Yet of all the movies I’ve ever seen the one I most wish would actually come true is the original version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). It isn’t Steven Spielberg’s best film (it may not be in […]
Continue reading »Month: February 2013
Jaws (1975) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Almost 35 years after first seeing Jaws (1975), I still don’t go boating or, God forbid, swimming, in any big body of water. The poster image should explain why. A backlash against Jaws has occurred in recent years as critics […]
Continue reading »The War of the Worlds (1953) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The War of the Worlds (1953) is the first movie I can clearly remember ever seeing, on TV. I was about five, and a storm killed our power about halfway through the broadcast. I was sent to bed thinking the […]
Continue reading »Airport (1970) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
One film I’ve always felt has never received its due respect is Airport (1970), which is now best known as the first all-star disaster flick of the 1970s. That is true, but it’s much better than that. Nominated for ten […]
Continue reading »Duel at Diablo (1966) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Perhaps the most unlikely movie on my list of favorites is Duel at Diablo (1966), a Western from Ralph Nelson that stars James Garner and Sidney Poitier. I would venture to say that it is the least known title on […]
Continue reading »The Blob (1958) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
I have probably seen The Blob (1958) more than any other movie, somewhere in the neighborhood of forty times since I was a kid. The only other film that threatens that record is The War of the Worlds (1953). What […]
Continue reading »Our Man Flint (1966) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
An undeniable part of my love for the spy spoofs Our Man Flint (1966) and its immediate sequel, In Like Flint (1967), is due to their trippy, spectacular music scores by Jerry Goldsmith. But music alone does not ensure a […]
Continue reading »North by Northwest (1959) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Of all Alfred Hitchcock’s films, North by Northwest (1959) isn’t the best, but it’s my favorite by a country mile. It has its flaws (Cary Grant’s drunken car drive) but as an entertaining mystery-comedy-thriller it has no peer. From the […]
Continue reading »The Thing from Another World (1951) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The first great American science-fiction / monster movie of the 1950s is The Thing from Another World (1951). It deviates a great deal from the famous story on which it is based, yet it wildly succeeds in stamping an effective […]
Continue reading »The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Although The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) is an atypical John Ford film in many ways, it is also seen as his valedictory effort, summarizing as it does the final steps involved in civilizing the Wild West. It is […]
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