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The Twilight Zone is an American sci-fi anthology series that debuted in 1959. The wildly popular show has been praised for its allegorical storytelling and exploration of issues like xenophobia, war, religion, and technology. Its stand-alone episodes vary greatly in subject but are united by an overwhelming feeling of strangeness. One week, the episode may deliver a tale about magic, and the next teleplay might center on aliens. The Twilight Zone is also known for keeping its viewers on their toes with its trademark twist endings, sometimes driving home a tone of dread and occasionally reveling in hopefulness.

Thanks to its nature as an anthology series, The Twilight Zone has no set cast, featuring a new crop of actors every week. In many ways, acting in the series became a rite of passage in Hollywood, which is why the show is littered with famous faces. On the way to sitcom stardom,...

Critical consensus is overrated. Rotten Tomatoes may have trained movie-lovers to quantify a movie's worth with a percentage score in recent years, but some of the best movies ever made deeply divided critics and audiences alike. Early Hollywood star Katharine Hepburn made plenty of divisive films in her career, from the John Wayne-led Western "Rooster Cogburn" to her first Oscar-winning film, "Morning Glory," to the bold interracial marriage dramedy "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." Time Out once called the latter, which earned 10 Oscar nominations upon release, "a wishy-washy, sanctimonious plea for tolerance, directed with Kramer's customary verbosity and stodginess."

It's a truth universally acknowledged that good movies sometimes get trashed by certain critics, but that makes the rare film that achieves complete critical consensus all the more interesting -- if not always necessarily better than the more polarizing films. Plenty of great actors only have one 100% Rotten Tomatoes score under their belt,...

While taking a break from producing the upcoming Spaceballs sequel that somehow exists, this past weekend Mel Brooks presented a special screening of Blazing Saddles in L.A. to celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary. Which might be the best possible way to view Blazing Saddles, other than on horseback in 1974.

Brooks was, according to IndieWire, full of great stories about the making of the film, as one would expect. For example, he described how the head of Warner Bros. once had him dragged by the nape of the neck into an office, at which point he was thrown a legal pad and a Sharpie and told, “Write: No hitting an old lady — out. No hitting a horse — out. No farting — out.”

So Brooks promptly “crumpled up his notes” and “threw (them) in the waste basket,” reasoning, “Why listen to anything? I would’ve had an 11-minute movie.”

He also...

“A fart joke is easy.”

This may be, but executed by Mel Brooks, it can get a crowd going more than anything on view at this summer’s Paris Olympics. So was the case this past weekend at a 50th anniversary screening of his western comedy classic, “Blazing Saddles,” which played at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and was followed by a Q&a with the 98 year-old filmmaker himself. Moderated by Brooksfilms producer Kevin Salter, Brooks dazzled and enraptured the audience with tidbits on the making of the film and stories from his colorful past. One such story involved his hard-to-believe Oscar win for his first film, “The Producers.”

“I didn’t have a speech because Stanley Kubrick was in the same category for ‘2001,’” Brooks said of being nominated for Best Original Screenplay. “There was a brilliant director called Pontecorvo who did ‘The Battle of Algiers,’ a great picture...

Carla Balenda, who starred alongside Dana Andrews and Claude Rains in the Rko Pictures thriller Sealed Cargo and portrayed Mickey Rooney’s girlfriend on the NBC sitcom Hey Mulligan, has died. She was 98.

Balenda, billed at times as Sally Bliss, her birth name, died April 9 of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her grandson Jim Martin told The Hollywood Reporter.

She also played a nurse on the 1955-56 syndicated series The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu, starring Glen Gordon, and recurred as Miss Hazlitt, Timmy’s (Jon Provost) teacher, on CBS’ Lassie from 1958-63.

In Sealed Cargo (1951), Balenda portrayed a woman who is aboard a fishing trawler bound for Newfoundland when she and the skipper (Andrews) wind up tangling in the North Atlantic with Nazis led by Rains’ character. She often said it was her favorite role.

When Rooney took his first crack at television,...

Quick Links Only the Valiant Plot and Cast Why Gregory Peck Considers Only the Valiant the Worst Film He Ever Made What Fans and Critics Thought of Only The Valiant Where to Watch Only the Valiant

Actor Gregory Peck would become one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces, turning out iconic performances in cinema from the 1940s to the 1970s. From his role as Atticus Finch in Robin Mulligan's To Kill a Mocking Bird to his role as Joe Bradley across from Aubrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, it isn't easy to pick the best or definitive role of Gregory Peck. However, there was one movie that the actor regretted deeply, being rushed into the role in a film he never wanted any part in.

We will examine Only The Valiant, the 1951 Western, how Peck came to the project, and why he regretted it. We will also see if it is as...

Sydney Pollack was the Oscar winning filmmaker who could’ve branded himself as Hollywood’s favorite journeyman, crafting solid entertainments for over 40 years. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at all 20 of his films as a director, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1934, Pollack got his start as an actor, studying under legendary New York teacher Sanford Meisner. He cut his teeth is television, appearing in such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” before transitioning into directing for the small screen. Even after making a name for himself behind the camera, he kept popping up onscreen, starring in “The Player” (1992), “Husbands and Wives” (1992), “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), “Changing Lanes” (2002), “Michael Clayton” (2007) and his own “Tootsie” (1982), to name but a few.

It was this experience as a performer that made him a favorite with actors, including Robert Redford, with whom he made seven films.

“Oh baby, you are so talented,” exclaims Bart (Cleavon Little), the wily protagonist of Blazing Saddles. The first Black sheriff in the Old West town of Rock Ridge, Bart had to escape the genteel, devout, and very racist citizens by pulling a gun on himself and pretending that he is both his own captor and hostage. The ruse works, leading to Bart’s self-praise into the camera… he also acknowledges “they are so dumb.”

Bart’s broad shenanigans match not only the stupidity of the townspeople but also the tone of the Mel Brooks classic. Written by Brooks and a host of co-writers (including an uncredited Richard Pryor), Blazing Saddles combines Looney Tunes humor with biting social commentary, and a genuine love of the Hollywood Western, making for a movie at once eternal and immediate.

Little, Brooks, and all the writers contributed to the success of Blazing Saddles. But holding...

This post contains spoilers for "The Twilight Zone" season 1, episode 5: "Walking Distance."

One of the most beloved episodes of "The Twilight Zone" was also one of its least terrifying. "Walking Distance," a season 1 episode about a man who unwittingly travels back in time and revisits his childhood, is widely praised for its melancholy, nostalgic themes. The show's creator, Rod Serling, also generally looks back at it fondly. As his daughter Anne Serling explained in a 2019 interview:

"There are so many pieces of my father in 'Walking Distance.' When he was in the war, his father had a heart attack, and he wasn't able to get leave to go see him. By the time he got home, his father had died. Those trips to Binghamton were his way of going back in time. He would sit at the park and just remember the idyllic childhood that was cut short by going into the war.

Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein, co-written with Gene Wilder (seen here with Marty Feldman and Teri Garr) inspired Tony McNamara’s screenplay adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel for Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things (Oscar wins for Emma Stone and costume designer Holly Waddington).

By using well-chosen excerpts from the audiobook of Gene Wilder’s autobiography, Kiss Me Like A Stranger, Ron Frank lets Wilder himself guide us through the documentary, by positioning him in dialogue with many friends and colleagues assembled here, most prominently Mel Brooks, who directed Wilder in a number of groundbreaking movies. We find out how the two met, because Anne Bancroft, starring at the time on stage in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage (with Wilder as the Chaplain), was dating Brooks, who was looking for an actor to play Leo Bloom in what was to become The Producers. The two men clicked, as they both recall,...

At the inaugural Academy Awards in 1929, native Pennsylvanian Janet Gaynor made history as the first American-born performer to win an Oscar by taking the Best Actress prize for her body of work in “7th Heaven,” “Street Angel,” and “Sunrise.” Over the subsequent 95 years, 215 more thespians originating from the United States won the academy’s favor, meaning the country has now produced 68.1% of all individual acting Oscar recipients. Considering the last decade alone, the rate of such winners is even higher, at 70.3%.

At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).

Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...

With its scathing social satire, raunchy humor and frequent use of the controversial N-word, “Blazing Saddles” got mixed reviews upon its release February 7, 1974. Nonetheless, it galloped to the top of the box office and earned three Oscar nominations, and set new standards for comedy films with its irreverence, spoofs and just plain silliness. Some reviewers did get the joke from the beginning, including Roger Ebert, who awarded it four out of four stars, saying it’s “a crazed grab bag of a movie that does everything to keep us laughing except hit us over the head with a rubber chicken.” On its 50th anniversary, we look back at how “Blazing Saddles” has endured as one of the greatest and most beloved comedies of all time.

It all started when Mel Brooks bought the film rights to a story titled “Tex-x” (changed so it wouldn’t be mistaken for an X-rated...

Those who fought in World War II are considered the Greatest Generation. And executive producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman paid homage to these young men who risked life and limb during the global conflict in their award-winning 2001 HBO series “Band of Brothers” and 2010’s “The Pacific.” And now they’ve taken to the not-so-friendly skies in their latest World War II series, Apple TV +’s “Masters of the Air.”

Created by John Shiban and John Orloff, “Masters of the Air” is based on the 2007 book: “Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the War Against Nazi Germany,” the series starring Austin Butler focuses on the 8th Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group stationed in England. It was known as the “Bloody Hundredth” because of the high causalty rate.

Watching the series, one can’t help but remember the numerous bombardier films produced by Hollywood...

Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" delves into everything from the delightful to the macabre, where every incident exclusively takes place in the mysterious, unpredictable Twilight Zone. While some episodes lean into the deep-rooted fears of human existence, others probe into speculative fantasies about extraterrestrial life, time travel, and dream states that feel all too real. However, one particular episode of the show stands out: episode 5, "Walking Distance," is a deeply poetic and personal exploration of childhood nostalgia and the importance of moving forward, where some details were drawn fondly from Serling's personal life.

In the episode, a media executive named Martin Sloan (Gig Young) ends up near his childhood home in Homewood after his car breaks down within walking distance from his town. Serling based some of the details for Homewood on his own experiences of growing up in Binghamton, New York, and even inserted self-referential details such as...

During his lifetime, Rock Hudson was a model for American masculinity. That changed after his death, when the strapping, straight-acting (but occasionally sensitive) hunk from Winnetka became the poster boy for Hollywood homophobia: a closeted star who’d been forced to play a role his entire career that wasn’t true to himself, on screen and off. “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” treats that compromise as a tragedy, leaning on the fact Hudson died of AIDS to underscore the injustice, but Stephen Kijak’s documentary does him a disservice, reducing Hudson’s career — in exactly the way he went so far out of his way to avoid — to the dimension of his sexuality.

Built around interviews with a handful of former lovers and friends, Kijak spills private details from Hudson’s personal life, ranging from whom he shagged to how he arranged such trysts in the first place. A...

John Wayne often saved the day in dozens of Westerns and war dramas, but there were plenty of great movies where The Duke wasn't the hero. As far back as the late '20s, John Wayne was getting into gunfights, but after he shot to stardom in the '30s with Stagecoach, he became a superstar on the silver screen and a larger-than-life hero that upheld justice by deciding right from wrong with a pair of six-shooters. After his career stabilized, he was able to experiment a little with his on-screen persona and occasionally share top billing or even play a villain.

From the '40s until the '60s, it was rare for actors to branch out too much from the role they occupied with the big studios, who felt audiences were used to only seeing them one way. Some of the best performances of Wayne's career came from being allowed to add nuance,...

It was supposed to be a night of celebration, but as the Academy Awards unfolded on April 7, 1970, there was a sense of anxiety and dissatisfaction gripping the movie business. Much like today, the industry was being divided by changing tastes and sensibilities, struggling to remain relevant in a period of social upheaval.

Just before Bob Hope took the stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to the familiar refrain of “Thanks for the Memory,” John Wayne introduced the comic as “everybody’s friend.” But in an opening monologue, Hope made it clear to the audience that he was aligned with one ideological group in Hollywood. And even as he smiled good-naturedly, the biting tone of his jokes revealed that he was none too pleased with the direction that the movies were heading in.

“This is really a night to remember,” Hope said. “It’s such a novelty seeing actors and actresses with their clothes on.

Having already won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in “Elvis,” Austin Butler is on a solid path to triumphing on his first Oscar nomination. His film, which covers the entirety of the titular rock star’s two-decade career, boasts a talented cast that includes past Oscar winner Tom Hanks, who collected back-to-back Best Actor trophies for “Philadelphia” (1994) and “Forrest Gump” (1995). He missed out on a supporting bid for “Elvis,” but if Butler clinches the lead award, Hanks will become the 15th man to have acted in a film that won the same Oscar he previously received.

Hanks has a total of five Best Actor nominations to his name, with the three unsuccessful ones having come for his work in “Big” (1989), “Saving Private Ryan” (1999), and “Cast Away” (2001). Until Butler was recognized for “Elvis,” Hanks had never appeared in a film for which someone...

Strange creatures chained in dungeons and locked in shuttered rooms – indescribably entities that come from beyond – lurking beasts that hide in the shadows of your darkest imaginings – the gates of Hell being flung open and the unspeakable unleashed – welcome to the weird and unsettling world of the titan of literary terror H.P. Lovecraft, whose stories have provided endless ghoulish riches for film adaptations, including The Dunwich Horror, starring Dean Stockwell, released this month on Blu-ray from Arrow Video. To celebrate this splendid new restoration of a gothic horror classic here, to haunt your dreams, are the ten best Lovecraftian films ever…

Re-animator (1985)

Director Stuart Gordon started his memorable series of Lovecraft adaptations with this insanely gory and brilliantly funny 80s horror favourite. The superb Jeffrey Combs plays Herbert West, a medical student with ideas above his station, who conducts questionable experiments in his basement. His belief that the dead can...

Which is Mel Brooks's best movie: "Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein?" "Blazing Saddles" has social relevancy, fart jokes, and a truly bonkers final act. But "Young Frankenstein" has neighing horses, rolling in the hay, "Putting on the Ritz," and the most excruciating meal of soup in the history of cinema. Every scene in "Young Frankenstein" is gangbusters, and every lowbrow gag sings. The movie even looks pretty good, emulating the expressionist appeal of James Whale's original "Frankenstein" films. Brooks went on to make many more features, including "Spaceballs," but, for me, none live up to the simple pleasures of "Young Frankenstein."

There's one small catch though, which is that "Young Frankenstein" didn't actually begin with Brooks. The seed of the film was planted by none other than the actor Gene Wilder. Brooks had earlier invited Wilder to star in "The Producers," where he played the aspiring producer, Leo Bloom.

Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder had a truly incredible 1974. It is rare enough that someone makes a comedy that stands the test of time as one of the greatest films in history, regardless of genre classification. They made two. Amazingly, "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" were both released in the same year, and I would consider "Young Frankenstein" to be the funniest film ever made, with "Blazing Saddles" not too far behind it. These two films, along with Brooks and Wilder's 1968 Oscar-winning breakout "The Producers," show two comedy kindred spirits operating at a high level. Each one brings out the best in each other, and I wish it didn't stop with just those three movies.

Well, it was almost just two movies. For as simpatico as those two comic geniuses were at the time, Gene Wilder was not originally going to play The Waco Kid (known to his friends as Jim). In fact,...

The “made for television movie” began in the 1960s. In fact, one of the most famous TV movies Don Siegel’s 1964 version of “The Killers” featuring Ronald Reagan in his last film role as a ruthless villain, ended up being released theatrically because it was considered too violent for television.

But the genre came of age in the 1970s.

Some of these movies that aired on the three broadcast networks were sheer shlock and others were pilots for prospective TV series. But it was also an embarrassment of riches. Who could forget the beloved 1971 ABC biopic “Brian’s Song,” starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams, which was nominated for 11 Emmys and won five including outstanding single program (drama or comedy). The four-hankie weepie was so popular it was released theatrically.

Also briefly released theatrically was Steven Spielberg’s pulsating 1971 classic “Duel” starring Dennis Weaver which aired on ABC. Considered one...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of the 1965 comedy Strange Bedfellows, which existed primarily to reunite Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida, who had a box-office hit with Come September several years before. Like most of the romantic comedies of the era, there is little to separate this from a standard sitcom episode aside from the running time. Hudson plays a London-based executive on the rise who spontaneously marries a tempestuous Italian bombshell artist played by Lollobrigida. The newlyweds find their mutually insatiable sex drives are the only thing they have in common. Politically conservative Hudson is constantly at odds with his wife's liberal activism. They soon separate but after seven years, Hudson has a reason to stall the divorce proceedings he has put in place. Seems his even more conservative boss wants to promote him to be his right hand man- on the proviso that he is happily married.

Michael Curtiz’s flashy and splashy wartime morale booster began as a pre-Pearl Harbor show of support of our Canadian friends’ contribution to the war effort. A vehicle for James Cagney, its script is a trifle about bush pilots competing for a woman and then showing The Right Stuff when it comes time to join up to fight. Cagney’s ‘bad boy’ act is always good, but what slays us now are the stunning Technicolor images filmed in and over the vast Canadian forest country with its endless crystal clear lakes. The aerial work in 3-Strip Technicolor is breathtaking, especially in this full new digital restoration.

Captains of the Clouds

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1942 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 113 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date March 22, 2022 / 21.99

Starring: James Cagney, Dennis Morgan, Brenda Marshall, Alan Hale, George Tobias, Reginald Gardiner, Air Marshal W.A. Bishop, Reginald Denny, Russell Arms, Paul Cavanagh, Clem Bevans,...

“It takes a good man to prevent a catastrophe, milady, and a great man to make use of one.”

Gene Kelly, Van Heflin, Lana Turner and Vincent Price in The Three Musketeers (1948) will available on Blu-ray February 15th from Warner Archive. It can be purchased at the Warner Archive Amazon Store Here

Gene Kelly stars as the swashbuckling young French nobleman D’Artagnan who, possessing nothing more than his title, travels to Paris to join The Three Musketeers. D’Artagnan no sooner arrives in the capital, than he insults Athos (Van Heflin), Porthos (Academy Award winner Gig Young) and Aramis (Robert Coote), the most feared of the musketeers. Challenged to a duel by each, D’Artagnan earns their respect with his courage, if not by his fighting prowess. But his courage, skill and wit are quickly needed to help the musketeers thwart a plot by the powerful Prime Minister Richelieu...

The movie awards’ season is in full flower with such films as Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog”; Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”; Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” Guillermo Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” and Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” among the favorites for top prizes. But one thing we know for certain is that there is no sure thing when it comes to the Oscars. Consider the case of seventy years ago. Not only were there surprises among the nominees, but there were also some shocks when it came to the winners of the 1952 Oscars.

Let’s revisit the 24th Academy Awards, which took place March 20, 1952 at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood and were hosted by Danny Kaye. This was the last time the ceremony was presented on radio. The show moved to television the following year. Among the presenters that evening were Lucille Ball,...

Viavision’s second deluxe Film Noir boxed finds real variety in the film style, with entries that range from low-budget efforts to a picture filmed on location in Mexico. Richard Conte solves a notorious movie studio murder in Hollywood Story, Gig Young is a cop who considers going crooked in City that Never Sleeps, Glenn Ford dodges murderous treasure hunters in Plunder of the Sun and Steve Cochran’s cop really does go rogue in Private Hell 36.

Essential Film Noir Collection 1

Blu-ray (Region-Free)

Viavision [Imprint] 18, 19, 20, 21

1947-1957 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 327 min. / Street Date October 28, 2020 / Available from Viavision [Imprint] / 149.99

Starring: Richard Conte, Julia Adams; Gig Young, Mala Powers, Marie Windsor; Glenn Ford, Diana Lynn, Patricia Medina; Ida Lupino, Steve Cochran, Howard Duff.

Directed by William Castle, John H. Auer, John Farrow, Don Siegel

Viavision’s noir series throws a wide net, with two debuts on Blu-ray and one full debut on home video.

Blood, gore and the smell of gunpowder! Sam Peckinpah’s booze-soaked Odyssey sends Warren Oates on a grisly fool’s errand to retrieve a rotting, fly-bitten… oh, just read the title will ya? Resolutely sordid and debased, and soaked in ugly exploitation values, the tale of ‘Machete Bennie’ nevertheless scores as Peckinpah’s last successful movie — if Edgar Allan Poe went crazy locked in a room with rotting corpses, he might have come up with this idea.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons.

Cinematography: Álex Phillips Jr.

Film Editors: Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts

Original Music: Jerry Fielding

Written by Sam Peckinpah,...

With Lovecraft Country finishing its acclaimed first season, you may be looking to fill that new gap in your viewing schedule with more content based on or inspired by the works of the enigmatic author from Providence, Rhode Island.

Let’s get one thing clear upfront: Howard Phillips Lovecraft was very much a product of his time and upbringing, and his views on race, ethnicity, and class — while commonplace for where and when he lived — were truly noxious, an aspect of his legacy that Lovecraft Country addresses in its own themes. But it’s also clear that Lovecraft was arguably the most influential horror writer of the 20th century, with a reach that extends to this day.

While there have been a number of movies based directly on stories by Lovecraft — including titles like Die, Monster, Die! (1965), The Dunwich Horror (1970), Re-Animator (1985) and its sequels, From Beyond (1986), Dagon (2001), The Whisperer in Darkness...

Fade In: Soundstage, Universal Studios. Interior — Nightclub. Kirk Douglas, Gig Young and I are rehearsing a scene from our film, “For Love or Money,” a fizzy, frothy 1963 opus in which Kirk and I were cast as a version of “Rock & Doris” in this variation on their fizzy, frothy opuses with elegant sets and witty banter drenched in beautiful Jean Louis costumes. In this scene, Kirk and I are having an argument that plays out on a dance floor as we gyrate to the then-popular dance craze, the Twist.

I was casually observing Kirk’s preparation for the dance, which seemed very Method, very interpretive. “What is that, Kirk?” I asked demurely. “It’s the Twist,” he answered with all the confidence of Spartacus. When I assured him, again demurely, that what he was doing bore more resemblance to the “March of the Wooden Soldiers” than the Twist, he agreed to let me teach him.

Current Best Picture nominee “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” dramatizes a time of transformation in the entertainment capital. Quentin Tarantino‘s take on those changes in 1969 is reflected in the 42nd Academy Awards ceremony that was held on April 7, 1970. That night exactly 50 years ago was a blend of celebrating the newer, innovative filmmakers as well as honoring the pioneers of the business.

Throughout the 1960s, Academy members favored showy epics or musicals, with four Best Picture winners from that decade being musicals. In fact the last year of the 1960s saw a win for “Oliver!,” which also became the only G-rated film to win the the top prize. One year later Oscar history was made again when “Midnight Cowboy” won that same award, becoming the only picture with a “X” rating to win Best Picture. Its win over the historic biopic “Anne of the Thousand Days,” the lavish musical...

Joe Pesci‘s return to the big screen has gotten off to the winning start. The Oscar champ won Best Supporting Actor at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards on Wednesday for “The Irishman,” tying him for the most wins in the category at two.

Pesci previously took home the honor for another Martin Scorsese film — and his first with the legendary director — 1980’s “Raging Bull.” Jack Nicholson is the only other person with two supporting actor victories, claiming the very first prize 50 years ago for “Easy Rider” and then a second one 14 years later for “Terms of Endearment” (1983).

Nicholson lost the Oscar for the former to Gig Young, but won for the latter. Pesci lost the Oscar for “Raging Bull” to Timothy Hutton (“Ordinary People”) and got his Oscar 10 years later in the same category for Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” (1990).

See Here’s the full list of New York...

Irwin Winkler has been producing films for parts of six decades. His latest is “The Irishman,” which reunites him with frequent collaborators Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro as well as Al Pacino (“Revolution”). Winkler was first mentioned in Variety on Dec. 24, 1958, when he was an agent at William Morris and getting married. He left the agency to become a producer, debuting with the 1967 Elvis Presley movie “Double Trouble.”

Soon after, he and Robert Chartoff formed Chartoff Winkler Prods., scoring big with the 1969 drama “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” Directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Jane Fonda, the film earned nine Oscar nominations, winning a supporting actor trophy for Gig Young. The producing duo took home the Oscar when “Rocky” (1976) won best picture. Since then, their many films have included “The Right Stuff,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” both “Creed” films and now “The Irishman.”

What inspired you to leave...

by Nathaniel R

We love to throw random Oscar trivia at you. We love you for not even trying to dodge it! So here's a top ten for you. Here's something we were pondering the other day quite randomly: pictures that Oscar voters obviously loved but somehow skipped in the Best Picture race. This trivia is now a different game entirely given that there are so many Best Picture nominees each year. Unless Oscar returns to the days of 5 nominees, we aren't likely to see this list change ever again. But do you think any film this year might see a lot of nominations without a Best Picture bit. Anyway here is the all-timers list of such things...

The "Most-Nominated" Films That Missed Best Picture

01. Nine nominations

They Shoot Horses Don't They (1969)

Director Sydney Pollack would make multiple classics in his career, among which The Way We Were (1973) and Tootsie...

” I may not know a winner when I see one, but I sure as hell can spot a loser. “

They Shoot Horses Don’t They? will be screening at the St. Louis Public Library (1301 Olive Street St. Louis) on November 17th at 1:30pm as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. They Shoot Horses Don’t They? is part of Cinema St. Louis’ Golden Anniversary of films made in 1969. This is a Free event. With an intro and post-film discussion by We Are Movie Geeks’ own Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite can b found Here

In Depression-era America, desperation spawned a bizarre fad: the dance marathon. Couples competed to stay on their feet for thousands of hours, and audiences flocked to watch. But Gloria doesn’t think of herself as a spectacle. She is a fierce, unforgiving contestant in a battle she’s determined to win.

Bart Freundlich on the Orangina scene in After The Wedding and Susanne Bier's Efter Brylluppet: "That was a beautiful moment also in the original movie. I love scenes where you don't need to say anything that's going on." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In the second half of my conversation with Bart Freundlich on After The Wedding at the Langham in New York, we discuss Julianne Moore’s Theresa buying stuffed crocodile and shark toys, Michelle Williams as Isabel responding to Billy Crudup’s Oscar artwork, and sharing an Orangina with Abby Quinn’s Grace. The role of Jonathan (Alex Esola) would have been played by Ralph Bellamy or Gig Young in the last century.

After The Wedding is opening this century, on November 1 in the UK.

Isabel (Michelle Williams) in Theresa’s (Julianne Moore) office: “The only thing that I was interested in is this idea that no matter how...

Thanks to Fathom Events we will have the opportunity to watch six episodes of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone on the big screen! I never thought that I’d have the opportunity to watch The Twilight Zone in a movie theater but it’s actually happening as a way to celebrate the show’s 60th anniversary.

Not only will we get to watch six episodes, but there will also be a new documentary that focuses on creator Rod Serling. This is an event that no fan of the classic series is going to want to miss!

The Twilight Zone is one of the best TV shows of all time. It’s had a major influence on the world and inspired so many filmmakers and stories over the years.

The screening will only take place on one day and that day is November 14th. Tickets to The Twilight Zone: A...

In today’s film news roundup, Fathom Events has set a one-night showing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of “The Twilight Zone” and “Lazy Susan” and “Liberte” get distribution.

Anniversary Show

Fathom Events and CBS Home Entertainment have scheduled a Nov. 14 showing for “The Twilight Zone: A 60th Anniversary Celebration” at more than 600 North American cinemas.

The shows will combine digitally restored versions of six episodes with an all-new documentary short titled “Remembering Rod Serling” about the life, imagination and creativity of the show’s creator. It’s the first time that original episodes of the series, which ran from 1959 to 1964, have been presented on the big screen.

Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt said, “‘The Twilight Zone’ has inspired many filmmakers and storytellers, so it is a great honor to be able to bring these classic stories to the big screen, and to offer such an incisive look into the...

From the four repeating notes of its theme music to its unforgettable tales of the supernatural and the surreal, few television series have reshaped the medium as much as Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone.” On November 14, Fathom Events and CBS Home Entertainment celebrate the series’ 60th anniversary with a one-night-only event exclusively in cinemas nationwide.

“The Twilight Zone: A 60th Anniversary Celebration” will combine digitally restored versions of six quintessential episodes with an all-new documentary short titled “Remembering Rod Serling” about the life, imagination and creativity of creator Serling, whose thought-provoking introductions continue to mesmerize fans.

Tickets to “The Twilight Zone: A 60th Anniversary Celebration” are available beginning Friday, September 27, at www.FathomEvents.com and at participating theater box offices.

“The Twilight Zone: A 60th Anniversary Celebration” will be presented in more than 600 movie theaters across the country on Thursday, November 14, at 7:00 p.m. local time through Fathom Events...

Chris Longo Sep 25, 2019

Fathom Events is bringing the iconic anthology to the big screen for a one-day only screening.

Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone is coming to movie theaters around the country, hopefully on screens as vast as space itself. The iconic sci-fi anthology series is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2019 and to commemorate the landmark moment in television history, Fathom Events and CBS Home Entertainment partnered to screen six classic episodes on the big screen. It marks the first time the original episodes will be shown in theaters.

The one-night-only event takes place on November 14th and features digitally restored episodes and an all-new documentary short titled Remembering Rod Serling. According to a Fathom release, the doc “offers a closer look at the life experiences that inspired Serling’s unique blend of thought-provoking and visionary storytelling, from his time as a paratrooper in World War II to his...

On October 2nd, 1959, television as we know it was forever changed when a new show called The Twilight Zone premiered on CBS with "Where is Everybody?", an episode directed by Robert Stevens and written by Rod Serling. To celebrate its 60th anniversary, Fathom Events and CBS Home Entertainment are bringing Serling's game-changing anthology series to the big screen for a one-night-only screening of six seminal episodes and a new documentary short film, Remembering Rod Serling.

The Twilight Zone: A 60th Anniversary Celebration will screen in over 600 theaters in the Us on Thursday, November 14th. We have the full episode list and additional details below. Tickets will go on sale at Fathom Events' website beginning Friday, September 27th.

Press Release: Denver – September 25, 2019 – From the four repeating notes of its theme music to its unforgettable tales of the supernatural and the surreal, few television series have reshaped the medium as much as...

Sydney Pollack would’ve celebrated his 85th birthday on July 1, 2019. The Oscar winning filmmaker could’ve branded himself as Hollywood’s favorite journeyman, crafting solid entertainments for over 40 years. But how many of his titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 20 of his films as a director, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1934, Pollack got his start as an actor, studying under legendary New York teacher Sanford Meisner. He cut his teeth is television, appearing in such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” before transitioning into directing for the small screen. Even after making a name for himself behind the camera, he kept popping up onscreen, starring in “The Player” (1992), “Husbands and Wives” (1992), “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), “Changing Lanes” (2002), “Michael Clayton” (2007) and his own “Tootsie” (1982), to name but a few.

SEERobert Redford movies: 15 greatest films ranked from...

The auteurists have been quiet too long about S. Sylvan Simon, the producer-director of Red Skelton and Abbout & Costello movies, and I'm not even kidding. His first claim to prominence is probably Grand Central Murder (1942), an absolute masterclass in camera blocking with large-ish groups of people, and his Skelton trilogy of Whistling in the Dark, Whistling in Dixie, and Whistling in Brooklyn would be Exhibit 2, maybe, but Lust for Gold (1949), which he was working on when he died is really strong too, and it's a noir disguised as a western with a crazy structure and you should see it.We start with a fervid voiceover read by an overheated William Prince, who's playing the author of the original book this is based on, and he's telling us about the famous Lost Dutchman Mine (so named because it was started by Spaniards then rediscovered by a German) at Superstition Mountain, and...

The television landscape is overflowing with failed pilots; those poor souls who try to go to series, but are forever doomed to perish in the eternal hellfire of the forgotten. (And YouTube.) Sometimes the shows are not picked up for financial reasons, and sometimes they just give off a "hell No" vibe that even TV executives can’t miss. And then you have Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek’s mastermind, who by the mid-’70s produced failed pilot after failed pilot. His last try before the impending Trek-aissance was Spectre (1977), a very well-made Satanic Panic meets Sherlock Holmes proposal that promised a lot of ghoulish fun had it been picked up. As is, it’s a groovy (and randy) time capsule of an era when the Devil had his share of air time.

Produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Spectre originally aired May 21st as an NBC Saturday Night at the Movies,...

by Nathaniel R

Tommy Lee Jones in JFKLet's discuss Oscar hiearchies, again. This one is ultra specific but we're doing it for balance since we did the supporting actresses last week. Who are Oscar's 10 favorite supporting actors of all time? We'll work the ranking like so: Supporting nominations count most, with wins acting like half a nomination to help determine rank. The tiebreaker is the spread of time of nominations which can denote either long term fandom on the Academy's part or shortlived enthusiasms.

In contrast to supporting actress where the leaders were clear and the nomination counts higher but among fewer people, very narrow statistics separated all of the runners up from the top ten. Though if you must know, the unlucky #11 was Tommy Lee Jones, who would have ranked 5th on the top ten had he won the Oscar for Lincoln As He Should Have. But we'll discuss...

One of the best pictures to come out of Hollywood in the late 1960s, Sydney Pollack’s screen version of Horace McCoy’s hardboiled novel is a harrowing experience guaranteed to elicit extreme responses. Jane Fonda performs (!) at the top of an ensemble of stars suffering in a Depression-Era circle of Hell – it’s an Annihilating Drama with a high polish. And this CineSavant review ends with a fact-bomb that ought to start Barbara Steele fans off on a new vault search.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 120 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Dern, Allyn Ann McLerie.

Cinematography: Philip H. Lathrop

Production Designer: Harry Horner

Film Editor: Fredric Steinkamp

Written by James Poe, Robert E. Thompson from the novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?...

Desperate times call for desperate movies, and there are few movies that express genuine desperation better than Sydney Pollack’s 1969 dance-marathon melodrama They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Released for the first time on Blu-ray last week, Horses was a film that made a big impression on me as a teenager. Partly it was that ominous title (which I first heard when Welsh rock band Racing Cars had a 1977 top 20 hit with a song with the same name) and partly it was the indelible concept: in Depression-era America crowds paid to watch couples dance for days on end in the hope of winning a cash prize for the last man and woman standing (a concept fascinatingly re-worked in the 1997 documentary Hands on a Hard Body). Nominated for nine Oscars (it holds the record for the film with the most nominations without a Best Picture nod), They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?...

He sings, he fixes cars, and he takes punches better than De Niro’s Raging Bull. Elvis Presley excels in one of his few ’60s pictures that shows an interest in being a ‘real movie,’ a remake of a boxing saga with entertaining characters and fine direction from noir specialist Phil Karlson. Plus Charles Bronson, Lola Albright and Joan Blackman in standout roles.

Kid Galahad

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1962 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date August 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman, Charles Bronson, Robert Emhardt, Liam Redmond, Judson Pratt, Ned Glass, George Mitchell, Roy Roberts, Michael Dante, Richard Devon, Jeff Morris, Edward Asner, Frank Gerstle, Seamon Glass, Bert Remsen.

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey

Film Editor: Stuart Gilmore

Original Music: Jeff Alexander

Written by William Fay, Francis Wallace

Produced by David Weisbart

Directed by Phil Karlson

What, a good Elvis Presley picture?...

Now a successful producer, John Wayne tries a big budget action picture with an anti-Communist theme. It’s The Alamo on a ferryboat, set in the far East where the locals are a hungerin’ for Freedom. Wayne is an apolitical adventurer who just feels like savin’ Chinese and kissin’ Lauren Bacall. Ace director William Wellman holds it together — barely.

Blood Alley

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date July 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Paul Fix, Joy Kim, Berry Kroeger, Mike Mazurki, Wei Ling, Henry Nakamura.

Cinematography: William H. Clothier

Film Editor: Fred McDowell

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by A.S. Fleischman, from his novel.

Produced by John Wayne

Directed by William Wellman

John Wayne was extremely busy in 1955, starring in movies for big studios as well as for his own company Batjac. He was rated the most popular Hollywood star and was making constant public appearances,...

Canadian-born actress Alexis Smith (born 1921) would have turned 96 years old today, June 8. Turner Classic Movies is celebrating her birthday by presenting nine of her movies, mostly during her time as a Warner Bros. contract player. In addition to Michael Curtiz's box office hit Night and Day, a highly fictionalized Cole Porter biopic starring Cary Grant as a heterosexual version of the famed gay composer. Night and Day is being shown as part of TCM's Gay Pride Month celebration. Alexis Smith died on June 9, 1993, the day after she turned 72. After her film career petered out in the 1950s, she went on to receive acclaim on the Broadway stage, making sporadic film appearances all the way to the year of her death. Smith's last film appearance was in a minor supporting role in Martin Scorsese's overly genteel period drama The Age of Innocence (1993), starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder.