Reviews

I first saw this movie when I was a young teen and remember almost shaking with excitement. It was early in the war and obviously a propaganda film. At that time I didn't recognize it as such and thought it very realistic. All those name actors, Taylor, Murphy, Nolan, Walker, Mitchell, Arnaz etc. helped make it an impressive war movie. Today, I can't put it along side BAND OF BROTHERS or SAVING PRIVATE RYAN in my book or even THEY WERE EXPENDABLE for that matter. I think the wholesale slaughter and lack of plot development contributed. That the Japanese were called despicable names was common during the war when the movie was made . All these various service men, navy, signal, air corps, chemical, medical etc. became the most vicious fighters with only two Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan being the only trained infantrymen among them. I can see some resemblance to THE LOST PATROL, as one reviewer pointed out, though I enjoyed the WW1 desert movie more.

Another of the good newspaper movies of the Thirties. Spencer Tracy dominates as usual with a stellar performance. He is supported by a handful of veteran character actors that are wonderful to watch augmented by the appearance of James Stewart in his introductory appearance. Hard boiled and hard drinking Tracy as Steve Grey seems to be more detective than reporter and is a confidant of the police captain, Lionel Atwill. Everyone knows and admires Steve Grey. It was not surprising that the obvious criminal was not the guilty party but it was stunning to find Steve Grey the culprit. One half expected this to be implausible and another killer found. However, Grey is the admitted murderer, but not to be taken too seriously. This is because of the strange ending. Captain Cole, Lionel Atwill, says that his girlfriend and father really shouldn't worry because Steve Grey might well get off implying he had good cause and how the jury would react. That he was a cold blooded killer seemed to be a minor issue. Enjoyable because of the cast not the script.

I had seen this many years ago and seeing it once more showed me I had forgotten it all. I thought Nick Nolte was stupendous as Tom Wingo and deserving of all the accolades he received. I have to admit that the romance with Barbra Streisand turned me off. His father, his wife, and sister were credits, but I thought his mother was too young for the part. Streisand was unconvincing as a psychiatrist to the extent of being miscast. Being director, producer, and actress was an enormous enterprise. The movie had powerful and moving scenes, and over all, was enjoyable.

You have to have lived in those times to understand them. Just starting junior high school, I was of the age to know this. The hatred and distrust of the Japanese was overwhelming. Furthermore, the war news during the first months was terrible and we needed those "feel good" movies. Hence, such films were necessary and popular. To judge the language and attitudes back then, by how we feel today, lacks understanding. Enough ships were blown up and enemy troops mowed down to satisfy us all. It was enjoyable to see some old favorites like George Tobias, Arthur Kennedy, Harry Carey, and especially, John Garfield. I might say that I never heard, seen, or read about Browning light machine guns fired from the hip as if this was usual practice. I loved the line that bombing the enemy fleet ( despite anti aircraft fire and Zeros) was going to be "fun.". Bravely said, in the movies.

Hostiles is a good movie though flawed. Not the finest of the westerns but very entertaining. No complaints about the acting and the photography was outstanding.The director leaned toward low light scenes and a paucity of dialogue.I wondered about Comanche attacks in 1892. By then they had long been pacified. I also wondered what a Cheyenne chief was doing in New Mexico. And his homeland was in Montana? Wyoming, also areas in Colorado and Nebraska but not there. Captain Blocker (Christian Bale) displayed great changes in character, ranging from compassion, generosity, and love to brutality and vicious throat cutting murder. I was glad to see Wes Studi again and wished he had a larger role. It was difficult to see how he and Bale became so bonded by the end of the film. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and rated it a well, above average western.

Disappointing to say the least. I had troubles with this one right from the start. Val Kilmer looked like his face was swollen from a tooth ache. His moustache was almost laughable. Surely there were other choices. Was his hat to be worn throughout the entire interview? After all, they were inside. The whole bunch of Earp's companions had to be brought into it and they were. Do Holliday appeared to be a half crazed sadist loving to inflict pain. The screaming of his patients, both dental and medical, were memorable. Extracting bullets from bellies seemed no more difficult than removing a tooth from the mouth. Romantic flashbacks and frequent gun play didn't help this baby. Nothing could.

I never saw this film in full until today and was mesmerized by it. Cruelty inflicted by prison guards is nothing new in the movies, but in military prisons it is an eye opener. Great acting all around particularly by Harry Andrews and Sean Connery. There must have been a lot of crime in the British army for there were enough prisoners in the camp to fill out a battalion.

It has been commented that there were no profanity here. Not that I think it would have added anything, but having been around soldiers for some years, it was unrealistic. Orders were not given here but barked and shrieked to the face.

Ossie Davis provided one the few lighter moments with his Tarzanic renditions, and Jack Weston's shoe heel must have been refrigerated to keep citrus slices. Perhaps I would have liked to have scene Sean Connery pitch into the final fight scene instead of observing it.l Highly enjoyable and most unusual to see a military film without battle scenes.

I really hate to see Van Johnson's talents wasted in a film like this. I never thought westerns were his bag anyway. He was with the "Georgia Volunteers" a vague designation that wouldn't satisfy any Union officer. And where was his accent? Now Richard Boone has played this kind of evil role before and again, and does it very well. I had to laugh at the Indians firing the Gatling gun( could they ever? would they ever?) at the fort while droves of other indians are closely surrounding it. Nary a horse hit during any of the battles. Monumental cavalry and Indian charges appear with the usual results. One has to swallow a lot to enjoy this western.

LIFEBOAT impressed me so much more the second time around, considering I was a kid the first time. Back then I thought Bankhead's kiss of Hodiak was the sexist thing I ever saw on screen.

All the performers were superb. Character development couldn't have been better in every case. Much has been said about everyone except maybe Henry Hull. Here was a "bend over backwards to be fair", millionaire industrialist in a splendid performance, who changes his tune at the end.

Oh, I wondered why Tallulah was immaculately alone in the boat, and how they miraculously avoided the shelling and collision, and how Nazi captain Walter Slezak was so deft removing a limb as a non-surgeon using merely a pocket knife, and other trifling incidents, but it didn't change my opinion one iota of this terrific film. For Hitchcock's extraordinary direction, splendid close up photography, and great story telling, it is hard to beat LIFEBOAT.

I saw only the last two thirds of this clunker and it was enough. How Michael Caine could be associated with this film is hard to understand. The only memorable scene shows him mowing down all the pirates with the machine gun, thereby obtaining revenge for the massacre of the Coast Guard crew. Finally, he burns up David Warner with a flare pistol which anybody would guess would happen.

David Warner works at playing a bad guy, but was much better at it in TITANIC. Caine and Warner are passable, but the plot, the direction, the other actors and action, aren't worth discussing. The more I think about it, I feel I over rated the movie.

Oh my,I have only a vivid mental image of Robert Taylor as a suave, debonair, romantic lead which is hard to shake. To see and hear him as a Kentucky frontiersman was too much for me. The clothes don't make the man in this case. Cover this tomato with a coonskin cap and buckskins and it still is a tomato. Miscast is not stretching it a bit.

Eleanor Parker surely should have passed his one up. She does her best in this unusual role, but can't save this picture. What is it? A comedy drama evidently. However, there are too many ho hums and not enough chuckles. Hooray for the Indians who provide a modicum of drama and looked realistic enough with scalp locks and fierce grimaces.

An above average western made so by the inclusion of former stars and a half way satisfactory plot. It was good to see Bruce Cabot, although in the unlikely role as a dance hall bouncer as well as Lon Chaney, Richard Arlen, and Scott Brady. I must admit I had trouble recognizing DeForrest Kelley. Linda Darnell, though having a top billing, had only a minor role.

Terry Moore looked positively luscious and half her age. Rory Calhoun turned from negative to positive all too quickly after finding out he had Terry Moore's son. He also made a remarkable recovery after a tremendous brawl with Brady. Emerging without a mark, he claimed he was "beaten half to death". Seeing someone who had been tarred and feathered also was novel. Calhoun rides off into the Great West after announcing that he might become a sheriff somewhere. Black Spurs was entertaining but only because of its well known cast.

It's always such a pleasure to see Leslie Howard. His acting is superb and his romance with Kay Francis touching. How director Michael Curtiz put so much plot and action into such a short film about the Russian Revolution is impressive.

It is interesting to observe that the British Embassy was in Petrograd,and just a British Consulate in Moscow. How the Embassy was able to amass all those guests, in all their finery, in the middle of war torn Russia on the brink of revolution, is surprising.

Howard's cohorts, Reed, Gargan, and Romero were immensely enjoyable. Gargan's addiction to gum was amusing and provided a light element to all the drama.

When their world is about to blow up around them Howard and Francis are saved by the bell and they ride off into the sunset. A happy ending after much disappointment, failure and sadness.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film with few reservations. The plot was solid and the acting superior, especially by the principals. True, Alec Guinness didn't really look Japanese, but that troubled me little, as the excellent story line and performances were what counted.

Rosalind Russell may have overdone the Jewish mother a little, but as a whole, did a fine job with her. The walk, the gestures, the occasional Jewish word, all were done well. The daughter and son-in-law completed the cast and were substantial.

I barely recognized Alan Mowbray in his cameo appearance. I might also note that the number one Japanese handyman was a little too abrasive. None of the above detracts from a most pleasant motion picture or a worthy message of tolerance and understanding.

I am not a Kevin Costner fan and think he is the most one dimensional actor around. Sometimes his delivery in this movie struck me as amateurish. I thought he wasn't bad in DANCING WITH WOLVES but that was his best effort.

I had to smile at the good guys wearing black and looking like morticians,(which they were in a sense). All that hot desert weather and they were in heat absorbing black.

The scenes with wives and lovers were tedious and added little to the film.

Frankly, any movie this long should be classified as epic, and this one certainly did not fall into that category. I can think of a good handful of westerns without much effort, superior to this one.

Ten it is and well deserved. I have seen this several times and always find something to dwell on. Of course, Peter O'Toole was superb, but so was his supporting cast.

Anthony Quinn looks more Arabic than Arabs. And Anthony Quayle always has been a favorite of mine and Claude Rains, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guiness, and Jose Ferrar were splendid. The latter was appropriately dissolute as the Turkish officer who captured Lawrence

The photography was spectacular, the skyline, deserts, and battle scenes. There were just enough of the fighting. The opening air bombing, the attack on the train, the massacre of the Turkish column, and the final raid.

What also was impressive was the relationship between Lawrence and the two Arab boys. All in all, a marvelous production that no one should miss.

Cary Grant shows his versatility in playing outside his usual breezy, comic roles, performing very well as a tough gambler. Laraine Day is most attractive as the War Relief leader who is absolutely smitten with him.

I enjoyed Cary Grant and the knitting scenes. That is the kind of comedy where he excels. I don't think Grant was in the military during WW2, and Mr. Lucky avoids the draft in this film by an identity swap.

Actually, the movie has a little of everything, romance, comedy,drama. It has an interesting beginning accomplished by a backward look into how it all began.

The ending was almost as cloudy as the fog. Grant, who was supposed to have been missing, suddenly appears to the delight of Laraine Day. It leaves you wondering whether she will soon be rebuffed once again.

I enjoyed it mostly because it is a pleasure to watch Cary Grant any time.

One of the best war movies ever, and especially of WW1. Kirk Douglas has an especially fine performance as Col. Dax, and George Macready is simply terrific as the merciless and incompetent general ordering the attack. Adolphe Menjou shines as the crafty commanding general.

The supporting cast is excellent also, particularly the condemned trio, J Turkel, Meeker, and Carey. One weak spot to me, was Wayne Morris who seemed miscast. I expected him to break out in a football cheer at any moment. However, he, too, gets his due when he is exposed as a coward.

The battle scenes were good but were overshadowed by the the court martial , imprisonment, and execution. Especially touching, too, was the appearance of the young German girl singing in the the cabaret. The real corker was when Macready is exposed as the real culprit at the end.

Three top notch movie stars are thrown together in this fine movie and they all perform splendidly.

Robert Mitchum plays his typical blase character to perfection, and William Holden is solid and expressive as Davy Harris. Loretta Young, as the focus of this dual attraction, steals the film with a wonderful performance.

The setting and scenery would have benefited from color, and I wonder why it wasn't done.

The plot proves that it took a stranger's attention to make Harris truly appreciate Rachel. The homestead has to be rebuilt, but true love finally comes to the surface.

It's a pleasure seeing the old standbys again, Robert Taylor, Edward Arnold, Frank Morgan, Lionel Stander, and others. Taylor, being a professional fighter, has the most handsome face in the business. No cauliflower ears, no mashed nose, or split lips, not on that face!! And certainly, Maureen O'Hara is the oldest looking student in that school for girls!

Crosses and double crosses abound as the big fight approaches. Taylor, about to be knocked into oblivion, rallies when he hears the news his kidnapped sweetheart has turned up, and scores a kayo over his opponent

All's well that ends well, the baddie is arrested, Taylor retires from the fight game, marries O'Hara, and is blessed by a now pleasant and contented mobster father in law, Edward Arnold.