SUZANNE SOMERS, ROBERT FOXWORTH & BERNIE CASEY IN 'ANTS'

<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/AVvXsEio7mGqZnhrQCFkJHNID7_d0tPhfHTaloFc0HLrct2rbjdZ-mSI4YTtS3EtPeQcO7RFFT5PJqlP4UFjKtLcNhM5cnvNPbBil0Zb2X-Nz5fsCaOoM8T_U-Rnh1CgES7gDhMZ6NQkdw9xOIaHbAj7LdHV0yZhuDMjDnQQMJg5mtTwVMbJWVfGVF29vfRt1evv/s1708/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1708" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7mGqZnhrQCFkJHNID7_d0tPhfHTaloFc0HLrct2rbjdZ-mSI4YTtS3EtPeQcO7RFFT5PJqlP4UFjKtLcNhM5cnvNPbBil0Zb2X-Nz5fsCaOoM8T_U-Rnh1CgES7gDhMZ6NQkdw9xOIaHbAj7LdHV0yZhuDMjDnQQMJg5mtTwVMbJWVfGVF29vfRt1evv/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ANTS Year: 1977 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Television-movie originally titled IT HAPPENED AT LAKEWOOD MANOR sounded more like a ghost story than eco-horror/exploitation, so ANTS — that can either maim or kill after a few quick bites — works much better...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Initially discovered in an investigative fashion by construction foreman Robert Foxworth and worker Bernie Casey, restoring the exterior grounds of a classic hotel about to be sold from sweet Myrna Loy to crooked Gerald Gordon (like Melvyn Douglas and Kevin McCarthy in HOTEL)...</p><span></span>

ants, barry van dyke, bernie casey, brian dennehy, creature, eco horror, myrna loy, robert foxworth, seventies, steve franken, suzanne somers

SUZANNE SOMERS, ROBERT FOXWORTH & BERNIE CASEY IN 'ANTS'

Title: ANTS Year: 1977 Rating: **** Television-movie originally titled IT HAPPENED AT LAKEWOOD MANOR sounded more like a ghost story than ec...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S 'THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT'

<p></p><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/AVvXsEiQ8oQqBcSN2damLUlqMlH_tKg8DvkeC97DZtrlpBx9vgwZgFdQm14HCNR0vXvWQK64g_7USrbDdlv0DdxujAORU-3VmacxSfUhGTuMLLivc2ORZNYThorkjEp7r326k8bWcYjp4cmVyRJJzMZI2jaYghxw2hmTGRndCLERdxHndEVrO26u1s8QO7N3HRkd/s1302/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-17%20at%203.03.07%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="1302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8oQqBcSN2damLUlqMlH_tKg8DvkeC97DZtrlpBx9vgwZgFdQm14HCNR0vXvWQK64g_7USrbDdlv0DdxujAORU-3VmacxSfUhGTuMLLivc2ORZNYThorkjEp7r326k8bWcYjp4cmVyRJJzMZI2jaYghxw2hmTGRndCLERdxHndEVrO26u1s8QO7N3HRkd/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-17%20at%203.03.07%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Richard Wordsworth in QUARTERMASS XPERIMENT Year: 1955 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Very much like an astronaut's return episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE four years before THE TWILIGHT ZONE, Hammer went from Noir to Sci-Fi with Val Guest's THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT before their groundbreaking Classic Monster outing THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN... </p><p></p><p></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, right down to a little girl (Jane Asher) befriending a surreptitiously monstrous beast close to water, this XPERIMENT is basically James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN had he returned from a rocket ship sent up prematurely by our more impatient than mad scientist in title character Quatermass, played by American import Brian Donlevy, letting all the intrigue swirl around his usual narrowed cadence... </p><p><span></span></p>

body count, brian donlevy, creature, fifties, gordon jackson, hammer films, harold lang, horror, jack warner, jane aird, jane asher, richard wordsworth, science-fiction, val guest

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S 'THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT'

Richard Wordsworth in QUARTERMASS XPERIMENT Year: 1955 Rates: **** Very much like an astronaut's return episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE fou...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S 'QUATERMASS 2' WITH BRIAN DONLEVY

<p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEioyZg0Kx1EyTtRn5bpUU8Xh6ITNHLx_qI0nhdoPrk46sD2XSytSao061EtYHGqNkRAqYiAU5Di_qOpuTlhx0xJA-x47LxqozMN7Eg4aCjvWIE9TWCTXIxJSeuP_5j58bmDP0amPjNybHt0TB9n8dGLEBu0RXiHWPqTYh5VA5Cm8nJ5OqDgo4PGeo6l3zWl/s2226/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-16%20at%205.46.55%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="2226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioyZg0Kx1EyTtRn5bpUU8Xh6ITNHLx_qI0nhdoPrk46sD2XSytSao061EtYHGqNkRAqYiAU5Di_qOpuTlhx0xJA-x47LxqozMN7Eg4aCjvWIE9TWCTXIxJSeuP_5j58bmDP0amPjNybHt0TB9n8dGLEBu0RXiHWPqTYh5VA5Cm8nJ5OqDgo4PGeo6l3zWl/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-16%20at%205.46.55%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Original British Title: QUATERMASS 2 American: ENEMY FROM SPACE Year: 1957 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Both of Val Guest's 1950's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/04/qmass1.html">Hammer QUATERMASS</a> vehicles rely on different science-fiction scenarios, so you don't have to watch one to enjoy the other: starting with a Frankenstein story involving the titular scientist's funded return-space-flight gone awry, and the second has aliens behind a project meant to send rockets <i>back up</i> into space (while some kind of comet dust is randomly burning people's skin)... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Condensed into a 90-minute programmer involving an enigmatic town, created within a power plant to supposedly make food for humans to live on a moon colony (borrowed from Quatermass's abandoned project), then engulfing one man with a tar-like substance: a horrifying image that this particular Hammer's best remembered...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, brian donlevy, bryan forbes, fifties, hammer films, john van eyssen, percy herbert, science-fiction, sequel, sidney james, thriller, val guest, vera day

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S 'QUATERMASS 2' WITH BRIAN DONLEVY

Original British Title: QUATERMASS 2 American: ENEMY FROM SPACE Year: 1957 Rating: **** Both of Val Guest's 1950's Hammer QUATERMASS...

MARK HARMON, EMMA SAMMS & ROBERT FORSTER 'GOLIATH AWAITS'

<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/AVvXsEgXB_9JN0FljEoL0ilk6KGFiq0ncKMdfRd3-EhTQGYFU7Utrwu_4PLLbfbAkBIOSGverKtsxqbhmG5TUvIqVfcLr8AHAYXZT3UHy7njppmchZ63YmKPiMIDrH-DzUx8wl4uhH95_Vf8P3uZmd0MAzjlgzc3XySq9ILH1co2YY4iDcstiReCGLMOdTeiXmfO/s2048/more%20yellow%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1191" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXB_9JN0FljEoL0ilk6KGFiq0ncKMdfRd3-EhTQGYFU7Utrwu_4PLLbfbAkBIOSGverKtsxqbhmG5TUvIqVfcLr8AHAYXZT3UHy7njppmchZ63YmKPiMIDrH-DzUx8wl4uhH95_Vf8P3uZmd0MAzjlgzc3XySq9ILH1co2YY4iDcstiReCGLMOdTeiXmfO/s16000/more%20yellow%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tittle: GOLIATH AWAITS 1981 Emma Samms, Mark Harmon, Robert Forster Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Less than two-hours into the three-plus-hour GOLIATH AWAITS there's an establishing shot of the titular sunken ship that had been torpedoed by Germans at the brink of World War II, 1939... at which point most of the sci-fi mystery-genre-suspense has passively morphed into a kind of comfortably melodramatic TV-series instead of miniseries... which centers on rescuing a group of survivors still existing in the ship after forty years...</p><p></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 reasons for their otherwise impossible survival is told in various tour-guided monologues... either by ship's savior Christopher Lee or his chaste daughter Emma Samms who has — after seeing diver Mark Harmon from a porthole — fallen in love with the salvaging American: himself spending the first forty-five minutes getting into the ship's hull with Robert Forster as a more even-keeled Navy man (also Harmon's ex Navy partner)... seeking an important document for military boss Eddie Albert, who randomly barks orders from above, mirroring a disaster flick inside the airport tower... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

christopher lee, eighties, emma samms, john carradine, mark harmon, robert forster, world war II

MARK HARMON, EMMA SAMMS & ROBERT FORSTER 'GOLIATH AWAITS'

Tittle: GOLIATH AWAITS 1981 Emma Samms, Mark Harmon, Robert Forster Rating: ***1/2 Less than two-hours into the three-plus-hour GOLIATH AWAI...

MATTHEW PERRY NEO NOIR EPISODE OF 'BEVERLY HILLS 90210'

<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/AVvXsEgKdNZUNyEl6fspRBx71fJZiySeD2n0NXKOLij-nJuK3-j6QsAJx56l227F_nfayZWSEffmm3TzQRAq6g_XswsbdxPWoiESiCzhDY-1ycucFate4PhvfSOaibH9nN3tLqE2dRHTMpvnpIFODauasQWJZgvGt3GKWDLGSeMQ2QqzuX_ZifMokAV52jXTtx8M/s1222/11.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="1222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdNZUNyEl6fspRBx71fJZiySeD2n0NXKOLij-nJuK3-j6QsAJx56l227F_nfayZWSEffmm3TzQRAq6g_XswsbdxPWoiESiCzhDY-1ycucFate4PhvfSOaibH9nN3tLqE2dRHTMpvnpIFODauasQWJZgvGt3GKWDLGSeMQ2QqzuX_ZifMokAV52jXTtx8M/s16000/11.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Matthew Perry and Jason Priestly Beverly Hills 90210 Year: 1991 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Having caught an extremely horrific strain of COVID and suffering profusely for a week, and then sustaining for another week even after finally testing negative, the biggest blessing in disguise is that Amazon Prime has the original BEVERLY HILLS 90210 for binging, and, while it's a corny teenage melodrama meant for teenage viewers back in the glorious 1990's, there are few guilty pleasures that fill the time so perfectly... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>One particular first season episode, intensely titled APRIL IS THE CRUELEST MONTH, now has sad irony, featuring the late Matthew Perry as a rich kid tennis star whose father (Nicolas Coster) wants him to win at everything... </p><p><span></span></p>

ian ziering, jason priestley, matthew perry, memorial, neo noir, nicolas coster, nineties, tv series

MATTHEW PERRY NEO NOIR EPISODE OF 'BEVERLY HILLS 90210'

Matthew Perry and Jason Priestly Beverly Hills 90210 Year: 1991 Rates: *** Having caught an extremely horrific strain of COVID and suffering...

NOSTALGIC REVIEW OF NEW ROLLING STONES 'HACKNEY DIAMONDS'

<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/AVvXsEia0U9vhePMm3EtfokBgUJerDeCS3Cu-xbWBVQBe-uOAYysPNNE9SitndxFmhTvbGnh6_anPozVJQeJompEu3QgL58ulXaCa41lADr3Qr2k3m589j5epvbRxjA2HpmZWews524KP-8yaaOcDar9qIVuAN5UYB2Xh3_qKlEKJhFQkEn8Iy2ASJkiRg_dW590/s1500/A1fXb71fhAL._SL1500_.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0U9vhePMm3EtfokBgUJerDeCS3Cu-xbWBVQBe-uOAYysPNNE9SitndxFmhTvbGnh6_anPozVJQeJompEu3QgL58ulXaCa41lADr3Qr2k3m589j5epvbRxjA2HpmZWews524KP-8yaaOcDar9qIVuAN5UYB2Xh3_qKlEKJhFQkEn8Iy2ASJkiRg_dW590/s16000/A1fXb71fhAL._SL1500_.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> THE ROLLING STONES: HACKNEY DIAMONDS Year: 2023 Grade: A</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>After several uneventful new wave attempts of solo stardom, many forget or won't admit how good Mick Jagger's third album WANDERING SPIRIT was... leading to THE ROLLING STONES' brand new HACKNEY DIAMONDS, which sounds like a well-produced, finely-crafted progression of a Jagger album done correctly... <br></p><p></p><p>Loaded with familiar guest stars, like original bassist Bill Wyman on one track, the late Charlie Watts on two, and, well... Keith Richards and Ron Wood seem to be guesting throughout... yet without their usual gritty double-ax attack, despite Wood turning in his usual country-rock solo he puts into almost every song since joining the band (that Mick Taylor invented on STICKY FINGERS)... The best songs are as follows...</p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

2023, album, bill wyman, charlie watts, keith richards, mick jagger, mick taylor, music, rolling stones, ron wood

NOSTALGIC REVIEW OF NEW ROLLING STONES 'HACKNEY DIAMONDS'

 THE ROLLING STONES: HACKNEY DIAMONDS Year: 2023 Grade: A After several uneventful new wave attempts of solo stardom, many forget or won'...

MARCIA HENDERSON AND MARCIA HENDERSON IN 'DEADLY DUO'

<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/AVvXsEjdFgf9S5tbmNMo_lWfQPJsUUmI4GxfGil3l1D-EIRb2_MneudXgiTTmGaouSbw2C2WR9BqNyUPOnfu3Yyk2F9XPWYZf25LtLvbd79zNut1EX8UJDMrUHjPPIqFqHipy_GP_1euYntjE2sHqngC5V02YaT4Nyu7v1tYxECobrL2oGBdRCMtNBM9lbIwXahY/s1790/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="1790" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFgf9S5tbmNMo_lWfQPJsUUmI4GxfGil3l1D-EIRb2_MneudXgiTTmGaouSbw2C2WR9BqNyUPOnfu3Yyk2F9XPWYZf25LtLvbd79zNut1EX8UJDMrUHjPPIqFqHipy_GP_1euYntjE2sHqngC5V02YaT4Nyu7v1tYxECobrL2oGBdRCMtNBM9lbIwXahY/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DEADLY DUO Year: 1962 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>From George Montgomery to Rock Hudson, actress Marcia Henderson usually played the good girl to a good man... and she's a good girl here too... widowed to a rich man without caring about anything but her son... and the titular DEADLY DUO twist is, she has an identical twin sister, also played by Henderson...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The first is brunette and sweet as pie, the other's bad and blonde and, married to a lowlife yet charming former nightclub owner, they're all being checked out by lawyer Craig Hill who, sent for the rich grandmother's custody of the son, is actually the lead character despite Marcia's double role...</p><p><span></span></p>

carlos romero, craig hill, dayton lummis, irene tedrow, marcia henderson, neo noir, robert lowery, sixties

MARCIA HENDERSON AND MARCIA HENDERSON IN 'DEADLY DUO'

Title: DEADLY DUO Year: 1962 Rating: ***1/2 From George Montgomery to Rock Hudson, actress Marcia Henderson usually played the good girl to ...

JOHN THAW IN 'THE SWEENEY: ABDUCTION" WITH STUART WILSON

<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/AVvXsEilIGKWnY8SOzb8DjrvPwtvqFOPJalpH1VbPDXejrznsm7rx1c9qXvuTYG6jKSuzv2faMm-jDZGIYYfrNjxieVlIuqDNIb-rSQhU7ewjspUgLvgbnC0vVU4n3iH50w3oGodQwAQIjoWn-72-NCtWlv54-bW8pKewnN1Flk4lv37QyOYqth9CIc2LNLGuJUq/s1395/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-11%20at%201.16.16%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="1395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIGKWnY8SOzb8DjrvPwtvqFOPJalpH1VbPDXejrznsm7rx1c9qXvuTYG6jKSuzv2faMm-jDZGIYYfrNjxieVlIuqDNIb-rSQhU7ewjspUgLvgbnC0vVU4n3iH50w3oGodQwAQIjoWn-72-NCtWlv54-bW8pKewnN1Flk4lv37QyOYqth9CIc2LNLGuJUq/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-11%20at%201.16.16%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stuart Wilson and Janet Key in THE SWEENEY: ABDUCTION Year: 1975 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>John Thaw's Inspector Regan is the kind of sex symbol that could only derive from the British 1970's... and while resembling the devil-head from the William Shatner roadside-cafe fortune-machine TWILIGHT ZONE, he's never at a loss for sexy birds, who usually simply throw themselves at him... </p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet sometimes settling for somewhat plain ones, that actually fit him aesthetically and realistically over the bombshells... so here's a middle-ground in ABDUCTION as we meet his first wife, having been divorced before the series began, and young daughter, befitting the titular plot-line of kidnapping...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, british, cop, dennis waterman, john thaw, kidnapping, seventies, stuart wilson, sweeney

JOHN THAW IN 'THE SWEENEY: ABDUCTION" WITH STUART WILSON

Stuart Wilson and Janet Key in THE SWEENEY: ABDUCTION Year: 1975 Rates: ***1/2 John Thaw's Inspector Regan is the kind of sex symbol tha...

JOHN THAW WITH JOHN CLIVE IN 'THE SWEENEY: BIG BROTHER'

<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/AVvXsEg8LRyZesOoHw1Nf0K7E-qwLoJ8ENdod9SOl9mIT3o51tNV2cgfcoi1gZsRD1f-J7N8mNkc5cVopS6cuWGnkQYPYtbIaxpC8mRUYFqr3jI7S1BgjFLD1C1N5kw-NzG5H9nLl66CAwmah7eQSRU4k3lHjnLb5hdJ1CX0bjmG0YWHvDrvmTdg-TN81PsQKcGT/s979/387214730_1817622472000254_9116286702101684868_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="979" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8LRyZesOoHw1Nf0K7E-qwLoJ8ENdod9SOl9mIT3o51tNV2cgfcoi1gZsRD1f-J7N8mNkc5cVopS6cuWGnkQYPYtbIaxpC8mRUYFqr3jI7S1BgjFLD1C1N5kw-NzG5H9nLl66CAwmah7eQSRU4k3lHjnLb5hdJ1CX0bjmG0YWHvDrvmTdg-TN81PsQKcGT/s16000/387214730_1817622472000254_9116286702101684868_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Clive in THE SWEENEY: BIG BROTHER Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Like the film noir WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, as an otherwise brutal cop looks extremely guilty of murder when he's innocent... THE SWEENEY episode BIG BROTHER puts John Thaw's Regan in a similar circumstance... </p><p></p><p>Only he doesn't punch a guy to accidentally kill him like Dana Andrews... instead, after a bit of manhandling witnessed by partner Dennis Waterman's Carter, alone in the interrogation room with the smug younger brother of a criminal kingpin, the kid suddenly falls to the floor and is hospitalized, in critical condition, with Regan the suspect...</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/AVvXsEj9MJoI6MtySza7cmpQW3Nypmam_FFtCtFOYG5-_ZZ1PZ3ARkFJSav73SvozEW1sYPQz8kRHsePnj03bwyas6SA51fq0ikeJEPomKk_Lpkl_NLgp2tWLtYExgwC6y4CAE6WQDbXIyB7dGYUYmArro50wSAafBAdLqeZaYzzK1j9DnzaeUBiJyVGrvpJfVTH/s1544/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-11%20at%2012.42.26%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="1544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9MJoI6MtySza7cmpQW3Nypmam_FFtCtFOYG5-_ZZ1PZ3ARkFJSav73SvozEW1sYPQz8kRHsePnj03bwyas6SA51fq0ikeJEPomKk_Lpkl_NLgp2tWLtYExgwC6y4CAE6WQDbXIyB7dGYUYmArro50wSAafBAdLqeZaYzzK1j9DnzaeUBiJyVGrvpJfVTH/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-11%20at%2012.42.26%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Thaw in THE SWEENEY: BIG BROTHER with David Dixon</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As the episode juggles several genre elements: from gangster-revenge, bad cop, wrong man to blaxploitation... particularly intriguing when A CLOCKWORK ORANGE goading stage actor John Clive... always with a weaselly trick up his sleeve... plays a liberal journalist dying to turn the infamous cop into a killer...<br></p><p></p><p>Meanwhile Maurice Roëves looks dapper and partially menacing as the title character, who hires a wild card torpedo to off Regan, yet neither story-line comes to anything, really... leaving a foot chase with Regan and Carter after a black pimp backed by a funky score to close a really good episode that's almost downright incredible.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, british, cop, dennis waterman, garfield morgan, john clive, john thaw, maurice roëves, seventies, sweeney

JOHN THAW WITH JOHN CLIVE IN 'THE SWEENEY: BIG BROTHER'

John Clive in THE SWEENEY: BIG BROTHER Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2 Like the film noir WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, as an otherwise brutal cop look...

JOHN THAW & DENNIS WATERMAN IN 'THE SWEENEY: SUPERSNOUT'

<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/AVvXsEiQG5PCieHf1XQ1f5z3q6ExU7611Hah2R8g_SbiHd3Nes3SvphIt9nMBDKOmJB8PNx0VrcLnDuiVmjXLcLHT_ezukgKrhzHMKl1SK7mYfi9W_NjhXeOHSaRregGfj23-cJACe2teqOYGrMIBGDO6bbc46tlm8gS9WV2XLTO9pPliCmFFzZFDTeP0PyXTya0/s993/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="993" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQG5PCieHf1XQ1f5z3q6ExU7611Hah2R8g_SbiHd3Nes3SvphIt9nMBDKOmJB8PNx0VrcLnDuiVmjXLcLHT_ezukgKrhzHMKl1SK7mYfi9W_NjhXeOHSaRregGfj23-cJACe2teqOYGrMIBGDO6bbc46tlm8gS9WV2XLTO9pPliCmFFzZFDTeP0PyXTya0/s16000/1.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Thaw and Dennis Waterman in THE SWEENEY: SUPERSNOUT Year: 1975 Rates: ***<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Whenever THE SWEENEY writers want to get under John Thaw's independent-minded Chief Inspector Regan's skin, they either add a new partner... making a third alongside Dennis Waterman as Carter...  or in this case (and the second theatrical film SWEENEY 2) they'll add a new superintendent, who in this case is so quirky his name's actually Quirk...</p><p></p><p>Played by bald character-actor Bill Maynard, he even shakes hands funny, and, as a mediocre, unfit leader he wants to prove himself by busting a mail-thief operation that's already weeks old, inevitably pushing his neurotic personality to the sideline as SUPERSNOUT refers to an even more neurotic John Tordoff as Stickler, an inside information man for Regan, and their dialogue-driven expository scenes are more interesting than the confusing big con that, as usual, takes until the very last minute to comprehend. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, bill maynard, british, cop, dennis waterman, john thaw, seventies, sweeney, tv series

JOHN THAW & DENNIS WATERMAN IN 'THE SWEENEY: SUPERSNOUT'

John Thaw and Dennis Waterman in THE SWEENEY: SUPERSNOUT Year: 1975 Rates: *** Whenever THE SWEENEY writers want to get under John Thaw'...

SEAN CONNERY & YVONNE ROMAIN IN 'THE FRIGHTENED CITY'

<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/AVvXsEg4aWom-r5xT4qj3Fi1oOPi_l6oeXRoXeHBtge8kcEF2xZDzRZrv046rAV1X8k8RTJrN_FvWXZ6uQ8Ix2c4CihsfJKVkIPT6BzUFvZRnD_zbsKWuXK2iZPH0s0glkBJXZVYft4_ph9n7syALlY4qB4piayrOphj3oJIkYoTIcp74k4eX7LwB16n6Dugj8E7/s2644/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-07%20at%201.50.31%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1370" data-original-width="2644" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aWom-r5xT4qj3Fi1oOPi_l6oeXRoXeHBtge8kcEF2xZDzRZrv046rAV1X8k8RTJrN_FvWXZ6uQ8Ix2c4CihsfJKVkIPT6BzUFvZRnD_zbsKWuXK2iZPH0s0glkBJXZVYft4_ph9n7syALlY4qB4piayrOphj3oJIkYoTIcp74k4eX7LwB16n6Dugj8E7/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-07%20at%201.50.31%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster image of Yvonne Romain for THE FRIGHTENED CITY Year: 1961 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>With a terrific title like THE FRIGHTENED CITY, a British Neo Noir that actually goes the 1930's-style Classic Gangstr route, you'd think characters would be more... well... frightened... but random bursts of mobsters messing up nightclubs that don't pay for extortion happens so fast there's nothing to really fear but broken glass....</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The plot is simple and straight from the Al Capone playbook of a CITY being divided by gangsters/businessman; that's the idea given by first-billed Herbert Lom as a shady accountant, usually a side-role in these kind of action/dramas, but he was more famous than fellow HELL DRIVERS veteran Sean Connery in the muscular role... </p><p><span></span></p>

alfred marks, british neo noir, crime, gangster, herbert lom, julie shearing, melodrama, sixties

SEAN CONNERY & YVONNE ROMAIN IN 'THE FRIGHTENED CITY'

Poster image of Yvonne Romain for THE FRIGHTENED CITY Year: 1961 Rating: ** With a terrific title like THE FRIGHTENED CITY, a British Neo No...

JAMES CAGNEY & HUMPHREY BOGART IN 'THE ROARING TWENTIES'

<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/AVvXsEiOyjrkzJL2si35iliFwjXaNgHLwtmynviuiHLIn2w51QKC42TQ4BbN7IKt-7ul_7SLhnwofpqUDcm5f8jnWVFqtjGsrS9_7DoR9jeL_PlaDbQAez4ZrT4kVmGGL0l2DQCiw-Wlxr9qLWBaBnIMz0X1gHhjjowQkHtlVUIjZfDZHxjZgAvKv3F-vsD-t9V3/s2166/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-09%20at%201.40.45%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1326" data-original-width="2166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyjrkzJL2si35iliFwjXaNgHLwtmynviuiHLIn2w51QKC42TQ4BbN7IKt-7ul_7SLhnwofpqUDcm5f8jnWVFqtjGsrS9_7DoR9jeL_PlaDbQAez4ZrT4kVmGGL0l2DQCiw-Wlxr9qLWBaBnIMz0X1gHhjjowQkHtlVUIjZfDZHxjZgAvKv3F-vsD-t9V3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-09%20at%201.40.45%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE ROARING TWENTIES Year: 1939 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At one point, only fifteen-minutes in, when James Cagney shuffles across the cheap apartment room rented with buddy Frank McHugh, saying how he's tired of being pushed around, there's been at least two short films that already played out: beginning with a war story involving Cagney alongside a shifty yet dependable Humphrey Bogart and affable Jeffrey Lynn, leaping into exploding foxholes when not picking-off nameless Germans...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And it's hardly better back home, where there are no jobs, leading to the inevitable but far from rushed progression into the life of bootlegging liquor during the titular Prohibition, that the film itself... written/produced by Mark Hellinger with Raoul Walsh directing... is even more against than the law-breaking, often murderous shortcuts...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, depression-era, gangster, gladys george, humphrey bogart, james cagney, jeffrey lynn, joe sawyer, priscilla lane, raoul walsh, robert armstrong, thirties, world war I

JAMES CAGNEY & HUMPHREY BOGART IN 'THE ROARING TWENTIES'

Title: THE ROARING TWENTIES Year: 1939 Rating: ***** At one point, only fifteen-minutes in, when James Cagney shuffles across the cheap apar...

JAMES CAGNEY & JOAN BLONDELL HIDE OUT IN 'HE WAS HER MAN'

<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/AVvXsEjeNkW44YcDoEu8fcxnUF2PndULT9AdlXY6GFzb0-PTPQREuXBn4fQgh6mzqKMLHzOvdHgDg-E4_3ox-08TuFO9f_cpc2BZSKfKgWAnD1aN2h-ARCTF0CCQnDJSB2502sVffBRv4idkW1oAGmr-fk0q0GzsP0hqrUo4F7LFXoMFlKuZqk90oscSjp6s7kiu/s1846/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-06%20at%203.01.59%20AM%202.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1380" data-original-width="1846" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNkW44YcDoEu8fcxnUF2PndULT9AdlXY6GFzb0-PTPQREuXBn4fQgh6mzqKMLHzOvdHgDg-E4_3ox-08TuFO9f_cpc2BZSKfKgWAnD1aN2h-ARCTF0CCQnDJSB2502sVffBRv4idkW1oAGmr-fk0q0GzsP0hqrUo4F7LFXoMFlKuZqk90oscSjp6s7kiu/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-06%20at%203.01.59%20AM%202.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lobby Card for HE WAS HER MAN Year: 1934</u></td></tr></tbody></table>James Cagney dime-novel-style programmer has his character Flicker Hayes, newly released from prison, dangerously double-crossing the hoods who'd double-crossed him as two more goons plan to keep on his trail...<br> <br> Beginning in San Fransisco where he meets Joan Blondell, as a prostitute setting her mind on marrying a simple fisherman in a John Steinbeck Monterrey style seaside town. She has a seemingly benign passenger in Cagney's Hayes, both hiding out in completely different ways. Cagney's surprisingly soft-spoken here, but not nearly as much as dutiful Victor Jory as the fisherman who doesn't care about Blondell's past. This is merely a distraction to Cagney's story that, in itself, distracts from what the movie's leading to — with armed goons on the way, it doesn't look likely he'll survive...<br>

crime, film noir or melodrama, frank craven, james cagney, joan blondell, mob, romance, thirties, victor jory

JAMES CAGNEY & JOAN BLONDELL HIDE OUT IN 'HE WAS HER MAN'

Lobby Card for HE WAS HER MAN Year: 1934 James Cagney dime-novel-style programmer has his character Flicker Hayes, newly released from priso...

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

<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/AVvXsEiyv0bdkGN9c-s0gfaK8RFtd3-wKhzbexrosInBzzSVguqi4ELUkqLgjmAtYi1H2zfM1zsaOCwL2P8HTohdVykfoHscZBxJm47rO5uEOMaYWURCfz06tyg2_0ZrjDFc1s8JR_7W1h_pVeCkm-4kpOnoGVsE82UzY_ZEgYPsbBPzD2YKb5N874uW_7e-OALd/s1558/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-05%20at%206.55.14%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1558" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyv0bdkGN9c-s0gfaK8RFtd3-wKhzbexrosInBzzSVguqi4ELUkqLgjmAtYi1H2zfM1zsaOCwL2P8HTohdVykfoHscZBxJm47rO5uEOMaYWURCfz06tyg2_0ZrjDFc1s8JR_7W1h_pVeCkm-4kpOnoGVsE82UzY_ZEgYPsbBPzD2YKb5N874uW_7e-OALd/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-05%20at%206.55.14%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sense of CASABLANCA deja vu with the same basic premise: tough and independent Humphrey Bogart helps a group of foreign patriots for money, meeting within a smoky piano bar, and eventually comes around to the cause... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Only the characters are based on the Ernest Hemingway novel, changing the location from Cuba to France as Bogart's Harry Morgan, a boat-for-hire fishing guide, gets reluctantly involved in smuggling two important people with the help of sultry siren Lauren Bacall and his alcoholic shipmate Eddy (Walter Brennan) as most of the film eventually narrows into one setting: although this hotel has a tavern area and many rooms, each providing Bogart ample time to outwit the local authorities whilst falling for Bacall and keeping his rummy sidekick alive. </p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, film noir or melodrama, forties, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, walter brennan

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2 Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sen...

JAMES CAGNEY WITH ANN SHERIDAN IN 'CITY FOR CONQUEST'

<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/AVvXsEgkeGt2T-VIfX2vxSUJCWZUcr311wqblnoJsHSpBBLzzfwxCMFDRI3TIYD-HUyIMkpSC0_OFK68i-S5KFd1qibiJXCvuV9JhN7dc3Yqc23JbzswB0ucEhOF_wO_5Z_7QPi25UQ4eJ6scTeValrAaait_eShU79G7LhtY8nHItwzxhMB4Rqo9naLKz-eWj3k/s2326/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-01%20at%208.07.29%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="2326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeGt2T-VIfX2vxSUJCWZUcr311wqblnoJsHSpBBLzzfwxCMFDRI3TIYD-HUyIMkpSC0_OFK68i-S5KFd1qibiJXCvuV9JhN7dc3Yqc23JbzswB0ucEhOF_wO_5Z_7QPi25UQ4eJ6scTeValrAaait_eShU79G7LhtY8nHItwzxhMB4Rqo9naLKz-eWj3k/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-01%20at%208.07.29%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Cagney and Ann Sheridan in CITY FOR CONQUEST Year: 1940 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>James Cagney, as a talented yet reluctant boxer, in one scene... after winning an easy bout... when asked by a potential manager if he wants to continue fighting... he answers by motioning to an old guy, bumming around a locker: after which the camera deliberately pans forward as the punchy, brain-damaged has-been begins singing off-key — right on cue...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Making CITY FOR CONQUEST more of a deliberate slow-burn presentation depicting big city souls than the fast-moving types from the previous years' epic THE ROARING TWENTIES: a kind of majestic art film that, coming out in 1940, is more a peak to 1930's Cagney cinema than a beginning of the 1940's...  </p><span></span>

ann sheridan, anthony quinn, donald crisp, elia kazan, forties, james cagney, melodrama, music, romance

JAMES CAGNEY WITH ANN SHERIDAN IN 'CITY FOR CONQUEST'

James Cagney and Ann Sheridan in CITY FOR CONQUEST Year: 1940 Rates: ***1/2 James Cagney, as a talented yet reluctant boxer, in one scene......