Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
John Byrne probably isn’t one of the first names that comes to mind when you hear the words: Conan artist. But John Byrne created the piece above which appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan #9.
I’d have never seen it had it not been for the fine folks at Diversions of the Groovy Kind and their post of three John Byrne drawings from Savage Sword of Conan.
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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Diversions of the Groovy Kind is a regular stop on my daily website visits. This time out they’re featuring a Tony DeZuniga Conan portfolio that originally appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan #56 from July, 1980!
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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Michael Edward Taylor and ScreenRant present The 15 Most Groundbreaking Covers of All Time.
There are some excellent choices in there — Steranko’s Nick Fury [of course], the Iron Man alcohol cover, Neal Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow drug abuse cover, even Shatter Special #1 with the first comic cover entirely created digitally. Limiting the choices to just 15 makes it tough… otherwise we might have seen…
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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Dave Wachter is back and he brought his take on Sly from The Expendables with him. I met Dave several years ago and became an instant fan. I wasn’t the only one to discover Dave’s fantastic sketches! How can you not like a great guy who is a terrific artist?
It has become a HeroesCon tradition that I get Dave to draw his take on Sly. Somehow this one was never posted until now.
You can see more of Dave’s art at his site. – Craig
Kathy Benjamin and Mental_Floss present The Most Impressive Thing About All 50 States. Here are three of my favorites…
14. INDIANA
The home of the Indy 500, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the biggest sporting venue in the world by a good margin. It has permanent seating for 257,000 people, and temporary on-field seating brings that up to 400,000.
15. IOWA
Burlington is home to Snake Alley, what Ripley’s Believe It or Not called the “Crookedest Street in the World” (something the more famous Lombard Street in San Francisco also lays claim to). It was built in the 1800s to help horses get up a hill that was too steep for them to climb in a straight line.
16. KANSAS
Garden City, Kansas is home to a swimming pool so big it’s possible to waterski in it (which has happened a few times as a promotional stunt). Opened in 1922, The Big Pool was renovated in the early aughts and is now the world’s largest outdoor concrete municipal swimming pool. Bigger than a football field, it takes a full day to fill it to its 2.5-million-gallon capacity.
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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Here’s a nice little interview with Elliot Fernandez conducted by Rich Johnston for Bleeding Cool.
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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Quint at AICN caught up with Shane Black for a short but informative interview on writing!
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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Today we have a Steranko Captain America drawing from 1984.
Source: The Bristol Board.
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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