cult film freak: jeff corey

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Written by James M. Tate / 1/24/2025 / No comments / barbara bel geddes , debra paget , fifties , film noir or melodrama , grace kelly , howard da silva , james warren , jeff corey , jeffrey hunter , john randolph , paul douglas , richard basehart , thriller

RICHARD BASEHART STANDS PAUL DOUGLAS IN 'FOURTEEN HOURS'

<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/AVvXsEiZ-IVNrm9-qXO7eflkRquYkyxJea0b4AKHfA2fSy1sJ9Asdg861TnTuWD9m2WZaJS8tt7y7q_3jLilHIrbDYuUAJs4KckJwirSuiwLRIwwzuhHP2mR_40ygCB0uRuYKJe0C0HSXP-XqJ60OuTWqKUWaRbhIRGp2gbOIgi4aInEYjW66avjY1VKdKbB88eG/s1788/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-28%20at%208.37.33%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1788" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-IVNrm9-qXO7eflkRquYkyxJea0b4AKHfA2fSy1sJ9Asdg861TnTuWD9m2WZaJS8tt7y7q_3jLilHIrbDYuUAJs4KckJwirSuiwLRIwwzuhHP2mR_40ygCB0uRuYKJe0C0HSXP-XqJ60OuTWqKUWaRbhIRGp2gbOIgi4aInEYjW66avjY1VKdKbB88eG/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-28%20at%208.37.33%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Basehart in FOURTEEN HOURS Year: 1951 Rating: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>The sparse poster for FOURTEEN HOURS has a rendering of Barbara Bel Geddes' screaming face looking up, surrounded by the hands of a clock, misleading in two aspects: that this intriguing film noir is a high-octane/race-against-time thriller, and that Barbara has a large role, actually only turning up in the last fifteen minutes... Of a movie that, directed by Henry Hathaway, is more a social commentary dealing less about troubled would-be jumper Richard Basehart, standing on a hotel ledge threatening suicide, and more about affable working-man's beat cop Paul Douglas, the only person Basehart trusts to possibly talk him down while his lawman superiors (and several psychologists) are desperately meandering on the sidelines...

barbara bel geddes, debra paget, fifties, film noir or melodrama, grace kelly, howard da silva, james warren, jeff corey, jeffrey hunter, john randolph, paul douglas, richard basehart, thriller

RICHARD BASEHART STANDS PAUL DOUGLAS IN 'FOURTEEN HOURS'

Richard Basehart in FOURTEEN HOURS Year: 1951 Rating: ****1/2 The sparse poster for FOURTEEN HOURS has a rendering of Barbara Bel Geddes...

BURT REYNOLDS IN 'IMPASSE' WITH ANNE FRANCIS & MIKO MAYAMA

<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/AVvXsEiEW36b9GWU1IVX1oXdEsas5QZnpgAOVZk93nB9nZaWnZNBZR5JJqY3y14935wD1-JUSXIJ_B9PypvCtqG2SODB9uIzvJMu5itCooIOBEsNpahqBt2CvoTnaQ68m7Djw_swDGJNgvAmM4aDfO5iD7DO6u2CVR7xkoGnMD6bIFZYP27r6vpuCLrmiu6HLW6N/s1304/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEW36b9GWU1IVX1oXdEsas5QZnpgAOVZk93nB9nZaWnZNBZR5JJqY3y14935wD1-JUSXIJ_B9PypvCtqG2SODB9uIzvJMu5itCooIOBEsNpahqBt2CvoTnaQ68m7Djw_swDGJNgvAmM4aDfO5iD7DO6u2CVR7xkoGnMD6bIFZYP27r6vpuCLrmiu6HLW6N/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burt Reynolds in IMPASSE Year: 1969 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>In Burt Reynolds' first starring role, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/08/burtCIA.html">OPERATION CIA</a>, he ran and leapt throughout Saigon, Vietnam and a few years later, in another low budget exploitation flick only in the Philippines, he does pretty much the same thing... at least the best parts providing tons of action including his own stunts...That's after a rather clunky yet still somewhat intriguingly offbeat set-up of Burt gathering a band of renegade army veteran misfits of all races and ages: from old tough white guy Lyle Bettger to equally tough old Indian Rodolfo Acosta to Burt's former OPERATION co-star Vic Diaz... and of course a pretty ingenue's always needed...

action, adventure, anne francis, burt reynolds, exploitation, heist, jeff corey, joanne hahn, lyle bettger, miko mayama, neo noir, rodolfo acosta, sixties, treasure, vic diaz

BURT REYNOLDS IN 'IMPASSE' WITH ANNE FRANCIS & MIKO MAYAMA

Burt Reynolds in IMPASSE Year: 1969 Rating: **** In Burt Reynolds' first starring role, OPERATION CIA , he ran and leapt throughout Saig...

RICHARD FLEISCHER'S SERIAL KILLER NOIR 'FOLLOW ME QUIETLY'

<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/AVvXsEguxxfiYF8IphnmwDHjCR_935fPfZ0ei3n7ZAYosRuO-qE3nop-mSo2Foqq3dWmJcRRg9CofNuw0c2liDh3CsNeYX2rHvf3s9SR5OaYDIku2KXAEqGSV4U_5lXCwwg_LrPMh3SIp_kmjeupPjn3jrgiciLn5xcD9IJ5Lyvlw_qT7AKPSS0jr1QZD9ox-6c3/s1560/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-12%20at%206.04.06%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguxxfiYF8IphnmwDHjCR_935fPfZ0ei3n7ZAYosRuO-qE3nop-mSo2Foqq3dWmJcRRg9CofNuw0c2liDh3CsNeYX2rHvf3s9SR5OaYDIku2KXAEqGSV4U_5lXCwwg_LrPMh3SIp_kmjeupPjn3jrgiciLn5xcD9IJ5Lyvlw_qT7AKPSS0jr1QZD9ox-6c3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-12%20at%206.04.06%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: FOLLOW ME QUIETLY Year: 1949 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>If you can handle dialogue like, after a statement about a serial killer killing only during a thunderstorm: "Maybe he likes rain... must be a fish" between detective partners William Lundigan and Jeff Corey, you'll handle director Richard Fleischer's entire b-noir, FOLLOW ME QUIETLY, which is half police procedural on the investigation into and then eventual catching of an allusive serial killer, and a romantic comedy between intense, Hollywood-handsome Lundigan with cute snoopy tabloid journalist Dorothy Patrick...The latter's too peppy for the dark, semi-violent mainline... although we never completely witness the strangler actually strangling save through a rather rushed flashback from a dying man... but their interplay mostly works since she's a likable actress (yet much better suited as the logical secondary dame in 711 OCEAN DRIVE)... and he's so professionally cold, she's got to really work for her story...

cop, dorothy patrick, douglas spencer, film noir or melodrama, forties, jeff corey, marlo dwyer, richard fleischer, serial killer, william lundigan

RICHARD FLEISCHER'S SERIAL KILLER NOIR 'FOLLOW ME QUIETLY'

Title: FOLLOW ME QUIETLY Year: 1949 Rating: ***1/2 If you can handle dialogue like, after a statement about a serial killer killing only dur...

BURT LANCASTER IN JULES DASSIN'S PRISON NOIR 'BRUTE FORCE'

<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/AVvXsEjHRBqJqswGhk0aIR9hsvanxgrcYFAo_1SzFWrFCRr3iMWvZMBURYul4TqPY5Q5VQC6gGcNtr8WD2VLFWV7NiC8cTNVvlY2nZMjuAMtfy38ggt3PfyxdI0_jECJOXDs8PfgvszTSYHUVudFevYFdDfEvBIKgKUxMZd4B8cbwPi9sqjLyv04HX39PDR3zqyA/s2186/111%203%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1322" data-original-width="2186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHRBqJqswGhk0aIR9hsvanxgrcYFAo_1SzFWrFCRr3iMWvZMBURYul4TqPY5Q5VQC6gGcNtr8WD2VLFWV7NiC8cTNVvlY2nZMjuAMtfy38ggt3PfyxdI0_jECJOXDs8PfgvszTSYHUVudFevYFdDfEvBIKgKUxMZd4B8cbwPi9sqjLyv04HX39PDR3zqyA/s16000/111%203%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BRUTE FORCE Year: 1947 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Director Jules Dassin basically made his own post-war World War II picture, only set in an American hoosegow with prisoners as proverbial soldiers and an obvious Nazi representation in Hume Cronyn, who, as chief guard eyeing the warden spot, not only runs the place like a sadistic, tyrannical dictator, but mentally and physically tortures inmates while listening to Wagner... Actually, BRUTE FORCE is a fairly effective prison noir/expose, bathed in rich B&W cinematography and splendid matte-painted backdrops, centered on desperate men stuck in a doomed purgatory: yet there are a few exterior flashbacks involving dames that, either sassy or sympathetic, landed these fellas into their current predicament...

anita colby, ann blyth, burt lancaster, film noir or melodrama, howard duff, howland chamberlain, hume cronyn, jack overman, jeff corey, john hoyt, jules dassin, prison, sam levene, yvonne de carlo

BURT LANCASTER IN JULES DASSIN'S PRISON NOIR 'BRUTE FORCE'

BRUTE FORCE Year: 1947 Rating: ***1/2 Director Jules Dassin basically made his own post-war World War II picture, only set in an American ho...

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

<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;">Title: THE KILLERS Year: 1946 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>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... 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...

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...

ROBERT BLAKE & SCOTT WILSON BREAKTHROUGH 'IN COLD BLOOD'

<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/AVvXsEjSkZWYOuVMgVfu7D-CYzlXLUfdOjffQkvII_XPwEphtYHXdvk7IYZZzocFfSPOSOcV7eGW8Z2enyWzvUpGt9n27B7qOwFJ9K_a_iMhqyyeECHT60fYCyPiIrPr4bZVPV_Hs3kkSLTyA_rMbBrHaSUXomwpdSvOMu9PmBXRk-GCBzGcJkiWyerz0KO43OLK/s1652/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-18%20at%2010.35.47%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="746" data-original-width="1652" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkZWYOuVMgVfu7D-CYzlXLUfdOjffQkvII_XPwEphtYHXdvk7IYZZzocFfSPOSOcV7eGW8Z2enyWzvUpGt9n27B7qOwFJ9K_a_iMhqyyeECHT60fYCyPiIrPr4bZVPV_Hs3kkSLTyA_rMbBrHaSUXomwpdSvOMu9PmBXRk-GCBzGcJkiWyerz0KO43OLK/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-18%20at%2010.35.47%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: IN COLD BLOOD Director: Richard Brooks Year: 1967 Rating: *****</td></tr></tbody></table>Made in the late-1960's leading to the early-1970's American Renaissance, Richard Brooks's theatrical adaptation of Truman Capote's non-fiction bestseller IN COLD BLOOD, taking place in the late 1950's, is a sublime combination of the then-budding style of modern-method/character-driven performances and the more polished and studied throwback to Hollywood's Golden Age (including hard-boiled documentary-style narration)... And as real-life killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcok, Robert Blake and Scott Wilson hand-off individual importance: Wilson during the first half as a cocky conman instigating the heist of a supposed Kansas farmer's lucrative safe, and, following their Nevada capture, the previously brooding, strong-silent Blake drives the story home, right down to the inevitable hangman's noose...