"Shane" is great. The fight scenes look like they actually hurt, and the movie does a fine job of creating a "child's eye" view of the west. Emile Meyer is superb as the cattle baron, and his speech about how he won the country and is now being displaced is marvelous. Jack Palanc...

I've seen this one and wasn't too impressed. Perhaps I wasn't the right audience, since I've had several classes on the history of the Cold War, and thus the film's departures from history really bugged me. Basically, the movie tried to do too much and ended up not doing much well. Also, the film's ...

"Nightmare Alley" is terrific. I see it as a hybrid between noir and horror, because there is such a supernatural atmosphere hanging over the story. Joan Blondell is great, and Tyrone Power makes for a super heel. Does anyone remember "Leap of Faith" a Steve Martin movie from abo...

Think of "The Right Stuff" (1983). I think it is a shame that Scott Glenn, Ed Harris and Sam Sheppard never really got the chance to appear in westerns. Has anyone seen "Seraphim Falls"? It was apparently made last year, got zero release and is now out on DVD. It is supposed to b...

Last summer, I watched the 1920 "Last of the Mohicans," directed by Maurice Tourneur, on DVD. I kept thinking of "Broken Blossoms" as I watched, and I think the Cora-Uncas relationship in the movie was strongly influenced by Griffith's film. I would love to see this "Lost of...

It was July 1995 when I saw "Bringing Up Baby" in Moscow at the Iluzion Cinema. They only let you in to the auditorium five minutes before showtime, so I was in the lobby. One wall of the lobby had photos of Soviet/Russian stars, one had Soviet/Russian directors, one had international star...

Elam had a very good role in "The Dragoon Wells Massacre," a B western from the Fifties. It was a movie in which a bunch of white people of different backgrounds pulled together thanks to an Indian attack. Elam was a prisoner, and he had a great death scene probably modeled on the monster ...

Don't forget "The Scalphunters," with Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis and Shelley Winters from around 1968. Sydney Pollack directed, and I always thought it was quite funny.

What amazes me about "Destry Rides Again," which I like very very much, is that while it is a comic film, so many likeable characters die (such as Wash and Frenchy.) The unforgettable moment for me comes when the little girl sings "Little Joe" at the end of the movie, and Stewart...

I like "Some Like It Hot," but I think it has been in danger of being overhyped in the last few years.

My one happy memory of San Diego is of walking around that hotel on Coronado Island and recognizing the part of the building that Curtis' character kept climbing up and down.

Last night my family watched "Libled Lady" on VHS. That is a terrific comedy (and it is fun seeing Spencer Tracy play a heel), and I always kick myself that I never saw it on a screen at the New Mayfield when I had a chance. Besides "Libled Lady," I adore "My Man Godfrey,&qu...

This is a terrific film. I was really impressed with Walter Huston's performance. You just knew that his Mr. Scratch smelled bad. Simone Simon was terrific as the temptress, and the film as a whole felt as if John Ford had turned in a first class horror movie.

I really like "Dr. X" and "The Walking Dead," two of his horror movies from Warners in the Thirties. Look at all the actors he directed. Boris Karloff was in "Walking Dead." Curtiz would later direct Elvis, as someone mentioned. He led John Wayne through "The Comma...

I remember "Harry O" and watched it several times. My memory, however, is that the show was often "bumped" from the Cleveland ABC schedule, and that I eventually got interested in other shows. Still, the local TV critic really praised "Harry O." I suppose "The Rock...

I would say that "Yellow Sky" is a noirish western. Certainly the black and white photography once the characters arrive in the ghost town is quite expressionistic. (Of course, this is the noir as style as opposed to the noir as attitude position.)