Veteran British actor Michael Culver, best known for portraying Captain Needa in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Major McBryde in A Passage to India, has died. He was 85. As per The Hollywood Reporter, Culver passed away on Tuesday, February 27, according to his representatives at Alliance Agents. No other details or cause of death were given. Born June 16, 1938, in London, England, Culver came from an acting family, with his father, mother, brother, and aunt all having theatrical careers. His own acting career began by performing at the Old Vic, Dundee Rep, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He would go on to star in several recurring roles on British television, including as Squire Armstrong in The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972–74), Major Erwin Brandt in the BBC drama Secret Army (1977–78), Ralph Saroyan in The House of Eliott (1992) and Prior Robert in Cadfael (1994–98). Culver also had guest roles in The Sweeney,...
- 3/14/2024
- TV Insider
The entertainment industry received sad news this morning as it was announced that actor Michael Culver has passed away at the age of 85 after a prolonged illness. His agents released a statement confirming the news.
We are very sad to confirm the passing of our friend and client Michael Culver. A career spanning over 50 years with notable roles in ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ ‘A Passage to India,’ ‘Secret Army’ and of course one of the most memorable death scenes in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. Michael largely gave up acting in the early 2000s to concentrate his efforts on his political activism. It’s been an honor to have represented Michael for for the last decade and to have taken him to some of the best ‘Star Wars’ events in the UK and Europe. A real highlight was taking Michael to Celebration in Chicago in 2019. He was lost for words when he saw...
We are very sad to confirm the passing of our friend and client Michael Culver. A career spanning over 50 years with notable roles in ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ ‘A Passage to India,’ ‘Secret Army’ and of course one of the most memorable death scenes in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. Michael largely gave up acting in the early 2000s to concentrate his efforts on his political activism. It’s been an honor to have represented Michael for for the last decade and to have taken him to some of the best ‘Star Wars’ events in the UK and Europe. A real highlight was taking Michael to Celebration in Chicago in 2019. He was lost for words when he saw...
- 3/13/2024
- by Valentina Kraljik
- Fiction Horizon
The world of entertainment was shaken this morning when the news broke that actor Michael Culver has died following a long health battle at the age of 85. His agents went public with the following statement:
We are very sad to confirm the passing of our friend and client Michael Culver. A career spanning over 50 years with notable roles in ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ ‘A Passage to India,’ ‘Secret Army’ and of course one of the most memorable death scenes in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. Michael largely gave up acting in the early 2000s to concentrate his efforts on his political activism. It’s been an honor to have represented Michael for for the last decade and to have taken him to some of the best ‘Star Wars’ events in the UK and Europe. A real highlight was taking Michael to Celebration in Chicago in 2019. He was lost for words when he saw...
We are very sad to confirm the passing of our friend and client Michael Culver. A career spanning over 50 years with notable roles in ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ ‘A Passage to India,’ ‘Secret Army’ and of course one of the most memorable death scenes in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. Michael largely gave up acting in the early 2000s to concentrate his efforts on his political activism. It’s been an honor to have represented Michael for for the last decade and to have taken him to some of the best ‘Star Wars’ events in the UK and Europe. A real highlight was taking Michael to Celebration in Chicago in 2019. He was lost for words when he saw...
- 3/13/2024
- by Valentina Kraljik
- Comic Basics
German-born laywer acquired hundreds of film and TV projects as pre-buys from US producers.
International media consultant and producer Thomas Augsberger has passed away suddenly at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He was 60 years old.
The German-born lawyer was founder of Eden Rock Media, a film and television production company and media consulting business.
Augsberger advised a number of high-profile media clients over the years, most prominently Germany’s Leonine Studios. Before Leonine, Augsberger spent 23 years as an advisor to Dr. Herbert Kloiber’s Tele Muenchen Group as Tmg’s exclusive North American representative in the US.
Augsberger’s...
International media consultant and producer Thomas Augsberger has passed away suddenly at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He was 60 years old.
The German-born lawyer was founder of Eden Rock Media, a film and television production company and media consulting business.
Augsberger advised a number of high-profile media clients over the years, most prominently Germany’s Leonine Studios. Before Leonine, Augsberger spent 23 years as an advisor to Dr. Herbert Kloiber’s Tele Muenchen Group as Tmg’s exclusive North American representative in the US.
Augsberger’s...
- 11/29/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Thomas Augsberger, the producer, international film consultant, former Lionsgate board member and founder of Eden Rock Media, has died. He was 60.
Augsberger died suddenly on Monday, November 27, at his home in the Hollywood Hills, members of his family told The Hollywood Reporter.
The German-born and trained attorney was best known as the longtime consultant and North American representative for Herbert Kloiber‘s German mini-major Tele Muenchen Group (Tmg). After Leonine acquired Tmg in 2019, Augsberger continued to advise the company on film projects and acquisitions.
Over more than two decades, Augsberger acquired hundreds of film and TV projects for the German market from producers, sales agents and studios, making him one of the most important figures on the independent scene. He helped secure prebuys of Marvel’s Iron Man, Summit Entertainment’s Twilight and Lionsgate’s John Wick and Hunger Games franchises, including the recent prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,...
Augsberger died suddenly on Monday, November 27, at his home in the Hollywood Hills, members of his family told The Hollywood Reporter.
The German-born and trained attorney was best known as the longtime consultant and North American representative for Herbert Kloiber‘s German mini-major Tele Muenchen Group (Tmg). After Leonine acquired Tmg in 2019, Augsberger continued to advise the company on film projects and acquisitions.
Over more than two decades, Augsberger acquired hundreds of film and TV projects for the German market from producers, sales agents and studios, making him one of the most important figures on the independent scene. He helped secure prebuys of Marvel’s Iron Man, Summit Entertainment’s Twilight and Lionsgate’s John Wick and Hunger Games franchises, including the recent prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,...
- 11/29/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Deadline has learned that Thomas Augsberger, Eden Rock Media founder, producer and international media consultant died suddenly today at his Hollywood Hills home. He was 60 years old.
The German-born and trained attorney advised a number of high-profile media clients over the years, most prominently Germany’s Leonine Studios. Prior to Leonine, Augsberger served 23 years as an advisor to Dr. Herbert Kloiber‘s Tele Muenchen Group as Tmg’s exclusive North American representative in the US.
In 2002, he founded Eden Rock Media, a film and television production company and media consulting business.
Augsberger was widely respected for his deep experience in the production and acquisition of feature films, television series, and content libraries; investments in US distributors and production companies; the co-financing, co-production, and distribution of film, television, and digital projects; and the negotiation of German output deals with studios for theatrical, home entertainment, and television. Over the course of his 26-year consulting career,...
The German-born and trained attorney advised a number of high-profile media clients over the years, most prominently Germany’s Leonine Studios. Prior to Leonine, Augsberger served 23 years as an advisor to Dr. Herbert Kloiber‘s Tele Muenchen Group as Tmg’s exclusive North American representative in the US.
In 2002, he founded Eden Rock Media, a film and television production company and media consulting business.
Augsberger was widely respected for his deep experience in the production and acquisition of feature films, television series, and content libraries; investments in US distributors and production companies; the co-financing, co-production, and distribution of film, television, and digital projects; and the negotiation of German output deals with studios for theatrical, home entertainment, and television. Over the course of his 26-year consulting career,...
- 11/29/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Get ready for Season 16, Episode 12 of “MasterChef: The Professionals,” set to air on BBC One at 9:00 Pm on Thursday, November 16, 2023. The show continues its quest to discover the next exceptional professional chef.
The culinary competition reaches its intense quarter-final stage. The four top chefs from this week’s heats are back in the MasterChef kitchen, ready to face two challenging tasks set by judges Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing.
The episode begins with an Invention Test, where the chefs are tasked with creating a dish that embodies the essence of sunshine – a bright, light, and colorful creation that transports diners to sunnier climes. To aid them in this endeavor, the larder is stocked with an array of fresh seafood, tropical fruits, and summer vegetables. The chefs must showcase their inventiveness and technical skill to craft a dish that captivates the judges and brings warmth and flavor to the table.
The culinary competition reaches its intense quarter-final stage. The four top chefs from this week’s heats are back in the MasterChef kitchen, ready to face two challenging tasks set by judges Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing.
The episode begins with an Invention Test, where the chefs are tasked with creating a dish that embodies the essence of sunshine – a bright, light, and colorful creation that transports diners to sunnier climes. To aid them in this endeavor, the larder is stocked with an array of fresh seafood, tropical fruits, and summer vegetables. The chefs must showcase their inventiveness and technical skill to craft a dish that captivates the judges and brings warmth and flavor to the table.
- 11/10/2023
- by Posts UK
- TV Everyday
Bird Box: Barcelona, the NFL docuseries Quarterback, the third season of Sweet Magnolias and Jamie Foxx starrer They Cloned Tyrone are among the new projects debuting on Netflix in July
Bird Box: Barcelona is a Spanish-language spinoff of the 2018 Sandra Bullock-starring thriller. The film, written and directed by Alex and David Pastor, picks up after a mysterious force destroys Earth’s population and follows survivors as they seek to escape visible threats. The movie, which stars Mario Casas and Barbarian breakout Georgina Campbell, is meant to be the first of a series of films to expand the Bird Box universe.
The eight-episode Quarterback, Netflix’s first partnership with the NFL and produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, features unprecedented access to Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota both on and off the field during the 2022 season as the NFL allowed the quarterbacks to be mic’d up for every single game,...
Bird Box: Barcelona is a Spanish-language spinoff of the 2018 Sandra Bullock-starring thriller. The film, written and directed by Alex and David Pastor, picks up after a mysterious force destroys Earth’s population and follows survivors as they seek to escape visible threats. The movie, which stars Mario Casas and Barbarian breakout Georgina Campbell, is meant to be the first of a series of films to expand the Bird Box universe.
The eight-episode Quarterback, Netflix’s first partnership with the NFL and produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, features unprecedented access to Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota both on and off the field during the 2022 season as the NFL allowed the quarterbacks to be mic’d up for every single game,...
- 7/10/2023
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Do not adjust your phone screen. You are not experiencing deja vu. Netflix’s list of new releases for July 2023 does indeed look quite a bit like last month’s.
That’s because the biggest new arrival this month is the conclusion of The Witcher season 3 on July 27. It seems like only 29 days ago that The Witcher season 3 premiered. And that’s because it was! Now Henry Cavill’s arc as Geralt of Rivia is set to officially end with this batch of three episodes. Get ready for the Liam Hemsworth era, Witcher fans. Other Netflix Original series of note in July 2023 are The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 on July 6, Sonic Prime season 2 on July 13 and the animated comedy Captain Fall on July 28.
Meanwhile it’s a big month for Netflix’s original movies department. Adam Devine-starring comedy The Out-Laws premieres on July 7. That will be followed by Bird Box...
That’s because the biggest new arrival this month is the conclusion of The Witcher season 3 on July 27. It seems like only 29 days ago that The Witcher season 3 premiered. And that’s because it was! Now Henry Cavill’s arc as Geralt of Rivia is set to officially end with this batch of three episodes. Get ready for the Liam Hemsworth era, Witcher fans. Other Netflix Original series of note in July 2023 are The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 on July 6, Sonic Prime season 2 on July 13 and the animated comedy Captain Fall on July 28.
Meanwhile it’s a big month for Netflix’s original movies department. Adam Devine-starring comedy The Out-Laws premieres on July 7. That will be followed by Bird Box...
- 7/1/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Perfect Match, The Woman King and Outer Banks: Season 3 are some of the much-anticipated projects hitting Netflix this month.
New dating show Perfect Match features alums from Netflix’s unscripted series looking for love and competing against their fellow singles in a tropical paradise. In the Nick Lachey-hosted series, contestants will pair up to form potential matches with the most compatible couples able to play matchmaker, breaking up couples and connecting them with new singles. The first season will start streaming on Valentine’s Day, with new episodes dropping each week.
Shortly after Valentine’s Day, Netflix will air two projects celebrating African royalty.
The Jada Pinkett Smith-executive-produced and -narrated docuseries African Queens: Njinga, dropping Feb. 15, explores the life of the 17th century warrior leader of Ndongo and Matamba, in modern-day Angola.
The next day, Netflix will start streaming Gina Prince-Bythewood’s acclaimed The Woman King, starring Viola Davis,...
New dating show Perfect Match features alums from Netflix’s unscripted series looking for love and competing against their fellow singles in a tropical paradise. In the Nick Lachey-hosted series, contestants will pair up to form potential matches with the most compatible couples able to play matchmaker, breaking up couples and connecting them with new singles. The first season will start streaming on Valentine’s Day, with new episodes dropping each week.
Shortly after Valentine’s Day, Netflix will air two projects celebrating African royalty.
The Jada Pinkett Smith-executive-produced and -narrated docuseries African Queens: Njinga, dropping Feb. 15, explores the life of the 17th century warrior leader of Ndongo and Matamba, in modern-day Angola.
The next day, Netflix will start streaming Gina Prince-Bythewood’s acclaimed The Woman King, starring Viola Davis,...
- 2/12/2023
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tim Beddows, Managing Director of the UK-based Network Distributing Limited, has died. He was 59.
Beddows died on Friday, November 18. Network Distributing confirmed the news to Deadline in a statement, describing Beddows’s death as a “terrible shock to everyone who knew him both personally and professionally.”
“The Network team are devastated but committed to continuing his legacy and building upon Network’s position of strength as a leader in the UK home entertainment market,” the statement read.
Beddows founded Network in 1997. The UK-based company now acts as an independent UK publishing, distribution, production, and entertainment group.
The company is most known for its work restoration work. Some of the company’s biggest re-releases include The Sweeney, The Professionals, The Woman in Black, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Prisoner, and Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation library.
In 2021, Network acquired a number of libraries, including Rapido TV, the Danziger film and TV catalog,...
Beddows died on Friday, November 18. Network Distributing confirmed the news to Deadline in a statement, describing Beddows’s death as a “terrible shock to everyone who knew him both personally and professionally.”
“The Network team are devastated but committed to continuing his legacy and building upon Network’s position of strength as a leader in the UK home entertainment market,” the statement read.
Beddows founded Network in 1997. The UK-based company now acts as an independent UK publishing, distribution, production, and entertainment group.
The company is most known for its work restoration work. Some of the company’s biggest re-releases include The Sweeney, The Professionals, The Woman in Black, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Prisoner, and Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation library.
In 2021, Network acquired a number of libraries, including Rapido TV, the Danziger film and TV catalog,...
- 11/25/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The CW took viewers back to the world of Supernatural Tuesday night.
The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 1 managed 757,000 viewers and a 01 rating among adults 18-49.
The total viewer tally is decent for a CW show, trailing only the premiere of Walker earlier this season in that metric.
The Professionals, starring Tom Welling and Brendan Fraser, drew 354,000 viewers and a 0.1 rating.
The numbers for the network are not terrible, but the network probably expected another tenth or two in the demo for The Winchesters.
Over on ABC, Bachelor in Paradise stabilized with 2 million viewers and a 0.5 rating.
The Rookie Feds, which has emerged as a hit in delayed viewing, continued to lose ground in the overnights.
The Niecy Nash-led series managed 1.5 million viewers and a 0.2 rating.
The Voice dipped to 6 million total viewers and a 0.5 rating, while La Brea (3.5 million/0.4 rating) was stable.
New Amsterdam (1.6 million/0.2 rating) took a hit to its lowest numbers yet.
The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 1 managed 757,000 viewers and a 01 rating among adults 18-49.
The total viewer tally is decent for a CW show, trailing only the premiere of Walker earlier this season in that metric.
The Professionals, starring Tom Welling and Brendan Fraser, drew 354,000 viewers and a 0.1 rating.
The numbers for the network are not terrible, but the network probably expected another tenth or two in the demo for The Winchesters.
Over on ABC, Bachelor in Paradise stabilized with 2 million viewers and a 0.5 rating.
The Rookie Feds, which has emerged as a hit in delayed viewing, continued to lose ground in the overnights.
The Niecy Nash-led series managed 1.5 million viewers and a 0.2 rating.
The Voice dipped to 6 million total viewers and a 0.5 rating, while La Brea (3.5 million/0.4 rating) was stable.
New Amsterdam (1.6 million/0.2 rating) took a hit to its lowest numbers yet.
- 10/12/2022
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
Tom Welling will be pulling double duty on The CW this fall.
News broke Sunday during the New York Comic Con panel for The Winchesters that Welling had booked a role on the forthcoming Supernatural spinoff.
Welling is best known for playing Clark Kent on The WB/CW's Smallville.
According to TV Line, the actor will play Samuel Campbell. If you watch Supernatural online, you know Mitch Pileggi originated the role on the original series.
The Winchesters is a prequel that tells the story of John and Mary Winchester, so it makes sense to have Mary's father (Samuel) as a part of the cast.
The casting news reunites Welling with Jensen Ackles, who appeared on Smallville.
"Before Sam and Dean, there were their parents, John and Mary. Told from the perspective of narrator Dean Winchester, The Winchesters is the epic, untold love story of how John Winchester met Mary Campbell...
News broke Sunday during the New York Comic Con panel for The Winchesters that Welling had booked a role on the forthcoming Supernatural spinoff.
Welling is best known for playing Clark Kent on The WB/CW's Smallville.
According to TV Line, the actor will play Samuel Campbell. If you watch Supernatural online, you know Mitch Pileggi originated the role on the original series.
The Winchesters is a prequel that tells the story of John and Mary Winchester, so it makes sense to have Mary's father (Samuel) as a part of the cast.
The casting news reunites Welling with Jensen Ackles, who appeared on Smallville.
"Before Sam and Dean, there were their parents, John and Mary. Told from the perspective of narrator Dean Winchester, The Winchesters is the epic, untold love story of how John Winchester met Mary Campbell...
- 10/9/2022
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
Plot: In 1897, a veteran bounty hunter, Max Borlund (Christoph Waltz), is hired to find Rachel Price (Rachel Brosnahan), the wife of a businessman who’s supposedly been abducted by a black soldier, Elijah Jones (Brandon Scott) and is now being held for ransom. He soon discovers that Rachel is far from a captive and is with Elijah by choice, putting him on a collision course with her husband, plus a Mexican land baron named Tiberio Vargas (Benjamin Bratt). He also has to worry about his sworn enemy, Joe Cribbens (Willem Dafoe), who’s working for Vargas and is bent on killing the bounty hunter.
Review: Walter Hill’s Dead for a Dollar is an interesting Neo-western with an agreeably off-kilter cast and a solid premise. Hill’s one of the few directors still working in the sphere, directing a handful of solid, modern westerns, including The Long Riders, Wild Bill and Geronimo: An American Legend.
Review: Walter Hill’s Dead for a Dollar is an interesting Neo-western with an agreeably off-kilter cast and a solid premise. Hill’s one of the few directors still working in the sphere, directing a handful of solid, modern westerns, including The Long Riders, Wild Bill and Geronimo: An American Legend.
- 9/30/2022
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Stars: Jasmine Day, Matison Card, Brittney Carpenter, Jesse Davis, Andrew Hook, Ryan Fredericks | Written and Directed by Calvin T. Shepherd
Safe House 1618 is the latest film about criminals on the run taking refuge in a house that turns out not to be nearly as safe as they thought. From Fight for Your Life and The Desperate Hours to Hideout and Blood Massacre it’s a well-used theme in several genres. Can writer/director Calvin T. Shepherd find a new way to tell it?
The film opens with the murder of a bound man by a masked figure. A cell phone message indicates the victim double-crossed whoever ordered his death. From there we move to three masked figures in the back of a truck. It backs into the driveway of a house with an armed guard who is stupid enough to walk up to the truck and let himself be disarmed.
Safe House 1618 is the latest film about criminals on the run taking refuge in a house that turns out not to be nearly as safe as they thought. From Fight for Your Life and The Desperate Hours to Hideout and Blood Massacre it’s a well-used theme in several genres. Can writer/director Calvin T. Shepherd find a new way to tell it?
The film opens with the murder of a bound man by a masked figure. A cell phone message indicates the victim double-crossed whoever ordered his death. From there we move to three masked figures in the back of a truck. It backs into the driveway of a house with an armed guard who is stupid enough to walk up to the truck and let himself be disarmed.
- 8/9/2022
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
What happens the moment gunmen go South of the border in American westerns? Implied foreign policy, that’s what! Updating an old ‘MGM Video Savant’ article from 1999, CineSavant takes a look at a fistful of big Hollywood shoot-out epics that formed less-than-optimal public impressions of international relations. You know, the Friendly Neighbor Policy, only with guns. The essay rewrite was first reprinted at Lee Broughton’s Current Thinking on the Western page, ‘An Internet Resource for Scholars of the Western Worldwide.’
The Foreign Adventurism Western
CineSavant Article
Discussing the films
Vera Cruz (1954),
The Magnificent Seven (1960),
Major Dundee (1965),
The Professionals (1966),
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Directed by Robert Aldrich, John Sturges, Sam Peckinpah, Richard Brooks
While enjoying an escapist, ostensibly apolitical Hollywood western, did you ever get the feeling that the filmmakers were commenting on foreign policy?
Back in the early 1970s the best studies of American genre films seemed to emanate from English critics.
The Foreign Adventurism Western
CineSavant Article
Discussing the films
Vera Cruz (1954),
The Magnificent Seven (1960),
Major Dundee (1965),
The Professionals (1966),
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Directed by Robert Aldrich, John Sturges, Sam Peckinpah, Richard Brooks
While enjoying an escapist, ostensibly apolitical Hollywood western, did you ever get the feeling that the filmmakers were commenting on foreign policy?
Back in the early 1970s the best studies of American genre films seemed to emanate from English critics.
- 6/11/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The CW has announced its fall 2022 schedule, which will see the “Supernatural” prequel “The Winchesters” anchoring Tuesday nights.
The series, which follows Sam and Dean’s parents, will kick off Tuesdays and lead into the acquired series “The Professionals” starring “Smallville” alum Tom Welling.
On Mondays, “All American” remains in the 8 p.m. slot and will be followed by the spinoff “All American: Homecoming.” On Wednesdays, DC series “Stargirl” is being moved to a fall primetime slot, kicking off the night at 8 p.m. followed by the third season of “Kung Fu.”
Thursdays belong to Jared Padalecki, with “Walker” staying in the 8 p.m. slot and leading into the prequel series “Walker: Independence.” Fridays and Saturdays are all alternative programming. “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” and “Whose Line Is It Anyway” run Fridays while “Magic with the Stars” and “World’s Funniest Animals” are on Saturdays. Finally, on Sunday, the...
The series, which follows Sam and Dean’s parents, will kick off Tuesdays and lead into the acquired series “The Professionals” starring “Smallville” alum Tom Welling.
On Mondays, “All American” remains in the 8 p.m. slot and will be followed by the spinoff “All American: Homecoming.” On Wednesdays, DC series “Stargirl” is being moved to a fall primetime slot, kicking off the night at 8 p.m. followed by the third season of “Kung Fu.”
Thursdays belong to Jared Padalecki, with “Walker” staying in the 8 p.m. slot and leading into the prequel series “Walker: Independence.” Fridays and Saturdays are all alternative programming. “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” and “Whose Line Is It Anyway” run Fridays while “Magic with the Stars” and “World’s Funniest Animals” are on Saturdays. Finally, on Sunday, the...
- 5/19/2022
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Plenty of media stories about Jeymes Samuel’s “The Harder They Fall” have played up the Western’s all-Black cast, with many describing the Netflix film as a “corrective” to the popular Hollywood image of an all-white Old West. But a cursory Google search will offer that this credit has been attributed to a number of other titles that came long before Samuel and even the oldest members of his all-star cast were even born.
The Western film genre is unique to a specific period and place and is, as such, instantly recognizable. The cinema helped immortalize the cowboy, rendering him, in many ways, inseparable from its cultural tradition. The cinema has also immortalized the cowboy as a white man, erasing the Black Americans who made up one-fourth of the wranglers and riders of the American frontier.
While some are quick to groan at every instance of colorblind casting, those...
The Western film genre is unique to a specific period and place and is, as such, instantly recognizable. The cinema helped immortalize the cowboy, rendering him, in many ways, inseparable from its cultural tradition. The cinema has also immortalized the cowboy as a white man, erasing the Black Americans who made up one-fourth of the wranglers and riders of the American frontier.
While some are quick to groan at every instance of colorblind casting, those...
- 3/2/2022
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Woody Strode as Jake in "The Professionals" (1966). (Photo: Cinema Retro Archive.)
This is too good to be true for retro movie fans. The great Woody Strode will be commemorated with a film festival at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York. Strode, a former professional athlete, was one of the first African-American actors to break the glass ceiling, appearing in supporting roles in many major films. The festival, titled "The Legend of Woody Strode", will offer a rare opportunity to see many of his films on the big screen. Here is the official press release.
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The Legend of Woody Strode
February 11–March 6, 2022
Despite the lack of opportunities for actors of color in his era, Woody Strode left a legacy worth revisiting. Strode, the six-foot-four pioneering athlete turned movie star, was born in 1914, in South Central Los Angeles, to Black and Native American parents.
This is too good to be true for retro movie fans. The great Woody Strode will be commemorated with a film festival at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York. Strode, a former professional athlete, was one of the first African-American actors to break the glass ceiling, appearing in supporting roles in many major films. The festival, titled "The Legend of Woody Strode", will offer a rare opportunity to see many of his films on the big screen. Here is the official press release.
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
The Legend of Woody Strode
February 11–March 6, 2022
Despite the lack of opportunities for actors of color in his era, Woody Strode left a legacy worth revisiting. Strode, the six-foot-four pioneering athlete turned movie star, was born in 1914, in South Central Los Angeles, to Black and Native American parents.
- 1/27/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
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By John M. Whalen
In “Wings of the Hawk” (1953), Van Heflin stars as Irish Gallagher, an American mining for gold down in Mexico. He and his partner Marco (Mario Siletti) are ripped off by local military ruler Coronel Paco Ruiz (George Dolenz), who takes over the mine and kills Marco. Irish barely manages to escape on horseback and is rescued by insurrectionists led by Raquel Noriega (Julia Adams), who gets a bullet in the shoulder for her trouble. Irish patches her up in exchange for his freedom and romance rears its ugly head. Jealousy also flares when revolutionary leader Arturo Torres (Rudolpho Acosta), who had been her lover, sees what’s going on. Enter Pascual Orozco who asks for Arturo’s help in taking Ciudad Juarez. They’ll need $5,000 to buy 200 rifles but the revolutionaries have no money. However, they come up with a brainstorm.
By John M. Whalen
In “Wings of the Hawk” (1953), Van Heflin stars as Irish Gallagher, an American mining for gold down in Mexico. He and his partner Marco (Mario Siletti) are ripped off by local military ruler Coronel Paco Ruiz (George Dolenz), who takes over the mine and kills Marco. Irish barely manages to escape on horseback and is rescued by insurrectionists led by Raquel Noriega (Julia Adams), who gets a bullet in the shoulder for her trouble. Irish patches her up in exchange for his freedom and romance rears its ugly head. Jealousy also flares when revolutionary leader Arturo Torres (Rudolpho Acosta), who had been her lover, sees what’s going on. Enter Pascual Orozco who asks for Arturo’s help in taking Ciudad Juarez. They’ll need $5,000 to buy 200 rifles but the revolutionaries have no money. However, they come up with a brainstorm.
- 3/5/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Exclusive: Creep franchise filmmaker and HBO Room 104 director Patrick Brice has boarded The Wild at HBO Max and Warner Max, a project he’ll direct and adapt from the Owen Laukkanen young female suspense novel.
The Wild, from Underlined Paperbacks, centers around Dawn. She’s not a bad person – she’s just made some bad choices: wrong guy, wrong friends, wrong everything. But she wasn’t expecting her parents to pay a boatload of money to ship her off to ‘Out of the Wild’, a wilderness boot camp with a bunch of other messed up kids to learn important “life lessons.” Dawn and the other cubs wind up learning a lot, but not what they expect, for what happens in the woods isn’t what their parents planned. Sometimes plans go very wrong. And this is one of those times. Suddenly Dawn is more scared than she’s ever been in her life.
The Wild, from Underlined Paperbacks, centers around Dawn. She’s not a bad person – she’s just made some bad choices: wrong guy, wrong friends, wrong everything. But she wasn’t expecting her parents to pay a boatload of money to ship her off to ‘Out of the Wild’, a wilderness boot camp with a bunch of other messed up kids to learn important “life lessons.” Dawn and the other cubs wind up learning a lot, but not what they expect, for what happens in the woods isn’t what their parents planned. Sometimes plans go very wrong. And this is one of those times. Suddenly Dawn is more scared than she’s ever been in her life.
- 7/23/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Swedish Dicks backer Nordic Entertainment Group has refocused its studio division to focus on scripted drama and is to sell its non-scripted units.
The company, which has been ramping up its drama titles with projects including Perfect People from Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak, and The Professionals, a Brendan Fraser-fronted remake of action movie Soldiers of Fortune, is also looking for a minority equity partner to help finance its scripted moves.
The company, which operates Scandinavian streamer Viaplay, is reorganizing its content production and distribution business that comprises 32 companies in 17 countries into a new organization focused on scripted drama production and distribution.
As part of the move, it will divest its non-scripted production, branded entertainment and events businesses.
Last year, Viaplay premiered 21 original productions, expects to premiere more than 30 original productions in 2020, and plans a minimum of 40 original productions per year in the future.
The new scripted production...
The company, which has been ramping up its drama titles with projects including Perfect People from Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak, and The Professionals, a Brendan Fraser-fronted remake of action movie Soldiers of Fortune, is also looking for a minority equity partner to help finance its scripted moves.
The company, which operates Scandinavian streamer Viaplay, is reorganizing its content production and distribution business that comprises 32 companies in 17 countries into a new organization focused on scripted drama production and distribution.
As part of the move, it will divest its non-scripted production, branded entertainment and events businesses.
Last year, Viaplay premiered 21 original productions, expects to premiere more than 30 original productions in 2020, and plans a minimum of 40 original productions per year in the future.
The new scripted production...
- 1/29/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
There's something preternaturally destructive about Lee Marvin, something dangerous. “You’re a very bad man [...] a very destructive man,” spits a threatened Carroll O’Connor, with the sweaty haste of a hypochondriac, in John Boorman’s Point Blank (1967), a split-second after Marvin blasts a telephone into oblivion with his hand cannon. O’Connor could be describing any of Marvin’s roles, from the stoical hitman in Don Siegel’s The Killers (1964) to his gun-for-hire in Richards Brooks’s The Professionals (1966) to his Sergeant leading a gaggle of undisciplined men sentenced to die in Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen (1967). He exuded an odd kind of menace, a disciplined minatory authority. The six-foot-two actor possessed a weathered, world-weary malaise and uncalculated brutality that suggested internal turmoil, an indignation that manifested in abrupt bursts of violence. For all the pain he inflicted on screen, he seemed to be carrying his own, an ineffable kind,...
- 3/29/2018
- MUBI
A middling entry in the genre of blow-it-up big action spectacles, Paul Wendkos’ Spain-filmed western gives us all the excitement promised by the poster, but with some cardboard characters and lumpy storytelling. George Peppard is on the job, however, and once again proves he can carry a big picture, flaws and all.
Cannon for Cordoba
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: George Peppard, Raf Vallone, Giovanna Ralli, Don Gordon, Pete Duel, Nico Minardos, John Russell, John Larch, Gabriele Tinti, Francine York, Lionel Murton, Hans Meyer, Aldo Sambrell, Luis Barboo.
Cinematography: Antonio Macasoli
Film Editor: Walter A. Hannemann
Special effects: Emilio Ruiz del Río
Original Music: Elmer Bernstein
Written by Stephen Kandel
Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly
Directed by Paul Wendkos
While providing backing for independent writer-producers like Billy Wilder, Walter Mirisch also shepherded various less ambitious war movies and westerns,...
Cannon for Cordoba
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: George Peppard, Raf Vallone, Giovanna Ralli, Don Gordon, Pete Duel, Nico Minardos, John Russell, John Larch, Gabriele Tinti, Francine York, Lionel Murton, Hans Meyer, Aldo Sambrell, Luis Barboo.
Cinematography: Antonio Macasoli
Film Editor: Walter A. Hannemann
Special effects: Emilio Ruiz del Río
Original Music: Elmer Bernstein
Written by Stephen Kandel
Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly
Directed by Paul Wendkos
While providing backing for independent writer-producers like Billy Wilder, Walter Mirisch also shepherded various less ambitious war movies and westerns,...
- 11/7/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Issue #36 of Cinema Retro has shipped to subscribers worldwide. This is the final issue of Season 12. Please subscribe or renew today and help keep the dream alive for the world's most unique film magazine!
Highlights of this issue include:
Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Professionals" starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Jack Palance.
*Mark Mawston with a rare exclusive interview with 70's sex siren Linda Hayden
*Cai Ross takes a bite at covering the underrated 1979 version of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier
*John LeMay uncovers the top secret story of the unfilmed "Romance of the Pink Panther" that was to have starred Peter Sellers.
*Peter Cook continues his celebration of matte painting artists
*Tim Greaves uncovers the fascinating career of British "Sex Queen" Mary Millington
*Mark Mawston concludes his interviews with legendary stills photographer Keith Hamshere,...
Highlights of this issue include:
Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Professionals" starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Jack Palance.
*Mark Mawston with a rare exclusive interview with 70's sex siren Linda Hayden
*Cai Ross takes a bite at covering the underrated 1979 version of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier
*John LeMay uncovers the top secret story of the unfilmed "Romance of the Pink Panther" that was to have starred Peter Sellers.
*Peter Cook continues his celebration of matte painting artists
*Tim Greaves uncovers the fascinating career of British "Sex Queen" Mary Millington
*Mark Mawston concludes his interviews with legendary stills photographer Keith Hamshere,...
- 11/29/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Issue #36, the final issue of Season 12 of Cinema Retro, has now shipped worldwide.
Highlights of this issue include:
Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Professionals" starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Jack Palance.
*Mark Mawston with a rare exclusive interview with 70's sex siren Linda Hayden
*Cai Ross takes a bite at covering the underrated 1979 version of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier
*John LeMay uncovers the top secret story of the unfilmed "Romance of the Pink Panther" that was to have starred Peter Sellers.
*Peter Cook continues his celebration of matte painting artists
*Tim Greaves uncovers the fascinating career of British "Sex Queen" Mary Millington
*Mark Mawston concludes his interviews with legendary stills photographer Keith Hamshere, who recalls shooting "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and the James Bond films
*Lee Pfeiffer's personal tribute to the late Euan Lloyd,...
Highlights of this issue include:
Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Professionals" starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Jack Palance.
*Mark Mawston with a rare exclusive interview with 70's sex siren Linda Hayden
*Cai Ross takes a bite at covering the underrated 1979 version of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier
*John LeMay uncovers the top secret story of the unfilmed "Romance of the Pink Panther" that was to have starred Peter Sellers.
*Peter Cook continues his celebration of matte painting artists
*Tim Greaves uncovers the fascinating career of British "Sex Queen" Mary Millington
*Mark Mawston concludes his interviews with legendary stills photographer Keith Hamshere, who recalls shooting "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and the James Bond films
*Lee Pfeiffer's personal tribute to the late Euan Lloyd,...
- 9/4/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
By Todd Garbarini
This weekend of August 12 through 14th, the Laemmle Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a series of classic western films that will also feature special guests who are scheduled to come and speak about their work in the films. We strongly suggest checking with the theatre’s schedule to see which other guests are added.
From the press release:
Anniversary Classics Western Weekend
August 12-14 at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills
5 Classic Westerns with special guests throughout the weekend
Laemmle’s Anniversary Classics presents our tribute to the sagebrush genre with the Anniversary Classics Western Weekend, a five film round-up of some of the most celebrated westerns in movie history. The star-studded lineup features John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Kevin Costner, Montgomery Clift, Natalie Wood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef and others.
This weekend of August 12 through 14th, the Laemmle Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a series of classic western films that will also feature special guests who are scheduled to come and speak about their work in the films. We strongly suggest checking with the theatre’s schedule to see which other guests are added.
From the press release:
Anniversary Classics Western Weekend
August 12-14 at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills
5 Classic Westerns with special guests throughout the weekend
Laemmle’s Anniversary Classics presents our tribute to the sagebrush genre with the Anniversary Classics Western Weekend, a five film round-up of some of the most celebrated westerns in movie history. The star-studded lineup features John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Kevin Costner, Montgomery Clift, Natalie Wood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef and others.
- 8/9/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Jean Simmons is the original frustrated Mad Housewife who runs away from a 'dream marriage' in search of something more fulfilling. Uncompromising, adult, and making use of an interesting cast. Plus, the soundtrack uses Michel Legrand's incomparable song "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" The Happy Ending Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Ship Date January 19, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Jean Simmons, John Forsythe, Shirley Jones, Teresa Wright, Nanette Fabray, Bobby Darin, Kathy Fields, Tina Louise, Dick Shawn, Lloyd Bridges, Karen Steele, Erin Moran. Cinematography Conrad Hall Original Music Michel Legrand, lyrics Alan & Marilyn Bergman Produced, Written and Directed by Richard Brooks
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I looked at some of the poster artwork for The Happy Ending, and yes indeed, one of the main styles is indeed like the cover of this disc -- a photo of a rusty garbage...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I looked at some of the poster artwork for The Happy Ending, and yes indeed, one of the main styles is indeed like the cover of this disc -- a photo of a rusty garbage...
- 2/13/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“A Study Of Darkness”
By Raymond Benson
One of the more controversial motion pictures to emerge out of what film historians call “New Hollywood” was In Cold Blood, which was released to theaters “for mature audiences only.” The New Hollywood movement began around 1966, when the Production Code finally started to collapse (and before the movie ratings were instituted) and studios commenced allowing auteur filmmakers to do whatever the hell they wanted. The year 1967 was especially a groundbreaking one with the release of such “adult” fare as Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, and In Cold Blood.
In Cold Blood is based on the “non-fiction novel” by Truman Capote about the true crime of 1959 in which an innocent family of four in Kansas were murdered by two ex-cons who believed there was $10,000 hidden in a safe in the house (there wasn’t). Capote spent several years writing the book,...
By Raymond Benson
One of the more controversial motion pictures to emerge out of what film historians call “New Hollywood” was In Cold Blood, which was released to theaters “for mature audiences only.” The New Hollywood movement began around 1966, when the Production Code finally started to collapse (and before the movie ratings were instituted) and studios commenced allowing auteur filmmakers to do whatever the hell they wanted. The year 1967 was especially a groundbreaking one with the release of such “adult” fare as Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, and In Cold Blood.
In Cold Blood is based on the “non-fiction novel” by Truman Capote about the true crime of 1959 in which an innocent family of four in Kansas were murdered by two ex-cons who believed there was $10,000 hidden in a safe in the house (there wasn’t). Capote spent several years writing the book,...
- 11/20/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
“This 1966 western… has the expertise of a cold old whore with practiced hands and no thoughts of love. There’s something to be said for this kind of professionalism; the moviemakers know their business and they work us over. We’re not always in the mood for love or for art, and this movie makes no demands, raises no questions, doesn’t confuse the emotions. Even the absence of visual beauty or of beauty of language or concept can be something of a relief. The buyer gets exactly what he expects and wants and pays for: manipulation for excitement. We use the movie and the movie uses us.”
- Pauline Kael on The Professionals, from her collection Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
I’m not speaking from direct experience here, you understand, but I would imagine that old whores, cold or otherwise, could be pretty entertaining, not only in their professional...
- Pauline Kael on The Professionals, from her collection Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
I’m not speaking from direct experience here, you understand, but I would imagine that old whores, cold or otherwise, could be pretty entertaining, not only in their professional...
- 9/17/2015
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
By John M. Whalen
When the “hardware widow” (Allyn Ann McClerie) asks Monte Walsh (Lee Marvin) if he’d gotten used to the idea of his long-time partner Chet Rollins (Jack Palance) and her being married, Monte says: “I never had so many things to get used to in my whole life, as now.” That line of dialogue in the middle of William Fraker’s “Monte Walsh” (1970) pretty much sums up this first and best film adaptation of Jack Schaeffer’s novel about the end of the Old West in general and the cowboy life in particular. It’s a true classic and even though it features two of the toughest tough guy actors of the sixties and seventies, it’s not a melodramatic shoot-em-up, full of violence, sound and fury. Rather it’s an elegiac portrait of the way it must have really happened, presented in a style as...
When the “hardware widow” (Allyn Ann McClerie) asks Monte Walsh (Lee Marvin) if he’d gotten used to the idea of his long-time partner Chet Rollins (Jack Palance) and her being married, Monte says: “I never had so many things to get used to in my whole life, as now.” That line of dialogue in the middle of William Fraker’s “Monte Walsh” (1970) pretty much sums up this first and best film adaptation of Jack Schaeffer’s novel about the end of the Old West in general and the cowboy life in particular. It’s a true classic and even though it features two of the toughest tough guy actors of the sixties and seventies, it’s not a melodramatic shoot-em-up, full of violence, sound and fury. Rather it’s an elegiac portrait of the way it must have really happened, presented in a style as...
- 9/13/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
As Legend hits UK cinemas, Brian Helgeland talks to us about working with Tom Hardy, and why he wanted to make a movie and not a TV series.
Brian Helgeland's career began in horror, as he wrote the scripts for such genre pieces as A Nightmare On Elm Sreet 4 and 976-evil. But it was his adapted screenplay for the 1997 thriller La Confidential that really put Helgeland on the Hollywood map; netting him an Oscar and receiving rave reviews, its success paved the way for his more recent career, which included the hit thriller Payback (1999), Helgeland's big-screen debut as a director, and his script for the acclaimed drama Mystic River (2003).
Helgeland's latest film is Legend, a British gangster thriller about the exploits of the Kray twins. Rising from London's underworld to become unlikely celebrities at the height of the swinging 60s, Ron and Reggie Kray were more famous as nightclub...
Brian Helgeland's career began in horror, as he wrote the scripts for such genre pieces as A Nightmare On Elm Sreet 4 and 976-evil. But it was his adapted screenplay for the 1997 thriller La Confidential that really put Helgeland on the Hollywood map; netting him an Oscar and receiving rave reviews, its success paved the way for his more recent career, which included the hit thriller Payback (1999), Helgeland's big-screen debut as a director, and his script for the acclaimed drama Mystic River (2003).
Helgeland's latest film is Legend, a British gangster thriller about the exploits of the Kray twins. Rising from London's underworld to become unlikely celebrities at the height of the swinging 60s, Ron and Reggie Kray were more famous as nightclub...
- 9/3/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
It's fitting that Clint Eastwood and John Wayne both have the same birthday week. (Wayne, who died in 1979, was born May 26, 1907, while Eastwood turns 85 on May 31). After all, these two all-American actors' careers span the history of that most American of movie genres, the western.
Both iconic actors were top box office draws for decades, both seldom stretched from their familiar personas, and both played macho, conservative cowboy heroes who let their firearms do most of the talking. Each represented one of two very different strains of western, the traditional and the revisionist.
As a birthday present to Hollywood's biggest heroes of the Wild West, here are the top 57 westerns you need to see.
57. 'Meek's Cutoff' (2010)
Indie filmmaker Kelly Reichardt and her frequent leading lady, Michelle Williams, are the talents behind this sparse, docudrama about an 1845 wagon train whose Oregon Trail journey goes horribly awry. It's an intense...
Both iconic actors were top box office draws for decades, both seldom stretched from their familiar personas, and both played macho, conservative cowboy heroes who let their firearms do most of the talking. Each represented one of two very different strains of western, the traditional and the revisionist.
As a birthday present to Hollywood's biggest heroes of the Wild West, here are the top 57 westerns you need to see.
57. 'Meek's Cutoff' (2010)
Indie filmmaker Kelly Reichardt and her frequent leading lady, Michelle Williams, are the talents behind this sparse, docudrama about an 1845 wagon train whose Oregon Trail journey goes horribly awry. It's an intense...
- 5/26/2015
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
If you love director Richard Brooks' slam-bang 1966 Western The Professionals as much as we do, you should click here to gaze at some great international posters from the film that starred Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale (at her hottest!), Jack Palance, Woody Strode and Ralph Bellamy. It's part of Steve Thompson's blog celebrating his favorite year: 1966, and what baby boomer could argue with him? ...
- 12/15/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother.
****
Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.
In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).
Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.
****
Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.
In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).
Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.
- 2/27/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
The Western was a movie staple for decades. It seemed the genre that would never die, feeding the fantasies of one generation after another of young boys who galloped around their backyards, playgrounds, and brick streets on broomsticks, banging away with their Mattel cap pistols. Something about a man on a horse set against the boundless wastes of Monument Valley, the crackle of saddle leather, two men facing off in a dusty street under the noon sun connected with the free spirit in every kid.
The American movie – a celluloid telling that was more than a skit – was born in a Western: Edwin S. Porter’s 11- minute The Great Train Robbery (1903). Thereafter, Westerns grew longer, they grew more complex. The West – hostile, endless, civilization barely maintaining a toehold against the elements, hostile natives, and robber barons – proved an infinitely plastic setting. In a place with no law, and where...
The American movie – a celluloid telling that was more than a skit – was born in a Western: Edwin S. Porter’s 11- minute The Great Train Robbery (1903). Thereafter, Westerns grew longer, they grew more complex. The West – hostile, endless, civilization barely maintaining a toehold against the elements, hostile natives, and robber barons – proved an infinitely plastic setting. In a place with no law, and where...
- 1/3/2013
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
With the Academy Awards for the 2011 film year in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to take a look at one of the event’s most consistently fascinating categories: Best Supporting Actor. The most interesting story in the category this year isn’t who got nominated, it’s who didn’t. More specifically, Albert Brooks was completely robbed of a nomination for his performance as film producer turned lethal gangster Bernie Rose in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive.
As much as I’d like to say I was surprised by this, considering both the quality of performance and Brooks’ slew of nominations from other critical circles, in light of the Academy’s history of overlooking outstanding supporting performances, I simply can’t.
Following is a chronological look at a number of performances richly deserving of a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination.
In some cases, the performances are in films...
As much as I’d like to say I was surprised by this, considering both the quality of performance and Brooks’ slew of nominations from other critical circles, in light of the Academy’s history of overlooking outstanding supporting performances, I simply can’t.
Following is a chronological look at a number of performances richly deserving of a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination.
In some cases, the performances are in films...
- 5/23/2012
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness! Condensed versions (all run 18 minutes) of these great Lee Marvin films will be screened on a big screen on Super-8 sound film: The Wild One, The Dirty Dozen, Cat Ballou, The Professionals, The Klansman, and Emperor Of The North. We’re also bring our 16mm projector and showing a 16mm print of an episode of M-squad, the rough, hard-boiled detective TV series that Lee Marvin starred in in the late ’50s. We’ll have some Lee Marvin trivia with great prizes as well as the usual T-Shirt and Poster giveaways.
Be sure to read our Top Ten Tuesday: The Best Of Lee Marvin Article Here
The non-Lee Marvin Super-8 films we’ll be showing September 6th are: A ’70s Vampire Trailer Reel, Abbott and Costello...
Be sure to read our Top Ten Tuesday: The Best Of Lee Marvin Article Here
The non-Lee Marvin Super-8 films we’ll be showing September 6th are: A ’70s Vampire Trailer Reel, Abbott and Costello...
- 9/2/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys and one of our favorite actors September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness.
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where...
We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys and one of our favorite actors September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness.
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where...
- 8/30/2011
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This article originally ran here at We Are Movie Geeks in October 2009. I’m re-posting it to help promote Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness September 6th at The Way Out Club here in St. Louis.
Only in the 1970.s could Hollywood have turned its attention to the subject of racism in the deep south and come up with something so jaw-dropping in it.s political incorrectness as The Klansman. On the surface the 1974 film is a serious depiction of the bigotry and the racial confrontations that tear apart an Alabama town in the 1960.s, but watching it today The Klansman comes off at times serious, laughable, meanspirited, sleazy, and racist. I.m sure the movie wasn’t meant to be racist, but it is filled with characters mouthing so many racist beliefs and committing so many racist crimes that the movie seems to gloat gleefully in its outrageous depiction of bigotry and delivers one ham-fisted,...
Only in the 1970.s could Hollywood have turned its attention to the subject of racism in the deep south and come up with something so jaw-dropping in it.s political incorrectness as The Klansman. On the surface the 1974 film is a serious depiction of the bigotry and the racial confrontations that tear apart an Alabama town in the 1960.s, but watching it today The Klansman comes off at times serious, laughable, meanspirited, sleazy, and racist. I.m sure the movie wasn’t meant to be racist, but it is filled with characters mouthing so many racist beliefs and committing so many racist crimes that the movie seems to gloat gleefully in its outrageous depiction of bigotry and delivers one ham-fisted,...
- 8/23/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Ralph Bellamy on TCM: Sunrise At Campobello, The Awful Truth Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Carefree (1938) A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else. Dir: Mark Sandrich. Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy. Bw-83 mins. 7:30 Am The Secret Six (1931) A secret society funds the investigation of a bootlegging gang. Dir: George Hill. Cast: Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown. Bw-84 mins. 9:00 Am Headline Shooter (1933) A newsreel photographer neglects his love life to get the perfect shot. Dir: Otto Brower. Cast: William Gargan, Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy. Bw-61 mins. 10:15 Am Picture Snatcher (1933) An ex-con brings his crooked ways to a job as a news photographer. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Cast: James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Ellis. Bw-77 mins. 11:45 Am The Wedding Night (1935) A married author falls for the beautiful farm girl...
- 8/14/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The late, legendary film composer Maurice Jarre's soundtrack recordings for the Westerns Villa Rides! and El Condor have been released on a single CD. Here is background from the Screen Archives web site:
"A few months after my Oscar for Doctor Zhivago, Columbia contacted me to do The Professionals, and I literally fell off my chair. I thought I was too French to get involved in such a typically American genre as the western. To me, succeeding with this score amounted to getting a Hollywood certificate, proof that I belonged; it was a test, like a ragging in college..." Maurice Jarre was talking about his relationship to westerns, a genre which symbolizes American films, and the composer went on to work on eight full-length features. Among them were two pictures with very rare scores: Villa Rides! (never reissued on CD before now) and El Condor (which has never been...
"A few months after my Oscar for Doctor Zhivago, Columbia contacted me to do The Professionals, and I literally fell off my chair. I thought I was too French to get involved in such a typically American genre as the western. To me, succeeding with this score amounted to getting a Hollywood certificate, proof that I belonged; it was a test, like a ragging in college..." Maurice Jarre was talking about his relationship to westerns, a genre which symbolizes American films, and the composer went on to work on eight full-length features. Among them were two pictures with very rare scores: Villa Rides! (never reissued on CD before now) and El Condor (which has never been...
- 6/8/2011
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Between them, they have nearly a century’s worth of TV programming experience, and were part of a generation of Home Box Office management which helped turn company into the premier subscription television service not only in the U.S., but in the world. Their longevity has given them the opportunity to live through their company’s change from a raucously-growing enterprise to a mature business, evolving from what had primarily been a movie service to a programmer just as identified with such acclaimed, high-profile original programming as The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, True Blood, and, most recently, Boardwalk Empire.
Still, they have spent most of their professional lives dealing with movies. A production executive at a major studio might deal with two dozen released films a year. Programmers at HBO (and its sister channel Cinemax) easily deal with over a thousand. They appraise them, try to understand what people...
Still, they have spent most of their professional lives dealing with movies. A production executive at a major studio might deal with two dozen released films a year. Programmers at HBO (and its sister channel Cinemax) easily deal with over a thousand. They appraise them, try to understand what people...
- 12/4/2010
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Cinematographer whose innovative work brought him five Oscar nominations
The American cinematographer William Fraker, who has died of cancer aged 86, worked on dozens of mainstream films – the good, the bad, but never the ugly. Fraker could not be praised or blamed for the direction, acting or script, but the look of a film was, on the whole, his responsibility. Although he saw himself as part of a team who tried to fulfil the director's vision, Fraker began to push the boundaries of cinematography in commercial cinema by using faster and wider lenses, restricting lighting sources and employing techniques such as flashing and deliberate overexposure.
According to Fraker: "The director is the captain of the ship, the cinematographer is the executive officer. You have to really learn who you're working with and what they think. It's like a marriage. As a cinematographer, you can immediately tell a terrific director if they...
The American cinematographer William Fraker, who has died of cancer aged 86, worked on dozens of mainstream films – the good, the bad, but never the ugly. Fraker could not be praised or blamed for the direction, acting or script, but the look of a film was, on the whole, his responsibility. Although he saw himself as part of a team who tried to fulfil the director's vision, Fraker began to push the boundaries of cinematography in commercial cinema by using faster and wider lenses, restricting lighting sources and employing techniques such as flashing and deliberate overexposure.
According to Fraker: "The director is the captain of the ship, the cinematographer is the executive officer. You have to really learn who you're working with and what they think. It's like a marriage. As a cinematographer, you can immediately tell a terrific director if they...
- 6/10/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
When I grow up, I want to be Claudia Cardinale.
There are plenty of beautiful women in movies, but few goddesses. Cardinale is a goddess. Even when she’s sunburned and running around in a rag, as she is in The Professionals, she has more charisma, beauty, and sex appeal than most actresses working today. I hesitate to call her “sexy” because that word seems so Maxim Magazine these days — but Cardinale is sexy in such a powerful and womanly way that it’s not threatening, but inspiring.
She also had great hair. What demon do I have to bargain with to end up with a perfect bouffant every day? Hers looks good even in the desert. It’s unfair.
Watching old movies can be a bittersweet experience. They don’t make them like Cardinale anymore, and you’d be hard pressed to find a Lee Marvin or a Burt Lancaster...
There are plenty of beautiful women in movies, but few goddesses. Cardinale is a goddess. Even when she’s sunburned and running around in a rag, as she is in The Professionals, she has more charisma, beauty, and sex appeal than most actresses working today. I hesitate to call her “sexy” because that word seems so Maxim Magazine these days — but Cardinale is sexy in such a powerful and womanly way that it’s not threatening, but inspiring.
She also had great hair. What demon do I have to bargain with to end up with a perfect bouffant every day? Hers looks good even in the desert. It’s unfair.
Watching old movies can be a bittersweet experience. They don’t make them like Cardinale anymore, and you’d be hard pressed to find a Lee Marvin or a Burt Lancaster...
- 2/10/2010
- by Elisabeth Rappe
- The Flickcast
In a creative new package, Bravo TV will premiere yet another fashion reality show called "Launch My Line". The show will pair up professionals wishing to have their own fashion line with established fashion designers that assist them in the journey. The ten teams that will compete for the ultimate prize have been unveiled.
The professionals are ranging from an architect to a fashion critic while the fashion designers aka "The Experts" are mostly those who have resided in California. The concept of the show is to have the pairs sharing cohesiveness in creating a fashion line. According to the press release, "Some teams form a natural connection while others have instant tension."
Acclaimed designers, twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten of DSQUARED2 serve as the series hosts, and fashion notables Stefani Greenfield and Lisa Kline are series judges. The winning professional will have their clothing line launched and the...
The professionals are ranging from an architect to a fashion critic while the fashion designers aka "The Experts" are mostly those who have resided in California. The concept of the show is to have the pairs sharing cohesiveness in creating a fashion line. According to the press release, "Some teams form a natural connection while others have instant tension."
Acclaimed designers, twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten of DSQUARED2 serve as the series hosts, and fashion notables Stefani Greenfield and Lisa Kline are series judges. The winning professional will have their clothing line launched and the...
- 7/28/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Maurice Jarre, who wrote the hauntingly lovely "Lara's Theme" for "Dr. Zhivago" as well as the sweeping score for the epic "Lawrence of Arabia," has died. He was 84.
Jarre died in his home in Las Angeles, where he had lived for decades, Bernard Miyet, a friend of the composer and leader of the French musicians guild Sacem, said Monday. No cause of death was given.
"The world of film music is mourning one of its last great figures," Miyet said. "As well as his talent, Maurice Jarre cultivated an eternal good nature, a way of living and a simplicity that became legendary."
Jarre won three Academy Awards for best score for his work on the David Lean films "Lawrence of Arabia," "Dr. Zhivago" and "Passage to India." He also earned six other Oscar nominations for best score for "Sundays and Cybele," "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," "Messenger of God,...
Jarre died in his home in Las Angeles, where he had lived for decades, Bernard Miyet, a friend of the composer and leader of the French musicians guild Sacem, said Monday. No cause of death was given.
"The world of film music is mourning one of its last great figures," Miyet said. "As well as his talent, Maurice Jarre cultivated an eternal good nature, a way of living and a simplicity that became legendary."
Jarre won three Academy Awards for best score for his work on the David Lean films "Lawrence of Arabia," "Dr. Zhivago" and "Passage to India." He also earned six other Oscar nominations for best score for "Sundays and Cybele," "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," "Messenger of God,...
- 3/30/2009
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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