This week Varese Saraband is releasing a limited edition CD of Jerry Goldsmith's score for Escape From the Planet of the Apes. For order info and sample tracks click here

Here's a great example of a relatively nondescript Hollywood western that boasted a fantastic ad campaign. The Glory Guys starred Tom Tryon, Senta Berger, Harve Presnell, Michael Anderson Jr and a young up-and-comer named James Caan. Released in 1965, the movie was typical of westerns from those days: entertaining, rousing and not designed to be in contention for the Oscars. The magnificent poster art exaggerated the scope and sweep of the film, but makes us realize once again how this aspect of movie marketing has all but died with the old west itself. 

Writer William Bradley points out that this month marks the 45th anniversary of the British premiere of the James Bond classic Goldfinger. He provides one of the most interesting and insightful tributes to the film we've ever read - and there are plenty of films clips accompanying it. Click here to read

By Lee Pfeiffer

Lovers of history, politics and popular culture have long celebrated Wikipedia, the now legendary on-line encyclopedia that boldly strives to create a knowledge base of every possible person and topic - all of it written by members of the public. The fact that anyone can post or re-edit entries on the site has led to Wikipedia being celebrated as the ultimate example of freedom of the press. However, it has also posed serious problems regarding the content. During the last presidential election, for example, activists on both sides amended the entries for the candidates to reflect "facts" that were outright lies. Inaccuracies and urban myths abound in many entries, with only volunteer editors attempting to make corrections. Wikipedia has announced it will have some limited, official oversight in the form of an editorial board that will monitor key entries and limit revision and updates by members of the public. Predictably, the decision has brought outrage from free speech advocates who equate this interference as an assault on democracy itself - even though they don't address the fact that inaccurate information is worse than no information at all. For example, some months ago a posting listed Sen. Ted Kennedy as having passed away, thus setting off a media firestorm as the mainstream news outlets scrambled to verify the story. As we all know, news of his death was premature, as Mark Twain might have said. The iconic American political leader died today.

The decision by Wikipedia to bring some official oversight to their operation brings up the ever-present debate as to whether there is such a thing as too much freedom of speech. Inevitably, a small number of trouble makers generally ruin the concept for all. Take, for example, the on-going debate over health care in America. While the majority of people who are attending town hall meetings to debate the issue are intelligent and rational, the events have largely been dominated by the lunatic fringe who shout down opponents and even bring guns which they brandish with pride. There lies the crux of the problem for Wikipedia...if there are no restrictions, can someone equate their freedom of speech to the old analogy of shouting "Fire!" in a movie theater?

For more click here

Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke reports that both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are planning to begin charging readers for accessing their web sites. In essence, the content will be available only to subscribers. Variety tried this tactic once before and abandoned it, but the trade publication is fighting for its life in a climate in which advertising revenue has dropped dramatically. The anemic sales of its print edition cannot support the company and web-based revenues are essential to its future. Variety's arch-rival The Hollywood Reporter is said to be considering a similar tactic, including scrapping its daily print edition. As we've reported previously, the era of completely free web content may be coming to an end. Newspapers and magazines cannot long sustain putting their articles on the web gratis when they still have to pay staffers to produce the work. For more click here

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES

Entertainment Weekly has a slide show of ten hot actors/actresses from caveman movies. Some are appropriate, but others are pretty lame: anyone who can get turned on by images of Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble has a problem, even if it involves them in a sapphic situation! There's also John Lone in Iceman and his makeup gives him all the sex appeal of Magilla the Gorilla. Saving graces are Barbara Bach in Caveman, Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C and Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes even though they admit they had to cheat to include him on the basis that the film pertained to the prehistoric ape era! To view click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

The good news is that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has shown good taste in deciding to grant honorary Oscars to Lauren Bacall, cinematographer Gordon Willis, studio executive John Calley and legendary B movie producer Roger Corman. However, AMPAS has decided not to show these awards as part of the annual Oscar telecast. Instead, the awards will be granted at a banquet in November. (No word on whether the recipients will have to pay for their own meals). This is the latest outrage in "updating" Oscar in order to attract a younger audience. After all, who wants to see someone like Lauren Bacall on stage when it might cut into the time allocated to a true industry giant like Vin Diesel? For critic Laurie Broeder's view click here

The terrific, little-seen 1979 thriller The Hard Way has been released on DVD in the UK. The film pits Patrick McGoohan and Lee Van Cleef as hit men playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The movie represents a rare pairing of two of the great leading men of the era. For writer Mike Malloy's review click here

To order from Amazon UK click here

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions prides itself on being one of the biggest and most reputable sources for sellers of collectibles, including vintage movie and sports memorabilia. Now Heritage is embroiled in a major scandal- and the consequences can be quite severe. The company is charged under the RICO racketeering laws of using false or "shill" bidders to artificially inflate the selling price of collectibles at auction. The charges have been filed against the company's top executives. This is not the first scandal to hit Heritage, but it is by far the most serious. The investigation came about through the suspicions of dealers who had consigned goods for auction. Heritage is charged with using a false name for a shill bidder in order to prop up prices and make it appear the company can get top dollar for articles consigned.
For more click here

The original 1818 edition of the novel Frankenstein was published anonymously. Five years later, its author - Mary Shelley- decided to put her name on all future editions of the work, capitalizing on the sensation it caused in the literary world. From the start, however, there were skeptics who doubted that an 18 year-old woman could have conceived such sinister goings-on. Shelley tinkered with future printings of the novel and never hid the fact that her husband Percy gave her advice and editorial assistance. The extent of his participation has long been debated among scholars. A new edition of the book from Random House will list Percy as a contributing writer, albeit in parentheses next to his wife's name. For the full, fascinating story click here

Jerry Lewis' 1967 TV variety series will be coming to DVD this fall in a "Best of.." collection. Guest stars include Barbara Feldon of Get Smart!, Don Rickles, Flip Wilson, Joey Heatherton, Lynn Redgrave, Laurence Harvey and Harold Sakata, who plays his famous role as Oddjob in a James Bond sketch. Release date is November 17.

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In Cinema Retro's exclusive interview with Richard Johnson in issue #10, the distinguished actor recalls having been offered the role of James Bond in for Dr. No. Johnson turned down the role, admitting today the name didn't carry the resonance it soon would with the release of the first film. However, Johnson tells interview Ian Brown that he has no regrets because he feels his interpretation of the character would not have been as successful as Sean Connery's. Johnson says, "The producers, Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, asked me - at (director) Terence Young's instigation - and I turned the job down. I was under contract to MGM anyway, so that gave me a reasonable excuse to say no, because they told me I'd have to be under exclusive contract to them for seven years. Eventually they offered it to Sean [Connery], who was completely wrong for the part. But in getting the wrong man they got the right man, because it turned the thing on its head and he made it funny. And that's what propelled it to success."

Ultimately, Johnson did play a 1960s spy guy, Bulldog Drummond in the cult film Deadlier Than the Male.

Those resourceful rogues at the 3B Theater nostalgia web site have come up with a strange promo from the dreadful 1976 version of King Kong - buy a pair of jeans and get a key chain containing actual hairs from Kong himself! We won't ask how these were verified for authenticity, but I seem to recall a lot of barbers coming into sudden money around that time. The ad conclusively proves why the Seventies are regarded as "The Decade That Style Forgot"  Click here for more - and spend some time trawling through their amusing collection of old movie posters and ads.

In the wake of his death, Paul Newman received endless accolades for his acting. However, the finest tribute to the man has been posted on You Tube by his charity, Newman's Own Foundation. Over the decades, Newman gave away all of the profits from his popular food line to benefit seriously ill children. His Hole-in-the-Wall Camp afforded countless thousands of kids the opportunity to experience summer camp. As usual, Newman kept his own role in the process fairly quiet - but it was his idea and he remained active in his charitable work until the end of his life. This moving 4 minute video speaks volumes about why the world is a better place because of his having been in it. Click here to view Click here to read Cinema Retro writer Steve Saragossi's tribute to the star (from our archive section)

Here's a golden oldie- Frank Sinatra in one of our favorite private dick movies, Tony Rome directed by the seriously under-rated Gordon Douglas. The spot captures the essence of a groovy era when The Chairman was The King of Cool. Even the TV spot is hip- Frank wears his fedora as only he can, Jill St. John and Lolita star Sue Lyon provide the eye candy, and Nancy Sinatra warbles the catchy theme song - all in 60 seconds! (See issues #4 and #5 of Cinema Retro for Dean Brierly's look at the making of Tony Rome and Lady in Cement)

To view click here

We really miss the days when studios had the cast pose creatively for publicity photos. Here are Dwayne Hickman, Michael Callan, Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin (in his Oscar winning role) and Tom Nardini in the 1965 Columbia western spoof Cat Ballou. 

You may remember the episode of The Addams Family in which Lurch (Ted Cassidy) starts a national fad with his rock song. They actually released it as a legitimate record complete with picture sleeve of the man himself. Here's a rare opportunity to re-live the magic of The Lurch (and it still beats most songs on the charts today!). Click here to listen. For the lyrics and full story behind the record click here

Charles Bronson disdained being interviewed and said less offscreen than Buster Keaton said onscreen. Nevertheless, occasionally a publicist could induce him to sit for a few comments in conjunction with publicizing a new film. Here's a rare Warner Bros. production featurette for his action flick St. Ives. It shows Bronson performing his own stunts and even gets him to mutter a few sentences about his approach to acting. The film was not a commerical success in the 1970s, but it looks damned good. Gotta check this one out! Click here to view the featurette.

If you missed this interview from September 2008, here is Robert Vaughn on The O'Reilly Factor. He discusses The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Magnificent Seven and his working relationship with Steve McQueen. O'Reilly's questions are intelligent, but once again one of his celebrity segments is undone by the awful, rapid-fire editing in these segments that accentuates film clips and leaves the guest talking in brief sound bites. Click here to view 

Sales of pornographic DVDs are flaccid - a victim of the tidal wave of web-based eroticism. The New York Times reports on recent trends in the industry, which is increasingly catering to short attention spans. The relatively big budget, plot-oriented porn feature film is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Producers are now concentrating on the web audience, which tends to satiate their appetites for porn in mere minutes. Consequently, any pretense of a storyline is being sacrificed in favor of quickie films that might cater to a specific fetish. Not everyone in the industry is happy about the trend. Savanna Samson, a 42 year-old porn queen, bemoans the loss of any attempt to bring plot and characterization into the films in which she stars. To read the report click here

Lovely Pamela Tiffin heated up numerous films when she sprang to stardom in the 1960s with appearances in One, Two, Three, The Lively Set, For Those Who Think Young, The Hallelujah Trail and Harper (UK title: The Moving Target). Check out more about Pamela on The Love Goddesses web site by clicking here

If you're already depressed over the current state of late night TV, here's a vintage film clip that won't do much to change your opinion. It's from a 1975 broadcast of The Tonight Show with Don Rickles filling in as host. As was the norm on the show, major stars would drop by unannounced, in this case Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and John Wayne. Click here to view 

Here's a real rare clip: the cast of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in a vintage b&w TV spot- and it's cleverly geared toward the actors taking on the mannerisms of the characters they play in the film. Click here to view

Critic Roger Ebert wrote an extensive essay in 1996 analyzing why Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter is a true, terrifying classic. Click to read on Ebert's blog. 

Here's another gem from the people at the American cable TV giant Cablevision:

The Chairman (1969) - Starring Gregory Peck:  A U.S. scientist travels to China with a transmitter in his head to meet Mao and spy on a food-growth enzyme.

I was going through some old theatre pictures I have and I found this one of the Vernon Theatre in Alexandria, Va.  This was the first theatre I managed and I was the manger when it closed.  It opened in 1940 with "Abe Lincoln In Illinois".  It closed March 30, 1976 with "Bobbie Jo and The Outlaw" starring Lynda Carter. For your entertainment, I'm also attaching a picture of the auditorium.  866 seats in an art deco splendor.

- Bob Collins

Retro responds: Thanks, Bob- we love these old theater pics. If you have any to submit,send 'em to cinemaretro@hotmail.com

The Movie Moron site provides an interesting look at ten stars who tragically died before the release of their final film. Click here to read

Polish film posters, particularly from the Cold War era, are among the most creative and bizarre marketing tools ever created for major feature films. The Communist regime disdained the West's aggrandizement of Hollywood stars, thus most of the American and British films shown in Poland often had modern art designs that downplayed the star power. Instead, the posters used subliminal themes to suggest what the film was about. London's Guardian newspaper has presented a gallery of some of the most intriguing Polish film posters. Click here to view 

The good news is that armchair secret agents can now buy authentic reproductions of the swim suit Daniel Craig wore in Casino Royale. The bad news is that we fear Seth Rogen might be the first in line to buy them. For more click here

From Bloom to bust...Critic Scott Mendelson ponders why once red-hot Orlando Bloom seems to be missing in action from the landscape of major Hollywood films. Bloom's blockbusters include the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean series, but Mendelson points out that the young actor's schedule is conspicuously, er...uncrowded...in terms of future projects. Mendelson ponders the reasons why Bloom's career seems to have suddenly hit a rough spot. Click here to read

The Rotten Tomatoes web site has decreed the 100 worst movies of the last decade. We won't ruin the suspense by spilling the beans, but we will reassure you that Battlefield Earth, the sci-fi "epic" based on the novel by Scientology founder and eternal loon L. Ron Hubbard, has indeed been recognized. Click here to read

Philip Seymour Hoffman is undoubtedly one of the very best contemporary actors, but even he can make missteps. His starring role in an NYU production of Othello resulted in most of the audience walking out at intermission. Shades of Moose Murders, the notorious Broadway flop that closed after one performance. Ever the pro, Hoffman continued to perform, even as director Peter Sellars urged the remaining audience members to move closer to the stage by occupying the abandoned seats. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

Chris Clarkson, a resident of the UK, has an unusual passion: he likes entering still life contests in which he poses as a famous figure. The contests not only require entrants to resemble actual statues, but to maintain a complete lack of movement for as long as possible. Clarkson, 29, took nine months to create a James Bond image - and was rewarded with first place. He stood motionless for four hours, enduring a SPECTRE wiseguy who stamped out a cigarette on him. Clarkson advises potential still-lifers to stand motionless in front of their televisions for extended periods of time. Shouldn't be too hard, given the mind-numbing quality of most programs. We don't know if there is a viable future in all of this, but word has it that Clarkson is a hero to local pigeons. Also, if they ever do a remake of The Man With the Golden Gun, he's a shoo-in to get the role of the Roger Moore statue. For more click here

By Dave Worrall

Movie fans familiar with Ernest Gold’s magnificent music from Otto Preminger’s film Exodus (1960) will be pleased to hear that the entire score, which has never been released before, has been re-recorded and is now available as a Special Limited Collectors Edition 2-CD set. Although the original RCA soundtrack album was a huge success in its day, and won a Grammy Award for “Best Soundtrack”, it was not complete, and suffered from poor sound quality. This CD by Tadlow Music is the first to feature Gold’s entire score, reconstructed from his original sketches (including unused cues and bonus tracks). Recorded with The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Nic Raine, it really is (pardon the pun) “music to my ears” as I listen to it over and over again whilst designing the next issue of Retro magazine here in my office. The reason why it is a 2-disc set was because producer James Fitzpatrick realized there was too much for one CD, but not enough to fill two, so he added tracks (by Gold) from It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Ship of Fools, and Judith. There are also Bonus sections, including a suite from the hit TV mini-series QB VII (Jerry Goldsmith), two tracks from Schindler’s List (John Williams), and two tracks from Cast A Giant Shadow (Elmer Bernstein). All are re-recordings. Another bonus is two video sequences showing the orchestra during the recording sessions! Distributed by our good friends at Silva Screen Records, this CD is available in all good music stores now, or go to www.tadlowmusic.com who will ship it anywhere in the world post free for just £16.95!