KING KONG (1933) THE 8th WONDER OF THE WORLD
"It wasn't the airplanes. It was BEAUTY killed the Beast..."
This isn't just a great Horror film, it's also a rousing action-adventure.
Carl Denham is an enthusiastic yet reckless filmmaker from New York who makes exploitation films of nature.
He got wind from a Norwegian ship that there's a Skull Island, uncharted, and there may be REALLY exotic subject matter for a film there.
He hires a girl named Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) off the street to be his damsel-in-distress and he charters a boat.
He makes it to the island, through thick fog and a weary ship's crew.
Once on land they encounter tribal natives who are preparing a "bride" or sacrifice to what they name "KONG".
From then on, mayhem and horror and action ensues.
My fave sequence is Kong Vs. the T. Rex, where the giant gorilla rips the dino's jaws apart.
If you know movies, you MUST know KING KONG.
It's my favorite film of the 1930's- Visionary, Ambitious and Classic in every way.
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
"You look Great, with an apple in your Gob..."
Richard Lester's first Beatle movie, and what an awesome pic it is...
If there's one movie you can label as "Carefree", it's this musical treat.
With great cinematography from Gil Taylor (Dr. Strangelove, Star Wars), how can anyone hate this one?
John, Paul, George and Ringo play themselves, having a blast. They are exuberance personified and they're the band
that launched a thousand bands. They're probably the best rock band of all-time, with no bad songs in their catalog.
All you can do is smile, laugh and try to keep up with the rapid-fire speech of "The Lads"...
This was part of "The Essentials" series with Brad Bird, hosted by Ben Mankiewicz and it most definitely
IS essential.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1959)
This a great fantasy film, even though it's melodramatic in extremis.
Ray Harryhausen (born today in 1920!) did the stop-motion effects, and if you can suspend disbelief, you'll have a great time.
Capt. Sinbad (a very handsome and white Kerwin Mathews) must rescue his "shrunken" princess Parisa (a gorgeous Kathryn Grant) from baddies and fantastic creatures.
There's a genie in a lamp, a Cyclops, giant two-headed bird, a Dragon-dino-lizard and a sword fight against a skeleton.
What more do you need?
Just a big bucket of hot-buttered popcorn, Kids!
Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)
This is what I call Sci-Fi!
How this movie isn't more recognized than The Day The Earth Stood Still or Forbidden Planet is beyond me.
The military, scientists and doctors are all fighting U.F.O's here, and what B-movie glory it is...
Washington monuments are destroyed here (with animator Ray Harryhausen's help!) and the movie could've been called
WORLD WAR THREE because of it.
Melodramtic, ambitious and somewhat cheesy, it's still a watchable and thought-provoking flick.
The aliens are mysterious masters of magnetism and physics, and they try diplomacy before attacking earth.
See it.
Kubrick no doubt saw this, as I saw elements from it incorporated into Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Mysterioous Island (1961)
Johann Sebastian Bach would probably disapprove of his "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" being used here, played by none other than Captain Nemo himself.
Yes, this is the sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. (Kinda).
Ray Harryhausen's signature special effects are the star here.
Civil war POW's escape prison in an observation balloon, and end up on a mysterious island in the Pacific.
The island has giant oysters, giant squid, huge plants, giant insects, giant crab, giant birds and a giant volcano, which is about to erupt.
They are joined by two shipwrecked English ladies and eventually they find the Nautilus, and her famous Captain.
Nemo helps them get off the island before the volcano makes another Pompeii, and it's escapist entertainment at it's B-movie best.
Directed by Cy Endfield.
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
Errol Flynn is Maj. Geoffrey Vickers, a British officer who leads a famous counter attack in India.
This is a poor man's Gunga Din, and not very faithful to history or the poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson.
It's got visuals that seem authentic: palaces, forts, vistas, horses and nice costumes.
It's also got the gorgeous Olivia de Havilland, who starred with Flynn in several Warner Brothers classics.
I'm glad I saw this, but I don't need to see it again.
"Never Apologize. It's a sign of weakness".
SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949)
This is a great movie, and a showcase for John Wayne.
He plays Captain Nathan Brittles, commander of a U.S. Calvary troop, post-Custer's Last Stand.
This is a very manly movie and Wayne plays his role to the hilt.
There's a sub-plot of romance between two soldiers and a girl who wears a yellow ribbon in her hair.
The cinematography is great, showing Monument Valley in all it's glory.
I'd never seen this one before, and it gets high marks. Nice little military movie. (with more Indians!)
"The Apaches never lost a war..."
FORT APACHE (1948)
4 films in, and I'm getting more and more in awe of John Ford.
This is another "calvary" film, his first, actually. Henry Fonda plays Lt./Col. Owen Thursday, an officer who clashes with Capt. York, played by John Wayne.
Thursday is posted to Fort Apache, an outpost near the Mexican border.
He leads his regiment against Indians in historic battles, and the first encounter is an exhilerating sequence.
John Ford really knew how to capture men on horses, whether they be American soldiers or roving bands of indians...
Shirley Temple plays Philadelphia, Thursday's daughter, who falls for an Irish officer O'Rourke, son of NCO Ward Bond.
This creates a compelling sub-plot/dynamic, and by the end Love triumphs.
When this movie started I wasn't sure if I'd like it but I was soon won over. That's because of John Ford.
No one makes westerns of this caliber. NO ONE.
a "DAD-BLASTED" good movie...
MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946)
Henry Fonda plays Wyatt Earp, the famous Marshall from Dodge City turned catttleman.
He and his brothers Morgan and Virgil go into the town of Tombstone to get a shave.
The barbershop gets shot up by a really drunk Indian, and Wyatt can't believe that the Marshall isn't doing anything about it.
So he steps up and does something, and is offered the job. He turns it down, but later accepts.
He encounters Doc Holliday, a sick man who basically runs the town, Marshall or no Marshall...
The Earp brothers lose James (shot in the back), and later Virgil gets killed too, leading to the famous
gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
John Ford actually knew Wyatt Earp, who visited Ford's movie sets in the 1920's.
The movie alters history slightly, all in the name of compelling cinema.
This is a classic kick-ass western.
See it. It's one of John Ford's best.