The messy politics of the Indo-China War didn’t confuse writer-director Samuel Fuller; as the machine gun- toting Nat King Cole snarls, hating Commies is an end unto itself! Fuller’s second outrageous Cold War combat fantasy pits a handful of French Legionnaires and mercenaries against the might of the International Communist Conspiracy, to stop the flow of Chinese and Russian weapons into Vietnam. Commander Gene Barry has an ally who could be straight from a Terry and the Pirates comic strip: Eurasian adventuress Lucky Legs. Young Angie Dickinson is the good-time-girl / wronged spouse / caring mother who also maintains cordial pillow-talk relations with the Red vermin. If those are the Good and the Bad, Lee Van Cleef’s Chinese General is the Ugly: his troops guard the China Gate, the key to Commie victory!
China Gate
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 111
1957 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date April 8, 2022 / Available from Amazon.
China Gate
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 111
1957 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date April 8, 2022 / Available from Amazon.
- 4/16/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Lynn Stalmaster, the legendary casting director who worked on nearly 200 movies ranging from “West Side Story” to “Harold and Maude” to “Tootsie,” has died. He was 93.
Stalmaster died Friday morning in Los Angeles, Casting Society of America executive Laura Adler confirmed.
Stalmaster was a pioneer as an independent casting director who worked on a freelance basis. He was renowned for his skill in spotting new talent and matching actors to the perfect roles. He was also a champion for elevating the status of casting directors in the industry. In 2016, he became the first casting professional to be honored with an Oscar when he received a Governors Award tribute from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
“A pioneer of our craft, Lynn was a trailblazer with over half a century of world-class film and television casting credits. He was a friend and mentor to many of us,” Casting Society of...
Stalmaster died Friday morning in Los Angeles, Casting Society of America executive Laura Adler confirmed.
Stalmaster was a pioneer as an independent casting director who worked on a freelance basis. He was renowned for his skill in spotting new talent and matching actors to the perfect roles. He was also a champion for elevating the status of casting directors in the industry. In 2016, he became the first casting professional to be honored with an Oscar when he received a Governors Award tribute from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
“A pioneer of our craft, Lynn was a trailblazer with over half a century of world-class film and television casting credits. He was a friend and mentor to many of us,” Casting Society of...
- 2/13/2021
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Lynn Stalmaster, who was the first casting director to receive an Academy Award, died today at home in Los Angeles. He was 93 and his death was confirmed by Laura Adler of the Casting Society of America.
Stalmaster had a legendary vision for casting. He is credited with moving Dustin Hoffman into The Graduate, Christopher Reeve as Superman, and tabbing the young John Travolta for TV comedy classic Welcome Back, Kotter, among many others.
The November 2016 Governors Awards saw Stalmaster become the first casting director to receive an Academy Award. The honorary Oscar recognized his long and meritorious career.
Stalmaster also had another notable achievement: on Norman Jewison’s 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair Stalmaster became the first casting director to receive a single-card credit in the titles.
Stalmaster has more than 400 casting credits among them such classics as Inherit the Wind (1960), The Great Escape (1963), In the Heat of the Night (1967), They Shoot Horses,...
Stalmaster had a legendary vision for casting. He is credited with moving Dustin Hoffman into The Graduate, Christopher Reeve as Superman, and tabbing the young John Travolta for TV comedy classic Welcome Back, Kotter, among many others.
The November 2016 Governors Awards saw Stalmaster become the first casting director to receive an Academy Award. The honorary Oscar recognized his long and meritorious career.
Stalmaster also had another notable achievement: on Norman Jewison’s 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair Stalmaster became the first casting director to receive a single-card credit in the titles.
Stalmaster has more than 400 casting credits among them such classics as Inherit the Wind (1960), The Great Escape (1963), In the Heat of the Night (1967), They Shoot Horses,...
- 2/13/2021
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Witness one Robert Lippert, an American independent producer who flourished in multiple eras of Hollywood. We discuss his adaptation to changes in the movie biz in conjunction with a double bill DVD of two typical Lippert shows from the very early fifties, one produced in Hollywood and another in England. Robert Lippert is the proof that ‘Life Finds a Way’ in the movies as well, a sentiment reinterpreted as ‘staying in the game.’
I’ll Get You + Fingerprints Don’t Lie
Forgotten Noir Volume 6
DVD
Vci / Kit Parker
1951, 1952 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / Street Date April 24 2007, 2020
Starring: George Raft, Sally Gray, Clifford Evans; Richard Travis, Sheila Ryan, Sid Melton.
I’ve wanted to review the two ‘programmers’ in this double-bill disc for some time, not realizing that I was really more interested in a producer associated with them. The name Robert L. Lippert pops up continually in the history of some of my favorite genre pictures.
I’ll Get You + Fingerprints Don’t Lie
Forgotten Noir Volume 6
DVD
Vci / Kit Parker
1951, 1952 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / Street Date April 24 2007, 2020
Starring: George Raft, Sally Gray, Clifford Evans; Richard Travis, Sheila Ryan, Sid Melton.
I’ve wanted to review the two ‘programmers’ in this double-bill disc for some time, not realizing that I was really more interested in a producer associated with them. The name Robert L. Lippert pops up continually in the history of some of my favorite genre pictures.
- 9/15/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Our 75th guest! The legendary filmmaker John Sayles joins Josh and Joe to explore some of his favorite movies.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Ulzana’s Raid (1972)
Django (1966)
The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
City Of Hope (1991)
Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980)
The Challenge (1982)
Avalanche (1978)
Eight Men Out (1988)
Piranha (1978)
The Howling (1981)
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
The Killers (1964)
The King And I (1956)
Time Without Pity (1957)
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)
Ben-Hur (1957)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Two Women (1960)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Spartacus (1960)
Fixed Bayonets! (1951)
The Steel Helmet (1951)
Merrill’s Marauders (1962)
Targets (1968)
Touch Of Evil (1958)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Woodstock (1970)
Crime In The Streets (1956)
The Bad Seed (1956)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Fedora (1978)
Dune (1984)
The Cotton Club (1984)
Choose Me (1984)
Raising Arizona (1987)
El Norte (1983)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Irishman (2019)
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019)
The Thing (1982)
Chinatown (1974)
Manhattan (1979)
Duck Amuck (1953)
Goodfellas (1990)
Humanoids Of The Deep (1980)
Cockfighter (1974)
Dynamite Women a.k.a. The Great Texas Dynamite Chase...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Ulzana’s Raid (1972)
Django (1966)
The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
City Of Hope (1991)
Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980)
The Challenge (1982)
Avalanche (1978)
Eight Men Out (1988)
Piranha (1978)
The Howling (1981)
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
The Killers (1964)
The King And I (1956)
Time Without Pity (1957)
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)
Ben-Hur (1957)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Two Women (1960)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Spartacus (1960)
Fixed Bayonets! (1951)
The Steel Helmet (1951)
Merrill’s Marauders (1962)
Targets (1968)
Touch Of Evil (1958)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Woodstock (1970)
Crime In The Streets (1956)
The Bad Seed (1956)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Fedora (1978)
Dune (1984)
The Cotton Club (1984)
Choose Me (1984)
Raising Arizona (1987)
El Norte (1983)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Irishman (2019)
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019)
The Thing (1982)
Chinatown (1974)
Manhattan (1979)
Duck Amuck (1953)
Goodfellas (1990)
Humanoids Of The Deep (1980)
Cockfighter (1974)
Dynamite Women a.k.a. The Great Texas Dynamite Chase...
- 4/7/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
David Crow Nov 5, 2019
Martin Scorsese has a major point about the decline of the industry that many fans of Marvel Studios are missing.
Last month legendary director Martin Scorsese made something of a stir by revealing he does not like watching Marvel movies—and he does not consider them to be cinema. While it is a bit amusing that thousands of people on social media were shocked that a man who grew up in the 1940 and ‘50s doesn’t like watching Iron Man movies, the pop culture upheaval that followed led to much of what Scorsese said being taken out of context. Hence the filmmaker elaborating on his points in The New York Times this week.
Taking to The Times’ op-ed board, Scorsese unpacked his rationale for generally not enjoying superhero movies while being as complementary as possible to the craft that goes into making them.
“Many franchise films are...
Martin Scorsese has a major point about the decline of the industry that many fans of Marvel Studios are missing.
Last month legendary director Martin Scorsese made something of a stir by revealing he does not like watching Marvel movies—and he does not consider them to be cinema. While it is a bit amusing that thousands of people on social media were shocked that a man who grew up in the 1940 and ‘50s doesn’t like watching Iron Man movies, the pop culture upheaval that followed led to much of what Scorsese said being taken out of context. Hence the filmmaker elaborating on his points in The New York Times this week.
Taking to The Times’ op-ed board, Scorsese unpacked his rationale for generally not enjoying superhero movies while being as complementary as possible to the craft that goes into making them.
“Many franchise films are...
- 11/5/2019
- Den of Geek
Is this Samuel Fuller’s biggest production? He tries to convey the harrowing reality of a military campaign that tested the limits of endurance and punishment that troops could absorb. In his last movie, Jeff Chandler is the famed commander who must ask his special forces to march hundreds of miles in the unforgiving jungle, and then fight a pitched battle. Although Warners interfered with the final cut, it’s still a fine picture.
Merrill’s Marauders
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1962 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date July 23, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Jeff Chandler, Ty Hardin, Peter Brown, Andrew Duggan, Will Hutchins, Claude Akins, Luz Valdez, John Hoyt, Pancho Magalona.
Cinematography: William Clothier
Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Original Music: Howard Jackson
Written by Milton Sperling, Sam Fuller from a book by Charlton Ogburn Jr.
Produced by Milton Sperling
Directed by Samuel Fuller
Writer/producer/director Samuel Fuller must...
Merrill’s Marauders
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1962 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date July 23, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Jeff Chandler, Ty Hardin, Peter Brown, Andrew Duggan, Will Hutchins, Claude Akins, Luz Valdez, John Hoyt, Pancho Magalona.
Cinematography: William Clothier
Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Original Music: Howard Jackson
Written by Milton Sperling, Sam Fuller from a book by Charlton Ogburn Jr.
Produced by Milton Sperling
Directed by Samuel Fuller
Writer/producer/director Samuel Fuller must...
- 7/27/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Brace Yourself For A Shock!…200 Feet of Living Burning Horror!” Eugène Lourié’s second feature about an irate sea monster wrecking a city features sober eco-preaching, good performances by Gene Evans and André Morell, and several minutes of exciting stop-motion animation nirvana. One just needs to overlook a few lunkhead effects scenes and concentrate on the key Willis O’Brien / Pete Peterson material. It’s a Shock all right — do you prefer to be stepped on like a bug, or fried by a zillion volts of ‘projected radiation?’
The Giant Behemoth
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1959 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Evans, André Morell, John Turner, Leigh Madison, Jack MacGowran, Maurice Kaufmann, Derren Nesbitt.
Cinematography: Ken Hodges
Production Design: Eugène Lourié
Special Visual Effects: Willis H. O’Brien, Pete Peterson, Phil Kellison, Jack Rabin, Irving Block, Louis DeWitt.
Original Music: Edwin Astley...
The Giant Behemoth
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1959 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Evans, André Morell, John Turner, Leigh Madison, Jack MacGowran, Maurice Kaufmann, Derren Nesbitt.
Cinematography: Ken Hodges
Production Design: Eugène Lourié
Special Visual Effects: Willis H. O’Brien, Pete Peterson, Phil Kellison, Jack Rabin, Irving Block, Louis DeWitt.
Original Music: Edwin Astley...
- 1/26/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Here’s an Army booster production that got way out of hand: it’s a semi-docu using real soldiers, and filmed in Korea near the real combat zones – and filmed in full-scale 3-D. The soldiers, the equipment, everything is real — even the ammunition used is live, not blanks.
Cease Fire!
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 75 min. / Street Date November 21, 2017 / 34.96
Starring: Captain Roy Thompson Jr., Corporal Henry Goszkowski, Sergeant Richard Karl Elliott, Sergeant First Class Albert Bernard Cook, Private Johnnie L. Mayes, Cheong Yul Bak, Sergeant First Class Howard E. Strait, Private First Class Gilbert L. Gazaille, Private First Class Harry L. Hofelich, Corporal Charlie W. Owen, Corporal Harold D. English, Private First Class Edmund Joseph Pruchniewski, Private Otis Wright, Private First Class Ricardo Carrasco, John Maxwell.
Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter
Film Editor: John Woodcock
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Written by Walter Doniger, story by Owen Crump
Produced...
Cease Fire!
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 75 min. / Street Date November 21, 2017 / 34.96
Starring: Captain Roy Thompson Jr., Corporal Henry Goszkowski, Sergeant Richard Karl Elliott, Sergeant First Class Albert Bernard Cook, Private Johnnie L. Mayes, Cheong Yul Bak, Sergeant First Class Howard E. Strait, Private First Class Gilbert L. Gazaille, Private First Class Harry L. Hofelich, Corporal Charlie W. Owen, Corporal Harold D. English, Private First Class Edmund Joseph Pruchniewski, Private Otis Wright, Private First Class Ricardo Carrasco, John Maxwell.
Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter
Film Editor: John Woodcock
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Written by Walter Doniger, story by Owen Crump
Produced...
- 11/11/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Walking Dead's Season Eight premiere last week was undoubtedly action-packed; in retrospect, however, you can see how most of the hour was about the bluster before the battle. All the fireworks happened in the last third – and even that was just the opening salvo for what could be weeks of warfare. It's in this week's episode – "The Damned" – where the conflict really ramps up, on multiple fronts. And by the closing credits, there's no sign of any peace treaties getting drawn up any time soon.
There are two...
There are two...
- 10/30/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Samuel Fuller sure knows how to turn up the geopolitical tension, especially in a rip-roaring provocative atom threat adventure, that might have caused problems if anybody cared what movies said back when the Cold War was hot. Richard Widmark skippers a leaky sub to the arctic and discovers that the Chinese communists are going to start WW3 — and blame it on Uncle Sam. It’s an insane comic-book adventure about very serious issues — and we love it.
Hell and High Water
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen, Richard Loo, Cameron Mitchell, Gene Evans, David Wayne.
Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Art Direction: Leland Fuller, Lyle R. Wheeler
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Samuel Fuller, Jesse L. Lasky Jr. story by David Hempstead
Produced by Raymond A. Klune
Directed...
Hell and High Water
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen, Richard Loo, Cameron Mitchell, Gene Evans, David Wayne.
Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Art Direction: Leland Fuller, Lyle R. Wheeler
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Samuel Fuller, Jesse L. Lasky Jr. story by David Hempstead
Produced by Raymond A. Klune
Directed...
- 6/27/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Actress Lucie Lucas, director Gabe Klinger, and actor Anton YelchinYou may already know the work of Brazilian-born American Gabe Klinger, perhaps through his writing as a critic for Cinema Scope and Sight & Sound, or through his programming at such venues as the Museum of Modern Art and the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2013, Klinger leapt behind the camera for his delightfully idiosyncratic debut film, Double Play, a documentary twofer chatting with and exploring the work of two distinctively different yet unexpectedly compatible American filmmakers, Richard Linklater and James Benning. This move to documenting (and combining) favorite filmmakers seemed like a natural extension of Klinger's advocacy in print and work at cinematheques and film festivals. Yet rather than remaining in the documentary mode, for his follow-up Klinger has gone overseas to Portugal to make a cleverly time-addled romance that's at once elated and melancholy. Porto, taking place in a dreamy, remembered...
- 9/20/2016
- MUBI
Samuel Fuller's first picture under his Fox contract is a fine Korean War 'suicide squad' tale, filmed on a sound stage but looking quite authentic. Richard Basehart leads a fine cast. Lots of cigars get chomped, and Gene Evans is actually named Sgt. Rock. Plus an excellent commentary from Trailers from Hell's new guru Michael Schlesinger. Fixed Bayonets! Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 92 min. / Street Date September 20, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Richard Basehart, Gene Evans, Michael O'Shea, Richard Hylton, Craig Hill, Skip Homeier, Neyle Morrow, Wyott Ordung, John Doucette, George Conrad Cinematography Lucien Ballard Art Direction George Patrick, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Nick DeMaggio Original Music Roy Webb Written by Samuel Fuller from a novel by John Brophy Produced by Jules Buck Directed by Samuel Fuller
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Sam Fuller's third independent film The Steel Helmet was a risky proposition...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Sam Fuller's third independent film The Steel Helmet was a risky proposition...
- 8/30/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Memorial Day is that time Americans set aside each year to remember and honor the sacrifices of our fallen military veterans. But it's also a day off from work, and for those who want to spend the day in front of their TV without feeling unpatriotic or ungrateful — relax, we've got you've covered. We've scoured the streaming services and digital rental outlets, and we've found nine movies (and one mini-series) that'll fill your entire holiday with thoughtful, provocative, appropriate entertainment. By the time you're done, our nation's fighting forces may...
- 5/30/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Released in 1952, Fixed Bayonets! marked the first studio picture directed by Samuel Fuller, and his second in a row that would depict the still-in-progress Korean War. After the surprise success of the independently produced The Steel Helmet, Fuller met with all the major studio heads - Jack Warner, Louis B. Mayer et al - all of whom were eager for him to repeat his success on a modest budget. Only Darryl Zanuck asked Fuller about the stories he wanted to tell and pledged to use box office profits to finance better movies in the future. Fuller, a former newsman and screenwriter, had found his new home, and signed on to make six pictures with the studio. What he didn’t want to do, however,...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/5/2016
- Screen Anarchy
March 22nd’s Blu-ray and DVD releases are an eclectic bunch, featuring a handful of cult classics, a thriller with the likes of Val Kilmer and Michael Madsen, Goth Katie Holmes fighting against the oppressive nature of her educational system, cowboys taking on prehistoric creatures, and a special edition of Fear the Walking Dead’s inaugural season. Yes, there’s truly something for almost every genre fan.
Notable home entertainment releases arriving this Tuesday include Disturbing Behavior (from The X-Files alum David Nutter), The Black Sleep, Donovan’s Brain, Kill Me Again, All Hell Breaks Loose, Curse of the Poltergeist, Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs, and as mentioned above, Fear The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season Special Edition.
The Black Sleep (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Newly remastered in HD! The masters of classic horror, Basil Rathbone (Tales of Terror), Bela Lugosi (Dracula, White Zombie), Lon Chaney, Jr. (The Wolf Man) and...
Notable home entertainment releases arriving this Tuesday include Disturbing Behavior (from The X-Files alum David Nutter), The Black Sleep, Donovan’s Brain, Kill Me Again, All Hell Breaks Loose, Curse of the Poltergeist, Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs, and as mentioned above, Fear The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season Special Edition.
The Black Sleep (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Newly remastered in HD! The masters of classic horror, Basil Rathbone (Tales of Terror), Bela Lugosi (Dracula, White Zombie), Lon Chaney, Jr. (The Wolf Man) and...
- 3/22/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Known primarily for his war films and crime dramas, American director Samuel Fuller also directed a quartet of westerns, the last of which being 1957's Forty Guns. The film was part of a deal struck with 20th Century Fox after the success of Fuller's breakout film, about the Korean War, The Steel Helmet. Wooed by the studio's dedication to making "better movies" rather than lining their own pockets, Fuller signed a seven-picture deal. Forty Guns is loosely based on Wyatt Earp and the iconic "gunfight at the O.K. Corral", which went down in Tombstone, Arizona in October 1881. Here, the Earp surrogate is Griff Bonnell (Barry Sullivan), who rides into town with his two younger brothers, Wes (Gene Barry) and Chico (Robert Dix), with a warrant...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/24/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Thirty years ago, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," the much-awaited follow-up to "Raiders of the Lost Ark," debuted. Indiana Jones was back -- although the film was set earlier than the events of "Raiders" -- and this time, he had a dame (Kate Capshaw) and a kid (Jonathan Ke Quan) with him. Oh, and he wasn't fighting Nazis, just a deadly, child-enslaving cult.
If you're not old enough to remember, this (along with "Gremlins" and "Poltergeist") was the movie that prompted the creation of the PG-13 rating, after parents complained that a PG-rating wasn't adequate for a movie that includes a scene where a man's still-beating heart is ripped out of his chest.
But did you know that an Oscar-winning Hollywood legend almost had a small role in the film? Or what stars pranked Harrison Ford on the set? Didn't think so.
Here are 30 things you might not have known about the movie.
If you're not old enough to remember, this (along with "Gremlins" and "Poltergeist") was the movie that prompted the creation of the PG-13 rating, after parents complained that a PG-rating wasn't adequate for a movie that includes a scene where a man's still-beating heart is ripped out of his chest.
But did you know that an Oscar-winning Hollywood legend almost had a small role in the film? Or what stars pranked Harrison Ford on the set? Didn't think so.
Here are 30 things you might not have known about the movie.
- 5/22/2014
- by Sharon Knolle
- Moviefone
One of Hollywood's true maverick filmmakers, Sam Fuller was never a man to shy away from tackling important social and political issues in his films. Famously, he was the first American filmmaker to tackle the Korean War, in The Steel Helmet, mental illness (among other issues) in Shock Corridor, and child abuse in The Naked Kiss. So when Paramount executives Jon Davison and Don Simpson were scrambling to get a bunch of projects through production ahead of an upcoming writers' strike in 1981, who better to take on the long-gestating White Dog than Fuller, hot again after the recent success of The Big Red One.White Dog is adapted from an autobiographical novel written by Romain Gray, which told the story of how he and his...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/14/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Our astute managing editor, Erik Davis, spotted another great find at Tumblr fave Cinephilia and Beyond. Shannon Davis' 2006 documentary Edge of Outside is an hour-long, in-depth look at the history of independent cinema, celebrating the genre's hallmark directors: John Cassavetes, Peter Bogdanovich, Roger Corman and more. Davis interviewed Hollywood heavy hitters like Martin Scorsese, who shares great stories about filmmakers like Sam Fuller. The Steel Helmet director made pictures at major studios like Fox and Columbia that didn't look like studio films and had a "pure, singular way of seeing the world." Scorsese also explains that the spirit of indie filmmaking was alive in Hollywood during the 1920s and was nurtured by the system for a time...
Read More...
Read More...
- 5/15/2013
- by Alison Nastasi
- Movies.com
Few writer-directors in the history of American cinema fit the definition of “maverick” better than the late Samuel Fuller. Brash and bold, he used his experiences as a newsboy, reporter, and infantryman to inform his best movies, from Park Row and The Steel Helmet to The Big Red One. If you admire his films and haven’t read his autobiography, A Third Face, you have a real treat in store. Fuller’s daughter Samantha has set out to make a documentary about her father to commemorate his 100th birthday this year, making use of material that hasn’t been mined in the existing docs that cover his colorful life and career. Like so many filmmakers (and...
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[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
- 9/28/2012
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4
War is a nation’s ultimate commitment of blood and treasure. As such, the stories a people tells about its wars – and don’t tell – and the ways it remembers its wars – or chooses to forget them – tells us much about the kind of people they consider themselves to be at different times in their history, as well as the kind of people they really were…and are.
For most of the 20th century, the war film was a Hollywood staple. From one era to the next, war movies documented the nation’s conflicts, reflected the national consciousness on particular combats as well as on thinking going far beyond any one, particular war. They’ve been propagandistic and revisionist,...
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4
War is a nation’s ultimate commitment of blood and treasure. As such, the stories a people tells about its wars – and don’t tell – and the ways it remembers its wars – or chooses to forget them – tells us much about the kind of people they consider themselves to be at different times in their history, as well as the kind of people they really were…and are.
For most of the 20th century, the war film was a Hollywood staple. From one era to the next, war movies documented the nation’s conflicts, reflected the national consciousness on particular combats as well as on thinking going far beyond any one, particular war. They’ve been propagandistic and revisionist,...
- 5/22/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Two nights ago in Brooklyn, New York, the wonderful Bam cinematheque screened Gordon Douglas' 1951 film Only the Valiant in the series J. Hoberman: An Army of Phantoms, programmed by the Village Voice critic in honor of the publication of his new book.
The film, by a director with whom I have no familiarity, was quite a discovery: a dark, morose, low-budget Western (and crypto Korean War film) that stars Gregory Peck as a "valiant" cavalry officer who leads a ragtag group of miscreant soldiers and non-coms on a suicide mission to defend a strategic pass from the Apache. The story and atmosphere is absolutely post-WW2; there's both a nastiness of the soldiers (anticipating films by Robert Aldrich, including the somewhat similar The Dirty Dozen) which reflects the more cynical attitude towards war and violence of the era, as well as an abstraction to the cause and ideology of...
The film, by a director with whom I have no familiarity, was quite a discovery: a dark, morose, low-budget Western (and crypto Korean War film) that stars Gregory Peck as a "valiant" cavalry officer who leads a ragtag group of miscreant soldiers and non-coms on a suicide mission to defend a strategic pass from the Apache. The story and atmosphere is absolutely post-WW2; there's both a nastiness of the soldiers (anticipating films by Robert Aldrich, including the somewhat similar The Dirty Dozen) which reflects the more cynical attitude towards war and violence of the era, as well as an abstraction to the cause and ideology of...
- 2/25/2011
- MUBI
I watched six movies this week, but of the bunch I'm only going to tell you about one here. One of them was Criterion's Blu-ray of Broadcast News, which I've already started working on my review, I also watched Cedar Rapids and The Eagle, but they don't come out for a few weeks so I'll be reviewing those at that point. I also saw The Mechanic and The Rite, but you already have my opinion of those two. So that leaves me with just one...
I can, however, tell you what is currently in my "To Watch" pile from Netflix, that includes Sam Fuller's The Big Red One, Peter Weir's Witness and John Huston's Prizzi's Honor. So if you wanted to add those to your lists we can discuss them next week, for now, here's what else I watched...
The Steel Helmet (1951) Quick Thoughts: Yet another Sam Fuller...
I can, however, tell you what is currently in my "To Watch" pile from Netflix, that includes Sam Fuller's The Big Red One, Peter Weir's Witness and John Huston's Prizzi's Honor. So if you wanted to add those to your lists we can discuss them next week, for now, here's what else I watched...
The Steel Helmet (1951) Quick Thoughts: Yet another Sam Fuller...
- 1/30/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Well, I'm down to only needing to see Wings (the first Best Picture Oscar winner) and Cavalcade (the 1934 Best Picture Oscar winner) and I will have seen them all. Next up, watching all of the Best Picture nominees... a task that is certain to take me even longer.
For any of you that may be interested in watching all of the Best Picture Oscar winners next month on Turner Classic Movies you will be able to knock a Ton of them out in only one month as they have their 31 Days of Oscar marathon. I know it's where I will be seeing several I haven't seen including the two I mentioned above, both of which aren't available on DVD. Wings shows on February 6 and Cavalcade shows on February 9. Just thought I'd let you know.
How Green was My Valley (1941) Quick Thoughts: It's the film that beat Citizen Kane for Best...
For any of you that may be interested in watching all of the Best Picture Oscar winners next month on Turner Classic Movies you will be able to knock a Ton of them out in only one month as they have their 31 Days of Oscar marathon. I know it's where I will be seeing several I haven't seen including the two I mentioned above, both of which aren't available on DVD. Wings shows on February 6 and Cavalcade shows on February 9. Just thought I'd let you know.
How Green was My Valley (1941) Quick Thoughts: It's the film that beat Citizen Kane for Best...
- 1/23/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
I have had my introduction to the films of Samuel Fuller... and I want more. However, the wanting I'm experiencing has little to do with the films on Criterion's two recently released Blu-rays for Fuller's Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss as much as it has to do with the selection of special features available on these two discs. Limited as they may be, the selection of interviews, short films and documentaries available across these two discs paint the picture of an artist of a bygone era. As director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas) says in one of them (from a 1983 interview), "The B-picture is finished. For ten, fifteen years already. It doesn't exist anymore, and Sam's whole work was inside that genre. Sam never made a film that took more than four weeks to shoot and cost more than a million-and-a-half."
I've chosen to review these two releases together because...
I've chosen to review these two releases together because...
- 1/18/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
By Raymond Benson
By Raymond Benson
Director Samuel Fuller is a controversial figure in American cinema history. Audiences either love him or hate him, and there is usually no in-between. Incorporating a style that is often over-the-top, no matter what the genre or story might be, Fuller’s films are very much in your face. Outspoken, opinionated, and an auteur who wasn’t afraid to stand on a soapbox and shout to the masses what he felt was injustice, bigotry, or hypocrisy, Fuller belongs in the camp of directors who attempted social change but never achieved popular success doing it. Today he is revered as a cult figure by such filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, and Tim Robbins (all who appear in the documentary, The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera, a bonus feature on the Shock Corridor DVD). One can certainly see Fuller’s influences...
By Raymond Benson
Director Samuel Fuller is a controversial figure in American cinema history. Audiences either love him or hate him, and there is usually no in-between. Incorporating a style that is often over-the-top, no matter what the genre or story might be, Fuller’s films are very much in your face. Outspoken, opinionated, and an auteur who wasn’t afraid to stand on a soapbox and shout to the masses what he felt was injustice, bigotry, or hypocrisy, Fuller belongs in the camp of directors who attempted social change but never achieved popular success doing it. Today he is revered as a cult figure by such filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, and Tim Robbins (all who appear in the documentary, The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera, a bonus feature on the Shock Corridor DVD). One can certainly see Fuller’s influences...
- 1/11/2011
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.
Dead man’s nothing but a corpse.
Nobody cares who he is now.
I opened up this Journey Through the Eclipse Series by stating in my first column that when given the choice of a film to watch, I’m not too likely to pick out a war movie. But here I am, just three weeks into this new effort, with the entire Eclipse catalog of nearly 90 titles at my disposal, and what do I do? I’ve selected another film dealing with military matters! My reason for this is that I aim to make these reviews timely and topical whenever possible. As the 60th anniversary of the Korean War’s outbreak draws near, I’ve been hearing rumblings of a new escalation in the armed conflict between North and South Korea, based on the recent sinking of a South...
Dead man’s nothing but a corpse.
Nobody cares who he is now.
I opened up this Journey Through the Eclipse Series by stating in my first column that when given the choice of a film to watch, I’m not too likely to pick out a war movie. But here I am, just three weeks into this new effort, with the entire Eclipse catalog of nearly 90 titles at my disposal, and what do I do? I’ve selected another film dealing with military matters! My reason for this is that I aim to make these reviews timely and topical whenever possible. As the 60th anniversary of the Korean War’s outbreak draws near, I’ve been hearing rumblings of a new escalation in the armed conflict between North and South Korea, based on the recent sinking of a South...
- 6/15/2010
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Director Peter Bogdanovich.
Interviewing Peter Bogdanovich for the April 2002 issue of Venice Magazine was a thrill for me. Like Francis Coppola, John Frankenheimer, and William Friedkin before him, Bogdanovich was one of those filmmakers whose one-sheets hung on my bedroom walls growing up. Plus the fact that he himself had a renowned career as a film historian and interviewer of his own childhood heroes, such as John Ford, Howard Hawks, Orson Welles, and dozens of others, made our talk a real feast.
Not long after the article was printed, I received a letter with a New York City postmark. The note enclosed said simply: “Dear Alex, thanks for doing your homework so well, and thanks for the good vibes. All the best to you of love and luck, Peter Bogdanovich.”
Our chat remains one of my favorites during my 15 year tenure as a film writer. --A.S.
Peter Bogdanovich’S...
Interviewing Peter Bogdanovich for the April 2002 issue of Venice Magazine was a thrill for me. Like Francis Coppola, John Frankenheimer, and William Friedkin before him, Bogdanovich was one of those filmmakers whose one-sheets hung on my bedroom walls growing up. Plus the fact that he himself had a renowned career as a film historian and interviewer of his own childhood heroes, such as John Ford, Howard Hawks, Orson Welles, and dozens of others, made our talk a real feast.
Not long after the article was printed, I received a letter with a New York City postmark. The note enclosed said simply: “Dear Alex, thanks for doing your homework so well, and thanks for the good vibes. All the best to you of love and luck, Peter Bogdanovich.”
Our chat remains one of my favorites during my 15 year tenure as a film writer. --A.S.
Peter Bogdanovich’S...
- 5/28/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Oscar-nominated if underpraised while in theaters, Oren Moverman's "The Messenger" is by far the most mature and moving film made yet about the Iraqi invasion, even if Iraqis themselves don't even make an appearance as figures mentioned in battle stories. It's a telling, ethically vibrant film, and for Americans to manage such a thing while a war is still happening is kind of a miracle. The films made during World War II can largely be excused as propaganda, and it took until the mid-50s, with "From Here to Eternity" (1953) and Robert Aldrich's definitive "Attack!" (1956), for American film to express the sense of trauma and unhappy cost that any authentic pop characterization of war must command. With the exception of Samuel Fuller's "The Steel Helmet," released in 1951 less than four months after American troops crossed the 38th parallel, it took almost four years for The Korean War to be reground into drama,...
- 5/18/2010
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Paul Dunlap, a prolific film composer for three decades and a frequent collaborator of Sam Fuller, died March 11 in Palm Springs. He was 90.The classically trained Dunlap composed the soundtracks for more than 133 films and TV shows and worked on another 50 pictures and television episodes as a conductor, musical director, music supervisor and orchestrator, often composing incidental music as well.Dunlap worked with fiery writer-director Fuller on such films as "The Baron of Arizona" (1950), starring Vincent Price, "The Steel Helmet" (1951), "Park Row" (1952), "Shock Corridor" (1963) and "The Naked Kiss" (1964).He also wrote the soundtracks for six movies directed by Harold D. Schuster, including the Western "Jack Slade" (1953), and worked on numerous TV shows, including "Have Gun, Will Travel." He was admired for his Western scores and sci-fi sound effects.A native of Springfield, Ohio, Dunlap also worked...
- 3/25/2010
- Filmicafe
Paul Dunlap was a prolific film composer in the 1950s and 1960s, scoring over 200 features. He was best known for providing themes and scores for numerous science fiction and horror thrillers of the decades. His music highlighted attacks by prehistoric beasts in 1951’s Lost Continent starring Cesar Romero, and an alien robot invasion in 1954’s Target Earth with Richard Denning and Kathleen Crowley. He scored Michael Landon’s transformation from man to monster in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), and provided music for such other Aip and United/Allied Artist cult classics as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood of Dracula (1957), How to Make a Monster (1958), Frankenstein – 1970 (1958), Invisible Invaders (1959), The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959), Angry Red Planet (1959), Shock Corridor (1963), and Black Zoo (1963).
Dunlap was born in Springfield, Ohio, on July 19, 1919. He began working in films in the early 1950s, scoring westerns, war and action films including The Baron of Arizona...
Dunlap was born in Springfield, Ohio, on July 19, 1919. He began working in films in the early 1950s, scoring westerns, war and action films including The Baron of Arizona...
- 3/24/2010
- by Jesse
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
So last year I joined Twitter and desperately struggled to figure out a good use for it. Assuming most people following my account might come from the Film Junk podcast, I thought it might be an idea platform to keep track of what films I've been watching and what ratings I give them. My first post was March 9th, 2009 with David Cronenberg's The Brood (3.5/4) and since then I've managed to check out a good number of great films over the last year. (Jacques Tati's Play Time and Wim Wender's Paris, Texas are definitely two stand outs on this list.) Many of these are first time viewings, but a there are also a lot of movies I just felt the urge to revisit. So what do you think? Any favourites? Have a look for yourself after the jump! The Brood, (Cronenberg, 1979) 3.5/4 Operation Crossbow (Anderson, 1965) 3.5/4 Watchmen, (Snyder, 2009) 3/4 Pontypool, (McDonald, 2008) 4/4 Pinocchio,...
- 3/10/2010
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction is director Samuel Fuller’s (Fixed Bayonets, The Steel Helmet, Merrill’s Marauders) autobiographical account of his experiences with the legendary 1st U.S. infantry division throughout World War II. Lee Marvin leads the cast of raw recruits which include Griff (Mark Hamill, fresh from success in Star Wars), Zab (Robert Carradine, who doubles as Fuller and the film’s narrator), Vinci (Bobby Di Cicco), Kaiser (Perry Lang), and Johnson (Kelly Ward).
This version of the 1980 film was released several years following Fuller’s death, which was in 1997, as a tribute to his lasting work and the version he intended his audiences to see. When this version was released in early 2005, I was overjoyed to see the original forty seven minutes which Fuller was forced to cut by the Warner Bros. executives.
The film opens as the guns fell silent on the Western...
This version of the 1980 film was released several years following Fuller’s death, which was in 1997, as a tribute to his lasting work and the version he intended his audiences to see. When this version was released in early 2005, I was overjoyed to see the original forty seven minutes which Fuller was forced to cut by the Warner Bros. executives.
The film opens as the guns fell silent on the Western...
- 3/1/2010
- by Douglas Barnett
- The Flickcast
Who knew that the Nazis -- one of the most brutal regimes in the history of brutal regimes -- would be responsible for such fun, mind-blowingly awesome entertainment? The second I see a dude in a grey German uniform and an eye patch enter the frame, I’m like ‘Whoa. That Nazi is going to provide me a great amount of entertainment this evening’. So, with Inglorious Bastards having recently premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, I figured I'd put together a list of some awesome WW2 films as a resource for anyone wanting to beef up their WW2 film knowledge before checking out Tarantino's self-proclaimed 'masterpiece'. It's worth noting that I focused on older films -- pre-1980 for the most part -- and only the stories featuring Nazi's. It was tough to cut this down to 15 films, but I'm sure you all will be able to come up with...
- 5/26/2009
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
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