KICKING FRONT THROUGH THE FOURTH SEASON OF 'COBRA KAI'

<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/AVvXsEiiAPxg4QPwWQuQmpdjiwEftlBpkNpuvW_Ivc3UEeoqBtY9czSZn5CsPQqJN-NDFHdi7Egg1XXiuGLaP1zXsdCNO9FHw1lR5cVxCX3vj3WeindoycBts5I35NYHVKLAXXz5xkbFIA4HHMGEcNw7F7nGeKL_ZA-C-mLXcgVGDA0sURB4GvZ055bRCH5u4g=s907" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="907" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiAPxg4QPwWQuQmpdjiwEftlBpkNpuvW_Ivc3UEeoqBtY9czSZn5CsPQqJN-NDFHdi7Egg1XXiuGLaP1zXsdCNO9FHw1lR5cVxCX3vj3WeindoycBts5I35NYHVKLAXXz5xkbFIA4HHMGEcNw7F7nGeKL_ZA-C-mLXcgVGDA0sURB4GvZ055bRCH5u4g=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Zabka and a Coors Banquet in COBRA KAI Season Four DATE: December 31 2021 Overall Season SCORE: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Right before 2022, Netflix's Season Four of COBRA KAI has dropped, and for a show with mostly great seasons it's by far the worst... which is like the weakest album of a band that's had only exceptional ones... The main problem being the main antagonist in Martin Kove's John Creese having to share the titular dojo with the USA-Channel-style co-sensei-villain from the horrendously awful and infamous third <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/01/waxing-on-karate-kid-franchise.html">KARATE KID</a>... </p><p></p><p></p><p>Ironically, whenever Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso mentions that particular timeline (usually the failed Banzai Tree store as compared to his successful car lot) he shakes his head in sheer disbelief (almost as if, say, THE GODFATHER III were remade with Robert Duvall alongside George Hamilton)... </p><span></span>

2021, action, binging, cobra kai, franchise, karate, martin kove, netflix, new, ralph macchio, thomas ian griffith, william zabka

KICKING FRONT THROUGH THE FOURTH SEASON OF 'COBRA KAI'

William Zabka and a Coors Banquet in COBRA KAI Season Four DATE: December 31 2021 Overall Season SCORE: *** Right before 2022, Netflix's...

LEONARDO DICAPRIO & JENNFER LAWRENCE IN 'DON'T LOOK UP'

<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/AVvXsEhKBUqVcHUrtxZIJSoXj2eo3JIA2FVB1tytNFO6wvbh9nZ4c6YZP6y37W1Po3T6lwFHBcx00jUWIM3AcsiDO2cZrQe4Do2Ms0oatx4BY2qJNRy5LxGW8X8mVVWHYyDW_UJSqA31x3a8Pj8oPIuvZf9btX0h9XBVXTDbHqOUaKzQ7d42fxiWKePC-IKwSA=s1692" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="1692" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKBUqVcHUrtxZIJSoXj2eo3JIA2FVB1tytNFO6wvbh9nZ4c6YZP6y37W1Po3T6lwFHBcx00jUWIM3AcsiDO2cZrQe4Do2Ms0oatx4BY2qJNRy5LxGW8X8mVVWHYyDW_UJSqA31x3a8Pj8oPIuvZf9btX0h9XBVXTDbHqOUaKzQ7d42fxiWKePC-IKwSA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DON'T LOOK UP Year: 2021 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Adam McKay's DON'T LOOK UP is as much a satire of <span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">the gigantic-falling-space-rock-about-to-destroy-Earth DEEP IMPACT and ARMAGEDDON as MARS ATTACKS was to INDEPENDENCE DAY, and the anticipated political bias by the unapologetic liberal director isn't completely one-sided since capitalistic big-tech Mark Rylance channels mousy Covid guru Dr. Anthony Fauci </span><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">— while Meryl Streep's intentionally-vapid female American President suffers a nude-text scandal liken to New York's once-beloved Democrat Anthony Weiner... </span></p><p></p><p></p><p><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">But the two genuine main-characters are both intensely camera-shy, awkwardly idealistic, science-minded astronomers, one a student the other academically-legit in Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio respectively (the latter falling into what aging sex symbols rely on when the movie itself has to continuously mention how handsome they are)...</span></p><p><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading"><span></span></span></p>

2021, ada mckay, disaster, jennifer lawrence, leonardo dicaprio, mark rylance, meryl streep, netflix, new, political, satire

LEONARDO DICAPRIO & JENNFER LAWRENCE IN 'DON'T LOOK UP'

Title: DON'T LOOK UP Year: 2021 Rating: **1/2 Adam McKay's DON'T LOOK UP is as much a satire of the gigantic-falling-space-rock-...

JAMES CAGNEY'S GRAND NATIONAL 'SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWAvfkUucK9w2XhBk8RzLtEEUqOP8aFUVcYRWusDGnFi7-aHhe4cyB-9YIzyVmlycsSPADxSyhN_AA37BCI8b-a8qbyGn080eP2xpWVY7-H-5eg-pfGUK-EVmwih0fbPAAfBAyZDg47MoOSc2rwbFeBP6WnHOJMtQcWr4t6c7tQUWwGaA-WAAlFXhy7g=s701" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="701" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWAvfkUucK9w2XhBk8RzLtEEUqOP8aFUVcYRWusDGnFi7-aHhe4cyB-9YIzyVmlycsSPADxSyhN_AA37BCI8b-a8qbyGn080eP2xpWVY7-H-5eg-pfGUK-EVmwih0fbPAAfBAyZDg47MoOSc2rwbFeBP6WnHOJMtQcWr4t6c7tQUWwGaA-WAAlFXhy7g=w400-h323" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Something to Sing About Year: 1937 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The better of the two and the last picture Cagney did with the independent Grand National Pictures after GREAT GUY before returning to Warner Bros where he got to play by his own rules is SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT, showcasing Cagney's dynamic ability as a song and dance man with his own East Coast big band swing show...  </p><p></p><p>This is one of the earliest makings of a movie-within-a-movie to poke fun at the phony shenanigans centering on the hypocrisy and downside of Hollywood... </p><p>A shallow place Cagney's character wants nothing to do with the further he progresses on set in a star-making role as a smooth, romantic, crooning leading man. And for Universal Horror Fans it's great seeing Dwight Frye, in his second Cagney picture: Frye played Renfield in DRACULA, stealing the movie from Bela Lugosi himself, and Dr. Frankenstein's loony, hunchback assistant (who isn't named Igor) in FRANKENSTEIN and here a suspiciously feminine" makeup artist — something you probably wouldn't see so upfront and obvious during the Hays Code. But the real standout is Philip Ahn, a kind of stereotypical Chinese assistant who eventually shows he knows more than he lets on...   </p><p></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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihADTVhCQyGi17PFWnjacMwp1xPbmJdmQj70LvfnQLFP1PEmn14nED7nQETkRkDWomeDHGvtum9UjWNyAtsI-P9nDfDNdym9hzP5x7o2-1TURo8Z3ruqQGZ1sY433LjTfYC6fHknZGRKta6QNdaUyJmRiQL2-x9XVGvk--IzkfaL0bHKvp6XH5qLTT1A=s823" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="823" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihADTVhCQyGi17PFWnjacMwp1xPbmJdmQj70LvfnQLFP1PEmn14nED7nQETkRkDWomeDHGvtum9UjWNyAtsI-P9nDfDNdym9hzP5x7o2-1TURo8Z3ruqQGZ1sY433LjTfYC6fHknZGRKta6QNdaUyJmRiQL2-x9XVGvk--IzkfaL0bHKvp6XH5qLTT1A=w400-h228" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Cagney goes big for Grand National Pictures</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The plot shadows an earlier Cagney programmer from Warner titled LADY KILLER where he plays a con man/thief on the lam, winding up an Extra on a studio lot and then becomes an overnight star on the big screen... </p><p></p><p>Only here he has practically no fun at all, leading to a dragged-out finale about this dream job turned nightmare nearly ruining his marriage...  </p><p></p><p>In a film without a genuine antagonist, I LOVE LUCY landlord neighbor William Frawley is a sneaky agent who plays up to the media that his client is having a possible affair with the movie's movie starlet, who can't hold a candle to singing actress Evelyn Daw: that marriage, according to his contract and to appease female fans, has to be kept secret. Like any lighthearted romantic comedy, the initial breezy setup is the most fun while the task of fulfilling a buried plot detours slowly into a dead end. Still though, as a whole, the movie works just fine.</p><p><span></span></p>

dwight frye, hollywood satire, james cagney, musical, philip ahn, thirties, william frawley

JAMES CAGNEY'S GRAND NATIONAL 'SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT'

Something to Sing About Year: 1937 Rating: ***1/2 The better of the two and the last picture Cagney did with the independent Grand National ...

JAMES CAGNEY IN 'FRISCO KID' WITH MARGARET LINDSAY

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-52KXpD3y8osOJ2sVhnho3EH5Ora_MwqV0r9cy7K6LOQ8ct7iup3uohpts314obzljRlqXYL4aLWOLZTjf0qTDRaQZaGsxpehViwxwq_OS_ZB07BUWNrF2Hv3BufkmPjNNJHE4JBS-yhT9vFY9QJIafm83wQbKYbZ4EYgtZxXRA1R8A5N7-emZHMvcQ=s746" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="746" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-52KXpD3y8osOJ2sVhnho3EH5Ora_MwqV0r9cy7K6LOQ8ct7iup3uohpts314obzljRlqXYL4aLWOLZTjf0qTDRaQZaGsxpehViwxwq_OS_ZB07BUWNrF2Hv3BufkmPjNNJHE4JBS-yhT9vFY9QJIafm83wQbKYbZ4EYgtZxXRA1R8A5N7-emZHMvcQ=w400-h271" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1935 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the more severe early James Cagney features features Cagney as a character with a name so tough, once he's almost shanghaied in San Fransisco's 19th Century cutthroat/bar-brawling territory, you just know that new-guy-in-town "Bat Morgan" will get his revenge, and then some...</p><p></p><p>And that <i>some</i> is the kind of "let's band together to make one unbreakable monopolizing outfit" that occurs in just about every gangster flick that FRISCO KID is a time-period version of... </p><p>With either extremely shady or friendly characters surrounding our initially sympathetic turned determined casino-owner, from big boss Barton MacClane's hook-hand henchman The Shanghai Duck to gambler Ricardo Cortez as Cagney's backstabbing second to an affable sidekick to classy ingenue Margaret Lindsay flanked by token idealist Donald Woods (foreshadowing THE ROARING TWENTIES Paul Kelly, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, Patricia Lane and Jeffrey Lynn respectively); the latter a newspaperman ready to stomp the unlawful shenanigans that Cagney's Morgan is only partially responsible for, providing yet another "crime doesn't pay" plot-line that needed more levity climbing to that inevitably unsteady pinnacle... only this time it's all pretty serious business.  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, classic gangster, donald woods, george e. stone, james cagney, margaret lindsay, ricordo cortez, thirties, time period

JAMES CAGNEY IN 'FRISCO KID' WITH MARGARET LINDSAY

Year: 1935 Rating: ***1/2 One of the more severe early James Cagney features features Cagney as a character with a name so tough, once he...

STANLEY KUBRICK'S PARANOIAC FILM NOIR OF 'EYES WIDE SHUT'

<p></p><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/AVvXsEggKbgavRlx8RIsE4_bzFwb1l0stWYK0261BW1EUz6g5W4_CxtQnQ7h5ko6p1bgTvyWSpkEke1EGkz3L3HxnB_Qbmu-dpkIuZWv8SBswpCSdaTfXaDbmDFHf-3F7j-PXN5AwrMR2axWt0fwAXgH7BvvJ0MBPGLSlV9o0ur9vlFU2iBp3xSzirvRR4Vp2w=s1043" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="1043" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggKbgavRlx8RIsE4_bzFwb1l0stWYK0261BW1EUz6g5W4_CxtQnQ7h5ko6p1bgTvyWSpkEke1EGkz3L3HxnB_Qbmu-dpkIuZWv8SBswpCSdaTfXaDbmDFHf-3F7j-PXN5AwrMR2axWt0fwAXgH7BvvJ0MBPGLSlV9o0ur9vlFU2iBp3xSzirvRR4Vp2w=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT Year: 1999 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Some films seem created to be despised and misunderstood... <i>Misunderspised</i> is not a word but fits the subliminally insane, intensely mellow and tortuously strange EYES WIDE SHUT that, too slow for a thriller and too tame for sheer outright sexual exploitation, is the final feature of legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and stars Tom Cruise as a seemingly perfect Manhattan doctor with a seemingly contented wife in Nicole Kidman...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> Beginning with a plush (yet secretly lush) party thrown by Cruise's millionaire "house calls" patient Sydney Pollock, who later partakes in a terrific finale monologue, both men playing a game of fancy red-velvet pool while discussing an earlier upscale, mansion-set, masquerade orgy that Cruise's Dr. William Harford character should <i>not</i> have attended...</p><span></span>

christmas, epic, marie richardson, melodrama, neo noir, nicole kidman, nineties, stanley kubrick, sydney pollock, todd field, tom cruise

STANLEY KUBRICK'S PARANOIAC FILM NOIR OF 'EYES WIDE SHUT'

Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT Year: 1999 Rating: ***1/2 Some films seem created to be despised and misunderstood... Mis...

EARLY JAMES CAGNEY MILITARY COMEDY 'HERE COMES THE NAVY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_gkxTUoOsREc705RQ3cSGDY2r1Ap69VvBgVirEAaeoP2AUFPkBnfEicOrN2jkE3kvf1JwU-FhJqzXTvWNoAHkl1SzylVFETG5-UA3Ob8Inj2t4nAPplmb4SRWlTg503tdJJBFHinUmgFAaQi9qX3-MQ_waN-SZr_4l3onOz96E-WSKgvcfb2j296J8Q=s531" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="531" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_gkxTUoOsREc705RQ3cSGDY2r1Ap69VvBgVirEAaeoP2AUFPkBnfEicOrN2jkE3kvf1JwU-FhJqzXTvWNoAHkl1SzylVFETG5-UA3Ob8Inj2t4nAPplmb4SRWlTg503tdJJBFHinUmgFAaQi9qX3-MQ_waN-SZr_4l3onOz96E-WSKgvcfb2j296J8Q=w400-h345" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR: 1934 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>James Cagney as feisty construction worker/dance-contest running Chesty O'Brien has a row with Navy braggart Pat O'Brien, so he joins-up to simply punch out his rival in Lloyd Bacon's HERE COMES THE NAVY, another early Cagney programmer, here with most of the screen-time onboard the doomed/legendary U.S.S. Arizona aircraft carrier, in 1934...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Cagney, along with his usual tubby comic-relief sidekick Frank McHugh, meet up in a 90-day boot camp that flies by too quickly.... </p><p>But with HERE COMES THE NAVY, featuring bad (as in flirtatious two-timing) dancing girl Dorothy Tree followed by the token perfect girl <i>who just happens to be O'Brien's little sister</i> Gloria Stuart predictably falling for Cagney yet in an equally mutual fashion, the best scenes showcase how Chesty cuts corners onboard the Arizona, from taking an illegal liberty to working extremely hard to NOT have to work as hard as everyone else... That's until the inevitable tables turn and Cagney goes from snarky clown to intrepid hero, equally a stretch to how and why he'd joined in the first place... but it's all lightweight fare with the resilient young Cagney once again making pure adventure out of just a few locations.  <br></p><span></span>

action, adventure, comedy, dorothy tree, frank mchugh, gloria stuart, james cagney, military, pat o'brien, thirties

EARLY JAMES CAGNEY MILITARY COMEDY 'HERE COMES THE NAVY'

YEAR: 1934 Rates: **** James Cagney as feisty construction worker/dance-contest running Chesty O'Brien has a row with Navy braggart Pat ...

JAMES CAGNEY 'LADY KILLER' MAE CLARKE & MARGARET LINDSAY

<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/AVvXsEi-PjgA3mYV5jPxIn_fnZrnop3pdu4MegL-nV2kZexaRe8e8_FiOtClOnTVMk3bvBjCQXaq8BtlVP4TseDOc5Z4ot2xp7sPlyUR1kbF1b4ZMfQlh85lPsWyuFTfGnm2czCRa3TnUsxFyx62s5mQDeBLNsdQJGYaNdcpJC1lGamr3icmXvr23015p1CmAQ=s1079" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="1079" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-PjgA3mYV5jPxIn_fnZrnop3pdu4MegL-nV2kZexaRe8e8_FiOtClOnTVMk3bvBjCQXaq8BtlVP4TseDOc5Z4ot2xp7sPlyUR1kbF1b4ZMfQlh85lPsWyuFTfGnm2czCRa3TnUsxFyx62s5mQDeBLNsdQJGYaNdcpJC1lGamr3icmXvr23015p1CmAQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: LADY KILLER Year: 1933 Cast: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Mae Clarke Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>James Cagney plays a shifty usher at a movie theater, so his character’s already geared towards the lights, camera and especially action (and distraction from the very start. But he’s quickly derailed, conned by PUBLIC ENEMY siren Mae Clarke into a rigged card game involving Douglass Dumbrille and his gang of crooks... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But Cagney's Dan Quigley, after catching on, instead of getting angry, or even, or both, he joins and eventually leads the group into nightclub ownership and then a bigger heist that lands them in real dough, and real trouble...</p><p><span></span></p>

comedy, crime, douglass dumbrille, hollywood satire, james cagney, mae clarke, margaret lindsay, thirties, warner archives

JAMES CAGNEY 'LADY KILLER' MAE CLARKE & MARGARET LINDSAY

Title: LADY KILLER Year: 1933 Cast: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Mae Clarke Rating: **** James Cagney plays a shifty usher at a movie th...

JAMES CAGNEY AND PARTNER JOAN BLONDELL IN 'BLONDE CRAZY'

<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/AVvXsEhN5Bpb1dQXmDQPASd7wD4Qe_2UUlosNEf8pJuiOWTKciobBdvw7n4keimFu6dsf-2Fa8DvDbqUflUGkzkAFJG30wbRKhvco4vJqNRn3iq7ZJB0QrmVucIS_uWWuANIAD3Q4dmBMzz24BCA1tQLzTCrmQrsOyTfVugbE1iAXrsOQ6dAkremzoOKGB4qcg=s778" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhN5Bpb1dQXmDQPASd7wD4Qe_2UUlosNEf8pJuiOWTKciobBdvw7n4keimFu6dsf-2Fa8DvDbqUflUGkzkAFJG30wbRKhvco4vJqNRn3iq7ZJB0QrmVucIS_uWWuANIAD3Q4dmBMzz24BCA1tQLzTCrmQrsOyTfVugbE1iAXrsOQ6dAkremzoOKGB4qcg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BLONDE CRAZY Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell Year: 1931 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Something about James Cagney, especially in his youthful early-1930's energetic programmers, and how he brings out the best, and worst, from his leading ladies — as in the best performances and the worst attitudes...<br> <br> Enter Joan Blondell dealing with Cagney’s conniving Bert Harris, half the fun of this con-game comedy/drama centering on Harris, a suave hotel employee who sees the right girl is hired: and it’s the blonde cutie Joan, as Anne Roberts, who fits the bill since men simply melt at her feet...<br></p><p></p><span></span>

comedy, con man, heist, james cagney, joan blondell, louis calhern, noel francis, ray milland, roy del ruth, thirties

JAMES CAGNEY AND PARTNER JOAN BLONDELL IN 'BLONDE CRAZY'

Title: BLONDE CRAZY Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell Year: 1931 Rating: **** Something about James Cagney, especially in his youthful early...

JAMES CAGNEY'S NO DIRTY RAT IN THE BRISK MELODRAMA 'TAXI'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIWRoAtFQG5JGJW8gg3Bkk-lRThX8RRBfwlk5sw2IwfdIi3PUKIOGbOgFTeVdb5cCUm8I-8xWjhi3gFkepjkfLPdSA1sA0Hpn1TwpywZXWUlDPHVvql0Xd1t2LNXoImKBr50ZNN1MQM0YvvbSSWczhncYcmQmuKue1yQmUnR2Y7vry9tVV9TRGHLzg8A=s745" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="745" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIWRoAtFQG5JGJW8gg3Bkk-lRThX8RRBfwlk5sw2IwfdIi3PUKIOGbOgFTeVdb5cCUm8I-8xWjhi3gFkepjkfLPdSA1sA0Hpn1TwpywZXWUlDPHVvql0Xd1t2LNXoImKBr50ZNN1MQM0YvvbSSWczhncYcmQmuKue1yQmUnR2Y7vry9tVV9TRGHLzg8A=w400-h251" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TAXI Year: 1931 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Begins as a predictable, cliché melodrama dealing with the haves… a monopolizing consortium cab company… against the have-nots: independent cabbies trying to make it on their own without getting whacked in the process...</p><p></p><p>But soon the message peels into involving crime fare with James Cagney as Matt Nolan, who... along with future <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/12/shanghaiduck.html">FRISCO KID</a> sidekick George E. Stone... never actually says "You dirty rat" but barks something similar to best girl Loretta Young...<br></p><p></p><p>The movie gets better as the more stress enters Nolan's life: various thugs from the consortium move in, and every dame... from the one good to the several bad/untrusting... annoy the hell out of him: providing the cocky firebrand the usual classic tantrums, and so, Matt Nolan is like most of Cagney’s early-era tough guys, only with a real cause he's extra ticked-off and super edgy. Fighting the good fight you'll back him all the way, so much so the other characters seem nonexistent whether he's on, or off, the screen.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, crime, george e. stone, james cagney, loretta young, melodrama, thirties, union, warner archives

JAMES CAGNEY'S NO DIRTY RAT IN THE BRISK MELODRAMA 'TAXI'

Title: TAXI Year: 1931 Rating: *** Begins as a predictable, cliché melodrama dealing with the haves… a monopolizing consortium cab company… ...

MALCOLM MCDOWELL IN RICHARD LESTER'S 'ROYAL FLASH'

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyo9G4d8pb3AD7lIhAVBISbfUP_H0B68SSLZ5DUgRl7aGoHgN4dgN7etiNGd3F3Rj0jDLtksuy9YfrERCULExbwYbCxTVR2dcH8MthbJKfrttBvZ-E0QBgxQCkFbMSCeaa40d5Ioj3IZRS3frSCdoRLd2EfpwvWqRXadGiZsZlcD876oa0Kk2amIyMUg/s1192/AVvXsEjXFQ0SxL7sgxD2-qvXGrex3S2DD0dijlQsU01JiIFNOXQ8W1q5RC5XIXFFsjqBNdzSAzwqIMiucEdMWpWT01OX7ZFqttp9vV1_3_uXMOnhK8QsEFQGJO53v-wQWC5WuCG59LOV67aQ6FeSa0nPFjEcob0R22cC4BwUMcuktfVF2gzUy3s-36HRD-uvJA=s16000.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyo9G4d8pb3AD7lIhAVBISbfUP_H0B68SSLZ5DUgRl7aGoHgN4dgN7etiNGd3F3Rj0jDLtksuy9YfrERCULExbwYbCxTVR2dcH8MthbJKfrttBvZ-E0QBgxQCkFbMSCeaa40d5Ioj3IZRS3frSCdoRLd2EfpwvWqRXadGiZsZlcD876oa0Kk2amIyMUg/s16000/AVvXsEjXFQ0SxL7sgxD2-qvXGrex3S2DD0dijlQsU01JiIFNOXQ8W1q5RC5XIXFFsjqBNdzSAzwqIMiucEdMWpWT01OX7ZFqttp9vV1_3_uXMOnhK8QsEFQGJO53v-wQWC5WuCG59LOV67aQ6FeSa0nPFjEcob0R22cC4BwUMcuktfVF2gzUy3s-36HRD-uvJA=s16000.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Malcolm McDowell as Harry Flashman in ROYAL FLASH Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Malcolm McDowell himself stated via commentary he was perhaps miscast for the role of Captain Harry Flashman based on the popular British novels by Thomas Hughes, and ironically, judging by the covers, Flashman's depiction is almost a dead-ringer to McDowell's ROYAL FLASH co-star Alan Bates... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Who would have then possibly fared better in the outwardly-perfect/inwardly-cowardice title role, giving his own secondary character to underused villain Oliver Reed, formidably scowling as ever and a solid leftover from director Richard Lester's THREE MUSKETEERS and FOUR MUSKETEERS...</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/AVvXsEglJ6rJ-HWX_PQhNmXZr3vCF2z1n4zFT7e8ELVmK_0B91no-P_cxSsv62bf6YMzMywKp9-HqufgdsMawAhLPPSSK5BOjXQevkJZMOb1PSzUlu1J0jt3X3NV10nNa5cnm6PgOakyzRAS_R9FRY9FF6pzhgNHDm-sJp3_cRUS2TH6LI0g3cYW2mzCLNq_Bg=s1354" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="1354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglJ6rJ-HWX_PQhNmXZr3vCF2z1n4zFT7e8ELVmK_0B91no-P_cxSsv62bf6YMzMywKp9-HqufgdsMawAhLPPSSK5BOjXQevkJZMOb1PSzUlu1J0jt3X3NV10nNa5cnm6PgOakyzRAS_R9FRY9FF6pzhgNHDm-sJp3_cRUS2TH6LI0g3cYW2mzCLNq_Bg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>ROYAL FLASH co-stars Oliver Reed and Alan Bates</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Successful films that consecutively proceeded this rather forgotten, overlooked anti-epic's epic sharing the same period-genre (herein the crest of the Victorian Era): only this fictional hero's surrounded by actual historic ones...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And IF the <i>Flashy </i>shoe didn't fit McDowell visually, he was, following A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and O LUCKY MAN, the perfect choice for an oblivious pawn thrown from one perilous misadventure into the next, overwhelmed while "riding the whirlwind" yet remaining the same knowingly-crooked scoundrel from beginning to end...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, alan bates, british, florinda bolkan, history, lionel jeffries, malcolm mcdowell, oliver reed, richard lester, seventies, tom bell, victorian

MALCOLM MCDOWELL IN RICHARD LESTER'S 'ROYAL FLASH'

Malcolm McDowell as Harry Flashman in ROYAL FLASH Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2 Malcolm McDowell himself stated via commentary he was perhaps mi...

INSANELY BIZARRE CRIME MELODRAMA 'BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN'

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqpufCfZdIbvv7xXtvmvzMJiznge5C38UUcBTLW3Q_fL6v8s60RdKfoj8CtZEKCO22DqI8Uck0H7muOCxxPSi5jCyKQn8LxzKymaMQG4SU0SNFjYWiPonNUzs5JjOceNvd4z4yi9IrAnLVq8CWnewgCCB0A6VGeZ6qQmwWTZg-T4d35-3_z-nbhZ2lPw/s1397/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1129" data-original-width="1397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqpufCfZdIbvv7xXtvmvzMJiznge5C38UUcBTLW3Q_fL6v8s60RdKfoj8CtZEKCO22DqI8Uck0H7muOCxxPSi5jCyKQn8LxzKymaMQG4SU0SNFjYWiPonNUzs5JjOceNvd4z4yi9IrAnLVq8CWnewgCCB0A6VGeZ6qQmwWTZg-T4d35-3_z-nbhZ2lPw/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Wallace Ford and Patricia Ellis in BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN Year: 1939 Camp Value: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the strangest, most awkwardly melodramatic and yet somehow insanely intriguing 1930's crime flicks ever made, beginning with the fact that a skinny Jimmy Lydon, as young harmonica thief Frankie Rogers... who shares a single scene in a classroom with kids that would turn into adult actors playing them later... bares absolutely no resemblance to bulky Wallace Ford, who always seemed as if he'd never been young...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>By the time Frankie's an adult, locked up in a prison after... having been locked up as a kid... a few minutes will pass before you realize it's supposed to be the same person... like a new character's introduced that will eventually meet the kid we've been following...  Yet now we're in the second act as if the first never happened...</p><span></span>

crime, jimmy lydon, melodrama, patricia ellis, thirties, van heflin, wallace ford, william redfield

INSANELY BIZARRE CRIME MELODRAMA 'BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN'

Wallace Ford and Patricia Ellis in BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN Year: 1939 Camp Value: *** One of the strangest, most awkwardly melodramatic and yet ...

ROBERT MONTGOMERY'S 'RIDE THE PINK HORSE' WANDA HENDRIX

<p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEgOR37S6mJOtoN-Th77BjXugoqjYhI25_6ovlC_LoScpXVgMNefnmn4ops1ytcaaQpcL6ZI_ZI5pKo2nM_FQxGRYhHCzNXLAtEQNIQyoToOu9avxH27AJfjCTs-xnie8GJb7-Eyvk5chBDWiqBrHD6QroG4dKYFRiIGZrLJyJOZ7dXrcdnQ2Eayab2OZw=s1207" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="1207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOR37S6mJOtoN-Th77BjXugoqjYhI25_6ovlC_LoScpXVgMNefnmn4ops1ytcaaQpcL6ZI_ZI5pKo2nM_FQxGRYhHCzNXLAtEQNIQyoToOu9avxH27AJfjCTs-xnie8GJb7-Eyvk5chBDWiqBrHD6QroG4dKYFRiIGZrLJyJOZ7dXrcdnQ2Eayab2OZw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: RIDE THE PINK HORSE Year: 1947 Director/Star: Robert Montgomery Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the biggest flaws of Robert Montgomery's Mexico-set film noir RIDE THE PINK HORSE is pretty much flawless, and that's Wanda Hendrix as Pila, a different kind of ingenue...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And if Montgomery... a vengeful rogue named Lucky Gagin who turns up in a one-street carnival-fiesta Mexican town to blackmail criminal tycoon Fred Clark for having killed his war buddy... well let's just say if our roving hero's eyes were open, he'd have noticed that this "too skinny" peasant girl resembles an even prettier Gene Tierney...</p><p><span></span></p>

andrea king, art smith, film noir or melodrama, forties, fred clark, mexico, revenge, robert montgomery, thomas gomez, thriller, wanda hendrix

ROBERT MONTGOMERY'S 'RIDE THE PINK HORSE' WANDA HENDRIX

Title: RIDE THE PINK HORSE Year: 1947 Director/Star: Robert Montgomery Rates: ***1/2 One of the biggest flaws of Robert Montgomery's Mex...

THE MONKEES MIND THEIR MALIGNED BUSINESS THROUGH 'HEAD'

<p></p><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/AVvXsEhXVmljhqzNZ0qhQPY08IuoRJ0PDBin0Q3HLUhIi6Yia4v5RAylJ_Z_WIGsQeSUOVFd_aPhzqnaeDknlGwq2a5l8eHsbk3G6niqMgIwtR-KGRgfMA06Ujmi9U1wCik6-6sr7KLPdqY9x9gjD-AcCD8iSgPqcG2d7JMqVepWIoz0dIHgTlp8Ofp2U8jDJA=s1278" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="1278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXVmljhqzNZ0qhQPY08IuoRJ0PDBin0Q3HLUhIi6Yia4v5RAylJ_Z_WIGsQeSUOVFd_aPhzqnaeDknlGwq2a5l8eHsbk3G6niqMgIwtR-KGRgfMA06Ujmi9U1wCik6-6sr7KLPdqY9x9gjD-AcCD8iSgPqcG2d7JMqVepWIoz0dIHgTlp8Ofp2U8jDJA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Micky Dolenz & Mike Nesmith in artwork more 1980's than 1960's for HEAD Year: 1968 Rates: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>No rock group nor any music act in history would take part in a motion picture created primarily to ruin their image; but The Monkees, who were infamously NOT an actual band, had no <i>real</i> image to either ruin or protect...  </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Except their immensely popular and beloved TV show THE MONKEES, in which, after the second season cancellation, producer Bert Schnieder with producer/director Bob Rafelson alongside Rafelson's future FIVE EASY PIECES star/then-writer Jack Nicholson created a big-screen HEAD... </p><p><span></span></p>

bob rafelson, counter-culture, davy jones, ensemble, jack nicholson, michael nesmith, micky dolenz, montage, music, peter tork, psychedelic, the monkees, timothy carey, victor mature

THE MONKEES MIND THEIR MALIGNED BUSINESS THROUGH 'HEAD'

Micky Dolenz & Mike Nesmith in artwork more 1980's than 1960's for HEAD Year: 1968 Rates: ** No rock group nor any music act in ...

REST IN PEACE MONKEES RENAISSANCE MAN MICHAEL NESMITH

<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/AVvXsEjSkKc8z_vs25Y5gdAYRApO6LI09tyzPz9Uf67RxGF3bKUDTNMxkxqHaCO1hSlOQbJg0Qol0V0qFKJms-LlYwyePOXrB_S1V2xRVoepea1HwOKV4XsZW-RxYe0yBvJheIcHZv-kpOJvyuSMZq-xJsmtAekI8_pJ9uvDwsOIC8gy7yfdnAYZ4jl1SzeyKA=s1360" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSkKc8z_vs25Y5gdAYRApO6LI09tyzPz9Uf67RxGF3bKUDTNMxkxqHaCO1hSlOQbJg0Qol0V0qFKJms-LlYwyePOXrB_S1V2xRVoepea1HwOKV4XsZW-RxYe0yBvJheIcHZv-kpOJvyuSMZq-xJsmtAekI8_pJ9uvDwsOIC8gy7yfdnAYZ4jl1SzeyKA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>RIP Michael Nesmith here in THE MONKEES montage opening credits</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The fact the 1960's counter-culture generation were angry that four comedic actors (who could also sing/play a little music) on an obvious sit-com-parody of The Beatles' eclectic stab at movies is like the cast of FRIENDS being blamed for not hanging around together at a local coffee shop...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And while there are two Beatles left, THE MONKEES are down to one, and sole-surviving Micky Dolenz was currently on a "Farewell Tour" with recently-departed Michael Nesmith, the lanky wool cap-wearing straight man who, with a fortune from his mother's Liquid Paper invention, never financially needed part of various Monkees reunions... </p><span></span>

counter-culture, cult, davy jones, eighties, memorial, michael nesmith, micky dolenz, music, peter tork, sixties, the monkees

REST IN PEACE MONKEES RENAISSANCE MAN MICHAEL NESMITH

RIP Michael Nesmith here in THE MONKEES montage opening credits The fact the 1960's counter-culture generation were angry that four come...

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS FRED WARD AS 'TIMERIDER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjEKV5FKA8OyhCN6O8fd58BTUY30EzAoSJcSGGAFmtxVSI6y0v87E3alfXDFvddhQrzRguKBRNZg7O0tb4sQmyufcUAWtJwMvHt68Nm8Dyk4mLCqo-UcesX355RJ2cP6ywVjZZ1l3cKZ9dkrvFbl3ayDWFBp-BramOiWdXqOrLB433yBnnuyH5iGpAniw=s900" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEKV5FKA8OyhCN6O8fd58BTUY30EzAoSJcSGGAFmtxVSI6y0v87E3alfXDFvddhQrzRguKBRNZg7O0tb4sQmyufcUAWtJwMvHt68Nm8Dyk4mLCqo-UcesX355RJ2cP6ywVjZZ1l3cKZ9dkrvFbl3ayDWFBp-BramOiWdXqOrLB433yBnnuyH5iGpAniw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TIMERIDER Producer: Mike Nesmith Cast: Fred Ward, Belinda Bauer Year: 1982 Rates: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before executive producing REPO MAN, Micheal Nesmith not only produced but co-wrote and composed a crunchy rock guitar score for a low-budget time-travel flick TIMERIDER: THE ADVENTURE OF LYLE SWANN, starting out with titular dirt-bike champ Fred Ward's perspective of a desert race course that we learn... cutting to and from the interior of a nearby scientific center... has a metallic device set up to...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Long story short, Swann winds up a hundred-years back in the 1870's post-Civil War, making TIMERIDER that <i>Western with a dirt bike</i> movie co-starring Belinda Bauer as the Arizona past's tough Mexican firebrand Claire Cygne, who, less than an hour after seeing our muscular hero skinny dipping, gets his clothes off again for a literal roll in the hay... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, belinda bauer, chris mulkey, cult, ed lauter, eighties, fred ward, l.q. jones, michael nesmith, modern western, peter coyote, science-fiction, time travel

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS FRED WARD AS 'TIMERIDER'

Title: TIMERIDER Producer: Mike Nesmith Cast: Fred Ward, Belinda Bauer Year: 1982 Rates: ** Before executive producing REPO MAN, Micheal Nes...

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS ALEX COX'S PUNK NOIR 'REPO MAN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjFsIbBuKKRULHfqWSr1ijboYAhZlqmO6yGKFcqUq-4WLC2iw1YTlY8qQSV0uf3kN1g6XeRUfAX3msuib5hucSCg8cfiAEfhWikJwge7_XE7JPsXu8wRI7JoReKLqXPjCU-a6LIkh-RAIUUvIufNK60HNL1kymfkycC6VgIwfoaYOqHdBMUOIk-pg6f1g=s1391" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="1391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFsIbBuKKRULHfqWSr1ijboYAhZlqmO6yGKFcqUq-4WLC2iw1YTlY8qQSV0uf3kN1g6XeRUfAX3msuib5hucSCg8cfiAEfhWikJwge7_XE7JPsXu8wRI7JoReKLqXPjCU-a6LIkh-RAIUUvIufNK60HNL1kymfkycC6VgIwfoaYOqHdBMUOIk-pg6f1g=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> Title: REPO MAN Executive Producer: Michael Nesmith Director: Alex Cox Year: 1984 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>British director Alex Cox's REPO MAN produced/presented by philanthropic Michael Nesmith is to punk rock cinema what KISS ME DEADLY is to Film Noir: a Los Angeles-based odyssey starring Emilio Estevez as Otto, a slacker without purpose or motivation, and whether drinking generic beer or working at a generic grocery store, he's got time on his hands and very little money in-between...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p> So fate has him joining Harry Dean Stanton's Bud in “legally stealing” a car, and he soon becomes a REPO MAN, which is dangerous business, especially in the bad part of town where Otto learns the ropes along with Bud's randomly insane philosophies (hating both Christians and Communists equally) as they go from one task to another... </p><p><span></span></p>

alex cox, cult, dark comedy, eighties, emilio estevez, ensemble, harry dean stanton, michael nesmith, olivia barash, science-ficiton, sy richardson, tracey walter

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS ALEX COX'S PUNK NOIR 'REPO MAN'

 Title: REPO MAN Executive Producer: Michael Nesmith Director: Alex Cox Year: 1984 Rating: **** British director Alex Cox's REPO MAN pro...

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS 'TAPEHEADS' WITH TIM ROBBINS

<p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjeLntt-stGfDfWtiL27-v6lq5hMplQiakKmnwFdkz29Jl8wrZFcgHjLphvWBFEmfQsaO68d_ZiLNiNbYYvb5wIKP7JcLa7mAsB5c9h8M0e1coTeAS4d9fznzbKmhNtRNeD1vM5FXD-sHU-JCY4g5EZE5ptZGeno4Vkdt5nuFtBRlS2BPd_hZvzaj8M4A=s1879" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="1879" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeLntt-stGfDfWtiL27-v6lq5hMplQiakKmnwFdkz29Jl8wrZFcgHjLphvWBFEmfQsaO68d_ZiLNiNbYYvb5wIKP7JcLa7mAsB5c9h8M0e1coTeAS4d9fznzbKmhNtRNeD1vM5FXD-sHU-JCY4g5EZE5ptZGeno4Vkdt5nuFtBRlS2BPd_hZvzaj8M4A=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tim Robbins in Bill Fishman's cult comedy TAPEHEADS Year: 1988 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Monkee turned millionaire Michael Nesmith, after backing the cult classic REPO MAN, joined that film's producer Peter McCarthy who co-wrote TAPEHEADS with music-video director Bill Fishman... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The perfect director for a video-making parody about a twenty-something odd couple in salesman-type John Cusack as Ivan and best friend Josh played by a meek/mellow Tim Robbins, the artistic side of this underdog duo who start out as unambitious multi-monitor security guards...</p><p><span></span></p>

bill fishman, comedy, eighties, indie, john cusack, katy boyer, mary crosy, michael nesmith, music, tim robbins

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS 'TAPEHEADS' WITH TIM ROBBINS

Tim Robbins in Bill Fishman's cult comedy TAPEHEADS Year: 1988 Rating: *** Monkee turned millionaire Michael Nesmith, after backing the ...

NEVILLE BRAND AND ROBERT OSTERLOH 'RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11'

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsUbhau1isuHzhAsz2yAaL9akzQk6SxRMjGaHHwB59opUxf3UBaTzeCFWWXMkzu3vncnqw6af371U0eJbDwo18PCn_37UN2VkJ1BtFDHrO9f-VBpX6hzTGE7BiqxlA_zxMhANxpvuqEaIMatszgeS_g-sdc22QcfKIH3mYV7N9iiChzFKX9KHNXTXrA/s1194/Screen%20Shot%202021-12-06%20at%208.06.28%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="1194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsUbhau1isuHzhAsz2yAaL9akzQk6SxRMjGaHHwB59opUxf3UBaTzeCFWWXMkzu3vncnqw6af371U0eJbDwo18PCn_37UN2VkJ1BtFDHrO9f-VBpX6hzTGE7BiqxlA_zxMhANxpvuqEaIMatszgeS_g-sdc22QcfKIH3mYV7N9iiChzFKX9KHNXTXrA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202021-12-06%20at%208.06.28%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 Director: Don Siegel Producer: Walter Wanger Year: 1954 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of those 1950's Film Noirs that starts out a documentary, in this case an actual warden speaking about the "riot problem" in American prisons while a montage of news footage is shown... </p><p></p><p></p><p>All occurring after the opening credits to blend with the grainy B&W story-line... as if both fact and fiction were one in the same... despite supposedly hard-edged prisoners Alvy Moore and Dabbs Greer's goofy smiles, donning upturned long-brim caps more befitting a keystone comedy...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

dabbs greer, docudrama, emile meyer, exploitation, fifties, film noir or melodrama, leo gordon, neville brand, prison, robert osterloh

NEVILLE BRAND AND ROBERT OSTERLOH 'RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11'

Title: RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 Director: Don Siegel Producer: Walter Wanger Year: 1954 Rating: **** One of those 1950's Film Noirs that st...

STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS KURT RUSSELL SELLING 'USED CARS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEhznkORU5byTHQ2R-NRrzR2y-BSgPM9z7epSOeUG7SbP6TUW18Fdrip_8OGJjgg7dw6UgBM03Y13e0OEEDHmyOiXXC5n59OMdCRQ91SovXNL-Lw7_HITV3zy1tw5IjDyk2qb_7dqxQ0ED6f3ptoDV1OLAiiwq6nb2CTk-uNOtbWd9ZG0FsaZplbnKJndw=s1439" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="1439" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhznkORU5byTHQ2R-NRrzR2y-BSgPM9z7epSOeUG7SbP6TUW18Fdrip_8OGJjgg7dw6UgBM03Y13e0OEEDHmyOiXXC5n59OMdCRQ91SovXNL-Lw7_HITV3zy1tw5IjDyk2qb_7dqxQ0ED6f3ptoDV1OLAiiwq6nb2CTk-uNOtbWd9ZG0FsaZplbnKJndw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: USED CARS Producer: Steven Spielberg Director: Bob Zemeckis Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Around the time that <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/11/1941.html">Steven Spielberg's WWII comedy</a> started vanishing from the collective moviegoer memories, the entire <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/11/1941.html">1941</a> team, also including producer John Milius co-writing with Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, had a new movie out that bombed in theaters, unlike 1941 that, despite its maligned reputation, <i>did</i> turn a profit...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The irony is the Robert Zemickis directed USED CARS, co-written by Gale and produced by Milius and Spielberg, was getting the kind of "sleeper" attention within its predecessor's ebbing wake... <br></p><span></span>

bob gale, comedy, deborah harmon, eighties, exploitation, frank mcrea, gerrit graham, harry northup, jack warden, kurt russell, robert zemeckis

STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS KURT RUSSELL SELLING 'USED CARS'

Title: USED CARS Producer: Steven Spielberg Director: Bob Zemeckis Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2 Around the time that Steven Spielberg's WWII...

DUSTIN HOFFMAN & WARREN BEATTY WANDER THROUGH 'ISHTAR'

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7EtOiCaXcV6QGcjLurONrznclMMo6BZr_c7n6sh5TzIzN7hqpWDWvTwo_dkl9vFRj6qcImJLvROptaSmrapVHHZ-PMnPGPHlOdDHfjg2d1JcqZk-JFYVUHoAE5n4mCZKcP5ZKg7npjrYKL3rsl7ax746AxoMd-SAPj5kt7n01Dd1Ai8l9D5XaixtL6spS/s2208/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1234" data-original-width="2208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7EtOiCaXcV6QGcjLurONrznclMMo6BZr_c7n6sh5TzIzN7hqpWDWvTwo_dkl9vFRj6qcImJLvROptaSmrapVHHZ-PMnPGPHlOdDHfjg2d1JcqZk-JFYVUHoAE5n4mCZKcP5ZKg7npjrYKL3rsl7ax746AxoMd-SAPj5kt7n01Dd1Ai8l9D5XaixtL6spS/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dustin Hoffman in ISHTAR Year: 1987 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In one scene from the famously infamous 1987 mega-flop ISHTAR, a shy and introverted Warren Beatty admits that, in order to get women, he wished he looked more like Dustin Hoffman: which is funnier than anything else in the movie... <br> </p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p> Both are straight men without comic relief (Beatty's sweet and stupid while Hoffman's stupidly confident), and there isn't a touch of humor to be found: Especially not in the muddled screenplay written by director Elaine May and centering on two awful lounge singers, Lyle Rogers and Chuck Clark, who don’t seem realistic enough to be genuine failures... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, buddy, charles grodin, comedy, desert, dustin hoffman, eighties, elaine may, espionage, isabelle adjani, jack weston, warren beatty

DUSTIN HOFFMAN & WARREN BEATTY WANDER THROUGH 'ISHTAR'

Dustin Hoffman in ISHTAR Year: 1987 Rating: ** In one scene from the famously infamous 1987 mega-flop ISHTAR, a shy and introverted Warren...

SUE LYON & JENNIFER ASHLEY IN 'TOWING' WITH JOE MANTENGA

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjPYC3vbtzQFqa0M2Ck6jWo9H4j4ckBMWAsxSETkq4qWdYw78Hdvj7gGcgSo_-WW9nv513J1V77o3NaZP-675KJnVfu9uMpT3ATNW_t9g8shKQOJUqeet4cMk_iPBikjI3NlNSAYagdT16fri7M0yAZoP0v1cDMNccICfAOcQGz-HokTa2mhbAp7toy7A=s1283" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPYC3vbtzQFqa0M2Ck6jWo9H4j4ckBMWAsxSETkq4qWdYw78Hdvj7gGcgSo_-WW9nv513J1V77o3NaZP-675KJnVfu9uMpT3ATNW_t9g8shKQOJUqeet4cMk_iPBikjI3NlNSAYagdT16fri7M0yAZoP0v1cDMNccICfAOcQGz-HokTa2mhbAp7toy7A=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jennifer Ashley and Sue Lyon verses J.J. Johnston in TOWING Year: 1978 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before calling it quits after <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/sue-lyon-swan-song.html">ALLIGATOR</a>, Sue Lyon starred alongside Jennifer Ashley in what was once the Holy Grail of the former Lolita's low-budget 1970's flicks, finally coexisting with <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/evelyon.html">EVEL KNIEVEL</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/sue-lyon-tarot.html">TAROT</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/clockwork-lolita.html">MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/sue-lyon-crash.html">CRASH!</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/09/AssFactor.html">THE ASTRAL FACTOR</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/09/LYON-i5.html">SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE  5</a> and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2015/12/lyon-end-of-world.html">END OF THE WORLD</a>...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Her penultimate feature TOWING is a low-budget street-set sex-comedy influenced by CAR WASH, with a similar funky theme playing from beginning to end, starring Ashley and Lyon as barmaid besties... </p><p><span></span></p>

bobby di cici, cult, drive-in, exploitation, indie, jennifer ashley, joe mantenga, seventies, sue lyon

SUE LYON & JENNIFER ASHLEY IN 'TOWING' WITH JOE MANTENGA

Jennifer Ashley and Sue Lyon verses J.J. Johnston in TOWING Year: 1978 Rating: *** Before calling it quits after ALLIGATOR , Sue Lyon starre...

CAPTURING THE PANDEMONIUM OF STEVEN SPIELBERG'S '1941'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlbSPe9sVXXftLMWxHNcpQWrGh5TScreklJzpYU-z1sijR7Zc3qUxkbhawj11R5EhAARBD4vn6pOcQcUlleLpnrjugd5CJ1aqcdfCkUna4YpNmpnhy2t-Exju9iQAqJeyFJUgDjFr6lpryrhOziYx5i2y-IQdp97VPKz_FsE6R8ZpHsob_Z4vGXLSwiw/s1936/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-12%20at%209.31.51%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="1936" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlbSPe9sVXXftLMWxHNcpQWrGh5TScreklJzpYU-z1sijR7Zc3qUxkbhawj11R5EhAARBD4vn6pOcQcUlleLpnrjugd5CJ1aqcdfCkUna4YpNmpnhy2t-Exju9iQAqJeyFJUgDjFr6lpryrhOziYx5i2y-IQdp97VPKz_FsE6R8ZpHsob_Z4vGXLSwiw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-12%20at%209.31.51%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: 1941 from 1979 Director: Steven Spielberg Pictured: John Belush, John Landis Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>While considered by many to be Steven Spielberg's worst film... especially compared to DUEL, JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND... the 1979 blockbuster 1941 is actually his most important motion picture... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>For a director whose camera-flowing style REMAINS the prototype for other big budget (including comic book adapted) extravaganzas, 1941... from the warplane dogfight to the climactic rolling Ferris Wheel... moved Spielberg from action-BACKED thrillers to action-PACKED thrills...</p><p><span></span></p>

bobby di cici, comedy, dan aykroyd, dianne kay, ensemble, john belushi, john candy, mickey rourke, murray hamilton, nancy allen, ned beatty, seventies, steven spielberg, treat williams, world war II

CAPTURING THE PANDEMONIUM OF STEVEN SPIELBERG'S '1941'

Title: 1941 from 1979 Director: Steven Spielberg Pictured: John Belush, John Landis Rating: ***1/2 While considered by many to be Steven Spi...