One of my favorite actors, James Coburn, was born on August 31, 1928, and he passed away on November 18, 2002. To celebrate and acknowledge the legend’s birthday, I thought I’d share one of my favorite scenes, and that’s his character’s introduction in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. What makes the scene so impressive is that it comes in on the heels of the badass intro of Bernardo O’Reilly (Charles Bronson) and somehow manages to top it. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: Film
Join #MondayMania For My Mom Robs Banks!
Hi, everyone! Tonight, on twitter, I will be hosting one of my favorite films for #MondayMania! Join us for My Mom Robs Banks!
You can find the movie on Prime and then you can join us on twitter at 9 pm central time! (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.) See you then!
Scenes That I Love: Cleopatra
1963’s Cleopatra is a guilty pleasure of mine.
On the one hand, it’s a historically inaccurate portrayal of the events leading to the transformation of the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. The pace is often slow. Some of the performances are regretful. It’s a film that was first envisioned as being a cheap B-picture but ended up nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox. Of all of the movies released in 1963, it sold the most tickets and yet, because of the films huge production costs, it still lost money.
On the other hand, it’s a truly gigantic film, one that recreates the perhaps imagined splendor of the ancient world and which does it without the use of CGI. The film may not exactly embrace historical accuracy but it does embrace the melodrama. And, finally, you have scenes like the one below, in which it was obvious that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton couldn’t wait for the cameras to stop rolling so they could toss off the costumes and make some history of their own.
4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Cleopatra Edition
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 is all about letting the visuals do the talking.
Let’s celebrate the end of the month with four shots from four films about Caesar’s one true love, Cleopatra!
4 Shots From 4 Films
Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us for Circuitry Man 2!
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasionally Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We snark our way through it.
Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be Circuitry Man 2!
If you want to join this watch party, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Circuitry Man 2 on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!
Enjoy!
Charles Bronson passed away 23 years ago, today…
I remember where I was when I heard the news that Charles Bronson passed away on August 30, 2003. I was standing outside of my parents’ cabin watching the South Fourche River roll by, when my sister came out and told me that a news report had just come across the TV. My family was there celebrating the Labor Day holiday. The cabin has always been my place of peace, and I guess you can say it was the perfect place to get the news.
In honor of the importance of this day in my life, I thought I would share a couple of scenes that I love from my two favorite Bronson films.
First comes a scene from MR. MAJESTYK where Al Lettier’s mobster tries to bully Majestyk. It doesn’t work out so well for the bully.
Next comes an early scene from HARD TIMES where a smirking opponent underestimates Bronson’s seasoned character of Chaney. Once again, things don’t go well for the smartass.
I’ll never be able to fully explain why I developed a healthy obsession for Charles Bronson when I was a kid growing up in the 1980’s and why that obsession still persists to this day. I may try to put that down on paper someday before I die, but today is not that day. Today, I just want to celebrate my movie hero with some of my favorite films and moments.

Scenes That I Love: Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley in Bride of Frankenstein
The writer Mary Shelley was born on this date in 1797. Shelley, of course, is best-known for writing Frankenstein, a book that some claim is the first science fiction novel. (That’s debatable but it was still a major literary achievement.)
In this scene from 1936’s Bride of Frankenstein, Elsa Lanchester appears as Mary Shelley, continuing her story. (Of course, Lanchester also played the Bride herself.)
4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Maureen O’Hara Edition
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 is all about letting the visuals do the talking.
These 4 Shots From 4 Films are dedicated to the memory of the great Maureen O’Hara.
4 Shots From 4 Maureen O’Hara Films
Sláinte!
Live Tweet Alert: Watch The Cat O’Nine Tails With #ScarySocial!
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, for #ScarySocial, I will be hosting Dario Argento’s The Cat O’Nine Tails!
If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! The film is available on Prime! I’ll be there co-hosting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy!
Song of the Day: Main Theme From The War of the Worlds by Leith Stevens
Today’s song of the day is the orchestral theme from the 1953 sci-fi classic, War of the Worlds.







