LawrenceA

The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973) - 6/10 TV-movie horror thriller with passengers and crew on a transatlantic flight threatened by a supernatural menace emanating from an ancient artifact in the cargo hold. With Chuck Connors as the pilot, Buddy Ebsen as a mean businessman, Roy Thinnes as a wealthy architect, William Shatner as an alcoholic ex-priest, Paul Winfield as a doctor, France Nuyen, Lyn Loring, Jane Merrow, Will Hutchins, Darleen Carr, Russell Johnson, Brenda Benet, H.M. Wynant, and Tammy Grimes. Entertaining if silly horror tale with a good cast. I had to chuckle when Shatner is first shown nervous and drinking too much, leaving the other passengers and stewardesses to wonder what's wrong with him. My guess is that he saw something on the wing. Source: CBS/Paramount DVD

It looks like it was made by TCM.

Yes, he did. At least in this one he was still a nice guy. In many of them he's a creep to one degree or another.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972) - 6/10 TV-movie adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle story. Stewart Granger stars as Sherlock Holmes who, assisted by compatriot Dr. Watson (Bernard Fox), sets out to solve the case of a supposedly cursed family endangered by a ghostly dog. With William Shatner, Anthony Zerbe, Sally Ann Howes, Jane Merrow, Ian Ireland, John Williams, and Alan Caillou as Lestrade. Not the most memorable version of the story, although Granger is a game Holmes. An early flashback sequence, featuring a dubbed Shatner sporting long hair and a beard, is memorable. This was a failed pilot, and if it had gone to series, it would have alternated with a pair of other classic detective revivals: Nick Carter starring Robert Conrad, and Hildegarde Withers starring Eve Arden. Source: YouTube

I was thinking Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, but they were both in BP nominated films - Karloff in Five Star Final and The House of Rothschild, and Lugosi in Ninotchka.

Go Ask Alice (1973) - 6/10 Drug scare TV-movie drama about 15-year-old Alice (Jamie Smith-Jackson), a nice, shy new-girl-in-school who falls in with the wrong crowd and gets strung out on drugs. With William Shatner and Julie Adams as her parents, Ruth Roman as a psychiatrist, Andy Griffith as a worldly priest, Wendell Burton, Ayn Ruymen, Robert Carradine, Charles Martin Smith, and Mackenzie Phillips in her debut. This is very sincere, like an After School Special. I was hoping for more hysteria. Shatner, sporting a terrible mustache, glasses and a middle-class dad haircut, is wasted. Source: YouTube

I like the story I read about Hartley's appearance in Genesis II. Gene Roddenberry had gotten a lot of flack from network censors when making Star Trek about visible navels, going so far as to order reshoots with the actors/actresses wearing new costumes that covered their belly buttons. Roddenberry was so irritated by it that by the time he was creating Genesis II, he decided to make the physical characteristic that identified someone as being part of the mutant race as having a double navel. If the series had continued, there would have been navel-revealing in most episodes!

Genesis II (1973) - 6/10 TV-movie science fiction from writer-producer Gene Roddenberry. Alex Cord stars as an engineer in the near-future year of 1979 who volunteers as a guinea pig testing a new suspended animation technique. An earthquake traps his laboratory underground, and he's not discovered until the year 2133. His rescuers are part of a group known as PAX, who live underground in resistance to the mutants who rule above known as the Tyrannians. Cord gets swept up in their conflict. With Mariette Hartley, Percy Rodrigues, Ted Cassidy, Harvey Jason, Titos Vandis, Lynne Marta, Majel Barrett, Liam Dunn, Leon Askin, and Bill Striglos. This was a failed pilot for a TV series, and it would be reworked several more times, twice as TV-movies/failed pilots (both with John Saxon), and much later as the syndicated series Andromeda with Kevin Sorbo. This version is passable, with some interesting touches here and there, but a lot of silliness as well. The Tyrannian mutants are supposed to be bigger, stronger versions of normal humans, and yet Ted Cassidy was not cast as one of them. Source: Warner Archive DVD

Opening the week of Friday, August 30 (one of the smallest release lists of the year): Don't Let Go Official Secrets The Load/Teret

Count Dracula's Great Love (1973) - 7/10 Spanish horror from director Javier Aguirre. When a group of travelers have an accident on the Borgo Pass in Transylvania, they seek refuge in the nearby sanitarium, which had been abandoned for many years, but has recently reopened under the ownership of Dr. Wendell Marlow (Paul Naschy). The four beautiful female travelers are soon targeted by a vampiric presence in the crumbling edifice which may be the notorious Count Dracula himself! With Haydee Politoff (from La Collectionneuse), Rosanna Yanni, Mirta Miller, Ingrid Garbo (certainly not a stage name), Victor Barrera, Alvaro De Luna, and Susanna Latour. Most people will dislike this bizarre Euro-sleaze horror offering, but I found it very entertaining. There's a lot of gratuitous nudity (including some boob clawing, and Naschy's hairy backside), bloody violence (but of the variety where the blood looks like melted crayola crayons), and several unintentionally humorous bits. I'm not sure when this is supposed to be set, as the characters discuss the events of the Dracula novel as if they were a long time ago, yet everyone is still dressed in 19th century finery and using horse-drawn carriages. Source: Amazon video (with a Fandor subscription)

Cleopatra Jones (1973) - 7/10 Blaxploitation classic from director Jack Starrett and writer Max Julien (The Mack). Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) is a special government agent with global jurisdiction determined to end the heroin trade, be it burning down the poppy fields of Asia, or busting L.A. dealers. This crusade makes her an enemy of crime boss "Mommy" (Shelley Winters). With Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas, Albert Popwell, Bill McKinney, Michael Warren, Dan Frazer, Brenda Sykes, Stafford Morgan, Paul Koslo, Don Cornelius, Jeannie Bell, and Esther Rolle. This was a ridiculously entertaining slab of pure-70's cheese, from the comical characters, to Shelley Winters' performance as the angry lesbian villain, and especially Dobson's unbelievable wardrobe. There are badly-choreographed martial arts fights, a lengthy car chase (including in the L.A. river), racist cops, and a goofy nightclub scene. Source: Warner DVD

Beach of the War Gods (1973) - 6/10 Hong Kong martial arts from writer, director and star Jimmy Wang Yu. Set in the late 16th century, Jimmy stars as Hsia Feng, an expert fighter who recruits a small army to fight off invading Japanese forces. With Fei Lung, Yeh Tien, Han Hsieh, Yi Kuei Chang, and Shou Liang Ko. This has a bit of a Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven vibe, with Jimmy gathering unique fighters, including a guy with a scarred face who's festooned with bandoliers full of throwing daggers. However, there's virtually no character development beyond the main two or three guys, and much of the last act battle scenes become repetitive. Source: Shout Factory DVD

Zatoichi in Desperation (1972) - 6/10 24th entry in the long-running Japanese film series. Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu), the blind masseur and master swordsman, travels to a notorious town, known as a den of vice, in order to return a shamisen (a sort of Japanese banjo) to the relative of an old woman who died. As usual, Ichi ends up embroiled in a battle between ruthless yakuza gangsters and poor locals. With Kiwako Taichi, Kyoko Yoshizawa, Yasuhiro Koume, Joji Takagi, Asao Koike, and Katsuo Nakamura. For the first and only time in the classic run of the series, Katsu directs as well as stars. He indulges in a lot of cinematic tricks (repeated rapid-edit flashbacks, artsy lighting designs, extreme close-ups) that seem to distract from, more than add to, the story. The movie is still enjoyable, but by this point the filmmakers seem to be twiddling their thumbs storywise. Source: Criterion Blu-ray

Oh, okay, that makes more sense. I was curious, as I thought you were streaming it on Netflix, and if I remember correctly, it's a Hulu show. I've heard the show is very good, and I like many in the cast. I saw the 1990 film version with Natasha Richardson and Robert Duvall, and wasn't too enamored of it. Your post prompted me to look at the available Netflix disc-by-mail plans. I see that they are only one or two discs out at a time. Back when I was a member, I had the 10-at-a-time plan. Those were the days! I canceled when the focus seemed to be headed toward streaming, and more and more of the discs in my queue starting becoming unavailable or having very long waits. That was 9 or 10 years ago. I finally rejoined, with the streaming-only plan, in Feb. of 2018. I'm thinking of binging the last couple of dozen movies I have in my queue and canceling it, though.

There's supposedly another Pinocchio directed by Guillermo Del Toro being made for Netflix. It's stop-motion animation. I'll never understand the fascination so many have with the story.

Zatoichi at Large (1972) - 6/10 23rd entry in the long-running Japanese film series. Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu), the blind masseur and master swordsman, helps deliver the baby of a woman he finds mortally wounded by the side of the road. She whispers a name before dying, so Ichi takes the baby to the small village where the father resides. He ends up battling yakuza thugs who are strong-arming the locals, as well as extorting entertainers in town for a festival. With Rentaro Mikuni, Hisaya Morishige, Etsushi Takahashi, Naoko Otani, Osamu Sakai, and Renji Ishibashi. I thought this was the worst installment in the series that I've yet seen. The story is sloppy and retreads over a lot of familiar territory. There's also a lot of comedy awkwardly shoehorned in, largely by the traveling entertainers. The series really seems to be running out of steam by this point. Source: Criterion Blu-ray

A lot of people saw Octopussy.

2014 The Raid 2, Gareth Evans, Indonesia Wild Tales, Damian Szifron, Argentina Two Days, One Night, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark/Indonesia A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Ana Lily Amirpour, US (Persian) In Order of Disappearance, Hans Petter Moland, Norway Force Majeure, Ruben Ostlund, Sweden Phoenix, Christian Petzold, Germany Leviathan, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia Kundo: Age of the Rampant, Jong-bin Yoon, South Korea I've also seen: Goodnight Mommy, Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz, Austria Killers, Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto, Indonesia/Japan Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, Ching-Po Wong, China Pirates, Seok-hoon Lee, South Korea [REC] 4: Apocalypse, Jaume Balaguero, Spain Iceman, Wing-Cheong Law, China 1001 Movies You Must See Leviathan, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark/Indonesia

Young Winston (1972) - 7/10 British biopic from writer Carl Foreman and director Richard Attenborough. The film charts the upbringing of future Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Simon Ward). Growing up in the shadow of his politician father Lord Randolph (Robert Shaw) and sharp-witted mother Lady Jennie (Anne Bancroft), the boy grows into a man determined to make them proud, first doing so in the Army, where he serves with distinction in multiple campaigns on various continents, and later with his own fledgling political career. The large cast includes John Mills, Anthony Hopkins, Ian Holm, Edward Woodward, Robert Flemyng, John Woodvine, Jack Hawkins, Patrick Magee, Laurence Naismith, Robert Hardy, Thorley Walters, Gerald Sim, James Cosmo, Nigel Hawthorne, and Jane Seymour. Although this is a bit overlong at 142 minutes, and it's a bit too much of a hagiography, there's still a lot to like in this. The battle scenes are of epic scale and well choreographed. The performances by Shaw and Bancroft are very good, and it's enjoyable seeing the various well-known cast members. The movie earned 3 Oscar nods (for Costumes, Art Direction, and Screenplay). Source: Mill Creek DVD

Who Saw Her Die? (1972) - 6/10 Italian giallo thriller with George Lazenby as a sculptor living in Venice. When his young daughter comes to visit, she is murdered, and as the police are helpless to solve the case, Lazenby sets out to do so himself. With Anita Strindberg, Adolfo Celi, Dominique Boschero, Peter Chatel, Piero Vida, Jose Quaglio, Alessandro Haber, and Nicoletta Elmi. This has a lot of rough edges, but it isn't all a bust. Lazenby, looking rail thin and sporting shaggy hair and a mustache, isn't bad as the determined father (even if he's dubbed in the English version by someone else). The killer is a mystery as in all giallo, but I guessed the correct culprit the instant he first appeared. The score by Ennio Morricone is memorable. Director Aldo Lado claims the Marlon Brando was originally set to star, but he decided to do The Godfather instead. Source: Blue Underground DVD

The movie takes place from the 1920's through the 1960's, but it may have come out in the 1940's or 1950's?

Like I said, I had a bad day. **** Yugoslavia, it's now Hungarian. Take that, geography. Plus, it was terrible. Yugoslavia would thank me if they still existed.

I had an extraordinarily awful day. I watched 4 movies, but due to the nature of the day's awfulness, I can't say that my reaction to them (I disliked them all) was due solely or even primarily to the movies themselves. The movies were: Trafic (1971), a French comedy from Jacques Tati WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), a Hungarian arthouse freak-out from Dusan Makavejev The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), a German melodrama with an all female cast from Rainer Werner Fassbinder Red Psalm (1972), a Hungarian musical drama from director Milos Jancso So forgive me for not going into detail on these. If anyone feels strongly about them, feel free to chime in with accolades or condemnations.

It was a joke, The Keeper. I made them both up, although I'm sure there's probably an Office Depot in Lincoln, Nebraska (I googled it - there are two).

Apologies for slight derailment, but related to the previous posts: IMDb has a section on their front page for birthdays. It shows the top 5 or 6 people, be they actors, actresses, directors, writers, etc. who have birthdays on that day. You can click a link to go to the other few hundred entertainment-industry people with birthdays that day, but the top 5 or 6 that are shown on the front page are the most "popular", as in their individual pages are generating the most traffic at the time. Well, I've noticed that for the past few months, when I click on the link to see all of the birthdays, there is sometimes one person shown in the top 5 or 6 who was not there on the main page. And I soon learned that it's because someone at IMDb thinks that the sight of that person may be "triggering", due to some scandal. For example, Kevin Spacey was not shown on the front page, but he was listed third on the full birthday list. And the other day, Roman Polanski was not visible on the main page, but was the #1 celebrity on the full list. Anyway, all this is leading to the fact that, yes, Dustin Hoffman was recently among the "triggering" celebrities that IMDb felt needed to be obscured from their main page. Which made me sorta sad, as I'm a Hoffman fan. End of digression.