Three-Quarters of a Million Views… and Counting – You Don’t Mind, I Hope, If I Give Myself A Pat On The Back

It took me five years to reach the half a million mark and less than a year since then to hit the 750,000 mark. Add to that another 110,000 from referrals to various of the social media – primarily X and Facebook – that have also come completely out of the blue. For my first-ever month I attracted a total of 179 views. Last month the tally was just short of 25,000 and my record month (in February this year) was 78,000.

My pleasure in cinema – the physical act of going to a cinema as well as the watching of movies – has not diminished. As you will be aware I still see around 2-3 movies a week at my local multiplex and another 4-5 sitting at home either catching them on a streamer or working my way through the huge stack adorning my shelves. I don’t know how many I’ve still got to get through before I run out of 1960s movies.

One of the benefits of a site like mine is that it draws attention to movies discarded as unworthy of academic attention or not fitting into some other sub-section of interest such as cult or horror or whatever star happens to still be attracting public interest. But, as you know, from my general astonishment at the movies that fill my twice-yearly Top 100 feature, I’m not chasing the popular vote. I’ve no idea, generally, how viewers will respond to the films I’ve chosen to watch.

I tend to be aware that one of the movies I’ve reviewed has turned up on a streamer somewhere in the world because suddenly one of the titles will generate a heck of a lot of views. In the last three months, for instance, ten films in particular have enjoyed massive spurts in the viewing figures.

And they could not be more varied. James Garner as the amnesiac Mister Buddwing/ Buddwing (1966) struggling with his identity rubs shoulders with Toys in the Attic (1963) where Dean Martin is battling to save his marriage. Sergio Leone’s majestic Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) headlining Claudia Cardinale and Charles Bronson duking it out with empire-builder Henry Fonda shares space with Carroll Baker as tempestuous Hollywood star Harlow (1965) and Gregory Peck also knocked sideways by identity issues in thriller Mirage (1965).

Frank Sinatra’s last top-billed role as a cop hunting a serial killer in The First Deadly Sin (1980) also jumped up the charts along with Montgomery Clift and Lee Remick in Elia Kazan’s Wild River (1960), Barbara Hershey leading a pack of teenagers enjoying an idyllic Last Summer (1969) before it turns sour on them, and George Roy Hill’s Period of Adjustment (1962) with rising stars Jane Fonda and Tony Franciosa.

For some reason, the remake of Stagecoach (1966) had continued in all three months to add substantial numbers to its figures – so much so that it is head-and-shoulders above any other film in the listings – and whether that is due to Ann-Margret in a straight role or maybe even Alex Cord or because audiences welcomed a Technicolor version of the John Ford classic is anybody’s guess.

Of course like any reviewer I’ve got an ego, but I’ve quickly learned that not everyone responds to my attempts to educate the public on the merits of a specific movie. It’s been glaringly obvious that my five-star picks rarely sit close to the top of the Top 100. I’ve pushed the boat out, for example, on Andrew V. McLaglen western The Undefeated (1969) with John Wayne and Rock Hudson on opposite sides of the Civil War fence.

Except for Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s luster has foundered and even my enthusiastic response to The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964) has not been shared by the larger section of my readers. Not that many have responded either to Burt Lancaster as the bewildered The Swimmer (1969), nor to a pair of steamy dramas set in the Deep South – Arthur Penn’s The Chase (1966) featuring Marlon Brando, Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and Otto Preminger’s Hurry Sundown (1967) starring Michael Caine and Fonda again and Faye Dunaway.

I hope that if I pick out some under-rated gems they might attract further notice. This week, for example, long-ignored Dear Heart (1964) with Glenn Ford has enjoyed a sudden spike in views as has underrated western Five Card Stud (1968) with Robert Mitchum and Dean Martin, Steve McQueen as Nevada Smith (1966) and Paul Newman drama From the Terrace (1960).

To be honest, it’s more interesting for me, as I keep going, to see how unexpectedly my Top 100 shapes up and which films almost come out of left field to give a good account of themselves in reader response.

Thank you all for reading the Blog and for passing the word.