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The Ghost At The Banquet .
It's an unusual movie for MGM , known best for its family movies . Think " Little Women " and " Meet Me in St . Louis . " This is pretty dark stuff , visually and otherwise . Van Heflin is a contractor in a Los Angeles suburb , when Los Angeles still had suburbs . He's evidently the kind of contractor who's best at tur...
442,073
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78,490
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Nature vs . Culture .
At the beginning of the film Michael Moriarty , a correspondent in Vietnam , is writing a letter to his wife ( Tuesday Weld ) , describing how the elephants are thought to be used as pack animals for the VC , so US choppers have been ordered to chase them and destroy them . " You see , " he writes , " in a word where f...
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Los Angeles in its decadent period .
This script about two high-school kids - - one a genius ( Roddy MacDowell ) and the other a nubile blond airhead ( Tuesday Weld ) . MacDowell , close to 40 at the time of shooting , looks about as much like a high schooler as I do . Weld , on the other hand , reminds me a lot of Irene Revok , this succulent , shy blond...
441,627
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6
Nifty B Thriller
With very little effort you could visualize this on the screen of some neighborhood theater - - The Ritz or the Bijou or the Mayfair - - in , say , 1949 . Only then it would be in black and white . The credits take about 90 seconds to unroll . It stars people like Edmond O'Brian and Adele Jergens and Marie Windsor and ...
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Colorful training camp romance .
The plot is nothing much new . An older , experienced aviator ( Preston Foster ) is hired as a civilian instructor at Thunder Bird Airfield in Arizona . His missions : ( 1 ) To shepherd a class of American , British , and Chinese novices through primary flight training , and ( 2 ) to woo an old girl friend , Gene Tiern...
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Unexpected Verisimilitude .
Vernon and Irene Castle were genuine historical figures whose dancing , and whose other commercial enterprises , became a craze in 1911 and lasted for some years . Vernon's contribution ended with his death in a flying accident during World War I . From what I can gather , this film sticks fairly closely to the facts ,...
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Entertaining buddy comedy .
It's the kind of relaxed , enjoyable , self-referential episode we expect in the " road " series of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby . It fills the usual template . Two greedy , cowardly , libidinous show-business guys get thrown out of a circus and find themselves stowing away on a ship bound for Rio de Janeiro . ( Brazil , l...
442,100
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Wayward Brothers .
Post-war Los Angeles is nicely evoked in this story of two brothers - - Desmond Spellacy ( Robert DeNiro ) and Tom ( Robert Duvall ) . Plenty of grand old gas-guzzling Fords . Vacant lots that are now undoubtedly buried under a Starbucks or a Nieman-Marcus . Five-dollar cat houses that smell like old paint . And both D...
442,862
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6
Huston Takes a Vacation
It's an easy-going , mildly entertaining mystery , the solution of which is given before the ending . The mystery itself could have been cooked up by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle as a neat Sherlock Holmes short story . This one is rather dragged out . There's a subplot involving a French businessman and Dana Wynters that has...
443,132
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80,437
6
Sam's War
These comments are based on the restored version , now available on DVD . It's Sam Fuller's story of a small group of infantrymen from the First Division , Mark Hamill , Robert Carradine , Bobby De Cicco , and Kelly Ward , led by their sergeant , Lee Marvin . The battles , and the rests between battles , takes us from ...
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Possibly the most disgusting episode ever .
This is the one about Al's toilet . Not a " commode , " not a " lavaratory , " not a " washroom , " not a " loo , " not a " dunnie " - - a toilet . Unsatisfied with the one in his house , which flushes with a feminine whoosh , and always has a jar of vinegar on the medicine-cabinet shelf , he decides to build his own b...
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6
Engaging waste of time .
There are so many stupid action movies out there - - mind-numbing , explosion-filled , cartoonish , slow-motion-bodies-falling , gore , ugly guns , special f / x , mismatched heroic couple of mixed sex , wisecracking villain - - and I've SEEN so many that I'm beginning to be able to tell the difference between them . T...
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Hit or Miss Satire Of 60s Phenoms .
Kind of fun . An episodic , jet-propelled satire of just about everything in the contemporary newspapers . The President of the US ( Lyndon B . Johnson at the time , briefly glimpsed walking his hound dogs on the White House lawn ) is a troubled man . He recruits a psychoanalyst ( James Coburn ) . Johnson was REALLY tr...
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Pretzel Logic .
Gerald Sanford , the writer , has given us a story about an unhinged officer of the law ( Hopper ) who kidnaps a rootless crime victim ( Argento ) and keeps her in a cell in his basement , where she must earn " points " to gain privileges . So far , nothing much original . " The Collector " had more going for it . But ...
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6
Early , inexpensive , relaxed Ford / Will Rogers
If you want to see what the Hollywood world was like before everyone became politically correct , this one is worth seeing . Hear Hattie MacDaniel sing about " the darkies " . Watch Stepin Fetchit as he explains that he's not wearing his shoes because he's saving them for when his feet wear out . Watch the small Kentuc...
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6
Mme . La Farge and her damme knitting !
It's pretty good , actually , and long enough to have some of Dickens ' subplots and subincidents covered in more detail . Plus it was filmed in England and Bordeaux . Yet , without knowing exactly why , I think I'd prefer the 1935 version with Ronald Coleman . It's a little tough on the endurance factor to sit through...
442,640
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34,162
6
Plot Overboard !
Jack London led a life easily as interesting as most of his characters . Started out as an oyster pirate near Oakland , then a writer , journalist , and socialist in - - well , all over the place , London , Alaska , the Orient , and back to the artists ' colony in Carmel , California , before it became unaffordable for...
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6
Diverting trifle .
Cary Grant , Constance Bennett , and Roland Young in an amusing comedy about two ghosts ( Grant and Bennett ) showing banker Young how to have a good time . It takes them the entire movie to do it . Until the last five minutes , Young still seems stuffy and flustered by the antics he's been involved in . A lot depends ...
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6
Good cast in Western journey .
After World War II , Jimmy Stewart's career seemed to stall . He was no longer the piping-voiced naive youngster , and it's difficult to believe that his war experiences hadn't affected his real character in some way . This was one of a series of Westerns Stewart made under the direction of Anthony Mann , one of the be...
442,256
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44,954
6
Tense , Cheap Train / Crime Drama .
There's something about Charles McGraw that is in its own quiet way unspeakable . The guy seems hardly human . Of medium height , blocky , with a voice that sounds like a subwoofer on acid , and a face that is made not of flesh but some sort of igneous rock , maybe quartz . Punching him in the nose would only break you...
442,142
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6
Sleep disorders .
Interesting murder / love story , set in the Australian outback . Way out in the outback . A road picture in which a reckless young couple are pursued by both the police and a gangster who wants something they've taken from him . Simple enough so far . The problem is that the couple seem to be ahead of the people track...
443,570
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6
Pretty Amusing Story of Roles .
I can't remember much of " La Cage au Folles " , the , um , mother of this film except that Marcel Bozuffi was extremely funny in demonstrating the way men walk . But this remake is funny on its own terms . You may or may not leave prancing to " We Are Family " but there are scenes that are almost certain to make you c...
442,544
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6
Gangsters in Newcastle
Kind of complicated revenge movie . Michael Caine is Carter , a London gangster who learns his brother Frank has been murdered in their home city of Newcastle . Against the advice of his London friends he returns home , sees to his brother's funeral , discovers his brother's murderers and their accomplices one by one ,...
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6
Pretty good spy story .
Chris Cooper is Robert Hanssen , a traitor working within the FBI and selling secrets to the Russians . The FBI knows about the billions of dollars of damage he's done and the lives that he's had sacrificed , but they need more solid evidence to put him away for good . They recruit Eric O'Neill ( Ryan Phillippe ) , a n...
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6
A Random Walk Down Biscayne Blvd .
You know what this reminds me of ? Godard's " Breathless , " one of the first of the shockingly original Nouvelle Vague flicks of the early 60s . I remember first seeing " Breathless " with some friends in a theater in Ithaca , NY , and emerging arguing about what it meant . I don't mean trying to identify any great lo...
442,144
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6
Pass the wolfbane .
Well , Jack Nicholson is no Lawrence Talbot . In a way that's too bad because the original wolfman was trashy fun . This one is more ambitious and expensive , and it kind of loses its way . The first half is a treat , and is witty too . Nicholson plays his schleppy character , someone without daring or imagination . It...
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6
Rambling but successful comedy .
It's divided into three parts . ( 1 ) Woody and an inept gang set up a cookie store as a front , to be run by Woody's wife , Tracy Ullman , while they tunnel through the store's basement into the bank next door . ( 2 ) The robbery fails but the cookie store succeeds beyond anyone's imagination and Woody and Tracey beco...
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6
Cosmos Through the Looking Glass .
Three people meet , walk around , and talk on Mont-St . - Michel . They are an American poet in exile ( John Heard ) , a frustrated politician ( Sam Waterston ) , and a disillusioned physicist ( Liv Ullman ) . It's sort of wintry and bleak at Mont-St . - Michel , which looks as imposing and impenetrable from the inside...
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6
Exciting Story of Western Outlaw .
Henry Hull , as a newspaper publisher and Jesse's friend , is giving the speech at Jesse James ' burial . " We're PROUD of Jesse around here , " he shouts . " I reckon all America's a little proud of him . I dunno why . Maybe it's because he was bold - - and lawless - - the way we all like to be , once in a while . " N...
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6
Soap , Politics , in About That Order .
Those of us who came of age when Barbara Stanwyck projected an image of hand-shaped steel on screen - - a lesbian , a stern matriarch , or whatever - - may not be aware of how fragile and accommodating she was in her earlier films . Never a sex symbol or an actress who shot out the lights , her performances were always...
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Worth seeing once .
The story is almost rudimentary . An honest plain-speaking working man , Francois , is in love with a fresh-faced young Francoise , but she begins hanging around with an older man burdened with a diabolically sinister face , Valentin . The older man travels around with a trained dog act and a pretty but worn assistant ...
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6
Serious , almost plausible , historical drama .
What an arrogant society we are . We stand at the pinnacle of knowledge . We know everything there is to know , except there's the small business of filling in the dots . Of course the fact is that every generation feels the same way . No matter how stupid they are , every cohort of scientists and moralists manages to ...
443,354
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6
The evolution of enmity
It's easy to make somebody look villainous . You give him a grim dark face , something along the lines of Bela Lugosi , deprive him of any sense of humor , have him speak with an accent , and light his face from below with a hideous green key light . While you're at it , make him a full foot shorter than his American c...
442,041
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58,262
6
Great Communicator Beats Beautiful Woman !
John Cassavetes is a teacher at a school for the blind . Confronted by two hit men , Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager , he waits stoically for the flood of bullets that shortly follow . The dead man's resignation surprises the killers and they determine to find out why he didn't try to run . As it turns out , Cassavetes was ...
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Tortuous trip through the supernatural .
Not having seen the credits , I first thought this was a Steven King story . Kevin Bacon and his wife , Katheryn Erbe , attend a Friday night party at the house of their Chicago neighbor . Half drunk , Bacon allows himself to be hypnotized by his sister-in-law , Ileana Douglas . She induces the trace by suggesting he i...
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Updated Faust .
You can't help wondering how many times this story has been told in print , on stage , and in film . Weren't there independent redintegrations of this Medieval plot by Marlowe and Goethe ? This version comes to us from Steven Vincent Benet and Archibald MacLeash , updated to the current time . It's entertaining still b...
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The Torso Has a Life of its Own .
D . H . Lawrence's tale of class distinctions and nature versus culture turned into soft porn , but pretty good soft porn as these things go . Sylvia Krystel is Constance Chatterly whose wealthy , titled husband , Shane Briant , returns to their vast estate from World War I only half a man , confined to a wheelchair , ...
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Wrecks are Great .
Sometimes you can't help wondering why certain occupations produce so many accomplished writers - - pilots , seamen , and doctors , for instance . Maybe pilots tell good stories that are made into films because - - let's face facts - - what goes up must come down , one way or another . Doctors also can tell gripping st...
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6
If You Fill It , They Will Swim .
If you like " Field of Dreams " you ought to get a kick out of this Twilight-Zone fantasy too . They both follow a similar trajectory . Similar , in fact , to Twilight Zone's " Kick the Can " episode , in fact , from which both may be derived . The director , Ron Howard , hasn't taken any chances here in this sentiment...
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6
Slow story , nice direction .
There's nothing new about the story . Naive young Emma Bovary married older man , finds he's not very exciting , leaves older man , finds younger man , drops mescaline , smokes rainbow , paints political slogans on body , goes back to older man - - no , he dies , that's right , of a " self-inflicted gunshot wound " - -...
443,137
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6
No Means No .
This is a pretty decent movie in its direction ( Jonathan Kaplan ) and its principal performances ( Jodie Foster , as a gang-rape victim , and Kelly McGillis is the prosecuting Assistant District Attorney ) . In the opening scene we see Foster running out of a bar and onto a highway , sobbing , her dress torn . She's b...
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6
S . A . C . wants YOU !
Interesting story of Dutch Holland ( James Stewart ) and his wife ( June Allyson ) and their involvement with the Strategic Air Command of the U . S . Air Force in the post-war years . Holland , an ex bomber pilot , is now a successful third baseman for the St . Louis Cardinals and has just signed a contract for sevent...
442,670
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76,804
6
Above Average Bronson
This time around , Bronson is a Russian major sent to the USA to eliminate a renegade Stalinist who is activating human time bombs . It's a kind of Manchurian Candidate times twelve . Bronson's double-agent assistant is Lee Remick . The plot , though not hard to follow , is a bit intricate and involves the solution of ...
442,110
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War is all hell .
There's a stunning scene towards the end when Jude Law approaches his long-lost girlfriend , Nicole Kidman , on a snowy path through what appears to be an archway of rock pinnacles all dusted with white . Law is hardly more than a scrawny black scarecrow in a slouch hat . Not recognizing him after a year's absence she ...
443,315
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6
Caligian Teen Comedy
It's better than it has a right to be . Kimberley Joyce ( Wood ) with " the face of an angel " persuades two of her classmates to sue for sexual advances a disliked English and Drama teacher at their elite high school , so that his reputation is ruined ( even if they lose , as Wood figures out ) and they achieve an ear...
441,804
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228,750
6
Interesting Story of Hostage Negotiations .
David Morse is an engineer captured and held hostage for ransom by a corrupt group of revolutionaries in the fictional South American country of Tecada or Tecate or San Placebo or someplace . Morse is taken to a remote camp where a few other captives are being held for the same purpose . Man , are these revolutionaries...
443,194
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6
Nostalgie de la Boue
Havoc ( 2005 ) The Shadow of Sixteen Candles . , 16 June This comment may contain spoilers A lot of people seem not to have enjoyed this film very much . I'm not sure why . Yes , the rich girls seemed phony but lots of teenage girls sound similar in their speech . It comes across as so stylized as to be stilted , yet i...
442,687
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51,622
6
Only Half a Man .
This is the original " The Fly . " I never did see David Cronenberg's remake except for a few snippets , but those snippets convinced me that Cronenberg was following his usual impulse to make the viewer's skin crawl . Some of us don't really need that . If we want our skins to crawl all we have to do is get out of bed...
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6
Above Average Example of the Genre .
Professor Deemer ( Leo G . Carrol ) and two of his colleagues have holed up in a lab out in the desert where they are experimenting with a new non-organic nutrient that will feed the world as its population explodes . The experiment goes awry - - don't they all ? - - and Deemer's colleagues both contract a fulminating ...
442,983
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34,277
6
Long , prepossessing WB Flynn Western
As a film unto itself , " They Died With Their Boots On " rolls right along in the mainstream of Errol Flynn's action movies for Warner Brothers . It's effectively directed and attractively shot , although it really would have benefited from glorious Technicolor . They could have called in Natalie Kalmus who would have...
442,033
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38,057
6
Immanent Justice
Edward G . Robinson is a timid bank cashier suffering from low self esteem . He's married to a shrew and takes refuge in his weekend painting , which he deems unfit for display except to friends , of which he seems to have exactly one , and THAT one so distant that he isn't even aware of Robinson's love of painting . R...
442,900
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6
Car chases car , boat , person , woolly mammoth , etc .
The first time I saw this , about ten years ago , I thought it was pretty cool . Zippy car chases , nicely staged , up and down stairs in Hamburg , in and out of passageways , and so forth . Three - - count ' em - - three gorgeous women . Gene Hackman and Matt Dillon , a couple of engaging actors . And it had an intere...
443,319
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42,994
6
Shoot Lovely Ducks !
Well , it's identifiably a Hitchcock movie , but you have to watch it a little carefully to be sure . There are no dramatic set pieces , no mind-boggling crane shots , no screaming violins in the score , and the touches of humor are sparse and more understated than usual . The story is basically a murder mystery genera...
442,124
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38,048
6
Flynn Western is Full of Action and Color .
There are these bad guys in 1870s Texas , see , led by the wealthy Paul Kelly and the underhanded Victor Francen from New Orleans . What they and their henchmen have been doing is rustling cattle by the horde , or by the herd , whichever you prefer . Then they run the stolen cattle across the Mexican border , rebrand t...
442,787
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6
Hollywoodized Version of an Incredible Story .
In the early 50s , Audie Murphy and his ghost writer published a book of Murphy's unbelievable exploits in Italy , France , and Germany during World War II . Murphy , still in his teens , won about every decoration for valor that the human mind can dream up - - and he earned them too . The experience wrecked him . He m...
442,045
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6
Heroism and Cowardice .
This is one of those perilous journey semi-Westerns . In 1916 , Major Gary Cooper is the awards officer during the pursuit of Pancho Villa into Mexico . After witnessing two battles he recommends five men for the Congressional Medal of Honor - - enlisted men Michael Callan , Richard Conte , Van Heflin , and Dick York ;...
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6
Often funny satire of Hollywood .
This intermittently and sometimes very funny send up of cheap movie making was written by , and stars , Steve Martin . He's pretty good , and so are the other performers . Loved Eddie Murphy as the loser / brother of Kit Ramsey . The film is efficiently directed . The humor , as in a lot of Steve Martin's stuff in The ...
443,135
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6
Film Blanc
Two Swedish policemen , one of them Stellan Skarsgard , arrive in northern Norway to help solve the murder of a high-school girl . The killer is almost trapped but escapes into the fog along the shore . By mistake , Skarsgard shoots and kills his partner . He invents a story in which the girl's murderer shot his partne...
442,349
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6
Blimp v . Zeppelin .
I only was able to catch this in sections but thought it was worth recommending . I saw the first half hour some years ago and it struck me as a little boring , but having more recently seen the last half hour it seems to me to have more appeal than I'd originally thought . It's a flag waver , a little pedantic , but i...
442,981
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6
Upscale Brit Crime Thriller
It's not as bad as I'd expected . It's one of those British crime dramas in which people walk around in Saville Row suits , visit Paris and Spain at will , and drive Jaguars - - and the plot centers around a fake Rembrandt painted by Jason Patric , who is double crossed by a couple of co-conspirators and aided by art e...
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6
Some of what glitters is gold .
Sean Connery , as James Bond , with the help of Pussy Galore ( Honor Blackman ) prevents Goldfinger ( Gert Frobe ) from irradiating all the gold stored at Fort Knox , Kentucky , and thereby rendering the basis of America's credit untouchable , along with that of much of the rest of the world . An international monetary...
442,654
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6
The Gentleman Vanishes .
Sort of a nifty mystery about a woman , Jean Simmons , whose brother , David Tomlinson , vanishes from their hotel at the Paris Exposition of 1896 . As in Hitchcock's " The Lady Vanishes , " the concierge and staff deny having seen him . They claim Simmons arrived alone . Simmons pokes around but all the signs of Tomli...
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6
Dinner Chimes at Cabeza de Loco .
Neat set decoration on display here as Aunt Violet Venable ( Hepburn ) takes Dr . Cucrovitz ( Clift ) on a tour of Sebastian's , her deceased son's , botanical gardens while trying to persuade him to perform a lobotomy on her niece Cathy ( Taylor ) who is making a nuisance of herself . The indoor gardens are a vast pla...
443,072
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6
Friends and Neighbors
Jeff Bridges plays a professor at George Washington University in Washington , DC , living a peaceful , suburban existence with his girl friend and his son . He teaches a course in " Terrorism , " which , in reality , would have to be called " Selected Social Problems " or something like that . His deceased wife was an...
442,302
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6
God's in Bogie's Corner Tonight .
Humphrey Bogart is a sports writer who is hired as a publicity agent for the Argentinian behemoth , Toro Moreno , a new boxer being promoted by the greedy , unfeeling , and corrupt Rod Steiger and his squad of thugs . Bogart needs the money and does the job . Moreno is not too quick on the uptake . He thinks he's as go...
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Diverting H . G . Wells Fantasy .
Lionel Jeffreys is Dr . Cavor , a loony English inventor who takes Edward Judd and Martha Hyer along on a trip to the moon in 1899 in a sphere propelled by his anti-gravity paste ( " cavorite " ) . The moon , at first , looks rather like the imaginations of 1964 would picture it - - barren , mountainous , and dark . Th...
442,026
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6
Midstream for Eastwood .
There are about three minutes of genuine pathos in this film and they come at the very end . Clint Eastwood , as the eponymous outlaw , has been pursued across half the nation by bounty hunters , law officers of various types , and Union soldiers . He's just been involved in a gunfight against impossible odds and thoug...
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6
Polished example of cop film
Just think about how far we've come in the years since " The New Centurions , " when it had to be explained to us that police officers could have problems at home and were sometimes imperfect in the execution of their jobs . There may be drearier locations to film in than the ones dug up for this film but it's hard to ...
442,783
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6
Surprisingly - - Okay .
I hadn't been expecting much , so it came as a pleasant surprise to find this was a rather well-done flick . Instead of Annie the Dinosaur , I got " King Kong " in nascent form . The guy doing the special effects , Willis O'Brien seemed to be developing his craft here . The dinosaurs , while obviously models moving in ...
443,578
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6
Suspenseful Airplan-in-Jepeordy Movie .
Rather nicely done for the genre . Scott Bakula is flying a small Cessna from Pago Pago to Norfolk Island and finds himself lost over the wide Pacific due to instrument malfunction . No ships around - - not that anyone knows where he is - - and the only other traffic is an Air New Zealand Boeing passenger plane , pilot...
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Funny Danny Kaye .
Danny Kaye made a couple of amusing comedies in the 1940s . He always played himself , the bumbling , stuttering coward . He's the same here , although the setting is now Medieval England and his character is mistaken for a court jester or , at times , for a Robin Hood figure called The Black Fox . The plot is too comp...
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Familiarly Heartwarming .
Matt Dillon is a divorced , working-class New Yorker who pines to chip in with his buddies and buy a bowling alley . The thing holding him back is that he is disgorging money to his ex-wife Annabella Sciorra . Dillon is also hooked up with a nurse , Mary Louise Parker , while Sciorra has bonded with her professor Willi...
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6
Challenging Adult Story of American Terrorists
A lot of reviewers seemed to despise this inexpensive but thoughtful movie . The fons et origo of their hatred ( because that's what it is ) is the spouting of anti-government notions by the three or four terrorists to which the movie introduces us . It's probably a good idea to keep in mind that the description of eve...
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Emblematic 50s movie .
To get the bad stuff out of the way , the film is as talky as a staged play , it's formulaic , dated , the characters have about one-and-a-half dimensions , and there's little real doubt about who's going to win the race to become Tredway's ( or it it Treadmill's ) next president . But I kind of like it . Talky , yes ,...
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The Adventures of Joseph and Shannon .
Not a fairy tale . Not like " The Quiet Man " anyway . It's the straightforward tale of two Irish folks - - Joseph Donnelly ( Tom Cruise ) and Shannon Christie ( Nicole Kidman ) . There are three dramatic episodes : the miseries in the Ireland of 1898 where everyone is subject to the English landlord's whim , a spell i...
443,390
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6
Sprightly Musical From the 1940s .
Relaxed and enjoyable musical comedy . ( There are some nefarious Nazis here with evil plans but forget them . ) It's not Red Skelton's funniest comedy but he's still pretty amusing as his usual tall hick , with his goofy smile , falling over chairs , a pants-presser who impersonates someone else and gets rattled when ...
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Not so obscure objects of desire
This wouldn't be much of a movie without the performances of the principals , namely Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench , because the story itself is a little like a soap opera . Dench is a lonely and bitter older woman , starved for love and sex . She teaches at the same school as Blanchett . Blanchett teaches art in the m...
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6
Quelle Damage .
In this erotic melodrama , Jeremy Irons is tall , elegant , imperially slim , impeccably groomed and coiffed , the very model of a modern major minister . He's a distinctive looking fellow with his big , sunken eyes and thin , almost cyanotic lips . He's a member of parliament here , about to be offered a cabinet posit...
442,113
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143,893
6
Post-war Quickie Warning About Guns .
It's odd to see such a time-bound short in these oh-so-modern days . It must have taken a couple of hours to shoot this . It does have Morris Ankrum as a performer , though he has no lines . It's a straightforward warning that the guns brought home from the war by discharged GIs were more than merely souvenirs . They w...
442,716
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84,805
6
Slickly commercial , and funny
Unemployed actor Dustin Hoffman poses as a woman , Dorothy Michaels , and lands a part on a soap opera where he falls for another cast member , Jessica Lange . Hoffman gets into the role and begins improvising snotty remarks and put-downs against his overbearing male costars , as well as coaching Lange on standing up f...
443,089
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77,294
6
Entertaining concept , nice action scenes .
Peter Hyams both wrote and directed this cynical business about flaws in the space program that first lead three young astronauts - - James Brolin , Sam Waterston , and O . J . Simpson - - to participate in a Mars landing faked on a sound stage by the program's head , Hal Holbrook . During the " return mission " , afte...
443,088
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77,293
6
Where are the pros of yesteryear ?
In " The Seven Pillars of Wisdom , " T . E . Lawrence describes in the simplest terms how the Turkish army treated him when he was their captive . " They handled me unspeakably . " That could go for just about every character in " The Candy Stripers . " They do everything unspeakable to one another . And speakable too ...
443,522
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436,971
6
Something's Wrong With the Entire System .
Something's wrong with the entire system , says Wilton Sekzer , an aging Vietnam vet who lost his son on . When Sekzer first learned his son had died in the WTC , his first response was a surge in patriotism and a desire for revenge . When we invaded Iraq , Sekzer emailed the government and asked that his son's name ...
442,733
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75,140
6
Stylized Murder Game .
At the very opening , we see a Swiss police officer stop beside a parked car on a hillside . The officer opens the door . There is a corpse inside with a bullet hole in his temple . So what does the policeman do ? Does he go back to his own car and radio headquarters to report a homicide ? Does the police force descend...
443,174
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33,987
6
Good-natured , small-scale crime drama .
Out of the Fog . The classic title for a noir , which this is not . Instead it's basically a stagy story of two quiet elderly men ( John Qualen and Thomas Mitchell ) who enjoy taking their outboard motor boat out of Sheepshead Bay for night-time fishing . Mitchell has a nagging wife ( Aline McMahon ) and a bored , im...
442,266
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104,389
6
Payton's Place .
You can tell this was written by a woman . There's not a gun in the whole picture . ( Well , a suicidal gun shot in another room doesn't count . ) The plot is a fascinating web of deceit and intrigues built around having babies , holding onto a husband , maintaining an upper-middle-class lifestyle , surprise birthday p...
442,953
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313,542
6
Fast , complicated courtroom intrigue .
It's a taut and tightly wound story of lawyers and entrepreneurs competing with each other to get , influence , and ultimately buy a jury so that one or the other side wins . Rachel Weisz and the other talent are as good as usual , although Dustin Hoffman has had roles that fit him more comfortably than that of the cru...
442,340
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443,453
6
Kazakhstan discovers America , and vice versa .
Borat ( Sasha Baron Cohen ) is a TV broadcaster in Kazakhstan takes a trip to the United States with his roly-poly friend Azamat . His mission : To experience the greatest country on earth and acquaint its citizens with the folkways of Kazakhstan . But first he guides the viewer through his home town , all its glories ...
441,700
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117,438
6
Tightly plotted thriller .
Mel Gibson seems a likable sort of guy , his recent tsuris notwithstanding . It would be great to have a beer with him and have him try to explain his current predicament . As an actor , however , I find him rather bland . I keep seeing Mel Gibson instead of the character . He does a better job than usual here . He's s...
442,957
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104,427
6
Man of honor .
I would guess that many people find Jack Nicholson as satisfying as I do because , like Cary Grant , he always seems to play an only slightly refracted version of the same character . Those leaping eyebrows , like twin Mount Raniers on his forehead . That toothy grin , sardonic and sadistic . Here , though , he gives a...
441,907
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85,615
7
Krasnya horrorshow
For some reason I almost always watch this when it appears on cable TV . The plot , twisted and complicated as it is , is a bit hard to follow at times although it does make sense if you pay attention . But I think it's the general milieu that is evoked by the location shooting , wardrobe , makeup , and art direction t...
441,677
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102,926
7
Surprisingly Effective Thriller
Jodie Foster , in a fine performance , is FBI-trainee Clarice Starling . She is assigned by the chief of the Behavioral Sciences Division ( Scott Glenn ) to interview the brilliant and cannibalistic mad psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter ( Anthony Hopkins ) in prison and try to enlist his help in capturing a currently active...
443,124
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105,112
7
Patriotic Gore .
Jack Ryan ( Harrison Ford ) is a CIA analyst who saves a royal Brit or two during an attempt by some Irish patriots on their lives . A captured IRA terrorist is Sean Bean , whose brother Harrison has just killed in self defense , and Bean will never give up his quest for revenge on Ryan and his family . It's always int...
442,361
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54,518
7
Pip Pip .
I can only comment on the episodes using Patrick MacNee and Diana Rigg between 1965 and 1968 . What a diverting show it was . MacNee is John Steed , the proper gentleman in bowler hat , wielding his deadly brolly . His character and appearance are perfect for a vehicle like this . It isn't so much that he was never non...
442,093
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45,679
7
Tell it to the Spartans
Richard Burton gives his usual splendid , stiff , explosive performance as Lt . Col . MacRoberts , an English ( " Pommy " ) officer put in charge of Australian and New Zealand troops at Tobruk . There is some natural resentment on the part of the colonials . On top of that , Robert Newton is in his company , and Newton...
443,223
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106,856
7
What happens when you love not wisely but too well .
Above-average tale of a defense plant engineer ( Michael Douglas ) who loses everything - - his job , his car , his dignity , his temper , his wife , his daughter , his life . We first see him stuck in a Los Angeles traffic jam , bumper to bumper , sweating and fretting , until he walks away from his stalled car and be...
442,103
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7
Originality in abundance .
There hadn't really been anything much like this Western on the screen before Pekinpah put it there . It's not predictable , the way life is not predictable . I guess there's nothing unusual in the story of two aging gunfighters teaming up for a last job ( within the law ) with one ( Scott ) being a bit more relaxed in...
443,020
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252,444
7
Long Long Trail Awinding
Missed the first ten minutes or so , and lost the reason why the three cute aboriginal girls were separated from their family . Kenneth Branaugh , in an excellent performance , distant and compassionate at the same time , makes pronouncements about " saving these people from themselves . " I gather that , as The Chief ...
441,777
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47,849
7
Atmospheric , well-acted mystery / thriller
This is really a Southern movie transplanted to the Great Basin desert . I wonder , really , if the script started out with some outsider alighting from a train at a one-stop town in Mississippi . The town is hiding a mystery . The outsider is referred to as " the stranger . " Some address him as , " Boy . " The reside...
442,095
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95,647
7
Nice drama , conjectural history .
Willem DaFoe is a by-the-book FBI investigator and is assisted by ex-Southern-sheriff Gene Hackman in the real-life inquiry into the deaths of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964 . The three kids disappeared . No one , black or white , is willing to cooperate with the " Hoover boys " that poke around in t...