Reviews

"The Blue Max" is one of my favorite war movies. Filmed in Ireland, it is the story of a German private named Bruno Stachel, in World War I who dreams of getting out of the trenches and into the German air force. This he accomplishes. The central character is played by George Peppard, who in my opinion was at the height of his career at this time.

Bruno Stachel is very ambitious, with an overriding desire to earn the Blue Max, Germany's top air medal, given to a pilot with 20 "kills". During the film Bruno Stachel finds a rival("in or out of bed") in fellow pilot Willi von Klugermann (Jeremy Kemp). Their common love interest is Countess Klugermann (Ursula Andress), who is married to Willi's uncle General Count von Klugermann (James Mason).

"The Blue Max" is famous for its air combat scenes. Another memorable scene was the stunt duel between Peppard and Kemp's characters flying under an aqueduct. "The Blue Max" was based on a novel of the same name by Jack D. Hunter and one of a trilogy, the others being "The Blood Order" and "The Tin Cravat", following Bruno Stachel into the 1930's Nazi regime. I think those would be interesting to see on film. This film has a fantastic soundtrack composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

I watched this episode today for the first time in a long while and found it extremely touching and interesting. Richard Kiley as "Bohannan" always gives a good performance and guest starred a number of times on "Gunsmoke" but he gives one of his best here. He portrays a faith healer who is placed in the position of healing a terminally ill boy he befriends.

I found this episode engrossing because it keeps you guessing as to whether or not "Bohannan" is a fraud or an actual healer.

The end of this episode was gut wrenching. The writing and directing was excellent. Milburn Stone as Doc Adams was excellent as a skeptic who eventually changes his opinion of Bohannan's faith healing.

I tuned into this movie at the point where James Stewart's character was summoned from the battlefield to meet with President Abraham Lincoln. I didn't know what had transpired previously in the movie and was waiting to see why the president would take time to speak to him.

I won't divulge all the details of the conversation but I kept thinking during the scene that this is one of the best portrayals of Lincoln I've ever seen. Physically the actor was very convincing and his demeanor was of the type I would except him to have. I finally recognized the voice of John Carradine.

I actually think that Abraham Lincoln could have had a conversation like the one in the movie with a regular soldier. He met with many rank and file people during the war. It was a great scene, well written and produced in my opinion.

I sat down to watch this movie with my girlfriend, who loves cheap sci fi films, expecting to fall asleep at some point. Just when I was losing interest, I began to realize that I was watching a loose remake of "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", the great Humphrey Bogart-Walter Huston movie from 1948, one of my favorites.

I think the scene where the old man began dancing a jig and laughing crazily after finding the "precious" ore tipped me off. Although it was set on an asteroid, the plot was basically the same. The character in the 1948 film who wanted to horn in on their partnership was changed to a woman (Joan Chen) in this movie.

Rent both films and see if I'm right. I rate "Precious Find" a 3 out of 10 by the way.

"The Battle of the Bulge" has a few interesting, accurate moments, such as the Malmady massacre and the use of Germans pretending to be American MP's. However, the film is marred by the already stated use of a desert landscape for battles that were actually fought during a severe winter storm. Although the movie was filmed in Spain, some effort at realism could have been made.

One of the other major problems with the movie is the number of encounters Henry Fonda's character has with the German Colonel Hessler (Robert Shaw). First, Fonda manages to catch a full facial close up of Hessler while flying over his staff car in an observation plane. Then Fonda sticks his head in a damaged German tank in time to hear Hessler's voice. Then he sees him leading a tank column and decides to take a shot at him...it's too unreal.

History must have missed the gallant stand by James MacArthur and Henry Fonda at the fuel depot that saved the day for the allies. What happened to Patton's 3rd Army?

A film whose story is told in flashback, during the investigation of an airline accident. Sam McBane (Glenn Ford) is an executive of Continental Airlines who is desperate to prove that his old Army-Air Corps buddy Capt. Jack Savage (Rod Taylor) had not been drinking before the fatal flight. His investigation brings him into contact with several close friends of Savage. Through them, McBane learns a lot he didn't know about the airline pilot.

The plot of the movie takes off during the last 10 minutes when McBane and the only survivor of the crash, Stewardess Martha Stewart (Suzanne Pleshette, excellent in limited screen time), recreate the original fatal flight in every detail. A friend of mine who wouldn't usually go in for this kind of fare, after viewing it with me, said "Fate of the Hunter" turned into a pretty good movie due to the last part.

Glenn Ford has some good scenes, particularly during the CAB hearing and Rod Taylor is likeable in his role.

This is one of my personal favorite movies and I recommend it.

"The Desperate Hours" is a favorite of mine for two reasons, it stars Humphrey Bogart and it's set in Indianapolis, about the only film I can think of set in my home town, other than "The Magnificent Ambersons". The film has some interesting scenes but it hasn't held up as well as most of Bogart's films.

The son of Daniel Hillard (Fredrick March) was irritating in the extreme and I wish the hulking con played by Robert Middleton had managed to get ahold of him. The best part of the film is the byplay between the stars, Bogart and March, two old pros.

Although this production took place in California, someone did their homework because the police cars and uniforms of the Indianapolis Police Department portrayed in the film are authentic in appearance.

It's interesting how many of the previous user comments have discerned different aspects of this film. Besides the horror elements of the movie, the relationships between Mitch and his mother (who he calls "Darling"), Annie Hayworth and Melanie Daniels and Melanie and Mrs. Brenner are plenty to keep the viewer interested.

Although the movie did not have a musical score, there was one song in the film if you noticed. When Tippi Hedren plays the piano in the Brenner home, the strains of a song familiar as the closing theme of the PBS "Stargazer" show are heard.

I particularly enjoyed Suzanne Pleshette's performance as Annie Hayworth and the entire diner scene with the various viewpoints of the townfolk on the "bird" situation. The overhead scene of the gulls swooping down on the burning gas station is incredible to me. The two deaths due to bird attacks are done in a way to produce maximum shock.

These are some of the reasons why this movie doesn't wear out after repeated viewings.

I liked this movie, thought it was from the 1980's from the discussion at the beginning about cloning dinosaurs from their DNA and employing genetics on animals. Turns out it was from 1973 and ahead of it's time.

The movie does have some parallels to "Freaks" and the movie supplies the real thing. Michael Dunn, "Dr. Lovelace" of "Wild, Wild, West" is good in his role as the operator of the sideshow.

I was lucky enough to see "Mad, Mad World" in a theater in Cinemascope around 1970 and since then it's been one of my favorite movies. It may be the funniest movie ever made but that's not surprising considering the comedic talents and the script they had to work with.

One of the funniest scenes for me are the ones in the control tower. Paul Ford is hilarious ("What the hell's wrong with this wire?") in his brief part.

I had a friend who was suffering from chronic depression and I rented this movie which she'd never seen or heard of. She felt better after this and laughed a lot. It's a good movie to watch when you need a lift.

I watched "Wait Until Dark" for about the 12th time yesterday and found it was still a thrilling movie. My favorite scene is when Audrey Hepburn turns the tables momentarily on the character of Harry Roat played by Alan Arkin. I won't spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it by going further. I enjoyed Alan Arkin's performance as well as Richard Crenna, although he seemed miscast as a villain.

"Hitler: The Last Ten Days" is watchable chiefly due to the remarkable portrayal of the Nazi dictator by Alec Guinness. Guinness sought to portray Hitler as a man and succeeds in his efforts.

The opening credits, narrated by Alstair Cooke are noteworthy in giving a 5 minute history lesson bringing the viewer up to date - April 20, 1945 in the Berlin bunker of Adolph Hitler. The acts of Hitler in the final 10 days of his life, bizarre and murderous to the end, are worth watching only because of Guinness. He has the mannerisms and although I've never met Hitler, after watching this film, I felt that I had. The physical resemblance is startling.

Most frightening scene: Hitler's worst tantrum ever after finding out he had been "betrayed" by his generals. Alec Guinness goes from hysterical rage to sobbing "the war is lost" and makes you feel the terror his underlings must have felt.

Like nearly all of the previous commentaries, I was riveted by the first half of the movie. Former real life D.I. Lee Ermey made me laugh (nervously) with his obscene insults. I went through boot camp and it was extremely realistic. Memorable moments: Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles W. Whitman being held up as "outstanding" examples of Marine marksmanship; the soap attack scene; and having "These Boots are Made for Walking" in the background as the scene shifts to Vietnam. "You keep playing where you shouldn't be playing, you keep thinking you'll never get burned" somehow seems like it's being applied to the United States' involvement in the war.

After that scene, the movie went downhill in holding my interest.

Exceptionally well made thriller. Spielberg sought out the dirtiest, oiliest semi-truck he could find as his co-star. Having owned a car similar to the Dodge Dart Dennis Weaver runs from the truck in, I can appreciate his panic! This movie holds your interest from beginning to end. I think parts of this movie, particularly the bar scene were re-done in the recent Kurt Russell movie "Breakdown".

Like probably a few other people, I walked out of seeing "Twister" the first time having liked it. Now when I see it on cable now it irritates me. Here are the things that irritate me the most about "Twister" 3. The way "storm chasers" are portrayed as a bunch of crazy yahoos. I'm not one of them but having seen a few Learning Channel programs about them I see a big difference.

2. The ability of the storm chasers in the movie to find great big tornados with regularity (like every 20 minutes).

1. That fat, long haired storm chasing surfer dude.

This was an unrealistic movie. The special effects were pretty great, but it wasn't enough to carry it.

I have always enjoyed this movie, which is admittedly corny at times and overly sentimental. However, "-30-", is a movie that is not dull and has a lot of subplots going on to hold your interest. Jack Webb, who also directed, stars as Sam Gatlin, the editor of a Los Angeles newspaper. He's had tragedy in his life and has closed himself off. He's outwardly gruff but has a soft heart. The action in the film takes place during one night, with a heavy rain storm, a missing child and several other stories competing for the front page before the deadline arrives. William Conrad attempts to steal every scene he is in but adds a lot of humor to the story as the city editor who is outwardly gruff but has a soft heart (there's definitely a lot of that in this movie). This movie and the "D.I." are my favorite movies starring Jack Webb.

This is a movie I have loved since the first time I saw it as a child. Kirk Douglas plays the lead role in "The Big Carnival", or "Ace in the Hole" as it was originally titled. As down and out former ace newspaper reporter Chuck Tatum, he finds himself broke in the southwest and manages to talk himself into a reporting job with a small town newspaper. He and a cub photographer are sent to cover a snake hunt and on the way they come across a more interesting story. A man hunting Navaho artifacts got caught in a cave in.

Tatum, after visiting the man, Leo Minoso in the cave, has visions of Floyd Collins and a Pulitzer prize dancing in his head. Through blackmail and manipulation of the story, Tatum sells his soul and his journalistic ethics in his quest for a chance at the big time again.

This movie was ahead of it's time in estimating how low the media would go to sell a story. Tatum leads the carnival of onlookers, vendors and other reporters wanting a piece of the story until the inevitable tragic ending occurs. He realizes too late how he has turned a simple event into a tragedy and become part of the story instead of a reporter. Kirk Douglas turns in a powerful performance.

"Across the Pacific" is a fairly well done spy movie that takes place in the last days before America's entry into World War II. Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is cashiered from the U.S. Army for stealing funds. The events that follow involve a love interest (Mary Astor) and an enemy agent (Sydney Greenstreet) and a trip on a passenger ship from New York to the Panama Canal. Humphrey Bogart as an American spy is convincing in a role that might have been played by Sean Connery 20 years later.

The subplot of a Japanese plot to torpedo the Panama Canal and put it out of action was a case of truth being stranger than fiction with the recent revelation of Japanese submarines which carried planes designed to knock the canal out, but which were never used. "Across the Pacific" has humor, action and romance and is one of Bogart's lesser known but very good movies.