News

The great director discusses some of his favorite movies with host Josh Olson.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Alzheimer Case a.k.a. Memory of a Killer (2003)

Memory (Tbd)

The Protégé (2021)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Cast A Deadly Spell (1991)

The Mask Of Zorro (1998)

GoldenEye (1995)

Casino Royale (2006)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

Slap Shot (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Salt (2010)

Atomic Blonde (2017) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Oliver Twist (1948)

Dr. No (1962) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Guns Of Navarone (1962)

The Dirty Dozen (1967) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s 70mm reissue review

The Spy Who Loved Me...

Legendary stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker joins Josh and Joe to discuss the movies that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Harold And Maude (1971)

White Lightning (1974)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

White Line Fever (1975)

Bound For Glory (1976)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

The Outsider (1980)

Freebie And The Bean (1978)

Sharky’s Machine (1981)

First Blood (1982)

Night Shift (1982)

Rumble Fish (1983)

Against All Odds (1984)

To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)

F/X (1986)

Tucker The Man And His Dream (1988)

Sea of Love (1989)

Miami Blues (1990)

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Demolition Man (1993)

The Crow (1994)

Waterworld (1995)

From Dusk Till Dawn(1996)

Grosse Point Blank (1997)

Django Unchained (2012)

Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park (1978)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Kagemusha (1980)

Ran (1985)

The Fugitive (1993)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Casino Royale (2006)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

The Fast And The Furious (2001)

The Strongest Man In The World (1975)

The War of the Worlds (1953)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Bullitt (1968)

Robbery (1967)

S.O.B. (1981)

Vanishing Point...

Olivia de Havilland in the 1946 film “To Each His Own,” for which she won her first Oscar©.

(Reuters) – “Gone With the Wind” star Olivia de Havilland, considered the last surviving actress of the Golden Age of Hollywood, died on Sunday at the age of 104, the Hollywood Reporter said.

She died of natural causes at her home in Paris, where she had lived for more than 60 years, it said, citing her publicist.

De Havilland’s acting career included two Academy Awards, a victory over Hollywood’s studio system and a long-running feud with sister Joan Fontaine that was worthy of a screenplay.

She first drew attention by playing opposite swashbuckling Errol Flynn in a series of films starting in the 1930s and made an enduring impression as the demure Southern belle Melanie in “Gone With the Wind” in 1939.

Later she would have to fight to get more challenging roles – a battle...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actress and two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland has died in Paris from natural causes at age 104. Ms. de Havilland was one of the last remaining symbols of Hollywood's Golden Age and the last living star of the 1939 classic "Gone With the Wind". Ms. De Havilland was a role model for women's rights in show business, having courageously stood up to studio bosses, beginning with Warner Brothers in the 1940s and extending to her recent legal action against the FX cable network for what she felt was an inaccurate and unfavorable portrayal of her in their TV movie "Feud: Bette and Joan", which depicted the antagonistic relationship between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. She won her first Best Actress Oscar for the 1946 film "To Each His Own". She also won for the 1949 production of "The Heiress". She was also nominated the prior year for "The Snake Pit".  De Havilland and her sister,...

Olivia de Havilland, an Oscar-winning actress best known for her role as the timid but strong Melanie in the 1939 classic “Gone With the Wind,” died Sunday of natural causes. She was 104.

The news of De Havilland’s passing in her Paris home was announced by her publicist, Lisa Goldberg.

In addition to her breakout role in “Gone With the Wind,” de Havilland earned Oscar nominations for 1941’s “Hold Back the Dawn,” 1946’s “To Each His Own” and 1948’s “The Snake Pit” and the 1949 William Wyler drama “The Heiress.” She won gold for “To Each His Own” and “The Heiress.”

Throughout her career, De Havilland had a reputation for standing up for herself. In 1943, she famously went to court when Warner Bros. tried to add time to her completed contract. Her legal victory led to what’s still known as the “De Havilland Law,” a section of the California Labor Code...

Vanessa Redgrave is joining forces with her daughter Joely Richardson in a new film.

In a People exclusive trailer, the mother-daughter duo stars in the upcoming The Aspern Papers which follows Redgrave’s elderly Juliana Bordereau as she makes it her life’s mission to hide love letters she shared with her former lover, famed poet Jeffrey Aspern.

Redgrave stars opposite Richardson, who plays Bordereau’s niece, Miss Tina, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ ambitious editor Morton Vint, who will stop at nothing to obtain the papers.

This is the pair’s fourth film together. In 1968, Redgrave starred in The Charge of the Light Brigade...

So much time, so few movies to see. Scratch that. Reverse it.

Running a little later than usual this year, the 2018 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival gets under way this coming Thursday, screening approximately 88 films and special programs over the course of the festival’s three-and-a-half days, beginning Thursday evening, and no doubt about it, this year’s schedule, no less than any other year, will lay out a banquet for classic film buffs, casual film fans and harder-core cinephiles looking for the opportunity to see long-time favorites as well as rare and unusual treats on the big screen. I’ve attended every festival since its inaugural run back in 2010, and since then if I have not reined in my enthusiasm for the festival and being given the opportunity to attend it every year, then I have at least managed to lasso my verbiage. That first year I wrote about...

‘Things Blowing Up Good’ has been surefire entertainment since the beginning of cinema, but this ill-fated Cinerama extravaganza about the biggest explosion in recorded human history limps along despite some pretty darned impressive volcanic effects. It’s quite an entertaining spectacle, with various good performers in three soap opera plots, either overacting or loitering about with nothing to do. And don’t forget the from-left-field musical striptease.

Krakatoa East of Java

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, Rossano Brazzi, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon, Jacqueline (Jacqui) Chan, Victoria Young, Marc Lawrence, Geoffrey Holder, Niall MacGinnis, Sumi Haru.

Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer

Film Editors: Walter Hannemann, Warren Low, Maurice Rootes

Production Design: Eugèné Lourié

Costumes: Laure Lourié

Special Effects: Eugèné Lourié, Alex Weldon, Francisco Prósper

Original Music: Frank De Vol

Written by Clifford Newton Gould,...

Author: Dave Roper

With Actors, Directors, Actresses and Screenwriters under our collective belt and Cinematographers still to come, we presently turn our eye towards Composers, whose music lends so much to the films they work on.

As with the other lists, credit is given for not merely one or two sterling scores, but rather a consistently excellent body of work with specific stand-out films. To be blunt, this is a trickier prospect than it at first appears. Just because a film is terrific or well-loved doesn’t necessarily mean that the score is itself a standout. We begin with perhaps the most obvious and celebrated film composer of them all…..

John Williams – Star Wars

Goodness me. The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Long Goodbye, Catch Me If You Can, Star Wars, Close Encounters, Star Wars, Superman, Et, Born on the Fourth of July,...

Here’s a real gem — a ‘classic’ Chekhov story turned into a compelling tale of lust and murder. George Sanders and Linda Darnell shine as a judge and the peasant girl who intrigues him; Edward Everett Horton is excellent cast against type in a dramatic role.

Summer Storm

DVD

Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker

1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 106 min. / Street Date October 20, 2009 (I’m a little late) / available through Sprocket Vault / 14.99

Starring: George Sanders, Edward Everett Horton, Linda Darnell, Anna Lee, Hugo Haas, Lori Lahner, Sig Ruman, Robert Greig, Byron Foulger, Mike Mazurki, Elizabeth Russell.

Cinematography: Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan

Art Direction: Rudi Feld

Collaborating Editor: Gregg G. Tallas

Original Music: Karl Hajos

Written by Roland Leigh, Douglas Sirk (as Michael O’Hara), Robert Theoren based on the play The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov

Produced by Seymour Nebenzal

Directed by Douglas Sirk

Douglas Sirk, born Hans Detlef Sierck, had a pretty amazing career.

'A Beautiful Mind' with Russell Crowe. '31 Days of Oscar' on TCM: 'The Wind and the Lion,' 'The Man Who Would Be King' Turner Classic Movies' “31 Days of Oscar” continues on Saturday, Feb. 6, '16, with more recent fare – as in, several films released in the last four decades. Among these are The Wind and the Lion, The Man Who Would Be King, A Beautiful Mind, Swing Shift, and Broadcast News. John Milius' The Wind and the Lion and John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King are both 1975 releases featuring “Westerners” (i.e., white people) stranded in “exotic” and potentially dangerous locales (i.e., places inhabited by dark-skinned non-Christians) in the distant past: the former in early 20th century Morocco; the latter in a remote region in colonial India in the late 19th century. (That particular area, Kafiristan, is located in today's Afghanistan.) The thematic similarities between the two films end there,...

Although Burr Steers dislikes the word "kitsch" for its cheap connotation, he had a hard time denying that "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" isn't kitschy, especially after admitting that the biggest influence was Tony Richardson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1968), which is great kitsch. And, arguably, so is Steers' big-screen adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's fresh twist on Jane Austen and monsters. Badass Elizabeth Bennet (Lily James), a martial arts expert, teams up with arrogant rival Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) to fight the zombie apocalypse in 19th century England, replacing the Napoleonic Wars. There's action, wit, and smart social commentary all rolled into one. Read More: "'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies': World War Zzzzzs (Review & Roundup)"  But the key for Steers was tilting it more toward Austen than the horror. "I was trying to make it into one coherent story where this zombie pandemic has happened and.

A few years ago the editors of Shadowlocked asked me to compile a list of what was initially to be, the ten greatest movie matte paintings of all time. A mere ten selections was too slim by a long shot, so my list stretched considerably to twenty, then thirty and finally a nice round fifty entries. Even with that number I found it wasn’t easy to narrow down a suitably wide ranging showcase of motion picture matte art that best represented the artform. So with that in mind, and due to the surprising popularity of that 2012 Shadowlocked list (which is well worth a visit, here Ed), I’ve assembled a further fifty wonderful examples of this vast, vital and more extensively utilised than you’d imagine – though now sadly ‘dead and buried’ – movie magic.

It would of course be so easy to simply concentrate on the well known, iconic,...

Olivia de Havilland picture U.S. labor history-making 'Gone with the Wind' star and two-time Best Actress winner Olivia de Havilland turns 99 (This Olivia de Havilland article is currently being revised and expanded.) Two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland, the only surviving major Gone with the Wind cast member and oldest surviving Oscar winner, is turning 99 years old today, July 1.[1] Also known for her widely publicized feud with sister Joan Fontaine and for her eight movies with Errol Flynn, de Havilland should be remembered as well for having made Hollywood labor history. This particular history has nothing to do with de Havilland's films, her two Oscars, Gone with the Wind, Joan Fontaine, or Errol Flynn. Instead, history was made as a result of a legal fight: after winning a lawsuit against Warner Bros. in the mid-'40s, Olivia de Havilland put an end to treacherous...

Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...

Bored with male protagonists? Blue Is the Warmest Colour and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire put women first

With the film industry's male bias once more in the headlines – a new study reveals only 15% of major releases feature a female protagonist – this week's top DVD releases are gratifying exceptions. For Blue Is the Warmest Colour (Artificial Eye, 18), the severe age certificate prompted by its explicit, exquisitely tender love scenes bars the audience who would most immediately identify with its delicate impressions of adolescent sexual curiosity and insecurity. Richly deserving of its Palme d'Or win at Cannes last year, Abdellatif Kechiche's porous, persuasive character study yields an astonishing performance from Adèle Exarchopoulos as a gangly secondary school student whose chance encounter with a blue-haired painter (Léa Seydoux) gradually unlocks her adult identity.

There are flashes of romantic need in the second outing for Katniss Everdeen, stoic warrior queen of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate,...

‘The Thief and the Cobbler’: Original version of Richard Williams’ animated film has first public screening at the Academy The first public screening of the original version of Richard Williams’ The Thief and the Cobbler will be held at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 10, 2013. Williams will be in attendance to introduce the recently reconstructed original workprint from 1992. The Thief and the Cobbler will be accompanied by Richard Williams’s 1972 Oscar-winning animated short A Christmas Carol, adapted from Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella. Featuring animation by Ken Harris and Abe Levitow, among others, A Christmas Carol has, according to the Academy’s website, "a distinctive and dark tone" inspired by John Leech’s engraved illustrations of the Dickens’ tale. In conjunction with the screenings, the Academy’s public exhibition “Richard Williams: Master of Animation,” featuring film clips,...

Dutch Colonialism and its long-lasting consequences are the topics of the documentary ’Empire’ at the Redcat (photo: ’Empire: The Unintended Consequences of Dutch Colonialism’) Mixing personal narratives, investigative journalism, video art, and split/multiple screens, Eline Jongsma and Kel O’Neill’s transmedia documentary Empire: The Unintended Consequences of Dutch Colonialism — the lengthy title gives you a pretty good idea of what the film is about — will have its West Coast Premiere on Monday, November 11, 2013, at 8:30 p.m. at downtown Los Angeles’ Redcat. Both Eline Jongsma and Kel O’Neill are expected to attend the screening. Previously shown at the 2013 New York Film Festival, Empire: The Unintended Consequences of Dutch Colonialism was filmed in more than half a dozen countries over the course of three years. According to the Redcat press release, the Dutch-American filmmakers (Jongsma is Dutch; O’Neill is American) "traveled 140,000 kilometers through Asia, Africa, Oceania and...

Marlene Dietrich Grandson J. Michael Riva, Robert Clatworthy, and Harper Goff: Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame 2014 Production Designers Robert Clatworthy, Harper Goff, and J. Michael Riva will be posthumously inducted into the Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame at the 18th Art Directors Guild Awards ceremony, to be held on February 8, 2014, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Photo: Production designer J. Michael Riva.) J. Michael Riva J. Michael Riva (1948-2012), grandson of Marlene Dietrich (The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express, A Foreign Affair), was production designer for Stuart Rosenberg / Robert Redford’s 1980 socially conscious drama Brubaker. Later on, Redford hired Riva as the art director for Ordinary People, also released in 1980. Riva’s other production design credits include the Lethal Weapon movies starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover; A Few Good Men (1992), with Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore; The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), with Will Smith; Spider-Man 3 (2007), with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst,...

Oscar winners Olivia de Havilland and Luise Rainer among movie stars of the 1930s still alive With the passing of Deanna Durbin this past April, only a handful of movie stars of the 1930s remain on Planet Earth. Below is a (I believe) full list of surviving Hollywood "movie stars of the 1930s," in addition to a handful of secondary players, chiefly those who achieved stardom in the ensuing decade. Note: There’s only one male performer on the list — and curiously, four of the five child actresses listed below were born in April. (Please scroll down to check out the list of Oscar winners at the 75th Academy Awards, held on March 23, 2003, as seen in the picture above. Click on the photo to enlarge it. © A.M.P.A.S.) Two-time Oscar winner and London resident Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth, The Great Waltz), 103 last January...

Author Slide to discuss the history of Hollywood extras at historical Lasky-DeMille Barn Film historian Anthony Slide, author of dozens of books on Hollywood history, will be discussing his most recent work, Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, located at a Hollywood historical landmark: the Lasky-DeMille Barn, right across the street from the Hollywood Bowl. (Check out: "The History of Hollywood Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins: Interview with Author and Film Historian Anthony Slide.") Pictured Above are Olivia de Havilland and her The Charge of the Light Brigade stand-in, Ann Robinson, circa 1936. As per the Barn's press release, "Mr. Slide will discuss the lives and work of extras, including the harsh conditions, sexual harassment, scandals and tragedies." Besides, he'll also talk about Central Casting and the Hollywood Studio Club, the residence of a number of up-and-coming actresses,...

One point of discussion after watching Lawless not involving violence, morals or hairstyles, has been the simple item of clothing worn by Tom Hardy as Forrest Bondurant. It seems that his rudimentary knitwear has caused head-scratching and amusement for some cinemagoers. Yet there is nothing odd in Forrest’s choice of attire, in fact historically speaking for the early 1930s in rural America it is spot-on accurate, not to mention perfectly in tune with his character; a gruff man, comfortable in his own skin, who cares about as much for fashion as he does money.

This contrast between the man and his clothing provides an ironic twist. The knitted cardigan is soft to the touch and not especially hard wearing; Forrest is neither of these things, and thus the assertion that ‘we are what we wear’ does not apply. Unless we consider that garments cannot express meaning away from the...

Errol Flynn Movies: The Charge Of The Light Brigade Errol Flynn Movie line-up on Turner Classic Movies 3:30 Am Green Light (1937) An idealistic doctor sacrifices his career to protect an elderly surgeon. Dir: Frank Borzage Cast: Errol Flynn, Anita Louise, Margaret Lindsay. Bw-85 mins. 5:00 Am Northern Pursuit (1943) A Mountie tracks a downed Nazi flyer through the Canadian wilderness. Dir: Raoul Walsh Cast: Errol Flynn, Julie Bishop, Helmut Dantine. Bw-93 mins. 6:45 Am The Dawn Patrol (1938) A flight commander in France almost cracks under the pressure of sending men to their deaths. Dir: Edmund Goulding Cast: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven, [...]...

Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn, The Charge of the Light Brigade Errol Flynn movies: Errol Flynn would have turned 103 on June 20. In celebration of his birthday, this Wednesday Flynn is Turner Classic Movies’ star of the early morning / afternoon. Inevitably, movies include a couple of Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn pairings: The Charge of the Light Brigade and Santa Fe Trail. But there are quite a few more. [Errol Flynn movie line-up.] In fact, the interesting thing about TCM’s choice of Errol Flynn movies is that the vast majority are lesser-known titles such as Green Light, Rocky Mountain, The Warriors [...]...

Errol Flynn Movies TCM: The Charge Of The Light Brigade 3:30 Am Green Light (1937) An idealistic doctor sacrifices his career to protect an elderly surgeon. Dir: Frank Borzage Cast: Errol Flynn, Anita Louise, Margaret Lindsay. Bw-85 mins. 5:00 Am Northern Pursuit (1943) A Mountie tracks a downed Nazi flyer through the Canadian wilderness. Dir: Raoul Walsh Cast: Errol Flynn, Julie Bishop, Helmut Dantine. Bw-93 mins. 6:45 Am The Dawn Patrol (1938) A flight commander in France almost cracks under the pressure of sending men to their deaths. Dir: Edmund Goulding Cast: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven. Bw-103 mins. [...]...

Olivia de Havilland picture Olivia de Havilland made Hollywood history in the 1940s. That "history" has nothing to do with de Havilland’s films, her two Best Actress Oscars, or her much-publicized feud with sister Joan Fontaine. Instead, history was made as a result of a legal fight: in the mid-’40s, Olivia de Havilland radically altered labor practices between Hollywood studios and their contract players after she won a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Born on July 1, 1916, to English parents living in Japan, Olivia de Havilland became a Warners leading lady in 1935. That year, in addition to run-of-the-mill fare such as Alibi Ike and The Irish in Us, de Havilland was cast in two Best Picture Oscar nominees: Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Michael Curtiz’s Captain Blood, her first pairing with Errol Flynn. In the ensuing years, de Havilland and Flynn would...

Chicago – Every seasoned movie lover can attest to having a favorite shot in Michael Curtiz’s 1942 classic “Casablanca,” a picture practically overflowing with indelible imagery. The first appearance of freedom fighter-turned-café owner Rick (Humphrey Bogart) decked out in a white tux, the tearful letter that turns to literal tears in a rainstorm, the final walk through the fog…all unforgettable.

Yet the shot that remains closest to my heart is the one that lingers on the face of Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), as she becomes hopelessly lost in the evocative notes and lyrics of a song from her past. No actress embodies earthy sensuality and misty-eyed passion quite like Bergman, who was at the peak of her luminous beauty at age 26. Her trancelike state of nostalgic longing never fails to mesmerize me, as her eyes convey what words could only feebly articulate.

Blu-ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Unlike other landmarks of cinema history, “Casablanca...

The director's new epic is a fitting testament to the thousands of horses that served and fell during the first world war

War Horse has had an extraordinary career. It started in 1982, with Michael Morpurgo's novel about a boy called Albert and his horse, Joey, who is sent to fight on the bloody battlefields of France in the first world war. The book was short, accomplished and moving, but barely acknowledged until, in 2007, it was turned into a play.

Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris's National Theatre production – still stabled at the West End – entranced audiences with its uncanny, life-sized horse puppets. The story became today's Black Beauty, a sentimental education, a must-read classic, a global hit. And that might have been glory enough – except that War Horse was also, always, a film waiting to happen. Now, in Steven Spielberg's hands, the story has become epic. Early signs...

I couldn't resist this.  I'm not a huge Wayne or even a huge Western fan. But this is packed, packed with extras and looks absolutely fabulous on Bluray. It's also the last film directed by Michael Curtiz. You may have heard of him. He directed Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Casablanca (1942), Mildred Pierce (1945), White Christmas (1954), We're No Angels (1955) among others. Duke plays Texas Ranger Jake Cutter in search of Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman) a New Orleans man who killed a judges son in a duel. The plot is part Les Miserable 'til it veers off into...

Montgomery Clift, Olivia de Havilland in William Wyler‘s The Heiress Twelve Olivia de Havilland movies will be presented on Turner Classic Movies on Friday, Aug. 27, as part of TCM’s "Summer Under the Stars" series. [Olivia de Havilland schedule.] Nothing rare among the entries (e.g., The Charge of the Light Brigade, Dodge City, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Male Animal, etc.) For most of her career as a Hollywood star, de Havilland was a Warner Bros. contract player. (The de Havilland-Warners split was both highly acrimonious and highly influential.) Needless to say, Time Warner, which owns TCM, also owns the Warner Bros. library. Olivia de Havilland movies have been a TCM fixture since the cable channel was born over a decade ago. My chief Olivia de Havilland Day recommendation is The Heiress (1949), one of the relatively few pre-1950 Paramount productions widely available on cable/home video. "Not many film...

No 76: Errol Flynn 1909-1959

Flynn was born in Tasmania, the son of an eminent marine biologist, and early on developed a passion for the sea and a reputation as a rebel. Spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout while a young, very minor actor in England, he became an overnight Hollywood star in 1935 as a last-minute replacement for Robert Donat as the swashbuckling hero of Captain Blood. By 1936 he was the leading contender to play Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind.

Flynn was tall, slim, graceful, debonair with a neatly trimmed moustache, a winning smile, a hearty, self-mocking laugh. Everything he did, both on screen and off, contributed to his legendary status: the colonial background (he claimed to be a descendant of Fletcher Christian); the celebrated characters he played (General Custer, Robin Hood); his sexual conquests; his prodigious phallic dimensions (according to Truman Capote in Music for Chameleons,...

Jack Williams, a revered Hollywood stuntman who appeared in Gone With The Wind and countless western classics, has died in California. He was 85. Acclaimed as the best horse stuntman in Hollywood, Williams was famous for perfecting the horse fall for battle and fight sequences. During his heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, he worked exclusively with his own trained horse, Coco. He made his mark in 1936's The Charge of The Light Brigade and went on to pull stunts in films like Fort Apache, Rio Grande, The Magnificent Seven and The Alamo. He died from heart failure in a Sylmar hospital last week. A memorial service is planned for tomorrow in Newhall, California.