Mike Clark
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘Days of Wine and Roses’ and ‘Charley Varrick’
Days of Wine and Roses Available via Warner Archive Warner, Drama, $21.99 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman. 1962. In terms of his overall career, this harrowing warning shot about how alcohol can destroy lives, livelihoods and families seems to have been a highly unusual project for Blake Edwards, and … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Days of Wine and Roses’ and ‘Charley Varrick’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘David Crosby: Remember My Name’ and ‘My Favorite Year’
David Crosby: Remember My Name Sony Pictures, Documentary, $25.99 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray, ‘R’ for language, drug material and brief nudity. Featuring David Crosby, Cameron Crowe, Roger McGuinn, Jackson Browne. 2019. Filmmaker A.J. Eaton had apparently been working with Crosby for a while fashioning what came to be a combo confessional, irresistible rock-memories clip show and … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘David Crosby: Remember My Name’ and ‘My Favorite Year’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘Days of Wine and Roses’ and ‘Charley Varrick’
Days of Wine and Roses Available via Warner Archive Warner, Drama, $21.99 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman. 1962. In terms of his overall career, this harrowing warning shot about how alcohol can destroy lives, livelihoods and families seems to have been a highly unusual project for Blake Edwards, and … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Days of Wine and Roses’ and ‘Charley Varrick’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘David Crosby: Remember My Name’ and ‘My Favorite Year’
David Crosby: Remember My Name Sony Pictures, Documentary, $25.99 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray, ‘R’ for language, drug material and brief nudity. Featuring David Crosby, Cameron Crowe, Roger McGuinn, Jackson Browne. 2019. Filmmaker A.J. Eaton had apparently been working with Crosby for a while fashioning what came to be a combo confessional, irresistible rock-memories clip show and … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘David Crosby: Remember My Name’ and ‘My Favorite Year’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘When We Were Kings’ and ‘The Return of Martin Guerre’
When We Were Kings Criterion, Documentary, $29.95 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray, ‘PG’ for images of violence, brief nudity and some language. Featuring Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton. 1996. The now famed, Zaire-set 1974 Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman provided the century-caliber upset of which Oscar-winning documentaries … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘When We Were Kings’ and ‘The Return of Martin Guerre’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘The Tall Men’ and ‘There’s Always Tomorrow’
The Tall Men Available via ScreenArchives.com Twilight Time, Western, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Clark Gable, Jane Russell, Robert Ryan, Cameron Mitchell. 1955. A substantial hit in its day that made Clark Gable give a damn because he took a percentage deal against his already meaty salary, The Tall Men is a combination cattle drive drama/wagon … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘The Tall Men’ and ‘There’s Always Tomorrow’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘The Major and the Minor’ and ‘The Set Up’
The Major and the Minor MVD/Arrow, Comedy, $39.95 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Rita Johnson, Diana Lynn, Robert Benchley. 1942. In the first Hollywood directorial outing from Billy Wilder, a grown woman posing as a 12-year-old meets and gradually falls for a kindly and thoroughly aboveboard Army major — who probably isn’t even … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘The Major and the Minor’ and ‘The Set Up’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘Local Hero’ and ‘Whirlpool’
Local Hero Criterion, Comedy, $29.95 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray, ‘PG.’ Stars Peter Reigert, Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson, Jenny Seagrove. 1983. Better than any movie of its era, Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero comes closest to pulling off full-fledged whimsy, and this deserving Criterion release now seems like feel-good perfection. Extras: Fortsyth’s provides a commentary with film critic … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Local Hero’ and ‘Whirlpool’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘Man Without a Star’ and ’10 North Frederick’
Man Without a Star Kino Lorber, Western, $29.99 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Kirk Douglas, Jeanne Crain, Claire Trevor, William Campbell, Richard Boone. 1955. Released without too much fanfare but given some pacing oomph by a legendary director who’d found himself needing work (King Vidor), this cattle-heavy Western with sex is a Kirk Douglas vehicle through and … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Man Without a Star’ and ’10 North Frederick’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘Wagon Master’ and ‘Pittsburgh’
Wagon Master Available via Warner Archive Warner, Western, $21.99 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Harry Carey, Jr., Ward Bond. 1950. For a Western that’s in all ways modest (quality excepted), Wagon Master is rated extraordinarily high in the John Ford canon by people who know or knew. Extras: Harry Carey Jr. joins Peter … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Wagon Master’ and ‘Pittsburgh’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation’ and ‘Easy Living’
Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation PBS, Documentary, $24.99 DVD, NR. 2019. Never underestimate the power of a doc when filmmakers (the director here is Barak Goodman) have a trove of on-the-spot archival footage on hand. Read the Full Review Easy Living Kino Lorber, Comedy, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, Ray … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation’ and ‘Easy Living’”
-
Mike’s Picks: ‘Footlight Parade’ and ‘Wild in the Country’
Footlight Parade Available via Warner Archive Warner, Musical, $21.99 Blu-ray, NR. Stars James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell 1933. Footlight Parade was 1933’s third Busby Berkeley extravaganza released by Warner Bros. in a seven-month period, but this one had a surprise. Of all people, given his screen-gangster resumé, here was James Cagney headlining … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Footlight Parade’ and ‘Wild in the Country’”