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One of the most successful actors and directors that the world has ever witnessed, Clint Eastwood remains a pop-culture icon even at the age of 94. Bursting onto the scene with his ice-cool breakout turn in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, Eastwood would go on to cement his status as cinema's quintessential badass with his bow as anti-hero cop Harry Callahan in the wildly popular Dirty Harry movie series. Complementing his best movie character roles with a string of acclaimed directorial efforts over the years, the American also boasts four Academy Award wins from 11 nominations.

A Western icon, many of Eastwood's best movies take place within the genre he made his name in. However, the actor has also demonstrated a penchant for starring in or directing a number of prominent war movies throughout his career. Typically bringing his accomplished style of film making to the table with great effect, Eastwood's performances,...

Over the course of his long Hollywood career, the Hollywood actor appeared in a whopping total of 26 John Wayne movies. Between the 1920s and 1970s, legendary movie star John Wayne starred in well over 100 movies, the vast majority being either Westerns or war movies. Based on that, it's no surprise that he would wind up reuniting with some of his former co-stars in another project at some point or another. However, there were some actors in Hollywood that became recurring co-stars and collaborators of Wayne's.

Easily the most high-profile of Wayne's partners in making movies were John Ford and Maureen O'Hara. A celebrated Western icon in his own right, Ford directed several of John Wayne's movies, including Stagecoach, The Quiet Man, and Rio Grande. As for Maureen O'Hara, she was the female lead in five John Wayne movies, each being a standout entry in the actor's filmography. But neither was...

Back in 1965, NBC liked the concept of "Star Trek." Show creator Gene Roddenberry had presented a pilot called "The Cage," and the space adventure was beloved by the studio. It did, however, demand that the series undergo a major restructuring, forcing Roddenberry to write a second pilot with all-new characters, save the Vulcan Spock (Leonard Nimoy). The new pilot featured Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the "Star Trek" ensemble we have all come to know and love. The episode itself was called "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and aired on September 22, 1996, presented as the show's third episode.

"Where No Man" is still somewhat unpolished, of course. The uniforms don't quite match the red-blue-gold combo they would eventually become, for instance, and the story was larger and more psychedelic than the more character-driven 1967 heyday of the series. "Where No Man" is still pretty great, though, and centers on...

Four Brothers is a Western-inspired thriller that closely echoes a John Wayne classic in its sibling dynamics and revenge plot. The Wahlberg film adds complexity and darkness to the traditional Western tale, making the characters more relatable and the story more gripping. By paying homage to The Sons of Katie Elder, Four Brothers joins a long tradition of movies quietly remaking John Wayne classics with updated twists.

A Mark Wahlberg thriller from the early 2000s is a thinly veiled remake of a classic John Wayne Western from the 1960s. John Wayne starred in 80 Westerns throughout his career, which itself spanned half a century. Of course, he fronted plenty of other kinds of movies from dramas (The Quiet Man) to war epics (Sands of Iwo Jima), but Westerns are where he left an indelible impression. Wayne fronted some of the genre's most influential films, from Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo to The Searchers,...

Prior to his gig on "Star Trek" in 1966, actor DeForest Kelley spent 20 years traversing the wild and hoary world of episodic television and appearing in supporting roles in little-regarded feature films. His first professional screen acting job was a one-off performance in the one-season 1947 TV series "Public Prosecutor." The series holds the distinction of being the first-ever mainstream televised series to be released on film, instead of being broadcast live, which was standard at the time.

Between that show and "Star Trek," Kelley appeared on over 80 TV shows, often just in single episodes, but sometimes returning for two or three. He also had bit roles in films like "Variety Girl," "The Men," "Taxi," and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," playing Morgan Earp. He was just a hardworking character actor, taking the jobs that were offered him. There is an integrity to that approach.

In 1960, Kelley appeared in an episode of "Alcoa Theater,...

Star Trek doctors possess a combination of medical skill, compassion, and the ability to improvise in unexplored space. Each doctor brings unique traits and characteristics, from Dr. Sarah April's pioneering spirit to Dr. T'Ana's blunt honesty. Dr. Beverly Crusher stands out as an excellent physician, leader, and advocate for ethics, ultimately becoming the best doctor in Star Trek.

One of the primary roles in Star Trek is that of the Chief Medical Officer, and Doctors hold a crucial place in the franchise. From Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley) comprising one third of the lead characters in Star Trek: The Original Series, to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) bringing a more compassionate presence to sickbay, and into more modern and holistic approaches to medicine in Star Trek: Discovery's medical staff and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' complex characterizations of legacy characters, the final...

The classic Star Trek: The Original Series characters Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), and Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) don't seem to be serving aboard the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, and here's why. Although Scotty was briefly heard aboard the alternate reality Enterprise in Snw 's season 1 finale, McCoy and Sulu haven't made an appearance or been name-checked in the Tos prequel series. Leonard McCoy doesn't serve aboard the Enterprise until the Tos episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", taking over from Dr. Mark Piper (Paul Fix), and Snw showrunner Akiva Goldsman has stated his desire to use this moment as the show's endpoint.

That's because McCoy completed Star Trek: The Original Series' classic trio in 2266, six years after the events of Strange New Worlds season 2. The prequel series has established that Lieutenant James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) is serving aboard the USS Farragut,...

Movie star John Wayne had an iconic walk that helped amplify his on-screen presence in Western and war films. He became the face of an entire era of Western filmmaking, entering the popular culture canon in more ways than one. However, Wayne didn’t entirely understand how his walk was much different from any other. Therefore, he didn’t get how that added to the sex appeal that he had earlier in his career.

John Wayne became a masculine icon John Wayne | Jean Claude Pierdet\Ina via Getty Images

Wayne got his big break thanks to his fateful meeting with director John Ford on the Fox lot, where the young eventual actor started working in props. However, he received his first leading role in Raoul Walsh’s 1930 adventure film The Big Trail. Wayne slumped into B-movies for quite some time before he got another shot at fame in 1939’s Stagecoach,...

Star Trek’s flagship vessel the USS Enterprise has featured plenty of physicians over the years, some of them more gifted doctors and appealing characters than others. From the very first pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, the ship's doctor was positioned as a crucial presence on the Enterprise, often serving as a personal friend and counselor to the ship's captain. They also tended to be one of the few characters with the authority to overrule the captain's orders if they felt it was medically justified.

In Star Trek: The Original Series, the dynamic that Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) shared with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) was that series' defining relationship, a somewhat volatile but deeply loyal trio of close friends. Star Trek: The Next Generation got plenty of narrative mileage out of the romantic tension between Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Dr.

By Lee Pfeiffer

"Young Billy Young" is the kind of film of which it can be said, "They don't make 'em like that anymore". Not because the movie is so exceptional. In fact, it isn't exceptional on any level whatsoever. Rather, it's the sheer ordinariness of the entire production that makes one pine away for an era in which top talent could be attracted to enjoyable, if unremarkable, fare such as this. Such films, especially Westerns, were churned out with workmanlike professionalism to play to undemanding audiences that didn't require mega-budget blockbusters to feel they got their money's worth at the boxoffice. Sadly, such movies have largely gone the way of the dodo bird. In today's film industry, bigger must always be better and mid-range flicks such as are no longer made. However, through home video releases such as Kino Lorber's Blu-ray of "Young Billy Young" and streaming services such as Amazon Prime,...

The Little Rascals Volume 3

Blu ray – The ClassicFlix Restorations

ClassicFlix

1932, ’33 / 1.37:1 / 210 Min.

Starring George McFarland, Dorothy DeBorba, Dickie Moore

Written by H.W. Walker

Directed by Robert F. McGowan

The third volume in ClassicFlix’s Little Rascals series introduces the show’s most celebrated performer, George McFarland, otherwise known as Spanky. Before landing a contract with Hal Roach, the tiny Texan was already making a giant-size splash in his hometown of Dallas where he appeared on billboards hawking Wonder Bread and underwear. The following year Spanky made the leap from billboards to movie posters in the first of 88 comedies made for the Roach Studio before retiring ten years later at the wizened age of 14—which works out to approximately 137 in Rascal years.

Spanky arrived at the Roach lot just in time, Our Gang favorites like Jackie Cooper, Allen Hoskins (Farina), and Mary Ann Jackson were leaving the troupe for greener...

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“More Sleuthing, More Drinking”

By Raymond Benson

The Thin Man, released in 1934, was such a success (and Oscar nominee) that Hollywood decided to make a sequel. After the Thin Man, released in 1936, reunited stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, the Wire Fox Terrier-actor Skippy as “Asta,” director W. S. Van Dyke, writer Dashiell Hammett (who wrote the original novel and supplied story ideas for the sequels), and screenwriters Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable follow-up, if not quite as brilliant as the original (sequels seldom are).

One of the more striking elements of After the Thin Man is the presence of a young James Stewart in a supporting role. It is one of his earliest screen appearances, and he displays the charisma that would suit him well for the next several decades.

The...

We’ve got a big week of home media releases ahead of us, so I hope that your wallets are ready to suffer a whole lot of abuse this Tuesday, because there are a ton of must-own titles headed home that genre fans are definitely going to want to add to their collections. We have two new Vestron Video Collector’s Series releases to look forward to—David Cronenberg’s Shivers and Little Monsters (1989)—and for the first time ever, Wes Craven’s Vampire in Brooklyn is being released on Blu-ray.

If you’re a Stephen King fan, Paramount has assembled a 5-Movie Collection on Blu that includes both iterations of Pet Sematary, Silver Bullet, The Stand, and The Dead Zone. Kl Studio Classics is showing some love this Tuesday to the horror comedy The Ghost Breakers featuring Bob Hope, and Dark Sky Films is set to release Luz: The Flower of Evil this week,...

It may be a little creaky, but Dr. Cyclops is a genuine classic of the imagination, from a time long before pulp fantasy dominated Hollywood filmmaking. For 1940 audiences this must have felt like a strange dream. Five humans are miniaturized and terrorized by Albert Dekker’s Dr. Thorkel, a card-carrying mad scientist. Held firm by a giant rubber hand, ‘Mr. Crabby’ Charles Halton keeps an unfortunate appointment with a horrifying fate. Who will survive, and how big will they be? Did Thorkel change his name to Soberin, move to California, and steal The Great Whatzit? Kino’s new HD transfer of this oddball gem is a wonderment — the Technicolor is outstanding, better than Paramount’s old nitrate studio print.

Dr. Cyclops

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber Kino Classics

1940 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date January 7, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Albert Dekker, Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton, Victor Kilian, Frank Yaconelli,...

John Wayne! Janet Leigh! Nifty jet-age flying sequences! Goofy, bad-taste sex jokes! Hans Conreid as a chortling Russian army officer! Howard Hughes’ personal fun project took seven years to make while he played games with the aerial footage. It’s a highly-polished absurd joke, but it’s certainly entertaining. See Hughes try to do for Janet Leigh what he did for Jane Russell — I assume Ms. Leigh was too shrewd to sign any long-term contracts! This German disc has excellent widescreen image and audio.

Jet Pilot

Blu-ray

Explosive Media GmbH

1957 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 113 min. / Düsenjäger / Street Date June 14 2018, 2019 / 12.99 euros

Starring: John Wayne, Janet Leigh, Jay C. Flippen, Paul Fix, Richard Rober, Roland Winters, Hans Conried, Ivan Triesault, Hall Bartlett, Gregg Barton, Gene Evans, Paul Frees, Harry Lauter, Nelson Leigh, Denver Pyle, Gene Roth, Kenneth Tobey, Mamie Van Doren, Carleton Young.

Cinematography: Winton C. Hoch

Aerial Stunts: Chuck Yeager

Original Music:...

John Wayne plays a German sea captain in a film that goes out of its way to create a favorable image of our former enemy, with hardly a Nazi flag or even a German accent in sight. Wayne and his co-star Lana Turner are as Teutonic as Blondie and Dagwood, yet the film works as a basic adventure – we like the charismatic star, and the sea chase format guarantees extra interest.

The Sea Chase

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: John Wayne, Lana Turner, David Farrar, Lyle Bettger, Tab Hunter, James Arness, Richard Davalos, John Qualen, Paul Fix, Alan Hale Jr., Peter Whitney, Claude Akins, John Doucette, Tudor Owen, Adam Williams.

Cinematography: William Clothier

Film Editors: William Ziegler, Owen Marks

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by James Warner Bellah, John Twist from a novel by Andrew Geer

Produced and Directed...

Now a successful producer, John Wayne tries a big budget action picture with an anti-Communist theme. It’s The Alamo on a ferryboat, set in the far East where the locals are a hungerin’ for Freedom. Wayne is an apolitical adventurer who just feels like savin’ Chinese and kissin’ Lauren Bacall. Ace director William Wellman holds it together — barely.

Blood Alley

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date July 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Paul Fix, Joy Kim, Berry Kroeger, Mike Mazurki, Wei Ling, Henry Nakamura.

Cinematography: William H. Clothier

Film Editor: Fred McDowell

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by A.S. Fleischman, from his novel.

Produced by John Wayne

Directed by William Wellman

John Wayne was extremely busy in 1955, starring in movies for big studios as well as for his own company Batjac. He was rated the most popular Hollywood star and was making constant public appearances,...

Star Trek is probably the most successful science fiction franchise of all time spanning six decades of science fiction storytelling. In the series, I will be looking at the highlights of all the past episodes from each season of all five TV shows that went before leading up to the new series Star Trek: Discovery that will be airing in the fall of 2017.

Star Trek: The Original Series – Season One

Original Broadcast: (September 8th 1966 – April 29th 1967)

Development

After a failed attempt at selling Star Trek to NBC with the pilot ‘The Cage’, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike, NBC told Gene Roddenberry to film a second pilot with a more “action & adventure” orientated plot – which was unheard of at the time. Roddenberry complied and wrote two story outlines: one being ‘Mudd’s Women’ and the second being ‘The Omega Glory’ both of which were produced later on the series...

Olive's new branded line reissues the Nicholas Ray classic with a full set of authoritative extras -- plus a never-before-seen widescreen transfer, in all of its Trucolor glory. Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden never looked better -- we can all compare theories about la Crawford's color-coded costumes. Just how masculine is Vienna supposed to be? Johnny Guitar (Olive Signature widescreen edition) Blu-ray Olive Films 1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date September 20, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 39.95 but heavily discounted Starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady, Ward Bond, Ben Cooper, Ernest Borgnine, John Carradine, Royal Dano, Frank Ferguson, Paul Fix, Rhys Williams. Cinematography Harry Stradling Film Editor Richard Van Enger Original Music Victor Young Written by Philip Yordan from the novel by Roy Chanslor Produced by Herbert J. Yates Directed by Nicholas Ray

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Wow, it's already been four years since Olive released a...

Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...

Here's another installment featuring Joe Dante's reviews from his stint as a critic for Film Bulletin circa 1969-1974. Our thanks to Video Watchdog and Tim Lucas for his editorial embellishments!

Post-production tampering mitigates against this Western by Sam Peckinpah finding its deserved reception from better-class audiences. Shortened release version is vague, confusing, and is being sold as routine action entry in saturation breaks where it should perform routinely, no more. Kris Kristofferson and acting debut of Bob Dylan provide youth lures. Rating: R.

“It feels like times have changed,” says Pat Garrett. “Times, maybe—not me," says Billy the Kid. A classical Sam Peckinpah exchange, reflecting one of the numerous obsessive themes that run through his latest Western. But times certainly haven’t changed for Peckinpah—for, despite the overdue success of his last venture, The Getaway, the embattled and iconoclastic director who revolutionized the Western with The Wild Bunch...

Force of Evil

Written by Abraham Polonsky and Ira Wolfert

Directed by Abraham Polonsky

U.S.A., 1948

Joe Morse (John Garfield) finds himself in a professionally precarious, if certainly lucrative, position. As one of New York’s top lawyers, he represents Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts), the city’s top dog in the racket numbers game. His plush office and impressive wealth are due to impressive commissions earned via Tucker, the latter whom, through Joe’s tireless efforts, has established himself as legitimately as possible. One of the smaller ‘banks’ that is soon to come under Tucker’s reign following the 4th of July rigged horse race is that belonging to Joe’s estranged brother, Leo (Thomas Gomez). The big race passes, leaving Manhattan’s smaller rackets broke, consequently forcing them to comply and join Tucker. Joe strives to sweeten the deal as much as possible for Leo, but differences of...

I was not always a big fan of Westerns. My knowledge/memory of them were largely drawn from TV shows of my childhood – and not always the best ones. They were dominated by The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry (although I was never a big Autry fan) and shows like them. Westerns dominated TV in those days in ways that I don’t think any genre dominates any more.

It was my late wife, Kimberly Yale, who really schooled me in movie Westerns and the difference between a John Ford Western, ones by Howard Hawks, and Budd Boetticher’s Westerns. I finally learned and grasped what powerful movies they were, Just a few years ago, I got to see John Ford’s masterpiece The Searchers on the big screen and it was only then that I really understood how powerful it was and why its star, John Wayne, was such an icon.

Review by Sam Moffitt

Bad movies have been a cult all their own at least since the publication of the Medved Brother’s book The 50 Worst Movies of All Time. Although my bet is that it started with the publication of Joe Dante’s article the 50 Worst Horror Movies of All Time (Or was it 25?) in Famous Monsters of Filmland in the 1960′s I had that issue and had seen some of those movies. I assumed Joe Dante was a grown man and found out years later he was about the same age as me when he submitted that article to Forry Ackerman. I loved reading Famous Monsters and Monster World but it never occurred to me to write an article and submit it as Joe Dante did (and Stephen King as Forry later told in interviews, although he made it a point not to publish fiction).

After the Medved...

American character actor who appeared in seven westerns directed by John Ford, including The Searchers and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

The actor Harry Carey Jr, who has died aged 91, was the last surviving member of the director John Ford's stock company, which included John Wayne, Victor McLaglen, Ben Johnson, Anna Lee, Ward Bond, Andy Devine and Harry's own parents, Olive and Harry Carey Sr. They formed a cohesive group and contributed to the distinctive world of the Fordian western.

Carey Jr, nicknamed "Dobe" by his father because his red hair was the same colour as the adobe bricks of his ranch house, made seven westerns with Ford, typically in the role of a greenhorn soldier. The most characteristic of these was Lieutenant Ross Pennell in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), the callow rival of John Agar for the hand of Joanne Dru. After she opts for the more handsome Agar,...

Less than a month after 'Breaking Dawn Part 2' premiered, Peter revealed to HollywoodLife.com Exclusively how he feels about the movie series being over for good! Fans everywhere were sad to say goodbye to the Twilight movies after Breaking Dawn Part 2 premiered in November. Even members of the cast themselves were sad to say goodbye, including Carlisle Cullen himself! "It's bittersweet for sure, I had such a great time," Peter Facinelli told HollywoodLife.com Exclusively at the GQ and Tommy Hilfiger Men Of New York event on Nov. 29 about the successful series being over. "I feel fortunate that we were able to do five," the actor added about the Twilight films. "Any movie that we do has to come at an ending at some time." We're also sad the movie series is over! We'll just have to wait until Breaking Dawn Part 2 comes out on DVD. In the meantime,...

Few 20th century novels have been as warmly regarded as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Currently a perennial work taught in high schools around the nation, it was an acclaimed, award-winning work when released in 1961 as the southern author tried to recapture her childhood life in a small Southern town. I enjoyed the book as a student, then a parent, and now that I’m studying to become a teacher, recognize it as a great piece of literature and great teaching tool.

She wrote in 1964, “I would like to leave some record of the kind of life that existed in a very small world. I hope…to chronicle something that seems to be very quickly going down the drain. This is small-town middle-class southern life as opposed to Gothic, as opposed to Tobacco Road, as opposed to plantation life.”

It was a story of rights and responsibilities, tolerance,...

Here are five clips from Paul starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Beware these clips may show you too much of the film before you see the movie. If you are in need of your Paul fix, then jump right into these clips. Check them out below and share your thoughts!

Chilling out at the Little A'Le'Inn

Stoking the fire

The first encounter

Bagels and coffee?

“Do you guys partake?”...

Lauren Bacall on TCM: To Have And Have Not, The Big Sleep Schedule (Pt) and synopses from the TCM website: 3:00 Am Confidential Agent (1945) A Spanish spy and an American heiress battle fascists in England. Cast: Charles Boyer, Lauren Bacall, Peter Lorre. Dir: Herman Shumlin. Bw-118 mins. 5:00 Am Dark Passage (1947) A man falsely accused of his wife’s murder escapes to search for the real killer. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Agnes Moorehead. Dir: Delmer Daves. Bw-106 mins. 7:00 Am Blood Alley (1955) An American sailor breaks out of a Chinese jail and dodges Communist agents on the road to Hong Kong. Cast: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Paul Fix. Dir: William A. Wellman. C-115 mins. 9:00 Am Cobweb, The (1955) Inmates and staff at a posh asylum clash over love and lunacy. Cast: Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Gloria Grahame. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. C-124 mins. 11:30 Am Key Largo (1948) A [...]...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Paramount has recently released two major John Wayne titles as two DVD special editions. The releases were tied in with the studio's Centennial line of classics. In fact, El Dorado probably doesn't qualify as a classic, as it represents Howard Hawks' virtual remake of his 1959 film Rio Bravo (which is a genuine classic.) Regarded as a good, run-of-the-mill Western when released in 1967, the film has grown in stature as film scholars grapple with the notion that there simply aren't artists around today as interesting as Wayne, Hawks and Robert Mitchum, the other lead. The film showcases a fine supporting cast including James Caan in one of his first major roles, Charlene Holt, Michele Carey, Ed Asner and old reliable character actors Paul Fix and Arthur Hunnicutt playing a role that seems tailor-made for Walter Brennan. The plot is virtually identical to that of the previous film:...

Chicago – Welcome back to the Round-Up, a safety net to catch the DVD titles that fell off the mainstream tightrope. The titles this week have virtually nothing in common other than coming in two waves from two studios - a pair of classics from Paramount’s Centennial Collection and a trio of indie films from the great Magnolia Pictures.

All five titles were released on May 19th, 2009.

“Centennial Collection #8: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”

Photo credit: Paramount Synopsis: “”This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Behind the camera? John Ford, a director whose name is synonymous with “Westerns.” Gathered in front of it? An ideal cast – James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles and Lee Marvin. Now presented on two discs, with all-new special features, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance rides into town as classic entry in the Paramount Centennial Collection.

Original Belgian release poster One of our favorite westerns of the 1960s is Henry Hathaway's The Sons of Katie Elder starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Michael Anderson Jr and Earl Holliman as four estranged brothers reunited for their beloved mother's funeral. They soon learn that there was a scandal attached to her death and their efforts to uncover the mystery puts their lives in danger. A great supporting cast includes Dennis Hopper, George Kennedy, Paul Fix, Martha Hyer, Jeremy Slate and James Gregory. The film is so entertaining that you forget the absurdity of Wayne (who was in his fifties at the time) being cast as Michael Anderson Jr.'s brother! (Anderson was 22 when he shot the film). In addition to Hathaway's expert direction, the movie is enhanced tremendously by Elmer Bernstein's rousing score. Click here to view the trailer.  Click here to order The Sons of Katie Elder...

“To Kill a Mockingbird” Oscar® nominated director Robert Mulligan sadly passed away on Saturday in Lyme, Connecticut after a battle with heart disease. He was 83. "Mockingbird" starred Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White, Brock Peters, Estelle Evans, Paul Fix, Collin Wilcoz Paxton, James Anderson, Alice Ghostley and Robert Duvall. Peck took home an Oscar® as best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in a small town defending a black man who had been falsely accused of rape.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” Oscar® nominated director Robert Mulligan sadly passed away on Saturday in Lyme, Connecticut after a battle with heart disease. He was 83. "Mockingbird" starred Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White, Brock Peters, Estelle Evans, Paul Fix, Collin Wilcoz Paxton, James Anderson, Alice Ghostley and Robert Duvall. Peck took home an Oscar® as best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in a small town defending a black man who had been falsely accused of rape.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” Oscar® nominated director Robert Mulligan sadly passed away on Saturday in Lyme, Connecticut after a battle with heart disease. He was 83. "Mockingbird" starred Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White, Brock Peters, Estelle Evans, Paul Fix, Collin Wilcoz Paxton, James Anderson, Alice Ghostley and Robert Duvall. Peck took home an Oscar® as best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in a small town defending a black man who had been falsely accused of rape. Mr. Mulligan, among many other credits, also directed 1971's "The Pursuit of Happiness" as well as the Reese Witherspoon starrer "The Man in the Moon." He is survived by his wife of 37 years as well as his three children, two grandchildren and his brother. Good journey Mr. Mulligan...

“To Kill a Mockingbird” Oscar® nominated director Robert Mulligan sadly passed away on Saturday in Lyme, Connecticut after a battle with heart disease. He was 83. "Mockingbird" starred Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White, Brock Peters, Estelle Evans, Paul Fix, Collin Wilcoz Paxton, James Anderson, Alice Ghostley and Robert Duvall. Peck took home an Oscar® as best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in a small town defending a black man who had been falsely accused of rape.