Some Like It Hot (1959) / Z-View

Posted on by

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Director: Billy Wilder

Screenplay: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond

Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O’Brien and Joe E. Brown.

The Pitch: “Hey, Billy Wilder has an idea for a Marilyn Monroe comedy with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon!”

Tagline: The movie too HOT for words!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When musicians Joe [Curtis] and Jerry [Lemmon] witness a gangland execution and are seen by the killers, they know their days are numbered.  The mob has placed a price on their heads and they have to get out of town.  So Joe becomes Josephine, Jerry becomes Daphne and they join an all girl band headed for Florida by train.

Things become even more complicated when Joe falls for Sugar [Monroe] and millionaire Osgood Fielding the third, goes ga-ga for Daphne.  The only way things could get worse is if the gangsters find them and guess what?  Yep.  The gangsters find them.

Monroe looks great. This is my favorite Jack Lemmon role.  You won’t be disappointed.

Rating:

Spooks Run Wild (1941) / Z-View

Posted on by

Spooks Run Wild (1941)

Director: Phil Rosen

Screenplay: Carl Foreman & Charles R. Marion …  Jack Henley (additional dialogue)

Stars: Bela Lugosi, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall and Angelo Rossitto.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put the East Side Kids in a creepy deserted mansion with a killer on the loose.”

No Tagline

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The East Side Kids (who would later grow into The Bowery Boys) find themselves sent to a rural summer camp.  When the boys sneak out one night looking for some fun they find themselves in a creepy old house where the sinister looking Nardo (Lugosi) and his diminutive servant Luigi [Rossitto] live.  They will soon learn that a killer is on the loose and closer than they can imagine.

I expected more from a horror comedy with Bela Lugosi, a spooky old house and the East Side Kids.  Perhaps because I’ve seen the same gags done better with The Three Stooges and Abbott & Costello, my sights were set too high.

Rating:

George Romero, the NOTLD Restoration and His Thoughts on The Walking Dead, World War Z and More!

Posted on by

Yesterday The Hollywood Reporter posted Aaron Couch’s interview with George Romero.  Here’s a taste then click over and read the whole thing…

  • Night of the Living Dead is getting a restoration by the Museum of Modern Art and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, which brings it back to pristine condition!
  • When asked about the future of his Living Dead franchise, Romero said: “I think really Brad Pitt killed it. The Walking Dead and Brad Pitt just sort of killed it all. The remake of Dawn of the Dead made money. I think pretty big money. Then Zombieland made money, and then all of a sudden, along comes Brad Pitt and he spends $400 million or whatever the hell to do World War Z.”
  • Romero:  “It’s not about the gore, it’s not about the horror element that are in them. It’s more about the message, for me. That’s what it is, and I’m using this platform to be able to show my feelings of what I think.”

 

I’m looking forward to seeing the restored Night of the Living Dead.  I hope that the restoration doesn’t take away from the film’s horror.  If it is too clean looking it may feel more like a movie.

While I can see where Romero is coming from, I don’t think that the bigger budget zombie movies are a bad thing… as long as they’re done well.  ; )

10 Less Than Heroic Stories Of Survival From The Titanic

Posted on by

Mark Oliver and Listverse present 10 Less Than Heroic Stories Of Survival From The Titanic.

While it is hard to predict how we’d act in a life or death situation, if you check out the piece above you’ll learn about…

  • the man who said he accidentally tripped and fell into a lifeboat…
  • the man who dressed up as a woman to get into a lifeboat…
  • the millionaires who bribed crew to get their own lifeboat…
  • the man who told his wife the boat was sinking and to gather up the children and then left before they got topside on a lifeboat…
  • the baker who got drunk and went down with the ship but survived!

All of the Universal Classic Monsters Ranked!

Posted on by

Spencer Perry and ComingSoon.net present All of the Universal Classic Monsters Ranked!

Some thoughts about Perry’s rankings…

  • I agree the Mummy movies are the weakest in the series.
  • While it’s hard to argue the greatness of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, I sometimes feel that The Creature from the Black Lagoon should be #1.
  • It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how good The Invisible Man is.
  • While I love the idea of The Wolf Man, the movies always fell a bit short for me.
  • I’d rank Dracula closer to #1 on the list.
  • I love that Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein made the top 10.

Tim Truman’s Scout Optioned for Theatrical Release!

Posted on by

I’m excited to report that Tim Truman’s creation Scout has been optioned by Studio 8 with Chris MacBride (The Conspiracy) set to write and direct.  Truman will serve as a creative consultant for the character he created, wrote and directed in a long-running comic series.

Scout is…

…an Apache ex-Army Ranger who, while on a personal/spiritual mission, investigates the disappearance of young women and in the process uncovers a far-reaching conspiracy involving local gangs, human slavers, oil companies and corrupt government officials.

Source: Deadline.com.

The 5 Greatest One Man Movies (3 That Aren’t Plus 3 That Should Be)

Posted on by

Danny Bowes and Film School Rejects present The 5 Greatest One Man Movies.   The idea is that… 

One Uniquely Talented Man is the only thing standing between paradise and the void.

No superheroes.  No James Bond.

Ok.  I agree with John Wick.  Lock Out is an excellent choice.  But the other three selections?

Really?

C’mon, man.

Here’s what should have been added in their place.

  • Enter the Dragon.  Sure, you’ve got John Saxon and Jim Kelly in addition to Bruce Lee, but Lee is the uniquely talented man sent in to get the goods on Han.  Saxon and Kelly are nice additions to Lee’s story but it is Lee’s story.
  • Escape from New York.  How was Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken not on the list???  No explanation needed for why he should have been.  Right?
  • Rambo, First Blood Part II, Rambo III, or Rambo.  Dealer’s choice or in this case writer’s choice but you HAVE to include Sylvester Stallone as Rambo on any Greatest One Man Movies list.

13 Running Facts About “The Fugitive”

Posted on by

Eric D. Snider and Mental_Floss present 13 Running Facts About The Fugitive.  Here are three of my favorites…

2. IT WAS ALMOST ALEC BALDWIN INSTEAD OF HARRISON FORD.
Kopelson, a fan of the TV series, had been trying off and on to get the film made since the 1970s. It was finally about to happen in the early ’90s, with Alec Baldwin in the lead role and Walter Hill (48 Hrs.) as director, but Warner Bros. didn’t think Baldwin had enough star power. “With an expensive movie, the consideration is, what star can ‘open’ it,” Kopelson said, “and the studio wasn’t certain at that time that Alec could do it.” (By the way, this was the secondtime Baldwin had lost a role to Harrison Ford, who also replaced him as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October sequel Patriot Games.)

9. HARRISON FORD WASN’T FAKING HIS BEFUDDLEMENT IN THE INTERROGATION SCENE.
To lend more realism to the scene where Dr. Kimble is first questioned by police, Davis had Ford and the other actors do it with only half a script—the cops’ half. Ford, not knowing in advance what the questions would be, had to ad lib responses in character. Naturally, this came across as being defensive and flustered, which was exactly what the situation called for. Acting!

13. THE DAM SCENE COST $2 MILLION, INCLUDING ABOUT $60,000 FOR DUMMIES.
The maze of tunnels leading to the dam were fake, and built in a Chicago warehouse. The last section of the tunnel—the part that opens over the dam, where Kimble and Gerard have their dramatic confrontation—was actually transported from Chicago to the Cheoah Dam in North Carolina, where it was rigged to look like it belonged there. For the big jump, there were no stuntmen involved. Ford himself (secured by a wire) did the shot where Kimble looks over the edge and considers jumping, and dummies were used for the plunge itself. Six Harrison Ford lookalike dummies were commissioned, each costing somewhere between $7000 and $12,000. They did not survive intact, much to the dismay of their manufacturer, who’d been hoping to re-rent them.