkOg-xW24/X0YdtHbQFWI/AAAAAAABXLE/VqZU4AZ25hMA-Mg_Jv03y-fYwz80MjELACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-08-26%2Bat%2B1.25.24%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="1006" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I6ZkOg-xW24/X0YdtHbQFWI/AAAAAAABXLE/VqZU4AZ25hMA-Mg_Jv03y-fYwz80MjELACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-08-26%2Bat%2B1.25.24%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Annette Whiteley in GIRL ON APPROVAL Year: 1962</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> If you didn't know the plot going in... that fourteen-year-old Sheila is an unwanted orphan who'd gone through a string of foster parents and is now "trying out for" a couple that could be her very last chance... she'd seem like any other girl her age: Bratty. Moody. Angry. Pouting. Shouting... Favoring friendly dad over competitive mom...<br> <br> Basically, GIRL ON APPROVAL is about a normal bad girl at this age, and yet the plot (more a situation) adds enough suspense for the outcome to matter, but not only for the kid...<br> <br> Parents Rachel Roberts and James Maxwell, who'd lost their daughter and, raising two young boys, wind up at each other's throat when this bad seed makes their domestic suburban life a living hell. From cutting up furniture with scissors to smashing things on the kitchen floor, the acting of young Annette Whiteley is strong and effective if one-note-grouchy: like an owl peaking through a messy nest of hair... <br>

annette whiteley, british new wave, drama, family, james maxwell, melodrama, rachel roberts, sixties

RACHEL ROBERTS & ANNETTE WHITELEY IN 'GIRL ON APPROVAL'

Annette Whiteley in GIRL ON APPROVAL Year: 1962 If you didn't know the plot going in... that fourteen-year-old Sheila is an unwanted...

JIM O'CONNOLLY DIRECTS JACQUELINE ELLIS IN 'THE HI-JACKERS'

<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/-hBAwewN23Uc/X0T6ZjBm6bI/AAAAAAABXI8/9f0ITIzeQako7cnRgcogtpGAzA8REJ5XQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hBAwewN23Uc/X0T6ZjBm6bI/AAAAAAABXI8/9f0ITIzeQako7cnRgcogtpGAzA8REJ5XQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Opening title sequence for THE HI-JACKERS circa 1963</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Writer/director Jim O'Connolly should be well known for two films where the cult status went to someone else: In BERSERK, Joan Crawford gets credit while stop-motion guru Ray Harryhausen and his dinosaurs ruled THE VALLEY OF GWANGI. But O'Connolly's by himself in creating two neat, tight and entertaining B&W post-noir crime flicks derived from the British b-picture company, Butcher's, in the early/mid 1960's...<br> <br> The first being THE HI-JACKERS starring Anthony Booth as an independent truck/lorry driver: victim of the titular gang faking accident scenes on the rural roadside and then stealing the cargo: in his case, cases of Johnnie Walker Red...<br>

anthony booth, british, british neo noir, british new wave, crime, david gregory, derek francis, glynn edwards, jacqueline ellis, jazz score, jim o'connolly, sixties

JIM O'CONNOLLY DIRECTS JACQUELINE ELLIS IN 'THE HI-JACKERS'

Opening title sequence for THE HI-JACKERS circa 1963 Writer/director Jim O'Connolly should be well known for two films where the cul...

CULT ACTRESS LINDA MANZ IS GONE BUT SHE'S NOT FORGOTTEN

<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/-tZ1FLArnikQ/XzqdteW0CMI/AAAAAAABWy0/xYrxcxk_Pcoqpz-QoJsJYk5ctHUaMjVpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2525252BShot%2525252B2020-08-15%2525252Bat%2525252B12.18.02%2525252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tZ1FLArnikQ/XzqdteW0CMI/AAAAAAABWy0/xYrxcxk_Pcoqpz-QoJsJYk5ctHUaMjVpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2525252BShot%2525252B2020-08-15%2525252Bat%2525252B12.18.02%2525252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Linda Manz born August 20, 1961 died August 14, 2020 here in THE WANDERERS</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Rest in Peace to one of the most unique cult actresses of all time, LINDA MANZ, who started as Richard Gere's narrating little sister in the Depression-era drama DAYS OF HEAVEN, a role that Gere himself said stole the film...<br> <br> And she starred in what's her most famous role as Dennis Hoppers troubled daughter in the EASY RIDER auteur's directorial comeback, OUT OF THE BLUE, in which Manz's character worships Elvis and Johnny Rotten; and before that, in THE WANDERERS, she's the "Pee Wee" girlfriend of giant-sized Erland van Lidth.<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BKknDAOm6XQ/XzhGNwci0XI/AAAAAAABWjE/-Pm8-QwJXW0uOYARsb-VH4xewdZUTs4kACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-08-15%2Bat%2B1.30.29%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BKknDAOm6XQ/XzhGNwci0XI/AAAAAAABWjE/-Pm8-QwJXW0uOYARsb-VH4xewdZUTs4kACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-08-15%2Bat%2B1.30.29%2BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Linda Manz in her final and most iconic roles OUT OF THE BLUE</u></td></tr> </tbody></table>

2020, linda manz, tribute

CULT ACTRESS LINDA MANZ IS GONE BUT SHE'S NOT FORGOTTEN

Linda Manz born August 20, 1961 died August 14, 2020 here in THE WANDERERS Rest in Peace to one of the most unique cult actresses of all...

WILLIAM TALMAN MAKING 'THE RACKET' WITH ROBERT MITCHUM

<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/-qw0vTZ51QuE/XzqZLz1UFXI/AAAAAAABWyI/8X_7xVZC5kc2KWiHBvcErzoMegV0Jw9fwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-08-17%2Bat%2B7.04.34%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="1145" height="282" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qw0vTZ51QuE/XzqZLz1UFXI/AAAAAAABWyI/8X_7xVZC5kc2KWiHBvcErzoMegV0Jw9fwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-08-17%2Bat%2B7.04.34%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Racket Year: 1951 stars: Robert Mitchum Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> While primarily focusing on the two leads, Robert Mitchum as a determined cop, McQuigg, and Robert Ryan as criminal kingpin Nick Scanlon (in cahoots with crooked politician Ray Collins), it's William Talman's heroic yet idealistically naïve , knee-jerk newbie police officer, ready to take on all things villainous, that really drives things along...<br> <div> <br> Bookending the literally explosive middle is an involving buildup, as nothing can touch Robert Ryan and his old-school way of running things. Then, during the last half, he realizes his particular kind of shady doesn't quite work in the world of ever-growing politics. But he's not going down easy, and it takes Mitchum's slowburn patience to wear him down. Throw in sexy Lizbeth Scott as the dame caught in the middle and you really have something kinda neat here. <br> </div>

crime, fifties, film noir or melodrama, howard hughes, robert mitchum, robert ryan, suspense, william talman

WILLIAM TALMAN MAKING 'THE RACKET' WITH ROBERT MITCHUM

The Racket Year: 1951 stars: Robert Mitchum Rating: ***1/2 While primarily focusing on the two leads, Robert Mitchum as a determined c...

SUSAN HAYWARD AND DANA ANDREWS STIR 'MY FOOLISH HEART'

<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/-eJEn5eS8JRE/X03vCTBO6pI/AAAAAAABXjU/wYip8VpbsoUdNZPjt1LxZvVVqG1vkmclACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/fool.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="500" height="302" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eJEn5eS8JRE/X03vCTBO6pI/AAAAAAABXjU/wYip8VpbsoUdNZPjt1LxZvVVqG1vkmclACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/fool.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MY FOOLISH HEART Year: 1949 Rating: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> J.D. Salinger's short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" was adapted, to his chagrin, and with Dana Andrews discussing the titular rabbit getting into and out of trouble, it's contrived, cinematic symbolism for Susan Hayward, flashing back and forth from pre-War to post-War... a glib lush unhappily married to Kent Smith (hanging with her best friend and dealing with an introverted daughter) in the present while reminiscing about the nostalgic affair with Andrews...<br> <br> The best scenes occur before the before the war; that is, when Dana's dapper, handsome stranger meets our insecure college girl at a dance, defends her against a bullying deb, takes her home for a drink, and later gets her thrown out of college for kissing in the dorm elevator. And just as their romance gets interesting, the next scene Dana's wearing a baggy military uniform, about to fly overseas but before that, to meet her parents...<br>

adaptation, dana andrews, drama, forties, j.d. salinger, kent smith, mark robson, melodrama, robert keith, romance, susan hayward

SUSAN HAYWARD AND DANA ANDREWS STIR 'MY FOOLISH HEART'

Title: MY FOOLISH HEART Year: 1949 Rating: *** J.D. Salinger's short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" was adapted, to ...

DANA ANDREWS AND FARLEY GRANGER IN 'EDGE OF DOOM'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxggU7uhjlOJKXcE9EHmSH8USHuYcMH_PCAM1ybapzez7rznlw3EHEq48UrzHWm_OrVHHt-Fvys3TnsGc-ItF3xvbeS_E9KsxG1UNrWw6Vw1HukmBh24UL6C86c3zzLFFDGaHe9G46yFfffLNPgI3A1Z1XeOysQ4Y-VVO8BpbLC9g4C-PV_qJN2X1yBQ=s931" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="931" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxggU7uhjlOJKXcE9EHmSH8USHuYcMH_PCAM1ybapzez7rznlw3EHEq48UrzHWm_OrVHHt-Fvys3TnsGc-ItF3xvbeS_E9KsxG1UNrWw6Vw1HukmBh24UL6C86c3zzLFFDGaHe9G46yFfffLNPgI3A1Z1XeOysQ4Y-VVO8BpbLC9g4C-PV_qJN2X1yBQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: EDGE OF DOOM aka STRONGER THAN FEAR Year: 1950 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The idea of a Catholic Film Noir isn't so strange being that the "genre" and the religion are both full of guilt, and this above-average crime melodrama in the fashion of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT stars super-guilty-looking Farley Granger (equally as ashamed of his murdering-self in Alfred Hitchock's ROPE), who kills an old cranky priest that didn't give his long-dead father last rites because he'd committed suicide instead of — like Granger's beloved mother that he wants a lavish funeral for despite their shabby apartment-dwelling reality — dying more naturally, and with dignity...<br> <br> Enter Dana Andrews... not as the doomed priest but the young, more open minded Father with the normally Jewish last name of Roth (Hollywood obviously wanted to please everyone): he's called in for Ma's last rites instead of the old man, dealing with his own pointless personal family issues.<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>

adele jergens, dana andrews, farley granger, fifties, film noir or melodrama, mala powers, mark robson, paul stewart, robert keith, thriller

DANA ANDREWS AND FARLEY GRANGER IN 'EDGE OF DOOM'

Title: EDGE OF DOOM aka STRONGER THAN FEAR Year: 1950 Rating: ***1/2 The idea of a Catholic Film Noir isn't so strange being that the &...

PETER SELLERS ENDS WITH 'THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANCHU'

<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/-wz0UIAbynyA/XzJbCBlGqzI/AAAAAAABWY8/xD2gM1_hoYMd9wHKSyqo7Pg7DPf8PcXTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="1458" height="342" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wz0UIAbynyA/XzJbCBlGqzI/AAAAAAABWY8/xD2gM1_hoYMd9wHKSyqo7Pg7DPf8PcXTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/01.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Artwork for THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANCHU Year: 1980</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> What Peter Sellers' final motion picture, THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANCHU, has in common with his most popular franchise, THE PINK PANTHER, is that both parody James Bond: Especially 1976's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/04/StrikesAgain.html">PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN</a>, so over-the-top similar to the Roger Moore outings that MANCHU feels like a homage of a homage. But there's also the Christopher Lee MANCHU b-flicks and before that, Boris Karloff...<br> <br> Sellers was obviously a fan of both as this was he and trophy wife Lynne Frederick's labor-of-love going through several directors, which shows since many overlong scenes lack any direction at all wherein, as usual, Sellers plays several roles, particularly pulp author Sax Rohmer's Tong-lord supervillain and his dogged Scotland Yard investigator Nayland Smith. In both parts, Sellers, who died not long after production wrapped, seems too old and tired to not only pull off genuinely humorous performances but to move along an already convoluted and sometimes downright confusing story (one particular scheme involving an obese guard of a British diamond is a time-wasting mess)...<br>

comedy, david tomlinson, eighties, helen mirren, lynne frederick, parody, peter sellers, sid caesar, steve franken

PETER SELLERS ENDS WITH 'THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANCHU'

Artwork for THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANCHU Year: 1980 What Peter Sellers' final motion picture, THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANC...

PEGGY CUMMINS & JOHN DALL IN THE NOIR ROAD FLICK 'GUN CRAZY'

<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/-0WzaNIdLFcg/XzC_mBvt6UI/AAAAAAABWYI/ebhB2DMeCtw72hmmZacqk7_IOZi-X9LJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/upload-2Nikos-work_poster-gun-crazy64ssed.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="1113" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0WzaNIdLFcg/XzC_mBvt6UI/AAAAAAABWYI/ebhB2DMeCtw72hmmZacqk7_IOZi-X9LJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/upload-2Nikos-work_poster-gun-crazy64ssed.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster with John Dall and Peggy Cummins dead in love for GUN CRAZY Year: 1950</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The Femme Fatale, you know, the bad girl with the great face... the soulless dame with the fantastic body... Well she's just about everything in GUN CRAZY despite the lengthy prologue about the doomed young man as a precocious kid, initially played by Russ Tamblyn, with a penchant for guns who winds up in reform school...<br> <br> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> And it's not long after getting out... now a twenty-something John Dall... when he and his childhood buddies go to a sideshow where Peggy Cummins' Annie Laurie Starr steals his heart — but only after he beats her at a shooting contest i.e. her very own game. The next scene, Dall's Bart Tare has a job there too, and not long after he's fired by jealous barker Berry Kroeger, smitten with the girl who gets away...</div> <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/-HSx3wIG5FkY/XzDAOjsbmWI/AAAAAAABWYQ/iqL7PNibPzg-Rk-1gFlr_rMZsGSqG5vHACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/15564.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="786" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HSx3wIG5FkY/XzDAOjsbmWI/AAAAAAABWYQ/iqL7PNibPzg-Rk-1gFlr_rMZsGSqG5vHACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/15564.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The other title for GUN CRAZY is DEADLY IS THE FEMALE Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The second act has a lot of bombastic action up front but the usual Noirish guilt, here involving Dall's brooding Bart, not only happens much too quick but is intrusive and annoying, not allowing him (or the audience) to enjoy the rural Bonnie & Clyde town-hopping robberies: But there's no such cloying guilt from Annie...<br> <br> And with sparse, finely-tuned direction by Joseph H. Lewis... visually and rhythmically foreshadowing French New Wave cinema with a kind of naked/barren aesthetic... this is Peggy Cummins picture; and she had no backstory at all. Then again, do deadly dames (aka DEADLY IS THE FEMALE) even have a past? Usually theirs' is a quick shoot-em-up future. If only she had a less reluctant/whiny partner-in-crime. Mr. Dall needed a little of that ROPE gusto here! <br>

action, fifties, film noir or melodrama, heist, john dall, peggy cummins, road movie, russ tamblyn

PEGGY CUMMINS & JOHN DALL IN THE NOIR ROAD FLICK 'GUN CRAZY'

Poster with John Dall and Peggy Cummins dead in love for GUN CRAZY Year: 1950 The Femme Fatale, you know, the bad girl with the great fa...

PAUL NEWMAN DEFECTS ALFRED HITCHOCK'S 'TORN CURTAIN'

<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/-tfHLg8emqJw/Xyt1v71XW8I/AAAAAAABWXA/VopBn_MDN0M8eR6gzLwBRv-vys0B9YkIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/dd.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1234" height="301" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tfHLg8emqJw/Xyt1v71XW8I/AAAAAAABWXA/VopBn_MDN0M8eR6gzLwBRv-vys0B9YkIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/dd.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paul Newman battling Wolfgang Kieling Year: 1966 Rating: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> 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> <br> 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...

ANN LYNN LOCKED IN THE BRITISH NEO NOIR 'STRONGROOM'

<p></p><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/-cs1lI7HDwpI/X20-yOk9w7I/AAAAAAABYbQ/lBrtAzOOVDAjWlXp9l6taIcuwutU4Y0xgCLcBGAsYHQ/s456/513gz2IOo8L._AC_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="456" height="319" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cs1lI7HDwpI/X20-yOk9w7I/AAAAAAABYbQ/lBrtAzOOVDAjWlXp9l6taIcuwutU4Y0xgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h319/513gz2IOo8L._AC_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for STRONGROOM Year: 1962 Rates: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>STRONGROOM is an important early-1960's British crime films as it underlines what you won't find Stateside: to be extra cautious to <i>not harm anyone</i> during a heist or your jail sentence lengthens... </p><p>Making British bad guys not only more sympathetic but far more cautious, which includes bank robbers Keith Faulkner and Derren Nesbitt who, after locking the first guy's coworkers in the titular bank vault, is talked into by the more empathetic crook to return to the crime scene to provide some oxygen...<br></p><p></p><p>A twist ignited by the third robber's death... the older brother to the edgy Keith Faulkner, he held the key to the STRONGROOM that the oblivious cops won't let go of, so, what takes up most of the runtime is the bickering boys seeking a way back while, inside, spectacle-wearing bank manager Colin Gordon and subtle beauty Ann Lynn are running out of air, providing more race-against-time suspense than what should be occurring simultaneously outside, including investigating cops. Making for an anticipated 11th hour that everything deliberately hinges on, and a final twist that makes this one of the most Noirish of the Brit Neo Noirs. It's too bad there couldn't be a stronger man-woman chemistry inside the vault... but first-billed, far too old and completely miscast Colin Gordon seems like pretty Ann Lynn's father's accountant. A strong-silent <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/william%20lucas">William Lucas</a> type would have fit better, giving Lynn something to keep breathing for and the audience to root for. </p><p><span></span></p>

ann lynn, british neo noir, british new wave, colin gordon, crime, derren nesbitt, guido coen, heist, keith faulkner, race against time, suspense

ANN LYNN LOCKED IN THE BRITISH NEO NOIR 'STRONGROOM'

Poster for STRONGROOM Year: 1962 Rates: ***1/2 STRONGROOM is an important early-1960's British crime films as it underlines what you won...

STANLEY BAKER TRUCKIN' WITH PEGGY CUMMINS IN 'HELL DRIVERS'

<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/-fWwHNYho-3E/X13h5WmMArI/AAAAAAABYGA/m9A9c8ilCCgHtz3ioYEQ_muxv1SyruOHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-09-10%252Bat%252B4.59.28%252BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="500" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fWwHNYho-3E/X13h5WmMArI/AAAAAAABYGA/m9A9c8ilCCgHtz3ioYEQ_muxv1SyruOHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-09-10%252Bat%252B4.59.28%252BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker leads THE HELL DRIVERS Year: 1957 </u></td></tr> </tbody></table> With the cheating aid of that kind of sped-up effect used long ago on Keystone Cop shorts, the hauling-trucks for HELL DRIVERS picks up granite and races it back to the factory as quickly as possible... at breakneck speed taking neck-breaking curves... and newly hired ex-con Stanley Baker catches on that he's not very wanted... That is, the boss wants him fast, but not <i>too</i> fast... <br> <br> And to NEVER beat the high score of antagonist Patrick McGoohan, looking like a severe pirate with a cocky grin behind the wheel, and this whole gang is a truly wild bunch that includes a young Sean Connery... and the only friend of Baker's square-jawed strong-silent-type is Italian romantic Herbert Lom, smitten with secretary Peggy Cummins, who's into the new guy instead.<br>

action, british film noir/melodrama, british new wave, cy endfield, david mccallum, fifties, herbert lom, jill ireland, patrick mcgoohan, peggy cummins, sean connery, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER TRUCKIN' WITH PEGGY CUMMINS IN 'HELL DRIVERS'

Stanley Baker leads THE HELL DRIVERS Year: 1957 With the cheating aid of that kind of sped-up effect used long ago on Keystone Cop short...

ALFRED HITCHCOCK TAKING ON COLD WAR CUBA FOR 'TOPAZ'

<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/-JJpOHxVmfrA/Xytu0tZx4OI/AAAAAAABWW0/NScbq4OHUUowcRzuFG1pF2TwiaV9P7zYACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/A1gLSHxVHbL._AC_SX679_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JJpOHxVmfrA/Xytu0tZx4OI/AAAAAAABWW0/NScbq4OHUUowcRzuFG1pF2TwiaV9P7zYACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/A1gLSHxVHbL._AC_SX679_.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frederick Stafford & Claude Jade 1969 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> In Alfred Hitchcock's underrated Cold War Thriller TOPAZ, by the time there's someone to root for in French spy Frederick Stafford, seeking info in Castro's Cuba after scene-stealing, sneak-around Roscoe Lee Browne risked his life to lift an important briefcase (the McGuffin) in Harlem, 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> <br> The problem is length: After the splendid demise of beautiful Cuban Castro-hating Karin Dor (having had an ongoing affair with the married Frenchman) 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 (including our French spy's worried wife Dany Robin and daughter Claude Jade getting shoved into the danger) with villain John Vernon as a bright-blue-eyed 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, claude jade, cold war, dany robin, espionage, frederick stafford, john forsythe, john vernon, karin dor, sixties, spy, thriller

ALFRED HITCHCOCK TAKING ON COLD WAR CUBA FOR 'TOPAZ'

Frederick Stafford & Claude Jade 1969 Rating: ***1/2 In Alfred Hitchcock's underrated Cold War Thriller TOPAZ, by the time there...

JOHN SCHLESIGNER'S GLOSSY YUPPIE HORROR 'PACIFIC HEIGHTS'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mHKTXFsATFs/X2-e05QsSiI/AAAAAAABYdE/3nzXTBbuAFEitde3fyquYEOIwmZ12n1OQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1515/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-09-26%2Bat%2B1.02.05%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="1515" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mHKTXFsATFs/X2-e05QsSiI/AAAAAAABYdE/3nzXTBbuAFEitde3fyquYEOIwmZ12n1OQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h313/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-09-26%2Bat%2B1.02.05%2BPM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>PACIFIC HEIGHTS Year: 1990 Rates: **1/2</u><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of those Premise Thrillers: This one about a renter renting from a young couple who bought a San Fransisco townhouse and has rights that don't make sense, but are still insanely legal... </p><p>Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith look like yuppies but aren't because they have little money... so that's both their sympathy <i>and</i> motivation to desperately need payment that Michael Keaton's shyster is holding back, and back and back... </p><p>Meanwhile he's a squatter from hell who plagues the place with roaches, hammering noises and endless mind games in an annoying neo-horror that's intentionally so since the villain's  purpose is to drive the protagonists <i>and</i> the audience crazy...</p><p>But there's not enough mix and match, and Michael Keaton has very little to do but sit around in dark brooding shadows looking sinister (under director John Schlesinger's modern Noir aesthetic). A shame since we know how hyperactive-charming Keaton can be. Imagine some black comedy injected throughout. After all, is this young-couple-harasser within a refurbished old home any different than Beetlejuice? Well yes, he is... because it's simply no fun hating him, and <i>should</i> be. Thankfully, Melanie Griffith, the stronger of the two victimized landlords, unleashes an intriguing 11th hour payback.<br /></p><p><br /></p>

horror, john schlesinger, matthew modine, melanie griffith, michael keaton, neo noir, nineties, thriller

JOHN SCHLESIGNER'S GLOSSY YUPPIE HORROR 'PACIFIC HEIGHTS'

PACIFIC HEIGHTS Year: 1990 Rates: **1/2 One of those Premise Thrillers: This one about a renter renting from a young couple who bought a Sa...

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

<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/-8VA4S_0XE38/XyUkdAQBVDI/AAAAAAABWPo/PKzKWcfuzLASvMJDNEtwubjESvBb2jHJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/525994_185015964968563_813411646_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="841" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8VA4S_0XE38/XyUkdAQBVDI/AAAAAAABWPo/PKzKWcfuzLASvMJDNEtwubjESvBb2jHJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/525994_185015964968563_813411646_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <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> </tbody></table> 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> <br> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> 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...