Stacy Keach, who worked in everything from Shakespeare to Cheech and Chong, has passed away. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know the procedure. While everyone else salutes his more popular projects, I’ll look at a few of his more obscure items.
DYNASTY (1976)
This Made for Television production was based on a story outline by James A. Michener. He doesn’t seem to have had much else to do with it, however. The Blackwood Family are trying to make a life for themselves on the Ohio Frontier of the very early 1800s.
Circumstances push the family ever further westward as they try to build an empire. Brothers Matt Blackwood – played by Stacy Keach – and John Blackwood – played by Harris Yulin – fight over Jennifer (Sarah Miles).
Despite this, the family stands united against slave-hunters when they come looking for fugitive slave Sam (Charles Weldon). They come to Sam’s aid and he stays with the Blackwoods from then on.
Despite being married to one of the brothers, Jennifer runs off with the other. Long years later, she returns to her husband with her son Mark, played by Harrison Ford. But which Blackwood Brother is his real father? Also starring Amy Irving. Continue reading
THE MASTER MYSTERY (1918-1919) – The first film footage of Harry Houdini performing his stage act dates to 1907, but it wasn’t until this 15-part serial that he hit the big screen in a series of adventures. Chapter One of The Master Mystery debuted on November 18th, 1918 and starred Houdini as a federal agent named Quentin Locke. 
Every cliffhanger ending for the chapters of the serials involves a deathtrap which Houdini escapes from at the start of the following installment. 
Halloween Month continues with this review of one of the zombie movies of French Director Jean Rollin. Balladeer’s Blog’s reviews of Rollin’s films always point out that his works range from brilliant and artistic to just plain awful. 
THE BLACK PIRATE (1926) – Fairbanks starred as the Duke of Arnoldo aka the Black Pirate in this high seas adventure that captured the feel of 
Balladeer’s Blog is here with a look at a score of James Garner films. NOTE: The Great Escape is not included, only because Garner was part of an ensemble cast in that movie. 
MAVERICK (1994) – Though James Garner was technically playing a supporting role to Mel Gibson in this film, Gibson was portraying Bret Maverick, the character Garner had turned into a sensation in the 1950s. Since this movie would not exist without the cultural cache built up by James’ portrayal of both Bret AND “Pappy” Beauregard Maverick (in old age makeup) this definitely counts as a Garner film. Bret, Pappy and Jody Foster as Annabelle Bransford are among the gambler-gunslingers headed east for St. Louis and a Poker Tournament on a riverboat. 
BARBARIANS AT THE GATE (1993) – In this telefilm based on the best-selling non-fiction book, Jim plays F. Ross Johnson, the real-life president of RJR-Nabisco who unleashed one of the most chaotic and frenzied leveraged buyouts in Wall Street history during the “greed is good” 1980s. 
SIX-STRING SAMURAI (1998) – 91 minutes – Directed by Lance Mungia … Starring Jeffrey Falcon and Justin McGuire … Written by Lance Mungia and Jeffrey Falcon … Soundtrack by Brian Tyler and the Red Elvises 
JOHNNY COOL (1963) – Okay, this weekend I once again met someone who never heard of this film, so I resolved to do what little I could to spread the word about it by reviewing it here on Balladeer’s Blog. 
Sammy was still wearing his pre-glass eye eyepatch in the film and also sang the movie’s title song. There’s a boatload more kitsch casting in Johnny Cool, which I’ll cover as we go along. 
ROBBERY UNDER ARMS (1985) – The irreplaceable Sam Neill has passed away. Other sites will be focusing on Neill’s more well-known projects like the Jurassic Park movies, Reilly – Ace of Spies, The Hunt for Red October, Omen III: The Final Conflict, Event Horizon and so many others. In keeping with Balladeer’s Blog’s theme I’m taking a look at Sam’s neglected Bushranger movie Robbery Under Arms. 
On to Robbery Under Arms, the film is based on the Australian novel of the same name, which was published in serialized form in 1882 before being collected in novel form later in the decade. Robbery Under Arms is a monumental work of fiction Down Under and has been adapted several times since 1907 – a year after Australia’s silent movie The Story of the Kelly Gang. 
Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at another YouTube movie review channel. This one is called Hard Cut Reviews. I haven’t been this enthusiastic about a YT channel since Red Letter Media when I covered them way back in the early years of 2010 and 2011. 
JOHN PAUL JONES (1959) – Robert Stack stars as the title character, Charles Coburn plays Benjamin Franklin, Bette Davis is Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, Macdonald Carey is Patrick Henry and Thomas Gomez portrays Commodore Esek Hopkins. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate John Paul Jones a 6. I wish it could be higher.
