Tag: Rod Taylor

James Garner and Rod Taylor in 36 HOURS Screening at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville September 7th

“We are patrolling the border so then the young, strong, and handsome men can go to Russia and freeze to death.”

James Garner and Rod Taylor in 36 HOURS (1964) is one of the more obscure films to play at The Wildey’s Tuesday Night Film Series, but we’ll be there! This thriller will be on the big screen when it plays at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville, IL (252 N Main St, Edwardsville, IL 62025) at 7:00pm Tuesday September 7th. $3  Tickets available starting at 3pm day of movie at Wildey Theatre ticket office.  Cash or check only. (cash, credit cards accepted for concessions)  Lobby opens at 6pm.

Just days prior to the launch of D-Day in June 1944, the Nazis kidnap Maj. Jefferson Pike in Lisbon and transport him to Germany. They have established an elaborate ruse to convince him that it is 1950 and that the war is long over. They have built a replica of an American hospital, staffed it with English-speaking personnel and tell Pike he has been suffering from periodic loss of memory since the war’s end. What they really want to learn is where the Allies will launch their assault on Fortress Europe: the Pas de Calais or Normandy. He is initially taken in and gives away the plans for the Normandy invasion. Once he realizes what is happening, he not only has to convince them he was lying the first time around but find a way to escape.

Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor in SUNDAY IN NEW YORK Available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive

Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor in SUNDAY IN NEW YORK is available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering info can be found HERE

Before she became a great star and two-time Academy Award® winner*, Jane Fonda was a screen ingenue who sent a string of bubbly romantic comedies soaring, including this charmer from the prolific pen of Norman Krasna (Bachelor Mother, The Devil and Miss Jones). Fonda portrays a virginal miss blessed with long limbs and a knockout profile who runs from her fianc� (Robert Culp) to the swingin’ pad of her brother (Cliff Robertson) and then into the arms of a guy she meets on the Fifth Avenue bus (Rod Taylor) — all the while trying to decide if she’ll say “yes” before she says “I do.” Filmed on location, Sunday in New York is a fun, sophisticated romp set to a hip Peter Nero score that features Mel Torm� singing the title tune.

Swinging sixties morality meets classic Hollywood screwball in this sparkling film with a luminous cast. Eileen Taylor (Jane Fonda) visits her swinger airline pilot brother (Cliff Robertson) in NYC after getting dumped by her fiancé (Robert Culp) for her chaste ways. As she entertains second thoughts about her virginity while entertaining the attentions of a young man (Rod Taylor), her ex-fiancé arrives to create hilarious complications. The sights and sounds, colors and textures of early 1960s New York pop-off the screen thanks to this new high definition master that delivers such clarity, it’s like having a window into culture in transition. And keep an eye out for Jim Backus and musician Peter Nero, who appear in minor roles! Theatrical Trailer (HD) 16×9 Widescreen

Doris Day in THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT Available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives

Great news for fans of Doris Day! THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT is currently available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives. Ordering information can be found HERE

Doris Day entered her eighth consecutive year as a top-10 box-office star when she boarded The Glass Bottom Boat, a hilarious blending of romantic comedy and the era’s burgeoning spy-movie genre. Day plays Jennifer, a girl Friday at a hush-hush aeronautics think tank. When colleagues suspect she’s an espionage agent, Jennifer chaotically sets out to clear her name. Looney Tunes alumnus Frank Tashlin directs with a cartoonist’s sensibility – or zany insensibility – embracing everything from spy guises to push-button chaos in a futuristic kitchen. With top comedians Arthur Godfrey, Paul Lynde, Edward Andrews, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise and Dick Martin in tow, The Glass Bottom Boat is loaded top to bottom with see-through fun.

Frank Tashlin directs Doris Day as “the drip-dry spy licensed for laughs” in this delightful spy spoof/romantic comedy co-starring the always welcome Rod Taylor and all-star assemblage of comedic supporting players. Day plays Jennifer Nelson, a PR pro who finds herself under suspicion as a spy and under pursuit from her boss when she takes a job at a state-of-art aeronautics firm. Tashlin’s gift for reality-bending visuals that amuse and amaze are on ample display thanks to the deep-sea clarity and color of this new 1080p HD transfer. Animation fans will be doubly delighted to discover Chuck Jones’ Academy Award® winning short “The Dot and The Line” in HD nestled in among the disc’s special features. Special Features: 3 Vintage Featurettes – Catalina Island, Every Girl’s Dream, and NASA; cartoon short “The Dot and The Line” (HD); Theatrical Trailer. (HD) 16×9 Letterbox

Rod Taylor and Jim Brown in DARK OF THE SUN Available on Blu-ray December 18th From Warner Archives


Exciting news for fans of action! Rod Taylor and Jim Brown in DARK OF THE SUN (1968) is available on Blu-ray December 18th from Warner Archives. Ordering information can be found HERE


Rod Taylor stars in this action classic, playing the leader of a band of mercenaries attempting to smuggle diamonds and refugees out of Congo via steam train at the height of the ’60s Congo Crisis. Directed by master cinematographer Jack Cardiff (Red Shoes, African Queen), Dark of the Sun shocked contemporary audiences with its stark and unflinching scenes of violent brutality. Jim Brown and Yvette Mimieux join Taylor for the hi-octane, high tension action. Overlooked in its initial run, Dark of the Sun is a justly revered classic of the genre, now seen as a seminal entry in the genre. And now it’s more explosive than ever on this stunning, new HD presentation. And did we mention there is a chainsaw fight scene? Special Features: Theatrical Trailer (HD); New Commentary by Trailers From Hell’s Larry Karaszewski and Josh Olson with Brian Saur and Elric D. Kane (“Just the Discs” podcast). 16×9 Letterbox


Take elite commandos, send them on a do-or-die assignment – and sit back and watch the action explode. The men-on-a-mission formula that worked in 1967’s The Dirty Dozen and in Where Eagles Dare (released in the U.S. in 1969) provides another salvo of volatile screen adventure with this strike force saga released in 1968. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are among a mercenary unit rolling on a steam train across the Congo, headed for the dual tasks of rescuing civilians imperiled by rebels and recovering a cache of diamonds. The film’s violence is fierce, unforgiving, ahead of its time. Quentin Tarantino would offer a tribute of sorts to this red-blooded wallop of a cult fave by using part of its compelling score in Inglourious Basterds (2009).

 

Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS Screens at Schlafly Bottleworks April 2nd

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“Can I bring the lovebirds, Mitch? they haven’t harmed anyone”
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THE BIRDS screens at Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, MO 63143) next Thursday, April 2nd at 7pm. It is a benefit for Helping Kids Together
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Someone recently asked me why the birds in Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS suddenly decide to attack people. Why indeed? That’s what everyone wants to know. Is there some connection to the middling soap opera we see played out over the first hour of the 1963 film and their attacks? Is it because they are fed up with all the pollution and people shooting at them all the time? Or is it just because they can?
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Maybe Hitchcock just wanted to make a scary movie. He might ask you to imagine yourself in the restaurant and suddenly a bloodied man staggers in and says “The birds are attacking and we don’t know why!” Now picture yourself in the same restaurant and suddenly a bloodied man staggers in and says, “The birds are attacking and we know exactly why!” Which is scarier?
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Perhaps a better question is why Hitch spent so much time (more than usual in his films and more than you’ll see in most horror films) exploring the characters and their relationships, delving into motivations, attractions and resentments. Why does it matter that Jessica Tandy misses her husband because he is so strong and is now so dependent on her son that she doesn’t want to share him? Why do we have to know that Suzanne Pleshette’s schoolteacher is in love with Mitch and sees Melanie, (Tippi Hedren) as a rival? Why is Melanie’s escapade in Rome or her raising funds for orphans so important? Why should we care about this? Do the birds care about these things? I think Hitchcock just liked the idea of a movie starting out to be about one thing and then turning out to be about something else entirely. That’s what he did with PSYCHO, which starts out to be a crime melodrama about Janet Leigh trying to get away with some illicit funds and very suddenly becomes the seminal `slasher’ flick about Anthony Perkins and his crazy mother. In THE BIRDS we see a romantic comedy turn gradually into a soap opera and then gradually into a monster movie, with the birds being the monsters.
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Looking at Tippi Hedren’s performance it’s hard to see why she didn’t become a major star. She’s gorgeous, has a strong voice, an expressive face and shows real acting ability. She should have won some kind of award for her perseverance in the attic scene, which took four days with live birds to shoot. That she came out of this an animal lover is amazing. What does it all mean? It means you’ll get your money’s worth when you show up Thursday, April 2nd at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood for a screening of THE BIRDS! Special Guest Speaker Marty Smigell, the Vice President of St. Louis Audubon Society will be on hand. I’m not sure what he’ll be speaking about but it’s safe to say it has something to do with birds!
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Doors open at 6:30pm. $6 suggested for the screening. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed suds. A bartender will be on hand to take care of you. “Culture Shock” is the name of a film series here in St. Louis that is the cornerstone project of a social enterprise that is an ongoing source of support for Helping Kids Together (http://www.helpingkidstogether.com/) a St. Louis based social enterprise dedicated to building cultural diversity and social awareness among young people through the arts and active living. The films featured for “Culture Shock” demonstrate an artistic representation of culture shock materialized through mixed genre and budgets spanning music, film and theater. Through ‘A Film Series’ working relationship with Schlafly Bottleworks, they seek to provide film lovers with an offbeat mix of dinner and a movie opportunities. We hope to see everyone next Thursday night!
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The Facebook invite for this event can be found HERE
https://www.facebook.com/events/1563921557190118/

 

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Actor Rod Taylor of THE BIRDS, THE TIME MACHINE Dies at 84

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People.com is reporting that actor Rod Taylor died Wednesday at the age of 84 of natural causes.

His daughter Felicia Taylor, a former CNN correspondent, confirmed the news Thursday.

“My dad loved his work. Being an actor was his passion – calling it an honorable art and something he couldn’t live without,” she said in a statement.

“He once said, ‘I am a poor student sitting at the feet of giants, yearning for their wisdom and begging for lessons that might one day make me a complete artist,” she continued, “ ‘so that if all goes well, I may one day sit beside them.”

Born on Jan 11, 1930 in Sydney, Australia, Rod Taylor is best remembered for his starring roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS (1963) and George Pal’s THE TIME MACHINE (1960). He also provided the voice of Pongo in Disney’s 101 DALMATIANS (1961). Taylor also starred in TV’s “The Twilight Zone” in an episode called “And When the Sky Was Opened.”

‘There are so many incredible feelings I have for him. Rod was a great pal to me and a real strength, we were very, very good friends,’ said actress Tippi Hedren in a statement to People.

His final role was in Quentin Tarantino’s INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (2009) as Winston Churchill.

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Filmography (TCM):

1. Kaw (2007)
2. Zabriskie Point (1970) as Lee Allen .
3. Darker Than Amber (1970) as Travis McGee .
4. The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970) as Peter Reaney .
5. The High Commissioner (1968) as Scobie Malone .
6. Dark of the Sun (1968) as Curry .
7. The Hell With Heroes (1968) as Brynie MacKay .
8. Chuka (1967) as Chuka .
9. Hotel (1967) as Peter McDermott .
10. The Liquidator (1966) as Boysie Oakes .
11. The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) as Bruce Templeton .
12. Young Cassidy (1965) as John Cassidy .
13. 36 Hours (1965) as Maj. Walter Gerber .
14. Do Not Disturb (1965) as Mike Harper .
15. Sunday in New York (1964) as Mike Mitchell .
16. Fate Is the Hunter (1964) as Capt. Jack Savage .
17. A Gathering of Eagles (1963) as Hollis Farr .
18. The Birds (1963) as Mitch Brenner .
19. The V.I.P.s (1963) as Les Mangrum .
20. Seven Seas to Calais (1963) as Sir Francis Drake .
21. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) as Pongo.
22. The Time Machine (1960) as George, Time Traveler .
23. Ask Any Girl (1959) as Ross Taford .
24. Separate Tables (1958) as Charles .
25. Step Down to Terror (1958) as Mike Randall .
26. Raintree County (1957) as Garwood B. Jones .
27. The Catered Affair (1956) as Ralph Halloran .
28. The Rack (1956) as Al .
29. Hell on Frisco Bay (1956) as Brodie Evans .
30. Giant (1956) as Sir David Karfrey .
31. World Without End (1956) as [Herbert] Ellis .
32. Top Gun (1955) as [Lem] Sutter .
33. Long John Silver (1955) as Israel Hands .

34. The Virgin Queen (1955) as Corp. Gwilym .

Watch the trailer for the Rod Taylor documentary in development, “Pulling No Punches.”

Alfred Hitchock’s The Birds (1963). Credit: Universal/Getty Images.
Alfred Hitchock’s The Birds (1963). Credit: Universal/Getty Images.