4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 20, 2021

Woman in Hiding doesn’t waste any time. A car races down a twisting highway only to go careening through the side rails into the drink. The car and its occupant look to be obliterated. Yet we have the dead talking, Ida Lupino whispering to us from the grave. Could this...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 18, 2021

The movie opens with a score raging with dramatic tones fit for a title like Lust For Gold. The resulting narrative ploy is not a new one either, suggesting the details of this “unusual situation” were substantiated by historical records and legends of Arizona. It’s meant to provi   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 16, 2021

In the days before they were known as film noir, the melodramas of the 1940s have such evocative titles, which now verge on the edge of camp. One can imagine the plethora of quality bumper stickers noir aficionados could plaster on their jalopies and Cadillacs. Try these on for size:...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 13, 2021

“Have you ever done this before?” – Robert Mitchum as Norman Clyde “No. I’ve never stolen anything in my life.” – Laraine Day as Nancy We’re met by a wedding with all the trimmings. It’s a well-to-do affair and Larraine Day looks quite dazzling.   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 11, 2021

The Undercover Man gives off an early vibe akin to Anthony Mann’s T-Men thanks to a disclaimer reading something like this: Behind the big headlines are stories of ordinary men and women with extraordinary courage. This picture concerns one of those men. However, the title is a bit of a...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 9, 2021

So Dark The Night is certainly a bit of an oddity functioning as Columbia’s attempt at a Parisian noir before being transplanted to the idyllic countryside. Linguistically, it’s a strange hybrid dominated by English with stylistic sprinkles of Francés. Regardless, of any discrepancies,   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 4, 2021

The opening scene of Framed is glorious. It’s the epitome of why these old B pictures have some much to offer audiences often bloated on cinematic glut. A runaway truck careens down a mountain road as the driver sweats it out trying to punch the breaks uselessly. Entering a busy...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 2, 2021

This expedient B noir opens with the most peculiar of narrative devices. The only guess is it’s somehow tied to the film’s roots in serial radio drama. A pack of poker-playing, late-night newshounds is chewing the fat, and out of their nattering comes the story of Tony Cochrane (William   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 30, 2021

In our current climate, it almost seems like an oxymoron to have a shoestring budget period piece, but many of Val Lewton’s best movies were founded on this formula. His three-film partnership was beneficial for all parties involved and we would like to consider how he was able to fashion...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 28, 2021

In the olden days, a stage production — or shall we say “the theater” — was blessed with a certain cultural cachet not extended to moving pictures. While this dichotomy hasn’t totally eroded, given the directions movies have gone, Noises Off…is buoyed by the stag   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 26, 2021

The story goes Peter Bogdanovich met Roger Corman sitting in a screening of Bay of Angels (1963). What came out of that was an apprenticeship of sorts on Wild Angels (1966) in the Corman Film School where Bogdanovich did everything you could possibly imagine from script doctoring to location scouti   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 21, 2021

This is my entry in CMBA’s Fall Blogathon Laughter is The Best Medicine! In the old days, if you wanted to see actors, you’d go to the stage. Hollywood was the place for movie stars. Lucille Fay LeSueur was given a new name (and a new birth date) only to...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 19, 2021

From its initiation in the opening shots, The Stunt Man is built out of a comic serendipity allowing it to execute its own sense of narrative rhythm. It leans into coincidence, cinematic logic, and what really necessitates reality. Consequently, all these themes lay the bedrock for what the film is   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 16, 2021

When a little baby boy is singing “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” in the bathtub — Larry Kasdan’s son — it’s the perfect introduction to this film. In fact, you always hear rumblings about The Big Chill. It’s a touchstone for a generation: For my parents’ p   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 14, 2021

One of my favorite bands penned a song called “Happy is a Yuppie Word.” I never spent much time dwelling on the meaning of the statement, but as I grow older, it somehow takes on more pertinent meaning. If I remember correctly, Bob Dylan gave an interview with Rolling Stone...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 12, 2021

Aside from films actually produced during the war years, I’m not sure if I can think of a film that highlights the homefront to the degree of Swing Shift. The soundtrack is also perfectly antiquated (sans Carly Simon) fitting the era and mood to add another definite dimension. It effectively...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 9, 2021

There’s something apropos about baseball having such a central spot in the storyline of Parenthood because this is a movie wrapped up in the American experience from a very particular era. Yes, the euphoric joys and manifold stressors of parenting are in some form universal, but Ron Howard&#82   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 7, 2021

The opening sequence of Melvin and Howard takes on more and more meaning the longer the movie goes on. It’s very simple, really. We open up with some joyrider on his motorbike tearing through the desert, taking on every jump through the arid wasteland with reckless abandon. As one might...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 5, 2021

“How can such a small mind have such a big antenna?” – Paul Le Mat is Spider Citizens Band (also known as Handle With Care) is not about music. Instead, it documents the increasing craze during the 1970s for person-to-person radio communication. Initially utilized for emergency me   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on September 30, 2021

Freud: The Secret Passion is made by John Huston’s sense of narrative posturing. In fact, he goes so far as to narrate the opening himself, relating how men like Copernicus and Darwin boldly went against the conventions of their day to help revolutionize people’s conception of the world   read more