Loath as I am to be glib about a director like Arthur Penn, Dead of Winter comes off like a TNT Original Movie. Penn proves himself–with the exception of maybe one scene and even then it’s awkward because it’s Arthur Penn using Steadicam–almost completely inept at directing a thriller. The script’s hardly anything special and […]
Entries Tagged as 'Roddy McDowall'
Dead of Winter (1987, Arthur Penn)
June 25th, 2008 · No Comments
Tagged: Arthur Penn· Marc Shmuger· Mark Malone· Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer· Roddy McDowall· ★
Evil Under the Sun (1982, Guy Hamilton)
April 5th, 2007 · No Comments
As innocuous as Evil Under the Sun can get–and expecting anything else from it seems unintended–the film does have a slightly discomforting feel about it. Perhaps it’s the extraordinary level of benignity, but at times, it really does seem like Peter Ustinov (as Hercule Poirot) is going to be murdered by each and every person […]
Tagged: Agatha Christie· Anthony Shaffer· Guy Hamilton· James Mason· Maggie Smith· Peter Ustinov· Roddy McDowall· Universal Pictures· ★½
Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998, Kevin Burns and David Comtois)
August 3rd, 2006 · No Comments
I thought the Planet of the Apes festival could use a capstone, since it’s certainly not for sure I’ll make it through enough of Tim Burton’s remake to post about it. And the fiancée has no interest in that one, so it’ll be a while before I get around to it. There are good films […]
Tagged: 20th Century Fox· Brian Anthony· David Comtois· Kevin Burns· Roddy McDowall· ★
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973, J. Lee Thompson), the extended version
July 30th, 2006 · No Comments
I actually had some hopes for the Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the last film in the series, mostly because J. Lee Thompson did such a good job directing the previous entry. Except for not knowing when he’s getting boring, it doesn’t seem like the same J. Lee Thompson directed both films, however. […]
Tagged: 20th Century Fox· Austin Stoker· J. Lee Thompson· John William Corrington· Joyce Hooper Corrington· Lew Ayres· Roddy McDowall· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972, J. Lee Thompson)
July 28th, 2006 · No Comments
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is about a bunch of ape slaves overpowering their human masters. Any film with a thirty second recap of the previous sequel by Ricardo Montalban has to be at least amusing, but Conquest is actually better than amusing (until the actual revolt begins). Since the film didn’t have […]
Tagged: 20th Century Fox· Don Murray· J. Lee Thompson· Paul Dehn· Ricardo Montalban· Roddy McDowall· ★½
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971, Don Taylor)
July 20th, 2006 · No Comments
I occasionally–or often, depending on the films I’m going through–start a post saying how much I was dreading the film and how well it turned out. Usually, these are films I used to love and haven’t seen in ten years and was worried about them. I wasn’t dreading Escape from the Planet of the Apes, […]
Tagged: 20th Century Fox· Don Taylor· Eric Braeden· Kim Hunter· Paul Dehn· Pierre Boulle· Ricardo Montalban· Roddy McDowall· ★★★
Planet of the Apes (1968, Franklin J. Schaffner)
July 10th, 2006 · 2 Comments
Planet of the Apes is, I’m fairly sure, the first film I’ve ever watched and known the director started in television. Franklin J. Schaffner has a lot of dynamic shots–helicopter shots, three dimensional motion and camera movement (which is rarer than one would think)–but none of them go together. It’s like watching a different movie […]
Tagged: 20th Century Fox· Charlton Heston· Franklin J. Schaffner· James Whitmore· Kim Hunter· Michael Wilson· Pierre Boulle· Rod Serling· Roddy McDowall· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
