Star Wars Free Online Games

Showing posts with label burt lancaster. Show all posts

Seven Days in May (1964) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)"Seven Days in May" was a so-so book that John Frankenheimer turned into an absolutely brilliant movie. It's an excellent cold-war drama, made at a time when tension between this country and the Soviet Union was at boiling point. At the center of the story is President Jordan Lyman, a well-meaning, somewhat naive chief executive who has pushed through a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviets, which most of the country, and all of the military, fear the Soviets have no intention of honoring. The stage is set for a political confrontation between the president's supporters, who feel they must back him whatever their private apprehensions, and his opponents, who fear he is selling the country out. Enter at this point a career soldier with political ambitions, General James Scott, who plans to put his enormous popularity to work in devising a scheme that he thinks will save his country, which is nothing less than a military plot to overthrow the government. However, loose lips can sink a ship, and a few chance words reach the ears of Colonel Jiggs Casey, a Marine torn between his loyalty to his general, General Scott, and his commander in chief, president Lyman. What makes a good soldier, and what makes a true patriot? That is the dilemma Casey has to come to grips with as he realizes that the clock is ticking, the plot is underway, and there are less than seven days left before something very big goes down.
The movie has minimal action and a lot of dialogue, but the tension is maintained nicely throughout, and the acting is uniformly excellent. Among the excellent cast, the standouts are Frederic March as the president, Burt Lancaster as General Scott, Kirk Douglas in one of his finest roles as Colonel Casey, and Ava Gardner, still drop-dead gorgeous, as Scott's cast-off mistress, drowning herself in booze, self-pity and resentment. The final verbal confrontation between Casey and Scott near the movie's end is one of the best I've ever witnessed on film. The movie grabs hold of you from the opening frames and keeps you riveted right to the end, all the while making you wonder, could it really happen here? Let's hope we never find out...

Click Here to see more reviews about: Seven Days in May (1964)

SEVEN DAYS IN MAY - DVD Movie

Click here for more information about Seven Days in May (1964)

The Unforgiven (1960) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've always wondered why this film is never spoken in the same breath with "Shane" or "The Searchers". "Great" Westerns are usually described as being epic in scale, but "The Unforgiven" has an authentic feel to it. From the dusty look everything has, to the sod hut the family lives in, to the realistic period dress, this movie has a look that is unlike any other I have seen. The DVD has the best print and sound I have seen and heard since the film was released in 1960, with sharper definition and bolder colors than before (obviously better than the VHS tape). Some viewers may find tiny faults here and there, but overall this film needs to be viewed by any lover of Western movies.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Unforgiven (1960)

Legendary director John Huston is "at the top of his form" (Time) with this "powerful, exciting" (The Film Daily) tale of forbidden love set against America's most rugged and ruthless frontier. Starring Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn and Lillian Gish, and featuring a script by Ben Maddow (The Way West), The Unforgiven is a "tough Texas saga filled with pride, prejudiceand passion" (Video Movie Guide)! Indian by birth, but secretly adopted by whites, Rachel Zachary (Hepburn) soon becomes the target of lawless racism and brutality when her true identity is revealed. The Indians want her back, the local whites want her dead, and her only hope for survival is a man (Lancaster) who must face the most terrifying fight of his lifeto save the woman he loves!

Click here for more information about The Unforgiven (1960)

Burt Lancaster - The Signature Collection (The Flame and the Arrow / Jim Thorpe All-American / His Majesty O'Keefe / South Sea Woman / Executive Action) (1950) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The following is a description of the films in this Signature Collection dedicated to the talents of Burt Lancaster:
Flame and the Arrow (1950) - This is an enjoyable swashbuckling type of film set in the 12th century. For some reason, when the local overlord stole Dardo's (Lancaster's) wife he does nothing, but when his son is taken from him he finally decides to take action. This film is important for two reasons - a. because it is fun and full of action b. because it revived Lancaster's career after he had been type-cast for several years as less than bright villains in film noir films. Lancaster purchased and produced this film himself, and as a result of it we got to see him as Elmer Gantry and Sgt. Milton Warden later on.
Jim Thorpe - All American (1951) - This is a very good biopic and the best film in the set, in my opinion. Lancaster plays Thorpe, a Native American athlete who loses his Olympic gold medals when it is learned he played two seasons of minor league baseball prior to competing, thus violating his amateur status. This is a turning point in his life, and his marriage ends and he feels his dream of coaching as a career will never be. The film ends before the truly sad years in Thorpe's life begin, when he is truly broke.
South Sea Woman (1953) - Lancaster plays Marine Sergeant James O'Hearn who is being court martialed during World War II when he arrives in Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack and has no excuse for his absence up to that point. He refuses to defend himself. A showgirl takes the stand in his defense and tells the court that O'Hearn is really just standing up for a buddy of his, one who is really guilty of the scandalous behavior.
His Majesty O'Keefe (1954) - Probably the weakest film in the set, but still above average. After a mutiny, ship captain O'Keefe (Lancaster) winds up on the island of Yap. There is a fortune to be made in cocoanut there, and meanwhile the local islanders have made O'Keefe their king based on a local legend and their mistaken belief in who he represents. O'Keefe has two problems - the islanders don't want to work at harvesting the cocoanut and the Germans already "own the rights" to the cocoanut trade there. Nice little action film with a charming performance by Lancaster.
Executive Action (1973) - Made about the time of Watergate as people began to be much less trustful of government, this is one of the first films to address the possibility that what the public was told about the Kennedy assassination might have been less than truthful. Much of what was in the film JFK is presented here, both rightly and wrongly, but the larger more complex conspiracy theory that was floated in JFK is not. That is probably because in 1973 people were just beginning to reevaluate this whole issue. At any rate, it is a very good film and worth revisiting.
I don't have any information on extra features other than that they will be "Oscar-nominated vintage shorts, vintage featurettes and classic cartoons." In other words, I am not expecting biographical material. One real question I have is why is "The Twilight's Last Gleaming" not included? Warner Home Video has the rights to it, and it is better than any picture in this set. Considering Burt Lancaster did his best-known work at other studios, you'd think they would bother to include it in a Signature Collection of the actor's better works. Thus I can only give this collection four stars. In fact, it is probably between 3.5 and 4 stars given the information I have and no knowledge if there will even be any commentary included on the films.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Burt Lancaster - The Signature Collection (The Flame and the Arrow / Jim Thorpe All-American / His Majesty O'Keefe / South Sea Woman / Executive Action) (1950)

Includes: The Flame and the Arrow (1950), Jim Thorpe All-American (1951), His Majesty O'Keefe (1954), South Sea Woman (1953), and Executive Action (1973).

Get 44% OFF

Click here for more information about Burt Lancaster - The Signature Collection (The Flame and the Arrow / Jim Thorpe All-American / His Majesty O'Keefe / South Sea Woman / Executive Action) (1950)

Never Forget (1991) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)An outstanding movie of gripping determination and bulldog tenacity!
Leonard Nimoy and Blythe Danner play Mr. & Mrs. Mel Mermelstein, a true-life California couple, thrown into the spotlight of judicial history in the 1980's. He is a Hungarian-born Jew, sole-survivor of his family's extermination at Auchwitz, and she is a Southern Baptist from Tennessee. Their four children are good kids, typical Americans, with just enough spunk and orneriness to irritate each other, but enough love and class to pull together when it counts.
When challenged by a hate group to prove that Jews were actually gassed at Auchwitz, Mel Mermelstein rises to the occasion with the support of his wife and children, in spite of the dangers to himself, his business, and his family.
Dabney Coleman provides Mel's legal help (pro bono) as a lawyer, originally a Roman Catholic from Texas, and brilliantly and believably fits out a role that is my personal favorite among any role he has ever played.
Leonard Nimoy is brilliant as always, and aside from playing Golda Meir's husband opposite Ingrid Bergman, if there was ever a role that shattered his Spock image, this would be it. (Not that I dislike Spock. On the contrary!) Nimoy plays a man who is empassioned, vulnerable to an extent, but tenaciously determined to prove the hate groups to be liars.
Why so committed to such a course? Because before Mermelstein's father died in Auchwitz, he commissioned Mel and his brother (who died shortly thereafter) to "Never Forget" what happened, and to bear witness to the facts of history. Mel Mermelstein did just that, and the United States finally took Judicial Notice of the truth of the Holocaust, some 40 years after WWII.
A great movie! (I taped mine off of TNT a few years ago, when it aired this movie in timed connection with the network premeir of Schindler's List, and this airing was hosted by Leonard Nimoy. I have since worn out my tape. I plan to buy a professional copy when the price drops.)

Click Here to see more reviews about: Never Forget (1991)

Get 53% OFF

Click here for more information about Never Forget (1991)

Zulu Dawn (1979) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'll leave it to others to comment on the film itself, but I do want to warn potential purchasers that the DVD transfer leaves a lot to be desired. The original film is 2.35:1; the DVD is 16:9 letter boxed (not anamorphic)so about a third of the film is missing and it is clearly obvious in quite a few scenes. The quality of the transfer itself, while not awful, is not particularly good either.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Zulu Dawn (1979)

A prequel to the war epic "Zulu", this dramatic story recounts the breathtaking defeat of British forces at the hands of a 25,000 strong and relentlessly determined Zulu army in 1870.The all-star cast, and extravagant production quality make Zulu Dawn a spectacular film with a guaranteed place in the list of Hollywood Greats.

Get 25% OFF

Click here for more information about Zulu Dawn (1979)

The Train (1965) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)When Burt Lancaster called on director John Frankeheimer yet again to rescue another picture from another director who had left the project, the call took Frankenheimer to Paris to bring his brilliant black and white extreme depth of focus shots to bear on thought provoking subject matter.
La Bisch, the unwilling resistance man late in WWII (Lancaster) is pitted despite his objections against a cultured German general who is attempting to take every painted masterpiece out of Paris that can be found.
Knowing that delays to shipment in the face of the german retreat and allied advance, La Bisch uses both ingenuity and enormous physical effort to attempt to block the movement of a train laden with stolen art, eastbound from Paris.
The plot twists are the stuff of legend, and each twist provokes controversial positions regarding the importance of art and the brevity of human life.
The long shot action scenes in this film are brilliant, and Lancaster, who was injured during filming, performs much of the extraordinary scenes in the movie with a real (not feigned) limp.
Fine ensemble cast, including many of the best French character actors of the time, a serious script saved by brevity from the melodramatic and arguably the best camerawork and editing of any action film in history (you read right) make this film superior to Frankenheimer's other B&W films from the period (e.g., The Manchurian Candidate and even The Birdman of Alcatraz).
The Train belongs in any serious English language cine collection. This is one of the top 100 films of all time.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Train (1965)

Paris, August 1944. With the Allied army closing in, German commander and art fanatic Colonel von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) steals a vast collection of rare French paintings and loads them onto a train bound for Berlin. But when a beloved French patriot is murdered while trying to sabotage von Waldheim's scheme, Labiche (Burt Lancaster), a stalwart member of the Resistance, vows to stop the train at any cost. Calling upon his vast arsenal of skills, Labiche unleashes a torrent of devastation anddestructionloosened rails, shattered tracks and head-on collisionsin an impassioned, suspense-filled quest for justice, retribution and revenge.Inspired by an actual event and highlighted by spectacular stuntwork and visual effects, The Train is "an edge-of-your-seat, thrilling, suspenseful and superior film" (The Motion Picture Guide).

Get 33% OFF

Click here for more information about The Train (1965)

From Here to Eternity (1953) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Now pay attention, widescreen DVD fans (I am among them)...!
Do not go looking for widescreen format before 1954, because with a couple of exceptions (see "sir-critic" below), they don't exist. One must be a student of history to some extent as a classic movie fan: when collecting a video library, know your format history; the key year is 1954. (Interestingly, it is the same key year for stereo music recordings, at least in the Classical world.) Also remember that a post-1954 movie is not necessarily a widescreen film, either, especially in the first few years. (See my review of "Moonstruck" for more aspect ratio commentary that you'll find very interesting, if this one is interesting to you. I ranted about its full-frame release and found out that I didn't know what I was talking about, more or less.)
"From Here to Eternity" is a great classic film that was shot and originally released in 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Like many, many other pre-1954 movies, this film was probably re-released several times in theaters with a "widescreen" format, but they just lopped off the top and bottom of the picture for the release. This was a grotesque practice, butchering many fine films and ruining the painstaking framing of shots by the cinematographer. You don't want a widescreen version of "From Here to Eternity", because it's butchered, I mean, ALTERED.
The important thing for DVD collectors / film buffs is ORIGINAL Theatrical Release Format, i.e., what the director and cinematographer intended you to see. The video release companies should be heavily encouraged by us to provide this information on the DVD and VHS boxes, so that we know a film's true original aspect ratio, and whether the particular edition is or is not altered, I mean, BUTCHERED.
Why is the television screen a 1.33:1 aspect ratio? Because movies' ratios were 1.33:1. TV programs and movies were filmed with the same cameras and film. By the early '50s, TV was becoming so important that film studios needed a new hook to keep people coming to the theaters, so Cinemascope and others were born to amaze audiences. Try to imagine seeing a 2.55:1 Cinemascope picture in the theater when all you've ever seen up to then was 1.33:1 films and TV. WOW!! THAT would keep you coming back to the cinema! Later cinematic hooks would be in sound, still more or less unachievable at home -- remember Surround Sound's forerunner, "Sensurround" (used for "Midway" and "Earthquake")?
Remember film fans, you might have to do a little research on a given movie before assuming that a video release is not the true format.

Click Here to see more reviews about: From Here to Eternity (1953)

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY - DVD Movie

Get 23% OFF

Click here for more information about From Here to Eternity (1953)

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is truly an astonishing movie. After seeing it one wonders that Spencer Tracy did not win the Academy Award for his performance here. Of course, another actor in the cast, Maxmillian Schell, playing the German defense attorney, did! In many ways the movie is the senior brother to "Schindler's List", acting to probe thoughtfully through the mist of euphemisms, excuses and exaggerations of the era. And sifting out some remarkable, memorable, and noble notions about what human beings should be held responsible for in terms of their social attitudes, civic behavior and public actions.
Ostensibly, the action takes place after the more sensational trials of the Nazi hierarchy, when the public appetite for blood, revenge, and harsh justice had been somewhat abated. Tracy plays a relatively obscure retired rural American judge called upon to act as one of the three presiding judges in overseeing the trials of prominent German jurists who had co-operated, collaborated, and then presided over the gradual civil drift from a nation whose conduct and laws were based on a corpus of jurisprudence to one characterized by crackpot eugenic policies, blatant racism, & officially-sanctioned violence and mayhem.
Burt Lancaster plays a pre-eminent German judge, one famed for his legal treatises and international reputation as a jurist. Through the prism of the testimony of both the judges on trial and their cross examination by a zealous American military prosecutor played masterfully by a young Richard Widmark, the viewer begins to understand much more about the slippery slope most of the jurists had unwittingly embarked upon. Add into this equation the introduction of a sensational set of key witnesses played by Judy Garland and Montgomery Clift, and the full emotional impact and profound significance of what these judges had allowed to happen truly gels.
This is an unforgettable and remarkably unique movie, truly a classic and cautionary tale based on the historical record of what the Germans did to each other, based on fact. And by the way, be sure to listen carefully to the final several scenes in which Tracy takes full advantage of several opportunities to cut through all the equivocations, half-truths, and "honest mistake" nonsense, literally electrifying the screen with the power of his monologue and his superb acting. He was truly one of a kind, too. Wow! Don't miss this

Click Here to see more reviews about: Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Nominated* for eleven Academy AwardsÂ(r), including Best Picture, Judgment at Nuremberg is "magnificent" (Los Angeles Times), "continuously exciting" (The New Yorker) andboasts brilliant performances by an all-star cast. American judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) presides over the trial of four German jurists accused of "legalizing" Nazi atrocities. But as graphic accounts of sterilization and murder unfold in the courtroom, mounting political pressure for leniency forces Haywood to make the most harrowing and difficult decision of his career.*1961: Actor (Maximilian Schell, won); Actor (Spencer Tracy); Supporting Actor (Montgomery Clift); Supporting Actress (Judy Garland); Director; Adapted Screenplay (won); Cinematography (B&W); Art Direction (B&W); Film Editing; Costume Design (B&W).

Get 30% OFF

Click here for more information about Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A suspensful, action packed drama, this film is one of my all time favorites. Performances by both Lancaster and Gable are right on the mark, they (especially Gable) had me believing they were actual naval officers. The scene where Lancaster relieves Gable of command is powerful, here we see two great actors at the peak of their skills. Gable's contempt towards Lancaster for the act is truly inspired (He virtually spits out his disgust here: "A fleet ship of the US Navy, with her fighting power intact, and your first command is to order a retreat", every time I watch this scene it gets better and better!). Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman recreate this scene in "Crimson Tide", but it doesn't match the intensity created by Lancaster and Gable in the scene from RSRD. One neat byproduct of this movie is that after watching it, you will have a pretty detailed understanding of what a WWII Balao class sub looks like, how the chain of command works, and what happens on a typical patrol - you will be educated and entertained at the same time, what a bargain! Nice supporting role by Don Rickles. A great, classic movie for sure, you won't be disappointed! END

Click Here to see more reviews about: Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)

"Rich" Richardson (Clark Gable) is a hard-driving, dedicated submarine officer with a single-mindedpurposeto seek out and smash the Japanese destroyer he believes sank his former ship. Given a new command, Richardson drills his men to the point of mutiny as he relentlessly trains them for the battle ahead. At last, word comes of the destroyer's position, and, disobeying orders, Richardson finally confronts his foe, unaware that an even greater enemy lurks nearby...one who's been targeting him for a watery grave.Co-starring Burt Lancaster as Gable's executive officer, this gripping WWII adventure-thriller set a new standard for submarine pictures. "Severely, nail-bitingly tense" (The New York Times), Run Silent, Run Deep is the most exciting film about the "silent service" ever made.

Click here for more information about Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)

Recent Posts