RUSHING THROUGH JOHN SCHLESINGER'S 'HONKY TONK FREEWAY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEj1aR3MPGUCgSdttv3tF2NQ6-21jYsnpiRLXMZnn_bVn8TdVl2z2MkcQHUTz_GCdB5DNdzb05A2_DDsi0MOHh2GJUhTW3DmivgTtAmK0aEEIOliL2nRUBPGCj4Q6wX5Gc9E-hGRQ-PVyo8f4QfmOW9sPlqzQxCvL7INOm7CA40Es2z9kfDpWxd06ZIYUKI1/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/AVvXsEj1aR3MPGUCgSdttv3tF2NQ6-21jYsnpiRLXMZnn_bVn8TdVl2z2MkcQHUTz_GCdB5DNdzb05A2_DDsi0MOHh2GJUhTW3DmivgTtAmK0aEEIOliL2nRUBPGCj4Q6wX5Gc9E-hGRQ-PVyo8f4QfmOW9sPlqzQxCvL7INOm7CA40Es2z9kfDpWxd06ZIYUKI1/s16000/maxresdefault%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HONKY TONK FREEWAY Year: 1981 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br><br>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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)...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p><span></span>

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 ...

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

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEieYnH7WtGUXz-HImPWCfsCGwX9Zxag9ath0XkbdOh0KYY0xYNftucwiAdSSUR-9bji6lMCs_tzP93cAtx1d_32_nQsuVru1iFaRX7elpUBcxxzjdtP_Btr8AWSdPaeOw9FI9WPGdWxfbuOiaJkqRkct-Sp-ywRI0p4gZjoSIoGQYcfkiBaCO4IcBHG0fGi/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/AVvXsEieYnH7WtGUXz-HImPWCfsCGwX9Zxag9ath0XkbdOh0KYY0xYNftucwiAdSSUR-9bji6lMCs_tzP93cAtx1d_32_nQsuVru1iFaRX7elpUBcxxzjdtP_Btr8AWSdPaeOw9FI9WPGdWxfbuOiaJkqRkct-Sp-ywRI0p4gZjoSIoGQYcfkiBaCO4IcBHG0fGi/s16000/1111%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SLAUGHTER Director: Jack Starrett Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEhTRU2lpqqTEH237rUdv97n5kIWRD37xW2MtCSnkFSe1VzqtXilPAY4xK_4SPMY5WMDBmq7mL8RsonAQ5jsicFu5jKAmLu9NoBDWmWbVHP_03YZ3xO1J47ZrPkFt0iz2K5IDvEiz2yFCuwrBH46yUSeqxtmP67uIMhMzf85A99CPBzvLuoMomjRwiOeNPX8/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/AVvXsEhTRU2lpqqTEH237rUdv97n5kIWRD37xW2MtCSnkFSe1VzqtXilPAY4xK_4SPMY5WMDBmq7mL8RsonAQ5jsicFu5jKAmLu9NoBDWmWbVHP_03YZ3xO1J47ZrPkFt0iz2K5IDvEiz2yFCuwrBH46yUSeqxtmP67uIMhMzf85A99CPBzvLuoMomjRwiOeNPX8/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: PROPHECY Year: 1979 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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)...</p><span></span>

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...

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

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Judy Howard in ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO Year: 1962 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p><span></span>

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...

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

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Val Kilmer in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU Year: 1996 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br><br>What's really strange is that big-budget superstar Bruce Willis was going to star in <i>that</i> 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 <i>and</i> the story... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Title: THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER Year: 1965 Camp Value: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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... </p><span></span>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Year: 1959 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...  </p><p></p><p></p><p>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... </p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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... </p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Joseph Bottoms in BLIND DATE Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>If it weren't for the Sony Walkman that Joseph Bottoms listens to in order to miraculously <i>visualize </i>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...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Title: FRITZ THE CAT Year: 1971 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Marya Small (now Mews Small) in Ralph Bakshi's AMERICAN POP Year: 1981 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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... </p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Title: WIZARDS Year: 1977 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Title: ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Title: COONSKIN aka STREET FIGHT Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Title: HEAVY TRAFFIC Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1973 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br><br>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Richard Romanus in HEY GOOD LOOKIN' Year: 1983 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br><br>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... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Steve Sandor as Darkwolf in FIRE AND ICE Year: 1983 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Ralph Bakshi's THE LORD OF THE RINGS Year: 1978 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br><br>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...<span></span></p><p></p><p></p>

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...

NAKEDLY INGITING THE ANIMATED CULT CLASSIC 'HEAVY METAL'

<p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Title: HEAVY METAL Year: 1981 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...</p><p><span></span></p>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Jeremy Piven in JUDGEMENT NIGHT Year: 1994 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...<br><br>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

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'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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;"><u>Kris Kristofferson in CISCO PIKE Year: 1971 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

cop, counter-culture, exploitation, gene hackman, 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'

<p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEgSUbPHlDaXxTujVzTSADv1wiTG01Sxec-BZOd3gKrntP-d6hRJXAG6Cj_-s0hRVSBJdmJBvgUWZ_pr337s1cULcO4YIbP_seAF8TtYcA2v0HIlyid1yAlFi2c15OxbGmP98qdYzueHdCeZEgbNtAOeS6ygfukysLBsd8_mm39_9c0g4gXaZ0igde5i9iF0/s1844/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-03%20at%2011.03.24%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1026" data-original-width="1844" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUbPHlDaXxTujVzTSADv1wiTG01Sxec-BZOd3gKrntP-d6hRJXAG6Cj_-s0hRVSBJdmJBvgUWZ_pr337s1cULcO4YIbP_seAF8TtYcA2v0HIlyid1yAlFi2c15OxbGmP98qdYzueHdCeZEgbNtAOeS6ygfukysLBsd8_mm39_9c0g4gXaZ0igde5i9iF0/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-03%20at%2011.03.24%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sean Connery in TARZAN'S GREAT ADVENTURE Year: 1959 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>John Guillerman's TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE has a grainy aesthetic so that, unlike so many of producer Sy Weintraub's 1950's/1960's Tarzan flicks, it seamlessly matches the inserted shots of wildlife stock footage... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>From Gordon Scott's Tarzan nodding at crocodiles to pointing out a random predator/prey chase to beautiful (crash landed) pilot Sara Shane... then lecturing on how nature only kills for itself while humans kill for other reasons...  </p><span></span>

action, adventure, al mulock, anthony quayle, franchise, john guillerman, 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...

GORDON SCOTT VS JOCK MAHONEY 'TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT'

<p></p><p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXL1onM9d5ymbkQjaYGtAKogGuO3mECjMijeVE_H2Dp2_lLtqtYoxLlDg1ZRY_wDmdaVvKHxlqMcWf-HWHVZyfL2093wDYz3kqW_3X6lfkKGC8MCw9oLL3Zhtrr8bBqZGiyp4h2x3tec1SU0F7G49M3tcilZgLhTekHiShwtV-B6yYXXg1tQHL3al4oWyM/s1502/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-30%20at%2010.51.42%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1145" data-original-width="1502" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXL1onM9d5ymbkQjaYGtAKogGuO3mECjMijeVE_H2Dp2_lLtqtYoxLlDg1ZRY_wDmdaVvKHxlqMcWf-HWHVZyfL2093wDYz3kqW_3X6lfkKGC8MCw9oLL3Zhtrr8bBqZGiyp4h2x3tec1SU0F7G49M3tcilZgLhTekHiShwtV-B6yYXXg1tQHL3al4oWyM/w400-h305/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-30%20at%2010.51.42%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1960 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT is mostly known for, in the following film, having the villain, Jock Mahoney, replace Gordon Scott in the Tarzan role... but it's really a cross between the John Ford Western STAGECOACH... with Tarzan traveling with a group of bickering characters... and William Shakespeare's family-quarrel saga KING LEAR... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Enter the criminal clan, with patriarch John Carradine but it's oldest son Mahoney really in charge: he led a local store robbery and, captured by Tarzan, is being brought to authorities for the reward money to help a native village... All while his vengeful father and brooding brothers (including LOLITA actor Gary Cockrell) are on their trail and, along with Tarzan's group there's a great cast including Lionel Jeffries as a jealous husband, whose wife has a thing for the captured heavy yet MAGNIFICENT is a mostly hi/miss adventure that relies on random bursts of action while the characters (far too many here) never really gel... Leaving Scott's final TARZAN role more a whimper than bang until a QUIET MAN style fist-fight with Mahoney that should have not only happened sooner... but a lot more throughout. </p><span></span>

action, adventure, alexandra stewart, earl cameron, franchise, gary cockrell, gordon scott, harry baird, jock mahoney, john carradine, lionel jeffries, scott tarzan, sixties, warner archives

GORDON SCOTT VS JOCK MAHONEY 'TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT'

Year: 1960 Rating: **1/2 TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT is mostly known for, in the following film, having the villain, Jock Mahoney, replace Gordo...

KATHRYN GRANT 'THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED' WILLIAM LESLIE

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxtsevWVxZnYI1rqgFmjukJvXkfVctiKkwSPGP4PgasU3cfPcUFLaMZSGODmaKb_EjwtodC-saEgc1DPaBjyVxm49_xGo_cqNxiTP8kOsArXlWvN5BGx9jBjSEh6JkXJMVYkxhhTUY0OXhB77ha5dSXs4YMNZqrPSIY3gw3TfVnC6CSoGdrMKtPrOoAlU/s1201/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-29%20at%2010.22.05%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1201" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxtsevWVxZnYI1rqgFmjukJvXkfVctiKkwSPGP4PgasU3cfPcUFLaMZSGODmaKb_EjwtodC-saEgc1DPaBjyVxm49_xGo_cqNxiTP8kOsArXlWvN5BGx9jBjSEh6JkXJMVYkxhhTUY0OXhB77ha5dSXs4YMNZqrPSIY3gw3TfVnC6CSoGdrMKtPrOoAlU/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-29%20at%2010.22.05%20PM.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1957 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a scene in otherwise underrated b-movie director Fred F. Sear's 1950's science-fiction disaster flick THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED where lovely actress Kathryn Grant (who he had directed in the film noir biopic <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/04/cell.html">CELL 2455 DEATH ROW</a>), soon to be known as Kathryn Crosby after marrying legendary WHITE CHRISTMAS crooner Bing Crosby, is beautifully pouting with her insanely-gorgeous full lips...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, despite being surprisingly first-billed, that's pretty much every scene she's in in this early "we're to blame for the earth's inevitable demise" melodrama, with only a few exterior shots of archive footage and where most of the time's spent in a clean office or grungy tunnel while blandly-handsome scientist William Leslie's being constantly... pouted at by that gorgeous assistant who silently adores (and is burdened with the desire to connect with) him... only there got an entire WORLD to save and enough lectures to make EXPLODED more drowsy motion than the supposed action built into a misleading title that's (other than Kathryn) the best thing going. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

cult, disaster, fifties, fred f. sears, kathryn grant, melodrama, race against time, william leslie

KATHRYN GRANT 'THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED' WILLIAM LESLIE

Year: 1957 Rating: ** There's a scene in otherwise underrated b-movie director Fred F. Sear's 1950's science-fiction disaster fl...

CAREN KAYE MAKES FOR AN EXQUISITE 'MY TUTOR' EXPERIENCE

<p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEgCsRnTMkY-DFD-Ru3927YwDg_FVlztIpXtuvqbJLgwEWH-PqqguXC9SBtFQQcDMiTk0Ify0avmxNz7yUjmxqwGzHfLIFPDex1cxXir-MO-kxxUNRNvNWbfMM3zpVHX-OWfwltm0clmCGOe95HkKUVQxv-8c-LkOlXJRYZmzi_3SkK0DdsTFM7Qz5D7XzVn/s1234/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-29%20at%2012.21.45%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="692" data-original-width="1234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsRnTMkY-DFD-Ru3927YwDg_FVlztIpXtuvqbJLgwEWH-PqqguXC9SBtFQQcDMiTk0Ify0avmxNz7yUjmxqwGzHfLIFPDex1cxXir-MO-kxxUNRNvNWbfMM3zpVHX-OWfwltm0clmCGOe95HkKUVQxv-8c-LkOlXJRYZmzi_3SkK0DdsTFM7Qz5D7XzVn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-29%20at%2012.21.45%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Caren Kaye in MY TUTOR Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Another 1980's sex-comedy combining various attempts at awkward teens trying to lose their virginity ala THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN, but with THE GRADUATE (or HOMEWORK or LOSIN' IT) theme of a sexy older woman coaching a shy younger man, MY TUTOR has pretty much everything... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Particularly thanks to titular tutor Caren Kaye, actually not that much older than failing student/shy rich kid Matt Lattanzi, who, seeming as if Vincent Spano had missed a few acting lessons, is fitfully vulnerable... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

amber denyse austin, caren kaye, clark brandon, crispin glover, eighties, kevin mccarthy, matt lattanzi, sex comedy

CAREN KAYE MAKES FOR AN EXQUISITE 'MY TUTOR' EXPERIENCE

Caren Kaye in MY TUTOR Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 Another 1980's sex-comedy combining various attempts at awkward teens trying to lose th...

REGENERATING THROUGHOUT 'THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjAhf-QUzXSTmd3egCt2tDL9JN6GQRPdo3FLWH0HH7gDO0n7PBxrqFDoOET1DTUfAcgDh6DS1BvJ1dmE5CMjG159A6k0bUh7nMDJkzViAL5yAl2Lt6aa6TkQA6cZRRD9P-x_MBYHpHFS9-YfCQsMz03YBbpo7SeoWVuqXwkvbgfmbnbK2B9xXOV_ZDYeQjR/s1620/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-27%20at%204.47.27%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="1620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhf-QUzXSTmd3egCt2tDL9JN6GQRPdo3FLWH0HH7gDO0n7PBxrqFDoOET1DTUfAcgDh6DS1BvJ1dmE5CMjG159A6k0bUh7nMDJkzViAL5yAl2Lt6aa6TkQA6cZRRD9P-x_MBYHpHFS9-YfCQsMz03YBbpo7SeoWVuqXwkvbgfmbnbK2B9xXOV_ZDYeQjR/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-27%20at%204.47.27%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Orson Welles heads THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE Year: 1986 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Critics unfairly blasted THE TRANSFORMERS MOVIE as nothing but a prolonged toy commercial while it's really a collected hybrid of brisk, adult-oriented, ultra-violent HEAVY METAL-inspired animation; stylized Japanese anime; 1970's expository-filled Marvel sci-fi comics; Roger Dean's proggy planets inhabited by those titular robots that turn into motor-vehicles and spaceships or are already (in the best scenes) metallic dinosaurs, lizards and sharks... while a planet-engulfing planet derived from George Lucas's STAR WARS weapon <i>The Death Star</i> and <i>V'Ger</i> from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/07/STMP.html">STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE</a> is the truly formidable antagonist... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In the budding-hero lead, Judd Nelson turns in a kind of deliberately cornball 1950's throwback, befitting the equally cheesy wall-to-wall 1980's stadium-rock/arcade-jukebox soundtrack... while Orson Welles provided his last professional job, voicing that immense world-engulfing villain, splendidly named Unicron...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, cartoon, david mendenhall, eighties, eric idle, fantasy, judd nelson, leonard nimoy, orson welles, robert stack, science-fiction

REGENERATING THROUGHOUT 'THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE'

Orson Welles heads THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE Year: 1986 Rating: **** Critics unfairly blasted THE TRANSFORMERS MOVIE as nothing but a prol...

MARK HAMILL VS KIM MILFORD THROUGHOUT 'CORVETTE SUMMER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjBWlu8RARC289WTHtGb9gwWk46qJHYvN9ztVl0lSFbRo6SmQ49xK_rdVgohmOywwBQjh4zx4LyxPPrCX26aufMAHeNqncBnoYNAXDSm3hsho55Ki_XvBPW0k-MZrBUGnXDMqAoY7d_f3iF2-DLIEUTxCsxW3YB41d344Bb9fVA6CnwSbmG3ZaNpl7YGphU/s1714/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-22%20at%209.07.47%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWlu8RARC289WTHtGb9gwWk46qJHYvN9ztVl0lSFbRo6SmQ49xK_rdVgohmOywwBQjh4zx4LyxPPrCX26aufMAHeNqncBnoYNAXDSm3hsho55Ki_XvBPW0k-MZrBUGnXDMqAoY7d_f3iF2-DLIEUTxCsxW3YB41d344Bb9fVA6CnwSbmG3ZaNpl7YGphU/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-22%20at%209.07.47%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CORVETTE SUMMER aka AMOR SOBRE RUEDAS translated LOVE ON WHEELS Year: 1978 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Too mainstream for drive-in/exploitation and too risque for younger audiences seeking more Mark Hamill after the previous years' blockbuster STAR WARS, Matthew Robbins' <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/05/C-SUMMER.html">CORVETTE SUMMER</a> is a lot of movies rolled into one extremely entertaining time-filler...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Beginning with Hamill as lonely high-school student Kenny Dantley, who... on an auto shop junkyard field-trip (with teacher Eugene Roche) not long before graduation... initially discovers one piece of a corvette: and eventually builds the titular dream-car from scratch in a nifty montage revealing the most important aspect of his entire life...</p><span></span>

action, adventure, annie potts, e, eugene roche, exploitation, kim milford, las vegas, mark hamill, road movie, seventies

MARK HAMILL VS KIM MILFORD THROUGHOUT 'CORVETTE SUMMER'

Title: CORVETTE SUMMER aka AMOR SOBRE RUEDAS translated LOVE ON WHEELS Year: 1978 Rating: **** Too mainstream for drive-in/exploitation and ...

KATHRYN GRANT & RICHARD KILEY GAMBLE 'THE PHENIX CITY STORY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEjlCwPOMBqtWnJhwUNPet-hYLMWYaqauez3P0WJUN9SK9ewYB0KI4w3tZtj6X3N8kCNblTAh0G75x4DWBKWa2F472Qr_ugZDIDLNw7KFtE48hafUhxQrckJfi38jzkzrW4uDVSFKf2pGfhtILC7uE2PqhgLqG9IlUbDU0AN5LLKOhoNbhU8LZVNogtHemup/s902/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="902" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlCwPOMBqtWnJhwUNPet-hYLMWYaqauez3P0WJUN9SK9ewYB0KI4w3tZtj6X3N8kCNblTAh0G75x4DWBKWa2F472Qr_ugZDIDLNw7KFtE48hafUhxQrckJfi38jzkzrW4uDVSFKf2pGfhtILC7uE2PqhgLqG9IlUbDU0AN5LLKOhoNbhU8LZVNogtHemup/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE PHENIX CITY STORY Year: 1955 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Since the entire first act of the film noir docudrama THE PHENIX CITY STORY consists of interviews with actual citizens recalling when one seedy downtown street of vice and gambling ruled the otherwise peaceful and rural titular Alabama town, when the second act rolls in, we get right to dirty business...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>With actors now, beginning with good girl Kathyrn Grant dealing the central casino's marked cards to losing-streak boyfriend Biff McGuire... at which point everything's literally on the table since the joint's not only wholly dishonest, but bare-knuckle dangerous...</p><p><span></span></p>

biff mcguire, docudrama, edward andrews, expose, fifties, film noir or melodrama, gambling, jean carson, john larch, john mcintire, kathryn grant, meg myles, mobster, phil karlson, richard kiley

KATHRYN GRANT & RICHARD KILEY GAMBLE 'THE PHENIX CITY STORY'

Title: THE PHENIX CITY STORY Year: 1955 Rating: ***1/2 Since the entire first act of the film noir docudrama THE PHENIX CITY STORY consists ...

BURT REYNOLDS, CANDACE BERGEN, JILL CLAYBURGH 'STARTING OVER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEgwAboAIlPhoDL6kIV9BijDFmw4FoGPTR917hj5QeCD6WpSIhSXmMwb1Q1S-o1zjM6w-MDVQnRaVzNQ9uuCEn-tTjW2wdGk_BlHy5HmcyKaRYxGZzkBARNizbAUgZi1Dt1CjUorXZugI1JwZbQ3DyBweUhCO4-pLTTey7r_JMW85A8dl87nGzigSNc3ZNCJ/s928/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-15%20at%205.53.15%20PM%203.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="928" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwAboAIlPhoDL6kIV9BijDFmw4FoGPTR917hj5QeCD6WpSIhSXmMwb1Q1S-o1zjM6w-MDVQnRaVzNQ9uuCEn-tTjW2wdGk_BlHy5HmcyKaRYxGZzkBARNizbAUgZi1Dt1CjUorXZugI1JwZbQ3DyBweUhCO4-pLTTey7r_JMW85A8dl87nGzigSNc3ZNCJ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-15%20at%205.53.15%20PM%203.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Burt Reynolds in WHITE LIGHTNING (Reassessment Review) Year: 1973 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There are two things that connect the romantic-comedy STARTING OVER with Burt Reynolds' career breakthrough DELIVERANCE: he doesn't have the defining mustache, and it's not a "Burt Reynolds Movie" but a movie he co-stars in with other people...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Successful TV-writer and future mogul James L. Brooks' original script is directed by Alan J. Pakula, more prone to political thrillers... and he's about as comfortable here directing as Burt is being basically stuck in a vehicle that would have far better suited an Alan Alda, Henry Winkler or Charles Grodin type...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

alan j. pakula, burt reynolds, candace bergen, charles durning, james l. brooks, jill clayburgh, love triangle, romantic comedy, seventies

BURT REYNOLDS, CANDACE BERGEN, JILL CLAYBURGH 'STARTING OVER'

Burt Reynolds in WHITE LIGHTNING (Reassessment Review) Year: 1973 Rating: **** There are two things that connect the romantic-comedy STARTIN...

BURT REYNOLDS, NED BEATTY & BO HOPKINS IN 'WHITE LIGHTNING'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEgyRAALyT-Ql23lJqBetLYXRwxSbpwWd-x6uiJse6ulunwhep_0_YkGnMFByW6rOKuMZflsFxNdTxH4HshFAD13AF45YzWgo8oItEv31fIAS333o2_kH5PPa7ha_Gg8ttqa_0CTj6JCSgaugcY4WO6wvNMVGiuNABxhnU5TPgBuVBIpgwiPGt-E58aEkPgo/s1096/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-01%20at%209.45.42%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="1096" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyRAALyT-Ql23lJqBetLYXRwxSbpwWd-x6uiJse6ulunwhep_0_YkGnMFByW6rOKuMZflsFxNdTxH4HshFAD13AF45YzWgo8oItEv31fIAS333o2_kH5PPa7ha_Gg8ttqa_0CTj6JCSgaugcY4WO6wvNMVGiuNABxhnU5TPgBuVBIpgwiPGt-E58aEkPgo/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-01%20at%209.45.42%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Burt Reynolds in WHITE LIGHTNING (Reassessment Review) Year: 1973 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>For Burt Reynolds, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/06/white-lightning.html">WHITE LIGHTNING</a> was a cross between the previous-years' DELIVERANCE and near-future <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/08/bandit1.html">SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT</a> with creative and gritty 1970's-renaissance-era direction of the first and more mainstream good-old-boy muscle car action of the latter...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Where Burt looks as if his manly <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/09/deliverance.html">DELIVERANCE</a> character had never been injured and, doing a five-year sentence on a scorching work-farm for moonshine, he learns what the audience witnessed in the dusky prologue, ironically set in an extremely familiar rural river setting...<br></p><span></span>

action, burt reynolds, diane ladd, jennifer billingsley, john steadman, joseph sargent, laura dern, louise latham, matt clark, ned beatty, prison, r.g. armstrong, stephanie burchfield

BURT REYNOLDS, NED BEATTY & BO HOPKINS IN 'WHITE LIGHTNING'

Burt Reynolds in WHITE LIGHTNING (Reassessment Review) Year: 1973 Rating: **** For Burt Reynolds, WHITE LIGHTNING was a cross between the p...

JOCK MAHONEY VS WOODY STRODE 'TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEiP5KTPwatMdzAC6Ws0OUcZvLO9Kv3oB0m_CbQnhlCO8vQeQrTt0Jypp2-rJL7TzkUn8NpdklYQMliYqybBNQWApijWvTaV_iIe46NwjypQ6WGuZQUTkezB_wdoHUEFx58EOg2UVhSMchzSeH-EW8ERd7CRh3Q5Ba3kc6EXf6zm2CLvRwp1tnn0Gm9AoAmg/s950/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-14%20at%209.46.57%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="950" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP5KTPwatMdzAC6Ws0OUcZvLO9Kv3oB0m_CbQnhlCO8vQeQrTt0Jypp2-rJL7TzkUn8NpdklYQMliYqybBNQWApijWvTaV_iIe46NwjypQ6WGuZQUTkezB_wdoHUEFx58EOg2UVhSMchzSeH-EW8ERd7CRh3Q5Ba3kc6EXf6zm2CLvRwp1tnn0Gm9AoAmg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-14%20at%209.46.57%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES Year: 1963 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a TARZAN curse when you look into the actors: Johnny Weismuller was golfing in Cuba during the Castro takeover, and decades later ended up doing his Tarzan call throughout the lonely corridors of an old folk's home; Lex Barker died middle-aged before marrying a younger woman; Mike Henry was bitten by a chimp and suffered from monkey fever; and far worst of all, Ron Ely hosted <i>Name That Tune</i> with Kathie Lee Gifford...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>At least Gordon Scott turned out okay, but his replacement in actor/stuntman Jock Mahoney... after getting through TARZAN GOES TO INDIA without trouble... dared to swim across a giant, extremely polluted Thailand river and caught amoebic dysentery, never gaining back complete strength for future stunt or acting roles...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, franchise, jock mahoney, mahoney tarzan, sixties, woody strode

JOCK MAHONEY VS WOODY STRODE 'TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES'

Title: TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES Year: 1963 Rating: **1/2 There's a TARZAN curse when you look into the actors: Johnny Weismuller wa...