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
He is best remembered as Felix Unger on television, a co-star in Doris Day-Rock Hudson films, and a raconteur on late night talk shows like David Letterman. Tony Randall was much more than that. Even into his 80s, he was fit, energetic, sharp and fathered two children with his young wife. Randall was a revered … More Tony Randall Remembered
The question mark is about his career. His personal life is, well, all over the tabloids. That’s not my focus here. Johnny Depp the actor was hotter than hot: big salaries and top of the list projects. Then his career sprung a leak and it now resembles the Titanic. Somewhere around the time of the … More Johnny Depp?
The Lethal Weapon star never really went away, although after some well-publicized personal issues, he lowered his profile and studios distanced themselves, at least temporarily. Between a domestic issue, bitter custody fight, drunk driving arrest and an ugly anti-sematic rant, Gibson had a difficult several years. Those things would have buried most people, but in … More Mel Gibson is Back
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
The successful 1949 film about World War II bomber crews was turned into a television series (1965-1967). Gregory Peck starred as Gen. Frank Savage in the film, commander of the Army Air Corps 918 Bomb Group. Savage is also a B-17 pilot, flying daylight missions over Europe in 1942. Savage is assigned to take over … More Twelve O’clock High
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
John Belushi was a complicated person; then again, he wasn’t. His rise to fame was staggering, but short- circuited by raging inner demons that fed off his success. Belushi had an insatiable appetite for all things good and bad. The facts about his life are well-known, so Belushi adds context and personalizes the man behind … More Belushi (2020)
The best of the John Sayles films, which is saying a lot. Sayles is an auteur of independent films. He wrote, directed and edited LoneStar. It all start with two off-duty soldiers finding human bones on an abandoned Army rifle range looking for old bullets. Then a sheriff’s star is discovered among the bones. It … More LoneStar (1996)
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