BURT REYNOLDS IN THE LAS VEGAS NEON NEO-NOIR OF 'HEAT'

<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/AVvXsEhF04Do96V6dCUGTK40Byj2YuzzuQwQxkLIh57pTv0hmrfuMuIY9hkQGWs371uFoijOuwB5ErZBLgP0d75moJOHFkdE0s-1dFO8hnZ9HJpvYP2rYB4Bo8ATpGrWSf5ysvVtC3UZrtUqOoi2aRf8aUyNebwSB16gjAXYNcbPM4-AXkxE9l0i2Z6Q0bKFvQ/s1884/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-30%20at%206.13.50%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="1884" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF04Do96V6dCUGTK40Byj2YuzzuQwQxkLIh57pTv0hmrfuMuIY9hkQGWs371uFoijOuwB5ErZBLgP0d75moJOHFkdE0s-1dFO8hnZ9HJpvYP2rYB4Bo8ATpGrWSf5ysvVtC3UZrtUqOoi2aRf8aUyNebwSB16gjAXYNcbPM4-AXkxE9l0i2Z6Q0bKFvQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-30%20at%206.13.50%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HEAT Year: 1986 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>After <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/burt%20reynolds">Burt Reynolds</a> career derailed following too many bland romantic comedies and vapid car chase movies, especially STROKER ACE, he made a string of relatively unknown neo noir action flicks liken to his 1981 gritty cop exploitation SHARKY'S MACHINE... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And while <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2011/06/stick.html">STICK</a> took source novelist Elmore Leonard's pulpy approach in balmy Florida and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/10/Malone.html">MALONE</a> headed to the woodsy wilderness, HEAT sizzles in Sin City where Reynold's character Nick is a kind of hired makeshift bodyguard with an edgy past while suffering the worst addiction to have in Las Vegas... gambling... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, burt reynolds, deborah rush, eighties, gambling, howard hesseman, karen young, neo noir, peter macnichol

BURT REYNOLDS IN THE LAS VEGAS NEON NEO-NOIR OF 'HEAT'

Title: HEAT Year: 1986 Rating: ***1/2 After Burt Reynolds career derailed following too many bland romantic comedies and vapid car chase mo...

BURT REYNOLDS STARRING IN HIS CULT DARK COMEDY 'THE END'

<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/AVvXsEi7Plm9g_B4CzxAdxPMThwlSzgDfKfoyPcwUZBQkvIJZTdNf3HebidboGBfsl5mnzi6KS8zwSKUu3qG8swA_U6pioknY599d85Tgww9Y-CcvYBauDetYqGoUZ2jvlWAW5gLKBDzy2MXla_CfJlScK8FbNTKhGlimVJ3aiGurTFpDkllb0pV8uS3QlW6xw/s1794/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-09%20at%203.50.03%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Plm9g_B4CzxAdxPMThwlSzgDfKfoyPcwUZBQkvIJZTdNf3HebidboGBfsl5mnzi6KS8zwSKUu3qG8swA_U6pioknY599d85Tgww9Y-CcvYBauDetYqGoUZ2jvlWAW5gLKBDzy2MXla_CfJlScK8FbNTKhGlimVJ3aiGurTFpDkllb0pV8uS3QlW6xw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-09%20at%203.50.03%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Burt Reynolds in THE END Year: 1978 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Best remembered for the last half-hour involving Burt Reynolds, as a dying man with less than a year to live, and Dom DeLuise, whom he meets at an insane asylum after an unsuccessful suicide attempt: Crazy Dom's given the personal task to kill Burt so he doesn't have to do it himself...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Before the human cartoon zaniness is a satisfying, darkly comedic hour where Reynold's character, a formerly shady insurance scammer, Sonny, meets with a young priest (Robbie Benson, basically playing, Robbie Benson as a priest) who's more curious about Sonny's sins than a confession... <br> </p>

burt reynolds, dark comedy, dom deluise, kristy mcnichol, norman fell, robbie benson, seventies

BURT REYNOLDS STARRING IN HIS CULT DARK COMEDY 'THE END'

Burt Reynolds in THE END Year: 1978 Rating: ***1/2 Best remembered for the last half-hour involving Burt Reynolds, as a dying man with less ...

KIM HUNTER IN VAL LEWTON'S GOTHIC NOIR 'THE SEVENTH VICTIM'

<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/AVvXsEgcmptvil1csm4jJW2AM544M4M_YHy73DfdA_7pO9YKTWmG25oHUN8N_zx1OsfgdFlpm2iFUUNy6Mx_VpIfJFTq8h3cmmtPypYqRKVQo0MF2rnPBLc3RBGXddoaMPYyCzchzdv5qPbwYDXzn41UsfKk6I0vks4sIaEI1ejycNKaLiIOHGC4Wx6rVTXWug/s1470/0.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmptvil1csm4jJW2AM544M4M_YHy73DfdA_7pO9YKTWmG25oHUN8N_zx1OsfgdFlpm2iFUUNy6Mx_VpIfJFTq8h3cmmtPypYqRKVQo0MF2rnPBLc3RBGXddoaMPYyCzchzdv5qPbwYDXzn41UsfKk6I0vks4sIaEI1ejycNKaLiIOHGC4Wx6rVTXWug/s16000/0.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE SEVENTH VICTIM Year: 1943 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Following producer Val Lewton's exploitation horrors CAT PEOPLE, THE LEOPARD MAN and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE directed by Jacques Tourneur, where the titles alone helped fill theaters, THE SEVENTH VICTIM, by another Lewton stock auteur, Mark Robson, is the most ambiguous and enigmatic yet made very little money...</p><p></p><p>And unlike a straight mystery, what's buried in the investigative plot-line is revealed halfway through after young Kim Hunter trades her safe chilly girl's school teaching job for the big, dark, looming city, searching for her older sister, the highly-regarded owner of a lucrative cosmetics company, who suddenly vanished... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

barbara hale, dewey robinson, elizabeth russell, erford gage, film noir or melodrama, forties, gothic, horror, hugh beaumont, jean brooks, kim hunter, lou lubin, mark robson, tom conway, val lewton

KIM HUNTER IN VAL LEWTON'S GOTHIC NOIR 'THE SEVENTH VICTIM'

Title: THE SEVENTH VICTIM Year: 1943 Rating: **** Following producer Val Lewton's exploitation horrors CAT PEOPLE, THE LEOPARD MAN and I...

CHARLES BRONSON IN THE MODERN NOIR TEMPLATE OF 'ST. IVES'

<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/AVvXsEi5fCtZxuQvtwKMcPRhz2fSO8uHNEyhlNcZXjtKzw4R0y02CTzc0-odA4uBDi57agFdzk3V3rRLhjwJCUGTbmmFVmJBl-bo9ZpzZrtnj3t9fOucytX7KyOtMD-SoxePFIZV1KRudZ1XLwboGSe29wva77xXMtbQW2qh49qepVU7kAf1-gYgjwu3RCM9gA/s962/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-25%20at%2010.23.50%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fCtZxuQvtwKMcPRhz2fSO8uHNEyhlNcZXjtKzw4R0y02CTzc0-odA4uBDi57agFdzk3V3rRLhjwJCUGTbmmFVmJBl-bo9ZpzZrtnj3t9fOucytX7KyOtMD-SoxePFIZV1KRudZ1XLwboGSe29wva77xXMtbQW2qh49qepVU7kAf1-gYgjwu3RCM9gA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-25%20at%2010.23.50%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>ST. IVES Stars: Charles Bronson, John Houseman, Jacqueline Bisset Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The second of two Charles Bronson vehicles after DEATH WISH where Jeff Goldblum plays a member of a gang trio, this time as Hood #3 instead of Freak #1 for ST. IVES, a deliberately nostalgic gumshoe throwback liken to THE BIG SLEEP (ignited by the popularity of CHINATOWN) with Bronson as the snoopy, rough yet vulnerable Humphrey Bogart type, only a crime writer instead of private eye...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And, given a broad task by millionaire John Houseman to find some important papers within 1970's Downtown Los Angeles, Bronson's titular Ives roams from one location to another in the typical Noir fashion...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, charles bronson, crime, dana elcar, gumshoe, harry guardino, j. lee thompson, jacqueline bisset, jeff goldblum, john houseman, lynn borden, neo noir, seventies, thriller

CHARLES BRONSON IN THE MODERN NOIR TEMPLATE OF 'ST. IVES'

ST. IVES Stars: Charles Bronson, John Houseman, Jacqueline Bisset Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2 The second of two Charles Bronson vehicles after...

HUBERT CORNFIELD DIRECTS 'THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY'

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKzfUcrug_8VVTy_IOyd80AZ0Na184IEBD0CDHVPtEkicREuPf4i_dWGJUEzvLGeiwMH6JciAiY9S313vybkfOJoVMgMxThPIQuLD0CHLyYZbo6AQXtO0zoQHOBy4jax0b19LIUMeYLmHgzVvonM4AC21ahXmZFcXR_pPFdXmLU4NwFJvT9fYbJ6T9w/s1166/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-04%20at%2010.27.34%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKzfUcrug_8VVTy_IOyd80AZ0Na184IEBD0CDHVPtEkicREuPf4i_dWGJUEzvLGeiwMH6JciAiY9S313vybkfOJoVMgMxThPIQuLD0CHLyYZbo6AQXtO0zoQHOBy4jax0b19LIUMeYLmHgzVvonM4AC21ahXmZFcXR_pPFdXmLU4NwFJvT9fYbJ6T9w/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-04%20at%2010.27.34%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marlon Brando in The Night of the Following Day 1969 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There are two things that <i>must be </i>intentional about THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY: One is fortyish Marlon Brando was proving to <i>still </i>be fit and great looking (and he did); the other is this kidnap-thriller's not one bit thrilling, and director Hubert Cornfield deliberately made a character-driven film more about edgy criminals than the edgy situation they're involved in... </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>And kidnapped Pamela Franklin is hardly shown, especially once inside the main location, a French beach house where even a literally fishing cop — flirting with Brando's junky girlfriend (and the passive leader's sister) Rita Moreno — doesn't  evoke suspense...</p><p><span></span></p>

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

HUBERT CORNFIELD DIRECTS 'THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY'

Marlon Brando in The Night of the Following Day 1969 Rating: ***1/2 There are two things that must be intentional about THE NIGHT OF THE FOL...

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

<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 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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdfpVMj_EdxLxSCtWuS5MmNnIclUY2DdRmGFF720HNAO9BtY5aDQ5kZV9hnOFVdsTbXgIUK6RBngJ7NciBwS9SDL8RdSOBnQlMYxLz48Nx4e2XRY2rNnxbsWLHptLObiibl-HWZXnMnrOEnm9qX15waF2vYOY1sZVTA2UxMNsw0M1WKadhevt-Czb-A/s2051/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-24%20at%204.26.06%20AM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1381" data-original-width="2051" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdfpVMj_EdxLxSCtWuS5MmNnIclUY2DdRmGFF720HNAO9BtY5aDQ5kZV9hnOFVdsTbXgIUK6RBngJ7NciBwS9SDL8RdSOBnQlMYxLz48Nx4e2XRY2rNnxbsWLHptLObiibl-HWZXnMnrOEnm9qX15waF2vYOY1sZVTA2UxMNsw0M1WKadhevt-Czb-A/w400-h269/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-24%20at%204.26.06%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Britt Ekland in AFTER THE FOX Year: 1966 Rates: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Victor Mature plays an aged, has-been actor who spends so much time bickering with agent Martin Balsam about doing or <i>not</i> doing a French existential film, you'll simply want things to narrow into what the <i>real</i> movie's about...</p><p></p><p></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>And AFTER THE FOX doesn't mean <i>what follows</i> but <i>who's followin</i>g Peter Sellers' criminal named Fox, who broke out of prison, in disguise, and there's plenty of humor but not enough laughs... <br></p><p>Shame since the cinematography's so gorgeous, a satire on the pretentious side of 1960's French New Wave cinema, ironically directed by 1950's minimalist BICYCLE THIEVES auteur Vittorio De Sica, not allowing either his funny guy (Sellers) or straight man (Mature) enough time together... leaving the best scenes to Britt Ekland as The Fox's little sister he lives to protect, overriding his plot to recover  stolen loot, which is why he's imitating a filmmaker in the first place. But, like that bogus art film (badgered by noisy, annoying villagers), all that matters is the deliberately pointless running around, which is entertaining yet tiresome. And not always in that order<span style="color: grey;">.</span></p><p><span style="color: grey;"><span></span></span></p>

akim tamiroff, brit ekland, british, comedy, cult, french, heist, jailbreak, maria grazia buccella, peter sellers, satire, sixties, victor mature

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

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

RACING THROUGH EARLY JACK NICHOLSON FOR 'THE WILD RIDE'

<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/AVvXsEgUGF2UBvTkZGCIz5DpOSf-0Wa0-pIenIB_4CXBH0oomsBHZbyUaFwK_MfL4zNoILF_DfRYIbBzJU3WtLTSXGtMYIe0l4aq7xZHPS4FtwS4tPVzPl_CXi6yZ6IUBRQleNYwPAbM-W_F_lThqzGZIE6a-45qZaT4MXBS7hRmhUDhhDx3ZiuuvJsQ-h00hw/s1548/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-18%20at%2011.30.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="1548" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGF2UBvTkZGCIz5DpOSf-0Wa0-pIenIB_4CXBH0oomsBHZbyUaFwK_MfL4zNoILF_DfRYIbBzJU3WtLTSXGtMYIe0l4aq7xZHPS4FtwS4tPVzPl_CXi6yZ6IUBRQleNYwPAbM-W_F_lThqzGZIE6a-45qZaT4MXBS7hRmhUDhhDx3ZiuuvJsQ-h00hw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-18%20at%2011.30.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A young Jack Nicholson in THE WILD RIDE Year: 1960 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before the term Speed Kills referred to drugs it was for souped-up fast cars... There weren't any protests under the influence of psychedelia just yet; the 1950's and early 1960's were about hot rods and youth and the latter's misuse was the subject of many films, mostly cautionary tales but this one's a bit more ambiguous and peripheral...<br> <br> THE WILD RIDE stars a young Jack Nicholson as Johnny Varron. He's mostly alone and, with a jovially jazzy soundtrack, every now and then grooving smoothly into a vibe-laden skeletal strut, he's cool to watch driving along a rural road, somewhere in California...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, drama, exploitation, jack nicholson, jazz score, melodrama, race car, roger corman, romance, sixties, teen

RACING THROUGH EARLY JACK NICHOLSON FOR 'THE WILD RIDE'

A young Jack Nicholson in THE WILD RIDE Year: 1960 Rating: **1/2 Before the term Speed Kills referred to drugs it was for souped-up fast ca...

MARLON BRANDO AND GEORGE C. SCOTT IN 'THE FORMULA'

<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/AVvXsEgeP6Bh09OdkoVp6dDFRTV0rIKpqZcix5Qf5s7uvM8-nq6cTDsDV6xDAjyayIkV3cKmCGBE-eeFeKiLFuDIin8SxAQ0lKo75yhgPlvIPjdBpzIEdwLyYsAraBHgTTn5Ic41KD40dJYtiD2NCpwwnahTruy8S-hIXh-2lrYev8a1z8mMFjCo7fQa9uzg3A/s1695/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-14%20at%205.35.14%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1039" data-original-width="1695" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeP6Bh09OdkoVp6dDFRTV0rIKpqZcix5Qf5s7uvM8-nq6cTDsDV6xDAjyayIkV3cKmCGBE-eeFeKiLFuDIin8SxAQ0lKo75yhgPlvIPjdBpzIEdwLyYsAraBHgTTn5Ic41KD40dJYtiD2NCpwwnahTruy8S-hIXh-2lrYev8a1z8mMFjCo7fQa9uzg3A/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-14%20at%205.35.14%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE FORMULA Year: 1980 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Most cult films start out generally unknown and unsuccessful till gaining a dedicated following but John G. Avildsen's THE FORMULA has a different kind of lasting legacy in the mere potential of casting two eccentric Oscar-winners who turned-down their statues: George C. Scott from PATTON and Marlon Brando from THE GODFATHER...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Unfortunately both temperamental, infamously difficult icons aren't in the picture together for very long... Brando's big oil tycoon character is anticipated throughout the first act after Scott's detective partner's murder leads him into a rudimentary neo noir cat-and-mouse involving last names and tons of enigmatic exposition...</p><p><span></span></p>

calvin jung, eighties, g.d. spradlin, george c. scott, john g. avildsen, marlon brando, mathe keller, mystery, neo noir, richard lynch, thriller

MARLON BRANDO AND GEORGE C. SCOTT IN 'THE FORMULA'

Title: THE FORMULA Year: 1980 Rating: ** Most cult films start out generally unknown and unsuccessful till gaining a dedicated following but...

JOHN LANDIS NEON EIGHTIES NEO-NOIR OF 'INTO THE NIGHT'

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3GAr3Ju-GTSf0AbbkhIUz3duY5XflBInvGzcfV9rjMLqY0I5ONmEk03SnXsIlu6UYm09N-iAcm_qcfPj2mgEvVSfc9VOpXYjY0Bt6ZqgodiGcTjmUhnYVKNDP5QIWhO77T35LsUj0m4fKsJlVd2mEBVsXCADlV1QFZibCuKtgNUsXdqjv3JYJPPSug/s1815/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-12%20at%209.11.54%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="981" data-original-width="1815" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3GAr3Ju-GTSf0AbbkhIUz3duY5XflBInvGzcfV9rjMLqY0I5ONmEk03SnXsIlu6UYm09N-iAcm_qcfPj2mgEvVSfc9VOpXYjY0Bt6ZqgodiGcTjmUhnYVKNDP5QIWhO77T35LsUj0m4fKsJlVd2mEBVsXCADlV1QFZibCuKtgNUsXdqjv3JYJPPSug/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-12%20at%209.11.54%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>INTO THE NIGHT Year: 1986 Rates: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The same year Martin Scorsese took a break from edgy dramas to make the humorously frantic Neo Noir AFTER HOURS, John Landis broke from comedies for his own active Noir, INTO THE NIGHT, and both have a passive male thirty-something within the lively depths of an enigmatic big city albeit Los Angeles instead of New York...<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>Meanwhile the most intriguing sequences occur before the hopelessly cheated-on insomniac Jeff Goldblum, as morosely spaced-out aerospace engineer Ed, gets thrust into blind adventure with jobless model Diana played by the incredibly gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer... a flaky pawn whose connection gets murdered in an airport parking lot, where Ed's possibly awaiting a quick flight that co-worker Dan Aykroyd said would...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, clu gulager, dan aykroyd, david bowie, eighties, irene pappas, jeff goldblum, john landis, michelle pfeiffer, neo noir, stacey pickren, thriller

JOHN LANDIS NEON EIGHTIES NEO-NOIR OF 'INTO THE NIGHT'

INTO THE NIGHT Year: 1986 Rates: ****1/2 The same year Martin Scorsese took a break from edgy dramas to make the humorously frantic Neo Noir...

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN & JOHN TRAVOLTA IN 'TWO OF A KIND'

<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><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/AVvXsEiIbLPkMq5vs2Kf4rpok04CY-LE2UPjgQzc2myONKVzb7k0gBM-HBq7jV6Ay7DM7unUrDj4ZK3eMqtdl83T7JoSt-dBIEm501R5QpwqMIPnOIFQUo0lnxS0UHjvcqlUQ5oJf4K2u6g19j_Zn8NphsKyEhFRwOov1sf1cVGqsJsR-oOBpLP74fE82RMbtA/s1578/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-08%20at%204.37.44%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="1578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIbLPkMq5vs2Kf4rpok04CY-LE2UPjgQzc2myONKVzb7k0gBM-HBq7jV6Ay7DM7unUrDj4ZK3eMqtdl83T7JoSt-dBIEm501R5QpwqMIPnOIFQUo0lnxS0UHjvcqlUQ5oJf4K2u6g19j_Zn8NphsKyEhFRwOov1sf1cVGqsJsR-oOBpLP74fE82RMbtA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-08%20at%204.37.44%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Olivia Newton-John Travolta in TWO OF A KIND Year: 1983 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Iconic <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/09/grease-revisited.html?fbclid=IwAR0-PhBPy889pCmRszKQD5oPStQoljiUhS7-RsVTruqtL-UYJW8GzAmLKS4">GREASE</a> stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John turned down reprising their roles in the sequel because of a bad script, and yet they chose the bizarre TWO OF A KIND instead, a romantic comedy involving guardian angels... <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></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>Including Charles Durning and Scatman Crothers who, to save Earth from God voiced by Gene Hackman, must prove that the randomly selected John Travolta, as a bank robbing inventor, could risk everything for equally broke bank teller Olivia Newton-John, pulling off what Elliott Gould did to Christopher Plummer in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/need-a-plummer.html">THE SILENT PARTNER</a>: keeping the money the crook reportedly stole...</p><p><span></span></p>

charles durning, eighties, fantasy, gene hackman, heist, john travolta, oliver reed, olivia newton-john, richard bright, romantic comedy, scatman crothers

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN & JOHN TRAVOLTA IN 'TWO OF A KIND'

Olivia Newton-John Travolta in TWO OF A KIND Year: 1983 Rating: *** Iconic GREASE stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John turned down re...

DANA ANDREWS BREAKS INTO 'FAMILY AFFAIR' WITH BRIAN KEITH

<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/AVvXsEg_k1ylqTYa8ByuND2Mat6CyrvVA-VoFyqqRDRrH6TXHPe6KT1fjPkBLk18pNJ5DlG3bgarlOrQXUFQBFxNPCBoTad0_zI5kCIXx7Ftl6m8dEEB_naMZKO092YcCsq1czZM53r-BmzCXiMtd7zDzDyMaT0t-ZTA-WZiqu0nl1PiQXA9N3UeX52_KVPAjw/s1390/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_k1ylqTYa8ByuND2Mat6CyrvVA-VoFyqqRDRrH6TXHPe6KT1fjPkBLk18pNJ5DlG3bgarlOrQXUFQBFxNPCBoTad0_zI5kCIXx7Ftl6m8dEEB_naMZKO092YcCsq1czZM53r-BmzCXiMtd7zDzDyMaT0t-ZTA-WZiqu0nl1PiQXA9N3UeX52_KVPAjw/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews on FAMILY AFFAIR: THE WINGS OF AN ANGEL Year: 1969 Grade: A </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By 1969, former Hollywood star <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/dana%20andrews">Dana Andrews</a> was bridging villain parts in big-budget movies, hero parts in low-budget movies, and random television guest spots, like on FAMILY AFFAIR Season 4's THE WINGS OF AN ANGEL opposite Brian Keith (right before Dana landed his own soap opera BRIGHT FUTURE), whose father Robert Keith played his would-be father-in-law in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/08/wigg.html">MY FOOLISH HEART</a>...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Here, as a white collar ex-con fresh out of prison, Dana's Harv Mullen stays at the Davis apartment, but soon Buffy and Jodie get paranoid: he hides his piggy-bank, she hides her doll's mock-jewelry while progressive Sissy gives Harv a scholastic interview about prison life, eventually making the poor guy so overwhelmed he almost leaves... until, like all classic sitcoms, everything's resolved by a soft fatherly lecture about how prisoners are people too. <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

anissa jones, brian keith, dana andrews, johnny whitaker, kathy garver, prison, sebastian cabot, sixties, tv series

DANA ANDREWS BREAKS INTO 'FAMILY AFFAIR' WITH BRIAN KEITH

Dana Andrews on FAMILY AFFAIR: THE WINGS OF AN ANGEL Year: 1969 Grade: A By 1969, former Hollywood star Dana Andrews was bridging villain p...

GROOVING THROUGH 'GREASE' OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN TRAVOLTA

<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/AVvXsEhXQRLa65Paun8221hMOWf86G0o1flHquHEG8-86uQKUunxkQWoJ-5Oc2adYX1xDDkwLCpFRDi6nvkxOitaCsUxZHmHrVQ1Kw4PFaN3oDG258ogSEiwSi4ZLRoofMdScNMEoBfzyjeu88hJnRm7GkVHCGzNWevx7H4thA8c2zTYgcHHOUnSj11q70FhCA/s1406/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-09%20at%201.07.04%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="1406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQRLa65Paun8221hMOWf86G0o1flHquHEG8-86uQKUunxkQWoJ-5Oc2adYX1xDDkwLCpFRDi6nvkxOitaCsUxZHmHrVQ1Kw4PFaN3oDG258ogSEiwSi4ZLRoofMdScNMEoBfzyjeu88hJnRm7GkVHCGzNWevx7H4thA8c2zTYgcHHOUnSj11q70FhCA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-09%20at%201.07.04%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1978 cast: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Eddie Deezen, who played Eugene, the hyperactive geek on the outskirts of Rydell High student activity, a campus balancing stupid jocks and wily hoods, phony cheerleaders and sexy tough chicks, described GREASE in a Cult Film Freak interview as “A two month party, the happiest time I ever had on a film… Just magic.” And that sums up the entire movie… a magical masterpiece, indeed. And even while viewing the GREASE SINGALONG there’s so much more than just music and catchy songs...<br> <br> That's not to say the music isn't extremely important. It's a musical, after all, and each track provides insight and exposition to both the T-Birds, led by John Travolta’s supercool Danny Zuko, and the Pink Ladies, with scene-stealing Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo. Here are two gangs with the same purpose: hang out and, despite being saddled with education, have a good time… But then, like in real life, it takes an outsider/new kid to stir up the pot...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

comedy, jeff conaway, john travolta, musical, olivia newton-john, randal kleiser, seventies, stockard channing

GROOVING THROUGH 'GREASE' OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN TRAVOLTA

year: 1978 cast: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway rating: ****1/2 Eddie Deezen, who played Eugene, the hyp...

STRANGE FASCINATION OF 'XANADU' OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQ_eiHDMx8oF2sMfquo6TsI0cPst6S83JI1ZqbJ4dxYLjVhs3o2DsYd1dq1TKdz9Jbw5h1g6SPppZtKVVrW1XSV4TeC2mxd_RDf5ut_n9nxM9diYQEXDcPM37SGivsRp0WnKJZv9iiY1YH41KmesUc48CcPVMlJFSxgZeSPPyO9U9xFdpDSQ4H1fQ-Q/s1649/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-09%20at%201.24.59%20PM-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="1649" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQ_eiHDMx8oF2sMfquo6TsI0cPst6S83JI1ZqbJ4dxYLjVhs3o2DsYd1dq1TKdz9Jbw5h1g6SPppZtKVVrW1XSV4TeC2mxd_RDf5ut_n9nxM9diYQEXDcPM37SGivsRp0WnKJZv9iiY1YH41KmesUc48CcPVMlJFSxgZeSPPyO9U9xFdpDSQ4H1fQ-Q/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-09%20at%201.24.59%20PM-1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: XANADU Year: 1980 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It was almost the end of Disco but everyone was rollerskating. Hell, even the gods. Or in this particular case, a goddess in the form of <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/09/grease-revisited.html">GREASE</a> starlet Olivia Newton-John as Kira, one of the many daughters of Zeus and a song and dance muse throughout the ages... </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>Especially from the Twentieth Century 40's/50's, when she used to help a now wandering bum who is a secret millionaire and semi-retired construction mogul Gene Kelly as Danny McGuire, and she now has her eyes or, rather, lips on one dreamer in particular...<br> </p><p></p>

camp, eighties, gene kelly, michael beck, musical, olivia newton-john, rollerstake

STRANGE FASCINATION OF 'XANADU' OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

Title: XANADU Year: 1980 Rating: *** It was almost the end of Disco but everyone was rollerskating. Hell, even the gods. Or in this particu...

NORA HAYDEN ORBITS IB MELCHIOR'S 'THE ANGRY RED PLANET'

<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/AVvXsEh8tOdi7eZkt5f0Zkrbszr97Zn7XNsJIlpHPrGZGapXc7bVDH4bwZUFLpXVToTfdRRzUmj9eRJloB9QHVX0-c7RowVm0Di7YAGu6yod6MrAouqMdtX8zLzzv6j95AqxqsfPyJt3tyu_hmn_cE1H4T17RR5zuHBClbWcz8AsgXhZY63TwKRKj5LRJgzJHw/s1867/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="1867" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8tOdi7eZkt5f0Zkrbszr97Zn7XNsJIlpHPrGZGapXc7bVDH4bwZUFLpXVToTfdRRzUmj9eRJloB9QHVX0-c7RowVm0Di7YAGu6yod6MrAouqMdtX8zLzzv6j95AqxqsfPyJt3tyu_hmn_cE1H4T17RR5zuHBClbWcz8AsgXhZY63TwKRKj5LRJgzJHw/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE ANGRY RED PLANET Year: 1959 Rating: *1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>With five years until the exceptionally-creative science-fiction flick <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/11/TTT.html">THE TIME TRAVELERS,</a> writer/director Ib Melchior provided one of the first <i>space-seed</i> stories teaching banal humans that we began as smarter Martians, who basically slummed down to Earth before realizing they wasted their energy on creating such useless creatures...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which is what THE ANGRY RED PLANET is as a whole... an utterly useless waste involving a crew in a ship, stranded on the titular Mars, waiting for something to happen and, when venturing outside, the film goes from technicolor to an intrusively horrible bright red, so the potentially-cool bat-spider monster's wasted in what ends up a showcase for red-head starlet <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/01/hubert-cornfields-road-movie-film-noir.html">Nora Hayden</a>, a botanist both trusted and flirted with by three eclectic crew-mates, wrapped in a distracting frame story providing meantime upon meantime.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, cult, fifties, gerald mohr, ib melchior, jack kruschen, les tremayne, nora hayden, science-fiction

NORA HAYDEN ORBITS IB MELCHIOR'S 'THE ANGRY RED PLANET'

Title: THE ANGRY RED PLANET Year: 1959 Rating: *1/2 With five years until the exceptionally-creative science-fiction flick THE TIME TRAVELER...

PETER FALK, LAURENE LANDON & VICKI FREDERICK 'ALL THE MARBLES'

<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/AVvXsEjJggmfm1hZ1vY1cgOoHkBtl0eu8bozAY9VUtX7rBJH3ZQ3wlRDFqqnXr_x4OwQyjnQv1TPdV_Oow_l0AVprgVr0wPN-kteclL4cbOfnSfFk_XLe1N-rhbK0r90fCu7pa1gM5vxXMYZnmMfC2l4SHb3vZN1sBUz6hrMyPCb6PiLySiTRpbISspkluQaAA/s1115/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-10%20at%207.16.31%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="1115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJggmfm1hZ1vY1cgOoHkBtl0eu8bozAY9VUtX7rBJH3ZQ3wlRDFqqnXr_x4OwQyjnQv1TPdV_Oow_l0AVprgVr0wPN-kteclL4cbOfnSfFk_XLe1N-rhbK0r90fCu7pa1gM5vxXMYZnmMfC2l4SHb3vZN1sBUz6hrMyPCb6PiLySiTRpbISspkluQaAA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-10%20at%207.16.31%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Vicki Frederick and Laurene Landon in ALL THE MARBLES Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Three dots following a sentence usually means... there's more to come... And when the opposite occurs, that's pretty much that: The first summing up the 1981 Peter Falk road movie …ALL THE MARBLES in which the quirky COLUMBO actor plays Harry, a lowlife manager of a female tag-team wrestling troupe going city to city...<br> <br> And since these ladies are already at the end of their professional ropes when the movie begins, those dots represent all the work we didn't see, and they really just want those damn marbles already...  <i> </i></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><i><span></span></i></p>

angela aames, burt young, eighties, exploitation, laurene landon, lenny montana, peter falk, road movie, sport, vicki frederick, warner archives

PETER FALK, LAURENE LANDON & VICKI FREDERICK 'ALL THE MARBLES'

Vicki Frederick and Laurene Landon in ALL THE MARBLES Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2 Three dots following a sentence usually means... there'...

STEVE COCHRAN & RUTH ROMAN IN 'TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY'

<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/AVvXsEieJvzSssPmNZDcbjBwE6cMI09Yi3hg1oMiGbZq2cld8UUPMxOBKhuoSKSMM5_Z25Or0MBc3zZR7-4j96HtH2twLyZClb7nEKq-8DOX7KjCnNAYPS7mXZz1ry2bwgMkh9vSVSzqg5cyRi7jL0_ZGL0UPLNldjTNCnFhKRDjSONC9mSAmGEbMQkvB5nuZg/s1297/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-04%20at%2011.55.07%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="1297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJvzSssPmNZDcbjBwE6cMI09Yi3hg1oMiGbZq2cld8UUPMxOBKhuoSKSMM5_Z25Or0MBc3zZR7-4j96HtH2twLyZClb7nEKq-8DOX7KjCnNAYPS7mXZz1ry2bwgMkh9vSVSzqg5cyRi7jL0_ZGL0UPLNldjTNCnFhKRDjSONC9mSAmGEbMQkvB5nuZg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-04%20at%2011.55.07%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Steve Cochran in TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY Year: 1951 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>While it's not strange having swarthy and handsome, experienced tough guy Steve Cochran playing an ex con who, in this case is fresh out of prison after a very long stretch since he was a teenager, it's extremely rare him being an awkwardly naive dolt falling hard for a woman instead of being fallen for...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But this is a Film Noir where almost every man, tough or otherwise, winds up putty to a beautiful dame... in this case a worldly Ruth Roman who, after accidentally killing an abusive boyfriend cop, convinces Cochran's Bill Clark into thinking he's the killer instead...</p><p><span></span></p>

crime, fifties, film noir or melodrama, road movie, ruth roman, steve cochran, wrong man

STEVE COCHRAN & RUTH ROMAN IN 'TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY'

Steve Cochran in TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY Year: 1951 Rating: **1/2 While it's not strange having swarthy and handsome, experienced tough ...

SUE LYON IN STANLEY KUBRICK'S 'LOLITA' WITH JAMES MASON

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9svu0-YfiWzDVp4wV-JUqx981drxQ8o413jl2iK_leK_zejs00U6EeYWclFgUZOaOfWkJVz4XdtdFBp-tGs63BdZh-koqX7pgGtMkumJFrgkprv2iubCSjnv3DHsm3VWiKB7Dabmkqllcl5bk3TX_QsjNh7QcJm7ruNliTgBVsK_9qsuR0r2toIhf5w/s1211/1%202.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="938" data-original-width="1211" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9svu0-YfiWzDVp4wV-JUqx981drxQ8o413jl2iK_leK_zejs00U6EeYWclFgUZOaOfWkJVz4XdtdFBp-tGs63BdZh-koqX7pgGtMkumJFrgkprv2iubCSjnv3DHsm3VWiKB7Dabmkqllcl5bk3TX_QsjNh7QcJm7ruNliTgBVsK_9qsuR0r2toIhf5w/w400-h310/1%202.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>LOLITA Year: 1962 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Between Stanley Kubrick's financial gig on Kirk Douglas's epic SPARTACUS and the immense Cold War dark comedy DR. STRANGELOVE is the subtle yet brilliant LOLITA, perhaps his most conventionally filmed and least visually offbeat since the storyline takes care of all that... </p><p></p><p></p><p>Middle-aged British college professor James Mason falls for the titular Sue Lyon, whose mom, Shelley Winters, bounces around a suburban East Coast dream house, stealing all the first act scenes in what feels like a short film in itself... </p><p>And she's even more frantically smitten with Mason's Humbert than he surreptitiously lusts for her young-teen daughter, whose beauty alone is pure seduction as Lyon, with full lips just evolved from a playfully puffy, baby-face scowl has wide yet sharpened eyes guiding this literal performance of a lifetime (she had just played a teen seductress on Loretta Young's anthology series),: a sensually timeless time-capsule of devilish chaste enveloped in what eventually becomes Kubrick's very own road movie wherein lurks hilariously shady antagonist Peter Sellers who, like in STRANGELOVE, portrays a number of roles but in one man... playwright Clare Quilty... out to snake the girl from desperate step dad Mason, whose guilt, greed, vengeance and rage has already overpowered him during a framed prologue showdown between Brits: making Lyon's LOLITA not only the anticipated lead, but what everything leads to, means, and completely matters throughout.</p><span></span>

dark comedy, exploitation, james mason, jazz score, jerry stovin, peter sellers, road movie, shelley winters, sixties, stanley kubrick, sue lyon

SUE LYON IN STANLEY KUBRICK'S 'LOLITA' WITH JAMES MASON

LOLITA Year: 1962 Rating: ****1/2 Between Stanley Kubrick's financial gig on Kirk Douglas's epic SPARTACUS and the immense Cold War ...

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

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" 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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDVeiUeDCi8ZN3C_rgEeBgoNJA4Y-8e0whAkUoq3OjrhWkPaRnJMUqEVl8GVRmTumYgRVj0n-N3zMH1T-wEqoIUjeMQXDgfAEqmHGr3N2rGwkdLSU_C9vCuERa6E22h1VqxVjlwBNfVRl-2x-7eXhjqUv2fpnO8rGtP0xRJeHUHo5brnZFqWdAXHong/s878/Screen%20Shot%202021-01-31%20at%202.10.32%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="878" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDVeiUeDCi8ZN3C_rgEeBgoNJA4Y-8e0whAkUoq3OjrhWkPaRnJMUqEVl8GVRmTumYgRVj0n-N3zMH1T-wEqoIUjeMQXDgfAEqmHGr3N2rGwkdLSU_C9vCuERa6E22h1VqxVjlwBNfVRl-2x-7eXhjqUv2fpnO8rGtP0xRJeHUHo5brnZFqWdAXHong/w400-h296/Screen%20Shot%202021-01-31%20at%202.10.32%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: PLUNDER ROAD Year: 1957 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Hubert Cornfield's PLUNDER ROAD is more of a <i>post</i> heist<i> </i>thriller than a heist centered b-movie as the intro has a nifty ten-minute train robbery with three trucks, five men and a load of nitroglycerin: a hybrid of WHITE HEAT and WAGES OF FEAR and during which, 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 <i>900 mile slog </i>for the border... <br></p><p>Led by 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>

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

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

Title: PLUNDER ROAD Year: 1957 Rating: **** Hubert Cornfield's PLUNDER ROAD is more of a post heist thriller than a heist centered b-m...

VINCE EDWARDS IN THE ATOMIC AGE LATE NOIR 'CITY OF FEAR'

<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/AVvXsEgVLTQtdOvYbayDEYZ37iH43sCy0dHvsfUrKyjlfGPCUlvva9TJQvlKipX9YgwEVh2nLV2YzQ2IM-IbpGnqNLVQoWf9Ao40U0Iim2iyxowkjheJ4MZuOE3gzih7y_JelEqZF1rN2nOE91yC4KgsAJv_4LpbvxZp0sa0pIWO0QpIlsTNoJC0yfbdaOTu3Q/s1876/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-03%20at%203.11.58%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="998" data-original-width="1876" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVLTQtdOvYbayDEYZ37iH43sCy0dHvsfUrKyjlfGPCUlvva9TJQvlKipX9YgwEVh2nLV2YzQ2IM-IbpGnqNLVQoWf9Ao40U0Iim2iyxowkjheJ4MZuOE3gzih7y_JelEqZF1rN2nOE91yC4KgsAJv_4LpbvxZp0sa0pIWO0QpIlsTNoJC0yfbdaOTu3Q/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-03%20at%203.11.58%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CITY OF FEAR Stars: Vince Edwards, Steven Ritch Year: 1959 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>An escaped convict, played by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/vince%20edwards">Vince Edwards</a>, steals a metal container of what he thinks is uncut heroin, but is really radioactive cobalt and, as he ventures through sparse Los Angeles, slowly dying in a kind of nuclear cautionary tale version of D. O.A., a cop (WHITE HEAT heat John Archer), a dame (Patricia Blair) and doctor (<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/steven%20ritch">Steven Ritch</a> from PLUNDER ROAD) are after him... <br> <br>The edgy, stylized yet subtle nuance of CITY OF FEAR exceeds the somewhat sluggish pace when our ailing anti-hero, not on screen, is discussed by other cast members: a symbolic comparison to that lethal cobalt and the 1950's American male criminal... both are active, deadly...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

exploitation, fifties, film noir or melodrama, irvine lerner, jazz score, john archer, kathie browne, kelly thorsden, patricia blair, road movie, steven ritch, vince edwards

VINCE EDWARDS IN THE ATOMIC AGE LATE NOIR 'CITY OF FEAR'

Title: CITY OF FEAR Stars: Vince Edwards, Steven Ritch Year: 1959 Rating: *** An escaped convict, played by Vince Edwards , steals a metal c...

NOIR TORPEDO VINCE EDWARDS KILLS IN 'MURDER BY CONTRACT'

<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/AVvXsEjFxZBVbwamw0ie4-PBPgev1C1uIATf_RWUWy4QeoYo4_ApjrE1MPxchz5h3BGXjptXfQO07mzwqWvK5P9x6sffEg-rpk9L8HBPheUmioNa43883V1N1we6CUY320YZgrKIzW-au5iRL-iZawRBtvZ6mQSCM-O9KBeS2W9W_M7Nm1iNANyae9vEtF_Q1Q/s1566/3.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1566" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFxZBVbwamw0ie4-PBPgev1C1uIATf_RWUWy4QeoYo4_ApjrE1MPxchz5h3BGXjptXfQO07mzwqWvK5P9x6sffEg-rpk9L8HBPheUmioNa43883V1N1we6CUY320YZgrKIzW-au5iRL-iZawRBtvZ6mQSCM-O9KBeS2W9W_M7Nm1iNANyae9vEtF_Q1Q/s16000/3.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MURDER BY CONTRACT Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Deliberately sparse and slow-paced, unpretentiously stylized film noir with a solitary jazz guitar played to a continuous phantom metronome, somewhat like THE THIRD MAN theme only more in the background of a picture whose main characters are, in a way, in the background...</p><p></p><p></p><p>Particularly Vince Edwards, one of the strangest, most eccentric cinematic hit men ever while taking his sweet time for a big job following a nifty montage of smaller gigs, ranging from a deadly barber shop to an undercover hospital visit... and always returning back to his shabby apartment room, stilted with hours of frigid meantime... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

body count, exploitation, fifties, film noir or melodrama, irvine lerner, jazz-score, kathie browne, pnillip pine, thriller, vince edwards

NOIR TORPEDO VINCE EDWARDS KILLS IN 'MURDER BY CONTRACT'

Title: MURDER BY CONTRACT Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2 Deliberately sparse and slow-paced, unpretentiously stylized film noir with a solitary j...

SYLVESTER STALLONE'S UNBREAKABLE SUPERHERO 'SAMARITAN'

<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/AVvXsEhFXQLxD0AVyJDdtluIeSgd9IeglSKk7NnNs0pH5b6pZc5lMWpTNBaKi3mYxatVj_VTgT5Mp6bysKGcfcoG4bbYiPvlFYqpEv0rVzyOn_lZjZKWQ6iitR7shGizG_zaVFFuiwL4N_f3cV1iGxpua4QL1a4lKvmED9619ZM-4disFP1eT4yoQm4naDirdQ/s2272/fribt.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="2272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXQLxD0AVyJDdtluIeSgd9IeglSKk7NnNs0pH5b6pZc5lMWpTNBaKi3mYxatVj_VTgT5Mp6bysKGcfcoG4bbYiPvlFYqpEv0rVzyOn_lZjZKWQ6iitR7shGizG_zaVFFuiwL4N_f3cV1iGxpua4QL1a4lKvmED9619ZM-4disFP1eT4yoQm4naDirdQ/s16000/fribt.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Expository intro for SAMARITAN with Sylvester Stallone from 2022 Grade: C—</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The last time standard-action-flick icon <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/sylvester%20stallone">Sylvester Stallone</a> played a superhero was the last time he would... until now... and both JUDGE DREDD and SAMARITAN concern a backstory involving good against evil brothers, who in this case supposedly died fighting each other, twenty long years ago, and...<br><br>Well as the description goes, a ghetto kid thinks an old garbage man named Joe Smith, played by Stallone with a NIGHTHAWKS beard gone grungy gray, is actually yesteryear's titular crime-fighter...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

2022, action, cable, crime, fantasy, gang, javon wanna walton, new, pilou asbæk, sophia tatum, superhero, sylvester stallone

SYLVESTER STALLONE'S UNBREAKABLE SUPERHERO 'SAMARITAN'

Expository intro for SAMARITAN with Sylvester Stallone from 2022 Grade: C— The last time standard-action-flick icon Sylvester Stallone play...

LIEUTENANT UHURA ON GENE RODDENBERRY'S THE LIEUTENANT'

<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/AVvXsEjiP5mqwXp0GD2T5EDtcpG8bHTm8mgeJe88zMPNe6mLtOsVwImhn9p_v5Sv6hvIQml5K9QkB3EWdo54M3w6esjMMUk1LrLuL_SUTQJvg6f3qJ2bKkVVuRnZZn8ph86fXY-WszVnUbel9BJVH6prhgamkMlXiVntkcHzm3M7k25RCmUE1411qjLzMWlMJA/s1890/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-01%20at%2012.37.43%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiP5mqwXp0GD2T5EDtcpG8bHTm8mgeJe88zMPNe6mLtOsVwImhn9p_v5Sv6hvIQml5K9QkB3EWdo54M3w6esjMMUk1LrLuL_SUTQJvg6f3qJ2bKkVVuRnZZn8ph86fXY-WszVnUbel9BJVH6prhgamkMlXiVntkcHzm3M7k25RCmUE1411qjLzMWlMJA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-01%20at%2012.37.43%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Future Star Trek Nichelle Nichols on THE LIEUTENANT: TO SET IT RIGHT Year: 1964 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Gene Roddenberry's STAR TREK made Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura, an actress to watch... And she's always watchable, actually introduced in Roddenberry's prior TV series THE LIEUTENANT as the girlfriend of Don Marshall's black Pvt. Cameron, who butts heads with a goading white racist, Pvt. Devlin, played by Dennis Hopper...<br> <br> The series starred Gary Lockwood as Lt. Bill Rice, in charge of a troop of Marines in Camp Pendleton, California. And in this particular episode titled TO SET IT RIGHT, Rice tries getting the two loggerheads in rhythm by sparring them in the boxing ring and eventually, tied together, to climb up a mountain so they work as a team, or else...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

dennis hopper, don marshall, gary lockwood, nichelle nichols, ricardo montalban, scott wilson, sixties, star trek, TV, woody strode

LIEUTENANT UHURA ON GENE RODDENBERRY'S THE LIEUTENANT'

Future Star Trek Nichelle Nichols on THE LIEUTENANT: TO SET IT RIGHT Year: 1964 Rating: *** Gene Roddenberry's STAR TREK made Nichelle ...