By John M. Whalen
Back in the 1950s, before he became a legend, filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (“The Wild Bunch,” “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,” and “The Killer Elite”) wrote scripts for TV westerns, including “Gunsmoke,” “The Rifleman,” and “Tombstone Territory.” His reputation grew and in 1957 he wrote his first screenplay entitled “The Glory Guys” which was based on Hoffman Birney’s novel, “The Dice of God.” The book was a fictional account of Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, with all names changed. The script went unproduced for almost eight years, and in the meantime Sam had moved on, directing features including “The Deadly Companions” (1960), “Ride the High Country” (1962) and “Major Dundee” (1965).
You would think that with that growing resume, Peckinpah would have been able to direct anything he wanted to, but such was far from the case. “Bloody Sam,” as he was called, affectionately by his fans,...
Back in the 1950s, before he became a legend, filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (“The Wild Bunch,” “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,” and “The Killer Elite”) wrote scripts for TV westerns, including “Gunsmoke,” “The Rifleman,” and “Tombstone Territory.” His reputation grew and in 1957 he wrote his first screenplay entitled “The Glory Guys” which was based on Hoffman Birney’s novel, “The Dice of God.” The book was a fictional account of Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, with all names changed. The script went unproduced for almost eight years, and in the meantime Sam had moved on, directing features including “The Deadly Companions” (1960), “Ride the High Country” (1962) and “Major Dundee” (1965).
You would think that with that growing resume, Peckinpah would have been able to direct anything he wanted to, but such was far from the case. “Bloody Sam,” as he was called, affectionately by his fans,...
- 12/30/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
When the mood strikes, there’s nothing better than an Atomic Age Monster Movie (B Division). Glorious black & white, damsels in distress, iron willed heroes and rubberized villains never fail to hit all the pleasure centers. The Monster that Challenged the World (1957) is one such film, and better made than most of the era. As the tagline says, “A New Kind of Terror to Numb the Nerves!” Well, you may just feel a tingle, but it’s a blast nevertheless.
Released by United Artists in the States in June and rolled out to the rest of the world in ’58, Monster was produced for $250,000; a fair chunk of change for Gramercy Pictures, run by producers Arthur Gardner, Jules V. Levy and director Arnold Laven - they also produced the same year’s The Vampire (read my Dust Off here). And the price tag shows too; Monster is as polished looking as...
Released by United Artists in the States in June and rolled out to the rest of the world in ’58, Monster was produced for $250,000; a fair chunk of change for Gramercy Pictures, run by producers Arthur Gardner, Jules V. Levy and director Arnold Laven - they also produced the same year’s The Vampire (read my Dust Off here). And the price tag shows too; Monster is as polished looking as...
- 11/26/2016
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Expatriate Francis Lederer is a cultured menace in UA's revisit of the Dracula myth, made just before Hammer Films staked its claim on the horror genre. Avid Hitchcock fans may find the storyline very familiar, when European cousin Bellac strikes up a 'special' relationship with his American cousin Rachel. The Return of Dracula Blu-ray Olive Films 1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date October 18, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Francis Lederer, Norma Eberhardt, Ray Stricklyn, Virginia Vincent, John Wengraf. Cinematography Jack MacKenzie Film Editor Sherman A. Rose Original Music Gerald Fried Written by Pat Fielder Produced by Arthur Gardner, Jules V. Levy Directed by Paul Landres
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Levy-Gardner-Laven producing combo, minus Arnold Laven this time out, assemble what was probably their most successful drive-in cheapie for United Artists. Promoting their secretary Pat Fielder to screenwriter, they had already done okay with a contemporary, non-Gothic vampire story...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Levy-Gardner-Laven producing combo, minus Arnold Laven this time out, assemble what was probably their most successful drive-in cheapie for United Artists. Promoting their secretary Pat Fielder to screenwriter, they had already done okay with a contemporary, non-Gothic vampire story...
- 10/25/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Do you like my choice of leading image? 'We're the Glory Guys! Eee-Yow!' What is surely the most generic cavalry western of all time is actually from a screenplay by Sam Peckinpah. Twilight Time's extras have a lot to say about that, and so does Savant. The Glory Guys Blu-ray Twilight Time 1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date September 6, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95 Starring Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, James Caan, Andrew Duggan, Slim Pickens, Peter Breck, Jeanne Cooper, Michael Anderson Jr., Adam Williams, Wayne Rogers, Michael Forest, Paul Birch, Stephen Chase, Claudio Brook. Cinematography James Wong Howe Cinematography Ernst R. (Tom) Rolf, Melvin Shapiro Original Music Riz Ortolani Written by Sam Peckinpah from the novel by Hoffman Birney Produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules V. Levy Directed by Arnold Laven
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Glory Guys is as generic and standard-issue...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Glory Guys is as generic and standard-issue...
- 9/5/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
[1] The TV Western is definitely back in style, with several projects in various stages of development at different networks. And it seems audiences are into it as well -- Hell on Wheels just gave AMC it's second-biggest debut ever, just behind last year's premiere of The Walking Dead. For its part, CBS has just hatched a plan to reboot the '50s series The Rifleman, which was originally created by a young Sam Peckinpah. Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus is set to direct. More details after the jump. Like the first Rifleman, the reboot will revolve around Civil War hero Lucas McCain, who has a talent for sharpshooting and a dark, troubled past. He moves to the uncharted territory of New Mexico in order to raise his son Mark, where he teams up with the local sheriff to protect his new hometown. Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and Patrick Lussier (Drive Angry...
- 11/9/2011
- by Angie Han
- Slash Film
Keeping it in the Disney family, and taking on a role that means he took his purity ring off at least once, Nick Jonas is set to show up on ABC's Last Man Standing as the dead-beat dad of Tim Allen's grandson. I don't care as long as he wears tight pants.
Here are 102 Things Not To Do If You Hate Taxes.
Mickey Rourke is slamming Marvel executives for screwing up Whiplash in Iron Man 2. Frankly, if you wait a few months, it seems guaranteed that Rourke with badmouth you after he appears in your film. Why does this guy have a career?
Pat Robertson, fresh off telling Republican presidential candidates to be less extreme, is out there calling gay marriage an "abomination."
Mimi Rogers has been tapped to play Ashton Kutcher's mom on Two and a Half Men, but I keep seeing pictures, and I can't...
Here are 102 Things Not To Do If You Hate Taxes.
Mickey Rourke is slamming Marvel executives for screwing up Whiplash in Iron Man 2. Frankly, if you wait a few months, it seems guaranteed that Rourke with badmouth you after he appears in your film. Why does this guy have a career?
Pat Robertson, fresh off telling Republican presidential candidates to be less extreme, is out there calling gay marriage an "abomination."
Mimi Rogers has been tapped to play Ashton Kutcher's mom on Two and a Half Men, but I keep seeing pictures, and I can't...
- 11/9/2011
- by Ed Kennedy
- The Backlot
CBS has closed deals for The Rifleman, a drama project based on the 1958 Western series about a 1880s widower with a rapid-fire Winchester rifle living on a ranch with his son. Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and Patrick Lussier will write and Chris Columbus is set to direct the reboot, which, like the original, centers on Civil war hero, Lucas McCain, an unparalleled sharpshooter with a haunted past, who moves to the uncharted New Mexico territory to raise his son Mark. There, he joins forces with the Sheriff to protect his new town and become its unofficial guardian. CBS TV Studios and Carol Mendelsohn Prods. are producing. The original series, whose pilot aired on CBS as part of Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater before the series had a five-season run on ABC, was created by Sam Peckinpah and starred Chuck Connors as McCain. It was produced by Jules V. Levy,...
- 11/9/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Producer-director behind a raft of 20th-century TV classics
It is no exaggeration to declare that the name of the film and television producer-director Arnold Laven, who has died aged 87, has been seen by millions of people all over the world, even if it might not have registered. Think of all those viewers of the TV series The Rifleman (1959-63) and The Big Valley (1965-69), made by Laven's company, Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions, many episodes of which he directed.
Laven was also credited as director on scores of episodes of such archetypal 1970s series as Marcus Welby MD, Gunsmoke, Mannix, Ironside, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Rockford Files and Fantasy Island. In the 1980s he directed, among others, several episodes of Hill Street Blues and The A-Team. In addition, Laven directed 11 feature films from 1952 to 1969, some for companies other than his own.
In the late 1930s, the Chicago-born Laven moved with his family to Los Angeles,...
It is no exaggeration to declare that the name of the film and television producer-director Arnold Laven, who has died aged 87, has been seen by millions of people all over the world, even if it might not have registered. Think of all those viewers of the TV series The Rifleman (1959-63) and The Big Valley (1965-69), made by Laven's company, Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions, many episodes of which he directed.
Laven was also credited as director on scores of episodes of such archetypal 1970s series as Marcus Welby MD, Gunsmoke, Mannix, Ironside, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Rockford Files and Fantasy Island. In the 1980s he directed, among others, several episodes of Hill Street Blues and The A-Team. In addition, Laven directed 11 feature films from 1952 to 1969, some for companies other than his own.
In the late 1930s, the Chicago-born Laven moved with his family to Los Angeles,...
- 11/25/2009
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Famed TV chef Julia Child worked as an international spy for the U.S. government during World War II, according to new reports.
Child reportedly served as a member of an international spy ring managed by an early version of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Government reports, expected to be released on Thursday, will list names and offer details from previously classified files identifying 24,000 military and civilian operative spies who formed the first CIA effort - the Office of Strategic Services (Oss) - according to CNN.com.
According to reports, Child's name will be listed alongside The Godfather actor Sterling Hayden, author Ernest Hemingway's son, John, and Miles Copeland, the father of The Police drummer Stewart Copeland.
The group studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops under the leadership of President Franklin Roosevelt.
Information about Oss involvement was reportedly so guarded that relatives often couldn't confirm a family member's work with the group, forcing former agents to keep quiet until now.
Child reportedly shared the secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg during her service with the agency.
Child died just days before her 92nd birthday in 2004, though her legacy will live on in the 2009 film Julie + Julia, starring actress Meryl Streep.
Child reportedly served as a member of an international spy ring managed by an early version of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Government reports, expected to be released on Thursday, will list names and offer details from previously classified files identifying 24,000 military and civilian operative spies who formed the first CIA effort - the Office of Strategic Services (Oss) - according to CNN.com.
According to reports, Child's name will be listed alongside The Godfather actor Sterling Hayden, author Ernest Hemingway's son, John, and Miles Copeland, the father of The Police drummer Stewart Copeland.
The group studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops under the leadership of President Franklin Roosevelt.
Information about Oss involvement was reportedly so guarded that relatives often couldn't confirm a family member's work with the group, forcing former agents to keep quiet until now.
Child reportedly shared the secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg during her service with the agency.
Child died just days before her 92nd birthday in 2004, though her legacy will live on in the 2009 film Julie + Julia, starring actress Meryl Streep.
- 8/14/2008
- WENN
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.