April 3 – National Film Score Day:

Celebrating music in the movies.

Born on this day – Sterling Hayden:

Sterling Hayden

Actor

Writer

March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986

Credits:

The Blue and the Gray (1982); Venom (1981); Gas (1981); 9 to 5 (1980); The Outsider (1979); Winter Kills (1979); King of the Gypsies (1978); The Godfather Saga (1977); 1900 (1976); Is It Any Wonder? (1975); Cry, Onion (1975); Deadly Strangers (1975); Banacek (1972); The Final Programme (1973); The Starlost (1973); The Long Goodbye (1973); Le grand départ (1972); The Godfather (1972); Angel's Leap (1971); Loving (1970); Ternos Caçadores (1969); Hard Contract (1969); Carol for Another Christmas (1964); Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964); The DuPont Show of the Month (1957); Goodyear Theatre (1958); The Eighty Yard Run (Playhouse 90) (1957–1958); Ten Days to Tulara (1958); Terror in a Texas Town (1958); Schlitz Playhouse (1954–1958); General Electric Theater (1957); Zero Hour! (1957); Wagon Train (1957); Gun Battle at Monterey (1957); Valerie (1957); The Iron Sheriff (1957); Zane Grey Theatre (1957); Crime of Passion (1956); 5 Steps to Danger (1956); Celebrity Playhouse (1956); The Killing (1956); The Come On (1956); Top Gun (1955); The Last Command (1955); Shotgun (1955); The Eternal Sea (1955); Timberjack (1955); Battle Taxi (1955); Suddenly (1954); Naked Alibi (1954); Johnny Guitar (1954); Arrow in the Dust (1954); Prince Valiant (1954); Fighter Attack (1953); So Big (1953); The Philip Morris Playhouse (1953); Crime Wave (1953); Take Me to Town (1953); Kansas Pacific (1953); The Star (1952); Flat Top (1952); The Golden Hawk (1952); Hellgate (1952); Denver & Rio Grande (1952); Flaming Feather (1952); Journey Into Light (1951); The Asphalt Jungle (1950); Manhandled (1949); El Paso (1949); Variety Girl (1947); Blaze of Noon (1947); Bahama Passage (1941); Virginia (1941).

Born on this day – Lee Marvin:

Lee Marvin

Actor

February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987

Credits:

The Delta Force (1986); The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985); Dog Day (1984); Gorky Park (1983); Death Hunt (1981); The Big Red One (1980); Avalanche Express (1979); The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976); Shout at the Devil (1976); The Klansman (1974); The Spikes Gang (1974); The Iceman Cometh (1973); Emperor of the North (1973); Prime Cut (1972); Pocket Money (1972); Monte Walsh (1970); Paint Your Wagon (1969); Hell in the Pacific (1968); Sergeant Ryker (1968); Point Blank (1967); The Dirty Dozen (1967); The Professionals (1966); Ship of Fools (1965); Cat Ballou (1965); Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1965); Dr. Kildare (1962–1964); The Killers (1964); The Great Adventure (1963); Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963); The Twilight Zone (1961–1963); Combat! (1963); Donovan's Reef (1963); The Dick Powell Theatre (1963); The Untouchables (1961–1962); The Virginian (1962); The DuPont Show of the Week (1962); The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962); Bonanza (1962); Ben Casey (1962); Route 66 (1961); The Comancheros (1961); The Investigators (1961); Alcoa Premiere (1961); General Electric Theater (1954–1961); Checkmate (1961); Wagon Train (1960–1961); The Americans (1961); The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961); M Squad (1957–1960); Sunday Showcase (1960); Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1959); Schlitz Playhouse (1954–1959); Climax! (1955–1958); The Missouri Traveler (1958); Raintree County (1957); Kraft Theatre (1947); Studio 57 (1957); Pillars of the Sky (1956); Attack (1956); 7 Men from Now (1956); The Rack (1956); Front Row Center (1956); Kraft Theatre (1956); Shack Out on 101 (1955); I Died a Thousand Times (1955); Studio One (1955); Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955); Pete Kelly's Blues (1955); A Life in the Balance (1955); Not as a Stranger (1955); Violent Saturday (1955); TV Reader's Digest (1955); Bad Day at Black Rock (1955); Medic (1954); Center Stage (1954); The Raid (1954); The Caine Mutiny (1954); Gorilla at Large (1954); The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (1954); The Plymouth Playhouse (1953); The Wild One (1953); Suspense (1950–1953); The Motorola Television Hour (1953); Gun Fury (1953); The Revlon Mirror Theater (1953); The Big Heat (1953); The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953); The Doctor (1953); The Glory Brigade (1953); Seminole (1953); Dragnet (1952–1953); Eight Iron Men (1952); Biff Baker, U.S.A. (1952); Hangman's Knot (1952); The Duel at Silver Creek (1952); We're Not Married! (1952); Diplomatic Courier (1952); Boston Blackie (1952); Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1952); Fireside Theatre (1952); The Web (1951); Teresa (1951); You're in the Navy Now (1951); Treasury Men in Action (1950); The Big Story (1950); Escape (1950).

Adulterers (2015) - free will ... and its consequences:

Adulterers

Adulterers is a cautionary tale, a powerful drama inspired by true events, and far more compelling than the contrived Fatal Attraction (1987) and Unfaithful (2002).

How you feel at the end of Adulterers may depend on your personal experience of the subject it deals with.

It’s right there in the title.

If you’ve ever been cheated on by your significant other – then this movie might sting.

If you have cheated on your significant other – then this movie should rightly sting if you have any conscience and sense of guilt about the choice you made.

Consequences for making the wrong choice is the theme unflinchingly examined in this movie, released in the United States on January 5, 2016, written, produced and directed by H.M. Coakley.

Lead actor, Sean Farris threw himself into this role of a betrayed husband.

We see the anguish of his character, his pain, regret, broken heart, broken life, and ultimately broken mind.

Sean Farris is Samuel, a store assistant, working extra hours during a sweltering New Orleans afternoon.

It’s his first wedding anniversary; a special day in any marriage.

Samuel is a proud and happy man, deeply in love with his wife, Ashley (Danielle Savre).

He regrets having to work so many hours and laments at their lack of money, but he plans on making it up to Ashley.

He swings by his home halfway through his day, carrying his wife’s favorite flowers and chocolates.

Besides their money troubles, all seems right with Samuel’s world until he catches Ashley and her lover, Damien (Mehcad Brooks), naked, having sex in the bedroom.

Devastated, Samuel shoots them both.

This is not a spoiler; it happens within the first twelve minutes.

Downstairs, he sits on the couch, and drinks whiskey straight from the bottle.

Suffering a psychological break, he rethinks the situation.

This time, in his imagination, he doesn’t pull the trigger.

What if I’d waited instead of acting on impulse?

What would I say to them?

How far would I go to punish them?

What would they say to justify their sin, or lie their way out of the situation? 

These questions are the basis for the imagined trial and torture he puts his wife and her lover through in that stifling room.

As Samuel struggles with the pain of betrayal and infidelity, the wedding ring, crucifix and Bible often the focus of the camera, he struggles with his faith.

Finally, as Samuel himself points out:

"You ain't sorry. You're just sorry that you got caught. It's time that you dealt with the consequences of your actions."

In forcing them to face the consequences of their actions, Samuel is then left to face the consequences of his own.

There are no winners in this story; everyone is destroyed.

Adultery … it’s all fun and games ... until you get caught!

The Telephone Box (1972) - it’s enough to give you phone phobia!

La Cabina / The Telephone Box (1972)

Shortly before New Year, we watched Phone Booth (2002) again, a great thriller starring Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, Radha Mitchell, and Kiefer Sutherland.

Farrell plays an unscrupulous New York publicist who answers a ringing phone in a booth he’s standing next to.

The caller warns him he’ll be killed if he attempts to leave the booth … and … the story develops from there.

The claustrophobic atmosphere of Phone Booth reminded me of a 1972 Spanish short movie I saw on TV during the mid-‘80’s called La Cabina (aka The Telephone Box).

A unfortunate guy (José Luis López Vázquez), in a world long before the invention of the cell phone, attempts to make a call in a street booth.

The door closes on him as he discovers the phone doesn’t work.

He tries to leave, but the door is locked tight.

He’s trapped in there a long time as a crowd of onlookers gather … and … the story develops from there.

La Cabina is quirky and dated, but still worth the half-hour to watch, with an original story that delivers a surreal and scary twist.

Although street booths have mostly disappeared, La Cabina is a great reason to own a cell phone … but then you have to consider what happened in Stephen King’s novel: Cell.

Yikes!

I read that folks in Spain, shortly after La Cabina was released on December 13, 1972, took to preventing the door in phone booths from shutting completely by keeping their foot in the gap.

I can’t imagine why.

Happy Halloween:

October 31 - Halloween