June 20 - 26, 2026

 

To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.

Brain Teasers:

Which Italian Western was taken by star John Ireland, who re-edited the film and changed the title for U.S. release?

No one answered this question yet.

By what name is Chuck Pendleton better known?

Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera, George Grimes and Charles Gilbert knew that it was Gordon Mitchell.

Which American actor, who worked in Italian films, got his professional name from a fortune teller?

George Grimes knew that it was Gordon Mitchell.

Which American bodybuilder talked about hanging around Steve Reeves back in the Muscle Beach era to pick up one of the girls after Steve made his choice? 

George Grimes knew that it was Gordon Mitchell.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which two Italian Westerns feature an hero who makes a living as a demonstrating shooter?

In which Italian Western does our hero shoot five men dead through the eye hole of a prop skull?

In which Italian Western does our hero shoot the villain into the eye through a telescopic scope?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Bertrand van Wonterghem, Charles Gilbert and George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Rosemary Dexter and Peter Lee Lawrence in PER QUALCHE DOLLARO IN PIU, aka FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Charles Gilbert and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Kirk Morris in MACISTE ALLA CORTE DELLO ZAR, aka MACISTE IN THE COURT OF THE CZAR, aka ATLAS AGAINST THE CZAR, aka SAMSON VS. THE GIANT KING.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Charlotte Rampling in IL PORTIERE DI NOTTE, aka THE NIGHT PORTER.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's photo from THE FIVE VENOMS, aka FIVE DEADLY VENOMS. 

Above  is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

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I am interested in knowing what movies you have watched and what you enjoyed or not. So please send me an email at scinema@earthlink.net if you'd like to share. Here's what I watched last week:

Enjoyed:

Astrid et Raphaeille, aka Astrid season four, episode 7 "Ankou" (2023)

Astrid et Raphaeille, aka Astrid season four, episode 8 "Guilty" (2023)

Mildly enjoyed:

BACKROOMS (2026) - I am not fond of director Stanley Kurbrick's version of THE SHINING, and about half-way through writer/director Kane Parsons' film, it seemed to me that he was greatly influence by the Kubrick film. There are little to no plot or script similarities, but Parsons' use of distorting wide angle lenses and the long passanges of the film following characters down hallways immediately brought THE SHINING to my mind. Also that it is ultimately about a place driving characters insane. Because of the similarities, I guessed that the film would have an unresolved ending that was unsatisfying. I've not seen PORTAL or PORTAL 2, which Parsons cites as influences on BACKROOMS, so I can't compare this with those. I did like Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve though.

American Masters "Janis Ian: Breaking Silence" (2026) - I found "At Seventeen" too full of self pity when it came on the radio, and so had little or no interest in giving singer/songwriter Janis Ian any attention after that. I was not aware of "Society's Child", which had come before, and still didn't have any knowledge of it until I saw this documentary. This program is very good, and I would have rated it higher if it didn't rely on dramatic recreations so heavily. As I get older, I find inter-cutting documentary footage of the real people with actors playing out scenes more and more intolerable. However, the life story is interesting, and director Varda Bar-Kar's film is very engaging.

EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES (1964) - I guess I was 9 years old when I first saw this movie and I loved it. Bryan Russell is on his way to Berlin by bus to see  his grandmother. His mother safety pins an envelope with 400 Marks inside his suit coat, which is, unfortunately observed by a "skate" - Heinz Schubert. On the bus, Schubert sits next to Russell and uses his swinging pocket watch to lull Russell to sleep. Russell awakens to find that his envelope is missing just as Schubert gets off the bus. Hurrying, Russell chases after him. He tries to report the theft to a traffic cop, but the cop just shoos him away. Luckily, Russell bumps into Roger Mobley, a young man on the make, who offers his services as a private detective. After Russell and Mobley lose track of Schubert, Mobley enlists his group of child detectives to find Schubert. It turns out that Schubert is a notorious digger of tunnels who is joining Walter Slezak and Peter Ehrlich in a plot to rob a bank.EMIL UND DIE DETEKTIVE is a novel by Erich Kastner originally published in 1929. It was popular enough to warrant a sequel, EMIL AND THE THREE TWINS, in 1935, but by then rumor had it that Kastner had Jewish ancestry and so his books were banned by the Nazis. Before that, in 1931, EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES was made into a movie in Germany featuring a screenplay by Billy Wilder. In 1935, British filmmakers remade the movie and in 1952 made a three part TV series. German filmmakers  remade.the film in 1954 before Walt Disney Productions did the version I saw in 1964. In 1980, filmmakers in Bangladesh did their version while German filmmakers did yet another version in 2001. The child detectives seem to have been inspired by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle's Baker Street Irregulars which first appeared in 1887 to assist Sherlock Holmes. Kastner's detectives had no adult supervision and only seem to help other children in trouble. Director Peter Tewskbury and screenwriter A.J. Carothers had already proved to be successful collaborators on the My Three Sons TV series. This project seemed to have been an experiment by Disney to make films in West Germany with a predominantly German crew, and the result was quite good. Bryan Russell was so appealing in this movie that I expected to see him in more stuff afterwards, but that didn't happen. 

Did not enjoy:

BEOWULF (2007) - I'm not invested in the original poem to want to argue over whether the screenplay, credited bo Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, should have been closer to the version taught in school. But this version is not engaging and ultimately rather dull, for all of its visual inventiveness and action. Plus, I don't respond well to "motion-capture animation". What is the point of watching a movie featuring Robin Wright Penn, Angelina Jolie and Alison Lohman if you can't see their flesh? Made the year after the huge success of 300, another film I didn't much like, BEOWULF seemed as if director Robert Zemeckis was going to show those other filmmakers that he could do better. For me, director Matthew Robbins did something similar but better in 1981 with DRAGONSLAYER.

COME AWAY (2010) - Gugu Mbatha-Raw reads THE STOLEN CHILD by William Butler Yeats to her two boys and one daughter at bedtime, before recounting the story of her own childhood. Her father, David Oyelowo, and mother, Angelina Jolie, lived in the forest with their children, two boys and one girl (our narrator). It soon becomes apparent that the screenplay by Marissa Kate Goodhill is a weird origin story mixing elements from ALICE IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll and PETER PAN by J.M. Barrie. Even though the film is set in Victorian England, most of the cast is of African anchestry, with Michael Caine and Derek Jacobi popping up in supporting roles. Director Brenda Chapman, who won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for 2012's BRAVE, with co-director Steve Purcell, made her live action debut with this film, which, unfortunately, fails to engage with an odd mixture of grim drama and confusing fantasy elements.

GOOD FORTUNE (2025) - Keanu Reeves is an angel with a simple job - he alerts drivers who are texting on the road to become aware before they are involved in deadly accidents. When he hears Stephen McKinley Henderson talk about how good he feels helping 'lost souls" re-discover the joy of living, Reeves decides he wants to do that too. He watches gig worker Aziz Ansari giving up on life, and decides to step in. One of Ansari's jobs was doing odd jobs for rich guy Seth Rogen. Rogen lives a life that Ansari envies, so Reeves has Rogen and Ansari switch lives in an effort to teach Ansari that being wealthy doesn't solve all of life's problems. Eventually, Ansari learns his lesson thanks to his crush on Keke Palmer, who is dedicated to making the lives of low income people better. In the middle of the film, Reeves has his wings taken away by head angel Sandra Oh because of how badly he screwed everything up. Reeves and Rogen bond while trying to live on the streets, while Ansari finds that Palmer doesn't want anything to do with a snooty rich guy. In the end, Reeves is able to switch Rogen and Ansari back to how they were, Ansari begins a romance with Palmer and Rogen decides to treat  his employees better.Aziz Ansari was supposed to make his feature film directorial debut with BEING MORTAL in 2022, but after that project was scrapped, GOOD FORTUNE became his debut - with a little help from Seth Rogen. It is mildly amusing, but the obvious message is delivered a bit heavy-handed and most of the comedy is unfunny.

THE INFERNAL MACHINE (2022) - I had never heard of "The Hilly Earth Society" or The Truth Podcast, but that is what is credited as inspiring Andrew Hunt to write and direct this movie. All  I have to say is that the revenge revealed at the end of this long and uninvolving movie could have been accomplished in a much more straightforward manner. Set in Southern California, the movie was shot in Portugal by an Australian based company. It may run under two hours, but it certainly felt much longer. If you want a main character who is confused and angry, then MEMENTO star Guy Pearce is an obvious choice. If you want a troubled and probably insane young man who is better than Helter Skelter's Jeremy Davies? 

OUR IDIOT BROTHER (2011) - Paul Rudd is a warm hearted and loving and unambitious young man who is happy living on a farm selling produce at a farmer's market. He is so trusting so that when a police officer comes up to him and asks him if he has some weed to help with a difficult week, Rudd obliges. Naturally, Rudd gets sent to prison. When he gets out, he finds that the woman with whom he had been living at the farm, Kathryn Hahn, has brought in a new boyfriend, T.J.Miller, and she sends Rudd packing. At first Rudd moves back in with his mother, Shirley Knight, who then asks Rudd's three sisters for help getting their brother back on his feet. Because their brother is a simple sort, the three sisters regard him as an idiot, but it soon become apparent that he is wiser because he sees through the bullshit with which they are living their lives. You can't fault the producers of this film with skimping on the cast, with terrific actresses playing the sisters: Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer. Of course, by the end, the three sisters realize their error in disrespecting their brother. Also in the cast are Rashida Jones, Sterling Brown. Steve Coogan and Adam Scott. As charming as Rudd is, having everyone belittle him gets tiring very quickly, and the film isn't much fun. Especially, as it is easy to predict how everything will end. Writer Evgenia Peretz came up with the initial story idea which she developed with her brother, director Jesse Peretz. and her husband David Schisgall.

TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL (1950) - I didn't see any of the Lex Barker/Tarzan movies when I was a kid. I saw the Gordon Scott & Jock Mahoney films, which I enjoyed. When a slew of these films showed up on cable TV, I decided to seize the opportunity to watch them, and I soon found out that the Maciste movies I loved were often retreads of Tarzan movies. That was probably why distributors had no problem, at times, re-titling Maciste movies as Tarzan movies.This is the 14th of the "official" Tarzan series that began with 1932's TARZAN THE APE MAN, starring Johnny Weissmuller, and the second to star Weissmuller's replacement Barker. Vanessa Brown, aka Smylia Brind, was given the role of Jane for this her only appearance in the series. Just where was this movie supposed to be taking place? If it is Africa, why are there only an handful of Black men hired as extras? When it becomes apparent that the troublemakers seem to be a lost tribe of old time Egyptians, they too all look like very Northern Europeans. While taking a leisurely elephant ride through the jungle one morning, Barker and Brown, with Cheeta and the ape's mate on a smaller elephant, hear a scream and soon discover that Anthony Caruso is kidnapping young women. Caruso grabs hold of Brown, but Barker rescues her after scarring Caruso in the face with a knife. Barker captured one of Caruso's men, but before our hero can make him talk, the prisoner falls deathly ill. Brown figures that Dr. Arthur Shields may be able to help, so Barker swings and swims off to fetch the Doc. Taking one look at Barker, Nurse Denise Darcel insists that she come along back to the village. Shields identifies the deadly plague that killed the captive, and after inoculating the friendly village against the plague, insists on going with Barker to find the kidnapped women and the source of the plague. Meanwhile, Caruso is pissed about being scarred, and so goes out of his way to kidnap Brown as well as Darcel. Caruso gets an ally tribe to impede our heroes following. Caruso's allies look like walking bushes and spit out poison darts. Eventually, everyone gets to a lost civilization. which is in the midst of putting the finishing touches on an huge tomb for the king, who just died of the plague. High Priest Robert Warwick tells Prince Hurd Hatfield that having Caruso kidnap young women from other tribes is a bad thing, but since Warwick is unable to pray the plague out of Hatfield's little boy, Warwick is arrested and replace by Caruso. Perhaps the best thing about TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL is that when Brown and Darcel are brought to the palace, they, and all of the other kidnapped women, are forced to wear slave girl outfits, which look quite fetching on the actresses. After much running about and tussling, Barker rescues the women. Luckily, Shields' associate, Robert Alda - who lagged behind because of a leg injury, finds the bottle of serum which cures the plague but had fallen out of Shield's pack - shows up to help cure Hatfield's son after which  the Prince calls off the guards that are trying to kill Barker. Luckily, this happens after Barker is able to throw the villain into the lion pit into which Caruso had planned to dump Warwick. Even with all of the action, the movie is paced badly and is rather dull. Did kid audience actually respond to cut-aways to Cheeta being cute during fight scenes? Reportedly Eva Garbor was one of the uncredited "slave girls". Hans Jacoby and Arnold Belgard take the blame for the script while the direction is credited to Lee Sholem. Robert Alda would appear in another film featuring the heroine trapped in an Egyptian tomb in IL SEPOLCRO DEI I RE, aka CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER.

WHY MEN ARE CLUELESS, aka QUESTIONS (2023) - If you are expecting that writer/director Avery Kidd Waddell's movie will actually offer insight into the question posed by the film's title, then you'll be sorely disappointed. If you are expecting that this "comedy" about the difficulties regarding male/female relationships will be funny, then you'll be seriously disappointed. If you are expecting that this nearly two hour movie will succeed in presenting a moden day America with only a few Euro-Americans as extras, then you'll be disappointed when Lou Richards suddenly appears at the door around the 75 minuted mark. Is anyone really interested in yet another movie about how men and women can't really communicate, but ends with our "hero" meeting a new woman with whom he seems to click?

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Angel Rivera Highly enjoyed:

"MY WEEK WITH MARILYN".(2011)

Great performance by Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe.

 

"BUS STOP" (1956)

Another of my favorite MM movies.

 

"THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH" (1955) 

Another great MM movie.

 

"NIAGARA" (1953) 

My all-time favorite MM movie with great performances from her co-stars Joseph Cotton and Jean Peters.

 

"RAWHIDE" (1951)

Not to be confused with the TV series of the same name. This one is an interesting western starring Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward. With Hugh Marlowe; Jack Elam as villains waiting at a stagecoach depot to rob a gold shipment and hold Power and Hayward as unwilling bystanders.

 

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Charles Gilbert watched:

THE BIG CHASE (1954) B&W. Rookie cop Glenn Langan pursues a gang (including Jim Davis and Lon Chaney) pulling off a heist, and attempting to escape by road, river, and air. Meanwhile his wife is bearing her firstborn. 

DEATHMOON (1978) Robert Foxworth vacations in Oahu Hawaii at doctor's recommendations when he complains of disturbing nightmares. Joe Penny is security chief at a resort there, plagued by a thief raiding the rooms. His attention is diverted to several gruesome deaths by a werewolf. 

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David Deal Enjoyed:

TERROR IN THE MIDNIGHT SUN (58)

BREAKFAST WITH THE DEAD (64) - From 2018: "When it appears that DA Wolfgang Preiss convicted and had executed the wrong man for murder, he goes undercover to find out the truth.  60's German take on a forties film noir with an unusually robust performance from Preiss."

SMUGGLERS OF DEATH (59) - From 2022: "Cold War Czech film about border guards trying to keep smuggling under control.  Surprisingly effective with good visuals and compelling characters."

CAVE OF THE LIVING DEAD (65)

SPY IN YOUR EYE (65) - Check the Eurospy Guide.

LORNE (26) - Worthwhile documentary on SNL producer.

PURPLE NOON (60)

JANE BY CHARLOTTE (21) - This will suit a particular taste (I liked it), this is not a bio pic of Jane Birkin.

Mildly enjoyed:

THE TINGLER (59)

THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (70)

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:

Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie / The Saragossa manuscript (1965, Wojciech Has)

Enjoyed:

Jinsimi data / Touch your heart (2018, Park joon-hwa) – episodes 3 to 6

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