Have y’all been to Mt. Rushmore? My wife and I stopped by in 2023 on the way home from Yellowstone. It was pretty cool stuff!
I remember as I was driving up to Mt. Rushmore, I saw a sign that mentioned the Alfred Hitchcock movie NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) being filmed there. I hadn’t seen the movie in many years, so I decided to watch it again when I got home to celebrate the trip. I enjoyed seeing Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint hanging out near the giant rock faces of some of America’s great presidents. In celebration of Hitchcock’s 126th birthday in cinema heaven, I thought I would share that scene with all of you!
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More 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!
One of the all-time great directors in the history of cinema, Alfred Hitchcock, was born on this day in 1899. Today, I celebrate this master filmmaker with some images from some of his best films. Enjoy!
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)Strangers on a Train (1951)The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)Frenzy (1972)
When I was a kid, I lived in Perry County, Arkansas, and we didn’t have cable TV or MTV, but what we did have was Friday Night Videos on one of our 3 channels. I’d stay up late on Friday nights in hopes of seeing a video for one of my favorite songs. This would have been somewhere around 1983 or so. I distinctly remember one night being excited that the song “Hungry Like the Wolf” was coming on. Sitting on my porch tonight and feeling a little nostalgic, I think I’ll share that song with all of you!! Enjoy!
Happy 86th birthday to George Hamilton, also known as Zorro the gay blade in some circles!
One of the great things about movies is the way they ask us to suspend our disbelief in service of the story they are presenting. Most of the time we’ll go right along with the filmmakers, but sometimes they do go a little too far. For example, did y’all know there is a movie where George Hamilton beats up Charles Bronson?!! I’m not kidding! It’s true! The movie is called A THUNDER OF DRUMS (1961), and I’m including video evidence!! Enjoy my friends!
Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday, August 11th, we’ll be watching RUNNING SCARED (1986), starring Gregory Hines, Billy Crystal, Steven Bauer, Darlanne Fluegel, Joe Pantoliano, Dan Hedaya, Jon Gries, Tracy Reed, and Jimmy Smits.
The plot:Two street-wise Chicago cops have to shake off some rust after returning from a Key West vacation to pursue a drug dealer who nearly killed them in the past.
Peter Hyams directed RUNNING SCARED, and it’s one of the very best “Buddy Cop” films out there. So, if a night full of action and laughs sounds good to you, join us on #MondayMuggers and watch RUNNING SCARED. It’s on Amazon Prime, Tubi, and PlutoTV! I’ve included the trailer below:
After eight years of serving as Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger made his big comeback as an action movie star in director Kim Jee-woon’s THE LAST STAND (2013). Sure, he put in a little work on the first two EXPENDABLES movies, but those were really just glorified cameos. Here, Arnold was front and center for the film’s 107 minute running time. This was an exciting time for me, because like most action movie fans, I loved him and had truly missed seeing him consistently kicking butt and taking names on the big screen. I gladly made my way to the movie theater in January of 2013 for a large tub of ‘corn, a big Mr. Pibb, and the true return of an action megastar!!
In THE LAST STAND, Schwarzenegger plays Ray Owens, a former LAPD narcotics officer who chose to leave the big city and take a job as the sheriff of the quiet, southern border town of Sommerton, Arizona. It won’t be quiet for long after notorious drug kingpin Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) makes a daring escape from FBI custody. Cortez immediately heads towards the border in a souped up Corvette where an advanced group of highly trained gunmen, led by Burrell (Peter Stormare), are waiting to help him cross. Cortez and his small army of mercenaries appear to be on a collision course with Sheriff Owens and his ragtag group of deputies, including Mike (Luis Guzman), Jerry (Zach Gilford), and Sarah (Jaimie Alexander). Knowing they’re outgunned and outmanned, Sheriff Owens asks for additional help from ex-military man and current drunk Frank Martinez (Rodrigo Santoro), as well as the crazy local gun nut Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville). Add to this mixture, FBI agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker) and his team’s attempts to try to stop Cortez before he gets to Sommerton, and the stage is set for lots of action!
I really liked THE LAST STAND when I saw it at the movie theater in 2013, and I really liked it again when I revisited the film this week. I made it a habit many years ago to not read reviews of a film before I go see it at the theater. I had found that reading potential negative comments could affect my viewing of a film, so I cut that out. As such, after totally enjoying myself with THE LAST STAND, I was surprised that the film wasn’t received very strongly by the audience or critical community, and I was even more surprised that it completely flopped at the box office, only bringing in a total of $12 million in the United States during its run. For me, the film delivered what I was looking for… Arnold Schwarzenegger kicking ass, spouting off some good one-liners, and outsmarting and outmuscling his much younger adversaries! No critic or keyboard warrior can take that away from me, as THE LAST STAND is an entertaining movie with a good cast. Heck, even the great Harry Dean Stanton pops in for a surprise cameo at the beginning of the action.
I also appreciate the fact that THE LAST STAND is the American directorial debut of the great South Korean director Kim Jee-woon, who has directed some of my favorite South Korean films, including A BITTERSWEET LIFE (2005) and I SAW THE DEVIL (2010). His direction brings some Asian flair that results in stronger, more graphic violence, as well a penchant for jarring changes in tone between humorous character interplay and sometimes violent tragedy. In a movie designed primarily as a piece of entertainment, I appreciate those more over-the-top touches that lift it above the norm.
Overall, I easily recommend THE LAST STAND to fans of Arnold Schwarzenegger and old-school action movies. It’s not a Schwarzenegger classic in the same way as movies like PREDATOR (1987), TERMINATOR 2 (1991), and TRUE LIES (1994), but it’s still a fun ride!
Robert Aldrich is a very important director in the career of my favorite actor, Charles Bronson. Bronson appeared in 4 films directed by Aldrich, including APACHE (1954), VERA CRUZ (1954) and 4 FOR TEXAS (1963). In 1967, just before Bronson would become the biggest star in the world, Aldrich would give him a significant role in the box office smash THE DIRTY DOZEN. In celebration of Aldrich’s 107th birthday in cinema heaven, I thought I’d share this fun scene from the World War II classic!
Rory Calhoun was a star of movies and TV going all the way back to the 40’s, but as a kid of the 80’s, the movies I most remember him for are not classics like HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953) with Marilyn Monroe, or RIVER OF NO RETURN (1954) with Robert Mitchum. Rather, the movies I grew up watching Calhoun in have titles like ANGEL (1984), a B-movie crime thriller about a teenage hooker, and PURE COUNTRY (1992), the acting debut of country music superstar George Strait! One movie that I’ve always enjoyed, and even introduced my son to a decade or so ago, is the horror comedy MOTEL HELL (1980). My son loved it, and even though he’s married with children, whenever we’re together for the holidays he wants to know if I brought my blu ray of the film for us to watch. The amazing thing… I always have it!
In celebration of Rory Calhoun’s 103rd birthday in cinema heaven, I present this scene of Calhoun tending to his human garden in MOTEL HELL! Enjoy, my friends.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, we will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi and other services!
Episode 4.8 “All the Colors of the Heart”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 18th, 1987)
This episode brings Jonathan (Michael Landon) and Mark (Victor French) to a summer camp for the blind, where they come into contact with two men. There is Frank Riley (Tom Sullivan), an athletic blind man with a great attitude who has high hopes of gaining his sight and being able to see for the first time in his life. In contrast, there is Scott (Peter Kowanko), a young man who is in the process of rapidly losing his sight and is in complete denial of his new reality. Jonathan and Frank, who also happens to be the man who started the camp, work with Scott in hopes of helping him to face both the physical and the emotional challenges of going blind. Will Frank actually be able to regain his sight? Will Scott be able to accept his condition and find a reason to embrace life again?
Our family watched HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN often during its run in the 80’s. My mom loved the series, and I remember its episodes going straight for the heart. I haven’t revisited it as an adult, and I must admit that I had an enjoyably nostalgic time when I watched this episode today.
While I personally had warm and fuzzy feelings based on the show’s connection to my youth, the content of the episode itself was quite serious. Scott, the young man who is going blind, is basically giving up on life, so much so that he contemplates killing himself. Peter Kowanko, who plays Scott and bears a striking resemblance to actor James Van Der Beek, is pretty good in the part. He spends most of his time screaming at people that they don’t understand what he’s going through. It’s not the most endearing performance, but I can’t help but wonder how I would react in the same position. Heck, I’ve had some of my own health issues recently, and the anxiety that has come along with that has definitely hampered my ability to put others first. I think Tom Sullivan is a little more successful in the role of Frank Riley, the man who has been blind since birth. Sullivan, who is blind in real life, receives a “Story By” credit for this episode, and is reportedly much like the man he portrays here. While some of his scenes do lean heavily into melodrama at the end, his inspiring sense of humor and overall outlook on life gives us glimmers of hope throughout the episode. I did want to point out that Kowanko and Sullivan do almost all of the heavy lifting in the acting department in this episode. While they had some fun interplay at the beginning, I was surprised by how little the characters played by Landon and French factored into the main storyline. I’m going to assume this is the exception and not the norm for the show.
Overall, I enjoyed revisiting this TV series from my youth. This specific episode contains a strong message about the importance of finding the joys in life under the most difficult of circumstances. I think we all need to be reminded of that from time to time, even when we’re not facing the types of challenges that these characters are being forced to deal with. Michael Landon, who directed this episode, got me at the end as I felt some moisture welling up in my own eyes. I’m definitely looking forward to taking a little deeper dive into the series in the near future.
Through the Shattered Lens 