Naptown Nerd

Monday, April 7, 2014

TCM At 40 Retrospective: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
1974
Director: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns, Paul A Partain, Jim Siedow, Edwin Neal
Rated: R

The film which you are about to see is the account of a tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of America history, the Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

~John Larroquette

Celebrating 1 Year Of Naptown Nerd!

Okay, so Naptown Nerd has been open for business for 1 whole year already. And in a weird twist of fate, this is also the 200th post on the site. Totally unintentional, I didn't notice I was at 199 until yesterday morning. This place almost got to 50,000 hits in a year which is pretty awesome considering I don't really go out of my way to market it aside from Twitter, Facebook and mentioning it on podcasts.

Top 11 Favorite Female Action Stars

Last week over at Grantland, Bill Simmons wrote a fantastic article about action heroes. You can find it HERE, where he has a traveling championship belt going from star to star rewarding them for their achievements and successes. With only 1 female taking the belt in the whole article (I won't spoil who in case you haven't read it), it got me to thinking, who are the best female action stars of all time? I don't argue that pure action has been a male heavy genre, as it seems to be more challenging for a woman to get the better material and to grab the box office audience (it shouldn't be this way, but its where we're at). So I decided in response to make a list of who I think have been the 11 best. And sadly, there wasn't a whole lot to choose from or an easily definitive 10. I'll list them in alphabetical except the Greatest Of All Time, I'll save her for last.

The Land Before Time Retrospective - Part 1: The Land Before Time (1988)

The Land Before Time
1988
Director: Don Bluth
Starring: Judith Barci, Pat Hingle, Gabriel Damon, Helen Shaver, Will Ryan, Diana Ross
Rated: G

You could be the first person to write about the entire series on the whole internet
~Scott Mendelson, November 2012