The final collaboration between director John Ford and star John Wayne, 1963’s Donovan’s Reef is a family comedy set in set in a fictional place called Haleakaloa where they once fought the Japanese. Not known for his comedic skills, Wayne…
Planned as a vehicle for Cary Grant and his third wife actress-writer Betsy Drake, 1958’s Houseboat was to be their third film together after 1948’s Every Girl Should Be Married and 1952’s Room for One More. However, by the time…
Clint Eastwood’s fifth film as a director, The Outlaw Josey Wales, derived from the novel Gone to Texas by Forrest Carter, is one of Eastwood’s best early westerns. Armed with a screenplay by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman, with music…
Directed by Mel Gibson (Braveheart, Hacksaw Ridge) from a screenplay written by first time scribe Jared Rosenberg, Gibson does a capable job with Flight Risk, a largely paint-by-the-numbers actioner. Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery stars as Madolyn Harris, an Air Marshal…
Despite his status as one of the finest comedians of all time, Richard Pryor’s personal life was far from funny. For his second and final turn as a director, Pryor mines his own life for 1986’s Jo Jo Dancer, Your…
One of the most opulent films ever produced, director Miloš Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The People Vs. Larry Flynt) shot Amadeus primarily in France, Austria, and the Czech Republic. Though most of the scenes take place indoors…
Andrei Tarkovsky’s final film, The Sacrifice, is a fitting epitaph for a great artist. While it’s not an easy movie to get through, nearly every frame is a piece of art, the script is thoughtful, and the performances are universally…
Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), who fought for the Confederacy, returns home to Texas and the family ranch several years after the war has ended. Nobody has any idea why Ethan is home, but he quickly finds himself…
Submarine based films have existed since the silent era. In all, around 150 films have been made on the subject from 1910-2010. This means to really stand out, filmmakers have to do something inherently different. While I’m not sure 2002’s…
Amiable and meandering, Teacher’s Pet has Doris Day moving away from her oft unmarried, virginal executive refusing the sexual advances of a successful white man. Instead, the focus is on education as a means to success. With 51% of World…