Fat City (1972)

Fat City (1972) is directed by John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep) and adapted from a novel by Leonard Gardner who wrote the screenplay as well. One of the first big roles for Stacy Keach who plays Billy Tully, a pro boxer who had a name, but is now drifting in bars and […]

Heaven’s Gate (1980)

I don’t have access to digital TV at home, so it was a delight to be in a hotel room in Wollongong, turn on the TV to SBS World Movies and see that Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate (1980) was coming up shortly, which I’d always been meaning to see. I remember reading MAD magazines from […]

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

A post-Exorcist vehicle for star Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) was the first Hollywood studio production Martin Scorsese directed who was hand-picked by Burstyn after seeing Mean Streets (on Francis Ford Coppola’s suggestion). Burstyn plays Alice, a housewife with dreams of becoming a singer who hits the road with her young son, […]

Convoy (1978)

Convoy (1978) is based on the country western novelty song by C.W. McCall which also soundtracks the movie itself, stretching out and teasing the audience with sections of the tune and only letting rip with its anthemic chorus near the climax. Big rig trucker “Rubber Duck” (Kris Kristofferson) runs afoul of corrupt, racist Sheriff “Dirty […]