Old School Movie Month with James Cagney in The Public Enemy

James Cagney was the Joe Pesci of the Black & White Gangster Movie era. Many people assume he was type cast as a Gangster actor except that he also danced and sand in movies such as Yankee Doodle Dandy. Cagney oozed talent, testosterone and tough guy attitude.

The Public Enemy released in 1931 is about a Chicago hoodlum, Tom Powers, played by Cagney, who rises to the top while his brother urges him to pursue a different lifestyle. An accidental killing leads to a climactic off-camera shootout with a rival gang that has Cagney stumbling to the gutter.

Some very cutting edge scenes of the day are in this movie that caused controversy.

In the scene below Cagney shows what happens when a women nags her gangster boyfriend.

Another great scene shows how Cagney manipulates a pawn shop owner resulting in a stick up. It is a brilliant scene that leads to the off-screen shoot out. In those days it took talented acting to portray implied off-screen actions. You never see the gun battle, you can only imagine. But you see the results.

June is Old School Movie Month

Before Pesci, De Niro, and Pacino, there was Cagney, Bogart, and Robinson. June is Old School month where we will profile the movies from the early days of movies. Organized Crime Movies were not invented with the Godfather but have been around since silent films.

The roaring 20’s and the depression era of the 1930’s brought us some fantastic movies. Some of these films such as “The Public Enemy,” were cutting edge and controversial for their day. In many of these scenes, you wont see the graphic sex or violence, it is implied. But that doesn’t mean the impact is lost in these movies. They are still powerful.

So for June, we honor the Old School Black & White films, the classics.

Foreign Film Month Continues with Kick-Ass Kung Fu Hustle video montage

Upon doing research for Kung Fu Hustle, I came across a great video compilation of a tribute to the Landlord character in Kung Fu Hustle ( played by Wah Yuen ). The humor and action of the movie really shows through in this piece.

The video was created by http://www.youtube.com/user/Alliikk

Foreign Film Month Continues with Kung Fu Hustle

This film is about Canton China in the 1940’s where the Axe Gang rules the land except for Pig Sty Alley. Pig Sty Alley is a poor apartment complex, it is so poor that the gangsters simply ignore it.

This is until an aspiring gangster gets their attention and brings the wrath of the axe gang to the apartment complex. It just so happens that the landlords and residents of this complex have special Kung Fu powers and battle ensues for the control of the area.

This film is quite humorous, it is a tongue in check exaggerated portrayal of the best of Kung Fu in a respectful way.

The Landlady and her husband are hysterical. Never mess with a landlady in curlers in Canton China. She always has a cigarette in her mouth even when she is fighting.

Just about everybody in this movie has some kind of Kung Fu Special Powers. The leader of the Axe Gang has super frog jumping powers, while the harpist assassins use their special harps to unleash deadly attacks at the speed of sound.

I love this film because it is so much fun to watch. The action is incredible, it has great humor, and the English overdubbing give it just the right character expected in a film of this genre.

Foreign Film Month Continues with Brendan Gleeson in The General

Foreign Film Month continues with Brendan Gleeson in The General

Brendan Gleeson (Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter) stars in this true story of Martin Cahill, an Irish Gangster who is a brilliant master thief. Cahill finds himself on the wrong side of the IRA as well as the Irish Authorities.

One of my favorite parts of this movie is where Cahill is under house arrest and is being watched by Irish Authorities and the IRA, yet he still manages to pull off the theft of master paintings.

Video courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/user/thefinduskid

For a Gangster / Master Thief, Cahill had a fantastic sense of humor and Gleeson does a fantastic job of showing his humorous side as well as his skills as a Thief / Gangster.

John Voight play Irish Inspector Ned Kenny who is on to Cahill, but just can’t quite pin him down.

Foreign Film Month Begins with Roberto Benigni in Johnny Stecchino

Foreign Film Month begins with Johnny Stecchino

Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful) plays a dual role in this Italian Comedy. Benigni plays Dante, a Special Ed Bus Driver who likes to steal bananas. He is mistaken for a Mobster on the run named Johnny Stecchino (Johnny Toothpick).

The below montage is provided courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/user/rings4ever

Hilarity abounds as misunderstandings occur throughout the movie as Dante and Johnny Stecchino are continuously mistaken for each other.

Benigni really shows his acting talent in this movie. He’s like an Italian Mr. Bean, but only funnier and his comedic timing is spectacular.

Do not miss Johnny Stecchino, it is worth it.

Prison Movie Month finale with Shawshank Redemption

Written by Stephen King, Shawshank Redemption is not only a great prison movie, but it also examines friendship an dsurvival in a extreme environment.  Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, and one of our favorite actors, Clancy Brown who makes an encore appearance for Prison Movie Month.

In this movie, Steven King shows what an incredible story teller he is with the story of Andy Dufresne who sentenced to 2 life terms in prison for murders he was framed.  While in prison, he befriends Ellis Boyd ‘Red” Redding (Freeman) who narrates for us Andy’s story.

Andy gets the best of the Warden in the end.  James Whitmore plays a great role in this movie as well.

Shawshank Redemption, our final movie for Prison Movie Month.

Prison Month Continues with Burt Reynolds in The Longest Yard

This time we go old school with the original 1974 movie, The Longest Yard, starring Burt Reynolds as an NFL QB who gets busted in a car chase and has to do prison time.  While in Prison, Reynolds is asked to put together a football team of prisoners to take on the prison guard team.

Below is a kickass compilation video set to the tune “Click Click Boom” by Saliva.  This video was created by http://www.youtube.com/user/wackitobacki

Eddie Albert plays the Warden and Richard Kiel (Jaws in James Bond) is Samson.

Although Adam Sandler did a nice remake and paid homage to Burt Reynolds in the original, there’s nothing like the first time around.

The Longest Yard is one of our favorite Prison Movies and wackitobacki does a great job putting it together with just the right music.

Prison Month Continues with Sean Penn in Bad Boys

Bad Boys (1983) features Sean Penn as Mick O’Brien who gets busted for a robbery gone bad where the little brother of his rival is killed.  Esai Morales plays Paco Moreno, the leader of a rival gang who vows to take his revenge on Sean Penn’s character by raping Penn’s girlfriend (Ally Sheedy) for starters.

Penn gets sent to a juvenile detention center, and Morales gets caught aand sent to the same location.  Now that they are both in the same detention center, a showdown is in the works.

Clancy Brown plays Viking Lofgren. You’l recognize Clancy as the prison guard in Shawshank Redemption.  Bad Boys is the first prison movie for Clancy in a long prison / criminal movie career.  In the scene below, Eric Gurry plays Horowitz who takes his revenge of being picked on by Lofgren during lunch.

The climax of this movie is not to be missed when O’Brien and Moreno fight it out in the prison block.

Prison Month Continues with Steve McQueen in The Great Escape

By popular demand, we present The Great Escape.  Although it stretches the Prison Genre by being a POW film.  It does have a fantastic international cast and one of the best chase scenes ever filmed.

The cast includes James Garner as The Scrounger, Donald Pleasence as The Forger, Charles Bronson as The Tunnel  King who happens to be claustrophobic, James Coburn as The Manufacturer, Richard Attenborough as Big X, and of course Steve McQueen as The Cooler King.

The prison was built by the Germans to house Allied POW’s who notorious for trying to escape.  After individual failures, the POW’s ban together to attempt a mass escape of 250 men.  Everybody pitches in and contributes according to their talents.

Below the is motorcycle chase scene after McQueen escapes.