The 20-year-long persistence of the superhero genre in contemporary blockbuster cinema has cause many pundits to draw a genre parallel between comic book movies and Westerns. In 2015, the Guardian published an essay comparing the two cinematic trends, largely as a predictor as to when the superhero film would finally cease its continued ascendency. That same year, Steven Spielberg compared the genres, once again using the moribund Western as an indicator of the ephemerality of any genre. Seven years since then, superhero movies have churned out several enormous hits, including several of the biggest box office bonanzas of all time. In 2022, however, the entertainment landscape has changed a lot, companies are merging into weird, gross entities, and high-profile superhero projects now stand the chance of being canceled. Pundits have been predicting it for years, but superhero movies may finally be on the downhill slope. Only time will tell.
"The Train Robbers,...
"The Train Robbers,...
- 9/22/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
There is a difference between a famous actor and a "movie star." Actors study their craft, hone their skills in imitating human emotions, and endeavor to inhabit their roles as effectively and convincingly as possible. Movie stars — while they may be good actors — are noted more for an attractive, dazzling "it" quality. Acting is about the art. Being a movie star is about personality. A great actor may languish on the second tier, while a bad actor may become the most recognizable, bankable performer on the planet.
This dichotomy has brought a great deal of frustration to certain celebrities. When approached by journalists, a celebrity may find themselves having to answer questions about a world they are not privy to. An actor doesn't necessarily know what levels of pop awareness the journalist is carrying when entering the room. They are not involved in deep-cut fandom or online conversations about the nature of their character.
This dichotomy has brought a great deal of frustration to certain celebrities. When approached by journalists, a celebrity may find themselves having to answer questions about a world they are not privy to. An actor doesn't necessarily know what levels of pop awareness the journalist is carrying when entering the room. They are not involved in deep-cut fandom or online conversations about the nature of their character.
- 9/20/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
By Lee Pfeiffer
"Young Billy Young" is the kind of film of which it can be said, "They don't make 'em like that anymore". Not because the movie is so exceptional. In fact, it isn't exceptional on any level whatsoever. Rather, it's the sheer ordinariness of the entire production that makes one pine away for an era in which top talent could be attracted to enjoyable, if unremarkable, fare such as this. Such films, especially Westerns, were churned out with workmanlike professionalism to play to undemanding audiences that didn't require mega-budget blockbusters to feel they got their money's worth at the boxoffice. Sadly, such movies have largely gone the way of the dodo bird. In today's film industry, bigger must always be better and mid-range flicks such as are no longer made. However, through home video releases such as Kino Lorber's Blu-ray of "Young Billy Young" and streaming services such as Amazon Prime,...
"Young Billy Young" is the kind of film of which it can be said, "They don't make 'em like that anymore". Not because the movie is so exceptional. In fact, it isn't exceptional on any level whatsoever. Rather, it's the sheer ordinariness of the entire production that makes one pine away for an era in which top talent could be attracted to enjoyable, if unremarkable, fare such as this. Such films, especially Westerns, were churned out with workmanlike professionalism to play to undemanding audiences that didn't require mega-budget blockbusters to feel they got their money's worth at the boxoffice. Sadly, such movies have largely gone the way of the dodo bird. In today's film industry, bigger must always be better and mid-range flicks such as are no longer made. However, through home video releases such as Kino Lorber's Blu-ray of "Young Billy Young" and streaming services such as Amazon Prime,...
- 4/10/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
By Lee Pfeiffer
In Cinema Retro's never-ending quest to analyze relatively inconsequential movies, the trail takes us to Dirty Dingus Magee, one of Frank Sinatra's last starring feature films. The movie shocked critics when it opened in 1970 due to the trivial of the production. Time has done nothing to enhance its reputation and one can only wonder what possessed Sinatra to star in this tepid Western comedy. In reality, Sinatra's passion for movie-making was also tepid. He always preferred to concentrate on his singing career and regarded acting as a time-consuming sideline. His penchant for rarely approving a second take became legendary. Nevertheless, he was undeniably one of the cinema's great icons. Prior to Dirty Dingus Magee, Sinatra had shown good judgment with the majority of the films he made during the mid-to-late Sixties. There were some misguided efforts but Von Ryan's Express, Tony Rome, Lady in Cement...
In Cinema Retro's never-ending quest to analyze relatively inconsequential movies, the trail takes us to Dirty Dingus Magee, one of Frank Sinatra's last starring feature films. The movie shocked critics when it opened in 1970 due to the trivial of the production. Time has done nothing to enhance its reputation and one can only wonder what possessed Sinatra to star in this tepid Western comedy. In reality, Sinatra's passion for movie-making was also tepid. He always preferred to concentrate on his singing career and regarded acting as a time-consuming sideline. His penchant for rarely approving a second take became legendary. Nevertheless, he was undeniably one of the cinema's great icons. Prior to Dirty Dingus Magee, Sinatra had shown good judgment with the majority of the films he made during the mid-to-late Sixties. There were some misguided efforts but Von Ryan's Express, Tony Rome, Lady in Cement...
- 11/25/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Favorite director Don Siegel is in fine form in this 1967 TV movie, a keeper with qualities not seen in Hollywood’s mega-westerns of the day. Henry Fonda’s ragged drifter is hunted by a gang of railroad deputies, and chief deputy Michael Parks doesn’t intercede because he can’t control his own men. A great screenplay, Siegel’s direction, plus committed performances make it stand out: Anne Baxter, Dan Duryea, Sal Mineo, Bernie Hamilton and Madlyn Rhue.
Stranger on the Run
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1967 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 min. / Street Date July 27, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Henry Fonda, Anne Baxter, Michael Parks, Dan Duryea, Sal Mineo, Tom Reese, Walter Burke, Lloyd Bochner, Michael Burns, Bernie Hamilton, Zalman King, Madlyn Rhue, Rodolfo Acosta, Rex Holman.
Cinematography: Bud Thackery
Art Director: William D. DeCinces
Stunts: Buddy Van Horn
Film Editor: Richard G. Wray
Original Music: Leonard Rosenman
Written by...
Stranger on the Run
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1967 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 min. / Street Date July 27, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Henry Fonda, Anne Baxter, Michael Parks, Dan Duryea, Sal Mineo, Tom Reese, Walter Burke, Lloyd Bochner, Michael Burns, Bernie Hamilton, Zalman King, Madlyn Rhue, Rodolfo Acosta, Rex Holman.
Cinematography: Bud Thackery
Art Director: William D. DeCinces
Stunts: Buddy Van Horn
Film Editor: Richard G. Wray
Original Music: Leonard Rosenman
Written by...
- 6/26/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Legendary movie star, Last Call‘s Bruce Dern, joins Josh and Joe to discuss a few of his favorite movies and moments.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Cowboys (1972)
Last Call (2021)
Silent Running (1972)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
The Reivers (1969)
The War Wagon (1967)
Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)
The Shootist (1976)
Sands Of Iwo Jima (1949)
Wild River (1960)
Viva Zapata (1952)
Castle Keep (1969)
The Big Knife (1955)
Attack (1956)
What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Suspicion (1941)
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Trial (1962)
Great Expectations (1946)
The Sound Barrier (1952)
Oliver Twist (1948)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Rko 281 (1999)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Mank (2020)
The Chase (1966)
The Formula (1980)
Shine (1996)
All That Jazz (1979)
A Decade Under The Influence (2003)
Shane (1953)
The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965)
The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Deliverance (1972)
Nebraska (2013)
Twixt (2011)
The ’Burbs (1989)
About Schmidt (2002)
Sideways (2004)
The Descendants (2011)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Charade (1963)
The Truth About Charlie...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Cowboys (1972)
Last Call (2021)
Silent Running (1972)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
The Reivers (1969)
The War Wagon (1967)
Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)
The Shootist (1976)
Sands Of Iwo Jima (1949)
Wild River (1960)
Viva Zapata (1952)
Castle Keep (1969)
The Big Knife (1955)
Attack (1956)
What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Suspicion (1941)
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Trial (1962)
Great Expectations (1946)
The Sound Barrier (1952)
Oliver Twist (1948)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Rko 281 (1999)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Mank (2020)
The Chase (1966)
The Formula (1980)
Shine (1996)
All That Jazz (1979)
A Decade Under The Influence (2003)
Shane (1953)
The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965)
The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Deliverance (1972)
Nebraska (2013)
Twixt (2011)
The ’Burbs (1989)
About Schmidt (2002)
Sideways (2004)
The Descendants (2011)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Charade (1963)
The Truth About Charlie...
- 4/6/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Maverick meets Yojimbo in Burt Kennedy’s raucous horse opera about a confidence man working both sides of a small town feud. James Garner plays the conniving charmer and Suzanne Pleshette is the fiery belle determined to corral his worst instincts. Hollywood’s golden age is represented by a formidable duo, Marie Windsor and Joan Blondell.
The post Support Your Local Gunfighter appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Support Your Local Gunfighter appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 3/15/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Max Evans, whose New Mexico cowboy novels “The Rounders” and “Hi-Lo Country” were made into movies, died on Wednesday in hospice care at the Va Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M. He was 95.
His widow, Pat Evans, told the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that her husband rode off to the “great mystery in the sky”: “He’s on a whole new adventure now.”
Evans also authored “Sam Peckinpah, Master of Violence,” a book about the making of the 1970 film “The Ballad of Cable Hogue,” and collaborated with Robert Nott on “Goin’ Crazy With Sam Peckinpah and All Our Friends.”
Evans, a native of Ropes, Texas, gained public notice with his 1960 novel “The Rounders,” about two modern-day cowboys foiled by an impossible-to-tame horse. Writer-director Burt Kennedy made a film version in 1965, starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda.
Evans was also known for his 1962 novel “The Hi-Lo Country,” a tale...
His widow, Pat Evans, told the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that her husband rode off to the “great mystery in the sky”: “He’s on a whole new adventure now.”
Evans also authored “Sam Peckinpah, Master of Violence,” a book about the making of the 1970 film “The Ballad of Cable Hogue,” and collaborated with Robert Nott on “Goin’ Crazy With Sam Peckinpah and All Our Friends.”
Evans, a native of Ropes, Texas, gained public notice with his 1960 novel “The Rounders,” about two modern-day cowboys foiled by an impossible-to-tame horse. Writer-director Burt Kennedy made a film version in 1965, starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda.
Evans was also known for his 1962 novel “The Hi-Lo Country,” a tale...
- 8/27/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Needless to say, the follow-up to our #1 film of the year blips on the radar a little more strongly. Word has recently emerged, thanks in no small part to Erick Weber hearing it from the man himself, that Paul Schrader will follow First Reformed with Nine Men from Now, a western starring Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke. Buried in a Deadline interview is an expansion on that, the writer-director having said the following:
“One character is like Randolph Scott, the righteous lawman, and the other character is the slinky antagonist, the weasel. And so I was thinking, Ethan and Willem have both played both. They’ve both been an upright, they’ve both been weasels. So, which one should play which? Then I realized I could have it both ways, start Ethan out as the righteous one, Willem as the reprobate, and then at the beginning of the third act,...
“One character is like Randolph Scott, the righteous lawman, and the other character is the slinky antagonist, the weasel. And so I was thinking, Ethan and Willem have both played both. They’ve both been an upright, they’ve both been weasels. So, which one should play which? Then I realized I could have it both ways, start Ethan out as the righteous one, Willem as the reprobate, and then at the beginning of the third act,...
- 1/14/2019
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear — specifically, the mid-1950s to the late ’60s — when Paramount and Warner Bros. relied on producers such as A.C. Lyles and Hal Wallis, and directors like Henry Hathaway, Gordon Douglas, and Burt Kennedy, to maintain a steady flow of workmanlike Westerns for consumption by diehard horse opera fans at theaters and drive-ins everywhere. That’s the invitation extended by writer-director-star Scott Martin’s “Big Kill,” one of the precious few Westerns of recent years that one can easily imagine as a decades-ago vehicle for John Wayne, Dean Martin, James Stewart, and their contemporaries with only minor tweaking of the script.
Yes, it clocks in at a leisurely 127 minutes, but that makes it only four minutes longer than John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962) — just one of the obvious influences on Martin’s scenario about an upright tenderfoot...
Yes, it clocks in at a leisurely 127 minutes, but that makes it only four minutes longer than John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962) — just one of the obvious influences on Martin’s scenario about an upright tenderfoot...
- 10/19/2018
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
Bid welcome to five westerns guaranteed to make one fall in love with the genre all over again. Each stars the ultra-virtuous man of the West Randolph Scott, pitted against some of the most colorful antagonists on the range: Richard Boone, Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins. Indicator’s extras constitute the best collection of research materials ever assembled on the underrated director Budd Boetticher.
Five Tall Tales: Budd Boetticher & Randolph Scott At Columbia, 1957-1960
The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, Comanche Station
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
Color / 1:85 and 2:35 widescreen / 380 min. / / Street Date May 28, 2018 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £42.99
Starring: Randolph Scott.
Leading Ladies: Maureen O’Sullivan, Karen Steele (2), Valerie French, Nancy Gates.
Noble Villains: Richard Boone, John Carroll, Craig Stevens, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins.
Hopeful Sidekicks: James Best, James Coburn, Skip Homeier (2), Henry Silva, Noah Beery Jr., L.Q. Jones, Richard Rust.
Five Tall Tales: Budd Boetticher & Randolph Scott At Columbia, 1957-1960
The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, Comanche Station
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
Color / 1:85 and 2:35 widescreen / 380 min. / / Street Date May 28, 2018 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £42.99
Starring: Randolph Scott.
Leading Ladies: Maureen O’Sullivan, Karen Steele (2), Valerie French, Nancy Gates.
Noble Villains: Richard Boone, John Carroll, Craig Stevens, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins.
Hopeful Sidekicks: James Best, James Coburn, Skip Homeier (2), Henry Silva, Noah Beery Jr., L.Q. Jones, Richard Rust.
- 5/22/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
"The Mild, Mild West"
By Lee Pfeiffer
The Warner Archive has released the 1965 comedy "The Rounders" on Blu-ray. The film is primarily notable for the teaming of Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, two estimable Hollywood stars who could be relied upon to play convincingly in both dark, somber dramas and frolicking comedies. "The Rounders" was directed and written by Burt Kennedy, who adapted a novel from by Max Evans. Kennedy was a veteran of big studio productions who worked his way from screenwriter to director. If he never made any indisputable classics, it can be said that he made a good many films that were top-notch entertainment. Among them: "Support Your Local Sheriff", "The War Wagon", "Hannie Caulder" and "The Train Robbers". While Westerns were Kennedy's specialty, he did have a prestigious achievement with his screenplay for Clint Eastwood's woefully underseen and under-praised 1990 film "White Hunter, Black Heart". It's...
By Lee Pfeiffer
The Warner Archive has released the 1965 comedy "The Rounders" on Blu-ray. The film is primarily notable for the teaming of Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, two estimable Hollywood stars who could be relied upon to play convincingly in both dark, somber dramas and frolicking comedies. "The Rounders" was directed and written by Burt Kennedy, who adapted a novel from by Max Evans. Kennedy was a veteran of big studio productions who worked his way from screenwriter to director. If he never made any indisputable classics, it can be said that he made a good many films that were top-notch entertainment. Among them: "Support Your Local Sheriff", "The War Wagon", "Hannie Caulder" and "The Train Robbers". While Westerns were Kennedy's specialty, he did have a prestigious achievement with his screenplay for Clint Eastwood's woefully underseen and under-praised 1990 film "White Hunter, Black Heart". It's...
- 11/11/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Psycho killers long ago lost their novelty, but in 1956 Budd Boetticher and Wendell Corey gave us Leon ‘Foggy’ Poole, a screen original with limitless appeal. Imagine a time when ‘normalcy’ was so taken for granted that any weird behavior was enough to give us the chills? Foggy carries this crime potboiler with a refreshing new idea: his dangerous maniac looks more normal than normal people.
The Killer Is Loose
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1956 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 76 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / 29.98
Starring: Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey, Alan Hale Jr., Michael Pate, John Larch, Dee J. Thompson, Virginia Christine.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Original Music: Lionel Newman
Written by Harold Medford, story by John & Ward Hawkins
Produced by Robert L. Jacks
Directed by Budd Boetticher
A smartly directed mid-fifties noir with a sensational central performance from the overlooked Wendell Corey, The Killer is Loose shows director Budd Boetticher at ease with a modest budget,...
The Killer Is Loose
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1956 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 76 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / 29.98
Starring: Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey, Alan Hale Jr., Michael Pate, John Larch, Dee J. Thompson, Virginia Christine.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Original Music: Lionel Newman
Written by Harold Medford, story by John & Ward Hawkins
Produced by Robert L. Jacks
Directed by Budd Boetticher
A smartly directed mid-fifties noir with a sensational central performance from the overlooked Wendell Corey, The Killer is Loose shows director Budd Boetticher at ease with a modest budget,...
- 10/24/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Suburban Commando (1991) Director: Burt Kennedy Stars: Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd, Shelley Duvall Next week, the summer movie season begins, and the Guardians Of The Galaxy come back for Vol. 2, so Awfully Good Movies is celebrating with a less beloved space adventurer: Hulk Hogan as the Suburban Commando! Yes, in that mercifully short window of time where Hulk Hogan tried becoming a... Read More...
- 4/28/2017
- by Jesse Shade
- JoBlo.com
The laid-back, plot challenged non-violent western gets a boost in this folksy comedy about two aging cowboys with less sense than the horses they tame. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda star together for the first time, leaving behind their older images… they’re too tender-hearted for their own good. If the sex comedy wasn’t quite so dated, Burt Kennedy’s picture might be a classic.
The Rounders
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Sue Ane Langdon, Hope Holiday, Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Freeman, Joan Freeman, Denver Pyle, Barton MacLane, Doodles Weaver, Peter Fonda, Peter Ford, Bill Hart, Warren Oates, Chuck Roberson.
Cinematography: Paul Vogel
Film Editor: John McSweeney
Original Music: Jeff Alexander
From the Novel by Max Evans
Produced by Richard E. Lyons
Written and Directed by Burt Kennedy
Producer Richard E. Lyons is...
The Rounders
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Sue Ane Langdon, Hope Holiday, Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Freeman, Joan Freeman, Denver Pyle, Barton MacLane, Doodles Weaver, Peter Fonda, Peter Ford, Bill Hart, Warren Oates, Chuck Roberson.
Cinematography: Paul Vogel
Film Editor: John McSweeney
Original Music: Jeff Alexander
From the Novel by Max Evans
Produced by Richard E. Lyons
Written and Directed by Burt Kennedy
Producer Richard E. Lyons is...
- 4/22/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Randolph Scott's final 'Ranown' western is a minimalist masterpiece, an unusually gentle story about a great westerner on a forlorn romantic quest. It's also a showcase for the underrated Nancy Gates and Claude Akins, and a pleasure to watch in wide, wide CinemaScope. Comanche Station All-region Blu-ray Explosive Media / Alive 1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 74 min. / Street Date July 22, 2016 / Einer Gibt Nicht Auf / available at Amazon.de/ EUR14,99 Starring Randolph Scott, Nancy Gates, Claude Atkins, Skip Homeier, Richard Rust. Cinematography Charles Lawton Jr. Film Editor Edwin H. Bryant Music supervisor Mischa Balaleinikoff Written by Burt Kennedy Produced and Directed by Budd Boetticher
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
One must be careful when ordering Blu-ray discs of Hollywood films from overseas. Foreign distributors license American movies that the studios won't release here, but sometimes they don't have access to good video masters. In a few cases the films being offered are simply being pirated.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
One must be careful when ordering Blu-ray discs of Hollywood films from overseas. Foreign distributors license American movies that the studios won't release here, but sometimes they don't have access to good video masters. In a few cases the films being offered are simply being pirated.
- 9/12/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Lee Pfeiffer
"Gun the Man Down" is yet another Poverty Row low-budget Western shot during an era in which seemingly every other feature film released was a horse opera. Supposedly shot in nine days, the film is primarily notable for being the big screen directing debut of Andrew V. McLaglen, who would go on to be a very respected director who specialized in Westerns and action films. The movie also marked the final feature film for James Arness before he took on the role of Marshall Matt Dillon in TV's long-running and iconic "Gunsmoke" series. After failing to achieve stardom on the big screen, Arness found fame and fortune in "Gunsmoke" when John Wayne recommended him for the part. Wayne had been championing Arness for years and provided him with roles in some of his films. Following "Gunsmoke"'s phenomenal run, Arness seemed content to stay with TV and had another successful series,...
"Gun the Man Down" is yet another Poverty Row low-budget Western shot during an era in which seemingly every other feature film released was a horse opera. Supposedly shot in nine days, the film is primarily notable for being the big screen directing debut of Andrew V. McLaglen, who would go on to be a very respected director who specialized in Westerns and action films. The movie also marked the final feature film for James Arness before he took on the role of Marshall Matt Dillon in TV's long-running and iconic "Gunsmoke" series. After failing to achieve stardom on the big screen, Arness found fame and fortune in "Gunsmoke" when John Wayne recommended him for the part. Wayne had been championing Arness for years and provided him with roles in some of his films. Following "Gunsmoke"'s phenomenal run, Arness seemed content to stay with TV and had another successful series,...
- 9/3/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
This almost completely forgotten '50s western couldn't compete with the big productions, but it has a good cast -- James Arness, Robert J. Wilke, Emile Meyer, Harry Carey Jr. Plus early work by writer Burt Kennedy, and the debuts of actress Angie Dickinson and director Andrew V. McLaglen. Gun the Man Down Blu-ray Olive Films 1956 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 76 min. / Street Date July 19, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring James Arness, Angie Dickinson, Emile Meyer, Robert J. Wilke, Harry Carey Jr., Don Megowan, Michael Emmet, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez. Cinematography William H. Clothier Film Editor A. Edward Sutherland Original Music Henry Vars Written by Burt Kennedy, Sam Freedle Produced by Robert E. Morrison Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When the 1950s rolled in John Wayne stopped being merely an actor and graduated to institution status, starting his own production company, Batjac, and promoting his own group of talent.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When the 1950s rolled in John Wayne stopped being merely an actor and graduated to institution status, starting his own production company, Batjac, and promoting his own group of talent.
- 7/23/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Doug Oswald
Randolph Scott plays a bounty hunter returning a former Indian captive in “Comanche Station,” a 1960 Columbia release directed by Bud Boetticher and written by western regular Burt Kennedy.
Jefferson Cody (Scott) trades rifles and other items with a group of Comanche Indians in exchange for a captive settler, Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates). Her husband has offered a large reward for her return. After the exchange they’re met by outlaw Ben Lane (Claude Akins) and his sidekicks Frank (Skip Homeier) and Dobie (Richard Rust) who help Cody during an Indian attack at Comanche Station. Lane and Cody are old enemies and he and his men have been searching for Nancy. Lane wants a piece of the $5,000 reward in return for helping protect Nancy on the journey to her husband. Cody reluctantly agrees and forms an uneasy alliance due to the Indian threat.
Cody befriends Dobie, who wants...
Randolph Scott plays a bounty hunter returning a former Indian captive in “Comanche Station,” a 1960 Columbia release directed by Bud Boetticher and written by western regular Burt Kennedy.
Jefferson Cody (Scott) trades rifles and other items with a group of Comanche Indians in exchange for a captive settler, Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates). Her husband has offered a large reward for her return. After the exchange they’re met by outlaw Ben Lane (Claude Akins) and his sidekicks Frank (Skip Homeier) and Dobie (Richard Rust) who help Cody during an Indian attack at Comanche Station. Lane and Cody are old enemies and he and his men have been searching for Nancy. Lane wants a piece of the $5,000 reward in return for helping protect Nancy on the journey to her husband. Cody reluctantly agrees and forms an uneasy alliance due to the Indian threat.
Cody befriends Dobie, who wants...
- 3/8/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Above: Italian 4-foglio for The Joker is Wild (Charles Vidor, USA, 1957). Art by Enzo Nistri.Frank Sinatra, arguably the most important entertainer of the 20th century, was born 100 years ago today. I’ve become a little obsessed with him over the past week after watching Alex Gibney’s terrific 2-part, 4-hour HBO portrait Sinatra: All or Nothing at All. This of course got me thinking about Frank in movie posters, and I realized that I could barely come up with images of Sinatra posters in my head. While his best album covers are indelible and iconic, his movie posters tend to be less so. Scrolling through his filmography I realized that part of the problem is that his greatest films—On the Town, From Here to Eternity, Guys and Dolls, Some Came Running, Ocean’s 11—were almost always ensemble films in which Sinatra was never the standalone star, and so...
- 12/12/2015
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Above: Italian 4-foglio for The Joker is Wild (Charles Vidor, USA, 1957). Art by Enzo Nistri.Frank Sinatra, arguably the most important entertainer of the 20th century, was born 100 years ago today. I’ve become a little obsessed with him over the past week after watching Alex Gibney’s terrific 2-part, 4-hour HBO portrait Sinatra: All or Nothing at All. This of course got me thinking about Frank in movie posters, and I realized that I could barely come up with images of Sinatra posters in my head. While his best album covers are indelible and iconic, his movie posters tend to be less so. Scrolling through his filmography I realized that part of the problem is that his greatest films—On the Town, From Here to Eternity, Guys and Dolls, Some Came Running, Ocean’s 11—were almost always ensemble films in which Sinatra was never the standalone star, and so...
- 12/12/2015
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Ann-Margret movies: From sex kitten to two-time Oscar nominee. Ann-Margret: 'Carnal Knowledge' and 'Tommy' proved that 'sex symbol' was a remarkable actress Ann-Margret, the '60s star who went from sex kitten to respected actress and two-time Oscar nominee, is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 13, '15. As part of its “Summer Under the Stars” series, TCM is showing this evening the movies that earned Ann-Margret her Academy Award nods: Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Ken Russell's Tommy (1975). Written by Jules Feiffer, and starring Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel, the downbeat – some have found it misogynistic; others have praised it for presenting American men as chauvinistic pigs – Carnal Knowledge is one of the precursors of “adult Hollywood moviemaking,” a rare species that, propelled by the success of disparate arthouse fare such as Vilgot Sjöman's I Am Curious (Yellow) and Costa-Gavras' Z, briefly flourished from...
- 8/14/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Burbank, Calif. May 19, 2015 – On June 2, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) will release The John Wayne Westerns Film Collection – featuring five classic films on Blu-ray™ from the larger-than-life American hero – just in time for Father’s Day. The Collection features two new-to-Blu-ray titles, The Train Robbers and Cahill U.S. Marshal plus fan favorites Fort Apache, The Searchers and a long-awaited re-release of Rio Bravo. The pocketbook box set will sell for $54.96 Srp; individual films $14.98 Srp.
Born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa, John Wayne first worked in the film business as a laborer on the Fox lot during summer vacations from University of Southern California, which he attended on a football scholarship. He met and was befriended by John Ford, a young director who was beginning to make a name for himself in action films, comedies and dramas. It was Ford who recommended Wayne to director Raoul Walsh for the male lead in the 1930 epic Western,...
Born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa, John Wayne first worked in the film business as a laborer on the Fox lot during summer vacations from University of Southern California, which he attended on a football scholarship. He met and was befriended by John Ford, a young director who was beginning to make a name for himself in action films, comedies and dramas. It was Ford who recommended Wayne to director Raoul Walsh for the male lead in the 1930 epic Western,...
- 5/13/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Throughout the vast history of cinema the profession of law enforcement has been portrayed heavily and made its mark on the big screen in both dramatic and comical fodder. Whether it be straight up cops and robbers or crooked officers on the take in gangster flicks or ant-hero gun-slinging loners trying to buck the system the presence of crime-busting cads never fail to add compelling, if not at times over-exaggerated, insight into the world of law-enforcing personalities.
The one element of the law-enforcing community that seems somewhat limited but still registers mightily in some cinematic arenas is the concept of the sheriff. Sheriffs do cast a prominent shadow in all sorts of fields in the movies: westerns, medieval times, contemporary country car-chasing farces and even some urban melodramas.
In Arresting Developments: Top Ten Sheriffs in the Movies we will take a look at some of the notable on-screen sheriffs in...
The one element of the law-enforcing community that seems somewhat limited but still registers mightily in some cinematic arenas is the concept of the sheriff. Sheriffs do cast a prominent shadow in all sorts of fields in the movies: westerns, medieval times, contemporary country car-chasing farces and even some urban melodramas.
In Arresting Developments: Top Ten Sheriffs in the Movies we will take a look at some of the notable on-screen sheriffs in...
- 2/19/2015
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
Indeed it is sad news to acknowledge the passing of Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actor James Garner (1928-2014). The Hollywood icon Garner has endured a remarkable show business career during a five-plus decade stretch as he has entertained generations of TV and film audiences throughout the ages. Upon the death of this immensely likable leading man on both the small and big screen many are probably wondering about their mortality at this point. After all, you either grew up with James Garner as a peer or spent your childhood watching him in your living rooms on the boob tube or at the local movie theater.
Although the majority of folks associate Garner with television from his first western series Maverick in the 1950′s to his landmark role as ex-con Pi Jim Rockford in the 1970′s The Rockford Files (some teens and young adults may recall his brief stint as grandfather Jim...
Although the majority of folks associate Garner with television from his first western series Maverick in the 1950′s to his landmark role as ex-con Pi Jim Rockford in the 1970′s The Rockford Files (some teens and young adults may recall his brief stint as grandfather Jim...
- 7/20/2014
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2013—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2013 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
- 1/13/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Martin Balsam: Oscar winner has ‘Summer Under the Stars’ Day on Turner Classic Movies Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner Martin Balsam (A Thousand Clowns) is Turner Classic Movies’ unusual (and welcome) "Summer Under the Stars" featured player today, August 27, 2013. Right now, TCM is showing Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes (1971), a box-office flop starring Sean Connery in his (just about) post-James Bond, pre-movie legend days. (Photo: Martin Balsam ca. early ’60s.) Next, is Joseph Sargent’s thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). Written by Peter Stone (Father Goose, Arabesque) from John Godey’s novel, the film revolves around the hijacking of a subway car in New York City. Passengers are held for ransom while police lieutenant Walter Matthau tries to handle the situation. Now considered a classic (just about every pre-1999 movie is considered a "classic" these days), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was...
- 8/28/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) ultimate movie star showcase – Summer Under the Stars – returns this August for its 11th year as TCM pays tribute to 31 different stars in 31 days.
Sixteen of this year’s stars are being celebrated for the first time duringSummer Under the Stars, including Oscar® winners Joan Fontaine (Aug. 6), Mickey Rooney (Aug. 13), Wallace Beery (Aug. 17), Hattie McDaniel (Aug. 20), Downton Abbey star Maggie Smith (Aug. 22), Charles Coburn (Aug. 24), Martin Balsam(Aug. 27), Shirley Jones (Aug. 28) and Rex Harrison (Aug. 31). Also featured for the first time will be silent heartthrob Ramón Novarro (Aug. 8); legendary French actressCatherine Deneuve (Aug. 12), whose day features six films making their TCM debuts; Ann Blyth (Aug. 16), whose marathon will air on her 85th birthday; and Mary Boland (Aug. 4) and Glenda Farrell (Aug. 29), two outstanding character actresses who never received the recognition they deserved. They will join 15 returning favorites, including Humphrey Bogart (Aug. 1), Doris Day (Aug. 2), Charlton Heston (Aug.
Sixteen of this year’s stars are being celebrated for the first time duringSummer Under the Stars, including Oscar® winners Joan Fontaine (Aug. 6), Mickey Rooney (Aug. 13), Wallace Beery (Aug. 17), Hattie McDaniel (Aug. 20), Downton Abbey star Maggie Smith (Aug. 22), Charles Coburn (Aug. 24), Martin Balsam(Aug. 27), Shirley Jones (Aug. 28) and Rex Harrison (Aug. 31). Also featured for the first time will be silent heartthrob Ramón Novarro (Aug. 8); legendary French actressCatherine Deneuve (Aug. 12), whose day features six films making their TCM debuts; Ann Blyth (Aug. 16), whose marathon will air on her 85th birthday; and Mary Boland (Aug. 4) and Glenda Farrell (Aug. 29), two outstanding character actresses who never received the recognition they deserved. They will join 15 returning favorites, including Humphrey Bogart (Aug. 1), Doris Day (Aug. 2), Charlton Heston (Aug.
- 7/11/2013
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Cinema is a kind of uber-art form that’s made up of a multitude of other forms of art including writing, directing, acting, drawing, design, photography and fashion. As such, film is, as all cinema aficionados know, a highly collaborative venture.
One of the most consistently fascinating collaborations in cinema is that of the director and actor.
This article will examine some of the great director & actor teams. It’s important to note that this piece is not intended as a film history survey detailing all the generally revered collaborations.
There is a wealth of information and study available on such duos as John Ford & John Wayne, Howard Hawks & John Wayne, Elia Kazan & Marlon Brando, Akira Kurosawa & Toshiro Mifune, Alfred Hitchcock & James Stewart, Ingmar Bergman & Max Von Sydow, Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina/Marcello Mastroianni, Billy Wilder & Jack Lemmon, Francis Ford Coppola & Al Pacino, Woody Allen & Diane Keaton, Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro...
One of the most consistently fascinating collaborations in cinema is that of the director and actor.
This article will examine some of the great director & actor teams. It’s important to note that this piece is not intended as a film history survey detailing all the generally revered collaborations.
There is a wealth of information and study available on such duos as John Ford & John Wayne, Howard Hawks & John Wayne, Elia Kazan & Marlon Brando, Akira Kurosawa & Toshiro Mifune, Alfred Hitchcock & James Stewart, Ingmar Bergman & Max Von Sydow, Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina/Marcello Mastroianni, Billy Wilder & Jack Lemmon, Francis Ford Coppola & Al Pacino, Woody Allen & Diane Keaton, Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro...
- 7/11/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother.
****
Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.
In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).
Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.
****
Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.
In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).
Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.
- 2/27/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
Curiously, with all the bold, ambitious, fresh talent storming into Hollywood in the 1960s/1970s – directors who’d cut their teeth in TV like Sidney Lumet and John Frankenheimer; imports like Roman Polanski and Peter Yates; the first wave of film school “film brats” like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese — one of the most popular genres during the period was one of Old Hollywood’s most traditional: the Western. But the Western often wrought at the hands of that new generation of moviemakers was rarely traditional.
During the Old Hollywood era, Westerns typically had been B-caliber productions, most of them favoring gunfights and barroom brawls over dramatic substance, and nearly all adhering to Western tropes which ran back to the pre-cinema days of dime novelist Ned Buntline. With the 1960s, however, the genre began to change; or, more accurately, expand, twist, and even invert.
To be sure, there would...
During the Old Hollywood era, Westerns typically had been B-caliber productions, most of them favoring gunfights and barroom brawls over dramatic substance, and nearly all adhering to Western tropes which ran back to the pre-cinema days of dime novelist Ned Buntline. With the 1960s, however, the genre began to change; or, more accurately, expand, twist, and even invert.
To be sure, there would...
- 1/4/2013
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
The “adult” Western – as it would come to be called – was a long time coming. A Hollywood staple since the days of The Great Train Robbery (1903), the Western offered spectacle and action set against the uniquely American milieu of the Old West – a historical period which, at the dawn of the motion picture industry, was still fresh in the nation’s memory. What the genre rarely offered was dramatic substance.
Early Westerns often adopted the same traditions of the popular Wild West literature and dime novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries producing, as a consequence, highly romantic, almost purely mythic portraits the Old West. Through the early decades of the motion picture industry, the genre went through several creative cycles, alternately tilting from fanciful to realistic and back again. By the early sound era, and despite such serious efforts as The Big Trail (1930) and The Virginian (1929), Hollywood Westerns were,...
Early Westerns often adopted the same traditions of the popular Wild West literature and dime novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries producing, as a consequence, highly romantic, almost purely mythic portraits the Old West. Through the early decades of the motion picture industry, the genre went through several creative cycles, alternately tilting from fanciful to realistic and back again. By the early sound era, and despite such serious efforts as The Big Trail (1930) and The Virginian (1929), Hollywood Westerns were,...
- 1/4/2013
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
We love crime movies. We may go on and on about Scorsese’s ability to incorporate Italian neo-realism techniques into Mean Streets (1973), the place of John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle (1950) in the canon of postwar noir, The Godfather (1972) as a socio-cultural commentary on the distortion of the ideals of the American dream blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda…but that ain’t it.
We love crime movies because we love watching a guy who doesn’t have to behave, who doesn’t have to – nor care to – put a choker on his id and can let his darkest, most visceral impulses run wild. Some smart-mouth gopher tells hood Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), “Go fuck yourself,” in Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), and does Tommy roll with it? Does he spit back, “Fuck me? Nah, fuck you!” Does he go home and tell his mother?
Nope.
He pulls a .45 cannon out from...
We love crime movies because we love watching a guy who doesn’t have to behave, who doesn’t have to – nor care to – put a choker on his id and can let his darkest, most visceral impulses run wild. Some smart-mouth gopher tells hood Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), “Go fuck yourself,” in Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), and does Tommy roll with it? Does he spit back, “Fuck me? Nah, fuck you!” Does he go home and tell his mother?
Nope.
He pulls a .45 cannon out from...
- 10/30/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Rita Hayworth Movies Turner Classic Movies, Wednesday, August 8 6:00 Am Affectionately Yours (1941) A foreign correspondent hurries home to stop his wife from getting a divorce. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Cast: Merle Oberon, Dennis Morgan, Rita Hayworth. Black and White-88 minutes. 7:30 Am Angels Over Broadway (1940) A playwright persuades a con artist to help an embezzler go straight. Dir: Ben Hecht. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell. Black and White-79 minutes. 9:00 Am The Money Trap (1966) A cop with financial problems turns crooked. Dir: Burt Kennedy. Cast: Glenn Ford, Elke Sommer, Rita Hayworth. Black and White-92 minutes. Letterbox. 10:45 Am [...]...
- 8/7/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
With the Academy Awards for the 2011 film year in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to take a look at one of the event’s most consistently fascinating categories: Best Supporting Actor. The most interesting story in the category this year isn’t who got nominated, it’s who didn’t. More specifically, Albert Brooks was completely robbed of a nomination for his performance as film producer turned lethal gangster Bernie Rose in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive.
As much as I’d like to say I was surprised by this, considering both the quality of performance and Brooks’ slew of nominations from other critical circles, in light of the Academy’s history of overlooking outstanding supporting performances, I simply can’t.
Following is a chronological look at a number of performances richly deserving of a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination.
In some cases, the performances are in films...
As much as I’d like to say I was surprised by this, considering both the quality of performance and Brooks’ slew of nominations from other critical circles, in light of the Academy’s history of overlooking outstanding supporting performances, I simply can’t.
Following is a chronological look at a number of performances richly deserving of a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination.
In some cases, the performances are in films...
- 5/23/2012
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
The Magnificent Seven is often heralded as one of the greatest westerns ever made. Great acting, memorable characters, and a striking score, all elevate The Magnificent Seven into more than your standard b-movie shoot-em-up western. Unfortunately for Burt Kennedy’s 1966 sequel, it has only one of these three traits working to keep this horse riding high. Given all that is working against it, Return of the Magnificent Seven turns out a little better than expected, even if the Blu-ray doesn’t have much faith in the film.
The Movie
The sequel begins much in the same way as the original. In fact, the film is set in the same village that was first mistreated in the original. A megalomaniac bent on revenge rides with a group of bandits into the village abducting all of the men and leaving behind the women and children. Chico (Originally played by Horst Buchholz and...
The Movie
The sequel begins much in the same way as the original. In fact, the film is set in the same village that was first mistreated in the original. A megalomaniac bent on revenge rides with a group of bandits into the village abducting all of the men and leaving behind the women and children. Chico (Originally played by Horst Buchholz and...
- 10/10/2011
- by Michael Haffner
- Destroy the Brain
Blu-ray Review
Return of the Magnificent Seven
Directed by: Burt Kennedy
Cast: Yul Brynner, Robert Fuller, Julian Mateos, Warren Oates, Virgilio Texeira, Claude Akins, Elisa Montes
Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: Nr
Due Out: August 2, 2011
Plot: Legendary gunslinger Chris (Brynner) returns to Mexico with a new batch of six cowboys to save a vulnerable town from a terrorizing leader.
Who’S It For?: If you’re looking for another serving of Magnificent Seven-like awesomeness, look elsewhere. If bland gunplay provided by an excessive amount of dull characters is your thing, this movie might keep you awake.
Movie:
Return of the Magnificent Seven is infected with the same attribute that makes other unwarranted sequels suck. It abuses the power of the components that made the original so special, and it focuses on giving the audience a second helping of what they clamored for, but this time with a giant shoulder-shrug as they dish it out.
Return of the Magnificent Seven
Directed by: Burt Kennedy
Cast: Yul Brynner, Robert Fuller, Julian Mateos, Warren Oates, Virgilio Texeira, Claude Akins, Elisa Montes
Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: Nr
Due Out: August 2, 2011
Plot: Legendary gunslinger Chris (Brynner) returns to Mexico with a new batch of six cowboys to save a vulnerable town from a terrorizing leader.
Who’S It For?: If you’re looking for another serving of Magnificent Seven-like awesomeness, look elsewhere. If bland gunplay provided by an excessive amount of dull characters is your thing, this movie might keep you awake.
Movie:
Return of the Magnificent Seven is infected with the same attribute that makes other unwarranted sequels suck. It abuses the power of the components that made the original so special, and it focuses on giving the audience a second helping of what they clamored for, but this time with a giant shoulder-shrug as they dish it out.
- 9/26/2011
- by Nick Allen
- The Scorecard Review
DVD Playhouse—September 2011
By Allen Gardner
In A Better World (Sony) Winner of last year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar, this Danish export looks at two fractured families and the effect that the adult world dysfunction has on their two sons, who form an immediate and potentially deadly bond. Director Susanne Bier delivers another powerful work that maintains its drive during the films’ first 2/3, then falters somewhat during the last act. Still, well-worth seeing, and beautifully made. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Commentary by Bier and editor Pernille Bech Christensen; Interview with Bier. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
X-men First Class (20th Century Fox) “Origins” film set in the early 1960s, traces the beginnings of Magento and Professor X (played ably here by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy), and how the once-close friends and colleagues became bitter enemies. First half is slam-bang entertainment at its stylish best,...
By Allen Gardner
In A Better World (Sony) Winner of last year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar, this Danish export looks at two fractured families and the effect that the adult world dysfunction has on their two sons, who form an immediate and potentially deadly bond. Director Susanne Bier delivers another powerful work that maintains its drive during the films’ first 2/3, then falters somewhat during the last act. Still, well-worth seeing, and beautifully made. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Commentary by Bier and editor Pernille Bech Christensen; Interview with Bier. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
X-men First Class (20th Century Fox) “Origins” film set in the early 1960s, traces the beginnings of Magento and Professor X (played ably here by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy), and how the once-close friends and colleagues became bitter enemies. First half is slam-bang entertainment at its stylish best,...
- 9/11/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
The Movie Pool moseys up to Return of the Magnificent Seven, on Blu-ray for the first time!
Blu-ray Specs
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rating: Not rated
Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD-ma
Subtitles: English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Spanish, French
Special Features:
The Set-up
Chris (Yul Brynner) reunites the surviving members of the Magnificent Seven when one of their own is kidnapped in Mexico.
Director: Burt Kennedy
Screenplay: Larry Cohen
The Delivery
A colossal misstep that should have never been made, Return of the Magnificent Seven has so many things going against it. It is really too bad, because the film, at its core, is not bad; it is just average. What makes Return such a disappointment is the buildup of expectation the viewer has going in. Only Yul Brynner returns from the original; Steve McQueen and the other cast members (who were not killed) did not return.
Blu-ray Specs
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rating: Not rated
Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD-ma
Subtitles: English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Spanish, French
Special Features:
The Set-up
Chris (Yul Brynner) reunites the surviving members of the Magnificent Seven when one of their own is kidnapped in Mexico.
Director: Burt Kennedy
Screenplay: Larry Cohen
The Delivery
A colossal misstep that should have never been made, Return of the Magnificent Seven has so many things going against it. It is really too bad, because the film, at its core, is not bad; it is just average. What makes Return such a disappointment is the buildup of expectation the viewer has going in. Only Yul Brynner returns from the original; Steve McQueen and the other cast members (who were not killed) did not return.
- 9/9/2011
- Cinelinx
Rank the week of July 5th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Hobo With A Shotgun
(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #3839
Times Ranked: 1526
Win Percentage: 47%
Top-20 Rankings: 7
Directed By: Jason Eisener
Starring: Rutger Hauer • Gregory Smith • Molly Dunsworth • Brian Downey • Nick Bateman
Genres: Action • Adventure • Crime • Crime Thriller • Thriller
Rank This Movie
Wake Wood
(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #15374
Times Ranked: 35
Win Percentage: 32%
Top-20 Rankings: 0
Directed By: David Keating
Starring: Eva Birthistle • Ella Connolly • Amelia Crowley • Aidan Gillen • Timothy Spall
Genres: Drama • Horror
Rank This Movie
13 Assassins
(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2010)
Flickchart Ranking: #2732
Times Ranked: 1084
Win Percentage: 59%
Top-20 Rankings: 8
Directed By: Takashi Miike
Starring: Koji Yakusho • Takayuki Yamada • Yusuke Iseya • Gorô Inagaki • Masachika Ichimura
Genres: Action • Ensemble Film • Period Film • Samurai Film
Rank This Movie
Bloodrayne: The Third Reich
(DVD and Blu-ray | R | 2010)
Flickchart Ranking: #17903
Times Ranked: 30
Win Percentage: 42%
Top-...
(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #3839
Times Ranked: 1526
Win Percentage: 47%
Top-20 Rankings: 7
Directed By: Jason Eisener
Starring: Rutger Hauer • Gregory Smith • Molly Dunsworth • Brian Downey • Nick Bateman
Genres: Action • Adventure • Crime • Crime Thriller • Thriller
Rank This Movie
Wake Wood
(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #15374
Times Ranked: 35
Win Percentage: 32%
Top-20 Rankings: 0
Directed By: David Keating
Starring: Eva Birthistle • Ella Connolly • Amelia Crowley • Aidan Gillen • Timothy Spall
Genres: Drama • Horror
Rank This Movie
13 Assassins
(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2010)
Flickchart Ranking: #2732
Times Ranked: 1084
Win Percentage: 59%
Top-20 Rankings: 8
Directed By: Takashi Miike
Starring: Koji Yakusho • Takayuki Yamada • Yusuke Iseya • Gorô Inagaki • Masachika Ichimura
Genres: Action • Ensemble Film • Period Film • Samurai Film
Rank This Movie
Bloodrayne: The Third Reich
(DVD and Blu-ray | R | 2010)
Flickchart Ranking: #17903
Times Ranked: 30
Win Percentage: 42%
Top-...
- 7/5/2011
- by Jonathan Hardesty
- Flickchart
Olive Films will move into the high-definition arena this summer with the release of two of their vintage catalog movies on Blu-ray on July 5: Crack in the World and Hannie Caulder. Both of the films were released on DVD by Olive earier this year, and their upcoming Blu-ray editions are the company’s first high-definition titles. (Read our DVD review of Crack in the World.)
Janette Scott sees the end of the planet in Dana Andrews' face in Crack in the World.
Crack in the World (1965), directed by Andrew Marton, is a science-fiction thriller concerning a scientist’s (Dana Andrews, The Best Years of Our Lives) plan to tap into the geothermal energy at the Earth’s core by detonating a thermonuclear bomb deep beneath the surface, resulting in the planet’s near-destruction.
The revenge movie Hannie Caulder (1971) stars Raquel Welch (Mother, Jugs & Speed) as a frontier women...
Janette Scott sees the end of the planet in Dana Andrews' face in Crack in the World.
Crack in the World (1965), directed by Andrew Marton, is a science-fiction thriller concerning a scientist’s (Dana Andrews, The Best Years of Our Lives) plan to tap into the geothermal energy at the Earth’s core by detonating a thermonuclear bomb deep beneath the surface, resulting in the planet’s near-destruction.
The revenge movie Hannie Caulder (1971) stars Raquel Welch (Mother, Jugs & Speed) as a frontier women...
- 4/6/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Director: Michael Winterbottom Writers: Michael Winterbottom, John Curran (screenplay), Jim Thompson (novel) Starring: Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Bill Pullman, Ned Beatty, Tom Bower, Elias Koteas, Simon Baker, Brent Briscoe, Matthew Maher, Liam Aiken, Jay R. Ferguson Lou Ford (Casey Affleck) – the narrator, a blatantly unreliable one at that – is a soft-spoken and seemingly mild-mannered deputy sheriff in Central City, a small rural town in west Texas in the early 1950s. Lou doesn’t even carry a gun because crime in this oil boomtown is utterly nonexistent. He lives alone in the same home where he was raised. In the evenings, like a wayward European aristocrat, he tinkers around classically on his piano, reads books from his well-stocked library and listens to opera records. He has a beautiful girlfriend, his childhood sweetheart, named Amy (Kate Hudson) and has earned the utmost respect of his alcoholic boss, Sheriff Bob Maples...
- 7/26/2010
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
By now the rape-revenge pulp movie is a staple, but in 1971, when Burt Kennedy's Hannie Caulder leapt upon the anti-western bandwagon, they were brand-new. It was still five years before Lipstick (1976) and six until I Spit on Your Grave (1977) --incidentally two of the most reviled movies of that decade (and bombs to boot) -- and Charles Bronson's Death Wish (1974) was still a few years away, which in any case gave the gun to Bronson, not the woman in question. Did it all start with Burt Kennedy's modest, Spain-shot paella western?...
- 7/6/2010
- Movieline
Director Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me is many things. It's a beautifully shot glimpse of how sordid small-town life can be. It's an unflinching look into the mind of a killer. It's a brutal and uncomfortable display of violence, particularly against women. It's an example of absolutely brilliant acting, and it's an incredible movie, but often one to be endured rather than enjoyed. I'll warn you that it's a difficult film to review without revealing some spoilers, but most of what will be spoiled takes place in the first act of the film.
The Killer Inside Me, based on the 1952 noir novel by Jim Thompson, is about Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford (Casey Affleck), a quite, unassuming, friendly guy who helps his friends, has a lovely girlfriend, Amy (Kate Hudson), and is a complete, unrepentant psychopath. Of course, no one knows this, although he's well aware of it. Ford is a narcissistic,...
The Killer Inside Me, based on the 1952 noir novel by Jim Thompson, is about Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford (Casey Affleck), a quite, unassuming, friendly guy who helps his friends, has a lovely girlfriend, Amy (Kate Hudson), and is a complete, unrepentant psychopath. Of course, no one knows this, although he's well aware of it. Ford is a narcissistic,...
- 6/18/2010
- by TK
If ever there were ever a book destined to both invite and elude a satisfactory film adaptation indefinitely, Jim Thompson's 1952 pulp magnum opus "The Killer Inside Me" is it.
Much like Walker Percy's 1961 novel "The Moviegoer," the spare prose, snapshot precise detail and intimate first person narration of "Killer" project a film directly into the reader's head more lucid and haunting than anything likely arrive on a movie screen via creative committee.
And, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned, the lead characters in both books (a genial psychopath deputy sheriff in Thompson's, and an emotionally unreachable Korean War veteran in Percy's) aren't exactly the kinds of seize the moment protagonists typically tasked with driving three acts of complications and changes to a satisfying climax that leaves an audience with happily shaking heads when the lights come up.
To my knowledge "The Moviegoer" remains in development limbo as an option contract,...
Much like Walker Percy's 1961 novel "The Moviegoer," the spare prose, snapshot precise detail and intimate first person narration of "Killer" project a film directly into the reader's head more lucid and haunting than anything likely arrive on a movie screen via creative committee.
And, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned, the lead characters in both books (a genial psychopath deputy sheriff in Thompson's, and an emotionally unreachable Korean War veteran in Percy's) aren't exactly the kinds of seize the moment protagonists typically tasked with driving three acts of complications and changes to a satisfying climax that leaves an audience with happily shaking heads when the lights come up.
To my knowledge "The Moviegoer" remains in development limbo as an option contract,...
- 6/16/2010
- by Bruce Bennett
- ifc.com
Shocking murder scene every bit as painfully memorable as in the book; now that's a successful adaptation
Finally, someone gets Jim Thompson just right, and still nobody's happy. I'm surely not alone in thinking that the crime writer's violent, nihilistic essence has never arrived on the screen unalloyed. In Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, for which Thompson wrote the screenplay, his black-hearted sensibility is mediated through Kubrick's competing aesthetic. Steve McQueen slashed pages of Thompson's dialogue from the screenplay of The Getaway (1972), while Sam Peckinpah, ordinarily no slouch in the realms of nihilism, quailed before the hellish bleakness of the original ending. Stephen Frears's The Grifters is adequately nasty but a little too bright, and Burt Kennedy's 1976 version of The Killer Inside Me, starring Stacy Keach as psychotic Texas sheriff Lou Ford, simply lacks the author's true venom.
To get Thompson right, one has to take him cloven...
Finally, someone gets Jim Thompson just right, and still nobody's happy. I'm surely not alone in thinking that the crime writer's violent, nihilistic essence has never arrived on the screen unalloyed. In Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, for which Thompson wrote the screenplay, his black-hearted sensibility is mediated through Kubrick's competing aesthetic. Steve McQueen slashed pages of Thompson's dialogue from the screenplay of The Getaway (1972), while Sam Peckinpah, ordinarily no slouch in the realms of nihilism, quailed before the hellish bleakness of the original ending. Stephen Frears's The Grifters is adequately nasty but a little too bright, and Burt Kennedy's 1976 version of The Killer Inside Me, starring Stacy Keach as psychotic Texas sheriff Lou Ford, simply lacks the author's true venom.
To get Thompson right, one has to take him cloven...
- 5/29/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
The Train Robbers has been sitting in my Netflix queue for ages, hoping every Tuesday night that I’ll finally pick it for a Western Wednesday. It may have stayed there forever had not Justin Gray suggested it. Gray, as you should know by now, is coauthor of the DC series Jonah Hex. If he says “You should watch The Train Robbers!”, you call up the Netflix queue, and then you apologize to John Wayne that you required someone to intercede on his behalf.
However about halfway through, I began wondering if I had picked the right movie. Nothing was happening. The villains were a dustcloud shrouded bunch who just thundered around, Ann-Margaret was getting on my nerves, the sidekicks were blurring together, and Wayne was just being Wayne. I checked the clock and was relieved to see there was only about 15 minutes left.
And in that 15 minutes, The Train Robbers becomes an epic,...
However about halfway through, I began wondering if I had picked the right movie. Nothing was happening. The villains were a dustcloud shrouded bunch who just thundered around, Ann-Margaret was getting on my nerves, the sidekicks were blurring together, and Wayne was just being Wayne. I checked the clock and was relieved to see there was only about 15 minutes left.
And in that 15 minutes, The Train Robbers becomes an epic,...
- 3/17/2010
- by Elisabeth Rappe
- The Flickcast
Thanks to The Playlist we have been made aware of a promotional trailer for Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me based on the Jim Thompson novel and starring Casey Affleck, Simon Baker, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Elias Koteas, Bill Pullman and Ned Beatty.
Thompson, as many of you may already know co-wrote Stanley Kubrick's killer heist flick The Killing, which was part of my list of top ten heist films back in early 2008. This also isn't the first time "The Killer Inside Me" has been adapted for a feature film as Burt Kennedy directed a version in 1976 starring Stacy Keach and Susan Tyrrell.
The story centers on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer. The cast also includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute and Kate Hudson as the sheriff's schoolteacher girlfriend. Baker plays a county attorney...
Thompson, as many of you may already know co-wrote Stanley Kubrick's killer heist flick The Killing, which was part of my list of top ten heist films back in early 2008. This also isn't the first time "The Killer Inside Me" has been adapted for a feature film as Burt Kennedy directed a version in 1976 starring Stacy Keach and Susan Tyrrell.
The story centers on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer. The cast also includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute and Kate Hudson as the sheriff's schoolteacher girlfriend. Baker plays a county attorney...
- 11/5/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
By Michael Atkinson
The last of the red hot Golden Age Hollywood genre buckaroos, Budd Boetticher represented a long-vanished prototype: the man's man studio director who, before turning gruffly to making pictures, had spent years being a boxer or a stevedore or a soldier or what have you. Today, filmmakers pay their dues by earning six figures shooting shampoo commercials; then, a man who made westerns or war movies or gangster films was a man who had lived in the world and returned with a heartful of brutal and hopeful business you can't learn by watching other movies. In a sense, Boetticher outdid the competition by becoming a professional Mexican matador right out of college -- a scenario difficult to beat for hard-won iron-man chops in Tinseltown. Of course his biography influences how his best films -- the westerns he made between 1956 and 1960 -- have been perceived and why they've been canonized,...
The last of the red hot Golden Age Hollywood genre buckaroos, Budd Boetticher represented a long-vanished prototype: the man's man studio director who, before turning gruffly to making pictures, had spent years being a boxer or a stevedore or a soldier or what have you. Today, filmmakers pay their dues by earning six figures shooting shampoo commercials; then, a man who made westerns or war movies or gangster films was a man who had lived in the world and returned with a heartful of brutal and hopeful business you can't learn by watching other movies. In a sense, Boetticher outdid the competition by becoming a professional Mexican matador right out of college -- a scenario difficult to beat for hard-won iron-man chops in Tinseltown. Of course his biography influences how his best films -- the westerns he made between 1956 and 1960 -- have been perceived and why they've been canonized,...
- 11/11/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba will star in The Killer Inside Me, an adaptation of a novel from noir author Jim Thompson that Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart, 24 Hour Party People) will direct. The story is told through the eyes of a deputy sheriff (Affleck) in a small Texas town. Ford seems to be a regular, slightly boring, normal, and at times dumb and lazy small town cop with few obsessions. However, he is slowly revealed to be a deeply disturbed murderer—one who is paranoid-schizophrenic, sociopathic, cunning, and ruthless. The film will follow the sheriff’s downward spiral. Alba plays a prostitute. Robert Weinbach and John Curran penned the screenplay. The novel was written in 1952 and was made into a 1976 film which was directed by Burt Kennedy and starred Stacy Keach as the sheriff. Chris Hanley (American Psycho), Andrew Eaton (The Road to Guantanamo) and Bradford Schlei (Swingers) are producing the latest adaptation,...
- 11/8/2008
- by James Cook
- TheMovingPicture.net
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