Each Dawn I Die (1939)

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Each Dawn I Die (1939)

Director: William Keighley

Screenplay: Norman Reilly Raine and Warren Duff based on the novel by Jerome Odlum

Stars: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a prison drama!”

Tagline: Slugging their way to adventure!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When newspaper reporter Frank Ross exposed government corruption he is framed for a manslaughter charge and sent to prison.  Holding out hope for evidence to exonerate him, Ross is beaten down by the system (not to mention the prison guards).  Seeing no other way out, Ross teams with infamous gangster Stacey (Raft).

 

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Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 32: Adams, Kaluta, Wrightson, DeZuniga, Buckler, and Much More!

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If you’re a fan of fanzines, then you’ve got to check out Ken Meyer, Jr.’s monthly column Ink Stains.  Each month Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts… well, let’s let Ken explain…

I have a collection of over 200 fanzines from the 60’s-80’s that I plan to scan and talk about, one at a time. I hope to have some of the participants answer a few questions. Many of those participants are established comics professionals now, while some have gone on to other things. I will show a few snippets from each zine and give you a link to download a pdf of the whole thing, which I hope all of you will do!

For Ink Stains 32, Ken took a look at Phase [Part 1 of 3 is linked] from 1971.   Published by Phase Publications/Sal Q.

Until Ken’s post, I had never seen or even heard of Phase.  It’s an interesting argument that Phase isn’t really a fanzine, it’s a prozine.  Look at the names of those who contributed to Phase – Neal Adams, Mike Kaluta, Berni Wrightson, Tony DeZuniga, Rich Buckler, Ken Barr, Frank Brunner, Jeff Jones, Gerry Conway, Ernie Colon, Tom Sutton and more!  Keep in mind that in most cases we’re not talking just spot illos but full stories!

I’d say that although the contributors are pros, they’re also fans.  Don’t we have better nits to pick?

Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!

Marnie (1964)

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Marnie (1964)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay:  Jay Presson Allen based on the novel by Winston Graham

Stars: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Martin Gabel, Diane Baker, Alan Napier and Bruce Dern.

The Pitch: “Hey, Hitchcock wants to make ‘Marnie’!”

Tagline: On Marnie’s wedding night he discovered every secret about her . . . except one!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

 

Wealthy businessman, Mark Rutledge (Connery) falls in love with a beautiful pathological liar and thief (Hendren) when she tries to steal from his company.  Rather than turn her over to the police he decides to find the origin of her compulsions.

This film has all of Hitchcock’s flourishes but falls way short of his best for me.

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Savage Sword of Conan Art by Zeck, Broderick, Potts & Adams and More!

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I remember when I first saw this Mike Zeck frontpiece for Savage Sword of Conan.  It made me want my own Zeck Conan art and so Conan was the first sketch I ever got from Mr. Z.

One of the things I’ve al love about the ole Savage Sword of Conan magazines were the different artists who appeared there.  Diversions of the Groovy Kind posted the Mike Zeck piece above along with Conan riffs by Ron Wilson and Joe Rubinstein, Carl Potts and Neal Adams, Keith Pollard, Don Newton, Pat Broderick and Kerry Gammil.

Looking for Danger (1957)

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Looking for Danger (1957)

Director: Austen Jewell

Screenplay: Elwood Ullman

Stars: Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements and Lili Kardell

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s do another Bowery Boys movie!”

Tagline: It’s a royal delight when Sach crashes the Sultan’s harem and teaches the gals with the seven veils to rock ‘n roll!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

 

The boys remember the time during the war when they were sent to spy behind enemy lines in an Arabian land disguised as Nazis.

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Of Mice and Men (1939)

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Of Mice and Men (1939)

Director: Lewis Milestone

Screenplay: Eugene Solow based on the novel by John Steinbeck

Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele and Noah Beery Jr.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s turn Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men into a movie!”

Tagline: A mighty novel! A sensational stage success! Now! The year’s most important picture!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

George (Chaney, Jr.) and Lennie (Meredith) are old buddies who travel from farm to ranch looking for work just barely getting by during the depression. George is a strong giant of a man with the brain of a child.  Lennie constantly looks after George whose strength and lack of mental aptitude is always getting him them in trouble.   Although they dream of one day owning their own little place, it will probably never happen.

George and Lennie get work on a ranch owned by a mean old man and his son, Curley (Steele).  Curley takes an instant dislike to George.  Curley distrusts all the men on the ranch because of his attractive wife (Field), but he especially hates large men.  Lennie warns George to stay away from both Curley and his wife.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that they will stay away from him.

 

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The Birds (1963) directed by Alfred Hitchcock; starring Rod Tayler, Jessica Tandy; Suzanne Pleshette and introducing Tippi Hedren / Z-View

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The Birds (1963)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay: Evan Hunter from The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier

Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Suzanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy, Charles McGraw, Ruth McDevitt, Lonny Chapman, Joe Mantell, Malcolm Atterbury, John McGovern, Karl Swenson, Richard Deacon, Elizabeth Wilson, Bill Quinn, Doreen Lang, Alfred Hitchcock and Veronica Cartwright.

Tagline: Suspense and shock beyond anything you have seen or imagined!

The Plot…

Something strange is happening in Bodega Bay.

Birds have randomly attacked individuals.  At first it is thought to be a coincidence.  Then a farmer is found dead, with his eyes pecked out and other wounds that appear to be caused by birds.

And now the birds are gathering…

Thoughts (Beware of spoilers)…

Another classic from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.  This is one of a few movies I was always allowed to stay up and watch even on a school night as a kid.

Most of the birds seen in the film are real.  Hitchcock said that 3,200 birds were used during filming. They were combined with mechanical birds and special effects.  Hitchcock used several effects houses including MGM, Disney and FOX.

Hitchcock wanted the film to close with out a “The End” title card to leave the audience with a sense of unresolved terror.

The Bodega Bay school house where scenes were filmed was reportedly haunted.  When Hitchcock was told this he was thrilled to be filming there.

Hitchcock’s movie and Du Maurier’s story only share a bayside town setting and birds attacking humans. Du Maurier’s story takes place in Britain with a man protecting his wife and two children at their isolated cottage.

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The 50 Greatest Action Movies

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Empire Online presents The 50 Greatest Action Movies.  It’s not a bad list.  I’ve seen 43 of the 50.  Keeping that in mind, here are, in alpha order, my ten favorite action movies using just the movies on their list…

  • Casino Royale
  • Commando
  • Die Hard
  • Enter the Dragon
  • John Wick
  • Mad Max 2
  • Mad Max Fury Road
  • Point Break
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • The Killer

Narrowing down the list was tough.  I tried to eliminate some movies if they were more drama or sci-fi than action.  With that said, this list is still pretty subjective.  A movie that would have made the list had it been a choice would have been Rambo.

Any thoughts?

Backtrack (2015)

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Backtrack (2015)

Director: Michael Petroni

Screenplay: Michael Petroni

Stars: Adrien Brody, Jenni Baird and Bruce Spence

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a ghost movie with Adrien Brody!”

Tagline: Nothing haunts like the past.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Psychologist Peter Bower (Brody) is having a terrible time dealing with the death of his daughter.  He was teaching her to ride a bike when he became distracted and she was struck by a truck and killed.  Bower begins to have dreams of the dead and even starts to see them while awake.

As Bower sorts out the meaning of his visions, he also tries to remember what distracted him and lead to the death of his daughter.  Bower believes that they are linked.  Following the clues, he returns to his boyhood home and a secret that ties it all together.

 

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11 Tiny Errors You Never Noticed in “The Andy Griffith Show”

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Me-TV presents 11 Tiny Errors You Never Noticed in The Andy Griffith Show.  Here are three of my favorites…

ANDY REFLECTS – “The Bookie Barber”

Outside the barber shop, Andy tells Barney that one of his ears is longer than the other. After the quip, he walks off camera, presumably down the street. However, as soon as he exits the frame, watch the glass of the shop window. In the reflection, you can see Griffith immediately stop and hunch over, presumably under the camera. He awkwardly stands there for the rest of the shot.

TUBA – “The Mayberry Band”

You can see the reflection of the film crew and equipment in Andy’s tuba. Though warped around the curve of the horn, it’s an interesting glimpse at the set, as you can see ladders and rigging.

BARNEY IS PLUGGED IN, TOO – “Opie the Bird Man”

A handful of episodes later, another microphone cable can be spotted, running up Don Knotts’ pant leg. Look for it in an overhead shot, when Andy and Barney talk to Opie, who has climbed up a tree.

Split (2017)

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Split (2017)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Screenplay: M. Night Shyamalan

Stars: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson and Betty Buckley

The Pitch: “Hey, M. Knight Shyamalan has a cool idea for a movie!”

Tagline: Kevin has 23 distinct personalities. The 24th is about to be unleashed.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

 

Kevin Wendell has 23 different personalities.  One of them kidnapped three girls and locked them in a remote location.  All they know is that a new personality, ‘the beast’ is coming and they are considered sacred food.

M. Knight is back!  The twist ending has received a lot of buzz and is a cool reveal more than a twist.  With that said, I watched the movie thinking that one of the girls was actually one of Kevin’s personalities.  I really believe that M. Knight wanted us to lean that way… but I was wrong.  It’ll be interesting to see how M. Knight re-visits this story-line.

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Sleepless (2017)

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Sleepless (2017)

Director: Baran bo Odar

Screenplay: Andrea Berloff based on the French film Sleepless Night

Stars: Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, Dermot Mulroney, Scoot McNairy, Gabrielle Union and Octavius J. Johnson

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s remake Sleepless Night!”

Tagline: Don’t judge a cop by his cover.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

 

Sleepless starts off with a lot of potential and then quickly becomes turns into a brainless action fest.  That’s not a bad thing if you’re not hoping for more, but based on the trailer I was.

Sleepless opens with a drug ripoff that turns into a shootout leaving the drug couriers dead. The two masked men who ripped off the 25 million dollars worth of cocaine get away and we learn that they are cops.  Vincent Downs (Foxx) and his partner show up at the station and Downs requests to investigate the case.  Pretty smart move since he and his partner committed the crime.  This is probably the last smart thing that happens in the movie.

Downs and his partner go to the crime scene and discover another pair of detectives are also working the case.  To make matters worse both the drug dealer and the drug buyer are on to Downs (how do they figure this out before the cops?) and so they kidnap Downs’ son.

Downs’ has a son and a wife.  He doesn’t live with them because he was never home.  Son tolerates dad who is always late or doesn’t show up for scheduled visits.  Wife is ready to move on to another man who has been in her life.  This family life could be expected from a drug dealing no good cop.

Downs gets a call and is told to bring the cocaine to the drug dealer’s casino.  Yep, just bring 25 million of coke to the casino and you’ll get your son back.  So what does Downs do?  He takes the satchel of coke to the casino.  Ah, but he has a plan.  He’ll go into the men’s room and hide half in the ceiling.  Then he’ll wait to give his son back before giving them the rest of the drugs.

Can you think of another place that has more cameras than a casino?  Not the brightest plan.  What follows are a bunch of fights as Downs gets his son back, loses his son, fights the drug dealers and fights the other cops investigating the crime.  There are fights in the hallway, fights in the kitchen, the disco, the spa, the pool and the parking garage.  You’ll see more people with guns get their guns taken away by unarmed folks than in any other movie I can remember.

The thing that bugs me is that this could have been a better movie with just a little more thought.  Nits I will pick…

  • Downs takes all the coke to the casino and then hides half of it in the casino.  What’s the point?  Doesn’t he know about cameras?
  • When the female cop trailing Downs discovers he’s brought the stolen coke to the casino she doesn’t call it in.   Instead she takes the coke and hides it in a locker in the spa in the same casino?!?
  • When Downs goes to get the coke he hid so they will give him his son he discovers it is missing.  So he goes to the kitchen and packs up sugar.  The drug dealers take it without checking because cops are supposedly on their way up.
  • In fight scene after fight scene someone with a gun has it taken away from them by an unarmed person.
  • In a scene in the parking garage, one of the thugs puts on a mask and begins firing off tear gas rounds.  The tear gas has no effect on anyone.  Perhaps he was just firing off smoke grenades, but if that is the case why is he wearing a mask and the smoke would hinder his and his partner’s vision as well.
  • Downs’ wife shows up at the parking garage just in time to kill a thug and save his life.
  • It turns out (major spoiler alert and cliché) that Downs is a good cop who has been undercover for two years.  His dedication to the case is an admirable thing.  Ignoring his family was all in the line of the job.  Aww!  His son and wife are going to forgive him and all will be well in the Downs’ household.
  • The cliché I was hoping that they’d avoid was that the bad cop was actually the female detective’s partner.

If it sounds like I hated Sleepless, I didn’t.  If you go in expecting a fairly mindless action flick, you should like it.  I was just hoping for so much better.

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