Patrick Crean Movies
- 1981
- R
This isn't the Fatal Attraction, but instead a 1980 Canadian erotic melodrama. Psychologist Sally Kellerman meets teacher Stephen Lack when both are involved in an automobile accident. As their relationship deepens, Lack coerces Kellerman into a series of bizarre sexual games. Things get out of hand due to Kellerman's ardor and Lack's wanton cruelty. Fatal Attraction was originally titled Head-On, tipping the viewer off as to how the film will both begin and end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kellerman, Stephen Lack, (more)
- 1960
Having portrayed Robin Hood on TV for five years, Richard Greene reprises the role in Hammer Films' Sword of Sherwood Forest. This time, Robin does a little undercover work to determine the wicked machinations of the Sheriff of Nottingham (played by Hammer stalwart Peter Cushing). Our Hero and the Merrie Men do their best to foil a plot to kill the Archbishop of Canterbury (Jack Gwillim). Sarah Branch co-stars as the obligatory Maid Marian. Sword of Sherwood Forest was released in the US by Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Greene, Peter Cushing, (more)
- 1959
The slow pacing of this fanciful tale about the life and one reputed love of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya makes for an uneven drama. Anthony Franciosa is the artist, and Ava Gardner plays his paramour, the Duchess of Alba. While the Prime Minister of Spain schemes to betray his country to Napoleon's forces and the Spanish Inquisition is winding to a close (overplayed here) Goya is trying to survive the pangs of love he feels for the aloof Duchess. In reality, the artist was seriously ill during this period -- in the last decade of the 18th century -- and actually went deaf. But reality is set aside for high romance, as the pair of star-crossed lovers take center stage over art and politics. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ava Gardner, Anthony Franciosa, (more)
- 1959
In this crime drama, two crooked brothers, an embezzler and a gambler, find themselves in deep trouble when the embezzler steals from a steel mill so he can buy his lover fancy clothes. During the theft, he kills a night guard. This spawns an investigation by the slain watchman's son who locates a sightless witness. The son then convinces the killer that the witness saw him and this causes him to confess. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Roy Rowland directs the musical Arrivederci Roma (The Seven Hills of Rome), intended as a showcase for the talents of famous operatic tenor Mario Lanza. American singer Marc (Lanza) gets into a fight with his girlfriend, Carol (Peggie Castle). He follows her to Rome in an attempt to win back her affections. On the train, he meets an Italian woman named Rafaella Marini (Marisa Allasio), who is supposed to be moving in with her uncle. Marc gives her a ride and they discover that the uncle has left for South America. With nowhere to go, Rafaella stays with Marc and his cousin Pepe Bonelli (Renato Rascel), which leads to eventual romance. The narrative allows for Lanza to do his serviceable impressions of popular singers like Perry Como, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, and many others. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Lanza, Renato Rascel, (more)
Farewell to Arms is the second film version of Ernest Hemingway's World War One novel--and also the last film produced by David O. Selznick (Gone with the Wind). Rock Hudson plays an American serving in the Italian Army during the "War to End All Wars". Jennifer Jones is his lover, a Red cross nurse. They have a torrid affair, which results in Jones' pregnancy. As the months pass, Hudson and Jones lose contact with one another, and Jones believes that Hudson has forgotten her. But a battle-weary Hudson finally makes it to Switzerland, where Jones is hospitalized. The baby is stillborn, and Jones dies shortly afterward, murmuring that her death is "a dirty trick." Filmed on a simpler scale in 1932 (with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes starring), A Farewell to Arms was blown all out of proportion to "epic" stature for the 1957 remake--so much so that its original director, John Huston, quit the film in disgust. Still, the basic love story is touchingly enacted by Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Jennifer Jones, (more)
War and Peace is a commendable attempt to boil down Tolstoy's long, difficult novel into 208 minutes' screen time. In recreating the the social and personal upheavals attending Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia, $6 million was shelled out by coproducers Carlo Ponti, Dino de Laurentiis and Paramount Pictures. Some of the panoramic battle sequences are so expertly handled by second-unit director Mario Soldati that they appear to be Technicolor-and-Vistavision newsreel footage of the actual events. Still, the film falters dramatically, principally because of a lumpy script and King Vidor's surprisingly lustreless direction. In addition, the casting is wildly consistent: for example, while Audrey Hepburn is flawless as Natasha, Henry Fonda is far too "Yankeefied" as the introspective Pierre. Proving too long and unwieldy for most audiences, War and Peace died at the box office; far more successful was the epic, scrupulously faithful 1968 version, filmed in the Soviet Union. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, (more)
Errol Flynn buckled his last swash in The Master of Ballantrae, playing out the final film of his Warner Brothers contract in this high seas adventure, liberally adapted from the Robert Louis Stevenson yarn. Flynn plays Jamie Durrisdeer, a Scottish heir, who fights for freedom against the British. When the rebels are defeated, Jamie must flee to the West Indies with Col. Francis Burke (Roger Livesey), an Irish soldier of fortune, in order to escape capture. After battling pirates, Jamie puts together a small fortune and returns to Scotland to marry his true love, Lady Alison (Beatrice Campbell). But Jamie's hopes are dashed when he finds that Lady Alison, thinking that Jamie was dead, is now engaged to his brother Henry (Anthony Steel), who may have betrayed Jamie to the English. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Roger Livesey, (more)
