cult film freak: 2024

Written by James M. Tate / 12/29/2024 / No comments / dawn addams , douglas wilmer , exploitation , george cole , hammer films , harvey hall , ingrid pitt , janet key , jon finch , karstein , kate o'mara , lesbian , madeline smith , peter cushing , pippa steel , seventies , vampire

INGRID PITT STEALS HAMMER'S EXPLOITATION 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9RBRiDblClxmwWwXslzng7YwqeRNEhgpgrE-I07wsNHFAVzrWFg61w1kFLhkID7T22PP8n5gBRg_CgnA7euY5hsHDfHKmeK5hJD6HIY5C7ntz6Hf-vS8HAi8L1QzraXSQt-1vxoaGFik8jZsmVwqZK3WhwZVA93cPKBciEiV9XjpOHFJvgRYWXCL-d_e_/s2062/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-29%20at%2010.11.20%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="2062" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9RBRiDblClxmwWwXslzng7YwqeRNEhgpgrE-I07wsNHFAVzrWFg61w1kFLhkID7T22PP8n5gBRg_CgnA7euY5hsHDfHKmeK5hJD6HIY5C7ntz6Hf-vS8HAi8L1QzraXSQt-1vxoaGFik8jZsmVwqZK3WhwZVA93cPKBciEiV9XjpOHFJvgRYWXCL-d_e_/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-29%20at%2010.11.20%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ingrid Pitt with Kate O'Mara & Madeline Smith THE VAMPIRE LOVERS Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>At one point in THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, Ingrid Pitt's central vampire Marcilla (then Carmilla) turns to the young, innocent and naive Madeline Smith's Emma and shouts, "You must die... Everyone must die!" What sounded like a threat was really a kind of arthouse philosophy lesson... making THE VAMPIRE LOVERS more a Bergmaneque lesbian-fueled melodrama than the harsher followups <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/12/lustvamp.html">LUST FOR A VAMPIRE </a>and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/12/eviltwins.html">TWINS OF EVIL</a>... later deemed <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/karstein">The Karstein Trilogy</a>... that brought Hammer Films into the naked-sexy 1970's...

dawn addams, douglas wilmer, exploitation, george cole, hammer films, harvey hall, ingrid pitt, janet key, jon finch, karstein, kate o'mara, lesbian, madeline smith, peter cushing, pippa steel, seventies, vampire

INGRID PITT STEALS HAMMER'S EXPLOITATION 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS'

Ingrid Pitt with Kate O'Mara & Madeline Smith THE VAMPIRE LOVERS Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2 At one point in THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, Ingri...

MADELEINE COLLINSON AND MARY COLLINSON IN 'TWINS OF EVIL'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4dvej3Cj0SZRWufU4li5ysEj8Ohhr5sHs1kXgYetFc5HkYPwqeOH0zCN_G4XggHkhRSxq_ibuIVHS15OYQVDisjZ3w0xebtoN7tzpY51AAV2zqP6iqngZZhFskXLsZuiB2VS2ZFFuvRMenDbblSjXnUSjX2mwSnkrJ1NpqAbCr2gKjf5Y0qlONFLgecP/s1804/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-28%20at%204.33.31%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1804" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4dvej3Cj0SZRWufU4li5ysEj8Ohhr5sHs1kXgYetFc5HkYPwqeOH0zCN_G4XggHkhRSxq_ibuIVHS15OYQVDisjZ3w0xebtoN7tzpY51AAV2zqP6iqngZZhFskXLsZuiB2VS2ZFFuvRMenDbblSjXnUSjX2mwSnkrJ1NpqAbCr2gKjf5Y0qlONFLgecP/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-28%20at%204.33.31%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madeleine Collinson in TWINS OF EVIL Year: 1971 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>The last in what's called Hammer's Karstein Trilogy, bringing their Victorian-Era horror into the sensuous sensibilities of then-modern drive-in-era 1970's with sex, lesbianism and nudity, TWINS OF EVIL defines exploitation cinema by the novelty casting of real life identical twin sisters who had famously posed for Playboy Magazine... As the good and bad siblings, both Mary and Madeleine Collinson are equally gorgeous with full lips and cherubic cheeks (resembling American starlet <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/05/checkbounced.html">Leigh Taylor Young</a>)...

dennis price, hammer films, horror, isobel black, judy matheson, karstein, katya wyeth, luan peters, madeleine collinson, mary collinson, peter cushing, seventies, vampire

MADELEINE COLLINSON AND MARY COLLINSON IN 'TWINS OF EVIL'

Madeleine Collinson in TWINS OF EVIL Year: 1971 Rating: **** The last in what's called Hammer's Karstein Trilogy , bringing their Vi...

YUTTE STENSGAARD NECKING HAMMER'S 'LUST FOR A VAMPIRE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ39KQSdlZa5Jm_JyXmBRKK6ZDcWfBqvofeQ-Y8AuHIEGKtoKtJn6W1TWEhyNM0jZ5ASuE1H0dhZ1Vo3tcRodBbkX4XZx96h8qWnCMor-ticRyy19qkhDPjGDTHmxP8FAl9wWwKERfYPkOTUt0Wqb7PZp1chM41MQ_j_wS1Nmvz6bUyF5c31a4KIvIHFjn/s1574/1%20Pippa%20Steel,%20Yutte%20Stensgaard.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="1574" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ39KQSdlZa5Jm_JyXmBRKK6ZDcWfBqvofeQ-Y8AuHIEGKtoKtJn6W1TWEhyNM0jZ5ASuE1H0dhZ1Vo3tcRodBbkX4XZx96h8qWnCMor-ticRyy19qkhDPjGDTHmxP8FAl9wWwKERfYPkOTUt0Wqb7PZp1chM41MQ_j_wS1Nmvz6bUyF5c31a4KIvIHFjn/s16000/1%20Pippa%20Steel,%20Yutte%20Stensgaard.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pippa Steel and Yutte Stensgaard in LUST FOR A VAMPIRE Year: 1971 Rating: ** </td></tr></tbody></table>Following 1970's THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and second in what's deemed The Karnstein Trilogy, Hammer continued putting the then-modern exploitation-cinema sensibilities back into their signature Victorian Age Horror with LUST FOR A VAMPIRE involving lots of nudity, some near-lesbianism and even borderline psychedelia.... at least in one dream by this vampire film's good/innocent guy, a bland writer investigating a girls' school full of bitten beauties that provides the potentially sensuous premise that's the sole reason this movie's a movie at all... Yet VAMPIRE never goes further than wanton eye candy... a shame since former Hammer (and Amicus) starlet Suzanne Leigh's around to intensely attempt keeping younger and insanely gorgeous Yutte Stensgaard from falling for the guy (not interesting enough for a potential love-triangle or that titular LUST) who's investigation should have led to spookier scenes that are all dressed up (or taking off their clothes) with absolutely nowhere to go.

christopher neame, exploitation, hammer films, horror, judy matheson, karstein, mike raven, pippa steel, ralph bates, seventies, suzanna leigh, vampire, yutte stensgaard

YUTTE STENSGAARD NECKING HAMMER'S 'LUST FOR A VAMPIRE'

Pippa Steel and Yutte Stensgaard in LUST FOR A VAMPIRE Year: 1971 Rating: ** Following 1970's THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and second in what'...

ISOBEL BLACK BITING HAMMER'S 'THE KISS OF THE VAMIPRE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2WaAJZq6_BIdx4_mFsNqEJtYVHv3WXX92lPa9L5aGLFRQLd5nnlgBVfwn-DxWoitL7cxn2TSbnWhSCUD2pWw0IURwTegWMAzFDKlMvndj4-Q9y-xWyTI0QqLbKaDD01buSMCnnJynaky9_v0H5DEg7osBgly9zE4aBpjr6-42Sm7LOpbFtX5KqeEPteF/s1388/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-26%20at%2012.22.58%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2WaAJZq6_BIdx4_mFsNqEJtYVHv3WXX92lPa9L5aGLFRQLd5nnlgBVfwn-DxWoitL7cxn2TSbnWhSCUD2pWw0IURwTegWMAzFDKlMvndj4-Q9y-xWyTI0QqLbKaDD01buSMCnnJynaky9_v0H5DEg7osBgly9zE4aBpjr6-42Sm7LOpbFtX5KqeEPteF/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-26%20at%2012.22.58%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isobel Black in THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE Year: 1963 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>At one point in the middle of Hammer's THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, honeymooning husband Edward de Souza, realizing the silence of the castle he's been partying in since well after his vehicle broke down in the middle of a small village, asks where the party is... then where his wife is... She'd been partially abducted and, like any vampire flick, seduced into the clutches of the castle-owning patriarch of a family consisting of his own mother and his three kids, two of them daughters...

clifford evans, edward de souza, hammer films, horror, isobel black, jacquie wallis, jennifer daniel, noel willman, vampire, vera cook

ISOBEL BLACK BITING HAMMER'S 'THE KISS OF THE VAMIPRE'

Isobel Black in THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE Year: 1963 Rating: *** At one point in the middle of Hammer's THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, honeymoon...

MARY MAUDE WITH JUDY MATHESON IN 'CRUCIBLE OF TERROR'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLtdcs-KbUeL7Te_r4KkjY0WlBVbA7JCxq0yC3mjjvEkyL7n9-MtmEnPFaBhzSKtTwMawsw1DDNgoE-uuAUKnkxirJCslFqnWRXg_rk9ykXsp6eD4c4htEHIXTLPIGY5gfsVCQO_y1iloBtEDP933qo0bNi_2JQzjFngkCOi2Yb103hidI-efr2kh8Ody/s2072/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-29%20at%207.09.18%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="2072" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLtdcs-KbUeL7Te_r4KkjY0WlBVbA7JCxq0yC3mjjvEkyL7n9-MtmEnPFaBhzSKtTwMawsw1DDNgoE-uuAUKnkxirJCslFqnWRXg_rk9ykXsp6eD4c4htEHIXTLPIGY5gfsVCQO_y1iloBtEDP933qo0bNi_2JQzjFngkCOi2Yb103hidI-efr2kh8Ody/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-29%20at%207.09.18%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary Maude in CRUCIBLE OF TERROR Year: 1971 Rates: ***1/2 </td></tr></tbody></table>Fair and sophisticated, lithe and docile, straight-long-haired classic British beauty Mary Maude was as perfect a vulnerable ingenue in CRUCIBLE OF TERROR (an obvious muse for <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/04/moevil.html">MESSIAH OF EVIL</a>) as she's the sublime target for who seems to be a serial killing sculptor in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/12/lustvamp.html">LUST OF THE VAMPIRE</a> antagonist Mike Raven, looking fitfully wicked enough to provide Mary's character Millie an inevitably nightmarish 11th hour chase... Which does occur, kind of... but with a twist... beforehand spending most of the screen-time in an artistically Gothic beachside house where various beauties are either posing or being murdered, ranging from scream queen Judy Matheson as the artist's more faithful yet seductive, devilish (and possibly bisexual) moll to Raven's daughter-in-law Beth Morris, as sexy a blonde as Matheson's a deeply gorgeous brunette...

beth morris, body count, british, horror, james bolam, john arnatt, judy matheson, mary maude, me me lai, melissa stribling, mike raven, mystery, ronald lacey, seventies, thriller

MARY MAUDE WITH JUDY MATHESON IN 'CRUCIBLE OF TERROR'

Mary Maude in CRUCIBLE OF TERROR Year: 1971 Rates: ***1/2 Fair and sophisticated, lithe and docile, straight-long-haired classic British bea...

SUZANNA LEIGH, FRANK FINLAY & KATY WILD IN 'THE DEADLY BEES'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KseZvfl9WasU8X7zzi6A6sfzN3FXe7EG9Aulx0JK9t6O1YB_jv36NX4LuZAkW40AgbidnlBx-D-MVNxi_xZwV8y2rgsr4hKn2WvLF-HmBkQWt9JVlBU19ne-KdJcktIa0ErnrMofYD1ed1MKG_MZSklAvb3t9KTC_f0HhBMN06ywdO_12ryU9HJNHS-x/s1952/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-25%20at%204.53.48%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1952" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KseZvfl9WasU8X7zzi6A6sfzN3FXe7EG9Aulx0JK9t6O1YB_jv36NX4LuZAkW40AgbidnlBx-D-MVNxi_xZwV8y2rgsr4hKn2WvLF-HmBkQWt9JVlBU19ne-KdJcktIa0ErnrMofYD1ed1MKG_MZSklAvb3t9KTC_f0HhBMN06ywdO_12ryU9HJNHS-x/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-25%20at%204.53.48%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Suzanna Leigh in THE DEADLY BEES Year: 1966 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>By the time British redhead Katy Wild (reunited with director Freddie Francis after THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN) attempts running frantically away from a horde of DEADLY BEES raised and kept by initially subtle antagonist Frank Finlay, lead starlet Suzanna Leigh... as a burnt-out pop star on sabbatical in the rural farmhouse next door... has spent most of the movie figuring out who instead of what, making DEADLY more a slow-burn mystery than the kind of violent body-count thriller that many other killer-insect vehicles would progress into... With a cast also including handsome cad Guy Doleman, whose house Leigh's staying in, and barkeeper (and Hammer regular) Michael Ripper, whose daughter is played by Wild and, working as a maid for Doleman... and as much as dad worries... she's got no chance against Finlay's impending (and vengeful) killer bug army...

amicus, body-count, frank finlay, freddie francis, guy doleman, horror, katy wild, ron wood, sixties, suzanna leigh, thriller

SUZANNA LEIGH, FRANK FINLAY & KATY WILD IN 'THE DEADLY BEES'

Suzanna Leigh in THE DEADLY BEES Year: 1966 Rating: **** By the time British redhead Katy Wild (reunited with director Freddie Francis after...

BOLTING HAMMER'S UNDERRRATED 'THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiej6SXAIncnjaRRuNYXqM3TMbG7iyUrTtZ3-_GfRJqN8LEV0KAHQlQ0OnE4NI7x55ltpeewbe60dNWAAUu2Icbmi90NP1g6pxugd_PBnMrFSM0Mxv_TbaOYHpV2LkGjNYphOOBrZVlawYfkYq_F2k4mmsaaS02Z108a7VjNtZoPyQF4LSkMtKGDjnbI4VX/s1618/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-25%20at%2010.01.17%20AM%202%205.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="1618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiej6SXAIncnjaRRuNYXqM3TMbG7iyUrTtZ3-_GfRJqN8LEV0KAHQlQ0OnE4NI7x55ltpeewbe60dNWAAUu2Icbmi90NP1g6pxugd_PBnMrFSM0Mxv_TbaOYHpV2LkGjNYphOOBrZVlawYfkYq_F2k4mmsaaS02Z108a7VjNtZoPyQF4LSkMtKGDjnbI4VX/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-25%20at%2010.01.17%20AM%202%205.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter Cushing with Katy Wild with and Kiwi Kingston The Evil of Frankenstein 1964 Rates: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Hammer's third Peter Cushing Frankenstein THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN is a kind of throwback to director James Whale's second starring Boris Karloff, but instead of Cushing having a BRIDE he seeks help from a small village's carnival sorcerer/charlatan named Zoltan the way Colin Clive needed Doctor Pretorius... both involving two mad scientists reanimating/controlling the one monster...Here thinned from ice in an old cavern that Cushing and his normal/classy assistant Hans not so accidentally find... with the help of one of the prettiest Hammer starlets: which is saying something for a production company that churned out some of the prettiest faces on the big screen...

british, caron gardner, duncan lamont, franchise, frankenstein, gothic, hammer films, horror, james maxwell, katy wild, kiwi kingston, peter cushing, peter woodthorpe, sequel, sixties

BOLTING HAMMER'S UNDERRRATED 'THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN'

Peter Cushing with Katy Wild with and Kiwi Kingston The Evil of Frankenstein 1964 Rates: ***1/2 Hammer's third Peter Cushing Frankenstei...

SUSAN TYRRELL STALKING 'BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngIv32KtZKRhb8dhnUTFSAJ-t-_2CyCskl21Ujeu2WWv_f6QfIFZ71kvr5FdBLHyI1v6KBbodPY9-9cm26Ms-X3DfxQlyQamnzAp5uQvnQSijQYT5aEOT_HLX8u9ufZZTwCHnDjGFA5LLbfOgs3VtfKLUEZKi6QrIoUuk0TYZmSWSQgXtmwzMAcjDW-nF/s1918/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-21%20at%203.54.32%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1918" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngIv32KtZKRhb8dhnUTFSAJ-t-_2CyCskl21Ujeu2WWv_f6QfIFZ71kvr5FdBLHyI1v6KBbodPY9-9cm26Ms-X3DfxQlyQamnzAp5uQvnQSijQYT5aEOT_HLX8u9ufZZTwCHnDjGFA5LLbfOgs3VtfKLUEZKi6QrIoUuk0TYZmSWSQgXtmwzMAcjDW-nF/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-21%20at%203.54.32%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Somewhat misleadingly billed as a straight-out horror, and with an exploitation title to get people into the theater, BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER (having nothing to do with the story) has one important element that makes it more suspenseful thriller than body-count chiller... And that's Susan Tyrrell, who, looking as if Golden Age starlet Gloria Grahame suffered an eternal hangover, could play hag-characters so realistically grotesque, she devours the scenery just by showing up... even though, in this case, she's not technically the main character, provided here by athletically-innocent high-schooler Jimmy McNichol, who was mostly famous for having a far more famous sister...

bill paxton, bo svenson, cult, drama, eighties, exploitation, horror, jimmy mcnichol, julia duffy, susan tyrrell, thriller

SUSAN TYRRELL STALKING 'BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER'

Title: BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2 Somewhat misleadingly billed as a straight-out horror, and with an exploita...

TUESDAY WELD KILLS 'PRETTY POISON' WITH ANTHONY PERKINS

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEine9DCcW5wKhwAsptIWJ7hJ4NA8T2LUAuU7gZJlIN9hGv-wyX64mjZu33foXQT_hSPD5FrgIPWvSbKeFiccV6NnqtKf9g-a3_-DhbAWzdZwiHKn0xQNpMU9brJBImDf6omwxMmBQ6keRL_vsVcslUbL4BHktZywODqwL2kNOkqqsvlwDcReCYQXSKOp6b7/s2148/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-15%20at%2011.26.17%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1192" data-original-width="2148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEine9DCcW5wKhwAsptIWJ7hJ4NA8T2LUAuU7gZJlIN9hGv-wyX64mjZu33foXQT_hSPD5FrgIPWvSbKeFiccV6NnqtKf9g-a3_-DhbAWzdZwiHKn0xQNpMU9brJBImDf6omwxMmBQ6keRL_vsVcslUbL4BHktZywODqwL2kNOkqqsvlwDcReCYQXSKOp6b7/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-15%20at%2011.26.17%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld in PRETTY POISON Year: 1968 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>In Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, few women were safe around Anthony Perkins... and in PRETTY POISON, gorgeous young blonde Tuesday Weld turns tables after seeming to fall in love with Perkins' Dennis Pitt, ironically just freed from a mental institution (because of a childhood arson) and, working for a chemical company, his fantastical symptoms persist in that he thinks himself a secret agent...Yet the plot's not what he thinks but what Weld's high-schooler Sue Ann Stepanek buys into... progressing from a kind of LILITH style young-lovers arthouse romance to a dark-comedy/drama far ahead of its time, setting the stage for BADLANDS and Quentin Tarantino's script of NATURAL BORN KILLERS...

anthony perkins, cult, dark comedy, drama, john randolph, ken kercheval, sixties, thriller, tuesday weld

TUESDAY WELD KILLS 'PRETTY POISON' WITH ANTHONY PERKINS

Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld in PRETTY POISON Year: 1968 Rating: **** In Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, few women were safe around Antho...

FRANK SINATRA RETURNS AS TONY ROME IN 'LADY IN CEMENT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsIYtJRllfexjYwxcmIhV8B8K6DY0zGtijnWCOfW8KIkueUYY7agnvU4en-oWRaG3uQEjhLbcGsMhfmxIKS4-Dwcy3iI-O2nk3fNU7V765PhetyFSDNa227Mf1kNm7UsC0Wok4vkCkjTpPWrdq93QAKXcl53fA2CDhjrfBRZ7pUwMBM4sA5a4bN7EtKyS-/s1878/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-14%20at%207.13.52%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1878" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsIYtJRllfexjYwxcmIhV8B8K6DY0zGtijnWCOfW8KIkueUYY7agnvU4en-oWRaG3uQEjhLbcGsMhfmxIKS4-Dwcy3iI-O2nk3fNU7V765PhetyFSDNa227Mf1kNm7UsC0Wok4vkCkjTpPWrdq93QAKXcl53fA2CDhjrfBRZ7pUwMBM4sA5a4bN7EtKyS-/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-14%20at%207.13.52%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In LADY IN CEMENT Year: 1967 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>In the sequel to the neo-noir <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/04/lyon-of-rome.html">TONY ROME</a>, with Frank Sinatra in the lead role during the colorful late 1960's... while deep sea diving he literally sees the LADY IN CEMENT at the bottom of the ocean... Her naked, otherwise model-looking corpse surrounded by guardian sharks as otherwise capable director Gordon Douglas, who filmed several of Frank's crime/heist vehicles, doesn't get a lot of tension out of what should be an extremely suspenseful situation: as Rome merely brushes off each shark as if they were nothing...

action, chris robinson, dan blocker, frank sinatra, gumshoe, jazz-score, lainie kazan, mystery, neo noir, raquel welch, richard conte, sixties

FRANK SINATRA RETURNS AS TONY ROME IN 'LADY IN CEMENT'

In LADY IN CEMENT Year: 1967 Rating: *** In the sequel to the neo-noir TONY ROME , with Frank Sinatra in the lead role during the colorful l...

DANE CLARK WITH BEN JOHNSON & PETER GRAVES 'FORT DEFIANCE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgsHzGZdCEgKklq8ykcr5b4MfGq4MU-tQsuCZEKPsz5O3eaWahHvcNWKmtEZP8UdZIlcN5NmDzmNwSM9xk5hnqBkyHjvZ37GIBpbeSfsSX_tJzANs9q4HH_a0n_WoLj5lVu42K2zl6MrebOK59KPtt6RKllBhj-rtyDsedi-sXtuVm1LYWyrOmb-TvIue/s1968/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-22%20at%208.44.58%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1110" data-original-width="1968" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgsHzGZdCEgKklq8ykcr5b4MfGq4MU-tQsuCZEKPsz5O3eaWahHvcNWKmtEZP8UdZIlcN5NmDzmNwSM9xk5hnqBkyHjvZ37GIBpbeSfsSX_tJzANs9q4HH_a0n_WoLj5lVu42K2zl6MrebOK59KPtt6RKllBhj-rtyDsedi-sXtuVm1LYWyrOmb-TvIue/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-22%20at%208.44.58%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dane Clark in FORT DEFIANCE Year: 1951 Rates: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>For a fitfully simple b-western, FORT DEFIANCE has the most complicated case of post Civil War revenge, twofold: first there's Ben Johnson, who becomes a ranch-hand working for blind, extremely trustworthy Peter Graves, and secretly wants to kill Peter's older brother for backing out of one of the last battles... and then an entire posse wants both brothers dead... Enter first-billed Dan Clark, extremely anticipated through expository dialogue, thirty-five minutes in, as his brother and new best friend are cornered by Indians in a cornering canyon, led by legendary faker Iron Eyes Cody...

action, adventure, ben johnson, dane clark, fifties, peter graves, tracey roberts, western

DANE CLARK WITH BEN JOHNSON & PETER GRAVES 'FORT DEFIANCE'

Dane Clark in FORT DEFIANCE Year: 1951 Rates: ***1/2 For a fitfully simple b-western, FORT DEFIANCE has the most complicated case of post Ci...

DEFENDING THE BREEZY SEQUEL 'BREAKIN 2': ELECTRIC BOOGALOO'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CMdlSLCAtz2c5Mmq1faLghHh0vag2791PpV2KAI9Ub45bbMwWD8Vkw9ErDAEBrtj97TeAgAZc7ud3PiRi_rRF2NyZ2fQ8vEe31cUeYVF1yZ3JEoPPbZNQgqQIjraluDUlaMGkCQlihmYInhuCSfECbcgT56-bbxhTqlpRm_m6DxdB1YGRlBxfgOMuDHh/s1840/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-11%20at%2012.29.33%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CMdlSLCAtz2c5Mmq1faLghHh0vag2791PpV2KAI9Ub45bbMwWD8Vkw9ErDAEBrtj97TeAgAZc7ud3PiRi_rRF2NyZ2fQ8vEe31cUeYVF1yZ3JEoPPbZNQgqQIjraluDUlaMGkCQlihmYInhuCSfECbcgT56-bbxhTqlpRm_m6DxdB1YGRlBxfgOMuDHh/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-11%20at%2012.29.33%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO Year: 1984 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>Cannon Films' BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO  was rushed out the same year of the original's box office success, yet is more of a “Musical Based on The Film" (or a failed attempt at the first episode of a TV-series based on the film) than a necessary followup on its own... Fantasy sequences replace the former urban, realistic street grooves and back-room competitions: In fact, within the first five minutes the entire downtown is dancing… including mailmen, cops, everyone...

adolfo quinones, cannon, comedy, dance, harry caesar, ice-t, lucinda dickey, michael chambers, musical, sabrina garcia, sequel

DEFENDING THE BREEZY SEQUEL 'BREAKIN 2': ELECTRIC BOOGALOO'

Title: BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO Year: 1984 Rating: *** Cannon Films' BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO was rushed out the same...

FIONA FULLERTON, ERIN GERAGHTY & JULIE DAWN COLE IN 'ANGELS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZsF7qUResYtH-Wf3rUvEp6Yj7AOI6OJOeIM2Wu3uWKkPIFJdOidLAn-_JdZW1ETSmFN-1F0LAMmZB8Hei1e6sfjQEeSImGNKbBAjTItVeMk_Ba5k-UGwBM5Seexm6xJNUdFrrWqm8lyv4LloGjRyThyphenhyphenTC0oVQAzxutuzxKTIheQsYHgFqgjuxFkg4CCgK/s1110/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-09%20at%207.16.44%20PM%203.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZsF7qUResYtH-Wf3rUvEp6Yj7AOI6OJOeIM2Wu3uWKkPIFJdOidLAn-_JdZW1ETSmFN-1F0LAMmZB8Hei1e6sfjQEeSImGNKbBAjTItVeMk_Ba5k-UGwBM5Seexm6xJNUdFrrWqm8lyv4LloGjRyThyphenhyphenTC0oVQAzxutuzxKTIheQsYHgFqgjuxFkg4CCgK/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-09%20at%207.16.44%20PM%203.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fiona Fullerton in ANGELS Year: 1975-1976 First Season Rating: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>The 1975 British/BBC television series ANGELS is a character-driven story centering on two pairs of student nurses wherein Fiona Fullerton and Erin Geraghty are new to the in-house hospital training program while Clare Clifford and Julie Dawn Cole have been working in the ward for a year... so neither duo are actual nurses quite yet, and each pairing are polar opposites that are individually cast-billed depending on who the episode centers on primarily... As the pilot mainly introduces Fiona Fullerton and Erin Garaghty as Patricia and Maureen: the first being progressive, spontaneous, confident, experienced, entitled, proudly egotistical and insanely beautiful while the other's an Irish farm-girl so shy she can hardly lift her head from a curtain of stringy hair... allowing former ADVENTURES OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND star Fullerton to help the Catholic-raised Garaghty be more assertive (either at work or at play) while forced to learn (mostly through head instructor Faith Brook) that she herself doesn't know everything...

british, british tv, clare clifford, colin higgins, debbie ash, erin geraghty, faith brook, fiona fullerton, julie dawn cole, karl howman, lesley dunlop, seventies

FIONA FULLERTON, ERIN GERAGHTY & JULIE DAWN COLE IN 'ANGELS'

Fiona Fullerton in ANGELS Year: 1975-1976 First Season Rating: ****1/2 The 1975 British/BBC television series ANGELS is a character-driven s...

MIMSY FARMER RIDES SHOTGUN WITH FABIAN IN 'THE WILD RACERS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMj2HsnbpCMd1sShnyihyphenhyphenM9Q2INVI-_8F68lIZheErNkK1YyJEvlHR82DekDY-AM8CiA46_z2EueWliGDYPiQADTUn16vMGDOXBxEmcEhyphenhyphenYVT1JFIAY0S5LawuYg1RWde1rLxZnY5m6d2J58vrOswf8Q7Tki65PlZ_6ACBa8h9yxLiz956H9Cev-5PY8OE/s2022/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-05%20at%2010.21.38%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="2022" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMj2HsnbpCMd1sShnyihyphenhyphenM9Q2INVI-_8F68lIZheErNkK1YyJEvlHR82DekDY-AM8CiA46_z2EueWliGDYPiQADTUn16vMGDOXBxEmcEhyphenhyphenYVT1JFIAY0S5LawuYg1RWde1rLxZnY5m6d2J58vrOswf8Q7Tki65PlZ_6ACBa8h9yxLiz956H9Cev-5PY8OE/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-05%20at%2010.21.38%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mimsy Farmer in THE WILD RACERS Year: 1968 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Following THE YOUNG RACERS, producer Roger Corman returns to the European Race Car circuit for THE WILD RACERS, which actually only really centers on one... played by a great singer turned limited actor in American import Fabian, actually decent here since he never has to oversell a contentedly cocky persona... Deliberately clashing against the progressive 1960's French New Wave influence of Corman's director Daniel Haller, using future JAWS editor Verna Fields for a myriad of jump-cuts from creative camera angles to create a deliberately art-house showcase showcasing a young handsome driver with almost everything...

british, counter-culture, dick miller, fabian, mimsy farmer, race car, roger corman, romance, sixties, sport, talia shire

MIMSY FARMER RIDES SHOTGUN WITH FABIAN IN 'THE WILD RACERS'

Mimsy Farmer in THE WILD RACERS Year: 1968 Rating: **** Following THE YOUNG RACERS, producer Roger Corman returns to the European Race Car c...

PETER MARK RICHMAN AND 'JASON TAKES MANHATTAN: FRIDAY 13TH'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjye_5y_ZfZqAUa92hLzaeBNeV0sj0kqRS35cxeuvYr2ivpzu4WlV90FZtl2QHjTaZHV0rK_ke8IMdgreNz-HqVAf6zQAASF6DGbSlLk6wvMyjO_wG_yAgdZ02XQX2BveheJmuNA_6NWCihGmdm97P8qhVIiSHMcQIH-TQKSrS5yes7uW7s_gP7peeRxqB1/s1418/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-22%20at%209.54.24%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjye_5y_ZfZqAUa92hLzaeBNeV0sj0kqRS35cxeuvYr2ivpzu4WlV90FZtl2QHjTaZHV0rK_ke8IMdgreNz-HqVAf6zQAASF6DGbSlLk6wvMyjO_wG_yAgdZ02XQX2BveheJmuNA_6NWCihGmdm97P8qhVIiSHMcQIH-TQKSrS5yes7uW7s_gP7peeRxqB1/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-22%20at%209.54.24%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter Mark Richman in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN Year: 1989 Rates: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>The first real semi-separated novelty of the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise, JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (Part 8) has its satire built right into the title... the only problem is, he hardly winds up in Manhattan/New York at all... Most of the action... as in people getting picked off by the hockey-mask-wearing killer... takes place on a large charter boat to get there — with all the character tropes including a conceited blonde, a geeky guy, an affable handsome fella who of course loves the final girl, here in girl-next-door Jensen Daggett, related to and connected with the scene-stealer and basically, co-antagonist throughout...

body count, eighties, franchise, horror, jensen daggett, kelly hu, peter mark richman, saffron henderson, sharlene martin, slasher

PETER MARK RICHMAN AND 'JASON TAKES MANHATTAN: FRIDAY 13TH'

Peter Mark Richman in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN Year: 1989 Rates: ***1/2 The first real semi-separated novelty of the ...

STOMPING THROUGH 'GODZILLA X KING KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnIxWx9ap7LYu4dHnuPME8V35ssQJGK-TVixSKAQ1f0t9dN2vqw8lzmK_LUDllvOIvKy1TLMT75v9VBCE8tsmH3tz80V-OvOaypbVkJu7yhS41ruN6-Y_lmxT7ipAMBoK6pR_U0-692VeWzWDuM1r8Vf9MkJbUZ_HkNANmTK1qIsxJnfiTcg4-PzYD6gbm/s1366/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-24%20at%2012.18.25%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnIxWx9ap7LYu4dHnuPME8V35ssQJGK-TVixSKAQ1f0t9dN2vqw8lzmK_LUDllvOIvKy1TLMT75v9VBCE8tsmH3tz80V-OvOaypbVkJu7yhS41ruN6-Y_lmxT7ipAMBoK6pR_U0-692VeWzWDuM1r8Vf9MkJbUZ_HkNANmTK1qIsxJnfiTcg4-PzYD6gbm/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-24%20at%2012.18.25%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From GODZILLA X KING KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE Year: 2024 Rating: B—</td></tr></tbody></table>One of the worst things about these new GODZILLA and KING KONG or GODZILLA and KING KONG movies are the humans, and someone must have sent a memo to the director, because people take the backseat here... But this is not really a GODZILLA picture despite him getting first-billed... it's really a KING KONG adventure as he traipses around Hollow Earth (which is basically the same deep-underground/inner-earth portal from the original LAND OF THE LOST), trying to survive a horde of competing apes before finding one youngster he can partner with... while leading to the main "titan" antagonist, which is a let-down, only because it takes over half the screen-time to anticipate what's basically a red-headed Kong on ozempic (with an angry expression like Caesar from the new PLANET OF THE APES franchise), trashing a magical whip with an enslaved giant dragon-like creature and...

2024, action, adventure, dan stevens, fantasy, godzilla, king kong, monster, new, rebecca hall

STOMPING THROUGH 'GODZILLA X KING KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE'

From GODZILLA X KING KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE Year: 2024 Rating: B — One of the worst things about these new GODZILLA and KING KONG or GODZILLA ...

HARVEY KEITEL & DAVID PROVAL ON 'KOJAK' PILOT 'SIEGE OF TERROR'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9Vw6UqLY_5jywg5_2MEnHmBq2OGlvb5dTayIybPWSGY4OpV0vmSB4BAILJd93p8pV-i7mUQMC8o3rs8nAfF95FG2anig8X4vcV60Mf81OvpkUDs7TvBrJr2N6AUgrtmt-E3Ov4f98aj4VQY6i6-upRRZDi1sqKN0E85bccTaBdYjc3uQ0A_PN9pEAxdv/s2048/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-07%20at%203.22.41%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9Vw6UqLY_5jywg5_2MEnHmBq2OGlvb5dTayIybPWSGY4OpV0vmSB4BAILJd93p8pV-i7mUQMC8o3rs8nAfF95FG2anig8X4vcV60Mf81OvpkUDs7TvBrJr2N6AUgrtmt-E3Ov4f98aj4VQY6i6-upRRZDi1sqKN0E85bccTaBdYjc3uQ0A_PN9pEAxdv/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-07%20at%203.22.41%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: KOJAK: SIEGE OF TERROR Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>The pilot of the classic series KOJAK is a little different than most of the episodes to come, in that it involves the bad guys more than title character in Telly Savalas' bald tough guy cop as, fresh from MEAN STREETS has an intense Harvey Keitel holding up a store and taking hostages... with a quick reuniting of Keitel's bar-owner MEAN STREETS partner David Proval playing a wounded cop, literally under Harvey's gun...Instead, Proval should have played Keitel's maniacally unpredictable, wild-card thug sidekick instead of James Sloyan, who, instantly familiar for TV, lacks the cinematic prowess of Keitel or Proval... the latter asking for his last rites most of the time... but it's a pretty decent episode that would have worked better for a half hour than hour, and overall gives Keitel fans a reason to see how the cop show began thanks to his big-screen-aura-on-the-small-screen catapult.

cop, david proval, harvey keitel, hostage, rick hurst, seventies, telly savalas, tv series

HARVEY KEITEL & DAVID PROVAL ON 'KOJAK' PILOT 'SIEGE OF TERROR'

Title: KOJAK: SIEGE OF TERROR Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2 The pilot of the classic series KOJAK is a little different than most of the episode...

BRUCE LEE 'ENTER THE DRAGON' WITH JOHN SAXON & JIM KELLY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYufq72vb5oo1D67hoxsuqe_kOaROzYeHz2WS6TwKufvC26bpZUeIuTiXTi_cOq8fqAuDtfMgr1d9hqRofCuAkCsVamG7mQOo34sFrxwUoQhDcR5AYOrfWmhHVn2E4oPqI_Ds_zOCN_GlNH3fHfSEBXU_cXpDrKW9xQjOqsGEViX0L3gY90T2kORJYYYb5/s1238/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-01%20at%207.45.04%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYufq72vb5oo1D67hoxsuqe_kOaROzYeHz2WS6TwKufvC26bpZUeIuTiXTi_cOq8fqAuDtfMgr1d9hqRofCuAkCsVamG7mQOo34sFrxwUoQhDcR5AYOrfWmhHVn2E4oPqI_Ds_zOCN_GlNH3fHfSEBXU_cXpDrKW9xQjOqsGEViX0L3gY90T2kORJYYYb5/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-01%20at%207.45.04%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bruce Lee, Angela Mao, Kien Shih and Jim Kelly in ENTER THE DRAGON Year: 1973 Rates: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>By the time Bruce Lee, starring in his first and last American produced motion picture, squares off against island-ruling heavy Han in ENTER THE DRAGON, one important thing is crystal clear... Nobody, from henchmen <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/11/tconnection.html">Bolo Young</a> to Robert Wall, or co-stars John Saxon or <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/jim%20kelly">Jim Kelly</a>, could have taken him on and so, liken to a James Bond franchise villain, the seedy-smiling, slave-owning, harem-surrounded Kien Shih has a glove with knife-fingers to give him that needed/necessary edge...

adventure, ahna capri, bolo yeung, bruce lee, jim kelly, john saxon, karate, robert clouse, seventies, spy

BRUCE LEE 'ENTER THE DRAGON' WITH JOHN SAXON & JIM KELLY

Bruce Lee, Angela Mao, Kien Shih and Jim Kelly in ENTER THE DRAGON Year: 1973 Rates: ****1/2 By the time Bruce Lee, starring in his first an...

JIM KELLY IN AL ADAMSON'S SPY BLAXPLOITATION 'BLACK SAMURAI'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDeeBxE4BMZH8fXvrdziXiJNEYOhM_cILtZypBw861dM7w40DksiGtLfQ2DRAJKQ7qCTYCE09wIjr476oNs0caRcGCke3KNN-8LH3pNL27btQ3IY3squxNjDwbTPPA1n1enedH8Dyyl5ckEoAtJ3_axnL7dgI17idpoeay4rDJ7OA4eDxgY6E84PUgCOk/s1931/morered.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="1931" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDeeBxE4BMZH8fXvrdziXiJNEYOhM_cILtZypBw861dM7w40DksiGtLfQ2DRAJKQ7qCTYCE09wIjr476oNs0caRcGCke3KNN-8LH3pNL27btQ3IY3squxNjDwbTPPA1n1enedH8Dyyl5ckEoAtJ3_axnL7dgI17idpoeay4rDJ7OA4eDxgY6E84PUgCOk/s16000/morered.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Kelly and Chia Essie Lin in Al Adamson's BLACK SAMURAI Year: 1976 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>After Jim Kelly's Agent Robert Sand alias BLACK SAMURAI visits the Satanic high priest villain's dark mansion lair, which includes girls dancing, a trio of deadly henchman, a sexy black witch, a snake-pit dungeon and an overseeing pet vulture, he winds up... following a car chase... rocketing up on a jet-pack, landing and battling a midget in the forest — only to wind up right back at that central fortress... Making what's exploitation director Al Adamson's most satisfying project (based on a book series by Marc Olden) in what's a hybrid of James Bond and of course blaxploitation, at this point on its last legs...

action, adventure, al adamson, biff yeager, blaxploitation, chia essie lin, jim kelly, karate, seventies, spy

JIM KELLY IN AL ADAMSON'S SPY BLAXPLOITATION 'BLACK SAMURAI'

Jim Kelly and Chia Essie Lin in Al Adamson's BLACK SAMURAI Year: 1976 Rating: **** After Jim Kelly's Agent Robert Sand alias BLACK...

JIM KELLY VS HAROLD SAKATA IN AL ADAMSON'S 'DEATH DIMENSION'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgZy0fECGgtmAH9q7yPbVJCu_sjkWeMXCDp5QrCsajEbaNSZM1YbD9YiGaNBopaOqgpyhH9bq86o1-EZ5jD3-4SLzTZWqFyc6E1NR7tMgKME6uDrNB2FfE8WEBC6DKSN0qoporsnEyRQtxJWmOaZn1l-hQVhJgMzaGI8Q4nw5gTRdE5jehNYXULd2DWl9/s1777/3%202%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="1777" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgZy0fECGgtmAH9q7yPbVJCu_sjkWeMXCDp5QrCsajEbaNSZM1YbD9YiGaNBopaOqgpyhH9bq86o1-EZ5jD3-4SLzTZWqFyc6E1NR7tMgKME6uDrNB2FfE8WEBC6DKSN0qoporsnEyRQtxJWmOaZn1l-hQVhJgMzaGI8Q4nw5gTRdE5jehNYXULd2DWl9/s16000/3%202%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Kelly in Al Adamson's DEATH DIMENSION Year: 1978 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>Any movie featuring Jim Kelly is an unrelated homage to ENTER THE DRAGON, the Bruce Lee classic in which he's the cocky token-black karate champ... and DEATH DIMENSION is the second directed by b-movie icon Al Adamson that's trying to be a James Bond flick...Here, following BLACK SAMURAI, the original German title Der Einzelkämpfer translates to THE LONE FIGHTER, partly true since Kelly does most of the action against two Bond franchise legends...

action, adventure, al adamson, aldo ray, bob minor, george lazenby, harold sakata, jim kelly, karate, linda lawrence, seventies, spy, terry moore

JIM KELLY VS HAROLD SAKATA IN AL ADAMSON'S 'DEATH DIMENSION'

Jim Kelly in Al Adamson's DEATH DIMENSION Year: 1978 Rating: *** Any movie featuring Jim Kelly is an unrelated homage to ENTER THE DRAGO...

JIM KELLY'S NOT BLACK BELT JONES IN 'THE TATTOO CONNECTION'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTFrArfvfSCmnqXxnghJ5IegGs40lSshdSW6vV7mbpE73u60fLA0Wkn_YUecMfnRJBnuwkhfoYWBwRZ_P2_8xdv9POjQj9QSsb3zffq648PfnoSNzj3sbJ7yQ5A3jtx-CnMNtYa1e1bSEOc29wib7nYBMZ3RtV_-i5OdT_UQMsNNQDrGme9yYcBlP0HqK/s1176/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-22%20at%2011.22.18%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="1176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTFrArfvfSCmnqXxnghJ5IegGs40lSshdSW6vV7mbpE73u60fLA0Wkn_YUecMfnRJBnuwkhfoYWBwRZ_P2_8xdv9POjQj9QSsb3zffq648PfnoSNzj3sbJ7yQ5A3jtx-CnMNtYa1e1bSEOc29wib7nYBMZ3RtV_-i5OdT_UQMsNNQDrGme9yYcBlP0HqK/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-22%20at%2011.22.18%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Kelly in THE TATTOO CONNECTION Year: 1978 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>With the famous style of camera zooms going quickly forward and pulling back even quicker, THE TATTOO CONNECTION is more of a noirish Asian crime flick than martial arts... although with groovy-smooth ENTER THE DRAGON co-star Jim Kelly imported for universal value and local master kicker Tao-Liang Tan the third-billed buried-lead, there's a whole lot of the latter... Misleadingly deemed BLACK BELT JONES 2, Kelly (who returned as Jones in HOT POTATO) is an agent named Lucas, and appears about twenty-minutes in after establishing a frantic underworld where a young man's in-hiding after turning on the formidable mob boss...

action, bolo yeung, jim kelly, karate, mobster, nami misaki, neo noir, seventies, shu-ying cheng, tao-liang tan

JIM KELLY'S NOT BLACK BELT JONES IN 'THE TATTOO CONNECTION'

Jim Kelly in THE TATTOO CONNECTION Year: 1978 Rating: ***1/2 With the famous style of camera zooms going quickly forward and pulling back ev...

JIM KELLY RETURNS AS BLACK BELT JONES HANDLING 'HOT POTATO'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFOo3P4kD0zLsFcS_14SE_EiMg0NLjntFbPombb7LyWacnMBJfYXIUOkGZ0Ehc14O2ps3tv9RnUw6W06nELykxRQs8vrDQiNEx67B6H0TB9vWBirSVlMoU80RCWE8KQnRIOjLyU_6K5mywhebNctfu0SWkD__dy6mK-yzdz4U5v7OdHBFzeJ-5Bjw-xfp4/s1214/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-22%20at%208.08.23%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFOo3P4kD0zLsFcS_14SE_EiMg0NLjntFbPombb7LyWacnMBJfYXIUOkGZ0Ehc14O2ps3tv9RnUw6W06nELykxRQs8vrDQiNEx67B6H0TB9vWBirSVlMoU80RCWE8KQnRIOjLyU_6K5mywhebNctfu0SWkD__dy6mK-yzdz4U5v7OdHBFzeJ-5Bjw-xfp4/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-22%20at%208.08.23%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: HOT POTATO Year: 1976 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>No one could fathom why the urban blaxploitation BLACK BELT JONES would have a pulpy-adventure sequel set in the Thailand jungle, so it's often regarded as basically, not a sequel: but it definitely is given that ENTER THE DRAGON icon Jim Kelly's name is, once again, Jones, and the original film's writer is now both writer and director...The plot has Judy Brown as a politician's daughter being kidnapped, and Kelly and his cohorts traipse through the bulwark-laden jungles to bring her safely home... the first problem being that Jim's got too many sidekicks...

adventure, george memmoli, irene tsu, jim kelly, judy brown, karate, sequel, seventies

JIM KELLY RETURNS AS BLACK BELT JONES HANDLING 'HOT POTATO'

Title: HOT POTATO Year: 1976 Rating: *** No one could fathom why the urban blaxploitation BLACK BELT JONES would have a pulpy-adventure sequ...

JIM KELLY KICKS FRONT IN ROBERT CLOUSE'S 'BLACK BELT JONES'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_ZyctjLulHuxom7SCmwbLpaEv2HXGhPZq-ZwJZGX1ZvkklKji3g026I0RbRhCAfGpAY1ouXldaW0QUl7wa-aljy-bCqkTlytW0lvIYdIOdlOl7opQ1UwLpUcT6VotT-fJY3UWoZIZ8cA3lhleZ25WWtC4Ruyo7N0oSa6OE2zOLyLOu4j8y_0ioQFMTBw/s1570/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-29%20at%206.48.03%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_ZyctjLulHuxom7SCmwbLpaEv2HXGhPZq-ZwJZGX1ZvkklKji3g026I0RbRhCAfGpAY1ouXldaW0QUl7wa-aljy-bCqkTlytW0lvIYdIOdlOl7opQ1UwLpUcT6VotT-fJY3UWoZIZ8cA3lhleZ25WWtC4Ruyo7N0oSa6OE2zOLyLOu4j8y_0ioQFMTBw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-29%20at%206.48.03%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster deliberately transforming Bruce Lee into Jim Kelly for BLACK BELT JONES Year: 1974 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Anyone thinking ENTER THE DRAGON director Robert Clouse simply got lucky need only experience BLACK BELT JONES starring Bruce Lee's cocky black rival and overall fan-favorite Jim Kelly who, giant afro and all, takes on the mafia in what Clouse neatly balances as part martial arts, part gritty downtown-blaxploitation and part GODFATHER-inspired mafia crime flick...The latter serves the plot as Jones's friend Scatman Crothers owns an urban karate studio, and the mob needs the land... eventually inherited by the first James Bond girl in Gloria Hendry as Crothers' daughter, who winds up both Jones's love interest and a practically equal karate partner...

alan weeks, blaxploitation, eric laneuville, exploitation, gloria hendry, jim kelly, karate, mafia, malik carter, marla gibbs, scatman crothers, seventies, spy, ted lange, vince barbi

JIM KELLY KICKS FRONT IN ROBERT CLOUSE'S 'BLACK BELT JONES'

Poster deliberately transforming Bruce Lee into Jim Kelly for BLACK BELT JONES Year: 1974 Rating: **** Anyone thinking ENTER THE DRAGON dire...

JIM KELLY, FRED WILLIAMSON & JIM BROWN 'THREE THE HARD WAY'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTeh0ZC2oewEWBeO8KLxsex9_1ulHTs2dcihKvOhacqJ87gUoZKwQwZfAo4K6gMnVbMF2Cr4DFnEksC0Ig6-oZtHuLzKhQjooU8FqUd5IEdPEURn57MtrUanT90IdjYmTbVTXDDbPGRFFpD6nPP1b6CtCvxKCIS4sNGjE_X_OSg5ysNLcgZtJvZ_0LE4kD/s1883/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-29%20at%209.07.04%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1883" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTeh0ZC2oewEWBeO8KLxsex9_1ulHTs2dcihKvOhacqJ87gUoZKwQwZfAo4K6gMnVbMF2Cr4DFnEksC0Ig6-oZtHuLzKhQjooU8FqUd5IEdPEURn57MtrUanT90IdjYmTbVTXDDbPGRFFpD6nPP1b6CtCvxKCIS4sNGjE_X_OSg5ysNLcgZtJvZ_0LE4kD/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-29%20at%209.07.04%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THREE THE HARD WAY Year: 1974 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>By the time three multicolored motorcycles are cruising down downtown Chicago that are soon to be revealed carrying sadistic multiracial hotties, THREE THE HARD WAY has gone from a somewhat awkward, clunky and extremely uncomfortable prologue into an enjoyably entertaining action-packed mainline... Initially involving the imprisonment and torture of random black men leading to the titular collection of THREE popular athletic black actors, eventually fighting a myriad of racist militants who created a potion that will, in a kind of Jame Bond supervillain fashion, wipe out only their race...

action, alex rocco, blaxploitation, corbin bernsen, exploitation, fred williamson, howard platt, irene tsu, jay robinson, jim brown, jim kelly, karate, seventies

JIM KELLY, FRED WILLIAMSON & JIM BROWN 'THREE THE HARD WAY'

Title: THREE THE HARD WAY Year: 1974 Rating: **** By the time three multicolored motorcycles are cruising down downtown Chicago that are soo...

JACK STARRETT DIRECTS JIM BROWN VS RIP TORN IN 'SLAUGHTER'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinAiW_G1OWdOEotTh_2-ZhNSeZPUA11D5f2NyUpjAj_V5okzvMB2GlC7GV0_qjqwi28tp2i4-ZbEk76Hq7_zKHlPO-zH-dobT2lkUhJoDOqOPl3JyBqdE5jHNMF-Uff7TA4orIq6HdFqV79Q9O4mrxF_PLTc4hyEDlp_P-88auXfzM1dpTI9E6fmWcJtOR/s2679/1111%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="2679" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinAiW_G1OWdOEotTh_2-ZhNSeZPUA11D5f2NyUpjAj_V5okzvMB2GlC7GV0_qjqwi28tp2i4-ZbEk76Hq7_zKHlPO-zH-dobT2lkUhJoDOqOPl3JyBqdE5jHNMF-Uff7TA4orIq6HdFqV79Q9O4mrxF_PLTc4hyEDlp_P-88auXfzM1dpTI9E6fmWcJtOR/s16000/1111%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: SLAUGHTER Director: Jack Starrett Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>By the time Rip Torn as a mobster's main hit-man kills the very boss who hired him to kill Jim Brown's titular black tough guy SLAUGHTER... seeking revenge for his father's mob-ordered death... the 1972 anything-goes/gun-blasting extravaganza is only halfway through...And has already featured some worthwhile actors including Cameron Mitchell and sidekick's sidekick Don Gordon, right at home in a b-movie that passes for mainstream... like something from the Bond franchise as Jim Brown, wearing a dapper tuxedo, walks coolly into the antagonist's crooked casino, winning money and even landing a sexy moll, who at least three of the uncompromisingly racist mafiosos are after...

action, blaxploitation, cameron mitchell, jack starrett, jim brown, mafia, marlene clark, revenge, rip torn, robert phillips, seventies, stella stevens

JACK STARRETT DIRECTS JIM BROWN VS RIP TORN IN 'SLAUGHTER'

Title: SLAUGHTER Director: Jack Starrett Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2 By the time Rip Torn as a mobster's main hit-man kills the very boss...

ROBERT FOXWORTH BEARS JOHN FRANKENHEIMER'S 'PROPHECY'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqu-jae__wDcdUv07R_ONjAex7gyl-GSi3z345ls4kNEk5AchpolvLIfHo2GTMdhMOrNQMI2Uh1iSTwnoxUE3iCmQwF5g9oGvtY_eCTwrUWWOJuXGYEi3mzvsE0WQCUcV2Hry0yJjsfZQuRGBbSLkOjL2LVqwmuc-JoFHmcflgF8-XwUQUy9gGR0kGq5K/s1717/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="1717" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqu-jae__wDcdUv07R_ONjAex7gyl-GSi3z345ls4kNEk5AchpolvLIfHo2GTMdhMOrNQMI2Uh1iSTwnoxUE3iCmQwF5g9oGvtY_eCTwrUWWOJuXGYEi3mzvsE0WQCUcV2Hry0yJjsfZQuRGBbSLkOjL2LVqwmuc-JoFHmcflgF8-XwUQUy9gGR0kGq5K/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: PROPHECY Year: 1979 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>At one point, when idealistic city doctor Robert Foxworthy and quiet musician wife Taila Shire are in the Oregon woods investigating strange happenings around a Native American community, we cut to an immense paper-mill with formidable music that would usually prelude a march of Nazi soldiers, or their mustached leader...Meanwhile polite antagonist Richard Dysart, a few years before being part of a gory monstrous takeover in THE THING, is subtly covering things up: overall making the liberal-minded eco-horror PROPHECY far more ambiguous than if it were made today (or in the last thirty-years)...

armand assante, eco-horror, john frankenheimer, mia bendixsen, richard dysart, robert foxworth, talia shire

ROBERT FOXWORTH BEARS JOHN FRANKENHEIMER'S 'PROPHECY'

Title: PROPHECY Year: 1979 Rating: ***1/2 At one point, when idealistic city doctor Robert Foxworthy and quiet musician wife Taila Shire are...

RUSHING THROUGH JOHN SCHLESINGER'S 'HONKY TONK FREEWAY'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaX9xJ39a3JdrTj4Jji1T_bdXGvfXxEEjSaYgzK12-y1LTvtqkE3lNyPWtaIspDDYUFqU-7bmfkpLp7fO1_wFlNh3IX6QY9mlRseQO9NZvu4tOQqjAm_8k7mo0YE0JxMG_gXjJvUu-MaW4rxEA42UjyPh4Gb_AJ9xtOZ700LHxd0Q3K6-0JDxIU9u9X3WH/s1280/maxresdefault%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaX9xJ39a3JdrTj4Jji1T_bdXGvfXxEEjSaYgzK12-y1LTvtqkE3lNyPWtaIspDDYUFqU-7bmfkpLp7fO1_wFlNh3IX6QY9mlRseQO9NZvu4tOQqjAm_8k7mo0YE0JxMG_gXjJvUu-MaW4rxEA42UjyPh4Gb_AJ9xtOZ700LHxd0Q3K6-0JDxIU9u9X3WH/s16000/maxresdefault%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: HONKY TONK FREEWAY Year: 1981 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>John Schlesinger's HONKY TONK FREEWAY has two composers: Elmer Bernstein doing his usual triumphant march while Beatles producer George Martin's melancholy interludes are thrown in randomly for an offbeat cross-country road-movie with everything... And while known for having cost and lost tons of money, FREEWAY is both a fast-moving adventure and witty ensemble-comedy with only a few central characters representing both points on the map...

beau bridges, beverly d'angelo, comedy, deborah rush, howard hesseman, hume cronyn, jessica tandy, john schlesinger, road movie, teri garr

RUSHING THROUGH JOHN SCHLESINGER'S 'HONKY TONK FREEWAY'

Title: HONKY TONK FREEWAY Year: 1981 Rating: **** John Schlesinger's HONKY TONK FREEWAY has two composers: Elmer Bernstein doing his usu...

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGiYCQfl5g-_AoEQ_Z_SksNItElfanALiYJFj9O5YhVF7E3JA7rBvmQcxSh92MZwVp9MfZYIWwBTXv0tsM3D8e_HNV7IdMtEtgZImvxqjhc1lxu7woT1-haf46Ib32yMbQDs05NuqTR_WW051Jog9TNlzL-RAmgRVjGxILZ7Ugbq0jikyhyphenhyphenTAelZCSXCx/s929/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-04%20at%208.10.47%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="929" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGiYCQfl5g-_AoEQ_Z_SksNItElfanALiYJFj9O5YhVF7E3JA7rBvmQcxSh92MZwVp9MfZYIWwBTXv0tsM3D8e_HNV7IdMtEtgZImvxqjhc1lxu7woT1-haf46Ib32yMbQDs05NuqTR_WW051Jog9TNlzL-RAmgRVjGxILZ7Ugbq0jikyhyphenhyphenTAelZCSXCx/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-04%20at%208.10.47%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking they're taking part in just another paid gig that turns out to be incredibly real and dangerous... in a way began with Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER where Lance Guest plays the oldest son of a trailer park landlady... in the kind of lonely Middle American town that Steven Spielberg practically created for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (and a bit like the "there's something better somewhere else" planet of Tattooine in STAR WARS)...Castle includes other Speilbergian touches, like a highway speed-limit-sign rattling from the power of a spaceship.... here belonging to scene-stealer Robert Preston, who, with his signature speaking voice that practically sings every line, is beyond perfect as the pre BACK TO THE FUTURE DeLoreon-driving alien-in-human-form recruiter for an actual "star war" that Guest's Alex Rogen is hired to fight in...

action, catherine mary stewart, cult, dan o'herlihy, fantasy, lance guest, nick castle, robert preston, rural, science-fiction, war

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking ...

ROGER MOORE & LOIS MAXWELL 'THE SAINT: INTERLUDE IN VENICE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoADP1mZCsa_x_yCpPFlvAPyvdnOpuMlcSCT61HrLgaA6htpy5A5VHb41v5tMeiTVQqmMZB890arZm3TVFwNgej72Pd0vpU58X25QW2JZ209jQeeE0m3Cd6fOD62rN61slygmsPEX4NMySIOdbMaN9OiSFYB3mQsjYUDM40XChFo-q4hW-Q8Pat9uU9M2R/s1296/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-29%20at%202.34.58%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="1296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoADP1mZCsa_x_yCpPFlvAPyvdnOpuMlcSCT61HrLgaA6htpy5A5VHb41v5tMeiTVQqmMZB890arZm3TVFwNgej72Pd0vpU58X25QW2JZ209jQeeE0m3Cd6fOD62rN61slygmsPEX4NMySIOdbMaN9OiSFYB3mQsjYUDM40XChFo-q4hW-Q8Pat9uU9M2R/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-29%20at%202.34.58%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roger Moore in The Saint: Interlude in Venice Year: 1966 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>There are good episodes and bad in all television shows, old and new, including THE SAINT, the spy thriller about not a secret-agent but philanthropist helping various people throughout the world, ironically played by future secret-agent/007 James Bond actor Roger Moore in his younger days, but he's still cool, classy, sophisticated, humorous... And Lois Maxwell, who played Miss Moneypenny beginning with Sean Connery and continuing into Roger Moore's entire run, is a relatively younger wife of a millionaire whose spoiled daughter (cute and spicy scene-stealer Quinn O'Hara) is accused of killing a womanizing charlatan in INTERLUDE IN VENICE, mostly talking place there (or made to): backed by future 2001 actor William Sylvester, bookending one of the very good episodes with swift direction and enough twists and turns to be like its very own crime programmer.

british tv, espionage, joyce blair, lois maxwell, paul stassino, quinn o'hara, roger moore, sixties, the saint, william sylvester

ROGER MOORE & LOIS MAXWELL 'THE SAINT: INTERLUDE IN VENICE'

Roger Moore in The Saint: Interlude in Venice Year: 1966 Rating: **** There are good episodes and bad in all television shows, old and new, ...

DARRELL HOWE WITH JUDY HOWARD IN 'ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqdQAX_se_9ruyNc6qDGpKL7Npsq5gYJ1sAj3wXsT0S31Jc8wpVu6Pe8DfcxSAN5s-Rk3Zg9QzyKrU981nONTpyZp5L13m7cNHxwZfM00oKXF2UJJ64cTOWpoB7Fo-wGBlBhMgUri28Rf8H2d9owcMfo_qJIu_Vt-kRpIhXENEfV-xZFmlsPQ5QOj4_Oi/s1164/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqdQAX_se_9ruyNc6qDGpKL7Npsq5gYJ1sAj3wXsT0S31Jc8wpVu6Pe8DfcxSAN5s-Rk3Zg9QzyKrU981nONTpyZp5L13m7cNHxwZfM00oKXF2UJJ64cTOWpoB7Fo-wGBlBhMgUri28Rf8H2d9owcMfo_qJIu_Vt-kRpIhXENEfV-xZFmlsPQ5QOj4_Oi/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judy Howard in ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO Year: 1962 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>When token investigator Michael Granger is kind of affably/subtly questioning local hoodlum Darrell Howe on he and his gang's whereabouts when some people got beat up the night before, Howe's facially-scared Chet lies about going to a movie... specifically <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/03/cpn.html">CRIME AND PUNISHMENT</a>... an ironic parallel the cop instantly understands...Yet is only partially what ANATOMY is inspired by... as the law's only around right after bad things happen: like a rich man's house burning because his son hooked up with Chet's loose and lithe <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/DragstripH.html">GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW</a> ingenue Judy Howard, who, with only a few scenes, smoothly combines passionate seduction with perplexed vulnerability...

don devlin, exploitation, frank killmond, gang, judy howard, michael granger, neo noir, pamela lincoln, ronnie burns, russ bender, russell howe, sixties

DARRELL HOWE WITH JUDY HOWARD IN 'ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO'

Judy Howard in ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO Year: 1962 Rating: **** When token investigator Michael Granger is kind of affably/subtly questioning loc...

JOHN GUILLERMIN DIRECTS RICHARD ROUNDTREE 'SHAFT IN AFRICA'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHJRJE-A1RbYZbYI8FLde9fduyVRHbxaxDNS0sVTvbFZQ82i2WksQrhoTRKtNBL_ZWbYxcVsO8YarNJ1I9QCKxAgXIrfAyIFIWuajYPGCFMKk_oE1yb7xkizA19iwt0dYKzbvokFkmqZVvrorgj4fxSyseC-1T7LZzXQfNEQXiwdnKLwA4T6EcXoAl54H/s1294/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-02%20at%208.57.43%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="1294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHJRJE-A1RbYZbYI8FLde9fduyVRHbxaxDNS0sVTvbFZQ82i2WksQrhoTRKtNBL_ZWbYxcVsO8YarNJ1I9QCKxAgXIrfAyIFIWuajYPGCFMKk_oE1yb7xkizA19iwt0dYKzbvokFkmqZVvrorgj4fxSyseC-1T7LZzXQfNEQXiwdnKLwA4T6EcXoAl54H/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-02%20at%208.57.43%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Roundtree from SHAFT IN AFRICA Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Director John Guillermin's SHAFT IN AFRICA is such a deliberate espionage/spy flick, at one point the title character... who originated on paper before being adapted into one of the first blaxploitation heroes... is told to (after he actually references James Bond) burn his mission after reading...To pose as an African in Africa to be taken into a European slave-trade, which sounds more complicated than it really is... as this final SHAFT sequel's basically one handed-off desert-traipsing adventure sequence after another...

action, adventure, blaxploitation, espionage, frank finlay, frank mcrea, john guillermin, neda arneric, richard roundtree, seventies, shaft, vonetta mcgee

JOHN GUILLERMIN DIRECTS RICHARD ROUNDTREE 'SHAFT IN AFRICA'

Richard Roundtree from SHAFT IN AFRICA Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2 Director John Guillermin's SHAFT IN AFRICA is such a deliberate espionag...

MARLON BRANDO & VAL KILMER RUIN 'THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcpkoBSsUNliEi-EKOlUGI5kMxQSZdYCRnnU5XByWA3e_K_Gj7YSOQalshkw41o-6CJ8iQpu5jK3RCGpCbg-UJYY8RyQjkdS6YsMnKnbUAIvmZr7ND2IKcRNuDMxCtw0N66-tVh46AcTtt7h2pnh1bsy96uxXEsr2AA9NhbB1yN7700q2uflPUbuJwIfE/s1869/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-02%20at%2010.20.55%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="974" data-original-width="1869" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcpkoBSsUNliEi-EKOlUGI5kMxQSZdYCRnnU5XByWA3e_K_Gj7YSOQalshkw41o-6CJ8iQpu5jK3RCGpCbg-UJYY8RyQjkdS6YsMnKnbUAIvmZr7ND2IKcRNuDMxCtw0N66-tVh46AcTtt7h2pnh1bsy96uxXEsr2AA9NhbB1yN7700q2uflPUbuJwIfE/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-02%20at%2010.20.55%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Val Kilmer in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU Year: 1996 Rating: **</td></tr></tbody></table>As the story goes, original director and screenwriter Richard Stanley was fired from THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, replaced by veteran John Frankenheimer who, prone to making action movies, seems confused whether it's an aggressive PLANET OF THE APES creature-uprising prequel or the quirky sci-fi/horror that the quirky Richard Stanley probably intended... What's really strange is that big-budget superstar Bruce Willis was going to star in that original arthouse horror... replaced with offbeat British actor David Thewlis, seeming more like he'd be Stanley's choice over Frankenheimer's, who would have been able to do a high-octane Bruce Willis flick with his aged-eyes closed... meanwhile the more ambiguous Thewlis allowed the strange story to unfold before his vulnerable eyes as opposed to Willis (or Rob Morrow even), who would probably seem far above and beyond the situation... Thewis is there for the audience and the story...

creature, horror, john frankenheimer, marlon brando, nineties, science-fiction, val kilmer

MARLON BRANDO & VAL KILMER RUIN 'THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU'

Val Kilmer in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU Year: 1996 Rating: ** As the story goes, original director and screenwriter Richard Stanley was fired...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM 'THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgKyYnqwp7vJmMqtrELVasQiUVqOXrcHQ5aqxQT39x2ns69PxahVpcuE6m4ZL6rHEC9HgqI6zNSc2PANrvwpG0J2JY9z7WeRyjVJViBttY4aQMZijSWxY_i63F5orJel6XVriCCUlFyhXMSx2zA30n0NfbBRZgXS4E7YK35YVh9Qf-0scRhd6hoeAMJlS/s1566/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-30%20at%2011.57.56%20PM%202%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="942" data-original-width="1566" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgKyYnqwp7vJmMqtrELVasQiUVqOXrcHQ5aqxQT39x2ns69PxahVpcuE6m4ZL6rHEC9HgqI6zNSc2PANrvwpG0J2JY9z7WeRyjVJViBttY4aQMZijSWxY_i63F5orJel6XVriCCUlFyhXMSx2zA30n0NfbBRZgXS4E7YK35YVh9Qf-0scRhd6hoeAMJlS/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-30%20at%2011.57.56%20PM%202%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER Year: 1965 Camp Value: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>One of those b-movies that's so extremely/noticeably low budget it's almost a z-movie, bordering on what looks like snuff film footage while coming out right before the hippie 1960's was fully ignited...So the even-then-old-school surf guitar soundtrack for THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER is more loose and groovy than usual, even when a monster so fake it's intentionally hilarious starts murdering hot bikini babes right on the beach, even in the daylight...

beach, body count, cult, elaine dupont, horror, monster, sixties, sue casey, walker edmiston

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM 'THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER'

Title: THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER Year: 1965 Camp Value: *** One of those b-movies that's so extremely/noticeably low budget it...

JODY FAIR AND JUDY HOWARD IN 'GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJoP-fTsJVywNaojjEcdObSpbrWGf3940Ac-_7LzYfiK6SZtynVKsmoFd9jl_PhDBAMzRKFotgba-43o7iJChW81q92scp4kl3c2Sossh0wi6GGqyLG4DkR_J935MxZ5YUEPFJOF1KAc_oqakn9nxQGCVRK-Ua-TtsqoXQPxSGnLbC3fX47dv1gHWQtMc/s1942/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-29%20at%2010.51.45%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="1942" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJoP-fTsJVywNaojjEcdObSpbrWGf3940Ac-_7LzYfiK6SZtynVKsmoFd9jl_PhDBAMzRKFotgba-43o7iJChW81q92scp4kl3c2Sossh0wi6GGqyLG4DkR_J935MxZ5YUEPFJOF1KAc_oqakn9nxQGCVRK-Ua-TtsqoXQPxSGnLbC3fX47dv1gHWQtMc/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-29%20at%2010.51.45%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 1959 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Sequel to a franchise b-movie HOT CAR GANG that hardly involved a gang and with only two young actors returning in the genre novelty of GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW, combining the titular ghost story with the original's borrowed plot about saving a car club's clubhouse, the dancing and rocking motorhead teens wind up at a haunted manor with only about twenty minutes left...  Beginning with the only actual car race shot in an L.A. reservoir with mechanically-minded beauty Jody Fair returning with spectacle-wearing geek mechanic Harry McCann...

action, elaine dupont, exploitation, fifties, franchise, horror satire, jack ging, jody fair, judy howard, russ bender, sequel, teen

JODY FAIR AND JUDY HOWARD IN 'GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW'

Year: 1959 Rating: **** Sequel to a franchise b-movie HOT CAR GANG that hardly involved a gang and with only two young actors returning in t...

TOM CONWAY TEAMS WITH HILLARY BROOKE IN 'CONFIDENCE GIRL'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXvzVcWPrh5L-CVBpd9rNxItrFzCQcma6lmvBAX0D2e60_PI_UOnElceo_3Cyu9f9yHV2CSeikiEuH3UrPyECh_ShXG2J1qMZIjDyJ_kA3LHvq4QE5UqwY-fasAYzD14xJDkN8j3R3AdjMLcRjsNtRuY0BHPdbFKukPJkt59BD7IIvw_ePNkQ0QLVrut-/s1990/2%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1097" data-original-width="1990" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXvzVcWPrh5L-CVBpd9rNxItrFzCQcma6lmvBAX0D2e60_PI_UOnElceo_3Cyu9f9yHV2CSeikiEuH3UrPyECh_ShXG2J1qMZIjDyJ_kA3LHvq4QE5UqwY-fasAYzD14xJDkN8j3R3AdjMLcRjsNtRuY0BHPdbFKukPJkt59BD7IIvw_ePNkQ0QLVrut-/s16000/2%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2 </td></tr></tbody></table>You know if a movie about confidence men aka con men (or in this case an ironic twist-titled CONFIDENCE GIRL) is being narrated/opened by an actual government agent, it won't particularly support their crooked schemes that would happen (from THE STING to DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS) decades later: when the cops are the heavies, the tricksters the anti-heroes and their victims rich dolts who should have never had so much money to begin with... But with the casting of the always smooth and dashing Tom Conway, leading to a nifty first-act twist... instead of being one of the crowded room of detectives after Hillary Brooke's titular CONFIDENCE GIRL he's actually her partner... the title CONFIDENCE COUPLE would have fit better...

aline towne, con man, cop, fifties, film noir or melodrama, hillary brooke, jack kruschen, tom conway

TOM CONWAY TEAMS WITH HILLARY BROOKE IN 'CONFIDENCE GIRL'

Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2 You know if a movie about confidence men aka con men (or in this case an ironic twist-titled CONFIDENCE GIRL) is b...

JOSEPH BOTTOMS, LANA CLARKSON & KEIR DULLEA IN 'BLIND DATE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7PSWmVePK_soQENMo2DsyLNLbsTkWV-8So_s5yOZ0sdvh5X-ZWRknXwsXaSrjeEKiK3tKEPwW-JgJxJBY69lxDJBBdwl2daijl0NJob9nFCtDxhiRu4RwseMsQjRsqi8ux9lkEf7sQzwME7aHUats3tv7eLx4TNpojMja4z4qdEAfBT_Ry6mmwHVwHKk3/s1034/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-27%20at%201.44.19%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="1034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7PSWmVePK_soQENMo2DsyLNLbsTkWV-8So_s5yOZ0sdvh5X-ZWRknXwsXaSrjeEKiK3tKEPwW-JgJxJBY69lxDJBBdwl2daijl0NJob9nFCtDxhiRu4RwseMsQjRsqi8ux9lkEf7sQzwME7aHUats3tv7eLx4TNpojMja4z4qdEAfBT_Ry6mmwHVwHKk3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-27%20at%201.44.19%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joseph Bottoms in BLIND DATE Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>If it weren't for the Sony Walkman that Joseph Bottoms listens to in order to miraculously visualize computer-graphic/inferred grid-like outlines after having lost his sight, offbeat director Nico Mastorakis's BLIND DATE would seem from the steely neo-noir 1970's instead of the more glossy and subdued 1980's... As that decade brings a wall-to-wall score of loud synthesizers and bad techno pop songs in what's an otherwise intriguing Greek-set giallo that builds beyond an uninspired initial 30-minutes... picking up when blinded Joseph Bottoms becomes a James Stewart/REAR WINDOW-style protagonist, only with moveable investigatory skills like VERTIGO... stalking the dark night for ex-girlfriend (and possible final victim) Lana Clarkson...

body count, eighties, exploitation, james daughton, joseph bottoms, keir dullea, kirstie alley, lana clarkson, marina sirtis, nico mastorakis, science-fiction, serial killer, suspense, thriller, valerie golino

JOSEPH BOTTOMS, LANA CLARKSON & KEIR DULLEA IN 'BLIND DATE'

Joseph Bottoms in BLIND DATE Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 If it weren't for the Sony Walkman that Joseph Bottoms listens to in order to mir...

RALPH BAKSHI BEGNNING WITH ROBERT CRUMB'S 'FRITZ THE CAT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYoE170NZNfTV-Tsj0etrr7nG-SWcJ3pfoX3NL1pfKpKYh3VC5ivQkRTlLVHijjd5LWcb4y4Evjs_hyXH4L_U4qkkBN2R72XhzAsRMvjQpllg5uq6PsFqrp2BPLSmARwJfPU_2LPfMkTXnL8e3_TYwDtKByH-xX9fC2iR4lI-NrTcDFDfIsKJfjmZHm5n/s2570/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1198" data-original-width="2570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYoE170NZNfTV-Tsj0etrr7nG-SWcJ3pfoX3NL1pfKpKYh3VC5ivQkRTlLVHijjd5LWcb4y4Evjs_hyXH4L_U4qkkBN2R72XhzAsRMvjQpllg5uq6PsFqrp2BPLSmARwJfPU_2LPfMkTXnL8e3_TYwDtKByH-xX9fC2iR4lI-NrTcDFDfIsKJfjmZHm5n/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: FRITZ THE CAT Year: 1971 Rating: **</td></tr></tbody></table>Ralph Bakshi progressed from children's cartoons in the 1960's into adapting underground comic-book artist Robert Crumb's underground anti-hero feline FRITZ THE CAT in 1971... Thus turning on stoned teenagers (who had once been kids watching SPIDER-MAN and ROCKET ROBIN HOOD) with lots of naked animal characters, ranging from a group of pretentious liberal co-eds to black revolutionary crows to a rugged road trip involving a Nazi rabbit biker and...

animation, college, counter-culture, cult, exploitation, ralph bakshi, road movie, robert crumb, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI BEGNNING WITH ROBERT CRUMB'S 'FRITZ THE CAT'

Title: FRITZ THE CAT Year: 1971 Rating: ** Ralph Bakshi progressed from children's cartoons in the 1960's into adapting underground ...

RALPH BAKSHI'S MULTI-GENERATIONAL MELODRAMA 'AMERICAN POP'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSLlkFGEv0wpZu3A7RVyOrCILBrRWmeBudXWP3kXGFLl_UHZxC-3hj1x6HXAqdEZRV6ApwVwAxy4K-CWS5OMLIi5FTWciwhgZpYROojRtiePw0eNJlZ4GVc3nI_MfNlBOFG1huSl3hjBCAivna_hT6ky9a_ogeSLqzql8A5k9RWvAsIZ4p1Ocaaa0WJcFo/s1974/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-21%20at%208.47.28%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="1974" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSLlkFGEv0wpZu3A7RVyOrCILBrRWmeBudXWP3kXGFLl_UHZxC-3hj1x6HXAqdEZRV6ApwVwAxy4K-CWS5OMLIi5FTWciwhgZpYROojRtiePw0eNJlZ4GVc3nI_MfNlBOFG1huSl3hjBCAivna_hT6ky9a_ogeSLqzql8A5k9RWvAsIZ4p1Ocaaa0WJcFo/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-21%20at%208.47.28%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marya Small (now Mews Small) in Ralph Bakshi's AMERICAN POP Year: 1981 Rating: **</td></tr></tbody></table>What's considered animation director Ralph Bakshi's greatest achievement is a searing saga about four generations of failed musicians dating back to the turn of the century... winding up with a singer/songwriter who's supposed to have become famous having written and performed Bob Seger's NIGHT MOVES...But the most involving sequences should have been during the first half, dealing with historically iconic topics from vaudville to mobsters to jazz joints to world wars...

animated, eighties, mews small, music, ralph bakshi

RALPH BAKSHI'S MULTI-GENERATIONAL MELODRAMA 'AMERICAN POP'

Marya Small (now Mews Small) in Ralph Bakshi's AMERICAN POP Year: 1981 Rating: ** What's considered animation director Ralph Bakshi...

RALPH BAKSHI'S ANIMATED APOCALYPTIC-FANTASY 'WIZARDS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-zlJcBxjusZhRmr3BAZ5_ecn4bz4-cfZnRmwRenLAB8f5E0ILbOa4nkTcF_urrnnoTA4cpbip7Lc6A1jmi_Fzq89T5AEgPzISChJSrq7wr_QXFODKLQXQJTd5eHRclmPinXmI4UDpziXakdzqtzMp7Ki3r4s0JV5e-WgLIhv4smgKkyu3aBKDGc0UfCu/s2134/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-20%20at%201.02.05%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="2134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-zlJcBxjusZhRmr3BAZ5_ecn4bz4-cfZnRmwRenLAB8f5E0ILbOa4nkTcF_urrnnoTA4cpbip7Lc6A1jmi_Fzq89T5AEgPzISChJSrq7wr_QXFODKLQXQJTd5eHRclmPinXmI4UDpziXakdzqtzMp7Ki3r4s0JV5e-WgLIhv4smgKkyu3aBKDGc0UfCu/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-20%20at%201.02.05%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: WIZARDS Year: 1977 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Animation director <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/ralph%20bakshi">Ralph Bakshi's</a> infamously rushed/ill-conceived <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/LOTR78.html">LORD OF THE RINGS</a>, combining the then-new Rotoscoping process of animating actual people/objects without seeming entirely animated, began with WIZARDS where that bizarre, half-baked process eventually makes sense...Not centered on an already famous source like J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth trilogy, WIZARDS (liken to Terry Brooks's SWORD OF SHANNARA) is set in the post-apocalyptic future where, instead of the usual barren scorched landscape, everything's gone back to the dreamy world of wizards, elves, fairies...

animation, david proval, fantasy, jesse welles, mark hamill, nazi, ralph bakshi, richard romanus, science-fiction, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI'S ANIMATED APOCALYPTIC-FANTASY 'WIZARDS'

Title: WIZARDS Year: 1977 Rating: **** Animation director Ralph Bakshi's infamously rushed/ill-conceived LORD OF THE RINGS , combining ...

BYRON HASKIN DIRECTS PAUL MANTEE 'ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqQuW1BdXd4vtuXc3lcszMoYA1qBhXN7Nqqi0bcZx2ETY-xuQTygUyZ63H2V4oqMLqVXIT-xVduFJiFhWBq7RyMGPSSHoiPggiRGUonRaTSUJnj5o0idqSmbqFoGbpTfo5ZWoq60NdBsb7b4GZCHtmiFpY5yQgKRNt31NZZO8y6Kws1hCWlyq0w0zpq_fC/s1874/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-19%20at%206.51.55%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1874" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqQuW1BdXd4vtuXc3lcszMoYA1qBhXN7Nqqi0bcZx2ETY-xuQTygUyZ63H2V4oqMLqVXIT-xVduFJiFhWBq7RyMGPSSHoiPggiRGUonRaTSUJnj5o0idqSmbqFoGbpTfo5ZWoq60NdBsb7b4GZCHtmiFpY5yQgKRNt31NZZO8y6Kws1hCWlyq0w0zpq_fC/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-19%20at%206.51.55%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>A low-budget science-fiction film by super-low-budget producer <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/bel%20air%20productions">Aubrey Schenck</a> and WAR OF THE WORLDS director <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/byron%20haskin">Byron Haskin</a> is mostly known for not being as bad as it could have been... had it been full of cheap-looking space monsters, as originally intended... Instead, ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS is more a cerebral lone-man's figure-it-out-as-he-goes journey that just happens to occur on the red planet, following a technical orbiting-capsule sequence, ironically conceived five-years before America landed on the moon...

adam west, adventure, byron haskin, paul mantee, science-fiction, sixties

BYRON HASKIN DIRECTS PAUL MANTEE 'ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS'

Title: ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2 A low-budget science-fiction film by super-low-budget producer Aubrey Schenck and ...

RALPH BAKSHI BLAXPLOITATION-ANIMATION OF 'COONSKIN'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNboiGSYBo9CItym2nA3XC4Zjmq90WfY9PCPSMDZHfqX7UwyEHmwoX1RA1DoUPXwisNrnQOXR3MLgDyF0fL2ipalo4Ct3yqxF93kSPpJEweOl5IMBQiZ1OY56pvHPyw_hrytfaORAnB2xcLxwFC-Mg39CcXuGr9jYpcjBIIspSJSq9-KSrkusYmfdVNCOW/s2134/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-13%20at%208.30.51%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="2134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNboiGSYBo9CItym2nA3XC4Zjmq90WfY9PCPSMDZHfqX7UwyEHmwoX1RA1DoUPXwisNrnQOXR3MLgDyF0fL2ipalo4Ct3yqxF93kSPpJEweOl5IMBQiZ1OY56pvHPyw_hrytfaORAnB2xcLxwFC-Mg39CcXuGr9jYpcjBIIspSJSq9-KSrkusYmfdVNCOW/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-13%20at%208.30.51%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: COONSKIN aka STREET FIGHT Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>After <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/htraffic.html">HEAVY TRAFFIC</a> where cult director Ralph Bakshi inserted cartoon characters with actual urban backdrops, he went to the next level, combining character-driven live-action in what begins a super-low-budget blaxploitation prison-break that just might've been something on its own... As hidden escapees Philip Michael Thomas and the narrating Scatman Crothers await friends Barry White and Charles Gordone to pick them up, Crothers tells a story based on SONG OF THE SOUTH: transforming into a symbolic cartoon with Thomas as a skinny/slinky Rabbit; Barry White a gigantic Bear; and Gordone a preaching Fox...

animation, barry white, blaxploitation, cult, philip michael thomas, scatman crothers, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI BLAXPLOITATION-ANIMATION OF 'COONSKIN'

Title: COONSKIN aka STREET FIGHT Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2 After HEAVY TRAFFIC where cult director Ralph Bakshi inser...

RALPH BAKSHI COUNTER-CULTURE ANIMATION 'HEAVY TRAFFIC'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeNZJxi6vzm7B3a6f7nqLy_XyfnWH2nJy-zHJzps95dLmExCT3LryqZ4v4RaGAzC67k9zCFfneUqBB2h3nghp-0lU5TQ8o6cDvQaIcSXOFDtwiFThBve_OFvw9RbrRPZt5bBIn1YcasE1JOM2gPg4I6XceBZFnXDPVrC5XJcYfvA7mpDNx2xek7YCQY50/s2141/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-13%20at%202.15.59%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="2141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeNZJxi6vzm7B3a6f7nqLy_XyfnWH2nJy-zHJzps95dLmExCT3LryqZ4v4RaGAzC67k9zCFfneUqBB2h3nghp-0lU5TQ8o6cDvQaIcSXOFDtwiFThBve_OFvw9RbrRPZt5bBIn1YcasE1JOM2gPg4I6XceBZFnXDPVrC5XJcYfvA7mpDNx2xek7YCQY50/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-13%20at%202.15.59%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: HEAVY TRAFFIC Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1973 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Double-irony of Ralph Bashki's urban-animated HEAVY TRAFFIC in that he turned down making the sequel to his previous years' surprise blockbuster FRITZ THE CAT, based on Robert Crumb's underground comic, and chose to do a story that actually involves a young underground comic, who's not even known enough to be unknown, or even underground... and both the style of this very feature and the fictional artist's work is also very similar to Crumb's... That aside, HEAVY solely belongs to Bakshi, who began his process of combining live-action footage along with animation... framed by a sporadic pinball game in process, representing the downtown world where characters bounce around spontaneously...

animation, counter-culture, cult, ralph bakshi, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI COUNTER-CULTURE ANIMATION 'HEAVY TRAFFIC'

Title: HEAVY TRAFFIC Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1973 Rating: **** Double-irony of Ralph Bashki's urban-animated HEAVY TRAFFIC in that ...

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED MEAN STREETS 'HEY GOOD LOOKIN'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATx_YOFWuDMTKoKM42rVd36MKiapvDylupzgRlBE7rMkQ74TMlKnIL__h0Ux3WiOebBpQubkkeasDMyxfv9qnOdqtFmvJ8u1XrFQJe__0diDTxJWAPAR_1puPxh7vgEp1m7SPqslE_xeHq9GBqoy_XQhxe62am8ym7RqOVBXLSDEBuALnbxHy9hs0V23C/s2012/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-11%20at%2010.15.34%20PM-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="2012" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATx_YOFWuDMTKoKM42rVd36MKiapvDylupzgRlBE7rMkQ74TMlKnIL__h0Ux3WiOebBpQubkkeasDMyxfv9qnOdqtFmvJ8u1XrFQJe__0diDTxJWAPAR_1puPxh7vgEp1m7SPqslE_xeHq9GBqoy_XQhxe62am8ym7RqOVBXLSDEBuALnbxHy9hs0V23C/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-11%20at%2010.15.34%20PM-1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Romanus in HEY GOOD LOOKIN' Year: 1983 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>Often compared to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/09/grease-revisited.html">GREASE</a>, being that the main character... a suave/strutting New York City hood... resembles John Travolt, it seems animation icon Ralph Bashki's HEY GOOD LOOKIN' is more Martin Scorsese's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/08/goodstreets.html">MEAN STREETS</a> as an adult-oriented cartoon, and for two good reasons... The first is that the script and some of the artwork were created in the mid-70's, right after STREETS came out and where Bashki was to originally combine animated and live-action characters... leaving only a few genuine locations, from a dingy poolhall to Coney Island...

action, cartoon, david proval, eighties, exploitation, fifties-era, gang, ralph bakshi, richard romanus

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED MEAN STREETS 'HEY GOOD LOOKIN'

Richard Romanus in HEY GOOD LOOKIN' Year: 1983 Rating: *** Often compared to GREASE , being that the main character... a suave/strutting...

RALPH BAKSHI & FRANK FRAZETTA'S CULT FANTASY 'FIRE AND ICE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNb7s1tQgOKaYMVOeYvsGmkZvu4m1N8nbm1sQPfraLqWcUc9yPE2WcRZ8RqZfRCuOsBNqgS_7HQWd335yUa5rS-QkmI4n9PLCpZsmuU5iz3KB8XRGzbCJiZGRF8V4CG4rhan7u_cj28jdTH9AqZtCR6fE6NgeafQUiX-6CPevLAv7BgfcJoPoHHC4J2NWS/s1670/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-11%20at%2012.19.21%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1670" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNb7s1tQgOKaYMVOeYvsGmkZvu4m1N8nbm1sQPfraLqWcUc9yPE2WcRZ8RqZfRCuOsBNqgS_7HQWd335yUa5rS-QkmI4n9PLCpZsmuU5iz3KB8XRGzbCJiZGRF8V4CG4rhan7u_cj28jdTH9AqZtCR6fE6NgeafQUiX-6CPevLAv7BgfcJoPoHHC4J2NWS/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-11%20at%2012.19.21%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve Sandor as Darkwolf in FIRE AND ICE Year: 1983 Rating: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Ironic that animation director Ralph Bakshi and fantasy-book-cover illustrating-legend Frank Frazetta's collaboration FIRE AND ICE is narrated by one of the antagonists, witchy mother of an evil ice kingdom ruling son, when the intrepid good guys are the most intriguing, and numerous: three total covering a 90-minute traipsing-adventure where a princess is captured before escaping until she's captured once again... Mostly by primal slave creatures sent by Susan Tyrrell's whiskey-voiced queen, provoking other dangerous obstacles for the jungle-resilient, Tarzan-esque Lark, survivor of a peacefully picturesque woodsy-village encroached by sharp glacier fortresses that open the film as the title literally plays-out...

adventure, eighties, exploitation, fantasy, leo gordon, ralph bakshi, steve sandor, susan tyrrell, william ostrander

RALPH BAKSHI & FRANK FRAZETTA'S CULT FANTASY 'FIRE AND ICE'

Steve Sandor as Darkwolf in FIRE AND ICE Year: 1983 Rating: ****1/2 Ironic that animation director Ralph Bakshi and fantasy-book-cover illus...

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED ADAPTATION 'THE LORD OF THE RINGS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeu18gkyCLAnneBTQuDxyX9oXOt4Fg5Bt2eP6lON1Cr4QrWsiqBcBS_E75Dv88SjR1kD3_9Gs_9RwDX8o-39TzWbHrajppHecYbKfnxiyeqog2UGGZPtWxx9PkrpI-HZcqXV0ueujeQSFi1-iPOuPJYNBwnvn-Q4YVUlJKQVux2QHzjX39X0eAapIuZ_i2/s1970/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-10%20at%2010.07.24%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeu18gkyCLAnneBTQuDxyX9oXOt4Fg5Bt2eP6lON1Cr4QrWsiqBcBS_E75Dv88SjR1kD3_9Gs_9RwDX8o-39TzWbHrajppHecYbKfnxiyeqog2UGGZPtWxx9PkrpI-HZcqXV0ueujeQSFi1-iPOuPJYNBwnvn-Q4YVUlJKQVux2QHzjX39X0eAapIuZ_i2/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-10%20at%2010.07.24%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ralph Bakshi's THE LORD OF THE RINGS Year: 1978 Rating: **</td></tr></tbody></table>As the Hobbits' legendary adventure begins... in animator Ralph Bashki's mostly maligned albeit cult-appreciated version of J. R. R. Tolkien's iconic fantasy THE LORD OF THE RINGS... it's pretty decent, involving... And with vibrant colors more richly deep-toned than the intentionally child-geared storybook-aesthetic of the Rankin/Bass HOBBIT from the previous year, RINGS follows pretty close to the source, in both exteriors and interiors, until those chosen little ones... suddenly without their leader Gandalf the Wizard... arrive at The Prancing Pony...

action, adaptation, adventure, animated, anthony daniels, fantasy, john hurt, jrr tolkien, ralph bakshi, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED ADAPTATION 'THE LORD OF THE RINGS'

Ralph Bakshi's THE LORD OF THE RINGS Year: 1978 Rating: ** As the Hobbits' legendary adventure begins... in animator Ralph Bashki...

IAN HENDRY VS ROGER MOORE IN 'VENDETTA FOR THE SAINT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyo1l4DsMZybJoPlVtYte0-pfZVqOcuiWuSpffJCT-gDoIjleA36gj-aiokuzPu4YijNYkzXp2pVt4rw1YbVZkyiggzVF_SrGFNuR8XQ0R7YabCDPLSi06YpoGHgO9D1vJ0hbc77s7YBCnWah50xi1EtezDZ4rAYAKl9Ob6RDFLcCgKYF6WeWVy8RFTYzw/s2168/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-09%20at%202.51.32%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1464" data-original-width="2168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyo1l4DsMZybJoPlVtYte0-pfZVqOcuiWuSpffJCT-gDoIjleA36gj-aiokuzPu4YijNYkzXp2pVt4rw1YbVZkyiggzVF_SrGFNuR8XQ0R7YabCDPLSi06YpoGHgO9D1vJ0hbc77s7YBCnWah50xi1EtezDZ4rAYAKl9Ob6RDFLcCgKYF6WeWVy8RFTYzw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-09%20at%202.51.32%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Ian  Hendry in VENDETTA FOR THE SAINT Year: 1969 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>When television shows becomes theatrical features, it's usually a cheat like in the case of THE SAINT two-part episode VENDETTA FOR THE SAINT, which, pieced together, becomes a 90-minute movie...Although herein, there is a kind of theatrical touch, for two reasons: villain Ian Hendry, as a mobster who was once someone else and now goes by a fake name while working as an aging/dying mob boss's sophisticated, falsely-related henchman, is always great on both the big (<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/12/getCarter.html">GET CARTER</a>) and small (THE AVENGERS to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/04/ian-hendry-jill-townsend-christen.html">THE SWEENEY</a>) screen...

action, aimi macdonald, ian hendry, jim o'connolly, mafia, neo noir, roger moore, rosemary dexter, sixites, tv-series

IAN HENDRY VS ROGER MOORE IN 'VENDETTA FOR THE SAINT'

Ian Hendry in VENDETTA FOR THE SAINT Year: 1969 Rating: ***1/2 When television shows becomes theatrical features, it's usually a cheat...

NAKEDLY INGITING THE ANIMATED CULT CLASSIC 'HEAVY METAL'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheV5gkvmm7SKxgTNhsioZ_Em5Lb5YruyixUkWho-peYe6hcMbmYDFf_cTPianjNUYuR19Pr1X6dCiDrs1AcPCd7-6clEDce3st3tOT7ejzJmnyr9KklVwsx4Dn1TBBsEigSVNjsSwtVOoDnHxkhg7ZdZkQgfgz-toJgB9kjwJY1n0CYix-VU8zrtMWlZTr/s1664/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-07%20at%2011.43.15%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1664" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheV5gkvmm7SKxgTNhsioZ_Em5Lb5YruyixUkWho-peYe6hcMbmYDFf_cTPianjNUYuR19Pr1X6dCiDrs1AcPCd7-6clEDce3st3tOT7ejzJmnyr9KklVwsx4Dn1TBBsEigSVNjsSwtVOoDnHxkhg7ZdZkQgfgz-toJgB9kjwJY1n0CYix-VU8zrtMWlZTr/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-07%20at%2011.43.15%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: HEAVY METAL Year: 1981 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>The best two stories from HEAVY METAL... producer Ivan Reitman's animated/cartoon anthology with a continuously-pulsating soundtrack of acts ranging from Devo to Sammy Hagar to Don Felder to Donald Fagan to Black Sabbath... have a beginning, middle and end, and either could have stretched into full-length features: starting with a futuristic film-noir homage with modernly-grungy cab-driver HARRY CANYON (voiced by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/08/goodstreets.html">MEAN STREETS</a> actor Richard Romanus) that includes the usual pulp-signature glib narration, chain-smoked cigarettes, crooked cops, flying cars above grounded savage hoodlums and a luscious backstabbing dame... And the last a fantasy... in the mesmerizing otherworld style of Roger Dean's progressive-rock album covers combined with Ralph Bakshi's animated-fantasy-flicks <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/LOTR78.html">THE LORD OF THE RINGS</a> and WIZARDS (while the urban-noir resembles Bakshi's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/htraffic.html">HEAVY TRAFFIC</a>)... that gave this 1981 cult classic its gorgeous flying-avian-riding poster-girl TAARNA who, sword in hand, violently protects a village like an antihero from a Spaghetti Western...

action, animation, cult, eighties, exploitation, fantasy, future, harold ramis, ivan reitman, john candy, music, neo noir, richard romanus, science-fiction

NAKEDLY INGITING THE ANIMATED CULT CLASSIC 'HEAVY METAL'

Title: HEAVY METAL Year: 1981 Rating: **** The best two stories from HEAVY METAL... producer Ivan Reitman's animated/cartoon anthology w...

JEREMY PIVEN LITERALLY DRIVING 1994'S RIDE 'JUDGEMENT NIGHT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6GkOGa-1ZYurARF2V-9t4uW44R2KDCUG7K6MLuZcYfug2G0WENcP9r-9Mw_4v2DMuhkf5nAHH2MpJSHYNHD1PS5bGXN2ZdzIM-Ex2CjTeVzijUqiPlRA8-M8UC4LnFqkt6jpfeAjMqZpEixIKxKPHBjDC8qGh6vEY6JJU5GNogRAlMkbnLIjfUKZ4M3Z/s1594/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-04%20at%201.54.19%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6GkOGa-1ZYurARF2V-9t4uW44R2KDCUG7K6MLuZcYfug2G0WENcP9r-9Mw_4v2DMuhkf5nAHH2MpJSHYNHD1PS5bGXN2ZdzIM-Ex2CjTeVzijUqiPlRA8-M8UC4LnFqkt6jpfeAjMqZpEixIKxKPHBjDC8qGh6vEY6JJU5GNogRAlMkbnLIjfUKZ4M3Z/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-04%20at%201.54.19%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy Piven in JUDGEMENT NIGHT Year: 1994 Rating: **1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>In JUDGEMENT NIGHT, token instigating/troublemaking black-sheep of drinking-buddies Jeremy Piven has provided a giant one-night-only RV for buddies Emilio Estevez, his nervous little brother Stephen Dorff and intense yet cool-headed Cuba Gooding Jr to hang out and drink in... all while watching prime night boxing on the way to  front seats for the actual match... What's funny is that, while stuck on a very important freeway traffic jam, and with drinks in hand and mobile satellite television, they could have simply cruised around and had a better time than at the place they never reach...

action, cuba gooding jr., denis leary, emilio estevez, gang, jeremy piven, nineties, race against time, stephen dorff

JEREMY PIVEN LITERALLY DRIVING 1994'S RIDE 'JUDGEMENT NIGHT'

Jeremy Piven in JUDGEMENT NIGHT Year: 1994 Rating: **1/2 In JUDGEMENT NIGHT, token instigating/troublemaking black-sheep of drinking-buddies...

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, KAREN BLACK & GENE HACKMAN 'CISCO PIKE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjca0OogyxbVy1JWT23-OVMOfUA_T3HQaPFiFbhaiwh0w8f2L2SVRJdO13X81KK0QkGSgj2w3Wr4SnZ2zfBrdji8NrZNrC7OTkpNAbbuNtHWUaVXEawbEjhF7HpDHyp2wpPC094BJ4wN6YMGEX3a-0bIYpai80ZPFIasNOxRYuNzURI2n6TGQ-W0QZBSiCu/s1749/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-04%20at%2012.10.35%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1749" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjca0OogyxbVy1JWT23-OVMOfUA_T3HQaPFiFbhaiwh0w8f2L2SVRJdO13X81KK0QkGSgj2w3Wr4SnZ2zfBrdji8NrZNrC7OTkpNAbbuNtHWUaVXEawbEjhF7HpDHyp2wpPC094BJ4wN6YMGEX3a-0bIYpai80ZPFIasNOxRYuNzURI2n6TGQ-W0QZBSiCu/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-04%20at%2012.10.35%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kris Kristofferson in CISCO PIKE Year: 1971 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Since EASY RIDER ignited movies by stoners for 
stoners, CISCO PIKE takes it a step further: while Dennis Hopper
 and Peter Fonda safely sold cocaine in Mexico before riding off into 
America, CISCO has a different approach...By having the title character... a musician fresh outta jail played by acting-newcomer Kris Kristofferson... blackmailed to sell pot by crooked cop Gene Hackman, the crime-thriller genre's mixed into an otherwise spontaneously free-form counter-culture expose...

cop, counter-culture, exploitation, gene hackman, hangout, harry dean stanton, joy bang, karen black, kris kristofferson, music, seventies, viva

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, KAREN BLACK & GENE HACKMAN 'CISCO PIKE'

Kris Kristofferson in CISCO PIKE Year: 1971 Rating: **** Since EASY RIDER ignited movies by stoners for stoners, CISCO PIKE takes it a step...

GORDON SCOTT VS SEAN CONNERY 'TARZAN'S GREAT ADVENTURE'

action, adventure, al mulock, anthony quayle, franchise, john guillermin, niall macginnis, scott tarzan, sean connery, sixties

GORDON SCOTT VS SEAN CONNERY 'TARZAN'S GREAT ADVENTURE'

Sean Connery in TARZAN'S GREAT ADVENTURE Year: 1959 Rating: **** John Guillerman's TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE has a grainy aest...

JMT

Written by James M. Tate / 12/29/2024 / No comments / dawn addams , douglas wilmer , exploitation , george cole , hammer films , harvey hall , ingrid pitt , janet key , jon finch , karstein , kate o'mara , lesbian , madeline smith , peter cushing , pippa steel , seventies , vampire

Written by James M. Tate / 12/28/2024 / No comments / dennis price , hammer films , horror , isobel black , judy matheson , karstein , katya wyeth , luan peters , madeleine collinson , mary collinson , peter cushing , seventies , vampire

Written by James M. Tate / 12/27/2024 / No comments / christopher neame , exploitation , hammer films , horror , judy matheson , karstein , mike raven , pippa steel , ralph bates , seventies , suzanna leigh , vampire , yutte stensgaard

Written by James M. Tate / 12/26/2024 / No comments / clifford evans , edward de souza , hammer films , horror , isobel black , jacquie wallis , jennifer daniel , noel willman , vampire , vera cook

Written by James M. Tate / 12/25/2024 / No comments / beth morris , body count , british , horror , james bolam , john arnatt , judy matheson , mary maude , me me lai , melissa stribling , mike raven , mystery , ronald lacey , seventies , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 12/24/2024 / No comments / amicus , body-count , frank finlay , freddie francis , guy doleman , horror , katy wild , ron wood , sixties , suzanna leigh , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 12/23/2024 / No comments / british , caron gardner , duncan lamont , franchise , frankenstein , gothic , hammer films , horror , james maxwell , katy wild , kiwi kingston , peter cushing , peter woodthorpe , sequel , sixties

Written by James M. Tate / 12/21/2024 / No comments / bill paxton , bo svenson , cult , drama , eighties , exploitation , horror , jimmy mcnichol , julia duffy , susan tyrrell , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 12/15/2024 / No comments / anthony perkins , cult , dark comedy , drama , john randolph , ken kercheval , sixties , thriller , tuesday weld

Written by James M. Tate / 12/14/2024 / No comments / action , chris robinson , dan blocker , frank sinatra , gumshoe , jazz-score , lainie kazan , mystery , neo noir , raquel welch , richard conte , sixties

Written by James M. Tate / 12/12/2024 / No comments / action , adventure , ben johnson , dane clark , fifties , peter graves , tracey roberts , western

Written by James M. Tate / 12/10/2024 / No comments / adolfo quinones , cannon , comedy , dance , harry caesar , ice-t , lucinda dickey , michael chambers , musical , sabrina garcia , sequel

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Written by James M. Tate / 12/05/2024 / No comments / british , counter-culture , dick miller , fabian , mimsy farmer , race car , roger corman , romance , sixties , sport , talia shire

Written by James M. Tate / 12/04/2024 / No comments / 2024 , action , adventure , dan stevens , fantasy , godzilla , king kong , monster , new , rebecca hall

Written by James M. Tate / 12/03/2024 / No comments / cop , david proval , harvey keitel , hostage , rick hurst , seventies , telly savalas , tv series

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Written by James M. Tate / 11/29/2024 / No comments / action , adventure , al adamson , biff yeager , blaxploitation , chia essie lin , jim kelly , karate , seventies , spy

Written by James M. Tate / 11/24/2024 / No comments / action , adventure , al adamson , aldo ray , bob minor , george lazenby , harold sakata , jim kelly , karate , linda lawrence , seventies , spy , terry moore

Written by James M. Tate / 11/23/2024 / No comments / action , bolo yeung , jim kelly , karate , mobster , nami misaki , neo noir , seventies , shu-ying cheng , tao-liang tan

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Written by James M. Tate / 11/21/2024 / No comments / alan weeks , blaxploitation , eric laneuville , exploitation , gloria hendry , jim kelly , karate , mafia , malik carter , marla gibbs , scatman crothers , seventies , spy , ted lange , vince barbi

Written by James M. Tate / 11/20/2024 / No comments / action , alex rocco , blaxploitation , corbin bernsen , exploitation , fred williamson , howard platt , irene tsu , jay robinson , jim brown , jim kelly , karate , seventies

Written by James M. Tate / 11/19/2024 / No comments / armand assante , eco-horror , john frankenheimer , mia bendixsen , richard dysart , robert foxworth , talia shire

Written by James M. Tate / 11/17/2024 / No comments / beau bridges , beverly d'angelo , comedy , deborah rush , howard hesseman , hume cronyn , jessica tandy , john schlesinger , road movie , teri garr

Written by James M. Tate / 11/16/2024 / No comments / action , catherine mary stewart , cult , dan o'herlihy , fantasy , lance guest , nick castle , robert preston , rural , science-fiction , war

Written by James M. Tate / 11/07/2024 / No comments / british tv , espionage , joyce blair , lois maxwell , paul stassino , quinn o'hara , roger moore , sixties , the saint , william sylvester

Written by James M. Tate / 11/03/2024 / No comments / don devlin , exploitation , frank killmond , gang , judy howard , michael granger , neo noir , pamela lincoln , ronnie burns , russ bender , russell howe , sixties

Written by James M. Tate / 11/02/2024 / No comments / action , adventure , blaxploitation , espionage , frank finlay , frank mcrea , john guillermin , neda arneric , richard roundtree , seventies , shaft , vonetta mcgee

Written by James M. Tate / 10/31/2024 / No comments / beach , body count , cult , elaine dupont , horror , monster , sixties , sue casey , walker edmiston

Written by James M. Tate / 10/29/2024 / No comments / action , elaine dupont , exploitation , fifties , franchise , horror satire , jack ging , jody fair , judy howard , russ bender , sequel , teen

Written by James M. Tate / 10/28/2024 / No comments / aline towne , con man , cop , fifties , film noir or melodrama , hillary brooke , jack kruschen , tom conway

Written by James M. Tate / 10/27/2024 / No comments / body count , eighties , exploitation , james daughton , joseph bottoms , keir dullea , kirstie alley , lana clarkson , marina sirtis , nico mastorakis , science-fiction , serial killer , suspense , thriller , valerie golino

Written by James M. Tate / 10/22/2024 / No comments / animation , college , counter-culture , cult , exploitation , ralph bakshi , road movie , robert crumb , seventies

Written by James M. Tate / 10/21/2024 / No comments / animated , eighties , mews small , music , ralph bakshi

Written by James M. Tate / 10/20/2024 / No comments / animation , david proval , fantasy , jesse welles , mark hamill , nazi , ralph bakshi , richard romanus , science-fiction , seventies

Written by James M. Tate / 10/17/2024 / No comments / adam west , adventure , byron haskin , paul mantee , science-fiction , sixties

Written by James M. Tate / 10/13/2024 / No comments / animation , barry white , blaxploitation , cult , philip michael thomas , scatman crothers , seventies

Written by James M. Tate / 10/12/2024 / No comments / action , cartoon , david proval , eighties , exploitation , fifties-era , gang , ralph bakshi , richard romanus

Written by James M. Tate / 10/11/2024 / No comments / adventure , eighties , exploitation , fantasy , leo gordon , ralph bakshi , steve sandor , susan tyrrell , william ostrander

Written by James M. Tate / 10/10/2024 / No comments / action , adaptation , adventure , animated , anthony daniels , fantasy , john hurt , jrr tolkien , ralph bakshi , seventies

Written by James M. Tate / 10/08/2024 / No comments / action , animation , cult , eighties , exploitation , fantasy , future , harold ramis , ivan reitman , john candy , music , neo noir , richard romanus , science-fiction

Written by James M. Tate / 10/04/2024 / No comments / action , cuba gooding jr. , denis leary , emilio estevez , gang , jeremy piven , nineties , race against time , stephen dorff

Written by James M. Tate / 10/03/2024 / No comments / cop , counter-culture , exploitation , gene hackman , hangout , harry dean stanton , joy bang , karen black , kris kristofferson , music , seventies , viva

Written by James M. Tate / 10/02/2024 / No comments / action , adventure , al mulock , anthony quayle , franchise , john guillermin , niall macginnis , scott tarzan , sean connery , sixties

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