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The 1962 sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies" was the first in show creator Paul Henning's unofficial Hooterville Trilogy, a triune that also included 1963's "Petticoat Junction," and 1965's "Green Acres." These three shows were among the most popular of their time and reflected a cultural clash between a growing class of cosmopolitan urbanites and "down home" rural Americans. Working thematically backward, "Green Acres" was about a pair of New Yorkers who move onto a farm, "Petticoat Junction" was about rural hotel owners who often butted heads with a rich railroad executive, and "The Beverly Hillbillies" was about rural characters moving to Beverly Hills. The Hooterville Trilogy was as sure a sign as any that schisms were forming in American society, and Henning was eager to address the injustice of the class divides, often sympathizing with his hillbillies and lambasting the wealthy.

Sixty-six years ago, Creature from the Black Lagoon director Jack Arnold teamed up with author Richard Matheson to bring Matheson’s sci-fi novel The Shrinking Man to the screen as The Incredible Shrinking Man (watch it Here). Now Deadline reports that Picture Perfect Federation Chairman Patrick Wachsberger, who was formerly the Co-Chairman of Lionsgate, is working with La Vie En Rose producer Alain Goldman on a French remake of The Incredible Shrinking Man that is set to star Jean Dujardin, who won an Oscar for his performance in the lead role of the 2012 silent film The Artist – which also happened to be the Best Picture winner that year.

The Wachsberger-produced Coda just won Best Picture last year and La Vie En Rose earned an Oscar for star Marion Cotillard, so this remake has multiple prestigious names attached to it.

Universal Pictures released The Incredible Shrinking Man in ’57 and still holds the rights to the property,...

Back when TV viewers were limited to three channel options, a silly show called The Beverly Hillbillies started at the top of the Nielsen ratings and stayed there for nine years. Panned by critics, the quirky comedy entertained audiences and made several actors famous. So, are any Beverly Hillbillies cast members still alive?

‘The Beverly Hillbillies’: A story about a man named Jed ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ cast | CBS via Getty Images

In 1962, the first episode of The Beverly Hillbillies introduced America to Jed, Granny, and Elly May Clampett, along with their cousin Pearl and her grown son, Jethro Bodine. After the Clampetts strike it rich, Bodine drives them to California, where they meet banker Milburn Drysdale and his unpretentious secretary, Miss Jane Hathaway.

Each Beverly Hillbillies episode opened and closed with a portion of “The Ballad of Jed Clampett.” Composed by show creator Paul Henning, the banjo-driven ditty was...

Criterion gives this classic its first exposure on Region A Blu-ray! A new 4K remaster puts the story of a guy too tiny to escape from his own cellar in its very best light — Scott Carey’s combat with the spider is still a scary delight, with a newly-fixed imperfection. Criterion’s extras lean toward fan-oriented fare: Tom Weaver tops the stack with a fine commentary and we get good input from Ben Burtt, Craig Barron, Richard Christian Matheson, Joe Dante and Dana Gould — plus thoughtful liner notes by Geoffrey O’Brien. And don’t forget those excellent movie trailers narrated by a breathless Orson Welles. Robert Scott Carey should have his own statue in Los Angeles, like Rocky Balboa in Philadelphia.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1100

1957 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 81 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 19, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton,...

A plug for commercial exterminators everywhere, William Alland’s titanic hairy spider provided plenty of chills for 1950s drive-ins, delivering exactly the naïve monster thrills teenagers craved. John Agar and Mara Corday do what they can with the clunker script and Jack Arnold’s direction, while Leo G. Carroll saves face by retreating below a rubber mask that makes him look like Droopy Dog. But for fans that like their monsters as big as the Great Outdoors, Clifford Stine and David Horsley’s startling special effects provide a spider-verse of sensational, surreal insect fear.

Tarantula

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1955 / B&W / 1:75 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date April, 2019 / 29,99

Starring: John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll, Nestor Paiva, Ross Elliott, Edwin Rand, Raymond Bailey, Hank Patterson.

Cinematography: George Robinson

Special Optical Effects and Cinematography: Clifford Stine, David S. Horsley

Original Music: Herman Stein, Henry Mancini

Written by Jack Arnold, Robert M. Fresco,...

To celebrate the Blu-ray release of The Incredible Shrinking Man, available on Blu-ray from 13th November, we have a copy of the film on Blu-ray up for grabs, courtesy of Arrow Video!

Based on the novel by the massively influential sci-fi and horror writer Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Martian Chronicles), with a script adapted by Matheson himself, and directed by Fifties sci-fi king Jack Arnold (Creature From The Black Lagoon), this is rightly regarded as being one of the finest science-fiction films of all time, a critically-acclaimed smash hit that currently has a 90 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Genuinely thrilling, and, as Scott’s plight becomes more desperate, tense and gruelling, the film features superbly realised special effects that bely the era, and the setting Scott finds himself in – filled with oversized household objects that suddenly become threatening and dangerous – takes on a wonderfully surreal atmosphere.

This...

Republic raids an early Rko talkie for a fantastic special effects sequence, and you won’t believe how it’s repurposed — in a story about a TV personality (in 1939!) taking on a corrupt political mob. New York crumbles and is then washed away — sort of. It’s yet another resurfacing of a title that not long ago we couldn’t see to save our cinema-curious souls.

S.O.S. Tidal Wave

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 62 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98

Starring: Ralph Byrd, George Barbier, Kay Sutton, Frank Jenks, Marc Lawrence, Dorothy Lee, Oscar O’Shea, Mickey Kuhn, Ferris Taylor, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Raymond Bailey.

Cinematography: Jack A. Marta

Film Editor: Ernest Nims

Musical Director: Cy Feuer

Written by Gordon Kahn, Stanley Rauh, Maxwell Shane, story by James Webb

Produced by Armand Schaefer

Directed by John H. Auer

If Republic wasn’t...

New York City – Robert Osborne, one of the great film advocates and historians of our era, who hosted on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) with passionate skill from 1994 until recently, has passed away on March 6th, 2017, in New York City. The way that Mr. Osborne inspired film lovers everywhere was deep and influential. He was 84.

I was lucky enough to meet the man, naturally at a Chicago movie theater, back in 2005. Five years later, as I became a film reporter myself, I got to interview Ro via phone. He was the type of film man that you could spend a month with and never come to the end of his knowledge, and the way he shared it as the host on TCM was as if the finest uncle was giving us life lessons. Next to Roger Ebert, Robert Osborne is another reporter legend who galvanized my love for film.

King of the Classics: Robert Osborne,...

Director Robert Montgomery's last is a war movie like no other, a study in leadership and command with no combat scenes. James Cagney uses none of his standard personality mannerisms; the result is something very affecting. And that music! You'll think the whole show is the memory of a soul in heaven. The Gallant Hours Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring James Cagney, Dennis Weaver, Ward Costello, Vaughn Taylor, Richard Jaeckel, Les Tremayne, Walter Sande, Karl Swenson, Leon Lontoc, Robert Burton, Carleton Young, Raymond Bailey, Harry Landers, Richard Carlyle, James Yagi, James T. Goto, Carl Benton Reid, Selmer Jackson, Frank Latimore, Nelson Leigh, Herbert Lytton, Stuart Randall, William Schallert, Arthur Tovey, John Zaremba. Cinematography Joseph MacDonald Art Director Wiard Ihnen Original Music Roger Wagner Written by Beirne Lay Jr., Frank D. Gilroy Produced and Directed by Robert Montgomery...

Director/Producer Ramin Naimi’s new feature documentary opens Friday April 5 at Laemmle Santa Monica with live blues performances also every night after the screenings in the cinema. This is the story of L.A.'s legendary L.A. blues club Babe and Ricky’s Inn.

The film won the Programmers Award at the Pan African Film Festival in L.A. in February where it was the Centerpiece Gala presentation on Valentine's day with a concert and party and that it was picked up for all digital rights and TV by New Video/ Cinedigm. The film will be released around the country theatrically in other blues loving cities and in connection with Blues Festivals, live performances and even blues cruises and it will be released on premium VOD April 9 on iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Youtube, Playstation, XBox, CinemaNow.

It will be an unusual and fun week of events at Laemmle particularly because of the live blues music performances incorporated into the screenings. Ramin has done a lot of radio for the release such as an hour and a half show playing music from the film and talking about the film with Ann the Raven on the Cal State Northridge radio (the one Nic Harcourt works for now) last Sunday with a ticket giveaway. He will have two interviews with Kpfk this week and he had two other radio interviews last week . Kcet is looking at coverage also. The trailer is at the website www.babesandrickysinn.com

It is getting good press thanks to the Laemmle publicist who sent it to be reviewed by some of the outlets including the L.A. Times , L.A. Weekly, Hollywood Reporter etc.

I can't wait to see the film and hear Mama Laura’s story.

Here are the details of the La screenings and a ‘pitch letter‘ from Ramin re the film below:

Friday, April 5 – Thursday April 11, 2013

At Laemmle Monica 4-Plex,1332 2nd Street, Santa Monica 90401

(310) 478-3836.

Tickets: www.laemmle.com

Daily Screenings: 1pm ● 4pm ● 7pm ● 10pm

A live blues performance and Q&A will follow each 7 pm evening screening Friday, April 5 to Thursday, April 11 inclusive (and also 4 pm screenings on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7). No additional charge for live music!

The current line up for live shows as part of the screenings of the film at the times listed below:

Ray Bailey Friday 4/5 (7pm); Gregg Wright Saturday 4/6 (4pm); Dennis Jones Saturday 4/6 (7pm); Deacon Jones Sunday 4 /7 (4pm and 7pm), Southsideslim Monday 4/8 (7pm); George Dez Tuesday 4/9 (7pm); Richard Martin-Ross Wednesday 4/10 (7pm), Suzanne Thomas Thursday 4/11 (7pm).

The director Ramin writes to us:

I am the director and producer of the upcoming film Babe’s and Ricky’s Inn, a feature-length documentary. For more than three years, I gathered the stories of the legendary L.A. blues club Babe and Ricky’s Inn, its owner Laura Mae Gross (“Mama Laura”) and its amazing collection of musicians. As an Iranian-American filmmaker (who along with along with my co-producer Behrouz Arshadi came to be known as the “Iranian Blues Brothers”), I take particular pride in having earned the trust of the community in South Central to document this important piece of L.A. blues and music history.

For fifty-three years, Mama Laura, a woman from Mississippi, brought well-known and up-and-coming musicians together, regardless of race, age, or gender. Babe’s and Ricky’s Inn was originally located on legendary Central Ave, in South Central La. drew world-famous musicians like Johnny Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Albert King, who often dropped in to the club and jam with best of La blues artists, Guitar Shorty, Keb’ Mo’, Zac Harmon, Deacon Jones and Ray Bailey. The film features original music by some of the most important blues artists alive. Stunning guitar performances and personal stories about the hard blues life come together in a film about what it means to devote your life to music. I feel privileged to have captured the unique sounds, atmosphere and people of this gem of a blues club in its last days.

Babe’s and Ricky’s Inn premiered as the centerpiece of the Pan African Film Festival in La last month and took home the Festival’s Programmer’s Award. The theatrical premiere run will be at the Laemmle Monica 4-plex in La commencing Friday, April 5th. It will have a one-week engagement, and will feature live blues performances and a Q&A each weeknight and twice a day on the weekend. Further theatrical dates follow around the country including at blues focused events and venues. The digital release of the film is being facilitated by Cinedigm and it will be released on VOD on April 9th on iTunes Premium, Amazon, YouTube and others.

And visit our website for more info: http://babesandrickysinn.com

By the way, I’m also in the process of finishing my new upcoming feature film Shirin in Love, a romantic comedy set in world of “Tehrangeles”, the Iranian American community in Los Angeles.

By Lee Pfeiffer

I have always been a great admirer of Paul Henning, the crooner-turned-tv producer/writer of some of the best-loved shows of the 1960s. It was Henning who gave a voice to rural audiences by creating such classic TV series as The Beverly Hillbilllies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. If you revisit any of them today, they remain far superior to most contemporary sitcoms. Henning not only created shows that have timeless appeal, but he also brainstormed the concept of interweaving characters and plot devices between the series- a stroke of genius that brought cross-promotion marketing to new levels. Henning also prided himself on making his country characters eccentric, but never idiotic. They were simple people living simple lives and if they seemed to exist in a time warp, they were all honest, admirable folks. It was always the sophisticated city slickers who would get their comeuppance at...

Gloucester - The night Sebastian Junger arrived in town, it was a rather mild and cloudless day. There would be need to use the phrase “The Perfect Storm” to hype the writer’s talk and signing at Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books. It was The Perfect Mild.

This appears to be a rarity in today’s journalism. Anything that happens now gets blamed on “A Perfect Storm” of calamities after Junger’s book about the doomed fishermen. Wall Street meltdown, Bp well disaster and McRib are all given The Perfect Storm treatment. Sadly enough, he does not get a nickel every time it’s said on TV.

This appearance didn’t include tales of the people who put seafood on your table or George Clooney’s pranks. Junger spoke of the men who fight for America in Afghanistan. The Second Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment of the...

Chicago – Turner Classic Movies, the basic cable gift to film buffs everywhere, is launching their first TCM Classic Movie Festival in Hollywood, August 22nd-25th. TCM’s main movie host and face of the network, Robert Osborne, will be there.

Osborne became the film guru we know today through a roundabout career route. Born in Washington state, he took his degree in journalism down to Hollywood during the late 1950s in hopes of becoming an actor. He hooked up with the famous Desilu studios, the brainchild of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball during the height of the “I Love Lucy” days.

It was Lucille Ball herself that encouraged Osborne to switch careers – Osborne himself said “especially when she saw me act” – and take his love for film to a writing career for various publications including the Hollywood Reporter. In April of 1994, he hosted the first year of Turner Classic Movies,...

In 1962, a truly strange TV show hit the airwaves, The Beverly Hillbillies. The sitcom revolves around a poor mountaineer, Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), who discovers oil on his backwoods property. Now a multi-millionaire, he's encouraged to move to Beverly Hills with his spunky mother-in-law, "Granny" (Irene Ryan), beautiful daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas), and dim-witted nephew Jethro (Max Baer). They try to understand their strange new surroundings and are aided by selfish banker Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey) and his bookish secretary, Miss Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp).

It may be hard to imagine it now but in its day, The Beverly Hillbillies was a massive hit. Though hated by most critics, several episodes of the series are among the most-watched TV episodes in history, having drawn as much as 44% of the viewing households. A 1964 episode titled "The Giant Jackrabbit" is still the most-watched half-hour program...