VAL GUEST DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN HAMMER'S 'HELL IS A CITY'

<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/AVvXsEjo6un97B2w4zbuKKV9EtsUOnNFVDWO4GEVEz6CVnuoBcYWHxm9vpznvlhlamV3t-novtp5jK4sfM8jSofMERmVEd8DqvxeOwXmK6GGXCpc5ScIPbIJoDQtoltM7StUZEgVpfJaN7AdWPjzCWPVEeAmVijIDCQI4J2ccj82yiuKzsNMNdr2fAM2uxcHApSS/s1926/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%2012.20.26%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="1926" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo6un97B2w4zbuKKV9EtsUOnNFVDWO4GEVEz6CVnuoBcYWHxm9vpznvlhlamV3t-novtp5jK4sfM8jSofMERmVEd8DqvxeOwXmK6GGXCpc5ScIPbIJoDQtoltM7StUZEgVpfJaN7AdWPjzCWPVEeAmVijIDCQI4J2ccj82yiuKzsNMNdr2fAM2uxcHApSS/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%2012.20.26%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker in HELL IS A CITY Year: 1960 Rates: ***</u><u>*</u><u>*</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The second and final Hammer feature with Val Guest directing his <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/YE.html">YESTERDAY'S ENEMY</a> leading man Stanley Baker, HELL IS A CITY is not only a Noir-like Police Procedural but an Escaped Convict Procedural as sinister John Crawford hops from various former colleagues and lovers while intense cop Baker, who'd originally put him away and is revenge-driven to nab him back, visits/questions the same people...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>From a bookie's cheating wife (Billie Whitelaw ignoring rich husband Donald Pleasence who employed doomed Lois Daine); a flirty waitress; a stubborn salesman with a gorgeous deaf/dumb daughter (Sarah Branch); and featuring various locales run by a shady gang with deliciously pulpy nicknames like Clogger Roach...</p><p><span></span></p>

billie whitelaw, british neo noir, donald pleasence, geoffrey frederick, george a. cooper, hammer films, jazz score, john crawford, lois daine, sarah branch, sixties, stanley baker, val guest, vanda godsell

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN HAMMER'S 'HELL IS A CITY'

Stanley Baker in HELL IS A CITY Year: 1960 Rates: *** * * The second and final Hammer feature with Val Guest directing his YESTERDAY'S E...

TV MINISERIES 'HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY' WITH STANLEY BAKER

<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/AVvXsEg2qla7LnDbRggENB7Os3YDgAqeOJe0arH7hpEOghBtMo_zlsWIufvESUIsT9RBXWfQ5cgpRZ0xAzAiaXVi5B4nk6KX7XeqjV4wfYSaGiECwmLaRcbqNDx1v9hTB543tvK7wmAm07w4cafsLRRu4xCcMUPcexrn-mE3JLngtDMhhlqvZyt9Yet8BZvkUKMK/s1878/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%2012.35.55%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1056" data-original-width="1878" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2qla7LnDbRggENB7Os3YDgAqeOJe0arH7hpEOghBtMo_zlsWIufvESUIsT9RBXWfQ5cgpRZ0xAzAiaXVi5B4nk6KX7XeqjV4wfYSaGiECwmLaRcbqNDx1v9hTB543tvK7wmAm07w4cafsLRRu4xCcMUPcexrn-mE3JLngtDMhhlqvZyt9Yet8BZvkUKMK/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%2012.35.55%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker in HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY Year: 1975 Rating: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In 1975, the BBC brought HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY... John Ford's 1941 Oscar winning film that somehow beat CITIZEN KANE for best  picture and (more insanely) best director... back home... </p><p></p><p>Here using the novelty of casting only Welsh actors in a miniseries about the hard-working 19th century Welsh people... primarily centering on an initially crippled son with his mine-working father, two brothers, two sisters and a strong mother involved in endless bad luck situations, taking up a total of six hours from six hour-long episodes... </p><span></span>

british tv, gareth edwards, john clive, mike gwilym, miniseries, ray smith, remake, seventies, siân phillips, stanley baker, sue jones-davies, union, victoria plucknett

TV MINISERIES 'HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY' WITH STANLEY BAKER

Stanley Baker in HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY Year: 1975 Rating: **** In 1975, the BBC brought HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY... John Ford's 1941 Os...

STANLEY BAKER IN CY ENDFIELD'S AIRLINE DISASTER 'JET STORM'

<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/AVvXsEi6PsOtZW51zPCP_5z-l-EmTH93d0Xi_r6tT2f6rMDafTPIXkIIwVoslFW2OsEJ812wF_8_7sy27fyzLVrYcTJoEY6dy8nIKPQaYiIJGmyXb1ldE1XaLg9Vf5l8IGAK64c192d-aUGeG72TvjyFK5mNs5gDRCt6LpEdTAO17be-W3dUHZSHR-mBgt5TdHVv/s1702/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-01%20at%201.12.07%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1018" data-original-width="1702" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6PsOtZW51zPCP_5z-l-EmTH93d0Xi_r6tT2f6rMDafTPIXkIIwVoslFW2OsEJ812wF_8_7sy27fyzLVrYcTJoEY6dy8nIKPQaYiIJGmyXb1ldE1XaLg9Vf5l8IGAK64c192d-aUGeG72TvjyFK5mNs5gDRCt6LpEdTAO17be-W3dUHZSHR-mBgt5TdHVv/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-01%20at%201.12.07%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker in JET STORM Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The Pink Floyd lyric "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way" could have summed up the entire undercurrent of the British airline-disaster JET STORM, the second collaboration of Blacklisted American director Cy Endfield and Welsh actor Stanley Baker... who became a bonafide movie star the previous year in their action/noir HELL DRIVERS...</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><span class="Rxerq">Yet here, Baker is second-billed in what's mostly an equal ensemble of passengers that he's the stalwart pilot of, trying to talk down psychotically hardboiled (first-billed) Richard Attenborough, who planted a bomb somewhere that could go off, sometime, because someone on board had killed his daughter in a hit-and-run accident years earlier... <br></span></p><p><span class="Rxerq"><span></span></span></p>

airplane, british, cy endfield, diane cilento, disaster, elizabeth sellars, fifties, jocelyn lane, mai zetterling, patrick allen, paul carpenter, richard attenborough, stanley baker, thriller, virginia maskell

STANLEY BAKER IN CY ENDFIELD'S AIRLINE DISASTER 'JET STORM'

Stanley Baker in JET STORM Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2 The Pink Floyd lyric "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way" cou...

STANLEY BAKER TRUCKS WITH PEGGY CUMMINS IN 'HELL DRIVERS'

<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/AVvXsEg8N6sx3lBySCRJll6wj47bkTMR8Nps5QxkLJs3OeRK8Fvuf9o-ufrLfw-oW3Fz7g3zShCLS-9Jd77cPa0i6hylzhCG4B3BW-jOmPRPkeqH3zGBFbJ0tIElupFswoysdHOJZJLLJv0zMrER95YvIp59do0UCOzIJzsdlTH0NLd7v0-gnLWXCLeUxipzksXK/s1502/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-25%20at%204.21.31%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8N6sx3lBySCRJll6wj47bkTMR8Nps5QxkLJs3OeRK8Fvuf9o-ufrLfw-oW3Fz7g3zShCLS-9Jd77cPa0i6hylzhCG4B3BW-jOmPRPkeqH3zGBFbJ0tIElupFswoysdHOJZJLLJv0zMrER95YvIp59do0UCOzIJzsdlTH0NLd7v0-gnLWXCLeUxipzksXK/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-25%20at%204.21.31%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HELL DRIVERS Year: 1957 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Cheating with the sped-up effect ala Keystone Cops, the hauling-trucks for HELL DRIVERS picks up granite and races it back to the factory as quickly as possible... at breakneck speed taking neck-breaking curves... and newly hired honest ex-con Stanley Baker catches on that he's not very wanted... that is, the boss wants him driving fast, but not <i>too</i> fast... <br> <br> And if you like breathing, you can NEVER beat the high score of antagonist Patrick McGoohan, looking like a severe, battered, modern-day pirate with a cocky grin behind the dangerous, risk-taking wheel... </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><span></span></p>

action, british film noir, british new wave, cy endfield, david mccallum, fifties, herbert lom, jerry stovin, jill ireland, patrick mcgoohan, peggy cummins, sean connery, sidney james, stanley baker, vera day

STANLEY BAKER TRUCKS WITH PEGGY CUMMINS IN 'HELL DRIVERS'

Title: HELL DRIVERS Year: 1957 Rating: **** Cheating with the sped-up effect ala Keystone Cops, the hauling-trucks for HELL DRIVERS picks up...

STANLEY BAKER BONDING ESPIONAGE FOR 'INNOCENT BYSTANDERS'

<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><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/AVvXsEjP1QPSgODcxadGDLzACTN7avqjTe-9fMYXLdq9tHg1LKypZMxOJT4rHRwIvIWJb16jI99ISbK2PoQDVfwtr1gGZjRG9pZyz2mY0eCeLkKgnXmuGhhSOcENijPY94dknq1oaW_iVSlCQBXR0Zr6jrHA6HhNEyw1NZLJZLzSIYV0NA2uOcAcaJUdM6JPDfd8/s1998/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-31%20at%201.29.44%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1998" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP1QPSgODcxadGDLzACTN7avqjTe-9fMYXLdq9tHg1LKypZMxOJT4rHRwIvIWJb16jI99ISbK2PoQDVfwtr1gGZjRG9pZyz2mY0eCeLkKgnXmuGhhSOcENijPY94dknq1oaW_iVSlCQBXR0Zr6jrHA6HhNEyw1NZLJZLzSIYV0NA2uOcAcaJUdM6JPDfd8/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-31%20at%201.29.44%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: INNOCENT BYSTANDERS Cast: Stanley Baker, Darren Nesbitt 1972 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Tough, sturdy, square-jawed British actor Stanley Baker was considered for James Bond... ironically he looks like Sean Connery (or vice versa) and <i>starred</i> in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a> where a young Connery began... </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></p><p></p><p>Then, skip 15-years later after super-star Connery left the iconic spy role, Baker starred in a movie so Bondish that... just hearing the flaunting, jazzy, repetitive score, you'd think INNOCENT BYSTANDERS was yet another 007 entry, including power-hungry villains, led by the most famous of Bond foes, Donald Pleasence, danging a carrot to lesser corporate heavy Dana Andrews...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, dana andrews, derren nesbitt, donald pleasence, espionage, geraldine chaplin, jazz-score, pauline chamberlain, peter collinson, seventies, spy, stanley baker, sue lloyd, warren mitchell

STANLEY BAKER BONDING ESPIONAGE FOR 'INNOCENT BYSTANDERS'

Title: INNOCENT BYSTANDERS Cast: Stanley Baker, Darren Nesbitt 1972 Rating: ***1/2 Tough, sturdy, square-jawed British actor Stanley Baker w...

STANLEY BAKER & ANTHONY STEEL DRIVEN THROUGH 'CHECKPOINT'

<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/AVvXsEi3mNUPnJze7V_f1kmHKaHpELp3azIwvjZsohyMspCUmS8KxIcLFsEjU3tYf17Z_jnPv_piTDgTwvq6gT2Sf5CTndq2WxJ7aF_0J2BoemDjV8j5uRntnMERONNgAkuM_U9KiAhNN6ZlrgXSDM9gj1wRRYa9Rm500No33pyi3_Y2hueWu_T0-Q3MtGi48oqR/s1732/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1098" data-original-width="1732" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mNUPnJze7V_f1kmHKaHpELp3azIwvjZsohyMspCUmS8KxIcLFsEjU3tYf17Z_jnPv_piTDgTwvq6gT2Sf5CTndq2WxJ7aF_0J2BoemDjV8j5uRntnMERONNgAkuM_U9KiAhNN6ZlrgXSDM9gj1wRRYa9Rm500No33pyi3_Y2hueWu_T0-Q3MtGi48oqR/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CHECKPOINT Year: 1956 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>What begins with an edgy heist by square-jawed tough guy Stanley Baker as a hired thief provides CHECKPOINT the only hint of not only a criminal but being a crime film at all...<br></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>Otherwise featuring cocky race-car drivers led by handsome Anthony Steel and younger Lee Patterson, standing around a track discussing an upcoming Italian race when Steel's not romancing ingenue Odile Versois... </p><p><span></span></p>

anthony steel, british film noir, crime, fifties, lee patterson, race car, sport, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER & ANTHONY STEEL DRIVEN THROUGH 'CHECKPOINT'

Title: CHECKPOINT Year: 1956 Rating: **1/2 What begins with an edgy heist by square-jawed tough guy Stanley Baker as a hired thief provides ...

STANLEY BAKER INVESTIGATES HARDY KRÜGER IN 'CHANCE MEETING'

<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/AVvXsEj8PGbyWmFmkrzdeuWj9Ysm1gt6uUpC0nDZpMiE9jSRP5UK760PegX4qd2wwVRsExm8yXdHSoHEi3oZFqBHZFL4qrbrUM_OIgkeICQiQSjpGY8m-gdHdxlirJ29vsSyoZt6yXKnMJr09t7Za-2uj2AYwSbRZ5Ybkcgk9moJw8XR0mWubyl_LVdCl954lE-K/s2022/pefFect%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1170" data-original-width="2022" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8PGbyWmFmkrzdeuWj9Ysm1gt6uUpC0nDZpMiE9jSRP5UK760PegX4qd2wwVRsExm8yXdHSoHEi3oZFqBHZFL4qrbrUM_OIgkeICQiQSjpGY8m-gdHdxlirJ29vsSyoZt6yXKnMJr09t7Za-2uj2AYwSbRZ5Ybkcgk9moJw8XR0mWubyl_LVdCl954lE-K/s16000/pefFect%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CHANCE MEETING Alternative: BLIND DATE Year: 1959 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The first of a handful of movies directed by Joseph Losey and starring, or in this case co-starring, British actor Stanley Baker, as a cop providing pointed questions for frantic answers by flustered slain rich woman's lover Hardy Krüger... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Who, balancing genuine surprise with a glib indifference, spends most of the picture dealing with Baker's intensely probing (yet living room located) interrogation — and the French title's translation is INSPECTOR MORGAN'S INVESTIGATION, proving that Baker's importance goes beyond the token hard-boiled noir cop role...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

british film noir, hardy kruger, john van eyssen, joseph losey, mystery, stanley baker, thriller

STANLEY BAKER INVESTIGATES HARDY KRÜGER IN 'CHANCE MEETING'

Title: CHANCE MEETING Alternative: BLIND DATE Year: 1959 Rating: **1/2 The first of a handful of movies directed by Joseph Losey and starrin...

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...

STANLEY BAKER & PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED'

<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/AVvXsEgaT6ouOrtiJbcxO07OeOD6xeJeGdlfEb5JxmbYQhnWoQKPSqfsHJnTgUd-1dZkIlGUsi5XlSbkYih8BGwcrlh1Z3Gv3HETmBd8cZhEtsbz3welRHL7qsrfCIHujPHRbetzeAaJzP1nLptZ89e4ywMge6-4HE2x1zU0s_e97AZbU6ruWd6r9XwOOq1TKOKV/s2010/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-25%20at%2011.31.49%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="2010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaT6ouOrtiJbcxO07OeOD6xeJeGdlfEb5JxmbYQhnWoQKPSqfsHJnTgUd-1dZkIlGUsi5XlSbkYih8BGwcrlh1Z3Gv3HETmBd8cZhEtsbz3welRHL7qsrfCIHujPHRbetzeAaJzP1nLptZ89e4ywMge6-4HE2x1zU0s_e97AZbU6ruWd6r9XwOOq1TKOKV/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-25%20at%2011.31.49%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker on poster Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun drawn on a train during the climax following CURSE OF THE DEMON, but THE THIRD MAN has been knocked-off once again...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And this time... despite a horribly intrusive, melodramatic harpsichord hammering like lightning following a horror film revelation... it's a pretty good effort as former German child now adult British citizen/jazz pianist Stanley Baker returns to Germany after getting a mysterious call about his father, who he thought was dead twenty-years ago, and is now dead again, only it happened a week earlier...</p><p><span></span></p>

georgina ward, mai zetterling, neo noir, niall macginnis, nigel green, peter cushing, sixties, stanley baker, thriller

STANLEY BAKER & PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED'

Stanley Baker on poster Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2 Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun draw...

STANLEY BAKER IN 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' WITH PETER CUSHING

<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/AVvXsEjc5XPWD6IkbkWcuKu9JhRPYtqmL2y5wsM9aQDchx2ABAG_QN-tNF9owc-7buI1JIVM7KkKqGcbIg8xVmefKTZjXscDFtv2IlBHASsikfnzBTEzZIuOenjklN63-4l3H8_af3QzxTQL8Wey_SPtQWwAPSsZVwjTdkcc0f8jcAS3ofrm2st4ttS5AE18bO13/s1622/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%206.46.18%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1622" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5XPWD6IkbkWcuKu9JhRPYtqmL2y5wsM9aQDchx2ABAG_QN-tNF9owc-7buI1JIVM7KkKqGcbIg8xVmefKTZjXscDFtv2IlBHASsikfnzBTEzZIuOenjklN63-4l3H8_af3QzxTQL8Wey_SPtQWwAPSsZVwjTdkcc0f8jcAS3ofrm2st4ttS5AE18bO13/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%206.46.18%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: VIOLENT PLAYGROUND Year: 1957 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A year after playing brothers in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a>, making Stanley Baker famous and putting cameo David McCallum on the map, they both starred equally in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND, with Baker as a detective reluctantly demoted to juvenile liaison before he can close an arson case...<br></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>Little does he know McCallum's street punk Johnny is the fire-starter. And as the movie begins with a <i>Rock Around the Clock</i> clone inspired by BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, this gang not only fights but dances wildly... </p><span></span>

anne heywood, basil dearden, david mccallum, fifties, film noir or melodrama, freddie starr, george a. cooper, john slater, music, peter cushing, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER IN 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' WITH PETER CUSHING

Title: VIOLENT PLAYGROUND Year: 1957 Rating: **** A year after playing brothers in HELL DRIVERS , making Stanley Baker famous and putting ca...

STANLEY BAKER AND TOM BELL SNEAK THROUGH 'A PRIZE OF ARMS'

<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><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/AVvXsEh7RUcjfPowY5kNMV_rlEaVifubAOaxqbRx6RMUNEBePOYeKEUDEWAsXPoTooXd_MxhztxXNRtznJB0y4IdpBuQXDjWs2cn7JDtqSpiMWwon-2WOlLUB3SK4iTdi8hv4EFTiPiZeOHCOkyus00U1PAMA6irtvK-coFAWZ3QYN8jZvh31CJ7ydArFC0oNLB6/s2058/Screen%20Shot%202026-09-29%20at%2011.07.31%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1352" data-original-width="2058" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RUcjfPowY5kNMV_rlEaVifubAOaxqbRx6RMUNEBePOYeKEUDEWAsXPoTooXd_MxhztxXNRtznJB0y4IdpBuQXDjWs2cn7JDtqSpiMWwon-2WOlLUB3SK4iTdi8hv4EFTiPiZeOHCOkyus00U1PAMA6irtvK-coFAWZ3QYN8jZvh31CJ7ydArFC0oNLB6/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-09-29%20at%2011.07.31%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker in A PRIZE OF ARMS Year: 1963 Rating: ****1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>The most suspenseful parts from the final act of THE GREAT ESCAPE a year after A PRIZE OF ARMS and the middle of the original decade-later STAR WARS entails hiding in plain site, behind <i>enemy </i>lines while wearing their uniforms and keeping everything in perfect surreptitious motion, without getting noticed and thus, caught and captured... </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></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which ARMS is, practically from beginning to end, epitomizing the sparse heist thriller where two British crooks with one German go undercover to politely infiltrate a British military compound before an overseas mission, since the armory will be loaded with cash... all for the taking...</p><p><span></span></p>

anthony bate, british, british new wave, caper, heist, helmut schmid, michael ripper, military, patrick magee, roddy mcmillan, sixties, stanley baker, suspense, thriller, tom bell

STANLEY BAKER AND TOM BELL SNEAK THROUGH 'A PRIZE OF ARMS'

Stanley Baker in A PRIZE OF ARMS Year: 1963 Rating: ****1/2 The most suspenseful parts from the final act of THE GREAT ESCAPE a year after A...

STANLEY BAKER AND LAURENCE HARVEY IN 'THE GOOD DIE YOUNG'

<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/AVvXsEjzcd_c4F9CJaJ2_H1tWJw3WMOxk5XpK8YGM8QFzB0phnTIc8Wa9KLd8VSI8OuAoihlWWnxBEsmROZlPCF4FWjnszYTjTo1nZuQpRuqFoXF9GAWGvESenNXOXNj9aSnzFRcXIGn6Cl7-NSYRpqeOGpoDJfNQW1opK2fjN89peUCoC1TdOv2bnUedQSJYw/s925/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-06%20at%2012.54.25%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="925" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzcd_c4F9CJaJ2_H1tWJw3WMOxk5XpK8YGM8QFzB0phnTIc8Wa9KLd8VSI8OuAoihlWWnxBEsmROZlPCF4FWjnszYTjTo1nZuQpRuqFoXF9GAWGvESenNXOXNj9aSnzFRcXIGn6Cl7-NSYRpqeOGpoDJfNQW1opK2fjN89peUCoC1TdOv2bnUedQSJYw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-06%20at%2012.54.25%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE GOOD DIE YOUNG Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Lewis Gilbert's London-set Noir/Melodrama would lack some of the Melodrama without the two Americans countering the two Englishmen: although Stanley Baker's working-class boxer does get theatrical outside the ring, and, staring with four men in a car, guns drawn, about to commit a robbery, we experience backstories of each... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>John Ireland's a broke, whiny GI married to cheating movie star Gloria Grahame — a mismatched couple to begin with — while Richard Basehart has pregnant Joan Collins and a clingy mother-in-law, attempting suicide when <i>they</i> attempt flying back overseas: So one American needs airfare while the other needs a divorce... making both weak candidates for crime, saving the best for last... </p><p><span></span></p>

boxing, british, british film noir/melodrama, fifties, gloria grahame, heist, joan collins, john ireland, laurence harvey, lewis gilbert, margaret leighton, richard basehart, romance, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER AND LAURENCE HARVEY IN 'THE GOOD DIE YOUNG'

Title: THE GOOD DIE YOUNG Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2 Lewis Gilbert's London-set Noir/Melodrama would lack some of the Melodrama without t...

STANLEY BAKER, URSULA ANDRESS, DAVID WARNER 'PERFECT FRIDAY'

<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/AVvXsEidPxanqRoYFXqPuOUK6scuAM4A7ICK0AtKdpVji0TevpuMZZpIiQv-NMXfRyy9Ud9A-EQGIihnfSLmMksZAYzjl8xkLqEeK0YG8AMQirP7_6MIYRu7JTBTiSbEP8MPwgktrUUoOQjtLwOIOFBiqv_9daYjcT2jVhtARdCCHbMjNmZ_8PSi_WJXF-1Iu2jF/s1470/Screen%20Shot%202022-02-05%20at%2010.23.19%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="1470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPxanqRoYFXqPuOUK6scuAM4A7ICK0AtKdpVji0TevpuMZZpIiQv-NMXfRyy9Ud9A-EQGIihnfSLmMksZAYzjl8xkLqEeK0YG8AMQirP7_6MIYRu7JTBTiSbEP8MPwgktrUUoOQjtLwOIOFBiqv_9daYjcT2jVhtARdCCHbMjNmZ_8PSi_WJXF-1Iu2jF/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-02-05%20at%2010.23.19%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: PERFECT FRIDAY Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the stylish and quirky British bank-heist comedy PERFECT FRIDAY, the most offbeat aspect is the editing, providing non-linear time sequences where uptight banker Stanley Baker meets with a flaky Lord played by David Warner in a museum... a single conversation randomly spliced throughout the first twenty-minutes as we get to know Baker's dull banking desk job... until Ursula Andress walks in...</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>While the quirky/offbeat Warner really seems like he's channeling Peter O'Toole, Baker's professionally classy role is to the tough guy actor what THE THOMAS CROWNE AFFAIR was to Steve McQueen, only his Mr. Graham has very little money,.. as does a perpetually-broke Warner in an almost sexless marriage to Andress, making for the usual "who'll backstab who?" criminal trio, common in this genre...</p><p><span></span></p>

british, crime, dark comedy, david warner, heist, neo noir, quirky, seventies, stanley baker, t.p. mckenna, ursula andress

STANLEY BAKER, URSULA ANDRESS, DAVID WARNER 'PERFECT FRIDAY'

Title: PERFECT FRIDAY Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2 In the stylish and quirky British bank-heist comedy PERFECT FRIDAY, the most offbeat aspect ...

JEANNE MOREAU AND STANLEY BAKER IN JOSEPH LOSEY'S 'EVA'

<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/AVvXsEjz2d-VoasZzq8G0jp-mP2v4vAPrIPBamboeajPsYml50CfB7TxGa1ezspYYPmKDRfHrNBxsm7srndaiBGHOAn3t_i0ovOh7Unr58Gpc9GJoIHbxG_-eAh-BnV0DunJn4WLXxPq9gBVSy2VcZz6dbrcS0NXwTaUuXDgiYH4FBoWtKhzuoa0iK7tyT1njlZx/s1664/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%204.45.55%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="1664" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2d-VoasZzq8G0jp-mP2v4vAPrIPBamboeajPsYml50CfB7TxGa1ezspYYPmKDRfHrNBxsm7srndaiBGHOAn3t_i0ovOh7Unr58Gpc9GJoIHbxG_-eAh-BnV0DunJn4WLXxPq9gBVSy2VcZz6dbrcS0NXwTaUuXDgiYH4FBoWtKhzuoa0iK7tyT1njlZx/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-09%20at%204.45.55%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: EVA Director: Joseph Losey Year: 1962 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The only person more entranced by the spontaneous beauty of Jeanne Moreau's titular EVA than a smitten Stanley Baker is director Joseph Losey, who created a Moreau Valentine set in Venice on the outskirts of the Cannes Film Festival as Baker's newly-famous, working-class writer Tyvian Jones can't get enough from the very minute she crashes his rented villa... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>He's a boisterous, womanizing fluke of an author and she's a visually artistic muse, captured by Losey's camera-creative style (following Baker perpetually following Moreau) inspired by the French New Wave yet also coinciding with his own same-year's British thriller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/12/TATDamned.html">THESE ARE THE DAMNED</a>... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

arthouse, british, jeanne moreau, joseph losey, stanley baker, virna lisi

JEANNE MOREAU AND STANLEY BAKER IN JOSEPH LOSEY'S 'EVA'

Title: EVA Director: Joseph Losey Year: 1962 Rating: *** The only person more entranced by the spontaneous beauty of Jeanne Moreau's ti...

FLORINDA BOLKAN 'A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN' STANLEY BAKER

<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/AVvXsEhryZEwIbOIBinC_dQ2AOYZnQYr__s4KYWeDN6hzZJPGwVM0qPU4yS3wIjN-f-IYYuFTzNv07nBk35UAMX1QHdiblIB8mJX4D-erykx62dgCVBLBi_nzNaQ5bJ1-aOxiZ9S8DGWRZ3C_1SBEKixLGdfKguGVahHBEZEAtZxGhlkeoW_BeSWCUv5neuAIg/s1033/AVvXsEih9iA1hUI3E3jlni9F3mBHYJNmC8Evbmf-Dd81uKw3BbqUdD3g7T3c3B0EP4YiwTBkby6CpW_Bp3MOvtinANr2zh1NbzBYdeHOA6MvlOCNlsa_gLLR27M7qKbsH0IL_2gCfGS7mEraJIHj0wZtxfWm9yIsujY1ftB_aN1Arrooa5-vdizKA4wUivgQ6Q=s16000.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="1033" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhryZEwIbOIBinC_dQ2AOYZnQYr__s4KYWeDN6hzZJPGwVM0qPU4yS3wIjN-f-IYYuFTzNv07nBk35UAMX1QHdiblIB8mJX4D-erykx62dgCVBLBi_nzNaQ5bJ1-aOxiZ9S8DGWRZ3C_1SBEKixLGdfKguGVahHBEZEAtZxGhlkeoW_BeSWCUv5neuAIg/s16000/AVvXsEih9iA1hUI3E3jlni9F3mBHYJNmC8Evbmf-Dd81uKw3BbqUdD3g7T3c3B0EP4YiwTBkby6CpW_Bp3MOvtinANr2zh1NbzBYdeHOA6MvlOCNlsa_gLLR27M7qKbsH0IL_2gCfGS7mEraJIHj0wZtxfWm9yIsujY1ftB_aN1Arrooa5-vdizKA4wUivgQ6Q=s16000.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN Year: 1971 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Most <i>giallos</i>... offbeat Italian-made b-horror/thrillers.. look great with creative camera angles backed by crisp cinematography where blood is thicker and redder than ever... but the acting, even when filled with terrific actors, can often be lacking, perhaps because all the dialogue is so badly/noticeably dubbed... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But in the case of Lucio Fulci's A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN... where <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/stanley%20baker">Stanley Baker</a> plays the token snoopy cop... it's a whistle, <i>his </i>whistle, that awkwardly coincides with the Ennio Morricone score as if Baker's Inspector Corvin got the actual movie's soundtrack stuck in his head...</p><p><span></span></p>

anita strindberg, ely galleani, exploitation, florinda bolkan, giallo, horror, italian, mystery, seventies, stanley baker, thriller

FLORINDA BOLKAN 'A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN' STANLEY BAKER

Title: A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN Year: 1971 Rating: *** Most giallos ... offbeat Italian-made b-horror/thrillers.. look great with crea...

JEAN SEBERG & STANLEY BAKER ROMANCE 'IN THE FRENCH STYLE'

<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/AVvXsEiP3ViM9fL85udSCYvryLtf3YS5u-YvEdsRfl0UVoRbcUDDSobnNNslNGiGskjbpa_JTezAQFpGLHpw5-IfiSotampL5rTKtZRGPWSn7QDVWzfZ4XR-OXDClhoen5uHHV3jOrSEBXGEskpVjV87P-oxuOpFCpIHDy_KVmE1QnmUaz9LhysvKxZglkM0ow/s1348/AVvXsEiIDvDJK-RLmWFxXCXwaWm2BSoul4AEGR2q8GiJAmg3UXSJOF1-BCwzdkVnrIlTfzl-wC2W6Q9S5UoC1bfHE6qyA5iYhhwJjiu8N0WTovXx_dp1WiquB1rWgeqpK-DCl9Yhi3bvU3w7aQ4rx6v5RNf7kPMD2V3etrihm8d8UkCM1krLpQs0bou9KxuGKA=s16000.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1348" data-original-width="1235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3ViM9fL85udSCYvryLtf3YS5u-YvEdsRfl0UVoRbcUDDSobnNNslNGiGskjbpa_JTezAQFpGLHpw5-IfiSotampL5rTKtZRGPWSn7QDVWzfZ4XR-OXDClhoen5uHHV3jOrSEBXGEskpVjV87P-oxuOpFCpIHDy_KVmE1QnmUaz9LhysvKxZglkM0ow/s16000/AVvXsEiIDvDJK-RLmWFxXCXwaWm2BSoul4AEGR2q8GiJAmg3UXSJOF1-BCwzdkVnrIlTfzl-wC2W6Q9S5UoC1bfHE6qyA5iYhhwJjiu8N0WTovXx_dp1WiquB1rWgeqpK-DCl9Yhi3bvU3w7aQ4rx6v5RNf7kPMD2V3etrihm8d8UkCM1krLpQs0bou9KxuGKA=s16000.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: IN THE FRENCH STYLE Year: 1963 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Adapted by Irwin Shaw based on two of his novels, Robert Parrish's vehicle for American actress famous for French films Jean Seberg in IN THE FRENCH STYLE also <i>feels like</i> two movies in one involving two polar opposite romances...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The first with a young and opinionated French local Phillipe Forquet whose uptight, idealistic persona contrasts his innocent boyish looks, and it's unbelievable that Seberg's Christina James... an American on perma-vacation in Paris to become an artist... would have lasted in this relationship for a narrated three months, wherein the best aspects are the actual Paris exterior locations...</p><p><span></span></p>

addison powell, british, drama, french, jack hedley, james leo herlihy, jean seberg, melodrama, romance, sixties, stanley baker

JEAN SEBERG & STANLEY BAKER ROMANCE 'IN THE FRENCH STYLE'

Title: IN THE FRENCH STYLE Year: 1963 Rating: *** Adapted by Irwin Shaw based on two of his novels, Robert Parrish's vehicle for America...

MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN 'THE GAMES'

<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/AVvXsEj3i1gb4t8THmR6S8te2HCSXIUYPN_dFKSPbpPP6tDguu34HYD_djWkqqt9-Blvh3NHO03hMqOo7qeIXyT9kbLMCA0rgtIeIgjN6hD7YgRBB2jqCCzUYq7EIcu9TaQ-Al05oKk5JhzLLCcffFG6AgCx-sQ9CVAzgd7glTa0PPhdKz-hvox6S5uoGrfWqQ/s1786/Screen Shot 2022-02-07 at 9.48.20 PM 5.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="1786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3i1gb4t8THmR6S8te2HCSXIUYPN_dFKSPbpPP6tDguu34HYD_djWkqqt9-Blvh3NHO03hMqOo7qeIXyT9kbLMCA0rgtIeIgjN6hD7YgRBB2jqCCzUYq7EIcu9TaQ-Al05oKk5JhzLLCcffFG6AgCx-sQ9CVAzgd7glTa0PPhdKz-hvox6S5uoGrfWqQ/s16000/Screen Shot 2022-02-07 at 9.48.20 PM 5.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE GAMES Pictured: Stanley Baker, Michael Crawford Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In 1970, between working with Oliver Reed in Swinging Sixties flicks and Charles Bronson in exploitation crime, a mainstream Michael Winner directed THE GAMES, centering on a group of worldwide runners training for the Rome Olympics... but the trainers are the most intriguing characters...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In particular Stanley Baker, at this point a British veteran actor (who always looked older than he actually was), as a former running champion with a limp so serious he never lets the viewer forget... </p><p><span></span></p>

drama, ensemble, leigh taylor-young, michael crawford, michael winner, ryan o'neal, sam elliott, seventies, sport, stanley baker

MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN 'THE GAMES'

Title: THE GAMES Pictured: Stanley Baker, Michael Crawford Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2 In 1970, between working with Oliver Reed in Swinging S...

STANLEY BAKER & CLAUDIA CARDINALE IN 'THE BUTTERFLY AFFAIR'

<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/AVvXsEi3F5Iaz-qSAP_SycYJBV9ys902j2LQCFAlW2OkeUY9WLVe5ruSRd7kPy31dv7ztcweZbhR36I6D5CEK-a4tkUoKBPwyVtfB55XcwScS8vtfvacQAAhhrOxE2A-deCEc_YVDp75Ods4IbxhiXvpXaWt8iPs9nNX_wjki5u2h1ZSVWjQhQVsbzLAe7J4KToY/s1042/Screen%20Shot%202022-02-08%20at%204.02.00%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="1042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3F5Iaz-qSAP_SycYJBV9ys902j2LQCFAlW2OkeUY9WLVe5ruSRd7kPy31dv7ztcweZbhR36I6D5CEK-a4tkUoKBPwyVtfB55XcwScS8vtfvacQAAhhrOxE2A-deCEc_YVDp75Ods4IbxhiXvpXaWt8iPs9nNX_wjki5u2h1ZSVWjQhQVsbzLAe7J4KToY/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-02-08%20at%204.02.00%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE BUTTERFLY AFFAIR Year: 1971 Rating: ***1.2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>When PAPILLON author Henri Charrière shares a long passionate kiss with Italian bombshell Claudia Cardinale, you not only know <i>why</i> he wrote POPSY POP aka THE BUTTERFLY AFFAIR aka THE 21 CARAT SNATCH, but why he cast himself in the part of an old rogue being kissed by the much-younger cult starlet...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>He gets screwed as well, as in screwed-over by Cardinale playing the titular Popsy, who saunters into an extremely poor diamond-mining village in Venezuela: A uniquely ragged, dilapidated third-world location that's far more interesting than a rushed heist plot involving a helicopter vanishing with the diamonds and the girl...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, claudia cardinale, french, heist, henri charrière, import, indie, italian, seventies, spanish, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER & CLAUDIA CARDINALE IN 'THE BUTTERFLY AFFAIR'

Title: THE BUTTERFLY AFFAIR Year: 1971 Rating: ***1.2 When PAPILLON author Henri Charrière shares a long passionate kiss with Italian bombsh...

BRITISH STANLEY BAKER JUNGLES THROUGH 'THE LAST GRENADE'

<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/a/AVvXsEgquLZRhF9BQo4RKq54IErf087mIvwLSIydB5DNIAQ7yWg4m1jvJ2GYuMqHThmlzHkG3Kl5-9YCa9jqKBr_jBPTMTi_ad3VJaBcTVhZOWBhfcQC8i50Y3On97OSnaIhWb6bOvKdREs9fKfyA-BYkpFPOZ4Z6Ci_vPt4nrNDHZfsgpifBJMoqdL0WjXXdg=s1483" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1483" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgquLZRhF9BQo4RKq54IErf087mIvwLSIydB5DNIAQ7yWg4m1jvJ2GYuMqHThmlzHkG3Kl5-9YCa9jqKBr_jBPTMTi_ad3VJaBcTVhZOWBhfcQC8i50Y3On97OSnaIhWb6bOvKdREs9fKfyA-BYkpFPOZ4Z6Ci_vPt4nrNDHZfsgpifBJMoqdL0WjXXdg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Alex Cord with Stanley Baker and Honor Blackman in THE LAST GRENADE Year: 1970 Rates: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>While THE LAST GRENADE is perhaps the longest 90-minutes you'll ever spend on an action flick, it actually needed to be a half-an-hour longer, right up front, since once-good-mercenary-turned-double-crossing Alex Cord is so deadly so soon, there's nothing to base things on when former partner Stanley Baker feels so betrayed...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Directed by Gordon Flemyng, the beautiful jungles (and crowded city) of Hong Kong China are shown in revealing wide shots, not only to establish the location but to show it off... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, alex cord, andrew keir, honor blackman, john thaw, military, rafer johnson, richard attenborough, seventies, stanley baker

BRITISH STANLEY BAKER JUNGLES THROUGH 'THE LAST GRENADE'

Alex Cord with Stanley Baker and Honor Blackman in THE LAST GRENADE Year: 1970 Rates: **1/2 While THE LAST GRENADE is perhaps the longest 90...

CY ENDFIELD DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER AGAIN FOR 'SEA FURY'

<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/AVvXsEipkIFIXy_Ws0i-El79V6QOqyqkg2oaQAAJ8Zqz5YuRF1IngffGWC15T1lrACa69fioxmJf9CcE0mM880_7ux51tAMFwbkAWtXxSr3_W3nmtDug8Gylhq5ekJ8wjpDDv9Z0VDIejXbTd2p7xK0trXOzi4oXo6ITQ2wH8iIAa3E-z2ZUcZA6ywanfj3P2w=s1299" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="1299" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipkIFIXy_Ws0i-El79V6QOqyqkg2oaQAAJ8Zqz5YuRF1IngffGWC15T1lrACa69fioxmJf9CcE0mM880_7ux51tAMFwbkAWtXxSr3_W3nmtDug8Gylhq5ekJ8wjpDDv9Z0VDIejXbTd2p7xK0trXOzi4oXo6ITQ2wH8iIAa3E-z2ZUcZA6ywanfj3P2w=w400-h306" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1958 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Future ZULU collaborators American blacklisted turned British-film director Cy Endfield and his previous years' HELL DRIVERS leading man Stanley Baker basically made the same movie only about a tug boat instead of trucks and with very little action, intrigue or competition... </p><p>Although the love triangle is more important and upfront as old, somewhat friendly and completely weathered captain Victor McLaglen practically gets youthful (local) Spanish beauty Luciana Paluzzi thrown into his lap by her money-hungry father... </p><p></p><p>Only she, quickly and predictably, falls for the captain's handsome new first mate Baker who, like in DRIVERS, goes from stranger in town to hard-edged over-achiever whose fellow workmates, especially an underused Robert Shaw, wants him knocked down but sadly, given the cast and old school Errol Flynn-style seafront locale, the description of a battle between old and young man for the young lady never pans out, making an extremely misleading title of SEA FURY that's also the literal name of the boat... one that, despite an adventurous 11th hour rescue, runs out of steam before even really gaining any.  </p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, british, cy endfield, fifties, luciana paluzzi, robert shaw, stanley baker, victor mclaglen

CY ENDFIELD DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER AGAIN FOR 'SEA FURY'

Year: 1958 Rating: ** Future ZULU collaborators American blacklisted turned British-film director Cy Endfield and his previous years' HE...