Billy Two Hats (1974)

 

BILLY TWO HATS  (1974)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Ted Kotcheff

    Gregory Peck, Desi Arnaz Jr., Jack Warden,

    Sian Barbara Allen, David Huddleston, John Pearce

A spare western tale shot in Israel, about a couple of outlaws on the run from a sheriff who pursues them across an apparently endless desert. As the chase goes on and characters pair off in various combinations, the movie becomes a reflection on loyalty, and the subversive notion (in a western, at least) that two people together can be a lot stronger than a man alone. Peck's feisty performance as an old Scottish bandit is a departure from the more stoic western characters he usually portrayed. 

Ted Kotcheff

(1931-2025)

In a Valley of Violence (2016)

 

IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE  (2016)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Ti West

    Ethan Hawke, John Travolta, Taissa Farmiga,

    James Ransone, Karen Gillan, Tommy Nohilly,

    Toby Huss, Burn Gorman, Larry Fessenden

A stranger rides into a town called Denton, accompanied by his best (and only) friend, a dog. In the saloon, a punk confronts him and challenges him to a fight out in the street, an encounter that does not end well for the punk. It turns out the punk is both the deputy and the son of the town marshall, who tells the stranger to get out of town, which he does. So the stranger's camping out on the range somewhere when the punk and his gang ambush him and throw him off a cliff and kill his dog. They don't check to make sure he's dead, though, which is a mistake, on top of the mistake they made by killing the dog. You can guess the rest. Ethan Hawke plays the stranger. John Travolta plays the marshall. It's a spaghetti western, or a riff on spaghetti westerns, enhanced by West's affection for the genre and a musical score by Jeff Grace that owes a lot to Ennio Morricone. There's a rule in movies like this that the punk should've paid more attention to: No matter how tough you think you are, if you want to be breathing when the end credits roll, you'd better not kill no dog.

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)

The Naked Witch (1961)

 

THE NAKED WITCH  (1961)  ¢

    D: Claude Alexander, Larry Buchanan

    Libby Hall, Robert Short, Jo Maryman,

    Charles West, Jack Herman, Howard Ware

Cheaply made regional horror about a college kid who accidentally resurrects a vengeful witch. An introductory lesson in art history and witchcraft, and a documentary-style look at German traditions in Texas, add to the movie's length but do nothing  to enhance the story. Produced for $8,000 by a drive-in operator who wanted a movie with lots of nudity, but except for a modest skinny-dipping scene, you don't see that much of the witch.

Take the High Ground (1953)

 

TAKE THE HIGH GROUND  (1953)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Richard Brooks

    Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, Elaine Stewart, 

    Russ Tamblyn, Carleton Carpenter, Steve Forrest,

    Robert Arthur, Jerome Courtland, Bert Freed

Widmark and Malden play Army drill sergeants whipping a platoon of new recruits into shape. That's the movie, really, except for a melodramatic subplot that's off-base in more ways than one. Anybody who's survived basic training will see something they recognize in Widmark's Sgt. Ryan. Straighten up, soldier. Inspection at 06:00.