Actor Earl Holliman has died at age 96. The news was reported by the Hollywood Reporter on November 26 but we just learned of it. Born in Louisiana, Holliman enjoyed a long career on television and in feature films. Holliman is best-remembered for his starring role in the 1959 classic pilot episode of "The Twilight Zone" titled "Where is Everybody?" He also had prominent roles in films such as "Giant", "Forbidden Planet", "The Sons of Katie Elder", "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" and "Sharky's Machine". He also starred as the male lead in the 1970s hit T.V. series "Police Woman" opposite Angie Dickinson.

For more about his life and career, click here. 

A great film with a great cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Ricky Nelson,Ward Bond and Walter Brennan, who steals the 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  streaming services such as ScreenPix, it's possible to still enjoy the simple pleasures that such movies provide. (The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is now out of print.) 

The story opens with botched robbery in Mexico committed by Billy Young (Robert Walker) and some cohorts including Jesse (David Carradine). The plan to steal horses from the Mexican military goes awry and Billy is forced to split from his fellow robbers with the army in hot pursuit. Making his way back across the border to New Mexico, he is penniless and desperate. He has a chance encounter with Ben Kane (Robert Mitchum), a tough, sarcastic older man who he encounters again in a nearby town. Here, Billy is being cheated at cards by the local sheriff, who goads him into a gunfight. Billy ends up killing him but stands to be framed for the sheriff's death. He's saved by Ben, who rides along with him to another town where Ben has agreed to take on the job of lawman. Ostensibly he is there to keep order and collect back taxes from deadbeats but in reality, he is on a mission of revenge. Some years before, Ben's son had been gunned down by a criminal named Boone (John Anderson) and Kane has learned that Boone is a presence in the new town and that he is being protected by a local corrupt businessman, John Behan (Jack Kelly). Ben makes his presence known immediately by enforcing the law in a strict manner. He's confronted by Behan, who tries to intimidate him. This results in Behan being slapped around by Kane. Behan also grows to resent the new lawman because he is flirting with his mistress, saloon entertainer Lily Beloit (Angie Dickinson). When Behan abuses her as punishment, he gets another beating from Kane. Meanwhile, Billy runs into Jesse and accuses him of having deserted him in Mexico. The two men fight it out and Jesse is later involved with the accidental shooting of the town's beloved doctor while in the employ of Behan. Kane learns that Jesse is Boone's son and holds him in jail as bait for Boone to come out of hiding. The plan works all too well. Boone turns up with a small army and lays siege to the jailhouse where Kane and Billy are holed up.

"Young Billy Young" was compared to a TV show by New York Times critic Howard Thompson on the basis that it contains so many standard elements of westerns from this time period. There is the bad girl with the heart of gold, the evil business tycoon, the brash young gun and his wiser, older mentor, the heroes outnumbered by superior forces and a lovable old coot (played against type by Paul Fix in full Walter Brennan/Gabby Hayes mode.) Yet somehow it all works very well, thanks mostly to Robert Mitchum's stalwart presence. With his trademark ramrod stiff walk and cool persona, Mitchum tosses off bon mots like a frontier version of 007. Even the Times acknowledged that "Mitchum can do laconic wonders with a good wise-crack". He has considerable chemistry with Dickinson, though the action between the sheets is more implied than shown. Robert Walker Jr. acquits himself well in the title role and David Carradine makes an impression even with limited screen time. The film was directed by Burt Kennedy, an old hand at directing fine westerns in reliable, if not remarkable, style and it all culminates in a rip-snorting shoot-out that is genuinely exciting. The fine supporting cast includes Willis Bouchey, Parley Baer and Deanna Martin (Dino's daughter) in her acting debut.  One oddball element to the film: Mitchum croons the title song over the opening credits. If this sounds strange, keep in mind that Mitchum improbably once had a hit album of calypso music. 

The film is currently streaming on ScreenPix, which is available to Amazon Prime customers for $2.99 a month.

By Lee Pfeiffer

"Some Kind of a Nut" is yet another obscure movie from the late 1960s (1969, to be precise) that is available through Screenpix, which is an ancillary subscription channel through Amazon Prime. The film is not currently available on home video in the U.S. and I don't know if it ever was. I was aware that the movie didn't make any impact upon its initial release but, given the amount of talent involved in it, I thought it was time to invest 90 minutes of my life to see a collaboration between star Dick Van Dyke and legendary writer/director Garson Kanin. Van Dyke was a hot property at the time, having left his classic TV sitcom "The Dick Van Dyke Show" to concentrate on a career in feature films, where he initially found considerable success. Van Dyke was busy with so many projects at the time that "Some Kind of a Nut" had a bizarre shooting schedule to accommodate him. According to the TCM web site, some of the film was shot in May of 1968 with the rest filmed in January 1969. The logistics of arranging this with a full cast and crew must have been challenging but Van Dyke's presence in the film led United Artists to agree to the terms. The company had recently released "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with Van Dyke in the starring role. The studio was also seeking a long-term relationship with Garson Kanin and signed him to a four-picture deal arranged by producer Walter Mirisch, but none of the other projects came to fruition and Kanin retired from making feature films after "Some Kind of a Nut".

Van Dyke is cast as Fred Amidon, a mousey bank teller who works in a busy branch in the heart of mid-town Manhattan. He and the other employees suffer in an Orwellian atmosphere under the thumb of a priggish, humorless boss who demands complete conformity with conservative banking policies. Fred is also carrying the weight of his pending divorce from his wife Rachel (Angie Dickinson) which will be finalized in a few weeks time. His one pleasant diversion is his romantic relationship with fellow bank clerk Pamela Anderson (no, not that Pamela Anderson) played by Rosemary Forsyth. While enjoying a precious lunch hour together in Central Park, Fred is stung on the chin by a bee. The painful sting proves to be stubborn and won't go away even when the couple leave on a cross-country vacation. Frustrated by the unsightly wound on his chin, Fred decides to grow a beard. (For a bank with prison-like working conditions, the institution must have a very liberal vacation policy, as Fred and Pamela have enough time to drive to San Francisco and back and for Fred's beard to come into full glory.) Upon returning to the bank, his new appearance causes a scandal. His boss insists that he shave it off, as beards are against bank policy. When Fred refuses, he is summarily fired. His stance earns him the respect of his fellow employees and when the media learns of his situation, he becomes a cause celebre. Before long, Fred becomes a reluctant hero to everyday people who are fed up with having to conform to outdated policies in society. He is particularly embraced by the counter-culture movement, making him an unlikely figurehead for local hippies. He has more problems: his soon to be ex-wife Rachel reconnects with him because she is impressed by his new-found courage. This complicates things with Pamela, who detests the beard and the symbolism it represents. She's under the influence of her two meddlesome brothers who seek to compromise Fred's status as a cult figure. Meanwhile, Fred starts to dabble in Eastern mysticism and begins consulting an Asian guru in one of the film's funniest scenes. Beyond this, however, Kanin's script is anything but unpredictable and you can pretty much guess the outcome of the movie long before it arrives.

"Some Kind of a Nut" was filmed under the working title "The One with the Fuzz". It was a dud with critics and audiences, as was often the case when older filmmakers tried to be relevant to the anti-Establishment crowd of the era. (All the hippies are safe, joyous and satisfied carrying protest signs that are about as controversial as "No Trespassing". There isn't a hint of the Vietnam War and civil rights protests that defined the era, let alone any expletives. The film paints a Brady Bunch-like depiction of a time that never was. Nevertheless, the script does have something to say about the price of conformity, expressed in comical fashion through the inimitable talents of Dick Van Dyke, who makes otherwise unfunny scenes amusing. Angie Dickinson has a rather bland role and her screen time is limited, though director Kanin ensures there is a scene set at a swimming pool for no other reason than to present the welcome sight of Dickinson in a bikini.The film also has the virtue of presenting some nostalgic scenes shot on location in Manhattan. For Dick Van Dyke, the movie would be the first of two feature films released in 1969 that were ambitious in content but failures at the boxoffice and with critics, although the second film, Carl Reiner's comedy/drama "The Comic" has earned respect over the years in certain quarters. Van Dyke would only star in one more comedy on the big screen, "Cold Turkey", released in 1971. That film proved to be quite popular. Thereafter, he would not star in a feature film for another eight years, when he appeared in the leading role in Stanley Kramer's admirable but under-appreciated final movie "The Runner Stumbles", in which Van Dyke gave a fine dramatic performance. He returned to the medium where he had originally found success: television and his late career series "Diagnosis: Murder" would prove to be a major hit that ran for many seasons.

("Some Kind of a Nut" is currently streaming on Screenpix, available to Amazon Prime subscribers for an additional $2.99 a month.)

CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS. WITH TWO CLASSIC FILMS

EAST OF EDEN AND RIO BRAVO

WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 4K RESOLUTION WITH

HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)

PURCHASE THEM ON 4K ULTRA HD DISC AND DIGITALLY AUGUST 1

Burbank, Calif., May 30, 2023 – As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100^th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, two iconic classics from the Warner Bros. library – East of Eden and Rio Bravo - will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital August 1.

East of Eden, directed by Academy Award winner Elia Kazan and starring James Dean, and Rio Bravo, directed by Honorary Academy Award winner Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray™Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

Working in partnership with The Film Foundation, both films were restored and remastered by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services: Motion Picture Imaging and Post Production Sound.  Since its launch by Martin Scorsese in 1990, The Film Foundation has restored more than 900 movies.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc will include each feature film in 4K with HDR and a Digital version of the feature film.

Ultra HD Blu-ray showcases 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and a wider color spectrum, offering consumers brighter, deeper, more lifelike colors for a home entertainment viewing experience like never before.  

For the complete 4K Ultra HD experience with HDR, a 4K Ultra HD TV with HDR, an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and a high-speed HDMI (category 2) cable are required.

About the Films:

East of Eden

In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother Aron for the love of their father Adam. Carl is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, to how to get ahead in business and in life, to how to relate to his estranged mother.

The 1955 period drama is directed by Elia Kazan from a screenplay by Paul Osborn and based on the 1952 John Steinbeck novel of the same name.  The film stars James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, Richard Davalos, and Jo Van Fleet.

East of Eden was nominated for 3 Academy Awards with Van Fleet winning for Best Supporting Actress.  East of Eden was named one of the 400 best American films of all time by the American Film Institute. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Rio Bravo

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

The 1959 American Western film is directed by Howard Hawks. The screenplay is by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett and is based on the short story “Rio Bravo” by B.H. McCampbell. The film stars John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond.

In 2014, Rio Bravo was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Ultra HD Blu-ray Elements

East of Eden Ultra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:

Commentary by Richard Schickel

Rio Bravo Ultra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:

Commentary by John Carpenter and Richard Schickel

Click here to order "East of Eden" from Amazon

By Todd Garbarini

Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill (1980) is one of the director’s best and most entertaining works. It also appears to be ahead of its time in some ways while simultaneously paying homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), something Mr. De Palma also did to great effect with his excellent 1973 Staten Island-lensed thriller Sisters, a film that Stephen King loved so much that he championed Mr. De Palma to make his own novel Carrie into the 1976 film of the same name. His 1976 romantic thriller Obsession was also inspired by the Master of Suspense, specifically Vertigo (1958).

Filmed in the autumn of 1979 and released on Friday, July 25, 1980, Dressed to Kill pits Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) as a woman who is bored and sexually frustrated in the Big Apple as she looks to spice up her unexciting afternoons. Her teenage son Peter (Keith Gordon, who would play Arnie in John Carpenter’s Christine in 1984 before becoming a film director) is a computer geek at a time when being a computer geek meant being male and having zero sex appeal (he has built a computer that carries binary numbers; he is also adept with booby traps and other forms of technology). Kate is under the psychiatric care of Dr. Robert Elliott (Michael Caine) for her frustrations and attempts to seduce him during a session but is rebuffed.

An afternoon trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York results in the film’s most talked about scene wherein she is “picked up” by a stranger who never says a word, and playfully entices her in an extended and wordless “chase” in the museum which ends with illicit sex in the backseat of a taxi and climaxes (no pun intended, of course) with the quickest female orgasm in cinema history. Kate ends up spending the evening with her mystery man in his swanky Front Street apartment, only to discover surreptitiously that he has a venereal disease. This leads her to rush off in haste and be unceremoniously dispatched by a razor-wielding nut job in a carefully orchestrated elevator murder sequence that is intercut with the introduction of Liz Blake, a call girl played by Nancy Allen, who witnesses the murder.

Kate’s son is obviously shattered by his mother’s death, although we only see his stepfather very briefly – at the start of the film during a “wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am” sex scene with Kate, through the shower as he shaves, and later after Kate’s murder when Peter is at the police station. Detective Marino (played brilliantly by Dennis Franz) tries his best to get what info he can out of Liz and Dr. Elliott, but Peter teams up with Liz to find the killer themselves who appears to be a man dressed as a woman, with long blonde hair and dark sunglasses. The obvious tip of the hat to Psycho, complete with Ms. Dickinson’s death scene a third of the way through the film (making her a modern-day Janet Leigh), should give a clue to the killer’s real identity.

There is a great deal of sexual tension and graphic violence in Dressed to Kill, so much so that when the film was released 43 years ago it was initially given an X rating by the MPAA. Jack Valenti, who was president of the MPAA at the time, had stated prior to the film’s release that the political climate in the U.S. had been shifting to the right which in turn meant more conservative attitudes toward sex and violence (those of us who lived through the Meese Report days know this all too well). Interestingly Zombie (1979), the Italian Lucio Fulci gross-out film, was released the same day as Mr. De Palma’s film, unrated and with a similar caveat that appeared on the poster of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead two years earlier since newspapers would not run ads for X-rated films. So, violence was certainly still acceptable on the big screen, as long as it was rated accordingly. Some of the dialogue in the film was also sexual in nature and had to be altered, but the cuts that were made for the theatrical version have all been reinstated on the latest home video releases of the film. Currently, wherein XXX-rated hardcore pornography is just a computer mouse-click away, just about anything in Dressed to Kill seems tame in comparison.

Mr. De Palma has consistently received critical flak for “ripping off” Alfred Hitchcock, but this time he manages to create and sustain a visual style all his own. Even Vincent Canby liked the film, which is saying a lot! Had Bernard Herrmann still been alive (the great musical collaborator of Mr. Hitchcock), he no doubt would have been commissioned to write the score, having already delivered two excellent scores for Mr. De Palma’s Sisters (1973) and Obsession (1976), the latter of which is sumptuous and gorgeous, clearly one of his best. His successor proved to be quite formidable. Pino Donnagio, who wrote brilliant music for Don’t Look Now (1973) and Tourist Trap (1979), delivers another great piece here, and has gone on to work with Mr. De Palma on many other films.

Dressed to Kill has been released in many formats since its theatrical release. Warner Home Video released it on VHS in the big clamshell box at least twice; Image Entertainment released a somewhat letterboxed laserdisc; and MGM/UA released it on both DVD and Blu-ray in a special edition, as did The Criterion Collection. Now, Kino Lorber has added this title to their ever-expanding and impressive roster of classic titles. This new edition is loaded with new and exclusive extras while porting over some from the aforementioned MGM/UA releases:

Disc One is Dressed to Kill in 4K UHD. This is hands-down the best that the film has ever looked. I recall purchasing the Image Entertainment letterboxed laserdisc in 1990 and being very disappointed in the transfer. I would not have guessed that I would have to wait 33 years to see this vast improvement.

Disc Two is a standard Blu-ray that contains the following supplements:

Strictly Business runs 17:26 Nancy Allen talks about how the script came about and how an executive saw Suzanne Somers in her role! I would have loved to have seen that, with Mr. Roper (Norman Fell) as the killer.

Killer Frames with Fred Caruso runs 8:13 and is a look at the work of associate producer and production manager Fred Caruso who worked on Midnight Cowboy (1969), Husbands (1970), The Godfather (1972), and later on Blow Out (1981) and several other films for Mr. DePalma.

An Imitation of Life with Keith Gordon runs 14:15 and is an engaging discussion about how Mr. Gordon got cast in the film and played Angie Dickinson’s son who was originally envisioned as a sexually unaware ten-year-old. Mr. Gordon decided to play it as an older teenager who has been up all night, tired, etc. and to his credit, Mr. DePalma agreed. He also discusses how he saw them shooting the murder scene and it looking ridiculous, but the way that it was edited made all the difference.

Symphony of Fear, 2012 Interview with Gordon Litto by Fiction Factory runs 17:36 and the producer talks about how he saw Brian DePalma’s Sisters and began his professional relationship with the director.

Dressed in White, 2012 Interview with Angie Dickinson by Fiction Factory runs 29:53 and is an onscreen interview. Brian DePalma contacted her while she was promoting Claude Pinoteau’s Jigsaw in Canada in 1979. She talks about Michael Caine’s hilarious sense of humor; the celebrated museum sequence took four days to shoot; the subtlety of Bobbi’s first appearance onscreen (something that I missed over and over again); the difficulties of shooting the cab sequence; the elevator set; and suggesting to Ann Roth the costume designer that she wear a white coat.

Dressed in Purple, 2012 Interview with Nancy Allen by Fiction Factory runs 23:04. Ms. Allen discusses starring in Carrie following her early onscreen cameo opposite Jack Nicholson towards the end of Hal Ashby’s The Last Detail (1973); the sensual movement of a camera being similar to a dance; working again with Keith Gordon (they had previously collaborated on Brian DePalma’s Home Movies the previous year); Ann Roth’s costuming on her; the editing of Jerry Greenberg, the Oscar-winning cutter on William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971); the uncomfortable lingerie outfit; and auditioning for Dario Argento’s Inferno in New York in 1979 and not wanting to shoot underwater (that role went to Irene Miracle)

Lessons in Filmmaking, 2012 Interview with Keith Gordon by Fiction Factory runs 30:46. Mr. Gordon discusses his experiences on the film and how it was an excellent course in film school with a master filmmaker. He watched the elevator murder sequence being shot and thinking how silly it looked, only to be blown away by the way it was cut together in the final film.

The Making of Dressed to Kill runs 43:51 and is a 2001 documentary shot in standard definition which includes recollections from the cast and crew.

Slashing Dressed to Kill runs 9:49 and is a 2001 look (shot in standard definition) at the changes that needed to be made to the film in 1980 in order to secure an R-rating.

Unrated/R-Rated/TV-Rated Comparison from 2001 that is exactly what the title implies.

An Appreciation by Keith Gordon runs 6:05 and is a 2001 featurette (shot in standard definition) wherein Mr. Gordon talks about the impressions that Kate’s character has as she is in the celebrated museum sequence and the subliminal images in the film.

1980 Audio Interview with Michael Caine runs 4:50, and he discusses how much he loves shooting in New York and his-then recent move to California.

1980 Audio Interview with Angie Dickinson runs 3:30 and she talks about how the film should receive a double “R” rating because of its sexual content. Fun stuff!

1980 Audio Interview with Nancy Allen runs 14:30 and she speaks at length of how much she prefers to work on smaller films with lower budgets than big, budgeted films, such as Steven Spielberg’s 1941, as the crew was too numerous in size for her to remember who worked on the film.

Dressed to Kill Radio Spots

Dressed to Kill TV Spots

Dressed to Kill Teaser Trailer and Theatrical Trailer

Trailers for Play Misty for Me, And Soon the Darkness, Eyes of Laura Mars, Happy Birthday to Me, and Not for Publication round out the package.

Click here to order from Amazon

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, "How the West Was Won".  John Wayne was one of the first actors to successfully launch his own production company, Batjac, which produced this film and Wayne's influence is felt in the project. Andrew V. McLaglen was the son of Wayne's good friend and occasional co-star Victor McLaglen. The screenplay was written by Burt Kennedy, who Wayne would later hire to direct several of his own films. The movie provided young Angie Dickinson with her first role of substance and she would reunite with Wayne years later on Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo". Speaking of which, another Wayne favorite, character actor Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez appears in both films. Also in the cast is Harry Carey Jr. , son of Wayne's idol and and personal friend, Harry Carey. The cinematography is by William Clothier, who would lens many of Wayne's later movies and the film was produced by Duke's brother, Robert Morrison. "Gun the Man Down" is very much a Wayne family affair. 

The film opens with three fleeing bank robbers: Rem Anderson (James Arness), Matt Rankin (Robert J. Wilke) and Ralph Farley (Don MeGowan), who arrive at their hide-a-way cabin with the law in hot pursuit. Rem has been seriously wounded and Rankin makes the decision to leave him behind. Rem's girl, Jan (Angie Dickinson), objects at first but Rankin convinces her to go with them in part because they have $40,000 in loot from the local bank. The law arrives at the cabin and arrests Rem. He is nursed back to health and is offered a deal for a light sentence if he helps track down his confederates. Rem refuses and does his time in prison. Upon release, he begins his mission vengeance and tracks Rankin, Ralph and Jan to a one-horse town where Rankin has used his ill-gotten gains to open a profitable saloon. Upon discovering Rem is in town, Rankin hires a notorious gunslinger, Billy Deal (Michael Emmet), to assassinate him. Jan has a tense reunion with Rem and seeks his forgiveness but her pleas fall on deaf ears. Rem emerges victorious over Billy Deal and Rankin, Ralph and Jan flee town with Rem in pursuit. Their final confrontation takes place in a remote canyon with tragic consequences.  

Given the film's meager production budget, "Gun the Man Down" is a surprisingly mature and engrossing Western with intelligent dialogue and interesting characters. (In addition to those mentioned, there is a fine performance by Emile Meyer as the town sheriff). Arness projects the kind of macho star power that Wayne had and Dickinson acquits herself very well as the stereotypical saloon girl with a heart of gold. The film, ably directed by McLaglen,  runs a scant 76 minutes and was obviously designed for a quick playoff and fast profit. It has largely been lost to time but the film is currently streaming on Screenpix, which is available through Amazon Prime, Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV for an additional monthly fee of $2.99 The movie is also available on Blu-ray through Olive Films.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER BLU-RAY FROM AMAZON

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, it's possible to still enjoy the simple pleasures that such movies provide.  

The story opens with botched robbery in Mexico committed by Billy Young (Robert Walker) and some cohorts including Jesse (David Carradine). The plan to steal horses from the Mexican military goes awry and Billy is forced to split from his fellow robbers with the army in hot pursuit. Making his way back across the border to New Mexico, he is penniless and desperate. He has a chance encounter with Ben Kane (Robert Mitchum), a tough, sarcastic older man who he encounters again in a nearby town. Here, Billy is being cheated at cards by the local sheriff, who goads him into a gunfight. Billy ends up killing him but stands to be framed for the sheriff's death. He's saved by Ben, who rides along with him to another town where Ben has agreed to take on the job of lawman. Ostensibly he is there to keep order and collect back taxes from deadbeats but in reality, he is on a mission of revenge. Some years before, Ben's son had been gunned down by a criminal named Boone (John Anderson) and Kane has learned that Boone is a presence in the new town and that he is being protected by a local corrupt businessman, John Behan (Jack Kelly). Ben makes his presence known immediately by enforcing the law in a strict manner. He's confronted by Behan, who tries to intimidate him. This results in Behan being slapped around by Kane. Behan also grows to resent the new lawman because he is flirting with his mistress, saloon entertainer Lily Beloit (Angie Dickinson). When Behan abuses her as punishment, he gets another beating from Kane. Meanwhile, Billy runs into Jesse and accuses him of having deserted him in Mexico. The two men fight it out and Jesse is later involved with the accidental shooting of the town's beloved doctor while in the employ of Behan. Kane learns that Jesse is Boone's son and holds him in jail as bait for Boone to come out of hiding. The plan works all too well. Boone turns up with a small army and lays siege to the jailhouse where Kane and Billy are holed up.

"Young Billy Young" was compared to a TV show by New York Times critic Howard Thompson on the basis that it contains so many standard elements of westerns from this time period. There is the bad girl with the heart of gold, the evil business tycoon, the brash young gun and his wiser, older mentor, the heroes outnumbered by superior forces and a lovable old coot (played against type by Paul Fix in full Walter Brennan/Gabby Hayes mode.) Yet somehow it all works very well, thanks mostly to Robert Mitchum's stalwart presence. With his trademark ramrod stiff walk and cool persona, Mitchum tosses off bon mots like a frontier version of 007. Even the Times acknowledged that "Mitchum can do laconic wonders with a good wise-crack". He has considerable chemistry with Dickinson, though the action between the sheets is more implied than shown. Robert Walker Jr. acquits himself well in the title role and David Carradine makes an impression even with limited screen time. The film was directed by Burt Kennedy, an old hand at directing fine westerns in reliable, if not remarkable, style and it all culminates in a rip-snorting shoot-out that is genuinely exciting. The fine supporting cast includes Willis Bouchey, Parley Baer and Deanna Martin (Dino's daughter) in her acting debut.  One oddball element to the film: Mitchum croons the title song over the opening credits. If this sounds strange, keep in mind that Mitchum improbably once had a hit album of calypso music. 

The film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON

Dean Martin in "The Silencers" (1966), the first of the Matt Helm spy spoofs.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Turner Classic Movies (TCM), now in its 27^th year as a leading authority in classic film, will present the U.S. broadcast premiere of the documentary Dean Martin: King of Cool on Nov. 19, 2021. Director Tom Donahue and producer Ilan Arboleda will appear alongside TCM Host Ben Mankiewicz to introduce the documentary and four of Dean Martin’s most iconic films, including Ocean’s 11 (1960) and The Caddy (1959).

Dean Martin epitomized cool. A founding member of the Rat Pack, Dean was a multi-talented performer who was part of the number one comedy act in America, a chart-topping singer for over half a century and one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and on TV. He was the consummate charmer on stage and off. Yet for all his celebrity, fame, and adoration, no one ever truly knew him.

King of Cool dives deep into Martin’s life through never-before-seen archival footage including from his time with Jerry Lewis, his movies and his TV Variety Show and Roasts. Interviews with friends (Angie Dickinson, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett), family (Deana Martin), and admirers (RZA, Jon Hamm) give an intimate and personal account of his life, and the film tries to understand why Martin was such an enigma.

“Despite his extensive discography and his lengthy list of film and television credits, not much is known about Dean Martin,” said Charlie Tabesh, svp of programming for TCM. “We are thrilled to premiere the definitive look at Martin’s life and explore what made him so cool – and mysterious.”

“What an incredible, joyous labor of love it has been to tell the story of one of the 20th Century’s greatest entertainers,” said Tom Donahue, director of Dean Martin: King of Cool. “The more I learned, the greater and deeper my appreciation and affection for this man became.”

Dean Martin: King Of Cool was produced by CreativeChaos vmg in association with Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way, and Danny Strong’s Danny Strong Productions. It was also executive produced by Paul Barry, Deana Martin, John Griffeth, and Steve Edwards. Ron Marasco was the story producer and it was co-produced by Mandy Stein, Peter Greenwald, Tina Potter, Jessicya Materano and Chantel Ellis.

“As a huge Dean Martin fan, I was so honored to be part of this amazing team led by Tom Donahue and Ilan Arboleda to tell the story of one of the greatest talents of the 20th century,” said executive producer Danny Strong. “Dean is an icon, a legend and a mystery. By telling his story we hope to shed some light on that mystery and to keep his legend living on.”

TCM’s full lineup of programming includes:

Friday, November 19
8:00 p.m. King of Cool (2021) – Documentary telling the story of actor and singer Dean Martin through film clips, photographs and interviews with family, friends and colleagues.
9:30 p.m. The Caddy (1953) – A master golfer suffering from performance anxiety caddies for a man he's taught everything.
11:15 p.m. Rio Bravo (1959) – A sheriff enlists a drunk, a kid and an old man to help him fight off a ruthless cattle baron.

Friday, November 26
8:00 p.m. Ocean’s 11 (1960) – A group of friends plot to rob a Las Vegas casino.
10:15 p.m. Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964) - A Chicago gangster stumbles into philanthropic work during a gang war.
12:30 a.m. King of Cool (2021) – Documentary telling the story of actor and singer Dean Martin through film clips, photographs and interviews with family, friends and colleagues.

*all times Eastern

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Just in case you thought the good folks at Vinegar Syndrome only release version of vintage porn flicks, it may come as news that they are also providing another valuable social service: remastering long-forgotten grind house "classics".  Case in point: "The Muthers", a 1976 gem that plays out like the ultimate Tarantino fantasy. It's a combination of several genres: Women in Prison ("W.I.P", for the initiated), chop socky, sexploitation and blaxploitation. It doesn't get any better than this if you were weaned on this glorious type of sleaze that played routinely on 42nd Street. Directed by cult "B" movie favorite Cirio Santiago, "The Muthers" is yet another low-budget flick from the era that was filmed in the Philippines. The movie opens with a memorable introduction to the titular characters. They are Kelly (Jeannie Bell) and her equally sexy sidekick Anggie (Rosanne Katon, Playboy's Miss September in 1978), who are female pirates with an all-male crew ("You go, girls!"). We see them aboard their high speed, armed vessel as they raid a tourist boat and grab the booty. (Since these are good pirates, no one gets hurt). We know the pirates go by the name of The Muthers because their vessel is adorned with a big sign that reads "The Muthers", in what must have been the first case of branding for high seas pirates. When they return to their Hole-in-the-Wall-like village, they are informed that Kelly's teenage sister has gone missing. They start trawling the waterfront bars and learn that she has been abducted by a human trafficking ring. Working with a government agent who wants to bring down the head of the ring, a notorious crime kingpin named Monteiro (Tony Carreon), Kelly and Anggie volunteer to be captured. They are brought to Monteiro's jungle prison camp, which is guarded by a virtual army of heavily-armed thugs. Here they find dozens of young women being kept in brutal conditions. They are forced to perform manual labor and are simultaneously being groomed for sale to a procurer of girls for international brothels. Kelly manages to get a fleeting glimpse of her sister before she learns the younger girl has made a desperate attempt to escape into the jungle- a strategy which goes tragically awry. 

While in the camp, Kelly and Anggie meet Marcie (Trina Parks), another beauty who is regarded as a long-time veteran prisoner who knows all the ropes. Marcie introduces them to Serena (Jayne Kennedy), who is the privileged mistress of Monteiro (who also sleeps with his male guards). Anggie resents Serena for selling out in return for her soft lifestyle at the camp and derisively refers to her as a "house nigger". But Marcie informs her that Serena often provides what human compassion she can towards the prisoners. Ultimately, Kelly, Angie and Marcie enlist Serena in an audacious plan for them all to escape. They do so but Monteiro and his goons are in hot pursuit. As the women hide in the jungle, they face death from the elements, starvation and dangerous critters. In the film's best scenario, Marcie is bitten in the chest by a deadly snake. As Serena sucks the blood out, Marcie gets the movie's best line of dialogue: "Just like every other snake I've met-- won't leave my tits alone!" Although Parks, Kennedy and Katon frustrate male viewers  keeping their clothes mostly intact, Bell delivers the goods with two (not one, but two!) gratuitous topless bathlng sequences. She also saunters around the tropical location clad in a long-sleeve turtleneck shirt, the absurdity of which is overshadowed by the fact that she is conspicuously bra-less. The film climaxes with double crosses, a big shootout between the "good" pirates and Monteiro's forces, with machine gun slinging chicks also going hand-to-hand with the villains. (Yes, everybody is kung-fu fighting.) At one point in the movie, Bell gets to swing vine-to-vine a la Tarzan. As low grade action films go, it doesn't get much lower or better than this- and it's all set to a typically funky '70s disco score. 

Jeannie Bell displays why the questionable choice of wearing a long-sleeve turtleneck in the tropics has its good points.

The Vinegar Syndrome release has undergone a 2k restoration from the original 35mm negative, making it yet another one of their titles that probably looks infinitely better today than it did upon its initial release. An appropriately cheesy trailer is also included that doesn't even credit the actresses, though perhaps they consider that to be a positive.

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BY JOHN M. WHALEN

If you’ve ever read one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels, you know that there has always been a big difference between Tarzan as he is in the movies versus Tarzan in the books. For some reason Hollywood has never really been able to get the character exactly right. As much fun as the Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker Tarzan movies are, for example, they really didn’t get close to Burroughs’ concept of the ape man. The real Tarzan didn’t speak Pidgin English for one thing. He actually spoke fluent English and French. He was as at home in an English Tea Room as the son of a British Lord, as he was in the prehistoric land of Pal-ul-don. While the movies showed Tarzan as protector of the animals, and friends with cute chimpanzees, in the books Burroughs present a world where death usually came on four feet, although man was often the most treacherous enemy. It was a jungle out there, and it was survival of the fittest, baby.

In 2016, Warner Bros. attempted to restart the Tarzan series with the $180 million “The Legend of Tarzan.” The film made double its budget at the box office worldwide, but it didn’t excite audiences or studio heads enough to continue with a sequel. So it looks like Tarzan will be on sabbatical for a while. Part of the reason for the film’s failure was the script’s presentation of Tarzan. They got the outer dimensions of the character right, but included too many politically correct ideas that weakened the Burroughs concept. For one thing, Tarzan lost too many fights, with both humans and apes. You don’t get to be King of the Jungle by losing fights. But I think it was the total reliance on CGI to create Tarzan’s Africa that was the main reason for the film’s failure. Except for the occasional aerial footage shot over the jungles of Gabon, the entire film was shot on sound stages in England. The movie lacked the reality that a fantasy like Tarzan needs to be believable.

Which brings me to the subject of this review. In the opinion of most true Tarzan fans there has only ever been one Tarzan film that really captures what Tarzan is all about. It’s not perfect, but it’s probably the closest they’ll ever get. In 1959, producer Sy Weintraub took over the Tarzan franchise from Sol Lesser after it was moved to Paramount Pictures. Weintraub injected the series with new energy and new ideas. He wanted to make an “adult” Tarzan flick and he wanted to shoot on location in Kikuyu, Kenya.

He hired a top flight cast of British actors to play the villains in the piece. Anthony Quayle, whose acting experience ranged from potboilers to Shakespeare, was cast as the main villain, Slade, an escaped con and old enemy of Tarzan. Next up, none other than 007 himself, Sean Connery, in an early role as O’Bannion, a tough Irish gunman, who, being too young for the Irish Rebellion, decides there are no causes worth fighting for because “They don’t pay well.” Next is Nial MacGiniss as Kruger, a German diamond expert who doesn’t want to be reminded of the old days of the Third Reich. Al Muloch plays Dino, captain of the boat the gang is riding up river, who has a strange attachment to a locket he wears around his neck. And finally, Italian actress Scilla Gabel as Toni, Slade’s girl. There’s plenty of internal conflict and tension among these five on board a small jungle boat as it makes its way up river to a diamond mine.

The film starts with the theft of explosives from a compound run by a doctor friend of Tarzan’s. The gang needs the gelignite to excavate a diamond mine located upriver, just north of Tarzan’s tree house. It’s interesting to note that the script by Berne Giler is based on a story written by Les Crutchfield, a veteran writer who wrote 81 Gunsmoke radio scripts, and was himself an explosives expert and a mining engineer before he started writing. Explosives figure prominently in the plot.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Time Life:

Bob Hope, the greatest entertainer of the 20th century, was above all a patriotic American dedicated to our troops around the world. His star-studded USO Christmas shows brought a taste of home to servicemen and women scattered thousands of miles from their families. Bob rang in the Christmas season with the biggest stars in Hollywood along with major figures from the worlds of sports and music, and cracked jokes with his celebrity pals and presidents alike. At home or abroad, his specials proved that laughter was the best medicine. 

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES 6-DVD set features 13 specials from Bob’s career, spanning five decades with dozens of celebrity guests. Highlights include: 

Bob’s first studio comedy special “in living color” with guests Jack Benny, Bing Crosby and Janet Leigh

The Bob Hope Chevy Show with the entire cast of I Love Lucy—Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley, plus James Cagney and Diana Dors

A hilarious spoof of Star Wars and other sketches with Tony Bennett, Perry Como, James Garner, Mark Hamill, Dean Martin, Olivia Newton-John, Barbra Streisand, Tuesday Weld, The Muppets and more stars

The murder-mystery parody Joys (A Comedy Whodunit) with nearly fifty guest stars including Charo, Milton Berle, Dean Martin, Don Rickles, George Gobel, Alan King, Don Knotts, Groucho Marx, Vincent Price andFreddie Prinze

The best of the bloopers from 30 years of Bob’s shows with George Burns, Sammy Davis Jr., Angie Dickinson, Phyllis Diller, Burt Reynolds, DonRickles, Brooke Shields, Elizabeth Taylor, Mr. T, John Wayne and others.

Bob’s 1967 USO tour to 22 bases around Vietnam, Thailand and the South Pacific in 15 days with special guest Raquel Welch

Highlights from over 25 years of specials in Bob Hope’s World of Comedy and the celebration Highlights of a Quarter Century of Bob Hope on Television

A look at Bob’s personal relationships with American presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy, and Harry S. Truman

Bob Hope’s 90th birthday celebration featuring tributes by Johnny Carson, George Burns and many more!

EXCLUSIVE BONUS: Plus, the DVD set contains the exclusive bonus feature Shanks for the Memory about the world of golf according to Bob Hope, which includes historic clips of Bob with Bing Crosby, presidents and pros on courses around the world, and special appearances by Pres. Gerald Ford, pro golfers Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and more.

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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, "How the West Was Won".  John Wayne was one of the first actors to successfully launch his own production company, Batjac, which produced this film and Wayne's influence is felt in the project. Andrew V. McLaglen was the son of Wayne's good friend and occasional co-star Victor McLaglen. The screenplay was written by Burt Kennedy, who Wayne would later hire to direct several of his own films. The movie provided young Angie Dickinson with her first role of substance and she would reunite with Wayne years later on Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo". Speaking of which, another Wayne favorite, character actor Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez appears in both films. Also in the cast is Harry Carey Jr. , son of Wayne's idol and and personal friend, Harry Carey. The cinematography is by William Clothier, who would lens many of Wayne's later movies and the film was produced by Duke's brother, Robert Morrison. "Gun the Man Down" is very much a Wayne family affair. 

The film opens with three fleeing bank robbers: Rem Anderson (James Arness), Matt Rankin (Robert J. Wilke) and Ralph Farley (Don MeGowan), who arrive at their hide-a-way cabin with the law in hot pursuit. Rem has been seriously wounded and Rankin makes the decision to leave him behind. Rem's girl, Jan (Angie Dickinson), objects at first but Rankin convinces her to go with them in part because they have $40,000 in loot from the local bank. The law arrives at the cabin and arrests Rem. He is nursed back to health and is offered a deal for a light sentence if he helps track down his confederates. Rem refuses and does his time in prison. Upon release, he begins his mission vengeance and tracks Rankin, Ralph and Jan to a one-horse town where Rankin has used his ill-gotten gains to open a profitable saloon. Upon discovering Rem is in town, Rankin hires a notorious gunslinger, Billy Deal (Michael Emmet), to assassinate him. Jan has a tense reunion with Rem and seeks his forgiveness but her pleas fall on deaf ears. Rem emerges victorious over Billy Deal and Rankin, Ralph and Jan flee town with Rem in pursuit. Their final confrontation takes place in a remote canyon with tragic consequences.  

Given the film's meager production budget, "Gun the Man Down" is a surprisingly mature and engrossing Western with intelligent dialogue and interesting characters. (In addition to those mentioned, there is a fine performance by Emile Meyer as the town sheriff). Arness projects the kind of macho star power that Wayne had and Dickinson acquits herself very well as the stereotypical saloon girl with a heart of gold. The film, ably directed by McLaglen,  runs a scant 76 minutes and was obviously designed for a quick playoff and fast profit. It has largely been lost to time but the Olive Blu-ray release puts in squarely in the realm of hidden pleasures. Fans of traditional Westerns will find nothing very new or innovative here, but the film does hold up as solid entertainment. The Blu-ray includes the original trailer.

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Review by Todd Garbarini

Rush is a band that has never taken itself seriously. In the 33 years I have followed The Boys, I have come to regard them as musicians who have no trouble making fun of themselves and this is an aspect of their personalities that endears them to so many of us. The band’s use of the Three Stooges theme to open many of their concerts since the 1980’s and their amusing videos that open and close their later tours are proof that they don’t take themselves seriously.

In keeping in the spirit of such silliness, David Calcano’s 2015 book Rushtoons by Fantoons Vol. 2112 is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to our favorite band by some world-class artists who have created some beautiful cartoons that ape and good-naturedly poke fun at Rush’s famous album covers, making visual puns and humorous references to imagery that is as synonymous with Rush’s sound as hair is to Donald Trump. The 23 talented artists showcased are Mike Kazaleh, Chris Brubaker, Cristian Garcia, Raciel Avila Silva, Jose Rodriguez Mota, Samanta Erdini, Angie Pik, Armin Roshdi, Drew Krevi, Juan Riera, Tone Rodriguez, Camila Velarde, Min Jeong, Benny Jackson, Manuel Sarmiento, Igor Teran, Gina Rivas, Rene Cordova, Paul Badilla, Rafael Luna, Carlos Behrens, David Calcano, and Maryam Mahmodi Modhadam. Begun in April 2015 as a Kickstarter project, Rushtoons by Fantoons Vol. 2112 quickly raised enough capital in 24 hours to become a reality. The final result is well worth the wait.

The book is separated into seven chapters, beginning with a foreword by RIAB’s Ed Stenger. Chapter 1 (Roll the Ads) features one of my favorite mash-ups of Corporate America and Rush: Bill Gates sitting in a chair, pointing a remote control at a window for Microsoft Power Windows – clever! Chapter 2 (The Torontonian Cartoons) features artwork that is most closely related to newspaper comics as they are black and white with no color. The standout – Alex sitting on a couch in a psychiatrist’s office, upset because “Geddy started using keyboards!” Chapter 3 (Le Studio D’Art) brings us back to color with visual puns on the motifs from the albums, such as the Dalmatian running to a less-than-happy fire hydrant, and the same dog chasing Neil who is driving a Red Barchetta. My favorite is the “Live Long and Prosper” variant on Grace Under Pressure’s amazing cover. Chapter 4 (Rushtoons) features The Boys in comical variations on the Peanuts, Popeye, and even Eddie Trunk is featured. My favorite explains Alex’s closed eye on the cover of his 1994 solo album, Victor. Chapter 5 (In the Mood Pin-Ups) features a cute send-up of the Presto cover with a buxom beauty; “Permanent Weathergirls”; and a humorous parody of the Hold Your Fire cover as a nude woman attempts to cover herself (use your imaginations on fire). Chapter 6 (Moving Pictures) encompasses several nice Star Wars parodies, one with Paula Turnbull’s turn as Leia in full slave girl garb. The Twilight Zone, The Three Stooges (how can you not?), Raiders of the Lost Ark (Indy trying to outrace the Vapor Trails fireball), Miami Vice and The Terminator are all given the Rush treatment. Chapter 7 (Sugar Rush, The Cereals), the last section, incorporates cereal box covers: Caress of Milk, Toasted to the Heart, Permanent Flakes, Milk Under Pressure, Flakes for Echo…you get the idea!

BY GIACOMO SELLONI

Let's get it out of the way - 11:55 is derivative. It's a showdown film. Showdown films have a simple plot device and story line: the protagonist is threatened and driven by angst, "Should I stay or should I go?" The antagonist is driven by rage and revenge and has clear intentions. The characters' reasons vary from film to film but the premise is the same. You've seen films like that hundreds of times. Welcome to 11:55.

There's no shame in dragging out an old chestnut. William Shakespeare never came up with an original story line either. Co-director Ben Snyder admitted to the fact that the film's title was inspired by High Noon. But this film, which had its world premiere recently at the Los Angeles Film Festival, is the first directorial effort of Ari Issler and Snyder.

Nelson Sanchez (co-screenwriter Victor Almanzar) is a returning Afghan War veteran. We first meet him as we silently ride the bus home to Newburgh, New York. His earlier- than -expected arrival threatens to throw big sister Angie's party plans awry. Chased out of the house, he surprises his long time girlfriend Livvy for some quality time before acting dutifully surprised at the party. There we meet many of Nelson's friends, some of whom are guys he ran drugs with before entering the service. Nelson is a troubled man with a troubled past. He escaped the mean streets where he grew up by joining the military - after he accidentally killed a dealer from rival gang. His former protégé on the streets, Teyo, breaks the news to him at the party: Nicky Quinn is coming. Quinn is the older brother of the gangbanger killed by Nelson and he is out for revenge. He arrives in town on the, you know it, 11:55 bus.

Nelson’s happy homecoming day suddenly turns sour. His plans did not include dealing with actions from his distant past. Whatever he experienced in the war has changed him. His sister and girlfriend convince him to run, make a new life in Boston. But when Nelson and Livvy run into a couple of Quinn's goons at the bus station, Nelson takes a stand - he's not going to run away this time; he's going to stay and face what's in store.

The city of Newburgh, for Nelson Sanchez, turns out to be a lot like Gary Cooper's Hadleyville. Although he has an abundance of friends, like Cooper’s beleaguered sheriff of High Noon, none will commit to stand with him in his hour of need. His efforts exhausted, he does what any knowledgeable sacrificial lamb would do: he gets a haircut. This is a gritty, moving film filled with a terrific supporting cast. Newburgh should get credit as well. It once ranked in the 20 most dangerous communities in the US and has been plagued by gang violence and drugs for years. It provides a solid backdrop for the film's authenticity.

Victor Almanzar shines as Nelson Sanchez. There's not a doubt in the viewer's mind as to what Sanchez is thinking at any given time and Almanzar makes the viewer empathize with his plight. He is soulful and deep and you care about what he's been through and where he's going. Hopefully, Almanzar has a promising future in film. Elizabeth Rodriguez is scary and soft, sexy and tough as Angie, especially when she threatens the "Greek chorus" of Nelson's cowardly friends in the barbershop with a razor.  Livvy, as portrayed by Shirley Rumierk, is the dutiful girlfriend. She's torn between supporting her man's choice and saving his life.

Some veteran actors lend some great turns in character roles. David Zayas is Maurice, Nelson's former "Godfather" from his drug dealing days who'd rather feed his pigeons than lend a hand. John Leguizamo, as Nelson's wheelchair-bound, former marine buddy, is the only one willing to stand with him. Yes, pun intended. He and Julia Stiles, as Nicky Quinn's pregnant wife bring some terrific comic relief into the film. Her brief rant at Quinn as he ignores her wishes and resumes his gang persona in order to avenge his brother is hysterical. It also teaches us the differences caused by the effects of serotonin and dopamine on the human brain. Mike Carlsen in his brief screen time as Nicky Quinn is a threatening presence, a subtle villain whose motivation may not be what it seems. And I can't leave out Smarlin Hernandez. As Daiza, Nelson's niece and Angie's daughter, she portrays, with honesty, the warring emotions teenagers feel about the person they both love and hate the most in their life.

"11:55" is a modern-day, East-coast Western. I expect to see more great things from those involved in this production. Film history tells us that America won the West a long time ago but it is in our smaller cities, those impoverished, under-employed, landscapes and vistas where today's stories lie. There, real battles continue to be fought on a daily basis by residents who wish little more than to live safely, securely and in peace. This film tells just one of those stories.

'11:55' — Exclusive Trailer from The Playlist on Vimeo.

"The Equalizer".

CULVER CITY, CA – April 18, 2016 – Fueled by the positive response to its programming blocks celebrating rare classic television series, getTV has launched an all-new weekday schedule focusing on hard-to-find favorites. The lineup includes 14 television series to start, with more to be added throughout the cycle. The new schedule is divided into three distinct blocks—Comedies, Westerns, and Action/Crime—airing weekdays from 7 a.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET, beginning May 2. In a special kick-off event, getTV will present the two-hour premiere of the 1984 series RIPTIDE, starring Perry King, Joe Penny, and Thom Bray, as part of the network’s Silver Screen Favorites block on Sunday, May 1, at 8 p.m. ET.

Highlights of the daytime programming lineup include charming long lost comedies THE GHOST & MRS. MUIR and NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR; the Old West epic THE RESTLESS GUN, which makes its getTV debut after having rarely been seen on television since its original run; and a wall-to-wall afternoon block of rarely seen, but beloved crime favorites featuring the Aaron Spelling standout S.W.A.T; Ernest Borgnine and Jan-Michael Vincent in AIRWOLF; RIPTIDE and HARDCASTLE AND MCCORMICK, created by award-winning crime author and TV producer Stephen J. Cannell; a special 30^th Anniversary year presentation of THE EQUALIZER, which spawned the hit 2014 Denzel Washington thriller of the same name, and its upcoming 2017 sequel.  The daytime series block concludes with back-to-back episodes of the gripping police drama IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, starring Carroll O’Connor, based off 1967's OscarÃ’-winning Sidney Poitier/Rod Steiger movie of the same name.

“getTV's viewers have made it clear that, in addition to the classic films we’re known for, they also want to dig even deeper into their favorite long-lost TV programs of yesteryear,” said Jeff Meier, Senior Vice President, Programming, getTV. “This new lineup allows us to give our audience the best of both worlds, as we present great series during the day, and memorable movies at night.”

getTV’s all-new weekday programming lineup is as follows:

(

Comedy Block

7 a.m. ET—THE THIN MAN (1957-1959)—Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk star as married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles, solving crimes and getting wrapped up in shady schemes in this spin-off of the 1934 Pre-Code comedy of the same name. Guests include Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Don Rickles, Marion Ross, and more.

7:35 a.m. ET—THE JIMMY STEWART SHOW (1971-1972)—Beloved leading man James Stewart makes his television debut, as a small town professor in this charming family comedy that also stars Julie Adams and John McGiver. Notable guests include Vincent Price, Regis Philbin, Kate Jackson, M. Emmett Walsh, and Cesar Romero.

8:15 a.m. ET—NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR (1970-1971)—Juliet Mills stars as a magical young nanny who may or may not be psychic, with Richard Long as her widowed professor of an employer and top contemporary reality and tabloid star Kim Richards in her breakthrough role as one of Long's three kids. Notable guests include Jodie Foster in her third TV appearance, as well as Elsa Lanchester, Ida Lupino, Lee Meriwether, and Van Johnson.

8:50 a.m. ET—THE GHOST & MRS. MUIR (1968-1970)—Hope Lange won two EmmyÃ’ Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy as a widow who befriends the spirit of a sea captain (Edward Mulhare) haunting her New England home. Notable supporting cast includes game show stalwart Charles Nelson Reilly in his most significant acting role, and notable guests include Richard Dreyfuss, Danny Bonaduce, Dom DeLuise, Yvonne Craig, and more.

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", it's possible to still enjoy the simple pleasures that such movies provide.  

The story opens with botched robbery in Mexico committed by Billy Young (Robert Walker) and some cohorts including Jesse (David Carradine). The plan to steal horses from the Mexican military goes awry and Billy is forced to split from his fellow robbers with the army in hot pursuit. Making his way back across the border to New Mexico, he is penniless and desperate. He has a chance encounter with Ben Kane (Robert Mitchum), a tough, sarcastic older man who he encounters again in a nearby town. Here, Billy is being cheated at cards by the local sheriff, who goads him into a gunfight. Billy ends up killing him but stands to be framed for the sheriff's death. He's saved by Ben, who rides along with him to another town where Ben has agreed to take on the job of lawman. Ostensibly he is there to keep order and collect back taxes from deadbeats but in reality, he is on a mission of revenge. Some years before, Ben's son had been gunned down by a criminal named Boone (John Anderson) and Kane has learned that Boone is a presence in the new town and that he is being protected by a local corrupt businessman, John Behan (Jack Kelly). Ben makes his presence known immediately by enforcing the law in a strict manner. He's confronted by Behan, who tries to intimidate him. This results in Behan being slapped around by Kane. Behan also grows to resent the new lawman because he is flirting with his mistress, saloon entertainer Lily Beloit (Angie Dickinson). When Behan abuses her as punishment, he gets another beating from Kane. Meanwhile, Billy runs into Jesse and accuses him of having deserted him in Mexico. The two men fight it out and Jesse is later involved with the accidental shooting of the town's beloved doctor while in the employ of Behan. Kane learns that Jesse is Boone's son and holds him in jail as bait for Boone to come out of hiding. The plan works all too well. Boone turns up with a small army and lays siege to the jailhouse where Kane and Billy are holed up. 

Original French lobby card.

"Young Billy Young" was compared to a TV show by New York Times critic Howard Thompson on the basis that it contains so many standard elements of westerns from this time period. There is the bad girl with the heart of gold, the evil business tycoon, the brash young gun and his wiser, older mentor, the heroes outnumbered by superior forces and a lovable old coot (played against type by Paul Fix in full Walter Brennan/Gabby Hayes mode.) Yet somehow it all works very well, thanks mostly to Robert Mitchum's stalwart presence. With his trademark ram-rod stiff walk and cool persona, Mitchum tosses off bon mots like a frontier version of 007. Even the Times acknowledged that "Mitchum can do laconic wonders with a good wise-crack". He has considerable chemistry with Dickinson, though the action between the sheets is more implied than shown. Robert Walker Jr. acquits himself well in the title role and David Carradine makes an impression even with limited screen time. The film was directed by Burt Kennedy, an old hand at directing fine westerns in reliable, if not remarkable, style and it all culminates in a rip-snorting shoot-out that is genuinely exciting. The fine supporting cast includes Willis Bouchey, Parley Baer and Deanna Martin (Dino's daughter) in her acting debut.  One oddball element to the film: Mitchum croons the title song over the opening credits. If this sounds strange, keep in mind that Mitchum improbably once had a hit album of calypso music.  

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray includes the original trailer as well as trailers for other westerns, "Support Your Local Sheriff", "Support Your Local Gunfighter" and "The Wonderful Country", which also stars Mitchum.

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"WE'RE GONNA KILL THE SWEDE"

By Raymond Benson

The Criterion Collection gave us the DVD versions of these two excellent crime thrillers twelve years ago. The company has now seen fit to upgrade the release to Blu-ray.

Based loosely on a short story by Ernest Hemingway, both versions of The Killers begin with the author's premise and then take off from there in very different directions. It's interesting to see how the respective screenwriters adapted the story and then created two disparate feature-length tales out of it. In Hemingway's piece, two hit men arrive in a small town looking for "The Swede". They terrorize the owner, cook, and a customer in a diner in an attempt to find the guy. After the killers leave in frustration, the customer runs to the Swede's boarding house and finds him in bed with his clothes on. He warns the Swede about the men, but the Swede says he's not going to do anything about it. The customer goes back to the diner and, after realizing no one cares, leaves town. And that’s it.

The 1946 version faithfully captures the short story even down to the dialogue for the first ten minutes. Where the short story ends, the movie goes on and we see the hit men actually kill the Swede (played by Burt Lancaster in his first starring role). Enter Jim Reardon (Edmond O'Brien, with third billing, but he's really the protagonist of the film!) as an insurance inspector. It turns out the Swede had a life insurance policy that benefits an old lady who helped him once. Reardon is determined to uncover the story behind it all, and the rest of the movie follows his investigation into the Swede's life in crime (told entirely in flashbacks). The Swede was a boxer who got mixed up with Big Jim, a racketeer (played by Albert Dekker), and falls in love with Big Jim's gal, Kitty (played by smoking hot Ava Gardner, in one of her first starring roles; Gardner had been kicking around Hollywood since the early 40s and this was her big break). As we all know, it's not good to mess around with the crime boss's dame.

Robert Siodmak received an Oscar nomination for Best Director on the picture (it was also nominated for adapted screenplay, editing, and music score). There's no question that The Killers is a seminal film noir, one of the best of the bunch produced when Hollywood was churning out these types of gritty crime pictures by the dozens. Siodmak's hand is assured as he brings in all the trademark film noir elements: ”expressionistic lighting, a femme fatale, stark brutality, a cynical attitude, flashbacks, a man haunted by the past, and more. The picture could serve as a Film Noir 101 course. Lancaster is fine and Gardner is sexy and dangerous, but it is O'Brien who holds the movie together.

The 1964 version is a different animal. It was produced to be the very first TV movie, but NBC viewed the finished product and deemed it too violent for television. Instead, the producers released it theatrically worldwide. Directed by Don Siegel (billed as "Donald Siegel"), The Killers Mach II stars Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager as the hitmen, who here become the focal point of the new story. John Cassavetes plays the Swede character, only here he is a racecar driver named Johnny. The femme fatale, Sheila, is played by Angie Dickinson, and get this... the crime boss is none other than Ronald Reagan in his last film role before he became a politician.

The film begins basically the same way, but the setting is different. The two hitmen come looking for Johnny and they kill him. Marvin's hitman character then takes over the dramatic action originally performed by O'Brien in the 1946 version. Marvin is the one who wants to find out why he and his partner were hired to kill Johnny, as well as what happened to a load of stolen cash that Johnny may have hidden.

While not as important or engaging as the 1946 edition, The Killers Mach II is worth watching for Siegel's solid craftsmanship. NBC was probably right not to broadcast the picture on television in 1964, given the time period, the movie is pretty brutal. Marvin and Gulager are creepy bad guys, Cassavetes delivers his usual fine work, and Dickinson displays her charms with aplomb. As for Reaga, well, le's just say it's not too difficult to buy him as a crook. In hindsight, given that this guy became a two-term U.S. president, his performance lends a "must-see" element to the picture.

Criterion gives us new high-definition digital restorations of both films (the 1964 version is in color and in 4:3 aspect ratio, since it was shot for television). They look terrific. The black and white contrasts in the 1946 version are especially sharp and unsettlingly beautiful. Almost all of the original supplements are here:Andrei Tarkovsky's student film adaptation of the short story from 1956; a video interview with noir expert/writer, the late Stuart M. Kaminsky; a video interview with Clu Gulager; Stacy Keach reading Hemingway's short story on audio; the Screen Directors Playhouse radio adaptation from 1949 featuring Lancaster and Shelley Winters; an audio excerpt from director Don Siegel's autobiography read by Hampton Fancher; and trailers. The booklets feature essays by novelist Jonathan Lethem and critic Geoffrey O'Brien. Not sure why Criterion left off the production, publicity, and behind-the-scenes stills, actor biographies, production correspondence, Paul Schrader's essay, and music and effects tracks, all which were on the original DVD release. If those things are important to you, then you may want to hold on to it.

But for the Blu-ray restorations alone, The Killers double feature is an excellent buy, especially for fans of film noir and crime pictures in general. 

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Also available on Digital HD June 2, 2015 -- the JOHN WAYNE 10 FILM COLLECTION. This digital bundle of 10 titles will include the following films:

1. Back to Bataan (1945)

2. Fort Apache (1948)

3. The Searchers (1956)

4. Rio Bravo (1959)

5. How The West Was Won (1962)

6. The Green Berets (1968)

7. Chisum (1970)

8. The Cowboys (1972)

9. The Train Robbers (1973)

10. Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

CELEBRATE FRANK SINATRA’S 100TH BIRTHDAY WITH

FRANK SINATRA: 5 FILM COLLECTION

MARCH 31 ON DIGITAL HD AND MAY 5 ON BLU-RAYTM FROM WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT

First time on Blu-ray and Digital HD for Anchors Aweigh, On the Town And Robin and the 7 Hoods

3. Anchors Aweigh (1945)

4. Till The Clouds Roll By (1946)

5. Kissing Bandit, The (1948)

6. On the Town (1949)

7. Guys and Dolls (1955)

8. Tender Trap, The (1955)

9. The Man with The Golden Arm (1955)

10. High Society (1956)

11. Some Came Running (1958)

12. Never So Few (1959) – first time on Digital HD 13. Ocean's 11 (1960)

14. Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)

15. None But The Brave (1965)

CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE BLU-RAY SET, TO BE RELEASED MAY 5

BY DOUG OSWALD

Infidelity, homophobia, suicide, prostitution, sex, blackmail, racism, pompous military officers, family disagreements, GI bar fights and inter-racial relationships. “Pearl” dips into all this and more in a three-part TV mini-series from 1978. The series borrows liberally and literally from movies like “From Here To Eternity,” “In Harm’s Way,” “Tora! Tora! Tora! and “Midway,” and also serves as a forerunner for one of the best TV mini-series of this kind, “The Winds of War.”

Each episode opens with narration by Joseph Campanella explaining the impending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the oblivious nature of Americans enjoying their stay in paradise. John Addison’s title music evokes the tropical locale and plays over scenes of vintage Honolulu photos prior to America’s entry into WWII. Hawaii was a much more exotic place even after WWII.

The melodrama of the series is focused on the American residents of Honolulu in the days prior to the attack interspersed with scenes of the Japanese Navy making its way across a stormy Pacific ocean. The Japanese are depicted as all business in this series, which is a shame because it would have been interesting to get a sense for what the characters were thinking personally about the audacious military strategy..

The Japanese carrier scenes and most of the aerial attack scenes are represented by footage literally taken from the classic 1970 movie, “Tora! Tora! Tora!” The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurs halfway through the second episode, after we’ve met the characters and know all of their dalliances in paradise.

The series features a “Who’s Who” of some of the well-known movie and TV stars from the late 1970s: Angie Dickinson, Dennis Weaver, Robert Wagner, Lesley Ann Warren, Tiana Alexandra, Gregg Henry, Katherine Helmond, Adam Arkin, Brian Dennehy, Max Gail, Char Fontane, Audra Lindley, Richard Anderson, Marion Ross, Allan Miller and Mary Crosby.

The series was written by Stirling Silliphant, no stranger to melodrama, as he wrote the screenplays for “In the Heat of the Night,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “The Towering Inferno” and “The Swarm” as well as thrillers like “Shaft in Africa,” “The Killer Elite,” “The Enforcer” and “Telefon.” The story is entertaining and held my interest throughout. The more salacious topics are handled as one would expect from a late 1970s TV production which means there’s a lot of talking about sex, but we see very little action other than the military type.

The battle scenes are also sanitized for a late ‘70s TV audience and limited mostly to nurses aiding men in bandages, the main characters discussing the attack and scenes the attack taken from the aforementioned “Tora! Tora! Tora!” In the era of “Saving Private Ryan” and “Fury”, the series feels a bit lacking in this respect, but this was typical of TV at that time.

The performances are pretty one dimensional, but the cast is engaging with their allotted time on camera. The period costumes and vehicles help as does the on-location filming in Hawaii. The popularity of “Pearl,” a Warner Bros. production broadcast on ABC, may have influenced the choice by Columbia and NBC to produce the similar six episode TV mini-series remake of “From Here to Eternity” in 1979 which then became a short lived 11 episode series in 1980.

I watched “Pearl” when it was first broadcast back in 1978 and I’m glad it’s available for those who enjoy this type of war time melodrama. The two-disc set is part of the Warner Archive collection and is manufactured on demand. There are no extras on this three part mini-series which clocks in at four-hours and 39 minutes.

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“If a movie makes you happy, for whatever reason, then it’s a good movie.”

—Big E

*******WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*******

BY ERNIE MAGNOTTA  

If there’s one thing I love, it’s 1970s made-for-TV horror films. I remember sitting in front of the television as a kid and watching a plethora of films such as Gargoyles, Bad Ronald, Satan’s School for Girls, Horror at 37,000 Feet, Devil Dog: Hound of Hell, Scream Pretty Peggy, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Moon of the Wolf and The Initiation of Sarah just to name a few. Some of those are better than others, but all were fun.

When I think back, there have been some legendary names associated with small screen horrors. Genre masters John Carpenter (Halloween), Steven Spielberg (Jaws), Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street), Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and Joseph Stefano (Psycho) all took shots at television horror and created the amazing films Someone’s Watching Me!, Duel, Summer of Fear, Salem’s Lot and Home for the Holidays respectively.

However, there was one man whose name became synonymous with 1970s made-for-TV horrors. When it came to scaring the living daylights out of people in the privacy of their own homes, producer/director Dan Curtis was king.

Curtis’ first foray into television horror was as a producer of the 1960s classic, gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, which ran successfully from 1966-1971. Then, in 1968, he produced his first TV horror movie The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which starred the late, great Jack Palance (Shane, Torture Garden, Alone in the Dark, City Slickers) in the title role.

In 1972, Curtis would team with legendary author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, Twilight Zone, Incredible Shrinking Man, Duel) and, over the next five years, they would create a series of unforgettable made-for-TV horror films. Their first collaboration is, arguably, their best. The two genre masters would bring author Jeff Rice’s original novel The Kolchak Papers to the small screen. Curtis would produce while Matheson adapted Rice’s story. The film, now retitled The Night Stalker, was directed by John Llewellyn Moxey (City of the Dead aka Horror Hotel) and starred the great Darren McGavin (Mike Hammer, Airport ’77, A Christmas Story) as intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak hot on the trail of a nightmarish modern day vampire who’s stalking the back alleys of Las Vegas.

Released to ABC-TV on January 11^th, 1972, The Night Stalker became the highest rated television film at that time and it would hold that title for many years. The film’s enormous success led to an immediate sequel titled The Night Strangler. This time, Curtis would not only produce, but also direct from an original script by Matheson. The film was another huge hit, so, naturally, ABC wanted a third Kolchak adventure. Matheson wrote a script entitled The Night Killers, but unfortunately the movie was never made. The Night Stalker instead became a weekly television series.

Unconvinced that Kolchak could be done properly on a weekly basis, Dan Curtis decided to bow out of the series. Instead, in 1973, he produced and directed another great made-for-TV horror film titled The Norliss Tapes. This ABC Movie of the Week was very similar to The Night Stalker in that it involved a writer investing the occult. The movie, which was set in California, also served as the pilot to a series that, unfortunately, was never produced. Written by William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run, Burnt Offerings), the film starred Roy Thinnes (The Invaders) and Angie Dickinson (Rio Bravo, Police Woman, Dressed to Kill).

1973 would see three more TV horrors from busy producer/director Curtis. The Invasion of Carol Enders which starred Meredith Baxter (All the President’s Men, Family Ties, Ben), The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Shane Briant (Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter, Demons of the Mind) and Frankenstein starring Robert Foxworth (Death Moon, Damien: Omen 2, Prophecy, Falcon Crest, Transformers), Bo Svenson (Walking Tall, Snowbeast, Inglorious Bastards, Night Warning, Heartbreak Ridge, Kill Bill Vol. 2) and Susan Strasberg (Picnic, Scream of Fear, Rollercoaster, The Manitou, Bloody Birthday, Sweet Sixteen, Delta Force).

In 1974, Curtis and Matheson would reunite for two more made-for-TV films which Curtis would once again produce and direct. Scream of the Wolf, starring Peter Graves (It Conquered the World, Mission: Impossible, Airplane), Clint Walker (The Dirty Dozen, Killdozer, Snowbeast) and Jo Ann Pflug (M.A.S.H., The Night Strangler, The Fall Guy), and the excellent Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Jack Palance, Simon Ward (Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Monster Club), Nigel Davenport (Chariots of Fire, A Man for all Seasons) and Fiona Lewis (Fearless Vampire Killers, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Dead Kids, The Fury). Curtis’ last television horror film of 1974 would be Turn of the Screw. William F. Nolan adapted the classic Henry James novel which Curtis produced and directed.

In 1975, Curtis scored big once again by producing and directing an amazing made-for-TV anthology film titled Trilogy of Terror. The movie, again written by William Nolan from a collection of short stories by Richard Matheson, starred the always wonderful Karen Black (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Airport 1975, Family Plot, Burnt Offerings, House of 1000 Corpses) who headlined all three tales. The final segment, entitled Amelia, is the most remembered due to Black’s horrifying battle with the now iconic Zuni fetish doll. Curtis would produce and direct another made-for-TV horror anthology called Dead of Night. Released in 1977, the film was once again scripted by Richard Matheson.

Although 1977 would see the last of Dan Curtis’ 70s horror creations, there was still one more film to go. Curtis’ 1970s horror swan song would be the ABC made-for-TV chiller Curse of the Black Widow.

Joe Dante's "Trailers from Hell" web site features another esteemed director, John Landis, providing commentary and observations about Roger Vadim's wacko 1971 sexploitation/comedy/murder mystery "Pretty Maids All in a Row". Landis points out that MGM was at death's door from a financial standpoint and to stay alive, the studio started grinding out exploitation films that were given a glossier look by the casting of reputable big names in the lead roles. "Pretty Maids" finds Rock Hudson, giving a terrific performance, as a lecherous high school coach who systematically beds seemingly every good looking, under-age female student he comes in contact with. There is no shortage of them, either. Vadim's cinematic wet dream finds every girl to be a sex-crazed, jaw-dropping beauty. That can also describe Angie Dickinson, a cougar teacher with a habit of seducing under-aged male students. Things start to go awry when some of the girls start turning up dead. Telly Savalas is the L.A. police detective assigned to crack the case. The inspired supporting cast includes Roddy McDowell and Keenan Wynn. As Landis observes, the film is outrageously sleazy and politically incorrect and it would be inconceivable for any major studio to even consider releasing it today. (Needless to say, we love it.) However, back in the crazy '70s, both studios and filmmakers were far more daring and far less apologetic about their undertakings on screen. Bizarrely, the film was written and produced by Gene Roddenberry. Go figure. 

Click here to view the trailer with or without the Landis commentary.  

Click here to read review of the DVD.  

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RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST ARTICLES FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES

By Lee Pfeiffer

Last year, the Harris Poll reported that John Wayne ranked among America's top ten favorite actors. This may seem like an incredible feat for a man who's been six-feet under since 1979, but the Duke's popularity continues to grow as evidenced by the tidal wave of DVD titles and tributes afforded him this year on what would have been his 100th birthday. Unlike many actors of the past, Wayne is not being rediscovered by a new generation. In fact, he's never been out of style. While younger generations have to be educated about the work of legends such as Bogart and Cagney, it seems people become acquainted with Wayne's image while still in the womb. Warner Brothers and Paramount have teamed up for a major Wayne DVD promotion that will put a dent in any collector's wallet if they hope to acquire all the latest releases and it's bound to evoke mixed emotions in many fans. (Henny Youngman once defined "mixed emotions" as having your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your new Mercedes.) On the one hand, all of the new releases are "must-haves" for serious collectors. On the other hand, there are so many titles being released simultaneously that not only your eyeballs but your wallet will be overtaxed if you try to absorb them all at once. Tops on the list is WB's "Ultimate Collector's Edition" of Howard Hawks' 1959 classic Rio Bravo. The film is available in several different scaled-down versions, but we'll pretend those don't exist. If you like the movie, there is only one choice and it's the Ultimate Edition.

NOTE: THIS REVIEW PERTAINS TO THE UK REGION 2 BLU-RAY RELEASE

By Darren Allison

Based on the short story by Ernest Hemingway, Don Siegel’s movie was a remake of the 1946 Robert Siodmak film of the same name. Originally, the film was to be one of the first to be made for American TV; however NBC deemed the film too violent for TV and subsequently the film was shown in theatres. The move to theatres may have been considered as a blessing in disguise, as the film enjoyed some rather good reviews in America. In Europe however, it proved even more successful, in fact, in the UK, The Killers went on to receive a 1966 BAFTA for Lee Marvin in the Best Foreign Actor category. So it is with a great deal of excitement that we welcome Arrow’s new Blu Ray release of this cult classic and consider how it holds up some 50 years on.

Charlie Strom (Lee Marvin) is a cold blooded and experienced hit man. Along with his young partner Lee (Clu Gulager), we join them as they enter a suburban school for the blind. Suited smartly and wearing dark glasses, it soon becomes apparent that the nature of their visit is far from pleasant. After violently attacking the (blind) receptionist, Charlie and Lee proceed to search the corridors of the school in search of their prey Johnny North (John Cassavetes). North, a onetime big shot race driver, is now teaching car engineering at the school. Whilst North is alerted that two men are in the school and closing in on him, he makes no attempt to flee from the scene. After Charlie and Lee crash the classroom and get confirmation of their target, North stands there, unflinching in his fate – and openly receives the killers’ bullets.

It is obvious from these opening five minutes that we are witnessing something rather interesting. First, there is the violence. Whilst Charlie’s attack on the blind receptionist takes place off camera, the heightened sound of her brutal attack plays havoc in the mind’s eye. The atmosphere is loaded to the max – witnessed first by Lee’s teasing tension building, the tipping of a vase of water over the her desk, the mocking gesture of his fingers in front of her blank, expressionless face. Suddenly, it becomes rather clear what may have been going through the heads of NBC bosses upon their initial viewing of the film! Secondly, Siegel cleverly employs the ‘Dutch Angle’ (or oblique angle) technique when focusing on his two hit men as they both survey the school corridors. Not only does he succeed in creating a rather unsettling POV for the audience – but arguably suggests that we are certainly observing a couple of ‘unbalanced’ characters. Originating from German expressionism in the 1920s, the procedure was (somewhat relevantly) used to depict ‘madness or unrest’ – making it a rather interesting choice of direction on Siegel’s part. Thirdly, there is Johnny North’s execution and the use of slow motion photography to showcase his death. While Sam Peckinpah (who was a protégé of Siegel) had used slow motion on TV in The Losers in 1963, Siegel’s use in The Killers is an extreme and early example of its use (particularly in such violent fashion) in American cinema.

Following on from the opening ‘hit’, Charlie and Lee are on a train, Charlie is somewhat troubled by North’s final actions, he’s never seen a man just stand there and take it. Figuring there may have been more to this than a simple hit, they decide to investigate deeper. They detour to Miami and track down North’s racing partner Earl Sylvester (Claude Akins) who spills the story of North’s involvement with the stunning Sheila Farr (Angie Dickinson). From here on, the back story of a mail heist is slowly revealed involving Mickey Farmer (Norman Fell) and Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan). Reagan appears here in his last film role before taking up politics and eventually becoming governor of California in 1966. Gathering up the information and setting the pieces of the jigsaw in place, Charlie and Lee track down the individuals in order to find the missing loot and retire on the proceeds. A path of deceit, revenge and double crosses soon begins to emerge and eventually leads to a bloody climax.

Arrow’s Blu Ray release of The Killers looks far better than I could have ever imagined. It is certainly a stylish presentation, apart from a very rare blemish or dirt spec it is a very nice, clean print which also benefits from a fine level of film grain. The Black detail is fairly consistent throughout, whilst colours are vibrant (as one would expect for a title of this period), resulting in a rich, realistic pallet with beautifully detailed flesh tones. Unlike a lot of 60s films, The Killers offers little room to hide in terms of detail, there are no soft focus shots when it comes to close ups of Angie Dickinson - but it remains clear, with great depth and fine texture. Obvious composites such as back projection on the train with Charlie and Lee can look a little fuzzier, but hey, this is the 1960s and representative of everything that we’ve come to love about the period. Sound is presented in clear, uncompressed 2.0 mono PCM audio.

Because the film was originally filmed in Academy Ratio (for TV) Arrow has had the good sense to present both the 1.33:1 version and the theatrical matted 1.85:1 (16:9) version. I have to say, after watching both versions I was very impressed by the matted version. I’m usually somewhat critical of this process, as of course the 1.33:1 contains more picture information. But the framing here is really very good indeed, and naturally this is down to director Siegel. With Arrow including both versions on their disc, they have certainly eliminated themselves from any negative criticism – ‘should have used this, shouldn’t have used that…’ so top marks for making that decision.

Original American lobby card showing Ronald Reagan in his last screen appearance before entering politics.

There are also some very nice extras including Reagan Kills: an interview with New York Times bestselling writer Marc Eliot, author of ‘Ronald Reagan: The Hollywood Years’. Then there is Screen Killer: interview with Dwayne Epstein, author of ‘Lee Marvin: Point Blank’ a very entertaining and detailed 30 minute feature. Plus there is also a rare archive interview with Don Siegel (1984) from the French television series ‘Cinéma Cinémas’ and, to round off a very nice package, there is also a gallery of rare behind-the-scenes images.

Unfortunately, the check disc I received for review purposes arrived in a generic clear case, but the retail version comes with a reversible sleeve containing both the wonderful original artwork (contained here) and a newly commissioned design by Nathanael Marsh. Again, Arrow seems to have covered every eventuality in this department, satisfying both the purists and those open to more modern concepts. Whilst unable to give full details, there is also a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mike Sutton, extracts from Don Siegel’s autobiography and contemporary reviews plus illustrations of original lobby cards, which I’m sure, would have been a most enjoyable read. Overall, The Killers remains both an important and incredibly powerful film that continues to flex a whole lot of muscle. Lovers of 60s Cinema, Screen heroes, Don Siegel or simply great movies in general, will certainly lap this one up. Miss it at your peril!

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(For major coverage of The Killers, see Ian Brown's article in Cinema Retro issue #21 in our back issue section.)

There's great news for Dean Martin fans and lovers of classic comedy. Star Vista Entertainment/Time Life have released the entire broadcast collection of Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. These shows were "must-sees" in their original telecasts in the 1970s, as an astonishing array of Hollywood and political legends came together on stage to roast the man or woman being "honored". Taking on the format of a Friar's Roast (without the obscenities), the shows became extraordinarily popular as off-shoots of Dean Martin's long-running variety hour on NBC. Each roast was held before a large live audience in Las Vegas and no "honoree" emerged unscathed. The packaging warns that in today's politically correct society, much of the racially-charged humor might seem shocking but keep in mind, this was the norm in the day with comedians, both black and white, taking good-natured pot-shots at each other. Additionally, people who were arch political rivals would engage in very funny by-play. Try imaging that in today's crazy, polarized political environment. Each roast is seen complete and uncut, a refreshing change from those vidoe releases which frustratingly only offer "highlights" or "Best of..." selections. The beautifully mastered DVDs come in two versions: a selection of 18 roasts plus new bonus featurettes and two vintage Dean Martin Variety Hour programs featuring the likes of Bob Hope, John Wayne and Rodney Dangerfield. You also get a great 44 page commemorative souvenir program.  The deluxe version comes in a handsome gift box and features all 54 roasts, the aforementioned bonus materials, four vintage Dean Martin TV specials and an exclusive commemorative figurine of Dino. Looking over the collection, it seems hard to believe that there once was a time where you could see people like Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Henry Fonda, Orson Welles, Ronald Reagan, Don Rickles, Jackie Gleason and so many others sharing the same podium. This massive collection might take you a very long time to get through, but there's simply no better way to brighten your day than to take this delightful trip down Memory Lane.

See press release below for more information.

The sets are available exclusively from www.deanroasts.com

THE DEAN MARTIN CELEBRITY ROASTS: COMPLETE COLLECTION($249.95)follows StarVista Entertainment/Time Life's best-selling releases of "The Dean Martin Variety Show" and marks the first time that most of these classics from the Golden Age of TV will be released on DVD in a single collection.  Featuring all 54 roasts from both "The Dean Martin Show" and "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts," the program's notable roastees included many of the 20th century's most accomplished performers and athletes, politicians and personalities including: Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, George Burns, Don Rickles, Kirk Douglas, Danny Thomas, Gabe Kaplan, Hank Aaron, Wilt Chamberlin, Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali, Ronald Reagan and Dean Martin himself.  

Featuring over 40 hours of top-shelf comedy from hundreds of celebrities including Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters, Dick Martin, Joey Bishop, Henry Fonda, Gene Kelly, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Redd Foxx, Ruth Buzzi, Flip Wilson, John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Billy Crystal and many more, the collectible set also contains over fifteen hours of bonus programming including comedy sketches from "The Dean Martin Show," rare Dean Martin TV specials that have not been seen since the original broadcast and exclusive interviews with roasters and roastees.  The set also contains 11 specially-produced featurettes, rare home movies with Dean, family and friends, a 44-page collector's book loaded with behind-the-scenes photos, classic quotes and production materials and a limited-edition 7.5" hand-painted Dean Martin "at the dais".  Adding hours of classic comedy to this superlative collection, also included are two bonus DVDs featuring seven episodes from "The Dean Martin Variety Show".

The folks at Kindertrauma, a web site dedicated to everthing that scared baby boomers as children, has a good tribute to The Norliss Tapes, the 1970s TV movie starring Roy Thinnes and Angie Dickinson. It's sounds intriguing enough for us to order the DVD. To read the article click here.

To order the DVD from the Cinema Retro Amazon Movie Store, click here.

Joe Dante's Trailers From Hell web site presents the original theatrical trailer for MGM's bizarre sex comedy/murder mystery Pretty Maids All in Row. The 1971 film remains one of the most sexist and politically incorrect movies ever released by a major studio. Rock Hudson stars as a horny high school coach who has the pick of the litter in terms of gorgeous and willing schoolgirls. His amorous activities are compromised when someone starts killing off his bed mates. The film, directed by Roger Vadim,  features a stellar cast including Angie Dickinson, Roddy McDowall, Telly Savalas and Keenan Wynn. On the Trailers From Hell site, director John Landis provides some amusing insights about the movie. Click here to view

Click here for Cinema Retro's DVD review 

By Tom Lisanti

I admit it. I am a Troy Donahue fan. There I said it. Not surprising since I love and have been writing about Sixties starlets for over ten years. If there ever was a male version of a starlet, it was Troy. I purchased the DVD box set Warner Bros. Romance Classics Collection featuring four of his early Sixties movies and recently viewed My Blood Runs Cold (1964) from Warner Bros Archive as a DVD-on-Demand. The pairing of Troy Donahue as a loon and Joey Heatherton as the blonde he desires in this suspense film didn’t burn up the silver screens across the country and left most critics cold, but the coupling of America’s favorite bland blonde boy with the Ann-Margret wannabe made for bad cinema you just got to love.

By 1964 Troy Donahue had reached super stardom and was one of the most popular young actors at the time, but he was extremely unhappy with the roles being offered him. He could be lackluster at times and was by no means a great actor, but with his looks Troy didn’t have to be, as his boy-next-door charisma made teenage girls (and some men) swoon. His film career began in 1957 with small roles in a number of films including Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), Summer Love (19580, Live Fast, Die Young (1958), and Monster on the Campus (1958) before he was cast opposite Sandra Dee as tortured naïve young lovers in A Summer Place (1959) for Warner Bros. The film, beautifully filmed off the coast of Carmel, California doubling for Maine and featuring a lush score by Max Steiner, was a huge hit especially with the teenage set. The studio wisely then signed Donahue (who shared the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Male for his performance) to a contract. He then co-starred on the lightweight TV detective series Surfside 6 (1960-62) in between essaying the romantic leading man in a series of glossy romances (most directed by Delmer Daves) opposite some of the prettiest starlets of the day.

In Parrish (1961) he is a tobacco farmer and was described as being “more than a boy.  He was not yet a man—dangerously in-between…and between three girls!” They were Connie Stevens as an easy farm gal, Diane McBain as a bitchy gold digger, and Sharon Hugueny as a sweet rich girl. In Susan Slade (1961) he is a struggling writer in love with Connie Stevens who harbors a dreadful secret (her little brother is actually her illegitimate son!) and doesn’t think she deserves happiness. Donahue won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award for Most Popular Male Actor of 1961 and continued his streak of glossy romantic dramas with the lush travelogue Rome Adventure (1962) as a grad student who falls for librarian Suzanne Pleshette (whom he was married to for a short time) though he is involved with worldly older woman Angie Dickinson. He played yet another college student in Palm Springs Weekend (1963) who on Spring Break has a fling with local gal Stefanie Powers. Then there was  a change of pace role as a cavalry officer in the Raoul Walsh directed westernA Distant Trumpet (1964), but to keep his teenage girls fans happy he is torn between widow Suzanne Pleshette and snooty Easterner Diane McBain.

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST ARTICLES FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES 

Bradford Dillman: A Compulsively Watchable Actor

By Harvey Chartrand

In a career that has spanned 43 years, Bradford Dillman accumulated more than 500 film and TV credits. The slim, handsome and patrician Dillman may have been the busiest actor in Hollywood during the late sixties and early seventies, working non-stop for years. In 1971 alone, Dillman starred in seven full-length feature films. And this protean output doesn’t include guest appearances on six TV shows that same year.

Yale-educated Dillman first drew good notices in the early 1950s on the Broadway stage and in live TV shows, such as Climax and Kraft Television Theatre. After making theatrical history playing Edmund Tyrone in the first-ever production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night in 1956, Dillman landed the role of blueblood psychopath Artie Straus in the crime-and-punishment thriller Compulsion (1959), for which he won a three-way Best Actor Prize at Cannes (sharing the award with co-stars Dean Stockwell and Orson Welles).

On the And You Call Yourself a Scientist! Web site, Dillman’s Artie Straus is described as “all brag and bravado, contemptuous of everything but himself, with his bridge-and-country-club parents, and his vaguely unwholesome relationship with his mother.”

In the early years of his career, Dillman starred in several major motion pictures, picking and choosing his roles carefully. He was featured in Jean Negulesco’s romance A Certain Smile (1958) with Rossano Brazzi and Joan Fontaine; Philip Dunne’s World War II drama In Love and War (1958) with Robert Wagner and Dana Wynter; and Tony Richardson’s Sanctuary (1961) with Lee Remick and Yves Montand, a rancid slice of Southern Gothic based on the novel by William Faulkner.

Yet in the early sixties, Dillman started taking any part that came along to support his growing family. From 1962 on, he guest starred in dozens of TV series -- among them Espionage, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Twelve O’Clock High, Shane, Felony Squad, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Marcus Welby, M.D., The Streets of San Francisco, Bronk, How the West Was Won and Fantasy Island.

In 1975, Dillman won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Special for his performance as Matt Clifton in Last Bride of Salem (1974), an excellent tale of modern witchcraft. The 90-minute Gothic horror movie aired on ABC Afternoon Playbreak and was so well received that it was rebroadcast during primetime.

Over the years, Dillman appeared in scores of made-for-TV movies and theatrical releases, such as Walter Grauman’s drama A Rage to Live (1965) with the late Suzanne Pleshette; John Guillermin’s war story The Bridge at Remagen (1969) with George Segal; Hy Averback’s satire Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came (1970) starring Tony Curtis; and Jud Taylor’s horror-thriller Revenge (1971), with Shelley Winters. Dillman also played a psychiatrist who goes ape for Natalie Trundy in Don Taylor’s Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and a scientist battling firestarting cockroaches in Jeannot Szwarc’s Bug (1975) — the final film produced by legendary horror schlockmeister William Castle.

Dillman is now 81. After retiring from acting in 1995, he took up a second career as a writer. He is excellent at his new avocation, requiring no ghostwriters to tweak his prose. Dillman’s autobiography Are You Anybody? is a series of amusing anecdotes about his Hollywood years. He has also written a harrowing adventure tale entitled That Air Forever Dark, set in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. “It’s a terrifying account of the Jet Age meeting the Stone Age – Deliverance in a jungle setting,” the actor-turned-author says.

Dillman’s latest book, published in 2005 by Fithian Press, is a comedy of errors entitled Kissing Kate. “The novel is about an amateur production of Kiss Me Kate,” Dillman relates. “An out-of-work professional actor is hired to play the male lead opposite a wealthy community icon. Ultimately, of course, they end up in bed together, where a ‘catastrophe’ occurs and all hell breaks loose. I assure you that Kissing Kate is not in the least bit autobiographical!”

Fifty-two years after appearing on stage in O’Neill’s landmark theatrical event, Dillman is now a playwright as well. His Seeds in the Wind made its debut in May 2007 at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura, California. The play is set in 1939 in Santa Cruz, California, during a weekend celebrating the 40th birthday of a society hostess' daughter. The interaction of the houseguests is both humorous and dramatic, and all manner of unexpected events occur, Dillman assures us.

The veteran performer spoke to Cinema Retro from his home in Santa Barbara, California.

Bradford Dillman: I had a commitment to Twentieth Century Fox to do two pictures a year and, as fate would have it, the timing of the filming of Compulsion coincided. Nothing to do with the moguls’ belief that I had talent. It was just dumb luck, pure and simple.

Compulsion (1959) with Dean Stockwell and Orson Welles

CR: Following Compulsion, you were often cast in villainous roles. In 1964, you co-starred with B-movie cult figure John Ashley (The Mad Doctor of Blood Island) in an episode of Dr. Kildare with the intriguing title Night of the Beast. What was that one about?

BD: I was the beast. I was such a bad guy I had my thugs hold Kildare down while I raped his girlfriend in front of his very eyes. When we came to the comeuppance scene, I learned that Richard Chamberlain had obviously never been in a fistfight in his life. The stunt men couldn't teach him how to throw a punch; I couldn't teach him. So we had a gentle comeuppance. He's a nice, sensitive man who has since come out of the closet.

With Carol Lynley, Robert Vaughn and David McCallum in the Man From U.N.C.L.E. feature film The Helicopter Spies (1968)

CR: In 1967, you were the guest villain on The Prince of Darkness Affair, a two-part episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E, later repackaged as a theatrical release – The Helicopter Spies (1968). You were great fun as Luther Sebastian, the Third Way cult leader who steals a rocket. Did you have any scenes with lovely Lola Albright?

BD: The Helicopter Spies has disappeared in the vortex of remaining brain cells. I don’t remember if I exchanged words with Lola Albright.

This is old-fashioned marketing from 1963. The Fine Arts Theatre in Los Angeles hired two young women to ride around on scooters in front of the theater to promote Jessica, a new film starring up-and-coming starlet Angie Dickinson as a free spirited girl with a penchant for driving a scooter. If you're old enough to remember these types of promotional techniques, you probably also remember "Ladies Nights" where female patrons were given free dish ware (we're not kidding!) 

By John Exshaw

Being reports of certain events which would have appeared earlier, had fate and the need to earn a buck not intervened.

Western Season

Irish Film Institute, 24-28 August 2011

Waiting at the station for the 3:10 to Tara Street, I was feeling good – deep down good, the way a man can feel when he’s got a bunch of Westerns to watch and a passel of press passes in his pocket. Leaving the Iron Horse at Westland Row, I cut across Grafton Street (no sign of them pesky Rykers) and on down to the Irish Film Institute, where they were about to let rip with a four-day, eight-film season called ‘The Western: Meanwhile Back at the Revolution ... The Western As Political Allegory’. Well, I reckoned they could use all them fancy five-dollar words and dress it up whatever they damn well liked, long as it meant seeing some real Westerns on the big screen. As Randy Scott would’ve said, “There’s some things a man can’t ride around—but Cowboys & Aliens ain’t one of them.” Ride clear of Diablo, hell, ride clear of dumb CGI special effects movies is more like it . . .

Anyhow, I figured not only was this a chance to see some Westerns the way they were meant to be seen but also an opportunity to have my say on films which wouldn’t normally fit into the Cinema Retro corral, being as they were made before 1960. Not that this is either the time or the place for what you might call in-depth chin-stroking and head-scratching—more like a chance to throw out some thoughts and see where they go.

First up, perhaps predictably enough, was High Noon (1952), described in the programme notes by season curator Declan Clarke as “a commentary on the McCarthy witch-hunt and the failure of U.S. intellectuals to stand up to the House Un-American Activities Committee.” This, of course, has become pretty much the standard interpretation of High Noon but it would be interesting to know to what extent it was perceived that way on its initial release; the British critic Robin Wood has recalled that he was completely unaware of any political subtext when he first saw the film, and it seems rather doubtful that many citizens of Main Street, U.S.A., came out of their local cinemas saying, “Gee, honey, that sure was one in the eye for Joe McCarthy!”

Although, generally speaking, I prefer to see something of the West in my Westerns (even if it’s Almería, west of Rome), High Noon remains one of the best “town Westerns” ever made, notable as much for its characterisation as for its celebrated manipulation of real time to build suspense. In particular, one is struck by the refreshingly adult depiction of Helen Ramírez (Katy Jurado), a “woman with a past” who is required neither to apologise for that past nor to expiate her supposed sins by catching one of those stray “moral” bullets which usually account for such characters (e.g., Linda Darnell’s Chihuahua in Ford’s My Darling Clementine, 1946). Other details I’d forgotten include the church scene in which Thomas Mitchell appears to be lending his support to Marshal Kane only to end up giving him the shaft, Howland Chamberlin’s nasty-minded hotel clerk, and Harry Morgan urging his wife to tell Kane that he’s not in, that he’s gone to church.

By Todd Garbarini

Like most children of the 1970s, television viewing was a big part of my week. Beginning at 7:30 PM and ending two and-a-half hours later, my family’s Thursday nights consisted of That’s Hollywood, Mork and Mindy, Angie, Barney Miller, and Carter Country. Not having seen Barney Miller until well into its sixth season, I just assumed that the entire show took place in the police station. Now that the show’s entire series is available in a DVD box set, courtesy of the fine folks at Shout! Factory, my initial impressions of the show were proven wrong. The pilot episode features Barney Miller’s family, specifically his wife, played with charm by Barbara Barrie. Abe Vigoda, Maxwell Gail, and Ron Glass appear from the get-go, and guest star Chu Chu Malave, who played Maria’s boyfriend who tackles Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and (of all things) the delivery boy who seduces Bobbie Bresee in Mausoleum (1983), plays an out-of-control prisoner who commandeers Fish’s gun and holds the precinct hostage.

During the initial episodes, Barney Miller feels like it is trying to find its way, and it gets much funnier as it progresses into later seasons. If it were made today it more than likely would have been axed after a few lackluster-performing episodes. To think that it lasted eight seasons illustrates just how different the television landscape was back in the 1970s. What is most surprising is the level of diversity among the ethnic groups that were represented early on in the show. Although this is so commonplace now, it was sort of a watershed back then: Gregory Sierra as the Puerto Rican detective Chano; Max Gail as Polish Detective Stan "Wojo" Wojciehowicz; African-American Ron Glass as Harris (my personal favorite); Jack Soo as the deadpan Japanese-American Yemana; and Abe Vigoda as Fish - I cannot think of him in anything except The Godfather (1972).

Where the show always shined for me even at a young age was in the characterizations of both the detectives and the silly perps who made their way through the 12th Precinct in Greenwich Village. Ron Carey as Levitt and James Gregory as Inspector Luger always made me laugh when they showed up. This was not a show of one-liners, but rather one that dealt with a multitude of topics and situations and made them truly laugh-out-loud funny. The term “sitcom” really fits this show as the humanity and hilarity that ensues comes from the characters, not punch lines.

The first three seasons of Barney Miller had been released on DVD by Sony, but due to lackluster sales the remaining five seasons were neglected. Shout! Factory, on the other hand, has put together a beautiful DVD box set which belongs in the collection of all fans of the show. The entire series of 168 episodes is provided on 25 DVD’s and comes with a beautiful booklet that details the names of each and every episode and the original airdate. There is a half-hour look back at the show with Hal Linden, Max Gail, and Abe Vigoda; a half-hour description about the character’s creations; a featurette about the show’s writing; the show’s original, unaired pilot with Charles Haid(!); and all 13 episodes of Abe Vigoda’s short-lived spin-off series Fish from 1977.

Shout! Factory has done an extraordinary job of putting together this collection which was obviously done with a great deal of care and foresight. Highly recommended.

I would love to see the same treatment bestowed upon on T.J. Hooker, a favorite of mine from my teen-age years. This was another show that Sony released and abandoned after only the first two seasons made their way to DVD. Fingers crossed!

Click here to order discounted from Amazon

The Hollywood Show is always a favorite with retro movie and TV lovers. Cinema Retro contributor Graham Hill attended the most recent event. Click here for details about the April show in Burbank. (All photos copyright Graham Hill. All rights reserved) 

Richard Roundtree

Nancy Kwan

Angie Dickinson

By Eddy Friedfeld

New York's 92nd Street Y hosted the launch of the four part PBS documentary “Pioneers of Television,” and featured Hollywood icons Angie Dickinson, Linda Evans, Nichelle Nichols and Stephanie Powers. Moderated by Alison Stewart, the event saluted “smart, strong women on television, who helped reimagine the roles of women in society and helped break down seemingly permanent barriers.”

“I did an episode of “Police Story” that was turned into the Police Woman series,” Dickinson recalled.  “The character’s original name was Lisa, which I changed to Pepper.   We came out at the beginning of the Women’s Movement in America.  We fed the movement and the movement fed us.”

“I was scared to death to work with Barbara Stanwyck,” Evans recalled of her days on “The Big Valley.”  “She was larger than life.  She took me under her wing.  She said:  ‘Show up on time, Audra and know your lines.’  She always called me by my characters name.”

“I grew up in musical theater,” Nichols said.  “I thought “Star Trek” would be a nice stepping stone for me.  Gene Roddenberry has given be my first guest starring role in “The Lieutenant,” and then called me again to be Uhura, which was based on “Uhuru,” the Swahili word for freedom. He created the first ensemble starring cast on television.”

“Collaboration was the key to television in those days,” Powers added.  “There are no Gene Roddenberrys anymore- there is no central artistic and creative spirit that brought about the best we could give to the characters.  It’s all committees of executives.”

“I was under contract to Columbia Pictures.  I did 15 movies in five years.  I remember being popped out of a giant toaster with Stan Freberg.  I then got to start in “The Girl from UNCLE.”  We did 23 episodes a season, working 37 hours a day and sleeping for 10 minutes.”

By Todd Garbarini

If Pretty Maids All in a Row were made today exactly the same way as it was made forty years ago, there would be an enormous outcry against the film’s cavalier attitude towards mentor/student sex.  Such scenarios parodied in Roger Vadim’s 1971 film version of Francis Pollini’s novel of the same name are today the stuff of headlines as middle-aged teachers, both male and female, have been caught engaging in extracurricular activities with their young students that go far beyond anything that an educational institution would ever have in mind.  To put Pretty Maids All in a Row into proper perspective, it is necessary to understand the era in which the film was shot.  The sexual revolution was in full swing, Playboy and Penthouse magazines were enjoying unprecedented success, and Masters and Johnson were studying the sexual mores of many couples.  A film about a vice principal/guidance counselor nicknamed “Tiger” bedding underage female students didn’t seem to ruffle too many feathers. Whether one chooses to look at the film as social commentary or the satire its director intended it to be is a matter of personal choice, though given the aloof handling of the murders that ensue it is impossible to regard the film as anything other than black comedy.  Aside from this, it also doubles as a time capsule of attitudes and fashions from the early Seventies.  

Brad Pitt: daring to speak for himself.

High-powered Hollywood publicity agencies are generally thought of as a status symbol for the top stars. However, there is a recent trend among the elite to handle their own publicity, spurred on by the shocking decision by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to leave the tony PMK publicity agency. Brangelina even had the audacity to speak for themselves, thus, they did not hire a new publicity team. The advent of new media has given stars the opportunity and ability to get their own messages out to the press and fans without having them filtered through mouthpieces. Now major publicity agencies are quaking in their boots about the prospects of a dim future. Click here for more. 

The latest is the seemingly endless string of irresistible DVD collections comes from the good folks at Timeless Video, who have distinguished themselves with some first-class releases of vintage TV series. The latest is their most impressive yet: the 1950s crime series M Squad which helped groom Lee Marvin from supporting actor to leading man presence. Marvin is the stalwart Lt. Frank Ballinger, a Chicago cop who is so unrelentingly serious that he makes Jack Webb look like Richard Simmons. The series was part of the wave of crime shows that flooded the networks during this era, and M Squad was one of the best. The show ran three seasons and was compromised only by the half-hour time running time which made for some abbreviated storylines. The series is a gem in terms of the kinds of cornball cliches that have become part of our pop culture. I always assumed the Frank Drebin character played by Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun films had been inspired by Joe Friday of Dragnet. However, one glimpse at M Squad proves this series was the real inspiration. It's hard not to think of Nielsen when Marvin is rousting the bad guys. I confess to only having sampled the set, because it includes a staggering 117 episodes. The video quality varies but Timeless acknowledges it was a Herculean task to track down original film elements, so we have to be grateful that the show has been made available in its entirety. There is also a cool bonus extra: a full soundtrack CD of Stanley Wilson's great jazz score. M Squad is arresting entertainment (I can't believe I wrote that!) and you should make sure the series has a prominent place in your video library.- Lee Pfeiffer

The series is available exclusively from Timeless Media. Click here to order.

Here is the official press release:

One of the most memorable of the early television police dramas, M Squad debuted in 1957 running for three seasons on NBC.

There were many black and white crime dramas competing for viewers in the late fifties, notably Dragnet, Arrest and Trial, and Checkmate.  M Squad stands apart because of its unique combination of story, production values, musical score and a great cast portraying crime fighters getting down and dirty on the mean streets.

Lee Marvin, a decorated WW II Marine veteran of the South Pacific, where he received the Purple Heart in the Battle of Saipan, stars as Lt. Frank Ballinger, a no-nonsense Chicago plainclothes cop in the elite M Squad Division. The Squad's (M-for Murder) task is to root out organized crime and corruption in Americas Second City. Marvin's portrayal of a tough undercover officer, whose perseverance and potential for violence, but with utter cool, permeates each gritty episode, gave Marvin name recognition with the public, and did much to make him a star. He would go on to many starring roles (The Dirty Dozen, Cat Ballou) and to win a coveted Oscar for Best Actor.

Frank Ballinger's boss, Captain Grey, is played by Paul Newlan, a fine actor who brings weight and substance to the role of running the M-Squad. It is perhaps his most memorable role.

In addition to the regular cast, a who's who of television luminaries and stars-to-be made guest appearances on the show.  Among the guest stars were Angie Dickinson, Charles Bronson, Janice Rule, Leonard Nimoy, Ed Nelson, DeForest Kelley, H.M. Wynant and a young Burt Reynolds.

But it wasn't just the crisp, taut story lines and great cast that made M Squad memorable.

First, it was shot in gritty, film-noire style black and white. The excellent high contrast cinematography brings Chicago to life, with all of its easily recognizable landmarks, swanky penthouses on Lake Michigan, and the seedy darker side of the city. In fact, M Squad did for Chicago what the Naked City did for New York

Second was the musical score.

In keeping with the film noir look of the series, the producers enlisted conductor Stanley Wilson to lead the orchestra in arrangements by legendary jazz men Benny Carter, and a
young John Williams, (Star Wars). For the second season, the great jazz artist Count Basie wrote the enduring "M Squad Theme".

It was a perfect marriage of image and sound. Lee Marvin, who wrote the liner notes for the RCA Victor release of the 'Music From M Squad 'album in 1959, put it this way:

"I am…constantly amazed at the manner in which our characterizations and situations are supported, highlighted and intensified by the fine musical score…I love the great beat, the exciting solos and the clean, crisp section work of the trumpets and trombones. As I listen, my imagination paints thumbnail sketches of the Loop, Bayshore Drive, the South Side, and the other localities which set Chicago apart from other cities. It's sort of like an armchair tour of America's second largest city." Lee Marvin

The resulting television series is hard to match for its intensity and its humanity. Marvin's hard-nosed Frank Ballinger is the archetype of all the tough guy-big hearted crime fighters, from Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Hammett's Sam Spade, to later incarnations portrayed by Jack Nicholson and Harvey Keitel. In sum, M Squad is that rare television series that has it all. It is about time long time fans and newcomers have a chance to experience high quality DVD's of this great show.

One of the most requested movie titles for DVD release is finally being released in May as part of Warner Brothers tribute to Frank Sinatra on the 10th anniversary of his death. Sergeants 3 has not been available on home video since the early days of Beta in the 1970s. Supposedly, disputes over rights have kept it off the market, along with certain other films that Frank Sinatra had a hand in producing. Sergeants 3 is a remake of Gunga Din set in the American west with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Peter Lawford playing the roles originally made famous by Cary Grant, Victor McLaughlin and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. In the role of the belittled regimental bugler who rises to an act of enormous heroism, Sammy Davis Jr. took the part played by Sam Jaffe in George Stevens' 1939 classic. Rat Pack stalwart Joey Bishop has a major supporting role. The film will be available only as part of a Rat Pack Ultimate Collector's Edition that includes a new deluxe release of Oceans Eleven,and the previously-released 4 For Texas and Robin and the Seven Hoods. The set will contain many bonus extras including rare footage from The Tonight Show, mini lobby cards, studio correspondence, production stills and commentaries by Frank Sinatra Jr and Angie Dickinson.

CLICK HERE AND SAVE $15 ON THIS SET FROM THE CINEMA RETRO AMAZON STORE!

MGM has announced that it has partnered with Hyde Park Entertainment to remake director Brian DePalma's 1980 suspense thriller, Dressed to Kill which starred Michael Caine and Angie Dickinson. The original film was praised by some as an homage to Hitchcock's Psycho and damned by others as a blatant rip-off of that film. MGM will be exploring the sales potential of developing more properties for direct-to-video projects. No cast, director or budget has been announced for Dressed to Kill. However, the DVD will feature interactive content and web-based features that compliment the storyline. MGM's DVD line is now distributed by 20th Century Fox. For a full report from Video Business, click here.

ONE SHEET POSTER FOR DIRECTOR BRIAN DEPALMA'S ORIGINAL 1980 FILM

THIS PAGE IS BEING UPDATED. SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.

CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #17

• Interview with James Bond and Hammer star Valerie Leon.
• Ten page tribute to the classic horror film The Haunting featuring unpublished interview with director Robert Wise and star Richard Johnson.
• Unpublished interview with David Carradine, who discusses the Kung Fu years
• Producer David V. Picker recalls the filming of the cult comedy classic Smile
• Exclusive photos from Ray Harryhausen's amazing archive of original film props
• The cult Blaxploitation/voodoo film Sugar Hill
• Storm in a D Cup celebrates the career of buxom beauty June Wilkinson.
• The Espionage Films of Alistair MacLean. 
• How the West Was Won: a road trip to visit  the present day locations seen in the Cinerama classic
• Cinema Retro reunites The Men from U.N.C.L.E. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum at the Players Club.
• The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes at Pinewood Studios

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CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #17

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