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Quick Links Robert Redford's Dazzling Political Dramedy The Candidate's Surprising Ties to the Real World The Candidate Becomes a Cinema Success

Silver screen legend Robert Redford is no stranger to starring in beloved classics and delivering unforgettable performances, and he knocked it out of the park when he appeared as an unconventional U.S. Senate hopeful in the satiric 1972 political dramedy The Candidate. The sharp and witty film chronicles Redford's lawyer-turned-politician as he wades into foreign waters while on his quest to "defeat" the Republican nominee, with the charismatic character initially being chosen only because he had zero chances of winning.

The Candidate went on to achieve widespread acclaim, and Jeremy Larner took home the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, with the brilliant writer having had quite a bit of personal experience in the world of politics in preparation for penning the celebrated '70s hit. Let's explore...

Of all the incredible acting collaborations seen throughout the history of Hollywood, the pairing of John Wayne and Maureen OHara stood as one of cinemas greatest. With Waynes reputation as perhaps the best leading man of classic American cinema, and OHaras talent for portraying dynamic and passionate heroines, the two were a match made in heaven and to see them starring opposite one another was always a treat. Wayne and OHara collaborated with legendary filmmaker John Ford on three separate occasions which only added to the legacy of their work with one another.

The movies that starred both Wayne and OHara vary greatly and included fantastic Western team-ups, an idyllic rural romance, and even a slice-of-life laugh-out-loud comedy. Wayne and OHara played to each others strengths and their onscreen chemistry cemented their reputations as box office draws who teamed up five times for more than 20 years. With classic movies together,...

Short sci-fi stories perfectly suit adaptations, providing filmmakers a foundation to build upon while injecting their own ideas. Influential writers like Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, and Ted Chiang can communicate fascinating concepts in a few pages, inspiring unique sci-fi movies. The best sci-fi movies based on short stories combine bold, original premises with relatable human emotions, building on the written word.

There have been plenty of sci-fi movies based on short stories, including some of the genre's most influential classics. For whatever reason, science-fiction seems particularly suited to short story adaptations. This could be because short-form stories have always been essential to sci-fi literature, with plenty of important magazines showcasing the best work from sci-fi writers.

Filmmakers often take inspiration from sci-fi short stories. The best writers, such as Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick and Ted Chiang, can communicate fascinating original concepts in just a few pages. This gives...

The residents of Rurigan's holographic village foreshadowed Voyager's Doctor's quest for individual recognition. Odo and Dax's experience on Yadera II could have helped the Doctor in Voyager. The Doctor's fight for rights could have been over in Voyager's "Author, Author" episode, but it ended disappointingly.

An episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2 predicted the struggle of the Doctor (Robert Picardo) to be recognized as an individual in Star Trek: Voyager. In DS9 season 2, episode 16, "Shadowplay", Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) and Constable Odo (René Auberjonois) discover that Yareda II, a planet in the Gamma Quadrant, is almost exclusively populated by holograms. The vast holographic simulation has been created by Rurigan (Kenneth Tobey), to recapture the world he lost when the Dominion conquered his home planet of Yadera Prime.

Rurigan's holographic village was a massively complex simulation, in which his creations were free to live independent lives, albeit...

René Auberjonois' cameo in Enterprise ties back to a DS9 episode, showcasing recurring themes in Star Trek storytelling. "Oasis" in Enterprise mirrored "Shadowplay" in DS9. Auberjonois discussed similarities with lead Scott Bakula. Auberjonois' role in "Oasis" reflected the character of Rurigan in "Shadowplay", showing his versatility as an actor in the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's René Auberjonois guest starred in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise that was a massive callback to an Odo-centric DS9 episode. Enterprise was the third Star Trek property to feature René Auberjonois, after appearances in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and his regular role as Constable Odo in DS9. René Auberjonois appeared alongside the cast of Enterprise in the season 1 episode, "Oasis", which bore similarities to "Shadowplay", an episode from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's second season.

The similarities between Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Shadowplay" and...

On March 13, 1981, one of the best werewolf movies ever made – director Joe Dante’s The Howling (watch it Here) made its debut on theatre screens in the United States. 42 years later, we’re celebrating The Howling with the latest episode of our video series Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? To find out all about it, check out the video embedded above!

Scripted by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless, The Howling was loosely based on a novel by Gary Brandner. Here’s the synopsis for the adaptation: In Los Angeles, television journalist Karen White is traumatized in the course of aiding the police in their arrest of a serial murderer. Her doctor recommends that she attend an isolated psychiatric retreat led by Dr. George Waggner. But while Karen is undergoing therapy, her colleague Chris, investigates the bizarre circumstances surrounding her shock. When his work leads him to suspect the supernatural,...

Ted Donaldson, who starred as Bud Anderson on the original radio version of Father Knows Best and as Neely Nolan in the beloved family drama A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the first feature directed by Elia Kazan, has died. He was 89.

Donaldson died Wednesday of complications from a fall in his Echo Park apartment in January, his friend Thomas Bruno told The Hollywood Reporter.

In his big-screen debut, Donaldson portrayed a boy who gets his pet caterpillar Curly to dance when he plays “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” on the harmonica in the comedy fantasy Once Upon a Time (1944), starring Cary Grant and Janet Blair.

He also starred as Danny Mitchell in eight B-movies from Columbia Pictures that revolved around a German shepherd named Rusty. The first one, Adventures of Rusty (1945), featured Ace the Wonder Dog.

An only child, Donaldson was born in Brooklyn on Aug. 20, 1933. His father was...

Mill Creek’s latest disc collection gathers three Columbia Sci-fi faves and throws in a Blu-ray debut for a fourth. It’s a good selection: two giant Ray Harryhausen monsters, one marginal bad-taste Sam Katzman zombie epic, and a quirky Lou Costello comedy with Dorothy Provine doing a wholesome take on Allison Hayes’ biggest role. Do these encodings measure up to fancier editions? We give them a spin.

Sci-Fi from the Vault: 4 Films

Blu-ray

Creature with the Atom Brain, It Came from Beneath the Sea, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock

Mill Creek Entertainment

1955-1959 / B&w / 303 min. / Street Date February 14, 2023 / Available from Mill Creek Entertainment / 29.99

Starring: Richard Denning; Kenneth Tobey & Faith Domergue; William Hopper & Joan Taylor; Lou Costello & Dorothy Provine.

Directed by Edward L. Cahn, Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Sidney Miller

Disc collectors are now tempted weekly by plenty of interesting disc releases...

This remarkable black comedy is often listed as a horror film yet it has more nervous laughs than shivers. It’s a solid idea: cruelly marginalized old folks get madder than hell and just won’t take it any more. Or maybe they simply go nuts. The cast of ‘over seventies’ playing over eighty is just marvelous, and one murderous little pixie is a delight: Paula Trueman. Things do become absurd but the universally-understood premise stays firm. . . we’ll all be there sooner or later. “A Murder A Day Keeps the Landlord Away.”

Homebodies

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date November 2, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Peter Brocco, Frances Fuller, William Hansen, Ruth McDevitt, Paula Trueman, Ian Wolfe, Linda Marsh, Douglas Fowley, Kenneth Tobey, Wesley Lau.

Cinematography: Isasdore Mankovsky

Art Director: John Retsek

Film Editor: Peter Parasheles

Original Music: Bernardo Segáll

Written by Larry Yust, Bennett Sims,...

This remarkable little black comedy is often listed as a horror film yet it has more nervous laughs than shivers. It’s a solid idea: cruelly maginalized old folks get madder than hell and just won’t take it any more. Or maybe more accurately, they simply go nuts. The cast of ‘over seventies’ playing over eighty is just marvelous, and one murderous little pixie is a delight: Paula Trueman. Things do become absurd but the universally-understood premise stays firm. . . we’ll all be there sooner or later. “A Murder A Day Keeps the Landlord Away.”

Homebodies

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date November 2, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Peter Brocco, Frances Fuller, William Hansen, Ruth McDevitt, Paula Trueman, Ian Wolfe, Linda Marsh, Douglas Fowley, Kenneth Tobey, Wesley Lau.

Cinematography: Isasdore Mankovsky

Art Director: John Retsek

Film Editor: Peter Parasheles

Original Music: Bernardo Segáll

Written by Larry Yust,...

Most people smile just at the mention of this show … nothing is more healthy than an old fashioned laugh. Zucker, Zucker & Abrahams’ non-stop joke fest finds good fun in movie spoofery without malice, and is populated by a squadron of old pros that once made the originals fly right, no matter how clunky they were. All hail Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack and Peter Graves, the veterans of countless ‘keep a straight face and pretend it’s serious’ groaners. It’s a 40th Anniversary new restoration. Now, finally, do I park in the red zone or the white zone?

Airplane!

Blu-ray

Paramount Presents

1980 / Color / 1.78 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date July 21, 2020 / 22.99

Starring: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, Lorna Patterson, Stephen Stucker, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Barbara Billingsley, Ethel Merman, James Hong, Maureen McGovern, Kenneth Tobey, Jimmie Walker, Kitten Natividad.

Cinematography: Joseph F. Biroc

Film Editor: Patrick Kennedy

Visual Effects: Robert Blalack,...

The exclusive 4K Ultra-hd club welcomes a worthy new member, Joe Dante’s evergreen horror comedy (and Christmas delight) about a cute furry critter and its 2nd-generation horde of scaly, impish demons. These aren’t Gremlins from the Kremlin, but homegrown domestic terrorist monsters, and Dante contrasts their killer antics with a sentimental parody of small town America. No CGI … You will believe that the animatronic rascals can multiply like rabbits, break dance, and run amuck!

Gremlins

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Code

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

1984 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date October 1, 2019 / 41.99

Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Keye Luke, Frances Lee McCain, Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Judge Reinhold, Polly Holliday, Belinda Balaski, Edward Andrews, Don Steele, Scott Brady, Corey Feldman, Harry Carey Jr., Chuck Jones, Glynn Turman, Jerry Goldsmith, William Schallert, Steven Spielberg, Kenneth Tobey.

Cinematography: John Hora

Film Editor: Tina Hirsch

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith...

John Wayne! Janet Leigh! Nifty jet-age flying sequences! Goofy, bad-taste sex jokes! Hans Conreid as a chortling Russian army officer! Howard Hughes’ personal fun project took seven years to make while he played games with the aerial footage. It’s a highly-polished absurd joke, but it’s certainly entertaining. See Hughes try to do for Janet Leigh what he did for Jane Russell — I assume Ms. Leigh was too shrewd to sign any long-term contracts! This German disc has excellent widescreen image and audio.

Jet Pilot

Blu-ray

Explosive Media GmbH

1957 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 113 min. / Düsenjäger / Street Date June 14 2018, 2019 / 12.99 euros

Starring: John Wayne, Janet Leigh, Jay C. Flippen, Paul Fix, Richard Rober, Roland Winters, Hans Conried, Ivan Triesault, Hall Bartlett, Gregg Barton, Gene Evans, Paul Frees, Harry Lauter, Nelson Leigh, Denver Pyle, Gene Roth, Kenneth Tobey, Mamie Van Doren, Carleton Young.

Cinematography: Winton C. Hoch

Aerial Stunts: Chuck Yeager

Original Music:...

Oh to be a child in the ‘50s; Saturday matinees, boxed popcorn and cheap soda, flung in the air as the latest nuclear tinged monster loomed over the screen, impartial in its destruction of the masses. That feeling of wonder and awe is definitely present in It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), a fairly pro forma Atomic blast heightened immeasurably by the effects magic of Ray Harryhausen.

Released stateside in July as the top half of a double bill with Creature with the Atom Brain by Columbia Pictures, It Came pulled in close to $2 million against a $150,000 budget, and critics were dismissive except for Harryhausen’s wizardry. I can understand the under evaluation, although I think there’s a little more besides the show stopping effects that helps It Came work.

But first, a radioactive retelling: Naval Commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey – The Thing from Another World) is taking the...

Though long embraced by parents as family-friendly safe zones, Disney’s live action films were just as often called out for their squeaky clean posturing and regressive world views.

Fair enough – but as Noah Cross growled, “Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough” – and a good number of those mild-mannered entertainments, while not exactly ready for the arthouse, are at least worthy of a second look.

Disney Movie Club has released some of those Baby Boomer perennials in sterling Blu ray transfers – unfortunately available to club members only. Here’s part one in a rundown of the more tantalizing items.

Treasure Island, Davy Crockett,

Old Yeller, Pollyanna

Blu ray

Disney Movie Club

1950, ‘55, ‘56, ‘57, ‘60 / 1. 33:1, 1.85:1 / 96, 93, 81, 83, 134 Min.

Starring Robert Newton, Dorothy McGuire, Hayley Mills, Fess Parker

Cinematography by Freddie Young, Charles P. Boyle, Russell Harlan

Directed by Byron Haskin, Robert Stevenson, David Swift

Treasure Island – 1950

Thanks...

Hulk Hogan: “Okay you guys, listen up! People pay good money to see this movie! When they go out to a theater they want cold sodas, hot popcorn, and no monsters in the projection booth! Do I have to come up there myself? Do you think the Gremsters can stand up to the Hulkster? Well, if I were you, I’d run the rest of Gremlins 2! Right now! Sorry folks, it won’t happen again!”

Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch are screening This Saturday, December 15th, at the St. Andrews Cinema in St. Charles, Mo. The doors open at 2:00pm and the first film starts at 2:30. Admission for both films is $5. Gremlins will be introduced by Mark Dodson. Mark was the voice of Salicious Crumb in Return Of The Jedi and Mogwai in Gremlins. His other voice credits include Day Of The Dead and Star Wars The Force Awakens.

Exciting news for fans of classic sci-fi! Kenneth Tobey and James Arness in The Thing From Another World (1951) is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives. Ordering information can be found Here

Howard Hawks’ production of The Thing From Another World, adapted from the classic story “Who Goes There?” by Science Fiction Grandmaster John W. Campbell, is a pitch perfect example of genre filmmaking at its finest and, much like his entire oeuvre – from screwball comedy to melodrama to hardboiled detective to western – a treasure that makes movie magic. Under Christian Nyby’s lean direction, Charles Lederer’s rapid-fire dialogue and a cast of fine journeymen performers, this tale of scientists and servicemen confronting the unknown above the Arctic Circle shines with crisp atomic-age radiation in this scintillating HD presentation in all its glorious Black and White wonder.

Arctic researchers discover a huge, frozen spaceling inside a crash-landed UFO, then fight...

Intrepid soldiers and scientists battle a bloodsucking alien invader at the top of the world! The Warner Archive Collection releases Howard Hawks’ incomparable Science Fiction thriller, a long-desired favorite. Long handicapped by missing scenes, this Rko classic is intact again, complete with its nerve-rattling bombastic Dimitri Tiomkin music score.

The Thing from Another World

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1951 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 87 min. / Street Date December 18, 2018 / 21.99

Starring: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James R. Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols, William Self, Eduard Franz, James Arness, Paul Frees, George Fenneman, John Dierkes.

Cinematography: Russell Harlan

Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino, John J. Hughes

Film Editor: Roland Gross

Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin

Written by Charles Lederer from a short story by John W. Campbell Jr.

Produced by Howard Hawks

Directed by Christian Nyby

Still one of the all-time favorites of 1950s science fiction filmmaking, Howard Hawks’ The Thing from Another World...

“It’s under the Big ‘W’!” A smart cop show goes all ‘Dragnet’ on a trio of criminal cases in the good old City of the Angels. To figure out who gunned down a top detective, rough tough FBI agent Broderick Crawford must get to the bottom of three separate dramas, each involving a beautiful woman. The producers know how to get attention for their show — the climactic shootout takes place under the Hollywood Sign.

Down 3 Dark Streets

Blu-ray

ClassicFlix

1954 / B&W / 1:75 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date April 24, 2018 / 29.99

Starring: Broderick Crawford, Ruth Roman, Martha Hyer, Marisa Pavan, Max Showalter, Kenneth Tobey, Gene Reynolds, William Johnstone, Harlan Warde, Jay Adler, Claude Akins, Suzanne Alexander, Joe Bassett, Michael Fox, John Indrisano, Milton Parsons, Stafford Repp, William Schallert, Charles Tannen.

Cinematography: Joseph Biroc

Film Editor: Grant Whytock

Production Design: Edward (Ted) Haworth

Original Music: Paul Sawtell

Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld, ‘The Gordons...

CineSavant reaches back one year to pick up a notable low-key horror from the team of Levy-Gardner-Laven and good old United Artists. They have a respected actor, a workable concept and a horror screenplay from an unusual source for the 1950s . . . a (gasp) woman. More civilized monster movies just aren’t out there, although this one could have used a more creative title.

The Vampire

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1957 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 75 min. / Street Date April 11, 2017 / 27.99

Starring: John Beal, Coleen Gray, Kenneth Tobey, Lydia Reed, Dabbs Greer, Herb Vigran, Paul Brinegar, Ann Staunton, James Griffith.

Cinematography: Jack MacKenzie

Film Editor: John Faure

Original Music: Gerald Fried

Written and story by Pat Fielder

Produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules V. Levy

Directed by Paul Landres

I long ago gave up keeping track of all the aberrant vampire movies that were produced after horror became a direct-to-video staple and finally a streaming staple.

Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton is back, with a rodent roundup of horror, or more accurately, psychological suspense interrupted by a few salacious slayings. What would Mickey say?

The brief synopses of Daniel Mann’s Willard and Phil Karlson’s Ben that appeared in the horror movie books and magazines that kids in the UK loved to pore over during the late 1970s always gave the impression that this pair of killer rat films were hardcore horror shows.

In truth, the actual horror content of both films is relatively mild and infrequent. In spite of this, Willard and Ben still tend to be discussed in terms of their relation to the often more extreme movies that appeared in the “animals attack” cycle of horror films that flourished during the 1970s.

That particular subgenre represents something of a niche interest area that is governed by a pretty tight set of boundaries. The...

Do you think older crime thrillers weren’t violent enough? This shocker from 1948 shook up America with its true story of a vicious killer who has a murderous solution to every problem, and uses special talents to evade police detection. Richard Basehart made his acting breakthrough as Roy Martin, a barely disguised version of the real life ‘Machine Gun Walker.

He Walked by Night

Blu-ray

ClassicFlix

1948 / B&W /1:37 flat full frame / 79 min. / Street Date November 7, 2017 / 39.99

Starring: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James Cardwell, Jack Webb, Dorothy Adams, Ann Doran, Byron Foulger, Reed Hadley (narrator), Thomas Browne Henry, Tommy Kelly, John McGuire, Kenneth Tobey.

Cinematography: John Alton

Art Direction: Edward Ilou

Film Editor: Alfred De Gaetano

Original Music: Leonid Raab

Written by John C. Higgins and Crane Wilbur

Produced by Bryan Foy, Robert T. Kane

Directed by Alfred L. Werker

Talk about a movie with a dynamite...

Since the early days of home video Ray Harryhausen’s films have been a lightning rod for companies eager to one-up the competition with bigger and brighter releases of the beloved animator’s work. Located in the UK, Powerhouse/Indicator is the latest to jump on the bandwagon with lavishly appointed blu ray sets each featuring three of his films. Though all these movies have been previously released through other companies, Powerhouse has upped the ante with fresh transfers and a broad slate of new extras.

The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Vol. One: 1955-1960

Blu-ray – All Region

Powerhouse/Indicator

2001 / 1:85 / Street Date September 25, 2017

Starring Kenneth Tobey, William Hopper, Kerwin Matthews

Cinematography: Henry Freulich, Irving Lippman, Carlo Ventimiglia, Wilkie Cooper

Film Editor: Jerome Thoms, Edwin H. Bryant, Raymond Poulton

Produced by Sam Katzman, Charles H. Schneer

Music: Mischa Bakaleinikoff, Bernard Herrmann

Directed by Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Jack Sher

It Came from Beneath the Sea...

For the brand new Blu-ray and DVD offerings coming out on Tuesday, July 18th, we have an eclectic assortment of titles, both new and old. As far as cult classics go, The Bat People, Freeway, Stalker, and Stormy Monday are all making their HD debuts on Blu this week, and if you missed Kong: Skull Island, Free Fire or Buster’s Mal Heart during their theatrical runs, now you’ll have a chance to catch up with these films on their home entertainment releases.

Other notable release for July 18th include Resident Evil: Vendetta, Another Evil, Lake Alice, and The Expanse: Season Two.

The Bat People (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

Half Man, Half Bat, All Terror!

From director Jerry Jameson (Airport 77, Raise The Titanic) comes a high-flying horror from the darkest corner of the drive-in: The Bat People!

When Dr. John Beck and his wife Cathy fall into an underground cave,...

“You say you hate Washington’s Birthday or Thanksgiving and nobody cares, but you say you hate Christmas and people treat you like you’re a leper.”

Gremlins plays midnights this weekend (May 5th and 6th) at The Tivoli Theater as part of the Reel late at The Tivoli Midnight series.

It’s Christmas in American picture-postcard town Kingston Falls. Billy Peltzer is given an unusual present; a cute little furry creature called a Mogwai. He is delighted with the gift until he accidentally gets it wet and it quickly multiplies. Worse still is to come when the new creatures are fed after midnight and transform into horribly mischievous Gremlins …

Gremlins (1984) is a fabulous flick, because it somehow manages to be both a sentimental good-natured modern-day fairytale, and an uproariously riotous comic horror film that stomps all over the nice wholesome image of Christmas and small-town America. The script by...

Long live Michael Laughlin. Two years after he released one of my favorite early ‘80s oddities, Strange Behavior (I wrote about it here), he was back to unleash the next chapter in a proposed ‘Strange’ trilogy, Strange Invaders (1983). And while the former is a tribute to Mad Scientist films of the ‘50s via an updated Slasher take, the latter tips its fedora to the great Alien Invasion films of the same era. It may not reach the same dizzyingly weird heights, but Strange Invaders is an affectionate romp that captures the feel of those bygone drive-in classics and solidifies Laughlin’s unique voice.

A co-production between Emi Films and Lone Wolf McQuade Associates, Strange Invaders was released by Orion Pictures in mid September stateside to positive reviews and lackluster box office. Returning only a quarter of its $5 million plus budget, this was the Way of the Laughlin – everyone liked his movies,...

A few years ago, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of influential film critic Pauline Kael, I wrote the following:

“I think (Kael) did a lot to expose the truth… that directors, writers and actors who often work awfully close to the surface may still have subterranean levels of achievement or purpose or commentary that they themselves may be least qualified to articulate. It’s what’s behind her disdain for Antonioni’s pontificating at the Cannes film festival; it’s what behind the high percentage of uselessness of proliferating DVD commentaries in which we get to hear every dull anecdote, redundant explication of plot development and any other inanity that strikes the director of the latest Jennifer Aniston rom-com to blurt out breathlessly; and it is what’s behind a director like Eli Roth, who tailors the subtext of something like Hostel Part II almost as...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, whose dazzling and innovative visual effects work on fantasy adventure films such as Jason And The Argonauts and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad passed away in 2013 at age 92. In 1933, the then-13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at a Hollywood theater and was inspired – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre “stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done.” It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. The influence of Harryhausen on film luminaries like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and...

Horror in the ‘50s tended to lean towards the sci-fi end of the spectrum. And why wouldn’t it? This was the atomic age, and hiding under your school desk during a bomb drill (the safest place to be!) was scarier than any monster Hollywood could muster. So as a form of social moralizing (or an excuse to display giant, mutated lizards on screen), filmmakers merged the fear of nuclear annihilation with the need for entertainment. Most filmmakers, that is. Paul Landres’ The Vampire (1957) is a deliberate ride through the (mostly) human condition, small in scope but surprisingly big on emotion. Just don’t expect any vampires, radioactive, sparkly, or otherwise.

What you do get is a story much closer to Stevenson than Stoker, a simple riff on Jekyll and Hyde shot through a cautionary tale about America’s then growing concern with pill poppin’. The Vampire is more concerned...

Continuing our series on Hollywood remakes, this week’s film is one of those lauded remakes that many say is better than the original. While a horror movie may not be in the Christmas spirit, this film does have a lot of snow in it. This week, Cinelinx looks at John Carpenter’s The Thing.

When people talk about remakes of old films, the one that is most often mentioned as being better than the original is John Carpenter’s 1982 horror flick, The Thing, which is a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks classic The Thing From Another World. There’s a good argument to be made for the newer one. Not that the first one isn’t an excellent movie, but this is a rare occasion where the reputation of the remake seems to overshadow the original.

Both films were based on the short story “Who Goes There?” by John W.

I'll trade you two RKOs for two Warners', an even swap! This quartet of movie-magic wonderments offer a full course on old-school film effects wizardry at its best. Willis O'Brien passes the baton to disciple Ray Harryhausen, who dazzles us with his own effects magic for the first '50s giant monster epic. And the best monster thriller of the decade is offered at its original widescreen aspect ratio. It's all special enough to merit a mid-week review. Special Effects Collection Blu-ray The Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Them! Warner Home Video 1933-1954 / B&W / 1:37 Academy - 1:85 widescreen / 335 min. / Street Date October 27, 2015 / 54.96 or 19.98 separately Starring Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack,, Frank Reicher, Victor Wong; Robert Armstrong, Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Frank McHugh; Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Donald Woods, Lee Van Cleef; James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, Onslow Stevens,...

In the 1980s, bored film critics sometimes claimed to see homoerotic themes in any 'buddy picture'  about guys being friends with guys. Only one bold comedy dared to confront this notion directly -- in this show, Dennis Quaid spends a full two hours inside Martin Short, yet the finished picture is still perfectly suitable for all audiences and age groups! Savant Blu-ray Review Warner Home Video 1987 / Color /1.78:1 / 116 min. / Street Date August 4, 2015/ available through Warner Bros. / 13.09 Starring Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Fiona Lewis, Vernon Wells, Robert Picardo Cinematography Andrew Laszlo Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren Art Direction James H. Spencer Film Editor Kent Beyda Original Music Jerry Goldsmith Written by Jeffrey Boam, Chip Proser, story by Chip Proser Produced by Michael Finnell, Peter Guber, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Jon Peters, Chip Proser, Steven Spielberg Directed by Joe Dante

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Warner Home Video shows...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Warner Home Entertainment has recently released their special edition DVD of director Joe Dante’s “Innerspace” on Blu-ray. The 1987 film is a sci-fi comedy that afforded Martin Short and Meg Ryan early career leading roles in a tale of inspired lunacy. The premise of the script centers on a narcissistic former military test pilot Tuck Pendelton (Dennis Quaid) who volunteers for an unprecedented scientific experiment. Doctors have the technology to shrink him and inject him into the body of a rabbit. They also obviously have the ability to bring him back into the outside world where he can resume his normal activities at his normal size. The purpose of the experiment is to allow medical technicians to eventually inject operatives into human beings so that they can perform miracle surgeries. However, there are some bad guys who are looking to benefit from the amazing technology by selling it to the highest bidder.

A kind of Bonnie and Clyde for the Nascar crowd, director John Hough (The Legend of Hell House) puts together an eccentric and original premise with an equally quirky cast including Vic Morrow, Kenneth Tobey and Roddy McDowall in support of stars Peter Fonda and Susan George, two misfits on the lam from the law after a supermarket robbery. Released mainly to drive-ins, Hough’s carefree crime chase brought in a more than respectable 14 million at the box office.

Teresa Wright: Later years (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon.") Teresa Wright and Robert Anderson were divorced in 1978. They would remain friends in the ensuing years.[1] Wright spent most of the last decade of her life in Connecticut, making only sporadic public appearances. In 1998, she could be seen with her grandson, film producer Jonah Smith, at New York's Yankee Stadium, where she threw the ceremonial first pitch.[2] Wright also became involved in the Greater New York chapter of the Als Association. (The Pride of the Yankees subject, Lou Gehrig, died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1941.) The week she turned 82 in October 2000, Wright attended the 20th anniversary celebration of Somewhere in Time, where she posed for pictures with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. In March 2003, she was a guest at the 75th Academy Awards, in the segment showcasing Oscar-winning actors of the past. Two years later,...

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.

Veterans Day movies on TCM: From 'The Sullivans' to 'Patton' (photo: George C. Scott in 'Patton') This evening, Turner Classic Movies is presenting five war or war-related films in celebration of Veterans Day. For those outside the United States, Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day, which takes place in late May. (Scroll down to check out TCM's Veterans Day movie schedule.) It's good to be aware that in the last century alone, the U.S. has been involved in more than a dozen armed conflicts, from World War I to the invasion of Iraq, not including direct or indirect military interventions in countries as disparate as Iran, Guatemala, and Chile. As to be expected in a society that reveres people in uniform, American war movies have almost invariably glorified American soldiers even in those rare instances when they have dared to criticize the military establishment.

James Garner movies on TCM: ‘Grand Prix,’ ‘Victor Victoria’ among highlights (photo: James Garner ca. 1960) James Garner, whose film and television career spanned more than five decades, died of "natural causes" at age 86 on July 19, 2014, in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood. On Monday, July 28, Turner Classic Movies will present an all-day marathon of James Garner movies (see below) as a tribute to the Oscar-nominated star of Murphy’s Romance and Emmy-winning star of the television series The Rockford Files. Among the highlights in TCM’s James Garner film lineup is John Frankenheimer’s Monaco-set Grand Prix (1966), an all-star, race-car drama featuring Garner as a Formula One driver who has an affair with the wife (Jessica Walter) of his former teammate (Brian Bedford). Among the other Grand Prix drivers facing their own personal issues are Yves Montand and Antonio Sabato, while Akira Kurosawa’s (male) muse Toshiro Mifune plays a...

Craig Hill, who played P.T. Moore, the co-owner of a helicopter chartering company, in the 1950s syndicated TV adventure series Whirlybirds, died Monday, the Spanish newspaper Ara reported. He was 88. Hill, who also appeared as the prison-bound first-time offender at the beginning of the Kirk Douglas cop classic Detective Story (1951), died in Barcelona, family members told the newspaper. He had lived in Spain for decades. Whirlybirds, from Desilu Productions, aired for three seasons and 111 half-hour episodes, from February 1957 to January 1960. Moore and his partner, Chuck Martin (Kenneth Tobey), flew Bell

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Back in 1983 Jim Wynorski shot his first film, The Lost Empire, which has itself been "lost" for several years. Finally, on April 22nd it's getting its long-awaited home video release on DVD.

From the Press Release:

In 1983 a young director stepped behind the camera for the first time and began to shoot a film which he thought might be both his first and his last. An ardent fan of "B" cinema, Jim Wynorski decided to cram this film with everything he loved.

"I got my first break doing The Lost Empire for Plitt Theatres," says Jim Wynorski. "The late owner, Henry Plitt (a decorated war hero), wanted to make a low budget sci-fi action picture as a tax loss. I never knew that when I made the show, so I put my heart and soul into the project. When it finally got completed, Plitt actually liked it enough to give...

Ryan Lambie Jun 26, 2017

35 years ago, The Thing was panned by critics. We take a look at the angry reaction and its modern status as a horror classic...

It's the summer of 1982, and director John Carpenter is on the cusp of releasing his latest movie, The Thing. For the 34-year-old filmmaker, the release marks the end of a major undertaking: the culmination of months of shooting on freezing cold sets and snowy British Columbia locations, not to mention the execution of complex and time-consuming practical effects scenes.

See related Twin Peaks season 3 episode 7 review: There’s A Body All Right Twin Peaks season 3 episode 6 review: Don’t Die Twin Peaks season 3 episode 5 review: Case Files

Carpenter was understandably proud of the results: after such independent hits as Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween and Escape From New York, this was his first studio movie (for Universal) and also his most expensive to date,...

Feature Ryan Lambie 20 Jan 2014 - 06:27

John Carpenter's The Thing was panned by reviewers in 1982. We take a look at the angry critical reaction and the later reassessment...

It's the summer of 1982, and director John Carpenter is on the cusp of releasing his latest movie, The Thing. For the 34-year-old filmmaker, the release marks the end of a major undertaking: the culmination of months of shooting on freezing cold sets and snowy British Columbia locations, not to mention the execution of complex and time-consuming practical effects scenes.

Carpenter was understandably proud of the results: after the independent such independent hits as Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween and Escape From New York, this was his first studio movie (for Universal) and also his most expensive to date, with a budget of around $15m. And while The Thing had appeared in cinemas before (in the guise of Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby's 1951 sci-fi shocker,...

Air Force screens on October 19 at the Museum of the Moving Image's retrospective, The Complete Howard Hawks. For more of Dan Sallitt's writing on Hawks, go here and here.

Air Force occupies an unusual place in Howard Hawks' filmography. As a war propaganda film, its subject matter is necessarily tendentious, with an overt message that is not only coercive but also repetitive. Hawks, whose control over his choice of material was quite unusual by Hollywood standards of the time, shows no sign of resisting the project's wartime agenda, and willingly accepts the character stereotyping and up-front ideology that comes with the package: the eager young recruits, the cynic to be converted, the proud parent set up for loss. In addition, Hawks' streak of dark humor combines with the project's built-in tone of righteous vengeance against the Japanese in a way that can strike peacetime audiences as callous.

On the other hand,...

Joan Fontaine movies: ‘This Above All,’ ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ (photo: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine in ‘Suspicion’ publicity image) (See previous post: “Joan Fontaine Today.”) Also tonight on Turner Classic Movies, Joan Fontaine can be seen in today’s lone TCM premiere, the flag-waving 20th Century Fox release The Above All (1942), with Fontaine as an aristocratic (but socially conscious) English Rose named Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine was born to British parents in Japan) and Fox’s top male star, Tyrone Power, as her Awol romantic interest. This Above All was directed by Anatole Litvak, who would guide Olivia de Havilland in the major box-office hit The Snake Pit (1948), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nod. In Max Ophüls’ darkly romantic Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Fontaine delivers not only what is probably the greatest performance of her career, but also one of the greatest movie performances ever. Letter from an Unknown Woman...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, whose dazzling and innovative visual effects work on fantasy adventure films such as Jason And The Argonauts and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad passed away last month at age 92. In 1933, the then-13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at a Hollywood theater and was inspired – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre “stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done.” It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. The influence of Harryhausen on film luminaries like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson,...

1981 was a pretty exciting year for fans of werewolf cinema. Not only did we get John Landis' masterful An American Werewolf in London and a decent adaptation of Whitley Streiber's novel Wolfen, but there was also Joe Dante's The Howling, which is a clever little werewolf flick with a sense of humor that still holds up pretty darn well after all these years. No, the special effects aren't quite as amazing as those found in the John Landis movie, and some of the film's social commentary is stuck firmly in the late 1970s, but given how seldom we get new werewolf flicks these days, there's always something to be said for an old one that can still deliver the goods.

Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, The Howling is about a TV reporter who suffers a violent assault from a mysterious killer...

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry

Directed by John Hough

Written by Leigh Chapman and Antonio Santean

1974, USA

A good percentage of the best American chase films were released in the decade that brought us a new wave of rebellious, edgy filmmakers who put muscle cars in the spotlight, and directed realistic, fast-paced action sequences highlighted by the incredible stunt work from Hollywood daredevils. Cutting right to the chase, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry is high on extreme stunts and crazy car crashes, created in a time when CGI didn’t exist. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry remains one of the best in the genre: the stunts are extreme, the humor is dark, and the cars are awesome.

Released in 1974, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry is a ridiculous fun, heist picture driven by tough-guy dialogue, male posturing and a somewhat familiar premise. Adapted from Richard Unekis novel The Chase, the film follows a stock car...

Whether you measure your movies by box office, reviews, or popular appeal, Sony’s $125 million remake of the 1990 Ah-nuld Schwarzenegger interplanetary action fest Total Recall looks like a strike-out. The movie opened with a lethal softness; a $25.7 million first weekend meaning Recall won’t even come close to making back its budget during its domestic theatrical run. In fact, despite 22 years of ticket price increases, it’s doubtful the movie will even match the original’s $119.3 million haul.

And for those of you who think maybe the problem is Total Recall was outgunned opening while The Dark Knight Rises was still sucking up box office coin, entertain, at least for a moment if you will, the possibility the movie just plain sucks. According to Rotten Tomatoes’ canvas, almost 70% of reviewers – and over three-quarters of “top critics” – gave Total Recall a thumbs-down. Those who went to see the movie didn’t...

Kenny Wormald, Footloose If early, rough estimates are correct, the Footloose remake will not reach the $20 million mark as some had been expecting. As per The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.com, Footloose collected approximately $5.7 million on its Friday debut, which would translate into a $17 million weekend. Directed by Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan's Craig Brewer, the Paramount release stars relative newcomer Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, and Andie McDowell. Kevin Bacon starred in the 1984 original (itself a derivative effort similar to countless movies of the previous three decades). Hugh Jackman's Real Steel is expected to land in second place with $15m-$15.5m for the weekend, following grosses of $4.5m on Friday. At no. 3, the horror/thriller The Thing — another remake of an '80s flick (itself a remake of a 1951 B movie) — will likely cume at $10m-$11m after only $3.8m on Friday. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr....

John W. Campbell, Jr.'s 1938 seminal science-fiction/horror novella, Who Goes There?, has been adapted twice for the big screen, once, loosely, in 1951 as The Thing from Another World and the second time more faithfully in 1982 as The Thing (a.k.a. John Carpenter's The Thing). While the second adaptation relied heavily on state-of-the-art practical effects, heavy on the body horror, blood, and gore (along with claustrophobia and paranoia, of course), producer and ghost-director Howard Hawks (Rio Bravo, Red River, The Big Sleep, His Girl Friday) structured The Thing from Another World as a moody, atmospheric horror film, relying primarily on suspense, tension, and audience imagination to create a memorable theatrical experience.

Set at a research station in the Arctic (as opposed to Antarctica in Campbell's novella and Carpenter's 1982 adaptation), The Thing from Another World centers on the first encounter between humanity and an alien from outer space. We...