Released in 1956, shot in Technicolor with legendary director John Ford at the helm and starring box-office draws John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter, “The Searchers” is a great sprawling epic of the old West and the hard men who lived there. Filmed in Monument Valley and the surrounding red-rock area, the scenery is striking and severe, providing lots of rocky desert landscape to challenge the characters and the film crew. Ford also shot parts of the film during the winter, showing the hardships Ethan and Martin had to face while trying to track down little Debbie Edwards. HD DVD Video Presentation: I’d had no idea how good the transfer process was going to be on this film until I put the disc into the machine and sat back to watch the movie. From the opening shots to establish the land and the lone rider approaching the low-slung adobe house, I was totally engrossed ...

  George Clooney was reportedly paid $3 for writing, starring in, and directing “Good Night, and Good Luck.” With the profit percentage he has in the film, though, Clooney is probably going to do just fine for all his hard work and effort. However, his stand on bringing the story to the screen is indicative of the story behind the film. More than that, it eerily echoes some of the politicking concerns that have gone on through this country again since the September 11 terrorist attack. In the 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the first Irish Catholics to succeed in politics as a Republican. In ten years of service, he became known for his witch hunts and blank check accusation of citizens, public figures, and government and military employees of being Communists. During the heyday of the Cold War (the extreme hostility between Russia and the United States following World ...

  Homicide detective Murtaugh (Glover), having just turned 50, is assigned an emotionally unstable new partner, Martin Riggs (Gibson), a suicidal mess, tormented by the recent death of his wife. As a result, Riggs (whose martial arts skills classify him as the “lethal weapon” of the title) is prone to taking huge risks, frequently placing himself in harm’s way. While investigating the drug-induced suicide of an old army buddy’s daughter, Murtaugh uncovers a powerful and murderous heroin-running operation based in Los Angeles. Richard Donner’s 1987 hit is a flashy and loud cop thriller given a little bit of extra spark from the amiable Glover and wild-eyed Gibson’s pairing, but ultimately feels a bit patchy and uneven. Shane Black’s script has two or three plot turns that are very effectively timed; when you feel a scene is building toward something, a sudden event or shocking death will happen about a minute or two before you would ...

  Lee (Lee), an adept martial artist at the Shaolin temple is given a mission by British agents: enter an exclusive martial arts tournament on a remote island run by the nefarious Han (Kien), and while there infiltrate his compound and find evidence of his heroin operation. Lee’s determination to undo Han is set when one of the Shaolin monks reveals that Han’s men are responsible for the death of Lee’s sister. Lee is joined on the island by dozens of competitors, among them Roper (John Saxon), a gambler in trouble with the mob, and his friend, fellow Viet-Nam vet Williams, (Jim Kelly). “Enter the Dragon” is classic 70’s drive-in/grindhouse fare featuring a simple plot designed to feature as much butt-kicking, ultra-violent martial arts action as possible. The film, released 3 months after Bruce Lee’s tragic death, launched Lee into the stratosphere as a legend and pop-culture icon. Essentially, it’s a riff on ...

  Young caddy Danny (Michael O’Keefe) is trying to raise money for college while working at Bushwood Country Club. As he tries to get the elitist Judge Smails (Ted Knight) to take him under his wing, he is befriended by rich layabout Ty Webb (Chevy Chase). Although Danny has a girlfriend, Maggie (Sarah Holcomb), he tries to make headway with Smails’s randy niece Lacey Underall (Cindy Morgan). Meanwhile, Judge Smails is being driven into apoplectic fits by rude, crude and tacky entrepreneur Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield) whose country club decorum is far from refined, as well as by dim groundskeeper Carl (Bill Murray), who’s on a crusade to eliminate a singularly destructive gopher. Harold Ramis’s first directorial outing is a scattershot affair, its hit or miss gags spread throughout a series of rambling sequences and poorly developed characters. On the surface, a loose narrative framework for a series of gags and improvised bits by ...