cult film freak: lee van cleef

Showing posts with label lee van cleef. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 8/12/2026 / No comments / action , antonio margheriti , eighties , ernest borgnine , klaus kinski , lee van cleef , lewis collins , mimsy farmer , war

MIMSY FARMER AND LEE VAN CLEEF IN 'CODE NAME: WILD GEESE'

<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/AVvXsEiXj_BTIyvouzHqyDe6MQ1WuXM7GiKL5_7ibj13zoCUMrftSde0ZrrjKhJHPAz64ux2XO72fATIRY93lUtnCr2M5IQwwCAblN1emyjpzlEL_I5U1diCYsQLkxIdhQQDHA47kI29jtiMQ32lg1pzOu5kPst2OsINaZnCBHF1Bn8NDt7vD-EqI2-jTD3JPQlw/s1375/image1786607560.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="1375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXj_BTIyvouzHqyDe6MQ1WuXM7GiKL5_7ibj13zoCUMrftSde0ZrrjKhJHPAz64ux2XO72fATIRY93lUtnCr2M5IQwwCAblN1emyjpzlEL_I5U1diCYsQLkxIdhQQDHA47kI29jtiMQ32lg1pzOu5kPst2OsINaZnCBHF1Bn8NDt7vD-EqI2-jTD3JPQlw/s1600/image1786607560.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese (Geheimcode Wildgänse) Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a pivotal sequence in Antonio Margheriti's CODE NAME: WILD GEESE where a group of mercenaries... including British tough guy Lewis Collins, German tough guy Manfred Lehmann and Spaghetti Western legend Lee Van Cleef... are inside of a helicopter, and pilot Van Cleef says it will take a few minutes for the copter to lift...<br><br>Occurring after having already taken over an outpost, and, while waiting to take off, there's no impending enemy gunfire... making WILD GEESE the kind of Italian war-flick with tons of flying bullets but very little urgency or suspense... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, antonio margheriti, eighties, ernest borgnine, klaus kinski, lee van cleef, lewis collins, mimsy farmer, war

MIMSY FARMER AND LEE VAN CLEEF IN 'CODE NAME: WILD GEESE'

Mimsy Farmer in Code Name: Wild Geese (Geheimcode Wildgänse) Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 There's a pivotal sequence in Antonio Margheriti...

CHUCK NORRIS, ART HINDLE & LEE VAN CLEEF IN 'THE OCTAGON'

<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/AVvXsEg3lqA4BnZIWwZenTBH_Z0XrFhvZuDbOqgvVIZRPG4TJEyCEX070SgGEt5pm5rTk0RhFJqixTJjWKO7zHdoRHhet4BeOdXXzVw7FrQhINeMjaEL9M0KqiaRn1x9fHbnjhuTkN6ycfQ5ks0qnwctoMGc4bbPj1ykbk9WlxG6pS2YeNdlCf09MYIxDoHCkqi4/s1500/When%20are%20you%20gonna%20stop%20sniffing%20around%20and%20make%20some%20serious%20moves.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3lqA4BnZIWwZenTBH_Z0XrFhvZuDbOqgvVIZRPG4TJEyCEX070SgGEt5pm5rTk0RhFJqixTJjWKO7zHdoRHhet4BeOdXXzVw7FrQhINeMjaEL9M0KqiaRn1x9fHbnjhuTkN6ycfQ5ks0qnwctoMGc4bbPj1ykbk9WlxG6pS2YeNdlCf09MYIxDoHCkqi4/s16000/When%20are%20you%20gonna%20stop%20sniffing%20around%20and%20make%20some%20serious%20moves.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE OCTAGON Year: 1980 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Over an hour into the 1980 Chuck Norris action vehicle THE OCTAGON, Spaghetti Western legend Lee Van Cleef turns to the iconic karate fighter and says, "When are you gonna stop sniffing around and make some serious moves?" <br><br>Which is fitting since most of the picture's a location-hopping investigation into what foreshadows the series COBRA KAI by decades (and the movie it's based on by four years): a dangerous group of martial artists, deemed ninjas, are teaching people how to become lethal fighters, and in this case, outright terrorists...</p><p><span></span></p>

art hindle, carol bagdasarian, chuck norris, eighties, ernie hudson, karate, karen carlson, kim lankford, lee van cleef, tadashi yamashita

CHUCK NORRIS, ART HINDLE & LEE VAN CLEEF IN 'THE OCTAGON'

Title: THE OCTAGON Year: 1980 Rating: *** Over an hour into the 1980 Chuck Norris action vehicle THE OCTAGON, Spaghetti Western legend Lee V...

EUGÉNE LOURIÈ'S PRE-GODZILLA 'THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS'

<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/AVvXsEgOGACTJk9Jb0_uuImDEUb5hVbU3AIZ_tfDcCaYZowkOWV19_SwJ5MqZ0txSh5vqUvoni_CKeHOJe4DFzrF3HT4arE_UqjmxKUaGpRIPX7ksm5S_8iHdlTvfF-l8ml7yJUsjHngy7oRVWXIW46xCifnaNRIRPQEAkBwRcHf2uwYxohtvQOgfgzC5qjr9HCn/s1892/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-22%20at%2012.08.19%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1892" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGACTJk9Jb0_uuImDEUb5hVbU3AIZ_tfDcCaYZowkOWV19_SwJ5MqZ0txSh5vqUvoni_CKeHOJe4DFzrF3HT4arE_UqjmxKUaGpRIPX7ksm5S_8iHdlTvfF-l8ml7yJUsjHngy7oRVWXIW46xCifnaNRIRPQEAkBwRcHf2uwYxohtvQOgfgzC5qjr9HCn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-22%20at%2012.08.19%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1953 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Eugène Lourié's THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS was what actually inspired Japan's year-later GODZILLA... other than the legendary GOJIRA creature representing American nuclear bombs that destroyed their country (and lost them the war)... making the second radioactive-dinosaur-flick much deeper and far more coherent than this literally groundbreaking predecessor to all sizzling-lizard creature-features... <br><br>At one point, when scientific leads Paul Hubschmid and Paula Raymond wind up in KING KONG-inspired New York City after following the beast (resembling a T-Rex's walking-on-all-fours feisty pet) from the arctic underseas, it never feels like we actually struggled with them throughout any truly adventurous danger within a surprisingly bland monster movie that, other than Ray Harryhausen's terrific 11th hour stop-motion effects, feels like two disconnected stories that never quite meshes into one. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, creature feature, eugène lourié, fifties, horror, kenneth tobey, lee van cleef, monster, paula raymond, science-fiction

EUGÉNE LOURIÈ'S PRE-GODZILLA 'THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS'

Year: 1953 Rating: **1/2 Eugène Lourié's THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS was what actually inspired Japan's year-later GODZILLA... oth...

EDWARD G. ROBINSON BUSTS ADAM WILLIAMS IN 'VICE SQUAD'

<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/AVvXsEgiHNODP1TJ_WlYZlblH3SHNEM5W0MxyvyNOVYWxZH4zwR8OdxsahnkFYVOY3hvFA8eh36tooxBH3mHYjU8KVs_-09ynEEcLhjCeQk1AJ54vMd9dacGqSHw0impViM45PC03DlSSv_r2lfPxwiQtP8E8-WTt94GzPs3mRDpqb-VE6aA-Ym57Zl7_KzswSCW/s2054/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-10%20at%2012.51.43%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="2054" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHNODP1TJ_WlYZlblH3SHNEM5W0MxyvyNOVYWxZH4zwR8OdxsahnkFYVOY3hvFA8eh36tooxBH3mHYjU8KVs_-09ynEEcLhjCeQk1AJ54vMd9dacGqSHw0impViM45PC03DlSSv_r2lfPxwiQtP8E8-WTt94GzPs3mRDpqb-VE6aA-Ym57Zl7_KzswSCW/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-10%20at%2012.51.43%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Adam Williams and Edward G. Robinson in VICE SQUAD Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A year before Edward G. Robinson starred in a film noir basically playing his KEY LARGO character but as a prison escaping, kidnapping psychopath in BLACK TUESDAY, he was on the other side of the law... <br><br>As he'd done several times including DOUBLE INDEMNITY, and here as a police chief in VICE SQUAD that, despite the title, has little to do with busting prostitutes, mostly since the 1950's didn't have that kind of freedom... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

adam williams, barry kelley, cop, dan riss, edward binns, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jay adler, lee van cleef, mary ellen kay, paulette goddard, thriller

EDWARD G. ROBINSON BUSTS ADAM WILLIAMS IN 'VICE SQUAD'

Adam Williams and Edward G. Robinson in VICE SQUAD Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2 A year before Edward G. Robinson starred in a film noir basical...

CLINT EASTWOOD IN SERGIO LEONE'S 'FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE'

<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/AVvXsEihUd8QOdfu4Ftod1moKxmTrrg0f2N5E8GO3mQ36UuznKcaojaJLUp3GOIcsNVI5Zfj12kA7R4TMTCRObPfMLS3l8SIYkhdcVAuZveIvY36Xkfuum8ahnkV8uTomwDvsoSaWmGQv46qlfLvLxB5LpHy2OxItuCXpsjsK5AONVYB6IVbgzb8Hv3ShtoXdVGh/s1218/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-14%20at%202.30.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="1218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUd8QOdfu4Ftod1moKxmTrrg0f2N5E8GO3mQ36UuznKcaojaJLUp3GOIcsNVI5Zfj12kA7R4TMTCRObPfMLS3l8SIYkhdcVAuZveIvY36Xkfuum8ahnkV8uTomwDvsoSaWmGQv46qlfLvLxB5LpHy2OxItuCXpsjsK5AONVYB6IVbgzb8Hv3ShtoXdVGh/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-14%20at%202.30.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE Year: 1965 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Sergio Leone's <i>Man With No Name</i> or <i>Dollars Trilogy</i> was mainly interpreted as such from the second movie's sustaining title, A FEW DOLLARS MORE, sounding as if Clint Eastwood's Joe character were returning after FISTFUL OF DOLLARS... but he's named Monco here, a resilient bounty-killer with initially reluctant partner Lee Van Cleef as older, more experienced and slightly superior sharp-shooting Col. Douglas Mortimer... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>The best scenes take place in the small town buildup before the screen-time's stretched twenty-minutes too far in holed-up, sparsely rural locales, where at one point Eastwood watches Cleef mentally-squaring off with the violently villainous gang, as if he too were hearing Ennio Morricone's tension-building score... <br></p><span></span>

clint eastwood, ennio morricone, gian maria volontè, klaus kinski, lee van cleef, sergio leone, sixties, spaghetti western

CLINT EASTWOOD IN SERGIO LEONE'S 'FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE'

Clint Eastwood in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE Year: 1965 Rating: ****1/2 Sergio Leone's Man With No Name or Dollars Trilogy was mainly inte...

JIM BROWN AND JIM KELLY 'TAKE A HARD RIDE' FRED WILLIAMSON

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</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/AVvXsEjvfylsO-AMrVT4MdATJV9_nDjen2IQ1bKykCjc5mRkN6c13zPY9YCQco811-13tiLyq7NAFcfeKAfRVBBG_mRdCOqouKX_v3gZ686FHWLsYkuHXiKIL9LgBrTvwFVw0ch8SWxOhnWird7sL_QhUAh_8DKq9ni3jiSSMJ4FAaannBu60ZaSLLkMdcxAqg/s2206/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-26%20at%208.54.59%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1097" data-original-width="2206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfylsO-AMrVT4MdATJV9_nDjen2IQ1bKykCjc5mRkN6c13zPY9YCQco811-13tiLyq7NAFcfeKAfRVBBG_mRdCOqouKX_v3gZ686FHWLsYkuHXiKIL9LgBrTvwFVw0ch8SWxOhnWird7sL_QhUAh_8DKq9ni3jiSSMJ4FAaannBu60ZaSLLkMdcxAqg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-26%20at%208.54.59%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TAKE A HARD RIDE Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Expectations for a Blaxploitation-Western, being that Jim Brown and Fred
 Williamson play the hero and anti-hero, or a Spaghetti Western, since Lee Van Cleef 
is the bad guy, will be disappointed. While it does have some of the 
(very intentional) Spaghetti elements in style and music, and slick action sequences for 
Blaxploitation fans...<br>
<br>
TAKE A HARD RIDE is actually an old-fashioned cowboy flick 
involving honest man Jim Brown and dishonest gambler Fred Williamson, 
on a quest to deliver money (that Brown made with late boss Dana Andrews, veteran of said classic Westerns) to a small town with cunning and deadly bounty hunter Van 
Cleef on their trail...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

action, catherine spaak, dana andrews, fred williamson, jim brown, jim kelly, karate, lee van cleef, road movie, seventies, western

JIM BROWN AND JIM KELLY 'TAKE A HARD RIDE' FRED WILLIAMSON

Title: TAKE A HARD RIDE Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2 Expectations for a Blaxploitation-Western, being that Jim Brown and Fred Williamson play...

CORNEL WILDE, JEAN WALLACE & RICHARD CONTE 'THE BIG COMBO'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEgTpIgO3K_l-NKvyT5ZDDZpnpGOeuuvBozAAQRAGtwhhmOMUZhnK0A-nUV5VdLz4iHgN6mscddhJhdcCgL_3lxtGwrKfhw4Z7zwDUMYpy-WON5SFiY6Umcjqt167U2XndvD0XSDRylfhXAryZTm0gVAWwdbFOZ4cX-EKqQPdkL4rE2MEV6jUjrx0Yx6FbbQ/s2062/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-07%20at%2011.22.40%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="2062" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTpIgO3K_l-NKvyT5ZDDZpnpGOeuuvBozAAQRAGtwhhmOMUZhnK0A-nUV5VdLz4iHgN6mscddhJhdcCgL_3lxtGwrKfhw4Z7zwDUMYpy-WON5SFiY6Umcjqt167U2XndvD0XSDRylfhXAryZTm0gVAWwdbFOZ4cX-EKqQPdkL4rE2MEV6jUjrx0Yx6FbbQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-07%20at%2011.22.40%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Richard Conte & Cornel Wilde in THE BIG COMBO Year: 1955 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Given a dollar for every time Richard Conte's big time gangster says he makes more money than idealist cop Cornel Wilde, you'd be richer than Conte's Mr. Brown, a kingpin with an Achilles Heel shown right off the bat: his reluctant and guilt-ridden, suicidal moll, Jean Wallace, Who becomes more of a wishbone between Wilde and Conte, and it's a gritty, sleazy, jazz-soaked time reaching a conclusion that becomes more  unpredictable with another dame in the mix... </p><p></p><p></p><p></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 low-rent showgirl Helene Stanton has more femme fatale attitude despite being the cop's girl, "used like a glove when he's cold" and, with Wallace's Susan spitefully in love with her first love Conte, things get pretty chilly in this late Noir that, like many, recalls the sparse 1930's gangster style over the sinfully lavish programmers of the 40's...</p><span></span>

cop, cornel wilde, earl holliman, film noir or melodrama, helen walker, helene stanton, jazz score, jean wallace, lee van cleef, richard conte

CORNEL WILDE, JEAN WALLACE & RICHARD CONTE 'THE BIG COMBO'

Richard Conte & Cornel Wilde in THE BIG COMBO Year: 1955 Rates: **** Given a dollar for every time Richard Conte's big time gangster...

WARREN OATES WAITING OUT LEE VAN CLEEF FOR 'BARQUERO'

<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/AVvXsEgge5kRpbZCHBha5G3uoRjimqVvrg_TcN3w_OsufPIXgIIxXm2_rsfagq6h0l_fzpewtat_NumB_OPAfx8-UDSXqpa__ai_HxhA5lUbtxoNvKafbyKQHXZSasFIrdVsYh670Ku5dgbOYXf_/s2377/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-09-19%252Bat%252B11.52.55%252BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1074" data-original-width="2377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgge5kRpbZCHBha5G3uoRjimqVvrg_TcN3w_OsufPIXgIIxXm2_rsfagq6h0l_fzpewtat_NumB_OPAfx8-UDSXqpa__ai_HxhA5lUbtxoNvKafbyKQHXZSasFIrdVsYh670Ku5dgbOYXf_/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-09-19%252Bat%252B11.52.55%252BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warren Beatty plays bad to the bone for BARQUERO Year: 1970 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Of course you've heard of a Mexican Standoff, but BARQURO takes that concept of two sides waiting in deadly/suspenseful anticipation of who'll strike next to the next level, owning more than half of what begins an ultra-violent town-takeover-Western the likes of Sam Peckinpah's famous open from THE WILD BUNCH, and one of that bunch is down-and-dirty villain Warren Oates as Remy... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Like many American-made Westerns from the 1970's... albeit this one heavily borrowing music, main star and style from the Italian Spaghetti format... the bad guys are more like gritty, disgusting, marauding bikers from the previous decade's exploitation drive-in flicks... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, exploitation, forrest tucker, gordon douglas, john davis chandler, kerwin matthews, lee van cleef, warren oates, western

WARREN OATES WAITING OUT LEE VAN CLEEF FOR 'BARQUERO'

Warren Beatty plays bad to the bone for BARQUERO Year: 1970 Rating: **1/2 Of course you've heard of a Mexican Standoff, but BARQURO take...

WAR NOIR IMPRESSION OF MARLON BRANDO IN 'THE YOUNG LIONS'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHNCcQIfljdRpaddGOk6FS62VWwHIBt8DYd_6HnC4LnMMKNyfOyrX0rVP-REqnx0QYi-4EZCzOEA0AAWCJGiw305AjYrXiv_2DyujZxQ_GJdaGviB16PqgaNu_zwRiZI9EschOT9wGGCw/s1600/The_Young_Lions-623942047-large.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHNCcQIfljdRpaddGOk6FS62VWwHIBt8DYd_6HnC4LnMMKNyfOyrX0rVP-REqnx0QYi-4EZCzOEA0AAWCJGiw305AjYrXiv_2DyujZxQ_GJdaGviB16PqgaNu_zwRiZI9EschOT9wGGCw/s400/The_Young_Lions-623942047-large.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Brando and Britt in The Young Lions from 1958</u><br />
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</tbody></table>
Director Edward Dmytryk's War Noir, THE YOUNG LIONS, based on a novel by Irwin Shaw, stars Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin as two polar opposite American soldiers, Jewish everyman Noah Ackerman and entertainer Michael Whitacre.<br />
<br />
One is brooding and bullied, the other aloof, smooth, reluctant and cool... Take a guess who's who. And on the flip-side of the coin are two Germans: One isn't bullied at all but very brooding, charming, handsome, and deadly when he has to be while the other is a full-blown Nazi, bringing to the table all that that name brings...<br />
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Marlon Brando and Maximilian Schell as German officers Lt. Christian Diestl and Capt. Hardenberg, contrary in that one fights because he has to while the other is having a glorious time in battle. Brando, as usual, is great to watch as he, using a brilliant, unique form of Broken English playing a German, wields his usual non-deliberate chops that don't seem like a performance, and unlike his roles in early Kazan features, Schell is pretty much caught up with his partner's style, almost equal in non-performance, only one has a much better role to play... Meanwhile, in America, the best scenes occur as Clift and Martin survive boot camp, but not under a screaming drill Sarge like in most war flicks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV1ZJAr9ExKst5QL0gH3fOilXEosWiE8gHlAeJsIIkEr6FHXbDsr331Uml5K-MnyXomlDMwAYUtw9fecpZzCeCDTH_p_uMQemSS4DsQTPTi9O4cpKqhgK8VraKdhjZJ2oYpuF6D4ohN-LS/s1600/the-young-lions-italian-movie-poster.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="474" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV1ZJAr9ExKst5QL0gH3fOilXEosWiE8gHlAeJsIIkEr6FHXbDsr331Uml5K-MnyXomlDMwAYUtw9fecpZzCeCDTH_p_uMQemSS4DsQTPTi9O4cpKqhgK8VraKdhjZJ2oYpuF6D4ohN-LS/s400/the-young-lions-italian-movie-poster.jpeg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Movie Score: ****</u></td></tr>
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It's the fellow officers who make Clift's Jewish Ackerman's life a living hell, and one of them is Lee Van Cleef, whose hawklike eyes would hypnotize the next decade's Sergio Leone Italian "Spaghetti Westerns". And while Clift fights to be able to eventually... fight, Dean Martin's Whitacre, about to get his wish to return to New York as an entertainer, not a soldier, lets his weak, skinny yet completely fearless friend take care of things himself...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJG9tiYC-7mzTE5pn4rWnCXcfghaT4Llnex5DBcsvEkNUX_FAdHe7cBA_QOYGbuo706xrkuZmOEMt5qzoa6-DQ50Lgf0mExdCaZkYEEyPTNcVOY1eagNypsBl5wVjLO_RGY4yh_uSxfhZN/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-06-07+at+2.53.41+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="1064" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJG9tiYC-7mzTE5pn4rWnCXcfghaT4Llnex5DBcsvEkNUX_FAdHe7cBA_QOYGbuo706xrkuZmOEMt5qzoa6-DQ50Lgf0mExdCaZkYEEyPTNcVOY1eagNypsBl5wVjLO_RGY4yh_uSxfhZN/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-06-07+at+2.53.41+AM.jpeg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marlon Brando in The Young Lions</u></td></tr>
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As "Monty" does in wonderful scenes that, concerning both men, literally stride hand-in-hand with girlfriends that don't distract from the masculine mainline...<br />
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And while Hope Lange, pretty and vulnerable, belonging to Clift but with a reluctant, old-fashioned father (a miscast Vaughn Taylor straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting), does an okay job as the girl next door (only much prettier), it's May Britt who steals the show as the German femme fatale of sorts, flirting with Brando's Diestl even though she's his vicious Captain's girl. Brando and Britt's scenes, based only on lust, are far more entertaining and realistic than Monty and Hope's far too rushed courtship to marriage.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2hZ5Jjkqqp6TbPEbwiYVmDsTI99oQtAtt0CdsZNCPrU2llaSqNKSxstpiHou2vZBfYdcH90ST_0ObXm8qfQQBkW09PunaXN7eaCQ9MsprcxeO_JFvDKeuUNPwP6sWtty0c5oB1Q0lEes/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-05-13+at+5.53.56+AM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2hZ5Jjkqqp6TbPEbwiYVmDsTI99oQtAtt0CdsZNCPrU2llaSqNKSxstpiHou2vZBfYdcH90ST_0ObXm8qfQQBkW09PunaXN7eaCQ9MsprcxeO_JFvDKeuUNPwP6sWtty0c5oB1Q0lEes/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-05-13+at+5.53.56+AM.png" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marlon Brando</u></td></tr>
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Last but not least, Barbara Rush, the main connection to German and America, having been almost romanced by Brando before the war and the singer girlfriend of Martin, is the most important actress aboard this three man's show.<br />
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The always-intense Schell hardly plays the villainous role with delicious savor meant to be abhorred to a post-war audience... Instead, he's simply an extremely severe man with a rigid cause as THE YOUNG LIONS follows these four (but eventually, and rather quickly, only three) men like WAR AND PEACE...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marlon Brando</u></td></tr>
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Where scenes take place in their own idyllic city and suburban America to a ghostly, occupied France to the aforementioned boot camp to bloody battles in Africa, each filmed like a meticulous chess match, and a particularly drawn-out death sequence left an impression on one of the greatest actors of the 1970's, big and cool "tough black dude" Yaphet Kotto, who, when asked about working with musician urned actor Isaac Hayes in the blaxploitation classic <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/05/yaphet-kotto-110th-truck-turner.html">TRUCK TURNER</a>, wrote:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Brando as German</u></td></tr>
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"We got along great. He watched me do the death scene and that’s all he talked about afterwards: 'Man, you all see the way my man Yaphet did his death scene!' I can’t take too much credit for that scene, I had seen it in THE YOUNG LIONS with MARLON BRANDO and that gave me a skeleton to work from." Which is no surprise, for Brando was, and still is, the "skeleton" hanging within a timeless actor (and actress) workshop classroom; and if you take note at some of the expressions on the leading men today, his immortal impression remains: And in LIONS it's no surprise he steals the show, a more realistic turn than Clift, who, despite a great performance, looks a bit too old for the role of an awkward virgin...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Young Lions Poster Cinemascope</u></td></tr>
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And his "Hope full" love scenes with Lange, though genuinely heartfelt, feel a bit dated and staged unlike Brando's hopeless conversation with a tough, bitter (with damn good reason!) French Girl. Her "hath no fury" practically equals Brando's curtain-closing, hellish death scene that does, in fact, take its time, sad and slow, a downhill climb that's difficult to watch...<br />
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And being a German who we're feeling for is proof of the Noir template: a sympathetic man whose heart is in the wrong place yet still trying to do his best in his own way, and, judging by several askew glances by the mere mention of the name, he's not a fan of Adolf Hitler...<br />
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Marlon's character, like Dean Martin's in New York but for only for three months of the year, was basically that of a lazy Playboy. War gets in the way of pretty much everything! But even the worst wars end while the impression of an actor is timeless.<i> "</i>I went in and sat down and saw ON THE WATERFRONT," Yaphet Kotto stated. "I was so blown 
away after that day – it was Brando’s performance that made me leave the
 streets to become an actor!"<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marlon Brando in THE YOUNG LIONS </u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Maximilian Schell and Marlon Brando posing for a shot within a shot within THE YOUNG LIONS Year: 1958</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>German Marlon Brando takes aim against the French Resistance in THE YOUNG LIONS</u></td></tr>
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