After discussing Buster Keaton’s life in Part 1, I decided to take a more specific look at some of his films. Keaton the man and Keaton the filmmaker are difficult to view separately. Keaton may not have been born onstage, but he grew up there and was a born performer. The film legacy of Keaton … More Buster Keaton – Part 2
What a life. What a talent. Typical of many silent stars, Buster Keaton’s film success did not fully translate to the sound era. The image many of us have of Keaton is the stone-faced guy doing impossible stunts in silent films or the old guy in the pork pie hat chasing girls in bikinis in … More Buster Keaton – Part 1
The last thing I saw the late actor William Hurt in was the Prime series Goliath. He played a successful, but corrupt former law partner of the Billy Bob Thornton character.The nastiness, torment and flaws fit Hurt’s acting talent perfectly. Hurt played a lot of complicated characters, maybe because of the acting challenge, or because … More William Hurt Remembered
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
I had never heard of Red Stone, a crime thriller, released at the end of 2021. Every film director of tough-guy films hopes to be tagged as noir; you know, the stuff dreams are made of. Red Stone is a gritty, violent film that weaves two stories together. Usually when that happens in an action … More Modern Film Noir: Red Stone
Trust. Communication. Bill Murray. Laura and Dean are a married couple struggling with life – professional, personal and family. The film begins with their romantic wedding and immediately shifts to a scene a few years later that shows how challenging it is to maintain that hot passion. Their lives are busy with young kids, a … More On the Rocks (2021)
Many people remember the film as the one where Marilyn Monroe‘s dress is blown up to reveal her legs and undergarments. That was a big deal in the Eisenhower 50s. Well, the effect had hundreds of spectators gawking and husband Joe DiMaggio fuming to the point Monroe ended the marriage. And they weren’t even married … More The Seven Year Itch (1955)
It seems like everything is celebrating 50 years. I never imagined that I would be old enough to remember anything 50 years old. That would make me….older than 50. I read an an interview with the semi-reclusive Gene Hackman, who won his first Academy Award playing Popeye Doyle and became an A-list leading man with … More The French Connection: 50 Years
Life, distilled down to its essence is: Love and pain and everything in between. Stated differently, Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing, which happens to be a film title from when dinosaurs lived in the neighborhood, or at least when bell-bottom trousers were fashionable. T-Rex did not wear them, those small arms could … More Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing
Ticket 2 Ride 
You must be logged in to post a comment.