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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
Mid summer movie quiz
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 30, 2009
From Dennis Cozzalio at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. I read about the quiz at Tommy Salami’s Pluck You, Too! read more
Three Days of the Condor (1975, Sydney Pollack)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 26, 2009
The espionage genre has gotten so stupid over the last couple decades, it’s hard to even imagine how a mediocre entry could be good. Now, it’s watching the least worst. Three Days of the Condor is such a peculiar film, even though it’s wholly commercial–I mean, Dino De Laure read more
The Mummy’s Tomb (1942, Harold Young)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 14, 2009
The Mummy’s Tomb is better than its predecessor, without a doubt. Harold Young’s direction is strong. It’s not quite scary, but he’s at least going for scary. It’s sort of like an episode of “Cheers;” it takes place in small town Massachusetts and thereR read more
The Vampire Bat (1933, Frank R. Strayer)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 14, 2009
It’s hard not to be, at least, somewhat impressed with The Vampire Bat, if only because it came out in 1933 as a knockoff Universal horror pictures. Except at this point, there’d only been Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. The Vampire Bat brilliantly resembles a Universal horror pict read more
The Mummy’s Hand (1940, Christy Cabanne)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 7, 2009
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this film. There’s no discernible reason for it to be called The Mummy’s Hand. I can only guess it has to do with the way they cut the trailer, maybe having the hand come out as a shocker. It’s not a traditional Universal horror fi read more
The Saint Strikes Back (1939, John Farrow)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 7, 2009
The Saint Strikes Back is George Sanders’s first Saint film. It’s strong, even though John Farrow might not be the right director for it. The script’s great, playing to Sanders’s strengths of being the charming cad, but Farrow’s close-ups are poorly conceived and some read more
Badge 373 (1973, Howard W. Koch)
The Stop Button Posted by on May 31, 2009
Badge 373 sounded good because it’s seventies Robert Duvall (before he was eighties and nineties Robert Duvall). My high hopes were quickly dashed. It’s poorly written, with lousy direction. It’s amateurish, far beneath Duvall’s abilities. I thought Howard W. Koch was somebo read more
You Only Live Twice (1967, Lewis Gilbert)
The Stop Button Posted by on May 31, 2009
My wife walked out on You Only Live Twice. She got up and left about forty minutes in. I finished it because I figured forty minutes was halfway and I could make it. It was tough. The film’s memorable because of the beginning, where James Bond dies. It’s an interesting scene, even thoug read more
The Oklahoman (1957, Francis D. Lyon)
The Stop Button Posted by on May 14, 2009
The Oklahoman is–well, I don’t want to sell it short because its discussion of racism and prejudice are rather straightforward and singular for pictures of its era–but at its core, the film’s a love triangle between fifty-two year-old Joel McCrea, thirty-five year-old Barbar read more
Days of Heaven (1978, Terrence Malick)
The Stop Button Posted by on May 13, 2009
According to John Travolta (who was originally cast and probably wasn’t just making it up–as it was pre-Battlefield Earth and he was still somewhat legitimate), when ABC wouldn’t let him out of his “Welcome Back, Kotter” contract, Malick was forced to cast Richard Gere read more
Viva la Résistance
The Stop Button Posted by on Apr 3, 2009
I’m breaking my diet/workout regime and having a martini for this post. The Stop Button isn’t closing. Not exactly. It’s just not going to be updated daily and I’m not going to focus on developing its library of film responses. This week, which missed a day already, wasnR read more
The Long Voyage Home (1940, John Ford)
The Stop Button Posted by on Apr 2, 2009
John Wayne gets first billing in The Long Voyage Home, but the picture really belongs to Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond and Ian Hunter. The film’s a combination slash adaptation of four one-act plays–which is somewhat clear from the rather lengthy sequences tied together with shorter joinin read more
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985, Danny Steinmann)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 25, 2009
Directed by Danny Steinmann; screenplay by Martin Kitrosser, David Cohen and Steinmann, based on a story by Kitrosser and Cohen and characters created by Victor Miller; director of photography, Stephen L. Posey; edited by Bruce Green; music by Harry Manfredini; production designer, Robert Howland; read more
The Killing (1956, Stanley Kubrick)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 24, 2009
I first saw The Killing when I was in high school. I had a great video store and one of the employees–lots of the employees were film school students–recommended the film to me, raving about Kubrick’s use of fractured narrative. He didn’t call it a fractured narrative, I don read more
Tank (1984, Marvin J. Chomsky)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 23, 2009
I wonder if the U.S. Army would like to get a movie like Tank out today. The movie’s politics are… well, they’re not hilarious, but they’re so blatant, it’s stunning. It’s a pro-Army film and an intensely anti-Georgia film. It likes Tennessee though. From Tank, a read more
Killer’s Kiss (1955, Stanley Kubrick)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 19, 2009
The chase scene in Killer’s Kiss, which occupies almost the entire third act, is a marvel. From the moment Jamie Smith jumps out the window and hits the pavement, the film leaps beyond the potential Kubrick has instilled it with until that point. Before, there’s a lot of great low budge read more
The Fastest Gun Alive (1956, Russell Rouse)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 18, 2009
The Fastest Gun Alive–to put it mildly and politely–is a turkey. I thought, given Glenn Ford in the lead, it was going to be at least a decent Western… but it’s not. Ford’s great (more on him later), but the script is atrocious. It’s rare to see a script so fail read more
Take the Money and Run (1969, Woody Allen)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 16, 2009
Take the Money and Run kind of dangles on a line. It’s occasionally a screwball comedy–something the Marx Brothers would have done–and alternately a thought-out spoof of documentaries. The breeze moves the film’s direction and it’s hard to know where it’ll go nex read more
The Delta Force (1986, Menahem Golan)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 15, 2009
The Delta Force is… 1) the only Chuck Norris movie my mom let me watch as a kid (I think it’s the only Chuck Norris movie I’ve ever seen). 2) “the most homoerotic movie I’ve ever seen,” according to my wife. 3) somewhat interesting for the first forty-five minute read more
Running Scared (1986, Peter Hyams)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 13, 2009
Jimmy Smits is pretty good in Running Scared. He’s a believable bad guy, intimidating even. I don’t know why I’m opening with Smits, maybe because I’m in a good mood and want to be generous with praise for an unlikely recipient. Running Scared is a delightful action comedy; read more