cult film freak: ricardo montalban

Showing posts with label ricardo montalban. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 6/22/2026 / No comments / besty blair , bruce bennett , cop , edmon ryan , elsa lanchester , fifties , film noir or melodrama , jan sterling , marshall thompson , ricardo montalban , sally forrest , wrong man

RICARDO MONTALBAN WITH BRUCE BENNETT IN 'MYSTERY STREET'

<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/AVvXsEgQPxLjvir6Sq6o-SK6TtFlXAyg6AL1rdpHl7Zo5xOMnKwmBn9cTLtF2R8EwI7ghp96FLx_efNt822exRJePQntBGQTzP2KiYCEHDEnWFYmyUIyVIGTsN-PZ6j4eVMUfGFkQ28syTGj1bDxMqSFqs-WuKZJUSmOlU3kSD7YAzBg0xvaG8ozXHnRf1T2imPt/s2078/Screen%20Shot%202026-06-18%20at%201.15.28%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1222" data-original-width="2078" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQPxLjvir6Sq6o-SK6TtFlXAyg6AL1rdpHl7Zo5xOMnKwmBn9cTLtF2R8EwI7ghp96FLx_efNt822exRJePQntBGQTzP2KiYCEHDEnWFYmyUIyVIGTsN-PZ6j4eVMUfGFkQ28syTGj1bDxMqSFqs-WuKZJUSmOlU3kSD7YAzBg0xvaG8ozXHnRf1T2imPt/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202026-06-18%20at%201.15.28%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 1950 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>When debt-ridden Jan Sterling... in an apartment complex where lovely single ladies exist under the bickering rule of middle-aged Elsa Lanchester... walks down the stairs to make an enigmatic phone call, not only does MYSTERY STREET begin, but it could have been another movie entirely... After Sterling meets up with drunken married Marshall Thompson, driving him through rural back-roads before stealing the car and getting murdered, what follows is tighter and meticulously by-the-book...

besty blair, bruce bennett, cop, edmon ryan, elsa lanchester, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jan sterling, marshall thompson, ricardo montalban, sally forrest, wrong man

RICARDO MONTALBAN WITH BRUCE BENNETT IN 'MYSTERY STREET'

Year: 1950 Rating: **** When debt-ridden Jan Sterling... in an apartment complex where lovely single ladies exist under the bickering rule o...

RODDY MCDOWALL RULES 'CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES'

<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/AVvXsEgEL7FMJ6Zkjrjm9iRswqd76Rvs3RqkvWbUlqxj8VSNoKtEeJLpaLtnhaIUWke1lekx_LGaqlxgs0qSykhmat2KxXxhUHqSPIGSW3okQpLg2yWAXgaGSux56DbhpN4ttxJt6U9paIYNP255BNMIYYAKH4zvtTkLo1G5v0LkewQ8ST9NzRBXOI4awnXF0jfh/s1422/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-30%20at%204.37.30%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="1422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEL7FMJ6Zkjrjm9iRswqd76Rvs3RqkvWbUlqxj8VSNoKtEeJLpaLtnhaIUWke1lekx_LGaqlxgs0qSykhmat2KxXxhUHqSPIGSW3okQpLg2yWAXgaGSux56DbhpN4ttxJt6U9paIYNP255BNMIYYAKH4zvtTkLo1G5v0LkewQ8ST9NzRBXOI4awnXF0jfh/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-30%20at%204.37.30%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roddy McDowall in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Taking place twenty-years after the previous/third film of the franchise, ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, which was set in the then-modern/groovy 1970's and hardly resembled a science-fiction film except the two talking chimps, Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter as scientist couple Cornelius and Kira, dying violently at the end but, in a surprise twist, their talking baby chimp was saved by traveling circus owner Ricardo Montalban as Armando...Who for some reason, as CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES begins, makes a rather idiotic decision to visit the primary police-state location shot at the University of Irvine in California, resembling a sparse, steely fortress/city ruled by a firm futuristic government, casting a daunting shadow over its inhabitants...

action, asa maynor, don murray, exploitation, gordon jump, hari rhodes, j. lee thompson, natalie trundy, planet apes, ricardo montalban, roddy mcdowall, science-fiction, seventies, severn darden

RODDY MCDOWALL RULES 'CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES'

Roddy McDowall in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2 Taking place twenty-years after the previous/third film of t...

LIEUTENANT UHURA ON GENE RODDENBERRY'S THE LIEUTENANT'

<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/AVvXsEjiP5mqwXp0GD2T5EDtcpG8bHTm8mgeJe88zMPNe6mLtOsVwImhn9p_v5Sv6hvIQml5K9QkB3EWdo54M3w6esjMMUk1LrLuL_SUTQJvg6f3qJ2bKkVVuRnZZn8ph86fXY-WszVnUbel9BJVH6prhgamkMlXiVntkcHzm3M7k25RCmUE1411qjLzMWlMJA/s1890/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-01%20at%2012.37.43%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiP5mqwXp0GD2T5EDtcpG8bHTm8mgeJe88zMPNe6mLtOsVwImhn9p_v5Sv6hvIQml5K9QkB3EWdo54M3w6esjMMUk1LrLuL_SUTQJvg6f3qJ2bKkVVuRnZZn8ph86fXY-WszVnUbel9BJVH6prhgamkMlXiVntkcHzm3M7k25RCmUE1411qjLzMWlMJA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-01%20at%2012.37.43%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Future Star Trek Nichelle Nichols on THE LIEUTENANT: TO SET IT RIGHT Year: 1964 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>Gene Roddenberry's STAR TREK made Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura, an actress to watch... And she's always watchable, actually introduced in Roddenberry's prior TV series THE LIEUTENANT as the girlfriend of Don Marshall's black Pvt. Cameron, who butts heads with a goading white racist, Pvt. Devlin, played by Dennis Hopper... 
 
The series starred Gary Lockwood as Lt. Bill Rice, in charge of a troop of Marines in Camp Pendleton, California. And in this particular episode titled TO SET IT RIGHT, Rice tries getting the two loggerheads in rhythm by sparring them in the boxing ring and eventually, tied together, to climb up a mountain so they work as a team, or else...

dennis hopper, don marshall, gary lockwood, nichelle nichols, ricardo montalban, scott wilson, sixties, star trek, TV, woody strode

LIEUTENANT UHURA ON GENE RODDENBERRY'S THE LIEUTENANT'

Future Star Trek Nichelle Nichols on THE LIEUTENANT: TO SET IT RIGHT Year: 1964 Rating: *** Gene Roddenberry's STAR TREK made Nichelle ...

CATHY LEE CROSBY AS THE FIRST/ORIGINAL 'WONDER WOMAN'

<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/AVvXsEhoaKP950bDWjis9zDA-gGSQWrrxLPk2Um_Y5lJAcK8U2NsQCdC3zz2y8hDF_c3mtPFdtFZcC3NQyGtmgF3EDLjeTjMlDWcywqk7KyBdBerykLBWPOcRFSF2IxllPmhsL1_7TbKwebgAcBIXZQvjVwBy0vejDlLF0CtKovaUcJlth0NUDW1na-kqZrEeQ=s988" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="988" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoaKP950bDWjis9zDA-gGSQWrrxLPk2Um_Y5lJAcK8U2NsQCdC3zz2y8hDF_c3mtPFdtFZcC3NQyGtmgF3EDLjeTjMlDWcywqk7KyBdBerykLBWPOcRFSF2IxllPmhsL1_7TbKwebgAcBIXZQvjVwBy0vejDlLF0CtKovaUcJlth0NUDW1na-kqZrEeQ=w400-h293" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 1973 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>Young Gal Gadot fans don't want to know anyone else played WONDER WOMAN and older Lynda Carter fans are no different...Even Google, if you type "the very first Wonder Woman" will provide Carter's name... but it's Cathy Lee Crosby, an athletic BLONDE, who was the first Diana "Supposed to be Dark-Haired" Prince and donned the outfit albeit resembling patriotic Olympics garb instead of the DC Comics suit Carter wore in the following years' series... A shame because this TV-movie isn't too shabby; but it's no Superhero story... Instead, during the Spy Genre/James Bond era, this WONDER WOMAN seems as if a resilient Bond girl took over the 007 mantle. And instead of powers she has karate skills and can catch a high flying spear... thrown by one of her former island dames played by Anitra Ford, a leggy model who, gorgeous and BRUNETTE, while killing it as an underused nemesis (exceeding a slow-speaking money-stealing Ricardo Montalbán or a flirtatiously lethal Andrew Prine) would've aesthetically made a better WONDER WOMAN. But Crosby does a pretty decent job for a decent-enough time-filling/action-packed curio: So she alone deserves credit for initially laying out the iconic character's groundwork... even if what ended up working went completely against her portrayal.

action, andrew prine, anitra ford, cathy lee crosby, espionage, pilot, ricardo montalban, robert porter, seventies, spy, superhero, tv movie

CATHY LEE CROSBY AS THE FIRST/ORIGINAL 'WONDER WOMAN'

Year: 1973 Rating: *** Young Gal Gadot fans don't want to know anyone else played WONDER WOMAN and older Lynda Carter fans are no differ...

GLENN FORD, RITA HAYWORTH & ELKE SOMMER 'THE MONEY TRAP'

<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/AVvXsEgD4K96SwmU7nW8fVRQTcCilWjNhUJgLFe1jtc8XezAAd19udd8gQuDcNZfRCEPLkIumWfpnZ-CkwS-md99r7Tk86t3y8XJfrKVgAjv99gObG2_urvW30iWM-fY5BiQtuqPKIvZQT8nCzWKfB0M4L-LgOqgoKFm1p3AgRG5nwesgxQUPn4IKNgpSJVSabma/s1968/Screen%20Shot%202024-05-22%20at%2010.56.08%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1968" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD4K96SwmU7nW8fVRQTcCilWjNhUJgLFe1jtc8XezAAd19udd8gQuDcNZfRCEPLkIumWfpnZ-CkwS-md99r7Tk86t3y8XJfrKVgAjv99gObG2_urvW30iWM-fY5BiQtuqPKIvZQT8nCzWKfB0M4L-LgOqgoKFm1p3AgRG5nwesgxQUPn4IKNgpSJVSabma/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-05-22%20at%2010.56.08%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE MONEY TRAP YEAR: 1965 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>For this Post-Noir, which didn't seem aware that Film Noirs had ended, It takes former THE BIG HEAT actor Glenn Ford to make what could be an average, by-the-numbers programmer an intriguing glimpse into a planned heist of a crooked doctor's mansion wall-safe... A man who, in Ford's opinion, murdered a thief that broke in... Part of the ingredients that makes THE MONEY TRAP a nice little page-turner with a touch of mystery, despite knowing whodunit from the get-go...

crime, elke sommer, glenn ford, jazz score, neo noir, ricardo montalban, rita hayworth, sixties, tom reese, warner archives