STAMPEDE 1949 (TUBI)

A pretty darn good western.

This Allied Artists release stars Rod Cameron as Mike McCall, a cattle rancher who is against all the honmesteaders moving in and fencing off his grazing land.

McCall has the largest cattle herd around and he also controls a large lake and refuses to let the new arrivals have water for their land. A man named Stanton (Don Curtis) has other ideas about everything.

Stanton wants McCall out of the way and he also wants to control the land, and he will stop at nothing to get it. This movie is filled with some very interesting characters and it holds your attention.

Cameron is a tall and impressive bad guy that isn't what he seems to be as the movie progresses and Gale Storm does well as the woman who finally falls for him.

The best scene in the film involves a cattle stampede where the cattle all go over a cliff. That one really surprised me and we see it happening and then the aftermath. It's well done for the time.

I would recommend this for any fan of westerns.

The rest of the cast includes Johnny Mack Brown,Don Castle, John Eldredge and I. Stanford Jolley.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Gina Torres is 55,and Bjorn Ulvaeus is 79.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Stacy Haiduk is 56.

STIGMA 1980 (TUBI)

Well done Spanish/Italian horror film directed by Jose Larraz.

A young man named Sebastian (Christian Borromeo) starts having strange fears and some hallucinations after his father is killed.

Sebastian believes he has the ability to kill anyone with his thoughts and when he does this his bottom lip begins to bleed. He kills a school friend by haing her fall from a tall building and even after he has hypnosis done, his ability to kill seems to get even stronger.

Things get worse and worse for Sebastian and one day he has a taxi take him to an old country home that he dreams about a lot. He finds the house abandoned but enters anyway.

There are a lot of complicated twists in the plot, even though they don't seem that way. I don't want to give away too much here, but let me say that he does discover the awful truth in this house and that the film has a bleak ending worthy of any 40's American film noir.

Since this is an Italian/Spanish production you know you can expect lots of gorgeous women. Here you have Helga Line, Alexandra Bastedo, Berta Cabre and Annabella Incontrera. Also in the cast is Craig Hill.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Lee Majors is 85, Joanna Krupa is 45, Britt Baker is 33, and Suzy Stokey is 67.

INVADERS FROM MARS 1953 (IGNITE) BLU-RAY

Well I have written about this classic before, but with the great Re-mastering from Ignite, I thought I'd do it again.

We all know the plot. A young boy named David (Jimmy Hunt) sees a spaceship land in a field but nobody will believe him. Soon people start disappearing, only to reappear and act very different.

David's parents played by Hillary Brooke and Leif Erickson are the first to be taken over along with two policemen and the police chief. David grows more and more desparate as he seeks help and finally finds it in a lovely doctor named Blake (Helena Carter).

Black, David and Dr. Stuart Kessler (Arthur Franz) convince the military that aliens are taking over. The army is led by Col. Fielding (Morris Ankrum) and soon the army is trying to flush out the underground invaders.

This has always been a favorite of mine since I was very young. I even owned a poster for this film back in the day. This wonderful film has had a great restoration and all the garish colors are gorgeous as they should be.

I had a great time viewing this again and seeing what a job Ignite had done. William Cameron Menzies directed this all time gem and the rest of the cast includes Max Wagner, William Phipps, Milburn Stone, Janine Perreau, Fay Baker, Barbara Billingsley, Peter Brocco and Richard Deacon.

It goes without saying...this is a MUST SEE. Since it's initial release was April 22, 1953 I thought today would be a nice time to publish this...April 22, 2024...71 years later and still going strong.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Jack Nicholson is 87, Catherine Mary Stewart is 65, Sarah French is 42, and Mark Damon is 91.

COMMON LAW WIFE 1961 (SOMETHING WEIRD)

Strange mishmash of a movie.

This movie was started by Larry Buchanan as "Swamp Rose" and when that film couldn't be completed because of lack of funds, another director, Eric Sayers took over and shot new footage and blended both together with dubious results.

A rich oldman named Shug (George Edgley) has lived for many years with a woman named Linda (Annabelle Weenick) and he decides to throw her out and let his sexy niece take care of him.

Linda is not pleased and she discovers that under state law she is actually married to Shug after all these years and refuses to leave. The niece, known only as Baby Doll (Lacey Kelly) plans to kill Shug and take his money.

None of this ends well for anyone involved, and the ending is quite a shocker. It ranks right up there with the best of film noir. This shot in Texas film is ok and I enjoyed it, but it was very disjointing to see different actors playing some of the same roles.

What I mean is that a character like Baby Doll is played by Lacey Kelly is some scenes and then a different actress in others since no attempt was made to hide the fact that this is two different movies blended together.

People pop in and out of the film with no rhyme or reason. Oh well, it still does no detract from the ending. The cast also includes Texas regulars Max Anderson and the gorgeous Libby Hall.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Ed Leslie is 67.

LOCH NESS HORROR 2023 (TUBI)

Another modern movie that had so much missed potential.

Not to be confused with the Larry Buchanan film of the same name from the 1980's, this movie was made in the UK in 2022 and released here in 2023.

Is it a good movie? It's what I call so-so. A two person submarine is destroyed by a very huge creature and another group is sent in to investigate. The group is tricked into thinking they are there ONLY to investigate when in reality they are supposed to try and capture this giant monster.

This proves to be a totally hopeless task as the creature is much stronger and smarter than they realize. It also infects a man and before you know it, not only do they have a mammoth sea monster that is killing and eating the crew, they have a dangerous parasite which comes out of one of the victims' bodies and is now prowling the ship.

The effects aren't too bad for CGI, but they could always be better. Everything the people do to fight the monster doesn't even come close to stopping it.

The ending is what one expects today. They manage to kill the monster with a torpedo from a smaller sub, but right at the end an even bigger monster appears and all is lost.

This was ok, but as I said, it had so much potential and that was lost. Catch it on TUBI if you're interested. You might like it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Clint Howard is 65, Carmen Electra is 52, Veronica Cartwright is 75, Judith O' Dea is 79, and Olga Karlatos is 77.

JENNIE: WIFE/CHILD 1968 (SOMETHING WEIRD)

It took two directors to make this wonderful slice of country sleaze.

This black and white epic concerns an older farmer named Albert Peckingpaw (Jack Lester) who has married a 20 year old girl named Jennie (Beverly Lunsford).

Jennie and Albert don't get along because she is after the handsome young handyman working on the farm. His name is Mario (Jim Reader) and while he likes Jennie a lot he is terrified of Albert.

Things get hot and heavy until Jennie finally seduces Mario and they have a little tryst in the barn, but Albert spots them and he plots revenge. He manages to drug them both during a birthday party for Jennie.

He chains them in the basement and prepares to kill them and cut their bodies up and bury them in a deep hole on his farm. Now, this is a great set up, but it does not come into being.

For some reason the filmmakers decided to have a somewhat happy ending, and it really takes the wind out of the sails of this movie. I won't explain anything because I think you need to discover this gem for yourself.

This is one strange film made even stranger by the ending. The directors were Robert Carl Cohen and James Landis. The rest of the cast includes Virginia Wood, Richard Cowl and Don Epperson.

THE BREAK 1962 (TUBI)

Well made British film noir.

The film opens with convicted killer Jacko Thomas (William Lucas) overpowering a prison guard and both fall from a moving train. Jacko kills the guard and escapes into the countryside.

He arrives at a small inn thanks to his sister Sue (Christina Gregg) paying a man named Judd Tredgar (Eddie Byrne) to get him there safely. Jacko and several others are guests at the Inn, and Jacko grows impatient in wanting to get to Scotland.

Sue slowly comes to discover that Jacko has murderous tendancies that always get out of control. He ends up killing a few people at the Inn, and Judd finds it harder and harder to cover for him.

Lucas plays the psycho killer perfectly and everyone in the cast does a great job thanks to the strong direction from Lance Comfort. Most of the cast you will know from Hammer horror films made both before and after this was filmed.

The rest of the cast includes Tony Britton, Robert Urquhart, Sonia Dresdel, Edwin Richfield and John Junkin.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Eric Roberts is 68, James Woods is 77, Melissa Joan Hart is 48, and Melody Thomas Scott is 68.

THE MOONSTONE 1934 (MILL CREEK)

Fun little Monogram mystery.

This is a typical 30's murder mystery which involves a very valuable piece of jewelry called "The Moonstone".

It's brought from India by Franklin Blake (David Manners) for his fiance Anne Verinder (Phyllis Barry). During a storm the lights go out and the item is stolen.

A Scotland Yard inspector named Cuff (Charles Irwin) is called into the case and must find the thief.

It has been many years since I saw this and what I find odd is that the running time is listed for 62 minutes, but the only version I have ever seen, and the only one that has been released runs 46 minutes.

I'm not too sure what is right and what is wrong, but if 18 minutes are actually missing from this film, then I'm shocked that the film makes any sense at all.

Check it out anyway.