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Above: US one-sheet for Breakheart Pass. Art by Mort Künstler.The first movie poster painted by Mort Künstler that caught my eye, long before I knew his name, was this vertiginous heart-stopper for a lesser-known Charles Bronson western, Breakheart Pass (1975). Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas called the film, which was a box-office disappointment against Bronson’s million-dollar salary, “a fun if familiar picture ... played so broadly on such an elementary level that it can hope to satisfy only the most undemanding of viewer,” making it sound like the sleepiest of adventure films. But you wouldn’t know that from Künstler’s poster, in which Bronson thrillingly clings onto the edge of a moving train high above a snowy mountain ravine as a booted foot is about to stomp on his bare knuckles. A cliffhanger if ever there was one.Künstler, who died last month at the age of 97, was...

When it comes to champions of forgotten sex symbols, you can’t do much better than Quentin Tarantino.

Snubs from the annual Oscars in memoriam segment are always uncomfortable, but 2023 was an especially awkward year for the Academy. Leslie Jordan, Anne Heche, Tom Sizemore, Paul Sorvino, and more celebrities who had recently passed were excluded from the ceremony. For the late Stella Stevens — a blonde bombshell known for decades of TV and film, and who at 83 had died just one month earlier from advanced Alzheimer’s disease — facing disrespect from the industry was always routine.

“I wrote letters to the Motion Picture Academy,” said filmmaker Andrew Stevens, Stella’s only son. With hundreds of credits to his name, the director, producer, and actor makes himself as busy as his late mother but is best known for appearing in 1978’s “The Boys in Company C.” Speaking with IndieWire earlier this January,...

The 1980s are remembered for their long-running soaps like Dallas, Dynasty, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest, all of which are now available to stream on Amazon Prime. But those require a long-term commitment.

But what if you haven’t got that kind of time? What if you want to one and done it? In that case, we’ve got three 1980s soaps that deserved longer runs….but never them, which is good news for you now!

Paper Dolls

Just check out the cast on this 1984 sudser, Paper Dolls! The one and only Morgan Fairchild, the one and only Lloyd Bridges, Roscoe Born hot off Ryan’s Hope, Dack Rambo hot off All My Children, Jonathan Frakes pre-Star Trek, and two fresh faces, Nicollette Sheridan pre-Knots Landing, Desperate Housewives, and the Dynasty reboot, and Terry Farrell, pre-Deep Space 9 and Becker.

The story takes place in the world of high-stakes, high-fashion modeling,...

You know a comedian had a dark side when he made an entire movie about a clown who witnesses and participates in the Holocaust and that’s still not the most disturbing decision he ever made.

Like too many of his contemporaries, the so-called “King of Comedy” wasn’t exactly chivalrous when it came to his treatment of women or his subjects. In fact, when Jerry Lewis was asked which female comedians he admired at the Aspen U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 1998, he infamously responded, “I don’t like any female comedians. A woman doing comedy doesn’t offend me but sets me back a bit. I, as a viewer, have trouble with it. I think of her as a producing machine that brings babies in the world.” And, to absolutely no one’s surprise, Lewis’ less than stellar treatment of women (and people in general) extended past his...

Andrew Stevens pays loving but not hagiographic tribute to his late mother, famed actress Stella Stevens, in his documentary recently showcased at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. The film convincingly makes the case that its subject, best known for her performances in such pictures as The Poseidon Adventure and The Nutty Professor, is severely underrated, both as an actress and social activist. Stella Stevens: The Last Starlet aims to rectify that perception and, thanks to numerous clips of her work and effusive commentary by the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Vivica A. Fox, it succeeds beautifully.

The filmmaker (who appears frequently) admits that his relationship with his mother was rocky, to say the least, in the early years. Born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, Stevens got married at age 16 and had Andrew, her first and only child, six months later. The marriage soon dissolved, and when she moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career,...

It’s the summer of “Blaxploitation, Baby!,” the latest festival hosted by Film Forum.

The indie theater announced the upcoming festival which will take place August 16 through August 22. The program celebrates the early ‘70s genre of Black cinema, and features films wth iconic movie stars Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Ron O’Neal, Tamara Dobson, Jim Brown, Vonetta McGee, Fred Williamson, Isaac Hayes, and more.

“Blaxploitation, Baby!” is dedicated to author and pioneering film historian Donald Bogle, who collaborated on Film Forum’s first Blaxploitation festival in 1995. Bogle credited Melvin Van Peebles’ filmography for helping to establish the genre. “Blaxploitation, Baby!” additionally ranges from works from directors such as Ossie Davis, Gordon Parks, and Gordon Parks Jr.

As well as the screenings, the festival will include the sales of critic and historian Odie Henderson’s “Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation” and Donald Bogle’s acclaimed TCM book “Hollywood Black” at concessions.

Armando Silvestre, a busy actor in the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema who appeared with Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine in Two Mules for Sister Sara, with Yul Brynner in Kings of the Sun and with Burt Lancaster in The Scalphunters, has died. He was 98.

Silvestre died June 2 in Coronado, California, a representative from the Aztlan Mortuary in nearby La Mesa told The Hollywood Reporter.

The powerfully built Silvestre made scores of films in Mexico, among them Here Comes Martin Corona (1952), Rossana (1953), Story of a Mink Coat (1955) with Silvia Pinal, La Sombra Vengadora (1956), The Miracle Roses (1960), Neutrón Contra el Dr. Caronte (1963), La Choca (1974) and Faith, Hope and Charity (1974).

He excelled in Westerns and action adventure movies early in his career en route to compiling more than 200 credits on IMDb.

Armando Silvestre Carrascosa was born in San Diego on Jan. 28, 1926, and raised in Tijuana. His younger brother was Eduardo Silvestre, winner of the Mr.

Previous | Image 1 of 12 | NextRaquel Welch, 1940-February 15, 2023

Chicago – As always, we lost a number of notable people in 2023. In his hustle and glory, photographer Joe Arce has spent his career not only taking Exclusive Portraits of every notable he runs across, but he also has collected an archive that makes their image available again for the 2023 In Memoriam.

Click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through the slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All photos © Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com.

2023MEMORIAM1: Raquel Welch, 1940-February 15, 2023 2023MEMORIAM2: Tony Bennett, 1926-July 21, 2023 2023MEMORIAM3: Alan Arkin, 1934-June 29, 2023 2023MEMORIAM4: Cindy Williams, 1947-January 25, 2023 2023MEMORIAM5: ‘Exorcist ‘ Director William Friedkin, 1935-August 7, 2023 2023MEMORIAM6: Richard Roundtree of ’Shaft.’ 1942-October 24, 2023 2023MEMORIAM7: Stella Stevens of ‘The Poseidon Adventure,’ 1938-February 17, 2023 2023MEMORIAM8: Lisa Loring, Wednesday in 1960s ‘Addams Family,’ 1958-January 28, 2023 2023MEMORIAM9: Rocker Denny Laine of Wings, 1944-December 5, 2023 2023MEMORIAM10:...

On the JoBlo Movies YouTube channel, you can find full feature films that we have uploaded, giving viewers the chance to watch them entirely free of charge. Now that we’re entering the month of October – which many of us refer to as “spooky season” or “the Halloween season”, since we celebrate Halloween all month long – the JoBlo Movies YouTube channel is already going to be getting into the holiday spirit. Throughout the month of October, we’ll be uploading a whole lot of horror movies – including today’s release, a creature feature called Glass Trap! You can check it out in the embed above.

Directed by the legendary Fred Olen Ray – whose long list of credits (he has directed over 160 movies so far) includes the cult classics Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and Evil Toons – from a screenplay written by Lisa Morton and Brett Thompson, Glass Trap has the following synopsis:...

Marlene Clark, an actress and model who rose to fame in the 1970s, has passed away. Per THR, Clark died at her home in Los Angeles on May 18, though no cause of death was immediately revealed. She was 85 years old.

“For 15 years she curated a bustling restaurant scene where underground artists mingled with locals and the stars of film and television,” Clark's friend, Tamara Lynch, said of the news. “She had a vision of culinary excellence coupled with dynamic professional service and would lay out the blueprint for the glamorous L.A. restaurant scene brilliantly casted with her discerning eye."

Lynch added, “Marlene’s style was impeccable. She loved fashion, food and acting. Her large, full laugh that could fill a room will be missed. She leaves behind friends and family that will forever be grateful for her grace, love and beautiful heart. Marlene was one of our finest examples of Black beauty.

Marlene Clark, best known for her portrayals of Lamont’s girlfriend Janet in the 1970s NBC sitcom Sanford & Son and as Ganja Meda in the 1973 horror film Ganja & Hess, has died.

Demond Wilson, who played Lamont on Sanford & Son, paid tribute to Clark on Twitter, writing “Rip beautiful actress Marlene Clark. . . It was a delight to work with you…,” noting she died on May 18. Wilson listed her age as 73, but that has not been confirmed.

Clark joined Sanford & Son in the comedy’s fifth season in 1976 as a recurring opposite Wilson, remaining through the series’ final season the following year.

Raised in the Harlem section of New York City, Clark was a fashion model before her transition to acting.

Her earliest work began in films in the 1960s including For Love of Ivy opposite Sidney Poitier and Putney Swope in 1969, directed by Robert Downey Sr. She went...

Rita Lakin, the boundary-pushing TV writer and showrunner who worked on Peyton Place, The Doctors and Mod Squad and created series including The Rookies and Flamingo Road, has died. She was 93.

Lakin died March 23 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Novato, California, her son, writer-producer Howard Lakin, told The Hollywood Reporter. “Before her, they hadn’t thought about writing television from a woman’s point of view,” he noted.

Lakin also penned a groundbreaking 1975 episode of CBS’ Medical Center centered on a transgender character; served as a showrunner/executive producer on the 1976-77 CBS drama Executive Suite; and wrote such popular telefilms as 1971’s Death Takes a Holiday and 1973’s Message to My Daughter and A Summer Without Boys.

After she met some people from Texas whom she didn’t like, she rejected an offer in 1978 to create the pilot for a show about an oil family in the Lone Star State.

Every year the “In Memoriam” tribute at the Oscars leaves off a few fan favorites and 2023 was no exception: Among those who weren’t included in Sunday night’s video montage were Anne Heche, “Saving Private Ryan” star Tom Sizemore and Charlbi Dean, who appeared in this year’s Best Picture nominee “Triangle of Sadness.”

Fans also noted the absence of Cindy Williams: While she was best known for the ’70s TV sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” she notably appeared in two classic films of the era, George Lucas’ “American Graffiti” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation.”

And while the tribute included “Goodfellas” star Ray Liotta, who died unexpectedly on May 26, 2022, his costar Paul Sorvino, who died in July 2022, was left out.

Also Read:

Celebrity Deaths in 2023: Hollywood Stars We’ve Lost This Year (Photos)

Also missing from the tribute: two-time Oscar nominee Melinda Dillon of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,...

Four-time Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz will perform for Sunday’s emotional “In Memoriam” segment on the Oscars 2023 ceremony. While only 40-50 people are generally remembered for the television ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on ABC, over 200 people will be recognized on the Academy’s webpage starting that evening.

SEEWho is Performing at the Oscars 2023?: Full List of Presenters and Performers

Here is a lengthy list of many contributors to film who died since last year’s Academy Awards ceremony:

Mary Alice (actor)

Gil Alkabetz (animator)

Kirstie Alley (actor)

Burt Bacharach (composer)

Angelo Badalamenti (composer)

Simone Bär (casting director)

Joanna Barnes (actor)

Carl A. Bell (animator)

Jeff Berlin (sound)

David Birney (actor)

Bruce Bisenz (sound)

Robert Blake (actor)

Eliot Bliss (sound)

Nick Bosustow (shorts)

Albert Brenner (production designer)

Tom Bronson (costume designer)

James Caan (actor)

Michael Callan (actor)

Donn Cambern (editor)

Irene Cara (songwriter)

Gary W. Carlson (sound)

Marvin Chomsky...

Sunday’s SAG Awards ceremony will be a streaming event for the first time on the Netflix YouTube channel. One of the highlights each year is the special In Memoriam segment. It’s been a particularly rough year with over 100 deaths of prominent actors and actresses who were likely members of SAG/AFTRA. Show producers typically are able to include approximately 40-50 people in a tribute.

Among that group will certainly be Oscar winners Louise Fletcher, William Hurt and Irene Cara, plus nominees Angela Lansbury (a SAG life achievement recipient) and Melinda Dillon. Emmy champs Mary Alice, Kirstie Alley, Leslie Jordan, Ray Liotta, Stuart Margolin, Robert Morse and Barbara Walters.

SEECelebrity Deaths 2023: In Memoriam Gallery

Here is our expansive list of over 100 people who died since last year’s ceremony, several of whom will be honored on Sunday’s event:

Ralph Ahn

J. Grant Albrecht

Mary Alice

Rae Allen...

Los Angeles – Stella Stevens had a prolific and adventurous career, especially considering all the famous co-stars and directors she encountered over her 60 year run. She began near end of the studio system in the late 1950s, and worked through the first decade of the post millennium. Stevens was 84 years old when she passed away February 17th, 2023, in her native Los Angeles.

Her leading men were as diverse as Glenn Ford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, Jason Robards and Ernest Borgnine. The directors included Vincente Minnelli, Peter Bogdonovich, John Cassavetes, Sam Peckinpah and Jerry Lewis (he also directed “The Nutty Professor”).

Stella Stevens in Chicago circa 2011

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Stella was born in Mississippi as Estelle Egglston, and her family moved to Memphis soon thereafter. After an early marriage and divorce, she became interested in acting and modeling while at Memphis State University.

Richard Belzer, original cast member of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” has died at the age of 78, according to media reports. The cause of death is currently unknown.

“Richard Belzer was the first actor to welcome me when I started at ‘Svu,'” current “Svu” showrunner Warren Leight wrote. “Open, warm, acerbic, whip smart, surprisingly kind. I loved writing for Munch, and I loved being with Belz.”

Belzer was best known to fans of the long-running crime drama as NYPD Det. John Munch, a sardonic investigator whose dry wit was guided by the actor’s years of stand-up comedy experience. While Belzer was best known for playing Munch on “Law & Order: Svu” from 1999 to 2013, he had previously played the character for seven seasons on the NBC drama “Homicide: Life on the Street,” during which Munch was a homicide detective that served as a mentor to his younger partner Det.

Actress Stella Stevens, noted for the Jerry Lewis comedy feature "The Nutty Professor" (1963) and director Sam Peckinpah's "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" (1970) has died:

Stevens also appeared in the Elvis Presley musical feature "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (1962), "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972) and TV series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Bonanza" (1960), "The Love Boat", "Hart to Hart" (1979), "Newhart" (1983), "Murder, She Wrote" (1985),"Magnum, P.I." (1986), "Highlander: The Series" (1995) and "Wonder Woman" (1975).

Stevens also worked as a film producer, director, writer, as well as appearing in three "Playboy" magazine pictorials.

Click the images to enlarge...

Kellie Pickler‘s husband has died. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department told Et that Kyle Jacobs was found dead at the couple’s Nashville home on Friday. He was 49.

Police told Et that, after being called to the home, they discovered Jacobs “deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in an upstairs bedroom/office.” Police added that “his death is being investigated as an apparent suicide.”

Read More: Stella Stevens, 'Nutty Professor' and 'Poseidon Adventure' Actress, Dead at 84

“Mr. Jacobs’ wife, Kellie Pickler, reported that she awoke a short time earlier, did not see her husband, and began looking for him,” police said. “After she and her personal assistant were unable to open the door to the upstairs bedroom/office, the assistant telephoned 911.”

TMZ was first to report the news. Et has reached out to Pickler for comment.

Pickler and Jacobs tied the knot in 2011. They co-starred on “I Love...

Stella Stevens, who starred in such films as “The Nutty Professor”, “The Poseidon Adventure” and alongside Elvis Presley in “Girls! Girls! Girls!”, has died. She was 84.

According to multiple reports, Stevens died Friday in Los Angeles following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Before making a name for herself on the big and small screen, Stevens was a Playboy Playmate and appeared on its centerfold page in January 1960. She was modeling in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, when she was discovered, ultimately leading her to roles in the 1962 music comedy “Girls! Girls! Girls!” and then starring alongside comedy giant Jerry Lewis in the 1963 sci-fi comedy “The Nutty Professor”.

Read More: Raquel Welch, Actress and Legendary Bombshell, Dead at 82

In a New York Times review of the film (via Variety), Stevens’ performance as Stella Purdy (the student Lewis’ nutty professor character pursues) is singled out.

“It’s about a shy...

Stella Stevens is the actress known for playing Stella Purdy in The Nutty Professor (1963) and starring alongside Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! Sadly, Ms. Steven passed away on Friday in Los Angeles after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Her death was confirmed by her son, actor-producer Andrew Stevens, and her long-time friend John O’Brien.

A former Playboy centerfold from January 1960, Stevens participated in a screen test by 20th Century Fox as a part of launching her Hollywood career. She signed on the dotted line with Paramount and Columbia through the ’60s, appearing opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, a role that sent her star soaring. She played Stella Purdy opposite Jerry Lewis’ Prof. Julius Kelp in The Nutty Professor, then acted in such films as Advance to the Rear, Synanon, The Silencers, Rage, How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life, The Mad Room, and more.

Stella Stevens, who starred in the 1972 disaster film “Poseidon Adventure” and in films opposite Elvis Presley, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, died Friday in Los Angeles at the age of 84.

Her son, actor/producer Andrew Stevens, confirmed her passing to TheWrap via email. “I was notified early this morning,” Stevens said. “Stella had been in hospice for quite some time with stage seven Alzheimer’s.”

She is perhaps best known for her role as one of the victims of an ocean liner disaster in Irwin Allen’s epic “Poseidon Adventure.” She played a former prostitute married to Ernest Borgnine’s police detective, who, along with Gene Hackman and Shelley Winters, try to make it to the top of the overturned ship.

Stevens also starred with Elvis Presley in the 1962 musical “Girls! Girls! Girls!,” Jerry Lewis in 1963’s “The Nutty Professor,” and Dean Martin in the 1966 spy spoof “The Silencers.” In...

Stella Stevens, the screen siren of the 1960s who brought sweet sexiness to such films as The Nutty Professor, Too Late Blues and The Ballad of Cable Hogue, has died. She was 84.

Stevens died Friday in Los Angeles, her son, actor-producer-director Andrew Stevens, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She had been in hospice for quite some time with Stage 7 Alzheimer’s,” he said.

Shining brightest in light comedies, the blond, blue-eyed actress appeared as a shy beauty contestant from Montana in Vincente Minnelli’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963), portrayed a headstrong nun in Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows! (1968) opposite Rosalind Russell and frolicked with the fun-loving Dean Martin in two films: the Matt Helm spy spoof The Silencers (1966) and How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968).

Stevens also starred opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), a movie she said she detested.

Her signature role, however, came in The Nutty Professor (1963), produced,...

Stella Stevens, who starred with Elvis Presley in “Girls! Girls! Girls!” and with Jerry Lewis in “The Nutty Professor” as well as in disaster film “The Poseidon Adventure,” died Friday in Los Angeles. Her son, Andrew Stevens, said she had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 84.

“Girls! Girls! Girls!” (1962) was one of the more generic Elvis films— there wasn’t all that much for Stevens to do — but Variety was keen on her performance in 1963’s “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” starring Glenn Ford and Shirley Jones in the story of a widower who’s romantically interested in one woman while his son wants him to marry another: “Stella Stevens comes on like gangbusters in her enactment of a brainy but inhibited doll from Montana. It’s a sizzling comedy performance of a kook.”

In “The Nutty Professor” (1963) or any other Jerry Lewis film, one might expect the...

Stella Stevens, the actress best known for her roles in The Nutty Professor and The Poseidon Adventure and starring opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, died today in Los Angeles after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 84.

Stevens’ passing was confirmed to Deadline by her son, actor-producer Andrew Stevens, and her longtime friend John O’Brien.

Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story How To Watch Lisa Marie Presley's Graceland Memorial Service Online Related Story Lisa Marie Presley Dies: Singer, Songwriter, Daughter Of Elvis Was 54 Elvis Presley and Stevens in ‘Girls! Girls! Girls!’, 1962

A former Playboy centerfold from January 1960, Stevens was modeling in her hometown of Memphis when she was discovered and given a screen test by 20th Century Fox. She wound up under contract with Paramount and then Columbia through the ’60s, starring opposite such big names as Presley in Girls!

Francesca “Kitten” Natividad, the go-go dancer who became a cult pop culture figure when she was cast by sexploitation film director Russ Meyer in “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens,” died Saturday of kidney failure after suffering from cancer at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, according to her friend Siouxzan Perry. She was 74.

“She adored her friends, cats, family and fans,” her sister Eva wrote in a statement on Facebook posted by Perry.

Born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Natividad moved to Texas as a child, where she became class president of her high school in El Paso. After moving to California, she became a cook and maid for actress Stella Stevens before becoming a go-go dancer and adopting the name “Kitten.” She met “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” director Meyer through a dancer friend, and he hired her to narrate his 1976 sex comedy “Up.” She had already had breast implant surgery...

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Sony Choice Collection has rescued another long forgotten TV movie from obscurity and released it as a burn-to-order title. "Kiss Me...Kill Me" is a crime thriller that was originally telecast in 1976. Compared to similar fare from that era, the film is fairly routine, though it might well be more appreciated today than it was at the time of its original airing. This is due to the fact that it boasts a strong cast of seasoned veteran actors- something that was relatively common in the 1970s, when the concept of TV movies became very popular. Most of these productions had star power and audiences enjoyed seeing some of their favorite movie stars on the small screen. "Kiss Me...Kill Me" stars Stella Stevens as Stella Stafford, an L.A-based investigator for the District Attorney's office. She is assigned to an especially disturbing murder case involving Maureen Coyle...

Laurel Goodwin, an actor who made her movie debut at age 19 opposite Elvis Presley in the 1962 feature Girls! Girls! Girls! and four years later played a crew member in the original, failed Star Trek pilot starring Jeffery Hunter, died February 25. She was 79.

Her death was announced by her sister Maureen Scott. A cause was not disclosed.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, and relocating to California with her family during World War II, Goodwin studied drama at San Francisco State University and was soon signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures. She debuted in Girls! Girls! Girls! as one of two potential love interests for Presley’s character (the other was portrayed by Stella Stevens).

The following year, Goodwin played a daughter of Jackie Gleason’s railroad executive in the comedy Papa’s Delicate Condition.

Over the next decade, Goodwin would appear in numerous TV series, including The Virginian, Get Smart!, The Beverly Hillbillies,...

The comedian and former The Daily Show correspondent talks about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Castle (1997)

The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary

Pressure (1976)

Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Boss (1975)

Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)

Black Samurai (1977)

Truck Turner (1974)

Schindler’s List (1993)

Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)

Friday Foster (1975)

That Man Bolt (1973)

Blacula (1972)

Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary

Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Billy Jack (1971)

John Wick (2014)

The Matrix (1999)

Cleopatra Jones...

Helen Reddy, the Australian singer whose global hit “I Am Woman” became a feminist anthem and who was the subject of a 2019 biopic of the same title, died today in Los Angeles. She was 78.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Helen Reddy, on the afternoon of September 29th 2020 in Los Angeles,” her children Traci Donat and Jordan Sommers said in a statement. “She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman. Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”

Born on October 25, 1941, in Melbourne; Reddy came from a showbiz family and made her debut onstage at age 4. She first hit the U.S. charts in 1971 with “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” Mary Magdalene’s big song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. About...

Jerry Lewis’ comedy “The Nutty Professor” is getting a reboot from the production company behind “Scream 5.”

Project X principals James Vanderbilt, William Sherak and Paul Neinstein have bought the rights to the 1963 movie, which was remade in 1996 starring Eddie Murphy. No director or actors are attached to the remake yet.

Lewis portrayed a nerdy college professor who concocted a potion that transformed him into a suave hipster named Buddy Love, who pursues one of his students, played by Stella Stevens. Lewis directed from a script he co-wrote with Bill Richmond, as a parody of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Film historians regard “The Nutty Professor” as the most memorable film of Lewis’ long career. In 2004, “The Nutty Professor” was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

The Eddie Murphy version, which also starred Jada Pinkett Smith,...

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.

As far as movies about shattered states of masculinity go, you can’t get any more raw, personal, or up-close than John Cassavetes’ 1970 “Husbands.” The filmmaker’s meandering, laidback style is well-suited to this chamber dramedy led by Cassavetes and his pals Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara. While storytelling in 2020 is pivoting fiercely away from tales of white, straight male egos, it’s fascinating to look back at “Husbands” as a cracked reflection of the times.

In 1971, feminist author and activist Betty Friedan wrote an editorial for The New York Times hailing “Husbands” as “the strongest statement of the case for women’s liberation I have yet seen on stage or screen,” and that the film tackled “the alienation, loneliness, [and] un-met need...

Movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Dana Gould, Daniel Waters, Scott Alexander, and Allison Anders.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Destroy All Monsters (1969)

Planet Of The Apes (1968)

Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970)

Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)

Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)

Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973)

Suparpie

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

Hello Down There (1969)

Koyaanisqatsi (1982)

Thirteen Days (2000)

Stalker (1979)

Last Year At Marienbad (1961)

No Exit (1962)

The Exterminating Angel (1962)

Sleeper (1973)

The Tenant (1976)

Final Cut: Ladies And Gentlemen (2012)

The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)

La classe américaine (1993)

The Sex Adventures of a Single Man a.k.a. The 24 Hour Lover (1968)

The Omega Man (1971)

Soylent Green (1973)

Knives Out (2019)

The Hunt (2020)

Banana Split (2020)

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Animal Crackers (1930)

Monkey Business (1931)

Horse Feathers (1932)

Duck Soup (1933)

A Night At The Opera (1935)

The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971)

Susan Slade (1961)

My Blood Runs Cold...

The Berlin Film Festival has added special screenings for Vadim Perelman’s Persian Lessons with Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Lars Eidinger, and Anne Fontaine’s Police, starring Omar Sy and Virginie Efira. Both are world premieres.

The former, set in Occupied France in 1942, follows a man who is arrested by the SS alongside other Jews and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. Police focuses on three Parisian police officers charged with driving a stranger back to the border. Scroll down for more details.

There will also be a special screening of Jerry Lewis’s 1963 movie The Nutty Professor. Previously announced special screenings include Johnny Depp starrer Minamata and Roberto Benigni-voiced Pinocchio.

The festival has also revealed movies in the Berlinale Classics lineup, including Fellini’s Il bidone (The Swindle), and two of the earliest narrative films about the Holocaust, Ostatni Etap (The Last Stage) and Daleká Cesta (Distant...

Richard Gillis, a singer, songwriter and composer who worked for Sam Peckinpah on the Western fable The Ballad of Cable Hogue, has died. He was 80.

Gillis died July 31 in Thousand Oaks as a result of complications from a fall at his home in Toluca Lake, his family said. 

For The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), which featured an original score by Jerry Goldsmith, Gillis wrote music and/or lyrics for such songs as "Butterfly Mornings," "Tomorrow Is the Song I Sing" and "Wait for Me, Sunrise," performed by actors Stella Stevens and Jason Robards ...

Richard Gillis, a singer, songwriter and composer who worked for Sam Peckinpah on the Western fable The Ballad of Cable Hogue, has died. He was 80.

Gillis died July 31 in Thousand Oaks as a result of complications from a fall at his home in Toluca Lake, his family said. 

For The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), which featured an original score by Jerry Goldsmith, Gillis wrote music and/or lyrics for such songs as "Butterfly Mornings," "Tomorrow Is the Song I Sing" and "Wait for Me, Sunrise," performed by actors Stella Stevens and Jason Robards ...

After the massive success of Airplane! (1980), the horror world decided to try spoofing the hand that feeds; in short order we were dealt Saturday the 14th, Student Bodies, National Lampoon’s Class Reunion, and Pandemonium (all from ’81 to ’82). Mileage may vary of course; comedy is completely subjective—you either laugh or you don’t. Needless to say, there are moments from each of these films that I find entertaining; from smiles to chuckles and sometimes even a laugh or two. But there is another film that no one seems to talk up much, and that’s Greydon Clark’s Wacko (1982). As uneven as the rest, it nevertheless boasts an impressive cast and an energy that wins you over; and now that Vinegar Syndrome has released it on a solid Blu-ray, you can enjoy every groan, titter, eye roll, and yes, laugh, in the privacy of your own home.

The story of Wacko is quite simple,...

April 16th’s home media releases feature a small but eclectic array of titles, including Glass, the latest from M. Night Shyamalan, Replicas featuring Keanu Reeves, the Master of Dark Shadows documentary, and a trio of genre classics from Scream Factory: The Manitou, Grave of the Vampire, and Superstition. Other titles headed to Blu-ray and DVD this week include Cynthia and Close Calls.

Glass

Night Shyamalan brings together two of his standout original films—Unbreakable and Split— in this explosive comic book thriller. Elijah Price, also known as Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), finds David Dunn (Bruce Willis) pursuing Kevin Wendell Crumb's superhuman figure, The Beast (James McAvoy), in a series of escalating encounters. Price, armed with secrets critical to both men, emerges as a shadowy orchestrator.

Alternate Opening Deleted Scenes The Collection of Main Characters A Conversation with James McAvoy and M. Night Shyamalan Bringing the Team Back Together David Dunn vs.

Scream Factory™ Presents The Manitou Starring Tony Curtis, Michael Ansara, Susan Strasberg, Stella Stevens, Burgess Meredith, Jon Cedar, and Ann Sothern & Superstition Starring James Houghton Two Highly-anticipated Horror Cult Classics Arrive On Blu-ray™ April 16, 2019 From Scream Factory™ Horror enthusiasts and classic movie collectors rejoice! On April 16, Scream Factory™ is proud to …

The post Supernatural Cult Classic The Manitou Blu-ray and Horror Classic Superstition Blu-ray Arrive April 16 appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

April 16th will see the release of both The Manitou and Superstition on Blu-ray and we have new details on both titles straight from Scream Factory:

"Horror enthusiasts and classic movie collectors rejoice! On April 16, Scream Factory™ is proud to present the 1978 supernatural cult classic The Manitou Blu-ray and horror classic Superstition Blu-ray. Produced and directed by William Girdler and based on the best-selling novel by Graham Masterton, The Manitou stars Tony Curtis (Spartacus), Michael Ansara (I Dream of Jeannie), Susan Strasberg (Scream of Fear), Stella Stevens (The Silencers), Burgess Meredith (Rocky), Jon Cedar (Death Hunt), and Ann Sothern (The Whale of August). Directed by James Roberson (The Giant of Thunder Mountain) and produced by Ed Carlin (Battle Beyond the Stars), Superstition stars James Houghton (The Colbys), Albert Salmi (Caddyshack), Lynn Carlin (Faces), and Larry Pennell (Bubba Ho-Tep).

A must-have for collectors, The Manitou Blu-ray boasts new 4K scan from...

Nick Redman, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker, award-winning soundtrack producer and co-founder of the Twilight Time video label, died Thursday afternoon, Jan. 17, at a Santa Monica Hospital, after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 63.

He was nominated for an Academy Award as producer of the 1996 documentary “The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage,” a look back at Sam Peckinpah’s controversial film. He also produced and directed the 1998 “A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers,” about the making of the Western classic, a prizewinner at multiple film festivals.

In 2007 he produced and directed the feature documentary “Becoming John Ford,” which debuted at the Venice International Film Festival and detailed the long and complex relationship between the famous director and 20th Century-Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck.

He made numerous other short films including profiles of actress Stella Stevens and film composers Basil Poledouris and Jerry Fielding.

The final film of director William Girdler, The Manitou (based on the Graham Masterton novel of the same name) will make its Blu-ray debut this April courtesy of Scream Factory.

On Facebook, Scream Factory announced that they'll release The Manitou on Blu-ray on April 16th. Special features have yet to be revealed, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details are announced. In the meantime, be sure to check out Scott Drebit's Drive-In Dust Offs column on The Manitou.

And if you're keeping track of upcoming releases, Scream Factory recently announced April Blu-ray releases of The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires and Superstition.

From Scream Factory: "We have yet another horror hocus-pocus offering to set loose this year. The 1978 infamous shocker The Manitou arrives on Blu-ray for the first time with a planned date of April 16th! Producer and directed by William Girdler from the best-selling novel by Graham Masterton.

By John M. Whalen

Sam Peckinpah’s “The Ballad of Cable Hogue,” (1970) recently released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection, is a movie that doesn’t fit neatly into any specific category. Peckinpah, more notable for his violent action pictures about outlaws who’ve run out their string and go down in a blaze of glory, maintained that “Hogue” is a comedy. But co-star Stella Stevens, in an interview included on this Blu-Ray release, disagrees. She claims it’s a love story—a tragic love story. The answer, in my opinion, is that it probably falls somewhere in between. It’s both a comedy and a love story, and as such, is probably the most honest film about the human condition the hard-nosed Peckinpah ever made.

The story is a simple one. Jason Robards plays the titular character, a man left to die in the Arizona desert by two disreputable partners,...

With Halloween only two weeks away now, that means we have another killer batch of home entertainment releases arriving this Tuesday, primed to get everyone in the mood for the macabre. Cult film lovers should get those wallets ready, as Kino Lorber is keeping busy with The Terror Within II, Revenge of the Dead, and a 4K special edition of RawHead Rex, too.

For those who still venture out into the real world to make their media purchases, Target has the exclusive on season one of Stranger Things that comes in nifty retro packaging, and Criterion has put together a stellar Blu for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Other notable releases for October 17th include American Gods: Season One, Wes Craven’s Summer of Fear, Red Christmas, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Honor Farm, and Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Collection.

American Gods: Season One (Lionsgate, Blu-ray & DVD)

When...

I annoyed Jerry Lewis once by asking him about The Day the Clown Cried, a movie he starred in and directed in 1972, and then refused to release. "It's awful," said Lewis of the Holocaust drama in which he starred as a circus clown who entertains Jewish children as he leads them to their deaths in Nazi gas chambers. Why not show it and let the world decide? "I'm ashamed of it," Lewis told me flatly. When I pressed him, he flashed a look that could be subtitled "End of Discussion.

Easily the most mellow of the films of Sam Peckinpah, this relatively gentle western fable sees Jason Robards discovering water where it ain’t, and establishing his private little way station paradise, complete with lover Stella Stevens and eccentric preacher David Warner. Some of the slapstick is sticky but the sexist bawdy humor is too cute to offend . . . and Peckinpah-phobes will be surprised to learn that the movie is in part a musical.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1970 / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date June 6, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring Jason Robards Jr., Stella Stevens, David Warner, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong, Peter Whitney, Gene Evans, William Mims, Kathleen Freeman, Susan O’Connell, Vaughn Taylor, Max Evans, James Anderson.

Cinematography: Lucien Ballard

Art Direction: Leroy Coleman

Film Editor: Frank Santillo, Lou Lombardo

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by John Crawford and Edmund Penney

Produced by Sam Peckinpah...

Tagline: "This is one Birth Announcement the World Could do Without.” Shivers Entertainment is launching their second release, Little Devils: The Birth. This indie horror production was originally released in 1993, near the same time as Gremlins (1994) and Ghoulies (1994). Now, the film has been transferred to a digital format. Meanwhile, a Limited Edition VHS version has been made available. In the film, a mad scientist returns from Hell, with the compulsion to create little red Devils. They lay waste to a small apartment building and the local community. Little Devils: The Birth stars: Mark Price (Trick or Treat, 1986), Nancy Valen and screen legend Stella Stevens. A look at the film's re-release is hosted here. This viewer has recently seen the film. It involves a money-lacking protagonist, who is harassed by an ageing landlord. Upstairs, one of Ed's friends, Lionel (Wayne McNamara), is hiding out as he works with a strange, black ooze.

The tiny ghouls from Little Devils: The Birth return with Shivers Entertainment's DVD and VHS release of the 1993 cult film, and we have official details on the re-release in today's Horror Highlights, which also includes details on the Wytches comic coming to Image+ magazine, clips from The Drifter, and the trailer for Landing Lake.

Little Devils: The Birth Re-Release: Press Release: "Victoria, British Columbia: Canadian film distributor Shivers Entertainment is set to launch evil upon the world! Their latest launch is a re-release of director George Pavlou (Rawhead Rex, Transmutations) and writer Elliott Stein’s Little Devils: The Birth. Originally released in 1993, Shivers will make this iconic Canadian filmwork available through a limited DVD and VHS release. Items will be limited as gargoyles emerge from Hell, one last time!

The film’s story begins when a scientist, Dr. Lionel (Wayne McNamara, Psycho Pike), makes a trip to Hell and returns with a strange ooze.

“Ya had a lotta guts, lady… a lotta guts.”

The Poseidon Adventure screens at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, April 12th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. The film will be introduced by Harry Hamm, movie reviewer for Kmox. Admission is only $5

The Poseidon Adventure is the breathtaking story of a cruise ship capsized by a tidal wave, the result of an undersea earthquake. At the time of the disaster, many of the ship’s passengers are celebrating New Year’s Eve in the Grand Ballroom of the ocean liner. The film then details the trials of ten survivors as they desperately make their way to the ship’s hull, which is now their only hope for escape, something they must do before the ship sinks to the ocean floor. Along the way,...

When I think of some of my favorite B films of the 1970s, my mind tends to drift towards the works of the late filmmaker William Girdler. This man made nine movies in six years before his tragic death in ’78 at the age of thirty; chief among them Abby (’74), Grizzly (’76), and Day of the Animals (’77). Now, quantity obviously doesn’t equal quality, and he made a few outright stinkers. But he was exciting to me because he became a better, more confident filmmaker with each film; this is especially evident with his final release, The Manitou (1978), your typical ancient Native American little person demon growing out of the back of a woman’s neck who fights the heroes in space with laser beams kind of flick. You know the type.

Independently produced, The Manitou was released by Avco Embassy in late April, with a June rollout across North America, and worldwide the following year.