Monthly Archives: August 2014

Watching George Pal’s “Destination Moon” again I was struck by two things. How wrong they got it, and what it might have led to in the realm of science-fiction films. Robert Heinlein certainly had no crystal ball to guide him. … Continue reading →

Ever since both Howard Hawks AND John Wayne took “High Noon” to task for its communitarian sentiments, this film, once regarded as a classic western has had its ups and downs. Only recently I was speaking with a fellow film … Continue reading →

The Crime Movie has a long and illustrious family tree, reaching all the way back to D.W. Griffith and “The Musketeers of Pig Alley.” They can be garish or reflective, blunt or reflective. Only rarely are they beautiful. Abraham Polonsky’s … Continue reading →

CAUTION: CONTAINS “SPOILERS” The 1949 film “Slattery’s Hurricane” skirts the world of film noir without ever quite settling there. To an extent this may have been the fault of the Motion Picture Code folks, once again infantilizing their audiences. The … Continue reading →

CAUTION: CONTAINS “SPOILERS” I always thought it a pity that John Moxey’s “City of the Dead” was re-titled “Horror Hotel” for its U.S. release–even though The Raven’s Inn is clearly no Ritz. The Grindhouse-type title probably kept away some audiences … Continue reading →