Reviews (19)

One of my all-time favorites!
A breathtakingly beautiful film from the "Magic 3" - David Lean, Director, Freddie Young, Cinematographer, and Maurice Jarre, Music -- who also gave us Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago. An ordinary enough story, but played beautifully by first rate actors, it moves right along and I became very involved in the fate of its characters. I wanted Sarah Miles to have her passionate love, but then again, I didn't want her good husband (Mitchum) to lose her, I wanted the British officer (Jones) not to be tortured and haunted, and I didn't want anyone hurting the lovable village idiot. (John Mills deserved the Oscar he got for this role!) The relationship between John Mills' and Sarah Miles' characters broke my heart. And I hated, hated with a capital H some of the others (I won't say who and spoil it for anyone). This is all to say that I was pretty much transfixed and transported by this movie from start to finish. And if there's any scene in any movie from the beginning of time that's more erotic than the one in her father's pub when Sarah Miles' character first meets the British lieutenant, I hope someone warns me; I don't think I could withstand it. I love my video of the movie, but I wish I could see it again on the big screen for the impact of the magnificent cinematography of the Irish coast. And of the pub.

A Haunting Masterpiece by Lean
I first saw this film when it came out, it haunted me for days. The score9 by Maurice Jarre) and the photography(Freddie Young won a most desevred Oscar for) is breathtaking and Sarah Miles is so beautiful she takes your breath away. Set in Ireland during World War I and the British occupation of Ireland. Rosy Ryan( Sarah Miles) sets her cap for the local school master played by the great Robert Mitchum. They marry and her life is not what she expects until a British Officer enters it while she is tending bar. The chap is played by Christopher Jones who was the Colin Farrell of his day. The scene in the pub when they meet is one of the most tender loving scenes ever filmed. The affair that follows brings heartache to all. The villagers in this small Irish town gives lynch mobs a bad name. The pleasure they exact from teasing the village idiot(played by John Mills and may I add with beauty and heart) and later taking their revenge on an innocent person they believed to be the traitor. I don't want to give away the ending ot the story but I just purchased it and watched it for the first time in thirty years and was reminded what a storyteller David Lean was. Candace Serviss

When oh when!
Each month I scan the "new" issues to see if the studio has issued this first rate movie onto DVD but to no avail! when one sees the amount of rubbishy films now being re-issued, it really makes me angry, I guess the reason being the fact that Ryans Daughter was panned in the States, but hay Yanks, how about we Brits? the film was well received over here and is still regulary screened on TV. Freddy Jone's photography should be reason enough but add Sarah Miles, Bob Mitchum, John Mills, where is the problem?

Take it From a First-Time Viewer: Pass This One By
The progress of David Lean's visual style is one of honest, thrilling emotion subsumed over the years by unnecessary, rote effect--an artistic hardening-of-the-arteries not entirely unlike the bloat of Wordsworth's later work.

Of his pictures which history will remember well, Lean delivered at least one masterpiece ("Oliver Twist," 1948), which dared to risk anachronism when it evoked the prison camps of WWII in its workhouse boys' scabby, balding heads--not to mention Alec Guinness's frightening Fagin ("What right have you to butcher me!?").

He made two other first-rate pictures: "Great Expectations" (1946), a rare triumph of literary abbreviation, & "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957), the most melancholy meditation on suffering I've ever seen--like a paragraph from Dostoyevsky or Solzhenitsyn played deftly out to feature length.

"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) signalled, I think, the beginning of an elephantiasis in Lean's ambition--though it's been observed that "Lawrence's" minimalist compositions and love of "empty" screen-space may have primed audiences for later, more abstract adventures such as "2001: A Space Odyssey," and even "Apocalypse Now."

Lean's respectful eye for and fascination with natural landscapes, especially as they dwarf people, and the psychologic import of that domination of scale, was often on ostentatious and useful display in his early and middle years. Later, this titanic style of framing became expected of Lean--not least, repeated viewings attest, by the man himself. It's as if he became trapped by his repute for monumentality, which was rarely less appropriate than here.

"Ryan's Daughter," based on a parlor-scale melodrama by Robert Bolt, never has the chance to escape Lean's Olympian regard and withers on film like a bug caught in the projector gate. Never mind the performances, which are generally credible, nor the cinematography, which (in the only home video available, a wretched panned-&-scanned dub with horrible color balance) is typically assured work from Freddie Young.

"Ryan's Daughter" is a failure from a man with a fading vision, and uninstructive ... unless the lesson is to tailor style to substance at all costs.

my two cents
This SOOOOO needs to be on DVD!!!!! This beautiful little gem is one of those great movies that just keeps haunting my memory even after all these years....and considering all the crap hollywood churns and what they deem worthy to go on DVD this would be a welcome bit of fresh air to see this again and add to my library. ... Read more

Amazon.com

There is no more ringing title among World War II movies than Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, and the mission it celebrates was unquestionably historic: a 400-mile bombing raid to carry the war to Japan itself mere months after that nation's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet the film is less memorable than many WWII pictures with less exalted factual basis. At the time, critic James Agee eloquently defined both its virtues and limitations as "a big-studio, big-scale film, free of artistic pretension ... transformed by its not very imaginative but very dogged sincerity into something forceful, simple, and thoroughly sympathetic in spite of all its big-studio, big-scale habits." That remains true today, but perhaps the movie--and its unimpeachably noble, admirably life-sized characters--wouldn't seem so stuck in the amber of a bygone era if Mervyn LeRoy and company had pumped a little "artistic pretension" into it.

Spencer Tracy--as James H. Doolittle, architect of the raid--rates the most towering screen credit, and he's superb. But his role's an extended cameo; the emotional core of the film is B-25 pilot Ted Lawson (Van Johnson) and his wife, Ellen (the glowing Phyllis Thaxter). Lawson's bestselling memoir (with Bob Considine) of his training for the secret mission, his group's launching from the aircraft carrier Hornet, and his crash landing and protracted ordeal in China--where he lost a leg--has been faithfully served. The film is long on homely detail and all-American decency (including a remarkably outspoken regret over the unavoidability of civilian casualties) but achieves its greatest impact in the raid itself.That sequence, in addition to boasting Oscar-winning special effects, is mostly shot in riveting silence. --Richard T. Jameson ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Excellent
This movie is a refreshing respite from such current over-hyped and unrealistic war movies as Pearl Harbor. The movie realistically and unsentimentally tells the story of the daring Doolittle raid, concentrating on the crew of one of the 16 bombers, headed up by Van Johnson as captain, where he turns in a fine performance. But the other characters are also nicely drawn and neither over-romanticized nor over-sentimentalized. Some of the action sequences, such as the actual bombing raid at low altitude over Tokyo, are truly spectacular. I don't know how they did it, without modern technology, but this scene could stand up to any modern movie's special effects any time. The movie also realistically portrays the training for the mission, where the crews are taught to take off in 500 feet instead of 1500 feet, the normal take-off distance for a B-24. As a result, you get to see a lot of the inside of the planes as well as the outside, again adding to the overall realism. Interestingly, Tracy doesn't have that big a part in the movie, compared to Johnson and his crew, but when he does appear, usually to just brief the men on their upcoming mission, he's nevertheless superb. Another interesting aspect of the movie is Doolittle's discussion of civilian casualties, and that any pilot who objects to killing civilians can withdraw from the mission without penalty if he so chooses. All in all a fine movie that shows that the old Hollywood greats knew how to make a better war movie than the moderns with all their extra resources and technology. Big Steve says go see it (or in this case rent it or buy it), and don't Bogart he popcorn.

An historic mission and authentic view of WW2 patriotism
This 1944 film, shot in black and white, is based on a true story. Four months after Pearl Harbor had been bombed, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle devised a plan for a daring raid on the heart of Japan itself. To do this he had to train army bomber pilots to do something no one ever dreamed possible - launch 16 fully loaded bombers from an aircraft carrier. It was a success. And this film is a tribute to those men.

Van Johnson stars as Lieutenant Ted Lawson and he does a great job as the fighter pilot who is sometimes scared, confused and very human. The supporting cast includes Spencer Tracy as Doolittle, and Robert Mitchum, Don Defore, Robert Walker and a dozen other young actors whose names never did become household words. Phyllis Thaxter is cast as Van Johnson's young wife and the romance scenes they have together, complete with background violin music, are the only scenes I found a bit too overdone for modern tastes.

The rest of the film however, was full of action. I can well understand why it won an Academy Award for special effects because it put the audience right there on those little planes along with the men and used newsreel footage to supplement the scenes shot inside the planes. I really learned about the mission and the nature of the training, and felt the authenticity of a film that was actually made in 1944, not just a revisionist historian's interpretation. Here, the slang was real. They got the "dope" on what was going on, found out that everything was "swell" and the women were called "girls". Everyone smoked cigarettes too, a reality the recent politically correct "Pearl Harbor" seemed to ignore. Also, considering the hatred that raged during the war, I was surprised that in one scene Van Johnson says that his family had a Japanese gardener and he didn't seem like a bad guy. And when Doolittle addresses his men before they take off, he talks about the fact that the men will be taking civilian lives as well as the military targets. The raid was successful but the film doesn't end there. Van Johnson and his crew were shot down over China and were treated like heroes by the Chinese. Some of the scenes that followed, where Van Johnson's leg has to be removed are harrowing and displayed his fine acting skills.

To get a good understanding of what it must have been like in 1944 in America, this video is a must. Not only do we get a feeling of the patriotism, we also hear the music, hear the slang and get a sense of time and place that is impossible to re-create 50 years later. Highly recommended.

I lost my ship !
My father was a B-25 flight instructor in WWII. Jimmy Doolittle is part of the Holy Trinity in our house. The Doolittle Raid is burned into all family members at an early age. One of the first times I ever remember my mother laughing at my father's humor was when he was imitating Van Johnson standing in the surf crying, "I lost my ship ! I lost my ship !"

What a great movie.

Each year the Doolittle survivors meet at a different part of the United States in the spring for a reunion. There's less than twenty still alive. Their reunion weekend is open to the public with fees going to charitable events. GO. If you think their heroism is exaggerated over the decades, keep this is mind: A bomber had NEVER taken off from a carrier; for all they knew, every single plane was going to crash into the ocean. And every single crew knew that they were taking off too far away from Japan and that they would NOT reach the Chinese airbases. No one backed out.

Amazing story. Great movie.

An Historic Event
The Doolittle Raid was an historic event, not propaganda, as suggested in another review.

The raid carried out in 1942 conveyed two messages: one to the Japanese people, that we could bring the war to their shores and the other message was to the American people, who need shoring up after Pearl Harbor.

It was a daring mission and will be long remembered in our military history.

The cast was very good and I thought Spencer Tracy was excellent as Lt. Col. Doolittle.

An Excellent Movie About the Doolittle Raid
Sometimes when movies are made about historical events, many aspects are either left out completely or they are stated incorrectly. Neither is the case with this highly exciting movie. Starring Van Johnson, Spencer Tracy, and Phyllis Thaxter, this movie does an excellent job of accurately portraying the events of the Doolittle raid as it actually happened. Van Johnson stars as Ted Lawson, an actual pilot in the Doolittle raid. The story of the raid is told through his eyes. I've read several books about the raid, and I was pleased that the producers of the film were so correct in their filmmaking. The movie shows the entire process from beginning to end. From the training at Eglin base in Florida to the take-off from the deck of the USS Hornet, each minute detail is covered with historical correctness.

Lawson himself was an advisor to the film. This helped even more with the historical aspect. Van Johnson was an excellent choice to play Lawson. His performance throughout the film made it a pleasure to watch. Phyllis Thaxter does a wonderful job as Ellen Lawson. Top billing for this film went to Spencer Tracy as Jimmy Doolittle, but his role is really an extended cameo; Lawson and his crew are the real stars of the movie.

Perhaps the best part of the movie was the actual take-off from the Hornet, the bombing of Tokyo, and the crash landing in China. unable to parachute from their plane, the crew of Lawson's B-25 were forced to crash land. Lawson was thrown through the cockpit glass upon landing and suffered many broken teeth as well as a severely damaged leg which would later have to be amputated. Fortunately, the crew was aided by many Chinese who risked their lives to keep the flyers safe and eventually they are returned to safe ground. Lawson is concerned about how his wife will feel about him after his leg had been removed, but the ending tells it all. I highly recommend this excellent film. World War II movie fans will surely enjoy this one. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A major Mitchum masterpiece.
There should be a sub-genre in the Western called 'the Robert Mitchum Western'. Mitchum's brilliant, idiosyncratic, usually undervalued Westerns import his film noir persona to etch some compellingly dark character studies, and bring an elegiac world-weariness prefiguring the films of Sam Peckinpah. 'Man with the gun' is one of his best. Directed by Orson Welles protege Richard Wison, it is a stark, monochrome beauty, full of chilling silhouettes and terrifying outbursts of savage violence, as Mitchum comes to tame a town terrorised by a monopolist with a private army. Mitchum's regression from soft-spoken stranger to deranged murderer, with a host of dark emotions in between, is a marvel of expressive, physical acting. ... Read more

Reviews (105)

The Pivitol Battle of the Pacific War
In June, 1942, the United States uncovered Japanese plans to invade the island of Midway, located only 1100 miles from the Hawaiian islands. This fine film brings this great battle to life.

An all-star cast, including Charlton Heston (Capt. Matt Garth), Henry Fonda (Admiral Chester Nimitz), Glenn Ford (Admiral Raymond Spruance), Hal Holbrook (Commander Joseph Rochefort) and Robert Webber (Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) turn in fine performances as the men who would ultimately win the battle and turn the tide against the Japanese. The Japanese actors do a fine job as well portraying such officers as Admiral Yamamoto and Admiral Nagumo.

The battle scenes, especially the American dive and torpedo attacks against the Japanese fleet, are excellent. Real battle footage is also included, and if you watch close enough, you may even see some scenes from "Tora Tora Tora" in the footage.

One part of the film that I didn't care very much for was the love relationship between Matt Garth's son Tom and a Japanese/American girl. I felt that this was unnecessary and didn't really contribute anything to the movie. Overall, however, I thought this was an excellent film. The battle scenes are top notch, and the attention paid to historical fact is evident throughout the film, right down to Joe Rochefort's smoking jacket and bedroom slippers.

I've seen this movie several times on VHS, but this was the first time I saw it on DVD. The widescreen format made me feel like I was in the theater. I highly recommend this fine war film. Watch this film and experience the turning of the tide in the Pacific.

Poor sound, over-edited
Midway as originally filmed is one of the great movies of all time. This DVD is not.

Problem #1: I have one of the best sound systems you can buy. The sound goes up and down and up and down on this DVD. You have to hold on to the remote just to be able to stay in the room with it because some combat footage is too loud, and other dramatic discussions are too low in volume.

Problem #2: My wife grew to hate this move somewhere around 1990 because on the veteran related holidays, a good 4+ hours were lost to watching this movie. Others claim that the original was over 5 hours. I'm very disappointed with the 2+ hour version. I want to see it all.

The manufacturer needs to do something to get us the complete movie. They won't, though, becuase they have to redo the sound for the DVD, and that's expensive.

One of the better historical WWII movies

A good friend of mine (and a contemporary) rode in the backseat of a dive bomber at the battle of midway. He's dead now, like three quarters of the men who fought in World War Two. Can you imagine riding backwards in a dive while the people below are doing their best to kill you? Unless you've been there, probably not.

This is, historically, one of the most accurate portrayals of the war. One critic complained that "the writing was weak. There was no suspense at all in the film." Perhaps there'd have been enough suspense if he'd been there, like Bill. But Bill survived the battle and died of old age, so I can't ask him about whether he felt any suspense, although we talked a lot about the battle of Midway.

In the film, they used top notch actors. For "Bull" Halsey they used Mitchum. Not a look alike, but of course Bull's dead, too, and Mitchum did a good job. Heston, of course, represented a fictional character (Matt Garth), but virtually all of the names of people in the film were real men who fought a real battle, and it was the turning point of the war. After Midway, we took a lot of lumps, but they were on the run from that point on.

Of course Hollywood took some liberties, and since they used a lot of actual combat shots, some of the aircraft used were out of place (F6F "Hellcats" for F4F "Wildcats" several times, and the ditching scene where Ensign George Gay went in showed a "Hellcat" instead of the TBD Douglas torpedo bomber that he actually flew. And the shot of the "Hellcat" being torn apart on the carrier's island was well-known footage from the technicolor documentary, The Fighting Lady, which was shot on the old Enterprise during battle, with narration by Lt. Robert Montgomery (qv). Garth's (Heston's) fictional son was supposed to be flying it in the film, but it was an actual crash on board the "Big E", in an actual battle. "Hellcats" (F6F) were Grumman fighter planes (the big brother of the "Wildcat" (F4F) which was obsolescent when the war started, but in use at the Battle of Midway--as was the old Brewster "Buffalo") and the F6F never saw combat until late 1943 (on my birthday, as a matter of fact.) The battle of Midway was in June of 1942, six months after Pearl Harbor.

It helps when you know a little history. For instance, Ensign George Gay actually did ride out the battle in the water, after he ditched, and was debriefed personally by the commander-in-chief, pacific fleet (CINCPAC), Admiral Chester Nimitz. He was the only survivor of his torpedo squadron, VT-8 (torpedo squadron 8).

Altogether, when you see this picture, you are watching history (as near as Hollywood will ever get to it), and many of the people who died to entertain today's movie audiences are named in the movie.

So, try to overlook the lack of a plot, at least in the battle sequences. History wrote them, not Hollywood script writers.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

All-Star Cast. Ultimate invasion of Midway Island.
This story is set in June 1942, six months after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. Includes the all-star cast of: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, Ed Nelson, Monte Markham, David Macklin, Christopher George, Robert Webber, Kevin Dobson, Edward Albert, Pat Morita, Dabney Coleman, Erik Estrada, Tom Selleck, Robert Ito, Steve Kanaly, Kip Niven, Clint Ritchie (ABC serial "One Life To Live"), Frank Parker (NBC serial "Days Of Our Lives"). The main cast can be seen acting with stock footage from THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO and some old Japanese war films. However, some actual wartime footage of the real combat is incorporated into this film. The actual war footage was filmed in color by navy photographers and by the cameras mounted on fighter planes in 1942.
Filmed in the same manner as EARTHQUAKE (1974) and ROLLERCOASTER (1977) and in "Sensurround". "Sensurround" was a new sound system set up for specific films only that would make the sounds in the film seem realistic to you. The sound was balanced and came at you all around. You would hear the sound of an earthquake, riding a rollercoaster or being in the middle of a battle. Very few films were made in "Sensurround" and was only a gimmick in the 1970's. Small theaters benefited the most. Nowadays, we have sound systems in our own modern homes that come at us from behind and the sides. Disneyland rides use a sound system similar to "Sensurround".
A special television version runs four hours with commercials. It includes new scenes NOT shown on video or in the theatres. It includes new scenes with an additional cast NOT seen in the original version, Susan Sullivan, Richard Sanders, Noel Conlon, Don Dolan, Richard Sarradet, Alec Smight, Miiko Taka and William Wellman Jr. The extended tv version includes a Charlton Heston-Susan Sullivan romance and the scenes of the Coral Sea battle is played out. At the end of the television extended version, Susan Sullivan and Christine Kukobo are both shown waiting at dockside.
I think this film was meant to be a tribute to those Americans who served.

Just slightly over-edited
Our USMC squad went to the 'World Premier' at Luneta Theatre, Manila, Philippines. Midway WAS a Full-length FEATURE movie-then. It was near 5 hours long. Our sixes burned from seating.
>These days the once good, and quite long Midway has been edited-down from it's feature film status, a 5, to the new 2+ hour typical 'Hollyweird' shortened edition, a true waste of unreplaceable WWII Pacific footage, though actually faked. According to The NAVY, there were NO USN photojournalists with color motion-picture cameras at or near Midway, and actual Naval Aviators names were changed, and most colorized motion picture photography was filmed at The Battle For Leyte Gulf.
>Some carrier shots depict the ESSEX-class carriers designed POST Midway, and produced in 1943. "Universal" left-out several hours of video footage. Midway should be near 4-5 hours. ... Read more

Description

Johnny Depp (CHOCOLAT) delivers a remarkable performance in this highly acclaimed tale of adventure and intrigue in the wild, wild west! A young man in search of a fresh start, William Blake (Depp) embarks on an exciting journey to a new town ... never realizing the danger that lies ahead. But when a heated love triangle ends in double murder, Blake finds himself a wanted man, running scared -- until a mysterious loner teaches him to face the dangers that follow a "dead man." With an outstanding supporting cast including Gabriel Byrne (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) and Robert Mitchum (CAPE FEAR), and a sizzling soundtrack, DEAD MAN is another motion picture triumph from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. ... Read more

Reviews (186)

Totally empty pitch black eye candy, disgusting aftertaste
So, here's the story. A gentleman from 19th century Ohio goes West to take a white collar job and ends up as an outlaw and then we don't actually know what happens to him in the end. If you saw this film, please tell me if I miss any single detail worth mentioning. That's it, there is nothing else there. No message to debate, no opinion to think about, nothing to come back to, to replay in the memory, nothing to watch again. In fact, I can't wait to forget that I saw it. Well, pretty good acting by Johnny Depp, can't deny this, in fact, top notch acting. The rest is nothing, emptiness, just some artsy scene arrangement, sort of cinematic ikebana. Dead body right, dead body left, kill this, kill that... Sound track matches the visuals with its sickness. I don't remember a seeing a NIGHTMARE that was as bad as this movie. The ending is nothing but a flop half baked in a hurry: some generic primitive native settlement that does not match anything you may find in any period of the history, for some reason with one hi-tech detail in it, two men shoot each other and set one more adrift into some water body, a lake or a sea, who cares. There were a couple Jim Jarmusch movies I liked, namely Night on Earth (very much) and The Samurai Way (sort of). Now, after that dead man-dead movie I am not sure if I like these either. Too much dark sickness, bad medecine.

A great film with a fine soundtrack
Every time you watch this film, it reveals some more of its character. Is this a western, a road movie, a black comedy, surreal art or just something to look at while you listen to Neil Young's eerie sound track? To find your own answers you must watch it yourself.

Set in the late nineteenth century, we see Johnny Depp playing William Blake, a young accountant who gives up his sheltered life in Cleveland to head out to the Wild West. He has a job offer from a manufacturing company owned by John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) in a lawless town called Machine which is literally, "the end of the line."

The film starts with his train journey out to the west and we see him becoming gradually more uneasy as the civilised East turns into the rough and dirty West. All too soon he is in Machine where he finds out that the job has gone to another man bacause Blake took too long in getting there. Out of money, he ends up in bed with Thel Russell (Mili Avital) the prettiest girl in town. When her boyfriend arrives, Blake's troubles get worse. After the ensuing gunfight, Blake flees, mortally wounded and leaving two bodies behind him.

The father of the dead boyfriend, Dickinson again, hires a group of killers to catch Blake. Also, he calls in the Marshals and posts public rewards. Since this is a road movie, Blake needs a buddy and he teams up with Nobody (Gary Farmer) an outcast Native American who just happens to have a passion for the poems of the more famous William Blake. Nobody accepts Blake as the embodiment of the real poet and assumes, because the the poet had already died and the man he sees now is slowly dying, that Blake must seek a place to die and return to the world beyond.

Nobody sets out to help and guide him on his journey. They must dodge the bounty hunters, marshals and citizens who want the reward and along the way, Blake turns into a man who can kill without remorse.

Surreal barely describes the people that they meet and, generally, kill on the way. There is a lot of humour ranging from Nobody's observations of European "civilisation" to the constant sniping (figurative and literal) between the three bounty hunters sent to kill Blake.

Shooting the film in black and white and using a soundtrack that is just a constant guitar presence rather than a set of songs, gives the film a outward appearance that well matches the content.

Many people will doubtless find this film deeply unappealing or offensive but they will be missing a movie that is as refreshing and stylish as anything else from the nineties.

JOHNNY LEGEND
Dead Man.... is haunting.... irritating... comic.... mesmerising... all thanks to Johnny Legend(oops), I mean Depp - and a good cast and crew.... It`s a smoky and mythical journey, traveled by an ill-fated book-keeper named William Blake... Johnny Depp and his moon-face is incredable.... There has never really been anyone quite like him... and never a western... quite like this 1.... It is something u should never miss.....

JOHNNY LEGEND
This is irritating....mesmerising....comic.....haunting.... The idea that the indian is the metaphore of Mr Dead is a good 1... Johnny is at his MOST legendary in this film... A legend in his own time.... No one in film history has his moon-face....
It is a brave production and it should never be missed:-)

neil young's masterpiece
This is one of my all time favorite films (along with Sweet
Movie and A World Apart -B. Hershey). The music fits this
film perfectly. I have watched this many times just to
listen to the soundtrack. I cannot enjoy the CD soundtrack
because of background noise. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Complex to the point of being pleasingly convoluted, this Sydney Pollack film (from a terrific script by Robert Towne and Leonard and Paul Schrader) is an intriguing blend of Western and Asian sensibilities. Mitchum, in one of his best roles of the 1970s, is drawn to the Orient by an army buddy (Brian Keith), whose daughter has been kidnapped. But when he gets to Japan, Mitchum finds that her kidnappers are the shadowy Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia--an organization that is as vicious as it is tradition-bound. He must call on friends he made after World War II for favors and finds himself unintentionally trampling on issues of honor, even as he battles for his life and that of the girl he is seeking. Surprisingly heartfelt and deliciously exciting, the film features a sorrowful performance by Mitchum and a stoically touching one by Ken Takakura. And what great samurai swordplay! --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Robert Mitchum at his best
This movie is one of the best action films to be made in the seventies and late sixties. It stays away from the anti-establishment preachiness so popular during that time and goes for classic hard-boiled action. And, as noted by others ,also explores the concepts of honor and friendship. During this time period several of Hollywood's older leading men who had been real studs in the forties and early fifties (Mitchum, Holden, Brian Keith, John Wayne) were turning out some superior action movies with intelligent scripts. The Yakuza is no exception. Here you have two wildly different cultures meeting, clashing, but also finding much in common. Two strong and principled men working together, even though at first they dislike one another, both always having to work at staying true to their principles while dealing with the world and those who are not so ethical. Some might find the message that violence and vengence have a place in the scheme of things and can actually be cleansing to be disturbing, but this story is about two warriors(essentially). The warrior strives for perfection in many things, but pacifiscm isn't one of those. When one is betrayed by a friend,or one's blood is betrayed then retribution must be dealt to the betrayer and sometimes honor can only be restored by cutting off one's finger. To a Western viewer much of this is inconceivable - we're all to enlightened anymore, but I found this movie to have a ring of truth to it. Though when I recently watched it with my wife she found it to be somewhat grotesque. She loves the Lethal Weapon movies - which have as much substance to them as cotton candy. This movie is a much more solid piece of filmaking in which the violence has a place. I found it to be restrained and not gratuitous. It dosen't frolic in death and mayhem for it's own sake. But having said that the action pieces are fantastic. I also own Black Rain which is an okay action flick, but once you watch The Yakuza you'll see it for what it is - a pale imitation. Watch this movie if you get the chance. you won't regret it.

Not a martial arts movie: worth watching!
The Yakuza is certainly worth watching as both film noir and a look at post-war Japan. Mitchum and Ken, classic "tough guys" representing disparate cultures, form an unlikely "buddy team" in what is ultimately an exploration of differences in the Western and Japanese view of life and it's responsibilities. Great writing by Paul Schrader with Robert Towne doing the script doctoring.

A DVD version is now imperative!
This is the landmark film saga of the "tough guy" gangster with a heart of gold, both Japanese and American. In many ways and at many levels it represents an achievement decades ahead of it's time. Quentin Tarantino has obviously been inspired by this film for many of the key scenes of "Kill Bill: Part One", and as such has paid it great homage. It would seem quite likely that the creators of "The Yakuza" had some level of cooperation with actual Japanese organized crime syndicates during it's filming (it has that sense of realism, and the "extras" just look too good), and a behind the scenes account would likely prove fascinating.

A man always pays his debts . . .
Well, if this film doesn't put hair on your chest, nothing will.

Look up 'film noir' in the dictionary and there should be a picture of Robert Mitchum in The Yakuza, alongside Bogie in The Maltese Falcon. It's that good of a film.

The theme is about honor, or "giri." The last bastion of manhood in an relativistic world ambivalent towards heroism, unsure about any values, moral or otherwise, and gone to hell.

Against this background, you may be a tad on the shady side of the law, but do you keep faith with your friends?
For that matter, would you risk taking a bullet for someone you personally loathe but whom you "owe" because he's saved the life of your wife and child?

The plot begins when Mitchum is approached by an old army buddy that he hasn't heard from in decades, save for the annual obligatory Christmas card. His daughter's been kidnapped by Japanese mobsters and he needs his help.

As to Mitchum, his character is established in one line.
"You've been successful?"
Mitchum: "That depends on how you figure those things."

True enough. He has no family, no friends, no one even remotely close. The film noir loner, now in his sixties.

He goes back to Japan, links up with the only woman he ever loved, and the one enemy who can help him gain entry into the dark world of the Yakuza; an ultra-traditionalist latter-day Samurai ( Tanaka Ken ) who "owes" Mitchum.

One small problem, he's no longer a Yakuza. He's been out of the mob for years. When Mitchum finds out this unpleasant bit of inforation and blurts out "I can't ask you to do that!" Tanaka Ken quietly replies: "You already have."

The aged warriors go to it again. A great story of love and betrayal. Acted in a style of understated whispers between flashing katanas that bring the house down.

PUT IT ON DVD PLEASE!...
I have never seen this particular version of the video. I have the original one that came out and guard it jealously! What I cannot understand is why this movie has never been released on DVD!... There are so many underlying themes throughout this movie besides that of the main plot of betrayal by old Army buddies and the honor gained through the loyalty of newly formed friendship between Mitchum and Ken. I've often wondered if I would experience the same feelings Mitchum experienced coming back to Tokyo, if I went back to Saigon and saw those I knew back when I was in Nam. What a feeling to see how much things had changed and yet remained the same. There are many deep themes explored in this movie. Definitely one of Sidney Pollack's more under rated, yet finer films for nuance!... I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants more than swords and blood. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

El Dorado doesn't quite have the scope or ambition of Howard Hawks's greatest Westerns, Red River and Rio Bravo. But this relaxed picture, made near the end of Hawks's marvelous career, still shows the steady, sure hand of a master. Hawks reunites with John Wayne, playing a hired gun mixed up in a range war; Robert Mitchum is Wayne's old pal, now a sheriff in the midst of a hopeless drunken bender. James Caan, in one of his first sizable roles, plays a kid who can't shoot straight and wears a funny hat (every character in the movie makes fun of this hat). As the plot moves along, it begins to resemble Rio Bravo rather closely ("I steal from myself all the time," Hawks was fond of admitting). But in El Dorado the heroes are a bit older, their powers a bit weaker; at the end Wayne must revert to a bit of subterfuge in order to get the drop on the steely gunslinger (ice-cold Christopher George) he needs to put down. As relaxed as the movie is, Hawks and Wayne and company are in good spirits, with plenty of broad humor and easy camaraderie on display. Hawks and Wayne would make just one more film, the disappointing Rio Lobo, before ending their fruitful partnership. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (41)

A GREAT 1960'S WAYNE WESTERN!
Paired with Robert Mitchum, El Dorado is essentially a remake of Howard Hawks' earlier Rio Bravo (with writer Leigh Brackett updating her own script). John Wayne, instead of sheriff, plays an aging gunman, who is getting too wise for the game. Robert Mitchum, as the drunken sheriff, takes over the role of the drunken Dean Martin, and James Caan is the fresh faced greenhorn last played by Ricky Nelson (thankfully, Caan doesn't sing). Hawks and Brackett take their time in setting up this story, giving Wayne and Mitchum plenty of backstory, before the stand-off in the town of El Dorado.

In this movie, Thornton is offered a job by land grabber Ed Asner to take out the Sheriff of El Dorado and run the rightful landowners off their land. Thornton refuses and instead goes to El dorado to help his friend against the other gunmen Asner hired led by Nelse McCloud played by regualr Wayne Co-Star Christopher George.

Caan plays Mississippi a young man who cannot use a gun and is given a sawed off shotgun as his weapon. Arthur Hunnicut plays Bull and essentially takes over the role that Walter Brennan played in "Rio Bravo".

The movie has a great deal of action as well as humor as Wayne and Caan and Hunnicutt attempt to sober up the sheriff. Wayne and Mitchum had great chemistry together and even though the Duke was aging, still commands the screen in this movie.

Lots of fun.

The best Wane flick
This is my all-time favorite John Wayne flick. Most lists I see list "The Searchers" as the best, but I disagree. This is essentially a reworking of "Rio Bravo", but you get better co-stars here with Robert Mitchum and James Caan. Plus you don't have the unrealistic sing-a-long that occurs in the middle of "Bravo"

In this movie Cole Thornton (Wayne) is a hired gunman in town to help out in a range war. Before he goes out to meet his new boss, Bart Jason (Ed Asner), he meets his old buddy J. P. Harrah (Mitchum). Harrah convinces Thornton that he'd be fighting for the wrong side.

Later, Thornton is in another town, where he meets up with Nils McCloud (Christopher George), who is off to El Dorado to take the job Thornton turned down. McCloud tells Thornton that Harrah is now a hopeless drunk, so of course, this being a Wayne flick, Thornton has to ride to the rescue.

Along the way he is accompanied by Alan Bedillian Traherne ("Yeah, that's why most people call me 'Mississippi'.") and Bull (Arthur Hunnicut). The end is a shootout worthy of the name.

A Very Entertaining Western
EL DORADO has a lot of good elements such as an interesting story, gripping suspense and above all excellent acting. Besides John Wayne in the role of a professional gunfighter and Robert Mitchum as the sheriff of El Dorado, the film has a strong supporting cast which includes James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Arthur Hunnicutt, Michele Carey and John Mitchum. The latter is the younger brother of Robert Mitchum. In this movie John plays a bartender. He has more than 200 movie and TV appearances to his credit as well as stints as a singer and song writer.

Robert Mitchum can play a drunk trying to cope with a hongover as well as anybody in movies. Howard Hawkes is best remembered for his direction of SERGEANT YORK.

I always thought that EL DORADO deserved a high rating even though it failed to receive any Oscar nominations in 1967. The Academy award competition in that year was dominated by BONNIE AND CLYDE, THE GRADUATE and IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT.

ONE OF WAYNE'S BETTER 1960'S WESTERNS
El Dorado is basically a remake of 1959's Rio Bravo with Robert Mitchum playing the Dean Martin Role and James Caan playing the Rick Nelson role as a young gunman. The Trio are joined by Mitchums deputy "Bull" in trying to protect a family of rancers from an evil land baron trying to run them off their land.

It's classic Wayne with lots of humor mixed in with the action. Wayne and Mitchum were very good together and Mitchums scenes playing the drunken sheriff are very funny.

Ed Asner plays the evil land baron with Christopher George as his hired gunslinger who wants to challenge the older Wayne to see who is faster on the draw.

Not as good as Rio Bravo but better than Rio Lobo which was basically yet another re-make of the same plot.

Decent remake
I got the feeling that Hawks was sitting around one day wondering what movie to make next when he happened upon the Rio Bravo script and, as a joke, suggested making it all over again. The movie execs, sniffing money, said why not and so El Dorado was born.

Wayne reprises the Wayne part, Mitchum the Martin, Caan the Nelson and Hunnicutt the Brennan. Wayne is noticeably older and paunchier and doesn't quite have the chemistry with Mitchum that he had with Martin but it's not a bad effort. Hunnicutt's deadpan delivery is almost as amusing as Brennan's moaning and shrieking. James Caan is a better actor than Nelson if perhaps not so easy on the eye.

Buy both movies, watch both and love both. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

MITCHUM IS MARLOWE
Director Richard Rush presented us a valentine with this incredible film, the third version made from the the 1940 Raymond Chandler novel. At least seven actors have portrayed Philip Marlowe. Robert Mitchum, played the part twice. The first time, in this film, he was nothing short of brilliant; just world-weary, battered, meloncholy, and tough enough to spark this tale into a full flame. His voice-over narrative hit perfect pitch; all gravel, too many smokes, and cheap booze. Mitchum, himself the veteran of several Noir classics, played the gumshoe as comfortable as one's favorite overcoat; a perfect fit. He shuffled lazy-lidded yet irascible and alert, as ready for a sap behind the ear, as he was to be the recipient of the sexual energy radiated off of Charlotte Rampling as Helen, the femme. She, likewise, postured perfectly in the Noir 1940's clothes and hairstyles. John Alonzo, fresh from shooting CHINATOWN, presented us with an LA bathed in just the right mix of golden light and shadow. Jerry Goldsmith delivered another spectacular score, overlapping jazz, blues, and swing, underscoring the action and dialogue masterfully. John Ireland, also a veteran of classic Noir, Anthony Zerbe, and Harry Dean Stanton gave tremendous support with their roles. There was even a couple of glimpses of Sly Stallone ( pre-ROCKY ) as a viscious punk. Some of the critics felt that this lush color film had to try too hard for that Noir feel. I disagree. This movie is a modern Noir classic, even in living color.

Movie Transcends the Material
The photography is perfect, the score is magnificent. Robert Mitchum was made to play a middle aged Philip Marlowe, and his voice over has all the weariness and angst the most die hard noir fan could ask for. The mid-30's sets are impeccable. So what is there to complain about? I think the culprit is Raymond Chandler.

One of the most quotable of the hard-boiled writers, his writing sang but his plots were so convoluted, the reader needs a scorecard to keep track of the story. Marlowe is hired by ex-con Moose Malloy to find his elusive love Velma. Until the bloody finale, that was the last time I was clear about the action.

I commend all the actors for delivering fine performances, particularly Sylvia Myles who played the hopeless alcoholic, Mrs. Florian. She was piercingly pathetic as a nice girl who couldn't quite believe she was a middle-aged drunk. Robert Mitchum allowed merciless lighting that occasionally made him look like a guy who has had one too many face-lifts.

This film version of "Farewell My Lovely" is probably as good as it gets. I recommend "Out of the Past" for Mitchum and noir fans.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

The sets look really cheap.
'Farewell, My Lovely' is a likable detective film, but the sets look really cheap and fake. I didn't get the feeling I was back in Los Angeles in the 1930s; I felt like I was looking at a set that was trying to look like Los Angeles in the 30s. Robert Mitchum is alright, but he is a little too old.

"New" Old Time Detective Thriller
To many of the reviews I've read rave on about Ms. Rampling, and while she is good in her small role, this is a Robert Mitchum Movie, and he is very good in it.....

Actually, if it was B&W you'd look at it like an old Bogie film like "The Big Sleep",or any one of a dozen classic detective flix.....

Anyway, I happen to get my hands on one of the rare DVD's and it was in great shape. But it's the story...this is one of those films you get to watch 5 times before you actually follow everything that's going on......

I truly enjoyed it, and you will too.

the spirit is dead on
purists might debate whether the deviancies from the novel are to positive or detrimental effect, but Mitchum captures Marlowe in a casual and powerful way. the entire Chandler spirit is kept faithfully intact, creatively filled out by excellent lighting & cinemetography, keeping the viewer involved in the neo-noir attitude as if the film was actually made in 1941.

the anne riordan character is replaced by a newspaper hawker who is a little out of place and unexplained, but perhaps charlotte rampling was all the femme fatale they could afford so...better just hire some young kid to float the story.

jack o'halloran is truly believable as moose malloy, and sylvester stallone performs some of his finest work. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Lush Ode to the Hippocratic Oath & True Love
"Not as a Stranger" was an unexpected pleasure once I got past the shock of seeing Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, and Lee Marvin (or his twin)as medical students staring down from tiered seating at a lecturing doctor. Oh, my, I thought, that is NOT a town in which to get sick! I was reeling from mis-casting shock for a number of minutes into the movie, but then Hollywood starting luring me into enjoyment of the performances of these actors cast against type. Bob Mitchum, the penniless son of a hopeless alcoholic (a very WELL-cast Lon Chaney, Jr., alas, in a sad role)wants to be a doctor more than any of his fellow colleagues, many of whom dream of big future salaries and big old 50's cars, in order to set the world right. This strikes me as a realistic characteristic of a child of an alcoholic, who's had chaos thrust upon him and wants to put it back in its place. The fact that Bob Mitchum doesn't look like any doctor most folks would imagine actually starts working for him--he does look Proletarian, he does look like someone who's had a rough time heretofore, and he definitely looks like someone with the physical strength to stand up to a doctor's rigorous career demands. Moreover, Frank Sinatra plays the indulged but basically good-hearted son of a rich man who is in med school to score money afterwards convincingly; he WAS a good actor and I came to enjoy his presence in the role. There is A LOT of information in the film about what a good doctor should know and how difficult the job is; done correctly, medical practice is a, don't laugh, noble calling and the film promotes this view. It also, however, acknowledges the presence of greed and mediocrity among medical men and hospital administrators, so there is a sensible balance between ideal and real. Now, as to the true love aspect, Olivia DeHaviland does a wonderful job as the Swedish-American nurse who loves and supports (and I do mean financially as well as emotionally)Bob Mitchum's young doctor. This is another one of those films in which the luminous, beautifully put-together Ms. DeHaviland is supposed to be, cough! cough!, plain--homely, declasse, etc. Yes, her platinum blonde hair is pulled tight enough to break and the make-up is laid on very sparingly, but for heavens sake why did Hollywood think this woman wasn't a raving beauty? I think perhaps the sincerity with which she played gentle women of character and responsibility is partly to blame for her being cast as un-glamorous. It apparently was as hard to reconcile "good" with "sexy" in olden Hollywood as it is now, sigh...Anyway, the nurse sincerely loves her doctor despite her growing awareness that he considers her more of a convenience than anything else, and for me the romantic tension was not so much in the doctor cheating with the horsy rich vavoom girl as in wondering if the fool man would ever realize what he has at home. Watch this beautifully shot, lush, 50's drama and find out. And enjoy all those character actors and actresses, such as Harry Morgan playing a flat-affected Swede with a wonderful poker face.

One of the first of the medical reality movies
Although many of the scenes in this epic would be judged "hokey" by modern standards, "Not As a Stranger" was one of the first films to give viewers a factual look inside the medical profession and challenge the god-like nature of physicians. Mitchum plays a young man with many personal "issues," who tries to work them out by driving himself to become a stellar doctor. Sinatra plays an uncharacteristically "second banana" role as a stalwart physician-friend to Mitchum and DeHavilland. Broderick Crawford is the demanding and idealistic medical school professor who inspires Mitchum, Bickford is the long-suffering and self-sacrificing family doctor whose practice Mitchum joins, and DeHavilland and Grahame are the two women in his life. DeHavilland represents many doctors' wives through the decades, who were chosen as spouses because of the stability and respectability they offered... not because of love. The anguish this causes DeHavilland in the film is poignantly representative of many other real-life women in her position. Gloria Grahame is also another stereotype of the 1950s, playing a rich, bored, depressed widow who acts out on her pain with sexual promiscuity (which is only referenced in a veiled fashion in this movie). In the end, Mitchum fails himself and his friend and mentor, Bickford, by failing to save Bickford's life when he has a medical crisis of his own. The shattering effect this event has on Mitchum is emphasized by the fact that the only person he can turn to in his grief is his wife, DeHavilland, whom he does not love and who does not love him.

doctor, good cigarettes and bad women are bad for you
This movie is very good, owing to the big amount of stars in his best moment: Robert Mitchum, Sinatra, Olivia de Havilland , too much humble and physically made ugly, as I think Swedes have in the USA an image of purity, hard working and innocence perhaps a little exaggerated here, and Gloria Grahame truly beautiful and superb. It's curious because by the times of 1955 is remarkable how both doctors, patients and everybody smokes a lot everywhere, something today would be politically incorrect. Furthermore, these physicians are good for all: they operate an open heart and in the following minute they attend to a labor and give a baby to light, vaccinate the people, etc. I think there are some excess in that sense, and perhaps a film in color would be more appropriate for these theme, for the blood, etc. The little village Greenville when Mitchum works is also a little blurred, but the whole is a non fully perfect but very good film.

very good
I want to know if you have this movie (Not as a stranger) with spanish subtitles

This the story of a man who thought he had become a god.
This story for a movie buff showsthe medical profession at it's best and worse. The story of a young man who grabs what he wants without counting the cost to those who love him. His ambition drives him. This movie from the book of the same name captures much of the realism of the medical profession of the late forties and early fifties. Robert Mitchum and Olivia de Havilland are well matched. Frank Sinatra plays it close to the vest and is very good as Mitchum's best friend. ... Read more

Amazon.com

One of the lesser holiday movies, this 1949 comedy stars Janet Leigh as a war widow who can't afford to buy her son a toy train for Christmas. A veteran (Robert Mitchum) who happens to be standing by in a department store overhears her plight and offers to purchase the toy, thus setting into motion a series of funny complications. Wendell Corey plays Leigh's suspicious, condescending boyfriend, whose jealousy compounds Mitchum's problems, and Harry Morgan is very good as a night-court judge trying to make sense of everything that happens. The movie didn't do so well at the box office at the time of its release, but it has gained an affectionate fan base over the years. Don't expect Miracle on 34th Street, but as a spirited lark for Yuletide, this is a lot of fun. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Intelligent Christmas Fun
Holiday affair is never mentioned when the roster of Christmas cinema classics is read, which is unfortunate because it's actually a very good movie. It would be unfair to compare this with It's A Wonderful Life which came out three years earlier, or even Miracle on 34th Street (two years before). But the similarities in style and tone are there, this being a feel-good Christmas family movie made with intelligence. The studios must have realised they were on to a good thing.

Underneath the layer of seasonal schmaltz is a story with its roots in the then popular obsession with psychoanalysis. The jilted fiancé makes references to subconscious desires of Janet Leigh's character, and the whole story is based around a Freudian-Oedipus arrangement with the son taking the place of a dead father. But this is all (just) under the surface of the story of little boy who Santa Claus forgot, whose Christmas is made special by a selfless eccentric played by Mitchum. Mitchum is an actor who could be accepted in almost any character - his face gives so little away that he is often described as 'laconic', but it's clear that here he is a good guy who is so honest he even cuckolds poor old Wendell Corey's character in front of him rather than be deceitful. Corey's character of 'the other man' is so doomed from the start to be a poor runner up to Mitchum that it must have been a thankless role for him, but he tackles it well. Watch out too for future M*A*S*H* star Harry Morgan (credited as Henry Morgan) who steals one small scene as a bemused police lieutenant. If you want a change from Frank Capra or James Bond, try this with your turkey and Brussels sprouts.

Such a great movie, I'm reviewing it for the 2nd time!
I had the pleasure of watching this again last night. Invited my family over & we were all in the mood for a nice, holiday movie. I quickly pulled this off the shelf, knowing that they hadn't yet seen it, telling them they were in for a real treat. I tend to watch this every 2 years, so it was time. This movie is like a hidden gem, and though I am sure it received decent reviews when it was first released, there were probably more people who preferred It's A Wonderful Life & other more popular Christmas movies. Holiday Affair holds up well, despite the way things were at the time of the story(late 1940s). Guy meets girl, who is already practically engaged to another man, but that doesn't get in the way of his falling for her in a big way. One way to her heart is the way he quickly wins over her young son, by getting him the much desired set of trains he covets more than anything. Robert Mitchum shines in this film, & plays off both Janet Leigh & Wendell Corey quite well. When I previously reviewed this movie back in November of '98, I wrote it in such a hurry that I misspelled Ms. Leigh's surname, which I made a point to correct this time around. Yet again, I must highly recommend this terrific little movie, and it is an absolute must-have for those that like to collect Christmas themed movies. Definitely a movie to be enjoyed for many Christmases to come, & despite an attempt a few years back with a so-so remake, they just don't make 'em like this anymore. 'Nuff said!

Save your money.
I thought this was a a cheap shot to cash in on the season. It has poor character development, stilted language and a hackneyed plot. It just isn't a cozy Christmas film. Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh rely on sterotypical roles like the "tough guy with a heart of gold" and she is the damsel in distress who almost marries the wrong man." I think a much better holiday sleeper is Christmas in Connecticut.

Holiday Affair
I remember this movie from my teen years and I liked it then as much as I liked seeing it again. Good story line and good acting. I've always liked Bob Mitchum and he plays a good role in this movie. I was happy to add this movie to my collection.

holiday affair
I saw this movie in australia in the fifties and Im almost sure it had an other name it was called christmas in july can anyone help me on that one ? thnk you ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

The preeminent moonshine movie, the 1958 Thunder Road stars Robert Mitchum as a backwoods bootlegger in Tennessee, getting squeezed by both the federal government and organized crime. Mitchum had a big hand in creating this cult favorite (which reportedly played in drive-ins around America for years), writing the script, producing the movie, and even composing and singing the movie's theme song, which became a radio hit. Directed by longtime cinematographer Arthur Ripley, the film is strong on characters and action, the latter fulfilled by a memorable chase scene at the end. Mitchum was at an artistic peak at this point in his career, and this is really an indispensable movie for his fans. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Possibly Robert Mitchum's finest; a must!
This black-and-white movie appeared in countless drive-in theatres in the south during the late 1950's and achieved a cult following as the definite favorite of the good old boy set. In fact, any understanding of southern males who are today between the ages of 45 and 60 is incomplete without considering this movie. Robert Mitchum is a moonshine runner, using souped-up Fords as tankers and fighting both the feds (Gene Barry plays the head fed) and organized crime. The attitude conveyed is that a man should be able to do what he wants on his own land, including make alcohol. Mitchum's movie makes a compelling case for this, one especially receptive to southerners and those who were then between ages 15 and 25.

Thunder Road has thrilling car chase scenes and fine acting performances by Mitchum, Keely Smith, Gene Barry, and Jim Mitchum (Robert's son). A big song was also composed by Mitchum: "The Ballad of Thunder Road." This is one to get and watch over and over again, especially with a six=pack of beer, hot dogs, barbecue, and lots of serious drive-in grade junk (fun) food,

This is for a good old time, so grab it and enjoy!

My All-Time Favorite Movie!
Robert Mitchum is a cool moonshine runner in Thunder Road. It's my all-time favorite movie in a campy way. This is the first movie that had great car chases that I remember, although, of course, the special effects are nowhere up to today's standards. The dialog is corny: (upon viewing the reluctant moonshiner Jeb's funeral procession), (sappily) "They're bringing him back to the valley he never wanted to leave." The acting is corny too - see Keely Smith's open-mouthed expression in the resturant when she turns around to find Robert Mitchum gone. Anyway the story holds together, the characters are interesting, the action is good, and so is the song. Gene Barry is good as the BATF agent. Jim Mitchum (Robert's son who played his younger brother here) was corny. But Robert Mitchum was the coolest!

Moonshine, moonshine, to quench the devil's thirst
IF you're a Robert Mitchum fan, it's almost impossible not to give THUNDER ROAD five stars. Heck, he even wrote and sang the title song.
Mitchum plays Lucas Doolin, a Korean War vet turned Kentucky moonshine runner, a man with "a machine gunner's outlook and death don't faze him much." Times are hard along Thunder Road, the revenuers from Alcohol and Tobacco are stepping up the pressure and a big city operator, Carl Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon), is trying to buy out all the local moonshiners. Luke Doolin is the best runner out there, and when the revenuers & Kogan push, he pushes back.
The revenuers, personified by Troy Barrett (Gene Barry), want to shut down things and especially want help in capturing the big fish Kogan. At one point he even (mistakenly) tries to intimate Luke into cooperating. "I reckon you can do all you say," the sleepy-eyed Luke says after listening to Barrett's threats. "But first you got to catch me. If you can." Kogan's threat is more direct and lethal. He wants to buy out and build his empire. In other words, the moonshiners belong to a loose cooperative and Kogan is threatening a hostile takeover. Barrett tries to win through persuasion; Kogan's goons use guns.
THUNDER ROAD loves cars and driving. When we aren't underneath the souped-up '51 Ford's hood admiring the curves of its engine, we're speeding and chasing and crashing along the rural backroads. The chase scenes were probably pretty exciting for the time, although today they just look quaint and hokey.
Mitchum is, as always, excellent. In an interesting bit of casting, and perhaps as a nod to the dubious paternity in some areas of rural America, Mitchum's son James is cast as his brother Robin Doolin. The less said about his acting the better, but they do look an awful lot alike. Another interesting and somewhat wooden choice is the golden-throated Keely Smith as Mitchum's big city's girlfriend Francie Wymore. As a bonus to her fans, she sings a couple of songs.
THUNDER ROAD is a minor cult classic, most popular in the Appalachia region. I read an interesting bit of trivia from the IMDB site: Elvis Presley was originally offered the part of Robin Doolin, but Tom Parker put the kabosh on it. Now THAT would have been interesting.

Moonrunners Is Better
I Love This Movie So Much but in my opinion the sort of remake ala Thunder Road for the next generation is better entitled Moonrunners its the film The Dukes Of Hazzard was based on and it stars Jim Mitchum Robert Mitchuns son anyway you'll love both movie full of good old crash'em up chases and real good acting so check'em out you won't be dissapointed

Couldn't Get Into It!
(...). This movie plods along at a snail's pace. I haven't been able to watch "Thunder Road" in one sitting EVER, simply because it is so boring. I love Robert Mitchum and the movie looks cool with the 1950s cars and the black & white photography. I really, really wanted to like this film. I even bought the dvd to replace a taped version I had, hoping that a superior picture would do the trick....it didn't. Apart from the car chases, it just drags. No kidding. This movie has a cult following (each to their own) but in my humble opinion, it's a complete yawner. (...) Sorry "Mitch." ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Fascinating teaming of Elizabeth Taylor and Mia Farrow
There is something quite fascinating that continues to draw me back to repeated screenings of "Secret Ceremony". Whether it is the interesting and highly successful teaming of Elizabeth Taylor and Mia farrow, the almost surreal settings of the story or its very unusual storyline I'm not sure, perhaps it's a combination of all those things. Without a doubt it contains one of Elizabeth Taylor's finest, most underrated late 1960's performances just at the time when her Box Office standing was beginning to slip. She had only recently completed "Boom" with Richard Burton which was not successful and I feel as a result this film also suffered even though it is a far better production.

"Secret Ceremony" is set in London and tells the strange story of an wealthy but abandoned young girl Cenci (Farrow) who one day on a bus sees a woman who resembles her dead mother. Cenci in her disturbed mind feels it is her mother and "adapts" the middle aged prostitute Leonora as a replacement mother and takes her back to her strange home to play at being her daughter. Leonora has recently suffered through the lose of her own young daughter and sensing the girl's loneliness and her own unstable situation decides to play along with it and becomes actually attached to the girl in the process. Things become more complicated with the arrival first of Cenci's grasping aunts Hannah and Hilda (played by veteran actresses Peggy Ashcroft and Pamela Brown) who regularly come to the house to harrass Cenci and steal valuable items to resell in their run down antique shop, and secondly by the appearance of Cenci's unwelcome step father Albert (played by Robert Mitcham). As pyschological dramas go this is a winner and hints at many things in its story line such as lesbianism, child abuse and mother complexes. It certainly is not for all tastes which probably explains why rather sadly the film was not a success when released in 1968. What it does boast though are some excellent acting performances with great work from Elizabeth Taylor and Mia Farrow in particular. They have a wonderful screen chemistry together and indeed despite being savaged by the critics at the time I feel Robert Mitcham in his small role portraying a highly unlikeable character delivers great work and his confrontation scenes with Elizabeth have a real electricity about them.

Directed with flair by the famed Joseph losey, he enhanced the eerie atmosphere of this story with one of the great house sets that have ever been used in such a drama. Located in a leafy London suburb it is quite bizzare in its interior decoration and design and fits perfectly into the story. All Byzantine arches and coloured tiles and filled with macarbe dolls and music boxes it is both majestic and overdone which fits in perfectly with the bizzare storyline. Joseph Losey in all his productions always placed great emphasis on the settings of his stories to build the correct atmosphere and here he has excelled. It is hard to really fathom what time this story is set in so detached it seems to be from any sort of outside reality. Even the scenes shot at the beach resort in the off-season period have a strange almost funeral quality to them with misty seascapes and a general lack of people present.

Certainly like alot of Joseph Losey productions "Secret Ceremony" is an acquired taste. I can appreciate the fine acting by the leads and the strange offbeat story has alot to hold your interest. If you are interested in a compelling Elizabeth Taylor film from after her main period of Box Office stardom then "Secret Ceremony" is highly recommended.

certainly a well-kept secret....
having seen few films by either the magnificent ms taylor and/ or ms farrow, i was certainly impressed and would highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys well-made classical psychological dramas. needless to say, the performances here are nearly flawless and i am actually surprised that neither actress was nominated for anything. i must say first of all that i am a lover of the strangest films and often campy ones too so this really was a true find for me. having read the other reviewers comments here, i can agree only so much with anything anyone has written here thus far. generally speaking, i am not fond of leonard maltin as a critic but i believe perhaps his review of this film comes the closest to carefully examining this exercise in psychological drama. secret ceremony can be disturbing at times in it's almost uncompromising depiction of tragedy and how we tend to cope with unbearable incidents. we find ms farrow here playing a young girl in her early twenties named cenci who has never truly accepted her mother's death. she meets lenora played by ms. taylor whom she almost instantaneously believes is her mother and two form a strange friendship. having lost a loved one in her life as well, lenora tends to feel sorry for the young cenci and agree to play "mummy" for her until the meddling aunts or cenci's sleazy, abusive stepfather appear. i didn't particularly find the breakfast scene between cenci and lenora to be repulsive. in fact, rather felt sorry for lenora off and on throughout the film and was glad to see her receive a nourishing meal. so what ?? ms. talor was beginning to gain a bit of weight but i still believe she looked radiantly beautiful in many scenes here. GREAT FILM AND VERY OVERLOOKED BY MANY.

Bizarre, lurid, voyeuristic psychodrama (and campy, too)
I first heard about this film on a radio call-in show in 1985, when I was 14 and *obsessed* with movies. Although I was in Illinois, the show was broadcast out of Philadelphia (WCAU-AM). The show was on from midnight to 5 am (CST), and it was hosted by a guy named Stephen Friedman. It was a call-in show where the subject was nothing but movies--and I swear this guy had seen ALL of them! Does anybody recall this show?? I just loved it!

Anyway, I was intrigued by a conversation he had with a caller on this film. They were talking about what a wild psychological drama it was, and that (at the time) there was basically no way to see the film in its original state. The film had not been released on video yet, and the TV print had been notoriously butchered to make it more "acceptable" for TV. The network (ABC?) even went so far as to shoot additional footage with psychiatrists explaining the sordid details of the story (a la "Psycho", perhaps). Well, I finally tracked it down. So after all these years, the wonder is over...

I can only imagine what I would have made of this film as a naive teenager. Even now I find myself creeped out by the horrible secrets of Mia's character, and by the painful emptiness of the soul of Liz's (this film would be considered bold even today; it's not tame by any standards). Mia's character seems a bit over the top, but I do believe there are people like that in the world. Her past traumas seemed to have led her to have a total lack of physical boundaries with people. As for Liz, she was moving at times, rather unpleasant at times (like in the all-too-real breakfast scene), and practically another character in others (like the fake British accent she adopts on occasion).

There is certainly an element of camp in this film. It doesn't dominate the film, so I wouldn't call it camp. But some of the dialog and sets are not to be believed. Liz croaks out some pretty bad lines, with my favorite being "that's too drab for a spring day--that should be worn on a day when it rains like p*ss!". Robert Mitchum, thoroughly repulsive as Mia's stepfather, gets some of the best (worst) lines, like his line to an overweight Liz, "I'm very fond of cows. Moooooo!".

I don't want to give away the plot, because the film is worth the time just to watch the story unravel and to enjoy the creepy atmosphere (full of baroque-y music, Mia's bizarre mansion, and constant dread). If you put the lapses into camp aside, you'll find it's not a bad psychological drama. You won't regret spending the time to check this unique film out.

Secret Ceremony: A first-rate psycho-drama.
I saw this film for the first time a few weeks ago, and I still can't stop thinking about it. "Secret Ceremony" is a truly fascinating psychological drama directed by Joseph Losey. It stars my favorite actress, the magnificent Elizabeth Taylor. In "Secret Ceremony", Elizabeth Taylor portrays Leonora, a thirtysomething prostitute who is befriended by Cenci(Mia Farrow), a girl who strongly resembles her deceased daughter. Cenci brings Leonora to her large, luxurious house where she starts calling the woman "mommy". At first, Leonora is opposed to acting as Cenci's mother, but she soon realizes that Cenci is a very troubled girl and decides to stay on and look after her. In time, Leonora starts to develop maternal feelings for Cenci, and the two women are then able to create a world of their own where they can live as "mother" and "daughter". Their private world is disrupted, however, when Cenci's lecherous stepfather(Robert Mitchum) enters the scene. This is a rich, strangely moving film that sticks with you long after it has ended. Elizabeth Taylor gives a stunning performance as the complex, emotionally damaged Leonora. It's one of her most daring roles, and Taylor handles it like the consummate actress that she is. As the waifish, deeply disturbed Cenci, Mia Farrow also delivers a top-notch portrayal.

Fascinating Liz Cult flick!
When this movie came out in the late sixties, I remember watching it in a freezing little theater in Fargo, N.D. and I was about the only person in there. I was horrified to see my Cult Queen Liz so heavy and plump and in some ways repulsive, when she's gobbling up the huge breakfast prepared by the really repulsive Mia Farrow--yes, Mia, of the simpering, cutesy, little girl, waifish idiot--and then belches. But I enjoyed a millions more when I recently watched it on TV here in Manhattan. I loved the incredibly furnished mansion where most of the action takes place. Liz is terrific--but still looks bloated. Mia is still repulsive--her whining, babyish voice, and halting delivery--inciting one to slap her. This is a haunting movie, though, and once you've seen it, you've got to study it again--primarily for the decor and furnishings of the London mansion and Liz's mod-English outfits. She actually looks like she's suffering from a terrible hangover throughout the filming--and in reality, she probably was. ... Read more