The story of the Sunday school teacher behind a bawdy best-seller, Theodora Goes Wild opened the door to more comedy roles for the usually reserved Irene Dunne. Written by newspaper reporter Mary McCarthy, the 1936 film was directed by Polish immigrant Richard Boleslawski, no stranger to melodrama himself (he juggled all three Barrymores in Rasputin and the Empress)….
20 years after writing and directing the memorably acerbic All About Eve, Joseph L. Mankiewicz cast Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda in this equally cynical take on human nature this time with a screenplay from Bonnie and Clyde’s David Newman and Robert Benton. Starring Douglas as a murderous bank robber and Fonda as the lawman…
Based on Terence Frisby’s stage play that lasted six years in West End theaters, There’s a Girl in My Soup stars Peter Sellers as a philandering television star (a call back to his far more cynical character in 1957’s The Naked Truth) and Goldie Hawn as a free-spirited flower child, a character so prevalent in 60s…
Director Rolfe Kanefsky has compared his 1995 film to Scream and one look at the plot—an alien frog arrives on earth to mate with the ladies—confirms the movie’s satirical nature. Though clearly a first-timer’s effort made on a shoestring, critics were inclined to regard the film with fondness. Kanefsky has continued to produce and direct…
If Mel Brooks had directed An Affair To Remember, it might look something like this 1998 comedy from the Farrelly Brothers. Mixing gross out humor with a genuinely sweet romantic pay-off expanded its target audience and helped make There’s Something About Mary the fourth highest grossing film of its year. Starring Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz…
Fascinating mixture of science fiction and social comment from Hammer Films circa 1961. This bleak but moving atomic parable still packs a punch and was finally released uncut on DVD over 40 years after its truncated theatrical release. Oliver Reed’s role was reputedly one of the inspirations for Anthony Burgess to write A Clockwork Orange.
George C. Scott plays Justin Fairplay, otherwise known—to himself at least—as Sherlock Holmes. This touching quasi-romance was directed by Anthony Harvey and co-stars Joanne Woodward as Dr. Watson, in this case a psychiatrist trying to convince Fairplay that he’s not really the great detective.
In Thief, James Caan is an expert jewel thief who disdains using nitroglycerin to crack his safes but the director Michael Mann brings his own brand of pyrotechnics along for the ride; his 1981 heist movie, fueled by a percolating synth score by Tangerine Dream, is a stylistic knockout, a dazzlingly modernistic update to the…
Often imitated and remade but never equalled, this multi-Oscar- winner is the greatest Arabian adventure fantasy of all time, made over a period of years during WW II on several continents with numerous directors, including the producers (uncredited). Screen magic.
That director Matthijs van Heijningen used John Carpenter’s 1982 remake of The Thing as the touchstone for his 2011 prequel rather than Howard Hawks’ 1951 original says as much about contemporary audiences as his own artistic bent; Carpenter’s garishly gonzo version is far more in keeping with current audience expectations than Hawks’ intensely suspenseful but…
In contrast to Howard Hawks’ trim and efficient The Thing from Another World released in 1951, John Carpenter’s 1982 remake is an effects-heavy affair that generates most of its suspense from the startling permutations of Rob Bottin’s alien make-ups. Kurt Russell delivers another squint-eyed, Clint Eastwood-inspired performance and he’s helped by a supporting cast (including Wilfred Brimley…
The quintessential cold war alien movie. Howard Hawks’ trend setting, character-driven classic remains snappy and scary even after the elaborate 1982 remake. Dmitri Tiomkin’s music and the largely unbilled cast of character actors are terrific. “Watch the skies! Keep watching the skies!”
“They transplanted a WHITE BIGOT’S HEAD on to a SOUL BROTHER’S BODY! And now with the Fights, the Fuzz, the Chicks and the Choppers…Man, they’re in really deeeeep trouble!” That about covers it… but Rick Baker’s 2-headed gorilla doesn’t even make it into the trailer!
Fascinating, contradictory amalgam of H.G. Wells’ Utopian liberal-fascist politics and William Cameron Menzies’ brilliant production design. One of a kind epic accurately predicts World War II and offers up some amazingly cool retro-futuristic imagery. The first reel, especially, is killer.
This was the final commentary recorded for us by George Hickenlooper. Carol Reed’s endlessly watchable post-war thriller, the fourth pairing of Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles, is generally considered one of the greats. Tensions between producers Alexander Korda and David O. Selznick resulted in two separate cuts of the film. Robert Krasker won an Oscar…
Boisterous, rollicking, side-splitting– adjectives that are usually promo hype– but applied to Richard Lester’s comic masterpiece they’re totally accurate. By far the wittiest, cleverest and most atmospheric retelling of Dumas’ classic, with a cast to die for.
The vanished grindhouse era of gory, misogynist Ed-Gein-inspired Psycho knockoffs lives again, at least for the three minutes it takes Eli Roth to guide us through this frustratingly misguided trailer.
The Stooges’ next to last feature after their early 60s resurgence is a low-budget Jules Verne knockoff. The Boys, though elderly, are as antisocial as ever.
Well on his way to leading man movie stardom, TV favorite James Garner steps into the shoes of Rock Hudson and Cary Grant as Doris Day’s latest partner in her increasingly popular series of glossy, sophisticated comedy vehicles. Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner provided the witty script and one of the cleverest trailers…
Robert Mitchum stars (and sings!) as an Appalachian moonshiner out to bamboozle the Feds. Little noted at the time, this has proven to be a hotrod classic over time. Filmed on location in Asheville North Carolina. This trailer is a textless one created for overseas use.
Clint Eastwood teams up with Jeff Bridges for something more than a male version of Thelma and Louise from director Michael Cimino before he became controversial. A buddy picture that transcends all sexual readings, this is an overlooked gem. Some great character bits by Bill McKinney and Dub Taylor, and the great George Kennedy is…
J. Lee Thompson directed this 1959 thriller about the unlikely friendship between a young tomboy played by Hayley Mills and a sailor who’s wanted for murder played by Horst Buchholz. This was Hayley’s first film and her father John (also her co-star) said “She looked as if she’d been born in front of a camera.”…
Terry Gilliam’s first film as solo director was 1977’s Jabberwocky but Time Bandits, a mix of absurdist fairy tales and Ashcan realism, established his style for years to come. He’s helped considerably by a remarkably high-profile cast including Sean Connery, Ralph Richardson and, memorably, John Cleese as a petulant, self-absorbed Robin Hood. Michael Palin co-stars…
George Pal’s greatest work finds the humanity in H.G. Wells’ classic, ably served by Oscar-winning fx, Russ Garcia’s memorable score and Rod Taylor and Alan Young’s warm performances and an unforgettable turn by Yvette Mimieux as Weena, the bravest of the Eloi. A touchstone for a generation. Paul Frees seems quite enthusiastic about it!
A movie that really does have something for everyone. Nicholas Meyer’s wonderfully inventive sci-fi pastiche about a time-traveling H.G. Wells and his search for Jack the Ripper in present-day San Francisco is a buoyant fantasy, nerve-wracking suspense film and one of the best romances of its decade. Malcolm McDowell, as far removed from Alex the…
In his only TFH commentary, the late Ib Melchior shares some backstage info on the making of this lesser-known but diverting sci fi fantasy that sports one of the most cleverly edited climaxes in the genre. That’s Forry Ackerman, editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, as one of the technicians transforming a circle into a square….