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Favorite director Don Siegel is in fine form in this 1967 TV movie, a keeper with qualities not seen in Hollywood’s mega-westerns of the day. Henry Fonda’s ragged drifter is hunted by a gang of railroad deputies, and chief deputy Michael Parks doesn’t intercede because he can’t control his own men. A great screenplay, Siegel’s direction, plus committed performances make it stand out: Anne Baxter, Dan Duryea, Sal Mineo, Bernie Hamilton and Madlyn Rhue.

Stranger on the Run

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1967 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 min. / Street Date July 27, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Henry Fonda, Anne Baxter, Michael Parks, Dan Duryea, Sal Mineo, Tom Reese, Walter Burke, Lloyd Bochner, Michael Burns, Bernie Hamilton, Zalman King, Madlyn Rhue, Rodolfo Acosta, Rex Holman.

Cinematography: Bud Thackery

Art Director: William D. DeCinces

Stunts: Buddy Van Horn

Film Editor: Richard G. Wray

Original Music: Leonard Rosenman

Written by...

John Cassavetes springs forth as a major 1950s talent in these two ‘Primetime Special’ dramatic plays broadcast live on ABC and CBS. Crime in the Streets is the Reginald Rose classic directed by Sidney Lumet; No Right to Kill is a ‘culture for the masses’ adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Cassavetes’ co-stars are Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Terry Moore and Robert H. Harris.

Television’s Lost Classics

Volume One John Cassavetes

Crime in the Streets; No Right to Kill

Blu-ray

Vci

1955-’56 / B&W / 1:33 Kinescope / 2 x 60 min. / Street Date September 11, 2018 / 18.99 (Amazon)

Starring: John Cassavetes, Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Mark Rydell, Terry Moore, Robert H. Harris.

Directed by Sidney Lumet and Buzz Kulik

Remember the movie Network, when William Holden’s character says he’s going to write a glowing memoir about his ‘good old days’ in the Golden Era of Live TV in New York? That was in 1975, just...

Ace director Donald Siegel uses superior direction to transform a so-so who-dunnit into a thrilling big screen spectacle, using the Grand Canyon as a backdrop for A multiple murder set in an Arizona mining town in decline. The cameraman focusing on the scenery and the hair-raising stuntwork — everything we see is real — is the great Burnett Guffey.

Edge of Eternity

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1959 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date February 15, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Cornel Wilde, Victoria Shaw, Mickey Shaughnessy, Edgar Buchanan, Rian Garrick, Jack Elam, Dabbs Greer.

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey

Original Music: Daniele Amfitheatrof

Written by Knut Swenson, Richard Collins

Produced by Kendrick Sweet

Directed by Donald Siegel

A look at Donald Siegel’s filmography shows that between his standout ‘fifties titles — Riot in Cell Block 11, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Crime in the Streets, The Lineup, he suffered through his share of unrewarding cheapies,...

Steve McQueen spent most of the 1960s avoiding lightweight movie roles -- only to do well with his winning comedy-drama performance in William Faulkner's most cheerful tale of old Mississippi. Get set for music by John Williams and an exciting climactic horse race. In storytelling terms this show would seem to have given Steven Spielberg a few ideas. The Reivers Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date August 25, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Steve McQueen, Rupert Crosse, Mitch Vogel, Sharon Farrell, Will Geer, Ruth White, Michael Constantine, Clifton James, Juano Hernandez, Lonny Chapman, Diane Ladd, Ellen Geer, Dub Taylor, Allyn Ann McLerie, Charles Tyner, Burgess Meredith. Cinematography Richard Moore Film Editor Thomas Stanford Original Music John Williams Written by Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank Jr. from the book by William Faulkner Produced by Irving Ravetch, Robert Relyea Directed by Mark Rydell

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

What? This...

The Friday Noir column has been tugging along at a steady pace for well over a year at this point. After being privy to so many double-crosses, back stabbings, bleak outlooks and cynical one-liners, it feels like the right time to shine some proverbial light on the sinister world of film noir. What follows is a list of five previously movies reviewed that best exemplify many of the alluring qualities of this fondly remembered and frequently emulated genre.

Some pertinent details details about the list below need be shared with the readers in the hopes of anticipating and preventing any head scratching. First, the list is comprised strictly of films from the classic noir era, thus limiting the candidates to such films made and released in the mid 1940s up until the late 1950s. Neonoirs, and there are excellent ones, make no mistake about it, are therefore ineligible. The list...

Cute-as-a-button, self-owned homosexual Sal Mineo would've been 74 today, which is pretty young considering the man garnered the first of his two Oscar nominations 57 years ago. Rebel Without a Cause made him a star, and though the actor's career went through ups and downs until his murder in 1976, he's legendary for his sheer talent and unprecedented openness about his sexual orientation. Mineo came out in the late '60s, and that decision wasn't even popular among some of his homosexual contemporaries. (Looking at you, Roddy McDowall.)

As a gay man who cares about film history, I find myself seeking out homosexual stories in the subtexts and subversive moments of old films because none existed in the foreground. Watch Anthony Perkins as a gunshy soldier in Friendly Persuasion. Watch Farley Granger gulp libidinously next to John Dall in Rope. You can't help but discover shards of gayness in these parts, whether they're intentionally presented or not,...

Crime in the Streets

Directed by Don Siegel

Written by Reginald Rose

U.S.A, 1956

Magic can be created on a studio set. Today, in 2012, filmmakers, critics cans fans alike take great pleasure in watching films which are said to have been filmed on location. Said decision to shoot a picture in a real world surrounding naturally adds a layer of believability to the film’s aesthetics, helping the audience take in the information. In comparison, shooting on a studio lot, especially for scenes which are supposed to take place outdoors in the real world, which was the case for many older films, can be distracting, especially for modern audiences. Two things may be written in response to that criticism. First, if the director shoots the film well enough, the artificiality of the set can be used to an advantage. Second, if the story at its heart is strong enough,...

The past several years have seen a resurgence in interest in the Film Noir genre, not just in recreations via a host of films, but in the classics that started it all. That interest has spawned a series of releases on DVD, and The Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 5 is filled with treats.

You might expect that we would be reaching by the time we got to the fifth installment, a set with eight films, but in some sense the opposite may be true here.

While not the biggest names in the genre, the set gives us some true favorites, as well as some great actors.

Cornered (1945):

From England to continental Europe to Buenos Aires, ex-rcaf pilot Dick Powell stalks the Nazi collaborator who murdered his bride. But one fact constantly surfaces during his quest: no one can describe the mysterious man. Joining Powell in the film shadows are...

Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 5, has dusted off eight films of the celebrated genre and adapted them to DVD format. Collections like these, which bring older films to newer light, are godsends regardless (to a degree) of which films are selected, because as timeless as some of these stories and performances might be, the barrier of being stuck in an old format can bury them forever. And these stories deserve to be told. If you watch a few well made noir thrillers you will no doubt see the seeds that were planted in the heads of crime-thriller filmmakers the likes of Martin Scorsese or Michael Mann. Though there are better films in the noir genre that this collection could have culminated, there are also a lot worse. Any fan of noir films or old mysteries and thrillers will be pleased at what this box set has to offer.

Desperate (1947)

Directed...