When James Cameron was growing up, he's often said, “I read any book with a spaceship on it,” and science fiction movies inspired him to become a director. Now, with “James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction,” he's returning the favor. Made under the AMC Visionaries rubric and debuting on that...
The overflowing riches of Texas’ cinematic legacy are on display in “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” a selection of films recently made available for Filmstruck subscribers as part of the streaming service’s ever-evolving library. Classic movie buffs will be no strangers to the epic drama of George...
Los Angeles Plays Itself Cal Arts professor and filmmaker Thom Andersen’s 2003 film essay about the myriad uses of the City of Angels as both location and character in everything from “Rebel Without a Cause” to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and “The Big Sleep” to “L.A. Confidential” is a must-see...
It was a role Susan Sarandon was in some ways destined to play: the tempestuous Bette Davis. Welcome to the latest edition of the Classic Hollywood newsletter. I’m Scott Sandell, and this week we’ve got our eye on the story behind Sarandon’s Emmy-nominated turn in “Feud: Bette and Joan.” Producer-writer-director...
One hundred years ago, the United States entered World War I, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded, and Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin were among those who ruled the silent silver screen. On Aug. 6, 1917, Robert Charles Duran Mitchum was born, the son of an Irish-Scottish railroad worker and...
It was the ’80s, so the films of 1987 naturally had big stars, big hair and big soundtracks. The year’s most popular movie, however improbably, was a remake of a French comedy, “Three Men and a Baby,” starring Steve Guttenberg, Tom Selleck and Ted Danson, and directed by Leonard Nimoy. It beat...
Actor Robert Mitchum broke into Hollywood doing Hopalong Cassidy westerns in the early 1940s. He moved up quickly, appearing in war pictures such as “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” and “The Story G.I. Joe,” earning an Oscar nomination for the latter, his sole acknowledgment by the academy. Neither...
“Now here’s something we hope you’ll really like!” “Santie Claus, why? Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why?” “My name is Talky Tina, and I’m going to kill you.” By invoking just a few words, you can hear the voice — or rather, the voices — of June Foray. Welcome to the latest edition of...
On Aug. 6, 100 years ago, Robert Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Conn., though he once claimed he didn’t have a hometown. Humble beginnings led to several trips west, at least one in a boxcar, before he found stardom in Hollywood as one of its most iconic mid-century leading men. The actor, who...
A friend and I were standing on a corner waiting for the light to change, talking about the FX series “Feud.” “Isn’t it great,” he said, “how much it winds up on Joan Crawford’s side?” Yes, but no, I started to reply, but before I could we crossed and the conversation turned away. I wondered if...
It's a time when television is all the rage, when what's being done on the small screen is the envy of Hollywood. It's a time like today, only it's not. That time was the 1950s, when anthology shows like “Playhouse 90,” “Studio One,” “The Elgin Hour” and “Goodyear Television Playhouse” ran original...
To Jamie Lee Curtis, “the Chinese Theatre humanized, in the hand and footprints, the famous. It wasn’t a glossy picture that seemed unattainable, but something human and tangible.” To Carol Burnett, it was the place her grandmother flagged down Linda Darnell for an autograph — and little Carol...