That was pretty much the case for public life in post Prohibition America as well. When all alcoholic beverages were banned a certain niche for gay urban life existed alongside others in the shadow world of the speakeasy, and provoked widespread public fascination. Once state alcohol control boards began…

Seeing RESERVOIR DOGS on its first run was the last time I felt in a movie a potent sense of a cultural sea change in the midst of watching a film. I know that for many PULP FICTION was a cinematic watershed on a massive public scale, but for the few who saw the previous effort, the effect was already sewn.

Overall BAKER BOYS has my favorite work of his.

Former AV Club film editor Keith Phipps wrote a fantastic series on 60s-70s age "Laser Age" science fiction at the late Dissolve, in which these were covered. Check the archives.

I suspect that the divisions in the Democratic party over Vietnam led to a certain disgruntlement amongst many of a generation who grew up during WWII. For those with an unambiguous faith in the virtue of military service (whether they served or not) ingrained in that era, the clarity of the GOP's law and order…

Heston and Sinatra's friendship with Reagan may have led to their political conversion. Heston also became President of SAG for awhile in the 70s, which indicated a bent for politics as he got older..

Personally LOLITA has my favorite ensemble cast, and Mason gives what is probably my all time favorite film performance. Good choice!

I'll look for it!

He was probably the most critically applauded filmmaker within the industry during his height of his career, in which he produced noticeable work from the late 20s through FUNNY GIRL at the end of the 60s. In retrospect, I think his success worked against him as younger critics began to champion more populist auteurs…

It's no longer in play, being repealed back in the Reagan administration.

Hedren has consistently laid out these statements in interviews and public book signings for about 35 years now, and Donald Spoto used her testimony extensively in his 1982 Hitchcock biography. I don't know if she has augmented these claims or whether journalists and Hitchcock biographers have cherry picked her…

Hedren confided much of this information in Donald Spoto's Alfred Hitchcock: The Dark Side of Genius, that was published around 1982. I assumed this was Hitchcock lore by now, but I guess these young 'uns don't know their history.

To clarify: What Ignatiy says about the documentary is probably true, but in failing to elaborate on what the film leaves out in the way of context, I see little justification as to why Lumet deserves to be the focus of a (better) movie, which is the general thesis of the article. Since making the original post, I…

While I suspect that Ignatiy is correct about the documentary's lack of insight, it seems clear in this review that Lumet is a critical blind spot in his cinematic expertise. I'd much rather hear some acknowledgement of what makes the director's films unique and/or significant from a cultural perspective than a…

I think that time has caught up with it. In fact, some films, like POWER, DANIEL, and NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN, while not first rate Lumet, have a thematic and stylistic consistency that, from an auteurist position, deserve more scrutiny.

This looks more like a science center IMAX release than a general one. In San Diego, that means seeing it on a curved dome.

In the 1980s a L.A. based critic bestowed his annual Edgar Ulmer memorial award to THE BEDROOM WINDOW

Ri8ley made a few guest shots in some Robert Altman films, playing a lounge pianist in THE LONG GOODBYE and a bartender in CALIFORNIA SPLIT.

When Eastwood decided to go home two days ahead of schedule, he got Cimino to do 50 set ups a day.

Kubrick's early films don't show the same ability and assurances as the Coens'. Of the great American director's his career got off to the most tenuous start.