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Gunsmoke: The Prodigal (1967)
BEST LEW AYERS SCENE OF ALL TIME
The acting by the great lew Ayers was fantastic in the end scene, truly a wonderful and heart warming Gunsmoke episode. Love seeing it many times.
Each time that episode is seen is always a touching experience. Also enjoyed the scene in the beginning too where those two town bullies are dealt with.
The way the Dodge City regulars, Doc, Kitty, Festus and especially Matt Dillon kept the secret to protect Lew Ayers' on screen character was beautiful.
Gunsmoke writers dealt with the mental breakdown of the Grandfather who could not face what he had done but tied it up with a full healing. Kudos.
None But the Brave (1965)
TOMMY SANDS' DELIVERY RUINED IT ALL
Every line in the movie delivered by Tommy Sands along with his feigned tough guy angry facial expressions was so annoying it ruined the script. Just horrible acting.
Clint Eastwood and Frank Sinatra were fine and carried the movie as well as the Japanese actors.
The constant challenging of the authority of Clint Eastwood as the Captain would not have been tolerated as much as it was in the movie.
The questioning of Clint Walker's orders in front of the men by a Lieutenant played by Sands was as ridiculous as the sneering faces Sands made throughout the movie.
The agreement between the two opposing forces was good though.
Crime in the Streets (1956)
POWERFUL MOMENTS
I saw this movie when it first came out in the theater at the Midway Theater on Queens Blvd in Forest Hills. My Father and I sat in the Theater and watched if from beginning to end. At the time I was fighting with my younger brother all the time and it was really bad.
When the actor Peter Votrian playing Ritchie Dane broke down crying telling Frankie John Cassavetes that he loved him, my Father broke down crying in the movies. I never saw my Father cry and he hated to see my brother and me fight all the time.
That moment in the movie changed everything for us and it was poignant and moving and for that I shall always remember this movie fondly.
Gunsmoke: Executioner (1957)
FAST GUN VERY SLOW ON THE DRAW AGAINST MATT IN FINAL SCENE
I liked Liam Sullivan in this episode and remember him well from Twilight Zone.
All through the episode he was saying he was lightning fast with a gun. When he gunned down the helpless farmer who was cast as no kind of gunfighter Clegg's supposed fast draw was ordinary.
In the final scene against Matt his draw was painfully slow and perhaps it should have been directed as faster with Matt beating him even quicker.
Very slow shootout compared to other Gunsmoke episodes.
Good acting and very dramatic finale, well done.
Gunsmoke: Phoebe Strunk (1962)
GUNSMOKE SHOWS IT THE WAY IT WAS AND STILL IS.
The gritty and visceral black and white episodes that pull no punches are the way it was in the wild back then are refreshing and honest stories minus the politically correct fluff we are forced to watch today. It amazes me how some reviews say the episodes are too depressing etc. Just recently in the news a man kidnapped a young girl who he took a fancy to just watching her get on a school bus. He followed her killed her parents and kept her prisoner. This episode had great character actors all well known to me, and to see Marshall Dillon and Quint put an end to the abduction was great. Marshall Dillion to the rescue is something us Gunsmoke fans never get tired of.
Payback (1999)
BOXING SCENE
The fight I refereed with Roy Jones Jr v Bryant Brannon for the IBF Supermiddleweight world title held in the Theater at Madison Square Garden in 1996 is shown briefly in a long shot where you see me as the referee. It is combined with a completely different studio shot of two actors portraying boxers. The same footage of me refereeing the same fight is shown more completely in "The Devil's Advocate," with Al Pacino Keanu Reeves.
Volunteers (1985)
Strange height difference between Tom Hanks and Tim Thomerson
Tom Hanks is listed as 6' tall and Tim Thomerson is listed at 5'11" When Hanks meets Thomerson outside the plane in Thailand and they are talking face to face, Tim Thomerson absolutely towers over Hanks while standing in the same shot.
The Mountain Between Us (2017)
Great actors disappointing script
Both Idris Elba and Kate Winslet are two consummate actors whose performances I have always enjoyed. Idris Elba displayed the full range of all of the wonderful and honorable things inherent in any man of morale fiber and quality. When the script clearly showed that Kate Winslet's character was engaged to be married the line was drawn as to her expected behavior to her betrothed. Mr. Elba's heroic and honorable behavior had anyone in the audience so to speak definitely rooting for them both to make it. When she betrayed her fiancé and started going after him at that juncture in the movie, it ruined the whole film and made her character weak and less honorable. Who could blame him for acting upon her advances, plus he was a lonely and wounded man but as to the script it would have been so much more heroic if they had maintained the boundaries her engagement mandated. It diluted the whole survival thing and was predicable and detracted from the most honorable performance as a gentleman he had achieved in the audiences mind. Ruined the whole movie as she became weak, and he became less of the gentleman he had achieved. Still had great empathy for his character and his loss but the script made her so called "Love" for her fiancé a joke and made her less of a character to root for.
Gunsmoke: Hidalgo (1972)
Final scene is worth it all.
I enjoyed this episode but it seemed the voice of the boy was dubbed and I wondered why. His voice almost sounded like a female actor dubbed it. The last scene is wonderful when Matt says goodbye to the boy and gives him a special gift. I always loved Jim Arness and I got to know him and was honored to be in his autobiography. He played the final goodbye wonderfully. One other note, watch carefully when the final gunfight takes place with Matt and Mando. Mando draws first and you hear Matt gets him first BUT Matt's gun does not go off or show it has been fired when the camera is on it. I think that was a goof on filming.
The Shape of Water (2017)
The Good, the Bad and the very disappointing.
Great evolved makeup and eyes on Doug Jones, although a glaring and horrible rip off of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon." Taking a good actress and making her do a gratuitous nude scene is so obvious it reeks of a Harvey Weinstein move, same with the totally unnecessary nudity of Michael Shannon in his bedroom scene, both scenes and what they represented could have been accomplished with less actor abuse. The vile comments about short people, flatulence etc was a ridiculous and ignorant addition to the dialogue of the other cleaning lady. What really ruined it for me was the dream sequence of the creature doing a ballroom dance, it shattered the atmosphere of the creature's reality as badly as Ray Liota stepping out of character in "Goodfellas" in the courtroom scene. Some of the music choices were so out of place it was like jamming a round peg into a square hole, absolutely horrendous choices of music in some spots. They should have showed the creature healing his bullet wounds much more clearly and healing her bullet wounds decisively too rather than just jump into the dirty water with bleeding internal damage, show the healing! I wanted to enjoy the movie with all the hype at the Oscar's but the aforementioned flaws ruined it not only for me but for several other fans watching with me.
Mogambo (1953)
Shooting of the black leopard
It was very disturbing to me to see what appeared to be a real shooting of a black leopard which while on a tree branch reacted horribly to being shot with what looked like a real bullet wound.
I wonder if that was stock footage from a real shooting or somehow done with a tranquilizer gun.
Safari (1956)
Enjoyed the movie but some Tech firearm mistakes
Always enjoyed Victor Mature movies and he was great as usual.
I will never understand why with all the expense of making a movie they very rarely get even close to the firearm reality of what is necessary.
None of the big bore rifles even sounded close to being real. As in later movies like Anaconda they show bolt action rifles being fired repeatedly without the shooter cycling the weapon, reloading with the bolt action being used etc. There is poor sound and absolutely no recoil even being feigned. It is as if they are shooting Daisy air rifles.
When Victor Mature asks for his 900 grain bullets for his big bore express rifle, that was good as they used Holland AND Holland .500 and .600 nitro Express rifles back then, with side by side rifled barrels.
Yet when he shot it, there again was no recoil. All that expensive footage shot yet they show a river scene with a sound stage movie screen behind them, why use that at all? The dead lion dummy, drugged starving circus lion whatever they used looked to be hundreds of pounds lighter than a 500lb plus Atari.
Still very enjoyable movie.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Astonishing visual experience but several major disappointments.
I have read many of the reviews here, some written with the finite appreciation and esoteric knowledge of not only the 3 Peter Jackson projects but of all the works of Tolkien. I have read all the books, and have seen LOTR, The Two Towers, and The Return of The King so many times because it fulfilled for me what I always wanted in a fantasy movie, which is realism. Film it for adults and it will work for all.
I could not wait to see The Hobbit and I made sure I was one of the first to see it. I sat patiently and was mesmerized by the color, 3-D, the lush view of the Shire, the dwarf mines and all the rest.
Then when it came to the Trolls, I was aghast at the departure from the reality of all the other Peter Jackson masterpieces. The clunky, goofy, three stooges buffoonery displayed by the supposedly terrifying creatures they were supposed to be, started to ruin the entire movie and sense of make believe reality of a fantasy world for me. It was not funny, it was a disaster to choose that direction, to gear it toward the entertainment of a child. It lost me with disappointment from that moment I was so disgusted that they chose to do that. I finally got back into it.
The wonderful unforgettable scenes of beauty of Rivendale, Galadriel and Elrond were wonderful, the ferocious wolves were terrific, yet the white Orc as evil and formidable as he looked seemed more like a CG orc. I liked his white wolf, he was stupendous.
Then the ultimate disappointment which I still cannot believe was put into this movie. The Goblin king instead of being a murdering evil embodiment of danger, was a journey into Jabba the Hut meets the Frog King. Whoever chose to do that should never be allowed to work on a Peter Jackson LOTR movie again including Peter Jackson. The voice, dialog choices for the Goblin King were all a bad clown show that destroyed the image of being in the clutches of supposedly dangerous creatures. Utter disaster.
The devout fans of the LOTR trilogy with me were so disgusted with the comedic approach to that character there was no longer a sense of real danger there, only of watching a very bad Star Wars bar scene on another planet with special effects by a Saturday morning cartoon show.
Just horrible to see terrifying Goblins attack the group only to be brought before a cartoon clown. God that was a horrible mistake. Keep it real like you always did Peter PLEASE.
The courage of Bilbo attacking the CG albino Orc was inspiring as was Bilbo's speech afterward and the warm embrace by Thorin. Very touching.
The color, the clarity, the other special effects were enjoyed at the highest level of appreciation for Mr. Jackson's genius. I still rate the movie as a visual experience and for bringing back our favorite subject with much hard work and grace, a 9.
When Margaret Hamilton the Wicked Witch of the West is more scary than anyone in a 2012 Middle Earth Movie, with Orcs, Goblins, Trolls and other wonderful monsters it is time to remove the clunky comedy approach.
Gunsmoke: The Preacher (1956)
Special episode
This episode is very unique for me in many ways. I was a very sick child in the hospital in NY when I first saw it. It stayed with me for years. James Arness had visited me in the hospital at the request of my parents who had gotten Dennis Weaver to arrange it. In later years I became a boxer, and wanted to see this episode again somehow. I finally got the DVD and it was amazing. In a radio interview with me James Arness told me Chuck Connors accidentally landed a real punch in rehearsal and dropped Jim. What was more amazing was that Royal Dano played two very wonderful characters with Chuck Connors on the Rifleman, as Mr. Abe Lincoln and a disfigured civil war veteran. In both episodes Chuck was extremely protective and loving of Royal's character. I wondered if they ever spoke about this Gunsmoke episode where Chuck brutalized him. I tried to reach Johnny Crawfor to ask him but was unsuccessful. I wondered if Chuck and Royal were friends.
The Questor Tapes (1974)
Questor Tapes
It was a very well done project for it's time and Robert Foxworth did a splendid job. Any criticism of his performance is totally unwarranted and it was a touching performance. His interpretation of the Android was touching and the humanity and feeling he brought to the character was memorable.
The end of the movie is heartwarming and it has stayed a cult classic for us fans for decades. I remember being mesmerized by the special effects at the time even though they would seem dated by today's standards. The most important thing is the feeling brought to the characters and the relationship between Questor and humans.
It is sad that it has not been made available sooner on DVD so that fans of today can enjoy it with hindsight.
Hopefully the DVD I ordered will arrive soon and bring back all the fond memories. Lew Ayers did a find job also as did Mike Farell.
Tightrope: Night of the Gun (1960)
The best episode of Tightrope was this one.
This is beyond belief that someone else remembered this episode as every time I ever saw Mike, his performance in this episode of tightrope enthralled me and enchanted me with his on screen performance.
His line as he was dying on screen was, "It was like pulling a rabbit out of a hat," to Mike Connors character, in homage to his getting the drop on him and getting him in time.
I would give anything to see this episode along with the episode "Fast Gun" from NYPD with Jack Warden, Kevin Hooks and Frank Converse. Why won't someone make these available while us aficionados are still alive.
Oct 8, 2009 I finally got to see this episode of Tightrope again thanks the posters. It was stupendous to see that again. Absolutely hilarious, but cool too.
Mike Kellin's portrayal was classic, it was a cross between Sid Ceaser's imitation of a Jazz musician, reefer smoking hipster with a lisp and some gay flavored Liberace winks and mannerisms thrown in to boot to mix with his sadism as a hit man. Great original portrayal though, absolute classic episode.
Also saw the old Frank Converse, Robert Hooks and Jack Warden NYPD one which was great too with the fast draw artist taking on all comers, another great crazy guy performance.