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Phil Karlson’s The Scarface Mob was originally made as a two-part pilot for the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse anthology series before the 80-minute episodes were re-cut for theatrical release. Given the sterility of so much dramatic television in the 1950s, it’s hard to imagine Karlson—best known for hard-hitting noirs like Kansas City Confidential and The Phenix City Story—seeing the format as suitable for his style. But Desi Arnaz, a huge admirer of the latter film, promised Karlson no studio interference. And while The Scarface Mob’s story presents a clear battle between good and evil in the form of Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) and Al Capone’s (Neville Brand) Chicago bootlegging empire, Karlson’s gritty brutality finds its way on-screen as the film conflates the maniacal ruthlessness of both men’s actions.

Stack’s performance went a long way in cementing Ness’s legacy in the public imagination.

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Sara Shane, who starred opposite Gordon Scott in Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure and appeared alongside Clark Gable in The King and Four Queens, has died. She was 94.

Shane died July 31 on the Gold Coast of Australia, her family announced.

Shane also starred with Kathleen Hughes and Marla English in the melodrama Three Bad Sisters (1956) and had the female lead in Affair in Havana (1957), featuring John Cassavetes and Raymond Burr.

With the Jane character absent in the John Guillermin-directed Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959), Shane stepped in to portray Angie Loring, an American model and pilot who meets up with the King of the Jungle in Africa. The film was Scott’s fourth as Tarzan.

And in The King and Four Queens (1956), helmed by Raoul Walsh, Shane played Oralie McDade, one of four young widows — Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes and Barbara Nichols are the others — who...

Legendary screenwriter and director Shane Black discusses some of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

High and Low (1963)

Hard Times (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Beguiled (1971) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Kino Lorber Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s Twilight Time Blu-ray review

Convoy (1978) – Dennis Cozzalio’s review

8 Heads In A Duffel Bag (1997)

Diner (1982)

The Bodyguard (1992)

12 Angry Men (1957)

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Fist of Fury a.k.a. The Chinese Connection (1972) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary...

New superlatives are needed to express just how good is this wonderful Americana musical from the 1950s boom years. The Broadway creator tapped Hollywood’s most qualified (and creative) director of musicals for the stage to screen conversion, retaining much of the original New York talent. Doris Day is a sensation as Babe Williams, whose romantic and labor problems play out at a sleepwear factory. The color design is a delight, every song is a keeper, and the talent on view makes one want to clap, sixty-five years later.

The Pajama Game

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1957 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date January 26, 2021 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Doris Day, John Raitt, Carol Haney, Eddie Foy Jr., Reta Shaw, Barbara Nichols, Thelma Pelish, Jack Straw.

Cinematography: Harry Stradling Sr.

Film Editor: William H. Ziegler

Art Direction: Malcolm C. Bert

Choreography: Bob Fosse

Musical Supervision: Ray Heindorf

Songs by: Richard Adler,...

One of the splashier WW2 combat sagas adapts Norman Mailer’s respected book but ends up a bona fide mess. Aldo Ray, Cliff Robertson and Raymond Massey flail about in a compromised screen story, augmented with side-dish appearances by sultry Barbara Nichols and — even though she’s allowed to contribute almost nothing — famous ecdysiast Lili St. Cyr. Let the search for outtakes begin.

The Naked and the Dead

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date August 28, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Aldo Ray, Cliff Robertson, Raymond Massey, Lili St. Cyr, Barbara Nichols, William Campbell, Richard Jaeckel, James Best, Joey Bishop, Jerry Paris, Robert Gist, L.Q. Jones, Max Showalter, John Beradino, Saundra Edwards, Lydia Goya, Val Hidey, Taffy O’Neil, Liz Renay, Grace Lee Whitney.

Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle

Film Editor: Arthur P. Schmidt

Original Music: Bernard Herrmann

Written by Denis Sanders & Terry Sanders from the novel by Norman...

Heading for Spring Break somewhere? Long before Girls Gone Wild, kids of the Kennedy years found their own paths to the desired fun in the sun, and most of them came back alive. MGM’s comedic look at the Ft. Lauderdale exodus is a half-corny but fully endearing show, featuring the great Dolores Hart and the debuts of Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss and Jim Hutton.

Where the Boys Are

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date July 25, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, Jim Hutton

Yvette Mimieux, George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin, Barbara Nichols, Chill Wills.

Cinematography: Robert Bronner

Art Direction: Preston Ames, George W. Davis

Film Editor: Fredric Steinkamp

Original Music: Pete Rugolo, Neil Sedaka, George Stoll, Victor Young

Written by George Wells from a novel by Glendon Swarthout

Produced by Joe Pasternak

Directed by Henry Levin

Ah yes, in 1960 first-wave Rock...

(See previous post: “Gay Pride Movie Series Comes to a Close: From Heterosexual Angst to Indonesian Coup.”) Ken Russell's Valentino (1977) is notable for starring ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev as silent era icon Rudolph Valentino, whose sexual orientation, despite countless gay rumors, seems to have been, according to the available evidence, heterosexual. (Valentino's supposed affair with fellow “Latin Lover” Ramon Novarro has no basis in reality.) The female cast is also impressive: Veteran Leslie Caron (Lili, Gigi) as stage and screen star Alla Nazimova, ex-The Mamas & the Papas singer Michelle Phillips as Valentino wife and Nazimova protégée Natacha Rambova, Felicity Kendal as screenwriter/producer June Mathis (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse), and Carol Kane – lately of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt fame. Bob Fosse's Cabaret (1972) is notable as one of the greatest musicals ever made. As a 1930s Cabaret presenter – and the Spirit of Germany – Joel Grey was the year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner. Liza Minnelli...

Turner Classic Movies' 2017 Gay Pride film series comes to a close this evening and tomorrow morning, Thursday–Friday, June 29–30, with the presentation of seven movies, hosted by TV interviewer Dave Karger and author William J. Mann, whose books include Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines and Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969. Among tonight's movies' Lgbt connections: Edward Albee, Tony Richardson, Evelyn Waugh, Tab Hunter, John Gielgud, Roddy McDowall, Linda Hunt, Harvey Fierstein, Rudolf Nureyev, Christopher Isherwood, Joel Grey, and Tommy Kirk. Update: Coincidentally, TCM's final 2017 Gay Pride celebration turned out to be held the evening before a couple of international events – and one non-event – demonstrated that despite noticeable progress in the last three decades, gay rights, even in the so-called “West,” still have a long way to go. In Texas, the state's – all-Republican – Supreme Court decided that married gays should be treated as separate and unequal. In...

Dana Andrews movies: Film noir actor excelled in both major and minor crime dramas. Dana Andrews movies: First-rate film noir actor excelled in both classics & minor fare One of the best-looking and most underrated actors of the studio era, Dana Andrews was a first-rate film noir/crime thriller star. Oftentimes dismissed as no more than a “dependable” or “reliable” leading man, in truth Andrews brought to life complex characters that never quite fit into the mold of Hollywood's standardized heroes – or rather, antiheroes. Unlike the cynical, tough-talking, and (albeit at times self-delusionally) self-confident characters played by the likes of Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and, however lazily, Robert Mitchum, Andrews created portrayals of tortured men at odds with their social standing, their sense of ethics, and even their romantic yearnings. Not infrequently, there was only a very fine line separating his (anti)heroes from most movie villains.

Clark Gable is still sufficiently frisky in this late career western to attract four well-chosen frontier women -- who in this case happen to be a quartet of robbers' wives, sitting on a rumored mountain of ill-gotten gains. Raoul Walsh abets the comedy-drama, as Gable's fox-in-a-henhouse tries to determine which hen can lead him to the promised golden eggs. The King and Four Queens Blu-ray Olive Films 1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date May 24, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Clark Gable, Eleanor Parker, Jo Van Fleet, Jean Willes, Barbara Nichols, Sara Shane, Roy Roberts, Arthur Shields, Jay C. Flippen. Cinematography Lucien Ballard Production Design Wiard Ihnen Film Editor Howard Bretherton Original Music Alex North Written by Richard Alan Simmons, Margaret Fitts from her story Produced by David Hempstead Directed by Raoul Walsh

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Olive's latest dip into MGM's United Artists holdings brings up the cheerful, not particularly...

Stars: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner, Jeff Donnell, Sam Levene, Joe Frisco, Barbara Nichols, Emile Meyer, Edith Atwater | Written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman | Directed by Alexander Mackendrick

When it comes to Arrow and the releases they output I’ll always be a fan of the Arrow Video line because of my love of everything cult and horror. A close second though has to be their Arrow Academy range, whereas the name suggest they give more of an education based on films from the past which deserve our attention just as much as any modern movie does. Sweet Smell of Success is the latest release and gives an insight into one of the more unique Hollywood movies not only of its times in the fifties, but still remains just as good today.

When J.J. Hensecker (Burt Lancaster) a powerful New York newspaper columnist decides to come...

Sweet Smell of Success

Written by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets

Directed Alexander Mackendrick

USA, 1957

For press agents and important newspaper columnists in the 1950s, Manhattan is the heart of the jungle. With stories floating out and about from Broadway, the visits of senators or even the domain of midlevel musical artists, the Big Apple is the hubbub of gossip and breathtaking opinion pieces, a virtual goldmine for press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) and widely read columnist J. J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). The latter’s every written word forms public opinion like that of few other writers, a power he relishes, a power that inflates his already considerable ego. The former is the sewer rat who digs up any bit of information he can on just about anything that sells a newspaper…and a whole lot of gossip can sell a newspaper. His latest assignment, decreed by his dictatorial ally J.

Joan Fontaine movies: ‘This Above All,’ ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ (photo: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine in ‘Suspicion’ publicity image) (See previous post: “Joan Fontaine Today.”) Also tonight on Turner Classic Movies, Joan Fontaine can be seen in today’s lone TCM premiere, the flag-waving 20th Century Fox release The Above All (1942), with Fontaine as an aristocratic (but socially conscious) English Rose named Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine was born to British parents in Japan) and Fox’s top male star, Tyrone Power, as her Awol romantic interest. This Above All was directed by Anatole Litvak, who would guide Olivia de Havilland in the major box-office hit The Snake Pit (1948), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nod. In Max Ophüls’ darkly romantic Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Fontaine delivers not only what is probably the greatest performance of her career, but also one of the greatest movie performances ever. Letter from an Unknown Woman...

Eleanor Parker 2013 movie series continues today (photo: Eleanor Parker in Detective Story) Palm Springs resident Eleanor Parker is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June 2013. Thus, eight more Eleanor Parker movies will be shown this evening on TCM. Parker turns 91 on Wednesday, June 26. (See also: “Eleanor Parker Today.”) Eleanor Parker received her second Best Actress Academy Award nomination for William Wyler’s crime drama Detective Story (1951). The movie itself feels dated, partly because of several melodramatic plot developments, and partly because of Kirk Douglas’ excessive theatricality as the detective whose story is told. Parker, however, is excellent as Douglas’ wife, though her role is subordinate to his. Just about as good is Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Lee Grant, whose career would be derailed by the anti-Red hysteria of the ’50s. Grant would make her comeback in the ’70s, eventually winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her...

Nobody likes hospitals, especially strippers who are compelled to visit the morgue in the basement in the middle of the night. The Twilight Zone, Episode #53: "Twenty-Two" (original air date 02/10/61) The Plot: A professional dancer has difficulty distinguishing between nightmare and reality after she's hospitalized to rest and recover from overwork and nervous fatigue. The Goods: Brassy blonde Liz Powell (Barbara Nichols), dressed in a clingy nightgown and talking with a definite Jean Hagen / Marilyn Monroe baby-doll lilt in her voice, is in good physical shape but has been suffering from nightmares. She imagines that she walks down to the hospital basement, directly to Room 22, which happens to be the hospital morgue, where a nurse flings open the door and intones:...