Steven Jay Rubin's Saturday Night at the Movies, Los Angeles, CA (2025)

11/23/2025

BREAKING PODCAST NEWS - Back in the Summer of 1977, when I was in London researching my first 007 tome, The James Bond Films: A Behind the Scenes History, I truly had a “make it up as you go schedule.” Sometimes I would do three interviews in a day – directors, editors, special effects artists, actors, stuntmen, art directors, etc. As a sample, I’m featuring two of my archival interviews this week on Saturday Night at the Movies: second unit director (soon to be director) John Glen discusses the ski-jumping teaser in “The Spy Who Loved Me,” which he shot in the summer of 1976 on Baffin Island’s Asgard Peak (with Rick Sylvester as the jumper/parachutist) – still arguably the best stunt sequence in the Bond series; and the late actress Eunice Gayson discusses her two flings with 007 as Sylvia Trench in “Dr. No” and “From Russia Love.” You can watch them right now on our You Tube Channel using this link: https://youtu.be/SZg6Hz5hkRk
Or, starting tomorrow, you can pick up the casts on your favorite podcast platform. Hee’s a link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7oG8rdYWHp5bEO3pJiVRe7
Or try us on the True TV Plus Fast Channel, using this link (search Saturday Night at the Movies): https://play.truetvplus.com/screen/1

11/22/2025

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – One of the most underrated directors in Hollywood history would have to be Robert Wise, the original editor of “Citizen Kane,” who would go on to direct many classics including “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “The Haunting,” “I Want to Live,” “West Side Story” and “The Sound of Music.”
However, if you asked him what his favorite film experience was, he would most likely mention his epic 1966 film, “The Sand Pebbles,” which was nominated for 8 Oscars. Written by Robert Anderson, who adapted the gritty novel by former gunboat sailor Richard McKenna, this film, I believe, is Steve McQueen’s finest role (and his only Oscar nomination). For those of you new to this classic, it’s set in China in the year 1926, a country going through enormous changes as it begins to untether itself from European influence. McQueen is Jake Hollman, a U.S. gunboat sailor and engineer who is assigned to the U.S.S. San Pablo, a warship that patrols the Yangtze. The Chinese citizens who live in this region call the sailors “The Sand Pebbles.”
Wise, working on location in Taiwan, is in sharp form here, assembling a physically ambitious production, and a cast to match. After sharing the screen with McQueen in “The Great Escape,” Richard Attenborough is back as his fellow seaman Frenchie Burgoyne, his only friend on the ship. Richard Crenna is Collins, his dutiful commanding officer, trying to make sense of U.S. presence in the Far East (do you hear echoes of early American involvement in Vietnam?). Candice Bergen is Shirley Eckhert, a young missionary who befriends Jake, and the delightful Japanese character actor Mako is Po-han, the engine coolie that Jake trains.
When historical epics like this work, they fully transport you to a period, and make you believe you’re actually living in 1920s China. Thanks to production designer Boris Leven, who refurbished an actual gunboat, we travel between the stifling engine compartment of the San Pablo; a local Bo****lo, where Frenchie falls in love with neophyte bar girl Maily (Emmanuelle Arsan, who would later write erotic novels); to the dense urban environment of a Chinese city plummeting towards revolution. Plus, there’s a terrific battle sequence in which the San Pablo faces off against a seemingly impassable bamboo boom that stretches across a sea channel along her route.
But McQueen is the focus here, and he’s just terrific, betraying rare emotion as his world begins to come apart. And Jerry Goldsmith’s wonderfully dynamic score is a constant companion. Lots to recommend here.

11/16/2025

BREAKING PODCAST NEWS – One of the most popular comedies and perhaps one of the most memorable films of the 1980s was writers Anne Spielberg and Gary Ross’s classic switcheroo “Big, written by Anne Spielberg and Gary Ross, directed by Penny Marshall and starring Tom Hanks, Personally, I think it delivered more laughs and more clever scenes than every single comedy of the 2000s combined. The fact that I can’t think of any comedies in the 2000s is pretty telling.
This week on Steven Jay Rubin’s Saturday Night at the Movies, we’re joined by Ms. Spielberg who not only shares some great behind-the-scenes insight into the making of “Big” (which initially was supposed to star Robert DeNiro!), but we get a chance to learn about Anne’s own journey to becoming a working screenwriter in Hollywood, and now a children’s book author. Insight indeed from the other Spielberg.
You can watch the show right now on our You Tube Channel, using this link: https://youtu.be/c8rQRqlWfT0
Or, starting tomorrow night (Monday), you can pick up the audio version of your favorite podcast platform. Here’s a link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7oG8rdYWHp5bEO3pJiVRe7
Or you can also find the video on our FAST channel outlet, True TV Plus, using this link: https://play.truetvplus.com/screen/1

11/15/2025

Friends, Family, Fans, etc. Tuesday night we are hosting a presentation event in Westwood for our animated feature, currently in development, "Mouschi: The Cat Who Lived with Anne Frank," inspired by our children's picture book, which was published by Penguin/Random House. There will be food, drink and black & white cookies. Such a thing. We are trying to raise a little money to make a four minute proof-of-concept animated reel. At a time when racism, antisemitism and pure hate is rampant, education is the solution, especially for young people.
Mouschi introduces us to the real cast who lived in that cramped Amsterdam annex. However, while our book is Anne's story from Mouschi's point of view, the movie takes the cat into the world of the Dutch Animal Resistance, fighting the N***s. The villains: the German Shepherds, Dobermans and Rottweilers who patrol the canals. It's an action/adventure with doses of comedy, adventure and inspiratopm from the pen of Anne Frank.
If you'd like to come and be a part of this event at 6:30 on Tuesday, shoot me an email to stevejayrubin@gmail.com and I will give you directions.

11/15/2025

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – When was the last time you used the word “adorable” to describe a movie? For me, it was last week when I watched the original “Angels in the Outfield” (1951) for the umpteenth time. What’s adorable about this baseball fantasy?
First you have Janet Leigh, as Jennifer Paige, the household hints columnist for a Pittsburgh newspaper, who is assigned the daunting task of determining why the local Pirates are so woeful. I’ve always been a Janet Leigh fan (she does very dramatic showers), but here she is as sweet as cherry pie. To get her story, she confronts the acerbic manager of the Pirates, “Guffy” McGovern (Paul Douglas at his best), a man who yells at everyone, and smothers his nightly steak with a ton of ketchup. Guffy’s outbursts have reached beyond Major League Baseball, all the way to the hereafter, where an Angel (voiced by the wonderful character actor, James Whitmore) explains to him that if he can refrain from the blasphemies, he’ll get some heavenly help on the playing field. Which happens when the woeful Pirates actually win a game with some sparkling play.
Adding to the adorable quotient is little Donna Corcoran, playing eight-year-old Bridget White, an orphan who while joining a troupe of orphans who come to the ballpark, sees angels behind every Pirate. Faster than you can say “Press Frenzy,” the story is on the front page, and everyone is offering their comments, including Bing Crosby, a part owner of the Pirates.
Written beautifully by Dorothy Kingsley (“Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”) and George Wells (“Take Me Out to the Ball Game”), from a story by Richard Conlin, and directed with aplomb by Clarence Brown (“National Velvet”), “Angels” is a brisk, funny, and enchanting movie that probably inspired the musical “Damn Yankees,” and deserves to be placed in the same company as “Miracle on 34th St” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Adding to the comedy feast are Keenan Wynn as a sarcastic sports commentator, out to get Guffy; Bruce Bennett as aging Pirates pitcher Saul Hellman; Marvin Kaplan as Jennifer’s co-worker and the obit columnist; and King Donovan (five years later, he’d co-star in the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”) as a sports reporter.
So much fun, and just such so adorable.

11/09/2025

BREAKING PODCAST NEWS – First, I’d like to thank all my classic film followers for your great comments on my recent Saturday review postings. Much appreciated. And an additional thanks for following my podcast - Steven Jay Rubin’s Saturday Night at the Movies. I think we all love classic films more than ever, especially in light of the current state of the film business. Secondly, I want to tout our recent shows on my other podcast, Tales from Hollywoodland, which I co-host with fellow producers Arthur E. Friedman and Julian Schlossberg. Come check out our recent shows on the career of Clint Eastwood, the movies and music of Dean Martin, famous Hollywood families, memorable movie moments and our list of the greatest movies of all time. It’s fun banter with three guys who love movies as much as you do – all beautifully produced by our own Mike Faber.
You can find us by googling Tales from Hollywoodland, or simply click on this link:
https://talesfromhollywoodland.com/

11/08/2025

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – If you’re going to educate yourself about movie musicals, it’s best to start with MGM, the all-time musical movie factory of Hollywood. Last week, I sat down and watched “Kiss Me Kate” for the first time, a zesty 1953 musical that starred Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Miller, and, in very funny roles, Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore as goofy gangsters. It is now a personal favorite.
Keel stars as Broadway musical star Fred Graham, who hires his ex-wife Lili (Grayson) to play the title character in a vibrant staging of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” a play in which he stars as Petruchio, the Shrew’s would-be husband. The parallels between their caustic off-stage life and the plays are obvious, and so much fun.
Written by Dorothy Kingsley, Sam and Bella Spewack and directed with inspired energy by George Sidney, “Kiss Me Kate” is filled with show-stopping numbers, starting with Ann Miller’s “Too Darn Hot,” a big WOW! One of Hollywood’s most energetic dancers with plenty of s*x appeal and a terrific voice, Miller said this was her favorite role, and it’s not surprising. Speaking of voices, was there a more beautiful soprano than Grayson’s. I first discovered her in “Anchors Aweigh,” marveling at her amazing pipes, and the chemistry she develops on-screen with Keel is palpable.
Speaking of Keel, the funny thing is that I first discovered him as a dramatic actor in “Day of the Triffids” and “Armored Command.” What a voice he had! The perfect bass-baritone counterpoint to Grayson’s stellar soprano.
And speaking of show-stopping numbers, check out Whitmore and Wynn’s clever “Brush Up on Your Shakespeare” – so much goofy fun as these two bumbling gangsters attempt to collect a debt from Keel’s character., while joining the cast of the stage musical.

11/02/2025

BREAKING PODCAST NEWS – Over the years, Hollywood’s portrait of Native Americans, the “Indians” of my youth, was not a proud portrait. Whether they were depicted as war-whooping wildmen on ponies, wagon train raiders, murderers who took scalps, or sub-humans altogether, Hollywood seemed to avoid the truth like the plague. But there were filmmakers who changed that portrait, and this week on Saturday Night at the Movies, we document that change by interviewing author Bob Herzberg whose book Savages and Saints is quite a revelation.
We start with an overview of Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West spectaculars, shows that introduced audiences to Native Americans before film existed. We then cover the early Silent Era, one cliché after another until more balanced films came along, in the sound era like John Ford’s “Fort Apache” (1948), and the Albert Maltz-written “Broken Arrow,” which was a groundbreaker in 1950.
The cool thing about Herzberg’s book is that he provides us with well-researched biographical sketches of all the famous Native Americans who fought in the Indian Wars – information that often contrasts with how they were portrayed on film.
You can watch the show right now on our Your Tube channel, using this link: https://youtu.be/6seTKl5BRyo
Or you can wait until tomorrow to hear it on your favorite podcast platform. Here’s a link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7oG8rdYWHp5bEO3pJiVRe7
Or watch us on our FAST Channel site True TV Plus, using this link: https://play.truetvplus.com/screen/1

11/01/2025

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – As you’ve gathered from the last few postings, I love historical epics – if it’s a wide screen presentation, with an intermission, and there are terrific characters in period costume, often fighting for their lives, I am so there. That’s how it was back in the 60s when epics were king. So back in 1966, when I heard the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood was running an epic called “Khartoum,” I was there. Actually, UA was having trouble with the public’s perception of the film – was this movie a “cartoon?” Since the average person had no idea that Khartoum was the capital of the Sudan, they re-released the movie as “The Battle for Khartoum,” which was on the marquee at the Dome that night.
Charlton Heston is perfectly cast as British General Charles “Chinese” Gordon, a veteran military officer who won his nickname leading the armies of the Emperor of China during the Taiping Rebellion. He was also instrumental in ending the slave trade in the Sudan, so when an Egyptian Army lead by a British officer named William “Billy” Hicks is annihilated by the rising tide of a new rebellion led by a charismatic Muslim leader who proclaimed himself the “Mahdi,” Gordon was summoned back to Africa by British Prime Minister Gladstone (a solid Ralph Richardson).
Certainly controversial at the time, Laurence Olivier was cast as the Mahdi, wearing black face, and as inappropriate as that is, he’s very good in his limited role. But the movie belongs to Heston, who fully embraces Gordon’s essence, including a believable British accent and deportment. He has always excelled as larger-than-life historical figures, and he’s compelling here as a desperate commander fighting impossible odds, political indecision and corruption from within. Written beautifully by Robert Ardrey, and directed with zest by Basil Dearden, “Khartoum” is essentially “The Alamo” in the desert. Gordon is ordered to Khartoum to evacuate the Egyptian citizens, but he decides instead to defend the city against the Mahdi’s massive army. His aide, Colonel Stewart (Richard Johnson, who was one of the many actors who turned down the role of James Bond) is a constant counterpoint to Gordon’s strategy, but even he eventually agrees to return to London to recruit a relief army from a very reluctant Gladstone.
Like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Wind and the Lion,” “Khartoum” plays on a huge canvas, with massed Arab armies battling a British camel corp, armed river steamers and Gordon’s various defensive ploys – all aided immensely by Frank Cordell’s dynamic music score, with plenty of drums and strings. Well worth a re-watch.

10/26/2025

BREAKING PODCAST NEWS – Remember the 80s? It doesn’t seem that long ago, but 1980 is forty-five years ago, nearly a half century. That may have been Hollywood’s most profitable decade – the decade of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “ET,” “Ghostbusters,” Terminator”, “Tootsie,” “Back to the Future” and, uh, “Porky’s. I have a particular fondness for the 80s, because that’s when I became gainfully employed in Hollywood – as a studio publicist, working on films like “Porky’s 2,” ‘Pretty in Pink,” “Rad,” “Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone,” “Desert Bloom,” “Eddie and the Cruisers 2,” “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid” “Weekend at Bernie’s 2,” and the aforementioned “Ghostbusters.”
This week on Saturday Night at the Movies, my guest is author John Malahy, who has written a terrific overview of that celebrated decade: Rewinding the 80s. John talks about the end of the auteur era, which coincided with the crashing and burning of “Heaven’s Gate.” We talk about the emerging careers of John Hughes, Jerry Bruckheimer, Steven Spielberg, and many others, and how, in the era before the Internet changed the whole nature of entertainment, movies were still number one.
You can watch this cast right now on our You Tube Channel, using this link: https://youtu.be/611DsNJeQYE
Or, starting tomorrow, you can hear it on your favorite podcast platform. Here’s a link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7oG8rdYWHp5bEO3pJiVRe7
Or watch the show on the new FAST channel, True TV Plus, using this link: https://play.truetvplus.com/movie/details/460790

10/25/2025

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – I had such a great response to last week’s review of John Milius’s muscular film “The Wind and the Lion,” I thought I’d keep the theme going with one of my personal favorites from 1962, producer Harold Hecht’s production of “Taras Bulba.”
Written by Waldo Salt and Karl Tunberg who adapted Nicolai Gogol’s novella, and directed by J. Lee Thompson, hot off of “The Guns of Navarone,” “Taras Bulba”
stars an always buff Yul Brynner as the title character, a Cossack cavalry colonel fighting Turks and Poles in 16th Century Eastern Europe. As peace blossoms on his beloved Steppes, Taras raises two sons – Andre (Tony Curtis) and Ostap (Perry Lopez), who are sent to Kiev, under Polish control, where they begin their schooling.
“Taras Bulba” is really two films. In one, Taras helps muster a huge mounted fighting force to take back Cossack territory from the Poles, the other is a love story between Andre and Polish beauty Natalia, the Mayor of Kiev’s daughter, played by gorgeous German actress Christine Kauffmann. She shares terrific chemistry with the handsome
Curtis, so it isn’t a surprise at all that they soon married in real life. But their on-screen romance is no duck walk, as Cossacks are treated as fourth class citizens by the Polish students, administrators and the monk who is the school disciplinarian, via the whip.
Once Andre and Ostap return to the Steppes, the film really takes off as Taras rallies the Cossack regiments. Franz Waxman’s score really clicks here in one of the great cinema set pieces – the ride to Dubno, musical poetry indeed. Today, a modern special effects editor can produce realistic cavalry regiments with a couple of digital clicks. Back in 1962, using the Argentine Army, Thompson assembles hundreds of real horsemen, as this mass of mounted humanity rides perfectly to Waxman’s inspired cadence.
Apparently, Thompson went significantly over budget and a number of Brynner’s key scenes were cut, making this more Curtis’s film than Brynner’s. However, thanks to the chemistry between Andre and Natalia, the energy does not flag in this colorful epic. Contributing to the tapestry is Guy Rolfe, who I always remember as the nefarious Prince John in “Ivanhoe,” playing a nefarious Polish prince here; Brad Dexter and Vladimir Sokoloff, both fresh from Brynner’s “The Magnificent Seven,” who play fellow Cossacks, and future director Sam Wanamaker, another Cossack, who brings war news to the temporarily peaceful Zaporozhian Cossacks.

10/19/2025

BREAKING PODCAST NEWS – If you were a Bond fan in the 1960s and beyond, you knew that in every film 007 would report to his boss, known by the initial M. The first M was veteran British character actor Bernard Lee, who played the part eleven times, until his death in 1981. Having made a career of playing British military types, particularly in Naval settings (“Sink the Bismarck,” “The Ship That Died of Shame,” “Pursuit of the Graf Spee,” “Sailor of the King”) Lee was perfectly cast as the Head of MI-6, and the ultimate authority figure for James Bond.
This week on Saturday Night at the Movies, I dig into my archives and feature my original 1977 interview with Mr. Lee, conducted in a London pub (please forgive the background noise). We got a chance to talk about his early days as a stage actor, his chance encounter with Lionel Barrymore on his one trip to America in 1937, his early days working with Cubby Broccoli’s Warwick Films, which led to the world of 007, and his appearance in the Neil Connery film “Operation Kid Brother.”
You can listen right now on You Tube, using this link: https://youtu.be/-8-F-kDlaVw
Or starting tomorrow night, you can listen on your favorite podcast platform. Here is a link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7oG8rdYWHp5bEO3pJiVRe7
Or try us on or new FAST channel, True TV Plus, using this link: https://play.truetvplus.com/screen/1

Steven Jay Rubin's Saturday Night at the Movies

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