Secret agent Michael Caine must take on both the kidnappers of his son and his own suspect Army Intelligence colleagues in Don Siegel’s efficiently filmed, curiously tame suspense thriller. Delphine Seyrig is enticing and Donald Pleasance an unlikeable security bureaucrat, while the capable Janet Suzman and John Vernon fill out a top-flight cast that performs well in thriller surprisingly lacking in dramatic impact.
The Black Windmill
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1974 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date December 4, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Donald Pleasence, Janet Suzman, Delphine Seyrig, John Vernon, Clive Revill, Joss Ackland, Catherine Schell, Joseph O’Conor, Hermoine Baddeley, John Rhys-Davies
Cinematography: Ousama Rawi
Film Editor: Antony Gibbs
Original Music: Roy Budd
Written by Leigh Vance, from the novel Five Days to a Killing by Clive Egleton
Produced and Directed by Don Siegel
Something seems wrong from the first with The Black Windmill: the...
The Black Windmill
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1974 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date December 4, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Donald Pleasence, Janet Suzman, Delphine Seyrig, John Vernon, Clive Revill, Joss Ackland, Catherine Schell, Joseph O’Conor, Hermoine Baddeley, John Rhys-Davies
Cinematography: Ousama Rawi
Film Editor: Antony Gibbs
Original Music: Roy Budd
Written by Leigh Vance, from the novel Five Days to a Killing by Clive Egleton
Produced and Directed by Don Siegel
Something seems wrong from the first with The Black Windmill: the...
- 1/5/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A spoof? A black comedy? Michael Hodges and Michael Caine’s hardboiled ‘foreign intrigue’ comedy lays on the movie references and clever dialogue, going the distance in the arcane, hipster-noir subgenre. Caine is always good in that mode, and Mickey Rooney gets a supporting role that can only be called bizarre.
Pulp
DVD
Arrow Video USA
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date , 2017 / Available from Arrow Video
Starring: Michael Caine, Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander, Lizabeth Scott, Nadia Cassini, Leopoldo Trieste, Al Lettieri, Robert Sacchi, Luciano Pigozzi.
Cinematography: Ousama Rawi
Film Editor: Patrick Downing
Original Music: George Martin
Produced by Michael Klinger
Written and Directed by Mike Hodges
Mickey King writes Pulp, lives Pulp, very soon could be Pulp!
After their success with the brutal, now-classic gangster thriller Get Carter, the ‘three Michaels’ Caine, Hodges and Klinger came up with this precociously spoofy takeoff on cheap pulp mysteries, appropriately titled Pulp. Filmed in sunny Malta,...
Pulp
DVD
Arrow Video USA
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date , 2017 / Available from Arrow Video
Starring: Michael Caine, Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander, Lizabeth Scott, Nadia Cassini, Leopoldo Trieste, Al Lettieri, Robert Sacchi, Luciano Pigozzi.
Cinematography: Ousama Rawi
Film Editor: Patrick Downing
Original Music: George Martin
Produced by Michael Klinger
Written and Directed by Mike Hodges
Mickey King writes Pulp, lives Pulp, very soon could be Pulp!
After their success with the brutal, now-classic gangster thriller Get Carter, the ‘three Michaels’ Caine, Hodges and Klinger came up with this precociously spoofy takeoff on cheap pulp mysteries, appropriately titled Pulp. Filmed in sunny Malta,...
- 12/19/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Pulp (1972) Starring Michael Caine will be available on Blu-ray December 12th from Arrow Video. In Pulp, Caine plays Mickey King, a successful pulp novelist responsible for such titles as My Gun Is Long and The Organ Grinder, who is invited to ghost-write the autobiography of a mystery celebrity. His client turns out to be a former actor, played by Mickey Rooney, well-known for his gangster roles and real-life gangster connections – but death is around the corner, and King finds his commission to be a lot more complicated than he first imagined.
A year after they’d created one of the defining British gangster pictures with Get Carter, three Michaels – writer-director Mike Hodges, producer Michael Klinger and star Michael Caine – reunited for another crime picture, albeit with a more oddball flavor…
Caine plays Mickey King, a successful pulp novelist responsible for such titles as My Gun Is Long and The Organ Grinder,...
A year after they’d created one of the defining British gangster pictures with Get Carter, three Michaels – writer-director Mike Hodges, producer Michael Klinger and star Michael Caine – reunited for another crime picture, albeit with a more oddball flavor…
Caine plays Mickey King, a successful pulp novelist responsible for such titles as My Gun Is Long and The Organ Grinder,...
- 11/28/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
HBO and Starz garnered three nominations each as the American Society of Cinematographers announced its TV nominees for the Asc Awards today. Winners will be announced at the 28th Asc Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography set for February 1 at Hollywood & Highland Ray Dolby Ballroom. Here are the noms: One-Hour Episodic Television Series Steven Bernstein, Asc for Starz Network’s Magic City (“The Sins of the Father”) David Franco for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire (“Erlkönig”) Jonathan Freeman, Asc for HBO’s Game of Thrones (“Valar Dohaeris”) Pierre Gill, Csc for Showtime’s The Borgias (“The Purge”) David Greene, Csc for The CW’s Beauty And the Beast (“Tough Love”) Anette Haellmigk for HBO’s Game Of Thrones (“Kissed by Fire”) Kramer Morgenthau, Asc for Fox’s Sleepy Hollow (“Pilot”) Ousama Rawi, Bsc, Csc for NBC’s Dracula (“The Blood is the Life”) Half-Hour Episodic Series Peter Levy, Acs, Asc for...
- 11/20/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Nicolas Bolduc, Paul Sarossy, and the other nominations for the 2011 Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards have been announced. The Canadian Society of Cinematographers (Csc) is used “to promote the art and craft of cinematography and to provide tangible recognition of the common bonds that link film and video professionals, from the aspiring student and camera assistant to the news veteran and senior director of photography. Csc members are involved in the production of feature films, documentaries, television series, specials and commercials.” The Csc Awards will be handed out on April 2, 2011 at the Frontenac Ballroom, Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto. The full listing of the 2011 Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards nominations is below.
The Roy Tash Award For Spot News Cinematography
Adam Blair Obstacles in Haiti, CTV News
Gord Edick G20 Shots Fired/Protestors Confronted, Global News
George Papadionysia Despair in Port-au-Prince, CTV News
The Stan Clinton Award For News Essay...
The Roy Tash Award For Spot News Cinematography
Adam Blair Obstacles in Haiti, CTV News
Gord Edick G20 Shots Fired/Protestors Confronted, Global News
George Papadionysia Despair in Port-au-Prince, CTV News
The Stan Clinton Award For News Essay...
- 3/4/2011
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
It's a good day for funny people, especially if your name is Tina Fey or Seth MacFarlane.
Fey's series, 30 Rock, was handed 22 Emmy nominations this morning, which stands as a record for a comedy series. She and Alec Baldwin were also nominated for acting awards. Plus, for the first time some of the other actors on NBC's laffer were recognized. Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan all picked up supporting nominations.
MacFarlane's Family Guy was also nominated for best comedy series, the first time an animated show has cracked that category since The Flintstones in 1961. Two years ago MacFarlane decided to pull his show from contention in the animated series category to have it considered for best comedy.
Mad Men, the drama about the advertising world in the sixties, picked up 16 nominations in the drama categories, including a best actor nod for Jon Hamm. Hamm is also nominated as...
Fey's series, 30 Rock, was handed 22 Emmy nominations this morning, which stands as a record for a comedy series. She and Alec Baldwin were also nominated for acting awards. Plus, for the first time some of the other actors on NBC's laffer were recognized. Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan all picked up supporting nominations.
MacFarlane's Family Guy was also nominated for best comedy series, the first time an animated show has cracked that category since The Flintstones in 1961. Two years ago MacFarlane decided to pull his show from contention in the animated series category to have it considered for best comedy.
Mad Men, the drama about the advertising world in the sixties, picked up 16 nominations in the drama categories, including a best actor nod for Jon Hamm. Hamm is also nominated as...
- 7/16/2009
- CinemaSpy
Canadian production company Muse Entertainment has announced the beginning of principal photography for a new television adapation of Ben Hur. The finished film will air as a miniseries with a cast that includes Joseph Morgan, Stephen Campbell, Ray Winstone, Kristen Kreuk (Lana Lang in Smallville), Alex Kingston and Art Malik.
Muse is co-producing Ben Hur with companies from Spain, Morocco, Germany and the United States. Shooting is currently taking place in Morocco. Among the people named as producers is David Wyler, the son of William Wyler. The senior Wyler directed the 1959 film version of Ben Hur starring Charlton Heston. That film won 11 Academy Awards.
The press release from Muse announcing the start of filming is below.
Los Angeles, Barcelona, Berlin, Montreal: May 5, 2009 - The legendary story of Ben Hur began principal photography May 4, 2009 and is being produced for the first time for television. Based on the original 1880’s novel by Lew Wallace,...
Muse is co-producing Ben Hur with companies from Spain, Morocco, Germany and the United States. Shooting is currently taking place in Morocco. Among the people named as producers is David Wyler, the son of William Wyler. The senior Wyler directed the 1959 film version of Ben Hur starring Charlton Heston. That film won 11 Academy Awards.
The press release from Muse announcing the start of filming is below.
Los Angeles, Barcelona, Berlin, Montreal: May 5, 2009 - The legendary story of Ben Hur began principal photography May 4, 2009 and is being produced for the first time for television. Based on the original 1880’s novel by Lew Wallace,...
- 5/6/2009
- CinemaSpy
PARK CITY -The coming-of-age of an African-American college student in Georgia makes for a fresh and funny take on the familiar formula of a young man looking for his way in life. Not only are the characters original but the setting is a far cry from the mainstream. Likeable performance in the lead by writer-director Hadjii gives the film an exuberance that propels it over some pedestrian patches. Sufficient yuks, though, could translate into some crossover action for an adventurous distrib.
Scotti (Hadjii) is the kind of student who injects oranges with a syringe of vodka, freezes them and takes them to class for refreshment. So he has some smarts but hasn't yet discovered how to apply himself. He wanders aimlessly with his buds from school to the next drink or party. When his pals decide to stage an intervention for Scotti and he is late in showing up, the only thing to do is break out the booze and weed and party while they wait.
With the film's episodic structure, Scotti bounces from the two poles of black life-the church and family-looking for a clue how to be a man. Unfortunately, most of the comedic cast of characters doesn't have much to offer in the way of advice. There's Uncle Charles (David "Nick" Lewis) who tells Scotti that he shouldn't fix no woman's plate of food, he should get a white girlfriend to do that for him.
Cousin Janoah (Irone Singleton) is just out of jail but not long for this world. But even his demise at the hands of a hostile gang is played largely for laughs. Hadjii is not shooting for gravity or depth, and the broad acting style of the ensemble contributes to the larger than life feel of the film.
Of Jonoah's death, the fire and brimstone Deacon Thomas (Eric L. Register, in a terrific comic turn) says "his love for the happy hour brought him to his final hour."
When Scotti first meets Diva (Kaira Whitehead) in a bar and goes back to her place, she doesn't seem to be a much better influence. But she decides to get serious about her life, becomes celibate and makes Scotti get an HIV test. All this reality baffles him until he figures out how to do something good for himself.
In a succession of set pieces that play almost like comic skits, the film offers some insight and gentle ribbing about black lifestyle. When Diva says she likes to fry chicken, Scotti quips, "high cholesterol, that's a black thing." Hadjii has some fun sending up a white church group that calls itself College Christians for Christ. That CCC isn't the new KKK is it, one of Scotti's roommates wants to know?
Shot entirely in Athens, Georgia, the film has an almost documentary feel enhanced by cinematographer Ousama Rawi's naturalistic lensing, while Eric O. Schusterman's editing keeps the divergent pieces together. Some sequences are charmingly segued by street musician John the Guitar Man playing the blues and gyrating in front of a sidewalk mural.
The film doesn't so much end as it just stops, perhaps consistent with the slice of life attitude, but not entirely satisfying as a conclusion. But what links Scotti and all these folks together in the larger scheme of things, is that they are all on their way to being somebodies.
SOMEBODIES
A Kohn/Kohn Production
Credits:
Director: Hadjii
Writer: Hadjii
Producers: Pamela Kohn Nathaniel Kohn
Executive producers: Ben Fuller, Dale Davis
Skeet Wilingham, Lee Epting, Eugene Younts, Michael L. Davis, William Keys
Director of photography: Ousama Rawi
Production designer: Andy Rusk
Music: Paul Grabowsky
Editor: Eric O. Schusterman
Cast:
Scottie: Hadjii
Diva: Kaira Whitehead
Reverend Hill: Tyler Craig
Uncle Skeeter: Carlos Davis
Aunt Agnes: Patt Brown
Uncle Charles: David "Nick" Lewis
Marlo: Nard Holston
Aunt Eva: Amber Chaney
Hammer: John "Doo-Doo" Brown
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 89 minutes...
Scotti (Hadjii) is the kind of student who injects oranges with a syringe of vodka, freezes them and takes them to class for refreshment. So he has some smarts but hasn't yet discovered how to apply himself. He wanders aimlessly with his buds from school to the next drink or party. When his pals decide to stage an intervention for Scotti and he is late in showing up, the only thing to do is break out the booze and weed and party while they wait.
With the film's episodic structure, Scotti bounces from the two poles of black life-the church and family-looking for a clue how to be a man. Unfortunately, most of the comedic cast of characters doesn't have much to offer in the way of advice. There's Uncle Charles (David "Nick" Lewis) who tells Scotti that he shouldn't fix no woman's plate of food, he should get a white girlfriend to do that for him.
Cousin Janoah (Irone Singleton) is just out of jail but not long for this world. But even his demise at the hands of a hostile gang is played largely for laughs. Hadjii is not shooting for gravity or depth, and the broad acting style of the ensemble contributes to the larger than life feel of the film.
Of Jonoah's death, the fire and brimstone Deacon Thomas (Eric L. Register, in a terrific comic turn) says "his love for the happy hour brought him to his final hour."
When Scotti first meets Diva (Kaira Whitehead) in a bar and goes back to her place, she doesn't seem to be a much better influence. But she decides to get serious about her life, becomes celibate and makes Scotti get an HIV test. All this reality baffles him until he figures out how to do something good for himself.
In a succession of set pieces that play almost like comic skits, the film offers some insight and gentle ribbing about black lifestyle. When Diva says she likes to fry chicken, Scotti quips, "high cholesterol, that's a black thing." Hadjii has some fun sending up a white church group that calls itself College Christians for Christ. That CCC isn't the new KKK is it, one of Scotti's roommates wants to know?
Shot entirely in Athens, Georgia, the film has an almost documentary feel enhanced by cinematographer Ousama Rawi's naturalistic lensing, while Eric O. Schusterman's editing keeps the divergent pieces together. Some sequences are charmingly segued by street musician John the Guitar Man playing the blues and gyrating in front of a sidewalk mural.
The film doesn't so much end as it just stops, perhaps consistent with the slice of life attitude, but not entirely satisfying as a conclusion. But what links Scotti and all these folks together in the larger scheme of things, is that they are all on their way to being somebodies.
SOMEBODIES
A Kohn/Kohn Production
Credits:
Director: Hadjii
Writer: Hadjii
Producers: Pamela Kohn Nathaniel Kohn
Executive producers: Ben Fuller, Dale Davis
Skeet Wilingham, Lee Epting, Eugene Younts, Michael L. Davis, William Keys
Director of photography: Ousama Rawi
Production designer: Andy Rusk
Music: Paul Grabowsky
Editor: Eric O. Schusterman
Cast:
Scottie: Hadjii
Diva: Kaira Whitehead
Reverend Hill: Tyler Craig
Uncle Skeeter: Carlos Davis
Aunt Agnes: Patt Brown
Uncle Charles: David "Nick" Lewis
Marlo: Nard Holston
Aunt Eva: Amber Chaney
Hammer: John "Doo-Doo" Brown
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 89 minutes...
- 1/23/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.