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There’s a sentimental heart to Michael Mann’s films, as much as his fans might not like to hear about it. Run a movie like Heat or Thief alongside the finest crime novels of the same bygone era Mann taps as fuel for his ongoing, elegiac meta-saga on heist men, bag men, and hit men. Run them against key works by Westlake, Chandler, Hammett, or Bezzerides—authors whose heroes and antiheroes are all hard, bad edges. In Mann’s world, sentimentality is front and center, the prize beyond the horizon for the Los Angeles cab driver, the storied Depression-era stickup man, or the Miami vice cop. It’s the reason for some of those mournful stares, those knowing half-smiles that punctuate your Miami Vice, your Public Enemies.

At the same time, these stories may also be that of the sentimental dream being crushed, its embers stubbed out by crippling disappointment.

He wasn't called the "King of Cool" for no reason. '60s movie icon Steve McQueen starred in some of the most famous movies of all time during his Hollywood run, and more often than not, McQueen's presence on screen was mesmerizing. Easily confused with the other top star at the time, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen had a smooth demeanor and piercing blue eyes that captivated audiences no matter what role he was playing. Although he played many different kinds of characters as his career went on, McQueen was initially known for playing more of a laid-back drifter type as opposed to a clean-cut suit or badge. Things changed when he played Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968.

From that point on, McQueen's roles were becoming more diversified than his usual archetypal roles. This led to arguably his most iconic film in 1968, Bullitt, in which McQueen plays...

“Michael Mann’s “Thief” is a film of style, substance, and violently felt emotion, all wrapped up in one of the most intelligent thrillers I’ve seen.” – Roger Ebert

Glistening wet streets, intense neon lights, transient spaces, reflective objects, cool-blue color palette, and a pulsating score. Yeah, it’s all the recognizable nuggets of Michael Mann’s visual style, which isn’t just about remaining ‘showy’, but also remains wholly attuned to the story’s emotional textures. And, what’s fascinating about these confident and meticulous visuals is that Mann accomplished it all in his feature-film debut “Thief” (1981) itself.

The recurring themes in Mann’s works involving hardened, urban males are also present here. A single, rigorous frame and handful of colorful dialogues in “Thief” could serve as a fine blueprint for cinephiles on what to expect from Mann’s masterful film-making skills. Thematic and narrative wise, Mann’s debut...

Hollywood history is no stranger to the talented child actor. But out of all the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed youngsters who have lit up the screen over the decades, River Phoenix is a clear standout. A preternaturally old soul, Phoenix brought maturity and profound vulnerability to all of his roles, making every film he appears in significantly richer for his presence. As a child actor, he seemed destined for great things, and as he aged into his early 20s, he was poised to meet every expectation audiences had placed on his shoulders.

But then, suddenly, he was gone. Phoenix died of a drug overdose in 1993, when he was just 23 years old. Although he left behind the tragedy of so much potential left unfulfilled, he also gave audiences a filmography full of interesting and measured performances to enjoy. Here's his entire catalog, ranked from worst to best, based on critical consensus and our own personal impressions.

If you've delved into any American film history over the years, you've no doubt come across the sentiment that the 1970s was the best period for American cinema, bar none. Of course, any claim of opinion is up for debate, but the reasons for historians and critics coming to this conclusion are harder to deny, as pound for pound, the various conditions needed for filmmaking were particularly favorable during that decade. To wit: the collapse of the Hays Code and the institution of the Motion Picture Association of America allowed for a heretofore unprecedented level of uncensored content in American movies. The "studio system" and a reliance on stars to open movies were quickly becoming things of the past, and while corporate conglomerates were now in charge of the major studios (something which has led to our current state of multiplex stagnation in 2024), at this early stage, the suits had...

Netflix's documentary Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley has allowed audiences a glimpse into the life of one of pop culture's most famous figures, and the iconic singer has numerous films to check out next. Aside from being one of the defining musical artists of the 20th century, Elvis Presley's acting career saw him star in 31 films, primarily including musicals that showcased his singing talent and charisma.

Throughout the 1950s, Elvis was a fairly consistent box-office success, with his controversial manager, Colonel Tom Parker, dictating many of his acting choices. Presley wanted to partake in more serious roles, but those films, like Flaming Star, earned less at the box office. Movies like Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas were some of the highest-grossing films of their respective years, proving a desire for his musical movies with accompanied soundtrack albums.

Wild in the Country...

Based on a best-selling novel by Judith Rossner (which itself was inspired by a true crime case), the 1977 sexual thriller Looking for Mr. Goodbar was a box office success and earned two Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Tuesday Weld and Best Cinematography for William A. Fraker. Star Diane Keaton also earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. And yet, for a film, this was a film lost to time, as it never made it past the VHS and LaserDisc age of home video – apparently due to music licensing issues. Thankfully, it looks like the folks at Vinegar Syndrome have finally solved the problem, as Looking for Mr. Goodbar has leap-frogged over DVD and received a 4K Uhd and Blu-ray release! Limited to 8,000 units, this Vinegar Syndrome release can be ordered at This Link.

The 2-disc 4K Uhd/Blu-ray set comes with...

The movie starring Robert De Niro in what may be one of his finest mobster roles is coming to Paramount+. Once Upon a Time in America will begin streaming on the platform starting November 1, 2024. The 1984 gangster drama was directed by the late Sergio Leone, who wrote such iconic films as A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

Once Upon a Time in America also stars James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Treat Williams and Danny Aiello. It is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 86% critic score and a 93% audience score.

Set in 1968, De Niro plays David Noodles Aaronson, who comes back to New York where he had once ruled the criminal underground in the 1920s. Woods plays Max, Noodles longtime partner, who is long gone. The story in the film is told mostly through flashbacks and shows Noodles journey from a child in a...

While last month saw typically dramatic actor/writer/director Viggo Mortensen share his TCM picks in honor of the release of his western romance film “The Dead Don’t Hurt,” the beloved channel has recruited a filmmaker with a more comedic voice to spearhead its July slate. Having produced for film and television since the early ’90s, Judd Apatow made his directorial debut in 2005 with the critical and cultural smash hit, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” He’s helped build the careers of Seth Rogen, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Kristen Wiig, and many others, while also honoring the careers of those who’ve passed with HBO documentaries “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling” and “George Carlin’s American Dream.”

Apatow’s first picks for the month harken back to his youth, with George Lucas’ coming-of-age hang-out flick “American Grafitti” (1973) airing on July 4 at 3:45am Et and Richard Brooks’ adaptation of Judith Rossner...

Late in the highly entertaining and enlightening new HBO Documentary Films movie on the life and career of Faye Dunaway we learn how much this iconic star just loves coming to the Cannes Film Festival. “Just about every year,” she says — not only for the world’s best films but also to immerse herself in all aspects of filmmaking. I have seen her many times just soaking it all up cinematically both here in Cannes and Telluride, to name two fests.

So it seems appropriate that the Cannes Classics section would be the place for the World Premiere Wednesday night — in the presence of Dunaway as the French like to call it — of this terrific new docu in which Dunaway pretty much tells it all straight about her life, loves, desires, ambitions, movies, co-stars, depression, controversies, family and hopes for the future in a profession she says she can’t imagine not working in.

Clockwise from top left: Eileen (Neon), Sympathy For The Devil (Rlje Films), The Promised Land (Magnolia Pictures), Ferrari (Neon)Image: The A.V. Club

As the summer movie season gets ready to kick off in theaters, Hulu highlights some A-list stars in indie films for its May calendar. In Eileen, Anne Hathaway...

Many A-list celebrities have fallen in love with one another after assuming the role of a couple on screen. Sadly, the majority of those love tales end badly as the couple separates for ideological reasons. One such pairing was Diane Keaton and Al Pacino, who fell in love with each other during the filming of the classic 1972 flick, The Godfather, helmed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Keaton was still relatively new to the industry when Paramount Pictures cast her as Kay Adams in one of the biggest movies ever made. It was there that she also got to know Pacino, her former partner. After being paired opposite in the film series, the on-screen couple soon started dating off-screen.

Al Pacino and Diane Keaton | Source: The Godfather

But did you know that, despite the unmistakable chemistry that sizzled through our cinema screens, Keaton and Pacino’s real-life romance had a sad ending?...

Oscar-nominated producer Lawrence Turman died Saturday at the Motion Picture and Television Country Home and Hospital. He was 96. He had a stellar career not only as a producer of such seminal films as The Graduate (1967), The Great White Hope (1970), American History X (1998) and many more in a producing career that lasted six decades, but he also took a significant turn when he left his partnership with producer David Foster to head the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at USC in 1991, an association that continued until his retirement just two years ago.

His son, John Turman, confirmed the death to Deadline. “Our father Lawrence Turman passed away late yesterday,” he said. “It’s sad, but he had a long and storied life, and it’s the passing of an era.” He added that the MPTF is planning a memorial service as well as USC at a later date.

Related: Hollywood & Media...

Michael Mann's theatrical debut, "Thief," is a slow and methodical neo-noir film. The movie tells the story of a safecracker and jewel thief named Frank (played by the late and great James Caan), and goes into intricate detail surrounding the dangerous profession Frank has decided to pursue and, later on in the film, leave. Mann leaves his mark on the noir genre in this neon-filled tragic portrait of a man attempting to leave his criminal life behind. The film is nowhere near as popular as Mann's other films such as "Heat" or "Collateral," but it feels like a unique introduction into the mind of the director.

One distinct quality of " Thief " is how slow-paced the movie is. Despite all the danger and intrigue, Frank's life feels monotonous as it builds up to its cathartic and violent conclusion. The story is also authentic and grounded in the real world, which...

Amazon Prime Video continues to roll out a mix of movies for its ongoing summer slate. In the peak month of the season, viewers will be able to access some major recent releases like Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” starring the Haim sisters as well as “The Lost City,” which is loaded with stars like Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and Brad Pitt.

Those looking for older classic films won’t be disappointed either as Meryl Streep-studded “The Devil Wears Prada,” and “Mamma Mia! ”will also head to the streamer (with the musical gracing Freevee’s catalog). Nicholas Cage’s “Face/Off” and the late James Caan’s “Thief” arrive August 1 along with “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion,” which stars the late Paul Sorvino’s daughter Mira. Don’t count out “Grey’s Anatomy” alums Sandra Oh and Kate Walsh in “Under the Tuscan Sun” either.

For those who like true story films,...

Ok, so the actor Anthony Perkins is best known for his legendary role as Norman Bates in Hitchcock’s Psycho and its sequels… but that part is not the sum total of this superb actor’s career. That’s not to say he didn’t trade on his status as cinema’s seminal psycho, and starred in plenty of chiller thrillers, instantly lending them Batesian cachet… for example Edge of Sanity, a delirious conflation of Robert Louis Stephenson’s classic horror novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Jack the Ripper’s real-life reign of terror over Victorian London, where Perkins plays the unhinged lead role with aplomb. To celebrate the release of Edge of Sanity on Blu-ray from Arrow Video, here’s a round-up of some of Perkins’ finest non-Bates roles…

Pretty Poison (1968)

In this wonderful cult classic black comedy thriller, Perkins plays Dennis Pitt,...

The passing of Joan Didion, one of the 20th century’s greatest writers, is tough to put into words. Really, only Didion herself could fully pull off the mighty task of encapsulating her grand and wildly influential output. Her clear-eyed and no-nonsense view of American culture, stripped of its own propaganda to reveal the grimy hypocrisies lying underneath a gleaming surface, could be as elegiac as it was merciless. During the most confusing and incomprehensible of times, be it the paranoia of post-Manson Hollywood or the battlefield of her own grief, Didion provided a guiding light forward. Even as some of her most famous words have become iconography for Pinterest boards devoid of their original context, Didion's anti-Romantic glance lost none of its potency.Given her status as one of California’s homegrown talents, a Sacramento girl who partied with the Doors, hired Harrison Ford as her carpenter, and had dinner with Sharon Tate,...

Many Netflix watchers are catching up with actor-director Griffin Dunne’s documentary about his aunt, “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” following the news that the prolific writer died December 23 at age 87 from Parkinson’s. When President Barack Obama gave Didion the National Humanities Medal in 2012, he called her “one of our sharpest and most respected observers of American politics and culture.”

Didion not only chronicled the literati scene of New York in the 1950s and early ’60s but astutely dissected her home state of California. After graduating from Uc Berkeley, she landed a job at Vogue in New York, where she penned movie reviews — until her pan of “The Sound of Music.” After marrying Time staffer John Gregory Dunne in 1964, the couple moved to Los Angeles and wound up becoming the ultimate Hollywood insiders. When Didion and Dunne later moved to New York City in 1988, they had lived in Los Angeles for 24 years.

Many Netflix watchers are catching up with actor-director Griffin Dunne’s documentary about his aunt, “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” following the news that the prolific writer died December 23 at age 87 from Parkinson’s. When President Barack Obama gave Didion the National Humanities Medal in 2012, he called her “one of our sharpest and most respected observers of American politics and culture.”

Didion not only chronicled the literati scene of New York in the 1950s and early ’60s but astutely dissected her home state of California. After graduating from Uc Berkeley, she landed a job at Vogue in New York, where she penned movie reviews — until her pan of “The Sound of Music.” After marrying Time staffer John Gregory Dunne in 1964, the couple moved to Los Angeles and wound up becoming the ultimate Hollywood insiders. When Didion and Dunne later moved to New York City in 1988, they had lived in Los Angeles for 24 years.

Joan Didion, the journalist, novelist, and screenwriter of such films as the 1976 “A Star Is Born” died Thursday at her home in Manhattan at the age of 87. The New York Times reported that the cause was Parkinson’s disease.

Didion was born in Sacramento in 1934. The fifth-generation Californian found some of her most important material for her earliest writing in the culture and chaos of her home state. Her career began after she won a pair of writing contests put on by magazines during her time at Uc Berkeley. One of those wins led her to begin writing at Vogue.

She worked her way up to features editor at the fashion magazine. In 1963 she published her first novel, “Run River,” about the unraveling of a marriage that also serves as a commentary on the history of California.

Around that time and while living in New York she struck up a friendship,...

Joan Didion, the author of five novels including the National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking who also excelled in essays and has screenwriting credits including the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, died Thursday of complications of Parkinson’s disease in Manhattan. She was 87.

Her publisher at Knopf confirmed the news to The New York Times.

Didion’s career blossomed in the midst of and reflected sea changes in America, with books published in the 1960s and ’70s including Run River, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It as It Lays, A Book of Common Prayer and The White Album, an anthology of her magazine writing for the likes of Life and The Saturday Evening Post that detailed stories mostly about California. Didion was born in Sacramento and was drawn to stories about her home state.

As a journalist, she wrote political essays including “Salvador,” about the U.S. involvement in El Salvador.

Eve Babitz, a writer and once-and-future “it” girl closely identified with the 1960s and early-’70s in Los Angeles, has died at 78.

Relatives confirmed her death on social media as well as to the Associated Press, but did not specify a cause.

Part-West Coast wild child, part-boho intellectual, Eve once described herself as a “stacked eighteen-year-old blonde on Sunset Boulevard… who is also a writer.” A famous image from 1963 shows her playing chess against Dadaist artist and writer Marcel Duchamp, with Babitz completely naked and Duchamp fully clothed.

As a writer and creative muse, Babitz had a wide-ranging impact, drawing comparisons to Joan Didion, who recommended a piece of hers to Rolling Stone, kick-starting her writing career. She also ventured outside the world of letters, designing album covers for Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and Linda Ronstadt. She had romantic connections with notable figures like Jim Morrison of the Doors, Harrison Ford,...

Retro-active: The Best From The Cinema Retro Archives

Review – Naked City: The Complete Series

Rlj Entertainment / 6,063 minutes

By Harvey F. Chartrand

Naked City was like no other TV series before or since – Michel Moriarty, star of Law and Order, once told this reviewer.

Inspired by Jules Dassin's 1948 film of the same name, Naked City centers on the detectives of the NYPD’s 65th Precinct, but the criminals and New York City itself often played as prominent a role in the dramas as the series regulars. Like the film it was based on, Naked City (1958- 1963) was shot almost entirely on location. The first season ran as a half-hour show under the title The Naked City, starring James Franciscus and John McIntire playing, respectively, Detective Jimmy Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon—the same roles essayed by Don Taylor and Barry Fitzgerald in the film.

The Naked City also starred Harry Bellaver as Det.

Exclusive: We are hearing that Apple will emerge victorious for the big Sue Mengers biopic project we told you about on Sunday night with Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence circling and Paolo Sorrentino attached to direct. Apple is in advanced talks to get this coveted package which came down to a run-off between the tech corp’s Original Films division and Netflix. There are still moving parts here and details are being worked out.

Apple recently shelled out $200M for a huge Matthew Vaughn feature Argylle. They also spent $120M+ for the global rights to Emancipation, the film package with Antoine Fuqua directing and Will Smith starring, and made a big commitment to Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, all of which Deadline first reported.

Pic is being written by Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo and John Logan. Erik Feig and his Picturestart are producing. Lawrence’s producing partner Justine Polsky is also producing.

A big biopic project about famed talent agent Sue Mengers is being shopped around town Deadline has confirmed with Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence circling and filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino attached. Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo and John Logan wrote the screenplay about the female agent who crashed the Hollywood boys club of agenting with her brandishing an outsized personality to go with her client list.

We hear that Apple is in the mix for the Sue Mengers project, and has read the script with Netflix also buzzed to be another contender for the project. Apple and Netflix did not return calls tonight when reached.

Mengers had stints at McA, ICM and Wma, and she repped a list of clients that at one time or other included Barbra Streisand, Candice Bergen, Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Caine, Dyan Cannon, Cher, Joan Collins, Brian De Palma, Faye Dunaway, Bob Fosse, Gene Hackman, Sidney Lumet, Ali McGraw,...

Over the course of four films, Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz have carved out a unique niche: bending both genre and expectations to craft stories that break the mold of what a “female-centric” story can (and should) look like. From superheroes to high school students, the women that populate the couple’s films — which Hart directs from scripts the couple write together — find drama and emotion in unexpected, and often otherwise untapped places. All of that is by design.

“With all of our movies, it’s something that we think about a lot, making female characters feel like real women, as opposed to a female character that fits into a formula that everybody is comfortable with,” Hart said in a recent interview with IndieWire.

While other films and filmmakers might be hung up on building stories around easily digestible and readily recognizable formulas, Hart and Horowitz relish the chance to...

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By Fred Blosser

In George Axelrod’s “Lord Love a Duck” (1966), Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld play high school seniors in Los Angeles. McDowall was 38 at the time, Weld 23. Such casting, where actors in their twenties or older play teenagers, is typical for Hollywood, then and now. In “Lord Love a Duck,” which Axelrod produced, co-wrote, and directed from a novel by Al Hine, neither McDowall nor Weld exactly looks like an 18-year-old, nor do the actresses who play their classmates. They include Jo Collins, 21, then a recent Playmate of the Year. But here the disconnect doesn’t really detract from the film. It simply underscores its overall cartoonish surrealism. McDowall plays Alan, the genius-level valedictorian of his class, who fixates on his classmate, pretty but vacuous Barbara Ann (Weld). “Her deepest and most heartfelt yearnings express with a kind of touching...

Rhonda Fleming died last Wednesday in Santa Monica, California. The 97-year-old actress, who had left a successful 15-year career as a leading lady in studio films 60 years ago, was correctly noted in her obituaries as “the Queen of Technicolor” because of her flaming red hair, as well as her significant presence as a film noir actress, particularly in Jacques Tourneur’s masterpiece “Out of the Past” (1947).

Her films included a number of now-acclaimed auteurist titles like Budd Boetticher’s “The Killer Is Loose,” Allan Dwan’s “Slightly Scarlet” and “Tennessee’s Partner,” and Fritz Lang’s “While the City Sleeps,” to go along with more mainstream titles like “The Spiral Staircase” and “The Gunfight at O.K. Corral.”

Unlike actresses like Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Tippi Hedren, and others who made multiple films with Alfred Hitchcock, Fleming is less identified with the master. But he provided her with her breakout role in 1945’s “Spellbound.

This mid-‘sixties black comedy from the mischievous George Axelrod defines and dissects ‘crazy California culture’ just as West Coasters were being slandered as godless weird-oh hedonists. It’s partly a sarcastic put-down, citing anecdotal extremes like drive-in churches (how 2020 can you get?), perverse youth encounter groups and mindless beach party movies. But Axelrod’s paints indelible images of maladjusted women of three age groups: Tuesday Weld, Lola Albright and Ruth Gordon. Where Roddy McDowall fits in is anybody’s guess — he’s meant to glue the satire together and instead turns it into a big Question Mark.

Lord Love a Duck

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1966 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date September 22, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Roddy McDowall, Tuesday Weld, Lola Albright, Martin West, Ruth Gordon, Harvey Korman, Sarah Marshall, Lynn Carey, Donald Murphy, Max Showalter, Joseph Mell, Dan Frazer, Martine Bartlett, Jo Collins, Judith Loomis, Gay Gordon,...

As the drama and disruption that is coronavirus continues, people are looking for ways to temporarily forget the chaos that seems to be sweeping the globe. Thankfully, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is here to perhaps assist you with that, as well as offer you a way to best use your time should you currently be under self-isolation. Gunn has taken to social media to suggest ten movies that are well worth your time, and might just help you get over the Covid-19 worry, even if just for a moment.

James Gunn's recommendation list is just varied enough to appeal to almost everyone, with an assortment of movies from all around the world. He has also chosen a lot of movies that flew under the radar, which not only increases the chance of most people having never seen them, but also giving movie fans the opportunity to see...

Filmmakers/authors discuss the movies they wish more people were familiar with.

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012)

Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (1976)

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

Top Gun (1986)

Water Power (1977)

Taxi Driver (1976)

In Fabric (2018)

A Climax of Blue Power (1974)

Forced Entry (1975)

Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

Nashville Girl (1976)

Ms .45 (1981)

Act of Vengeance a.k.a. Rape Squad (1974)

High Plains Drifter (1973)

Design For Living (1933)

Trouble In Paradise (1932)

Melody (1971)

Oliver! (1968)

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

That’ll Be The Day (1973)

Stardust (1974)

The Errand Boy (1961)

Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)

The Bellboy (1960)

Which Way To The Front? (1970)

Hardly Working (1980)

A Night In Casablanca (1946)

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Duck Soup (1933)

Boeing Boeing (1965)

Confessions of a Young American Housewife (1974)

Cockfighter (1974)

The Second Civil War (1997)

I, A Woman (1965)

The Devil At Your Heels (1981)

The...

American actor best known for her roles in The Poseidon Adventure, Blue Denim and Bunny Lake Is Missing

Carol Lynley, who has died of a heart attack aged 77, emerged as a young star in the late 1950s, when Hollywood was becoming aware of the growing teen audience who identified with new actors such as Lynley, Sandra Dee, Tuesday Weld and Sue Lyon, who all played similar coming-of-age roles.

Lynley’s poignant portrayal of a 15-year-old girl who finds herself pregnant and seeking an abortion in Blue Denim (1959) broke new ground, despite Hollywood’s lingering puritanical mores. The main differences between the play, by James Leo Herlihy, in which Lynley had appeared triumphantly the year before on Broadway, and the film were that, on screen, the word abortion is never uttered and the girl has the baby.

Valerie Harper, the multiple-Emmy-winning sitcom star whose role as the somewhat neurotic Rhoda Morgenstern made her one of television’s biggest and most beloved actors in the 1970s, died today. She was 80 and had been suffering from various cancers for a number of years.

Her family told Kabc-tv entertainment reporter George Pennacchio that Harper had been in a coma for a while before succumbing,

The veteran TV and stage actress was best known for playing sidekick Rhoda Morgenstern on CBS The Mary Tyler Moore Show, then taking the character into her own popular spinoff, Rhoda.

She also starred in the 1980s sitcom, Valerie, which — thanks to some head-butting over creative control with the show producers – saw Harper’s character killed off as an explanation for her exiting the show. It then morphed into Valerie’s Family and later was retitled The Hogan Family.

Harper also had recurring roles on The Office and The Simpsons.

Elvis fans laud this high-end drama, an attempt by the superstar to lock into a mainstream acting career. Presley has fine dramatic support, especially from his three leading ladies, but the requirement that an Elvis movie be all things to all people — especially marketers — really takes its toll. It’s a soap where almost nothing is believable, except to true believers for whom Presley can do no wrong.

Wild in the Country

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 academy / 114 min. / Street Date August 20, 2019 / Available from Twilight Time Movies / 29.95

Starring: Elvis Presley, Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, Millie Perkins, Rafer Johnson, John Ireland, Gary Lockwood, William Mims, Raymond Greenleaf, Christina Crawford, Pat Buttram, Doreen Lang, Alan Napier, Jason Robards Sr..

Cinematography: William C. Mellor

Editor : Dorothy Spencer

Original Music: Kenyon Hopkins

Written by Clifford Odets from a novel by J. R. Salamanca

Produced by Jerry Wald

Directed by Philip Dunne...

Jim Knipfel Jul 10, 2019

We look back on Rip Torn's career and how the occasional troublemaker turned bit parts into leading roles.

In the summer of 1969, Rip Torn was drunkenly screaming through New York’s West Village on his motorcycle when he slammed it into a police cruiser. Torn broke his leg in the accident but didn’t notice. The next morning, he got up, got on a plane, and flew to Paris where he was set to star in Joseph Strick’s film version of Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. He shot the entire film all hopped up on painkillers for an untreated leg. And you know what? He still gives a remarkable performance. It wasn’t the only time he worked with broken bones either.

For over 60 years, Rip Torn carried on in the proud tradition of John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, and Lawrence Tierney...

Rip Torn, who played Garry Shandling’s profane, fiercely loyal producer on HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show, co-starred in the original Men in Black films and was a major star of Broadway and Off Broadway during a seven-decade career, died today surrounded by family at his home in Lakeville, Ct. He was 88.

The prolific Torn played the unstoppable and unflappable Artie on Larry Sanders, which aired from 1992-98 and followed the behind-the-scenes and onstage antics of a successful late-night network talk show. Along with scoring a Supporting Actor in a Comedy Emmy in 1996, he was nominated for each of the show’s six seasons.

The year Torn won his Emmy, he also had been up for Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his turn on CBS’ Chicago Hope. In 2008, he earned his ninth and final Emmy nom, for his recurring role as Don Geiss on NBC’s 30 Rock.

It’s almost time, dear readers! Halloween is nearly upon us, and we have one last batch of killer Blu-ray and DVD releases to get us ready for All Hallows’ Eve this week. One of the best films of 2018—Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy —arrives on both formats this Tuesday, courtesy of Rlje Films, and both Slender Man and Our House come home as well. The Matrix Trilogy is getting a much-deserved 4K treatment from Warner Bros., and a series that I really enjoyed back in the day—Chillers, hosted by Anthony Perkins—is headed to DVD, and I’m so excited to get the opportunity to finally revisit it.

Cult film fans will definitely want to pick up a copy of the Special Edition of Torso from Arrow Video, and Vinegar Syndrome is doing the Dark Lord’s work with a quartet of releases they have on tap as well, including The Incubus,...

Heading for Spring Break somewhere? Long before Girls Gone Wild, kids of the Kennedy years found their own paths to the desired fun in the sun, and most of them came back alive. MGM’s comedic look at the Ft. Lauderdale exodus is a half-corny but fully endearing show, featuring the great Dolores Hart and the debuts of Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss and Jim Hutton.

Where the Boys Are

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date July 25, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, Jim Hutton

Yvette Mimieux, George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin, Barbara Nichols, Chill Wills.

Cinematography: Robert Bronner

Art Direction: Preston Ames, George W. Davis

Film Editor: Fredric Steinkamp

Original Music: Pete Rugolo, Neil Sedaka, George Stoll, Victor Young

Written by George Wells from a novel by Glendon Swarthout

Produced by Joe Pasternak

Directed by Henry Levin

Ah yes, in 1960 first-wave Rock...

Before producers Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky hit upon their popular series of Amicus horror films they made a number of mainstream programmers through their own Vanguard Productions. This was the first. This minimalist excuse for a bunch of hot rock acts to do their stuff was Tuesday Weld’s film debut. Some say she spoofed this role in Lord Love a Duck, especially in the notorious department store scene.

A killer book (Dog Soldiers) must hide behind a Credence Clearwater tune. Karel Reisz’s killer movie about the moral residue of Vietnam scores as both drama and action, as disillusioned counterculture smugglers versus corrupt narcotics cops. Just don’t expect it to really have much to say about the Vietnam experience. But hey, the cast is tops — Nick Nolte, Richard Masur, Anthony Zerbe — and the marvelous Tuesday Weld is even better as a pill-soaked involuntary initiate into the pre- War On Drugs smuggling scene.

Who’ll Stop the Rain

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 126 min. / Street Date May 16, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Nick Nolte, Tuesday Weld, Michael Moriarty, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Masur, Ray Sharkey, Gail Strickland, Charles Haid, David Opatoshu, Joaquín Martínez, James Cranna, Timothy Blake.

Cinematography: Richard H. Kiline

Supervising Film Editor: John Bloom

Original Music: Laurence Rosenthal

Written by Judith Rascoe, Robert Stone...

Or, “Never on Sunday with Your Stepson.” Director Jules Dassin’s monument to his beloved Melina Mercouri transposes a Greek tragedy to a modern setting. The pampered wife of a shipping magnate is like a queen of old — she can fling a priceless gem into the Thames on just a whim, and she goes in whatever direction her heart takes her. When her attractive stepson Anthony Perkins enters the picture, there will be Hell to Pay.

Phaedra

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1962 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date March 21, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.95

Starring: Melina Mercouri, Anthony Perkins, Raf Vallone, Elisabeth Ercy.

Cinematography: Jacquest Natteau

Film Editor: Roger Dwyre

Original Music: Mikis Theodorakis

Written by Jules Dassin, Margarita Lymberaki from the play Hippolytus by Euripides

Produced and Directed by Jules Dassin

Anyone into amour fou, the romantic notion of a love without limits, beyond the harsh constraints of reality?...

Psycho launched a thousand twisted sickos and pathological relationships in films, but none can best Noel Black’s fascinating, funny romance between a newly-released arsonist and a fetching high schooler, hungry for freedom and lacking a moral compass. The pairing of Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld is inspired.

Pretty Poison

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O’Neill, Clarice Blackburn, Joseph Bova, Ken Kercheval.

Cinematography David L. Quaid

Original Music Johnny Mandel

Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. from the novel She Let Him Continue by Stephen Geller

Produced by Marshall Backlar, Noel Black, Lawrence Turman

Directed by Noel Black

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Although the dates don’t match up, I’m absolutely certain that I saw Noel Black’s theatrical short Skaterdater when it was screened as a warm-up for,...

Presenting the Supporting Actress Class of '84. The Academy looked way back in time for this vintage collecting characters from the 1920s through the 1940s: a British senior on an excursion to see "the real" India, a Depression era beautician, the ex-girl of a ballplayer, and a former singer working in a factory during World War II. The sole contemporary character was a chain-smoking furious mother from Greenwich Village...

Glenn Close and Geraldine Page were the regulars... about to lose again!

1984 

Supporting Actress Smackdown  

The Nominees: The 1984 Supporting Actress list skewed more mature than usual. Lindsay Crouse, surely buoyed by the love for Best Picture player Places in the Heart, and the promising new star Christine Lahti who was the least familiar face to moviegoers at the time, were the youngest, both in their mid 30s. Glenn Close, on her third consecutive nomination in the category, and Geraldine Page with...

As a companion piece to yesterday's Smackdown, a two-part podcast. If you missed Part One it's right here. Now we conclude our '77 festivities (did you enjoy or did we go to overboard?) with our panel, which includes Mark Harris, Guy Lodge, Nick Davis, Sara Black McCulloch, and Nathaniel R, discussing Tuesday Weld, Richard Dreyfuss, Diane Keaton, Looking for Mr Goodbar, The Turning Point and a few '77 extras.

Part Two Finale. Index (40 minutes)

00:01 One more anecdote on The Goodbye Girl 

04:45 Richard Dreyfuss' big year and Steven Spielberg's interest/disinterest in actors in Close Encounters of the Third Kind

15:30 Tuesday Weld's career and the divisive Looking for Mr Goodbar

24:00 The Turning Point and a female-heavy Best Picture lineup

32:15 Performances that weren't nominated from: Saturday Night Fever, Opening Night, Handle With Care, Roseland, and Three Women

39:00 Thank yous! 

You can listen to...

Presenting the Supporting Actress Nominees of '77. A mother with extraterrestrial problems, a highly neurotic swinger, a wealthy political activist, a precocious daughter, and a timid ballerina.

The Nominees 

John Travolta opening the envelope

If the characters weren't quite typical this time, the shortlist formation was a familiar mix of career glories. Consider the slotting: Oh look, there's the child actor slot that the Supporting Actress category is famous for going to Quinn Cummings; Tuesday Weld wins the underappreciated enduring talent nod; No typical shortlist is complete without a newish critical darling with momentum which in 1977 was Melinda Dillon (she had created the "Honey" role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf  on stage but didn't get to do the movie and was finally making film inroads via her role in the previous year's Best Picture nominee Bound for Glory ); Finally, you have to have a current Oscar darling with considerable...

The Supporting Actress Smackdown Of 1977 is coming. You already met two of our panelists. And here are the other three (including me). 

Meet The Panelists 

Panelist: Sara Black McCulloch

Bio: Sara Black McCulloch is a Toronto-based researcher, translator and writer. She has written for i-d, cleo Journal, Adult, The Hairpin, Gawker, Bitch Magazine and The National Post. You can read more of her work here. 

Question: What does 1977 mean to you? 

1977 seemed to be steeped in so much disillusionment. I think that, like the years that signal the end of a decade but don't quite bookend it, it was...fraught. The year was packed with events that pointed to change and fueled uncertainty. It was the year the U.S. signed the nuclear-proliferation pact and the same year that the U.S. government voted against covering elective abortions through Medicaid. The Apple II computer hit the market and Jimmy Carter...

The Supporting Actress Smackdown Of 1977 Is Just One Week Away. Get your votes in by Friday early evening. This week will be a '77 blitz at the blog to get you in the mood.

The Nominees were...

Leslie Browne, The Turning Point

Quinn Cumming, The Goodbye Girl

Melinda Dillon, Close Encounters

Vanessa Redgrave, Julia

Tuesday Weld, Looking for Mr Goodbar

Readers are our final panelist for the Smackdown so if you'd like to vote send Nathaniel an email with 1977 in the header line and your votes. Each performance you've seen should be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 hearts (1 being terrible 5 being stupendous) -- Remember to only vote for performances that you've seen! The votes are weighted to reflect numbers of voters per movies so no actress has an unfair advantage.

Click to embiggen to see the 1977 goodies

Meet The Panelists

We'll do this piecemeal so you don't feel overwhelmed.

The marvelous season of Leo McCarey films at New York's Museum of Modern Art features a few real rarities and a whole passel of acknowledged classics: features like Duck Soup and Make Way for Tomorrow and hilarious shorts programs featuring Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase and others. Perhaps the rarest item is Part Time Wife, a 1930 rehearsal for the greatness of The Awful Truth, complete with Airedale, but only slightly less obscure is late-career entry Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), a strange quasi-satire which folds together several late-fifties concerns without actually addressing them or working out what it is, or what it's for.Whether it's actually true that right-wingers can't do satirical comedy, McCarey certainly lost the fire that made Duck Soup so truly anarchic during the years when he moved away from comedy to make beloved, sentimental and sincere dramas. Returning to broad comedy is something many of his fan probably wished he would do,...

You thought we'd forgotten the Smackdowns. We have not! Here's what's coming this season. You know you want to join in the movie merriment! We're giving you a headstart so you can get to watching these 13 movies for the first time (or revisiting them) over your summer vacations. More details to follow as we get closer to the actual Smackdowns. 

Sunday July 31st

The Best Supporting Actresses of 1977

The Oscar went to the legendary but controversial Vanessa Redgrave for Julia and while she might be impossible to beat, the movies are all juicy in this category. Tuesday Weld co-stars in the provocative Looking for Mr Goodbar, Melinda Dillon was part of the fine cast of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Quinn Cumming charmed voters in The Goodbye Girl, and Leslie Browne, a dancer, debuted in Oscar's all time biggest loser The Turning Point (nominated for 11 Oscars but it lost every category!

Albert Zugsmith’s 1960 film about a motley band of misfits transported back to the Garden of Eden plays like a sexploitation farce written by Rod Serling. The movie never lives up to the salacious possibilities of its title but with its wacky casting coups (including Mickey Rooney as the devil and Mamie Van Doren as Eve!), who can complain? Boasting a B-movie dream cast including Tuesday Weld and Mel Torme, it was written by Robert Hill, the scribe behind Zugsmith’s similarly gonzo "Confessions of an Opium Eater."...