HIGH SIERRA (1941)

Aging gangster, "Mad Dog" Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart), is sprung from prison by a governor's pardon that was paid for by kingpin, Donald MacBride.  MacBride wants him to knock over an exclusive resort motel.  He can't do it alone, so MacBride hires him some help.  Unfortunately, they're just a bunch of punk kids green behind the ears.  On the way to the meeting place, Bogart nearly has a wreck with a dirt poor family that happens to have a very attractive (and manipulating) daughter.  Bogart falls for her.  At the same time, a girl that came with one of his crew members (Ida Lupino) falls for him.  You can probably see where this is going.

George Raft and Paul Muni both passed on the role of "Mad Dog" Roy Earle, but lucky for us the lesser known Bogart picked it up and he's great.  His co-star from the previous year's THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, Ida Lupino might have gotten the top-billing, but he's clearly the star here as the worn down gangster with a noble heart.  That's not to say that Lupino isn't great also, cause I think she's always awesome.  Anyway, great movie, somewhat dated, excellent supporting cast, quick pace and Bogart's real life dog, Zero, is cute as a button!

Remake 1 - Colorado Territory (1949)
Remake 2 - I Died a Thousand Times (1955)

INVADERS FROM MARS (1953)

A little boy wakes up in the middle of the night and sees a spaceship landing on the other side of a hill in his backyard.  He frantically tells his dad who goes to investigate.  When his dad comes back he calmly says there wasn't any spaceship and then starts acting like an asshole.  The boy freaks out and runs all around the joint yelling and hollering until he finally gets the attention of a doctor and a scientist who help him investigate what's really going on behind his house.

I'd heard my great things about INVADERS FROM MARS over they years, but watching it now I can only assume that all of those people who said great things about this film actually saw it as a child when it first came out and it traumatized the shit out of them, cause this sucker bored the hell out of me.  I was shocked at how cheap it looked.  If this was the kind of film that was making money back in 1953 then I can see why Ed Wood, Jr. thought he could make movies!  I'd watched PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE a dozen times before I watched this clunker again.

Crap looking sets, stiff acting, boring pace, mountains upon mountains of stock footage of tanks driving around, silly looking aliens.  I would imagine kids today would claw their eyes out if they had to watch this.  Good as a historical curiosity only.

Remake 1 - Invaders from Mars (1986)