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While it’s no fan favorite, The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971) is undoubtedly director Dario Argento's most accessible and Americanized production amongst an oeuvre that only become more and more outré. Fast-tracked to follow-up to his successful The Bird with the Crystal Plumage , Argento, still glowing with his new moniker as the "Italian Hitchcock," plunges ahead with his most straight-forward thriller, adding in some signature visual touches but restraining from the usual giallo excess that would become the genre's signature. The film begins with yet another accidental eyewitness to a crime - or in this case an ear- witness. Franco Anro (Karl Malden) is a blind ex-newspaperman who spends his retirement years solving crossword puzzles with the help of his 8-year-old niece, Lori. One night, the pair overhears a suspicious conversation that pulls them into a string of murders at a nearby research clinic. Reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus) takes advant...

Writers often take comfort in the old adage "It's not the story, but how you tell it." Meaning even if an idea isn't all that original, one's unique storytelling style can still win the day. Director Yoji Yamada's The Yellow Handkerchief (1977) is adapted from a story by New York Post columnist Pete Hamill, later reprinted in Readers Digest, turned into a short film starring James Earl Jones and (according to IMDB) no less than three other theatrical and TV versions. But the story behind the story of a newly released ex-con who travels across the country to be reunited with his wife had been passed down in some way, shape or form for decades before, even inspiring the hit Tony Orlando and Dawn song Tie a Yellow Ribbon . Yamada's take combines the best elements of a traditional road movie, lighthearted comedy and serious drama. And even though there's a roadmap of material to work with, the film is pleasantly unpredictable, taking its chara...

Despite being the actor of his generation (or maybe because of it), Marlon Brando was responsible for more than a few instances of cinematic sabotage. His antics during the latter part of his career are well documented (with his pasty-faced performance in The Island of Dr. Moreau being the most high profile), but even early on the actor was forcing his decidedly off-beat creative choices on films that would have otherwise walked the straight-and-narrow. Sayonara (1957), based on James A. Michener's novel, is part Japanese travelogue, part social justice film; its beautiful scenery and edgy interracial romance playing out with predictable old Hollywood class. And then there's Brando. With his makeshift southern drawl, ad-libbed lines and mumbled delivery, the actor exists in a world apart from the rest of the film. It's a poor fit...but it's a hoot to watch him swagger through a big-budget, widescreen production with all the chutzpah of an Actor's Studio ...

Despite winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 1960 Oscar ceremony, popping up on countless Greatest Films of All Time lists and being added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1994, Billy Wilder's dark romantic comedy The Apartment seems to have drifted out of the public eye. All the more ironic considering the film's plot is centered about workplace infidelity, gender inequality and upward mobility. As a follow-up to his crowd-pleaser Some Like It Hot , Wilder takes wonderful chances here with a much more mature approach - leaning heavily on Shirley MacLaine's second Oscar nominated performance - that results in career best for almost everyone involved. C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a low-level employee in one of the nation's largest insurance companies, almost invisible amongst the thousands of desks inside the high-rise office building. But Baxter has been getting glowing reviews thanks to several sleazy exe...

A favorite from the early pay-cable days, Hell Night (1981) is a slasher on training wheels, keeping the sex and gore to a minimum while still providing some predictable jump scares in a gorgeous gothic environment. Linda Blair is likely the click bait for modern audiences, but the tone of the film is a far cry from her turn in The Exorcist . Here she leads a likable cast through a formulaic monster film that feels almost family friendly...in an R-rated sort of way. All prospective pledges from Alpha Sigma Rho are forced to spend one night in Garth Mansion; a sprawling but decrepit estate where 12 years earlier the owner murdered his deformed family then hung himself. Marti (Blair) and her three fellow pledges are prepared for pranks - recorded screams and phony skeletons all prearranged to scare them into embarrassment. But soon people begin dying for real , and Marti must take on the surviving residents of Garth Mansion if she ever expects to survive Hell Night! Some films succ...

As caveman movies go, 1966's One Million Years B.C. has had the top spot locked in for over 50 years. Shot on the primordial Canary Islands, the film combined Ray Harryhausen's singular stop-motion dinosaurs with Raquel Welch's now-iconic fur bikini. Produced by Hammer Films - and spawning a few lesser but still entertaining sequels - it was a match made in fantasy fan heaven. But Tumak and Loana's prehistoric adventures actually began nearly 30 years earlier in the 1940 version of One Million Years B.C. , starring Victor Mature and Carole Landis in the lead roles...and a terrarium full of lizards standing in for the carnivorous (and admittedly unconvincing) dinos. Directed by Hal Roach, whose copious work in the silent film era ironically made him a perfect match for the dialogue-free material, rumors suggest the assistance of none other than D.W. Griffith behind the camera. But whoever gets the credit, there's a lot of praise to be passed around. From t...

Michael Caine took quite a bit of heat for his appearance in 1987's Jaws: The Revenge which was admittedly nothing more than a paycheck for the Oscar winner (his actual quote regarding the film: "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific!" ) But the real lesson learned here is that Caine brings a certain level of class to almost any production, no matter how muddled the script or how messy the execution. 1972's Pulp , which reunited the actor with director Mike Hodges, is a bit sloppy itself, revolving around the convoluted story of a ghostwriter who finds himself in jeopardy after agreeing to pen the memoirs of an expatriate Hollywood actor whose mafia ties run dangerously deep. Caine provides just enough smarmy charm - and an equally authentic film noir narration - to make this offbeat satire a serious cinephile conversation piece. Mickey King (Caine) is a crime writer, tossing ...

There's no denying that Woody Allen films are an acquired taste. But working at a pace of almost one movie every year for the past four decades, even the most particular cineaste will find something that suits their taste. More often than not, Allen's most effusive praise is reserved for his mid-70s oeuvre like Annie Hall and Manhattan , but his straight-up sketch comedies, predating his Oscar success, are not without their rabid fans too. Bananas (1971) is the director's third feature, and despite a timely plot centered around third-world dictators (do they ever really go out of style?), the film relies mostly on physical comedy routines straight out of the silent era. Fielding Mellish, another neurotic New Yorker played by Allen himself, is distraught after being dumped by Nancy (Louise Lasser), a die-hard political activist who finds him indescribably lacking. Ticket in hand, Mellish decides to go through with a planned trip to San Marcos, a fictional South Ame...

With a visual palette that predates the colorfully cluttered imaginations of Terry Gilliam and Wes Anderson, Doctor Dolittle (1967) should probably be referenced more often as an influential piece of fantasy filmmaking. Only there are so many dull moments in this otherwise picturesque family adventure that it doesn't linger long in temporal lobe. After taking home Oscars for original song and special effects, director Richard Fleischer's overloaded musical quickly drifted out of a pop culture more interested in mature films like The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde . Now released on a limited edition Blu-ray from Twilight Time, the flaws are still there...but so is much of its forgotten charm. Fed up with being a "people" doctor, John Dolittle narrows his practice to the study of the veterinary arts after getting quick lesson in animal grammar from his pet parrot. A short stint in a traveling circus provides an infusion of cash necessary for his next project: th...