CineSavant
The Farmer’s Daughter
A solid mainstream hit for 1947, Loretta Young and Joseph Cotten's political fairy tale maintains its charm despite the usual populist dodges…
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Fear of the Velvet Curtain
BURT REYNOLDS (1936-2018) AND DELIVERANCE
This past week Burt Reynolds, perhaps the most self-deprecating movie star to ever cruise to box-office domination, died during a hospital stay…
CineSavant
The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick's magnum opus fully expresses what might be called his 'Unified Theory' of cinema -- which embraces the human experience from…
CineSavant
Bronson Caverns, the Hidden Hollywood Location
Let’s take a trip back to Bronson Caverns, but with new and better photos! Once you visit this hiding-in-plain-sight Hollywood location, you’ll…
Allan Arkush: Music & Stories
The Who at The Fillmore
I was very gratified by all the positive responses to my monologue of Fillmore East memories. While I was organizing my notes…
CineSavant
First Reformed
Paul Schrader's austere, intense thriller is billed as a return to the director's 'transcendental' roots, although we suspect he never really left…
CineSavant
Missing (Region B)
Costa-Gavras' superlative political thriller begins with a skeptical attitude, but soon pulls viewers into the depth and breadth of a monstrous political…
CineSavant
Creature From the Black Lagoon Complete Legacy Collection
It's controversy in the Black Lagoon! Universal releases a much-desired box of all three Gill Man epics -- but goes cheap on…
CineSavant
The Naked and the Dead
One of the splashier WW2 combat sagas adapts Norman Mailer's respected book but ends up a bona fide mess. Aldo Ray, Cliff…
Allan Arkush: Music & Stories
Fillmore East
50 years ago, the Fillmore East opened. I was there the day it opened as a customer and many times after that…
CineSavant
Strait-Jacket
The planets aligned in 1964 as William Castle’s Strait-Jacket premiered in January and Susan Sontag’s Notes on Camp was published later that…
CineSavant
The Hot Rock
Donald Westlake's lovably luckless crook John Dortmunder is brought to life by Robert Redford, in a lightweight crime caper engineered by top…
CineSavant
Ministry of Fear
Fritz Lang's third wartime anti-Nazi film is an Alfred Hitchcock-type spy chase taken from a psychological novel by Graham Greene, with the…
CineSavant
Gloria
"Come on, come on, I'd love it -- don't hang back!" dares Gloria Swenson, brandishing a gun at three mobsters that know…
CineSavant
The Horror of Party Beach
Favorite camp hilarity -- a drive-in kick when new, Del Tenney's gloppy monsters 'n' bikinis epic has persevered as a nutty exemple…
Allan Arkush: Music & Stories
Aretha
Like everyone else I know, I’ve been thinking about Aretha Franklin, and how much her music meant to me. There has been…
CineSavant
Filmworker
Stanley Kubrick had a dedicated assistant, and not one who simply held the master’s cinematic paintbrushes. He staffed research, production, post-production and…
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The Shape of Water
Miracle of miracles -- last year's Best Picture Oscar went to a genuine monster movie! Guillermo del Toro's overachieving Gill Man spectacle…
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The Last Hunt
Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger shine in Richard Brooks' engaging drama about the grim slaughter of the Buffalo -- a fairly appalling…
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Trapeze
Top stars Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida earn their keep in Carol Reed's powerful tale of ambition and excellence performing…
CineSavant
Hammer Vol. 3 – Blood and Terror
Powerhouse Indicator continues its series of exotic attractions from the house of Hammer -- productions that found ways to shock audiences newer…
CineSavant
Memories of Underdevelopment
Perhaps the top cinematic output of Cuban filmmaking is this investigation of a man that doesn't embrace the revolution. Wishing to remain…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
THE DESERT HEART OF CHARLEY VARRICK
Had I not recently revisited Don Siegel’s dusty, nail-hard crime thriller Charley Varrick, in fact just the night before seeing Hou Hsiao-hsien’s…
CineSavant
Deep Rising
Let's hear it for 'undiscriminating' audiences, the kind that want nothing more in a movie than a hundred minutes of combat action,…
CineSavant
The Cat O’ Nine Tails
Dario Argento's second murder whodunnit is less stylized but almost as enjoyable as his first, Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Reporter James…