cult film freak: frank finlay

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Written by James M. Tate / 12/24/2024 / No comments / amicus , body-count , frank finlay , freddie francis , guy doleman , horror , katy wild , ron wood , sixties , suzanna leigh , thriller

SUZANNA LEIGH, FRANK FINLAY & KATY WILD IN 'THE DEADLY BEES'

<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/AVvXsEj3KseZvfl9WasU8X7zzi6A6sfzN3FXe7EG9Aulx0JK9t6O1YB_jv36NX4LuZAkW40AgbidnlBx-D-MVNxi_xZwV8y2rgsr4hKn2WvLF-HmBkQWt9JVlBU19ne-KdJcktIa0ErnrMofYD1ed1MKG_MZSklAvb3t9KTC_f0HhBMN06ywdO_12ryU9HJNHS-x/s1952/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-25%20at%204.53.48%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1952" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KseZvfl9WasU8X7zzi6A6sfzN3FXe7EG9Aulx0JK9t6O1YB_jv36NX4LuZAkW40AgbidnlBx-D-MVNxi_xZwV8y2rgsr4hKn2WvLF-HmBkQWt9JVlBU19ne-KdJcktIa0ErnrMofYD1ed1MKG_MZSklAvb3t9KTC_f0HhBMN06ywdO_12ryU9HJNHS-x/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-25%20at%204.53.48%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Suzanna Leigh in THE DEADLY BEES Year: 1966 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>By the time British redhead Katy Wild (reunited with director Freddie Francis after THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN) attempts running frantically away from a horde of DEADLY BEES raised and kept by initially subtle antagonist Frank Finlay, lead starlet Suzanna Leigh... as a burnt-out pop star on sabbatical in the rural farmhouse next door... has spent most of the movie figuring out who instead of what, making DEADLY more a slow-burn mystery than the kind of violent body-count thriller that many other killer-insect vehicles would progress into... With a cast also including handsome cad Guy Doleman, whose house Leigh's staying in, and barkeeper (and Hammer regular) Michael Ripper, whose daughter is played by Wild and, working as a maid for Doleman... and as much as dad worries... she's got no chance against Finlay's impending (and vengeful) killer bug army...

amicus, body-count, frank finlay, freddie francis, guy doleman, horror, katy wild, ron wood, sixties, suzanna leigh, thriller

SUZANNA LEIGH, FRANK FINLAY & KATY WILD IN 'THE DEADLY BEES'

Suzanna Leigh in THE DEADLY BEES Year: 1966 Rating: **** By the time British redhead Katy Wild (reunited with director Freddie Francis after...

JOHN GUILLERMIN DIRECTS RICHARD ROUNDTREE 'SHAFT IN AFRICA'

<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/AVvXsEjlHJRJE-A1RbYZbYI8FLde9fduyVRHbxaxDNS0sVTvbFZQ82i2WksQrhoTRKtNBL_ZWbYxcVsO8YarNJ1I9QCKxAgXIrfAyIFIWuajYPGCFMKk_oE1yb7xkizA19iwt0dYKzbvokFkmqZVvrorgj4fxSyseC-1T7LZzXQfNEQXiwdnKLwA4T6EcXoAl54H/s1294/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-02%20at%208.57.43%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="1294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHJRJE-A1RbYZbYI8FLde9fduyVRHbxaxDNS0sVTvbFZQ82i2WksQrhoTRKtNBL_ZWbYxcVsO8YarNJ1I9QCKxAgXIrfAyIFIWuajYPGCFMKk_oE1yb7xkizA19iwt0dYKzbvokFkmqZVvrorgj4fxSyseC-1T7LZzXQfNEQXiwdnKLwA4T6EcXoAl54H/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-02%20at%208.57.43%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Roundtree from SHAFT IN AFRICA Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Director John Guillermin's SHAFT IN AFRICA is such a deliberate espionage/spy flick, at one point the title character... who originated on paper before being adapted into one of the first blaxploitation heroes... is told to (after he actually references James Bond) burn his mission after reading...To pose as an African in Africa to be taken into a European slave-trade, which sounds more complicated than it really is... as this final SHAFT sequel's basically one handed-off desert-traipsing adventure sequence after another...

action, adventure, blaxploitation, espionage, frank finlay, frank mcrea, john guillermin, neda arneric, richard roundtree, seventies, shaft, vonetta mcgee

JOHN GUILLERMIN DIRECTS RICHARD ROUNDTREE 'SHAFT IN AFRICA'

Richard Roundtree from SHAFT IN AFRICA Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2 Director John Guillermin's SHAFT IN AFRICA is such a deliberate espionag...

TOM COURTENAY 'THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER'

<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/AVvXsEi7cyF2PQClsy3Zq3ZOKs6ecjxS5gsTRFylfpOKss1810A9XdMBntG6sSDuScYAuUcfw8JzevzPsJM3IDGkFwoQ8OMeUID-CGKs8RfNASGlNXTArm0PAKVn2xEsETdjm0Y6vV8872uZz4A2l3_vC7KsB3GqZa1AgNH1orp8WEoluu2esCEJubXBODQy8w/s2625/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-20%20at%207.47.00%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1255" data-original-width="2625" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cyF2PQClsy3Zq3ZOKs6ecjxS5gsTRFylfpOKss1810A9XdMBntG6sSDuScYAuUcfw8JzevzPsJM3IDGkFwoQ8OMeUID-CGKs8RfNASGlNXTArm0PAKVn2xEsETdjm0Y6vV8872uZz4A2l3_vC7KsB3GqZa1AgNH1orp8WEoluu2esCEJubXBODQy8w/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-20%20at%207.47.00%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER Year: 1962 Rating: *****</td></tr></tbody></table>Although SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING gets credit for igniting the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/british%20new%20wave">British New Wave</a>, otherwise known as Kitchen Sink Dramas centering on the working class in England's late 50's/early 60's, that film's producer Tony Richardson's directorial THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER really thrust the movement forward...With an active sport-plot behind character-driven, documentary-style social themes, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/tom%20courtenay">Tom Courtenay</a> plays young contented loser Colin Smith, newly arrived at a rural juvenile detention center from a renovated castle, run by ambitious warden (aka governor) Michael Redgrave...

british new wave, cult, drama, frank finlay, indie, james bolam, jazz score, julia foster, michael redgrave, prison, sixties, sport, tom courtenay, tony richardson, topsy jane

TOM COURTENAY 'THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER'

Title: THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER Year: 1962 Rating: ***** Although SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING gets credit for igniti...

BRITISH CREATURE HORROR SUSPENSE YARN 'THE DEADLY BEES'

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyWAlVkTlgUPUY4Zcz67ltYh8VU9tP29wlbM9RF0hNaZnx6xWnFXVtjEL02KDSoRuGT6ASuXvZh0ZguIUYhE1nfdPMUGThjgP0UaGpzWk1KfUKikWx0cbBwF2rkbY0pCQvktlmHwN8ZZ5K/s947/239614982_4502498543127724_8496898340320959235_n.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="947" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyWAlVkTlgUPUY4Zcz67ltYh8VU9tP29wlbM9RF0hNaZnx6xWnFXVtjEL02KDSoRuGT6ASuXvZh0ZguIUYhE1nfdPMUGThjgP0UaGpzWk1KfUKikWx0cbBwF2rkbY0pCQvktlmHwN8ZZ5K/w400-h235/239614982_4502498543127724_8496898340320959235_n.jpg" width="400"></a></div>title: THE DEADLY BEES year: 1966 cast: Suzanna Leigh, Frank Finlay, Guy Doleman, Michael Ripper director: Freddie Francis rating: ***1/2Don't mistake THE DEADLY BEES as one of those by-the-number creature-feature bug 
flicks where bees fly around killing people because of the ozone or 
military or whatever else causes "beasts" to cause havoc in other films 
of this type...Despite the maligned camp status, DEADLY BEES is an intelligent British thriller centering on a beautiful singer who finds solace on an island, at the house of a 
professor who isn't nice to his wife, or her dog, and might just be mad 
enough to make bees... deadly. But with too-friendly/science-minded Frank Finlay involved, things are never quite what they seem, and 
this Amicus production mirroring Hammer Films (with the latter's regulars Michael Ripper, Suzanna Leigh and director Freddie Francis) is more Hitchcock than body count exploitation: 
building tension and mystery from start to finish. And when the bees do
 attack (although the effects are rather dated) it's quite a neat buzz.

action, body count, british, creature, exploitation, frank finlay, guy doleman, horror, sixties, suspense, suzanna leigh

BRITISH CREATURE HORROR SUSPENSE YARN 'THE DEADLY BEES'

title: THE DEADLY BEES year: 1966 cast: Suzanna Leigh, Frank Finlay, Guy Doleman, Michael Ripper director: Freddie Francis rating: ***1/2 Do...

BEFORE TAKING A 'BULLITT' DIRECTOR PETER YATES SHOT 'ROBBERY'

<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/AVvXsEhKfKhLZcyw1UwwlvQ6LxzJzINHjUypaWMJja8yUtCcTZ3IEjgtgOaqP8iI596RUi9zYS9cqbO-o_1hVwcsymLCmY12Ig1v5M7eDMXvfZMQmlKioytmTB0k2t5YvfRAejvD0BvikgHmaiD2Ls5nYTtRQXq0EkVlIbENoOoUhgGxSKl4AxsCwCGvWY7jbI9n/s2566/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-01%20at%208.50.16%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="2566" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfKhLZcyw1UwwlvQ6LxzJzINHjUypaWMJja8yUtCcTZ3IEjgtgOaqP8iI596RUi9zYS9cqbO-o_1hVwcsymLCmY12Ig1v5M7eDMXvfZMQmlKioytmTB0k2t5YvfRAejvD0BvikgHmaiD2Ls5nYTtRQXq0EkVlIbENoOoUhgGxSKl4AxsCwCGvWY7jbI9n/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-01%20at%208.50.16%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: ROBBERY Director: Peter Yates Star: Stanley Baker Year: 1967 Rating: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>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... And it's not just this initial chase that Yates carried over to the Steve McQueen legendary classic, but also the strategically metronomic moments leading up...