Michael Barrett

Michael Barrett works in a public library. For more than 20 years, he wrote a monthly video column in the San Antonio Express News stressing classic and foreign films. His national publications include Video Watchdog, Nostalgia Digest and Retro Cinema. He's also written scripts that still await their destiny.
Masculine Movie Icon Alan Ladd As the Wounded Outlaw Hero

Masculine Movie Icon Alan Ladd As the Wounded Outlaw Hero

Red Mountain and Botany Bay showcase masculine movie icon Alan Ladd in his glory, playing wounded heroes on the wrong side of the law.

Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’

Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’

What a difference a script makes. Johnny Cash and Cay Forrester goose up the histrionics of Door-to-Door Maniac.

Murder and Apocalypse in Pop Art 1960s Mash-up ‘Fata Morgana’

Murder and Apocalypse in Pop Art 1960s Mash-up ‘Fata Morgana’

The Barcelona School made avant-garde films nobody could understand, such as the pop art 1960s mash-up, Fata Morgana. But it sure looks good.

Arch Oboler’s ‘Bwana Devil’ Mauls the First 3D Movie Audience

Arch Oboler’s ‘Bwana Devil’ Mauls the First 3D Movie Audience

Arch Oboler’s Bwana Devil kicked off the 1950s 3D movies craze with a man-eating lion story, and 70s years later it’s trying to get its claws into audiences.

Silent Film Restorations ‘The Craving’ and ‘Annie Laurie’ Radiate the Medium

Silent Film Restorations ‘The Craving’ and ‘Annie Laurie’ Radiate the Medium

Francis Ford was an important silent film actor and director, and not just for being John Ford’s brother. Star Lillian Gish had the clout to get what she wanted.

Animated Sci-Fi ‘The Time Masters’ Challenges Conformity

Animated Sci-Fi ‘The Time Masters’ Challenges Conformity

René Laloux’s conformity-challenging animated sci-fi The Time Masters resonates with Hayao Miyazaki films and Jack Vance novels.

The Living Dead’s Problems in Spanish Horror Movies

The Living Dead’s Problems in Spanish Horror Movies

These Spanish horror movies tapped into the anxieties of the final years of General Franco’s dictatorship while pretending to be merely tales set in foreign countries.

‘Six in Paris’ Cuts the City into New Wave Slices of Sex and Death

‘Six in Paris’ Cuts the City into New Wave Slices of Sex and Death

Filming with a handheld 16mm color camera, six filmmakers offer a cohesive snapshot of 1966 Paris and their obsessions with sex and death.

Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinematic Melodrama: ‘Victims of Sin’

Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinematic Melodrama: ‘Victims of Sin’

In Emilio Fernández’s Victims of Sin, a galaxy of important Mexican film and music artists collaborate on a tale of mambo music, martyred mothers, and melodrama.

Retro Monsters and Sexual Politics Dominate These Three Sci-Fi Movies

Retro Monsters and Sexual Politics Dominate These Three Sci-Fi Movies

Sci-fi movies Unknown Terror, The Colossus of New York and Destination Inner Space inject monsters into personal melodrama for masculine redemption.

Two Southern-Fried Slices of Sordid ’60s Hicksploitation Films

Two Southern-Fried Slices of Sordid ’60s Hicksploitation Films

Angry old men, sexy strumpets, moonshiners, corrupt sheriffs, and dumb farmhands populate them thar hills in these two low-budget ’60s hicksploitation films.

Familial Neurosis in ‘Never Open That Door’ Film-Noirs

Familial Neurosis in ‘Never Open That Door’ Film-Noirs

The family is the source of neurosis, and any hint of an allegedly happy ending in these three film-noirs must happen over someone’s dead body.