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Arresting Development: Top Ten Sheriffs in the Movies

Throughout the vast history of cinema the profession of law enforcement has been portrayed heavily and made its mark on the big screen in both dramatic and comical fodder. Whether it be straight up cops and robbers or crooked officers on the take in gangster flicks or ant-hero gun-slinging loners trying to buck the system …

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“I’ll Drink to That…”: Top 10 Alcoholic Movie Characters

Alcoholism in the movies have been played for both dramatic and comical effect. In fact some of the binge drinking done on the big screen have garnered considerable praise and pathos resulting in many performers winning Oscars and Oscar nominations based on this very serious addiction. The alcoholic in cinema is larger in life because …

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New on Video: John Carpenter’s ‘Assault on Precinct 13’

Assault on Precinct 13 Written and directed by John Carpenter USA, 1976 With his filmmaking career beginning in the midst of the new Hollywood and its touchstones in American film history, it’s perhaps easy to see why the work of John Carpenter has been somewhat overshadowed by more celebrated filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Steven …

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‘High Noon’, ‘Rio Bravo’, and the Blacklist

High Noon and Rio Bravo share a fascinating and perhaps singular position in the annals of American cinema as companion pieces of social commentary that also managed to succeed as two of the greatest and most influential Westerns, and indeed films, of their time. Created seven years apart, with Rio Bravo intended as a direct …

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‘Rio Bravo’ shies away from bravado, concentrating on the essentials

Rio Bravo Directed by Howard Hawks Written by Jules Furthman, Leigh Brackett and U.S.A., 1959 Being a writer, producer, director or actor during the era when westerns were all the craze, a period which lasted an impressive amount of time, could not always have been very easy. With so many of such films flooding the …

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Nine Overlooked Classic Westerns

The Western was a movie staple for decades. It seemed the genre that would never die, feeding the fantasies of one generation after another of young boys who galloped around their backyards, playgrounds, and brick streets on broomsticks, banging away with their Mattel cap pistols. Something about a man on a horse set against the …

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A Revved-Up Chick Flick

Death Proof Written by Quentin Tarantino Directed by Quentin Tarantino 2007, USA **Contains Spoilers*** Tarantino’s many skills set him apart from other auteurs working in the film industry today, but none of them dominate in his work as much as his ability to seamlessly weave his narratives through genre/sub-genre mash-ups. The Nouvelle Vague coolness and …

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