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1 week ago | 
cinemaretro.com | Lee Pfeiffer |Cinema Retro
By Lee Pfeiffer
On June 20, 1975 Universal released the highly-anticipated big screen version of Peter Benchley's international bestseller "Jaws". The movie was not a sleeper boxoffice hit. Universal, concerned by the film's troubled production history and it's considerable budget overruns, backed the release with a massive promotional campaign and opened the movie in over 500 theaters across the United States, which was the widest opening for any movie in history.
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Mar 16, 2025 | 
cinemaretro.com | Lee Pfeiffer |Cinema Retro
By Lee Pfeiffer
If you are a Cinema Retro reader, I'll go out on a limb and assume you are familiar with John Ford's 1956 masterpiece "The Searchers". The film was a hit when it opened but didn't gain the stature of being a classic until years later. Over time, film scholars began to reassess the movie and proclaimed it to be perhaps Ford's greatest work.
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Mar 15, 2025 | 
cinemaretro.com | Lee Pfeiffer |Cinema Retro
By Lee Pfeiffer
Critics should always tread carefully when covering movies in the film noir genre. Generally speaking, these are complex plots with a number of twists and all too often reviewers tend to disclose too many spoilers. Having said that, I'll try to cover Crime of Passion in a manner that doesn't commit that cardinal sin.
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Mar 4, 2025 | 
cinemaretro.com | Raymond Benson |Cinema Retro
“CHAPLIN
GETS SERIOUS”
By
Raymond Benson
When
the famous United Artists studio was formed in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Mary
Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin, the organization was intended
to showcase works by the four principles as well as other talents in Hollywood
at the time. Chaplin then made his first feature film, The Kid, released
in 1921. It was a huge success.
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Feb 15, 2025 | 
cinemaretro.com | Lee Pfeiffer |Cinema Retro
By Lee Pfeiffer
In a stunning announcement, James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson say that they have made an agreement with Amazon, which co-owns the rights to the legendary film franchise, to have Amazon assume creative control of future Bond films. Broccoli and Wilson will retain co-ownership of the franchise but will retire from being involved in the production of new 007 films. Bond fans have anxiously awaited news of a new Bond movie but none has been forthcoming.
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Feb 1, 2025 | 
cinemaretro.com | Lee Pfeiffer |Cinema Retro
By Lee Pfeiffer
Actor Tony Roberts has passed away at age 85. The cause of death was lung cancer. He had a long career on stage and on screen and his face was familiar to even those who didn't know his name. Fittingly, his autobiography was titled "Do You Know Me?" Roberts was adept at playing dramatic roles and appeared in such esteemed dramatic films as "Serpico" and "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three". He is best known to movie fans for his roles in six Woody Allen films.
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Jan 24, 2025 | 
cinemaretro.com | Lee Pfeiffer |Cinema Retro
By Lee Pfeiffer
Actress and singer Marianne Faithfull has passed away at age 78. Faithfull was discovered in 1964 and quickly became one of the so-called "It Girls" who helped define the emerging mod movement in London. Faithfull gained fame with her recording of "As Tears Go By", which was written by Mick Jagger and fellow Rolling Stone member Keith Richard. Although the song was envisioned to be sung by a much older person reflecting on their life, Faithfull was only 17 years-old at the time.
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Jan 24, 2025 | 
cinemaretro.com | Raymond Benson |Cinema Retro
“LET’S
ROCK!” (or “!KCOR S’TEL”)
By
Raymond Benson
“Diane,
I’m holding in my hand a box of chocolate bunnies.”
If
you haven’t heard of Twin Peaks by now, well, you must have been trapped
in the Red Room for the last 35 years. In tribute to the recent passing of
filmmaker and artiste David Lynch, we are taking a look at the brand new
release of one of the cornerstones of Lynch’s legacy: Twin Peaks.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
cinemaretro.com | Cinema Retro
Warner Bros. has made this scene selection available from the 1985 Western, "Pale Rider" starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. It was rumored at the time that this would be Eastwood's last Western, but he was carefully guarding the script for "Unforgiven" until he felt the time was appropriate to make the film. When he released it in 1992, it won the Best Picture Oscar and an Oscar for Clint's direction.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
cinemaretro.com | Raymond Benson |Cinema Retro
“CALL
IT”
By
Raymond Benson
By
the mid-2000s, the Coen Brothers had established themselves as a
writing/directing team of considerable originality, edginess, and intelligence. Their cinematic sensibilities covered a range of genres with varying degrees of
tonality.
