EDWARD G. ROBINSON IN 'A BULLET FOR JOEY' WITH AUDREY TOTTER

<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/AVvXsEgiVGGAb3a1GLAL6395-mvZ8Qa6DcUt-NWXhX_s8DND1WMXzbjVgv0KhUO3IhpW7nztAkfff1WL0S780qr8zLb47rouVbWnTeTRe8g83SHr0jr0F-4W7Sw7MrvfavKEOugrlcthzMyZ3e9zlC6MZJogOpPFKcwcsz0ZINHPrDfc4xROdJXaSS4IJyILRxln/s1902/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1074" data-original-width="1902" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiVGGAb3a1GLAL6395-mvZ8Qa6DcUt-NWXhX_s8DND1WMXzbjVgv0KhUO3IhpW7nztAkfff1WL0S780qr8zLb47rouVbWnTeTRe8g83SHr0jr0F-4W7Sw7MrvfavKEOugrlcthzMyZ3e9zlC6MZJogOpPFKcwcsz0ZINHPrDfc4xROdJXaSS4IJyILRxln/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Audrey Totter in A BULLET FOR JOEY Year: 1955 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Two groundbreaking crime genre actors from the 1930's team up in a movie that could have only come out in the middle-1950's since A BULLET FOR JOEY, while sounding like a gangster flick concerning crooked union bosses, is a bonafide Cold War Thriller, or in this case, a Cold <i>Noir</i> Thriller...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>With Edward G. Robinson billed first but hardly the main character as an inspector/investigator in charge of trying to stop bigwig criminal George Raft from entering America through Canada, where he had flown to from Europe, where he was in hiding because of...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

cold war, edward g. robinson, fifties, film noir or melodrama, george dolenz, george raft, peter hansen, peter van eyck, sandy sanders, thriller

EDWARD G. ROBINSON IN 'A BULLET FOR JOEY' WITH AUDREY TOTTER

Audrey Totter in A BULLET FOR JOEY Year: 1955 Rating: ***1/2 Two groundbreaking crime genre actors from the 1930's team up in a movie th...

VAL KILMER, GABRIEL JARRET & WILLIAM ATHERTON IN 'REAL GENIUS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEhhfQDyV6ofG7T912smviE853CDRHdwmC4qDavvzFUqbMjZQGlS_v3A4NvYzzM3R3852d2jIIXY6u5rwSIimK_b3m0XMh1an4r4nff405z6JmTjJyaVdSfrr-xHnBT3d1cf_EgAgh8OpKDV9hbzLybQxza8U5zfgmXJ12NRFNJR4SLp2-iL3OKa1uSlRsvn/s2000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%206.02.01%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfQDyV6ofG7T912smviE853CDRHdwmC4qDavvzFUqbMjZQGlS_v3A4NvYzzM3R3852d2jIIXY6u5rwSIimK_b3m0XMh1an4r4nff405z6JmTjJyaVdSfrr-xHnBT3d1cf_EgAgh8OpKDV9hbzLybQxza8U5zfgmXJ12NRFNJR4SLp2-iL3OKa1uSlRsvn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%206.02.01%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Val Kilmer in REAL GENIUS Year: 1985 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In two consecutive years, William Atherton played a smug antagonist against underdog scientific protagonists... in GHOSTBUSTERS he wanted to shut down the titular agency and in REAL GENIUS he's a television science-broadcaster using his high-tech university's two most brilliant students to create a laser that the military ultimately wants to...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well whatever's going on in the cold-war subplot doesn't make much sense, so the third-act revenge-scheme against Atherton is basically when GENIUS loses the audience (like the TRADING PLACES Wall Street sting)...  </p><span></span>

cold war, college, comedy, deborah foreman, ed lauter, eighties, gabe jarret, robert prescot, science-fiction, val kilmer, william atherton

VAL KILMER, GABRIEL JARRET & WILLIAM ATHERTON IN 'REAL GENIUS'

Val Kilmer in REAL GENIUS Year: 1985 Rating: **** In two consecutive years, William Atherton played a smug antagonist against underdog scien...

RICHARD WIMARK IN SAMUEL FULLER'S 'PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET'

<p> <span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"></span></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/AVvXsEhW3HxjhKFuIalC7jnKzg8FXKR0WHuMKApuPYdmvAiIRlLioW0JnDdnYZ96_xaVTAhWMcopvrlg9IA4VP6yW-f1FMAWghv8qWGuvS4MnRUYxmob20UkuswWJihRMyvO2b7gf8tg5oKJOXhXX3ifcciSUCv6ziHmY1R6FXavDxGXZcR5MFjRK-5ztURK4ZRQ/s1036/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-17%20at%2012.18.35%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1036" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3HxjhKFuIalC7jnKzg8FXKR0WHuMKApuPYdmvAiIRlLioW0JnDdnYZ96_xaVTAhWMcopvrlg9IA4VP6yW-f1FMAWghv8qWGuvS4MnRUYxmob20UkuswWJihRMyvO2b7gf8tg5oKJOXhXX3ifcciSUCv6ziHmY1R6FXavDxGXZcR5MFjRK-5ztURK4ZRQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-17%20at%2012.18.35%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Samuel Fuller's PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is arguably his best movie... if not his most conventional... a film noir that despises "Reds" and uses that word abundantly, which is a real treat given how much the moniker's been protected since the 1960's because of the paranoia-driven "witch hunts" the decade earlier.</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">..<br></span></p><p></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">And yet, Fuller tows the line of patriotism by having his antagonist a lifestyle lowlife/career-criminal pickpocket in New York City — who's a war vet, like Sam himself, and when the cops start "waving the flag," goading him into returning a microfilm that was inside ingenue Jean Peters' pocketbook, he demands they don't force patriotism...</span></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>

cold war, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jean peters, milburn stone, parley baer, richard kiley, richard widmark, samuel fuller, thelma ritter, willis bouchey

RICHARD WIMARK IN SAMUEL FULLER'S 'PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET'

Title: PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2 Samuel Fuller's PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is arguably his best movie... if not his...

LAWRENCE TIERNEY & ANNE JEFFREYS RETURN FOR 'STEP BY STEP'

<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/AVvXsEhZD_bUZjUuD2SlQNPoky1T_bGXQkbgZ5mzjZ022JxnZAF1e8Cn1cbgGSaExmEy5cWmlxb83ZqHSQdshQ_xIZOfOSdBqNEs0DURmKbg72649XjZLBnlCFTiZjbljqVfeukpik0WQForOyomAheW6bebESxD-IOoNZvlT_caJ8ZKmvW1u8cdJz90ZwSiX2bj/s1433/0%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZD_bUZjUuD2SlQNPoky1T_bGXQkbgZ5mzjZ022JxnZAF1e8Cn1cbgGSaExmEy5cWmlxb83ZqHSQdshQ_xIZOfOSdBqNEs0DURmKbg72649XjZLBnlCFTiZjbljqVfeukpik0WQForOyomAheW6bebESxD-IOoNZvlT_caJ8ZKmvW1u8cdJz90ZwSiX2bj/s16000/0%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys in STEP BY STEP Year: 1946 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Lawrence Tierney with Anne Jeffreys, the gangster and moll from DILLINGER, return for STEP BY STEP, a programmer that involves crime yet is only partially film noir and, with an endearing mascot dog liken to (but a different breed than) THE THIN MAN franchise, it's a breezy ride...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Jeffreys is the newly-hired secretary for a politician working from a beachfront mansion and, in-between top-secret office work, she meets a shirtless Tierney on the beach... after his dog breaks the ice (why most men own them)... and from that point, Tierney has her number...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, anne jeffreys, chase, cold war, film noir or melodrama, forties, james flavin, jason robarts sr., lawrence tierney, myrna dell, mystery, romance, wrong man

LAWRENCE TIERNEY & ANNE JEFFREYS RETURN FOR 'STEP BY STEP'

Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys in STEP BY STEP Year: 1946 Rating: **** Lawrence Tierney with Anne Jeffreys, the gangster and moll from D...

CHARLES BRONSON RUSSIAN THROUGH DON SIEGEL'S 'TELEFON'

<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/AVvXsEgQ0wPk2F3UiXPMSEYZa4jOtRgDMKlKM5nzrGSJxxwLGu1KEehOEWWzUMrQY6PngvaBqltQFTRfDl4fafN88zL_bIa2nCMllFO7WHgWrsELj4hQq7zCvO8J_8VVTPX8SwYyRBVmphYa9BJVnaaAMzjbTtuW6rRDyAiid6NUcyGX8sn_LuLadGiSAXalew/s1624/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1624" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0wPk2F3UiXPMSEYZa4jOtRgDMKlKM5nzrGSJxxwLGu1KEehOEWWzUMrQY6PngvaBqltQFTRfDl4fafN88zL_bIa2nCMllFO7WHgWrsELj4hQq7zCvO8J_8VVTPX8SwYyRBVmphYa9BJVnaaAMzjbTtuW6rRDyAiid6NUcyGX8sn_LuLadGiSAXalew/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in TELEFON Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>With a plot-device highly influenced by THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE before and spoofed later in THE NAKED GUN, a string of random telephone calls to ordinary Americans, with a monotone voice reciting a Robert Frost poem to hypnotize each target... from a gas station owner to a charter pilot to a bathrobe-donning housewife... is causing plenty of explosive mayhem to various military installations...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And for a spy movie, Donald Pleasence fits perfectly as the villain: he's the one making those calls and then, from a station wagon, watches the suicide-bombing destruction first hand... </p><p><span></span></p>

alan badel, charles bronson, cold war, donald pleasence, hit-man, lee remick, patrick magee, seventies, spy, thriller, tyne daley

CHARLES BRONSON RUSSIAN THROUGH DON SIEGEL'S 'TELEFON'

Charles Bronson in TELEFON Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2 With a plot-device highly influenced by THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE before and spoofed lat...

DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY DEFECT IN 'THE IRON CURTAIN'

<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/AVvXsEjNwjuzN9LFGZnmJc9JFmzn2zN5YpVwyiK7kD02cc5fat09xOHGHdPzy3L1A4driJF2-U-YhDGh-u9ZNaoyRgVp7eNA4sS28Ikxz055wdaub4QzmuKI2XZKgOXZRTrYAgwRl4gMNMGzyyLB_5SY2A7Jf6YvQ2d2sOFUKl3hLq-WtdHHbWaxmS22mtT_-vhZ/s1538/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-18%20at%202.56.45%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="1538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwjuzN9LFGZnmJc9JFmzn2zN5YpVwyiK7kD02cc5fat09xOHGHdPzy3L1A4driJF2-U-YhDGh-u9ZNaoyRgVp7eNA4sS28Ikxz055wdaub4QzmuKI2XZKgOXZRTrYAgwRl4gMNMGzyyLB_5SY2A7Jf6YvQ2d2sOFUKl3hLq-WtdHHbWaxmS22mtT_-vhZ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-18%20at%202.56.45%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews in THE IRON CURTAIN Year: 1947 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Between the famous Otto Preminger Film Noir <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/Loir.html">LAURA</a> and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/WTSends.html">WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS</a> and almost a decade past TOBACCO ROAD is the sublime pair-up of Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney under the direction of William A. Wellman in a Cold War Thriller at the rudimentary stages of that very thing... </p><p></p><p>Taking place during and right after The Second World War, and was released only three years after the war ended, based on the "true story of Soviet cypher-clerk Igor Gouzenko, posted to the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, 1943... to reveal the extent of Soviet espionage activities directed against Canada," where Dana Andrews takes a reverse risk since nothing's worse than an American actor badly attempting a foreign accent, especially one as thick as Russian...  </p><p><span></span></p>

berry kroeger, biopic, cold war, dana andrews, espionage, film noir or melodrama, gene tierney, june havoc, peter whitney, thriller, war

DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY DEFECT IN 'THE IRON CURTAIN'

Dana Andrews in THE IRON CURTAIN Year: 1947 Rating: ***1/2 Between the famous Otto Preminger Film Noir LAURA and WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS  ...

STEPHEN BOYD IN 'FANTASTIC VOYAGE' WITH RAQUEL WELCH

<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/AVvXsEiG7cDuBMZYcnXDoVvunTECsCPxYCTjMJclEKj0-TiXTuKI6YIR1j7O1YMfX_m3d4flhFeJQfJxk_iQGE_wk0JEnzwyDbKO5gh3wopBbh42BWstOgEbbF8AuKdSt8aWCAur3gSLOd5lIZCIhqYsukE1UYpirBfQYdXv4nEAuAXk6Rb3uZIBMi_KCoRSFA/s1867/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-15%20at%204.56.57%20PM%203%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1009" data-original-width="1867" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG7cDuBMZYcnXDoVvunTECsCPxYCTjMJclEKj0-TiXTuKI6YIR1j7O1YMfX_m3d4flhFeJQfJxk_iQGE_wk0JEnzwyDbKO5gh3wopBbh42BWstOgEbbF8AuKdSt8aWCAur3gSLOd5lIZCIhqYsukE1UYpirBfQYdXv4nEAuAXk6Rb3uZIBMi_KCoRSFA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-15%20at%204.56.57%20PM%203%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: FANTASTIC VOYAGE Year: 1966 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the time a miniaturized submarine is placed into the body of an important scientist... the vessel manned by two surgeons, a security agent, a female assistant and the pilot... the insanely fantastical premise of FANTASTIC VOYAGE is pretty much grounded since it takes around forty-minutes for the actual innerspace adventure to begin...</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 the Richard Fleischer classic is more like an<i> oute</i>r space mission with colorful special effects that, while of course dated today, look as mesmerizing and hypnotic as the meticulous, often surreal soundtrack similar to the latter Jupiter sequence from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, arthur o'connell, cold war, donald pleasence, edmond o'brien, fantasy, ken scott, raquel welch, science-fiction, stephen boyd, william redfield

STEPHEN BOYD IN 'FANTASTIC VOYAGE' WITH RAQUEL WELCH

Title: FANTASTIC VOYAGE Year: 1966 Rating: **** By the time a miniaturized submarine is placed into the body of an important scientist... th...

DANA ANDREWS & MÄRTA TORÉN COVER 'ASSIGNMENT: PARIS'

<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/AVvXsEhrR1G9Ql10OAVEM60JoGxXjQG5CVyww0DYNPI_qH776Lbe4mM7Mi08H4qekmwNjCsVyOCWyrLWRRqRrygya9nyGZtlZ1HrZEyw54gpcB_cLAbgK9o48V3Q_3pYt28dMnn-m84NscZGI9Obv-FjHO7y3ADJq4T3TefVeyLXzW4cbnMUEQv9DbNaptPD2Q/s400/Screen%20Shot%202021-05-16%20at%204.34.07%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="400" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrR1G9Ql10OAVEM60JoGxXjQG5CVyww0DYNPI_qH776Lbe4mM7Mi08H4qekmwNjCsVyOCWyrLWRRqRrygya9nyGZtlZ1HrZEyw54gpcB_cLAbgK9o48V3Q_3pYt28dMnn-m84NscZGI9Obv-FjHO7y3ADJq4T3TefVeyLXzW4cbnMUEQv9DbNaptPD2Q/s320/Screen%20Shot%202021-05-16%20at%204.34.07%20PM.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Assignment: Paris Year: 1952 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>George Sanders, the classy, underrated and underused British actor who all but stole Alfred Hitchcock's FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT despite being third billed, is number three again and has plenty of time to stand out in the third act...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p>When mainline Dana Andrews, again playing a reporter like in another correspondent, BERLIN CORRESPONDENT, gets captured illegally, held hostage and whose enemies, in this case communist Yugo, winds up altering his voice, another BERLIN trait only more realistic as it's a far better picture... </p><p></p><p>And while some scenes aren't extremely thrilling for a Cold War thriller, there's good use of suspense, whenever needed... </p><p>Plus romance as Andrews puts on his kind of breezy, second-hand charm from the 1950's when, during this Lost Decade of drinking, he'd phone in some performances, even in decent films, as, for what's really a programmer, ASSIGNMENT: PARIS is... also starring love-interest ingenue Märta Torén, who co-starred with Dana in SWORD IN THE DESERT, and the cult noir starlet Audrey Totter, brooding around the Paris newspaper office jealous about Torén, two-fold. </p><p><span></span></p>

audrey totter, cold war, dana andrews, fifties, film noir or melodrama, george sanders, märta torén, thriller

DANA ANDREWS & MÄRTA TORÉN COVER 'ASSIGNMENT: PARIS'

Assignment: Paris Year: 1952 Rates: ***1/2 George Sanders, the classy, underrated and underused British actor who all but stole Alfred Hitch...

FINAL CINEMA TURN FOR MONTGOMERY CLIFT IN 'THE DEFECTOR'

<table 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/AVvXsEi5WX262LykKEfN0U70vaarqee4gCvEv41a2g0EnuR7YdehZaUpJlLkclMBcO6O8Jad-q6NaS-fdVrgcKwBwAOvsWLGFXx9NP_RavypN4Gi48q3gb3gAXdEkR6aYstIIDkP8pHtfunQKHaDN1kNkM3MXkTO5dzCEJVW8ulS_fh58th6uRg1aZqzKHgdvQ/s1169/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-22%20at%2010.53.53%20PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5WX262LykKEfN0U70vaarqee4gCvEv41a2g0EnuR7YdehZaUpJlLkclMBcO6O8Jad-q6NaS-fdVrgcKwBwAOvsWLGFXx9NP_RavypN4Gi48q3gb3gAXdEkR6aYstIIDkP8pHtfunQKHaDN1kNkM3MXkTO5dzCEJVW8ulS_fh58th6uRg1aZqzKHgdvQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-22%20at%2010.53.53%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DEFECTOR Year: 1967</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the Sixties, the Cold War genre, which began in the Forties, was in full swing, sometimes with bullets flying, and usually taking place in Europe... Yet THE DEFECTOR is extremely low-key, low budget, very subtle, taking its time and may require several viewings to pick up every nuance.. <br> <br> And for the sake of cinematic history, there is an importance in this otherwise forgotten vehicle, mostly known as the legendary Montgomery Clift's final role, which isn't a surprise when you see that, very sadly and extremely noticable, he resembles a man very near death and ironically, less than a decade prior, he was equal with (and was around before) James Dean and Marlon Brando, and this was his first step back in action...<br> </p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEhGzbgtoxY-F2OdhpHsYBV2bbesYoQZQSbWei5SPlDTEMSdC6Ty9ydeXdPvO6XZuBTxBOsJC3D5JwMHABAN_1wglGasN40GUWIh8LAXJcDdGITDbWB_SBQaDw4pq0ADBcyhGmrUCBvXiCioDCJuBHjHMRqJAAyD7xfE70KWBFYRwW9pRZuANFKyTaaO2g/s1600/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-04-15%252Bat%252B4.28.29%252BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzbgtoxY-F2OdhpHsYBV2bbesYoQZQSbWei5SPlDTEMSdC6Ty9ydeXdPvO6XZuBTxBOsJC3D5JwMHABAN_1wglGasN40GUWIh8LAXJcDdGITDbWB_SBQaDw4pq0ADBcyhGmrUCBvXiCioDCJuBHjHMRqJAAyD7xfE70KWBFYRwW9pRZuANFKyTaaO2g/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-04-15%252Bat%252B4.28.29%252BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DEFECTOR with Montgomery Clift</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>And he does a good enough job despite the fact it seems as if his character, Professor James Bower, in East Germany to visit a Russian friend for whom he translated several novels, hadn't eaten or slept in a very long while. Perhaps it should have been written into the script; his character riddled by some mysterious illness might have actually worked in this already strange and tight, extremely contained, atmospheric movie where prison-like surroundings of dull brown buildings exist in a locale that's cold and desolate...<br> <br> He could have been equally as hopeless and desperate, especially since he may have to stick around permanently. But his pallid and gaunt, sickly appearance isn't mentioned yet should have been because, whether he was handsome in previous films or not, it's not only tragic but downright distracting...<br> </p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEgoCiyIaTHZag7YgJs9SCWevaJf25LPKEZ5iuXtm9Hhaxra2Xiik6YtoUM3m3GIhFiOFT6X7mBH2GQj0l6V8e6X6XM1YSmwBfcJmAg3-YQqpId44c5n76OFUTdZxT-vhbxhN-loJJiJO6JoA_q-FE8bWRHxe3TJZ-Gsb4YRzue1JFB63MXij_IU4GRV3g/s1600/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-04-09%252Bat%252B8.09.29%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCiyIaTHZag7YgJs9SCWevaJf25LPKEZ5iuXtm9Hhaxra2Xiik6YtoUM3m3GIhFiOFT6X7mBH2GQj0l6V8e6X6XM1YSmwBfcJmAg3-YQqpId44c5n76OFUTdZxT-vhbxhN-loJJiJO6JoA_q-FE8bWRHxe3TJZ-Gsb4YRzue1JFB63MXij_IU4GRV3g/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-04-09%252Bat%252B8.09.29%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DEFECTOR with Macha Méril and  Montgomery Clift</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Especially in the extremely contrived and awkward romantic angle involving several encounters, and a solid port in the impending storm with the young and gorgeous German actress Macha Méril, her shared "commune" apartment the only comfortably safe harbor around (she even has a comic book of Smurfs, and it's political!).<br> <br>At this point, the spy genre had turned into a jovial carnival ride with the James Bond franchise, and the fact much of the story plays out in long scenes of important dialogue rather than non-stop action. Yet the Thriller genre (in any film) does tend to move (or not move) in this fashion, tickling the brain over driving testosterone and in that, THE DEFECTOR is a success though beyond subtle and ambiguous in its page-turning approach as the plot and/or purpose is handled right up front: so the mystery relies on how and when things will pan out, and in what direction.<br> </p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEhpbkXZnefMHblyaHzJLPOh-nmGQiFQCq1M2vTB7eQIYpJaT0isACjVf1AEZMp0p9GXydOhVJk-4Ez3FW_kzAArtNn-52JVxWK-fZ7QCC0S7UIUCY2DSF4zr1MsNpUsmaqAwWdgJW9vMHbLD8oxDYzfFwSjfRccvG6AElx7W_tiuYEzl0fwIp7WlLssMQ/s1744/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-23%20at%201.39.01%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="1744" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpbkXZnefMHblyaHzJLPOh-nmGQiFQCq1M2vTB7eQIYpJaT0isACjVf1AEZMp0p9GXydOhVJk-4Ez3FW_kzAArtNn-52JVxWK-fZ7QCC0S7UIUCY2DSF4zr1MsNpUsmaqAwWdgJW9vMHbLD8oxDYzfFwSjfRccvG6AElx7W_tiuYEzl0fwIp7WlLssMQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-23%20at%201.39.01%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa ht8s03o8 a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><u>Montgomery Clift in THE DEFECTOR with Hardy Kruger</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Interior scenes mostly involving intentionally stuffy offices used for "polite" interrogations occur between the characters in a steady course, and of all the cast, including Roddy McDowell... as a CIA man spouting all the exposition for his reluctant inside man... is German actor Hardy Krüger as Counselor Peter Heinzmann, given an almost impossible task of trying to persuade the American scientist to defect after the Russian he had traveled to see in East Germany was killed (unseen), and who had this genre's most coveted McGuffin – microfilm...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <p> So Krüger provides the only real conflict, making him the actor to watch for his expressions and reactions alone; that is, if you don't count Clift having to survive a slowburn nightmare of being stuck in this purgatory, softly batted about as a pawn (although he's hard to really feel sorry for since he hooks up so easily with the moon-faced German beauty)... <br> </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/AVvXsEj6Dna9RBpm3aac2fLRHs2Pj6SbAnnJRKnu6ZrbapBfZt0jtT11o8dKmlk-3hjEjDd6EFlqKWyA4zfwSM9L-STvt0gU2504aWjgTGyO1nIitbBt6MwaFQs6TbwTfnSZcDPHcK5qHir9Qdb33raH0fIaAHVJD9e5im0yP0my6kj7LHvyoWapFgZXbeN66w/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-04-09+at+5.13.32+PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Dna9RBpm3aac2fLRHs2Pj6SbAnnJRKnu6ZrbapBfZt0jtT11o8dKmlk-3hjEjDd6EFlqKWyA4zfwSM9L-STvt0gU2504aWjgTGyO1nIitbBt6MwaFQs6TbwTfnSZcDPHcK5qHir9Qdb33raH0fIaAHVJD9e5im0yP0my6kj7LHvyoWapFgZXbeN66w/s16000/Screen+Shot+2020-04-09+at+5.13.32+PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DEFECTOR with Christine Delaroche and Mache Meril</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In a sparse study of existential anti-espionage, one particular mind-trip scene (much like Dick Powell's trip in MURDER MY SWEET) stands out as Bower half-sleep hallucinates inside his barred-widowed hotel room and giving this pointed, grounded vehicle a bit of foreign film surrealism...<br> <br> But the entire DEFECTOR is, in a literal sense despite the Germans speaking perfect English, a Foreign Film without subtitles while maintaining an even-keel through strategic wordplay over gunplay, and a palpable sense of doom without a single bomb ticking. Winding up with 11th hour action that, though quite rushed and begging for the film to close, is more like suspenseful-movement as our subtle if bland yet determined and intriguing hero tries to get out of the country, the hard way: on foot, and all alone.</p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

christine delaroche, cold war, espionage, hardy kruger, macha méril, montgomery clift, roddy mcdowall, sixties, thriller, uta levka, warner archives

FINAL CINEMA TURN FOR MONTGOMERY CLIFT IN 'THE DEFECTOR'

THE DEFECTOR Year: 1967 By the Sixties, the Cold War genre, which began in the Forties, was in full swing, sometimes with bullets flying, a...

PAUL NEWMAN DEFECTS ALFRED HITCHOCK'S 'TORN CURTAIN'

<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/AVvXsEjPWQUpqwY_sz4GcHcv_uWir2oP1TH5WzFzImTTYo56lFgDW_NWBi0M-GT4fdH_Je6AEHJSPeNfoUOJLZVfHFQX4iOVOay-LaY2xLlCx8LI41dfF28Iseb1LUT2JCSKjKPH_htIzqOWOxu-/s1600/dd.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1234" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPWQUpqwY_sz4GcHcv_uWir2oP1TH5WzFzImTTYo56lFgDW_NWBi0M-GT4fdH_Je6AEHJSPeNfoUOJLZVfHFQX4iOVOay-LaY2xLlCx8LI41dfF28Iseb1LUT2JCSKjKPH_htIzqOWOxu-/s400/dd.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paul Newman battling Wolfgang Kieling Year: 1966 Rating: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table><p>Alfred Hitchcock's Cold War Thriller TORN CURTAIN brings back the auteur's use of teaming-up a man and woman for the best use of retaliation, which includes leading man Paul Newman but not his dutiful wife Julie Andrews: instead the real <i>she</i> is Carolyn Conwell as a Russian farmer's wife... </p><p>Who not only has more importance than her tractor-driving husband, Mort Mills, spouting exposition to Newman's American scientist, pretending to defect <i>within</i> Russia to get secret plans to take back Stateside...  <br> <br> But the good strong Russian woman helps Newman's Professor Michael Armstrong kill a seemingly impenetrable, solidly built Soviet henchman named Gromek, played by Wolfgang Kieling who, once he's out of the picture, it's all pretty much downhill, leaving the handsome, reluctant hero to deal with the film's weakest link: And in that, Julie Andrews basically stands around staring pale-eyed, hoping her husband isn't really doing what he's really not doing while she obstructs the overall suspense from its cinematic Master, only half-successfully covering new ground here (<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/08/topaz.html">TOPAZ</a> is a slight improvement).<br> </p>

action, adventure, alfred hitchcock, carolyn conwell, cold war, espionage, julie andrews, paul newman, russia, science, suspense, thriller, wolfgang kieling

PAUL NEWMAN DEFECTS ALFRED HITCHOCK'S 'TORN CURTAIN'

Paul Newman battling Wolfgang Kieling Year: 1966 Rating: *** Alfred Hitchcock's Cold War Thriller TORN CURTAIN brings back the auteur...

ALFRED HITCHCOCK TAKING ON COLD WAR CUBA FOR 'TOPAZ'

<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/AVvXsEhOHtkwfIaKMNB658jWPp3uNxomjM8-I9GFZVlWdtqnH7fuH8W1qKc49Kg7I0l-dDRLTVgO1-8k1LQfUuriBHLzdDRvGsAEzChVc_QmrKG4cEMoPYLj1GIzvnlSkHQKKypprYFCRbiDv8K1/s1600/A1gLSHxVHbL._AC_SX679_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOHtkwfIaKMNB658jWPp3uNxomjM8-I9GFZVlWdtqnH7fuH8W1qKc49Kg7I0l-dDRLTVgO1-8k1LQfUuriBHLzdDRvGsAEzChVc_QmrKG4cEMoPYLj1GIzvnlSkHQKKypprYFCRbiDv8K1/s1600/A1gLSHxVHbL._AC_SX679_.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Frederick Stafford & Claude Jade 1969 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table><p>In Alfred Hitchcock's underrated Cold War Thriller TOPAZ, by the time there's someone to root for in French spy Frederick Stafford, seeking info in Castro's Cuba after scene-stealing, sneak-around Roscoe Lee Browne risked his life to lift an important briefcase (the McGuffin) in Harlem, we've forgotten it all started with John Forsythe helping an important Russian family defect in what feels like its own suspenseful short film...<br> <br> The problem is length: After the splendid demise of beautiful Cuban Castro-hating Karin Dor (having had an ongoing affair with the married Frenchman) in the only <i>moment</i> TOPAZ is linked to Hitchcock's legendary style... a dress seeming to bleed into the floor... there's a lot of talky running-out-the-clock (including our French spy's worried wife Dany Robin and daughter Claude Jade getting shoved into the danger) with villain John Vernon as a bright-blue-eyed Cuban General; what's really shocking is he only <i>seems </i>miscast as his input early on is actually quite effective. But it's one outdoor sequence involving two hungry seagulls (from the director of THE BIRDS no less!)... screwing up a perfectly good spying-on-the-villains-picnic... that really feels like Hitchcock's dark comedy touch. And like his previous Cold War thriller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/08/gromek.html">TORN CURAIN</a>, there needed a lot more touches here. <br> </p>

adventure, alfred hitchcock, claude jade, cold war, dany robin, espionage, frederick stafford, john forsythe, john vernon, karin dor, sixties, spy, thriller

ALFRED HITCHCOCK TAKING ON COLD WAR CUBA FOR 'TOPAZ'

Frederick Stafford & Claude Jade 1969 Rating: ***1/2 In Alfred Hitchcock's underrated Cold War Thriller TOPAZ, by the time there...

WILLIAM HURT & BRIAN DENNEHY IN 'GORKY PARK' W/ LEE MARVIN

<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/AVvXsEhpMYnWxSgx1sxczessn8abUbrwwde2si6mlnbQa9hBl01V8RcbDQ3DHjJWVxkNkR4ojbDkCf3rfTy1XpOVZjwsH0M3-7G283ZD7256rcmMAznPtOQzSvWtDzBDlKiNA1APXPvIGnu3f-XM/s1600/11.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpMYnWxSgx1sxczessn8abUbrwwde2si6mlnbQa9hBl01V8RcbDQ3DHjJWVxkNkR4ojbDkCf3rfTy1XpOVZjwsH0M3-7G283ZD7256rcmMAznPtOQzSvWtDzBDlKiNA1APXPvIGnu3f-XM/s1600/11.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William Hurt as Arkady Renko drawing arms in Michael Apted's GORKY PARK Year: 1983</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> James Horner was the laziest composer in 1983, reusing to almost exact<i> steel drum detail </i>his score of the previous year's 48 HRS., but mostly during particularly intense "cop movie" moments in this Cold War Russian-set Thriller about that country's edgy investigator, played by William Hurt using a brooding British accent, talking the usual working-man smack to high-end KGB the way American blue collar cops do to suit-and-tie FBI agents...<br> <br> The techno-leaning music's unfitting either way, more befitting a New York City shootout than primal Russia where, to break the Cold War ice, Brian Dennehy turns up as an American cop whose brother was one of three people murdered violently in GORKY PARK...<br>

brian dennehy, cold war, cop, crime, joanna pacula, mystery, neo noir, revenge, russia, thriller, william hurt

WILLIAM HURT & BRIAN DENNEHY IN 'GORKY PARK' W/ LEE MARVIN

William Hurt as Arkady Renko drawing arms in Michael Apted's GORKY PARK Year: 1983 James Horner was the laziest composer in 1983, re...

REVIEW OF ATOMIC BLONDE STARRING CHARLIZE THERON

<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/AVvXsEj4s26K6qpTQLrHJVfbnykNOQauQ2GjifoGJtPSKXJHCgNHE8SwJSQR0gOIkibicNgYeatonfeLeAtQy1pIpqSM6cyLpjuar5u1VgckAULe0IFkN-rxV5hFFWaudBIRtk-063yTTRLEsl4j/s1600/atomic-blonde-movie-poster-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="549" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4s26K6qpTQLrHJVfbnykNOQauQ2GjifoGJtPSKXJHCgNHE8SwJSQR0gOIkibicNgYeatonfeLeAtQy1pIpqSM6cyLpjuar5u1VgckAULe0IFkN-rxV5hFFWaudBIRtk-063yTTRLEsl4j/s400/atomic-blonde-movie-poster-2.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released: July of 2017 AtomicScore: **</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It seems rather uptight, and now very dated, even cliché, to use the term Gratuitous Violence. There are two kinds, though: When Violence is exaggerated for effect, or, as in the case of ATOMIC BLONDE, masking the fact that no real story's behind it... </span><br> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There<i> are</i> good things about this BLONDE. Great, actually, as in... looking. With Charlize Theron at the helm that's no surprise. The lesbian scenes are sexy and <i>very</i> welcome, and the music, like anything post-Tarantino, works to move the action forward in a pop culture blitz. Taking place at the tail-end of the late-1980's Cold War, hours before the Berlin Wall came down, Germany is full of neon combined with grainy Noir lighting within pulsating nightclubs and sun-exposed boulevards... </span><br>

2017, charlize theron, cold war, genre tarantino, james mcavoy, new, thriller

REVIEW OF ATOMIC BLONDE STARRING CHARLIZE THERON

Year Released: July of 2017 AtomicScore: ** It seems rather uptight, and now very dated, even cliché, to use the term Gratuitous Violenc...

JACQUES TOURNEUR'S 'THE FEARMAKERS' WITH DANA ANDREWS

<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/AVvXsEhskgU8kYrWIoX1AiKjq_mayHVvx5MtzdccefUrLqk9RQ7tKBZLOeQ_f-lwMp3-hYlZ6IxAqXThp9LNKD1r68TGzm1dsFbfwwTF1vkqavNZwfhyzy4V7ORdxALGJBsNmBq-2DsdhI0Iqko/s1600/The_Fearmakers_Dana_Andrews_MOD_DVD-R_MGM_Limited_Edition_Collection_spy_movie.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskgU8kYrWIoX1AiKjq_mayHVvx5MtzdccefUrLqk9RQ7tKBZLOeQ_f-lwMp3-hYlZ6IxAqXThp9LNKD1r68TGzm1dsFbfwwTF1vkqavNZwfhyzy4V7ORdxALGJBsNmBq-2DsdhI0Iqko/s320/The_Fearmakers_Dana_Andrews_MOD_DVD-R_MGM_Limited_Edition_Collection_spy_movie.jpg" width="228"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released: 1958 </u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Of the three motion pictures actor Dana Andrews starred in under the direction of Noir-Horror guru Jacques Tourneur, we'll cover two, made a year apart: CURSE OF THE DEMON and THE FEARMAKERS...<br> <br> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtsToJniIDmDF3d8RZLigmFnWFdu1ZAc9dVo9xOMI-fSeLHWLnxWtEPDsKRcBmQPxop9Pe7DxkZs47ZI12dhVYiBKCc5b7IPsEnvkjlOl1dIm9aOBbtPHYXMtg9qw1O8olXdcOsgpCjuQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-08-03+at+9.35.17+PM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="694" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtsToJniIDmDF3d8RZLigmFnWFdu1ZAc9dVo9xOMI-fSeLHWLnxWtEPDsKRcBmQPxop9Pe7DxkZs47ZI12dhVYiBKCc5b7IPsEnvkjlOl1dIm9aOBbtPHYXMtg9qw1O8olXdcOsgpCjuQ/s320/Screen+Shot+2019-08-03+at+9.35.17+PM.png" width="320"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews w/ Marilee Earle & Dick Foran's shadow</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> Very rare a film go after the "Peace at any price" groups even and the 1950's when <i>not a</i> sci-fi flick played out without a hidden or not so subtle message against nuclear weapons — and FEARMAKERS is a reverse sermon in a vacuum, and it's not a "Red Scare" film, which would center on Americans fearing Americans but instead, having been captured and tortured by actual Communists in their country, fear is real, palpable, and has merit: Herein beginning with a low-budget, rushed version of patriotism about as obvious as Michael Rennie leaving Earth following his Martian State of the Union Address...<br> <br> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEj8goaa7WN9OqPNuOLPGv7Ug4wnrO5can9amuo_WjyLMU63p7fpTFnLGlVjr0-AyXdBED1mMhUPjUGW0XUvtmJwtwX5u1leQqo0ZSK_fB8tsbQwrs6LLQH43D7i7is-fvR3x3bT31KPqoyi/s1600/14939381_222372341525283_5841347958043316284_o.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8goaa7WN9OqPNuOLPGv7Ug4wnrO5can9amuo_WjyLMU63p7fpTFnLGlVjr0-AyXdBED1mMhUPjUGW0XUvtmJwtwX5u1leQqo0ZSK_fB8tsbQwrs6LLQH43D7i7is-fvR3x3bT31KPqoyi/s400/14939381_222372341525283_5841347958043316284_o.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews gives to faint spells no thanks to Korea</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> But enough of all that... FEAR is no space movie or the usual Noir despite one of that genre's signature leading men from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/dana%20andrews">LAURA, FALLEN ANGEL, BOOMERANG, DAISY KENYON, WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS</a>, and especially OUT OF THE PAST director Jacques Tourneur, who Andrews requested after the surprise success and worthy turnout of their first collaboration (reviewed below) the year before, CURSE OF THE DEMON...<br> <br> Our heroic when tortured after being captured in Korea war-vet Andrews has a horrible fake-looking beard in the prologue — and thereafter flashbacks — and it's nice to see him all cleaned up and suited, back home, processed by the Army as sane (despite reoccurring dizzy spells), ready to dive back into work — his own business: A somewhat complicated operation that has a big surprise waiting, and it's no party...<br>

cold war, dana andrews, dick foran, fifties, film noir or melodrama, jacques tourneur, kelly thordsen, marilee earle, mel torme, politics, thriller

JACQUES TOURNEUR'S 'THE FEARMAKERS' WITH DANA ANDREWS

Year Released: 1958  Of the three motion pictures actor Dana Andrews starred in under the direction of Noir-Horror guru Jacques Tourneur...

STEVE SPIELBERG DIRECTS TOM HANKS IN 'BRIDGE OF SPIES'

<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/AVvXsEhKBtF4zPiFaNP0xZ7oOzYZJCHvJ86J1aV6FIYlLQnci9MbIcIUCEcHpLRq9fImdvkXcRf5JLUMJQQ6tsa6pBZlxtRDvmDXyqZZL1RMNHt8z8uwDn44cveNglW0YoICDHnxuJcpY-wqLqI/s1600/nefpp9ay64f6ig_2_a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKBtF4zPiFaNP0xZ7oOzYZJCHvJ86J1aV6FIYlLQnci9MbIcIUCEcHpLRq9fImdvkXcRf5JLUMJQQ6tsa6pBZlxtRDvmDXyqZZL1RMNHt8z8uwDn44cveNglW0YoICDHnxuJcpY-wqLqI/s400/nefpp9ay64f6ig_2_a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2015 director: Steven Spielberg Starring: Tom Hanks</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Cold War thrillers aren't always very thrilling, and mostly rely on mellow, page-turning espionage led by tons of dialogue.<br /> <br /> Thus Steven Spielberg creatively glides through the real life story of James B. Donovan...<br /> <br /> Who was a very reluctant insurance lawyer hired to take on an inconvenient, controversial, potentially dangerous yet legitimately lawful case in 1957, an era when most movies have American bigwigs, from the FBI to the CIA to all things Military, behaving worse than demonic mobsters.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEgiEc-unZ6oYyEpOBpKDOKTaxRTab3feRCj6r3Nu-kZwcaxuxKfEZzPScX2SBh4Sl4gbLhsmOwFMwOGQUne4DtMC2nsuysAegqJgFAuhiHhM_hWtZi1m_xXW1_D0fsm89CEcccK6T_onQQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2015-10-19+at+12.47.08+AM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEc-unZ6oYyEpOBpKDOKTaxRTab3feRCj6r3Nu-kZwcaxuxKfEZzPScX2SBh4Sl4gbLhsmOwFMwOGQUne4DtMC2nsuysAegqJgFAuhiHhM_hWtZi1m_xXW1_D0fsm89CEcccK6T_onQQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2015-10-19+at+12.47.08+AM.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> This particular vehicle is really a simple tale tha<i>t, </i>despite making the accused, kindhearted, soft-spoken Russian Spy seem a bit too perfect compared to his riled-up U.S. captors, Hanks fits everything together, not playing the role like a modern progressive stuck in a one-dimensional decade while somehow reflectively "knowing better," as happens in a lot of post-WWII history flicks: he really seems (and looks) like he's from that particular era, learning while moving from one semi intriguing obstacle to the next. <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> If it's said that BRIDGE OF SPIES is a slow and/or boring motion picture, well, there is one scene in a fast moving car, and Spielberg gets his war-action on when a spy plane is shot down with a last-minute parachute...<br /> <br /> And that pilot (plus an added young man, not very fleshed-out but representing "the future" educational system) is a possible trade-off for Hanks' Russian client, originally sentenced in what plays out like a dressed-up Kangaroo court, becoming a sort of older, wise mentor while sharing a Ben Kingsley/Liam Neeson SCHINDLER'S LIST style chemistry with Hanks: needing few spoken words to genuinely bond, and, eventually, when our hero goes from America to the divided Germany,  there's never a feeling of serious, impending danger. But his determined discomfort is palpable enough to drive the story of an otherwise common man hired for the last thing he wanted to be part of, and, thinking on his toes, makes for an interesting "character" in a nicely flowing Cold War flick that's perfectly lukewarm... feeling like it intentionally settles for pretty good instead of Oscar-bait greatness, and in that, succeeds.

2015, cold war, fifties-era, spy, steven spielberg, tom hanks

STEVE SPIELBERG DIRECTS TOM HANKS IN 'BRIDGE OF SPIES'

year: 2015 director: Steven Spielberg Starring: Tom Hanks Cold War thrillers aren't always very thrilling, and mostly rely on mellow...

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN DIRECTS CHEVY CHASE IN 'DEAL OF THE CENTURY'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ovJba-kF2HLbCv5ogxip74BlEWDogejUx1kESoMCoZDZ-6Je1vk0uLIkSVH0IvtY9eO7xfKnYeZzPv371gUBwmWKqDu3JzxF_K-MBvk3Z2nWmzwG-rUWntIkThnzGYcKXCC_MtHcxpmfLf2EBwbJ1Z6WUR02Cj9o_orQ0vRRRVFUe78gBAPBpwKWpbar/s1152/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-13%20at%204.19.18%20AM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1152" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ovJba-kF2HLbCv5ogxip74BlEWDogejUx1kESoMCoZDZ-6Je1vk0uLIkSVH0IvtY9eO7xfKnYeZzPv371gUBwmWKqDu3JzxF_K-MBvk3Z2nWmzwG-rUWntIkThnzGYcKXCC_MtHcxpmfLf2EBwbJ1Z6WUR02Cj9o_orQ0vRRRVFUe78gBAPBpwKWpbar/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-13%20at%204.19.18%20AM.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>1983 rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Playing like an unfunny FLETCH or a pointless SPIES LIKE US, this 1980's political comedy stars Chevy Chase as a glib arms dealer with askew charm and moral ambiguity, venturing throughout a third world country, and then back home, without a care in the world: just as long as he's paid.<br /> <br /> Sidekick Gregory Hines and love interest Sigourney Weaver add little to this dated mess directed by William Friedkin who, at this point, couldn't direct traffic. And as anti-cold-war comedies go, this makes BEST DEFENSE seem like DR. STRANGELOVE. The poster to this film has the three leads, Chevy Chase, Gregory Hines and Sigourney Weaver with their thumbs out. Chase and Hines are giving thumbs up, and Weaver's thumb is down. She's got the right idea.  <br />

chevy chase, cold war, comedy, eighties, pepe serna, sigourney weaver, vince edwards, william friedkin

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN DIRECTS CHEVY CHASE IN 'DEAL OF THE CENTURY'

1983 rating: ** Playing like an unfunny FLETCH or a pointless SPIES LIKE US, this 1980's political comedy stars Chevy Chase as a glib a...

SPIES LIKE US

<span style="font-weight: bold;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUhmRNOlFb7yXiC6KOsZas7UrHjoxBdEt-Ge3AYcAn1c8JlW5cErA6UhRudGN11eDEVHl7gi2iLPac1NJt45Y54THjG6_53q1U2hAP7Vuq0cY-61M1KBqQBMYFxdiDwBxUa3Y0odST9kMCzmdYTTJM2i9qReVvUJ5TTKZTBNqeziIMuVQMZ3pPgorZ3ne/s1566/Screen%20Shot%202024-07-29%20at%201.29.34%20PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1566" data-original-width="1306" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUhmRNOlFb7yXiC6KOsZas7UrHjoxBdEt-Ge3AYcAn1c8JlW5cErA6UhRudGN11eDEVHl7gi2iLPac1NJt45Y54THjG6_53q1U2hAP7Vuq0cY-61M1KBqQBMYFxdiDwBxUa3Y0odST9kMCzmdYTTJM2i9qReVvUJ5TTKZTBNqeziIMuVQMZ3pPgorZ3ne/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-07-29%20at%201.29.34%20PM.jpeg" width="267" /></a></div>title:</span> SPIES LIKE US<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>1986<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Donna Dixon, Bernie Casey<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> **1/2<br /><br />This mid-eighties John Landis comedy has Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd as two Washington slackers sent as pawns into Pakistan and Russia. There are a few good moments and a semi-involving adventure, just not many real genuine laughs. Scenes where the boys train as paratroopers in America, and first sent on their mission, exceeds the finale involving a hidden nuclear missile. Landis busily juggles homages of the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road To" movies (Hope provides a cameo), "Lawrence of Arabia" and cold war espionage, forgetting that a comedy should be more funny than significant. But the real problem are our two leads: while both are likable, it's never clear which is the straight man and which is the goofball. And prepare for the worst closing credit song ever composed for the screen by, alas, Paul McCartney. <br />

action, adventure, bernie casey, buddy, chevy chase, cold war, comedy, dan aykroyd, donna dixon, eighties, espionage, john landis

SPIES LIKE US

title: SPIES LIKE US year: 1986 cast: Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Donna Dixon, Bernie Casey rating: **1/2 This mid-eighties John Landis come...