HD Cinema Classics (107):
Knock on Any Door **+ (1949, Crime)
Knock on Any Door **+ (1949, Crime)
Sypnosis: Derek portrays Nick Romano, a product of the slums who turns to crime. His case is pleaded by attorney Bogart who had known the criminal since childhood.
HD Cinema Classics (107):
Sahara ***+ (1943, War)
Sahara ***+ (1943, War)
Summary:Hollywood made few movies about the desert conflict during World War II--and curiously, two that they did (Five Graves to Cairo is the other) were remakes of films set elsewhere. John Howard Lawson based his script on a prewar Russian film (Lawson would later be blacklisted, incidentally) about a military patrol besieged by Asian bandits. The situation readily lent itself to a wartime parallel and became one of the most engrossing story lines of its era.
A U.S. tank crew and their commander (Humphrey Bogart), separated from the main force, make their way through the desert, accumulating a veritable United Nations of stragglers as they go: a few of Montgomery's tommies (including that old limey Lloyd Bridges) and a towering African (Rex Ingram) and his prisoner--a garrulous Italian (Oscar-nominated J. Carrol Naish) who can't wait to tell his new friends about his relatives in "Peets-a-bourg Pennsylvania." They come upon a ruin, the onetime site of an oasis, and almost immediately find themselves defending it against a small army of Germans who believe there's still water to be had there. Yes and no--there's a biblical wrinkle to this tale--and the standoff between the polyglot democrats and the Nazis who far outnumber them is a fine, sun-baked study in suspense.
For Bogart, this Columbia picture was a rare furlough from Warner Bros., where he always felt embattled. His pleasure must have seeped into his work, because Sgt. Joe Gunn is one of the most sympathetic and heartfelt characterizations the actor ever gave us. This is one good movie. --Richard T. Jameson
HD Cinema Gunslingers(109):
Nevada Smith *** (1966, Westerns)
Nevada Smith *** (1966, Westerns)
Summary:The Max Sand backstory in Harold Robbins's trashy The Carpetbaggers (an enjoyable wallow onscreen in 1964) made for a solid Western vehicle for Steve McQueen at his peak. Nevada Smith is a revenge movie, but closer in spirit to The Bravados than a Death Wish-style exercise in nihilism. Young Max, offspring of a white father and Indian mother, sets out to avenge their slaughter by three villains. His odyssey includes spiritual re-parenting at several stages, most notably by canny gun dealer Jonas Cord (a swell character part for Brian Keith). The supporting cast will have you saying, "He's in it, too!" at regular intervals (from costars Karl Malden and Arthur Kennedy down to such incidental interlopers as L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin). Since director Henry Hathaway and cameraman Lucien Ballard couldn't frame a bad shot if their lives depended on it, it's criminal that this movie is unavailable in a widescreen format. --Richard T. Jameson
HD Cinema Gunslingers(109):
Jesse James vs. the Daltons ** (1954, Westerns)
Jesse James vs. the Daltons ** (1954, Westerns)
Sypnosis:William Castle - Director-producer William Castle's unabashed delight in "scaring the pants off" of his audiences made his films Saturday-afternoon classics–and guilty pleasures for generations of filmmakers (see the homage appearances in Hal Ashby's Shampoo and John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust, both 1975). Castle's novel concept of audience participation brought an added dimension to many of his movies, such as House on Haunted Hill (1958), in which a glowing skeleton was propelled out over the audience (making it an irresistible target for popcorn boxes), and The Tingler (1959), which utilized mild electric shocks to audience members' seats at key moments in the film (faithfully reproduced for a recent Castle tribute at the Telluride Film Festival). Castle directed numerous B movies, but his most prestigious role was producing the classic tale of terror Rosemary's Baby (1968). His autobiography is Step Right Up! I'm Gonna Scare the Pants Off America (1976).
