We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
2,998 thoughts on “Steve’s Top 10 Charts YouTube Forum”
1 HI STEVE I see you’ve sneaked in another of your backdoor tributes to Hitch. Not only is Psycho Vera Miles’ best screen lead role but even before it Alfred had been trying to showcase Vera as his new star, for example putting her in The Wrong Man with Fonda and lining her up for his now-classic Vertigo with one of Hitch’s favourite actors my Jimmy. Unfortunately she fell pregnant and was replaced by Kim Novak in the latter film.
2 Psycho gave Hitch a highly publicised quandary at the time because Janet Leigh was the bigger star but Vera had the longer role so there was a debate about who should get top billing. Your poster reveals shrewd Alfred’s canny compromise.
3 Often in her heyday Vera would play the loyal associate such as the faithful girlfriend of blind detective Van Johnson in 1956’s 23 Paces to Baker Street and Lila Crane, determined to find out what happened to her sister Marion in Psycho. However my own fave Miles role was as mistress of New York Mayor Jimmy Walker in the 1956 Beau James, played by Republican donor and friend of Nixon Bob Hope, Bob not only performing [excellently in my opinion] a serious role but a Democrat! It’s a wonder The Duke didn’t savage Bob for “letting down the American people”!
4 My second favourite Miles role would probably be as the promiscuous murderess in the 1973 episode of TV’s Columbo, Lovely but Lethal. She and the Great Detective had some cracking scenes together as adversaries in that one. In fact interestingly in that episode Vera, then 44, used a variation of your opening quote from her to tongue-lash Peter Falk “I love young men. Lots of them. And if that offends your sense of morality Lieutenant I DON’T CARE”
5 Miles of course never became a top star but as usual that consideration does not affect the quality of your pictorials and my pick of the posters is Web of Evidence, Charge at Feather River, Hellfighters, A Tiger Walks, Into the Night, The FBI Story, and The Wrong Man. I thought though that the 2nd ones from both The Searchers and Liberty Valance were par excellence but of course as they heavily showcase my pals Jimmy and The Duke I must admit to a slight bias!
6 A great bunch of stills as well – Vera being saved by Tarzan, the lobby card with Mason, Vera showing us a sexy side of her persona as Betty Compton with Hope, with blind Van in 23 Paces to Baker Street [possibly my 3rd favourite Miles performance] with Hank in The Wrong Man, and the solo of the lovely young Vera in The Searchers.
7 For me Vera in the 1950s was one of the most comforting leading ladies to watch so I welcome your profile of her which I rate at 97%
Hey Bob
1. So I am guessing Steve has some new content….I will have to run over there and check it out.
2. Good tidbits on Miles…..I wonder how her career would have gone if she had gotten the Vertigo role?
3. You know way more than I do about Miles….I do know Miles was very unhappy about her contract with Hitch…..and that Hitch pretty much put her to the side…..though she got paid.
4. Good breakdown of Steve’s video…..heading over there right now.
Good stuff.
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, info, comment and trivia, much appreciated.
Happy you liked the posters, lobby cards and stills.
It was good to upload some not so familiar posters after a couple of weeks of Hollywood greats in extended videos.
I don’t think Vera Miles was top billed in any of her films but she still rates as a ‘leading lady’ doesn’t she? Psycho’s leading lady? [Bob ‘hmmms’]
One of her husbands was Tarzan himself, Gordon Scott, their marriage lasted 4 years and they had a son which they named ‘boy’. Kidding, his name was Michael. 🙂
Vera has three films scoring 10 out of 10 – The Searchers, Liberty Valance and of course everyone’s favorite schizo movie, Psycho. (fans of ‘Split’ may beg to differ)
Psycho tops all charts, not sure about Bruce’s let me check – yep Psycho scores 9.4 on Bruce’s critics chart, followed by The Searchers with 8.9.
Klaatu’s girlfriend is up next, in just a few minutes actually.
1 Vera was certainly often a leading lady [ie the main female part] but usually a supporting one to the likes of Van Johnson, The Duke, and my Jimmy and in Psycho her character whilst very important was clearly subordinate to Norman Bates and I don’t think that she got the publicity out of it that sexy Janet did, first because of the posters showing Mrs Tony Curtis in undies and then because of course of Leigh’s legendary shower scene.
2 Also, you’re right, I cannot remember a movie in which Vera was ever top billed.. Indeed in that respect you might also like to look in on para 4 of my post today about Christian Bale in which I quote one of your revered late fellow citizen’s stance on lead roles/billing. I wonder what the star concerned would have thought of the likes of 3rd lead actors or lesser piling up massive grosses on the Cogerson site!
Hi Steve, I was off-line for a few days, but wanted to thank you for doing a George Peppard video, as I had suggested one several weeks ago. I agree with Bob that it is very well-done, good selection of posters, and nice stills of Peppard with three beautiful leading ladies, Hepburn, Andress and Loren.
I do not know under which circumstances Peppard appeared in the photo with Sinatra and McQueen that starts off your video, but it’s interesting to note that in the early 1960s, there were at least a few instances when Peppard and McQueen were considered for the same role. I’m not sure about Never So Few, but Peppard was considered for McQueen’s role in The Magnificent Seven, while McQueen was considered for Breakfast at Tiffany. McQueen also turned down the role that went to Peppard in The Victors, wisely filming The Great Escape instead, which was much more successful.
After raising attention with his role in 1960s’ Home From The Hill, Peppard was seen as a promising new star and given major roles in a number of ambitious productions, up to his peak in 1966’s The Blue Max. He was then surprisingly being billed before Dean Martin in the poster of 1967’s Rough Night in Jericho. Perhaps this was not quite deserved, and Martin was justifiably billed first in the movie, but it suggests the high popularity Peppard enjoyed around that time.
My favourite Peppard performance was also in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, where I thought that he very much held his own against Audrey Hepburn, followed by his performance as an obsessively competitive German pilot in The Blue Max. Peppard also had the longest running role in How the West Was Won where he did a fine job in different episodic characterisations. One of my favourite Peppard films, however, is the British spy adventure, Operation Crossbow, which I usually find to be much underrated. Unfortunately, by the late 1960s, Peppard became cast mainly in routine action films (as shown by the first half of your video), which mostly failed commercially and critically, but he managed some success on TV with Banacek and The A-Team.
Hey PhilHoF’17…..glad to see you back. Excellent breakdown on George Peppard. Seems like maybe we need an UMR page on head. Good stuff about McQueen and Peppard being in the same orbit for so many of the same roles….I am sure many times Peppard was mentioned with McQueen back then. I have not seen Operation Crossbow….I will have to check that one out in the future. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on George Peppard.
Good post Phil, thanks for taking the time to look at my George Peppard video.
When I saw that photo of Peppard with Sinatra and McQueen it surprised me because I thought I’d missed an important film for the list I was preparing. After a few checks I discovered that Peppard was simply visiting the set of the 1959 movie Never So Few, but I still had to include the photo somewhere on the video. 🙂
The Blue Max is an old favorite of mine, I’ve watched it many many times over the decades. I like aerial warfare in movies, which is one of the reasons Battle of Britain is my favorite war movie, at least one third of that movie consists of aerial battles. As a soundtrack collector I have Jerry Goldsmith’s and Ron Goodwin’s music scores for those two films on LP and CD.
Hey Bruce, yeap, I would support a Peppard page and would note it should not be too much work, as he did not do many films. Unfortunately, he also passed away rather early, in his mid-60s. And check out Operation Crossbow when you have the chance – I would chose it over The Carpetbaggers, which I found more like a big soaper, though very popular at the time due to the success of Harold Robbins’ novel.
Hey PhilHOF17…I was actually working on a Peppard page when I saw Dorothy Malone passed away….and I quickly switched gears. I did notice that many of his movies (1970s on) were made overseas and barely got released in North America. I will have to check out Operation Crossbow. I have wanted to see The Carpetbaggers for a very long time….but have yet to run across that movie….though I have seen Steve McQueen’s Nevada Smith. Good stuff.
Thanks for clarification on the pĥoto, Steve. I also enjoy The Blue Max, and I found interesting the Japanese poster in your video of that film, just before the panoramic shot of How The West Was Won. Jerry Goldsmith has composed some my favorite film scores.
1 HI STEVE. For my money your George Peppard video is among the very best that I personally have ever seen from you so I’ll start by giving it a 98% rating in my book. He had a brief run as a top star in the early 60s in films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s. How the West Was Won and especially The Carpetbaggers. However a series of lops followed with his only additional serious hit being the 1966 The Blue Max [Cogerson adjusted domestic gross $143 million].
2 Accordingly George turned to TV in the early 1970s and had hit series with Banacek in 1972-74 and later with the A Team. Indeed George personally pulled the plug on Banacek at the height of its success to prevent his ex-wife Elizabeth Ashley [his Carpetbaggers co-star] from getting a share of the profits as part of their divorce settlement.
3 I was very impressed by most of the posters in your Peppard collection especially Newman’s Law, House of Cards, The Executioner, PJ [aka New Face in Hell] The 3rd Day, Rough Night in Jericho [in which George is billed before Dean Martin] Pendulum, The Strange One, my Greg in Pork Chop Hill and both the ones for Home from the Hill with Mitchum in iconic domination.
4 The stills too were of excellent quality and I very much liked the one of George with Sinatra and McQueen [which I take it is on the set of Never So Few though George was not actually in that one to the best of my knowledge], the outdoor scene from Damnation Alley, with Sophia Loren in Operation Crossbow, the sexy lobby card from The Carpetbaggers and the lobby card also from The Blue Max, the “vista” one from How the West Was Won and finally and Paul Varjak with Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
5 George’s performance as kept man Paul in Breakfast at Tiffany’s is by far my favorite Peppard big screen portrayal although I thought he was well-suited to the part of the “heel” Jonas Cord Jr. in Carpetbaggers. I also loved George in TV’s Banacek but the A Team was not my cup of tea. However one minor distinction that can never be taken away from George is that in Carpetbaggers he became the very last in a long line of male screen personalities to lose a fight to tough guy Ladd!
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and comment, always appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the posters and stills.
Did not know about Peppard cancelling the TV show Banacek for that reason. Wow. I’ll bet that doesn’t happen often, or does it?
Like Burt Reynolds and later Kevin Costner, Peppard was briefly quite popular on the big screen and than suddenly you couldn’t pay people to see his movies. Moviegoers are so fickle. Brando wasn’t immune either though he had one last blaze of glory thanks to Francis Coppola.
Not a big favorite of mine either, though my dad enjoyed it – The A-Team – was popular around the world and Peppard made the most of it but it didn’t last. He’s probably best known for that series than his big Hollywood movies nowadays.
Only one Peppard film scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Two scored 9 – How the West Was Won and Operation Crossbow. Three more scored 8.
Breakfast was the no.1 Peppard movie at IMDB. Home from the Hill was tops at Rotten Tomatoes. The Blue Max was his highest rated top-billed movie.
1 Enjoyable and informative feedback from you as always. I was sorry that Peppard ‘s cinematic top star era did not last longer as I really liked him.
2 Anyway enough about Hollywood’s “Big Beasts” for now as I’m just about to look in on your profiles of 2 of its “Big Bitches”!
3 Incidentally I see that this site’s “Big Beast” seems to have gone AWOL at the moment. I’ll have to stop taking holidays because ever time I do I come back to find that the Work Horse has fallen below the radar again.
Hahaha “big bitches” I was just sent a second hand book from Amazon, Bette & Joan – The Divine Feud. Only a couple of quid. Should be a fun read. 🙂
Yes seems like Bruce has gone for another of his long ‘walks’, but the machinery is still cranking out pages. I’m telling you the site will eventually be fully automated and we’ll miss the good old days when titles like “The Old Dark Horse” would rear up majestically on the page. 😉
Hey Bob and Steve….it was a short walk. So far in 2018….we have cranked out 10 new pages…..that is better than one every two days. I can’t catch a break on the comments….last year I commented back over 7,000 times (that is almost 19 comments a day)….already in 2018 I have had over 400 Cogerson comments……you gotta give me some credit….WoC timed it last month…I am spending on average 20 hours a week on comments. That translates to 43 days a year doing comments non-stop.
I wonder if the book Steve got will actually have the reason for the feud……some claim it was a way to generate publicity for them……I fear the truth will never been known.
Good movie thoughts from both of you.
Hi Bruce, I’ve read the first few chapters of that book, I think the feud started when Bette Davis took a fancy to actor Franchot Tone after they acted together in a film. He wasn’t interested in her but he was interested in Joan Crawford and eventually married her, they made 7 films together.
Davis also had the hots for Clark Gable, but he had the hots for Crawford and they made 8 films together!
Davis had to accept that while she was a better actress, Crawford was a more attractive and glamorous star – “Joan and I have never been warm friends. We are not simpatico. I admire her, and yet I feel uncomfortable with her. To me, she is the personification of the Movie Star. I have always felt her greatest performance is Crawford being Crawford.”
Hey Steve….thanks for the breakdown of the first few chapters on the feud between Davis and Crawford. That makes sense……that Crawford had the sexy….while Davis had the talent. Thanks for sharing that info….hope you enjoy the rest of the book….and now…..
[Chorus]
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
It’s home from work we go
[Whistle]
1 HI STEVE As we know Robert Vaughn became a successful TV star with The Man from UNCLE spy series that cashed in on the Bond craze of the 1960s and that Robert’s UNCLE series ran for 105 episodes from 1964-1968. A spin-off series The Girl from UNCLE which starred Stefanie Powers the real-life lover of the legendary Golden Holden and Noel Harrison son of Sexy Rexy was a flop lasting only 1 series [1966/67] and a recent 2015 modern feature length cinematic release The Man from UNCLE starring Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo was also a financial disaster, grossing just about $110 million worldwide against massive production/distribution costs
2 Unfortunately Robert never became a top star in big screen mainstream movies though he gave many fine supporting performances over the years, my personal favourite being Walter Chalmers in Bullitt. I also liked him very much in a TV movie in which he attacked and sexually abused his own daughter in law [Dancing in the Dark 1995].
3 He had an uncredited walk-on cameo as Nappy Solo in my Doris’ 1966 spy spoof The Glass Bottom Boat [aka The Spy in Lace Panties]. Indeed Robert’s big screen debut was an uncredited role in the 1956 Ten Commandments and I was surprised that you didn’t seize the opportunity to once again put the Chuck epic top of your chart. Certainly if the Work Horse does a Vaughn page I’ll be most disappointed if WH doesn’t credit Robert V with that massive $2.765 billion worldwide adjusted gross that has been recorded against 10 Cmts in the Cogerson charts!
4 I immensely enjoyed all of your UNCLE posters though as you say the movies were based on re-edited material from the TV episodes, and these were my other favourite posters in your Vaughn video – Teenage Caveman, Hell’s Crossroads [with Vaughn as the sneak Robert Ford who shot Jesse James in the back] No Time to be Young, The Venetian Affair, Good Day for a Hanging, Chuck’s Julius Caesar, The Bridge at Remagen, The Caretakers with my Joan. Demon Seed and the one from The Magnificent Seven which actually puts Vaughn centre stage.
5 Excellent stills were the Magnificent 7 Ensemble, the UNCLE lead trio, the Bath Scene, Robert with gun and I presume Senta Berger in The Spy with My Face, the lobby card for The Mind of Mr Soames and with McQueen in Bullitt. Overall grand stuff easily worth a 97% rating. Lovely self-depreciating opening quote from Robert.
Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing and rating my Robert Vaughn video, appreciate the info, trivia and comment. Happy you enjoyed the pictorial presentation.
I didn’t know he had an uncredited role in Ten Commandments until I started working on the video, I will try and spot him next time I watch that film. Will I need a magnifying glass? 🙂
I was so relieved all those Man from Uncle posters were available, they were the icing on this cake. One of them – The Karate Killers – has your Joan (Crawford) as a special guest star.
That was indeed Senta Berger in the still with Vaughn. And very pretty she is too.
I think that Robert Vaughn was the last of the Magnificent Seven to die, all our heroes are now dead. But they live on in film (and TV), immortals.
One Vaughn movie scored 10 out of 10 and that was The Magnificent Seven. Three scored 9 – Bullitt, Mind of Mr. Soames and The Demon Seed. And one 8 – The Towering Inferno.
Magnificent Seven tops the charts at IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, presumably a future Vaughn UMR page too.
1 I enjoyed your feedback on my Shatner and Vaughn posts.Robert’s uncredited part in 10 Cmts is described as Spearman/Hebrew at Golden Calf.
2 I noticed my Joan was in the Karate Killers and that she would agree to appear in a TV series spin-off shows how far her stock had sunk since the heady days of Grand Hotel and Mildred Pierce.
3 Many prominent guest stars appeared in the UNCLE series but none had been in the Crawford league and any stardom that they had once had had in most cases long since kissed them goodbye – for example Eleanor Parker, Broderick Crawford, Joan Blondell, Joan Collins, Vincent Price and Bruce’s woman Angela Lansbury who would go on to greater things.
4 Three others at least though were on the way up – 13 year old Kurt Russell appeared in the 1964 The Funny Foot Affair and [as a real personal “cross over” for you] Shatner and Nimoy both appeared in the 1964 The Project Strigas Affair this being the first time that the two Trek legends had ever appeared together though they did not share many scenes in this UNCLE episode.
5 Anyway I’m off now to look in on Paul Varak/Jonas Cord Jr. PS Enjoyed my holiday – thanks for your kind wishes.
Hey Steve….I can see doing a Vaughn page. In the UMR orbit currently is Jackie Chan, 1934, 1962, Kevin Bacon and William Shatner…..where the ball stops nobody knows…lol.
Hey Bob….all of this Robert Vaughn talk made me remember a tweet I did recently….Vaughn was the last man standing of the Magnificent Seven. Here is the tweet…..might be a bit morbid…but I like it anyway.
1 Years ago I listened to a Sunday musical requests program in which the disc jockey would from time to time play a record which he considered was so awful that it was fascinating to hear. As often as not the singing artist would be a celebrity who was not a professional singer and the two such records that I will never forget are Rudolph Valentino singing Kashmiri Song [aka Pale Hands I loved beside the Shalimar, a song for which Rudy apparently had a particular fascination] and William Shatner’s interpretation of the Beatles drugs song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The disc jockey confessed that he couldn’t make up his mind whether Shatner was unsuccessfully attempting serious music or simply engaging in a massive spoof.
2 However for me Shatner has always been a joy to WATCH and indeed I have previously mentioned on Cogerson a few of William’s performances that have greatly entertained me’ particularly his two Columbo TV outings with Peter Falk.. My pick of the posters on your video are Visiting Hours, Kingdom of the Spiders, Outrage, Big Bad Mama, Incubus, Over the Hedge and The Bros Karamazov. I have though enjoyed virtually all of your Star Trek presentations.
3 Best stills I thought were Devil’s Rain, with Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, the ensemble one from Star Trek 1979, the lobby card from Bros Karamazov, and the ‘two captains’ one with Patrick Stewart. The one with Old Cantankerous from Judgment at Nuremberg should be a collector’s item for any movies buff.
4 You are obviously continuing in fine form in the New Year as I thought the overall video easily warranted a 96.5%.
Welcome back Bob, hope you enjoyed your holiday abroad. It’s cold and wet here in Manchester. Thanks for reviewing and rating my William Shatner video, appreciate the info and comment. Glad you liked the posters and stills.
Nice to have an edit button on the comments box to correct our mistakes. But as you know I don’t rally kneed it.
I wasn’t sure about William Shatner, a sci-fi legend and icon but has he made enough movies other than Star Trek to warrant a video? Luckily there were more than 20 to choose from. I was telling Phil that the original Star Trek series is still my favorite of all TV shows. Nostalgia comes into play of course, watching the show as a kid, rerun after rerun, practically memorised the dialogue, even the music was superb. The great thing is it’s still very watchable 50 years later. I have all the episodes on DVD and Blu-ray.
Only Judgment at Nuremberg scores 10 out of 10 from my sources here, one scored 9 – Star Trek IV (the one with the whales). And there are three 8’s – Trek’s II, VI and VII.
Highest rated at IMDB is Nuremberg, highest rated at Rotten Tomatoes is Wrath of Khan. Looking at Bruce’s Star Trek page Khan scores 8.2, topping the other Shatner Treks. Nuremberg scored 8.6 on his Judy Garland chart.
Hey Steve….your video is making me think I should do a Shatner page….I mean I have one on Spock….certainly I should have one on Kirk…….even though Chris Pine has an UMR page already. Still two Kirk pages would work. Pretty sure Nuremberg is the highest Shatner movie in my database. Good stuff.
1 HI STEVE I see you’ve sneaked in another of your backdoor tributes to Hitch. Not only is Psycho Vera Miles’ best screen lead role but even before it Alfred had been trying to showcase Vera as his new star, for example putting her in The Wrong Man with Fonda and lining her up for his now-classic Vertigo with one of Hitch’s favourite actors my Jimmy. Unfortunately she fell pregnant and was replaced by Kim Novak in the latter film.
2 Psycho gave Hitch a highly publicised quandary at the time because Janet Leigh was the bigger star but Vera had the longer role so there was a debate about who should get top billing. Your poster reveals shrewd Alfred’s canny compromise.
3 Often in her heyday Vera would play the loyal associate such as the faithful girlfriend of blind detective Van Johnson in 1956’s 23 Paces to Baker Street and Lila Crane, determined to find out what happened to her sister Marion in Psycho. However my own fave Miles role was as mistress of New York Mayor Jimmy Walker in the 1956 Beau James, played by Republican donor and friend of Nixon Bob Hope, Bob not only performing [excellently in my opinion] a serious role but a Democrat! It’s a wonder The Duke didn’t savage Bob for “letting down the American people”!
4 My second favourite Miles role would probably be as the promiscuous murderess in the 1973 episode of TV’s Columbo, Lovely but Lethal. She and the Great Detective had some cracking scenes together as adversaries in that one. In fact interestingly in that episode Vera, then 44, used a variation of your opening quote from her to tongue-lash Peter Falk “I love young men. Lots of them. And if that offends your sense of morality Lieutenant I DON’T CARE”
5 Miles of course never became a top star but as usual that consideration does not affect the quality of your pictorials and my pick of the posters is Web of Evidence, Charge at Feather River, Hellfighters, A Tiger Walks, Into the Night, The FBI Story, and The Wrong Man. I thought though that the 2nd ones from both The Searchers and Liberty Valance were par excellence but of course as they heavily showcase my pals Jimmy and The Duke I must admit to a slight bias!
6 A great bunch of stills as well – Vera being saved by Tarzan, the lobby card with Mason, Vera showing us a sexy side of her persona as Betty Compton with Hope, with blind Van in 23 Paces to Baker Street [possibly my 3rd favourite Miles performance] with Hank in The Wrong Man, and the solo of the lovely young Vera in The Searchers.
7 For me Vera in the 1950s was one of the most comforting leading ladies to watch so I welcome your profile of her which I rate at 97%
Hey Bob
1. So I am guessing Steve has some new content….I will have to run over there and check it out.
2. Good tidbits on Miles…..I wonder how her career would have gone if she had gotten the Vertigo role?
3. You know way more than I do about Miles….I do know Miles was very unhappy about her contract with Hitch…..and that Hitch pretty much put her to the side…..though she got paid.
4. Good breakdown of Steve’s video…..heading over there right now.
Good stuff.
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, info, comment and trivia, much appreciated.
Happy you liked the posters, lobby cards and stills.
It was good to upload some not so familiar posters after a couple of weeks of Hollywood greats in extended videos.
I don’t think Vera Miles was top billed in any of her films but she still rates as a ‘leading lady’ doesn’t she? Psycho’s leading lady? [Bob ‘hmmms’]
One of her husbands was Tarzan himself, Gordon Scott, their marriage lasted 4 years and they had a son which they named ‘boy’. Kidding, his name was Michael. 🙂
Vera has three films scoring 10 out of 10 – The Searchers, Liberty Valance and of course everyone’s favorite schizo movie, Psycho. (fans of ‘Split’ may beg to differ)
Psycho tops all charts, not sure about Bruce’s let me check – yep Psycho scores 9.4 on Bruce’s critics chart, followed by The Searchers with 8.9.
Klaatu’s girlfriend is up next, in just a few minutes actually.
HI STEVE:
1 Vera was certainly often a leading lady [ie the main female part] but usually a supporting one to the likes of Van Johnson, The Duke, and my Jimmy and in Psycho her character whilst very important was clearly subordinate to Norman Bates and I don’t think that she got the publicity out of it that sexy Janet did, first because of the posters showing Mrs Tony Curtis in undies and then because of course of Leigh’s legendary shower scene.
2 Also, you’re right, I cannot remember a movie in which Vera was ever top billed.. Indeed in that respect you might also like to look in on para 4 of my post today about Christian Bale in which I quote one of your revered late fellow citizen’s stance on lead roles/billing. I wonder what the star concerned would have thought of the likes of 3rd lead actors or lesser piling up massive grosses on the Cogerson site!
Hey Bob….as always….it is good to read your side of thinking. 🙂
Hey Steve….Bob is the man when it comes to detailed comments that are entertaining and informative. Pretty sure our Top 3’s would match. Good stuff.
Hi Steve, I was off-line for a few days, but wanted to thank you for doing a George Peppard video, as I had suggested one several weeks ago. I agree with Bob that it is very well-done, good selection of posters, and nice stills of Peppard with three beautiful leading ladies, Hepburn, Andress and Loren.
I do not know under which circumstances Peppard appeared in the photo with Sinatra and McQueen that starts off your video, but it’s interesting to note that in the early 1960s, there were at least a few instances when Peppard and McQueen were considered for the same role. I’m not sure about Never So Few, but Peppard was considered for McQueen’s role in The Magnificent Seven, while McQueen was considered for Breakfast at Tiffany. McQueen also turned down the role that went to Peppard in The Victors, wisely filming The Great Escape instead, which was much more successful.
After raising attention with his role in 1960s’ Home From The Hill, Peppard was seen as a promising new star and given major roles in a number of ambitious productions, up to his peak in 1966’s The Blue Max. He was then surprisingly being billed before Dean Martin in the poster of 1967’s Rough Night in Jericho. Perhaps this was not quite deserved, and Martin was justifiably billed first in the movie, but it suggests the high popularity Peppard enjoyed around that time.
My favourite Peppard performance was also in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, where I thought that he very much held his own against Audrey Hepburn, followed by his performance as an obsessively competitive German pilot in The Blue Max. Peppard also had the longest running role in How the West Was Won where he did a fine job in different episodic characterisations. One of my favourite Peppard films, however, is the British spy adventure, Operation Crossbow, which I usually find to be much underrated. Unfortunately, by the late 1960s, Peppard became cast mainly in routine action films (as shown by the first half of your video), which mostly failed commercially and critically, but he managed some success on TV with Banacek and The A-Team.
Hey PhilHoF’17…..glad to see you back. Excellent breakdown on George Peppard. Seems like maybe we need an UMR page on head. Good stuff about McQueen and Peppard being in the same orbit for so many of the same roles….I am sure many times Peppard was mentioned with McQueen back then. I have not seen Operation Crossbow….I will have to check that one out in the future. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on George Peppard.
Good post Phil, thanks for taking the time to look at my George Peppard video.
When I saw that photo of Peppard with Sinatra and McQueen it surprised me because I thought I’d missed an important film for the list I was preparing. After a few checks I discovered that Peppard was simply visiting the set of the 1959 movie Never So Few, but I still had to include the photo somewhere on the video. 🙂
The Blue Max is an old favorite of mine, I’ve watched it many many times over the decades. I like aerial warfare in movies, which is one of the reasons Battle of Britain is my favorite war movie, at least one third of that movie consists of aerial battles. As a soundtrack collector I have Jerry Goldsmith’s and Ron Goodwin’s music scores for those two films on LP and CD.
🙂
Hey Bruce, yeap, I would support a Peppard page and would note it should not be too much work, as he did not do many films. Unfortunately, he also passed away rather early, in his mid-60s. And check out Operation Crossbow when you have the chance – I would chose it over The Carpetbaggers, which I found more like a big soaper, though very popular at the time due to the success of Harold Robbins’ novel.
Hey PhilHOF17…I was actually working on a Peppard page when I saw Dorothy Malone passed away….and I quickly switched gears. I did notice that many of his movies (1970s on) were made overseas and barely got released in North America. I will have to check out Operation Crossbow. I have wanted to see The Carpetbaggers for a very long time….but have yet to run across that movie….though I have seen Steve McQueen’s Nevada Smith. Good stuff.
Thanks for clarification on the pĥoto, Steve. I also enjoy The Blue Max, and I found interesting the Japanese poster in your video of that film, just before the panoramic shot of How The West Was Won. Jerry Goldsmith has composed some my favorite film scores.
Hey PhilHOF17….my blu-ray of How The West Was Won is awesome to watch….I can only imagine how in looked in theaters back in the 1960s.
1 HI STEVE. For my money your George Peppard video is among the very best that I personally have ever seen from you so I’ll start by giving it a 98% rating in my book. He had a brief run as a top star in the early 60s in films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s. How the West Was Won and especially The Carpetbaggers. However a series of lops followed with his only additional serious hit being the 1966 The Blue Max [Cogerson adjusted domestic gross $143 million].
2 Accordingly George turned to TV in the early 1970s and had hit series with Banacek in 1972-74 and later with the A Team. Indeed George personally pulled the plug on Banacek at the height of its success to prevent his ex-wife Elizabeth Ashley [his Carpetbaggers co-star] from getting a share of the profits as part of their divorce settlement.
3 I was very impressed by most of the posters in your Peppard collection especially Newman’s Law, House of Cards, The Executioner, PJ [aka New Face in Hell] The 3rd Day, Rough Night in Jericho [in which George is billed before Dean Martin] Pendulum, The Strange One, my Greg in Pork Chop Hill and both the ones for Home from the Hill with Mitchum in iconic domination.
4 The stills too were of excellent quality and I very much liked the one of George with Sinatra and McQueen [which I take it is on the set of Never So Few though George was not actually in that one to the best of my knowledge], the outdoor scene from Damnation Alley, with Sophia Loren in Operation Crossbow, the sexy lobby card from The Carpetbaggers and the lobby card also from The Blue Max, the “vista” one from How the West Was Won and finally and Paul Varjak with Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
5 George’s performance as kept man Paul in Breakfast at Tiffany’s is by far my favorite Peppard big screen portrayal although I thought he was well-suited to the part of the “heel” Jonas Cord Jr. in Carpetbaggers. I also loved George in TV’s Banacek but the A Team was not my cup of tea. However one minor distinction that can never be taken away from George is that in Carpetbaggers he became the very last in a long line of male screen personalities to lose a fight to tough guy Ladd!
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and comment, always appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the posters and stills.
Did not know about Peppard cancelling the TV show Banacek for that reason. Wow. I’ll bet that doesn’t happen often, or does it?
Like Burt Reynolds and later Kevin Costner, Peppard was briefly quite popular on the big screen and than suddenly you couldn’t pay people to see his movies. Moviegoers are so fickle. Brando wasn’t immune either though he had one last blaze of glory thanks to Francis Coppola.
Not a big favorite of mine either, though my dad enjoyed it – The A-Team – was popular around the world and Peppard made the most of it but it didn’t last. He’s probably best known for that series than his big Hollywood movies nowadays.
Only one Peppard film scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Two scored 9 – How the West Was Won and Operation Crossbow. Three more scored 8.
Breakfast was the no.1 Peppard movie at IMDB. Home from the Hill was tops at Rotten Tomatoes. The Blue Max was his highest rated top-billed movie.
HI STEVE
1 Enjoyable and informative feedback from you as always. I was sorry that Peppard ‘s cinematic top star era did not last longer as I really liked him.
2 Anyway enough about Hollywood’s “Big Beasts” for now as I’m just about to look in on your profiles of 2 of its “Big Bitches”!
3 Incidentally I see that this site’s “Big Beast” seems to have gone AWOL at the moment. I’ll have to stop taking holidays because ever time I do I come back to find that the Work Horse has fallen below the radar again.
Hahaha “big bitches” I was just sent a second hand book from Amazon, Bette & Joan – The Divine Feud. Only a couple of quid. Should be a fun read. 🙂
Yes seems like Bruce has gone for another of his long ‘walks’, but the machinery is still cranking out pages. I’m telling you the site will eventually be fully automated and we’ll miss the good old days when titles like “The Old Dark Horse” would rear up majestically on the page. 😉
Hey Bob and Steve….it was a short walk. So far in 2018….we have cranked out 10 new pages…..that is better than one every two days. I can’t catch a break on the comments….last year I commented back over 7,000 times (that is almost 19 comments a day)….already in 2018 I have had over 400 Cogerson comments……you gotta give me some credit….WoC timed it last month…I am spending on average 20 hours a week on comments. That translates to 43 days a year doing comments non-stop.
I wonder if the book Steve got will actually have the reason for the feud……some claim it was a way to generate publicity for them……I fear the truth will never been known.
Good movie thoughts from both of you.
Hi Bruce, I’ve read the first few chapters of that book, I think the feud started when Bette Davis took a fancy to actor Franchot Tone after they acted together in a film. He wasn’t interested in her but he was interested in Joan Crawford and eventually married her, they made 7 films together.
Davis also had the hots for Clark Gable, but he had the hots for Crawford and they made 8 films together!
Davis had to accept that while she was a better actress, Crawford was a more attractive and glamorous star – “Joan and I have never been warm friends. We are not simpatico. I admire her, and yet I feel uncomfortable with her. To me, she is the personification of the Movie Star. I have always felt her greatest performance is Crawford being Crawford.”
Hey Steve….thanks for the breakdown of the first few chapters on the feud between Davis and Crawford. That makes sense……that Crawford had the sexy….while Davis had the talent. Thanks for sharing that info….hope you enjoy the rest of the book….and now…..
[Chorus]
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
It’s home from work we go
[Whistle]
1 HI STEVE As we know Robert Vaughn became a successful TV star with The Man from UNCLE spy series that cashed in on the Bond craze of the 1960s and that Robert’s UNCLE series ran for 105 episodes from 1964-1968. A spin-off series The Girl from UNCLE which starred Stefanie Powers the real-life lover of the legendary Golden Holden and Noel Harrison son of Sexy Rexy was a flop lasting only 1 series [1966/67] and a recent 2015 modern feature length cinematic release The Man from UNCLE starring Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo was also a financial disaster, grossing just about $110 million worldwide against massive production/distribution costs
2 Unfortunately Robert never became a top star in big screen mainstream movies though he gave many fine supporting performances over the years, my personal favourite being Walter Chalmers in Bullitt. I also liked him very much in a TV movie in which he attacked and sexually abused his own daughter in law [Dancing in the Dark 1995].
3 He had an uncredited walk-on cameo as Nappy Solo in my Doris’ 1966 spy spoof The Glass Bottom Boat [aka The Spy in Lace Panties]. Indeed Robert’s big screen debut was an uncredited role in the 1956 Ten Commandments and I was surprised that you didn’t seize the opportunity to once again put the Chuck epic top of your chart. Certainly if the Work Horse does a Vaughn page I’ll be most disappointed if WH doesn’t credit Robert V with that massive $2.765 billion worldwide adjusted gross that has been recorded against 10 Cmts in the Cogerson charts!
4 I immensely enjoyed all of your UNCLE posters though as you say the movies were based on re-edited material from the TV episodes, and these were my other favourite posters in your Vaughn video – Teenage Caveman, Hell’s Crossroads [with Vaughn as the sneak Robert Ford who shot Jesse James in the back] No Time to be Young, The Venetian Affair, Good Day for a Hanging, Chuck’s Julius Caesar, The Bridge at Remagen, The Caretakers with my Joan. Demon Seed and the one from The Magnificent Seven which actually puts Vaughn centre stage.
5 Excellent stills were the Magnificent 7 Ensemble, the UNCLE lead trio, the Bath Scene, Robert with gun and I presume Senta Berger in The Spy with My Face, the lobby card for The Mind of Mr Soames and with McQueen in Bullitt. Overall grand stuff easily worth a 97% rating. Lovely self-depreciating opening quote from Robert.
Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing and rating my Robert Vaughn video, appreciate the info, trivia and comment. Happy you enjoyed the pictorial presentation.
I didn’t know he had an uncredited role in Ten Commandments until I started working on the video, I will try and spot him next time I watch that film. Will I need a magnifying glass? 🙂
I was so relieved all those Man from Uncle posters were available, they were the icing on this cake. One of them – The Karate Killers – has your Joan (Crawford) as a special guest star.
That was indeed Senta Berger in the still with Vaughn. And very pretty she is too.
I think that Robert Vaughn was the last of the Magnificent Seven to die, all our heroes are now dead. But they live on in film (and TV), immortals.
One Vaughn movie scored 10 out of 10 and that was The Magnificent Seven. Three scored 9 – Bullitt, Mind of Mr. Soames and The Demon Seed. And one 8 – The Towering Inferno.
Magnificent Seven tops the charts at IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, presumably a future Vaughn UMR page too.
HI STEVE
1 I enjoyed your feedback on my Shatner and Vaughn posts.Robert’s uncredited part in 10 Cmts is described as Spearman/Hebrew at Golden Calf.
2 I noticed my Joan was in the Karate Killers and that she would agree to appear in a TV series spin-off shows how far her stock had sunk since the heady days of Grand Hotel and Mildred Pierce.
3 Many prominent guest stars appeared in the UNCLE series but none had been in the Crawford league and any stardom that they had once had had in most cases long since kissed them goodbye – for example Eleanor Parker, Broderick Crawford, Joan Blondell, Joan Collins, Vincent Price and Bruce’s woman Angela Lansbury who would go on to greater things.
4 Three others at least though were on the way up – 13 year old Kurt Russell appeared in the 1964 The Funny Foot Affair and [as a real personal “cross over” for you] Shatner and Nimoy both appeared in the 1964 The Project Strigas Affair this being the first time that the two Trek legends had ever appeared together though they did not share many scenes in this UNCLE episode.
5 Anyway I’m off now to look in on Paul Varak/Jonas Cord Jr. PS Enjoyed my holiday – thanks for your kind wishes.
Glad you (Bob) enjoyed your holiday. I like the Kurt Russell trivia…..the man (Russell) needs to write a book……it would be fascinating for sure.
Hey Steve….I can see doing a Vaughn page. In the UMR orbit currently is Jackie Chan, 1934, 1962, Kevin Bacon and William Shatner…..where the ball stops nobody knows…lol.
Hey Bob….all of this Robert Vaughn talk made me remember a tweet I did recently….Vaughn was the last man standing of the Magnificent Seven. Here is the tweet…..might be a bit morbid…but I like it anyway.
https://twitter.com/BruceCogerson/status/953476326509379584
Good review on Steve’s Vaughn video….good information for sure.
HI AGAIN STEVE
1 Years ago I listened to a Sunday musical requests program in which the disc jockey would from time to time play a record which he considered was so awful that it was fascinating to hear. As often as not the singing artist would be a celebrity who was not a professional singer and the two such records that I will never forget are Rudolph Valentino singing Kashmiri Song [aka Pale Hands I loved beside the Shalimar, a song for which Rudy apparently had a particular fascination] and William Shatner’s interpretation of the Beatles drugs song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The disc jockey confessed that he couldn’t make up his mind whether Shatner was unsuccessfully attempting serious music or simply engaging in a massive spoof.
2 However for me Shatner has always been a joy to WATCH and indeed I have previously mentioned on Cogerson a few of William’s performances that have greatly entertained me’ particularly his two Columbo TV outings with Peter Falk.. My pick of the posters on your video are Visiting Hours, Kingdom of the Spiders, Outrage, Big Bad Mama, Incubus, Over the Hedge and The Bros Karamazov. I have though enjoyed virtually all of your Star Trek presentations.
3 Best stills I thought were Devil’s Rain, with Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, the ensemble one from Star Trek 1979, the lobby card from Bros Karamazov, and the ‘two captains’ one with Patrick Stewart. The one with Old Cantankerous from Judgment at Nuremberg should be a collector’s item for any movies buff.
4 You are obviously continuing in fine form in the New Year as I thought the overall video easily warranted a 96.5%.
Welcome back Bob, hope you enjoyed your holiday abroad. It’s cold and wet here in Manchester. Thanks for reviewing and rating my William Shatner video, appreciate the info and comment. Glad you liked the posters and stills.
Nice to have an edit button on the comments box to correct our mistakes. But as you know I don’t rally kneed it.
I wasn’t sure about William Shatner, a sci-fi legend and icon but has he made enough movies other than Star Trek to warrant a video? Luckily there were more than 20 to choose from. I was telling Phil that the original Star Trek series is still my favorite of all TV shows. Nostalgia comes into play of course, watching the show as a kid, rerun after rerun, practically memorised the dialogue, even the music was superb. The great thing is it’s still very watchable 50 years later. I have all the episodes on DVD and Blu-ray.
Only Judgment at Nuremberg scores 10 out of 10 from my sources here, one scored 9 – Star Trek IV (the one with the whales). And there are three 8’s – Trek’s II, VI and VII.
Highest rated at IMDB is Nuremberg, highest rated at Rotten Tomatoes is Wrath of Khan. Looking at Bruce’s Star Trek page Khan scores 8.2, topping the other Shatner Treks. Nuremberg scored 8.6 on his Judy Garland chart.
Hey Steve….your video is making me think I should do a Shatner page….I mean I have one on Spock….certainly I should have one on Kirk…….even though Chris Pine has an UMR page already. Still two Kirk pages would work. Pretty sure Nuremberg is the highest Shatner movie in my database. Good stuff.
Hey Bob……good information on Captain Kirk. Glad you have successfully made it back home…hope your trip was awesome.