In 2014, I streamed the 1974 TV movie, Melvin Purvis: G-Man, (on Amazon Prime). It was directed by Dan Curtis, and written by John Milius, roughly a year after he wrote and directed Dillinger (with Warren Oates and Ben Johnson). It starred Dale Robertson as Purvis, and Harris Yulin as George "Machine Gun" Kelly. It co-starred Steve Kanaly John Karlen, and Dick Sargent.
The period detail is very good and there's an effective (though not graphic by TV standards) shootout near the end. Curtis did a follow-up called The Kansas City Massacre, a year later, with most of the same, but an even better cast. The quality of the film was surprisingly good, and the film is a brisk 74 minutes.
I was kind of surprised to find it on Amazon Prime, but it was on my radar because of the recent Milius documentary. Kind of sad to think most people (if they do) only remember Robertson (Tales Of Wells Fargo, The Iron Horse) from his Carpeteria commercials.
(From 2015) I Watched the 1956 naval warfare film, Away All Boats, directed by Joseph Pevney (who helmed numerous episodes of Star Trek). It's a solid WWII film with a great cast; Jeff Chandler, George Nader, Julie Adams, Richard Boone, Lex Barker, Keith Andes, and Charles McGraw. Near the end of the film, look for a young Clint Eastwood as a medic, with his dialogue strangely dubbed.
I remember watching this as a kid and vividly remembered the scene with the Kamikaze plane coming at Chandler on the ship's deck. There is some nice miniature work in the film with waves of Japanese Zeros hammering Chandler's ship, the Belinda.
Jeff Chandler (Broken Arrow, The Jayhawkers, Merrill's Marauders) is one of those stars from the 50s who's largely forgotten now, but he was the physical inspiration for Jonny Quest's, Race Bannon, and based on his appearance, (and deep Hestonian vocal delivery) he could have made a decent Doc Savage, too. The prematurely grey, perpetually bronzed star, died young at 42, from a botched operation in 1961.
The film is only available on an out-of-print, full-frame, Good Times DVD. If you can find it cheap enough, it's worth watching. Check out the poster by the great Reynold Brown.
"Revenge is a dish best served cold - old Klingon proverb."
I rewatched the 1975 Richard Chamberlain made-for-TV version of The Count Of Monte Cristo. Directed by David Greene, (Roots, Rich Man Poor Man) and co-starring Louis Jourdan, Tony Curtis, Donald Pleasance, and Trevor Howard. Introducing Kate Nelligan and Taryn Power (Tyrone's daughter).
Alexander Dumas 1300-page novel has been filmed many times, but I think I prefer this version to the Jim Caviezel/ Guy Pearce version. It's streamlined in how it hits all the essential story points at 103 minutes, and The '75 film has a better ending, much closer to the original novel. This was a lavish ITC production at the time.
Richard Chamberlain cuts a fine swashbuckling figure as sailor Edmund Dantes. Falsely condemned as a Bonapartest collaborator, torn away from his bride on their wedding day, and imprisoned on the island prison of Chateau D'if for 14 years. He makes the acquaintance of fellow prisoner Abbe Faria (Howard) and is ultimately given the key to a vast treasure that will help Dantes gain revenge on the four men who framed him. Montego, (Curtis) De Villefort, (Jourdan), Danglers, (Pleasance) and Catarousse. Once Dantes escapes from prison he begins to lay out his plans for revenge.
I watched this when it originally aired in 1975, (I think it was an NBC Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation) and I remembered it as a longer film. Turns out there is a european theatrical cut that is actually 15 minutes longer on VHS. I watched a region 2 German DVD of this film, but I just found out Shout Factory released Count Of Monte Cristo on blu-ray, paired with the Peter O'Toole film, Man Friday.
I think this version holds up very well. Chamberlain is a commanding presence, going from callow young sailor, to aged and ragged prisoner, to his vengeance-driven older self. Tony Curtis is good, but slightly miscast as Mondego. Jourdan goes way over the top during a climactic courtroom scene, but makes for a properly oily De Villefort. Good score by Allyn Ferguson. Jourdan played Dantes in a 1961 version of Count Of Monte Cristo. The 1998 Mask Of Zorro "borrowed" heavily from Count Of Monte Cristo.
