Columns
Kiss Me, Deadly: The Life Lessons of Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’
One of my earliest memories is of my mother taking me into Manhattan from Brooklyn one gloomy morning, on a subway train crossing the East River. […]
Tail Pop
Columns
TAIL POP: The Enduring Wisdom of Indiana Jones
The enduring wisdom of Indiana Jones […]
Columns
Words Like Bullets: How ‘Smell Smell’ Met with Success
Why ‘Sweet Smell’ Succeeded […]
Features
TAIL POP: The Enduring Influence of Jean-Luc Godard and ‘Band of Outsiders’
I grew up in a Long Island suburb among people about whom a friend once said, “If they can’t eat it or wear it, they don’t want it.” […]
Columns
Tail Pop: How the Film Cult Classic ‘Harold And Maude’ Inspired a Generation
How a Kid Found the Heart in “Harold And Maude.” […]
Tail Pop
How Terence Malick’s ‘Badlands’ Reinvented Moviegoing
It was the summer of 1974, and for my sister and me, there was a gross injustice in the world. I could tell you that the injustice involved saving the whales or impeaching Nixon—but we were entitled teenagers who lived near the beach and equated tanning with personal fulfillment; our outrage was over the fog being in all day. […]
Columns
The Lasting Appeal of ‘I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang’
How a 1930s classic inspired a young film lover […]
Columns
The Making of ‘Groundhog Day,’ as Remembered by Music Editor Sally Boldt
Music Editor Sally Boldt recalls the making of ‘Groundhog Day,’ again and again and… […]
Columns
Andrew Davis’ ‘The Fugitive’
At my high school, admission to advanced placement (AP) classes was by invitation only. I tried four times to be admitted into AP English. The head of the department, a sour and exhausted woman named Ms. Gallagher, eventually told me, “I wouldn’t feel good about myself if I encouraged you to pursue something at which you won’t succeed.” […]
Columns
Bernardo Bertolucci’s ‘Last Tango In Paris’
I fell in love with Last Tango in Paris in the summer of 1973 when I was 20 years old. But now, decades later, I’m sorry to say I’ve fallen out of love with the film much as one eventually discovers that Old Spice aftershave (and the guy who wore it) wasn’t that cool after all. […]