cult film freak: martin balsam

Showing posts with label martin balsam. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 3/26/2022 / No comments / al ruscio , biopic , fifties , gangster , james gregory , jazz score , martin balsam , mobster , nehemiah persoff , neo noir , rod steiger , sally todd , warner archives

ROD STEIGER STARRING AS 'AL CAPONE' FEATURING FAY SPAIN

<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/AVvXsEiSUHQ-ROHfRSEMHYItdbj0IegmSYi-0HXz4JeTkUH_RhXgQsTdwsy4By_CNReGATLzrJ5hrCLmldIgs7wEk6k7WUZMkrfyLHOUyk0pSHX-HiffInZPzKsEWB2zS3D-wpmpNxfr97UpzK3xaVJqZepHgK_BcLawLmCtv5XY1BC1Aw1714ebJNING_PYfA/s399/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-24%20at%208.21.40%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="399" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUHQ-ROHfRSEMHYItdbj0IegmSYi-0HXz4JeTkUH_RhXgQsTdwsy4By_CNReGATLzrJ5hrCLmldIgs7wEk6k7WUZMkrfyLHOUyk0pSHX-HiffInZPzKsEWB2zS3D-wpmpNxfr97UpzK3xaVJqZepHgK_BcLawLmCtv5XY1BC1Aw1714ebJNING_PYfA/w400-h261/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-24%20at%208.21.40%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>AL CAPONE Year of Release: 1959</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Like Jack Nicholson (intentionally or otherwise) displayed a little of pal <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/11/the-shining.html">Bruce Dern in THE SHINING</a>, perhaps Marlon Brando was influenced by his ON THE WATERFRONT brother in THE GODFATHER since Rod Steiger had played AL CAPONE with facial contortions that seem so natural that, if done by a lesser talent, would look contrived and pretentiously overboard...<br>
<br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfuL1aSiO_Lks15ZNCdXaPtnWM3Hxssi0o0y_fyh-t0ShqhF-4_05wRfmy9hNfzO_KWKAq5uOuBMztI4sTFtoDF33MIxCwbO-pL8sdcJ9A7sctyY-0H5qy5FdVjgB2iq2EEoiukG93Ykq/s1600/77.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="551" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfuL1aSiO_Lks15ZNCdXaPtnWM3Hxssi0o0y_fyh-t0ShqhF-4_05wRfmy9hNfzO_KWKAq5uOuBMztI4sTFtoDF33MIxCwbO-pL8sdcJ9A7sctyY-0H5qy5FdVjgB2iq2EEoiukG93Ykq/s320/77.jpg" width="182"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Capone Scores **** Bulletholes</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In fact, this biopic is so subtle he seems more a blue collar ruffian than outright gangster: A sort of throwback to the olden days of Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson, Steiger's performance brings the mafia henchman turned head honcho through sparse narration by James Gregory as a trailing cop...<br>
<br>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<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/AVvXsEhb7acn5aWhszJx1JZyxdcrpM-PgS4DCdN42NtfearJ1p9A0esb2ht4u9iAiy0TweHSeT6L2FS4TKvWJiOQbqlgOac0Qkm0pmka_MCkz4iMnMUNXJwLiTuYPokx9r-pkSiFSv4XaYAq8iOU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-11-21+at+4.54.34+AM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="586" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7acn5aWhszJx1JZyxdcrpM-PgS4DCdN42NtfearJ1p9A0esb2ht4u9iAiy0TweHSeT6L2FS4TKvWJiOQbqlgOac0Qkm0pmka_MCkz4iMnMUNXJwLiTuYPokx9r-pkSiFSv4XaYAq8iOU/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-11-21+at+4.54.34+AM.jpeg" width="273"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archive Blue Cover</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Although there's no suspense that he might be kept from doing what he does best: killing to climb the ladder with a string of creative <i>whacks</i>, and yet the most improbable con is landing the wife of one of his otherwise incidental hits: And in that, Fay Spain, who'd be Hyman Roth's walk-on yet memorable wife in THE GODFATHER 2, is beyond a common love interest since it <i>is extremely</i> interesting how he seduces this beautiful mother and widow with the same determination that he takes on surrounding, paranoid and lethal enemies during the superior first half while the second deals mainly with his waning popularity leading to a rushed exile in Miami...<br>
<br>
But no matter where and how the film rides out, and along with crooked reporter Martin Balsam who verbally toys with Capone as if he were the moll instead of Fay, it's Steiger's his job alone to make an otherwise pretty-good feature pretty damn fantastic to watch, and keep rewatching again and again. You'll always see something different in his reactions to the spontaneously violent actions: He steals both the movie <i>and the story </i>that it's all loosely based upon. Forget the overrated Robert DeNiro UNTOUCHABLES Capone. It's Steiger's that can't be touched. <br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42djV8O1R2DnnO0QVje370RFfb6MQ_o5z31Dz_dNDDtiFknzOoayrVMI87yXueSvasiBbu7iW8qj0Vkrx1uwwg554wdH_SeZEteUVqSDaJGMrs8oTkx3Q6jItu0-gu2HrSuGkmkbPPGcU/s1600/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42djV8O1R2DnnO0QVje370RFfb6MQ_o5z31Dz_dNDDtiFknzOoayrVMI87yXueSvasiBbu7iW8qj0Vkrx1uwwg554wdH_SeZEteUVqSDaJGMrs8oTkx3Q6jItu0-gu2HrSuGkmkbPPGcU/s1600/1.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Photos Screen Captures of the Warner Bros Neo Classic Gangster Rod Steiger starring AL CAPONE</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbWxx0QGaUmLpZcZu6ym5JOOCjVJyAv9q366_SftIUn1mmXnTYvN-JGJVs3A4fNSwtuASCT-yaMtBiMERK0GOpyD1o4tQ3e3SzxdKXhVhmosLKtJLr5CVVW5-uv9Nv9Url3NuaR1XS6s72/s1600/39799746_557813174647863_3919669737960767488_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="933" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbWxx0QGaUmLpZcZu6ym5JOOCjVJyAv9q366_SftIUn1mmXnTYvN-JGJVs3A4fNSwtuASCT-yaMtBiMERK0GOpyD1o4tQ3e3SzxdKXhVhmosLKtJLr5CVVW5-uv9Nv9Url3NuaR1XS6s72/s1600/39799746_557813174647863_3919669737960767488_n.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Murvyn Vye as Bugs Moran and company give quite a blasting to Al Capone</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>

al ruscio, biopic, fifties, gangster, james gregory, jazz score, martin balsam, mobster, nehemiah persoff, neo noir, rod steiger, sally todd, warner archives

ROD STEIGER STARRING AS 'AL CAPONE' FEATURING FAY SPAIN

AL CAPONE Year of Release: 1959 Like Jack Nicholson (intentionally or otherwise) displayed a little of pal Bruce Dern in THE SHINING , perh...

DIRECTOR SIDNEY LUMET'S 'MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2WzOmNDyK-f8MUHa5bc97Ay84EkFKQl84_BdS47IxjPMK5LVc-GIvB4ccsvrWjZEQMLylD6VHOhHfXx0u1buQkhY66UXLLgyD6YHmf-MleW_DGbaOS9E2xMz_9VJ4h-kcoaWCDY5aKML1ZxFORwVCbkNTavrwB9saSoasxM0SpM5fLZYj9PkVFHfQHA=s1814" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1814" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2WzOmNDyK-f8MUHa5bc97Ay84EkFKQl84_BdS47IxjPMK5LVc-GIvB4ccsvrWjZEQMLylD6VHOhHfXx0u1buQkhY66UXLLgyD6YHmf-MleW_DGbaOS9E2xMz_9VJ4h-kcoaWCDY5aKML1ZxFORwVCbkNTavrwB9saSoasxM0SpM5fLZYj9PkVFHfQHA=w400-h224" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Murder on the Orient Express Year: 1974 Rating: *1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Finishing up reviews of the EMI-backed British productions of <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/agatha%20christie">Agatha Christie adaptations</a> is the first, and somehow most popular, in Sidney Lumet's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS starring the otherwise splendid actor Albert Finney... </p><p>Who, as quirky/offbeat Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, looks as if Charlie Chaplin gained weight after eating pies thrown on a stiff face caked with so much distracting makeup he's hardly able to speak... and with a horribly fake-sounding accent...<br></p><p></p><p>Meanwhile the 1970's all-star-cast.. ranging from murdered enigmatic "businessman" Richard Widmark with humble aid Anthony Perkins, two veteran actresses Lauren Bacall and Ingrid Bergman, token muscular-handsome fella Sean Connery paired with beautiful young Jacqueline Bissett and Poirot's right-hand-man Martin Balsam... merely fill space within an otherwise stylishly antique setting but the plot, like the titular train, is all dressed up with nowhere to go, slowly. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

agatha christie, albert finney, anthony perkins, british, ensemble, ingrid bergman, jacqueline bisset, lauren bacall, martin balsam, mystery, sean connery, train

DIRECTOR SIDNEY LUMET'S 'MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS'

Title: Murder on the Orient Express Year: 1974 Rating: *1/2 Finishing up reviews of the EMI-backed British productions of Agatha Christie ad...

MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH 3'

<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/AVvXsEigKVEZuPJMiWlWUgAeQo4bblR0XcSUNQdYYVOwh-SzHaJaRbr5gilD5CEIZMEh7P2OLlPRzzKCzCt2RXQEnAcsmnfvgSstbqBqV49SSglkBL3tpXsoC82cZ04Fxv_GVYBSDMdvCeFBDXj4c98eZ0bR1dECmwYshtYm8sDMNTinpUiE4cTEbCsnwSoKCQMr/s1808/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-29%20at%202.43.35%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1808" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKVEZuPJMiWlWUgAeQo4bblR0XcSUNQdYYVOwh-SzHaJaRbr5gilD5CEIZMEh7P2OLlPRzzKCzCt2RXQEnAcsmnfvgSstbqBqV49SSglkBL3tpXsoC82cZ04Fxv_GVYBSDMdvCeFBDXj4c98eZ0bR1dECmwYshtYm8sDMNTinpUiE4cTEbCsnwSoKCQMr/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-29%20at%202.43.35%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH 3Year: 1985 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the third DEATH WISH, a gray-haired Charles Bronson was showing his 
age. Although compared to a group of helpless elderly residents of an 
apartment building in the middle of a contained, highly dangerous urban 
neighborhood ruled by a vicious gang, he seems much younger. Plus, the 
iconic action star can still get around...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The villain is named Fraker, played by the actor who was the first basketball-bouncing Chuck Cunningham, enigmatic/pointless older brother of Ron Howard’s Richie on  HAPPY DAYS... <br></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/AVvXsEgjN6mJiHo64jFY3fAZquvZ0eF9gsNLgWJUPiIn70JvrmfkoYS5vYjLC-1k86IzpARr2dzP5fD3m2cfnQbMKtmD6dnWrY1y2OHsbsMw5omLJ2r6w7qR6qvlXprD9Ofr_-zu-vfUpWefKNPo/s1777/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.02%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1006" data-original-width="1777" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjN6mJiHo64jFY3fAZquvZ0eF9gsNLgWJUPiIn70JvrmfkoYS5vYjLC-1k86IzpARr2dzP5fD3m2cfnQbMKtmD6dnWrY1y2OHsbsMw5omLJ2r6w7qR6qvlXprD9Ofr_-zu-vfUpWefKNPo/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.02%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gavan O'Herlihy as Fraker in DEATH WISH III</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Enter Gavan O'Herlihy, with a reverse Mohawk and a red stripe running
 down the middle of his shaved head, makes for an unlikely leader, 
especially one consisting of every race: from black to Hispanic to white...</p><p></p><p>But Fraker does have an effectively nasty glare that fits within the punk rock aura, displayed amongst the lot of sordid villains liken to a 
bunch of schoolyard goons with weapons: sneaking into old people’s 
apartments, stealing purses and wreaking general havoc, like brats with
 too much free time... </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/AVvXsEikuSLz5iZsnILKPtIoBFWBeM4Ii0-7leqkhBnDII-VmE_U97JKybpptGFPublsZwGIB22KdKG4IXPods0MHqgzvUG_Zs7UuU_cmjOER_EzYizmSHau-RbUhosE_aShMwCbPnx24FoHMtjw/s1865/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.36%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1171" data-original-width="1865" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikuSLz5iZsnILKPtIoBFWBeM4Ii0-7leqkhBnDII-VmE_U97JKybpptGFPublsZwGIB22KdKG4IXPods0MHqgzvUG_Zs7UuU_cmjOER_EzYizmSHau-RbUhosE_aShMwCbPnx24FoHMtjw/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.36%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Deborah Raffin in DEATH WISH 3</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It’s Charles Bronson’s architect Paul Kersey... back 
in the grungy Neo Western New York City where everything began... who will send them into permanent 
detention...</p><p></p><p></p><p>A peripheral romance between Kersey and Deborah Raffin is useless 
filler, but Ed Lauter as a cut-corner and effective police captain, and 
Martin Balsam as the tenants’ weapon-stockpiling spokesman, serves as 
worthy side-characters, helping move the story and all the gratuitous 
cat-and-mouse action...<br>
</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/AVvXsEjJj1e0lrl6AcZGDlL0Hq0-T13WUVBGzoWp3CPmEhFO_D2erHCCTidWbHG2WlroBRRd33wteA2khOTBCWB08w4zLmv898kcjuQg-ZpJMxlH3Aj5O6AtrPsGvcpHOZuP4n95meqT081-RgEA/s1738/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.23%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1738" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJj1e0lrl6AcZGDlL0Hq0-T13WUVBGzoWp3CPmEhFO_D2erHCCTidWbHG2WlroBRRd33wteA2khOTBCWB08w4zLmv898kcjuQg-ZpJMxlH3Aj5O6AtrPsGvcpHOZuP4n95meqT081-RgEA/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.23%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH 3</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The music, although given credit to Jimmy Page, who provided the 
ominously spooky guitar/synthesizer score of the second film, is actually 
completed by another composer, throwing in Page’s previous work with his
 own variations, making the soundtrack more conventional and less 
intriguing, foreboding... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>And Michael Winner directs his last of three (out of five) 
DEATH WISH films, the camerawork full of the usual creative zoom shots 
in an exploitation manner, giving this mid-80’s venture a desperate and 
edgy early 70’s style throughout.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, alex winter, charles bronson, death wish, ed lauter, eighties, exploitation, franchise, gavan o'herlihy, jimmy page, martin balsam, michael winner, revenge, sequel

MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH 3'

Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH 3Year: 1985 Rating: **** By the third DEATH WISH, a gray-haired Charles Bronson was showing his age. Although...

DECEMBER 7TH POST OF RICHARD FLEISCHER'S 'TORA! TORA! TORA!'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_i82NaEgwyNa6-o1iZqtF0K9HNcJypDbgsX-PEXs4Zrm73IPsRps3UFdLLlYxoKUc2wNk3mR9Y2jBmPTkjPNcSF5jtAqS9Wxtp1NKZQyzHSGVPPo_jjYLl5tp3kMM4pwHH497uAisERF/s1031/Screen+Shot+2020-12-07+at+12.06.41+AM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1031" data-original-width="885" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_i82NaEgwyNa6-o1iZqtF0K9HNcJypDbgsX-PEXs4Zrm73IPsRps3UFdLLlYxoKUc2wNk3mR9Y2jBmPTkjPNcSF5jtAqS9Wxtp1NKZQyzHSGVPPo_jjYLl5tp3kMM4pwHH497uAisERF/w344-h400/Screen+Shot+2020-12-07+at+12.06.41+AM.jpeg" width="344"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Tora! Tora! Tora! Year: 1970 Rating: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>American director/producer Richard Fleischer mans only half of TORA! TORA! TORA! centering before and during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, leaving the rest to the equal perspective of Japanese military leaders by Japanese filmmakers Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda, a device you wouldn't get about the German Leaders' side of World War II... </p><p></p><p>But what aspects really work made the movie fail at the box office: No big stars to outshine the subject matter along with rapid-fire subtitles, a non-dramatic, documentary realism and the true <i>main characters</i> are E.G. Marshall and Wesley Addy playing two Washington D.C. insiders using an early "fax machine" that provides enigmatic yet foreboding information, inserting a little espionage into the war genre... <br></p><p>While on the other side of the Pacific, Sô Yamamura plays Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto with far more empathy and prowess than Navy flakes Jason Robards and Martin Balsam as Generals Short and Kimmel: One demanding/commanding an extremely unwise location for all "parked" aircraft, the other ready for a cozy round of golf (exactly 79-years from today) on the fateful early morning of December 7th, 1941...</p><p>Taking up the action-packed third act with explosive widescreen glory mixed with cold and calculating reality like actually being there, though mostly as an<i> </i>impartial observer since there aren't any cliché movie-soldiers (like some naïve freckle-faced kid with a "girl back home" or the cynical cigar-chomping maverick he'd look up to): Unlike most other films on this subject, TORA! TORA! TORA! is about historical accuracy, not fictional history... <i>take that </i>Michael Bay!</p><p><span></span></p>

carl reindel, e.g. marshall, espionage, history, japanese, jason robards, martin balsam, richard fleischer, seventies, war, wesley addy, world war II

DECEMBER 7TH POST OF RICHARD FLEISCHER'S 'TORA! TORA! TORA!'

Title: Tora! Tora! Tora! Year: 1970 Rating: **** American director/producer Richard Fleischer mans only half of TORA! TORA! TORA! centering ...

12 ANGRY MEN

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbATqiupmItgy4kpXMbB8wM6djPpj3kKYJGvg818b_W__xHgnIrcpvFBvBt1g9xlr4xJL15XMcCQBKQZK-4n6ybBSnHD6btMiZrfY05v-r4mv4NCepSOHJTnEjNmnKlYzFpzjhW82LVIY/s1600/460059.1020.A.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615948346307079922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbATqiupmItgy4kpXMbB8wM6djPpj3kKYJGvg818b_W__xHgnIrcpvFBvBt1g9xlr4xJL15XMcCQBKQZK-4n6ybBSnHD6btMiZrfY05v-r4mv4NCepSOHJTnEjNmnKlYzFpzjhW82LVIY/s200/460059.1020.A.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 123px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title:</span> 12 ANGRY MEN<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">year:</span> 1957<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> ***1/2<br />
<br />
Set in a hot, stuffy deliberations room full of not only angry but stubborn and impatient jurors, Henry Fonda alone makes up for what had to be the worst defense in the history of murder cases. This honored film, a courtroom drama taking place outside the courtroom, has Fonda as a mild-mannered architect acting as if a defense attorney, proving that a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father, in a supposedly open-shut case, is not guilty by means of reasonable doubt. The fellow jurors he must convince, including a barking, bitter Lee J. Cobb, a stiff and determined E.G. Marshall, and Jack Warden as a salesman who'd rather see a ball game, aren’t backing down…but more open-minded jurors like Jack Klugman help him gain more and more support. While the writing can be manipulative, intentionally swaying the audience right along with the jury, the direction, within the confined setting, gives each member a chance to shine. Yet the acting, performed by a stellar cast with some terrific moments, often feels stagy: especially Lee J. Cobb’s over-the-top breakdown. But it’s Fonda’s show here, remaining the constant barometer in an ever-changing tide.

courtroom drama, ensemble, fifties, henry fonda, jack klugman, lee j. cobb, martin balsam