Charlton Heston

  • Franklin J. Schaffner – Planet of the Apes (1968)

    1961-1970AdventureFranklin J. SchaffnerSci-FiUSA

    Synopsis:
    In the year 3978A.D. a spaceship with a crew of 4 crashes down on a distant planet. One of the crew members had died in space and the other 3 head out to explore the planet. They soon learn that the planet is much like their own. They then find the planet is inhabited by intelligent apes. One of the men is shot and killed and the others are taken to the apes’ city. There, one undergoes brain surgery and is put into a state of living death. The other befriends some of the apes but is feared by most. After being put through ape trial he escapes with a female human native to the planet. After helping his ape friends escape a religious heresy trial he escapes out into the wilderness with the female. There he learns the planet might not be so distant after all…Read More »

  • Mark Robson – Earthquake (1974)

    1971-1980ActionDramaMark RobsonUSA

    Earthquake is a 1974 American ensemble disaster film that achieved outstanding box office returns, continuing the disaster film genre of the 1970s where recognizable all-star casts attempt to survive life or death situations. The plot concerns the struggle for survival after a catastrophic earthquake destroys most of the city of Los Angeles, California.

    Directed by Mark Robson and with a screenplay by George Fox and Mario Puzo, the film starred a large cast of well-known actors, including Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Geneviève Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Marjoe Gortner, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Victoria Principal, and (under an alias) Walter Matthau. It is notable for the use of an innovative sound effect called Sensurround which created the sense of actually experiencing an earthquake in theatres.Read More »

  • Jerry Hopper – Secret of the Incas (1954)

    1951-1960AdventureClassicsJerry HopperUSA

    Charlton Heston stars as Harry Steele, an American treasure hunter moonlighting as a tour guide in the jungles of Peru. He is on a quest to discover the Sunburst, an ancient Incan treasure that has the power to build and destroy civilizations.

    Shot on location at Machu Picchu in Peru, the film is often credited as the inspiration for Raiders of the Lost Ark.Read More »

  • Orson Welles – Touch of Evil [Kino 4K] (1958)

    1951-1960250 Quintessential Film NoirsFilm NoirOrson WellesUSA

    Directed by Hollywood legend Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, The Stranger, The Lady from Shanghai), Touch of Evil is a film noir masterpiece whose Hollywood backstory is as unforgettable as the movie itself. Starring Charlton Heston (The Big Country, Ben-Hur), Janet Leigh (The Manchurian Candidate, Psycho) and Welles himself, this dark portrait of corruption and morally compromised obsessions tells the story of a crooked police chief who frames a Mexican youth as part of an intricate criminal plot. With its iconic ticking-bomb opening shot, shadowy cinematography by Russell Metty (Spartacus), evocative score by Henry Mancini (Arabesque) and memorable supporting turns by Akim Tamiroff (The General Died at Dawn) and Marlene Dietrich (Desire), Touch of Evil is a stylistic triumph that stands the test of time.Read More »

  • Irving Rapper – Bad for Each Other (1953)

    Irving Rapper1951-1960DramaFilm NoirUSA

    A doctor returning from the Korean War to his hometown in Pennsylvania must choose what next to do with his lifeRead More »

  • King Vidor – Ruby Gentry (1952)

    1951-1960DramaKing VidorRomanceUSA

    Synopsis:
    Despite their different social class Ruby and Boake grew up together in the 1950s North Carolina. Ruby Corey lived with her poor family in the swamps while Boake Tackman lived in a mansion with servants. As long as their friendship stayed within the socially acceptable limits no one objected. In adulthood their friendship becomes a mutual romantic attraction. Ruby wants to marry Boake but he only seems interested in romantic play without commitment. Maybe conscious of his social status or maybe being afraid to offend his snobbish family and conservative hometown folk, he marries a rich girl. Out of revenge Ruby marries Jim Gentry, a recently widowed rich old man to whom many townsfolk and local businesses owe money. When Gentry dies in an accident, the town blames Ruby. A now rich Ruby takes revenge on the town’s folk by calling in their debts and loans. The girl from the swamps has become the town’s biggest nightmare.Read More »

  • William Wyler – Ben-Hur (1959)

    1951-1960DramaQueer Cinema(s)USAWilliam Wyler

    After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.Read More »

  • Nicholas Ray & Guy Green – 55 Days at Peking (1963)

    1961-1970DramaNicholas RayUSAWar

    Synopsis:
    This historical epic dramatizes the Battle of Peking, a turning point of the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. When Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi (Flora Robson) orders the Boxers, a group of Chinese secret societies, to massacre foreigners within China, a group of ambassadors, their families and staff hole up in a diplomatic compound. Major Matt Lewis of the United States Marine Corps (Charlton Heston) leads the defense while romancing Russian baroness Natalie Ivanoff (Ava Gardner).Read More »

  • Rudolph Maté – Three Violent People (1956)

    1951-1960DramaRudolph MatéUSAWestern

    After the American Civil War, Captain Colt Saunders returns to Texas to his homeland Bar S Ranch, which has belonged to his family for generations. While in town, he has an incident and meets the former gal from St. Louis Lorna Hunter and without knowing her past, he immediately proposes and gets married to her. When they arrive in Bar S, he meets his brother Beauregard ‘Cinch’ Saunders, the black-sheep of the family that lost one arm in his childhood and blames Colt for the accident. Read More »

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