Category: Z-View

Phantom Lady (1944) / Z-View

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Phantom Lady (1944)

Director: Robert Siodmak

Screenplay: Bernard C. Schoenfeld (screenplay), Cornell Woolrich based on his novel written as William Irish

Stars: Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis, Elisha Cook Jr., Regis Toomey and Milburn Stone.

The Pitch: “A romantic thriller with a man’s life on the line!”

Tagline: A STORY THAT HAS THRILLED MILLIONS!

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Scott Henderson (Curtis), who is in an unhappy marriage, spends his night at a bar drinking with a woman he’s just met. When Henderson gets home he discovers his wife has been murdered and the woman he’d just met is his only alibi… only no one seems to remember seeing her with him.

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Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) / Z-View

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Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)

Director: Charles T. Barton

Screenplay: Hugh Wedlock Jr. & Howard Snyder

Stars:  Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff

The Pitch: “It’s time for Bud and Lou to meet Boris!”

Tagline: MORE GHOULISH GLEE THAN WHEN THEY MET FRANKENSTEIN

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When the bellboy (Costello) becomes the prime suspect of a murder in a remote hotel full of shady characters, only the hotel dick (Abbott) believes his innocence.  The race is on to find the killer before he kills again… and the bellboy is in the killer’s sights!

I was surprised that Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff didn’t hold up as well as I remembered it.  I was sure it would get a “B” rating or higher.  As a kid, it would have gotten an “A” — yet it is still fun with some good laughs.

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Blood Simple (1984) / Z-View

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Blood Simple (1984)

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (uncredited)

Screenplay: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Stars:  John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh

The Pitch: “Let’s make a noir!”

Tagline: Breaking up is hard

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When a vengeful husband (Hedaya) learns that his wife is cheating on him, he hires a sleazy PI to kill them.  What follows is a classic throwback film noir that jumpstarted the Coen brothers’ career.

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Rio Bravo (1959) / Z-View

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Rio Bravo (1959)

Director: Howard Hawks

Screenplay: Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett based on a short story by B.H. McCampbell

Stars:  John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell and Claude Akins.

The Pitch: “The Duke wants to make Rio Bravo.”

Tagline: You’ve seen nothing like ’em together… and in the heat and hate of Rio Bravo nothing can tear ’em apart!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne) refuses to let a rich rancher’s brother walk after committing a murder, Chance finds himself up against nearly 2 dozen hired guns.  Coming to Chance’s aid is an old man, a drunk who used to be a gun fighter and a kid with a fast draw.

The basis of Rio Bravo was used to a comedic effect in Blazing Saddles.

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20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) / Z-View

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20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

Director: Nathan Juran

Screenplay:  Robert Creighton Williams (as Bob Williams) & Christopher Knopf from a story by  Charlotte Knight (as Charlott Knight)

Stars:  William Hopper, Joan Taylor, Thomas Browne Henry

The Pitch: “Let’s make a monster movie!”

Tagline: Greatest Monster Since King Kong Ravishes the Earth!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When the first spacecraft returning from Venus crash-lands in the ocean it releases a small creature that quickly grows to gigantic proportions and terrorizes Rome!

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The Most Underrated Episodes of the Twilight Zone

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Me-TV took a look at their choices for The Most Underrated Episodes of the Twilight Zone.  The article is no longer posted but here are their choices and my ratings for each.

  • “THE SHELTER”  Season: 3  Episode: 3  My Rating: A+

  • “SHADOW PLAY”  Season: 2  Episode: 26  My Rating: C

  • “THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD”  Season: 3  Episode: 37  My Rating: C

  • “AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE”  Season: 5  Episode: 22  My rating: B

  • “THE HOWLING MAN”  Season: 2   Episode: 5  My Rating: A+

  • “A WORLD OF HIS OWN”  Season: 1  Episode: 36  My Rating: A

  • “THIRD FROM THE SUN”  Season: 1  Episode: 14  My Rating: A

  • “BLACK LEATHER JACKETS”  Season: 5  Episode: 18  My Rating: C

  • “IN HIS IMAGE”  Season: 4  Episode: 1  My Rating: C

  • “VALLEY OF THE SHADOW”  Season: 4  Episode: 3  My Rating: B

 

Journey Into Fear (1943) / Z-View

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Journey Into Fear (1943)

Director: Norman Foster, Orson Welles (uncredited)

Screenplay: Joseph Cotten from the novel by Eric Ambler

Stars:  Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dolores del Rio and Agnes Moorehead

The Pitch: “Let’s bring back Welles and Cotten and try for another ‘The Third Man!’’”

Tagline: Welles and Del Rio together! as Terror Man vs. Leopard Woman–for possession of a mysterious stranger in the powder-keg Middle East…a man with a military secret worth more than his love and his life!…It’s menace melodrama thrilled with mighty mystery and suspense…SEE IT!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Howard Graham (Cotten) finds himself pursued by Nazi agents out to kill him.  In an effort to shake them, Graham ends up on an old frieghter heading out to sea… and discovers that the Nazis are also on board.

Welles has a small but important role. Cotten is more than capable of carrying the film.  The cat and mouse chase on the high ledge during a torrential downpour is classic.

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Across the Pacific (1942) / Z-View

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Across the Pacific (1942)

Director: John Huston, Vincent Sherman (uncredited)

Screenplay: Richard Macaulay

Stars:  Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet

The Pitch: “Bogart, Astor and Greenstreet with Huston directing.’”

Tagline: None

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

After a dishonorable discharge, Rick Leland (Bogart) finds himself on a Japanese ship headed to the Orient.  On board Leland meets Dr. H.F.G. Lorenz (Greenstreet), a man with a shady past and
Alberta Marlow (Astor), a woman with a possible shared future.  As in many Bogart movies, all is not what it seems on the surface.

 

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Saboteur (1942) / Z-View

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Saboteur (1942)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay: Peter Viertel & Joan Harrison & Dorothy Parker

Stars:  Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings and Otto Kruger

The Pitch: “Hitchcock want to make ‘Saboteur’”

Tagline: You’d like to say – IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE!… but every jolting scene is TRUE!!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

After an aircraft manufacturing plant is destroyed by sabotage, an innocent worker, Barry Kane (Cummings) finds himself on the run from authorities who believe he was saboteur.  Kane’s efforts to clear himself lead him to a bigger plan of sabotage.  Can he prove his innocence and convince authorities of the next planned attack before it is too late?

Priscilla Lane and Robert Cummings make a great couple!

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Tarantula (1955) / Z-View

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Tarantula (1955)

Director: Jack Arnold

Screenplay: Robert M. Fresco and Martin Berkeley from a story by Jack Arnold and Robert M. Fresco.

Stars:  John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll and Clint Eastwood

The Pitch: “Let’s make a giant spider movie!”

Tagline: Bullets Can’t Stop It! Dynamite Can’t Kill It!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Scientists working with experimental growth formulas accidently create and release on the world a giant spider!

Look for Clint Eastwood in one of his first roles.

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Crime of Passion (1957) / Z-View

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Crime of Passion (1957)

Director: Gerd Oswald

Screenplay: Jo Eisinger (original story and screenplay)

Stars:  Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr and Faye Wray

The Pitch: “Let’s make a film about a couple where one’s ambitions and lack of morals destroy them, but we’ll flip it so the female lead is the bad ‘guy’!”

Tagline: The stripped-of-shame story of a cop’s wife who committed one sin too many!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Kathy (Stanwyck) is an ambitious newspaper columnist who falls for LA detective, Bill Doyle (Hayden), in a whirlwind romance that leads to marriage.  Soon enough Kathy realizes her husband is content with his rank and has no desire to rise to the top.  Kathy becomes jealous and envious of others and begins to plot a way to change the status quo.  That it involves infidelity and murder matters little to her.

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Cabin Fever (2002) / Z-View

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Cabin Fever (2002)

Director: Eli Roth

Screenplay: Eli Roth & Randy Pearlstein from a story by Eli Roth

Stars:  Jordan Ladd, Rider Strong and James DeBello

The Pitch: “Let’s make a horror movie about college kids and a flesh-eating virus!”

Tagline: Terror… In the flesh.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Five college kids head to a remote cabin where they encounter a strange flesh-eating virus.

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Frailty (2001) / Z-View

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Frailty (2001)

Director: Bill Paxton

Screenplay: Brent Hanley

Stars:  Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe

The Pitch: “Bill Paxton wants to direct ‘Frailty’ – let’s do it!”

Tagline: There are demons among us

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Adam and Fenton are young brothers, being raised by their single parent dad. Dad is a hard-working loving parent and all is well with the family… until one night when their father wakes them up to reveal that he had been visited by an Angel.  The Angel told dad that demons live among them and they have been chosen to slay them.

Fenton realizes his father had gone crazy, while Adam is convinced their dad was visited by an Angel.  Fenton hopes this will pass, but when dad brings home a normal looking man who dad claims to be a demon and kills him, Fenton knows this is just the start…

Frailty is a classic that gets better with repeated viewings.  Paxton’s acting and direction (the only film he directed!) is point on.  Powers Boothe is, as always, excellent.  This may be Matthew McConaughey’s best performance.  Love the twists and turns.

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Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) / Z-View

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Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Director: Frank Lloyd

Screenplay: Talbot Jennings & Jules Furthman and Carey Wilson based on the book by Charles Nordhoff        and James Norman Hall

Stars:  Charles Laughton, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone

The Pitch: “Let’s turn Robert C. O’Brien’s novel into a movie!”

Tagline: Clark Gable as the daring mutineer in the screen’s most exciting adventure story!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The classic tale of Fletcher Christian’s mutiny against the sadistic Captain Bligh!

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Z for Zachariah (2015) / Z-View

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Z for Zachariah (2015)

Director: Craig Zobel

Screenplay: Nissar Modi based on the novel by Robert C. O’Brien

Stars:  Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine and Margot Robbie

The Pitch: “Let’s turn Robert C. O’Brien’s novel into a movie!”

Tagline: After the end of the world she thought she was alone. She was wrong.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

After an apocalyptic event that has wiped out humans, a woman who thought herself alone, finds a dying man.  She nurses him back to health and they begin to make a life together on her family’s farmland.  All is well until a young, handsome man shows up looking for refuge.

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