July 27 - August 2, 2024

 

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Which American actor complained that Joseph E. Levine offered him a contract just to ruin his relationship with producer Carlo Ponti?

It was Brad Harris, who was in talks with Carlo Ponti when Joseph E. Levine stepped in and convinced him to make THIS TIME I'LL MAKE YOU RICH with a new name, Robin McDavid, with which Levine was going to launch him into a whole new career. After Ponti went away, so did Levine.

Complete the lyric: "He came out out of nowhere, ___ __ ___ ______ ____".

Tom Betts and George Grimes knew that it was "with no one beside him", the theme song for ARIZONA COLT.

By what name is Nat Williams, Ted Carter and Robert Black better known?

Tom Betts, Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that it was Giovanni "Nello" Pazzafini.

Which Italian stunt man/actor fought with Steve Reeves twice,  Kirk Morris three times and Giuliano Gemma five times?

Tom Betts knew that it was Giovanni "Nello" Pazzafini.

And now for some new brain teasers:

In which movie, based on a DC comic book, is the final gunfight from IL BUONO, IL BRUTTO, CATTIVO, aka THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY seen on a TV screen?

How many directors of Spaghetti Westerns were born in Argentina?

By what name is Manolita Barroso better known?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Tom Betts and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Tomas Milian in VAMOS A MATAR, COMPANEROS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes and Angel Rivera identified last week's photo of Virna Lisi and Ornella Vanoni in ROMOLO E REMO, aka DUEL OF THE TITANS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's photo of Jean Sorel, Nino Vingelli and Ilaria Occhini in L'UOMO CHE RIDE, aka THE MAN WHO LAUGHS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes and Angel Rivera identified last week's frame grab of Bruce Lee in ENTER THE DRAGON.

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:

SON OF A GUNFIGHTER (1965) - Would I have enjoyed this film as much if it was a standard Hollywood Western not shot in Spain and filled with Spanish actors? I think I would but it does have Fernando Rey, Aldo Sambrell, Antonio Casas and Barta Barri. Screenwriter Clarke Reynolds wins points from me pretty quickly by having James Philbrook's gang using dynamite buried in the road to stop a stagecoach they want to rob rather than the usual chasing after a moving coach guns a-blazing. The film starts with a bit of mis-direction, with Sheriff Ralph Browne and deputy Kieron Moore guarding a Wells Fargo stage, so one would assume that the payload on the stage would be the focus of the plot. It isn't. Instead, the focus of the plot is on Russ Tamblyn, who flags down the stage in a scene that echoes John Wayne's entrance in STAGECOACH. But, this time the sheriff doesn't know who Tamblyn is, and he'll only give up "Johnny". Tamblyn vigorously joins Browne and Moore in fighting off the attacking robbers, particularly because he wants to kill Philbrook. Told that Philbrook holds up in some mountains in Mexico, Tamblyn sets off alone to try and hunt him down. Our hero later finds out that Moore is following him, hoping to cash-in on the $10,000 on Philbrook's head. Tamblyn comes upon Bandido Aldo Sambrell and his men trying to rustle Fernando Rey's cattle. He jumps into the fight thinking that it is Philbrook attacking, and is wounded. Rey is grateful for the help and insists on taking Tamblyn to his hacienda to recover. Reynolds' script get more points from me by showing that it takes time to heal from even a minor wound, but, of course, this gives Rey's daughter, Maria Granada, time to fall in love with our hero. The dialogue about "living for love or dying for hate" is a bit corny, but it doesn't knock this film's pace off the track. Moore allows Sambrell to catch him, and proposes that they join in an effort to secure Philbrook's reward. So, with a few of Rey's men, Tamblyn sets off to the mountain where Philbrook is hiding but has to cross the territory held by Sambrell's gang. Eventually, we learn the secret of why our hero wants Philbrook: it's there in the film's title. Tamblyn blames his father for the miserable life his mother had before she died. The film climaxes with a battle that is pretty well staged by director Paul Landres. Tamblyn and Moore are not very compelling in their roles, but Granada often comes off like Annette Funicello, which is a good thing. While the music by Robert Mellin and Frank Barber isn't up to Italian Western standards, it is nicely stirring. Reynolds also co-wrote GUNFIGHTERS OF CASA GRANDE, another American style Western shot in Spain with Aldo Sambrell leading a gang of bandidos and Maria Granada as the love interest. Later on, Reynolds worked on SHALAKO and THE DESPERADOS. Meanwhile, Landres went back to working on U.S. television. 

TITO AND ME (1992) - A low key comedy by writer and director Goran Marković, TITO AND ME depicts life during Marshal Tito's rule in Yugoslavia during the 1950s. Ten year old Dimitrije Vojnov lives in a cramped apartment in Belgrade with his mother and father, his aunt, uncle and their little girl, and his grandmother. A "round" little boy, Dimitrije has taken to eating bits of the apartment wall. In school, he learns about how Communist dictator Marshall Tito is the greatest man in the world and he has a crush on orphan girl Milena Vukosav with whom he walks home from school. Milena keeps Dimitrije at a distance because he is half her size and "round", but she accepts his grandmother's ring that he gives her out of love. When Milena tells Dimitrije that she will be going away on a special student camping trip celebrating Tito's march from Zagreb to his hometown during World War 2, he wonders how he can join the trip. It turns out that his class is invited to write a composition about how much they love Tito. Dimitrije writes a poem which wins the contest and the prize is that the gets to join the trip. Being short and "round", Dimitrije is ridiculed by the scout leader Lazar Ristovski, while Ristovski is terrified of the secret service men who are following them during the trip. Dimitrije imagines Tito appearing from time to time to help guide him, even when Ristovsky blames the boy for things not going to plan. In an effort to please Milena, Dimitrije has stopped eating his favorite, but fattening, foods. In the end, after feeling betrayed by the girl, Dimitrije turns away from a chance to meet Tito to instead enjoy the huge banquet that has been laid out to celebrate the young people's trip. TITO AND ME is the first film featuring the young Dimitrije Vojnov, but he went on to have not only a long career as an actor, but also as a writer - though not outside of Serbia. 

Mildly enjoyed:

BIG STONE GAP (2014) - Inspired by her Italian American heritage and her childhood in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, novelist Adriana Trigiani wrote the novel BIG STONE GAP in 2000 after a career as a writer for television. It became a best seller, so she's been putting out a novel a year ever since, including three follow-ups to BIG STONE GAP - BIG CHERRY HOLLER, MILK GLASS NOON and HOME TO STONE GAP. This is her debut feature as writer/director, and Trigiani made a very enjoyable romantic comedy. For a film set in a small town in Virginia, Trigiani did not cast the usual Southern types aside from Ashley Judd as the 40 year old town spinster. However, it turns out that Broadway star Patrick Wilson is from Virginia and makes a suitable love interest. Set in 1978, the film introduces us to Judd, who owns the town pharmacy in addition to being a member of the Emergency Response Team and directing the town's annual production of TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE. Judd's beau is John Benjamin Hickey, who turns out to be useless as a sex partner. Coal miner Wilson is the man with whom Judd feels a connection, but newly divorced Jane Krakowski seems intent on snaring him for herself. Judd's mother dies, and among her papers handled by lawyer Anthony LaPaglia, is a confession telling Judd that the man Judd knew as her father, was actually someone who took pity on a pregnant Italian immigrant newly arrived in the U.S. The chaos in Judd's life continues when Wilson proposes marriage, Hickey admits that he "likes men", her step-father's family demands the return of the business and home that Judd inherited, and Elizabeth Taylor is scheduled to visit town as part of her new husband John Warner's political campaign. Whoopi Goldberg plays Judd's best friend, Judith Ivey plays Wilson's mother, Jenna Elfman plays the town's mobile librarian, Erika Coleman plays a poor young woman to whom Judd gives a job, and Jasmine Guy plays Coleman's mother. Chris Sarandon makes a surprise appearance near the end. The film is very charming and moves at a nice pace, but the final scenes feel a bit rushed which spoils the believibility of most of the movie.

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE (2024) - I guess Columbia Pictures has decided to try and make GHOSTBUSTERS into an MCU style franchise with the creation of Ghostcorps. Having never been a real fan of Ghostbusters, I'm behind on the new ones with this being their third installment. Toward that end, Ghostcorps hired many cast members who are apart of the MCU: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt. For old-time fans, they get the original "busters" except for the actor who died. Basically this is a retread of the first GHOSTBUSTERS with William Atherton returning as the political "pain-in-the-butt". It is over long and over complicated and sounds like someone has been watching the FAST AND FURIOUS movies for all the talk about the importance of "family". Still, Annie Potts, Mckenna Grace and Emily Alyn Lind bring enough charm to keep my attention. Having co-written the previous "buster" movie, Gil Kenan is given the chore of directing this one. Why does Phoebe go into an empty park to set up a chess game by herself?

GHOSTBUSTERS AFTER LIFE (2021) - Now FROZEN EMPIRE makes more sense. This is the film which introduces Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard. Logan Kim and Celeste O'Connor to the series, and since Mckenna Grace gets most of the screen time, it is the better of the two films. Co-written and directed by Jason Reitman, the film is a direct sequel to the two films Jason's father Ivan made in the 1980s. It also serves as a touching memorial to dead cast member Harold Ramis, who helped to create this whole thing with Dan Aykroyd. There are a number of dud ideas - particularly creating an army of living marshmallows that look like the Minions from DESPICABLE ME and act like GREMLINS. However, bringing back Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver works well.

Did not enjoy:

BLACK ADAM (2022) - Marvel Studios does this sort-of thing so much better than DC even when DC does their darnedest to copy Marvel. I guess having learned from the Zach Snyder films, BLACK ADAM has some jokes tossed about, though having Dwayne Johnson not understanding sarcasm just reminds me of Dave Bautista of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY not understanding irony. I guess Teth-Adam is related to SHAZAM, because they both use the same magic word, but there is no effort to connect the two in this movie. And where did the Justice Society come from in a "universe" where the Justice League already exists? I guess Amada Waller, played by Viola Davis, is the DC Extended Universe's version of Nick Fury, who was introduced in SUICIDE SQUAD, but she usually does more harm than good. Here she sends out Hawkman (Aldis Hodge of Leverage), Atom Smasher - who seems like DC's version of ANT-MAN, Cyclone - who seems like DC's version of Storm from the X-Men movies and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) - who seems like DC's version of Professor X and Doctor Strange. After Sarah Shahi accidentally unleashes the murderous Black Adam, the Justice Society - who aren't interested in Justice but in maintaining the status quo - shows up to put him in suspended animation. So, while we know that Adam is the good guy, the other good guys spend some 90 minutes fighting against him, until the real villain emerges and then Adam has to be unleashed again to ensure an happy ending. This is kind-of like BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN, but a different hero dies. While it is always nice to see Sarah Shahi of Life and The L Word, she doesn't alone make BLACK ADAM worth seeing. As with other movie franchises chasing the MCU's success, there is even a mid-end credits scene possibly pointing the way for a sequel. Who thought it was a good idea to include The Rolling Stones' song "Paint It Black" in this movie?

F9 THE FAST SAGA (2021) - Was John Cena cast as Vin Diesel's hithertoo unknown brother as a "slap in the face" to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson? I must qualify my "did not enjoy" designation because a few of the more ridiculous action bits did get a chuckle out of me. But I was unable to keep from fast-forwarding through all of the sentimental dialogue and character building flashbacks and seemingly endless car races and crashes which did not get a chuckle out of me. This film made AVENGERS: END GAME play like a "kitchen sink" domestic drama in which all of the "family" drama was actually effective. Obviously, FF had become Universal's answer to the MCU (and to James Bond) so that they'd included a mid-end credits scene pointing to the next installment. 

 

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David Deal Enjoyed:

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (58)

THE HUNTER WILL GET YOU (76)

TO COMMIT A MURDER (67)

HAVE YOU GOT IT YET? (23) - The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. Revealing documentary on the man and the band.

MURDER MY SWEET (45)

THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING (64)

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (59)

WITCHCRAFT (64)

Mildly enjoyed:

EMPIRE OF DRACULA (66) - A young maiden's blood is used to revive the corpse of Count Draculstein (!) in a manner similar to that used in Dracula, Prince of Darkness. So Drac is back and makes a feast of the locals. Mexican Gothic that hearkens back to earlier, better horror films from that country. This is supposedly the first color horror film from Mexico, but the version I watched was in black and white.

THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY (71)

MURDER ON THE CAMPUS (34)

GO GORILLA GO (75)

HOUR OF DECISION (56) - Gossip columnist Anthony Dawson is killed in the nightclub where he reigns supreme, gathering the scoops that make or break high society. Turns out that reporter Jeff Morrow's wife, Hazel Court, was in the club that night and was with Dawson just before he died. Morrow makes it his business to find out who really murdered Dawson before the cops figure out it could have been her. This British mystery is a procedural, unusual in that Morrow and the cops lead their own investigations that lead to the same place. Logical in the manner one would expect, and interesting on the level it does not pretend to exceed.

LADY IN THE IRON MASK (52) - D'Artagnan (Louis Hayward) and his fellow Musketeers are charged with retrieving the true heir to the French throne (Patricia Medina) who was whisked away years ago and kept prisoner in a dank dungeon. A fun adventure - which was Hayward's stock and trade - that features Alan Hale Jr. (of course) and an out-of-place Steve Brodie.

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Angel Rivera  Mildly enjoyed:

"HERCULES UNCHAINED" (1959/60)
After revisiting "Hercules" (1958/9) I thought I should revisit the sequel, "Hercules Unchained". Now "HU" was never my favorite. To me Sylvia Lopez somewhat resembled someone in drag, so I never found her attractive. But this time I could see she appeared a bit more glamorous, so I didn't find her so unattractive. This film has plenty of plots and Sylvia Lopez's part is only one of many. First Hercules/Reeves battles the former boxing heavyweight champion of the world, Primo Carnera as Antaeus, a powerful foe of Hercules. (Ten years earlier Carnera had a bit part in "Mighty Joe Young" (1949) as himself in a scene where he"boxes" with Joe.) The film also has a love theme for "Hercules". (If memory serves, strains of the theme can be heard whenever Iole appears on screen, especially when she is with Hercules.) In the film, Iole/Sylva Koscina sings the song to lull Hercules to sleep. In English, the title of the song is "Evening Star" and was dubbed by June Valli, a singer who turns out to have had a few minor hits in the fifties. (In Italian language prints, Koscina is dubbed by Marisa del Frate, a popular Italian singer of the day. In Italian, the title of the song is "Con te per L'eternita" ("With You for All Eternity") and was a hit for Ms. del Frate.)  The main part of the story deals with two warring royal brothers who are fighting over their father's kingdom. One of the brothers is portrayed by Mimmo Palmara, who played a doomed royal in the previous film. The other actor playing the other feuding brother nearly steals the show with his histrionics. The actor, is Sergio Fantoni, a well known actor who has appeared in many Italian genre films. The film obviously steals from many sources. So while still not my favorite it was worth a viewing. Now this film led me  to my other choice to watch from my collection which I hadn't seen in a while.

Highly enjoyed:

"JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS" (1963)
The Ray Harryhausen masterpiece. This was one of the first films I actually was old enough to see in theaters and along with "Jack, the Giant Killer" (1962) is one of my all time favorite fantasy films. Like "Hercules"(1958/9) it tells the tale of Hercules as he traveled with Jason and the Argonauts, but has a different take on the adventure. Its version of Hercules is portrayed in a more naturalistic manner by Nigel Green, known for playing the nemesis of Fu Manchu (in  "Face of Fu Manchu" (1965) opposite Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu) and the criminal mastermind in "Deadlier than the Male" (1967) and in the Matt Helm film, "The Wrecking Crew" (1968) and thus not by a body-builder. The Argonauts go up against a bronze giant named Talos; then the Harpies; then the Hydra (killed by Jason) and the skeleton "children" of the Hydra's teeth in search of the golden fleece. All great scenes brought to life by the magic of Harryhausen's effects. I learned later that the voices of the actors, Todd Armstrong who portrayed Jason and a very beautiful and sexy Nancy Kovac were dubbed by others. Not that it matters much as I didn't know how either actually sounded, but it is an interesting minor note. I could watch this film many times. (And obviously have.)

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