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Her presence is singular. The moment the celluloid begins to reel, an inner tiger is unleashed. To watch her is to be enthralled by her — the ferocious eyes, hair like fire, a near-permanent smirk. Decade after decade, audiences have remained entranced by the intensity of her performances, be it controlled and simmering or wild and uninhibited. You get the feeling that she indeed is the keeper of true carnal knowledge, to borrow a title from her filmography. Still, at 84 years young, there is no one else like Ann-Margret. This Labor Day weekend, fans have the opportunity to look back at her career and admire all she is at the Cinecon Film Festival, which will honor her with their Legacy Award in Los Angeles.

Consider those opening and closing moments of her breakout “Bye Bye Birdie,” added as bookends in post-production by director George Sidney, where the exuberant actress sings straight to camera,...

Joe Don Baker, the broad-shouldered Texas tough guy who portrayed characters on both sides of the law, most notably Sheriff Buford Pusser in the unexpected box-office hit Walking Tall, died May 7, his family announced. He was 89.

Baker first attracted mainstream attention in 1972 when he starred as the younger, business-minded brother of an aging Arizona rodeo rider (Steve McQueen) in Sam Peckinpah’s Junior Bonner (1972), then portrayed a sadistic mob hitman named Molly in Don Siegel’s Charley Varrick (1973), starring Walter Matthau.

In James Bond films, the 6-foot-3 Baker played a villain, the megalomaniacal arms dealer Brad Whitaker, in The Living Daylights (1987), starring Timothy Dalton as 007, then returned as a good guy, CIA agent Jack Wade, opposite Pierce Brosnan in the 1995 and ’97 movies GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, respectively.

As former professional wrestler Pusser — based on a real-life sheriff who cleaned up crime in his Tennessee town — Baker survives a series...

Richard Kahn, the former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences whose term included the 1989 Oscars, infamous for its Rob Lowe-Snow White musical number, has died. He was 95.

The first head of AMPAS to come from its public relations branch, Kahn died Saturday in Los Angeles, his daughters, Sharon Kahn and Lisa Kahn Feldstern, announced. “Our dad had a kind and generous soul and a wry sense of humor and was a wonderful father. We will miss him dearly,” they said in a statement.

Kahn followed director Robert Wise as Academy president in August 1988 and served a one-year term before being succeeded by actor Karl Malden.

When he was a PR branch member, the amiable Kahn invented the splendid Oscar Nominees Luncheon, which was first held in 1982, and a few years later, he inaugurated the tradition of gifting each honoree with a sweatshirt emblazoned with the Oscar logo.

There’s no doubt that John Ford was a master of the Western genre. Ford’s eye for storytelling made him one of the greatest directors of all time, and when it came to depicting the Civil War in How the West Was Won, he brought the same sharp vision that defined his career. The film is separated into five segments, each directed by a different filmmaker, about a frontier family experiencing defining moments of the 19th century.

In John Ford’s Civil War chapter, the story follows Zeb Rawlings (George Peppard), a young man drawn into the conflict despite his mother’s desperate wish to keep him out of it. Zeb witnesses the horrors of the Battle of Shiloh, losing his father in the process, and later returns home to find his mother dead and his family farm no longer a place he belongs. Ford’s direction makes this...

He wasn't called the "King of Cool" for no reason. '60s movie icon Steve McQueen starred in some of the most famous movies of all time during his Hollywood run, and more often than not, McQueen's presence on screen was mesmerizing. Easily confused with the other top star at the time, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen had a smooth demeanor and piercing blue eyes that captivated audiences no matter what role he was playing. Although he played many different kinds of characters as his career went on, McQueen was initially known for playing more of a laid-back drifter type as opposed to a clean-cut suit or badge. Things changed when he played Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968.

From that point on, McQueen's roles were becoming more diversified than his usual archetypal roles. This led to arguably his most iconic film in 1968, Bullitt, in which McQueen plays...

While some actors seem more impassioned towards the performance aspect of a film rather than cinema itself, Ryan Gosling isn't one of them. Along with his award-winning acting chops, the A-lister has a deep love for movies. During a recent interview, he finally revealed his favorite movie of all time to fans — and it's a decades-old classic with a poignant message that's as relevant today as it was when it debuted.

On the Waterfront is a 1954 melodrama starring legendary actor, Marlon Brando (The Godfather) and directed by Elia Kazan. It was a critical success, winning Oscars for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Picture, among others. Even today, the film proves its timeless excellence with a nearly perfect 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, what exactly makes On the Waterfront such a worthwhile triumph to watch again and again?

Your Ratingclose10 stars9 stars8 stars7 stars6 stars5 stars4 stars3 stars...

Ethan Hawke is giving a classic Western the remake treatment. The Moon Knight actor is reportedly on board to help develop an all-new take on the 20th Century Studios movie The Gunfighter.

Per Deadlline, Hawke has signed on to co-write the script for a new take on The Gunfighter, a 75-year-old Western with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, for 20th Century Studios. His writing partner, Shelby Gaines, will be alongside him as a co-writer. There is said to be hope at the studio that Hawke will also direct the remake, but the current deal that is in place is for the actor to serve as a writer and producer. It's also not known if Hawke will appear in the film, which is in its very early development stages.

RelatedThe 12 Best Clint Eastwood Westerns, Ranked

Clint Eastwood is a name that is synonymous with the Western genre and movies like A Few Dollars More...

Buddy cop shows have long been one of TV’s most beloved genres, delivering action, humor, and heart through iconic partnerships.

From the classic bromance of Starsky & Hutch to the gritty realism of Line of Duty, these shows prove that two heads are always better than one.

As explored in The Buddy Cop Genre Isn’t Dead — It’s Just Moved Overseas, the genre has shifted its focus overseas for various reasons, where innovative storytelling has breathed new life into it.

(CBS/Norman Shapiro)

With recent hits like Hawaii Five-0 and Line of Duty carrying the torch into the 2020s, the enduring appeal of these shows lies in their ability to capture teamwork, trust, and the occasional clash of personalities.

This list celebrates the traditional law enforcement duos that defined the genre while showing why these partnerships remain timeless, even as the genre evolves.

Cagney & Lacey (1982-1988) (CBS/Screenshot)

Breaking barriers and redefining the genre,...

It makes sense that at a certain point, many actors decide to try their hand at acting and step behind the camera to exercise more creative control. There are many famous actors who made the transition and are now better known for their direction, like Greta Gerwig or John Cassavetes. However, the reverse is also true with performers who reached such a level of stardom that discovering they contributed so much to great works of cinema comes as a surprise. However, having experience as a performer gives a director unique insight into how best to work with actors.

There are plenty of actors who make even better directors, but these performers are so well-known for their onscreen roles that it comes as a shock to learn they've stepped behind the camera. More often than not, these actors were already attached to perform in the projects they directed, giving them even more of a challenge.

Vivien Leigh was the two-time Oscar winner who made only a handful of films before her untimely death in 1967 at the age of 53. Yet several of those titles remain classics. Let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in British India, Leigh appeared in a number of roles on both the stage and screen in England, including a production of “Hamlet” opposite her husband, Laurence Olivier.

She came to international attention after landing the coveted role of Scarlet O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s massive adaptation of Margaret Mitchell‘s bestseller “Gone with the Wind” (1939). Leigh was far from the first choice to embody the headstrong Southern belle who pines after a married man (Leslie Howard) while wedding another (Clark Gable) against the backdrop of the Civil War. Yet the relatively unknown thespian beat out the likes of Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert,...

Nicholas Pryor, the busy character actor who portrayed Tom Cruise’s father in Risky Business and Kathleen Robertson’s dad on Beverly Hills, 90210 during a career that spanned seven decades, has died. He was 89.

Pryor died Monday of cancer at his home in Wilmington, North Carolina, his wife, actress Christine Belford, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In a note to be delivered to THR after his death, he wrote: “Nicholas Pryor was enormously grateful to have been, for nearly 70 years, a working actor.”

From 1997-2002, Pryor played the former spy Victor Collins on the General Hospital spinoff Port Charles, culminating a long career in daytime soap operas that included stints on The Secret Storm, The Edge of Night, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, All My Children and Another World.

Pryor recurred on Fox’s Beverly Hills, 90210 as A. Milton Arnold, the chancellor of California University and father of Robertson’s Claire Arnold,...

It’s understandable that most movie and TV fans remember Maggie Smith for her dynamic work in the “Harry Potter” films and “Downton Abbey.” More recent and far more widely seen in their time, they are worthy examples of her outstanding work.

But unknown to even some of the most knowledgeable cinephiles is most of her screen work before the 1980s beyond her two Oscar wins (Best Actress for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and Supporting Actress for “California Suite”). Her passing at 89 represents a chance to look back at not only roles that conveyed her later brilliance but also, in some cases, present a broader range than what became the standard — though always with nuance and distinctiveness — Maggie Smith role of later years.

When reviewing her film career until at least 2008, it’s critical to remember that she was first and foremost a stage actor. She joined Laurence Olivier...

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

Today is Barbra Streisand day! And what a day it is. Just one day after Babs herself announced the start to production of her approved documentary film, in which she plans to unveil the creative contents of her quite famous vault, we here at The B-Side tackle some of the legend’s lesser-seen films. They include The Owl and the Pussycat, Up the Sandbox, For Pete’s Sake, Nuts, and The Guilt Trip. Our guest on this long-in-the-making journey is Chris Feil, co-host of the incredible This Had Oscar Buzz podcast.

We talk about the autobiography in all of its glory. We talk about Barbra’s early years, Barbra’s late years, her passion for design,...

When it comes to filmmaking, it's hard to imagine two men more unlike one another than Marlon Brando and Stanley Kubrick. Both are legends of the industry, but whereas Kubrick was a notorious perfectionist and micromanager, Brando liked to live in the moment and search for spontaneous inspiration, often not even memorizing his lines. To make matters worse, both men had impossibly strong personalities, which is why, the one time they attempted to work together on the Western One-Eyed Jacks, it all went to hell.

When Kubrick was fresh off his hit war film Paths of Glory, Brando hand-picked him to direct an adaptation of a Western novel, The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones. Kubrick ultimately dropped out two weeks before production began, leaving Marlon Brando to direct the picture himself in one of Hollywood's most interesting behind-the-scenes stories of all time.

Related Marlon Brando Threatened to Quit The Godfather...

Kevin Costner doesnt make short movies, and the actor probably knows the reason for this. During an appearance at the History Channels History Talks event, the Horizon director recalled one of the very first movies he remembers watching being the Western epic How the West Was Won at the age of around 7. It was also one of the movies that began his obsession with the American West, something that has remained with him across many of his movies.

Costner is currently in the middle of his ambitious and very costly passion project, Horizon. Envisioned as a four-part saga, Chapter 1 was released in cinemas earlier in the summer, but failed to make its mark at the box office thanks to a combined general lack of audience interest and some very mixed reviews from critics. This forced Warner Bros. who are distributing but not financing the movie to push back the release...

“The Piano Lesson” is a showcase for Samuel L. Jackson and Danielle Deadwyler. This upcoming Netflix flick is adapted from August Wilson’s 1987 Pulitzer Prize winner. The story is centered on the Charles family, who have to decide what to do with a great family heirloom — a piano. Jackson plays the patriarch, Doaker Charle, who acts as a storyteller in the play and recounts detailed stories about the piano’s history. And Deadwyler plays his niece Berniece, who is a strong advocate for keeping the piano.

Jackson has a long history with this piece. He originated the role of Boy Willie at the Yale Repertory Theater in 1987 and reaped a Tony bid for his performance as Doaker in the acclaimed 2022 Broadway revival directed by his wife, Latanya Richardson Jackson. John David Washington, who played Boy Willie in that production, reprises his role here, with his brother Malcolm Washington handling helming.

Every movie genre has specific themes that they frequently explore. The Western, one of cinema's oldest genres, routinely examines themes related to progress toward civilization, justice, man versus nature, United States history and identity, and freedom. Westerns are also one of cinema's best genres for contemplating themes of revenge and vengeance.

Traditional Westerns, which typically depict conflicts of good versus evil, present revenge themes straightforwardly, with a hero seeking vengeance against a villain. Conversely, revisionist Westerns offer a much more nuanced portrait of revenge by demonstrating how quests for vengeance leave one feeling unfulfilled. Heroes obsessed with revenge slowly become villains themselves. John Ford's The Searchers, Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven are excellent examples of revenge-themed Westerns.

One-Eyed Jacks Is the Only Film Directed by Marlon Brando (1961)

One-Eyed Jacks Not RatedWesternDrama Where to Watchstreamrentbuy

*Availability in US Director Marlon...

Unsolved Mysteries, a long-running series since the late 1980s, has released a total of 607 episodes and specials as of July 2024. The show has had a turbulent history with various hosts, network changes, and cancelations, yet has remained popular and enduring. Netflix revived Unsolved Mysteries in 2020 with a new documentary-style format, focusing on single stories per episode for a more immersive experience.

The classic series Unsolved Mysteries is the gift that keeps on giving to cold case and paranormal phenomena fans, with hundreds upon hundreds of episodes to show for and more still yet to come. As its title suggests, the documentary-style TV show created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer explores a range of unexplained cases, from true crime whodunits to supernatural stumpers, and has done so since the late 1980s. In 1987, to be exact, Unsolved Mysteries began as a procession of TV specials before burgeoning into a full-fledged...

Few actors in Hollywood are as praised and renowned as Marlon Brando. He was at the forefront of cinema for half of the 20th century, initially celebrated for his charming good looks and commanding presence. Over time, Brando evolved into a diverse actor, pioneering the use of method acting among the first famous actors to explore its full potential.

Today, Marlon Brando is best known for his iconic role as Vito Corleone in the film The Godfather, yet his filmography spans a wide variety of classics. Exploring Brando's films not only provides insights into the evolution of acting but also offers a journey through American cinematic history.

One-Eyed Jacks Is the Only Film Brando Directed

One-Eyed Jacks Not RatedWesternDrama Where to Watchstreamrentbuy

*Availability in US Director Marlon BrandoRelease Date March 30, 1961Cast Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Katy Jurado, Ben JohnsonWriters Guy Trosper, Calder Willingham, Charles NeiderRuntime 141 minutesMain Genre Western Expand One-Eyed Jacks...

Quick Links What Is How the West Was Won About? What Is Cinerama? Why Were Four Cinematographers Used? Could Cinerama Make a 21st Century Comeback?

Released in 1962, How the West Was Won remains one of the most cherished epic movie Westerns on record. In addition to boasting a star-studded ensemble cast, the 3-time Oscar winner is a technical marvel that made history by becoming one of the first films to adopt Cinerama, a widescreen projection format allowing directors Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall to shoot the most expansive canvas possible.

Achieving the stunning technical feat required four cinematographers, each earning an Academy Award nomination. As Kevin Costner's epic Western Horizon struggles to find footing, a look back at How the West Was Won's groundbreaking cinematography, formatting, and depiction of the American frontier could help to revitalize a traditional movie genre that is becoming less popular in 2024.

What...

Unsolved Mysteries has been airing, off and on, presented in different styles and by different hosts, for nearly forty years at this point. It all began with specials hosted by Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, and Robert Stack in the ’80s, followed by a series that went for several years with Stack as the host. (And Virginia Madsen being added as co-host eventually.) Dennis Farina hosted a revival that lasted a few years. And in 2020, the Netflix streaming series brought the world their Unsolved Mysteries reboot, which doesn’t have a host at all. The first six episodes of this revival, called volume 1, arrived on Netflix on July 1, 2020. Volume 2, also consisting of six episodes, dropped on October 19, 2020. Volume 3, which consisted of nine episodes that were released over a period of three weeks, came along in October and November of 2022. All five episodes of Unsolved Mysteries volume 4 will be streaming on Netflix...

The 1962 Western film "How the West Was Won" showcased a star-studded ensemble cast, including John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, and Debbie Reynolds. The movie's unique structure featured five different stories following the Prescott family, allowing each actor to have their moment to shine. "How the West Was Won" was a major success, grossing $50 million on a $15 million budget, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning three.

A 1962 Western put together an impressive cast that elevated the film and made it an instant classic that would also become a box office champion and a critically acclaimed hit. Casting has always been one major factor in a movie's success, not just in terms of what the actors can deliver, but also the star power that comes with them. It was no different for Westerns, a genre that shaped some of the greatest actors of all time. Likewise, the works of actors like John Wayne,...

Unsolved Mysteries has been airing, off and on, presented in different styles and by different hosts, for nearly forty years at this point. It all began with specials hosted by Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, and Robert Stack in the ’80s, followed by a series that went for several years with Stack as the host. (And Virginia Madsen being added as co-host eventually.) Dennis Farina hosted a revival that lasted a few years. And in 2020, the Netflix streaming series brought the world their Unsolved Mysteries reboot, which doesn’t have a host at all. The first six episodes of this revival, called volume 1, arrived on Netflix on July 1, 2020. Volume 2, also consisting of six episodes, dropped on October 19, 2020. Volume 3, which consisted of nine episodes that were released over a period of three weeks, came along in October and November of 2022. Now Netflix has finally confirmed that Unsolved Mysteries volume 4 will be streaming in July!

One year after “Everything Everywhere All at Once” became the third film to ever merit three acting Oscars, the recipients of those trophies all have their sights set on Emmy glory. As candidates in three separate 2024 races, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Ke Huy Quan are headed for an exciting reunion that could very well lead to one or more of them winning the TV academy’s favor in September.

Curtis, whose Oscar victory caught more predictors by surprise than those of her two cast mates, is now the strongest Emmy contender of the three according to our racetrack odds. Indeed, her guest stint as alcoholic mother Donna Berzatto on the FX comedy series “The Bear” is widely expected to bring her her first Emmy win, even in the face of formidable opponents from the same show (like Olivia Colman and Sarah Paulson) and returning champion Maya Rudolph (“Saturday Night Live...

At the 27th Academy Awards, Oscar helped Edmond O’Brien win an Oscar.

O’Brien played sleazy show biz publicist Oscar Muldoon in 1954’s “The Barefoot Contessa,” which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. Bogart had been crowned Best Actor of 1951 for “The African Queen,” and had also contended for the same award for 1943’s Best Picture, “Casablanca.” Gardner was coming off of her first and only nomination, for Best Actress in 1953’s “Mogambo.” “The Barefoot Contessa” was written and directed by Academy favorite Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had won back-to-back Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for 1949’s “A Letter to Three Wives” and 1950’s Best Picture, “All About Eve.”

”The Barefoot Contessa” didn’t fare quite as well at the Oscars as “Letter” or “Eve.” Neither Bogart or Gardner received nominations, though Bogart was cited for his role in that same year’s Best Picture entry “The Caine Mutiny.

True Crime is a part of everyday media that the TV series, specials, films, and documentaries all about it have been around forever. But actually, that’s not the case. The format we now see, wasn’t the norm at all in the 80s when Unsolved Mysteries began its iconic run. A weekly series built around cases and interviews with the people who were a part of them, re-enacting the crimes…had never been done before.

But then one day a series came along that would not only showcase True Crime but would also give us ghosts, UFOs, and all points in between. Not only that, but the theme song would cause Ptsd in most kids my age who had the fortune or misfortune to hear it. That series is Unsolved Mysteries, a series so popular that it changed not only pop culture but the way investigations within law enforcement were conducted.

Quick Links The Plot and Cast of Gregory Peck's The Gunfighter Who Was Johnny Ringo? What The Gunfighter Gets Right and Wrong About Johnny Ringo An Impossible Gunfighter: The Unknown Johnny Ringo Where to Watch The Gunfighter (and Why)

A multi-faceted and beloved actor coming out of Hollywood's Golden Age, the great Gregory Peck has embodied many classic Western characters, from Lewton 'Lewt' McCanles in Duel in the Sun to James 'Stretch' Dawson in The Yellow Sky. Yet, one of Gregory Peck's most acclaimed Westerns, The Gunfighter, highlights the actor at his best and, thanks to its innovative approach to the genre, has become a hallmark of the genre.

In the seminal movie, Gregory Peck played Johnny Ringo, an actual historical figure in the West. We will examine the real man who inspired The Gunfighter and see how accurately (or inaccurately) the Gregory Peck-led Western captures the gunslinging outlaw.

Terry Carter, who portrayed Pvt. Sugie Sugarman on The Phil Silvers Show, the sidekick of Dennis Weaver’s character on McCloud and Colonel Tigh on the original version of Battlestar Galactica, has died. He was 95.

Carter died Tuesday at his home in Manhattan, his son, Miguel Carter DeCoste, told The New York Times.

Carter appeared three times on Broadway early in his career and produced and directed a documentary on jazz legend Duke Ellington for PBS’ American Masters series in 1988.

The Brooklyn native appeared on all four seasons (1955-59) of CBS’ The Phil Silvers Show (also known as Sgt. Bilko) as Pvt. Sugarman. He then played Sgt. Joe Broadhurst alongside Weaver’s Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud on NBC’s McCloud from 1970-77 and Tigh in the 1978 Battlestar Galactica movie and 1978-79 ABC series.

An only child, John Everett DeCoste was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 16, 1928. He graduated from Stuyvesant High...

In Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire," Blanche DuBois desperately clings to certain beliefs. She is keenly intent on reinforcing the societal values and morals inherent in her aristocratic lineage, shunning realism for the magic of a nostalgic past that hides something darker, and repressing her guilt with the help of self-soothing mechanisms. When faced with the terrible nature of reality, which culminates in the character of her brother-in-law Stanley, Blanche is forced to reckon with the cycles of the violence that mark her existence, along with the precious fantasies woven to protect herself from true growth or healing. When she smashes a mirror, the delusions also shatter, with fantasy having no hold on her perception of reality anymore.

The mirror-smashing scene is seminal to understanding Blanche in Williams' play, and "On the Waterfront" director Elia Kazan's film adaptation of the story also dramatizes this to chilling effect,...

Rereleased for its 70th anniversary, Elia Kazan’s classic exploration of corruption and whether or not to squeal is made all the more viscerally powerful by his own Huac testimony

‘The Romans found out what a handful could do, if it’s the right handful,” says Karl Malden’s priest Father Pete Barry to the crowd of sullen, nervous New Jersey longshoremen he’s persuaded to come to his church, like the early Christians hiding in caves; they are wondering whether to stand up to the crooked union mob boss Johnny Friendly, played by Lee J Cobb. Meanwhile, ex-boxer Terry Malloy, played by Marlon Brando, sits at the back of the church, smirking and eavesdropping; midway between Judas and Jesus, he is the washed-up fighter who gets cushy dockworker jobs from Johnny in return for shameful dirty work, his stevedore’s hook hitched over his shoulder. It’s same kind...

Honors were even atop the U.K. and Ireland box office as Universal’s “Kung Fu Panda 4” and Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” battled for top spot during the Easter holiday weekend.

While “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” won the three-day weekend, “Kung Fu Panda 4” had the higher gross including previews. According to numbers provided by Comscore, “Kung Fu Panda 4” collected £5 million ($6.3) million, while “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” took in £4.1 million ($5.2 million).

In third place, in its second weekend, Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” collected £2.1 million for a total of £8.2 million. In its fifth weekend, in fourth place, Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part II” grossed £1.6 million to take its total to £34 million.

Debuting at fifth place was Indian filmmaker Blessy’s acclaimed desert saga “Aadujeevitham” (“The Goat Life”), distributed by Dg Tech, with £480,977.

There were two more debuts in the top 10. Studiocanal...

At the inaugural Academy Awards in 1929, native Pennsylvanian Janet Gaynor made history as the first American-born performer to win an Oscar by taking the Best Actress prize for her body of work in “7th Heaven,” “Street Angel,” and “Sunrise.” Over the subsequent 95 years, 215 more thespians originating from the United States won the academy’s favor, meaning the country has now produced 68.1% of all individual acting Oscar recipients. Considering the last decade alone, the rate of such winners is even higher, at 70.3%.

At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).

Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...

The 2024 Oscar race is on, and one film has the potential to accomplish a feat that hasn’t happened in 64 years. “Oppenheimer” leads the nominations with 13, and it’s on track to win several of those categories. If Christopher Nolan‘s epic claims Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy) and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), it will be the first time since 1960 that the same film (“Ben-Hur”) has won those three exact categories. And it would be only the fourth time it’s ever happened.

See Cillian Murphy interview: ‘Oppenheimer’

Since the Best Supporting Actor category was introduced in 1937, only three films have walked away with Best Picture as well as both male acting categories. In 1945, the inspirational musical comedy “Going My Way” not only became the highest-grossing film of 1944, but also won seven of its ten Oscar nominations, making it the big winner of the night. Beside the top prize,...

Pina Pellicer shines as Louisa Longworth in One-Eyed Jacks with raw vulnerability and chemistry with Brando. Ben Foster's role as Charlie Prince in 3:10 to Yuma leaves a lasting impression with chilling loyalty and dead-eyed demeanor. Katharine Ross brings grounded presence and subtle humor to Etta Place in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Some performances in Western movies have become synonymous with the genre, making it easy to miss others that deserve just as much recognition. For many, the Western genre evokes Hollywood stars like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood in classic tales of white hats versus black hats on the American frontier. These archetypal films cemented certain expectations, such as the hardened cowboy outsider, the pure-hearted heroine, or the ruthless outlaw. However, limiting the Western to these stereotypical roles overlooks the many exceptional performances that broke the mold.

Beyond the legendary Western characters of Clint Eastwood lies...

Throughout the 96-year history of the Academy Awards, the amount of acting lineups consisting only of first-time nominees has reached 37, or about 10% of the overall total. While that number may not seem high in a general sense, these cases actually outnumber those exclusively involving veteran contenders by a ratio of three to one. However, although this list expanded as recently as 2023, rookie-only acting lineups are gradually becoming less common than veteran-only ones, the amount of which has nearly doubled within the last dozen years.

Whereas 75% of veteran-only acting quintets have involved lead performers rather than supporting ones, almost the exact opposite is true of lineups full of newcomers. For instance, only one existing case of the former kind concerns supporting actresses, whereas the same category has produced 15 rookie-only rosters. The last such group consisted of 2000 winner Angelina Jolie and nominees Toni Collette (“The Sixth Sense”), Catherine Keener (“Being John Malkovich...

Among the various distinctions “Everything Everywhere All at Once” incurred by winning seven awards at the 95th Oscars was becoming the first film in a dozen years (and ninth overall) to conquer both supporting acting categories. This rare occurrence involved Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis preventing their respective “The Banshees of Inisherin” competitors from accomplishing the same goal, as the sets of featured nominees from “Belfast” and “The Power of the Dog” had both failed to do one year earlier. Now, two more pairs of cast mates – who happen to hail from the two highest-grossing live action movies of 2023 – are gunning for entry into this exclusive club.

The concurrent nominations of Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera (“Barbie”) and Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”) bring the total number of films that have ever vied for both Best Supporting Actor and Actress to 110. Although this marks the third...

Before the 2023 Academy Awards, only “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Network” had won three Oscars for acting. The former won its hat trick in 1952 with Vivien Leigh taking home Best Actress, Karl Malden claiming Best Supporting Actor, and Kim Hunter winning Best Supporting Actress. Then, in 1976, “Network” won Best Actor for Peter Finch (posthumously), Best Actress for Faye Dunaway, and Best Supporting Actress for Beatrice Straight. Those two movies stood alone as the only pictures to win three acting Oscars until 2023 when “Everything Everywhere All at Once” produced wins for Michelle Yeoh (Best Actress), Jamie Lee Curtis (Best Supporting Actress), and Ke Huy Quan (Best Supporting Actor). These three films now have the joint-highest number of acting wins in Oscars history as no film has ever managed to reign victorious in all four acting categories.

Plenty of movies have had four nominations for acting, including “American Hustle” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Hollywood veteran Michael Douglas was in an expansive mood while delivering a masterclass at the recently concluded International Film Festival of India (Iffi), Goa, where he also accepted a lifetime achievement award.

Douglas was in conversation with producer Shailendra Singh, with whom he explored a sequel to “Romancing the Stone” called “Chasing the Monsoon” 17 years ago. The pair are now looking at another film. “We have a project that we are working on, it’s an outline now. We need to talk a little bit more about the characterizations and storylines, but I hope so, I would be really excited,” Douglas said.

The two-time Oscar winner’s comfort level with Singh, who was instrumental in bringing him to India this year, with the seeds sown at the Cannes India pavilion earlier this year, was evident. Douglas was candid about the emotional struggle he went through while his son Cameron battled drug addiction.

(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we look at Oscars categories from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winners stand the test of time.)

With all the milestones that have occurred throughout the 95-year history of the Academy Awards, there are still plenty of accomplishments that have not transpired. No Black woman has ever been nominated for Best Director, and no Black person has ever won that category. No animated film has ever won Best Picture, and no documentary has ever been nominated. I do believe all of these things will eventually happen in the future. As the diversity of the industry steadily increases and Academy membership gradually expands, these sorts of things must happen as time moves on.

But there is one thing I remain skeptical about when it comes to Oscars milestones. It has nothing to do with representation, nor does it have to...

This Veterans Day, we’re celebrating the importance of Veterans as storytellers. Film Independent is inviting 100 U.S. Military Veteran (working or aspiring) filmmakers or actors in the entertainment industry to receive a Film Independent Membership, for a contribution of just $1.00!

Veterans Day is a federal public holiday that always falls on the 11th of November – but why is that? The day’s origins date back to World War I. At 11:00 am Paris local time on November 11, 1918, the Armistice of Compiègne was signed to officially end WWI. In honor of this special day, we’ve curated 10 films (and one limited series!) that embody the values and spirit of the service members across all five branches: the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy.

Patton (1970)

Branch: U.S. Army

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

Cast: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Strong, Carey Loftin

Where to Watch: VOD rental,...

The Hanging Tree, directed by Delmer Daves, is a notable Western movie due to its effective setting and visuals, which portray the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. Filmed in locations such as Nile, Yakima, and Goose Prairie in Washington, the movie successfully captures the untamed brush and greenery that convincingly double for the undeveloped wilderness of Montana. The simplified appearance of the backwoods towns and the majestic mountains in the opening scene of The Hanging Tree set the stage for a classic Western movie.

The 1959 American Western movie The Hanging Tree was filmed in multiple locations, which helped build an effective setting. Based on the novelette by Dorothy M. Johnson and directed by Delmer Daves, the movie follows John Frail (Gary Cooper), a doctor who comes to town in order to escape his dark past and make a new life. The messy storyline also includes Swiss...

Edward “Eddie” Marks, the Emmy-winning president of Western Costume Company, died on Monday in Prague. He was 76.

Marks had a longstanding career in costuming, working his way up to become president of Western Costume Company, where he helped grow the brand into one of the world’s largest costume companies.

Marks was born on July 1, 1947, in Bayonne, N.J. to Lambert Marks and Beverly Hess. By 1952, Mark’s family relocated to the West side of Los Angeles, where he stayed for the rest of his life and began his career in entertainment in 1965.

Marks started out at MGM Studios, working in costuming with the likes of Elvis Presley and on film titles including “Girl Happy,” “Spinout” and “Stay Away.” After leaving MGM in 1968, he began freelancing, going on to work as the costume supervisor for the Emmy-nominated series “The Streets of San Francisco” which starred Karl Malden and Michael Douglas.

Eddie Marks, the president of Western Costume Company whose career in costuming included early collaborations on Elvis Presley films, died Monday while visiting Prague. He was 76.

His death was announced by the company. A cause of death was not disclosed.

Born Edward Howard Marks in Bayonne, NJ, Marks moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1952, and in 1957 they settled in Woodland Hills, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Beginning his career in the MGM Studios mailroom in 1965, Marks would soon work on such mid-1960s Presley films as Girl Happy, Spinout and Stay Away, Joe.

Marks went freelance in 1968, eventually becoming the costume supervisor on the hit TV series Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977) starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglas. In 1988, he received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Costuming for a Mini-Series or Special for his work on the CBS Movie of the Week Shakedown on Sunset Strip.

Edward Hume, a prolific TV writer who created or developed such 1970s episodic crime classics as The Streets of San Francisco, Cannon and Barnaby Jones, and was Emmy-nominated for the startlingly realistic, much-watched 1983 nuclear holocaust drama The Day After, has died. He was 87.

According to an obituary posted this week by his family, Hume died July 13. A cause was not stated.

With his first TV credit coming in 1967 (an episode of The Fugitive), Hume would go on to develop such popular detective and cop fare as Toma (1973); Cannon, the 1971-76 series starring William Conrad; the 1972-77 series The Streets of San Francisco, starring Karl Malden and a young Michael Douglas; and Barnaby Jones, the 1973-80 series starring a post-Beverly Hillbillies Buddy Ebsen as an elderly private eye who comes out of retirement following the murder of his son.

‘The Day After’

While Hume would write many TV movies in the 1970s and ’80s,...

Clockwise from top left: Grease 2 (Paramount), Jaws: The Revenge (Universal), Exorcist II: The Heretic (Warner Bros.), Batman & Robin (Warner Bros.)Image: The A.V. Club

In 1997’s Scream 2, self-proclaimed film geek Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) rants about sequels in his college film class. “Sequels suck! By definition alone they’re inferior films,...

Years after his death in 2003, two-time Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan remains both an influential and controversial figure, respected and reviled in equal measure. Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Kazan started his career as a stage actor, soon transitioning into directing. He mounted several landmark productions, including the original run of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Throughout his career he received three Tony awards for Best Director of a Play: “All My Sons” in 1947, “Death of a Salesman” in 1949, and “J.B.” in 1959.

He transitioned into filmmaking with “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” (1945). Two years later, he won his first Oscar for Best Director for “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947), which also took home Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Celeste Holm). A taboo-shattering drama about antisemitism, the film established Kazan as a director drawn towards contemporary, hot-button topics.

Kazan scored his second Best Director...

For years, much of the film industry has considered Sundance as a ’90s legacy, one most famous for launching the festival that cemented a market for American independent film. However, the seeds for that phenomenon were sown in the previous decade.

Hollywood raced into the ’80s with its blockbuster juices flowing, as the box-office sensations of “Jaws” and then “Star Wars” rejuvenated the studio confidence in mass-market commercial storytelling, and the prospects of small-scale independent filmmaking seemed more marginalized than ever. Enter Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, which launched its first feature film lab in 1981, and created a seminal resource for working outside the system still unparalleled in the U.S. today.

In the midst of the studios getting a second wind, Redford felt unnerved. Though the movie star made a successful pivot to directing with “Ordinary People” in 1980, he had long felt that Hollywood underserved movies made with an economy of means.

The role of retired CIA operative Luke Brunner in Netflix’s Fubar is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “first TV role ever” in the same way that this is my first McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Hobnob of the day – it absolutely isn’t but if it makes us all happier to lie to ourselves then why not?

Early press for action-comedy series Fubar has made much of the coup of Netflix bagging Schwarzenegger for television. At last! The Governator is “set to make his TV series debut” says The Hollywood Reporter. This marks the action icon’s “first ever television series”, says Collider. Science has finally figured out how to make TV screens wide enough to accommodate the Hollywood star’s mighty girth, and now we’ve got him. Never mind that Arnie’s been muscling around on television since 1974.

Granted, Fubar marks Schwarzenegger’s first lead role in a scripted and...

The Cannes Film Festival officially kicked off Tuesday night with Michael Douglas receiving an honorary Palme d’Or, and Catherine Deneuve making a surprise appearance during the opening ceremony — ahead of the world premiere screening of Maïwenn’s Johnny Depp-starrer Jeanne du Barry, arguably one of the hottest tickets on the Croisette. The film received a standing ovation of a touch over four minutes later in the evening.

Chiara Mastroianni hosted the festivities, introducing the Ruben Ostlund-led jury, and noting that Cannes was created out of “an act of resistance” and that “the power of cinema has never let us down.”

Ostlund praised the communal experience of cinema, quipping that on television in his native Sweden, “The only thing we watch together is Eurovision.” The two-time Palme d’Or winner continued, “Just the fact that someone is sitting next you in the cinema and might turn to you and ask what do you think…...

Gambling and casinos have always been popular themes in movies, and there have been many great films made on this subject over the years. From tense poker games to high-stakes heists, the world of gambling has provided plenty of material for filmmakers to work with. Here are some of the greatest films with gambling and casino themes ever made.

Casino (1995)

Martin Scorsese’s epic tale of the rise and fall of a casino boss, Casino, is a classic film that is often cited as one of the greatest gambling movies ever made. The film follows the story of Sam “Ace” Rothstein, played by Robert De Niro, who is hired by the Mob to run the Tangiers casino in Las Vegas. With his best friend, Nicky Santoro, played by Joe Pesci, at his side, Ace builds an empire but finds himself struggling to maintain control as his personal and professional life spiral out of control.