Fox Movie Channel

Did Somebody Say Miracle Drug?

It's no secret that I like bad movies from the eighties. They're one of my favorite things. But lately I keep finding interesting films where I least expect them, and by that I mean really good movies from the fifties. A perfect example of this is Bigger Than Life, a brilliantly directed Nicholas Ray film about addiction, mental illness, and the insanity of the domestic situation of the fifties. A Cinemascope gem, bathed in that perfectly delicious artificial Color by Deluxe, this one delivers in composition and content and fifties madness. Ed Avery, played by James Mason, gets some weird...

Gregory Peck, Part 2: Still A Hero

Ready for more Gregory Peck? As though you could ever have enough. Make time to check out The Chairman, another intense - but of course, amusingly dated - political thriller. The international military political tangle of The Chairman is just as opaque and messy as the one in Night People, only set in a different part of the world. Still true: Commies are bad. Also still true: Gregory Peck is the man. The Chinese have isolated a magic enzyme that allows them to grow wheat in the jungle and pineapple in the snow. This empowers Mao-dictated red China with the...

When Gregory Peck Protected Our World

Welcome to Part One of my exploration of how Gregory Peck is an all-American ass kicker. I have recently learned via watching Fox Movie Channel that before Will Smith took up the mantle of saving the world, Gregory Peck used to hold the job. Except where Will usually defends the whole world from threats posed by aliens, robots, or zombies, Gregory Peck used to guard America in particular from villainous international foes. And international human foes can be pretty scary. Like zombie scary. Which is why we're lucky that Gregory Peck took care of business in Night People in 1954...