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Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Francesca “Kitten” Natividad, the go-go dancer who became a cult pop culture figure when she was cast by sexploitation film director Russ Meyer in “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens,” died Saturday of kidney failure after suffering from cancer at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, according to her friend Siouxzan Perry. She was 74. “She adored her friends, cats, family and fans,” her sister Eva wrote in a statement on Facebook posted by Perry. Born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Natividad moved to Texas as a child, where she became class president of her high school in El Paso. After moving to California, she became a cook and maid for actress Stella Stevens before becoming a go-go dancer and adopting the name “Kitten.” She met “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” director Meyer through a dancer friend, and he hired her to narrate his 1976 sex comedy “Up.” She had already had breast implant surgery in Tijuana when Meyer paid for a second surgery, giving her the outsized proportions that would become her calling card.

Carmel Dagan Staff Writer Louise Fletcher, who won the best actress Oscar for her indelible performance as Nurse Ratched in Milos Forman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” died Friday at her home in France, according to a rep. She was 88. The classic film, based on Ken Kesey’s novel and exploring the repressive tendency of authority through the story of the patients and staff of a psych ward, won five Oscars in 1976, including best picture and best actor for Jack Nicholson. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was the first film in more than four decades to sweep the major categories of best picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay. It was nominated for an additional four Oscars and was also a substantial box office hit.

If the opening of “Clerks III” this week has you feeling nostalgic about the earlier films of writer/director Kevin Smith, you’ll hit a dead-end when searching for one of his greatest accomplishments – 1999’s religious satire “Dogma.”“Dogma,” which stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Alan Rickman and Chris Rock, is currently not available to stream anywhere or buy digitally, and the out-of-print Blu-ray frequently sells for around $100 on the secondary market. While religious groups were bent out of shape by the movie, it was warmly received by critics (Roger Ebert gave it three-and-a-half out of four stars) and made $44 million at the box office (it only cost $10 million).

“G.I. Jane” was the punchline of a throwaway joke that instigated the slap heard ’round the world. Before that, the movie, which came out 25 years ago this week, was also a forgettable joke, at least to critics.

Carmel Dagan Staff WriterWolfgang Petersen, who rode his acclaimed German-language film “Das Boot” into a career directing Hollywood blockbusters such as “In the Line of Fire,” “Air Force One,” “The Perfect Storm” and “Troy,” has died. He was 81.The news was confirmed by his production company.“Das Boot” (1981) was the harrowing story of life aboard a German U-boat during World War II; the genius of the film was that Petersen accomplished the unlikely feat of making audiences feel for the ordinary men serving on the submarine, who were all at least nominally in service to the Nazi cause — even the captain, played by Jurgen Prochnow, who himself parlayed the role in the film into a career as a character actor in Hollywood.

Carson Burton Sam Mendes will receive the Ebert Director Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey announced Tuesday.The award, which recognizes filmmakers who have exemplified greatness in their careers, was named after legendary film critic Roger Ebert and is an evolution of the festival’s Roger Ebert Golden Thumb Award. Past recipients of the award include Denis Villeneuve, Chloé Zhao and Taika Waititi.

Sam Mendes, whose latest movie from Searchlight, Empire of Light, is making its Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, will be receiving the event’s TIFF Ebert Director Award.

who died Thursday at age 82, knows the Bronx-born legend as Axel Freed in “The Gambler” (1974), or the unlucky author in “Misery” (1990). But, you won’t find those widely-celebrated films on this list of underrated (and sometimes downright obscure or strange) Caan movies, starting all the way at the tail end of the black and white era.

Philip Baker Hall didn’t make his first film appearance until he was pushing 40, which seems appropriate somehow: The growling gravitas he brought to dramas and comedies alike speaks to a full life lived, and experiences cultivated, before ever stepping onto a set.In Hall’s case, that life involved being born in Ohio, spending time in Germany as a translator for the U.S. Army, and then pursuing the craft of acting onstage in New York and later Los Angeles.

Romance and music in Paris! The jukebox musical Moulin Rouge, which film critic Roger Ebert once compared to “being trapped on an elevator with the circus,” hit theaters on May 18, 2001.

A pirate’s life for me! Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released on June 28, 2003 — but it was only the beginning for Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann.

For a movie about a girl with pyrokinetic powers, “ Firestarter ” is lacking a certain spark.This new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1980 novel is not scary or thrilling, nor is it emotionally resonant or particularly moving. No, this outing is a dull slog, even with its cool, synthy John Carpenter score and the should’ve-been-inspired decision to cast Zac Efron as the father of the flame-throwing preteen.But “Firestarter” might not have had much to live up to in the first place.

“Firestarter,” based on the 1980 novel by Stephen King, starred Drew Barrymore as Charlie, an 8-year-old girl who can set things on fire with her mind. Barrymore was fresh from stealing the show in 1982’s “E.T.”, but this 1984 thriller was a critical flop, with Roger Ebert observing that for a film about lethal telekinesis, “the most astonishing thing in the movie … is how boring it is.” Since then, pop culture has fully embraced the trope of the young girl with psychic powers, with many characters inspiring devoted cult followings.

Angus Finney As the Cannes Film Festival celebrates its 75th anniversary, the concurrent Marché marches into its 63rd year (there were always deals done during the festival, but the powers that be made it official in 1959). The wilder, oft-times disreputable sister of the more sedate, ergo, more esteemed, official festival, there’s no shortage of tales when it comes to the Cannes Market.There’s no better place to start than Cannon’s “go-go” boys: Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.

Roger Ebert used to say it’s not what a movie’s about but how it’s about it. I found that thought inescapable throughout the entirety of “I Love My Dad,” a comedy about a desperate father who reconnects with his estranged son by catfishing him, pretending to be a hot girl who the young man comes to believe to be his girlfriend.

Animal House to Ghostbusters. Known for bawdy comedies that caught the spirit of their time, Reitman’s big break came with the raucous, college fraternity send-up National Lampoon’s Animal House, which he produced. Reitman, who died peacefully in his sleep, directed Bill Murray in his first starring role in the summer camp flick Meatballs, and then again in 1981’s Stripes, but his most significant success came with 1984’s Ghostbusters.

 The Hollywood Reporter.The raspy-voiced beauty famously appeared in M*A*S*H as well as the 1986 comedy “Back to School,” opposite Rodney Dangerfield. She appeared in TV shows including “The Outer Limits,” “12 O’Clock High,” “Ben Casey,” “That Girl” and “Mannix.”Of her iconic “M*A*S*H” role, she said she eventually welcomed always being remembered for it. “There were times in my life when I felt I had to go out and prove that I’m not just Hot Lips,” she told The Post in the 2010 interview. “But at this point, just call me anything you want!”“It was like summer camp,” she said of working with the late”M*A*S*H” filmmaker Robert Altman, who often advised her to “just giggle and give in.”Besides her extensive roster of film and television roles, Kellerman also delved into music, releasing an album in the 1970s and performing live, including at New York’s Metropolitan room in 2010.“I wanted to be the real deal,” Kellerman told The Post that year.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorIn today’s podcast news roundup, Spotify is set to debut a new series from The Ringer about legendary film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert; Kelsey Grammer narrates scripted podcast “The Lower Bottoms” about tensions in a gentrifying neighborhood in West Oakland, Calif.; Automattic buys Pocket Casts; and more.Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, the famous film-critic duo, will be the focus of a Spotify original narrative documentary podcast series from The Ringer.

EXCLUSIVE: Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert are to be the subject of a narrative documentary podcast series for Spotify.

Ramin Bahrani, the Iranian-American filmmaker, started out small, with the simple story of a pushcart vendor, a Pakistani immigrant selling coffee and doughnuts in New York, in 2005’s “Man Push Cart.” In the years since, his films have steadily grown in scale and melodrama, but they’ve stayed resolutely within the gap separating rich and poor.Bahrani’s last film, 2014’s “99 Homes” — a movie dedicated to Roger Ebert, who championed Bahrani’s early work — plunged into the heart of the Great

elections. Alumni include Bill Clinton, Neil Armstrong, Bruce Springsteen, Rush Limbaugh, Jon Bon Jovi, Roger Ebert, Roger Ailes, James Gandolfini and Dick Cheney, just to name a few.

Werner Herzog is one of Germany’s great filmmakers. French director Francois Truffaut called Herzog “the most important film director alive” and legendary film critic Roger Ebert was a huge fan of Herzog’s work.

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert in screening room for photo shoot for People Weekly, June 13, 1984; Chicago

By Mike Fleming Jr

John Prine wrote country-folk songs with an unpretentious, aw-heck demeanor that belied their astonishing gravity and power. “He sings rather quietly, and his guitar work is good, but he doesn’t show off,” Roger Ebert wrote of an early Prine show in 1970. “After a song or two, even the drunks in the room begin to listen to his lyrics. And then he has you.”

To say that someone’s life was “like a movie” — especially an actor’s — veers dangerously close to cliché, but there’s no denying the fact that Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas’ story couldn’t have been scripted any better.