The life of Kirk Douglas took him from a childhood dominated by a hard-drinking junkman father to adult years in which he lived in a Beverly Hills home with a wine cellar. He was one of the world’s biggest movie stars and most noted actors, and Trailers From Hell remembers him this week after his passing on February 5, 2020.
In the classic Spartacus, we find wine playing at least a supporting role since nobody wanted to drink the foul water in the century before Christ. Even though the Roman Empire’s plumbing system was a miracle of its day, the lead pipes that carried the water to citizens would much later be shown as a bigger health hazard that gladiating.
Douglas, as Spartacus, worries that he and his men “look for wine when we should be hunting bread.” Nick Dennis, as Dionysius, replies that, “When you’ve got wine, you don’t need bread,...
In the classic Spartacus, we find wine playing at least a supporting role since nobody wanted to drink the foul water in the century before Christ. Even though the Roman Empire’s plumbing system was a miracle of its day, the lead pipes that carried the water to citizens would much later be shown as a bigger health hazard that gladiating.
Douglas, as Spartacus, worries that he and his men “look for wine when we should be hunting bread.” Nick Dennis, as Dionysius, replies that, “When you’ve got wine, you don’t need bread,...
- 2/12/2020
- by Randy Fuller
- Trailers from Hell
Stars: Ralph Meeker, Nick Dennis, Maxine Cooper, Cloris Leachman, Gaby Rodgers | Written by A.I. Bezzerides | Directed by Robert Aldritch
Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) is driving down the freeway, minding his own business, when he almost hits a woman. Mike is a private investigator, and he knows trouble when he sees it, but he can’t just leave her in the road. His decision to stop and help triggers a confrontation with a group of thugs. When he comes around, the lady is dead – and Mike wants to know what the hell just happened.
With the help of his assistant and lover, Velda (Maxine Cooper), Mike takes a deep dive into the L.A. underworld. Scouring the backstreets, bars and boxing clubs, he uncovers a web of intrigue and violence, involving all the usual men of power, i.e. gangsters and cops. Countless bodies are left in the wake of his...
Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) is driving down the freeway, minding his own business, when he almost hits a woman. Mike is a private investigator, and he knows trouble when he sees it, but he can’t just leave her in the road. His decision to stop and help triggers a confrontation with a group of thugs. When he comes around, the lady is dead – and Mike wants to know what the hell just happened.
With the help of his assistant and lover, Velda (Maxine Cooper), Mike takes a deep dive into the L.A. underworld. Scouring the backstreets, bars and boxing clubs, he uncovers a web of intrigue and violence, involving all the usual men of power, i.e. gangsters and cops. Countless bodies are left in the wake of his...
- 8/15/2019
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
What seemed too raw for 1955 still packs a punch, as Robert Aldrich takes a meat cleaver to the power politics of the old studio system. Monstrous studio head Rod Steiger has just the leverage he needs to blackmail frazzled star Jack Palance into signing the big contract. But will Hollywood corruption destroy them all?
The Big Knife
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen,
Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Art Direction: William Glasgow
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Adapted by James Poe from the play by Clifford Odets
Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich’s 1940s film apprenticeship was largely spent as an assistant director for strong, creative filmmakers that wanted to do good personal work free of the constraints of the big studios.
The Big Knife
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen,
Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Art Direction: William Glasgow
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Adapted by James Poe from the play by Clifford Odets
Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich’s 1940s film apprenticeship was largely spent as an assistant director for strong, creative filmmakers that wanted to do good personal work free of the constraints of the big studios.
- 9/26/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Most of us love the Trumbo-Douglas-Kubrick thinking man's leftist gladiator epic, and after several iffy disc presentations this exacting digital restoration follows through on the photochemical reconstruction done 25 years ago. It looks incredibly good, almost too good to be a Blu-ray. Kirk contributes a new featurette interview, telling us that this is the show he'll be remembered for. Spartacus Blu-ray + Digital HD Universal Studios Home Entertainment 1960 / Color / 2:20 widescreen / 197 min. / Street Date October 6, 2015 / 19.98 Starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis, Woody Strode, John Gavin, Nina Foch, Herbert Lom, Charles McGraw, John Ireland, Nick Dennis, John Dall, Herbert Lom, Joanna Barnes, Harold J. Stone, Peter Brocco, John Hoyt, Richard Farnsworth, George Kennedy. Cinematography by Russell Metty Music by Alex North Edited by Robert Lawrence Produced by Kirk Douglas and Edward Lewis Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo Based on the novel by Howard Fast Produced by...
- 10/20/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Stars: Bobby Darin, Stella Stevens, Everett Chambers, Nick Dennis, Vince Edwards, Val Avery, Marilyn Clark, James Joyce, Rupert Crosse | Written by John Cassavetes, Richard Carr | Directed by John Cassavetes
Ghost (Darin), is an idealistic musician who would rather play in the park to the birds and at other small time gigs than compromise himself by going big time. For his band mates however, a little bit of fame wouldn’t go a miss. But when Ghost falls for a girl called Jess who he meets at a party (Stevens), she comes between him and his band members. Splitting off from the group and abandoning the life he once knew, he sets off on a search for fame and leaves his dreams behind.
Too Late Blues is another entry in the Masters of Cinema Series, a film made in 1961, filmed in black and white and directed by John Cassavetes. From the title,...
Ghost (Darin), is an idealistic musician who would rather play in the park to the birds and at other small time gigs than compromise himself by going big time. For his band mates however, a little bit of fame wouldn’t go a miss. But when Ghost falls for a girl called Jess who he meets at a party (Stevens), she comes between him and his band members. Splitting off from the group and abandoning the life he once knew, he sets off on a search for fame and leaves his dreams behind.
Too Late Blues is another entry in the Masters of Cinema Series, a film made in 1961, filmed in black and white and directed by John Cassavetes. From the title,...
- 7/17/2014
- by Richard Axtell
- Nerdly
Corey Allen had a sterling half-century film career, but he's still best-known for playing Buzz, the cool kid who does the chicken run with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. No wonder – those scenes are the tragic, prophetic heart of the film
There was a lot more to Corey Allen than the chicken run in Rebel Without a Cause. For instance, he had a piercing, nasty scene with Claire Bloom in The Chapman Report (a picture no one looks at any more). He had moments in Nicholas Ray's Party Girl and Richard Brooks's Sweet Bird of Youth. Thereafter he became a highly competent director on television – where competence is far more valued than creative originality – and he won an Emmy for an episode of Hill Street Blues. He was also an acting teacher. But Buzz was what we remember, and it's a tribute to just how potent...
There was a lot more to Corey Allen than the chicken run in Rebel Without a Cause. For instance, he had a piercing, nasty scene with Claire Bloom in The Chapman Report (a picture no one looks at any more). He had moments in Nicholas Ray's Party Girl and Richard Brooks's Sweet Bird of Youth. Thereafter he became a highly competent director on television – where competence is far more valued than creative originality – and he won an Emmy for an episode of Hill Street Blues. He was also an acting teacher. But Buzz was what we remember, and it's a tribute to just how potent...
- 7/1/2010
- by David Thomson
- The Guardian - Film News
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