I just finished a three-session film class on Alfred Hitchcock. Over six hours, we tried to digest his remarkable career. Of course, it helps to have seen most of his films and much of his television anthology series. Hitchcock is a lot of things, personality, auteur, mystery and macabre storyteller, and great observer of life. … More Hitchcock by the Decade
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
Different words to describe a remarkable sensory experience. The viewing experience has changed as the movie theater is no longer needed. Cable and the internet have made the movie theater unnecessary, or at least not required. The Saturday matinee or date night no longer are confined to “going out.” Prior to the Pandemic, the traditional … More Movies, Film, Cinema and Motion Pictures
Film noir is an exciting genre of the cinema and includes some of the best films ever made. Dark, mysterious, foreboding, psychological, often violent. It was a genre popular after World War II, into the 1950s, usually shot in black and white to help convey the darker emotional tone of the subject matter. If you … More Almost Noir
George Segal passed away this year. A working actor right up to the end, Segal had a relatively brief tenure as a leading man, but managed to find featured roles long after many leading men faded from memory. I wrote this blog about Segal and Elliott Gould, two actors who did not seem to take … More Remembering George Segal
English film director John Boorman’s high point was Deliverance, although he made some interesting films prior to and after that notable film. Boorman came from television and his body of film work is not huge, so his name is not as well-known as his contemporaries, yet he managed to helm some riveting story of human … More John Boorman: Beyond Deliverance
Before Robert Downey, Jr. was a superhero, he was a pretty good actor. Unfortunately, he was treading water in films that most people no longer remember. But a funny thing happened, this film led to his partnership with actor/director Jon Favreau and Iron Man. Along came Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a tongue-in-cheek film about film … More Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Private detectives or private eyes, as they were stylishly called in Golden Age of Hollywood, have been screen heroes and anti-heroes since the early days. Sherlock Holmes, Sam Spade, Hercule Poirot, Philip Marlowe, Mike Hammer, Lew Harper, Nero Wolfe, V.I. Warshawski, Peter Gunn, Joe Mannix, Jim Rockford, Thomas Magnum – all fictional detectives for hire. … More Night Moves Revisited
My Three Sons or The Absent Minded Professor, these are the images that most people have of Fred MacMurray. He actually had a film career that began in the 1920s, gained featured parts in the mid-1930s and was once the highest paid film actor. MacMurray started as a saxophone player, something that would reappear in … More Fred MacMurray
Twelve films. A few classics, some that are very good, and the rest that are fun to watch. I reached far back for a few of these. I will explain the film and why it makes my list. The Lady From Shanghai (1948) Orson Welles swung and missed, he failed to get a box … More A Dozen Forgotten Films
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