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Warning: This article discusses topics of racism, violence, and death.

The 1960s is a great era for murder mystery movies. The decade is remembered for several classic movies everyone must watch in their lifetime, and while the earliest murder mystery films are typically from the ‘40s and ‘50s, the subgenre truly blooms in the ‘60s. Plenty of classic 1960s movies were ahead of their time, and to this day, audiences are still enthralled by these old titles.

No murder mystery is the same. Although audiences nowadays are treated to the complex narratives of movies like Knives Out, for example, these ‘60s titles prove that an old-fashioned murder investigation is a timeless concept. From secret villainous protagonists to strained and exhausted detectives, murder mystery movies from the ‘60s are like no other, and they play a significant part in how the titles we see today are formed.

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte...

In 1960, one of the greatest Westerns of all time, The Magnificent Seven, premiered in theaters, yet many don't realize the movie is the first in a franchise of underrated Westerns. The Magnificent Seven is directed by John Sturges and based on the 1954 Akira Kurosawa movie, Seven Samurai. The film centers on a Mexican village being terrorized by a man named Calvera and his team of cruel outlaws. As a result, the villagers hire seven American gunslingers to protect them. The cowboys not only teach the villagers to protect themselves, but take down Calvera once and for all.

Though it may seem surprising now, upon its release, The Magnificent Seven was something of a failure. It did poorly at the box office in the United States and Canada, and only made a profit due to success in Europe and Asia. Furthermore, reviews were mixed. While some praised The Magnificent Seven for its high-energy first half,...

Jim Abrahams, the writer-director who with brothers Jerry and David Zucker turned the comedy genre on its ear with such zany efforts as Airplane!, Police Squad! and The Naked Gun films, died Tuesday. He was 80.

Abrahams died of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica, his son Joseph told The Hollywood Reporter.

The trio made their first mainstream impression by writing the sketch-filled Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), directed by John Landis in his prelude to Animal House, and they also combined for Top Secret! (1984), starring a young Val Kilmer, and Ruthless People (1986), featuring Bette Midler and Danny DeVito.

Without his childhood buddies from Wisconsin, Abrahams directed Big Business (1988), starring Midler and Lily Tomlin, and co-wrote and helmed Hot Shots! (1991) and its 1993 sequel, both starring Charlie Sheen.

Joke-filled and laden with sight gags and puns, the humor of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, or Zaz as they came to be known, was fast,...

In 1975, George Kennedy starred in an unusual revenge thriller in which AI was used to catch the bad guys. A look back at The ‘Human’ Factor:

Revenge films and vigilantes were all over the place in the 1970s, whether it was Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey gunning down crooks in Death Wish (1974) or Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle going on a rampage in Taxi Driver (1976). One of the more unusual thrillers of its type from the era, though, was The ‘Human’ Factor from 1975. For one thing, there’s its high-tech premise, in which George Kennedy’s protagonist uses cutting-edge technology to track down his enemies.

Kennedy plays John Kinsdale, a middle-aged, American computer expert stationed in Naples. Each day, he says goodbye to his picture-perfect Nuclear family – wife, two sons, a daughter with an outsized clown doll – and drives to his workplace at a nearby NATO base. There,...

Lee Van Cleef was truly one of the greatest stars of his era, with a filmography that included some of the best Western movies of all time. With over 170 film and television roles, Van Cleef was particularly known for his leading and supporting roles in acclaimed spaghetti Westerns and his performances opposite stars like Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood. With a talent for playing no-nonsense tough guy bandits, Van Cleef had a sinister screen presence that made him a truly compelling villain.

From Western team-ups with iconic stars to truly spectacular Western sequels, Van Cleefs time in the cinematic Wild West was well spent. While some of Van Cleefs best Westerns featured him as the lead, he often also took a backseat to play highly memorable supporting characters who helped elevate these movies to now legendary status. A true icon of the Western genre, Van Cleef should be...

American singer and actor Trini Lopez played a significant role in the 1967 action movie The Dirty Dozen, but his character mysteriously vanished midway through the story. Based on the 1965 novel by E.M. Nathanson, The Dirty Dozen is set in 1944, during World War II, and depicts 12 soldiers being trained for a military mission ahead of the Normandy landings. The movie was a critical and commercial success and inspired three television sequels in the 1980s. A Dirty Dozen remake was announced in 2019, with David Ayer set to serve as director.

The Dirty Dozen received praise for its depiction of military combat during World War II and received four Oscar nominations in 1968, winning one for Best Sound Editing. The movie contained a talented ensemble cast featuring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, and George Kennedy, who all served in the military in real life, during the war. One member of the cast ensemble,...

Alvin Rakoff, the Canadian-born filmmaker who directed Laurence Olivier in A Voyage Round My Father, has died. He was 97.

His death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by his longtime publicist, Nick Pourgourides. He passed away on Oct. 12 surrounded by family at home in Chiswick, a neighborhood in London.

Rakoff as a writer, director and producer of over 100 TV, film and stage productions, as well as novels, directed Olivier and co-stars Alan Bates and Jane Asher in the 1982 TV drama A Voyage Round My Father, a film written by John Mortimer and which earned the director his second Emmy Award.

Alvin and Olivier also worked together on Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson and A Talent for Murder, both shot in 1983. The two-time Emmy Award winner also gave a young Sean Connery his first leading role in the 1957 film Requiem for a Heavyweight, and Alan Rickman as a young actor was...

Alvin Rakoff, the veteran Canadian filmmaker best known for pics like the 1982 feature A Voyage Round My Father starring Laurence Olivier, died in Chiswick, London, October 12 surrounded by his family. He was 97.

Rakoff’s former personal agent confirmed the news with Deadline this morning.

Born on on February 6, 1927, in Toronto Rakoff was the third of seven children. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a psychology degree, Rakoff spent time as a news reporter. His first job as a writer was with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which later sponsored Rakoff to visit the UK. Within days of arriving, he sold his first fiction script to the BBC. He was soon invited to join the BBC’s director’s training course and, the following year at the age of twenty-six, Rakoff became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department.

As Rakoff once recalled: “I trained at the BBC as a director-producer.

When it comes to critical adoration, the late actor Paul Newman holds at least two rare distinctions. First of all, he's one of just a handful of actors who has not one or two but three perfect Rotten Tomatoes scores under his belt, having appeared in three different movies that critics at the time (and today) unanimously agree are pretty dang good. Newman is also one of the few actors (at least that we've come across at /Film) whose best-reviewed movies include a couple of stone cold classics.

Most of the best movies ever made don't seem to end up with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, as the sheer number of professional eyes on them makes it likely that someone will eventually go against the grain. Thanks to this phenomenon, the best-reviewed movies of most actors' careers technically tend to end up being much lesser-known (and therefore less-reviewed) films, like "Dinosaurs: Giants...

Liam Neeson’s career significantly diverted when he switched to being a hardcore action star with Taken. Previously, the Ireland-born actor made a massive name in critically acclaimed historical fiction and drama films. Presently, even at 72, he is one of this era’s most well-decorated action heroes.

Liam Neeson in a still from Batman Begins | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

Liam Neeson has given some memorable action flicks like The Grey, Cold Pursuit, and Wrath of the Titans. Many fans were afraid that his action career may soon come to an end due to his age. Recently, when the actor talked about this during an interview, he savagely stated that he would only quit the genre when his fight coordinator feels that he is too old to continue.

Liam Neeson on his future in action movies Liam Neeson in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List | Credits: Universal Pictures

Action heroes have...

The Young and the Restless (Y&r) spoilers document that Claire Newman (Hayley Erin) wants to get along with her cousin.

Summer Newman (Allison Lanier) opposed that for a long time. But the breakthrough they had at Chancellor Park creates an opening.

The Newman cousins bond more deeply as the summer gets set to become fall. Their genuine interest in Harrison Abbott’s (Redding Munsell) best interest should become the leading part of their family connection.

The above does not bode well for Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor). His childish rampage that scorched Summer has been tempered in recent weeks. However, he was told to fire Claire.

The Young And The Restless Spoilers – Victor Newman Goes His Own Way

Fleetwood Mac not withstanding, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) goes his own way more than anyone in Genoa City, Wisconsin. That outlook has worked for him as the Moustache is richer and more powerful than any current Gc resident.

Acting legend Donald Sutherland died at the age of 88. The well-respected and beloved actor was the star of such classic movies as Mash, Klute, Ordinary People, ‘Hunger Games,’ and The Dirty Dozen. His work spanned many decades and he was honored with awards for his talent. He was the father of Keifer Sutherland, and CAA Media Finance exec Roeg Sutherland.

Here are all the latest details.

Donald Sutherland – Kiefer Sutherland YouTube Donald Sutherland Died In Miami

On Thursday, Deadline reported that the award-winning actor died in Miami after a long illness. He was 88 years of age. Donald Sutherland was born on July 17, 1935, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Acting since his 20s, his 60-year career was in both movies and television. He had over 200 credits to his name. Best of all, he was able to share the screen with his actor son Keifer Sutherland in Forsaken.

On Twitter, Keifer wrote,...

Donald Sutherland, the beloved actor who starred in scores of films from The Dirty Dozen, Mash and Klute to Animal House and Ordinary People to Pride & Prejudice and The Hunger Games franchise and won an Emmy for Citizen X, died Thursday in Miami after a long illness. He was 88.

The 2017 Honorary Oscar recipient also is the father of Emmy-winning 24 and Designated Survivor actor Kiefer Sutherland and veteran CAA Media Finance exec Roeg Sutherland. CAA confirmed the news to Deadline.

Related: Remembering Donald Sutherland: A Career In Photos

In some of his most well-known roles, he perfected a laconic, wry and dead-serious delivery. Such was the case for characters including the cool-headed amateur murder investigator John Klute, opposite Jane Fonda’s terrified and erratic call girl Bree Daniels in Klute; as Hawkeye Pierce in the film Mash, where he played opposite Elliott Gould’s cut-up Trapper John; and in Nicolas Roeg...

Dallas actors have largely avoided tragic deaths, allowing fans to remember the original show fondly. Unlike other soap operas, Dallas has a manageable cast, making it easier for viewers to keep track of characters. Dallas characters, like J.R. Ewing played by Larry Hagman, have left a lasting impact on viewers.

Though the show premiered over four decades ago, there have thankfully not been a significant number of Dallas actors who have died. Dallas, the CBS prime-time soap opera, first premiered in 1978 and lasted until 1991 with 14 seasons centering on the Texas-set rivalry between sworn enemies the Ewing and Barnes families. As the series progresses, oil tycoon J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) becomes the focal point of the story, but each character has plenty of screen time to make an impact.

Dallas was rebooted in 2012 for three seasons, but it's the original show that is so fondly remembered. Unlike similar soap operas,...

Airport '77 featured an ensemble cast of legendary older stars, similar to what The Expendables did with action heroes in the 21st century. The star-studded cast of Airport '77, including James Stewart and Jack Lemmon, contributed to its massive box office success. Despite facing competition from Star Wars, Airport '77 was a major blockbuster, grossing $91.1 million worldwide in 1977.

Sylvester Stallone famously assembled a star-studded cast of old-school screen legends for The Expendables, but the classic disaster movie Airport 77 pulled that casting trick first. The Expendables launched Stallones third franchise after Rocky and Rambo with the conceit of bringing all of Hollywoods action movie legends together for one big all-star action epic. Stallone was joined by Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, and many more. The sequels brought in Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, and Mel Gibson.

While The Expendables is the most iconic...

Paul Walter Hauser is shaping up to have a major 2025.

The actor has joined the respective casts of both Fantastic Four and Naked Gun reboots currently set to arrive one week apart from each other in July 2025. Deadline confirmed both castings today, and they follow Hauser’s addition as the leading role in Josh Gad’s upcoming Chris Farley biopic.

In Paramount’s new Naked Gun reboot, Hauser will play Captain Ed, a role inhabited by George Kennedy in the original film franchise. He joins Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, who are confirmed to appear as Sergeant Frank Drebin Jr. and his love interest, respectively. The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer will direct, with Seth MacFarlane serving as a producer. The film is set to premiere on July 18th, 2025.

Meanwhile, Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot has several plot details still under wraps, so it’s unknown which character Hauser is set to play.

Per THR, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes star Kevin Durand will join Liam Neeson in the upcoming reboot of The Naked Gun.

Liam Neeson has long been attached to star in the Naked Gun reboot, and it was announced last month that Pamela Anderson would be starring alongside him. It’s not known precisely who Anderson will play, but it’s expected that she’ll be the romantic lead, similar to Priscilla Presley’s role in the original movies. Paul Walter Hauser has also signed on to play Captain Ed, the role played by George Kennedy in the previous Naked Gun movies. Production will kick off later this month with Akiva Schaffer directing from a script by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand.

Related Paul Walter Hauser continues taking every job in Hollywood by joining the cast of Marvel’s Fantastic Four

Although Liam Neeson has experience in the realm of comedy,...

After donning ape fur for his upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Kevin Durand is now getting Naked.

The actor, who is also currently on screens with horror movie Abigail, has joined Liam Neeson in Paramount Pictures’ untitled remake of Naked Gun, based on the crime spoof comedies that were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Pamela Anderson and Paul Walter Hauser are also on the call sheet for the feature that will begin shooting later this month.

Akiva Schaffer is directing the comedy, which has a script by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand and Schaffer. The trio were behind the popular and Emmy-winning Disney+ movie Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

The original movie, written and directed by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker and based on their television series Police Squad! that lasted only six episodes, spoofed the tropes of police shows and films that...

Paul Walter Hauser joins as Captain Ed Hocken in the upcoming Naked Gun reboot. The remaining cast also includes Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. After years of development hell, the movie seems to finally be in the right direction with the latest casting details.

Liam Neeson's upcoming The Naked Gun reboot movie has announced the casting of one of the franchise's original legacy characters. As one of the defining comedy franchises of the '80s and '90s, the original movie, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, was released in 1988, and starred comedian Leslie Nielsen as a bumbling police lieutenant investigating a criminal plot to create mind-controlled assassins. The movie took over $152 million at the global box office and spawned two equally successful sequels, concluding with 1994's Naked Gun 33+13: The Final Insult.

According to Deadline, the Naked Gun reboot has cast one of the original characters from the franchise,...

Paul Walter Hauser has been cast in the 'Naked Gun' reboot.The 37-year-old actor is set to star alongside Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson in the upcoming reboot, according to Deadline.Paul will play the part of Captain Ed, who was played by George Kennedy in the earlier 'Naked Gun' movies.In the reboot, Neeson is playing Franklin 'Frank' Drebin, a role previously played by Leslie Nielsen.The project is being helmed by Akiva Schaffer, who is also serving as an executive producer.The comedy is being produced by Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins via Fuzzy Door, while Daniel M. Stillman will be executive producing the reboot.The script has been penned by Akiva, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, and the movie has been handed a release date of July 18, 2025.Meanwhile, Paul previously admitted that his acting skills have improved markedly during the course of his career.

Deadline reports that Paul Walter Hauser has joined the cast of the upcoming Naked Gun reboot. While these casting announcements don’t always reveal who the actor will be playing, this time, it does! Hauser will play Captain Ed, the role played by George Kennedy in the previous Naked Gun movies.

Liam Neeson has long been attached to star in the Naked Gun reboot, and it was announced last month that Pamela Anderson would be starring alongside him. It’s not known precisely who Anderson will play, but it’s expected that she’ll be the romantic lead, similar to Priscilla Presley’s role in the original movies. Production will kick off later this year with Akiva Schaffer directing from a script by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand.

Paul Walter Hauser is also attached to play Chris Farley in a biopic about the iconic comedian directed by Josh Gad.

Related...

It's a busy old time for Paul Walter Hauser – with good reason, since he's been putting in excellent, memorable and award-winning performances in a variety of films and shows. He's now attached to another big title, joining Liam Neeson in the cast of Paramount's new spin on The Naked Gun.

The 1988 original saw David Zucker, brother Jerry, Jim Abrahams and co-writer Pat Proft turn their short-lived comedy series Police Squad! into a movie. It was an instant comedy hit, Leslie Nielsen's iconic central performance cementing his transformation from dramatic actor to comedy legend as Detective Frank Drebin.

Two sequels followed to diminishing returns (though there are still good gags to be enjoyed in both), but we started to hear rumours of a remake in development years ago. That went through a few versions — Ed Helms was attached to star for while — and more recently, Seth MacFarlane has been involved,...

Paul Walter Hauser is ready to fight crime alongside Liam Neeson in the reboot of the Naked Gun franchise.

Hauser is set to play Captain Ed in director Akiva Schaffer’s untitled new Naked Gun film that Paramount Pictures plans to release July 18, 2025. George Kennedy previously played the role in the original film trilogy that kicked off with the 1988 comedy The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Dan Gregor and Doug Mand penned the new movie’s script with Schaffer. The two scribes previously wrote the director’s Emmy-winning Disney+ feature Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins of Fuzzy Door produce the project that is based on the Naked Gun film franchise and the television series Police Squad! from Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. Daniel M. Stillman serves as executive producer.

Hauser joins the cast that includes Neeson and Pamela Anderson. While plot details are under wraps,...

Exclusive: Paul Walter Hauser’s hot streak continues. After seeing New Line lock up rights to the authorized Chris Farley biopic in which he’ll star for director Josh Gad, the actor has signed on to the untitled Naked Gun reboot from Paramount Pictures.

Hauser joins an ensemble that also includes Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, as previously announced. He’ll take on the role of Ed, Frank Drebin’s partner, which was inhabited in prior Naked Gun films by George Kennedy, and in the preceding series Police Squad! by Alan North.

Akiva Schaffer is directing and exec producing the comedy, slated for release in theaters on July 18, 2025. Dan Gregor and Doug Mand wrote the draft script along with Schaffer, with whom they partnered on the Emmy-winning film Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins are producing via Fuzzy Door, with Daniel M. Stillman also serving as EP.

Always good as either an antagonist or malign authority figure, Walsh – best known as loathsome Pi Visser in Blood Simple – was a singular, brilliant icon

M Emmet Walsh, American actor, dies at 88

M Emmet Walsh was the outstanding Hollywood character actor who emerged in the American new wave, a performer whose mesmerically watchable and powerful looks made him eminently castable; he was jowly and heavy set, but always looked tough, as if the idea of a fistfight would not be a novel or frightening thing for him. But he also had a woundedly sad expression in those poached-egg eyes.

Walsh lent a texture of reality to any picture he was in – like his approximate contemporaries Ned Beatty or George Kennedy, a performer who could be part of the landscape and offset the importance of the male lead, often in some kind of antagonistic or malign authority role. He could be...

At the inaugural Academy Awards in 1929, native Pennsylvanian Janet Gaynor made history as the first American-born performer to win an Oscar by taking the Best Actress prize for her body of work in “7th Heaven,” “Street Angel,” and “Sunrise.” Over the subsequent 95 years, 215 more thespians originating from the United States won the academy’s favor, meaning the country has now produced 68.1% of all individual acting Oscar recipients. Considering the last decade alone, the rate of such winners is even higher, at 70.3%.

At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).

Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...

Joe Camp, who wrote, produced and directed a series of films and TV shows that elevated a pooch stage-named Benji to Hollywood’s canine pantheon alongside Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, died today at his Tennessee home. He was 84.

His death was announced by his son, the director Brandon Camp, who told Deadline that his father died after a prolonged illness at his home in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, surrounded by family.

In addition to the long-lasting Benji franchise that began in 1974 and would continue well into the 21st Century, Camp co-wrote and directed Hawmps!, the 1976 Western comedy that replaced horses with camels, and 1979’s The Double McGuffin, a mystery film starring Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy.

While he also wrote a series of books about horses, including the popular The Soul of a Horse and Why Horses Are Barefoot, Camp’s most enduring contribution to Hollywood was and remains the...

The joke that makes The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear great is relatively subtle. In fact, as a child, watching this movie over and over again, it went over my head. Only recently, after releasing the episode of Revisited dedicated to the original Naked Gun and discussing the sequels with a friend, did he clue me in on why the sequel is so funny. The whole point of the movie is that the bad guys, a conglomerate of nuclear, coal and oil industry baddies, want to prevent Richard Griffith’s Dr Meinheimer from presenting a speech to the president urging a change to the country’s oil policy. Meinheimer is kidnapped and replaced by a double to stop this speech from happening. Our hero, Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin, has to save Meinheimer so he can present his speech, which he eventually does. But, the best...

Robert Aldrich's "The Dirty Dozen" is the daddiest of dad movies. A box office smash upon its theatrical release in 1967, it was the proto-"men-on-a-mission" movie. Lee Marvin stars as a World War II U.S. Army major ordered to lead a pack of disposable military prisoners on a suicide mission to slaughter numerous high-ranking Nazi officers. The film brought together some of the most macho men on the planet to play the (not entirely) doomed soldiers: Charles Bronson, George Kennedy, Telly Savalas, and, of course, recently retired Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown. It was a testosterone-fueled must-see that inspired three made-for-tv sequels and a load of imitators (including Enzo G. Castellari's "The Inglorious Bastards" and Quentin Tarantino's endearingly misspelled "Inglourious Basterds").

It's been homaged and ripped off so many times over the last 57 years that a straight-up remake would hardly be sacrilege. In fact, given...

Riggs and Murtagh. Tango and Cash. Starsky and Hutch. John McClane. Frank Bullitt. Dirty Harry Callahan. While those are all tough movie cops, none of them are as hard as nails was perhaps the toughest, most dangerous movie cop of all time… Frank Drebin as played by Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Jump back to 1980. Leslie Nielsen was a character actor known for playing deadpan, ultra-serious roles. He was typically the bad guy of the week on TV shows and TV movies, and his biggest claim to fame was playing the captain in 1956s Forbidden Planet. His career was middling; David Zucker, Jim Abrams and Jerry Zucker, aka Zaz – Zucker-Abrams-Zucker – wanted to cast him in their movie Airplane. He would play the third lead, a deadpan doctor who would perfectly ape similar roles he played in movies like The Poseidon Adventure. While the studio initially balked,...

Oj Simpson was originally cast as The Terminator.The ex-NFL star-turned actor, who had roles in films including ‘The Naked Gun’ film trilogy, was set to play the cyborg in James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi classic, according to Arnold Schwarzenegger, 76, who landed the role.Arnie told the ‘Smartless’ podcast about how he had originally been cast as rebel soldier Kyle Reese instead of The Terminator: “I think Oj Simpson was cast, not yet a contract signed, but was cast already to play The Terminator.“So Cameron was trying to talk me into playing the Terminator and I said, ‘Nah, I want to play Reese.’“He said, ‘No, you understand the Terminator. You talk about how he has to walk and turn his head like a machine. That’s exactly what he has to do.’ “Anyway, he talked me into it.”Arnie added Oj was bumped from the project after...

Turning a short-lived parody TV series into a feature film was always going to involve taking a chance, but as the team behind the Naked Gun franchise learned, it wasn’t quite on the level of sticking your face in a fan.

Following the breakout success of the 1980 smash hit Airplane!, that film’s writer-director team — David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker — found themselves grounded when ABC promptly canceled their police-spoofing show Police Squad! in 1982. But the series’ co-creators refused to let the concept die and went on to adapt it for The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, which Paramount Pictures released theatrically on Dec. 2, 1988. The movie, featuring Leslie Nielsen reprising his Police Squad! lead role as accident-prone police lieutenant Frank Drebin, also starred Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalbán, George Kennedy and O. J. Simpson.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the original Naked Gun film that...

Movies and television have been competing for the same audience's time and money since TV was invented, but they've also formed a strange symbiosis. There have been a heck of a lot of movies based on TV shows, and a heck of a lot of TV shows based on movies.

Some of those shows based on movies have been major pop culture milestones, like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The Karate Kid," and "Friday Night Lights." And of course a whole lot of been almost completely forgotten, like the sitcoms based on "Dirty Dancing," "Working Girl," and "Animal House."

But one thing these TV shows usually have in common is that they're almost always based on a hit movie. It's not surprising when a blockbuster like "M*A*S*H" or "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" gets turned into a television series. It's even common for smaller, but critically acclaimed films...

There are films you watched every time they pop up on TCM or streaming services. It’s like visiting an old friend. These movies put a smile on your face and a song in your heart. And one such film is “Charade,” which celebrates its 60th anniversary on Dec. 5. Deftly directed by Stanley Donen from a fun and thrilling Peter Stone screenplay, “Charade” stars Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn who exude a William Powell/Myrna Loy style chemistry that leaps off the screen. And let’s not forget that gorgeous Henry Mancini score, the romantic Oscar-nominated title tune “Charade,” with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and the pulsating Saul Bass title sequence.

I saw “Charade” when it was released, and I’ve probably seen it at least 15 more times. And each time seems like the first. Not many films have that kind of power. A 2010 Criterion Collection article by film historian...

Cool Hand Luke is a character-driven prison drama that explores themes of rebellion and non-conformity. The cast members and their performances play a crucial role in unraveling the complex layers of the narrative. Paul Newman impressively portrayed the titular character, Luke, while other cast members such as George Kennedy and Strother Martin delivered compelling performances as well.

Stuart Rosenberg's Cool Hand Luke is a character-driven prison drama that boasts an impressive roster of actors. Released in 1967, Cool Hand Luke centers on the titular character, Luke, a World War II veteran who gets imprisoned at a Florida prison camp after he beheads many parking meters. However, despite facing the harsh conditions at the prison, Luke stands as a symbol of individualism and freedom, and his acts of defiance against the prison's authorities gradually start affecting its inner workings.

Although Cool Hand Luke's primary appeal comes from its intricate exploration...

Robert Butler, the Emmy-winning, go-to pilot director who helmed the first episodes of such acclaimed shows as Batman, Star Trek, Hill Street Blues and Moonlighting, died Nov. 3 in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 95.

Butler also co-created the Pierce Brosnan-starring Remington Steele (and helmed its pilot, of course), directed the first episode of Hogan’s Heroes in 1965, and called the first shots and set the tone for, Glenn Gordon Caron’s Moonlighting, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Sisters and The Division.

In 1973, he directed the William Holden-starring The Blue Knight — the first four-hour television miniseries — at NBC and then got the CBS series adaptation of the Joseph Wambaugh novel that starred George Kennedy off on the right foot.

Butler also helmed two episodes of The Twilight Zone (the fifth-season installments “Caesar and Me,” starring his old friend, Jackie Cooper, and “The Encounter”) and worked on The Dick Van Dyke Show,...

Had Michael Cimino not killed New Hollywood with the financial disaster that was Heaven’s Gate, he might have eventually unmasked the movement anyway, exposing this supposedly new style of filmmaking as nothing more than the old way with a dirtier face. His debut feature, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, illustrates this in spades: One of the many intended cash-ins on Easy Rider’s success, the film reverses the nature of other counterculture road movies. Though it begins with sweeping, Fordian vistas and ends in muted, existential despair, the film is less a deconstruction of Americana by the intrusion of the real than a study of human interaction that reinforces, if tragically, its classical formalism and iconography.

As such, the film’s pairing of old and young functions not as a commentary on the generation gap or the trading of an antiquated set of values for a newer one, but as a means of drawing out their parallels.

The Airport franchise was once highly successful but has been forgotten by modern audiences due to changing trends in the movie industry. The original Airport film ignited the '70s disaster movie craze and was a blockbuster with a star-studded cast. Despite mixed reviews, the Airport sequels continued to perform well at the box office, but the franchise eventually lost popularity and has not been revived due to lack of cultural relevance and limited possibilities within the concept.

The Airport franchise was once one of Hollywood's most successful movie franchises, but it has been all but forgotten by modern audiences. Sequels used to be considered a dirty word in the movie business, and even the successful ones tended to do around half the business of the originals. Of course, this sentiment is almost unthinkable in a post-mcu world, where modern Hollywood is almost built around franchises and IP. The 1970s had some noticeable movie series,...

The Creepshow 2 episode of The Black Sheep was Written and Narrated by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Brandon Nally, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Its hard for a sequel to be better than the original – no, hey! Don’t close the article and please hold all hate in the comments until the end. I’m not saying Creepshow 2 (watch it Here) is better than the first movie, that’s just silly. Ok, so it’s hard for sequels to eclipse their previous iteration. Godfather II is always the answer to that but there are other things that you can prefer. Some people prefer the breakneck action of Aliens to the slasher in space of Alien. Others may enjoy Friday the 13th Part 2 with its higher violence (although it does have the same body count) and introduction to Jason to part 1’s mommy revenge story.

1995 wasn’t a good year for Sylvester Stallone at the multiplex. His summer tentpole, Judge Dredd, flopped domestically, and it was quickly followed by Richard Donner’s Assassins, which only grossed $30 million at the domestic box office. While Sly’s career had seen a few slumps, his straightforward action movies typically performed, and the failure of those two films put his clout as one of the world’s biggest stars in jeopardy. In this episode of Sylvester Stallone Revisited, we’re going to talk about a movie that was supposed to be a big-budget, commercial change of pace for the actor but wound up being the last would-be blockbuster he’d star in for years. That’s right; we’re going to talk about Rob Cohen’s Daylight.

Flashback to the mid-nineties. Sylvester Stallone had launched a major comeback with Cliffhanger and followed it up with two more global blockbusters,...

Clockwise from top left: Gladiator (DreamWorks), The Portable Door (MGM+), Valley Girl (MGM), Scarface (Universal Pictures)Image: The A.V. Club

Summer is here! So to quote Maximus from Ridley Scott’s Gladiator—which is being added to Amazon Prime Video in July—“Are you not entertained?” The answer, of course,...

Jim Brown, the NFL Hall of Famer and Civil Rights activist who turned to acting and appeared in films and TV shows ranging from The Dirty Dozen and I Spy to Draft Day, Mars Attacks! and The A-Team, died Thursday night in Los Angeles. His wife, Monique Brown, said in an Instagram post that he died peacefully, but she did not provide a cause.

Brown is considered among the greatest football players of all time. Drafted sixth overall in 1957 by the Cleveland Browns out of Syracuse University, his bruising running style redefined the running back position. As a rookie, he ran for 237 yards in a game against the Los Angeles Rams — a record that would stand until the 1970s.

Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries

Among his myriad NFL records and milestones, he was the first to top 100 career rushing touchdowns and set single-season and career rushing...

This past weekend, Wamg attended the annual TCM Film Festival (honestly this writer’s favorite event of the year) and as usual, it did not disappoint! There was a ton of great programming this year, with something for just about everyone.

Opening Night of the 14th annual TCM Classic Film Festival kicked off with a screening of Rio Bravo (1959) in celebration of Warner Bros.’ 100th anniversary, featuring a conversation with Wbd CEO David Zaslav and The Film Foundation Board members Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson about the mission of The Film Foundation as well as Rio Bravo star Angie Dickinson.

Hollywood, California – April 13: (L-r) TCM host Ben Mankiewicz; General Manager, Turner Classic Movies Pola Changnon; Steven Spielberg; Angie Dickinson; and President and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav attend the opening night gala and world premiere of the 4k restoration of “Rio Bravo” during the...

It’s no big deal these days when veteran film stars appear on the small screen such as Harrison Ford, who headlines two vastly different series this season, the hard-hitting Western “1923” on Paramount + and the Apple TV +’s comedy “Shrinking.” And two-time Oscar-winner Robert De Niro is set to star in his first TV series “Zero Day” on Netflix. But 50 years ago, it was major news when stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood took the plunge into the small screen waters.

Four-time Oscar-winning legend Katharine Hepburn made her TV debut in ABC’s acclaimed version of Tennessee Williams’ 1944 classi play “The Glass Menagerie.” The drama, which catapulted Williams to fame, reunited Kate with her “The Lion in Winter” director Anthony Harvey. She won an Oscar under his guidance for the 1968 “Lion,” and she earned an Emmy nomination for her haunting turn as Amanda in “Glass Menagerie.” The...

Robert Aldrich's great war film "The Dirty Dozen" wasn't the first men-on-a-mission movie, but it is generally held up today at the apotheosis of the form. The tale of the U.S. Army's most vicious convicts getting assigned to a suicide mission deep behind enemy lines during World War II, with the promise of a pardon should they survive, is stocked with the toughest of the tough guys of the late 1960s. Lee Marvin heads up the brass-knuckle ensemble as the no-nonsense Major John Reisman, who's stuck with the unenviable task of shaping up a unit of anti-authoritarian malcontents or straight-up psychopaths. With troublemakers and nose-breakers like Charles Bronson, George Kennedy, Jim Brown, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, and John Cassavetes along for the ride, "The Dirty Dozen" became more than just the perfect "men-on-a-mission" movie: it was the ultimate guy flick.

We call them "Dad Movies" nowadays. They're the...

Burbank, Calif., February 15, 2023 – As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, three classic and beloved films from the Warner Bros. library – The Maltese Falcon, Cool Hand Luke, and Rebel Without a Cause – will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital this April.

On April 4, The Maltese Falcon and Cool Hand Luke will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray™ Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

On April 4, Rebel Without a Cause will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers. On April 18 it will be available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc will include each feature film in 4K with Hdr...

Raquel Welch, the big-screen star of the 1960s and ’70s who gained fame in movies including Fantastic Voyage, One Million Years B.C., Myra Breckinridge and many others, died today after a brief illness. She was 82.

Her death was confirmed by her reps at Media 4 Management.

Related: Raquel Welch: A Career In Photos

Welch’s career spanned more than 50 years, 30 films and scores of TV series and appearances, including about a dozen visits to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson spanning two decades. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Imagen Foundation in 2001.

From left: Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasence in ‘Fantastic Voyage’ (Everett Collection)

Born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, Welch’s family moved to San Diego when she was a toddler. She attended San Diego State on a theater arts scholarship and got her start as a local TV weathercaster before starting to...

Director Adam Simon’s 1990 psychological horror film is notable for its screenplay by Twilight Zone vet Charles Beaumont, filmed 23 years after his death. The movie, with its unique mix of elements from Donovan’s Brain and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, features a strong cast with Bill Pullman as a potentially schizophrenic brain surgeon and cult film stalwart Bud Cort as the object/victim of his dubious experimentation. Co-starring George Kennedy, the movie was produced by Tfh Guru Julie Corman.

The post Brain Dead appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "Small Soldiers"

Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max

The Pitch: Two iterations of toy lines that reigned over the 1980s — G.I. Joe and Masters of the Universe — go head-to-head in a battle for American dominance in "Small Soldiers," Joe Dante's 1998 skewering of an American public obsessed with make-believe fantasies of war. Its Everytown, USA is filled with characters concerned more with might and supremacy than community; Manifest Destiny materializes in neighbors' lopped-off tree limbs that block satellite reception. Leavened with Stan Winston-crafted animatronics and the dark comedy of "Gremlins," Dante's "Small Soldiers" contains one of the most acerbic portraits of gung-ho America to be found in the decade's cinema.

Denis Leary injects his signature cynicism into Gil Mars,...

There is an adorable moment in Anthony Giacchino's "Director by Night" -- a 54-minute documentary on the amateur-turned-professional directing career of his brother Michael -- where the Giacchinos' mother Josephine is asked to read a list of her famous son's composing credits. Looking over a paragraph penned by Anthony, Josephine reads that Michael has composed music for films like "The Batman" and "The MCU Spider-Man Trilogy." Innocently, she asks what "MCU" stands for. Anthony patiently explains that it describes the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Josephine then asks if "The Batman" is also part of the MCU. Anthony can barely disguise his frustration. No, mom. That's DC comics. Josephine is a little embarrassed that she's not as familiar with this stuff as her kids. 

"Director by Night" isn't so much about the making of Michael's MCU entry "Werewolf by Night" (which broadcast on Disney+ on October 7), but about Michael Giacchino's childhood passion for filmmaking.