Archive for January, 1963
It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
On a hilly highway in the California desert are three cars and a truck. In one car are Russell Finch, his wife Emeline, and her obnoxious mother; in another car are Melville Crump and his wife Monica; in another are two pals, Dingman “Dingy” Bell and his obese friend Benjy Benjamin; and in the truck is delivery driver Leonard “Lennie” Pike. Suddenly the four vehicles are nearly struck by a wildly fleeing car that smashes through the guardrail and plummets down the embankment. The other vehicles stop and the men rush to help the injured driver, who turns out to be a wanted felon, “Smiler” Grogan, who is fatally injured and whose dying words to his would-be rescuers are an alert that a large case with hundreds of thousands of dollars is to be found buried beneath “a big W.” A detective arrives at the scene and questions the men, who all explain that they could make no sense of what Grogan was saying. But after the detective and his partner leave, the men begin wondering if Grogan’s dying words are true, and eventually a series of wild misadventures ensues as the four parties begin searching for the mysterious “big W,” find it and the treasure - and find themselves facing potential arrest at the hands of area police captain G.C. Culpepper.
It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World DVD Info:
IMDB Rating: 7.30 out of 10 (6848 votes)
Director: Stanley Kramer
Actors: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters, Edie Adams, Dorothy Provine, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Jim Backus, Ben Blue,
Tags: Drama, Crime, Comedy, Adventure, Action, air-traffic-controller, airplane, airplane-accident, airport, animated-credits, assault, banana-skin, basement, beach, bicycle, billboard, biplane, blackmail, blockbuster, blow-torch, brother-in-law, burglar-alarm, buried-treasure, car-accident, car-chase, car-falling-off-cliff, car-in-water, chase, chinese-laundry, condemned-building, convertible, dentist, desert, digging, double-cross, drunk-scene, dynamite, electric-shock, fall-from-height, famous-score, fire, fire-escape, fire-extinguisher, fire-ladder, firework, fistfight, forklift, gas-station, greed, hangover, hardware-store, helicopter, hospital, husband-wife-relationship, kids-and-family, lifeguard, money-falling-through-air, mother-in-law, multiple-cameos, overture, poke-in-eye, police-detective, police-surveillance, political-corruption, river, road, shower, slapstick, sledge-hammer, stairwell, statue, stolen-money, stop-motion, taxicab, telephone-box, tied-to-chair, tow-truck, treasure-hunt, truck-driver, volkswagen-beetle
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Charade
Regina Lambert returns to Paris from a ski holiday in Switzerland to find that her husband has been murdered. She is later told by CIA agent Hamilton Bartholemew that Charles Lambert was one of five men who stole $250,000 in gold from the U.S. government during World War II, and the government wants it back. The money was not found among his possessions, and Regina can shed no light on its whereabouts. Later that day she is visited by Peter Joshua, whom she had met briefly while on holiday. When her husband’s former partners in crime, who were double-crossed by Charles, start calling her looking for the money, Peter offers to help find it. Thus begins an elaborate charade in which nothing is what it seems to be.
Charade DVD Info:
IMDB Rating: 8.00 out of 10 (14362 votes)
Director: Stanley Donen
Actors: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, Jacques Marin, Paul Bonifas, Thomas Chelimsky, Grégoire Aslan, Marcel Bernier, Raoul Delfosse, Stanley Donen, Colin Drake,
Tags: Mystery, Romance, Crime, Comedy, Thriller, american-abroad, cia, france, hidden-treasure, hitchcockian, hook-for-hand, impostor, match, morgue, murder, paris, paris-france, postage-stamp, punch-and-judy, rare-stamp, rooftop, shower, stamp, subway-chase, trapdoor, us-embassy
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Sword in the Stone, The
This animated feature is set in medieval times. After the English king dies leaving no heir, in the churchyard of a cathedral in London, a sword appears imbedded in a stone inscribed, “Who so pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of England.” Although many try, no one can budge the sword from the stone. Deep in the dark woods, kind, but absent-minded Merlin the Magician begins to teach 11-year-old Arthur, who is called Wart, and lives in the castle of Sir Ector where he’s an apprentice squire to burly, oafish Sir Kay — when he’s not washing stacks of pots and pans in the scullery. By being changed by Merlin into various animals, Wart learns the basic truths of life, but he also runs into the evil Madam Mim, who tries to destroy him. Merlin and Mim have a Wizards’ Duel, during which each changes into various creatures, with Merlin using his wits to win. On New Year’s Day, a great tournament is held in London to pick a new king. Wart, attending as Kay’s squire, forgets Kay’s sword, and runs back to the inn to get it, but the inn is locked. Wart, seeing the sword in the stone, innocently, and easily, pulls it out. When the knights marvel at the wondrous sword and question where he got it, Wart has to prove himself all over again, and again he pulls the sword from the stone. Wart is proclaimed king by the marveling warriors. Wart as King Arthur is apprehensive of his ability to govern, but Merlin returns to reassure him.
Sword in the Stone, The DVD Info:
IMDB Rating: 6.80 out of 10 (4981 votes)
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Actors: Sebastian Cabot, Rickie Sorensen, Karl Swenson, Junius Matthews, Ginny Tyler, Martha Wentworth, Norman Alden, Alan Napier, Richard Reitherman, Robert Reitherman, Thurl Ravenscroft, Barbara Jo Allen,
Tags: Musical, Animation, Fantasy, Family, based-on-book, based-on-novel, blockbuster, disney-animated-feature, kids-and-family, king-arthur, magic, medieval, merlin-the-magician, owl, sword, sword-and-sorcery, title-spoken-by-character, wizard, wizards'-duel
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Birds, The
Guaranteed to make you want to stop bird-watching and put the old bird feeder to the ax—at least for a while. The whole thing starts when Melanie Daniels is crossing a lake and is nipped by a gull. Gradually, incidence of bird damage to humans by pecking increases. Glass windows splinter before diving birds, children are sent home from school to safety, townspeople take refuge in a lunchroom, Miss Daniels in a phone booth, and finally everyone hides in homes tightly boarded up against repeated attacks by the birds. It’s enough to make you kick the next pigeon you come across.
Birds, The DVD Info:
IMDB Rating: 7.80 out of 10 (29918 votes)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Actors: Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Tippi Hedren, Veronica Cartwright, Ethel Griffies, Charles McGraw, Ruth McDevitt, Lonny Chapman, Joe Mantell, Doodles Weaver, Malcolm Atterbury, John McGovern, Karl Swenson, Richard Deacon,
Tags: Fantasy, Horror, Drama, Thriller, binoculars, bird, bird-attack, bird-cage, birthday-party, blindfold, blockbuster, brother-sister-relationship, burned-alive, california, child-in-peril, convertible, corpse, crow, cult-favorite, death-by-animal-attack, death-of-friend, deputy-sheriff, diner, director-cameo, dock, exploding-gas-station, face-slap, farm, fireplace, flashlight, general-store, gift, houseguest, lawyer, love-triangle, man-against-nature, mother-son-relationship, motorboat, no-ending, no-music, old-flame, paranoia, pet-bird, pet-shop, playground, practical-joke, romance, san-francisco-california, school, single-mother, small-town, socialite, teacher, telephone-booth, widow
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