In his column on the Sound on Sight web site, writer Bill Mesce makes the case for "Seven Anti-007 Movies You Haven't Seen", which is a bit misleading considering several of his choice are not obscure oddities but major studio releases. At least two- The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and The Ipcress File- are considered classics. Nevertheless, Mesce makes a good case for catching up with these thrillers, if you haven't seen them before. Click here to view his list of worthy "anti-Bond" (i.e gritty, realistic) spy flicks. 

Cinema Retro contributor and copy editor Sheldon Hall contributed this impressive advert showing the wealth of great movies showing in the same week during 1962 in London's West End.  Those were the days! Keep 'em coming, Sheldon!

American football great Jim Brown graced the cover of Cinema Retro issue #4, which covered the film 100 Rifles in which he co-starred with Raquel Welch.

The Hollywood Reporter has assembled a photo slide show of 26 great American athletes who went on to successful careers as actors. Click here to view

A recently released (but heavily redacted) FBI file shows that the agency began investigating the personal life of sex siren Marilyn Monroe in 1955. The Bureau was then under the command of J. Edgar Hoover, who was a rabid anti-Red. Hoover also ensured his longevity at the Bureau -despite being despised by a succession of Presidents-  because he deftly used FBI resources to gather potentially scandalous information, often of a political or sexual nature, that could be brandished as "incentives" to keep him on the job. During the anti-Communist paranoia of the 1950s, Hoover had Monroe investigated because of her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller, who was deemed a communist sympathizer. The FBI feared that the popular Monroe could be enlisted as a propaganda tool for the Reds. For more click here

Click here for a photo slide show bringing fans of the 1967 film classic The Graduate up to date on the key cast members. Some are sadly no longer with us while others are very active making movies.