Raquel Welch, the actor who became an icon and sex symbol thanks to films like “One Million Years B.C.” and “Three Musketeers,” died Wednesday in Los Angeles after a brief illness, her manager confirmed to Variety. She was 82.
She came onto the movie scene in 1966 with the sci-fi film “Fantastic Voyage” and the prehistoric adventure “One Million Years B.C.,” the latter of which established Welch as a sex symbol. The actor went on to appear in the controversial adaptation of Gore Vidal’s “Myra Beckrinridge,” “Kansas City Bomber” and Richard Lester’s delightful romps “The Three Musketeers” (1973), for which she won a Golden Globe, and “The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge” (1974). She was one of the first women to play the lead role — not the romantic interest — in a Western, 1971 revenge tale “Hannie Caulder” — an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” (2003), according to the director.
(Earlier, Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford...
She came onto the movie scene in 1966 with the sci-fi film “Fantastic Voyage” and the prehistoric adventure “One Million Years B.C.,” the latter of which established Welch as a sex symbol. The actor went on to appear in the controversial adaptation of Gore Vidal’s “Myra Beckrinridge,” “Kansas City Bomber” and Richard Lester’s delightful romps “The Three Musketeers” (1973), for which she won a Golden Globe, and “The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge” (1974). She was one of the first women to play the lead role — not the romantic interest — in a Western, 1971 revenge tale “Hannie Caulder” — an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” (2003), according to the director.
(Earlier, Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford...
- 2/15/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Bitchy, Bickering Bitches.
It’s been a pretty wild December, with us covering off-kilter films like the much-maligned Batman & Robin and the not-as-bad-as-you-think Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings. Now for a special holiday treat, we’re covering Herbert Ross‘ 1973 mystery The Last of Sheila, which not only inspired Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (review) and Glass Onion (review), but was also the only screenwriting collaboration between famous queers Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim!
In the film, movie producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht a year after his wife Sheila (Yvonne Romaine) was killed in a hit-and-run accident. While the plan is to have them play a scavenger hunt mystery game, it comes with a hidden agenda: exposing their worst secrets and possibly revealing one of them as Sheila’s killer. Is it Alice the actress (Raquel Welch), her...
It’s been a pretty wild December, with us covering off-kilter films like the much-maligned Batman & Robin and the not-as-bad-as-you-think Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings. Now for a special holiday treat, we’re covering Herbert Ross‘ 1973 mystery The Last of Sheila, which not only inspired Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (review) and Glass Onion (review), but was also the only screenwriting collaboration between famous queers Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim!
In the film, movie producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht a year after his wife Sheila (Yvonne Romaine) was killed in a hit-and-run accident. While the plan is to have them play a scavenger hunt mystery game, it comes with a hidden agenda: exposing their worst secrets and possibly revealing one of them as Sheila’s killer. Is it Alice the actress (Raquel Welch), her...
- 12/26/2022
- by Trace Thurman
- bloody-disgusting.com
Did you know that Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins wrote a mean-spirited murder mystery film? Yes, that Sondheim of West Side Story (and perhaps more aptly Sweeney Todd) fame and that Perkins of Psycho infamy. To this day, not many folks are aware. But Rian Johnson has been for a long time. He previously cited The Last of Sheila, which was made from Sondheim and Perkins’ script, as one of his favorite whodunits in the lead up to Knives Out’s 2019 release.
Now with our first trailer for Johnson’s follow-up, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, it would seem the director is intent on doing his own take of that 1973 cult classic—or at the very least homaging it extensively.
This fact is made clear at the beginning of the Glass Onion trailer. Before we even see Daniel Craig’s well-groomed gentleman sleuth onscreen, we hear that unmistakable “Southern” drawl.
Now with our first trailer for Johnson’s follow-up, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, it would seem the director is intent on doing his own take of that 1973 cult classic—or at the very least homaging it extensively.
This fact is made clear at the beginning of the Glass Onion trailer. Before we even see Daniel Craig’s well-groomed gentleman sleuth onscreen, we hear that unmistakable “Southern” drawl.
- 9/8/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Murder Mystery Parlor Game”
By Raymond Benson
The genius of Stephen Sondheim is usually reserved for the Broadway stage as the creator or co-creator of multiple award-winning and classic musicals. The presence of Anthony Perkins is usually earmarked for screen and stage appearances as an actor. So, who would have thought that these two would team up to write a murder mystery screenplay—with no musical numbers within earshot—that would be filmed by director Herbert Ross, and then win an Edgar Allan Poe Award from Mystery Writers of America for the script?
The Last of Sheila, released in early summer 1973, seems to be a precursor to the series of Agatha Christie all-star-cast pictures that launched in the mid-70s. It’s an original story, though, concocted by Sondheim and Perkins, allegedly inspired by real “scavenger hunt” party games that were thrown by their friends in those days.
“Murder Mystery Parlor Game”
By Raymond Benson
The genius of Stephen Sondheim is usually reserved for the Broadway stage as the creator or co-creator of multiple award-winning and classic musicals. The presence of Anthony Perkins is usually earmarked for screen and stage appearances as an actor. So, who would have thought that these two would team up to write a murder mystery screenplay—with no musical numbers within earshot—that would be filmed by director Herbert Ross, and then win an Edgar Allan Poe Award from Mystery Writers of America for the script?
The Last of Sheila, released in early summer 1973, seems to be a precursor to the series of Agatha Christie all-star-cast pictures that launched in the mid-70s. It’s an original story, though, concocted by Sondheim and Perkins, allegedly inspired by real “scavenger hunt” party games that were thrown by their friends in those days.
- 11/20/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
That haunting line opened Daphne Du Maurier’s treasured 1938 romantic thriller “Rebecca,” which was published in 1938. Lauded by critics, it quickly became a best-seller and has been in print ever since. And for good reason.
Du Maurier wraps readers around her little finger with this addictive tale of a timid young woman-her name is never mentioned-who meets and falls in love with an enigmatic wealthy widower, Maxim de Winter, while in Monte Carlo working as a paid companion to the obnoxious American, Mrs. Van Hopper. Max and the young woman soon fall in love. They marry and he takes her home to his gothic estate Manderley run with an iron-fist by the tightly wound housekeeper Mrs. Danvers who is obsessed with the late, charismatic Rebecca, the late wife of Maxim.
Two years after its publication, “Gone with the Wind” producer David O. Selznick...
That haunting line opened Daphne Du Maurier’s treasured 1938 romantic thriller “Rebecca,” which was published in 1938. Lauded by critics, it quickly became a best-seller and has been in print ever since. And for good reason.
Du Maurier wraps readers around her little finger with this addictive tale of a timid young woman-her name is never mentioned-who meets and falls in love with an enigmatic wealthy widower, Maxim de Winter, while in Monte Carlo working as a paid companion to the obnoxious American, Mrs. Van Hopper. Max and the young woman soon fall in love. They marry and he takes her home to his gothic estate Manderley run with an iron-fist by the tightly wound housekeeper Mrs. Danvers who is obsessed with the late, charismatic Rebecca, the late wife of Maxim.
Two years after its publication, “Gone with the Wind” producer David O. Selznick...
- 10/22/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Welcome back to the Supporting Actress Smackdown, a summer festival in which we investigate Oscar vintages from years past. This time around it's 1981 in which an estranged daughter, an unhappy socialite, a guilt-ridden Catholic, a political radical, and a scandalous young beauty gather for our viewing pleasure.
1981's Supporting Actress nominations made room for a two-time winner with a very personal project, an actor's actor in a star-driven historical epic, two sturdy characters in 'issues' pictures of very different kinds and a rapidly rising starlet who had made a big film debut the year prior in 1980's Best Picture winner Ordinary People.
This Month's Panelists
Here to talk about these five nominated turns and the movies and Oscars of 1981 are, in alphabetical order: writer/director Eric Blume, actor Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), actor Sean Maguire, festival programmer Amir Soltani, and critic Boyd Van Hoeij (The Hollywood Reporter). And,...
1981's Supporting Actress nominations made room for a two-time winner with a very personal project, an actor's actor in a star-driven historical epic, two sturdy characters in 'issues' pictures of very different kinds and a rapidly rising starlet who had made a big film debut the year prior in 1980's Best Picture winner Ordinary People.
This Month's Panelists
Here to talk about these five nominated turns and the movies and Oscars of 1981 are, in alphabetical order: writer/director Eric Blume, actor Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), actor Sean Maguire, festival programmer Amir Soltani, and critic Boyd Van Hoeij (The Hollywood Reporter). And,...
- 5/9/2020
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The first "Supporting Actress Smackdown" of the season is just 6 days away. So jam these movies into your eyeballs which will make the event more participatory and fun!
Date: Friday May 8th, 2020
Location: The Film Experience
Topic: Oscar's Best Supporting Actresses of 1981
Melinda Dillon in Absence of Malice -free to stream on Crackle Jane Fonda in On Golden Pond - free to stream with Hulu/Cinemax Maureen Stapleton in Reds - free to stream on Prime Joan Hackett in Only When I Laugh - available to rent online Elizabeth McGovern in Ragtime - good luck finding this one!
<-- Icymi Meet The Panelists
But you, the collective you, are the final panelist. To vote on the smackdown rank each performance that you've seen on a scale of 1 (weak) to 5 (perfection) and send those votes to us here by May 7th at Noon Est with "1981" in the subject line. If you'd...
Date: Friday May 8th, 2020
Location: The Film Experience
Topic: Oscar's Best Supporting Actresses of 1981
Melinda Dillon in Absence of Malice -free to stream on Crackle Jane Fonda in On Golden Pond - free to stream with Hulu/Cinemax Maureen Stapleton in Reds - free to stream on Prime Joan Hackett in Only When I Laugh - available to rent online Elizabeth McGovern in Ragtime - good luck finding this one!
<-- Icymi Meet The Panelists
But you, the collective you, are the final panelist. To vote on the smackdown rank each performance that you've seen on a scale of 1 (weak) to 5 (perfection) and send those votes to us here by May 7th at Noon Est with "1981" in the subject line. If you'd...
- 5/2/2020
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Shirley Knight, who was twice Oscar nominated for best supporting actress, for “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” (1960) and “Sweet Bird of Youth” (1962), and won a Tony and three Emmys, died on Wednesday of natural causes in San Marcos, Texas. She was 83.
Her daughter, actress Kaitlin Hopkins, paid tribute to Knight in a lengthy Facebook post.
Knight continued to work as she approached 80, reprising her role as Mom in “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” in 2015 after appearing in the 2009 original.
In 1997’s “As Good as It Gets,” starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, Knight played the mother of Hunt’s character; the New York Times called her performance “tenderly funny.”
Other film credits of recent vintage include Luis Mandoki’s “Angel Eyes” (2001), starring Jennifer Lopez; thriller “The Salton Sea” (2002); “Grandma’s Boy” (2006); Rebecca Miller’s “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” (2009), with Robin Wright; “Our Idiot Brother” (2011), toplined by...
Her daughter, actress Kaitlin Hopkins, paid tribute to Knight in a lengthy Facebook post.
Knight continued to work as she approached 80, reprising her role as Mom in “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” in 2015 after appearing in the 2009 original.
In 1997’s “As Good as It Gets,” starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, Knight played the mother of Hunt’s character; the New York Times called her performance “tenderly funny.”
Other film credits of recent vintage include Luis Mandoki’s “Angel Eyes” (2001), starring Jennifer Lopez; thriller “The Salton Sea” (2002); “Grandma’s Boy” (2006); Rebecca Miller’s “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” (2009), with Robin Wright; “Our Idiot Brother” (2011), toplined by...
- 4/22/2020
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
I’d stop reviewing possession flicks if they had ever stopped making them; well, I’m sure I’ll run out of good ones eventually, but today is not that day. The Possessed (1977) hit the small screen in the wake of demonic giants as a pilot for a series that never took off. What a shame - imagine if we had a Devil of the Week show terrorizing the youth of North America? But TV is littered with the also-rans, and this one is top notch hellfire.
Originally broadcast Sunday, May 1st as a segment of NBC’s The Big Event, The Possessed was up against ABC’s Sunday Night Movie and CBS’ Switch/Delvecchio. Obviously it didn’t generate enough interest to go to series, which is a damn shame because it’s teed up in very intriguing ways.
Let’s open up our faux TV Guide for some...
Originally broadcast Sunday, May 1st as a segment of NBC’s The Big Event, The Possessed was up against ABC’s Sunday Night Movie and CBS’ Switch/Delvecchio. Obviously it didn’t generate enough interest to go to series, which is a damn shame because it’s teed up in very intriguing ways.
Let’s open up our faux TV Guide for some...
- 6/23/2019
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
By Todd Garbarini
Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a DVD screening of the 45th anniversary of Herbert Ross’s 1973 thriller The Last of Sheila. The 120-minute film, which stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, Joan Hackett, James Mason, Ian McShane and Raquel Welch, will be screened on Wednesday, November 28th, 2018 at 7:00 pm.
Please Note: At press time, actress Dyan Cannon, who plays Christine, is scheduled to participate in a Q&A after the screening. Please Check Back With The Royal Theatre’S Website For Updates Of Additional Guests Who May Be Added To The List.
From the press release:
The Last Of Sheila (1973)
45th Anniversary Screening
Q&A with Co-Star Dyan Cannon
Wednesday, November 28, at 7 Pm
Laemmle’s Royal Theatre
Following our sold-out screening of 'Death on the Nile,' Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present another treat for mystery lovers.
Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a DVD screening of the 45th anniversary of Herbert Ross’s 1973 thriller The Last of Sheila. The 120-minute film, which stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, Joan Hackett, James Mason, Ian McShane and Raquel Welch, will be screened on Wednesday, November 28th, 2018 at 7:00 pm.
Please Note: At press time, actress Dyan Cannon, who plays Christine, is scheduled to participate in a Q&A after the screening. Please Check Back With The Royal Theatre’S Website For Updates Of Additional Guests Who May Be Added To The List.
From the press release:
The Last Of Sheila (1973)
45th Anniversary Screening
Q&A with Co-Star Dyan Cannon
Wednesday, November 28, at 7 Pm
Laemmle’s Royal Theatre
Following our sold-out screening of 'Death on the Nile,' Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present another treat for mystery lovers.
- 11/26/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
1969: Dark Shadows' Petofi traveled to 1969 in Quentin's body.
1973: Another World's Steve and Alice finally talked about the past.
1985: Santa Barbara's Julia met Dylan.
2010: One Life to Live's Viki wanted Echo to leave Llanview."The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1968: On The Doctors, Congressman Jason Randall (M. Emmet Walsh) arrived at Hope Memorial for a hospital tour with a posse of reporters, flustering Nurse Simpson (Carolee Campbell).
1969: On Dark Shadows, Count Andreas Petofi (David Selby), in Quentin's body, informed Angelique she had to follow his orders in the future. Julia (Grayson Hall) realized...
1973: Another World's Steve and Alice finally talked about the past.
1985: Santa Barbara's Julia met Dylan.
2010: One Life to Live's Viki wanted Echo to leave Llanview."The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1968: On The Doctors, Congressman Jason Randall (M. Emmet Walsh) arrived at Hope Memorial for a hospital tour with a posse of reporters, flustering Nurse Simpson (Carolee Campbell).
1969: On Dark Shadows, Count Andreas Petofi (David Selby), in Quentin's body, informed Angelique she had to follow his orders in the future. Julia (Grayson Hall) realized...
- 10/10/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
It is ironic that Neil Simon, who died today at 91, got his inspiration to become a comedy writer from the movies into which he constantly escaped to forget the circumstances of his poor depression-era childhood. Even though he grew up in Washington Heights, much closer to Broadway than Hollywood, it was always the movies of the likes of Chaplin , Keaton and others that stuck with him and led to one of the most sterling careers ever for a writer. Yet by far his greatest success and appreciation came as one of the most successful playwrights of all time, a record of accomplishment that included a whopping 17 Tony nominations and three wins, a Pulitizer Prize for drama, and even as the rare playwright to have a theatre named after him. “I always feel more like a writer when I’m writing a play because of the tradition of the theater … there...
- 8/26/2018
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
This article marks Part 3 of the 21-part Gold Derby series Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.
After a remarkable year in film in 1979, including her Academy Awards win for “Kramer vs. Kramer,” Meryl Streep took 1980 off from the big screen, instead focusing her energies on a stage musical of “Alice in Wonderland” that premiered at New York’s Public Theater in December 1980. While the production garnered middling notices, Streep received raves.
The following year, Streep not only returned to the screen but took on her first leading role in a screen adaptation of John Fowles‘ acclaimed 1969 novel “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.” Playwright Harold Pinter adapted the book for the screen and British filmmaker Karel Reisz, who worked wonders with Vanessa Redgrave...
After a remarkable year in film in 1979, including her Academy Awards win for “Kramer vs. Kramer,” Meryl Streep took 1980 off from the big screen, instead focusing her energies on a stage musical of “Alice in Wonderland” that premiered at New York’s Public Theater in December 1980. While the production garnered middling notices, Streep received raves.
The following year, Streep not only returned to the screen but took on her first leading role in a screen adaptation of John Fowles‘ acclaimed 1969 novel “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.” Playwright Harold Pinter adapted the book for the screen and British filmmaker Karel Reisz, who worked wonders with Vanessa Redgrave...
- 1/31/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
If anyone wrote the book on complicated parental relations, it’s Anthony Perkins. While Mother is nowhere to be found, this time around Tony is having Daddy issues in How Awful About Allan (1970), an effective, low key TV thriller directed by Curtis Harrington (The Dead Don’t Die). As long as you can leave Norman up in his room, you should have a good time.
Originally airing as an ABC Movie of the Week (because of course) on Tuesday, September 22nd, Allan had to contend with Hee Haw/All in the Family on CBS and the NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies. At the time however, ABC had this format on lockdown with audiences, and for good reason – they always brought in top shelf talent to display on the small screen, and How Awful About Allan is certainly no exception.
Let’s dig out our trusty and totally unreal TV...
Originally airing as an ABC Movie of the Week (because of course) on Tuesday, September 22nd, Allan had to contend with Hee Haw/All in the Family on CBS and the NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies. At the time however, ABC had this format on lockdown with audiences, and for good reason – they always brought in top shelf talent to display on the small screen, and How Awful About Allan is certainly no exception.
Let’s dig out our trusty and totally unreal TV...
- 7/23/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Dan Curtis and Richard Matheson fit together as comfortable as Pb &J, warm slippers on a cold day, and the best of TV horror. Dead of Night (1977) is the follow up to their critically acclaimed anthology Trilogy of Terror (1975), in which Karen Black starred in three distinct episodes of small screen mayhem. And much like that one, Dead of Night shall always be remembered for a terrifying final tale.
Originally broadcast on March 29th, 1977 on NBC, Dead of Night was Curtis and Matheson’s sixth collaboration of some sort, starting with Curtis producing the arrival of Kolchak and The Night Stalker (1972). And while this isn’t the best of their ventures together, solid performances and strong writing leading up make that final segment worth the wait.
Let’s dust off our TV Guide and see what the duo have in store for us:
Dead Of Night (Tuesday, 9pm, NBC)
Three...
Originally broadcast on March 29th, 1977 on NBC, Dead of Night was Curtis and Matheson’s sixth collaboration of some sort, starting with Curtis producing the arrival of Kolchak and The Night Stalker (1972). And while this isn’t the best of their ventures together, solid performances and strong writing leading up make that final segment worth the wait.
Let’s dust off our TV Guide and see what the duo have in store for us:
Dead Of Night (Tuesday, 9pm, NBC)
Three...
- 7/9/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
On Wednesday, The Lone Ranger received multiple Razzie nominations, including the notorious Worst Picture nod. The next day, The Lone Ranger was nominated for an Oscar, for best makeup.
This isn’t the first movie to get nods from both ends of the spectrum. Since the Razzies first began back in 1981, 47 movies have been nominated for both “awards”– some even for the same exact person or song. Here’s a look at the club The Lone Ranger just joined:
The Competition
Oscar nods: Film editing, music (original song) for “People Alone” with music by Lalo Schifrin and lyrics by Wilbur...
This isn’t the first movie to get nods from both ends of the spectrum. Since the Razzies first began back in 1981, 47 movies have been nominated for both “awards”– some even for the same exact person or song. Here’s a look at the club The Lone Ranger just joined:
The Competition
Oscar nods: Film editing, music (original song) for “People Alone” with music by Lalo Schifrin and lyrics by Wilbur...
- 1/16/2014
- by Ariana Bacle
- EW.com - PopWatch
Assuming it's been awhile since you last watched an episode of the classic TV series The Twilight Zone, re-watching them and weighing them against contemporary programming is both detrimental to the anthology's classically strange tales and complimentary. On one hand the stories still feel original and fresh and the parade of cameos in the third season (including Robert Redford, Joan Hackett, Charles Bronson, Jack Albertson, Cliff Robertson, and more) is impressive for any show, but on the other hand, the show's attempts at moralizing each tale are far more heavy handed than nostalgia suggests and at times performances are so incredibly hammy that when the characters reel in horror, you can't help but laugh. At least it still has Rod Serling to lead us into each episode with the odd setups of how we're now in The Twilight Zone.
Read more...
Read more...
- 7/29/2013
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
Vanessa Redgrave Academy Salute: From Pariah to Honoree [Photo: Vanessa Redgrave, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Natasha Richardson, as ballerina Isadora Duncan in Isadora.] Later on, at the behest of producer Daniel Melnick (Straw Dogs, Making Love) screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky (The Goddess, Network) prefaced his announcement of the Best Screenwriting Oscar with the following (also via Inside Oscar): Before I get on to the writing awards, there's a little matter I'd like to tidy up … at least if I expect to live with myself tomorrow morning. I would like to say, personal opinion, of course, that I'm sick and tired of people exploiting the Academy Awards for the propagation of their own personal propaganda. I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation and a simple "Thank you" would have sufficed. Chayefsky's use of the Academy Awards to make that particular political statement — that no political statements should...
- 11/5/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
With the entire original run of The Twilight Zone available to watch instantly, we’re partnering with Twitch Film to cover all of the show’s 156 episodes. Are you brave enough to watch them all with us? The Twilight Zone (Episode #87): “A Piano In The House” (airdate 2/16/62) The Plot: A theater critic by the name of Fitzgerald Fortune buys one of those creepy player pianos and soon discovers it plays more than music. It strums the ethereal chords of the human soul! The Goods: Fitzgerald Fortune (Barry Morse) is not a nice man. He’s a theater critic known for excoriating artists’ efforts with wit and derision, but it’s not a facet of his personality he saves only for his day job. Everyone from his wife Esther (Joan Hackett) to his housekeeper Marvin (Cyril Delevanti) have felt the sting of his words. Fitz buys a player piano for his wife since she’s spoken of...
- 10/19/2011
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Sidney Lumet was a master moviemaker in every sense of the word. Take a look at your all-time top ten, and he’s mostly likely got at least one spot on it. Serpico, Network (my personal #2), Dog Day Afternoon, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and a list that continues (and logic-defyingly includes The Wiz) until the paper runs out. Maybe you’d like to experience more movies by the man, or maybe you’d like to introduce yourself to him after his unfortunate passing. Maybe your goal is to post up on the couch and watch Lumet movies all day. Well, you can, and we’ll be right there with you. Here are just 7 of his movies that you can watch immediately through Netflix. The Group (1966) Lumet crushed it right out of the gate with Twelve Angry Men, and he’d made ten movies before The Group, but if you’ve already fallen in love with...
- 4/9/2011
- by Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
There are those of us reading this who still remember the sweet shocks of the made-for-tv 1970s horror movie. Usually spat out by ABC under its Movie of the Week moniker, they were less daring, less profane but occasionally brilliant exercises in compact genre mayhem.
These prime-time flicks employed network stars in melodramatic tales designed to seep under your skin—often in less than 90 minutes, commercials included. Y’know, stuff like Don’T Be Afraid Of The Dark, Crowhaven Farm, Moon Of The Wolf…and of course, the immortal Karen Black vehicle Trilogy Of Terror.
Which brings us to the man who not only gave us Trilogy Of Terror, but several more of the best ‘70s TV-movie macabres, the late and indisputably great Dan Curtis. He was the driving force behind the cult ‘60s daytime vampire soap opera Dark Shadows and its theatrical adaptations (1970’s excellent House Of Dark Shadows...
These prime-time flicks employed network stars in melodramatic tales designed to seep under your skin—often in less than 90 minutes, commercials included. Y’know, stuff like Don’T Be Afraid Of The Dark, Crowhaven Farm, Moon Of The Wolf…and of course, the immortal Karen Black vehicle Trilogy Of Terror.
Which brings us to the man who not only gave us Trilogy Of Terror, but several more of the best ‘70s TV-movie macabres, the late and indisputably great Dan Curtis. He was the driving force behind the cult ‘60s daytime vampire soap opera Dark Shadows and its theatrical adaptations (1970’s excellent House Of Dark Shadows...
- 12/22/2008
- Fangoria
• Dimension Extreme gave Fango a first look at the cover art for Eden Lake, the killer-youth chiller it releases January 6 with Genius Products. As we previously reported, the disc will include commentary by writer/director James Watkins and a making-of featurette, retailing for $19.97 (with a Blu-ray also coming for $29.95). See Fango #279, on sale in December, for an Eden Lake set visit.
• Ariztical Entertainment revealed to us the full specs for its disc of Gay Bed & Breakfast Of Terror, streeting November 18 (following select theatrical playdates that began this past Friday). Presented in 16x9-enhanced widescreen with stereo sound, the movie will be accompanied by:
• Audio commentary by writer/director Jaymes Thompson, actors Mari Marks and Robert Borzych and postproduction crew Tim Kelley
• Behind-the-scenes featurette
• Fruitcake short film
• Outtakes
• Music video
Retail price is $29.95.
• Media Blasters provided us with cover art (temporary in a couple of cases) and details on a bunch of its winter titles.
• Ariztical Entertainment revealed to us the full specs for its disc of Gay Bed & Breakfast Of Terror, streeting November 18 (following select theatrical playdates that began this past Friday). Presented in 16x9-enhanced widescreen with stereo sound, the movie will be accompanied by:
• Audio commentary by writer/director Jaymes Thompson, actors Mari Marks and Robert Borzych and postproduction crew Tim Kelley
• Behind-the-scenes featurette
• Fruitcake short film
• Outtakes
• Music video
Retail price is $29.95.
• Media Blasters provided us with cover art (temporary in a couple of cases) and details on a bunch of its winter titles.
- 10/29/2008
- Fangoria
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