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The Carpetbaggers part two: Elizabeth Ashley makes her screen debut

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The Carpetbaggers: Howard Hughes saga takes flight and conquers Hollywood!

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The better Casino Royale

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Airport ’77 : the spirit is willing, but the script is weak

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The Carpetbaggers part two: Elizabeth Ashley makes her screen debut

My analysis of The Carpetbaggers was pitched as either a cover story or a column entry to be presented in two parts. Guess who lost the coin toss. Here’s part ...

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The Carpetbaggers: Howard Hughes saga takes flight and conquers Hollywood!

Chicago was one of the last major markets to be wired for cable. (Everybody got their cut!) My first Jerrold Box offered 4 channels, one of which was TBS. Bill ...

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The better Casino Royale

No, not that Casino Royale. The other, better one! Casino Royale (1967) We open with a postscript that can be found in the supplementary section of the DVD: it was ...

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Airport ’77 : the spirit is willing, but the script is weak

What’s bigger, more exciting, and two years older than Airport 1975? Airport ‘77! Airport ’77 (1977) In Airport, the Arthur Hailey original, disaster struck in the form of mad bomber ...

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Airport 1975: credits read like a Love Boat passenger manifest

If this dive into Airport 1975 were any deeper, it would have crashed! Airport 1975 (1974) It was the first of three officially sanctioned sequels to Airport, the obscenely successful air-disaster soap opera based on ...

August 20, 2021

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Three of Jean Arthur’s Columbia comedies

Many performers lost their careers during Hollywood’s transition to sound, but Jean Arthur literally found her voice in talkies. And don’t let the pink and squishy sounds it radiates fool you: Ms. Arthur was a ...

August 13, 2021

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August 6, 2021

Goodbye, Columbus: this critic's first R rated film

What was the first film to receive an R rating from the MPAA? Not The Graduate, which was classified Adults Only, but The Split, a crime drama starring Jim Brown and Diahann Carroll. Do you ...

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July 30, 2021

Judd Apatow and Steven Brill pursue the prison camp formula

This week’s grouping offers hope to the horizontally challenged, especially if one has a sense of humor when it comes to body image. Heavyweights (1995) The Parent Trap meets Stalag 17 when an overnight camp ...

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July 23, 2021

Celluloid staycations: Where The Boys Are and Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Still reluctant to book a flight? Here are a couple of vacations you can take without leaving home. Where The Boys Are (1960) A convincingly fabricated backlot blizzard is enough to persuade four Midwestern college ...

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July 16, 2021

John Travolta oozes seductiveness in Saturday Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever made something special out of white polyester and blow-dryers as an extension of one’s arm, and transformed Deney Terrio — John Travolta’s trainer and future host of Dance Fever — into a ...

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July 9, 2021

More Alexandre Rockwell: In The Soup, Pete smalls is Dead, Little Feet

As promised in last week’s review of Alexandre Rockwell’s Sweet Thing, a few words on its prequel, Little Feet. But first, let’s present two of the director’s previous films. In the Soup and Pete Smalls ...

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July 2, 2021

Behold! Bugs Bunny on Blu-ray

Before we discuss three of the better Bugs and Elmer shorts contained in the numbered, limited edition blu-ray set, The Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, a word about packaging. The Looney Tunes gang has morphed ...

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The disco roller-boogie film that introduced audiences to Patrick Swayze

The movies’ one glorious footnote to disco roller-boogie can be found in Peter Bogdanovich’s awfully romantic comedy They All Laughed, wherein a klutzy John Ritter attempts to skate his way into Dorothy Stratten’s heart. That’s ...

June 25, 2021

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Critic comedies starring Mel Brooks, Vincent Price, and Bob Hope

Three comedies about critics starring Mel Brooks, Vincent Price, and Bob Hope. Our first entry earned Mel an Oscar® for Best Animated Short, and in spite of that, it’s good! The Critic (1960) For many, ...

June 18, 2021

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June 11, 2021

Walter Matthau’s dark side exposed in Charley Varrick

Walter Matthau? A bank robbing serial killer wanted by both good guys and bad guys alike?! Times were tough. The actor had to hock wedding presents just to pay the rent. The $2500 this minisculely ...

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June 4, 2021

Woody Allen’s PBS mockumentary

My original intention was to cover a couple of Woody Allen’s middle-to-modern funny films. Then I happened across this hilarious, never-broadcast, half-hour PBS mockumentary on YouTube. I hope you enjoy this Holy Grail of hilarity ...

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The Carpetbaggers part two: Elizabeth Ashley makes her screen debut

The Carpetbaggers: Howard Hughes saga takes flight and conquers Hollywood!

The better Casino Royale

Airport ’77 : the spirit is willing, but the script is weak

[email protected]

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