Olive Films May Titles
Olive Films announced their title for May, including one of my top Blu-ray “wish list” titles — Norman Lear’s fantastic satire, Cold Turkey (1971), featuring hilarious performances by Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart, Bob & Ray, Barnard Hughes, Vincent Gardenia, and several other familiar faces.
Here’s the full announcement from the Olive Films website:
This May, Olive Films has a great batch of titles for you to take home! We have the zany satire Cold Turkey from television-producing icon Norman Lear starring Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart, the charged heist flick Odds Against Tomorrow from Robert Wise with Robert Ryan, Harry Belafonte, and Shelley Winters, and the wacky horror-comedy A Bucket of Blood from film legend Roger Corman starring Dick Miller.
These titles will all be available to own on May 29th. Preorder now!
COLD TURKEY (1971)
DICK VAN DYKE (Mary Poppins, Night at the Museum, TV’s The Dick Van Dyke Show)
BOB NEWHART (Catch-22, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, TV’s Newhart)
PIPPA SCOTT (The Searchers, Auntie Mame, Petulia)
TOM POSTON (Rabbit Test, TV’s The Bob Newhart Show, TV’s Mork & Mindy)
EDWARD EVERETT HORTON (Top Hat, Brazil, Arsenic and Old Lace)
JEAN STAPLETON (Bells Are Ringing, You’ve Got Mail, TV’s All in the Family)
Directed by NORMAN LEAR (Producer of TV’s All in the Family, Good Times, Maude)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH (with optional English subtitles)
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 102 mins
VIDEO: 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio; COLOR
Cold Turkey, writer-director Norman Lear’s (TV’s All in the Family) satirical comedy, stars Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins) as Reverend Clayton Brooks, a minister in the small town of Eagle Rock, Iowa who takes up the challenge presented by ad exec Merwin Wren (Bob Newhart, TV’s The Bob Newhart Show), a mouthpiece for Hiram C. Grayson (Edward Everett Horton, Top Hat; Brazil) of the Valiant Tobacco Company: any city or town in America that can give up smoking for 30 days will receive a $25 million dollar check. Based on the addictive nature of the nation, Valiant is positive that their publicity stunt won’t cost them a dime.
And so begins the comic tale of the residents of Eagle Rock and their struggle to butt out and grab the dough. The supporting cast of Cold Turkey is a veritable smorgasbord of comedic talent including Tom Poston (TV’s Newhart), Jean Stapleton (TV’s All in the Family), Pippa Scott (Auntie Mame), Vincent Gardenia (Moonstruck), Bob and Ray (Author!Author!), Barnard Hughes (Midnight Cowboy), Barbara Cason (TV’s Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), Judith Lowry (The Trouble with Angels), M. Emmet Walsh (What’s Up, Doc?) and Paul Benedict (TV’s The Jeffersons).
Cold Turkey will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on May 29th.
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959)
ROBERT RYAN (On Dangerous Ground, Caught, The Wild Bunch)
HARRY BELAFONTE (Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun, Buck and the Preacher)
SHELLEY WINTERS (The Diary of Anne Frank, Lolita, A Double Life)
GLORIA GRAHAME (The Big Heat, It’s a Wonderful Life, In a Lonely Place)
ED BEGLEY (The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Wild in the Streets, 12 Angry Men)
Directed by ROBERT WISE (West Side Story, The Sound of Music, The Haunting)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH (with optional English subtitles)
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 96 mins
VIDEO: 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio; B&W
Odds Against Tomorrow, Academy Award winner Robert Wise’s (West Side Story) taut film noir, stars Academy Award® nominee Robert Ryan (Supporting Actor, Crossfire – 1948) as Earle Slater, a racist ex-con looking to make a quick buck, and Harry Belafonte (Carmen Jones) as Johnny Ingram, a nightclub performer with gambling debts and in need of some cash.
Recruited by disgraced cop David Burke (Ed Begley, Academy Award® winner for Supporting Actor, Sweet Bird of Youth – 1963) to help with a bank heist, Slater and Ingram become bitter allies in their greed and shared rage against the world. But a pivotal moment will send both men toward a cataclysmic outcome that is anything but black and white.
Odds Against Tomorrow features supporting performances by Academy Award® winner Shelley Winters (Supporting Actress, The Diary of Anne Frank – 1960; Supporting Actress, A Patch of Blue – 1966) as Lorry, Slater’s apprehensive girlfriend, and Academy Award® winner Gloria Grahame (Supporting Actress, The Bad and the Beautiful – 1953) as Helen, Slater’s emotionally damaged neighbor. Written for the screen by Nelson Gidding (The Haunting) and Abraham Polonsky (Academy Award® nominee, Writing, Original Screenplay – Body and Soul, 1948), who due to the Blacklist was fronted by novelist John O. Killens, Odds Against Tomorrow is photographed by Joseph C. Brun (Academy Award® nominee, Cinematography, Black & White, Martin Luther – 1954) and edited by three-time Academy Award® nominee Dede Allen (Dog Day Afternoon – 1976, Reds – 1982 shared with Craig McKay, Wonder Boys – 2001).
Odds Against Tomorrow will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on May 29th.
A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) [DVD Only]
DICK MILLER (Gremlins, The Trip, The Wild Angels)
BERT CONVY (Semi-Tough, Hero at Large, Susan Slade)
BARBOURA MORRIS (The Trip, The Haunted Palace, The Wasp Woman)
ANTONY CARBONE (Extreme Close-Up, Pit and the Pendulum, Last Woman on Earth)
ED NELSON (Airport 1975, Runaway Jury, TV’s Peyton Place)
Directed by ROGER CORMAN (The Trip, The Wild Angels, Gas-s-s-s)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH (with optional English subtitles)
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 66 mins
VIDEO: 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio; B&W
In the immortal words of Hippocrates, “Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting …” Hippocrates was onto something.
A Bucket of Blood, directed by Roger Corman (The Trip), is the best of the genre hyphenates, a black-comedy-beatnik-culture-horror film. The masterful Corman (recipient of an honorary Academy Award® in 2010 for “his rich engendering of films and filmmakers”), often referred to as the Pope of Pop Culture, delivers on every level in a film packed with notable character actors including cult-favorite Dick Miller (The Trip, The Wild Angels) in the lead role of Walter, a busboy who dreams of creating the perfect work of art. Also featured are Barboura Morris (The Trip, The Haunted Palace) as Carla, the woman of Walter’s dreams, and Bert Convy (Semi-Tough) as undercover cop Lou Raby.
Influenced by the artists that circle his orbit at The Yellow Door Café, busboy Walter ventures into the world of sculpting where he can nurture the Rodin that lives inside of him. The downside is that his subjects are dead – by his hand. His beginnings, both humble and accidental, start with a small statue called “Dead Cat.” Unfortunately, “Dead Cat” is followed by “Murdered Man.” By the time we reach Walter’s interest in the female form …. well, you get the picture.
A Bucket of Blood is written by Charles B. Griffith (Death Race 2000), photographed by Jacques R. Marquette (Burnt Offerings), edited by Anthony Carras (The Comedy of Terrors), with music by Fred Katz (The Little Shop of Horrors) and art direction by Dan Haller (Pit and the Pendulum).
A Bucket of Blood will be available on DVD on May 29th.
