cult film freak: vic tayback

Showing posts with label vic tayback. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 8/14/2024 / No comments / anjanette comer , barry miller , biopic , cannon , gianni russo , michael callan , milton berle , mobster , seventies , simmy bow , tony curtis , vic tayback , warner archives

MENAHEM GOLAN'S 'LEPKE' WITH TONY CURTIS & ANJANETTE COMER

<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/AVvXsEhVtna58Hp7gESf_DRS_EdXMrcUSluOhL0sL3PRoUx7Rs_nQWMt814v4d-CX090FvrGGC5TXFonV6BYd9o3OBjh_wLLnfDz0cWQuR5ZZWUIlvn9iatqamUegcs_yjCnaKzni-dwEbYZki0GcnD7IxFYNG-tp7rRVCPGV6chbTIWyAjfZawanMSbks_xjqch/s1388/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-14%20at%202.23.09%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="1388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVtna58Hp7gESf_DRS_EdXMrcUSluOhL0sL3PRoUx7Rs_nQWMt814v4d-CX090FvrGGC5TXFonV6BYd9o3OBjh_wLLnfDz0cWQuR5ZZWUIlvn9iatqamUegcs_yjCnaKzni-dwEbYZki0GcnD7IxFYNG-tp7rRVCPGV6chbTIWyAjfZawanMSbks_xjqch/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-14%20at%202.23.09%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: LEPKE Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A cross between yet another 1970's THE GODFATHER clone and a drive-in exploitation with sex and violence, future Cannon Films co-owner Menahem Golan directs Tony Curtis as LEPKE... beginning with a younger version with an intense Barry Miller in turn-of-the-century America, committing a crime and about to be locked up... a shame since more time should have been spent on those youthful years...</p><p></p><p></p><p>Instead, right when the titular Jewish mobster gets out, he's already a 50-something miscast Tony Curtis, who at one point talks Milton Berle into marrying docile daughter Anjanette Comer... and about thirty-minutes later, when the detectives start knocking, she's supposed to have realized her mistake at marrying a lethal crime boss...</p><p><span></span></p>

anjanette comer, barry miller, biopic, cannon, gianni russo, michael callan, milton berle, mobster, seventies, simmy bow, tony curtis, vic tayback, warner archives

MENAHEM GOLAN'S 'LEPKE' WITH TONY CURTIS & ANJANETTE COMER

Title: LEPKE Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2 A cross between yet another 1970's THE GODFATHER clone and a drive-in exploitation with sex and vi...

JAMES CAAN STARRING IN 'THE GAMBLER' WITH PAUL SORVINO

<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/AVvXsEh9XtHd_YJiVE7ZDGLPJ34u6UY-S-v7tmOqPnplCr-WkHDniE6Psfo_DXLrJVwHIPtSvxDWpj0IUQLSZEQteBHHIEiD5UlgjXdsLvtreAR9qW9GivCfjzeiel9QDXzl1R6z2AKayn2YpR4J5AqxzYMwLDj2xqxE0KwOYI597-rcXebuzBPQaIezYrW88g/s1456/Screen+Shot+2020-05-10+at+4.58.11+AM%203.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9XtHd_YJiVE7ZDGLPJ34u6UY-S-v7tmOqPnplCr-WkHDniE6Psfo_DXLrJVwHIPtSvxDWpj0IUQLSZEQteBHHIEiD5UlgjXdsLvtreAR9qW9GivCfjzeiel9QDXzl1R6z2AKayn2YpR4J5AqxzYMwLDj2xqxE0KwOYI597-rcXebuzBPQaIezYrW88g/s16000/Screen+Shot+2020-05-10+at+4.58.11+AM%203.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Caan starring as  Axel Freed in James Tolback's THE GAMBLER Year: 1974 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table>In pop culture, before you had to "know when to walk away, know when to run," THE 
GAMBLER was synonymous with a Fyodor Dostoevsky novel and transcended 
into this 1970’s film written by James Toback, directed by 
Karel Reisz and starring James Caan as university professor Axel 
Freed, who hardly ever has enough money left to count... <br>
<br>
But Axel's real story isn’t his job, but his 
vice, practically a religion — that of balls-out and brainless gambling: An addiction making him the user/loser of other people’s
 money, including his own mother (more like a flirtatious step-sister). But, while it’s great seeing Caan facing the dark side of human nature, 
there’s a lot to be desired when, for instance, he gets in over his 
head… and then some... <br>

antonio fargas, burt young, carmine caridi, college, drama, gambling, james caan, paul sorvino, seventies, thriller, vic tayback

JAMES CAAN STARRING IN 'THE GAMBLER' WITH PAUL SORVINO

James Caan starring as Axel Freed in James Tolback's THE GAMBLER Year: 1974 Rating: *** In pop culture, before you had to "know w...

DISNEY TRIPLE FEATURES 'NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN' WITH 'HOT LEAD & COLD FEET' AND 'THE BAREFOOT EXECUTIVE'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDI-9LIZoDzYgXpOaSrxeiQUwE5IF6ZCZUu-6jlIOT9SsACJRZN65AXWFnnJazRiE_EgJQbBJmjnkO2D1sE1qV8SGdSbOLn3luS3O_eMfw6og2pLGkuuUAyrkdkpQPd8zAloxb5B8EvFp-/s1600/adffce70-fcf7-0132-f422-0e18518aac2f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="703" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDI-9LIZoDzYgXpOaSrxeiQUwE5IF6ZCZUu-6jlIOT9SsACJRZN65AXWFnnJazRiE_EgJQbBJmjnkO2D1sE1qV8SGdSbOLn3luS3O_eMfw6og2pLGkuuUAyrkdkpQPd8zAloxb5B8EvFp-/s400/adffce70-fcf7-0132-f422-0e18518aac2f.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1976 Rating: **</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN</u>: Disney flick with Don Knotts whose usual, more natural Tim Conway sidekick is replaced by Darren McGavin as one of two 
dimwitted brother-in-law safecrackers tangled with 
two prep-school kids...<br>
<br>
The girl being Kim Richards (your author's first crush, as made public on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, episode <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3448200/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast">The Curse of Carlton</a> taking place at an autograph show) who, along with familiar child actor face Brad Savage, ditch their stuffy 
grandfather David Niven at the airport, and the kids learn their 
thief-pals owe money to a crime boss (Vic Tayback) and to help they
 come up with a plan to fake a kidnapping. The ransom by wealthy gramps 
will bring in the money needed. Niven keeps avoiding the payments, 
knowing it's all a practical joke. And other than some car chases and 
Don Knotts chasing a pet skunk, that's about the gist of it. It all 
seems like a bunch of actors stuck in a constrained story. McGavin is 
miscast as Knott's straight man and Knotts isn't very funny as the 
doofus. There are better Disney flicks. Take CANDLESHOE, also starring 
David Niven (with Jodie Foster as the kid) and involving wily kids who, unlike this, have a decent, 
more interesting premise to follow.<br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvMj6a2kXT4Qoilw_T0LhlDH7kgBp9F3JSnPz3Tk51aj45cAHrW9lFry1UGtpQ_88IKzzJBmru35K-qAzlJIvVZ2Pi5gC-funatVMciqMapzdh1l0pCpUsbBt9wKZ63XjiyHO9PjODHK-/s1600/51N7PTW482L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="349" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvMj6a2kXT4Qoilw_T0LhlDH7kgBp9F3JSnPz3Tk51aj45cAHrW9lFry1UGtpQ_88IKzzJBmru35K-qAzlJIvVZ2Pi5gC-funatVMciqMapzdh1l0pCpUsbBt9wKZ63XjiyHO9PjODHK-/s320/51N7PTW482L.jpg" width="223"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1978 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>HOT LEAD & COLD FEET</u>: Having
 watched this movie as a kid the only scenes remembered were of Don Knotts involved in unsuccessful take-ten-paces-and-draw 
showdowns. But the main storyline is about two brothers... played by the same actor, Jim Dale, a Disney regular and now very obscure... one a mean gunslinger the other a
 preachy do-gooder taking part in a race involving mini stream-engine 
trains, canoes down rapids and mountain-climbing, all in order to inherit a 
load of money from their crazy white-bearded father (also played by 
Dale... the white Eddie Murphy of his time)...<br>
<br>
The good brother wants the money for... good reasons (building a 
church with tough and pretty school teacher Karen Valentine and two 
savvy orphans) and the bad brother wants the money for — you get the 
idea. The town bullies and the crooked banker, along with Disney 1970's go-to Darren McGavin, are 
rooting for the villain because they have something to gain, sabotaging the good brother in a tortoise-vs-hare fashion throughout this semi-funny Disney film with enough happening to keep you interested, 
although the build-up, introducing the siblings in contrasting lives 
before they meet, fares better than the wacky race: which not only gets
 tiresome but neglects the other characters. And those Don Knotts scenes
 happen only sporadically; he's sort of a cameo-with-hiccups.<br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSU5nxTHJMep86rXgAuK1pe0n0Duq6UNzKKhqJe_HmfFmXJeQRJHQiMkZkJtiGQCV18JsG7OI-9K7J96lBvWCqJujWx011E8ZC_tJYtFhgu8kQGcVtYF-KPi2ouTuNfnLhASLU8Vk5wo/s1600-h/barefoot+executive.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396993946615381298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSU5nxTHJMep86rXgAuK1pe0n0Duq6UNzKKhqJe_HmfFmXJeQRJHQiMkZkJtiGQCV18JsG7OI-9K7J96lBvWCqJujWx011E8ZC_tJYtFhgu8kQGcVtYF-KPi2ouTuNfnLhASLU8Vk5wo/s200/barefoot+executive.jpg" style="float: right; height: 150px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1971 Rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>THE BAREFOOT EXECUTIVE</u>: Disney's child-teen regular's regular Kurt
 Russell plays a climber. A dreamer. A junior college student working as a 
gopher at a television studio, and he wants to be a programmer but has no idea 
what shows are good... And most important — his girlfriend adopts a chimp who also sits and watches 
TV, with a twist...<br>
<br>
The chimp sits mesmerized when he likes a show, and goes bonkers 
when he doesn't. It turns out, the chimp has a pulse on what shows work 
and what shows don't as later indicated by the ratings. And if the 
same monkey were watching this film it'd commit suicide, and yet, somehow, it's not that entirely god-awful, with some entertaining chase scenes. But overall this standard 
by-the-numbers live-action Disney film that never really evolves just isn't worth the climb. 
<br>

caper, comedy, darren mcgavin, david niven, disney, don knotts, jack elam, jim dale, kim richards, kurt russell, vic tayback, western

DISNEY TRIPLE FEATURES 'NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN' WITH 'HOT LEAD & COLD FEET' AND 'THE BAREFOOT EXECUTIVE'

Year: 1976 Rating: ** NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN : Disney flick with Don Knotts whose usual, more natural Tim Conway sidekick is replaced by ...

ALICE SERIES PILOT FEATURING MOVIE-TOMMY ALFRED LUTTER

<span style="font-size: large;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalHXulSavK2-sPWYyM-wJmFtRVGlvMlTsrcAGRt-wTS3JesctD744Sspb6IsVm7yGi37_BfqA2oTcrlikp0cJI7Ja1iHOEfhCp8YEi7dD8fsUh5EnUrbfS2vn8HuK4_RCRPftpz8LDXz7bOtydzbAOaWM0AWp9DDQpaNTSdLy3a5wbe3ZmmVSUKpBZoGp/s1874/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-30%20at%207.44.47%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1452" data-original-width="1874" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalHXulSavK2-sPWYyM-wJmFtRVGlvMlTsrcAGRt-wTS3JesctD744Sspb6IsVm7yGi37_BfqA2oTcrlikp0cJI7Ja1iHOEfhCp8YEi7dD8fsUh5EnUrbfS2vn8HuK4_RCRPftpz8LDXz7bOtydzbAOaWM0AWp9DDQpaNTSdLy3a5wbe3ZmmVSUKpBZoGp/w400-h310/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-30%20at%207.44.47%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Different opening showing only Alice and Tommy</td></tr></tbody></table>Polly Holliday’s now iconic Flo, a gum-smacking waitress with a wink for every trucker and a retort for any occasion, smiles when, for the first time, she utters the famous line, “Kiss my grits”... </span><br />
<br />  <span style="font-size: large;">It's as if she were testing it out on the studio audience. Vic Tayback’s Mel (the only actor from the motion picture to remain for the entire series) and Beth Howland’s kooky Vera take the backseat – it’s all about Alice thinking she, like Burstyn in the movie, has a shot at fame. The biggest difference of the pilot is the character Tommy... Played by Alfred Lutter from the film, by the second episode he's replaced by the more TV-fitting blonde kid Philip McKeon. Perhaps Lutter was a bit too glib for TV audiences… but fans of the movie know he was <strike>arguably</strike> the best character...</span><br />
<br />

<span style="font-size: large;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaHFP9xBz0e7-Ct-j6OKGXLfdyi9yhX0CQ48TiMn6SDrRcaddX5b_Ch2n6paAsKhdzeOT0pehyphenhyphenIlTv4MHSJ2167su-cUxZDN7QlyisfwZ-A58_STM7EjK5jLda8oYSOoRzUbVUPhoYEaGjTTFmxhC0kMAYkeQZy9yEdS3GA2b2Tx9rYyzR8Lhq7QnE44w/s1804/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-30%20at%207.44.56%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1090" data-original-width="1804" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaHFP9xBz0e7-Ct-j6OKGXLfdyi9yhX0CQ48TiMn6SDrRcaddX5b_Ch2n6paAsKhdzeOT0pehyphenhyphenIlTv4MHSJ2167su-cUxZDN7QlyisfwZ-A58_STM7EjK5jLda8oYSOoRzUbVUPhoYEaGjTTFmxhC0kMAYkeQZy9yEdS3GA2b2Tx9rYyzR8Lhq7QnE44w/w400-h241/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-30%20at%207.44.56%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alfred Lutter's opening credit that's only seen in the pilot </td></tr></tbody></table>So while the pilot is far from the best episode of the series or season, it sets the stage decently enough – providing Alice a job she’d keep for a decade.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>BONUS TRIVIA</u>: <span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;">After Alice and Tommy realize they're not going to Hollywood, Tommy 
says under his breath, "Now I'm never going to meet Tatum O'Neal..." Which is ironic because that same year he co-starred with Tatum in THE 
BAD NEWS BEARS.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alice-Doesnt-Live-Here-Anymore/dp/B000286RO8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347985438&sr=8-2&keywords=alice+doesn%27t+live+here+anymore">BUY THE ORIGINAL MARTIN SCORSESE FILM</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alice-The-Complete-First-Season/dp/B0089BSLKS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347896473&sr=8-1&keywords=alice+season+1">BUY SEASON ONE OF ALICE</a></td></tr>
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alfred lutter, linda lavin, polly holliday, seventies, TV, vic tayback