TIme travel's been done, of course. It's been done to death, Heck, the poor and proverbial dead horse hasn't taken the beating time travel has in terms of how often it's been done in films. The 1964 American International Pictures movie, The Time Travelers did it. Or, more precisely, walked through it. Again and again and … Continue reading Walk This Way
Stage To Screen: Flower Drum Song
When I took a Broadway performance class at Sierra College we were required to audition for the spring musical, which was to be A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum. I had no interest in being in the show whatsoever but I wanted my grade so I signed up. Anyone who has ever … Continue reading Stage To Screen: Flower Drum Song
The Right To Escape
Here we go... 1963's The Great Escape is quite the iconic film, parodied and tributed so many times in so many ways (remember this one?). Steve McQueen dominates the proceedings, ably supported by fellow icons Charles Bronson, James Coburn, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough, along with the wonderful David McCallum, best known today as Duckie. Our … Continue reading The Right To Escape
Five Reasons To See “A Hard Day’s Night”
Britannia rules the waves (again)... We all know 1964 was a huge year for the Beatles. Their careers and collective fate suddenly shot to the top. They made two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. They toured America for the first time. John wrote and published In His Own Write, which he also promoted on … Continue reading Five Reasons To See “A Hard Day’s Night”
Stage To Screen: The Music Man
Few Broadway shows can touch The Music Man. It's probably in the top ten of the most well-known musical comedies, or just musicals in general. It's rousing, it's funny, it's winkingly naughty, it has a lot of cool plays on words, it feels like yesteryear. Most of all, who hasn't wanted to go marching out of the … Continue reading Stage To Screen: The Music Man
The Yanks Are Coming, The Yanks Are Coming
Are American tourists really as pesky as they're made out to be? I've only been to Canada, so I can't really comment based on firsthand experience, but obviously the stereotype exists. I do however, have a couple of decades of experiences with tourists in general, and while most people are cool, I have encountered a … Continue reading The Yanks Are Coming, The Yanks Are Coming
See You On Venus
Venus is an intriguing planet because its nature guarantees it will never be anything but an unknown quantity. We've tried to land on it, but it's too windy and the probes that have managed to land were melted in very short order by the extreme heat, but not before they sent back a few pictures. … Continue reading See You On Venus
Love Is In the Air
Back on the beach, only we're with Frankie and Annette in 1965's Beach Blanket Bingo. Can't have a Sorta Adios To Summer without at least one Frankie and Annette film, so here we go... The group is hanging out on the beach, of course, when new singer Sugar Kane (Linda Evans) parachutes into the water. Well, not … Continue reading Love Is In the Air
Pepsi, Please
Beach movies were the rage in the sixties, of course, and they weren't limited to Gidget or Frankie and Annette. Oh no, there was also 1964's For Those Who Think Young, where shiny happy young people cavort around the poster surrounded by bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles. That title, though... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQlRp6E1YFg Although, people nowadays are … Continue reading Pepsi, Please
Call Me Crazy
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby's Road pictures are pretty iconic, but of course there were times when Bob went on jaunts sans Bing, such as in the rollicking 1963 comedy, Call Me Bwana. Wow. This movie. Heh. A probe has landed in the African jungle after a trip to the moon and the leaders of the United States … Continue reading Call Me Crazy
Aloha, Elvis
I have been wanting to see Elvis's movies since reviewing the new Baz Luhrmann film last month (read the review here), and it just so happens that Amazon Prime has a few, among them 1961's Blue Hawaii, which came right smack in the middle of the King's Hollywood career. Watching it was an interesting experience, … Continue reading Aloha, Elvis
Adventures With Tuco
Saddle up yer horses... I knew it was just a matter of time before I crossed paths with Mr. No Name again, and here we are with 1967's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. There are more faces and more bounty hunting, but this time there's a Civil War angle to cap things off. No … Continue reading Adventures With Tuco
Show Me the Money
Saddle up... The Man With No Name is back in 1965's For A Few Dollars More, only this time he's called Monco, and the world is a different place. The bounty killer is king, and his kingdom is built on taking out murderous, grabby bad men who think nothing of killing women and children if … Continue reading Show Me the Money
Spies Among Us
Miss Day is back... Doris Day didn't spend her entire career at Warner Bros. She also made a few movies at MGM, and one of them was 1966's The Glass Bottom Boat. Oh golly, this is a good movie for April first, although it's not Miss Doris's best. Strangely...appropriate. Jenny Nelson (Doris Day) works for … Continue reading Spies Among Us
Six Things You Might Not Know About “Psycho”
What in the world can that be? We all know 1960's Psycho is Alfred Hitchcock's most infamous movie. Even those who haven't seen the film feel like they have because that shower scene has been parodied and referenced ad nauseum over the past sixty years. Here's a famous example (one of several just in Simpsons … Continue reading Six Things You Might Not Know About “Psycho”
Manos, King of Slaps
OK, little change of plans. I just looked at my dashboard and noticed I'm about to publish my six-hundred sixty-sixth post. Not review. Post. Now, I'm not superstitious or anything, not by a long shot, but I thought something truly weird would be fitting for the occasion. We'll go back to the fifties sci-fi later. … Continue reading Manos, King of Slaps
The Man With No Name
Yee haw... Ah, 1964's Per Un Pugno Di Dollari, better known as A Fistful of Dollars. I've never seen it until now, but I always felt as if I had since it's pretty notorious. If Stagecoach is the Bela Lugosi of westerns, A Fistful of Dollars is Christopher Lee with a generous dash of Kung Fu. Or something like … Continue reading The Man With No Name
Taking Up Room 