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It’s amazing what you can achieve with a trombone, a dream and the last name “Astor.”

14 Robert Loggia: 234

Loggia worked right up until the year he died, putting out three films in 2015 (and four more since then).

13 Ward Bond: 278

Bond and fellow USC football player John Wayne met director John Ford when the team was invited to appear in 1929’s Salute. Bond and Wayne caught Ford’s eye, and the two were recruited to appear in a ton of his films.

12 Michael Ironside: 285

Frederick Reginald Ironside has made his mark playing authority figures in movies and shows that conservatives love to interpret as instruction manuals for fascism, from Top Gun to Starship Troopers to Barry.

11 Christopher Lee: 288

Dracula, Dooku, Ludwig Karnstein, Drago, Frederic Regula, Borgia, Ottokar Graf Czerin… this guy loved playing Counts!

10 Mickey Rooney: 344

Joseph Yule Jr. began his career as a child...

Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Catherine Hardwicke and Jake Lacy are among the star-studded jury lineup for the 21st HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Running Aug. 7-17, the summer festival spotlights the best of shortform cinema, with winners of HollyShorts awards in four key categories earning automatic Oscar qualification: best short film grand prize, best animated short, best live action short, and best documentary short.

Imrie (Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) will adjudicate this year’s selection alongside Wilton (Downton Abbey), Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice), The White Lotus star Lacy, Essie Davis (The Babadook), Lewis Tan (Cobra Kai), Mena Suvari (American Beauty) and Twilight (2008) director Hardwicke.

Adam Graves, director of the Oscar-nominated short Anuja, will also sit on the jury, as will journalists Ward Bond, Matthew Carey and Ramin Zahed, among others. See the full jury lineup, exclusively given to The Hollywood Reporter,...

Throughout his 50-year filmmaking career, John Wayne was not much of a risk taker when it came to material. Once he broke through as a movie star with John Ford's template-setting Western "Stagecoach" in 1939, he mostly bounced back and forth between oaters and rah-rah war films. When he did futz with his image, he did so with great directors like Ford and Howard Hawks, whose judgment he implicitly trusted.

When it came to experimenting with emerging cinematic technology and new formats, however, Wayne was open to giving anything a whirl that would help movies stave off the stay-at-home threat of television. He made lots of films in Cinemascope and starred in "How the West Was Won," one of the first three-strip Cinerama movies. You might think the 3D fad of the 1950s would've been too sweaty for the Duke, but he actually teamed with director John Farrow to shoot...

The partnership between John Wayneand Ward Bond was more than just a professional collaboration, it was a friendship. Appearing in a whopping 23 movies together throughout their careers, with many under the direction of John Ford, Wayne's image as an icon of American heroism in the Old West and the battlefield was supported by the steady hand of Bond, a prolific character actor who you could always count on to play a sheriff, sergeant, or neighborly folk in a local town.

"It's a Wonderful Life" is one of the best Christmas movies of all time -- a fantastic, poignant movie that doubles as a great indictment of rampant capitalism. Though Frank Capra never expected this movie to be that popular, it has become an integral part of the holiday season for many American homes throughout December, as well as a staple of classic cinema in general.

The movie follows James Stewart's idealistic George Bailey, a man who hates the idea of living in his small hometown doing nothing but serving the community ... and yet, at every turn, he puts his own ambitions on the back burner in favor of helping others, his dreams constantly winding up on hold as incident after incident sends him on a different path than he imagined. But when he falls on hard times and the crushing fist of capitalism threatens to destroy his life's work,...

John Wayne made a secret appearance on famed Western series Wagon Train - though his voice still gave him away. There's a persistent rumor John Wayne turned down Gunsmoke, one of the longest-running TV shows in history. While major stars regularly cross over from movies to television now, this was almost unheard of back in the 1950s, and an actor of Wayne's stature would never have even considered fronting a TV show. Still, Wayne recorded an intro to Gunsmoke as a favor to leading man James Arness.

Aside from Gunsmoke, another of the major Western shows from this period was Wagon Train. Running for eight seasons, this followed the misadventures of the titular wagon train as it made its way to California and encountered guest stars like Charles Bronson, Leonard Nimoy and Bette Davis along the trail. Wagon Train itself was partly inspired by John Wayne's first major film The Big Trail...

This past holiday season, we shared some unconventional Christmas movie recommendations, like The Silent Partner, Anna and the Apocalypse, The Ref, and my own recommendation, Trancers. But even though I love Trancers and also watch Anna and the Apocalypse every December, my two favorite Christmas movies are not unconventional choices at all: every December 25th, I watch A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation. Very common choices. Someone else with very common choice for their favorite Christmas movie is filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who revealed to BFI that his holiday favorite is It’s a Wonderful Life.

Directed by Frank Capra, who crafted the screenplay with Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, and Jo Swerling, the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life was based on the short story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern (which was loosely based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol) . Here’s the synopsis: George Bailey has so many...

Along with many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, John Wayne often shared the screen with his real-life son, Patrick Wayne. John Wayne starred in several films that defined the genre and ultimately became the symbol of the classic Western hero — strong, tough, and resilient. His characters were often lawmen, cowboys, or soldiers who stood up for what was right, fighting against outlaws and injustices. From The Searchers to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the Duke was a central figure in Western movies that are now considered masterpieces.

If anybody embodies a genre, it’s John Wayne in Western movies, and it's no surprise many of his collaborations with his son were in Westerns. Patrick began his acting career alongside his father in movies like The Quiet Man and The Sun Shines Bright, working his way up from minor, uncredited roles to playing his father’s on-screen son. Notably, their...

Ward Bond, a familiar face in the classic Hollywood Western genre, was a frequent collaborator of John Wayne. In fact, he was one of John Waynes most frequent co-stars and he even left Wayne a shotgun in his will. Throughout his career, Bond appeared in numerous films, often portraying rugged, no-nonsense characters, including an astonishing 13 Best Picture nominees an enviable record for any actor.

While Ward Bond may not have been a leading man, his solid performances and distinctive presence made him a valuable asset to any movie he acted in, such as the historically just ridiculous 1956 epic The Searchers. From supporting roles to more substantial parts, Bond's contributions to the genre are sometimes overlooked.

Ward Bond Appeared In 13 Movies Nominated For Best Picture 3 Of These Movies Were Oscar Best Picture Wins

In todays Hollywood landscape, top-billing actors can be more selective with the roles they take. It is hard...

Over the course of his long Hollywood career, the Hollywood actor appeared in a whopping total of 26 John Wayne movies. Between the 1920s and 1970s, legendary movie star John Wayne starred in well over 100 movies, the vast majority being either Westerns or war movies. Based on that, it's no surprise that he would wind up reuniting with some of his former co-stars in another project at some point or another. However, there were some actors in Hollywood that became recurring co-stars and collaborators of Wayne's.

Easily the most high-profile of Wayne's partners in making movies were John Ford and Maureen O'Hara. A celebrated Western icon in his own right, Ford directed several of John Wayne's movies, including Stagecoach, The Quiet Man, and Rio Grande. As for Maureen O'Hara, she was the female lead in five John Wayne movies, each being a standout entry in the actor's filmography. But neither was...

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John Wayne, born in Iowa as Marion Robert Morrison in 1907, grew up to become one of the most famous figures in American film history. His family moved to Southern California when he was young, where he eventually attended the University of Southern California on a football scholarship. After an injury cut his athletic career short, Wayne turned to Hollywood. His first job in the film industry was as a prop boy and extra, before landing his first leading role in Raoul Walsh's 1930 film The Big Trail.

John Wayne's roles embodied the spirit of the American West, making him a symbol of the Western genre in Hollywood. His partnerships with legendary filmmakers like John Ford and Howard Hawks would yield numerous classics, including The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and El Dorado two of the best movies of his career. While it...

John Wayne defined the Western genre. Thanks to his fringe shirt, cowboy hat, and loping walk, one can't picture a Western hero without imagining his seismic imprint on the genre. However, even someone as prodigious as Wayne can't define American iconography alone. Wayne became the stuff of legends under the poetic and wondrous visions of John Ford and Howard Hawks, and he was supported by a recurring stock company of reliable character actors, including Ward Bond, Harry Carey Jr., Ben Johnson, and Maureen O'Hara. Starring in a movie with Wayne was like a family get-together, and no actor reached the status of surrogate blood relative quite like Paul Fix, a versatile and prolific character actor who appeared in a whopping 26 movies with The Duke, from his early days as a plucky outlaw to his final years as an aging guardian of the West.

Of all the incredible acting collaborations seen throughout the history of Hollywood, the pairing of John Wayne and Maureen OHara stood as one of cinemas greatest. With Waynes reputation as perhaps the best leading man of classic American cinema, and OHaras talent for portraying dynamic and passionate heroines, the two were a match made in heaven and to see them starring opposite one another was always a treat. Wayne and OHara collaborated with legendary filmmaker John Ford on three separate occasions which only added to the legacy of their work with one another.

The movies that starred both Wayne and OHara vary greatly and included fantastic Western team-ups, an idyllic rural romance, and even a slice-of-life laugh-out-loud comedy. Wayne and OHara played to each others strengths and their onscreen chemistry cemented their reputations as box office draws who teamed up five times for more than 20 years. With classic movies together,...

A historian rates The Searchers' Wild West scenes abysmal for realism, particularly the depiction of Cowboys versus Indians. The film is considered an iconic masterpiece but criticized for historical inaccuracies, and stereotypes about Comanche culture and Native Americans. The Searchers is based on true events but misrepresents the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, while white actors in redface reinforce racial stereotypes.

The Searchers receives an abysmal score for realism from a historian who calls it "just ridiculous." Directed by the legendary John Ford, the 1956 Western epic is set during the TexasIndian wars and follows a Civil War veteran, accompanied by his adopted nephew, who spends years searching for his niece who was abducted by Comanches. John Wayne leads the cast alongside Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, and Natalie Wood.

In a video from Insider, the cowboy and Old West historian Michael Grauer rated Wild West scenes in movies and television for realism,...

Quick Links Only the Valiant Plot and Cast Why Gregory Peck Considers Only the Valiant the Worst Film He Ever Made What Fans and Critics Thought of Only The Valiant Where to Watch Only the Valiant

Actor Gregory Peck would become one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces, turning out iconic performances in cinema from the 1940s to the 1970s. From his role as Atticus Finch in Robin Mulligan's To Kill a Mocking Bird to his role as Joe Bradley across from Aubrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, it isn't easy to pick the best or definitive role of Gregory Peck. However, there was one movie that the actor regretted deeply, being rushed into the role in a film he never wanted any part in.

We will examine Only The Valiant, the 1951 Western, how Peck came to the project, and why he regretted it. We will also see if it is as...

War movies offer a unique look at real history, adding weight to the action and exploring ethical questions of violence for mass audiences. Influential war films like Sergeant York and Paths of Glory challenge propaganda and bureaucracy in wartime narratives, advancing the genre. Movies like The Hurt Locker and Come and See reframe modern conflicts, while Grave of the Fireflies uses animation to depict the harsh truths of war.

War movies have been popular since the early days of cinema, but there are a few movies which have helped to shape the genre into what it is today. War movies offer things which no other genre can deliver, since they show real chapters from human history that are more extreme and more shocking than most fiction. The real-world context adds extra weight to the action of war movies.

The war genre has been fairly controversial. There has always been a...

John Ford’s classic Western “The Searchers” is back on the big screen — and this time, in 70mm.

IndieWire can exclusively unveil the full lineup for Museum of the Moving Image and Mubi’s ninth annual “See It Big: 70mm” film festival, with “The Searchers” headlining. The annual summer 70mm series is New York City’s only festival of 70mm films. The festival takes place from July 18 through August 18.

Ford’s “The Searchers” in 70mm will make its East Coast premiere after the print debuted at the American Cinematheque earlier this year. From July 18-21, the 1956 masterpiece will be presented seven times in a new restoration and newly struck 70mm print. The film was scanned from the original 35mm VistaVision camera negative for this print and has been approved by The Film Foundation, which was founded by Martin Scorsese. (He’s credited “The Searchers” for being a direct influence on his Oscar-winning film “Taxi Driver.

Everything about the making of 1954's "Godzilla" feels miraculous. The movie is a feat of filmmaking on every level, from its now aged yet still impressive practical effects to its bold nuclear threat story set in post-war Japan. The film utilized every trick in the book to bring its eponymous kaiju to life, from building a monster costume out of plastic and concrete to creating Godzilla's infamous roar by rubbing the loosened strings of a double bass.

The team behind the original "Godzilla" movie, which included director Ishirō Honda, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, and the team at Toho Studios, got creative with their moviemaking at every opportunity. Still, no amount of creative problem-solving could save the cast and crew from the forces of nature, which apparently conspired against the production during some especially sweltering days in Japan's Mie prefecture.

In the 2019 Life magazine special edition "Life: Godzilla," the...

Not just fictional characters, but also real-life celebrities later shared iconic names with movie characters. Famous names like Steve Martin, Tom Hardy, and Chris Pratt were originally associated with fictional characters. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally, famous names are given to movie characters, leading to surprising connections.

While it was not uncommon for movie characters to be named after famous people, it was not often that it happened the other way around. Looking back on old movies, it was very distracting when a regular character with a seemingly insignificant name ended up with a title that later became insanely recognizable. While these were merely coincidences at the time, iconic names such as Homer Simpson or real-life celebrities like Tom Hardy have shared a title with fictional movie characters in films that were made way before their names became readily associated with them.

Of course, there were some instances where characters were...

"X-Men '97" brings back the marvelous mutants as if they never left TV screens after the original series finale, "Graduation Day." The trailer promised a tone and style befitting the original, plus plenty of Marvel comic book Easter eggs.

Now, the X-Men are larger than life — and ultimately, any one actor. In the 27-year hiatus between the 1992 series and this revival, the X-Men finally made it to live-action (we ranked their cinematic adventures here) and starred in other animated series. Since "X-Men '97" is a revival of a specific version of the X-Men, though, the show has brought back cast members and creatives from the original show. If they hadn't, then why revive this series instead of just making a new "X-Men" cartoon?

In its opening titles, "X-Men" would introduce each member of the team one-by-one with hero shots demonstrating their powers and/or quirks alongside huge text displaying their names.

Ever since Martin Scorsese‘s “Killers of the Flower Moon” premiered at Cannes, critics have celebrated it as Scorsese’s first real Western after decades in which the genre’s influence could be felt at the edges of movies like “Casino” and “Gangs of New York.” The director himself sees it a little differently. As the guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast’s 250th episode, he said, “How can I make a Western? I come from the Lower East Side. The guys who made Westerns, when they came out [to Los Angeles], they were riding horses. The old cliché of the director wearing jodhpurs? Well, that’s what they did — you got around on a horse, you had to wear boots, you had to have a riding crop.”

Scorsese feels that the Western as he knew it in childhood ended with Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” in 1969, and that it’s...

What a thrill it must be as an actor to be in a film that becomes a contender for the Academy Award for Best Picture. A few even develop such an impressive resume that they have seven, eight, nine, or more of these credits to their names. Who are the actors who have starred in the most number of Best Picture nominees?

Many of the performers on this list are not a surprise, with multi-Oscar-winners such as Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Cate Blanchett and Bette Davis making the cut. But there are also some fine character actors who appeared in hundreds of films over careers that spanned decades, including Henry Travers (Clarence the angel from “It’s a Wonderful Life) and Thomas Mitchell (Scarlett O’Hara’s dad from “Gone with the Wind”). Mitchell was such a sought-after actor, he appeared in five of the Best Picture nominees in 1940 and 1941. Two...

What a thrill it must be as an actor to be in a film that becomes a contender for the Academy Award for Best Picture. A few even develop such an impressive resume that they have seven, eight, nine, or more of these credits to their names. Who are the actors who have starred in the most number of Best Picture nominees?

Many of the performers on this list are not a surprise, with multi-Oscar-winners such as Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Cate Blanchett and Bette Davis making the cut. But there are also some fine character actors who appeared in hundreds of films over careers that spanned decades, including Henry Travers (Clarence the angel from “It’s a Wonderful Life) and Thomas Mitchell (Scarlett O’Hara’s dad from “Gone with the Wind”). Mitchell was such a sought-after actor, he appeared in five of the Best Picture nominees in 1940 and 1941. Two...

Though it'd be easy to assume John Wayne is the actor with the most Westerns under his belt, that distinction actually belongs to a different Hollywood legend. The Western genre is among the most iconic in the history of Hollywood. Actors like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood used Westerns to become two of the most famous movie stars in history. Westerns were an integral part of the film industry, and they were initially produced at an astounding rate, seemingly defining cinema for decades.

The Western genre may not be as a popular as it was in the 20th century, but it remains the most iconic category in cinema. There is no shortage of modern Westerns, and the overarching impact the genre had on filmmaking as a whole cannot be understated. In years past, a multitude of actors, including Gabby Hayes, Randolph Scott, Ward Bond, and so many more made their...

“Now I’m through with land and the land’s through with me,” says world-weary mariner Donkeyman (Arthur Shields) in The Long Voyage Home, succinctly expressing the dichotomy that runs through John Ford’s 1940 drama. Adapted by Dudley Nichols from four of Eugene O’Neill’s one-act plays, the film is deeply concerned with the threshold between land and sea.

Even when in port, the men working on the SS Glencairn are largely confined to the British cargo ship, and for logical reasons, such as police and military restrictions during wartime. Yet, through the aura of despondence and alienation so strongly established by Gregg Toland’s almost spectral cinematography, the men’s entrapment takes on a metaphysical significance not unlike that of the bourgeois individuals unable to exit the dining room in Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel.

For all the isolation and deprivation endured by the sailors, The Long Voyage Home is,...

John Wayne and Clint Eastwood remain two of the biggest icons of the Western genre, but plenty of great Western movie stars aren't either of those two titans. The Duke famously detested Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns primarily because he found them to feature morally ambiguous characters rather than the sort that upheld the ideals of altruism and integrity he believed to be integral to Western movies. Where Wayne's movies might have represented paragons of heroism from the '40s through to the '70s, Eastwood's mysterious drifter archetype of dubious but more realistic intent reigned throughout the '60s and '70s.

Between two very opposing concepts of what it meant to be a Western movie star others represented a plethora of alternatives. From laconic leading men with a sense of nihilism as presented by Robert Mitchum and Lee Marvin, to stoic rebels like Steve McQueen and Sam Elliott, there's...

Receiving one coveted 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes is a massive achievement in itself, with two actors being tied for having the most entries in the 100% club. Unsurprisingly, due to their influence on cinema, many of the films on Rotten Tomatoes with a Fresh 100% rating are considered classics, which means most of the actors with the highest number of 100% critic scores were at their height in the golden age of Hollywood. Many actors whose movies boast multiple 100% Rotten Tomatoes scores are also Oscar winners, suggesting their screen presence influences the films’ continued acclaim.

Beginning with 1920’s The Golem as the oldest movie with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, an increasing number of films have joined the desired list over the years, with the prospect of achieving a 100% score shockingly being easier to attain than a 0% score. Hollywood legends like Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, and James Stewart boast between nine and 11 Fresh 100% scores each,...

Marion Robert Morrison, more commonly known as John Wayne or ‘The Duke,’ left a lasting imprint on American cinema. His career spanned five decades, during which time he starred in 179 films and delivered countless illustrious performances.

He rose to fame with his starring role as Ringo Kid in the 1939 classic ‘Stagecoach,’ and would go on to play characters like Ethan Edwards in Ford’s 1956 ‘The Searchers’ – cementing his place in American film history.

In this blog post, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best John Wayne movies, which capture the actor’s undeniable talent and unforgotten legacy. From westerns like ‘True Grit’ (1969) to war films like ‘The Longest Day’ (1962), Wayne left an indelible mark on our collective culture.

The Highest-Rated John Wayne Films on IMDb ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ (1962) – 8.1/10 ‘Rio Bravo’ (1959) – 8/10 ‘The Searchers’ (1956) – 7.9/10 ‘Stagecoach’ (1939) – 7.8/10 ‘Red River’ (1948) – 7.8/10 ‘The Longest Day’ (1962) – 7.7/10 ‘The Quiet Man’ (1952) – 7.7/10 ‘The Shootist...

It’s great to be Cate. When “Tar” was announced as one of the 2023 Oscar nominees for Best Picture on January 24, it secured Cate Blanchett a record 10th appearance in movies nominated for the Oscars’ top prize. That ties Blanchett with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson for having appeared in the second-most Best Picture nominees in history behind only Robert De Niro, who has been credited with starring in 11 Best Picture nominees.

The caveat: Actor Ward Bond appeared in 13 films that were nominated for Best Picture, but he was uncredited as a performer in a number of the projects. His roster of Best Picture nominees, however, included “Arrowsmith” (1931/32), “Lady for a Day” (1933), “It Happened One Night” (1934), “Dead End” (1937), “You Can’t Take It with You” (1938), “Gone with the Wind” (1939), “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), “The Long Voyage Home” (1940), “The Maltese Falcon” (1941), “Sergeant York” (1941), “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), “The Quiet Man” (1952), and “Mister Roberts” (1955).

Back to Blanchett.

John Wayne starred in dozens of Westerns during his lengthy career, but he very rarely played the bad guy. One of his darkest roles came in "The Searchers," his 14th and greatest collaboration with John Ford, the director who helped the Hollywood icon make his name in "Stagecoach." It was a film that inverted Wayne's heroic screen persona by casting him as Ethan Edwards, a bitterly racist former soldier who spends many years on an obsessive quest to track down his niece after she is abducted by Comanches.

For a director-star combo that had often portrayed Native Americans as a faceless marauding horde in many of their earlier pictures, "The Searchers" is a soulful and sometimes awkward attempt to reckon with that past and, in turn, America's legacy of genocide and Manifest Destiny. While its comedic moments seem to belong to another film and its use of Redface is cringe-inducing,...

It’s the week of Christmas, which means it’s a time for presents, love, friendship, and lots and lots of movies. And beyond the endless streaming originals and Hallmark films set during the holiday seasons are a few bonafide classics of the genre — chief among them “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the beloved 1946 Frank Capra picture and a perennial topper of any “Top Christmas Movie” list.

Online, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is free to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Plex. The movie can also be purchased via multiple VOD platforms, including Redbox, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, and Apple TV, with prices ranging from 1.99 to 3.99.

Linear TV will also be carrying multiple showings of the beloved film. On Christmas Eve, NBC will air the film in its entirety starting at 8 p.m. Et. E! will also air the film on loop on Christmas Day, starting at 6 a.m. Et for a total of seven showings.

While he may not be as well-known today as Alfred Hitchcock or Billy Wilder, director Nicholas Ray had a fantastic run during the '50s working across a range of genres from film noir ("In a Lonely Place") to war saga ("Flying Leathernecks"), coming-of-age teen angst ("Rebel Without a Cause") to westerns, the strangest of which is undoubtedly "Johnny Guitar." Shot in gaudy Trucolor, it stands apart from other studio westerns of the day, maybe because it isn't really a western at all -- It's more like a twisted gothic psychodrama that just happens to be set in the Old West.

Although the title refers to Sterling Hayden's nonchalant protagonist, Mr. Guitar takes a back seat for much of the movie, just one of many of Ray's subversive twists to the standard western formula. Instead, the main focus is the bitter rivalry between Vienna (Joan Crawford), a steely saloon keeper,...

It is impossible to think of Westerns and their rugged portrait of American masculinity without thinking of director John Ford, somewhat of a hard-boiled man himself. His 1959 film "The Searchers" is considered by many to be his magnum opus and inspired future filmmakers like Martin Scorsese. It features a leading performance by John Wayne, the perfect example of Ford's ideal male archetype, as well as a strong supporting role played by Ward Bond.

"The Searchers" was Bond's second collaboration with Ford, having also been cast as one of the villains in Ford's 1946 Western "My Darling Clementine." These two collaborations...

The post How Ward Bond Accidentally Sabotaged a Scene On the Set of The Searchers appeared first on /Film.

When John Wayne showed up on television, he was usually playing himself in a showbiz cameo, like his "I Love Lucy" guest appearance. As one of the century's biggest movie stars, he didn't exactly need exposure.

But Ward Bond, Wayne's co-star in many of legendary director John Ford's movies, struggled over whether or not he should make a move to television. When Ford discussed it with Bond, he got blunt. According to Joseph McBride's book "Searching for John Ford," the director called his friend a "dumb Irishman" and asked, "Don't you act for a living?" Bond listened, and took a leading role in "Wagon...

The post The Uncredited John Wayne TV Role You've Probably Never Seen appeared first on /Film.

Cate Blanchett failed to land among this year’s nominees in the Best Supporting Actress race, but the two-time Oscar winner made history anyway with the 94th Academy Awards nominations. By starring in two Best Picture nominees, “Don’t Look Up” and “Nightmare Alley,” Blanchett has been credited in nine movies nominated for the Oscars’ top picture prize. That makes her the only actress ever credited in that many Best Picture nominees, surpassing a record previously held by Olivia de Havilland.

Blanchett’s first role in a Best Picture nominee came for “Elizabeth,” the 1998 film that also gave Blanchett her first Best Actress nomination. Her other Best Picture nominees before this year included all three films in the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Aviator”, “Babel,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” The twosome of “Don’t Look Up” and “Nightmare Alley” marks the first time Blanchett has appeared in...

The best picture prize is what every studio and filmmaker covets, whether they publicly admit it or not. But, of course, it would help if you had the star power to make it happen. Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett both have proven that they have said star power with the amount of best picture nominees (and winners) they’ve appeared in over their careers. With DiCaprio starring in “Don’t Look Up” alongside Blanchett, who is co-starring in another awards vehicle, “Nightmare Alley,” both stand a solid chance of getting close to — or possibly breaking — a record.

This year, Blanchett’s double feature outings could have her breaking a significant record for female actors. The two-time Oscar-winning actress currently has had a role in seven former Academy nominees: “Elizabeth” (1998), “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Aviator” (2004), “Babel” (2006) and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008). She’s currently tied...

It’s the Gold Standard of Christmas movies and likely the oldest feature still broadcast on network TV during the holidays: Frank Capra’s sentimental favorite is his most human movie, the kind of show that convinced people that raising a family is a great idea. Although we’re now a full three generations removed from the world events that surround the story of George Bailey, his problems haven’t dated. Paramount’s anniversary disc gives us a new encoding from a 4K scan, a repressing of the older colorized version, a good making-of piece by Craig Barron and Ben Burtt, a reel of home movies from the film’s wrap picnic in the summer of ’46. . . and a set of ‘Bailey Family Recipe Cards.’

It’s a Wonderful Life 75th Anniversary

Blu-ray

Paramount

1946 / B&w + Colorized / 1:37 Academy / 130 min. / Street Date November 16, 2021 / Available from /

Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore,...

Paul Greengrass’ western drama “New of the World” starring Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel is gaining traction during this pandemic awards season despite the fact that sagebrush sagas often get short shrift at the Oscars. Only three traditional Westerns — 1931’s “Cimarron,” 1990’s “Dances with Wolves” and 1992’s “Unforgiven” — and one contemporary Western (2007’s “No Country for Old Men”) have won the Best Picture Oscar.

Among the oaters to be nominated for the top prize at the Academy Awards: John Ford’s 1939 “Stagecoach,” William A. Wellman’s 1943 “The Ox-Bow Incident,” Fred Zinnemann’s 1952’s “High Noon” (Gary Cooper won the Oscar for Best Actor), George Stevens’ 1953 “Shane”; 1960’s “The Alamo;” 1962’s “How the West Was Won”; and George Roy Hill’s 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

But some of the most acclaimed, treasure and influential Westerns have been all but ignored. Here’s a look at some of the...

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“Male Egos On A Boat”

By Raymond Benson

The extremely popular 1955 movie Mister Roberts began as a 1946 novel by Thomas Heggen. It was then a Broadway play written by Heggen and Joshua Logan, directed by Logan, and produced by Leland Hayward. Henry Fonda played the title role of Lieutenant Doug Roberts on Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance. It then made sense for Fonda to reprise the role in the motion picture, which was also produced by Hayward and co-scripted by Logan and Frank S. Nugent. Sounds like a Hollywood no-brainer in the making, right?

The direction of the film is where things got dicey. John Ford was hired to direct, but according to Hollywood scuttlebutt accounts, Ford and James Cagney did not get along. Then, during filming Ford and his old friend Henry Fonda got into a fight.

This adapted Broadway play may be considered minor John Ford moviemaking, and some sources say he had to drop out before he could film very much of it. But what’s on the screen pleased audiences primed for the first wave of WW2 nostalgia. The story of cargo officer Henry Fonda’s one-man war against his Bligh-like Captain James Cagney had all of us ’50s kids asking dad if the war really was like that. James Cagney steals the show while stars William Powell, Betsy Palmer and Ward Bond make their marks. Young Jack Lemmon came out swinging with his bright personality and won an Oscar for his trouble.

Mister Roberts

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date December 8, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond, Philip Carey, Nick Adams, Perry Lopez, Ken Curtis, Robert Roark, Harry Carey Jr.,...

It’s pretty scary to think that as late as 1940 both Washington and the American public were sharply divided over Nazi Germany. Poland had been overrun and France was about to fall, but MGM waited until June of that year to release this softened adaptation of a novel written as a warning to the world in 1937. Handsomely produced with MGM’s high-gloss production values, it’s remembered as a valiant and courageous anti-Nazi film. Its all-star cast reunited the potent romantic team of James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan for sentimental fireworks.

The Mortal Storm

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1940 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 100 min. / Street Date November 3, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, Robert Stack, Bonita Granville, Irene Rich, William T. Orr, Maria Ouspenskaya, Gene Reynolds, Russell Hicks, Esther Dale, Dan Dailey, Ward Bond, Rudolph Anders, Brad Dexter.

Cinematography: William H. Daniels

Film Editor:...

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“A Reluctant War Hero”

By Raymond Benson

Howard Hawks’ biopic of American war hero Alvin C. York, Sergeant York, was the highest grossing film of 1941. It received many accolades, including a Best Actor Oscar for star Gary Cooper and a trophy for Film Editing. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay (John Huston was one of four writers involved), Supporting Actor (Walter Brennan), Supporting Actress (Margaret Wycherly), Cinematography, Art Direction, Music Score (by Max Steiner), and Sound Recording. The film was released in the summer of ’41 and did very well at the box office. By the time it was playing in rural America later in the year, though, the attack on Pearl Harbor had occurred. The mobilization to prepare for war helped give Sergeant York a second wave of financial success and it continued to play on U.S. screens...

Ya like quality pro-intervention propaganda? Warners’ filmic call to arms inspired America’s reluctant warriors via a superhuman feat by a highly decorated WW1 veteran… and promptly got into hot water with the United States congress. Howard Hawks’ highly effective load of sentiment and sanctimony makes Tennesseans look like denizens of Dogpatch, U.S.A.. But America loved it, even favorite Gary Cooper’s cute ‘aw shucks’ mannerisms that compare shooting the enemy with shooting a turkey. That’s how we baby boomers learned about patriotism.

Sergeant York

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1941 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 134 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Stanley Ridges, Margaret Wycherly, Ward Bond, Noah Beery Jr., June Lockhart.

Cinematography: Sol Polito

Second Unit Director: Don Siegel

Film Editor: William Holmes

Original Music: Max Steiner

Written by Abem Finkel, Harry Chandlee, Howard Koch, John Huston...

Join Cinema St. Louis for their free online movie club! Since we can’t watch a film together on the big screen, Cinema St. Louis invites you to come together to share our love of cinema from the comfort of your own home. Every other week Cinema St. Louis will select a film available on a streaming service and host the discussion on Facebook.

Cinema St. Louis will be hosting an Online Screening of It Happened One Night this Monday (May 19th) at 7:30pm(Ct). Diane Carson, Ph.D., professor emerita, and reviewer of films for more than 25 years, covering Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, Palm Springs, and Sundance festivals, will be talking about the film on Facebook Live. For more details go to the Facebook invite Here

It Happened One Night concerns an heiress, Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) who runs away from her father to join her new husband, society...

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***Jean Renoir's first Hollywood film, Swamp Water (1941) is available on home video from Twilight Time if you have the means, and is well worth buying, again if you have the means. Most of us don't, which is why capitalism sucks. The sentence "Swamp Water is not currently streaming" has a redundant air.The "celebrated megaphonist," as Fox publicity hailed him began work on Dudley Nichols' script, from Vereen Bell's novel, with a mixture of trepidation and hope. Renoir regarded American filmmaking as somewhat stultified,...

” Two women in the house – and one of them a redhead! “

John Wayne in John Ford’s The Quiet Man (1952) is one of Hollywood’s most beloved movies and you’ll have a chance to see it on the big screen when it screens at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville, Il at 7pm Tuesday, March 17th. Admission is $2.

John Ford’s flamboyant tribute to Irish-Americans, The Quiet Man may be full of all-too-familiar Irish stereotypes, ranging from a fondness for spirits to the love of a good fight, but it’s delivered with great skill and broad humor and at its heart is a good-natured, old-fashioned romance. The action takes place in Sea Verge (Ireland), around 1933 and tells the story of “Sean Thornton” (John Wayne), “a quiet peace loving man come home from America”, He’s a boxer who’s returned to his native Ireland to recover his farm and escape his past.

He might not have any ears, but he’s got a ticklish tummy and a lathery longevity. Sesame Street‘s ode to good, clean fun in the tub, “Rubber Duckie,” just turned 50. The song debuted on Feb. 25, 1970, in episode 78 during the first season of the upstart TV classroom series. Ernie sang it from the bathroom of the basement apartment he shared with his best friend Bert at 123 Sesame Street.

“Rubber Duckie” is the only original song the educational series managed to land on the Billboard charts. “Mah Nà Mah Nà” and “The People in the Neighborhood,” which premiered the year earlier, didn’t do it. Neither did “Sing,” which the Carpenters covered and got into the top five. Not even the subtly subversively inclusive classic “Bein’ Green” hit the charts with Kermit at the mic, and that one has since become an American Standard.

“The arrangement is hysterical, the idea is funny,...

This great, unheralded western is divorced from the usual concerns of law and order and gunslinger protocol. As in most every film by Jacques Tourneur, we feel a strong empathy for characters that behave like real people working out real problems. The Oregon Territory is pioneered by imperfect people — opportunists, knaves and hopeful dreamers — all rich in personality. Dana Andrews and Susan Hayward lead a large cast in a tale with just as much conflict and violence as the next western, but with an integrity one can feel. The icing on the cake is the presence of ‘troubadour’ Hoagy Carmichael and his beautiful music.

Canyon Passage

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1946 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 92 min. / Street Date March 10, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Dana Andrews, Susan Hayward, Brian Donlevy, Patricia Roc, Ward Bond, Hoagy Carmichael, Fay Holden, Stanley Ridges, Lloyd Bridges, Andy Devine, Victor Cutler, Rose Hobart, Halliwell Hobbes, James Cardwell,...

” The city can be lonely too. Sometimes people who are never alone are the loneliest. “

Webster University presents “The Other St. Nick”, a six-film Nicholas Ray Film Festival that runs December 27th-January 5th at the University’s Moore Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave). The films screen Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays at 7:00pm the weekends of Dec 27-29th and Jan 3-5th. The series continues tonight, December 29th at 7pm with On Dangerous Ground (1951)

A film noir more often compared to the work of Carl Theodor Dreyer than its American contemporaries, On Dangerous Ground concerns the hot-headed detective Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan), who partners up with Walter Brent (Ward Bond), the father of a murdered young girl, in the solving of the crime. Along the way they encounter a blind woman, Mary Malden (Ida Lupino), who may offer a key to the case. Featuring a memorable score from master Bernard Herrmann.

” This boy… and this girl… were never properly introduced to the world we live in… To tell their story… They Live by Night. “

Webster University presents “The Other St. Nick”, a six-film Nicholas Ray Film Festival that runs December 27th-January 5th at the University’s Moore Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave). The films screen Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays at 7:00pmthe weekends of Dec 27-29th and Jan 3-5th.The series kicks off tonight, December 27th at 7pm with They Live By Night – 1948

After seven years in prison, 23-year-old Bowie (Farley Granger) escapes alongside some bank robbers. Once out, he runs into new love Keechie (Cathy O’Donnell), and makes it a priority to prove his innocence, or at least escape to the mountains with Keechie in tow. With this, his film debut, Nicholas Ray already exhibits future preoccupations with young underdogs and offers a fine contribution to the film noir canon.