World For Ransom (1954)

 

WORLD FOR RANSOM  (1954)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Robert Aldrich

    Dan Duryea, Patric Knowles, Marian Carr,

    Reginald Denny, Gene Lockhart, Nigel Bruce,

    Arthur Shields, Douglass Dumbrille, Keye Luke

Dan Duryea plays a private eye in Singapore, caught up in a plot that involves shady characters, a kidnapped nuclear scientist, British intelligence and (of course) a dame. A Cold War film noir, notable for the direction of Robert Aldrich (uncredited), but not so much for its script. Duryea looks a little haggard, which for this film and this character, kind of makes sense.

Warlock (1959)

 

WARLOCK  (1959)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Edward Dmytryk

    Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn,

    Dorothy Malone, Dolores Michaels, Tom Drake,

    Wallace Ford, Richard Arlen, DeForest Kelley,

    Regis Toomey, Vaughn Taylor, Whit Bissell

Shifty morals and shifting alliances in a western starring Richard Widmark as an outlaw cowboy-turned-lawman, Henry Fonda as a gunman hired to keep the peace, and Anthony Quinn as a gambler whose main job seems to be watching Fonda's back. Director Edward Dmytryk had been blacklisted, and it's one of those '50s westerns in which the metaphorical implications are up for grabs. If you watch it, see if you don't think there's a little Dean Martin in Quinn's performance. 

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)

 

JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT  (2019)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Kevin Smith

    Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Harley Quinn Smith,

    Fred Armison, Jason Lee, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck,

    Brian O'Halloran, Kate Micucci, Joey Lauren Adams,

    Tommy Chong, Shannon Elizabeth, Chris Hemsworth, 

    Val Kilmer, Molly Shannon, Lilith Fury, Justin Long,

    Rosario Dawson, Craig Robinson, Jennifer Schwalbach

Jay and Silent Bob recycled, with the boys heading out to Hollywood (again), when somebody decides to make a movie about them (again). Smith takes some well-aimed shots at the movie industry and his place in it, self parody and self-promotion going hand-in-hand. But there are whole episodes, like the one with Fred Armison, that die and don't go anywhere at all. Lots of familiar faces from earlier Smith movies turn up, and fans of the View Askew universe should get a kick out of that. Like a lot of Smith's films, it's all kind of an agreeable mess. Maybe a joint would help. 

Val Kilmer

(1959-2025)