Torn Curtain (1966)

It’s interesting exploring the titles in a director’s career that don’t get as much celebration, particularly the later period films by a marketed auteur like Alfred Hitchcock. I remember mainly reading about Torn Curtain (1966) from a book about Paul Newman my Mum owned and in Scorsese On Scorsese where the farmhouse sequence is cited […]

I Am Sartana, Your Angel Of Death (1969)

I was not familiar with the Sartana spaghetti westerns until Arrow Video released a boxset, their remastered versions available on Tubi to stream. The first one I watched was I Am Sartana, Your Angel Of Death (1969; Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino), the second in the series, and what a character, dressed in all black […]

Red Beard (1965)

Akira Kurosawa’s Red Beard (1965; Akahige) might intimidate with its three hour length. But this drama, the last film Kurosawa would make in black and white, and with regular collaborator and star Toshiro Mifune, is a beautiful, moving experience. Set in the 19th century in Koshikawa, it is basically a medical drama focused on the […]

Rocco And His Brothers (1960)

Sometimes watching an old classic might feel like homework. A three hour black and white movie seems like a heavy undertaking. Then you watch a film of that length and vintage, and the time passes by quicker than you thought because you are deeply invested in the characters and storytelling. So it was with Luchino […]

The Great Silence (1968)

Spaghetti westerns were a genre that would be programmed on SBS Saturday Cult Movie Night and I remember seeing the end of The Great Silence (1968; Il Grande Silenzio) when I was younger. Recently, the film is referenced as an influence on Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, name dropped as one of the filmmaker’s favourite […]