Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 89th birthday to the legendary Jack Nicholson.
Today’s scene that I love comes from the 1970 film,Five Easy Pieces. In this Oscar-nominated film, Jack Nicholson plays Bobby Dupea. Born to a wealthy and music-obsessed family, Bobby currently works in an oil field and is alternatively angry, cynical, and idealistic. After Jack Nicholson’s Oscar-nominated turn in Easy Rider,Five Easy Pieces featured Nicholson playing the type of role for which he would be best-known in the 70s, the wayward rebel who must choose between being a part of society or being forever an outcast.
In this scene, Bobby and his oilfield co-worker find themselves stuck in a traffic jam. Bobby gets a chance to show off both his temper and his talent. It’s a great scene and Nicholson gives such a strong performance that it’s only later that you realize that Bobby’s anger didn’t really accomplish much.
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!
Today is Jack Nicholson’s 89th birthday!
It’s been sixteen years since Jack Nicholson last appeared in a movie, the forgettable How Do You Know. And yet, he remains a screen icon with a filmography that is a cinema lover’s dream. He’s worked with everyone from Roger Corman to Stanley Kubrick to Milos Forman to Martin Scorsese and, along the way, he’s become a symbol of a very American type of rebel. Though often associated with the counter-culture, his style has always been too aggressive and idiosyncratic for him to be a believable hippie. Instead, he’s one of the last of the beats, an outsider searching for meaning in Americana.
Happy birthday, Jack Nicholson. May you have many happy returns!
4 Shots From 4 Jack Nicholson Films
Easy Rider (1969, dir by Dennis Hopper, DP: Laszlo Kovacs)
Chinatown (1974, dir by Roman Polanski, DP: John A. Alonzo)
The Shining (1980, dirby Stanley Kubrick, DP: John Alcott)
The Departed (2006, dir by Martin Scorsese, DP: Michael Ballhaus)
I’m a big fan of westerns made in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I’m also a big fan of the writings of author Louis L’Amour. STRANGER ON HORSEBACK, a 1955 western based on a story by L’Amour, is a good example of why I love both, and it’s currently playing on Amazon Prime, HBOMAX, and Tubi.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK opens on the traveling Circuit Judge Rick Thorne (Joel McCrea) as he rides his horse into a small western town that seems to be run by the Bannerman family. We hear his thoughts on western justice, and it goes something like this… “a judge needs three things to bring justice to this country; a law book, a horse and a gun. The further west he gets, the less he needs the book.” That’s a L’Amour line if I’ve ever heard one. As soon he gets into town, he finds out from Colonel Buck Streeter (John Carradine) that young Tom Bannerman (Kevin McCarthy) has gunned a local man down and Thorne is determined that the young man face trial for the killing. That doesn’t set too well with Tom’s dad Josiah Bannerman (John McIntire), who bluntly tells the judge that his son will not face trial for murder. After Thorne and the local Sheriff Nat Bell (Emile Meyer) arrest young Tom, it’s just a matter of time before Thorne has to take on the Bannerman clan and their hired guns. Meanwhile, Amy Lee Bannerman (Miroslava), Tom’s cousin, starts making some love moves on the judge. Is she truly falling for the righteous judge, or is she trying to save her cousin’s ass?
Director Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE, OUT OF THE PAST, WICHITA) has crafted an extremely economical, classic western. Clocking in at just 65 minutes, the story can’t afford to waste any time and gets right to the action. Joel McCrea is perfect as the morally impeccable judge who will face off against impossible odds to make sure young Tom Bannerman goes to trial for murder. Kevin McCarthy is the exact opposite as the arrogant, amoral killer whose family name has protected him all of his life. John McIntire, as the patriarch of the Bannerman family, is as tough as they come and nobody is going to tell him what to do, or hang his son. He’s not necessarily against his son hanging, but as he implies at one point, if anyone’s going to hang my son, it’s going to be me! And Miroslava is awfully cute as the Bannerman who ends up putting her feelings for the judge over the family name. Sadly, the actress would take her own life just after filming this movie.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK was filmed in Sedona, AZ, which makes for a beautiful backdrop to this combination of western and legal thriller. The fact that McCrea is playing a judge rather than a sheriff is an interesting twist on the classic western story. His primary focus is to make sure Tom Bannerman gets his due process, but still faces a jury for his crimes, and he’ll do anything to make sure that happens. And it doesn’t take him very long to do it, because it felt like there should have been more movie when the words THE END flashed across the screen. I guess I was enjoying myself, because this 65 minute movie felt even shorter than you might expect!
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!
If you’re looking for a good “dirty cops” movie to pass the time, I ran across an entertaining one today called THE COPS ARE ROBBERS (AKA – GOOD COPS, BAD COPS). It’s currently playing on Amazon Prime and Tubi. The film is a 1990 TV movie based on the real life robbery of the Boston Depositors Trust bank over Memorial Day weekend in 1980 by a group of corrupt cops. I first became aware of the film when I took part in an interview with Robert F. Lyons about his career on the This Week in Charles Bronson podcast. Lyons specifically mentioned this film as containing a role that he really enjoyed.
THE COPS ARE ROBBERS features an incredible cast, and this is what ultimately sets the movie apart for me. The movie opens as top cop Kirkland, played by George Kennedy, assigns Jake Quinn (Ed Asner), to lead a notoriously corrupt law enforcement agency in Massachusetts. No sooner does Quinn take over, when the Boston Depositors Trust is hit over Memorial Day weekend with over $25 million in cash and jewels taken. The crew of criminals includes current cops Jerry Clemente (Ray Sharkey) and Jimmy Donnelly (Steve Railsback), ex-cop Frank Moran (James Keach), and safe expert Benny Brown (Lyons). Over the next 5 years, with the assistance of officers Brill (James Morrison) and Kellogg (Franc Luz), Jake Quinn does every thing he can to bring Clemente and his crew down!
Ed Asner, Ray Sharkey and Robert F. Lyons are the real standouts of the film. Asner brings a toughness and honesty to his role honed by decades of playing such roles. In other words, the part fits him like a glove. Sharkey plays his part as a man who’s so arrogant and corrupt that he doesn’t seem to realize that using his position of trust in the community for his own selfish gain is a problem. He seems to think he deserves whatever he can steal, and it’s fun to see the pressure squeeze in on him as the film moves along. After watching the film, I can see why Lyons enjoyed playing this part, as he is excellent in his role as the safe expert. He is one of the most important parts of the robbery, he doesn’t trust cops, and he eventually gets the opportunity to give them a reason not to trust him. It’s a nice showcase for his talents.
At the end of the day, if you like the cast, enjoy movies based on true stories, or appreciate TV movies from the late 80’s and early 90’s, I definitely think you’ll enjoy THE COPS ARE ROBBERS. Veteran Director Paul Wendkos (CANNON FOR CORDOBA, THE BAD SEED) brings a professional touch to the proceedings, and for me, watching his film was a fun way to spend an evening.
This morning, I was saddened to read about the passing of actor Patrick Muldoon. He died of a heart attack yesterday. He was 57 years old.
Patrick Muldoon will always be remembered by many for playing Jeff, the “frat boy babe stealer” from Saved By The Bell. Personally, I thought Jeff and Kelly made for a cute couple and it always bothered me that the show’s writers suddenly changed Jeff from being a nice guy to being a cheater just so Kelly and Zack could (eventually) get back together. Supposedly, years after the show aired, Muldoon still had strangers yelling at him on the street for breaking up Kelly and Zack. I felt bad for him reading that. The man was an actor and he did a good job.
Muldoon went on to play an important supporting role in Starship Troopers, making him the second Saved By The Bell actor to appear in a Paul Verhoeven film. (Unlike Elizabeth Berkley, Muldoon at least seemed to understand that he was appearing in a satire.) He also appeared in a countless number of Lifetime films, occasionally sharing the screen with Starship Troopers co-star, Casper Van Dien. Muldoon was also the first actor to play Austin Reed on Days of Our Lives.
Here he is in Starship Troopers, getting into a memorable fight with Casper Van Dien.
Hi, everyone! Tonight, on twitter, I will be hosting one of my favorite films for #MondayMania! Join us for 2016’s Wrong Swipe!
You can find the movie on Prime and Tubi 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!
Today’s scene that I love comes to use from Andy Warhol’s 1965 film, Vinyl!
In this scene below, Gerard Malanga and Edie Sedgwick dance to Nowhere to Run by Martha and The Vandellas. Malanga is playing an out-of-control juvenile delinquent. Edie is playing …. well, Edie is basically playing herself. No one smoked a cigarette with as much style as Edie Sedgwick.
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!
83 years ago today, Edie Sedgwick was born in Santa Barbara, California.
While at a party in 1970, Edie ran into a palm reader who grabbed her hand and then stepped away, shocked at just how short her lifeline was. “It’s okay,” Edie sweetly told him, “I know.” One year later Edie Sedgwick would pass away, with the cause of death officially being an overdose of barbiturates. She only lived 27 years but, for a brief few years, she was one of the most famous women in America. She was a model and an actress and, in her way, a revolutionary. She died before she had a chance to play the roles that she truly deserved. Instead, we have only a few films that she made with Andy Warhol and a lot of speculation about what could have been.
Through the Shattered Lens 