More classic films roll-up! Posting now in advance of the madness of spooky season (I have plans).

1953 – The Wages of Fear – Had a real hard time getting through the first hour of this long flick… but once it gets past the talky bits and to the potential explodey bits, the suspense ramp up. Very surprised it ultimately worked for me… this was my third attempt at getting into it. 

1956 – The Killing – Stanley Kubrick’s third film and it’s rock solid… so much better than the excrement of Fear and Desire and the “yeah, it’s all right” of Killer’s Kiss that preceded it. A dirty little crime film full of tough guys and tough talk. End was predictable given that the Hays Code was still in effect.

1962 – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – Didn’t know I needed Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne in the same movie… but I’m glad they were. I was very impressed by this Western… a genre I’m lukewarm on. But this one worked and had surprising depth and melancholy. Kind of loved it.

1965 – Beach Blanket Bingo – Dumber for having watched it. This is one of Frankie and Annette’s teen beach party movies. If it has a plot, I missed it. Also missed the comedy. Maybe you had to be there?

1966 – One Million Years B.C. – Not the campy cheesefest I thought it was going to be… it’s better produced than its reputation suggests. I wish Raquel Welch was actually the badass heroine I thought she was going to be instead of the damsel in distress. Not a bad flick…  and the stop motion dinosaurs were a lot of fun.

1967 – Point Blank – a John Boorman directed film starring Lee Marvin as a double-crossed criminal. Not for me. Too slow and too full of tough guy dialog to really connect with.

1970 – Hercules in New York – Arnold’s first movie… only he’s dubbed by some random guy so we don’t get the glory of his Austrian accent and hilarious grunts. It’s a bad movie but not half as bad as I thought it was going to be. I laughed a few times at the stupid fish-out-of-water jokes. Guilty.

1974 – The Sugarland Express – Steven Spielberg’s first theatrical flick and easily his worst film. Definitely a movie of its time… a pair of dimwits lead the cops on a chase. Hard to believe he made the far-superior Duel right before this… and friggin’ Jaws right after. 

1980 – The Watcher in the Woods – a decent little PG supernatural movie about a family that moves into an old mansion and experiences a haunting. The film has a reputation fueled by people who were kids when they saw it back in the day. I’m sure it was terrifying at the time… not so much now.

1984 – Blood Simple – The Coen Brothers first film… a jet black crime noire bit of nastiness that’s somehow darkly funny and full of dumb people doin’ crimes because they don’t understand what’s going on. 

1990 – Miller’s Crossing – another Coen Brothers that I’d missed all these years… even if I was distinctly aware of its rep and the iconic cover art. It nails the ’20s era tough guy flick… which really isn’t my bag. But I was able to enjoy it when it would grab me by the lapels and rough me up.

1991 – An American Tail: Fievel Goes West – everything I thought the first movie was going to be before I watched it. This is a boring retread with more physical gags and repeated, shallow emotional bits. Somehow could have used more Western tropes to keep it alive. 

1995 – Four Rooms – Should have left it in the ’90s… insufferable comedy schtick from Tim Roth insufferably inserted into four dreadful short films. The Robert Rodriguez short at least had a pretty fun final moments.