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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 5: The Double Trap
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 23, 2018
Clutching Hand is definitely wearing me down. I got through the bad fist fights without thinking too much about their poor execution. And lead Jack Mulhall’s annoying “acting” quirks didn’t annoy as much as usual. It’s just Clutching Hand, why would it get any better five chapters in. The read more
There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown (1973, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 22, 2018
There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown takes about seven minutes to get into the main story–Charlie Brown and the other kids go on a field trip to the art museum–and about seventeen minutes to get to the title relevancy. At first it seems like there’s no time for love because the kids read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 4: The Phantom Car
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 21, 2018
There’s no reason for The Phantom Car to have its title. There are cars in the chapter, yes, but none of them have any supernatural traits. In fact, the one “mysterious” car-related incident–the chapter’s cliffhanger–explains the gimmick to the viewer while never showing the characters’ read more
You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown (1972, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 20, 2018
A lot goes on in You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown, with the actual class president election stuff coming in at the end of the first act. Instead, Elected starts with Sally (Hilary Momberger-Powers) having school troubles. There’s a long conversation about all the possible school proble read more
Halloween (2018, David Gordon Green)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 19, 2018
Halloween never met a MacGuffin it didn’t embrace. Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride, and director Gordon’s script strings together MacGuffins to make the plot. And if it’s not a MacGuffin, it’s something they’re not going to do anything with. With a handful of exceptions, Halloween is usually at read more
Lonelyhearts (1958, Vincent J. Donehue)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 18, 2018
The most frustrating thing about Lonelyhearts is Donehue’s direction. While not a television production, Donehue directs it like one. He’ll have these shots of star Montgomery Clift baring his soul to girlfriend Dolores Hart and Donehue will stick with Clift, no reaction shot on Hart much less lett read more
Only Angels Have Wings (1939, Howard Hawks)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 17, 2018
The first forty-five minutes of Only Angels Have Wings is mostly continual present action. Jean Arthur arrives in a South American port town, looking around–followed by two possible ne’er-do-wells (Allyn Joslyn and Noah Beery Jr.)–and the film tracks her experience. Great direction from Hawks, read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 3: House of Mystery
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 16, 2018
It’s another action-packed episode. The action is atrociously executed, but there is definitely a lot of it. After a perfunctory cliffhanger resolution, the Clutching Hand sends more thugs after detective Jack Mulhall and his sidekick, reporter Rex Lease (Lease’s professional makes no difference read more
He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 15, 2018
He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown opens with Snoopy terrorizing the kids. He’s indiscriminately vicious, leading to the kids complaining to Charlie Brown about it. Charlie Brown’s solution is to send Snoopy off to the puppy farm for reeducation. Snoopy is Dog’s draw. His worst moments read more
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995, Joe Chappelle)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 14, 2018
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers doesn’t even run ninety minutes and gets boring fast; the last twenty minutes are completely mind-numbing. Nothing makes sense, characters act without motive, cults cult without purpose, it just goes on and on. At least Donald Pleasence is lucky enough to get read more
The Cheap Detective (1978, Robert Moore)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 13, 2018
It was until after The Cheap Detective was over I realized there’s never anything about Peter Falk’s fee. It’s not clear whether he’s cheap or not. It’s never addressed. It’s one of the many things Neil Simon’s screenplay never gets around to addressing, like if the third act is all a read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 2: Shadows
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 12, 2018
There are some amusing moments in Shadows; not good moments, but amusing ones. Like when reporter turned detective sidekick Rex Lease trespasses on a boat and assaults the crew members. It’s a perplexing action sequence–the second fistfight in the (very long) chapter–and incompetently cut together. read more
Charlie Brown's All Stars! (1966, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 11, 2018
Despite being all about baseball–specifically baseball games–“Charlie Brown’s All Stars!” barely has any logic to how its baseball works. It’s summertime and Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) loses the kids’ first game of baseball for them. Although, really, no one else on the team is any read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 1: Who Is the Clutching Hand?
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 10, 2018
Who Is the Clutching Hand? opens with Robert Walker getting out of prison. The warden warns him not to be a recidivist; Walker tells him he’s going to keep being a crook, he’s just not going to get caught. Is Walker the Clutching Hand? Who knows. The action then moves to a boring board room meeting read more
It’s Dental Flossophy, Charlie Brown (1980, Bill Melendez and Phil Roman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 9, 2018
There’s an adorable moment when Woodstock makes a nest out of dental floss in It’s Dental Flossophy, Charlie Brown, but otherwise it’s a hard going five and a half minutes. Charlie Brown needs to floss and Lucy’s going to teach him. She wants to get all that plaque out before she goes to Schroeder’ read more
Charlie Brown Clears the Air (1979, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 8, 2018
Charlie Brown Clears the Air opens with a deceptively funny gag. Snoopy messing with Linus. It’s the only funny thing in the cartoon, produced for American Lung Association with the apparent purpose of boring children into environmentally responsible behavior. See, Snoopy’s in a mood because his read more
Tooth Brushing (1978, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 7, 2018
It’s incredible Tooth Brushing only runs five minutes. The cartoon (an educational short produced for the American Dental Association) starts innocuously enough. Charlie Brown gets out of the dentist, heads home to try out his new brush and other dentist goodies–he’s also got fresh instructions read more
Secret Agent (1943, Seymour Kneitel)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 6, 2018
Secret Agent opens with this really exciting car chase. Clark (Bud Collyer) has just called in and been told to get to work on the right story, only then a car crashes through the drug store he’s in and so he hops on the back of it as it chases another car. Then the cops start chasing the car Clark read more
Bigger Than Life (1956, Nicholas Ray)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 5, 2018
Despite producing the film himself, top-billed James Mason doesn’t have the best part in Bigger Than Life. Instead, Barbara Rush–as his suffering wife–gets it. Mason’s a man with a life threatening chronic illness who has to take special medication. Slowly–though not too slowly–that medication read more
Jungle Drums (1943, Dan Gordon)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 4, 2018
Sitting through the first third of Jungle Drums, I kept hoping the cartoon would keep the African natives in silhouette. I had zero confidence they wouldn’t do some racist caricature and, at least in silhouette, there would be specifics. The natives do get out of silhouette and they are racist cari read more