cult film freak: January 2021

Written by James M. Tate / 1/31/2021 / No comments / beverly garland , bill elliott , cop , fifties , film noir or melodrama , helene stanton , hubert cornfield , mystery , thriller , tom drake , wrong man

HUBERT CORNFIELD'S FILM NOIR PROGRAMMER 'SUDDEN DANGER'

<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/-Gn9IJKAvFuU/YBhD8S1fwMI/AAAAAAABcVk/_kKSBSggLD47sBaanxmSjLbAg0yPxMjbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/z%252B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="400" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gn9IJKAvFuU/YBhD8S1fwMI/AAAAAAABcVk/_kKSBSggLD47sBaanxmSjLbAg0yPxMjbgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h313/z%252B2.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Sudden Danger Year: 1955 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>All of Film Noir turned Neo Noir director Hubert Cornfield's thrillers start out with an illegal act followed by the characters dealing with the consequences... </p><p>And this, being his first picture, marks the biggest difference in that it's a partial mystery...</p><p>Especially since you <i>just know</i> the blind guy who can't afford a cure (Tom Drake)... until his mother's apparent suicide provides him the exact amount for a top surgeon... isn't what the token badgering cop (Bill Elliott) thinks he is: guilty of murder...</p><p></p><p>Let's forget the men: the best character is also the prettiest, and there are two contrasting dames including the outright bombshell Helene Stanton, oblivious moll of a sneaky rich guy... </p><p>But it's Beverly Garland as the blind man's faithful girl-next-door girlfriend who steals the show, particularly in scenes where the cop, trying to wear her down while learning she's not as weak as she seems, gets worn out in the process, thus making SUDDEN DANGER stand above the typical poverty row programmer that, like our blind Wrong Man, deserves another <i>look</i>. </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/-FvM8jaInBs0/YBaNnLnsRRI/AAAAAAABcSo/pNMTFXmKeSg2lamPRkKxBf8gwuPH2fQWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1944/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B2.59.01%2BAM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1264" data-original-width="1944" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FvM8jaInBs0/YBaNnLnsRRI/AAAAAAABcSo/pNMTFXmKeSg2lamPRkKxBf8gwuPH2fQWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B2.59.01%2BAM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Bill Elliott and Tom Drake in SUDDEN DANGER</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

beverly garland, bill elliott, cop, fifties, film noir or melodrama, helene stanton, hubert cornfield, mystery, thriller, tom drake, wrong man

HUBERT CORNFIELD'S FILM NOIR PROGRAMMER 'SUDDEN DANGER'

Title: Sudden Danger Year: 1955 Rating: ***1/2 All of Film Noir turned Neo Noir director Hubert Cornfield's thrillers start out with an ...

HUBERT CORNFIELD'S TRUCKER HEIST FILM NOIR 'PLUNDER ROAD'

<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/-J3zD_xxiPrs/YBjAobiMbcI/AAAAAAABcao/dt45blWcOfMPFb5WwuYOrRVcguQ4_k1KgCLcBGAsYHQ/s572/MV5BMGRlMzljOWYtOWRkOC00NWY5LWExYWMtNjBiZmY5ZmY0OWVjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUxODE0MDY%2540._V1_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="572" height="305" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J3zD_xxiPrs/YBjAobiMbcI/AAAAAAABcao/dt45blWcOfMPFb5WwuYOrRVcguQ4_k1KgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h305/MV5BMGRlMzljOWYtOWRkOC00NWY5LWExYWMtNjBiZmY5ZmY0OWVjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUxODE0MDY%2540._V1_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: PLUNDER ROAD Year: 1957 Rating: ****<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Like ODD MAN OUT, director Hubert Cornfield's PLUNDER ROAD is really a <i>post-heist </i>thriller as the opening heist is a nifty ten minute train-in-the-rain robbery with three trucks and five men...</p><p>And along the way — while nitro balances inside one vehicle — each character has their own foreboding self-narration ("If we hit a bump, we're all angels!"): Yet things really kick into gear once the men have that "900 mile" slog for the border... <br></p><p>Including Gene Raymond paired with the least famous but most memorable and effective character, an edgy ex race-car driver played by Steven Ritch (also the writer), whose sullen <i>I could have been a contender</i> style monologue not only sets his own stage but orchestrates their particular ride's cadence, full of jittery nerves, like anything can happen, most likely bad, contrasting with Raymond's cool lead: And truck number two holds the token Noir born-losers in Wayne Morris as a soft-spoken yet ultimately lethal Hollywood stuntman, and a daydreaming "here's what I'll do with my share" Elisha Cook Jr. (while the last ride's gum-chewing Stafford Repp is so optimistic and likeable he's just bound to die first)...</p><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4YVUISBvZY/YBU5c-zeEGI/AAAAAAABcP4/XP9ys_OI5hgSpat4ZSc9Hsf2qiXvis4GgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2031/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-01-30%252Bat%252B2.12.14%252BAM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="2031" height="234" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4YVUISBvZY/YBU5c-zeEGI/AAAAAAABcP4/XP9ys_OI5hgSpat4ZSc9Hsf2qiXvis4GgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h234/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-01-30%252Bat%252B2.12.14%252BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Nora Hayden serving Steven Ritch and Gene Raymond</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Leaving the one major miscast in Raymond's girl, waiting in Los Angeles for the slow-burn third-act escape attempt: a lethargic and rather plain-looking Jeanne Cooper...</p><p>Who'd have been better played by a mid-point truck stop waitress: And Nora Hayden has all the femme fatale ingredients yet is wasted serving coffee, and, following a "born criminal" instinct, she even desires to join the truckers... </p><p>Ironically, last but not least, director Hubert Cornfield would end his Hollywood career in a similarly themed <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/01/thetameone.html">THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY</a> where another group of eclectic and mismatched, similarly flawed thieves — trapped and claustrophobic within a contained setting — put their mission in jeopardy by their own personal flaws. The difference is <i>these settings</i> are mobile, and the director succeeds in keeping trapped isolation literally moving. A great tagline would be: It's Purgatory on Wheels! <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, elisha cook jr., fifties, film noir or melodrama, gene raymond, heist, hubert cornfield, jeanne cooper, nora hayden, road movie, steven ritch, thriller, wayne morris

HUBERT CORNFIELD'S TRUCKER HEIST FILM NOIR 'PLUNDER ROAD'

Title: PLUNDER ROAD Year: 1957 Rating: **** Like ODD MAN OUT, director Hubert Cornfield's PLUNDER ROAD is really a post-heist thriller a...

HUBERT CORNFIELD DIRECTS EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'THE 3RD VOICE'

<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/-2TQU6QGs3aI/YBTIwnNgEWI/AAAAAAABcNY/Rj4EaCUa6WwIEF9HmPV0g010TCldc-JXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s517/3RDVOICE1SHHRws.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="517" height="399" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2TQU6QGs3aI/YBTIwnNgEWI/AAAAAAABcNY/Rj4EaCUa6WwIEF9HmPV0g010TCldc-JXgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h399/3RDVOICE1SHHRws.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: The 3rd Voice Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/01/thetameone.html">THE NIGHT AND THE FOLLOWING DAY</a>, the infamous Neo Noir with a troubled production and problems with star Marlon Brando that ended the Hollywood career of director Hubert Cornfield, it's important to go back and see how Cornfield made his few genuine film noir vehicles, or in this case, post noir, the period before anyone knew exactly what noir was to realize it had ended...<br></p><p></p><p>Enter THE 3RD VOICE, a B&W thriller (produced by Maury Dexter) that plays out like one right up to the casting of Edmond O'Brien as a hired con artist who works very hard to impersonate the voice of a blowhard rich man, hired by his disgruntled secretary, another veteran in an effectively sassy, snarky Lorraine Day, and the set-up about O'Brien learning the man's voice and dealings is covered with more expository polish than the rest of an intriguing yet sporadically unfocused thriller... </p><p>Taking place in Mexico, where O'Brien, now solo, maintains the impersonation, mostly during a string of nervous phone calls (that include Noirish self-narration), and where the typical human "close call" occurs, almost meeting one of the real man's old friends. And it's all suspenseful enough. But how exactly he's decided to get all the money (as the actual con plays out) is confusing... Yet everything becomes more clear when the big twist is revealed, and it's a pretty damn good one. But besides sexy ingenue Julie London and the well-shot wheeling & dealing, this is Edmond O'Brien's energetic one-man-show, playing the hell out of two people at once! <br></p><p><span></span></p>

con man, edmond o'brien, hubert cornfield, julie london, laraine day, maury dexter, mexico, neo noir, sixties, thriller

HUBERT CORNFIELD DIRECTS EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'THE 3RD VOICE'

Title: The 3rd Voice Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2 Before THE NIGHT AND THE FOLLOWING DAY , the infamous Neo Noir with a troubled production and...

ANN LYNN & JOHNNY BRIGGS IN BRITIAN'S 'THE WIND OF CHANGE'

<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/-7-OMv14GBQ8/YDu6nJA0PvI/AAAAAAABdSo/N9cHusI9QtUwhQhaOFP2Hq_G0PM5Y13FwCLcBGAsYHQ/s350/WINDOFCHANGEHRws.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="350" height="388" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7-OMv14GBQ8/YDu6nJA0PvI/AAAAAAABdSo/N9cHusI9QtUwhQhaOFP2Hq_G0PM5Y13FwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h388/WINDOFCHANGEHRws.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Not that's not Donald Trump here YEAR of 1961 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Not only is this racially-charged/socially conscious film a prime example of "Kitchen Sink Dramas" from the early-to-mid 1960's England, but the rebellious main character literally washes blood off his hands in one... </p><p>From an attacked "Coloured  Boy" his sister Ann Lynn's dating in a stage-like story mostly taking place in a quaint family home, where passive patriarch Donald Pleasence spends more time with his pet rabbits than teenagers: Especially square-jawed, no-good son Johnny Briggs, who doesn't need nor care for the old man anyhow...</p><p></p><p>As a venom-spouting racist, the future CORONATION STREET soap actor is fitfully intense and edgy in the role...</p><p>When not at home he's hanging at the local soda shop where one buddy (David Hemmings) brings a guitar and another (musician Norman Gunn) plays and sings...</p><p>All to the chagrin of moody ingenue Angela Douglas while the suspense occurs back home, when — as the token pressing cop presses in — dad must choose whether to tell the truth or join frantic wife Hilda Fenemore's cover-up of her son's gang's attack/murder of the black youth... making THE WIND OF CHANGE, despite its bland, common title, far less <i>breezy</i> than the performances leading up to what really matters: And not without bizarre and ambiguous loose ends, like Lynn's "sensitive" perfect boyfriend being a cheater, and the idealistic dad's sole black rabbit with the name of... the N-word.</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/-79D0ugZcHvw/YD0gDEY7goI/AAAAAAABdTA/rUBXjoWTIH0gsckW2itfuPzTL-16OIHSACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-01%2Bat%2B9.06.35%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1321" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-79D0ugZcHvw/YD0gDEY7goI/AAAAAAABdTA/rUBXjoWTIH0gsckW2itfuPzTL-16OIHSACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-01%2Bat%2B9.06.35%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Angela Douglas and Topsy Jane in The Winds of Change</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span></span></p>

angela douglas, ann lynn, antonita dias, british new wave, david hemmings, donald pleasence, hilda fenemore, johnny briggs, sixties, topsy jane

ANN LYNN & JOHNNY BRIGGS IN BRITIAN'S 'THE WIND OF CHANGE'

Not that's not Donald Trump here YEAR of 1961 Rates: *** Not only is this racially-charged/socially conscious film a prime example of &q...

HUBERT CORNFIELD DIRECTS 'THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY'

al lettieri, hubert cornfield, kidnapping, marlon brando, neo noir, pamela franklin, richard boone, rita moreno, sixties, suspense, thriller

HUBERT CORNFIELD DIRECTS 'THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY'

Night of the Following Day 1969 Rating: ***1/2 There are two things that must be intentional about THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY: One is 40...

MARLON BRANDO IN MICHAEL WINNER'S BIZARRE 'THE NIGHTCOMERS'

<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/-O-DMcxMtf8U/YBLEaLyGgzI/AAAAAAABcEw/3urzjCoQ9k0PLAYZQ65C2Gauccof6Gs8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1172/z.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="1172" height="355" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O-DMcxMtf8U/YBLEaLyGgzI/AAAAAAABcEw/3urzjCoQ9k0PLAYZQ65C2Gauccof6Gs8gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h355/z.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Nightcomers Year: 1971 Rating: **1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Marlon Brando's THE GODFATHER comeback was more of a legacy accreditation for an entire career, blending with the STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and ON THE WATERFRONT roles as if all the forgettable films in-between didn't exist; and here's another that perhaps he should have avoided... <br></p><p>Strangely enough, the title NIGHTCOMERS fits the adaptation of Henry James's enigmatic supernatural short story TURN OF THE SCREW ala 1961's THE INNOCENTS as two ghosts (our lovers here, when alive) come at night, appearing before the same children along with their caretaker: the latter arriving at the tail-end and, like ROGUE ONE years later, connects to the famous predecessor... but was the Henry James tale (or its adaptation) relevant enough for an entire prequel/backstory? </p><p></p><p>In the director's chair is the creatively offbeat Michael Winner, using his usual zoom lens and symbolic set-ups, who may have been influenced by former collaborator Oliver Reed's art-films directed by time-period sex-exploitation Ken Russell — possibly a better fit here since NIGHTCOMERS plays more comfortably with sadistic lust than the kind of psychedelic horror popular in the early seventies, heavy on off-putting violence and short on plot.. </p><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JVXpNkg6hWA/YBMbO04hbLI/AAAAAAABcHk/sTdznYMmIhIe3aYrJipvUw0AxG-ruc-EACLcBGAsYHQ/s1982/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-28%2Bat%2B12.13.43%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1322" data-original-width="1982" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JVXpNkg6hWA/YBMbO04hbLI/AAAAAAABcHk/sTdznYMmIhIe3aYrJipvUw0AxG-ruc-EACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-28%2Bat%2B12.13.43%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Verna Harvey in Nightcomers RATING: **1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Which has Henry James's two spoiled, death-obsessed (and not very inspired) literary children residing in a rural gothic English manor of Bly...</p><p></p><p>Their parents are dead and an aloof uncle turns them over to Stephanie Beacham, a religious caretaker, deliberately contrasting to Brando's Quint as an Atheist groundskeeper... donning the same unkempt hair and Irish accent used in THE MISSOURI BREAKS, another film in which he seems part of a totally different picture...<br></p><p></p><p>And here his frolicking, childish behavior is both infectious to the adoring kids <i>and</i> the movie's cadence: But with more sympathy and perspective angled upon Beacham's naiveté, Brando's rebellious, sexually-charged, reckless behavior would have provided more shock value instead of seeming mundane and commonplace. Basically, watching THE NIGHTCOMERS is like electricity being electrocuted. The best thing is Jerry Fielding's brooding, haunting music, similar to his STRAW DOGS score. And yet, like the Brando thriller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/01/thetameone.html">NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY</a> — another maligned pre-GODFATHER outing — there's a comfortable surrealistic quality as if this particular NIGHT was intended for a very selective cult-movie audience all along. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

anna palk, christopher ellis, gothic, harry andrews, henry james, horror, marlon brando, michael winner, prequel, seventies, stephanie beacham, thriller, verna harvey

MARLON BRANDO IN MICHAEL WINNER'S BIZARRE 'THE NIGHTCOMERS'

The Nightcomers Year: 1971 Rating: **1/2 Marlon Brando's THE GODFATHER comeback was more of a legacy accreditation for an entire career,...

GLENN FORD IN GEORGE MARSHALL'S WESTERN 'THE SHEEPMAN'

edgar buchanan, forties, glenn ford, leslie nielsen, mickey shaughnessy, shirley maclaine, western, william bowers

GLENN FORD IN GEORGE MARSHALL'S WESTERN 'THE SHEEPMAN'

Title: THE SHEEPMAN Year: 1958 Rating: **** George Marshall's THE SHEEPMAN could have been a genuine satire, deliberately playing upon W...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/21/2021 / No comments / cop , cornel wilde , earl holliman , film noir or melodrama , helen walker , jazz score , jean wallace , lee van cleef , richard conte

FILM NOIR 'THE BIG COMBO' W/ CORNEL WILDE VS RICHARD CONTE

cop, cornel wilde, earl holliman, film noir or melodrama, helen walker, jazz score, jean wallace, lee van cleef, richard conte

FILM NOIR 'THE BIG COMBO' W/ CORNEL WILDE VS RICHARD CONTE

Title: THE BIG COMBO Year: 1955 Rating: **** Given a dollar for every time Richard Conte's big time bad guy says he makes more money tha...

RICHARD DIX MURDERS LAWRENCE TIERNEY IN 'THE GHOST SHIP'

body count, dewey robinson, film noir or melodrama, horror, lawrence tierney, mark robson, richard dix, russell wade, thriller, val lewton

RICHARD DIX MURDERS LAWRENCE TIERNEY IN 'THE GHOST SHIP'

Title: THE GHOST SHIP Year: 1943 Rating: ***1/2 A darkly atmospheric Val Lewton production using RKO's fog-shrouded KING KONG ship (lite...

DIRECTOR MIKE HODGES BEATS MICHAEL CAINE TO A BREEZY 'PULP'

<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/-23HgF6ud99I/X_bVjhGNAHI/AAAAAAABbT4/2UCGorvKMNYZhBMOiPwGy93yJFi8Q8rUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-12-30%252Bat%252B8.24.42%252BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="400" height="384" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23HgF6ud99I/X_bVjhGNAHI/AAAAAAABbT4/2UCGorvKMNYZhBMOiPwGy93yJFi8Q8rUwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h384/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-12-30%252Bat%252B8.24.42%252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine gets fiction in PULP Year: 1972 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director Mike Hodges and his <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/12/getCarter.html">GET CARTER</a> anti-hero Michael Caine found the perfect antidote in PULP, a dark comedy in which a deliberately bad "gangster fiction" novelist becomes part of his own style of flimsy storytelling, narrating along in the Noir Gumshoe fashion... landing a plot/purpose after forty-minutes of anticipation for a has-been actor that Caine's slippery scribbler will ghostwrite an autobiography for... </p><p></p><p>Enter Mickey Rooney as a George Raft/James Cagney type who, for no reason, annoys Caine immediately. Sure he's obnoxious but doesn't seem bad enough to steer the audience to dislike. Meanwhile, Hodges trades his dreary and dangerous GET CARTER Newcastle, England location for the sunny biblical-like island of Malta... <br></p><p>Replete with a typing pool of shocked secretaries transcribing King's erotic prose; Lionel Stander as Rooney's affable mafioso partner; a Lewis Carroll-quoting British gent; Noir veteran Lizabeth Scott as a Fascist candidate's sultry wife; stock ingenue Nadia Cassini as the stock ingenue; GODFATHER villain Al Lettieri as an enigmatic patsy and Al Pacino's GODFATHER II bodyguard Amerigo Tot as an idealistic communist (seeming to project the director's political sympathies): all reminding the main character <i>and</i> audience there's a movie going on that he's more stuck inside of than an integral part in. Which seems the entire purpose. Just do what Caine's Mickey King aka Guy Strange does — between the talky meantime and the sporadic <i>sudden bursts </i>of jarring, noisy violence, simply <i>let go</i> and <i>go with it.  </i></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/-oPUR8uCP9oY/YAQyOOOs9zI/AAAAAAABbiE/4lpQ7bGiy9QRUsyMghxsfyTGCwo8HD9EQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/140044977_1162465477515960_4403292500727350974_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oPUR8uCP9oY/YAQyOOOs9zI/AAAAAAABbiE/4lpQ7bGiy9QRUsyMghxsfyTGCwo8HD9EQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/140044977_1162465477515960_4403292500727350974_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>"Outside I hailed a cab... Stop..." Michael Caine and unnamed hottie in PULP</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p><i></i></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/-MW1csYLOA4s/X_w1CEKTSCI/AAAAAAABbgs/dIjRb124XqQrLUG3rUHzOEP7xo8qi2SNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/138126557_1158639257898582_556055636586819859_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MW1csYLOA4s/X_w1CEKTSCI/AAAAAAABbgs/dIjRb124XqQrLUG3rUHzOEP7xo8qi2SNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/138126557_1158639257898582_556055636586819859_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine and Al Lettieri in PULP</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><i><span></span></i></p>

al lettieri, amerigo tot, cult, dark comedy, lionel stander, lizabeth scott, michael caine, mickey rooney, mike hodges, neo noir, seventies, thriller

DIRECTOR MIKE HODGES BEATS MICHAEL CAINE TO A BREEZY 'PULP'

Michael Caine gets fiction in PULP Year: 1972 Rates: ***1/2 Director Mike Hodges and his GET CARTER anti-hero Michael Caine found the perfe...

MIKE HODGES DIRECTS A KILLER MICHAEL CAINE IN 'GET CARTER'

action, british neo noir, exploitation, gangster, michael caine, mike hodges, neo noir, seventies, thriller

MIKE HODGES DIRECTS A KILLER MICHAEL CAINE IN 'GET CARTER'

Michael Caine in GET CARTER Year: 1971 Rating: **** The plot of Mike Hodges' GET CARTER is simple enough: London-based gangster Michael ...

MICHAEL CAINE IN THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF 'THE ITALIAN JOB'

action, caper, comedy, cult, ensemble, heist, margaret blye, michael caine, noel coward, sixties

MICHAEL CAINE IN THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF 'THE ITALIAN JOB'

Michael Caine looking McQueenish Year: 1969 Rating: ** A stern, turtleneck-clad Michael Caine resembles BULLITT Steve McQueen on THE ITALIAN...

HARRY LAUTER & JOE PATRIDGE 'CONVICT STAGE' W/ HANNA LANDY

action, don barry, don red barry, eric matthews, hanna landy, harry lauter, heist, joe patridge, sixties, thriller, western

HARRY LAUTER & JOE PATRIDGE 'CONVICT STAGE' W/ HANNA LANDY

Title: CONVICT STAGE Year: 1965 Rating: **** Two venomous outlaw brothers are on "Top of the World, ma" for their Ma Jarrett type ...

ANTS MARCH ON MELODRMA IN BYRON HASKIN'S 'THE NAKED JUNGLE'

<p></p><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/-zy5aaPzttFU/X_Jp_-VPBlI/AAAAAAABbPM/kp5h2tTUh5w4g1W2BKfKzTLca7bB3zcFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1790/1.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1314" data-original-width="1790" height="294" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zy5aaPzttFU/X_Jp_-VPBlI/AAAAAAABbPM/kp5h2tTUh5w4g1W2BKfKzTLca7bB3zcFgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h294/1.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charlton Heston & Eleanor Parker Year: 1954 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>No Killer Ant movie is as strange (or as lacking of ants) as Byron Haskin's THE NAKED JUNGLE, which covers over fifty-minutes of a bizarre melodrama concerning a North American plantation owner in South America, being not so welcoming and unimaginably rude to gorgeous mail-order bride Eleanor Parker... </p><p>But Charlton Heston, over-dramatic in straight-forward drama, is more natural during the 11th hour whilst attempting to thwart hordes of ants marching closer and closer home. </p><p></p><p>Haskin, fresh from WAR OF THE WORLDS, directs with a stage-play finesse as the camera glides along with the conversational "action" between the couple: while Heston fights the urge to lust for a once-married "used" beauty, she resists his manly, open-shirt arrogance. Meanwhile, chief servant Abraham Sofaer is no stranger to playing butler to a rich plantation owner with a young, lonely trophy wife since it happened the same year in ELEPHANT WALK, and both films are extremely similar: only in WALK the elephants are mentioned a few times leading up to their inevitable attack, while here the ants simply invade as if let loose by a disgruntled crew member allergic to Harlequin-style romance. Still though, somehow, THE NAKED JUNGLE flows decently enough since Haskin's beyond capable at moving humans along what's basically a losing game. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

abraham sofaer, action, byron haskin, charlton heston, creature, disaster, eleanor parker, fifties, melodrama, romance, william conrad

ANTS MARCH ON MELODRMA IN BYRON HASKIN'S 'THE NAKED JUNGLE'

Charlton Heston & Eleanor Parker Year: 1954 Rates: *** No Killer Ant movie is as strange (or as lacking of ants) as Byron Haskin's T...

BYRON HASKIN DIRECTS A VENGEFUL EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'WARPATH'

<p></p><p></p><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/-YJHBVv9pWkU/X_K7hTf891I/AAAAAAABbP8/lHzeE78CmFMMN794AIk_mGGjPJnMiRgKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/MV5BODhlMzEyZjUtNjk3Zi00NmI2LWI3ZDgtNjMzMjBjNWNlYzY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzg1ODEwNQ%252540%252540._V1_.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="400" height="241" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YJHBVv9pWkU/X_K7hTf891I/AAAAAAABbP8/lHzeE78CmFMMN794AIk_mGGjPJnMiRgKgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h241/MV5BODhlMzEyZjUtNjk3Zi00NmI2LWI3ZDgtNjMzMjBjNWNlYzY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzg1ODEwNQ%252540%252540._V1_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: WARPATH Year: 1951 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>An epitome of a filler b-Western that still looks pretty grand with all the epic outdoor shots, specifically the Cavalry vs Indians, eventually led by none other than Custer, not a bad sort here, quickly seeing a problem with middle-aged (and pudgy for a leading man) former captain Edmond O'Brien as a private... but there <i>is</i> a reason...<br></p><p></p><p>Enter the Revenge aspect where O'Brien, after killing one of three split-up badmen who killed his "true love" years earlier, has trouble with big bullying Forrest Tucker... </p><p>First saving pretty ingenue Polly Bergen from the drunken sergeant's clutches, and then serving in Tucker's regiment of old-timers like Wallace Ford and Paul Fix. The problem is how soon things are figured out, and O'Brien isn't kept the dark longer longer for that particular vengeful element to blend more smoothly with the gun-blasting Indian fighting, seeming like another picture altogether. But still, director Byron Haskin moves the camera nicely, and he was one of the most "capable" directors around: one reason he never got the due he's worth.  <br></p><p><span></span></p>

byron haskin, dean jagger, edmond o'brien, fifties, forrest tucker, paul fix, wallace ford, western

BYRON HASKIN DIRECTS A VENGEFUL EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'WARPATH'

Title: WARPATH Year: 1951 Rating: ***1/2 An epitome of a filler b-Western that still looks pretty grand with all the epic outdoor shots, spe...

PAIGE CONNER POSSESSES EXPLOITATION HORROR IN 'THE VISITOR'

<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/-lfo1KcpP3X8/YAvIqpNwp1I/AAAAAAABbzY/_XFVErtFwgkrj6_1O51DZXfMtpYdmBjngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1635/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-22%2Bat%2B9.20.01%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="1635" height="311" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lfo1KcpP3X8/YAvIqpNwp1I/AAAAAAABbzY/_XFVErtFwgkrj6_1O51DZXfMtpYdmBjngCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h311/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-22%2Bat%2B9.20.01%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paige Conner in THE VISITOR Year: 1979</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>THE VISITOR has many cult influences starting with THE BIRDS since the blonde-haired, blue-eyed eight-year-old girl, possessed by supernatural forces, has a lethal fine-feathered friend who keeps her safe: Especially from a detective played by the most famous of the "special guest" stars, Glenn Ford, a rudimentary tether to hold onto but not for long before a gritty exploitation element takes charge, ultimately making Ford a cameo... </p><p></p><p>Which can't be said of the titular star, John Huston, an Obi-Wan Kenobi type who, after a meeting with Franco Nero as an intergalactic utopian Christ, ventures to Earth to take down this little monster...</p><p>In that, Paige Conner turns in one of the greatest possessed kid performances ever, more the proverbial verb to Linda Blair's devilish noun i.e. this shaking bed gets around: The daughter of a basketball team owner's girlfriend, entering another homage, ROSEMARY'S BABY (Lance Henriksen as the John Cassevetes soul-seller). And despite the low-budget effects showing what's beyond our world, VISITOR takes to the streets with precision, and looking downright professionally choreographed... <br></p><p></p><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6cPm6EhEDBE/YAvTUUzzgCI/AAAAAAABbzg/nTMk1wndEjQqjEi9DbLNGMQF-9mx36fYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1941/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-22%2Bat%2B9.09.58%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1269" data-original-width="1941" height="261" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6cPm6EhEDBE/YAvTUUzzgCI/AAAAAAABbzg/nTMk1wndEjQqjEi9DbLNGMQF-9mx36fYgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h261/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-22%2Bat%2B9.09.58%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paige Conner in THE VISITOR Rating: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Veering into INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or even CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND when the film's only human antagonist... the lovely mom in Patrica Nail... is abducted by some kind of aliens that, well... </p><p>There's a lot of THE VISITOR that shouldn't be spoiled, and it's not as insufferably campy as its reputation implies... John Huston, along with tough nanny Shelley Winters, seem more into this Italian import than TENTACLES. Making this dusty gem a great fixture for the time and genre...</p><p></p><p>And despite the flaws, it's still original — but goes on twenty-minutes too long while the climax is remarkably creepy with insane violence, and the Italian director seems to know he's punishing his characters as well as even his intended cult audience. And least we forget one of the most borrowed if overused multi-mirror peaks derived by Orson Welles for THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI. Yet by this time you'll be either stunned or entertained, or a combination of both.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, exploitation, glenn ford, horror, indie, john huston, lance henriksen, ovidio g. assonitis, paige conner, patricia nial, sam peckinpah, science-fiction, seventies, shelley winters

PAIGE CONNER POSSESSES EXPLOITATION HORROR IN 'THE VISITOR'

Paige Conner in THE VISITOR Year: 1979 THE VISITOR has many cult influences starting with THE BIRDS since the blonde-haired, blue-eyed eight...

TOASTING NEW YEARS WITH NEW YEARS PARTY FLICK 'GET CRAZY'

<p></p><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/-xT0EICA28l8/X--cTxHM-TI/AAAAAAABbKE/61BoRjvNl3MUShEGPUUga3ol50xfmNgRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-12-30%252Bat%252B10.55.21%252BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xT0EICA28l8/X--cTxHM-TI/AAAAAAABbKE/61BoRjvNl3MUShEGPUUga3ol50xfmNgRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-12-30%252Bat%252B10.55.21%252BPM.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: GET CRAZY Year: 1983 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The
 "Stoned <i>Out</i>" device from EASY RIDER to BREAKFAST CLUB overdoses in Alan Arkush's GET CRAZY where drugs allow the characters to miraculously
 change their ways...  <br></p><p>Not like there's any doubt things wouldn't have turned
out perfectly for Bill Graham-inspired Max Wolfe (Allen Garfield), preparing for his club's New Year's 15-year 
anniversary concert with acts from blues-man Bill 
Henderson to campy anthem-rocker Malcolm McDowell's Reggie Wanker, 
who, living up to his last name and high on groovy juice provided by a 
magical drug dealer, talks and listens to his own... um... wanker...</p><p>Meanwhile, club managers Daniel Stern and Gail 
Edwards almost amount to a romance but there's so much ongoing music and
 old style physical comedy shenanigans exploding in every direction, no real plots 
can bother with GET CRAZY: Mixing an eclectic ensemble also including 
McDowell's hot Swedish girlfriend Anna Bjorn, crooked mogul Ed Begley Jr. trying to
 purchase the club using the owner's selfish nephew while Lou Reed walks the streets thinking up a comeback song, Lee Ving 
stage dives and Stern's gorgeous little sister Stacey Nelkin's dying to 
meet a rock star, any rock star that, again... comes to nothing but 
noise. Which must be deliberate. A shame since the characters have 
potential to stretch beyond the surrounding good times.<br></p>

allen garfield, bill henderson, comedy, daniel stern, ed begley jr., eighties, ensemble, gail edwards, lee ving, lou reed, malcolm mcdowell, miles chapin, music, slapstick, stacey nelkin

TOASTING NEW YEARS WITH NEW YEARS PARTY FLICK 'GET CRAZY'

Title: GET CRAZY Year: 1983 Rating: ***1/2 The "Stoned Out " device from EASY RIDER to BREAKFAST CLUB overdoses in Alan Arkush...

CHRISTINA GREGG IN ROGER CORMAN'S 'THE YOUNG RACERS'

action, christina gregg, exploitation, mark damon, melodrama, race car, roger corman, romance, sixties, sport, william campbell

CHRISTINA GREGG IN ROGER CORMAN'S 'THE YOUNG RACERS'

Christina Gregg with Mark Damon from 1963 There are fun bad movies and then there are bad movies that just don't work — as is the case o...

JMT

Written by James M. Tate / 1/31/2021 / No comments / beverly garland , bill elliott , cop , fifties , film noir or melodrama , helene stanton , hubert cornfield , mystery , thriller , tom drake , wrong man

Written by James M. Tate / 1/30/2021 / No comments / action , elisha cook jr. , fifties , film noir or melodrama , gene raymond , heist , hubert cornfield , jeanne cooper , nora hayden , road movie , steven ritch , thriller , wayne morris

Written by James M. Tate / 1/29/2021 / No comments / con man , edmond o'brien , hubert cornfield , julie london , laraine day , maury dexter , mexico , neo noir , sixties , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 1/28/2021 / No comments / angela douglas , ann lynn , antonita dias , british new wave , david hemmings , donald pleasence , hilda fenemore , johnny briggs , sixties , topsy jane

Written by James M. Tate / 1/27/2021 / No comments / al lettieri , hubert cornfield , kidnapping , marlon brando , neo noir , pamela franklin , richard boone , rita moreno , sixties , suspense , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 1/25/2021 / No comments / anna palk , christopher ellis , gothic , harry andrews , henry james , horror , marlon brando , michael winner , prequel , seventies , stephanie beacham , thriller , verna harvey

Written by James M. Tate / 1/23/2021 / No comments / edgar buchanan , forties , glenn ford , leslie nielsen , mickey shaughnessy , shirley maclaine , western , william bowers

Written by James M. Tate / 1/21/2021 / No comments / cop , cornel wilde , earl holliman , film noir or melodrama , helen walker , jazz score , jean wallace , lee van cleef , richard conte

Written by James M. Tate / 1/08/2021 / No comments / body count , dewey robinson , film noir or melodrama , horror , lawrence tierney , mark robson , richard dix , russell wade , thriller , val lewton

Written by James M. Tate / 1/07/2021 / No comments / al lettieri , amerigo tot , cult , dark comedy , lionel stander , lizabeth scott , michael caine , mickey rooney , mike hodges , neo noir , seventies , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 1/06/2021 / No comments / action , british neo noir , exploitation , gangster , michael caine , mike hodges , neo noir , seventies , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 1/05/2021 / No comments / action , caper , comedy , cult , ensemble , heist , margaret blye , michael caine , noel coward , sixties

Written by James M. Tate / 1/04/2021 / No comments / action , don barry , don red barry , eric matthews , hanna landy , harry lauter , heist , joe patridge , sixties , thriller , western

Written by James M. Tate / 1/03/2021 / No comments / abraham sofaer , action , byron haskin , charlton heston , creature , disaster , eleanor parker , fifties , melodrama , romance , william conrad

Written by James M. Tate / 1/02/2021 / No comments / action , exploitation , glenn ford , horror , indie , john huston , lance henriksen , ovidio g. assonitis , paige conner , patricia nial , sam peckinpah , science-fiction , seventies , shelley winters

Written by James M. Tate / 1/01/2021 / No comments / allen garfield , bill henderson , comedy , daniel stern , ed begley jr. , eighties , ensemble , gail edwards , lee ving , lou reed , malcolm mcdowell , miles chapin , music , slapstick , stacey nelkin

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