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Quick Links The Greatest Plot and Cast What Was It Like for Muhammad Ali To Play Himself Should I Watch The Greatest, and Where Can I Stream It?

The highest-rated and most acclaimed movie about legendary boxer Muhammad Ali is Michael Mann's 2001 film Ali, starring Will Smith. It is currently sitting at 65% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. While the film was met with mixed reviews, the praise for Will Smith's portrayal of the icon was almost unanimously positive. However, Will Smith was not the first to play Muhammad Ali; that honor goes to Ali, who appeared in the 1977 movie The Greatest.

We will look at the movie, which too many exist as a curiosity, and see what it was like to see Ali step into the role of playing himself. We will also discuss whether The Greatest is worth watching and where to find it.

The Greatest Plot and Cast...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Clifton James, the respected character actor who rose to fame as the bumbling southern Sheriff J.W. Pepper in two James Bond films, has passed away at age 96. James, a decorated veteran of WWII, appeared in many prominent films and TV series. Among his feature films: "Cool Hand Luke", "The Bonfire of the Vanities", "The Untouchables", "Juggernaut", "The Last Detail", "Will Penny" and "Something Wild". The portly James often portrayed lawmen and judges. His most prominent role came in Roger Moore's 1973 debut film as James Bond, "Live and Let Die".  The character of Pepper as a comical racist lawman named Sheriff J.W. Pepper undoubtedly made audiences laugh. But to die-hard Bond fans his presence represented the increasing amount of slapstick that characterized some of Moore's Bond films. The producers brought the character back in the 1974 007 film "The Man with the Golden Gun" in which he coincidentally...

A big, loud, lusty western battle movie with sexy stars and zero brains, this was a big hit back in ’69, just before The Wild Bunch rebooted the entire genre. Jim Brown, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds burn up the screen with action, even though the actual acting is on the weak side.

100 Rifles

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date November 29, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds, Fernando Lamas, Dan O’Herlihy, Eric Braeden, Michael Forest, Aldo Sambrell, Soledad Miranda.

Cinematography Cecilio Paniagua

Film Editor Robert Simpson

Original Music Jerry Goldsmith

Second Unit Director Chuck Roberson

Written by Clair Huffaker, Tom Gries from a novel by Robert MacLeod

Produced by Marvin Schwartz

Directed by Tom Gries

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Italian western phenomenon hit Europe in 1964 with Sergio Leone’s first blockbuster, but the wave didn’t strike America for several years,...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Charlton Heston fans will appreciate the fact that one of his few major films not to be released on home video has finally made it to DVD through MGM. "Number One" (released in certain countries under the title "Pro") is an off-beat vehicle for the superstar, who was then at his peak of popularity. The fact that the movie under-performed at the box-office and failed to score with critics didn't diminish Heston's status as a leading man. He would go on to star in such hits as "The Omega Man", "Skyjacked", "Soylent Green" "Earthquake", "Midway"and "Airport '75"- with cameos in the popular "The Three Musketeers" and "The Four Musketeers". The poor response to "Number One" doesn't diminish its many merits - and the fact that Heston was willing to play against type in a largely unsympathetic role. For the film, he reunited with director Tom Gries,...

The sequel to the epic Julie Andrews road show picture wasn't a hit, but it tells a good story of its own. Charlton Heston is okay but the central character is a Chinese immigrant played by Tina Chen. Against all odds, the peasant matriarch survives plagues and leprosy to found a family dynasty for the new Hawaii. The Hawaiians Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Ship Date February 9, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Charlton Heston, Tina Chen, Geraldine Chaplin, Mako, John Phillip Law, Alec McCowen, Miko Mayama, Virginia Ann Lee, Chris Robinson, Naomi Stevens, Keye Luke, Khigh Dhiegh, Mary Munday, Harry Townes, Lyle Bettger, James Hong, James Gregory, Harry Holcombe, Victor Sen Yung Cinematography Lucien Ballard, Philip Lathrop Film Editor Byron Brandt, Ralph Winters Original Music Henry Mancini Written by James R. Webb from the novel by James A. Michener Produced by Walter Mirisch Directed by...

Starz has announced today that Lee Majors (Do You Believe?) will play the role of Brock Williams, Ash's father, and Ted Raimi (Xena: Warrior Princess, Spider-Man) will play the role of Ash's childhood best friend, Chet Kaminski, in the Starz Original series Ash Vs. Evil Dead. The series was previously renewed for a second season and will return in 2016. Starz hasn't announced when the show will premiere yet, or when production may begin.

Majors started his television career in The Big Valley, going on to The Men from Shiloh, to Owen Marshall Counselor at Law to The Six Million Dollar Man to The Fall Guy to Tour of Duty to Raven and countless television appearances on many series, specials, award shows and movies. He began his film career with Will Penny alongside Charlton Heston. Majors recently completed filming two movies Almosting It and Do You Believe?. Majors will start filming...

Two groovy new additions have been made to the Season 2 cast of Ash vs Evil Dead, as Starz has announced that Lee Majors will play Brock Williams, the father of Ash, while Ted Raimi—who appeared in the first three Evil Dead movies—will play Chet Kaminski, Ash's best friend from childhood.

Press Release: Beverly Hills, Calif., February 10, 2016 - Starz has announced today that Lee Majors (Do You Believe) will play the role of Brock Williams, Ash’s father, and Ted Raimi (“Xena: Warrior Princess,” Spider-Man) will play the role of Ash’s childhood best friend, Chet Kaminski, in the Starz Original series “Ash vs Evil Dead.” The series was previously renewed for a second season and will return in 2016.

Majors started his television career in “The Big Valley,” going on to “The Men from Shiloh,” to “Owen Marshall Counselor at Law,” to “The Six Million Dollar Man,” to “The Fall Guy,...

Starz has announced today that Lee Majors (Do You Believe) will play the role of Brock Williams, Ash’s father, and Ted Raimi (“Xena: Warrior Princess,” Spider-Man) will play the role of Ash’s childhood best friend, Chet Kaminski, in the Starz Original series Ash vs Evil Dead. The series was previously renewed for a second season and will return in 2016.

Majors started his television career in “The Big Valley,” going on to “The Men from Shiloh,” to “Owen Marshall Counselor at Law,” to “The Six Million Dollar Man,” to “The Fall Guy,” to “Tour of Duty,” to “Raven” and countless television appearances on many series, specials, award shows and movies. He began his film career with Will Penny and Charlton Heston. Majors recently completed filming two movies Almosting It and Do You Believe. Majors will start filming on two feature films this summer, plus he has a lineup of...

By John M. Whalen

When the “hardware widow” (Allyn Ann McClerie) asks Monte Walsh (Lee Marvin) if he’d gotten used to the idea of his long-time partner Chet Rollins (Jack Palance) and her being married, Monte says: “I never had so many things to get used to in my whole life, as now.” That line of dialogue in the middle of William Fraker’s “Monte Walsh” (1970) pretty much sums up this first and best film adaptation of Jack Schaeffer’s novel about the end of the Old West in general and the cowboy life in particular. It’s a true classic and even though it features two of the toughest tough guy actors of the sixties and seventies, it’s not a melodramatic shoot-em-up, full of violence, sound and fury. Rather it’s an elegiac portrait of the way it must have really happened, presented in a style as...

There are whispers of a new western called Another Man’s Gun. The men behind this project are director Jon Gries and screenwriter Derek Walker. Jon best known to us for his roles in Lost, Napoleon Dynamite and both entries into the Taken franchise, is following up his 2010 feature debut comedy Pickin’ and Grinnin’, with a journey into America’s past – Nebraska 1840 to be precise.

To help fund pre-production aspects of the film, Jon set-up a Kickstarter campaign that is going on through to January 31st. Just as HeyUGuys’ mascot Chunk in The Goonies liked to make a little noise, we thought the least we could do was speak with Jon and make a little noise of our own.

Another Man’s Gun sees Jon following in his father’s footsteps. In 1968 Tom Gries wrote and directed Charlton Heston in the western Will Penny. There are similarities and contrasts alike...

Veteran character actor Jon Gries is best known for his gut-busting portrayal of Uncle Rico, he of the orange van and dashed dreams of high school football glory, in the 2004 cult gem Napoleon Dynamite. Jon Gries is also recognizable as Roger Linus on Lost, but the actor has been kicking around in Hollywood for decades, ever since he appeared in 1969 at age 11 opposite Charlton Heston in Will Penny, a western directed by his father Tom Gries. Some of Jon’s other films include Monster Squad (1978), Get Shorty (1995), and Taken (2008). Jon is also an accomplished musician, having composed songs for the films Twin Falls Idaho (1999) and The Big Empty (2003). In 2010, after directing several music videos, Jon tried his hand at directing a feature and the result was the acclaimed redneck road comedy Pickin’ & Grinning’.

(http://pickinandgrinninmovie.com/ )

Now Jon has teamed up with writer Derek Walker for Another Man’S Gun,...

Bruce Dern in ‘Nebraska’: AFI Fest 2013 highlight The Los Angeles-based AFI Fest, which kicked off last Thursday, November 7, 2013, continues until next Thursday. On Monday, November 11, the highlight of AFI Fest 2013 is Alexander Payne’s Nebraska (7:00 p.m. at Tcl Chinese Theatre), likely to earn a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for veteran Bruce Dern, who earlier this year took home the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. (Photo: Bruce Dern, Will Forte in Nebraska.) Set in Kentucky (kidding), Nebraska accompanies an elderly man (Dern) and his son (Will Forte) as they travel from Billings, Montana, to Lincoln, Nebraska, so he can collect sweepstakes prize money he believes he has won. In sum, Nebraska is what’s called a Road Movie, in which the Road is a metaphor for Life. Shades of brothers Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise getting to know one another in Barry Levinson’s Rain Man,...

The Wasteland:

Television is a gold goose that lays scrambled eggs;

and it is futile and probably fatal to beat it for not laying caviar.

Lee Loevinger

When people argue over the quality of television programming, both sides — it’s addictive crap v. underappreciated populist art — seem to forget one of the essentials about commercial TV. By definition, it is not a public service. It is not commercial TV’s job to enlighten, inform, educate, elevate, inspire, or offer insight. Frankly, it’s not even commercial TV’s job to entertain. Bottom line: its purpose is simply to deliver as many sets of eyes to advertisers as possible. As it happens, it tends to do this by offering various forms of entertainment, and occasionally by offering content that does enlighten, inform, etc., but a cynic would make the point that if TV could do the same job televising fish aimlessly swimming around an aquarium,...

Character actor who portrayed smarmy politicians, sadistic generals and unspeakable authoritarian figures

There is a scene in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part II (1974) that crystallises the entire film career of the character actor Gd Spradlin, who has died aged 90. As the corrupt senator Pat Geary, Spradlin asks the mafia boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) for a bribe, so that he can grant gaming licences to the "family" for several casinos in Nevada. During the meeting, Geary launches into an attack on the Corleones, a name he pronounces with derision. "I intend to squeeze you. I don't like your kind of people. I don't like to see you come out to this clean country with oily hair and trussed up in those silk suits trying to pass yourselves off as decent Americans. I'll do business with you, but the fact is I despise you masquerading in the dishonest way you pose yourself.

Shrewd film publicist who later achieved success as a producer

A masochistic Hollywood decree insists that press agents must be depicted on screen as loathsome toadying creatures, and movie moguls as vulgar, mercenary despots. Walter Seltzer, who has died aged 96, was both a press agent and a producer, but he failed to conform to either of the self-perpetuating stereotypes. As a press agent he was persuasive rather than pushy; as a producer, he believed in consensus decision-making.

Undoubtedly his greatest achievement as a press agent was in his promotion of Marty (1955), a gentle, small-scale study of the mundane with no star names. Seltzer believed so much in the Harold Hecht/Burt Lancaster production that the promotional campaign for the film was more expensive than the film itself: $400,000 compared to $343,000. Among Seltzer's tactics was his sending prints of the film to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,...

 

By Lee Pfeiffer

Charlton Heston gave one of his best performances as the aging cowboy in the 1968 film Will Penny. In a vintage b&w promotional featurette, Heston takes us on a tour of Paramount Studio's "arsenal" featuring all sorts of historic handguns used by major stars in other films. The inventory includes Richard Widmark's unique, multi-barrel rifle from The Alamo. Heston's passion for weaponry defined the latter part of his life, when he became President of the National Rifle Association. This put him front-and-center in a political maelstrom with one of the most controversial issues in America. His eloquence as a spokesperson is credited with rescuing the organization from being defined by its fringe elements, but that very effectiveness caused resentment among his opponents who often found it difficult to separate his achievements as an actor from his new role as an activist. This vintage short is certainly...

One of Charlton Heston's best performances was presented in one of his least-seen films of the 1960s. The 1968 Western Will Penny, ably directed by Tom Gries, finds Heston as an aging cowhand who is facing the prospect of getting too old for his chosen profession. His life takes an unusual turn when he ends up aiding a desperate woman who is trying to raise her young son against the dangers of prairie life. Complicating matters are a family of cutthroats led by Donald Pleasence and his murderous sons - among them: Bruce Dern. . For Will Penny trailer click here

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Tomorrow, Turner Classic Movies (North America) offers an eclectic line-up of intriguing movies as well as flat-out classics. Beginning in the wee small hours of the morning, TCM presents two films I confess I've never heard of: Shanks, a 1974 movie starring Marcel Marceau (!) as a puppeteer who raises the dead and Mr. Sardonicus, with the wonderful Oskar Homolka as a man who forces a doctor to try to cure him from bearing a perpetual grin on his face. During the day, TCM presents some real gems: Humphrey Bogart's last movie The Harder They Fall and a line-up of back-to-back terrific Westerns: Alavarez Kelly with William Holden and Richard Widmark, Will Penny with Charlton Heston, True Grit with John Wayne and Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country. If these don't have you glued to your seat, the evening wraps up with Cagney in White Heat followed...