Cinema is Dope » Genre: Spy

A Man Called Dagger (1967) – Daily Movie Wallpaper – Richard Rush Secret Agent Time!

blake — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:55:33 +0000

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The Daily Movie Wallpaper
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

SURPRISE #5

A Richard Rush secret agent film? Yes indeed as we see here with, A Man Called Dagger!

A Month Long Celebration of Psych-Out (1968) at CID: November 2009

Each day in November of 2009 at CID we will be celebrating Richard Rush cinema one still at a time with his 1968 film, Psych-Out, along the way with added surprises.

I’d love to know what is your favorite Richard Rush film!?! Tweet what it is on Twitter with the following hashtag of #richardrush.

For fans of this film be sure and pick up Gary Kent’s new book, Shadows and Light, Journeys With Outlaws In Revolutionary Hollywood (details).

If you like this film and want to see other great films that have been reborn through Lars and Weird Wednesday, be sure to get out to this weekly series each Wednesday (info). In particular this month is the screening of Sam Peckinpah’s, BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA.

Related Coverage:
::: Previous Movie Wallpaper
::: Lars Writeup for Weird Wednesday

Month Long Celebration:
::: 11/24 – Surprise #5: A Man Called Dagger
::: 11/23 – Jenny Davis Fights for Her Life!
::: 11/22 – Stoney & Jenny
::: 11/21 – Jenny Davis
::: 11/20 – More with Jenny Davis
::: 11/19 – All Hell Breaks Loose
::: 11/18 – Life Seed Death
::: 11/17 – Dean Stockwell is Dave
::: 11/16 – Surprise #4: Too Soon to Love
::: 11/15 – Love Sweet Love
::: 11/14 – The Vox Mobile
::: 11/13 – More from the Funeral
::: 11/12 – Surprise #3: Savage Seven
::: 11/11 – Sitar Player
::: 11/10 – Surprise #2: Hells Angels on Wheels
::: 11/09 – Ladies and Gentlemen… The Seeds!
::: 11/08 – Warren has a bad trip!
::: 11/07 – The Funeral
::: 11/06 – Surprise #1: Freebie and the Bean
::: 11/05 – Jenny Davis in Love…
::: 11/04 – Warren, Stoney & Ben
::: 11/03 – Bruce Dern is The Seeker
::: 11/02 – Elwood, Jenny & Stoney
::: 11/01 – Jenny Davis in Classic Film Pose
::: Announcement

Image Source:
Official lobbycard that was used in the original USA release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

36 Hours (1965) – Daily Movie Wallpaper – Rod Taylor & James Garner

blake — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:55:02 +0000

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The Daily Movie Wallpaper
Sunday, October 25, 2009

When Quentin Tarantino was last in Austin he mentioned 36 Hours, in particular the performance of Rod Taylor being hugely influential on his crafting of the character Col. Hans Landa (played by Christoph Waltz) in Inglourious Basterds. Indeed this is one of Taylor’s shining hours among many in cinema and a great not seen enough WWII thriller. Netflix or check this one out on DVD soon!

Caption:
James Garner learns from Rod Taylor that he is a victim of amnesia as a result of a brutal beating. But is he? A question that can only be answered in “36 Hours“.

Image Source:
Official still that was used in the original US release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

Five for Hell (1969) – Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day – Klaus Kinski

blake — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:06:58 +0000

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Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Sunday, August 2, 2009

Klaus Kinski as ruthless Nazi SS Colonel Hans Mueller in Five for Hell. I really dig the framing of this photograph as it perfectly captures Klaus Kinski with that relentlessly conniving yet troubled look on his face when contrasted with two blurred female legs that sit in the foreground. Not to mention they use the circular frame at the foot of the bed to wrap around Klaus’s face.

Leading up to the August 21st release of Inglourious Basterds in US movie theaters I will be posting images from WWII films that helped to inspire it. In addition starting on Monday I will be running a special Inglourious Basterds contest!

Inglourious Basterds:
::: Official Site
::: Official Twitter
::: Official Austin Premiere

Fantastic Fest earlier this week announced a premiere event in Austin, Texas, for Inglourious Basterds to kick off Cinemapocalyse which will also feature two WWII films hand picked by Tarantino himself immediately following! And note that Enzo Castellari’s INGLORIOUS BASTARDS will be screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz from August 3-5 (details).

Image Source:
Official lobbycard that was used in the original French release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

Five for Hell (1969) – Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day – Klaus Kinski is SS Colonel Hans Mueller

blake — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:47:24 +0000

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Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Friday, July 31, 2009

Well before there was Christoph Waltz as ruthless Nazi Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds there was Klaus Kinski as ruthless Nazi SS Colonel Hans Mueller in Five for Hell. If there was one movie character that the portrayal of Waltz as Landa most reminded me of while watching Inglourious, it was Kinski as Hans Mueller. I can definitely see at least in some fashion Quentin Tarantino drawing inspiration from Klaus Kinski when writing Landa’s character. It was actually at one of Tarantino’s famous QT Fests where he showed a print of this that I first saw it and immediately reflected back to after seeing Inglourious in Cannes with its similar movie characters by Kinski and Waltz. Both performances alone make each film worth watching. I did get a chance to congratulate Christoph Waltz on his wonderful and daring performance but just wasn’t time to chit chat about Klaus… maybe someday!

Side note that the still isn’t nearly as restored as I normally post them but since this comes from an incredibly rare official French lobbycard that dates to its original 1969 release, it will take me considerable time and many months before I’ll have a final version. In the meantime I did make various restoration to this one, just nowhere near as much as usual, but I do think this image shows the film very vividly and with great color. You would be hard pressed to find a better image of this online.

Inglourious Basterds:
::: Official Site
::: Official Twitter
::: Official Austin Premiere

Image Source:
Official lobbycard that was used in the original French release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

OSS 117 – Lost in Rio (2009) – New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day – Jean Dujardin

blake — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:23:13 +0000

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Monday, June 8, 2009

Three years before Ian Fleming started writing the first James Bond novel, Jean Bruce was hard at work creating fictional secret agent OSS 117 aka Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath in the first of 91 novels. OSS 117 also made it to the big screen first in 1956 with OSS 117 Is Not Dead directed by Jean Sacha. However where the Bond series went on to make countless big screen splashes, OSS 117 only made 7 more trips to the big screen (including the latest installment Lost in Rio) with OSS 117 – Panic in Bangkok (1964), OSS 117 – Mission for a Killer (1965), OSS 117 – Terror in Tokyo (1966), OSS 117 – Double Agent (1968) and OSS 117 – Takes a Vacation (1970), OSS 117 – Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006).

Although you can see the influence of James Bond in Lost in Rio, to me it seems much more reverential and involved with 60’s Eurospy cinema than anything else. Although this subgenre to date really hasn’t been widely seen and explored by the average consumer let alone die hard cinephiles. The book “Eurospy Guide” from Matt Blake and David Deal is a great introduction into Eurospy cinema for those new or more somewhat familiar. Those more familiar with it are going to fine a lot more to be fond of and laugh at, especially in a nostalgic sense. Those less familiar will no doubt be making endless Bond comparisons which work in some instances but not for every single aspect of it. If anything OSS 117 – Lost in Rio is a 60’s Eurospy film set in contemporary times of political correctness told in a manic, schmoozing and completely non-politically correct satire style. The only downside of the film is that it feels too breezy in its pace at times as it clearly feels almost too comfortable at just telling a story and in no hurry to rush to the next plot point. For fans of Eurospy like me this is a highly enjoyable Eurospy geek out that I can’t wait to see again and wish its second half had just a bit more tighter editing.

For those wanting to check this out it will be screened as the closing night gala film at this years Seattle International Film Festival (details).

Note that the previous OSS 117 entry from Michel Hazanavicius and Jean Dujardin, OSS 117 – Cairo, Nest of Spies, is currently available on US DVD with English subtitles (a soundtrack is also out and available on cd). A follow up to Lost in Rio is currently in production by them as well for a 2010 release. The original film series from the 50’s and 60’s for the most part seems to be out on French DVD however sans English subtitles.

Image Source:
Official stills that were used in the original international release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile