ELLIOTT GOULD & STERLING HAYDEN DRINK TO 'THE LONG GOODBYE'

<p></p><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/-IWttFnn_coI/X6eQg990x8I/AAAAAAABZh0/755LTlgkSzwbOqZNJyIhQ9_rRtrIMEaTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1476/0.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1476" height="270" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IWttFnn_coI/X6eQg990x8I/AAAAAAABZh0/755LTlgkSzwbOqZNJyIhQ9_rRtrIMEaTQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h270/0.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sterling Hayden as Roger Wade Year: 1973 Rating: *****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Although Sterling Hayden's semi-senile has-been writer never says anything as crazy as “I got hairy legs that turn blond in the sun... The kids used to come up and reach in the pool and rub my leg down so it was straight, and then watch the hair come back up again... I learned about roaches and I like when kids jump on my lap," he <i>is</i> a man at the end of his rope, and is technically the most important character in Robert Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE, based on a Raymond Chandler novel where the historically tough-handsome gumshoe Philip Marlowe is turned into a lazy, hippie-friendly slob in Elliott Gould, perfectly cast against type and at his very best... </p><p></p><p>Particularly a scene where he and Hayden's Roger Wade (hired by Wade's mesmerizing trophy wife) share an afternoon drink at the couple's Malibu beach-backyard, and it's here Wade learns that Marlowe's not such a "ding-a-ling" after all: And like any kind of Noir, most of the last-name-spouting/roundabout dialog is meant to put the gumshoe into mazes as puzzling to him as the audience: Though the basic plot is simple enough as Marlowe's lifelong buddy supposedly killed himself in Mexico after supposedly killing his wife in Malibu; and to give away any more would be a crime. But what makes director Altman shine behind his actors (including Mark Rydell as a surprisingly vicious gangster and David Arkin as his clumsy henchmen) is that the camera literally <i>never</i> stops moving, and yet it hardly seems to <i>noticeably </i>move all that much at all — subtle genius by the spontaneous auteur whose real agenda is to focus on the characters... despite how completely out-of-focus they may initially seem. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

arnold schwarzenegger, crime, cult, david arkin, elliott gould, gumshoe, mark rydell, mystery, neo noir, robert altman, seventies, thriller

ELLIOTT GOULD & STERLING HAYDEN DRINK TO 'THE LONG GOODBYE'

Sterling Hayden as Roger Wade Year: 1973 Rating: ***** Although Sterling Hayden's semi-senile has-been writer never says anything as cra...

SEAN CONNERY IN JOHN BOORMAN'S EXPERIMENTAL 'ZARDOZ'

<p></p><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/-KstDmudp-7U/X53geu_1ArI/AAAAAAABZS4/jo7-4fGee3oj3P8H5kB2xuxLOpVQ0w9cgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1088/zardoz-pic-7.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="1088" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KstDmudp-7U/X53geu_1ArI/AAAAAAABZS4/jo7-4fGee3oj3P8H5kB2xuxLOpVQ0w9cgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h283/zardoz-pic-7.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sean Connery as Zed in ZARDOZ Year: 1974 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>After scoring big with DELIVERANCE, adventurous and intrepid director John Boorman wound up with the bizarre futuristic fable ZARDOZ, a picture that could never be made today...</p><p>About a raping and pillaging (and raping) barbarian, part of a raping and pillaging barbarian race, violently riding horseback along the beachy outskirts of a world run within a hidden wilderness Utopia of sexless intellectuals, that never (really) age... </p><p></p><p>And the coolest sequence has Sean Connery's resilient muscular/shirtless title character discovering his way there, stowed inside a giant floating god-head statue; and then becoming an experimental neanderthal that these flaky neo-hippies can study — in particular the gorgeous and stubborn Charlotte Rampling and scene-stealing arthouse beauty Sara Kestelman, both shrewder than passive male counterpart John Alderton, who <i>all</i> share scenes with Connery's Zed when he isn't alone, investigating what makes this strange land tick, dating back to the 20th Century — with a twist <i>literally</i> built into the title: A cerebral STAR TREK meets TWILIGHT ZONE that needs far more pockets of action throughout endless philosophizing so heavy-handed, it's nearly impossible for an audience to fully grasp... at least the first time around. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, charlotte rampling, fantasy, future, john alderton, john boorman, memorial, sara kestelman, science-fiction, sean connery, tribute

SEAN CONNERY IN JOHN BOORMAN'S EXPERIMENTAL 'ZARDOZ'

Sean Connery as Zed in ZARDOZ Year: 1974 Rating: ***1/2 After scoring big with DELIVERANCE, adventurous and intrepid director John Boorman w...

ORSON WELLES DIRECTS AND STARS IN 'THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI'

<p></p><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/-D6GZziDpWKs/X5xitbUTTHI/AAAAAAABZMk/Elm2CPNFBOk0e7G0u6SzX2Eg4aVAEiWDwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1589/0.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1263" data-original-width="1589" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D6GZziDpWKs/X5xitbUTTHI/AAAAAAABZMk/Elm2CPNFBOk0e7G0u6SzX2Eg4aVAEiWDwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h318/0.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Glenn Anders & Orson Welles Year: 1947 Rating: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI is famous for the house-of-mirrors ending, but there <i>are</i> some worthy middle parts of this unique Noir that Welles cast ex-wife Rita Hayworth in, cutting off her luscious GILDA hair and ticking off producers right off the bat...</p><p></p><p>Not that it matters... Hayworth's performance never seems that interesting or sinister, upfront or deep down, but she <i>is</i> fitfully vulnerable: particularly in a horse-and-carriage opening Welles was forced to shoot, introducing both his contentedly poor Irish seaman, Mike "Black Irish" O'Hara to Hayworth's rich, sullen Elsa, wife of a crippled, snaky and hugely infamous lawyer played by Everette Sloane... </p><p>Sadly, he's as lackluster as she is — but on the other hand, Ted de Corsia as Sloane's secret gumshoe fulfills the "hard-boiled" edge while Glenn Anders shines in this "road movie" at sea: Welles the initially reluctant captain of Sloane's yacht, taking his "party" around South America/Cape Horn up to San Fransisco: The best scenes taking place in-between at a Spanish seaport where Anders, as Sloane's law partner, George — far more spontaneous, crooked, and sometimes downright outrageous — starts messing with the good captain's head (and the audience's too) in what's mostly a breezy action/adventure yarn that (as Welles has bemoaned) wields a far too melodramatic score, making every scene concerning boy and girl seem like a soap operatic engagement instead of a seductive entanglement — all leading to that famous finale, which makes up for Anders no longer being around. Basically, he's the Fun House before the Fun House.  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, everette sloane, film noir or melodrama, forties, glenn anders, orson welles, rita hayworth, ted decorsia, thriller

ORSON WELLES DIRECTS AND STARS IN 'THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI'

Glenn Anders & Orson Welles Year: 1947 Rating: **** THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI is famous for the house-of-mirrors ending, but there are som...

OLIVER REED IN MICHAEL WINNER'S BRIT NEW WAVE 'THE SYSTEM'

<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/-H-lUSQPYDp0/YAUI4_FZNBI/AAAAAAABbnk/UMpyyfpS-2o06JD5a6-Qmvl3mraomcg4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1202/71Dv7HJpk4L._SL1300_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="968" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H-lUSQPYDp0/YAUI4_FZNBI/AAAAAAABbnk/UMpyyfpS-2o06JD5a6-Qmvl3mraomcg4ACLcBGAsYHQ/w323-h400/71Dv7HJpk4L._SL1300_.jpeg" width="323"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: The System Year: 1964 Rates: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>THE GIRL-GETTERS is really THE SYSTEM as the other title makes little sense — although the British New Wave comedy/drama <i>does</i> begin like a horny-dudes ensemble, it soon narrows solely onto Oliver Reed as Tinker, head of the wolf pack who "gets his" by falling in love with a rich model as cool, smooth, complicated and yes, beautiful as he is...</p><p></p><p>Director Michael Winner, before the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/01/bronson-winner-three.html">Charles Bronson action</a> flicks, began an eclectic partnership with Hammer villain Reed, and the first is their best: Winner provides a looser LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER vibe with similar satirical montage breaks; and Reed's Tinker... the local womanizing photographer... is all smiles and robust energy, hardly frowning or scowling before a long career playing frowning, scowling antagonists or anti-heroes... </p><p>Taking place during two weeks at a British vacation spot, there's a contained hanging out overnight vibe as this might've influenced AMERICAN GRAFFITI putting you <i>right there</i> with the characters...<br></p><p>Including a female version of Tinker (Barbara Ferris); a sullen married girl (Ann Lynn); a "finally grown up" engaged friend of Tinker (John Alterton); and a ditsy conquest (Julia Foster): All hanging out at this sunny retreat where tourists abound, and our boys use their titular SYSTEM to cover the entire area (for girls and money), saving up for the approaching Winter. And although they never reach that particular season, the foreboding chill is palpable, ironically after Reed's creative, genuine charm had almost completely thawed Jane Merrow's sublime dream-girl, Nicola, in what's more of a prolonged end of a party than a beginning, middle and end of a romantic summertime adventure — yet it's all that too.   </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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wYa28mfQMbg/YATyjQzgIBI/AAAAAAABbnE/EVhmv-QHz1MdjqlkpsrzqNUd4-nDd5oXACLcBGAsYHQ/s1828/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-17%2Bat%2B6.22.03%2BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1310" data-original-width="1828" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wYa28mfQMbg/YATyjQzgIBI/AAAAAAABbnE/EVhmv-QHz1MdjqlkpsrzqNUd4-nDd5oXACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-17%2Bat%2B6.22.03%2BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Oliver Reed and Jane Merrow in THE SYSTEM</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

ann lynn, british new wave, comedy, david hemmings, drama, ensemble, jane merrow, john alderton, melodrama, michael winner, oliver reed, sixties

OLIVER REED IN MICHAEL WINNER'S BRIT NEW WAVE 'THE SYSTEM'

Title: The System Year: 1964 Rates: ****1/2 THE GIRL-GETTERS is really THE SYSTEM as the other title makes little sense — although the Briti...

DON SIEGEL'S THEATRICAL 'THE LINEUP' STARRING ELI WALLACH

<p></p><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/-zxVl891ZbsA/X5c-mUlPnaI/AAAAAAABZFc/qh01zNxBm9UGadoeUtxDENnoWFeoaUp7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s866/0.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="866" height="251" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zxVl891ZbsA/X5c-mUlPnaI/AAAAAAABZFc/qh01zNxBm9UGadoeUtxDENnoWFeoaUp7wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h251/0.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Eli Wallach and Robert Baily Year: 1958 Rating: ****1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Brazen and bizarre crime flick beginning with a police investigation of what turns out being heroin smuggled through antiques from a cruise ship, and then focusing on the criminals who collect the stuff: the first fifteen minutes a police procedural based on the television series its named after, also known as SAN FRANCISCO BEAT, a Bay Area DRAGNET from the early part of the sparse Eisenhower decade, in which this edgy theatrical adaptation came out in the hipper/jazzier crest of.</p><p></p><p>Eli Wallach, as the crazy, insecure and sometimes charming lead thug named Dancer, shipped in from Florida with a tan intact, follows subtle "orders" and etiquette lessons from elder partner Robert Keith, making for a unique and twisted partnership that could be called MY FAIR SOCIOPATH: both (along with "dipso" getaway driver Richard Jaeckel) going from the various oblivious "mules" to either take the hidden heroin, or their lives. Often both. And director Don Siegel keeps the suspense on par with the snappy Noir dialog, and there's even some homoerotic stuff thrown in. Way, way ahead of its time, THE LINEUP exceeds the very limited series it's loosely derived (there's even a Lineup scene in the beginning to attempt retrofitting the title). Thank Don for that... who fought to make this LINEUP his own way: where the cops are but a Greek Chorus for the killers. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, body count, crime, don siegel, drugs, eli wallach, fifties, film noir or melodrama, richard jaekal, robert keith, TV adaptation

DON SIEGEL'S THEATRICAL 'THE LINEUP' STARRING ELI WALLACH

Eli Wallach and Robert Baily Year: 1958 Rating: ****1/2 Brazen and bizarre crime flick beginning with a police investigation of what turns o...

QUEEN OF TECHNICOLOR RHONDA FLEMING GOES 3D FOR 'INFERNO'

<p></p><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/-n0JqjoxrFLQ/X4uH91WQDEI/AAAAAAABZC0/QjyYlqO2_posbE30nxaxmfguAeXV0p0cgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1130/inferno-rhonda-fleming.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="1130" height="305" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n0JqjoxrFLQ/X4uH91WQDEI/AAAAAAABZC0/QjyYlqO2_posbE30nxaxmfguAeXV0p0cgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h305/inferno-rhonda-fleming.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for Ronda Fleming INFERNO Year: 1953 Rating: *** </u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Robert Ryan could be difficult to root for since he played contentedly bitter types who didn't need or want rooting for...</p><p>But with INFERNO his rich-husband character gets so screwed over by his wife and her lover, left in the scorching desert — without use of his legs — to trudge through rocky terrain before he's a Hot Pocket for condors, there's no other option but to have complete sympathy, if anything else for the movie (and his dire situation) to conclude...<br></p><p>Yet the most intriguing scenes not only alleviate the halting, sometimes awkward tension but add a touch of Film Noir/Melodrama to the Adventure...</p><p>Particularly when trophy wife Rhonda Fleming and cold-blooded stud William Lundigan (usually cast as a one-dimensional hero) — who'd stranded Ryan in the first place — deal with investigating cops, and, when alone, bicker nervously: proving they'd be a horrible couple if their plot <i>does</i> work. So for Survival buffs, these talky, dime-novel moments would be an intrusion. But for Rhonda Fleming fans, the Queen of Technicolor originally curved within 3 fine Dimensions works just fine.  <br></p><span></span>

3D, adventure, fifties, melodrama, rhonda fleming, robert ryan, survival, thriller, tribute, william lundigan

QUEEN OF TECHNICOLOR RHONDA FLEMING GOES 3D FOR 'INFERNO'

Poster for Ronda Fleming INFERNO Year: 1953 Rating: *** Robert Ryan could be difficult to root for since he played contentedly bitter types ...

REST IN PEACE TO RHONDA FLEMING FROM THE NOIR 'CRY DANGER'

<p></p><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/-rE4OMkM3vIs/X4qv72yb0wI/AAAAAAABY_Q/0yjZtrnlBnsEkQWTRuksUgP-YfwbLskIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s482/aab84cb6855700f964cfcfea3f3a5c31.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="482" height="315" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rE4OMkM3vIs/X4qv72yb0wI/AAAAAAABY_Q/0yjZtrnlBnsEkQWTRuksUgP-YfwbLskIQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h315/aab84cb6855700f964cfcfea3f3a5c31.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Powell & Rhonda Fleming 1951 Rates: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The recently-departed Queen of Technicolor Rhonda Fleming also reigned in a few B&W Film Noirs, like the famous OUT OF THE PAST... and the obscure CRY DANGER starring Dick Powell as a pardoned convict who, five years earlier, was falsely accused of stealing a load of still-missing cash...</p><p>And the first twist involves Richard Erdman as a limping war hero, providing Powell's Rocky a false alibi, with a motive — making him an endearing sidekick but one that spouts too much exposition, filling Powell and the audience in on what could've panned-out more creatively otherwise...</p><p></p><p>Like the fact Rocky's still-incarcerated partner's pretty/perfect wife is even crazier about Rocky, and here's where an intensely dedicated, immensely worried (if somewhat underused) Rhonda Fleming enters, living in a trailer park where the boys — having hatched a comeback plan — temporarily reside. Meanwhile chief villain William Conrad scowls behind his big bookie desk, and Rocky threatens him endlessly while being endlessly dogged by a determined cop: Which all sounds pretty complicated, as Noirs usually involve a mazy plotline, or two. But what works here are the simplistic and (even back then) nostalgic 1930's Gangster-era shoot-outs within a sparse aesthetic — and yet, peppered with so many nifty, convenient one-liners, CRY DANGER is often too clever and self-aware for its own good. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

cult, fifties, film noir or melodrama, regis toomey, rhonda fleming, thriller, william conrad, william powell

REST IN PEACE TO RHONDA FLEMING FROM THE NOIR 'CRY DANGER'

William Powell & Rhonda Fleming 1951 Rates: ***1/2 The recently-departed Queen of Technicolor Rhonda Fleming also reigned in a few B&...

JOHN THAW DIGS MYRA FRANCIS ON 'THE SWEENEY: COUNTRY BOY'

<p></p><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/-p9TNOOwMTz4/X4XQae-XyGI/AAAAAAABY9Y/0I7bX198QH8t2ckwxh-OLE3MtUyBztiqACLcBGAsYHQ/s773/1.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="773" height="355" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p9TNOOwMTz4/X4XQae-XyGI/AAAAAAABY9Y/0I7bX198QH8t2ckwxh-OLE3MtUyBztiqACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h355/1.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Myra Francis on The Sweeney Year: 1975 Grade: A</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>THE SWEENEY: COUNTRY BOY has our own London boys joined by a well-dressed/well-educated tech guy, naïvely grabbing the front car seat where <i>only</i> John Thaw's Det. Insp. Jack Regan rides...</p><p></p><p>And as the central crime involves banks robbed by an inside man using underground wiring, the plot thickens when Myra Frances is introduced as... well... at first the flirtatious Regan thinks she's merely the annoying new guy's old college friend... </p><p>But Thaw thaws out to Det. Sgt. David Keel (<i>IF</i> actor Robert Swann) before he's shot in a warehouse and laid out, bleeding badly, exposed in the open: And with every attempt Regan and Dennis Waterman's Det. Sgt. George Carter make to locate the hidden shooter, another bullet's intentionally fired into another non-vital yet painful spot... </p><p>A dead-eye warning of what could happen if they don't back off (foreshadowing Stanley Kubrick's FULL METAL JACKET with Dorian Harewood's brutally tortuous, drawn-out demise)...: But it's the very, very end when the lovely Myra Francis's Dr. Liz Keel tells Regan who she really is: He simply didn't know the badly wounded (though not dying) victim has the same last name as the now deeply concerned female surgeon — a last name she wasn't born with, providing our famously womanizing Regan the epitome of not only the perfect girl who got away, but one that wasn't his to begin (or end up) with... For all the SWEENEY ingenues, she had both looks and brains... The genuine article — with perfect punctuation!  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, british, british neo noir, british tv, buddy, cop, crime, dennis waterman, heist, john thaw, myra francis, robert swann, seventies, suspense, tv series

JOHN THAW DIGS MYRA FRANCIS ON 'THE SWEENEY: COUNTRY BOY'

Myra Francis on The Sweeney Year: 1975 Grade: A THE SWEENEY: COUNTRY BOY has our own London boys joined by a well-dressed/well-educated tech...

LAURENCE HARVEY VS TOM COURTENAY FOR 'A DANDY IN ASPIC'

<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/-WUPQwKDGsLU/YAg6KfEz-MI/AAAAAAABbtE/_nSP-JQ31zYO1Mauc2SAEiuz89pc9hHdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s613/131939717_3780565435321042_7772336485462547940_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="503" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WUPQwKDGsLU/YAg6KfEz-MI/AAAAAAABbtE/_nSP-JQ31zYO1Mauc2SAEiuz89pc9hHdgCLcBGAsYHQ/w329-h400/131939717_3780565435321042_7772336485462547940_n.jpeg" width="329"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Blu Cover for Dandy Year: 1968 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"I do believe that you two would have got on well together," Tom Courtenay as a stuffy, cautious and paranoid, cold-blooded British agent named Gaitiss tells Mia Farrow's flaky model Caroline after she beds Laurence Harvey, a far more sympathetic agent that <i>we</i> think is named Alexander Eberlin. "You haven't got a past, and <i>he</i> hasn't got a future."</p><p></p><p>Sadly, either did veteran director Anthony Mann, who started with Film Noir using creative camera angles before turning to traditional Westerns, making A DANDY IN ASPIC a kind of halfway visual comeback as he... before dying on set... is behind everything during the first forty-minutes in England — following the assassination of a top spy— before moving to Germany where Laurence took over direction, sustaining that era's zoom shots and surreal perspectives... </p><p>But mainly, Laurence Harvey's Eberlin has the real name  of Krasnevin: not only is he a Russian spy but is THE Russian that everyone — during the last half of an uneven yet unique espionage thriller — wants to seek out and destroy...</p><p>Especially Courtenay, playing it so unlikable he makes his DR ZHIVAGO communist seem charming and affable. Meanwhile the best scenes don't involve Harvey at all... especially his banal romance with an annoying Farrow, whose dated hippie threads clash against the more timeless grey/gritty Cold War aesthetic: It's the two suspenseful meetings between Courtenay (while sticking to Harvey like glue) and Russian Lionel Stander that really stand out: Reminding both the audience <i>and</i> the secretly hunted anti-hero of an impending fate which, in this case, might have some deserving company. </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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1RfTo6Zig74/YAfkwNbtYrI/AAAAAAABbsg/iWOLAeqXa2QCxTF9qZ38Fk95-1JmOVaQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/lf.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1479" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1RfTo6Zig74/YAfkwNbtYrI/AAAAAAABbsg/iWOLAeqXa2QCxTF9qZ38Fk95-1JmOVaQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/lf.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster art serving as other side Blu Ray Cover for A Dandy in Aspic</u></td></tr></tbody></table><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tirPySNq26c/YAfYBz-6uxI/AAAAAAABbsA/Jw_jZugsr50m1Lx4HBW4MN6_z4vTsGekwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/31732366_1824948817810770_4459078455941660672_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tirPySNq26c/YAfYBz-6uxI/AAAAAAABbsA/Jw_jZugsr50m1Lx4HBW4MN6_z4vTsGekwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/31732366_1824948817810770_4459078455941660672_n.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tom Courtenay as Gattis in A DANDY IN ASPIC</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

anthony mann, british neo noir, espionage, laurence harvey, lionel stander, mia farrow, sixties, spy, suspense, thriller, tom courtenay

LAURENCE HARVEY VS TOM COURTENAY FOR 'A DANDY IN ASPIC'

Blu Cover for Dandy Year: 1968 Rates: ***1/2 "I do believe that you two would have got on well together," Tom Courtenay as a stuff...

PETER SELLERS, BRITT EKLAND & VICTOR MATURE 'AFTER THE FOX'

<p></p><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/-THcQLwBHKtg/X3-_PicLybI/AAAAAAABYwY/UGO-TePn7bccrJGRmFmqZU_emUSH6Ea8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1530/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-08%2Bat%2B6.21.50%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="947" data-original-width="1530" height="248" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-THcQLwBHKtg/X3-_PicLybI/AAAAAAABYwY/UGO-TePn7bccrJGRmFmqZU_emUSH6Ea8gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h248/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-08%2Bat%2B6.21.50%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Britt Ekland in AFTER THE FOX Year: 1966 Rates: **1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Victor Mature plays an aged, has-been actor who spends so much time bickering with agent Martin Balsam about doing or <i>not</i> doing a French existential film, you'll simply want things to narrow into what the <i>real</i> movie's about...</p><p></p><p>And AFTER THE FOX doesn't mean <i>what follows</i> but <i>who's followin</i>g Peter Sellers' criminal named Fox: He broke out of prison, in disguise, and there's plenty of humor but not enough laughs outright... <br></p><p>Shame since the cinematography's so gorgeous, a satire on the pretentious side of 1960's French New Wave cinema, ironically directed by 1950's minimalist BICYCLE THIEVES auteur Vittorio De Sica, who doesn't allow either his funny (Sellers) or straight man (Mature) enough time together... leaving the best scenes to Britt Ekland as The Fox's film-buff little sister he lives to protect, even more important than the plot to recover his previously stolen loot. But, like that bogus art film (badgered by noisy, annoying villagers), all that matters is the deliberately pointless running around, which is entertaining yet tiresome. And not always in that order<span style="color: grey;">.</span></p><p><span style="color: grey;"><span></span></span></p>

brit ekland, british, comedy, french, heist, peter sellers, sixties, victor mature

PETER SELLERS, BRITT EKLAND & VICTOR MATURE 'AFTER THE FOX'

Britt Ekland in AFTER THE FOX Year: 1966 Rates: **1/2 Victor Mature plays an aged, has-been actor who spends so much time bickering with age...

YOUNG MARRIEDS EDDIE & VALERIE BET 'THE SEDUCTION OF GINA'

<p></p><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/-tOR-xfzAnw4/X4LgPyRNN8I/AAAAAAABY3I/r9ueyiPELBgMV54txRVGNCT7kqVmxNjYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1993/00.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1497" data-original-width="1993" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tOR-xfzAnw4/X4LgPyRNN8I/AAAAAAABY3I/r9ueyiPELBgMV54txRVGNCT7kqVmxNjYQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/00.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Valerie Bertinelli as GINA Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It was love and marriage that prompted premiere rock god Eddie Van Halen to score this 1984 TV-movie THE SEDUCTION OF GINA for wife Valerie Bertinelli; only don't expect cool beachy grooves like the same years' <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/11/THEwildLIFE.html">THE WILD LIFE</a> that he <i>thoroughly</i> composed: herein among three prerecorded instrumental tracks, a <i>Jump</i>-like synth-driven opener introduces Valerie's titular GINA as a flaky college student married to a serious med student, and after a beginner's luck bout of barroom horse race gambling, she winds up a desperate addict...</p><p></p><p>Which is not only constrained by television standards, but someone as adorable as Valerie hitting rock bottom isn't very rocky, or bottomy...</p><p>The casino mogul (Michael Brandon) she owes and ultimately "has to" sleep with is both better looking and more aptly suited than her downer husband; and then a streetwise bookie hardly puts pressure since she gets trust fund money so easily. But that doesn't mean this SEDUCTION doesn't have value. There's a good amount of suspense while she's actually gambling (mostly Black Jack) within the plush Tahoe casino, and one morning-after as she rushes to her apartment seconds before her husband arrives is a genuine nail-biter. Meanwhile, best pal Dinah Manoff has potential as a boy-crazy sidekick... <i>if</i> this were a series-pilot instead... But GINA is a basic tale about what happens when a gorgeous young lady has too much free-time that winds up costing. If only she stuck with the polite millionaire and dropped the whiny loser... But then she'd have no more problems and this is — while doing for gambling what PRETTY WOMAN does for prostitution<i> </i><i>— </i>an addiction melodrama that's a decent bet for passing the time. </p><p><span></span></p>

dinah manoff, edward van halen, eighties, exploitation, gambling, melodrama, michael brandon, TV, tv movie, valerie bertinelli

YOUNG MARRIEDS EDDIE & VALERIE BET 'THE SEDUCTION OF GINA'

Valerie Bertinelli as GINA Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 It was love and marriage that prompted premiere rock god Eddie Van Halen to score this ...

AND GOD RESTED: A RAMBLING FAREWELL TO EDDIE VAN HALEN

<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BxBZTn_z-4A/X30G2-9zWxI/AAAAAAABYus/xmF1kAXMRVMKwqUF9QHcQ_bDadWdkKL0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s500/R-2120293-1265128957.jpeg.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BxBZTn_z-4A/X30G2-9zWxI/AAAAAAABYus/xmF1kAXMRVMKwqUF9QHcQ_bDadWdkKL0ACLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h320/R-2120293-1265128957.jpeg.jpeg" width="320"></a></div><p>Faded memory of two long-haired kids riding a BMX bike... The one on the handlebars holds a ghetto blaster as they're leaving the high school campus while Van Halen's <i>Feel Your Love Tonight</i> blares from outta those circular speakers...<br></p><p>Well that was very long ago when Eddie Van Halen existed on radios and television AND IN MOVIES too... </p><p>One to catch is <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/11/THEwildLIFE.html">THE WILD LIFE</a> where as SOLE COMPOSER he's not burdened by temperamental (or just plain MENTAL) lead singers... ... And throughout Cameron Crowe's counter <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2010/03/robert-romanus-fast-times-at-ridgemont.html">FAST TIMES</a> tale of two former high school buddies (and one hippie little brother) are blues and rock instrumentals, and even a lightning-fast jazz track taking place in a donut shop... </p><p></p><p>And before that was Jonathan Kaplan's miraculous teen-angst cult classic OVER THE EDGE... </p><p>Made in 1979 (and released on cable in 1982) where Van Halen's first album's Kinks cover YOU REALLY GOT ME orchestrated heavy metal kids Matt Dillon, Michael Kramer and Tom Fergus entering a two-story suburban house filled with rowdy movie kids representing rowdier kids from real life... mainly influenced by movies, and music: Most of who would eventually either burn out from or grow out of those lean young crazy years... But some of us never forgot the tunes that those seemingly endless great times grooved to... And how Eddie Van Halen's beachy rhythm/riffs could exceed even his signature/legendary hammer-on solos... And... So... Anyways... REST IN PEACE to an eternal Guitar God: This post's for you!<br></p><span></span>

edward van halen, eighties, memorial, music, seventies, tribute, van halen

AND GOD RESTED: A RAMBLING FAREWELL TO EDDIE VAN HALEN

Faded memory of two long-haired kids riding a BMX bike... The one on the handlebars holds a ghetto blaster as they're leaving the high s...

BRITISH WEREWOLF FROM OUTER SPACE HORROR FLICK 'PREY'

<p></p><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/-NRpxrA8L8Cw/X3luAXQPQFI/AAAAAAABYgY/cQQtgTJM8OsFAEUoMnu6_FssHHoPtQ7hQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1061/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-09-28%2Bat%2B2.37.21%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1061" data-original-width="961" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NRpxrA8L8Cw/X3luAXQPQFI/AAAAAAABYgY/cQQtgTJM8OsFAEUoMnu6_FssHHoPtQ7hQCLcBGAsYHQ/w363-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-09-28%2Bat%2B2.37.21%2BPM.jpeg" width="363"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: PREY Year: 1978 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A shape-shifting space alien takes the form of a handsome young man on Earth and, after violently doing what he was sent for (which we learn at the end), he finds two pretty lesbians holed-up in a rural country estate... just so he can study their daily/nightly routine... Which means that men are all the same no matter what planet they derive...<br></p><p></p><p>For a robotic-like Barry Stokes it's a complicated (and often risky) lesson of love and jealousy in what's an offbeat triangle within a low-budget science-fiction horror with plenty of intended downtime...</p><p>Giving the feel that cult director Norman J. Warren's PREY is actually more of a deliberately slow-paced arthouse thriller, and, filmed in England with British actors, the acting's quite good when it really shouldn't be... </p><p>Featuring the more feminine and once straight Glory Annen (with an unseen backstory involving an ex-husband), who's given either loving/controlling kisses <i>or</i> dirty/frustrated looks by her shorter-haired yet equally attractive lover (Sally Faulkner), the most fun is how the bickering couple tries figuring out this strange male visitor, who winds up like a benign, manipulated little brother of sorts... <br></p><p>Meanwhile the taboo exploitation gets sporadically intruded upon by what hardcore horror fans would want much more of, like gruesome body count deaths by the alien, particularly while sporting full fangs, an interstellar wolfman, who, despite having plenty to watch (as a voyeur along with the intended male audience) has very little to do. </p><p><span></span></p>

barry stokes, british, exploitation, glory annen, horror, indie, lesbian, norman j. warren, rural, sally faulkner, science-fiction, seventies, thriller

BRITISH WEREWOLF FROM OUTER SPACE HORROR FLICK 'PREY'

Title: PREY Year: 1978 Rating: ***1/2 A shape-shifting space alien takes the form of a handsome young man on Earth and, after violently doin...

LOW BUDGET BRITISH ANTHOLOGY HORROR FLICK 'SCREAMTIME'

<p></p><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/-prJnANdjeRI/X3vuxppXoJI/AAAAAAABYj8/xgqghSXqptAXBXM1Qws_kzY29VlCxV2HQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2042/1.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1523" data-original-width="2042" height="299" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-prJnANdjeRI/X3vuxppXoJI/AAAAAAABYj8/xgqghSXqptAXBXM1Qws_kzY29VlCxV2HQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h299/1.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dione Inman in SCREAMTIME Year: 1983 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"They're British," says New York lowlife Vincent Russo after stealing three video rentals, "I can tell by the way they talk." But it's more than that... </p><p>The mellow pace and steady acting punctuates British cinema while SCREAMTIME involves a wraparound story where two thieves insert and eject short films that <i>they and we</i> are viewing...</p><p></p><p>And the best is the first, THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT, about creepy puppet Punch handled by an old man with a nagging wife — <i>plus</i> a goading stepson whose girlfriend Dione Inman becomes the "final girl" as the deaths leading to her climactic chase are strategically predictable: those who die <i>really</i> deserve it... </p><p>Followed by DREAMHOUSE where a married woman is tortured by images of the title location's past (ala <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/05/still-crazy-4-the-SHINING.html">THE SHINING</a>)... This one's more cerebral and a bit plodding yet ultimately saved by a fantastic twist, which is <i>all</i> DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES amounts to: a dirt-bike racer housesits for two ecentric old ladies... and while a Punch puppet is the first tale's tiny killer, here it's a slew of Garden Gnome statues led by wide-eyed Kim Thomson's telekinetic Fairy Queen ghost. And it's lucky those East Coast punks actually robbed a London video store since Britain's super-cheap horror flicks are usually worthwhile: Like a broken antique clock can't tell time but is still magnificent to look at, there's plenty here to savor. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

ann lynn, british, cult, dionne inman, eighties, exploitation, haunted house, horror, horror anthology, kim thomson, robin baily, vincent russo

LOW BUDGET BRITISH ANTHOLOGY HORROR FLICK 'SCREAMTIME'

Dione Inman in SCREAMTIME Year: 1983 Rating: ***1/2 "They're British," says New York lowlife Vincent Russo after stealing thre...