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Frank Sinatra’s career was the highlight of mid-20th century Hollywood when he ruled the hearts and cinema screens with his inescapable aura and soulful baritone. The actor-cum-singer left an everlasting legacy that’s hard to match, which is why a film based on him, courtesy of legendary director Martin Scorsese, has faced so many delays.

Frank Sinatra in None But the Brave (1965) | Credit: Warner Bros.

While it would be tough to capture Sinatra’s larger-than-life persona on-screen, several names have often popped up for the project. However, one actor has been labeled a strict no-go by Frank Sinatra’s son, Frank Sinatra Jr., who doesn’t want to see Mark Wahlberg as his father in the film.

Mark Wahlberg: Not The Best Choice To Play Frank Sinatra?

Martin Scorsese’s Frank Sinatra biopic has been more than a decade in the making. While the acclaimed auteur did manage...

Shecky Greene, the legendary standup comedian known for his long tenure as a Las Vegas headliner and for working with Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, died Dec. 31 at his home in the city. He was 97.

Greene’s wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, confirmed his death to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Greene was a regular on the TV talk show and guest star circuit in his 1960s and ’70s heyday, when he often sported a comb-over haircut and wide-lapel suits. Earlier in his career, he came to represent the epitome of the Rat Pack-adjacent comedian in a tux, delivering lightly risque or edgy anecdotal stories and zingers on stage.

Greene was known for his many appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and for working as the opening act for Sinatra in Miami and Presley in Las Vegas. During the 1962-63 season, he played a recurring character on the...

Shecky Greene, a legendary stand-up comedian who became one of Las Vegas’ top headliners in the 1950s and ’60s has died. Greene died Sunday morning of natural causes at his home in Las Vegas, his wife Miriam Musso Greene confirmed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He was 97.

Born and raised on the North Side of Chicago, Greene began his comedy career at the Prevue Lounge in New Orleans, Louisiana, later moving on to clubs in Miami, Chicago, and Reno/Lake Tahoe and eventually Las Vegas where he opened for Dorothy Shay in 1954, the “Park Avenue Hillbillie” at the Last Frontier. In 1957, he opened as a headliner at The Tropicana Hotel, where he remained for the next five years. Remaining a stalwart on the Las Vegas stage, his final appearance came in 2011 at the South Point Showroom.

Throughout his career, Greene appeared in several films, including Tony Rome; History of the World,...

Shecky Greene has sadly passed away.

The Las Vegas headliner and stand-up comedian passed away on Sunday (December 31) at the age of 97.

He died at his home in Las Vegas of natural causes, his wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Along with his Vegas shows, he was also a frequent guest and even occasional guest host on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Keep reading to find out more…

In addition, he starred as Pvt. Braddock on the first season of Combat!, as well as movies like Tony Rome, The Love Machine, Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood, History of the World: Part One and Splash.

He was a fixture on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace, as well as The Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, The Fall Guy, The A-Team, Roseanne and as Paul Reiser’s great-uncle on Mad About You.

Shecky Greene, the legendary Las Vegas headliner and stand-up comedian who entertained audiences for years while battling demons that included stage fright, alcoholism, prescription-drug abuse and gambling, died Sunday. He was 97.

Greene died on New Year’s Eve of natural causes at his home in Las Vegas, his wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He also was known for his dozens of appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where he served as an occasional guest host.

Greene’s garrulous act in the 1950s and ‘60s helped transform the hotel lounge into another place for patrons to be entertained, turning Vegas into a 24-hour party town. His specialty was improvisation, and he could take virtually any situation and make it funny.

The stocky Chicago native sang, did impressions, told stories and often went off on wild tangents, and his brand of comedy was quite...

Celebrating the release of his new memoir, multi-hyphenate Steven Van Zandt joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss a few of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Elevator To The Gallows (1958) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Breathless (1960) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

The Fisher King (1991)

Tony Rome (1967)

Lady In Cement (1968)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

The Killer (1989)

True Romance (1993)

True Lies (1994)

Get Shorty (1995) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Point Blank (1967) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Catch Us If You Can a.k.a. Sweet Memories (1965)

Double Trouble (1967)

Performance (1970) – Mark Goldblatt’s trailer commentary

The Driver (1978)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Tfh’s Don’t Knock The Rock piece

Help! (1965) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review

Blue Collar (1978) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s...

(Above: Lyon appeared in a provocative ad campaign for "Lolita" that promised more eroticism than the actual film contained.) 

By Lee Pfeiffer

Sue Lyon, who briefly took Hollywood by storm as the teenage vixen in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 screen adaptation of the controversial Nabokov novel, has passed away after a long illness at age 73. Lyon was 14 years old when Kubrick cast her as the seductive object of middle-aged Humbert Humbert's (James Mason) sexual desire. The provocative nature of the novel deemed it to be unfilmable but Kubrick succeeded, albeit after making some key concessions to censors. Lyon's career saw her cast in another role as a teenage seductress in John Huston's 1964 film version of Tennessee Williams' "The Night of the Ignuana", this time with Richard Burton as a much older, defrocked clergyman who is tempted by her charms. However, stardom didn't follow despite her being cast in a key...

Sue Lyon, who was cast in Stanley Kubrick’s “Lolita” at the age of 14, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 73.

Lyon’s longtime friend Phil Syracopoulos told the New York Times she had been experiencing poor health for some time.

Lyon’s acting career lasted from 1959 to 1980, with her most significant role as the title character in the 1962 Kubrick film based on Vladimir Nabokov’s novel about a middle-aged man who becomes sexually obsessed with a young girl. Lyon earned the part over 800 girls that auditioned; Nabokov described her as “the perfect nymphet.”

While Nabokov’s 1955 novel was seen as scandalous, the film was less so due in part to the restrictive Motion Picture Production Code.

Lyon was born in Davenport, Iowa. Her mother moved the family to Dallas before relocating them to Los Angeles, where Lyon was able to pursue acting. She landed the role of Laurie in...

Sue Lyon, the actress who at age 14 starred as the title character in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of “Lolita,” died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 73.

Lyon had been in failing health for some time, her friend Phil Syracopoulos told The New York Times.

Born Suellyn Lyon in 1946 in Iowa, Lyon’s family moved to Los Angeles when she was a small child. As a teenager, she began acting in small television roles, including an appearance on “The Loretta Young Show” that brought her to Kubrick’s attention. She was subsequently cast in “Lolita” at 14 in part because the filmmakers aged the character up from 12, as in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel. Upon release, Lyon was catapulted to stardom, and she won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer — Female for her performance, which had her acting alongside James Mason, Shelley Winters, and Peter Sellers, some of the era’s biggest stars.

Actress Deanna Lund died on June 22 at her home in Century City of pancreatic cancer. She was 81.

Lund played one of the seven castaways trying to survive in a world of large, unfriendly people on the 1960s ABC series Land of the Giants. Her Valerie Scott was a selfish party girl on the Irwin Allen-created series, which aired for two seasons, from September 1968 until March 1970.

Set in the year 1983, 20th Century Fox's Land of the Giants revolved around the crew and passengers of the spaceship Spindrift, which on the way to London crashed on a planet whose humanoid inhabitants were hostile and unbelievably huge. The show was extremely expensive to make, costing a reported $250,000 an episode.

The sexy Lund had appeared as a redheaded lesbian stripper opposite Frank Sinatra in Tony Rome (1967) and as Anna Gram, a moll working for The Riddler (John Astin), on ABC's Batman, leading...

By Nicholas Anez

Business isn’t exactly booming for private detective Peter Joseph Detweiler, better known as P.J. His makeshift office is in a bar belonging to his only friend Charlie, his sporadic jobs include entrapping cheating wives and he is not above drowning his sorrows in liquor. So when wealthy magnate William Orbison offers him a substantial fee to be a bodyguard for his mistress, Maureen Prebble, he jumps at the chance. What P.J. doesn’t know is that Orbison has already hired someone else to commit a murder. How this murder and the shamus’s new job intersect is the crux of the terrific 1968 neo-noir from Universal, P.J. (U.K. title: New Face in Hell.)

Private detectives were prominent in the late 1960s and included Harper (1966), Tony Rome (1967), Gunn (1967), and Marlowe (1969). P.J. appeared in the midst of this surplus, which may account in part for its box office failure.

Many of MGM’s productions were scraping bottom in 1958, yet the studio found one more acceptable western vehicle for their last big star still on contract. Only-slightly corrupt marshal Robert Taylor edges toward a showdown with the thoroughly corrupt Richard Widmark in an economy item given impressive locations and the sound direction of John Sturges.

The Law and Jake Wade

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark, Patricia Owens, Robert Middleton, Henry Silva, DeForest Kelley, Henry Silva, Burt Douglas, Eddie Firestone.

Cinematography: Robert Surtees

Film Editor: Ferris Webster

Written by William Bowers from a novel by Marvin H. Albert

Produced by William B. Hawks

Directed by John Sturges

As the 1950s wore down, MGM was finding it more difficult to properly use its last remaining big-ticket stars on the steady payroll, Cyd Charisse and Robert Taylor. Cyd...

It's ring-a-ding time, with producer-star Frank Sinatra and his cooperative director Gordon Douglas doing a variation on the hipster detective saga. The two Tony Rome pictures are lively and fun and chock-ful of borderline offensive content, like smash-zooms into women's rear ends. Tony Rome & Lady in Cement Blu-ray Twilight Time 1967, 1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 and 93 min. / Street Date September 8, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95 Starring Frank Sinatra, Richard Conte; Tony Rome: Jill St. John, Sue Lyon, Gena Rowlands, Simon Oakland, Lloyd Bochner, Robert J. Wilke, Virginia Vincent, Joan Shawlee, Lloyd Gough, Rocky Graziano, Elisabeth Fraser, Shecky Greene, Jeanne Cooper, Joe E. Ross, Tiffany Bolling, Deanna Lund. Lady in Cement: Raquel Welch, Dan Blocker, Martin Gabel, Lainie Kazan, Paul Mungar, Richard Deacon, Joe E. Lewis, Bunny Yeager. Cinematography Joseph Biroc Original Music Billy May, Hugo Montenegro; song by Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra Written by Richard L. Breen...

From a pop culture perspective, private detectives stand for all that’s memorable about film noir. The indifference, the wittiness, and the moral ambiguity that define each urban knight has since become the stuff of parodied legend. We’re talking about the mediators between the crooks and the cops, the embodiment of back alley grayness that’s so tough to pin down. P.I.’s could cooperate with the law if needed, but they could just as soon do business with the bad guys for the right price. To a certain extent, that is – shamus work has always attracted the ignored and the ethical. The Wild West has mythical men with no name, The Asphalt Jungle has names with investigating licenses attached to them. Instead of a poncho and a ten gallon hat, they’re provided a fedora and trench coat.

The archetype has undergone many faces throughout Hollywood’s history,...

Director Gordon Douglas is one of many prolific filmmakers who seemed to fall short of auteur recognition despite considerable iconic items lodged within a vast filmography. Starting out in Hollywood as a child actor, he was directing shorts throughout the 1930s and began developing a resume of B-grade features, the most notable from this period being the 1954 sci-fi classic Them!, one of several genre items capitalizing on nuclear warfare fears. The 1960s found Douglas evolving freely with the times, churning out some racy Carroll Baker numbers (including in a biopic of Jean Harlow), the James Bond knock-off In Like Flint (1967), and a trio of Frank Sinatra vehicles. In between directing Sinatra in a pair of movies where the crooner plays Miami Pi Tony Rome, Douglas concocted something much more provocative, a seedy, lurid neo-noir titled The Detective (1968). One of several oft-referenced titles detailed in Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet,...

Above: Italian 4-foglio for The Joker is Wild (Charles Vidor, USA, 1957). Art by Enzo Nistri.Frank Sinatra, arguably the most important entertainer of the 20th century, was born 100 years ago today. I’ve become a little obsessed with him over the past week after watching Alex Gibney’s terrific 2-part, 4-hour HBO portrait Sinatra: All or Nothing at All. This of course got me thinking about Frank in movie posters, and I realized that I could barely come up with images of Sinatra posters in my head. While his best album covers are indelible and iconic, his movie posters tend to be less so. Scrolling through his filmography I realized that part of the problem is that his greatest films—On the Town, From Here to Eternity, Guys and Dolls, Some Came Running, Ocean’s 11—were almost always ensemble films in which Sinatra was never the standalone star, and so...

Above: Italian 4-foglio for The Joker is Wild (Charles Vidor, USA, 1957). Art by Enzo Nistri.Frank Sinatra, arguably the most important entertainer of the 20th century, was born 100 years ago today. I’ve become a little obsessed with him over the past week after watching Alex Gibney’s terrific 2-part, 4-hour HBO portrait Sinatra: All or Nothing at All. This of course got me thinking about Frank in movie posters, and I realized that I could barely come up with images of Sinatra posters in my head. While his best album covers are indelible and iconic, his movie posters tend to be less so. Scrolling through his filmography I realized that part of the problem is that his greatest films—On the Town, From Here to Eternity, Guys and Dolls, Some Came Running, Ocean’s 11—were almost always ensemble films in which Sinatra was never the standalone star, and so...

Travel Spotlight: The iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach will celebrate the legacy of Frank Sinatra and his upcoming centennial birthday with 100 days of unique programming.The 100 day countdown to Sinatra’s 100th birthday officially kicks off September 2, 2015, with Fontainebleau paying tribute to an American treasure throughout the iconic hotel. Activations include a never-before-seen photo exhibit curated by 1966 Americas featuring fine art prints, VIP events and special experiences.The legendary singer often performed to packed houses at Fontainebleau’s La Ronde nightclub, vacationed at the hotel and even filmed the beloved movies, A Hole in the Head, Tony Rome, and Lady […]...

Review by Sam Moffitt

The private investigator has been with us for years, decades really. When I was younger I read as many private eye mysteries as I did science fiction and horror novels and short stories. I read as much of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane as I could find. I also read a lot of the two MacDonald’s, Ross MacDonald’s novels about Lew Archer (one of which made a great movie with Paul Newman as Harper) and John D. MacDonald’s novels about Travis McGee. Although McGee was not strictly speaking a Pi he still functioned as one in MacDonald’s color coded novels like Darker Than Amber (which made a great movie with Rod Taylor).

I used to stay up late to watch classic private eye movies like The Maltese Falcon, Kiss Me Deadly (the best Mike Hammer movie ever, seriously!) Murder My Sweet,...

DVD Playhouse – May 2012

By Allen Gardner

Shame (20th Century Fox) Director Steve McQueen’s harrowing portrait of a Manhattan sex addict (Michael Fassbender, in the year’s most riveting performance) whose psyche goes into overload when his equally-troubled sister (Carey Mulligan) visits unexpectedly. Exquisitely-made on every level, save for the screenplay, which makes its point after about thirty minutes. While it tries hard to be a modern-day Last Tango in Paris, this fatal flaw makes it fall somewhat short. The much- ballyhooed sex scenes and frontal nudity are the least-interesting things about the film, incidentally, which is still a must-see for discriminating adults who seek out challenging material. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.

Being John Malkovich (Criterion) Spike Jonze’s madcap film of Charlie Kaufman’s script, regarding a socially-disenfranchised puppeteer (John Cusack) who finds a portal into the mind of actor...

There's very little we can say about the indomitable Ol' Blue Eyes that hasn't already been said, but suffice it to say, Frank Sinatra is one of the most successful entertainers of all time, effortlessly transitioning back and forth between his music and acting careers.

On April 3rd, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment releases the rather impressive "The Frank Sinatra Film Collection" on DVD.

Films include Stanley Kramer's "The Pride and the Passion" co-starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren, "Kings Go Forth" with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, Frank Capra's "A Hole in the Head," "Can-Can," featuring Shirley MacLaine, John Frankenheimer's classic "The Manchurian Candidate," "Von Ryan’s Express," "Cast a Giant Shadow" starring Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner and John Wayne among others, "Tony Rome" (featuring a score by Lee Hazlewood), its sequel, "Lady in Cement" co-starring Raquel Welch, and "The Detective."

The 10-title collection spans 11 years...

Harlow, one of two major feature films about the legendary screen sex symbol made during the same year, will make its DVD debut on September 28 from Olive Films. This version stars Carroll Baker while the other film (amazingly carrying the same title!) starred Carol Lynley. Here is the official synopsis:

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Hollywood in 1928 is a land of milk and honey, magic and fantasy. Jean Harlow’s spectacularly controversial and tragic career begins with bit parts in movies while she’s living with her mother and opportunistic stepfather. When Hollywood agent, Arthur Landau (Golden Globe Nominee, Red Buttons), spots her on a film set, he gets her a series of comedy roles and soon realizes he has a gold mine in Miss Harlow (Carroll Baker). She becomes an overnight sensation and critics hail her as the next great sex symbol. This film documents the...