Articles by Glenn Erickson

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Columbia Noir # 5 Humphrey Bogart

This grouping of Bogart's Columbia output has one bona fide noir, a pair of exotic 'romantic intrigue' thrillers and three social issue…

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Love Slaves of the Amazons

"Woman Warriors in Brutal Death Battle!"  This adventure thriller has no reputation to speak of, and is mainly notable as a strange…

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Shaft 4K

Richard Roundtree's two-fisted detective tale burst on the scene announcing that a craze called Blaxploitation was on the way. No matter that…

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Pastor Hall

Kudos to Powerhouse Indicator for releasing this dramatic propaganda piece based on an actual German churchman imprisoned for refusing to kowtow to…

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The Tales of Hoffmann

The term 'filmed opera' in no way describes this phantasmagoria. Powell & Pressburger re-envisions the Offenbach work with dance sequences refracted through…

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True Romance 4K

The edgy screenplay for this flashy, rough-edged 'lovers, drugs & guns' saga served to jump-start Quentin Tarantino's movie career; he's identified it…

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Killer’s Kiss 4K

Ultra HD puts Stanley Kubrick's second feature film in a new light -- his B&W images of New York lend a 'Weegee'…

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The Foreign Adventurism Western

What happens the moment gunmen go South of the border in American westerns?  Implied foreign policy, that's what!  Updating an old 'MGM…

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Raiders of the Lost Ark 4K

4K discs are selling like hotcakes so it's only natural for studios to give Home Theater fanatics the biggest vintage blockbusters. George…

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The Guilty + High Tide

The Film Noir Foundation puts across more impressive rescues in concert with the UCLA Film and Television Archive: a pair of independently-produced…

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The Untouchables 4K

This big screen, big star crowd-pleaser is a whopping entertainment yet too disjointed to satisfy as a gangster movie. It can ignore…

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The Clock

Vincente Minnelli took a break from musicals to feature Judy Garland in the first movie to show her dramatic acting range, a…

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Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema VII

Kino's Noir boxes offer interesting noir-adjacent crime and mystery pix. This seventh return to the well of darkness brings up the organized…

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The Horse Soldiers

Despite its so-so critical reputation John Ford's cavalry picture is still a superior Civil War drama, making excellent use of a real…

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Across 110th Street

Gritty inner city crime pix don't get any rougher than this -- I witnessed the walk-outs personally. Barry Shear and a crack…

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The Carey Treatment

Most noted for its troubled production background, this hospital-set murder thriller turns a doctor into a detective: James Coburn's medico undertakes an…

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Sacco & Vanzetti

Welcome to Ground Zero for 'Committed Cinema' Italian style. Director Giuiano Montaldo filmed his dream project on location in Ireland and a…

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Ilya Muromets

Accept no substitutes!  Aleksandr Ptushko's fairy-tale folk hero saga is the real deal in medieval spectacle. When the nation calls, warriors rise…

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The Counterfeit Traitor

George Seaton connected an ideal cast to this true-life WW2 story so good that a lazy script and slack direction can't sink…

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Double Indemnity 4K

It's back and Criterion's got it, so be prepared for sharp-talking insights on Billy Wilder's nearly flawless, cinema-changing ode to cold-blooded murder,…

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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 4K

What a great title to revisit -- John Ford's 'Kabuki' western is less about action and more about form and tradition --…

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)

In just her fourth American movie the Swedish import Ingrid Bergman proves herself the most sensual creature in Hollywood, running away with…

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Mr. Klein

Expatriate blacklistee Joseph Losey is the perfect director for this excellent, strange tale, a big award winner in France. The terrible Occupation-era…

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Some Like It Hot 4K

This knockout comedy rates as one of Hollywood's funniest ever -- although it could be 'cancelled' any day now, so get ready…

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Murphy’s War

Peter Yates' excellent war-movie follow-up to Bullitt landed in the wrong year: the beautifully produced and directed action thriller was barely seen…