Week 73: Cops, mobsters, heroes, monsters, cowpokes and kung fu – the wild career of John Saxon

Tags

A Tough Cop in Action, Antonio Margheriti, Battle Beyond the Stars, Black Christmas, Blazing Magnum, Blood Beach, Cannibal Apocalypse, Dario Argento, David Cronenberg, Enter the Dragon, Girl Who Knew Too Much, Hands of Steel, Joe Don Baker, John Saxon, Mario Bava, Mitchell, Nightmare Beach, Nightmare on Elm Street, Queen of Blood, Rosey Grier, Running Scared, Scorpion with two tails, Sergio Martino, Tenebre, The Bees, THe Cynic the Rat and the Fist, The Glove, The Night Caller, Umberto Lenzi, Violent Naples, Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine podcast

Born in Brooklyn, the former Carmine Orrico started out as an old school studio contract player, starring in healthily budgeted but forgettable films alongside the likes of Mamie Van Doren, Esther Williams, Sal Mineo, Fay Wray, Jimmy Stewart, Fabian and Sandra Dee as a succession of JDs, teen idols and romantic interests, before carving out something of a niche in film and television westerns.

Week 72: An Actor’s Actor – Al Pacino

Tags

Al Pacino, And Justice For All, Brian DePalma, Cruising, Dog Day Afternoon, Ellen Barkin, Francis Ford Coppola, Gigli, Heat, Jeffrey Tambor, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Scarface, Scent of a Woman, Sea of Love, Serpico, The Godfather, The Panic in Needle Park, Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine podcast, William Friedkin

Born in, of all places, Harlem and raised in the Bronx, forced to leave an already broken home when he made the choice to pursue acting, Al Pacino was born tough and lived it as well (being known as both a troublemaker and fighter in school)

Week 70: Do You Believe in Bronson?…Because You’re About to Meet Him!

Tags

10 to Midnight, Assasination, Borderline, Breakheart Pass, Breakout, Cannon films, Charles Bronson, Cold Sweat, Death Wish, Farewell Friend, J. Lee Thompson, Jan Michael Vincent, Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects, Love and Bullets, Messenger of Death, Michael Winner, Mr. Majestyk, Murphy's Law, Rider on the Rain, St. Ives, Telefon, The Evil That Men Do, The Mechanic, The Stone Killer, Violent City, Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine podcast

When it came to movie tough guys, Eastwood was your strong silent type, Stallone your streetwise paisan, Schwarzenegger your jokey bruiser…and Bronson the hard ass, vindictive son of a bitch nobody wanted to deal with.

Week 68: You’re Simply Not Tough Enough for This Show: The films of Chuck Norris

Tags

A Force of One, An Eye for an Eye, Breaker Breaker, Cannon films, Chuck Norris, Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos, Code of Silence, Delta Force, Firewalker, Forced Vengeance, Good Guys Wear Black, Hellbound, Hero and the Terror, Invasion USA, Lone Wolf McQuade, Missing in Action, Return of the Dragon, Sidekicks, Silent Rage, The Octagon, Top Dog, Walker Texas Ranger, Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine podcast

From humble roots in the dust bowl of Oklahoma, Carlos Ray Norris took his post Korean war-era stint in the Air Force and turned it into what became a black belt in three separate disciplines (Korean karate, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo) and international karate championships, where he met and trained further with the man, the myth: Bruce Lee.

Week 67: Stranger in a Strange Land: the Counterculture of Donald Sutherland

Tags

Amicus, Animal House, Billion Dollar Brain, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Carol Lynley, Castle of the Living Dead, Christopher Lee, Clint Eastwood, Daniel Emilfork, Die Die My Darling!, Doctor Terror's House of Horrors, Don Rickles, Don't Look Now, Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Federico Fellini, Fellini's Casanova, Gene Wilder, Gig Young, Hammer Films, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jane Fonda, Jeff Goldblum, Jennifer O’Neill, Jenny Agutter, Julie Christie, Kelly's Heroes, Ken Russell, Kentucky Fried Movie, Klute, Lady Ice, Lee Marvin, Leonard Nimoy, Luke Perry, M.A.S.H., Murder by Decree, Nicolas Roeg, Oliver Reed, Peter Cushing, S.P.Y.S., Sean Connery, Start the Revolution Without Me, Stefanie Powers, The Dirty Dozen, The Eagle Has Landed, The Great Train Robbery, The Rosary Murders, The Shuttered Room, Tina Aumont, Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine podcast

Next time, we’re taking on another counterculture icon!

Week 66: That Knowing Smile, That Piercing Gaze: The Tao of Charlotte Rampling

Tags

Amicus, Angel Heart, Asylum, Bo Derek, Caravan to Vaccares, Charlotte Rampling, D.O.A., David Birney, Dino DiLaurentis, Dirk Bogarde, Farewell My Lovely, Georgy GIrl, Jessica Harper, Keenan Wynn, Liliana Cavani, Lisa Bonet, Luchino Visconti, Lynn Redgrave, Marie-Christine Barrault, Meg Ryan, Mickey Rourke, Orca, Peter Hooten, Randy Quaid, Richard Harris, Robert DeNiro, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Stardust Memories, The Damned, The Night Porter, Vanishing Point, Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine podcast, Woody Allen, Zardoz

Charlotte Rampling, like Diana Rigg and many others of her generation, began her career as a 60’s fashion model.

After bit parts in such well remembered films as A Hard Days Night and The Knack and How to Get It, she stepped into a major role in the seminal Swinging London kitchen sink drama Georgy Girl, which got her noticed and brought over to Italy where she showed up in two WWII related epics that made her famous (and perhaps unintentionally helped kick off a certain infamous and short lived exploitation subgenre in Italy, France and the US): Visconti’s The Damned and Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter.

Week 63: He Always Comes Back: the life and films of Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian Oak, Commando, Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, End of Days, Grace Jones, Hercules in New York, Jingle All the Way, Joe Wieder, Kindergarten Cop, Last Action Hero, Mr. Olympia, Mr. Universe, Muscle & Fitness, Predator, Pumping Iron, Red Heat, Red Sonja, Running Man, The Expendables, The Governator, The Terminator, Total Recall, Twins, Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine podcast

Born into a stiff, lower middle class Austrian background just after the war, Arnold Schwarzenegger rebelled from his rigid father and proscribed life at an early age, eschewing the family plans for his life and career to pursue a rocky road in the dubious world of bodybuilding.