1948: The Year the Box Office Went Red! --No, not the Commie way. The top two moneymakers were The Red Shoes and Red River . Favorites : The Red Shoes The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Letter From an Unknown Woman Act of Violence Raw Deal The Fallen Idol Bicycle Thieves Dedée d'Anvers So Evil My Lov...

Speaking of the name Edsel reminded me that I knew a woman named Sally, which was a nickname for her real name, Itsil. That's far out even for the rural South of many years ago. And Holden's Sweetie's Grandmother had it right about Sylvia Miles being annoying. That's the quality she brings to the sc...

For Day of the Locust fans: a digitally restored version will be shown on May 25 at the Camelot Theater in Palm Springs, with Dave Karger hosting. This increases the chances that Day of the Locust will be shown on TCM and in other outlets.

As promised, a trip back to over 100 years ago. No worst films for me in these lists, only best. The next year up will be 1948. 1948!! What a wonderful year. The unlisted merely "OK" films from this year would be "Also liked" in many a year. Stinky the Skunk may stay in his burr...

For those of you who might like to see two attractive young men making out to some beautiful music, I recommend going to YouTube to find a video that uses John Barrowman's recording of "Unusual Way" to a clip from a Brazilian film. No total nudity, no mimed sex, nothing twisted. "Unus...

Yeah, you wouldn't want to get any blood on one of those fancy hats.

For those who might have missed it, the Neo-Noir series on TCM was a special theme on Fridays in July, 2021. Each week Ben and Eddie would introduce and discuss three films classified as Neo-Noir. It seemed to be a joint project they had worked out together, and TCM promoted it as an offshoot of No...

I haven't seen this one in a very long time! Not since are local station ran it many years ago when I was a teen. I remember not liking it then, but maybe I'll like it now for different reasons! To quote Eddie Muller, Rod Steiger in this is at "his most Steiger-est". And that is only one ...

I am especially a fan of LOVE LETTERS. My favorite of Jennifer Jones' dramatic performances. Singleton is a fascinating character.

Ten Favorite Oscar-Winning Performances for Best Supporting Actor : Van Heflin, Johnny Eager (1942) Charles Coburn, The More the Merrier (1943) James Dunn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) Walter Huston, Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) George Sanders, All About Eve (1950) Peter Ustinov, Spartacu...

I was glad that Eddie pointed out the homosexual implications of the Elisha Cook, Jr./Lawrence Tierney relationship. Their little apartment has one bed. Elisha is reading on his side of the bed when Tierney enters the room after committing two murders and then goes to sit down on his side of the bed...

Diana Ross and Jean-Pierre Aumont make a great couple. They both have fabulous hair!

For me, 1971 was not a very good year in the movies. Too many films that were closer to "meh" than to "liked OK." Top Three (alphabetical order) : Fiddler on the Roof The French Connection The Last Picture Show Also : Carnal Knowledge The Night Digger (aka The Road Builder) Sunda...

Some more thoughts about The Iceman Cometh : Jeff Bridges does well with a role that is very hard to bring off. He also looks right for the period. Tom Pedi as Rocky the bartender has lots of unintentionally funny lines with his deadpan style. Perhaps my favorite moment in the film is his encouragem...

1963 Word of the Year : "Nymphos!" (from Shock Corridor ) Most memorable dialogue : "What a tragedy! An insane mute will win the Pulitzer Prize!" (also from Shock Corridor ; imdb offers other examples of overripe dialogue from this film) Favorites : The Great Escape The Organize...