Category Archives: Reviews

Concession Stand Bites: “The Legend of the Lone Ranger” (1981)

“The Legend of the Lone Ranger ” (1981)  Starring Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, Juanin Clay,  Jason Robards, Matt Clark, Christopher Lloyd. Directed by William A. Fraker. Written by Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts, Wiliam Roberts, Michael Kane & Jerry Derioshon. If one … Continue reading

Posted in movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Sam Peckinpah, Television, westerns, writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Black and White in Color: “In the Heat of the Night” (1967)

     “In the Heat of the Night”  (1967)     With “In the Heat of the Night” director Norman Jewison breaches the unconscionable commercial wall of denial concerning racial injustice by way of silence (born entirely of an industry … Continue reading

Posted in black cinema, book reviews, books, movie reviews, Movies, Mystery, racism, Reviews, Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier, writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Five Characters in Search of a Crime Scene: “Madonna of the Desert” (1948)

         “Madonna of the Desert”  (1948)      The slightness of “Madonna of the Desert” might not be evident to those who have never seen a motion picture of any kind. However, those with even minimal exposure … Continue reading

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Blood and Sand: “The Longest Day” (1962)

     “The Longest Day”   (1962) (Originally published June 23, 2013)     Darryl F. Zanuck’s monumental war epic depicting the events of the D-Day invasion of World War 2 has the disadvantage of not only following dozens of characters … Continue reading

Posted in 1960's cinema, drive-in cinema, Drive-In Movies, Film, Film Reviews, John Wayne, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Richard Burton, war movies, World War II | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “Where Does It Hurt?” (1972)

“Where Does It Hurt?” (1972) If Paddy Chayefsky’s attempt at satirizing the medical establishment fell short of the mark in Arthur Hiller’s “The Hospital” from the previous year, Rod Amateau’s rather loathsome burlesque “Where Does It Hurt?” arrives as a … Continue reading

Posted in books, comedy, medicine, Movies, Peter Sellers, Reviews, writing | Tagged | 2 Comments

What the Peeper Saw: “What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?” (1970)

          “What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?”  (1970)           Alan Funt’s “What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?” begins with the noted television Peeping Tom/provocateur fiddling with his surveillance equipment … Continue reading

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Still Lives: “Kärlekens Krigare” (2009)

     “Kärlekens Krigare”  (2009)     Simon Staho’s “Kärlekens Krigare” ( “Warriors of Love”) is an interesting  use of the limited regressive tools of filmmaking resulting by ignoring just over a century’s worth of accumulated advances in style and … Continue reading

Posted in art house cinema, movie reviews, Movies, photography, Reviews, Romance, Swedish cinema, women, writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion” (2001)

“The Curse of the Jade Scorpion”  (2001)  A veteran insurance investigator and a newly installed company efficiency expert trade barbs while they are unwittingly involved, due to post-hypnotic suggestions, in the very jewel robberies they themselves are investigating. With its … Continue reading

Posted in comedy, crime, Helen Hunt, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Romance, Woody Allen, writing | 1 Comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “Down and Dirty Duck” (1974)

“Down and Dirty Duck”  (1974)  Buoyed by the financial success of Ralph Bakshi’s X-rated animated feature “Fritz the Cat”, several attempts were made to legitimize a solid commercial market for adult oriented animated features. Though certainly not as technically proficient … Continue reading

Posted in animation, cartoons, comedy, humor, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, writing | 1 Comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “Don’t Breathe” (2016)

“Don’t Breathe”  (2016)  Yet another example of Skinner Box cinema, presenting an unremarkable event, in this instance a case of home invasion by a trio of thrill seekers, which spirals into a nightmare intended precisely for the audience to enjoy … Continue reading

Posted in crime, horror, Movies, Reviews, writing | 2 Comments

Curiouser and Curiouser: “The Curious Female” (1970)

         “The Curious Female”    (1970)     One might be sympathetic to the exploitation filmmaker who deems that gratuitous sex and nudity alone is insufficient to realize any but the most base of creative intentions and … Continue reading

Posted in erotica, Film Reviews, grindhouse, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, science fiction, sex, Sex in Cinema, women | Tagged | 2 Comments

Cold as Ice: “The Frozen Dead” (1966)

                 “The Frozen Dead”  (1966)      If one were take Hollywood’s version of history at face value, Germany’s defeat in World War II had little to do with the strangulation of resources … Continue reading

Posted in Drive-In Movies, horror, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, science fiction, women, World War II, writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Mud: “X the Unknown” (1956)

          “X the Unknown”  (1956)      For those interested in genre filmmaking, it is important to remember that in monster movies the world seems to be populated by citizens paralyzed with fright so intense it … Continue reading

Posted in British films, Drive-In Movies, Hammer films, horror, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, science fiction, writing | Tagged | 1 Comment

Performance Anxiety: “A Labor of Love” (1976)

        “A Labor of Love”  (1976)      In the early 1970s, with the emergence of Porno Chic as a passport for the average moviegoer to casually experience that which heretofore had been the patron territory of the … Continue reading

Posted in Documentaries, erotica, Film, movie reviews, Movies, photography, Porno Chic, Reviews, sex, Sex in Cinema, writing | Tagged | Leave a comment

No Smoking in Bed: “Fuego” (1969)

      “Fuego”  (1969)        One may accuse the cinematic works of Argentine actor-director Armando Bo of many things, but subtlety is not probable to be high on the list of likely suspects. In the initial clumsily executed … Continue reading

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Saturday in the Park: “The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film” (1959)

    “The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film” (1959)     Seldom does an inaugural short effort display as assiduously prescient a blueprint of the emergent talent of a major artist as does the Richard Lester-directed  “The Running Jumping … Continue reading

Posted in British films, comedy, movie sequels, Movies, Peter Sellers, Reviews, Richard Lester, short films, Spike Milligan, writing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Bad Habits: “Change of Habit” (1969)

      “CHANGE OF HABIT”     (1969)      One of the disillusioning truths of the American film industry is its cavalier willingness to disregard genuine and unique talent in favor of convenient formulaic utilitarianism; a primary example being … Continue reading

Posted in Elvis Presley, Film Reviews, movie reviews, Movies, religion, Reviews, women, writing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Chandler’s Trailers: “Keeping Up With the Joneses” (2016)

  “Keeping Up With the Joneses” (2016) A comedy which intermingles the movie-fed image of spies (i.e., those who carry on covert operations which seem to bring the greatest attention to themselves) with a Hollywood humorist’s vision of suburban America, “Keeping … Continue reading

Posted in comedy, espionage, Movies, Reviews, Romance, women, writing | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Farm Hands: “Jennie, Wife/Child” (1968)

     “Jennie, Wife/Child”   (1968)     For the advanced connoisseur of sexploitation sleaze, “Jennie, Wife/Child” is bound to disappoint. But for those truly interested in the cinema in all of its permutations, and the small, unexpected demonstrations of unheralded … Continue reading

Posted in Drive-In Movies, grindhouse, movie reviews, Movies, music, Reviews, Romance, women, writing | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Chandler’s Trailers : “The Nude Bomb” (1980)

 Television super spy Maxwell Smart makes a tepid motion picture debut in Clive Donner’s “The Nude Bomb”, an aimless exercise in demonstrating how smart (no pun intended) and tightly constructed the original “Get Smart” series was in comparison to the … Continue reading

Posted in comedy, espionage, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Sylvia Kristel, Television, writing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Lonelyhearts: “Play It Again, Sam” (1972)

  “Play It Again, Sam”  (1972)     It would seem like a smart move to begin the film version of Woody Allen’s theatrical opus “Play It Again, Sam” with the airport finale from”Casablanca”, as the difference in screen image between the … Continue reading

Posted in comedy, film noir, Humphrey Bogart, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Romance, theater, women, Woody Allen, writing | 4 Comments

Chandler’s Trailers: “Sex By Advertisement” (1968)

“Sex By Advertisement”  (1968)  Is it a mockumentary on the subject of “degenerate” sex, or simply another sleazy sexploitation film pretending to have social significance in order to elude prosecution? A little of both actually, though the former may be … Continue reading

Posted in erotica, Georgina Spelvin, grindhouse, Jennifer Welles, Movies, Reviews, sex, women, writing | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Knock Offs: “Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw” (1976)

       “Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw”  (1976)     When bored carhop Bobbie Jo Baker (Lynda Carter) asks charmless drifter Lyle Wheeler (Marjoe Gortner) who his hero is, the answer should be the more accurate “Clyde Barrow” rather than … Continue reading

Posted in crime, Drive-In Movies, Movies, Reviews, Romance, women, writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Screwballed: “What’s Up, Doc?” (1972)

                 “What’s Up, Doc?”  (1972)     When a popular genre fades away and then finds a sudden revival in even a singular vehicle, it is natural to consider whether the newer incarnation … Continue reading

Posted in Barbra Streisand, comedy, Movies, Reviews, Romance, writing | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Chandler’s Trailers: “The Holcroft Covenant” (1985)

The resurgence of the Third Reich seems to be popular sport for thriller novelists seeking an easily identifiable scapegoat for global chicanery, and nowhere has this premise been given a more haphazard treatment than in John Frankenheimer’s film of the … Continue reading

Posted in books, espionage, History, John Frankenheimer, Michael Caine, Movies, Mystery, Reviews, World War II, writing | 2 Comments

Lure of the Siren: “Carmen” (1915)

          “Carmen”  (1915)      If a proper movie translation of Prosper Mérimée’s novella “Carmen” is to be realized, the film must positively reek of earthiness; it must relay a passion so irresistible in its attraction … Continue reading

Posted in books, Cecil B. DeMille, History, Movies, Reviews, Romance, silent movies, women, writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Nakedly Revealing: “Oh! Calcutta!” (1972)

`           “Oh! Calcutta!”  (1972)     “In America, sex is an obsession. In other parts of the world, it’s a fact.”                             … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, dance, erotica, Film Reviews, movie reviews, Movies, Musicals, Reviews, sex, theater, writing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Concession Stand Bites: “The War Wagon” (1967)

“The War Wagon” (1967) Starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr. Bruce Cabot, Keenan Wynn. Written by Clair Huffaker, based on his novel. Directed by Burt Kennedy. Standard serio-comic western which places Wayne in the rare role … Continue reading

Posted in John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Movies, Reviews, westerns, writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Concession Stand Bites: “A Game of Death” (1945)

“A Game of Death” (1945) Starring John Loder, Audrey Long, Edgar Barrier, Russell Wade. Written by Norman Houston, based on the story by Richard Connell. Directed by Robert Wise. First remake of the classic “The Most Dangerous Game” finds big … Continue reading

Posted in books, fay wray, movie remakes, Movies, Reviews, Robert Wise, short stories, writing | 2 Comments

Concession Stand Bites: “Legend of the Lost” (1957)

“Legend of the Lost” (1957) Starring John Wayne, Sophia Loren, Rossano Brazzi, Kurt Kasnar. Written by Ben Hecht and Robert Presnell. Directed by Henry Hathaway. In Timbuktu, adventurer Joe January (Wayne) is hired by a mysterious man named Paul Bonnard … Continue reading

Posted in John Wayne, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Romance, Sophia Loren, women, writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Concession Stand Bites: “Slaughterhouse-Five” (1972)

“SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE” (1972) Starring Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, Valerie Perrine, Eugene Roche, Perry King, Kevin Conway. Directed by George Roy Hill. Written by Stephen Geller based on the novel by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. When the film of a seemingly unfilmable novel … Continue reading

Posted in books, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Romance, science fiction, World War II, writing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Concession Stand Bites: “Dracula” (1931)

“DRACULA” (1931) Starring Bela Lugosi, Dwight Frye, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Edward Van Sloane. Directed by Tod Browning and an uncredited Karl Freund. Written by Garret Ford, from the play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, based on the … Continue reading

Posted in books, horror, movie reviews, Movies, Pre-Code Movies, Reviews, theater, vampires, writing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Concession Stand Bites: “My Little Chickadee” (1940)

“My Little Chickadee” (1940) Starring W.C. Fields, Mae West, Joseph Callieia, Dick Foran, Margaret Hamilton, Donald Meek, Ruth Donnelly. Written by Mae West, W.C. Fields. Directed by Edward F. Cline. What would appear to be a comic match made in … Continue reading

Posted in comedy, Mae West, Movies, Reviews, Romance, W.C. Fields, westerns, women, writing | Tagged | 1 Comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “The Boys From Brazil” (1978)

    Beware actors who protest their image too much. In the case of Franklin J. Schaffner’s “The Boys From Brazil”, the thespian in question is none other than venerable good guy Gregory Peck who makes a career backflip to … Continue reading

Posted in books, Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, movie reviews, Movies, music, Reviews, science, World War II | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “Batman Returns” (1992)

    Tim Burton’s second film outing exploring Gotham City’s Caped Crusader is once again long on annoying guest villains and short on the main character. Though cheerfully absent of the destructive narcissism of a particular Nicholson, the film is … Continue reading

Posted in comic books, Drive-In Movies, movie reviews, movie sequels, Movies, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Concession Stand Bites: “Airport” (1970)

“Airport” (1970) Starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, Lloyd Nolan. Directed by George Seaton. Written by George Seaton, based on the novel by Arthur Hailey. The film credited with instigating the … Continue reading

Posted in books, Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, disaster films, Drive-In Movies, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews | 2 Comments

A Not So Fine Madness: “A Reflection of Fear” (1972)

       “A Reflection of Fear”  (1972)   Cinematographers who assume the director’s mantle often produce movies which heavily favor the visual rather than the contextually comprehensible, with the fledgling filmmaker often failing to make allowances for the fact … Continue reading

Posted in books, Canada, movie reviews, Movies, Mystery, Reviews, women, writing | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Chandler’s Trailers: “Invasion U.S.A.” (1952)

“Invasion U.S.A.”  (1952)  If one can imagine a production of  “The Time of Your Life” reconstituted with “Fail-Safe”, you might get a pretty good idea of the awkward Cold War civics lesson that is “Invasion U.S.A.”, a collection of mismatched … Continue reading

Posted in Cold War, Drive-In Movies, movie reviews, Movies, politics, Reviews, Romance, war movies | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Ballot Stuffing: “Linda Lovelace for President” (1975)

           “Linda Lovelace for President”  (1975)     Chances are that if a movie announces upfront that it intends to offend every member of the audience, the results will be fairly pedestrian, as a truly provocative … Continue reading

Posted in comedy, grindhouse, Linda Lovelace, movie reviews, Movies, politics, racism, Reviews, sex, women, writing | 4 Comments

Ups and Downs: “The Man Who Skied Down Everest” (1975)

     “The Man Who Skied Down Everest”  (1975)     When George Mallory famously responded to the question as to why he wanted to climb Mount Everest with the seemingly flippant remark- “Because it’s there” -his brief answer would … Continue reading

Posted in art house cinema, biography, Documentaries, History, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Soft-Boiled: “The Price of Fear” (1956)

           “The Price of Fear”  (1956)        There’s enough nervous fidgeting going on in Abner Biberman’s “The Price of Fear” to replicate seismic tremors, yet such an abundance of consternation seems unmerited in this … Continue reading

Posted in Boston, crime, Drive-In Movies, film noir, Movies, Reviews, Romance, women, writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Party Crashers: “The Penthouse” (1967)

           “The Penthouse”  (1967)     Two strangely loquacious thugs named Tom (Tony Beckley) and Dick (Norman Rodway) stage an early morning invasion of a penthouse apartment, occupied by Bruce (Terence Morgan), a real estate broker … Continue reading

Posted in British films, crime, movie reviews, Movies, Mystery, Reviews, theater, women, writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “Frogs” (1972)

“Frogs” (1972) Nature photographer Pickett Smith (Sam Elliot, sans dashing lip brush) finds his canoe capsized due to inconsiderate nautical etiquette and finds himself a guest of wheelchair bound curmudgeon Jason Crockett (Ray Milland, under a dashing Panama hat), island patriarch of … Continue reading

Posted in 1970's movies, Alfred Hitchcock, Drive-In Movies, horror, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

From the Ashes: “Frankenstein” (1910)

                “Frankenstein”  (1910)     Though appreciably compromised in its filmic translation from the novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (an introductory title acknowledges the film to be a “liberal adaptation”), not only due … Continue reading

Posted in books, fRANKENSTEIN, horror, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, science, silent films, silent movies, theater, writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Shooting Blanks: “Inseminoid” (1981)

              “Inseminoid”  (1981)     With imitation being the shortest route to the creation of bad movies, it was only a matter of counting down the minutes before “Alien”, a prestige recycling of the … Continue reading

Posted in Drive-In Movies, education, grindhouse, horror, Movies, Reviews, science fiction, writing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Soulless: “Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS” (1975)

         “Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS”  (1975)     If history doesn’t present us with enough examples of inhuman atrocity, leave it to the movie industry to feel compelled to invent a peculiar hybrid combining the … Continue reading

Posted in Drive-In Movies, grindhouse, History, horror, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, sex, writing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Mother Knows Best: “Career Bed” (1969)

                       “Career Bed”  (1969)    “Don’t give up your virginity for some silly boy, it’s too important an asset.”      With motherly advice like this is it any wonder … Continue reading

Posted in erotica, grindhouse, Movies, parenting, Reviews, sex, women, writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “Terror in the Wax Museum” (1973)

“Terror in the Wax Museum”  (1973) When the body of Chamber of Horrors wax museum proprietor Claude Dupree (John Carradine) is discovered stabbed with the scalpel of his waxworks Jack the Ripper, can an obligatory stacking of bodies be far … Continue reading

Posted in crime, horror, movie reviews, Movies, Mystery, Reviews, Romance, women, writing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

City of Fallen Angels: “To Live and Die in L.A.” (1985)

        “To Live and Die in L.A.”          (1985)     Former Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich’s novel “To Live and Die in L.A.” might have seemed a natural for cinematic adaptation, given that the book is written in such a lean, … Continue reading

Posted in books, crime, Los Angeles, Movies, Reviews, William Friedkin, writing | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Labor Pains: Classic Film Images Photo Quiz, Sept. 2018 Edition, Vol. 925/Remedial Reprint

_______________________________________________________________ Labor Pains:  Classic Film Images Photo Quiz, Sept. 2018 Edition, Vol. 925/Remedial Reprint     The American cinema celebrates many things-  vacuous comic book heroics, scatological crudity, infantilism, serial sadism, non-NRA gun violence  -but the labors of the American working … Continue reading

Posted in books, Boston, comedy, History, Movies, Musicals, New York City, politics, Reviews, silent movies, theater, women, writing | 7 Comments