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There have been many stories about Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean bonding during the production of George Stevens’ epic “Giant” in Marfa, Texas, in 1955. Though not exactly a “Harold & Maude” scenario, the 24-year-old Dean also developed a strong friendship with Edna Ferber, the diminutive Pulitzer Prize-winning author of such classic novels as “So Big,” “Showboat,” “Cimarron,” and “Giant,” who turned 70 that summer in Marfa. Ferber, who never married, was seen sitting on the back of Dean’s motorcycle as they would take rides during breaks. And she even tried her hand at twirling the lasso.

Author Julie Gilbert, Ferber’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated grand nice and biographer (“Ferber: The Biography of Edna Ferber and Her Circle”), doesn’t think the two were in love. “He was very young,” said Gilbert, who writes about her great aunt and the making of the Oscar-winning film in her latest book “Giant Love” set for a Dec.

It's no secret that Western movies are defined by their action scenes and explosive violence. It's a mainstay of the genre since shootouts and saloon brawls make their way into almost every project that can be considered a Western. However, just as there are many great Westerns where the hero isn't a gunslinger, there are movies that include little to no violence at all. Finding a Western with no violence is difficult, and many have at least the threat of implied violence. However, these films successfully prove that stakes and conflict can be just as compelling without physical force.

Many of these films fall into the category of the best musical Westerns since there are a surprisingly high number of movie musicals set in the Old West. Additionally, comedies and light-hearted projects are all typically non-violent, with moments of action being played for laughs and characterized as low stakes. However,...

The Irish-American icon Maureen OHara carved a place for herself among the greatest actresses Hollywood had ever seen and starred in countless classic movies. Born and raised in Dublin, OHara started to pursue acting from a very young age and, before long, became a major star in comedies, romances, and Western movies. With acclaimed collaborations with the likes of John Wayne and James Stewart, throughout her career, she worked with some of the biggest names in show business.

As the star of some of legendary director John Fords best movies, OHara was a movie star in the truest sense of the word, as she gave her all to every role she played. With an ethereal, timeless beauty, OHara portrayed some of the most effective and iconic love interests the big screen has ever seen. Although OHara took a 20-year break from acting, it was a testament to her incredible appeal...

The Deadly Companions is a 1961 American Western starring Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran, and Chill Wills. The screenplay and the novel the film is based on were written by A. S. Fleischman. The Deadly Companions is legendary director Sam Peckinpah's first and least-known film. Rife with continuity errors, plot holes, visible crew and equipment, and numerous other errors, the movie was a trial by fire for the newly minted director. With a relatively small budget of $1.5 million and unable to rewrite the screenplay or edit the picture, Peckinpah cobbled together 93 minutes of one of the technically worst westerns ever made and a humble start for a legendary western director.

Francis the Talking Mule – 7 Film Collection

Blu ray

Kino Lorber

1950 – 1957 / 1.33:1, 2:1, 1.85:1

Starring Donald O’Connor, Chill Wills, Piper Laurie, Julie Adams

Written by David Stern, Oscar Brodney

Directed by Arthur Lubin, Charles Lamont

Born in 1909, David “Tom” Stern III was a journalist who lived a long and prosperous life—his father was media magnate J. David Stern, publisher of the now-defunct Philadelphia Record, the New York Post, and New Jersey’s Courier-Post. The younger Stern emulated his father’s success in the newspaper business; by 1949, Stern III was able to purchase the New Orleans Item-Tribune for 2,000,000. The rest of his fortune arrived in 1946 with Francis, The Talking Mule, Stern’s tall tale about a loquacious donkey. The scope of the book’s success was almost as unreal as the mule itself. In 1999, on Stern’s 90th birthday, a friend dedicated this verse;

Here’s a toast to Tom Stern

A man of great class.

In a decade of oddities, Paul Sylbert’s 1971 satire is high on the list of unconventional entertainments. Set in the fall of 1962, Richard Benjamin plays a professor so unnerved by the Cuban missile crisis he sets out on a cross-country tour of America, changing his identity in each new city. Chill Wills and Cloris Leachman lead the appropriately eccentric supporting cast.

The post The Steagle appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

By Lee Pfeiffer

In days of old, there were precious few opportunities to see documentaries about the making of specific films. In 1960, John Wayne hosted "The Spirit of the Alamo", a one-hour publicity special for his epic film. In 1965, the James Bond film "Thunderball" was promoted with a one hour prime time TV special, a strategy that was repeated in 1967 for "You Only Live Twice". However, these were the exceptions. In most cases, "making of" documentaries were short featurettes lasting between five and ten minutes on average. Movie fans would only encounter them by accident. American viewers might catch one of them if a network needed something to fill some time gap, such as a rain delay in a live baseball game. The only way die-hard movie buffs could watch such films on demand required access to a 16mm film projector and the ability to know where to purchase them on the collector's circuit.

Some movies, performances and moviemakers are so iconic that it’s easy to assume the Academy recognized them at some point, and it can be astounding to find out that some of them failed to take home a statue. Such is the case with the 33rd annual Academy Awards ceremony, helmed by iconic host Bob Hope on April 17, 1961. Whereas a deserving picture did win, a few equally memorable movies and performances were left out, a legendary director would lose his last chance at the statue and it was both the first and last year for some Oscar traditions.

Prolific writer and director Billy Wilder was no stranger to the Academy – in fact, he already had 17 nominations and three wins prior to 1960. However, this would prove to be an historic year for him, as he became the first individual to win Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Original) all in the same year,...

” I have just received a dispatch that Santa Anna has captured San Antonio. Colonel Travis, with less than 200 men, has withdrawn across the river to the Alamo to prepare for its defense. At the moment, that is the only military force between the Mexican army and the Sabine River… and those men need help!”

Two lavishly produced Mexican war epics, The Man From The Alamo and They Came To Cordura make their high-definition debut in this star-studded double feature spotlighting the talents of Glenn Ford, Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Julia Adams and many more!

The Man From The Alamo (1953) stars Glenn Ford as John Stroud, a heroic survivor of the brutal battle at The Alamo who is branded a coward for fleeing to warn the local townsfolk of the approaching Mexican armies. He sets out to clear his name and avenge those who killed his wife and child.

Directed by...

"The Mild, Mild West" 

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Warner Archive has released the 1965 comedy "The Rounders" on Blu-ray. The film is primarily notable for the  teaming of Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, two estimable Hollywood stars who could be relied upon to play convincingly in both dark, somber dramas and frolicking comedies. "The Rounders" was directed and written by Burt Kennedy, who adapted a novel from by Max Evans. Kennedy was a veteran of big studio productions who worked his way from screenwriter to director. If he never made any indisputable classics, it can be said that he made a good many films that were top-notch entertainment. Among them: "Support Your Local Sheriff", "The War Wagon", "Hannie Caulder" and "The Train Robbers". While Westerns were Kennedy's specialty, he did have a prestigious achievement with his screenplay for Clint Eastwood's woefully underseen and under-praised 1990 film "White Hunter, Black Heart". It's...

This unusually sensitive, overlooked WW2 romance skips the morale-boosting baloney of the day. Two people meet on a train, each with a personal shame they dare not speak of. Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten are excellent under William Dieterle’s direction, and Shirley Temple doesn’t do half the damage you’d think she might.

I’ll Be Seeing You

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 85 min. / Street Date November 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Spring Byington, John Derek, Tom Tully, Chill Wills, Kenny Bowers.

Cinematography: Tony Gaudio

Film Editor: William H. Zeigler

Special Effects: Jack Cosgrove

Original Music: Daniele Amfitheatrof

Stunt Double: Cliff Lyons

Written by Marion Parsonette from a play by Charles Martin

Produced by Dore Schary

Directed by William Dieterle

Aha! A little research explains why several late-’40s melodramas from David O. Selznick come off as smart productions,...

Heading for Spring Break somewhere? Long before Girls Gone Wild, kids of the Kennedy years found their own paths to the desired fun in the sun, and most of them came back alive. MGM’s comedic look at the Ft. Lauderdale exodus is a half-corny but fully endearing show, featuring the great Dolores Hart and the debuts of Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss and Jim Hutton.

Where the Boys Are

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date July 25, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, Jim Hutton

Yvette Mimieux, George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin, Barbara Nichols, Chill Wills.

Cinematography: Robert Bronner

Art Direction: Preston Ames, George W. Davis

Film Editor: Fredric Steinkamp

Original Music: Pete Rugolo, Neil Sedaka, George Stoll, Victor Young

Written by George Wells from a novel by Glendon Swarthout

Produced by Joe Pasternak

Directed by Henry Levin

Ah yes, in 1960 first-wave Rock...

The laid-back, plot challenged non-violent western gets a boost in this folksy comedy about two aging cowboys with less sense than the horses they tame. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda star together for the first time, leaving behind their older images… they’re too tender-hearted for their own good. If the sex comedy wasn’t quite so dated, Burt Kennedy’s picture might be a classic.

The Rounders

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Sue Ane Langdon, Hope Holiday, Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Freeman, Joan Freeman, Denver Pyle, Barton MacLane, Doodles Weaver, Peter Fonda, Peter Ford, Bill Hart, Warren Oates, Chuck Roberson.

Cinematography: Paul Vogel

Film Editor: John McSweeney

Original Music: Jeff Alexander

From the Novel by Max Evans

Produced by Richard E. Lyons

Written and Directed by Burt Kennedy

Producer Richard E. Lyons is...

Wow! Fritz Lang's second western is a marvel -- a combo of matinee innocence and that old Germanic edict that character equals fate. It has a master's sense of color and design. Robert Young is an odd fit but Randolph Scott is nothing less than terrific. You'd think Lang was born on the Pecos. Western Union Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1941 / Color /1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 8, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Randolph Scott, Robert Young, Virginia Gilmore, Dean Jagger, John Carradine, Chill Wills, Slim Summerville, Barton MacLane, Victor Kilian, George Chandler, Chief John Big Tree, Iron Eyes Cody, Jay Silverheels. Cinematography Edward Cronjager, Allen M. Davey Original Music David Buttolph Written by Robert Carson from the novel by Zane Grey Produced by Harry Joe Brown (associate) Directed by Fritz Lang

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Darryl Zanuck of 20th Fox treated most writers well, was good for John Ford...

The already-incredible line-up for the 2016 New York Film Festival just got even more promising. Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk will hold its world premiere at the festival on October 14th, the NY Times confirmed today. The adaptation of Ben Fountain‘s Iraq War novel, with a script by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), follows a teenage soldier who survives a battle in Iraq and then is brought home for a victory lap before returning.

Lee has shot the film at 120 frames per second in 4K and native 3D, giving it unprecedented clarity for a feature film, which also means the screening will be held in a relatively small 300-seat theater at AMC Lincoln Square, one of the few with the technology to present it that way. While it’s expected that this Lincoln Square theater will play the film when it arrives in theaters, it may be...

Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...

Though we last left Judy Garland in 1944 crooning from a trolley and cementing a (troubled) place in Hollywood history, this week we must catapult two years into the future to rejoin our musical heroine. The reason has to do with the odd nature of the Studio System in general and this series in specific. Judy Garland actually shot two movies between 1944 and 1945, but because one was delayed due to reshoots (therefore getting bumped to next week) and the other was a straight drama (therefore not fitting a series focused on musical numbers), we must travel through the end of WW2 and the beginning of Judy Garland's marriage to Vincente Minnelli. Thus, in 1946 we arrive in... the Old West? 

 

The Movie: The Harvey Girls (1946)

The Songwriters: Johnny Mercer (lyrics), Harry Warren (music)

The Players: Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Ray Bolger,...

Unbridled Passion by Howard Hughes

Following the release in March of ‘A Man Called Gannon’ (1968), Simply Media in the UK continue to release more Universal-International westerns, this time of 1940s and ‘50s vintage. The new releases, out on 18 April, are ‘Calamity Jane & Sam Bass’ (1949), ‘Cattle Drive’ (1951) and ‘Black Horse Canyon’ (1954). This trio of films are literally ‘Horse Operas’, with the accent on thoroughbred steeds and their importance and role in the working west. Be they cattle drovers, stock breeders or outlaws, where would any of them be without the horse? The answer, of course, is walking.

I’ll review the DVDs in the order I watched them. First up is ‘Cattle Drive’, a 1951 western directed by Kurt Neumann. Chester Graham Jnr (Dean Stockwell), the spoilt, arrogant son of railroad magnet Chester Graham Snr (Leon Ames), is accidentally left behind when the train he is travelling on makes a water stop.

By Todd Garbarini

The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a 65th anniversary screening of John Ford’s 1950 film Rio Grande. The film, which stars John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Ben Johnson, and Harry Carey, Jr., will be screened on Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 7:00 pm.

Actor Claude Jarman, Jr., who appears in the film as Trooper Jefferson “Jeff” York, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss his role and career.

From the press release:

65Th Anniversary Screening Of Rio Grande, And Tribute To Maureen O’Hara

Tuesday, January 12, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre

As a tribute to Maureen O’Hara, we present the final chapter in director John Ford’s Cavalry trilogy (following Fort Apache and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon). Rio Grande works affecting variations on some of the director’s favorite themes. While there is an...

Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.

Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.

By Patrick Shanley

Managing Editor

Tom Hardy has made a career playing intense roles, including this summer’s blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road which has an outside shot at a best picture nomination, and this year is shaping up to continue that trend for the British actor.

With this month’s Legend, in which Hardy plays dual roles as identical twin gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray, and a role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in last year’s best director winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant this Christmas, Hardy may be looking at his first nomination from the Academy. That may not be an accomplishment the actor aspires too, however, as he described the Oscars to Entertainment Weekly last week, “It’s like putting a wig on a dog, or a tutu on a crocodile. It doesn’t look right, it’s not fair to the animal, and inevitably someone will get bitten and hurt.

'Affliction' movie: Nick Nolte as the troubled police officer Wade Whitehouse. 'Affliction' movie: Great-looking psychological drama fails to coalesce Set in a snowy New Hampshire town, Affliction could have been an excellent depiction of a dysfunctional family's cycle of violence and how that is accentuated by rapid, destabilizing socioeconomic changes. Unfortunately, writer-director Paul Schrader's 1998 film doesn't quite reach such heights.* Based on a novel by Russell Banks (who also penned the equally snowy The Sweet Hereafter), Schrader's Affliction relies on a realistic wintry atmosphere (courtesy of cinematographer Paul Sarossy) to convey the deadness inside the story's protagonist, the middle-aged small-town sheriff Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte). The angst-ridden Wade is intent on not ending up like his abusive, alcoholic father, Glen (James Coburn), while inexorably sliding down that very path. Making matters more complicated, Wade must come to terms with the fact that his ex-wife, Lillian (Mary Beth Hurt), will never return to him,...

Here's another installment featuring Joe Dante's reviews from his stint as a critic for Film Bulletin circa 1969-1974. Our thanks to Video Watchdog and Tim Lucas for his editorial embellishments!

Post-production tampering mitigates against this Western by Sam Peckinpah finding its deserved reception from better-class audiences. Shortened release version is vague, confusing, and is being sold as routine action entry in saturation breaks where it should perform routinely, no more. Kris Kristofferson and acting debut of Bob Dylan provide youth lures. Rating: R.

“It feels like times have changed,” says Pat Garrett. “Times, maybe—not me," says Billy the Kid. A classical Sam Peckinpah exchange, reflecting one of the numerous obsessive themes that run through his latest Western. But times certainly haven’t changed for Peckinpah—for, despite the overdue success of his last venture, The Getaway, the embattled and iconoclastic director who revolutionized the Western with The Wild Bunch...

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...

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will remember award-winning actor James Garner on Monday, July 28, with an all-day marathon featuring 12 of his films. The Oscar nominated actor passed away on Saturday in Los Angeles at age 86.

TCM’s lineup features Garner’s performances in such movies as Toward the Unknown (1956), which marked his film debut; the racing drama Grand Prix (1966); the popular romantic comedy The Thrill of It All (1963); the Paddy Cheyefsky-penned The Americanization of Emily (1964); the groundbreaking drama The Children’s Hour(1961); and the gender-bending Victor/Victoria (1982).

The following is the complete schedule for TCM’s tribute to James Garner.

TCM Remembers James Garner – Monday, July 28

6 a.m. – Toward the Unknown (1956) – starring William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith and James Garner

8 a.m. – Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957) – starring Randolph Scott, James Craig, Angie Dickinson and James Garner

9:30 a.m. – Grand Prix (1966) – starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Brian Bedford and Yves Montand

12:30 p.

Chicago – There is not quite any entertainment like a great John Wayne picture, and “McLintock!” certainly fulfills that expectation. But in adapting Shakepeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” they forgot that the womenfolk had progressed a bit since the spankings that were liberally doled out against the wives and daughters.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Produced in 1963, this is an old fashioned comedy western, with old fashioned John Wayne values. The Duke gives screen time to the plight of the Indians, but obviously can’t tolerate Eastern educational elites, certain politicians and women outside there roles as housekeepers. Wayne portrays a wealthy cattle driving man, and he works for “the people who buy the T-bone steak.” That rugged individualism sums up “McLintock!.” but along the way there is some true fun, and a nice vehicle for some Silver Era character actors, including the great Jerry Van Dyke.

G.W.(John Wayne) and Katharine (Maureen...

Jeanne Crain: Lighthearted movies vs. real life tragedies (photo: Madeleine Carroll and Jeanne Crain in ‘The Fan’) (See also: "Jeanne Crain: From ‘Pinky’ Inanity to ‘Margie’ Magic.") Unlike her characters in Margie, Home in Indiana, State Fair, Centennial Summer, The Fan, and Cheaper by the Dozen (and its sequel, Belles on Their Toes), or even in the more complex A Letter to Three Wives and People Will Talk, Jeanne Crain didn’t find a romantic Happy Ending in real life. In the mid-’50s, Crain accused her husband, former minor actor Paul Brooks aka Paul Brinkman, of infidelity, of living off her earnings, and of brutally beating her. The couple reportedly were never divorced because of their Catholic faith. (And at least in the ’60s, unlike the humanistic, progressive-thinking Margie, Crain was a “conservative” Republican who supported Richard Nixon.) In the early ’90s, she lost two of her...

Review Aliya Whiteley 19 Jun 2013 - 06:47

Aliya finds this John Wayne adaptation of Shakespeare to be interesting, if uncomfortably old-fashioned, watching...

If you’re going to watch a movie version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of The Shrew you have a quite a few options: from Dw Griffith’s 1908 silent version to the 2010 Bollywood film Isi Life Mein. You could try Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor hamming it up in Franco Zefferelli’s 1967 film, or enjoy the music of Cole Porter and the choreography of Hermes Pan in 1953's Kiss Me, Kate. Or there's 10 Things I Hate About You, which surprisingly feels like one of the more faithful renditions, with Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles spitting venom at each other in a very enjoyable way.

And then there's McLintock!, a comedy western from 1963 with the stamp of John Wayne all over it, determined to tell an old story in an old-fashioned way.

The history of celebrity self-promotion sets an unlucky precedent for the Oscar hopeful

Tinseltown's in a tizz about Melissa Leo's decision to take out a series of ads for herself in the Hollywood trade press ahead of the Oscars. Upset by her lack of exposure, the 50-year-old favourite for best supporting actress has said she paid for the ads – glamorous colour photographs of herself in evening wear, topped by the word "Consider . . ." – to counter ageism and "show a different side of herself".

It looks likely to backfire, of course, as self-promotion often does. Not just because the Academy has disliked stars who campaign for themselves ever since 1960, when Oscar-nominated actor Chill Wills claimed in an ill-advised ad that the cast of The Alamo were praying harder for him to win than those involved in the real Battle of the Alamo had prayed for their lives. Even Hollywood recognised this as poor taste,...

Getty

Robert Osborne has been attending or covering the Oscars for 50 years now, as Speakeasy found out when we recently interviewed the TCM host. Given his encyclopedic knowledge of the film industry, we asked Osborne if the Oscars always provoked war-like campaigns from movie studios and moguls intent on getting their films and stars a win. ”That’s been there a long time. That goes way back,” Osborne said.

Osborne said the campaigns really took off when studios realized the...

 

The Liberation of L.B. Jones, a 1970 film that examines the topic of racism and inter-racial sex relations in the American South, will be telecast tonight on Turner Classic Movies at 10 Pm (Est). The film, which is not available on DVD, boasts an impressive cast: Lee J. Cobb, Anthony Zerbe, Roscoe Lee Brown, Lola Falana, Lee Majors, Barbara Hershey, Chill Wills, Yahpet Kotto and Dub Taylor. William Wyler directs and Elmer Bernstein provides the score.  ...

The Hot Blog: David Poland claims that “True Grit,” the Coen brothers Western, “has muscled its way into the frontrunner slot to win best picture” as a result of its solid box-office performance over the long Christmas weekend. (It generated $36.1 million, good enough for second place behind “Little Fockers,” which brought in only $9 million more.) Methinks Poland is too smart to actually believe that and is just hoping to generate some late phase one traffic to his site and/or be the one guy who made a crazy pick that somehow came true (as Tom O’Neil attempted last year with “Inglourious Basterds”). Jeff Wells (here) and Sasha Stone (here) seem to concur.

New York Times: Manohla Dargis, Stephen Holden, and A.O. Scott, the newspaper’s three film critics, share their five selections for what/who this year’s Oscar nominees “should be” in this Sunday’s edition. Having obtained an early copy,...

Dennis Hopper: actor, artist, filmmaker, Hollywood survivor.

Just days after remembering the loss of Sydney Pollack two years ago, we awaken to mourn the loss of another Hollywood icon, Dennis Hopper, less than two weeks after his 74th birthday. Hopper had been on my short list of "dream interviews" during my tenure at Venice Magazine. When I was lucky enough to finally sit down with him in November of 2008, I was thrilled, and didn't know quite what to expect.

What I found while smoking cigars with Hopper in his Venice home-studio, was a thoughtful man with a gentle demeanor, who spoke in measured tones and loved telling stories. Gone was the wild-eyed "enfant terrible" that Hopper had made his name playing, and sometimes living. What I saw instead was a man who seemed to be at peace with himself and his life, who loved his children, art, film and new ideas.

This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for a few of them in particular.

These esteemed examples of entertainment include Crazy Heart, Batman, Batman Returns, Fist of Legend, the first season of Merlin, the DVD release of the classic Battleship Potemkin and an obscure direct t0 dvd movie called Crimes of Fashion featuring Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco and Megan Fox. And, of course, the non-3D Blu-ray release of Avatar hits stores this Thursday (pictured above with Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana).

Movies

Avatar ~ Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver (Blu-ray and DVD)

Battleship Potemkin ~ Alexander Antonov, Vladimir Barsky (Blu-ray)

Batman ~ Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson (Blu-ray)

Batman Returns ~ Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken (Blu-ray)

Cheech & Chong’s Hey Watch This! ~ Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong...