John Cassavetes’ masterpiece The Killing of a Chinese Bookie opened in February 1976. It screened for just a handful of days, and then it was gone, having failed, to put it mildly, to catch on with either audiences or critics (“resolutely refuses to come to a point” sniffed one major review). Decades later, most serious…
Once again, ‘tis the season to make lists. And here at Mid Century Cinema that means it’s time to reveal our annual Top Ten home video releases. Things were tricky this year, as landing a spot on the covered MCC “best of” list has led agents and publicists to lobby for certain releases to be…
Hi All: Despite our best efforts, we had another technical snafu here at Mid Century Cinema. Shocking, given our renowned tech savvy. But once again, at least we know who to call. So here it is, another try at sending out an alert for our latest: “I could live in my art, but . ….
Very often, after I’ve told a friend about a bleak sounding movie That They Just Must See, they ask, “don’t you ever go to the movies to escape”? My answer is prompt. Yes. Always. Especially these days, where events in the real world, on a daily basis, are so relentlessly despairing. I don’t go to…
Things have been a little quiet here at Mid Century Cinema. It had been our hope, for example, to have already posted on the most excellent new Scorsese doc, and to recognize the fiftieth anniversary of The Lost Honor of Katarina Blum. And with luck we will still get to those, though various obstacles, including…
Who’s calling? We are! In our indefatigable service to our loyal subscribers, we’re reaching out one more time, as our “automatic e-mail alert for a new post system” crashed and did not send out a notification for this sparkling new Dog Day Afternoon post. But our brilliant webmistress went to town and fixed the problem ….
Dog Day Afternoon premiered in late September 1975, and, although regular followers of Mid Century Cinema may grow weary of the phrase, I nevertheless have no choice but to report that it is one landmark films of the New Hollywood. In my defense, it was an era that produced many landmarks, right up there with…
Some news to report from Mid Century Cinema land – We’ve embarked on a new adventure: A podcast! It’s the brainchild of Michael Cohen (no, not that one!), who approached me with this notion. I was a bit wary at first, but the entire staff at MCC threated to go on a general strike if…
There is a joke I heard from an old professor when I was a graduate student (at least I thought he was kidding—the guy was from Harvard, so he might have been serious): “Never offer expert commentary about any country you have not flown over at least once.” Inspired by the fact that one of…
Once again, it’s time for the Best from Fifty Years Ago. This is our ninth such list (having previously “bested” 1967 – 1974), and we approach 1975 with mixed emotions. Why is that, you ask? Good question—glad to see that you are reading with care and not just skipping ahead to the list. Well it’s…