mhrabovsky1-1 Reviews

For Those Who Think Young (1964)

For Those Who Think Young

[18 September 2008]

Pathetic ripoff on the AIP beach party movies with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon....why blame UA studios for making this fluff...if it worked for AIP and made money it could do it for UA too....didn't take too much of a budget to turn out these teen age frolics, just a bunch of beach scenes with unknowns dancing around twisting their arms and fannies and staring sexually at each other. James Darren as much a staple in the beach/teenage movies as Frankie Avalon reprises Avalon's role and Pamela Tiffin (whatver became of her???) takes on Annette's role as the lame brained, boy chaser of James Darren. Ironic to see Ginger (Tina Louise) and Bob Denver (Gilligan) in this film playing two knuckleheads about a year or two before they signed on to do "Gilligan's Island". These teenage/beach party movies were all the same, zero acting, boys chasing girls and vice versa, a few guitar tunes, some goofy adults thrown in trying to control the beach set and oversee their kids/relations. Watch this fluff, or any of the Frankie/Annette movies, "Get Yourself a College Girl", "Ski Party", "Surf Party", "Hooteanny Hoot", "Ride the Wild Surf" with Fabian, and you would not know which film is which. Cant blame the studios....these films were made with tiny budgets and the teenagers of American flocked to the theatres/drive ins to suck them up. Made a ton of money for a little investment. Poor Paul Lynde stuck in this film...he was given little to work with and played second fiddle to a mildly successful 60s comedian, Woody Woodbury. He tried hard to be funny but came on more as a bore than a laugh. Nancy Sinatra in one of her first roles playing a coed chasing the boys, ala Bob Denver. Pamela Tiffin had fake eyelashes on in this film that looked about 3 inches too long....she and Darren reunited the same year in "The Lively Set", a film about car racing...diss the beach in this one. As the 60s progressed these films went totally out of style with the hippie/drug culture taking over America. Still this stuff was great drive in material during the 60s...you will like this film if you were a teenager in the early 60s.....

Lure of the Wilderness (1952)

Lure of the Wilderness

[15 September 2008]

This is one of those very good technicolor 90 minute or so little gems made in the early 50s that is a mostly forgotten movie and it is sad....a very young Jeffrey Hunter and a very young vivacious Jean Peters star in a tale about a girl (Peters) and her father (Walter Brennan) who have been falsely accused of a murder and had to run from the law and hide in the Georgia swamps for years...waiting and waiting until someone could possibly come to find them and get them a fair trial. Enter Jeffrey Hunter who decides to take a fearful journey into the Okefenoke swamp, a place where neither man nor beast dared venture into to find his lost dog from a hunting trip. The swamp is loaded full of death traps, including plenty of gators, deadly snakes and other assorted beasts.....Hunter finally sets up camp in an area where Peters and Brennan have been hidden for years. A relationship develops between the trio and Hunter believes Brennan's story that he was falsely accused and tries to dig up enough money in fur pelts from various animals to help him fund a defense lawyer. Along the way a wily damsel who supposedly will marry Hunter becomes a jealous, sneaky woman and finds out about Hunter's real motives for continuing to keep venturing into the swamp. A love story ensues as Hunter and Peters fall in love...a very sweet and tender story follows and the real killers who had put Brennan into hiding get their due in a quicksand pit...one brother survives to tell the real truth and in the end of the movie Brennan is acquitted and Peters and Hunter ride off into the sunset. This is one little gem of a movie and should be released to video if Fox had any sense. Hunter and Peters very early in their careers make a handsome couple and the acting is very solid, led by the veteran Walter Brennan, who could handle just about any role. See this film if you can...watch for it on the Fox network on cable.

The Raid (1954)

The Raid, 1954 with Van Heflin

[8/10 · 4 September 2008]

It is sort of sad that Van Heflin did not get his due as a western actor, especially during the 1950s...most people think of Burt Lancaster, Audie Murphy, Fred McMurray, James Stewart, maybe Gary Cooper too...but Heflin made two total classics in the 50s, "Shane" with Allen Ladd, and "3:10 to Yuma" with Glenn Ford another noted 50s western star...also he was a iron clad major in "They Came to Cordura" in 59....in "The Raid" he is a rebel officer with a dual role, as he contrives with a band of rebel soldiers to overtake a small Vermont town toward the end of the civil war...further raids into unprotected towns by the rebels were planned to loot money and goods to be diverted into funds to buy war goods from foreign countries....Some very solid actors, very early in their careers make this a top notch wester, Lee Marvin, Peter Graves, James ("Roscoe") Best, Ann Bancroft, and a young Richard Boone, the man with the craggy face and disposition he made a career of....also a young Tommy Rettig, who went on to star in the "Lassie" TV series of the 1950s stars.... This is a top notch western and a true story to boot. Historical news reports from historians verify the raid on Vermont as a true civil war story. Lee Marvin in a good role as a renegade rebel solider who makes more trouble for Heflin that he bargained for as he gets drunk and threatens to blow up the whole "raid".....lots of plots and subplots....surreal part of this film is the rebel soldiers who were riding around with nitro glycerin in their pants and coats used to start fires in the town...everyone knows nitro is highly explosive to vibrations, whew!!! This is a very enjoyable civil war tale with top notch actors. Remember seeing this movie as a kid in 1954, but TV version of this film left me scratching my head as I remember Tommy Rettig coming into Heflin's room and seeing his rebel uniform in a chest, not on Heflin as he wore it in a hotel room.....did I miss something from seeing this film in a theatre as opposed to on TV...hard to figure. A good, solid 1950s western to see.

The Honeymooners (1955–1956)

The Honeymooners

[21 July 2008]

What a classic comedy and television show....as a kid in the 50s I and my pals and brother and sister and parents would make sure we got the TV turned on at least 5 minutes or so early to watch "The Honeymooners"....could there possibly be a greater acting talent than Jackie Gleason...what role could he not handle....Ralph Kramden, Joe the Bartender, Reginald Van Gleason, the sad soul, and his acting in "The Hustler" with Paul Newman is near genius. He even nearly topped his Ralph Kramden role in the late 70s with Burt Reynolds in "Smokey and the Bandit"....there may never be another comedian like him. My favorite Honeymooners episode is when Ralph is planning to go on a TV show identifying popular and classical songs and has Norton in his apartment on a piano playing lead ins so Ralph can name the song....as a warmup Norton has to play "Suwanee River" to start every new song, much to Ralph's chagrin....guess what? Ralph is asked on the TV show t name that song - "Suwanee River" and cant do it....oh lord, we all laughed so loud at that episode the roof nearly caved in on our house...and the episode when Ralph finds a suitcase full of money on a bus and starts recklessly spending all of it without turning it in....you will split a gut watching that episode too..and then when demanded Alice would sit at the kitchen table and Ralph would start his mamby pamby woe is me facial expressions and try to gesture to Alice with his hand waving....on Lord, this is absolutely comedy at it's absolute best...only other TV comedy that could hold a candle to the Honeymooners was Amos-n-Andy from the early 50s with the Kingfish and Andy Brown. Went to a local store and bought all 39 episodes and tear up watching each one. Sadly today (2008) Joyce Randolph is the only living member of cast...timeless comedy......

The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1961)

The Little Sheperd of Kingdom Come

[7/10 · 17 July 2008]

It is pretty much a shame this a much forgotten movie...Jimmie Rogers, the pop singer from the 50s and 60s made his film debut as Chad, just Chad as a sort of homeless boy who is taken in by a family during the civil war and given food, shelter and a chance to work in the family business of farming and tree cutting. Chad is not illiterate, but is not too familiar with the ways of the world at that time during the pre and first days of the civil war. Rogers is looking to build a life and basically wanders to find his place in life. He has a romantic interest in the lovely Luana Patten (Song of the South as Jenny) but roams off to Lexington, Kentucky in the final months before the civil war. Here he is sort of discovered by a wealthy businessman played by Chill Wills, who takes him into his household as a son of his own, although Wills never has had children. Rogers wants to get a college education and Wills is only happy to provide the money to send him to a prestigious university in Lexington....Rogers then falls in love with a local lady whose father is a very influential man in local circles in Lexington. With the outbreak of the civil war Rogers decides to join the Yankee army, thus rejecting his southern upbringing. After fighting in the war and becoming an officer Rogers decides to return to his original hometown and rekindles his romance with the lovely Patten. This is a sort of folk type movie with local spins, and you can really get attached to the character Rogers provides. George Kennedy plays a heavy, a nasty local landowner who thinks that Rogers owes him work since the people Rogers lived with died and left their obligations still unpaid. Pretty much a down home type western...not the greatest acting, but Rogers and Patten make a very believable couple in the end. Sad, this film has never been put on video, but recently was on the Fox movie station on television....very hard to catch on TV...filmed in brilliant technicolor and Cinemascope in it's original release. Good film for the whole family to watch, nothing objectionable.

Get Yourself a College Girl (1964)

Get Yourself a College Girl

[21 April 2008]

Wow, this film is a real doozie as far as beach and party movies of the 60s was concerned...the acting is grade Z and I cant imagine the producer paid any of the actors more than a few thousand bucks apiece to make this "gem".....Mary Ann Mobley, Chris Noel, Nancy Sinatra, Joan O'Brien are the eye candy in this typical teenage boy loves girl fluff that was going around in mid 60s movies ala all the beach party fluff from Frankie and Annette...if it made tons of money for American International pictures you would guess other producers would hire young starlets for penny ante salaries to continue this stuff. The producer had no script except to hire some popular English singing groups for cameos like the Dave Clark Five and the Animals and some struggling bands like the Standells.....this film did not require any acting ability to speak of....this compounded by wooden, painted mountain scenes in the background of a ski lodge and phony cotton snow on the ground at a California ski lodge gives you an idea of the budget. Mary Ann Mobley is a stitch...she pretends to hate a music producer who wanted her to pose in a skimpy outfit but then falls madly in love with him in one 20 second scene at the ski lodge....ugh!!! All Nancy Sinatra can do is stand by a doorwall at the lodge and act like she is a smitten newly wed and mumble in sexy tones about being married....a four year old could recite her dialogue....actress Chris Noel though departed after this film and went to Vietnam according to legend and met and fell in love and got married to an army officer.....she also did a radio pop music show on the airways for the soldiers in Vietnam in the latter 60s......all in all if you can stand grade zero acting and poor sets you will like this teenage scruff.

Caribbean (1952)

Caribbean

[8/10 · 26 March 2008]

This little ditty is one good little pirate tale.....saw this movie in the early 50s in Detroit and it made the rounds through the 50s and early 60s as a second feature on double bills at the theaters and drive ins....must have seen it about 4 times or so then....John Payne who made his mark in "Miracle on 34th Street" is cast as a hunter named Dick Lindsay in some remote caribbean locale who is hunting ducks when he suddenly comes upon two pirates and a slave who will be digging a hole to bury some pirate loot. Payne is suddenly attacked and taken prisoner on a local pirate captain's boat and sent to the brig....not known to him is the pirate captain (Cedric Hardwicke) is plotting to send an impersonator to another pirate's locale to infiltrate the island and tell Hardwick all of the island's weak points for a future raid.....Francis L. Sullivan, a character actor of the 40s and 50s is the rival pirate captain and slave owner named Andrew McCalister. Payne accepts the job to spy on Sulivan's empire for promise of a large amount of money and freedom.....upon arriving at the island Payne finds the local slaves are badly abused by Sullivan and a foreman/taskmaster named Shively (Willard Parker).... Of course a lovely lady is on the island to tempt Payne, the scorching Arlene Dahl (her and Rhonda Fleming, red headed look alikes)...unbeknowing to Dahl is that she is really the daughter of the rival pirate captain Hardwick....the tale is that Hardwick and Sullivan had a parting of the ways and Sullivan (Andrew McCallister) stole Hardwicke's money, power and position and forced him to be a pirate, all the while taking his infant daughter (Dahl) as his own supposed daughter. Payne appears to be up for this role, usually one that would suit Earl Flynn...in fact this film has a lot of resemblances to Flynn's classic - "Captain Blood"...... On the island Payne must become a bastard part of the McCallister family and plot to overthrow the McCallister empire at the same time. A very good knife fighting duel between Payne and Shively near the end and Payne puts him away....Payne's identify is discovered by the shrewd Andrew McCallister and in the end the pirate captain Barclay (Hardwicke) overtakes the island and puts McCallister, his arch enemy away...in the process Hardwicke is killed and implores Payne at his side never to tell Dahl that she is his real daughter. Arlene Dahl was a staple in these early 50s drama adventures, ala Patricia Medina and also starred with her future husband a year later in the pirate tale "Sangaree" Fernando Lamas....Franicis L. Sullivan played a heavy in "Sangaree" also. All in all this is a very enjoyable pirate/adventure drama.....although Flynn, Fernando Lamas, or maybe Tyrone Power could have handled the role better.

The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)

The Colossus of Rhodes

[11 March 2008]

Word was that director Sergio Leone who stepped in during 1959 and took over directing "The Last Days of Pompeii" with Steve (Mr. Hercules, himself) Reeves wanted to make a sword and sandal film...at that time Italy was churning out the musclebulgers by the dozens.....Steve Reeves with that physique carved from granite was the king of these musclebulgers.....and to a lesser degree by another musclebulger named Mark Forrest. Leone employed all the members of "Last Days of Pompeii" he could hire....the one exception was he wanted Steve Reeves with that bulging physique to star but Reeves was committed to making "The Giant of Marathon" and "The Great White Warrior" and was not available.....How did I get this info??? I knew a friend of Reeves who talked to him and how Leone liked him and offered him the role in Colossus...... Rumor was a rather handsome but undernourished John Derek was the choice for Dario in the lead role...but a feud developed between Leone and Calhoun who was making another costume "epic" nearby in Italy was suddenly available. Calhoun had made his reputation during the 50s making westerns and was hired......anyhow, story is a typical Italian sword and sandal epic of evil rulers, mob scenes, tortures with whips and chains and a few lovely women to look at.....main story line concerns a giant erected statue called the Colossus which stands over the entrance of the harbor to the island of Rhodes in 280 BC. The Colossus drops oodles of fire and brimstone from it's bottom on any invading ships and invaders who try and enter unwelcome...... Calhoun in leading role as Dario looks out of place....he has that greased up hair do from the 50s he wore and those white shiny boot sandals he had on...ugh!!!! Lea Massari his off and on again love interest is very wooden with a large skin blemish right in the middle of her forehead!!! Where was the make up department????? Massari has all the charm of a wooden box and little to no sex appeal.....in most sword and sandal movies the women are skimpily dressed to the extreme to attract the male audience.....in Colossus the women are covered with full length togas and long dresses....go figure.....Mylene Demengeot who co starred with Steve Reeves in "Giant of Marathon" would have been a better female leading lady for this film....anyhow....there are still legions of sword and sandal fans out there who remembers all those gladiator films....the genre was resuscitated briefly in Russell Crowe's 2000 film "Gladiator".....word was the director wanted Steve Reeves to come out of retirement and play a role but Reeves was in declining health at the time and could not commit....so sad to see the king of these S&S films decline the role......only real criticism is this film is about 20 minutes or so too long coming in at 2 hrs and 15 minutes.......still not bad to see for sword and sandal fans.

The Thief of Baghdad (1961)

Thief of Bagdad

[10/10 · 24 February 2008]

You have got to give Steve Reeves credit....a small known little fact is that he was the most famous movie star in the US in 1959.....his "Hercules Unchained" and "Last Days of Pompeii" were two of the biggest grossing films of the entire year per Variety. Reeves got his big break playing Hercules and then decided to branch out doing historical characters of all types.....two of his very best were "Morgan the Pirate" and "The Thief of Bagdad".....both films were reportedly made in 1960 and released in 1961. For some strange reason both of those films are nearly impossible to find on DVD or video...back in the early 90s there was an ample supply of "Morgan the Pirate" VHS films available at the video stores and then they disappeared bought up by collectors. "Thief of Bagdad" was one of Reeves most enjoyable films.....beautiful technicolor photography, and that haunting soundtrack at the start of the film and when Reeves was riding Pegasus, the winged horse. Reeves combined with his love interest Princess Amina, played by the gorgeous Georgia Moll are a treat....some might remember they also teamed up in "The White Warrior".....Reeves is totally out of his element playing the rogue thief who prowls over Bagdad making a living out of thievery.....however, he finds his love for Princess Amina too great and must go on a mission with several other brave men looking for a mysterious blue rose that will restore the Princess to health after a mysterious illness plagues her. Georges Chamarat plays a genie who comes and goes throughout the film and is a real delight playing an imp who admires the Thief....some good special effects for that time with trees that strangle men, invisible oafs on a boardwalk, flying horses, and as always a beautiful queen (Edy Vessel) to tempt Reeves with sex and mystery. All in all people of all ages will love this film since it seems to appeal to all ages....tales of the arabian knights have been around for many years, played by Sabu in the 40s and 50s but Reeves gives an upper crust presence to the Thief no other actor could give.....too bad Reeves career did not last longer than it did, but he made his millions and bought a horse ranch in Montana and died in 2000.....he was the most admired bodybuilder of all time and still remains very popular to this day.

Geronimo (1962)

Geronimo - 1962

[14 January 2008]

You have got to give a compliment to Chuck Connors for making this fine film...he was at the height of his popularity in 1961 when this film was made as "The Rifleman"...a very successful TV western....Connors checked in his rancher duds for an Indian wig and clothes and this is one of the very best westerns made in the 60s... The story concerns the Indian chief Geronimo who outfought, outwitted and outmaneuvered the US army for a few years during the 1880s in the western US and parts of Mexico. Geronimo, a fierce warrior reluctantly accepts a parcel of land for him and his warrior band as part of a peace treaty...Little did he know in this film that a crooked army captain and crooked reservation politician was scheming to sell off his land due to a crooked land deal that paid them a considerable amount of money. Geronimo learns of this crooked deal and escapes with his warrior band and goes on the run....outwitting and out fighting the US army at every turn. Pat Conway, who formerly starred as the "Sheriff of Tombstone Territory" is cast as the crooked and nasty army captain....look for a young Adam West a few years before his Batman days as a young army lieutenant with a conscience, who feels betrayed by his crooked army captain in the treatment of Geronimo and his band. A beautiful young Indian lady, Kahali Devi is the wife and lady love of Geronimo. Look for Ross Martin as the chief friend of Geronimo, Mangus......this film is nearly two hours of good solid western entertainment albeit Chuck Conners does not look the real part of an Indian, despite all the makeup. In the end the US government realizes that the Indians have been done wrong by the government and the army and submits a peace treaty with dignity that Geronimo can accept. You will really marvel at how devious in the film Chuck Connors is in making his warrior band live and learn off of the land to survive. This is a western you will not want to miss.

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Gunfight at the OK Corral

[20 February 2007]

One of the best westerns ever.....Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, two of the top Hollywood actors of the day in the lead roles.....a rootin and tooting shoot em up western...very good story line about the very strenuous relationship between Earp and Holiday and how they hated and liked each other in equal amounts. The gorgeous Rhonda Fleming as a lady gambler who rides into town and steals Earp's heart. A good cast of villains led by Lyle Bettger, John Ireland and the always evil Ted Decorsia and a very young Dennis Hopper as one of the Clanton boys....director John Sturges works well with the material at hand and weaves a tight but very well moving story. Just gotta love the hatred between Doc Holliday (Douglas) and Ringo (John Ireland) - they almost shoot each other with their eyes until the final showdown when Holliday guns Ringo down. Check out Jo Van Fleet as Holliday's on and off again love interest...a lady who seems to bounce around to any man who is available but she truly loves Holliday, even though he is a woman beater and an alcoholic. She should have gotten an academy award for her role as a hard and bitter woman infatuated with Holliday. Earl Holliman in a very early role as Earp's deputy. Good part of the movie is the singing of Frankie Lane who sings, hums and whistles the title song throughout the film...the brilliant, incomparable music by the one and only Dimitri Tiomkin adds to the enjoyment. This is a western that should not be missed by western fans. The shootout at the OK corral at the end of the film is a classic and check out the shootout with Earp and a young Dennis Hopper as one of the Clanton gang.

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955)

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle

[6/10 · 14 February 2007]

6 ft. 4 inch Gordon Scott made this film for RKO on a very meager budget as the story goes....not much to get worked up about in this tale of rogue and con artist hunters who lie and try to trap animals to sell to the zoos. About the only redeeming quality to this film is Scott's bulging muscle physique......Scott by far the biggest muscleman Tarzan ever....Scott handles his role rudimentary and a little off center....he seems more perplexed with Vera Miles more than the animals....in real life Scott and Miles married......Scott is not given much to say that makes much sense...just grumbling and Me Tarzan, you Jane schuck!!!! Peter Van Eyck as a jungle doctor trying to save natives and animals alike.....this was very weak Tarzan film and rumor had it that Scott only made $50000 for the whole film.... His other Tarzan adventures turned into classics, such as "Tarzan and the Lost Safari", "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" and "Tarzan the Magnificent"....in those films Scott's role as Tarzan reached new heights as an intelligent thinker......Greatest Adventure the best Tarzan ever in my mind....

Man with the Gun (1955)

Man With The Gun

[8 February 2007]

There are westerns and there are westerns with many actors and then there is a Robert Mitchum western....in this film Mitchum plays a no nonsense, hard as nails character as a so called "town tamer"....he follows his estranged wife played coldly by Jan Sterling as she is the madame of a group of dance hall girls...Mitchum wants to make amends with his ex-wife Sterling but she is cold as ice toward him. Mitchum accepts the job as a combo sheriff and "town tamer" and then manages to shoot up the whole place and fight with anyone who gets in his way....he does not believe in taking any so called prisoners. Along the way Mitchum defends a local young man and his wife who are being terrorized by the local hoodlum who runs the town from his distant ranch. The town council soon gets very wary of Mitchum and wants to see him kicked out of the job...Mitchum in his normal, cold and calculating way tells the town to take a hike - that he wants to continue in his job. Check out a very young Angie Dickinson who plays a dance hall girl...must have been one of her first roles. In the end a good gun fighting scene with a set up dance hall girl and a town misfit played by Leo Gordon who along with the local kingpin rancher tries to wipe out Mitchum. Mitchum handles this role like a pro - cold and calculating, always looking over his shoulder for the next confrontation. One is never far away. A very young Karen Sharpe has a good role as a young housewife infatuated with Mitchum. In the end Mitchum is shot up and winds up in the arms of his estranged wife Sterling. Solid western, very enjoyable....Mitchum up to top standards as a hard charging sheriff. One of Mitchum's best B westerns.

The Caine Mutiny (1954)

The Caine Mutiny

[4 February 2007]

Wow, every year I have to pull out my DVD about twice to watch this film....a fabulous movie, one of the best of all time....combination war story and drama at the same time. Who could ever forget Humphrey Bogart's performance as the neurotic Captain Queeg....in my mind Bogart's best performance ever, even considering "African Queen", "Casablanca" and "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"......story concerns a young ensign (Robert Francis) who is fresh out of the naval academy and assigned to a boat full of misfit sailors and officers - the USS Caine, a mine sweeper, far down the food chain as far as navy ships and commands go. Francis first encounters a down and out, worn out captain, played by Tom Tully, who manages to critique Francis to the point of near harassment. After Tully is dispatched from the Caine, a new captain, Bogart takes over and things then really go over the top. Captain Queeg (Bogart) is a wound up, worn out, neurotic who distrusts everyone and seems incapable of running a naval vessel. Things quickly deteriorate on the Caine and the officers aboard are ready to throw Queeg overboard after so much harassment by him. The neurotic scene where Queeg questions his officers about two pails of missing strawberries is a classic......then check out the scene in a typhoon where it appears imminent that the Caine is about to founder and tip over due to Queeg's inability to command. Van Johnson as the ships second in command puts on a memorable performance....he overthrows Queeg (per article 184 of naval regulations) as unfit and unable to command. Naturally Queeg goes berserk at this point in the film during the typhoon and emotions run sky high. After the mutiny a trial takes place in San Francisco. Brilliant part of the movie the entire trial scenes where officers and enlisted men alike are put to the sword by the prosecuting attorney played by E.G. Marshall. Jose Ferrer as the defense attorney in an outstanding role trying to defend the men of the Caine. Best scene when Bogart gives a brilliant performance trying clumsily to defend his actions on the Caine on the witness stand. He slowly starts to unravel and disintegrates from intense questioning about his capabilities as a captain and fit sailor. Check out the scene when he pulls out the steel marbles and twirls them in his hand astounding the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney. Pure screen magic. Fred MacMurray as a con artist, cowardly officer who secretly plots to overthrow Queeg puts on a dandy performance. In short, this is a great film, a true classic. A skimpy love story in the background with Ensign Keith (Francis) and his girlfriend adds a little twist to the film. How did Humphrey Bogart not get an Oscar for this film???? Hard to believe...... One of the all time great Hollywood classic films.

The Revolt of the Slaves (1960)

Revolt of the Slaves

[21 December 2006]

This is a typical "sword and sandal" so called "epic" of the early 1960s when these roman rebellion movies were being churned out by the tons by Italian producers. Steve (Mr. Hercules himself) Reeves got this sword and sandal stuff going with his movies "Hercules" and "Hercules Unchained"....to great and smashing box office success. Italian producers then on skimpy budgets hired cheap Italian actors and actresses occasionally thrown in with an American star, such as in this film with Rhonda Fleming to improve the box office. The movies were always about a city of people oppressed by the ruling clan and usually had a well muscled down actor to lead the people in a revolt. In this film, Lang Jeffries lacks the physique of Steve Reeves or Mark Forrest, but does an admirable job as the leader of a band of slaves....he leads them on a rebellion to stop persecution by Roman rulers...along the way a love/hate relationship develops between Fleming and Jeffries....and yes they fall in love. Typical of the sword and sandal movies, evil rulers, mean soldiers, whippings, and a slave revolt. If you like the peplum you will like this film.

Jack the Giant Killer (1962)

Jack the Giant Killer

[17 December 2006]

This film is pretty good...considering...considering that it that it is an obvious attempt by the producers to try and recreate "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad"......When Sindbad was released in 1958 it hardly created a stir, then all of a sudden it became a monster box office hit....one of those films that pulls a big surprise. In Jack the Giant Killer director Nathan Juran reunites Kerwin Matthews (Jack), with the sorcerer from Sinbad, Torin Thatcher who in this film is another evil sorcerer, called Pendragon. Special effects are very good and the producer was smart enough to give us another cyclops with a horn on his head early in the film....along the way Jack has to fight all types of monsters and ogres to attempt to rescue another princess (ala Sinbad) from the evil Thatcher. Judy Meredith as the princess is a real beautiful gal ala Kathryn Grant from Sinbad and can scream and cry just as well. Torin Thatcher is excellent again as the evil sorcerer....he just had the knack for these kinds of roles. Another young boy in a boat is a friend of Jack just like the young boy Briani (Richard Eyer) in Sinbad...there are so many parts of this film that remind you of the "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" and why not try to duplicate what the public loved 4 years earlier. Kerwin Matthews made a career of playing these mythological roles. I like the flying roc bird monster at the end of the film that Jack has to kill to save the princess. By today's standards this film might be considered lame by some fantasy fans but remember it was made 40 years ago and I still consider the monsters and special effects very well done. A real delight film for fantasy and 60s movies fans.

Bad Men of Missouri (1941)

Bad Men of Missouri

[12 December 2006]

Don't know exactly why but this is one of my favorite all time westerns. Remember seeing it on TV many years ago but I don't think it has been on TV in a long, long time. Turner Classic Movies has the film in it's vault. Story concerns the Younger brothers returning from the civil war to their small Missouri town only to find out the carpetbaggers have taken over and are running out all the peaceable, old folks, taking over their farms and property with delinquent tax deeds. The people cannot pay their tax bills because confederate money is considered worthless. Victor Jory, one of the best villains ever in the movies, plays a ruthless carpetbagger who shows no signs of pity on the poor, hapless farmers. Throw in the evil, sinister, looking Howard DaSilva as a crooked sheriff and you've got a mean mix of villains. The Younger brothers fight back after the murder of their father by Jory and his cutthroats.....they decide to take justice into their own hands and start robbing banks...in turn they give the loot back to the farmers and downtrodden to pay off their tax bills. Sort of like a Robin Hood of the west. A very young Jane Wyman as a love interest of Arthur Kennedy, one of the Younger brothers. Check out the hapless, bumbling Walter Catlett as a goofy middle man transporting Jory's money to a bank only to have the Younger brothers take it away from him. In the end the Younger brothers are all wounded from gunfights and lay in hospital beds while a movement is started by the Missouri downtrodden to get them pardons from the governor. Pretty good western for it's time.....only problem is the film is fairly short...only about an hour and fifteen minutes long....could have been a little longer for my tastes.

Goliath and the Dragon (1960)

Goliath and the Dragon

[11 December 2006]

After the amazing success of "Goliath and the Barbarians" with Steve Reeves, American International pictures decided to go "Goliath" again and picked up the option on "Goliath and the Dragon".....Reeves was offered the role but due to conflicts with another film, American muscleman Mark Forrest took the role of Goliath. Talk about a goofy film.....Forrest certainly has the muscles for the role, but the cardboard sets, bats and monsters flying in on a wire you can see....and a man in a bear suit fighting Goliath....geez!!! Broderick Crawford dropped his Highway Patrol microphone and played Eurytus, a maniac despot with a penciled in scar on his face who tries to get rid of Goliath anyway he can, including sicking his pet dragon on Goliath. Goliath fights elephants, centaurs, bats, bears and manages to pull down two giant trees with a rope to the ground!! On well, if Steve Reeves could pull a tree out of the ground in "Hercules" I guess Goliath could pull down a couple too...... Absolute silly scene with Forrest as Goliath fighting a rubber dragon with a plastic knife breathing fire.....phoniest dragon up close you have ever seen!! Producers even used the same musical sound track for this film as "Goliath and the Barbarians" to save a few bucks I guess. Forrest went on to star in a number of muscleman flicks that Reeves apparently wasn't interested in making. Forrest appeared as Goliath again in "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" again for American International pictures......guess they tried to milk the Goliath role for all they could get!!!

Goliath and the Barbarians (1959)

Goliath and the Barbarians

[11 December 2006]

You have to wonder how smart or stupid the Hollywood movie studios in the late 1950 were....first of all they all passed on a cheaply made Italian muscleman movie named "Hercules" with Steve Reeves and then passed again on "Hercules Unchained" with Reeves again in the title role....independent producer Joseph E. Levine picked up the options on both of these films and waged a massive advertising campaign in newspapers and television and those two "Hercules" films became monster hits at the box office. Not to learn from their previous mistakes, Reeves then made a muscleman "epic" called "Goliath and the Barbarians".....independent American International picked up the option on the film and it made a monster amount of money for them. Go figure out Hollywood....In "Goliath and the Barbarians" Reeves is the leader of a band of Italian villagers hell bent on revenge against a massive horde of barbarian huns led by a maniac named Igor. After a massacre of his village including the murder of his father Reeves decides enough is enough. He secretly starts to wipe out the barbarian horde one by one until his methods are found out by Igor. Along the way the beautiful Chelo Alonso, a barbarian queen becomes his love interest. Talk about a beauty.....she is a dancer and a romancer. Reeves tries not to get too involved with her but that is a lost cause. Check out the scene with Reeves in a test of strength pulls two horses with his hands tied to a pair of ropes....then he pulls down a slew of barbarians trying to pull him into a sword pit on a wall.....great stuff for the kids and the Saturday afternoon matinée crowd. Reeves ripling, bulging muscles are shown to the max in those scenes. By the end of the film Reeves and his men wipe out the barbarians including their leader and all is well. Final scene shows Reeves riding off into the sunset with Alonso sitting on his saddle.....at that time Reeves was the king of the muscleman movies with three blockbusters to his credit. All the muscleman actors that followed were no match for the physique and looks of Mr. Reeves. He certainly was the king of the Italian muscleman flicks.

Hercules (1958)

Hercules

[11 December 2006]

The movie that launched the career of muscle man Steve Reeves.... In the late 1950s Italian director Pietro Franicisi wanted to do a film about the exploits of the famous muscleman, "Hercules"...he had scoured actors all over Europe looking for a handsome, musclebound actor who could complement the role...soon his daughter who had seen Reeves in a couple of B films recommended Reeves to her father....the rest was history. Reeves was an out of work muscleman actor who reportedly took the role for about $40,000 US cash - quite a sum at the time for an unemployed actor. The rest as they say is history. When first released it was panned by the major US studios until a film producer named Joseph E. Levine took a big chance and bought all the rights to the film's USA release. After a major US advertising campaign on television and in the newspapers the film confounded the experts and for some strange reason became an international hit. The timing was right for some unknown reason for this cheaply made muscle man movie to become a hit. At the time fantasy films, such as the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and others were big at the box office. Reeves incredible physique and handsome face were big attractions to the young boys and ladies who went to see the film. Levine hit the jackpot again when Francisi made "Hercules Unchained" a few months later after the release of "Hercules". "Hercules Unchained " made even more money, in fact an astounding amount in 1960 and became one of the year's biggest grossing films. Soon, Italian directors jumped on the bandwagon and starting churning out these muscleman epics by the dozens.....Gordon Scott, Mark Forrest,Reg Lewis, and Kirk Morris all tried to duplicate Reeves in these "epics".....and the public loved them. Reeves went on to make several more muscleman epics in the late 50s and early 60s playing Morgan the Pirate, The Thief of Bagdad, Goliath, The White Warrior, The Son of Spartacus and other muscleman epics. An odd twist to Reeves career was the fact that he reportedly turned down two roles that became international sensations: He was offered the role of James Bond by producer Cubby Broccoli and "The Man with No name" made popular by Clint Eastwood and made by Sergio Leone....for whatever reason Reeves turned the roles down....hard to understand. Reeves retired to ranching, his first love in the late 60s and raised cattle and horses until his death in 2001. The greatest physique ever seen on a man....probably the most admired bodybuilder of all time.

Some Came Running (1958)

Some Came Running

[23 July 2006]

Very entertaining, glossy, melodramatic 1950s soap opera story on a string. The one and only Frank Sinatra is a soldier who decides to come back to his small Indiana town for a reunion with his brother and maybe to get a new life after his army days are over. After being a gambler and a transient he brings along with him Shirley McLaine on a bus ride who tries to convince him how much she cares for him and what a wonderful person he is. Once in town, Sinatra bucks the locals and his brother by depositing his money in a competing bank. He then manages to upset his sister in law, meet a over the top stuffy school teacher, and hitch up with Bama Dillard (Dean Martin) a traveling gambler who is always looking for "some new blood" to make money in his livlihood. All the characters becoming grossingly intertwined with each other with a flock of different personalities. Lurking in the background is a pysched up, over the top transient who wants McLain for his girlfriend and will stop at nothing to get her away from Sinatra. Sinatra becomes confused about his feelings for the school teacher (Martha Hyer), and his floozy girlfriend McLaine.... Then his friend Bama, (Martin) tries to get him to leave town and find some "new blood" and new gambling ventures.......Sinatra gets too mixed up with his brother's daughter (niece) and his attempted love affair with Hyer. Nothing seems to be working for Dave Hirsh (Sinatra). The entire film revolves around the misfortunes of Hirsh and his attempts to straighten out his life and find new meaning. Arthur Kennedy plays his brother who lukewarmly welcomes Dave back to town. Kennedy all the while feels intimidated by Hirsh and generally wants him to leave. The entire film is a jumbo-mumbo of emotions by nearly all the actors. For my money Dean Martin as the gambler Bama, is a stitch. He never takes off his hat! He seems to ride on the coatails of Dave Hirsh and finds him a true friend. Sinatra fans will not be disappointed by this film...one of the first that featured Sinatra and Dean Martin together. The ending with McLain's death is quite striking. Director Vincente Minelli seemed to really direct these soap opera melodramas. A couple of years later he hit it again with the classic "Home from the Hill" with Robert Mitchum....another melodrama special. "Some Came Running" is definitely for Sinatra fans.

Where the Boys Are (1960)

Where the Boys Are

[11 July 2006]

One very hot and widely discussed film when it first came out in late 1960.....sex, sex and more sex was the theme throughout most of the film and by a 1960 standard it was pushing the limit. Teens however went to see it in droves. I was in high school at the time (soph) and I could probably have taken 40 different girls to see that film when it first came out...everyone was talking about it as the top date movie. One top notch cast of guys and gals taking up the sun and rays of Ft. Lauderdale Florida with hormones and suds flowing. The gals, Connie Francis, Delores Hart, Paula Prentiss and Yvette Mimieux got their careers started and advanced with their appearance in this film, although Hart had appeared in a couple of Elvis films before WTBA. This film is comedy supreme. Just taking a look at the girl's hotel room filled with students they didn't even know, sleeping there at random was a stitch. You've got to love the scene with Hart and Francis in a diner ordering two cups of hot water to mix ketchup in!!! Then there are the guys swooning and staring at the gals all over the place. In summary the four gals were all looking for romance in the right and wrong places throughout the movie with a little love, jealousy and heartbreak thrown in. Their boyfriends, George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin, Jim Hutton and a couple of unknowns add to the zaniness with their shenanigans. Check out the scene at the night club when everyone jumps into Lola's swimming pool and the nightclub manager goes bananas trying to throw them out of the club. In the end alls well that ends well and four new romances are kindled with the gals and their boyfriends as they head back to that mythical college in the midwest somewhere. As far as the sexual mores of the time "A Summer Place" with Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee was probably much more sexual in content that WTBA. Also "Imitation of Life" with Lana Turner a year before put sex over the top. Still this is a great film to see even 45 years later as dated and hokey as it may seem.

The Robe (1953)

The Robe

[1 April 2006]

A magnificent motion picture, one of the most important films of all time.....filmed in brilliant cinemascope and technicolor with a cast as magnificent as the production itself....Richard Burton and Jean Simmons brilliant as the roman centurion and his lovely childhood friend Diana, who is now a ward of the court of the lunatic emperor Caligula, played to perfection as a despot by Jay Robinson. Burton is a roman centurion who comes from a royal and noble family of Rome, his father is a senator, a man who loves his son and family dearly but must remain loyal to the despot ruler Caligula. Burton is somewhat of a rogue, a man who is loose with his tongue to a fault. After outbidding Caligula for a slave in the open market, he is sentenced to the outpost at Jerusalem, a sort of sordid country filled with rebellion and outcasts, and religious zealots, who believe in a "saviour" who is coming to rescue the Jews from persecution. After presiding at the execution of Jesus on the crucifix, Burton is scorned and hated by his bought slave Victor Mature, who calls the romans "animals", "thiefs", "murderers" and in a powerful scene of heavy rain and thunder casts a curse on the roman empire. Unmoved at first Burton finds himself doubting the power and real influence the roman empire has on the world. After meeting with disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem he finds true meaning in their beliefs and decides the life of Christ is the correct one and that the evils of the roman empire cannot be the "real life" he has imagined for himself and his family. Victor Mature as the slave Demetrious becomes a beacon of hope and light for Burton to follow.....and Burton begins to realize that Mature and his Christian followers have found the true test of life and the ways of the Lord are the correct road to a better life and everlasting peace. Put to the sword near the end of the film, Burton is given a chance to redeem himself by renouncing Christ, but decides to meekly endorse the roman empire and follow the teachings of Christ to a better world. Very powerful ending scene as Burton and his wife to be Simmons marching to their death out of the court of Caligula to a rousing musical score. This is a film not to be missed. You don't need to be very religious to appreciate this movie. This is acting at it's very best and among christians today one of the most powerful and popular religious films ever made. Would be very difficult to remake this film today....absolutely no actors of the caliber of Burton, Simmons, Robinson and Torin Thatcher could reprise their roles. Burton and Simmons in their finest roles ever.

Hercules Unchained (1959)

Hercules Unchained

[29 March 2006]

In 1959 producer Joseph E. Levine released in the United States the hyped up cheaply made Italian muscle "epic" "Hercules" starring a struggling bodybuilder actor with a physique that would make a Greek god jealous, Steve Reeves. After a big publicity campaign the film became a box office smash and started a whole new Hollywood genre, the Italian "sword and sandal" so called movies. After the success of "Hercules" Levine ordered up another installment, this one called "Hercules Unchained" and it too was a smash. Reeves as Hercules is married happily to a lovely Italian lady in Greece, but upon returning to his homeland he finds two brothers are in a blood feud for control of Thebes. Reeves to the rescue! Reeves is entrusted with taking a peace treaty pact to one of the brothers to settle the feud but drinks water from the fountain of "forgetfullness" and is soon captured and taken to an island and made a sex slave to the queen Omphale, a woman who cant get enough loving out of a slew of ex greeks.....in short, she loves em and slays em in equal amounts. She meets her match in Hercules and he escapes and sails back to Thebes just in time as the two brothers kill themselves foolishly trying to take over the throne. Lots of skin, bulging muscles and lovely Italian ladies in skimpy costumes. That combination became the formula for the next several years as Italian producers churned out a ton of muscleman "epics" with the likes of Gordon Scott, Mark Forrest, Ed Fury, Reg Park, Richard Harrison. The films were mostly the same; evil rulers, mob scenes, sword fights, skimpily clad women, musclebulging heroes doing feats of strength with horses, elephants and picking up 5 lb paper mache rocks and throwing them at evil rulers armies. If you watch these films not expecting to see Charlton Heston or Kirk Douglas you will have a lot of fun. Reeves was by far the best actor in these films despite shoestring budgets and high school scripts. Reeves made a slew of Hercules, Goliath, pirates, and mystical character films before he retired for good in the late 60s...word was he turned down the original James Bond role in "Dr. No" that went to Sean Connery....go figure!

Carousel (1956)

Carousel

[18 March 2006]

A few reader comments have said "wish I could have seen this film in a theatre"....well, went to the Redford Theatre in Detroit(www.RedfordTheatre.com)tonight (historic theater that shows classic films) (March 2006) and was very disappointed. First of all the film is sort of lame...the print that was shown was poor quality, faded from being in the can too long, lots of color washed out and lines in the print. A few good songs, and loved seeing it in Cinemascope but that is about it. Gordon McCrae does not show much personality and is rather dry throughout.....Shirely Jones acts so sweet she is literally dripping sugar....if McCrae pointed a gun at her in the film and was going to shoot her, she probably would have said "I love you Billy" ugh!! Cameron Mitchell about as boring as could be in his role....funny scenes seeing women dancers dancing on the roof of a pier at a fishing village. Got a kick also seeing Gene Lockhart, the old Bob Cratchit himself in the film and Audrie Christy who a few years later would be Natalie's Wood's mother in "Splendor in the Grass". I too wonder how Billy Bigelow got to "heaven" - he was a bum and a misfit throughout the film and an attempted murderer...the acting throughout the film was very dry to me....no one developed much of a personality in the film....just a bunch of dubbed in songs. Film leaves you wondering why the director did not let Billy talk in person to his 15 yr. old daughter where she knew it was him, instead of a strange man. Films ends with Jones mopey-dopying in her front yard rusing about her dead husband. Not the best R&H film, very average compared to "Oklahoma" with the same stars.