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To quote "Lawrence of Arabia," big things have small beginnings. Individually but especially in collaboration with each other, director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams are responsible for several sea changes in their respective fields. Spielberg not only helped institute the summer blockbuster but was instrumental in making genre films become just as prevalent and prestigious as melodramas or period pieces. Williams has been a key figure in getting music composed for the screen to break away from its marriage to the moving image and become desirable to listen to on its own. His pivot from jazz-based scores and Broadway-style arrangements to lush, heavily thematic, symphonic music made the score soundtrack album just as viable as a pop source cue soundtrack, and transformed the bulk of music for films into something that can and should stand on its own in addition to supporting the movie that it's for. Without these two artists,...

For a long time, John Wayne was angry about losing out on an Academy Award. Then, he finally won the Oscar for his performance as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn in "True Grit," adding yet another achievement to his already legendary career. But the following year, his reputation took a hit when he gave what became an infamous Playboy interview in which he said some things that haunted until his death. Those things included criticizing the Civil Rights movement and claiming to support "white supremacy," before labelling Native Americans selfish for trying to retain their land and "keep it for themselves." It's not hard to see why this interview has lived in infamy ever since, and why it continues to recrudesce every few years, even though the man himself passed away in 1979.

The year after the interview was published, Wayne seemingly allowed his legacy as the archetypal American hero to take another blow,...

Steven Spielberg surely had no idea that one well-meaning remark about John Williams to George Lucas would've paved the way for one of the greatest soundtracks in cinematic history. But the world is a better place for it.

Spielberg and Williams' long-lived collaboration began in 1974, when the latter worked on The Sugarland Express. Before that, Williams had worked with directors like Frank Sinatra, Irwin Allen, and Don Siegel. In 2023, Spielberg told Deadline that Williams' work on Mark Rydell's The Reivers made him seek the music composer out for his theatrical feature debut.

A year later, the two worked together on Spielberg's classic horror thriller, Jaws, for which Williams won an Oscar. As the 1975 movie turned 50 this month, let's revisit how it led to Williams working with Lucas.

We may have Steven Spielberg to thank for the Star Wars soundtrack

Lucas was gearing up for A New Hope, then known as just Star Wars,...

John Wayne became arguably the biggest star of Hollywood's Golden Age via his mythic portrayals of Western heroes. In the 1920s and 1930s, the genre was the stuff of serials and programmers (some of which featured the Duke), but they were transformed into pure cinema when John Ford made Wayne the co-lead of "Stagecoach" opposite Claire Trevor. The unfussy yet undeniably magnetic actor went on to make a string of Western classics that included "Red River," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," "Rio Bravo," "The Searchers," and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." There was no one bigger or more iconic.

Almost to a tee, the rise and decline of Wayne's career follows the trajectory of the traditional Hollywood Western. When audiences got a taste for the luridness of Spaghetti Westerns and the revisionism of filmmakers like Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellmman, Wayne, who looked a good ten years older than...

Robert De Niro has been part of several award-worthy and critically acclaimed films throughout his sprawling, decades-long career. While he has been nominated for the Academy Awards several times, there is one film of his that Quentin Tarantino felt was equal to some of his Oscar-nominated features.

Many would be surprised to find that we are talking about the 2015 comedy drama, The Intern. Tarantino not only once expressed that the film is his favorite but also remarked that De Niro should have won an Oscar for it. Moreover, if you haven’t gotten around to seeing The Intern, the good thing is that it is soon coming to Netflix.

Quentin Tarantino on Robert De Niro’s The Intern Quentin Tarantino | Credits: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

Robert De Niro is best known for his serious and complex roles, roles that are incredibly layered and nuanced, typically...

It’s no news that James Franco is one of the most brilliant talents in the industry. Among his early standout roles, there was none that was more pivotal than the movie he did with Mark Rydell, which has pleased fans and critics alike — James Dean.

If anything, Franco’s performance in that movie really helped him become a super-famous personality in the entertainment industry after the career-defining role. But that’s not all it did, because that respective part even had Robert de Niro bringing him on board a movie that was critically panned, but where Franco still shone: City by the Sea.

Robert de Niro cast James Franco in City by the Sea after watching him in James Dean James Franco and Robert De Niro in a still from City by the Sea. | Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Soon after earning his breakthrough in the entertainment industry through his...

Billy Williams, the esteemed British cinematographer who shared an Oscar for shooting Gandhi and also was nominated for his work on the Glenda Jackson-starring Women in Love and Henry Fonda’s final film, On Golden Pond, has died. He was 96.

Williams’ death was announced in British Cinematographer magazine. No details on the cause of death were provided.

“With deep sorrow, we bid farewell to Billy Williams — an outstanding British cinematographer, laureate of the ‘Golden Frog’ for exceptional achievements in the art of cinematography at the Camerimage Festival in 2000,” tweeted the official X account of Camerimage, the Poland-based film festival dedicated to cinematography.

Williams also served as the director of photography on John Milius’ The Wind and the Lion (1975), Stuart Rosenberg’s Voyage of the Damned (1976), Martin Brest’s Going in Style (1979) and Peter Yates’ Suspect (1987).

The London native received an early career break when he was hired for Ken Russell...

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At the outset of the 1970s, John Wayne, arguably the biggest movie star of the 20th century, was making reasonably profitable movies at an impressively decent clip for a man who'd lost a lung to cancer. Though he looked considerably older than he was, he felt obliged to keep making films espousing conservative values for his aging fans and, whether they liked it or not, those goddamn pot-smoking, war-protesting, bra-burning Baby Boomers.

More often than not, Wayne's 1970s movies felt old-fashioned, but the actor, now in his 60s, was willing to tweak his image in order to keep up with moviegoers' changing tastes. After Wayne turned down the lead role in Don Siegel's "Dirty Harry" (a decision he regretted), he starred in the gritty-for-him cop drama "McQ." He also allowed himself to get killed off in Mark Rydell's...

When John Wayne broke through to bona-fide movie stardom in John Ford's 1939 classic "Stagecoach," he quickly established himself as the most bankable actor in the film industry. Not every Wayne picture was a smash hit, but they almost always turned a tidy profit. Given that he was remarkably prolific throughout the prime of his career, making multiple movies per year, this meant his fans came to expect a certain level of quality from the star — otherwise, they would've stopped showing up at a certain point.

If you're new to the movies of John Wayne, and you're looking for a good place to start, you can do no better than the aforementioned Western, which established his swaggeringly laconic persona. But once you get that one out of the way, there are many different paths you can take. You could try one of his war films or watch The Duke get...

Eric Weissman, the noted Hollywood entertainment lawyer who represented many actors including Gene Wilder, Elizabeth Taylor and Rita Hayworth, died Dec. 15. He was 94.

Weissman’s death was only just now announced by his granddaughter, Sara McCrea.

Over his five decades of experience practicing entertainment law, Weissman also represented directors like Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Aldrich, Paul Mazursky and Mark Rydell. Weissman spent years as a partner at Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz, Selvin and the Beverly Hills firm Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman Grodin, along with a stint at Warner Bros as the Head of Worldwide Business Affairs.

“Eric was a wonderful attorney, said “Roger Rabbit” creator Gary K. Wolf, a client and friend. “He was also a consummate gentleman, a brilliant raconteur, and a very, very good friend.”

Later in life, Weissman founded his own practice. He taught at schools including the University of Southern California and Sherwood Oaks Experimental College...

Eric Weissmann, the veteran entertainment attorney who repped Rita Hayworth, Robert Altman, Elizabeth Taylor and Gene Wilder in a career that lasted more than five decades, has died. He was 94.

Weissmann died Dec. 15 in Denver of natural causes, his granddaughter Sara McCrea told The Hollywood Reporter.

His clients also included David Carradine and Keith Carradine, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Aldrich, Paul Mazursky and Mark Rydell.

In 2012, Weissmann founded his own practice after spending many years as a senior partner with the Beverly Hills firm Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman Grodin. “I look forward to enjoying the freedom of being on my own and devoting full time to my clients,” he said then.

That move came in the wake of Weissmann Wolff merging with Sacramento-based Weintraub Genshlea Chediak Tobin & Tobin, effectively bringing to an end an entertainment law firm that had been a player in Hollywood since the early 1980s.

Born in Zurich...

A column chronicling events and conversations on the awards circuit.

Even as people are drifting back slowly from the holiday break, and Hanukkah actually just celebrated its eighth and final night, the awards season is taking no prisoners as the whole thing has just crash-landed on us whether we like it or not.

Yes, it is only the third day of January, but no rest for the weary. Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin, Denis Villeneuve, Colman Domingo, Ariana Grande, Ralph Fiennes and the Conclave cast, Nicole Kidman, Adrien Brody, Angelina Jolie, Timothée Chalamet, and the cast of Emilia Pérez are headed as we speak down the 10 Freeway to Palm Springs, where they will all give acceptance speeches on that massive Convention Center stage Friday night at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala. They might serve as warmups for some as they jet back to L.A. for Sunday’s Golden Globes Awards,...

The Cowboys is considered the most accurate Wild West film by historian Michael Grauer. John Wayne's character in The Cowboys hires young boys as trailhands, facing realistic dangers along the way. Despite some inaccuracies, The Cowboys received mixed reviews but maintains a strong 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

A historian explains why The Cowboys is the most accurate Wild West film. Directed by Mark Rydell, the 1972 Western film follows a grizzled veteran rancher who recruits a group of inexperienced schoolboys as cowhands to get his cattle herd to market on time, though the drive is fraught with dangers, including a gang of rustlers trying to steal the herd. John Wayne leads the cast alongside Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, Robert Carradine, and Slim Pickens.

In a video from Insider, the cowboy and Old West historian Michael Grauer explained why The Cowboys is an accurate Wild West movie, and also his favorite.

Bleecker Street’s new comedy “The Fabulous Four” finds Bette Midler doing what she does best: broad comedy with a touch of poignancy peeking out from just beneath the surface.

It’s a quality that characterizes many of Midler’s most memorable performances in films like “The First Wives Club,” “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” and “That Old Feeling,” and according to Midler, it’s been part of her approach since the beginning.

“When I worked live, starting from the time I was 19, I was very much aware of the melancholy underneath certain kinds of scenes,” Midler told IndieWire in a recent interview. “There’s a musical term for it: contrapuntal. ‘Miss M’ is loud and boisterous on the outside, but there’s an undercurrent of despair because it’s very hard to be a human being.”

In “The Fabulous Four,” Midler plays a widow who surprises her friends...

The 1970s marked the end of traditional westerns and the rise of the anti-western, questioning the genre's whitewashing of U.S. history. Movies like The Cowboys, Jeremiah Johnson, and High Plains Drifter paved the way for revisionist westerns in the '70s. Films like El Topo, The Shootist, and Blazing Saddles brought fresh, innovative perspectives to the western genre in the 1970s.

With delightfully dark classics like El Topo and McCabe & Mrs. Miller, the 1970s marked the end of the western genres heyday and the dawn of the anti-western. The western genre has been a staple of American cinema since the invention of filmmaking. One of the first narrative films ever made Edwin S. Porters 1903 silent movie The Great Train Robbery was a western. Seminal masterpieces like Stagecoach and Destry Rides Again established the cinematic language of the western genre in the 1930s, and westerns remained popular and prevalent throughout the 40s,...

Anthea Sylbert, the two-time Oscar-nominated costume designer who worked on Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Carnal Knowledge, Shampoo and Julia before becoming a studio executive and producer, has died. She was 84.

Sylbert died Tuesday in Skiathos, Greece, director Sakis Lalas told The Hollywood Reporter. Lalas just finished a documentary about Sylbert titled, My Life in 3 Acts.

Sylbert partnered with two-time Oscar-winning production Richard Sylbert on eight films and with his twin brother, Paul Sylbert — her first husband and another Oscar-winning production designer — on another three.

“Paul is the more bitter, more angry of the two,” she told Peter Biskind in 1993. “Someone once put it this way: Dick is more of a diplomat. He will put the ice pick somewhere in your back, you’re not quite sure, and you sort of feel tickled; Paul, while facing you, sticks it in your gut. I always used to think that if you put them together,...

James Caan is most popularly known for his scene-stealing role as Sonny Corleone in the first two Godfather films, a role that has earned him an Oscar nomination. He also earned an Emmy nomination for his incredible portrayal of famed American football player Brian Piccolo in the film Brian’s Song. The actor has played leading men in various acclaimed films in the 70s.

James Caan as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather | Paramount Pictures

His other hit films include Rollerball, A Bridge Too Far, Thief, and Cinderella Liberty. The latter was a romantic drama where he starred alongside Marsha Mason. Caan was very committed to his role and knew him inside and out. However, he felt that his final line in the film was a disservice to the character and also undermined the audience’s intelligence.

James Caan Was Pissed At Mark Rydell For The ‘Loudest Line’ in Cinderella Liberty One...

Over the course of his career, James Caan starred in some of the most influential films of all time, including the iconic The Godfather, in which he took on the role of Sonny Corleone and earned an Academy Award for his performance. The actor was also known for being highly discerning about his on-screen projects, prompting several rejections throughout his career.

James Caan as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather | Credit: IMDb

Renowned for his outspoken and opinionated nature, the actor also did not hesitate to voice his reservations when it came to a line in the 1973 drama, Cinderella Liberty, leading to a disagreement with his friend and director of the film, Mark Rydell.

James Caan Was Disappointed With One Line in Cinderella Liberty

The 1973 film Cinderella Liberty follows James Caan as a sailor, John, who falls for a prostitute Maggie (Marsha Mason). However, things get complicated after she goes back to her previous lifestyle.

Dianne Crittenden, the casting director whose impressive résumé included the first Star Wars film, The In-Laws and the Terrence Malick features Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, has died. She was 82.

Crittenden died Wednesday at her home in Pacific Palisades after a battle with several cancers, fellow casting director Ilene Starger told The Hollywood Reporter.

“Dianne was my mentor, we’ve known each other for 44 years,” Starger said. “She was also my dear friend, more like an older sister, really. So generous, kind, brilliant, funny. A people magnet. Her knowledge of and insight into actors was extraordinary.”

A former head of casting at Warner Bros., Crittenden collaborated with Martin Ritt on Murphy’s Romance (1985) and Stanley & Iris (1990); with Roger Donaldson on Thirteen Days (2000) and The World’s Fastest Indian (2005); and with Peter Weir on Witness (1985), The Mosquito Coast (1986) and Green Card (1990).

Crittenden was born in Queens on Aug.

Henry Fonda is a Hollywood titan who breathed life into over 70 movie characters in his career of more than five decades. He collaborated with some of the greatest filmmakers to ever tread the streets of cinema, including John Ford, Sergio Leone, Alfred Hitchcock, and Mark Rydell, among others. With John Ford, he made nine movies, among them 1946's My Darling Clementine, and most notably, his 1940 novel adaptation The Grapes of Wrath, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination. In the film, Fonda plays a frontman for the Toad family as it migrates from Oklahoma to California for a better life during the Great Depression. Not surprisingly, The Grapes of Wrath makes it into Fonda's favorite films, in second place. Fonda is also fond of the 1943 psychological Western The Ox-Bow Incident, in which he watches helplessly as three accused people are executed by a mob without a fair trial. Fonda's favorite film,...

Shannon Wilcox, a character actress who appeared alongside Willie Nelson in Songwriter, with Dudley Moore in Six Weeks and opposite Al Pacino in Frankie and Johnny, has died. She was 80.

Wilcox died Sept. 2 in Los Angeles, her daughter, actress-director Kelli Williams — she played attorney Lindsay Dole on The Practice — told The Hollywood Reporter.

A life member of The Actors Studio, Wilcox also portrayed the mother of Elisabeth Shue’s Ali Mills in John G. Avildsen’s The Karate Kid (1994) and worked in many other notable films, among them Tony Richardson’s The Border (1982), Ivan Reitman’s Legal Eagles (1986), Mark Rydell’s For the Boys (1991) and David Fincher’s Seven (1995).

Wilcox was the resigned ex-wife of Nelson’s Doc Jenkins in Alan Rudolph’s Songwriter (1984) and the wife of a California politician (Moore) caught up with a woman (Mary Tyler Moore) and her sickly child (Katherine Healy) in Tony Bill’s...

For almost 50 years, John Williams' music has been virtually synonymous with the films of Steven Spielberg (and vice versa), and for nearly as long, Williams' compositions have formed the emotional backbone of the Skywalker Saga from "Star Wars." However, 20 years before the cinematic musical maestro become known for either of those things, Williams was merely a whipper-snapper fresh out of Julliard and eager to leave his mark on the worlds of concert and film music.

Williams' pre-Spielberg run would have made for an incredible career all by itself. It was an era that saw the composer collaborating with numerous giants among the old guard of Hollywood directors, including Robert Altman, Don Siegel, William Wyler, Irwin Allen, Frank Sinatra, and Norman Jewison. In 1974, Williams worked with Spielberg for the first time on the filmmaker's theatrical feature debut, "The Sugarland Express." Appearing with Williams at the American Cinematheque event "50 Years of...

Sharon Farrell, who starred as the mother of a murderous infant in It’s Alive and contributed strong supporting turns opposite James Garner and Steve McQueen, respectively, in the 1969 films Marlowe and The Reivers, has died. She was 82.

Farrell died unexpectedly May 15 of natural causes at a hospital in Orange County, her son, Chance Boyer, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Farrell also played a movie hairstylist in Richard Rush‘s The Stunt Man (1980), the ex-wife of Chuck Norris’ Texas Ranger in Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) and the mother of the cheerleader portrayed by Amanda Peterson in Can’t Buy Me Love (1987).

On television, Farrell recurred as Det. Lori Wilson on the final season (1979-80) of CBS’ Hawaii Five-o and was Florence Webster, mother of Tricia Cast’s Nina Webster, on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1991-97.

In the horror thriller It’s Alive (1974), written and directed by Larry Cohen and...

Bo Goldman, the late-blooming guru of screenwriting who received Academy Awards for his work on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Melvin and Howard, has died. He was 90.

Goldman died Tuesday in Helendale, California, his son-in-law, director Todd Field, told The New York Times.

Goldman’s first screenplay was, years after he wrote it, directed by Alan Parker for Shoot the Moon (1982), which featured Diane Keaton and Albert Finney in a raw, seriocomic drama about a disintegrating marriage.

He also co-wrote the Mark Rydell-directed rock drama The Rose (1979), starring Bette Midler in an Oscar-nominated turn, and Martin Brest’s Scent of a Woman (1992), which netted him his third Academy Award nom (and Al Pacino the best actor Oscar, too).

Goldman was one of the handful of screenwriters — Paddy Chayefsky, Francis Ford Coppola, Horton Foote, William Goldman, Billy Wilder and Joel and Ethan Coen among them — to win Academy...

Katharine Hepburn’s film career endured an extraordinary six decades. A strong-willed feminist, she was a role model for generations of women and fashion icon who eschewed dresses for stylish wide-legged pants. She is still the only performer to receive four best actress Oscars. She stuck to her guns and never attended the Oscars when was nominated only showing up to give the Thalberg award to a producer with whom she worked with at MGM. Hepburn also made nine films with the great Spencer Tracy, though, their off-screen love affair may not have been exactly what it seemed.

It was the 20th anniversary of her death on June 29 at the age of 96. And over the years when I was on staff at the Los Angeles Times, I talked to several actors and directors who worked with her.

Such as Anthony Quinn with whom I chatted in 1994 when he starred with...

John Williams is retiring after he finishes the score for the forthcoming Indiana Jones movie — right? Well, Steven Spielberg certainly thinks so. Or thought so. He was corrected on that notion at the very end of a 90-minute conversation between the two film giants Thursday night.

At the event, sponsored by the American Cinematheque and held at the Writers Guild Theater, moderator (and Variety film music writer) Jon Burlingame addressed the elephant that was gingerly lingering around the edges of the room: “A final question for each of you. John, are you really retiring from films? Are this” — “The Fabelmans,” the last film to come up for discussion — “and the Indiana Jones film to come your last work for the medium?”

“Well, Steven is a lot of things,” replied the composer. “He’s a director, he’s a producer, he’s a studio head, he’s a writer, he’s a philanthropist,...

It's something of a cliche and a bit of a lie when actors say they do their own stunts. If you want to know what that really looks like, watch the end credits of any film Jackie Chan made in his Hong Kong prime. You'll see him break various extremities and get carried out on a stretcher more than once. The only Hollywood star with that kind of daredevil spirit working today is Tom Cruise, who seems determined to keep making Mission: Impossible movies well into his autumn years or die trying.

John Wayne was an ornery, prideful cuss who wanted to look like an authentic badass on the big screen, but he knew when to defer to his longtime stunt double Chuck Roberson. This was a practical matter as much as anything. If The Duke took a nasty spill, production could be shut down for months, which was anathema...

"Is that you, John Wayne? Is this me?"

It's a recurring line in "Full Metal Jacket," Stanley Kubrick's intense 1987 war meditation as famous for its colorful language and memorable characters as it is for its scrutiny of the Vietnam conflict. The line is first uttered by Matthew Modine's J.T. Davis, a new Marine recruit at Parris Island. Delivered within a full-throated impersonation of the Golden Age movie star, the cheeky statement lands Davis on the radar of sadistic drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey), earning the quipster the nickname "Pvt. Joker" for the bulk of the movie. See the moment here, and enjoy the subsequent cornucopia of curses that flows from the D.I.'s lips.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the "Pacific Heights" star unearths the story behind Private Joker's drawling John Wayne impression which, it turns out, was cultivated three years before stepping onto Kubrick's set.

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.

The year was 1976, and John Wayne was cheesed but good at King Kong.

The gargantuan ape with a fatal penchant for blonde starlets was all the rage at Paramount, and for good reason. The studio had sunk 24 million (equivalent to 124 million in 2022) into the John Guillermin-directed remake, and desperately needed it to hit the box-office jackpot when it opened in December. Though studios have huge marketing departments that, when professionally run, know how to manage multiple releases at once, Wayne felt the film that was to be his big-screen swan song, "The Shootist," was getting ignored by Paramount's advertising team. And it was all because of that big, stupid monkey.

The Duke Vs. King Kong

According to Scott Eyman's "John Wayne: The Life and the Legend," Wayne groused to his former secretary and then present companion Pat Stacy, "Those people are putting all their damn time into King Kong.

James Caan, whose indelible, Oscar-nominated performance as Sonny Corleone, the recklessly hotheaded son of Marlon Brando’s Mafia don in “The Godfather,” is sure to be remembered as long as there are gangster movies, died on Wednesday, his family announced on Twitter. He was 82.

“It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Jimmy on the evening of July 6,” the tweet reads. “The family appreciates the outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time.”

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Jimmy on the evening of July 6.

The family appreciates the outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time.

End of tweet

— James Caan (@James_Caan) July 7, 2022

Caan also had notable roles in films including “Misery,” “Elf,” “Thief,...

Director Sidney J. Furie discusses his favorite films he’s watched and re-watched during quarantine with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Dr. Blood’s Coffin (1961)

The Ipcress File (1965) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Appaloosa (1966)

The Naked Runner (1967)

Lady Sings The Blues (1972)

The Entity (1982) – Luca Gaudagnino’s trailer commentary

The Boys in Company C (1978)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

The Apartment (1960) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

Twelve O’Clock High (1949)

A Place In The Sun (1951) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Out Of Africa (1985)

The Last Picture Show (1971) – Mark Pellington’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Annie Hall (1977)

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

The Tender Bar...

What movie won Best Picture 40 years ago? It’s doubtful you can remember off the top of your head, but upon hearing its iconic electronic score, a vision of British Olympic athletes running on the beach would likely spring to mind and the answer would be obvious: “Chariots of Fire.”

Coming into the 54th ceremony on March 29, 1982, this British biopic had seven nominations compared to 12 for Warren Beatty‘s epic biopic “Reds.” Johnny Carson hosted as these two films slugged it out among stiff competition (it was a rare year in which all the Best Picture and Best Director nominees lined up), the older acting generation was honored, a “divine” presence put on quite the show and a new category was introduced.

This marked the second, and to date last, time three films were nominated for the “Big Five.” It looked to be a big night for Beatty, who was...

Is this show a hatchet job on Raymond Chandler’s confidential agent, or do Robert Altman and Leigh Brackett honestly find a place for Philip Marlowe in the laid-back 1970s? Vilmos Zsigmond’s even more laid-back ‘pushed and pre-flashed’ cinematography made industry news by shooting in places that normally needed three times more artificial light. The characters are vivid, as portrayed by Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, and Mark Rydell. It’s also a terrific Los Angeles film, from Marlowe’s Hollywood apartment to the Malibu Colony, and a dangster’s Sunset Blvd. tower office suite. Elliott Gould’s mellow Marlowe may be unfocused and sloppy, but he still subscribes to the old ethics, particularly where friendship and betrayal are concerned. And darn it, he cares about his pet cat.

The Long Goodbye

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1973 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date December 14, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Elliott Gould,...

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Rip Van Marlowe

By Raymond Benson

(Note: Portions of this review appeared on Cinema Retro in 2014 for an earlier Kino Lorber edition.)

Robert Altman was a very quirky director, sometimes missing the mark, but oftentimes brilliant. His 1973 take on Raymond Chandler’s 1953 novel The Long Goodbye is a case in point. It might take a second viewing to appreciate what’s really going on in the film. Updating what is essentially a 1940s film noir character to the swinging 70s was a risky and challenging prospect—and Altman and his star, Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe (!), pull it off.

It’s one of those pictures that critics hated when it was first released; and yet, by the end of the year, it was being named on several Top Ten lists. I admit that when I first saw it in 1973, I didn’t much care for it.

The journalist and podcaster talks about some of her favorite cinematic grifters and losers with Josh and Joe.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

All About Eve (1950)

The Hot Rock (1972) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Die Hard (1988)

Sunset Boulevard (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Panic In The Streets (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Music Man (1962)

My Fair Lady (1964)

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s review

The Band Wagon (1953) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

A Night At The Opera (1935) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Animal Crackers (1930) – Robert Weide...

Joanne Linville, a prolific character actress best known for playing a Romulan commander in an episode of the original “Star Trek,” died Monday, CAA confirmed to TheWrap.

The character actress worked alongside Barbra Streisand in the 1976 “A Star is Born”

Born in Bakersfield and raised in Venice, CA, Linville established herself an actress in the mid-‘50s and ‘60s, gaining guest roles on “Studio One,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” and “Kraft Theatre.”

While Linville never became a series regular, she continued to work steadily with guest appearances on “Charlie’s Angels,” “Dynasty,” and “L.A. Law.”

Linville is best remembered for her role as the first female actor to play a Romulan in the “Star Trek” franchise in 1968.

The character actress expanded into film, with supporting roles in “A Star Is Born” (1976), “Scorpio” (1973), and “The Seduction” (1982).

Shifting into a teaching role by the 1980s, Linville opened an acting conservancy with her teacher Stella Adler.

Joanne Linville, who was best known for playing a Romulan commander in “Star Trek,” died Sunday in Los Angeles, her agent confirmed to Variety. She was 93.

Born in Bakersfield, Calif. as Beverly Joanne Linville, she was the first female actor to play a Romulan in the “Star Trek” franchise. Linville was a fixture on television from the 1950s to the ’80s, appearing in over 100 film and TV shows, including anthology series such as “Studio One,” “Kraft Theatre” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

While she never held a regular recurring role on TV, Linville guest-starred on numerous shows, including Westerns, dramas and detective series. Linville starred in six episodes of “Studio One” and three episodes of “Gunsmoke.” Throughout her career, which spanned over six decades, she also appeared in “Hawaii Five-o,” “Barnaby Jones,” “Naked City,” “Adventures in Paradise” and “One Step Beyond.”

In 1961, Linville guest starred in an episode of “The Twilight Zone,...

Joanne Linville, who played the Romulan commander in a memorable 1968 Star Trek episode and had scores of other screen credits, died Sunday. She was 93. CAA made the announcement but did not disclose a cause of death.

Linville began racking up TV guest roles in the mid-1950s, appearing on such series of the era as Studio One, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Kraft Theatre and Playhouse 90. She continued to guest on drama series throughout the ’60s, including such classics as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The F.B.I., Route 66, Ben Casey, I Spy and a two-part Hawaii Five-0.

Of her work in that era, she might be most recognizable as Lavinia Gordon, the owner of a ruined Southern mansion in the Civil War-themed 1961 Twilight Zone episode titled “The Passersby,” which also starred James Gregory.

But despite her prolific active career from the mid-’50s to the late-’80s, and included a few latter-day roles, Linville...

Cynthia Erivo has set up a remake of the Bette Midler-starring film “The Rose,” signing on to produce and star in the new movie for Searchlight.

The Grammy, Tony, and Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee will take on the title role in the musical romantic drama, which follows a self-destructive female rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those who surround her. But while the new production will pay homage to the classic film, Erivo’s take on the story is said to “put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.”

Erivo will produce the project with Solome Williams under her newly launched production banner Edith’s Daughter. Williams serves as vice president of development at the label, which has a first-look deal with MRC Television and Civic Center Media.

Richard Ruiz, Searchlight’s director of development,...

Cynthia Erivo is set to star in and produce a remake of the 1979 film “The Rose,” a musical romance that starred Bette Midler and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Erivo’s “The Rose” remake is set up at Searchlight Pictures and is the story of a self-destructive rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those around her.

While the new film will pay homage to the original, “The Rose” aims to put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.

No director or writer is attached at this stage.

Erivo is producing with Solome Williams. “The Rose” will be overseen by Searchlight’s director of development Richard Ruiz and creative executive Cornelia Burleigh.

The original “The Rose” was released by Twentieth Century Fox and starred Midler alongside Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest and Harry Dean Stanton. Mark Rydell...

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.

Legendary movie star, Last Call‘s Bruce Dern, joins Josh and Joe to discuss a few of his favorite movies and moments.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Cowboys (1972)

Last Call (2021)

Silent Running (1972)

The Long Goodbye (1973)

The Reivers (1969)

The War Wagon (1967)

Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)

The Shootist (1976)

Sands Of Iwo Jima (1949)

Wild River (1960)

Viva Zapata (1952)

Castle Keep (1969)

The Big Knife (1955)

Attack (1956)

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

Suspicion (1941)

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

The Great Gatsby (1974)

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

Ben-Hur (1959)

The Trial (1962)

Great Expectations (1946)

The Sound Barrier (1952)

Oliver Twist (1948)

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

Rko 281 (1999)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Mank (2020)

The Chase (1966)

The Formula (1980)

Shine (1996)

All That Jazz (1979)

A Decade Under The Influence (2003)

Shane (1953)

The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965)

The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972)

Deliverance (1972)

Nebraska (2013)

Twixt (2011)

The ’Burbs (1989)

About Schmidt (2002)

Sideways (2004)

The Descendants (2011)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Charade (1963)

The Truth About Charlie...

Israel Horovitz, a playwright, screenwriter and director whose career was tarnished by sexual assault allegations in the late 2010s, died from cancer on Monday at his Manhattan home, his wife told The New York Times. He was 81.

Horovitz’s best-known plays include “Line,” “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard,” “The Primary English Class,” “The Widow’s Blind Date,” “What Strong Fences Make” and “The Indian Wants the Bronx.”

In 2017, nine women accused Horovitz of sexual misconduct in a New York Times article. Some of the women were actresses in plays he had directed or employed. One woman alleged he had raped her and another alleged he assaulted her when she was 16.

Horovitz responded to the accusations in the Times and apologized, saying he had “a different memory of some of these events. I apologize with all my heart to any woman who has ever felt compromised by my actions, and...

Oscar-winning composer, Grammy-winning arranger, jazz pianist and bandleader, pioneer in the digital recording world: Dave Grusin could retire on his laurels. But at 86, he’s itching to get back on the road and perform again.

“Oh, if they ever let us,” he tells Variety from his Montana ranch. “Not to have anything to do, it’s disconcerting to say the least.” Adds Grusin’s longtime bandmate, guitarist Lee Ritenour: “He’s gotten used to it, traveling the world and being appreciated. I think he enjoys that.”

And yet, if the pandemic continues to torture artists throughout 2021, there are still all those Grusin soundtracks to appreciate: the fragile beauty of “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” (1968), the atmospheric colors of “Three Days of the Condor” (1975), the hymn-like simplicity of “On Golden Pond” (1981), the delightfully upbeat “Tootsie” (1982), the Mexican folk influences of “The Milagro Beanfield War” (1987), the late-night jazz of “The Fabulous Baker Boys...

Near the climax of the deliriously entertaining Birds of Prey, our heroines–winking wrecking ball Harley Quinn, crossbow-wielding vigilante Huntress, the tough but caring Black Canary, and sighing Gotham City detective Renee Montoya–are ensconced at the top of a grimy carnival funhouse. Sociopathic henchman Victor Zsasz, a monster with peroxide hair, is there and aiming to kill. So the main target, Cassandra Cain, a young girl and expert pickpocket who happened to steal the city’s most coveted diamond. And ate it. Meanwhile, wide-smiling, stylish crime lord Roman Sionis, a.k.a. Black Mask, is en route and accompanied by an army of similarly masked killers.

Got that? This collision of characters and crazed cacophony of violence, weaponry, and hair dye is a fine representation of the aesthetic delights of Birds of Prey–the full title is the appropriate absurd Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One...

Martin Landau, whose role as Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s 1994 film Ed Wood earned the popular player an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, died Saturday at 89 following “unexpected complications” after a brief stay at the UCLA Medical Center, his publicist Dick Guttman confirmed Sunday.

In a career spanning more than half a century of roles on television and film, Landau may have been best known for his run as undercover operative Rollin Hand in the Mission: Impossible TV series that initially ran from 1966 to 1973 on CBS. The show co-starred Landau’s wife at the time, Barbara Bain.

Also known for his varied roles in classic films from Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest to Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, Landau was not only one of the most familiar faces in Hollywood but also one of the most highly regarded character actors in the business. “Martin Landau is...

Books and films have been joined at the hip ever since the earliest days of cinema, and adaptations of novels have regularly provided audiences with the classier end of the film spectrum. Here, the Guardian and Observer's critics pick the 10 best

• Top 10 family movies

• Top 10 war movies

• Top 10 teen movies

• Top 10 superhero movies

• Top 10 westerns

• Top 10 documentaries

• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s

10. Planet of the Apes

Although the source novel, La Planète des Singes, was written by Frenchman Pierre Boule and originally reached its futureshock climax in Paris, this enduring sci-fi fantasy is profoundly American, putting Charlton Heston's steel-jawed patriotism to incredible use. It also holds up surprisingly well as a jarring allegory for the population's fears over escalating cold war tensions.

Beginning with a spaceship crash-landing on an unknown planet after years of cryogenic sleep, Franklin J Schaffner's film soon gets into gear as Heston's upstanding...

The Long Goodbye

Directed by Robert Altman

Written by Leigh Brackett

USA, 1973

My introduction to classic film was through Humphrey Bogart. I would watch Casablanca (1942) and To Have and Have Not (1944) with my mother, but none of his films had as much of an effect on me as The Big Sleep (1946) and Bogart’s character, Philip Marlowe. Even though I loved the character, I hadn’t sought out Robert Altman’s adaptation of another Raymond Chandler Marlowe mystery, The Long Goodbye (1973), until now.

Updating the time period from the 1950s to the 1970s, The Long Goodbye sees Chandler’s classic private detective Philip Marlowe (Elliot Gould) try to clear his best friend, Terry Lennox, who is accused of brutally murdering his wife. Marlowe is himself implicated in the plot and accused of aiding a fugitive, having driven Lennox to the Mexican border the day before. Marlowe refuses to divulge any...

What defines a ‘gonzo’ character? Recklessness. Fly by the seat of your pants attitude. They are troublemakers and pranksters. When they enter frame things are ratcheted up on the crazy scale. And, maybe most importantly, they represent an element of danger (to themselves or those around them). However, to make this list, they cannot be mentally disturbed.

My list is definitely thin on women, but not for lack of trying. If you have some good ones that slipped through my cracks, let me know.

Tyler Durden – Fight Club Willy Wonka – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Al Czervik – Caddyshack Joker – Batman and The Dark Knight Walter Sobchak – Big Lebowski Alex DeLarge – A Clockwork Orange Johnny Boy – Mean Streets Borat – Borat Colonel Kilgore – Apocalypse Now Rick Vaughn – Major League

Rest of the Best

Doc Brown – Back to the Future Lil’ Ze – City of God Mark Brandon ‘Chopper’ Read – Chopper Ace Venture...