The story of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet had been filmed many times prior to director Franco Zeffirelli's acclaimed 1968 version. Earlier versions were hampered by the casting of actors in the title roles who were old enough to be in nursing homes. However, Zeffirelli cast actual teenagers in the parts: 17 year old Leonard Whiting and 16 year old Olivia Hussey. Zeffirelli also took advantage of the artistic freedoms afforded filmmakers in the 1960s and depicted for the first time the sexual desires of the two lovers.The result was a box-office hit that appealed not only to critics but also to a younger generation that could finally identify with the actors cast in the key roles. (For actor Michael York's exclusive interview about co-starring in Romeo and Juliet, see Cinema Retro issue #6)

Click here to order this DVD discounted from Amazon

 

 

The Huffington Post provides this rare candid of young Clint Eastwood, probably in the pre-Rawhide era when he was still a contract player trying to get noticed. For more click here 

 

The superb web site www.in70mm.com  provides a wealth of vintage movie ads including this great vintage advert for the 70mm British presentation of Becket (1964) starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. 

Given all the controversy about the movie poster for the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only that depicted Agent 007 as seen through the open legs of a bikini-clad model, you would think it was the first time that concept had been used for an ad campaign. In fact, there are plenty of precedents including this Australian daybill poster for Dean Martin's first Matt Helm film, The Silencers (1966). 

On December 21, 1961 the Merced Theatre in Merced, California hosted a Christmas party for 2,000 local children who got to see John Wayne's latest flick, The Comancheros, along with Misty starring David Ladd. (Photo: Merced County Sun-Star) 

Here's a curiosity brought to our attention by reader Mike Boldt...a 1986 Sunday comic strip tribute to the career of Clint Eastwood by artist John Roman. 

British actress Linda Hayden was only 15 years-old when she made her big screen debut in the 1968 film Baby Love. The movie cast her as a teenage vixen who uses her sexual prowess to wreak havoc on the family she is living with. The film, which has been little-seen in America, caused a sensation in the UK with some critics decrying the blatant use of such a young girl in role that was so sexually-driven. (Hope they never see Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver!) Ironically, the film was deemed so provocative that Hayden was not legally of age to see it when it opened in England. (For full report on the movie, see Cinema Retro issue #11)

Click here to see what the cast of the 1987 hit film RoboCop looks like today. Stars include Peter Weller, Ronny Cox and Nancy Allen. A reboot of the RoboCop series is set for release next year. 

 

Click here for rare images of Steve Mcqueen taken in 1963 for magazine by photographer John Dominis. They show the moody star relaxing at home with his wife and son. McQueen right at the cusp of major stardom with the release that year of The Great Escape. 

 

Click here to check out some very rare candids of actress Sean Young on the set of Ridley Scott's 1980s sci-fi classic Blade Runner. They are quite remarkable and give the impression the cast and crew might have actually enjoyed the grueling experience of making the film. Certainly Harrison Ford did not, despite the amusing photo shown here. Ford locked horns with Scott during filming and considered the movie to be a very unpleasant experience.

We really miss those great old time double features. This combo of A Shot in the Dark and The Pink Panther is shown at the Uptown Theatre in Youngstown, Ohio in May of 1967. 

Reader William Burge kindly provided these two rare photos from the 1965 premiere of The Greatest Story Ever Told, produced and directed by George Stevens. The photo shows the Warner Cinerama Theatre as well as Charlton Heston and his wife Lydia, arriving at the premiere on February 15. Heston portrayed John the Baptist in the film.

Reader William Burge sent in this rare teaser advertisement for the original Planet of the Apes. 

Cinema Retro contributor Sheldon Hall recently found this original ad for the 1960 London opening of The Magnificent Seven. Curiously, with all the star power and up-and-coming stars, the ad doesn't depict any of the actors!  James Coburn and Brad Dexter don't even rate being mentioned in the credits!

Here's sexy Beverly Adams in the little-remembered 1966 comedy Birds Do It starring Soupy Sales. Adams' career was short-lived. She married Vidal Sassoon in 1967 and went on to use the Sassoon name to launch a line of pet care products and books. Adams, a Canadian native, appeared in a number of 60s movies, playing the role of sexy Lovely Kravezit in the first three Matt Helm films starring Dean Martin. She also appeared in Winter-A-Go-Go and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini before going into self-imposed retirement to raise her family. 

 

There is no greater evidence of how clueless major studio executives were in the late 1960s when it came to recognizing the potential of young talent. In the same year that Jack Nicholson emerged from B movies and scored universal praise (and an Oscar nomination) in Easy Rider, Paramount could think of nothing else to do with him but to cast him in a supporting role in the big budget musical disaster On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, starring Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand. Making matters worse, the studio was so unimpressed with Nicholson, that they cut all but one of his scenes - including his musical number. (Hmmm...the thought of Nicholson warbling in anything other than a comic mode, makes us think that somebody at Paramount exercised some good judgment!) 

Another gem from the limitless files of the Cinema Retro Archive! If you think its a fairly new trend for anxious movie fans to go to extremes to get opening day tickets to a specific movie, think again. This student from Southern Methodist University in Dallas decided to camp overnight to ensure his fraternity brothers were able to get the first tickets to go on sale for the Burton-Taylor epic Cleopatra in 1963. The irony of the film's fate is that it was one of the highest grossing movies in history and should have been a blockbuster, but it was compromised by horrendous cost over-runs. (Note the posters on the wall for Jackie Gleason's Pappa's Delicate Condition.)

 

It's one of the all time great comedies, and certainly the biggest in scope. Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was the first Cinerama production to use a single lens format instead of three separate cameras. The star-packed comedy epic was a world wide hit. Here is a rare ad from its opening engagement in London. 

 

This is old-fashioned marketing from 1963. The Fine Arts Theatre in Los Angeles hired two young women to ride around on scooters in front of the theater to promote Jessica, a new film starring up-and-coming starlet Angie Dickinson as a free spirited girl with a penchant for driving a scooter. If you're old enough to remember these types of promotional techniques, you probably also remember "Ladies Nights" where female patrons were given free dish ware (we're not kidding!) 

Here are two golden oldie lobby cards from the superb 1964 British film Zulu starring Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson. (If you're a Cinema Retro regular, we won't insult you by discussing what the main plot of the film is about!). 

From The Daily Cinema trade magazine, February 1966

 

 

One of our favorite tough cop movies is John Sturges' 1974 thriller, McQ with John Wayne in the title role as a maverick Seattle P.D. detective who is being framed for drug smuggling. The film is several notches above most of the Dirty Harry clones of the era, thanks to an excellent script and a solid supporting cast for Wayne to spar with. We were intrigued with this publicity still showing McQ rousting the pimp "Rosie", played by Roger. E. Mosley because it doesn't appear in the final cut. The fact that the scene ended up in the press kit photos indicates it must have been cut at the last minute. In the film, Wayne harasses Rosie on a couple of occasions to get confidential information about the corrupt cops who are framing him. In the cut sequence, unless Duke and Mosley are engaging in some unlikely male bonding, McQ appears to have infiltrated Rosie's apartment to lay some heat on him. As with all of our Unseen Scenes, one hopes that this footage still exists in a studio vault and that it may someday see the light of day on DVD.

Here's a 1972 marketing ploy that you have to say is unique: pairing the exploitation horror film Blacula with the appropriately-named Jim Brown action pic Slaughter - and promoting the pair as perfect for the Christmas/New Year's season. After all, what says "Peace on Earth" more than a blood-sucking fiend who rises from the dead and a gut-busting, sex-obsessed private dick who takes no prisoners?

 

We all know that every blockbuster movie inspires a tidal wave of low rent imitators, but this ad from the Cinema Retro vault illustrates one of the more laughable rip-offs. Released in 1973, The Godchildren attempted to imitate the sheer power of The Godfather - but somehow putting a contract out on a guy who wears flower-decorated muumuu shirts seems more like a public service.

 

This 1980 trade magazine ad extolled the new technology of Dolby technology which would go on to revolutionize the experience of watching movies. Given George Lucas' creative input into the Dolby sound systems, it shouldn't be surprising that the advertisement features a theater marquee showing the recently-released The Empire Strikes Back, shown here in Dolby sound and in 70mm. Ah, 70mm- those were the days...

In 1964 Clint Eastwood and his Rawhide co-star Paul Brinegar visited the legendary Palisades Amusement Park in Ft. Lee, New Jersey and posed for this publicity photo. The photo is among many artifacts relating to the late, great amusement park that are on display in an exhibit hosted by the Fort Lee Museum through January 2012. Click here for more

By Lee Pfeiffer

Reader Mitch O'Connell sent us this doozy of a shot showing the old Liberty movie theater on 42nd Street in Times Square in 1989. The film was showing Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects a Charles Bronson Xerox of his other trashy cop movies of this era. Sadly at this point in his career, these theaters were about the only venues that still drew enthusiastic audiences for his films. The photo perfectly illustrates Gotham at its dingiest. 42nd Street had always been an addictive place to visit because of its inherent tastelessness but by the mid 80s the explosion of crack cocaine had turned "42 Deuce" into a very dangerous place. The area is not even recognizable today in that the dingy movie palaces have been replaced by state of the art theaters and restaurants. As someone who spent an unhealthy amount of time as a teenager watching old movies and porn flicks in these urine-stained filth pits, I can't say I don't have some fond memories. It was like a Disneyland designed by the Marquis de Sade. The dangerous atmosphere, abundance of perverts, druggies, live sex shows, white supremicists, black supremicists, religious loons, prostitutes and crackpots made for an intoxicating blend that you couldn't find anywhere else. Most kids had to just read about this Forbidden Zone but if you lived in or near the city you could live it. There's no denying New York is a much better place today, but I still have a fondness for that bygone era.That may sound crazy, but anyone who basically grew up on these means streets between the 1960s and 1980s knows exactly what I mean. Nevertheless, even cleaned-up New York is still the greatest city in the world.

The wonderful web site Starlet Showcase ceased to be updated almost a year ago. Fortunately, their treasure trove of wonderful vintage movie photos are still on-line to be enjoyed by all. Click here to check out their photos of sexy female stars on the telephone.

They don't make 'em like they used to- especially when it comes to movie poster designs. Compare this brilliant 1965 Italian release poster for The Ipcress File to the scan-and-paste designs used to promote movies today. No comparison!

Today you can indulge your kinky fantasies by accessing web sites that make the Kama Sutra look like a children's storybook. However, back in the dark ages of 1965, those with prurient interests had to masquerade their sexual desires by patronizing movies that pretended to be important sociological statements. There were countless numbers of these "documentaries" released at the time, each pretending to be instructive about human sexuality. In reality, it was a clever way to get around draconian censorship laws, all the while giving audience members the cover they needed to say, "I wasn't going to a dirty movie! I was just viewing a celebration of the birth process!" The advertisement above is typical of these films in that it paradoxically extolls the joys of childbearing all the while playing up the more sordid elements of sex. Yup, there's nothing to get the old loins heated up like some footage of the birth of triplets!

 

If you wonder why Cinema Retro is dedicated to classic movies of the 60s and 70s, consider this vintage trade magazine advertisement. Over the summer of 1965, the following great movies were released: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, The Sound of Music, Zorba the Greek and Von Ryan's Express. These were just from one studio: Fox!

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

It's gorgeous Caroline Munro as she appeared in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. As lovely as ever, Caroline is a contributor to Cinema Retro. You can read her memories of making The Abominable Dr. Phibes with Vincent Price in issue #2 and making her screen debut at age 16 as a sexy Bond girl extra in the 1967 version of Casino Royale in issue #6.

20th Century Fox took out this ad in the trade papers in August 1960 to advertise forthcoming major productions including John Wayne's North To Alaska, Marilyn Monroe in Let's Make Love and The Innocents. Note that at the time Fox was going to produce George Stevens' production of The Greatest Story Ever Told. However, the agreement went awry. The movie would not be made until several years later when United Artists backe the film. Also, the ad says Elizabeth Taylor has arrived in Europe to begin production on Cleopatra. Little did Fox executives realize that the film would be aborted, the footage mostly scrapped and major roles recast before resuming again- and becoming the most expensive film made until that time.

 

Cinema Retro reader Mike Boldt, an Alamo buff extraordinaire, kindly provides this rare photo of John Wayne's epic film as it was presented at the Broadway Theatre in Paris, 1960.

Just two years before her tragic murder at the hands of the Manson Gang, Sharon Tate was a rapidly rising star in Hollywood. She is seen here on the set of the 1967 horror comedy The Fearless Vampire Killers in which she co-starred with her husband Roman Polanski, who also directed.

Click here to order DVD from Amazon and save 49%!

When movie fans think about the frequent on-screen collaborations between Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, there is generally one film that is overlooked. Frankie and Dino made an uncredited cameo at the end of The Road to Hong Kong. The 1962 film represented the last of the legendary Road movies starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Here is a rare behind the scenes photo from the Cinema Retro archives.

 

Yul Brynner and Charles Bronson were known as two of the film industry's most private stars. Bronson rarely gave interviews or discussed his personal life. When Brynner did discuss his personal life, he intentionally teased the press by telling outrageous and often conflicting tall tales. In this rare unguarded moment from the set of Villa Rides that ran in British Photoplay in 1968, they appear to be in an unusually unguarded state- and Brynner even let his little daughter climb on co-star Robert Mitchum's chair.

 

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

.