#Ben Meeker

[dalekofchaos]

Halloween concept. The return and revenge of Jamie Lloyd

I've given Danielle Harris the Jamie Lloyd conclusion she always deserved.

Could take place after 5. Michael never escapes. No MIB and no Thorn cult. Jamie's words of "He'll never die rang true" Michael remains in sanitarium for 35 years.

Ben Meeker adopts and takes Jamie in and helps her adjust to normal life. Dr Loomis in his remaining years becomes Jamie's psychiatrist as a means to atone for how he treated Jamie in 5.

Jamie's life is quite the opposite of Laurie's. She still fears Michael possibily escaping, but she chooses life over living in fear or preparing for a day that may never come.

She graduated high school, college and becomes a criminal psychiatrist. Marries Billy and has a little girl named Rachel.

On the anniversary of the defeat and imprisonment of Michael, he has been transfered to death's row. Ben Meeker now retired is there to make sure he stays dead. It seems like everything is going well. The entire HPD knows not to mention Jamie's name, but one rookie cop screws up and mentions Jamie potentially helping out on the force.

Michael stops when his niece's name is uttered and begins to breathe heavily. He breaks free kills everyone. Ben is the only survivor.

Halloween Night.

The Lloyd family never celebrates Halloween before Rachel was born. She begs and insists. Jamie tells her only if her godfather Ben watches her. Rachel beams with joy and declares she's gonna be a witch.

Jamie sighs with relief and is just glad she didn't say clown.

Jamie sees the news, Michael escaped the death sentence and escaped. She drops her coffee cup, panics and has PTSD flashbacks.

Jamie meets Ben in the hospital, she's still panicking and asks what she should do. Ben says she knows what she has to do. Protect her family and kill her uncle. He gives her an old piece of locked up evidence "I hope you never have to use it, but just in case"

Michael kills a local mechanic and takes his coveralls, gets a new mask(something like the 2018 promotional mask) and begins to hunt Jamie and her family.

Michael hunts down and kills a lot of people in Haddonfield. Racking up quite the body count while on the hunt for Jamie.

As Jamie comes home, Rachel is gone. She's gone trick or treating alone. Jamie panicks.

It's a lot like Halloween 4. Rachel is out on her own Trick or treating and the dread that Michael could find her. Jamie finds her and just in time, Billy and Ben find them.

As they are headed to the police station. Jamie talks to Rachel. Explains this is the reason they never celebrated Halloween. He's her uncle. How Michael tried to kill her when she was her age and tells her why she named her Rachel. "I named you after my foster sister. She saved my life, she died and now Rachel I'm going to save you"

As they journey back to the police station. Everyone's dead. He's here.

Michael begins to stalk. Ben sacrifices himself.

They run back to their home with Michael stalking.

Billy makes a stand. Michael mortally wounds him.

Jamie hides Rachel under her bed and locks her in her room.

Jamie hides in her closet. Michael breaks in and attempts to kill Jamie. But something drops. The evidence Ben gave Jamie.

An old pair of scissors. The scissors she used all those years ago that nearly killed her stepmother.

And suddenly Michael stops and leaves the room.

Michael stabs the door down and yanks Rachel out from under her bed.

Rachel screams for Jamie and Jamie rushes for her daughter.

"UNCLE! UNCLE BOOGEYMAN." Michael's head tilts and then he motions to stab Rachel.

Jamie goes ballistic and repeatedly stabs Michael with the scissors in the throat and does not stop until he lets Rachel go.

She remembers everyone he killed. "THIS IS FOR RACHEL! FOR TINA! FOR BRADY! FOR MY STEP-MOM, FOR BEN, FOR DR LOOMIS AND MY MOTHER LAURIE STRODE"

Michael drops to the floor, Jamie grabs the knife amd decapitates him. Killing him once and for all(again)

Jamie grabs Rachel and embraces her in a hug. It ends with the Lloyd family reunited with Billy.

Billy asks "what happened to the boogeyman?"

"I killed him"

[gatorbites-imagines]

I'm so sorry if you were not mental prepared for this info during your spiderman brainrot..

But, fun fact with a lot of spiders their mating rituals have the male lay down a "spermweb" to attract mates. As well as fear is a big part of what turns them on, female spiders being 2x the size of males, tending to have the dominant role. Pinning is also a big part of it as well. (Male spiders actually tend to be much more skishes.)

So imagine your spiderman of choice being in mating season, with a mix of these feelings due to them being half spider. Them making a den like structure with every blanket in their apartment, being very timid wanting to hide, because of how embrassing these feelings and thoughts are to them. But getting so unbelievably horny at the thought of you pinning them down in their den and fucking them until they see stars. You being extremely rough with them, them wanting you to mark up their entire body.

Them trying to get themselves off, and trying not to give into the urge to text/call you begging for you to comeover.

Ben Reilly x male reader

Headcanons

Hallo everynyan. I am not dead, I just have felt the worst case of writers block I’ve had in a while. Trying to get myself out of this funk, so here’s something about Ben Reilly, as I haven’t seen a single x male reader about him.

You and Ben would have been dating for a while before his heat hits him, leaving him scrambling through his apartment to start gathering blankets and other materials he can use to make a structure.

It’s not fully a nest, its more like a pillow and blanket fort, closed off from the outside world. There’s webs all over it too, almost like Ben was marking his territory, or some animalistic part of himself was saying “hey, this is mine, back off”-

Ben would shoot off a text to his earths Peter, since they most likely work side by side, that he needs his patrol covered for personal reasons. Seeing as peter has heats as well, he understands and wishes Ben luck, offering to bring him stuff he needs.

After calling around with his job and getting his shifts covered, Ben would settle down into the structure, antsy and oh so uncomfortable in his skin. He would feel almost naked without you there, without your weight holding him down and your hands touching him.

Ben would never have told you about his heats if you weren’t another spider as they embarrass him so greatly, because they reduce him to a limp submissive mess. Normally he can just ride it out, but now that you two are dating his thoughts are filled with images of you, what he wants you to do to him, and how he wants you to do it.

He would wrap himself in the clothes you left at his apartment, his heightened senses letting him inhale your scent as he touches himself almost desperately.

It’s nowhere near enough without you there, but Ben is too proud to contact you. So it would end up with Ben laying there curled up in a ball, his fingers pumping in and out of himself as he listens to recording of you on his phone, be it voicemails or videos you two have taken.

If he has any pictures of you that show off your strength in any way, you bet he’s looking at those two. Think gym selfies, you hiking, you fixing a car, anything along those lines. It gets so bad that he busts just looking at a picture of you carrying 4 bags of heavy groceries on one arm.

After that shameful orgasm Ben realizes he probably won’t be able to do this without you, as the soul deep urge to be held and used by you grows by the day. In one of his less lucid and weaker moments he would send you a fumbled text before passing out.

When he wakes up you are there with him and taking care of him. Ben would try to play it off and stay cool, but he feels more submissive and meeker than usual, struggling to meet your eyes and lowering his head when you look at him.

You most likely contacted Peter for help, fearing Ben was dying or had been poisoned or something like that. When you learn it’s a spider heat, you are surprised but you would never leave Ben for something as small as that, you just wished he’d have told you before.

Ben would hesitate to let you help in the beginning, but soon the need for you, your power, your dominance, would break down his walls. He would follow orders so well, wanting nothing more than for you to tell him what to do.

He would burst immediately the first time you pin him down by the neck, his entire body locking up as he wails in pleasure, twitching and gasping. After that you’d take care of him, cleaning him up, and lay down on top of him as he slept.

Having you lay on top of him like a blanket help settle that deep urge inside him that he needs you there, and it tells his animal brain that you are watching out for him and protecting him as he sleeps.

After the heat is over you can expect Ben to be more open about his wants and needs, though he is still a little flustered about him. He’s still an overconfident guy, showing off and flexing his muscles at you, but he also wants to please you, and he melts under any and all praise you give him.

[70s80sandbeyond]

Beau Starr as Sheriff Ben Meeker in "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (1988) and "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" (1989)

[sissytobitch10seconds]

Careful, Tidy Stitches

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy Summary: Viktor's hands aren't quite as steady as Grace's, but that doesn't stop him from helping. Warnings: Major character injury and blood Word Count: 669 Ship(s): Ben Hargreeves/Viktor Hargreeves

Archive link!

Viktor felt like his heart was being torn out of his chest when he saw all of his siblings returning form the mission that they had just been sent on covered in blood. Their father usually made them clean up before they left the building that they had been doing the mission in so that if the press found them then they would be presentable. The only time that they came back to the house in this state of disarray was when something horrible had happened. The sinking feeling in Viktor’s stomach led him to believe that it was worse than he could even imagine. 

His siblings all tried to keep him shielded away from the things that they were forced to do when they went on missions, today was no exception. He had been standing on the balcony that oversaw the living room while looking down at the front door where they were entering. They were all muttering amongst each other until they noticed that he was there, when they immediately huddled together and moved as a group. Viktor wasn’t stupid, though, he could tell that they were hiding something from them.

He waited until they had all dispersed to be debriefed by their father and clean the blood from their skin before he made his way to the infirmary. He didn’t even have to get the attention the robot that had been taking care of them since they were children anymore. She simply moved over on the bench next to the bed where the newest injured person was laying. Viktor washed his hands quickly and then grabbed the second set of surgical tools so that he could get to work on helping her.

He knew that his siblings were trying their best to protect him from the horrors that they faced, but he was already aware of a lot of them. He had been doing this, helping their mother bandage them up after missions, since right after Five left. It was a way for him to forget the worries that he had about them earlier in the day and since Ben was the one that was hurt the most often, it also allowed him to be closer to his boyfriend.

They technically hadn’t defined their relationship as anything yet, but they slept in each other’s beds more often than not, they kissed and held hands and cuddled, and Ben sought Viktor out before anyone else.

The non-superpowered member of the Umbrella Academy allowed himself to melt away into the rhythmic stitches. He pulled the needle and snipped it whenever it was required as he got all of the washed cuts closed so that they could begin to heal. He wished that Ben wasn’t put in situations that would result in him being hurt like this, but there was actually very little that he could do about it.

Grace finished doing the majority of the cuts and then left Viktor alone. She seemed to know that Ben would wake calmer and be less likely to hurt himself if she wasn’t in the room and the only person he had to worry about was Viktor.

The aforementioned teenage boy slipped into the hospital bed beside his lover. He was able to shift them around so that he was pressed into Ben’s side without being on any of his injuries. He pulled and tucked until the blanket and hospital gown were covering all of Ben’s body so that he wouldn’t get cold. Viktor then tucked his face away in Ben’s shoulder and cried and cried until there was nothing left anymore.

Almost an hour later, he heard a small groan of pain before Ben asked, “Vik?”

“I’m here,” the smaller, meeker teenager replied. He let out a hiccuping sob as the tears returned. “We have to leave, I don’t think I can stomach seeing you that messed up again.”

He expected Ben to fight, to object and protest that the Academy needed him, but instead all he got was, “Okay.”

[goalhofer]

2024 in memoriam (part 22)

Hub Reed, 87

Bishop Franziskus Eisenbach, 81

Hank Allen, 83

Larry Cannon, 77

Bishop Harris, 82

Bishop Thumma Bala, 80

Cardinal Kelvin Felix, 91

Drew Gordon, 33

Richard Bué, 44

(Ralph) Tom Bower, 86

Danny Fife, 74

(Edward) Erich Anderson, 67

Carl Cain, 89

Larry Allen; Jr., 52

Duane Klueh, 98

Janis Paige Gilbert, 101

Armando Silvestre, 98

T.J. Simers, 73

Morrie Markoff, 110

Remo Saraceni, 89

Jan Reehorst, 101

Marvin Upshaw, 77

Mike Meeker, 66

Doug Porter, 94

Rosa, 24

Ben Vautier, 88

Clyde Campbell III, 80

Milovan Tasić, 76

Dale Yakiwchuk, 65

Frank Arnold, 89

[alexlacquemanne]

2024 in 12 movies (1 per months)

January

Pushover (1954) directed by Richard Quine with Fred MacMurray, Philip Carey, Kim Novak, Dorothy Malone, E.G. Marshall, Allen Nourse, James Anderson and Joe Bailey

[First Time]

February

Laura (1944) directed by Otto Preminger with Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson, Dorothy Adams, Lane Chandler and Clyde Fillmore

[First Time]

March

The King's Speech (2010) directed by Tom Hooper with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Michael Gambon, Timothy Spall and Jennifer Ehle

[First Time]

April

One Day (2011) directed by Lone Scherfig with Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Tom Mison, Rafe Spall, Jodie Whittaker, Romola Garai, Joséphine de La Baume and Patricia Clarkson

[First Time]

May

I Confess (1953) directed by Alfred Hitchcock with Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne, Roger Dann, Charles Andre, O.E. Hasse and Dolly Haas

[First Time]

June

Casablanca (1942) directed by Michael Curtiz with Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre

[First Time]

July

The Truman Show (1998) directed by Peter Weir with Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone, Holland Taylor and Brian Delate

[First Time]

August

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) directed by Zack Snyder with Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons and Diane Lane

[First Time]

September

The Mask Of Zorro (1998) directed by Martin Campbell with Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stuart Wilson, Matt Letscher, Victor Rivers and L. Q. Jones

October

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) directed by John Madden with Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith, Celia Imrie, Dev Patel, Ronald Pickup and Diana Hardcastle

[First Time]

November

Paths of Glory (1957) directed by Stanley Kubrick with Kirk Douglas, George Macready, Ralph Meeker, Timothy Carey, Joe Turkel, Adolphe Menjou, Wayne Morris, Peter Capell and Richard Anderson

[First Time]

December

Serenity (2005) directed by Joss Whedon with Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Ron Glass and Chiwetel Ejiofor

Honorable mentions :

Strangers on a Train (1951) Une affaire d'honneur (2023) Aviator (2004) Tendre Poulet (1978) Judy (2019) On a volé la cuisse de Jupiter (1980) Iron Claw (2023) Topaz (1969) Poupoupidou (2011) Air Force One (1997) Sister Act (1992) Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia (2024) Titanic (1997) Coup de foudre (1983) Suffragette (2015) Boléro (2024) Pride & Prejudice (2005) Absolute Power (1997) The Age of Adaline (2015) Bon Voyage (2003) Family Plot (1976) L'assassin habite au 21 (1942) Le Procès Goldman (2023) Marcello Mio (2024) Magic in the Moonlight (2014) The Mosquito Coast (1986) Ne le dis à personne (2006) A Fish Called Wanda (1988) Le Comte de Monte-Christo (2024) The French Connection (1971) Fly Me to the Moon (2024) Raoul Taburin a un secret (2018) Ali (2001) Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) Borg/McEnroe (2017) La vérité (1960) Die Hard (1988) The Batman (2022) Cool Hand Luke (1967) Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) A Kiss Before Dying (1956) Arabesque (1966) Bob le flambeur (1956) The Long Goodbye (1973) he Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) L'été meurtrier (1983) Baisers volés (1968) Kay Largo (1948) The Sting (1973) Olympia (1960) Monsieur Aznavour (2024) L'Alibi (1937) L'exercice de l'Etat (2011) A Good Woman (2004) Mona Lisa Smile (2003) Le Corbeau (1943) We're No Angels (1955) Boulevard du rhum (1971) The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) To Catch a Thief (1955) Home Alone (1990) Legend of the Lost (1957) Love Actually (2003) The Blob (1958) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Ulisse (1954) The Polar Express (2004)

[docrotten]

KISS ME DEADLY (1955) – Episode 192 – Decades of Horror: The Classic Era

“Look, Mike, I like you. I like the way you handle yourself. You seem like a reasonable man. Why don’t we make a deal? What’s it worth to you to drag your considerable talents back to the gutter you crawled out of?”  Wow. Where would you want him to drag himself if you didn’t like him? Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Chad Hunt, Doc Rotten, and Jeff Mohr along with guest Bill Mulligan – as they take a deep, deep dive into Kiss Me Deadly (1955), a horror-adjacent, science-fiction film noir.

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 192 – Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

ANNOUNCEMENT Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL, THE CLASSIC HORROR MOVIE CHANNEL, and WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL Which all now include video episodes of The Classic Era! Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website. Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop. https://classicscifichannel.com/; https://classichorrorchannel.com/; https://wickedhorrortv.com/

Synopsis: A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious “great whatsit.”

Directed by: Robert Aldrich

Writing Credits: A.I. Bezzerides (screenplay); Mickey Spillane (novel)

Cinematography by: Ernest Laszlo (photography by)

Produced by: Robert Aldrich (producer); Victor Saville (executive producer) (uncredited)

Selected Cast:

Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer

Maxine Cooper as Velda Wickman

Cloris Leachman as Christina Bailey

Gaby Rodgers as Lily Carver

Wesley Addy as Lt. Pat Murphy

Albert Dekker as Dr. G.E. Soberin

Paul Stewart as Carl Evello

Nick Dennis as Nick Va Va Voom

Jack Elam as Charlie Max

Jack Lambert as Sugar Smallhouse

Mort Marshall as Ray Diker

Marian Carr as Friday (as Marion Carr)

Juano Hernandez as Eddie Yeager

Marjorie Bennett as Manager

Fortunio Bonanova as Carmen Trivago

Strother Martin as Harvey Wallace

Mady Comfort as Nightclub Singer (as Madi Comfort)

James McCallion as Horace

Jesslyn Fax as Horace’s Wife

Robert Cornthwaite as FBI Agent

James Seay as FBI Agent

Silvio Minciotti as Mover

Paul Richards as Attacker

Percy Helton as Doc Kennedy

Leigh Snowden as Cheesecake

Jerry Zinneman as Sammy

Kitty White as Club Vocalist

Ben Morris as Radio Announcer

Sam Balter as Radio Announcer (voice)

Joe Hernandez as Radio Announcer (voice)

Bing Russell as Police Detective (uncredited)

Charles Lane as Doctor (uncredited)

Eddie Beal as Sideman (uncredited)

Leonard Bremen as Man in Parked Car (uncredited)

Yvonne Doughty as Receptionist (uncredited)

John George as Popcorn Vendor (uncredited)

Art Loggins as Bartender (uncredited)

Mara McAfee as Nurse (uncredited)

Leonard Mudie as Athletic Club Clerk (uncredited)

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) might not be a certifiable horror movie, but this extraordinary film noir is certainly horror adjacent. Director Robert Aldrich, cinematographer Ernest Laszlo, and screenplay writer A. I. Bezzerides do themselves proud in this adaptation of the Mickey Spillane novel. Ralph Meeker, as antihero Mike Hammer, is supported by superb performances from a long list of recognizable character actors. Film noir — even horror adjacent science fiction film noir — is not for everyone, and indeed, the Classic Era Grue Crew are divided. Either way, Kiss Me Deadly must be seen, and there is much for the crew to discuss. Where else will you find a search for a “great whatsit?”

At the time of this writing, Kiss Me Deadly (1955) is available to stream from the Classic Sci-Fi Movie Channel and on physical media as a Blu-ray disc from Criterion. 

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Next in their very flexible schedule – this one chosen by Daphne – is Earth vs. the Spider (1958), aka The Spider! Yes, it’s time for a B-I-G movie, as in Bert I. Gordon! The Grue Crew can’t wait!

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave them a message or leave a comment on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel, the site, or email the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com

To each of you from each of them, “Thank you so much for watching and listening!”

Check out this episode!

[csajokamotoron]

Vagány motoros nők 1949-ből

Hallottál már Loomis Deanről? Nem? Még ha nem is hallottad a nevét, fogadok, hogy láttad már a munkáit. Dean 1947-től a Life magazin fotósa volt egészen addig, amíg a magazin 1972-ben be nem szüntette heti megjelenését. Loomis Dean a fotózást 1938-ban kezdte a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey cirkusz fotósaként, majd a második világháború alatt a csendes-óceáni légierő fotósaként szolgált, és a háború után az első néhány évben ismét a cirkusz sajtóügynökeként és fotósaként dolgozott. Ezzel azt akarom mondani, hogy Dean értett a fényképezőgéphez. Dean 1947-ben kezdett a Life-nál, és hírnevet szerzett magának azzal, hogy a legszebb, legtermészetesebb és legőszintébb felvételeket készítette modelljeiről. 1949-ben készített egy fotósorozatot, amely női motorosokat és motorjaikat ábrázolja. Az egyik képen férfiak és nők vegyes csoportja látható a Los Angeles-i Griffith Parkban. Az első sorban balról jobbra Lucille Meeker a Triumphján, Betty Drafton egy Velocette-en, és Cecelia Adams egy kézzel épített Frankenbike-on, amely egy 1938-as Indian Scout motorból áll egy Royal Enfield vázon, amit Royal Indianfieldnek nevezett el. Adams a maga idejében egy komoly triálversenyző/terepversenyző volt. A motor egyedi felfüggesztéssel rendelkezik, amivel Cecelia a SoCal-szerte megrendezett off-road versenyeken vett részt. 1948 májusában első helyezést ért el egy női triálversenyen ezen a motoron a kaliforniai Monterey Parkban. A motor még mindig él! Itt egy videó (állítólag) Adams régi Royal Indianfieldjének 2017-es indulásáról. A motor jelenleg Kristine Peach tulajdonában van a Four Aces Cycle-től. Read the full article

[clemsfilmdiary]

The Best of December 2023

Best Discovery: Eyes of Fire

Runner Up: Fanny and Alexander

Best Rewatch: Short Cuts

Close Second: Slap Shot Runners Up: The Blues Brothers, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Superman III, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Most Enjoyable Fluff: No Hard Feelings

Runners Up: Broadcasting Christmas, A Dream of Christmas, Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up, Leave the World Behind, A Magical Christmas Village

Best Leading Performance: Paul Newman in Slap Shot

Runners Up: John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in The Blues Brothers, Charles Fleischer and Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Ben Gazzara in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers, Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings, Julianne Moore in May December, Richard Pryor and Christopher Reeve in Superman III

Best Supporting Performance (male): Jan Malmsjö in Fanny and Alexander

Runners Up: Cab Calloway and Charles Napier in The Blues Brothers, Jack Lemmon, Matthew Modine, Chris Penn and Tim Robbins in Short Cuts, Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Strother Martin, Michael Ontkean and Brad Sullivan in Slap Shot

Best Supporting Performance (female): Anne Archer in Short Cuts

Runners Up: Lindsay Crouse and Kathryn Walker in Slap Shot, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianne Moore, Annie Ross, Madeleine Stowe and Lily Tomlin in Short Cuts, Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross and Pamela Stephenson in Superman III

Most Enjoyable Ham: Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady

Runners Up: Kristin Chenoweth in 12 Men of Christmas, Marlo Thomas in A Magical Christmas Village, Cindy Williams in A Dream of Christmas

Best Mise-en-scène: Eyes of Fire

Runners Up: Fanny and Alexander, Short Cuts, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Best Locations: The Blues Brothers (various Chicago cityscapes)

Runners Up: Eyes of Fire (wild Missouri forest and river locations), The Holdovers (wintery Massachusetts small town and campus), The Naked Spur (Colorado Rocky Mountains)

Best Score: Short Cuts (Mark Isham)

Runner Up: Eyes of Fire (Brad Fiedel)

Best Leading Hunk: Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Runners Up: Dean Cain in Broadcasting Christmas, Ben Gazzara in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

Best Supporting Hunk: Ralph Meeker in The Naked Spur

Runners Up: Adam Lolacher in Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas, Allan F. Nicholls in Slap Shot, Jessie Pavelka in 12 Men of Christmas

[dalekofchaos]

Things I'd change about the Halloween movies

I did a similar post and just about the DGG trilogy before. But this time I am focusing on the original timeline(but with both Thorn trilogy and H20)

Halloween

For Halloween, the only changes I’d include is I would have Paul show up and both Annie and Paul would be killed by Michael and Dr Loomis would explain to Sherriff Brackett that he warned everyone in the hospital that Michael should be kept in a maximum security facility, but was denied, so rather than blaming Loomis, Brackett would “damn” Smith’s Grove.

Halloween II

Dr Loomis’ personality stays with the original. A more calm and in control Loomis who is trying to stop Michael and cared for everyone's well being and had the look that he knew Michael was going to get up and is in control and not manic nor is he hysteric to the point where he is willing to shoot an innocent kid in a different mask and causes an accidental death. So yes Loomis would be more calm, caring and in control.

Brackett and Deputy Hunt begrudgingly agree to continue working with Loomis, after he cools down he sees that Loomis is not at fault for Michael's escape and understands "damned red tape". When everyone reaches the hospital Brackett goes down in an attempt to sacrifice himself to stop Michael.

Halloween II ends with Michael burning. But make it clear Loomis got blown out the hospital to show his survival and keep in Loomis "NO! LET IT BURN! LET IT BURN!"

Halloween 4

A better mask. Looks as advertised. Edit by JSComicArt

Michael's hands are more visibily burned

The major change is instead of the Carruthers adopting Jamie, it’s The Wallaces. Lindsey is Jamie’s step-sister and she promised Laurie that she would watch other Jamie. Tommy promised too. Now there was a script that got rejected where Tommy and Lindsey would return, the trauma that Tommy experiences makes Lindsey’s parents wary of him, but Lindsey still loves him regardless.

Kyle Richards and Brian Andrews returns to play Tommy and Lindsey

Sheriff Ben Meeker is replaced with Gary Hunt

Tommy survives Michael's attack instead of taking Brady's fate

Halloween 5

Lindsey lives and Tina dies instead

Dr Loomis is trying to save Jamie from becoming like Michael

Jamie isn't far gone. It's a struggle of her mental health and suppressing of the killer urges that Michael transferred to her.

I would keep the link between Jamie and Michael, but have her get glimpses of what he is up to after 4. She knows he’s coming back, but the stronger he gets the more inaccurate the visions are because he is controlling what she sees.

A better mask edit by Kaerus_Hellomiya

Actually use the Myers house

Michael's face isn't "Like Jamie" he looks fucking burned. Hair completely burnt off and his face is horribly disfigured Edit by AV_boogeyman

Tommy and Loomis work together to trap Michael.

Ends how it does in our universe, but with the cut scene of the Thorn cult abducting Jamie.

Halloween:The Curse of Michael Myers

Retitle it to the "Cult of Michael Myers"

Danielle Harris would return to play Jamie and Jamie is not killed off. There is no baby and no Strode family. Jamie has been held hostage by the Man In Black. The MIB is grooming Jamie to become the next Michael, but when Jamie escapes, Michael gives chase, eventually she looses Michael and she runs into Loomis.

...Already stated before but I'm saying it bluntly. Jamie is not disrespected, Danielle Harris is not fucked over. Jamie lives and most fucking importantly. No fucking incest baby or rape baby in general. What the fuck were you people thinking??? Good fucking god I hate this fucking movie

The Thorn Cult don't control Michael Myers and make him evil, they worship him because he's pure evil and to them he is the idol of Samhain.

Dr Loomis is more of a main character than what he was in the original piece of shit. When he hears that phone call, he immediately leaves and finds her in time.

Tommy and Lindsay would return and reunite with Jamie. Together Jamie, Tommy, Lindsay and Dr Loomis would work together to end Michael.

Christopher Lee plays Wynn. The part was originally written for Lee, in the script that enticed Donald Pleasance into playing Loomis one final time, Wynn is pretty much the Anti-Loomis and since Lee was originally considered to play Loomis, I thought it fitting. So what Dr Sartain was in the 2018 movie. Someone who saw what Michael was and embraced Michael’s evil and encouraged it.

Michael is on the loose and carves a brutal rampage on Haddonfield while looking for Jamie. It’s Halloween night. Michael starts killing the population of Haddonfield. However, he finds Jamie at his home. He wants to kill her and everyone there, but The Man In black compels him to bring Jamie to him. 

Michael attacks. Their trap nearly works, but the Man In Black appears. Shoots everyone with tranquilizer darts and Michael abducts Jamie.

Wynn reveals himself to Loomis as The Man In Black. Wynn is the Anti-Loomis, so basically Wynn explains his role in Michael’s evil. Wynn was so captivated that for no reason, a young boy killed his sister. So when Loomis was his doctor, Wynn was his true doctor. Telling him to always hold onto the feeling he had when he killed his sister. You are not a man, you are The Shape. He taught him how to drive. He encouraged Michael’s evil and let him escape. Wynn also reveals he is a believer of Samhain. I am keeping this because it was a nice set up in Halloween II. Wynn believes that Michael is the way he is because it’s connected to Samhain (and have them pronounce it correctly). And as Loomis once put it, Wynn believes Michael is the lord of the dead. 

Once again it's the struggle over Jamie's mental health and her struggle over good and evil with Dr Loomis being the one to represent her goodness while Wynn is what represents her inner darkness

Jamie finally overcomes the evil Michael and the cult inflicted on her

Loomis shoots Wynn

Wynn in his final breath tells Michael "this is the final harvest, kill them" and Michael head stomps him like he did to Sartain

there is no rhyme or reason for what Michael does. He is the boogeyman and The Shape. There is no reason as to why he kills. Michael goes on a rampage and kills EVERYONE in Smith’s Grove.

Lindsay and Tommy plant C4 all over Smith's grove

Tommy beats the shit out of Michael with a lead pipe

Michael rises up and is choking the life out of Tommy.

Jamie makes a stand. She grabs Loomis’ gun and shoots Michael in the head 6 times and grabs her old pair of scissors and stabs him repeatedly. Jamie lets loose and takes revenge on the 7 years she lost. “Die Boogeyman” is all she can utter as she takes her revenge. Loomis stops her and tells her it’s over and hugs her. As Loomis embraces her, he whispers something “your mother is alive, go to her” Jamie, Tommy and Lindsey escape. But Loomis stays behind and just tells them run and do not look back and live. Jamie pleads with Loomis to come with them. Loomis says “No, I have some business to attend to. Goodbye Jamie.” Loomis rigged Smith’s Grove with bombs and sacrifices himself. It started in Smith’s Grove with him and Michael it ends with Loomis and Michael in Smith’s Grove. "It’s over Michael.” presses the detonator and they both blow up. We would see Michael’s burning mask, and the movie ends with Tommy and Lindsey taking Jamie to see Laurie. Laurie is remorseful for not being able to take care of her daughter and before she can apologize, Jamie just embraces her mother with a hug.

Halloween H20

This would coincide with my Thorn Trilogy rewrite, so Jamie would've reunited with Laurie and Jamie got to spend a few years getting to know John and help Laurie with her trauma, while Jamie has some deep resentment for being left behind.

We would use the cut storyline of a copycat killer. Gist is this is a student that got expelled by Laurie and he's looking for revenge. He could be Charlie like in the original script. At first he just wants to scare "Ms Tate". But eventually he gets the taste for blood. The copycat is wearing the dreadful mask with visible eyes. While Michael has the mask from the opening when he kills Marion.

Jamie and Billy write letters to each other

Like Laurie, Jame practically stays away from Halloween as a holiday and will not attend the party.

Jamie gets letters from Tommy and Lindsey. "Laurie, if you're hearing this, Nurse Chambers is dead and Michael knows where you are. Run. Take Jamie and John and run." The letter to Jamie. "Jamie, I really hope you don't have to use this, but just in case" it's Jamie's old pair of Scissors. The pair she almost killed Mrs Wallace with and the pair she used to beat Michael into submission

Jamie's PTSD episode ends up ruining Laurie's date with Will and this gets Laurie's ire.

Laurie and Jamie's unloads years of resentment, abandonment issues, shared trauma, but ultimately Jamie forgives her mother. "IF he's really back, we have to kill him once and for all"

Charlie takes the mask off and apologizes to everyone "this was just supposed to be a prank, I didn't mean to take it this far…" that's when Michael comes out and kills Charlie. Everyone is on the run.

Laurie and Jamie come to the rescue

Jamie drives off with John. While Laurie goes to fight Michael.

Jamie has a change of heart and comes back.

When Laurie takes Michael's body(with it actually being Michael because fuck you) Michael has his hands around Laurie's throat and that's when Jamie rams him with the car. Jamie gets out of the car. John says "Sis, what the hell are you doing? He's dead" "No he's not." Jamie grabs her trusty pair of scissors and right when Michael does the sit up, Jamie stabs him in the fucking throat. "Hello uncle Boogeyman, did you miss me?" Jamie gets in the truck Laurie was in and John is driving Jamie's When Michael gets up, they ram both sides of him.

Jamie and John smash Michael's body with their cars, keeping him trapped and that's when Laurie cuts his head off. Laurie toss Michael's mask into the fire and the Strode family lives in peace.

[mrsdawg4908]

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers: 1988

The apparently comatose Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) is being transferred from one hospital to another, but he wakes up when the ambulance crew talk about his surviving niece, Jamie (Danielle Harris). After slaughtering his attendants, Myers sets out to find his one living relative who is, fortunately, being cared for by a kind and resourceful foster sister named Rachel (Ellie Cornell). Meanwhile, the ever-cautious Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) remains on the killer's path.

https://youtu.be/rfvBru3MKsg?si=ptQVs5bEQBuocZ2U

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers: 1989

After lying in a coma for a year, Michael Myers (Donald L. Shanks) awakens and stalks his way back to his small hometown in Illinois, intent on killing his niece, Jamie (Danielle Harris), who has been confined to a mental institution since Michael's last attempt to slay her. Suspecting a psychic link between Michael and Jamie, psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) joins forces with Sheriff Ben Meeker (Beau Starr) and attempts to stop Michael's latest rampage.

https://youtu.be/gvTjz_LXvPo?si=ERz7Hp0WiWdbMcOf

https://youtu.be/JI_-Wo-s2V8?si=PksoKuSxMFP2LDun

[ramorama]

I've found an old character I've made for Mister L's #ManiacMansionMania Episode 54: CSI Ronville (2006).

It's Sheriff Ken Meeker whose appearance is based on Sheriff Ben Meeker (played by Beau Starr) from Halloween 4 and 5.

Unfortunately, CSI: Ronville is only playable in German. You can find this episode here: https://maniac-mansion-mania.com/index.php/en/spiele/episoden/staffel-6/72-episode-54-csironville.html

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

ok so the thing is ace attorney loves to have witnesses suddenly snap and change their behavior when you prove theyre lying and theyve only been doing it more and more dramatically as the games have gone on which produces a LOT of people with two or more distinct patterns of behavior and stylizations and ways of talking. theres about a billion examples of this but heres some that come to mind:

Yanni Yogi - one of two murderers in Case 1-4. fifteen years ago, he was accused of murder, but given a not guilty by reason of temporary insanity under the reasoning that he ran out of oxygen in the enclosed elevator where the event took place and was brain damaged as a result. he canonically has very poor memory consistent with dissociative episodes, and as a result tells his important information to his pet parrot instead of trying to keep it in his own brain. has a separate persona called just "Uncle" who acts wildly different and when Uncle finally admits to being Yanni Yogi and switches to his serious face Phoenix comments on how his whole demeanor has suddenly changed.

Ini/Mimi Miney - when she and her sister got into a bad car crash years ago, her sister was killed and she was mutilated beyond recognition and required facial reconstruction surgery. as she had been recently traumatized by the deaths of over a dozen patients at the clinic where she worked, she took the opportunity to run away from her past life, giving the doctors her sister's photo instead of hers and claiming to be her sister. spent the next several years acting completely different from how she used to in order to realistically appear to be her sister. when her secret is revealed in court, her temper flares up and she starts acting like she used to again. also, she says in one line that "multiple personalities" is one of her areas of study. this fact is never brought up again

Maximillion Galactica, AKA Billy Bob Johns - highly talented magician whose stage persona is a flamboyant, pompous dickhead who think all performers should aspire to the world stage; however when put under stress he suddenly reverts to a Southern dialect and changes all of his sayings from being about magic to being about farming.

Benjamin Woodman & Trilo Quist - Ben is a ventriloquist working for the circus, and Trilo is his puppet. Their act revolves around Trilo being a singer, and constantly bullying the meeker Ben. Without Trilo at hand, Ben lacks the confidence to even talk by himself; he needs to speak through Trilo in order to even be able to testify. In addition, there's another character where it's made very clear that Trilo is romantically interested in her, and Ben isn't.

Ron DeLite, AKA Mask☆DeMasque - Ron is the defendant in case 3-5, an incredibly anxious and meek man. He is somewhat emotionally unstable, and characterized as bumbling. However, he is also the renowned thief Mask✫DeMasque, who has managed to steal five priceless artifacts from high-security locations. In the one instance where we get to see Ron as Mask✫DeMasque, he's depicted as suave, boisterous, and incredibly skilled.

and these are just examples from the original trilogy - i havent even mentioned Damian and Jinxie Tenma, who have a "demon posession" problem which causes them to occasionally act completely different and have different memories, or Bobby Fullbright AKA The Phantom, a super-spy with dozens of different personas that he swaps through during the trial to the point where he no longer recalls what his original identity is, and Daley Vigil AKA Gossip, who goes by two different names in his regular life with entirely different body language and speech patterns who also has severely traumatic memories he represses. (theres also a canon plural system, FINALLY, in the sixth game. theyre not perfect rep but theyre a fun character and i like them)

why is literally every ace attorney character so plural-coded

[mysticqueen-bee]

So I made this AU in where Gwen and Ben meet Kevin in the Total Zone Arcade differently, they see the young boy sitting in a corner where not many would spot him as Gwen strolled over to his direction in hopes of speaking to him. As she greeted him he peered his head up carrying a frown on his face then darted his eyes downward since he was unable to hear her voice nor her cousin who tried to do the same (since in this AU he's deaf), she took a few moments to decipher the situation then it came to her that he might be deaf and using what she learned for some years to communicate with him in sign language and saw results when he propped his head up again with a curious expression to communicate back (probably happy that she understood his disability and the first person in a while to do so). With Gwen's help she told him her and her cousin's name and was glad to know his name as they carried on further with the conversation, though after a while he glanced and saw a glimpse of the clothing of the bullies that were after him his heart started to race and slunk back in distress which concerned Gwen as she wondered what was wrong which he informed that a group of delinquent teens were looking for him and told the two that he was severely beaten by said group and needed to find a way to escape from them. Gwen looked at Ben for a second then turned to Kevin telling him that they would protect him no matter what, he nodded and both stood up as the older kids turned the corner spotting him making a remark that he found a posse of his own to protect him like the weakling that he was, enraged by the cruelty these kids were treating him they opted to teach these teens a lesson they'd never forget as Gwen blocked any further access near Kevin's person by them while Ben fired up the omnitrix to go XLR8. After scaring and dealing with the thugs they all walked outside as soon as the watch timed out as Gwen calmed their new friend that they'd be there for him, as she noticed the time she told Ben that they needed to get back to Grandpa then turned to Kevin as she told him if he wanted to come along and meet their grandpa which with curiosity he nodded and clasped her open palm with his own as the newfound trio made their way to the Rustbucket for the thrilling adventures ahead of them. (Kevin does have his innate powers since birth in this AU just that he can't speak up for himself, but since he has a good group of friends I'm sure good things will entail for the future ahead for him and them.)

[catty-words]

I’m not sure if you’ve answered this already but I’m wondering if you could further elaborate what your issue is with how Ben and Devi in season 2

boy howdy. i’ve got wine, i’ve got an intense attachment to these two characters, and i’m ready to rant. but just remember - you literally asked for this.

to really delve into why i find season two d/b a bit of a letdown, i think it’d be helpful to first establish what it is that drew me to the pairing in season one. some of it, of course, is surface-level shit, like the fact that maitreyi and jaren have chemistry that crackles on the screen and that their faces are pretty and they react to each other in really amusing and heart-wrenching ways. but, more to the point, it’s the way the characters are inextricably linked by the way their stories parallel and interact with each other that truly sent me on a spiral last summer.

devi is a snot. she loves being the center of attention. she’s insecure. she cares about being the best at school not just because it’s been ingrained in her that she should, but because she has goals and ambitions that are served by being the best. she’s pop culture and image obsessed. she’s desperate for the acceptance of her peers. and, because of this image obsession and desperation for acceptance, she feels compelled to mask the fact that she’s deeply, deeply sad.

pretty much every single one of these traits also applies to ben - all you have to do is take away the notion that being the best is ingrained by his parents and substitute sadness over a parent’s passing for sadness born out of parental neglect. and the fact that they’re so similar but have a well-cultivated resentment of each other? that’s exactly my shit. that’s literary self-hatred, poetic cinema, etc. they understand each other better than anyone else does or can because they, in essence, are an extension of each other. so there’s a ton of cool character work going on in their every interaction - the deepening empathy for others and a quest for greater self understanding.

you also have the way that, at the show’s young-adult coming-of-age core, is how horny and in need of an outlet for that horniness devi is. so, again, on the surface, d/b gets all the heat of two characters pitted against each other as enemies, which is super fun to watch and completely effective because, again, maitreyi and jaren have incredible on-screen chemistry. but under the surface, ben also gets to be devi’s safe space. because he understands her insecurity and her drive to be more than the weird nerd people perceive her as - he shares those things. which means intimacy between them happens almost by accident. devi’s not trying to manufacture it, it’s just there for her to fall into.

the characters know each other. and with that knowledge comes both the safety of being your true self and the tricky mess that is getting held accountable when you try to shirk who you really are in favor of fantasy.

so. season two. that chemistry between the actors doesn’t go away, of course, but the compelling sameness of the characters does.

what do i mean by that? well, it has a lot to do with the way ben is written as Morally Correct in his every action in season two, where devi’s a bumbling mess. he recognizes that cheating on shira was wrong, and he wants devi to know that he’s emotionally intelligent enough to Get That and mature enough to put an end to his wrongdoing. he hears that devi started the rumor about aneesa and he’s here to urge her down the path of redemption. he was scorned by devi, but he’s still going to show up in the bathroom and tend to her emotional well-being when another dude trods all over her.

i’ve gotten the sense that a lot of people found this characterization romantic and Romantically tragic, but it legitimately angers me. i don’t want the ben that’s so smitten with devi that he’ll cater his every move to helping her grow and realize how she, too, can be as Morally Correct as him. i want the ben that tells her india’s not that different from coachella & that mowgli didn’t run away from home, so stop whining and face what’s really scaring you, dummy! i wanted to see his anger, not wounded acceptance that no one loves him the way he loves them. i wanted to see him be the wretched little asshole i know and love because those traits - that acting out and being loud and not accepting anything less than what he wants from any given situation - are what make him so compatible with devi!! she’s not some swooning damsel who needs her knight ben to swoop in and help her make the right decision and he’s not some enlightened knight who’s just trying to do right by his lady love!! they’re messy!!! they’re angry!!! and they’ve spent pretty much their whole lives striving to prove they’re better than the other!!! a couple weeks of kissing would not negate the lifetime of hostility between them, nor ben’s tendency to fall back on obnoxious showboating to prove his worth to the world!!!

i feel like i keep talking around The Thing instead of being able to name it directly, but my frustration lies in the way devi becomes meeker and less in control of her actions in season two where ben becomes a romanticized ideal for whom devi isn’t good enough but hopes to prove herself worthy of anyway. because that’s somehow a far uglier dynamic than devi getting with a guy who once called her an unfuckable nerd.

[tcm]

Revisiting Oscar-Nominated and Winning Pictures By Susan King

We all have our favorite Oscar winners that we love to watch over and over again. But there are numerous Oscar winners and nominees that have gained new life thanks to TCM, HBO Max and DVD that are definitely worth revisiting. Here are some of my favorites:

RANDOM HARVEST

I interviewed the legendary funny man Carl Reiner a few months before his death and the conversation drifted to RANDOM HARVEST (’42) and how much he loved the romance. Robert Redford is also a fan. In the 1990s, he was planning on doing a remake, and in 2014, it was announced that Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) was hired to pen a remake. The handsome MGM production based on James Hilton’s bestseller starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson was a huge hit that year and was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Film, Actor for Colman, Actress in a Supporting Role for Susan Peters and Director Mervyn LeRoy. 

Both Colman and Garson had great success in other Hilton adaptations – Colman starred in LOST HORIZON (’37) and Garson made her U.S. film debut and earned her first Best Actress Oscar nomination in GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (’39). RANDOM HARVEST is often overlooked by the other big MGM film released in 1942, William Wyler’s MRS. MINIVER. Not only was the stirring drama about a British family attempting to survive the years of World War II a blockbuster at the box office, but it also won a striking eight Oscars.

But I think RANDOM HARVEST is the more engaging film. It’s hard not to fall in love with this romantic tale with Colman at his most dreamy as a shell-shocked amnesiac veteran of World War I (Colman was wounded in the global conflict) named Smith who falls in love and marries a loving young entertainer (Garson). But Smithy, as Garson’s Paula calls him, is hit by a car on his way to a job interview and wakes up with no memory of the past three years but does remember who he really is – an aristocrat by the name of Charles Rainier.

Will true love reunite these two? The sigh level is very high with RANDOM HARVEST and this love story has a very strong place in my heart.

NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART

I’ve had more than a few people ask me why I like NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART (’44) so much. It’s depressing, they say. It’s downbeat, they say. But I think it’s a chance to see Cary Grant in a rare break out of his “Cary Grant” suave, sophisticated image. Adapted and directed by Clifford Odets from the novel by Richard Llewellyn (How Green Was My Valley), NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART casts Grant as Ernie Mott, a Cockney drifter who returns home to his Ma (Ethel Barrymore).  When he learns that she’s dying of cancer, Ernie stays to help run her second-hand shop. But Ernie can’t stay out of trouble, joining forces with a gangster stealing cars and pursuing the mobster’s wife (June Duprez). 

Meanwhile, his neighbor Aggie (Jane Wyatt) is madly in love with him and tries to save Ernie from a life of crime. The film was generally warmly received, earning four Oscar nominations and winning supporting actress for Barrymore. She shot her scenes during her two-week vacation from her Broadway triumph The Corn Is Green, and the Academy Award transformed the Broadway star into a much-in-demand film actress. She would go on to earn three more Oscar nominations.

Grant, who had earned his first Oscar nomination three years earlier for PENNY SERENADE (‘41), didn’t attend the Academy Awards where Bing Crosby won best actor for GOING MY WAY. Grant never earned another Oscar nomination, but received an Oscar honorary in 1970.

NIGHT MUST FALL

Handsome and charismatic Robert Montgomery was one of MGM’s top leading men in the 1930s, best known for his work in comedies including PRIVATE LIVES (’31) and FORSAKING ALL OTHERS (’34). Though he did an occasional dramatic part, nothing really stretched him as an actor until NIGHT MUST FALL (’37). Montgomery had long been bugging MGM head Louis B. Mayer for better roles. He supposedly allowed Montgomery to do NIGHT MUST FALL because the studio head thought the actor would be embarrassed when the movie failed. Montgomery later said, “they okayed me playing in it because they thought the fan reaction in such a role would humiliate me.” He went so far as to help subsidize the film’s production budget.

Based on the play by Emlyn Williams which ran on Broadway in 1936, NIGHT MUST FALL finds Montgomery playing Danny, a serial killer who just happens to have a trophy from his latest victim—her head—in a hatbox. Danny charms his way into the heart and home of a wealthy elderly woman (Dame May Whitty, reprising her London stage role). Rosalind Russell, who made five films with Montgomery, plays the elderly woman’s niece who has her suspicions about Danny but can’t convince her aunt that she’s in danger. Both Montgomery and Whitty earned Oscar nominations.

Though Montgomery returned to the comedy genre after NIGHT MUST FALL, he began directing films such as LADY IN THE LAKE (’46) and found great success in TV in the 1950s with the anthology series Robert Montgomery Presents, which often featured his daughter Elizabeth.

THE NAKED SPUR

Jimmy Stewart’s image took a 180 degree turn in the 1950s thanks to Alfred Hitchcock with REAR WINDOW (’54) and VERTIGO (’58), but most notably in the five Westerns he made with Anthony Mann. Far from the boy-next-door character he played pre-World War II, Stewart was transformed into conflicted, troubled men – anti-heroes who often could be as villainous as the bad guys who peppered these sagebrush sagas. (Mann also directed Stewart in three non-Westerns).

THE NAKED SPUR (’53), which earned a screenplay Oscar nomination for Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom, is my favorite of their collaborations. Stewart really digs deep into the character of Civil War veteran turned bounty hunter, Howard Kemp. He’s angry and bitter having lost his land during his conflict. Kemp hopes he can get his land back by working as a bounty hunter. And he’s doggedly determined to get outlaw Ben Vandergroat (a fabulously vile Robert Ryan). Along the way, he encounters two men (Millard Mitchell and Ralph Meeker) who join him on his journey. And when he finds Vandergroat, he also discovers he has a young woman (Janet Leigh) with him. Intelligent, often disturbing and brilliantly acted, THE NAKED SPUR is an exceptional exploration of the dark side of humanity.