Where to begin?  In honor of TCM’s 15th Anniversary, let me first say “THANK YOU”.  Thank you for preserving film’s history for us.  Thank you for offering us an escape from the schlock that’s been coming out of Hollywood ever since the summer blockbuster (which seduced its executives) was born and a myopic focus on [...]

It was 1937 before the Academy finally honored supporting actors and actresses with an award and (for the first seven years that it was given) they received plaques – in lieu of the more coveted ‘Oscars’ – to recognize their achievements (though these plaques were later replaced with statuettes).  In fact, over the past 80 [...]

A couple of years ago I wrote that one of the surest ways to earn an Academy Award – or at least an Oscar nomination – was to portray a prostitute.  Though the focus of the article was on actresses, Jon Voight also received his first nod for playing one in Midnight Cowboy (1969), the [...]

  Among the plethora of Warner Bros. Home Video DVD released last fall, the timing of their new and Blu-ray versions of Cool Hand Luke (1967) was ironic given its story:  featuring Messiah-like hero worship of its title character, played by the late great Paul Newman.  But unearned and irrational praise – especially absent any [...]

I am loath to watch anything twice; I’m a compiler, so anything that I willingly watch over and over again is an exception to my rule.  Therefore, my habit of choosing to view the same movies and programs each Christmas holiday season is unusual.  While not all of the following are movies (in the strictest [...]

  FWIW, I didn’t get the memo about the nature of the blogathon this week; so my topic, while it’s related to Disney’s live action features (TCM Presents The Family Classics on Sundays this month) it’s not in the same spirit as “movies from the magic kingdom that disturbed, scared or made an indelible impression [...]

This week, the MovieMorlocks.com bloggers will be writing about their favorite recently discovered movies.  So it is my honor and privilege to begin the event by sharing my thoughts about screenwriter-producer Edward Chodorov’s Road House (1948) – starring Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm and Richard Widmark (in his third film) – which was directed [...]

Given last week’s stock market occurrences and this year’s quadrennial exercise in divisiveness – this November’s presidential election – I thought it might be a good idea to contribute something positive, even hopeful to this blog.  With very few exceptions, it’s nearly impossible to find an uplifting story in the media or out of Hollywood [...]

I caught the end of Journey Into Fear (1943) the other day on TCM – there’s a sequence in which Joseph Cotten is navigating a ledge on the outside of a high-rise while chasing a ‘bad guy’, who subsequently falls to his death – and it made me think of Harold Lloyd (naturally) and his [...]