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Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" is a controversial horror classic with a legacy that transcends cinema. Not only is it a terrifying tale of Satanic cults and devilish pregnancies, but the apartment the movie was shot in is reportedly haunted. What's more, the wave of real-life deaths surrounding "Rosemary's Baby" has given it a "cursed" reputation, further adding to its eerie sensibilities. Polanski's chiller is infamous, but the same can't be said about its sequel, "Look What Happened to Rosemary's Baby" -- a made-for-television cheapie from 1976 that most people have forgotten about. Either that, or they are trying their best to erase it from their memories.

Directed by Sam O'Steen, the forgotten ABC sequel chronicles Rosemary's son, Andrew (Stephen McHattie), from his childhood through to his adult years. What a life he lives, too, as he's kidnapped by a sex worker, Marjean (Tina Louise), at an early age and...

Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep revealed her admiration for actresses who move into production having achieved fame on the big screen in an onstage conversation Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival.

“There are so many women are producing for themselves and I’m so in awe of the ones who have done that. Reese [Witherspoon] and Nicole [Kidman], Natalie Portman. Everybody has their own production company,” she said.

“I have a production company of babies and that’s what I’ve produced, but I didn’t ever want to get phone calls after seven o’clock at night. So, I never did that. I’m in awe of people who do that. There are only so many hours in the day,”’ said Streep, who had highlighted earlier that she was a mother of four, and grandmother of five.

Streep was speaking to a packed Debussy Theatre in Cannes, where she was the...

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here – today – we talk about movie Editors! Not the movies they edited that were legendary but the less legendary ones in between.

Today we speak with the great editor Darrin Navarro about the lauded editor Sam O’Steen, who worked on such masterpieces as The Graduate, Rosemary’s Baby, and Chinatown. The O’Steen-edited films we cover today are: The Day of the Dolphin, Straight Time, Nadine, and A Dry White Season.

Navarro talks about the editing process with William Friedkin (and how it changed a bit with The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial), how knowing when not to cut is as important as knowing when to cut when editing a film, O’Steen’s essential book Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America’s Favourite Movies (written with his wife Bobbie O’Steen), and what a gem of a film Nadine is.

Highlights include...

The episode of The Test of Time covering Exorcist II: The Heretic was Written by Andrew Hatfield, Narrated by Niki Minter, Edited by Mike Conway, Produced by John Fallon and Tyler Nichols, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Here at Test of Time, the whole idea of the show is to look at a classic, either objectively through critical praise, box office revenue, or even things like reputation or cult classic status. The three of us, writer Andrew, narrator Niki, and editor Mike like to discuss what we think about whatever the movie is and have fun with it. Shouldn’t this be able to work in reverse though? What about a movie that is seen as bad? Shouldn’t it be looked at through a different lens via time and what we know now? Maybe a bad movie stays a bad movie but what if a reappraisal alters the opinion?...

We love rock & roll, and so do most moviegoers, which is why cinema is filled with heroes who get together with their friends to pound out some numbers. Whether they do it for fame and fortune or to just hang out with buddies, pop bands are inherently cinematic, tying together moving images and sound to create something spectacular. That’s particularly true of fictional groups, who often draw from real-world inspirations and transform them into moving protagonists or hated villains.

This list covers ten of the best fictional bands in cinema history. The key word here is “bands,” as we ignore solo acts, even from really good films. So Mac Sledge from Tender Mercies won’t show up, nor will Noni Jean from Beyond the Lights. Also, we’re looking at fictional groups here, so the Ramones from Rock & Roll High School don’t show up, nor do Talking Heads,...

Small thief and parolee Max Dembo is pinned in a parole system that all but guarantees he’ll go back to robbing banks and jewelry stores. Dustin Hoffman has one of his best and most unusual roles, taken from the story of a real bank robber. Directed by Ulu Grosbard, the docu-drama look at the seedy side of Los Angeles is graced with a perfect cast: Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, and Kathy Bates. Sure, the rotten parole officer drives Dembo back to crime, but pulling jobs is in his blood. It’s one of the best portraits of a criminal ever.

Straight Time

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 114 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date September 29, 2021 / 21.99

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, Rita Taggart, Kathy Bates, Sandy Baron, Jake Busey.

Cinematography: Owen Roizman

Art Director: Dick Lawrence

Film Editors: Sam O’Steen,...

They swim, they play, and they talk. They love George C. Scott and call him ‘pa.’ Mike Nichols’ paranoid sci-fi classic combines Lassie Go Home and The Manchurian Candidate. It works up a good guys versus bad guys conspiracy storyline — until the message arrives that what the adorable dolphins Fa and Bee really need, along with the rest of the natural planet, is for us greedy, murderous humans to just Go Away. Buck Henry’s screenplay overcomes aquatic clichés and cutesy animal traditions to come up with a crowd-pleasing winner.

The Day of the Dolphin

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1973 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Paul Sorvino, Fritz Weaver, Jon Korkes, Edward Herrmann, John Dehner, Severn Darden, Elizabeth Wilson.

Cinematography: William A. Fraker

Film Editor: Sam O’Steen

Production Designer: Richard Sylbert

Original Music: Georges Delerue

Written by Buck...

Stand back, watch the fur fly and don't forget to duck -- this is surely the most psychologically toxic play ever adapted for film. The legends Liz and Dick are terrific, and Mike Nichols conquers the screen in his first job of direction. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1966 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date May 3, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis. Cinematography Haskell Wexler Film Editor Sam O'Steen Original Music Alex North Written by Ernest Lehman from the play by Edward Albee Produced by Ernest Lehman Directed by Mike Nichols

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I remember what my reaction was, when I was younger, to movies adapted from plays: no matter how brilliant the dialogue, the thought of people standing around rooms talking was stultifying. Even for great epics and action pictures, I tended to go into a...

What can you say to such success? Mike Nichols and Buck Henry's sex satire defined 'the generation gap' for the sixties. Dustin Hoffman sprang forward from obscurity and Katharine Ross was the object of California desire. Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson freed the image of the 'complicated woman' from the clutches of the Production Code Stone Age. The broad comedy scores with every joke, and there's a truth beneath all the odd things that ought not to work. The Graduate Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 800 1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 23, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, Buck Henry, Brian Avery, Walter Brooke, Norman Fell, Alice Ghostley, Marion Lorne, Eddra Gale, Richard Dreyfuss, Mike Farrell, Elisabeth Fraser, Donald F. Glut, Elaine May, Lainie Miller, Ben Murphy. Cinematography Robert Surtees Film Editor Sam O'Steen Production Design Richard Sylbert...

And here's to you, Criterion Collection! The home video company just announced its February 2016 slate of releases, topped by Mike Nichols' The Graduate. Dustin Hoffman's star-making performance as recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock, who begins an affair with spiky family friend Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) for lack of anything else to do except contemplate his future, may have marked a turning point in modern cinema, but it's also an immensely easy movie to enjoy as a comedy of manners. This edition includes a new interview with Hoffman, a new conversation between producer Lawrence Turman and screenwriter Buck Henry, and a new interview about editor Sam O'Steen. As usual, Criterion has gathered a host of interesting archival materials to go with the new 4K digital...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Now this is a list that could result in a lot of fascinating dissection and thanks to HitFix it comes to our attention almost three years after it was originally released back in 2012, celebrating the Motion Picture Editors Guild's 75th anniversary. Over at HitFix, Kris Tapley asks, "Is this news to anyone elsec" Um, yes, I find it immensely interesting and a perfect starting point for anyone looking to further explore the art of film editing. In an accompanying article we get the particulars concerning what films were eligible and how films were to be considered: In our Jan-feb 12 issue, we asked Guild members to vote on what they consider to be the Best Edited Films of all time. Any feature-length film from any country in the world was eligible. And by "Best Edited," we explained, we didn't just mean picture; sound, music and mixing were to be considered as well.

A random bit of researching on a Tuesday night led me to something I didn't know existed: The Motion Picture Editors Guild's list of the 75 best-edited films of all time. It was a feature in part celebrating the Guild's 75th anniversary in 2012. Is this news to anyone else? I confess to having missed it entirely. Naturally, I had to dig in. What was immediately striking to me about the list — which was decided upon by the Guild membership and, per instruction, was considered in terms of picture and sound editorial as opposed to just the former — was the most popular decade ranking. Naturally, the 1970s led with 17 mentions, but right on its heels was the 1990s. I wouldn't have expected that but I happen to agree with the assessment. Thelma Schoonmaker's work on "Raging Bull" came out on top, an objectively difficult choice to dispute, really. It was so transformative,...

The entertainment world shifted its focus to Whitney Houston late Saturday and into Sunday morning following the news of the 48-year-old singer.s untimely passing. In the short term, many of her fans are bracing for a heartfelt tribute to the pop sensation during Sunday night.s Grammy Awards. In the long term, however, we.re happy to report that Houston has at least one more film project that will see the light of day later this year, giving her grieving supporters something to look forward to. Houston filmed scenes for Salim Akil.s Sparkle alongside American Idol winner Jordan Sparks, Mike Epps and Derek Luke, and Sony today confirmed that they plan to release the musical drama in August, according to THR. A remake of the Sam O'Steen 1976 picture, Sparkle stars Sparks as a bright, young up-and-comer who transitions from the Gospel choir to the big-time stage. The original...

It's surprising how rapidly the remake of Sam O'Steen's Sparkle is coming together. While the project stuttered in development hell for an extended period of time, it's all been working out these past two weeks. First, Whitney Houston, Jordin Sparks and Mike Epps signed on to star in the film with Jumping The Broom helmer Salim Akil in the director's chair, and now, according to Black Film, Derek Luke has also joined the cast. Confirmed in an interview with producer Debra Martin Chase, Luke will play Stix, the part played by Miami Vice's Philip Michael Thomas in the original. The story follows a group of three young singers, led by a girl named Sparkle (Jordin Sparks), as they move from the church choir to the big time. In addition to being a budding songwriter, Stix also serves as the group's manager and is Sparkle's love interest. Houston...

London, Sep 14: Singer Whitney Houston is reportedly planning to make her big screen comeback with the remake of 1976 film 'Sparkle'.

Houston was last seen in 'The Preacher's Wife' in the year 1996 but now she is in negotiations to return to acting after 15 years, reports contactmusic.com.

'Sparkle', directed by Sam O'Steen, was the story about three sisters who form a musical group in the 1960s.

Ians...

When Cinematical staff first discussed the "Montages We Love" series, the image that popped into my head was a classic: the from-bed-to-pool montage in the 1967 film The Graduate. This is my favorite part of the Mike Nichols-directed movie -- yes, even better than the "plastics" line and the bit with Buck Henry and that iconic scene at the end.

The montage is a triumph of clever editing, thanks to Nichols and editor Sam O'Steen, whose other credits include Cool Hand Luke, Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. It begins with Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) lazing in his parents' swimming pool, then as he leaves the pool and pulls on a shirt, he's revealed to be in a hotel room with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" and then "April, Come She Will" play in the background as Ben shifts from his bed to the pool to the hotel,...