Category: Crime

“Tomorrow at Seven” (1933) / Z-View

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Tomorrow at Seven (1933)

Director:  Ray Enright

Screenplay: Ralph Spence

Stars: Chester Morris, Vivienne Osborne, Frank McHugh, Allen Jenkins, Henry Stephenson, Grant Mitchell and Charles Middleton

Tagline: HELPLESS TO DEFEND HER! The girl he loved death-marked by the unknown fiend who killed at the stoke of seven.

The Plot…

A serial killer who calls himself The Black Ace is set to murder again.  Before each murder The Black Ace sends his target a large black ace card with a message warning that he will be next!   After each kill, a black ace playing card is left on the victim’s chest. Thornton Drake (Stephenson) received a black ace with the warning, “Tomorrow at Seven“.

Thornton, his daughter Martha (Osborne), her new boyfriend Neil (Morris), along with two plainclothes detectives Clancy (McHugh) and Dugan (Jenkins), and two pilots fly to a home Thornton owns out of state.  They figure they’ll be safe there.  They figured wrong.  Now the group  have taken refuge in Thornton’s big, old house.  Someone has cut the phone lines… and it’s getting close to 7!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Tomorrow at 7 has the feel of a play.  Clancy and Dugan provide comic relief.  If Barney Fife had twin brothers, it’d be these guys.  Movies like Tomorrow at 7 were popular around this time period.  All you need is a killer, a remote house with plenty of rooms (and a secret passage or two), a group of potential victims and a character for laughs to break the tension and you’re good to go.  If like me, you like these types of films, you should enjoy Tomorrow at 7.  Be aware that the final kill reminded me of Enter the Dragon, which was surprising for a film made in the 1930s.

Tomorrow at Seven earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Crown Vic” (2019) starring Thomas Jane / Z-View

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Crown Vic (2019)

Director:  Joel Souza

Screenplay: Joel Souza

Stars: Thomas Jane, Luke Kleintank, Josh Hopkins, Bridget Moynahan andScottie Thompson

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Ray Mandel (Jane) is a veteran LA cop. Mandel’s seen it all.  Nick Holland (Kleintank) is a naive rookie.  Mandel and Holland are partnered for a night shift.  Over the course of their patrol they will deal with domestic abuse, a car fire, an out of control fellow officer, a kidnapped little girl and more.  As the night wears on, the rookie is shocked to learn how things really work for a police officer upholding the law.  Everything come to a head when Mandel and Holland make a traffic stop on two cop killers…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Thomas Jane has never been better!  He disappears into his role as a cynical divorced cop who knows there’s a difference between the law and justice.

Writer/director Joe Souza has created a film that captures the slow passing of a shift broken up by moments of tension and life-threatening terror.  While some films may have focused totally on the cop killers storyline or the kidnapped little girl, Crown Vic has the events play out as part of the shift.  Thomas Jane’s performance and the ending of Crown Vic took everything up a notch.

Crown Vic earns 4 of 5 stars.

“The Price We Pay” starring Emile Hirsh & Stephen Dorff – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The Price We Pay trailer looked like a typical crime movie until, well, check it out and see for yourself.  I like crime and I like horror.  Deal me in.

From the director of Midnight Meat Train comes this gripping thriller starring Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) and Stephen Dorff (Blade). After an intense holdup at a pawnshop, Grace is taken hostage by the thieves. Forced to take refuge at a remote farmhouse late at night, they discover a secret dungeon with evidence of sadistic violence—and when “Grandfather” comes home, all hell breaks loose. Can Grace muster the courage to escape the gut-wrenching fates that befall her criminal companions?

The Price We Pay – in select theaters, on digital and on demand 1/13/23! Starring Stephen Dorff (Cody), Emile Hirsch (Alex), Gigi Zumbado (Grace), Tyler Sanders (Danny), Erika Ervin (Jodi), Jesse Kinser (John), Sabina Mach (Carly), and Vernon Wells (The Doctor).

“Little Dixie” starring Frank Grillo & Eric Dane – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I’m a Frank Grillo and Eric Dane fan.  The two of them in a gritty crime film has my attention and it’s directed at Little Dixie.  Deal me in.

Frank Grillo (The Purge franchise) and Eric Dane (Euphoria) star in this action-packed revenge thriller. When a deal goes wrong between a corrupt Governor and a ruthless drug lord, ex-Special Forces Operative Doc (Grillo) is caught in the crosshairs. Now, with his family in danger, Doc must take down the Mexican drug cartel and do whatever it takes to protect the one good thing in his life – his young daughter, “Little Dixie”.

Featuring: Frank Grillo, Eric Dane, Beau Knapp, Annabeth Gish, Peter Greene, Thomas Dekker, Mercedes Mason, Maurice Compte

“The Great Diamond Robbery” (1954) starring Red Skelton / Z-View

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The Great Diamond Robbery (1954)

Director:  Robert Z. Leonard

Screenplay: László Vadnay, Martin Rackin, George Oppenheimer

Stars: Red Skelton, Cara Williams, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar, George Mathews, Harry Bellaver, Steven Geray and Larry J. Blake 

Tagline: A NEW Uproarious Role in the Career of the World’s Funniest Man

The Plot…

Ambrose C. Park (Skelton) as found on a park bench when he was a tiny baby.  No one ever came to claim him. Now Ambrose is a diamond cutter who dreams of having a family.  He’s searched for his family for years with no luck.

A shyster lawyer named Mr. Remlick (Whitmore) plans to swindle Ambrose out of a few thousand dollars. Remlock pulls together scam artists to play Ambrose’s mother, father and sister.  Their plan goes sideways when hard core thugs learn of a diamond worth two million dollars sitting in a safe where Ambrose works.  The thugs take over the scam and plan to kill anyone that gets in their way!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The Great Diamond Robbery is the type of light-hearted, sweet film that isn’t made any more. Red Skeleton is perfect as the naive diamond-cutter who wants a family.  Cara Williams plays his love interest and this is the first film I’ve seen with her.  I want to see more.  The actors playing the scammers and gangsters are well cast.

The Great Diamond Robbery was Red Skeleton’s last film while under contract to MGM.  It contains one of Red’s more subdued performances and I enjoyed it.

The Great Diamond Robbery earns 4 of 5 stars.

IT DIES WITH YOU by Scott Blackburn – For You or Someone You Love!

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I’ve been hearing a lot of great things about It Dies With You by Scott Blackburn.  Here’s the synopsis…

Scott Blackburn’s searing literary debut explores the dangerous world of secrets threatening to upend a rural Southern town, perfect for fans of David Joy and Brian Panowich.

For nearly a decade, twenty-nine-year-old Hudson Miller has made his living in the boxing ring, but a post-fight brawl threatens to derail his career. Desperate for money, Hudson takes a gig as a bouncer at a dive bar. That’s when life delivers him another hook to the jaw: his estranged father, Leland, has been murdered in what appears to be a robbery-gone-bad at his salvage yard, Miller’s Pull-a-Part.

Soon after his father’s funeral, Hudson learns he’s inherited the salvage yard, and he returns to his Bible-belt hometown of Flint Creek, North Carolina, to run the business. But the business is far more than junk cars and scrap metal. It was the site of an illegal gun-running ring. And the secrets don’t end there; a grisly discovery is made at the yard that thrusts Hudson into the fight of his life.

Reeling for answers, Hudson joins forces with his father’s former employee, 71-year-old, beer-guzzling Vietnam vet Charlie Shoaf, and a feisty teenage girl, Lucy Reyes, who’s fiercely seeking justice for her own family tragedy. With a murderer on the loose and no answers from the local cops, the trio of outcasts launch an investigation. The shocking truth they uncover will shake Flint Creek to its very core.

The It Dies With You lowdown has all of my Spidey-senses tingling so much that it made my Christmas Wish List. (I have it on good authority, I won’t be disappointed.)  If It Dies With You sounds like something you or someone you love would like,  it is available now.

It Dies With You Hardcover

It Dies With You Kindle

“Killer Sally” (2022) / Z-View

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Killer Sally (2022)

Director:  Nanette Burstein

Stars: Sally McNeil, John McNeil

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Sally Dempsey was a talented high school athlete. After graduation she became a marine.  While in the service Sally took up competitive bodybuilding.  That’s when she met Ray McNeil,  Ray was already a bodybuilder on his way to the top.  Sally and Ray were married after dating just a couple of months.

At first they had a great marriage.  Ray made it to the Mr. Olympia competition. Sally was becoming a well-known bodybuilder.  Somewhere along the way, the marriage turned sour.  Then on Valentine’s Day, 1995, Sally called 911 to say she had just killed her husband.

Killer Sally provides background on the case over the course of three episodes.  Was Sally a victim of spousal abuse or a cold-blooded killer?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Killer Sally is an interesting docuseries that could have been told in two episodes.  By stretching it out to three, some of the impact is lost.  The first episode provides background. Even after marriage Ray was a player and abusive.  He’s the bad guy.

In the second episode we learn that Sally was also abusive.  Even worse she had a criminal record for violence!  She had beat up her mailman,  attacked a female bodybuilder at a competition and got into a drunken confrontation with a bouncer (she wouldn’t stop dancing on a table) that led to police intervention.

Making Ray as the total villain in the first episode while holding back all the bad stuff on Sally until the second probably felt like a shocking reveal to the filmmakers.  It just felt a bit cheap to me.

There’s no question that Sally killed Ray.  She claims he was beating her up and she killed him in self-defense.  The facts show Ray was shot twice with a shotgun.  I won’t spoil the verdict, but will say I agreed with the outcome.

Killer Sally earns 3 of 5 stars.

“The Pale Blue Eye” starring Christian Bale – The Full Trailer is Here!

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The teaser for The Pale Blue Eye had me in.  Today we get the trailer.  I’m still in.

West Point, 1830. A world-weary detective is hired to discreetly investigate the gruesome murder of a cadet. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case — a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe.

The Pale Blue Eye on Netflix, January 6.

“God Forbid” (2022) / Z-View

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God Forbid (2022)

Director: Billy Corben

Stars: Giancarlo Granda, Jerry Falwell Jr., Becki Falwell, Michael Cohen, Tom Arnold, Ted Cruz, Mike Pence and Donald Trump.

Tagline: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty.

The Story…

When Giancarlo Granda was a twenty year old pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Hotel, a hot looking “older” woman hit on him.  They flirted. Later she invited him up to her room for sex… but the catch was her husband would watch.  At the time, Granda had no idea the woman was Becki Falwell.  Her husband was Jerry Falwell, Jr.! Falwell was president of university operations at Liberty University (started by his father) and one of the most powerful leaders of the Christian Right. Their hookup led to a seven year affair with Giancarlo being flown around the world, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and invited to events with leading political figures.

Ultimately the affair would become public and lead to the downfall of Jerry Falwell Jr,

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.  A story where one of the most powerful members of the Christian Right is brought down because he liked to watch his wife have sex with a “pool boy” would be laughed at as too cliché.  Yet that is what happened.

How stupid do you have to be to do the things that Jerry Falwell and his wife did?  Very. I think the only thing that would measure higher than their stupidity was their ability to live as hypocrites.

God Forbid is interesting and well done.  At times It almost has a “Godfather” like feel with they way powerful people trade “favors” to get things done.

God Forbid earns 5 of 5 stars.

EVERY MAN A KING by Walter Mosley is Coming!

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Walter Mosley’s Every Man a King drops on February 21, 2023.  It’s the second in Mosley’s King Oliver series.  Here’s the synopsis…

In this highly anticipated sequel to the Edgar award winner Down the River Unto the Sea, Joe King Oliver is entangled in a dangerous case when he’s asked to investigate whether a white nationalist is being unjustly set up.

When friend of the family and multi-billionaire Roger Ferris comes to Joe with an assignment, he’s got no choice but to accept, even if the case is a tough one to stomach. White nationalist Alfred Xavier Quiller has been accused of murder and the sale of sensitive information to the Russians. Ferris has reason to believe Quiller’s been set up and he needs King to see if the charges hold.

This linear assignment becomes a winding quest to uncover the extent of Quiller’s dealings, to understand Ferris’ skin in the game, and to get to the bottom of who is working for whom. Even with the help of bodyguard and mercenary Oliya Ruez—no regular girl Friday—the machine King’s up against proves relentless and unsparing. As King gets closer to exposing the truth, he and his loved ones barrel towards grave danger.

Mosley once again proves himself a “master of craft and narrative” (National Book Foundation) in this carefully plotted mystery that is at once a classic caper, a family saga and an examination of fealty, pride and how deep debt can go.

Pre-orders are available now.
Every Man a King Hardcover
Every Man a King Kindle

“The Landing” (2017) / Z-View

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The Landing (2017)

Director:  David Dodson, Mark Dodson

Screenplay: David Dodson, Mark Dodson

Stars: Don Hannah, Warren Farina, Jeff McVey, Page Hannah, Robert Pine and Craig Stepp

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

A faux documentary that explores the events leading to the tragic loss of an astronaut’s life on Apollo 18, the last U.S. mission to the moon.  Was it murder?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

There was no Apollo 18 mission.  The Landing is total fiction, but done so well many folks believe it is an actual documentary.  One of the reasons that The Landing seems so real (besides great production values, acting, writing, directing and editing) is that the filmmakers came together in 1991 to began filming.  They then waited 25 years to film the “current” interviews!

The fact that The Landing presents as reality upset many reviewers.  They felt that an unsuspecting audience would believe that there was an Apollo 18 mission that resulted in a dead astronaut.  I say, “Judge the film on it’s merits, not what viewers may believe.”  Yes, The Landing is so well done it appears to be a legit documentary.  That is a strength, my friends.  Plus The Landing has an interesting mystery resulting in a death.  Was it an accident or murder?

I give credit to the filmmakers for having the patience and belief in the project to put it on hold for 25 years.  No wonder make-up or special effects weren’t needed to age the actors.  Don Hannah, who plays astronaut Bo Cunningham, deserves special mention.  Although Mr. Hannah usually works behind the camera as an Assistant Director, he was spot on with his acting.  I’d like to see him in other roles.

The Landing earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Dark Shadows” (1944) / Z-View

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Dark Shadows (1944)

Director:  Walter Hart, Paul Burnford (uncredited)

Screenplay: Edward Bock, Richard H. Landau

Stars: Henry O’Neill, Morris Ankrum and Paul Guilfoyle

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

A police psychiatrist is enlisted to catch a homicidal killer.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Dark Shadows is part of a series of Crime Doesn’t Pay shorts.  The plot makes it sound good, right?  It’s not.  At least it didn’t resonate with me.  It’s very talky with dull scenes.  Although it has a run time of just 21 minutes, I’d like to have every one of ’em back.

Dark Shadows earns 1 of 5 stars.

“Peeping Tom” (1960) / Z-View

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Peeping Tom (1960)

Director: Michael Powell

Screenplay: Leo Marks

Stars: Karlheinz Böhm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer

Tagline: WARNING! Don’t see Peeping Tom unless you are prepared to see the screaming shock and raw terror in the faces of those marked for death!

The Plot…

Mark Lewis (Böhm) hopes some day to be a filmmaker.  He currently works on a film crew and after hours he’s a photographer of soft core porn.  People see Lewis as a shy, quiet recluse.  If they only knew he’s a psychopathic killer who gets off by filming women’s faces as he murders them.

When Helen, a kind woman takes an interest in Mark, they begin to date.  Helen’s blind mother feels something is off with Mark and starts to dig deeper…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

When Peeping Tom was released in 1960, it was marketed as horror and exploitation.  Peeping Tom failed to find an audience.  Over the years Peeping Tom became a popular cult film and its popularity increased.  Martin Scorsese has long championed this film.

While daring for 1960, it seems much less so now.  Kudos for the final scene when Mark realizes he has no means of escape and has planned for this eventuality.

Peeping Tom earns 3 of 5 stars.