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Since the first awards ceremony in 1929, the Academy Awards — colloquially known as the Oscars — have chosen the "best picture" in cinema every single year, with varying results. Still, a lot of the time, the Oscars at least gets it sort of right; to use a recent example, "The Shape of Water" is a good movie, but it was also competing against "Get Out" and "Lady Bird," so even a well-liked film like Guillermo del Toro's unexpected love story can spark a larger discussion about the Oscars and how they choose their winners. But I digress. Some of the historical best picture winners are (almost) universally beloved, with 99% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

With acclaimed films like "Moonlight" and "Schindler's List" not far behind on Rotten Tomatoes' ranking of every best picture winner in Oscars history (both movies have a 98% rating), the following four films are, apparently, pretty close to perfect.

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Juror #2 is a legal thriller drama film directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Jonathan Abrams. The 2024 film follows Justin Kemp, an ordinary member who is called upon to serve as a jury member in a murder case. However, when he realizes that the suspect is not really the murderer, he tries to sway the jury without telling anyone the truth without anyone finding out the truth, because if it comes out, it will destroy his life. Juror #2 stars Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Gabriel Basso, Zoey Deutch, and Cedric Yarbrough. So, if you loved the thrilling courtroom drama, intense twists, and compelling characters in Juror #2, here are some similar movies you should check out next.

12 Angry Men Credit – United Artists

12 Angry Men is a legal thriller drama film directed by Sidney Lumet...

A film historian might argue that the modern notion of the "blockbuster" wasn't born until 1975. It was that year that Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" was booked to open in hundreds of theaters simultaneously, a practice that was still uncommon at the time. In so doing, "Jaws" essentially created the "opening weekend," a notion that Hollywood is still enamored of to this day. Additionally, "Jaws" ramped up the marketing blitz, flooding advertising spaces with the "Jaws" logo. Giant commercial entertainments haven't been the same since. "Jaws" kicked the door down.

Of course, two years before, "The Exorcist" had already helped get that door unlocked. It wasn't opened as widely as "Jaws," but "The Exorcist" had staying power. It opened the day after Christmas in 1973, and ran in theaters continuously for 105 straight weeks. It has the biggest Christmas opening weekend of all time, only beaten by "Titanic" 34 years later. The world, it seemed,...

The Exorcist is my choice for the best horror movie of all time. Some may say Rosemary’s Baby or The Shining or Night of the Living Dead, but as a good Catholic boy, nothing has ever gotten under my skin the way William Friedkin’s original did. But, with great success comes the desire for Hollywood to make a hit into a franchise, but Friedkin was not a franchise director. He famously turned down French Connection II, but the studio, perhaps noticing how the second French Connection turned out decently, decided to go ahead and turn it into a franchise. Still, the results, with one notable exception were a disaster. So without any further adieu, here’s our list of Exorcist movies ranked – from worst to best.

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

So, worst is a degree here rather than a black-and-white fact. All of the Exorcist sequels – with that one...

Emmy voters are now halfway through final balloting for this year’s awards, making decisions about which drama and comedy series, limited series, talk series, variety series and specials, structured and unstructured reality programs, reality competition shows, animated programs, documentary and nonfiction programs and game shows they like best.

And, oh yeah, they’re also picking their favorite TV movies, although they probably won’t have to think too long or too hard about what seems to have become the Emmys’ least consequential category.

It wasn’t always like that. The Outstanding TV Movie category has produced some notable television, including “Death of a Salesman” with Lee J. Cobb, the ultimate tearjerker “Brian’s Song,” the shocking “Special Bulletin”and 21st century standouts “The Gathering Storm,” “Recount,” “Grey Gardens,” “Behind the Candelabra” and even last year’s winner, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”

Over the years, the category has often been...

Culver City, Calif. – Celebrate 100 years of Columbia Pictures and complete your Columbia Classics collection as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment proudly debuts six more iconic films from its library on 4K Ultra HD disc for the first time ever, exclusively within the Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 5, available October 1. This must-own set includes a variety of powerful and moving award-winning favorites: All The King’S Men, On The Waterfront, A Man For All Seasons, Tootsie, The Age Of Innocence and Little Women (2019). Each film is presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range, and five of the films include immersive Dolby Atmos mixes.

The six films in the Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 5 are only available on 4K Ultra HD disc within this special limited edition collector’s set. Included with the collection is a gorgeous hardbound 80-page book, featuring in-depth sections about the making of...

On July 17, 1926, a theater opened in Portland, Oregon. Talkies were still a year away and the Great Depression hadn’t yet struck vaudeville, so it played host to variety acts, as well as silent films paired with an 8-piece orchestra and organist. It was called the Hollywood Theatre and its popularity grew so rapidly that soon, the entire district around the theater became known as the Hollywood of Portland. Today it remains the last theater of its era still standing in the City of Roses and showcases both first-run films and a wide range of repertory cinema.

Put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, the theater has three auditoriums, one of which features a 50-foot screen and 384 seats. In 1997, the theater was made a non-profit, with major renovations taking place between 2011 and 2015 that revitalized the marquee and brought back 70mm screening capabilities. Extending its reach beyond its doors,...

Just as most young actors who headed to New York post World War II, Eva Marie Saint was a staple on live television. In fact, her first TV appearance was in 1947 in a production of “A Christmas Carol” starring John Carradine as Scrooge. Saint, who celebrates her 100th birthday on July 4, told me in a 2013 L.A. Times interview that she didn’t appear on screen in her first TV gig that same year on NBC’s “The Borden Show.” She was hired to simply supply applause off-camera and called her parents to tell them the good news. “After the show, they called me and mom said, ‘Honey, we just love the show, and Dad thinks he heard you applauding.”’

Doing live TV got the lithe blonde actress a lot of exposure. One time it was way too much exposure. Between 1950-52, Saint appeared as the daughter of a high-powered San...

Imagine you’re seeing a poster for a movie. With 12 people sitting in a courtroom, you see that the movie is of a crime/thriller genre. However, as you get closer to the image, the faces of the 12 people turn into absolute horror. Well… that is exactly what happened with Amazon and Prime Video.

12 Angry Men (1957) | Orion-Nova Productions

With the posters of classic movies being displayed on the Ott streaming service, fans were in for a little surprise. Well, that surprise turned into a nightmare as the usage of AI has become increasingly frustrating for people who prefer originality a bit more.

Amazon Prime Video And 12 Angry Men Scared Away The Viewers!

If you saw the above image, you are now a part of the 12 Angry Men discussion. The 1957 film was an adaptation of a 1954 teleplay by the same name. Despite the movie being more than 50 years old,...

At the 27th Academy Awards, Oscar helped Edmond O’Brien win an Oscar.

O’Brien played sleazy show biz publicist Oscar Muldoon in 1954’s “The Barefoot Contessa,” which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. Bogart had been crowned Best Actor of 1951 for “The African Queen,” and had also contended for the same award for 1943’s Best Picture, “Casablanca.” Gardner was coming off of her first and only nomination, for Best Actress in 1953’s “Mogambo.” “The Barefoot Contessa” was written and directed by Academy favorite Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had won back-to-back Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for 1949’s “A Letter to Three Wives” and 1950’s Best Picture, “All About Eve.”

”The Barefoot Contessa” didn’t fare quite as well at the Oscars as “Letter” or “Eve.” Neither Bogart or Gardner received nominations, though Bogart was cited for his role in that same year’s Best Picture entry “The Caine Mutiny.

When screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides was asked about the complex layers of meaning running through his adaptation of Mickey Spillane‘s classic crime novel “Kiss Me Deadly,” he denied having any conscious intention of exploring the post-wwii anxieties that gave the film its jittery core. “People ask me about the hidden meanings in the script,” he told an interviewer. “About the A-bomb, about McCarthyism, what does the poetry mean, and so on. And I can only say that I didn’t think about it when I wrote it . . . I was having fun.” Bezzerides may have been just “having fun,” but in the process, he and director Robert Aldrich crafted one of the greatest noirs of all time, an apocalyptic detective story that looks into the heart of 1950s America and sees annihilation.

It’s one of several stone-cold masterpieces written by the novelist-turned-screenwriter, whose work is being properly acknowledged by the...

Rereleased for its 70th anniversary, Elia Kazan’s classic exploration of corruption and whether or not to squeal is made all the more viscerally powerful by his own Huac testimony

‘The Romans found out what a handful could do, if it’s the right handful,” says Karl Malden’s priest Father Pete Barry to the crowd of sullen, nervous New Jersey longshoremen he’s persuaded to come to his church, like the early Christians hiding in caves; they are wondering whether to stand up to the crooked union mob boss Johnny Friendly, played by Lee J Cobb. Meanwhile, ex-boxer Terry Malloy, played by Marlon Brando, sits at the back of the church, smirking and eavesdropping; midway between Judas and Jesus, he is the washed-up fighter who gets cushy dockworker jobs from Johnny in return for shameful dirty work, his stevedore’s hook hitched over his shoulder. It’s same kind...

Honors were even atop the U.K. and Ireland box office as Universal’s “Kung Fu Panda 4” and Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” battled for top spot during the Easter holiday weekend.

While “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” won the three-day weekend, “Kung Fu Panda 4” had the higher gross including previews. According to numbers provided by Comscore, “Kung Fu Panda 4” collected £5 million ($6.3) million, while “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” took in £4.1 million ($5.2 million).

In third place, in its second weekend, Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” collected £2.1 million for a total of £8.2 million. In its fifth weekend, in fourth place, Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part II” grossed £1.6 million to take its total to £34 million.

Debuting at fifth place was Indian filmmaker Blessy’s acclaimed desert saga “Aadujeevitham” (“The Goat Life”), distributed by Dg Tech, with £480,977.

There were two more debuts in the top 10. Studiocanal...

The 2024 Oscar race is on, and one film has the potential to accomplish a feat that hasn’t happened in 64 years. “Oppenheimer” leads the nominations with 13, and it’s on track to win several of those categories. If Christopher Nolan‘s epic claims Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy) and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), it will be the first time since 1960 that the same film (“Ben-Hur”) has won those three exact categories. And it would be only the fourth time it’s ever happened.

See Cillian Murphy interview: ‘Oppenheimer’

Since the Best Supporting Actor category was introduced in 1937, only three films have walked away with Best Picture as well as both male acting categories. In 1945, the inspirational musical comedy “Going My Way” not only became the highest-grossing film of 1944, but also won seven of its ten Oscar nominations, making it the big winner of the night. Beside the top prize,...

The 1973 classic The Exorcist (watch it Here) is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with a 4K release and a theatrical re-release… and fifty years after it first reached the screen, there are still new things to discover about it. In early October, filmmaker Paul Davis took to social media to share a snippet of actress Eileen Dietz’s Pazuzu makeup test, where she was shown wearing makeup designed by the legendary Dick Smith. Davis promised he would be releasing a commentary video including10 minutes of unseen outtakes and the full 2 minute makeup test video on Halloween – but when Halloween arrived, he delivered more than promised, revealing 35 minutes of rare outtake footage! You can check it out at the bottom of this article.

Based on a novel by William Peter Blatty (pick up a copy Here), who also wrote the screenplay, The Exorcist was directed by William Friedkin and tells the following...

There’s a new Exorcist sequel, The Exorcist: Believer, reaching theatres tomorrow, October 6th – but in his review of the film, JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray says it’s abysmal and advises horror fans to “Watch the original instead.” And watching the 1973 classic The Exorcist (watch it Here) is always good advice to follow. The movie is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with a 4K release and a theatrical re-release… and fifty years after it first reached the screen, there are still new things to discover about it. Filmmaker Paul Davis has taken to social media to share a snippet of actress Eileen Dietz’s Pazuzu makeup test, where she’s wearing makeup designed by the legendary Dick Smith. The snippet is less than 30 seconds long, but there’s more to come. Over Halloween, Davis will be releasing a commentary video that includes 10 minutes of unseen outtakes and the full 2 minute makeup test video.

Director William Friedkin at the re-release screening of The Exorcist in September 2000 Photo: Hulton Archive Nosferatu, the original vampire movie, set in motion the cinematic tropes of the subgenre, and since then many subsequent movies have done great things with its concepts, from Universal’s Dracula to Fright Night. John Carpenter...

The ExorcistPhoto: Bettmann (Getty Images)

Nosferatu, the original vampire movie, set in motion the cinematic tropes of the subgenre, and since then many subsequent movies have done great things with its concepts, from Universal’s Dracula to Fright Night. John Carpenter’s Halloween crystallized everything we now associate with the slasher subgenre,...

Gangsters, mobsters, thugs, and mugs. Organized crime holds the upper tier of the international cinematic commission. “Crime pays,” Edward G. Robinson, who played Rico Bandello in the seminal gangster film Little Caesar (1931), is famous for saying. “But only in the movies.” When a good mob movie is on the table, it is an offer no filmmaker can refuse. There is more intrigue, suspense, violence, mayhem, and madness to be found in the criminal element than any other genre.

“Gone are the days of the gangsters,” audiences heard for years, usually in movies about mobsters. They always rise up, even if they are splattered across the ornate fountains of their gangland mansions in the last frame, like Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Brian DePalma’s Scarface (1983), or rolling down the steps of a church, dead from a hail of bullets. That’s how James Cagney’s Eddie Bartlett went out in The Roaring Twenties (1939). Now,...

God, or at least the idea of a god, is an omniscient presence that’s also suspiciously absent in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. The faith is kept alive in the film’s perpetual use of religious iconography, implying a worldly sense of spiritual belief, but the way in which the various priests conduct their pietism, most exemplified by Jason Miller’s brooding church psychologist Damien Karras, practically render their convictions as moot. At one point, Karras openly doubts his career choice after seeing firsthand the anxieties of his patients.

Of course, the devil is another story. It manifests itself within poor 12-year-old Regan McNeil (Linda Blair), turning a figure of pure innocence into a bile- and vulgarity-spewing demon who goes unnoticed by divine intervention. Friedkin and William Peter Blatty, adapting his own bestselling novel, forgo the easy psychological introspection that’s found in a crisis of faith, instead externalizing...

While you wait for The Exorcist: Believer, in theaters on October 6, Fathom Events wants you to relive the terror of the original horror classic on the biggest screen you can find.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Exorcist and Fathom Events is bringing it back to theaters nationwide as part of Fathom’s annual Fright Fest lineup.

The recent passing of legendary director William Friedkin has cast a renewed spotlight on the film, which hits theaters on Sunday, October 1 at 4pm and 7pm local time, and Wednesday, October 4 at 7pm local time.

The limited engagement puts the spotlight on William Friedkin’s Extended Director’s Cut, sourced from the Original 1973 Cut Camera Negative with newly restored and remastered picture and sound in stunning 4k—removing dirt, scratches, and other defects, while maintaining the film’s original creative integrity.

Leading into each screening is an all-new exclusive tribute to...

If American filmgoers are at all aware of the work of filmmaker Damiano Damiani, it’s likely because of his deranged “Zapata western” A Bullet for the General, or else his bonkers horror sequel Amityville II: The Possession, which easily surpasses its more famous predecessor in sheer Wtf factor. Neither of those films are necessarily indicative of Damiani’s serious-minded approach to the titles included in Radiance Films’s Cosa Nostra: Franco Nero in Three Mafia Tales by Damiano Damiani, but they do illustrate Damiani’s determination to pepper his works with pungent social commentary. The three films in this new box set may illuminate very different aspects of the mafia’s tentacular grip on Sicilian society, but they’re united in their bleak, often hopeless diagnoses of these social ills.

The Day of the Owl, from 1968, pits carabiniere Captain Bellodi (Nero) against mafia boss Don Mariano Arena (Lee J. Cobb...

Yesterday, we had to share the sad news that director William Friedkin has passed away at the age of 87. While Friedkin made numerous popular films – The French Connection, Sorcerer, Cruising, and To Live and Die in L.A., among others – his most popular is probably the one that’s celebrating its 50th anniversary this year: The Exorcist (watch it Here). And The Exorcist star Linda Blair has taken to social media to share a tribute to Friedkin.

Blair wrote, “Like Sidney Poitier‘s famous movie To Sir with Love, how do you put into words appreciation to the person that changed your life forever, along with the world? Billy Friedken was a game changer, thought outside the box, was a genius with an incredibly bold personality and extraordinary imagery that electrified colleagues and moviegoers alike and remained a true maverick throughout his career in the film industry.

Every actor wanted to...

Is there another modern horror movie as influential and enduringly terrifying as The Exorcist?

Some might make a case for the atmospheric chill of works that preceded it, like Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby or Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. Others perhaps will point to subsequent hits — the brutal shocks of John Carpenter’s Halloween, for instance, or the mercilessly ratcheted suspense of Ridley Scott’s Alien.

But few, if any, horror films have left such an indelible impression, not only on the genre but on broader popular culture, as the 1973 demonic possession thriller that marked the peak of director William Friedkin’s long career.

Two years earlier, Friedkin, who died Monday at his home in Los Angeles, aged 87, had already reinvented the police procedural with The French Connection, a bristling neo-noir that to this day has few equals in its hurtling car-chase action, its viscerally immersive camerawork, its...

Burbank, Calif. – As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, the iconic supernatural film The Exorcist from Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin (The French Connection) will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital for the first time this September.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its 1973 release, on September 19, The Exorcist will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu, and more.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs include both the 1973 theatrical version of the film and the 2000 Extended Director’s Cut of the film, which features eleven additional minutes of footage not seen in theaters.

Directed by Friedkin, who died today at age 89, from a screenplay by Academy Award winner William Peter Blatty, the film is based on Blatty...

"What an excellent day for an exorcism." Warner Bros has unveiled a new official trailer for the 4K Ultra HD re-release on Blu-ray of the horror classic The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin. As everyone already knows, there's a brand new reboot/remake of this Exorcist series coming up later this year - called The Exorcist: Believer (featuring Ellen Burstyn returning again). This original film is celebrating its 50th anniversary, originally released around Christmas time (seriously) in the US back in 1973. When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious demonic entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to try and save her daughter. The Exorcist stars Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran, and Jason Miller. Still regarded as one of the scariest movies ever made, this looks better than ever properly restored in pristine 4K quality. Is it still as creepy as before?...

The 1973 classic The Exorcist (watch it Here) isn’t just getting a new sequel (called The Exorcist: Believer and scheduled to reach theatres on October 13th) for its 50th anniversary. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced that they will be celebrating the film’s anniversary by giving it a new 4K release on September 19th – and this 4K edition will be available on physical media as well as digital. Copies can be pre-ordered at This Link.

Based on a novel by William Peter Blatty (pick up a copy Here), who also wrote the screenplay, The Exorcist was directed by William Friedkin and tells the following story: One of the most profitable horror movies ever made, this tale of an exorcism is based loosely on actual events. When young Regan starts acting odd — levitating, speaking in tongues — her worried mother seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest,...

The episode of Revisited covering The Exorcist III was Written and Edited by Ric Solomon, Narrated by Kier Gomes, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

In 1973 William Friedkin unleashed his iconic horror film The Exorcist upon the masses. Since its release, it has been widely regarded as one of the most influential and iconic horror films of all time and would go on to have a huge cultural impact. It tapped into primal fears and because of its powerful storytelling, was able to captivate and terrify audiences. I think its safe to say this secured its status as a timeless horror classic. But we’re not here to discuss a movie that has been dissected, overanalyzed, added to most people’s Top 4 films on Letterboxd and reviewed by everyone and their mothers. No, in this episode we want to talk about the “true sequel” to this iconic film…...

As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, the iconic supernatural film The Exorcist from Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin (The French Connection) will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital for the first time this September, Bloody Disgusting has learned today.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its 1973 release, on September 19 The Exorcist will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs include both the 1973 theatrical version of the film and the 2000 Extended Director’s Cut of the film which features eleven additional minutes of footage not seen in theaters.

Directed by Friedkin from a screenplay by Academy Award winner William Peter Blatty, the film is based on Blatty’s 1971 novel of the same name.

Beyond the Fulcis, Bavas and Argentos of the world, I have to confess that my experience of Italian cinema is very limited, so I’m coming to this boxset of Damiano Damiani and Franco Nero’s collaborations with not just fresh eyes, but little context for what to expect beyond the basics laid out by the description ‘three mafia tales’. You’ll have to pardon me if I miss some context to these films that having seen more, or knowing more about this late ’60s and early ’70s in Italian film, would allow.

The Films

The Day of the Owl begins with one of the film’s best sequences. As the credits come up, we see what we assume is a hunter, hiding on the side of a road on a hill. We never see his face, and when a truck carrying a load of cement rounds the hill, he fires,...

Gunsmoke was one of the most popular television shows ever to hit the air. The network, CBS, knew what it had on its hands after its 1955 premiere and milked it for 20 seasons before suddenly canceling it in 1975. The Western genre later died off, as its wave of popularity never quite returned to form. Here’s a list of five other vintage television shows to dig into if Gunsmoke was your jam.

L-r: Milburn Stone as Doc Adams, James Arness as Matt Dillon, Amanda Blake as Kitty Russell, and Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen | CBS via Getty Images ‘Bonanza’ (1959-1973) L-r: Dan Blocker as Eric ‘Hoss’ Cartwright, Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright, Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright, and Michael Landon as Joseph ‘Little Joe’ Cartwright | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Bonanza first hit the air in 1959, a few years after Gunsmoke first established its legs among Western shows. The story follows...

In 1966, Montreal-born William Shatner was cast in the role that would change his life, Capt. James Tiberius Kirk in NBC's sci-fi drama "Star Trek." Shatner would go on to play the starship captain for three seasons before reprising Kirk in a Saturday morning cartoon and then in several "Trek" movies throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s until Kirk's demise in 1994's "Star Trek Generations." There's no argument that Shatner — who celebrated his 91st birthday in March 2022 — will forever be associated with his "Trek" character. And while Kirk will always be his signature role, the truth is that it's one of many for an actor who first made his way to Hollywood in the 1950s after performing Shakespeare with the famed Stratford Festival in his native Canada.

In fact, Shatner has amassed a whopping 250 screen credits over the years. His roles have run the gamut, ranging from Ranger...

It’s time for a new episode of The Manson Brothers Show, which is hosted by the writers/stars of the horror comedy The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre – Chris Margetis (Stone Manson) and Mike Carey (Skull Manson). With this episode, the Manson Brothers are looking back at one of the most popular horror movies, ever made, the 1973 classic The Exorcist (watch it Here). To find out what they have to say about The Exorcist, check out the video embedded above!

Directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay written by William Peter Blatty (based on Blatty’s own novel), The Exorcist has the following synopsis: When young Regan starts acting odd — levitating, speaking in tongues — her worried mother seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest, however, thinks the girl may be seized by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and...

In May 2020, a former NASA engineer named Ronald Edwin Hunkeler passed away at the age of 85. During his time with the space agency, he had patented heat shields that helped put people on the moon in 1969, but he lived in constant fear that his other claim to fame would be unearthed. For during his teenage years, he was the boy who inspired "The Exorcist."

Although the case has been subject to great scrutiny and skepticism since it was reported in 1949, the "Roland Doe" exorcism remains one of the most famous possession cases, largely thanks to its relation to William Friedkin's blockbuster movie. Hunkeler, who was given pseudonyms to protect his identity, was 13 years old when the disturbances began. First, there were strange noises and moving objects. Then he started displaying increasingly unusual behavior, talking in a guttural voice unlike his own, speaking Latin phrases, and showing extreme discomfort when presented with sacred objects.

Some people say the 1990s wasn’t the best time for horror since it marked the end of many of the popular slasher franchises from the ‘70s and ‘80s that previous generations grew up on. In those movies’ place, the ‘90s introduced way more postmodern teen horrors (following on from Scream). But there was way more to ‘90s horror than that, and it was an era which deserves a second look. While Scream was revising the slasher model, making it more female-friendly and catering to teen gore hounds who knew all the tricks, The Blair Witch Project ushered in a new era of found footage horror, and high-concept marketing. And horror was suddenly becoming more mainstream: Silence of the Lambs became the first and only horror to win the Best Picture Oscar, though The Sixth Sense mustered up 6 nominations the following year. Meanwhile the well-respected director of The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola...

No possession film will ever be as frightening as The Exorcist (1973) because it is a movie no one wants to make anymore. Filmmakers repeatedly try to copy it, but that’s not the same as producing a bold and groundbreaking original work, and when they do, they try to speed up the action to get to the thrills. The devil likes it slow and has never been more intimate, and real as in director William Friedkin’s multi-Oscar-nominated film. It is scary because it is studiously subdued, and daringly sloppy.

The Exorcist terrified moviegoers when it came out a day after Christmas in ‘73. William Peter Blatty’s novel was a bestseller before that, threatening to infest every bookshelf in every home in America. It was a demon just waiting for some studio to unleash it into theaters, and Warner Bros. heralded its unholy unveiling.

Word on the street warned that...

Few movies have the diabolical aura of "The Exorcist," and much of its reputation comes from its sensational and controversial release almost 50 years ago. William Friedkin's film had people queuing in the streets to see what all the fuss was about, as tales of moviegoers vomiting or passing out in theaters only served to emphasize its devilish allure. Critic Andrew Sarris of The Village Voice even went so far as to call it "a thoroughly evil film." Then there were the predictable rumors of an on-set curse and the subsequent ban in the UK, all of which added to its stature as one of the most frightening mainstream horrors ever made.

Despite its whiff of sulfur, I never saw the film as anything remotely evil. I approached it with caution at first but I consider it a good film in the purest sense of the word. Sure, it catalogs...

Besides his work on the 1978 Diana Ross and Michael Jackson-starring cult classic "The Wiz," I know the late, great director Sidney Lumet for his legal/courtroom dramas such tas "The Verdict" and "Find Me Guilty." I was first introduced to such works in college when a criminal justice professor showed my class Lumet's first feature film, "12 Angry Men." The movie allows viewers to become flies on the wall as a jury who, on the hottest day of the year, is sent into the deliberation room to unanimously decide whether to send an 18-year-old murder suspect to the electric chair.

Though the then 33-year-old Lumet had the simple goal of just getting his first feature film under his belt, "12 Angry Men" would go on to become one of the director's greatest films. For me, a feature about 12 hot and sweaty jurors doing their civic duty in a cramped...

Kino’s Noir boxes offer interesting noir-adjacent crime and mystery pix. This seventh return to the well of darkness brings up the organized crime ‘meller’ Chicago Confidential with Brian Keith and the more ambitious The Boss, starring John Payne and written by Dalton Trumbo. The third show The Fearmakers is a real oddity. Starring Dana Andrews and directed by Jacques Tourneur, it’s a political conspiracy tale about manipulating opinions with fraudulent polls. It sounds a lot like the fractured state of modern America, 65 years later. With commentaries by Jason A. Ney and Alan K. Rode.

Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema VII

The Boss, Chicago Confidential, The Fearmakers

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1956-1958 / B&w / Street Date June 7, 2022 / 249 min. / available through Kino Lorber / 49.95

Starring: John Payne, Gloria McGehee, Brian Keith, Beverly Garland, Dana Andrews, Marilee Earle.

Directed by Byron Haskin, Sidney Salkow, Jacques Tourneur

Kino treads the dark...

It’s astonishing to think that a few judicious edits, a deletion of seconds here, or a few minutes there, can sometimes change the entire meaning, theme, and even narrative trajectory of a motion picture. But it happens more often than you may think: look at movies like Aliens, The Abyss, or Blade Runner–just to name a handful–where such excisions literally made a movie-defining difference. That’s what happened with The Exorcist too.

That religious chiller is still renowned as the greatest horror movie of all time, and it starts a run on Netflix this week. When director William Friedkin made The Exorcist in 1973, his initial cut was two hours and 20 minutes. Over several objections by producer and screenwriter William Peter Blatty (who adapted his own novel), Friedkin pruned away 20 minutes or so, bringing the film in at a tight two hours.

Some 17 years later, however, Friedkin–whose...

Retro-active: The Best From The Cinema Retro Archives

Review – Naked City: The Complete Series

Rlj Entertainment / 6,063 minutes

By Harvey F. Chartrand

Naked City was like no other TV series before or since – Michel Moriarty, star of Law and Order, once told this reviewer.

Inspired by Jules Dassin's 1948 film of the same name, Naked City centers on the detectives of the NYPD’s 65th Precinct, but the criminals and New York City itself often played as prominent a role in the dramas as the series regulars. Like the film it was based on, Naked City (1958- 1963) was shot almost entirely on location. The first season ran as a half-hour show under the title The Naked City, starring James Franciscus and John McIntire playing, respectively, Detective Jimmy Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon—the same roles essayed by Don Taylor and Barry Fitzgerald in the film.

The Naked City also starred Harry Bellaver as Det.

This colorful gangland drama was made by a studio in transition, in the middle of a crippling musician’s strike. Robert Taylor and Cyd Charisse were MGM’s last contract stars; her costumes and dance numbers are wildly anachronistic for the period setting and she refused to take direction from Nicholas Ray, whose career was coming apart at the seams. Yet the maverick director must have done something right, as the show has remained a favorite of audiences and critics. Co-starring Lee J. Cobb, John Ireland and Corey Allen. The Wac’S remastered Blu-ray is a beauty.

Party Girl

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date November 30, 2021 / 21.99

Starring: Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse, Lee J. Cobb, John Ireland, Kent Smith, Claire Kelly, Corey Allen, David Opatoshu, Barbara Lang, Myrna Hansen, Betty Utey.

Cinematography: Robert Bronner

Art Director: John McSweeney Jr.

Original Music: Jeff Alexander

Written...

“Stick close to me puss. You’re bringing me good luck.”

1958. American actor Robert Taylor with Cyd Charisse on the set of Party Girl, a film by Nicholas Ray.

Cyd Charisse in Nicholas Ray’s Party Girl (1958) will be available on Blu-ray November 30th from Warner Archive

When maverick director Nicholas Ray turns his talents to a gangster movie, a familiar genre becomes startling and new. Under the auspices of long-time M-g-m musical producer Joe Pasternak, and with the added gloss of the CinemaScope widescreen and Metrocolor, the auteur created a cult classic. Set in 1930s Chicago, Party Girl follows a bum-legged mouthpiece for the mob (Robert Taylor) and a gorgeous, wised-up vamp (Cyd Charisse) who fall in love, try to go straight… and head straight for trouble. Ray deepens the drama and heightens the violence with filmmaking artistry that has given Party Girl cult status: a screen painted in sinister ebony and blood red,...

The former head of the ACLU discusses some of the movies – and sports legends – that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mighty Ira (2020)

The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)

42 (2013)

Shane (1953)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

Last Year At Marienbad (1962)

The Seventh Seal (1957)

La Strada (1954)

Wild Strawberries (1957) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

The Virgin Spring (1960) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Last House On The Left (1972) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary

A Walk In The Sun (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s review

Paths Of Glory (1957) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, John Landis’s trailer commentary

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary

Lonely Are The Brave (1962)

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

On The Waterfront (1954) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

12 Angry Men (1957)

Inherit The Wind (1960)

Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)

Witness For The Prosecution (1957)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

The Verdict (1982)

Twelve Angry Men teleplay (1954)

The Front (1976)

Judgment At Nuremberg teleplay...

With the long-delayed 74th Tony Awards set for Sept. 26 at the Winter Garden and streaming on Paramount + and a CBS special, let’s take a deep dive into Tony Awards history and look back at the first decade. Broadway was bristling with excitement post World War II. Young playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and William Inge breathed new life into the Great White Way. And new talents electrifying audiences included Marlon Brando, Julie Harris and Gwen Verdon. It was the perfect time for the creation of the Tony Awards in 1947. The Antoinette Perry Awards or Theatre Excellence were named after the legendary theater actress who was co-founder of the American Theatre Wing; she had died in 1946.

The first annual Tony Awards took place on April 6, 1947 at the Waldorf Astoria and was broadcast on radio on Wor and Mutual Network radio. There was no categories for best play or musical,...

TV director Dan Attias discusses his favorite cinematic moments with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Sweet Smell of Success (1957) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

White Dog (1982)

Silver Bullet (1985)

Witness (1985)

The Verdict (1982)

Scent Of A Woman (1992)

The Piano (1993)

The Pawnbroker (1965)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

True Romance (1993)

Infested (2002)

A History Of Violence (2005)

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s review, Tfh’s 30th anniversary links

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary, John Landis’s trailer commentary

Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion review

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion review

12 Angry Men (1957)

Dodes’ka-den (1970)

Memento (2000)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Other Notable Items

Phillips Club in NYC

Tfh Guru Alan Spencer

Sledge Hammer! TV series (1986-1988)

The Garland in...

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You don’t have to be obsessed with nostalgia to appreciate the aesthetic of a vintage movie poster — but it definitely helps. Vintage movie posters are multi-functional as far as gift giving goes. They’re perfect for movie lovers, they’re collectible, and they add a bit of character to any room. Whether you’re shopping for a gift for your home or office, or buying a present for someone else, we gathered up a short list of Old Hollywood movie posters to purchase online.

The round up of posters feature Marilyn Monroe, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Ed Begley Sr., and other unforgettable faces from Hollywood’s Golden Age. High quality...

Witness six noir heroes, doing what noir heroes do: one crooked gambler, one psycho, another psycho with access to a gun, a dope railroaded into a prison sentence, and an even bigger dope who doesn’t realize he’s poisoning himself. That’s only five, but the sixth is a cop, and not a particularly compromised one, the way we like ’em in noir. This third Columbia Noir Collection can boast big stars and some name directors, beautiful HD transfers and some fascinating short subjects as extras.

Columbia Noir #3

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1947-57 / B&w / 1:37 Academy, 1:85 widescreen / Street Date May 17, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99

Starring: Dick Powell, Lee J Cobb, Nina Foch, William Holden, Edmond O’Brien, Dorothy Malone, Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Marie Windsor, and Vince Edwards.

Directed by Robert Rossen, Rudolph Mat&eacute, Henry Levin, Gordon Douglas, Edward Dmytryk, Irving Lerner

Powerhouse Indicator’s...

He was super agent Phil Gersh’s signature client from the start of his acting career through his death in 1957, all through his heyday in the 1940s and 1950s in The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The African Queen, Key Largo, Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Caine Mutiny. Now, Humphrey Bogart is back with the Gersh Agency, which has signed the Humphrey Bogart Estate.

While estate business signings are usually mundane, this was an excuse for a trip down Hollywood’s memory lane for Bob and David Gersh, who took over the agency from their father. As boys, they grew up around Bogart, and the other stars from dad’s stable that included William Holden, David Niven, Kirk Douglas, Lee J. Cobb, and Fredric March. David Gersh recalled the dialogue between his storied agent father and the legendary Bogart, and it’s not what you might think. “Every time Bogey saw my father,...

You know, once the floodgates open, it’s kinda hard to stop. After a 26-year drought, the Best Supporting Actor Oscar category has now featured double nominees from one film for the third time in four years. Granted, no one expected the head-scratching combo of “Judas and the Black Messiah” stars Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield to be nominated in this category, but hey, it happened. Their bids come a year after “The Irishman” produced nominations for Al Pacino and Joe Pesci and three years after “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” ended the dry spell with Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, the latter of whom won. Kaluuya remains the frontrunner to win — by a wide margin — which would mark the seventh time a Best Supporting Actor champ defeated a co-star.

“Judas” is the 20th film to yield multiple supporting actor nominations. The first was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939), whose...