The memories of movie fans are papered with the work of the remarkably prolific producer Edward Small, ranging from such sophisticated fare as Witness for the Prosecution to boomer favorites like Jack The Giant Killer and It! The Terror From Beyond Space. In 1953 Small produced Wicked Woman, a memorably sleazy but amusingly self-aware noir…

Clark Gable plays a man caught in the middle of a love triangle he wants no part of until he does. Myrna Loy plays his beautiful but suspicious wife and Jean Harlow is his beautiful but smitten secretary. The sixth-billed James Stewart plays Harlow’s boyfriend who only complicates matters. It’s frothy fun elevated by that…

The counterculture goes mainstream in this emblematic Vietnam-era classic. There would have been no Easy Rider without Roger Corman’s controversial but popular Hell’s Angels movie, which set the trend for a plethora of drive-in biker pictures over the following decade. Peter Bogdanovich contributed some second unit direction as well as tinkering with Chuck Griffith’s screenplay. Peter…

William Wellman’s grueling depression-era film takes full advantage of its pre-code status. Starring Frankie Darrow as a high school dropout who hops a rail car to make ends meet, the 1933 movie fairly embraces dicey subjects like prostitution, rape and grisly death scenes. Based on a story by Daniel Ahearn with the far more appropriate title, “Desperate…

Sam Peckinpah’s blood-flecked classic was a box office disaster in its Vietnam-era day, but has come to be recognized as one of the all-time greats, a brilliant portrait of the end of an era of tough S.O.Bs made by…well, a tough S.O.B.

Designed for the bottom of drive-in double-bills, this rags-to-rocker saga stars Arch Hall Jr. as a pompadoured rube who becomes an instant sensation on a low-rent American Bandstand knockoff and heartbreak, naturally, ensues. Grunge auteur Ray Dennis Steckler directs and costars (as “Cash Flagg”).

Two great Swedish directors, Ingmar Bergman and Victor Sjöström, collaborate on the story of an embittered old professor who makes his peace with the present by concentrating on the past. Sjöström plays the crusty physician and a few of Bergman’s stock company are on hand including Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin and Max Von Sydow. Now…

AIP toppers were floored by the unexpectedly positive reviews this lightning-in-a-bottle satire garnered in the volatile political world of 1968. The right movie at the right moment, it captured the mood of a country in crisis and propelled star Christopher Jones into a short-lived mainstream career that included a starring role in David Lean’s “Ryan’s…

Six outrageous revenge fantasies suggesting a grotesquely funny fusion of Luis Buñuel and Monty Python make up this anthology from Argentine director Damián Szifrón. The 2014 release, co-produced by Pedro Almodóvar (whose wicked sense of humor looms over the production), features a stellar ensemble cast and startlingly vivid cinematography from Javier Julia. Szifrón’s film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign…

The Fourth Wall is broken early and often in Frank Tashlin’s wacked-out follow-up to The Girl Can’t Help It, which bears little resemblance to the Broadway play it’s based on but is still a heck of a lot of fun. 1950s “culture” is skewered mercilessly, especially television–at times it looks like this was produced directly…

Contemporary critics point to Rock Hunter as the apex of Tashlin’s filmmaking style and the movie that set the stage for Godard’s brightly colored blend of pop culture and political grandstanding. It’s a reasonable case; in true Godardian fashion, Rock Hunter  eschews the traditional title sequence and instead opens with a series of faux-commercials skewering both mindless consumerism and the advertising age….

One of the strangest and darkest children’s films ever made, this shot-in-Bavaria adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book (he hated the movie) features what may be Gene Wilder’s greatest performance. Would make a great double bill with Dr. Seuss’s The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (which he hated as well).

The first of eight collaborations between noir specialist Anthony Mann and a newly flinty James Stewart, this psychological western exudes corrosive post-war anxiety. It also trailblazed a groundbreaking profit participation deal (engineered by Stewart’s agent Lew Wasserman) that transformed the industry. Dan Duryea shines in a classic bad guy performance that defined his career.

This spectacular documentary follows a Norwegian sailing ship on its voyage from Oslo to the east coast of the US and back. It was produced in Cinemiracle, a curved-screen process similar to Cinerama which was retired after this initial outing and bought out by Cinerama. Brian Trenchard-Smith explains the differences between the presentations and why…

Paranoia reigns supreme in William Richert’s blackly comic conspiracy theory extravaganza which connects patriarchs, technology and assassins in a potent Cold war fable that’s as crazy as it is prescient. Hardly seen during its initial release, it has since engendered a small but dedicated following on video.

“Be careful what you wish for” is the appropriate tag line for this Wes Craven-produced mix of fairy tales and slasher films, at the very least a unique twist on the horror genre. Andrew Divoff plays an evil genie let loose to terrorize antiquarian Tammy Lauren and a supporting cast of beloved B-movie stars including…

The first film in director Bruce Robinson’s (so far) four-film canon is virtually unknown in the US but a true cult item in Britain, telling the story of two down and out ’60s actors driving each other crazy at a country cottage. Unclassifiably oddball, it’s an actors’ showcase best enjoyed with a few drinks. Witty,…

Low budget but playful science fiction about an alien invasion and the small-towners who hunt them down. The real attraction isn’t the seven foot tall monster but the feisty band of geriatric vigilantes comprised of Martin Landau, Ralph Meeker, Cameron Mitchell and – the cherry on top – Jack Palance.

Billy Wilder’s trademark sardonicism lends welcome bite and wit to this twisting, turning murder mystery from Agatha Christie. As the man accused of killing a rich widow Tyrone Power is a ball of lethargy. Fortunately Wilder focuses on the terrific Charles Laughton as the barrister hired to defend Power and Elsa Lanchester (Laughton’s real-life wife) as the…

A lot of laundering had to be done to Clare Boothe Luce’s 1936 all-female play to satisfy the Hollywood production code, but the result was considered an improvement. This all-star MGM catfight is one of the gems of that fabled movie year 1939. A 1956 musical remake, The Opposite Sex, added men to the cast,…

Oliver Reed (who was once considered to replace Sean Connery as James Bond) had already played Debussy and Rossetti for director Ken Russell in a couple of his BBC biopics, and went on to topline his greatest film, The Devils. The director’s usual flamboyance is somewhat muted in his third theatrical feature, resulting in his…

Frank Capra was known for such upstanding, optimistic films (“Capra-corn” to the critics) that his lone Christmas-themed film must have come as a real shock to ticket buyers. It’s A Wonderful Life has its cheery side for sure, but it also contains moments so bleak it makes some film noirs look like Mary Poppins. A…

Frank Capra was known for such upstanding, optimistic films (“Capra-corn” to the critics) that his lone Christmas-themed film must have come as a real shock to ticket buyers. It’s a Wonderful Life has its cheery side for sure, but it also contains moments so bleak it makes some film noirs look like Mary Poppins. A…

Michael Wadleigh’s game-changing document of the 500,000 strong 1969 New York music festival exists in so many different versions it’s almost impossible to keep track of them. But all have influenced documentarians for decades as well as providing a lasting income source for Time Warner.

Mike Nichols puts a glossy 80’s spin on what is essentially the plot of a Warner Bros. potboiler from the 30’s. Melanie Griffith plays the feisty career gal who stands up to a platoon of industry ogres to get what’s rightfully hers. Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Spacey and Oliver Platt are among the corporate creeps while…

Peter Sellers is the titular self-absorbed pianist, but George Roy Hill’s charming, bittersweet‚ film belongs to the two young girls who idolize him. New York City at its most attractive is almost a character in itself, thanks to Boris Kaufman’s sparkling cinematography. Here is a 2012 New Yorker recap of the later events in the lives of the…