THE LONG WALK
Does anyone out there remember They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? That 1969 film was based on a 1935 novel by Horace McCoy, inspired by the bizarre Depression-era craze of dance marathons. Slick entrepreneurs would hire out a ballroom or auditorium and…
MY “SCOOP” WITH ROBERT REDFORD
I had the good fortune of meeting and interviewing Robert Redford a number of times, but none of those occasions caused quite the stir that my first encounter did. In those days, the opening night of the Sundance Film…
WATCHING TV TODAY: TO BINGE OR NOT TO BINGE
For many years, my wife and I spent most of our evenings attending press screenings of new and upcoming films. That was our routine, and while I didn’t disdain television I rarely had time to watch it, let alone…
A MODERN WESTERN THAT’S 95 YEARS OLD
Whatever your opinion of early talkies, you’re in for a jolt when you see Law and Order (1932), recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. It isn’t just the bravura camerawork or the arresting performances by Walter Huston and Harry Carey,…
COULDA, WOULDA, SHOULDA
I don’t harbor many regrets in my life; I’ve been fortunate to meet people and have experiences that others might only dream about. But there are a few things I could and should have done better. One is to…
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD
I just watched CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD for the second time, as producer Kevin Feige and director Julius Onah came to my class at USC for a q&a following the screening… and you know what? I enjoyed it…
THE MOVIE GUIDE IS BACK—AND REINVENTED
With a change in format and a new platform, The Movie Guide is back: it’s a podcast that I co-host with a savvy Australian “journo” named Guy Davis. Every week Guy and I compare notes on a favorite film of the…
