The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Wild Bunch, is my all-time favourite western, Eastwood’s multi-Oscar winning film (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman). An ageing gunfighter, William Munny (Eastwood) wants to tend to his tiny parcel…
Tag: mission
The Twilight Zone (1963) – Mute, and Death Ship
Paramount Pictures’ The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series continues to delight, terrify, creep out, and amaze and this week is no different as I dig into the next two episodes of the fourth season. Up first is Mute, written by Richard Matheson. This episode first aired on 31 January, 1963. It follows the tale of…
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965) – Martin Ritt
Richard Burton turns in a solid, and believable performance in this adaptation of John le Carre’s classic thriller novel. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Dr. Strangelove. Burton is Alec Leamas, a spy in charge…
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) – Sergio Leone
The Great Movies – The 100 Years of Film book returns me to the western genre with this Sergio Leone epic that stars Jason Robards, Chalres Bronson, Henry Fonda and Claudia Cardinale. Playing against type, Fonda is the villain, Frank, who is working for the railroad, and trying to drive a woman, Jill McBain (Cardinale),…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1968) – Assignment: Earth and Spock’s Brain
Captain’s log: stardate unknown. Originally written as its own pilot, Assignment: Earth was later rewritten to work it into a Star Trek story. The script was by Art Wallace, and came from a story developed by him and Gene Roddenberry. The episode first aired on 29 March, 1968. 1968. The very year the Enterprise travels…
Quantum Leap (1992) – Leaping of the Shrew and Nowhere to Run
Brooke Shields guest stars in the first episode up this week, Leaping of the Shrew. It was written by Richard C. Okie and Robin Bernheim, and premiered on 29 September, 1992. Sam (Scott Bakula) leaps into Nikos Stahatos, a sailor working on a luxury yacht on 27 September, 1956. When the ship explodes, Sam and…
Allied (2016) – Robert Zemeckis
Available today from Paramount Pictures is director Robert Zemeckis’ wartime romantic thriller, Allied. Opening in French Morocco, the film is a deliberate throwback to the romantic war films of yesteryear. In the first half of the film there are intentional callbacks to films like Casablanca and Notorious, calling to mind our memories and emotions…
Guys and Dolls (1955) – Joseph L. Mankiewicz
It’s time for another musical recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Oklahoma! and I have to tell you, this one I liked. With a caveat. I’ve never been a fan of Marlon Brando. I didn’t care for his performances, and I get the impression I would…
Dance of Death (2005) – Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
It’s been a while since I checked in with FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast, Preston and Child’s modern, American answer to Doyle’s Holmes. Last time we checked in with him, he was left in a bit of dire straits as his friend Vincent D’Agosta fled for his life. The story picks up a couple of short…
Quantum Leap (1991) – Play Ball, and Hurricane
Batter up! Sam (Scott Bakula) finds himself in the body of minor league pitcher, Lester ‘Doc’ Fuller in Play Ball. This episode was penned by Tommy Thompson and had an airdate of 25 September, 1991. Sam is in 6 August, 1961, and he and Al (Dean Stockwell) are having problems figuring out his mission. There…
