Fighting Prejudice with Sidney Poitier

2013 has quietly developed into a groundbreaking year for black actors and directors. Steve McQueen’s 12 YEARS A SLAVE starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ryan Coogler’s FRUITVALE STATION starring Michael B. Jordan and Lee Daniels’ THE BUTLER starring Forest Whitaker are all possible Oscar contenders for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor while Idris Elba’s performance in MANDELA: A …

“A FILM IS A PETRIFIED FOUNTAIN OF THOUGHT.” – JEAN COCTEAU

When Jean Cocteau’s name surfaces most of us think of the visionary artist, poet and director who made films such as BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946), BLOOD OF A POET (1930), LES PARENTS TERRIBLES (1948) and ORPHEUS (1949). Cocteau is all these things and more but he also happens to be one of my favorite film critics. I hesitate to call …

WILLIAM MORTENSEN IN HOLLYWOOD

William Mortensen in his studio with a photo of Jean Harlow. Last month I was gifted with a copy of American Grotesque: The Life and Art of William Mortensen. This beautiful coffee table worthy book contains a compilation of work by William Mortensen (1897–1965), a brilliant, innovative and visionary photographer who once worked in Hollywood …

FEDERICO FELLINI: THE CARTOONIST

Federico Fellini is one of my favorite filmmakers so I was delighted to discover that TCM Imports is showcasing the movie maestro’s work every Sunday night throughout the month of November. In the next three weeks you can catch Nights of Cabiria (1957) on Nov. 15, Juliet of the Spirits (1965) on Nov. 22 and Satyricon (1969) on Nov. …

AN EVENING WITH TERENCE STAMP

Even though I wasn’t able to attend TCM’s Classic Film Festival I did make time for Terence Stamp’s special appearance at the 2011 San Francisco International Film Festival this year. It was a somewhat spontaneous event that was only announced a week before the actual festival took place and it didn’t receive any mention in the official festival …

EMBRACING AMBIGUITY: FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE (1970)

[Warning! There are spoilers on the road ahead.] The first thing that you see in Joseph Losey’s FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE (1970) is the big black helicopter. It lingers in the sky like a giant buzzing insect or an angry bird of prey. For the next two hours, it will pursue the film’s two protagonists (Robert …

GOING UNDER: REVISITING COMA (1978)

I spent Labor Day sick in bed. I was feverish, sore and incredibly cranky due to having my weekend plans derailed by a bad cold. On Monday night I began to feel slightly better after binging on Nyquil and homemade chicken soup so I curled up on the couch and turned on the TV. While …

Remember My Name (1978)

Anthony Perkins is one of my favorite actors so I was thrilled when I recently got the opportunity to finally see Alan Rudolph’s 1978 film REMEMBER MY NAME. In the movie, Perkins plays a man being stalked by his former wife (Geraldine Chaplin) but his low-key performance is just one of many elements that made …

NEW ON BLU-RAY: ROGER CORMAN’S THE TRIP (1967)

Republishing this in honor of the late Peter Fonda who passed away on August 16, 2019 In 1966, Roger Corman was enjoying the surprising success of The Wild Angels (1966), a trailblazing biker film that he directed and produced for American International Pictures. The studio had made the film for a mere $360,000 and it netted more …

OUT OF THE CLOSET: TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL (2015)

On September 19 TCM is airing a Tab Hunter double feature. More info about programming can be found at the end of my post. Everyone loves a Hollywood tragedy. The violent murders of Sharon Tate and Sal Mineo generate more press and web articles than the body of work they left behind while the estates …

VINCENT PRICE & GENE TIERNEY: A DOOMED ROMANCE

This post was part of my month-long celebration of Vincent Price–TCM’s October Star of the Month in 2013. Throughout the course of Vincent Price’s long career, he worked with some of my favorite actresses such as Barbara Steele, Diana Rigg, Jennifer Jones and Linda Hayden. But if I had to single out Price’s most important …

VINCENT PRICE TAKES CENTER STAGE

This post was part of my month-long celebration of Vincent Price–TCM’s October Star of the Month in 2013. This month marks the 20th anniversary of the death of one of my favorite actors; the remarkable Vincent Price. Vincent Price also happens to be TCM’s Star of the Month and every Thursday throughout October viewers can tune in …

IN THE KITCHEN WITH VINCENT PRICE

  This post was part of my month-long celebration of Vincent Price–TCM’s October Star of the Month in 2013. Since moving to the Napa Valley–one of America’s premiere ‘foodie’ capitols–three years ago I’ve been trying to teach myself how to cook. Decades of city apartment living had turned me into a takeout junkie and I …

SPY GAMES: Frank Tashlin & Doris Day Go Undercover

In the late 1960s Doris Day starred in two spy spoofs directed by Frank Tashlin; THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT(1967) and CAPRICE (1968). At the time Day was 43-years-old and one of Hollywood’s biggest stars but her career was in sharp decline. Critics seemed to relish taking potshots at the movies she appeared in while launching full-blown attacks on …

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DORIS!

She can sing, she can dance, she can act and she can make us laugh. She’s been directed by many recognizable talents including Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Curtiz, Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, Delbert Mann, Norman Jewison, George Seaton, and Frank Tashlin. And some of her most notable costars include famous names Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, James …