This evening's film is ON THE WATERFRONT with the focus being on the questionable connection between Elia Kazan's dubious dealings with HUAC and how it relates to the character of Terry Malloy (Brando) in the film. Interesting, too, that Lee J. Cobb figures so prominently in this film! (Was "F...

A Pew Survey shows that viewers of The Fox News ( Propaganda ) Channel are the least informed consumers of news. Are you surprised ? Yes, especially when the same survey rates viewers of The O'Reilly Factor among the best-informed . Frankly, I don't understand why Bill O'Reilly arouses such conster...

What's the salvation of the movies? I say, run 'em backwards. It can't hurt, and it might be an improvement."

--Will Rogers

Since I started my work-a-day life as a police reporter, I too have to say that most cop shows leave me cold. I used to like Barney Miller , but I recently rewatched a few episodes on DVD, and now it plays too "cute" for me. I still like Dragnet in its various incarnations because it got e...

metsfan wrote:Nothing But Trouble (Laurel and Hardy)

This one's available as a twofer in the WHV box set Classic Comedy Teams along with AIR RAID WARDENS.

After more than 50 years American Heritage , the magazine that furnished not just the minds but, in its original hardcover format, the dens of generations of American history buffs, is suspending publication, its editor, Richard F. Snow, said last week. The bimonthly magazine, which is owned by Forb...

I think the storm is over at the TCM boards, but the sun hasn't come out yet. And it may be overcast for a while. I, too, wish that the TCM web administration had moved faster on the flame wars, but it's hard to do that without a firm set of rules and regulations in place. It's much easier to say to...

Back on the TCM boards, tcmprogrammer has mentioned that the programming department has a database that tells how many times each film in the TCM library has aired, and the last day and time it aired. As films repeat, they repeat in different times of the programming day. If I remember right, the TC...

Seems like the incident was in character for Hepburn. I've heard from several people who worked at RKO at that time that Hepburn's nickname around the studio was "Katharine of Arrogance." A great talent, but headstrong as all get out.

Gas prices don't affect me much -- I haven't owned a car for more than 10 years. I walk to the grocery store, I take the bus to work, I do a lot of shopping on eBay (you'd be surprised at what bargains you can find here if you look and shop carefully). Whenever I need to, I group my errands and rent...

I should also mention that another frequent Stooges director, Jules White, co-wrote and co-directed (with Zion Meyers) the "Dogville" comedies at MGM in the early 1930s.

ILLICIT promised much more than it delivered, weighed down by a too-talky script. As I watched Barbara Stanwyck and James Rennie slog through their scenes, I kept wondering when Charles Butterworth and Joan Blondell would return -- a bad sign. (I did like Charlie's scene with the baby buggy, though....

Personally, I prefer W. C. Fields to all of them. Back in my college film programming days, I once showed a double bill of YOU'RE TELLING ME with Fields and DUCK SOUP with the Marx Brothers. Many people I talked to afterward told me they liked the Fields film better, even a few diehard Marx Brothers...

"Chicago mobsters, Cuban exiles, and rogue CIA agents" -- in alphabetical order, no less! Jeez, when you put all these Kennedy assassination theories together, it sounds like a bizarre version of Murder on the Orient Express . I did read the article that appeared in the Sun-Times , but it ...

A few months back, I took advantage of an Amazon.com half-price sale on Fox titles and got all the Fox Film Noir titles I could afford. Later, I even found a sealed copy of BOOMERANG on eBay. (If I had moved a little faster, I could have gotten that one from Amazon.com, too!) That leaves only two or...