This time around private investigator Jim Rockford (James Garner) has a couple of interesting cases… First up, we have The Big Ripoff, with an airdate of 25th October, 1974, written by Robert Hamner from a story by Roy Huggins, that sees Rockford trying to find a man who supposedly died in a plane crash, but may…
Tag: murder
Doctor Who (William Hartnell) – The Keys of Marinus
This week’s temporal travels with The Doctor (Hartnell) was written by Terry Nation and was a 6 part story that ran from 11 April to May 16, 1964. It’s the first kind of quest story that sees each episode taking place in an another location as our heroes around the planet of Marinus to…
Double Indemnity (1944) – Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder’s classic film noir starring Fred MacMurray Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson continues to captivate, and I was happy to revisit it as one of the recommendations following my screening of Greed for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Wilder developed the script with Raymond Chandler and the result…
The Rockford Files (1974) – This Case Is Closed (Part 1 & 2)
Private eye Jim Rockford (James Garner) finds himself in trouble in this two-parter with a teleplay by Cannell based on a story by Roy Huggins. Originally aired as a two-hour presentation on October 18, 1974, the episode was subsequently broken up into two parts for subsequent broadcasts. The phone gag this time around featured…
The Devil In The White City (2003) – Erik Larson
I picked up this book simply because I found the image on the cover very arresting, reading the summary, I became very intrigued, and tucked in to read it as soon as possible. I was happily entertained, and informed with this engaging read that shows the best of civic pride as well as creation, and…
The Hindenberg (2011) – Philipp Kadelbach
Releasing to DVD this week, Anchor Bay oversees the historic disaster that summarily ended the sophisticated age of travel that was the zeppelin, Hindenburg. Filmed as a German mini-series but shot in English, this excursion is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some really good things about this three-hour epic, and there…
Greed (1924) – Erich von Stroheim
The Great Movies – 100 Year of Film book brings me the first drama title to take a look at. Directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the novel, McTeague by Frank Norris, Greed is a massive story, that when originally put together by Stroheim for a screening, ran for nine and a half hours!!…
The Rockford Files (1974) – The Countess and Exit Prentiss Carr
This entry on the Bellisario and Cannell revisit has private eye Jim Rockford (James Garner) dealing with cases of blackmail and murder!! The Countess, with a teleplay by Cannell, based on a story by Roy Huggins (under the name of John Thomas James) originally aired the 27th of September, 1974. Jim has been hired…
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) – Robert Hamer
The Great Movies – 100 Years of Film brings me this English comedy I had never heard of before, starring Dennis Price and Alec Guinness. A tale of murder and woe told from the point of the killer seems like it may not be very funny, but this one proved to be very entertaining….
The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared (2009) – Jonas Jonasson
I’d heard about this book, and finally found time to enjoy this Forrest Gump-like adventure. It was a pure delight, engaging, heart-warming, often very funny (I occasionally chuckled on my transit ride to and from work, eliciting the occasional odd glance). Allan Karlsson is turning 100 today, and he’s decided that he’s had enough of…
