Notizie

Edge has always been the yin to John Cena’s yang. ‘The Ultimate Opportunist’ was a legendary heel and gave us moments we will never forget. As the bad guy, he was a heat-seeking missile. Before his first retirement, though, he turned face and had a very respectable run. After that, he decided to turn to acting (like his predecessors).

Adam Copeland/Edge’s acting career has gone under the radar, unlike John Cena’s or The Rock’s. He usually stars in straight-to-dvd films. Edge also acts in supporting character/cameo roles on TV shows such as The Vikings. No one even remembers that he had a role in a DC production before even the Rock and John Cena.

Edge played the Atom Smasher in the CW Flash series

While the Rock and John Cena were busy doing other stuff, Edge was cast as a meta-human named Atom Smasher in CW’s Flash series.

Viking movies have been a consistent film genre since the 1950s, but the concept has received a place in pop culture due to the widely successful TV series Vikings Valhalla and its predecessor, Vikings. The movies based on these Norse people have varied in prominence and historical accuracy. However, most of them cover similar themes, focusing on the brutal and brave lifestyle of the Viking warriors.

Many fans of the Viking genre are interested in the historical accuracy of the narrative but are also invested in the entertainment and cohesiveness of the storyline. Some successful movies have impressed these viewers, including The Vikings and The Northman. Other underrated films, such as The 13th Warrior, have also captivated viewers despite the initial criticism they received. This collection of Viking movies is the overall best in the niche genre.

This article was updated on February 7, 2025, by Christopher Raley: Viking movies represent a niche category of films,...

When Kirk Douglas died in 2020 at the age of 103 (!), he left behind a massive legacy of over 90 films that even the most stalwart cineastes haven't been able to work their way through. Known for his affable smile and intense performances, Douglas is one of Hollywood's most famous leading men, and was the industry's most profitable actor throughout the 1950s. He was also a producing powerhouse, having started his own production company, Bryna Productions, which handled some of his best-known films. Bryna backed the Stanley Kubrick movies "Paths of Glory" and "Spartacus," as well as "The Vikings," "Seconds," "Seven Days in May," and, later on, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Douglas never lost sight of the evolving nature of film, rarely resting on trends or genres. 

In 1962, Bryna also backed a neo-Western called "Lonely Are the Brave." Set in the present day, "Brave" stars Douglas as a Korean War veteran...

Sandy Bresler, who served as Jack Nicholson’s agent and spokesman for more than 60 years, died Thursday in Santa Monica after a short illness, his family announced. He was 87.

Bresler first met the eventual three-time Oscar winner when both were serving in the California Air National Guard. He began representing the actor in 1961 after starting his career as a secretary at the William Morris Agency a year earlier.

Bresler’s clients also included actors Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid and Louise Linton, now wife of film executive and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. He “established the gold standard for personally curated talent representation,” his family noted.

On July 14, 1969, the day the Nicholson-starring Easy Rider premiered, the agent announced the launch of Sandy Bresler & Associates with an ad in The Hollywood Reporter in which he noted he was the actor’s “exclusive” representative.

Born on Jan. 20, 1937, Bresler was the son of Jerry Bresler,...

Gary Larson's iconic Far Side comics took historical subjects and turned them and used them in his patented comedic style, invigorating them with silly humor and modern twists. From cave-people to George Washington, Larson humorously depicted historical figures in unconventional and hilarious ways. The Far Side provided particular insight into Larson's worldview through historically-influenced panels, as opposed to some of the artist's more absurd, obscure panels, making them essential to study for any fan.

The Far Side, Gary Larson's iconic syndicated comic, rarely used recurring characters, but it did frequently revisit the same subjects for material again and again. One of these was history, as Larson often took familiar moments from the past and put them in the absurd, unique context his work became synonymous with, and beloved for.

The Far Side's view of history encompasses the entirety of civilization, from the origins of the species to the potential end of the world.

Gary Larson's iconic Far Side comics took historical subjects and turned them and used them in his patented comedic style, invigorating them with silly humor and modern twists. From cave-people to George Washington, Larson humorously depicted historical figures in unconventional and hilarious ways. The Far Side provided particular insight into Larson's worldview through historically-influenced panels, as opposed to some of the artist's more absurd, obscure panels, making them essential to study for any fan.

The Far Side, Gary Larson's iconic syndicated comic, never used recurring characters, but it did frequently revisit the same subjects for material again and again. One of these was history, as Larson often took familiar moments from the past and put them in the absurd, unique context his work became synonymous with, and beloved for.

The Far Side's view of history encompasses the entirety of civilization, from the origins of the species to the potential end of the world.

Stars like Kirk Douglas and Sean Connery defined action in their eras, leading to the rise of blockbuster franchises like James Bond. Charles Bronson brought a gritty and brutal edge to action movies in the 70s, influencing the tough vigilante archetype. Keanu Reeves and Dwayne Johnson exemplify the evolution of action stars, showcasing versatile talent in stunts, martial arts, and compelling stories.

Action movies have changed a lot over the decades, and that is reflected in the stars that rose to the top and became the most popular action heroes of their era. The action genre is a lot more than just fights, explosions, and guns, and it has been responsible for highlighting some incredible talent in Hollywood. With each new decade, there has been a shift in who becomes the biggest star in action movies, defining that generation's idea of action stars and the movies they appear in.

Action...

At the intersection of big-star international dealmaking, the 70mm epic, and the humble sword ‘n’ shield actioner, this comic book viking saga stacks one absurd, borderline bad taste action scene on top of another. It’s an irresistible mash-up of earlier successes, well directed visually by Jack Cardiff. Richard Widmark at forty must play the Viking action hero, Russ Tamblyn at thirty is still a physical dervish, and Sidney Poitier takes on the strangest casting of his career. Plus, low sexist comedy from a platoon of hearty Brit thesps!

The Long Ships

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 137

1964 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 126 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / Available from Viavision / Aus 34.95

Starring: Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, Russ Tamblyn, Rosanna Schiaffino, Oskar Homolka, Edward Judd, Lionel Jeffries, Beba Loncar, Clifford Evans, Gordon Jackson, Colin Blakely, Paul Stassino, Leonard Rossiter, Jeanne Moody, Julie Samuel.

Cinematography: Christopher Challis

Production Designer: Vlastimir Gavrik, Zoran Zorcic

Art Director: Bill Constable...

Michael Hirst — creator of The Vikings and The Tudors — is set to write the adaptation of Amitav Ghosh's best-selling novels The Ibis Trilogy, which is being produced by Endemol Shine’s Tiger Aspect in partnership with Endemol Shine India and DoveTail Media.

The project will see Hirst re-team with his Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age director Shekhar Kapur, who is set to helm the series.

Ghosh’s masterpiece The Ibis Trilogy begins with Sea of Poppies, continues with River of Smoke and concludes with Flood of Fire, and is seen as a landmark of twenty-first century literature. Set in mid-nineteenth century Asia,...

Top screenwriter, Michael Hirst has been appointed to draft the screenplay for “The Ibis Trilogy” a series adaptation that depicts the lives of vividly-drawn characters against the backdrop of the narcotics trade between Britain, India and China and including the “Opium Wars.”

The move reunites Hirst with “Elizabeth” director Shekhar Kapur, who is set to direct the series for Endemol Shine. The announcement was made Wednesday at Content London by Endemol Shine India’s Abhishek Rege.

The series is to be produced by Tiger Aspect with its newly appointed head of drama Lucy Bedford, as executive producer, in partnership with Endemol Shine India and TV packaging consultancy service DoveTale Media.

The books “Sea of Poppies,” “River of Smoke,” and “Flood of Fire,” are set in mid-19th century Asia were written by Amitav Ghosh. Justin Pollard was previously announced as historical consultant and story editor.

“Amitav Ghosh’s books brilliantly...

Italian sales company Summerside Intl. has acquired from Nordisk Film a three-title package of the latest titles in family franchise “Father of Four,” a hit in Denmark, on which they are launching international sales at the Efm.

Besides director Martin Miehe-Renard’s 2018 “Father of Four On The Sunny Side” and his 2017 “Father of Four at The Top,” the franchise package includes upcoming “Father of Four And The Vikings,” to be shot this summer for delivery in 2020.

Summerside chief Francesca Manno said she is launching pre-sales in Berlin on the franchise’s “The Vikings” installment in an unusual move for her company which handles a wide range of specialty titles from around the world, but in more advanced stages of production.

The Summerside slate also comprises doc “Rock The World,” an Italian/Jamaican co-production about the Ska Nation Band project, a group fusing Jamaican and Italian reggae produced by Grammy winner Richie Stephens,...

Bavaria Studios — often described as the heart of the Bavaria Film group — may be one of Europe’s largest and most state-ofthe-art film and television production facilities, but it also boasts an illustrious past that long ago cemented its place in cinematic history.

Film pioneer Peter Ostermayr founded the studios, originally known as Münchener Lichtspielkunst, in 1919. Six years later, a young Alfred Hitchcock arrived at the site in Grünwald, south of Munich, to shoot his first film, “The Pleasure Garden.”

It was renamed Bavaria Film in 1932 by new owners. A decade later, Germany’s Nazi government merged it into the Ufa-Film group along with several other companies. Productions continued at the studios in the post-war era and Bavaria was eventually reprivatized in 1956.

A number of high-profile U.S. pics shot there during that time, including Stanley Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory” with Kirk Douglas in 1957. Douglas returned the following...

It’s tendon-biting combat, with guns, trains, planes, chainsaws, and an indestructible all-terrain vehicle (that still couldn’t stand the potholes in the street of Los Angeles)! Rod Taylor, Jim Brown and Yvette Mimieux blast their way through one of the roughest of the ’60s action spectacles, as mercenaries on a mission of mercy that’s really a venal grab to ‘rescue’ a fortune in diamonds. Director Jack Cardiff pushed the limits of acceptability on this one — legends persist about longer, more egregiously violent cuts.

Dark of the Sun

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / The Mercenaries / Street Date December 18, 2011 / available through the Warner Archive Collection / 19.95

Starring: Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Peter Carsten, Jim Brown, Kenneth More, André Morell, Olivier Despax, Guy Deghy, Bloke Modisane, Calvin Lockhart.

Cinematography: Edward Scaife.

Film Editor: Ernest Walter

Original Music: Jacques Loussier

Written by Quentin Werty (Ranald MacDougall), Adrian Spies from the...

Hulu has confirmed that several of its original series will be debuting new episodes on the streaming service in July, including the first season of the highly anticipated Stephen King thriller “Castle Rock” as well as season 2 of the costume drama “Harlots” and season 4 of the comedy “Casual.”

And there will also be new to Hulu seasons of some of your favorites from other networks, including season 2 of “The Strain,” season 4 of “The Vikings” and season 8 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Likewise, there will be plenty of movies making their first Hulu appearances including the first five films in the “Star Trek” franchise and the Oscar-winning “Rosemary’s Baby.”

See Netflix schedule: Here’s what is coming and leaving in July

Available July 1: TV

Alaska: The Last Frontier: Complete Season 4 (Discovery)

Deadliest Catch: Complete Season 11 (Discovery)

Deadly Women: Complete Season 6 (ID)

Dual Survival: Complete Season 5 (Discovery)

Elementary: Complete Season...

Review by Roger Carpenter

Italian directors have always had a penchant for jumping on the cinematic bandwagon whenever a popular film is released. And we aren’t talking about just a couple of directors and a couple of films, but nearly all directors and, depending upon the genre, sometimes hundreds of films. Thus, we have the pepla of the 1950’s and 1960’s, the poliziotteschi and gialli of the 1970’s, the spaghetti westerns of the 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Jaws-inspired rip-offs, the Alien-inspired ripoffs, and the zombie and jungle/cannibal epics of the 1980’s. But, with the international sensation of the Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis vehicle entitled The Vikings in 1958, Italians were quick to jump on this particular bandwagon as well, resulting in a seven-year cycle of Viking films. And Mario Bava, best known for his proto-slashers and horror vehicles, was not averse to climbing on the bandwagon occasionally himself.

“And On The Eighth Day Bava Created Color.” That’s my sentiment with every new quality restoration of a Mario Bava picture. This amazing new disc of Il Maestro’s teeth-clenched Viking epic delivers stunning action scenes and eye-bending widescreen fantasy visuals. Arrow’s Blu-ray is spiked with a new Tim Lucas commentary.

Erik the Conqueror

Blu-ray + DVD

Arrow Video USA

1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Dyaliscope) / 90 min. / Street Date August 29, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95

Starring: Cameron Mitchell, Alice & Ellen Kessler, George Ardisson, Andrea Checchi, Françoise Christophe, Raf Baldassarre, Joe Robinson, Folco Lulli.

Cinematography: Mario Bava, Ubaldo Terzano

Film Editor: Mario Serandrei

Original Music: Roberto Nicolosi

Written by Oreste Biancoli, Mario Bava

Produced by Ferruccio De Martino

Directed by Mario Bava

Far too good to be slammed as a mere imitation of Richard Fleischer’s The Vikings, Mario Bava’s exciting Erik the Conqueror is one of the best of the Italian-made...

In 1961, director Mario Bava (Rabid Dogs, Kill Baby Kill) turned his hand to the historical adventure genre, capitalizing on the recent success of 1958’s Kirk Douglas vehicle The Vikings. The result was a colorful, swashbuckling epic of treachery, heroism and forbidden love: Erik the Conqueror. In 786 Ad, the invading Viking forces are repelled from the shores of England, leaving behind a young boy – Erik, son of the slain Viking king. Years later, Erik (George Ardisson, Juliet of the Spirits), raised by the English queen as her own, becomes Duke of Helford, while across the sea, his brother Eron (Cameron Mitchell, Blood and Black Lace) assumes leadership of the Viking horde and sets his sights on conquering England once again, setting the two estranged brothers on a collision course that will determine the fates of their respective kingdoms… Featuring a bombastic score by frequent collaborator Roberto Nicolosi (Black Sunday) and memorably...

Exhumed Films is resurrecting some beloved horror favorites from the 1970s and ’80s and projecting them onto the big screen at Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers, including Friday the 13th Part III, starring my original horror crush and maybe yours, too, Jason Voorhees! And also, we have release details for Escape Room, Paperbacks From Hell, Ghastlies, and Mountain Fever, as well as information on the new book Godzilla Faq.

Exhumed Films' Guilty Pleasures IV Marathon: Press Release: "Exhumed Films Presents: Guilty Pleasures IV--in 3-D!

Exhumed Films is pleased to return to the Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers to present the fourth edition of The Guilty Pleasures Marathon, our annual assault of cinematic insanity. For this year’s marathon, we present some of the greatest 3-D films of all time, projected from original 35mm prints using state of the art technology! The 1970’s and 1980’s saw a resurgence of three-dimensional movies, particularly in the realm of genre cinema.

This August, Arrow Video enters the deranged mind of Herbert West with their limited edition 4K restoration of Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (which was initially slated for a July 25th release), and we now have the full list of special features for the anticipated release, along with two other horror Blu-rays coming out this month from Arrow: The Slayer and a limited edition steelbook of Society.

Press Release: The summer really hots up in August, as Arrow Video releases a special edition of an 80s classic, a white-knuckle thriller, a splatter horror masterpiece, a box set of crime classics, a rare Italian sword-and-sandal epic, and an amazing new limited edition steelbook.

First up, one of the most wildly popular horror movies of all-time, Stuart Gordon's enduring splatter-comedy classic Re-Animator returns to Blu-ray in a stunning restoration packed with special features. According to the distributor (Mvd), this awesome package is officially sold out already,...

By John M. Whalen

It goes without saying that Kirk Douglas is a Hollywood icon. From his first role as Walter O’Neill in “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,” (1946) to “Spartacus” (1960) and beyond that until his last, so far, appearance in a made for TV movie, he remains—even in retirement after a stroke and a helicopter crash— one of those larger than life movie stars, the kind they just don’t make any more. He had a look and a style. Those shiny white teeth could as easily smile charmingly at you or snarl like a barracuda. His bright blue eyes could be full of tenderness one minute, as in his love scenes in “Spartacus,” or fierce and mean as in “Gunfight at the Ok Corral.” He played complex characters that were always a mix of good and bad, but never evil.

Such a character is Johnny Hawks,...

By Todd Garbarini

The Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a fun-filled weekend of six science fiction classics from Friday, April 15th to Sunday, April 17th. Several cast members from the films are scheduled to appear in person at respective screenings, so read on for more information:

From the press release:

Anniversary Classics Sci-Fi Weekend

Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: www.laemmle.com/ac.

Re-visit the Golden Age of the Science Fiction Film as Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series presents Sci-fi Weekend, a festival of six classic films April 15-17 at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills.

It was dawn of the Atomic Age and the Cold War, as Communist and nuclear war paranoia swept onto the nation’s movie screens to both terrify and entertain the American public. All the favorite icons are here: Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet,...

Richard Fleischer's Viking saga is a great star showcase: for the grinning one-eyed Kirk Douglas, sullen one-handed Tony Curtis and the heavy-breathing, two-breasted Janet Leigh. Jack Cardiff gives us the fjords of Norway, lean and mean Viking ships, and a brain-bashing acrobatic castle assault designed to out-do Burt Lancaster. With Ernest Borgnine ("Ohhh-dinnnn!!"), James Donald and Alexander Knox. And as the old song goes, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got Frank Thring. The Vikings Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 114 min. / Street Date March 8, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Janet Leigh, James Donald, Alexander Knox, Maxine Audley, Frank Thring. Cinematography Jack Cardiff Production Designer Harper Goff Film Editor Hugo Williams Original Music Mario Nascimbene Written by Calder Willingham adapted by Dale Wasserman from a novel by Edison Marshall Produced by Jerry Bresler Directed by Richard Fleischer

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...

Warning; this post is long... if you watch all the links, you'll have an hour of entertainment.

When I was 10, my school screened a 16 mm print of the The Mark of Zorro - 1940 version, starring the dashing Tyrone Power. The clash of steel, the dynamic yet graceful athleticism of the hero as he righted wrongs, attracted me, as it did many boys of my age... I wanna do that. Luckily my next school offered fencing lessons from an instructor at the nearby Sandhurst Military Academy, and my inner Basil Rathbone was set free to ultimately Captain the school team. I saw every sword fighting movie I could and still do. Yet the only duel I have ever filmed had to be shot in 3 hours... The history of the genre could fill many volumes, but here is a short introduction to Sword Cinema.

La physician reverts to childhood - La filmmaker never left…...

The London Palladium welcomed a Hollywood legend last night (January 11) as Sylvester Stallone fielded questions from host Jonathan Ross and an enthusiastic audience for an entertaining 'Evening with...'.

Number one box office hits across each of the last five decades show Stallone as a star with big screen endurance, but this weekend's West End appearance highlighted his skills as a raconteur. Spanning from his early student years in Switzerland right up to his forthcoming boxing return in Grudge Match, Sly took the audience from the highs of Rocky and Rambo to the lows of Rhinestone with charm, wit and charisma.

He even treated the crowd to a great Robert De Niro impersonation, a Shakespeare recitation and sang 'Too Close to Paradise' (from his 1978 drama Paradise Alley) with Ross. Digital Spy rounds up 10 of the best bits from An Evening with Sylvester Stallone below...

1. If Rocky Balboa is a hero to film fans,...

Five films, four flavors of the ol' pillaging-in-leathers routine. Twilight-of-the-studio-era extravaganzas Richard Fleischer's The Vikings (1958) and Jack Cardiff's The Long Ships (1964) are delicious concoctions, grand and dopey and full of mead-hall brawling so spirited it's touched with musical theater—Seven Brides for Seven Erics could break out. Both also struggle to make sense of Viking immorality in movies that had to please the state board of review—The Long Ships' human sacrifice is a surprise, but The Vikings' love story, sadly, isn't. (The Vikings does have a pit of wolves and classic rooftop duel between Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas.) The violence in those sprightly epics isn't a patch on Nicolas Winding Refn's ...

Top 10 Aliya Whiteley 6 Aug 2013 - 07:06

Hitchcock's Vertigo may have dominated 1958, but that year was full of other films about fear and loathing. Here's Aliya's top 10...

There are so many things to be scared of. Apart from the obvious perils, such as large spiders, venomous snakes, and dentists, there are less tangible things to panic about. Fear of growing old. Fear of falling into poverty. Fear of thermonuclear war.

In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was released. It’s very good at making the watcher feel very uncomfortable, through the camera angles and the great score by Bernard Herrmann. But it’s not just the audience who gets to feel scared; it’s there in the script too. Scottie (played by James Stewart) suffers from vertigo, but he’s also afraid of his past, and of the pain of loss. He’s been hurt so badly before that he’ll...

Feature Aliya Whiteley 13 Mar 2013 - 06:59

Aliya salutes one of Hollywood's most suave and talented actors - the great Louis Jourdan...

Traditionally Hollywood works in boxes. It finds a box, and then it places an actor in it. The box of the French lover has been filled by quite a few stars over the years: Charles Boyer, Maurice Chevalier, Yves Montand, Pepe Le Pew, Alain Delon, and even Gerard Depardieu for one moment in the madly entertaining Green Card.

Louis Jourdan was the most classically handsome of these actors (yes, even more debonair than the skunk). He had a smile that the camera loved and a way of cocking his head and crossing his legs that exuded style. Most well known for Vincent Minnelli’s chocolate-box love affair with France, Gigi, he brought a sense of humour to the film that kept it fresh, but it was a retread of his standard role.

Stocky supporting actor who won an Oscar when he was cast against type as a lonely butcher in Marty

With his coarsely podgy features, bug eyes, gap-toothed grin and stocky build, Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95 of renal failure, seemed destined to remain one of nature's supporting actors in a string of sadistic and menacing parts. Instead he won an Oscar for a role which was the antithesis of all his previous characters.

In 1955, the producer Harold Hecht wanted to transfer Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay Marty to the big screen, with Rod Steiger in the title role, which he had created. But Steiger was filming Oklahoma! so was unavailable. Borgnine was offered the role after a female guest at a Hollywood reception quite disinterestedly remarked to Hecht that, ugly as he was, Borgnine possessed an oddly tender quality which made her yearn to mother him. "That," Hecht said later,...

Actor who won an Oscar for his role as Marty in the 1955 film of the same name had a 60-year career in film and television

Ernest Borgnine, the Italian-American actor who carved out a distinctive screen presence in a range of pugnacious character roles over a 60-year career, has died at the age of 95.

Borgnine won an Oscar for his role as Marty in the 1955 film of the same name, and was a star of the small screen during the 1960s as the scheming Navy officer in the comedy McHale's Navy. In the 80s, he came to the attention of a new generation of TV viewers as Dominic Santini in the hit series Airwolf.

In other roles, particularly during the earlier years of his career, his stocky build and bulldog appearance made him a natural choice to play the classic Hollywood 'heavy' and he was memorable as the sergeant who...

Ernest Borgnine has died at the age of 95. We look back over his career in clips

Borgnine's first screen credit was, somewhat improbably, as a Chinese gambling-den operator called Hu Chang in a studio thriller called China Corsair. After more bit parts as racketeers, heavies and gun-toting villains, Borgnine put himself on the map with the memorably-named nasty Fatso Judson in From Here to Eternity. The aggressive, loutish Judson, quick with a switchblade, is the guard sergeant in the stockade, where he eventually does for the mercurial Angelo Maggio (played by Frank Sinatra).

Borgnine progressed to a string of more visible henchman roles – in Johnny Guitar, Vera Cruz, The Bounty Hunter – but probably his best from this period is another fight-picking bruiser from Bad Day at Black Rock – "I'm half horse, half alligator. You mess with me and I'll kick a lung outta' ya'."

Bad Day at Black Rock was...

Los Angeles – Ernest Borgnine was the movie star who was America’s “every man,” with roles like his Best Actor Oscar winning “Marty” (1955), Quinton McHale in TV’s “McHale’s Navy” (1962), tough guy Fatso Judson in the classic film “From Here to Eternity” (1953) and even as a cartoon voice (Mermaid Man) on “Spongebob Squarepants.” Borgnine died Sunday in Los Angeles at the age of 95.

I interviewed Ernest Borgnine twice for HollywoodChicago.com, and his wit, passion and voice was as strong in his 90s as it was sixty years earlier. He told me stories from the sets of “Marty,” “Emperor of the North” (1973) and “September 11” (2002), as if they had happened yesterday, with the same emphasis on the love of life that sustained him in his long career in show business, appearing in unforgettable film and TV roles.

Ernest Borgnine in Chicago, March 26th, 2011

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.

Los Angeles — He was a tubby tough guy with a pug of a mug, as unlikely a big-screen star or a romantic lead as could be imagined.

Yet Ernest Borgnine won a woman's love and an Academy Award in one of the great lonelyhearts roles in "Marty," a highlight in a workhorse career that spanned nearly seven decades and more than 200 film and television parts.

Borgnine, who died Sunday at 95, worked to the end. One of his final roles was a bit part as a CIA records-keeper in 2011's action comedy "Red" – fittingly for his age, a story of retired spies who show that it's never too late to remain in the game when they're pulled back into action.

"I keep telling myself, `Damn it, you gotta go to work,'" Borgnine said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. "But there aren't many people who want to put Borgnine to work these days.

Legendary film and television actor Ernest Borgnine has died this afternoon from kidney failure, he was 95. His wife, Tova, and children were at his side at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles reports CNN.

After serving in the U.S. Navy in the Second World War, the gap-toothed Borgnine made the move into television and then film, forging out a six decade long career as a widely liked and respected character actor.

His first big break was the role of the cruel Sgt. 'Fatso' Judson in 1953's "From Here to Eternity" along with a few villain roles in films like "Vera Cruz" and "Bad Day at Black Rock". In 1955 though came "Marty" in which he played a lovelorn butcher, a performance that won him the Best Actor Oscar over the likes of James Cagney, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy.

He worked with filmmaker Sam Peckinpah on both the...

Ernest Borgnine, the rugged, stocky actor with a brassy voice and the face of the local butcher, died today in Los Angeles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of renal failure. He was 95.

Borgnine was known for playing characters both brutal and gentle. On the brutal side was the cruel Sgt. "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity, Coley Trimble, the right-hand goon in Bad Day at Black Rock, Dutch Engstrom, in the enduring classic The Wild Bunch and Shack, the train bull after Lee Marvin in Emperor of the North. On the gentle side he was known as the love-lorn Marty in the 1955 film of the same name (for which he earned an Oscar for Best Actor), Lt. Commander Quinton McHale from "McHale's Navy," Rogo, the cop with the prostitute-wife in The Poseidon Adventure and, to a whole new generation, as the voice of the starfish-donning, geriatric Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants."

A first generation American Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. His father was Camillo (later Charles) Borgnino of Ottiglio, in northern Italy and his mother was Anna Bosselli, from Capri, Italy.

Borgnine showed no real interest in acting until well after a ten-year stint in the Navy. He was 32 when his mother suggested that he become an actor, observing "you like to make a fool of yourself in front of other people" so Ernie enrolled in the Randall School of Drama in Hartford and then moved to Abingdon, Virginia for Robert Porterfield's famous Barter Theatre.

Times were lean for Borgnine. He had married for the first time and moved from the Barter to New York, quickly getting noticed for his role as a male nurse in a Broadway production of "Harvey" but he soon moved back to the Barter school again. He then returned to New York but the nascent medium of television, not the stage, sustained him for a while. Borgnine prided himself on not being picky. His original TV work included a stint in the action serial "Captain Video and His Video Rangers." He was noticed by Delbert Mann, himself a budding director, who encouraged Borgnine and gave him small roles.

Borgnine's true break came when he moved to Los Angeles and landed the role of Sergeant "Fatso" Judson in Eternity, a smash hit that, in addition to launching Borgnine's helped reinvigorate numerous careers including Frank Sinatra's and Deborah Kerr's. He played the bad guy again, though one of the goons this time, in Johnny Guitar. Borgnine then parlayed his new-found notoriety with the lead in a screenplay written by Paddy Chayefsky, that of Marty, in the film of the same name, slated to be directed by his mentor, Delbert Mann. The story was about an underdog named Marty, a self-avowed ugly man, who has to evolve beyond his dedication to his overbearing mother and his bonds with his best friend, when he falls in love with Clara, a woman who is also unpopular and unattractive, played by Betsy Blair.

Marty was a surprise hit, was nominated for eight Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director for Mann) and won four, including Borgnine's unexpected win over a very crowded field which included his co-star in Bad Day at Black Rock,Spencer Tracy, and a posthumous nod to James Dean (who had died the previous September in a car crash) for his role in East of Eden.

The Oscar helped keep the actor in the game and the next seven years included a mix of TV and film work including A Catered Affair, Jubal, The Vikings and various "Playhouse" appearances on the small screen.

1962 brought "McHale's Navy," with Borgnine assaying the role of Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, the put-upon chief of PT boat 73. The cast included Joe Flynn and Tim Conway (Conway would, 35 years later, team up again with Borgnine as the voice of Mermaid Man's sidekick, Barnacle Boy, on "SpongeBob SquarePants"). "McHale's" had a healthy following for four years.

Borgnine had a mid-life Renaissance in the late '60s and early '70s. He played a small but pivotal role in The Dirty Dozen, was Boris Vaslov in Ice Station Zebra and was Dutch Engstrom, the taciturn but decisive bandit throwing in with Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch. He also joined the capsized cast of The Poseidon Adventure, played Shack, the train bull in The Emperor of the North Pole and was the simple-minded but helpful Cabbie in Escape from New York.

Borgnine was married five times. His second marriage was to the fiery actress Katy Jurado. It began in 1959 but was over four years later. Reports differ on when he met his third wife, Ethel Merman. She claimed it was in November of 1963, the same month that he was finalizing his divorce to Jurado. He insisted it wasn't until the next spring. Regardless they were married on June 24th, the following year. It lasted less than a month. In her autobiography entitled "Merman," the actress intimated that Borgnine was abusive stating, "I just feel lucky to have been able to 'walk' away from the marriage." She devoted an entire chapter to their union, entitled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine"--it consisted of one blank page.

His last marriage, to Tova Traesnaes, lasted over 35 years and until his death. Borgnine had four children: Gina Kemins-Borgnine, the child from his first marriage to Rhoda Kemins, and three from his fourth wife, Donna Rancourt, named Diana Rancourt-Borgnine (born December 29th 1970), Sharon (born 1965) and Cristofer (born 1969). Oddly, in his autobiography, "Ernie" Bornine only acknowledged the first three children, dropping Diana out entirely.

Janet Leigh Touch of Evil by Orson Welles, with Charlton Heston Janet Leigh Touch of Evil / Orson Welles. (See previous post: Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis.) Janet Leigh’s career peak lasted about half a decade, from the late ’50s to the early ’60s. In addition to Psycho, The Vikings, The Perfect Furlough, and Who Was That Lady?, that period included what is quite possibly the best performance of her career: as the terrorized American wife of Mexican narcotics officer Charlton Heston in Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958), which Leigh filmed while nursing a broken arm. Janet Leigh: Touch of Evil / Orson [...]...

I come to praise Sword & Sandal movies -- not to bury them. But with Wrath of the Titans and the Sword & Sandal/sci-fi mash-up John Carter not exactly setting the world on fire -- along with recent disappointments like Immortals and Conan -- it's getting more difficult by the day to believe that the Sword & Sandal movie can survive the recent fumbling of this otherwise great genre. And that's a shame, because the Sword & Sandal movie -- known for its gladiatorial games, pagan orgies, depraved emperors, and the occasional snarling cyclops -- may represent the most colorful and enduring movie genre of all time. So for the uninitiated, what exactly is a Sword & Sandal movie? Like its cousin the Biblical epic, a Sword & Sandal movie -- or 'peplum,' named after a type of ancient Greek garment -- is typically set in the ancient Mediterranean world, and dramatizes the fight for freedom.

We know the greats; movies like Metropolis (1927), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Star Wars (1977).

And there are those films which maybe didn’t achieve cinematic greatness, but through their inexhaustible watchability became genre touchstones, lesser classics but classics nonetheless, like The War of the Worlds (1953), Godzilla (1954), Them! (1954), The Time Machine (1960).

In the realm of science fiction cinema, those are the cream (and below that, maybe the half and half). But sci fi is one of those genres which has often too readily leant itself to – not to torture an analogy — producing nonfat dairy substitute.

During the first, great wave of sci fi movies in the 1950s, the target audience was kids and teens. There wasn’t a lot in the way of “serious” sci fi. Most of it was churned out quick and cheap; drive-in fodder, grist for the Saturday matinee mill.

By the early 1960s,...

Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi in Oscar nominee (but not DGA nominee) David Lean's Summertime DGA Awards vs. Academy Awards 1948-1952: Odd Men Out George Cukor, John Huston, Vincente Minnelli 1953 DGA (12) Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, Above and Beyond Walter Lang, Call Me Madam Daniel Mann, Come Back, Little Sheba Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Julius Caesar Henry Koster, The Robe Jean Negulesco, Titanic George Sidney, Young Bess DGA/AMPAS George Stevens, Shane Charles Walters, Lili Billy Wilder, Stalag 17 William Wyler, Roman Holiday Fred Zinnemann, From Here to Eternity   1954 DGA (16) Edward Dmytryk, The Caine Mutiny Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder Robert Wise, Executive Suite Anthony Mann, The Glenn Miller Story Samuel Fuller, Hell and High Water Henry King, King of Khyber Rifles Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, Knock on Wood Don Siegel, Riot in Cell Block 11 Stanley Donen, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers George Cukor, A Star Is Born Jean Negulesco,...

After the discovery of a Viking burial site in Scotland, Norse history and myths are the focus of a TV saga, epic novels and a major British Museum exhibition

Longboats, funeral pyres, glinting helmets and drinking horns: the discovery of a buried Viking boat in the west Highlands a few days ago has given an extra fillip to a burgeoning cultural fascination with all things Norse.

A succession of Viking literary sagas, films and television series, pieces of poetry and avant-garde art, not to mention preparations for a major British Museum show, are now all on the slipway.

More than 50 years after actors Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis donned their woollen tunics for Hollywood blockbuster The Vikings, a television series of the same name and a TV version of British writer Neil Gaiman's Nordic gods-inspired bestseller, American Gods, are both in development. The Vikings, which picks up on interest...

Ryan Gosling shines as the man behind the wheel in Nicolas Winding Refn's gripping and lyrical take on Hollywood noir

Thirty years ago Colin Welland brandished his Chariots of Fire Oscar aloft at the Academy awards ceremony. Echoing the legendary words of Paul Revere to his fellow Bostonian colonials, he shouted: "The British are coming!" Similar hubris, one trusts, will not possess the current wave of Scandinavian filmmakers, though they might be forgiven for chanting: "The Vikings are coming!", that admonitory cry that once had the frightened denizens of our east coast lighting warning beacons and locking up their daughters. These past couple of weeks we've seen the Dane Lone Scherfig follow her British debut, An Education, with One Day, and Tomas Alfredson, the Swedish director of Let the Right One In, cross the North Sea to make his excellent version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Now another Dane,...

An eyepatch indicates the wearer has been in the wars or had his eye pecked out by a hawk like axe-hurling Kirk Douglas in The Vikings

Now that everyone has woken up to the genius that is Jeff Bridges, perhaps it's time to give John Heard his due. By the mid-1980s, after starring in a brace of films by Joan Micklin Silver, Paul Schrader's Cat People remake and pulp horror C.H.U.D, he looked all set for leading man status. But it never happened; instead he turned into one of those character actors whose presence never fails to cheer you up. It didn't help that the release of Cutter's Way, which gave him the role of his career, was bungled by United Artists, which saw it as a failed thriller instead of the noirish character study it was. It faded into obscurity, trailing a few rave...

“How come you only show us clips from movies none of us ever heard of?”

She was 30, a single mom who’d admirably gone back to school for a business degree to better things for her and her family. She’d taken my film appreciation class as an elective, a break from the grind of her business classes, expecting it would be – her word – “fun.”

But, due to the aforementioned “movies none of us ever heard of,” she was not having the anticipated fun.

I explained, “Because most movies were made before you were born.”

Simple and obvious, it still didn’t satisfy her, and the unasked next question in her eyes I guessed to be, “But why do we have to see them?”

Most of my class – not all, but most – I knew felt similarly. They didn’t say it but I could tell: rolled eyes, glazed eyes, eyes...

I asked this question last June and I thought it would be interesting to ask it again and see what kind of responses we’ll get from our readers.

So let’s say you’re a filmmaker who has raised a good-sized budget, and have final cut and total control, except you have to remake of a previous film, what film would you remake? I’ve asked that question myself, to friends and now to you readers out there.

There are so many films I could name, but I assume, like me, you would want to try your hand at redoing some guilty pleasure that just missed the mark. Not a great film by any means, but one that you enjoy and in your heart just know you could have done a better job.

My first choice would be the 1964 chintzy, not-quite-epic adventure movie The Long Ships with Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…well, then Peter Douglas looks to be racking up quite the pedigree. Deadline is reporting that producer Douglas, son of legendary actor Kirk Douglas, is in the process of purchasing the rights to a slew of classic 1960’s films through his Vincent Pictures. Not surprisingly, Douglas hopes to remake the projects; slightly more surprising, however, is the fact that most of the rights secured are to films that his father Kirk produced or starred in. Hit the jump for a rundown of some of the potential remakes-to-be, as well as my thoughts.

Among the possible candidates, three of the films–1964’s Seven Days in May and 1966’s Seconds and Grand Prix–were directed from the late great John Frankenheimer. Other films on the list include 1958’s The Vikings (which, interestingly enough, Peter had a bit part in) and 1980’s The Final Countdown...

Montecito-based indie production company Vincent Pictures is developing only remakes and/or sequels to various John Frankenheimer-direct films that Kirk Douglas either produced or starred in reports Deadline.

Producer Peter Douglas ("Whip It," "Fletch"), one of Kirk's sons and half-brother to Michael Douglas, has secured most of the rights and will self-finance the acquisitions along with partnering with established filmmakers who have existing distribution, production and/or financing deals.

The short list of films include 1958 adventure feature "The Vikings", Frankenheimer's 1964 political thriller "Seven Days In May", 1966's "Seconds" starring Rock Hudson, famed 1966 racing drama "Grand Prix", and 1980 naval time travel feature "The Final Countdown".

"Seven Days In May," "Seconds," "Grand Prix," "The Vikings" & "The Final Countdown" Will Get Remade Peter Douglas, son of Kirk Douglas and half-brother of Michael Douglas, has produced a handful of movies over the years like "Whip It!" most recently, and a handful of titles through the '80s and '90s including "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and both "Fletch" films. But he may have stumbled across his most lucrative (and worst) idea yet: remaking the movies his dad starred in and/or produced. Deadline reports that Peter Douglas has put forward a production slate with his Vincent Pictures that will…...

Peter Douglas is going retro with his Montecito based indie Vincent Pictures and focusing only on remakes and sequels of such interesting 1960s film fare as director John Frankenheimer's. Not surprisingly, most of the rights already secured are from films that his father Kirk Douglas produced or starred in, with Peter self-financing the acquisitions and intending to form partnerships with established filmmakers who have existing distribution, production, and financing deals. But many of these movies were iconic, so the pressure will be on to ensure these modern reinterpretations live up to their reputations. The list includes Seven Days In May, the gripping 1964 political thriller from Frankenheimer who directed one of Kirk's best performances, Seconds, the 1966 cult classic elevated because Frankenheimer coaxed Rock Hudson's best dramatic work, and Grand Prix, which featured Frankenheimer's fab racing footage, became one of the 10 highest grossing films of 1966, and won Academy Awards for Best Sound Effects,...

Philip French looks at the career of an actor who defied his detractors with several unforgettable performances

Universal was so pleased with City Across the River, its topical 1949 film about New York's juvenile delinquents, that it decided to end it with a tracking shot around the set so each member of its cast of newcomers could nod to the audience. But the only one to become a star was the 23-year-old Anthony (later Tony) Curtis, born to Jewish immigrants in the Bronx, whose name the studio had changed from Bernie Schwartz earlier that year. Back then no one would have predicted a career that would take him from an undistinguished decade as a glamorous pin-up through five years as a great movie actor followed by 40 years of mostly banal films in which he grew increasingly bloated and grotesque.

In those early movies Curtis worked in westerns, easterns, Arthurians, war movies,...

Talk about a fast turnaround. Turner Classic Movies will run a 24-hour marathon of 12 Tony Curtis movies on Sunday, October 10th. (In fact, Tony once joked that TCM stands for Tony Curtis Movies.) The movies to be shown are Beachhead (1954), Kings Go Forth (1958), The Vikings (1958), Operation Petticoat (1959), Who Was That Lady? (1960), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), You Can’t Win ‘Em All (1970), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Defiant Ones (1958), Trapeze (1956), The Great Race (1965), Don’t Make Waves (1967).

Tony Curtis, who grew beyond his start as a studio-groomed matinee idol to play snappily seductive schemers in such 1950s classics as "The Sweet Smell of Success" and "Some Like It Hot," died Wednesday evening of cardiac arrest at his home in the Las Vegas-area city of Henderson, Nev. He was 85.

"He died peacefully here, surrounded by those who love him and have been caring for him," his wife, Jill Curtis, told the Associated Press outside their home. "All Tony ever wanted to be was a movie star. He didn't want to be the most dramatic actor. He wanted to be a movie star ever since he was a little kid."

A flamboyant personality with a ribald wit and zest for the high life, Curtis epitomized the storied glamour of old Hollywood. Widely known for his onscreen sizzle and his offscreen personal life -- he and first wife Janet Leigh...