The Hustler (1961)

 

An up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.

Down in the dumps drama is realistically set and brilliantly photographed in sleazy pool halls, cheap hotels and worn-down bats and diners, where its downward spiraling tale seems all too inevitable; top performances all around, but Paul Newman is absolutely perfect in the title role.

Haliwell****: "Downbeat melodrama with brilliantly handled and atmospheric pool table scenes; the love interest is redundant."

Maltin***: "Newman is outstanding...Dingy pool-hall atmosphere vividly realized in this incisive film."

 

Movie Movie (1978)

Three movie genres of the 1930s, boxing films, World War I aviation dramas, and backstage Broadway musicals, are satirized using the same cast.

From memory: Nostalgic Hollywood spoof is lovingly assembled by an oldtime professional director; a bit uneven, but generally quite entertaining.

Halliwell**: "Unfortunately there weren't enough paying customers to appreciate the spoofs, which are pretty patchy anyway; but golden moments stay in the mind."

Maltin***: "Affectionate parody of 1930s double feature..."

Hardcore (1979)

A conservative Midwest businessman ventures into the sordid underworld of pornography in California to look for his runaway teenage daughter who is making porno films in California's porno pits.

From memory: Intense and at times depressing drama about bigotry confronted with the harsh realms of reality is fascinating; the "happy" ending is deliberately ambiguous.

Halliwell***: "Intense and solemn treatment of a situation that could have gone over the top, and very nearly does; the acting saves it."

Maltin**1/2: "...at times fascinating, sad, and repellent. Marred by unbelievable conclusion."

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

On the set: Stanley Kubrick and George C. Scott