Retired Secret Service Agent Clint Hill has a unique place in history. He provided protection for Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford, was also in charge of protection for Vice President Spiro Agnew. He was with President Kennedy in Dallas, and can be seen … More Clint Hill: My Travels With Mrs. Kennedy
A lot of people saw The Deer Hunter, it won several Academy Awards including a Best Picture Oscar and was the talk of 1978, for a variety of reasons. Heaven’s Gate would only win Razzie and Stinker Awards, and is often credited with sinking a movie studio. This blog is a tale of a director … More Michael Cimino, The Deer Hunter and Heaven’s Gate
Some of the best stories are of a flawed protagonist who exhibits complexity of personality and reveals himself (or herself) to have a pivotal moment(s) where their character undergoes an unexpected action, yet they remain true to their basic moral fabric. What this is not: a fairytale moment of metamorphosis of The Grinch suddenly growing … More Good Guy/Bad Guy
Reimagining a few old classics with the downbeat 1970s vibe… If Cary Grant had romanced Grace Kelly and really stolen her jewels and broken her heart, but escaped to live a tortured life – it would have been a 1970s version of To Catch a Thief. If Humphrey Bogart had been shot and killed while … More Film Romance in the 1970s
Tough guy Jean-Claude Van Damme was quite a successful actor during the 1980s and 1990s, his films were international hits. Since then, the quality and success of his films have taken a nosedive. I noticed his series (Jean-Claude Van Johnson) on Prime, a fictionalization of his real life. I tuned in to watch an episode, … More Van Damme
The Marksman (2021) is Liam Neeson’s latest action film. I thought he said was not going to make these kind of films anymore. If this is his coda on action films, it’s a sour note. Neeson is the new Clint Eastwood, the craggy, soft-talking, hero from left field. This field has been plowed to a … More More Liam Neeson
You might not recognize the name, but you would the face and his muscular physique. Actor William Smith is now 88 years old, has been a mainstay on television and screen for six decades. Smith has been a favorite of mine since Laredo, and I’ve followed his career since. I always felt he never got … More William Smith
A better actor. Name one. Okay, name one who has played a more diverse set of characters? For my money, Tommy Lee Jones is at the top of his profession. Starring role or character role, keep your eyes on him. Good guy, bad guy, comic book character, grieving father, space cowboy. Here are a dozen … More Tommy Lee Jones
The third Dirty Harry film and the best one. The first film in the series is beyond film criticism, it is revered, a cultural icon, so good, bad or otherwise, is a film classic. The Enforcer is not better made, but it is a balance between all of the independent atomic materials of Dirty Harry. … More The Enforcer (1976)
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