Movies

[Rusty]

462 - Sabata (1969) - 7/10 - Sabata comes to town and foils a brazen safe theft sponsored by some of the leading citizens of the town. He then gets into a sort of game of cat and mouse with the main bad guy, sometimes aided by a banjo playing gunslinger. Sabata's motivation in all this is pretty murky unless he just likes messing with people, but there are certainly a lot of fun scenes mixed in to the film and Lee Van Cleef is good.


463 - Apache (1954) - 6.5/10 - An Apache warrior escapes from captivity to hide in the mountains. He takes a wife and contemplates taking up farming as well, if only the soldiers in pursuit will let him be. Not the most exciting film, but it was okay.

[Rusty]

464 - Snoopy, Come Home (1972) - 8/10 - Snoopy gets a letter from a girl in the hospital and leaves home to go see her. Charlie Brown is worried about Snoopy and wonders why he left. Snoopy has a few adventures along the way. Not as good as the first film, but still pretty entertaining.


465 - Conversa Acabada (1981) - 5/10 - This biography is about two poets/writers - one in Paris and the other in Lisbon early in the 20th Century. The two were members of the Modernist Movement and they corresponded by letter for a long period of time. The film has actors portray the two men and many of their letters are read out. Unfortunately, the film is pretty boring and their correspondence didn't interest me.


466 - Welcome Mr. Marshall! / Bienvenido, Mister Marshall! (1953) - 7.5/10 - A small Spanish town gets excited about the prospect of American money flowing into their town as part of the Marshall Plan. They have word that the Americans will be visiting their town soon and so they set about to prepare festivities in order to make a good impression. I thought it was fun.


467 - Lonesome Cowboys (1968) - 0/10 - This was pretty wretched.

[Rusty]

468 - A British Picture (1989) - 7/10 - Ken Russell narrates a documentary about his life and career with a young actor as his stand-in for reconstructions. I'm not a Russell fan, but it was kind of interesting with a fair amount of humor.


469 - The Big Gundown (1967) - 8/10 - Lee Van Cleef plays a bounty hunter named Corbett who sets out to track down and capture a Mexican named Cuchillo who is supposed to have raped and killed a 12 year old girl. The pursuit takes them into Mexico with a few twists and turns along the way. It's very well done and entertaining.


470 - Jason and the Argonauts (1963) - 7.5/10 - Jason assembles a crew and goes off in search of the Golden Fleece to help him regain his rightful kingdom. It's a fun adventure with good stop motion effects.


471 - Snow White / Blancanieves (2012) - 8/10 - The fairytale of Snow White is re-imagined in the world of bullfighting. The daughter of a famous bullfighter knows love and loss as a child. As an adult, she teams up with a group of bullfighting dwarves. It's well told in black and white with nice cinematography and a very nice soundtrack. It also serves as a silent film with title cards.

[Rusty]

472 - I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948) - 6/10 - An out of work dancer finds himself on trial for murder. He's innocent, but the evidence, while circumstantial, points his way, His wife tries to find the real killer. It's pretty entertaining, but there are a few too many coincidences


473 - O Processo do Rei (1990) - 5/10 - The wife and brother of the King of Portugal work to get the King off the throne and locked away so that the two can marry. The film looks really nice, but is way too slow and dull.

[Rusty]

474 - The Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks / La torre de los siete jorobados (1944) - 6/10 - A superstitious young man is approached by the ghost of a professor to protect his niece. It turns out that the professor was murdered and the niece may also be a target. The culprits? A group of hunchbacks with a secret they want to keep hidden. There are some nice elements and overall I liked it, but it lacked tension and could be a bit plodding at times.


475 - Intimate Lighting (1965) - 6/10 - A musician and his girlfriend get together with an old friend who is preparing for an upcoming concert. Not much really happens throughout the film and while it isn't bad, it also is pretty bland and not all that interesting.


476 - The Love Eterne / Liang Shan Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai (1963) - 7/10 - A young woman from a wealthy family convinces her parents to let her dress as a male and send her off to attend school. Over the next three years, she forms a strong bond with a classmate and they become 'brothers'. They also find themselves strongly attracted to each other. This is an adaptation of an opera and most of it is sung, which could be a turnoff.


477 - O Sangue (1989) - 6.5/10 - Vicente has to look after himself and his little brother Nino after their father disappears. His girlfriend, Clara, moves in with them and helps keep things going. The uncle of the boys eventually becomes suspicious and wants to take Nino away while a couple of toughs who are owed money from the father want to collect from Vicente. There are a number of things that I liked in the film, but I didn't think it quite flowed together very well at times.


478 - The Last Sunset (1961) - 7/10 - Kirk Douglas stars as Brendan O’Malley. a man who arrives at a Mexican ranch with a Texas lawman (Rock Hudson) not far behind. O'Malley is wanted for killing a man in Texas and the two form a truce to take part in a cattle drive from the ranch to the market in Texas. O'Malley has an ulterior motive in the wife of the rancher (Dorothy Malone), an old flame of his from many years before.


479 - The Brood (1979) - 7.5/10 - A man is concerned about his young daughter while his wife is under the care of a psychologist with unique therapies. The film has nice atmosphere and a nice score.



Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games (2023) (17 minutes)
La Gaspesie pittoresque (1957) (29 minutes)
Like a Dream that Vanishes (1999) (39 minutes)

[Rusty]

480 - Shelter (2007) - 7/10 - Zach is stuck in dead end jobs to help support his sister's son. He's put his dreams of attending art school on hold while his controlling and self-serving sister continually takes advantage. Zach has an off and on romantic relationship with Tori, one of his best friends. During one of the lulls in their relationship, he reconnects with the older brother of another friend and they hit it off. The movie has a tv movie feel to it, but isn''t bad.


481 - It Happened in Broad Daylight / Es geschah am hellichten Tag (1958) - 8.5/10 - A police detective is about to take a job in the Middle East when a murdered child is found in the woods. There have been a couple of similar killings in other areas in recent years that may be the work of the same man. The detective becomes obsessed with solving the case and tracking down the murderer. It's very well done with a nice lead performance.


482 - Major Dundee (1965) - 7/10 - Toward the end of the Civil War, a Union major named Dundee (Charlton Heston) takes a troop of soldiers which includes civilians and Confederate prisoners into Mexico in pursuit of Apaches who have been raiding U.S. bases in Texas. The leader of the Confederate soldiers has a grudge against Dundee, but has given his word to play nice until the Apaches are dealt with. It was decent enough, but nothing particularly special.


483 - Rancho Notorious (1952) - 7.5/10 - When his girlfriend is murdered, a man named Vern (Arthur Kennedy) goes off in pursuit of the killer. He finds the killer's partner soon enough, but has a harder job finding the actual murderer. He befriends an outlaw named Frenchy (Mel Ferrer) and together they travel to a ranch run by a woman named Altar (Marlene Dietrich) who gives refuge to outlaws with no questions asked, as long as she gets her cut. The three leads are all pretty good and there is some nice action as well.


484 - Ramrod (1947) - 6.5/10 - Connie Dickinson (Veronica Lake) gains a ranch when the man she was going to marry decides to leave town and sign the ranch over to her instead of going against local boss Frank Ivey and his gang of thugs. She hires Dave Nash (Joel McCrea) to act as he foreman. He wants to play everything legal, but that may not be possible. This is kind of a lackluster western, though it was entertaining enough at times.


485 - Viva Maria! (1965) - 6.5/10 - Maria (Brigitte Bardot) is the daughter of an Irish revolutionary/terrorist. After her father's death, she travels to Central America where she meets Maria (Jeanne Moreau), a singer in a traveling circus. The two Marias team up to form an act and later to become revolutionaries. It's not a great film, but there were some parts that I enjoyed quite a bit, including the section at the Rodriguez estate.


486 - Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977) - 7.5/10 - Charlie Brown and the gang head to summer camp where several bullies from another cabin try to pick on them. Then there is the big river rafting race with the boys in one raft, the girls in another, Snoopy and Woodstock in a third raft, and the bullies trying to cheat to win in a fourth.


487 - Belarmino (1964) - 7/10 - Belarmino Fragoso was a former National Champion in Portugal in the Featherweight division. The film features a long interview about his career, his manager, his style of fighting, his family, and so on. His former manager is also interviewed briefly. They also have some fight footage mixed in during the later part of the film. I don't have any interest in Portuguese boxing, but it was kind of interesting to watch.

[Rusty]

488 - The Miracle of Marcelino / Marcelino pan y vino (1955) - 7/10 - A monk goes to visit a sick little girl and tells her the story of an orphan boy who was left on the doorstep of a monastery as an infant and was raised by the monks who lived there. He missed having a mother, but the monks took care of him well. It probably had more impact at the time, but is still a fairly decent tale.


489 - Surcos (1951) - 5/10 - A farm family arrives in the big city to seek out a new life in this Spanish attempt at neorealism, but are met with one misfortune after another. some of the scenes aren't bad, but when added together, it amounts to misery porn and I didn't really enjoy it.


490 - British Sounds / See You at Mao (1970) - 2/10 - Godard goes to the UK and does Godard things.


491 - Day of the Outlaw (1959) - 7.5/10 - A band of outlaws comes into a small town of around 20 people while on the run from soldiers after a gold heist. The only thing keeping the men in check and the women safe in town is the powerful leader of the outlaws. Unfortunately, the leader is also mortally wounded. This started out kind of dull, but picked up once the outlaws arrived and ended up pretty good.

[Rusty]

492 - To Be and to Have / Être et avoir (2002) - 6.5/10 - A teacher in rural France has been teaching for 35 years, the last 20 in the same small school with kids ranging in age from 4-13. He is getting close to retirement, though he still enjoys his profession. The film follows the teacher and students over the course of a school year. It was okay, but I didn't find it as interesting as I expected.


493 - Arrebato (1979) - 4/10 - That was a weird movie and not really my kind of film, though I can see why some might love it.


494 - The Woman on the Beach (1947) - 6/10 - A Coast Guard officer is having nightmares after an incident at sea. He becomes engaged to marry a woman, but then becomes involved with the wife of a blind painter. This leads to a strange love triangle. Serviceable, but not great.


495 - Fantasia Lusitana (2010) - 6.5/10 - The film uses narration and archive footage to look at life in Portugal during WWII as they remained neutral and accepted refugees from other countries. The country maintained an illusion of peace and normalcy that visitors from elsewhere did not necessarily share.


496 - Dolls (1986) - 6/10 - When their car breaks down on a stormy night, a little girl with her father and stepmother take refuge in an old mansion. The father and stepmother are very poor parents. Also joining them are a somewhat hapless man and two punk girls that he picked up hitchhiking. The mansion is the home of an elderly couple who make dolls. These dolls are alive, though, and willing to kill. The acting is generally not very good and the film isn't great, but is certainly watchable and has some fun parts.


497 - Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) - 6/10 - A rock band made up of three young women heads to Hollywood where they find plenty of sleazy behavior. This is a batshit soap opera with a cool soundtrack.


498 - Fair of the Dove / La verbena de la Paloma (1935) - 7.5/10 - This musical comedy/drama takes place toward the end of the 19th Century and features a typesetter who is in love with a young woman. He doesn't have a lot of money, but works hard and has a good job. The woman's aunt wants her to marry the (much older) wealthy pharmacist. The typesetter gets jealous when he sees the young woman and her sister in a carriage with the pharmacist. There is quite a bit of humor in the film and I enjoyed the music and setting.


499 - El sur (1983) - 8.5/10 - A young girl lives in the north of Spain with her parents. She is on good terms with each of them, but there is a mystery about her father since he doesn't talk about his past, though she learns some things from her mother. It's a very nice film and while it does feel complete, it would have been interesting if they had shot the rest of the film where she travels to the south, perhaps releasing it as a sequel.

[Rusty]

500 - The Unforgiven (1960) - 7.5/10 - The Zachary family is a respected ranching family, living peacefully and happily until a stranger arrives and turns some of the people in the area against them. He tells a story that the adopted daughter Rachel (Audrey Hepburn) was actually a Kiowa baby taken as an infant. Soon after, a group of Kiowa show up wanting her to be returned to their tribe. That doesn't exactly go down well.


501 - Scanners (1981) - 7/10 - A drifter has the ability to hear other people's thoughts, but has no control over turning it off or muting the voices. A scientist takes him in and introduces him to a drug that can help him control his abilities. He also informs him about another 'scanner' who is either recruiting or killing his fellow scanners and the drifter is on the target list in his bid to take over the world. The scientist is working toward stopping that end. I'm not a big Cronenberg fan, but this was decent.


502 - The Damned United (2009) - 7/10 - Brian Clough was hired to manage the Leeds United football team in 1974, but was fired after only 44 days. He had success at teams both before and after this stop, but didn't mesh well with the team and was soon out. It's a decent enough film and Michael Sheen was good as Clough.

A Movie Trip Through Filmland (1921) (21 minutes)
Le tabac jaune du Québec (1951) (30 minutes)
Oliver (1983) (39 minutes)

[Rusty]

503 - Bilbao (1978) - 3.5/10 - A man becomes obsessed with a prostitute and eventually kidnaps her. I couldn't really get into this one.


504 - Days of Hope /Espoir - Sierra de Teruel (1940) - 6/10 - Republican soldiers battle against Franco's forces during the Spanish Civil War. It was okay.


505 - Great Day in the Morning (1956) - 7/10 - A Southern named Owen with a fast draw and keen shot makes his way into Denver where he soon becomes the owner of a hotel through a game of cards. He becomes a big man in the town, though he has plenty of enemies that only his gun and quick wits seem to keep at bay. He is involved with two women and sort of adopts a young boy whose arrives in town to find that his father is dead. The Civil War starts and Owen is among the Southern minority in a Union town, though he seems little interested in picking a side. This was good with a decent performance from Robert Stack.


506 - Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!) (1980) - 7/10 - Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie travel to France as exchange students with Snoopy and Woodstock tagging along. This wasn't as good as the previous three movies and Peppermint Patty was extra nnoying, but there were some fun parts, too.


507 - The Last Wagon (1956) - 8/10 - Richard Widmark is excellent as Comanche Todd, a white man who lived with the Comanches for most of his life. He is wanted for killing several brothers, but comes to the aid of the survivors of an Apache attack on their wagon train. The last five minutes aren't great, but it doesn't detract from the rest of the film very much.


508 - The Mercenary (1968) - 7/10 - A Polish mercenary and a Mexican revolutionary have a complicated relationship - sometimes working together and sometimes working only for their own ends. There is plenty of action with a few twists and turns thrown in.


509 - Compañeros (1970) - 7/10 - A Swedish arms dealer arrives in Mexico to broker a sale, but the money to pay him is locked in a very strong vault. He travels to the United States to free the only man who knows the combination. That man is a pacifist professor who leads a faction that opposes the general buying the weapons. There is plenty of humor mixed in throughout the film. It's generally a fun film, if a bit long.

[Rusty]

510 - Pellet / El bola (2000) - 8.5/10 - Pellet is a 12 year old boy without any real friends, though he sometimes hangs out with other boys from school who engage in a dangerous game. His home life is tough, but his life outside improves when a new boy joins his class and they become friends. The new boy's home life is very different from his own. The boy who played Pellet was very good.


511 - The Fury of a Patient Man (2016) - 5/10 - Jose gets into a relationship with Ana, but he is using her as part of a plot to get revenge for something from his past. Some parts are better than others, but overall it was fairly lifeless and dull.


512 - Law of Desire / La ley del deseo (1987) - 6/10 - Sex, drugs, movies, and so on play prominent roles. It was so-so.


513 - The Little Apartment / El pisito (1975) - 7/10 - Rodolfo and Petrita have been seeing each other for over a decade, but don't feel that they can get married because they each earn small salaries and can't afford it. Petrita comes up with the idea for Rodolfo to marry an elderly woman in her building so that he can inherit her rent controlled apartment and any savings that she has. This wasn't bad, though it seemed to be more drama than comedy.


514 - Poachers / Furtivos (1975) - 7/10 - Angel lives in an old farmhouse far from the nearest town. He lives with his mother and hunts wolves in the hunting preserve, though he also does some poaching as well. His mother is upset when he is late getting back from town one night and that he brings back a young woman with him. She had escaped from a reform school and was the girlfriend of a wanted criminal before attaching herself to Angel. It was decent and I thought it got better over the last half hour.

[Rusty]

515 - Tepepa (1969) - 5/10 - A Mexican revolutionary battles a police chief while an English doctor seeks to kill the revolutionary for his own reasons. Orson Welles co-stars as the police chief and gives a lackluster performance. The whole film is rather dull and overlong. The soundtrack is decent, though.


516 - Heller in Pink Tights (1960) - 7/10 - Anthony Quinn has a small theater troupe that travels from town to town by wagon in the old West, barely making enough for everybody to eat. Sophia Loren is the leading lady and also Quinn's love interest. Then they become involved with a gunslinger and things get a bit more hectic. This was fairly entertaining and I thought it got better in the second half.


517 - Dodge City (1939) - 8/10 - Errol Flynn stars as Wade Hatton, a man leading a cattle drive into Dodge City, Kansas. He soon discovers that a gang led by Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) does whatever they want in town, including robbery, murder, and so on. Hatton eventually takes on the role of sheriff in order to clean up the town. This is a very nice technicolor western. Olivia de Havilland is the love interest and Alan Hale the sidekick.

[Rusty]

518 - Pursued (1947) - 6/10 - As a boy, Jeb Rand saw his whole family killed, though he repressed those memories. He was taken in by a widow who lived nearby and was raised with her son, Adam, and daughter, Thor. Jeb and Thor fall in love, but Adam is resentful. Then there is the man who keeps trying to get Jeb killed, either by his own hand or those whose strings he pulls. Robert Mitchum stars as the adult Jeb and I didn't think he was great in the role. The film is watchable, but the motivations and actions for most of the characters felt superficial.


519 - Rio Conchos (1964) - 8/10 - Richard Boone stars as Jim Lassiter, a former Confederate major who has been pursuing vengeance against the Apache for killing his family. He comes into possession of a new, more powerful rifle that was part of a shipment stolen from the US Army and is 'recruited' by the army to go on a secret mission with an army captain (Stuart Whitman) and others (Jim Brown, etc.) to track down and destroy the stolen rifles before they can be used against the army or against civilians. The cast does a nice job and there is plenty of action.


520 - Two Rode Together (1961) - 8/10 - A marshal named McCabe (James Stewart) is hired by the army to try and get back white people who have been kidnapped as children over the years by the Comanche. He is accompanied by an old army officer friend (Richard Widmark). McCabe doesn't hold out much hope that the captives who survived will be recognizable by their original families anymore, but does the job anyway. The interplay between Stewart and Widmark is generally fun and the two leads do a nice job in a pretty entertaining film.


521 - Warlock (1959) - 7.5/10 - The town of Warlock has a problem with a gang of cowboys who do whatever they want when they are in town, including killing people and chasing the sheriff out of town. They recruit noted gunfighter Clay Blaisedell (Henry Fonda) to be the town marshal and bring order to the town. He is accompanied by his friend Tom Morgan (Anthony Quinn) and later aided by Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark), a former member of the gang who is tired of the behavior of the others. It's a battle of wills and bullets to clean up the town and bring back law and order. Fonda, Quinn, and Widmark are all pretty good as usual.


522 - The Big Trail (1930) - 7/10 - John Wayne's first leading role has him as a scout who helps guide a wagon train from Missouri to the Oregon Territory. Along the way they encounter numerous and varied trials and tribulations. The acting is decent, though unspectacular. The camerawork and scenery are very good and a number of the scenes are interesting, such as crossing the rivers with all the dangers that entailed.


523 - The Tall Men (1955) - 7.5/10 - After the Civil War, two brothers (Clark Gable, Cameron Mitchell) decide to rob a businessman (Robert Ryan), but instead are talked into leading a cattle drive from Texas to Montana since there is a lot of money to be made. They are later joined by the survivor of a Sioux raid (Jane Russell) which leads to a love triangle. There's a lot of fun stuff throughout the film, including Jane Russell singing a song at various times and a variety of hijinx.


524 - Pale Rider (1985) - 8/10 - The owner of a mining company wants to chase out the independent prospectors from the area, so he has his employees harass, attack, and intimidate the miners and their families. Then one day a stranger (Clint Eastwood) shows up in town and protects a miner under attack. It's like the answer to a prayer as the stranger, who comes to be known as Preacher, extends his protection to the whole independent mining community. I liked the religious/supernatural elements of the film. Eastwood gives his usual good Eastwoodian performance.

[Rusty]

525 - Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl (2009) - 5.5/10 - A man on a train relates his story to the stranger seated next to him. As a young man working as an accountant for his uncle, he fell in love with a young woman he spotted on a balcony across the street. He eventually gets to know her and wants to marry her, but his uncle refuses to support it and fires him. The man has to go off and make his fortune on his own. The film looks nice, but is fairly dull. The relationship with the uncle is odd.

Romance


526 - Uma Abelha na Chuva / A Bee in the Rain (1972) - 5/10 - A man and woman are a couple, but don't really seem to get along very well. She's an aristocrat and he's a landowner, but he's intimidated by her, except maybe when drinking. They go to a play. There's some intrigue with the staff. It's not really all that interesting.

527 - Brandos Costumes / Gentle Costume (1975) -