Cementing the Sidewalk Crew Where the Sidewalk Ends is a 1950 Film Noir starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney. The writers for the film were headed up by Ben Hecht (making his second appearance on our list after 1946′s Hitchock masterpiece Notorious). The wonderfully simmering, desperate musical score was composed by Cyril K. Mockridge, perhaps best know for his television work with the music for Lost in Space and his Academy Award nomination for Guys … Continue reading
In our continuing look at the 50 Gold Film Reels of L.A. Noire we now discuss 1945′s Detour, starring Ann Savage and Tom Neal. Detour is a brisk 68 minutes long and has classic elements of “B” Noir thrillers that popularized the genre. Detour was adapted by the writer of the novel of the same name, Martin Goldsmith. Austrian director Edgar G. Ulmer, born in the Czech Republic and raised in Vienna, did early work … Continue reading
Scarlet Street is a 1945 Film Noir from Austrian director Fritz Lang. Lang was a master of the dark genre of German Expressionism which lent itself so well to the Noir genre. The British Film Institute titled him as the Master of Darkness. Lang was best known for the still popular films, M and Metropolis. Films like these went on to inspire generations of filmmakers and their influences are still felt today. After emigrating from Germany, … Continue reading
Gun Crazy (originally called Deadly is the Female) is a 1950 Film-Noir from director Joseph H. Lewis and writer MacKinlay Kantor who wrote the screenplay based on his original work. An interesting side-note, Millard Kaufman received a co-credit as screenwriter. Kaufman was creator of Mr Magoo at the time and later, the popular Spencer Tracy led Film Noir, Bad Day at Black Rock. Kaufman actually had nothing to do with Gun Crazy. Kaufman “lent” his … Continue reading
Notorious is 65 years old this year (2011) and stands out to many individuals as one of Alfred Hitchock’s finest films. It intertwines multiples genre, the spy/espionage thriller and the film noir, while at the same time being the most overtly romantic of his films. In fact, though actually an extended scene of multiple kisses, in order to skirt the “Hollywood Code”, a famous scene with stars Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant has the couple … Continue reading
The Warrior’s Way from director and writer Sngmoo Lee receives a wide release this weekend. It stars an excellent Korean actor by the name of Jang Dong-gun, probably best known state-side for the Korean war epic film Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War. This is an English-language film and the supporting cast features Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Danny Huston and Tony Cox from Bad Santa. Now, before we briefly discuss the plot and specifics of the … Continue reading
I queued up 44 Inch Chest for a couple of reasons. The first being the amazing cast that it had listed, not the least of which are Ray Winstone and Ian McShane. The second reason would be that I have enjoyed many of the British Gangster films from the more recent The Limey and Sexy Beast, all the way back to the original Get Carter with Michael Caine. A Different British Gangster Film To compare … Continue reading
I have heard a lot of people talk about the The Last Starfighter as a “guilty pleasure”. I definitely won’t call it that. I have very few guilty pleasure in life as I feel no guilt for the things I have liked in my lifetime (well in film and music anyway…). The Last Starfighter is one of my favorite films from the 1980s and I still enjoy watching it to this day, perhaps 25 years … Continue reading
*Update* Treasure Island DVD review here! Update Treasure Island 1990 DVD Pre-orders now available!! Update information on the DVD Release here. A few of you know that I really enjoy the 1990 made for Turner Television movie Treasure Island. It stars a young Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins and Charlton Heston as Long John Silver. Treasure Island 1990 also features Oliver Reed as Captain Billy Bones and Christoper Lee as Blind Pew (and boy is … Continue reading
Hello, hope this day finds everyone well and enjoying some sunshine like we are doing today in Oregon. I watched the Inception film on Thursday and finally got around to posting my article today. I wanted to think about the film and discuss it with friends before I presented my thoughts. Check out the full Inception Film Review, I’ve given you a snippet below summarizing some of my feelings on the film, with regards to … Continue reading
