To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Which American actor who became a star in Italian Westerns played MacBeth at UCLA?
No one has answered this question yet.
By what name is Sergio Ciani better known?
Tom Betts, Bertrand Van Wonterghem, Rick Garibaldi, Charles Gilbert and George Grimes knew that it is Alan Steel.
By what name is Joseph Marvin better known?
Tom Betts and Bertrand Van Wonterghem knew that it is Jose Luis Merino.
By what name is Stelvio Rosi better known?
Tom Betts, Bertrand Van Wonterghem, Charles Gilbert and George Grimes knew that it is Stan Cooper.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Charles Gilbert asks, "Which Saturday morning television show marked Lee Van Cleef's TV debut?"
Charles Gilbert asks, "By what name is William Hawkins better known?"
Which Italian director was born November 23, 1901 in Rome and died in the city of his birth in 1966?
Name the movies from which these images came.
Tom Betts, Bertrand Van Wonterghem, Charles Gilbert, Rick Garibaldi and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Gisella Hahn, Elena Pedemonte, Terence Hill and the Monte Gelato waterfalls in LO CHIAMAVANO TRINITA, aka THEY CALL ME TRINITY.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Charles Gilbert identified last week's frame grab of Luciana Gilli in URSUS NELLA TERRA DI FUOCO, aka URSUS IN THE LAND OF FIRE, aka SONS OF HERCULES IN THE LAND OF FIRE.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Angel Rivera, Bertrand Van Wonterghem, Charles Gilbert and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Joe Spinell, David Hasselhoff, Marjoe Gortner and Caroline Munro in STARCRASH.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Angel Rivera and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Chow Yun Fat, Ti Lung and Dean Shek in A BETTER TOMORROW 2.
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:
A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER DOESN'T CRY (1998) - Kaylie Jones, the daughter of FROM HERE TO ETERNITY author James Jones, wrote this semi-autobiographical novel. Director James Ivory adapted the novel to the screen with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Naturally, the film was produced by Ismail Merchant. A pregnant Virginie Ledoyen begins to write a diary. Later, American writer Kris Kristofferson living in 1960s Paris with wife Barbara Hershey and daughter Luisa Conlon wants to adopt Ledoyen's son, Samuel Gruen, out of the orphanage in which he lives. Nanny Dominique Blanc likes to think of Conlon as her own little girl, and sides with her in a dislike for the new child. Eventually, the children become close, and the film begins to focus more on the story of the girl's coming-of-age. As usual, Ivory brings a detached perspective to the proceedings, but as with his best films, the slow pacing results in a complex and colorful portrait. The kids becomes teenage Leelee Sobieski and Jesse Bradford whose difficult growing up is made more difficult when Kristofferson feels that his heart problems requires the family to move to the United States. The film never becomes melodramatic and achieves a gentle strength. Also in the film are Jane Birkin, Macha Méril and Catriona MacColl. At one point we see STAGECOACH on TV dubbed in French. At another point we see Pauline Kael on TV talking to Woody Allen about what she likes about his movies.
I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW (2018) - There is alot that goes unexplained in this movie, and I can't really sum up what it's about, but it worked for me. I was held and interested from the beginning and felt satisfied by the ending, even if it seemed to leave alot unexplained. I didn't know much about this movie when I started it, and I don't want to give away anything that might prevent someone from having the viewing experience that I had. Peter Dinklage is compelling as a man who thinks he might be the only human alive. He lives in a small town and is methodically cleaning up every house and burying every body. One morning he finds a car crashed in town and takes it upon himself to treat Elle Fanning's injuries while she is unconscious. When she awakens, he hopes that she will leave soon, but, eventually, decides to experiment with having a neighbor. Director and cinematographer Reed Morano won a Primetime Emmy and a Director Guild's award for her work on The Handmaid's Tale. Mike Makowsky wrote the script for this film.
Justified season one (2010)
Justified season two (2011)
Justified season three (2012)
Did not enjoy:
ASHER (2018) - Michael Caton-Jones directed this dull hitman fantasy which should have been called THE LONELY HITMAN. Getting his assignments from a man running a Jewish dry cleaning business, Ron Perlman shines his shoes, in extreme close up, before doing a job. His usual modus operandi is to buy a new umbrella and pack of cigarettes before blowing enough smoke to set off the sprinkler system and fire alarm. When the mark exits their room, he shoots them. Things get complicated on a job when the elevator is out of order and he has to walk up many flights of stairs. When he tries to blow smoke, he passes out and falls into the apartment of Famke Janssen (who doesn't look good with all of the wrinkles in her face gone). Quickly he decides to try and date her, but she holds off, until after a visit with her demented mother, Jacqueline Bisset, which makes her so depressed that she stops on by his apartment. It gets awkward, because Perlman's prostitute friend, and sometimes partner-in-crime, Marta Milans is visiting to help celebrate Perlman's birthday. However, Perlman and Janssen have a nice dinner. Perlman likes to work alone, so when he's contracted by Richard Dreyfuss to work with his former student, Peter Facinelli, he's not happy. When visiting Facinelli, he tells him that he doesn't think its a good idea for him to be setting up a home with a pregnant woman, played by Blake Perlman (Ron's real life daughter). After the job. everyone connected to it are being killed, including Facinelli and his pregnant woman. Of course, it is Dreyfuss, who is convinced that Facinelli was plotting against him. When Perlman attacks Dreyfuss, he gains access to the garage underneath Dreyfuss' home and shoots the bodyguards up through the ceiling of the garage and the floor of the home with an Uzi. Perlman wants not to kill Dreyfuss, but the villain makes it impossible. Figuring that all of the bad guys are dead, Perlman goes to Janssen offering a future together. The movie has a false ending in which Janssen says no and walks away. As the end credits don't start rolling, we know she will change her mind and show up later at his cabin in the woods. The film ends showing that even in sleep, Perlman is still hyper alert to possible danger.
THE GRACE OF JAKE (2015) - Singer Jake La Botz stars as a fellow traveling to Palestine, Arkansas. Why? Slowly we come to understand that his mother got kicked out of town by daddy Michael Beck. After a stint in prison, La Botz has come to kill the father he never met - blaming him for all of the problems in his life. However, he finds acceptance from the people in this small town so that when he finally meets Beck. he doesn't have the hatred in his heart that he once had. Written and directed by Christopher Hicky. The film is attuned to the rhythms of small town life and gentle towards the characters therein. If you have the patience for its simple truths, you might enjoy this.
KART RACER (2003) - A Canadian-German co-production, this film directed by Stuart Gillard tells the heart-warming tale of son Will Rothhaar bonding with widowed father Randy Quaid as they build a go-kart to enter a big racing competition. Nicholas DiBella wrote the screenplay with gives the filmmakers plenty of time to show off the NASCAR Racing 2002 Season arcade game.
THE LITTLE MERMAID (2018) - Writer and co-director Blake Harris and co-director to Chris Bouchard obviously felt the world needed another version of the Hans Christian Andersen tale, but they quickly told the original version in an animated title sequence. Then the film seems to be a remake of THE PRINCESS BRIDE with grandma Shirley MacLaine relating a new meremaid tale to granddaughters Lexy Kolker and Claire Crosby, but without the satirical humor. Uncle William Moseley is trying to raise his orphaned niece Loreto Peralta who believes her breathing problem might be related to being part mermaid. When a carnival featuring a mermaid shows up, Peralta wants to go and Moseley agrees. It turns out that Poppy Drayton is a real mermaid who gets to have legs when the tide is low - just long enough for her and Moseley to fall in love. Unfortunately, Drayton and other magical people are under the control of the evil Armando Gutierrez. With the help of mystic Shanna Collins, Moseley gets Drayton's soul from Gutierrez, and they return Drayton to the sea. There she teaches Peralta that a swim will cure her breathing problems. Not surprisingly, after MacLaine finishes her story, the granddaughters don't go to bed, but catch MacLaine turning into a meremaid and swimming in the sea. Gina Gershon also shows up in a small role.
MENACE II SOCIETY (1993) - I can't speak to the authenticity of the milieu portrayed, but the film itself plays like the most obvious of "message" movies. From the get-go, we see horrible people doing horrible things. In the end, horrible things happen to horrible people who fail to heed good advice. At least the little boy isn't killed. This debut feature by Allen and Albert Hughes is notable for resulting in Tupac Shakur being convicted of assault and battery on Allen Hughes after he was fired from the role finally played by Vonte Sweet. Star Tyrin Turner is mostly known now as a comedy writer for Jamie Foxx and Affion Crockett. This is the feature film debuts of Jada Pinkett and Larentz Tate. Also in the film are Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Duke and Charles S. Dutton.
NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER (2016) - American born Israeli filmmaker Joseph Cedar got an Oscar nomination for his third feature film in 2007 and his fourth in 2011. NORMAN is an American-Israeli coproduction starring Richard Gere as a small-time Wall Street fellow who works at arranging contacts between important people for a fee. When his friendship with Lior Ashkenazi blossoms after Ashkenazi become the Prime Minister of Israel, Gere blabs about his connections to Charlotte Gainsbourg; a pretty woman he meets on a commuter train. It turns out that Gainsbourg works for the Justice Department at the Israeli Embassy and uses Gere's information to begin a corruption investigation into Ashkenazi. Meanwhile, Gere hopes that his contact with Dan Stevens will lead to Harris Yulin donating money to save Rabbi Steve Buscemi's Temple from being demolished. Lawyer Michael Sheen tries to advise Gere how to protect himself, but Gere successfully pulls off the deals he set in place while ensuring that he can not be compelled to testify against Ashkenazi by eating a bag of peanuts, of which he is allergic. Cedar has a reputation for making films that "touch delicate issues of Israeli society". Perhaps I just don't know enough about the milieu of this picture, but I find it hard to watch the story of a nervous guy on the make after the title gives away that he's going to have a "tragic fall". Hank Azaria shows up late in the picture as another guy on the make hoping to connect with Gere while he faces destruction.
Prime Suspect 5 Errors of Judgement (1996) - As usual, Helen Mirren begins a sexual relationship with the wrong guy. That's one error of judgement. Another error judgement is that since they could find no evidence to confirm that Joseph Jacobs killed Chris Bisson they let him out of custody. Out of custody, Jacobs gets nabbed by Steven Mackintosh who forces Ray Emmet Brown to shoot Jacobs to death. However, the biggest error of judgement is that John McArdle thinks that making a deal to keep Mackintosh out of jail in return for his giving information to the police about other criminals is good. Guy Andrews wrote this for Phil Davis to direct. Also in the cast are David O'Hara, Julia Lane and Marsha Thomason.
Prime Suspect The Last Witness, aka Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness (2003) - Now that we're in the new millennium, our heroes aren't looking for Nazi war criminals given sanctuary by Western democracies. Our heroes are looking for Serbian war criminals. Actually, Helen Mirren starts out to just find the murderer of a young female Bosnian refugee who has been tortured and strangled. When she finds out that the victim has identical torture signs that are ten years old on top of the recent torture signs, an investigation into her past becomes important. This time the interference isn't because she is a woman. This time the interference is from the British government who is using the murderer to ferret out other war criminals. Director Tom Hooper went on from this to many high profile Hollywood projects including THE KING'S SPEECH and the musical version of LES MISERABLES. Here he shows a love of wide angle lenses. Peter Berry is credited with the writing. Mirren is surrounded by a rather sterling cast including Liam Cunningham, Ben Miles, Robert Pugh, Mark Strong, Rupert Frazer, Clare Holman, Frank Finlay and Phoebe Nicholls.
THE ROVER (2014) - At one time, if filmmakers wanted to make a depressing existential chase drama played out against an harsh environment, they'd make a Western. Australian filmmakers seem to prefer setting it in the Outback at a future time when civilization has fallen. Aside from giving Robert Pattinson a chance to shed his "pretty boy" appearance, this movie is pointless. Given to long silences punctuated by seemingly unmotivated sudden gun violence, the movie is very dull. Guy Pearce gets out of his car long enough for a gang to crash their truck, steal his car and head off down the road. Pearce gets the truck working and chases after them. Things get complicated when Pattinson, whom the gang left for dead, turns out to just be wounded and ends up joining Pearce in the search for his gang. After about an hour Pearce gets captured by some military types, and we start to get an explanation, but not really. At one point, our hero stops at a shop to buy more bullets, but at no time does anyone put more gasoline in their vehicles. In the end, after just about everyone is dead, we find out that Pearce wanted his car back because his dead dog was in the trunk and he wanted to bury him. David Michôd wrote and directed the film.
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Charles Gilbert watched:
INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940) The special effects near the end when he dons the scarecrow clothes and ambles into town is quite inferior. The crowd is staring far ahead of his presence, and he appears ghostly.
EL DORADO (1966) I tuned in to see Michele Carey and discovered Charlene Holt. Robert (the sheriff) and brother John Mitchum (bartender) shared scenes in the saloon.
A NAME THAT CRIED REVENGE (1968) "When Johnny comes marching home again..." begins the show as youngsters taunt Davy Flanagan (Anthony Steffen). Turns out he's wanted for army desertion, and a bounty killer tries to haul him to the judge. Davy overtakes him and then seeks to clear his name. Sam Kellogg (William Berger) offers to help legally but proves unreliable. While serving in the army his wife Liza (Evelyn Stewart / Ida Galli) married scoundrel gang leader Clay Hackett (Robert Hundar). He gets her back for the finale.
Highway Patrol:
'Female Hitchhiker' S02E24 Keith Richards (not that one) and Angela Stevens play bandits who artfully plan road holdups using her charm to lure men with substantial cash on them. Mathews tracks them by the scent of perfume left behind by the beautiful blond.
'Human Bomb' S01E22 A disgruntled electrical engineer rigs his car with dynamite and heads for the chemical plant that fired him nine months earlier.
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David Deal enjoyed:
THE VALLEY OF DEATH (68) - Winnetou and Old Shatterhand help to solve the mystery of a missing gold shipment and its military escort. The final pairing of Pierre Brice and Lex Barker in this great western series. All are recommended.
SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA (68) - Santo uses his newly-invented time machine (!) to travel back to Dracula's day in an attempt to grab his treasure. More fabulous Santo nonsense, this time featuring nudity in the sexo version released by VCI.
THE LION OF THEBES (64)
THE DARJEELING LIMITED (07)
Mildly enjoyed:
BLOOD OF NOSTRADAMUS (59) - The fourth and final installment of the Nostradamus series (see Curse of Nostradamus). I might watch these back-to-back next time to get the serial feel.
CAIN'S CUTTHROATS (70) - Scott Brady and John Carradine team up to go revengin' for the slaughter of Brady's family by his old Confederate army buddies. Brady and Carradine are really good together, and Brady gets to stretch more than he normally does. The down side is the rest of the movie is pretty terrible.
THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED (63) - Stanley Baker gets a call from his long-thought dead father in Bavaria, so he travels there to investigate. Adequate Cold War mystery with a solid cast. The tensions are thin but fans of the small Brit thrillers of the period will be entertained enough.
THE BURNING COURT (62) - A group of heirs gathers at a spooky old house to talk a lot about a family curse and the imminent death of the patriarch. Horror mystery looks great but doesn't hang together.
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Bertrand Van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:
Black books – season 3 – episode 1
Allo, allo ! – episode « the british are coming » (1982, David Croft)
Enjoyed:
Swedish dicks – season 2 – episodes 6 to 8
WandaVision – season 1 – episode 6
The watch –season 1 – episodes 5 to 7
Kill me three times (2014, Kriv Stenders)
The young offenders (2016, Peter Foott)
Aunty donna’s big ol’house of fun – season 1 (2020) – episodes 1 to 5
Les grands détectives – episode « Inspecteur Wens - six hommes morts » (1974, Jacques Nahum)
Sorceress (1982, Brian Stuart)
Voyage to the bottom of the sea – episode « Leviathan » (1965, Harry Harris)
The time tunnel – episode « The last patrol » (1966, Sobey Martin)
Mildly enjoyed:
Spenser confidential (2019, Peter Berg)
Trade (2006, Marco Kreutzpaintner)
La fabrique de l’ignorance (doc) (2020, Pascal Vasselin & Franck Cuveillier)
Did not enjoy:
Popsy Pop (1970, Jean Herman)
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Angel Rivera recently watched:
"The Sword and the Dragon" on YouTube; a movie I haven't seen since the sixties and only in black and white by way of my old Emerson black and white TV and was pleasantly surprised. I only remembered scenes with the "wind demon". The rest of the movie seemed almost like a new movie to me as I remembered little from past viewings. While the movie as a whole seemed a little old fashioned in its presentation, it was still interesting to watch. (Yes I know it was originally a Russian fantasy film about a Russian folk hero, Ilya Muromets, but a lot of the film seemed somewhat like peplum, but with a lot more clothing.)
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