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The story of film in the 1970s (and beyond) could be told without Roger Corman, but that story would be way more conventional, much less creatively exciting, a fraction as bold, and a lot less fun.

Bruce Dern, then just one of the fledgling actors to whom Corman gave crucial early roles, recalled asking Corman on the set of “The Wild Angels” in 1966 how many films he had made. “He told me about 60,” Dern told IndieWire. “That just knocked me out. He was a decade older than me, but I was amazed at the amount of movies he had done already.”

Corman was just getting warmed up. For the King of the Bs, who tapped an underserved youth market with his biker, beach, and rock and roll films in the 1960s, the 1970s would prove to be his heyday. In 1970, he launched New World Pictures and focused on producing and distribution.

Late in Hunter S. Thompson’s 1971 lysergic travelogue “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” the writer experiences something of a psychic vision of the end of the 1960s, a time he describes as “riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave” that led toward transformative social change thanks to worldwide protests for civil rights, an end to the Vietnam War, women’s liberation, even the subtler cultural shifts embodied by the rise of rock as the respectable music of youth.

And then, the harsh reality of the Nixonian “silent majority” reasserted itself, upending hopes of a genuine revolution with a reactionary backlash that rapidly disillusioned idealistic youth. “So now, less than five years later,” he writes, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.

The now reclusive Jack Nicholson is a true cultural icon, to the extent that even established Hollywood legends are starstruck in his presence. He belongs to a bygone era of movie stars but is still very much with us, making the fact he hasn't appeared in a film since 2010's star-studded box office flop "How Do You Know," all the more disappointing.

The reasons why Nicholson disappeared from Hollywood are complicated, but one aspect has to do with the Marvel-ification of everything. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2013, the veteran star said that he was really only concerned with making "films that move people" and had observed that "maybe people in their 20s and 30s don't actually want to be moved anymore." For Nicholson, "more bombs" and "more explosions" were the new norm, and he was adamant that he'd "never do that type of movie."

Clearly, Nicholson doesn't need the money,...

Many questions were raised when Warner Bros. initially announced “HBO Max” (and then “Max”) as the name of its big streaming platform.

The first and most obvious question was, “Why take a brand name as established and curated as HBO and dilute it with proximity to this much corporate flotsam and jetsam?”

Somewhere among the top five questions, though, was “Wait, can you use ‘Max’ when HBO already has ‘Cinemax’ as a corporate sibling?”

HBO’s disreputable younger brother, Cinemax attempted to shed or expand on its “Skinemax” reputation with a fairly successful run of originals between 2011 and 2019, a small group that included Strike Back, Banshee, The Knick, Warrior, Quarry and Jett. Cinemax originals were gussied-up B-movies in the best way possible — pulpy genre exercises with one or two-word titles perfect for splashing across posters or battered, well-read paperbacks.

Cinemax specialized in grindhouse TV and when HBO Max launched, Cinemax...

Will Hutchins, the eccentric actor who portrayed the wholesome sharpshooter and frontier lawyer Tom Brewster on the 1957-61 ABC Western Sugarfoot, has died. He was 94.

Hutchins died Monday, his wife, Barbara, told Western film and TV historian Boyd Magers.

Hutchins also starred as Woody Banner, who inherits a Manhattan brownstone from his uncle, on the 1966-67 NBC sitcom Hey, Landlord, created by Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson, fresh off their work on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Two years later, the blue-eyed Los Angeles native played Dagwood Bumstead opposite Patricia Harty on the 1968-69 CBS comedy Blondie. Based on the comic strip and following a set of films and a 1957 NBC series, it lasted just 16 episodes before being canceled.

On the big screen, Hutchins appeared opposite Elvis Presley in two movies: as the gourmet cop Tracy Richards (the name was a Dick Tracy pun) in Spinout (1966) and as buddy Tom Wilson...

Hammer Films continues its acclaimed restoration work with a fresh release of one of its lesser-known gems. Shatter, the 1974 international crime thriller that marked Hammer’s last collaboration with the legendary Shaw Brothers Studio, is getting a deluxe 4K restoration and Limited Collector’s Edition Blu-ray, available to pre-order now ahead of its 31 March 2025 release.

Originally released during a period of transition for Hammer, Shatter follows a globe-trotting assassin on the run after a mission goes awry in the streets of Hong Kong. Betrayed by his client and caught between rival criminal factions, Shatter becomes a target himself, pulled into a violent power struggle far beyond his control. The film stars Stuart Whitman, Lung Ti, Anton Diffring, and Peter Cushing in a supporting role, and features a stylish score from David Lindup, whose music remains one of the film’s standout elements.

The 4K restoration, taken directly from the original negatives,...

In 1966, as the old Hollywood was giving way to the new, underground filmmaker Monte Hellman directed two small-scale Westerns back-to-back: The Shootingand Ride in the Whirlwind. Both films were produced by Roger Corman, the King of "B Movies," and both starred Corman's favorite leading man: Jack Nicholson (who also wrote the latter film). Produced on a shoestring budget in the Utah desert, the films share similar themes, crews, and actors, as well as a dreamy story structure that hinted at the genre-twisting, existential dramas that would dominate the 1970s. Far from your father's John Wayne movie, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind deconstruct traditional Western tropes of heroism and masculinity and re-frame them for the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll generation.

Variety veteran Steven Gaydos was hailed as a “Renaissance man” of movies and journalism as he received career achievement honors from the Filming Italy Los Angeles festival, supported by the Italian Cultural Institute arm of Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Gaydos, who is Variety‘s VP and executive editor of features, was feted Feb. 21 at the closing night of the 10th annual Filming Italy Los Angeles gathering. Actor Alessandro Nivola was on hand to present the laurel to Gaydos, whose career has blended journalism and screenwriting over the years. He’s long been a booster of international film in general and European filmmakers in particular through his work at Variety and association with numerous festivals, including Filming Italy Los Angeles and its founder, Tiziana Rocca.

Nivola introduced Gaydos to the crowd at the Harmony Gold theater in Hollywood as “a Renaissance man.”

“Few people have straddled...

Quick Links Monte Hellman's Career Truly Started With The Shooting What is Ride in the Whirlwind About? Monte Hellman Joins an Exclusive Club

As one of the oldest film genres of all time, the Western has more than its fair share of legendary movies under its holster belt. The genres range from the often-imitated, never-duplicated The Searchers from the iconic John Ford to the Spaghetti Western pulp greatness of Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, all the way to the neo-Westerns of the modern day, like the Best Picture-winning No Country for Old Men, the highest peak that Marvel ever reached with Logan, or late-career Clint Eastwood classics like Cry Macho. As is to be expected, as the genre accumulated all-time great films, it also accumulated all-time great filmmakers, from actors to screenwriters to producers to cinematographers, all the way to, of course, directors.

It is...

The tropes and character types associated with Western films work well within the framework of a thriller, resulting in some truly captivating movies. The actions of an outlaw or bounty hunter in several Westerns make for a thrilling chase that keeps audiences on their toes. In many of these films, the protagonist is neither good nor bad, blurring the lines for audiences and creating a more suspenseful viewing experience, as seen in Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood's William Munny.

Films like No Country for Old Men or The Proposition tell gritty, somewhat realistic stories, subverting the expectations of audiences greatly familiar with the genre's formula and tropes. These films typically incorporate aspects of other genres like horror and action to create a well-rounded and increasingly effective thrill for audiences. Though Westerns have always been associated with gunfights and rough protagonists, as the years have passed, more modern Westerns have told darker stories,...

Nicely Entertainment has picked up global rights to director Ate de Jong’s romantic drama “My Country Heart,” which features 17 original songs.

“We’re thrilled to be representing ‘My Country Heart.’ The film offers amazing original music, uplifting romance and is certain to find its stride with global audiences,” Vanessa Shapiro, Nicely’s CEO said in a statement. “Additionally, Director Ate de Jong is an incredible filmmaker with an impressive career. His hit comedy ‘Drop Dead Fred’ is now regarded as a groundbreaking picture dealing deftly and comically with complex issues.

“With ‘My Country Heart,’ De Jong has again made a cutting-edge film that takes an unorthodox look at ambitious young artists struggling to face the compromises required in the tough world of show business. But De Jong brings out the idealism and romance of the story, while taking a scathing look at the realities of today’s reality TV.

Silent Night, Deadly Night, one of many slasher films that were prominent throughout the 1980s, might never have achieved widespread notoriety and recognition had it not been for the outrage from protesters who heavily objected to Santa Claus, a beloved holiday figure, being tied to such a violent film. Theaters were picketed by outraged parents and even Gene Siskel remarked that the filmmakers were profiting from "blood money." As was the case with the Pmrc hearings held the same decade regarding the lyrical themes of many musical artists, the controversy only piqued public curiosity. Thanks to the advent of home video, Silent Night, Deadly Night was soon viewed by anyone who had a penchant for horror films and access to a Vcr.

As is the case with any film that gains notoriety, be it from the box office, acclaim among fans, or, in the case of Silent Night, Deadly Night,...

Quick Links Jack Nicholson Was a Man of Many Genres The Shooting is More Arthouse Than Western It's Legacy Survives As A Lesson Early-Career Jack Nicholson had a variety of very interesting roles in different genres between the 50s and 60s. The Shooting was largely considered an experimental film in comparison to most Westerns in the era that was filled with grand set pieces and big stunts. The film was not well-received but remains a hidden classic that survives in academic archives and is shown in film schools.

Often, when Jack Nicholson comes to mind, it's his ear-to-ear smile, sly, rasping voice, and maddening eyebrows behind indoor sunglasses that are the first things fans associate him with. Yet back in his earlier career in the 50s and 60s, he had a solid range doing plenty of diverse character roles in Western films and other off-shoot genres that used similar plot mechanisms.

What's the best Jack Nicholson movie? Ask a group of film fans, and you'll likely get a half-dozen different answers. The actor's most historically significant movie may be "Chinatown," the sun-baked California noir from 1974 that earned 11 Oscar nominations and a permanent spot in the American Library of Congress' National Film Registry. Or it might be "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the beloved adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel that swept the Oscars in 1975 and turned the already-popular Nicholson into Hollywood's hottest commodity.

The actor's most popular films according to Letterboxd users are Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece "The Shining" and Martin Scorsese's crime saga "The Departed." His highest-grossing role at the box office came in 1989, when Tim Burton cast him as the rictus-grin supervillain The Joker in "Batman." Other popular moneymakers featuring the veteran performer include James L. Brooks' "As Good As It Gets," Nancy Meyers' "Something's Gotta Give,...

Fred Roos, the casting director turned producer who jump-started the career of Jack Nicholson and collaborated often with Francis Ford Coppola, sharing a best picture Oscar with the filmmaker for The Godfather Part II, has died. He was 89.

Roos died Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, a publicist announced.

It’s part of Hollywood lore that before Harrison Ford became a famous actor, he was laboring as a carpenter to make ends meet. What some might not know is that it was at Roos’ house where Ford was woodworking when the casting director befriended him, eventually pushing him for roles in George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977) and Coppola’s The Conversation (1974).

And it was Roos who convinced Lucas — who had been leaning toward Amy Irving — that Carrie Fisher should portray Princess Leia in Star Wars. (Roos did not have an official role on that film.)

Roos, however,...

Fred Roos, casting director for landmark films such as “American Graffiti” and who went on to have a close relationship with Francis Ford Coppola, including producing best picture winner “Godfather Part II” and “Apocalypse Now,” died Saturday in Beverly Hills. He was 89.

Roos was both casting director and executive producer on Coppola’s most recent film “Megalopolis” which premiered last week at the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Coppola posted a photo of Roos with Adam Driver on Instagram and thanked him for his work on the long-gestating epic.

Roos was instrumental in helping stars including Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Carrie Fisher and Richard Dreyfuss get their early notable roles.

His long collaboration with Coppola as producer or co-producer included “The Conversation,” “One From the Heart,” “The Outsiders,” “Rumble Fish,” “The Cotton Club,” “The Godfather Part III,” “Tetro,” “Youth Without Youth” and “Tucker: The Man and His Dream.”

Roos was not credited,...

Quick Links The Greatest Plot and Cast What Was It Like for Muhammad Ali To Play Himself Should I Watch The Greatest, and Where Can I Stream It?

The highest-rated and most acclaimed movie about legendary boxer Muhammad Ali is Michael Mann's 2001 film Ali, starring Will Smith. It is currently sitting at 65% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. While the film was met with mixed reviews, the praise for Will Smith's portrayal of the icon was almost unanimously positive. However, Will Smith was not the first to play Muhammad Ali; that honor goes to Ali, who appeared in the 1977 movie The Greatest.

We will look at the movie, which too many exist as a curiosity, and see what it was like to see Ali step into the role of playing himself. We will also discuss whether The Greatest is worth watching and where to find it.

The Greatest Plot and Cast...

American film director and producer who liked to describe himself as the ‘Orson Welles of the Z movie’

Roger Corman: cinema’s pulp genius whose talent to shock was rocket fuel – Peter Bradshaw

Although Roger Corman, who has died aged 98, directed more than 50 films, he will be remembered mainly as an influential producer and genial godfather to the New American Cinema of the 1970s. The list of his beneficiaries makes up a Who’s Who of contemporary American film. Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, and Jonathan Demme were all directing proteges of Corman.

“You can see right away that the guy’s a superior producer,” said Jack Nicholson, who appeared in five films directed by Corman. “He’s the best producer I’ve met in the business. The man carried me for seven years. I feel tremendously indebted to him.”...

Even the most ardent, die-hard Jack Nicholson fans may never have seen the image: the New Jersey native donning a Bolero hat, wielding a gun on horseback, endless empty valleys rolling behind him. Nicholson acted in relatively few Western films throughout his career, and the ones in which he did act sit nowhere near the top of his filmography. However, his 1966 outing in The Shooting, part of a double feature with Ride in the Whirlwind, another Nicholson Western with Monte Hellman directing, is a film that deserves to be seen by a much wider audience than it ever has. It was never given an official theatrical release, and so it never had the chance to reach audiences and become a box office success.

“Head South” director Jonathan Ogilvie is all about underdogs.

“It’s not a story about winners. It’s a story about also-rans, to use this racing term, because there is nothing to win,” he tells Variety about the International Film Festival Rotterdam opener, which sees schoolboy Angus (Ed Oxenbould) falling for a girl and for post-punk music in 1979’s New Zealand.

“There wasn’t a real music industry, so you couldn’t become a rock star. Back in those days, we often talked about ‘the tyranny of distance.’ We felt so removed from everything. But it was the triumph of distance, because it allowed people to interpret things in a new way. It’s a film about music, yes, but also about art and creative expression.”

Praising Oxenbould, he adds: “On the page, Angus could seem like a nasty little brat. But Ed was also in a band; his brother was also living in London.

The episode of Best Horror Movie You Never Saw covering Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 was Written by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Paul Bookstaber, Narrated by Kier Gomes, Produced by John Fallon and Tyler Nichols, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Not everything in a given horror series has to be a stone cold classic. That being said, some series entries don’t get the fair shake they deserve. For example, there are some absolute bangers in the later entries of series like Puppet Master or Child’s Play that are overlooked thanks to entries in, say, Leprechaun or Hellraiser that would make you swear off sequels be it direct to video or not. Some series, like the focus of today’s entry, probably didn’t need or deserve sequels but that never stopped an executive from being greedy before. Silent Night, Deadly Night is an all time classic for a reason but what about its 4, yes,...

Two-Disc Collection Packed With Special Features, Including Bonus Film The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and Film Commentary by Star Jonathan Haze

The duality of Roger Corman is on display, showcasing his spooky gothic side with The Terror (1963) — marking the 60th anniversary of its release this year — and his more whimsical side with The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) in this double-feature, special-edition, two-disc, collector’s set, on Blu-ray and DVD 12th December 2023 from Film Masters.

In The Terror—with an all-new HD restoration from 35mm archival elements — an 18th century French Lieutenant in Napoleon’s army encounters the ghostly apparition of a young woman (Sandra Knight). Curiosity leads Lt. Andre Duvalier (Jack Nicholson) to the castle of Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff), where he notices a painting of the Baron’s late wife Ilsa, who looks identical to the ghostly woman. Determined to unravel the castle’s mystery, Duvalier learns that...

John Bailey, a seasoned Hollywood cinematographer who served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 2017 to 2019, died Friday in Los Angeles. He was 81.

Bailey’s death was announced by his wife, Carol Littleton, in a statement released by the Academy on Friday evening.

”It is with deep sadness I share with you that my best friend and husband, John Bailey, passed away peacefully in his sleep early this morning,” Littleton wrote. “During John’s illness, we reminisced how we met 60 years ago and were married for 51 of those years. We shared a wonderful life of adventure in film and made many long-lasting friendships along the way. John will forever live in my heart.”

“All of us at the Academy are deeply saddened to learn of John’s passing,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang in a joint statement. “John was a...

Veteran character actress Elizabeth Hoffman, perhaps best known for her role as Beatrice Reed Ventnor, mother of the titular sisters played by Swoosie Kurtz, Sela Ward, Patricia Kalember and Julianne Phillips, on NBC’s ’90s drama series Sisters, has died. Hoffman passed away of natural causes on Aug. 21 at her home in Malibu, CA, her son Chris confirmed to Deadline’s sister pub THR. She was 97.

Born in Corvallis, Or, Hoffman made her television debut recurring as Miss Mason on Little House on the Prairie in 1980. The following year she made her feature film debut as the lead in Frank Laloggia’s supernatural horror film Fear No Evil.

Hoffman also is known for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in The Winds of War, the television miniseries directed and produced by Dan Curtis, which spanned the earliest years of World War II, from the Nazi blitzkrieg of Poland in 1939 to the...

When first-time documentary director Leonard Manzella premieres his award-winning “Shoe Shine Caddie” at the Portobello Film Festival in London on September 16, it will represent a kind of return to the former actor’s roots in the international film scene.

A professional family therapist for the past 30 years in California, Manzella’s earlier career began when the native Angeleno left Los Angeles for Rome in 1968 “when everything was burning.” In his early 20s and armed with “no contacts and about $50 bucks in my pocket,” a fortuitous introduction to American actor Brett Halsey got Manzella into movies, first as an extra and eventually as a leading man.

Halsey, who landed in Rome in the ‘60s and worked steadily in Euro crime thrillers and in the burgeoning spaghetti western scene, often toiled under the moniker Montgomery Ford and Leonard Manzella became famous as Leonard Mann.

“I went to Rome to study political science,...

A new festival poster has been released for Falling Stars, Richard Karpala and Gabriel Bienczycki’s feature directorial debut, ahead of its North American premiere at Austin’s Fantastic Fest later this month. The American folk-horror witch drama is directed and produced by Karpala and Bienczycki. Find the poster below, along with a teaser trailer.

Karpala wrote and edited and Bienczycki lensed the feature, which was described by Locarno’s artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro as “Monte Hellman doing The Blair Witch Project.”

Offering a uniquely bold mix of tones and genres — and “a touch of Shirley Jackson” (Sight and Sound) — the film is set in the American West on the night of the first harvest as three brothers set out to see a dead witch buried by their friend. When they accidentally desecrate the body, they learn the only way to stop a curse on their family is to burn it before sunrise.

Cars, it’s often been observed, offer a sort of contradiction of motion: They allow us to move around while sitting still. It only makes sense, then, that the movies have for so long been attracted to the allure of the automobile, for surely the appeal of the cinema lies in its capacity to take us from the comfort of the theater or living room to adventures around the world. The greatest car movies—movies about cars, largely set in cars, or otherwise significantly concerned with them—understand that our affection for our vehicles has as much to do with the possible freedoms they promise as the routines they let us uphold. Cars drive us to and from work every day, keeping our lives precisely ordered. But they also suggest escape: We’re always aware, faintly, that we could drive away from it all at any moment, out and off...

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, announced today that it has acquired what its curators describe as “a significant collection of items and archives” from the late filmmaker Sam Peckinpah, best known for Western cinema classics such as “The Wild Bunch,” “Ride the High Country” and “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.”

The donation to the Museum comes courtesy of filmmaker/historian Lathan McKay, who Michael R. Grauer, curator of the Museum’s Cowboy Collections and Western Art, describes as “incredibly dedicated to Sam Peckinpah’s legacy,” and who chose the Oklahoma City institution because of the Museum’s commitment to ensure Peckinpah’s belongs and papers would be “preserved, cataloged, researched, interpreted and studied with great respect.”

McKay, who is also the nation’s premier collector of personal effects of the late legendary daredevil Evel Knievel, concurs with Grauer’s description of his motivations in...

Lots of goodies - as is to be expected - from our friends at Arrow Video this coming June. Higlights include Sammo Hung's Warriors Two, Toru Murakawa's Game Trilogy and Damiano Damiani's mafia films in the Costra Nostra Collection.    Arrow Offers Classic and Cutting Edge Cult Cinema June 2023 Lineup Includes Martial Arts, Blood Money, John Cassavetes, Monte Hellman and Sci-Fi Stunners   June 2023 Seasons: Ero Guro, Martial Arts Mayhem, Eli Roth Selects, The Game Trilogy, Sci-Fi Stunners, Blood Money Collection, Cosa Nostra Collection   London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the June 2023 lineup of their subscription-based Arrow platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland.   June 2nd kicks off the month with Arrow's latest...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Gary Kent, the actor, director and stunt performer who also served as one of the inspirations for Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth character in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” died on May 25 in Austin, Texas, The Austin Chronicle confirmed. He was 89.

Kent began his career as a seasoned stunt performer after to traveling to Los Angeles in 1958. Ahead of doubling for Jack Nicholson in Monte Hellman’s “Ride in the Whirlwind” and “The Shooting,” Kent worked in film production offices and acted on the side, appearing in “Legion of the Doomed,” “King of the Wild Stallions,” “Battle Flame,” “The Thrill Killers” and “The Black Klansman.”

Soon after his stuntman debut in 1965, Kent appeared as a gas tank worker in Peter Bogdanovich’s debut feature film “Targets,” then worked on “Hell’s Bloody Devils,” “The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant” “Angels’ Wild Women” and Richard Rush’s “Psych-Out,” racking up injuries along the way.

Gary Kent, the iconic B-movie stunt performer, actor and director who worked with Peter Bogdanovich, Richard Rush and Monte Hellman and served as an inspiration for Brad Pitt’s character in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, has died. He was 89.

Kent died Thursday evening at an assisted care facility in Austin, his son Chris Kent told The Hollywood Reporter.

Kent suffered two of his most painful injuries as a stunt performer in Rush films. He sliced up his arm on broken glass during a barfight fracas in Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) and was run over by an out-of-control motorcycle in The Savage Seven (1968), where he shared scenes with Penny Marshall.

His half-century stunt career came to an end on the set of Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) when he tumbled down a hill and damaged his leg, but he kept at it as a stunt coordinator, working as recently...

When A Fistful Of Dollars first aired on ABC, an exclusive prologue was added to set up the story - but ruined the mystique of Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name in the process. During the heyday of the Western genre, audiences wanted uncomplicated tales of good vs evil led by heroic figures such as John Wayne. There were exceptions of course - such as Wayne's own The Searchers - but on the whole, there was little in the way of moral murkiness to the heroes. That changed in the late '50 and '60s, especially with the arrival of Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy.

Fronted by Eastwood's Man with No Name, those violent spaghetti Westerns took place in a world without traditional good guys. The Man with No Name might be cool, but he's also an opportunistic killer. The success of the trilogy not only launched Eastwood's...

Comedian Jonah Ray discusses his favorite year in cinema (1994) with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Airport (1970)

Airport 1975 (1975)

Airport ’77 (1977)

Airplane! (1980)

Basket Case (1982)

Destroy All Neighbors (Tbd)

Satanic Hispanics (2022)

Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)

Black Christmas (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s franchise power rankings

Tales From The Crypt (1972)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Pooka! (2018)

Pooka Lives! (2020)

Harvey (1950) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary

Ed Wood (1994)

Black Dynamite (2009)

Bride Of The Monster (1955) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

Glen Or Glenda (1953)

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Frankenweenie (2012)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Dumb And Dumber (1994)

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

The Mask (1994)

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Scream (1996)

Evil Laugh (1986)

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Forrest Gump (1994)

Clerks (1994)

The Search For One-Eye Jimmy (1994)

Cabin Boy (1994)

Scary Movie 2 (2001)

Scary Movie 4...

Writer/producer/showrunner David Kajganich discusses a few of his favorite films with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

All The Fine Young Cannibals (1960)

Badlands (1973)

Bones And All (2022)

A Bigger Splash (2015)

Suspiria (2018)

Deathdream (1974) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Porky’s (1981)

A Christmas Story (1983)

Black Christmas (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Murder By Decree (1979) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (1972)

Black Vengeance a.k.a. Poor Pretty Eddie (1975)

The Poseidon Adventure (1972) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s Mogwai Madness

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975)

The Last Wave (1977) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World (2003)

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Dressed To Kill (1980) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Criterion review

The Last Picture Show (1971) – Mark Pellington’s trailer...

Writer/Director Lucky McKee discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Tár (2022)

Speed Racer (2008)

The Matrix (1999)

Gloria (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Old Man (2022)

Don’t Breathe (2016)

Avatar (2009)

Band of the Hand (1986)

May (2002)

The Piano (1993)

The Crying Game (1992)

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi (1983)

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones (2002)

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith (2005)

The Dark Crystal (1982) – Bernard Rose’s trailer commentary

Cockfighter (1974) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary

Days of Heaven (1978)

Sweetie (1989)

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Do The Right Thing (1989) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

A History Of Violence (2005)

Se7en (1995)

Straw Dogs (1971) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary,...

The classic Christmas slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night is already available on Blu-ray (pick up a copy Here), and so is its stock footage filled sequel Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (you can buy that one Here) – and pretty soon the oddball sequels Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out, Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation, and Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker will be joining them! All three of the movies are getting the Vestron Video Collector’s Series treatment, and you won’t have to buy three different items to collect all of them. This is going to be a triple feature release.

Dawn of the Discs reports that “All 3 films will come together in one package, will be presented in their original aspect ratio and will feature new special features for each film.” Details on the special features haven’t been revealed. Nor has the release date.

Genre: Drama, Crime

Rating: R

On 4K Ultra HD: November 15, 2022

Running Time: 100 minutes

Cast: Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Chris Penn, Edward Bunker, Kirk Baltz, Quentin Tarantino, and Lawrence Tierney

Written by: Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Produced by: Lawrence Bender

Executive Producers: Richard H. Gladstein, Monte Hellman, Ronna B. Wallace

Co-Producer: Harvey Keitel

Director of Photography: Andrzej Sekula

Production Designer: David Wasco

Edited by: Sally Menke

Casting by: Ronnie Yeskel

Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann

Synopsis:

Frenzied, soaked in blood, and featuring gangsters both ruthless and engaging (who debate the deeper meanings of “Like a Virgin”), Reservoir Dogs — Quentin Tarantino’s debut film about a heist gone horribly wrong — attained iconic cult status upon its release in 1992, and launched the career of a director whose singular vision has influenced a generation of filmmakers. To celebrate the movie’s 30th anniversary, the cocked-and-loaded world of Mr.

Update: El Pais has shared the first details of the film, which will take a meta approach as we follow a director living in retirement and now enjoying a life of fishing. He left a film in the 1990s unfinished after his star (also a friend from the military) disappeared. A television program investigating his disappearance causes the director to reunite with his former collaborators, leading to an “emotional earthquake.” See the original story below.

There are not many directors who have amassed such a rich contribution to the world of cinema amongst so few films as Víctor Erice. The 82-year-old Spanish director broke out with 1973’s The Spirit of the Beehive, followed by El Sur in 1983 and The Quince Tree Sun in 1992. Now, he’s finally set to return with his first feature in over thirty years.

As revealed by El Diario, Erice is preparing to shoot a new...

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight has appointed former arthouse sales agent Julien Rejl as its new delegate general and tweaked its French name in a move to usher in a new era of inclusivity for the 60-year-old parallel sidebar.

Rejl replaces outgoing Directors’ Fortnight head Paolo Moretti who took up the role in September 2018, succeeding Edouard Waintrop who oversaw the section from 2012-2018.

France’s Directors’ Guild, or Société des Réalisateurs de Films (Srf), the body which oversees the sidebar, said his appointment had been voted on during a general assembly on June 25.

“His absolute passion, which is communicative, constructive and pluralist is what arthouse filmmakers will need in the years to come,” it said in a statement.

It added that the organisation had also voted to change its French name to La Quinzaine des Cinéastes, from its previous name of La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the meeting.

This move makes its...

The good news is that Kino’s new 4K encodings of Sergio Leone’s first two Italo ‘Dollars’ oaters look terrific, with Fistful showing a lot of improvement: the basic restorations are from prime Italian film elements. And the packages are collector / home theater enthusiast friendly — standard Blu-ray encodings are part of the deal. As the films are still licensed from MGM, they include the extras from 2007 of which we’re very proud. The end results may be the first Leone disc release that makes this viewer ‘The Man with No Complaints.’ Don’t forget, they’re separate purchases.

A Fistful of Dollars + For a Few Dollars More

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1964-1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date May 31, 2022 / Separate Purchases / Available through Kino Lorber Fistful and A Few More /

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gian-Maria Volontè, Lee Van Cleef

Original Music: Ennio Morricone

Directed by Sergio Leone

Yes,...

Writer, director and actor Michael Showalter joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

The Baxter (2005)

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

Runaway Daughters (1994)

Clueless (1995)

Bagdad Cafe (1987)

Coda (2021)

The Long Goodbye (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Sugarbaby (1985)

City Slickers (1991)

Attack! (1956) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Paris, Texas (1984) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Pretty In Pink (1986)

Escape From New York (1981) – Neil Marshall’s trailer commentary

Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

The Warriors (1979)

The Thing (1982) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Christine (1983)

Crossing Delancey (1988)

Annie Hall (1977) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary

When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

The Fugitive (1993)

The Big Sick (2017) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Between The Lines...

Walter Coblenz, who was Oscar-nominated for producing “All the President’s Men” and also produced “The Candidate” and “The Onion Field,” died March 16. He was 93.

Coblenz also produced the Emmy-nominated Joseph Wambaugh TV mini-series adaptation “The Blue Knight.”

After serving as assistant director and production manager on Robert Redford’s “Downhill Racer,” he went on to work with Redford on “The Candidate” and “All the Presidents Men,” which racked up eight Oscar nominations and four wins.

Coblenz served as Sr. V.P. of production at both Tri-Star Pictures and Carolco Pictures, where he oversaw production on films including “The Natural.” “Places in the Heart,” “Terminator 2,” “The Doors” and “Rambling Rose.”

His other producing credits include “Money Talks,” “Her Majesty,” “The Babe” and “18 Again.”

Born in Germany, Koblenz came to the U.S. as a child and graduated from the University of Houston. He began his career as a camera...

Who will be included for the special “In Memoriam” segment for Sunday night’s Oscars 2022 ceremony? For almost all other Academy Awards productions since the 1990s, producers typically select 40-50 people from the various branches. The 2021 segment had close to 100 people in a particularly fast-paced three minutes that was not very well-received since many of them were only on screen for a second or two.

SEECelebrity Deaths 2022: In Memoriam Gallery

Previous Oscar winners from acting categories passing away since last year’s late April ceremony are Olympia Dukakis, William Hurt and Sidney Poitier. Past acting nominees include Ned Beatty, Sally Kellerman and Dean Stockwell.

Almost all of the dozens on the list below were Academy members, previous nominees/winners or both.

Louie Anderson (actor)

Ed Asner (actor)

Ned Beatty (actor)

Marilyn Bergman (composer)

Val Bisoglio (actor)

Robert Blalack (visual effects)

Peter Bogdanovich (director)

David Brenner (editor)

Leslie Bricusse (composer...

Decades ago, in his landmark “Biographical Dictionary of Film,” critic David Thomson said of filmmaking legend Francis Coppola: “No one retains so many jubilant traits of the kid moviemaker.” As Coppola approaches production on “Megalopolis,” his biggest, most creatively ambitious project of the 21st century, that description seems more apt than ever.

And a quick glance at the Variety archives vividly illustrates Coppola’s explosive emergence as a veritable force of nature while still enrolled as a film student at UCLA.

The wunderkind announced his arrival with his name blasted in a Variety page one headline as the winner of a student screenwriting competition. The story below goes on to note: “The $2,000 first prize in UCLA’s eighth annual Samuel Goldwyn Foundation Creative Writing contest was won by Francis Ford Coppola, grad student in the Theatre Arts for his screenplay, ‘Pilma Pilma.’

He is slated to go to Europe soon...

Hart, who founded the “Screen On” cinema chain and distribution company Mainline Pictures, died on December 28

Tributes have been paid to Romaine Hart OBE (1933-2021), one of the doyennes of UK independent arthouse exhibition and distribution, who died on December 28 aged 88.

Hart was the founder of the “Screen On” chain and distribution company Mainline Pictures. She gave a significant boost to the careers of several prominent current industry figures, among them Mia Bays, the new director of the BFI Film Fund, and producers Lucy Darwin (Match Point), Stephen Woolley (Number 9 Films) and John Battsek.

“It is an extraordinary legacy that she has left behind,...

Revisiting last year's introduction when putting together 2021's favorites, it is with a shock to realize how little has changed in the wildly disrupted world of cinema under the shroud of the pandemic. The urge to copy-and-paste the whole shebang is quite tempting indeed.What can we say about this year, 2021? We got a little more used to long-term instability. Cinemas and festivals re-opened, only for some to close again. We, like many, ventured carefully out into the world to finally see films again with audiences, all kinds: nervous ones, uproarious ones, spartan ones, and delighted ones. It was an experience both anxious and joyous. We also doubled down on the challenges, but also the pleasures, of home viewing: of virtual cinemas and virtual festivals, of straight to streaming premieres, of trying to capture a social joy in semi-isolation by connecting with others over experiences shared and disparate.The long...

After a hiatus as theaters in New York City and beyond closed their doors during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, there’s a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings taking place.

IFC Center

A Paul Verhoeven retro is underway as the 4K restoration of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s masterpiece Cure continues and World of Wong Kar-wai keeps going, Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr., House, and Persona have showings.

Museum of the Moving Image

“See It Big: Extravaganzas!” offers Daisies and films by Guy Maddin and Wes Anderson; Little Fugitive plays on Saturday.

Metrograph

A series on punk cinema is underway, spearheaded by Dennis Hopper’s incredible Out of the Blue. Karyn Kusama’s Girlfight screens on Sunday.

Film Forum

While the stacked series of road movies continues,...

Director, producer and screenwriter Michael Laughlin, whose credits include Two-Lane Blacktop, Town & Country and Strange Behavior, died on October 20th at the age of 82.

Laughlin succumbed to complications related to Covid-19 and passed in his residence in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Michael Stoddard Laughlin was born in 1938 and brought up in Minonk, Illinois. Laughlin played basketball at Stanford University, later graduating from Principia College in 1960.

Shortly after, he moved to London where he started his career as a film producer. He worked on projects like The Whispers and 1968’s Joanna directed by Michael Sarne. Laughlin married French actress Leslie Caron during his time in Europe. They divorced in 1980.

In the ’70s, Laughlin helped produce the Monte Hellman-directed cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop, starring James Taylor. In 2012, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Other credits include 1981’s Strange Behaviors,...

Michael Laughlin, a filmmaker and producer whose credits included the likes of 1971’s “Two-Lane Blacktop” and 1981’s “Strange Behavior,” died on Oct. 20 from complications related to Covid-19. He was 82 years old.

Laughlin’s death was confirmed to Variety by his friend Brooke Nasser. He died in Honolulu, Hawaii, where had been living for many years.

Laughlin was born and raised in Illinois. He was recruited to play basketball at Stanford University and graduated from Principia College in 1960.

After moving to London, Laughlin began a career as a film producer, working on projects such as Bryan Forbes’ 1967 thriller “The Whispers” and the 1968 feature “Joanna,” director Michael Sarne’s precursor to “Myra Breckinridge.” He met and married French actress and ballerina Leslie Caron during his time abroad. The two separated in 1975.

During the 1970s, Laughlin helped bring eight independent features to fruition, including the Monte Hellman-directed cult classic “Two-Lane Blacktop.” Interviews...

Known as “Call Him Mr. Shatter” in the U.S., this was the second of a three-movie deal co-production between Shaw Brothers and the British Hammer Film Productions. “The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires” starring Peter Cushing, David Chiang and Shih Szu was the first. Since both movies were box office failures, their third collaboration never materialized.

on Amazon

At the start of the movie, an assassin named Shatter (Stuart Whitman) is hired to kill an African dictator. His weapon of choice is a gun hidden inside a camera in which he kills his targets by taking their pictures. Maybe they should call him “Shutter” instead. Anyway, after the successful photo shoot, he heads to Hong Kong to meet Hans Leber (Anton Diffring) to collect his payment. But instead of getting his money, he soon discovers that he has become a target as the local hit-men...