1950s

CHICAGO – Society, or at least certain elements of society, are always looking for scapegoats to hide the sins of themselves and authority. In the so-called “great America” of the 1950s, the scapegoat target was comic books … specifically through a sociological study called “The Seduction of the Innocent.” City Lit Theater Company, in part two of a trilogy on comic culture by Mark Pracht, presents “The Innocence of Seduction … now through October 8th, 2023. For details and tickets, click COMIC BOOK.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Devotion,” a based-on-truth scenario regarding Jesse Brown, a Navy black aviator who broke through barriers during the 1950s Korean War, in theaters on November 23rd.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on October 27th, 2022, reviewing “Till,” a narrative re-telling of the Emmett Till civil rights incident from 1955, in wide release beginning October 28th.

CHICAGO – The film “Till” is the story of Emmett Till, a black Chicago boy who was murdered in 1955 while visiting relatives in the American South. Instead of hiding the killing, Till’s mother Mamie (Danielle Deadwyler) chose to show the world the result of her son’s hate crime murder. Chinonye Chukwu directed the film.

CHICAGO – A sure hand behind the camera and a dynamic performance from Florence Pugh help “Don’t Worry Darling” pull off an extremely difficult balancing act. This isn’t a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it inspires the kind of impressions and ideas that you will still be talking about a week later.

TOPANGA, CALIF – Tony Dow is still dead. The featured cast member of the iconic 1950s sitcom “Leave it to Beaver” joined the ranks of Mark Twain and Generalissimo Francisco Franco on the list of deaths that were announced before the individual had died. On July 26th, 2022, a rep inadvertently leaked that Dow had passed, after a battle with cancer. His family had to intervene, expressing that he was still alive. Dow officially died on July 27th at his home in Topanga, California.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 17th, reviewing “The Outfit,” a new crime thriller noir set in Chicago, in theaters on March 18th.

CHICAGO – The Chicago of the 1950s and early 1960s was a different city then what it is now, and to capture that in a documentary is quite remarkable. “Roy’s World: Barry Gifford’s Chicago” is a look at the city in that era, and it will screen at the 2021 Chicago Critics Film Festival. Click ROY’S WORLD for details.

CHICAGO – Sam Pollard has been a behind-the-scenes film editor/producer for most of his career, best known for his work with Spike Lee. But recently, after sporadic director assignments over the years, he has broken out with two major profile documentaries, one on Sammy Davis Jr. in 2017, and his most recent “MLK/FBI.”

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on May 29th, 2020, discussing new releases “The High Note” (VOD) and “The Vast of Night” (Amazon Prime) and BONUS review.