RODDY MCDOWALL WAGES 'BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES'

<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/AVvXsEgMS6H8hqt8hcQ9T0TrAzXDoITFP2zn2ofQ_aaOygv79SQqkq38r6QNrTnMup5sZ29FAf9IG7P5vWsuGX-S6A7wi0irFeHm31-kKoHc1Jtfk6_YGJmdaj4sur-OFSEK0EJVwO2LPdcCX_KcgiXVDz_rZ_2dCjsrfdL0KuoxziRLU-Qb3NkGT0o0dK0A-hFG/s1776/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-30%20at%204.54.34%20AM%203.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1776" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMS6H8hqt8hcQ9T0TrAzXDoITFP2zn2ofQ_aaOygv79SQqkq38r6QNrTnMup5sZ29FAf9IG7P5vWsuGX-S6A7wi0irFeHm31-kKoHc1Jtfk6_YGJmdaj4sur-OFSEK0EJVwO2LPdcCX_KcgiXVDz_rZ_2dCjsrfdL0KuoxziRLU-Qb3NkGT0o0dK0A-hFG/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-30%20at%204.54.34%20AM%203.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Roddy McDowall in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Like RETURN OF THE JEDI would a decade later, ending the original STAR WARS franchise with a more accessible forest location along with big-budget science-fiction style lighted-corridors throughout dark steely fortresses, so the original ape series concluded with BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES costing the least amount of money... only you wouldn't know since the new exterior locale (where both apes and humans can speak) takes place in what seems like something from a sparsely affordable Robinson Caruso production...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet not entirely since at the end of the previous film, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/04/conquest.html">CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES</a>, there was an unseen and, herein, narrated-about (by John Huston) nuclear war after Roddy McDowall's Caesar took over... so the wilderness setting has a built-in explanation of the world going back to scratch... but there's also an underground compound of the previous formidable city after the holocaust: where the slain governor's main interrogator Severn Darden, with eerie post-nuke fallout garb, is now the main baddie...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, austin stoker, bobby porter, claude akins, france nuyen, john huston, natalie trundy, paul williams, planet apes, post-apocalyptic, roddy mcdowall, science-fiction, severn darden

RODDY MCDOWALL WAGES 'BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES'

Roddy McDowall in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2 Like RETURN OF THE JEDI would a decade later, ending the ori...

EDMOND O'BRIEN KILLS THE BAD COP NOIR 'SHIELD FOR MURDER'

<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/AVvXsEhmZHxguttMBFqVm0GeuMs1lEY-Mg3yU0nvWZ-QsfD9YyNjX5DlGWOLxWquhczlKVT7hsbxgiVndlQSCGLU7cKn1ITG_zS5gYovcKOjbtOgZVNEnzzgaSLa6sEmkaan9_RmoCF6ltRWC9Jg8zg9TySLMfDjpZexVF_4TOLwaw78pVc7Q1RoIu0hMEN5AA/s1345/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-22%20at%204.10.47%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="1345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZHxguttMBFqVm0GeuMs1lEY-Mg3yU0nvWZ-QsfD9YyNjX5DlGWOLxWquhczlKVT7hsbxgiVndlQSCGLU7cKn1ITG_zS5gYovcKOjbtOgZVNEnzzgaSLa6sEmkaan9_RmoCF6ltRWC9Jg8zg9TySLMfDjpZexVF_4TOLwaw78pVc7Q1RoIu0hMEN5AA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-22%20at%204.10.47%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SHIELD FOR MURDERYear of Capture & Release: 1954 Bullet Holes: ****<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the time this SHIELD FOR MURDER hit theaters, Edmond O'Brien had put on a few pounds, resembling Tyrone Power had he eaten Tyrone Power and with the lean, strict, tough years behind he was perfect as a character he'd have, a few years prior, spent an entire movie trying to bust...</p><p>Starting out with a MURDER where only one hidden witness knows the truth, O'Brien's crooked cop Barney might not have stooped this low... intentionally killing a lowlife criminal who happens to have a ton of cash from the big numbers racket mobster he ripped off... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, bel air productions, carolyn jones, claude akins, cop, crime, edmond o'brien, emile meyer, fifties, film noir or melodrama, john agar, marla english

EDMOND O'BRIEN KILLS THE BAD COP NOIR 'SHIELD FOR MURDER'

Title: SHIELD FOR MURDERYear of Capture & Release: 1954 Bullet Holes: **** By the time this SHIELD FOR MURDER hit theaters, Edmond O...

DON SIEGEL'S VERSION OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S 'THE KILLERS'

<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/AVvXsEgb2c7L1CNGSRYClg2aosrvnBJASPWmgmQcSyBhOaC4BCIE6piQZeNDfy_5F8K5IP5fQpv2jxMrBqNrK5c4BwyLfm3KZ5ti44hyYAh0h8aWVuRiGq97i_irJoLWueYF9WZRu4Rot8YA2pFGd9gvMfOZiu0gaP2t5udYmJNhoIJqwL_5F_HINI-IDLWeMw/s1233/2.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="1233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb2c7L1CNGSRYClg2aosrvnBJASPWmgmQcSyBhOaC4BCIE6piQZeNDfy_5F8K5IP5fQpv2jxMrBqNrK5c4BwyLfm3KZ5ti44hyYAh0h8aWVuRiGq97i_irJoLWueYF9WZRu4Rot8YA2pFGd9gvMfOZiu0gaP2t5udYmJNhoIJqwL_5F_HINI-IDLWeMw/s16000/2.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE KILLERS Year: 1964 Rating: **** </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ernest Hemingway's 1927 short-story THE KILLERS is indeed quite short, mostly taking place in a diner where two hit men are looking for a renegade who that tale's protagonist, Nick Adams, works with at the small town's gas station... also the prologue to the 1946 Film Noir introducing Burt Lancaster... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This 1964 Don Siegel version couldn't be more different, deleting the central diner scene (from the book and previous film) and was originally intended for television: no surprise given the somewhat mundane framing, noticeable studio sets (more inexpensive than stylized), soapy dialogue and lack of blood — THE KILLERS is not violent enough a theatrical thriller and too intensely lethal for the small screen... <br></p><span></span>

angie dickinson, claude akins, clu gulager, crime, don siegel, ernest hemingway, john cassavetes, lee marvin, norman fell, race car, robert phillips, ronald reagan, sixties, thriller

DON SIEGEL'S VERSION OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S 'THE KILLERS'

Title: THE KILLERS Year: 1964 Rating: **** Ernest Hemingway's 1927 short-story THE KILLERS is indeed quite short, mostly taking place i...

BO HOPKINS IN THE ITALIAN-IMPORT JAWS-TERROR OF 'TENTACLES'

<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/AVvXsEiLkJEMbbHeRbGyKcxFBQ9nu-55z3Sdtxwaemo-AZ5lDA75MvSa04TdzQBiA6Gq-beGELjXsIhgwEfCrftv_6IjG9cuB7-vamGngU2tobNuVKyp2V42HhymoRF3u-qd7aFSBoVXdEkYzpdpuovW4ds8ihH559l8jL6FzO9bU-SFEpdDEH3oBYC7gMuNCA/s1381/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-25%20at%206.19.32%20PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1061" data-original-width="1381" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkJEMbbHeRbGyKcxFBQ9nu-55z3Sdtxwaemo-AZ5lDA75MvSa04TdzQBiA6Gq-beGELjXsIhgwEfCrftv_6IjG9cuB7-vamGngU2tobNuVKyp2V42HhymoRF3u-qd7aFSBoVXdEkYzpdpuovW4ds8ihH559l8jL6FzO9bU-SFEpdDEH3oBYC7gMuNCA/w400-h308/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-25%20at%206.19.32%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sherry Buchanan in TENTACOLI Year: 1977 Rates: ****<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table>The haunting techno keyboard riff by one of Quentin Tarantino's long list of sampled bits of soundtrack, Stelvio Cipriani, opens the 1977 Italian-made JAWS-clone exploitation, TENTACLES, on an ominous level that deserves more praise and appreciation to the overall underrated motion picture it envelopes...<br> <br> With creative camera angles, including a ghost boat being towed in to bay while onlookers both move forward and recede slowly from a reverse crane shot, director Ovidio G. Assonitis, who'd produce <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2017/09/TheLittleHeat.html">THE VISITOR</a> two years later and with a list of cult b-flicks under his belt, works stealthily alongside his stock composer to, like the 1975 Steven Spielberg shark <i>summer blockbuster</i>, not spoil the killer octopus all at once, maintaining some good old fashion implied slowburn suspense in an Alfred Hitchcock fashion...<br>

adventure, bo hopkins, claude akins, exploitation, horror, italian-import, john huston, ovidio g. assonitis, seventies, shelley winters, sherry buchanan, stelvio cipriani

BO HOPKINS IN THE ITALIAN-IMPORT JAWS-TERROR OF 'TENTACLES'

Sherry Buchanan in TENTACOLI Year: 1977 Rates: **** The haunting techno keyboard riff by one of Quentin Tarantino's long list of sampled...

TROY DONAHUE IN RAOUL WALSH'S WESTERN 'A DISTANT TRUMPET'

<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/AVvXsEg-b_LPd98vxUqqzTAoBXaAsJrofREBP1C_B_PvHgvBIv2Z1xBZ_JGOdVV67-jegadMdn9sbLuRvzg4VpcmFcq09e-xkzOFHmZ6Q0IRkU1rudB1Qotk0XGG3A836mrPEuvhlGowPXAWRA43Hqv5E4g_slFccVlrQyxcbY1eyKlIKfXr0fSoTeo0CL-AzA=s1165" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-b_LPd98vxUqqzTAoBXaAsJrofREBP1C_B_PvHgvBIv2Z1xBZ_JGOdVV67-jegadMdn9sbLuRvzg4VpcmFcq09e-xkzOFHmZ6Q0IRkU1rudB1Qotk0XGG3A836mrPEuvhlGowPXAWRA43Hqv5E4g_slFccVlrQyxcbY1eyKlIKfXr0fSoTeo0CL-AzA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Troy Donahue from 1964 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Raoul Walsh finished his iconic directing career providing the otherwise wooden Troy Donahue his best performance that's still kind of wooden, but deliberately since his fresh from military school 2nd Lt. Matthew 'Matt' Hazard, put in charge of a Fort that's "like a toe waiting to be stomped" by surrounding Indians, must remain hard and callous to what he feels are a troop of lax soldiers...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Sadly, the least interesting aspect is pushed to the forefront since Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette were the melodrama Rock Hudson/Doris Day, and their contrived romance is sparked the minute Pleshette... the loveless wife of departing William Reynolds as the quirky 1rst Lieutenant... visits the new leader's quarters, filled with pictures of fiance Diane McBain, who, more classy than Pleshette, promises a kind of wistful, verbal-driven cat fight that never pans out...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, claude akins, diane mcbain, james gregory, kent smith, raoul walsh, sixties, susan pleshette, troy donahue, western, william reynolds

TROY DONAHUE IN RAOUL WALSH'S WESTERN 'A DISTANT TRUMPET'

Troy Donahue from 1964 Rating: ***1/2 Raoul Walsh finished his iconic directing career providing the otherwise wooden Troy Donahue his best ...

WILLIAM CONRAD PRESENTS 'FIRST TO FIGHT' WITH CHAD EVERETT

<p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEju2lIuHvMK8MdJNWNnU17mt6G_IaItjKyDmtXvibfxexF0jqSNpH-yJedY_HVmQ_VB-47OnKuW9gh1nHVq5zYfnavQQsscwSlkoKsFS2Gb_Q3q_3eNLMpIoD8pgVdpoAqvGyYYsp_o6Std7Cagtf2M1VT_lZJCNjXHGerzps5EbRNOnEPxxDk1J4PLREqp/s1936/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-28%20at%2010.27.43%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="938" data-original-width="1936" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju2lIuHvMK8MdJNWNnU17mt6G_IaItjKyDmtXvibfxexF0jqSNpH-yJedY_HVmQ_VB-47OnKuW9gh1nHVq5zYfnavQQsscwSlkoKsFS2Gb_Q3q_3eNLMpIoD8pgVdpoAqvGyYYsp_o6Std7Cagtf2M1VT_lZJCNjXHGerzps5EbRNOnEPxxDk1J4PLREqp/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-28%20at%2010.27.43%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Chad Everett in FIRST TO FIGHT Year: 1967 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Starting out an old school hunkered-in-the-trenches World War II action flick with heroic Chad Everett holding off approaching Japanese soldiers in an off-river jungle setting, FIRST TO FIGHT... produced and narrated by William Conrad with direction by Christian Nyby... makes an abrupt shift into a budding Stateside romance...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Progressively ignited between Everett's surviving and returning Sgt. Jack Connell and the lovely, classy and hard-to-get war bond touring chief Marilyn Devin; yet the best scenes have our true blue veteran competing with cocky cad Bobby Troup, who's not good enough to win this lady over...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, bobby troup, chad everett, claude akins, dean jagger, gene hackman, james best, marilyn devin, norman alden, romance, warner archives, wings hauser, world war II

WILLIAM CONRAD PRESENTS 'FIRST TO FIGHT' WITH CHAD EVERETT

Chad Everett in FIRST TO FIGHT Year: 1967 Rating: ***1/2 Starting out an old school hunkered-in-the-trenches World War II action flick with ...

PRE FAME CAMEO OF SAMUEL L. JACKSON 'MOVIN' ON' CIRCA 1976

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmjnEFQprysdU6uDvFPkjkAkfd_zSL6vwxWqANNfjcStJKFRmxBa1mIh7r9wKMTL0b3GHqFydZiBWm824vg5v2N1zD3gKjHS2n1tS7e325Sj-fst6IwOnhIXLDgVF-oltuap6rtzwzmwO/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-11-14+at+3.30.43+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1243" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmjnEFQprysdU6uDvFPkjkAkfd_zSL6vwxWqANNfjcStJKFRmxBa1mIh7r9wKMTL0b3GHqFydZiBWm824vg5v2N1zD3gKjHS2n1tS7e325Sj-fst6IwOnhIXLDgVF-oltuap6rtzwzmwO/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-11-14+at+3.30.43+PM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Samuel L. Jackson Movin' On Samuel L. Jackson as a Trooper on a 1976 show about Truckers</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pSaEOxSF8N9Lc0bO3QzhT3cqIWqjVuIUkbVRDzA4FxtkMvaf3vekirom2JXM7Qj42ZB_ZuqhNeKDC44nNCZZi4vLgpBFw4fdXv-1ovWQ_gIDkusDX5lSt8qvEJpYBNgPD02HdmNxmU7F/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-11-14+at+3.30.54+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1222" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pSaEOxSF8N9Lc0bO3QzhT3cqIWqjVuIUkbVRDzA4FxtkMvaf3vekirom2JXM7Qj42ZB_ZuqhNeKDC44nNCZZi4vLgpBFw4fdXv-1ovWQ_gIDkusDX5lSt8qvEJpYBNgPD02HdmNxmU7F/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-11-14+at+3.30.54+PM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Movin' On Samuel L. Jackson rousts Claude Akins & Frank Converse Movin' On Samuel L. Jackson</u></td></tr> </tbody></table>

cameo, claude akins, frank converse, samuel l. jackson, seventies

PRE FAME CAMEO OF SAMUEL L. JACKSON 'MOVIN' ON' CIRCA 1976

Samuel L. Jackson Movin' On Samuel L. Jackson as a Trooper on a 1976 show about Truckers Movin' On Samuel L. Jackson rousts Cl...

VICTOR MATURE DIVES INTO JERRY HOPPER'S 'THE SHARKFIGHTERS'

<div style="text-align: left;"> <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/AVvXsEhukXVKQhJ_eYciCT8uXOvDtawOOTM18VIo-UMcL5Kwe6X7GYmg8StcDVxXTaKfeaUepg4voqFkObvuDSTOfAfRa_xrglnysX9QTviR4QS2z12MeuOw5dW_UFr3-sR03qomB9omDm1ko4gUoM6F6iGVL-xniZRijpEc15qA8XDzoVtz-Or1nJuSlRPJMavt/s1766/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-09%20at%208.32.56%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1030" data-original-width="1766" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukXVKQhJ_eYciCT8uXOvDtawOOTM18VIo-UMcL5Kwe6X7GYmg8StcDVxXTaKfeaUepg4voqFkObvuDSTOfAfRa_xrglnysX9QTviR4QS2z12MeuOw5dW_UFr3-sR03qomB9omDm1ko4gUoM6F6iGVL-xniZRijpEc15qA8XDzoVtz-Or1nJuSlRPJMavt/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-09%20at%208.32.56%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE SHARKFIGHTERS Year: 1955 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table>THE SHARKFIGHTERS is but an ingredient of what would make a bonafide World War II movie's main course: In order for soldiers to survive in the ocean — either far out or close to an invading beach — without being eaten by those infamously ravaging dorsal-finned predators, it's the job of a scientific military unit, stationed in pre-Castro Cuba, to develop a liquid-repellent to keep sharks away, and for long enough to matter...<br></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">That's the plot overall, and there's a lot of testing in-between, making up a few suspenseful scenes when not wasting superfluous time inland, in Havana, where the main character, war hero Lt. Cmdr. Ben Staves, played by Victor Mature, enjoys live mamba music with his gorgeous wife (Karen Steele), whose character is all but deleted by the token expository shark expert who, like any film's stock "better half" sans the romance,  must weather his new moody boss on the boat or back at a compound, located at a fishing village looking straight out of Hemingway... <br></div><span></span>

action, claude akins, fifties, jerry hopper, karen steele, philip coolidge, rafael campos, shark, suspense, victor mature, war

VICTOR MATURE DIVES INTO JERRY HOPPER'S 'THE SHARKFIGHTERS'

Title: THE SHARKFIGHTERS Year: 1955 Rating: **** THE SHARKFIGHTERS is but an ingredient of what would make a bonafide World War II movie...

KOLCHAK VS 'THE NIGHT STALKER' AND 'THE NIGHT STRANGLER'

<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/AVvXsEgNVrQ_pXJtxrN_Lgt3_mqSJZF1A-Pvz4WahDMexzLCc-q0VoCWXUR1tx-IOgBZb1DkSAJ2JgSe8A7Fn6XNO-AZkfbQrJNNmqeKQXFUJWxTSXHiffUsMUOzbhyphenhyphenoOGkQNUIlm-jFDxxD_Pk/s1600/13775883_145187605910424_2190784661683244265_n.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNVrQ_pXJtxrN_Lgt3_mqSJZF1A-Pvz4WahDMexzLCc-q0VoCWXUR1tx-IOgBZb1DkSAJ2JgSe8A7Fn6XNO-AZkfbQrJNNmqeKQXFUJWxTSXHiffUsMUOzbhyphenhyphenoOGkQNUIlm-jFDxxD_Pk/s400/13775883_145187605910424_2190784661683244265_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Reviews of NIGHT STALKER & STRANGLER Years: 1972-73</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Darren McGavin's Kolchak is a throwback in an era that at this point is a throwback, causing a double-whammy of nostalgia in two Made-for-TV movies where a snoopy middle-aged reporter, dressed in 1940's Film Noir attire, or as described by one character, looking "part of the road company of THE FRONT PAGE," is more a detective or rather Gumshoe Private Dick than anything else...<br> <br> Perhaps not a very hard stretch for McGavin who played Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer with more zest and charm than necessary, yet that jovial persona fits as Kolchak, specializing in Investigative Journalism by opening the right doors with a terrific personality, and when getting knocked down, not staying down... And to begin we'll learn about working with McGavin from one of the cast, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2010/03/jordan-rhodes-streets-of-san-francisco.html">MR. MAJESTYK character-actor Jordan Rhodes</a>, who played Dr. O'Brien, someone who actually helps the beleaguered reporter along, or at least tries to...<br>

carol lynley, claude akins, dan curtis, darren mcgavin, gumshoe, horror, jazz score, jordan rhodes, kent smith, larry linville, neo noir, ralph meeker, seventies, simon oakland

KOLCHAK VS 'THE NIGHT STALKER' AND 'THE NIGHT STRANGLER'

Reviews of NIGHT STALKER & STRANGLER Years: 1972-73 Darren McGavin's Kolchak is a throwback in an era that at this point is a th...

THE NORLISS TAPES

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpQJGCAtIkoJOaiaHhbWI-GynFZ1nGKJjoxmQJkO8sO6Dg8nHAyyMlOGq-G2uHP35EF56rdz0zRKkApY1R5jIs21mEkI44KPGDSMEWN-WR_E1Gtcfh72C5nj4mVIY0PsMzox-APDinZQg/s1600/norliss1b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463625193657033522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpQJGCAtIkoJOaiaHhbWI-GynFZ1nGKJjoxmQJkO8sO6Dg8nHAyyMlOGq-G2uHP35EF56rdz0zRKkApY1R5jIs21mEkI44KPGDSMEWN-WR_E1Gtcfh72C5nj4mVIY0PsMzox-APDinZQg/s200/norliss1b.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 134px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><br /><div><b>title:</b> THE NORLISS TAPES</div><div><b>year:</b> 1973</div><div><b>cast:</b> Roy Thinnes, Angie Dickenson, Claude Akins</div><div><b>rating: </b>**</div><div><br /></div>Even Dan Curtis's good made-for-TV movies, like "The Night Stalker", "The Night Prowler", and "Trilogy of Terror", often lean towards overkill, and that's not a bad thing when there's enough suspenseful build-up to merit a crashing climax. This movie, about a missing writer who's left behind audio tapes for a book debunking witchcraft, plays out 95% backstory, showing the author - his recorded voice providing narration - investigating a woman's account of her husband, buried in the basement, coming back to life. The awakened man-monster, with a blue face, fangs, and nasty temper, appears way too soon instead of lurking in the shadows where he, and any good horror film antagonist, belongs... at least till they earn it.

claude akins, dan curtis, horror, import, made-for-TV, seventies, suspense

THE NORLISS TAPES

title: THE NORLISS TAPES year: 1973 cast: Roy Thinnes, Angie Dickenson, Claude Akins rating: ** Even Dan Curtis's good made-for-TV m...