JAMES CAGNEY CAGED UP IN 'WHITE HEAT' WITH VIRGINA MAYO

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEi4RAPZGyQokKL4V2ZmArdYOL8DXj4ELfZKI2OZxmp9Rzjj5jftlSKsRdcBtZfONhW_A1ADVDOtqf9n6qwmt0x0CETNDBah4Hc5ovcjqFdn4UO2T55jUfb-xysPjc4R4Y3l5gLsBH_bpCPNqmQy-ZVryojYsmnymIvnv2s42T6ypUwicpuzG2P6CjfK0nWf/s2114/Screen%20Shot%202026-02-15%20at%209.07.11%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1144" data-original-width="2114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4RAPZGyQokKL4V2ZmArdYOL8DXj4ELfZKI2OZxmp9Rzjj5jftlSKsRdcBtZfONhW_A1ADVDOtqf9n6qwmt0x0CETNDBah4Hc5ovcjqFdn4UO2T55jUfb-xysPjc4R4Y3l5gLsBH_bpCPNqmQy-ZVryojYsmnymIvnv2s42T6ypUwicpuzG2P6CjfK0nWf/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202026-02-15%20at%209.07.11%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: WHITE HEAT 1949 Prison Sentence: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At the peak of the 1940's, no one but James Cagney could play the toughest guy in crime who remains the world's toughest criminal even after suffering random massive headaches where he's basically screaming and crying for his mommy, either in front of his own gang or an entire prison population...<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></p><p>Simply because no one dare call him on it, making WHITE HEAT not only Cagney's greatest Classic Gangster flick but an otherwise bonafide Monster Movie within the Action-Crime arena (in one spooky sequence of lurking, vengeful menace in a rural country house, Cagney's Cody Jarrett is a "not human" Horror genre killer)...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, aline towne, classic gangster, crime, edmond o'brien, forties, heist, james cagney, john archer, post-heist, prison, robert osterloh, steve cochran, virginia mayo

JAMES CAGNEY CAGED UP IN 'WHITE HEAT' WITH VIRGINA MAYO

Title: WHITE HEAT 1949 Prison Sentence: ****1/2 At the peak of the 1940's, no one but James Cagney could play the toughest guy in crime ...

EDMOND O'BRIEN RACES THROUGH THE CLASSIC FILM NOIR 'D.O.A.'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjdDX4nhHupyCn_IlsmPtDOB0KyUkd8TQwt3HWQ8rFF9IyLMyS6F3yhfUDATt_gHV6xcFeraN7tUDvv0rsFwpeKfzd8PdcqE6RDrR-0ET3GeKIWJ2WTJ8PujA6DA7lRmsNukJnu3Jwg9EcnQhc_UgCPCSScnYcMplgsX1WLOxniwN8g9iFzNTX07lsl-iXa/s2076/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-22%20at%208.43.38%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1288" data-original-width="2076" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdDX4nhHupyCn_IlsmPtDOB0KyUkd8TQwt3HWQ8rFF9IyLMyS6F3yhfUDATt_gHV6xcFeraN7tUDvv0rsFwpeKfzd8PdcqE6RDrR-0ET3GeKIWJ2WTJ8PujA6DA7lRmsNukJnu3Jwg9EcnQhc_UgCPCSScnYcMplgsX1WLOxniwN8g9iFzNTX07lsl-iXa/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-22%20at%208.43.38%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: D.O.A. Year: 1959 Director: Rudolph Maté Stars: Edmond O'Brien Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>For one of the most literally deadly-serious film noirs ever made, when accountant Edmond O'Brien goes from his L. A. office to a San Francisco hotel for a vacation, there are cheesy wolf-whistles added whenever a beautiful woman walks by, starting at the lobby and then upstairs where a salesman convention rages — but for O'Brien's Frank Bigelow the good times don't roll very long...<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></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Although the rudimentary suarez<i> is</i> like a short film all its own, which is what distinguishes D. O. A. since it's really three pictures in one: the first peaking at a noisy jazz club where O'Brien's distracted by gorgeous and rich, blonde jazz-freak Virginia Lee while a hooded mystery man puts something in his drink, causing O'Brien to wake up feeling even worse than the hangover he'd have anyway...</p><p><span></span></p>

beverly garland, edmond o'brien, fifties, film noir or melodrama, hugh o'brian, jazz-score, laurette luez, luther adler, mystery, neville brand, race against time, rudolph maté', thriller, virginia lee

EDMOND O'BRIEN RACES THROUGH THE CLASSIC FILM NOIR 'D.O.A.'

Title: D.O.A. Year: 1959 Director: Rudolph Maté Stars: Edmond O'Brien Rating: **** For one of the most literally deadly-serious film noi...

BURT LANCASTER IN HEMINGWAY'S PULP FICTION 'THE KILLERS'

<p></p><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/AVvXsEi15dEgwX5yFIl5fXt0Jn_Ymd82iLvH6ROnOXhGBBjrPWvu-m6UyDBiiEvyjnU7w37XEAoGIbOIahzeWPoFDGy1yX7-OY_4sz1JNNoaVZoxCdF2NmDuR8FBZtzSPOt5Usf_zNizEHgj9srS2heR_pvKxDkVeQGJbOFVx1jlqJW5zue8ofXGwEi8tu7FE7Hq/s1795/0%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1089" data-original-width="1795" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15dEgwX5yFIl5fXt0Jn_Ymd82iLvH6ROnOXhGBBjrPWvu-m6UyDBiiEvyjnU7w37XEAoGIbOIahzeWPoFDGy1yX7-OY_4sz1JNNoaVZoxCdF2NmDuR8FBZtzSPOt5Usf_zNizEHgj9srS2heR_pvKxDkVeQGJbOFVx1jlqJW5zue8ofXGwEi8tu7FE7Hq/s16000/0%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE KILLERS Year: 1946 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Little did Ernest Hemingway know, when he created the very short short-story THE KILLERS, that he was writing a first act of what would become two movies... the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/10/Killers2.html">second</a> a year after his death and beginning with the same-titled film noir introducing Burt Lancaster, who winds up telling young Nick Adams (Hemingway's autobiographical doppelganger) that he doesn't mind if two hit-men murder him...<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>This happens after a wiseguy duo get information in a small town diner while progressively taking it over, learning where Lancaster's The Swede is hiding out and, as the titular villains, William Conrad and Charles McGraw seem ready to villainize the entire picture... but they'd have to wait until a climactic encore as Jeff Corey and Jack Lambert help fill the backstory-hoodlum roles in-between...</p><p><span></span></p>

albert dekker, ava gardner, burt lancaster, edmond o'brien, ernest hemingway, film noir or melodrama, forties, jack lambert, jeff corey, phil brown, post-heist, thriller

BURT LANCASTER IN HEMINGWAY'S PULP FICTION 'THE KILLERS'

Title: THE KILLERS Year: 1946 Rating: **** Little did Ernest Hemingway know, when he created the very short short-story THE KILLERS, that he...

CARROLL BAKER'S 'SYLVIA' INVESTIGATED BY GEORGE MAHARIS

<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/AVvXsEimET0B6Y_u80rfvvkEx1oZVlDy4FWhMHsntQ8gbLgq-Uv8hwVqSrwf68vQ4HEEixmf-binpPu-5cCbJPK9oB1Use5y3GjbolGfuJa4wuNeq_QyreccEW1P_wxO5FubD_8my_Wm9NXNDO9ax_jmHVLFbe9h0cpQNOZlAvm6npRAtkdGBQX-8QxfbCnm3A/s1518/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-14%20at%202.40.31%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1146" data-original-width="1518" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimET0B6Y_u80rfvvkEx1oZVlDy4FWhMHsntQ8gbLgq-Uv8hwVqSrwf68vQ4HEEixmf-binpPu-5cCbJPK9oB1Use5y3GjbolGfuJa4wuNeq_QyreccEW1P_wxO5FubD_8my_Wm9NXNDO9ax_jmHVLFbe9h0cpQNOZlAvm6npRAtkdGBQX-8QxfbCnm3A/w400-h303/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-14%20at%202.40.31%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SYLVIA Year: 1965 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Beginning as a new take on the classic film noir THE BIG SLEEP, where a comfortably stricken rich man hires a streetwise private eye to investigate his missing daughter: well it's a fiance this time, here played by the lovely yet moodily enigmatic Carroll Baker, morphing from an older street-urchin to a younger well-read lush, and, in-place of a slowburn crime thriller is a jigsaw-puzzle study of a then-modern woman, pieced together by Maharis like the reporter in CITIZEN KANE...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So half of SYLVIA are flashbacks consisting of the title character, a runaway who grew up in a poor, abusive family, wandering from various homes, mostly man to man, as the kind of prostitute you've probably never of since she doesn't seem to actually <i>sleep</i> with anyone while Maharis, surprisingly subdued in weary cruise-control compared to his edgy persona from TV's ROUTE 66, falls in love with this lovely phantom LAURA-style in Gordon Douglas's theatrical yet episodically-paced neo noir that... since 1965 was too progressive for subtlety and too regressed for daring exploitation... would have been far better either twenty-years earlier or ten years ahead. </p><span></span>

ann southern, carroll baker, edmond o'brien, george maharis, gordon douglas, gumshoe, neo noir, sixties, viveca lindfors

CARROLL BAKER'S 'SYLVIA' INVESTIGATED BY GEORGE MAHARIS

Title: SYLVIA Year: 1965 Rating: ** Beginning as a new take on the classic film noir THE BIG SLEEP, where a comfortably stricken rich man hi...

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...

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...

EDMOND O'BRIEN HEATS ROBERT OSTERLOH IN '711 OCEAN DRIVE'

<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/AVvXsEgfF2P-s-JjJgRMEFtA4RZuSRp6OdSf8JHTZ-DWkmsDwJBN_XHGmeXCTldKsDCZ9BxDKWGUsEw66DUNf9DPM0z4QtXfRB63JucMrrAusfDlfKV5cqA_6QFDRgbGC40css9Lsat6uaFFoCoovDUK8QnFgsjo7ddkXyttanL_Twfk4BvgTmuh1_VTTm-WCg/s2048/DnuC8AxUcAAX3vX.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1089" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfF2P-s-JjJgRMEFtA4RZuSRp6OdSf8JHTZ-DWkmsDwJBN_XHGmeXCTldKsDCZ9BxDKWGUsEw66DUNf9DPM0z4QtXfRB63JucMrrAusfDlfKV5cqA_6QFDRgbGC40css9Lsat6uaFFoCoovDUK8QnFgsjo7ddkXyttanL_Twfk4BvgTmuh1_VTTm-WCg/s16000/DnuC8AxUcAAX3vX.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>White Heat's Robert Osterloh & Edmond O'Brien in 711 OCEAN DRIVE Year: 1950 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In one of the most all-out entertaining and fast-moving film noirs from the B&W-shot 1950's, the only outright/upfront flaw about 711 OCEAN DRIVE is the title... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>An address where phone company employee turned bookie's tech turned powerful bookie supposedly lives, yet it's not only never stated but there's only one or two scenes at his beachfront property, having little to do with the ever-progressing plot-line...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, barry kelley, con man, crime, don porter, dorothy patrick, edmond o'brien, fifties, film noir or melodrama, hit-man, howard st. john, joanne dru, otto kruger, robert osterloh, thriller

EDMOND O'BRIEN HEATS ROBERT OSTERLOH IN '711 OCEAN DRIVE'

White Heat's Robert Osterloh & Edmond O'Brien in 711 OCEAN DRIVE Year: 1950 Rating: **** In one of the most all-out entertaining...

HUBERT CORNFIELD DIRECTS EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'THE 3RD VOICE'

<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/AVvXsEiqjcKVLfpzFDJ0k15RmIEXPFAhya1QQplchZ5cLCK3HnMC3Fwx0FdUX4mf9QxV1IEWhK__BullFOkCBfBYuo8WmBzfvJxbcV3Wqg97Szeck8CRormJgUW0TVzm96RPR5LTVohwMA7iRsBB/s517/3RDVOICE1SHHRws.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="517" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqjcKVLfpzFDJ0k15RmIEXPFAhya1QQplchZ5cLCK3HnMC3Fwx0FdUX4mf9QxV1IEWhK__BullFOkCBfBYuo8WmBzfvJxbcV3Wqg97Szeck8CRormJgUW0TVzm96RPR5LTVohwMA7iRsBB/w400-h399/3RDVOICE1SHHRws.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: The 3rd Voice Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/01/thetameone.html">THE NIGHT AND THE FOLLOWING DAY</a>, the infamous Neo Noir with a troubled production and problems with star Marlon Brando that ended the Hollywood career of director Hubert Cornfield, it's important to go back and see how Cornfield made his few genuine film noir vehicles, or in this case, post noir, the period before anyone knew exactly what noir was to realize it had ended...<br></p><p></p><p>Enter THE 3RD VOICE, a B&W thriller (produced by Maury Dexter) that plays out like one right up to the casting of Edmond O'Brien as a hired con artist who works very hard to impersonate the voice of a blowhard rich man, hired by his disgruntled secretary, another veteran in an effectively sassy, snarky Lorraine Day, and the set-up about O'Brien learning the man's voice and dealings is covered with more expository polish than the rest of an intriguing yet sporadically unfocused thriller... </p><p>Taking place in Mexico, where O'Brien, now solo, maintains the impersonation, mostly during a string of nervous phone calls (that include Noirish self-narration), and where the typical human "close call" occurs, almost meeting one of the real man's old friends. And it's all suspenseful enough. But how exactly he's decided to get all the money (as the actual con plays out) is confusing... Yet everything becomes more clear when the big twist is revealed, and it's a pretty damn good one. But besides sexy ingenue Julie London and the well-shot wheeling & dealing, this is Edmond O'Brien's energetic one-man-show, playing the hell out of two people at once! <br></p><p><span></span></p>

con man, edmond o'brien, hubert cornfield, julie london, laraine day, maury dexter, mexico, neo noir, sixties, thriller

HUBERT CORNFIELD DIRECTS EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'THE 3RD VOICE'

Title: The 3rd Voice Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2 Before THE NIGHT AND THE FOLLOWING DAY , the infamous Neo Noir with a troubled production and...

BYRON HASKIN DIRECTS A VENGEFUL EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'WARPATH'

<p></p><p></p><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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbbvCF9bC2Sn72YPEGTrkWLRbdP2aYIBZuswM2Htpi_UV0m2bqvJO4_38IPeP47oQJNB3GdjiF_-NX3Nx4_-4kAICgz1ImrZ5ap9KBXvlWuUFXgDQtgnK7fjF-3xvXBPyRzRxbcNOcscg0/s400/MV5BODhlMzEyZjUtNjk3Zi00NmI2LWI3ZDgtNjMzMjBjNWNlYzY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzg1ODEwNQ%252540%252540._V1_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="400" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbbvCF9bC2Sn72YPEGTrkWLRbdP2aYIBZuswM2Htpi_UV0m2bqvJO4_38IPeP47oQJNB3GdjiF_-NX3Nx4_-4kAICgz1ImrZ5ap9KBXvlWuUFXgDQtgnK7fjF-3xvXBPyRzRxbcNOcscg0/w400-h241/MV5BODhlMzEyZjUtNjk3Zi00NmI2LWI3ZDgtNjMzMjBjNWNlYzY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzg1ODEwNQ%252540%252540._V1_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: WARPATH Year: 1951 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>An epitome of a filler b-Western that still looks pretty grand with all the epic outdoor shots, specifically the Cavalry vs Indians, eventually led by none other than Custer, not a bad sort here, quickly seeing a problem with middle-aged (and pudgy for a leading man) former captain Edmond O'Brien as a private... but there <i>is</i> a reason...<br></p><p></p><p>Enter the Revenge aspect where O'Brien, after killing one of three split-up badmen who killed his "true love" years earlier, has trouble with big bullying Forrest Tucker... </p><p>First saving pretty ingenue Polly Bergen from the drunken sergeant's clutches, and then serving in Tucker's regiment of old-timers like Wallace Ford and Paul Fix. The problem is how soon things are figured out, and O'Brien isn't kept the dark longer longer for that particular vengeful element to blend more smoothly with the gun-blasting Indian fighting, seeming like another picture altogether. But still, director Byron Haskin moves the camera nicely, and he was one of the most "capable" directors around: one reason he never got the due he's worth.  <br></p><p><span></span></p>

byron haskin, dean jagger, edmond o'brien, fifties, forrest tucker, paul fix, wallace ford, western

BYRON HASKIN DIRECTS A VENGEFUL EDMOND O'BRIEN IN 'WARPATH'

Title: WARPATH Year: 1951 Rating: ***1/2 An epitome of a filler b-Western that still looks pretty grand with all the epic outdoor shots, spe...

FIFTIES & EIGHTIES: GLOSSING OVER TWO DECADES OF D.O.A.

<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/AVvXsEioGb7y3rsrS6elB9JUTCLJB_i9Fzj1GTBhkd0W3R0s1TidaAkBpU4Nyk8iqb2LWdmoCrUvzrczjBq__MUMYYuTfjj7vLdYXcp2MQM6M06x2A5gKyXy-VjP5M9aZG3-BmAbypmw3Q5yfFI/s1600/3333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioGb7y3rsrS6elB9JUTCLJB_i9Fzj1GTBhkd0W3R0s1TidaAkBpU4Nyk8iqb2LWdmoCrUvzrczjBq__MUMYYuTfjj7vLdYXcp2MQM6M06x2A5gKyXy-VjP5M9aZG3-BmAbypmw3Q5yfFI/s320/3333.jpg" width="320"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>1950 D.O.A. starring Edmond O'Brien</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>D.O.A. 1950</u>: Before the ball really gets rolling, and things become serious for a small town businessman on vacation in San Francisco, an unbelievable sound occurs, more befitting a zany comedy caper, perhaps even a cartoon, than the sparsest, most serious of Film Noir vehicles...<br> <br> <div style="text-align: right;"> </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/AVvXsEh85znB9wQ3sBsJDIRcQKmc5xGuqarpXn-Q-3rXHWx05PUbr5BWIktT0muPw6xOB_u74FQeYUT3RI5ffAihjaxFEQofyIxECOJ5urNjOPA5VsJPK-lSmFrfWw7LyhGt5L8KETMl2OfqYKg/s1600/44.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85znB9wQ3sBsJDIRcQKmc5xGuqarpXn-Q-3rXHWx05PUbr5BWIktT0muPw6xOB_u74FQeYUT3RI5ffAihjaxFEQofyIxECOJ5urNjOPA5VsJPK-lSmFrfWw7LyhGt5L8KETMl2OfqYKg/s320/44.png" width="125"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Eighties One</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Inside a lavish hotel, whenever an attractive "dish" passes our rural fish out of water, an intentionally corny and contrived wolf-whistle chimes... Not coming from any character in the movie but from the "author" intruded editing room: Like PULP FICTION's Uma Thurman drawing an animated box outside Jack Rabbit Slims, the viewer must simply go with it. So in this severe tale of a dying man frantically in search of who "killed him," perhaps that silly noise existed to separate the two halves – and that's the gist of this particular nightmarish odyssey. Loaded with whodunit potential since what's been done can't be set back, it's never a question since, with the exception of those convention partiers who left town before O'Brien wakes up with a lethal hangover, no one's really known to us or him other than a faithful secretary, back home, on the phone, talking to her frantic boss who, poisoned at a jazzy bar that the hotel party had moved to, he has only a few days to live, and has to find out who, and why?<br>

dennis quaid, edmond o'brien, eighties, fifties, film noir, hugh o'brien, jazz-score, neo noir, remake

FIFTIES & EIGHTIES: GLOSSING OVER TWO DECADES OF D.O.A.

1950 D.O.A. starring Edmond O'Brien D.O.A. 1950 : Before the ball really gets rolling, and things become serious for a small town bu...

RICHARD HARRIS IN '99 AND 44/100% DEAD' W/ EDMOND O'BRIEN

<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/AVvXsEhUhwye0eYOHA5PcS_QVZL6bWS8qzKOgGXCp5K8Lx8z19ruWfzf96wmPs80cvi8SdsxQHeTQxUhBAUeviw250zQBUrmfU_C3mlGgVNrfbnPNx09KNTAE0O031rephIgOj337JJWtX5VuSW8/s1600/d7323af07c5b11f7edda0ed5435d9f15.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="665" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhwye0eYOHA5PcS_QVZL6bWS8qzKOgGXCp5K8Lx8z19ruWfzf96wmPs80cvi8SdsxQHeTQxUhBAUeviw250zQBUrmfU_C3mlGgVNrfbnPNx09KNTAE0O031rephIgOj337JJWtX5VuSW8/s400/d7323af07c5b11f7edda0ed5435d9f15.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1974</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> This crime/comedy curio has a crazy title and a quirky dark comedic intro reminiscent of the comparably underpar <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2011/05/gang-that-couldnt-shoot-straight.html">THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT</a>, here involving an underwater mafia burial ground on the waterfront dock where a young mob upstart is moving in on an old-timer...<br /> <br /> With capable direction by capable director John Frankenheimer and starring Richard Harris as a freelance hit-man/problem-fixer named Harry Crown, sheds its silly skin pretty damn quick...<br /> <br /> Harris, hired by Edmond O'Brien as a cigar-smoking Uncle Frank, is so ultra serious his cemented expressions alone force the film into submission, adhering to a severe and violent plot-line: he must stop the other side from moving in on Frank's territory, and to keep the old fella... and himself, a partner and a few ladies... alive in the process.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </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/AVvXsEgx1qh7hexAaRWCvpAb7Gf2cZbNXq1pRJ8oYhS0LJ2cT9uNHg-4Yb06T7Apj0a4tqaN4-zAZKG6O0Cl8BOjD5ZeKGPRfWaHMsoIMEOYqsg3b7xLcyTeV4oYyGSd-C0gv6kkCyWHo9rJHYk/s1600/12.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx1qh7hexAaRWCvpAb7Gf2cZbNXq1pRJ8oYhS0LJ2cT9uNHg-4Yb06T7Apj0a4tqaN4-zAZKG6O0Cl8BOjD5ZeKGPRfWaHMsoIMEOYqsg3b7xLcyTeV4oYyGSd-C0gv6kkCyWHo9rJHYk/s320/12.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>99 MOVIE SCORE: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Not like anything was wrong with the opening five minutes involving a cute whistling musical intro and an animated credit sequence, used on most of the poster artwork, but since edgy grit ruled the 1970's crime genre... and if you cut down an overlong love scene establishing good girl/love interest Anne Turkel and add a bit more to the old/young partnership of Harris and I DISMEMBER MAMA co-star Zooey Hall as the young, vulnerable but faithfully dependable Tony... this is a perfect fit for the always-intriguing Harris and serves as effective ammunition in the overall Frankenheimer crime canon.<br /> <br /> <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/AVvXsEjLWWUGI4PmSpGbg9hB6OzE3jbYaUvqAL91LMXfIV8-Z231l8NZMmOkCc_YK7_lIjgfXhpSLzm-chj3mxxfh8fhtmD2zPx3P1ciYosCzfCKXpqWlOANmT5BHEmkvzQNPIaUya2BE0qEgbw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-06-30+at+1.14.14+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLWWUGI4PmSpGbg9hB6OzE3jbYaUvqAL91LMXfIV8-Z231l8NZMmOkCc_YK7_lIjgfXhpSLzm-chj3mxxfh8fhtmD2zPx3P1ciYosCzfCKXpqWlOANmT5BHEmkvzQNPIaUya2BE0qEgbw/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-06-30+at+1.14.14+PM.png" width="143" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>With Janice Heiden</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> While O'Brien, in his last feature-length role, was said (by Peter Jason in a Cult Film Freak podcast) to be in ill heath, and not so "with it," on the set of Orson Welles' unfinished THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, he does a fine job as the kind of mobster – though bordering on obvious satire – the likes of an era where the man himself derived: you can imagine a young Uncle Frank sharing a cell with James Cagney (but not undercover) only here he's...<br /> <br /> Despite the situation of being bullied out of business by Bradford Dillman's intentionally overboard Big Eddie... having a fine life with one of the prettiest ladies of that decade, Janice Heiden as his favorite mistress, Clara, her wandering eyes glued on Harris's Crowne, older but not as old and also very fit, tough as nails and best yet, completely resilient.<br /> <br /> From a hotel room shoot-out to a dangerous bridge battle against sadistic chief goon Chuck Conners, Harry's an assassin more the creative likes of James Bond than those gun-wilding lug-heads he's pitted against. His impossibility to fail makes the movie less suspenseful, sure, yet the entire bloody romp becomes more enjoyable – seeing just how many corners he can sneak into and out of and, on the film-making end, those nifty zooms and quick-edits are all part of the terrific, underrated, under-appreciated whole.<br /> <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/AVvXsEjCmsH-6ylNMl1TBJ_TlZzqhxqogDowQaQcl63fGqW2biPkQbgThsdp8eO43xb5GD6AMxpgXzebjXZ1WYRWuiAdmyrBlQDeWk57tUN-vsjnN3h3oVcxs3GXYzNv2Rz2Fm1H95y2256x-N8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-06-28+at+2.28.16+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmsH-6ylNMl1TBJ_TlZzqhxqogDowQaQcl63fGqW2biPkQbgThsdp8eO43xb5GD6AMxpgXzebjXZ1WYRWuiAdmyrBlQDeWk57tUN-vsjnN3h3oVcxs3GXYzNv2Rz2Fm1H95y2256x-N8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-06-28+at+2.28.16+AM.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u>Opening Title Sequence for Edmond O'Brien's last film in 1974 along with a review of a 1954 Film Noir</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/AVvXsEg89DXpP35198IDB0lhONQi8fuHKfBpIF_7Cu-Hx6ApAPDJvwq8Y3A8t-EI6GdMiMIi5mn7YaiVoUjVWJfiumc4dLkb-bNMDifxJ_83MGRz-SGQsUp0bFzVX9NOZPIiFOYvo-ReaBb6gsk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-06-30+at+1.21.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg89DXpP35198IDB0lhONQi8fuHKfBpIF_7Cu-Hx6ApAPDJvwq8Y3A8t-EI6GdMiMIi5mn7YaiVoUjVWJfiumc4dLkb-bNMDifxJ_83MGRz-SGQsUp0bFzVX9NOZPIiFOYvo-ReaBb6gsk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-06-30+at+1.21.26+PM.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Edmond O'Brien talks to while Janice Heiden makes eyes at Richard Harris in 99 AND 44/100% DEAD</u></td></tr> </tbody></table>

action, bradford dillman, dark comedy, edmond o'brien, exploitation, janice heiden, john frankenheimer, mob, richard harris, seventies

RICHARD HARRIS IN '99 AND 44/100% DEAD' W/ EDMOND O'BRIEN

year: 1974 This crime/comedy curio has a crazy title and a quirky dark comedic intro reminiscent of the comparably underpar THE GANG THA...