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Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly made just a handful of movies before transforming from a Hollywood princess into a real life one following her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. Let’s take a look back in the photo gallery above of all 11 of her films, ranked worst to best.

Kelly got her start performing onstage and in television before being drafted by Hollywood to appear in Henry Hathaway‘s ripped-from-the-headlines nail-biter “Fourteen Hours” (1951) when she was just 22-years-old. The next year found her starring as the concerned wife to an imperiled town marshal (Gary Cooper) in Fred Zinnemann‘s landmark western “High Noon” (1952).

She got her first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for John Ford‘s adventure yarn “Mogambo” (1953), playing one of two love interests (along with Ava Gardner) to big game hunter Clark Gable. The next year, Kelly upset frontrunner Judy Garland, who made a massive comeback...

With Janus possessing the much-needed restorations, Catherine Breillat is getting her biggest-ever spotlight in November’s Criterion Channel series spanning 1976’s A Real Young Girl to 2004’s Anatomy of Hell––just one of numerous retrospectives arriving next month. They’re also spotlighting Ida Lupino, directorial efforts of John Turturro (who also gets an “Adventures In Moviegoing”), the Coen brothers, and Jacques Audiard.

In a slightly more macroscopic view, Columbia Noir and a new edition of “Queersighting” ring in Noirvember. Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse trilogy and Miller’s Crossing get Criterion Editions, while restorations of David Bowie-starrer The Linguini Incident, Med Hondo’s West Indies, and Dennis Hopper’s Out of the Blue make streaming debuts; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s Tonsler Park arrives just in time for another grim election day.

See the full list of titles arriving in November below:

36 fillette, Catherine Breillat, 1988

Anatomy of Hell, Catherine Breillat,...

Looking at Kevin Costner’s filmography as a director, one thing is apparent: the guy loves his epics. His debut, 1990’s Dances with Wolves, clocked in at just over three hours, while his 1997 follow-up, The Postman, ran just under that. After practically making a short film with Open Range (139 minutes), he took a two-decade break before diving into his next: the multi-part Horizon, with its first two parts surpassing the six-hour mark. So what drives Kevin Costner to make such lengthy movies? It comes down to the classics.

At History Channel’s recent History Talks event (via Deadline), Kevin Costner said it was seeing movies of an epic scale that not only captured his curiosity for film but also subconsciously made him lean towards movies of such lengthy runtimes. In particular, he cited 1962’s How the West Was Won, which credits three directors – Henry Hathaway, John Ford and George Marshall...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled its streaming lineup for August 2024, which features an eclectic mix of independent films showcasing the work of auteurs from around the world.

The boutique service will become the exclusive streaming home of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 comedy “Licorice Pizza,” and will celebrate the occasion by adding four more of his films to the channel: “The Master,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” and “Magnolia.” Anderson’s frequent collaborator Philip Seymour Hoffman will additionally be celebrated on the streaming service as part of a larger retrospective. Many of the late actor’s most iconic roles, including “Capote” and “Synecdoche, New York,” will be included, along with his sole directorial outing “Jack Goes Boating.”

The channel will also highlight several other prominent filmmakers including Preston Sturges, who helped pioneer the modern rom-com through films like “The Lady Eve” and “The Palm Beach Story,” and prolific Egyptian auteur Youssef Chahine.

The Criterion Channel’s August lineup pays tribute to auteurs of all kinds: directors, actors, and photographers, fictional or otherwise. In a notable act of preservation and advocacy, they’ll stream 20 titles by the Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, here introduced by the great Richard Peña. More known (but fun all the same) is a five-title Paul Thomas Anderson series including the exclusive stream of Licorice Pizza, as well as a Philip Seymour Hoffman series that overlaps with Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love (a Criterion Edition this month), and The Master, plus 25th Hour, Love Liza, and his own directing effort Jack Goes Boating. Preston Sturges gets five movies, with Sullivan’s Travels arriving in October.

Theme-wise, a photographer series includes Rear Window, Peeping Tom, Blow-up, Close-Up, and Clouzot’s La prisonnière; “Vacation Noir” features The Lady from Shanghai, Brighton Rock, Kansas City Confidential, Purple Noon, and La piscine. Alongside the aforementioned PTA and Antonioni pictures,...

[Editor’s note: The following essay contains spoilers for both “Hit Man” and “The Dark Corner”]

It’s always been clear from watching Richard Linklater films that the auteur — who rose to fame during the independent film movement of the ‘90s and stands as one of the modern masters of American cinema — is fascinated by time. Not just the practical application of it, nor just the passage, but the true essence of it. How does one capture childhood? What about the teen years and college? What does it look like to compress these into one vs. focusing in on one moment? These are questions Linklater has answered, but a question the audience should be asking in return is why does Linklater use his films to make these studies?

I believe the answer lies in the history of film itself and what it has given Linklater, in terms of inspiration and influence, but also in terms of how the art form...

Charles Portis' novel "True Grit" has been brought to life on the big screen several times, but Henry Hathaway's 1969 John Wayne-starring adaptation is perhaps the most popular. Wayne's rendition of Rooster Cogburn is one of his most-recognized late-period roles, and it also earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor — an accolade that feels thoroughly deserving due to the actor's ability to seamlessly inhabit the plucky, one-eyed U.S. Marshal. Portis' "True Grit" is told from the perspective of the adolescent Mattie Ross, whose deadpan, no-nonsense demeanor is our portal to the treacherous grown-ups around her, and her bond with the tough-as-nails marshal soon emerges as the heart of the drama. Wayne expertly balances Rooster's more vicious sensibilities with the hidden vulnerabilities that emerge when he helps Mattie exact revenge and looks endlessly cool while charging toward armed dudes with dual guns on horseback.

Although no one can...

The Greek provocateur seemed to be smiling throughout Oscar night. In the past he’d delivered films with titles like Dogtooth and The Lobster, and his newest, Poor Things, was now stockpiling the statuary even as Hollywood’s filmmaking elite looked on, perplexed.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ code-busting Poor Things was winning not only successive awards (four in all) Sunday but also the exuberant applause from an audience that seemed to welcome change. Even chaotic change.

Oppenheimer won the big prize on Oscar night, of course, but Oscar voters once again demonstrated their support for the product of the filmmaking underclass. The Scorsese-Spielberg-Ridley Scott fraternity looked on while dark horses like Lanthimos, or, a year earlier, the Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert) from Everything Everywhere All at Once, stole the action. Coda from Sian Heder was the surprise of 2022.

Does all this reflect a restive mood? “The power of Poor Things stems...

Don Murray, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance opposite Marilyn Monroe in the 1956 film adaptation of William Inge’s play “Bus Stop,” has died. He was 94.

His son Christopher confirmed his death to the New York Times.

In the 2017 reboot of “Twin Peaks,” he played Bushnell Mullins, the chief executive of Lucky 7 Insurance.

Murray also starred in the fourth entry in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise, “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”; played Brooke Shield’s father in “Endless Love”; and recurred on prime-time soap “Knots Landing” as Sid Fairgate.

Reviewing “Bus Stop,” directed by Joshua Logan, the New York Times said: “With a wondrous new actor named Don Murray playing the stupid, stubborn poke and with the clutter of broncos, blondes and busters beautifully tangled, Mr. Logan has a booming comedy going before he gets to the romance. A great deal is owed to Mr.

Don Murray, the venturesome actor who earned an Oscar nomination for playing a rodeo cowboy smitten by Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop, then spurned Hollywood’s attempts to mold him, has died. He was 94.

Murray’s son Christopher announced his dad’s death to The New York Times without providing details.

The actor was also known for the interesting parts he went after in such serious films as A Hatful of Rain (1957), The Hoodlum Priest (1961) and Advise & Consent (1962).

Fresh off a starring role in a 1955 Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, Murray was sought by director Joshua Logan to portray Bo Decker, the naive Montana man who falls for the chanteuse Chérie (Monroe), in Bus Stop (1956). It was his first movie, and he was 26 at the time.

“No one could have been less equipped for the job,” he once said. “I was a New...

Ask most cinephiles about the spaghetti western and Sergio Leone’s name will most likely be invoked. As for those who’ve delved a little deeper into the genre, chances are that they’ll name-drop one or both of the other Sergios: Sergio Corbucci (Django) and Sergio Sollima (The Big Gundown).

Back in 2021, Arrow Video’s Vengeance Trails box set aimed to broaden viewers’ horizons of the spaghetti western by spotlighting works by directors like Lucio Fulci, Massimo Dallamano, and Antonio Margheriti, whose names are more often associated with other genres. Now along comes Blood Money, which unveils several lesser-known yet excellent examples of the genre. The thematic through line this time out concerns the value placed on human life. As the grizzled protagonist of Find a Place to Die puts it: “Madness and greed were in men’s hearts a long time before you came along.”

Romolo Guerrieri’s...

John Wayne is a Western film icon and starred in many notable films during the Hollywood Golden Age. For over 30 years, fans saw his name attached to Westerns and war movies and couldn’t wait to see what he was filming next. But that doesn’t mean filming came easy for the superstar, especially in regard to injuries. Wayne suffered numerous physical difficulties through the years, and while filming Rio Lobo, he couldn’t use one side of his body. Here’s why.

John Wayne had difficulty filming ‘Rio Lobo’ due to a torn shoulder John Wayne in ‘Rio Lobo’ | CBS via Getty Images

Rio Lobo, a remake of Rio Bravo and El Dorado, came out in 1970 and featured John Wayne as the lead. Wayne played Cord McNally, a Civil War veteran searching for two traitors who caused McNally’s unit to go down. McNally travels to the town of...

Just in time for Succession‘s end, let’s look at method acting. The Criterion Channel are highlighting the controversial practice in a 27-film series centered on Brando, Newman, Nicholson, and many other’s embodiment of “an intensely personal, internalized, and naturalistic approach to performance.” That series makes mention of Marilyn Monroe, who gets her own, 11-title highlight––the iconic commingling with deeper cuts.

Pride Month offers “Masc,” a consideration of “trans men, butch lesbians, and gender-nonconforming heroes” onscreen; the Michael Koresky-curated Queersighted returning with a study of the gay best friend; and the 20-film “LGBTQ+ Favorites.” Louis Garrel’s delightful The Innocent (about which I talked to him here), the director’s cut of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation, and Stanley Kwan’s hugely underseen Lan Yu make streaming premieres, while Araki’s Totally F***ed Up and Mysterious Skin also get a run. Criterion Editions include Five Easy Pieces,...

Western movie star John Wayne frequently rode a horse to complete his cowboy image. However, he grew an affinity for one animal in particular. Wayne went out of his way to ensure that he could ride the same horse named Dollar across seven of his movies.

‘True Grit’ (1969) L-r: John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn and Glen Campbell as La Boeuf | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

The first time that Wayne worked with Dollar the horse on the silver screen was in 1969’s True Grit, directed by Henry Hathaway.

A 14-year-old named Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) seeks out U.S. Marshal “Rooster” Cogburn (Wayne), a man of “true grit.” He’ll need every ounce of it on a mission to track down a hired hand named Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) after he killed Mattie’s father.

Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) joins them on the hunt, looking to bring Tom...

Actor John Wayne was passionate about the morals that he instilled in his movies. However, his real-life ones were closely examined and scrutinized because he himself didn’t serve in the U.S. military during the World War II draft. Meanwhile, his fellow male Hollywood leads went off to serve America, while he boosted his career. Nevertheless, Wayne earned a great amount of respect thanks to his films that emphasized nationalist themes and messages.

John Wayne movies represented his American nationalism John Wayne as Sgt. John M. Stryker | Republic Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Wayne was primarily known for Western and war movies over the course of his career. He occasionally dipped his toes into other genres, such as dramas with 1952’s The Quiet Man, but it wasn’t the typical project for him. Wayne didn’t serve in the military, but he found a way to bring...

John Wayne built his career around Western and war movies, which makes it difficult for his fans to claim a favorite. True Grit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Rio Bravo, and The Searchers are prominent favorites for good reason. However, Wayne’s The Sons of Katie Elder is a severely underrated project in his filmography.

‘The Sons of Katie Elder’ ramped up John Wayne’s collaboration with Henry Hathaway L-r: John Wayne as John Elder, Dean Martin as Tom Elder, Earl Holliman as Matt Elder, and Michael Anderson Jr. as Bud Elder | Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Wayne and director Henry Hathaway first collaborated in 1941’s The Shepherd of the Hills. Together, they made another five feature films, next working on 1957’s Legend of the Lost alongside Sophia Loren. Wayne and Hathaway followed up with North to Alaska in 1960, Circus World with Rita Hayworth in 1964, and 1969’s True Grit.

True Grit actor John Wayne refused to accept roles that didn’t fit into the character that he took so long to establish with moviegoing audiences. Additionally, he wouldn’t star in any movies that insulted his morals and values. Wayne played a tough marshal in True Grit with Rooster Cogburn, but he once explained why his sense of justice made sense.

‘True Grit’ actor John Wayne served harsh justice L-r: Kim Darby as Mattie Ross and John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn | Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Henry Hathaway’s 1969 Western True Grit starred Wayne in the lead role of Rooster, based on Charles Portis’ novel. The character crosses paths with 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) after Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) murdered her father. She turns to Rooster to help her track him down to bring him to justice. However, Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) joins them on their...

Movie star John Wayne created an iconic character in True Grit‘s Rooster Cogburn. The eyepatch-wearing U.S. marshal became a legendary figure of cinema, continuing to influence contemporary feature films and their characters. However, Wayne doesn’t typically cuss a whole lot in his movies, yet he had a specific reason for why he allowed it while starring as Cogburn in True Grit.

John Wayne was passionate about playing Rooster Cogburn in ‘True Grit’ John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn | Kocian/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Henry Hathaway directed True Grit from Marguerite Roberts’ screenplay based on Charles Portis’ novel. It’s a story of revenge after Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) murders the father of an independent 14-year-old named Mattie Ross (Kim Darby). She’s young, but she refuses to allow him to continue surviving after taking her father’s life.

Mattie seeks out Cogburn (Wayne) to help her track him down.

True Grit actor John Wayne became the face of the Western genre thanks to iconic classics, such as Stagecoach and Red River. He always had a firm understanding of characterization, but he always wanted to keep it family-friendly. Wayne once said that he actually preferred the changes made to the True Grit ending compared to the one in the original book, which wasn’t so “uplifting.”

‘True Grit’ actor John Wayne played Rooster Cogburn John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn | Screen Archives/Getty Images

True Grit saw Wayne play the legendary Rooster Cogburn, a frequently inebriated and stern U.S. marshal, who 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) seeks out after her father’s murder. Together, they hunt down Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) to give him the death that he deserves. Meanwhile, Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) joins them to bring him to a more civilized sense of justice.

Henry Hathaway...

John Wayne had a strong passion for the movies that he made. He carefully selected the roles that he accepted once he reached stardom. However, Wayne grew tired of playing the same type of characters his critics denounced his talents. The movie star once recalled the moment when he got over the fact that he kept getting typecast.

John Wayne couldn’t escape Western movies John Wayne | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Wayne first made a name for himself in Western movies with 1930’s The Big Trail. Raoul Walsh gave him his first shot at making it big, but the film was a box office flop. Next, he had a disappointing contract with Columbia Pictures and a line of B-movies that left him feeling unfulfilled. Wayne played Singin’ Sandy Saunders, which he went as far as to call “embarrassing.”

The movie star finally found his stride with 1939’s Stagecoach, thanks to his mentor,...

Above: Italian poster for The Lovemakers. Illustration by Mauro Innocenti.Over the past ten years I’ve surveyed the illustrated likenesses of stars like Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bruno Ganz and Monica Vitti as in memoriams after their passing, so I am happy to say that the occasion of this look at Claudia Cardinale in movie posters is simply that, starting today, the 84-years-young Ms. Cardinale is being fêted with a three-week, 23-film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.Claudia Cardinale is one of my favorite actors, but while exploring her career for this piece I realized that my affection for her really comes down to one film, albeit one of my all-time favorites: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The fact that she is the focus of perhaps my favorite single shot in all cinema—Sergio Leone's magnificent crane shot as Cardinale’s Jill...

You can’t argue with disc collectors eager to rediscover movies they loved at age 10, in terrific kiddie matinees. Cowboy star Rory Calhoun makes a perfectly fine Italian vagabond ladies’ man for this very un-serious ‘oriental’ adventure, and Yôko Tani is the requisite princess who needs kissing lessons. Tim Lucas’s welcome, info-packed commentary satisfies our curiosity about the long-unavailable title — it’s different than the A.I.P. release we (barely) remember.

Marco Polo

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1962 / Color/ 2:35 widescreen / 104, 95 min. / Street Date , 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Rory Calhoun, Yôko Tani, Camillo Pilotto, Pierre Cressoy, Michael Chow, Thien-Huong, Franco Ressel.

Cinematography: Riccardo Pallottini

Production Designer: Zoran Zorcic

Art Directors: Aurelio Crugnola, Franco Fumagalli, Miodrag Miric, Jovan Radic

Film Editor: Ornella Micheli

Costume design: Mario Giorsi

Original Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino / Les Baxter

Written by Oreste Biancoli, Ennio De Concini, Eliana De Sabata, Antoinette Pellevant, Piero Pierotti, Duccio Tessari

Produced by Luigi Carpentieri,...

It's something of a cliche and a bit of a lie when actors say they do their own stunts. If you want to know what that really looks like, watch the end credits of any film Jackie Chan made in his Hong Kong prime. You'll see him break various extremities and get carried out on a stretcher more than once. The only Hollywood star with that kind of daredevil spirit working today is Tom Cruise, who seems determined to keep making Mission: Impossible movies well into his autumn years or die trying.

John Wayne was an ornery, prideful cuss who wanted to look like an authentic badass on the big screen, but he knew when to defer to his longtime stunt double Chuck Roberson. This was a practical matter as much as anything. If The Duke took a nasty spill, production could be shut down for months, which was anathema...

Throughout the 1930s, Hollywood studios made multiple acclaimed films about American and British colonists trekking into the wilds of faraway countries in order to hunt the land's game, steal the country's resources, and abuse the locals for their own gain. Films like W.S. Van Dyke's 1931 film "Trader Horn" and Henry Hathaway's 1935 opus "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" were even nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The prevailing attitude in Hollywood appeared to be that distant "exotic" countries were there to be conquered. Even "King Kong" was about attempted mastery over the wild world.

By 1954, however, attitudes had changed, as reflected in Jack Arnold's excellent monster movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon." By then, the jungles of the Amazon had become a forbidding place, a place that was beyond mastery. When trekking deep up the river to the titular Black Lagoon, a team of explorers...

Henry Hathaway's "True Grit" went before cameras at a particularly fraught moment in United States history. Richard Nixon had been elected President by campaigning on a racially tinged "law and order" platform. The Vietnam War was still raging despite 39 approval from the American public, sparking massive protests in cities and on college campuses all over the country. This unrest was reflected in the pop culture of the period, particularly in film. The nation's youth were inspired by the maverick works of Dennis Hopper ("Easy Rider"), Robert Downey Sr. ("Putney Swope"), and George A. Romero ("Night of the Living Dead). They craved edginess and experimentation, and rejected the stodgy conservatism of John Wayne.

Hathaway was well aware of this contentious climate when he began shooting the slightly out-of-character Wayne Western. The 71-year-old filmmaker had worked with The Duke many times throughout his career, and didn't want anyone to rile his cantankerous star.

John Wayne was in perhaps the biggest creative rut of his career in 1969. He'd just made the worst film of his career outside of "The Conqueror" in "The Green Berets," and with the advent of the New Hollywood revolution, was growing culturally irrelevant. His best collaborators, John Ford and Howard Hawks, were either fully retired or on their way out. Wayne could keep making formulaic Westerns with the hacks who let him call the shots on set, but the returns would be ever diminishing. If he wanted to matter in the film industry again, he had to take a risk.

Charles Portis' novel "True Grit," about a young girl who hires an alcoholic U.S. Marshal to hunt down the men who killed her father, offered the 62-year-old Wayne the perfect opportunity to tweak his image. The lawman role of Rooster Cogburn would allow The Duke to show off his...

It is fair to assume Criterion could plunder the world of licensed film to build an ultimate noir playlist; credit, then, for focusing sharp and nabbing deep cuts. The Criterion Channel’s November / Noirvember program will be headlined by “Fox Noir,” an eight-title program with Otto Preminger deep cut Fallen Angel, three by Henry Hathaway, Siodmak, Dassin, Kazan, and Robert Wise, and while retrospectives of Veronica Lake and John Garfield will bring some canon into the fold, I’m mostly thinking about that potential for discovery.

Following “Free Jazz,” Bob Hoskins, and Joyce Chopra programs, the other big series is a 30-year survey of Sony Pictures Classics: Sally Potter, Satoshi Kon, Panahi, Errol Morris, Almodóvar, Haneke, Mike Leigh, just a murderer’s row. Streaming premieres include 499 and A Night of Knowing Nothing, two recent epitomes of I Wish I Had Seen That; Criterion Editions comprise Cure, Brazil, Sullivan’s Travels,...

Just how much is an Academy Award worth? That's exactly what John Wayne wanted to know after he starred in the 1969 film "True Grit." In the Western, based on the Charles Portis novel of the same name, a drunken, grizzled, one-eyed U.S. Marshal (Wayne) teams with a Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) and a teenage girl (Kim Darby) to track down the killer of the girl's father.

"True Grit" is not only a throwback to director Henry Hathaway's older Westerns, but it's a drama that doesn't take itself too seriously. The movie gave audiences a respite from the gritty realism and counter-culture movement...

The post True Grit's TV Rights Sparked A Legal Battle With John Wayne appeared first on /Film.

The first tip-off is the title: “Murder at Yellowstone City” is not your standard-issue shoot-’em-up. Rather, director Richard Gray’s well-crafted and handsomely mounted indie is as much a solidly constructed mystery as it is it a conventionally satisfying oater, with much to recommend to fans of either genre who rarely get to sample such a mix. Indeed, outside of Henry Hathaway’s “Five Card Stud” (1968) and the lamentably short-lived 2003 TV series “Peacemakers,” it’s hard to recall many other scenarios that suggest what might have resulted had Zane Grey and Agatha Christie bellied up to the bar and swapped ideas.

Only gradually does it emerge that Thomas Jane’s Thaddeus Murphy is the sagebrush sleuth of the piece, as his character — prodded by Anna Camp as Alice, his astute wife and partner — demonstrates surprising pathological skills while attempting to prove the innocence of a suspected killer. Surprising, that is,...

The Criterion Channel’s July lineup is an across-the-board display of strengths, ranging as it does from very specific programming cues to actor retrospectives and hardly ignoring the strength of Criterion Editions. Surely much fun’s to be had with “In the Ring,” a decade-spanning, 16-film curation of boxing pictures—Raging Bull and Fat City, of course, with some you forget are boxing movies (Rocco and His Brothers) and others you’ve likely never seen at all (count me excited for King Vidor’s The Champ). “Noir in Color” brilliantly upends common conception of a drama (and gives you excuse to see Nicholas Ray’s Party Girl); Setsuko Hara films are gathered into a handy collection; and Blake Edwards gets six.

On the Criterion Editions front they’ve gone all out: the Before trilogy, Alex Cox’s Walker, Leave Her to Heaven, Shaft, Destry Rides Again, Raging Bull, Hedwig and the Angry Inch,...

Antonio Campos, creator of the new HBO Max miniseries The Staircase, walks hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante through his favorite films noir.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Afterschool (2008)

The Devil All The Time (2020)

Rashomon (1950) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996)

Raw Deal (1948) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

T-Men (1947) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)

House of Bamboo (1955) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Pickup On South Street (1953) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Naked Kiss (1964)

Reign of Terror (1949)

Detour (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Scarlet Street (1945)

The House on 92nd Street (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Barry Lyndon (1975) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Killing (1956) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary

Kiss of Death (1947) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Kiss of Death...

An untypical project for Henry Hathaway who specialized in two-fisted action films, 1935’s Peter Ibbetson is unusual in more ways than one. Gary Cooper and Ann Harding play two steadfast lovers whose romance will not be denied; even when Cooper is imprisoned they’re able visit each other in their dreams. Almost oppressively strange, the film’s real calling card is the exquisite photography by Charles Lang who knew his way around haunted love affairs—he shot The Uninvited and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

The post Peter Ibbetson appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

May on the Criterion Channel will be good to the auteurs. In fact they’re giving Richard Linklater better treatment than the distributor of his last film, with a 13-title retrospective mixing usual suspects—the Before trilogy, Boyhood, Slacker—with some truly off the beaten track. There’s a few shorts I haven’t seen but most intriguing is Heads I Win/Tails You Lose, the only available description of which calls it a four-hour (!) piece “edited together by Richard Linklater in 1991 from film countdowns and tail leaders from films submitted to the Austin Film Society in Austin, Texas from 1987 to 1990. It is Linklater’s tribute to the film countdown, used by many projectionists over the years to cue one reel of film after another when switching to another reel on another projector during projection.” Pair that with 2008’s Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach and your completionism will be on-track.

Director Sidney J. Furie discusses his favorite films he’s watched and re-watched during quarantine with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Dr. Blood’s Coffin (1961)

The Ipcress File (1965) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Appaloosa (1966)

The Naked Runner (1967)

Lady Sings The Blues (1972)

The Entity (1982) – Luca Gaudagnino’s trailer commentary

The Boys in Company C (1978)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

The Apartment (1960) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

Twelve O’Clock High (1949)

A Place In The Sun (1951) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Out Of Africa (1985)

The Last Picture Show (1971) – Mark Pellington’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Annie Hall (1977)

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

The Tender Bar...

Long before the Coen Brothers brought Charles Portis' novel "True Grit" to the screen in 2010, its first film adaptation came in 1969, with Hal B. Wallis producing and Henry Hathaway directing. Recognizing that the book had strong cinematic potential, actor John Wayne encouraged the involvement of both men. To round out the decades-old talent behind the screen, he was cast as the protagonist, U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, hired by Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to find the man who killed her father. 

At the time, Darby was best known for a couple of roles in television westerns like "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza." Darby's...

The post The John Wayne Classic Mia Farrow Thinks is Her Biggest Career Mistake appeared first on /Film.

If 2021 has been a calvacade of bad decisions, dashed hopes, and warning signs for cinema’s strength, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming has at least buttressed our hopes for something like a better tomorrow. Anyway. The Channel will let us ride out distended (holi)days in the family home with an extensive Alfred Hitchcock series to bring the family together—from the established Rear Window and Vertigo to the (let’s just guess) lesser-seen Downhill and Young and Innocent—Johnnie To’s Throw Down and Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in their Criterion editions, and some streaming premieres: Ste. Anne, Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.

Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...

As 2021 mercifully winds down, the Criterion Channel have a (November) lineup that marks one of their most diverse selections in some time—films by the new masters Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Garrett Bradley, Dan Sallitt’s Fourteen (one of 2020’s best films) couched in a fantastic retrospective, and Criterion editions of old favorites.

Fourteen is featured in “Between Us Girls: Bonds Between Women,” which also includes Céline and Julie, The Virgin Suicides, and Yvonne Rainer’s Privilege. Of equal note are Criterion editions for Ghost World, Night of the Hunter, and (just in time for del Toro’s spin) Nightmare Alley—all stacked releases in their own right.

See the full list of October titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.

300 Nassau, Marina Lameiro, 2015

5 Card Stud, Henry Hathaway, 1968

Alone, Garrett Bradley, 2017

Álvaro, Daniel Wilson, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandra Lazarowich, and Chloe Zimmerman, 2015

America, Garrett Bradley, 2019

Angel Face, Otto Preminger, 1953

Angels Wear White,...

Surreal delirium in cinema! Gary Cooper and Ann Harding are a tragic romantic pair, but even when separated by space, time and the law they manage to live a full life together as virtual dream lovers. The odd art film out in Henry Hathaway’s career, this unabashed spiritualist fantasy was adopted by French surrealists as emblematic of their values. It’s beautifully filmed by cameraman Charles Lang, avoiding overdone expressionist effects… reality is a dream, folks, and this star-crossed pair makes dreams real by a simple force of will. Spiritual Nirvana or pretension? It’s crazy, but it connects with real life as we experience it — with our romantic memories and regrets.

Peter Ibbetson

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1935 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 85 min. / Street Date August 10, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Gary Cooper, Ann Harding, Ida Lupino, John Halliday, Dickie Moore, Virginia Weidler, Douglass Dumbrille, Donald Meek, Leonid Kinskey,...

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“Goin’ To Town” (1935; Directed by Alexander Hall)

“Klondike Annie” (1936; Directed by Raoul Walsh)

“Go West, Young Man” (1936; Directed by Henry Hathaway)

“Every Day’S A Holiday” (1937; Directed by A. Edward Sutherland)

“My Little Chickadee” (1940; Directed by Edward F. Cline)

(Kino Lorber)

“Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It—The Mae West Films, Part Two”

By Raymond Benson

This is the continuation of reviews of the classic 1930s (and 1940) films of Mae West, which began here.

Kino Lorber has just released in gorgeously restored, high-definition presentations every Mae West film made between 1932-1940—the Paramount years, plus one with Universal. This review will cover the last five of nine titles.

What is not commonly appreciated among Hollywood enthusiasts is that Mae West held a unique position in the history of cinema. Until the modern era, she had the extraordinary fortune—for her time—of...

This past week I happily immersed myself in the latest book by protean film critic/biographer/sometime novelist David Thomson, A Light in the Dark: A History of Movie Directors. Even as he approaches 80, the author of the invaluable Biographical Dictionary of Film editions is able to find fresh things to say about such cinematic imperishables as Hitchcock, Welles, Lang, Renoir, Bunuel, Hawks, Godard and Nicholas Ray.

Midway through the new tome, Thomson delivers his most unexpected and welcome piece, a savory appreciation of a director who, almost defiantly, is not an auteur and therefore remains somewhat taken for granted, far too much so, despite having made any number of notable films of considerable class and merit. That would be Stephen Frears, who himself will turn 80 in June.

Like such Hollywood non-auteurs as Michael Curtiz, Raoul Walsh, Don Siegel, Henry Hathaway, Richard Fleischer and any number of others, Frears is not a writer.

Legendary movie star, Last Call‘s Bruce Dern, joins Josh and Joe to discuss a few of his favorite movies and moments.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Cowboys (1972)

Last Call (2021)

Silent Running (1972)

The Long Goodbye (1973)

The Reivers (1969)

The War Wagon (1967)

Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)

The Shootist (1976)

Sands Of Iwo Jima (1949)

Wild River (1960)

Viva Zapata (1952)

Castle Keep (1969)

The Big Knife (1955)

Attack (1956)

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

Suspicion (1941)

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

The Great Gatsby (1974)

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

Ben-Hur (1959)

The Trial (1962)

Great Expectations (1946)

The Sound Barrier (1952)

Oliver Twist (1948)

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

Rko 281 (1999)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Mank (2020)

The Chase (1966)

The Formula (1980)

Shine (1996)

All That Jazz (1979)

A Decade Under The Influence (2003)

Shane (1953)

The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965)

The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972)

Deliverance (1972)

Nebraska (2013)

Twixt (2011)

The ’Burbs (1989)

About Schmidt (2002)

Sideways (2004)

The Descendants (2011)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Charade (1963)

The Truth About Charlie...

As the Covid-19 crisis still roils around the world, Movistar Plus’ new banner series, Enrique Urbizu’s “Libertad,” opened day and date on March 26 in both Spanish theaters as 135-minute movie and on Movistar Plus’ pay/SVOD platform as a five-part series.

Handled by A Contracorriente Films, the film’s broad release is less of marketing ploy, more of a drive to boost Spain’s theatrical business over Holy Week and a response to a potential film version detected as Urbizu and fellow creatives were editing.

“Libertad” continues Movistar Plus’ large bet on its talent. The title could apply to both its characters as its creators. Renowned for the impact on his movies of classic cinema, Urbizu has finally been given the tools to make a title which enrolls Western tropes in a violent adventure set in the Spanish wilds that bears witness to the twilight years of Spain’s...

Despite the proliferation of streaming services, it’s becoming increasingly clear that any cinephile only needs subscriptions to a few to survive. Among the top of our list are The Criterion Channel and Mubi and now they’ve each unveiled their stellar April line-ups.

Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.

At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...

The last time I saw Bertrand Tavernier, who died yesterday in Paris at 79, was at the Cannes Film Festival nearly two years ago after the world premiere of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It was after 1 a.m. and my son Nick and I, who had been elated by the film, were walking down a largely empty Rue d’Antibes when I saw Bertrand’s unmistakable bulky frame approaching us. He was with his wife Sarah and I had seen them just a few evenings before in Paris at a gathering of friends of the late Pierre Rissient, cinema champion extraordinaire, who had worked with Bertrand championing films in the 1960s.

With just about anyone else, this would have remained just a brief nocturnal encounter. But talks with Bertrand were seldom short. To the contrary, because Bertrand was almost always a lava flow of opinion, information, insight and, for the most part,...

Film history is filled with notable directors who made a Western after establishing themselves in other genres. That list includes Robert Altman (“McCabe and Mrs. Miller”), Charlie Chaplin (“The Gold Rush”), Ethan and Joel Coen (“True Grit”), John Huston (“The Unforgiven” 1960), Louis Malle (“Viva Maria”), Alejandro G. Inarritu (“The Revenant”), Sydney Pollack (“Jeremiah Johnson”) and Sam Raimi (“The Quick and the Dead”).

Joining that lofty roster is Paul Greengrass, with Universal’s “News of the World,” starring Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel. This horse opera, as Variety used to call the genre, follows Greengrass’ high-adrenaline movies such as “United 93,” “Captain Phillips,” three “Bourne” films and the riveting 2018 fact-based “22 July,” about a 2011 terrorist attack in Norway.

Greengrass tells Variety, ” ’22 July,’ which is on a dark subject — right-wing extremists — left me with a question as a parent: What is the road out of this bitter division that we’re in? I...

Closing out a year in which we’ve needed The Criterion Channel more than ever, they’ve now announced their impressive December lineup. Topping the highlights is a trio of Terrence Malick films––Badlands, Days of Heaven, and The New World––along with interviews featuring actors Richard Gere, Sissy Spacek, and Martin Sheen; production designer Jack Fisk; costume designer Jacqueline West; cinematographers Haskell Wexler and John Bailey; and more.

Also in the lineup is an Afrofuturism series, featuring an introduction by programmer Ashley Clark, with work by Lizzie Borden, Shirley Clarke, Souleymane Cissé, John Akomfrah, Terence Nance, and more. There’s also Mariano Llinás’s 14-hour epic La flor, Bill Morrison’s Dawson City: Frozen Time, Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, Jennie Livingston’s Paris Is Burning, plus retrospectives dedicated to Mae West, Cary Grant, Barbra Streisand, and more.

Check out the lineup below and return every Friday for our weekly streaming picks.

John Wayne, known as “The Duke” to his fans, starred in upwards of 150 movies throughout his 50-year career. While he had hits in a wide range of genres, he is best known as the macho hero at the heart of some classic westerns. Wayne made a slew of low-grade oaters throughout the 1930s. It wasn’t until John Ford‘s “Stagecoach” (1939), an Oscar-winning adventure epic that took the genre to new artistic heights, that he finally achieved stardom.

In all, the Duke and “Pappy” Ford, as his crew called the famously cantankerous director, made 14 films together. Among these are such other spurs and saddles classics as “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1949), “The Searchers” (1956) and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962). All of these feature on our list of John Wayne’s best westerns ranked.

Despite being a top box office draw for decades, Wayne was only nominated for two acting...

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***I believe David Thomson once said something about Fox's fifties output being "the antithesis of cinema," which is very slightly nuts if you consider the films of Samuel Fuller (Pick-Up on South Street among others), Nicholas Ray (Bigger Than Life), Frank Tashlin (The Girl Can't Help It), and more.But we sort of know what he means: the advent of CinemaScope caused aesthetic confusion, as technical advances often do, and we can all picture laundry lines of less-than-fresh 1940s actors eking out their remaining B.

“We Have Ways Of Making Men Talk”

By Raymond Benson

Despite its grammatically incorrect title, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer is considered one of the great old-school Hollywood epic adventure movies, and it remains so to this day. It was released very early in 1935 after a long gestation period and became one of the most popular pictures of the decade. It was nominated for the Oscar Best Picture, Best Director (Henry Hathaway), Best Adapted Screenplay, and four other awards, but it won only one—Best Assistant Director? (Obviously a now defunct category.)

What are Bengal Lancers, you ask? They were British soldiers serving in India in those days of the British Raj between the two world wars. Apparently, one didn’t have to be British to serve. The protagonist, Lieutenant Alan McGregor (Gary Cooper), is Scottish-Canadian. Lieutenant John Forsythe (Franchot Tone) seems to be American, but maybe the actor...

Here are many more movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Steven Canals, Larry Karaszewski, Gareth Reynolds, and Alan Arkush with special guest star Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Kung Fu Mama a.k.a. Queen of Fist (1973)

Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (1974)

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

In The Mood For Love (2000)

Hunger (2008)

The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

Fargo (1996)

Night of the Lepus (1971)

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Soylent Green (1973)

Silent Running (1972)

Canyon Passage (1946)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

The Professionals (1966)

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Carrie (1952)

The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

Hello Down There (1969)

The Brass Bottle (1964)

The Trouble With Angels (1966)

Pollyanna (1960)

Tiger Bay (1959)

The Parent Trap (1961)

Endless Night (1972)

The Family Way (1966)

Take A Girl Like You (1970)

Freddy Got Fingered...