STANLEY BAKER IN THE BRITISH NEO NOIR HEIST FLICK 'ROBBERY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuWgrMeoIMoDVlTKpAU0zn1KBPBigdaB55jdxZdGhk3hs28mkz_b4AgkiyjkBl7VywxIPncdE0zC1ocrPR754VZJxgzbEvLaW9HKe3-b3dd68TBax8PRrye4uvMPrn7GQThBrsFiNGFp0Nae4Z0igQVEnDqbvv6E9FT3Xi3WScQDORNIFGKhwX3LyMVp-R/s2266/newer.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="2266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuWgrMeoIMoDVlTKpAU0zn1KBPBigdaB55jdxZdGhk3hs28mkz_b4AgkiyjkBl7VywxIPncdE0zC1ocrPR754VZJxgzbEvLaW9HKe3-b3dd68TBax8PRrye4uvMPrn7GQThBrsFiNGFp0Nae4Z0igQVEnDqbvv6E9FT3Xi3WScQDORNIFGKhwX3LyMVp-R/s16000/newer.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ROBBERY Director: Peter Yates Star: Stanley Baker Year: 1967 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Best known as the obscure crime film that gave English director Peter Yates his big game-changing opportunity to make BULLITT stateside, after Steve McQueen had witnessed the rudimentary car chase sequence from ROBBERY, overall a sparse, deliberately cold/heartless British Neo-Noir Heist-Thriller... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And it's not <i>just</i> this initial chase (literally driven by Clinton Greyn) that Yates carried over to the McQueen classic, but also the strategically metronomic moments leading up...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, barry foster, british neo noir, british new wave, frank finlay, glynn edwards, heist, james booth, joanna pettet, peter yates, sixties, stanley baker, william marlowe

STANLEY BAKER IN THE BRITISH NEO NOIR HEIST FLICK 'ROBBERY'

Title: ROBBERY Director: Peter Yates Star: Stanley Baker Year: 1967 Rating: ****1/2 Best known as the obscure crime film that gave English d...

STANLEY BAKER BONDING ESPIONAGE FOR 'INNOCENT BYSTANDERS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGc3cvTaEiveVJ0EAlCQq72IzvLvDagMcKqg1lddYL1BhFQ7X17DKoJFL46pygev-YGY4lsYNJJjVLI7F0gioedFMO9SCVbAOLu0iNGlRVVC8wtvmATtm0499wSB77GbNiAzqkWsyXSLnpIfcq6xQsWcoJZdoQFnq1E_17xtDq26RWhcQC_9txGy8eU885/s1494/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-30%20at%2011.45.37%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGc3cvTaEiveVJ0EAlCQq72IzvLvDagMcKqg1lddYL1BhFQ7X17DKoJFL46pygev-YGY4lsYNJJjVLI7F0gioedFMO9SCVbAOLu0iNGlRVVC8wtvmATtm0499wSB77GbNiAzqkWsyXSLnpIfcq6xQsWcoJZdoQFnq1E_17xtDq26RWhcQC_9txGy8eU885/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-30%20at%2011.45.37%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: INNOCENT BYSTANDERS Cast: Stanley Baker, Darren Nesbitt 1972 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Tough, sturdy, square-jawed British actor Stanley Baker was considered for James Bond... ironically he looks like Sean Connery (or vice versa) and <i>starred</i> in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a> where a young Connery began... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Then, skip 15-years later after super-star Connery left the iconic spy role, Baker starred in a movie so Bondish that... just hearing the flaunting, jazzy, repetitive score, you'd think INNOCENT BYSTANDERS was yet another 007 entry, including power-hungry villains, led by the most famous of Bond foes, Donald Pleasence, danging a carrot to lesser corporate heavy Dana Andrews...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, dana andrews, derren nesbitt, donald pleasence, espionage, geraldine chaplin, jazz-score, pauline chamberlain, peter collinson, seventies, spy, stanley baker, sue lloyd, warren mitchell

STANLEY BAKER BONDING ESPIONAGE FOR 'INNOCENT BYSTANDERS'

Title: INNOCENT BYSTANDERS Cast: Stanley Baker, Darren Nesbitt 1972 Rating: ***1/2 Tough, sturdy, square-jawed British actor Stanley Baker w...

STANLEY BAKER & ANTHONY STEEL DRIVEN THROUGH 'CHECKPOINT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mNUPnJze7V_f1kmHKaHpELp3azIwvjZsohyMspCUmS8KxIcLFsEjU3tYf17Z_jnPv_piTDgTwvq6gT2Sf5CTndq2WxJ7aF_0J2BoemDjV8j5uRntnMERONNgAkuM_U9KiAhNN6ZlrgXSDM9gj1wRRYa9Rm500No33pyi3_Y2hueWu_T0-Q3MtGi48oqR/s1732/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1098" data-original-width="1732" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mNUPnJze7V_f1kmHKaHpELp3azIwvjZsohyMspCUmS8KxIcLFsEjU3tYf17Z_jnPv_piTDgTwvq6gT2Sf5CTndq2WxJ7aF_0J2BoemDjV8j5uRntnMERONNgAkuM_U9KiAhNN6ZlrgXSDM9gj1wRRYa9Rm500No33pyi3_Y2hueWu_T0-Q3MtGi48oqR/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CHECKPOINT Year: 1956 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>What begins with an edgy heist by square-jawed tough guy Stanley Baker as a hired thief provides CHECKPOINT the only hint of not only a criminal but being a crime film at all...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Otherwise featuring cocky race-car drivers led by handsome Anthony Steel and younger Lee Patterson, standing around a track discussing an upcoming Italian race when Steel's not romancing ingenue Odile Versois... </p><p><span></span></p>

anthony steel, british film noir, crime, fifties, lee patterson, race car, sport, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER & ANTHONY STEEL DRIVEN THROUGH 'CHECKPOINT'

Title: CHECKPOINT Year: 1956 Rating: **1/2 What begins with an edgy heist by square-jawed tough guy Stanley Baker as a hired thief provides ...

STANLEY BAKER INVESTIGATES HARDY KRÜGER IN 'CHANCE MEETING'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8PGbyWmFmkrzdeuWj9Ysm1gt6uUpC0nDZpMiE9jSRP5UK760PegX4qd2wwVRsExm8yXdHSoHEi3oZFqBHZFL4qrbrUM_OIgkeICQiQSjpGY8m-gdHdxlirJ29vsSyoZt6yXKnMJr09t7Za-2uj2AYwSbRZ5Ybkcgk9moJw8XR0mWubyl_LVdCl954lE-K/s2022/pefFect%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1170" data-original-width="2022" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8PGbyWmFmkrzdeuWj9Ysm1gt6uUpC0nDZpMiE9jSRP5UK760PegX4qd2wwVRsExm8yXdHSoHEi3oZFqBHZFL4qrbrUM_OIgkeICQiQSjpGY8m-gdHdxlirJ29vsSyoZt6yXKnMJr09t7Za-2uj2AYwSbRZ5Ybkcgk9moJw8XR0mWubyl_LVdCl954lE-K/s16000/pefFect%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CHANCE MEETING Alternative: BLIND DATE Year: 1959 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The first of a handful of movies directed by Joseph Losey and starring, or in this case co-starring, British actor Stanley Baker, as a cop providing pointed questions for frantic answers by flustered slain rich woman's lover Hardy Krüger... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Who, balancing genuine surprise with a glib indifference, spends most of the picture dealing with Baker's intensely probing (yet living room located) interrogation — and the French title's translation is INSPECTOR MORGAN'S INVESTIGATION, proving that Baker's importance goes beyond the token hard-boiled noir cop role...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

british film noir, hardy kruger, john van eyssen, joseph losey, mystery, stanley baker, thriller

STANLEY BAKER INVESTIGATES HARDY KRÜGER IN 'CHANCE MEETING'

Title: CHANCE MEETING Alternative: BLIND DATE Year: 1959 Rating: **1/2 The first of a handful of movies directed by Joseph Losey and starrin...

STANLEY BAKER AND GINGER ROGERS IN 'BEAUTIFUL STRANGER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinaOC6UDKwRKstnr6Pie2Rf7WMC_oyrlpkvsvOnldCrGxMA6bj_-lQwp8cADxuUzbswDFOIilHi303wRQhF2hz5StIseZyJIMfY3h_9om_fpCPLFc9kmG-JKsb6HE21okpcm75gsIz-1_Ej1MEjviU8hJ9qDeIteg3x-pMxrDROhcACjz_GU4qwUxCO-WQ/s1669/AVvXsEgGxO5W6-TK8mxde3v9S0uy-KfTW-jR8k_4Y_Mg09KDzg3FEZoaerBZQA8zOLDpsUIhIlgPTWPXV24nLGgUNFCNcHQ2oZbJOw-CcV3vf8h6P2uqnOeODmMxRllpY_MvUS6HDK2yh-wIHQhvvMVe4hoYkcyWe-PU4raaUWxCnIK1EluVCpY6ZSMueS_MEQ=s16000.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1669" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinaOC6UDKwRKstnr6Pie2Rf7WMC_oyrlpkvsvOnldCrGxMA6bj_-lQwp8cADxuUzbswDFOIilHi303wRQhF2hz5StIseZyJIMfY3h_9om_fpCPLFc9kmG-JKsb6HE21okpcm75gsIz-1_Ej1MEjviU8hJ9qDeIteg3x-pMxrDROhcACjz_GU4qwUxCO-WQ/s16000/AVvXsEgGxO5W6-TK8mxde3v9S0uy-KfTW-jR8k_4Y_Mg09KDzg3FEZoaerBZQA8zOLDpsUIhIlgPTWPXV24nLGgUNFCNcHQ2oZbJOw-CcV3vf8h6P2uqnOeODmMxRllpY_MvUS6HDK2yh-wIHQhvvMVe4hoYkcyWe-PU4raaUWxCnIK1EluVCpY6ZSMueS_MEQ=s16000.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BEAUTIFUL STRANGER AKA TWIST OF FATE Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"I stole it... I am innocent," Herbert Lom says to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/stanley%20baker">Stanley Baker</a>... One's a gambling con artist and the other a rich businessman/secret criminal, both connected to central star Ginger Rogers... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Baker's her supposedly single fiance and Lom a friend that bums money <i>and steals </i>jewelry, specifically a bracelet that ignites the alternate-titled TWIST OF FATE involving Rogers's real life husband <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/07/anders1-HYP-EYE.html">Jacques Bergerac</a> as not only a proud-poor artist but a different kind of Wrong Man, more a Mistaken Man...</p><span></span>

british film noir, con man, eddie byrne, fifties, ginger rogers, heist, herbert lom, jacques bergerac, melodrama, romance, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER AND GINGER ROGERS IN 'BEAUTIFUL STRANGER'

Title: BEAUTIFUL STRANGER AKA TWIST OF FATE Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2 "I stole it... I am innocent," Herbert Lom says to Stanley B...

STANLEY BAKER & PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaT6ouOrtiJbcxO07OeOD6xeJeGdlfEb5JxmbYQhnWoQKPSqfsHJnTgUd-1dZkIlGUsi5XlSbkYih8BGwcrlh1Z3Gv3HETmBd8cZhEtsbz3welRHL7qsrfCIHujPHRbetzeAaJzP1nLptZ89e4ywMge6-4HE2x1zU0s_e97AZbU6ruWd6r9XwOOq1TKOKV/s2010/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-25%20at%2011.31.49%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="2010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaT6ouOrtiJbcxO07OeOD6xeJeGdlfEb5JxmbYQhnWoQKPSqfsHJnTgUd-1dZkIlGUsi5XlSbkYih8BGwcrlh1Z3Gv3HETmBd8cZhEtsbz3welRHL7qsrfCIHujPHRbetzeAaJzP1nLptZ89e4ywMge6-4HE2x1zU0s_e97AZbU6ruWd6r9XwOOq1TKOKV/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-25%20at%2011.31.49%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker on poster Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun drawn on a train during the climax following CURSE OF THE DEMON, but THE THIRD MAN has been knocked-off once again...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And this time... despite a horribly intrusive, melodramatic harpsichord hammering like lightning following a horror film revelation... it's a pretty good effort as former German child now adult British citizen/jazz pianist Stanley Baker returns to Germany after getting a mysterious call about his father, who he thought was dead twenty-years ago, and is now dead again, only it happened a week earlier...</p><p><span></span></p>

georgina ward, mai zetterling, neo noir, niall macginnis, nigel green, peter cushing, sixties, stanley baker, thriller

STANLEY BAKER & PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED'

Stanley Baker on poster Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2 Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun draw...

MARLON BRANDO IN MICHAEL WINNER'S 'THE NIGHTCOMERS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1FDaSRB-PKGh9Nl0WYWnBOQ6tLniqqNG11RR6QE5OTCawm6-hzVEh7G8E_NReyx54Gz3oOb6XPdmX7b0sFWjds9uEx0kTuDT9fvxrXaDKazOvo4eBJRRjC71Veu8_YSnIrS9VRCFkkipmFxn5E0Y8SqmVl-y3fBmsbnsgnppdcHPyOcnbohaUKf963py/s1924/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-24%20at%209.38.35%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1924" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1FDaSRB-PKGh9Nl0WYWnBOQ6tLniqqNG11RR6QE5OTCawm6-hzVEh7G8E_NReyx54Gz3oOb6XPdmX7b0sFWjds9uEx0kTuDT9fvxrXaDKazOvo4eBJRRjC71Veu8_YSnIrS9VRCFkkipmFxn5E0Y8SqmVl-y3fBmsbnsgnppdcHPyOcnbohaUKf963py/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-24%20at%209.38.35%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE NIGHTCOMERS Director: Michael Winner Year: 1971 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Marlon Brando's THE GODFATHER comeback was more of a legacy accreditation for an entire career, blending with the STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and ON THE WATERFRONT roles as if all the forgettable films in-between didn't exist; and here's another that (although better than most at that time) perhaps he could have avoided... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Strangely enough, the title NIGHTCOMERS fits the adaptation of Henry James's enigmatic supernatural short story TURN OF THE SCREW ala 1961's THE INNOCENTS as two ghosts (our lovers here, when alive) arrive/come at night, appearing before the same children along with their caretaker: the latter arriving at the tail-end, connected to the famous predecessor... but was the Henry James tale relevant enough for an entire prequel/backstory? </p><span></span>

anna palk, christopher ellis, gothic, harry andrews, henry james, horror, marlon brando, michael winner, prequel, seventies, stephanie beacham, thriller, verna harvey

MARLON BRANDO IN MICHAEL WINNER'S 'THE NIGHTCOMERS'

Title: THE NIGHTCOMERS Director: Michael Winner Year: 1971 Rating: *** Marlon Brando's THE GODFATHER comeback was more of a legacy accre...

GEORGE C. SCOTT IN 'HARDCORE' PETER BOYLE & SEASON HUBLEY

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhU_kkXV4zCFiyNrYiXSB_Mz8m7Y8dzDkRWvBv1BJR6Jy6XjIxQjuSptEGfjzLzzaR50zCAswrIMeiOe0YVMji74150c0sEzE6vTthuTFdm_hO-Ldlo4u8K1mOKW-QT01nUaTP8Q80F9WR24mxe3s87dzE3dVSyhwWnmx8Mw7DbK-vy23HQTr0C6bXqkT6/s2026/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-23%20at%207.48.13%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="2026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhU_kkXV4zCFiyNrYiXSB_Mz8m7Y8dzDkRWvBv1BJR6Jy6XjIxQjuSptEGfjzLzzaR50zCAswrIMeiOe0YVMji74150c0sEzE6vTthuTFdm_hO-Ldlo4u8K1mOKW-QT01nUaTP8Q80F9WR24mxe3s87dzE3dVSyhwWnmx8Mw7DbK-vy23HQTr0C6bXqkT6/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-23%20at%207.48.13%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HARDCORE Year: 1979 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>George C. Scott plays a straight-laced, Midwestern business-owner with an innocent daughter who, on a church trip from hometown Grand Rapids, Michigan to Southern California, goes missing and, desperate, following a by-the-numbers lecture from the police, he hires a street-smart, so he says, quirky and blunt L.A. Private Eye...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Enter Peter Boyle, who literally proves that his client's runaway daughter is a porn actress, resulting in an intense scene from Scott that few actors could get away with, or would even attempt attempting in the first place: One that's now an online punchline, although it's not that funny... for the character, who we later follow around the seedy So Cal nightlife as if he were a Film Noir snoop... which he turns into, somewhat...</p><p><span></span></p>

counter culture, drama, drug culture, gary graham, george c. scott, leonard gaines, paul schrader, peter boyle, prostitute, reb brown, season hubley, seventies

GEORGE C. SCOTT IN 'HARDCORE' PETER BOYLE & SEASON HUBLEY

Title: HARDCORE Year: 1979 Rating: ****1/2 George C. Scott plays a straight-laced, Midwestern business-owner with an innocent daughter who, ...

GIAN MARIA VOLONTÉ AND TOMAS MILIAN GOING 'FACE TO FACE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiATOVzTio7uCpd4UdUrCQ0YYEsATfACn_ht0OtxptrGnMjLl-_PitBtazuugjPZz1rUGb55tViFT4vLdiMJHA0pVP1k2ZS4U-roFQqn_hzmYl4bVd5Ky1hmeOLfGrsvTSRRR8zO0tH5Qg3m1PrDGdC2jfffoDZd9pZ6zz9gzSayv7z6D7avrTyc9kzag_S/s1085/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-27%20at%203.02.03%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="1085" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiATOVzTio7uCpd4UdUrCQ0YYEsATfACn_ht0OtxptrGnMjLl-_PitBtazuugjPZz1rUGb55tViFT4vLdiMJHA0pVP1k2ZS4U-roFQqn_hzmYl4bVd5Ky1hmeOLfGrsvTSRRR8zO0tH5Qg3m1PrDGdC2jfffoDZd9pZ6zz9gzSayv7z6D7avrTyc9kzag_S/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-27%20at%203.02.03%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: FACE TO FACE Year: 1967 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In what's Italian director Sergio Sollima's equivalent to Sergio Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY also features three representational, symbolic characters with various backgrounds sharing the same agenda from different perspectives ending up in a suspenseful showdown... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Starting with a Boston university professor in Gian Maria Volontè's Brad Fletcher, moved to Texas for health issues and eventually winding up part of post-Civil War history instead of merely teaching it (<i>"though all men must die in time, other men will make history live"</i>) — primarily since local villain Tomas Milian as Solomon 'Beauregard' Bennet, with his heart more into protecting a group of mobile peasants (including gorgeous Jolanda Modio and cute tomboy Carole André), is reluctant to maintain his criminal scoundrel status...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, ennio morricone, gian maria volontè, jolanda modio, sergio sollima, sixties, spaghetti western, tomas milian, western, william berger

GIAN MARIA VOLONTÉ AND TOMAS MILIAN GOING 'FACE TO FACE'

Title: FACE TO FACE Year: 1967 Rating: ****1/2 In what's Italian director Sergio Sollima's equivalent to Sergio Leone's THE GOOD...

CHARLES BRONSON IN 'THE FAMILY' THAT IMPROVES 'VIOLENT CITY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRe1rPaZE6MzRFpGDTITAGsfP7OJzZMkhSzMpGq0eZZp-sdWxvZDKhiBC6zx0WGFErSi_C2amP5nV9E743MYL-md8dVgczupbw3_2j0Ty13Sd0yt2p5s83OESJ_5HDnL1tN42zpwkTKpz-pg-o3sdmhm8Kgg8by6-YTIZGJvpgJN8KmaQzOzo5Q2G_MVzT/s2080/Screen%20Shot%202024-07-04%20at%2010.16.29%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1144" data-original-width="2080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRe1rPaZE6MzRFpGDTITAGsfP7OJzZMkhSzMpGq0eZZp-sdWxvZDKhiBC6zx0WGFErSi_C2amP5nV9E743MYL-md8dVgczupbw3_2j0Ty13Sd0yt2p5s83OESJ_5HDnL1tN42zpwkTKpz-pg-o3sdmhm8Kgg8by6-YTIZGJvpgJN8KmaQzOzo5Q2G_MVzT/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-07-04%20at%2010.16.29%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in THE FAMILY (Improved English-Only Version of VIOLENT CITY) Year: 1970 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Sergio Sollima's Italian-crime thriller VIOLENT CITY starring Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and Jill Ireland is a bizarre cinematic tragedy being a worthwhile neo-noir on the one hand — while the other awkwardly serves the main problem...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Right when the audience settles into a romance between Bronson's hit-man character Jeff Heston during a tropical vacation, opening with Sollima filming Ireland's body like he would a pristine statue, Heston's shot, nearly killed and, now in prison, the inmates suddenly... without any explanation (and without subtitles)... speak Italian: wherein Bronson's low-dubbed voice sounds nothing like his own...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, charles bronson, crime, italian, jill ireland, mafia, prison, sergio sollima, seventies, telly savalas, thriller

CHARLES BRONSON IN 'THE FAMILY' THAT IMPROVES 'VIOLENT CITY'

Charles Bronson in THE FAMILY (Improved English-Only Version of VIOLENT CITY) Year: 1970 Rating: **** Sergio Sollima's Italian-crime thr...

FABIO TESTI AND SAL BORGESE IN ITALIAN CRIME 'THE BIG RACKET'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcunJqmBPSsBcxKEKc-jwGclLVNxgjExs-jvvBBp7Mi2MdYdXFK1sQcsAvE-B_duXfY9XO0-rOF2FLA42A4kzmQPhmqKz9Y7Lz1plhCV2lEWfwPspgv3TPwyTglAxmzd8j7hsN1bBym3LxrYIHQjAKkl224a1-mM8-ZFmbrnNkmE0VfZ1mFRCxhlm3Wdi/s1578/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-03%20at%206.16.22%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="1578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcunJqmBPSsBcxKEKc-jwGclLVNxgjExs-jvvBBp7Mi2MdYdXFK1sQcsAvE-B_duXfY9XO0-rOF2FLA42A4kzmQPhmqKz9Y7Lz1plhCV2lEWfwPspgv3TPwyTglAxmzd8j7hsN1bBym3LxrYIHQjAKkl224a1-mM8-ZFmbrnNkmE0VfZ1mFRCxhlm3Wdi/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-03%20at%206.16.22%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: </u><u>THE BIG RACKET </u><u>Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>While nearly all gritty 1970's crime flicks are thematically modern westerns, Italian action auteur Enzo G. Castellari's THE BIG RACKET should have been one, literally: pitting cop Fabio Testi against a ferocious gang of ultra-violent thugs (spouting perhaps the worst dialogue ever): ferociously working for the director's stock-villain Joshua Sinclair...  </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Initially raiding random businesses for the usual collecting of contrived protection money: but this central town is far too large, busy and downright modern (as in, not rural enough) for such a formidably contained takeover to seem logical or realistic, ironically making this RACKET a b-movie that actually spent too much money for its own good... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, cop, crime, enzo g. castellari, exploitation, fabio testi, italian, sal borgese, seventies, stefania girolami goodwin

FABIO TESTI AND SAL BORGESE IN ITALIAN CRIME 'THE BIG RACKET'

Title: THE BIG RACKET Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2 While nearly all gritty 1970's crime flicks are thematically modern westerns, Italian ac...

IAN HENDRY WITH EDWARD JUDD & VERNA HARVEY IN 'ASSASSIN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLo1gTyRHygMAuG8EJmTymjHuvNkY1df7X_7HWpXPJfgOFTilfgeIqUDlInbjlNQMiZ0QtrLA2poLI4yHbwjMwRCKSLcPIu6RSdY7GgbiT4WHQ3RQ0-2Qp21jSq7tAfn3HmYwM8AHfeeERY0T6S0ovd6M-b74tqlZqwgE0ysUnIRDkWkTAUfQHH5ECupMZ/s2682/orig.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1470" data-original-width="2682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLo1gTyRHygMAuG8EJmTymjHuvNkY1df7X_7HWpXPJfgOFTilfgeIqUDlInbjlNQMiZ0QtrLA2poLI4yHbwjMwRCKSLcPIu6RSdY7GgbiT4WHQ3RQ0-2Qp21jSq7tAfn3HmYwM8AHfeeERY0T6S0ovd6M-b74tqlZqwgE0ysUnIRDkWkTAUfQHH5ECupMZ/s16000/orig.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ian Hendry in ASSASSIN Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>With wide-angle lenses eerily framing massive gray-tone buildings within a nearly vacant metropolis harboring phantom warehouses and (flashback inducing) metallic hangars... along with sparsely furnished spy-genre government offices befitting only the most uncompromising of heartless decision-making... much of the b-crime/neo-noir ASSASSIN seems equally futuristic science-fiction...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Starring GET CARTER villain Ian Hendry as the titular hired gunman, patiently awaiting his score while really only sharing genuine dialogue and contact with Verna Harvey, so young, beautiful and easy there must be a backstabbing fatale twist under her sleeve: but ASSASSIN isn't espionage, playing thoroughly straight and efficiently offbeat as far as Hendry's weapon-preparing, waiting-around-in-a-purgatory-hotel-room goes...</p><p><span></span></p>

british neo noir, cult, edward judd, exploitation, ian hendry, michael ensign, mike pratt, seventies, verna harvey

IAN HENDRY WITH EDWARD JUDD & VERNA HARVEY IN 'ASSASSIN'

Ian Hendry in ASSASSIN Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2 With wide-angle lenses eerily framing massive gray-tone buildings within a nearly vacant me...

CLINT EASTWOOD WITH ROBERT DUVALL & PAUL KOSLO IN 'JOE KIDD'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vzyZ6PzkehhX02MzMgax2gKtscr9SIB5ZqFlNjme_0N6flhTSX37yOpS3dmYSAzATpUaiHCPD7zVSPnqf2pnRiNTDPzwf6Z-WFe-IZie46jSOvNF-Vaa6now0O3aAzUWbnkY72vZdUhZ2AKO1vOG7sRVFctKNAdqdgduXYLVMD3vQpNkxi-Oy8BMyzpL/s2028/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-17%20at%2010.27.57%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1304" data-original-width="2028" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vzyZ6PzkehhX02MzMgax2gKtscr9SIB5ZqFlNjme_0N6flhTSX37yOpS3dmYSAzATpUaiHCPD7zVSPnqf2pnRiNTDPzwf6Z-WFe-IZie46jSOvNF-Vaa6now0O3aAzUWbnkY72vZdUhZ2AKO1vOG7sRVFctKNAdqdgduXYLVMD3vQpNkxi-Oy8BMyzpL/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-17%20at%2010.27.57%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BEAST WITH A GUN Year: 1977 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The best sequence in the John Sturges American-made Spaghetti-Western-knockoff starring Clint Eastwood has the titular former bounty hunter creatively debilitating a group of Anglo villains, one-by-one, all within the central, purgatory-rural, middle-of-nowhere location where a church is filled with Mexican locals since land baron Robert Duvall... searching for idealistic Mexican leader John Saxon... decides that Eastwood's hired-gun JOE KIDD has his agenda on the wrong side: a logical choice for a cowboy picture with 1970's political sensibilities...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which is penned by Elmore Leonard, so Eastwood begins... like Charles Bronson would in MR. MAJESTYK... as a clever and smart-allecky, Leonard-style anti-hero: but soon enough he's quieter, more lowkey and slow-burn than Eastwood is usually, initially pitted politely against Duvall's henchman from Don Stroud to James Wainwright to another MAJESTYK actor Paul Koslo... in what's an 82-minute programmer-length fable that needed either more action, more character-development, or more villains for Eastwood to play those short-lived tricks on: being the only moments that genuinely feel part of an actual Elmore Leonard story.</p><span></span>

action, clint eastwood, james wainwright, john saxon, john sturges, paul koslo, robert duvall, seventies, stella garcia, western

CLINT EASTWOOD WITH ROBERT DUVALL & PAUL KOSLO IN 'JOE KIDD'

Title: BEAST WITH A GUN Year: 1977 Rating: **** The best sequence in the John Sturges American-made Spaghetti-Western-knockoff starring Clin...

HELMUT BERGER IN 'BEAST WITH A GUN' AKA 'THE MAD DOG KILLER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGyGpQmr38sMGT329vedJjcWENX_zOvF_uOk7AC9d1KZYTANDYjYN_Av2zjRpdO620qtFQhNjSo8kWAWiMreyndgjLCmE5oK4nGKtPqLDNuv2yM0u-cAOTxAq2u9dUr47B-qa8_-UKq4SfiZvIqPJtlu_KMAXAwlPnutoWjQkr5bgZW470DuL_FO_g6t7P/s2616/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-17%20at%207.42.35%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1438" data-original-width="2616" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGyGpQmr38sMGT329vedJjcWENX_zOvF_uOk7AC9d1KZYTANDYjYN_Av2zjRpdO620qtFQhNjSo8kWAWiMreyndgjLCmE5oK4nGKtPqLDNuv2yM0u-cAOTxAq2u9dUr47B-qa8_-UKq4SfiZvIqPJtlu_KMAXAwlPnutoWjQkr5bgZW470DuL_FO_g6t7P/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-17%20at%207.42.35%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BEAST WITH A GUN Year: 1977 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The most brutal, uncompromising, intensely-violent Italian exploitation flick stars Austrian actor Helmut Berger as Nanni Vitali, who goes on a lethal crime spree with gang member cronies and, after dealing with a traitor in a rural locale, is obsessed with the poor guy's girlfriend Marisa Mell, a voluptuous beauty given an important hour-long role of the ninety-minute programmer: involving a central rape sequence that almost disguises itself as a gritty romance...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And her character deserves more screen-time, perhaps for a chance to ultimately kill the MAD DOG KILLER, something trailing cop Richard Harrison avoids — even after Vitale kidnaps and mutilates his young sister and judge father in a warehouse-set final act... instead arresting the maniac so he can <i>rot in prison</i>: ironic since the entire movie begins with the titular BEAST WITH A GUN easily breaking out...</p><p><span></span></p>

crime, cult, exploitation, helmut berger, italian, marisa mell, revenge, richard harrison, seventies

HELMUT BERGER IN 'BEAST WITH A GUN' AKA 'THE MAD DOG KILLER'

Title: BEAST WITH A GUN Year: 1977 Rating: **** The most brutal, uncompromising, intensely-violent Italian exploitation flick stars Austrian...

HARRISON FORD AND ROBERT SHAW ‘FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE’

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjod6kTpQwSQjcUq4QAhSzSzeJe3zNpZ7Qv_FVXtqUm2bpwosEA9kuKn9cUb8axQYt58nNtNM05Cu4l3dJpifztslybzY0olLiaGjwvSShPHbBMBJNM8LY0wS0_KAs0WWl5D4EfRZVseDB_q-nPqqL9g5M-NdA6AdCiWL4fu-cTFU-BSytl_ww_HFM4frGO/s1394/3%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjod6kTpQwSQjcUq4QAhSzSzeJe3zNpZ7Qv_FVXtqUm2bpwosEA9kuKn9cUb8axQYt58nNtNM05Cu4l3dJpifztslybzY0olLiaGjwvSShPHbBMBJNM8LY0wS0_KAs0WWl5D4EfRZVseDB_q-nPqqL9g5M-NdA6AdCiWL4fu-cTFU-BSytl_ww_HFM4frGO/s16000/3%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE Year: 1978 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It was unnecessary starting FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE with an introduction about the original GUNS OF NAVARONE since the two have no important connections with each other, other than the same primary leads — replacing Gregory Peck with Robert Shaw and David Niven with Edward Fox as Mallory and Miller, respectively... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>While adding the newly-popular Harrison Ford from the previous years' STAR WARS as grouchy yet intrepid, sharp-shooting American Captain Barnsby, who, with his own secret mission, is initially spiteful working alongside the veteran Brits — and as an actor joined the list of scene-stealers from then-current blockbusters, including Shaw himself, the jovially-cantankerous shark-hunter Quint from JAWS, albeit classy and reserved here (playing the central role)...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, alan badel, angus macInnes, barbara bach, carl weathers, franco nero, guy hamilton, harrison ford, michael byrne, philip latham, richard kiel, robert shaw, sequel, world war II

HARRISON FORD AND ROBERT SHAW ‘FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE’

Title: FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE Year: 1978 Rating: ****1/2 It was unnecessary starting FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE with an introduction about the o...

WALTER MATTHAU STEPS UP FOR DON SIEGEL'S 'CHARLEY VARRICK'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9NB5kAX4pMQUIrD7nYVQkcBVc227tprudiA9nxqhbPX1ij6_dvaE8dzVzkpuZHQmD6vxCKHMU4d34_OKkc2KPmStLofG0DnL4U_A1tfgNPyL90jU1UYPBttxO1teAmIwGVwRe0dm8KQNzA7SI04GXR7GdP9LuKjg9ZMkgTD6RcvkO5VNb3cX4Yz6D7BRT/s2374/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-16%20at%208.14.45%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1344" data-original-width="2374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9NB5kAX4pMQUIrD7nYVQkcBVc227tprudiA9nxqhbPX1ij6_dvaE8dzVzkpuZHQmD6vxCKHMU4d34_OKkc2KPmStLofG0DnL4U_A1tfgNPyL90jU1UYPBttxO1teAmIwGVwRe0dm8KQNzA7SI04GXR7GdP9LuKjg9ZMkgTD6RcvkO5VNb3cX4Yz6D7BRT/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-16%20at%208.14.45%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CHARLEY VARRICK Year: 1973 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ironically the opening credits stating A <i>SIEGEL FILM</i> appears beneath a full moon in an otherwise bright-lit/daytime Neo Noir, referring to director Don Siegel, best known for DIRTY HARRY and before that a string of actual Noirs followed by action flicks and a classic sci-fi... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet CHARLEY VARRICK is his best work, and a great chance for Walter Matthau to stretch beyond comedy while keeping his usual glib persona, mixed with a calloused experience needed as a bi-plane stunt flyer turned crop duster turned one-time bank robber with tightly-wound partner Andy Robinson and getaway driving wife <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2010/03/jacqueline-scott-planet-of-apes.html">Jacqueline Scott</a>, whose minimal screen-time provides a genuinely violent half to this middle-age Bonnie & Clyde... soon narrowed into just Matthau and young brash Vietnam vet Robinson, winding up with mob cash... So crooked banker John Vernon hires deadly tracker-assassin Joe Don Baker... </p><p><span></span></p>

andy robinson, crime, cult, don siegel, felicia farr, heist, jacqueline scott, joe don baker, john vernon, seventies, sheree north, thriller, tom tully, walter matthau

WALTER MATTHAU STEPS UP FOR DON SIEGEL'S 'CHARLEY VARRICK'

Title: CHARLEY VARRICK Year: 1973 Rating: ****1/2 Ironically the opening credits stating A SIEGEL FILM appears beneath a full moon in an ot...

ENZO G. CASTELLARI DIRECTS FRANCO NERO IN 'STREET LAW'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiev5J0lrsc06ceo6zzAVq_ufPeLSorDqIkMTf2tFViBpNXZNA7b2Ekd4tv_mVs-fDHG6QROStV9bMrxmK2dHkHuYug5D-GUu5LKvklgn5ZP2bO1z8pfGQ9CBg9ADJNQKBiDfeIBgyH-nmUuNDQYsMQLK2S3X2kQ6vJF8x4NSNYC7P3i5Fmjjm8KwtRx8oq/s1104/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-14%20at%206.58.44%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="1104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiev5J0lrsc06ceo6zzAVq_ufPeLSorDqIkMTf2tFViBpNXZNA7b2Ekd4tv_mVs-fDHG6QROStV9bMrxmK2dHkHuYug5D-GUu5LKvklgn5ZP2bO1z8pfGQ9CBg9ADJNQKBiDfeIBgyH-nmUuNDQYsMQLK2S3X2kQ6vJF8x4NSNYC7P3i5Fmjjm8KwtRx8oq/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-14%20at%206.58.44%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Franco Nero in STREET LAW Year: 1974 Grade: C—</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In 1974, Italy, the same year the vigilante theme had ignited Hollywood from the result of DEATH WISH, Enzo G. Castellari's STREET LAW... unlike Michael Winner's Charles Bronson vehicle where a perfect wife is brutally murdered... has an extremely weak reason/motivation for the main character — successful engineer Franco Nero — to seek revenge (which is actually the opposite of random-strike vigilantism)...</p><p>After having been kidnapped during a bank robbery and taken for what's the most exciting sequence during a rip-roaring, action-packed car-chase, something your average, typical guy probably would have talked about for years (and while he was beaten, he made incredibly stupid decisions at the bank to warrant such pummeling)...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, barbara bach, crime, enzo g. castellari, franco nero, italian, neo noir, seventies, vigilante

ENZO G. CASTELLARI DIRECTS FRANCO NERO IN 'STREET LAW'

Franco Nero in STREET LAW Year: 1974 Grade: C— In 1974, Italy, the same year the vigilante theme had ignited Hollywood from the result of DE...

DIGGING SAM PECKINPAH'S 'BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1LMjYXNqKaRTfMv4gMIG27oRTgFXS-isHJt2_i-vtGaPyyS3VvhNcsWnyHwbN4tmsBHxg9_fxr-6KupnFAgYf8DDaSB5UeVbh7IW63LwcHPPr8bGCWGYx0CSQ1sQq2ddDuBR12h4_hJXTHEGwMEqVpj0gIHSWqYn0262sfxsnpc6RdkqTnttnaeX9tzD/s1700/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-17%20at%201.10.55%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="1700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1LMjYXNqKaRTfMv4gMIG27oRTgFXS-isHJt2_i-vtGaPyyS3VvhNcsWnyHwbN4tmsBHxg9_fxr-6KupnFAgYf8DDaSB5UeVbh7IW63LwcHPPr8bGCWGYx0CSQ1sQq2ddDuBR12h4_hJXTHEGwMEqVpj0gIHSWqYn0262sfxsnpc6RdkqTnttnaeX9tzD/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-17%20at%201.10.55%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA Year: 1974 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Gritty auteur Sam Peckinpah's maligned labor-of-love exploitation has an extremely bizarre plot-line, involving American imported-in-Mexico nightclub pianist Warren Oates as Bennie with experienced, heart-of-gold singer Isela Vega's Elita, embarking on a slow-burn road-trip for a gigolo who impregnated the daughter of a Mexican gangster, thus commanding to BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which only gets weirder after quickly learning that the sought-after womanizer is already dead, as told by Elita, whose former romance drives Bennie to an envious brink that Steve McQueen's Doc McCoy harbored throughout another Peckinpah road movie, THE GETAWAY...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, cult, gig young, isela vega, kris kristofferson, road movie, robert webber, sam peckinpah, seventies, warren oates

DIGGING SAM PECKINPAH'S 'BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA'

Title: BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA Year: 1974 Rating: **** Gritty auteur Sam Peckinpah's maligned labor-of-love exploitation has...

OLIVER REED AND FABIO TESTI ITALIAN CRIME FLICK 'REVOLVER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzqe3e5SbKoh58txrGN4L0xsHCOtALR1aIYXNLU7hNapc8XK1P8W14ayo8YB7a6bOogcWpyrgG-XXpxxRb04OS7inTDGXkU-b3KNc2gSnwGGnZM3Nk6-i2GVmlpt5BPmy8HQbNuJB-f8g4uTbgxsNjr2QgAo_khMfoU8hH7OXUX7MzT90Qld4ZOmh0-Go/s1904/22.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1904" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzqe3e5SbKoh58txrGN4L0xsHCOtALR1aIYXNLU7hNapc8XK1P8W14ayo8YB7a6bOogcWpyrgG-XXpxxRb04OS7inTDGXkU-b3KNc2gSnwGGnZM3Nk6-i2GVmlpt5BPmy8HQbNuJB-f8g4uTbgxsNjr2QgAo_khMfoU8hH7OXUX7MzT90Qld4ZOmh0-Go/s16000/22.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: REVOLVER Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Clever premise of a prison warden in genuine tough guy and here, promoted ex-cop Oliver Reed... who surreptitiously allows a prisoner to escape before abducting him in exchange for his (own) kidnapped wife between steely, intentionally claustrophobic scenes in dingy offices harboring dingier jail sells... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The best moments involves uptight lawman Reed (described as "a stray dog without a home") and co-star Fabio Testi's initially reluctant, affable criminal teamed-up on the run — in the latter's rogue territory... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4yVlmqaOZn283UyaZ2FQuwo8kDKWoY_IEbmdXoPafZNByQ_LTg7X9oEDmkIluud2R0Fo1z5MUfrbTtPe7Q1c5QYqHe_OnlSHf9SOQKjYvv_B_UHd9pbAh28tdCndKV7h0idbLX1uNJlS6d4Sm1xJYg2oiB6Ec27dHHsAyj04gEVtvZNzxn0jJ_7p4DLdP/s2134/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-17%20at%202.13.50%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="2134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4yVlmqaOZn283UyaZ2FQuwo8kDKWoY_IEbmdXoPafZNByQ_LTg7X9oEDmkIluud2R0Fo1z5MUfrbTtPe7Q1c5QYqHe_OnlSHf9SOQKjYvv_B_UHd9pbAh28tdCndKV7h0idbLX1uNJlS6d4Sm1xJYg2oiB6Ec27dHHsAyj04gEVtvZNzxn0jJ_7p4DLdP/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-17%20at%202.13.50%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Oliver Reed in REVOLVER</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As the petty thief teaching the strict, timid lawman to steal a car a standout, and there needed more of this kind of Film Noir-inspired ambiguity beyond a meandering subplot involving a flaky musician connected to a powerful politician — while an uncompromising Reed, with an overly-pronounced American accent he's previously used satirically, doesn't overact to show the love for his wife (an insanely gorgeous Agostina Belli), or the needed desperation to cut corners... </p><p>But if only Fabio Testi were given half his partner's infectious intensity and overall motivation instead of coolly underplaying a glib character meant to fit within the buddy-plot plot-line, REVOLVER... with a surging Ennio Morricone score and the usual dose of melodramatic vocal-dubbing... would be more a time-killer than time-filler. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, crime, ennio morricone, escape, fabio testi, frédéric de pasquale, italian, jailbreak, kidnapping, oliver reed, paola pitagora, sergio sollima, seventies, teamup, thriller, wrong man

OLIVER REED AND FABIO TESTI ITALIAN CRIME FLICK 'REVOLVER'

Title: REVOLVER Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2 Clever premise of a prison warden in genuine tough guy and here, promoted ex-cop Oliver Reed... wh...

FABIO TESTI AND DAVID HEMMINGS TEAM IN 'THE HEROIN BUSTERS'

<p> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyUf4CrASIt068Zy-n3HgEc7W3TEmcvEff4Cu4reYgK-r-L2X8utIr1-iATfKve06UzIzTHi3Xfs09Gnn36j3oi86q-Q1IYX8hyAd9eUSyaOyYuPCd2awUBHqWxOtsH3JItqDRZn_MGbrdgvjzzyIthhF5q48yn2MiBOE-YTNNMCGEoMyCzJtssPI__UTc/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202019-09-16%20at%2012.37.24%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyUf4CrASIt068Zy-n3HgEc7W3TEmcvEff4Cu4reYgK-r-L2X8utIr1-iATfKve06UzIzTHi3Xfs09Gnn36j3oi86q-Q1IYX8hyAd9eUSyaOyYuPCd2awUBHqWxOtsH3JItqDRZn_MGbrdgvjzzyIthhF5q48yn2MiBOE-YTNNMCGEoMyCzJtssPI__UTc/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202019-09-16%20at%2012.37.24%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE HEROIN BUSTERS Year: 1977 Rating: ***</u><u>*</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's initially distracting that, in the first twenty minutes of THE HEROIN BUSTERS, extremely handsome Italian actor Fabio Testi doesn't seem the part of a grungy, emaciated drug-dealer, busted at an airport before helping a junky escape from a dilapidated lockup... which is intentional because he's not what he seems... <br> <br> Meanwhile the true junky, played by Wolfango Soldati, who, to further complicate matters, resembles Testi, initially seems like an important side-character, as does gorgeous TENTACLES starlet Sherry Buchanan as a bisexual model wielding much appreciated gratuitous nudity...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, chase, cop, crime, david hemmings, enzo g. castellari, exploitation, fabio testi, joshua sinclair, lesbian, massimo vanni, sherry buchanan, stefania girolami goodwin, wolfango soldati

FABIO TESTI AND DAVID HEMMINGS TEAM IN 'THE HEROIN BUSTERS'

Title: THE HEROIN BUSTERS Year: 1977 Rating: *** * It's initially distracting that, in the first twenty minutes of THE HEROIN BUSTERS, ...

SOPHIA LOREN AND CLIFTON WEBB SEEKING 'BOY ON A DOLPHIN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu058Yp9bci8Cg3NuGYC2hivyurIoMvT08wiI-PSp3sFyMdtwZtvIIOrDBpVK5mhcG_zGZlJ0C3e4gJrg8P4a16fsHvDbHrBGhPKTBD-C_vBZWEZPCvP91x3JCRUtoV2s57V-l5DDcuuKdAqvNIJpcoE1bpO6G-ybJRmFUhcT7kV1Pgpf_QGltoUdAr1m/s1358/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="1358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu058Yp9bci8Cg3NuGYC2hivyurIoMvT08wiI-PSp3sFyMdtwZtvIIOrDBpVK5mhcG_zGZlJ0C3e4gJrg8P4a16fsHvDbHrBGhPKTBD-C_vBZWEZPCvP91x3JCRUtoV2s57V-l5DDcuuKdAqvNIJpcoE1bpO6G-ybJRmFUhcT7kV1Pgpf_QGltoUdAr1m/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sophia Loren in BOY ON A DOLPHIN Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Rarely has there been a film with such uneven casting — and BOY ON A DOLPHIN was America's introduction to Italian bombshell Sophia Loren, here a tough and feisty diver/fisherman's girlfriend, only better — alone discovering the titular artifact beneath her Greek hometown's connected shoreline...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>After which she attempts convincing the comparably dull, glib, idealistic and aloof, utterly disconnected museum curator Alan Ladd of her discovery — and with bizarre dyed-yellow hair above feminine, peeled-back/plastic-surgery eyes, he seems twenty-years too old playing the delightfully boisterous Sophia Loren's love-interest...</p><span></span>

action, adventure, alan ladd, clifton webb, diving, fifties, greece, romantic comedy, sophia loren, treasure

SOPHIA LOREN AND CLIFTON WEBB SEEKING 'BOY ON A DOLPHIN'

Sophia Loren in BOY ON A DOLPHIN Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2 Rarely has there been a film with such uneven casting — and BOY ON A DOLPHIN was ...

RYAN O'NEAL & SHELLEY LONG HAVE 'IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtyD9zs32iKcVByOgVk_7wqFAqLrqt4MHLtmELHyFApLbd093a7e1UGoNsGJxZ7zbhbYZgI_PKHBNUDxQBMhzwMHyBJZtywsICM-EVZ_T73tWIeOjcESMXtMjO4QgEQ4ZO19M0EdVSOzH3LxxPFSLVMr5jNfAp5yZC_ybyTy3Nk_nmKG1dSMuprR4Le6Vi/s2136/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-06%20at%201.39.54%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1282" data-original-width="2136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtyD9zs32iKcVByOgVk_7wqFAqLrqt4MHLtmELHyFApLbd093a7e1UGoNsGJxZ7zbhbYZgI_PKHBNUDxQBMhzwMHyBJZtywsICM-EVZ_T73tWIeOjcESMXtMjO4QgEQ4ZO19M0EdVSOzH3LxxPFSLVMr5jNfAp5yZC_ybyTy3Nk_nmKG1dSMuprR4Le6Vi/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-06%20at%201.39.54%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES Year: 1984 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ryan O'Neal was the original Leonardo DiCaprio, both starring in what turned out surprise hits, LOVE STORY and TITANIC respectively, after which avoiding blond sex symbol status to link with a creative director, and, along with auteur films by Stanley Kubrick and Walter Hill, O'Neal's Martin Scorsese was Peter Bogdanovich, who he'd later satirize in the romantic comedy (and partial road movie) IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Hiding behind a cute frame story involving O'Neal as film professor turned director with wife Shelley Long, channeling Bogdanovich's first wife/creative partner Polly Platt, who, following a quirky hitchhiking whirlwind romance and later, after a divorce, face a similar court battle with daughter Drew Barrymore ("I'm divorcing my parents"): otherwise randomly appearing throughout an underrated gem that both celebrates and parodies the 1970's Renaissance Era...</p><p><span></span></p>

allen garfield, david graf, drew barrymore, eighties, hollywood satire, luana anders, road movie, romantic comedy, ryan o'neal, sam wanamaker, sharon stone, shelley long

RYAN O'NEAL & SHELLEY LONG HAVE 'IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES'

Title: IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES Year: 1984 Rating: ****1/2 Ryan O'Neal was the original Leonardo DiCaprio, both starring in what turne...

CLINT EASTWOOD AS DIRTY HARRY VS DAVID SOUL 'MAGNUM FORCE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggddRaxfTZWmxM0fRmOcq_dQH6yyUtPhdz2zBbVyBJMPjkpwaoNYi6PSa9yorfjFWgF2yNK2kYGTkULjoIzcfwUPuBc9ePT0Dd0OTVyeW7kIdyA0Z8sTTzoZgPik9qz_ap6SyVg1D2ELWvTuX-i4CQQaxShQ2AZEeudzOVeavohhR3Zp0MFxAVz8nnzNQg/s2308/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-05%20at%209.58.47%20PM%202%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1286" data-original-width="2308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggddRaxfTZWmxM0fRmOcq_dQH6yyUtPhdz2zBbVyBJMPjkpwaoNYi6PSa9yorfjFWgF2yNK2kYGTkULjoIzcfwUPuBc9ePT0Dd0OTVyeW7kIdyA0Z8sTTzoZgPik9qz_ap6SyVg1D2ELWvTuX-i4CQQaxShQ2AZEeudzOVeavohhR3Zp0MFxAVz8nnzNQg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-05%20at%209.58.47%20PM%202%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood and David Soul in MAGNUM FORCE Year: 1973 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director Don Siegel's DIRTY HARRY was a cultural phenomenon that gave Clint Eastwood a franchise and character for two decades while defining his persona even beyond the Sergio Leone westerns...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But it was the 1970's, a decade of gritty films but also political correctness, and the sequel... written by John Milius and Clint's future THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT director Michael Cimino... gave the thug-beating, lawbreaking lawman a break by creating a story where there are literal killer cops... actually doing what Harry's been accused of influencing or even instigating (he's even joked about being a suspect since he hates criminals so much)— all to make Dirty Harry Callahan less crooked and more by-the-book, by comparison...  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, clint eastwood, cop, david soul, dirty harry, felton perry, franchise, hal holbrook, john milius, michael cimino, richard devon, robert urich, seventies, tim matheson

CLINT EASTWOOD AS DIRTY HARRY VS DAVID SOUL 'MAGNUM FORCE'

Clint Eastwood and David Soul in MAGNUM FORCE Year: 1973 Rating: ****1/2 Director Don Siegel's DIRTY HARRY was a cultural phenomenon tha...

MARTIN SHEEN IN JOHN SCHLESINGER'S THRILLER 'THE BELIEVERS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsoMk2VDtrq5X3YHc8_cISl8HdZWW7pmWBnfVVxcxftrC2gWBmQd2KhGrbclZw-lpL6EN7nSxPmTIKqGSEiuTTn-ps3hmvCp6S8cB0Ihg2pSsRiCb_IXXpJ2Vw8RMHoomzm7IUHeshn-8zFu_6qiufiUS-vjeSbcyJ1KrQhDzaxXv17kWb0Jb-W2SecKg/s1074/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-04%20at%204.03.23%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="1074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsoMk2VDtrq5X3YHc8_cISl8HdZWW7pmWBnfVVxcxftrC2gWBmQd2KhGrbclZw-lpL6EN7nSxPmTIKqGSEiuTTn-ps3hmvCp6S8cB0Ihg2pSsRiCb_IXXpJ2Vw8RMHoomzm7IUHeshn-8zFu_6qiufiUS-vjeSbcyJ1KrQhDzaxXv17kWb0Jb-W2SecKg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-04%20at%204.03.23%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Martin Sheen and Harley Cross in THE BELIEVERS Year: 1987 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The last time Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger put a short and intense method actor through the relatively slow-burn, thriller-genre ringer was Dustin Hoffman in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/06/MM.html">MARATHON MAN</a>...</p><p>Which is similar to 1987's thriller-horror hybrid THE BELIEVERS in that Martin Sheen, ironically jogging at the opening of the film... playing a shrink for troubled, unhinged cops... is up against something much bigger than he had initially realized: for Hoffman it's a Neo Nazi diamond-thief and for Sheen a New York City voodoo cult are sacrificing children — and his own son could be next... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

eighties, horror, jimmy smits, john schlesinger, martin sheen, robert loggia, suspense, thriller

MARTIN SHEEN IN JOHN SCHLESINGER'S THRILLER 'THE BELIEVERS'

Martin Sheen and Harley Cross in THE BELIEVERS Year: 1987 Rating: ***1/2 The last time Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger put a short a...

ITALIAN ACTION CRIME 'HIGHWAY RACER' AKA 'POLIZIOTTO SPRINT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRBSOLnvls6Cr_P7mNWGTg9n4zd0ziEGxsPm52Hqn03upHUg7bp7uz534IWq9xbn8UcmfkOKuiHWPkmvbEui8ZuFVAl9XkaMUtKmmpOLq8zUQjCHV819Vr3vcPd5k9xx4isHDvLVy0udY71NsItzZDErjfIDTWRVDP5Vz8P-wGsSTlkX1D9jwXvYnUHRZ/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-18%20at%203.57.47%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRBSOLnvls6Cr_P7mNWGTg9n4zd0ziEGxsPm52Hqn03upHUg7bp7uz534IWq9xbn8UcmfkOKuiHWPkmvbEui8ZuFVAl9XkaMUtKmmpOLq8zUQjCHV819Vr3vcPd5k9xx4isHDvLVy0udY71NsItzZDErjfIDTWRVDP5Vz8P-wGsSTlkX1D9jwXvYnUHRZ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-18%20at%203.57.47%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Maurizio Merli in HIGHWAY RACER Year: 1977 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Stelvio Massi's Italian action-crime-flick HIGHWAY RACER is built around the premise of a cop who'd rather be (and drives like) an extremely fast yet far too risky race car driver, beginning like a sequel that had already properly introduced the argumentative relationship between titular cop Maurizio Merli and middle-age has-been captain Giancarlo Sbragia...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The latter had once been a speed-demon cop on his own (the best sequence is his own Spanish Steps flashback), but now he spends time butting heads with until inevitably mentoring Merli's Marco Palma after his comic-relief "I'm too old for this" shotgun-riding partner's killed during the fastest of several already dangerous chases...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, cop, giancarlo sbragia, italian, maurizio merli, race car, seventies, stelvio cipriani, stelvio massi

ITALIAN ACTION CRIME 'HIGHWAY RACER' AKA 'POLIZIOTTO SPRINT'

Maurizio Merli in HIGHWAY RACER Year: 1977 Rating: *** Stelvio Massi's Italian action-crime-flick HIGHWAY RACER is built around the prem...

GLENN FORD RIDING 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAxHke9w3hHFoNQBmvCYNC45N48OH2erVtckNOpvgge6icq37xGsuVisliI4PsWfTN7hbPLgVzkDJ6nWX9CkEhArY-aupbZJwoJ5SXIwibPSsVKYh7Lk8nADBw9nQLpv1Ym5ecPNQsatQO8RgBgT0YD2nv8jaRZq8d2zPcdJRplzEtAvXm2fNEg5CiNQW9/s1866/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-13%20at%201.46.46%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAxHke9w3hHFoNQBmvCYNC45N48OH2erVtckNOpvgge6icq37xGsuVisliI4PsWfTN7hbPLgVzkDJ6nWX9CkEhArY-aupbZJwoJ5SXIwibPSsVKYh7Lk8nADBw9nQLpv1Ym5ecPNQsatQO8RgBgT0YD2nv8jaRZq8d2zPcdJRplzEtAvXm2fNEg5CiNQW9/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-13%20at%201.46.46%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE  Year: 1962 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In Argentina, at the heels of the Second World War, lusty family patriarch Lee J. Cobb — after an all-night celebration with favorite grandson Glenn Ford — gathers his entire family at a grand dinner party consisting of his two daughters... one married to a German (an intense Paul Lukas), the other a Frenchman (a regal Charles Boyer)... and their offspring: all soon divided by borders and ideology...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So by the time Cobb's grandfather <i>checks out </i>of the picture, an entire first act is done: and with so much over-the-top energy, the remaining characters can only reveal themselves in a comparably subtle fashion...</p><p><span></span></p>

charles boyer, glenn ford, ingrid thulin, karlheinz böhm, lee j. cobb, paul henreid, paul lukas, remake, sixties, warner archives, world war II, yvette mimieux

GLENN FORD RIDING 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

Title: THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE  Year: 1962 Rating: **** In Argentina, at the heels of the Second World War, lusty family patriar...

MERRY ANDERS WITH JOHNNY DESMOND 1957 DOUBLE-FEATURE

<p> <u></u></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u></u></div><p><u></u></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAd9xLOokoeOzpaPO57SmouGv8KimvxCH-7adMnKTqKzRWxE6A21CthdWMkyhdFOQzlZ8gNxiEGsLi8YGUtD26Czq360ry70z9xPy4nAUaontsqXuyDWAsdMojqFoG1-d7suZBD_wx4aizb3PaiAYrKHJ57ZBjt6JRJFiF-NDiH8mMyCGj2cIysMgduVHj/s1205/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="1205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAd9xLOokoeOzpaPO57SmouGv8KimvxCH-7adMnKTqKzRWxE6A21CthdWMkyhdFOQzlZ8gNxiEGsLi8YGUtD26Czq360ry70z9xPy4nAUaontsqXuyDWAsdMojqFoG1-d7suZBD_wx4aizb3PaiAYrKHJ57ZBjt6JRJFiF-NDiH8mMyCGj2cIysMgduVHj/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Merry Anders with villain Richard Devon in ESCAPE FROM SAN QUENTIN Year: 1957 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p><u>ESCAPE FROM SAN QUENTIN</u>: More a legit film noir than the b-crime programmer it otherwise seems from the action-faring, plot-describing title, which can mislead viewers into thinking ESCAPE FROM SAN QUENTIN centers more on high-octane breakout bedlam than dialogue-driven suspense with a side dish of gun-wielding intrigue since all the usual hackneyed prison devices are absent, including makeshift underground tunnels, irritable guards, a Fascist warden and put-upon convicts tapping dire/urgent messages along the walls...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Instead, the rudimentary setting is a work farm not a prison; and it's one man's occupation, or in this case, previous skill that makes real life crooner Johnny Desmond a lucrative player for his hardened convict and cellmate "buddy" Richard Devon, whose tough lifer character, Roy, unlike Johnny's Mike who has only two years left, goads him into flying a small plane to freedom in what's ultimately a much too simple escape, especially for the movie to be named after: the duo headed to the same town where Roy buried a bag of loot...</p><p><span></span></p>

alan arkin, comedy, double-feature, escape, fifties, film noir or melodrama, fred f. sears, johnny desmond, meg myles, merry anders, michael granger, music, prison, richard devon, victor millan

MERRY ANDERS WITH JOHNNY DESMOND 1957 DOUBLE-FEATURE

Merry Anders with villain Richard Devon in ESCAPE FROM SAN QUENTIN Year: 1957 Rating: ****1/2 ESCAPE FROM SAN QUENTIN : More a legit film n...