Some birthday treats from Jack Lemmon and Lana Turner

About set to watch some movies in honor of two stars who have birthdays today. Jack Lemmon and Lana Turner. Up first will be Jack Lemmon in a funny if very sexist 60's comedy, Under The Yum Yum Tree. He plays a lecherous landlord named Hogan who rents out units to luscious young women at half price.  And then tries to make a move on them. He meets his match in Robin Austin (played by Carol Lynley). I haven't seen this movie in years but remembering liking it. Has a super supporting cast in Edie Adams (yay!), Dean Jones, Paul Lynde, and Imogen Coca. It fits in with all those sex comedies of the 60's like Sunday In New York, Barefoot In The Park, Don't Make Waves, Sex and the Single Girl and others.

Next up will be Lana in Who's Got The Action?, another comedy from the 60's. Paired with Dean Martin as a married couple who must deal with Dino's gambling problem. Solution..Lana as Melanie Flood becomes his mysterious bookie and hopes that her husband will lose enough money to call it quits. The opposite happens as Steve (Dean's character) gets on a lucky streak. A funny movie with a solid supporting cast, including Eddie Albert, Nita Talbot, and Walter Matthau. 

I know Jack and Lana did better movies, but I am in the mood for some mindless comedies. And these seem to fit the bill.


Happy Birthday Jack and Lana!

Happy Birthday Frank Sinatra (1915 - 1998)

Happy Birthday to Frank Sinatra aka Ol Blue Eyes and The Chairman of The Board. A terrific singer and wonderful actor. Happy Birthday Frank!

Here's Frank hanging with his pal Dino..

Happy Birthday Dean Martin (1917 - 1995)

Mr. Cool himself, Dean Martin. One of my favorite all around entertainers. TCM is throwing him a party this morning by showing several of his movies today including Four For Texas, Ocean's Eleven, Some Came Running and Bells Are Ringing.

Ten Reasons why RIO BRAVO is my favorite western...

The 1959 Howard Hawks directed Rio Bravo is my favorite western of all time. Here are ten reasons as to why:

1.) John Wayne at his most macho as Sheriff John T. Chance, who likes charging ahead into any dangerous situation.
2.) The wonderful music score by Dimitri Tiomkin is just epic in every way.

3.) Dean Martin as Dude, Chance's deputy who has become the town drunk thanks to a woman who left him hanging dry. This is one of Martin's best screen performances.
4.) Angie Dickinson as Feathers, the lady gambler who falls hard for Chance. Angie is easy on the eyes but is also full of sass and brass.

5.) Loads of unbelievable action through-out this movie as gunfights break out on a regular basis.
6.) Some despicable bad guys led by Claude Akins and John Russell as The Burdette Boys.
7.) The rascally Walter Brennan as Chance's other deputy Stumpy.
8.) Ricky Nelson as the cocky young gunfighter Colorado Ryan.

9.) The duet by Martin and Nelson singing the catchy My Rifle, My Pony and Me.
10.) And finally Rio Bravo rocks because of the simple nature of it's story..good vs evil. And the men and women who stand up against the bad desperadoes.

Here's the video clip of Martin and Nelson singing My Rifle, My Pony and Me

Bargain of the Day...

I shop at this video store called Movie Stop and you can trade and buy DVDS and Blu-rays there. You can also reserve copies of upcoming releases. Well I had reserved Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows Part 1 (which by the way is the best Potter film yet) and went there to pick it up. While I was waiting I perused the store and found Rio Bravo (Two-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition). Now I already own Rio Bravo on a regular DVD since it's my favorite western of all time but when I saw this bad boy I had to get it. When it first came out about 3 years ago it was listed at $34.95. They had it marked down the first time to $17.99. Then marked down again for $5.99. I was like whoa!, I can't pass up a deal like that. Check out all what came with this awesome movie:

2 Discs

Commentary by John Carpenter and film critic Richard Schickel



Wayne trailer gallery


"The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks" (1973 documentary)


Two all-new featurettes: "Commemoration: Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo," "Old Tucson: Where the Legends Walked"


Press book


Dell comic book


Lobby cards

Dean Martin as Matt Helm in Murderers' Row (1966)

Just watched the guilty pleasure that is Murderers' Row, the second film in the Matt Helm 60's era spy series that starred the ever reliable Dean Martin. This series came about all due to that English gent across the water..James Bond. That franchise ignited the whole spy craze of the 60's and everything from Get Smart, I Spy, The Man From UNCLE, In Like Flint, and Helm all enjoyed success. Dean Martin's take as a super spy who always saved the world but he did it with a cavalier attitude. Always had time to drink and make merry for the women. And quick to drop a witty one liner. You ask how is that different from Bond. Well, where as Bond for the most part kept the humor and comedy to a minimal, that is until Roger Moore came along, Helm thrived on it. He seemed to be itching to crack a joke or take a drink even while the action is going on. And seemed to be having fun doing it.

In his second adventure, he travels to Monte Carlo to find out what happened to a Doctor Solaris, who has created this destructive helio beam that bad guy Julian Wall (a gung ho Karl Malden) wants to use to destroy Washington, DC. In Monte Carlo, Matt befriends Solaris daughter Suzie (Ann-Margret) and together they team up to find her missing dad. Matt also has to deal with a henchman who has a steel plate on his head (very Bondian) and a beguiling femme fatale named Coco (the fetching Camilla Sparv).

Murderers' Row is a lightweight caper, on par with the lesser Bond films. You could almost label it a comedy with some action scenes because there is an abundance of humor, mostly supplied by Martin, who is definitely the center of the movie. Ann-Margret gets several high energy dance scenes that you can tell the directors told her to go and just have fun. The age difference between Martin and Ann does make their relationship a tad creepy. Dean was 48 and Ann was 24. But they still make quite the team. It's strange seeing Malden as the villian but he is effective. His assistant Coco is a striking presence in the film. Every time she appears it seems the camera follows her around like a puppy in love. Sparv probably gives the best performance out of all the actors present here. And let me not forget Matt's assistant Lovey Kravezit (great name and played by Beverly Adams). She is like the 60's version of Iron Man's assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

This film is not be taken seriously, a film to be seen to have some laughs with and view a good representation of the 60's. Dean croons the energetic I'm Not The Marrying Kind which plays out several times during the film. And I'm not the one to point out fashion in film, but Ann-Margret wears this killer black and white top with pants that is to die for.

Check out the pic to your right. You know your clothes are awesome when the villianess says "I must say the girl
has great taste in clothes". Classic.


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