USA

  • Sidney Lumet – The Offence (1973)

    USA1971-1980CrimeSidney LumetThriller

    Synopsis:
    In Sidney Lumet’s harrowing portrayal of police brutality, Detective Sergeant Johnson has been with the British Police Force for 20 years. In that time, the countless murders, rapes and other serious crimes he has had to investigate has left a terrible mark on him. His anger and aggression that had been suppressed for years finally surfaces when interviewing a suspect, Baxter, whom Johnson is convinced is the man that has been carrying out a series of brutal attacks on young girls. Throughout the interview Johnson brutally beats Baxter and during this ordeal he inadvertently reveals that the state of his own mind is probably no better than that of the offenders who committed the crimes that disgusted Johnson originally.Read More »

  • Joseph Sargent – Day One (1989)

    1981-1990DramaHiroshima at 75Joseph SargentTVUSA

    The complicated relationship between physicist Leo Szilard, scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves. Assigned to oversee the project, Groves chooses Oppenheimer to build the historic bomb. However, when World War II inspires the government to use the weapon, Szilard reconsiders his opinions about atomic warfare.Read More »

  • László Kardos – The Tijuana Story (1957)

    1951-1960CrimeFilm NoirLászló KardosUSA

    Quote:
    Kit Parker Films and Mill Creek Entertainment continue their deep dive into what might be thought of as the substratum of film noir with this third collection culled from the Columbia catalog. The fact that this latest offering supposedly spans the years of 1956 through 1960 may give some indication of just how deep this particular dive is, since many film fans will probably (rightly or wrongly) feel like the late fifties and first year of the sixties are decidedly past the heyday of film noir. (That “supposedly” is in the previous sentence because the earliest actual release date for the films in this set seems to actually be 1957, not 1956, which perhaps makes my point even better.) Still, as with the first two collections, there are some really interesting films in this set, and genre aficionados will most likely find at least a few titles in this set, including some more British productions, that may well spark interest.Read More »

  • Howard Hawks – Land of the Pharaohs (1955)

    1951-1960ClassicsEpicHoward HawksUSA

    Quote:
    What happens when we die? Probably nothing, and we damn sure can’t take anything with us. But just try telling that to Pharaoh Khufu (Jack Hawkins), who has amassed an ungodly amount of wealth in Howard Hawks’ soapy historical drama Land of the Pharaohs and wants nothing more than to buried with it. Enlisting the help of aging architect/slave Vashtar (James Robertson Justice) to design an intricate robber-proof tomb, Pharaoh Khufu spares no expense — and by that I mean “works thousands of slaves to death and raises taxes” — to ensure that it’s built exactly to spec and will preserve his body and treasures for all eternity. But when his second wife Princess Nellifer (Joan Collins) secretly plots to separate the two of them, a chain of lies and deceit as big as the Great Pyramid itself is set in motion.Read More »

  • Gail Palmer – Hot Summer in the City (1976)

    1971-1980EroticaExploitationGail PalmerUSA

    SYNOPSIS
    Debbie, a lily-white virgin, is abducted by a gang of black men being paid by whites to start a race riot. After violating her in a Cadillac, the men take her to a country cabin. Duke, the leader, takes possession of her but then loses her in a poker game. The violence escalates to a full throttled climax. Filled with stark, brutal imagery from start to finish, Hot Summer In The City is a haunting film you won’t soon forget. The characters are so believable that it seems like a documentary. Lisa Baker’s sexy screen presence is mute and ghostlike.Read More »

  • James Neilson – Return of the Gunfighter (1966)

    1961-1970James NeilsonUSAWestern

    Robert Taylor gives one of his best performances in this action-packed Western adventure costarring Chad Everett. Ben Wyatt (Taylor) has had a belly full of guns. Released from prison five years after being wrongfully convicted of murder, the aging gunman wants only to live in peace. But when he’s summoned to help an old friend and his wife who are shot before he can get there, Wyatt and their daughter (Ana Martin) set out to find the killers, unaware the young gunslinger (Everett) who rides with them is the brother of the man behind the murders.Read More »

  • Frank Tashlin – Caprice (1967)

    1961-1970ComedyFrank TashlinThrillerUSA

    Industrial spy Patricia Fowler (Day) is hot on the trail of a secret formula with the power to change the world…by keeping ladies’ hair dry in the water! So important is this miracle hair spray that cosmetics operatives everywhere have mobilized to find it. But when Patricia crosses paths with sexy spy Christopher White (Harris), she discovers something much more sinister behind her quest…a plot that could cause bad-hair days the world over!Read More »

  • Barry Jenkins – Medicine for Melancholy (2008)

    2001-2010Barry JenkinsDramaL.A. RebellionRomanceUSA

    Quote:
    Twenty-four hours in the tentative relationship of two young San Franciscans also dealing with the conundrum of being a minority in a rapidly gentrifying city.Read More »

  • Robert Aldrich – Apache (1954)

    1951-1960Robert AldrichUSAWestern

    Quote:
    Apache was based on Paul I. Wellman’s novel Broncho Apache, which in turn was inspired by a true story. Burt Lancaster plays Massai, a lieutenant of the great Apache warrior Geronimo (here depicted as an old man, played by Monte Blue). Though his tribe has signed surrender terms with the conquering whites, Massai refuses to do so. He escapes from a prison train and conducts a one-man war against the white intruders-and against some of his own people. Along the way, he claims Nalinle (Jean Peters), whom he previously regarded as a traitor to his cause, as his wife. John McIntire plays famed Indian scout Al Sieber, who-in this film, if not in real life-is sympathetic to the Indians’ plight and Massai’s single-purposed cause. The real-life counterpart to Massai was killed by Sieber’s minions after agreeing to call off the hostilies; United Artists objected to this, forcing producer/star Burt Lancaster to shoot an unconvincingly happy ending.Read More »

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