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Tag: classic movie

1941: “To Hollywood…and Glory!”

1941: “To Hollywood…and Glory!”

Released: December 1979 Directed By: Steven Spielberg Cast: Dan Ackroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, John Candy, Warren Oates, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, Nancy Allen, Eddie Deezen, Bobby Di Cicco, Dianne Kay, Slim Pickens, Wendie Jo Sperber, Lionel Stander. When I went to see Steven Spielberg’s 1941 when it was first released in 1979, I knew I was going to like it. What I didn’t know was how much. It turned…

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TORA! TORA! TORA!: “…with a terrible resolve.”

TORA! TORA! TORA!: “…with a terrible resolve.”

Released: October 1970 Directed by: Toshio Masuda, Kinji Fukasaku, Richard Fleischer. Cast: Martin Balsam, Soh Yamamura, Joseph Cotton, Tatsuya Mihashi, E.G. Marshall, Takahiro Tamura, James Whitmore, Koreya Senda, Jason Robarts. I have always found the Pearl Harbor story fascinating. As a 13-year-old it was likely the ships, airplanes, and explosions. But I wanted to know more, so I did something dangerous, I began to read books. What I learned over the years was a fascinating and complicated story revolving the…

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Crossplot: The Forgettable Movie I Can’t Get Out of My Head.

Crossplot: The Forgettable Movie I Can’t Get Out of My Head.

Released: November 1969 Directed By: Alvin Rakoff Cast: Roger Moore, Claudie Lange, Martha Hyer, Alexis Kanner, Derek Francis, Ursula Howells. Bernard Lee. I hadn’t planned on writing anything about Crossplot beyond my blurb on Twitter (I refuse to call it ‘X’) and Letterboxd, referring to the film ultimately as forgettable. However, a Twitter follower commented on my blurb thinking the movie poster and the plot looked interesting. I replied saying the plot was very Hitchcock-like and the film itself was…

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Casablanca: Monsieur Rick, Signor Ugarte, and the Fine Art of World Building.

Casablanca: Monsieur Rick, Signor Ugarte, and the Fine Art of World Building.

Released: January 1943 Directed By: Michael Curtiz Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre. By the time we meet Richard Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) in the first act of Casablanca, two German couriers have been murdered and two valuable letters of transit have been stolen, Capt. Louis Renault (Claude Rains) has rounded up the usual suspects, Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) of the Third Reich shows up ahead of the impending arrival of Victor…

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Gun Crazy: “Thrill Crazy… Kill Crazy… ‘Deadly is the Female.’”

Gun Crazy: “Thrill Crazy… Kill Crazy… ‘Deadly is the Female.’”

Released: January 1950 Dir.: Joseph H. Lewis Cast: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Anabel Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Russ Tamblyn. Right from childhood Bart Tare (John Dall) was crazy about guns. So much so he tried to break into a hardware store to steal a revolver. His attempt failed and earned him 5 years up the river to reform school. Bart learned his lessons the hard way, at the ripe old age of 7 he shot a baby…

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Buck Privates: ‘You’ll Be Caught in a Draft…of Laughter!’

Buck Privates: ‘You’ll Be Caught in a Draft…of Laughter!’

Released: January 1941 Dir.: Arthur Lubin Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lee Bowman, Alan Curtis, Jane Frazee, Nat Pendleton, The Andrews Sisters. Imagine a world where you and a pal could hangout on a street corner selling neckties for 10 cents apiece. Be chased by a cop, for illegally selling said neckties, hide from him by ducking into a movie theater and then accidentally enlisting in the army. Imagine a world where while waiting to be shipped off to boot…

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All Through the Night: ‘This is Broadway, Not Berlin!’

All Through the Night: ‘This is Broadway, Not Berlin!’

Released: 1942 Dir.: Vincent Sherman How can you not like a movie that pits Humphrey Bogart against Conrad Veidt? Better still, gangsters versus Nazis! All Through the Night has this, and more. Add William Demarest, Frank McHugh, Judith Anderson, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, and the always awesome Peter Lorre, and you have a great night’s entertainment. Gloves Donahue (Humphrey Bogart) is a popular Broadway sporting figure and man about town, in other words a gambler. And when Gloves’ friend, and…

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Hiroshima mon amour: ‘…the Obvious Necessity of Remembering…’

Hiroshima mon amour: ‘…the Obvious Necessity of Remembering…’

Released: 1959 Dir.: Alain Resnais First time viewing reaction. I’ve known about Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima mon amour for years but knew absolutely nothing about it. And that’s how I went into the film when I watched it for the first time Monday night. It is a beautiful, yet devastating film. I understand that the main characters, who are unnamed in the film, but are identified in cast listings as, Elle (Emmanuelle Riva) and Lui (Eiji Okada), can be interpreted as…

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Dishonored: ‘I Am Not Afraid of Death Either’.

Dishonored: ‘I Am Not Afraid of Death Either’.

Released: 1931 Dir.: Josef von Sternberg Vienna. On a rainy night in 1915, a prostitute committed suicide and her body is being removed from her apartment. With neighbors looking on, Marie Kolerer (Marlene Dietrich), a fellow lady of the evening, replies to a snarky remark about her facing the same fate. Marie replies, ‘No I am not. I am not afraid of life. Although I am not afraid of death, either.’ Marie’s remark is overheard by the Chief of the…

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Juke Girl: ‘Sure She’s Easy to Meet… but Try and Forget Her!’

Juke Girl: ‘Sure She’s Easy to Meet… but Try and Forget Her!’

Released: 1942 Dir.: Curtis Bernhardt I have a weakness for classic Warner Brothers films. There is nothing overly extraordinary about Juke Girl, it was just another picture on the production rooster, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good film for your viewing pleasure. For an average run of the mill film, you still get caught up in its story, with a climax that can make your blood boil if you allow it to. By 1942, it’s the kind of…

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