RIP Pumpsie Green

Posted on July 17, 2019 by gary loggins

Most people these days think of Boston (and the Northeast as a whole) as a modern Athens, the standard bearer for progressive, liberal thinking. But it wasn’t always so. The City of Boston in the 1950’s and 60’s was a hotbed of racial tensions, with frequent rioting over such issues as forced busing and integration. While Jackie Robinson was the first black player to break the Major League Baseball color barrier in 1947, the Boston Red Sox (owned by avowed racist Tom Yawkey) didn’t add a player of color until 1959. That player’s name was Elijah “Pumpsie” Green.

Green was born October 27, 1933 in the small town of Boley, Oklahoma. As a youth, he excelled at sports, as did his brother Cornell, who wound up playing 13 seasons as a Defensive Back for the Dallas Cowboys. After playing college ball at Contra Costa, Pumpsie turned pro in 1954, and…

View original post 193 more words

4 Shots From 4 Films: Rest in Peace, Sylvia Miles (1924-2019)

Posted on June 12, 2019 by gary loggins

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking. Character actress Sylvia Miles passed away today at age 94. Though never a household name, movie lovers knew they were in for a treat whenever Sylvia appeared onscreen, as did her peers, nominating her twice for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. In her honor, we present 4 shots from the films of Sylvia Miles.

Midnight Cowboy (1969; D; John Schlesinger)

Andy Warhol’s Heat (1972; D: Paul Morrissey)

Farewell, My Lovely (1975; D: Dick Richards)

The Funhouse (1981; D: Tobe Hooper)

Make ‘Em Laugh: RIP Tim Conway

Posted on May 18, 2019 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

If comedy is a gift, then Tim Conway was America’s Santa Claus, delivering bags full of laughter directly into our homes for over fifty years. The cherubic Conway, who died May 14 at age 85, was mainly known for his television work, but also starred in films, on stage, and in the home video field, making him a true Renaissance Man of Comedy.

Tim and Ernie “Ghoulardi” Anderson

Young Tim got his start in his hometown of Cleveland, not exactly a hotbed of humor (with apologies to Jim Backus, Kaye Ballard, and British transplant Bob Hope ), writing and appearing in skits with local TV personality Ernie Anderson during breaks in a morning movie show. Anderson himself would later gain fame as a horror host (Cleveland’s Ghoulardi) and a network announcer, ‘The Voice of ABC’ (“Tonight on The Loooo-ve Boat….”).

Comic actress Rose Marie, on a cross-country tour promoting THE…

View original post 887 more words

A Moment of Comedy Bliss with Tim Conway and Harvey Korman

Posted on May 14, 2019 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

As the world still mourns the loss of Doris Day yesterday, another great has left us – TV comedy genius Tim Conway, who died today at age 85. Tim rightfully deserves a tribute post of his own, and he’ll get it, but until then, enjoy this classic bit of comedy gold from THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW (and watch Harvey Korman try to keep a straight face!):

Tim Conway (1933-2019)

View original post

Once I Had A Secret Love: RIP Doris Day

Posted on May 13, 2019 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

You wouldn’t think from reading most of the content I publish – Western actioners, horror flicks, film noir, exploitation trash – that I’d be a big Doris Day fan. But the first film I can remember seeing on the Big Screen is THAT TOUCH OF MINK, with Doris and Cary Grant, and I’ve been in love ever since. Talent is talent, and the iconic singer/actress, who died earlier today at age 97, had it in bucketloads. Doris’s career spanned nearly 50 years, from the Big Band Era to Cable TV, and was “America’s Sweetheart” for most of her adult life (not to mention “The World’s Oldest Living Virgin” due to her squeaky-clean screen image!).

Cincinnati-born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff, born in 1922, wanted to be a professional dancer, but a severe car accident in 1937 curtailed that dream. Instead she turned to singing, and became a local sensation, eventually landing…

View original post 674 more words

Doris Day, R.I.P.

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we lost another star from Hollywood’s Golden Age. There will be more to write later. For now….

Doris Day was 97 and she was a far better actress than she was ever given credit for. She may have been best known for the romantic comedies that she made with Rock Hudson but let us not forget that Doris Day also starred in Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and held her own opposite James Cagney in Love Me or Leave Me. She starred in the superior thriller, Midnight Lace, and she was the first choice to play Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. After she retired from acting, she worked to promote animal welfare and she founded the Doris Day Animal Foundation. The Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Center operates to this day in Murchison, Texas.

Rest in peace, Doris Day.

Pulp Fiction #3: Batman At 80

Posted on May 11, 2019 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

Whether you call him the Caped Crusader or the Dark Knight, it’s hard to believe Batman has been in the public eye for eighty years! Making his debut in Detective Comics #27 (cover dated May 1939) in a story titled “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” by co-creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Batman has gone from mere comic book crimefighter to king of all media! Not bad for a poor little rich kid from Gotham City!

BATMAN BEGINS

Artist Bob Kane (1915-1998) had been toiling in the nascent comic book field for three years when DC’s superhero character Superman took off like a rocket. Comic houses were scrambling to compete in this new genre of costumed cavorters, and Kane came up with some sketches of a masked vigilante, basing his design on Lee Falk’s Phantom, Douglas Fairbanks’ ZORRO, and the 1930 horror/mystery THE BAT WHISPERS. Kane asked writer Bill Finger…

View original post 2,158 more words

An Underrated Man: RIP John Llewellyn Moxey (1925-2019)

Posted on May 2, 2019 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

John Llewellyn Moxey’s “Horror Hotel” (1960)

You won’t find the name of John Llewellyn Moxey bandied about in conversations on great film directors. Truth is, though Moxey did make some features of note, he spent most of his career doing made-for-television movies, a genre that doesn’t get a lot of respect. John Llewellyn Moxey wasn’t a flashy director or an “auteur” by any stretch of the imagination, but he was more than capable of turning out a solid, worthwhile production, and some of his TV-Movie efforts are just as good (if not better) than what was currently playing at the local neighborhood theaters or multiplexes at the time. Moxey’s passing on April 29 at age 94 was virtually ignored by the press, but his career deserves a retrospective, so Cracked Rear Viewer is proud to present a look back at the film and television work of director John Llewellyn Moxey.

View original post 1,196 more words

4 Shots From 4 Roger Corman Films: X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes, The Masque of the Red Death, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, The Trip

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Let us all wish a happy 93rd birthday to the one and only Roger Corman!

As a director and a producer, Roger Corman is one of the towering figures in the history of American cinema. At a time when the major studios dominated the industry, Roger Corman set off on his own fiercely independent path. At a time when most filmmakers were either apolitical or predictably middle-of-the-road in their liberalism, Corman was an outspoken progressive. At a time when mainstream Hollywood refused to give opportunities to new talent, Corman was giving work to people like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, and Jack Nicholson.

Here are….

4 Shots From 4 Roger Corman Films

X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963, dir by Roger Corman)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964, dir by Roger Corman)

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967, dir by Roger Corman)

The Trip (1967, dir by Roger Corman)

RIP Larry Cohen: Maniacal Movie Maverick

Posted on March 24, 2019 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

While everyone on TV and social media are babbling about The Mueller Report, I came across some bigger news: Larry Cohen has passed away at age 77. You can debate politics all you want, but you can’t debate the fact that Cohen was a true artist, despite working within Exploitation genres and dealing with budgetary limitations throughout most of his career. Cohen’s unique vision was his own, and he made some truly great films – some turkeys too, granted, but his overall batting average was high indeed.

I’ve written extensively on this blog about Cohen’s film and television work because I love his style. Like a cinematic Rumpelstiltskin, he frequently turned straw into gold. Born in Manhattan in 1941, Larry Cohen was obsessed with B-movies and hard-boiled fiction, and after graduating from CCNY with a degree in film studies, he got a job as a page at NBC. Cohen worked…

View original post 821 more words