Robert Aldrich gives the Cavalry Western a rough going-over in this brutal, unforgiving horror-western. Burt Lancaster gets in a fine late-career action turn as well. The pursuit of an Apache raiding party becomes guerrilla war in the desert, the kind of conflict that cements racial hatred forever. Aldrich and Alan Sharp’s answer to the ‘mud & rags’ western of the early 1970s carries on the director’s anarchic streak. This is how the West was won?
Ulzana’s Raid
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date January 21, 2020 / 29.99
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Richard Jaeckel, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke, Joaquín Martínez, Lloyd Bochner, Karl Swenson, Douglass Watson, Dran Hamilton, Gladys Holland, Aimee Eccles, Tony Epper, Nick Cravat, Richard Farnsworth, Dean Smith.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Carter DeHaven
Directed by Robert Aldrich
After all of the bloodletting...
Ulzana’s Raid
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date January 21, 2020 / 29.99
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Richard Jaeckel, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke, Joaquín Martínez, Lloyd Bochner, Karl Swenson, Douglass Watson, Dran Hamilton, Gladys Holland, Aimee Eccles, Tony Epper, Nick Cravat, Richard Farnsworth, Dean Smith.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Carter DeHaven
Directed by Robert Aldrich
After all of the bloodletting...
- 11/18/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Now up for grabs in Region A, it’s the Robert Aldrich movie that wins over all that see it. The epitome of Men In Peril adventures, the tale of 14 random oil men marooned in the Sahara is brutal yet optimistic about human cooperation — please, the world needs more of that right now. James Stewart is at his best, stretching his hard-bitten loner persona and tapping into his flying experience. Also with an English-language-best performance from Hardy Krüger. The male group dynamics are absorbing and the suspense powerful — especially when seen cold. No spoilers here!
The Flight of the Phoenix
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1116
1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 142 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 22, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Krüger, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Ronald Fraser, Christian Marquand, Dan Duryea, George Kennedy, Gabriele Tinti, Alex Montoya, Peter Bravos, William Aldrich, Barrie Chase.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc...
The Flight of the Phoenix
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1116
1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 142 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 22, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Krüger, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Ronald Fraser, Christian Marquand, Dan Duryea, George Kennedy, Gabriele Tinti, Alex Montoya, Peter Bravos, William Aldrich, Barrie Chase.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc...
- 3/19/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The stars of the excellent new comedy doc Joy Ride discuss some of their favorite two handers with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Cocoon (1985)
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)
Police Academy 3: Back In Training (1986)
Crooklyn (1994)
Call Me Lucky (2015)
Shakes The Clown (1991)
A History Of Violence (2005)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Artists And Models (1955) – Tfh’s global trailer search
Joy Ride (2021)
Joy Ride (2001)
Stay (2005)
Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006)
Capturing The Friedmans (2003)
Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review
Sleepless In Seattle (1993)
The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
My Friend Irma Goes West (1950)
Delicate Delinquent (1957)
Keyholes Are For Peeping (1972)
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Charlie...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Cocoon (1985)
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)
Police Academy 3: Back In Training (1986)
Crooklyn (1994)
Call Me Lucky (2015)
Shakes The Clown (1991)
A History Of Violence (2005)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Artists And Models (1955) – Tfh’s global trailer search
Joy Ride (2021)
Joy Ride (2001)
Stay (2005)
Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006)
Capturing The Friedmans (2003)
Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review
Sleepless In Seattle (1993)
The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
My Friend Irma Goes West (1950)
Delicate Delinquent (1957)
Keyholes Are For Peeping (1972)
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Charlie...
- 10/26/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
George Seaton’s literal feel-good comedy is the flipside of pandemic films like Contagion: a powerful virus ‘cures’ grumpiness and bad vibes, encouraging a kind of Urban Utopia. The picture has nothing more to say than ‘have a nice day,’ yet it’s difficult to argue with any positive sentiment, especially these days. George Peppard and Mary Tyler Moore battle nobly with the material, which varies from good parody (Dom DeLuise) to awful vaudeville schtick to wafer-thin satire to terrible musical interludes. A Toucan bird from South America steals the show — his trainer Ray Berwick should have won an Oscar.
What’s So Bad About Feeling Good?
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 94 min. / Street Date August 24, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: George Peppard, Mary Tyler Moore, Susan Saint James, Don Stroud, Dom DeLuise, John McMartin, Charles Lane, Nathaniel Frey, George Furth, Morty Gunty, Frank Campanella, Thelma Ritter,...
What’s So Bad About Feeling Good?
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 94 min. / Street Date August 24, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: George Peppard, Mary Tyler Moore, Susan Saint James, Don Stroud, Dom DeLuise, John McMartin, Charles Lane, Nathaniel Frey, George Furth, Morty Gunty, Frank Campanella, Thelma Ritter,...
- 7/17/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***Robert Aldrich was an in-between-days kind of filmmaker, flourishing as television was conquering cinema, graduating from being an assistant director to Lewis Milestone and Joseph Losey. Hollywood was already in decline/transition as he found his footing. Aldrich rarely knew the security of a studio contract, was usually a struggling independent, was pushed around by stars and producers, and went into a career decline in the seventies with a series of projects which either failed to find an audience or failed to deserve one. Some of these films have enthusiastic admirers, but Aldrich was unable to realize passion projects like The Sheltering Sky, which he had hoped to film from Paul Bowles' novel,...
- 12/10/2020
- MUBI
Blu-ray fans are now well aware that many great movies unavailable in the U.S., can be easily found in Europe. One of the best westerns of the ’70s is this jarringly realistic cavalry vs. Apaches drama from Robert Aldrich and Burt Lancaster, which used the ‘R’ rating to show savage details that Hollywood had once avoided. In this case it works — the genuinely scary movie is also a serious meditation on violent America.
Ulzana’s Raid
(Keine Gnade für Ulzana)
All-region Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Explosive Media
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date November 9, 2017 / available through the Amazon Germany website / Eur 17,99
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Richard Jaeckel, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke, Joaquín Martínez, Lloyd Bochner, Karl Swenson, Douglass Watson, Dran Hamilton, Gladys Holland, Aimee Eccles, Tony Epper, Nick Cravat, Richard Farnsworth, Dean Smith.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by...
Ulzana’s Raid
(Keine Gnade für Ulzana)
All-region Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Explosive Media
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date November 9, 2017 / available through the Amazon Germany website / Eur 17,99
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Richard Jaeckel, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke, Joaquín Martínez, Lloyd Bochner, Karl Swenson, Douglass Watson, Dran Hamilton, Gladys Holland, Aimee Eccles, Tony Epper, Nick Cravat, Richard Farnsworth, Dean Smith.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by...
- 11/18/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
What seemed too raw for 1955 still packs a punch, as Robert Aldrich takes a meat cleaver to the power politics of the old studio system. Monstrous studio head Rod Steiger has just the leverage he needs to blackmail frazzled star Jack Palance into signing the big contract. But will Hollywood corruption destroy them all?
The Big Knife
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen,
Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Art Direction: William Glasgow
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Adapted by James Poe from the play by Clifford Odets
Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich’s 1940s film apprenticeship was largely spent as an assistant director for strong, creative filmmakers that wanted to do good personal work free of the constraints of the big studios.
The Big Knife
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen,
Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Art Direction: William Glasgow
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Adapted by James Poe from the play by Clifford Odets
Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich’s 1940s film apprenticeship was largely spent as an assistant director for strong, creative filmmakers that wanted to do good personal work free of the constraints of the big studios.
- 9/26/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Forgotten amid Robert Aldrich’s more critic-friendly movies is this superb suspense picture, an against-all-odds thriller that pits an old-school pilot against a push-button young engineer with his own kind of male arrogance. Can a dozen oil workers and random passengers ‘invent’ their way out of an almost certain death trap? It’s a late-career triumph for James Stewart, at the head of a sterling ensemble cast. I review a UK disc in the hope of encouraging a new restoration.
The Flight of the Phoenix
Region B Blu-ray
(will not play in domestic U.S. players)
Masters of Cinema / Eureka Entertainment
1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 142 min. / Street Date September 12, 2016 / £12.95
Starring: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Krüger, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Ronald Fraser, Christian Marquand, Dan Duryea, George Kennedy, Gabriele Tinti, Alex Montoya, Peter Bravos, William Aldrich, Barrie Chase.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Stunt Pilot: Paul Mantz
Art Direction: William Glasgow...
The Flight of the Phoenix
Region B Blu-ray
(will not play in domestic U.S. players)
Masters of Cinema / Eureka Entertainment
1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 142 min. / Street Date September 12, 2016 / £12.95
Starring: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Krüger, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Ronald Fraser, Christian Marquand, Dan Duryea, George Kennedy, Gabriele Tinti, Alex Montoya, Peter Bravos, William Aldrich, Barrie Chase.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Stunt Pilot: Paul Mantz
Art Direction: William Glasgow...
- 9/22/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
‘Things Blowing Up Good’ has been surefire entertainment since the beginning of cinema, but this ill-fated Cinerama extravaganza about the biggest explosion in recorded human history limps along despite some pretty darned impressive volcanic effects. It’s quite an entertaining spectacle, with various good performers in three soap opera plots, either overacting or loitering about with nothing to do. And don’t forget the from-left-field musical striptease.
Krakatoa East of Java
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, Rossano Brazzi, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon, Jacqueline (Jacqui) Chan, Victoria Young, Marc Lawrence, Geoffrey Holder, Niall MacGinnis, Sumi Haru.
Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer
Film Editors: Walter Hannemann, Warren Low, Maurice Rootes
Production Design: Eugèné Lourié
Costumes: Laure Lourié
Special Effects: Eugèné Lourié, Alex Weldon, Francisco Prósper
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Clifford Newton Gould,...
Krakatoa East of Java
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, Rossano Brazzi, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon, Jacqueline (Jacqui) Chan, Victoria Young, Marc Lawrence, Geoffrey Holder, Niall MacGinnis, Sumi Haru.
Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer
Film Editors: Walter Hannemann, Warren Low, Maurice Rootes
Production Design: Eugèné Lourié
Costumes: Laure Lourié
Special Effects: Eugèné Lourié, Alex Weldon, Francisco Prósper
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Clifford Newton Gould,...
- 9/2/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Without uttering a word, the main title sequence for FX’s new anthology series “Feud: Bette and Joan” sets the dramatic yet somber tone for the entire series by using musical and graphical cues from ‘60s cinema.
While the images trace the plot of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” it also reflects the misery of the actresses drawn into a cycle of torment of their own devising. Take a look at the sequence:
The credits fit right in with “Feud,” a technicolor feast that examines the even more colorful rivalry between acclaimed actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, which reached its pinnacle while they co-starred in the psycho-biddy horror movie “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” in 1962. The series takes place during and after the shooting of the film, in which Bette (Susan Sarandon) and Joan (Jessica Lange) play combative siblings Baby Jane and Blanche, respectively. There is no love lost between these sisters,...
While the images trace the plot of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” it also reflects the misery of the actresses drawn into a cycle of torment of their own devising. Take a look at the sequence:
The credits fit right in with “Feud,” a technicolor feast that examines the even more colorful rivalry between acclaimed actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, which reached its pinnacle while they co-starred in the psycho-biddy horror movie “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” in 1962. The series takes place during and after the shooting of the film, in which Bette (Susan Sarandon) and Joan (Jessica Lange) play combative siblings Baby Jane and Blanche, respectively. There is no love lost between these sisters,...
- 3/3/2017
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland and Agnes Moorehead play it nasty, chop-chopping their way through a Grand Dame Guignol epic of 'sixties Hag Horror. Ace director Robert Aldrich's big success handed the deserving Davis a big role, and it looks better than ever on this razor-sharp remastered edition. With good original film promos as well as a lively new commentary. Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte Blu-ray Twilight Time 1964 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 133 min. / Street Date October 11, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store29.95 Starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway, Victor Buono, Mary Astor. Cinematography Joseph F. Biroc Art Direction William Glasgow Film Editor Michael Luciano Original Music Frank De Vol Written by Lukas Heller from a novel by Henry Farrell Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Good horror pictures featuring big stars were once fairly rare; this month Twilight Time...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Good horror pictures featuring big stars were once fairly rare; this month Twilight Time...
- 11/1/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The quintessential shot in Robert Aldrich’s filmography is that of a close-up, held for a smidgen longer than the normal length one would think appropriate for such a shot. The face the camera is focusing on is usually a signifier of the most central element in Aldrich’s films: tension. Whether it’s melodrama (Autumn Leaves, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?), war pictures (Too Late the Hero, Attack!), or Westerns, both sober and jocular (Ulzana’s Raid and 4 For Texas, respectively), ideological and external forces wrestle within the psyche that defines Aldrich’s cinema. Metrograph's all-35mm retrospective in New York offers us the opportunity to survey the oeuvre of the auteur who hammered out his cinematic legacy with the vigor of an undoubtedly indignant and irreverent artist. Too Late the Hero (1970)Consistency across genre and modes of filmmaking marks Aldrich as one of the last great studio auteurs,...
- 9/17/2016
- MUBI
What would seem the perfect project for tough-guy director Robert Aldrich still commands a high reputation with some. Ambitious top-dog hobo Lee Marvin squares off against Ernest Borgnine's nearly demonic railroad conductor who routinely murders bums that dare to hitch a ride. The mayhem culminates in a battle on a moving flat car, between Ernie's log chain and Lee's fire ax. But the poetic dialogue and allegorical pretension may be more lethal. Emperor of the North Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1973 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120 min. / Ship Date September 8, 2015 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, Charles Tyner, Malcolm Atterbury, Simon Oakland, Harry Caesar, Hal Baylor, Matt Clark, Elisha Cook Jr., Joe Di Reda, Liam Dunn, Diane Dye, Robert Foulk, Sid Haig, Vic Tayback, Dave Willock, Lance Henricksen. Cinematography Joseph Biroc Art Direction Jack Martin Smith Film Editor Michael Luciano Original Music Frank De Vol...
- 9/29/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
Songwriter Diane Warren earned her seventh Oscar nomination this year for “Grateful” from Beyond the Lights. The song, which will be performed by Rita Ora at the Oscar ceremony, is Warren’s first nomination in 13 years. With a Grammy and a Golden Globe under her belt, she has yet to win an Oscar and is one of two Oscar-nominated songwriters to have at least seven nominations and not a single win. The other songwriter is Mack David.
Warren received her first nomination in 1988 for the song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” which she co-wrote with Albert Hammond, from the movie Mannequin. The song was a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 Hit in 1987.
She next landed four consecutive nominations nine years later starting with 1997’s nomination of “Because You Loved Me” from Up, Close & Personal. Though the song didn’t win an Oscar, it did score a Grammy.
Managing Editor
Songwriter Diane Warren earned her seventh Oscar nomination this year for “Grateful” from Beyond the Lights. The song, which will be performed by Rita Ora at the Oscar ceremony, is Warren’s first nomination in 13 years. With a Grammy and a Golden Globe under her belt, she has yet to win an Oscar and is one of two Oscar-nominated songwriters to have at least seven nominations and not a single win. The other songwriter is Mack David.
Warren received her first nomination in 1988 for the song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” which she co-wrote with Albert Hammond, from the movie Mannequin. The song was a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 Hit in 1987.
She next landed four consecutive nominations nine years later starting with 1997’s nomination of “Because You Loved Me” from Up, Close & Personal. Though the song didn’t win an Oscar, it did score a Grammy.
- 2/5/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Check out the sneak peek clip from this Thursday night’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” featuring the cast of director/actor George Clooney’s new film, The Monuments Men, including Clooney, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Bob Balaban, Cate Blanchett, and even Kimmel’s arch-enemy, Matt Damon.
The episode also includes a new edition of “Jimmy Kimmel Live’s” famed “Mean Tweets” segment, featuring all six members of “The Monuments Men” cast reading horrible comments from social media about themselves.
5-time Oscar nominee Alexandre Desplat (The King’S Speech, Argo) composed the score for the film. As with many of his previous works, Desplat’s music takes the viewer on an exciting journey in the same way Frank De Vol did with The Dirty Dozen and Elmer Bernstein did in The Great Escape. He totally captures the rousing themes of an old-time, big Hollywood World War II movie.
Listen to clips from the soundtrack.
The episode also includes a new edition of “Jimmy Kimmel Live’s” famed “Mean Tweets” segment, featuring all six members of “The Monuments Men” cast reading horrible comments from social media about themselves.
5-time Oscar nominee Alexandre Desplat (The King’S Speech, Argo) composed the score for the film. As with many of his previous works, Desplat’s music takes the viewer on an exciting journey in the same way Frank De Vol did with The Dirty Dozen and Elmer Bernstein did in The Great Escape. He totally captures the rousing themes of an old-time, big Hollywood World War II movie.
Listen to clips from the soundtrack.
- 2/5/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Herbie Goes Bananas
Directed by Vincent McEveety
Written by Gordon Buford and Don Tait
USA, 1980
I cannot believe that a movie as wrongheaded and idiotic as Herbie Goes Bananas exists. Herbie Goes Bananas is so bad, it makes Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo look like the combined 1940s output of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (better known as The Archers), from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp to The Small Back Room. In fact, I’m insulting The Archers’ films by even including them in the same sentence as anything pertaining to Herbie Goes Bananas. I could, frankly, spend this entire column cataloguing the many things in the world that are more enjoyable, funny, exciting, and lively than Herbie Goes Bananas. But while it’d be fun…well, I’m not sure how to finish that sentence. Let’s just assume the alternate-universe column where I tell you exactly...
Directed by Vincent McEveety
Written by Gordon Buford and Don Tait
USA, 1980
I cannot believe that a movie as wrongheaded and idiotic as Herbie Goes Bananas exists. Herbie Goes Bananas is so bad, it makes Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo look like the combined 1940s output of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (better known as The Archers), from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp to The Small Back Room. In fact, I’m insulting The Archers’ films by even including them in the same sentence as anything pertaining to Herbie Goes Bananas. I could, frankly, spend this entire column cataloguing the many things in the world that are more enjoyable, funny, exciting, and lively than Herbie Goes Bananas. But while it’d be fun…well, I’m not sure how to finish that sentence. Let’s just assume the alternate-universe column where I tell you exactly...
- 5/26/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Al Martino was a popular crooner from the 1950s who sang the haunting them for the 1964 psychological horror film Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, starring Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland. The song refers to Charlotte’s lover, who loses a hand and his head to a hatchet wielding maniac in the film. The title tune, with music by Frank DeVol and lyrics by Mack David, earned an Academy Award nomination, and later became a popular recording for Patti Page.
Martino was born Alfred Cini in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 7, 1927, the son of Italian immigrants. He was a popular recording artist in England and the United States from the early 1950s. He became best known for his role in the 1972 Oscar-winning film The Godfather as Johnny Fontane, a mob-connected singer thought to be based on Frank Sinatra, but with significant parallels to Martino’s own career. The character’s career was...
Martino was born Alfred Cini in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 7, 1927, the son of Italian immigrants. He was a popular recording artist in England and the United States from the early 1950s. He became best known for his role in the 1972 Oscar-winning film The Godfather as Johnny Fontane, a mob-connected singer thought to be based on Frank Sinatra, but with significant parallels to Martino’s own career. The character’s career was...
- 11/6/2009
- by Harris Lentz
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
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