Bruce Kessler, who directed episodes of shows including The Monkees, It Takes a Thief, The Rockford Files, McCloud and The Commish when he wasn’t driving race cars, designing boats or circling the globe in a yacht, has died. He was 88.
Kessler died Thursday at his home in Marina del Rey after a brief illness, his brother, author and columnist Stephen Kessler, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Survivors also include his wife, actress Joan Freeman, perhaps best known as the love interest of Elvis Presley’s character in Roustabout (1964). She and Kessler were together for 54 years and married for 33.
Kessler served as second-unit director on Howard Hawks’ Red Line 7000 (1965), an action film about stock cars that starred James Caan, before embarking on a three-decade career as a director for television.
His credits included The Flying Nun, Adam-12, Marcus Welby, M.D., Get Christie Love!, Baretta, Switch, CHiPs, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero,...
Kessler died Thursday at his home in Marina del Rey after a brief illness, his brother, author and columnist Stephen Kessler, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Survivors also include his wife, actress Joan Freeman, perhaps best known as the love interest of Elvis Presley’s character in Roustabout (1964). She and Kessler were together for 54 years and married for 33.
Kessler served as second-unit director on Howard Hawks’ Red Line 7000 (1965), an action film about stock cars that starred James Caan, before embarking on a three-decade career as a director for television.
His credits included The Flying Nun, Adam-12, Marcus Welby, M.D., Get Christie Love!, Baretta, Switch, CHiPs, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero,...
- 4/7/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
From video store clerk to eventual New York Times bestseller. It makes for quite the trajectory, eh?
That’s still clearly Quentin Tarantino’s thinking too. The mercurial and celebrated filmmaker behind such modern classics as Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds has teased for years that he looks forward to the day he can retire from filmmaking and leave his filmography at an allegedly perfect 10 films. He’s been discussing it since at least Django Unchained, and as he’s approached that mythical “tenth” film (he counts both volumes of Kill Bill as one movie), his opinion hasn’t changed on the matter. In fact, in a new interview with Pure Cinema Podcast (via Collider), Tarantino sounded audibly thrilled about the idea of settling down and being a family man author.
“Most directors have horrible last movies,” Tarantino said on the audio interview. “Usually their worst movies are their last movies.
That’s still clearly Quentin Tarantino’s thinking too. The mercurial and celebrated filmmaker behind such modern classics as Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds has teased for years that he looks forward to the day he can retire from filmmaking and leave his filmography at an allegedly perfect 10 films. He’s been discussing it since at least Django Unchained, and as he’s approached that mythical “tenth” film (he counts both volumes of Kill Bill as one movie), his opinion hasn’t changed on the matter. In fact, in a new interview with Pure Cinema Podcast (via Collider), Tarantino sounded audibly thrilled about the idea of settling down and being a family man author.
“Most directors have horrible last movies,” Tarantino said on the audio interview. “Usually their worst movies are their last movies.
- 6/4/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
All-American race car mania is alive and well in this excellent Jeff Bridges movie, a true biographical story researched by Tom Wolfe. Junior Johnson needs a future beyond running moonshine for his father, and finds it climbing the rungs of success in the stock car racing game. This may be the most satisfying saga of its kind, and it helped prove that Bridges was a star.
The Last American Hero
Region ? Blu-ray See Below
Explosive Media
1973 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date March 28, 2019 / Der letzte Held Amerikas / Available at Amazon.de
11.92 Euros Starring: Jeff Bridges, Valerie Perrine, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Gary Busey, Art Lund, Ed Lauter.
Cinematography: George Silano
Art Director: Lawrence G. Paull
Film Editors: Robbe Roberts, Tom Rolfe
Original Music: Charles Fox
Written by William Roberts from stories by Tom Wolfe
Produced by John Cutts, William Roberts
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Catching up with older Jeff Bridges movies is never a bad idea,...
The Last American Hero
Region ? Blu-ray See Below
Explosive Media
1973 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date March 28, 2019 / Der letzte Held Amerikas / Available at Amazon.de
11.92 Euros Starring: Jeff Bridges, Valerie Perrine, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Gary Busey, Art Lund, Ed Lauter.
Cinematography: George Silano
Art Director: Lawrence G. Paull
Film Editors: Robbe Roberts, Tom Rolfe
Original Music: Charles Fox
Written by William Roberts from stories by Tom Wolfe
Produced by John Cutts, William Roberts
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Catching up with older Jeff Bridges movies is never a bad idea,...
- 8/10/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The second entry in Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo trilogy is a virtual remake, ostensibly more playful and less a riposte to High Noon than the (better, let’s face it) original. Still a fun ride with Wayne and Mitchum having an obviously swell time in their only screen pairing, despite the fact that Wayne had Mitchum fired off of Blood Alley a decade earlier. Filming began in late 1965 but the film wasn’t released until 1967. On the heels of the flops Man’s Favorite Sport? and Red Line 7000, it was the hit Hawks needed to stay in the game.
- 9/15/2017
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
He sings, he fixes cars, and he takes punches better than De Niro’s Raging Bull. Elvis Presley excels in one of his few ’60s pictures that shows an interest in being a ‘real movie,’ a remake of a boxing saga with entertaining characters and fine direction from noir specialist Phil Karlson. Plus Charles Bronson, Lola Albright and Joan Blackman in standout roles.
Kid Galahad
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1962 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date August 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman, Charles Bronson, Robert Emhardt, Liam Redmond, Judson Pratt, Ned Glass, George Mitchell, Roy Roberts, Michael Dante, Richard Devon, Jeff Morris, Edward Asner, Frank Gerstle, Seamon Glass, Bert Remsen.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Stuart Gilmore
Original Music: Jeff Alexander
Written by William Fay, Francis Wallace
Produced by David Weisbart
Directed by Phil Karlson
What, a good Elvis Presley picture?...
Kid Galahad
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1962 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date August 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman, Charles Bronson, Robert Emhardt, Liam Redmond, Judson Pratt, Ned Glass, George Mitchell, Roy Roberts, Michael Dante, Richard Devon, Jeff Morris, Edward Asner, Frank Gerstle, Seamon Glass, Bert Remsen.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Stuart Gilmore
Original Music: Jeff Alexander
Written by William Fay, Francis Wallace
Produced by David Weisbart
Directed by Phil Karlson
What, a good Elvis Presley picture?...
- 8/29/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s finally here in all its glory, the Howard Hawks movie nobody loves. The epitome of clueless ’60s filmmaking by an auteur who left his thinking cap back with Bogie and Bacall, this show is a PC quagmire lacking the usual compensation of exploitative thrills. But hey, it has a hypnotic appeal all its own: we’ll not abandon any movie where Teri Garr dances.
Red Line 7000
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date September 19, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: James Caan, Laura Devon, Gail Hire, Charlene Holt, John Robert Crawford, Marianna Hill, James (Skip) Ward, Norman Alden, George Takei, Diane Strom, Anthony Rogers, Robert Donner, Teri Garr.
Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Film Editors: Bill Brame, Stuart Gilmore
Original Music: Nelson Riddle
Written by George Kirgo story by Howard Hawks
Produced and Directed by Howard Hawks
Critics have been raking Howard Hawks’ stock car racing epic...
Red Line 7000
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date September 19, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: James Caan, Laura Devon, Gail Hire, Charlene Holt, John Robert Crawford, Marianna Hill, James (Skip) Ward, Norman Alden, George Takei, Diane Strom, Anthony Rogers, Robert Donner, Teri Garr.
Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Film Editors: Bill Brame, Stuart Gilmore
Original Music: Nelson Riddle
Written by George Kirgo story by Howard Hawks
Produced and Directed by Howard Hawks
Critics have been raking Howard Hawks’ stock car racing epic...
- 8/29/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It takes a lot to stand out when you’re standing between Robert Mitchum and John Wayne. And it surely isn’t easy when you’re also standing in front of the venerable Howard Hawks. But this was the position 25-year-old James Caan found himself in when he took on the role of Alan Bourdillon Traherne, otherwise known as Mississippi, in Hawks’ 1967 Western, El Dorado. Though Hawks was nearing the end of his filmmaking career (this would be his penultimate movie) and Caan was just at the start of his (following two features and about five years of extensive television work), they were each entering the project under similar circumstances. Indeed, it was their shared experience on the disappointing Red Line 7000 (1965) that left them both wanting. It may have been a personal letdown for Caan, but that film’s poor reception wasn’t a deal-breaker as far as his prospects were likely to continue.
- 5/15/2017
- MUBI
In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the week of December 6th, 2016.
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Episode Notes & Links News Red Dawn Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Red Line 7000 Blu-ray King Kong Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Ape 3D Blu-ray Detailed Behind the Door (1919) Blu-ray Upcoming Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray Releases Lionsgate: Two New Vestron Video Titles Heading to Blu-ray Grasshopper Launches Home Video Label The Man Who Fell To Earth Limited Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Detailed Pinocchio: Signature Collection Blu-ray Kong: Skull Island – New Trailer November 22nd C.H.U.D. C.H.U.D II: Bud The Chud Kubo and the Two Strings One-Eyed Jacks Rabid Return Of The Living Dead 3 The Squid and the Whale To Live and Die in L.A. Undying Monster November 28th Back to the Future: The Complete Adventures The...
Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.
Episode Notes & Links News Red Dawn Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Red Line 7000 Blu-ray King Kong Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Ape 3D Blu-ray Detailed Behind the Door (1919) Blu-ray Upcoming Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray Releases Lionsgate: Two New Vestron Video Titles Heading to Blu-ray Grasshopper Launches Home Video Label The Man Who Fell To Earth Limited Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Detailed Pinocchio: Signature Collection Blu-ray Kong: Skull Island – New Trailer November 22nd C.H.U.D. C.H.U.D II: Bud The Chud Kubo and the Two Strings One-Eyed Jacks Rabid Return Of The Living Dead 3 The Squid and the Whale To Live and Die in L.A. Undying Monster November 28th Back to the Future: The Complete Adventures The...
- 12/6/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
The second entry in Howard Hawks’ "Rio Bravo" trilogy is a virtual remake, ostensibly more playful and less a riposte to "High Noon" than the (better, let’s face it) original. Still a fun ride with Wayne and Mitchum having an obviously swell time in their only screen pairing, despite the fact that Wayne had Mitchum fired off of "Blood Alley" a decade earlier. Filming began in late 1965 but the film wasn’t released until 1967. On the heels of the flops "Man’s Favorite Sport?" and "Red Line 7000," it was the hit Hawks needed to stay in the game.
- 11/14/2014
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
Twenty years ago today, Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein unveiled the filmmaker’s sophomore movie — an ambitious anthology of crime stories, all interconnected and metatextualized — at a late Saturday night screening at the Cannes Film Festival. A little over three hours later, as the crowd staggered out of the Palais des Festivals, they knew they had an audience favorite on their hands. Soon, they would be able to add Palme d’Or winner, Best Picture Oscar nominee, the first indie film to break the $100 million mark, a gamechanger and a modern classic to the list.
- 5/21/2014
- Rollingstone.com
El Dorado
Written by Leigh Brackett
Directed by Howard Hawks
USA, 1966
When El Dorado was first shown in 1966, the Western in its classical form was beginning to disappear from American cinema. John Ford, synonymous with the genre, released his last feature that year, and El Dorado would be the second-to-last film by its own legendary director, Howard Hawks. The Western was evolving and its old masters were giving way to modern innovators. The stylishly self-conscious films of Sergio Leone first signaled the shift (the films of his “Dollars Trilogy” came out in 1964-1966), and it was certified by the critical, ominous, and violent The Wild Bunch, directed by Sam Peckinpah in 1969. Hawks decried the slow-motion bloodletting of Peckinpah. He argued that he could kill four men, get them to the morgue, and bury them before this newcomer could get one on the ground.
With this as the context of its gestation,...
Written by Leigh Brackett
Directed by Howard Hawks
USA, 1966
When El Dorado was first shown in 1966, the Western in its classical form was beginning to disappear from American cinema. John Ford, synonymous with the genre, released his last feature that year, and El Dorado would be the second-to-last film by its own legendary director, Howard Hawks. The Western was evolving and its old masters were giving way to modern innovators. The stylishly self-conscious films of Sergio Leone first signaled the shift (the films of his “Dollars Trilogy” came out in 1964-1966), and it was certified by the critical, ominous, and violent The Wild Bunch, directed by Sam Peckinpah in 1969. Hawks decried the slow-motion bloodletting of Peckinpah. He argued that he could kill four men, get them to the morgue, and bury them before this newcomer could get one on the ground.
With this as the context of its gestation,...
- 3/14/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Stay off the streets and stay in with a movie…that takes to the streets.
Los Angelenos are aflutter with impending chaos. And, if you don’t live in Los Angeles, you probably don’t understand. (I live here and I’m not sure I fully understand.) But this weekend (July 15-17), the City of Los Angeles has gotten it in its mind to shut down the 405 Freeway, one of the central lifelines for the (frankly absurd) amount of traffic that hits Los Angeles on a daily basis. This means that, functionally, no one’s going anywhere this weekend and the entire West side of Los Angeles is going to be choked off by the cold, unrelenting hands of the Los Angeles Dot.
Naturally, this has become a bit of a cultural meme (surely confusing anyone who doesn’t live in Los Angeles) dubbed by internet pun genii as “Carmageddon.
Los Angelenos are aflutter with impending chaos. And, if you don’t live in Los Angeles, you probably don’t understand. (I live here and I’m not sure I fully understand.) But this weekend (July 15-17), the City of Los Angeles has gotten it in its mind to shut down the 405 Freeway, one of the central lifelines for the (frankly absurd) amount of traffic that hits Los Angeles on a daily basis. This means that, functionally, no one’s going anywhere this weekend and the entire West side of Los Angeles is going to be choked off by the cold, unrelenting hands of the Los Angeles Dot.
Naturally, this has become a bit of a cultural meme (surely confusing anyone who doesn’t live in Los Angeles) dubbed by internet pun genii as “Carmageddon.
- 7/14/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
George Takei, best known for his portrayal of Mr. Sulu in the acclaimed television and film series Star Trek, has more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television guest-starring roles to his credit. Takei began his career in Hollywood in the late 1950s, at a time when Asian faces were rarely seen on television and movie screens. His first role was providing voiceover for several characters in the English dub of Japanese monster films such as Godzilla Raids Again and Rodan, followed by an appearance in the Emmy award winning television series Playhouse 90. Takei subsequently appeared alongside such actors as Richard Burton in Ice Palace, Jeffrey Hunter in Hell to Eternity, Alec Guinness in A Majority of One, James Caan in Red Line 7000 and Cary Grant in Walk Don’t Run. He played Captain Nim, an Arvn Lldb officer alongside John Wayne’s character in the 1968 Vietnam War era film,...
- 2/18/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Quentin Tarantino's a talented guy, but he'd be nowhere if he wasn't surrounded by so much talent--and in particular, the husband-wife pair of production designer David Wasco and set decorator Sandy Reynolds-Wasco. Together, the two of them have created some of the most stylish productions of the last fifteen years, including Michael Mann's underrated visual feast, Collateral; both of Wes Andreson's best movies, The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore; and Pulp Fiction. It's hard to understate how pitch-perfect--and crucial--their work has been to every film. They teamed up again with Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds, and spoke to Flavorwire about how they pulled off the garish, period look of the film.
Tarantino is famous for being a walking dictionary of film violence; similarly, the Wascos are have an encyclopedic knowledge of film, architecture, and design:
The set for Jack Rabbit Slim's, the nightclub in Pulp Fiction, has been noted in numerous articles about your work.
Tarantino is famous for being a walking dictionary of film violence; similarly, the Wascos are have an encyclopedic knowledge of film, architecture, and design:
The set for Jack Rabbit Slim's, the nightclub in Pulp Fiction, has been noted in numerous articles about your work.
- 8/24/2009
- by Cliff Kuang
- Fast Company
James Cameron in Los Angeles with 70Mm prints of "Aliens" and "The Abyss"?!?! The Dardenne brothers in New York for a career retrospective?!?! The instant cult classic "The Room" with Tommy Wiseau live in Austin?!?! Be still my heart. There's something for all tastes this summer on the West Coast, the East Coast and as you'll notice, the Third Coast on our calendar of the must-see events on the repertory theater circuit in May, June and July. And don't miss our look at the indie films that are hitting theaters or headed to online, VOD or DVD premiere this summer.
Anthology Film Archives
With the New York Polish Film Festival (May 6-10) and first-runs of the docs "Ice People" (May 1-7) and "Audience of One" (May 8-14) and Ken Jacobs' reinvention of his 1969 work "Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son" with the 3D "Anaglyph Tom" (May 15-21) taking up the Anthology's screens,...
Anthology Film Archives
With the New York Polish Film Festival (May 6-10) and first-runs of the docs "Ice People" (May 1-7) and "Audience of One" (May 8-14) and Ken Jacobs' reinvention of his 1969 work "Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son" with the 3D "Anaglyph Tom" (May 15-21) taking up the Anthology's screens,...
- 5/5/2009
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
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