Half Shot at Sunrise

One of my first introductions to the world of classic film was through some famous comedy teams. The Three Stooges were a daily TV ritual when I was a kid. They then led me to other acts like Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, and the Marx Brothers. It wasn’t until just a few years...

What Price Hollywood?

I often find it interesting when Hollywood turns the camera on itself and gives us stories of what goes on behind the glitz and glamor. But there will always be the question of how honest are the filmmakers really being with us. One of the most famous behind-the-scenes Hollywood stories is A Star is Born....

Illicit

When I hear the name Barbara Stanwyck I usually think of a western TV series from the late 60’s called The Big Valley. Not because I ever watched the show, but because I remember seeing commercials for reruns of the show that aired on one of our local stations in Chicago. Stanwyck's career goes back way...

‘Neath the Arizona Skies

Long before John Wayne became the star of big scale westerns like The Searchers or True Grit, he spent a lot of time making small B-westerns. These films often tell very simple little western tales and tend to have very short running times. Today’s film clocks in at a mere 52 minutes and sees the...