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It's his most recent film, so it's tough to truly say how history will ultimately judge it, but it's safe to say that 2019's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is looked upon very favorably in Quentin Tarantion's filmography. As his second collaboration with Brad Pitt following his 2009 war masterpiece "Inglourious Basterds," it was a major success that ultimately netted the star a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work as stuntman Cliff Booth.

Tarantino has now given author Jay Glennie access to write books about the making of many of his films. It all begins with "The Making of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," which hits shelves on November 11 from Insight Editions. In an excerpt from the book published by Deadline, it's revealed that Tarantino and Pitt had similar ideas when it came to crafting the character of Cliff Booth.

Sara Lane, who portrayed the orphaned frontier girl Elizabeth Grainger for four seasons of the NBC drama The Virginian, has died. She was 73.

Lane died Friday at her home in Napa, California, after a six-year battle with breast cancer, her husband, Jon Scott, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lane joined the 1890s Western for the start of its retooled fifth season in September 1966 alongside two other new castmembers: Charles Bickford, who played her grandfather, John Grainger, the new owner of the Shiloh Ranch, and Don Quine, who portrayed her older brother, Stacey Grainger.

She appeared on 105 episodes of the Wyoming Territory-set series through March 1970, with James Drury‘s title character and Doug McClure’s Trampas looking after Elizabeth. The Virginian aired one final season without her.

The oldest of three kids, Susan Russell Lane was born in New York on March 12, 1949. Her parents, Rusty Lane (The Harder They Fall) and Sara Anderson,...

‘Billy Jack’: Tom Laughlin helped to revolutionize Hollywood’s film distribution system (See previous post: “Tom Laughlin: ‘Billy Jack’ Actor and Director, Robert Altman Difficult Star Dead at 82.”) Featuring the titular hero as a semi-mystical figure who, with a mixture of steely determination and purposeful violence, helps to rescue wild horses from becoming dog meat and allows an independent school to continue operating at an Indian reservation in Arizona — against the wishes of white reactionary bigots and ruthless capitalists — Billy Jack was a box office disappointment when released by Warner Bros. at, in Tom Laughlin’s words, "porno houses" (and drive-ins) in 1971. (Photo: Tom Laughlin in Billy Jack.) Unhappy with the studio’s handling of his film, Laughlin sued Warners. In May 1973, following a settlement with the studio, he began self-distributing Billy Jack at small-town movie theaters throughout the United States. He hired marketing expert, former United Artists honcho,...

Younger movie buffs may have no idea how popular the Billy Jack movies were in the early ’70s but Billy Jack and The Trial Of Billy Jack were the cool films to see when I was in middle school. The first film in the series was Born Losers in 1967, an above average entry in the biker genre notable for its odd hero Billy Jack, a brave Native American ex-Army Green Beret played by Tom Laughlin who used his karate skills to fight a nefarious motorcycle gang. Laughlin wrote and directed three sequels which costarred his wife Delores Taylor. Billy Jack was released in 1971, and this time Billy used those same skills to fight racism and oppression. With its themes of child abuse, the trampling of Indian rights, prejudice, television exposes, campus shootings by the National Guard, the Mi Lai massacre, culture clashes, Jungian philosophy, police brutality, government corruption, karate, guns,...

By Lee Pfeiffer 

Maverick actor and filmmaker Tom Laughlin has died at the age of 82 after a long illness. Laughlin was just another hunky actor in small roles in films like South Pacific and Tea and Sympathy. However, in 1967 he successfully rode the wave of popularity attached to biker flicks by writing, directing and starring in The Born Losers. (He used the named T.C Frank for his non-acting credits). The film starred Laughlin as a half-Native American named Billy Jack who takes on seemingly insurmountable odds to help oppressed people. The film was a hit and Laughlin revived the character in 1971 in the film Billy Jack. However, he was angry with Warner Brothers' lukewarm marketing of the film. He engaged in a high profile battle to win back distribution rights and finally prevailed in court. In 1974 Laughlin took the bold step of investing millions of dollars in re-marketing a...

Tom Laughlin, the actor who wrote, directed, starred in and distributed the 1970s’ Billy Jack films, died on Thursday in California. He was 82.

Actor Tom Laughlin Dies

Billy Jack was the second of four movies featuring the title character, a half-Native American former Green Beret and Vietnam veteran, as he fought on the side of a progressive school that sought desegregation. The people in the Western town wanted to keep the Native American students out of the system, which Billy Jack wouldn’t stand for.

Studios wanted nothing to do with the sequel, believing that the vigilante nature of Billy Jack would be a turn off to audiences. However, after Laughlin secured theaters to show the film, it went on to become a box-office success. His legwork to make the film happen is credited with being an inspiration to modern independent filmmakers and changing Hollywood’s marketing strategies.

Laughlin is...