Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Captain America and Bucky have their hands (fists!) full taking on a hoard of Hydra agents thanks to the talents of the amazing by Eduardo Risso. Click on the art to see a battle-royal-sized version!
Fort Apache (1948)
Director: John Ford
Screenplay: Frank S. Nugent based on Massacre by James Warner Bellah
Stars: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Pedro Armendáriz, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, Anna Lee, Dick Foran, Guy Kibbee, Movita, Mary Gordon, John Agar, Hank Worden, Ben Johnson and Grant Withers.
Tagline: John Ford’s Masterpiece of the Frontier!
The Plot…
Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday (Fonda) has been assigned the command of Fort Apache, a remote post located deep on the frontier. Thursday sees this as an insult. He feels he was on track for greater things. Thursday is arrogant, overbearing and sees himself as a class above the men he commands. He thinks even less of Native Americans.
Arriving at Fort Apache at the same time as Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday is his daughter, Philadelphia (Temple) and West Point graduate Lieutenant Michael O’Rourke (Agar). Michael’s father, Sergeant Major Michael O’Rourke (Bond) also serves at Fort Apache.
From the moment he arrives, Lieutenant Colonel Thursday puts himself at odds with the well liked Captain York (Wayne) and Sergeant O’Rourke. The friction intensifies when Cochise stirs unrest among the Apache. Captain York explains the government’s Indian Agent, Silas Meacham has been shorting the tribe’s food allocations. Meacham has also been providing the Apache with cheap whiskey and repeating rifles. Thursday downplays this.
Colonel Thursday intends to round up the Apache or kill them if they refuse to return to the reservation. Captain York warns that the Apache outnumber the local soldiers four to one. Thursday ignores York. He sees an opportunity to enhance his reputation.
This will not end well.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Shirley Temple and John Agar’s characters fall in love. The two were a married couple in real life.
Actor/stuntman Ben Johnson appears in the film, as a stuntman for Henry Fonda.
Fort Apache’s culminating battle is loosely based on Custer’s Last Stand and how Custer’s mistakes were downplayed to create a legendary hero.
Fort Apache (1948) rates 4 of 5 stars.
Here’s something you don’t see everyday. Conan by Sean Phillips! Click on the art to see a barbarian-sized version!
The Strangler (1964)
Director: Burt Topper
Screenplay: Bill S. Ballinger
Stars: Victor Buono, David McLean, Diane Sayer, Davey Davison, Baynes Barron, Russ Bender, Jeanne Bates, Byron Morrow, James Sikking, Selette Cole, Fred Aldrich and Ellen Corby.
Tagline: Based on the terror that has shocked the nation!
The Plot…
A serial killer has strangled several women in a short amount of time. Police have few clues and no good leads. Little do they know that in one of their roundups, they had the killer. He’s a mild mannered overweight lab technician. He offered to take a lie detector test and passed with flying colors.
How many more women will die at his hands?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
The Strangler was inspired by the serial killer known as The Boston Strangler. The police had not caught the Boston Strangler when The Strangler went into production. At one point, the producers were going to call the movie, The Boston Strangler. They decided to go with the shorter title and not name the city in the film.
The Strangler (1964) rates 3 of 5 stars.
Mack aka Clownface by Jason Pearson. There’s going to be a Body Bags omnibus coming out in the near future. It will contain all of Jason Pearson’s Body Bags stories. Keep an eye out for that one!
Nocturne (1946)
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Screenplay: Jonathan Latimer; story by Roland Brown, Frank Fenton
Stars: George Raft, Lynn Bari, Virginia Huston, Joseph Pevney, Myrna Dell, Edward Ashley, Walter Sande,
Dorothy Adams and John Banner.
Tagline: Whose legs are these? 10 of Hollywood’s most beautiful brunettes all had motives for murder!
The Plot…
Keith Vincent (Ashley), a famous Hollywood composer and womanizer is found dead from a gunshot to the head. Most of the cops on the scene are ready to call it a suicide and close the case. Police Detective Joe Warne (Raft) feels differently. Vincent’s housekeeper is a woman who has served time. Vincent keeps photos of his past conquests. One is missing. Detective Warne pushes to investigate the case. His Captain gives him one day.
As Warne digs deeper things aren’t adding up. He wants more time, but the Captain calls him off the case. Warne refuses to back off. If he continues his investigation it could cost him his job… and maybe even his life.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
John Banner, best known as Sgt. “I know nothing” Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes appears uncredited as the character Charles Shawn.
Nocturne (1946) rates 3 of 5 stars.
Quincy Jones died yesterday at the age of 91. No cause of death was given.
Quincy Jones loved music from an early age. In high school Mr. Jones played trumpet and arranged music. After high school Quincy Jones received a scholarship to Seattle University. He left after one semester with a scholarship to attend Boston’s Berklee’s College of Music. Mr. Jones left college to tour with Lionel Hampton’s band as a pianist and trumpeter. It was on this tour that Quincy Jones began to get a reputation for his musical arrangements.
After the tour, Mr. Jones worked creating musical arrangements for stars such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Gene Kupra and Sarah Vaughn. Quincy Jones continued to take freelance arrangement jobs and he toured with several bands. He then took a job as musical director of Mercury Records New York division.
In 1961, two things happened: He became the Vice President of Mercury Records and was hired to compose the music for The Pawnbroker. Quincy Jones became so in demand to produce music for movies that he left Mercury Records. For the remainder of his career Quincy Jones wrote, performed, arranged and produced music for films, television, records and live performances.
Some of Quincy Jones composer credits include: The Pawnbroker; Mirage; The Slender Thread; Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre; Walk Don’t Run; The Deadly Affair; Enter Laughing; Ironside (movie); Hey Landlord (7 episodes); In the Heat of the Night; In Cold Blood; Ironside (12 episodes); The Split; McKenna’s Gold; The Italian Job; Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice; John and Mary; Catus Flower; The Out of Towners; They Call Me Mister Tibbs!; The Bill Cosby Show (52 episodes); The Anderson Tapes; The Hot Rock; The New Centurians; The Getaway; Roots (2 episodes) and The Color Purple.
Quincy Jones was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won 2:
Quincy Jones was nominated for 4 Primetime Emmy Awards and won 1:
Quincy Jones was nominated for 80 Grammys and won 28.
Quincy Jones’ music has been a part of my life for almost as long as I’ve been alive. The music he created improved each television or movie project he was part of. His collaborations with Michael Jackson are classic. His leadership in getting We Are the World made for charity has yet to be matched. Quincy Jones was a musical genius and his efforts made life a bit better.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Quincy Jones’ family friends and fans.
THE SEMINARIAN by Hart Hanson
First sentence…
Jutting a quarter of a mile into the Pacific Ocean, the Venice Pier was less gritty than the beach.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Xavier “Priest” Priestly. Most would think his nickname is shortened version of his name. Truth is Xavier was studying to be a priest before he dropped out. Now Priest is a private detective. So when one of his best friends, Dusty Queen needs help, how can he refuse?
Dusty is a professional stunt woman and occasional body guard. Dusty’s the toughest person Priest knows. She’s more than capable to handle any situation. Except this one. Dusty’s girlfriend is missing. Dusty fears the worst.
Then Priest wakes up on his garage floor. All he remembers is a blue wigged woman tried him. As Priest works to determine if the missing woman and the attack on his life are related, a boy shows up. He says he’s Priest’s son. The timeline works. Priest could be the boy’s father. That might be great if the kid didn’t have such an attitude. Or a rich grandfather with connections.
As Priest tries to build a relationship with the son he never knew, find Dusty’s girlfriend and figure out who tried to kill him, we learn that Priest’s dad is serving time and may have hidden a fortune.
If you like quirky characters, great dialogue and a mystery or two, you should enjoy THE SEMINARIAN.
Rating:
Marv from Frank Miller’s Sin City is one of my all-time favorite characters. I love seeing artists do their “take” on the big lug. Today we have Marv by Dave Fowler.
Team Foxcatcher (2016)
Director: Jon Greenhalgh
Tagline: None.
The Plot…
Billionaire John DuPont was always a bit off. DuPont’s eccentricities were overlooked because of his philanthropy. He was very generous. Mr. DuPont supported his city police, athletic sports and various charities. When John DuPont took an interest in Olympic wrestling, he went all in.
John DuPont built a million dollar facility on his sprawling estate. In addition to his mansion, there were several houses, a state of the art weight/workout center and a gigantic wrestling room with multiple mats. DuPont hired a full-time trainer. John reached out to Dave Schultz, the United States most decorated world champion/Olympic champion wrestler. Dave Schultz agreed to come on board. DuPont then contacted other of USA’s best wrestlers to join his team. He provided them housing and a stipend to come train as part of his team.
This was seen as a godsend by the invited wrestlers. They no longer had to worry about supporting themselves. They could train every day with the best wrestlers in the world. DuPont’s system worked. The USA team begin to win consistently.
DuPont had always been off kilter. He was slowly getting worse. DuPont thought he was capable of wrestling competitively. The wrestlers, not wanting to upset him, played along. When he began seeing “things” in the woods around his house, most of them went along. Then he wanted to get rid of anything black in his life. He sold his black horses. He told one of the wrestlers living on the compound to get rid of his black car. He then fired all of the black wrestlers on Team Foxcatcher. Even when he pulled a gun on one of the wrestlers, it was played off as “John being John.”
Then one morning John DuPont drove over to the house Dave Schultz was staying. Dave and his wife were out front. DuPont rolled down his window and shot Dave Schultz in the chest. Murdered him in cold blood.
This is the story of how too much money blinded too many people to the warning signs that increasingly indicated a man becoming a danger to himself and others.
Team Foxcatcher (2016) rates 3 of 5 stars.
Jean-Baptiste Roux created this very cool Alt Rocky III poster. Pretty clever how Roux worked the Rocky statue into the logo.
Source: JoBlo.
Wolverine looks a little too happy with whatever he’s about to do. Another great piece by Dan Panosian!
I Walk Alone (1947)
Director: Byron Haskin
Screenplay: Charles Schnee, Robert Smith (adaptation), John Bright (adaptation) based on Beggars Are Coming to Town by Theodore Reeves
Stars: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey, Kristine Miller, Marc Lawrence, Mickey Knox, Bobby Barber and Mike Mazurki.
Tagline: He Fell for the Oldest Trick in the World. If You Want to Pump a Guy… Send a Dame.
The Plot…
Frankie Madison (Lancaster) and Noll Turner (Douglas) were best friends and bootlegging partners. It was 50-50 right down the line. On their last run, they got into a gunfight with thieves who attempted to hijack their load. The noise brought the police. Deciding it was best to split up, Frankie stayed with the truck of bootleg hooch, and Noll split.
Frankie was caught, convicted and sent to prison. That was 14 years ago.
While Frankie was in prison, Noll took the money he and Frankie had, and invested it in a bar. He then sold the bar to buy a better nightclub. It took work, but Noll built it into an exclusive hotspot. Noll became very rich.
Now that Frankie’s out, he’s ready to join Noll. They’d always agreed that everything would be 50-50. Frankie never ratted out Noll. Frankie did the time. He and Noll were best friends and business partners. Noll would never double cross Frankie.
Would he?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster made seven movies together. This is the first.
Eddie Muller called I Walk Alone a landmark crime film because it marked the first time movie outlaws moved from working outside the system to becoming legitimate operators working within the system.
I Walk Alone (1947) rates 4 of 5 stars.
This is Zodiac Speaking (2024)
Director: Phil Lott (Eps. 1-3), Ari Mark (Eps. 1-3)
Tagline: None.
The Plot…
Arthur Leigh Allen has been one of the top suspects, if not THE top suspect, of being the Zodiac killer for years. David, Don and Connie Seawater were children when their mother had a relationship with Arthur Leigh Allen. As kids they thought Mr. Allen was just a nice man. He treated them and their mother well. Now as adults they believe he was the Zodiac killer and they have evidence to prove it.
Robert Graysmith who investigated the case and wrote ZODIAC: THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY OF AMERICA’S MOST ELUSIVE SERIAL KILLER weighs in as well.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
This is the Zodiac Speaking does an excellent job of summarizing the case as well as presenting the new evidence in an interesting and compelling manner. While many documentaries would have padded several episodes, the story is presented in just three.
This is Zodiac Speaking (2024) rates 5 of 5 stars.
