Blu-ray Review: Jubal (Criterion Collection)
A psychological western with Shakespearean tensions, Jubal is a nearly forgotten film that despite obvious differences deserves comparison to the simultaneous works of Howard Hawks and John Ford when considering mastery of the western genre. The film’s director, Delmer Daves, was a gifted artist who had a deep understanding of human emotion and its complexities. […]
Blu-ray Review: The Cannonball Run
In my tween years, 1981’s The Cannonball Run was on HBO so much, you’d have thought Burt Reynolds and his buddy Dom DeLuise were running the company. For me, Burt and Dom could do no wrong, the movie was hilarious. Tomboy that I was, The Cannonball Run had it all—fast cars, cars exploding, racing, off […]
Bu-ray Review: Vera Cruz
Shot on location in Mexico, 1954’s Vera Cruz was a new kind of western for the time. Filmed in Superscope, featuring sweeping landscapes, and multiple gun battles, and stars Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, rarely has a films tagline—“The Giants Battle in the Biggest Spectacle of Them All!”—seemed so appropriate. Directed by Robert Aldrich (Whatever […]