Being photographed in black and white doesn’t deter Ann-Margret, even in monochrome the fiery redhead is a dazzling distraction. And when this kitten gets her claws in the blandly handsome politico played by John Forsythe, it’s a match made in pulp heaven. Director Douglas Heyes’s sexed-up JD film has a well-deserved reputation for being over…
From the bygone days (1971) when studios routinely made the kind of adult material now found mainly in indies and on cable television. Jane Fonda pulled down a well-deserved Oscar for her portrayal of the call girl without a heart of gold who gets wrapped up in a murder investigation. Brilliantly shot by Gordon Willis.
Philadelphia-born Director Richard Lester sandwiched this wacky paeon to Swinging ’60s London between “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!”. Based on Ann Jellicoe’s play and notable as the fleeting screen debuts of Jacqueline Bissett, Jane Birkin and Charlotte Rampling.
A most atypical George Romero picture about a troupe of traveling motorcycle jousters which pretty much fell through the cracks in theatrical release. Naturalistic, epic-length and altogether unexpected, with nary a vampire or zombie in sight.
The venerable Mirror Crack’d format gets a workout in Dave DeCoteau’s self-described “bitchy and raunchy” mystery comedy, in which three rival actresses who hate each other reunite for a horror movie sequel only to find their crew is being killed off by a mysterious figure who duplicates the murders in the script.
Jack Rabin and Irving Block were a couple of indie FX mavens whose works ranged from Night of the Hunter to Robot Monster. But one of their most offbeat creations was the giant alien robot Kronos, who wanted not Our Women but Our Energy. On its own terms it’s a pretty nifty little picture, with…
Zany yet consistently exciting, writer, director, and star Stephen Chow one-ups Jackie Chan—and perhaps Tex Avery—in the kung fu and comedy department. A classic underdog plot featuring a poor village under attack by a local gang sparks the action, but it’s Chow’s looney tunes sense of humor that seals the deal. As the “Landlady of…
Masaki Kobayashi’s 1965 anthology of spooky Japanese folk tales could be considered the Nipponese answer to Ealing’s Dead of Night. Shot in scope with a ravishing color scheme, the movie is more lyrical than frightening though the third segment, Hoichi the Earless, manages to be both nerve wracking and sardonically funny.
Federico Fellini casts a serio-comic eye on the modern day decay of man, morals and civilization circa 1960. Stunningly photographed by Fellini’s long time collaborator, Otello Martelli, the film avoids any number of pretentious pratfalls due to the self-mocking demeanor of its world-weary leading man, Marcello Mastroianni. Nominated for four Oscars and winner of the…
The film that put Federico Fellini on the map internationally, with his wife Giuliana Masina’s‚ indelible‚ performance as the waif mistreated by brutish strongman Anthony Quinn. Richard Basehart provides further US name value although he doesn’t dub himself in the English version. Winner of the first Academy Award for foreign language film in 1956.
Nearly a lost film, music maven Lou Adler’s cheerful 1982 film about an inadvertent punk band was shot under the title All Washed Up and was shelved after a disastrous preview, only to be revived on the art house circuit in 1985. At one point there was only one surviving print, which was frequently programmed…
The spirit of Frank Tashlin hovers over Jerry Lewis’s first auteurist triumph which came at the height of his power at Paramount, allowing him to construct a huge set, add videotape (which he’d been using since The Bellboy)‚ and fill the stage with a large number of microphones a decade before Altman did the same….
A surprisingly dark and vicious entry in the middle-aged-actress horror boom of the period. What was shocking and melodramatic in 1964 still holds up today as an almost comically bleak social satire with monstrous mother Olivia deHavilland trapped in her private elevator while her world collapses around her. Banned in England for 36 years!
Robert Montgomery stars and directs himself, sort of, as detective Philip Marlowe in an ususual, “experimental” studio picture. Told entirely from Marlowe’s point of view, the subjective camera sees everything as he would see it, including fleeting glimpses of the actor himself in mirrored reflections. This was a lot harder to accomplish in 1946 than…
The star-crossed life of Polly Hamilton, erstwhile girlfriend of doomed mobster John Dillinger, is dramatized in a low-budget but nevertheless engrossing dustbowl drama courtesy of director Lewis Teague. The exemplary cast and crew include Louise Fletcher as a bordello madam, music by James Horner (his third score) and John Sayles who contributes a typically imaginative and…
Like some other gurus, Brian Trenchard-Smith got his start in the movie biz by cutting trailers. Here he wryly dissects his own work on the jazzed-up trailer for a middling Euro Western sporting arguably the greatest action score by Morricone collaborator Bruno Nicolai.
As menacing as “The Great” Edward G. Robinson could be, he starred in more than a few comedies disguised as gangster pictures. Lloyd Bacon’s 1942 film is one of them—a Runyonesque satire brimming with holiday cheer; as the racketeer who wants to go straight, Robinson gets to dress up as Santa Claus. With a fairly…
In spite of terrific reviews this small indie directed by Dan Zukovic and featuring an early appearance by Mark Ruffalo, remains relatively unknown. Director Zukovic cast himself as Simon Geist, an angry young man who produces a bogus publication called “The Next Big Thing”, dedicated to eviscerating pop culture in all its forms. Zukovic, still…
Sergio Leone was an (uncredited) second unit director on this epic potboiler directed by Robert Aldrich whose own appetite for lurid scenarios is on full display (it was released the same year as WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE). This was the last of the great Miklos Rozsa’s truly magisterial scores (he replaced Dimitri Tiomkin and…
Many epics crumble under the weight of their own plus-sized intentions but thanks to the virtuoso skill of director Bernardo Bertolucci and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, 1987’s The Last Emperor, the remarkable story of Pu Yi who reigned over the Forbidden City and fell from grace, becomes a soulful epic with the sensuous pageantry of a…
Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris inspired several parodies but this is the only one to feature Lenny Bruce’s mom (Sally Marr). The 1973 film is a note for note spoof of the Brando vehicle starring omnipresent character actor Michael Pataki (as Michael “Loveman”) and with editing performed by future director John Carpenter. There were two…
“Keep repeating, It’s Only a Movie….” Wes Craven’s notoriously nasty, some say degrading, Vietnam-era reworking of The Virgin Spring expanded the envelope for shocking depictions of depravity onscreen. Shot for peanuts in 16mm and originally relegated to grindhouses and drive-ins, it has since emerged as something of a classic and was remade in 2009.
Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins deservedly won the mystery writers’ Edgar Award for their witty screenplay to this clever 1973 puzzler based on a series of actual real-life scavenger hunts they organized for their friends. An all-star cast plays an amusing assortment of sybaritic showbiz types whose dark sides get darker as the whodunit progresses.
Frank and Eleanor Perry’s disturbing look at dysfunctional teens on Fire Island has a dedicated fan base that has pushed for years to get it released on dvd, to no particular avail. One of the first films rated X, it was later cut to an R, although the uncut version has popped up now and…
Aiming to contrast the dichotomies of Love and Lust, director Bernardo Bertolucci originally hoped to star Jean-Louis Trintignant with either Dominique Sanda or Catherine Deneuve, but when those plans fell apart he went with Marlon Brando and 19 year old unknown Maria Schneider. Its graphic but simulated sex scenes garnered a scandalous X rating in the…
One of the best yet least seen of John Sturges’ westerns couples a fine screenplay with strong star perfs and superb direction: the straightforward story builds tension throughout. Kirk Douglas is a sheriff out for both justice and revenge and Anthony Quinn is the he-bull rancher who stands in his way: the guilty party is…