This rare photo depicts screen legend Marlene Dietrich visiting Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and director Mike Nichols on the set of the classic 1966 film version of Edward Albee's ""Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Writing in the Washington Post, Sonny Bunch mourns the loss of Blockbuster Video and similar "box stores" that were reviled in their day for driving smaller businesses into oblivion. True, the mom and pop video rental stores begat Blockbuster, which dominated neighborhoods by presenting thousands of videos for rental. No small corner video shop could compete. Then streaming services rendered Blockbuster obsolete, just as Amazon did the same to local, independent book stores. But Bunch makes a poignant case to look back on the box store era with some degree of nostalgia. He points out that without browsing aisles of videos and books, consumers are largely unaware of interesting titles that are available. Gone is the day of the "impulse buy". He also extols the sheer pleasure of walking down aisles packed with titles of interest and perusing whether you should take one home. It's the nature of public sentiment to long for eras that have passed. Yes, streaming is here to stay...but I wouldn't rule out a comeback for neighborhood video stores. Remember, vinyl was deemed to be dead when the CD was introduced and the CD was deemed to be dead when streaming music entered the picture. Instead, vinyl is enjoying the kind of success it hasn't seen since the 1970s and Wal-Marts and Target stores still have racks packed with thousands of CDs.  Click here to read the article.

BY MARK MAWSTON

The title for this in-depth documentary couldn’t be more apt. Is there anyone who can’t remember the impact the famous chest buster scene had on them when it first burst (pun intended) onto the screen in Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien before those indelible images became etched into cinema folklore? I doubt it.

We all know that this is the key scene and idea that one takes away from Alien and the premise of which literally got the film green light to go into production. However, although MEMORY: The Origins of Alien spends a great deal of time dissecting this scene, it’s the back stories that fascinate, especially those regarding the film’s original writer Dan O’Bannon. O’Bannon has been the subject of several reappraisals of late regarding the franchise, especially in regard to how much he contributed to the style of the film. The look is total Ridley Scott but the words on which Scott based his visuals are those of the onetime John Carpenter collaborator. Of that, the documentary proves, there is no doubt (at least in the opinion of this writer). O’Bannon’s involvement on the unfinished Jodorowsky version of Dune is explored in this highly academic documentary. The film looks at the lyrical inspirations that made Alien such a classic; from Lovecraft to Shakespeare, from Francis Bacon to the inimitable H.R. Giger, whose Necronomicon book read like a storyboard for Alien and served as an inspiration for the movie’s young, visionary director.

The documentary’s pacing matches that of the initial films and mirrors the fact that we have taken time to get to know these characters and what makes them tick before they embark into the unknown. Scott is seen memorably, albeit briefly, as the artist but its O’Bannon and Giger who come across as the poets of the piece. My one complaint, which could also be taken as a compliment, is that the film seems to end all too abruptly after the in-depth coverage of the said chest buster scene. I’d really have liked to have seen more regarding this scene both in front of and behind the camera. This detailed examination of a specific scene is obviously director Alexandre O. Philippe’s strong point, as evidenced in his excellent film 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene. But I’d really have liked to have seen more on what the chest buster evolved into; a creature that took its place in the upper echelons of horror along with the likes of Frankenstein. Saying that, however, it’s hard to fault this documentary as it brings new pathos to the Alien franchise and shows us all that Alien, both the creature and the film, is the sum of many parts. The film has always held a special place in my heart as it was the first X cert I saw at the cinema (underage and overexcited after seeing the film’s amazing teaser trailer a few months before). To have such an in-depth and concise documentary on this milestone is like being handed the missing piece from the jigsaw that took so long to build but was left on a shelf until the full picture could be seen. Anyone who is a fan of the franchise should see this, as should any serious scholar of the art of the moving image. I’ve always said that the original Alien was more of a ghost train ride than an out and out horror or science fiction movie but this film shows just how much work goes into setting that ride up. This really is a treasure chest(buster) of a documentary that all fans should see.

(MEMORY: The Origins of Alien arrives in UK cinemas on 30 August and on-demand 2 September.)

BY TODD GARBARINI

Charlie Smith (Jack Nicholson) is a bored man. Bored with his position as an immigration enforcement officer in Los Angeles and bored with his eleven-year marriage to Marcy (Valerie Perrine) in a Sunland, CA trailer park. When Marcy boasts of a better life in a shared duplex with chum Savannah (Shannon Wilcox) and her border patrol husband Cat (Harvey Keitel) in El Paso, TX, Charlie doesn’t exactly protest the change in geography or transfer in job title. With all their possessions strapped to the roof of their car, they are welcomed with open arms. It isn’t long, however, before Charlie realizes not only the danger and utter futility of attempting to stop the migrants from making a run for los Estados Unidos regardless of the presence of the tortilla fences topped with barbed wire. But some of his peers and superiors, particularly his boss Red (Warren Oats), all have their own methods of dishing out “justice” for wayward immigrants who don’t cooperate following sweeps.

The Border is a lesser-known outing by Jack Nicholson and penned by Deric Washburn of The Deer Hunter (1978) fame. Mr. Nicholson made the film prior to and following the actors’ strike in the summer of 1980. Following his directing and acting duties in Goin’ South (1978), his yearlong shooting schedule on Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), and his turn as Eugene O’Neill in Warren Beatty’s Reds (1981) for which he won an Oscar nomination, Mr. Nicholson was tired and looking for a break. This need for relaxation seems to have influenced his performance here as Charlie, a man who always appears to be on the outside looking in and never connected to the action at hand. Marcy comes off as an obsequious shrill who strives constantly to make her husband happy but is clueless to his protestations even after she spends money like water (pun intended) that they don’t have on things that they don’t need, such as a $1600 waterbed and a small pool in their new backyard. Her notion of love is adolescent: a bizarre, picture-perfect domesticity that simply doesn’t exist. Ms. Perrine portrays Marcy with enthusiasm, and one cannot help but think of Karen Black’s Rayette Dispesto in Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces (1970) and her fractured relationship with Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson). Charlie is genuinely contrite after he slaps her for her well-intentioned but misguided consumerism, but he realizes that his position in upward mobility is almost non-existent. It’s this very circumstance that propels him to go out of his way to aid a young Spanish woman named Maria (Elpidia Carrillo) who has made it over the border following the death of her family at the hands of a massive earthquake. Maria knows heartache and strife firsthand and wants a better life for her newborn baby and her teenage brother Juan (Manuel Viescas), the latter of whom is killed following a drug raid by border patrols who work thankless jobs for piss poor pay and who supplement their income by being on the take. Cat will later defend his position to Charlie by referring tacitly to these murders as their need to “take care of business”, a mantra echoed in cinema following the revelation of the Corleone Family’s business model in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) and its sequels. During the argument scenes between Charlie and Cat, Cat holds his own and there were times I expected him to fly off the handle like Ben (Harvey Keitel) does with Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn) in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). Suffice it to say, Cat eventually gets what’s coming to him.

Elpidia Carrillo is wonderful as Maria, giving a humanity to just about the only Hispanic person in the film who isn’t depicted as a criminal, a drug smuggler, a human trafficker, or even a baby kidnapper who turns out to a be a woman! She offers to pay back Charlie with her body after he gives her money and is genuinely confused when he declines. The theme of the commoditization of humans is ever-present. The film’s ending falls flat, obviously the result of a test-screening audience’s desire for a happy one, however it’s so “ABC Afterschool Special”-ish with very little emotional impact in a scene that truly should rouse the audience to its feet, that it negates all that preceded it.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" was based on his own hit Broadway play that opened in 1971 and ran for two years. It starred Peter Falk and Lee Grant. The play resonated with audiences of the era even though it was an unusually dark piece for Simon, reflecting the social decay of New York City during this period. Those factors were still very much in evidence in films of the era when Simon rather reluctantly agreed to bring his play to the big screen in 1975. He felt the material was too disturbing for his core audience but conceded to write the screenplay himself. He also trusted Melvin Frank as director, as Frank had a long history of helming hit comedies with broad appeal. Simon was also enthused about the decision to cast Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft for the film version. Two of his greatest screen successes- "The Odd Couple" and "The Out ofTowners" - had starred Lemmon and Simon was looking forward to working with Bancroft for the first time. In many ways, "Second Avenue" resembles the latter film in that the script steamrolls over the city that Simon called home at a time when there was a malaise among Gotham's residents due to soaring crime, financial instability and racial divisions. In "The Out of Towners", Lemmon and Sandy Dennis played a couple visiting New York City who are besieged by a series of potentially tragic accidents and crimes that Simon deftly plays out to comic effect. In "Second Avenue", Lemmon and Bancroft deal with essentially the same scenarios from the standpoint of proud New Yorkers who refuse to relent to the on-going urban chaos even as it encroaches on their day-to-day existence.

Lemmon is cast as Mel Edison, a middle-aged executive for a failing corporation, who copes with the depressing atmosphere of a company in which everyone is sitting around waiting to be fired. He's already high-strung and perpetually whining about the deteriorating conditions in the once tony apartment he shares with his loyal and ever-patient wife Edna (Anne Bancroft). The elevators to their 14th floor apartment conk out routinely, the water supply is erratic, as is the air conditioning, the doorman (M. Emmet Walsh) is greedy and inept, two female flight attendants next door keep Mel and his wife awake all night by having noisy sex with their lovers and Mel is constantly in a verbal feud with his upstairs neighbors who he shouts at from his balcony below. Topping it all off, their apartment is ransacked and robbed.  All this unfolds amidst a summer heat wave. Mel's depression goes into overdrive when the inevitable happens and he gets fired. Unable to find work, Edna has to return to her profession as an assistant for theatrical productions, something that further diminishes Mel's sense of self-worth. (This was the mid-1970s, after all, the era of Archie Bunker ruling the roost.) Adding to Mel's woes are periodic interactions with his older brother Harry (actor/director Gene Saks in a deft comedic turn), who ostensibly wants to help Mel. However, Harry can't help reminding Mel about how much more successful he is than his kid brother, thus opening old wounds between the two that extend back to their troubled childhoods.

There's a lot going on in "Second Avenue" in terms of exploring relationships and dealing with social issues on a far deeper basis than one might expect from a Neil Simon comedy. For much of the film, Lemmon's Mel is an unsympathetic whiner who engages in verbal tirades against the long-suffering Edna while also indulging in endless bouts of self-pity. Moping around the apartment alone, he turns to talk radio and becomes an adherent to the wacky political conspiracies espoused by crackpot show hosts, thus proving that some things never change. Just when the character becomes insufferable, Simon's script cleverly reverses the situation by having Mel calm down after seeking psychiatric care and Edna become a monstrous, whining presence in the house when she has to absorb the full burden of long work hours and financial responsibility. Ultimately, we see these are two good, loving people just trying to survive in the urban jungle and there is an uplifting ending (sorta).

BY BILL DUELLY

(Photos copyright Bill Duelly. All rights reserved.)

Phil Lapp remembers being 6 years old and coping with a tinge of disappointment. You see, to be an extra in the movie filming in his hometown of Strasburg, PA, he had to be 7. So he was relegated to ‘keeping Lukas occupied’. The movie was Witness. Lukas was Lukas Haas, who was the young boy that witnessed a murder. It was a big event for this small Lancaster County community. Han Solo/Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) was in it, so he would be around as well. Phil’s dad was an extra, most notably he’s the one in silhouette, after the funeral scene, driving the cart that Kelly and Lukas are lifting bales of hay onto. His does cherish those memories of playing a lot of card games with Lukas while Kelly McGillis looked on and would occasionally join in.

34 years later, many locals fondly recall the time Hollywood came to Lancaster County and how many were involved in some peripheral way. The phenomenon has certainly died down, but for many years, was credited with an unprecedented increase in tourism in the area. Some locations, such as Zimmermans General Store in Intercourse (yes the actual name of the town) and the surrounding streets saw frequent tourists, but the farm’s location was usually a closely guarded secret amongst the natives as deference to the owners who were initially Mennonite and later Amish (Mennonite allow photos, Amish do not). In fact the Amish community was rather upset at the time that Hollywood, the well of corrupting influences, would come to their community to make a movie. They urged their members not to cooperate with the film in anyway. In fact any Amish in the film are portrayed most likely by Mennonites (close to Amish but not quite).

Phil was one such local who is now running a specialized tour service called Lokal Experience. The focus is on small groups and unique specialized experiences in Lancaster County. On June 15, 2019, Phil and his group hosted a WITNESS Experience, which was a chance to spend the day, first viewing the movie and then heading off to the farm for tours and a meal.

The day started early in the morning at the Zoetropolis Cinema (https://zoetropolis.com/) located in downtown Lancaster, with a screening of the movie. This writer supplied some artifacts from his WITNESS collection to be displayed at the theater. Items included: video store display; one sheet; British and German lobby cards; copy of Co-Producers David Bombyck’s script; paperback tie-in novel and Academy Award promotional materials such as screening invites and free soundtracks. The 100 or so participants were treated to the behind the scenes documentary prior to the screening.

Then it was off to the farm for filming location tours and lunch. The farm to many is sacred ground and I could tell that many were in awe at just being there. The farm is not viewable from the street, and can only be seen by cresting a long driveway. At end of production Paramount repaved the road, but the past 34 years have taken their toll on it with various rough patches but it is still a sight to behold as one crested the hill. Paradoxically, it was the same, but different as well. The house itself is distinctly different, as it has a stone façade now and not the white shingles. The birdhouse that Harrison Ford’s car crashes into, is a replacement, as the screen-used one was stolen from the farm during the year of the film’s first release.

“A MESMERIZING BATTLE OF WILLS”

By Raymond Benson

Some say the year 1939 was the “greatest year of cinema,” and, sure, there were many memorable titles released then that remain classics today. I argue, though, that 1962 was even better. Lawrence of Arabia. To Kill a Mockingbird. Dr. No. The Longest Day. The Manchurian Candidate. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The Music Man. Jules and Jim. And there was also Arthur Penn’s The Miracle Worker.

Based on the stage play by William Gibson (who also wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay), The Miracle Worker contains two of the most astonishing performances ever put on celluloid. Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke both deservedly won Oscars for their roles, respectively, as the teacher Annie Sullivan and the remarkable Helen Keller as a young girl. The pair light up the screen in intimate, physically-demanding scenes that become a mesmerizing battle of wills—which is what it took for Sullivan to teach Keller the fundamentals of communication.

The play was based on Keller’s own autobiography; as far as we know, the play and film are accurate depictions of what really happened. For those who are unaware, Helen Keller was born in the late 1800s and contracted scarlet fever, rendering her deaf and blind. When she was seven years old, a tutor for such afflicted children, Annie Sullivan (who was also partially blind), was hired by the family to perform what certainly became a miracle.

The process was long and grueling. Most of the story is made up of literal fights between the two, as the stubborn Keller rebels and the equally tenacious Sullivan brawls back. In one celebrated scene around a dining table, the set is completely wrecked—but as Sullivan tells the Kellers afterwards—“her napkin is folded.” The scene took five days to film.

One reason that the actors are so good in the picture is that they had just completed a two-year run of the play on Broadway. They thoroughly knew the script and each other. The studio, at first, wanted to recast the role of Sullivan with a “bigger star” because Bancroft wasn’t one. They even offered a larger budget to Penn if he would cast Elizabeth Taylor. Even Duke’s participation was in question because by the time the film was made, she was sixteen. Penn, who was nominated for a Directing Oscar, kept to his guns and insisted that the Broadway cast be in the film or he wouldn’t do it. He got his way and history was made. Sure, one can quibble that Patty Duke was too old for the part, but in the end, who cares. She’s magnificent.

Olive Films has presented a new restored Blu-ray in a no-frills package that includes no supplements—just the film and a subtitle option. But seriously, it’s all you need.

Although it’s been remade twice as television movies (one with Duke playing Sullivan), the original Miracle Worker is a monumental achievement of writing, directing, and especially acting. It’s a must-see, must-have, must-relish motion picture.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Kino Lorber:

NEW YORK, NY -- June 21, 2019 -- Kino Lorber Studio Classics announces the Blu-ray release of SWEET CHARITY (1969), from legendary director Bob Fosse (Cabaret, Lenny, All That Jazz, Star 80), with a new street date of August 20, 2019.

Based on the hit Broadway show by Neil Simon, SWEET CHARITY stars Shirley MacLaine, heading a cast of great stars including Sammy Davis Jr., Ricardo Montalban, Chita Rivera, Ben Vereen, Stubby Kaye, John McMartin, Barbara Bouchet, Paula Kelly, Alan Hewitt, and Toni Basil.

This edition from Kino Lorber Studio Classics contains both the original roadshow version (151 minutes) and the alternate "Happy Ending" cut (145 minutes) in new 4K restorations. The Blu-ray comes packed with bonus features including an audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger, "A Girl Who Wanted to Be Loved" -- a booklet essay by Julie Kirgo, "Edith Head Costume Design" and "From Stage to Screen" featurettes, and the theatrical trailer.

Hollywood royalty Shirley MacLaine (Irma La Douce) gives one of her greatest performances in this spectacular musical based on Neil Simon's (The Odd Couple) Broadway hit inspired by Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria.

Director Fosse broke new cinematic ground with this freewheeling, visually stunning story of a lovelorn New York dance hall hostess, Charity Hope Valentine (MacLaine), who dreams of old-fashioned romance but gives her heart to one undeserving guy after another. MacLaine joins all-star cast members Chita Rivera (Chicago), Sammy Davis Jr. (A Man Called Adam), Ricardo Montalban (Madame X), Ben Vereen (Funny Lady) and Stubby Kaye (Guys and Dolls) in belting out thirteen vibrant Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields numbers including Big Spender, The Rhythm of Life, There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This and the show-stopping If My Friends Could See Me Now. It's an unforgettable production of an all-time classic.

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BY TODD GARBARINI

Film producer, director, and sometime actor Ewing Miles Brown, who was known affectionately to legions of performers and crew members in the industry as “Lucky” Brown, passed away from respiratory failure on Monday, May 27, 2019 at the age of 97 according to his personal friend of forty years, actor and film historian Douglas Dunning.

After making his acting debut in bit parts in the Our Gang shorts (which were later titled The Little Rascals for syndication), Mr. Brown followed up with a stint as the head editor at Emperor Films and was personally recruited by film producer and movie theater owner Robert L. Lippert to head up production. Dissatisfied with working for others, Lucky branched out on his own in the late 1950’s and started his own motion picture film company called Movie Tech Studios which he built from the ground up. It was one of the oldest independent movie studios in the United States which ceased operations last year just prior to his 97^th birthday. Lucky’s father, in fact, was the eponymous Dr. Brown, who was a personal doctor to the stars in the 1920’s through the 1940’s. He delivered Howard Hughes!

As an actor, Lucky’s career was extremely varied and far more extensive than the truncated list than the Internet Movie Database will lead one to believe. In 1976 he produced and directed A Whale of a Tale, the only family-oriented film that William Shatner made in his career. The film also starred Marty Allen and Andy Devine.

Lucky’s last film credit is in the unfinished production of Terror of the Gorgon which he directed as well as appears in. Mr. Dunning has stated that he will finish the film as a tribute to Lucky.

Lucky was also the last surviving cast member of George Stevens’s Shane (1953). He was a saddle buddy to Alan Ladd in the cattle drive sequence which ran an hour in length but was cut shortly after the film was previewed in 1953, reducing the film’s original three-hour running time to 118 minutes.

Lucky, a true Hollywood legend, will be sorely missed by those who knew him.

By Todd Garbarini

Cinemaretro.com has received the following press release regarding the exhibition of the new film Rush: Cinema Strangiato 2019, which will be shown in select theaters on Wednesday, August 21, 2019.

Rush (pun intended!) to get your tickets now as they are selling out very quickly (let’s hope that additional dates are added!):

TRAFALGAR RELEASING AND ANTHEM ENTERTAINMENT BRING

‘RUSH: CINEMA STRANGIATO 2019’ TO MOVIE THEATERS WORLDWIDE ON AUGUST 21

THIS FIRST EVER “ANNUAL EXERCISE IN FAN INDULGENCE” FOR RUSH FANS WILL FEATURE A SPECIAL LOOK INTO R40 LIVE, FEATURING NEW BACKSTAGE FOOTAGE, SPECIAL GUESTS, AND HIT SONGS “CLOSER TO THE HEART,” “SUBDIVISIONS” AND MORE

TICKETS ON SALE FROM JUNE 20 AT WWW.CINEMASTRANGIATO.COM

Denver, CO – June 11, 2019: Global event distributor Trafalgar Releasing today announced RUSH: Cinema Strangiato 2019, coming to select cinemas across the globe, for a special, limited theatrical engagement on Wednesday, August 21. Hailed as the first "Annual Exercise in Fan Indulgence" Cinema Strangiato is set to see the Holy Trinity of Rock return to the big screen bringing RUSH fans together in movie theatres worldwide.

In partnership with Concord Music Group and Anthem Entertainment, RUSH: Cinema Strangiato 2019 will feature a special look inside some of the most powerful performances from R40 LIVE, the band’s 2015 tour and album of the same name.

The theatrical film experience is set to include top RUSH songs, such as “Closer to the Heart", "Subdivisions", "Tom Sawyer" and more, as well as unreleased backstage moments and candid footage previously left on the cutting room floor. The release also includes unseen soundcheck performances of the fan-favorite "Jacob's Ladder,” and exclusive new interviews with Tom Morello, Billy Corgan, Taylor Hawkins, producer Nick Raskulinecz, violinist Jonathan Dinklage and more.

As a special bonus, fans will get a glimpse into the madness and passion that went into the making of Geddy Lee's new book, Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass - featuring a brand-new interview from the RUSH frontman himself.

“I’m excited for fans to see some new clips from our R40 tour but also a peek behind the scenes of making the Big Beautiful Book of Bass,” said Geddy Lee.

The news of RUSH: Cinema Strangiato 2019 follows other recently announced upcoming music releases from Trafalgar Releasing including The Cure: Anniversary 1978-2018 Live in Hyde Park London directed by longtime collaborator Tim Pope, the first worldwide outing for the ninth Grateful Dead Annual Meet-up at the Movies, hit Tribeca Film Festival music documentary Between Me and My Mind featuring Phish frontman Trey Anastasio, and the latest film from Roger Waters based on the US + THEM World Tour. Other recent music releases from Trafalgar Releasing have included The Music Center presents Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration, Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams, Burn the Stage: the Movie, Muse Drones World Tour and Distant Sky: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Live in Copenhagen.

Kymberli Frueh, SVP for Acquisitions at Trafalgar Releasing added: "Trafalgar Releasing is thrilled to bring Rush: Cinema Strangiato 2019 to theaters around the globe for the first of what we’re hoping will become an annual event, bringing fans together to experience a celebration of one of the world's most popular rock bands."

The event will be screened in theaters around the world on Wednesday, August 21. Fans can visit CinemaStrangiato.com to sign up for news and ticketing updates.

“SIM SIM SALA BIM!”

By Raymond Benson

If you were a young boy in America in 1964, you were probably glued to the television set on Friday evenings to watch the groundbreaking, imaginative, and superbly entertaining action-adventure science fiction animated prime time series, Jonny Quest. Okay, I’m sure some girls liked the show, too (my next-door neighbors did). Given the shortage of female characters on the show, though, Jonny Quest was a program that I would bet appealed mostly to boys.

Jonny Quest is an 11-year-old all-American boy who has an awesome life. He is the son of Dr. Benton Quest, a brilliant scientist who works for the U.S. government and has a laboratory, home, and compound on an island off the coast of Florida. Their bodyguard is “Race” Bannon, an American equivalent of James Bond, sort of, although he also acts as Jonny’s tutor. Hadji, an Indian boy the same age as Jonny, has been adopted into the Quest family. He is adept at exotic magic tricks and illusions (one of his frequent incantations is “Sim Sim Sala Bim!”). Rounding out the team is the pet bulldog, Bandit, who is more energetic than any bulldog I’ve ever seen. Whatever happened to Jonny’s mother is never explained. The only female characters are in minor roles (flight attendants and such) except for Jade, an exotic Asian spy who was apparently Race’s girlfriend at one time. She appears in only two episodes, though.

Launched by the team of Hanna-Barbera as their fourth prime time show (their first was The Flintstones), Quest broke all the norms of cartoons by presenting stories set in the real world with realistic human characters, gee-whiz technology, and pulp adventure tales. The series blended various genres—science fiction, horror, and mystery—as it followed the Quest family around the globe on exciting, government-sanctioned missions that brought them in contact with monsters, robots, villainous organizations, pirates, cannibals, and spies.

While Hanna and Barbera are credited as producer-directors and creators of the show, it was really comics artist Doug Wildey who came up with the concept and overall look of the series. His vision was inspired by the likes of Terry and the Pirates, Tom Swift, and even the first James Bond film, Dr. No. It was also firmly based in 1960s Cold War sensibility, and often the villains in the series reflected this attitude.

The gadgets, vehicles, and weaponry rivaled anything one might see in a Bond film at the time. Wildey apparently used popular science magazines from which to cull ideas for settings and props. The locales included faraway but real places that taught youngsters about Thailand, China, Egypt, or the Arctic. The writing was top-notch; the scripts were lessons in how to write a half-hour adventure story with a classic three act structure. The music by Hoyt Curtain was especially remarkable. For the first time, a kids animated show employed dynamic orchestral jazz with electric guitars and sassy brass—very much akin, again, to the Bond sound.

Although Jonny Quest was critically acclaimed and received good ratings, the show lasted only one season on ABC and was cancelled after 26 dynamic, beautifully rendered episodes. The series subsequently found new life in syndication on other networks, and later spawned spin-offs and sequels. But the original 1964-1965 edition will always remain the best and most innovative version.

When Warner Home Video released the series on DVD in 2004, there were some problems. For one, some episodes were censored by deleting dialogue that might today be deemed “politically incorrect.” Granted, when Tarzan-style Amazonian natives are about to eat Dr. Quest and a friend for dinner, and Race Bannon calls them “savages” and “monkeys,” that’s considered a bit racist.

Warner Archive now presents us with a high definition remastered and restored Blu-ray set that is the show as originally aired. In fact, a disclaimer on the back of the jewel case says that the series is “intended for the Adult Collector and May Not Be Suitable for Children.” Really? Even though 99% of its audience in 1964 were children? The show is 55 years old. Sensibilities were different then. One must place a classic program, be it a television series or a motion picture, within the context of when it was first seen. Aside for the 2 or 3 instances of “politically incorrect” dialogue, the 26 episodes of Jonny Quest is entirely suitable for kids.

The 1080p picture quality is outstanding. Colors are bold and beautiful, and the DTS-HD Master Audio sounds great in English 2.0 Mono. There are optional English subtitles.

The supplements are ported over from the earlier DVD set—featurettes on the making of the series and all the elements that made it a hit, and a pop-up trivia version of the episode “Double Danger.” There is also the rare vintage “PF Flyer Sneaker” Commercial that tied-in to the show. These are not in high definition.

My only nitpick with the new set is that there is no insert. The package could have used a booklet or one-pager listing all the episodes or other information. All you get are three disks and the jewel box.

That said, this is a marvelous set—for the, ahem, Adult Collector—that is a definite improvement over the DVD release. Jonny Quest will bring back fond memories for the Baby Boomer in all of us.

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The latest, still untitled James Bond film, has certainly endured a run of bad luck since it went into production but a much-needed shot in the arm came with the visit by Prince Charles to the set of the movie earlier today. In footage provided by the Royal Family's YouTube channel, Charles is seen chatting with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, then getting an overview of Bond's vintage Aston Martins from 007 himself, Daniel Craig (who despite a recent injury, looks fit-as-a-fiddle). Charles then meets the crew members and takes a tour of "M"'s office. It's no secret the Prince of Wales is a long-time Bond fan, along the other members of the Royal Family. He has attended Bond premieres in the past, as has Princes William and Harry and, occasionally, Her Majesty as well.

In this age of high tech, you might think the American drive-in has gone the way of spats and the Bay City Rollers. But writer Skye Sherman reminds us that drive-ins still flourish, mostly in rural areas where the real estate isn't worth a king's ransom. Sherman takes a look at what she has termed to be the nation's 15 coolest drive-in movie theaters. Click here to read.

 

Cinema Retro's columnist Adrian Smith examines the fascinating tales behind the late producer Enzo Rispoli's troubled "dream productions" dealing with Genghis Khan and a classic Russian novel, "Quiet Flows the Don". Along the way, Rispoli had wooed such disparate talents as Ken Annakin, Charlton Heston, Ernest Borgnine, Sergei Bondarchuk and Marcello Mastroianni. However, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and an unsteady situation with finances led to severe problems with both productions. "Quiet Flows the Don" was ultimately transformed into a mini-series for Russian television after receiving the approval of President Putin but Rispoli's son Nicholas is attempting to create a version of the film that will be more suitable for international audiences. He also hopes to be able to source financing that will allow him to finish the Khan project as a six-part television production so that the epic film will finally be seen by the public. Adrian Smith interviews Nicholas Rispoli and you can access the article by clicking here.

Cinema Retro has received the following press announcement:

Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting the 45^th anniversary screening of Roman Polanski’s 1974 film Chinatown which itself takes place in the City of Angels. The film will be screened on Thursday, June 27^th, 2019 at 7:00 pm. Starring Jack Nicholson in one of the many classics that he made during that phenomenal decade, the film co-stars Faye Dunaway, John Houston, John Hillerman, Diane Ladd, and Bruce Glover. The film runs 131 minutes.

PLEASE NOTE:

The following cast/crew member(s) are scheduled at press time to appear in person, with the potential for more to be added to the list, so please check the Royal website link at the bottom for updates as the screening day draws closer:

Actor Bruce Glover (Hard Times, Walking Tall, Diamonds Are Forever, Ghost World)

Assistant director Hawk Koch

Author Sam Wasson

From the press release:

CHINATOWN

Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.

CHINATOWN (1974)
45th Anniversary Screening
Cast and Crew Q&A
Thursday, June 27 at 7 PM
Royal Theatre

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a screening of one of the most memorable films of the 70s, the neo-noir mystery thriller, Chinatown. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards in 1974 (including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor Jack Nicholson and Best Actress Faye Dunaway), the film won the Oscar for the original screenplay by Robert Towne. Although it was set in a beautifully recreated 1930s universe, the film reflected the bitter cynicism and disillusionment of the Vietnam and Watergate era.

Towne was a Los Angeles native, and he had long been fascinated by the history of the city, where the sun-dappled beauty belied the underlying greed and corruption. The inspiration for the story were the water wars that had shaped the modern life of the place. These struggles over the city’s natural resources had taken place in the first decade of the 20th century; Towne moved the setting up to the 1930s, partly in order to combine this scorching social commentary with the spirit of classic detective novels penned by authors like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

Nicholson plays J.J. Gittes, a private eye who specializes in sordid cases of marital infidelity. But he gets himself into deeper territory when an investigation into a civic leader’s extramarital affair leads to the discovery of a massive conspiracy by big business interests to seize control of the city’s oveted water supply. Gittes’s sleuthing also leads him to uncover shocking cases of sexual abuse among the city’s elite. Dunaway plays a variation on the classic femme fatale of noir cinema, a beautiful heiress who is commanding on the surface but is secretly and tragically damaged by events in her past. John Huston plays her corrupt father, and the supporting cast includes John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Diane Ladd, Burt Young, Bruce Glover, and James Hong.

Robert Evans, the successful head of Paramount Studios at the time, backed Towne’s screenplay and decided to make the film his first venture as a producer. When Evans took over as head of the studio in the 60s, one of his early successes was an adaptation of Ira Levin’s best-selling novel, Rosemary’s Baby, which became the first American movie of European director Roman Polanski. That film was a smash hit, and Evans hired Polanski again to direct Chinatown. Polanski had been reluctant to work in Hollywood since the murder of his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, by the infamous Manson family in 1969. But Evans persisted and Polanski brought his knowledge of the underside of Hollywood to his depiction of the city’s past, even changing the ending of Towne’s screenplay to reflect his own deep pessimism.

The film’s technical team—including cinematographer John Alonzo, production designer Richard Sylbert, and costume designer Anthea Sylbert—helped to realize the writer and director’s vision of decay beneath the elegant surfaces of Southern California. Jerry Goldsmith’s sultry score, highlighted by a melancholy trumpet solo, clinched the mournful mood.

Variety praised the achievement: “Roman Polanski’s American-made film, his first since Rosemary’s Baby, shows him again in total command of talent and physical filmmaking elements.” Derek Malcolm of the London Evening Standard wrote, “Polanski’s telling of his tale of corruption in L.A. is masterly—thrilling, humorous and disturbing at the same time—and brilliantly played by John Huston and Faye Dunaway as well as Nicholson.” The film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1991.

Our panel to discuss the film will include actor Bruce Glover (Hard Times, Walking Tall, Diamonds Are Forever); assistant director Hawk Koch (who went on to produce such films as Heaven Can Wait, The Idolmaker, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Wayne’s World, and Primal Fear and later served as president of the Motion Picture Academy); and author Sam Wasson (who wrote the biography of Bob Fosse that served as the basis of the highly acclaimed miniseries, Fosse/Verdon, and is writing a new book on the seminal films of the 70s).

Director: Roman Polanski
Writer: Robert Towne
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Burt Young, Bruce Glover, James Hong, Diane Ladd

The 45th anniversary screening of Chinatown will take place at the Royal Theatre, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025 on Thursday, June 27^th, 2019 at 7:00 pm.

Click here for tickets.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Paramount Home Video:

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – On July 6, 1994 moviegoers met a man named Forrest Gump whose story was both a deeply personal and affecting odyssey and a universal meditation on our times.  Hailed as “magical” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) and filled with “startling grace” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone), FORREST GUMP became not only a global blockbuster, but a true cultural touchstone. 

25 years later, FORREST GUMP remains a treasured cinematic classic that is beloved and quoted the world over.  Tom Hanks gives an astonishing performance as Forrest, an everyman whose simple innocence comes to embody a generation.  Alongside his mamma (Sally Field), his best friend Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), his commanding officer Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise), and his favorite girl Jenny (Robin Wright), Forrest has a ringside seat for the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written for the screen by Eric Roth (based on the novel by Winston Groom), FORREST GUMP won six Academy Awards® including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Tom Hanks), Best Writing, Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects.

NEW TWO-DISC BLU-RAY

A newly remastered version of FORREST GUMP is now available in a two-disc Blu-ray.  The set includes access to a Digital copy of the film as well as over three hours of previously released bonus content detailing the creative efforts that went into making the enduring classic:

Disc 1

·         Commentary by Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey and Rick Carter

·         Commentary by Wendy Finerman

·         Musical Signposts to History

o   Introduction by Ben Fong-Torres

Disc 2

·         Greenbow Diary

·         The Art of the Screenplay Adaptation

·         Getting Past Impossible—Forrest Gump and the Visual Effects Revolution

·         Little Forrest

·         An Evening with Forrest Gump

·         The Magic of Makeup

·         Through the Ears of Forrest Gump—Sound Design

·         Building the World of Gump—Production Design

·         Seeing is Believing—The Visual Effects of Forrest Gump

·         Screen Tests

·         Trailers

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON

SELECT THEATRICAL SCREENINGS

In addition, on June 23^rd and 25^th, FORREST GUMP will return to the big screen in more than 600 cinemas nationwide for two screenings each day as Fathom Events and Paramount present the film.  For information and tickets, visit www.FathomEvents.com.

BY HANK REINEKE

When the revered folksinger and author Woody Guthrie passed away on October 3, 1967 – following a long, tragic battle with Huntington’s disease – his friends and colleagues were moved to celebrate his life and legacy with a tribute concert. The manager of Guthrie’s business affairs, Harold Leventhal, commissioned the blacklisted novelist and screenwriter Millard Lampell to re-work an old script he had earlier fashioned from Guthrie’s bountiful catalog of songs and prose. Lampell was well suited to the task, not merely an outsider looking in. In 1941 Lampell would co-found the Almanac Singers, the agit-prop folk music ensemble that featured Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and several others.

That original program, Woody Guthrie’s California to the New York Island, first broadcast on CBS-TV’s Camera 2 program in December 1965, would serve as the template for the proposed memorial Tribute to Woody Guthrie. The tribute concert would be staged twice with afternoon and evening’s performances at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on January 20, 1968. The Carnegie tributes would have likely sold out quickly without any impetus beyond the simple desire of celebrating Guthrie’s life and work. But when Leventhal announced that that the reclusive Bob Dylan – not seen on a concert stage since May 1966 – would be included on the tribute bill, both shows would sell out within hours of the ticket on-sale. Even without Dylan’s participation, the bill at Carnegie was formidable and featured the finest folksingers from the New York City scene: Seeger, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Odetta, Richie Havens and Tom Paxton. The evening program at Carnegie Hall was recorded from the venue’s house system and shelved away for the possibility of a future LP release. Sadly, neither of these Carnegie Hall shows was professionally filmed.

While this tribute was originally conceived as a standalone memorial program, Guthrie’s colleagues and admirers on the west coast were feeling, not without justification, slighted. Guthrie’s earliest successes were, after all, on radio station KFVD out of Los Angeles. And Woody, a radical balladeer and refugee from Oklahoma’s dust bowl, was quickly embraced by those in L.A.’s progressive political circle. So much so that Guthrie was offered a gig as an occasional columnist for the mostly doctrinaire west coast Communist Party newspaper People’s World.

Guthrie’s Manhattan-based heirs were sympathetic to their west coast brethren’s disappointment. So it was a relief when it was announced that on September 12, 1970, there would be a Pacific coast Tribute to Woody Guthrie concert staged at the Hollywood Bowl. Dylan, to the disappointment of many, would not perform at this second concert. But several of Carnegie’s musical guests would return: Seeger, Havens, Odetta, Arlo Guthrie, and Jack Elliott. At the Hollywood Bowl, folk-diva Joan Baez would replace Judy Collins. Also joining the cast for the first time were Country Joe McDonald and an old colleague of Woody’s from the days of People’s Songs, Earl Robinson.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

"The Deadly Affair", directed by Sidney Lumet, is the 1967 film based on John Le Carre's 1961 novel "Call for the Dead". Le Carre was riding high during the Bond-inspired Bond phenomenon of the 1960s. Unlike the surrealistic world of 007, Le Carre's books formed the basis for gritty and gloomy espionage stories that were steeped in realism and cynicism. The film adaptation of Le Carre's "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" had been released the previous year to great acclaim. Lumet, who made "The Deadly Affair" for his own production company, rounded up top flight British talent including screenwriter Paul Dehn, who had written the film adaptation of "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" and  co-wrote the screenplay for "Goldfinger".

As with all Le Carre film adaptations, the plot is complex to the point of being confusing. There are many intriguing characters of dubious allegiance to one another, a scarcity of violence in favor of people talking in back alleys and living rooms and a desire to paint the world of Cold War espionage as a tawdry environment in which the good guys are indistinguishable from the bad guys. James Mason plays Charles Dobbs, a veteran British Intelligence agent who takes a leisurely walk through St. James Park with a civil servant, Fennan (Robert Flemyng),who is aspiring to get a promotion to the Foreign Office. Dobbs informs him that there is a bit of concern about his security clearance because an anonymous person has tipped off MI6 through a letter that states Fennan's may have a dual allegiance to the communists. Dobbs considers the matter somewhat trivial and tries to assure Fennan that his name will probably be cleared. The men part on seemingly upbeat terms but the next day Dobbs is told by his superiors that Fennan has committed suicide. Dobbs is flabbergasted and insists the man showed no signs of instability. Nevertheless, Dobbs feels he is being made to be the fall guy for failing to see obvious weaknesses in Fennan's personality. That's not his only problem. Domestically, his young wife Ann (Harriett Andersson) is causing him great distress by taking on numerous lovers under his very nose. (Dobbs is even instructed to phone her before he comes home in case she has a bed mate in their house.) Dobbs is humiliated at playing the role of cuckold but can't bring himself to divorce Ann- even when it is revealed that his old friend Dieter (Maximilian Schell), a German Intelligence agent who is visiting London, has also been seduced by her.

Dobbs smells a rat at MI6 and doubts Fennan committed suicide. He starts his own investigation into who killed him and why. An interview with Fennan's widow (Simone Signoret) only makes matters more complex when he begins to suspect she might be a Soviet agent. Dobbs enlists the only two colleagues he can trust: agent Bill Appleby (Kenneth Haigh) and the semi-retired agent Mendel (Harry Andrews). The trio find that as they get closer to the truth, the trail is getting more dangerous with numerous murders occurring and their own lives in danger.

To bring Le Carre's novel to the screen, certain recurring characters from his books, such as legendary spy George Smiley, had to have their names changed because Paramount had the rights to "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" and the characters appeared in the novel and screen version. Paul Dehn's screenplay is confusing but never boring and by the end you can pretty much figure out what is going on even if some of the peripheral characters' significance remains a bit vague. Sidney Lumet was the ultimate "actor's director" and could always be counted on to get top-rate performances from his cast. "The Deadly Game" is no exception, with James Mason in fine form as a man who has been disgraced professionally and personally but who still has enough pride to attempt to clear his name. Lumet hired two fine actors who appeared in his 1965 masterwork "The Hill"- Harry Andrews and Roy Kinnear- to reunite for this production and they have a great scene together. (Andrews must be one of the most under-rated actors of all time.) Maximilian Schell only appears sporadically but his role is pivotal and he is typically impressive, as is Simone Signoret as a woman of doubtful allegiance. Harriett Andersson, whose proficiency in English was limited, is occasionally difficult to understand (she was reportedly partially dubbed because of this). She accepted the role at the last minute when Candice Bergen had to back out of the film. She is suitably sultry and her character is quite interesting, professing to love her husband even as she revels in submitting him to sexual humiliation. The only humor in the film is provided by a very amusing Lynn Redgrave in a small role as Virgin Bumpus (!), an inept set designer for a Shakespearean theater production. Quincy Jones provides a fine jazz score that fits in well with the lounge music craze of the era and Freddie Young's cinematography depicts London as an ominous, rain-spattered place that adds to the chilling atmosphere of any Le Carre story.

"The Deadly Affair" was highly acclaimed in Britain, having been nominated for five BAFTA awards but it was largely overlooked amidst the tidal wave of other spy movies from the time period. It's a first-rate thriller and Mill Creek Entertainment has included it with five other Cold War films in a collection that features "Man on a String", "Otley", "Hammerhead", "The Executioner" and "A Dandy in Aspic". The DVD transfer is excellent but unfortunately there are no bonus features. Highly recommended.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Many fans of John Wayne's 1960 epic "The Alamo" have visited the massive movie set in remote Brackettville, Texas, over the decades. The land was owned by "Happy" Shahan, a prominent rancher from whom Wayne and United Artists leased the land. Shahan and his wife had one caveat: that the family would be allowed to keep the magnificent sets operating as a tourist attraction and filming location for other movies. The plan worked very well and over the years many prominent westerns were shot there even as thousands of fans attended "Alamo" events and festivals on the site. But now, the Shahan family is no longer operating the property as a viable attraction and the buildings sit unattended and deteriorating, though still intact and boasting a host of on-site props and memorabilia. It had been hoped that a Texan with deep pockets or the state itself would finance the preservation of the village, but to date this has not occurred. The sets from John Wayne's most personal film seems destined to remain a genuine ghost town.... This video by a visiting fan and historian presents a landscape that is both fascinating and bittersweet.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Franco Zeffirelli, the acclaimed Italian director of opulent films and operas, has died at age 96. Zeffirelli's passion for cinema and opera led him to often find ways to combine the two into his works. As the Hollywood Reporter points out, his operas were often cinematic in staging and his films were sometimes presented in an operatic manner. Zeffirelli's most notable cinematic work was his dynamic presentation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" in 1968. Previous versions were scoffed at for casting actors who were too old in the titular roles but Zeffirelli cast real-life teenagers Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting and his screenplay presented their love affair in a manner that took advantage of the screen industry's new sexual freedoms. Zeffirelli received an Oscar nomination for Best Director. The previous year, Zeffirelli had directed Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in a lively screen version of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew". He returned to the Bard's classics in 1990 with his screen version of "Hamlet" that raised eyebrows with his casting of Mel Gibson in the title role. However, the film and Gibson received favorable reviews. Not all of Zeffirelli's mainstream films were successful, however, with his 1979 remake of "The Champ" and the movie "First Love" among his boxoffice disappointments.

For more about Zeffirelli's remarkable career in film and opera, click here.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In 1971, director Blake Edwards took a career diversion by venturing outside the comedy genre into Westerns with the release of "Wild Rovers", for which he also authored the screenplay. The film was a highly personal project for Edwards who had earlier in his career made some effective non-comedies that included "Experiment in Terror" and the highly acclaimed "Days of Wine and Roses". The film marked a brief and unhappy two-picture association with MGM, which was then under the control of the universally despised James Aubrey, who was nicknamed "The Smiling Cobra". Aubrey had a habit of second-guessing esteemed directors in an era in which few filmmakers retained the right of final cut. Consequently, Aubrey was known to eviscerate films to conform to his personal views regarding their commercial value. The year before, he took the scissors to "Kelly's Heroes" and cut out what star Clint Eastwood felt was the emotional heart of the film. (The missing footage has never been found and Eastwood never made another film for the studio.) Aubrey would do the same to "Wild Rovers", which had a leisurely-paced running time of 136 minutes that included an intermission. Aubrey had it cut to 106 minutes, thus outraging Edwards, who was known for his mercurial temper. Making matters worse, Aubrey also cut Edwards's follow-up film for MGM, "The Carey Treatment". Edwards had suffered a similar fate when Paramount chief Robert Evans had made cuts to Edwards's 1970 big budget musical "Darling Lili". Ultimately, Edwards sought revenge with his 1981 film "S.O.B." a scathing take-down of studio executives who interfere with the artistic visions of film directors.

"Wild Rovers" is lyrical and at times tender story that depicts the unlikely friendship between two ranch hands: middle-aged Ross Bodine (William Holden) and Frank Post ((Ryan O'Neal), a young twenty-something upstart with a cocky manner. They are both employed by Walter Buckman (Karl Malden), a stern but honorable rancher who owns an impressive cattle empire. Ross is getting weary of a back-breaking life and Frank fears following in his footsteps. Impulsively, they decide to rob the local bank which they manage to do successfully by holding the bank manager's family hostage. Not exactly a noble act, but Edwards mitigates the moral consequences by having Ross leave enough money to be given to Buckman to pay his ranch hands. It's a sign of sentiment on Ross's part but upon his departure, the banker and his wife decide to not tell Buckman about the gesture and keep the money for themselves. The script finds the outraged Buckman sending his sons (Joe Don Baker and Tom Skerritt) to raise a posse and relentlessly pursue the robbers. The film then morphs into a road trip story with Ross and Frank bonding and learning to respect each other. Ross is inspired by the younger man's zest for life and Frank learns to control his impulsiveness. The nagging flaw with Edwards' script, however, is that while Ross retains a sense of nobility and decency, Frank is trigger happy and occasionally cruel, a fact that Edwards attempts to mitigate by showing us Frank's sentimental attachment to a puppy, a plot device that plays out as pretentiously as it reads. Although "Wild Rovers" never achieves the classic stature that Edwards had envisioned, it is a very good film that has many attributes, not the least of which is a very fine performance by William Holden, who- like most actors- became more interesting as he aged. As for O'Neal, he was always competent as an actor but not very compelling. This is one of his better performances because Edwards provides him with an interesting character to absorb. Malden is always very good but his screen time in "Wild Rovers" is frustratingly limited. The film boasts superb cinematography by Philip Lathrop and a great score by Jerry Goldsmith, filling in for Edwards' usual composer-of-choice, Henry Mancini.

The film tanked at the box office and with critics. Edwards blamed it on MGM's virtual destruction of his vision for the final cut. Not helping matters was the bizarre ad campaign that featured O'Neal and Holden on the same horse with O'Neal giddily embracing a rather uncomfortable looking Holden. For a hard-bitten, action-filled Western, it was all wrong and implied a "Brokeback Mountain"-like relationship in an era that was far less enlightened, to put it mildly. Happily, the Warner Archive has released a restored version of the film and provided a gorgeous transfer. They've even included the original intermission and entr'acte so you can appreciate Jerry Goldsmith's score even more. Bonus extras include a very good vintage "making of" documentary that makes it clear how Holden and O'Neal did a lot of impressive stunt work and wrangling themselves. There is also a rather murky trailer that will make you appreciate how good the main feature looks on Blu-ray.

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(For full analysis of the making of "Wild Rovers", see Frank Aston's article in issue #40.)

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Twilight Time has released the 1965 WWII espionage thriller "Morituri" as a region-free, limited edition (3,000 units) Blu-ray edition. The film represents yet another gem from Marlon Brando's "lost decade" of  films that were bookended by the massive failure of "Mutiny on the Bounty" in 1962 and his triumphant starring role in "The Godfather" ten years later. During those years, Brando's films were largely disparaged by critics and ignored by his former fans. Ironically, many of these productions were very good indeed and Brando often gave some of the most intriguing performances of his career. "Morituri" paired Brando with Yul Brynner, another Hollywood legend with a penchant for being difficult to work with. Brynner was known for making demands of producers that rivaled that of the King of Siam while Brando engaged in a penchant for making last minute changes to the script that often put him at odds with the cast and crew. Such was the case on this film, which is a moody, B&W production that is by necessity claustrophobic in nature as virtually all of the action takes place aboard a ship. The film opens with Robert Crain (Brando) being paid a visit by a British Intelligence office, Colonel Statter (Trevor Howard, who reconciled with Brando after griping about his work habits on "Mutiny on the Bounty"). Crain is posing as a Swiss national and living out the war in India,  leading a carefree life of leisure. He also happens to be a munitions expert and Statter reveals that the Brits are aware that Crain is actually living under an assumed name, having deserted the German SS a couple of years before. He offers Crain a proposition: agree to go on a possible suicide mission or be placed in the hands of German forces who are eager to have him in custody in return for the release of a high-profile British prisoner. Crain's mission is to pose as an SS man and board a German freighter that is carrying a precious load of valuable raw materials to occupied France. The Allies want to capture the goods or at least destroy them before they can reach the Germans. Crain is to try to somehow disable the explosive devices hidden within the ship that are designed to scuttle the craft in the event of capture, thus allowing the Allies to intercept the vessel and take the cargo. Left with a Hobson's Choice, Crain reluctantly agrees.

The captain of the freighter is Mueller (Brynner), a career sailor whose reputation has been tarnished due to a scandal. The German high command have given him another chance for redemption by ordering him to deliver the goods to France by navigating through waters that are filled with Allied submarines on the prowl. Mueller considers himself to be a loyal German (his son is an esteemed naval captain) but he balks at the brutality of the Nazi regime. Thinking Crain is actually an SS officer, he takes an immediate dislike to him and suspects he is there to spy on his movements for the German brass. Crain immediately sets out to disable the scuttling systems on the ship but finding the hidden boxes proves to be an arduous and dangerous task. Meanwhile, an unexpected boarding by two German naval officers results in their expressing skepticism about Crain's real identity. With his mission and life in mortal danger, Crain attempts to rally disaffected crew members to take control of the ship in alliance with some American prisoners who are also being transported.

Click here to read the Hollywood Reporter's 1968 review of the feature film based on Neil Simon's Broadway smash, "The Odd Couple" starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, reunited after their previous hit, "The Fortune Cookie" in 1965.

Cinema Retro Issue #21 (2011)

• Exclusive interview with Malcolm McDowell on Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange".
• Marlon Brando in Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris"
• John Carpenter's "Halloween"
• Ken Russell's controversial classic "The Devil's"- and why it may never be released to home video
• Don Siegel's "The Killers"- the final film of Ronald Reagan
• Forgotten British movies of the Sixties and Seventies
• Interview with Vera Day, "The British Marilyn Monroe"

USA/ CANADA : CINEMA RETRO #21

USA/ CANADA : CINEMA RETRO #21 $15.00 USD

UK : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #21

UK : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #21 £9.95 GBP

EUROPE : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #21

EUROPE : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #21 £12.50 GBP

REST OF THE WORLD : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #21

REST OF THE WORLD : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #21 £14.50 GBP

Cinema Retro Issue #22 (2012)

OUT OF THE PAST: STEVE MCQUEEN IN "WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE"

HOW THE ORIGINAL "SHAFT" BROUGHT ABOUT A REVOLUTION FOR BLACK MOVIE HEROES

DVD REVIEW: "THE GLORY STOMPERS" (1967) STARRING DENNIS HOPPER, JODY McCREA CHRIS NOEL AND JOCK MAHONEY

THOSE GLORIOUS OLD MOVIE ADS: "MOONRAKER" AND "THE SPY WHO LOVED ME" DOUBLE FEATURE (1980)

PARAMOUNT LAUNCHES "THE GODFATHER CORLEONE LEGACY COLLECTION" FATHER'S DAY PROMOTION

REVIEW: "TWICE TOLD TALES" (1963) STARRING VINCENT PRICE AND SEBASTIAN CABOT; KINO LORBER BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

REVIEW: "THE INNOCENTS" (1961) STARRING DEBORAH KERR, CRITERION BLU-RAY RELEASE

REVIEW: "ARABIAN ADVENTURE" (1979) STARRING CHRISTOPHER LEE; KINO LORBER BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

ROBERT MITCHUM INTERVIEWED BY DICK CAVETT, 1971

REVIEW: "TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON" (1969) STARRING LIZA MINNELLI; OLIVE FILMS BLU-RAY RELEASE

PARAMOUNT PROMOTES "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" 4K ULTRA HD EDITION FOR D-DAY 75TH ANNIVERSARY