The Texan (1930)
Serving as a fine follow-up to his 1929 success The Virginian, Gary Cooper, once again takes center stage in an […]
Pier 5, Havana (1959)
Lesser known “B” titles need love to so when I see the names Cameron Mitchell and Allison Hayes starring in […]
Bait (1954)
As if borrowing a page from Hitchcock’s television show or Karloff’s Thriller, this black and white “B” predates the intros […]
The Passage (1979)
Just prior to becoming a house director for Cannon Films, J. Lee Thompson, reunited with his Guns of Navarone leading […]
Universal Horror Collection Volume 3
This third offering from Scream Factory offers up the names classic horror fans can never get enough of. Karloff, Lugosi, […]
Doomwatch (1972)
For years I’d seen images of this Peter Sasdy directed production for Tigon Productions in Famous Monsters magazine or old […]
John Carradine In the Movies : From A to Z
Selecting John Carradine for this month’s A to Z feature should pose plenty of problems narrowing each letter of the […]
April 2020 In Review
The lock down continues and I hope and pray each and every one of my guests who drop by Mike’s […]
Flat Top (1952)
A number of years before producer Walter Mirisch began to bring major “A” budget projects to movie screens including The […]
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
When Vincent Price scored a bullseye along with director Robert Fuest in 1971’s The Abominable Dr. Phibes for AIP, one […]
Conflict (1936)
“Let’s get ready to Rumble!” “Ladies and Gentlemen. Introducing the challenger weighing in at an estimate of 200 pounds, John […]
Best Seller (1987)
Just two days prior to the death of actor, Brian Denney, I cracked the seal on the blu ray edition […]
Chosen Survivors (1974)
When a nuclear holocaust is upon us the United States sends select individuals to self contained bunkers in twelve key […]
A Trio of Jekyll’s …. Three Hyde’s …. and a …. Werewolf?
Surely the character(s) of Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, like Holmes and Dracula, are among those brought to the screen […]
Crypt of the Living Dead (1973)
aka …. Young Hannah, Queen of the Vampires …. or just plain …. Hannah, Queen of the Vampires. Love these […]
Red Heat (1988)
With the world in near total lockdown, the wanna be tough guy quartet known universally as The Video Store Action […]
Gallery ›
Remembering Yul Brynner via the Movie Poster
For years I have officially gone on the record stating that if the legendary Johnny Cash is universally known as […]
Visiting the Kirk Hammett Collection At The Royal Ontario Museum
I’ve been long overdue to finally travel about seventy minutes up the road from where I live to downtown Toronto […]
Casting Suggestions For The Apparent Remake of The Dirty Dozen
Every so often news of a remake splashes the headlines of some Hollywood trade paper and most recently Variety had […]
Boxing Movies for Boxing Day
Keeping up with my annual theme of Boxing Day Brawlers and Bruisers (which can be revisited here) it’s time to […]
Blogathon ›
The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Following the revival of Universal Studios’ Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy and the Wolfman, Hammer Studios, turned to Gaston Leroux’s Phantom […]
Counterpoint (1968)
Far from the blood and guts battles we are accustomed to seeing in big screen depictions built around WW2 with […]
Farewell Friend (1968)
aka … Adieu l’ami On the subject of movies if you ask me to name something or more specifically someone […]
Edmond O’Brien Does It All … Directing and Terrorizing in Shield For Murder (1954)
Some villains chew the scenery, quite often stealing a film from the top billed actor. Then there are other heavies […]
Brando's Pick of the Month ›
Day of the Animals (1977)
Brando’s Halloween Pick … aka …. Something Is Out There … aka … Future Animals A fine choice from my […]
Kangaroo (1952)
Brando’s Pick of the Month Carrying on with the theme of movies starring or featuring animals in the title leads […]
Francis The Talking Mule (1949)
Brando’s Pick of the Month This Universal International production from house director Arthur Lubin launched the unlikely comedy of duo […]
Devil Dogs of the Air (1935)
Brando’s Pick of the Month Cheating just a bit this month as we look to this James Cagney-Pat O’Brien standard […]
Featured Actor ›
Kirk Douglas 1916-2020 : He Cast a Giant Shadow
More often than not when pressed by friends and associates who know I’m a student of movie history I name […]
Sharing the Screen With Kirk Douglas
Count the candles. 103. Yes Kirk Douglas is 103 years young today. Each year since starting up Mike’s Take On […]
Catching Up On Pacino
I do have to admit that while growing up and discovering both movies and the actors that populate them I […]
(Paul Henreid + Patricia Medina) X 2 = Popcorn Adventures
From Columbia Pictures by way of frugal producer Sam Katzman, who fans of Monogram cheapies with Bela and the Bowery […]
From A to Z ›
John Huston In The Movies : From A to Z
Directors like John Huston come into one’s universe by extension. By that I mean when you get hooked on the […]
Elizabeth Taylor In the Movies : From A to Z
From a child star to a Hollywood legend, Elizabeth Taylor, stepped out from the screen to become a personality known […]
Paul Newman In the Movies : From A to Z
I’ve settled on Paul Newman as the first actor to be featured in my new A to Z series and […]
Dracula In The Movies : From A to Z
Looking to share some simple trivia on the Count and the many movies he’s appeared in I wanted to have […]
Slumming With .... ›
Slumming With Teen Sex Comedies of the 1980’s in Triplicate
OK gentlemen. Raise your hands if you’re old enough to recall the days when you’d hit the video stores looking […]
Slumming With George Zucco …. Can Be So Much Fun!
On any given day during the 1940’s if you walked about the movie sets in Hollywood you might see George […]
Slumming With Samantha Eggar … A Triple Feature
The more I looked for someone to feature in my third go around of ‘Slumming With”, it became painfully obvious […]
Slumming With Cameron Mitchell …. A Triple Feature
Picking up where I left off poking a bit of fun while Slumming With David Carradine, I selected Mr. Cameron Mitchell […]
Video Store Action Heroes ›
Firefox (1982)
We’re back. Yes the Four Horseman of the Video Store Apocalypse, better known to our followers as the Video Store […]
… All The Marbles (1981)
For this edition of the Video Store Action Heroes that sees yours truly costarring right alongside The Cinema Monolith, The […]
Hangar 18 (1980)
We’re Back! The Video Store Action Heroes have once again turned the clock back to simpler times when we’d all […]
The Evil That Men Do (1984)
Was there any doubt that for this edition of the Video Store Action Heroes where I got to choose the […]
Articles ›
The Breaking Point (1950)
Here’s an article I was fortunate enough to have published in the 2016 year end edition of the Noir Magazine, […]
The Badlanders (1958)
This article on The Badlanders was published in The Dark Pages celebration on the film The Asphalt Jungle. Read on […]
Lizabeth Scott Stands Up To Robert Ryan and Robert Mitchum in The Racket (1951)
Previously this piece was kindly published by Karen of Shadows and Satin in her Noir newsletter The Dark Pages. Lizabeth […]
Anthony Caruso : More Than The Henchman
This article on Mr. Caruso was kindly featured in the September 2014 issue of The Dark Pages put forth by […]
Now Playing ›
Now Playing December 14th, 1980.
Combing through a new to me road side antique shop netted me a couple of DVD’s for the movie room […]
Now Playing December 28th, 1968 At a Theater Near You
Thankfully Malcolm McDowell has given his consent to allow me to borrow his personal time machine that he used to […]
Now Playing Friday August 9th, 1974
Yes it’s off to London, Ontario, Canada and to the summer of 1974 for a flashback to some classic films […]
Now Playing August 17th, 1977
Under the circumstances of Burt Reynold’s passing, the time seems appropriate for joining me in a look back to the […]
Book Takes ›
A Reading Break with Olivia, The Immortal Count and Lou’s on First
I often lament that I can’t read fast enough despite enjoying a good book be it non-fiction or a good […]
Recalling “The 50 Worst Films of all Time”
By Harry Medved and Randy Dreyfuss. Somewhere in the piles or boxes of books around here I have a dog […]
Dan Duryea : Heel With a Heart
By Mike Peros Dan Duryea is one those actors who is unforgettably identifiable. I can still recall the first time […]
Niv , The Authorized Biography of David Niven
By Graham Lord (published in 2003) Like any self respecting, self appointed film buff I knew the basic facts of […]
Monthly Reviews ›
March 2020 In Review
Needless to say my world like yours has had some major changes these past few weeks. Thankfully my family and […]
February 2020 In Review
A whole extra day on the books for this February thanks to leap year but that didn’t seem to give […]
January 2020 In Review
And so it begins, this years march to accomplishing a few things here in the movie room at Mike’s Take. […]
Looking Back at the Highlights of 2019 and Ahead to 2020
If only I could secure a flux capacitor for my Prius I’d travel back in time and relive some great […]
Posts I Like
Red Heat (1988)
With the world in near total lockdown, the wanna be tough guy quartet known universally as The Video Store Action […]
Best Seller (1987)
Just two days prior to the death of actor, Brian Denney, I cracked the seal on the blu ray edition […]
Brannigan (1975)
“The Duke’s in London. God save the Queen!” This was the second of two mid 70’s flicks that put John […]
John Carradine In the Movies : From A to Z
Selecting John Carradine for this month’s A to Z feature should pose plenty of problems narrowing each letter of the […]
April 2020 In Review
The lock down continues and I hope and pray each and every one of my guests who drop by Mike’s […]
Breakheart Pass (1975)
I would suggest that from 1974 to 1977, Charles Bronson, was at the height of his powers on movie screens. […]
John Huston In The Movies : From A to Z
Directors like John Huston come into one’s universe by extension. By that I mean when you get hooked on the […]
Elizabeth Taylor In the Movies : From A to Z
From a child star to a Hollywood legend, Elizabeth Taylor, stepped out from the screen to become a personality known […]
New Orleans Uncensored (1955)
Now that 1954’s On the Waterfront blew the doors off of organized crime running the docks of New Jersey, that […]