Tonight's Movie: Rollercoaster (1977)

It's been a while since I've seen a disaster movie, and ROLLERCOASTER (1977) filled the bill nicely -- although for the most part it's actually more police procedural than disaster movie. But that was fine with me!

It was a nice surprise to discover during the opening credits that the screenplay was written by Richard Levinson and William Link of COLUMBO.

An even bigger surprise was discovering the screenplay was based on a story by former teen actor Tommy Cook. I double-checked to be sure, and according to IMDb it's the same Tommy Cook who appeared in films such as CRY OF THE CITY (1948) and who made an appearance at least year's Noir City Hollywood Festival. Cook is now 94.

George Segal plays Harry Calder, a safety inspector who was the last person to inspect a wooden rollercoaster before it collapses, killing a number of riders.

Shortly after the rollercoaster disaster, a fire erupts at a different amusement park, and it's realized that the same person was responsible for both incidents. The rollercoaster at the first park didn't collapse, it was bombed.

The saboteur (Timothy Bottoms) attempts to extort money from theme park owners, and Calder works with a short-tempered FBI agent, Hoyt (Richard Widmark), to try to catch the man before he kills again.

ROLLERCOASTER is for the most part engaging and at times nicely suspenseful. That said, I found Widmark's perpetually irate FBI man more interesting than Segal's bland inspector.

I don't think I've ever seen Segal in anything other other than a bit in THE LONGEST DAY (1962), and this film doesn't make me anxious to see more. He's not bad, just rather dull.

ROLLERCOASTER runs 119 minutes, and the movie could have also used a more compact screenplay. Eliminating the characters of Harry's girlfriend (Susan Strasberg) and daughter (13-year-old Helen Hunt) would have streamlined things.

The movie throws out a red herring with the girlfriend and daughter to make viewers anxious they'll end up in harm's way, but that aspect comes to nothing, and removing them from the story would have saved several minutes of screen time. What does watching young Helen Hunt riding at an equestrian center add to the story?

Henry Fonda basically phones in a cameo as Harry's boss, who's as cranky as Widmark's character, but it's good to see him.

I found it especially enjoyable seeing William Prince (PILLOW TO POST) as one of the theme park owners; his film roles went back to the '40s. Another of the owners is longtime DAYS OF OUR LIVES star Quinn Redeker.

Producer Jennings Lang's wife, singer-actress Monica Lewis, is said to have played a bit role but I didn't spot her. Lang produced several well-known '70s disaster films, in which Lewis had small roles.

One of the things I particularly enjoyed about ROLLERCOASTER was the location shooting, including at Magic Mountain, which I visited with my Girl Scout troop roughly around the year the movie was shot. Magic Mountain's Revolution rollercoaster, which is a focal point of the story, had opened in real life in May 1976.

The film also features lots of '70s Harvest Gold and avocado decor, including an eye-popping hotel lobby.

I also enjoy seeing how the lack of modern cell phone technology impacts stories like this which take place in the relatively recent past; here we see the use of pay phones, walkie-talkies, and even an early version of a car phone. (I remember when the attorney I worked for got a car phone; they weren't around long, pushed out by cellphones.)

ROLLERCOASTER was directed by James Goldstone and filmed by David M. Walsh. The musical score was by Lalo Schifrin.

I watched ROLLERCOASTER on DVD.

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A Visit to Palm Springs: Homes of Classic Stars (2024 Edition)

We always enjoy some sightseeing when we attend the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs each year, and there are certainly many things to see in the area.

Something I find interesting is checking out the former homes of classic era filmmakers. In many cases all that can be seen today are gates, but surprisingly often there are historic markers and other signs next to the gates documenting the location's Hollywood and architectural history.

I shared a number of classic star home photos in 2023, and that post also links to a few of my older photos. Today we'll visit a few more.

This year we again stayed at the Old Ranch Inn, and we noticed something we hadn't picked up on when we were there in 2021: The inn is right across the street from the former Gloria Swanson Estate!

The Swanson Estate is now the Amin Casa Historic Hotel, located on West Arenas Road.

The hotel's side gate is on South Patencio Road, right across from the Old Ranch Inn, and it bears this marker documenting the location's history.

Continuing our tour around Palm Springs, a home rental company and other sources say this home on North Patencio was lived in by Mary Pickford and her husband, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, although I will note that I didn't find anything in this history of the address.

Multiple sources, including a Redfin listing, say the home below, on Hermosa, was owned by Ronald Reagan; one source says he owned it around the time he was governor of California.

The gate below on East Tamarisk hides the estate which once belonged to Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century-Fox.

The Zanuck home was named Ric-Su-Dar after his children Richard, Susan, and Darrylin, and a sign bearing that name remains next to the address.

Right across the street from the Zanuck estate is a home once owned by Randolph Scott.

The Zanuck and Scott homes are located in the "Movie Colony" neighborhood.

Many Palm Springs street signs have white signs attached, such as seen below, designating the neighborhood name.

This is said to have been Spencer Tracy's home, located on Mission Road:

The former Kirk Douglas Estate on West Via Lola:

Like many well-known homes in Palm Springs, the former Douglas estate bears a plaque in front documenting its ownership and architectural history. Wexler also designed Alan Ladd's estate; the Ladd Estate sign may be seen in this 2023 post.

The Dinah Shore Estate on Hermosa was also a Wexler design:

This home on North Patencio once belonged to Jim and Marian Jordan, aka radio stars "Fibber McGee and Molly." A couple of years ago I also visited the Jordans' final resting places at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Cowboy star Hoot Gibson lived at this address on Merito....

...and Lena Horne lived on the same street:

I really appreciate how much of Palm Springs home history has been preserved and hope my readers enjoy this photographic tour.

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Tonight's Movie: Christmas Homecoming (2017) - A Hallmark DVD Review

It's "Christmas in July," and I've just watched a wonderful Hallmark film, CHRISTMAS HOMECOMING (2017).

CHRISTMAS HOMECOMING originally aired on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel. I remember it as a favorite of my late father's -- I believe the word he used to describe it was "superior" -- and as I'd not yet seen it I was happy to have the chance to review it on DVD.

The movie stars Michael Shanks, a longtime cast member of STARGATE SG-1 (1997-2007), and Julie Benz, who's had a long career in television. Her credits include starring in NO ORDINARY FAMILY (2010-11), which I particularly mention because one of our daughters was an extra on that series a number of times, appearing as a high school student.

In CHRISTMAS HOMECOMING Benz plays Amanda, an army widow of two years. She rents out a backyard apartment to Jim (Shanks), a master sergeant on leave while recovering from a serious leg injury.

As they get to know one another and develop a relationship, Jim helps Amanda embrace the Christmas season once more, while Amanda in turn helps Jim reaching out to talk to the widow (Jordana Largy) of a fellow soldier killed in combat.

This is a lovely 85 minutes start to finish, with a very good script by written by Todd Messegee, Lisa Nanni-Messegee, and Donald Martin.

The movie is sensitively and realistically acted by Shanks and Benz, who are onscreen the majority of the time. They have excellent chemistry, and the ending left a big smile on my face. It defines "feel-good movie."

I loved this one and highly recommend it. My dad was right.

CHRISTMAS HOMECOMING was directed by Paul A. Kaufman. It was filmed by Thomas M. Harting at various locations in British Columbia.

For more Hallmark Christmas movie reviews, please check out this regularly updated roundup.

Thanks to Allied Vaughn and Hallmark for providing a review copy of this DVD. CHRISTMAS HOMECOMING may be purchased from Amazon and other online retailers.

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Tonight's TV: Columbo (1974): "Swan Song," "A Friend in Deed" - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

My latest COLUMBO viewing consisted of the final two episodes of Season 3, "Swan Song" and "A Friend In Deed."

Overall I feel Season 3 has been the strongest to date, and that's illustrated by this pair of excellent shows.

"Swan Song" was directed by actor Nicholas Colasanto (CHEERS) and features a rather remarkable pairing of lead guest stars in Johnny Cash and Ida Lupino.

Cash plays gospel singer Tommy Brown, currently touring with his group The Lost Soul Crusaders to raise money for an expensive tabernacle.

The church project is being pushed by Tommy's older wife Edna (Lupino), who has blackmail material to get what she wants. It seems that Tommy had an affair with Maryann (Bonnie Van Dyke) when she was just 16, which is illegal.

Tommy devises an elaborate plan to kill both Edna and Maryann in an airplane crash which he "miraculously" survives. I'll leave it to viewers to watch his complicated plan unfold.

Columbo is soon on the crash scene, tasked to investigate as Edna's brother (Bill McKinney) has reported to the police his suspicion that his sister's death wasn't an accident. An aviation accident investigator (wonderfully played by John Dehner, seen below) gets Columbo up to speed and soon the detective is noticing some unusual things...

One of the aspects I liked about this episode is that Cash's villain for the most part reins in any obvious exasperation with Columbo, calmly answering questions. So often the villains, convinced of their own brilliance, don't hesitate to let Columbo know they think he's an idiot, which is in itself suspicious.

Tommy gets a little edgy every so often but for the most part he's quite low-key. This makes him all the more dangerous, as his relative subtlety could help him get away with a double murder.

Cash was a very fine actor who turned up on TV every so often; I recall watching him in an episode of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE when I was young. His music is an added plus in this episode. As for Lupino, she's only in the show briefly but she manages to make the viewer loathe her, even though Cash's character was the one with the truly bad behavior.

Among the episode's fun moments, there's a scene with Columbo and an undertaker where the gradually building humor eventually had me laughing out loud. I also enjoyed an inside joke in the show when an arranger's name is a reversed version of director Colasanto's last name, something like Solacanti.

The supporting cast includes Sorrell Booke, John Randolph, and Vito Scotti. The episode was written by David Rayfiel from a story by Stanley Ralph Ross.

"A Friend in Deed" has a more typical COLUMBO villain, a man who's absolutely sure he's smarter than Columbo. He's played by one of my favorite TV actors, Richard Kiley, directed by actor Ben Gazzara.

This long, well-scripted episode might be the very best one to date. When Hugh Caldwell (Michael McGuire) accidentally kills his wife, his neighbor, Police Commissioner Mark Halperin (Kiley), does the friendly thing: He sets things up so that it appears Caldwell's wife was killed by a robber.

Very soon after, Halperin kills his own wife, Margaret (Rosemary Murphy), forcing Caldwell to help in a plot to make it appear the same "burglar" killed both women.

This episode, scripted by Peter S. Fischer, is elaborately plotted and quite unique, in that Columbo works for the man he comes to suspect is a murderer.

Richard Kiley was such a wonderful actor (and singer!) in so many things, and it's absolutely fabulous watching him spar with the determined detective, insisting that Columbo focus on his "theory" regarding the robberies rather than following his own leads. Halperin would surely have known of Columbo's track record, but his ego is such that he believes he can outsmart and outmaneuver the dogged detective.

Columbo eventually enlists the help of small-time jewel thief Artie Jessup (Val Avery); one of the best scenes in the show is when Columbo tells Artie he thinks he knows the identity of the killer. The ultimate "gotcha" ending the episode is superb.

Both of these fine episodes were filmed by William Cronjager.

As always, Kino Lorber's Blu-ray prints look great. This set continues to be a wonderful way to watch a marvelous show.

Previous COLUMBO review posts: "Murder By the Book" (1971), "Death Lends a Hand" (1971), "Dead Weight" (1971), "Suitable for Framing" (1971), "Lady in Waiting" (1971), "Short Fuse" (1972), "Blueprint for Murder" (1972), "Etude in Black" (1972), "The Greenhouse Jungle" (1972), "The Most Crucial Game" (1972), "Dagger of the Mind" (1972), "Requiem for a Falling Star" (1973), "A Stitch in Crime" (1973), "The Most Dangerous Match" (1973), "Double Shock" (1973), "Lovely But Lethal" (1973), "Any Old Port in a Storm" (1973), "Candidate for Crime" (1973), "Double Exposure" (1973); "Publish Or Perish" (1974), "Mind Over Mayhem" (1974).

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray set.

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Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...A pair of previously announced Kino Lorber releases now have release dates and extras info available.  BODY AND SOUL (1947) comes out September 17th, featuring a commentary track by Alan K. Rode.  The Dark Side of Cinema XXI collection is out the same date, featuring CLOAK AND DAGGER (1946), SHACK OUT ON 101 (1955), and SHORT CUT TO HELL (1957).  Commentary tracks will be by Heath Holland and Max Allan Collins, Jason A. Ney, and Gary Gerani, respectively.

...The Marvel panel at this weekend's San Diego Comic Con brought the house down with the announcement that Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a new character, Doctor Doom.

...In May I attended a "Flights of Fantasy" screening at the Westwood Village Theatre featuring WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) paired with Puppetoons.  This October another "Flights of Fantasy" screening will take place at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills, featuring THE TIME MACHINE (1960) and more Puppetoons.

...Here's an interesting critique by Gary Baum on the Academy Museum, published in the Hollywood Reporter.

...Glenn Erickson's latest reviews include Kino Lorber's release of the 3D film BWANA DEVIL (1952).

...Kristina has a fun post on favorite Westerns at Speakeasy.

...Huge thanks to CineSavant Glenn Erickson for his very kind words for my blog in his column earlier this week.

...Notable Passings: Actress Carla Balenda, whose credits included SEALED CARGO (1951) with Dana Andrews, has died at 98. She was long married to William Rutter of the legal publication business The Rutter Group...Writer Jill Schary Robinson, the daughter of former MGM head Dore Schary, has died at 88.

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my July 20th column.

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Tonight's Movie: The Man I Love (1946) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

The marvelously entertaining Warner Bros. film THE MAN I LOVE (1946), directed by Raoul Walsh, has just been released on a restored Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection.

The Blu-ray is from a 1080p HD master from a 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative. It looks wonderful.

The very best part of the restoration is that six minutes has been found and restored to the movie since the Warner Archive's 2009 DVD release. The restored scene, with Ida Lupino performing "Bill," hadn't been seen since 1956 due to music licensing issues.

I first saw THE MAN I LOVE in 2007, and if anything I love it even more with the passage of time. The movie offers great music, a terrific cast in a richly plotted story, and best of all a tour de force performance by the great Lupino, who never looked better.

THE MAN I LOVE is one of the rare movies set in my birthplace, Long Beach, California. Nothing of Long Beach is actually seen -- there are a couple references to then-local places such as the Pike -- but even a pretend Long Beach is fun.

Lupino plays the curiously named Petey Brown, who arrives in Long Beach to visit her family: Sister Sally (Andrea King), a waitress supporting her little boy (Patrick Griffin) while her soldier husband (John Ridgely) is hospitalized with PTSD; brother Joe (future screenwriter Warren Douglas); and little sister Ginny (Martha Vickers).

The Browns' lives are intertwined with those of a family across the hall in their apartment building: Johnny (Don McGuire), his unfaithful wife Gloria (Dolores Moran), and their infant twin boys. Gloria spends her evenings on the town with "girlfriends" while Ginny, who clearly crushes on Johnny, takes care of the babies.

Immediately after arriving in town Petey takes a job as a singer in a club owned by womanizing Nick (Robert Alda), who pursues Petey with determination. Petey, however, is soon hung up on pianist San Thomas (Bruce Bennett), despite San in turn being hung up on memories of his ex-wife. (Incidentally, take a close look at Nick and Pete's fourth fingers on their left hands...interesting.)

The movie probably has more plot than it knows what to do with -- Martha Vickers in particular gets short shrift -- but it's all absolutely irresistible and, if anything, I wish it ran longer than its 97 minutes. It's one of those movies which is many things at once, including musical, family drama, romance, and a bit of film noir, and it does them all well.

As I wrote here back in 2007, "There's great mood, with foggy beaches, musicians playing in smoke-filled joints, dramatic piano music, and Lupino singing in dazzling gowns by Milo Anderson." The cinematographer of this black and white dazzler was Sid Hickox.

The sharp, engrossing screenplay was by Catherine Turney, who scripted a pair of favorite Barbara Stanwyck films which also incisively captured family relationships, MY REPUTATION (1946) and NO MAN OF HER OWN (1950). (NO MAN OF HER OWN just came out on Blu-ray and will be reviewed here soon.) Turney also wrote another Stanwyck film which I'm fond of despite its flaws, CRY WOLF (1947).

Turney has a gift for snappy dialogue; the brisk exchanges between the confident Petey and pushy Nick are particularly good. I'd add that the movie is fairly adult for its era, addressing mental health, infidelity, and commitment difficulties. The movie ends optimistically but not necessarily happily.

Sharp-eyed viewers will notice a young Craig Stevens as the orchestra leader at Nick's club. Alan Hale (Sr.) is Nick's righthand man. Other cast members include Barbara Brown, Frank Ferguson, and Jane Harker of the Joe McDoakes movie shorts series. Lupino is dubbed very effectively by Peg La Centra, who also dubbed the actress in ESCAPE ME NEVER (1947).

An important note regarding the Blu-ray extras: Although the Blu-ray case indicates the disc contains the cartoons ROUGHLY SQUEAKING (1946) and SLICK HARE (1947), they are not included. The cartoons which are actually on the disc as extras are RABBIT TRANSIT (1947) and CROWING PAINS (1947).

The trailer is also included on the disc.

THE MAN I LOVE is highly recommended.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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Tonight's Movie: Starting Over (1979) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh, and Candice Bergen star in STARTING OVER (1979), recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

I was curious about this film as I vaguely remember seeing advertising for it when it came out. Having never caught up with it in the decades since, the was a wonderful opportunity to finally check it out. The movie proved to be a pleasant 105 minutes featuring a nicely subdued Reynolds navigating relationships with two high-strung ladies (Clayburgh and Bergen).

As the film opens, Phil (Reynolds) has been dumped by his wife Jessie (Bergen), an aspiring (but rather bad) singer.

Phil moves to the Boston area where his brother (Charles Durning) and sister-in-law (Frances Sternhagen) live, and in short order they introduce him to a nice preschool teacher, Marilyn (Clayburgh).

Phil and Marilyn's relationship progresses steadily, with some bumps along the way, but just when they've taken the momentous step of moving in together, Jessie appears for an unexpected visit. Jessie is clearly regretting the end of their relationship, and Phil finds himself considering what he really wants.

STARTING OVER has a well-written script by James L. Brooks, based on a novel by Dan Wakefield. While Bergen's narcissistic Jessie comes off more cartoony than real, Phil and Marilyn are written and played as normal, likeable people any viewer might recognize.

I don't think I've ever seen a Reynolds performance quite so low-key; I kept expecting Phil to turn into a more flamboyant "Burt Reynolds" type character and was charmed and relieved when that didn't occur. He plays Phil as an ordinary guy who, plain and simple, wants to be in a meaningful relationship with a nice woman.

Clayburgh is also very good as the disarmingly honest, sweet Marilyn, although at times I almost felt I was watching a Diane Keaton performance. Indeed, Keaton's character in the later SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (2003), which I revisited earlier this year, seems strangely familiar after watching STARTING OVER, right down to the younger guy Marilyn starts dating.

Bergen's character is rather remarkable in that she manages to make most of the significant moments in her interactions with Phil about herself and her feelings, belatedly remembering to ask about Phil. Despite her continual self-focus, her sadness when she realizes their relationship is truly over seems genuine.

Clayburgh and Bergen were Oscar-nominated as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, and while they're fine, Reynolds shouldn't be overlooked either. Indeed, neither of the actresses' performances would work so well if they weren't playing off Reynolds and his reactions.

Durning is particularly good as Phil's supportive psychiatrist brother who comes to the rescue when Phil has an anxiety attack. This sequence is rather moving for the open expressions of love and caring between the two brothers.

As an aside, part of the enjoyment of a film like this is what now seems like a nostalgic depiction of the era in which I grew up. Cell phones make everything different in so many ways!

Parental Advisory: This film is rated R and definitely deserves it, although I've seen R films which were much more...R.

STARTING OVER was directed by Alan J. Pakula and filmed by Sven Nykist.

Kino Lorber's nice-looking widescreen Blu-ray print is from a new HD master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative.

Disc extras consisted of a commentary track by Daniel Kremer and Howard S. Berger, plus a gallery of eight trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber. The Blu-ray is presented as a Special Edition in a cardboard slipcase.

STARTING OVER is an enjoyable film worth checking out; I will definitely return to it at some point for another look.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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Tonight's Movie: Under Western Stars (1938) - A Film Masters Blu-ray Review

This spring I reviewed BOMBS OVER BURMA (1942) on DVD from Film Masters.

Film Masters continues to release interesting and desirable lesser-known titles, most recently this month's Blu-ray of UNDER WESTERN STARS (1938), newly restored in HD.

UNDER WESTERN STARS is significant to Western movie history as the film which made Roy Rogers a star. Rogers had previously sung in a number of films with the Sons of the Pioneers, and when singing cowboy star Gene Autry went on strike, Republic Pictures gave Roy his big break in the leading role.

The movie features an atypical "B" Western story, with Roy as a newly elected Congressman working to raise awareness of the plight of Dust Bowl farmers during the Depression.

In a key scene, Roy performs "Dust" for an audience of Washington lawmakers. The song, composed by Johnny Marvin, was nominated for the Oscar for Best Song.

Roy's acting is somewhat amateurish at this stage of his career, but his likeability carries the day, and he's well supported by Carol Hughes as a spunky young woman with Washington know-how who lends him a hand.

The supporting cast also includes Smiley Burnette, Guy Usher, Tom Chatterton, and Kenneth Harlan. The Maple City Four perform a couple of songs.

It's of note that Rogers' stunt double was the great Joe Yrigoyen, with future actors Richard Farnsworth and George Montgomery also among the movie's stunt team.

I first saw UNDER WESTERN STARS at the Lone Pine Film Festival in 2018. It was filmed in several local areas, most notably the Alabama Hills outside town.

The movie's reservoir scenes were shot at the Tinemaha Reservoir near Big Pine, and the scenes in front of a hotel were filmed at the Winnedumah Hotel in Independence. Big Pine and Independence are just north of Lone Pine on Highway 395.

The Winnedumah first opened in 1927. It was built by Walter Dow, who also opened the Dow Villa Hotel in Lone Pine in 1923. The Winnedumah still stands, looking just as it did in the movie, but it appears from various review sites that it is currently closed for business.

UNDER WESTERN STARS was directed by Joseph Kane and filmed by Jack A. Marta. It runs 65 minutes.

The Film Masters Blu-ray print looks quite nice, and it was a great discovering that the disc has subtitles, which was not the case with BOMBS OVER BURMA.

UNDER WESTERN STARS is also available from Film Masters in DVD format.

I really appreciate the work Film Masters is doing to make lesser-known films available and hope we see many more releases in the future.

Thanks to Allied Vaughn and Film Masters for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. It may be purchased via Amazon and other online retailers.

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