Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Executive Action (1973)
Director: David Miller
Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo from a story by Donald Freed and Mark Lane
Stars: Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Will Geer, Ed Lautner and Dick Miller.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a movie on the Kennedy assassination.”
Tagline: Their Goal…Assassination. November 22, 1963…Accomplished!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Think Oliver Stone’s JFK only not as stylish.
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Borderland (2007) / Z-View
Director: Zev Berman
Screenplay: Eric Poppen and Zev Berman
Stars: Brian Presley, Jake Muxworthy and Rider Strong
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a scary movie”
Tagline: Inspired by a true story.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Three college students head south of the border for a weekend of fun and end up on the wrong side of a Satanic drug-dealing cult.
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House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Director: William Castle
Screenplay: Robb White
Stars: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long and Elisha Cook, Jr.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a scary movie”
Tagline: First Film With the Amazing New Wonder EMERGO: The Thrills Fly Right Into The Audience!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Fredrick Loren [Price] offers five people $10,000 to stay the night in a mansion that legend has is haunted. Despite their fears and needing the money, they group is locked in with no way out except death…
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The Haunting (1963)
Director: Robert Wise
Screenplay: Nelson Gidding based on Shirley Jackson‘s novel The Haunting of Hill House
Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s The Haunting of Hill House!”
Tagline: You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Dr. Markway [Johnson] and three companions in an effort to prove the existence of ghosts go to Hill House – a remote mansion with a long history of violent deaths.
The Haunting has beautiful cinematography and director Robert Wise builds the tension and terror. While there are a couple of great scares the movie relies on pace and an increasing sense of doom to ramp up the fear factor. They don’t make them like this any more.
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He Ran All the Way (1951)
Director: John Berry
Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo and Hugo Butler based on the novel by Sam Ross
Stars: John Garfield, Shelley Winters and Wallace Ford.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a crime romance movie!”
Tagline: DYNAMITE hits the screen with their kind of love!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Nick Robey [Garfield] is a dumb, weak-willed middle-aged man living with his abusive, alcoholic mother. Nick reluctantly joins in on a payroll heist that goes bad. Nick’s partner and a cop are killed but Nick gets away with the cash.
Nick hides out at a swimming pool and meets Peg Dobbs [Winters]. She’s as stupid as Nick so you know she’s going to fall for him. Nick walks her home and before long he’s hiding out in the family apartment. The police are closing in and Nick’s not sure Peg really loves him. What’s a fella to do?
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Spy Chasers (1955)
Director: Edward Bernds
Screenplay: Jerome S. Gottler and Bert Lawrence
Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey and Leon Askin.
The Pitch: “Hey, what if the Bowery Boys found a magic lamp?”
Tagline: They’re in the Underground with a Beautiful Spy!… in a laffdaffy riot of cloak-and-dagger adventure!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bowery Boys are recruited to help an European King regain his throne.
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Sicario (2015)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Screenplay: Taylor Sheridan
Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan, Raoul Max Trujillo, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Kevin Wiggins, Edgar Arreola, Dylan Kenin, John Trejo and Daniel Kaluuya
Tagline: The border is just another line to cross.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Kate Macer is an FBI agent recruited to join a US task force fighting the war on drugs along the Mexican border. After joining Kate learns things aren’t as they seem and lines are being crossed that bring into question her ethics and place her life in danger.
Thoughts…
Sicario was nominated for three 2016 Academy Awards…
Sicario is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. Taylor Sheridan creates a smart screenplay with action, drama and a story that sticks with you.
Denis Villeneuve’s direction makes every scene interesting. Everything in this movie works – the cinematography, the sound, and the actors are all perfectly cast.
Benicio Del Toro felt that in the original screenplay, his character spoke too much. He approached director, Denis Villeneuve, with his concerns. Villeneuve agreed and estimated that 90% of his dialogue was cut which made his character much more mysterious and interesting.
Villeneuve told the movie’s composer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, that he wanted the score to contain the sound of a “threat” like that found in Jaws. Jóhannsson came through like gangbusters.
Sicario gets my highest recommendation.
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Bowery to Bagdad (1955)
Director: Edward Bernds
Screenplay: Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds
Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and Bernard Gorcey.
The Pitch: “Hey, what if the Bowery Boys found a magic lamp?”
Tagline: YOU’LL LOVE THEM IN BAGDAD!…As those Ding-Dong Daddies Go Haren-Scarem via The Magic Carpet!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bowery Boys find a magic lamp but before they can decide on their wishes, a group of mobsters discovers the genie and the battle for the lamp is on!
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Born to Kill (1947)
Director: Robert Wise
Screenplay: Eve Greene and Richard Macaulay based on the novel by James Gunn
Stars: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak, Elisha Cook Jr., Isabel Jewell and Esther Howard
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s turn the novel Born to Kill into a movie!”
Tagline: THE COLDEST KILLER A WOMAN EVER LOVED!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
On the run from the coldblooded murder of a woman and her boyfriend, Sam [Tierney] meets two half-sisters. Although attracted to Helen [Trevor], Sam puts the moves on Georgia since she has money. She’s attracted to him and after a whirlwind romance they are married.
Sam still has eyes for Helen and she likes the idea of Georgia’s money. A match made in hell, right? Things become even more complicated when sleazy private eye, Arnett [Slezak] shows up. Arnett knows Sam’s a murderer but is willing to take cash to go away. More people are going to die when you’re dealing with a man who was born to kill.
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Detour (1945)
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Screenplay: Martin Goldsmith
Stars: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake and Edmund MacDonald.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a low budget noir!”
Tagline: He went searching for love… but Fate forced a DETOUR to Revelry… Violence… Mystery!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Al Roberts [Neal] decides to hitchhike to Hollywood to join his girl. When Roberts gets a ride from Charles Haskell [MacDonald] it appears Roberts is in luck. Haskell is going all the way to Hollywood. They take turns driving and it’s easy going until late at night on a deserted stretch of road that Roberts starts feeling tired. He decides to wake up Haskell and have him drive.
Only Haskell won’t wake up! He apparently died in his sleep. When Roberts opens the car door Haskell falls out and hits his head. Roberts panics. Afraid that the cops won’t believe his story and will pin a murder on him, Roberts hides the body. With no money, Roberts decides to take Haskell’s cash (he’s carrying quite a bit!) and driver’s license. They look enough alike that Roberts believes he’ll fool anyone who questions him. Once in Hollywood, Roberts will ditch the car, throw away the driver’s license and put this mess behind him.
And Roberts plan might have worked had he not picked up a woman hitchhiker named Vera [Savage]. She knew Haskell and threatens to go to the police unless Roberts does exactly what she wants. Roberts is trapped with no way out unless…
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Horror Express (1972)
Director: Eugenio Martín (as Gene Martin)
Screenplay: Arnaud d’Usseau and Julian Zimet
Stars: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza and Telly Savalas.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s remake The Thing from Another World and set it on a train in 1906!”
Tagline: A nightmare of terror travelling aboard the Horror Express!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The year is 1906. An English scientist [Lee] is transporting a frozen prehistoric monster to England by train across the Siberian wasteland. What could possibly go wrong?
You guessed it. The monster thaws and turns out to be an alien that can kill and assume the shape of whoever it murders. Will Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas be able to destroy the creature before it reaches civilization? Stick around for the eye-popping finale and you’ll know!
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Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Director: Tom Savini
Screenplay: George Romero based on The Night of the Living Dead original screenplay by John A. Russo and George Romero
Stars: Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, Tom Towles and Bill Cardille.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s update (and copyright) a remake of ‘Night of the Living Dead’!”
Tagline: There IS a fate worse than death.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Tom Savini takes the helm of an updated version of Night of the Living Dead. All the key players and set pieces are in place but it’s like watching a historic event from a slightly different timeline. There are little changes in character but none of them are for the better.
Barbara starts off the same — overcome with shock from the realization that the dead are rising to eat the living, but partway through the movie she is ready to pick up a gun and go Rambo on zombies or humans that tick her off. Ben is now as much of a hot head as Harry Cooper.
And the zombies aren’t like the zombies we’ve grown used to. They’re not as scary. Of course part of THAT problem is that when the ONOTLD was made, the zombie genre was being invented. We’re almost 50 years from that and zombie expectations are much different. (Only a true horror aficionado would understand that!) Also being filmed in color doesn’t help either.
The movie was still fun and I think most fans would enjoy the ride.
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The Innocents (1961)
Director: Jack Clayton
Screenplay: Truman Capote and William Archibald based on the Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw
Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde and Megs Jenkins.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a movie where two children in a remote mansion may be possessed by evil spirits!”
Tagline: A strange new experience in shock.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
In the late 1890’s a rich man hires a nanny, Miss Giddens [Kerr] to move to his remote, deserted mansion run by a few servants to oversee the raising of his nephew and niece. Shortly after her arrival Miss Giddens begins to believe that the evil spirits of the former nanny and a man are trying to possess the children.
The Innocents is considered a classic by many and is an excellent film. The black and white photography works wonderfully with the soundtrack to create a suspenseful movie full tension and a couple of legitimate scares. They don’t make movies like this any more and it is a shame.
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Spook Chasers (1957)
Director: George Blair
Screenplay: Elwood Ullman
Stars: Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements and Darlene Fields.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put the East Side Kids in a haunted house with some crooks!”
Tagline: IT’S A SCREAM!..as they g-g-go ghost-haunting…and they haven’t a g-g-ghost of a chance!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bowery Boys find themselves in another creepy, old house haunted house with a mad scientist crooks! Wha- what?
When Mike buys a rural house sight-unseen, the boys go up with him to get it cleaned up. In the process they discover hidden cash and learn it was a gang of crook’s hideout. Instead of laying low, they go into town and pay off the mortgage. Word gets out and that night things start getting spooky with ghosts, monsters, crooks and mobsters all running wild!
If you feel you’ve seen this one before, it’s the same basic plot with minor tweaks that made The Bowery Boys famous.
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The Big Sleep (1946)
Director: Howard Hawks
Screenplay: William Faulkner & Leigh Brackett & Jules Furthman based on the novel by Raymond Chandler
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Bob Steele and Elisha Cook, Jr.
Tagline: The Violence-Screen’s All-Time Rocker-Shocker!
The Plot…
Private Eye, Phillip Marlowe [Bogart] is hired by a rich old man to stop his daughter Carmen from being blackmailed for gambling debts. The deeper Marlowe digs into the case the more seedy it becomes. Soon enough Marlowe is trying to sort out how Carmen is involved not only in gambling, but also pornography, murder and more.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Bogart was married, but his affair with co-star Lauren Bacall was on-going during filming. They were married three months after filming completed.
In the novel, the scene between Marlowe and the bookstore clerk was much tamer. Although only 19 years old, Dorothy Malone’s “mature sexuality” caused Howard Hawks to film the scene implying Marlowe and the clerk were going to have sex.
The Big Sleep is a classic.
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