News

Lee Van Cleef was truly one of the greatest stars of his era, with a filmography that included some of the best Western movies of all time. With over 170 film and television roles, Van Cleef was particularly known for his leading and supporting roles in acclaimed spaghetti Westerns and his performances opposite stars like Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood. With a talent for playing no-nonsense tough guy bandits, Van Cleef had a sinister screen presence that made him a truly compelling villain.

From Western team-ups with iconic stars to truly spectacular Western sequels, Van Cleefs time in the cinematic Wild West was well spent. While some of Van Cleefs best Westerns featured him as the lead, he often also took a backseat to play highly memorable supporting characters who helped elevate these movies to now legendary status. A true icon of the Western genre, Van Cleef should be...

Hollywood in the early 1970s was unkind to many of the industry's surviving golden-age legends. The smartest of the bunch had either retired, moved to television, or segued to supporting roles in disaster films. Unlike our current era, there wasn't much nostalgia for the good old days. The '50s and '60s were a time of social upheaval during which Black Americans struggled mightily to fight and win basic civil rights. Meanwhile, the Vietnam War was only getting bloodier. People were not in the market for old-fashioned entertainment. They wanted edgier, angrier movies. Those who wanted more of the same could stay home and watch the same when it reran on the afternoon movie.

Where did this leave John Wayne, the Western icon who'd become the big-screen personification of everything that was right (morally and politically) about America at the time? After scoring his first Best Actor Oscar as the alcoholic U.

For Sunday’s Oscars 2019 ceremony, producers had a difficult decision of which film industry people would make the cut and who would be left out of the “In Memoriam.” For the segment, Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic performed music by Oscar winner John Williams.

Over 100 Academy members or film industry veterans died in the past 12 months. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam galleries for the year of 2018 and the newly-started gallery for 2019.

SEEDirector Stanley Donen, dead at 94, was light on his feet and a movie musical heavyweight

Stanley Donen would have certainly been included, but he died on the weekend after the segment had been finalized (look for him on the 2020 show). Here is list of some of the people included in the Memoriam tribute for the ceremony (Academy members are indicated with ** by their names):

Susan Anspach (actor)

Bernardo Bertolucci (director)

Yvonne Blake (costume designer)**

Paul Bloch...

While Academy Awards producers have strived for a much shorter ceremony this year, the annual “In Memoriam” segment will definitely remain. In fact this moment on Sunday’s 2019 event should be extra classy since Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic will be performing as part of the tribute.

Over 100 Academy members or film industry veterans died in the past 12 months. But which ones will be featured in the short segment? There are generally outcries each year from family members upset about people being left out. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam galleries for the year of 2018 and the newly-started gallery for 2019.

Virtually certain to be part of the montage are Oscar-winning directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Milos Forman, Oscar-nominated actors Carol Channing, Albert Finney and Burt Reynolds, director and actress Penny Marshall, executive producer and entertainment icon Stan Lee and many more.

SEEDana Carvey, Mike Myers, Queen Latifah, Barbra Streisand...

A real peach of a ’70s New Hollywood picture, Mark Rydell and Darryl Ponicsan’s story of a sailor on extended leave is sentimental neorealism — a tough street story, but with the pessimism removed. Poolroom hustler Marsha Mason and sailor-adrift James Caan are a beautiful couple in the making — although the whole world seems against them.

Cinderella Liberty

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1973 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date July 17, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: James Caan, Marsha Mason, Kirk Calloway, Eli Wallach, Burt Young, Allyn Ann McLerie, Dabney Coleman, Sally Kirkland, Bruno Kirby.

Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond

Film Editor: Patrick Kennedy

Production Design: Leon Ericksen

Original Music: John Williams

Written by Darryl Ponicsan from his novel

Produced and Directed by Mark Rydell

Mark Rydell’s satisfying tough-love romance is yet more evidence why the early 1970s is still considered one of the most creative times in Hollywood. The...

Allyn Ann McLerie, the actress and dancer who starred in the Broadway and big-screen versions of Where's Charley? and played a freaked-out contestant in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, has died. She was 91.

McLerie died May 21 in North Bend, Washington, her daughter, Iya Falcone Brown, announced.

On television, McLerie portrayed Blair Brown's mother on the 1987-91 NBC-Lifetime series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and played the priggish secretary of a widowed judge (Tony Randall) on the 1976-78 ABC-CBS sitcom The Tony Randall Show. Both shows were created by Jay Tarses.

McLerie also had a recurring role as ...

Allyn Ann McLerie, the actress and dancer who starred in the Broadway and big-screen versions of Where's Charley? and played a freaked-out contestant in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, has died. She was 91.

McLerie died May 21 in North Bend, Washington, her daughter, Iya Falcone Brown, announced.

On television, McLerie portrayed Blair Brown's mother on the 1987-91 NBC-Lifetime series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and played the priggish secretary of a widowed judge (Tony Randall) on the 1976-78 ABC-CBS sitcom The Tony Randall Show. Both shows were created by Jay Tarses.

McLerie also had a recurring role as ...

Move over James Jones — Leon Uris clobbers the big screen with a sprawling adaptation of his WW2 combat novel, loaded down with roles for promising young actors. This is the one where twice as much time is spent on love affairs than fighting. War may be hell, but if Mona Freeman, Nancy Olson, Dorothy Malone and Allyn McLerie are going to be there for comfort, sign me up.

Battle Cry

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 148 min. / Street Date , 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, Mona Freeman, Nancy Olson, James Whitmore, Raymond Massey, Tab Hunter, Dorothy Malone, Anne Francis, William Campbell, Fess Parker, Justus E. McQueen (L.Q. Jones), Perry Lopez, Jonas Applegarth, Tommy Cook, Felix Noriego, Susan Morrow, Carleton Young, Rhys Williams, Allyn Ann McLerie, Gregory Walcott, Frank Ferguson, Sarah Selby, Willis Bouchey, Victor Milian.

Cinematography: Sidney Hickox

Film Editor: William H. Zeigler

Original Music: Max Steiner...

One of the best pictures to come out of Hollywood in the late 1960s, Sydney Pollack’s screen version of Horace McCoy’s hardboiled novel is a harrowing experience guaranteed to elicit extreme responses. Jane Fonda performs (!) at the top of an ensemble of stars suffering in a Depression-Era circle of Hell – it’s an Annihilating Drama with a high polish. And this CineSavant review ends with a fact-bomb that ought to start Barbara Steele fans off on a new vault search.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 120 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Dern, Allyn Ann McLerie.

Cinematography: Philip H. Lathrop

Production Designer: Harry Horner

Film Editor: Fredric Steinkamp

Written by James Poe, Robert E. Thompson from the novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?...

The 50s western romp gets a new lease of life with a new digital print, singalong subtitles and a place in the queer cinema canon

Doris Day stars in a witty 1953 western romp celebrated as one of the queerest items in the Hollywood musical canon – which is why this new digital print, with added subtitles for singalongs, was a highlight in last month’s BFI’s Lgbt Flare festival. Day’s Calamity might seem ready to ditch her buckskins for pretty ginghams to win the heart of Wild Bill Hickok (a distractingly toothy Howard Keel). But the true object of her affections is surely gauche chanteuse Katie Brown (Allyn Ann McLerie) – and it’s presumably not just flower arranging they’re singing about in their duo A Woman’s Touch. It’s heteronormativity that’s gettin’ a whuppin’ with that there whiplash, yes siree ma’am. Boisterous fun, with Day...

The 50s western romp gets a new lease of life with a new digital print, singalong subtitles and a place in the queer cinema canon

Doris Day stars in a witty 1953 western romp celebrated as one of the queerest items in the Hollywood musical canon – which is why this new digital print, with added subtitles for singalongs, was a highlight in last month’s BFI’s Lgbt Flare festival. Day’s Calamity might seem ready to ditch her buckskins for pretty ginghams to win the heart of Wild Bill Hickok (a distractingly toothy Howard Keel). But the true object of her affections is surely gauche chanteuse Katie Brown (Allyn Ann McLerie) – and it’s presumably not just flower arranging they’re singing about in their duo A Woman’s Touch. It’s heteronormativity that’s gettin’ a whuppin’ with that there whiplash, yes siree ma’am. Boisterous fun, with Day...

The 1953 musical features Doris Day on whip-crackin’ form and golden tunes, but it can’t be completely reclaimed for progressive politics

Whip-crackin’, gun-totin’, suede outfit-rockin’ Doris Day is back in this hugely enjoyable 1953 musical now on rerelease, playing “Calamity” Jane Cannary (loosely based on the real-life frontierswoman): a gunslinger riding shotgun on the Deadwood stage in wild west Dakota, bringing in the mail and the fancy goods, while spraying the injuns with bullets and flirting with local legend “Wild Bill” Hickok, played by honey-voiced Howard Keel. She journeys to Chicago to persuade a famous singing star to come perform at the local theatre, but instead returns with an impostor, the star’s ambitious maid, Katie Brown (Allyn McLerie). Jane’s tomboyish style, plus the fact that she sets up home with Katie in her shack (with “Calam and Katie” on the front door), recently earned this revival a place...

Actor George Gaynes died Monday, February 15, 2016. TV fans will remember Gaynes as the curmudgeonly foster and eventually adoptive father, Henry Warnimont, on the Punky Brewster TV series. Punky Brewster, along with Silver Spoons, was famously cancelled by NBC in 1986, only to be revived in first-run syndication through 1988. Gaynes and Soleil Moon Frye also voiced their characters on the animated Punky Brewster TV series, sometimes referred to as It's Punky Brewster.

The New York Times confirmed Gaynes passed away at daughter Iya Gaynes Falcone Brown's North Bend, Washington home. In addition to his daughter and her family, Gaynes leaves behind his wife of more than 62 years, actress Allyn Ann McLerie, a regular on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. Gaynes was predeceased by son, Matthew, in 1989.

Read More…...

Sad news for comedy fans. The great George Gaynes has passed away at the age of 98. The actor is best remembered as the grouchy father figure on Punky Brewster and the dimwitted commandant Lassard in the Police Academy series. He also had a memorable role as the soap opera star with a crush on Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. George Gaynes's daughter confirmed his passing this past Monday. The actor died at his daughter's home in North Bend, Washington.

George Gaynes had a versatile career, appearing in hundreds of TV episodes over the years, working in both comedy and drama. He also appeared in over 35 feature films and made for TV movies, along with appearing in a number of plays, musical comedies and operas in both the United States and Europe. While he became a very familiar presence to viewers around the globe, he never managed to reach leading man status.

George Gaynes, the actor who played the absentminded Commandant Eric Lassard in all seven Police Academy films, has died according to multiple reports. He was 98.

Gaynes was also known for playing Henry Warnimont on the NBC series Punky Brewster and mob boss as Frank Smith on General Hospital, as well his stage work.

Variety reports that the actor died on Monday in North Bend, Washington.

Punky Brewster star Soleil Moon Frye honored Gaynes, who played her foster parent on the show, with a sweet tweet.

"The universe just gained a gigantic star," she wrote. "You will be in my heart and soul always & forever.

George Gaynes, the actor who played the absentminded Commandant Eric Lassard in all seven Police Academy films, has died according to multiple reports. He was 98. Gaynes was also known for playing Henry Warnimont on the NBC series Punky Brewster and mob boss as Frank Smith on General Hospital, as well his stage work. Variety report that the actor died on Monday in North Bend, Washington. The character actor had starred in 35 films as well as a string of successful television roles, and while he may not have reached superstardom his face is recognized by a generation who have loved his work.

George Gaynes, the actor who played the absentminded Commandant Eric Lassard in all seven Police Academy films, has died according to multiple reports. He was 98. Gaynes was also known for playing Henry Warnimont on the NBC series Punky Brewster and mob boss as Frank Smith on General Hospital, as well his stage work. Variety report that the actor died on Monday in North Bend, Washington. The character actor had starred in 35 films as well as a string of successful television roles, and while he may not have reached superstardom his face is recognized by a generation who have loved his work.

'Ben-Hur' 1959 with Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston: TCM's '31 Days of Oscar.' '31 Days of Oscar': 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Ben-Hur' are in, Paramount stars are out Today, Feb. 1, '16, Turner Classic Movies is kicking off the 21st edition of its “31 Days of Oscar.” While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is being vociferously reviled for its “lack of diversity” – more on that appallingly myopic, self-serving, and double-standard-embracing furore in an upcoming post – TCM is celebrating nearly nine decades of the Academy Awards. That's the good news. The disappointing news is that if you're expecting to find rare Paramount, Universal, or Fox/20th Century Fox entries in the mix, you're out of luck. So, missing from the TCM schedule are, among others: Best Actress nominees Ruth Chatterton in Sarah and Son, Nancy Carroll in The Devil's Holiday, Claudette Colbert in Private Worlds. Unofficial Best Actor...

Steve McQueen spent most of the 1960s avoiding lightweight movie roles -- only to do well with his winning comedy-drama performance in William Faulkner's most cheerful tale of old Mississippi. Get set for music by John Williams and an exciting climactic horse race. In storytelling terms this show would seem to have given Steven Spielberg a few ideas. The Reivers Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date August 25, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Steve McQueen, Rupert Crosse, Mitch Vogel, Sharon Farrell, Will Geer, Ruth White, Michael Constantine, Clifton James, Juano Hernandez, Lonny Chapman, Diane Ladd, Ellen Geer, Dub Taylor, Allyn Ann McLerie, Charles Tyner, Burgess Meredith. Cinematography Richard Moore Film Editor Thomas Stanford Original Music John Williams Written by Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank Jr. from the book by William Faulkner Produced by Irving Ravetch, Robert Relyea Directed by Mark Rydell

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

What? This...

Despite it being the directorial debut of five times Oscar nominated cinematographer William A. Fraker, 1970’s revisionist Western Monte Walsh isn’t as well remembered as it possibly should be. Prizing characterization over narrative and ignoring the usual set of genre highlights until its third act, it’s a mellow, melancholy bit of nostalgia about the last days of the Old West. Sporting a handsome cast and imbued with the right touch of technical appropriations, it’s a rather humble offering following on the footsteps of iconic juggernauts of the genre, like True Grit or The Wild Bunch, both of which premiered the year prior. Awards glory and controversial depictions of violence launched those films into the zeitgeist, but Fraker’s has remained an obscure item rooted in realistic, low key tendencies.

As Monte Walsh (Lee Marvin) and best pal Chet Rolling (Jack Palance) descend from the mountains after a long winter,...

The Musicals Collection Blu-ray set from Warner Home Video contains four Hollywood classics of the genre, at least two of them among the greatest of all time: Kiss Me Kate, Calamity Jane, The Band Wagon, and Singin’ in the Rain. And all except for Singin’ in the Rain are making their Blu-ray debut. While the films may not rank equal in terms of quality—those latter two titles are the all-time greats—each of the transfers are outstanding, the movies themselves are still nevertheless enjoyable, and the set is a terrific bargain.

Kiss Me, Kate

Written by Dorothy Kingsley

Directed by George Sidney

USA, 1953

Kiss Me, Kate is offered in 2-D and 3-D versions. Though the 3-D is certainly not the best to grace a Blu-ray, it’s still the version to watch, even with the clichéd, though occasionally amusing gimmick of characters throwing things at the camera. However, it...

Young Robert Redford and politics: 'The Candidate' and 'All the President's Men' (photo: Robert Redford as Bob Woodward in 'All the President's Men') A young Robert Redford can be seen The Candidate, All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, and Downhill Racer as Turner Classic Movies' Redford series comes to a close this evening. The world of politics is the focus of the first three films, each one of them well-regarded box-office hits. The last title, which shows that politics is part of life no matter what, is set in the world of competitive sports. 'The Candidate' In the Michael Ritichie-directed The Candidate (1972), Robert Redford plays idealistic liberal Democrat Bob McKay, who, with no chance of winning, is convinced to run against the Republican incumbent in a fight for a California seat in Congress. See, McKay is too handsome. Too young. Too liberal.

Robert Redford movies: TCM shows 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' 'The Sting' They don't make movie stars like they used to, back in the days of Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, and Harry Cohn. That's what nostalgists have been bitching about for the last four or five decades; never mind the fact that movie stars have remained as big as ever despite the demise of the old studio system and the spectacular rise of television more than sixty years ago. This month of January 2015, Turner Classic Movies will be honoring one such post-studio era superstar: Robert Redford. Beginning this Monday evening, January 6, TCM will be presenting 15 Robert Redford movies. Tonight's entries include Redford's two biggest blockbusters, both directed by George Roy Hill and co-starring Paul Newman: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which turned Redford, already in his early 30s, into a major film star to rival Rudolph Valentino,...

Doris Day movies: TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars 2013′ lineup continues (photo: Doris Day in ‘Calamity Jane’ publicity shot) Doris Day, who turned 89 last April 3, is Turner Classic Movies’ 2013 “Summer Under the Stars” star on Friday, August 2. (Doris Day, by the way, still looks great. Check out "Doris Day Today.") Doris Day movies, of course, are frequently shown on TCM. Why? Well, TCM is owned by the megaconglomerate Time Warner, which also happens to own (among myriad other things) the Warner Bros. film library, which includes not only the Doris Day movies made at Warners from 1948 to 1955, but also Day’s MGM films as well (and the overwhelming majority of MGM releases up to 1986). My point: Don’t expect any Doris Day movie rarity on Friday — in fact, I don’t think such a thing exists. Doris Day is ‘Calamity Jane’ If you haven’t watched David Butler’s musical...

Jeremiah Johnson

Directed by Sydney Pollack

Written by Edward Anhalt and John Milius

1972,

The Western, at its creative and commercial peak – the late 1960s-early 1970s – proved itself an astoundingly pliable genre. It could be molded to deal with topical subject matter like racism (Skin Game, 1971), feminism (The Ballad of Josie, 1967), the excesses of capitalism (Oklahoma Crude, 1973). It could be bent into religious allegories (High Plains Drifter, 1973), or an equally allegorical address of the country’s most controversial war (Ulzana’s Raid, 1972). Westerns could be used to deconstruct America’s most self-congratulatory myths (Doc, 1971), and address historical slights and omissions (Little Big Man, 1970). They could provide heady social commentary (Hombre, 1967), or simple adventure and excitement (The Professionals, 1966). They could be funny (The Hallelujah Trail, 1965), unremittingly grim (Hour of the Gun, 1967), surreal (Greaser’s Palace, 1972), even be stretched into the shape of rock musical (Zachariah, 1971) or monster movie (Valley of Gwangi, 1969).

But...

Much like the old nursery rhyme about the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead, when a movie musical is good, it is very, very good. But when it is bad, it is horrid. Sgt. Pepper immediately springs to mind in the latter category, of course. There was also Kismet, which found itself unfortunately produced at the extreme tail-end of the Golden Age of the movie musical. South Pacific, Oklahoma! and Carousel were valiant efforts that tended to slack off midway through, and Godspell was the unwilling victim of poor direction. And though Jesus Christ Superstar retains its status as a cult hit, it wasn’t difficult to scope out the problems in transferring the stage show to celluloid, plus let’s not get started on the tragic messes that were A Little Night Music, Hello, Dolly!, Mame or A Chorus Line.

In recent years,...

The groundbreaking 1974 television movie Born Innocent starring Linda Blair (The Exorcist) will be released on DVD by Hen’s Tooth Video on June 21.

Teenage runaway Linda Blair falls victim to the juvenile justice system in Born Innocent.

In the TV film, Blair stars as Chris Parker, a 14-year-old repeat runaway who has been detained by police. When her father (Richard Jaeckel, The Drowning Pool) refuses to take her back, Chris is made a ward of the court and sent to the State Home for Girls. There, she falls victim to an indifferent juvenile justice system that cannot help the troubled teens it merely warehouses.

Based on the book by Creighton Brown Burnham and directed by Donald Wrye and co-staring Joanna Miles, Allyn Ann McLerie and Mary Murphy, this new DVD edition includes a graphic rape scene considered so shocking on its initial NBC network broadcast that it was cut from subsequent syndication prints.