The fifth
season of 'Icons Unearthed' will focus on Bond, James Bond.
Directed by
Brian Volk-Weiss (The Toys That Made Us, The Movies That Made Us, Behind the
Attraction), Alyssa Michek (Icons Unearthed), and Ben Frost (Icons Unearthed),
the documentary series features exclusive, candid interviews with the people
that helped make the franchise popular.
Appearances
include George Lazenby, Gloria Hendry (who will also narrate the
series), Caroline Munro, Catherine Schell, Terence Mountain, Andreas
Wisniewski, Trina Parks, Vic Armstrong, John Glen, Jeffrey Caine, Norm
Wanstall, Lee Pfeiffer, Ajay Chowdhury, and Matthew Field.
MI6 can
confirm the following episode titles and premiere dates:
Icons
Unearthed: James Bond
Episode 1: A Spy Is Born - Wed, Oct 4, 2023
Episode 2: The Man Who Wouldn't Be King - Wed, Oct 11, 2023
Episode 3: James Bond-Changing Times - Wed, Oct 18, 2023
Produced by The Nacelle Company, 'Icons Unearthed: James
Bond' will broadcast on VICE TV.
Acclaimed actor Sir Michael Gambon has died. The
performer, best known for bringing Professor Albus Dumbledore to the screen in
six of the eight Harry Potter movies, had a career that spanned more than five
decades. He won BAFTAs, Olivier and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received
nominations for a Tony, Golden Globe and Emmy awards. Sir Michael was knighted
for his services to the British entertainment industry in 1998. Sir Michael
Gambon was 82 years old.
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Paramount Home Video:
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the heartfelt
drama TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, arriving for the first time on 4K Ultra
HD as part of the Paramount Presents line on November 14, 2023 from Paramount
Home Entertainment.
James L. Brooks produced, wrote the screenplay (based on
the novel by Larry McMurtry), and made his directorial debut with TERMS
OF ENDEARMENT, which ultimately earned 11 Academy Award® nominations and
won for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Shirley
MacLaine), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Nicholson), and Best Writing,
Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Both critically acclaimed and a box-office
blockbuster, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT features a powerhouse cast
including Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, and
John Lithgow. Originally released on November 23, 1983, the enduring
classic follows the ups and downs of a mother-daughter relationship with
honesty, heart, and humor.
This Paramount Presents release includes the film in
sparkling 4K Ultra HD, with a transfer from the original camera negative
reviewed and approved by Brooks. The set includes a 4K Ultra HD Disc, a
Blu-ray Disc™, access to a Digital copy of the film, as well as a
brand-new Filmmaker Focus with James L. Brooks. In this newly
recorded interview, Brooks reflects on the challenges and excitement that came
with being a first-time director, including getting directing critiques from
Jack Nicholson. He also discusses the casting process and the film’s amazing
performances. The set also includes a legacy commentary with
director James L. Brooks, co-producer Penney Finkelman Cox, and production
designer Polly Platt, as well as the theatrical trailer.
Imprint, the Australian video label, is releasing "The Avengers: The Tara King Collection" as a region-free Blu-ray set on 29 November. Here are the details:
John Steed fights crime and diabolical masterminds in his own inimitable manner with nonchalant efficiency, sophistication, and charm. With the departure of Mrs. Peel (Diana Rigg), Steed (Patrick Macnee) has acquired a new assistant, Tara King (Linda Thorson), who relies less on judo and more on feminine guile to dispatch her assailants. Miss King will use a coo or a kiss rather than a karate chop, not to mention an occasional brick-in-the-handbag technique! Emotional, earthy, cunning, Tara is thoroughly emancipated, while remaining essentially feminine. This is her real distinction and it makes her devastating!
In this stunning celebration of the Tara King era, The Avengers probe 33 colourful adventures in stunning high-definition, with a bountiful collection of vintage and new Special Features.
Plus an additional disc brings together early episodes from the first two seasons of the series and audio reconstructions for Series 1 lost episodes.
A second bonus disc features the worldwide Blu-ray debut of Patrick Macnee’s 1970 post-Avengers crime caper Mister Jerico, sporting a brand NEW 2K scan from the original negative.
11 DISC BLU-RAY SET + 120 page collectable booklet in LIMITED EDITION HARDBOX packaging.
THE AVENGERS SERIES 6 – all 33 episodes on 9 discs
Special Features and Technical Specs:
1080p high-definition presentation from the original 35mm elements
Collectable double-sided Hardbox packaging – 1500 copies only
NEW! 120-page booklet featuring an essay by television writer / historian Andrew Pixley, and Press/Story Information from the original studio files
Original ‘as broadcast’ mono audio track (LPCM) and “The Avengers in Color” opening slate
NEW! Audio Commentary on “The Forget-Me-Knot” by filmmakers Samuel Clemens and George Clemens (2023)
NEW! Audio Commentary on the Terry Nation scripted episode “Invasion of the Earthmen” by writer/film critic Kim Newman and screenwriter/author Robert Shearman (2023)
Audio Commentary on “Split!” by writer/producer Brian Clemens and director Roy Ward Waker
NEW! Audio Commentary on “LOOK! (stop me if you’ve heard this one) But There Were These Two Fellers…” by filmmakers Samuel Clemens and George Clemens (2023)
NEW! Never-before-released Video Commentary on “All Done With Mirrors” featuring actress Linda Thorson, director Raymond Austin, composer Howard Blake, producer Brian Clemens recorded on-stage at “THE AVENGERS AT 50” event in 2011
Audio Commentary on “All Done With Mirrors” by actress Linda Thorson and Paul O’Grady
Audio Commentary on “Game” by director Robert Fuest
Audio Commentary on “Noon Doomsday” by actress Linda Thorson and Paul O’Grady
2nd Audio Commentary on “Noon Doomsday” by stuntwoman Cyd Child
NEW! 3rd Audio Commentary on “Noon Doomsday” by filmmakers Samuel Clemens and George Clemens (2023)
Audio Commentary on “Killer” by guest actress Jennifer Croxton
Audio Commentary on “The Morning After” by director John Hough
Audio Commentary on “Love All” by writer Jeremy Burnham and guest actress Veronica Strong
NEW! Audio Commentary on “Fog” by film historians Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons (2023)
NEW! Audio Commentary on “Thingumajig” by film historians Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons (2023)
NEW! Audio Commentary on “Bizarre” by television historians Dick Fiddy (of the British Film Institute) and Henry Holland (2023)
Video Introductions to “The Interrogators”, “Love All”, “Take Me To Your Leader”, “Pandora”, “Thingumajig” and “Requiem” by Linda Thorson
Video Introduction to “Whoever Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40?” by director Cyril Frankel
NEW! Audio Recollection on “Get-A-Way!” by guest actor Peter Bowles
“THE AVENGERS AT 50” – Interviews captured at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the series, held at Chichester University (2011)
Helicopter arrival and Audio Commentary by Linda Thorson and Paul O’Grady
NEW! Linda Thorson introduces video message from Patrick Macnee
NEW! “The Impact of The Avengers” – panel discussion with Linda Thorson, Paul O’Grady, director Raymond Austin, actor John Carson and author Alwyn Turner
NEW! “The Music of The Avengers” – Themes from the series (and The New Avengers) performed by the Chichester University Orchestra
Interview with Linda Thorson by Paul O’Grady
“The Two Sides of Tara King” – with Linda Thorson and stuntwoman Cyd Child
Interview with director John Hough
Interview with director Robert Fuest
Interview with composer Howard Blake
Interview with director/stunt co-ordinator Raymond Austin (NEW! Complete unreleased version)
“In the Footsteps of Tara King” – interview with Linda Thorson by Oliver Kalkofe (2010)
“Wish You Were Here” – Locations featurette
“Avenging The Avengers” – featurette on the series (1992) plus additional unused interviews
“Thriller: Lady Killer” – complete episode from the ATV series starring Linda Thorson, written by Brian Clemens (in Standard Definition)
“Return of the Saint: The Roman Touch” – complete episode of the ITC action series guest starring Linda Thorson (in Standard Definition)
Archival Vault Material
“Introducing Linda Thorson” – Vintage Promotional Trailer
“Girl About Town” – Vintage Promotional Short Film about Linda Thorson with optional Audio Commentary by Linda Thorson and Paul O’Grady
Artists Screen Tests – vault film of various actresses auditioning to be the new “Avengers Girl” (mute with optional Audio Commentary)
“Invasion of the Earthmen” – Alternative U.S. End Credits
Series 6 Textless Closing Credits with theme music
U.S. ABC Network Commercial Break Bumpers
“Mit Schirm, Charme Und Melone” – German Opening Titles / Closing Credits
“Granada Plus Points” for “The Forget-Me-Knot” featuring Patrick Macnee
Extensive Photo Galleries from the studio archives
Bonus Disc 1: The Avengers – The Early Years
“Hot Snow Act 1” – the only surviving material from the very first episode of Series 1, with optional Audio Commentary by producer Leonard White (in Standard Definition)
“Girl on the Trapeze” – the complete 6th episode from Series 1 (in Standard Definition)
“The Frighteners” – the complete 15th episode from Series 1 (in Standard Definition)
“Bullseye” – the complete 8th episode from Series 2, with optional Audio Commentary by actress Honor Blackman and Paul O’Grady
“Warlock” – the complete 16th episode from Series 2, with optional, NEW!previously unreleased Audio Commentary by Honor Blackman and story editor Richard Bates recorded at “THE AVENGERS AT 50” event in 2011
14 Audio Reconstructions for missing Series 1 episodes
“THE AVENGERS AT 50” – Interview with producers Leonard White and Brian Tessler, actresses Honor Blackman and Julie Stevens (2011)
Bonus Disc 2: Mister Jerico (1970)
1970 crime caper produced by ITC as the pilot to a proposed new Patrick Macnee series, but ultimately aired as a one-off television film, and theatrically exhibited in some territories.
NEW! 1080p high-definition presentation of a 2023, 2K scan from the original camera negative by Imprint, with grading by award-winning colourist Jonathan Wood
NEW! Audio Commentary by television historians Dick Fiddy (of the British Film Institute) and Henry Holland (2023)
NEW! Restoration Featurette
Original Theatrical Trailer (previously unreleased)
Review: Clint Eastwood: The Iconic Filmmaker
and his Work, by Ian Nathan, White Lion Publishing; 1st edition (7 Sept. 2023),
Hardcover, 176 pages.
Clint Eastwood, one of the original stars to
emerge from the ‘cool’ era of the Sixties, continues to demand the status of
cultural icon on a worldwide basis. From the lone man with no name in the
‘Dollar’ movies to Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry franchise, bare
knuckle fighter Philo Beddoe to an ageing Korean War veteran in Gran Torino and
The Mule - his roles exemplified an undeniable screen magnetism and a masculine
sense of command.
Eastwood was born in 1930 at Saint Francis
Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. An introverted child (by his own
admission), a personality trait that probably surfaced due to an unsettled
childhood which saw him constantly travelling wherever his father’s work would
take him. He was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War
where he became a lifeguard at Fort Ord. On his return he made a few appearances
and given minor roles by director Jack Arnold in B pictures such as Revenge of
the Creature and Tarantula. His big break came as Rowdy Yates in the TV Saga Rawhide,
an hour-long western series which ran for over 7 years. It was during Rawhide
that Eastwood accepted an offer to travel to a remote region of Spain in order
to make a low-key western for a relatively unknown director, Sergio Leone. It
turned out to be a smart move on Eastwood’s part and one that would catapult
him to one of the leading lights of Hollywood.
Author and Film Critic Ian Nathan’s new book,
Clint Eastwood, The Iconic Filmmaker and his Work (part of the Iconic
Filmmakers Series) (ISBN-13?: ?978-0711283657),
explores, in detail, Eastwood’s phenomenal Hollywood career as actor, director,
producer and composer. As a leading actor in some of the biggest and most respected
films to hit the cinema screens, Nathan breaks his book down into several
linier chapters which makes for an easy-to-read timeline of events. But the
author has also been smart enough to include other important departures such as
his tenure as Mayor of Carmel and his move into directing. The transcendence
from major box office sensation of the Seventies into more personal film
projects of the Eighties and Nineties is smooth and seamless and never misses a
beat. The book charts his maturity, examining certain myths and more
challenging subjects as a filmmaker. The book explores Eastwood as he gradually
moved more behind the camera as opposed to in front of it while maintaining a
healthy respect from both fans and his peers.
I also like Nathan’s footer timeline.
Appearing at the bottom of certain pages, it works well as a nice guide which
keeps you on track during certain periods of his career. Of course, Eastwood’s
career is long and distinguished, often making editing a real nightmare of a
task. There’s a fine line between examining too deeply or not examining deep enough
– especially in a career spanning nearly 70 years (and counting). But Nathan
gets the balance just about right here. It covers all the important aspects of
a very rich and varied career, and with just the right weight in terms of
detail. I doubt if seasoned fans will find anything particularly new within its
176 pages, but they’ll certainly want to add it to their collection,
regardless. Anyone wishing to examine Eastwood’s career, perhaps for the first
time in book form, couldn’t really go far wrong with this as an entry point.
It’s also lavishly packaged. A solid hardback edition which is also housed
within a matching hardshell slipcase matching that of the book’s cover is as
appealing as they come – and a particularly nice touch - as well as serving as
a great form of protection.
Published by White Lion Publishing and
released on 7th September, 2023 – this book also contains a wealth of
impressive images, from rare posters, production shots and a wonderful
collection of stills ranging from the early Universal years right up to Eastwood’s
latest release, Cry Macho. Overall. it’s
a lavishly detailed publication which I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending. It’s
a book in which everyone involved should feel a genuine sense of pride and
accomplishment. Darren
Allison
Only a week after we congratulated David McCallum on his 90th birthday comes the sad news that he has passed away from natural causes in New York City, where he resided. I have nothing but wonderful memories of the time I spent with him. Like most boys who grew up in the spy rage of the 1960s, I became a big fan of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", though I had admired his work in "The Great Escape" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" even before then. His portrayal of Judas in the latter film was particularly haunting because he played him as a tragic and sympathetic figure. The success of "U.N.C.L.E." unexpectedly thrust David and his co-star Robert Vaughn into becoming international teenage idols. It was a distinction neither man had sought. At the height of the mania, David was to appear at Macy's in New York to promote his record album. The event was besieged by screaming teenage girls to such a degree that the police had to call the event off and hide David until the crowd had dissipated. The show ran from September, 1964 through January, 1968. Although David and Robert enjoyed their time on the series and were grateful for the fame and fortune they gained from it, both men were eager to move on. David worked steadily in feature films and in live theater. Many years later, he landed the role of pathologist "Ducky" Mallard on the hit CBS series "NCIS". As the years went by, David joked to me that he kept trying to quit the series due to his advanced years but the producers always found a way to keep him on board. He seemed to love every minute he worked on the series.
What many people don't know is that David, the son of an acclaimed conductor in his native Scotland, was also a talented musician, arranger and composer who had some acclaimed albums in the 1960s. In recent, years he tried his hand at writing novels and found success in that endeavor, as well. At one point, I reunited David with my good friend, actor Joe Sirola, who had played a villain on a couple of episodes of "U.N.C.L.E." It gave me great pleasure to see them reignite their friendship and David would show up at Joe's legendary summer party on the terrace of his New York penthouse. When Dave Worrall and I began publishing Cinema Retro 20 years ago, David was a contributor. He was always reluctant to talk about himself and his career, but after one interview session he said he found it "therapeutic" to recall so many wonderful times in the acting profession that he had not thought about in many years. A very special evening occurred in 20009 at The Players, the legendary club for the arts in New York City. I was hosting a black tie dinner in honor of Robert Vaughn. During the cocktail hour he said, "I only wish David could have been here." Shortly thereafter, David and his wife Katherine did show up, causing many sophisticated middle-aged women to gasp with delight. David had told me he couldn't make the event but at the last minute he found a way to attend. It was a wonderful evening, especially when David gave a marvelous and touching speech about his former co-star. Years later, it would pain me to have been the one to break the news to David that Robert had passed away.
(L to R:) Lee Pfeiffer, David McCallum, Robert Vaughn and Joe Sirola at The Players dinner for Vaughn in 2009.
(Photo: Tom Stroud)
David was first married to actress Jill Ireland and the couple had three children: Paul, Jason and Valentine. After they divorced, David met and married Katherine Carpenter in 1967. They had two children: Peter and Sophie. David adored his wife and family and always spoke of them with great pride.
While I mourn David's passing, I take solace from the fact that he did not suffer and was surrounded by laughter and love for most of his life. In an increasingly cynical age, David represented the vanishing attributes of graciousness and modesty. I had left him a phone message on his 90th birthday and had planned to get together with him soon. That won't happen but I can appreciate the time I spent with him over the years. He was a talented actor and musician, a good family man and a person who left his mark on the profession he loved. Thanks for the memories, David.
From the New York Times archive: movies playing in Gotham on May 11, 1967: "Hombre", "The Sand Pebbles", "Alfie", "Grand Prix", "Two for the Road", "Hawaii", "Blow-Up", "Casino Royale" and "The Bible", among others. Those were the days!
If something seems too good to be true, it's probably going to turn out to be too good to be true. Amazon Prime's streaming service has offered an exceptional library of new, original series and films as well as a treasure trove of retro movies that can be streamed commercial-free. That will come to an end in early 2024 when "ad-free" streaming will now command an additional monthly fee of $2.99 in the USA for customers who currently pay $14.99 a month. International customers will presumably be charged the approximate amount in local currency. There will be no increase in fees if you're willing to see classic movies interrupted by advertisements. If you're reading Cinema Retro, you're probably as snooty as we are about how we watch the movies we love. However, the truth is that the general public is very undemanding when it comes to movie viewing. That's how American cable TV channels can still find people who will sit through a telecast of censored versions of "Apocalypse Now" or "Jaws" along with many other classics with accompanying ads for everything from cars to hemorrhoid medicine. While it isn't our intention to carry water for Amazon, the increased price still seems reasonable for gaining access to so many films including plenty of titles that are not available on home video. For more, click here.
The
problem with McVicar (1980) as a
biopic is that the part of its subject’s life I most wanted to know about is
covered in a brief caption at the very end. A closing intertitle informs us, if
we didn’t already know, that John McVicar (1940-2022), a career criminal handed
consecutive prison sentences totalling 23 years, eventually left behind his
life of crime to gain a first-class honours degree while still behind bars and
become a successful journalist and author. Indeed, he co-wrote the screenplay,
based on his published memoir. But this fascinating turnabout is not part of
the film’s story, which ends in 1970 after he is put back inside following a
prison break and violent bank robbery.
What
we have instead is a conventional tale of porridge and solitary on the inside,
awkward family life on the outside. Although McVicar is competently played by
The Who front man Roger Daltrey (who co-produced the film and also performs
some songs on the soundtrack), there is little here to suggest that beneath the
hard-man surface lay an articulate intelligence with a sharp understanding of
the social causes of criminality. The script prefers to revel in the aggressive
bravado with which he taunts prison officers, instigates riots, tunnels out of
the shower block and risks re-arrest after escape. McVicar’s attempts to bond
with his young son are sentimental rather than sensitive, all the film’s energy
coming from its criminal elements.
Directed
by Tom Clegg, a specialist in TV crime shows who also made Sweeney 2 (1978), it has a surface authenticity slightly belied by
the high-definition transfer on Fabulous Films’ Region B Blu-ray, which makes
the photography look more glossy than it probably did on first release in
cinemas (where it achieved substantial commercial success, placing twelfth
among UK general releases of 1980). In the scenes set in Durham Prison, the
actors playing the screws try slightly too hard with their Geordie accents (all
‘bonnie lads’ and ‘kiddas’) but this makes for an effective clash with the
mainly cockney prisoners. Cheryl Campbell’s role as McVicar’s wife is
predictably thankless but Adam Faith (another pop star turned capable actor),
Billy Murray, Steven Berkoff and Ian Hendry all fulfil their generic
requirements admirably.
(Photo: Fabulous Films)
The
extras, on what has been dubbed ‘Break-out Edition’, are an informative
making-of, with contributions from the genial Daltrey, co-producer Bill
Curbishley and music composer-arranger Jeff Wayne, and a short interview by
actor Keith Allen (who is not in the film) with the real McVicar, recorded late
in his life. He tells a sad and fascinating tale, more interesting than
anything in the main feature.
(Sheldon Hall is the Copy Editor of Cinema Retro magazine.)
The first time that I heard of the name Nat Segaloff was in
1990 when I purchased his new book at the time, Hurricane Billy: The Stormy
Life and Films of William Friedkin. I eagerly read through it in no time as
The French Connection, Mr. Friedkin’s Oscar-winning film for Best
Picture and Best Director among others, is my favorite film. It was his fifth
feature as a director, and it put Mr. Friedkin on the map following the
disappointing box office performance of his first four films. However, the
critical praise and box office success of this real-life-inspired police drama
which contains two of cinema’s greatest action set pieces would not truly
prepare audiences for his follow-up film.
Mr. Friedkin’s The Exorcist, a film adaptation of the
best-selling 1971 William Peter Blatty novel of the same name, opened
theatrically on Wednesday, December 26, 1973 on no less than twenty seven
theater screens, one of which was the Cinema 57 which was part of the Sack Theatre
chain in Boston, MA. Mr. Segaloff was a publicist and was tasked with playing
door guard to a top-secret pre-arranged screening of the film on Christmas
morning to a handful of critics who were there to get their reviews in their
respective papers earlier than usual. This incident is recounted in his preface
to his latest book, The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear, the title of
which brings to the forefront the shocking revelation of just how many years
have transpired since Regan MacNeil’s head spun around. The film is something
that I had heard about for years prior to becoming a fan of scary cinema and I
was unsure how much of it was rumor or fact. I recall purchasing The
Exorcist on VHS in February 1986 seven months before I saw The French Connection.
It was in the oversized clamshell box by Warner Home Video and while I was
impressed with it, it did not scare me in the slightest. However, I have spoken
to other people who saw the film in their teenage years and refused to view it
ever again. A September 1996 viewing of the film to a sold-out screening at
Radio City Music Hall, introduced by both lead actress Ellen Burstyn and the
director in-person, solidified the film’s stature as a masterpiece in my mind.
The release of the film on DVD in a 25th anniversary edition whetted
the appetite of those who would see the film theatrically two years later when The
Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen was released which would include
changes and additional footage. The Blu-ray of the film in 2010
in the extended director’s cut was by no means the final word, as in 2013 a 40th anniversary
Blu-ray added a nice documentary and extended interviews with the author. Just
in time for the 50th anniversary, the film is now bowing in 4K UHD.
Following a foreword by John A. Russo of Night of the
Living Dead fame, Mr. Segaloff begins his book, which is comprised of
sixteen chapters and lasting just over three hundred pages in length, from the
correct presumption that the film is a misunderstood classic. He agrees with
the assessment by both Mr. Blatty and Mr. Friedkin that the film is many things
except the horror film that it is widely revered as since the time of its
release, though audiences have other opinions. We are treated to many interesting
tidbits: the hilarious story of how Mr. Friedkin met Mr. Blatty and how the
former’s honesty solidified a working relationship and lifelong friendship with
the latter, with Mr. Friedkin being the sole director that Mr. Blatty wanted
from the get-go; Warner Brothers’ initial reluctance to hire Mr. Friedkin until
the release of his brilliant The French Connection in 1971 garnered
sudden critical and financial success and changed the game completely; the
original 1949 real-life case of a young possessed Maryland boy; Mr. Blatty’s
writing of the novel; the making of the film; a multitude of issues that beset
the film’s production giving way to the supposed “curse” on the set; the
controversy surrounding the release of the film; in-depth looks at the much-maligned
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and the superior The Exorcist III
(1990), the latter both written and directed by Blatty; the prequels and
television series, and the little-known The Ninth Configuration. If
you’re even just a passing fan of the film, the book is a must read.
Mr. Segaloff was gracious enough to speak with me from his
home in Los Angeles by phone regarding the book. Unfortunately, the day I
contacted him about the interview was the same day that Mr. Friedkin had passed
away, a fact that I was unaware of until an hour later. Mr. Segaloff wanted to
press on with the interview, however, which amazed me as he knew Mr. Friedkin
for nearly fifty years.
Todd Garbarini: Where are you from originally?
Nat Segaloff: I was born in Washington, D.C., and
raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, which is a good long way from Cottage City,
Maryland, where that little boy was possessed in 1949. We were not possessed in
Silver Spring. Silver Spring was a very strange place. It was the nation’s
largest unincorporated city, about one hundred thousand people, and nobody
taking out the garbage.
I was able to leave and go to school in Boston, and there, I
not only ran the major movie program on campus, I also insinuated myself into
both the city’s professional film scene and the then-burgeoning underground
film scene. Of course, we’re talking the 1960’s.
When I graduated from college, I started doing publicity for
the film companies in town and, after a while, moved to New York to do it
there, then moved back to Boston and became a critic. All of that served as
fodder for the books I’ve written and for the people I’ve met because I’m a
kind of a demimonde. A lot of people remembered me from when I was a publicist,
but then when I became a reporter, they thought I was still a publicist, and
they trusted me. It’s a very odd combination, and I sometimes had to tell
people, “You know, I’m a reporter now.” I was able to keep close to a lot of
people that I’d met doing publicity, like Robert Altman, James Bridges, Paul Mazursky,
and John Milius.
TG: A lot of people I’ve spoken with who
work in the film industry didn’t go to the movies or even see films on
television until they were much older. Did you do the same thing, or did you
get into them later?
NS: Back when I was a pod, the only way to
see an old movie was on late-night television. I stayed up till one-thirty in
the morning to view The Jazz Singer on Washington television because
there was no way I was otherwise going to see it. There was no video, and you
couldn’t even rent a 16-millimeter print of it. Later, there were revival
theaters in Washington where I attended occasionally, but you still had to wait
for something to appear. Only when I went away to school and ran the film
program was I seeing movies every weekend, because I had to make sure people
weren’t smoking in the theater. That was my job. I was managing the campus
theater. I saw a lot of movies in class and in theaters, and it was wonderful.
Between that and being a critic, I must have spent thirty years watching a
couple of movies a week, and then I just burned out completely.
TG: As much as I love watching movies, I
don’t know that I would be able to do that! Do you have an all-time favorite
movie?
NS: The easy answer is Citizen Kane.
It certainly is the source of so much inspiration and technique for everybody
who makes movies. I don’t think it’s possible to cite one particular film.
Whatever pleases you at the time that you’re open to, it’s a film that becomes
your favorite. I also like His Girl Friday. No connection between those,
except they’re both about newspapers.
TG: Are you drawn to movies about reporters
and publicists?
NS: It turns out that I am drawn to
movies about reporters. Certainly, Sam Fuller’s Park Row is a movie that
makes me cry, not because it’s sad, but because it reminds me of the days when
I was writing for real newspapers. No, I don’t find myself glomming onto any
particular kind of film, be it science fiction, horror, drama, musical, or
anything else. I just like a good movie.
TG: So, you don’t consider yourself partial
to certain genres?
NS: I think that so many genres,
particularly horror or suspense films, seem to have a playbook, and I don’t
like films that go where you know they’re going to go. I remember something
Jonathan Demme said about the script for his film Something Wild. He
said you literally didn’t know from one page to the next what was going to
happen. I like to see that on the screen. I like films that have what I call an
“Oh, shit!” moment. The first one I remember was, of course, 2001: A Space
Odyssey, just before the intermission, when we realized that HAL was
reading the astronauts’ lips, and that was the moment where the whole audience sort
of exclaimed, “Oh, shit!” [laughs]. There are also other movies like A
Beautiful Mind with that kind of moment, or a movie that very few people
remember that Stephen Fears made called Dirty Pretty Things.
TG: Yes, that’s with Audrey Tautou from Amelie.
NS: Yes. I was watching it in a small
theater, and not only did we all say, “Oh, shit,” but we all stayed through the
credits and then stood up and congratulated each other after the movie for
seeing that film.
TG: You’ve written and published a good
number of books on The Towering Inferno, the Scarface films, the
Hollywood Code, John Milius, William Friedkin and Harlan Ellison. Your latest
book, The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear, is quite an accomplishment.
It begins on Christmas Day in 1973. You were working for the Sack Cinema 57 on
Stuart Street in Boston.
NS: Yes. I was their publicity director in
1973 when The Exorcist was scheduled to be released on Wednesday,
December 26th. One of our critics, Stuart Byron, who knew the
industry really well, was able to inveigle William Friedkin to permit a
day-before screening so that the weekly papers, which catered to the young
audience, would be able to meet their deadlines. So, I hosted this greeting of The
Exorcist on Christmas morning.
For some reason, the critics had no problem leaving the
bosom of their families to come and see a movie about a little girl whose head
spins around. I didn’t see the movie that day. I was standing in the lobby
guarding the door so the people who weren’t invited couldn’t get in. Nobody got
sick. We didn’t know we were supposed to throw up. Of course, the Technicolor
yawns began the very next day.
TG: Did you have any inkling what that film
was like? Based upon the lobby cards, the marketing of the film by Warner
Brothers, did you have any idea what was going on behind those doors?
NS: I had no idea what was going to be
going on, “on this street in that house in a little girl’s bedroom.” [laughs]
I had read the book, of course. The only glimpse we had was a teaser trailer
that went 30 seconds with the narration I just did for you. It was simply a
shot of the poster of Max von Sydow standing outside of the house. That’s all
anybody knew. There were no pictures, nothing. In fact, there was an embargo on
anything from the film. I think it was either Time or Newsweek
who ended up sued by Warner Brothers because somebody sneaked into the theater
and got a picture of Regan in makeup and ran it. That was considered a breach
of copyright, a very secret thing. The audiences, as you know, would file out
ashen. The audiences waiting to get in would know that something weird was
going on in there, and it became an emotional rollercoaster for them.
TG: Now, I of course, didn’t live through
this. Was this a similar reaction like when Psycho came out? Psycho
had been a novel first, and then the film was released and it was all
hush-hush, “don’t give away the ending.”
NS: I wasn’t old enough to see Psycho
when it came out. I do know, of course, that Hitchcock specified that nobody be
allowed in once the film had started. That made a certain groundswell of public
opinion. The film that was closest to The Exorcist when I was that age
was Night of the Living Dead, which had a reputation for being gross,
scary, and horrifying. The fact that it was shown at midnight to a bunch of
kids who were probably high made additional impressions on people. A black and
white film with blurry pictures from an indie source in Pittsburgh was not the
same thing as a beautifully photographed color film from Warner Brothers.
Incidentally, John Russo, who co-wrote Night of the Living Dead, wrote
the forward to The Exorcist Legacy.
TG: What was your introduction to William
Friedkin’s work? Had you seen any of his previous films?
NS: I had seen The Birthday Party.
It was on a sneak preview where Walter
Reade’s Continental Releasing was trying to get a booking for it, and I
saw it in Boston. That wasn’t the film that I was there to see. The Birthday
Party was just stunning. Robert Shaw, Patrick Magee, I mean, just a
beautifully contained job. I’d also seen The Night They Raided Minsky’s,
and thought it was lovely, but I didn’t really realize it was a William
Friedkin film. I had missed Good Times with Sonny and Cher, which I’ve
seen since then. Then of course, The French Connection came out. I was
late seeing The Boys in the Band because I was in school at the time
when it played in theaters. I caught it later. The French Connection
naturally was the one that galvanized everybody. In fact, at the theater that
showed it in Boston, which is where I was working at the time, people would
come in early when they knew that the car chase was going to start, and they’d
see the chase and stay through to watch the film all through again so they
could get in and see the chase twice. We had to clear the theater. It was
remarkable with that on a huge screen. The vertigo was just phenomenal. It was
just a staggering effect because I don’t think anybody had ever mounted a
camera on the bumper of a car before Billy did it.
TG: That’s what blows me away about his
cinema. He did things that we had never seen before.
NS: Yes, including racing through the
streets of New York without permits. Randy Jurgensen will tell you one thing.
Sonny Grosso would tell another. Billy Friedkin would tell you something else. There’s
no agreement. From what I understand, and I trust Randy, is that they simply
ran the car. They didn’t have any siren on the car to warn people because, as
Randy said, if you put a siren on the car, people look at the car and they don’t
want people looking at the car. Billy sat in the back, Bill Hickman drove, and
they just tore ass through Brooklyn. If anybody stopped them, Randy said he’d
just flash his badge saying, “Fellow officer, let us go.” You could do that
then. You could get away with it.
TG: So much of what you could get away
with, you can’t do now because of small security cameras and the Internet.
NS: Yes. We’re living, as John Milius said,
under the booted foot of the lifeguard state.
TG: How did this book about The Exorcist
Legacy come about? When did you start thinking about it? Had it been
something gestating in your mind for some years? Had you started writing it a
long time ago in anticipation of the 50th anniversary?
NS: I could tell you my publicity line,
which is that I’ve been possessed by The Exorcist for 50 years, but in
fact, I’d acquired a wonderful new agent, Lee Sobel, at the end of 2020. We
were thinking what kind of books we could possibly sell. Anniversary books
seemed to work well. What film was having a 25th, a 40th, or a 50th
anniversary? We figured, well, with a year and a half or two of lead time, that
makes it 2023. I said, “The Exorcist is going to be 50.” Bang, he sold
it in a matter of days.
TG: Did you approach John Russo
specifically to do the forward?
NS: John Russo was approached by my editor,
James Abbate, who knows him and has worked with him. He very graciously did the
forward to the book.
TG: Yes, John is very nice. I go to horror
conventions that they have and most of the cast of my favorite horror films
come and speak about them. Night of the Living Dead was one of them. I
got to meet John there and talk with him at length about the films and all. I
just love the behind-the-scenes stories that you haven’t read and haven’t been
published. It gives you a real look into the film, a new appreciation, of the
movie, whatever that movie may be.
NS: There are some very good people out
there. The great thing about writers is that we tend to help each other.
Whenever I need an author’s query or information, it’s always the writers who
come through first, like yourself.
TG: As far as TheExorcist Legacy
is concerned, who was the first person you spoke to? Did you go straight to
Billy?
NS: I didn’t go to Billy at all for The
Exorcist Legacy. There was a reason for that, which is that I had all the
answers I needed back in 1988 to 1990 when I wrote his biography. In those
days, The Exorcist was merely a hit. It wasn’t a classic yet. The
stories, I believe, were closer to the source. I also had the good fortune to
speak to Ellen Burstyn, whom I adore, and who I believe is our finest American
actress of our generation.
TG: I agree, she’s phenomenal.
NS: She’s amazing. I had spoken to William
Peter Blatty at great length. We’d been friends and kept in touch over the
years. A lot of his material in the book is material that I could not publish
while he was alive. He was very frank about his relationship with film studios.
As he hand-wrote on the side of a transcript that I sent him for approval, as
you do, he said, “Nat, don’t print this. I’ve got enough problems.” He was a
warm, funny, and wonderful man.I’ve become friends with his oldest son,
Mike, since the book came out. In fact, I saw him at a signing the other day.
He happened to be in town. I’m very happy to keep up my connection with the
Blatty family.
TG: Oh, sure. Whom did you speak to at
great length for the book?
NS: I did it two years ago and it was with
Terry Donnelly, who was the first assistant director and unit manager. I had
worked on a film with Terry years ago. We picked up where we left off and he
was able to tell me about the behind-the-scenes facets. I spoke to Craig McKay,
who is a film editor. He cut TheSilence of the Lambs among other
films. He’s very good. He was a kid when he was starting out on The Exorcist,
there to pick up pieces. He had some wonderful stories. I did speak to Jeremy
Slater, who was the showrunner for the Exorcist television series, and
of course, David Gordon Green, who has a new Exorcist film coming out. I
had a lot of the material from when I wrote Hurricane Billy (Billy’s
biography). I was able to use that. What can I say, covering all these films,
two sequels, two prequels, and each of them was recut? It was a lot to write
about.
TG: How do you keep track in your head just
of all these different versions of these movies? As much as I love films, I
really find it so hard to be able to keep track of the director’s cut, or the
original cut, and this one runs this number of minutes, etc. I’ve always
admired Tim Lucas’s review of movies in Video Watchdog for that reason
because it’s encyclopedic, the amount of information that he has on all these
films and how he would do all the video comparisons. How did you find doing
that? Was that something that came easily to you because you had seen the film
so many times in different versions?
NS: Tim Lucas is one of the people in the
book, as is Mark Kermode. We’ve known each other for so many years that we don’t
even think about it. With the different versions of The Exorcist, which
I’m not very happy with, I guess, three of them, or maybe four, depending on if
you count one of them twice, I think the original is the best version, except
for a couple of scenes that are put in “The Version You’ve Never Seen,” so it’s
very hard. I would like to do my own fan edit, but I think I’ve watched The
Exorcist enough by now.
TG: Was there anybody you wanted to
interview for this book whom you weren’t able to interview because they either passed
away or you were unable to contact?
NS: Linda Blair.
TG: What was the first Billy Friedkin film
that you were on the set of?
NS: The Brink’s Job
in the summer of 1978. I was there for Evening Magazine, which was the
version of PM Magazine that was run on the stations that were owned by
Westinghouse.
TG: Oh, I remember PM Magazine. That’s
where I first saw Matt Lauer.
NS: Billy allowed our cameras on the set,
which is funny because he just kicked the publicity cameras for Paramount and Universal
off the set, and he let us on. We had wonderful footage of Peter Falk and the
cast. Dean Tavoularis had done a reconstruction of the Brink’s system as it was
in 1951 when the robbery took place. It was a magnificent set. There was an
incident where some local tough guys broke into the editing offices, took
footage, and wanted to hold it for ransom to shake down the production. As it
happened, I had the only footage of Brink’s and I was with a TV station, but I
couldn’t get my TV station to run their own footage because we had shot
non-union. That was Westinghouse. That’s why they’re not around anymore. Westinghouse
was the Pazuzu of television. I was also on the set of one of Billy’s films in
Montreal when I was writing the book (the 1988 TV-movie C.A.T. Squad: Python
Wolf). You don’t learn a whole lot on a set. William Goldman is right. The
most exciting day of your life is your first day on a movie set, and the most
boring day of your life is your second day on a movie set.
TG: I’ve seen a handful of films being shot.
It’s fairly boring, I must say.
NS: I will correct you on one thing. Billy
Friedkin didn’t allow chairs on his sets. You stand around.
TG: Christopher Nolan is like that. He
doesn’t allow them either.
NS: He’s right! James Cameron has a nail
gun (like in No Country for Old Men), and if anybody’s cell phone rings,
he nails it to a prop.
TG: Holy Jeez! Is there anything that I
haven’t covered that you wanted to say about the book?
NS: The book goes into not just the
original Exorcist, but the sequels and prequels. That’s something that
people don’t consider because nobody ever intended The Exorcist to be a
franchise. It became a franchise when Morgan Creek bought the rights from Bill
Blatty, and they are now trying to revive it, of course, with the October
release of The Exorcist:Believer.
TG: Have you seen that?
NS: No, I haven’t seen it yet. I’m looking
forward to it. I do know that I really like David Gordon Green, who was very
kind to me. He probably shouldn’t have been talking about the film. He did
because I had a year and a half lead time for the book, and it’s in there. I
was disappointed in the prequel, both Dominion, which was Paul Schrader’s
version, and Exorcist: The Beginning, which was Renny Harlin’s. Although
I think there’s a lot in Paul Schrader’s version, I’ve been saying the
difference between them is that Paul Schrader made a film where Renny Harlan
made a movie. I think that both films had trouble because people expect an
exorcism Exorcist movie and what they got was CGI. That’s not the same
thing. CGI is not the real thing. That’s what distinguishes The Exorcist;
what made The Exorcist work was that it was real. The things that
happened in front of the camera actually happened. Linda Blair really floated,
the bed really shook, doors really cracked, things really fell over. Curtains
really blew on closed windows. They didn’t happen because anybody was
possessed. They happened because Dick Smith created brilliant makeup and Marcel
Vercoutere had incredibly complicated mechanical effects, but they all happened
in front of the camera so that it looked real. That’s the documentary nature of
Billy’s filmmaking and why he believes in reality. That, I believe, will be his
ultimate legacy on film, which is that he made the movies look real. Of course,
now most of the movies look like fantasy. We’ve lost that.
TG: Yes. Steven Spielberg would agree with
that statement. He likes to see everything real in front of the camera. He does
realize that in today’s day and age, you do have to use computer graphics, and
that’s really came to fruition with Jurassic Park. Before that, he wondered
how they were going to make the dinosaurs run.
NS: It’s true. He tried stop motion, but he
didn’t want to make Jurassic Park until he could do it right. Not
everybody has that. They’ll say, “Well, the audience won’t know.” No, no, they know.
The audience doesn’t know what’s called the uncanny valley, but it is the
uncanny valley.
TG: I want to thank you very, very much for
taking the time to speak with me about the book.
NS: Thank you so much. I do want to say something about
Billy who, as you know, died just twenty-two days shy of his 88th birthday. He
was a friend for fifty years and an inspiration, not just for his films, but
for his personality: he didn’t cotton to bullshit which, of course, is the coin
of the realm in Hollywood. Billy was a very brave man because I can’t think of
many other directors, except maybe Brian De Palma, who let somebody write a
book about them while they were still working. He did that for me and launched
my career as a writer. I love him and I miss him. And thank you, Todd and
Cinema Retro, for giving me the chance to say that on the record.
Although I have a weak spot for Italian westerns of the 1960s and 1970s, most can be appropriately evaluated by paraphrasing Longfellow: "When they were good, they were very, very good, and when they were bad, they were horrid." "Blindman" is a curiosity from 1971 that I previously panned after viewing an allegedly "remastered" DVD edition that looked barely better than a VHS transfer. The film fits rather comfortably into the latter part of Longfellow's famous nursery rhyme. Although the movie has a devoted fan base, when I first reviewed it I call it "a pretty horrid experience and inexcusably amateurish in execution, given the well-seasoned people involved". The good news is that Abkco Films has released a truly remastered DVD version that considerably improves one's perception of the film. As the title implies, it's about...well, a blind man. He's played by Tony Anthony, who did rather well for himself as a sort of Clint Eastwood Lite character known as The Stranger in a series of Euro Westerns (Any similarity to Eastwood's Man With No Name must have been purely coincidental). Anthony went on to star in any number of lucrative, low-budget action films, the most notable being "Comin' At Ya!, a 3-D flick that has also built a loyal cult following. His co-star in "Blindman" is Ringo Starr. More about him later. The film was based on a Japanese movie titled "Zatoichi" about a blind samurai hero. As with "The Magnificent Seven", which was based on Kurasawa's "Seven Samurai", the story has been transplanted to the American west. When we first see the Blindman (whose name is never mentioned), he rides into a one-horse town and confronts his former partners. Seems they had a lucrative contract to deliver 50 mail order brides to some horny miners. However, a better offer was made from a Mexican bandito named Domingo (Lloyd Battista), who has exported them South 'O the Border to force them into prostitution. Blindman apparently has a sense of honor in terms of fulfilling the original contract. He manages to kill his former partners and sets off to Mexico to rescue the women, presumably so they can sold into another form of prostitution. At first the premise of this film intrigued me. How, after all, can you logically present a story about a blind gunslinger? The answer is you apparently can't. You could get away with it if the film was a satire, but there is surprisingly little overt humor in "Blindman". Yes, in true Eastwood fashion, the hero sometimes makes some snarky quips before, during and after dispatching his adversaries, but for the most part, the film takes itself far too seriously.
How does the Blindman find his way around? Well, he has his own "wonder horse" who seems more like a companion than a beast of burden. The hoofed hero is always at his disposal and seems to be able to do everything but read a map for him. Speaking of maps, Blindman gets to various destinations by running his finger over maps that engraved in leather...sort of a braille system. Given the fact that he has to navigate the state of Texas, then Mexico, one would think he would require maps the size of rolls of kitchen linoleum, but somehow he gets by with navigational tools that fit neatly into his pocket. When Blindman arrives in Mexico, he has numerous confrontations with the brutal Domingo and his army of thugs. He suffers the ritualistic beatings of any hero in the Italian western genre, but always manages to get the better hand by his deadly use of the rifle that he uses as a walking stick. Somehow the Blindman can use instinct and an uncanny hearing ability to gun down his would-be assassins with uncanny precision, though occasionally he does impose on some allies for advice. He also confronts Candy (Ringo Starr), Domingo's equally sadistic brother, who is keeping a captive woman as his mistress. What follows is a seemingly endless series of chases, confrontations and the obligatory imitation Morricone score, all of it under the pedestrian direction of Ferdinando Baldi, who has a revered reputation with some fans of the genre and does manage to set off some impressive explosions. (Amusingly, the concept of showing the "50" mail order brides must have taxed the limited budget so we only get to see them in small clusters.). There are a couple of sequences that stand out in terms of creativity. One involves the surprise slaughter of a barroom filled with Mexican soldiers. The other has a bit of suspense as the Blindman is served a food bowl that he doesn't realize contains a deadly snake. The finale of the film finds Blindman wrestling with Domingo, who has been blinded by a cigar! (Don't ask...) It's supposed to be a tense confrontation, but the sight of the two blind guys rolling around in the dirt looks like an outtake from a Monty Python sketch. The most intriguing aspect of the film is what led Ringo Starr into appearing in it. He had considerable on-screen charisma that he parlayed into a successful acting career. Here, however, his role is colorless and bland. He doesn't even play the main villain, but rather a supporting character who disappears from the story before the movie even reaches the one-hour mark. Starr supposedly was looking to jump-start his film career and worked with Tony Anthony to develop this production. While he acquits himself credibly, he might have at least given his character some memorable lines or characteristics.
The previously reviewed version of the film pointed out that the packaging had indicated the film had a running time of 105 minutes, which matches with the original timing cited on on the IMDB site. However, the screener we reviewed ran only 83 minutes and it looked like it had been edited with a meat cleaver. The ABCKO version is the actual 105 minute cut and the transfer is excellent, a vast improvement over the muddy mess we had previously reviewed. Seeing "Blindman" again under these conditions has allowed me to reevaluate my opinion of the film. While it certainly never rises to the standards of a Sergio Leone production, the movie's quirky premise and the amusing performance by Tony Anthony made the experience far more enjoyable the second time around.
Thanks to the Criterion Collection for making us aware of this shoebox arthouse cinema in Juneau, Alaska, which provides creative and diverse programming to grateful local residents. All movie lovers will wish they had a similar venue in their hometown!
(David and Cinema Retro Editor-in-Chief Lee Pfeiffer. Photo: Cinema Retro.)
We congratulate David McCallum on his milestone 90th birthday....and not showing any signs of slowing down! David has always been there for Cinema Retro, making numerous contributions over the last 20 years. Aside from his acting talents, David is also the epitome of a true gentleman.
In the wake of their success co-starring in John Huston's The Maltese Falcon, Warner
Brothers realized they had captured lightning in a bottle with the
teaming of Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. The studio quickly paired
the two character actors again in the Bogart films Casablanca and Passage to Marseilles. In 1944, Warners decided to give Greenstreet and Lorre what amounted to starring roles in the thriller The Mask of Dimitrios, based
on the Eric Ambler novel and set in pre-WWII Europe. (Lorre received
fourth billing in the film behind Greenstreet, Zachary Scott and Faye
Emerson, but in terms of screen time, he is the star of the movie.)
Lorre plays Cornelius Leyden, a mild mannered crime novelist who is
visiting Istanbul, where he becomes intrigued by the murder of a man
named Dimitrios, who was a local legend in terms of his criminal
activities. Dimitrios's body has washed ashore, as shows evidence that
he has been stabbed to death. Sensing a good story in the murder, Leyden
pursues the man's background and finds out he was known throughout
Europe for his audacious crimes. Leyden decides to track down those who
interacted with Dimitrios, including jilted partner and abandoned
girlfriends. All agree that he was a charismatic cad who worked his way
up from petty crimes in Istanbul to being an integral part of Europe's
pre-war espionage activities. Leyden is followed in his footsteps by
Peters (Sydney Greenstreet), an affable man of mystery who is also
obsessed with tracking down Dimitrios's acquaintances and activities
leading up to the man's death. After a rocky introduction at the point
of Peters' gun, the two men forge an alliance and travel through Turkey,
Yuguoslavia and finally Paris in their quest. Along the way, they
determine that Dimitrios is very much alive and well, having used
another man's murder as an opportunity to fake his own death. Peters is
determined to use that information to blackmail Dimitrios and thus
ensure acquiring enough money to afford a comfortable retirement.
Much of the story is told in flashbacks as various individuals relate
their experiences with Dimitrios to Leyden and Peters. As played by
Zachary Scott, Dimitrios lives up to his legend as handsome womanizer
and persuasive businessman, though each of his friends and partners ends
up being abruptly jilted in some manner, as Dimitrios moves on to his
next scam. (Jack Warner had high hopes for Scott becoming the studio's
next great leading man, but his interest in promoting Scott seemed to
wane and the actor never really acquired the stardom that his role in
this film would seem to have assured.) Leyden and Peters also meet
Irana, an entertainer in a squalid Istanbul cafe, who relates how
Dimitrios became her lover and ensured that her fortunes improved.
However, when she loaned him her savings, he abandoned her, never to be
heard from again. Although nursing a broken heart and bearing resentment
for the man on one level, she admits she still carries a torch and his
abandonment of her left her in a depressed state of mind that still
continues. (Apparently, once you've experienced Dimitrios, no other man
comes to close as a lover.) As Leyden and Peters close in on their prey,
the stakes become higher - and they realize their lives are very much
at risk.
The Mask of Dimitrios, ably directed by Jean Negulesco, is a joy to watch. It doesn't have the artistic pretensions of The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, but
it is a thoroughly entertaining movie. Lorre and Greenstreet's "Mutt
and Jeff" act continues to present them as essentially the same
character in film after film, but that doesn't in any way compromise the
delight of watching these two eccentric actors at the peak of their
careers. The supporting performances are also equally delightful and the
film bares all the rich artistic hallmarks of a WB release from the
era.
The Warner Archive has released the film on DVD. The
transfer is excellent. An original trailer is included that features
specially-filmed footage of Greenstreet and Lorre addressing the
audience. The DVD is region free but it's time for a Blu-ray release!
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM THE CINEMA RETRO MOVIE STORE
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Paramount:
Hailed as “the biggest and best action movie of the year” (Screen Rant), the edge-of-your-seat, non-stop thrill ride MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One
becomes available to buy on Digital for fans to watch at home starting
October 10, 2023. The blockbuster hit will debut on 4K Ultra HD
SteelBook™, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™, and DVD on October 31st.
“Tom
Cruise is at the top of his game” in “the best ‘Mission’ ever”
(KTLA-TV) that’s loaded with “next level action and thrills”
(Entertainment Weekly). Certified Fresh with a stellar 96% critic score* on Rotten Tomatoes,® MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One received widespread acclaim and a coveted “A” CinemaScore from fans.
Fans
who purchase the film on Digital can go deeper into the mission with
extensive, action-packed bonus content. Get an inside look at how Tom
Cruise and the filmmaking team pulled off multiple breathtaking stunts,
go behind-the-scenes of the exotic filming locations, delve into
spectacular footage not seen in theatres, learn about the intricacies of
the filmmaking process with director Christopher McQuarrie and editor
Eddie Hamilton, and more! Bonus content is detailed below:
Commentary by director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton—McQuarrie and Hamilton take viewers through each compelling scene with in-depth commentary.
Abu Dhabi—Explore
the exotic filming locations in the desert and at the international
airport and discover how each thrilling sequence was shot.
Rome—Take
a behind-the-scenes look at the thrilling car chase through Italy's
historic capital, as Tom Cruise's driving skills are pushed to the limit
while handcuffed to Hayley Atwell!
Venice—See
the breathtaking city of Venice as it's never been shown on film.
Plus, witness the cast's dedication and commitment to their training as
they prepare to get "Mission Ready."
Freefall—An
extended behind-the-scenes look at one of the biggest stunts in cinema
history. Watch never-before-seen footage of the rigorous training as
Tom launches a motorcycle off a cliff.
Speed Flying—Join
Tom and the crew as they explain the various training techniques
involved in pulling off the dangerous speed flying stunts in the film.
Train—See
how the climactic train sequence was captured on film. From building
an actual train from scratch to crashing it using practical effects, you
don't want to miss this!
Deleted Shots Montage—Director
Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton share some of the
breathtaking, never-before-seen footage that didn't make the final film.
Editorial Featurette: The Sevastopol—Director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton take viewers through the intense opening scene.
(Photo: Paramount)
Synopsis
Ethan
Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous
mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of
humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With the fate of the
world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a
mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing
can matter more than his mission - not even the lives of those he cares
about most.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material.
PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE Present
A TOM CRUISE Production TOM CRUISE “MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE”
HAYLEY ATWELL VING RHAMES SIMON PEGG REBECCA FERGUSON VANESSA KIRBY
and HENRY CZERNY Casting by MINDY MARIN, CSA
Music by LORNE BALFE Costume Designer JILL TAYLOR Film Editor EDDIE HAMILTON, ACE
Production Designer GARY FREEMAN Director of Photography FRASER TAGGART
Executive Producers DAVID ELLISON DANA GOLDBERG DON GRANGER
TOMMY GORMLEY CHRIS BROCK SUSAN E. NOVICK
Produced by TOM CRUISE CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE
Based on the Television Series Created by BRUCE GELLER
Time magazine writer Stephanie Zacharek visited Martin Scorsese and reports on the 80 year-old Oscar-winning director's mood, plans and inspirations in a revealing article. Scorsese talks about his forthcoming production "Killers of the Flower Moon", which opens in October, as well as the need to preserve film classics. He's also not optimistic about the future of the movie industry. Click here to read.
Filmmaker
Nicolas Roeg always managed to challenge cinematic norms. Even his most
accessible and popular film, Don’t Look Now (1973), still had what some
might call “arty” shots and experimental editing. Roeg was a director who loved
the images the camera caught, but he also enjoyed manipulating the narrative of
his pictures with the kind of radical editing likely inspired by the French New
Wave, but probably more by the so-called New American Cinema movement that included
revolutionary filmmakers such as Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, and others.
Roeg
began his work in film as a cinematographer—and a very good one, too (second
unit on Lawrence of Arabia, The Masque of the Red Death, Far
from the Madding Crowd, and more). After a co-directing (with Donald
Cammell) debut of Performance (1970), Roeg struck out on his own and
made a name for himself as a director of provocative art house fare.
First
out of the gate was Walkabout (1971). It was Australia’s official entry
to the Cannes Film Festival that year, despite it being primarily a British
production (and Roeg himself being English). It was based on the 1959 novel by
James Vance Marshall (a pseudonym of Donald G. Payne), which was first
published as The Children but subsequently renamed Walkabout.
Roeg had apparently wanted to adapt the book into a film for years, and he
finally got the chance to do it with only a million dollar budget. Producers
Max L. Raab and Si Litvinoff (both known primarily as executive producers of
Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, because they had initially owned the film
rights) provided the funding for what was essentially an independent
production, eventually released by 20th Century Fox. Playwright Edward Bond wrote
a treatment that acted as the screenplay, but most of the picture was
improvised on the go.
Taking
a minimal crew and a cast of unknowns into the Australian outback, Roeg gave us
a haunting, enigmatic, gorgeous-to-look-at, existential treatise on innocence,
the loss of it, and the importance of communication.
“Girl”
(a young Jenny Agutter, who was sixteen when the film was made) and “White Boy”
(Nicolas Roeg’s son Luc Roeg, credited as Lucien John, who was age seven during
production) are siblings who live what appear to be “normal” lives with their
parents in Sydney. One nice, sunny day, “Father” (John Meillon), takes the two
children to the desert for a picnic. There, he attempts to shoot them, but Girl
protects her younger brother and they hide. Father kills himself and sets the
family car on fire. The two kids are now stranded in the outback. Lacking
survival skills, they manage to make it through a few days (but time is never
clear in the film). Then they meet a young “Black Boy” (Australian and Yolngu
actor David Gulpilil, whose age was unknown at the time but since estimated to
be about eighteen when cast) who is out in the wilderness alone. He befriends
the two, regardless of a language barrier, and effectively saves the white
kids’ lives by teaching them how to find water and hunt for game to eat. Interestingly,
it is White Boy who is able to communicate with Black Boy through mime and
playful gestures; Girl seems to be at sea when dealing with the human who is
totally foreign to her. Days pass as the trio travels across the striking
landscape, culminating in a moment in which the physical adolescence of Girl
and Black Boy follow a natural course to sexual tension. Black Boy performs his
native “courtship ritual” dance in tribal makeup and clothing for Girl. Not
understanding what he’s doing and fearful of him, Girl rejects him. Revealing
the rest of the tale would certainly be a spoiler.
A
“walkabout” is a rite of passage in Australian Aboriginal society. Adolescent
males must spend six months in the wilderness and survive—or not—to became an
adult. Hence, while Black Boy is likely enacting his own walkabout, the film
becomes a walkabout for Girl and White Boy. There’s a lot going on underneath
the surface here, including an examination of race and class differences in a
land where the British Empire encroached on an indigenous people, sexual mores
and taboos, and how one’s social environment dictates how one behaves.
Walkabout
is a
fascinating film, and it was highly praised by critics upon release—but, sadly,
it was a box office failure. It has since become a cult classic and a cinephile
favorite. There was some criticism (still is) of the picture’s display of
nudity of all three leads, seeing that, technically, Agutter and young Roeg
were underage. Some bits were cut for the initial release, but footage was
restored in the 1990s. The British Board of Film Classification, though,
determined that the film was not “indecent.” Agutter herself has contemporarily
defended the nude scenes and says that they are essential to the themes of the
movie.
The
Criterion Collection released the film on DVD and Blu-ray years ago, but now
the company has issued a new 4K UHD edition containing two discs. A 4K UHD digital
master in Dolby Vision HDR occupies the first disc, while a Blu-ray of the film
plus special features are on the second. The visuals are, naturally, stunning. An
audio commentary featuring both Nicolas Roeg and Jenny Agutter accompanies the
film. Special features include vintage interviews with Luc Roeg and Agutter, an
hour long documentary on the life and career of David Gulpilil, and the
theatrical trailer. An essay by author Paul Ryan is in the booklet.
With
John Barry’s lush score, Roeg’s own striking cinematography, the sweeping
panoramas of the Australian outback, and the likable, honest performances by
the cast, Walkabout is a highly recommended must-see.
When Lillian Helllman's "Toys in the Attic" debuted on Broadway in 1960, it was not unanimously acclaimed but it did win enough acclaim to secure major Tony nominations and enjoy a healthy run that lasted over one year. The show was an important career boost for up-and-coming Jason Robards, who played the male lead. In 1963, United Artists brought the play to the screen, directed by future Oscar winner George Roy Hill. It was Hill's second major film following "Period of Adjustment" the year before. In the 1950s and early 1960s, studios were enamored of moss-dripping family dramas set in the deep South. That's because this sub-genre often derived from the works of acclaimed authors such as Hellman, Tennessee Williams and William Inge. Some memorable films resulted: A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Baby Doll and The Long Hot Summer among them. Although these stories diverge in terms of plot, there is a commonality: they generally deal with an emotionally-wrought woman or women who are devoted to a manipulative and generally charismatic cad."Toys in the Attic" is firmly entrenched in this scenario. Dean Martin plays Julian Berniers, a ne're-do-well hunky young man who returns to his family home in New Orleans with his new bride, Lily (Yvette Mimieaux). The house is occupied by Julian's two spinster sisters, Carrie (Geraldine Page) and Anna (Wendy Hiller), both of whom live in self-imposed isolation, largely removed from the outside world. Julian's reputation as a man with big dreams and small results precedes him. He has lost a valuable factory and is presumed in bankruptcy. However, he appears in a jubilant mood bearing expensive gifts for his bewildered sisters. Carrie is especially overjoyed to see him, having harbored incestuous feelings for Julian for many years. She takes an instant dislike to the affable but naive Lily, largely due to personal jealousy. Julian is loaded with cash after concluding a mysterious $150,000 business deal that he won't reveal the details of. He assures his sisters that their days of financial challenges are over and even books them on a European cruise. However, there are consequential aspects to the secrets that Julian keeps and as they are eventually unwoven, a web of lies, deceit and betrayal are unveiled with devastating consequences for all.
"Toys in the Attic" probably works better as a stage production. Director George Roy Hill, confined by a modest budget, doesn't try to "open up" the tale, as there are very few exterior shots in the film. In some cases, this proves to be a wise choice when transferring a stage production to the screen, as evidenced by "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". However, "Toys in the Attic" simply looks like a cheapo production despite the impressive cast. Dean Martin registers well in the role of Julian, a serial exaggerator and braggart who is finally trying to elevate himself from being known as a loser. Martin had already established himself as a serious actor in the wake of his breakup with Jerry Lewis, giving powerful performances in "The Young Lions" and "Some Came Running". Nevertheless, critics were rather cruel to him in regard to his casting in this film, but no one emerged unscathed except for Wendy Hiller, who is the only cast member whose performance is somewhat understated. Mimieux radiates wide-eyed innocence as Julian's child-like bride, but her whining and dependency grow weary to view. Coming off worst is Geraldine Page, who director Hill encourages to play her character in an over-the-top manner that comes close to Piper Laurie's lunatic mother in "Carrie". Gene Tierney makes a brief appearance as Lily's rich-but-shallow mother who Lily suspects of having paid Julien to marry her. There's also an interracial romance hinted at between Tierney's character and her Black servant, played by Frank Silvera. Apparently, this relationship was watered down from the stage production version. James Poe's screenplay is a muddled affair filled with some many eccentric characters concerned about so many scandals that the story becomes difficult to follow. New York Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote "With an eye for more melodramatics than for contours of character that might make plausible its story of two spinster sisters' odd devotion to their brother, Mr. Hill has allowed this turgid drama and his avid actors to get completely out of hand and run wild in a baffling confusion of theatrical bursts and attitudes." Other critics followed suit and the movie was a financial failure that seemed to diffuse Hollywood's belief that films about Southern scandal-scarred families meant good results at the boxoffice. Fortunately, all involved would move on to more impressive work.
"Toys in the Attic" is available on DVD through MGM.There are no bonus extras. Click here to order DVD from Amazon.
Australian-based video label Imprint is release the complete TV series of "Mission: Impossible" in a Blu-ray boxed set in October. The set is region-free and contains 46 discs. It is now available for pre-order.
(Prices are in Australian dollars. Use a currency converter to see what the price is in your local currency.)
Shocking Cinema of the 70s was
a collection of essays originally published in 2002, and the intention here was
to republish those alongside some new chapters. However, the field has changed so
much in the following twenty years that instead we get an entirely new
collection of essays covering a wide range of fascinating and important topics
related to this influential, shocking decade.
The book tackles films that
have been considered controversial, or that dealt with difficult subject matters.
Whereas the first volume primarily covered horror, which is still represented
here, this new collection also includes chapters on Japanese ‘Pinky Violence’
films, rape-revenge TV films, women in prison, films about the Manson Family
and the hardcore ‘roughie’, porn films with a focus on S&M, kidnapping and
sexual abuse. There is also a broader international approach, with chapters on
Polish auteur Walerian Borowczyk and an in-depth examination of
‘Canuxploitation’, the exploitation cinema of Canada which was in part funded
by taxpayers, of whom David Cronenberg was perhaps its most high-profile filmmaker.
It is not only the films
which caused a stir amongst more conservative audiences which are included here:
Death Wish (Michael Winner, 1974) and Dirty Harry (Don Siegel,
1971) both came across to some liberals as celebrating a form of vigilantism
and outraged the left-wing, and whilst we may appreciate those films now as
classics of the decade, it is fascinating to consider their initial reception.
The book also looks at the murderous child, such as Jodie Foster’s character in
The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane (Nicholas Gesner, 1976), who
kill adults because it’s fun; it’s play. Still as disturbing a concept today as
it was in the 1970s.
Shocking Cinema of the 70s offers
a range of opinion and insight on films which caused public outcry, upset the
critics, or troubled governments. Whereas some of these films, looked at almost
fifty years later, might make that seem like an overreaction, others might
still make for uncomfortable viewing today. This collection enables us to
understand what a ‘Shocking’ film is, and what there still is to learn from
them. Highly recommended.
If there is any doubt that Richard Burton was one of the world's great orators, just experience this marvelous clip from a testimonial event for Frank Sinatra. I became mesmerized by Burton and his inimitable speaking style when I was just seven years-old. My parents took me to see Burton and Peter O'Toole in "Becket", a talky, non-action film that greatly impressed me largely because of Burton's command of the screen. A few months later, my parents took me to see John Huston's film version of "The Night of the Iguana". Like "Becket", an adaptation of a quirky Tennessee Williams play was hardly deemed to be popular fare for a young kid, but fortunately my parents never followed the norms when it came to exposing me to a wide range of cinematic fare. Richard Burton's skills as an actor fascinated me at this early age and my enthusiasm for his work only increased over the years from his triumphant performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" through some of his lesser films, which he always elevated the quality of. I did have the pleasure of seeing him on stage in the revival of "Camelot" at Lincoln Center in the early 1980s. It was a truly a thrill to experience his work in a live theater setting.
In this beautifully written and delivered tribute to Frank Sinatra's humanitarian work, it's all there on display.
In this 1997 appearance on American comedian Conan O'Brien's chat show, Richard Harris demonstrates why he was regarded not only as a great actor but perhaps the film industry's wittiest raconteur. Here, Harris- in his inimitable style- covers his penchant for excessive drinking and the tales involve Peter O'Toole, a private detective and "MacBeth"!
In this January, 1976 episode of "The Tonight Show", Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon experience a surprise visit from John Wayne, who was about to start filming his final movie "The Shootist".
Warner Bros. provides this half-hour documentary about the making of director Ridley Scott's science fiction classic, which was considered to be a boxoffice disappointment when it opened in 1982.
"BLAST FROM THE PAST: FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES"
By Lee Pfeiffer
"Saturday Night Live" spawned many a memorable comic character, some of whom were exploited in feature films. While "The Coneheads" proved to be popular on the big screen, other TV-to-cinema transfers of iconic "SNL" pop culture figures proved to be duds. Al Franken's memorable incarnation of Stuart Smalley was the subject of "Stuart Saves His Family", a 1995 production directed by Harold Ramis that received some surprisingly favorable reviews but ended up with a North American boxoffice gross of less than $1 million. That ranks as a major success compared to "It's Pat: The Movie", released the prior year and starring Julia Sweeney as the androgynous character that proved to be a popular staple of "SNL" during this period. Pat was a visually unattractive figure with an obnoxious manner of speaking that repulsed his/her coworkers, who were constantly striving to discover whether Pat was a male or female. Inevitably, Pat would provide unintentionally ambiguous answers to leading questions that would only heighten the mystery and thwart those who were seeking to unveil Pat's genetic makeup. As the subject of five-minute comedy sketches the concept worked great and Sweeney's Pat became a popular staple of the show. Then Hollywood came knocking. Fox approached Sweeney to turn the concept into a feature film. Sweeney admitted she couldn't envision how Pat could remain interesting to viewers in any format other than TV skits. After putting some development money into the film, Fox agreed and backed off only to have Disney's Touchstone Pictures ride to the rescue and give the production the green light. The result was a disaster. The film was given some sporadic openings only to be pulled within a week due to complete rejection by audiences. The movie's boxoffice gross in North America stands at $61,000. Although modestly-budgeted, the movie still had cost more than $10 million to make. Time has not been kind to dear Pat, as it boasts a Rotten Tomatoes score of 0%. Now those brave souls at Kino Lorber have released a Blu-ray of "Pat: The Movie" and, consequently, it's time to revisit the film.
The plot (such as it is) opens with Pat alienating everyone in his/her orbit with obnoxious behavior. A local store owner gives Pat items for free just to expedite his/her departure. Pat tries various career moves but inevitably loses every job due to ineptness. Just when things seem hopeless, Pat finds love with Chris (Dave Foley in a role originated by Dana Carvey on "SNL"), another androgynous individual. The two set up house together and live as a normal couple, though both seem blissfully unaware that their sexuality is a mystery to those around them. Are they a straight couple? A gay couple? Two men? Two women? A subplot is introduced in which a hunky new neighbor, Kyle (Charles Rocket) and his wife Stacy (Julie Hayden) find their lives disrupted by Kyle's increasing obsession with Pat. He is sexually attracted to him/her, much to the alarm of Stacy, and that attraction turns into a psychological mania that finds Kyle dressing like Pat and even stroking a doll that resembles him/her. Meanwhile, the hapless Pat blunders into some successful career steps by making an appearance with a rock band that leads to him/ her becoming a media sensation. When he/she drops by a radio station to visit a friend, Kathy (Kathy Griffin), who hosts a popular romantic advice show, Pat unintentionally upstages her and gets the hosting gig. Pat's success has alienated Chris, who breaks up the relationship and decides to move abroad. The finale finds Pat coming to grips with his/her faults and making a mad dash to a cruise ship line to prevent Chris from leaving the country.
The animosity extended to "Pat: The Movie", which was directed by
Adam Bernstein, is a bit difficult to understand. It isn't very good, to
be sure, but it's amusing at times and never veers into the overtly
offensive gross-out humor that characterizes many of today's comedies.
One of the main problems with the film is that there are no sympathetic
characters. I don't recall Pat being an overt narcissist on the "SNL"
sketches but here the character is mean-spirited, self-centered and
devoid of any likable behavior. Kyle is even more repulsive and barely
looks up when his wife leaves him. Now this is an absurdist comedy, to
be sure, but the best comedies allow the audience to relate to the
protagonists on some level. Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey played klutzes
but they were klutzes you could cheer for. Not so with Sweeney's Pat.
Additionally, Sweeney's fears that the one-note concept could not be
sustained over the course of a feature film proved correct. Even with
the running time of 77 minutes, the movie plods. Still, there are some
genuine laughs, most of them centered on the traditional gag of those
around Pat becoming increasingly frustrated by their failure to
determine his/her sex. When Pat and Chris are presented with a gift of a
sexy corset, they both smile wryly and say "We'll enjoy this!"
There is also some genuine amusement in Pat's physical appearance, a
kind of grotesque version of Jerry Lewis's Prof. Kelp from "The Nutty
Professor". But the laughs are too few even for the abbreviated running
time. There also some annoyances that are due to simple sloppiness: when
Pat tries to escape a pursuer, she randomly enters a building only to
find the place is a night club hosting a packed, on-going, ear-splitting
rock concert taking place apparently in the middle of the afternoon. Such absurdities leave one to think that the film was slapped together quickly in order to make a fast buck.
Julia Sweeney tragically faced more challenges than the complete
failure of "It's Pat" with critics and the public. Around the time of
the film's release, her brother was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
After caring for him, she was diagnosed with cancer. Sweeney beat the
disease and made lemonade from the lemons life had handed her when she
wrote and starred in her acclaimed one-woman play, "God Said Hah!" which
chronicled her personal trials and tribulations through a comedic lens.
(The play would later be the basis for a documentary.) Her co-star
Charles Rocket fared worse, committing suicide in 2005. However, most of
those associated with the debacle of "It's Pat" found their careers
survived. Director Adam Bernstein went on to a highly successful career
in television. Dave Foley continues to work steadily in TV and films and
Kathy Griffin emerged as a popular standup comedienne and pundit on CNN
until her increasingly foul-mouthed rants backfired, topped by sending
around an image on social media depicting her holding the bloody,
severed head of President Trump. That stunt achieved the distinction of
being denounced by even the president's most ardent critics and Griffin
lost her CNN gig.
"It's Pat" opened and closed before the age of E mail and social
media had taken the world by storm. It's failure today would have been
the stuff of snarky jokes and cynical criticisms of all those involved.
However, because the film wasn't highly anticipated, it's failure
occurred without much notice or damage to anyone's personal reputation.
There's plenty of laughs left in dear Pat but they can mostly be found
in the original "SNL" skits. Ironically, with transgender issues now the topic of current debates, the film might have found a more receptive audience today.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray has an impressive transfer, a teaser trailer
for the film and a gallery of other comedies available through the
company.
Review of Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Harry" from the Independent Film Journal trade magazine, December 23, 1971. As was the custom in that era, the reviewers toiled anonymously and didn't receive a byline.
Here's a bizarre film clip of Paul Newman being interviewed by co-star Barbara Rush on the set of their 1967 Western classic "Hombre". It's humorous and largely uninformative but fun to watch.
