ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Meryl]

The Female Bunch is a 1969 crime film. It was directed by Al Adamson and starred Russ Tamblyn and Lon Chaney Jr.. The plot centered around a group of female criminals who cause trouble around the Mexican border.

[MaineWriter]

I remember the book being hilarious but the movie was a disappointment. Robert DeNiro's first starring role as racing bicyclist from Italy who falls into the middle of a gang war.

[oilgun]

IMDb Plot Summary:   Three fraternal bank robbers languishing in jail, discover a profitable (if not dodgy) way to spend their time. Crime can most certainly pay, if you "know wot I mean?" However when sex and greed rear-up between the good crims and the bad cops, the consequences are both bizarre and fatal.

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Another in a unrelated series of Warner's penitentiary tours in three different decades. This one is California's notorious Folsom Prison prior to its 1944 reformation make-over. Ben Rickey, the prison's sadistic old-school warden who believes that the prison system if for punishment rather than reformation, rules Folsom with an iron-hand. He highly resents his university-trained assistant, Mark Benson, who does not share Rickey's beliefs. Rickey, hoping the results will be disastrous, gives Benson permission to try his modern method. He tolerates Benson's innovations until convict "Red" Pardue is killed by another prisoner. Benson blames Rickey, who had refused Pardue protection after he had reported an escape attempt. Benson resigns and Rickey brings back his concentration-camp program. Chuck Daniels, a hardened convict, then stage his long-planned prison break. A bloody riot ensues in which Rickey is murdered and the escapees are accidentally killed by a dynamite blast while taking revenge on a treacherous convict.

[MaineWriter]

Ed Wood does film noir...with predictable results.

[oilgun]

IMDb Plot Summary:   Johnny Clay has a plan. After spending 5 years in Alcatraz, he decides that if he's going to commit crimes, the risk had better be worth the punishment. He then proceeds to mastermind a brilliant criminal scheme to steal $2,000,000 from a local racetrack in which "no one will get hurt." The only flaw in his plan is that he does not consider one of his co-horts' greedy, shrewish wife and her ruthless boyfriend. That's when something goes wrong...

[Fran]

From IMDb:

Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned to a hell-hole prison after his administration was publicly humiliated by Leone, and has now arrived on the scene to ensure that Leone never sees the light of day.

[memento]

[MaineWriter]

from IMDb:

I came to own and watch this film because the score was written by musician and inventor Raymond Scott. The acting is very wooden. but fans of Steve McQueen might get a kick out of seeing him in an early role, not to mention the Buddy Holly glasses!

NB: Raymond Scott is the Powerhouse composer.

[oilgun]

Definitely the best adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice.  I just LOVE this movie!  The pheromonal Massimo Girotti has charisma and screen presence like few actors I've seen, hairy back and all. JP Belmondo comes to mind.

Synopsis
Passion turns deadly when beautiful but frustrated Giovanna (Deep Red's Clara Calamai) finds herself helplessly drawn to Gino (Last Tango in Paris' Massimo Girotti), a handsome drifter staying at her inn. Repulsed by her husband, Giovanna begs Gino to rid her of the unappreciative spouse and help her to collect his hefty insurance premium, the solution to all their problems. The course of cold-blooded murder never runs smoothly, however, and soon thelovers are trapped in a downward spiral of deception, jealousy and cruel fate.

Internationally acclaimed director Luchino Visconti (Death in Venice, Rocco and His Brothers) ignited a stormy religious and political scandal in Italy with the release of this film, which adapted James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice through the eye of a master filmmaker. Banned and censored for years, Ossessione launched the influential neorealist movement in Italian cinema and profoundly affected generations of audiences. Now available in its original, uncensored director's cut, Visconti's debut masterwork still stands as both a powerful thriller and a devastating portrayal of society thrown into turmoil.