Actor Ned Beatty passed away this week, so we revisit his first and most famous/infamous role.
Category Archives: Thriller/Suspense
JAWS (1975)
The original summer blockbuster is the best possible movie you could ever make about a shark eating people.
BLUE VELVET (1986)
An, um, unique take on the dark underbelly of a small town from David Lynch, sort of the proto-Twin Peaks.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
Describing the plot of this movie, where one serial killer helps a trainee FBI agent catch another, does not do justice to how spectacularly well made and acted it is.
PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971)
Those who know Jessica Walter’s work on “Arrested Development” may be interested in her early performance as a crazy stalker terrorizing Clint Eastwood’s handsome jazz DJ.
REAR WINDOW (1954)
Jimmy Stewart becomes obsessed with watching his neighbors live their lives through his window, and maybe we do too.
TAXI DRIVER (1976)
Scorsese’s portrait of the classic lone wolf white male remains highly acclaimed, but I wonder if it hasn’t done more harm than good.
PSYCHO (1960)
Alfred Hitchock’s sort of crazy little thriller basically invented the slasher genre and is still studied by film nuts sixty years later.
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
The car chase is justly famous, but these days its cops with a “shoot first ask questions later” attitude are extremely hard to root for.
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
A vast conspiracy is set to bring down the government, and only Frank Sinatra can stop it.
