JUDD NELSON IN THE BRAT PACK MELODRAMA 'ST. ELMO'S FIRE'

<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;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5nN79QoycBGnUFvwjkqwRPDRl-bZ6N_C7Y5v8_iQUadkTzgmI9xpz_OSrAjSVKl0GS6u9S-6XNBccL-X9juDjzxX69CrGXjz-w5ZIQFiZjVOpcnxOuY9BIrd8m2k7E6u5yBgtgghEiOTKa9s8RdZp9-ehZyN42EnxX4AtbCgMM9DgsKBCeQ1BEnuMA7PB/s1644/Screen%20Shot%202026-08-31%20at%2012.06.42%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="1644" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5nN79QoycBGnUFvwjkqwRPDRl-bZ6N_C7Y5v8_iQUadkTzgmI9xpz_OSrAjSVKl0GS6u9S-6XNBccL-X9juDjzxX69CrGXjz-w5ZIQFiZjVOpcnxOuY9BIrd8m2k7E6u5yBgtgghEiOTKa9s8RdZp9-ehZyN42EnxX4AtbCgMM9DgsKBCeQ1BEnuMA7PB/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-08-31%20at%2012.06.42%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1985 Rating; ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A group of college graduates, a few months after leaving the cozy nest of dorm life, wind up on their own in the big city yet still have each other to depend on<span style="font-family: inherit;">... </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thus in 1985, when the so-called “Brat Pack” was in full form, ST. ELMO’S FIRE was the navel-gazing follow-up to THE BREAKFAST CLUB just as CLUB has graduated past SIXTEEN CANDLES (only this has nothing to do with John Hughes, amazingly enough)...</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span></span></span></p></div>

ally sheedy, andie macdowell, andrew mccarthy, brat pack, eighties, emilio estevez, joel schumaker, judd nelson, mare winningham, melodrama, romance

JUDD NELSON IN THE BRAT PACK MELODRAMA 'ST. ELMO'S FIRE'

Year: 1985 Rating; ***1/2 A group of college graduates, a few months after leaving the cozy nest of dorm life, wind up on their own in the...

ANNE FRANCIS AND ANNE JACKSON BREAKOUT IN 'SO YOUNG, SO BAD'

<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/AVvXsEjL0_bq7yAzh9XW39mI3TT3RwQXAHNjPHRsiD8VDIENfVCM0Ju3XwmESY4IV5sJnl8tEXCoIKYOu5G4R66AYxC1ArJvjQFdqXR-XtM0djdAC_bDIGG-08_XUXo8Iv12zBVnWkBbtQICSyV5lbxS_Rf6915pt5tw6DBt2XOs88jWWOj1ZXZKSbKTJMeITRi3/s2086/Screen%20Shot%202025-12-27%20at%2010.27.38%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="2086" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL0_bq7yAzh9XW39mI3TT3RwQXAHNjPHRsiD8VDIENfVCM0Ju3XwmESY4IV5sJnl8tEXCoIKYOu5G4R66AYxC1ArJvjQFdqXR-XtM0djdAC_bDIGG-08_XUXo8Iv12zBVnWkBbtQICSyV5lbxS_Rf6915pt5tw6DBt2XOs88jWWOj1ZXZKSbKTJMeITRi3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-12-27%20at%2010.27.38%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Anne Francis in SO YOUNG, SO BAD Year: 1950 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A decade after CASABLANCA, nice guy Paul Henreid was still somewhat of a box office draw, or at least a recognizable name... and he took a risk to work for a low-budget production company that, yet another decade past, made the British teenage-girl-reform-school vehicle <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/10/evilyoung.html">SO EVIL, SO YOUNG</a>, basically a remake of the American SO YOUNG, SO BAD that's far superior, particularly since Henreid's psychologist character is pushed up front...</p><p><br>In most teen-prison programmers, the friendly shrink contrasting to the abusive warden/guards is peripheral: as most of the action takes place with the girls and their captors... which still happens here, but since the motivating plight's in check with Henreid (alongside pretty/uptight social-worker Catherine McLeod), there are less soapy elements and more character-driven suspense relying on how to stop the in-house tyranny... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

anne francis, anne jackson, catherine mcleod, enid rudd, exploitation, fifties, lesbian, melodrama, mike kellin, paul henreid, rita moreno, women in prison

ANNE FRANCIS AND ANNE JACKSON BREAKOUT IN 'SO YOUNG, SO BAD'

Anne Francis in SO YOUNG, SO BAD Year: 1950 Rating: **** A decade after CASABLANCA, nice guy Paul Henreid was still somewhat of a box office...

CHRISTINA GREGG RIDING ROGER CORMAN'S 'THE YOUNG RACERS'

<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/AVvXsEhskYDTYU1LHatBfFbs_yFBBsY-IEHHQhptfDyj1eA_jN8IcOSPut72ukEUH1zim2_68l0xhMGdOXg6HogTN-JRrwVIz9-qOUVLbwy9fHWLR9SLKIMBxB4JC4vcskqXIfj5Iq7MabW6inoHo-k8JiksjwVSVPWaREp_2MzGNAwCIRfspzwXvU5vhL-KjZ2E/s1612/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-13%20at%2011.04.54%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="1612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskYDTYU1LHatBfFbs_yFBBsY-IEHHQhptfDyj1eA_jN8IcOSPut72ukEUH1zim2_68l0xhMGdOXg6HogTN-JRrwVIz9-qOUVLbwy9fHWLR9SLKIMBxB4JC4vcskqXIfj5Iq7MabW6inoHo-k8JiksjwVSVPWaREp_2MzGNAwCIRfspzwXvU5vhL-KjZ2E/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-13%20at%2011.04.54%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Gregg with Mark Damon in THE YOUNG RACERS Year: 1963 Rates: ** </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There are bad b-movies that are still entertaining, and then there are those that simply don't work — as is the case of Roger Corman's THE YOUNG RACERS,<i> that does use</i> genuine European Monte Carlo Grand Prix racing locations that don't resemble stock footage thrown into the melodramatic romance sequences, which this has far too much of...</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>Howard Hawks fared much better (though not financially) with what this picture seems a precursor of, RED LINE 7000, following womanizing racers and their female conquests, some stronger than others, in particular Luana Anders as the central ingenue, stuck between THE YOUNG RACERS... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, christina gregg, exploitation, luana anders, marie versini, mark damon, melodrama, race car, roger corman, romance, sixties, sport, william campbell, william shatner

CHRISTINA GREGG RIDING ROGER CORMAN'S 'THE YOUNG RACERS'

Christina Gregg with Mark Damon in THE YOUNG RACERS Year: 1963 Rates: ** There are bad b-movies that are still entertaining, and then there ...

RICHARD CONTE DRIVES HAMMER'S RACE VEHICLE 'MASK OF DUST'

<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/AVvXsEhmko6Wix_HzMS8Atgk6U2frqkZ6RbG87g8rc-1kvaijBMlGSgkY2YIYPfnvGB9EWXGfSPi6x57U1elC4gprihy5TQNIXX2yPeNuVEJ2pNbvpXLXX8N532A5zUYToCrKWVPHvpUrQ_vCtv4DBUBb94YOsyj7eNghldsXAMM4UqRNQE5R69WXA3SkXxKgxRl/s2312/Screen%20Shot%202025-05-16%20at%204.55.03%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1476" data-original-width="2312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmko6Wix_HzMS8Atgk6U2frqkZ6RbG87g8rc-1kvaijBMlGSgkY2YIYPfnvGB9EWXGfSPi6x57U1elC4gprihy5TQNIXX2yPeNuVEJ2pNbvpXLXX8N532A5zUYToCrKWVPHvpUrQ_vCtv4DBUBb94YOsyj7eNghldsXAMM4UqRNQE5R69WXA3SkXxKgxRl/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-05-16%20at%204.55.03%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MASK OF DUST Year: 1954 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the greatest titles for a race car movie, Terence Fisher's pre-horror Hammer MASK OF DUST settled stateside for the blandly retooled RACE FOR LIFE, and yet, neither really fit the actual movie...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Starring American crime-genre actor Richard Conte, perhaps <i>Interior Conversations of Exterior Driving</i> would fare better to what's a stagey melodrama with real and/or rear-projected racing shots where Grand Prix drivers fight to survive...</p><p><span></span></p>

british, fifties, george coulouris, hammer films, james copeland, mari aldon, melodrama, race car, terence fisher

RICHARD CONTE DRIVES HAMMER'S RACE VEHICLE 'MASK OF DUST'

Title: MASK OF DUST Year: 1954 Rating: ** One of the greatest titles for a race car movie, Terence Fisher's pre-horror Hammer MASK OF DU...

LIZABETH SCOTT AND PAUL HENREID IN HAMMER'S 'STOLEN FACE'

<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/AVvXsEinsujolPhpg8ZjniWjkhfmaYu1C8bciT0MQUqjeJD7jgsPEd3n0Ezert8DQ1Nur-cgD4Q7Sf_Di8coohaNtPE2hrDUubFHhyphenhyphenpLhcJQV6jNVtQQABg7V2YI9qO6j35oYsmd4lZLmtkIm7FvRfn621CT3vY-I1VVUR-GVLj7roOm4Jo18fnq_3dov6Sk3Fup/s1842/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-16%20at%204.23.51%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1258" data-original-width="1842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinsujolPhpg8ZjniWjkhfmaYu1C8bciT0MQUqjeJD7jgsPEd3n0Ezert8DQ1Nur-cgD4Q7Sf_Di8coohaNtPE2hrDUubFHhyphenhyphenpLhcJQV6jNVtQQABg7V2YI9qO6j35oYsmd4lZLmtkIm7FvRfn621CT3vY-I1VVUR-GVLj7roOm4Jo18fnq_3dov6Sk3Fup/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-16%20at%204.23.51%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Stolen Face Year: 1952 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Passive CASABLANCA French actor Paul Henreid's cheated on again, here in Hammer's noirish-drama STOLEN FACE, describing how Henreid, a plastic surgeon, made a badly scarred female career-criminal look exactly like the beautiful (and surreptitiously engaged) sophisticated pianist he fell for during the first half, resembling more of a Douglas Sirk melodrama than the intended crime-thriller by Hammer's future stock auteur Terence Fisher...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Enter American import Lizabeth Scott, who turned to England what she couldn't find in America, having portrayed both good and bad girls in stateside noir films, and here she plays both... despite only the original classic pianist character baring her own famously sultry low voice, which would have fit better than dubbing the original pre-surgery Mary Mackenzie for consistency (which wouldn't matter given the initial far-fetched premise)...</p><p><span></span></p>

andre morell, fifties, hammer films, hammer noir, lizabeth scott, melodrama, paul henreid, romance, russel napier, terence fisher, thriller

LIZABETH SCOTT AND PAUL HENREID IN HAMMER'S 'STOLEN FACE'

Title: Stolen Face Year: 1952 Rating: *** Passive CASABLANCA French actor Paul Henreid's cheated on again, here in Hammer's noirish-...

KATHRYN GRANT 'THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED' WILLIAM LESLIE

<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="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxtsevWVxZnYI1rqgFmjukJvXkfVctiKkwSPGP4PgasU3cfPcUFLaMZSGODmaKb_EjwtodC-saEgc1DPaBjyVxm49_xGo_cqNxiTP8kOsArXlWvN5BGx9jBjSEh6JkXJMVYkxhhTUY0OXhB77ha5dSXs4YMNZqrPSIY3gw3TfVnC6CSoGdrMKtPrOoAlU/s1201/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-29%20at%2010.22.05%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1201" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxtsevWVxZnYI1rqgFmjukJvXkfVctiKkwSPGP4PgasU3cfPcUFLaMZSGODmaKb_EjwtodC-saEgc1DPaBjyVxm49_xGo_cqNxiTP8kOsArXlWvN5BGx9jBjSEh6JkXJMVYkxhhTUY0OXhB77ha5dSXs4YMNZqrPSIY3gw3TfVnC6CSoGdrMKtPrOoAlU/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-29%20at%2010.22.05%20PM.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1957 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a scene in otherwise underrated b-movie director Fred F. Sear's 1950's science-fiction disaster flick THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED where lovely actress Kathryn Grant (who he had directed in the film noir biopic <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/04/cell.html">CELL 2455 DEATH ROW</a>), soon to be known as Kathryn Crosby after marrying legendary WHITE CHRISTMAS crooner Bing Crosby, is beautifully pouting with her insanely-gorgeous full lips...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, despite being surprisingly first-billed, that's pretty much every scene she's in in this early "we're to blame for the earth's inevitable demise" melodrama, with only a few exterior shots of archive footage and where most of the time's spent in a clean office or grungy tunnel while blandly-handsome scientist William Leslie's being constantly... pouted at by that gorgeous assistant who silently adores (and is burdened with the desire to connect with) him... only there got an entire WORLD to save and enough lectures to make EXPLODED more drowsy motion than the supposed action built into a misleading title that's (other than Kathryn) the best thing going. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

cult, disaster, fifties, fred f. sears, kathryn grant, melodrama, race against time, william leslie

KATHRYN GRANT 'THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED' WILLIAM LESLIE

Year: 1957 Rating: ** There's a scene in otherwise underrated b-movie director Fred F. Sear's 1950's science-fiction disaster fl...

JAMES KENNEY & JOAN COLLINS IN 'KOSH BOY' OR 'THE SLASHER'

<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/AVvXsEiSztivwwyjpgLV6Erv4ORURXkjIaanoMGYRIWAEdendhpMYw3VgAPZpENvGmp_8wz67nk5i-WKX-zmfqvvAVDvp2tseRwTZdgnEiD1ZFy3-rqUIuYsYo-Nl9xV99R2oyM2YBm0DzcXooY1sIPXTF8RO6v0XAup1pNKNLFeRRmL-uS6hpioQweH7kpo5b3A/s1230/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSztivwwyjpgLV6Erv4ORURXkjIaanoMGYRIWAEdendhpMYw3VgAPZpENvGmp_8wz67nk5i-WKX-zmfqvvAVDvp2tseRwTZdgnEiD1ZFy3-rqUIuYsYo-Nl9xV99R2oyM2YBm0DzcXooY1sIPXTF8RO6v0XAup1pNKNLFeRRmL-uS6hpioQweH7kpo5b3A/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: COSH BOY also THE SLASHER Year: 1954 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's a shame that COSH BOY (strangely re-titled THE SLASHER) is so extremely dated, holding back what's promised by the edgy image of British teen actor James Kenney as a street thug "teddy boy" (name of youth gangs in England)... because Kenney not only delivers his dialogue strongly, but listens just as intensely...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Too bad his words are aimed at a coddling mother, about to marry a strict man... and both are even more important than the fellow gang members, who sporadically hit the streets to "cosh" (violently mug) their victims...</p><p><span></span></p>

british film noir, fifties, james kenney, joan collins, melodrama, teen

JAMES KENNEY & JOAN COLLINS IN 'KOSH BOY' OR 'THE SLASHER'

Title: COSH BOY also THE SLASHER Year: 1954 Rating: **1/2 It's a shame that COSH BOY (strangely re-titled THE SLASHER) is so extremely d...

STANLEY KUBRICK'S CLASSIC SCOUNDREL EPIC OF 'BARRY LYNDON'

<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/AVvXsEiA5XWRs4fqdGqjnSKPOAZr8xISDm8N478UswCFSOA-OH5k99LinAoyBVD9ZIk8kZF-AytzfAXGP-6AW4s_WNg9CTgiRU8FsxT61AC5Gup0OcSSF2vaexMsb2hrK0WnmFilgQjDOgUE5oAkYlbFomTBUSWJutT08ETYcEz8eyOLdRw9Ayj2Pk5EXYrzQJEy/s2026/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="2026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5XWRs4fqdGqjnSKPOAZr8xISDm8N478UswCFSOA-OH5k99LinAoyBVD9ZIk8kZF-AytzfAXGP-6AW4s_WNg9CTgiRU8FsxT61AC5Gup0OcSSF2vaexMsb2hrK0WnmFilgQjDOgUE5oAkYlbFomTBUSWJutT08ETYcEz8eyOLdRw9Ayj2Pk5EXYrzQJEy/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BARRY LYNDON Year: 1975 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the mid-to-late 1700's Europe, by the time Ryan O'Neal's BARRY LYNDON has fled from his small hometown village in Ireland... then becomes a soldier at war and then a war-deserter and then a captured-deserter throughout several countries... ninety-minutes have passed... </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>Which is the length of an average film, and with so much literal ground covered, director Stanley Kubrick provides more an episodic journey than adventure since every location is its own thematic vignette with a beginning, middle and end...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, epic, godfrey quigley, hardy kruger, john bindon, lenoard rossiter, leon vitale, liam redmond, marisa berenson, melodrama, patrick magee, romance, ryan o'neal, seventies, stanley kubrick

STANLEY KUBRICK'S CLASSIC SCOUNDREL EPIC OF 'BARRY LYNDON'

Title: BARRY LYNDON Year: 1975 Rating: ****1/2 In the mid-to-late 1700's Europe, by the time Ryan O'Neal's BARRY LYNDON has fled...

STANLEY BAKER AND GINGER ROGERS IN 'BEAUTIFUL STRANGER'

<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/AVvXsEinaOC6UDKwRKstnr6Pie2Rf7WMC_oyrlpkvsvOnldCrGxMA6bj_-lQwp8cADxuUzbswDFOIilHi303wRQhF2hz5StIseZyJIMfY3h_9om_fpCPLFc9kmG-JKsb6HE21okpcm75gsIz-1_Ej1MEjviU8hJ9qDeIteg3x-pMxrDROhcACjz_GU4qwUxCO-WQ/s1669/AVvXsEgGxO5W6-TK8mxde3v9S0uy-KfTW-jR8k_4Y_Mg09KDzg3FEZoaerBZQA8zOLDpsUIhIlgPTWPXV24nLGgUNFCNcHQ2oZbJOw-CcV3vf8h6P2uqnOeODmMxRllpY_MvUS6HDK2yh-wIHQhvvMVe4hoYkcyWe-PU4raaUWxCnIK1EluVCpY6ZSMueS_MEQ=s16000.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1669" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinaOC6UDKwRKstnr6Pie2Rf7WMC_oyrlpkvsvOnldCrGxMA6bj_-lQwp8cADxuUzbswDFOIilHi303wRQhF2hz5StIseZyJIMfY3h_9om_fpCPLFc9kmG-JKsb6HE21okpcm75gsIz-1_Ej1MEjviU8hJ9qDeIteg3x-pMxrDROhcACjz_GU4qwUxCO-WQ/s16000/AVvXsEgGxO5W6-TK8mxde3v9S0uy-KfTW-jR8k_4Y_Mg09KDzg3FEZoaerBZQA8zOLDpsUIhIlgPTWPXV24nLGgUNFCNcHQ2oZbJOw-CcV3vf8h6P2uqnOeODmMxRllpY_MvUS6HDK2yh-wIHQhvvMVe4hoYkcyWe-PU4raaUWxCnIK1EluVCpY6ZSMueS_MEQ=s16000.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BEAUTIFUL STRANGER AKA TWIST OF FATE Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"I stole it... I am innocent," Herbert Lom says to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/stanley%20baker">Stanley Baker</a>... One's a gambling con artist and the other a rich businessman/secret criminal, both connected to central star Ginger Rogers... </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>Baker's her supposedly single fiance and Lom a friend that bums money <i>and steals </i>jewelry, specifically a bracelet that ignites the alternate-titled TWIST OF FATE involving Rogers's real life husband <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/07/anders1-HYP-EYE.html">Jacques Bergerac</a> as not only a proud-poor artist but a different kind of Wrong Man, more a Mistaken Man...</p><span></span>

british film noir, con man, eddie byrne, fifties, ginger rogers, heist, herbert lom, jacques bergerac, melodrama, romance, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER AND GINGER ROGERS IN 'BEAUTIFUL STRANGER'

Title: BEAUTIFUL STRANGER AKA TWIST OF FATE Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2 "I stole it... I am innocent," Herbert Lom says to Stanley B...

WILLAM CONRAD REINCARNATES NOIR WITH 'MY BLOOD RUNS COLD'

<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/AVvXsEjMQm2XnJNYoZzwS9IjGv1KhisUw_aqVBYpR-Y2QMh0rsLyZtugD09WitTv8-uCCpvD6VtuuFLgi9_qdg5msA9OWc0NX7cSXUrLbhhSQsIY3Y1FQEIIBxkssK8FRINeV7Ehy_gzEyhvOuOtn8xDSsVG3wpQxxcLcCNBK2fvNwaZQoyJq1M4NvesAa2Wg1we/s2452/Screen%20Shot%202026-06-27%20at%201.15.29%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQm2XnJNYoZzwS9IjGv1KhisUw_aqVBYpR-Y2QMh0rsLyZtugD09WitTv8-uCCpvD6VtuuFLgi9_qdg5msA9OWc0NX7cSXUrLbhhSQsIY3Y1FQEIIBxkssK8FRINeV7Ehy_gzEyhvOuOtn8xDSsVG3wpQxxcLcCNBK2fvNwaZQoyJq1M4NvesAa2Wg1we/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202026-06-27%20at%201.15.29%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MY BLOOD RUNS COLD Cast: Troy Donahue, Joey Heatherton  Year: 1965 Year: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Along with throwaway horror flick TWO ON A GUILLOTINE in an extremely busy three-picture-year of 1965, the best-known-for-television actor William Conrad directed an unintentional neo-noir double-feature, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2023/11/brainstorm.html">BRAINSTORM</a> and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/08/citizen-cannon.html">MY BLOOD RUNS COLD</a>, both unique, creative and eclectic while the latter provided limited-rage Troy Donahue a surprisingly intense performance... with layers...</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>Albeit most of them intentionally hidden since his character is deeply enigmatic from the start, <i>and</i> desperately vulnerable — literally when he's almost killed by spoiled, fitfully gorgeous rich girl Joey Heatherton...</p><p><span></span></p>

barry sullivan, jazz-score, jeanette nolan, joey heatherton, melodrama, neo noir, nicolas coster, romance, sixties, thriller, troy donahue, william conrad

WILLAM CONRAD REINCARNATES NOIR WITH 'MY BLOOD RUNS COLD'

Title: MY BLOOD RUNS COLD Cast: Troy Donahue, Joey Heatherton  Year: 1965 Year: **** Along with throwaway horror flick TWO ON A GUILLOTINE ...

HUMPHREY BOGART AND ROD STEIGER IN 'THE HARDER THEY FALL'

<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/AVvXsEgqlJgbzXIQuGEIvIbtWWbx3v2_yOGzeBYuOXySAX4bSHge4wjY8Nat5ILFGCWydR4srtQF89B1ijuLzFBjNwh31YWcOMxcqUnUu5oROi_VK4pbIrpRPiGCqv4PS7gitDNfO6BqcQC43AzCVP2v2WJqSrti1vCb2l2KRR-T9uXZnBpDcgtricd9wmXqKF7t/s971/first.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="971" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlJgbzXIQuGEIvIbtWWbx3v2_yOGzeBYuOXySAX4bSHge4wjY8Nat5ILFGCWydR4srtQF89B1ijuLzFBjNwh31YWcOMxcqUnUu5oROi_VK4pbIrpRPiGCqv4PS7gitDNfO6BqcQC43AzCVP2v2WJqSrti1vCb2l2KRR-T9uXZnBpDcgtricd9wmXqKF7t/s16000/first.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ANTS Year: 1977 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The legendary Humphrey Bogart's last movie, during the mid-1950's when the big message could become more important than the characters, which is the opposite of ON THE WATERFRONT that Mark Robson's extremely bias boxing scandal-expose THE HARDER THEY FALL attempts the suspenseful, brawny big city edginess of... armed gangsters ruling over muscular everymen... but in a passive, mainstream fashion...</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>A shame since the boxing sequences — where has-been sports-writer Bogart and his seedy promoter boss Rod Steiger have ringside seats — are filmed with brutal realism... both men making sure the opponents of their mediocre giant upstart take the same kind of fall that could have made Marlon Brando a contender....</p><p><span></span></p>

boxing, expose, felice orlandi, fifties, humphrey bogart, jan sterling, marian carr, mark robson, melodrama, nehemiah persoff, rod steiger, sport

HUMPHREY BOGART AND ROD STEIGER IN 'THE HARDER THEY FALL'

Title: ANTS Year: 1977 Rating: **** The legendary Humphrey Bogart's last movie, during the mid-1950's when the big message could bec...

SEAN CONNERY & YVONNE ROMAIN IN 'THE FRIGHTENED CITY'

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

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

SEAN CONNERY & YVONNE ROMAIN IN 'THE FRIGHTENED CITY'

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

JAMES CAGNEY WITH ANN SHERIDAN IN 'CITY FOR CONQUEST'

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

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

JAMES CAGNEY WITH ANN SHERIDAN IN 'CITY FOR CONQUEST'

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

JAMES CAGNEY REPLACES EDWARD WOODS FOR 'THE PUBLIC ENEMY'

<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/AVvXsEgzl3ruogn54WyiOHhGnSTYMrs4VMdiPAGN2hleed_MddJMiQdp3AJSOHNJchiy3-iQnpI5OQBXQLU-chkpkQbH0dyl0ESbwVBLJeDPxe858BZggI7mpcIcO9-LN6lXcY2JO2526QyY4sVkaqZXXT4_BZiXT1Iq4VxP5KVmKcvQhYogJyC1fnGcDTnVvGJo/s1972/Screen%20Shot%202023-09-30%20at%203.03.43%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1222" data-original-width="1972" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzl3ruogn54WyiOHhGnSTYMrs4VMdiPAGN2hleed_MddJMiQdp3AJSOHNJchiy3-iQnpI5OQBXQLU-chkpkQbH0dyl0ESbwVBLJeDPxe858BZggI7mpcIcO9-LN6lXcY2JO2526QyY4sVkaqZXXT4_BZiXT1Iq4VxP5KVmKcvQhYogJyC1fnGcDTnVvGJo/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-09-30%20at%203.03.43%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE PUBLIC ENEMY Year: 1931 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's already known but equally confusing when THE PUBLIC ENEMY prologue introduces a tall young instigator and his much shorter sidekick breaking laws — then to grow up a tall and lanky follower of the pint-size firebrand in charge... and that's because once James Cagney was recast to lead Edward Woods, the backstory intro wasn't changed...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which hardly really matters... once Cagney appears on screen he's as mesmerizing to the audience as he was to director William A. Wellman, who saw him in another movie's walk-on, and was convinced the days of secondary-lead... like SINNER'S HOLIDAY and BACK DOOR TO HEAVEN... were long gone...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, gangster, james cagney, jean harlow, joan blondell, mae clarke, melodrama, thirties

JAMES CAGNEY REPLACES EDWARD WOODS FOR 'THE PUBLIC ENEMY'

Title: THE PUBLIC ENEMY Year: 1931 Rating: **** It's already known but equally confusing when THE PUBLIC ENEMY prologue introduces a tal...

ROBERT RYAN VS RHONDA FLEMING & WILLIAM LUNDIGAN 'INFERNO'

<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/AVvXsEiCF0o2oZvs4kDhD34nDSPZl0wT7oyh3Ws2PKgwVEgRSy6o1S3Kl51WT2RECAnUpi0ZDLMVAjvj3-hcTtxAOWsgskLrF0LXQpcErDqTEOJjk6PuVzrzBv53V2lQMrfUceU6Z1PANoFf6T7GVtyfNzXFlnKI4j7VESAO-y74GqWmFlro9O-jkq2nvqREUPzK/s1552/NEWEST.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1552" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCF0o2oZvs4kDhD34nDSPZl0wT7oyh3Ws2PKgwVEgRSy6o1S3Kl51WT2RECAnUpi0ZDLMVAjvj3-hcTtxAOWsgskLrF0LXQpcErDqTEOJjk6PuVzrzBv53V2lQMrfUceU6Z1PANoFf6T7GVtyfNzXFlnKI4j7VESAO-y74GqWmFlro9O-jkq2nvqREUPzK/s16000/NEWEST.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for Ronda Fleming INFERNO Year: 1953 Rating: *** </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Leading <i>and</i> character actor Robert Ryan is difficult to root for since he played contentedly bitter types who didn't want rooting for... but with INFERNO his rich-husband character gets so screwed-over by his wife and her lover, left in the scorching desert — with a broken leg — to trudge through rocky terrain before he's lunch for condors, there's no other option but to have complete sympathy, if anything else for the movie (and his dire situation) to conclude...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet the most intriguing scenes not only alleviate the halting, awkward tension but add a touch of paperback-pulpy and best yet, film noir/melodrama to the stranded-in-peril, fight-to-survive adventure...</p><p><span></span></p>

3D, action, adventure, desert, fifties, melodrama, rhonda fleming, robert ryan, rural, survival, thriller, william lundigan

ROBERT RYAN VS RHONDA FLEMING & WILLIAM LUNDIGAN 'INFERNO'

Poster for Ronda Fleming INFERNO Year: 1953 Rating: *** Leading and character actor Robert Ryan is difficult to root for since he played co...

STEPHEN BOYD, ELKE SOMMER AND TONY BENNETT IN 'THE OSCAR'

<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/AVvXsEiFz4PUXTiWbz63TnFScznxDXPq1siZkkYBj5X5cpDYU5wCYBkyDSQbI3TzytMU8UEEV-pEzRdOSJMV39dL3V_Pn_dFPB4XOIyQxpXhpVbQ2K_NkjyiKByjoLk33zrYcU4fLjxF5MI6y37uXUz3FhzzcupE2wSCin8JKtzhvDe4ZYQnyPHLchep9U8RXvlq/s871/oldest.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="871" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFz4PUXTiWbz63TnFScznxDXPq1siZkkYBj5X5cpDYU5wCYBkyDSQbI3TzytMU8UEEV-pEzRdOSJMV39dL3V_Pn_dFPB4XOIyQxpXhpVbQ2K_NkjyiKByjoLk33zrYcU4fLjxF5MI6y37uXUz3FhzzcupE2wSCin8JKtzhvDe4ZYQnyPHLchep9U8RXvlq/s16000/oldest.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stephen Boyd with Eleanor Parker or Jill St John in THE OSCAR Year: 1966 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the most gloriously uncompromising Hollywood-set melodramas, THE OSCAR stars real life semi-star Stephen Boyd, whose chiselled looks and menacing countenance — beginning as the cheating gladiator in BEN HUR — made him more a leading villain than hero, and he plays both here...</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>Starting as a backroom lowlife alongside passive yet equally-tough sidekick Tony Bennett and lush Jill St. John, he sneakily becomes an actor by manipulating the likes of New York stage director Eleanor Parker connected with Hollywood agent Milton Berle and studio chief Joseph Cotten...</p><p><span></span></p>

elke sommer, ernest borgnine, harlan ellison, hollywood satire, jean hale, jill st john, joseph cotten, melodrama, milton berle, rex holman, sixties, stephen boyd, tony bennett

STEPHEN BOYD, ELKE SOMMER AND TONY BENNETT IN 'THE OSCAR'

Stephen Boyd with Eleanor Parker or Jill St John in THE OSCAR Year: 1966 Rating: *** One of the most gloriously uncompromising Hollywood-set...

SEAN PENN DIRECTS VIGGO MORTENSEN IN 'THE INDIAN RUNNER'

<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/AVvXsEirHNpD96Jo2YLx8mSKzZ6SGbveUJbylpPHbj0460JA5Zg1DiaNytShQl7X9NHiHvbn8jyaG8-snmGPfOhu3EwokYWJyVooL-iK7MacLS1ZdSwRg6Ig-z0WomwsLjsctoJ5QduvkPsNE9J6ALoZJMdqNlL7qwOjlZlfbhU3DB5m6NZ8wMQpvnRQaeXQY9V-/s1962/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-14%20at%203.55.44%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="984" data-original-width="1962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirHNpD96Jo2YLx8mSKzZ6SGbveUJbylpPHbj0460JA5Zg1DiaNytShQl7X9NHiHvbn8jyaG8-snmGPfOhu3EwokYWJyVooL-iK7MacLS1ZdSwRg6Ig-z0WomwsLjsctoJ5QduvkPsNE9J6ALoZJMdqNlL7qwOjlZlfbhU3DB5m6NZ8wMQpvnRQaeXQY9V-/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-14%20at%203.55.44%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE INDIAN RUNNER Year: 1993 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Sean Penn wrote and directed THE INDIAN RUNNER about two brothers that couldn't be more different: the central lead is David Morse as Joe Roberts, a humble cop in a small town the movie's set, deliberately outshined by the focal point for both the audience and Joe himself...  </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Enter Viggo Mortensen as the scene-stealing ex-con rebel Frank, visually a perfect-looking Marlboro Man with a sleazy antagonistic voice, he's one of those harsh, uncompromising born-losers that hurts everyone and everything, making RUNNER his own character-driven tragedy that, during the Vietnam war, also makes him a jilted returning-veteran: although the time-period aspect seems a bit forced and unnecessary...</p><p><span></span></p>

charles bronson, david morse, dennis hopper, drama, jordan rhodes, melodrama, nineties, patricia arquette, sean penn, vietnam, viggo mortensen

SEAN PENN DIRECTS VIGGO MORTENSEN IN 'THE INDIAN RUNNER'

Title: THE INDIAN RUNNER Year: 1993 Rating: **** Sean Penn wrote and directed THE INDIAN RUNNER about two brothers that couldn't be more...

LINDA BLAIR LOCKED IN THE TELEVISION MOVIE 'BORN INNOCENT'

<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/AVvXsEh1E5JnfI-oafHZzCl8SBQtVJbZ6Id-Hugil6dOuDawATeYMu4S-eJIwAVO_bEDCoN62CmJ7adM5xL4ZqdDk40HUR2k0BvMVqRIcYuvo4mu_72GmqJgdEoK2L1j6CkxCJcN-07nLRjhCvSzOvcUMUeAxAM7RzFxZspSnHJSzd5jW8RDtGgXFc9agCG7Fg/s2100/3%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1291" data-original-width="2100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1E5JnfI-oafHZzCl8SBQtVJbZ6Id-Hugil6dOuDawATeYMu4S-eJIwAVO_bEDCoN62CmJ7adM5xL4ZqdDk40HUR2k0BvMVqRIcYuvo4mu_72GmqJgdEoK2L1j6CkxCJcN-07nLRjhCvSzOvcUMUeAxAM7RzFxZspSnHJSzd5jW8RDtGgXFc9agCG7Fg/s16000/3%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Linda Blair in BORN INNOCENT Year: 1974 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This TV-Movie warning the dangers of being an <i>incorrigible</i> runaway titled BORN INNOCENT begins three times, not finding the right place for 14-year-old Linda Blair to be holed-up: first at an adult prison as the opening credits surround our wide-eyed kid amongst rugged women inmates, tough enough to carry their own feature...  to the next lockup but with younger females, and, at this point, at this place, we should be underway... until she's moved once again... </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 the next place is permanent, a comparably loose juvenile hall that takes a rural dirt road to enter from a benign main building, at least reuniting one of the nicer girls from the second locale, while OVER THE EDGE director Jonathan Kaplan's butchy sister Nora Heflin and b-starlet Janit Baldwin are the token bullies...</p><span></span>

exploitation, joanna miles, kim hunter, linda blair, melodrama, nora heflin, richard jaekal, seventies, teen, tv movie, women in prison

LINDA BLAIR LOCKED IN THE TELEVISION MOVIE 'BORN INNOCENT'

Linda Blair in BORN INNOCENT Year: 1974 Rating: ***1/2 This TV-Movie warning the dangers of being an incorrigible runaway titled BORN INNOC...

ZENA WALKER & DENNIS WATERMAN IN THE DRAMA 'SNOWBALL'

<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/AVvXsEiLSxG9_0ABxRIou_HuID5GUJOXDqrS4DhLCXkz2SuxNsImcaKwFF8DLGrpUpYAksAo3TrbWNeEwy2mPH3xp0p1W4omYWU1KA1ygYHEBJV6O7tZzPqrqNIuSa_TYKt5WeiJxFz_RTqWgTGdkylJtrxyZDddggJojrBVuxrk3ii_E-fwmVJuDhGcLbdPQA/s1423/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1423" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSxG9_0ABxRIou_HuID5GUJOXDqrS4DhLCXkz2SuxNsImcaKwFF8DLGrpUpYAksAo3TrbWNeEwy2mPH3xp0p1W4omYWU1KA1ygYHEBJV6O7tZzPqrqNIuSa_TYKt5WeiJxFz_RTqWgTGdkylJtrxyZDddggJojrBVuxrk3ii_E-fwmVJuDhGcLbdPQA/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Zena Walker in SNOWBALL Year: 1960 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A unique<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/british%20neo%20noir"> British New Wave/Kitchen Sink melodrama</a> involving how fate works... not the first or last... and SNOWBALL is set in some pretty warm weather, so the title's about gossip gaining momentum...<br><br>And all because of child actor <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/dennis%20waterman">Dennis Waterman</a> as an English suburban kid who shares to his parents and neighbor how a bus driver dumped him off: having to walk home four miles — the last stretch of that seemingly breezy stride opening the movie with credits shown...</p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

british new wave, daphne anderson, dennis waterman, gordon jackson, kenneth griffith, melodrama, roddy mcmillan, sixties, zena walker

ZENA WALKER & DENNIS WATERMAN IN THE DRAMA 'SNOWBALL'

Zena Walker in SNOWBALL Year: 1960 Rating: *** A unique British New Wave/Kitchen Sink melodrama involving how fate works... not the first ...

MICHAEL PARE WITH TOM BERENGER IN 'EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsO46oV9qHKgIlhlAfOvHacVZwtCfUAesg-ZonsofCOEtliUdtQpwLOmzBBkGgtb4RoWBjiWmLPy4HByCCoK_EAssXLXzFZb8LtOB472Ffd2dZqLX4P78RAc5PM77rAHFOuIaG3MTXe_3vzeWXTKoiTQG2aqUhFQGZwWLiQxaKsgpEUHvhDcThKoQ7ap2J/s1402/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-16%20at%205.13.10%20PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1402" data-original-width="1126" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsO46oV9qHKgIlhlAfOvHacVZwtCfUAesg-ZonsofCOEtliUdtQpwLOmzBBkGgtb4RoWBjiWmLPy4HByCCoK_EAssXLXzFZb8LtOB472Ffd2dZqLX4P78RAc5PM77rAHFOuIaG3MTXe_3vzeWXTKoiTQG2aqUhFQGZwWLiQxaKsgpEUHvhDcThKoQ7ap2J/w321-h400/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-16%20at%205.13.10%20PM.jpeg" width="321"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1982 Grade: C+</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director Martin Davidson wanted EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS to be like Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE in that half the film takes place in the present, where an interviewer (Ellen Barkin) is asking questions and getting answers from characters we also experience in random flashbacks centering on, in this case, a supposedly long-dead rocker the likes of Jim Morrison of The Doors; providing the haunting question of what if Morrison... in this case Eddie Wilson... were still alive? And also, what would be the status of his former friends and band-mates decades later? These include buried lead Tom Berenger, a comparably conservative classics-loving pianist and literature-based lyricist who had befriended Michael Pare's muscular, New Jersey rocker on the beach, straight out of how Doors keyboardist Ray Manzerek met poet and future counter-culture crooner Morrison in Venice,  California...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And there's a lot of potential in the overall backstory since Pare looks beyond game for his own rock n roll fable (which he'd get in STREETS OF FIRE)... And although his songs sound more 1980's semi-throwback Bruce Springsteen than anything brand new from 1962, his rough-and-tumble looks fit perfectly with actual singer John Caffterty's urgent blue collar voice, making the songs really seem like Eddie's own: It's just an era problem that makes it almost impossible to believe in the music and the legacy it garnered... And as a two-tier story there's simply not enough time spent on the mystery aspect of the present (if Eddie's not only alive but desperately trying to locate his missing album) for that to provide enough tension and suspense... while the nightclub-blaring small-time-band's backstory consists of scenes so quickly played-out, they never feel beyond what they are... someone's plot-important recollection... And god knows that Pare, Berenger and beautiful ingenue/background-singer Helen Schneider deserved far more than being a mere collection of memories.</p><p><span></span></p>

eighties, ellen barkin, melodrama, michael pare, music, tom berenger

MICHAEL PARE WITH TOM BERENGER IN 'EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS'

Year: 1982 Grade: C+ Director Martin Davidson wanted EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS to be like Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE in that half the film...