cult film freak: elijah cook jr.

Written by James M. Tate / 4/15/2026 / No comments / 3D , action , biff elliot , elijah cook jr. , fifties , film noir or melodrama , gumshoe , mary anderson , mickey spillane , mike hammer , peggie castle , preston foster

BIFF ELLIOT ORIGINALLY HAMMERS PEGGIE CASTLE 'I, THE JURY'

<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/AVvXsEhhIL7HRkA-TrCJVtXN8yRbT7OoPTWKh_rZT_Z6ha-Ug7ZLcmhQ1Ozm2w3iRXx9TLeicSWFYrJz_Ajnbd8fJxegknLKKueawMiA_WHVQzQoQYcyxkcwQUTD5DQkfX8ULUpgogjq6k6vLhJWZSvoJ355mVi9XtE5gwEKaAl5l5Hqcr_poRBetWcDDxb3saOe/s1716/Screen%20Shot%202026-04-19%20at%203.35.05%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="980" data-original-width="1716" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIL7HRkA-TrCJVtXN8yRbT7OoPTWKh_rZT_Z6ha-Ug7ZLcmhQ1Ozm2w3iRXx9TLeicSWFYrJz_Ajnbd8fJxegknLKKueawMiA_WHVQzQoQYcyxkcwQUTD5DQkfX8ULUpgogjq6k6vLhJWZSvoJ355mVi9XtE5gwEKaAl5l5Hqcr_poRBetWcDDxb3saOe/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202026-04-19%20at%203.35.05%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peggie Castle and Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The first Mike Hammer film was in 3D, and so the first Mike Hammer actor, Biff Elliot, had to practically burst through the screen... in every single scene, in fact, traipsing from location to location in the usual gumshoe fashion, questioning suspects from wealthy bookies to random hoods to a pair of gorgeous sisters to an eventual twist-ending gun-moll who needed more screen-time for that inevitable (and somewhat predictable) transition to matter...<br><br>Said to be inspired by the pretty psychologist fatale in NIGHTMARE ALLEY, future 99 RIVER STREET bad-girl blonde starlet Peggie Castle still visually shines next to Elliot's scrappy, duck-tailed Hammer whenever he doubles-back to her lavish home... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

3D, action, biff elliot, elijah cook jr., fifties, film noir or melodrama, gumshoe, mary anderson, mickey spillane, mike hammer, peggie castle, preston foster

BIFF ELLIOT ORIGINALLY HAMMERS PEGGIE CASTLE 'I, THE JURY'

Peggie Castle and Biff Elliot in I, THE JURY Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2 The first Mike Hammer film was in 3D, and so the first Mike Hammer ac...

Written by James M. Tate / 9/02/2019 / No comments / adventure , ben johnson , cult , elijah cook jr. , karl malden , larry duran , marlon brando , miriam colon , sam gilman , sixties , slim pickens , timothy carey , western

MARLON BRANDO IN HIS BROODING WESTERN 'ONE-EYED JACKS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marlon Brando aims at Timothy Carey in ONE-EYED JACKS</u></td></tr>
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There's an obscure, now forgotten cult of Marlon Brando fans, or Western fans, or both, who found a copy of ONE-EYED JACKS in any drugstore's bargain basement (actually two copies with different covers); and before the incredibly remastered Criterion Blu Ray, we lived on this overlong mess of a wonderfully-flawed epic that's only problem was being an epic in the first place...<br>
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And anyone who believes there's a five-hour version that director/star Marlon Brando intended for a theatrical audience, must be crazy. Not even a David Lean historical drama is three-hours for a Western with a twenty minute revenge plot to actually take three hours longer. But all forms of creating art, from music to novels to film, start out as proverbial blocks sculpted down to an actual framework that works for an intended audience, and people seem to want that rumored big blocky mass instead of this two-hour plus tale that, although flawed, has its own slowburn precision and sporadic genius within...<br>

adventure, ben johnson, cult, elijah cook jr., karl malden, larry duran, marlon brando, miriam colon, sam gilman, sixties, slim pickens, timothy carey, western

MARLON BRANDO IN HIS BROODING WESTERN 'ONE-EYED JACKS'

Marlon Brando aims at Timothy Carey in ONE-EYED JACKS There's an obscure, now forgotten cult of Marlon Brando fans, or Western fans,...

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)ROBBERY 3)HELL IS A CITY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)HOT CARS 7)VIOLENT SATURDAY 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)FALLEN ANGEL 19)A PRIZE OF ARMS 20)THE BIG HEAT 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE MARKED ONES 23)THE DRIVER 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)JOURNEY INTO FEAR 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER