Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970, Ted Post)
On rare occasion, I watch (and on even rarer occasion, finish watching) an utter dreg of a film. A film so bad I misuse the word dregs, which apparently–since it refers to a liquid form–must be used as...
View ArticleAn Enemy of the People (1978, George Schaefer)
Growing up–early, before I’d really seen any movies–I knew Steve McQueen was in The Great Escape (though I hadn’t seen it, I’d seen the motorcycle clip) and I knew he’d gotten his start in The Blob....
View ArticleBattle for the Planet of the Apes (1973, J. Lee Thompson), the extended version
I actually had some hopes for the Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the last film in the series, mostly because J. Lee Thompson did such a good job directing the previous entry. Except for not knowing...
View ArticleThe Car (1977, Elliot Silverstein)
Sitting and watching The Car in 2006, it was amusing to know what Universal studio executives were saying about the film some thirty years ago… “It’s like Jaws, but with a car.” At first, I thought the...
View ArticleThe Cobweb (1955, Vincente Minnelli)
A more appropriate title might be The Trouble with the Drapes, but even with the misleading moniker, The Cobweb is a good Cinemascope drama. Cinemascope dramas went out some time in the mid-1960s....
View ArticleRobocop 2 (1990, Irvin Kershner)
I remember in 1991, when I was visiting a friend and he showed me the Robocop movies (there were only two at the time, of course)–I’m tempted to go on a tangent about when one could still show someone...
View ArticleRebel Without a Cause (1955, Nicholas Ray)
For a film with pioneering use of widescreen composition–the shot with the cars moving past Natalie Wood–and one of the better film performances (James Dean), Rebel Without a Cause is a curious...
View ArticleFantastic Voyage (1966, Richard Fleischer)
Among Fantastic Voyage‘s many problems, the two salient ones are the general lack of tension and the utter lack of wonderment. Fleischer is responsible for both, though maybe not so much the first. The...
View ArticleAnd When the Sky Was Opened (1959, Douglas Heyes)
The magic of And When the Sky Was Opened is Rod Taylor’s lead performance. He’s an astronaut who holds on while reality loses track of his astronaut copilots after they return to Earth. Whether he’s...
View ArticleFantastic Voyage (1966, Richard Fleischer)
Among Fantastic Voyage‘s many problems, the two salient ones are the general lack of tension and the utter lack of wonderment. Fleischer is responsible for both, though maybe not so much the first. The...
View ArticleAnd When the Sky Was Opened (1959, Douglas Heyes)
The magic of And When the Sky Was Opened is Rod Taylor’s lead performance. He’s an astronaut who holds on while reality loses track of his astronaut copilots after they return to Earth. Whether he’s...
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