Ya know that feeling when you watch something dumb, and even though you know it’s stupid, you can’t help but laugh and enjoy yourself? The 1980s are full of comedies like that. Yeah, we know they’re dumb and not especially clever, but whatever, man, every now and then, you’re in a bad mood, and you want to turn your brain off. That’s why they made seven Police Academy movies. No one thought they were good, but we watched them anyway because they were stupid in a pleasing way.
This brings me to this rare comedy-focused episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, about a movie I loved as a kid that doesn’t super hold up forty years later, but it is still kinda fun – Johnny Dangerously. A gangster comedy in the vein of Airplane, Johnny Dangerously is probably a movie many younger viewers...
This brings me to this rare comedy-focused episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, about a movie I loved as a kid that doesn’t super hold up forty years later, but it is still kinda fun – Johnny Dangerously. A gangster comedy in the vein of Airplane, Johnny Dangerously is probably a movie many younger viewers...
- 5/5/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Indie producer Harry Cohn, brother Jack and their associate Joe Brandt created the CBC Film Sales Company in 1918. And on Jan. 10, 1924, the trio formed the Poverty Row studio, Columbia Pictures. According to Enclyclopedia.com, by the mid-20s “Cohn had gained reputation as one of the industry’s toughest businessmen.” That’s putting it mildly.
Though “B” movies and series such as The Three Stooges, “Blondie” and “The Lone Wolf” were the bread and butter of the studio, Cohn slowly attracted top talent and directors and turned such newcomers as Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, William Holden and Kim Novak into stars.
Frank Capra changed the fortunes of the studio. Signing with Columbia in 1928, he made 25 films for Columbia. His optimistic, common man movies attracted critics and audiences alike during the Depression. His 1934 screwball comedy “It Happened One Night,” penned by Robert Riskin and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, swept the Oscars winning five.
Though “B” movies and series such as The Three Stooges, “Blondie” and “The Lone Wolf” were the bread and butter of the studio, Cohn slowly attracted top talent and directors and turned such newcomers as Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, William Holden and Kim Novak into stars.
Frank Capra changed the fortunes of the studio. Signing with Columbia in 1928, he made 25 films for Columbia. His optimistic, common man movies attracted critics and audiences alike during the Depression. His 1934 screwball comedy “It Happened One Night,” penned by Robert Riskin and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, swept the Oscars winning five.
- 1/8/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Clockwise from left: The Godfather Part II, Bonnie And Clyde, Goodfellas, The Departed (all images courtesy Warner Bros.)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Gangster movies are loaded with inherently alluring qualities: the vicarious thrill of watching an antihero buck the establishment and take what they want with impunity; the glamorous trappings...
Gangster movies are loaded with inherently alluring qualities: the vicarious thrill of watching an antihero buck the establishment and take what they want with impunity; the glamorous trappings...
- 12/6/2023
- by Scott Huver
- avclub.com
Song and dance man or gangster? Few stars of Hollywood’s Golden Era could claim they were equally well known for two such diverse genres. Yet, the legendary James Cagney worked hard to be able to make such a claim.
He was born on July 17, 1899, in New York City. His family was poor, and Cagney was sickly as a child. While growing up in a rough neighborhood, he learned a variety of skills, including tap dancing, street fighting, baseball and boxing. When he was 19, his father died, and he took odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. On a whim, he auditioned for a role of a chorus girl in a local production. Although he had never had professional training, he landed the role and learned the dances from watching the other performers – and it never bothered him to dress as a girl and perform. Despite his mother...
He was born on July 17, 1899, in New York City. His family was poor, and Cagney was sickly as a child. While growing up in a rough neighborhood, he learned a variety of skills, including tap dancing, street fighting, baseball and boxing. When he was 19, his father died, and he took odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. On a whim, he auditioned for a role of a chorus girl in a local production. Although he had never had professional training, he landed the role and learned the dances from watching the other performers – and it never bothered him to dress as a girl and perform. Despite his mother...
- 7/15/2023
- by Susan Pennington, Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon is the latest turn in a long motion picture tradition of pilfering FBI case files for screen scenarios. Originally, Hollywood coveted the validation of the bureau (“based on actual FBI case histories!”) and the personal imprimatur of its lord high ruler, J. Edgar Hoover (who in 1945 actually read life insurance commercials for NBC radio’s This Is Your FBI). Today, it often takes cues without the official stamp of the FBI shield. Either way, the two American institutions have enjoyed a profitable relationship.
Created in 1908 within the Department of Justice as the Bureau of Investigation and formally branded with the trademark initials in 1935, the FBI grew up during the first wave of electronic age media and took full advantage of the coincidence. Hollywood cinema (newsreels, shorts, and feature films), radio crime shows, comic strips and television series...
Created in 1908 within the Department of Justice as the Bureau of Investigation and formally branded with the trademark initials in 1935, the FBI grew up during the first wave of electronic age media and took full advantage of the coincidence. Hollywood cinema (newsreels, shorts, and feature films), radio crime shows, comic strips and television series...
- 7/7/2023
- by Thomas Doherty
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With its list of new releases for July 2023, Prime Video is going to help you stay safe from the oppressive July sun.
Highlighting the Amazon Originals on the TV side this month are two heavy hitters. The first is The Horror of Dolores Roach on July 7. Based on a podcast of the same name, this series could best be described as a modern day Sweeney Todd? Why, you ask? Well you know why. Think about it. Then season 2 of Neil Gaiman adaptation Good Omens premieres on July 28. This season will follow angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tenant) as they seek to keep the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) away from both heaven and hell.
There aren’t any Amazon Original movies of note this month and that’s alright as the influx of library titles is more than enough. July 1 sees the arrival of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, No Country for Old Men,...
Highlighting the Amazon Originals on the TV side this month are two heavy hitters. The first is The Horror of Dolores Roach on July 7. Based on a podcast of the same name, this series could best be described as a modern day Sweeney Todd? Why, you ask? Well you know why. Think about it. Then season 2 of Neil Gaiman adaptation Good Omens premieres on July 28. This season will follow angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tenant) as they seek to keep the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) away from both heaven and hell.
There aren’t any Amazon Original movies of note this month and that’s alright as the influx of library titles is more than enough. July 1 sees the arrival of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, No Country for Old Men,...
- 7/1/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
While summer starts in June, things truly heat up in July, and that includes all the hot new drops on streamers. Amazon’s Prime Video has refreshed its slate of content with over 60 new movies, like Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” and the 1973 animated adaption of the children’s book “Charlotte’s Web.”
Prime Video kicks off the start of the month with Doug McHenry’s “Jason’s Lyric,” “Father of the Bride,” and “Little Nicky.”
Plus, if you’re a Reese Witherspoon fan, Prime Video sets you up with her very first film and her breakout role as Dani in “Man in the Moon.” And the entire “Legally Blonde” trilogy is also available, for those who bend and snap.
Prime Video is also giving watchers some ultimate film classics like “Free Willy,” ”Gladiator,” and “Dances With Wolves.”
Last but absolutely not least, Season 2 of “Good Omens” will land on...
Prime Video kicks off the start of the month with Doug McHenry’s “Jason’s Lyric,” “Father of the Bride,” and “Little Nicky.”
Plus, if you’re a Reese Witherspoon fan, Prime Video sets you up with her very first film and her breakout role as Dani in “Man in the Moon.” And the entire “Legally Blonde” trilogy is also available, for those who bend and snap.
Prime Video is also giving watchers some ultimate film classics like “Free Willy,” ”Gladiator,” and “Dances With Wolves.”
Last but absolutely not least, Season 2 of “Good Omens” will land on...
- 6/30/2023
- by Raquel "Rocky" Harris
- The Wrap
Amazon originals like season two of The Summer I Turned Pretty and Good Omens, as well as The Horror of Dolores Roach, are just some of the titles hitting Prime Video this July.
Blockbusters like Fast X, 80 for Brady, Till, Knock at the Cabin, Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Men in Black 1-3, Saving Private Ryan, Scarface and more will also be coming to the streamer this month.
The fourth and final season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan sees the titular character, played by John Krasinski, on his most dangerous mission yet, against a foreign and domestic enemy. Two new episodes of the thriller drop on the streamer every Friday until July 14.
Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty returns with its second season on July 14 and picks up where season one left off at Cousins Beach. When an unexpected visitor threatens the future...
Blockbusters like Fast X, 80 for Brady, Till, Knock at the Cabin, Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Men in Black 1-3, Saving Private Ryan, Scarface and more will also be coming to the streamer this month.
The fourth and final season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan sees the titular character, played by John Krasinski, on his most dangerous mission yet, against a foreign and domestic enemy. Two new episodes of the thriller drop on the streamer every Friday until July 14.
Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty returns with its second season on July 14 and picks up where season one left off at Cousins Beach. When an unexpected visitor threatens the future...
- 6/30/2023
- by Christy Piña
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Prime Video has adapted the one-woman podcast “Empanada Loca” into a new series. “The Horror of Dolores Roach” will begin streaming on the service on July 7. Buckle up, because this one is gruesome. Roach (Justina Machado) returns to a gentrified Washington Heights after a long prison sentence and works as a masseuse in the basement of a friend’s empanada shop. But when her security is threatened, Roach is driven to extremes to survive.
Watch “The Horror of Dolores Roach” trailer:
Season 2 of “Good Omens” also will premiere on Prime Video in July. Arriving July 28, the series focuses on the friendship between Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), a fussy angel and rare-book dealer, and the snarky demon Crowley (David Tennant). While the Apocalypse has been averted, the pair are back living their lives in London, until the archangel Gabriel shows up. The series is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
Watch “The Horror of Dolores Roach” trailer:
Season 2 of “Good Omens” also will premiere on Prime Video in July. Arriving July 28, the series focuses on the friendship between Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), a fussy angel and rare-book dealer, and the snarky demon Crowley (David Tennant). While the Apocalypse has been averted, the pair are back living their lives in London, until the archangel Gabriel shows up. The series is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
- 6/26/2023
- by Fern Siegel
- The Streamable
I’ve loved gangster movies since I was four years old and saw Humphrey Bogart and Sylvia Sidney in Dead End (1937) on TV, and Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) at the movies (My dad pinched a lobby card for me). Every Friday night, a local NYC station ran old crime flicks on a slot called “Tough Guys.” Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft were the faces over the title. Today that might be Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, and James Gandolfini.
The gangster and crime genre produced some of the most influential films in cinema history. Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1931), William A. Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932), get a lot of credit for breaking ground in topics beyond criminality, shattering sexual taboos as well as the boundaries of acceptable visual violence. High Sierra (1941) and White Heat...
The gangster and crime genre produced some of the most influential films in cinema history. Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1931), William A. Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932), get a lot of credit for breaking ground in topics beyond criminality, shattering sexual taboos as well as the boundaries of acceptable visual violence. High Sierra (1941) and White Heat...
- 5/6/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
David Zaslav went office-furniture shopping when he moved into the executive building on the Warner Bros. lot last year. The new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery had Jack L. Warner’s large dark-wood desk pulled out of storage for his use. He also found a leather legal pad holder once clutched by another of his predecessors at the storied studio: Steven J. Ross.
Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited.
“I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centennial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets,...
Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited.
“I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centennial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets,...
- 4/6/2023
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Warner Bros. today celebrates its centennial milestone as April 4, 2023, marks 100 years of its iconic contribution to film and television.
Its rich heritage stretches back to the four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants, who founded the studio in 1923 and became mavericks of the film industry. They not only created some of Hollywood’s greatest movies and film stars, but they also were pioneers behind the innovative technology of the Vitaphone that synchronized sound and put them in the forefront as major players in Hollywood.
Related: Warner Bros. Top-Secret Archives: Treasure Trove Of Film Memorabilia From ‘The Matrix’, ‘Batman’, ‘My Fair Lady’ & Dozens More
Sam Warner spearheaded the movement by applying the technology with sound effects and music, but no dialogue, in the 1926 film Don Juan, and then in two scenes from one of the first “talkies,” 1927’s The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, that featured...
Its rich heritage stretches back to the four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants, who founded the studio in 1923 and became mavericks of the film industry. They not only created some of Hollywood’s greatest movies and film stars, but they also were pioneers behind the innovative technology of the Vitaphone that synchronized sound and put them in the forefront as major players in Hollywood.
Related: Warner Bros. Top-Secret Archives: Treasure Trove Of Film Memorabilia From ‘The Matrix’, ‘Batman’, ‘My Fair Lady’ & Dozens More
Sam Warner spearheaded the movement by applying the technology with sound effects and music, but no dialogue, in the 1926 film Don Juan, and then in two scenes from one of the first “talkies,” 1927’s The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, that featured...
- 4/4/2023
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s last call for a number of excellent Comedy Central series as well as a handful of genuinely great films on HBO Max this month.
On Oct. 31, the Comedy Central shows “Key and Peele,” “Nathan for You,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” “Reno 911!” and “Chappelle’s Show” (the first two seasons) will depart HBO Max, likely heading to Paramount+ at some point in November.
Also leaving HBO Max this month is the Halsey music film “If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power,” as well as the surprisingly great horror prequel “Annabelle: Creation.” Other noteworthy depatures include “Capote,” “High Fidelity,” “Jerry Maguire,” “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” the 1994 version of “Little Women” and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” movies.
Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max in October below.
Also Read:
Here’s What’s New on Hulu in October 2022
October 6
If I Can’t Have...
On Oct. 31, the Comedy Central shows “Key and Peele,” “Nathan for You,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” “Reno 911!” and “Chappelle’s Show” (the first two seasons) will depart HBO Max, likely heading to Paramount+ at some point in November.
Also leaving HBO Max this month is the Halsey music film “If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power,” as well as the surprisingly great horror prequel “Annabelle: Creation.” Other noteworthy depatures include “Capote,” “High Fidelity,” “Jerry Maguire,” “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” the 1994 version of “Little Women” and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” movies.
Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max in October below.
Also Read:
Here’s What’s New on Hulu in October 2022
October 6
If I Can’t Have...
- 10/1/2022
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
For those who like some reading with their gabagool, "Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos" provides a comprehensive collection of memories and insights from the cast and crew of one of the greatest TV drama series of all time. The book was inspired by the robust success of their definitive and thorough re-visit podcast "Talking Sopranos," the groundbreaking HBO series' stars Michael Imperioli (who plays Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri) and brings incisive and often surprising behind-the-scenes history of the show's 86 episodes. Trending often in the HBO streaming app, "The Sopranos" remains one of the most binged TV shows fifteen years after its final episode aired in June of 2007.
In the book, casting director Georgianne Walken remembers how mesmerized she was by the incredible memory of showrunner David Chase, who incorporated his lifelong fascination with the mafia into the show's observation of an Italian-American mobster,...
In the book, casting director Georgianne Walken remembers how mesmerized she was by the incredible memory of showrunner David Chase, who incorporated his lifelong fascination with the mafia into the show's observation of an Italian-American mobster,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Anya Stanley
- Slash Film
"Peaky Blinders" is part of a continuum of gangster movies and TV shows that dates back to the early 1930s when actors like James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson were making black-and-white films such as "The Public Enemy" and "Little Caesar." Even on television, "Peaky Blinders" was predated by prestige dramas like "The Sopranos" and "Boardwalk Empire," but one thing that set it apart from the bulk of its predecessors was its focus on a street gang in Birmingham, England, as opposed to the Italian mafia in America.
When Cillian Murphy donned his razor blade cap to play series protagonist Thomas Shelby in "Peaky Blinders," he was aware, as any actor would be, of those genre conventions, which "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas" helped popularize. In an interview with Deadline just before the final season of "Peaky Blinders" hit Netflix in June 2022, the actor said, "I think you make a gangster show,...
When Cillian Murphy donned his razor blade cap to play series protagonist Thomas Shelby in "Peaky Blinders," he was aware, as any actor would be, of those genre conventions, which "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas" helped popularize. In an interview with Deadline just before the final season of "Peaky Blinders" hit Netflix in June 2022, the actor said, "I think you make a gangster show,...
- 8/30/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Gangster icons aren’t always determined by top billing. Sometimes it’s decided by a flip of a coin. Director Howard Hawks’ 1932 gangster classic Scarface recently celebrated its 90th anniversary. Producer Howard Hughes was so committed to presenting a realistic depiction of mob violence that the film pushed the Motion Picture Production Code to its limit. Paul Muni puts in a gritty, animalistic performance in the title role of Antonio “Tony” Carmonte, modeled after Al Capone, but the actor with the gangland bona fides was the co-star, George Raft.
Hired for his dark and menacing presence, Raft doesn’t have many lines in Scarface. To give the inexperienced actor something to do, Hawks directed him to flip a nickel. Raft practiced the toss to perfection, setting the film up for one of the most memorable mob movie moments: a coin rolling across a floor to a dead stop.
Raft would...
Hired for his dark and menacing presence, Raft doesn’t have many lines in Scarface. To give the inexperienced actor something to do, Hawks directed him to flip a nickel. Raft practiced the toss to perfection, setting the film up for one of the most memorable mob movie moments: a coin rolling across a floor to a dead stop.
Raft would...
- 5/8/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
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By Fred Blosser
Although released in February 1942, Warner Brothers’ wartime drama “Captains of the Clouds” was filmed several months earlier, when America’s official stance toward the crisis in Europe, prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, remained one of isolationism. As the thinking went, the United States was better off conserving its own human and industrial resources as it continued to stagger back from the Great Depression. Let the combatants overseas fight it out between themselves.
Aware of the movies’ enormous power to sway public opinion, watchdogs in Congress — and in the industry itself — threatened severe action should any studio question the prevailing wisdom. Of a different mind and appalled by Nazi fascism, Harry and Jack Warner produced several movies that shrewdly challenged the restrictions by circumventing them. Thus the villains in Warners’ “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” (1939) were Nazi agents subverting freedom not in faraway Europe,...
By Fred Blosser
Although released in February 1942, Warner Brothers’ wartime drama “Captains of the Clouds” was filmed several months earlier, when America’s official stance toward the crisis in Europe, prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, remained one of isolationism. As the thinking went, the United States was better off conserving its own human and industrial resources as it continued to stagger back from the Great Depression. Let the combatants overseas fight it out between themselves.
Aware of the movies’ enormous power to sway public opinion, watchdogs in Congress — and in the industry itself — threatened severe action should any studio question the prevailing wisdom. Of a different mind and appalled by Nazi fascism, Harry and Jack Warner produced several movies that shrewdly challenged the restrictions by circumventing them. Thus the villains in Warners’ “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” (1939) were Nazi agents subverting freedom not in faraway Europe,...
- 5/5/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Gangster movies date back to at least 1912 with D.W. Griffith's "The Musketeers of Pig Alley." The genre really took shape in the 1930s with movies such as "Little Caesar" and "The Public Enemy" (both from 1931) about ruthless Chicago outlaws. James Cagney's turn in 1938's "Angels with Dirty Faces" is another seminal entry.
These early gangster flicks are must-sees for film buffs but don't make this particular list. Cagney's mannered delivery is iconic, but the period style of these classic films makes them tough to recommend in earnest to busy people with limited recreational screen time.
Marlon Brando's performance in "On The Waterfront" in 1954 was...
The post The 20 Best Gangster Movie Characters Ranked appeared first on /Film.
These early gangster flicks are must-sees for film buffs but don't make this particular list. Cagney's mannered delivery is iconic, but the period style of these classic films makes them tough to recommend in earnest to busy people with limited recreational screen time.
Marlon Brando's performance in "On The Waterfront" in 1954 was...
The post The 20 Best Gangster Movie Characters Ranked appeared first on /Film.
- 3/23/2022
- by Gino Orlandini
- Slash Film
When I saw “The Many Saints of Newark,” I wanted it to immerse me in the lives of New Jersey mobsters in the late ’60s and early ’70s the same way that “The Sopranos” immersed us in the lives of New Jersey mobsters at the turn of the 21st century. The film more or less achieves that. That’s why, while not nearly as great as the series, it’s a pretty good Saturday night movie. Of course, the other thing I wanted from “The Many Saints” was for it to put me in a time machine so that I could witness the formative teenage years of Tony Soprano, who is portrayed in the film by James Gandolfini’s son, Michael (who was 20 at the time the movie was shot in 2019).
The young Tony displays a small handful of delinquent tendencies. As a kid, he organizes a numbers racket at his parochial school.
The young Tony displays a small handful of delinquent tendencies. As a kid, he organizes a numbers racket at his parochial school.
- 10/3/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America is as epic as The Godfather, gorier than Goodfellas, and as streetwise as Mean Streets. It tells a full history, from childhood to old age, street hustles to political suicides, community toilets to opium dens. The version which is right now available on Netflix has been amazingly restored by Italy’s Bologna Cinematheque L’Immagine Ritrovata lab. I don’t think I have ever seen the film so clear, and it is a perennial to me, as is The Godfather.
It’s true, even the most devoted gangster fan and cinephile doesn’t watch Once Upon a Time in America as often as The Godfather, and it’s got Robert De Niro at his most gangta. For one thing, Leone’s film has never been as accessible. It is not shown regularly on any kind of broadcast channel, and even the...
It’s true, even the most devoted gangster fan and cinephile doesn’t watch Once Upon a Time in America as often as The Godfather, and it’s got Robert De Niro at his most gangta. For one thing, Leone’s film has never been as accessible. It is not shown regularly on any kind of broadcast channel, and even the...
- 9/22/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
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By Todd Garbarini
I originally saw the Brian De Palma/Al Pacino version of Scarface (1983) on laserdisc in 1994 and again in a 20th anniversary theatrical screening in New York, but not since. Recently, I decided to have revisit it on Netflix and was amazed that I recalled very little of it. The constant use of profanity and the intensity of some of the violent set pieces, in particular the notorious chainsaw scene, are tamer than the language and the most violent moments of HBO’s The Sopranos (1999 – 2007) and Showtime’s Brotherhood (2006 – 2008). However, in 1983 Universal Pictures was prompted to release the film with the following caveat in the newspaper ads when the film was released in December: “Caution – Scarface is an intense film both in its use of language and depiction of violence. We suggest mature audiences.” While one might think this was a...
By Todd Garbarini
I originally saw the Brian De Palma/Al Pacino version of Scarface (1983) on laserdisc in 1994 and again in a 20th anniversary theatrical screening in New York, but not since. Recently, I decided to have revisit it on Netflix and was amazed that I recalled very little of it. The constant use of profanity and the intensity of some of the violent set pieces, in particular the notorious chainsaw scene, are tamer than the language and the most violent moments of HBO’s The Sopranos (1999 – 2007) and Showtime’s Brotherhood (2006 – 2008). However, in 1983 Universal Pictures was prompted to release the film with the following caveat in the newspaper ads when the film was released in December: “Caution – Scarface is an intense film both in its use of language and depiction of violence. We suggest mature audiences.” While one might think this was a...
- 7/28/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Still the fiercest and most cinematic of the first wave of gangster classics, Howards Hughes and Hawks’s pre-Code rule-breaker was the one that brought down the ban on ‘glamorous’ gangster movies. In this case classic hardly means dated: the cars and clothes are vintage but the sex and violence are sizzling hot. Paul Muni is the primitive killer who falls in love with submachine guns and George Raft is his loyal trigger man. Karen Morley and especially Ann Dvorak are indeed the hottest pre-Code seducers in film. Plus, Boris Karloff contributes a mobster snarl as a lightly-disguised Bugs Moran. It’s a bullet-ridden city, that’s for sure, and the filmmakers frequently use expressionist effects: like X Marks The Spot!
Scarface
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 37
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 93 min. 33 sec. + 95 min. 34 sec. / Scarface, Shame of a Nation / Street Date April 28, 2021 / Available from / 34.95 (au)
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley,...
Scarface
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 37
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 93 min. 33 sec. + 95 min. 34 sec. / Scarface, Shame of a Nation / Street Date April 28, 2021 / Available from / 34.95 (au)
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley,...
- 6/5/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
UFOs are often visible, but not always. Sometimes they make noise, sometimes they are silent. If you’ve never seen a flying saucer, that is proof they are everywhere. This is one of the many amazing things we learn in TCM’s upcoming table read of Ed Wood’s masterwork, Plan 9 from Outer Space.
We once laughed at the horseless carriage, the aero-plane, the telephone, the electric light, vitamins, radio, and even television. But it took a while to get the joke about Plan 9 from Outer Space. Written and directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. in 1959, it was a little-known independent film with a direct line through directors who carried on the DIY-filmmaking spirit like John Cassavetes, Melvin Van Peebles and John Waters. The Cult of Plan 9 began when Ed Wood was posthumously awarded a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time in 1980. Though this has been disputed.
We once laughed at the horseless carriage, the aero-plane, the telephone, the electric light, vitamins, radio, and even television. But it took a while to get the joke about Plan 9 from Outer Space. Written and directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. in 1959, it was a little-known independent film with a direct line through directors who carried on the DIY-filmmaking spirit like John Cassavetes, Melvin Van Peebles and John Waters. The Cult of Plan 9 began when Ed Wood was posthumously awarded a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time in 1980. Though this has been disputed.
- 5/7/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
William Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931) turns 90 this weekend. When the film first came out, a theater in Times Square showed it nonstop, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The movie marks the true beginning of gangster movies as a genre. Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar may have hit theaters first, but The Public Enemy set the pattern, and James Cagney nailed the patter. Not just the street talk either; he also understood its machine gun delivery. His Tommy Powers is just a hoodlum, never a boss. He is a button man at best, even if he insisted his suits have six buttons.
The Public Enemy character wasn’t even as high up the ladder as Paul Sorvino’s caporegime Paul Cicero in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. But Cagney secured the turf Edward G. Robinson’s Rico Bandello took a bullet to claim in Little Caesar, and for the...
The Public Enemy character wasn’t even as high up the ladder as Paul Sorvino’s caporegime Paul Cicero in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. But Cagney secured the turf Edward G. Robinson’s Rico Bandello took a bullet to claim in Little Caesar, and for the...
- 4/23/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
James Cagney's star has yet to rise. Sound engineers at Warner Bros. are busily perfecting the Vitaphone. In perhaps 1931's most infamous Hollywood film, The Public Enemy, Beryl Mercer as "Ma Powers" is a silent-era harmonium among her fellow character actors. Out of step by more than chronological age, remaining forever asynchronous to her surroundings, she is elsewhere in her house when son Tom (Cagney) is fatefully shot, staggering en point, like a ballerina in the rain. We can hear the downpour and see a gigantic curbstone leaping upward as if to meet it. Later, Tom’s lifeless corpse arrives special delivery—a rare case of an ending tacked onto a climax that actually makes things more traumatic, miserable, cruel, and violent. Some inscrutable force keeps Ma upstairs, humming goofily to herself. Depression Lesson #16 has got your morning paper: Beryl Mercer moons on infinite repeat, the model of mute...
- 10/15/2020
- MUBI
This week’s new release should satisfy a couple of interests to those still in “self-isolation”. First, it’s set in another country, so it’s a trip overseas, at least vicariously. The backdrop is Italy, specifically Naples which is one of the big tourist destinations (perhaps Steve and Rob had a nice bowl of pasta there during one of their movie “trips”). And second, for those not big on the scenery, it’s a crime profile. But it’s not a big sprawling epic like The Irishman and last February’s The Traitor. The story’s spread out over a few months in the last couple of years. Oh, and the other big, big difference: the mobsters at the center of the tale are younger, by several decades. Teenagers really, several of them couldn’t drive here legally. Oh but their crimes are much bigger than any traffic violations.
- 7/14/2020
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Mother of mercy, did the movies mark the beginning of Rico? The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was named after the character Rico Bandello in what is largely considered to be the first gangster movie, Little Caesar. While Edward G. Robinson’s Rico wasn’t specifically Al Capone in that film, the real-life gangster’s signature cigar fumes are all over it. Josh Trank replaced the Cuban Corona with a carrot in the recent Vertical Entertainment film Capone, which stars Tom Hardy as the title character in his twilight years, suffering from a premature burial. The aging mobster’s memories were buried by the syphilis microbe, and along with it went the clues to his buried treasure.
That speculative biopic also depicts Capone as a film aficionado. He sings along with Bert Lahr’s incomparable “If I Were King of the Forest,” from The Wizard of Oz, and educates...
That speculative biopic also depicts Capone as a film aficionado. He sings along with Bert Lahr’s incomparable “If I Were King of the Forest,” from The Wizard of Oz, and educates...
- 5/15/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Let's be fair to Disney/Sony/Fox/whoever they think they are: there's been a DVD release of William Wellman's Roxie Hart (1942), but it's not currently streaming, which is a crying shame. It's a masterpiece, up there with The Public Enemy or Safe in Hell or Midnight Mary, Wellman's excoriating, criminous pre-Codes.The story may be a familiar one: former newspaperwoman Maurine Dallas Watkins' stage hit Chicago was filmed as a Cecil B. DeMille production in 1927, and more recently in musical form with Bob Fosse's choreography put through a blender by Rob Marshall, Harvey Weinstein, and Martin Walsh, who promptly won the Oscar for Most Editing.Our story, and its heroine, are laid in the great city of Chicago in the Roaring Twenties. An opening title solemnly dedicates the picture to all those women who have filled their husbands full of lead out of pique. George Montgomery plays an old newspaperman and then,...
- 5/1/2020
- MUBI
By Fred Blosser
Although largely forgotten today, Richard Barthelmess was a popular star in silent movies and the early sound era, often cast as characters who embodied small-town American values of modesty and integrity. In “The Finger Points,” a 1931 crime melodrama from First National and Vitaphone, Barthelmess’ Breckenridge Lee relocates from Savannah, Ga., to a big city up north. A reporter, Lee carries a letter of recommendation from his former editor. Impressed by the referral and Lee’s own soft-spoken earnestness, the publisher of the city’s influential morning newspaper, “The Press,” gives him a job and then leaves him to fend for himself on a starting salary of $39 per week, minus $4 for expenses. He’s hardly at his desk for a day before the publisher exhorts the newsroom to “make a fight of it” against the racketeers who infest the city. Jaded reporter Breezy (Regis Toomey) dismisses the pep...
Although largely forgotten today, Richard Barthelmess was a popular star in silent movies and the early sound era, often cast as characters who embodied small-town American values of modesty and integrity. In “The Finger Points,” a 1931 crime melodrama from First National and Vitaphone, Barthelmess’ Breckenridge Lee relocates from Savannah, Ga., to a big city up north. A reporter, Lee carries a letter of recommendation from his former editor. Impressed by the referral and Lee’s own soft-spoken earnestness, the publisher of the city’s influential morning newspaper, “The Press,” gives him a job and then leaves him to fend for himself on a starting salary of $39 per week, minus $4 for expenses. He’s hardly at his desk for a day before the publisher exhorts the newsroom to “make a fight of it” against the racketeers who infest the city. Jaded reporter Breezy (Regis Toomey) dismisses the pep...
- 4/7/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Minor Spoilers
Villains have long been dandies. Dressing loud is an established method of implying wealth and standing, particularly for ‘new money’. In a modern day context, this largely began with real life gangsters echoing the obnoxious outfits of Hollywood gangsters like Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (1931), James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931) and Paul Muni in Scarface (1932). Conversely the actors’ looks in these movies was also drawn from real life crooks – Al Capone, for example, long known for his love of matching silk pocket squares and neckties. It is a chicken and egg situation as to which came first: the dandy gangster gangster or the dandy movie gangster. However, by and large this idea of demonstrating status via clothing has remained in place since the 1920s, with notable ‘black suit’ exceptions during the 1990s as the criminal fraternity became increasingly white collar and preferred to remain behind the scenes.
Villains have long been dandies. Dressing loud is an established method of implying wealth and standing, particularly for ‘new money’. In a modern day context, this largely began with real life gangsters echoing the obnoxious outfits of Hollywood gangsters like Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (1931), James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931) and Paul Muni in Scarface (1932). Conversely the actors’ looks in these movies was also drawn from real life crooks – Al Capone, for example, long known for his love of matching silk pocket squares and neckties. It is a chicken and egg situation as to which came first: the dandy gangster gangster or the dandy movie gangster. However, by and large this idea of demonstrating status via clothing has remained in place since the 1920s, with notable ‘black suit’ exceptions during the 1990s as the criminal fraternity became increasingly white collar and preferred to remain behind the scenes.
- 4/3/2020
- by Lord Christopher Laverty
- Clothes on Film
Wow! That glorious original poster jumped out at us, making us ask why we couldn’t see this classic-era Paramount horror picture starring the brilliant and glamorous Carole Lombard and directed by the maker of White Zombie. Well, it’s finally shown up to answer that question on Blu-ray. This fairly insubstantial spiritualist vs. scientist spook show about a lady strangler returned from the dead is no classic but will of course be a major curiosity for horror buffs. It’s short on real scares, but it does have a young Randolph Scott to race to the rescue at the finish.
Supernatural
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1933 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 64 min. / Street Date April 7, 2020 / available through Kl Studio Classics / 24.95
Starring: Carole Lombard, Randolph Scott, Vivienne Osborne, Alan Dinehart, H.B. Warner, Beryl Mercer.
Cinematography: Arthur Martinelli
Dialogue Director: Sidney Salkow
Written by Harvey Thew, Brian Marlow story by Garnett Weston...
Supernatural
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1933 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 64 min. / Street Date April 7, 2020 / available through Kl Studio Classics / 24.95
Starring: Carole Lombard, Randolph Scott, Vivienne Osborne, Alan Dinehart, H.B. Warner, Beryl Mercer.
Cinematography: Arthur Martinelli
Dialogue Director: Sidney Salkow
Written by Harvey Thew, Brian Marlow story by Garnett Weston...
- 3/17/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Lee Pfeiffer
The British Film Institute (BFI) deserves praise for continuing to invest in restorations of worthy, but largely forgotten, British films from bygone eras. Case in point: the 1953 crime drama "Cosh Boy" (absurdly re-titled "The Slasher" for American release in order to make it appear to be a "B" horror movie.) Incidentally, a "cosh" is old British slang for a blackjack used by thugs to strike victims over the head. The low-budget B&W production is typical of the film output in post-wwii Britain. Britain was on the winning side but after initial jubilation the reality of living in an almost bankrupt nation set in. Rationing was strict, much of the country was in ruins and crime and juvenile delinquency began to rise. "The Slasher", co-written and directed by Lewis Gilbert, touches on these problems by examining how the delinquency problem was exacerbated in part by the loss...
The British Film Institute (BFI) deserves praise for continuing to invest in restorations of worthy, but largely forgotten, British films from bygone eras. Case in point: the 1953 crime drama "Cosh Boy" (absurdly re-titled "The Slasher" for American release in order to make it appear to be a "B" horror movie.) Incidentally, a "cosh" is old British slang for a blackjack used by thugs to strike victims over the head. The low-budget B&W production is typical of the film output in post-wwii Britain. Britain was on the winning side but after initial jubilation the reality of living in an almost bankrupt nation set in. Rationing was strict, much of the country was in ruins and crime and juvenile delinquency began to rise. "The Slasher", co-written and directed by Lewis Gilbert, touches on these problems by examining how the delinquency problem was exacerbated in part by the loss...
- 2/4/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Every filmmaker hopes to make a good movie, but sometimes the impact is bigger than expected.
Neon’s “Parasite” is one example of a 2019 film hitting a nerve. Writer-director Bong Joon Ho’s film has been praised for its originality and daring shifts in tone. It also has resonance due to its subject matter: the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
“Parasite” is only one of the year’s films that address this zeitgeist subject, also including “Hustlers,” “Joker,” “Knives Out” and the French “Les Miserables,” to name a few. It’s not a new theme: In prehistoric times, some people were no doubt troubled that other cave dwellers had more than they did.
But the subject found new expression in 19th century novels from writers including Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. In 1902, Maxim Gorky’s play “The Lower Depths” was a sensation with its depiction of people at a homeless shelter.
Neon’s “Parasite” is one example of a 2019 film hitting a nerve. Writer-director Bong Joon Ho’s film has been praised for its originality and daring shifts in tone. It also has resonance due to its subject matter: the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
“Parasite” is only one of the year’s films that address this zeitgeist subject, also including “Hustlers,” “Joker,” “Knives Out” and the French “Les Miserables,” to name a few. It’s not a new theme: In prehistoric times, some people were no doubt troubled that other cave dwellers had more than they did.
But the subject found new expression in 19th century novels from writers including Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. In 1902, Maxim Gorky’s play “The Lower Depths” was a sensation with its depiction of people at a homeless shelter.
- 1/22/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Long before Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” (2006) won the best picture Oscar, Academy voters had a soft spot for bad fellas. From the first Academy Awards, voters have taken crime tales and gangster yarns seriously. In 1929, “The Racket” was “best picture, production” nommed, and Ben Hecht won the screenplay award for “Underworld.” In 1931, the classic James Cagney-starrer “The Public Enemy,” competed in the original screenplay category, while Edward G. Robinson’s iconic “Little Caesar” competed for the adapted screenplay award.
In 1935, the gangster film not only won its second Oscar, but that movie became part of American crime lore when John Dillinger met his fate at the hands of the G-men’s Tommy guns when he made the mistake of escorting a certain lady in red to a screening of the picture in Chicago.
As evidence of the genre’s respectability back in that era, perhaps no “serious” actor...
In 1935, the gangster film not only won its second Oscar, but that movie became part of American crime lore when John Dillinger met his fate at the hands of the G-men’s Tommy guns when he made the mistake of escorting a certain lady in red to a screening of the picture in Chicago.
As evidence of the genre’s respectability back in that era, perhaps no “serious” actor...
- 12/20/2019
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
Lionsgate’s “Bombshell,” which opens Dec. 20, has been getting enthusiastic reactions at industry screenings, indicating multiple Oscar nominations are likely. If so, that would make the film a welcome addition to a rare but important Academy Awards category: The hot-button, current events film.
Director Jay Roach, writer Charles Randolph and the actors — including Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and John Lithgow — deliver the goods in a film that comes out only three years after the 2016 meltdown at Fox News. That puts the film on a par with other multiple-Oscar-nominated films such as the 1976 “All the President’s Men,” which opened three years after the Watergate hearings.
The banner year for this was 1940, when the best-picture nominations included Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator,” John Ford’s version of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” and the Alfred Hitchcock-directed “Foreign Correspondent.” They dealt with, respectively, the grasp of Hitler,...
Director Jay Roach, writer Charles Randolph and the actors — including Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and John Lithgow — deliver the goods in a film that comes out only three years after the 2016 meltdown at Fox News. That puts the film on a par with other multiple-Oscar-nominated films such as the 1976 “All the President’s Men,” which opened three years after the Watergate hearings.
The banner year for this was 1940, when the best-picture nominations included Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator,” John Ford’s version of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” and the Alfred Hitchcock-directed “Foreign Correspondent.” They dealt with, respectively, the grasp of Hitler,...
- 11/28/2019
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Every year on the lead up to WrestleMania we get bursts or rumours and announcements about which wrestlers and/or personalities will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend. It’s become a big part of the weekend each April, and many fans enjoy the show, seeing former superstars getting a chance to shine once more as they deliver a speech in front of their peers and adoring fans. It’s bloody lovely, quite frankly.
So, I thought, as seen as WrestleMania is a good few months off, it would be a good time to make some half-predictions, as well as talk about who I think Should be in the Hall of Fame. There are, after all, some huge names missing from that place, and it’s always fun to discuss this stuff. I will likely talk about Way too many people for one single class,...
So, I thought, as seen as WrestleMania is a good few months off, it would be a good time to make some half-predictions, as well as talk about who I think Should be in the Hall of Fame. There are, after all, some huge names missing from that place, and it’s always fun to discuss this stuff. I will likely talk about Way too many people for one single class,...
- 10/9/2019
- by Chris Cummings
- Nerdly
” Some of the East German police were rude and suspicious. Others were suspicious and rude. “
James Cagney in Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three (1961) will be screening at Webster University Friday October 5th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The Film starts at 7:30 pm. There will be an intro and post-film discussion by Cliff Froehlich, Executive Director of Cinema St. Louis and Adjunct Professor of Film Studies at Webster University. A Facebook invite can be found Here
Thirty years after making his name in the iconic gangster movie The Public Enemy, Jimmy Cagney collaborated with the master Billy Wilder on this comedy, which wound up prompting Cagney to retire from acting after its completion (though he did still manage to pop up a couple more times in the remaining decades in his life). Here Cagney plays Mac, a Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin just before the Berlin Wall is constructed,...
James Cagney in Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three (1961) will be screening at Webster University Friday October 5th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The Film starts at 7:30 pm. There will be an intro and post-film discussion by Cliff Froehlich, Executive Director of Cinema St. Louis and Adjunct Professor of Film Studies at Webster University. A Facebook invite can be found Here
Thirty years after making his name in the iconic gangster movie The Public Enemy, Jimmy Cagney collaborated with the master Billy Wilder on this comedy, which wound up prompting Cagney to retire from acting after its completion (though he did still manage to pop up a couple more times in the remaining decades in his life). Here Cagney plays Mac, a Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin just before the Berlin Wall is constructed,...
- 10/2/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Song and dance man or gangster? Few stars of Hollywood’s Golden Era could claim they were equally well known for two such diverse genres. Yet, the legendary James Cagney worked hard to be able to make such a claim.
He was born on July 17, 1899, in New York City. His family was poor, and Cagney was sickly as a child. While growing up in a rough neighborhood, he learned a variety of skills, including tap dancing, street fighting, baseball and boxing. When he was 19, his father died, and he took odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. On a whim, he auditioned for a role of a chorus girl in a local production. Although he had never had professional training, he landed the role and learned the dances from watching the other performers – and it never bothered him to dress as a girl and perform. Despite his mother...
He was born on July 17, 1899, in New York City. His family was poor, and Cagney was sickly as a child. While growing up in a rough neighborhood, he learned a variety of skills, including tap dancing, street fighting, baseball and boxing. When he was 19, his father died, and he took odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. On a whim, he auditioned for a role of a chorus girl in a local production. Although he had never had professional training, he landed the role and learned the dances from watching the other performers – and it never bothered him to dress as a girl and perform. Despite his mother...
- 7/17/2019
- by Susan Pennington and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Veteran William Wellman directed this pre-Code thriller that puts an average New York family at odds with a pack of ruthless gangsters. It’s a 1931 tale of drive-by shootings, witness intimidation and child kidnapping — just one year later, movies about child kidnappings were banned, after the tragedy of the Lindbergh baby. Walter Huston is the rather ruthless District Attorney, and the ex-vaudeville funny man Chic Sale plays an old codger that shows his family what Good Americanism really means — the show could serve as a surly critique of what passes for law and order and good citizenship now.
The Star Witness
DVD
The Warner Archive Collection
1931 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 68 min. / Street Date March 12, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 19.99
Starring: Walter Huston, Charles ‘Chic’ Sale, Frances Starr, Grant Mitchell, Sally Blane, Edward J. Nugent, Dickie Moore, Nat Pendleton, George Ernest, Russell Hopton, Allan Lane.
Cinematography: James Van Trees
Film Editor:...
The Star Witness
DVD
The Warner Archive Collection
1931 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 68 min. / Street Date March 12, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 19.99
Starring: Walter Huston, Charles ‘Chic’ Sale, Frances Starr, Grant Mitchell, Sally Blane, Edward J. Nugent, Dickie Moore, Nat Pendleton, George Ernest, Russell Hopton, Allan Lane.
Cinematography: James Van Trees
Film Editor:...
- 4/6/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
David Crow Nov 19, 2018
The Adventures of Robin Hood went through a director-swapping production yet is still the only Robin Hood movie that matters.
In retrospect, it’s easy to see the formula that Warner Bros. pursued to make The Adventures of Robin Hood, the 1938 sweeping Technicolor classic. Conceived as a star vehicle for one of their biggest icons, as well as a picture that would be the chance for a reliable contract director to become a preeminent name in Hollywood, it should’ve been impossible for the project to run into any trouble. Yet it did since the movie was originally pitched as a Jimmy Cagney movie and was later assigned to director William Keighley, a terrific studio man from the golden age… but one who is no more Michael Curtiz than Cagney is Errol Flynn.
Eighty years later and it’s largely been forgotten that the most beloved and...
The Adventures of Robin Hood went through a director-swapping production yet is still the only Robin Hood movie that matters.
In retrospect, it’s easy to see the formula that Warner Bros. pursued to make The Adventures of Robin Hood, the 1938 sweeping Technicolor classic. Conceived as a star vehicle for one of their biggest icons, as well as a picture that would be the chance for a reliable contract director to become a preeminent name in Hollywood, it should’ve been impossible for the project to run into any trouble. Yet it did since the movie was originally pitched as a Jimmy Cagney movie and was later assigned to director William Keighley, a terrific studio man from the golden age… but one who is no more Michael Curtiz than Cagney is Errol Flynn.
Eighty years later and it’s largely been forgotten that the most beloved and...
- 11/19/2018
- Den of Geek
Now restored to perfection, this genuine classic hasn’t been seen intact for way over sixty years. Michael Curtiz and Robert Rossen adapt Jack London’s suspenseful allegory in high style, with a superb quartet of actors doing some of their best work: Robinson, Garfield, Lupino and newcomer Alexander Knox.
The Sea Wolf
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1941 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 100 min. uncut! / Street Date October 10, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Alexander Knox, Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Gene Lockhart, Barry Fitzgerald. Stanley Ridges, David Bruce, Francis McDonald, Howard Da Silva, Frank Lackteen, Ralf Harolde
Cinematography: Sol Polito
Film Editor: George Amy
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Special Effects: Byron Haskin, Hans F. Koenekamp
Original Music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Written by Robert Rosson, from the novel by Jack London
Produced by Hal B. Wallis, Henry Blanke
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Chopping up films for television was once the...
The Sea Wolf
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1941 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 100 min. uncut! / Street Date October 10, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Alexander Knox, Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Gene Lockhart, Barry Fitzgerald. Stanley Ridges, David Bruce, Francis McDonald, Howard Da Silva, Frank Lackteen, Ralf Harolde
Cinematography: Sol Polito
Film Editor: George Amy
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Special Effects: Byron Haskin, Hans F. Koenekamp
Original Music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Written by Robert Rosson, from the novel by Jack London
Produced by Hal B. Wallis, Henry Blanke
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Chopping up films for television was once the...
- 10/14/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
What does a working girl have to do to get ahead, when all she has in her favor is an incredible face, a lavish wardrobe, and a pair of legs to make any executive wolf howl? Loretta Young juggles two egotistical swains, while Joan Blondell shines as an enticing all-pro homewrecker.
Big Business Girl
DVD-r
The Warner Archive Collection
1931 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 74 min. / Street Date September 14, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Loretta Young, Frank Albertson, Ricardo Cortez, Joan Blondell, Frank Darien, Dorothy Christy, Oscar Apfel, Judith Barrett, Mickey Bennett, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Virginia Sale.
Cinematography: Sol Polito
Film Editor: Pete Fritch
Written by Robert Lord, story by Patricia Reilly & H.N. Swanson
Produced and Directed by William A. Seiter
Let’s hear it for the Warner Archive Collection’s voluminous vault of early ’30s Warners, MGM and Rko entertainments, which has given us a real education about this era of filmmaking.
Big Business Girl
DVD-r
The Warner Archive Collection
1931 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 74 min. / Street Date September 14, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Loretta Young, Frank Albertson, Ricardo Cortez, Joan Blondell, Frank Darien, Dorothy Christy, Oscar Apfel, Judith Barrett, Mickey Bennett, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Virginia Sale.
Cinematography: Sol Polito
Film Editor: Pete Fritch
Written by Robert Lord, story by Patricia Reilly & H.N. Swanson
Produced and Directed by William A. Seiter
Let’s hear it for the Warner Archive Collection’s voluminous vault of early ’30s Warners, MGM and Rko entertainments, which has given us a real education about this era of filmmaking.
- 10/7/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Director Curtis Harrington always offered up solid, unassuming genre fare on the small screen (How Awful about Allan, the wonderfully goofy Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell); and when he collaborated with noted scribe Robert Bloch (Psycho), the result was NBC’s The Dead Don’t Die (1975), an effective throwback to the Lewton/Turneur era beloved by both, shot through with a big dose of pulpy goodness.
Originally broadcast on January 14th as an NBC World Premiere Movie, Tddd didn’t stand a chance against the likes of the ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week or the ironclad CBS lineup of M*A*S*H/Hawaii Five-o, and Bloch is on the record as not being a fan. Oh well; I still dig its entertaining mashup of neo noir and old fashioned zombies even if he doesn’t. And you might too if that particular elixir peaks your interest.
Crack...
Originally broadcast on January 14th as an NBC World Premiere Movie, Tddd didn’t stand a chance against the likes of the ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week or the ironclad CBS lineup of M*A*S*H/Hawaii Five-o, and Bloch is on the record as not being a fan. Oh well; I still dig its entertaining mashup of neo noir and old fashioned zombies even if he doesn’t. And you might too if that particular elixir peaks your interest.
Crack...
- 10/1/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
[[tmz:video id="0_b24qbkbd"]] Chuck D tells TMZ Sports ... if fans upset with the Colin Kaepernick situation Really wanna send a message to the NFL, the best way to do it is with a full, serious boycott. "Don't go to the sports bars. Don't turn the game on. Leave your team for a year." The Public Enemy legend says it's a bunch of crap that Kaep hasn't been signed to a team -- claiming his accomplishments on the field speak for themselves.
- 8/10/2017
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
The Climber (1976) is now available Blu-ray From Arrow Video
After shooting cult favorites Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula in Europe, Joe Dallesandro spent much of the seventies making movies on the continent. In France he worked with auteurs like Louis Malle and Walerian Borowczyk, and in Italy he starred in all manner of genre fare from poliziotteschi (Savage Three, Season for Assassins) to nunsploitation (Killer Nun).
The Climber follows in the tradition of gangster classics such as The Public Enemy and Scarface as it charts the rise and inevitable fall of small-time smuggler Aldo (Dallesandro). Beaten and abandoned by the local gang boss after he tries to skim off some profits for himself, Aldo forms his own group of misfits in order to exact revenge…
Written and directed by Pasquale Squitieri (Gang War in Naples, I Am the Law), The Climber is a prime example of Italian crime...
After shooting cult favorites Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula in Europe, Joe Dallesandro spent much of the seventies making movies on the continent. In France he worked with auteurs like Louis Malle and Walerian Borowczyk, and in Italy he starred in all manner of genre fare from poliziotteschi (Savage Three, Season for Assassins) to nunsploitation (Killer Nun).
The Climber follows in the tradition of gangster classics such as The Public Enemy and Scarface as it charts the rise and inevitable fall of small-time smuggler Aldo (Dallesandro). Beaten and abandoned by the local gang boss after he tries to skim off some profits for himself, Aldo forms his own group of misfits in order to exact revenge…
Written and directed by Pasquale Squitieri (Gang War in Naples, I Am the Law), The Climber is a prime example of Italian crime...
- 5/23/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
On this very gay day (4/24) in history as it relates to showbiz...
1873 Silent film director Robert Wiene, best known for The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) born in Breslau (Note: other online sources disagree with the IMDb on this birthdate but it's always fun to think about Caligari)
1927 Oscar winning cinematographer Pasqualino de Santis born in Italy. Classics include Romeo and Juliet, The Damned, Death in Venice, and L'Argent
1930 Richard Donner, superstar director/producer of the 1980s, behind films like The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, and the first two Supermans. Apparently retired after 16 Blocks (2006) with Bruce Willis
1931 The Public Enemy starring James Cagney and Jean Harlow was enjoying its opening weekend at movie theaters. It was a big hit, ending in the top ten of its year. Variety claimed it was "low brow material" attempting to be high brow by its craftsmanship. If only critics knew in the moment -- they almost...
1873 Silent film director Robert Wiene, best known for The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) born in Breslau (Note: other online sources disagree with the IMDb on this birthdate but it's always fun to think about Caligari)
1927 Oscar winning cinematographer Pasqualino de Santis born in Italy. Classics include Romeo and Juliet, The Damned, Death in Venice, and L'Argent
1930 Richard Donner, superstar director/producer of the 1980s, behind films like The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, and the first two Supermans. Apparently retired after 16 Blocks (2006) with Bruce Willis
1931 The Public Enemy starring James Cagney and Jean Harlow was enjoying its opening weekend at movie theaters. It was a big hit, ending in the top ten of its year. Variety claimed it was "low brow material" attempting to be high brow by its craftsmanship. If only critics knew in the moment -- they almost...
- 4/24/2017
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesNEWSRadley Metzger's The Lickerish QuartetRadley Metzger, whose groundbreaking erotic films helped set standards of style for both mainstream and arthouse cinema, has died at 88. His classics Camille 2000 (1969) and The Lickerish Quartet (1970) were featured on Mubi last year. Critic and programmer Steve Macfarlane interviewed the director at Slant Magazine for the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 2014 retrospective devoted to Metzger.Recommended VIEWINGThe Cinémathèque française has been on a roll uploading video discussions that have taken place at their Paris cinema. This 34 minute talk is between Wes Anderson and director/producer Barbet Schroeder.The Criterion Collection has recently released a new edition of Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece Blow-Up, and has uploaded this stellar clip of actor David Hemmings speaking on a talk show about making the film.Recommended READINGHoward Hawks' ScarfaceHow does Chicago intertwine itself with crime and the culture created in the mix of the two?...
- 4/5/2017
- MUBI
The restoration of a newly rediscovered director’s cut of the 1931 The Front Page prompts this two-feature comedy disc — Lewis Milestone’s early talkie plus the sublime Howard Hawks remake, which plays a major gender switch on the main characters of Hecht & MacArthur’s original play.
His Girl Friday / The Front Page
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 849
Available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 10, 2017 / 39.96
His Girl Friday:
1940 / B&W /1:37 flat Academy / 92 min.
Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, Ernest Truex, Cliff Edwards, Clarence Kolb, Roscoe Karns, Frank Jenks, Regis Toomey, Abner Biberman, Frank Orth, John Qualen, Helen Mack, Alma Kruger, Billy Gilbert, Marion Martin.
Cinematography Joseph Walker
Film Editor Gene Havelick
Original Music Sidney Cutner, Felix Mills
Written by Charles Lederer from the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Produced and Directed by Howard Hawks
The Front Page:...
His Girl Friday / The Front Page
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 849
Available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 10, 2017 / 39.96
His Girl Friday:
1940 / B&W /1:37 flat Academy / 92 min.
Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, Ernest Truex, Cliff Edwards, Clarence Kolb, Roscoe Karns, Frank Jenks, Regis Toomey, Abner Biberman, Frank Orth, John Qualen, Helen Mack, Alma Kruger, Billy Gilbert, Marion Martin.
Cinematography Joseph Walker
Film Editor Gene Havelick
Original Music Sidney Cutner, Felix Mills
Written by Charles Lederer from the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Produced and Directed by Howard Hawks
The Front Page:...
- 1/3/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Public Enemy song “Fight the Power” opened and closed out the Oscars telecast on Sunday night, and one member of the legendary rap group is not happy. Professor Griff has come out against the use of the song, saying that the Academy is simply trying to pay lip service to the radical change that Public Enemy is all about. “The show can’t claim the blackness of Public Enemy’s message,” Griff told TMZ. Also Read: Chris Rock Draws Backlash for Asian Jokes at Oscars Oscars music supervisor Byron Phillips previously stated why he felt the song was fitting for this year’s ceremony.
- 3/1/2016
- by Joe Otterson
- The Wrap
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
IFC Center
For the Studio Ghibli retrospective, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind will screen on 35mm at midnight this Friday, alongside My Neighbor Totoro. Princess Mononoke can be seen at midnight on Saturday, and Only Yesterday plays throughout the weekend.
Alien, Fight Club, and an archival print of Horror of Dracula screen at midnight.
IFC Center
For the Studio Ghibli retrospective, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind will screen on 35mm at midnight this Friday, alongside My Neighbor Totoro. Princess Mononoke can be seen at midnight on Saturday, and Only Yesterday plays throughout the weekend.
Alien, Fight Club, and an archival print of Horror of Dracula screen at midnight.
- 1/7/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
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