JUDD NELSON, DANA OLSEN AND JONNA LEE IN 'MAKING THE GRADE'

<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/AVvXsEic2WcRpkqfKLrPmomPi3eb9DJ57D-kJkhyoqUjyQFYRRQHYevkDiBRpB5q6Qjev8h8B5m8HtrjqxaeF7Qlpa7Gn7-cUqeGhEEUzj9EQ4vVbTLp5tJRsE3-IY63Iku2ak7UGd7PTbK8D2ccGzVirB4ML7iw8-foI7qQ09p6lJ1ndRyCPTePknseUMpCYhPx/s1600/unnamed.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="993" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2WcRpkqfKLrPmomPi3eb9DJ57D-kJkhyoqUjyQFYRRQHYevkDiBRpB5q6Qjev8h8B5m8HtrjqxaeF7Qlpa7Gn7-cUqeGhEEUzj9EQ4vVbTLp5tJRsE3-IY63Iku2ak7UGd7PTbK8D2ccGzVirB4ML7iw8-foI7qQ09p6lJ1ndRyCPTePknseUMpCYhPx/s1600/unnamed.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MAKING THE GRADE Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>A year before <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2026/08/bclub.html">THE BREAKFAST CLUB</a> made Judd Nelson a star, turning his energetic acting style into a focused study of teenage angst and rebellion, he played a similar character – only his MAKING THE GRADE hero Eddie Keaton break-dances instead of jamming an air guitar Cream riff; in other words, his rebellion is catered strictly for humor. Wild on the streets, he owes a bookie, Dice Man, played by Andrew Clay, and winds up taking the place of a spoiled rich kid: attending a prep school whilst hiding from mobsters. <br> <br> That’s the plot in a nutshell, and GRADE, within this framework, packs a lot of hit and miss humor as well as likable or fitfully unlikable side-characters, throwing everything into the pot: from pratfalls to one-liners to stereotypes to action scenes, and beyond... No surprise Nelson plays the part with gusto – though sometimes too much. Yet where Eddie’s urban-hip con artist stuck in the fledgling Preparatory academy tries stealing every scene on board, he’s given an ultimately thankless lead to people like Dana Olsen as, technically, the most important person herein...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

andrew dice clay, cannon, comedy, dana olsen, eighties, gordon jump, jonna lee, judd nelson, ronald lacey, teen, walter olkewicz

JUDD NELSON, DANA OLSEN AND JONNA LEE IN 'MAKING THE GRADE'

Title: MAKING THE GRADE Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 A year before THE BREAKFAST CLUB made Judd Nelson a star, turning his energetic acting s...

MARY MAUDE WITH JUDY MATHESON IN 'CRUCIBLE OF TERROR'

<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/AVvXsEhkLtdcs-KbUeL7Te_r4KkjY0WlBVbA7JCxq0yC3mjjvEkyL7n9-MtmEnPFaBhzSKtTwMawsw1DDNgoE-uuAUKnkxirJCslFqnWRXg_rk9ykXsp6eD4c4htEHIXTLPIGY5gfsVCQO_y1iloBtEDP933qo0bNi_2JQzjFngkCOi2Yb103hidI-efr2kh8Ody/s2072/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-29%20at%207.09.18%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="2072" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLtdcs-KbUeL7Te_r4KkjY0WlBVbA7JCxq0yC3mjjvEkyL7n9-MtmEnPFaBhzSKtTwMawsw1DDNgoE-uuAUKnkxirJCslFqnWRXg_rk9ykXsp6eD4c4htEHIXTLPIGY5gfsVCQO_y1iloBtEDP933qo0bNi_2JQzjFngkCOi2Yb103hidI-efr2kh8Ody/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-29%20at%207.09.18%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mary Maude in CRUCIBLE OF TERROR Year: 1971 Rates: ***1/2<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Fair and sophisticated, lithe and docile, straight-long-haired classic British beauty Mary Maude was as perfect a vulnerable ingenue in CRUCIBLE OF TERROR (an obvious muse for <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/04/moevil.html">MESSIAH OF EVIL</a>) as she's the sublime target for who seems to be a serial killing sculptor in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/12/lustvamp.html">LUST OF THE VAMPIRE</a> antagonist Mike Raven, looking fitfully wicked enough to provide Mary's character Millie an inevitably nightmarish 11th hour chase...<br><br>Which does occur, kind of... but with a twist... beforehand spending most of the screen-time in an artistically Gothic beachside house where various beauties are either posing or being murdered, ranging from scream queen Judy Matheson as the artist's more faithful yet seductive, devilish (and possibly bisexual) moll to Raven's daughter-in-law Beth Morris, as sexy a blonde as Matheson's a deeply gorgeous brunette...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

beth morris, body count, british, horror, james bolam, john arnatt, judy matheson, mary maude, me me lai, melissa stribling, mike raven, mystery, ronald lacey, seventies, thriller

MARY MAUDE WITH JUDY MATHESON IN 'CRUCIBLE OF TERROR'

Mary Maude in CRUCIBLE OF TERROR Year: 1971 Rates: ***1/2 Fair and sophisticated, lithe and docile, straight-long-haired classic British bea...

BRITISH NEW WAVE 'THE BOYS' WITH RONALD LACEY & JESS CONRAD

<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/AVvXsEiYrMF1eSwPxV13MtYN6u9AhJHIHlw-71TiYXIMVRw0ifHd820WGmOcRUGAadr9aucF9yvrpxavXx6sA3UL_I38ATIXlGdImVT9VuBsEieJ95lm8MByRRhFW08aARE0Ub49loQjq4dshTCtAZZtiLnA2MQLQFvrvsYvbEmeaVSEm2faSDJ1fz3k7UOoxA/s1317/Screen%20Shot%202021-08-03%20at%2011.50.28%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrMF1eSwPxV13MtYN6u9AhJHIHlw-71TiYXIMVRw0ifHd820WGmOcRUGAadr9aucF9yvrpxavXx6sA3UL_I38ATIXlGdImVT9VuBsEieJ95lm8MByRRhFW08aARE0Ub49loQjq4dshTCtAZZtiLnA2MQLQFvrvsYvbEmeaVSEm2faSDJ1fz3k7UOoxA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202021-08-03%20at%2011.50.28%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tony Garnett with Jess Conrad and Dudley Sutton</u><u> in THE BOYS Year: 1962 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A kind of <i>depending upon perspective</i> RASHOMON of the rebellious teen set has a gang of four young Brits accused of murder; yet THE BOYS is more a street-set thriller than courtroom drama with creative director Sidney J. Furie unveiling a mystery where only the four suspects know the exact truth, leading to an inevitable twist that's worth the otherwise overlong wait... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Headed by the memorably offbeat Dudley Sutton as the group's shifty instigator while real life pop singer Jess Conrad's the most sympathetic with nerdy/likeable Ronald Lacey and a tough-sullen Tony Garnett in-between... </p><p><span></span></p>

brian weske, british neo noir, british new wave, carol white, courtroom drama, dudley sutton, jess conrad, mystery, richard todd, robert morley, ronald lacey, roy kinnear, sidney j. furie, sixties, teddy boys

BRITISH NEW WAVE 'THE BOYS' WITH RONALD LACEY & JESS CONRAD

Tony Garnett with Jess Conrad and Dudley Sutton in THE BOYS Year: 1962 Rating: ***1/2 A kind of depending upon perspective RASHOMON of the...