A remake of the 1953 French film The Wages of Fear, the epic adventure concerns a handful of down-and-out men just desperate enough to agree to drive trucks full of liquid nitro through the South American jungle.
william
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Sorcerer
(1977) William Friedkin spends a lot of time in his 2013 memoir discussing why Sorcerer didn’t click with critics and audiences even though he believes it to be better than his previous film, The Exorcist. Now that Warner Home Video has reissued Sorcerer on Blu-ray, we can see what Friedkin’s fuss is all about. A […]
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Made for TV
But there’s much more to Ness’ story, including the little-known fact that he tried to solve the case of America’s first true serial killer, the Cleveland Torso Murderer, in 1935. New York Times’ bestselling author and professor William Bernhardt read the factoid in a biography about Ness and was curious enough to start researching Ness’ […]
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Lady in a Cage
After her son (William Swan, The Parallax View) leaves for the weekend — wouldn’t ya know it? — the electricity goes out while Cornelia’s between floors! Ringing the alarm bell attracts only a hobo (Jeff Corey, True Grit) who screams “Repent!” and harbors a thirst for the bottles of wine he spots in Cornelia’s kitchen, […]
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William Shatner gets prog-rocky with … Vince Gill?
Star Trek star William Shatner’s next music album, Ponder The Mystery, is expected out Oct. 8, his official website shows. Far out, man. Shatner wrote the lyrics and beamed aboard musicians for the prog-rock project, including guitarist Steve Vai, Mick Jones of Foreigner, Rick Wakeman of Yes, Simon House and Nik Turner of Hawkwind, Edgar […]
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The Incredible Melting Man
TIMM (for short) continues his head-ripping rampage, leaving Geiger-equipped Dr. Ted Nelson (Burr DeBenning) to follow the putrid piles of the grubby, brown-red pus he drips everywhere, not to mention the occasional ear or eyeball. Basically, TIMM looks like he is using a Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready as a face mask. The movie is one of […]
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Rolling Thunder
Now available in a Blu-ray from Shout! Factory that puts MGM’s 2011 burn-on-demand release to utter shame, the film stars William Devane (the POTUS of last summer’s The Dark Knight Rises) as Maj. Charles Rane. After spending a grueling seven years as a prisoner of war, he returns home to San Antonio, Texas, to a […]
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Electra Glide in Blue
That Guercio never made another movie is a shame, because so much of Electra Glide in Blue — an opening shot of the highway cutting through the Arizona desert, the introduction of the motorcycle-cop protagonist in full uniform, the haunting final minutes — reveal a keen eye for composition. Two years away from TV’s Baretta, […]
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The Thief of Bagdad
The 1924 fantasy-adventure is considered widely as actor/writer/producer Douglas Fairbanks’ tour de force. Raoul Walsh (White Heat) may serve as director of the silent Arabian Nights adaptation, but the show is Fairbanks’ and the performer knows it, traipsing with abandon through the exquisite, no-expense-spared sets. (They come courtesy the mind and body of Oscar-winning production […]
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Philo Vance Murder Case Collection
Perhaps one reason for the character’s comparative absence among pop culture’s top of mind is that no one actor “owned” the role. In fact, across the six examples in this three-DVD set, not a single actor plays the metrosexual man twice; it’s like a George Lazenby switcheroo each time. Furthermore, two of them are arguably […]