Leonard Michael Maltin is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film critic on Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2010. He currently teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and hosts the weekly podcast Maltin on Movies. He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and votes for films to be selected for the National Film Registry.
Kiss of Death is a 1947 American film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and written by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer from a story by Eleazar Lipsky. The story revolves around an ex-con played by Victor Mature and his former partner-in-crime, Tommy Udo. The movie also starred Brian Donlevy and introduced Coleen Gray in her first billed role. The film has received critical praise since its release, with two Academy Award nominations.
Rolling Thunder Pictures was a short-lived film distribution company, set up under Miramax Films by Quentin Tarantino, that was headed by Jerry Martinez and Tarantino. It specialized on releasing independent, cult, or foreign films to theaters. The company was created in 1995 but closed in 1999. The company was named after the film Rolling Thunder.
Henry Hathaway was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring Randolph Scott and John Wayne. He directed Gary Cooper in seven films.
Mousey is a 1974 Canadian thriller action drama film directed by Daniel Petrie, and starring Kirk Douglas, Jean Seberg and John Vernon.
Sugar Hill is a 1974 American horror blaxploitation zombie film, directed by Paul Maslansky and starring Marki Bey as the title character who uses voodoo to get revenge on the people responsible for her boyfriend's death. It was released by American International Pictures. According to the film, the zombies are the preserved bodies of slaves brought to the United States from Guinea. AIP had previously combined the horror and blaxploitation genres with Blacula (1972) and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973).
Fatal Beauty is a 1987 American action comedy thriller film directed by Tom Holland, and starring Whoopi Goldberg as Detective Rita Rizzoli, and Sam Elliott as Mike Marshak. The screenplay was written by Hilary Henkin and Dean Riesner. The original music score was composed by Harold Faltermeyer. The film was marketed with the tagline "An earthquake is about to hit L.A. It's called Detective Rita Rizzoli."
Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide was a book-format collection of movie capsule reviews that began in 1969, was updated biannually after 1978, and then annually after 1986. The final edition was published in September 2014. It was originally called TV Movies, which became Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide, and then Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide, before arriving at its final title. Film critic Leonard Maltin edited it and contributed a large portion of its reviews.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1936 American adventure romance western film based on the 1908 novel of the same name. The picture was directed by Henry Hathaway starring Fred MacMurray, Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda.
X Y & Zee is a 1972 British drama film directed by Brian G. Hutton and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, and Susannah York. Released by Columbia Pictures, it was based upon a novel by Edna O'Brien. The screenplay concerns a middle-aged, bickering couple whose marriage is near its end, and the woman who comes between them.
The Unholy Three is a 1930 American Pre-Code melodrama directed by Jack Conway and starring Lon Chaney. Its plot involves a crime spree. The film is a sound remake of the silent 1925 film of the same name, with both films based on the novel The Unholy Three, by Tod Robbins.
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s, when the combined momentum of the civil rights movement, the Black power movement, and the Black Panthers spurred black artists to reclaim power over their image, and institutions like the UCLA to provide financial assistance for students of color to study filmmaking. This combined with Hollywood adopting a less restrictive rating system in 1968. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. After the race films of the 1940s and 1960s, the genre emerged as one of the first in which black characters and communities were protagonists, rather than sidekicks, supportive characters, or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s.
Voodoo Island is a 1957 American horror film directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Richard H. Landau. The film stars Boris Karloff, with a cast including Elisha Cook Jr., Beverly Tyler and Rhodes Reason. It is set in the South Pacific and was filmed on Kauai, Hawaii back to back with Jungle Heat. Adam West appears in a small pre-"Batman" uncredited role.
The Living Ghost is a 1942 American mystery-drama film directed by William Beaudine and produced by Monogram Pictures. Starring James Dunn and Joan Woodbury, the film incorporates elements of the horror genre as it follows an ex-private detective who is called in to investigate why a banker has turned into a zombie. As the detective shares wisecracks with the banker's cheeky secretary, the two fall in love. The film was distributed in the United Kingdom under the title Lend Me Your Ear, and later released on home video as A Walking Nightmare.
The Lone Wolf in Mexico is a 1947 American black-and-white mystery-adventure film directed by D. Ross Lederman for Columbia Pictures. It features Gerald Mohr as the title character, detective Lone Wolf. Chronologically the third-to-last Lone Wolf film in Columbia's theatrical series, it was followed by The Lone Wolf in London later in 1947 and The Lone Wolf and His Lady in 1949.
The Lone Wolf and His Lady is a 1949 American mystery film directed by John Hoffman and starring Ron Randell, June Vincent and Alan Mowbray. It is the 15th and final Lone Wolf film produced by Columbia Pictures, and was written by Edward Dein and Michael Stuart Boylan.
The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1941) is the sixth Lone Wolf film produced by Columbia Pictures. It features Warren William, in his fourth appearance as the title character Lone Wolf, and Edward Gargan, Lester Matthews and Don Beddoe as the film's antagonists. The film was directed by Sidney Salkow and written by Salkow and Earl Felton.
Marki Bey is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Diana "Sugar" Hill in the 1974 horror blaxploitation zombie film Sugar Hill.
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx is a 1942 black-and-white murder mystery/horror B film by Universal Studios directed by William Nigh and starring Patric Knowles, Lionel Atwill, Anne Gwynne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Samuel S. Hinds. Although Clarence Upson Young is credited with the screenplay, the actors mostly ad-libbed their lines. The plot involves the search for a serial killer who is targeting men who have been acquitted of murder. The film received poor reviews upon release.
William David Elliott was an American actor and jazz musician. He had a recurring role in Bridget Loves Bernie as Otis Foster and a recurring role as Officer Gus Grant in Adam-12. He also appeared in Elvis Presley's 1969 film Change of Habit.
