Johnny Cash Has Five Minutes to Live!

Johnny Cash, Five Minutes to Live - 1961

He’s a goddamn door-to-door maniac! He’s a milky faced, baby-faced cruel psychopath of a guitar-strumming KILLER. It’s our favorite warbler–Johnny Cash, in the late noir thriller Five Minutes to Live, directed by Ludlow Flower, Jr., who cast his wife Cay Forrester in the role of imperiled housewife Nancy Wilson. Definitely late noir:  it came out… Continue reading Johnny Cash Has Five Minutes to Live!

Twilight Zone: “We All Know What Became of Bonnie Beecher”

And I chose Bonnie Beecher, and we all know what became of Bonnie Beecher. William Froug, in The Twilight Zone Companion, by Marc Scott Zicree These are the curious words uttered by Twilight Zone producer William Froug, in reference to a May 22, 1964 episode  titled “Come Wander With Me.” What Froug was so upset… Continue reading Twilight Zone: “We All Know What Became of Bonnie Beecher”

BZhRK Barguzin Russian Rail Missile Had Precedent with Peacekeeper Rail System, 1986

Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Car Cutaway, 1986

Over at Popular Mechanics, Kyle Mizokami reports that Russia is developing a rail-mounted system of mobile ICBMs that will constantly rove the country, making “the country’s nuclear arsenal more mobile and thus more difficult to locate in wartime.” Fantastic idea.  But it’s hardly a new idea. The Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Car Program was developed by… Continue reading BZhRK Barguzin Russian Rail Missile Had Precedent with Peacekeeper Rail System, 1986

Lee Van Cleef, Official Badass and Savior of Little Dogs

Lee Van Cleef, Kansas City Confidential

Everybody knows the Lee Van Cleef of late 1960s spaghetti Westerns. So why should I put him in the category of People You’ve Never Heard Of? Because there are two sides to him that many people don’t know about. The first one–Van Cleef as a film noir tough–is not known to most people who only… Continue reading Lee Van Cleef, Official Badass and Savior of Little Dogs

Boeing Stratocruiser Cutaway, 1952

Click Image For Full 1636 x 781 px Size In 1952, the 67.5 ton Boeing Stratocruiser cost a (then) whopping $1.5 million.  With a 3,000 mile range, this craft–first delivered to PanAm–offered up luxury as few commercial passengers had seen before:  a galley, a lower-deck lounge, sleeping berths, a forward stateroom, and more. Truly a case… Continue reading Boeing Stratocruiser Cutaway, 1952