The Directors: Peter Yates

Perhaps his directorial achievements have been neglected somewhat by American showbiz types because he's not American.  It's just a point I'm considering.  Perhaps it's because he isn't identified with one genre... like John Ford was with westerns or Hitchcock was for mysteries.  Hollywood has a tendency to think you're magnificent if you stick with what you know best.  I don't know why directors who tackle several genres (and do them well) are often disparaged as some sort of interlopers.  Others seem to eternally classify them as journeymen directors.  It's not right. 

Good 60s Films: Judgment at Nuremberg

1961 Historical Drama
From United Artists
Directed by Stanley Kramer

Starring
Spencer Tracy
Burt Lancaster
Richard Widmark
Marlene Dietrich
Maximilian Schell
Judy Garland
Montgomery Clift
William Shatner
Werner Klemperer
Ray Teal
Virginia Christine

Easy on the Eyes

Another trio coming your way... all very sixties.  If you were around then or know your movies from the old days, you've heard of them.  I title it what I do because I think their main contribution to films was decorative.  Nothing wrong with that from my point of view.  Let it be known I have certainly loved some of their films.  Let's see who they are:

RIP Louis Jourdan

For a couple of decades he was certainly Hollywood's idea of the suave Continental lover.  It's probably fitting that he passed away on Valentine's Day.  It's been years since we've heard of him.  Although well-liked in the film industry, he always kept his private life very private.  He was never one to engage in much publicity and was never particularly given to ballyhooing his films.  He was married to the same woman, his childhood sweetheart, for 67 years.

REVIEW: Fifty Shades of Grey

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson
2015 Drama
2 hours, 5 minutes
From Universal and
Focus Features

Starring
Dakota Johnson
Jamie Dornan
Jennifer Ehle
Eloise Mumford
Luke Grimes
Victor Rasuk
Marcia Gay Harden

Good 60s Films: The Guns of Navarone

1961 War Drama
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
From Columbia Pictures

Starring
Gregory Peck
David Niven
Anthony Quinn
Stanley Baker
Irene Pappas
James Darren
Gia Scala
Anthony Quayle
James Robertson-Justice
Richard Harris
Allan Cuthbertson

RIP Lizabeth Scott

I have mentioned her numerous times in these pages and I am sorry that I have to write an obit but given her age of 92, I certainly knew the day was coming.  I have some sorrow about a few things about Lizabeth Scott.  I am sorry her main period of fame was for only a dozen years and that she made a mere 21 movies.  I am sorry that she didn't expand her talent more than she did.  I am sorry that she is mostly forgotten. I am truly sorry that she didn't write an autobiography and that she didn't come out of the closet that must have had locks, deadbolts, chains and a security alarm on it.

REVIEW: Still Alice



Directed by Richard Glatzer
and Wash Westmoreland
2014 Drama
1 hour 41 minutes
From Sony Pictures Classics

Starring
Julianne Moore
Alec Baldwin
Kristen Stewart
Kate Bosworth
Shane McRae
Hunter Parrish

King Yul

Yul Brynner has always fascinated me.  It may be true that when I have mentioned him in this blog, it has been in generally unfavorable terms.  It also seems true that he is most deserving of  smears hurled by his detractors.  He was a piece of work... conceited, arrogant, mean, controlling, insufferable, frequently unstable, a liar and a cheater.  I am not even sure he was a great actor, although I thought he was a good one and more importantly, one of the most mesmerizing screen presences I have ever encountered.