John Ford’s 1962 Western wasn’t merely a team-up of legends John Wayne, James Stewart, and Lee Marvin; it was a pointed commentary on the stories America tells about itself.
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When Howard Hawks’ iconic gangster movie hit screens 90 years ago, it had to do a bit of a two-step with the enforcers of the Production Code.
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Director John Frankenheimer and star Burt Lancaster continued their fruitful ‘60s collaboration with this mean, muscular adventure thriller, now streaming on Amazon Prime.
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Mary Pickford was born 130 years ago this week. She was a groundbreaking silent movie star, but she also created a template for industry power that is still followed today.
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This month, we look back at Miramax’s messy mishandling of what should’ve been a slam-dunk entry in the “Shakespeare for teens” craze.
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A quarter-century after the release of Kevin Smith’s slacker rom-com, we look at its gradual fall from public favor – and make the case for its virtues.
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Ernst Lubitsch’s comedy about a ménage à trois (now streaming on the Ccriterion Channel) is a Pre-Code treat – a sexy, free-spirited examination of attraction and affection.
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The final film from director J. Lee Thompson – and his final collaboration with star Charles Bronson – is a fitting postscript to their sketchy legacy.
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In a handful of idiosyncratic indies and comedies-for-hire, writer/actor/director Paul Bartel carved out a niche as a merciless social satirist in a grim era.
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The satanic classic – now streaming on Paramount+ – wasn’t created in a vacuum. It was very much of its time, and a peek ahead from it.
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Robert Aldrich’s men-on-a-mission adventure (now streaming on HBO Max) is brutal, cruel, and nasty – just as it should be.
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One of America’s horniest filmmakers was also one of its most subversive – a gleeful bomb-thrower in an era of profound social and political change.
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