Lee Marvin and google video

On Theatre, Henry Hathaway, Raoul Walsh, Fritz Lang, VIOLENT SATURDAY and SEVEN MEN FROM NOW:



On Robert Aldrich:



On Early Television, "M Squad", John Brown, Ida Lupino, and DELTA FORCE:



On Don Siegel, CAT BALLOU, THE PROFESSIONALS, JOHN BOORMAN:



On MONTE WALSH, Sam Fuller:



On LIBERTY VALANCE and John Ford:



On Menahem Golan:

Richard Franklin (1948 - 2007)

I’m passing on the news of the tragic passing of filmmaker and Hitchcock scholar Richard Franklin, as it’s quietly being reported through horror film websites and forums these past couple of hours. Sadly, it’s been confirmed by the makers of an upcoming documentary on the PSYCHO films, who are in touch with PSYCHO II screenwriter Tom Holland. Franklin was just 58.

I first wrote to Richard a little over three years ago, and out of the blue, we struck up a correspondence about his career and his love of Hitchcock that resulted in close to two-hundred e-mails. It culminated in my profile of his film career for Senses of Cinema, but we still stayed in touch, and as of late last year, he was working on a Ph.D whilst teaching at the Swinburne School of Film and Television in Melbourne, Australia, and developing two new film projects: the first entitled BREAKWATER, with PATRICK and ROADGAMES screenwriter Everett De Roche, and the second being DEAD WHITE MALES, another theatrical adaptation from playwright Peter Fitzpatrick (HOTEL SORRENTO and BRILLIANT LIES). A test had been shot for the latter, and Franklin was in the middle of editing it when I’d last heard from him.

Having an enormous fondness for the late Hitchcock classics like TOPAZ and FAMILY PLOT, I had the sense that Franklin was really looking forward to making his own “late autumn” films in the years to come, with his own sense of wisdom and grace accrued through his time as both a Hitchcock-devoted director in Hollywood to a more character-oriented filmmaker back in Australia, his native land. It’s a tragedy he’s been taken from us so soon, but his legacy will doubtless live on through his significant and tireless contributions to film history. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to ask him about his craft at length, and I do believe that his reputation will only grow in time, with renewed interest in his life’s work.

My sincere condolences to friends and family.

Here’s a series of links from Senses of Cinema, with Franklin’s writings on both John Ford and his métier, Alfred Hitchcock:

Richard Franklin on John Ford

The Sixties, the Thriller, and the Judge

Directors as Depicted on Film and Television

UPDATE: from "The Australian"

Trailers from Hell!

I don't know why I haven't heard about this sooner, but browsing through Cinematical today, I stumbled upon their coverage of this glorious new website wherein directors Joe Dante, John Landis, Edgar Wright, and Mick Garris (with more to come, including Larry Cohen) briefly introduce and give commentary over a number of colorful exploitation film trailers.

If you can only watch one or two (but I can’t see why someone couldn’t fit in the whole batch), I wholeheartedly recommend Joe Dante’s spiel over THE TERROR (clearing up the innumerable directing chores over this infamous, if endearing, hodgepodge) and John Landis over THE T.A.M.I. SHOW (having attended with his 7th grade class, with such acts as James Brown on the line-up, it's not too hard to see why R&B has played such an important role throughout his filmography).