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Fifty years after its release, “Chinatown” (1974) endures as a stunningly effective tribute to the Bogart private eye classics and the best noir entries of the ‘40s and ‘50s. Directed by the gifted Roman Polanski, an iconic performance by Jack Nicholson as private eye J.J. “Jake” Gittes beats at the heart of this film. The rest of the cast is equally stellar, however, with Faye Dunaway as twitchy, mysterious femme fatale Evelyn Mulwray, and powerhouse director John Huston playing her domineering, power hungry (and worse) father, Noah Cross. Even Polanski makes a cameo as a knife-wielding thug.   And let’s not forget Robert Towne’s sterling screenplay, peppered with smart, snappy dialogue that gives even Raymond Chandler a run for his money. In fact, out of eleven Oscar nods for the movie (including Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director), only Towne went home with a statuette for his stinging, perfectly structured script. So I suppose, after fifty years, you think you know everything about this tale of water theft and sisters, I mean daughters! No, sisters!… but I’ll just let vile water baron Noah Cross tell you… “You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't.”

The late Deborah Kerr always represented a rare breed of movie actress: a lady first and foremost, who, even when playing women of dubious virtue, exuded an innate sense of class- even nobility.

As a kid, my favorite screen actor was Spencer Tracy. Like his close friend Bogart, the Ohio-born Tracy was not leading-man handsome, but became a star by projecting a unique and very human quality that viewers could readily access and admire: an everyman’s solidity masking an underlying sensitivity. He was known in Hollywood as the foremost “actor’s actor”— the player other actors measured themselves against. It’s easy to see why.

Walter Matthau was never endowed with the superficial attributes of your typical Hollywood star: he had a pronounced New York accent, a stooping gait, and the weathered face of a bloodhound. And yet the force of his talent and persona eventually got his name above the title.

Here’s a bold statement: Giving your children the chance to watch classic films can be just as vital as anything they learn in school. 

 One of the major pleasures and sources of eye candy the movies provide are fantasy spaces of which dreams are made. For anyone who lives for their monthly issue of Dwell, or who forwards photo compilations of delicious décor, on-screen interiors offer a form of fun several notches up from catalogue shopping.  Whether these movies were shot on sound stages, or on existing locations dressed up for their close-up, they perform the task of drawing us into the world of the story, and making us forget about the tedious limitations of reality. If you could choose any movie interior to move into, which one would it be? 

Though the solstice is not for a few weeks, Memorial Day weekend was a call to your corner lookout, warning you to hit the bricks ‘cause the heat is just around the corner. Yes, summer is coming for every good movie-loving, grill-stoking, sparkler-waving, processed cheese covered totcho-eating American (totchos are like nachos, with tater-tots instead of chips… yes, these exist, and they’re good for you!). This also means that blockbuster Hollywood hits explode into theaters like sling-shot water balloons, and this year is no exception with “Spiderman 2”, “Godzilla”, and the new “X-Men” movie having already jumped the summer gun.