TheArchive: Reviewing the Rare, Retro, and Restored

Here at Multicom, we are saddened by the news of Joe Don Baker's passing on May 7th, 2025 . Baker was an important figure in American film and a familiar face in many beloved titles in our collection. His family announced last week that he passed away at the age of 89. Joe Don Baker made a mark on Hollywood with his unmistakable Texan presence and his commanding presence. Whether playing lawmen, outlaws, or something in between, he brought an intensity to his roles that audiences never forgot...including making memorable appearances in multiple James Bond films. He rose to fame in the early 1970s with back-to-back hit performances: first, in Junior Bonner (1972) , directed by Sam Peckinpah, where he starred as the ambitious younger brother of Steve McQueen’s aging rodeo rider. Then, in Don Siegel’s Charley Varrick (1973), he turned heads as Molly, a mob enforcer who chillingly stalks Walter Matthau’s character.  But Baker’s lead role in Walking Tall (1973) catapulted him to th...

Copyright Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett Collection Fall has officially begun, and October has started. This is the time of year when horror movie fans revisit familiar favorites and watch all the new horror films and series released during spooky season . Scaring each other through horrifying stories has been a part of human history since the beginning. Folklore in oral traditions and literature centered around the supernatural has been spread throughout every culture. It’s no wonder the first horror film was created as soon as cinema began .  In the mid-1890s, George Mellies created “ La Manoir du Diable. " The film is also known as “ The Haunted Castle” or “House of the Devil” in English. This film was created in 1896, and it’s a 3-minute silent film that features ghosts, the devil, and skeletons, among other creepy supernatural things. This film paved the way for other films created in the 1920s-30s that defined the horror genre. This golden era of horror introduced us to...