JAMES STEWART WITH DONALD CRISP IN 'THE MAN FROM LARAMIE'

<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/AVvXsEizmRCoXCqF_tvhiH-ZKpz0UuoWe-HrEzXi9zSg_7cP2sNDtu5inH4VqyaUsFXQswoizZ0ah9qlDMM1CjNeZ04gUGmulz1KwReqeIyCEf6rAYp5FTNJF9YkQLdIluJGxiIbGP_tB59XP7C-QohBsdiRdbIqd9PmOUXe9DgXkrWeTm6Q_wBxoK_x3-Mrc_6E/s2166/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-25%20at%2011.33.19%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="2166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizmRCoXCqF_tvhiH-ZKpz0UuoWe-HrEzXi9zSg_7cP2sNDtu5inH4VqyaUsFXQswoizZ0ah9qlDMM1CjNeZ04gUGmulz1KwReqeIyCEf6rAYp5FTNJF9YkQLdIluJGxiIbGP_tB59XP7C-QohBsdiRdbIqd9PmOUXe9DgXkrWeTm6Q_wBxoK_x3-Mrc_6E/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-25%20at%2011.33.19%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE MAN FROM LARAMIE Year: 1955 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Within moments of Anthony Mann's THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, the old and new aspects of the beloved genre shift, and progress: opening with an old-fashion crooner singing about the title character and then, once we meet James Stewart's Will Lockhart, it's soon learned he's investigating the sale of repeating rifles to Apache Indians, causing his brother's death and leading to an edgy revenge plot popular in almost any Western to come...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And, although eventually revealed to be a Army officer, his agenda — having traveled from Laramie to the small town of Coronado — is like a film noir detective, making LARAMIE stand out from other Mann/Stewart Westerns along with a cerebral theme from William Shakespeare's fallen-monarch tragedy, King Lear...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, alex nicol, anthony mann, arthur kennedy, cathy o'donnell, donald crisp, jack elam, james stewart, mystery, thriller, wallace ford, western

JAMES STEWART WITH DONALD CRISP IN 'THE MAN FROM LARAMIE'

Title: THE MAN FROM LARAMIE Year: 1955 Rating: ****1/2 Within moments of Anthony Mann's THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, the old and new aspects of...

TOM SMOTHERS & ORSON WELLES IN 'GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT'

<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/AVvXsEhIgzzrqSHBJKt1nWyIxzg_So1m6qqh81Og1LerDhU8io6rDbtIP-5kH1rCTwIc0H1fv0MDexDxHa7vmX7bwU6PyZVpUpmr2Vjkd4RXkktudvoGGW5x6WvxusvzcBcic3wUoyHD_S3EJBCCwRabxPn7Yeo2iuZYL1oNHoQPNwGmWohnmD6TntSX0znYEzlo/s2006/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%202.13.42%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="2006" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgzzrqSHBJKt1nWyIxzg_So1m6qqh81Og1LerDhU8io6rDbtIP-5kH1rCTwIc0H1fv0MDexDxHa7vmX7bwU6PyZVpUpmr2Vjkd4RXkktudvoGGW5x6WvxusvzcBcic3wUoyHD_S3EJBCCwRabxPn7Yeo2iuZYL1oNHoQPNwGmWohnmD6TntSX0znYEzlo/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%202.13.42%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT Year: 1972 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ironically, Brian De Palma's GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT... an anti-corporate, counter-culture comedy... is a lot like the previous decade's I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT'S'ISNAME, and both feature Orson Welles, first as a boss who doesn't want to lose his top young employee and here a magic instructor that this film's star, Tom Smothers of Smothers Brothers fame, takes lessons from after quitting his job as executive John Astin's problem-solving underling...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Welles has a total of ten-minutes screen-time, and upon graduation asks Smothers' Donald Beeman if he had been like a father to him, wherein Tommy's expression... the signature dimwitted naiveté more of an irked, stonewall glib... shakes his head, "No" which is one of several problems since this offbeat character, played by a naturally offbeat comic-actor on his own, doesn't seem game for this particularly strange and completely random road comedy...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

allen garfield, comedy, counter-culture, john astin, katharine ross, m. emmett walsh, orson welles, seventies, tom smothers

TOM SMOTHERS & ORSON WELLES IN 'GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT'

Title: GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT Year: 1972 Rating: *** Ironically, Brian De Palma's GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT... an anti-corporate, counter...

DICK POWELL'S PHILIP MARLOWE TACKLES 'MURDER, MY SWEET'

<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/AVvXsEgkSfS3be_G77a9WHTte2qCAwInUx2lcQXkaoZjSJ9xMPBCQyYZ4G89M6ML-7KoIgiouAAvnUxqlugZeytRKWKHLLMtmjboY2ZKFFkDrDZvczxOIG2tGcJHIhZ-3EJt6Kq5t4PhVvdWgIboFGUEzBheqVQi16cOi9vJ03AA-QhxN2u7TNJ_DHdJKqVDnSwn/s1060/first.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1060" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkSfS3be_G77a9WHTte2qCAwInUx2lcQXkaoZjSJ9xMPBCQyYZ4G89M6ML-7KoIgiouAAvnUxqlugZeytRKWKHLLMtmjboY2ZKFFkDrDZvczxOIG2tGcJHIhZ-3EJt6Kq5t4PhVvdWgIboFGUEzBheqVQi16cOi9vJ03AA-QhxN2u7TNJ_DHdJKqVDnSwn/s16000/first.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Claire Trevor with Dick Powell & Anne Shirley in MURDER, MY SWEET Year: 1944 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"You go barging around without a clear idea of what you're doing," says MURDER MY SWEET good girl Anne Shirley to Dick Powell's loose, congenial, free-form and not particularly tough version of novelist Raymond Chandler's gumshoe private investigator, Philip Marlowe. "Everybody bats you down, smacks you over the head... fills you full of stuff... and you keep right on hitting between tackle and end..." </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And yet, while most think of strong-willed, fully-controlled, woman-loving Humphrey Bogart in Howard Hawks' THE BIG SLEEP to epitomize Chandler's literary turned cinematic snoop, Edward Dmytryk had already directed former romantic comedy song-and-dance-man Powell as Marlowe, more like a staggering kite skidding just above ground, sporadically raked by unpredictable elements in an intense yet affable manner: initially derived from a police hot-spot interrogation frame story, thinking back on the rudimentary job that ignited the nightmare... <br></p><span></span>

claire trevor, daun kennedy, dick powell, film noir or melodrama, forties, gumshoe, mike mazurski, raymond chandler, suspense, thriller

DICK POWELL'S PHILIP MARLOWE TACKLES 'MURDER, MY SWEET'

Claire Trevor with Dick Powell & Anne Shirley in MURDER, MY SWEET Year: 1944 Rating: ****1/2 "You go barging around without a clear...

INFAMOUS CRIMSON CRUSADER EPISODE FROM 'DRAGNET 1969'

<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/AVvXsEhTOjM16rbSdsfZDAmfGsiGDRZ3tmrc_rXj24Wf854AGzj_U0hoNHvdTExTurcDBxj49Rx8rms3pOhp8yG3AncGfcqgl_znDfyGkOYAqY3GqL-rtJeTYEQCn1EHZmVikVNHvIbfJy10AzPAu0tzA7u5qWkSuJD9b91lEfI67X64e4A6930C3DBk8ouYLrqw/s1414/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-23%20at%203.25.40%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTOjM16rbSdsfZDAmfGsiGDRZ3tmrc_rXj24Wf854AGzj_U0hoNHvdTExTurcDBxj49Rx8rms3pOhp8yG3AncGfcqgl_znDfyGkOYAqY3GqL-rtJeTYEQCn1EHZmVikVNHvIbfJy10AzPAu0tzA7u5qWkSuJD9b91lEfI67X64e4A6930C3DBk8ouYLrqw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-23%20at%203.25.40%20AM.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>Here's proof that young people worshiping comic book movies is nothing new: from one of the silliest yet entertaining episodes of the 1950's-born DRAGNET rebooted into the late-1960's... titled DRAGNET 1968: BULGLARY: DR-31 where Jack Webb's Joe Friday and Harry Morgan as partner Bill Gannon traipse from one movie theater to another, investigating stolen/looted movie posters and lobby cards advertising a brand new comic book adaptation...<br><br>Turns out being the most bizarre and surreal of the show's villains in a pudgy, mustached, monotone twenty-something donning a cape and costume, deeming himself The Crimson Crusader played by a frumpy, drowsy, future EMERGENCY actor Tim Donnelly who, in one soft-interrogation sequence, provides a dirge-like, melancholy monologue about being fat and bullied in school, and how this drove him headlong into a fantastical world to find a safe place within it... thus making this eclectic fan-favorite episode practically all his own.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>

comic book, cop, crime, dragnet, exploitation, harry morgan, jack webb, sixties, tv series

INFAMOUS CRIMSON CRUSADER EPISODE FROM 'DRAGNET 1969'

Tittle: GOLIATH AWAITS 1981 Emma Samms, Mark Harmon, Robert Forster Rating: ***1/2 Here's proof that young people worshiping comic book ...

LANCE HENRIKSEN & ERIC ROBERTS IN 'THE NATURE OF THE BEAST'

<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/AVvXsEj5evglfBmE6u8d2gsY1Ck7OsEvHL79pDobyMZJweBX_io0Db9QTjMTSjzNhDmSPT2hL8JSLEYrKsj6JO4xmMRbYR_XbV_LYvbe2e4EoLEs-k7wTUQSe9hFzVCHwyw2W8eHeUix_nHCRkQtJvo1ibfJxnSx9Q9nyFJUgpNReNHgi24Kcv_8mBANauG9KcAi/s900/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-21%20at%2012.31.59%20AM%202%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5evglfBmE6u8d2gsY1Ck7OsEvHL79pDobyMZJweBX_io0Db9QTjMTSjzNhDmSPT2hL8JSLEYrKsj6JO4xmMRbYR_XbV_LYvbe2e4EoLEs-k7wTUQSe9hFzVCHwyw2W8eHeUix_nHCRkQtJvo1ibfJxnSx9Q9nyFJUgpNReNHgi24Kcv_8mBANauG9KcAi/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-21%20at%2012.31.59%20AM%202%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Eric Roberts & Lance Henriksen in THE NATURE OF THE BEAST Year: 1995 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>An exploitation Oscar and Felix casts Eric Roberts as Adrian, a dirty piece of human driftwood hitchhiking the lonesome desert highway where, in random stopovers, people are massacred by a phantom called THE HATCHET MAN...<br> <br> Also, a local bank was robbed of a million bucks and uptight traveling salesman Jack, played by a subdued Lance Henriksen, reluctantly gives Adrian rides throughout the scorched purgatory... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

ana gabriel, brion james, eric roberts, lance henriksen, neo noir, nineties, road movie, rural, serial killer, suspense

LANCE HENRIKSEN & ERIC ROBERTS IN 'THE NATURE OF THE BEAST'

Eric Roberts & Lance Henriksen in THE NATURE OF THE BEAST Year: 1995 Rates: ***1/2 An exploitation Oscar and Felix casts Eric Roberts a...

YVONNE LIME IN 'HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS' WITH SUSANNE SIDNEY

<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/AVvXsEgzhDZsVBVc8JdLU5v1Wf2vAS2yRR0KzO40S3UeLkdz7ziS85rKcro8rVH_CI5g3fePF7S3IhenJyF4N9rExPT8N0VxeEc2B5xOS0oLs18oTPoL6KfJNFTynggH-5_PxTfDdDWxvhBsakdV9GdFcr8uLO5PIZ2vElIa9YLsY83ks1civkzFYuG1PHE6AIFM/s2078/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1312" data-original-width="2078" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhDZsVBVc8JdLU5v1Wf2vAS2yRR0KzO40S3UeLkdz7ziS85rKcro8rVH_CI5g3fePF7S3IhenJyF4N9rExPT8N0VxeEc2B5xOS0oLs18oTPoL6KfJNFTynggH-5_PxTfDdDWxvhBsakdV9GdFcr8uLO5PIZ2vElIa9YLsY83ks1civkzFYuG1PHE6AIFM/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS seems like three movies in one, and the titular tale... about a gang of tough girl bullies playing tricks on beautiful blonde new girl Yvonne Lime... is not only the best, but should have been everything... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>What a shame that a breezy, completely filler romance with Lime's Joyce Martin with local diner waiter Brett Halsey blandly intrudes... along with scenes involving Joyce's crummy parents... because the downright stunning yet still equally doe-eyed, girl-next-door vulnerable I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF starlet is far more interesting with the female antagonists her age...</p><span></span>

brett halsley, dana lund, exploitation, fifties, gang, high school, teen, yvonne lime

YVONNE LIME IN 'HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS' WITH SUSANNE SIDNEY

Title: HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2 HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS seems like three movies in one, and the titular tale... about a g...

MILTON BERLE & VIRGINIA MAYO IN 'ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING'

<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/AVvXsEgRfsCmOx8TGwlg9bNsRPduYDL54o7kU4GV6jHJrtfwgr2-YvUFkUBOc9mfR_z3G6aEfgjg70q2zXAL955Q8Fh7Mtibng3jb74V-foUbIpkAl3rsQojDWWgY_ZJ7n9LSBW_qoEroITZ_kF3kQKGySwB7m5FwkoLL3O4QuEt4ZMbeBIKBzZPwxIlU61vkHUi/s960/OLD%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRfsCmOx8TGwlg9bNsRPduYDL54o7kU4GV6jHJrtfwgr2-YvUFkUBOc9mfR_z3G6aEfgjg70q2zXAL955Q8Fh7Mtibng3jb74V-foUbIpkAl3rsQojDWWgY_ZJ7n9LSBW_qoEroITZ_kF3kQKGySwB7m5FwkoLL3O4QuEt4ZMbeBIKBzZPwxIlU61vkHUi/s16000/OLD%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING Year: 1949 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the frame story of the first television star Milton Berle's 1949 big screen debut ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING, a young comic watches Milton as fictional-self Kipling "Kip" Cooper filming his own successful TV-variety show... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which is supposed to be what Berle's Kip worked so hard to perfect: a vaudeville-trained standup comedian's hyperactive struggle to reach the point of being, basically, TV's beloved Milton Berle... </p><p><span></span></p>

alan hale sr, bert lahr, comedy, forties, lloyd gough, max showalter, milton berle, ruth roman, virginia mayo, warner archives

MILTON BERLE & VIRGINIA MAYO IN 'ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING'

Title: ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING Year: 1949 Rating: **** In the frame story of the first television star Milton Berle's 1949 big screen...

LEE MAJORS, MARGAUX HEMINGWAY & KAREN BLACK IN 'KILLER FISH'

<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><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/AVvXsEiXgP6YLTe-d2h6vgYhpJFbjTkMfpIDJQHMN3d1-9ME-cUtuw6t9KYKvA4vmlZ2dI7eDChB2ht644z9J_AIipjSbZ_O0BUxNFzKkqS8HN-OpMDCvpZj6HS8VUhpulVx5vkEVWSZHYO_FC7ymfPcOnByRjKpjxKH7MRtIgvYGe7YLGQLBdqdYY5x7aJZfA/s2035/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-11%20at%204.54.18%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1387" data-original-width="2035" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXgP6YLTe-d2h6vgYhpJFbjTkMfpIDJQHMN3d1-9ME-cUtuw6t9KYKvA4vmlZ2dI7eDChB2ht644z9J_AIipjSbZ_O0BUxNFzKkqS8HN-OpMDCvpZj6HS8VUhpulVx5vkEVWSZHYO_FC7ymfPcOnByRjKpjxKH7MRtIgvYGe7YLGQLBdqdYY5x7aJZfA/w400-h272/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-11%20at%204.54.18%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><u>The Naked Sun poster aka KILLER FISH Year: 1979</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table>This infamous low-budget Brazilian import isn't so bad: Centering on a group of diamond thieves in South America who, after blowing up a big outpost during the opening credits and nabbing a cache of jewels, hide the goods in a lake they don't know's inhabited by killer fish i.e. piranha...</span><br> <br> <span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">All pets of millionaire James Franciscus (or more like his weapons, so they're not the central and/or focal point like Joe Dante's PIRANHA the previous year)... Deadly insurance to weed-out any takers, and </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">a couple of the thieves (including a scene-stealing Frank Pesce) are gobbled up attempting a premature recovery in the lake... Because of this, Lee Majors and Karen Black are pitted against each other in a double-crossing Film Noir fashion: Black joins with Fransiscus and beautiful Margaux Hemingway, as a model on a location-shoot, beds the Bionic Man.</span><br>

antonio margheriti, exploitation, frank pesce, heist, james francsiscus, jaws-clone, karen black, karen black interviews, lee majors, margaux hemingway, marisa berenson, neo noir, piranha, seventies

LEE MAJORS, MARGAUX HEMINGWAY & KAREN BLACK IN 'KILLER FISH'

The Naked Sun poster aka KILLER FISH Year: 1979 This infamous low-budget Brazilian import isn't so bad: Centering on a group of diamond...

BEFORE 'EASY RIDER' WAS ROGER CORMAN'S 'THE WILD ANGELS'

<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/AVvXsEhOIPPjT5bA4XIzjPkGrrYjbWRbA8pWVIeuukvG4xQdzGP6dIeoYjNk69Bve9R_4Qm5RnpTPa-wda6AXNFIbq9Vh0Z5Rt5U2JsLwAzld3RN7nNMHLpPKSIR0iJOu_w7iZYPCng14Bh75U5j6OT0Mkf6mjEgfgvAFc6nahHi5SZS0ufHmIZWyEhmRtlPMGNr/s2018/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-12%20at%207.52.07%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="2018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIPPjT5bA4XIzjPkGrrYjbWRbA8pWVIeuukvG4xQdzGP6dIeoYjNk69Bve9R_4Qm5RnpTPa-wda6AXNFIbq9Vh0Z5Rt5U2JsLwAzld3RN7nNMHLpPKSIR0iJOu_w7iZYPCng14Bh75U5j6OT0Mkf6mjEgfgvAFc6nahHi5SZS0ufHmIZWyEhmRtlPMGNr/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-12%20at%207.52.07%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra in THE WILD ANGELS Year: 1966 Rating: **** </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Roger Corman's THE WILD ANGELS was the most significant precursor and overall impetus for EASY RIDER even beyond starring this film's star Peter Fonda... herein with born-to-lose <i>Loser</i> Bruce Dern foreshadowing Dennis Hopper as the faithful shaggy sidekick, and — like the 1969 cult classic that changed how studios backed avante-garde, independent directors — supped-up motorcycles were in the forefront... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>As WILD begins with Fonda, his bike parked, aimed at the open road that, soon enough during the opening credits, he's smoothy cruising down, even before his gang — also including Michael J. Pollard, Fonda's love-interest Nancy Sinatra and Dern's scene-stealing fictional and non-fictional wife Diane Ladd — join in on the ride... but only <i>after </i>picking Dern up from a rugged rigging job that coincidentally resembles the EASY RIDER followup FIVE EASY PIECES (with Corman stock-favorite Dick Miller as a bickering boss)... </p><span></span>

action, adventure, biker, bruce dern, counter-culture, diane ladd, dick miller, drama, frank maxwell, michael j. pollard, nancy sinatra, peter fonda, sixties

BEFORE 'EASY RIDER' WAS ROGER CORMAN'S 'THE WILD ANGELS'

Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra in THE WILD ANGELS Year: 1966 Rating: **** Roger Corman's THE WILD ANGELS was the most significant precurs...

CHARLES BRONSON WITH JILL IRELAND IN 'BREAKHEART PASS'

<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/AVvXsEj47WLsuSa_j2WwCGqbfwrwJvmr1rz_7F2l_-hn_hQpqxYsgxA-2WuPcihuhwoY4CE7HN5VPq-GhyEo5RCwwBo-u5Zpxj7ccUmrvUMzyevDoB_grsEhb9jFmTdQ-j0HVpHPza8KyT43ugFiFXYxdUDi40dsKMpP582Ve4JYKiq250Bh4WktLQVV7fV3-Ybn/s1256/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-08%20at%208.22.21%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="1256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47WLsuSa_j2WwCGqbfwrwJvmr1rz_7F2l_-hn_hQpqxYsgxA-2WuPcihuhwoY4CE7HN5VPq-GhyEo5RCwwBo-u5Zpxj7ccUmrvUMzyevDoB_grsEhb9jFmTdQ-j0HVpHPza8KyT43ugFiFXYxdUDi40dsKMpP582Ve4JYKiq250Bh4WktLQVV7fV3-Ybn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-08%20at%208.22.21%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in BREAKHEART PASS Year: 1975 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>British actress Jill Ireland sporadically appearing in husband Charles Bronson's films was really a matter of convenience, providing the family a kind of busman's holiday that was great for them, but not always the audience since her overacting often clashed with the comparably slow-burn cadence of vehicles like THE MECHANIC or HARD TIMES: the latter making an enemy out of writer/director Walter Hill, shooting as few scenes with Ireland as possible, so he never worked with a perturbed Bronson again...</p><p></p><p>But in the case of (the same years') BREAKOUT director Tom Gries's Mystery/Western BREAKHEART PASS, Jill Ireland fit perfectly since her character... the daughter of a post-Civil War Northern General... is fitfully classy and sophisticated, making one particular opposites-attract scene really spark while helping Bronson's supposedly captured-outlaw Deakin, tied uncomfortably inside an otherwise fancy train car and... although he's the central lead, PASS is mainly an ensemble, equally balancing the other characters, all suspects...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

ben johnson, bill mckinney, charles bronson, ed lauter, jill ireland, mystery, rayford barnes, richard crenna, sally kirkland, thriller, tom gries, western

CHARLES BRONSON WITH JILL IRELAND IN 'BREAKHEART PASS'

Charles Bronson in BREAKHEART PASS Year: 1975 Rating: ****1/2 British actress Jill Ireland sporadically appearing in husband Charles Bronson...

CHARLES BRONSON'S 'MAN WITH A CAMERA' WITH YVONNE CRAIG

<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/AVvXsEiQ5WoXTFB1jWAKKvw6DmRU50GTniBnUxu3SeoO-m2Rm2nGl3UkOinxkAjGfGHSQ2FyNPhyphenhyphenYKqsPAc4p7PsSmHNXHBQdTsZ_hyBXMe1xDheFOMlH3l45fy6S3qhxZ-eXdts0tKFBQRzDV1qqPR3nZm5lrnLPucPS5qTEvD5zz6IkgLmaNwuTBcJX1Le2QU9/s2040/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="2040" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5WoXTFB1jWAKKvw6DmRU50GTniBnUxu3SeoO-m2Rm2nGl3UkOinxkAjGfGHSQ2FyNPhyphenhyphenYKqsPAc4p7PsSmHNXHBQdTsZ_hyBXMe1xDheFOMlH3l45fy6S3qhxZ-eXdts0tKFBQRzDV1qqPR3nZm5lrnLPucPS5qTEvD5zz6IkgLmaNwuTBcJX1Le2QU9/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Yvonne Craig & Charles Bronson in Man With A Camera: Hot Ice Cream 1960 Rates: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At the end of Lawrence Tierney's career's first stretch, of playing menacing heavies on the big screen, which includes central bad guys from DILLINGER and THE HOODLUM to tough heroes in BODYGUARD, STEP BY STEP and KILL OR BE KILLED, Tierney — resembling an older version of his original self instead of a young Joe Cabot from RESERVOIR DOGS — appeared on the TV-series MAN WITH A CAMERA starring Charles Bronson... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In what's the best (and highest rated) episode of a nifty noirish two-season show where Bronson plays Mike Kovac, THE MAN WITH A CAMERA who’s either hired by friends or the law to solve crimes... and he even has a semi-famous crime-photographer reputation, thus providing a young fan for HOT ICE CREAM...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, charles bronson, crime, film noir or melodrama, howard mcnear, lawrence tierney, sixties, thriller, tv series, yvonne craig

CHARLES BRONSON'S 'MAN WITH A CAMERA' WITH YVONNE CRAIG

Yvonne Craig & Charles Bronson in Man With A Camera: Hot Ice Cream 1960 Rates: ****1/2 At the end of Lawrence Tierney's career's...

PARENTHETICAL ANALYSIS OF MICHAEL WINNER'S 'THE MECHANIC'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEiiQnU2bx_YCFrvPb8mMfT4TbbRkBsl_UMhyphenhyphennCbrX2YuvweEB1sIbW6B3h3HcOk92LUh45Y3udDeH_6UH2A_HF7uedKyowPojpOyvLRY5Ru9DZyQS5-yMLAzCxz2Crgi3WZsWMmQCiXBmHLbhcfbASobVLOuyo5DQinKn9zj6rWBlZSFeqJXbzrDtX9wO7K/s1939/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-02%20at%208.08.56%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="1939" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQnU2bx_YCFrvPb8mMfT4TbbRkBsl_UMhyphenhyphennCbrX2YuvweEB1sIbW6B3h3HcOk92LUh45Y3udDeH_6UH2A_HF7uedKyowPojpOyvLRY5Ru9DZyQS5-yMLAzCxz2Crgi3WZsWMmQCiXBmHLbhcfbASobVLOuyo5DQinKn9zj6rWBlZSFeqJXbzrDtX9wO7K/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-02%20at%208.08.56%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in THE MECHANIC from 1974 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the time professional hit-man Arthur Bishop, skillfully underplayed by Charles Bronson... starring in the first of the 1972-1974 unconnected crime trilogy under the creative direction of eclectic British auteur Michael Winner... meets his match in young upstart Jan-Michael Vincent, the best part of <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/BW2-MECH.html">THE MECHANIC</a> had already occurred...  <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>Centering on the titular eccentric hired-killer slumming in a shabby Los Angeles motel, strategically rented across the street from his human target's non-rented room... providing a smooth, menial, fifteen-minute killer-at-work sequence that, given his narrowed, exacting professionalism, deliberately lacks suspense while replete with Winner's signature camera movements, from dramatic zooms to quick cuts, and herein, most importantly, no dialogue...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjtfF4YXy6iB31ckrPPXZIHJBZdeOY2fN_WZSE_ljHVBc_7sfYypRbDgVy4E_Z6c4z9ZyYzFAOsZFaKMNPKWzGcq3eO3xICz2RCqX1-2kpjricHQ-iaNBwTXBDZ53y1b-XF2i-z1Rf0oU_rN6vtmS_iJ0daqeTEoG-KWly0STxq1_stBOjim_Oq3jNuS-s1/s2260/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-02%20at%208.21.08%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="2260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfF4YXy6iB31ckrPPXZIHJBZdeOY2fN_WZSE_ljHVBc_7sfYypRbDgVy4E_Z6c4z9ZyYzFAOsZFaKMNPKWzGcq3eO3xICz2RCqX1-2kpjricHQ-iaNBwTXBDZ53y1b-XF2i-z1Rf0oU_rN6vtmS_iJ0daqeTEoG-KWly0STxq1_stBOjim_Oq3jNuS-s1/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-02%20at%208.21.08%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jerry Fielding credit from THE MECHANIC</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Instead filled with underrated composer Jerry Fielding's rich and cerebral, classically orchestrated yet equally jazz-induced score that also worked for Dustin Hoffman's mind-game marriage from Sam Peckpinpah's<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/11/peckinpahdogs.html"> STRAW DOGS</a> (after having successfully tracked Peckinpah's blockbuster THE WILD BUNCH); Warren Oates's exhausted contemplation in the same director's BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA; or building tension for Clint Eastwood in either THE ENFORCER or <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2023/11/clintclimbs.html">THE EIGER SANCTION</a>... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A few examples of how and where Jerry Fielding's music fits tough and paranoiac, melancholy souls suffering personal battles so that the inevitable violence remains on the verge of eruption, even during meditative downtime — providing brooding overtures <i>inside</i> as well as <i>about</i> the characters...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, article, charles bronson, crime, hit-man, jan-michael vincent, jerry fielding, jill ireland, michael winner, neo noir, seventies, team-up, thriller

PARENTHETICAL ANALYSIS OF MICHAEL WINNER'S 'THE MECHANIC'

Charles Bronson in THE MECHANIC from 1974 Rating: **** By the time professional hit-man Arthur Bishop, skillfully underplayed by Charles Bro...

MICHAEL WINNER REDIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH II'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEijfDfMBrLwkZFwN8GLTiXp1uksU1XHj9AvRBSAlCtOnEMhpvoJ9qyYpyfxEL4DvnRjYtUzE4IkxS6bhsaNBPmPyJFFaOEAOmJnY8Gsq8vtPmcSfugRpq1RvgPv-GBSxlos0tGo6vnX53UDlcHLhKGuwfCpX3bIY34ultGOJpygbM06mIsr0A6QHvv9M4lW/s1785/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-04%20at%205.07.42%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="1785" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfDfMBrLwkZFwN8GLTiXp1uksU1XHj9AvRBSAlCtOnEMhpvoJ9qyYpyfxEL4DvnRjYtUzE4IkxS6bhsaNBPmPyJFFaOEAOmJnY8Gsq8vtPmcSfugRpq1RvgPv-GBSxlos0tGo6vnX53UDlcHLhKGuwfCpX3bIY34ultGOJpygbM06mIsr0A6QHvv9M4lW/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-04%20at%205.07.42%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DEATH WISH II Year: 1982 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Losing his wife entirely and daughter mentally to lethal hoods from the first movie had aged Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey eight-years when it's only supposed to be two.... which is how long it'd been since DEATH WISH made the already popular cult actor Charles Bronson a superstar... and now, in his last stretch at 60 years old, having joined the ranks of ambitious low-budget Cannon Films, the safest bet was a sequel... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Along with Bronson, cinema had also changed from the early 1970's crime exploitation into the early 1980's horror/terror element, which is what Kersey... still a successful architect but now in Los Angeles instead of New York... is up against in the form of an ultra-violent gang as opposed to, from the original, random criminals coaxed from the streets (after the initial trio, led by Jeff Goldblum, were never heard of since) or saving innocent people from them... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

body count, cannon, charles bronson, eighties, exploitation, franchise, gang, jimmy page, laurence fishburne, michael winner, sequel

MICHAEL WINNER REDIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH II'

Title: DEATH WISH II Year: 1982 Rating: **** Losing his wife entirely and daughter mentally to lethal hoods from the first movie had aged Ch...

MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEiiYbaChH4HKKV2DsEUgSfKBKg2dORohHbuqSTpqvl5hjwznWcvqAHoItyiAyBK8dJPRo4Fn7egyuhpfsSLsJ1xBT7HqL-1k-8WMxQlR7Nr4-uRb37XKk-sm23oZW_fTbYVZIYmNMypTx2QC-yE9PkZD-FxGbiRYtogbQvpehLu3kJrJcH8jh-dwyFCO4_n/s1092/later%202%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="1092" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiYbaChH4HKKV2DsEUgSfKBKg2dORohHbuqSTpqvl5hjwznWcvqAHoItyiAyBK8dJPRo4Fn7egyuhpfsSLsJ1xBT7HqL-1k-8WMxQlR7Nr4-uRb37XKk-sm23oZW_fTbYVZIYmNMypTx2QC-yE9PkZD-FxGbiRYtogbQvpehLu3kJrJcH8jh-dwyFCO4_n/s16000/later%202%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DEATH WISH Year: 1974 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Of director Michael Winner and actor Charles Bronson's crime-trilogy spanning three consecutive years from 1972 to 1974... centering on hit-men for THE MECHANIC and cops in THE STONE KILLER... the most popular was saved for last as DEATH WISH centers on a vigilante — ironically a cross between lawman and assassin... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's also more skillfully directed and acted: specifically providing tough guy Charles Bronson... also a former character-actor dating back to the 1950's... a comparably grounded and vulnerable (starring) role...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, body count, charles bronson, christopher guest, death wish, edward grover, exploitation, hope lange, jeff goldblum, michael winner, seventies, steven keats, stuart margolin

MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH'

Title: DEATH WISH Year: 1974 Rating: ***** Of director Michael Winner and actor Charles Bronson's crime-trilogy spanning three consecuti...