Daily Archives: August 30, 2020

Lisa’s Week In Review: 8/24/20 — 8/30/20

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Rest in Peace, Chadwick Boseman.  I’m still processing the news of his passing.  I think every film lover is.

On a more positive note, I hosted the #ScarySocial live tweet this weekend and I got a chance to share one of my favorite Italian horror film, StageFright, with a whole new audience of people.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy the film, which made me feel great.  It reminded me of why I write about movies in the first place.  There’s no greater feeling than introducing someone to a film or a book or any other work of art that they might have otherwise missed.

Here’s what else I did this week:

 

Films I Watched:

  1. A Murder to Remember (2020)
  2. A Taste of Evil (1971)
  3. Black Panther (2018)
  4. Ruthless Realtor (2020)
  5. Secrets in the Basement (2020)
  6. Slipping Into The Darkness (1988)
  7. StageFright (1987)
  8. A Thief In the Night (1972)
  9. The Watchers: Revelation (2013)
  10. The World Is Not Enough (1999)
  11. Years of the Beast (1981)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Bar Rescue
  2. Big Brother 22
  3. The Bold and the Beautiful
  4. Cobra Kai
  5. Coronation Street
  6. Days of Our Lives
  7. Degrassi
  8. Doctor Phil
  9. Dragnet
  10. Fear Thy Neighbor
  11. General Hospital
  12. Ghost Whisperer
  13. King of the Hill
  14. Love Island
  15. Paranormal State
  16. Parking Wars
  17. The Powers of Matthew Star
  18. The Republican National Convention
  19. Saved By The Bell
  20. Seinfeld
  21. Shipping Wars
  22. The Young and the Restless

Books I Read:

  1. The House on Fripp Island (2020) by Rebecca Kauffman
  2. The Real Story of Catholic History: Answering Twenty Centuries of Anti-Catholic Myths (2017) by Steve Weidenkopf

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Above & Beyond
  2. Active Child
  3. Anita Baker
  4. Billie Holliday
  5. Blanck Mass
  6. Britney Spears
  7. Carly Simon
  8. The Chemical Brothers
  9. Coldplay
  10. Daft Punk
  11. Dagny
  12. deadmau5
  13. Elohim
  14. Elvis Costello
  15. Giant
  16. Girl in Red
  17. Hadwell
  18. Jakalope
  19. Jimi Hendrix
  20. Johnny Lee
  21. Keep Shelly in Athens
  22. The Killers
  23. lBM
  24. LeeAnn Rimes
  25. Melissa Manchester
  26. The O’Kaysons
  27. Otis Redding
  28. The Police
  29. Public Enemy
  30. Rita Coolidge
  31. Rockwell
  32. Saint Motel
  33. Selena Gomez
  34. Taylor Swift
  35. Tiesto
  36. Whitney Houston

Links From Last Week:

  1. AwardsCircuit Says ‘Farewell’ on Aug. 31

Links From The Site:

  1. R.I.P., Chadwick Boseman
  2. Erin shared The Covers of .44 Western Magazine and The Case of the Lucky Legs, My Private Hangman, Votes For Women, Liberty, Titter, All The Girls He Wanted, and Living It Up!
  3. Jeff reviewed Flesh and the Spur, Smokey the Bandit, Hit Lady, The Babysitter, Jet Attack, and Pier 5, Havana!
  4. Ryan reviewed Mindviscosity, Trolls: 1 Trip 2 Many, and Rotten!
  5. I shared music videos from Girl In Red, Keep Shelly In Athens, Active Child, Saint Motel, Saint Motel again, Dagny, and Elohim!  I reviewed Slipping Into Darkness, Left Behind, Left Behind 2, Left Behind: World At War, Ruthless Realtor, Apocalypse, Revelation, Tribulation, Judgment, A Thief in the Night, Years of the Beast, The Watchers: Revelation, Denounced: Rise of The Horsemen, The Freedom of Silence, and The Prophet’s Son!   I shared the trailers for Come Play and Ammonite!

More From Us:

  1. For the Big Brother Blog, I reviewed Big Brother!
  2. Ryan has a patreon and you should consider subscribing!
  3. At my music site, I shared songs from The Killers, Saint Motel, Britney Spears, Selena Gomez, Coldplay, Above & Beyond, and Tiesto!
  4. On her photography site, Erin shared: Welcome, Need A Ride?, Come Inside, Highland Park, Ducks in Black-and-White, Possum in A Tree, and Backyard!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Have a great week, everyone!

Pier 5, Havana (1959, directed by Edward L. Cahn)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Shortly after the Cuban Revolution, Steve Daggett (Cameron Mitchell) comes to Havana.  He’s searching for his friend, Hank Miller (Logan Field).  An alcoholic, Hank has been missing for several days.  When Steve arrives, he discovers that the local police are less than helpful.  He is also reunited with his former girlfriend, Monica Gray (Allison Hayes), who also happens to be Hank’s estranged wife.  Since separating from Hank, Monica has taken up with Fernando Ricardo (Eduardo Noriega), a wealthy land owner who, so far, has been spared from Castro’s revolution.

It doesn’t take long for Steve to discover that no one wants him to stay in Havana.  When he goes to meet an informant on a pier, he’s instead assaulted by two men who order him to be on the next plane to Miami.  When Steve refuses to leave, both his life and Monica’s are put in danger.  Steve’s investigation eventually leads him to a plot to overthrow Fidel Castro and return Batista to power.

Pier 5, Havana is a low-budget, B-noir that is mostly interesting due to its historical context.  The movie went into production a month after Castro took over Cuba and certain scenes were actually shot on location in Havana.  Because it was a quick shoot meant to capitalize on current events, the movie was rushed into theaters before Castro officially allied his country with the Soviet Union.  As a result, Pier 5, Havana is one of America’s few pro-Castro films.  While the film doesn’t fully embrace Castro, it does present his new government as being preferable to return of Batista’s dictatorship.

As for the film itself, it’s a fairly standard mystery.  Edward L. Cahn, who also directed Flesh and the Spur and Jet Attack, was a director who shot fast and in a workmanlike style.  (Pier 5 Havana was one of seven films that he directed in 1959 alone.)  Cameron Mitchell is surprisingly but effectively subdued as the two-fisted hero and he provides the hard-boiled narration as well.  As always, Allison Hayes is an effective femme fatale.

Pier 5, Havana is a fast-paced B-movie with some good performances and some interesting footage of Havana right after the revolution.