When it comes to watching actresses portraying police officers or detectives, I admit that I am a bit of a chauvinist.

I prefer my cops to be big and strong like Dirty Harry, and as more television programs feature women in various enforcement roles, I find some of them tolerable and others not so much. I love this genre, however, but find myself at times cringing at some of these leading ladies. So I thought it would be fun to grade them with star ratings and invite others to do the same.

Bear in mind, however, that I can only critique shows I actually watched on a regular basis, so don’t expect to see Cagney and Lacey in this pile. Nor did I ever watch Heather Locklear in “T.J. Hooker” or the sad-eyed Peggy Lipton in “Mod Squad,” who I found snooze-inducing.

“Police Woman” (1974) Angie Dickinson **

Totally unbelievable but I liked her co-star Earl Holliman who has always been underrated. Pepper Anderson, however, became producers’ idea of what they’d like their cops to look like.

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As someone who lost a friend in the Towers (Port Authority officer Donald Foreman ), I still have a hard time thinking of 9/11 without gritting my teeth in anger. I do remember in those early days after the attacks thinking that the entertainment industry did a good job embracing the public’s heartache and sharing messages of hope and patriotism. I watched David Letterman’s return to the air and tried to laugh with him, but my pain was too raw and he somehow did not come across as sincere.

On the other hand, I was very moved by Jon Stewart’s monologue and there was no doubt about his pain.

It didn’t take long, however, for the entertainment industry to jump on the Bush derangement syndrome bandwagon and every film, show or play to be tainted with liberal hate.

Jon Stewart should take a look back on his feelings that day and tone down his contempt for all things conservative.

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Until Saving Private Ryan, the 1963 film The Victors was what I considered the best war movie ever. Although some have pegged this as an anti-war film, I believe it is more descriptive of a movie that proves that war is hell. The Victors is different from other military films in that it emphasizes the civilian victims of WWII in France, Italy and Germany. Sadly, the New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther was not impressed. His negative review probably killed the box office but he didn’t take into consideration the fact that this film was not meant for those who loved war films. I certainly didn’t and appreciated the film because it was not overrun with battle scenes, although I would hardly describe it as a woman’s cup of tea.

I can never hear Frank Sinatra’s version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” without  hearing it as the music playing in the background while a WWII deserter was executed on Christmas Eve before battle weary soldiers watching stoically.

The film is episodic and loaded with cameos of great European actresses like Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Melina Mercouri, Elke Sommer, and Senta Berger in memorable and poignant vignettes. I had a mini crush on Albert Finney whom I had just seen in Tom Jones but he doesn’t appear until the end of  The Victors and portrays a drunken Russian soldier in Berlin confronting George Hamilton one of the main American characters. George Peppard, Eli Wallach, Vince Edwards, Jim Mitchum, and Peter Fonda round out the excellent cast. (more…)

I must confess-I am not a huge fan of documentaries especially those made by partisan manipulators like Michael Moore and Al Gore. In fact, I find most documentaries quite boring. One would think that as a mother of six and grandmother of eight, I would have enjoyed “Babies,” but after five minutes I was switching the channels to something more stimulating. Maybe I’m all babied out.

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When I received a request by a priest to review a film, “The Human Experience,” I was less than enthused. As a columnist for the New York Sun, my mail box was always filled with similar requests which I seldom had time to address although those received from Moving Picture Institute in Tribeca proved quite interesting and I eventually wrote columns about their features. “Mine Your Own Business: The Dark Side of Environmentalism, “written and directed by Phelim McAleer was a favorite and McAleer became Al Gore’s public nemesis for challenging him at forums about global warming.

This being the start of the Christmas season, however, I was intrigued by the priest’s invite when he told me the documentary was made by young residents of St. Francis House, a group home for troubled youth founded by Father Benedict Groeschel. Grassroots Films began here at the home when producer Joe Campo had the residents take up the art of filmmaking. After a few successful short films, the young men decided to live on the streets of New York City to learn about the homeless community. From there the film developed with opportunities to visit areas around the world to discover how our humanity transcends our environment. One of these treks includes a visit to a leper colony in Ghana; another to dying AIDS victims in Africa. (more…)

I was watching a Giants football game when I noticed that an opposing player’s chin guard was pink. Then I noticed his pink socks and other uniform parts were this god-awful color that I have always despised. My daughter told me that October is Breast Cancer month and I groaned at the idea of having to put up with seeing that awful shade instead of the glorious colors of autumn. 

I come from a cancer riddled family. My father died of stomach cancer; my sister of leukemia, a niece of pancreatic cancer; another of ovarian cancer. I would dearly love for us to find a cure but I wonder why it is that Breast Cancer has become the darling of Hollywood celebrities. AIDS research is another disease that gets more attention from Hollywood than any other.   

John Stossel reported back in 2009 on the Fox Business Website- “In 2001, AIDS research got $4,439 per patient from NIH, breast cancer $290, Parkinson’s $175.  Diabetes, which killed more people than AIDS and breast cancer combined, got $41.  Heart disease, the number one killer, got $58.”  (more…)

Throughout the promotional campaign for “South of the Border,” director Oliver Stone has been loudly complaining about what he sees as the American media’s unfavorable bias towards the subject of his documentary, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. Obviously this is a propaganda trick on Stone’s part – a way to shame the media into covering his film without challenging him on the facts or asking any hard questions. Judging from a recent interview the two-time Oscar winner granted to Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post, the trick appears to have worked.   

Once upon a time the Washington Post was a reliable newspaper with ethical investigative reporters. That of course was before Woodward and Bernstein elevated the Fourth Estate denizens to deity wannabes who could bring down a president. Now the once vaunted daily allows amateurish, star-struck reporters to give entertainment celebrities a pass in lieu of professional journalistic coverage. 

I’ve written for three newspapers in the past twelve years and endured the critique of numerous editors who’d never let me get away with the one-sided article that Ann Hornaday wrote about Oliver Stone. She allowed Stone to make the following statement without challenging his resources:  (more…)

Tuesday was the finale of what I’ve come to believe is the best show on TV: “Justified.” I say that not because I’m enamored of the lead, Timothy Olyphant – and who would not love that hat? — but because of the show’s iconoclastic portrayal of the South. 

Hollywood has always stereotyped the South as full of ignorant rednecks and racists, and the Mason Dixie line became synonymous for Yankees like me, especially dark-skinned Latinas, as an area to avoid. Nevertheless, I met my husband forty years ago in the deepest of the South — Florida — and had an opportunity to form my own opinion. 

I learned that the N- word was routinely used by blacks and whites to describe any black and I was probably called a half-breed “spic” behind my back. That didn’t bother me, and as the years passed my in-laws grew up, so did the South.  One thing I did note was that none of the Southerners I met had any resemblance to the Hollywood boobs in the movies or on TV. They were bright, articulate and romantic. My husband reminded me that some of the best American literature is by Southerners and about the South.  (more…)

Although James Blunt hit the big time with his hit, “You’re Beautiful,” I had never paid much attention to him until he guest starred in the “Las Vegas” finale singing “Same Mistake.” It was a haunting song and I went to YouTube to watch the video which I found somewhat uninteresting. But I wouldn’t find out until later that some military-themed lyrics were omitted from the video.

I then clicked on another video of Blunt singing, “Carry You Home” and was very moved by the video’s sad story that explained the song. The words, “I’m watching you breathing for the last time,” are spoken by a soldier watching his friend die in combat and removing something from the dead man’s pocket which he then delivers to a grieving loved one near the White Cliffs of Dover.  “A song for your heart, and when it is quiet I know what it means and I’ll carry you home, carry you home.”  

I must have played that video over and over and I went to another site and read what people thought the song meant and was amazed how few couldn’t figure it out and obviously hadn’t yet seen the music video. Being the obsessive that I am I hunted down Blunt’s background and discovered that he had been a captain in the British army and had been among the first to arrive in Kosovo’s capitol. It’s highly likely that he wrote about what he had dealt with personally in that conflict.  (more…)

I finally had the opportunity to see James Cameron’s paean to nature, “Avatar.” It is definitely beautifully filmed and there is an edenic quality to the alien planet of Pandora that probably reflects the director’s image of the biblical garden. It is typical, however, of Hollywood denizens to find paradise in another realm than to look at what is already here without criticizing the negative human impact on our blue planet. 

The Cold War and the possibility of nuclear annihilation prompted many apocalyptic films in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. As a child I watched films of giant tomatoes, giant alligators; giant frogs and rabbits and more all caused by mutations generated by nuclear accidents. Is it any wonder that the hippies and leftists protested, very effectively I might add, against the building of nuclear facilities and power plants? ‘The China Syndrome” was a movie that stuck in the minds of many in the movie industry even though nuclear accidents rarely occur here. Three Mile Island did not cause any injuries. Chernobyl’s disaster happened because the Russian reactor was built in an old military installation without the strict guidelines we use in the United States. 

The ‘60’s were fraught with cautionary tales of impending doom. One of my favorite films, La Dolce Vita, depicted the angst and melancholia of the intelligentsia over the threat of nuclear annihilation The brilliant Steiner worries so much about what the future holds for his two beautiful children; that “the end of the world could be announced with a phone call’; that he kills them and commits suicide. Honestly, nihilists have so few options, we must pity them.   (more…)

Although Sean Penn has the reputation of being a fine actor, I’ve never shared that opinion and regard his acting as overrated. His early performance in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” as stoner Jeff Spicoli is regarded fondly by those with sophomoric comedic taste but my taste prefers more subtlety. Penn absolutely destroyed the film “The Interpreter” with his hound dog expression throughout the film and “I Am Sam” remains the thespian lesson in what to avoid when portraying the mentally challenged. 

I used to think that Penn’s liberal statements came from a genuine concern for the poor and downtrodden and did not laugh at that pathetic picture of Penn in that leaky rowboat in New Orleans after the Katrina devastation. I also did not join the skeptics who questioned his Haitian relief efforts. I figured him to be naïve but with his recent statement that “Hugo Chavez” is not a dictator, the truth is finally clear. Sean Penn is an idiot-a useful one-but an idiot nonetheless. 

I’ve never been to Venezuela but I know many transplanted immigrants from that country who relate tales of horror since that “dictator” took over. What kind of spell has Chavez spun to cloud the Hollywood fool’s mind to the damage this man has wrought on his country?  (more…)

For the past few years I’ve avoided watching the Academy Awards having finally gotten the message that they’re just a big fat marketing tool that have nothing to do with quality filmmaking. My self-imposed boycott of the televised event was difficult in the beginning for this diehard movie buff but became easier after the dismal fare gave me no films to root for. This year I will be watching just to witness the outcome of what has truly been an amazing year in films. Forget the two billion dollar box office for “Avatar.” No-the big question is does Hollywood have the cojones to pick “The Blind Side” as Best Picture? Nah! 

C’est impossible for the far left industry to award a film that actually has a Republican lifetime NRA member as its heroine. I just recently managed to catch the film that was budgeted at $29 million and has earned over $240 million so far and was blown away by Sandra Bullock’s performance. This savvy actress supposedly took a pay cut and opted for a percentage. I hope it was for the gross as Hollywood accountants tend to bilk those who choose a percentage of the net. 

Bullock has been nominated for Best Actress but if she wins I’ll be pleasantly surprised-no- I’ll be shocked. Her competitors are more in line with the ideologues who vote for their peers. There’s uber-liberal Meryl Streep whom I loved as Julia Child in “Julia & Julia”; Helen Mirren a great actress who had no problem playing lewd in her earlier career. Then there’s Gabourey Sidibe for “Precious,” who represents the victimized black girl who ironically could have used a savior like Leigh Anne Tuohy, Bullock’s real life character in “The Blind Side.” (more…)

In my last Big Hollywood column, I waxed nostalgic over old television series but there is one modern drama that I wish had not bitten the dust so soon after debuting. That it was cancelled was probably inevitable and I’m not so sure that poor ratings were the decisive factor for its cancellation by the TV programmers. 

“Eleventh Hour” starring Rufus Sewell was a remake of the British series with the same name that starred Patrick Stewart. The protagonist is a brilliant government scientist who investigates the experimental perils of modern science. Sewell plays an American scientist working for the FBI and Stewart worked for the Home Office. I found Stewart’s character, Ian Hood, to be somewhat arrogant and dismissive while Sewell’s Dr. Jacob Hood was far more soft spoken and likable.   

I also found that every episode led me to the Internet to see how accurate the premise was. Did you know that in some cases, heavy water reduces certain tumors? It can also be used to make things go boom-boom but this was just one of the many fascinating bits culled from the series.  (more…)

Whenever I watch a retrospective of the Golden Age of Television, I find the shows considerable less entertaining than television I’ve watched as an adult. The Golden Age actually refers to the dramatic programs, sometimes broadcast “live” starring many great Hollywood stars and written by terrific writers.  But I was watching television then from the mean streets of the barrio and usually from a neighbor’s house because we couldn’t yet afford a TV set.  My perspective of the era is skewed in favor of the sitcoms and variety shows that presented an escape from my reality.

What is noteworthy, however, is that much of television during that time period was considered politically incorrect but in a strange way was actually more honest. How can that be, you may ask? The fake domestic bliss of “Father Knows Best,” the racism of “Amos and Andy,” the sexism of “I Love Lucy” and so on. Yet there was a lot more credibility in those shows as entertainment than in the supposedly PC programming that probably started with Norman Lear’s “All in the Family.” (more…)

Every once in a while, I’ll get sent a clip of a Saturday Night Live segment that someone finds amusing but it’s been years since I’ve watched the show because it’s simply not that funny anymore. Most of the humor now is snide and while some conservatives like the anti-Obama pieces, I find them more daring than genuinely funny.

The latest clip sent to me was “Gossip Girl-Staten Island” and was a send up of the smallest NYC borough depicting the residents as “guidos” and loudmouth big-haired, spikes wearing women. There is also a reality show called “Jersey Shore” which has these prototypes being as obnoxious as possible for the small screen.

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I was born in Manhattan and knew little of the outer boroughs and was perfectly content with the daily newspapers ignoring them as well. The only  television reference about the “forgotten” borough was usually on a comedy cop show like “Barney Miller” when a police officer was threatened with being stationed in the boondocks of S.I. (more…)

[Part one of this two-part series can be found here.]

Sixteen of the top 20 box office earners have either a G or PG rating which should be a clue that R rated films ( “Titanic” being the exception) don’t do as well yet studios continue to add gratuitous irrelevant sex scenes that ruin the film. Why? It certainly can’t be artistic license because the principal reaction to them is usually-‘Ew!!! Why did they do that?” 

Movie-going statistics have dropped significantly among older adults and that’s understandable since most fare today cater to hormonal adolescents without a clue as to the true appeal of sensual art. Yet senior citizens today are former film buffs who would relish worthy theatrical offerings but their treks back to the wide screen lonely leave them disappointed. 

A few years ago I went with an elderly friend to see, “Love Actually,” because we’re both great fans of Alan Rickman. The film has various vignettes of romantic couples and their curious experiences pursuing the love game. One of these couples happens to be two individuals acting in a porn movie and although the intent was to inject irony in the sex scenes showing the relative naïveté of the participants as they try to hook up, it failed miserably. My friend later said that particular graphic display spoiled the otherwise charming film which she no longer would add to her DVD collection when it came out.  (more…)

Even though I am of a certain age, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m an aficionada of true cinematic erotica. Unfortunately it does not exist in today’s offerings which can only be described as soft porn and even beyond that. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

The word erotica typically applies to works in which the sexual element is regarded as part of the larger aesthetic aspect. It is usually distinguished from pornography, which can also have literary merit but which is usually understood to have sexual arousal as its main purpose.

Erotica should be what arouses sensuality and sexual desire in the imagination. Pornography is a cheap substitute to genuine sensuality by replacing it with naked thrusts and bursts of faux gasps of passion. How trite compared to visions created in our minds stimulated by a simple touch, look or gesture. Last night I watched the TCM channel which ran a surprising example of true erotica-Tarzan-the Ape Man. 

Laugh if you will but Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O’Sullivan generate more heat in this 1932 action adventure film then any of the actors and actresses starring buck naked and writhing in today’s features.  (more…)

[Editor's Note: This is a small portion of a comprehensive interview that  originally appeared in the Irish Examiner on Monday, November 24th. You can read the full piece here.] 

Recently I was sent an email complaining about the season premier of the TV Show, “Law & Order.” My correspondent asked what I thought about the plot in which the local Manhattan district attorney Jack McCoy prosecuted a former Justice Department lawyer for “depraved indifference murder” following the lawyer’s memo on the techniques which could be used on terrorists. An astonished “Executive Assistant DA Michael Cutter says, “Jack, you want to prosecute a member of the Bush administration for assaulting suspected terrorists?” To which, a cocksure “McCoy” declares: “The word is torturing. And, yes, it’s about time somebody did.”

The increasingly leftwing comments injected into the plots of this once fine show had turned me off many seasons ago and I answered my reader, “I haven’t watched that show much since they replaced Michael Moriarty as the lead in 1994.

Mr. Moriarty has always been one of my favorite actors and given that he is an Irish American, I thought he’d be the perfect lead off to a series of interviews with notable Americans of Irish ancestry. I was thrilled to be able to connect with Mr. Moriarty, who now lives in Canada, and he graciously agreed to this Q&A interview. (more…)