This is not a good Abbott and Costello film. This was apparently an independent film made by Bud and Lou away from Universal Studios.
It seems Bud and Lou are on a diamond hunt in Africa. They run into lions, cannibals, and a guy in a gorilla costume. The studio set is the usual phony jungle plants. The comedic situations are to put it mildly very lame. The whole thing just seems tired.
The film runs a long 79 minutes, it was written by Earl Baldwin.
A masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick. An antiwar film that is actually an antiwar film without resorting to glorified action scenes which in other antiwar films dilute the whole point of an antiwar film which is to be against war.
The cast is also very impressive with old pros like Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready and the eccentric actor Timothy Carey giving excellent performances. Douglas's production company has a screen credit and he made it possible for film to get the film made.
The film runs 88 minutes. The screenplay was by Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson.
This is one funny black comedy. The film which was written by Robert Zemeckis and his writing partner Robert Gale centers around the battle between two very sleazy used car dealers. If the film wasn't so likeable and funny I hate to think how it could have turned out.
Kurt Russell is the lead salesman going to war against Jack Warden. Russell is ably assisted by Gerritt Graham and Frank McRae. Also in some crazy casting choices, Al (Grandpa) Lewis shows up as a judge, Dub Taylor is a slimy politician and blink and you'll miss him, everyone's genre favorite actor Dick Miller.
This is probably the best film Robert Zemeckis made. His career has seemed to degenerate into a series of overblown special effects films lacking the wit and fun that he brought to this film.
Running time 113 minutes.
Robert Mitchum is a machine gun packing priest, or is he? This is one nutty western. He's mixed up in a rebellion in Mexico when he would rather be robbing banks.
Ralph Nelson is the director and he doesn't appear to have a hand on the story. Apparently the film was plagued with production problems.
The film sequels from one crazy scene to another. Still it's entertaining and has an interesting cast which includes Frank Langella, Victor Buono, Rita Hayworth and John Colicos.
Ralph Nelson and Jack Higgins wrote the screenplay the film runs 111 minutes.
A classic romance from Ernest Lubitsch, James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan are employees at a shop in Budapest. They can't stand each other at work but unbeknownst to them they are secret pen pals carrying on a romance by mail. That's pretty much the plot of this incredibly charming film.
If you are interested in the famous "Lubitsch Touch" it's usually in reference to his sly way of conveying sex on screen during the 1940's. However Lubitsch was equally good at coaxing fine performances out of his cast. In this case he managed to keep James Stewart's shtick under control and actually got a warm and affecting performance out of him. The rest of the cast is equally good, Frank Morgan usually remembered as the Wizard from the Wizard of Oz film gives a very touching performance as the owner of the shop.
Lubitsch always closely supervised his writers, in this case his long time collaborator Samson Raphaelson. The film runs 99 minutes. A real winner of a film.
Walter Hill kept trying to keep the western genre film alive after it had probably died off in the 1970's for the most part. The film is based on the events that led to the surrender of Native American Chief Geronimo to the United States Army.
The film's emphasis is on one of the Army's Lieutenants, Charles Gatewood a real life character who actually persuaded Geronimo to surrender to the United States government.
As with all Walter Hill films, this is meticulously made and has a very good cast which includes Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Jason Patric and Matt Damon in a very early role in his career.
The film has a real feel for the American Southwest. It was written by John Milius and Larry Gross, the running time is 115 minutes.
New York City filmmaker Sidney Lumet directed this rather clever crime thriller. The film stars Sean Connery as master criminal Duke Anderson who is planning a big heist in an upper class Manhattan apartment complex. Unknown to Anderson, his every move is being monitored by lots of illegal government wiretaps. As Duke Anderson plans the heist every move he makes is being recorded.
As usual Sidney Lumet has a good feel for the New York City atmosphere. This is unsurprising since he was a native New Yorker. Lumet is also working with a pretty good screenplay from Frank Pierson.
The actual heist itself is very exciting as the criminals have to match wits with the NYPD.
The film runs 99 minutes, it was a critical and financial disappointment but I think time has improved it's reputation.
There is just not a lot you can say about this film. Sam Peckinpah took on the film to show that he was still employable. Peckinpah's drug and alcohol abuse had seriously affected the later part of his career.
As it is a few of the action scenes come off, but overall the film is a disappointment.
The running time is 103 minutes, the screenplay was by Peter S Davis and William N. Panzer with contributions from Peckinpah.
A starring vehicle for the always unlikely movie star Charles Bronson. Breakheart Pass is adopted from the novel of the same name by the author Alistair MacLean.
The film looks good, it was photographed by Lucien Ballard who did his best work in the western genre with Sam Peckinpah. It was final film from 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator "Yakima" Canutt. The director was Tom Gries a competent film director.
If you've seen or read any Alistair MacLean thrillers you can expect lots of twists intermixed with action and Breakheart Pass follows his usual formula.
The film has a good cast of old pros, Richard Crenna, Ben Johnson, Charles Durning, Ed Lauter and as usual Bronson's wife Jill Ireland. It runs a quick 95 minutes.
John Ford's film about racism in the United States Cavalry has got a few issues to put it mildly. The screenplay is a hodgepodge of murder mystery, western and a comment on racism in the United States. The film also has a lot of actors really chewing the scenery along with Ford's goofy humor.
Another issue is the casting of African American actor Woody Strode as Sergeant Rutledge who is accused of raping and murdering a white girl. Strode looks great but he really struggles to act.
Setting all of that aside, it's still a good film. It brings up a number of interesting points about racism in the United States and Ford frequently marshals his visual skills particularly during the court martial trial sequences to keep the film moving along.
Finally, this is a John Ford film and the majority of his films are for the most part interesting and worthwhile viewing. He was one of the old masters of film making.
James Warner Beliah and Willis Goldbeck wrote the original screenplay the film runs 111 minutes
A remake of the Douglas Fairbanks silent film and every bit as good. Tyrone Power is the Robin Hood of old Los Angeles Zorro. The film is basically a rob from the rich and give to the poor tale but it is made with a lot of skill.
Rouben Mamoulian directed and Daryl F. Zanuck produced this picture, two Hollywood legends who at this point in their career couldn't do a whole lot wrong.
The film had one of Fox's biggest stars in Tyrone Power. The love interest was played by Linda Darnell and Basil Rathbone played the villain. In real life Rathbone was apparently an expert fencer and it shows, the sword fighting scenes are very exciting.
The cinematography was by one of Hollywood's best cameramen Arthur Miller. John Taintor Foote wrote the screenplay. The film runs 94 minutes.
A Raymond Chandler mystery so entertaining that anyone watching this film and trying to follow the plot will have their hands full. The film is so confusing it has a murder in it that is unaccounted for.
This was the second teaming of Howard Hawks, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Bacall's career was in trouble after appearing in a picture called Confidential Agent which turned out to be a real stinker. Hooking up with Hawks and Bogart again turned out to be a very smooth move on the part of her agent.
Hawks is at his peak period here, directing actors and getting the best out of them. Bogart has another career defining role as detective Phillip Marlowe who is as good with a wise crack as a gun. Besides Bacall who is at her sultry best as Vivian Rutledge there is a nymphomaniac sister Carmen, played by Martha Vickers who is very good but had her part cut down to emphasize Bacall.
Mention should be made of the actor Charles Waldron playing the father of Bacall and Vickers. It's a short part but really memorable.
Hawks did a good job putting this film together but it doesn't hurt to have three top screenwriters, William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman working on your screenplay. The film runs 114 minutes.
Marlon Brando parodies his Don Corleone role from The Godfather. He's pulling the strings of a NYU film student well played by Matthew Broderick. Brando gets Broderick involved in delivering a Komodo Dragon to an exclusive dinner group looking to eat exotic animals.
The writer/director of this stuff is Andrew Bergman a talented guy who is a student of classic Hollywood comedy. Bergman is good at creating ridiculous situations and then sticking his actors in them as they attempt to unravel themselves from an ever growing and complicated plot.
The film runs 103 minutes in it and has some very funny stuff which includes some nutty sight gags with the Komodo Dragon.
Matthew
Enjoyable period crime film based on the exploits of a couple of New York City cops, David Greenberg and Robert Hantz. These two characters supposedly had one of the highest arrest records of any NYC cop at the time.
In real life Greenberg and Hantz were not really the good guys the film would have you believe but anyone expecting the absolute truth from any film which has the tag line "based on" should know better.
Running time 90 efficient minutes.
183 minutes of movie nerd heaven.
3 hours of scratchy beat up movie trailers with an enjoyable commentary from Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger, 2 guys who know way more about these films than they should.
Highly recommenced especially for movie geeks.
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