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On the Road with Hackman and Pacino
Having spent most of my life in Colorado, I take note of films that bother to put us on the map. I’m also a sucker for humanist studies of working class drifters or other misfits who seek salvation...
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Thank Heaven for Little Film Festivals
As Hollywood continues its love affair with 12-year-old boys, who make up the desired demographic, real movie lovers seek alternatives to the noisy blockbusters that are long on CGI and short on story....
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The Perils of Colleen: Colleen Moore in Synthetic Sin and Why Be Good?
Through serendipity, skill and plain dumb luck, the last two silent films featuring comedic firecracker Colleen Moore have been restored through the work of The Vitaphone Project and Warner...
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The Mysterious Intruder, Serials, and Richard Dix
Later tonight on TCM, Mysterious Intruder (article by yours truly here) airs, an installment in the Whistler series of the forties. As I write in my article, the Whistler serial was a proto-anthology...
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10 Things You Might Not Know About Rod Taylor
I’ve always liked Rod Taylor. The broad shouldered, barrel-chested actor with a booming voice is intimidating on screen but there’s a warmth in his smile that’s undeniably inviting. He was universally...
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This Week on TCM Underground: THE CAT O’NINE TAILS (1971)
A journalist and a blind man join forces to stop a serial killer in Rome. Cast: Karl Malden (Franco Arno), James Franciscus (Carlo Giordani), Catherine Spaak (Anna Terzi), Pier Paolo Capponi...
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When Harry Met Ollie
Undoubtedly one of the strangest and most interesting bad movies ever made, Zenobia is a jumble of bad creative decisions so inscrutable as to be almost indefensible. Let’s start with the simplest...
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The Real Thing
Since the movies began, special effects have been a part of their existence. Georges Méliès was one of the early geniuses of special effects cinema and using matte paintings, time-lapse photography,...
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Chuck Workman Finds the Magic in Orson Welles
Movie lovers will recognize Chuck Workman as the filmmaker responsible for Precious Images, the original name given to the short documentary that encapsulates the history of American film in eight...
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Missing Reels: A Novel of Silent Movie Love
Repertory cinema regulars can be off-putting types. They log their screenings like kids with baseball cards, reducing art to a collectible. This is the stereotype, at least, of shut-in cinephile...
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Binary Code: When Aliens Attack/When Aliens Hug
George Pal has a few movies today on TCM but not my favorite, War of the Worlds, which he produced while Byron Haskin directed. I’ve always loved War of the Worlds, in both book form and both major...
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A Thanksgiving Feast… of Photos!
Alfred Hitchcock hopes you’ll tune into TCM Friday afternoon when they’ll be airing a batch of his films that you can enjoy with your Thanksgiving leftovers. Happy Thanksgiving! Like many Americans,...
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This week on TCM Underground: DEATHDREAM (1972)
A grieving mother’s wish brings a soldier back from the war… and the dead. DEATHDREAM (1972) Cast Richard Backus (Andy Brooks), John Marley (Charles Brooks), Lynn Carlin (Christine Brooks), Anya...
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Don’t Bother To Knock Marilyn Monroe, She Knocks For Thee (Or Something Like...
Sometimes you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time—a misfit in your own life. Perhaps, for example, you’ve got it in you to be a fine hotel manager, but all you are is the elevator boy. Maybe you’re...
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Bergman’s Magic Lantern
Last summer I had some fun at the expense of the printed TCM program for July by examining how brevity is not always the soul of wit, at least when it came to the short (by necessity) blurbs used in...
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Christmas on Celluloid: ‘Christmas in Connecticut’
To get into the Christmas spirit, I often binge view my favorite Christmas movies. If I am feeling more like Scrooge than Bob Cratchit, I will binge view anti-Christmas movies. Either way,...
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This week on TCM Underground: ROLLER BOOGIE (1979).
A rich girl from Beverly Hills and a poor boy from Venice Beach become partners to win a roller boogie contest and save a local skating rink from being acquired by the mob. ROLLER BOOGIE (1979) Cast:...
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Cagney the Comedian: Boy Meets Girl (1938)
By the end of 1935 James Cagney was irritated. Under his Warner Brothers contract he was assigned four-to-five movies a year, almost all in the pugilist-gangster mold. Cagney was getting burnt out...
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This week on TCM Underground: ROLLER BOOGIE (1979).
A rich girl from Beverly Hills and a poor boy from Venice Beach become partners to win a roller boogie contest and save a local skating rink from being torn down by unscrupulous developers. ROLLER...
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Extra! Extra! SHOCK CINEMA No. 47 reviewed!
Just because I’m TCM Underground’s new bitch, that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about my cultural obligation to share good news about the good stuff. Steve Puchalski’s new SHOCK CINEMA is making the...
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