From the 1940s: White Heat

1949 Crime Drama

From Warner Bros

Directed by Raoul Walsh

Starring

James Cagney

Virginia Mayo

Edmond O'Brien

Margaret Wycherly

Steve Cochran

John Archer

Wally Cassell

Fred Clark

Confidential

We know I loved my movie magazines when I was a kid.  Actually I was crazy about them until the day I got my driver's license and then I couldn't be bothered with such childish foolishness.  I bought some with my meager allowance but most were hand-me-downs from my mother, aunt, grandmother and neighbors.  I loved the photos and that small-town, Midwestern kid in me lapped up the stories which my father said, over the top of the sports pages of the newspaper, was pure bs.

From the 1950s: The Story of Three Loves

1953 Romance Fantasy Drama

From Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Directed by Gottfried Reinhardt

and Vincente Minnelli

Stars below

Ben Gazzara

Part of his seduction, I suspect, was his grand passion for most everything and everyone crossing his path.  It was in his bones, his heritage, it was a deep commitment from within but it didn't stay cerebral.  He loved words.  He had a great need to express himself and it's no surprise that he became an actor.  When I watched him on the screen, I was transfixed by that passionate nature... his squinty eyes, his pursed lips, the frightening quiet and his explosive outbursts.  He always commanded my attention.

Guilty Pleasures: The Fan

1981 Thriller

From Paramount Pictures

Directed by Ed Bianchi

Starring 

Lauren Bacall

James Garner

Maureen Stapleton

Michael Biehn

Hector Elizondo

Anna Maria Horsford

Kurt Johnson

Cyd Charisse

Here is one of the movies most famous dancers, the leggy and elegant Texas girl with the unusual and largely unforgettable name.  She was probably my second favorite of her contemporary female dancers but perhaps none of them were this kind of refined.  For the price of my ticket, Cyd Charisse was the deluxe model.

From the 1950s: The Good Die Young

1954 Crime Drama

From Romulus Films

Directed by Lewis Gilbert

Starring

Laurence Harvey

Gloria Grahame

Richard Basehart

Joan Collins

John Ireland

Stanley Baker

Rene Ray

Robert Morley

Freda Jackson 

Lee Patterson

Maria Montez

She couldn't act, she couldn't sing, she couldn't dance but she was determined and desperate for stardom.  According to the flamboyant Emory in The Boys in the Band, Maria Montez was a good woman.  And apparently she was, too, and an utterly likable one.  Had she learned her craft better, been at a major studio and lived longer, who's to say what might have been in the cards for the Latin American beauty?

From the 1960s: The Unforgiven

1960 Western

From United Artists

Directed by John Huston

Starring

Burt Lancaster

Audrey Hepburn

Audie Murphy

Lillian Gish

Charles Bickford

John Saxon

Joseph Wiseman

Albert Salmi

Doug McClure

June Walker 

Kipp Hamilton

Carlos Rivas