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We gather together…
Last night while ironing a sharp crease into the legs of my wife’s work pants I had on Turner Classic Movies and caught 10 minutes or so of Mervyn LeRoy’s I WAS A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (1932)....
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Livin’ la vida 12 ANGRY MEN
12 ANGRY MEN is a dangerous movie. It’s one of the worst threats to my productivity of any movie ever made—if I’m unlucky enough to come across it while channel surfing, I’m stuck. I won’t be going...
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Secret Cinema, Oct. 1980 – Dec. 1981
Have you ever had a fantasy about running and programming your own repertory cinema? Any self-proclaimed film buff probably has and, for me, it was a real but barely articulated desire from the time I...
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But, That Train Keeps a Rollin’ . . .
Horses, trains, planes, trucks, cars, and everything in between. . . Americans are a mobile people always on the go. And, we value speed, power, movement, action, endurance—qualities that will get us...
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Leslie Nielsen, 1926 – 2010
Leslie Nielsen always played off the beat. Before he delivered a punchline, there was a hitch, a pause, a dumbfounded look off-screen – that made him a devastatingly funny actor. When he finally...
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From the Archive of Hammer Films
During the holiday months I like to browse the shelves at my local bookstore to see what film related books publishers have released in anticipation of the “season of sharing.” This year I spotted many...
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Shock of the new (Shock Cinema)!
Pushed in over the transom last Tuesday with the usual flotsam of Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons and Christmas catalogues for L.L. Bean and J. Crew was the new issue of Shock Cinema , which made for a...
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Wrong, Wrong, Wrong (Right)
Remember how your mama told you “two wrongs don’t make a right?” Well, maybe two wrongs don’t make a right, but a half dozen or so might. Consider Robert Altman’s 1980 POPEYE. Almost without...
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Variety
To renew or not to renew? That is the $329.99 subscription question. Among the many emails that I’m catching up on over the weekend is one from Variety asking me to renew my subscription to their...
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This Year’s 10 Films You’ll Probably Never See—Unless. . .
Last year, I joined the “list brigade,” that huge contingent of writers and reviewers who feel compelled every December to offer lists of films they have seen during the previous year. I have a...
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Netflix Instants: Horizons West and China Gate
In November, Netflix introduced a “streaming only” option to their membership plan, for $7.99 a month, another marker in the slow death of the DVD. Their “Instant” offerings are frequently presented on...
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Ann Harding: A Q & A with Biographer Scott O’Brien
“Looking at [Ann] Harding,” wrote film historian Mick LaSalle in his book, Complicated Women (St. Martin’s, 2001), “is like looking into clear, deep water. Nothing stands in the way. No stylization, no...
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‘Tis the Season… of the Yeti!
Most of us are familiar with the Yeti or Abominable Snowman. This large ape or man-like creature has populated animated films, television shows and movies for decades. Unlike it’s North American...
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The snowman wasn’t cool
Last week I wrote a about actor Nigel Davenport by way of stumping for the new issue of Shock Cinema, in which the 80-something star of SANDS OF THE KALAHARI (1965) with Stuart Whitman, PLAY DIRTY...
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Why don’t you say something to help me?
In about a month, TCM will be showing a veritable smorgasbord of Laurel and Hardy treasures, and in anticipation of this coming bounty I wanted to single out their first talking picture, Unaccustomed...
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Before Humphrey Became Bogie
Humphrey Deforest Bogart models his new flippers. For that small number of gifted actors who become screen legends, the path to stardom is rarely predictable. Sometimes it’s a case of pure luck....
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Lights Out for the Bank of America Cinema
Last week, news agencies reported that the Bank of America is resuming foreclosures this week, but Chicagoland movie lovers have their own reasons to be disgusted with the banking giant because they...
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True Grits
Regrettably, this post is not about the cookbook True Grits: Recipes Inspired By the Movies of John Wayne. My apologies to writers Lee Pfeiffer and Michael Lewis, although I do intend to make ”They...
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Confidentially
If you are worried about sugar shock over the next few weeks and think you could snap if one more person asks you to be merry, New York Confidential (1955) may be just the kind of movie that might save...
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Some Favorite DVD Releases of 2010
Every year I try to compile a list of my favorite new DVD releases. These lists tend to focus on films from the ’60s and ’70s since they’re my favorite film eras. This year I decided to expand my view...
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