When I was a child, my mother’s Aunt Irene would sometimes visit us. Irene was deaf, but she communicated by reading lips and speaking in what sounded like French to my young ears. Mom, who had grown up around Irene, could understand her perfectly. I felt as if I needed those headsets that U.N. delegates wear so translators can interpret the proceedings in the listener’s native tongue.Read More
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I am not easily shocked by movies, but the first time I saw Angel Face, I actually yelped out loud. There are two moments in the picture that I did not see coming, and they were the best kind of a screen surprise, right up there with “I see dead people” in The Sixth Sense or “the secret” twist in The Crying Game.Read More
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“I’m John Ford, and I make Westerns,” said the Maine-born filmmaker in one of the great understatements of all time. Ford didn’t just make Westerns – he was synonymous with them. But did you know that none of his seven Academy Awards were for his trademark genre?Read More
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They say High Noon is popular with presidents: Reportedly, it was the favorite movie of Ronald Reagan, G.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, who allegedly screened it 17 times during his tenure. Being the commander in chief of the free world is a lonely job – Clinton joked that the White House is “the crown jewel in the federal penal system.” Read More
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The 1950s saw a rash of films about show biz. Some were light-hearted (Singin’ in the Rain, The Band Wagon). Others told a darker tale (Sunset Blvd., All About Eve, A Star is Born).Read More
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In 1947, two movies dealing with anti-Semitism were released just four months apart. First came Crossfire in July, followed by Gentleman’s Agreement in November. Both films were critical hits. Both racked up Oscar nominations (13 between them). Both are worthy of your time.Read More
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I've seen more classic boxing movies than matches in my lifetime. Golden Boy, The Set-Up, Champion, The Harder They Fall, Rocky, Raging Bull. The truth is, if I cared any less about men pummeling each other for money, it would be an effort.Read More
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Out of the Past isn’t just a movie. It’s the archetype of film noir. At TCM.com, Felicia Feaster and John M. Miller break down the drama’s key attributes: “Bitter, cynical, fatalistic and peppered with some of the best tough-guy dialogue in the genre, Out of the Past is a consummate example” of the hard-boiled flicks that flooded theaters in the 1940s and ‘50s.Read More
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