Until Buddy Holly and then The Beach Boys, Beatles, Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan, performers were less likely to write their own material. Songwriting was lucrative, but in those days, publishers and producers generally got the lion’s share of the profits as artists tended to lose control of their songs through poor publishing and management … More Songwriters: 1960s
I am a fan of film credits/opening sequences. In film history, they served to give the audience information and set the story, often in a very creative way. Three of my favorite opening sequence designers are Saul Bass (Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger), Maurice Binder (James Bond) and Pablo Ferro (Stanley Kubrick, Steve McQueen). Film title … More Film Titles: Classics
No Time to Die is not a bad film. Strip away the CGI and expensive appearance and you have an old fashioned spy film: too serious, incomprehensible and full of unrestrained violence. No Time to Die is dressed up for the new world order. Full disclosure: I grew up watching Bond films and own most … More Goodbye Mr. Bond
“I grew up in a family where to be ‘a Mankiewicz‘ really meant you had to be somebody.” – Tom Mankiewicz The Mankiewicz Family is an interesting tale of the American Dream. This is obviously my second blog on the family (part 2, get it?). Tom Mankiewicz was part of the third generation of the … More The Mankiewicz Family (Tom Mankiewicz): Part 2
Tina Turner sang the song, “We Don’t Need Another Hero” in one of the Mad Max films. The least interesting one in the series. So, with the release of Daniel Craig’s last James Bond film, having turned in his tuxedo and parked the Aston Martin, there certainly is speculation of what’s next in the Bond … More James Bond: Now Hiring
I am going to present you two stacks of DVDs (no Blu-ray disks mixed in). You are going on a trip and these are the only entertainment you will have. No TV, cable or internet. Which one would you choose? No trading between stacks. Stack 1 Roman Holiday (1953) – Reporter Gregory Peck and Princess … More DVDs: Which Stack?
Robert Shaw was an incredible actor. For film fans, there are about five or six key films associated with him. He is a bit like Richard Burton as an actor, remembered for being a tremendous stage actor, a few really good film roles, but unfortunately a lot of schlock. Shaw logged many stage roles in … More Robert Shaw Remembered
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
Ninety years is a nice long life, but you could not imagine the original James Bond ever really dying. Sean Connery was like John Wayne, larger than life and damn near immortal. Connery spent the last 17 years out of the public eye, acting in 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as his last film. … More Sean Connery Remembered
After writing about Sean Connery and my favorite Bond films he starred in, I will rank Roger Moore’s Bond films. Moore was a dapper gentleman, perfect for the wide lapels and long sideburns of the 1970s. It’s hard to think of Connery in The Spy Who Loves Me or Moore in Goldfinger. The Bond stories … More Ranking Roger: His Bond Films
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