News

Claude Jarman Jr., who received a Juvenile Academy Award for his heart-tugging performance as the boy who adopts an orphaned fawn in the 1946 MGM classic The Yearling, died Sunday. He was 90.

Jarman died in his sleep of natural causes at his Marin County home in Kentfield, California, his wife of 38 years, Katie, told THR’s Scott Feinberg.

In films released in 1949, Jarman starred with Jeanette MacDonald in the Lassie movie The Sun Comes Up, played the brother of a rancher on the run (Robert Sterling) in Roughshod and reteamed with Yearling director Clarence Brown to portray a youngster out to prove the innocence of a Black man in Intruder in the Dust, based on the William Faulkner novel and filmed in Oxford, Mississippi.

A year later, he played the son of a cavalry officer (John Wayne) in John Ford’s Rio Grande (1950).

Born on Sept. 27, 1934, Jarman was the 10-year-old son...

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The Madness is a conspiracy crime thriller drama series created by Stephen Belber. The Netflix series follows Muncie Daniels, a media pundit who gets embroiled in a vast conspiracy after he gets wrongfully accused of murdering a white supremacist leader. Now, he must fight to clear his name while also trying to reconnect with his estranged family and lost ideals. The Madness stars Colman Domingo, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Gabrielle Graham, John Ortiz, Tamsin Topolski, and Thaddeus J. Mixson. So, if you loved the thrilling conspiracy story, nail-biting drama, and compelling characters in The Madness, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

The Capture (Peacock & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Peacock

The Capture is a British conspiracy mystery thriller drama series created by Ben Chanan. The BBC One series follows a young detective tasked with investigating...

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

This November, Tubi is bringing you a lot of entertainment from the time-travel mystery thriller series 11.22.63 to a dark medical drama series Nip/Tuck. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Tubi this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 10 best films that are coming to Tubi in November 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Licorice Pizza (November 1) Credit – United Artists Releasing Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

Licorice Pizza is a romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The 2021 film is set in 1973 and it follows the relationship between Gary Valentine, a teen actor, and Alana Kane, a directionless young woman as they try to grow up and fall in love in California’s San Fernando Valley. Licorice Pizza stars Alana Haim,...

Gunfire, tumbleweeds, stagecoaches, cards, and whiskey-colored the tapestry of the romanticized Old West in cinema for over a century. Even though most of these films took place on the frontier of the United States, not all were exclusively filmed there. When they shared locations with climate-similar countries like Spain and Italy, they would quickly build a sub-genre known as the Spaghetti Western.

Aside from the slower burn of most stories in the Western genre, its history is rich with chases, stunts, brawls, and witty dialogue, sometimes all at the same time. These scenes could display the film's success and quality as much as the arid landscapes and period wardrobe defined it. From comedic capers to thrilling showdowns, these scenes have stood out and remained great despite the march of time.

Maverick's Hour-Long Loss Is Comedy Gold

Maverick PGAdventureActionComedy

Bret Maverick, needing money for a poker tournament, faces various comic mishaps and challenges,...

Two years have passed since Kevin Smith‘s horror anthology KillRoy Was Here made its way out into the world as an Nft – and to this day, the only people who have seen the movie are those who have either bought the Nft, been given access to one of the NFTs, or attended a special screening. Which means so few people have seen KillRoy Was Here, it could almost be described as Smith’s “lost movie.” Now, while speaking to Entertainment Weekly and promoting his new film The 4:30 Movie, Smith has revealed exactly how and why the movie became an Nft release.

Directed by Smith from a script he wrote with Andy McElfresh, KillRoy Was Here was made on a minuscule budget as a project with film students at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. The movie is a throwback anthology horror film featuring a...

The concept of the Kevin Smith horror movie Tusk came out of an episode of Smith’s SModcast podcast in which he and his co-host Scott Mosier started out joking about the idea of a walrus-themed body horror movie and then, in the midst of the banter, Smith was inspired to actually make the movie. (And I’m very thankful that he did.) Smith’s horror anthology KillRoy Was Here started out in a similar way. It has its roots in an episode of the Edumacation podcast, where Smith and co-host Andy McElfresh “accidentally brainstormed a Christmas horror anthology” that would revolve around the child-eating creature known as Krampus. Smith and McElfresh wrote a script and were moving ahead with the film, which was first called Comes the Krampus! and then re-titled Anti-Claus, but then it got abandoned when Michael Dougherty’s Krampus movie was released. It only sat dormant...

Harrison Ford and Andrew Davis at the German premiere of The Fugitive Photo: Franziska Krug Director Andrew Davis has plenty of films to his credit, including the massive family hit Holes and the highly regarded Michael Douglas thriller A Perfect Murder, but he’s more than happy to mostly be...

The FugitiveScreenshot: Warner Bros./YouTube

Director Andrew Davis has plenty of films to his credit, including the massive family hit Holes and the highly regarded Michael Douglas thriller A Perfect Murder, but he’s more than happy to mostly be known as “the guy who directed The Fugitive.” And no wonder.

Actor Robert Blake, a man with a long and complex legacy, has died, a representative for his son-in-law Gregg Hurwitz confirmed to Variety. The former child actor was best known for his Emmy-winning role as the cockatoo-owning undercover cop in the popular 1970s TV series “Baretta” and, more infamously, for his trial following the 2001 murder of his wife. He was 89.

As reported by the Associated Press, Blake died from heart disease on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles.

These two aspects of Blake’s legacy were inseparable in some ways, and the personal turmoil that made the latter at least circumstantially plausible (the case against Blake hinged on motive — he may have wanted to be free of his rocky marriage) fueled his acting.

Blake was acquitted of the murder charge, as well as of one count of soliciting murder, in his criminal trial in 2005, but in a civil trial later that year,...

The Emmy landscape has changed drastically in the past two decades. Going in to the 54th Emmy Awards, which took place on Sept. 22, 2002, it was a broadcast network — NBC — that led the nominations with 47. Emmy powerhouse HBO came in second with 38. FX and VH1 earned their first nominations while the first major streaming series, Netflix’s “House of Cards,” was still 11 years away. Several of this year’s contenders for Emmy gold were either nominated or won 20 years ago.

Laura Linney, who has been nominated nine times and won four statuettes, is nominated this year for her lead role in the final season of Netflix’s “Ozark” and as co-executive producer of this drama series contender. Two decades ago, she won her first Emmy for her lead role in the Showtime telefilm “Wild Iris.”

HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has been nominated 51 times and has won two Emmys, is...

Kevin Smith has dropped a delightfully deranged trailer for his upcoming horror flick/campy bloodbath, Killroy Was Here.

As the title suggests, the film is loosely based on the “Kilroy was here” graffiti — popular among American soldiers during World War II — which depicted a man with a long nose hanging over a wall. For the film, Smith turns “Kilroy” into an actual person, Roy Huggins — a crazed soldier with cannibalistic tendencies capable of haunting and hunting down whoever he likes.

The trailer, however, is a little vague on who exactly...

Today’s noir forecast is vice, kidnapping, murder, suicide, narcotics and a sleazy stolen baby racket! Kino’s third volume of Universal-International pix contains two seldom-screened quality urban noirs. Expect genuine dark themes in these sizable-budget location noirs filmed before Universal pulled most production back onto its one-size-fits-all backlot sets. Barbara Stanwyck dominates one show, while noir stalwarts Richard Conte and Dennis O’Keefe anchor the other two dramas, with dynamic showings by Coleen Gray, Edith Barrett, Peggy Dow, Jeanette Nolan, Meg Randall and especially Gale Storm.

Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema III

Abandoned, The Lady Gambles, The Sleeping City

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1949-50 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 79,99,86 min. / Street Date June 9, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.99

Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Meg Randall, Raymond Burr, Marjorie Rambeau, Jeanette Nolan, Mike Mazurki, Will Kuluva, David Clarke; Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Stephen McNally, Edith Barrett, John Hoyt,...

James Drury, who starred in one of the longest running Westerns in TV history, “The Virginian,” has died. He was 85.

His assistant, Karen Lindsey, shared the news on Facebook Monday, writing that he “passed away this morning of natural causes.” TheWrap reached out to his agent for additional comment.

While his most famous role was “The Virginian,” Drury also starred in Westerns on the big screen, including 1959’s “Good Day for Hanging,” 1960’s “Ten Who Dares” and “Ride the High Country.” His other credits include “Love Me Tender,” alongside Elvis Presley, and “Bernardine,” opposite Pat Boone.

Also Read: Shirley Douglas, Mother of Kiefer Sutherland, Dies at 86

“The Virginian” was based on Owen Wister’s 1902 novel of the same name and ran on NBC for nine seasons, from 1962 to 1971. It was launched by executive producer Roy Huggins and his father-in-law Frank Price, who would go on to run Columbia and Universal Pictures.

Edd Byrnes, a veteran actor best known for his role as television host Vince Fontaine in the musical Grease and as Kookie in the classic TV series 77 Sunset Strip, has died. Reportedly, Byrnes passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday at his home in Santa Monica. According to the report, Byrnes died of "natural causes," though no additional information or cause of death has yet been revealed. He was 87 years old.

A native New Yorker, Byrnes was born Edward Byrne Breitenberger in 1932. He changed his name to "Byrnes" as a teenager to honor his grandfather, Edward Byrne, giving him the familiar Edd Byrnes name. In his early 20s, Byrnes began acting in plays at the Litchfield Community Playhouse in Connecticut, sparking an interest in acting and launching a career in the field. After about a year of performances on stage, Byrnes moved to Hollywood to pursue acting work full time.

By the mid '50s,...

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s short-form video platform Quibi has put in development The Fugitive, from Scorpion creator Nick Santora, Thunder Road Films, 3 Arts Entertainment and Warner Bros. TV.

The Fugitive is a new take on the classic title, which Warner Bros. owns. The studio previously produced the 1993 movie starring Harrison Ford. There also was a The Fugitive TV series, created by Roy Huggins and starring David Janssen, which aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. It was produced by Quinn Martin Productions and United Artists Television.

Written by Santora, The Fugitive centers on blue collar worker Mike Russo, who just wants to make sure his wife, Allison, and 10-year-old daughter, Pearl, are safe, when a bomb rips through the Los Angeles subway train he’s riding on. But the faulty evidence on the ground and “tweet-now, confirm-later” journalism paint a nightmarish picture: it looks to all the world that Mike...

It has long been said that the true story behind “The Fugitive,” the Harrison Ford action classic that turns 25 years old today, is very loosely based on the ’50s murder case, conviction and acquittal of Sam Sheppard. Both Sheppard and Ford’s Richard Kimble were doctors, and both were wrongly accused of murdering their wives after an intruder broke into their home.

And the similarities end there.

The assailant Sheppard fought with was not a one-armed man, as in the film. It was said Sheppard’s motive was that he was having an affair, a detail not in the movie. Sheppard never escaped from prison, least of all from a moving, crashing train. And the real killer was never even found!

Also Read: Harrison Ford Crashes Alden Ehrenreich's Interview: 'Get Out of My Life!' (Video)

And yet this idea stretches all the way back to the popular TV...

Actor Joseph Campanella died on Wednesday, May 16. He was 93.

Campanella, who received a Tony Award nomination in 1962 for best supporting actor for his performance in "A Gift of Time" along with Emmy nominations for Days of our Lives and Mannix, died of natural causes, his daughter-in-law, Sandy Campanella, said.

Campanella received his first Emmy Award nomination for playing private eye Joe Mannix's boss on the first season of the 1967-75 CBS series Mannix. His character's name, Lew Wickersham, was a sly reference to then-McA head Lew Wasserman and Lankershim Boulevard, an entryway to Universal Studios.

However, Intertect, the heartless crime-fighting corporation that Wickersham headed, was written out after the first season as Mannix (Mike Connors) went out on his own, and Campanella's contract was not renewed.

The actor also appeared in the recurring role of Ed Cooper, the ex-husband and father on CBS' One Day at a Time,...

Rock Hudson and Donna Reed star in a kidnapping-vengeance-pursuit western filmed in large part in gorgeous Sedona, Arizona, in 3-D and (originally) Technicolor. It’s another 3-D treasure from the 1950s boom years. The trailer is in 3-D too.

Gun Fury 3-D

3-D Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1953 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 82 min. / Street Date September 19, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Rock Hudson, Donna Reed, Phil Carey, Roberta Haynes, Leo Gordon, Lee Marvin, Neville Brand.

Cinematography: Lester WhiteMusical Director (Stock Music): Mischa Bakaleinikoff

Written by Irving Wallace, Roy Huggins

Produced by Lewis Rachmil

Directed by Raoul Walsh

I have a new theory for why the 1950s 3-D craze only lasted about 2.5 years: they couldn’t find any more one-eyed directors to make them.

Gun Fury arrived at the end of 1953, in the thick of what would be called the ‘fad’ of 3-D. Columbia Pictures jumped into ‘depth pictures’ as if it were a gimmick,...

There are two major sides to the film noir coin, as I see it – the psychological and the practical. Now, the practical noir is fairly straightforward; maybe a detective has to solve a crime, or someone gets themselves in over their head with some scheme gone wrong. There’s a problem to be solved, and the protagonist either overcomes or becomes consumed by it. Double Indemnity, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Night and the City, The Killing, and The Maltese Falcon fit into this section rather well. The psychological noir uses genre tropes to investigate someone’s soul, usually stemming from their nearness to sin and death. Scarlet Street, Laura, Female on the Beach, The Chase, Sunset Boulevard, and Kiss Me Deadly fit the bill. Obviously films in each use elements of the other to shade the characters or move the story along, but the texture and flavor is notably distinct,...

By Tim Greaves

(The following reviews pertain to the UK Region 2 releases)

When I'm in the right mood I adore bit of film noir. I admire the diversity of its storytelling, I love every facet, from the hardboiled private eyes, duplicitous dames and characters that seldom turn out to be what they first appear, to the alleyways bathed in inky shadows, ramshackle apartments and half-lit street corners they inhabit. How can you not get drawn in by the sheer delight of Edward G Robinson playing a second rate psychic trying to convince the authorities he can see the future in The Night Has a Thousand Eyes? Or amnesiac John Hodiak on a mission to discover his own identity, in the process getting embroiled in a 3-year-old murder case and the search for a missing $2 million in Somewhere in the Night? Yes, indeed, there's nothing quite like a hearty serving of...

Noir if I can help it! Sultry Lizabeth Scott out-'fatals' every femme we know in this wickedly ruthless tale of unadulterated female venality. Rough creep Dan Duryea meets his match, as do other unfortunate males that get between Liz and a plump bag of blackmail loot. The Film Noir Foundation's restoration is a valiant rescue job, for a worthy 'annihilating melodrama.' Too Late for Tears Blu-ray + DVD Flicker Alley / FIlm Noir Foundation 1949 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 102 min. / Street Date May 17, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy, Kristine Miller, Barry Kelley Cinematography William Mellor Art Direction James Sullivan Film Editor Harry Keller Original Music Dale Butts Written by Roy Huggins from his story Produced by Hunt Stromberg Directed by Byron Haskin

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Who's doing good work for film preservation? The Film Noir Foundation has racked up some impressive rescues and restorations in the last fifteen years or so,...

As a supplement to our Recommended Discs weekly feature, Peter Labuza regularly highlights notable recent home-video releases with expanded reviews. See this week’s selections below.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Two new restorations from the UCLA Film and Television Archive, in conjunction with the Film Noir Foundation, certainly speak to that ethos. First up, the piercing eyes of Lisabeth Scott explain everything one might need to know about this woman who wants it all. In Byron Haskin‘s Too Late for Tears, writer Roy Huggins stages a flipped gender perspective of Double Indemnity. Driving along with her dull husband (Arthur Kennedy at his most subdued), Scott’s Jane Palmer has a bag of $60,000 literally drop in her lap. Goody two-shoes husband wants to hand it to the authorities, but she sees this as the opportunity to finally lean in. Dp William C. Mellor lights Scott’s...

From a pop culture perspective, private detectives stand for all that’s memorable about film noir. The indifference, the wittiness, and the moral ambiguity that define each urban knight has since become the stuff of parodied legend. We’re talking about the mediators between the crooks and the cops, the embodiment of back alley grayness that’s so tough to pin down. P.I.’s could cooperate with the law if needed, but they could just as soon do business with the bad guys for the right price. To a certain extent, that is – shamus work has always attracted the ignored and the ethical. The Wild West has mythical men with no name, The Asphalt Jungle has names with investigating licenses attached to them. Instead of a poncho and a ten gallon hat, they’re provided a fedora and trench coat.

The archetype has undergone many faces throughout Hollywood’s history,...

The fine folks at Flicker Alley have just announced two new Blu-rays coming in April 2016:

Flicker Alley, the Film Noir Foundation, and UCLA Film & Television Archive are proud to present two rediscovered gems of film noir, Too Late for Tears and Woman on the Run, both brilliantly restored in brand-new Blu-ray/DVD dual-format editions.

Here is a preview of Noir City, included in the supplements.

Here is the press release they’ve sent out:

Flicker Alley, the Film Noir Foundation, and UCLA Film & Television Archive are proud to present two rediscovered gems of film noir, Too Late for Tears and Woman on the Run, both brilliantly restored in brand-new Blu-ray/DVD dual-format editions.

Too Late For Tears

Finally! One of the great missing films of the classic noir era-resurrected! Rescued and preserved after a five-year crusade by the Film Noir Foundation, this 1949 classic is at long last available in a clean digital version,...

Too Late for Tears

Written by Roy Huggins

Directed by Bryon Haskin

U.S.A., 1949

Alan and Jane Palmer (Arthur Kennedy and Lizabeth Scott respectively) are driving up a lonely road one evening for a dinner party hosted by some of the husband’s friends. Jane, incessant in her pleads to turn around, has Alan stop the car for a moment at which point another vehicle heading in the opposite direction passes by. One of its occupants tosses a large duffle bag in their vehicle. Upon inspecting its contents the married couple discover hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. A third vehicle fast approaches and gives them chase, and while the duo escape whomever it was that pursued them along the dusty road, it is clear that someone is after the hefty sum currently in their possession. Jane is over the moon with their discovery whereas Alan would prefer to have nothing of it.

A version of this story first appeared in the Aug. 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Roy Price comes from a long line of Hollywood executives. His father, Frank Price, was president of Universal Pictures in the 1980s and his grandfather, Roy Huggins, co-created The Rockford Files. "We would watch dailies sometimes at home on Sunday night," he says. "You had to have a projector and a projectionist come over to your house to turn it on." Now, nearly 10 years after Price moved from Los Angeles to Seattle to help Amazon.com launch its own

read more...

James Garner, an actor best known for his portrayals of charming, wry anti-heroes in "The Rockford Files" and "Maverick", has died. He was 86.

He was born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928 in Norman, Oklahoma, the third and youngest son of Mildred and Weldon Bumgarner. His young life was very unsettled; at the age of four, his mother passed away, and James and his brothers Charles and Jack were sent away to live with relatives. When their father remarried in 1930 the boys were able to return home, but their stepmother mistreated them and the marriage ended after her cruelty to the boys, James in particular, grew untenable. Weldon, leaving the boys behind, moved to Los Angeles to look for steady work. After a brief stint in the Merchant Marines at the age of 16 (which ended due to his extreme seasickness), James followed his father to California, where he enrolled in Hollywood High School briefly. While there, he was recommended for a Jantzen swimsuit modeling job which turned out to be his first taste of Hollywood.

Grown tired of modeling and repelled by the phoniness of the Hollywood movie system, he returned to Norman and re-enrolled in high school there for a short time, before dropping out for good and enrolling in the National Guard. After a serious knee injury, he was discharged from the National Guard, only to be drafted by the Army in 1949 and sent to fight in Korea, where he was twice wounded and awarded two Purple Hearts.

After his discharge from the Army, he was persuaded by producer Paul Gregory, an old friend from his Hollywood High School days, to accept a role in his Broadway play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial". In taking the role and studying following Henry Fonda's performance every night, James learned what he deemed his most effective tool in acting: listening.

His Broadway experience led him back to Los Angeles, where he won roles in commercials and TV, eventually signing a contract with Warner Brothers, who changed his screen name to Garner without his permission for his appearance in the 1956 film The Girl He Left Behind. In that same year he met Lois Clark at a political rally, and the two married 14 days later. Garner adopted Lois’s daughter Kimberly, and the couple also had a daughter together, Greta. It was after Greta’s birth that he legally changed his surname to Garner, as he was concerned that his children would have too many last names.

In 1957, he won a lead in the new television series “Maverick”, the role in which he originated and refined the ‘charming and hesitantly heroic con-man’ persona that would resonate with audiences through the remainder of his career. His turn as Bret Maverick, first imagined as the focal point of a by-the-numbers Western soon morphed into a new sort of anti-hero, one with a sense of humor who would rather charm than shoot or fight his way out of a bad situation. This portrayal of Bret earned him a Golden Globe in 1958, and an Emmy nomination in 1957. Network concerns led James to leave the show in 1960 and head back to feature films, where he relied on his life’s experiences to flesh out roles in a varied collection of films: the dramatic The Children’s Hour; war movies The Great Escape, 36 Hours and The Americanization of Emily; romantic comedies The Thrill Of It All and Move Over Darling and even racing drama Grand Prix. It was during Grand Prix that Garner discovered one of his life’s passions – auto racing – that would inspire him to support a racing team himself.

In 1970, he joined forces once again with “Maverick” creator Roy Huggins and writer Stephen J. Cannell to bring a new detective show to television, “The Rockford Files”. Much like they had in “Maverick”, they used the show to reinvent the detective genre. Gone were the hard-nosed gumshoe tactics and gunplay used in noir-inspired private investigator series, replaced by Jim Rockford’s easygoing personality and wit as the main tools used to solve robberies, insurance scams and the like. The show would run for six seasons before Garner’s stunt injuries and financial disputes ended the run, but not without Garner earning a Best Actor Emmy in 1977. In between film roles, Garner would revisit the character several times during the next few decades in made-for-TV movies, as the original show’s growing popularity in re-runs fueled demand for more Jim Rockford tales from a new generation of fans.

Garner’s film career continued alongside his major TV successes for the next 3 decades. Cinematic roles in Victor/Victoria, Murphy's Romance (which earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination), Tank, Twilight, Maverick, Space Cowboys, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Notebook were interspersed with appearances in TV movies and series such as “Bret Maverick”, “Man of the People” “Chicago Hope” “First Monday” and “8 Rules for Dating Your Teenage Daughter.” Though he had experienced physical injuries in sports, war and during stunt work and had recovered from quintuple heart bypass in 1998, it wasn’t until suffering a stroke in 2008 that his work slowed.

He is survived by his wife Lois and his daughters Greta and Kimberly. He was preceded in death by his brother Charles in 1985.

There have arguably been bigger stars in television history than the late James Garner, but none who ever made it look quite so easy. Garner, who reportedly died in his home on Saturday at the age of 86, first hit it big in 1957 with "Maverick," a comical Western in which he played Bret Maverick, a Wild West cardsharp who was as quick on the draw as he was with a quip. At a time when TV was dominated by Westerns — and very solemn ones, at that — Garner was happy to play the same material lighter, to occasionally be the clown or the guy who gets punched in the face, and yet always made it clear that Maverick could easily kill you if he wanted to — it just wasn't his preferred way of doing things. Garner left Maverick after only a few seasons (and had spent much of that time alternating episodes...

Review Gem Wheeler 16 Apr 2014 - 17:29

Morse is on the scent of serial killer in the latest episode of Endeavour. Here's Gem's review of Sway...

This review contains spoilers.

2.3 Sway

A serial killer is stalking Oxford in autumn 1966, and Vivienne Haldane, wife of an eminent physicist at the university, is the latest victim. Morse quickly establishes a pattern to the murders; apart from the fact that all three dead women were found with a particular brand of expensive silk stocking, ‘Le Minou Noir’, around their necks, each was married, but has had her wedding ring removed by the killer. Pathologist Dr DeBryn finds that Mrs Haldane had had intercourse not long before her death, but it was certainly not with husband Rufus (Michael Thomas), from whom she had long been estranged. The hunt is on for a murderer with a type: married women who he seduces and kills, for reasons...

Novelist/screenwriter Chuck Hogan, who co-created the upcoming FX series The Strain with Guillermo del Toro, has signed on to rewrite the script for Universal Pictures' The Rockford Files.

This project has been in development since April 2012, when Vince Vaughn became attached to star. Chuck Hogan will rewrite the original draft by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders), adapted from The Rockford Files TV series, which ran from 1974 to 1980.

James Garner starred as private detective James Rockford in the series, which was created by Stephen J. Cannell and Roy Huggins. The show followed the adventures of this ex-con turned private eye, who worked out of his mobile home in Malibu and had a penchant for talking his way out of troublesome situations. No story details were given for this new theatrical version.

Vince Vaughn and Victoria Vaughn are producing through their Wild West Picture Show Productions company, which is based at Universal.

Exclusive: Universal Pictures is bringing in Chuck Hogan to rewrite The Rockford Files for Vince Vaughn to star. Hogan takes on the job as FX has set The Strain, his collaboration with Guillermo del Toro, for summer, and he adapts Thirteen Hours: A Firsthand Account Of What Really Happened In Benghazi for Paramount, the book that author Mitchell Zuckoff wrote with surviving members of the Annex Security Team who fought the battle that led to the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. Hogan, whose novel Prince Of Thieves was the basis for the superb Ben Affleck-directed crime thriller The Town, will rewrite the Rockford script originally penned by script team of David Levien and Brian Koppelman. Vaughn is going to play Jim Rockford, in a feature adaptation of the memorable series that ran on NBC from 1974-80 and featured James Garner as the down-and-out private eye.

Twenty years ago, "The Fugitive" debuted in theaters. It was a solid big-screen adaptation of the '60s TV series and made major bank at the box office with $369 million. It was also a critical smash and an awards-getter, a surprise for a movie based on a TV series.

Star Joe Pantoliano later recalled "I remember one day, me and Tommy Lee [Jones] were driving back to the airport after shooting, and he said something like 'It's not like any of us are going to win any Oscars for this!'"

How wrong you were, Mr. Jones! The film not only earned Jones a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, but it was also nominated for Best Picture and five other Academy Awards.

Though "The Fugitive" is a movie most of you have probably watched repeatedly, here are a few things you might not have known about the film.

1. Harrison Ford was not...

The Fugitive

Directed by Andrew Davis

Written by David Twohy & Jeb Stuart

Us, 1993

There’s something fundamentally bizarre about a film nominated for seven academy awards, including best picture, being underrated. In fact, said film can’t even be cited as the victim of an Oscar backlash, and if esteemed net sources such as Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic are to be taken at face value there certainly wasn’t a lack of critical esteem, and it’s reputed enough to be have been lampooned and referenced in various comedies and TV shows. Considering that on top of that The Fugitive is a huge amount of fun, and features two great household names delivering career best performances, the lack of love is a mystery.

Based on the popular 60’s TV show of the same name, even if only its blueprint, The Fugitive sees successful doctor Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) wrongly convicted...

NBC's reboot of The Rockford Files failed to move forward as a TV series but now a feature film is in the works.

According to Deadline, David Levien and Brian Koppelman have been hired by Universal Pictures to write a Rockford Files movie, based on the 1974-80 TV series. The film is being developed as a star vehicle for Vince Vaughn. The actor and his older sister, Victoria Vaughn, will produce through their Wild West Picture Show Productions company which operates out of Universal.

James Garner stars in the original TV show as down-and-out private eye Jim Rockford. Created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell, Rockford was a private eye who'd served time in San Quentin due to a wrongful conviction.

Unlike other detective characters of the day, Rockford was often disheveled, would use his charms and feet to get...

Another '70s cop show is about to make the jump to the big screen as Universal Pictures is currently in the process of setting up a feature film adaptation of The Rockford Files. The original show aired between 1974 and 1980 on NBC and starred James Garner as Jim Rockford, a private eye who spent a few years in prison before setting up shop in a mobile home near Malibu Beach. It was created by novelist Roy Huggins, the man behind such memorable shows as The Fugitive and Maverick (the latter of which also starred James Garner). Vince Vaughn is attached to star and produce in the movie, which leads to one very important question: will this be a comedy or a drama? According to Deadline, Universal was contemplating a TV reboot of The Rockford Files up until last year with Dermot Mulroney in the lead role. The project was shelved...

A movie of "The Rockford Files?" Vince Vaughn is on the case.

The star of this summer's "Neighborhood Watch" will soon be sleuthing around as he takes on the lead role in the adaptation of the 1970s drama series, according to Deadline.

"The Rockford Files" starred James Garner as Jim Rockford, a Los Angeles-based private investigator who applied his wits and charm to solving a different case each week. The series, aired from Sept. 10, 1974 through Jan. 10, 1980, was co-created by Roy Huggins, the producer of another hit Garner series, "Maverick."

"Rockford" will be Vaughn's second film based on a television show after his villainous turn in "Starsky & Hutch" (2004). While the search is on for a director, David Levien and Brian Koppelman ("Rounders," "Ocean's Thirteen") are signed on to pen the screenplay; the writing duo also recently became attached to "Runner Runner," the online gambling thriller starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.

A TV series from days gone by sitting around, not yet marched off to the adaptation factory? A crime, surely! So Universal is making sure to take one more show off that list, setting up a film of ‘70s ‘tec show The Rockford Files as a likely starring vehicle for Vince Vaughn.The original show, created by Roy Huggins and prolific producer Stephen J Cannell, found James Garner as beach-bum gumshoe who lived in a mobile home in Malibu. He dressed even more shabbily than Columbo and tended to use his guile and gift for the gab to get himself out of trouble instead of reaching for a weapon.The series ran between 1974 and 1980, and attracted quite the following, which means there will be plenty of eyes on this one if it makes it through the development woods. Vaughn seems like he could handle the chatty charm of Garner’s performance,...

Exclusive: Universal Pictures has set David Levien and Brian Koppelman to write The Rockford Files, a feature adaptation of the memorable series that ran on NBC from 1974-80 and featured James Garner as the down-and-out private eye. The studio will develop the film as a star vehicle for Vince Vaughn to play Rockford, and Vaughn and Victoria Vaughn will produce through their Universal-based Wild West Picture Show Productions banner. In the original series created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell, Rockford was a private eye who’d spent a few years in San Quentin before being pardoned. He worked and lived out of a mobile home near the beach in Malibu, and unlike most of his TV detective peers, he dressed disheveled, and mostly used his charm and guile to talk his way out of trouble, instead of shooting. Vaughn certainly has that verbal dexterity. Universal’s sister network...

The Rockford Files to star Vince Vaughn in feature adaptation of NBC series. Universal's hired Brian Koppelman and David Levien for scripting duties on The Rockford Files, adapted from the series which ran on NBC from 1974-1980, reports Deadline. The original series created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell, also included Noah Beery Jr. and Joe Santos, and was a Golden Globe nominee, as well as winner of several Emmy Awards. Story told of an easy-going private detective who served time in San Quentin and, after being pardoned, lived in a mobile home in Malibu. Vaughn will also produce The Rockford Files with Victoria Vaughn via their Wild West Picture Show Productions.

The Rockford Files to star Vince Vaughn in feature adaptation of NBC series. Universal's hired Brian Koppelman and David Levien for scripting duties on The Rockford Files, adapted from the series which ran on NBC from 1974-1980, reports Deadline. The original series created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell, also included Noah Beery Jr. and Joe Santos, and was a Golden Globe nominee, as well as winner of several Emmy Awards. Story told of an easy-going private detective who served time in San Quentin and, after being pardoned, lived in a mobile home in Malibu. Vaughn will also produce The Rockford Files with Victoria Vaughn via their Wild West Picture Show Productions.

Stephen J. Cannell didn’t produce every show on television during the late 1970s and 1980s—it just seemed like he did. The Rockford Files. The Greatest American Hero. The A-Team. Over the course of a 40-year career, Cannell, who died Friday at age 69, produced more than 40 TV series. For anyone who grew up on his shows, the man and his creations simply defined television.

While it’s natural for any appreciation of Cannell’s career to begin by noting how prolific he was, a closer look at that considerable body of work reminds us that entertaining TV—and certainly...

By Harris Lentz, III

Adele Mara was an actress in films in the 1940s and 1950s, and was John Wayne’s leading lady in the films Wake of the Red Witch and Sands of Iwo Jima. She also starred in the 1945 Republic horror film The Vampire’s Ghost with John Abbott and Peggy Stewart, and The Catman of Paris (1946) with Carl Esmond.

She was born Adelaide Delgado in Highland Park, Michigan, on April 28, 1923. She began her career in her teens as a singer and dancer with Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra in Detroit. She traveled to New York with Cugat, where she signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1942. She appeared in a handful of films over the next several years including Alias Boston Blackie (1942) with Chester Morris, Vengeance of the West (1942) with Tex Ritter, and Crime Doctor (1943) with Warner Baxter. She subsequently signed with Republic Studios, and continued her...

Adele Mara, a film and TV actress who played opposite John Wayne in 1949's "Sands of Iwo Jima," died May 7 of natural causes at her home in Pacific Palisades. She was 87.

Mara, a dancer with Xavier Cugat and his orchestra in Detroit by the age of 15, was spotted by a Columbia talent scout in New York and signed in 1942.

The brown-eyed Spanish-American brunette went on to play brisk leading ladies in such 1942 B-movies as "Vengeance of the West" with Tex Ritter and "Alias Boston Blackie" starring Chester Morris.

A few years later, Mara was transformed into a sexy platinum blonde pin-up after signing up with Republic Studios and appeared as senoritas opposite Roy Rogers in "Bells of Rosarita" (1945) and Gene Autry in "Twilight on the Rio Grande" (1947).

She also appeared in crime dramas including 1947 pics "Blackmail" and "Web of Danger" and in adventures "Wake of the Red Witch" (1948) with Wayne...

Adele Mara, John Wayne's leading lady in war movie classic Sands Of Iwo Jima has died, aged 87.

The actress died of natural causes at her home in Pacific Palisades, California on Friday.

Born in Michigan, she started out as a dancer and was discovered by bandleader Xavier Cugat and toured with him.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles at the beginning of the 1940s, Mara quickly became a regular face on the big and small screen.

As well as John Wayne's 1949 movie, her credits include Angel in Exile and her late husband Roy Huggins' TV shows 77 Sunset Strip and Maverick.

Warner Bros will adapt the TV series "77 Sunset Strip" into a period feature, directed by Greg Berlanti, from a screenplay by Stephen Chin. Berlanti will also produce with A. Scott Berg and Kevin McCormick.

"77 Sunset Strip" starred actors Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith and Edd Byrnes, based on novels/short stories written by creator Roy Huggins.

The show aired from 1958 to 1964, winning a 1960 Golden Globe Award for best TV series, revolving around La detectives, 'Stuart ("Stu") Bailey', a character Huggins originated in his 1946 novel "The Double Take" and 'Jeff Spencer', a non-practicing attorney. The duo worked out of an office at 77 Sunset Strip, between La Cienega Boulevard and Alta Loma Road on the south side of the Strip.

Comic relief was provided by racetrack personality 'Roscoe' and 'Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III', a hipster and aspiring P.I. who worked as a valet parking attendant at Dino's, the club next door to the detectives' office.

"77 Sunset Strip" was a television show that ran from 1958 until 1964 about a pair of womanizing, wisecracking L.A. detectives based on a series of novels and short stories written by Roy Huggins. It starred Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith. If that means nothing to you, don't feel too bad. I'd never heard of it, either.

That doesn't change the fact, however, that Warner Brothers and Laurence Mark Productions are adapting the series for the big screen. It's not unusual, of course, to adapt a television show into a movie, but one generally does it because the television series carries a certain brand cachet. I'm not sure how much of a built-in audience there is for "77 Sunset Strip," or at least a built in audience under the age of 60.

Still, perhaps there's some interesting dynamic between the wisecracking L.A. detectives, or a conceit within the show that makes it...

Dermot Mulroney has joined NBC's "The Rockford Files." This marks the actor's first regular TV role. He'll play the iconic private eye in the updated take on the 1970s drama that starred James Garner in the title role. Also in the original cast were Noah Beery Jr. and Joe Santos. Stephen J. Cannell and Roy Huggins created the original series. The new Jim Rockford is described as "slightly crumpled, wry humored, cynical, world weary, compassionate when it's called for and easily irritated by morons."...

It would appear that NBC were very serious indeed when they mentioned that they were bringing 70’s detective Jim Rockford back to TV screens for a modern take on the weary detective.

Producers Steve Carell and David Shore now have a replacement for original Rockford Files star James Garner in the form of Dermot Mulroney.

The Rockford Files was an Emmy Award winning detective series about a down on his luck Private detective with a copper Firebird (and an answering machine), who lived in a caravan on the Californian beach. His low level cases were often dangerous, and sometimes he would work the case without getting paid (despite his best efforts).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new Jim Rockford is described as “slightly crumpled, wry humored, cynical, world weary, compassionate when it’s called for and easily irritated by morons.”

The trade paper also states that his “troubled past...

NBC, Universal Media Studios and Steve Carell's Carousel Television have signed House creator-executive producer David Shore to shepherd a remake of the classic 1974-80 crime drama The Rockford Files. Rockford, which earned the Emmy for drama series in 1978, starred James Garner as the title character, an ex-con private eye who lived in a trailer in Malibu. The series proved to be a training ground for a number of future TV heavyweights, including scribes David Chase (The Sopranos) and Chas. Floyd Johnson (Magnum P.I.) and actor Tom Selleck. Shore's just starting to think about an approach to bring The Rockford Files into the present day, but he intends to stick with the basic foundation of a private eye in L.A. just trying to make a living. The idea for a Rockford revival came from Carousel, which inquired about the rights to the Universal TV property after Carousel cut...

Revisiting the exciting milieu of Warner Bros.' 1993 boxoffice smash "The Fugitive", but with one notable difference in the absence of superstar Harrison Ford as the wily good guy on the run, "U.S. Marshals" is a satisfying action extravaganza with Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones returning as the tough, relentless Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard.

Stuart Baird ("Executive Action") marshals his troops with finesse, and debut screenwriter John Pogue has come up with inventive ways to pay homage to writer Roy Huggins' characters and the original film.

Produced by Arnold and Anne Kopelson, the wide release won't chase down the big numbers of its predecessor, but it's a sure-fire winner worldwide and should not escape the attention of video renters.

The success of "The Fugitive" was rightly recognized as the dual attraction of Ford's heroic doctor on a quest to clear his name and the professionalism of Jones' driven bogyman to the bad guys. Diverging from the original premise, "U.S. Marshals" lacks the first film's simple, dynamic structure and the strong emotional bonds one forms with the desperate "runner."

Instead, there's a big question as to whose side the current film's fugitive is on. Seen first in a spectacular curtain-raising traffic accident that lands him in the hospital, tow truck driver Sheridan (Wesley Snipes) is battered but in for far worse when the police find a concealed weapon in his truck. Seems the gun was used in a double homicide.

In short order he's put on a prisoner transport plane, and before one can say "Con Air" ten times, an assassin among the convicts tries to shoot him and causes a nasty crash landing instead. Also on board is Gerard, and he helps rescue the survivors after the plane lands on a rural road, flattens a bunch of telephone poles, skids off the road, flips over and lands upside down in the Ohio River.

The plane crash is the analog of the first film's knockout train-and-bus wreck, whose jump-off-the-dam scene is replayed with Sheridan swinging off a building in a move that would have Quasimodo demanding a stunt double. Overall, from the early tracking of the enigmatic Sheridan through the woods near the plane crash to the climactic rounds of cat-and-mouse pursuits and surprise gun battles in New York, Baird and crew successfully keep the tension high despite some confusing plot points.

Sheridan is both a runner and shooter, as Gerard finds out in one point-blank encounter, but it's a bit frustrating the way the audience is kept in the dark about his true identity and how he connects to the murders that one is initially led to believe he knows nothing about. Indeed, the focus is squarely on Gerard and his team, including returnees from the first film Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck and Tom Wood.

As such, "U.S. Marshals" is a showcase for Jones, and he comes through with another convincing, grounded performance. He's hurt but doesn't take it personally when he's shot at, yet he has an emotional side that comes out when one of his comrades is killed. With a more potent motive for risking life and limb than in the first film, Gerard also makes a mistake or two in figuring out who is the real bad guy.

Kate Nelligan is elegantly authoritative as Gerard's boss. While government agent Robert Downey Jr. is a bit too devious-looking from the outset, the actor has several fine moments playing the outsider on Team U.S. Marshals.

Well mounted in all regards, the elaborate production has a rugged physicality and mostly believable sequences, with the solid contributions of mechanical-effects supervisor Mike Meinardus, visual effects-designer Peter Donen and stunt coordinator Gary Davis.

U.S. MARSHALS

Warner Bros.

A Kopelson Entertainment/Keith Barish production

Director: Stuart Baird

Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson

Based on characters created by: Roy Huggins

Screenwriter: John Pogue

Executive producers: Keith Barish, Roy Huggins

Co-executive producer: Wolfgang Glattes

Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Director of photography: Andrzej Bartkowiak

Production designer: Maher Ahmad

Editor: Terry Rawlings

Color/stereo

Cast:

Gerard: Tommy Lee Jones

Sheridan: Wesley Snipes

John Royce: Robert Downey Jr.

Renfro: Joe Pantoliano

Walsh: Kate Nelligan

Marie: Irene Jacob

Biggs: Daniel Roebuck

Newman: Tom Wood

Running time -- 131 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...