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When producer Mike Frankovich set out to make "The Shootist," he did not initially pursue John Wayne for the role of J.B. Brooks, a lawman-turned-gunfighter who discovers he is dying from cancer. Given the elegiac tone of Glendon Swarthout's novel, and Wayne's real-life battle with cancer, you'd think he would've been at the top of Frankovich's list. Alas, Wayne's health was in steep decline; he'd struggled through the shoot of 1975's "Rooster Cogburn," and was likely not up to the task of one last leading-man part. But when top Hollywood stars like Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, George C. Scott, and Gene Hackman passed on the project, the universe seemed to be telling the producer there was only one man for this particular job.

Frankovich finally caved and offered the part to Wayne, who not only accepted but proved to be a boon to the film's casting prospects.

John Sturges’ orbital jeopardy thriller does everything right: the story is taken seriously, the actors seem committed and the special effects aren’t bad. Yet it’s more interesting for what doesn’t work than what does. As one of the first Sci-fi pictures in the wake of 2001 it wasn’t well received despite being technically astute. Did NASA’s race to the Moon put an end to fanciful space Sci-fi? Gregory Peck, Gene Hackman, Lee Grant and some ex- TV actors do their best, but producer Mike Frankovich’s space saga just sits there. It looks great in its first Blu-ray release: images of the actual Apollo 11 launch are breathtaking.

Marooned

Region-free Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 113

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date March 30, 2022 (Au.) April 8, 2022 (U.S.) / Available from Amazon US / 47.99

Starring: Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, Gene Hackman, Lee Grant, Nancy Kovack, Mariette Hartley, Scott Brady,...

Could this be retitled “Dial ‘F’ for Fog?” Jean Simmon’s greedy maid blackmails her employer Stewart Granger with proof that he murdered his wife, kicking off a criminal ‘deadlock’ in a London household. The cold-fish schemer Granger ponders his next murderous move while Simmons enjoys playing the lady of the house — having dared to leapfrog two social classes, she hopes that her victim will respond with kindness, not homicide. This gothic domestic murder tale should be required reading for marriage counselors.

Footsteps in the Fog

Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1955 / Color / 1:75 widescreen / 90 min. / Street Date July 30, 2018 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £14.99

Starring: Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons, Bill Travers, Belinda Lee, Ronald Squire, Finlay Currie, William Hartnell, Percy Marmont, Margery Rhodes, Barry Keegan, Victor Maddern, Erik Chitty.

Cinematography: Christopher Challis

Film Editor: Alan Osbiston

Original Music: Benjamin Frankel

Written by Dorothy Reid, Lenore Coffee, adapted by Arthur Pierson from a short...

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Blu ray

Twilight Time

1969 / 1:85 / 105 Min. / Street Date January 29, 2018

Starring Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Elliot Gould, Dyan Cannon

Cinematography by Charles Lang

Written by Paul Mazursky, Larry Tucker

Music by Quincy Jones

Edited by Stuart H. Pappé

Produced by M.J. Frankovich, Larry Tucker

Directed by Paul Mazursky

John Updike and Philip Roth, those faithful chroniclers of American infidelity, had a kindred spirit in director Paul Mazursky. Employing a double-edged sword tempered with Updike’s Protestant angst and Roth’s hair-shirt humor, Mazursky served up 1969’s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, a shrewd and ultimately compassionate satire about lovelorn narcissists.

As it stumbled toward that decade’s finish line, 1969 found much of the counterculture in pursuit of a new Age of Aquarius (Fonda and Hopper were famously “searching for America” in that same year’s Easy Rider). Self help centers servicing those troubled souls began to spring up...

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,...