Tyrannical and brilliant, director Michael Curtiz created film legends out of mere stars, and turned movies into myth. Here are some of his greatest films.
When movie enthusiasts think of legendary director Michael Curtiz, the first thing that pops into their mind is Casablanca (1942), consistently named to, and occasionally topping, lists of the greatest films of all time. Although if we’re being honest, most people think of it as a Humphrey Bogart movie. The same could be said of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). These are known for their stars, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn, the latter of whom Curtiz put on the map with Captain Blood (1935). In the director’s hands, actors and characters merged into a mythology which exceeded mere signature roles, becoming universal symbols.
Curtiz worked in the motion picture business from its infancy, but began in the theater, graduating Budapest’s...
When movie enthusiasts think of legendary director Michael Curtiz, the first thing that pops into their mind is Casablanca (1942), consistently named to, and occasionally topping, lists of the greatest films of all time. Although if we’re being honest, most people think of it as a Humphrey Bogart movie. The same could be said of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). These are known for their stars, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn, the latter of whom Curtiz put on the map with Captain Blood (1935). In the director’s hands, actors and characters merged into a mythology which exceeded mere signature roles, becoming universal symbols.
Curtiz worked in the motion picture business from its infancy, but began in the theater, graduating Budapest’s...
- 9/27/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
The highly discussed music limited series “The Idol” is set to premiere on Max on June 4. Starring Lily-Rose Depp, pop singer The Weeknd, and Dan Levy, the show involves a rising pop star Jocelyn (played by Depp) who gets involved with Tedros (The Weeknd), a sleazy nightclub owner who may also be a cult leader. She wants a rock career, while he’s focused on exploiting everyone he meets.
Watch the trailer for “The Idol”:
Also coming to the streamer next month is the second season of “And Just Like That,” the “Sex and the City” sequel. In Season 2 — which arrives on June 22 — Charlotte’s daughter is ready to lose her virginity, Carrie explores life and love after Big, and Miranda intensifies her relationship with Che.
Check out the “And Just Like That” Season 2 trailer:
Arriving on Max on June 27 is a documentary looking at the award-winning performance art...
Watch the trailer for “The Idol”:
Also coming to the streamer next month is the second season of “And Just Like That,” the “Sex and the City” sequel. In Season 2 — which arrives on June 22 — Charlotte’s daughter is ready to lose her virginity, Carrie explores life and love after Big, and Miranda intensifies her relationship with Che.
Check out the “And Just Like That” Season 2 trailer:
Arriving on Max on June 27 is a documentary looking at the award-winning performance art...
- 5/26/2023
- by Fern Siegel
- The Streamable
Ryan Lambie Jul 29, 2016
Former president Bill Clinton reveals that he took "a couple of days off" to watch six Police Academy movies back to back...
"Why do you think I took you to see all those Police Academy movies? For fun?" Homer once raged at Bart in the Simpsons episode, Marge Be Not Proud. "Well, I didn't hear anyone laughing, did you?"
As it turns out, it wasn't just Homer Simpson who took time out to watch Police Academy movies with his offspring. Speaking at the Democratic National Convention earlier this week, former Us President Bill Clinton revealed that, while he was still in office, he'd taken some time off work to watch Police Academy movies with his daughter Chelsea.
"Truth is, we [wife Hillary and I] rarely disagreed on parenting," Clinton said in a speech, "although she did believe that I had gone a little over the top when I took a couple...
Former president Bill Clinton reveals that he took "a couple of days off" to watch six Police Academy movies back to back...
"Why do you think I took you to see all those Police Academy movies? For fun?" Homer once raged at Bart in the Simpsons episode, Marge Be Not Proud. "Well, I didn't hear anyone laughing, did you?"
As it turns out, it wasn't just Homer Simpson who took time out to watch Police Academy movies with his offspring. Speaking at the Democratic National Convention earlier this week, former Us President Bill Clinton revealed that, while he was still in office, he'd taken some time off work to watch Police Academy movies with his daughter Chelsea.
"Truth is, we [wife Hillary and I] rarely disagreed on parenting," Clinton said in a speech, "although she did believe that I had gone a little over the top when I took a couple...
- 7/29/2016
- Den of Geek
Even when based on actual events, classical Hollywood movies never strive for painstaking factual accuracy. This is best exemplified by the ever-present legal disclaimer “The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used in this work are fictitious, and any resemblance to the name, character and history of any real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental,” which appears not only in horror, sci-fi or musical extravaganzas, but also in biopics and historical reconstructions. In the latter two cases, the contradiction is only apparent. While using the above disclaimer (or variations thereof) to protect themselves from defamation lawsuits, the studios openly acknowledge what any person of common sense knows already: in the filmmaking business, dramatization and other poetic licenses are essential to tell and sell exciting stories to an audience, since reality is too boring and complex for an evening's entertainment. In other words, a commercial film is not a...
- 7/9/2015
- by Michael Guarneri
- MUBI
Buddy cop comedies are popular once more, following on the heels of 21 Jump Street, The Heat, and even Kevin Smith’s ill-fated Cop Out. As Hollywood bids to remake every film made in the 1980s and 90s, it’s therefore no surprise that a remake of the 1984 cop comedy Police Academy is at the top of everyone’s list. To this end, comedy team Key and Peele have stepped in to produce the Police Academy remake.
Best known for their Comedy Central show Key and Peele, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are now taking on the roles of producers for the screwy comic franchise, according to THR (via /Film). While this does not mean that they will also be appearing in the remake, one can always hope. Their involvement may certainly move Police Academy from being an ill-conceived money grab to a film of great comedic potential.
The Police Academy...
Best known for their Comedy Central show Key and Peele, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are now taking on the roles of producers for the screwy comic franchise, according to THR (via /Film). While this does not mean that they will also be appearing in the remake, one can always hope. Their involvement may certainly move Police Academy from being an ill-conceived money grab to a film of great comedic potential.
The Police Academy...
- 4/7/2014
- by Lauren Humphries-Brooks
- We Got This Covered
Versatile actor best known for her roles in The Sound of Music and Of Human Bondage
In the Hollywood of the 1940s and 50s, when typecasting was an essential constituent of stardom, Eleanor Parker, who has died aged 91, never gained the recognition she deserved, because she refused to be pigeonholed. "It means I've been successful in creating the characters that I've portrayed – that I'm not just a personality who is seen in a variety of roles." Dana Andrews, her co-star in Madison Avenue (1962), called her "the least heralded great actress".
The 1957 film Lizzie is almost a reflection of her career. Parker plays three separate and distinct characters harboured inside one woman – the shy, self-effacing Elizabeth; the wanton, raunchy Lizzie; and the "normal" Beth – and switches brilliantly from one to the other. Parker was always able to be convincing in these three sorts of characters. She was naive as the girl...
In the Hollywood of the 1940s and 50s, when typecasting was an essential constituent of stardom, Eleanor Parker, who has died aged 91, never gained the recognition she deserved, because she refused to be pigeonholed. "It means I've been successful in creating the characters that I've portrayed – that I'm not just a personality who is seen in a variety of roles." Dana Andrews, her co-star in Madison Avenue (1962), called her "the least heralded great actress".
The 1957 film Lizzie is almost a reflection of her career. Parker plays three separate and distinct characters harboured inside one woman – the shy, self-effacing Elizabeth; the wanton, raunchy Lizzie; and the "normal" Beth – and switches brilliantly from one to the other. Parker was always able to be convincing in these three sorts of characters. She was naive as the girl...
- 12/11/2013
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Eleanor Parker dead at 91: ‘The Sound of Music’ actress, three-time Best Actress Oscar nominee (photo: Eleanor Parker ca. 1945) Eleanor Parker, one of the best and most beautiful actresses of the studio era, a three-time Best Actress Academy Award nominee, and one of the stars of the 1965 blockbuster and Best Picture Oscar winner The Sound of Music, died today, December 9, 2013, of complications from pneumonia at a medical facility near her home in the Southern Californian desert town of Palm Springs. Eleanor Parker was 91. “I’m primarily a character actress,” Parker told the Toronto Star in 1988. “I’ve portrayed so many diverse individuals on the screen that my own personality never emerged.” At one point, wildly imaginative publicists called her The Woman of a Thousand Faces — an absurd label, when you think of Man of a Thousand Faces Lon Chaney. Eleanor Parker never altered her appearance the way Chaney did — her...
- 12/10/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Rumors circulated a few weeks back that Kurt Russell was in talks to join the cast of Fast & Furious 7: Mission To Moscow, and it looks like lead car-driving guy Vin Diesel has confirmed it via his Facebook page. Deadline noted that the actor posted a photo from the set on September 24, which said, “Kurt Russell, such an honor to work with…” (Diesel’s Facebook page has nearly 48 million likes, by the way.) Also seen in the pic: former One Life To Live actor John Brotherton, who also appears as “Handsome Guy” in the upcoming We Are Men ...
- 9/26/2013
- avclub.com
Eleanor Parker Now on TCM Palms Springs area resident Eleanor Parker, who turns 91 next June 26, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June. One of the best actresses of Hollywood’s studio era, Parker isn’t nearly as well-remembered today as she should be despite three Best Actress Academy Award nominations (Caged, 1950; Detective Story, 1951; Interrupted Melody, 1955), a number of box-office and/or critical hits, and a key role in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time (The Sound of Music). Hopefully, the 34 Eleanor Parker movies TCM will be showing each Monday this month — beginning tonight — will help to introduce the actress to a broader 21st-century audience. Eleanor Parker movies "When I am spotted somewhere it means that my characterizations haven’t covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around," Parker once said. In fact, the title of Doug McClelland’s 1989 Eleanor Parker bio,...
- 6/4/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
As David Cameron urges the UK film industry to make more dynamic, commercially viable movies, we've been coming up with some sure fire hits he might like...
Kes was a pretty good film, but it wasn't exactly Avatar was it? David Lean's films were worth watching, but let's face it, more people have seen Independence Day.
If David Cameron has his way, the UK will stop making all those silly little films set in Northern council estates or in 19th century London, and will instead focus on the kind of fare that big audiences will flock to see – films with lasers in and things like that.
Well, maybe we're taking what Cameron said in yesterday's speech a little too literally. But he did say, "Our role should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures that rival […] the best international productions,...
Kes was a pretty good film, but it wasn't exactly Avatar was it? David Lean's films were worth watching, but let's face it, more people have seen Independence Day.
If David Cameron has his way, the UK will stop making all those silly little films set in Northern council estates or in 19th century London, and will instead focus on the kind of fare that big audiences will flock to see – films with lasers in and things like that.
Well, maybe we're taking what Cameron said in yesterday's speech a little too literally. But he did say, "Our role should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures that rival […] the best international productions,...
- 1/11/2012
- Den of Geek
New Line Cinema is entrusting its Police Academy franchise to first-time director Scott Zabielski. Zabielski has helmed episodes of Comedy Central's Tosh.0 and is a reserve police officer in West Hollywood. Original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which aims to reboot the seven-film comedy series about a ragtag group of police recruits who repeatedly are called to help save the city. The first film, released in 1984 by Warner Bros., starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, the group's leader. The last film in the series was 1994's Mission to Moscow. The series grossed
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- 1/10/2012
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bubba Smith, known to a generation as Hightower from the Police Academy movies, has died at the age of 66.
We’ve got some sad news to report this morning, as overnight, it was confirmed that Bubba Smith had died at the age of 66.
After a successful career in American football, Smith became widely known for his portrayal of Hightower in the Police Academy movies. That's where many of us got to know his work.
His character appeared in six of the seven Police Academy movies, with the tight budget on the seventh one, Mission To Moscow, meaning that he wasn’t involved with that one. (The producers could only afford to fly a handful of cast members to Russia for the movie.)
His death comes in the week that talk of a new Police Academy resurfaced, one which would have seen old cast members, including Smith, being invited back.
His...
We’ve got some sad news to report this morning, as overnight, it was confirmed that Bubba Smith had died at the age of 66.
After a successful career in American football, Smith became widely known for his portrayal of Hightower in the Police Academy movies. That's where many of us got to know his work.
His character appeared in six of the seven Police Academy movies, with the tight budget on the seventh one, Mission To Moscow, meaning that he wasn’t involved with that one. (The producers could only afford to fly a handful of cast members to Russia for the movie.)
His death comes in the week that talk of a new Police Academy resurfaced, one which would have seen old cast members, including Smith, being invited back.
His...
- 8/4/2011
- Den of Geek
The Los Angeles Times reports the sad news that Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith was found dead in his home, apparently of natural causes. The former NFL player turned actor was 66.
During his professional football career, Smith was a two-time Pro Bowler as a defensive end and tackle, and won a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Colts. But he's best remembered now (at least by nerds of my generation who watched too much HBO when they were growing up) as Moses Hightower from the long-running "Police Academy" series. He appeared in the first six theatrical films (wisely bowing out for the franchise-destroying final entry, "Mission to Moscow"), and delivered many solid gags about being a big tall guy who was big and tall. Dressing in drag, flipping cars, wrestling an aligator, he was up for anything.
I shall memorialize him now the only way I know how: with a YouTube...
During his professional football career, Smith was a two-time Pro Bowler as a defensive end and tackle, and won a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Colts. But he's best remembered now (at least by nerds of my generation who watched too much HBO when they were growing up) as Moses Hightower from the long-running "Police Academy" series. He appeared in the first six theatrical films (wisely bowing out for the franchise-destroying final entry, "Mission to Moscow"), and delivered many solid gags about being a big tall guy who was big and tall. Dressing in drag, flipping cars, wrestling an aligator, he was up for anything.
I shall memorialize him now the only way I know how: with a YouTube...
- 8/3/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
Bet you can guess which film's topped the Village Voice poll this year. Analyzing the results, J Hoberman notes that David Fincher's The Social Network is listed on 52 of 85 ballots, "the largest percentage of any poll-topping movie since Todd Haynes's Far From Heaven won in 2002... The last time a newly anointed Time Person of the Year like Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg got the simultaneous Hollywood treatment was back in 1943 (Joe Stalin, Mission to Moscow)." Topping his own list of ten, though, is The Strange Case of Angelica (image above): "Manoel de Oliveira's latest last film, which includes the 101-year-old director's first use of CGI in his debut dream sequence, is as funny and peculiar as its title promises. Putting his own eccentric spin on the myth of Orpheus, the last working filmmaker to have been born during the age of the nickelodeon offers a modest, ultimately...
- 12/23/2010
- MUBI
Time for our weekly look at the new podcasts available at our new “partners in podcast crime” the GeekCast Radio Network. Each week we bring you the highlights from Gcrn, with descriptions and links to each and every episode.
Police Academy Week Part 3:
Mwire Episode 56 – Police Academy 6: City Under Siege
Steve and Mike review this unfortunately short episode based on Police Academy 6. Listen Now.
Mwire Episode 57 – Police Academy 7: Mission To Moscow
The guys finish the Police Academy spotlight with #7 titled: Mission to Moscow. Steve also talks on the short lived Cartoon, TV Show and the talks of possible 8th film and or reboot. Listen Now.
ToonCast Episode 66 – Dennis the Menace
Oh No! it’s the 66th episode of ToonCast and this time around Kevin and Mike talk about that bratty kid that always gives Mr. Wilson a headache. Dennis the Menace! Listen Now.
ToyCast Episode 66 – Warring Jazzercise...
Police Academy Week Part 3:
Mwire Episode 56 – Police Academy 6: City Under Siege
Steve and Mike review this unfortunately short episode based on Police Academy 6. Listen Now.
Mwire Episode 57 – Police Academy 7: Mission To Moscow
The guys finish the Police Academy spotlight with #7 titled: Mission to Moscow. Steve also talks on the short lived Cartoon, TV Show and the talks of possible 8th film and or reboot. Listen Now.
ToonCast Episode 66 – Dennis the Menace
Oh No! it’s the 66th episode of ToonCast and this time around Kevin and Mike talk about that bratty kid that always gives Mr. Wilson a headache. Dennis the Menace! Listen Now.
ToyCast Episode 66 – Warring Jazzercise...
- 8/16/2010
- by Phil
- Nerdly
As Megan Fox ducks out of Transformers 3, what happened when other movie franchises and their personnel parted company?
With Megan Fox's departure from Transformers 3 currently making the news, we look at other actors and directors who have, for one reason or another, left a movie franchise. What happened next, for the franchise and for the person concerned?
Megan Fox - Transformers 3
Who?
A regular fixture in men's magazine listings of desirable women, 2007's Transformers gave Megan Fox her first lead role after several years of small television roles.
Why?
Fox's recent comments in Wonderland magazine can't have done her any favours. "He's like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation," Fox said. "He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is."
While Fox has since claimed that she left the Transformers 3 production voluntarily, it's still widely thought that...
With Megan Fox's departure from Transformers 3 currently making the news, we look at other actors and directors who have, for one reason or another, left a movie franchise. What happened next, for the franchise and for the person concerned?
Megan Fox - Transformers 3
Who?
A regular fixture in men's magazine listings of desirable women, 2007's Transformers gave Megan Fox her first lead role after several years of small television roles.
Why?
Fox's recent comments in Wonderland magazine can't have done her any favours. "He's like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation," Fox said. "He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is."
While Fox has since claimed that she left the Transformers 3 production voluntarily, it's still widely thought that...
- 5/23/2010
- Den of Geek
Producer Paul Maslansky will relaunch his "Police Academy" films for New Line.
The comedy franchise produced seven films, starting with the premise of a group of 'misfit' police officers that become unlikely community heroes.
The first film, lensed in Toronto in 1984, featured the characters 'Mahoney', 'Moses Hightower', 'Tackleberry', 'Hooks' and 'Larvell Jones'.
The last feature "Mission to Moscow" was released in 1994.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Police Academy"...
The comedy franchise produced seven films, starting with the premise of a group of 'misfit' police officers that become unlikely community heroes.
The first film, lensed in Toronto in 1984, featured the characters 'Mahoney', 'Moses Hightower', 'Tackleberry', 'Hooks' and 'Larvell Jones'.
The last feature "Mission to Moscow" was released in 1994.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Police Academy"...
- 3/6/2010
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Here are five words I never thought I'd write: "Police Academy" is coming back. Whaaaaaaaa?!
It's true. And it's awesome. I can't speak for you readers, but I grew up watching those movies. And sure, the world might have been a better place without "Mission to Moscow," the seventh movie in the series. The short-lived TV show too. But those first six are comedy gold. "The Simpsons" once posited the idea that the Stonecutters made Steve Guttenberg a star. Not true. "Police Academy" did.
The news today is that original producer Steve Maslansky -- a name forever burned into my brain after seeing it pop up in credits sequences countless times -- is bringing his long-lost series back Variety reports. There's no script yet. No director, no writer. But there's hope. And as "Shawshank Redemption" taught us: "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
It's true. And it's awesome. I can't speak for you readers, but I grew up watching those movies. And sure, the world might have been a better place without "Mission to Moscow," the seventh movie in the series. The short-lived TV show too. But those first six are comedy gold. "The Simpsons" once posited the idea that the Stonecutters made Steve Guttenberg a star. Not true. "Police Academy" did.
The news today is that original producer Steve Maslansky -- a name forever burned into my brain after seeing it pop up in credits sequences countless times -- is bringing his long-lost series back Variety reports. There's no script yet. No director, no writer. But there's hope. And as "Shawshank Redemption" taught us: "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
- 3/5/2010
- by Adam Rosenberg
- MTV Movies Blog
New Line is looking for recruits for a relaunched "Police Academy" movie. Original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which has no writer or director attached.
"Academy" was a seven-film lowbrow comedy series from Warner Bros. that saw a city throw open the doors of its police force to any recruit, much to the chagrin of its serious officers. The misfit officers band together and, of course, save the city.
The first film, released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who is forced to enter the academy and emerges as the group's leader. Other notable characters included Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), gun-crazy Tackleberry (David Graf), mousy Hooks (Marion Ramsey) and sound effects-spewing Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow).
Bobcat Goldthwait joined the cast for the second movie in 1985. The series, which included Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone as romantic leads, ended with the 1994's "Mission to Moscow.
"Academy" was a seven-film lowbrow comedy series from Warner Bros. that saw a city throw open the doors of its police force to any recruit, much to the chagrin of its serious officers. The misfit officers band together and, of course, save the city.
The first film, released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who is forced to enter the academy and emerges as the group's leader. Other notable characters included Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), gun-crazy Tackleberry (David Graf), mousy Hooks (Marion Ramsey) and sound effects-spewing Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow).
Bobcat Goldthwait joined the cast for the second movie in 1985. The series, which included Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone as romantic leads, ended with the 1994's "Mission to Moscow.
- 3/4/2010
- by By Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
I first thought of featuring this film in the Foreign Region Report a couple months back, when my friends Fahran Nehme Smith, largely known as The Self-Styled Siren, and Lou Lumenick, a film critic for The New York Post, announced that they would be co-programming a January 2010 series on TCM entitled "Shadows of Russia." The series is devoted to well-known and not-so-well-known pictures, made in Hollywood, about Russia. In many eras. There’s von Sternberg’s The Scarlet Empress, about Catherine the Great, on the one hand, and the multi-Barrymore-starring Rasputin and the Empress, on the other. And then there’s 1943’s Mission to Moscow, starring Walter Huston, which will play on TCM on January 20th but will be screened at Bam’s Rose Cinema this very evening, January 12, at 7 p.m., followed by a panel discussion featuring Lou, The Siren, myself, and film historian Ed Hulse. Come around, if you are around.
- 1/12/2010
- MUBI
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