GOOD – Western Union (Fritz Lang 1941) This is one of Lang’s first color films. He shot it in Arizona’s Painted Desert with special attention to the natural scenery, and the three-strip Technicolor cinematography is quite beautiful to look at it, even today. It must have bowled over audiences in 1941. The surprising thing about ... read more »

Last week, the American Film Institute announced its list of “America’s 10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres” – Animation, Romantic Comedies, Western, Sports, Mystery, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Gangster, Courtroom Drama, and Epic. According to Bob Gazzale, President of the AFI, “These countdowns are a collective opinion of leaders from across the film community,” and “Any ... read more »

To see Charlton Heston in person was to realize that some people are born to be movie stars. He had a larger-than-life presence on-screen. And off-screen as well. In 1980, at the Los Angeles International Film Exposition (the now-defunct FILMEX), I watched him introduce with his characteristic charisma and grace a three-day marathon of epic ... read more »

It was more than a clever casting joke when director Andrew Dominik cast former Clinton aide, James Carville (above right – with the great Michael Parks), in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Carville played the Governor of Missouri, the politician who persuades Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) to act as a ... read more »

Zooey Deschanel (above) and Casey Affleck (below) in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Much has been written about the scene in There Will Be Blood in which Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) confesses his innermost feelings to his purported half-brother, Henry Brands (Kevin J. O’Connor). “I have a competition in me,” ... read more »

[SPOILERPHOBES BEWARE!! The following post comments in a general fashion on the endings of No Country for Old Men and The Great Silence, as well as what happens to Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) in Psycho. Oh yes, and Rosebud was Kane's sled.] The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men has emerged as the most ... read more »