Reviews

What a waste of wonderful acting talent and cinematography. The version I viewed ran approximately 5 and a half hours and I would like to say if it were edited down to 3 hours it would be a much more watchable film, however I am not sure that would make it particularly informing or entertaining. The glacial pace makes one almost forget about character development or motivation. Bertolucci extends each scene about 3 times longer than is necessary and after a couple of hours of this I found myself wishing he would hurry up and advance the story. Even though it is beautifully shot after a while it becomes agony because of the plodding pace. I got the feeling I was viewing an acute case of a director's overindulgence. For me this was major disappointment.

Very well made film with excellent attention to period and character detail. The performances are excellent but as a mystery it has a tendency to drag. Not being a Ben Affleck fan I was pleasantly surprised at Affleck's portrayal of George Reeves. A very intelligent portrayal that really nails the subtle nuances of the man. However, I feel too much time is given to the subplot of Adrien Brody's marital and professional problems. At times it seems as if Reeve's story is the subplot. I appreciated the film maker sticking to the known facts and using intelligent speculation on the actual death of George Reeves. I enjoyed this film but I think it might be a hard sell to an audience that didn't live through the 1950's Superman period. 7 out of 10.

I was absolutely astounded at how bad this film was. There was hardly a scene in the movie that seems credible. Character development? There is none. Reasonable motivation? None here pal. Believable plot situations? Zero. At least in the gratuitous sex scene you would have thought they would have shut the front door to the apartment. Not in this turkey. How does it happen that a heavy equipment operator digs up a body and then later the grave is completely intact with exact measurements? If you have the misfortune of seeing this you will know what I mean. I was afraid I was in trouble 10 minutes into the film with the first ridiculously set up murder but had hopes the rest of the film would make more sense. No such luck. It only gets worse. This movie is so full of flaws you could write a book on them. Obviously this was made to make a quick buck off gratuitous gore and sex. A total waste of time.

What a disappointment this film continues to be. The first time I viewed the film many years ago I attributed its failure to being too severely edited for time constraint reasons. I was wrong. This new extended version just adds another hour or so of more confusion and general boredom. What a waste. This film has some of the finest production values you could ever hope for. Some of the sets are like time capsules. However, unfortunately for the this viewer the movie comes off as often incoherent and self-indulgent. Some reviewers seem to like Morricone's soundtrack. I personally found it to be extremely grating. Don't be mislead, "The Godfather" trilogy this isn't. A true waste of a lot of time for the viewer and a collossal waste of movie making talent.

I remembered liking this film very much 40 years ago, but after watching it recently I was startled by how dated it appeared. For me what was most distracting was the juvenile humor of the characters Animal (Robert Strauss) and Harry "Hot Lips" Shapiro (Harvey Lembeck). Not only is the humor juvenile but both of them have much too much screen time. I would imagine it worked much better in the stage play. Holden, Graves, Brand, Preminger, etc., of the supporting cast are excellent as usual. Unfortunately, there is way too much silliness going on in this POW camp for the movie to be taken very seriously. When a German guard gives his rifle to a pow so he can play volleyball it completely loses any claim to realism and should be treated strictly as a comedy.

Macy is wonderful as usual but the movie as a whole is very disappointing. If you are just looking for a tear jerker this is for you, but if you care what makes a character tick forget this one. Apparently this man had a profound impact on many people in real life, but from the disjointed episodes presented in the film it seemed the film was going after the viewers tear ducts no what the cost. Macy's performance aside I found this film average at best.

Wonderful performances all around and everything from wardrobes to sets truly evoke a 1920's Hollywood atmosphere. Edward Herrmann is absolutely mesmerizing in his portrayal of William Randolph Hearst. An Oscar caliber performance in my estimation.

With a cast like this it can't be a horrible movie but it is a mediocre movie. Granted this is supposed to be a comedy but even the dog in this one is one demensional and sterotypical. The few mild chuckles in this film can be viewed in the trailer so why waste your time. 5 out of 10.

Even conceding the fact that this POW camp was run by the Luftwaffe and not the SS this has got to be the silliest representation of a POW camp ever put to film and I include "Hogan's Heroes" in this statement. At least "Hogan's Heroes" admitted it was a comedy. After viewing the Germans represented in this piece of malarkey I am surprised World War II lasted 6 months. I remember wondering when I first saw this as a teenager why the Germans would allow a person in solitary confinement to have games to play. Now I know 39 years later; they wouldn't. Considering how heroic the actual events really were it is shame to see them made to look so cartoonish in this vehicle for Steve McQueen. Good thing for him the German's didn't know what was being planned in all those private POW rooms available to those crazy flyboy prisoners. I noticed on the DVD box someone called it the greatest World War II movie ever made. If it is then I guess the WW II veterans I talked to were really embellishing how tough it was. I am not completely panning this movie because it is fun to see some very good performers in their younger years (I gave it 5 out of 10). However, having seen this movie in 1964 and in 2002 I can't say it has aged well at all. I suspected it was a sanitized piece of propaganda in 1964 and am quite sure of it now.

What a waste of great talent and money. This film contains some of the worst special effects for a large budget war movie I have seen. The attack on Pearl Harbor is extremely poor staging, but it looks like "Tora! Tora! Tora!" compared to the most unrealistic looking sea battle at the end I have ever witnessed. Ed Wood, dollar for dollar, created better special effects than Preminger did with this. The upside to the movie are the performances. Although the story is terribly melodramatic and predictable the performances are uniformly good. I hate to admit it but John Wayne, who spent his life talking the talk but never walking the walk in military matters, is extremely good. Patricia Neal also deserves special mention for her usual stellar performance. Although the movie is very watchable it is a real shame that for the cast assembled and money spent a more believable story and less cheesy special effects could not have been put on film.

This is a case where there was certainly a lot more thought put into the marketing campaign than was put into the movie. If you are going to do a film without at least an outline of scripted dialogue at least have individuals who are talented enough to improvise. What you have here over and over is a group of people who cannot think of anything to say except #@'!%* this, @#!^&* that, #*^%!" her or him or it. Innovative? Hardly. I found it hard to believe that anyone would be frightened by this silliness. A total waste of time.

Wonderful cast but Mamet gets too carried away with implausible plot twists and works too hard at putting hip and cute dialog in the characters dialogue. The movie is watchable but after a while it gets downright silly. Ricky Jay gives the movie what little semblance of reality that it possesses. The rest of the talented cast give credible performances, unfortunately their parts as written are not very believable.

Normally I am not much for any movie that features an animal and as a result I avoided watching this movie as long as I could. However, since my grand daughter and my wife watched it over and over for months it was inevitable that I would be exposed to it. What a joy. To my surprise it was a parody, and a clever one at that. Once I realized the film was a spoof and being played for laughs I couldn't stop laughing. The well written script and hilarious sight gags make this fun for adults and children. However, I do have one complaint about the writing. Why was the limited profanity in the script? It adds nothing to the movie and worst of all is not funny. I can't believe that a guy like me who likes "Pulp Fiction" would be making this complaint, but without the needless profanity this is a perfect family movie. Profanity aside "Bingo" is a hoot.

What a fun movie to enjoy over and over. Wonderful performances by the entire cast and the subtle hilarity of the dialogue gets funnier with each viewing. This is one of those rare films that every character evokes sympathy and makes you laugh at the same time. Like the Beach Boy song says, "Fun, Fun, Fun."

This movie must have been dated even when it was originally released in 1952. A great cast and a story concept that has so much potential is turned into a melodramatic soap opera. The characters are turned into caricatures of supposed hollywood denizens that are so stereotypical and one dimensional as to become laughable. How Gloria Graham won an Oscar for such a minor role also totally escapes me. Skip this one and view "Sunset Boulevard" or even "Ed Wood" if you want a quality movie based on movie lore.

I found "The Stepfather" to be one of most intelligently written and frightening films of this genre I have had the pleasure of viewing. Terry O'Quinn absolutely nails the part. What is truly scary about this movie is there really are people like Jerry Blake out there. We all know when we see Freddy Krueger or Frankenstein's monster to beware, but the Jerry Blake's of this world sneak up on us.

This story has real plausability and is tight from beginning to end. The cast is absolutely stellar led by Terry O'Quinn. I have noticed that some reviewers dismiss the film as just another slasher movie. I totally disagree. While there is graphic violence I found it to minimal and not at all gratuitous; after all this is a movie about a serial killer.

In conclusion I will say that though I consider "The Stepfather" an absolute gem, the sequels are a total waste of time.

Paul Hogan has an engaging screen presence but he really should have shelved the Dundee idea after the first film or spent the money to hire good writers. While not awful this comedy is at best tepid and predictable. Strictly for the die hard Hogan fans. I give it a 4.

I found this movie to a pleasant diversion but for the life of me cannot understand why so many people find it outstanding. If it weren't for Cary Grant's charisma I would have found it almost boring. I thought the movie was a bit dated and the story bordering on the ridiculous. Not bad but overall disappointing.

OK, so it is not historically correct and contains a dramatic personality change by Susan Hayward, I still love this movie. The film has some surprisingly witty dialogue, a rousing music soundtrack, high production values and very good performances all around. If you can accept the story for the fiction it is it can be surprisingly inspirational even if you are not Christian. My wife and I watch it at least once yearly.

Outstanding film in every respect. Wonderfully written and delivered dialog. Superb casting and performances. I noticed Rebecca Pidgeon has drawn flak from some reviewers but I thought she was excellent in every way. Since when does being the director's wife automatically disqualify an actress from a film part? I give this movie a 10.

This film stretches the bounds of credulity to the extreme. I believe anyone with an IQ above that of a brick would be speechless at the holes and inconsistancies in this script. Simply put this film is a mess. However, it does have a very good music soundtrack (very moody and menacing). Take the money you would use to see the film and purchase the soundtrack instead.

Absolutely stunning western with an all star cast. Sometimes an all star cast is assembled just for drawing power, but not so here. All of the characters are well cast and have well developed roles. Burl Ives is absolutely mesmerizing in a masterful performance. The exchanges between he and Chuck Connors are riveting. This movie is full of memorable dialog but it is worth the price of admission just to see the scene where Burl Ives crashes the party. Small wonder he won an Oscar for his performance. All performances are uniformly outstanding and the soundtrack is a true classic. One of my favorite films. If you have seen "Treasure Of The Sierra Madre" you will want to watch for Alfonso Bedoya as Ramon in this film. In case you are wondering why I mention this think of the phrase "we don't need no stinking badges". Yep, he is the one who said it.

I believe this western to be one of the most overlooked western films of the period. When one looks at the westerns made before 1960 it is difficult to find many that come close to comparing with the realism, adult themes and complex characterisation of this film. I have viewed this film multiple times over a period of years and enjoy it more with each viewing. The movie is brilliantly cast with especially great performances from Charles Bickford (Zeb Rawlins), Joseph Wiseman (Abe Kelsey), Lillian Gish (Mattilda Zachary)and June Walker (Hagar Rawlins). This western has it all; uniformly wonderful performances from the entire cast, excellent dialogue, and a real look and feel of the western frontier. I give this film a 9 out of 10.

I found this to be a taut and exciting western. The film builds scene by scene to give the characters depth and to instill a sense of unknown dread. The music soundtrack is superb in enhancing this sense of dread. The film puts to good use the concept that what cannot be seen is sometimes more frightening than what can be seen. This concept is used for terrific effect with the psychotic Indian who is the stalker. Peck, Saint and Forster give outstanding performances and create realistic characters that we can care about. I believe this to be one of the finest westerns made and consider it be a very underappreciated film by critics.