Remember Days of the Thunder, the auto racing pic released 20 years ago that teamed Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman? Although the movie was considered somewhat of an under-performer at the boxoffice, Paramount hopes to reignite interest in the flick through tying in with the mania for NASCAR. The studio is actively licensing a line of T shirts featuring logos from the film and snappy tag lines like: "Rubbin' Is Racin'" and "You Can't Outrun the Thunder." It sounds like a creative ploy, especially since it would derive revenue out of a film that ran out of gas years ago. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

Given the fact that the new medical drama Extraordinary Measures has received decidedly ordinary reviews, I wasn't particularly enthralled about seeing it. However, big screen appearances by Harrison Ford (who was executive producer on the film) are as rare as hen's teeth nowadays, so I thought I'd give it a try. The movie is the first to be released by CBS Films, the theatrical side of the TV network. The company intends to make modesty-budgeted films for wide audiences. The jury is still out as to whether the venture will succeed (Extraordinary Measures opened softly at the boxoffice). However, from an artistic standpoint, the company deserves praise for concentrating on stream-lined films that appeal to the intelligence of the audience, instead of bloated blockbusters. More importantly, the film - which has received modest praise for being workmanlike - is actually a completely engrossing and moving story that is wonderfully enacted under the direction of newcomer Tom Vaughan.

KING OF THE WORLD!

The bad news for James Cameron is that Titanic has lost the title of #1 Boxoffice Champion of All Time. The good news: he's displaced himself, as Avatar took that honor with an incredible worldwide gross to date of $1.859 billion compared to Titanic's gross of $1.843 billion. Cameron looks set to blow away the record by a wide margin, as Avatar has plenty of mojo  left: it was still #1 according to last week's boxoffice grosses. For a list of the top-grossing films of all time click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

It wasn't that long ago that the film industry was fawning over Mel Gibson. Not only was he a reliable draw at the boxoffice, but his business instincts were the envy of everyone in the business. He produced and directed The Passion of the Christ, and expertly marketed it to true believers. The film grossed a fortune and Gibson seemed poised to expand beyond leading man status. (He had already been awarded the Oscar for directing Braveheart.)Then in 2006, it all came crashing down. Gibson was arrested on a drunk driving charge and exploded in a bizarre, anti-Semitic tirade that became a major scandal. Gibson issued the standard apologies but his brand was damaged. His follow-up film Apocalypto  (which he produced and directed but did not star in) performed weakly with critics and the public. He stayed out of the spotlight and has waited until this moment to re-emerge as the star of the action film Edge of Darkness. At first blush, it's the kind of gritty film that Gibson's fans traditionally flocked to- but he hasn't top-lined a major movie since Signs in 2002.The big question is: even if audiences have forgiven Gibson for his behavior, does his name still resonate with young audiences, which represent the prime movie-going public? (Hell, even Harrison Ford is taking second billing to Brendan Frasier in his new movie!) The industry is about to find out when Gibson's Edge of Darkness thriller is released on January 29.

Audiences tend to be forgiving - or Charlie Sheen would have been retired twenty years ago. However, Gibson's sin was not only presenting himself as a bigot but also betraying his image as a clean-cut family guy (his wife of many years divorced him shortly after the scandal). Additionally, Gibson always defrayed questions about his father, who was known to believe in extreme and intolerant religious theories that many felt were anti-Semitic. Gibson's crazed denouncement of the Jews as the root of all evil gave credence to those who always felt the acorn didn't fall far from the tree when it came to father and son's religious beliefs. Whether audience hunger for a good action movie will overcome his now controversial reputation remains to be seen. However, the risk won't be a tremendous one, as the film reputedly carries a rather modest budget of $60 million. If Gibson's gamble works, look for Tiger Woods to sign on to co-star with him in his next film. For more click here

Thanks for the story about all time boxoffice champs.  As a former theatre manager, I've always said that you don't rank movies from different eras by their boxoffice gross, you rank them by the number of paid admissions.  Inflation may inflate the gross, but an admission is still an admission - and that levels the playing field. The $2.00 admission price of 1968 can't compete with the $10 admission price of 2009.  Considering today's ticket prices, what current movie wouldn't out-gross a picture from 40 years ago?  They could do it with just 20% to 25% of the admissions of the earlier movies.
One could argue that older movies like Gone With The Wind had several re-issues to bolster their all time gross and that's true.  But by the same token, older movies did not have alternative markets like home video or pay per view for the first several decades of their existence. - Bob Collins

 Retro responds: You're right, Bob...adjusting for inflation greatly alters our perception of what films are the most popular. As you point out, perhaps the best way to judge is to compare the number of tickets sold. For example, while Casino Royale is the highest grossing James Bond film with well over $500 million worldwide gross, in fact the 1965 release Thunderball is still by far the king of the series in terms of the numbers of tickets sold. Comparable statistics can be run on any classic film and the results would certainly surprise today's movie-goers. - Lee Pfeiffer

P.B. HURST, AUTHOR OF THE NEW BOOK THE MOST SAVAGE FILM: SOLDIER BLUE, CINEMATIC VIOLENCE AND THE HORRORS OF WAR (McFarland) LOOKS BACK AT WHAT IS PERHAPS THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL WESTERN OF ALL TIME.

A good number of critics in 1970 believed that Soldier Blue had set a new mark in cinematic violence, as a result of its graphic scenes of Cheyenne women and children being slaughtered, and had thus lived up – or down – to its U.S. poster boast that it was “The Most Savage Film in History.”

A massive hit in Great Britain and much of the rest of the world, Soldier Blue was, in the words of its maverick director, Ralph Nelson, “not a popular success” in the United States. This probably had less to do with the picture’s groundbreaking violence, and more to do with the fact that it was the U.S. Cavalry who were breaking new ground. For Nelson’s portrayal of the boys in blue as blood crazed maniacs, who blow children’s brains out and behead women, shattered for ever one of America’s most enduring movie myths – that of the cavalry as good guys riding to the rescue – and rendered Soldier Blue one of the most radical films in the history of American cinema. The film’s failure in its homeland might also have had something to do with the perception in some quarters – prompted by production company publicity material – that it was a deliberate Vietnam allegory.

I was unaware of most of this in 1971 when, as a nervous fifteen-year-old English schoolboy, I read about the film’s horrors in newspapers, and heard lurid accounts of the cutting off of breasts from my classmates, who had illegally seen the film at a cinema that wasn’t too bothered about the age of the patrons (all of whom should have been at least eighteen to view what was then an X certificate film).

I had managed to survive several Hammer horrors – Scars of Dracula, Lust for a Vampire and Countess Dracula spring readily to mind – at the very same cinema when I was underage. But having been scared witless by the mutilation scene in Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, when that gripping movie had played on TV several months earlier, I wisely realised that any of the various cuts inflicted on the Indians by the cavalry in Soldier Blue represented a mutilation too far in terms of my well being. So I waited for the picture to turn up on television (as it takes considerably more guts to walk out of a packed cinema than to hide behind the sofa!). Waited and waited as it turned out.

I eventually viewed the picture, which stars Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss and Donald Pleasence, when ITV transmitted it in 1980. However, there was a small problem: the notorious massacre sequence, which is the picture’s reason for being, had been removed virtually in its entirety (seemingly more cuts had been inflicted on the film than had been perpetrated on the American Indians!), as it was deemed too horrific for television. (It took another twenty-two years for the film to be shown on British terrestrial television in something resembling its theatrical release form!) So I still hadn’t viewed the notorious scenes that had sparked, in conjunction with films such as The Devils, Straw Dogs and A Clockwork Orange, the screen violence inferno that engulfed Britain in the 1970s.

Movie producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have honored their late mother by establishing a new video company in her name. The Miriam Collection, released through the Genius Products video label, will issue vintage films on DVD in special collector's editons. It wouldn't be accurate to call each of the forthcoming releases a classic, but it would be safe to say that movie fans will be over the moon about the availability of some long-desired gems that had never been released on DVD previously. The most exciting news for Cinema Retro readers is the fact that the Weinsteins have the rights to the films of producer Samuel L. Bronstron and their initial release, the 1961 epic El Cid is first rate in every conceivable way. Bronston was a man who didn't know how to think small - his appetites were big and so was his love for the film industry. He shot epic movies on relatively economical budgets by establishing a studio in Spain. By doing so, he took advantage of the dictator Franco's desire to improve his nation's discredited image by luring heavyweight Hollywood producers to do business in Spain. Bronston found not only favorable financial and climate conditions there, but Franco also gave him a literal army of unpaid extras through use of, well, the Spanish army.

Bronston planned to finanace his next film with the profits from the previous one. The idea worked well initially. El Cid, which tells the story of Spain's greatest hero - Rodrigo de Bivar, who united disparate factions of his countrymen in a common goal to defeat an invasion of Islamic religious fanatics- was a box-office and critical triumph. However, Bronston, who was a poor businessman, found his luck had run out on future productions such as 55 Days at Peking, Circus World and The Fall of the Roman Empire. Each bombed at the boxoffice and left him in staggering debt. He ultimately lost the "empire" he had built.

The Onion's A.V Club column provides a great article analyzing why some stars remain the darlings of the industry despite box-office track records that range from spotty to disastrous. Some, like Nicholas Cage and Bruce Willis, are able to come up with hits that are so sizeable that they mask the fact that the vast majority of their films are boxoffice and critical failures. Others like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie continue to reap huge paychecks from studios in the mistaken belief that their presence on the covers of supermarket tabloids will somehow translate into boxoffice gold. Our gripe is: how many talented newcomers will never get their chance to obtain seed money for their films because so much loot is being doled out to actors who have not demonstrated any clout beyond the gossip magazine circuit? For the article click here

From the Cinema Retro archive: a Swedish movie program for the 1959 Hammer version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. The 1959 film marked the first Hammer production to be filmed in color and was meant to initiate a series of Sherlock Holmes films starring Peter Cushing as the legendary detective. The film was quite effectively done and benefited from a strong supporting cast including Christopher Lee as the seemingly cursed Sir Henry Baskerville. However, the movie was not a success. Hammer was unsure how to market the flick, and as the art on this program indicates, got cold feet about promoting it as a Holmes story. The studio opted instead to market it as a horror story, playing up the image of the hound even though the deadly canine only appears fleetingly in the climax. The result was that the film was a boxoffice failure and terminated any plans for additional Holmes films, though Cushing would later play the detective on British TV. The movie has aged very well indeed and is well worth a look.

Tomorrow evening at 8:PM EST, Turner Classic Movies premieres a major tribute to producer Val Lewton followed by an eight film marathon. Cinema Retro was provided with an advanced screener of the documentary, Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows and we found it to be one of the most unique and informative documentaries about a filmmaker that we've ever seen. The tribute is a collaboration between Martin Scorsese and writer/director Kent Jones. I confess to not having had much knowledge of Lewton, so the documentary was very revealing and fascinating. Lewton was assigned to churn out low budget horror films for RKO. In the utlimate "tail wagging the dog" scenario, studio hacks would assign him a title and the film he created was then based on that premise. What no one could anticipate was that Lewton, a perfectionist who took great pride in his work, would end up creating moody and atmospheric films by utilizing talented directors and writers. His first major success was Cat People, released in 1942. Although dismissed by short-sighted critics as a B horror film, the movie was an immediate boxoffice hit. Over the decades, it's been acclaimed as one of the most creative and influential horror films ever made. With RKP seeking to rival Universal's success with the horror genre, Lewton was given more leeway, though not much in the way of budget increases, to continue to develop films that would maximize profitability. If he could do it in a creative fashion, all the better. The films he produced were always hampered by childish titles that gave little evidence of the professionalism that went into every aspect of their production. Films such as I Walked with a Zombie, The Leopard Man and The Ghost Ship all bore the unmistakable mark of being Lewton productions. Lewton often contributed to writing the screenplays, though rarely took credit for his work.

I don't want to go into too many details regarding this remarkable man's life and career. It's best you let these fact unravel as you watch the documentary. Director/writer Kent Jones has worked wonders with the little material that is available on Lewton. There is no known film footage of him or even any audio recordings of his voice, thus the documentary's sub-tirle, The Man in the Shadows. The film contains interviews with Roger Corman, Lewton's son Val, Ann Carter Newton (star of Lewton's Curse of the Cat People) and archival interviews with directors Jacques Tourneur and Robert Wise, both of whom distinguished themselves by working on Lewton films. Martin Scorsese does yeoman work narrating the documentary. He is among the few directors in history (along with Hitchcock) whose voice has become immediately recognizable to movie fans and this personal touch adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the program.

This documentary is just another example of why Turner Classic Movies remains the gold standard of cable movie networks. At one time, they had close competition from American Movie Classics but that network was taken over by the same type of hacks who Lewton had to battle for the sake of artistic integrity. AMC (it now doesn't make the pretense that there is anything "classic" about their presentations) shows chopped up films, devoid of any informative introductions - and engages in the nauseating practice of putting crass promos over the final credits. TCM stands alone in staying true to their mission of paying homage to the great filmmakers - and Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows stands as one of the network's finest achievements.

In 1961, Boxoffice magazine listed the All-American Film Favorites of 1960. The selections were based on a poll of theater owners in the USA.

FEMALE

1. DORIS DAY
2. ELIZABETH TAYLOR
3. SHIRLEY MACLAINE
4. DEBBIE REYNOLDS
5. JOANNE WOODWARD
6. DEBORAH KERR
7. AUDREY HEPBURN
8. MARILYN MONROE
9. SUSAN HAYWARD
10. INGRID BERGMAN
11. KIM NOVAK
12. SANDRA DEE

MALE

1. CARY GRANT
2. JACK LEMMON
3. ROCK HUDSON
4. TONY CURTIS
5. YUL BRYNNER
6. FRANK SINATRA
7. WILLIAM HOLDEN
8. JOHN WAYNE
9. KIRK DOUGLAS
10. GLENN FORD
11. ROBERT MITCHUM
12. JERRY LEWIS

In going through the endless Cinema Retro archives, I came across this lobby card from the 1971 Swedish soft core porn film, Dagmar's Hot Pants and it brought back some misty-eyed memories of my youth. When Dagmar opened, I was a sophmore in high school and my friend and I tried to see it. Alas, an eagle-eyed old lady at the box-office (was there ever anyone but eagle-eyed old ladies manning the boxoffices in those days?) would not let us in because we were not 17 years old. (The film was rated a blazing-hot "R"). Disappointed, we ended up rebelling by going to a grind house on 42nd Street where, as long as you didn't ride up to the boxoffice on a tricycle, you were deemed old enough to see the hardcore shows. We ended up watching the latest "loops" from good old John Holmes (aka Long Johnny Wadd, the screen's greatest swordsman since Errol Flynn). Yet, I've always been haunted by the elusive Dagmar and have long pondered why he was so indelibly associated with the short-lived trend of hot pants. Even more fascinating is that it's a sex-based film starring Robert Strauss - yes, that Robert Strauss - the guy who played Animal in Stalag 17 and who sported a gloriously "lived in" mug that made Rondo Hatton look like Paul Newman. Locating the above lobby card only whetted my appetite even more. It appears to feature an Asian midget in a Swedish sex film starring an aging American character actor. If anyone out there in cyberspace has seen Dagmar's Hot Pants, please let us know more about this Swedish contribution to happier living. If nothing else, we're hooked on the tag line for the film that we found on www.imdb.com

"A Satisfied Customer Is Our Most Important Product!"

-Lee Pfeiffer

As part of Paramount's John Wayne 100th birtday celebration, the studio has released a deluxe collector's edition of his 1963 western comedy McLintock! On the surface, this would seem to be a strange film to get the royal treatment on DVD. It's a modest, unpretentious blockhouse comedy - yet, it remains one of Wayne's most popular films. It was not only a very big box-office hit at the time of its initial release (despite coming out during the week of the JFK assassination) but proved to be a ratings blockbuster that was telecast by the major networks for many years. In the early 1990s, Wayne's production company Batjac made a foolish error by neglecting to file the paperwork extending the copyright. Consequently, the market has been deluged ever since with dime store versions of the film on no-name video labels. Don't be fooled: there is no comparison to these versions and Paramount's gorgeous new transfer. Additionally, the public domain versions usually have soundtrack music substituted because the music retained its proper copyright. If you care about The Duke's films at all, this will remain the McLintock! of record.

We're always amazed at the number of major films that are announced with fanfare only to fall into development hell and never go into production. Here's one we've never heard before from an industry trade magazine in November, 1964. It concerns James Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman:

"Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli will produce The Pass Beyond Kashmir for Columbia release, Columbia first vice-president M.J. Frankovich announced here at the weekend."

What makes the story rather surprising is not only the fact that the film never went into production but that it was slated to be a Columbia production. Cubby Broccoli had enjoyed a good relationship with the studio in the 1950 when he partnered with Irving Allen to form Warwick Films which produced a number of boxoffice hits. However, by the early 1960s he and Saltzman had formed Eon Productions and was exclusively associated with United Artists henceforth. UA had financed and distributed the James Bond blockbusters and both Broccoli and Saltzman held UA boss Arthur Krim in high regard for having taken a chance on the franchise (Columbia repeatedly passed on Eon's overtures to back the series- much to the studio's regret.)

Broccoli and Saltzman originally intended to make other films outside of the Bond franchise, both independently and as a team. However, as the 007 films grew in size and budget it became difficult to mount any non-Bond related film. In 1963, the pair did manage to bring the Bob Hope comedy Call Me Bwana to the screen. In 1968, Broccoli produced the Ian Fleming story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a major musical on his own. Similarly, Saltzman produced three Harry Palmer films starring Michael Caine and the 1969 WWII epic Battle of Britain sans Broccoli. The Broccoli/Saltzman partnership ended after the release of the ninth Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun in 1974. Although Saltzman dabbled in producing in the ensuing years, he never was associated with another hit film. Broccoli continued to run the Bond franchise on his own and reinvigorated the series after the lukewarm reception accorded Golden Gun. The two men had never been close on a personal basis and often had well-publicized differences in their creative and business philosophies. However, they did see each other over the years on rare occasions. Saltzman accepted Cubby's invitation to attend the London premiere of For Your Eyes Only in 1981 and Cubby and his wife Dana did visit Saltzman in his later years when he was in declining health.

UPDATE: Our eagle-eyed contributor Hank Reinke informs us that The Pass Beyond Kashmir was based on a 1960 spy novel by Berkley Mather, who contributed to the screenplay of Dr. No. The plot centered on a private detective based in Bombay who begins embroiled in a dangerous assignment that entails traveling through India and Pakistan.

Nothing illustrates the growing influence of Cinema Retro among the major studios than the announcement from Fox/MGM that they will be releasing a special DVD edition of the Vincent Price classic Witchfinder General. The classic film has long had a cult following around the world. It was released in the United States under the title The Conqueror Worm in a weak attempt to capitalize on Price's success with Edgar Allan Poe screen adaptations. Many consider this to be the greatest role of Price's career - a far cry from the campy, over the top characters he was often relinquished to playing. The special edition came about after the film's producer Philip Waddilove gave an exclusive interview to Cinema Retro in issue #5, which featured the most extensive coverage ever done on the making of the film. Mr. Waddilove understood that Fox/MGM was thinking about bringing out a "no frills" DVD edition of the film and asked us to Fed Ex copies to their home video department along with a request that the DVD be expanded to a special edition. We are happy to say that not only is Mr. Waddilove now on the DVD, but one of the film's stars, Ian Ogilvy is also included on the commentary track. Thank you, Fox/MGM for listening!

The news gets even better for Vincent Price fans. Witchfinder General is but one of a number of Price films being issued in a major promotion dedicated to the iconic actor. Other titles include special editions of The Fly films, as well as a boxed set that includes Witchfinder, Theatre of Blood, both Dr. Phibes films, Madhouse, Tales of Terror and Twice Told Tales. This boxed set will include biographies of Price and other exciting bonus extras.

Continue reading for the official Fox/MGM press release.

For Dave Worrall's extensive tribute to Witchfinder General including unpublished photos from the archives of Philip Waddilove, see Cinema Retro issue #5.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER WITCHFINDER GENERAL SPECIAL EDITION FROM AMAZON

CLICK HERE TO ORDER VINCENT PRICE HORROR COLLECTION