Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #304 :: May 21•27

Still from "X-Men: The Last Stand". Seven characters in black leather X-Men uniforms stand in a sleek hallway with florescent overhead lighting. From left to right: Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm, Ben Foster as Angel, Elliot Page as Kitty Pryde, Daniel Cudmore as Colossus.

Marvel Entertainment

It’s a pretty big week for new movie releases, particularly in the latter decades — post 1975 — when May becomes the start of the Summer season. Of note across the last century, a handful of 1926 silents still exist, a 1936 film becomes the first Technicolor musical, a 1946 film is the last for a popular British detective and his sidekick, a 1956 Western becomes one of the greatest films of all time, a 1966 film tries and fails to launch a new cinematic comedy team, a 1976 film capitalizes on the ‘nature run amok’ genre started by Jaws, a 1986 film had to switch gears when a temperamental actor was hired, a 1996 film launched an action franchise based on a classic TV series, and 2006 and 2016 had films featuring a group of mutant superheroes in different eras. Scroll down to see all the films released this week, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.

1926 • 1936 • 1946 • 1956 • 1966 • 1976 • 1986 • 1996 • 2006 • 2016

1926

May 23 – A Poor Girl’s Romance (USA, Robertson-Cole Pictures Corporation)

Cast: Creighton Hale, Gertrude Short, Rosa Rudami, Charles Requa
Director: F. Harmon Weight
Trivia: The film’s survival status is unknown.

May 23 – Glenister of the Mounted (USA, Harry Garson Productions)

Cast: Maurice ‘Lefty’ Flynn, Bess Flowers, Lee Shumway, Walter James, James Gibson, Arthur Millett
Director: Harry Garson
Trivia: The film’s survival status is unknown.

May 23 – My Old Dutch (USA, Universal Pictures)

Cast: May McAvoy, Pat O’Malley, Cullen Landis, Jean Hersholt, Agnes Steele
Director: Laurence Trimble
Trivia: A print of My Old Dutch is held in the collection of Indiana University. Trimbe had directed a British version of My Old Dutch in 1915.

May 23 – Rawhide (USA, Action Pictures)

Cast: Jay Wilsey, Al Taylor, Molly Malone, Joe Rickson, Slim Whitaker
Director: Richard Thorpe
Trivia: The film’s survival status is unknown. Jay Wilsey was credited as Buffalo Bill Jr., and Slim Whitaker was credited as Charles Whitaker.

May 23 – The Volga Boatman (USA, DeMille Pictures Corporation)

Cast: William Boyd, Elinor Fair, Robert Edeson, Victor Varconi, Julia Faye, Theodore Kosloff
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Trivia: Complete prints are held in several archives including the George Eastman Museum, the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the British Film Institute.

May 23 – The Wise Guy (USA, Frank Lloyd Productions)

Cast: James Kirkwood, Mary Astor, Betty Compson, George F. Marion, Mary Carr, George Cooper
Director: Frank Lloyd
Trivia: A complete 35mm nitrate print of The Wise Guy is held by the National Archives of Canada.

May 24 – Paris (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Cast: Charles Ray, Joan Crawford, Douglas Gilmore, Michael Visaroff, Rose Dione
Director: Edmund Goulding
Trivia: The film’s survival status is unknown.

May 24 – The Power of the Weak (USA, Chadwick Pictures Corporation)

Cast: Alice Calhoun, Carl Miller, Spottiswoode Aitken, Arnold Gray, Marguerite Clayton
Director: William James Craft
Trivia: The film’s survival status is unknown.

1936

May 22 – A Song a Day (USA, short, Fleischer Studios)

Voice Cast: Mae Questel, Everett Clark, Jack Mercer
Director: Dave Fleischer
Trivia: Originally titled Grampy in ‘A Song a Day’.

May 22 – Burning Gold (USA, Winchester Productions)

Cast: William Boyd, Judith Allen, Lloyd Ingraham, Frank Mayo, Fern Emmett
Director: Sam Newfield
Trivia: One of three non-Western films of 1936 starring Bill Boyd, best known for his Hopalong Cassidy films.

May 22 – Dancing Pirate (USA, Pioneer Pictures Corporation)

Cast: Charles Collins, Frank Morgan, Steffi Duna, Luis Alberni, Victor Varconi, Jack La Rue
Director: Lloyd Corrigan
Trivia: Third film shot in three-strip Technicolor, and the first musical to use the process. Dancers in the film include Rita Hayworth, Thelma Catherine ‘Pat’ Ryan (who married Richard Nixon in 1940), and Marjorie Reynolds.

May 22 – Half Angel (USA, 20th Century Fox)

Cast: Frances Dee, Brian Donlevy, Charles Butterworth, Helen Westley, Henry Stephenson, Sara Haden
Director: Sidney Lanfield

May 22 – The Princess Comes Across (USA, Paramount Pictures)

Cast: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Douglass Dumbrille, Alison Skipworth, George Barbier, William Frawley
Director: William K. Howard
Trivia: Second of four films pairing Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurry. Lombard’s co-star was to be George Raft (for their third pairing but he walked out because cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff made Lombard look better than him in Rumba). The film’s working title was Concertina. Milburn Stone has an uncredited role as a reporter.

May 23 – Educating Father (USA, 20th Century Fox)

Cast: Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, Dixie Dunbar, Spring Byington, Kenneth Howell, June Carlson
Director: James Tinling
Trivia: Part of the Jones Family series of films.

May 23 – Fish Tales (USA, short, Leon Schlesinger Studios)

Voice Cast: Count Cutelli, Joe Dougherty
Director: Jack King

May 23 – The Golden Arrow (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)

Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Eugene Pallette, Dick Foran, Craig Reynolds
Director: Alfred E. Green
Trivia: Titled Cream Princess at a Long Beach preview, which audiences hated but the studio rushed it into release to capitalize on Bette Davis’ 1935 Oscar win for Dangerous. Davis hated that the publicity mentioned her Oscar, and called it the beginning of the end for her contract with Warner Bros.

May 25 – Counterfeit (USA, Columbia Pictures)

Cast: Chester Morris, Marian Marsh, Margot Grahame, Lloyd Nolan, Claude Gillingwater
Director: Erle C, Kenton

May 25 – The Lonely Trail (USA, Republic Pictures)

Cast: John Wayne, Ann Rutherford, Cy Kendall, Bob Kortman, Fred ‘Snowflake’ Toones
Director: Joseph Kane

May 26 – The Cattle Thief (USA, Larry Darmour Productions)

Cast: Ken Maynard, Geneva Mitchell, Ward Bond, Roger Williams, James A. Marcus
Director: Spencer Gordon Bennett
Trivia: A copy of the film is preserved in the Library of Congress. It was remade in 1939 as Riders of the Frontier.

May 26 – The Lion Man (USA, Normandy Pictures)

Cast: Charles Locher, Kathleen Burke, Ted Adams, Jimmy Aubrey, Richard Carlyle
Director: John P. McCarthy
Trivia: Credited actor Charles Lochner would be later, and better, known as Jon Hall. The film was re-released as Tarzan Vs the Lion Man on a double feature in the 1940s.

1946

May 22 – Bad Bascomb (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Cast: Wallace Beery, Margaret O’Brien, Marjorie Main, J. Carrol Naish, Frances Rafferty
Director: S. Sylvan Simon

May 22 – The El Paso Kid (USA, Republic Pictures)

Cast: Sunset Carson, Marie Harmon, Hank Patterson, Edmund Cobb
Director: Thomas Carr

May 23 – The Devil’s Mask (USA, Columbia Pictures)

Cast: Anita Louise, Jim Bannon, Michael Duane, Mona Barrie, Barton Yarborough
Director: Henry Levin
Trivia: Second of three films based on popular radio series I Love a Mystery.

Still from "Dressed to Kill". Black and white image of two men in wool coats and hats speaking to an older woman. The setting is a cozy, cluttered room, conveying a sense of mystery. From left to right: Marjorie Bennett as Antique Shop Assistant, Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson, Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.

Universal Pictures

conveying a sense of mystery. From left to right: Marjorie Bennett as Antique Shop Assistant, Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson, Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.

May 24 – Dressed to Kill (USA, Universal Pictures)

Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Patricia Morison, Edmond Breon, Frederic Worlock, Carl Harbord
Director: Roy William Neill
Trivia: The last of fourteen films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, respectively. Released in the UK as Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code.

May 24 – Valley of the Zombies (USA, Republic Pictures)

Cast: Robert Livingston, Adrian Booth, Ian Keith, Thomas E. Jackson, Charles Trowbridge
Director: Philip Ford
Trivia: Philip Ford’s second film as director. Reviews at the time focused on the lack of the promised zombies in the film’s title.

May 25 – Behind the Mask (USA, Monogram Pictures)

Cast: Kane Richmond, Barbara Read, George Chandler, Dorothea Kent, Joseph Crehan
Director: Phil Karlson
Trivia: Second of three films featuring crimefighter The Shadow.

May 25 – Dark Alibi (USA, Monogram Pictures)

Cast: Sidney Toler, Benson Fong, Mantan Moreland, Ben Carter, Teala Loring
Director: Phil Karlson
Trivia: Also known as Charlie Chan in Alcatraz and Fatal Fingerprints.

May 25 – Hair-Raising Hare (USA, short, Warner Bros. Pictures)

Voice Cast: Mel Blanc
Director: Charles M. Jones
Trivia: First appearance of the orange monster known as ‘Gossamer’. Last short to use Chuck Jones’ Bugs Bunny design.

May 26 – O.S.S. (USA, Paramount Pictures)

Cast: Alan Ladd, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Patric Knowles, John Hoyt, Gloria Saunders
Director: Irving Pichel
Trivia: The screenplay was written by Richard Maibaum, who would go on to write 12 of the first 15 James Bond films. Maibaum also narrates the film. It was one of three films being made about the OSS in Hollywood at the time, and production was held in extreme secrecy. The film was rushed into release, becoming the first OSS film in theaters.

May 27 – Under Arizona Skies (USA, Monogram Pictures)

Cast: Johnny Mack Brown, Reno Browne, Raymond Hatton, Riley Hill, Tristram Coffin, Reed Howes
Director: Lambert Hillyer

1956

May 24 – Storm Center (London, Phoenix Productions)

Cast: Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Joseph Kearns
Director: Daniel Taradash
Trivia: General UK release began on June 25, 1956, and was released in the US on July 31. Mary Pickford was to make her return to the screen after an 18 year absence, but withdrew after learning the film would not be a Technicolor production. She was replaced with Barbara Stanwyck, who was replaced by Bette Davis due to scheduling conflicts. It is the only film directed by Daniel Taradash. The film features early title design and poster art by Saul Bass.

May 26 – The Searchers (USA, C.V. Whitney Pictures)

Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, Pippa Scott, Patrick Wayne, Lana Wood
Director: John Ford
Trivia: Considered one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1989, one of the first group of 25 films selected for the honor. One of the first major films to have a dedicated making-of film. Director John Ford wanted to cast Fess Parker in the role eventually played by Jeffrey Hunter, because of the craze at the time surrounding Parker’s Davy Crockett role, but Parker was under contract to Walt Disney and Disney refused to allow it and did not tell Parker about the offer. Natalie Wood’s younger sister Lana played her character, Debbie, as a child.

May 27 – Screaming Eagles (USA, Bischoff-Diamond Corporation)

Cast: Tom Tryon, Jan Merlin, Jacqueline Beer, Alvy Moore, Martin Milner, Robert Blake
Director: Charles F. Haas

1966

May 24 – Destination Inner Space (USA, Harold Goldman Associates)

Cast: Scott Brady, Sheree North, Gary Merrill, Wende Wagner, Mike Road
Director: Francis D. Lyon
Trivia: To help cover the film’s budget, television broadcast rights were pre-sold. The film was shot back-to-back with Castle of Evil in just 14 days. Sheree North’s first film in almost a decade following work on stage and television.

May 25 – Blindfold (USA, 7 Pictures)

Cast: Rock Hudson, Claudia Cardinale, Jack Warden, Guy Stockwell, Brad Dexter, Alejandro Rey, Vito Scottu
Director: Philip Dunne
Trivia: First opened in Belgium on January 7, 1966. Dunne’s last feature film. Gibralter Productions, Rock Hudson’s company, produced the film. Ronald Reagan auditioned for the role of the villain, but Dunne felt he was too lightweight. Reagan was fine with that, telling Dunne he was thinking about getting into politics. The film marked Claudia Cardinale’s American film debut.

May 25 – The Last of the Secret Agents? (USA, Paramount Pictures)

Cast: Marty Allen, Steve Rossi, John Williams, Nancy Sinatra, Lou Jacobi, Harvey Korman
Director: Norman Abbott
Trivia; After success with comedy teams Hope & Crosby (1940s) and Martin & Lewis (1950s), Paramount hoped to launch a new comedy film franchise with the screen debut of Allen & Rossi. Rossi wanted to include elements from their comedy act into the film, but his ideas were refused. The duo did not appear together in another film until 1974’s Allen and Rossi Meet Dracula and Frankenstein.

May 25 – The Pink Blueprint (USA, short, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises)

Director: Hawley Pratt
Trivia: The 18th Pink Panther animated short, which was Oscar-nominated. This was the first Pink Panther short to air on television, on NBC, September 6, 1969. Mel Blanc provided sneezing sound effects.

Still from "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming". A man with a mustache in a black leather jacket and cap, Alan Arkin as Lieutenant Rozanov, smiles slightly in front of a docked submarine. Sailors stand on the submarine in the background.

The Mirisch Corporation

May 25 – The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (USA, The Mirisch Corporation)

Cast: Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Brian Keith, Jonathan WintersAlan Arkin, Theodore Bikel, John Phillip Law, Richard Schaal, Johnny Whitaker
Director: Norman Jewison
Trivia: Though set off the coast of Massachusetts, the film was shot in Northern California. For the dawn scene at the start of the film, it was shot at dusk through a pink filter. As the US Navy and Russian Embassy refused the use of a real submarine, the one in the film is a fabrication that had been used in 1965’s Morituri. For Alan Arkin’s first major role, he studied extensively to perfect his Russian vocabulary. Theodore Bikel, who was not fluent in Russian, did so well with pronunciation that he was cast as the submarine captain. Brian Keith, who did speak fluent Russian, did not do so in the film. The film was nominated for four Oscars and four Golden Globes, winning Globes for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Arkin). Arkin was also BAFTA-nominated for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles.

May 26 – Maya (West Germany, King Brothers Productions)

Cast: Clint Walker, Jay North, Sajid Khan, I. S. Johar, P. Jairaj
Director: John Berry
Trivia: First opened in South Africa on April 1, 1966. Opened in the US on June 16, 1966. A television series was adapted from the film for the 1967-1968 season, with North and Khan reprising their film roles, although the series retconned the movie’s continuity.

1976

May – Hawmps! (USA, Mulberry Square Productions)

Cast: James Hampton, Christopher Connelly, Slim Pickens, Denver Pyle, Gene Conforti, Jack Elam, Frank Inn
Director: Joe Camp
Trivia: Benjoe the dog appears in the film as Benji.

May 21 – Embryo (USA, Sandy Howard Productions)

Cast: Rock Hudson, Barbara Carrera, Diane Ladd, Anne Schedeen, Vincent Baggetta, Jack Colvin, Dr. Joyce Brothers
Director: Ralph Nelson
Trivia: Roddy McDowall makes a cameo appearance.

May 21 – Grizzly (USA, Hollywood West Entertainment)

Cast: Christopher George, Andrew Prine, Richard Jaeckel, Joan McCall
Director: William Girdler
Trivia: Retitled Killer Grizzly for American television broadcast. The film came about following the success of Jaws. This film was coincidentally the second time George, Prine and Jaeckel worked together. An 11 foot tall Kodiak bear named Teddy portrayed the killer grizzly. The bear did not roar, so the sound effect was added in post-production. A sequel was produced in 1983, but was not released until 2020 due to production issues.

May 21 – The Milpitas Monster (USA, Robert L. Burrill Productions)

Cast: Doug Hagdahl, Krazy George Henderson, Bill Guest, Priscilla House
Director: Robert L. Burrill
Trivia: Also known as The Mutant Beast. The film began as a short, but expanded to a feature when funding became available. The cast was made up almost entirely of Milpitas locals, and the film was screened annually in Milpitas from 1976 to 2024, organized by the film’s director.

May 25 – Death Journey (USA, Po’ Boy Productions)

Cast: Fred Williamson, Bernard Kirby, Art Maier, Lou Bedford, Heidi Dobbs
Director: Fred Williamson
Trivia: The Jesse Crowder character, portrayed by Fred Williamson, would appear in four films total. Williamson allegedly knew a Jesse Crowder in high school, and the real Crowder took legal action against Williamson. He lost the case when Williamson’s lawyer placed several phone books on the table and asked him to identify which Crowder he was. Williamson, however, decided to stop using the Crowder name moving forward.

May 26 – Drive-In (USA, George Litto Productions)

Cast: Lisa Lemole, Gary Lee Cavagnaro, Glenn Morshower, Billy Milliken, Lee Newsom
Director: Rod Amateau

May 26 – Mother, Jugs & Speed (USA, 20th Century Fox)

Cast: Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, Harvey Keitel, Allen Garfield, Larry Hagman, Bruce Davison, Dick Butkus, L.Q. Jones, Toni Basil
Director: Peter Yates
Trivia: Gene Hackman was offered the role of Mother Tucker, but was exhausted from making Lucky Lady and declined. He recommended Bill Cosby as an alternative. Due to the tight budget, the actors had to accept a deferred payment. Valerie Perrine was offered the role of Jugs, but refused the deferred payment, so Raquel Welch was cast. The studio attempted to adapt the film for television — though without any of the original cast — with a ‘G’ added to Jugs (‘Juggs’) as networks would not allow a name that specifically referenced the character’s breasts. Instead it was turned into a nickname based on her last name, Juggston. ABC aired the pilot on August 17, 1978 but did not pick up the series.

May 26 – Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (USA, Paramount Pictures)

Cast: Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Art Carney, Phil Silvers, Ron Leibman, Teri Garr, Ronny Graham
Director: Michael Winner
Trivia: The film is notable for a large number of cameos from Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’, many of whom had been under contract to Paramount, including Dorothy Lamour, Joan Blondell, Ethel Merman, Rory Calhoun, Billy Barty, Broderick Crawford, Walter Pidgeon, Nancy Walker, Dean Stockwell, Tab Hunter, Victor Mature and Yvonne De Carlo. The film’s working title was A Bark is Born, and was based on the career of Rin Tin Tin. The film was originally set up at Warner Bros., which asked that the title be changed so as not to clash with the upcoming remake of A Star is Born (with Barbra Streisand). The studio ultimately did not proceed with the film and it was taken to Paramount. The owners of Rin Tin Tin then sued, but the producer insisted his dog was completely fictional. Lily Tomlin was offered the female lead, but she wanted partner Jane Wagner to write the script and avoid ‘going for the laugh.’ In a comedy, the producer felt laughs don’t hurt, so she left the project. Bette Midler was interested, but could not come to terms with producers. Madeline Kahn was cast. Bruce Dern accepted his role because he said he’d never been in a hit and felt the movie was very funny. The film was completely rewritten, and directed by a man better known for the Death Wish films, faring poorly with critics and audiences. Dern still did not have his hit.

1986

May – Girls School Screamers (USA, Bandit)

Cast: Mollie O’Mara, Sharon Christopher, Mari Butler, Beth O’Malley, Karen Krevitz
Director: John P. Finnegan
Trivia: Originally filmed independently as The Portrait, but was acquired by Troma, which reshot some scenes and retitled the film. Debut feature directorial effort of John P. Finnegan.

May 21 – Crawlspace (USA, Empire Pictures)

Cast: Klaus Kinski, Talia Balsam, Barbara Whinnery, Carole Francis, Tane McClure
Director: David Schmoeller
Trivia: The film was originally written as an anti-Vietnam War movie, but producers didn’t feel American audiences were ready for that, so they suggested the protagonist be a Nazi. Schmoeller said if they got Klaus Kinski, he’d make the character a Nazi. They did and the second draft was written specifically for him. Schmoeller was unaware of Kinski’s reputation. The actor had a fit over his costumes, bought his own, charged production and kept the clothes. The director and producers wanted to fire Kinski, but the studio insisted he remain on the picture. There were claims that producer Roberto Bessi attempted to have Kinski murdered due to his continued hostility towards the crew. Despite the issues, Schmoeller praised Kinski’s performance. In 1999, Schmoeller directed the nine-minute short, Please Kill Mr. Kinski, which detailed the troubled production.

May 22 – Cobra (Canada, Golan-Globus Productions)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Reni Santoni, Andrew Robinson, Brian Thompson, David Rasche
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Trivia: Opened in the US on May 23, 1986. Stallone wrote the screenplay, loosely based on the 1974 novel, A Running Duck, and largely inspired by Stallone’s original Beverly Hills Cop script, which removed all of the comedic elements. It’s the last collaboration between Stallone and Nielsen until 2018’s Creed II, and the only film in which they both appeared while they were married. The finished film had to be heavily edited as it earned an X-rating due to the explicit violence. During filming, Stallone complained they were falling behind schedule, and cinematographer Ric Waite told him point blank it was because he was fooling around with Nielsen and showing off for his bodyguards. Stallone was shocked that someone would address him so directly, and he cleaned up his act … for a couple of weeks then returned to his egocentric behavior. The film earned six Golden Raspberry nominations including Worst Picture, Actor, Actress, Screenplay and Supporting Actor and Worst New Star for Brian Thompson. Nicholas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling are fans of the film and included homages in Drive.

May 23 – Poltergeist II: The Other Side (USA/Canada, Freddie Fields Productions)

Cast: JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O’Rourke, Oliver Robins, Zelda Rubinstein, Will Sampson, Julian Beck, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Director: Brian Gibson
Trivia: Most of the original cast returned. Dominique Dunne, who played the oldest daughter in the original, had been murdered by her boyfriend shortly after the first film’s release in 1982. It was the last film for Julian Beck, who died on September 14, 1985 (with Corey Burton dubbing some of his dialogue), and the last film released during Heather O’Rourke’s lifetime before her death in February 1988, just four months after completing Poltergeist III, which was released in June of that year. Beatrice Straight was asked to return, but was ill at the time and not willing to work. Richard Lawson was also approached to reprise his role, but he had scheduling conflicts with TV movie Under the Influence. As with the original, the film earned an Oscar nomination for Visual Effects.

1996

May 22 – Mission: Impossible (USA/Canada, Cruise/Wagner Productions)

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Redgrave, Kristin Scott Thomas
Director: Brian De Palma
Trivia: Emilio Estevez appears uncredited as an IMF agent. During the scene in which Cruise is suspended by wires in the vault heist scene, he placed British pound coins in his shoes as counterweights to stay level. It became one of the first major Hollywood films to be set in and filmed in Prague. Cruise wanted the climax to be filmed on France’s high-speed train, the TGV, but rail officials refused. Cruise set up a dinner with them and the next day permission was given. Most of the train sequence was filmed on the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios. The film was delivered on time and under budget. An opening love triangle scene was removed on the advice of George Lucas, saying it took audiences out of the genre. A dance version of the original Lalo Schifrin theme song for the TV series, by U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton, became an international hit and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

May 23 – Vacant Possession (AUS, Wintertime Films)

Cast: Pamela Rabe, John Stanton, Toni Scanlan, Linden Wilkinson
Director: Margot Nash
Trivia: While screened at the Chicago International Film Festival, the film has no known US theatrical release date. Feature film directorial debut of Margot Nash.

May 24 – Spy Hard (USA, Hollywood Pictures)

Cast: Leslie Nielsen, Nicollette Sheridan, Charles Durning, Marcia Gay Harden, Barry Bostwick, John Ales, Andy Griffith, Elya Baskin
Director: Rick Friedberg
Trivia: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovich performs the film’s theme song, a parody of ‘Thunderball’. Legend has it that while recording ‘Thunderball’, Tom Jones held the last note so long he passed out. For ‘Spy Hard’, Yankovich’s head explodes at the end. Director Rick Friedberg wanted someone like Patrick Stewart or Nigel Hawthorne to play the villain, but Disney insisted on an American TV star, so Andy Griffith was cast. Disney also wanted the film to appeal to the widest audience possible, and cut most of the story in favor of jokes. When the film went one day over schedule, Friedberg was removed as director and only acted as a consultant. He said all of the dailies from reshoots were terrible. He was also not involved with the editing, refusing to cut his 96-minute version to 84-minutes, a time which The Naked Gun co-screenwriter Jim Abrahams suggested. The cuts resulted in continuity errors and a lack of narrative comprehension. The run time was cut even further to 77-minutes. Celebrity cameos include Dr. Joyce Brothers, Ray Charles, Robert Culp, Robert Guillaume, Pat Morita, Mr. T, Taylor Negron, Curtis Armstrong, Downtown Julie Brown, Eddie Deezen, John Kassir, Alexandra Paul, and the voice of Alex Trebek.

May 24 – Two Deaths (USA, British Screen Productions)

Cast: Michael Gambon, Sônia Braga, Patrick Malahide, Ion Caramitru, Nickolas Grace
Director: Nicoloas Roeg

May 24 – Welcome to the Dollhouse (USA/Mexico, Suburban Pictures)

Cast: Heather Matarazzo, Matthew Faber, Daria Kalinina, Angela Pietropinto, Bill Buell, Brendan Sexton III, Eric Mabius, Christina Vidal, Ken Leung
Director: Todd Solondz
Trivia: The film’s working title was Faggots and Retards. The film launched the careers of director Solondz and actress Matarazzo, whose character, Dawn, appears in two other films by Solondz, Palindromes and Wiener-Dog, although the films have alternate timelines and Dawn encounters different fates in each film.

2006

May 24 – An Inconvenient Truth (USA, Lawrence Bender Productions)

Cast: Al Gore
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Trivia: The film was shot in several different formats, from HD video to 8mm film, to give the film its visual impact. Winner of Oscars for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song.

May 24 – X-Men: The Last Stand (UAE/Belgium, Marvel Entertainment)

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones, Elliot Page, Daniel Cudmore, Ben Foster, Michael Murphy, Danie Ramirez, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Josef Sommer, Bill Duke, Eric Dane, Ken Leung
Director: Brett Ratner
Trivia: Opened in the US and Canada on May 26, 2006. With a budget of $210 million, it was the most expensive film ever made at the time. The cast from the first two X-Men films had to renegotiate contracts as they had only signed for two films. Hugh Jackman’s contract also included approval of director, and he recommended Darren Aronofsky, with whom he’d just worked on The Fountain. Joss Whedon turned down an offer as he was working on a Wonder Woman film, and Zack Snyder and Guillermo del Toro were approached but had commitments to 300 and Pan’s Labyrinth, respectively. Matthew Vaughn was eventually hired but had to withdraw due to family issues, although he was also angry with studio executives attempting to lure Halle Berry back in the role of Storm with a fake script. Channing Tatum was also considered for the role of Gambit before it was cut from the film because there was not enough time to do the fan-favorite character justice. Alan Cumming was to return as Nightcrawler, despite his complaints about the arduous make-up process, but the character’s screentime was so minimal it wasn’t worth the time or expense to do the makeup and the character was written out. The Golden Gate Bridge scene was originally in the middle of the film with the climax in Washington DC, but too many recent movies had big climaxes set in DC so the structure of the film was changed. The filming schedule was so tight that post-production began on the first day, with footage being sent directly to the editors.

2016

Still from "X-Men: Apocalypse". A blue-skinned figure with an intricate headdress stands with three diverse individuals in bold outfits, amidst a swirling debris background, exuding intensity. From left to right: Alexandra Shipp as Storm, Ben Hardy as Angel, Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse, Olivia Munn as Psylocke.