cult film freak: steven ritch

Showing posts with label steven ritch. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 8/04/2022 / No comments / action , elisha cook jr. , fifties , film noir or melodrama , gene raymond , heist , hubert cornfield , jeanne cooper , nora hayden , road movie , stafford repp , steven ritch , thriller , wayne morris

HUBERT CORNFIELD'S TRUCKER HEIST FILM NOIR 'PLUNDER ROAD'

<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/AVvXsEgFDVeiUeDCi8ZN3C_rgEeBgoNJA4Y-8e0whAkUoq3OjrhWkPaRnJMUqEVl8GVRmTumYgRVj0n-N3zMH1T-wEqoIUjeMQXDgfAEqmHGr3N2rGwkdLSU_C9vCuERa6E22h1VqxVjlwBNfVRl-2x-7eXhjqUv2fpnO8rGtP0xRJeHUHo5brnZFqWdAXHong/s878/Screen%20Shot%202021-01-31%20at%202.10.32%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="878" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDVeiUeDCi8ZN3C_rgEeBgoNJA4Y-8e0whAkUoq3OjrhWkPaRnJMUqEVl8GVRmTumYgRVj0n-N3zMH1T-wEqoIUjeMQXDgfAEqmHGr3N2rGwkdLSU_C9vCuERa6E22h1VqxVjlwBNfVRl-2x-7eXhjqUv2fpnO8rGtP0xRJeHUHo5brnZFqWdAXHong/w400-h296/Screen%20Shot%202021-01-31%20at%202.10.32%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: PLUNDER ROAD Year: 1957 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Hubert Cornfield's PLUNDER ROAD is more of a post heist thriller than a heist centered b-movie as the intro has a nifty ten-minute train robbery with three trucks, five men and a load of nitroglycerin: a hybrid of WHITE HEAT and WAGES OF FEAR and during which, each character has their own foreboding self-narration ("If we hit a bump, we're all angels!"): Yet things really kick into gear once the men have that 900 mile slog for the border...  Led by Gene Raymond paired with the least famous but most memorable and effective character, an edgy ex race-car driver played by Steven Ritch (also the writer), whose sullen I could have been a contender style monologue not only sets his own stage but orchestrates their particular ride's cadence, full of jittery nerves, like anything can happen, most likely bad, contrasting with Raymond's cool lead: And truck number two holds the token Noir born-losers in Wayne Morris as a soft-spoken yet ultimately lethal Hollywood stuntman, and a daydreaming "here's what I'll do with my share" Elisha Cook Jr. while the last ride's gum-chewing Stafford Repp is so optimistic and likeable he's just bound to die first...

action, elisha cook jr., fifties, film noir or melodrama, gene raymond, heist, hubert cornfield, jeanne cooper, nora hayden, road movie, stafford repp, steven ritch, thriller, wayne morris

HUBERT CORNFIELD'S TRUCKER HEIST FILM NOIR 'PLUNDER ROAD'

Title: PLUNDER ROAD Year: 1957 Rating: **** Hubert Cornfield's PLUNDER ROAD is more of a post heist thriller than a heist centered b-m...

VINCE EDWARDS IN THE ATOMIC AGE LATE NOIR 'CITY OF FEAR'

<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/AVvXsEgRq11_qKGWT10RGc-cSrWfNR-21UOU8UbcMk2dKaDw-b-bzxeTft85zPOO7Nq7P0dfXgwsgT2EB7XvMXWxMpIxy1ty8v0_agZK9lwqfb7-bEsKO04WFFNP6njhQE-xAudSt-6iMcbjNLsTEhKC5cQ1aXLTiU6XZo-U6TxwViNBELmkodpU54ZnM6_ozmpg/s2572/Screen%20Shot%202025-08-05%20at%203.14.28%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2572" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRq11_qKGWT10RGc-cSrWfNR-21UOU8UbcMk2dKaDw-b-bzxeTft85zPOO7Nq7P0dfXgwsgT2EB7XvMXWxMpIxy1ty8v0_agZK9lwqfb7-bEsKO04WFFNP6njhQE-xAudSt-6iMcbjNLsTEhKC5cQ1aXLTiU6XZo-U6TxwViNBELmkodpU54ZnM6_ozmpg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-08-05%20at%203.14.28%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: CITY OF FEAR Stars: Vince Edwards, Steven Ritch Year: 1959 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>An escaped convict, played by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/vince%20edwards">Vince Edwards</a>, steals a metal container of what he thinks is uncut heroin, but is really radioactive cobalt and, as he ventures through sparse Los Angeles, slowly dying in a kind of nuclear cautionary tale version of D. O.A., a cop (WHITE HEAT heat John Archer), a dame (Patricia Blair) and doctor (<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/steven%20ritch">Steven Ritch</a> from PLUNDER ROAD) are after him... 
 The edgy, stylized yet subtle nuance of CITY OF FEAR exceeds the somewhat sluggish pace when our ailing anti-hero, not on screen, is discussed by other cast members: a symbolic comparison to that lethal cobalt and the 1950's American male criminal... both are active, deadly...

exploitation, fifties, film noir or melodrama, hit-man, irvine lerner, jazz score, john archer, kathie browne, kelly thorsden, patricia blair, road movie, steven ritch, vince edwards

VINCE EDWARDS IN THE ATOMIC AGE LATE NOIR 'CITY OF FEAR'

Title: CITY OF FEAR Stars: Vince Edwards, Steven Ritch Year: 1959 Rating: *** An escaped convict, played by Vince Edwards , steals a metal c...

STEVEN RITCH MAKES A MELANCHOLY CREATURE IN 'THE WEREWOLF'

<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/AVvXsEjH3nJdcSykgQd1d3Cj4u6q7TQ4DpcXed-p3eXE3EdcQTZFtwzwlSDvcmvJ5S2ZFP-TJDocXjbbnp-h-0HMlbgaef20XdbAGThajTUJWz-XW2tdUZGdX75M7820Frqa_O5ipjUQN2TK26XX-rfurrAhAd0hkDuUu2M2S-HPVRLi2G9GVJ_J6vWzC2hw-ao9/s1584/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-17%20at%2011.17.58%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH3nJdcSykgQd1d3Cj4u6q7TQ4DpcXed-p3eXE3EdcQTZFtwzwlSDvcmvJ5S2ZFP-TJDocXjbbnp-h-0HMlbgaef20XdbAGThajTUJWz-XW2tdUZGdX75M7820Frqa_O5ipjUQN2TK26XX-rfurrAhAd0hkDuUu2M2S-HPVRLi2G9GVJ_J6vWzC2hw-ao9/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-17%20at%2011.17.58%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE WEREWOLF Year: 1956 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Lon Chaney Jr. was the most famous movie werewolf, David Naughton the best, and Steven Ritch makes the most sympathetic... as a stranger who stumbles into a mountainous town (actually filmed in Big Bear) and can't remember his name, or his problem, that quickly kicks into gear while he's mugged... turning into THE WEREWOLF and eventually hunted by gentle giant sheriff Don Megowan (with deputy Harry Lauter) who's hen-pecked by fiance Joyce Holden and her pacifist doctor uncle to take him alive... But the villains want only death, and are two mad scientists that add "Sci-Fi" to the "Horror" who, learned through exposition dialogue, had injected Ritch's Duncan Marsh with a serum as protection for nuclear fallout...

action, adventure, don megowan, fifties, fred f. sears, harry lauter, horror, joyce holden, kim charney, rural, science-fiction, steven ritch, werewolf

STEVEN RITCH MAKES A MELANCHOLY CREATURE IN 'THE WEREWOLF'

Title: THE WEREWOLF Year: 1956 Rating: **** Lon Chaney Jr. was the most famous movie werewolf, David Naughton the best, and Steven Ritch mak...

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)ROBBERY 3)HELL IS A CITY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)HOT CARS 7)VIOLENT SATURDAY 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)FALLEN ANGEL 19)A PRIZE OF ARMS 20)THE BIG HEAT 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE MARKED ONES 23)THE DRIVER 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)JOURNEY INTO FEAR 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER