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Reviews
The Rockford Files: Drought at Indianhead River (1976)
From penthouse to sanitarium
Outstanding episode where Jim hears about an upcoming hit on Angel and goes about trying to save his life. Angel shines once again as we first see him in a penthouse only to wind up in a sanitarium for the mentally ill. During his descent, Angel displays all the slinty eyed fear that we have come to love. He is both arrogant and clueless. Robert Loggia is great and he shows some of the flash that he displayed seven years later in the film Scarface. Other highlights include seeing James Garner display his fine golf swing, Angel yelling 'it's tough at the top', and the final 1970's freeze frame ending. Sit back, grab some snacks, and don't forget to look at all the classic cars every time there is a street scene.
The Rockford Files: A Good Clean Bust with Sequel Rights (1978)
"Why don't I get us turkeys some chickens"
Great, funny episode that holds up after more than 32 years. While this episode delivers the usual Rockford action of car chases and humor, this episode stands out for what was not usual fare. If you are looking for Angel, forget it, he doesn't appear. Jim was often left without payment, but in this episode, he is handed a bunch of $100 bills. The overall- TV show within a TV show was well written and funny. Another theme that nothing lasts forever hangs over every scene. This episode also featured solar powered kids toys. I think I noticed an early limp in Jim which, perhaps foreshadowed Jims subsequent knee problems which led to the early demise of this terrific show.
Ray Rayner and His Friends (1964)
a classic
Just a great kids show that ran in the 60's and 70's on Chicago's WGN. Nothing was better than hearing Ray read the name of your school on a snow day. Ray would pin notes to himself on his clothes (this was before post-it notes!)and announce the next cartoon or feature. I doubt that many kids who grew up in Chicagoland during this period did not love Ray. If you missed yesterday's Cub highlights (this was before ESPN), Ray would show them. If you needed your 'Diver Dan' fix, Ray had them. When Ray cried on air during his last show, thousands of people of all ages cried with him. Heard Ray wound up in New Mexico after his long run at WGN.
A Cold Wind in August (1961)
awful
Maybe this film 'had meaning' for those that saw it in 1961 but the only cold wind blowing in this film is on the viewer. It represents many of the morals of a time when people were labeled and became one dimensional. C'mon 3-time loser/older lady/stripper in a devil's suit beds horny/ 17 year old/ Italian? Watch it only if you want to see a bunch of hacks in a b- movie. On the bright side, the viewer is treated with dazzling interiors filmed in gray. The rooftop make out scene will go down as one of the greatest teenage kissing scenes of the 20th century. It seemed so real and I wished: 'why couldn't it have been me'? There is a reason nobody has heard of this trash.
On Borrowed Time (1939)
on overlooked classic
When I first saw the film in 1981, I felt that I had just watched a classic. Enough has been written here to describe the plot line so I skip ahead to some of the reasons why this film was overlooked when it was released and why it continues to be overlooked today. First of all, it came out in 1939 which is probably the greatest year in Hollywood history. Such huge color releases like Wizard of OZ and Gone With The Wind made some smaller black and white films less appealing. The USA was still fighting the economic hangover from the great depression and the movie going public was spending it's money on more upbeat fare like Gunga Din and not on a movie that deals with death as it's main theme. And this leads to why, for me, the movie was really overlooked. It dealt with death and perhaps the world's political and economic condition doomed this movie to it's relative obscurity.