Three films, that’s all we need to appreciate the appeal and talent of Ava Gardner. A screen legend, certainly; beautiful and desirable, of course; and underestimated as an actress. If you only saw her late in her life, you got the remnants of her legend, but unfortunately not the full power of how she commanded … More A Look at Ava Gardner
This blog is a companion to my “Almost Noir” posting. I listed Eddie Muller as a noir expert, he is a film historian, host on TCM and keeper of the noir genre. Muller published a fascinating book on film noir, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, in 1998, and has updated and expanded … More Dark City: Film Noir
I had been kicking around the notion of writing about actor Martin Balsam for awhile, then fellow blogger Pete’s desert island film list mentioned him in several films. Balsam was a face everyone will recognize; his work lives on in his hundreds of appearances on the big and small screen. He was an actor’s actor. … More Martin Balsam: A Very Busy Character Actor
Who does not have an opinion of actor Brad Pitt? The old saying goes that women want to be with him and men want to like like him, or maybe some men want to be with him too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Pitt is now 57 years old, thankfully, most of us … More Brad Pitt: His Career Examined
On a rainy day or when you’re not feeling yourself, curling up with a movie is good company. Is it Love Story or The Dirty Dozen? In Sleepless in Seattle, there is actually a scene about guy movies, as a response to An Affair to Remember, which is pivotal to the plot of Sleepless in … More Comfort Movies
There are a handful of iconic 1960s Westerns, count The Professionals among them. This was one of the first “pick a ragtag group and send them on an impossible mission” films. Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster. That’s quite a crew. Based on a book, it was written for the screen and … More The Professionals (1966)
One of the strangest films I’ve ever seen. Based on a John Cheever story, this was not an easy adaptation for film. Cheever’s short story is about the convergence of fantasy and reality, a privileged life that was actually a happiness house-of-cards. The Swimmer was the story of a man who’s life has come apart, … More The Swimmer (1968): Burt Lancaster
The story begins with an odd but distinguished fellow arranging the death of an unseen person on a falling elevator. Next, a clergyman on a bicycle stops outside of an English country manor, the Bruttenholm estate, where a foxhunt is about to begin. This fellow looks oddly familiar. The film jumps to after the hunt where … More The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
The 1960’s was full of World War II films. Like Westerns, they were the action genre staple for TV and films. Fact or fiction, war films serve up plenty of action. The genre always fascinated me, not because I like war or the lives it destroys. Like Westerns, it is basically stories of good triumphing … More The Train (1964)
Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson. The tree of tough, cynical, idealistic and passionate leading men. For a span of 20 years, Lancaster, ruled the roast of flawed, but heroic characters who got, but didn’t always deserve what life gave them. Films didn’t always have happy endings, but they had to have well-written … More Burt Lancaster: Part II
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