USA

  • Robert Mulligan – The Nickel Ride (1974)

    Robert Mulligan1971-1980CrimeDramaUSA

    Quote:
    In Los Angeles, a criminal begins to think that his accomplices want to get rid of him.

    Quote:
    A world-weary crime boss is losing his grip on his organization.Read More »

  • Paul Auster & Wayne Wang & Harvey Wang – Blue in the Face (1995)

    Wayne Wang1991-2000ComedyHarvey WangPaul AusterUSA

    Wayne Wang’s follow-up movie to Smoke (1995) presents a series of improvisational situations strung together to form a pastiche of Brooklyn’s diverse ethnicity, offbeat humor, and essential humanity. Many of the same characters inhabiting Auggie Wren’s Brooklyn Cigar Store in Smoke (1995) return here to expound on their philosophy of smoking, relationships, baseball, New York City, and Belgian Waffles. Most of all, this is a movie about living life, off-the-cuff.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – The Leopard Man (1943)

    Jacques Tourneur1941-1950HorrorMysteryUSA

    Is it man, beast or both behind a string of savage maulings and murders? An escaped leopard provides the catalyst for a foray into fear in which a cemetery is the rendezvous for death and love, and a closed door heightens rather than hides the horror of a young girl’s fate. The Leopard Man once again teams producer Val Lewton with director Jacques Tourneur (Cat People). This thriller stars Dennis O’Keefe (T-Men, Raw Deal), Margo (Lost Horizon) and Jean Brooks (The Seventh Victim).Read More »

  • Ralph Steiner & Willard Van Dyke – Hands (1934)

    Ralph Steiner1931-1940ExperimentalShort FilmUSAWillard Van Dyke

    Quote:
    “HANDS is an ingenious piece of propaganda that communicates not only through the thrust of its content, but through the very unconventionality of its “experimental” structure. The film suggests that the government that produced it is imaginative and inventive, open to new possibilities, and supportive of forms of free expression.” – Scott MacDonaldRead More »

  • Fritz Lang – Rancho Notorious (1952) (HD)

    Fritz Lang1951-1960USAWestern

    Quote:
    An under-valued classic
    Fritz Lang’s superlative western teeters dangerously on the edge of campness, (it’s that infernal ‘Legend of Chuck-a-Luck’ ballad pounding away on the soundtrack, continually reminding us that this is a tale of ‘hate … murder and revenge’). Then, of course, there is that great gay icon Marlene Dietrich, looking extraordinary at fifty one as Altar Keane, boss of the outlaw hideout Chuck-a-Luck where Arthur Kennedy comes seeking the man who killed his girl in a robbery. In many respects the film is a perfect companion to Nicholas Ray’s not dissimilar “Johnny Guitar”, made around the same time and both featuring dominant women and weaker men and both dealing explicitly with ‘hate, murder and revenge’.Read More »

  • Mark Robson – The Seventh Victim (1943)

    Mark Robson1941-1950ClassicsHorrorUSA

    “Death is good” is how producer Val Lewton summarized the message of his films, a credo that received its most explicit expression in this strikingly nihilistic shocker, the first film directed by regular Lewton editor Mark Robson. Kim Hunter makes her film debut as a young boarding-school student who, in search of her missing sister (proto-goth icon Jean Brooks), travels to New York’s bohemian Greenwich Village, where she uncovers a sinister shadow world of devil-worshippers and murder. And what about that mysterious room furnished with nothing but a chair and a hangman’s noose? With its daring treatment of depression and queerness, The Seventh Victim has haunted the margins of cinema for decades, its radical bleakness undiminished by time.Read More »

  • John Francis Dillon – Behind the Mask (1932)

    1931-1940ClassicsCrimeJohn Francis DillonUSA

    Behind the Mask is a typically virile Jack Holt vehicle, with the hero at one point shooting himself in the arm to establish an alibi! Holt plays a federal agent named Hart who has himself planted in jail as a convict to get the goods on a drug syndicate. Befriending small-time gangster Henderson (Boris Karloff), Hart follows the trail of clues to unmask the head of the syndicate, who turns out to be the supposedly respectable Dr. Steiner (Edward Van Sloan). In the rip-roaring climax, Steiner prepares to perform an “operation” on Hart, gleefully informing his victim that his chances for recovery are next to nil. Because of the presence of Boris Karloff and Edward Van Sloan in the cast, Behind the Mask was included in Screen Gems’ “Shock Theater” TV package, even though there’s nothing really horrific in the film.Read More »

  • Various – 42nd Street Forever: XXX-Treme Special Edition (2007)

    Various2001-2010EroticaExploitationUSA

    Review taken from IMDB:
    This is volume 3 of the series and continues the movie trailer montage, except it switches to covering grindhouse’s next door neighbor (namely porn).Read More »

  • Howard Hawks – Air Force (1943)

    Howard Hawks1941-1950ActionUSAWar

    On December 6, 1941 nine B-17 bombers set off on a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii. One of the bombers, the Mary Ann, is commanded by ‘Irish’ Quincannon. The bombardier, Tommy McMartin, has a sister living in Hawaii and the co-pilot, Bill Williams, is sweet on her. The men are all highly professional with the exception of aerial gunner Joe Winocki, a bitter man who has every intention of leaving the Army Air Corps. They arrive at Hickam Field on the morning of December 7, just as the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor and other military facilities. All of the men prepare to face the enemy, including Winocki whose attitude changes quickly. The bomber and its crew will participate in many missions but not all will survive.Read More »

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