RIP, Stella Stevens.

Stella Stevens
(October 1, 1938 – February 17, 2023)

The great Stella Stevens has passed away at 84 after battling Alzheimer’s disease for several years.

To me, Stella Stevens is the ultimate “underrated actress.” She showed us time and time again how good she could be — The Silencers (1966), Rage (1968), The Ballad Of Cable Hogue (1970) and so on, but nobody seemed to notice.

Here’s a wardrobe still from The Poseidon Adventure (1972), a movie she absolutely steals and sails away with (in my opinion).

RIP, James Caan.

James Edward Caan
March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022

James Caan is without doubt one of my favorite actors. From Howard Hawks’ El Dorado (1966) to Thief (1981), he cranked out one terrific movie after another. He passed away yesterday at 82.

To me, James Caan pretty much OWNED 70s cinema. The Godfather (1972). The Gambler (1974). Freebie And The Bean (1974). Rollerball (1975, above). The Killer Elite (1975). Harry And Walter Go To New York (1976). A Bridge Too Far (1977). And the largely-forgotten Slither (1973), still one of my all-time favorite films. He was great, and so intense, in action pictures, but he had a real flair for goofy, subtle comedy stuff, too.

In more recent years, Caan had a wonderful Twitter account, often sharing a photo from, or thought about, one of his pictures. I’m gonna miss you, Mr. Caan.

Screening: What’s Up, Doc? (1972).

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O’Neal, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Austin Pendleton, Michael Murphy

Sorry for the short notice, but tomorrow (February 1), as part of a tribute to director Peter Bogdanovich, The New Beverly Cinema in LA is running a 35mm IB Technicolor print of his What’s Up, Doc? (1972). It’s surely one of the funniest movies of the last 50 years.

What a wonderful movie. And what a splendid way to see it. If you can be there, please be there. My family sure would if we could.

RIP, George Segal.

George Segal
(February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021)

George Segal, who made some damn good movies in a pretty long, busy career, has passed away at 87. The one that always stands out for me is Peter Yates’s The Hot Rock (1972), a crime comedy thing based on a funny Dortmunder novel by Donald E. Westlake. He’s on the right in the above photo, along with (L-R) Paul Sand, Ron Leibman and Robert Redford. (Moses Gunn and Zero Mostel are also in it.) The Hot Rock lead me to Westlake’s books, which worked around to the Richard Stark novels (Stark was one of Westlake’s pen names). By the way, The Hot Rock gives us an eerie helicopter ride around the World Trade Center when the towers were under construction. 

George Segal was also in Ship Of Fools (1965), King Rat (1965), Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Roger Corman’s The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967), Where’s Poppa? (1970) and Robert Altman’s California Split (1974).

He was also a really good banjo player.

Blu-Ray News #329: The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Collection (1962-72).

Severin Films has announced The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Collection, an exhaustive eight-disc set coming out May 25.

The Castle Of The Living Dead (1964)
Directed by Warren Kiefer
Starring Christopher Lee, Gaia Germani, Philippe Leroy, Mirko Valentin, Donald Sutherland
Lee plays a 19th century Count who lets a theatrical troupe spend the weekend in his creepy castle. As you’d expect, it would’ve been better if they’d turned down his invitation. 4K restoration from the Italian negative; English audio.

Challenge The Devil (1963, AKA Katarsis)
Directed by Giuseppe Vegezzi
Starring Christopher Lee, Giorgio Adrisson, Vittoria Centroni
One of Lee’s most obscure films. He turns out to be the devil. 2K restoration from the Italian negative; Italian audio.

Crypt Of The Vampire (1964, AKA Terror In The Crypt and Crypt Of Horror)
Directed by Camillo Mastrocinque
Starring Christopher Lee, Adriana Ambesi
Another adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, with Lee as Count Karnstein. 2k restoration from a fine-grain 35mm master print; Italian and English audio.

Sherlock Holmes And The Deadly Necklace (1962)
Directed by Terence Fisher
Starring Christopher Lee, Thorley Walters, Senta Berger
Lee and director Terence Fisher follow Hammer’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1959) with Sherlock Holmes And The Deadly Necklace, giving Lee and chance to play the world’s greatest detective. (It was Peter Cushing in Hound.) Written by Curt Siodmak, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Valley Of Fear. 2K restoration from the German negative; English & German tracks.

Theatre Macabre (1971-1972)
Christopher Lee hosts an anthology TV series, providing and intro and wrap-up for each episode. 24 surviving episodes have now been scanned in 2K from the original negatives.

The Torture Chamber Of Dr. Sadism (1967, AKA The Blood Demon, The Snake Pit And The Pendulum, Castle Of The Walking Dead)
Directed by Harald Reinl
Starring Christopher Lee, Karin Dor, Lex Barker
Count Regula (Christopher Lee) is executed for killing 12 virgins in his dungeon. Years later, he comes back for revenge. 4K restoration from from the original German negative; English and German audio.

Relics From The Crypt
A collection of interviews with Lee over the years and other related horror featurettes.

In addition to the Relics From The Crypt disc, each disc is packed full of extras, from commentaries and interviews to trailers and still galleries. There’s a CD of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino’s score for The Castle Of The Living Dead, and an 88-page illustrated book by Lee biographer Jonathan Rigby. This is really gonna be something. Highly, highly recommended.

Blu-Ray News #304: Bluegrass Country Soul (1972).

Directed by Albert Ihde
Starring Earl Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers, Ralph Stanley, Del McCoury, Sam Bush and many more

The great bluegrass documentary Bluegrass Country Soul (1972) — shot at Carlton Haney’s three-day Labor Day Weekend Festival in Camp Springs, North Carolina, in 1971 — has been restored and released on Blu-Ray and DVD in an incredible set that includes CDs and book and lots of other stuff.

Bluegrass Country Soul is considered the first bluegrass movie. It got some theatrical runs back in the day, putting folks like Earl Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers, Ralph Stanley, Del McCoury, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, J.D. Crowe & the Kentucky Mountain Boys and more on the big screen.

A crowdfunding campaign has helped fund the restoration, and a big thanks to all those who helped make it happen. To find out how to get your copy, click on the old ad up top (for a showing in Dayton, Ohio, in 1976).

I love bluegrass, and this movie sounds like a dream come true. 

RIP, Allen Garfield.

Allen Garfield
(born Allen Goorwitz; November 22, 1939 – April 7, 2020)

COVID-19 has claimed a great character actor, Mr. Allen Garfield.

He’s in some key 70s films, like Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) and Altman’s Nashville (1975), along with The Candidate (1972), Friedkin’s The Brinks Job (1978) and The Stunt Man (1980). And he’s got a great part in one of my all-time favorites, Slither (1973, above).

Blu-Ray News #248: Godzilla – The Showa-Era Films (1954-1975).

If I had a nickel for every minute I stared at this FM cover as kid…

For their 1000th release (or spine number), The Criterion Collection has gone very big with a great big giant box of Godzilla movies. Not those new things — no thank you — but the real ones.

Of course, this being a Criterion release, you can count on each of these the films — all 15 Godzilla movies released from 1954 to 1975 — shining like a jewel. And naturally, there will be tons of extras, from alternate versions to commentaries to documentaries and trailers and so on. Does my heart good to know the work of Mr. Honda and Mr. Tsuburaya will get the level of respect these folks will give it.

The films are:
Godzilla (1954)
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1963, 2.35 AR)
Mothra Vs. Godzilla (1964, 2.35 AR)
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (1964 2.35 AR)
Invasion Of Astro-Monster (1965, 2.35 AR)
Son Of Godzilla (1967, 2.35 AR)

Destroy All Monsters (1968, 2.35 AR)
All Monsters Attack (1969, 2.35 AR)
Godzilla Ss. Hedorah (1971, AKA Godzilla Vs. The Smog Monster, 2.35 AR)

Godzilla Vs. Gigan (1972, 2.35 AR)
Godzilla Vs. Megalon (1973, 2.35 AR)
Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (1974, 2.35 AR)
Terror Of Mechagodzilla (1975, 2.35 AR)

I absolutely love some of these movies. One of them I hate with a passion. Son Of Godzilla is criminally lame, and at 10, I considered it the worst movie I’d ever seen (that was before The Witches Of Eastwick). The very thought of making my way through this thing (yes, even Son Of Godzilla)  makes me happy.

Stomping its way to TVs everywhere in October. Make sure yours is one of them.

RIP, Paul Koslo.

Paul Koslo
(June 27, 1944 – January 9, 2019)

I just learned that one of my favorite character actors of the 70s, Paul Koslo, passed away back in January. He’s in so much great stuff: The Omega Man (1971), Joe Kidd (1972), Mr. Majestyk (1974, above), Freebie And The Bean (1974), The Drowning Pool (1975) and Rooster Cogburn (1975), to name just a few. How many actors could say they locked horns with John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Paul Newman and James Caan?

Every movie he was in was better for his presence.

Blu-Ray News #231: The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972).

Directed by Philip Kaufman
Starring Cliff Robertson, Robert Duvall, Luke Askew, R.G. Armstrong, Dana Elcar, Matt Clark, Elisha Cook, Royal Dan0, Paul Frees (narrator)

I don’t mean for this to sound negative, but The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972) is one of the few so-called Revisionist Westerns I really like.  From the great cast to the narration from Paul Frees to Bruce Surtees’ terrific camerawork, it’s a picture that really clicks for me.

Shout Factory’s upcoming Blu-Ray should be a real treat. The film deserves it.