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William Holden may have won his only Academy Award for Billy Wilder’s “Stalag 17,” but he wasn’t the first choice to play Sefton, the cynical sergeant who is a one-man black market at a German Pow camp. Originally, Charlton Heston was going to headline the film. Heston was red-hot at the time coming off his flashy starring role in Cecil B. DeMille’s Oscar winning 1952 circus epic “The Great Show on Earth.” But as Wilder and co-writer Edwin Blum were working on the script for the film, which premiered on July 1, 1953 in New York and two weeks later in Los Angeles, the character became darker and more disparaging; They realized Heston wasn’t right for the part

The AFI catalog noted that supposedly Wilder went to Kirk Douglas who had starred in Wilder’s 1951 “Ace in the Hole,” a masterpiece that flopped badly when released. After he turned...

This month’s installment of Deep Cuts Rising features a variety of horror movies. Some selections reflect a specific day or event in April, and others were chosen at random.

Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.

This month’s offerings include an anthology, a creature-feature, some found footage, and two slashers.

The House of the Dead (1978)

Directed by Sharron Miller.

The House of the Dead — also known as Last Stop on 13 Street and Alien Zone — is an American stab at an Amicus-style anthology film. Shot in Oklahoma with students from Osu, this low-budget horror omnibus does a creditable job of capturing the macabre spirit of The House That Dripped Blood and The Vault of Horror.

This regional horror collection delivers four sub-stories as well as a wraparound about an adulterous husband (John Ericson...

Natasha Lyonne’s savvy, road-weary Charlie Cale is a fond homage to classic TV detectives like Jim Rockford and Lt. Frank Columbo: Like Rockford, she lives in a battered mobile home when we first meet her and she’s as dogged in solving crimes as the cigar-smoking Columbo. She also drives a bitchin’ 70s car and rocks a sweater that might have belonged to Paul Michael Glaser’s Starsky.

Here are some of the shows that influenced Rian Johnson’s series and other classic mystery of the week series, and where to watch them.

The Fugitive (1964-1967)

The original series starred David Janssen as a doctor falsely accused of murdering his wife (just like in the 1993 movie starring Harrison Ford). Always on the run from the law and taking odd jobs to survive, each week found him in a new place with a new person needing his help. All while...

Else Blangsted, a holocaust survivor who became a successful film music editor on movies like “Star Trek IV — The Voyage Home” and “The Color Purple,” died at her home in Los Angeles of natural causes at the age of 99.

Born in Wurzburg, Germany, Blangsted came of age in a Jewish family as the Nazis took power. As a teenager, she gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock but was told the child was stillborn. She fled Germany in 1937 and eventually made it to Hollywood, where she took on jobs on movie sets including as an extra in the Cecil B. DeMille film “Samson & Delilah.”

Also Read: John Ericson, Star of 'Honey West' and Classic MGM Films, Dies at 93

After some apprentice work, she took a job as a music editor, starting in television before moving in 1955 to a film career that saw her work with composers like Dave Grusin...

John Ericson, a star of Hollywood’s Golden Age who appeared in multiple MGM films and in the 1960s TV show “Honey West,” died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, of pneumonia on Sunday. He was 93.

Born Joseph Meibes in Dusseldorf, Germany, Ericson emigrated with his family to the United States to escape the Nazis as they rose to power. Ericson trained in acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and soon appeared in the original production of “Stalag 17” in 1951.

Shortly after that, Ericson signed a contract with MGM and made his cinematic debut alongside Pier Angeli in “Teresa,” playing a World War II veteran struggling to cope with post-war life after marrying a woman he met in Italy. He continued to take on supporting roles in MGM films through the ’50s, starring alongside stars like Elizabeth Taylor in “Rhapsody,” Spencer Tracy in “Bad Day at Black Rock,...

John Ericson, who starred alongside Anne Francis on TV's Honey West and with Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock and with Angela Lansbury in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, has died. He was 93.

Ericson died Sunday of pneumonia in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had been living since the mid-1990s, a family spokesman said.

Ericson appeared on Broadway in the original production 1951 of Stalag 17, directed by José Ferrer, and he made his film debut in Teresa (1951), directed by Fred Zinnemann. Three years later, he starred with Elizabeth Taylor in Rhapsody (1954).

Ericson played "Man Friday" Sam ...

John Ericson, who starred alongside Anne Francis on TV's Honey West and with Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock and with Angela Lansbury in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, has died. He was 93.

Ericson died Sunday of pneumonia in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had been living since the mid-1990s, a family spokesman said.

Ericson appeared on Broadway in the original production 1951 of Stalag 17, directed by José Ferrer, and he made his film debut in Teresa (1951), directed by Fred Zinnemann. Three years later, he starred with Elizabeth Taylor in Rhapsody (1954).

Ericson played "Man Friday" Sam ...

Cult favorite Samuel Fuller explodes the mid-range Hollywood oater with elements we can all appreciate: a ritualistic fetishizing of the gunslinger ethos, and a reliance on kinky role reversals and provocative tease dialogue. It’s as radical as a western can be without becoming a satire. Playing it all perfectly crooked-straight is the still formidable Barbara Stanwyck. Her black-clad ‘woman with a whip’ keeps a full forty gunmen to enforce her will on a one-lady town.

Forty Guns

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 954

1957 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 11, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson, Gene Barry, Eve Brent, Robert Dix, Jidge Carroll, Paul Dubov, Gerald Milton, Ziva Rodann, Hank Worden, Neyle Morrow, Chuck Roberson, Chuck Hayward.

Cinematography: Joseph F. Biroc

Film Editor: Gene Fowler Jr.

Original Music: Harry Sukman

Produced, Written and Directed by Samuel Fuller

Was there ever a...

Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton is back, with another Italo Western double bill DVD review. Wild East’s ongoing Spaghetti Western Collection continues to grow and this double bill release is particularly welcome since it features two obscure and wholly idiosyncratic genre entries from 1969. Italian Western directors had found it relatively easy to appropriate key plot points and ideas from Sergio Leone’s Dollars films during the genre’s early years but when Leone’s sprawling, mega-budgeted, meta-Western Once Upon a Time in the West was released in 1968 it was clear that this was one genre entry that local filmmakers would not be able to easily emulate.

With scriptwriters and directors now essentially being forced to come up with their own ideas and generic trends, a new wave of Spaghetti Westerns were produced that effectively took the genre in a multitude of new directions. The two films featured here were part of that wave.

“Unwelcoming Committee”

By Raymond Benson

Although the picture takes place a couple of months after the end of World War II in the year 1945, Bad Day at Black Rock is really a western. The setting is a desert town that’s barely a whistle stop for a train that hasn’t halted there in four years; the main street looks as if it’s right out of Dodge City, and the opening credits are designed in big, colorful, bold words that spread across the wide CinemaScope screen. Even director John Sturges is primarily known for his many westerns.

Good Guy Spencer Tracy rides into town—on that train—and is met with inexplicable hostility from everyone he meets. All he wants is to find a guy named Komoko—a Japanese farmer who supposedly lives just out of town. Most of the residents seem afraid to help Tracy. The ones who...

Don’t mess with the one-armed man — did you know that at 56 years, Spencer Tracy could whup Ernest Borgnine to a frazzle? John Sturges knocked this one out of the ballpark and booted his career into high gear. It’s well remembered… but does anyone remember that the subject is the murder of a Japanese-American? It’s a combo social issue film And a tough guy western.

Bad Day at Black Rock

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1955 / Color / 2:40:1 widescreen / 81 min. / Street Date January 17, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, John Ericson, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Russell Collins, Walter Sande, Robert Griffin, Harry Harvey.

Cinematography William C. Mellor

Film Editor Newell P. Kimlin

Original Music André Previn

Written by Millard Kaufman, Don McGuire story by Howard Breslin

Produced by Dore Schary

Directed by John Sturges

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Warning to...

'7 Faces of Dr. Lao' with Tony Randall. '7 Faces of Dr. Lao' movie: 'Things are not as they seem' Director George Pal's 7 Faces of Dr. Lao surprises on multiple levels: its witty screenplay by Twilight Zone writer Charles Beaumont, an odd assortment of well-defined characters, a bravura performance by Tony Randall, and some of the best special effects of that time. In the film, a strange traveling magician drifts into a small western American town, announcing that he is bringing with him a “Magic Circus.” Calling himself Dr. Lao, the eccentric Chinese character places an ad in the local newspaper and makes friends with the editor. But things are not as they seem. When the Magic Circus magically appears, Dr. Lao changes appearances and personalities, interfering in the lives of everyone in the community. Love with the properly repressed widow John Ericson plays the handsome newspaperman who rebels...

Gary Cooper movies on TCM: Cooper at his best and at his weakest Gary Cooper is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 30, '15. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any Cooper movie premiere – despite the fact that most of his Paramount movies of the '20s and '30s remain unavailable. This evening's features are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Sergeant York (1941), and Love in the Afternoon (1957). Mr. Deeds Goes to Town solidified Gary Cooper's stardom and helped to make Jean Arthur Columbia's top female star. The film is a tad overlong and, like every Frank Capra movie, it's also highly sentimental. What saves it from the Hell of Good Intentions is the acting of the two leads – Cooper and Arthur are both excellent – and of several supporting players. Directed by Howard Hawks, the jingoistic, pro-war Sergeant York was a huge box office hit, eventually earning Academy Award nominations in several categories,...

Sven Harvey Oct 17, 2017

Here are more nerdy spots in the final two Trek films to date: Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness...

Spoilers for Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness lie ahead.

Like their forerunners, the two latest Star Trek films, in their semi-rebooted, alternative universe, are replete with famous faces from outside the franchise, surprising cameos and multiple little touches that raise a smile.

With the third film in the rebooted series coming next year, the 50th anniversary of the debut of Star Trek on TV in 1966, let's take a look at a few of the geeky nods in Jj's Trek films.

1. Star Trek Nemesis left a lot of dangling threads, on purpose, as a story treatment for a direct sequel was already being worked on. Unfortunately due to some less than stellar decisions by executives, the release date of the film was repositioned and the decision...

Here are more nerdy spots in the final two Trek films to date: Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness...

Spoilers for Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness lie ahead.

Like their forerunners, the two latest Star Trek films, in their semi-rebooted, alternative universe, are replete with famous faces from outside the franchise, surprising cameos and multiple little touches that raise a smile.

With the third film in the rebooted series coming next year, the 50th anniversary of the debut of Star Trek on TV in 1966, let's take a look at a few of the geeky nods in Jj's Trek films.

1. Star Trek Nemesis left a lot of dangling threads, on purpose, as a story treatment for a direct sequel was already being worked on. Unfortunately due to some less than stellar decisions by executives, the release date of the film was repositioned and the decision was made to...

Just as Bruce Broughton has been punished by the Academy for his questionable campaign tactics, Vulture has chimed in with a detailed timeline of strategies employed by the master of Academy manipulation, Harvey Weinstein -- not all of them strictly by the Oscar playbook. Take this anecdote about Weinstein's 1996 campaign for Billy Bob Thornton in "Sling Blade": "John Ericson, a retired actor who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., said he was called several times recently by a representative from the studio. In the first call, this person asked Mr. Ericson if he had received Sling Blade and urged him to...

Sosie Bacon may only be 21, but she has a lot going for her. On top of being 2014's Miss Golden Globe, through her father Kevin Bacon, she is connected to nearly everyone in Hollywood - including every other previous Miss Golden Globe, most of whom are also the daughters (or sons) of industry power players. And while some have a connection through their famous parents, others, such as Laura Dern (who happens to have famous parents), are also connected through their own work. Don't believe us? Here's how you get from young Ms. Bacon to all of her famous predecessors,...

Ann Blyth movies: TCM schedule on August 16, 2013 (photo: ‘Our Very Own’ stars Ann Blyth and Farley Granger) See previous post: "Ann Blyth Today: Light Singing and Heavy Drama on TCM." 3:00 Am One Minute To Zero (1952). Director: Tay Garnett. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ann Blyth, William Talman. Bw-106 mins. 5:00 Am All The Brothers Were Valiant (1953). Director: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth. C-95 mins. 6:45 Am The King’S Thief (1955). Director: Robert Z. Leonard. Cast: Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, David Niven. C-79 mins. Letterbox Format. 8:15 Am Rose Marie (1954). Director: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, Fernando Lamas. C-104 mins. Letterbox Format. 10:00 Am The Great Caruso (1951). Director: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth, Dorothy Kirsten, Jarmila Novotna, Richard Hageman, Carl Benton Reid, Eduard Franz, Ludwig Donath, Alan Napier, Pál Jávor, Carl Milletaire, Shepard Menken, Vincent Renno, Nestor Paiva, Peter Price, Mario Siletti, Angela Clarke,...

This is part of Fred Zinnemann Week, hosted at Shadowplay.

I've found that, for some people, the classic-status ubiquity of certain scenes in From Here to Eternity or High Noon, plus the damned aura of taste and quality which surrounds an AFI-favored filmmaker like Fred Zinnemann, can be intensely off-putting. I've also found that I prefer some of the director's less celebrated works. In other words, I think he deserves his high reputation, but perhaps for reasons and films that aren't so well-trodden.

One of Fred Z.'s undoubted attributes was an eye for acting talent. If he had only introduced Brando, Clift and Steiger to the screen, he would deserve to be remembered, but in fact he directed the first films of Julie Harris, Brandon De Wilde, Tony Franciosa, William Hickey, Don Murray, Claude Akins, Shirley Jones and Meryl Streep. And he directed early film appearances of Jessica Tandy,...

Anne Francis on TCM: Forbidden Planet, Brainstorm, A Lion Is In The Streets Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Summer Holiday (1948) Musical remake of Ah, Wilderness!, about a small-town boy's struggles with growing up. Dir: Rouben Mamoulian. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Gloria DeHaven, Walter Huston, Frank Morgan, Jackie Jenkins, Marilyn Maxwell, Agnes Moorehead. C-93 mins. 7:45 Am So Young So Bad (1950) A crusading psychiatrist tries to help troubled reform school girls. Dir: Bernard Vorhaus. Cast: Paul Henreid, Catherine McLeod, Cecil Clovelly, Anne Jackson, Rita Moreno. Bw-91 mins. 9:30 Am Battle Cry (1955) A group of Marines eagerly await deployment during World War II. Dir: Raoul Walsh. Cast: Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, Mona Freeman, Dorothy Malone, Nancy Olson, Tab Hunter, James Whitmore, Raymond Massey, William Campbell. C-148 mins, Letterbox Format. 12:00 Pm Bad Day At Black Rock (1955) A one-armed veteran uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero's family.

Retro-active: The Best From Cinema Retro's Arcives

As someone who has written extensively about the spy craze of the 1960s, I'm ashamed to admit I'd never seen an episode of Honey West. The series premiered in 1965 but lasted a mere one season, a casualty of high ratings from its time slot rival Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Thus, I had no preconceived notions when Vci's complete series arrived for review. The 4 DVD set consists of all thirty episodes. I have not watched all of them, but I've seen enough to get a general taste of the show- and I love it. It's been said that Honey West was the first kick-ass female action hero on TV, but in fact, that honor probably goes to the character of Cathy Gale on The Avengers. Nevertheless, Honey had great influence despite the brevity of her series. In fact, its amazing how loyal...

Her Forbidden Planet costar Leslie Nielsen passed just a month ago. Anne Francis was also known for playing the first female detective in a weekly TV series with ‘Honey West’. I’d met Ms Francis at Wonderfest in Louisville a few years ago and she was delightful and still very beautiful. Such a lovely and talented lady. Rip, Altaira

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Anne Francis, who played the first female detective to be featured in a weekly TV series in 1965′s Honey West, died Sunday of complications of pancreatic cancer at a retirement home in Santa Barbara.

Francis also starred in the 1956 science-fiction classic Forbidden Planet and had roles in more than 30 movies, including Bad Day at Black Rock; Battle Cry; Blackboard Jungle; The Hired Gun; Don’t Go Near the Water; Brainstorm; Funny Girl; and Hook, Line and Sinker.

Honey West was introduced to ABC viewers in an episode...

Anne Francis, who has died of complications of pancreatic cancer aged 80, is now best remembered mainly due to the lyrics "Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet \ Oh-oh at the late night, double-feature, picture show", which were sung over the opening credits of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and for the cult science-fiction movie to which they refer, Forbidden Planet (1956). The only woman in the cast of Forbidden Planet, Francis had a sprightly charm and a wide-eyed child-like innocence as Altaira, the space-age Miranda in the transposition of Shakespeare's The Tempest to a distant planet.

The mini-skirted teenaged daughter of the exiled Dr Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) has never seen any man except her father until a group of Us astronauts, led by Commander John J Adams (Leslie Nielsen), arrive. While never exactly exclaiming "O brave new world that has such people in it!

Moonstone's "Honey West", written by Trina Robbins, illustrated by Cynthia Martin, signals the return of the world's first TV female private eye.

"...When piano player/dancer 'Mimi Malloy' walks into Honey West's office saying there's been a killing at her nightclub, the 'Purple Pussy', Honey goes undercover as a go-go dancer and mixes it up with Hollywood hippies to uncover the "Killer on the Keys..."

The original "Honey West" TV series, produced by the ABC network, ran for 30 episodes during the 1965-1966 television season, starring Anne Francis as female private detective 'Honey West.

The show was based on the Honey West character created by Gloria and Forrest E. "Skip" Fickling under the pseudonym "G.G. Fickling" in the late 1950's.

Looking to be the 'American answer' to popular female TV characters like 'Emma Peel' ' in the UK series "The Avengers", Anne Francis went on to win a Golden...

Chicago – When it was announced that Disney would be releasing a new special edition of “Bedknobs and Broomsticks,” the little kid in me woke up and started pounding on my memory banks. I have such vivid memories of watching the film as a child, mouth agape, eyes wide, and falling in love with the blend of animation and live-action that looked so revolutionary to this future critic’s young mind. Pick up the DVD and inspire a child you know.

DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0 “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” is a film so ingrained in the memory of my childhood that I can’t really approach it critically. It’s difficult to separate the personal meaning the film has for me on rainy Sundays around the Vcr with my mother and sister and look at it without bias. But I bet I’m not alone. And if you remember “Bedknobs” with the same fondness,...

We have nine clips in from Buena Vista Home Entertainment's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" which comes to DVD for the very first time on . This was one of my favorite family films during my youth which I must have visited easily over a dozen times. The charming cast stars Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, Roddy McDowall, Sam Jaffem John Ericson, Bruce Forsyth and Cindy O'Callaghan. Robert Stevenston directs from the writing by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi based on the book "Bed-Knob and Broomstick."...

John Rice, the screenwriter whose credits include "Blown Away" and "Windtalkers," will make his directorial debut on "Stan's Cup," a comedy set in the world of old-timers' hockey.

Sarah Finn, the casting director behind such films as "Crash," "Iron Man" and "Crazy/Beautiful," is producing and casting.

The movie centers on a broken-down, once-great hockey player who gets a chance to finally fill his legendary father's skates by giving his hometown, known as Hockeytown USA, a pseudo rematch of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game against a Russian team of ex-Olympians. Rice also wrote the script.

The filmmakers see the movie having a "Full Monty" vibe rather than one of a traditional sports movie, focusing on an unusual place and the eccentric people who inhabit it.

"Cup" is being financed by an investment group, Old Timers Llp., based in North Dakota and Minnesota. Old Timers principals include Fargo real estate developer Jeff Schlossman; John Erickson,...