Bus Stop (1956) opens with Virgil (Arthur O’Connell) and Bo (Don Murray) practicing steer wrestling for the rodeo in beautiful Montana. Bo is the very young owner of the ranch and Virgil is his top hand. They get on a bus to ride from Montana to Phoenix for the big rodeo. Oh for the old…
1956
Picnic a Kansas summer romance: Lisa’s Home Bijou
Film Festival: William Inge As Picnic (1956) opens, a young man (William Holden) rides into town on a boxcar in the early morning. He’s dusty and dirty and he cleans himself up in the mill race. He wanders through the backyards and picks a back door to knock on. Mrs. Potts offers him food, after…
Lisa’s Home Bijou: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Film Festival: Science Fiction in the 1950s Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) was the first movie that Ray Harryhausen used stop motion animation on flying saucers. Alien invasion films became a staple during the 1950s and this film is a classic! “As a result, headquarters of the Hemispheric Defense Command in Colorado Springs issued…
Lisa’s Home Bijou: Forbidden Planet
Film Festival: Science Fiction in the 1950s Forbidden Planet (1956) was the first big budget sci-fi film. Rather than aliens invading the earth or monsters from nuclear testing, this film takes place completely on another planet, Altair IV. The score was composed electronically by a couple from Greenwich Village and makes for some very eery…