Pelham Redux

I recently discovered that a remake of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) is in post-production. My gut reaction: “What are they doing that for?” Copying an earlier version of a film has become a dreary tradition. In Hollywood, ersatz adulation equates to...

The Chicago Way

Lenny Bruce once remarked, “Chicago is so corrupt it’s thrilling…” After this week’s events, there is a perverse sense of certitude that for the Windy City and the Illinois statehouse, the thrill is never gone. In perusing the latest scandal to emanate...

Bad Things Come in Threes

Honest to God, this blog is not a permanent obit column. I was actually working on an actor profile that is going to go up shortly – but simply had to pause in order to comment on the passing of three notable people from the world of film and entertainment who...

In Remembrance of Millie

Mildred Black died the other week in her home in the San Fernando Valley. Mill wasn’t a movie star or anyone famous. She was a sweet, tough, generous woman who gave a lot more than she got in this life. There wasn’t a funeral, wake, celebration of life or an obit in...
Look Under the H for the Money!

Look Under the H for the Money!

By 1954, the venerable HOLLYWOOD sign had been the symbol of Tinseltown for over three decades. The fifty foot high milestone on Mount Lee was emblematic of the aspirations of those worthies who appear everyday in Hollywood in pursuit of their respective holy grail....

Ruminations on Episodic Television

Doris Roberts, of Everybody Loves Raymond fame was extolling veteran actor Warren Stevens for a long overdue award at this year’s Cinecon banquet and dropped in this one-liner concerning the Paleolithic era of early television in which Stevens and other pioneers...

Joseph Pevney

Here is a recent piece on the late actor/director Joseph Pevney that was published in the current edition of the Noir City Sentinel, the house newsletter of the Film Noir Foundation. I recently transcribed about four hours worth of conversation with Joe when I visited...
Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy

Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy

Books Blu-ray Discs Alan contributed numerous commentaries and special feature appearances for a variety of Blu-ray© and DVD classic film releases. Several recent releases include documentary featurettes produced by TVP Enterprises, Alan’s production company that...
Best of the Worst

Best of the Worst

The classic era of film noir boasts a unparalleled hit parade of felonious backstabbers, ice cold torpedoes and all-around sociopathic S.O.B’s.It was as if the casting call for heavies in film noir focused on the hardest of hard cases, the yeggs that were just totally...