Tim Salmons

After working under a number of filmmakers in film and television and learning the trade, Clint Eastwood stepped behind the camera to direct his first film, Play Misty for Me, released in 1971. It was a project he had been aware of, but it took some time to finally get around to it, having been granted a three-picture deal complete artistic control by Universal Pictures. It was also a change of pace as he had mostly been appearing in action-oriented stories. Play Misty for Me not only allowed him the chance to be more creative, but to also be a more sensitive and complicated leading character. The film’s crowning jewel is a breakthrough performance by Jessica Walter, who had been around but hadn’t had the chance yet to shine. Also in the cast was soap opera veteran Donna Mills as Eastwood’s love interest, and his friend and mentor, Don Siegel. Choosing to shoot the film mostly in and around Carmel-by-the-sea, it was a smooth experience for the cast and crew who recognized that Eastwood had a talent for directing. Making an effective and well-received psychological thriller on par with Hitchcock, Play Misty for Me was a big success upon release and remains a career highlight for those involved.

While the swords and sandals films of the 60s, 70s, and 80s are not particularly considered to be works of art as a whole, many of them are beloved thanks to Ray Harryhausen’s wonderful stop-motion special effects. Such is the case with the original Clash of the Titans, which many would consider flawed, but has enough charm and memorable moments and performances, not to mention plenty of Harryhausen’s amazing work, that we continue to laud it. The idea of trying to remake something like that with computer-generated effects was met with scorn by longtime fans. One can certainly see modern updates of classic Greek myths for modern audiences, but it felt almost disrespectful in some capacity. Nevertheless, Louis Letterier’s Clash of the Titans was released in April of 2010 and was a monster success at the box office, but along with its sequel Wrath of the Titans a couple of years later, didn’t leave much of a cinematic footprint.

Adrian Monk, the obsessive-compulsive, phobic, and lovable police detective, returns for another series of investigations while strengthening the bonds between his friends and colleagues in the fifth season of Monk, which initially aired on the USA Network from July 2006 to March 2007. The show’s popularity was as high as ever as Monk (Tony Shaloub) and the rest of the show’s characters hit their creative stride, with Monk continuing to deal with his sometimes unbearable OCD, yet always haunted by the tragic death of his late wife, Trudy.

Talk of a sequel to 1988’s Beetlejuice has been on and off since the film’s release. Drafts of scripts and various deals have come and gone, but nothing ever fully came to fruition outside of the animated TV series. Despite creative flourishes here and there, one might also consider director Tim Burton’s film output in the last couple of decades to be mostly stagnant. He seemed to have had similar feelings and was on the verge of retirement, feeling that his best days was behind him. Having helmed four out of the eight episodes of the first seasons of Netflix’s Wednesday, it seemed as if some of his creative juices were flowing once more. Talk of a Beetlejuice sequel resurfaced, and after bringing on Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar to write a screenplay from a story by Burton and Seth Grahame-Smith, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was finally underway with Michael Keaton returning in the starring role.

Adrian Monk, the obsessive-compulsive, phobic, and lovable police detective, returns for another series of investigations while strengthening the bonds between his friends and colleagues in the sixth season of Monk, which initially aired on the USA Network from July 2007 to February 2008. The show’s popularity was as high as ever as Monk (Tony Shaloub) and the rest of the show’s characters had hit their creative stride, with Monk continuing to deal with his sometimes unbearable OCD, yet always haunted by the tragic death of his late wife, Trudy.

If the only version of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three you’ve ever seen is the 2009 remake, you’re doing yourself a disservice. The original 1974 classic is one of the best heist thrillers ever put on film, with a tightly-woven plot, great performances, and a fantastic score by David Shire. Based upon the novel by Morton Freedgood (published under the pseudonym of John Godey) and adapted by Peter Stone, the film tells the story of four criminals using the names Mr. Blue, Mr. Grey, Mr. Green, and Mr. Brown (Tarantino fans take note) who hijack a New York City subway train. Once they have its passengers at gunpoint, the group orders the transit authorities via radio to deliver a million dollars in one hour or they’ll begin shooting hostages. Faced with impossible odds, these authorities—led by NYC Transit Police Lieutenant Zack Garber (Walter Matthau)—with the rest of the NYPD go to great lengths to try and foil the criminals’ plans.

Growing up in the 80s as a fan of He-Man, it’s hard to believe that we’re still talking about it, other than glimpsing back at it through nostalgia goggles. It’s not it once was, of course, which was a toy franchise juggernaut that rivaled the G.I. Joe and Barbie toy lines, but it’s still going strong today with new TV iterations, a long-gestating live action film in the works, and most importantly for fans, more action figures and merchandise. Definitive Films documentarians Randall Lobb and Robert McCallum, who also produced documentary features on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Conan the Barbarian, and Nintendo video game franchises, examined the history of He-Man in all of its incarnations in 2017 with Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Drag Me to Hell was, above all things, a triumphant return by Sam Raimi to the genre he so prevalently took part in before becoming a major Hollywood director. After a string of more mainstream films, including the original Spider-Man trilogy, he decided to tackle horror once again, this time with a fresh story. The resulting film was a critical and commercial success, with many hailing it as a fine return to genre form. Outside of the pilot for Ash vs Evil Dead and various touches throughout Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, he has yet to return to the director’s chair for another film like it, at least as of this writing.

Set during the prohibition era, The Boob (1926) tells the story of Peter (George K. Arthur), a young man with his heart set on the beautiful Amy (Gertrude Olmstead), who has unfortunately fallen for big time “city slicker” Harry (Tony D’Algy). Determined to win Amy’s heart, he vows to do anything to win her back. His close friends Cactus Jim (Charley Murray) and Ham Bunn (played by a young unknown African American actor) hypothesize that Harry is a bootlegger, which turns out to be true when Peter takes it upon himself to raid a secret nightclub called “The Booklovers,” where Harry turns up with Amy, as does undercover police agent Jane (Joan Crawford).

Death Becomes Her was released in 1992 to mixed reviews, but brought in a successful box office take. Hot off of the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Back to the Future sequels, Robert Zemeckis decided to take on a screenplay by a then unknown writer named David Koepp. The resulting film won an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Saturn Award for best visual effects, which were considered groundbreaking for their time and helped usher in the CGI revolution of the early 1990s.