News

Kim Kahana, the stunt performer, teacher, coordinator and war hero who played Chongo on the kids show Danger Island and doubled for Charles Bronson in several action films, has died. He was 94.

Kahana died Monday of natural causes at his home in Groveland, Florida, his wife, Sandy Kahana, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Kahana, 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, taught stunts to many thousands of students since the mid-1970s in six-week courses that took place in Chatsworth, California, and Central Florida. Many went on to have thriving careers in show business.

He also had six different black belt degrees — he taught martial arts, too — and worked as a professional bodyguard protecting Hollywood types.

A native of Hawaii, Kahana appeared in his first film as a biker in the Marlon Brando-starring The Wild One (1953) and was an extra in other movies before he realized that stunt performers got paid more than he did.

Who says 1994 was a classic year for cinema? Netflix begins today to make that argument, curating a release of 17 films that turned 30 this year. The streamer has its list below. I have mine, and with the exception of the seminal Farrelly Brothers-directed Dumb & Dumber with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, and Luc Besson’s Leon: The Professional, the film that stars Jean Reno and a sinister Gary Oldman and introduced the world to the outsized talent Natalie Portman, and maybe Ron Howard’s The Paper, there’s a lot missing. How about Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, The Lion King, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Clear and Present Danger, Sicario, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Interview With the Vampire, Speed, Ed Wood, and the other two films in a starmaking year for Jim Carrey, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask. Speed, Once Were Warriors, and Ang Lee...

Quentin Tarantino‘s movies have a lot in common with Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, as they are all violent, funny, and intelligently crafted. Tarantino may have gone too far by saying Jaws was once the greatest movie ever made. He contrasted Jaws with films from an earlier generation.

Quentin Tarantino said ‘Jaws’ was so much better than every previous movie

In his 2022 book Cinema Speculation, the Kill Bill director had a lot to say about a certain movie about a giant shark. “When Jaws came out in 1975 it might not have been the best film ever made,” he wrote. “But it was easily the best movie ever made. Nothing ever made before it even came close.”

Tarantino’s take is provocative. Spielberg released Jaws in 1975. By that point, many of the most widely beloved films of all time had come out, including The Wizard of Oz, The Ten Commandments, and The Sound of Music.

Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton entering into a unique arrangement, J.Lo fighting evil artificial intelligence, the roasting of an NFL legend, a retelling of the invention of the Pop Tart, Brooke Shields and Benjamin Bratt at war and John Mulaney’s six-night live comedy event from Los Angeles are some of the big titles hitting Netflix in May.

Debuting on May 3 is Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut, Unfrosted. The comedy legend works both sides of the camera for this humorous feature take on the birth of the Pop Tart. The movie is set in 1963 as breakfast cereal giants Kellogg’s and Post compete to become the first company to create a morning pastry. Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan and Amy Schumer also star, with Hugh Grant more than likely to steal the whole film with a turn as Tony the Tiger.

May is comedy month on Netflix and to coincide...

"All in the Family" might've been Norman Lear's finest half-hour as a sitcom producer, but I'm not sure he ever put a funnier show on the airwaves than "The Jeffersons." For 11 seasons, Sherman Hemsley's dry-cleaning magnate George Jefferson and Isabel Sanford's good-hearted Louise "Weezy" Jefferson led a stellar cast that delivered edgy-for-network-television laughs revolving around race, class, gender, and whatever happened to be grinding the hot-headed George's gears that particular week. It was the African-American answer to "All in the Family" (on which the characters of George and Weezy originated), and might actually be more shocking today for its fearless deployment of the n-word (particularly early in the series' run).

And if you're making a list of the most memorable theme songs in television history, "The Jeffersons" better be in the top five. Anyone who grew up watching the show in prime time or via syndication should...

1968's "Planet of the Apes" is one of the most legendary sci-fi movies in cinematic history. Co-written by Rod Serling of "The Twilight Zone" fame and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, it spawned a franchise that is still going strong to this day.

It all started, however, with the story of astronauts landing on a mysterious planet filled with intelligent apes, only to discover that they were actually on Earth in the distant future. Led by Charlton Heston, the film boasted an incredible cast — not to mention some legendary practical makeup effects that helped bring the apes to life. Unfortunately, when a film is more than 50 years old, not many people from the cast are going to be around any longer. Luckily, a couple of key cast members are indeed still here to help keep the legacy alive.

Read more: Critically-Panned Sci-Fi Movies That Are Actually Worth Your Time

Linda Harrison (Nova)

Linda Harrison,...

"Starring in a horror movie can't be that hard," you may think. You just run around screaming while being chased by a grown man in a Halloween costume, right? Not so fast. Starring in a horror movie tests your mettle. The budgets are usually cheap, you're paid in pizza, and the demands are more than most movie stars making six figures would endure. However, many actors — especially young actors — think it's totally worth it. Why? Because there are few emotions more pure and primal than fear. If you can make a connection with an audience in a horror movie, it can make you a star. If you're already a star, it can make you an icon.

Hollywood history is filled with numerous actors who became movie stars by starring in horror flicks. Some were complete unknowns who became cult icons or horror household names, while others were well-known actors whose...

Conrad Janis, the “Mork & Mindy” star who played Mindy’s father, died on March 1 in Los Angeles, his business manager confirmed to The New York Times. He was 94.

In addition to acting, Janis was also a jazz trombonist and appeared on Broadway several times early in his career. He made his film debut in the 1945 comedy “Snafu” and appeared on the big and small screens through the early 2010s. After landing several film and TV roles, he got his biggest break on “Mork & Mindy” in 1978, where he played Fred McConnell, the father of Pam Dawber’s title character.

Janis was born Feb. 11, 1928, in Manhattan to New York art collectors and gallerists Sidney and Harriet Janis. He appeared in the Broadway play “The Dark of the Moon” and was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout, which led to his roles in “Snafu,” “Margie,” “The Brasher Doubloon,” “The Hagen Girl,...

Conrad Janis, a prolific character actor of TV, film and stage who had already become immediately recognizable even before landing his signature role opposite Robin Williams and Pam Dawber in the hit ’70s sitcom Mork & Mindy, died March 1 in Los Angeles. He was 94.

His death was confirmed by business manager Dean A. Avedon to The New York Times.

A son of the noted New York art collectors and gallerists Sidney and Harriet Janis, Janis, who along with his brother took over the family business, the Sidney Janis Gallery, later in life, was also a successful and lifelong jazz trombonist who even at the height of his Mork & Mindy success performed regularly with his group, the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band.

Born on February 11, 1928, in Manhattan, Janis launched his acting career in the mid-1940s, appearing in what would be the first of 12 Broadway shows, 1945’s Dark of the Moon and,...

On the surface, Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco) is a very successful airline stewardess. The protagonist of HBO Max’s juicy, fun comedy series “The Flight Attendant” lives in New York City and has the primo routes in Europe and in Asia. But she’s also a drunk and quite frankly, a slut. And when she wakes up in bed in her hotel room in Bangkok, she discovers the man she spent the night with who had been her flight is dead with his throat slashed. It’s a delicious eight-season flight with Cuoco and the series earning nominations for the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Critics Choice honors. And it’s expected to be a shoo-in for multiple Emmy nominations.

Over the decades, flight attendants have been depicted in movies and on TV from a Madonna to a whore and everything in between. Of course, the most...

Helen Reddy, the Australian singer whose global hit “I Am Woman” became a feminist anthem and who was the subject of a 2019 biopic of the same title, died today in Los Angeles. She was 78.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Helen Reddy, on the afternoon of September 29th 2020 in Los Angeles,” her children Traci Donat and Jordan Sommers said in a statement. “She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman. Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”

Born on October 25, 1941, in Melbourne; Reddy came from a showbiz family and made her debut onstage at age 4. She first hit the U.S. charts in 1971 with “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” Mary Magdalene’s big song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. About...

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!”

There will be a 11:00pm Screening of Airplane at the Skyview Drive in Belleville (5700 N Belt W, Belleville, Il 62226) , Thursday September 24th at 11pm. The gate opens at 10:30. Admission is $10. . The Skyview’s site is Here

Airplane (1980) could have derailed the careers of everyone involved. For example, people under 40 may not even know that until this movie, Leslie Nielsen was strictly a serious actor in dramas both on TV and in film. Many may watch 1973’s The Poseidon Adventure for the first time today and keep waiting for Leslie Nielson – as the captain of the doomed ship – to get up from the dining room table wearing just his heart-covered underwear below the waist, or for him to make that first clueless remark. He never does. But from Airplane onward, he was strictly a comic actor and a good one.

What can you make out of Airplane! at 40 years old? Well, aside from a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl? Written and directed by brothers Jerry and David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, the 1980 parody of disaster films is frequently ranked among the best comedies of all time.

So, what is Airplane! about? Following the plot of the 1957 drama Zero Hour!, as well as inspired by the 1956 Canadian TV movie Flight into Danger, and famed disaster movie Airport 1975, Airplane! is a spoof film about a washed-up pilot summoned to greatness on a potentially doomed aircraft.

But that’s not important right now. What is important is that the trio of young creators, known as the Zaz team — also behind Wisconsin’s Kentucky Fried Theater sketch comedy team — crafted a style of machine-gun fast slapstick cinema which kickstarted a movie subgenre.

And surely one can’t forget the multitude of one-liners from Airplane!

Kip Niven, a veteran character actor whose career ranged from early-’70s TV and the first two Sensurround films to regional theater and starring in 2014’s Jayhawkers, has died. He was 73. Local media outlets in his native Kansas City, Mo, said Niven died Monday of a heart attack.

Born on May 27, 1945, he got his start with guest roles in such 1970s TV dramas as Night Gallery, Escape and Emergency! before landing a key role in the first Dirty Harry sequel. In 1973’s Magnum Force, Niven played “Red” Astrachan, one of the vigilante rookie cops who terrorize San Francisco’s underworld — and eventually Clint Eastwood, who eventually gets his revenge. Astrachan’s comrades were played by future stars Robert Urich, Tim Matheson and David Soul.

After that, Niven would appear in dozens of TV shows and more than a dozen features including Earthquake (1974) and Midway (1976), the first two movies released in...

Kitty O’Neil, a deaf stuntwoman whose credits include the 1970s series Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman, has died of pneumonia at age 72. Her life story was told in a 1979 TV movie called Silent Victory: The Kitty O’Neil Story starring Stockard Channing – with O’Neil herself handling stunts.

O’Neil died Nov. 2 in Eureka, S.D., her home since 1993. Friend Ky Michaelson told The New York Times that the cause of death.

Her work on the two iconic ’70s superhero series pictured above included standing in for Bionic Woman star Lindsay Wagner and Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter, bringing O’Neil considerable fame in a profession that typically keeps its practitioners out of the spotlight. Her popularity and poignant, powerful personal story led to the TV biopic.

In a 1977 TV special called Superstunt (pictured in the black & white photos above), O’Neil demonstrated a car crash and explosion.

Kitty O'Neil, a deaf Hollywood stuntwoman, daredevil and protege of Hal Needham who doubled for Lynda Carter on Wonder Woman and set a land-speed record as the fastest woman driver ever, has died. She was 72.

O'Neil died Friday at Eureka Community Hospital in Eureka, South Dakota. Her longtime friend, former stuntman Ky Michaelson, told The Hollywood Reporter that she died of pneumonia and had recently suffered a heart attack.

Five-foot-2 and 97 pounds, O'Neil worked on such movies as Airport 1975, Two-Minute Warning (1976), Airport '77, Damien: Omen II (1978), Foul Play (1978), ...

Kitty O'Neil, a deaf Hollywood stuntwoman, daredevil and protege of Hal Needham who doubled for Lynda Carter on Wonder Woman and set a land-speed record as the fastest woman driver ever, has died. She was 72.

O'Neil died Friday at Eureka Community Hospital in Eureka, South Dakota. Her longtime friend, former stuntman Ky Michaelson, told The Hollywood Reporter that she died of pneumonia and had recently suffered a heart attack.

Five-foot-2 and 97 pounds, O'Neil worked on such movies as Airport 1975, Two-Minute Warning (1976), Airport '77, Damien: Omen II (1978), Foul Play (1978), ...

Sure, bees can be scary under the right circumstances; say, you’re allergic for instance, or you accidentally knock over a hive, or someone fills your mattress with them. But do you know what’s even scarier? Family. This brings us to Killer Bees (1974), an interesting yet generically titled TV movie that has more to do with the ties that bind than the stings that kill.

Originally broadcast on Tuesday, February 26th as an ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week, Killer Bees had killer competition with CBS’ smash lineup of M*A*S*H/Hawaii Five-o and NBC had their World Premiere Movie. Any guesses as to who won that night? No matter, because ABC had a secret weapon in Kate Jackson, my favorite Angel and first boyhood crush; she is more than enough reason for a recommendation from moi.

Crack open your trusty fake TV Guide and see what...

Production is now underway on Rob Zombie’s sequel to The Devil’s Rejects.

That’s the news which nearly broke the internet this week, sending horror fans everywhere into a frenzy, and understandably so. Titled 3 From Hell, the pic will reunite the core trio of Spaulding, Otis and Baby, with Sid Haig, Sheri Moon Zombie and Bill Moseley all returning to their respective roles. But what about the new characters?

Well, with things now in motion, the rest of the cast is starting to fill out and today we’re learning that Zombie has added Austin Stoker to the line-up in an undisclosed role. The genre actor is perhaps most famous for playing Lt. Ethan Bishop in John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, but has also appeared in films like Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Horror High and Airport 1975. We don’t imagine he’ll...

Nick Aldwinckle Nov 27, 2017

Our latest round-up of genre DVDs and Blu-rays covers George A Romero, Damnation Alley and more...

With real life’s ridiculous news stories almost beyond parody, it seems fitting that 2017 was the year we saw George A. Romero, the master of satirical zombie tomfoolery, responsible for horror classics from Dawn Of The Dead through to Tales From The Dark Side, shuffle off this mortal coil. To commemorate three of Romero’s less celebrated early movies, Arrow Video has released the intriguing Between Night And Dawn set on Bluray, with ample extras to sate the most eager fanboy/girl.

First up, and by far the movie most will know (perhaps due to its 2010 remake), 1973's The Crazies plays out almost like a retread of Romero's 1968 debut Night Of The Living Dead, with a group of townsfolk again subject to a dodgy violence-inducing substance whilst military jackanapes try and control the epidemic.

With the upcoming worldwide release of the modern creature feature comedy Cute Little Buggers I was lucky enough to spend some time with the film’s director Tony Jopia to talk about his influences, bringing the bunnies to life and having fun on set.

How did first get in to filmmaking?

When I was 9 years old I was asked what I wanted to do at school. I remember seeing Airport 1975 (1974) and then not long after another film called the The Poseidon Adventure (1972). They both kind of set a firm seed in my mind that making moves is what I wanted to do. My father used to wake me up at midnight to watch all the creature feature movies that used to appear late at night. I had school the next day yet he would still wake me up at midnight and say, “Come and watch this”. It was the...

There are few absolutes in life, let alone in the world of horror; but this I find to be true: Herschell Gordon Lewis was appreciated in his time. Beloved, actually. Sadly passing away on September 26th, 2016 at the age of 87, he left behind a slew of grindhouse classics encapsulating everything from biker flicks to sex ed pieces. But Hgl will be forever known for a string of unique and groundbreaking horror films including The Gore Gore Girls (1972), his last opus before he took a 30 year sabbatical from filmmaking. And on the Hgl spectrum, it’s one of his best.

If you’re familiar at all with “The Godfather of Gore” (a moniker he wore as a point of pride) but haven’t seen The Gore Gore Girls, the differences between this and say, Blood Feast (1963), his first splatter extravaganza, are minimal. Made for a pittance of 63 grand, Ggg has all...

George Kennedy, star of "Cool Hand Luke" and the 'Naked Gun' movies, has died at the age of 91 ... TMZ has learned. George's grandson Cory Schenkel says Kennedy died Sunday morning at 4:30 Am in Boise, ID. He says his grandfather had been in failing health ever since his wife Joan died a little over a year ago. George had been under hospice care for the past month. Kennedy won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1968 for "Cool Hand Luke.

Let’s face it, most of us have a soft spot for things blowing up in movies, and for a long time movies have been happy to feed our appetite for destruction. But it wasn’t always that way.

I know it’s hard to imagine, but there was a time when explosions weren’t so common in movies. Back then, big-budget movies had dancing and singing, and everyone had a merry time. After WWII though, things started to change. In newspapers and magazines, Americans were being exposed to terrible images of war-torn Europe and Japan. This imagery was haunting, yet it sparked some imaginations. At first, Hollywood was careful not to glamorize it. They figured out a way to show massive destruction and violence while making it fun and moderately profitable instead of soul-crushing and distasteful. The 50’s became known for its low-budget cheese-fests; sci-fi B movies featuring such...

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!”

Airplane! will be screened Saturday September 19th, as part of Movies for Foodies, a regular film series put on by the chefs at Tenacious Eats. The event will take place at The Creve Coeur Airfield

Tenacious Eats ‘Movies for Foodies’ is a one-of-a-kind event where food is prepared and plated in front of you, in the form of a 5-course gourmet meal, while you watch a film on the big screen. Tenacious Eats only works with locally produced food procured by them and hard-to-find ingredients imported from places that specialize in them.

For each new film, the folks at Tenacious Eats write a new menu specific to that movie’s story. Sometimes the menu is literal and sometimes it is inspired interpretation. In all cases, each dining experience is different because each film is different. By integrating film and food,...

Looks like we picked the wrong week to quit celebrating milestones.

Hard to believe it's been 35 years since "Airplane!" took flight (on July 2, 1980) and taught us all to speak jive, order the chicken instead of the fish, and avoid calling each other "Shirley." Three and a half decades later, the airline disaster parody remains one of the funniest films ever made, one that generations of viewers have watched over and over -- though probably never as an in-flight movie.

Still, as many times as you've seen it, there's much you may not know about how it was made. In honor of "Airplane!" turning 35, here are a few facts every fan must know about the comedy classic.

1. Strip away all the jokes, and "Airplane!" is essentially a remake of a little-known 1957 air disaster movie called "Zero Hour!" The writing/directing team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker lifted the plot,...

Sandwiched between Star Wars and Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the heyday of late 1970’s sci-fi entertainment was Battlestar Galactica. The show pitted Cylons against the crew of the Galactica for 24 episodes before being followed by Galactica 1980, and fans of the franchise should be pleased to hear that Universal is releasing both series on two separate Blu-ray releases—each with a bunch of bonus features:

(Press release via TVShowsOnDVD.com.) “Universal City, Calif., Nov. 24, 2014 – From renowned writer/producer Glen A. Larson, the creative force behind Knight Rider, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, comes the groundbreaking TV series that launched one of the most beloved sci-fi franchises in history, now available in widescreen and high definition as both Battlestar Galactica: The Definitive Collection and Battlestar Galactica: The Remastered Collection come to Blu-ray on May 12, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

“If a movie makes you happy, for whatever reason, then it’s a good movie.”

—Big E

*******Warning: Review Contains Spoilers*******

By Ernie Magnotta

If there’s one thing I love, it’s 1970s made-for-tv horror films. I remember sitting in front of the television as a kid and watching a plethora of films such as Gargoyles, Bad Ronald, Satan’s School for Girls, Horror at 37,000 Feet, Devil Dog: Hound of Hell, Scream Pretty Peggy, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Moon of the Wolf and The Initiation of Sarah just to name a few. Some of those are better than others, but all were fun.

When I think back, there have been some legendary names associated with small screen horrors. Genre masters John Carpenter (Halloween), Steven Spielberg (Jaws), Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street), Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and Joseph Stefano (Psycho) all took shots at television...

Well, isn't this special? Sister Cristina Scuccia, a happenin' church lady with a real rock 'n roll stage presence, just became the second winner of "The Voice of Italy," wowing not only tons of viewers but the show's four judges, who unanimously tried to recruit her for their teams. She seems fantastic. In fact, she seems miraculous considering she belted Alicia Keys' "No One" and sang the lyrics -- believably -- in English. But is Cristina the best singing nun ever? Lord, grant me the serenity to figure it out. First, here's Cristina. Impassioned, rowdy, and apparently a big fan of American pop-R&B. I would kill to hear her version of "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)." I would also kill just to hear from Blu Cantrell in general. Come back to us, Blu.  For you OGs out there, here's the original "Singing Nun." Jeanine Deckers topped the U.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr., the son of a violin master and an opera singer who became an acclaimed actor, has died at age 95. Zimbalist had a recurring role in the 1950s hit TV series Maverick before starring with Roger Smith as private eyes in the smash hit 1958 series 77 Sunset Strip. However, it was in the 1960s that his star really rose by top-lining the TV show The F.B.I. The series was a love letter to the bureau and won praise from its controversial and mercurial director, J. Edgar Hoover, who gave unprecedented cooperation to the series. Zimablist went on to appear with his daughter Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan in another crime show, the 1980s hit Remington Steele. His feature films include Wait Until Dark, Airport 1975, The Crowded Sky and The Chapman Report. For more click here...

A nuclear-powered bus packed with misfit passengers and with a dodgy driver at the wheel is speeding across America ... It's going to be a bumpy ride in one of the best 70s spoofs

More from the My Guilty Pleasure series

When Airplane! stormed cinemas in 1980, it was hailed as the perfect spoof of transport disaster movies and a useful coda to a decade that had been obsessed with them: Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, The Hindenburg, Airport 1975, Airport '77, Airport 80 The Concorde etc.

But before Airplane! there was The Big Bus. I recall as a teenager watching Barry Norman review the film on what must have been Film 76 (note again the decade's zeitgeisty use of years in titles). It looked funny, but I was too young to see it at the cinema. So I put all childish thoughts of buses aside

Continue reading...

Contributed by Melissa Thompson and Michelle McCue

One of the all-time giants of comedy, in both film and TV, has sadly passed away. Actor Sid Caesar has died at the age of 91. Larry King announced the news via Twitter, according to Variety.

While he was a TV pioneer with Your Show Of Shows (1950–1954) and Caesar’s Hour (1954–1957), most of us came to know him as ‘Melville Crump’ from director Stanley Kramer’s It’S A Mad Mad Mad Mad World co-staring Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney and Jonathan Winters, ‘Barney’ in the ensemble disaster movie Airport 1975 and as ‘Coach Calhoun’ in Grease alongside Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.

“I don’t take myself too seriously,” he told People in 1989. “I just laugh at myself a lot and call myself a dummy.”

Read the full report at Variety Here.

Here are two examples of what it meant to be funny.

TV/film composer and conductor John Cacavas, whose credits include Airport 1975 and 1970s TV series Kojak, died January 28 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 83. The South Dakota native scored numerous TV series and films throughout his career beginning with the 1972 feature Horror Express. He went on to score the next two movies in the Airport franchise, Airport 1975 and Airport ’77. Cacavas had developed a strong friendship with Telly Savalas, leading to a long tenure as composer for the Kojak TV series (1973-78), including the series theme for its fifth and final season on CBS. His other TV credits include Hawaii Five-o, Matlock, Switch, Columbo, Mrs. Columbo, Quincy, Buck Rogers, Gangster Chronicles, Lady Blue, Four Seasons and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. He also composed movies-of-the-week, TV pilots, mini-series and specials such as A Time to Triumph, Eddie Capra Mysteries, She Cried Murder, Time Machine, By Reason Of Insanity,...

Faye Dunaway in ‘Mommie Dearest’ — Joan Crawford portrayal ‘Greatest Bad Performance’? Clint Eastwood Best Picture Oscar nominee among ‘Greatest Bad Movies’ See previous post: “From John Travolta to Bob Dylan: ‘The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time’: Q&A with Phil Hall.” (Photo: Mommie Dearest, Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford.) I noticed you have included some Bad Movies that were well received upon their release, e.g., Clint Eastwood’s Best Picture Oscar nominee ‘Mystic River’ (2003) and Henry King’s ‘In Old Chicago’ (1937) — another Best Picture nominee. Why are those movies not only Bad Movies, but also Great Bad Movies? I need to begin my answer by insisting that my new book is strictly about opinion. I don’t pretend to be the author of a be-all/end-all encyclopedia on the subject. Many people may disagree with the selection of films, both from an inclusive viewpoint and from...

It’s not unusual for a movie to divide reviewers. To some, The Butler, Lee Daniels’ sprint through the American civil rights movement, is “deeply moving” (Time), “brilliantly truthful” (The New York Times), “illuminating” (New York), and “honest” (Slate). But it’s also been -dismissed as “obvious,” “over-the-top,” “clunky,” “lumbering,” and “thuggish”—by the very same critics. Daniels, who won acclaim for Precious and contempt for The Paperboy, has a unique ability to stir admiration and antipathy at once; if there were a word to describe the act of applauding while wincing, he could copyright it.

Daniels is a gay African-American filmmaker,...

Actor with a talent for conveying her characters' rich and troubled inner lives

The New Hollywood movement was primarily a male, auteur-led phenomenon. But the contribution of performers as adventurous and vital as Karen Black, who has died aged 74 from complications from cancer, should not be overlooked. Black was electrified as well as electrifying: her tornado of hair, her fearless physicality and those indelible feline eyes combined to create a woozy and unapologetic sexual energy. She looked offbeat, and she knew how to use that. "I couldn't have been an actress in the 1930s," she said, reflecting on her role as a movie extra in The Day of the Locust (1975). "My face moves around too much."

It was in the late 1960s and 70s that she became one of the great character actors of Us cinema in a series of performances in key New Hollywood works. Partly it was that...

New York — Among films that featured actress Karen Black:

"You're a Big Boy Now," 1959.

"Hard Contract," 1966.

"Easy Rider," 1969.

"Five Easy Pieces," 1970.

"Drive, He Said," 1971.

"Little Laura and Big John," 1972.

"Portnoy's Complaint," 1972.

"The Great Gatsby," 1974.

"Airport 1975," 1974.

"The Day of the Locust," 1975.

"Nashville," 1975.

"Burnt Offerings," 1976.

"Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean." 1982.

"Caged Fear," 1992.

"Starstruck," 1994.

"Dogtown," 1996.

"Fallen Arches," 1997.

"Sugar: The Fall of the West," 1998.

"House of 1000 Corpses," 2003.

"Firecracker," 2005.

"Contamination," 2007.

"Vacationland," 2012.

"She Loves Me Not," (completed) 2013.

"The Being Experience," (in post-production) 2013.

So sad! Karen died on Aug. 8 at age 74, her husband announced on Facebook, just minutes after her passing.

Oscar-nominated actress Karen Black died after a long battle with cancer, according to Variety. Read on for more details about her life and death.

Karen Black Dies — ‘Five Easy Pieces’ Star Dead From Cancer At 74

Karen’s husband, Stephen Eckelberry, announced her death on Facebook, saying, “It is with great sadness that I have to report that my wife and best friend Karen Black has just passed away, only a few minutes ago. Thank you all for all your prayers and love, they meant so much to her as they did to me.”

Karen was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Five Easy Pieces. She also starred in popular films such as Nashville and Easy Rider, and she made a comeback in Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean,...

Oscar-nominated actress Karen Black died Thursday at the age of 74 after a long battle with cancer. The Easy Rider star's husband, Stephen Eckelberry, announced her death on his Facebook page, saying, "It is with great sadness that I have to report that my wife and best friend Karen Black has just passed away, only a few minutes ago. Thank you all for all your prayers and love, they meant so much to her as they did to me." Black was diagnosed with ampullary cancer in November 2010 and had a third of her pancreas removed. She was declared cancer-free in 2011, but in March of this year,...

Versatile actress and late '60s/'70s icon Karen Black, known for her memorable roles in cult horror films and such cinematic classics as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Nashville and The Great Gatsby, has died after a battle with cancer. She was 74.

Pics: Two Looks, One Star

Black's husband, Stephen Eckelberry, announced his wife's death Thursday on Facebook, writing, "It is with great sadness that I have to report that my wife and best friend, Karen Black has just passed away, only a few minutes ago. Thank you all for all your prayers and love, they meant so much to her as they did to me."

Born Karen Blanche Ziegler, the Chicago native was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for 1970's Five Easy Pieces, starring opposite Jack Nicholson, and was nominated for a Grammy for her work in Robert Altman's ensemble picture Nashville, for which she performed the songs Memphis and Rolling Stone. Black's...

The Five Easy Pieces Oscar nominee also known for such films Nashville and Alfred Hitchcock’s final pic Family Plot has died at 74. Karen Black recently had turned to crowdfunding to help with her long battle against cancer. Her husband, Stephen Eckelberry, confirmed Black’s death in a Facebook post: “It is with great sadness that I have to report that my wife and best friend, Karen Black has just passed away, only a few minutes ago,” he wrote. “Thank you all for all your prayers and love, they meant so much to her as they did to me.” Black began her acting career in Off-Broadway shows before starring in three short-lived Main Stem productions from 1965-67. She also appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1966 romantic dramedy You’re a Big Boy Now. Several late-’60s TV guest roles on such shows as The Big Valley and Adam-12 led to...

She crossed genres between high drama and low schlock. She acted for and with the likes of Robert Altman, Alfred Hitchcock and Peter Fonda. She worked on the stage and screens both big and small, scoring an Oscar nomination and charming audiences along the way. So it is with sadness that we report that Karen Black has died at the age of 74.Born in Illinois in 1939, she decided to pursue an acting career on the New York stage during her college years. After studying with Lee Strasberg and working for a few years in off Broadway productions, she won her first film role with 1959’s The Prime Time. Yet despite the lure of a big screen career, she chose to focus on the stage, and spent the next six years in the theatre.Still, cinema was to call in a big way with some memorable movies including Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces,...

Review by Sam Moffitt

After seeing the wonderful new movie Hitchcock in a theater and now seeing it again on Blu-Ray I thought it might be nice to revisit one of the Master of Suspense’s own films, preferably one I had not seen in some time. Family Plot was Sir Alfred’s last film and a pretty good finale to an amazing career that started in the silent era, an apprentice ship at Ufa Studio’s in Germany, watching no less a master film maker than Fritz Lang and ended in the 70’s when all the rules of film making were being broken by a bunch of young mavericks who changed the language of film altogether.

When I was a kid I loved everything about Hitchcock. I read his mystery magazine avidly, often in high school study hall instead of reading from a text book. My Mother would let...

After battling cancer for more than two years, Five Easy Pieces actress Karen Black is turning to the public for monetary support. The 73-year-old Oscar-nominated actress, who also starred in Easy Rider and Airport 1975, was diagnosed with ampullary cancer in November 2010 and had a third of her pancreas immediately removed, her husband, Stephen Eckelberry, wrote on the "Help Karen Beat Cancer" GoFundMe website. Though she was declared cancer-free in 2011, Black - now "mostly bed-bound" and down to 96 pounds, says her husband - relapsed and underwent two more operations in the last year. The couple is asking for donations to...

Update, 5:33 p.m: Karen Black's original fundraising goal has been exceeded, and the actress has upped the goal to $22,000 -- which itself has been surpassed. Previously.... Actress Karen Black, whose credits include "Five Easy Pieces," "Easy Rider" and "Airport 1975," is reaching out over the internet to seek money for medical treatment, after battling cancer on and off for more than two years. Black has launched a crowd-funding campaign on the website GoFundMe.com, in hopes of undergoing a two-month treatment as part of a clinical treatment in Europe. Also read: 'Veronica Mars' Movie...

Chances are good that if you a horror fan and it’s new year’s eve, you’re searching for something to watch. Most of us hope to find the Twilight Zone marathon running strong late into the evening if we’re lucky, but it’s fickle. Hit or miss. Sometimes SyFy graces us with its presence… sometimes… they put on absolutely garbage and we take it. There are, of course, a few movies that have New Year’s Eve as the focus. Bloody New Year, Terror Train and New Year’s Evil which I can consider to be the pinnacle of New Year’s horror even if Terror Train is far superior movie. Is it any wonder that all three of these features of seen distinct DVD of Blu-ray releases? Fan/cult favorites with varying degree of quality and merit. Aren’t there just a pile of other movies...

Clark Gable, Loretta Young, The Call of the Wild Judy Lewis, out-of-wedlock daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, died of cancer on Friday, Nov. 25, at a retirement home in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne. She was 76. Young, who was an ardent Catholic, and Gable, then married to Maria Franklin Langham (17 years his senior) had an affair while starring in William A. Wellman's 1935 adventure drama The Call of the Wild. Young had just turned 22, Gable was 34. In a manner similar to the absurd stories of so many Hollywood melodramas of the period, after learning of her pregnancy Young took off for Europe. Upon her return months later, she was reported ill and convalescing at a hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Venice, where Judy was born Nov. 6, 1935. When the girl was almost two, Young officially adopted her (and a boy, later returned) from an orphanage in San Francisco.

Linda Blair Oscar-nominated Actress Linda Blair, who introduced the Academy's tribute to veteran makeup artist and Honorary Award winner Dick Smith, arrives at the 2011 Governors Awards in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood, on Saturday, November 12. [Photo: Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.] James Earl Jones was a long-distance Honorary Oscar honoree, as he's co-starring with Vanessa Redgrave in Driving Miss Daisy on the London stage. Oprah Winfrey, a 1985 Best Supporting Actress nominee for Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Dick Smith's makeup job transformed the young Linda Blair into the demon-possessed girl in William Friedkin's The Exorcist. Among Blair's other screen credits are Airport 1975, Roller Boogie, Hell Night, Chained Heat, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Red Heat, and Moving Target.

In 1977, 20th Century Fox had two science-fiction adventure movies in the pipeline for release. The first was Star Wars, which came out in May with relatively low expectations and became an immediate, industry-changing sensation. The second was Damnation Alley, which Fox had originally thought would be its big year-end holiday blockbuster. Based on a well-regarded Roger Zelazny novel and directed by Airport 1975 and Midway helmer Jack Smight, Damnation Alley was intended to be a rousing post-apocalyptic actioner featuring mutated bugs, freaky marauders, and a badass armored vehicle—part Planet Of The Apes, part Them!, part On The Beach ...

Hmm, what are they discussing?

Three is a magic number on this week's episode of United States of Tara! Why? Because without the word “three” you can’t have the word “threesome” and without the word “threesome,” we wouldn’t have this week’s gay storyline!

Marshall, Lionel and new gay Noah are drinking schnapps and talking babies in Kate’s room in Charmaine’s house. Marshall is vehemently opposed to babies, labeling them "incontinent extensions of the adult desire to rewrite history." Lionel calls his observation both pretentious and stupid, but he uses an "I" statement so it's Ok. Marshall goes on to call out all the "random people [who] mash together and then chunk out kids instead of dealing with the fact they should never have been together in the first place."

We wouldn't be talking about any random people in particular, would we Moosh? Mom and Dad, perhaps?...