Monthly Archives: March 2016

Rififi / Du rififi chez les hommes (1955) Jules Dassin, Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel, Crime, Thriller, Film-Noir

002dddd5
After making such American noir classics as Brute Force and The Naked City, the blacklisted director Jules Dassin went to Paris and embarked on his masterpiece: a twisting, turning tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious robbery in the City of Light. Rififi is the ultimate heist movie, a mélange of suspense, brutality, and dark humor that was an international hit, earned Dassin the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and has proven wildly influential on the decades of heist thrillers that have come in its wake.
Read More »

Kidnapped / Secuestrados (2010) Miguel Ángel Vivas, Fernando Cayo, Manuela Vellés, Ana Wagener, Horror, Thriller

002dddbc
Jaime, his wife Marta and their teenage daughter Isa move to a dream house in Madrid and they plan a family dinner to celebrate. Out of the blue, three violent hooded thieves break in their house and hold the Marta and Isa hostage while their leader goes to the bank with Jaime to withdraw money from the family bank accounts in a tragic night of terror.
Read More »

Shadow on the Wall (1950) Pat Jackson, Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, Gigi Perreau, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller

003c383e
Angered that her sister Celia has stolen her fiance, Dell Faring kills her and allows Celia’s husband David, knocked out in an argument with Celia, to take the blame and end up on death row. Later Dell, finding out that David’s young daughter Susan was witness to the crime and is undergoing psychiatric treatment, plans to eliminate her before her memory returns.
Read More »

Zarak (1956) Terence Young, Victor Mature, Michael Wilding, Anita Ekberg, Action, Adventure, Romance

Zarak (Terence Young, 1956)
On the mountainous frontier between British India and Afghanistan, circa 1860s, Zarak Khan kisses Salma, the youngest wife of his father, Haji Khan. Outraged, his father orders Zarak to be flogged to death but spares his life at the urging of an elderly Mullah. Zarak now leaves his village and becomes a notorious outlaw, prompting the British to assign a Major Ingram to capture him. Zarak and Ingram have several encounters, developing a grudging respect for each other. When Ingram is captured by Ahmad, one of Zarak’s rivals, Zarak risks his life to save the British officer.
Read More »

Christmas Eve (1947) Edwin L. Marin, George Raft, George Brent, Randolph Scott, Comedy, Drama

003c3615
The greedy nephew of eccentric Matilda Reid seeks to have her judged incompetent so he can administer her wealth; but she will be saved if her three long-lost adopted sons appear for a Christmas Eve reunion. Separate stories reveal Michael as a bankrupt playboy loved by loyal Ann; Mario as a seemingly shady character tangling with a Nazi war criminal in South America; Jonathan as a hard-drinking rodeo rider intent on a flirtatious social worker. Is there hope for Matilda?
Read More »

Snowbound (1948) David MacDonald, Dennis Price, Mila Parély, Stanley Holloway, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

003c34df
A frequent visitor to the Late Late Show, the Anglo-American Snowbound is set in the frozen Alps. Robert Newton and Dennis Price head an expedition in search of a fortune of gold, stashed away by the Nazis in the last days of the war. Snowed into an old cabin, the men quickly get on one another’s nerves. Just when tension reaches the boiling point, one of the party saves the day. He happens to be a movie screenwriter, who uses his cinematic knowhow to reach a solution to their dilemma. Snowbound is based on The Lonely Skier, a novel by Hammond Innes.
Read More »

Thieves Like Us (1974) Robert Altman, Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, John Schuck, Crime, Drama, Romance

Thieves Like Us (Robert Altman, 1974)
Two convicts break out of Mississippi State Penitentiary in 1936 to join a third on a long spree of bank robbing, their special talent and claim to fame. The youngest of the three falls in love along the way with a girl met at their hideout, the older man is a happy professional criminal with a romance of his own, the third is a fast lover and hard drinker fond of his work. The young lovers begin to move out of the sphere in which they have met, a last robbery in Yazoo City goes badly and puts paid to the gang once and for all as a profitable venture, but isn’t the end of the story quite yet, as all three are wanted and notorious men with altogether different points of view on the situation they are faced with.
Read More »

Trash (1970) Paul Morrissey, Joe Dallesandro, Holly Woodlawn, Geri Miller, Drama

Trash (Paul Morrissey, 1970)
The movie follows Joe (Dallesandro), a heroin addict, throughout his quest to score more drugs. The episodic plot occurs over a single day and centers around Joe’s problematic relationship with his on-off, sexually frustrated girlfriend (Woodlawn). During the course of the day, Joe overdoses in front of an upper-class couple, attempts to fool Welfare into approving his methadone treatment by having Holly fake a pregnancy, and frustrates the women in his life with his drug-induced impotence.
Read More »