Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick as The Snoop Sisters

Mildred Natwick and Helen Hayes.

Over a decade before Angela Lansbury starred in Murder, She Wrote, Helen Hayes played an elderly mystery author and amateur detective in The Snoop Sisters. The series co-starred Mildred Natwick as Hayes' sister and ran as a 90-minute installment on The NBC Tuesday Mystery Movie during the 1973-74 season. Originally, it shared the time slot with Banacek, Faraday and Company, and Tenafly.

The premise has bestselling writer Ernesta Snoop (Hayes) sharing a large apartment in New York City with her sister Gwendolyn (Mildred Natwick), known to friends simply as G. In the 1972 pilot film, The Female Instinct, Art Carney played the sisters' live-in chauffeur/cook Barney and Lawrence Pressman was their nephew, police Lieutenant Steve Ostrowski.

Lou Antonio as Barney.

By the time the regular series debuted in December 1973, Carney and Pressman had been replaced (Art Carney subsequently won a Best Actor Oscar for 1974's Harry and Tonto). Lou Antonio took over as Barney, transforming the character from a grumpy, elderly ex-con to a younger man who is occasionally befuddled by his employers. Veteran actor Bert Convy assumed the role of the sisters' nephew.

Both cast changes were for the better, especially Antonio whose personality meshes better with Hayes and Natwick. If he looks familiar, you may remember him from Cool Hand Luke or the Star Trek episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."

As a comedy, The Snoop Sisters is a modestly successful TV series that relies heavily on its two stars. Helen Hayes tries a little too hard as Ernesta, stopping just short of playing the part tongue-in-cheek. However, Mildred Natwick finds the perfect balance as G, eliciting chuckles while still making her character believable. Her performance earned her an Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series, beating out co-star Helen Hayes among others.

G as the Bride of Frankenstein and Ernesta--minus mask--as the Monster.

As a mystery, The Snoop Sisters falters badly. The murderer is always easy to guess (though in one episode, no one is murdered). Additionally, some episodes have so much comedy that the mystery comes across as an afterthought. Ironically, the best one--"The Devil Made Me Do It!"--is not really a mystery at all, but an interesting tale about a secret witches' coven.

Vincent Price as a suspect.

The guest stars comprise the most delicious aspect of the series. The list includes a number of highly-respected film and stage stars such as Vincent Price, Paulette Goddard, Roddy McDowall, Victor Buono, Cyril Ritchard, Sam Jaffe, Walter Pigeon, Geraldine Page, and Joan Blondell. Most of them have brief appearances, though Price as a hammy actor and Ritchard as a warlock play major parts. Other guest stars include then-promising newcomers like Jill Clayburgh and William Devane. And, in a most unusual choice, Alice Cooper plays a coven leader called Prince and performs a complete song!

Author-Movie Blogger John Greco Discusses His New Book "The Late Show"

John Greco--author, movie blogger, and photographer—just published his third collection of short stories, The Late Show and Other Tales of Celluloid Malice. This latest book incorporates his love of classic cinema into eight twisty, provocative tales of murder and mayhem. John recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk with us.

Café:  What inspired you to start writing?

John Greco:  Simply put, movies and TV. I first became an avid reader because of movies, reading novels based on films I liked as well as books on films and filmmaking. TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone, both of which my parents hated so watching became a challenge, but both shows were big influences and inspiration.  I didn’t try to write a story though until the early 1990s. My first attempts were dreadful.  After writing a few stories I stopped, mostly because work and life in general got in the way. Surprisingly, some of them still exist. After I retired, I started writing once again, even bringing back from the dead one or two of those early efforts though extremely made over. 

Café:   Are there any autobiographical elements to your stories? I wondered if the boy in "Six-Shooter," the story of a movie theater owner in a small New York town, was based on you.

John Greco:  There are always some elements that are biographical, but they get merged in with pure fiction. For example, I grew up in New York City, not a small town like the character in "Six-Shooter," but yes, I did watch a lot of Western movies and TV shows as a kid. Johnny Mack Brown, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry were staples at the time. That’s about as autobiographical as it gets, the rest is fiction. Ideas come from many sources: newspaper articles, conversations you have with others or overhear, things you see in the street, and even photographs. My own photography has inspired a few ideas. I think there are times you can’t help but toss in a bit that is biographical.

Café:   Many of the films referenced in The Late Show are film noir (e.g. Double Indemnity, Out of the Past). How has that film genre influenced your writing?

Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon.

John Greco:  As you know from my movie blog, I love film noir. Besides the Westerns that I previously mentioned, I watched plenty of gangster films early on. Warner Brothers films were a staple on one of the NYC stations on Sunday afternoons. As you know. Warner’s produced a lot of crime films. Many wintry Sunday afternoons were spent watching Bogart, Cagney, Garfield and company. I believe The Maltese Falcon was the first noir to really knock me out. True, at the time I first watched it I was too young to understand what film noir was. What I liked was Bogart’s Sam Spade character. Sam Spade was the perfect anti-hero. Unlike Cagney, whom I love, many of Bogart’s characters were tough guys who walked both sides of the mean streets. Spade lived on the edge, he lived by his own rules. He was one of the good guys, but in noir even the good guys were complicated. That’s what I found attractive, that along with the dangerous women who sometimes led them astray. Noir characters sometimes do bad things for the right reasons like the young character in "The Butcher’s Kid."

Café:   Who are some of your literary influences?

John Greco:  Joseph Heller was my first literary hero. I still regard his Catch-22 as a masterpiece. But it was James M. Cain who was the first crime writer whose work I fell in love with.  Both his The Postman Rings Twice and Double Indemnity definitely influenced me.  Then there is Elmore Leonard whose work is on a level all its own. He was a master of setting up a situation and twisting it in both a deadly and humorous way.  His characters are insanely unique and cool, and it’s sometimes hard to tell the good guys from the bad. I am also longtime admirer of Lawrence Block, Robert B. Parker, and Donald Westlake among many others. For me though, there is Elmore Leonard and then there is everyone else.

Café:   I know this is a tough question, but which story is your favorite and why?

Author John Greco.

John Greco:  Wow! That is tough. I don’t know if I could pick one, in fact, I know I can’t. In my new collection I would say "The Movie Club" and "The Butcher’s Kid." The latter came to me one day thinking about growing up in Brooklyn. There was a butcher shop called Castellano’s. One of the owners, I think they were two brothers, had a daughter I went to school with and I had a small crush on her at the time. Those small thoughts triggered my idea for the story which is completely fictional. I really like "Good for Nothing" from my short story collection Bitter Ends. It has both the noir quality and dark humor that I strive for in many pieces, though I don’t know if I always succeed at it. I have to mention a few other favorites like "We All Got What We Want," also from Bitter Ends and "Holcomb Bridge" from Devious Tales, both of which have a definite Hitchcockian twist.

Café:   Which of your stories would work best as a movie adaptation and who would you cast in it?

John Greco:  I don’t know about a movie, but some would work as an episode on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. "The Green Light" for example or "Holcomb Bridge." "Make it Right" would work as a Twilight Zone episode. Casting is tough, but I will say for "The Green Light," I always imagined a young Kathleen Turner and William Hurt in the roles of the seductive wife and her chump lover.

Café:   What did your wife think of The Late Show? I mean, there is a lot of killing and one tale is about a husband obsessed with old movies…..

John Greco:  Overall, it didn’t bother her. She reads a lot of mysteries--though one or two of the stories may have been more rough than she likes. As for the title story, when I first gave it to her to read, I thought she would say something like this is an exaggerated version of you and me. That’s the way I saw the story as I was writing it. As you know, I love movies, but I’m not as fanatical as the character in the story and my wife isn’t going to shoot me...at least I hope not! (laughs)

Café:   What are your future publishing plans?

John Greco:  Well, another book is in the works, but it is some time off, maybe toward the end of the year. I am also looking to submit a few stories to both on-line magazines and print magazines.

Café:   Where can interested readers purchase your book?

John Greco:  The Late Show is currently on Amazon. I’m looking to add it to both Barnes and Noble and Kobo in the near future like my other books.


You can learn more about John Greco at his blogs Twenty Four Frames and John Greco-- Author/Photographer.

Clint Eastwood's The Outlaw Josey Wales

While Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) racked up the critical accolades, I still maintain that the best Eastwood-directed Western is The Outlaw Josey Wales. Made 15 years earlier, Josey Wales is an unflinching portrait of a man coping with the loss of his family as the U.S. tries to heal from the wounds of its Civil War.

In the opening scene, farmer Josey Wales (Eastwood) loses his wife, his young son, and his home when a band of pro-Union "Redleg" marauders attack without provocation. Wales survives and joins a group of Confederate guerrillas led by a Captain Fletcher (John Vernon). Following General Robert E. Lee's surrender, Fletcher negotiates an agreement with a U.S. senator to gain amnesty for his men. Wales is the only one that refuses to participate.

Unknown to Fletcher, the amnesty is meaningless and all his soldiers are massacred. Wales opens fire on the Union troops, but eventually flees after being able to save only a young man named Jamie (Sam Bottoms). Wales is branded an outlaw with a bounty on his head. Fletcher and a Redleg named Terrill (Bill McKinney) are tasked with bringing Josey to justice. What Fletcher doesn't know is that Terrill is the man responsible for killing Wales' family.

Sondra Locke as the daughter.

For most of its running time, The Outlaw Josey Wales chronicles its protagonist's unlikely journey. I'm not talking about his trek from Missouri to Texas but rather his emotional journey as he gradually forms a new "family" consisting of an elderly Cherokee, a young Navajo woman, and a pioneer woman and her adult daughter. He provides and protects them while their reliance, gratitude, and friendship help him find peace and eventually a new home.

Eastwood has described The Outlaw Josey Wales as an anti-war film...and it's that, too. Josey avoids an expected showdown with the Comanches by reasoning with their leader. He explains that government leaders cannot be trusted and that treaties must be formed by men who live by their word. (This point is emphasized earlier in the film when the senator reneges on the amnesty agreement made with Fletcher).

Philip Kaufman co-wrote the screenplay and started out directing The Outlaw Josey Wales. However, Kaufman (perhaps best known for The Right Stuff) clashed with Eastwood. At the latter's insistence, Kaufman was removed as director and Eastwood took over. The Directors Guild of America was not pleased with Eastwood's treatment of Kaufman. Subsequently, it implemented what has come to be known as the "Eastwood rule," which prohibits an actor or producer from firing the director and then becoming the director himself.

Chief Dan George.

The standouts in the supporting cast are Chief Dan George as Josey's friend and Paula Trueman, who plays an elderly, opinionated, surprisingly resilient Kansas woman. The latter also appeared with Eastwood in the earlier Paint Your Wagon. Dan George was 74 when he did Josey Wales (he gets most of the good one-liners). He didn't start acting professionally until he was 60, but had already been Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Little Big Man (1970).

It was on the set of The Outlaw Josey Wales that Eastwood met Sondra Locke. The two would become romantically involved for fourteen years. Following their breakup, Locke filed a palimony suit against Eastwood. They eventually settled out of court, but it was a long, complex legal battle. Still, one of their films made when they were together was Bronco Billy (1980). Although a very different film, it's also about the forming of an unlikely family of outcasts. It would make an interesting double-feature with The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Seven Things to Know About Angie Dickinson

1. Angie Dickinson's favorite film role was as the sexy housewife who is brutally murdered after an adulterous encounter in Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill (1980). She told Vanity Fair in a 2008 interview: "I’m good in it, and it’s a great part. I’m sorry I didn’t try to go for an Academy Award for that role. I think I could have won it. But the studio didn’t want to put up the campaign, and I felt that I didn’t want to go for a supporting-actor award, because I’d always thought of myself as the lead, even though by then I wasn’t getting starring roles. I regret it now. Of course, De Palma is to blame for the great performance."

2. She played Sergeant Pepper Martin for four years on Police Woman (1974-78). She received three Emmy nominations for Best Actress (Drama) and four Golden Globe nominations, winning the award in 1975. According to People Magazine, Police Woman was President Gerald Ford's favorite TV series--he once rescheduled a White House press conference because of it. Angie's then-husband Burt Bacharach turned down the opportunity to compose the theme for Police Woman...because he didn't think the show would last long.

3. Angie Dickinson and Frank Sinatra had a ten-year affair. She told Vanity Fair: "Frank and I stayed friends for all those years, and it was just one of those great, comfortable things, where you always desire somebody, but you can live without them."

4. Her 1965 marriage to Burt Bacharach was the second for each of them. Their daughter, Lea Nikki, was born prematurely and later diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. She committed suicide at age 40. Dickinson and Bacharach divorced in 1981. In a 2019 interview that aired on CBS, she said of Bacharach: "He never loved me, I can tell you that right now, the way one loves. He loved in his own way, which is not too good. And so, he had no respect for me."

5. Howard Hawks cast her in Rio Bravo (1959) after watching her in an episode of Perry Mason ("The Case of the One-Eyed Witness").

Angie as "Feathers" in Rio Bravo.

6. Angie Dickinson returned a $75,000 advance on her planned autobiography in 1989. She said the publisher wanted her to address a rumored affair with President John F. Kennedy. She refused to do it and shelved the book after completing 100 pages. In recent years, she has expressed a renewed interest in writing her life story.

7. During one of her many guest appearances on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson noted her outfit and asked Angie Dickinson if she dressed for women or for men. She famously quipped: "I dress for women. I undress for men."

Christopher Lee in The Brides of Fu Manchu

This sequel to 1965's The Face of Fu Manchu is an unexpected improvement on Christopher Lee's debut as the Sax Rohmer's supervillain. Stylistically, it reminded me of an Avengers episode during the Mrs. Peel era--though it could have benefited from the presence of Steed and Mrs. Peel, of course.

The Brides of Fu Manchu opens with the closing scene of the original film, revealing that the criminal genius and his daughter Lin Tang survived the destruction of their lair. It's not long before Fu Manchu has hatched a new plot to dominate the world circa the 1920s.

His archnemesis Nayland Smith suspects a diabolical plot is afoot when the wives and daughters of the world's leading industrialists and scientists start disappearing. To be precise, eleven women from ten countries have been kidnapped in eighteen months. The women--the "brides" of the title--are being held captive by Fu Manchu so that their fathers or husbands will help him build a energy transmission device capable of destroying entire cities.

Douglas Wilmer as Smith.

As in Sax Rohmer's books, Scotland Yard detective Nayland Smith and his associate, Dr. Petrie, are sort of a poor man's Holmes and Watson. Still, it's entertaining to watch Smith match wits with Fu Manchu. The detective makes the first move by disguising one of his men as one of the girls' fathers. Fu Manchu gets the upper hand later when he sets up a reception antenna as a deception, causing Smith to be in the wrong place--resulting in the deaths of 123 people.

Dressed in elegant silk robes, Christopher Lee makes a menacing figure as the supervillain. Yes, it's easy to criticize the casting of a British actor as an Asian character. However, the reality is that the Fu Manchu movies would never have been made without Lee's star power. Douglas Wilmer co-stars as Nayland Smith, replacing Nigel Green who played the hero in The Face of Fu Manchu. Although Green is a fine actor, Wilmer is an upgrade as he's far more convincing as an intellectual man of action.

Producer Harry Alans Towers wrote the script under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck. His screenplay is also an improvement on the first film, interweaving plot elements such as a pit of poisonous vipers, hypnosis, the Foreign Legion, a chase between a roadster and a biplane, and, yes, the BBC.

Tsai Chin as the evil daughter.

A prolific filmmaker, Towers produced a total of five Fu Manchu movies with Christopher Lee as the diabolical title character and Tsai Chin as his daughter: The Face of Fu Manchu (1965); The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966); The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967); The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968); and The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969). If memory serves, the quality drops off significantly after Brides. Douglas Wilmer returns as Nayland Smith for Vengeance, but is replaced by Richard Greene in the last two entries in the series. (For good measure, Towers produced two movies featuring Shirley Eaton as Sax Rohmer's female villain Sumuru.)

You may recognize some familiar faces in the supporting cast. The aforementioned Tsai Chin is still active today, guest starring in TV series like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She also appeared in the 1993 hit The Joy Luck Club, one of the few Hollywood films with an all Asian cast. Burt Kwouk, who plays Fu Manchu's No. 1 henchman, is best known for his comedic skills. He played Cato, Inspector Clouseau's valet, in several Pink Panther films.

Here's a clip from The Brides of Fu Manchu, courtesy of our YouTube Channel:

Hour of the Gun: After the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

James Garner as Wyatt Earp.

A decade after directing the Western classic The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), director John Sturges returned to the Earp-Clanton saga with Hour of the Gun. In narrative terms, it's a sequel; indeed, the opening is the shoot-out at the famed corral in Tombstone, Arizona. However, the two movies are distinctly different in terms of cast, tone, and accuracy. Sturges emphasizes that last point by ending the opening credits with: "This picture is based on fact. This is the way it happened."

In Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, villain Ike Clanton was gunned down in the climax. Hour of the Gun reveals--accurately--that Clanton wasn't involved the gunfight. Only three men died that day at the O.K. Corral, all of them at the hands of the Earp Brothers (Wyatt, Morgan, and Virgil) and Doc Holliday. Although Virgil Earp was the Tombstone marshal, Ike Clanton arranges for the Earps and Holliday to be charged with murder.

When the four men are acquitted during a trial, Clanton takes matters into his own hands. He has one Earp brother maimed and another one murdered, leading Wyatt Earp and Holliday to seek vengeance--and try to stay within the bounds of the law.

Hour of the Gun is a grim Western and, for most of its running time, that's a good thing. James Garner, whose natural humor was always a strength, leaves that levity behind. He portrays Wyatt Earp as an man torn between upholding the law and enforcing retribution. Boasting a mustache and black duds, he transforms into an angel of death wearing a silver badge.

Jason Robards as Doc Holliday.

Garner is wisely paired with Jason Robards as Doc Holliday, who serves as Wyatt's conscience. Robards almost steals the film with his portrayal of the bigger-than-life Holliday, a gambler, alcoholic, and tuberculous-inflicted gunfighter who (in this narrative) values friendship and loyalty above all else. It's the kind of performance that should have earned him an Oscar nomination (he did subsequently win Supporting Actor Oscars for Julia and All the President's Men).

The two leads are backed up by Robert Ryan as Clanton and a bevy of strong supporting players: William Windom, Frank Converse, Steve Ihnat, Jon Voight, Monte Markham, William Schallert, and Albert Salmi. It's interesting to note there are no significant female characters in the film.

Robert Ryan as Ike Clanton.

Despite its claim that "this is the way it happened," the screenplay boasts a few historical inaccuracies. The most obvious is the way it depicts Ike Clanton's demise at the climax. However, compared to previous film versions, to include John Ford's My Darling Clementine, it's much closer to the facts.

James Garner later portrayed a much older Wyatt Earl in Blake Edwards' Sunset (1988), a fictitious tale that had Earp teaming up with cowboy star Tom Mix (Bruce Willis) to solve a mystery in L.A. in 1929. Hollywood's fascination with the legend of Wyatt Earp peaked in the 1990s, with two films about the famous marshal being released within a year of each other:  Tombstone (1993), starring Kurt Russell as Earp, and Wyatt Earp (1994) with Kevin Costner.

Here's the opening scene of Hour of the Gun (1967), courtesy of the Cafe's YouTube Channel:

The Alternate Movie Title Game (Volume 3)

Here are the rules: We will provide an "alternate title" for a classic movie and ask you to name the actual film. Most of these are pretty easy. Please answer no more than three questions per day so others can play. You may have an answer other than the intended one--just be able to defend it! Note that the alternate title may be a variation of the original title or plot description.

1. Unwanted Guest With an Octopus.

2. While the Big Town Stays Awake.

3. The Bubblegun-colored Jungle Animal Visits Again.

4. Hole of Vipers.

5. Authentic Hot Breakfast Food.

6. I Was Rudolf's Double.

7. Pint-sized Roman.

8. Joe & Jerry & Daphne & Josephine.

9. The Kidnapping of Hank McKenna.

10. Incident in Bodega Bay.

11. The Mysterious Dr. Frail.

12. Mystery Writer and the Killer Dentist.

13. Cooler King and the Tunnel King (a really easy one!).

14. Expensive Gems Last a Long Time.

15. Captain Spitfire and The Hawke.

"Marty" and the Precision of Dialogue

Ernest Borgnine as Marty.

Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine) is a lonely 34-year-old butcher who lives with his mother in The Bronx. He has made sacrifices for others, especially his family, at the expense of his own happiness. He has all but given up hope of finding a meaningful relationship with a woman. As he tells his mother, he is tired of being hurt.

Marty's life takes a turn for the better when he meets Clara (Betsy Blair) at the Stardust Ballroom. Clara, a quiet school teacher, has been jilted by her date because she's a "dog." Marty asks her to dance and the two wind up spending the night together. They confide the most intimate secrets to one another. At one point, Marty is so excited at talking with Clara that he literally can't stop.

The next morning, Marty is giddy with the seeds of love. However, his mother and best friend both express reservations about Clara, implying that she's not good enough for Marty. When it comes time to call her, he isn't sure what to do.

Made in 1955, Marty is one of those personal dramas that Hollywood used to excel at making before space adventures and superheroes dominated the boxoffice. Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, one of the great television dramatists of the 1950s, expanded his own 1953 teleplay. In the book The Craft of the Screenwriter, Chayefsky explained the secret to his naturalistic dialogue: "My dialogue is precise. And it’s true. I think out the truth of what the people are saying and why they’re saying it. Dialogue comes because I know what I want my characters to say."

Marty and Clara.

A great example is a lengthy scene in which Marty starts talking about everything and anything as he and Clara exit the ballroom. Realizing he has been dominating the conversation, he tries to stop only to continue again. It's not just what Marty says, but the way he says it and how Borgnine delivers it that make the scene ring true.

Marty provides Ernest Borgnine with the role of a lifetime and he deservedly won a Best Actor Oscar. He had already established himself with strong supporting performances in From Here to Eternity (1953) and Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). Still, it's safe to say that Marty elevated Borgnine to bigger parts (co-lead in 1956's Jubal) and paved the way for an enduring career.

Betsy Blair and Gene Kelly.

Sadly, his co-star Betsy Blair did not fare as well. Actually, Blair almost wasn't cast as Clara due to her left-wing political views. She lobbied hard to co-star in Marty, but gained little ground until her then-husband Gene Kelly got involved. In her autobiography The Memory of All That, she recounts a conversation in which Kelly told MGM executive Dory Schary that he wouldn't make It's Always Fair Weather if Schary didn't help Blair. She wrote: "(Schary) called the American Legion in Washington right there and then, in front of Gene, and he vouched for me. And so I was in Marty."

Although nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Blair lost to Jo Van Fleet in East of Eden. That's a shame for Blair is every bit as good as Borgnine. Her post-Marty career is pretty much forgettable, although there were a few bright spots. Interestingly, both she and Borgnine appeared in variations of Othello:  Blair was in the contemporary jazz drama All Night Long with Patrick McGoohan and Borgnine co-starred in the aforementioned Western Jubal with Glenn Ford.

In addition Borgnine's Oscar, Marty won for Best Picture, Best Director (Delbert Mann), and Best Screenplay (Chayefsky). Rod Steiger originated the role of Marty Piletti in Chayefsky's live TV drama with Nancy Marchand as Clara.

Missing Billy Wilder in "Cactus Flower"

Goldie Hawn as Toni.

I.A.L. Diamond co-wrote some pretty amazing screenplays--his work includes The Apartment and Some Like It Hot. Of course, his writing partner on those films was a guy named Billy Wilder. Mr. Diamond also occasionally branched out on his own. That was the case with the 1969 comedy Cactus Flower, which was based on a French stage play.

Walter Matthau stars as Julian Winston, a New York City dentist who has avoided marriage by telling his much-younger girlfriend Toni (Goldie Hawn) that he's married with three children. When Julian misses a date, Toni assumes he has chosen his wife over her and attempts suicide. A concerned Julian decides to marry Toni. The only problem is that Toni now wants to meet Julian's wife!

Goldie and Walter Matthau.

A desperate Julian tries to convince his highly-efficient nurse, Stephanie (Ingrid Bergman), to pose as his wife. Initially, Stephanie bluntly refuses and advises Julian to tell the truth. However, she has second thoughts and meets with Toni to explain she wants a divorce from Julian. Stephanie is too convincing, however--perhaps because she truly harbors some feelings for Julian?

After watching Cactus Flower for 15 minutes, it's obvious how the movie will end. Therefore, it's just a matter of execution: Can Diamond and the cast make the situations funny enough to justify the predictable plot? The answer is no for most of the film's running time. 

Even the usually delightful Walter Matthau displays an atypical lack of energy--though his lethargy succeeds in counteracting the excessive effort that Goldie Hawn puts in her performance. Amazingly, Goldie not only was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, she won! (For the record, I don't dislike Goldie. I enjoyed her immensely in Overboard...until it began popping up on television every week.)

Jack Weston with Ingrid Bergman.

There are a handful of amusing scenes and Ingrid Bergman makes Stephanie an appealing character. Rick Lenz also scores as Goldie's next-door neighbor, Igor, in the kind of role typically played by Jim Hutton in the 1960s.

As mentioned above, Cactus Flower originated as a 1964 French stage play, Fleur de cactus, written by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy. Abe Burrows adapted it for Broadway in 1965 where it was an immediate hit and ran for almost three years. The Broadway leads were Barry Nelson (Julian), Lauren Bacall (Stephanie), Brenda Vaccaro (Toni), and Burt Brinckerhoff (Igor). Vaccaro and Brinckerhoff were nominated for Tony Awards in the Featured Actress and Actor categories.

As for screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond, he teamed up again with Billy Wilder for his next four films, including the offbeat Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and the underrated Avanti. He then retired from the movie business.

William Holden Leads the Devil's Brigade

Holden as the brigade commander.

A year after the boxoffice hit The Dirty Dozen (1967), David L. Wolper produced another World War II action film about a band of misfits transformed into an efficient combat unit. The differences are that The Devil's Brigade (1968) was based on fact and paints its story on a larger canvas.

William Holden stars as Lieutenant Colonel Robert Frederick, who is tasked with forming a special forces brigade consisting of both American and Canadian soldiers. While the Canadian battalion is already combat-ready, the American unit is saddled with former prisoners and AWOL candidates. Plus, friction forms almost immediately between the disciplined Canadians commanded by Major Crown (Cliff Robertson) and the rambunctious Americans led (sort of) by cigar-crunching Major Bricker (Vince Edwards).

Robertson as Major Crown.

To Crown's puzzlement, Frederick encourages the rivalry between the two battalions. Learning that the Canadians were handpicked, one American soldier (Claude Akins) quips: "Where I come from, the only thing we pick by hand is little yellow daffodils."

However, as sometimes happens in action pictures, a barroom brawl--this one started by local lumberjacks--requires the two sides to work together. Having bonded, the men form a cohesive fighting unit. That's a good thing because the Brigade is soon tasked to take a Nazi-occupied mountain in Italy that no one else has been able to capture.

Even with the real-life Robert Frederick (who retired as a Major-General) as a consultant, it's hard to tell what was fact-based and what was created for dramatic intent in The Devil's Brigade. It is worth noting that, according to the book The Devil's Brigade (co-written by one its members), the barroom brawl incident actually took place and did contribute to team-building. The only significant difference is that the instigators were miners and not lumberjacks.

Claude Akins and Andrew Prine as two
of the American soldiers.

The cast is solid, though they are mostly saddled with stereotypical characters (e.g., Carroll O'Connor's blustery general, Jack Watson's straight-arrow corporal). That may be a result of trying to introduce the audience to too many members of the Devil's Brigade. Holden gets the most screen time, which affords him the opportunity to add some nuance to his mission-focused commander.

It's worth noting that Richard Jaeckel appeared in both The Devil's Brigade and The Dirty Dozen. Also, some non-actors of note make brief appearances: Green Bay Packers football star Paul Hornung, champion middleweight boxer Gene Fullmer, and stunt man/future film director Hal Needham.

Veteran director Andrew V. McLaglen (Victor's son) handles the large-scale action scenes with precision. He also make maximum use of the spectacular mountain scenery in Italy and Utah (which stands in for Montana, where the brigade actually trained).

The Devil's Brigade doesn't rank with the best World War II action movies, but it's a respectable effort that won't disappoint fans of this genre. As for the real-life 1st Special Service Force--the official name for the brigade--its surviving members were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2015.

Seven Things to Know About Eva Gabor

Embed from Getty Images 1. Contrary to their uncanny resemblance, Eva and Zsa Zsa Gabor are not twins. Eva was two years younger than Zsa Zsa and four years younger than sister Magda. In a 1990 Los Angeles Times article, Eva said that Zsa Zsa was considered the "beauty" in the family and Magda was the "smart sister." As for herself, she sighed: "And while I was the ugly duckling, they used to say I had personality."

2. She was chairperson of the board of Eva Gabor International, one of the largest wig-makers in the world. She started the company in 1972. According to her publicist, her appearances on the Home Shopping Network broke sales records. And, yes, one of the wigs looked like her own blonde curls.

Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor.

3. Eva Gabor called playing the role of Lisa Douglas "the best six years of my life...I adored every minute of it." Of course, there was a good deal of Eva in her TV character. When Eva met President Lyndon B. Johnson in real life, she replied: "Hello, Mr. President, darling."

4. Eva was married five times, although she once said she was married "4 1/2 times, because one was on the rebound." Her longest marriage was 13 years to fourth husband, textile millionaire Richard Brown. Although they had known each other for nine months, they decided to get married two hours after Richard proposed. It was such short notice that neither of Eva's sisters could attend. Red Buttons gave away the 33-year-old bride and the wedding took place at the Hotel Flamingo in Las Vegas. After her last marriage ended in divorce in 1983, Eva became the frequent companion of Merv Griffin. She once said of him: "We’ve never been lovers, but we are great, great friends."

5. In a 1990 interview in the Chicago Tribune, she said of her role as a mother: "The other day I was having dinner with Merv and a couple of people, and we were talking about children, and I said, 'Well, my stepchildren love me more than my own.' And Merv said, 'But you don`t have any children of your own,' and I said, 'I don't?'" (Indeed, Eva Gabor never had any children.)

6. Following the cancellation of Green Acres, Eva Gabor only made sporadic appearances in the entertainment field. She was a panelist on The Match Game for a year. She played a matchmaker in a pilot for a TV series in 1990 called Close Encounters, but the show wasn't picked up. She teamed up with Eddie Albert again in the made-for-TV movie Return to Green Acres (1990). Eva and Eddie Albert had previously reunited on Broadway in 1983 in a revival of You Can't Take It With You.

7. In 1995, Eva Gabor broke her hip while traveling in Mexico. When she was admitted to a hospital in Los Angeles, she was found to also be suffering from pneumonia. She died from respiratory failure on July 4th. Both her sisters survived her.

Vanishing Point: A High Speed Road to Destiny

Barry Newman in Vanishing Point.

Rural car chase movies were a staple at drive-in theaters in the 1970s, where you could view Grand Theft Auto, Eat My Dust, and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. The most famous of these films is arguably Vanishing Point, which was released in 1971. Unlike the aforementioned "B" pictures, Vanishing Point was made by a major studio, 20th Century-Fox, and boasted a budget of $1.3 million. It was not intended to be a "drive-in flick," but that's where it found its greatest fame.

Barry Newman stars as Kowalski, a car delivery driver tasked with taking a super-charged 1970 Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. Kowalski bets a friend he can complete the one-way 1250-mile trip in 15.5 hours. By the time he reaches Nevada, his frequent encounters with the highway patrol have gained statewide police interest.

The Dodge Challenger as a high-speed blur on the highway.

Concurrently, his story has attracted media attention thanks to the efforts of Super Soul (Cleavon Little), a blind African American disc jockey. He learns about Kowalski's exploits by monitoring the police band. Super Soul transforms the driver into "the last American hero, the super driver of the Golden West." He also "talks" with Kowalski on live radio, offering encouragement and useful police information.

Newman and Dean Jagger.

As the drama unfolds, the viewer gets glimpses of Kowalski's past though flashbacks, newspaper headlines, and police reports. He was a Medal of Honor winner who served in Vietnam. He worked as a police officer, but fought corruption and was dishonorably discharged. A woman who loved him died in a surfing accident (though it may have been suicide). As he speeds down desert highways, he encounters an old hermit (Dean Jagger), two hippies, and a girl at a gas station. He treats them all with respect and kindness.

Yet, this is literally all we know about the protagonist of Vanishing Point. Even though he's on screen for almost the entire running time, Kowalski remains an enigma. His motive for defying the police (or the Establishment) is never clear. And as he becomes more and more defiant, it becomes obvious to him--and the audience--that his journey cannot end well. In hindsight, Kowalski is the ultimate post-Vietnam 1970s anti-hero. (It's too bad that he takes amphetamines to combat fatigue, since one could argue that the drugs impact his final decision.)

Cleavon Little as Super Soul.

Barry Newman projects the required "cool factor" as Kowalski, but the part doesn't require a lot of acting. In the only other major role, Cleavon Little is electrifying as Super Soul, whose desire to transform Kowalski into an American hero contrasts with his nondescript life in a small, racially-divided Southwestern town.

Of course, the film's most famous "actor" is the white Dodge Challenger, which zips across the highways and desert landscapes at high-octane speeds. On the DVD commentary track, director Richard Sarafian reveals that the crew "burned up about eight of the Challengers" during the shoot. In 2011, a Pennsylvania Dodge dealer worked with the company to produce ten Kowalski Editions of the famous white muscle car.

Some fun facts:

• The Vanishing Point soundtrack has also gained fame over the years. The film includes an appearance by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends (which include Rita Coolidge). Kim Carnes, who would later gain fame as a singer ("Bette Davis Eyes") wrote two songs for the soundtrack.
• A scene with Charlotte Rampling as a hitch-hiker was cut from the U.S. release.
• Viggo Mortensen played Kowalski in a 1997 made-for-TV remake.

Here's a clip from Vanishing Point from our YouTube Channel:

Ghidorah Makes His Film Debut in the First Smackdown!

Ghidorah (center) battling Mothra and Godzilla.

When I first saw Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster at the Winston Theatre in 1965, it was a different movie. The title monster's name was Ghidrah (no "o"), the dialogue was dubbed, and the movie was viewed through the eyes of a squirming youngster. Five decades later, I watched a subtitled Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster...and enjoyed it more than the first time.

Akiko Wakabayashi as the princess.

The plot was certainly more complex than I remembered. Assassins want to kill Princess Selina Salno of Selgina before she can visit neighboring Japan. Moments before her plane explodes, she is warned by a flashing light in the night sky. She walks to the exit door and--with no parachute--jumps out of the plane just before it bursts into flames. When we next see her, she claims to be a princess from Venus who has come to Earth to warn it of impending disaster. She has no memory of her life in Selgina.

Meanwhile, monsters Godzilla and Rodan have re-emerged to fight one another...and destroy a few cities in the process. Unknown to them, a meteorite "hatches" to reveal a flying, three-headed dragon hellbent on destroying the Earth. The Venusian princess confirms that this creature, Ghidorah, wiped out all life on Venus and must be stopped. Fortunately, it just happens that the Shobijin, the twin fairies from Infant Island, are visiting Japan. They send for Mothra in the hope that she can convince Godzilla and Rodan to team up to defeat Ghidorah.

Mothra--in her larva state.

One's understanding and appreciation of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster depends on whether one has seen the previous kaiju films, especially Mothra (1961). I can imagine novice viewers getting a little confused when the tiny Shobijin start singing their Mothra song!

The first forty minutes focus mostly on Selina's transformation from an Earthly princess to a Venusian one. It's not without interest, but the plot picks up considerably when Godzilla makes his first appearance.

The special effects possess a quaint charm in this day of elaborate CGI. Even in the 1960s, as a wee lad, I could tell the difference between an actor traipsing around in a monster suit and the impressive stop-motion animation creatures of Ray Harryhausen. The miniature sets, though, still look impressive--though one needs to appreciate them quickly before they're crushed as collateral damage amid the monster battles.

Ghidorah's three heads.

As for for the gold-colored Ghidorah, I think he's one of special effects specialist Eiji Tsuburaya's most inventive creatures with each of his three heads capable of spewing forth a "gravity beam." He proved to be a popular villain and returned the following year in Invasion of Astro-Monster (known as Monster Zero in the U.S.). In the original kaiju films that spanned 1954-75 (known as the Showa Era), Ghidorah was a villain. His origin story changed in post-Showa films and he was sometimes portrayed as a hero.

The Shobijin summon Mothra.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster marks the third and final appearance of twins Emi Itō and Yumi Itō. They first appeared in Mothra as the Infant Island fairies who can summon Mothra and resurfaced in Mothra vs. Godzilla (aka Godzilla vs. the Thing) in 1964. They're typically called Shobijin these days, though they are referred by other names, such as the Alilenas, depending on the movie and translation. In real life, the twins had a successful recording career as The Peanuts for several years. Emi died in 2012 and Yumi in 2016.

Movie-TV Connection Game (January 2020)

A Robert Preston and Elton John connection.

The rules:  You will be given a pair or trio of films or performers and will be required to to find the common connection. It could be anything--two stars who acted in the same movie, two movies that share a common theme, etc. As always, don't answer all the questions so others can play, too. There is a single best answer for each question. Yes, that's means we're looking for something in particular!

1. Danny Kaye and Yul Brynner.

2. Claude Rains and Ben Murphy.

3. Ben Murphy and Robert Redford.

4. Roger Moore and Barry Nelson.

5. John Denver and Connie Stevens.

6. The TV series Hawaiian Eye and Walt Disney's film Pinocchio.

7. The TV series Love, American Style and Happy Days.

8. Albert Finney and Tony Randall.

9. Michael Caine and Peter Fonda.

10. John Travolta and David Soul.

11. Paul Newman and Ben Gazzara.

12. The TV series The High Chaparral and Harry O.

13. Elton John and Robert Preston.

14. Sidney Poitier and Bette Davis.

15. The TV series The FBI and The Invaders.

Fahrenheit 451--Bradbury by Way of Truffaut

Montag prepares to burn.

Guy Montag is a "fireman" in a futuristic society--except that he starts fires as opposed to putting them out. To be precise, Montag (Oskar Werner) burns books since reading is forbidden by the government. Montag lives in a nice house in the suburbs with his vacuous wife Linda (Julie Christie). It's a mundane existence, but he doesn't question it until he encounters a neighbor, Clarisse (also Christie), on the train to work. A schoolteacher, she asks if Montag has ever read one of the books he burns.

That single questions sparks his curiosity, leading Montag to secretly confiscate a copy of David Copperfield. He reads it and becomes passionate about literature--any kind of literature. Soon, he is hiding books all over the house and taking significant risks to satisfy his irrepressible desire to read.

Oskar Werner as Montag.

Made in 1966, Fahrenheit 451 is the first adaptation of Ray Bradbury's popular 1953 science fiction novel of the same title. Bradley wrote his book in a library's basement paying ten cents per hour to use a typewriter. The title is the result of a phone call to a fireman, in which Bradbury asked him at what temperature paper began to burn. (Bradbury admits he used the given answer...without conducting any additional research.)

The film adaptation was an awkward proposition from the beginning. Critic-turned-filmmaker Francios Truffaut was chosen to direct and co-write the screenplay based on his international successes The 400 Blows and Jules and Jim. However, it was an English-language production and Truffaut did not speak English at the time. He also frequently clashed on the set with his star, Oskar Werner, even though Werner had starred in the earlier Jules and Jim (1962). Their confrontations became so fractured that Werner had his hair cut during the filming, thereby creating continuity challenges for Truffaut.

The casting of the lead actresses also sparked a minor controversy. Originally, Julie Christie was supposed to play Linda only. Actresses such as Jane Fonda and Jean Seberg were considered for the role of Clarisse. Truffaut liked the idea of casting the same actress in both roles, as he saw Linda and Clarisse as opposites. However, Bradbury--who held a favorable impression of the film version--thought it would have been more effective to have different actresses in the parts.

Julie Christie as Linda and as Clarisse.

Taken as a whole, Fahrenheit 451 is a thought-provoking motion picture that seems cold and distant. Clarisse is the only character that evokes any kind of warmth. If the intent was to show Montag transform from an empty shell to a feeling person, then it simply doesn't work. Werner's character remains an enigma at the end, though he now devotes himself to keeping literature alive. Perhaps, the deteriorating relationship between Werner and Truffaut carried over into the actor's performance.

Interesting ideas abound, from a newspaper which contain only pictures to a class Montag teaches to novice fireman on where to look for hidden books. Even the opening credits are clever, in that they are read aloud and never shown on screen.

Truffaut turned to a former Hitchcock collaborator, Bernard Herrmann, to compose the score. It is one of the film's highlights, though the other worldly quality sometimes reminded me of his music for The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).

Below is a clip from Fahrenheit 451, courtesy of our YouTube channel. The symbol shown repeatedly is a salamander, not a dragon.

The Brotherhood of the Bell

Glenn Ford as Andrew Patterson.

During an induction ceremony into the Brotherhood of the Bell, St. George College student Philip Dunning is told that his secret society brethren will take care of him. They will mentor him, provide useful business contacts, and put him on the path to financial success. In return, he only has to do what the Brotherhood asks of him at a future date.

Andrew Patterson, a long-time brother who attended Dunning's ceremony, learns that it's his time to do the Brotherhood's bidding. He receives a letter instructing him to ensure that one of his colleagues at the Institute for the Study of Western Civilization turns down a job offer from another academic institution. If his colleague refuses to comply, Patterson (Glenn Ford) is to threaten to release information about the people who helped the man to defect.

Rosemary Forsyth as
Andrew's confused wife.

Patterson tries to refuse the assignment. But he eventually does threaten to use the letter and learns the next day that his colleague has committed suicide. Racked with guilt, Patterson tries to expose the Brotherhood of the Bell--not realizing how strong a grip the secret society has on every aspect of his life.

Made for television in 1971, The Brotherhood of the Bell is an effective paranoid thriller for most of its 100-minute running time. Much of the credit belongs to Glenn Ford, who creates a believable and sympathetic protagonist.

One wishes, however, that his character--a well-regarded researcher at a Los Angeles think tank--would display more intelligence. When he meets with a "federal agent," he neglects to confirm the man's identification. He also takes on the Brotherhood without first considering the second-order effects on his family. Without documented proof or collaborating witnesses, why would Andrew Patterson think that anyone would believe his preposterous story about an all-powerful secret society?

Based on a novel by David Karp, an earlier version of The Brotherhood of the Bell was produced as a live TV drama on the Studio One anthology series in 1958. It starred Cameron Mitchell, Tom Drake, and Joanne Dru. Although Karp didn't write the Studio One teleplay, he did pen scripts for TV series such as The Untouchables, I Spy, and The Defenders (for which he won an Emmy). For the 1970 telefilm The Brotherhood of the Bell, Karp adapted his own book. He went on to create the Hawkins TV series for James Stewart in 1973.

I'd be curious to know if Karp differed from his novel to add the scene featuring William Conrad as an incendiary TV show host who disparages Patterson. It comes across as a needless scene created just to extend the running time.

Dean Jagger as a baddie.

The Brotherhood of the Bell is an absorbing film that goes on too long and opts for a contrived, unbelievable ending. Those weaknesses are overcome, however, by its original, disturbing premise and strong acting by Ford and Dean Jagger, who exudes quiet menace in a villainous role.

The Skulls (2000) shares many similarities, but limits its plot to a college setting. The much earlier Black Legion (1937), starring Humphrey Bogart, is also about a secret society. It works on a smaller scale, too, with the purpose of the title organization to instill fear in foreign workers.

Seven Thing to Know About the Adventures of Superman TV Series

George Reeves as Superman.

1. Although athletic, George Reeves was not signed to play Superman because of his physique. According to Bruce Scivally's book Superman on Film, Television, Radio and Broadway, the 37-year-old Reeves wore shoulder pads and "muscle pads" that covered his upper chest and biceps.

2. Although George Reeves signed a seven-year contract for the Adventures of Superman, he demanded a raise once the series became popular. Reluctant to pay their star more, the producers asked Kirk Alyn--who played Superman in two serials--if he'd be interested in replacing Reeves. He replied that he'd want the same amount of salary, so Reeves was retained.

Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane.

3. The 2006 film Hollywoodland implies that George Reeves's alleged jealous mistress Toni Mannix, wife of MGM general manager Eddie Mannix, had Phyllis Coates fired as Lois Lane after the first season. In a 2006 interview, Coates disputed that claim, stating she, Reeves, and Mannix were good friends. She said that she left the series on her own accord to shoot a pilot for a TV series that was never picked up. Coates was replaced by Noel Neill, who had played Lois Lane in the serials with Kirk Alyn.

4. Starting in 1954, the Adventures of Superman started filming all episodes in color. That was unusual at the time because of the scarcity of color televisions on the market. However, it turned out to be a stroke of genius once color TVs became commonplace and syndicated color shows were in great demand. Incidentally, in the black-and-white episodes, Superman's costume was brown and gray--not blue, red, and yellow.

5. In preparation for his post-Superman career, George Reeves became a member of the Directors Guild of America. He directed the final three episodes of the Adventures of Superman and was preparing to direct a science fiction movie.

Reeves and Leonore Lemmon.

6. George Reeves allegedly committed suicide in 1959, at age 45, prior to the start of another season of Adventures of Superman. His fiancee, Leonore Lemmon, was downstairs in his house with guests when they heard a gunshot in Reeves' room. In an Associated Press article at the time, Lemmon offered a reason for his possible suicide: "Because he was known as Superman. He couldn't get a job. That combined with the fact that a woman never got off his back. I think everything just swooped down on a very sensitive man." The quote about that "woman" may have been a reference to Toni Mannix. George Reeves' mother thought it was not suicide and hired famous Hollywood attorney Jerry Geisler to investigate her son's death. However, Geisler uncovered no new evidence.

7. Adventures of Superman ran for six seasons and 104 episodes. A number of now-famous actors appeared as guest stars, to include: Chuck Connors, Hugh Beaumont, Claude Akins, Billy Gray, Russell Johnson, and John Banner (Schultz on Hogan's Heroes).