News

Ena Hartman, a pioneering Black actress who had a regular role opposite Burt Reynolds on the 1970-71 ABC cop show Dan August, has died. She was 93.

Hartman died April 16 of natural causes at her home in Van Nuys, her goddaughter Lorraine Foxworth told The Hollywood Reporter.

Hartman also is known for her starring turn as the tough girl Carmen Simms alongside Tom Selleck, Don Marshall, Roger E. Mosley, Phyllis Davis and Marta Kristen in the cult prison-set film Terminal Island (1973), written and directed by Stephanie Rothman.

She assisted Lee J. Cobb’s character in the spy spoof Our Man Flint (1966), starring James Coburn; played a party guest in Games (1967), starring James Caan, Simone Signoret and Katharine Ross; and was a flight attendant in Airport (1970).

And in firsts for NBC in 1968, she appeared on the inaugural episode of Adam-12 and in the telefilm Prescription Murder, which starred Peter Falk in his initial outing as Columbo.

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Burt Metcalfe, the onetime actor from Canada who served as a producer, director and writer on all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, collecting 13 Emmy nominations along the way, has died. He was 87.

One of the show’s unsung heroes, Metcalfe died Wednesday in Los Angeles of natural causes, his wife of 43 years, actress Jan Jorden announced. (She had a recurring role as Nurse Baker on the series.)

Before he gave up full-time acting to work on the other side of the camera, Metcalfe played the surfer Lord Byron opposite Sandra Dee and James Darren in Gidget (1959), appeared on the first season of The Twilight Zone and starred on the 1961-62 CBS sitcom Father of the Bride.

Metcalfe was a producer on all but five of M*A*S*H‘s 256 episodes from 1972-83 and its showrunner for its last six seasons. He...

I had the pleasure of joining Kevin Jacobsen on his great podcast series "And the Runner Up Is..." for a fourth time. Kevin opted to assign me 1947 when I asked for this decade. So listen in to hear us talk about the following lineup which has two great performances, one coaster nomination, a bullet dodged, and one of my mother's favourites from her childhood.

Joan Crawford, Possessed Susan Hayward, Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman Dorothy McGuire, Gentleman's Agreement Rosalind Russell, Mourning Becomes Electra ★ Loretta Young, The Farmer's Daughter

Which of those performances do you love?...

Director Ti West’s X is a new love letter to the slasher film genre. This movie within a movie aims to tackle the strict relationship between sex, violence, desire and the rage that manifests when one’s life lacks all of those things. West employs all the tropes involved with pornography and horror and tries to inject personal hints of creativity and originality into the narrative. Will it age well if I watch it again in five years? Probably not. But it provides enough fun and excitement in the current moment to keep audiences engaged.

Wayne (Martin Henderson) is out to make an amateur porn video called The Farmer’s Daughter. He’s looking to take advantage of the market by shooting his own self-financed movie. His film crew consists of a couple, Rj (Owen Campbell) and Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), with actors Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), Jackson (Scott Mescudi) and Maxine...

Ti West made his name directing nimbly paced throwbacks to horror films of old, from his haunted house breakthrough “The House of the Devil” to his found footage film “The Sacrament.” But after directing six horror films in a row, with very few breaks in between, he decided to take some time off to make sure he didn’t start repeating himself.

While on his break from horror filmmaking, during which he directed for TV shows such as “Scream,” and “Tales From the Loop,” he thought about making a pure slasher film, something he hadn’t done before. Trying to find his own unique spin on the subgenre, he decided to make slasher film about people making a film. He wasn’t interested in making an overly meta piece about shooting a horror movie, so he eventually settled on a close counterpoint to his favorite genre: porn.

“Slasher movies have...

An ode to 1970s grindhouse cinema, “X” finds “The House of the Devil” writer-director Ti West back in his wheelhouse, painstakingly recreating the era’s look and feel as well as its exploitative content.

The year is 1979. Six ambitious and enterprising young Houstonians with aspirations of fame, fortune and artistry decide to have a go at making “The Farmer’s Daughter,” a low-budget dirty movie aimed at boosting the cast and crew’s dreams of fame and fortune.

Maxine (Mia Goth), a coked-up stripper working at Bayou Burlesque, thinks this is just the ticket to international stardom. Her boyfriend, Wayne, acts as the archetypically gung-ho executive producer who talks a great game. Though ostensibly influenced by avant-garde cinema and the French New Wave, director R.J. needs to start at the bottom in order to cut his teeth in filmmaking. His girlfriend and boom operator Lorraine is a prude who doesn...

After 2016’s Western, In the Valley of Violence, and several years directing episodic TV, Ti West makes a very welcome return to the world of feature horror with X, a ’70s-set picture in which the sort of ambition that has characterized West’s impressive filmography is both evident on screen as well as the subtext driving the film’s characters. The set-up: a ragtag group of filmmakers ensconce themselves in a rented barn outside a foreboding farmhouse straight out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to make a porno feature, The Farmer’s Daughter. Mia […]

The post Ambition in Filmmaking, Mia Goth’s Dual Role and His Sirkian A24 Prequel: Ti West on His SXSW-Premiering X first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

After 2016’s Western, In the Valley of Violence, and several years directing episodic TV, Ti West makes a very welcome return to the world of feature horror with X, a ’70s-set picture in which the sort of ambition that has characterized West’s impressive filmography is both evident on screen as well as the subtext driving the film’s characters. The set-up: a ragtag group of filmmakers ensconce themselves in a rented barn outside a foreboding farmhouse straight out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to make a porno feature, The Farmer’s Daughter. Mia […]

The post Ambition in Filmmaking, Mia Goth’s Dual Role and His Sirkian A24 Prequel: Ti West on His SXSW-Premiering X first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

“Murder Or Self Defense?”

By Raymond Benson

This compelling 1949 melodrama—it can’t quite be called film noir due to a lack of many of the traits associated with that cinematic movement—would have a field day in the era of #MeToo. It was made during 1948 (released in January ’49) while the Production Code was still in effect. While it was taboo to say that the protagonist, Dr. Wilma Tuttle (Loretta Young), is “sexually assaulted” by one of her students at the college where she teaches psychology (it’s obvious that this is what occurs in front of our eyes on the screen), it’s perfectly fine for the investigating homicide detective, Lt. Dorgan (Wendell Corey), to make harassing sexual innuendos and sexist remarks about the woman he suspects of murder, not only to her face but to all the other men in the room while she’s present. But it...

Heather Menzies-Urich who played Louisa von Trapp in the iconic film, "The Sound of Music," is dead. Heather was 15-years-old when she was cast as Louisa von Trapp in the film which has become an all-time movie classic, which won 5 Oscars, including Best Picture. The actress died on Christmas Eve, surrounded by family. Her son, Ryan Urich, tells TMZ, "She was an actress, a ballerina and loved living her life to the fullest.  She was not in any pain but,...

As a new year dawns, a tribute to those we've lost in the year now ending is merited ... and in 2012, those sad milestones have encompassed some of the most popular personalities in television history.

Andy Griffith: The actor-producer who put Mayberry on the map forever will be remembered as one of television's most genial personalities, also extending to his run as wily lawyer Matlock.

Dick Clark: The number of music stars who owe at least part of their success to the "American Bandstand" maestro is incalculable. Thanks to him, people also enjoy "New Year's Rockin' Eve," receive American Music Awards and have a greater appreciation of bloopers. Here's a "so long" salute to you, Dick.

Larry Hagman: The truly unfortunate irony of the veteran actor's recent death is that he was just starting his second round of "Dallas" success as master schemer J.R. Ewing. He'll also...

American TV and film actor whose repertoire ran from Shakespeare to Star Trek

It may well be that the American actor William Windom, who has died aged 88 of congestive heart failure, appeared as a guest star in more TV series than anyone else in the history of the medium. While quantity is not necessarily an adjunct of quality, Windom made it so.

The character actor's career on television spanned seven decades, from his debut as a fiery Tybalt in a Philco Television Playhouse production of Romeo and Juliet (1949) to an episode of Star Trek: New Voyages (2004) in which he recreated the role of the unbalanced Commodore Matt Decker. Decker was first seen in one of the series's best chapters, The Doomsday Machine (1967), and it was enough to sanctify Windom in the eyes of Trekkies. The role had been written for Robert Ryan, but Windom's powerful portrayal made any possible comparisons redundant.

Rest in peace, William Windom. The television actor, who received an Emmy Award for his work in My World and Welcome to It and is well-known for his roles on Star Trek and Murder, She Wrote, died in his California home from congestive heart failure on Thursday, according to the New York Times. Windom was 88. During his early years, Windom joined the army and served as a paratrooper in World War II. He later attended the University of Kentucky, among several other higher-education institutions, and decided to pursue acting. Windom also appeared on episodes of The Twilight Zone and the '60s comedy series The Farmer's Daughter, where he played a Minnesota congressman, a position served...