Actor Pat Hingle (1924)

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) is an American sports comedy film directed by Adam McKay and co-written by Will Ferrell. Born in rural North Carolina, Ricky Bobby’s arrival into the world was a bit unconventional – in the backseat of a speeding car, as his father Reese missed the turnoff for the hospital. After that, Ricky only saw his father once at school when he was 10 years old. It was during this brief encounter that Reese imparted some valuable advice to his son: ‘If you ain’t first, you’re last’. Taking those ...

Batman & Robin (1997) is a film based on the popular DC Comics characters created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. As the last installment of Warner Bros.’s initial Batman series, it follows the dynamic duo as they face off against a new villain, Mr. Freeze. The icy adversary has been causing chaos with his diamond thefts, leading Batman and Robin to a showdown in the natural history museum. During their confrontation, Freeze makes a daring escape with an even bigger diamond, leaving Robin frozen and Batman unable to pursue him. However, as they dig deeper into ...

The American Western movie, The Quick and the Dead (1995), was directed by Sam Raimi. It takes place in Redemption, a town in the Old West, where the notorious outlaw-turned-mayor John Herod reigns supreme. He has declared a single-elimination shooting tournament with specific rules: any contestant can challenge another, no challenges can be declined, each player must fight once daily, and a match ends when one person yields or dies. The Lady, a skilled gunslinger, enters the competition solely for the large cash prize. While sign-ups are underway, Herod’s henchmen appear with Cort, an ex-member of their gang ...

Batman Forever (1995) is an American superhero film directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton. It is based on the DC Comics character Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The movie takes place in Gotham City, where Batman intervenes in a hostage situation caused by Two-Face, who was once the district attorney Harvey Dent. However, Two-Face manages to escape. Through flashbacks, we learn that Two-Face was disfigured with acid by mobster Sal Maroni, which ...

Tim Burton directed Batman Returns (1992), a superhero movie with a screenplay by Daniel Waters. Set in Gotham City, the film tells the story of two wealthy parents who reject their deformed son Oswald and leave him to be raised by penguins in the sewers. Thirty-three years later, during the holiday season, a powerful businessman named Max Shreck is kidnapped by the Red Triangle gang – a former circus troupe known for abducting children across the country – and taken to an abandoned zoo. The leader of the gang, Oswald (now going by the name Penguin), uses evidence of ...

Batman (1989), a superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, is directed by Tim Burton. It marks the beginning of Warner Bros.’ original Batman film series. At a fundraiser hosted by billionaire Bruce Wayne, who is secretly Batman, reporter Alexander Knox and photojournalist Vicki Vale investigate sightings of the ‘Batman’, a masked vigilante targeting criminals in Gotham City. It was during this event that Wayne becomes enamored with Vale. ...

Maximum Overdrive (1986) is an American horror film written and directed by Stephen King. On June 19, 1987, as the Earth crosses the tail of a rogue comet, Rhea-M, previously inanimate machines suddenly come to life; insults are hurled by an ATM at a customer and a bascule bridge rises during heavy traffic, causing vehicles to plummet into the river or crash into each other. Pandemonium spreads as machines worldwide begin attacking humans. At a truck stop outside Wilmington, North Carolina, employee Duncan Keller is left blinded when gasoline sprays into his eyes from a pump. The waitress Wanda June is injured by an ...

Sudden Impact (1983), an American neo-noir action thriller film and the fourth installment of the Dirty Harry series, follows artist Jennifer Spencer and her sister Beth as they are brutally attacked by a gang in 1973. Sadly, the attack leaves Beth catatonic. Ten years pass before Spencer takes matters into her own hands and takes revenge on one of the criminals, George Wilburn, in San Francisco. She then returns to her hometown of San Paulo to seek out the remaining criminals. Meanwhile, Inspector Harry Callahan is once again frustrated when a judge dismisses his case due to his direct methods. At his go-to diner, he manages to thwart a robbery and take down ...

Norma Rae (1979) an American drama directed by Martin Ritt, follows the story of a worker in a cotton mill. Despite the negative impact on her family’s health, Norma refuses to turn a blind eye to the poor working conditions. As a single mother with two children from different fathers (one deceased and the other neglectful), she often engages in flings to combat feelings of loneliness and boredom. Initially, management attempts to pacify her frequent protests by promoting her to ‘spot checker’, where she is responsible for monitoring work quotas. Though hesitant, she accepts the position for the higher ...

The Gauntlet (1977), an American action thriller directed by Clint Eastwood and starring both Eastwood and Sondra Locke, follows Ben Shockley, an alcoholic cop from Phoenix, as he is tasked with escorting witness Augustina ‘Gus’ Mally from Las Vegas. Shockley’s superior, Commissioner Edgar A. Blakelock, dismissively refers to Mally as a ‘nothing witness’ for a ‘nothing trial’. Despite Mally’s insistence that they are in danger of being killed in a planned hit, Shockley remains ...

Hang ‘Em High (1968) is an American revisionist Western film directed by Ted Post. In the Oklahoma Territory of 1889, retired lawman Jed Cooper finds himself surrounded by a posse of nine men: Captain Wilson, Reno, Miller, Jenkins, Stone, Maddow, Tommy, Loomis, and Charlie Blackfoot. They demand proof of purchase for the cattle that Cooper is driving. The seller of the cattle is a notorious robber who is also responsible for killing the rancher. Despite Cooper’s protests that he had no involvement in the murder, only Jenkins expresses skepticism about his guilt. While retrieving a prisoner, Cooper notices ...