Say What? Rotten Tomatoes Ranks

L.A. Confidential Best Of All Time?

     Rotten Tomatoes' controversial ranking of the 300 “Best Movies of All Time” included some contentious positions and selections, but the Number One film's position is even more problematic when taking into account the original author's opinion of the project. That film is L.A. Confidential, coasting into the top slot with a 99% score from critics as well as extraordinarily high praise from viewers—and an exceedingly dubious reaction from James Ellroy, who wrote the novel upon which it was based.

     "It is about as deep as a tortilla,” he said during an interview at the Hay Literary Festival in 2019. “If if you watch the action of the movie, it does not make dramatic sense. I don’t care how many awards it’s won…I don’t like the bulk of the performances.” Of course, earning an author's approval is not a prerequisite of a movie’s success, but Screen Rant recently noted that the Rotten Tomatoes list seems not to have taken Ellroy's criticisms into account – a presumably frustrating outcome for an author already unhappy with the end result.

     In compiling the overall list, Rotten Tomatoes used what it called “a complex methodology to determine the final results…applying a recommendation formula, which considers a movie’s Tomatometer rating with assistance from its Audience Score, illuminating beloved sentiment from both sides.” Editor’s note: I read the book when it was first published, and recently re-watched the film. While it’s a good, solid novel [and movie], I would not include it in my top ten, or even 20, movies ever made.

The Totally Escapist Joys Of

Watching The Lavender Hill Mob

     The Lavender Hill Mob, which was made in 1951, is a British film produced by Ealing Studios, which today is known for a narrative and stylistic tone that cemented it as a cornerstone of post-war British cinema. As Olivia Rutigliano recently wrote in Crime Reads, the story features two men, neighbors in the small London neighborhood of Lavender Hill, who become unlikely collaborators, compatriots, and friends by giving into their desires and pursuing a life of crime. Our two heroes are a mild-mannered transfer agent named Henry Holland [Alec Guinness], and a frustrated artist named Alfred Pendlebury [Stanley Holloway].

     Both characters realize they will never achieve the success they dream of, and the notion of robbing a bank gives them a new raison d’être. They also know they’re going to need professional help, so they pretend to be tough-guys and enlist the help of two career criminals to help them pull off the job. Even after they manage to steal the gold [which is no simple feat], the plan is to melt it into miniature Eiffel Tower figurines and load them on a boat to France. In doing so, they give themselves their first vacation, a rip-roaring sightseeing adventure.

     “Both men are seeking, in different degrees of awareness, a reprieve from the repressive grind of their lives, of their world,” Rutigliano says. “The Lavender Hill Mob is in a way about finding the underside of magic in everything—work, friendship, even, of all things, crime.”

Rodney Alcala Was Already A Killer

When He Went On The Dating Game

     In the late 1970s, Rodney Alcala had a fleeting brush with fame as a contestant on the ABC television show The Dating Game, which featured people looking for love. Bachelorette Cheryl Bradshaw selected Alcala as her blind date, but he later became infamous throughout the United States after he was convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and murdering multiple women. Investigation And Discovery recently noted that, in 1972, Alcala was accused of sexually assaulting and nearly killing 8-year-old Tali Shapiro four years earlier, but by the time he was caught, Shapiro and her parents had left the country, leaving no witnesses to testify against him. Police were forced to offer Alcala a plea deal, and he was convicted of child molestation, a lesser charge. He served 34 months in prison before he was paroled in 1974.

     Alcala was in the middle of a killing spree when he appeared on The Dating Game as Bachelor No. 1 in September 1978. Host Jim Lange introduced Alcala as a “successful photographer” and an avid skydiver and motorcyclist. After Bradshaw chose Alcala as the winner, the two were supposed to take tennis lessons and then spend the day at Magic Mountain amusement park. She later said she decided to bow out of the date after getting an “uneasy” feeling about Alcala off-camera. “I started to feel ill. He was acting really creepy,” she told The Sunday Telegraph in 2012. “I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again.”

     Alcala, now 76, is currently on death row in Northern California’s San Quentin State Prison.

The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling Also

Wrote A Classic ‘60s Political Thriller

     More often than not, the terror in The Twilight Zone comes from the question “what if?" What if there was a little boy with way too much power for anyone to tell him "no"? What if what you thought of as Heaven turned out to be more like Hell? What if man-eating aliens arrived and led humans as docile as lambs to the slaughter? These questions may be outrageous fantasy, but the terror of them is timeless. We still watch The Twilight Zone decades later, and the best episodes can still leave you chilled — all thanks to the imagination of series creator Rod Serling.

     As Devin Meenan recently wrote in Slash Film, Serling is synonymous with The Twilight Zone, and easily could be called TV's first auteur. Little known to many viewers, however, was his screenwriting contribution to 1968’s Planet Of The Apes [the Statue of Liberty scene is pure Twilight Zone] and his adaptation of the 1964 black-and-white Cold War political thriller Seven Days In May, based on a novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. Directed by John Frankenheimer [The Manchurian Candidate], it's a speculative fiction story set in the then near-future of 1970, that asks what if the U.S. President signed a nuclear armistice with the Soviet Union. Answer: a military coup.

     The film is believed to be based in part on General Douglas MacArthur and his squabbles with President Harry Truman over Cold War policy [MacArthur was removed from power by Truman in 1951]. “While it mixes history and conjecture, Seven Days In May feels all-too-relevant to the present day, where many Americans have proven willing to give away their democracy to strongmen demagogues,” Meenan observes.

Kiefer Sutherland Set To Star

In Action Thriller Sierra Madre

     Kiefer Sutherland, known by most for his iconic role as Jack Bauer in 24, is slated to star in a new action thriller titled Sierra Madre. The film—which thus far has no connection to the 1948 John Huston classic Treasure of the Sierra Madre—follows the adventures of Captain Jordan Wright, who must bring his squadron together to fight a dangerous cartel as tensions rise during a crewmate's wedding. Wright and his team must protect not only themselves but also the village, over which the cartel holds a dangerous stronghold. As John Lutz wrote in Collider over the weekend, “This kind of film sounds like a perfect vehicle for an actor like Sutherland, especially alongside a talented, performance-driven director such as Justin Chadwick. As Sutherland says, ‘the film is a compelling thriller with great emotional and dramatic opportunities.’"

     The project starts production this fall in Colombia, with Robert Stein (The Call), James Keach (Walk the Line) and Griff Furst (Devil's Peak) also joining the cast. “Set in the exotic and remote landscape of Mexico, Sierra Madre shows a poignant narrative of heart and heroism," Highland Film Group COO Delphine Perrier said. "Chadwick is known for his skill in directing talent and his performance-driven approach, and we are eager to see his remarkable vision come to life.”

Now Available!

Beyond All Doubt

[Reed Bunzel writing as Hilton Reed]

“Beyond All Doubt is an edge-of-your-seat fast-moving thrill-ride, kicked off by the reappearance of a dead man and propelling the reader along to the final bullet—and beyond.”— S.J. Rozan, best-selling author of The Mayors of New York

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“Beyond All Doubt is a taut, smart, and emotionally rich thriller. Reed has a sharp eye for character and a screenwriter's feel for action. This tale is sleek as a mink and fast as a bullet.”— T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Rescue

“Beyond All Doubt is not a 'who done it,' but a twisty, compelling 'who did what.' Cameron Kane is a sympathetic, yet unrelenting bulldog in his pursuit of the truth about his wife's death. Intriguing and intense, Beyond All Doubt is a winner!”—Matt Coyle, bestselling author of the Rick Cahill crime novels

“In this action-packed and engrossing thriller, Reed masterfully balances between a husband’s drive to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and a father’s instinct to protect his family at all costs. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down!”— Matthew Farrell, bestselling author of The Woman at Number 6

“Beyond All Doubt has plenty of thrills—deadly snipers, false identities, shocking deaths—but at its heart, this book is about a grieving single father whose desperation propels the plot like a speeding car with its brake lines cut.”— Cayce Osborne, author of I Know What You Did