VIC (CLU GULAGER) BY SAGE STALLONE

year: 2006 cast: Clu Gulager, Peter Mark Richman rating: ***1/2

The late Sage Stallone was more than a famous actor’s son. He restored neglected cult films and thankfully left us with a movie of his own.

A short film starring Clu Galager as Vic Reeves, an out of work, out of luck veteran actor living in Los Angeles. His dreary routine changes with a late night call from an up-in-coming director Tony, who has a perfect part for his favorite nostalgic actor. The only catch: Vic has to read for the role – not something he’s used to.

In his hey day, Vic called the shots. We catch glimpses of the younger handsome Reeves (real images of Clu) in creative fade-ins and eventually a photograph he carries around for the impending audition.

Dying his shocking white hair black to regain his youth, the last half is Vic’s desperate attempt to land the role; leading to an emotional finale providing Clu Gulager, one of our most dependable character-actors with an eclectic career spanning decades, a remarkable performance.

Sage Stallone’s direction flows with an intense, jarring rhythm while the cinematography by Clu’s real life son John provides an edgy, first-person vibe of a character whose not only hit rock bottom, but exists there.

So is this film a little too dark and dreary (and heavy) for its own sake? At times, sure. But the palpable energy between a young director and a veteran actor shines during even the darkest moments. 

VIC TRIVIA

Clu's son Tom plays the director Tony LaSalle. Carol Lynley is one of the producers during Vic's audition with other veteran actors including Peter Mark Richman and Richard Herd. DIRECTOR CAMEO: Sage appears in an opening hospital scene (a film within the film) along with actor Gregory Sierra. FAMILY CAMEOS: Sage's mother Sasha Czack (Sylvester Stallone's ex wife) reads lines with Vic while Clu Gulager's late wife Miriam Byrd-Nethery plays a store employee.

Faded and torn photo of a young Vic (Clu)

Clu Gulager with director Sage Stallone

THE WATCH

year: 2012 cast: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill rating: ***

Unfairly criticized for not being very funny, THE WATCH is, well… not very funny. But it’s still a pretty decent and involving movie about a small town four-dude Neighborhood Watch headed by Ben Stiller, who manages the local Costco where the night security guard was killed mysteriously.

Stiller’s uptight Evan puts out fliers with only three responses: Vince Vaughn’s partying single dad Bob; Jonah Hill’s edgy wannabe cop Franklin; and Jamarcus, the token oddball played with charming finesse by Richard Ayoade.

Stiller takes the straight man mantle to the limit – he hardly smiles or thinks anything is amusing, especially Bob’s constant attempt to win over the crowd (Vaughn revisiting his SWINGERS persona once again). Meanwhile, the group has little to do but wait for something to happen until their car crashes into a scary looking beast – and they soon realizes aliens are "all around."

A subtle satire on the alien paranoia theme and a buddy flick (Vaughn and Stiller have the best anti-chemistry together), THE WATCH works despite the forced crude humor. Enough happens… including subplots about Evan’s marriage and Bob’s promiscuous teenage daughter… to keep the viewer entertained.

The direction works for suspenseful scenes involving aliens lurking in the night, although the CGI laden battles go a bit overboard. Either way, this is a worthwhile time waster with more to offer than punchlines.

MOBY DICK (1955)

year: 1955 cast: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Orson Welles rating: ***

Thanks to a tight Ray Bradbury script (based on the famous Melville novel), the famous story flows from land to sea nicely till the real tale begins: of a mad sea Captain wanting to kill a big white whale at all costs. Gregory Peck's acting, though edgy and energetic, seems like a performance. Resembling a bionic Abe Lincoln, director John Huston's camera does its best to enhance Peck's Captain Ahab, who, at times, seems like he's shouting to reach back row theater seats while the other shipmates, including Richard Basehart as Ishmael and Leo Genn as Starbuck, get lost in the background. The special effects are decent for the time: especially the first whale hunt, trumping even the final battle that, after tons and tons of dialog, takes way too long to happen.

Orson Welles gives a fine speech in MOBY DICK

THE TEACHER

year: 1974 cast: Angel Tompkins, Jay North, Anthony James rating: ***

Blond sexpot Angel Tompkins is a thirty-year-old teacher. Sexy and persuasive, she hangs around with teenager Jay North, who played Dennis the Menace on the iconic sitcom.

The main problem is the relationship isn't very taboo since North, with a receding hairline and ultra casual manner, seems about twenty-seven. But the plot has little to do with the teacher/student tryst, which in itself isn’t very entertaining – other than the fact Tompkins is extremely gorgeous and sexy (reminiscent of future starlet Cindy Morgan of TRON fame).

It’s the lanky freak Anthony James, known for playing antagonist roles, that keeps the story going. With a habit of stalking the teacher as she lays out on her boat, he winds up accusing North of killing his brother in an intense scene in the film’s opening.

Further in, as teacher teaches her student the ways of love, the knife-wielding James is always around the corner – making this a better than average low budget exploitation with a real edge.

And although the ending, as Tomkins, North and James returns to the construction tower from the prologue, goes a bit too long, the metronomic funky soundtrack is very cool.

Angel Tompkins is Diane Marshall aka THE TEACHER

The awesomely villainous Anthony James as Ralph Gordn

Angel Tompkins and Jay North (Sean Roberts)

Dennis the Menace: Fully Loaded

Anthony James wielding blade

Anthony James looking at...

DRIVE-IN CULT CLASSICS 8 MOVIE COLLECTION

RACE WITH THE DEVIL

year: 1975 cast: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Lara Parker  rating: ****

The greatest Satanic Cult road movie ever made, this speedy exploitation stars Peter Fonda and Warren Oates as two cool motorcycle-store owners taking a trip to Aspen in a recreation vehicle with wives Lara Parker and Loretta Switt.

Directed by Jack Starrett, the action never lets up after inebriated Fonda and Oates witness a satanic sacrifice in a rural area beneath a spooky tree.

Unlike most Occult flicks the real stuff happens at daylight. The group winds up in a small town, seeking the aid of the local Sheriff, played by legendary character-actor R.G. Armstrong, and no trace can be found of the night before ritual and then, after heading down the highway, the race is on: the bulky vehicle a magnet to aggressive trucks, cars, and lethal hillbillies.

The most suspenseful scenes occur as the group seeks harbor in a rest area with other mobile home owners, who all seem normal on the surface.

Peter Fonda takes charge as the group’s muscle, fending off antagonists who cling to the back or roof of the vehicle, as Warren Oates remains firm behind the wheel. But it’s Lara Parker who really stands out – with her hypnotic blue eyes and vulnerability, she’s the one the villains seem to have their sites on.

Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, Lara Parker and Peter Fonda

Warren Oates

Lara Parker and Peter Fonda

Satanic steel guitar player resembles Harvey Keitel

Local hick Clay Tanner played Satan himself in ROSEMARY'S BABY

Warren Oates takes aim at the devils

Jack Starrett director cameo with Peter Fonda

RIP RG ARMSTRONG

BUY RACE WITH THE DEVIL

THE PINK ANGELS

year: 1972 cast: John Alderman, Tom Basham camp value: ***

The reoccurring joke here is how long it takes for people, including a hitchhiker and the highway patrol, to figure out these grimy bikers, The Pink Angels, are actually gay. At first they seem like the usual rowdy ruffians until slowly, surely, the truth comes out: whether by the usual clichéd slurred speech or ultra prissy mannerisms, or both. Overlong scenes of the Angels cruising the American highway are laidback and pleasurable viewing. But unlike EASY RIDER’s supercool soundtrack that cost money, we have what sounds like a poor man's Stephen Stills crooning songs that don't fit the scenes. The gang itself are on that long road headed for a convention in Los Angeles for cross dressers. Along the way, stopping at hot dog stands or hidden mountainside hangouts, they meet a rival biker gang that bullies them into ravaging girls. Then, upon reaching their destination, the Angels cross over into Drag Queens and even the straightest men, including a villainous General bent on ridding the Earth of homosexuality, are turned on. The acting isn’t bad for this kind of grindhouse fare. There’s a burly bearded biker, a short fat prissy whiner, a guy with a really bad Liverpool accent, a gallant mustached man, and a token black with excessive mood swings. But it’s the swarthy gang’s leader Michael, played by John Alderman, that makes even the silliest stuff seem legit. TRIVIA: A non-famous Dan Haggerty plays one of the rival bikers. AVAILABLE on the inexpensive DVD set DRIVE-IN CULT CLASSICS VOLUME 3.

CINDY AND DONNA

year: 1970 cast: Debbie Osborne, Nancy Ison, Cheryl Powell  rating: ****

The title CINDY AND DONNA is somewhat misleading. The real story centers almost entirely on chaste, naïve teenager Cindy, played with vulnerable meloncholy by cult starlet Debbie Osborne, and her curious peaks into the big bad fun world outside.

Her older half sister Donna couldn’t be more different. Whether getting both loaded and laid in her boyfriend’s car, taking nude pictures or even sleeping with her drunken step-dad, the term “free spirit” fits her like a glove.

But Cindy’s anything but free, holed up in her bedroom, keeping her naked body to herself, and only sneaking out whenever Donna’s up to her promiscuous shenanigans.

Cindy’s parents are a whole other story: mother’s a bitter lush and dad’s love with a call girl named Alice. The parent’s booze-laded existence counterbalances the teenager’s hazy opulence in an effective, and never forced, manner; a juxtaposition that works.

For low budget exploitation this is an involving and entertaining piece of grindhouse where the faults, like a constantly jarring soundtrack ranging from psychedelic rock to harmonica folk to game show jazz, or the acting that, at times, feels like gateways to porno scenes… but the performances can also be surprisingly decent. Especially Osborne – her cherubic face and wistfully downcast expressions, mixed with a lithe gentle beauty you won’t find in many exploitation movies, not only fits the part but makes the story work.

This is her world even though, as she's writing forlorn letters to a long lost beau or hanging out with her best friend, she’s got little to do with the darker realm. Yet the intriguing aspects are how far she ventures outside her boundaries, providing a Pandora’s box with something valid within.

Pictures of Debbie Osborne in CINDY AND DONNA

Debbie Osborne in CINDY AND DONNA

Debbie Osborne in CINDY AND DONNA

Debbie Osborne (Cindy) with her best friend Karen (Cheryl Powell)

My friend Alice Friedland: "Wow, I remember nothing about this movie."

Nancy Ison as older sister Donna

Debbie Osborne in CINDY AND DONNA

Debbie Osborne in CINDY AND DONNA

Debbie Osborne in CINDY AND DONNA

DRIVE-IN CULT CLASSICS 8 MOVIE COLLECTION

AIRPLANE II: THE SEQUEL

year: 1982 cast: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Chad Everett rating: **1/2

The first ten minutes are the best: the passengers and crew entering the airport while security grope/search an old lady while terrorists breeze by with rocket launchers. Or two people pass each other with wheeled suitcases being pulled on leashes. The two suitcases then start growling like dogs and roll around fighting each other. This is funny until we get a close-up of one of the people pulling off their suitcase; then another close-up on the other person; then a final wide shot as the two people, with their suitcases, walk off.

This scene is a microcosm of how many gags fail, each going a step too far by humanizing the punchlines. In the original, we're involved in Robert Hays romance with Julie Hagerty while attempting to land the airplane suffering war flashbacks, but these are mere subplots to the constant hilarious jokes. The opposite occurs here.

The plot, rehashed from the original but set in the future with a space shuttle trip to the moon, is too familiar and the jokes are hit and miss. William Shatner, replacing Robert Stack as the uptight chief talking the shuttle to a safe landing, in doing an imitation of himself and going overboard in every line, is more annoying than humorous.

And random courtroom scenes, giving us footage of the first film as Hayes defends his sanity, are downright horrendous and for fanatics of the original, blasphemous as well. But despite the flaws, there are enough witty moments for a breezy flight.

And REST IN PEACE Chad Everett, who played Hagerty's too perfect boyfriend.

Chad Everett reacts to Peter Grave's strange dialog to a young boy

The late Chad Everett as Simon Kurtz with Julie Hagerty

Chad Everett literally falling apart under pressure

Chad Everett

Another deceased icon, Sonny Bono as the Terrorist

BUY AT AMAZON

THE JEFFERSONS: EVERY NIGHT FEVER (SHERMAN HEMSLEY)

year: 1979 cast: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Roxie Roker rating: ***1/2

Most of THE JEFFERSONS cast, including Isabel Sanford, Roxie Roker, Franklin Cover, Paul Benedict, and even Mike Evans have passed on – and today the patriarch of the long-running series joins them.

A show that kept us entertained within a deluxe apartment in the sky. The premise has the black next-door neighbors of white working-class Queens residents Archie and Edith Bunker moving on up to the East Side, New York, thanks to George Jefferson’s successful cleaning business.

Now let’s center on one particular episode – where George, played by the late Sherman Hemsley, gets the “disco bug” after wife Louise suggests they go out for the evening. Always the stubborn mule, George wants nothing to do with frolicking on the dance floor. But the tables turn and he becomes known as “motor hips” at the discothèque.

Louise broods at home, playing scrabble and then auditioning for a “Help Center” play with a snooty director. Here’s where the tables turn back as George gets jealous and quits the nightlife…

And you may be asking: Why memorialize the death of the pint-sized sitcom giant Sherman Hemsley (who continued on five seasons of AMEN) with this particular episode from THE JEFFERSONS season five?

No other reason than at 4:00 am, it’s the most entertaining and energetic to watch and it's a pop culture fact that George Jefferson had moves, style, class, brass, and will live on forever… long past disco.

Sherman Hemsley

Sherman Hemsley

Sherman Hemsley

Paul Benedict walks on Sherman Hemsley

BUY SEASON FIVE DVD

REST IN PEACE SHERMAN HEMSLEY