The Shootist (1976)

Wayne plays aging gunfighter who travels to a small town to visit an old doctor friend played by Jimmy Stewart who tells Wayne that he only has a few months to live.

Wayne decides to stay in the town to live out his last days.

He rents a room from Lauren Bacall who has a young son (Ron Howard).

Wayne's old enemies find out he's camping out in the town and decide to offer him one last challenge.

The movie is filled with some pretty cool shootout scenes, and gets rather bloody at times.

Kind of reminded me a little of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, a better movie.

Also starring Hugh O'Brian, Scatman Carothers, and Gene Barry, who passed away on Dec 9 2009.

Misery (1990)

The two lead stars of Misery - James Caan and Kathy Bates - recently reunited for a photoshoot for the annual "Reunions" issue of Entertainment Weekly.

Here's a link to the story and video clip from "The Today Show", featuring the two stars reminiscing about their time on the film:

http://www.today.com/popculture/misery-loves-company-kathy-bates-james-caan-reunite-discuss-1990-t49286

I recently re-watched this movie after almost 20 years, and was surprised how well the movie holds up and is able to thrill even after seeing it three separate times.  Also featuring small roles by the late Richard Farnsworth and the late Lauren Bacall, who are both very good in this.

If you haven't seen this movie before, I recommend it for a good Halloween watch.

Lauren Bacall, Star of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Dies at 89

Lauren Bacall, the sultry blonde siren who became an overnight star via a memorable film debut at age 19 opposite Humphrey Bogart in Howard Hawks’ “To Have and Have Not,” died Tuesday of a suspected stroke at her home in the Dakota in Manhattan. She was 89.

The Bogart estate tweeted the news.

With deep sorrow, yet with great gratitude for her amazing life, we confirm the passing of Lauren Bacall. http://t.co/B8ZJnZtKhN—BogartEstate (@HumphreyBogart) August 12, 2014

Variety’s review of the 1944 film described her as “a young lady of presence,” and audiences immediately embraced her gravel-voiced and sultry persona. The voice was said to have come from a year shouting into a canyon. Regardless, “the Look,” her slinky, pouty-lipped head-lowered stare, influenced a generation of actresses.

After a 50-year career, she received her first Oscar nomination for supporting actress for her role as Barbra Streisand’s mother in 1997’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE FROM VARIETY.com

The Man With Bogart's Face (1980)

In the 1970s, actor Robert Scacci gained fame for his uncanny resemblance to Humphrey Bogart. For a while, he was cast in all kinds of commercials and TV shows. And then someone had the idea to actually cast him in a movie playing - what else? - Bogart. Well, sort of. He doesn't actually portray him; he just plays a lookalike. That movie became The Man With Bogart's Face, released in 1980, and the running gag throughout the film was his resemblance to the iconic star.  Not only does Scacci have Borgart's face, but also his voice and mannerisms, and his wardrobe includes a 1940s-era trenchcoat.

And throughout the movie he's constantly referencing old movies and movie stars (and radio programs, too!).

The character even changes his name to "Sam Marlowe" and becomes a private eye!

The character of Sam Marlowe in this film sort of becomes Bogart in an unusual way that's oddly fascinating to watch. After awhile I forgot I was watching an impersonator and it felt as if Bogart was brought back to life in 1980.

The character's motives are not fully explained, but whatever they are, we get the point - he loves Bogart. Pop singer Michelle Phillips plays the love interest that Sam falls for. She looks just like Gene Tierney, which prompts Sam to say things like "she has the same face that tempted Tyrone Power in The Razor's Edge").

There are cameos from a number of Bogart contemporaries such as Mike Mazurky, Victor Sen-Young (from Across the Pacific), and Yvonne DeCarlo.  Henry Wilcoxian (age 75 at the time) plays a bookstore owner. My favorite is the cameo by George Raft, who has the best line in the film: "I've come across guys like this before".

It's a bit silly, and not a great movie, but it's fun to watch once. Filmed all around Los Angeles, it's largely forgotten today.  I liked the cameos and co-stars: Olivia Hussey, Pat Buono, Herbert Lom and Franco Nero.

I don't know what Gene Tierney or Lauren Bacall thought about this film at the time.

Robert Scacci is still living today. He hasn't been in anything notable in years.

Sex and the Single Girl (1964) w/ Natalie Wood & Tony Curtis

Before there was Sex and the City, we had Sex and the Single Girl - a best selling dating/career advice book by Helen Brown published in 1962.

Hollywood wanted to jump on the Single Girl bandwagon; the book was very popular--- and this was the swinging 60s after all. So in 1964, a film of the same name was nade, but was more about the phenomenon of the book more than anything else. The film doesn't attempt to be biographical nor is it based on any real event.

The real Helen Brown worked in advertising during the 50s and later became the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for over 30 years. She has been married to Oscar-winning producer David Brown (Jaws, The Sting) for over 50 years.


The writers turned the film version into a wacky mistaken-identity comedy. Natalie Wood plays a fictitious Helen Brown: a single twenty-something clinical psychologist whose book is a hit until a sleazy tabloid's scurrilous cover story tarnishes her reputation. Determined to fully expose Brown as a fraud, a writer from the tabloid (Tony Curtis) poses as married man and signs up for counseling sessions -- only to expose her real love life, or lack thereof.


During the faux counseling sessions, they begin to fall for each other.

Curtis' ruse begins to backfire when his girlfriend (Fran Jeffries) and married next-door neighbors (Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall) get involved, leading to a madcap car chase on the California highway.

With Mel Ferrer, Count Basie and his orchestra, and Edward Everett Horton as the Editor in Chief of a sleazy tabloid magazine.

An Honorary Oscar for Lauren Bacall

Legendary actress Lauren Bacall received an honorary Oscar this weekend for her lifelong work in the movie industry and for her body of work in films, including To Have and Have Not, Key Largo, and Written on the Wind, just to name a few.

(Photo: Adriana Barraza, WENN)

Here are some photos from the Award ceremony this past weekend. It was a private, non-televised event in Hollywood (in the Grand Ballroom above the Kodak Theater at Hollywood and Highland).

Ms. Bacall greets producer Norman Jewison (Chris Pizzello, AP Photo)

Ms. Bacall with her daughter, Leslie Bogart (left) and son Stephen Humphrey Bogart (right). (Chris Pizzello, AP Photo)

Ms. Bacall arrives for the 2009 Governors Awards at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, California on November 14, 2009. (Chris Pizzello, AP Photo)

Kirk Douglas salutes Ms. Bacall (Photo: Michael Yada, Getty Images)

Film legend (and 1996 Honorary Oscar recipient) Kirk Douglas took part in the ceremony. At the podium, he said Bacall's tough image belied her real nature. "She's a pussycat and she has a heart of gold," he said. He also confessed that he once tried to seduce her — "without success." (He and Bacall have been friends for more than 60 years. They also appeared together in the movie Diamonds)

Oscar acceptance speech (Photo: Michael Yada, Getty Images)

Actress Anjelica Huston presented the Oscar to Bacall - her director father John Huston worked with Bacall and her husband, Humprey Bogart, directing them in the classic "Key Largo" (1948). Anjelica said she "defines what it means to be a great actress and also a huge movie star" and praised her "steadfastness, honesty and extraordinary beauty."

Ever feisty, the 85-year-old actress shooed away an escort who tried to help her to the podium to accept her Oscar. "I can't believe it - a man at last," quipped Bacall, as she accepted an honorary Oscar over the weekend. "The thought that when I get home I'm going to have a two-legged man in my room is so exciting."

She spoke of her late husband, "my great love" Humphrey Bogart "He gave me a life and he changed my life," she said.


Bacall made her debut opposite Bogart in 1944's "To Have and Have Not", and the captivating couple were married from 1945 until his death from cancer in 1957.

She also gushed about some of her other dashing leading men: Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck and Henry Fonda.



Lauren Bacall movie recommendations:

To Have and Have Not (1944)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Dark Passage (1847)
Key Largo (1948)
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
Woman's World (1954)
Written on the Wind (1956)
Designing Woman (1957)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Shootist (1976)
The Fan (1981)
Appointment with Death (1988)
Misery (1990)
The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
Diamonds (1999)

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