Blu-Ray News #104: The Yakuza (1974).

Directed by Sydney Pollack
Starring Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Brian Keith, Herb Edelman, Richard Jordan

A lotta folks are gonna be happy about this one. Warner Archive has Sydney Pollack’s The Yakuza (1974) on the way on Blu-Ray — in time for Valentine’s Day. It’s a great look at Japanese culture, with a typically terrific performance from Robert Mitchum and some incredible action sequences. This is one of those movies I heard a whole lot about before I finally caught up with it — and it actually lived up to all the hype.

Gene Wilder, RIP.

The great Gene Wilder has passed away. For those of us who grew up in the 70s, he was in so much good stuff — Bonnie And Clyde (1967), The Producers (1968), Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971, above), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974) and many more.

Wilder with Zero Mostel and Kenneth Mars in Mel Brooks’ The Producers. When you have Mostel, Mars and Wilder in the same frame, how can it not be funny?

Blu-ray News #57: Airport, The Complete Collection (1970-1979).

Universal has always been big on “franchises,” from the Universal Monsters and Ma And Pa Kettle to Back To The Future and Tremors.

Certainly one of their biggest would have to be the Airport pictures. And while they’re a cases study in the Law Of Diminishing Returns, there’s still something about them, something we can all own on Blu-ray in June.

Airport (1970)
Directed by George Seaton
Starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, Barry Nelson

Van Heflin (in his last movie) blows a hole in Dean Martin’s plane. Shot in 70mm Todd-AO by Ernest Laszlo, it was a massive success — and kick-started the disaster movie craze of the 70s. Note the Easter ad for Radio City Music Hall.

Airport ’75 (1974)
Directed by Jack Smight
Starring Charlton Heston, Karen Black, George Kennedy, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Helen Reddy, Gloria Swanson, Linda Blair

A small plane runs into the cockpit of a 747, leaving no one to fly the plane. It seems to be the movie most parodied in Airplane! (1980).

Airport ’77 (1977)
Directed by Jarry Jameson
Starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, James Stewart, George Kennedy, Brenda Vaccaro, Christopher Lee, Joseph Cotton

A hijacked 747 crashes and sinks in the Bermuda Triangle.

The Concorde: Airport ’79 (1979)
Directed by David Lowell Rich
Starring Alain Delon, Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner, Sylvia Kristal, George Kennedy, Eddie Albert, Charo, John Davidson

Where the previous pictures had the likes of Helen Hayes, James Stewart, Gloria Swanson and Joseph Cotton in supporting roles, here we have Charo and Sybil Danning. It plays like a TV movie, and a bad one at that.

Blu-ray News #54: The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974).

Directed by Joseph Sargent
Starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam. Hector Elizondo, James Broderick, Dick O’Neill, Jerry Stiller, Kenneth McMillan, Doris Roberts, Tony Roberts

The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974) has one of the greatest assemblages of New York character actors ever, and it shows how to seamlessly weave humor into a suspense film — without diluting the suspense. And David Shire’s score is just terrific.

Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw): “Now, then, ladies and gentlemen, do you see this gun? It fires 750 rounds of 9-millimeter ammunition per minute. In other words, if all of you simultaneously were to rush me, not a single one of you would get any closer than you are right now. I do hope I’ve made myself understood.”

This is a movie I appreciate a little more every time I see it. Since catching its first network TV airing (with its dialogue looped, edited and just plain monkeyed with to a crazy degree), it’s become one of my favorite films of the 70s.

Kino Lorber will release a special edition Blu-ray in July, packed with interviews, commentaries and other cool stuff. Can’t wait. “Gesundheit.”

RIP, George Kennedy.

George Kennedy
(February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016)

George Kennedy, one of Hollywood’s finest, and busiest, character actors, has passed away at 91.

Kennedy made so many good movies in the 60s and 70s (he was plenty busy in TV, too), it’s hard to keep track of them. Charade (1963). The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965), in which he and John Wayne execute one of the most perfectly-timed hits in all of cinema — as Wayne smacks Kennedy in the face with the spoke of a wagon wheel. Cool Hand Luke (1967, above), as Dragline — which landed him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The Dirty Dozen (1967). And a personal favorite, Thunderbolt And Lightfoot (1974).

RIP, Alex Rocco.

Alex Rocco
February 29, 1936 – July 18, 2015

Alex Rocco is one of my favorite 70s character actors, appearing in a couple pictures I really love: Slither (1973) and Freebie And The Bean (1974). Of course, he was also Moe Green in The Godfather (1972). He passed away on Saturday.

Rocco only has one scene in Freebie (both images here), as a DA who tells James Caan and Alan Arkin they don’t have enough evidence (and that they’re idiots), but he’s hysterical — and Caan and Arkin have to work hard to keep up. I love those goofy 70s comedies.

RIP, Geoffrey Lewis.

Geoffrey Lewis
(July 31, 1935 – April 7, 2015)

Folks, we’ve lost another great character actor. Geoffrey Lewis, who made such a huge impression in so many films, particularly those of Clint Eastwood, passed away yesterday. He had a long, varied career, and had to be one of the most dependable guys around. He’s always terrific.

Both images are from Thunderbolt And Lightfoot (1974). In the bottom one, that’s him to the right, along with Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy and Eastwood. If you haven’t seen this film, or if it’s been a while, go find it.

I’m sure a lot of the news today will focus on his daughter, Juliette Lewis. That’s fine, as long as we don’t forget his many wonderful performances.