Best Thrillers Of All Time

The British newspaper the Telegraph offes a list of the best thrillers of all time.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service - It might almost have been any of them, but Fleming’s tenth Bond book reveals the spy in a softer, more humane light, even falling in love and getting married – though not for long – while battling with Ernst Blofield in his high alpine fastness.

 

The Hunt for Red October - At the height of the Cold War the captain of a Russian nuclear submarine that cannot be detected defects to the west, bringing his craft – Red October – with him. The Russians try to stop him. The Americans and the hero Jack Ryan try to stop them. Incredibly tense and superbly claustrophobic.

 

 

The Manchurian Candidate - Set during the Cold War, The Manchurian Candidate concerns the brainwashing of a whole company of soldiers by Korean Communists, to allow their officer to become a “sleeper” in the American Government. Complex and steeped in the paranoia of the time.

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10609803/Best-thrillers-of-all-time.html 

Happy Birthday To Frank Sinatra

 

As Biography.com notes, today is Frank Sinatra's birthday.

Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, Frank Sinatra rose to fame singing big band numbers. In the '40s and '50s, he had a dazzling array of hit songs and albums and went on to appear in dozens of films, winning an Oscar for From Here to Eternity. He left behind a massive catalog of work that includes iconic tunes like "Love and Marriage" and "New York, New York."

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a video clip via the below link:

http://www.biography.com/people/frank-sinatra-9484810

Note: Frank Sinatra is from New Jersey, but he was considered to be family in my Italian-American neighborhood in South Philly. Frank Palumbo was his friend and Sinatra performed regularly at Palumbo's.

I'm thankful that I was able to catch Frank Sinatra in concert. He was a great entertainer.

He was not only a great singer, he was also a fine actor. His performances in From Here to Eternity, The Man With the Golden Arm and The Manchurian Candidate were first rate. I also like his
musical-comedy film Robin and the Seven Hoods, with Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis and Peter Falk. 

Top Five Cold War-Era Spy Thrillers

With the film version of John le Carre's classic spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opening in British cinemas this week, DigitalSpy.com's Simon Reynolds offers his take on the top five Cold War-era spy films.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/at-the-movies/a340046/video-top-5-cold-war-era-spy-thrillers-james-bond-ipcress-file-more.html    

I agree with four of his picks.

From Russia With Love is the best James Bond film, in my view, and Ian Fleming's best Bond novel. The film is a first-class spy thriller and I watch it again and again every couple of years. Sean Connery is the best Bond, in my view, and his fight with the late, great Robert Shaw is the best film fight scene.

The Manchurian Candidate is another great spy film. Based on Richard Condon's great novel, the film offers Frank Sinatra in one of his finest film roles and his fight scene with Henry Silva comes close to matching Sean Connery and Robert Shaw's fight in From Russia With Love. Angela Lansbury, Laurence Harvey and James Harvey are terrific in this clever film of a brain-washed Korean War who returns home as a political assassin.

I also like The Ipcress Spy and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

But I would not have picked Three Days of the Condor. The idea of the CIA killing their own officers in New York is absurd. The film is a paranoid fantasy. I've spoken to several CIA officers who just hate this film.

My fifth pick would have been The Hunt for Red October (based on the Tom Clancy novel) or The Fourth Protocol (based on the Fredrick Forsyth novel).