Hud 1963 – 112 min. – 2.35:1 Criterion – 4K Blu-ray Starring Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon de Wilde, Patricia Neal Written by Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank Jr. Directed by Martin Ritt Much of the glamour of Western movies lies in their lack of glamour. Often filmed in black and white against some of America’s…
Paul Morrissey wrote and directed this sprawling, comic/serious neighborhood saga that scrambles ethnic identities, lopsided honor codes and the twisted ‘normality’ of mob rule in the borough of Brooklyn. Do we like our hero Spike? He’s an arrogant, entitled Italian-American, macho to the core. He impregnates both of his girlfriends, Maria Pitillo and Talisa Soto….
I saw this film in a theater, and two women were sitting next to me. During the credits, one asked the other, with a hopeful tone, what she thought of the movie. The recipient of the question answered it, as if somewhat amazed that her response wouldn’t be obvious: “I don’t like films about children…
Trailers From Hell Guru Allan Arkush’s The Last Reel video essay series preps a scrumptious cinematic meal! Get ready for Dinner and a Movie with Ernst — Lubitsch, that is! In this Last Reel, Allan hopes to explain why Ernst Lubitsch ranks among Allan’s all-time top five directors. Allan saw To Be or Not To…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week we mourn the passing of Tim Curry, with film and wine. Not only was Curry’s film career solid, but he was also a heck of a musician. His 1981 song “Working…
Robby the Robot is back, this time in 4K UHD. Arrow Video’s 4K restoration brings back the full early width of CinemaScope, along with re-created ‘Perspecta’ stereophonic sound. Hollywood’s one full-out attempt to depict an intergalactic Sci-fi future is a smashing success that relies on complex ideas as well as spaceships and monsters. It’s also…
Reviewer Denise Morrison is back with another silent movie on disc, or actually, two separate releases starring the huge silent star Gloria Swanson. One is hard to find and was mastered/restored from surviving 16mm prints; the other is beautifully preserved in original 35mm. Both were produced and directed by Allan Dwan. They’re actually older releases,…
We’ve rediscovered a new favorite from the Warner corral, a bright action comedy that raised spirits when America needed it most, fewer than 60 days after Pearl Harbor. It’s an all-star comic delight, acted stylishly by Humphrey Bogart and directed smartly by Vincent Sherman. With the congressional Isolationists finally backing down, Hollywood hit the fascists…
UK correspondent Lee Broughton returns with a review of Vincent Price’s final film for American-International Pictures. Behind-the-scenes tussles amongst its producers and a series of hasty re-writes found director Jim Clark delivering a film that employed the aesthetics of gothic horror alongside slasher film tropes in a sometimes slightly incongruent manner. The results may be…
