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
One of Humphrey Bogart’s most famous films, and the one where he flirts with Lauren Bacall whenever they are on screen. This has always been Casablanca Lite, in my book. Both films have heavy atmosphere, quirky characters, a piano-playing pal, Nazis, a world-weary American who doesn’t want to dirty his hands with current politics. To … More To Have And Have Not (1944)
What can you say about this classic film that hasn’t been said in the past 70 years? It’s a spectacular film of greed and betrayal, the loss of sanity and the outer bounds of trust. Shamefully, I admit to only recently seeing the film from start to finish. I’ve watched it twice now, simply to … More The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Humphrey Bogart had a prolific and legendary film career. He had 82 film credits so there were many films to consider. He specialized in no-nonsense, hard-boiled roles where he usually wielded a gun and you didn’t dare backtalk him. Dames tended to fall hard for him, but he often had no patience or time for … More Favorite Bogart Films
