Frank's Movie Log

William Holden plays an infantry Sergeant in Italy during World War II. He falls for a WAC Lieutenant, played by Nancy Olson. With his thoughts on his future with her, Holden proves reluctant to take risks on the battlefield. This leads to the death of his friend, a fellow officer, and lands him in the hospital. His injury grants him a ticket back to the states, but his guilty conscience forces him to rejoin his unit. Continue reading...

You know the story, but the casting will surprise you. Gene Kelly plays D’Artagnan, a rural Frenchman who travels to Paris hoping to join the musketeers. Upon arriving, he offends three of said musketeers, prompting back-to-back duels. Soldiers loyal to the nefarious Cardinal Richelieu, played by Vincent Price, interrupt said duels. D’Artagnan fights alongside the musketeers, winning their respect. The four then set out to foil a Richelieu plot to use Lady de Winter, played by top-billed Lana Turner, to incite a war with Britain. Continue reading...

Betsy Drake plays a department store clerk who obsesses over trapping a pediatrician, played by Cary Grant, into marriage. Continue reading...

A summer camp prank hospitalizes a drunken caretaker with severe burns. Five years later, after a series of failed skin grafts, the caretaker leaves the hospital and begins a murderous rampage at another summer camp. Continue reading...

A crooked martial arts school recruits a cadre of specialist fighters to massacre a rival school. Jimmy Wang Yu plays the titular boxer, who escapes the massacre but not before losing his right arm. After convalescing, Wang Yu takes a mysterious elixir that grants his remaining arm superhuman strength. He then sets out for revenge. Continue reading...

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne play a couple who endure a series of tragedies attempting to start a family. The film proffers romance, humor and pathos. But not subtlety. Never subtlety. Continue reading...

Marilyn Monroe plays a burlesque dancer who falls in love with a society gentleman. Her mother, a fellow dancer played by Adele Jergens, disapproves. Continue reading...

Ryan O’Neal plays a computer programmer who quits his well-paying job to become a jewel thief. Continue reading...

I expected a Burt Reynolds star vehicle, but Fuzz proves an ensemble black comedy chronicling the inept detectives of Boston’s 87th precinct. Continue reading...

David Mamet’s screenwriting debut. Not a remake of the 1946 Lana Turner film, but another adaptation of James M. Cain’s novel. Jack Nicholson plays Frank, an opportunistic drifter who hires on at a rural luncheonette with his eye on the owner’s wife Cora, played by Jessica Lange. The two begin a torrid affair and soon they’re plotting to off her husband. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...