In the opening hours of June 11, 1979, I was listening to KDKA AM radio with my dad. In the middle of a show, the national news broke in to say that John Wayne had died.

I started crying because I always thought my grandfather was John Wayne. If the Duke could die, my grandfather could.

It was too much for a six year old child.

I’m glad the young version of me never saw The Shootist.

The last movie that Wayne would be in, this is the tale of sheriff-turned-gunfighter John Bernard “J.B.” Books, a man who has killed more than thirty men and become a legend. The kind of man that people run from rather than even look at, someone who Marshal Walter Thibido (Harry Morgan) hopes he doesn’t have to arrest.

He’s in Carson City to visit one of the only people he trusts, Dr. E.W. “Doc” Hostetler (Jimmy Stewart), the man who once saved his life after a gunfight gone wrong. He doesn’t have the energy he once did and he soon finds out that he has cancer. He has days, maybe weeks left. All he can do is take liquid painkillers and hope for the best.

Until he’s taken, he plans on just living a quiet unknown existence in the home of widow Bond Rogers (Lauren Bacall), a woman who instantly dislikes him and grows to feel differently. He also ends up being a father of sorts to her son Gillom (Ron Howard) who is close to being a criminal.

Once others learn he is in town, killers come to make their names off shooting him but even in the throes of death, Books is too tough to die. He also has no interest in telling his story to reporter Dan Dobkins (Rick Lenz), even if it makes money for one of the only women he ever loved, Serepta (Sheree North).

Realizing the end is near, Books tells Gillom to bring three men to the bar. They are dairy owner Jay Cobb (Bill McKinney), a man who insulted him when he first arrived; Jack Pulford (Hugh O’Brian), a Faro dealer who was once a killing machine who needs to destroy Books to get his name back and Mike Sweeney (Richard Boone), who wants to kill Books in revenge for the death of his brother. Despite being critically wounded, Books kills all three before being shot in the back by a bartender, someone he never even figured on. Gillom takes his gun and shoots the man before throwing the revolver down. As he dies, Books smiles and nods.

Gillom walks away without a sound.

Books lived by the words “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”

Paul Newman, George C. Scott, Charles Bronson, Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood all passed on this movie and it was thought that Wayne — who had his left lung and several ribs removed when he first had cancer — couldn’t handle the role. His breathing and mobility, as well as the altitude of Carson City were challenges he had to fight. When he made Rooster Cogburn a year before, he had pneumonia so bad that he damaged his heart from how much he coughed. A lot of people thought he couldn’t make this movie and his doctors almost stopped filming after he caught the flu.

He changed the ending of the book and the script. Books was supposed to kill his last opponent by shooting him in the back and would be put out of his misery by Gillom after he was shot in by the bartender. Wayne felt that he had never shot a man in the back and would not in this movie either. He also objected to his character being killed by Gillom and added the bartender shooting him in the back because “no one could ever take John Wayne in a fair fight.”

Director Don Siegel told Wayne. “That’s what Clint Eastwood would do.”

Wayne apocryphically replied, “Well I don’t like that, and I didn’t like High Plains Drifter!”

There are also some great moments with Scatman Crothers as a blacksmith and a short role for John Carradine (Wayne, figuring this was his last movie, got several of his friends to act in the film) as an undertaker. Even the horse, Dollar, is Wayne’s horse.

This is also one of only seven movies in which Wayne dies, along with Reap the Wild Wind, The Fighting Seabees, Wake of the Red Witch, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Alamo and The Cowboys.

The father and son relationship between Books and Gillom reminds me of the way that Tin Star takes a man ruined by a hard life and shows how he can be redeemed by how he treats a younger one.

The Arrow blu ray of The Shootist has a new 2K remaster by Arrow Films from the original 35mm camera negative and extras such as a new audio commentary by filmmaker and critic Howard S. Berger, a visual essay by film critic David Cairns, an interview with Western author C. Courtney Joyner, an appreciation of Elmer Bernstein’s score by film historian and composer Neil Brand, a visual essay on Wayne by filmmaker and critic Scout Tafoya and The Shootist: The Legend Lives On, an archival featurette, There is also a trailer and image gallery.

It all comes inside a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Juan Esteban Rodríguez, as well as even more like a double-sided fold-out poster, six postcard-sized lobby card reproductions and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film critic Philip Kemp.

You can get this movie from MVD.

The last movie that fight choreographer Sammo Hung made with his mentor director Huang Feng (Lady Whirlwind, Hapkido) before directing The Iron-Fisted Monk, The Shaolin Plot is about Prince Daglen (Chan Sing) who is creating a library of Chinese martial arts manuals and learning each form so he becomes the greatest fighter in the world.

With only two manuals left, he sends a renegade monk (Hung) with two cymbals he uses to chop heads to take the Wu-Tang and Shaolin books. Yet for his plan to happen, Daglen will have to get inside the Shaolin temple, which will see him battle Little Tiger (James Tien) and a warrior monk team (Casanova Wong and Kwan Yung Moon).

I’m such a fool for movies like this, where people need to take all of the knowledge and moves and create their own ultimate style. Anything with the Wu-Tang or Shaolin makes me happy and as long as these movies keep getting re-released, I’m going to never stop watching them and throwing little kicks in the air as I cheer the fights.

As a fat guy who loves martial arts, I just have to say, “Thank you Sammo.” You have made all of us so proud.

The Arrow release of this movie has a 2K restoration from the original film elements by Fortune Star. It also has two commentary tracks, one by martial arts film experts Frank Djeng and Michael Worth and another by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. Plus, there are trailers, a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady, a reversible sleeve with both artwork and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Peter Glagowski.

You can get it from MVD.

Originally conceived as a two-part TV pilot, The Scarface Mob would go on to become one of TV’s most famous shows, The Untouchables. It takes place in 1929 Chicago, as Al Capone’s (Neville Brand) gang runs the city and is making money selling booze despite it being illegal. They pay off anyone they can but Federal Investigator Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) plans on brings together a team of men from across the country who he feels can’t be bought.

Desi Arnaz had optioned the rights to Eliot Ness’ book about fighting Al Capone and decided to turn it into a two-part episode of his show, the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, under the title of The Untouchables. Westinghouse paid $200,000 for the two shows, but Arnaz put up his own money to get a better looking product and to hire Stack and Brand. He sold the rights to the film in Europe to make up the difference.

Brand would return for two episodes of the show, which were also released as a movie, Alcatraz Express. There’s also another two episodes that become a third film, The Guns of Zangara.

Stack, who was most famous for this show until Airplane and Unsolved Mysteries, based Ness on the three bravest men he had met: Audie Murphy, his former roommate and war hero Buck Mazza and stuntman Carey Loftin. He said of the men, “All three had one thing in common. Tthey were the best in their fields and they never boasted!”

Director Phil Karlson was a film noir director and he fits this story, which was written by Paul Monash, who created Peyton Place and wrote The Friends of Eddie Coyle and the Salem’s Lot TV miniseries.

According to the Italian-American Herald, “Italian-American actors and publishers who expose and perpetuate the stereotype image of Italians as mobsters, wife abusers, hitmen and cheats as it has since the debut of The Untouchables in 1959.” This is where, as always, I remind you that there is no such thing as the Mafia, but I’m Italian. I am legally bound to write this.

That said, everything about The Untouchables — good and bad — starts here. If anything, you can enjoy just how off the rails Neville Brand is.

The Arrow Video blu ray of The Scarface Mob has great extras, such as a video essay on the film and the career of director Phil Karlson by film critic David Cairns; another essay by Philip Kemp on the career of Eliot Ness and his depictions on film; a trailer and a gallery of original posters, lobby cards and publicity photos provided by The Scarface Mob and The Untouchables archivist Kelly Lynch.

It’s all inside a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio and also comes with six postcard-sized lobby card reproductions, a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw and liner notes on The Untouchables by Dan Lynch and Kelly Lynch.

You can get it from MVD.

Made by The Asylum, this was directed by Brian Nowak (Jurassic Domination) and written by C.M. Dowling (Super Volcano) and M.L. Miller (Shark Waters). This takes place in The Armada Hotel, which is under construction when an earthquake shakes the city. It traps Brian (Matthew Gademske) and his girlfriend Amy (Angela Cole). While he knows that she’s diabetic and worries about her condition, he doesn’t know that she’s pregnant. Along with the architects Deb (Jenny Tran) and Joe (Pakob Jarernpone) and the person in charge of the construction, Reese (Houston Rhines) and several other future victims, they must try to get out of the building or die trying.

Most of them die, no spoiler needed.

A whole bunch of attractive people get killed by everything from malfunctioning elevators to flooding and even a helicopter bisecting them. The first part has nearly no effects and instead uses the building — which has fallen into the underground — to good effect. Then they get to the surface and that’s when The Asylum remembers that they have to have lots of CGI, some bad, some not as bad, and there’s even a great moment where the survivors try to escape a flood by driving through a parking garage before smashing into a wall because of bad driving.

I love 70s disaster movies so much and always hope that modern movies can get close to them. This has the spirit, if not the cast of famous people, but is missing the budget. That said, if you just want to chill out, stop thinking and enjoy what citywide destruction looks like on a low budget, who am I to hold you back? I just wish that there were sharks in the water when it flooded or that this went crazier, but as it is, it moves fast and won’t bore you.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Frank Henenlotter is an instrumental figure in grindhouse and exploitation film lore. In addition to rescuing many low-budget sexploitation and exploitation films from being destroyed, he made three Basket Case movies and Brain Damage. This is one of the few movies that upsets Becca so much that she refuses to watch it.

Duane Bradley arrives in the grimiest and scummiest New York City with a locked wire basket that contains his formerly conjoined twin, Belial. They were separated against their will and Belial has always resented it, pushing his brother to get revenge on the doctor who cut them apart.

Our hero — well, such as it is — falls in love with a nurse named Sharon, but Belial tries to rape her, can’t perform and kills her instead. Is it any more frightening if I tell you that Belial is basically a rubber glove on Henelotter’s hand? Duane attacks his brother and they fall out of the apartment to their death.

Don’t worry — the brothers survived to make it to the sequel, as well as another film after that where Belial got a powered exo-skeleton. The brothers also show up in the subway in Henenlotter’s Brain Damage.

Critic Rex Reed’s was quoted on the poster for this movie, saying “This is the sickest movie ever made!” He had heard how gross the film was and sought it out. As he left the theater, someone asked him what he thought. He didn’t realize that that person was Henenlotter and as a result, he was furious that he was being used to promote this movie.

The bar scenes were shot in The Hellfire Club, an S&M bar in Manhattan. The crew had to hide all the sex toys and swing, but left behind the buzz saw that killed the boys’ father as a gift. That very same crew was so offended by Sharon’s death scene that they all walked out rather than continue filming it.

The Arrow Video 4K blu ray release of Basket Case has so many extras that I can’t even get my head around it. There’s a 4K restoration from the original 16mm negative by MoMA along with two audio commentaries (writer/director Frank Henenlotter and star Kevin Van Hentenryck and a second with Henenlotter, producer Edgar Ievins, actor Beverly Bonner and filmmaker Scooter McRae).

There’s also a short film, Basket Case 3-1/2: An Interview with Duane Bradley, interviews with Van Hentenryck, Henenlotter, Beverly Bonner, Florence and Maryellen Schultz, producer Ievins, casting person/actor Ilze Balodis, associate producer/special effects artist Ugis Nigals and Belial performer Kika Nigals and even Joe Bob Briggs.

There’s also a feature-length documentary on the entire series, a location feature, a video essay on conjoined twins by Travis Crawford and Slash of the Knife, a Henenlotter short that has much of the same case.

Want more? There are trailers, TV and radio ads and Belial’s Dream, an animated short by Robert Morgan. All inside a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck with a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck and a collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Michael Gingold and a Basket Case comic strip by artist Martin Trafford.

You can get it from MVD.

Daniela (Tamara Almeida) and her husband Jaime (Jason Diaz) have seen better days. He was once a star athlete but got hurt, so now all he does is play video games and get more depressed while his wife cooks, cleans and makes all the money. He resents her, because she reminds him of the great past that he once had. She wants out so that she can have a future.

While talking with his friend Miguel (Milton Torres Lara), the conversation gets around to what Jaime should do now that it looks like he’s heading for a divorce. His wife has a $500,000 life insurance policy, but when Miguel suggests they kill her, Jaime reminds him how much he loves his wife.

However, one of her fellow nurses and her best friend Rosie (Erica Deutschman) has a crush on Jaime and takes a photo of Dani consoling a cop named Noah (Brett Geddes)who saved her from a homeless man who was attacking people inside the hospital. It isn’t even a romance yet, but it’s already upset Dr. Will (Connor McMahon), who has an infatuation with Dani, and when Miguel sees the photo, he decides that yes, his wife must die.

Miguel decides to pull the job but he gets nervous and struggles with Dani, whose hand is on the gun when it goes off. She has no idea what to do, so she hides the body and calls Noah instead of 911. He reacts so much unlike how she expected, telling her that she’s going to hurt his career. That said, he does help her hide out until she figures out what to do next. As she waits in a trailer, she’s using her house’s cameras to watch what Jaime is doing.

Antonio (David Chinchilla), Miguel’s brother, wants revenge a lot more than Jaime. He decides that he’s going to be the one to kill Dani and get the money. Noah, who falls for women in trouble, wants to help her. Jaime has no idea what he wants. Dani, however, is the kind of heroine who will do whatever she has to do to get away from all of these men and the various things they need from her.

Directed by Lisa Soper (the production designer on Peacemaker, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and The Blackcoat’s Daughter) and written by Huelah Lander (Twisted Neighbor), this film has a wild color palette that feels like people live inside a Mario Bava film, as well as some great character work. Rosie is one of the most horrible, self-centered and awesome villains I’ve seen in a movie in some time. And Dani ends up being stronger than anyone else, making unexpected decisions and pulling herself out of the mess her life has become.

You can watch this on Tubi.

The first time I heard about Sean “Puffy” Combs was in 1991 when he promoted an AIDS fundraiser at the City College of New York following a charity basketball game. The event was oversold and in a rush to get to the stage, nine people died.

From my outside the rap knowledge world — I mean, I love Public Enemy, Black Sheep and random songs — I always some him as a pretender, as someone who tagged along with the superior Notorious B.I.G. and then used his death to get ahead.

The last couple of months have been really wild, to say the least.

This whole thing started in 20017 when Cindy Ruela, a former personal chef for Diddy, filed a lawsuit against in L.A. County Superior Court claiming that the artist sexual harassed her. Then a few years later, his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura accused him of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse, as well as blowing up her boyfriend Kid Cudi’s car. These suits were paid off, but then there were more cases, including some claiming revenge porn was used as Diddy filmed women and used it as blackmail.

By February of this year, Combs had five lawsuits, including one by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a producer who claimed that he was raped by Diddy and forced to have sex with sex workers while others watched and filmed him.

It all led to the March 25 raid of Combs’ homes in Los Angeles, New York and Miami y the Department of Homeland Security. In response, Macy’s pulled all of his clothing and soon, others would follow suit.

As this is written, nothing has been decided in court and much of the charges in this are rumors. But man, when there’s smoke, there’s often fire. If you need caught up on a situation in pop culture fast, these TMZ Tubi Originals will do it for you.

Now where’s the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake breakdown for us old white people?

You can watch this on Tubi.

Directed by Ted Campbell (Final Heist), who co-wrote the script with Richard Pierce, This Never Happened is all about Emily (María José De La Cruz) who is the next in her family’s history of being able to see the dead. After all, her grandmother could as well and that’s why she lived out her days alone in a mental hospital.

Emily goes with her boyfriend Matteo (Javier Dulzaides) to his father’s funeral in Mexico City. Afterward, his mother Melora (Andrea Noli) tells him that the house will be sold in a few days. Matteo’s friends — Olivia (Conny Cambambia), Ale (Juana Serrano) and Nica (Gonzalo Zulueta) — decide that one weekend in their old house would give them closure.

You know what happens next.

I mean, Matteo even says to Emily, “You forgot to take your pills.”

Here are a few words of advice for the characters in this movie but well, they’re all dead so it’s hard to say, right? Don’t go back home with your boyfriend. If his friends all seem like drug addicts and may have put drugs in your drink, don’t trust them. If you can see the dead, maybe leave instead of dealing with that big toothed monster in the swimming pool. And if you buy Tarot cards, make sure they’re not razor sharp, no matter how good the scene is, because you’re going to die.

I think that Less Than Zero properly prepared me for a life of hating rich people. This movie is much the same, as they the thing that never happened is — spoiler warning — a girl being drugged and assaulted by several of them at a party in this same house. Now, her spirit wants revenge and is swimming in the pool, activated by those magic crystals that got thrown into the water. That’s more advice. If you have magic objects, don’t be throwing them into the pool.

Then again, I am all for rich kid comeuppance and this movie delivers on that. Tubi horror has been getting better and I’m hoping that a year from now, we’ll all be amazed at hust how far they’ve grown. Until then, this has a nice budget, an attractive cast and a scene where a blender leaks blood everywhere. Can you really ask more from free?

You can watch this on Tubi.

I usually make fun of the TMZ crew but this episode of their Tubi specials gets into how they fight for the First Amendment. Sure, it’s over the Mel Gibson drunk driving case, but the idea that the LAPD would get a search warrant for all of their phone records to out the source who told TMZ about four pages deleted from the arrest report is insane. It’s even legal to do that now after the Patriot Act.

This time, Hollywood’s biggest lies — yes, it’s right there in the title — are exposed. Like did Kim Kardashian and her mother engineer her sex tape? What happened when Jussie Smollett claimed that he was attacked in a hate crime? Did Milli Vanilli really lipsync their songs? And yes, what really happened with Mel Gibson?

It’s really incredible how much of this cuts through things that are accepted and shows us what really lies beneath Hollywood. Sure, these stories are all rather innocuous when it comes to lies, but the Gibson one, as I mentioned earlier, goes much deeper than I thought it would.

You can watch this on Tubi.