cult film freak: December 2017

Written by James M. Tate / 12/29/2017 / No comments / creature , dirk benedict , exploitation , heather menzies , horror , richard b. shull , seventies , strother martin

STROTHER MARTIN, DIRK BENEDICT, HEATHER MENZIES IN 'SSSSSSS'

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<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u>Year: 1973 Score: ****1/2 Rest In Peace: Heather Menzies-Urich</u></td></tr>
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"At first we were all petrified," recalls SSSSSSS ingenue Heather Menzies about working with real snakes on set. "The boa constrictor was very docile but the python was more aggressive. They taped his mouth shut with scotch tape but that didn't stop him from trying to take a piece of me... <br>
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"I wouldn't go near the cobra," Heather continues. "They had to put a glass partition between him and me. I wouldn't even go near the set unless the partition was up. I've worked with a few snaky people in my time… but I draw the line at cobras." And so, herein, the title makes and breaks this picture; it's cheesy and funny, hokey, silly: Not the movie, the title: And that's the problem: SSSSSSS is actually quite good, genuinely entertaining, with some terrific performances headlined by Strother Martin as a mad scientist who's actually down-to-earth, docile and friendly but has a sinister agenda...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HLBwz4Qapyk/URW7Pl1FuJI/AAAAAAAAWVE/K-BmPQKx-mU/s1600/rebbrownsssssss.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HLBwz4Qapyk/URW7Pl1FuJI/AAAAAAAAWVE/K-BmPQKx-mU/s400/rebbrownsssssss.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>"All you are are a bunch of snake freaks!" Reb brown, SSSSSSS</u></td></tr>
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Hence Dirk Benedict as the med-student being given supposedly standard inoculations...<br>
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Along with Martin, sharing scenes with terrific side-roles by Heather Menzies ("Piranha") as the doc's faithful daughter, a scream-queen with a brain, and intrepid yet still vulnerable; underrated character-actor Richard B. Shull as his droll collegiate nemesis; Reb Brown as a bullying jock (who Heather worked with later in CAPTAIN AMERICA); Tim O'Conner as a circus owner and some real life snakes including a cobra, black mamba and boa constrictor all add up to a film that slithers with ease and perfection from one situation to the next, building to an inevitable and awarding conclusion.<br>

creature, dirk benedict, exploitation, heather menzies, horror, richard b. shull, seventies, strother martin

STROTHER MARTIN, DIRK BENEDICT, HEATHER MENZIES IN 'SSSSSSS'

Year: 1973 Score: ****1/2 Rest In Peace: Heather Menzies-Urich "At first we were all petrified," recalls SSSSSSS ingenue Heath...

COMPLETE INTERVIEW W/ ECLECTIC ACTRESS HEATHER MENZIES

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nfqf0_tbHLw/WkV8ZkJCUoI/AAAAAAAA0PI/BaAT6Xpdl8QxxcnNLY-jqG_EUX3IimbvQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-12-28%2Bat%2B3.20.05%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="530" height="288" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nfqf0_tbHLw/WkV8ZkJCUoI/AAAAAAAA0PI/BaAT6Xpdl8QxxcnNLY-jqG_EUX3IimbvQCEwYBhgL/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-12-28%2Bat%2B3.20.05%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Heather on VEGAS</u></td></tr>
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Heather Menzies (the widow of Robert Urich, who went by Heather Menzies-Urich until her recent death) was a child actress turned seventies scream-queen. She played “Louisa” in the classic Robert Wise production THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and then, amongst a bouquet of television appearances (including “Logan’s Run”) and film roles, starred in two horror classics: SSSSSSS, about deadly vipers, and PIRANHA, about killer fish.
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<b><span class="titlehighlights" style="color: #4f4232; font-size: 16px;"><u><br>THE SOUND OF MUSIC</u></span></b></div>
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<b>How was the audition process?</b><br>
I auditioned for the role along with everyone else. I didn't know any of the songs from the movie so I sang "Wouldn't it be Lovely" from MY FAIR LADY. I think (director) Robert Wise had the kind of kids he wanted pictured in his mind and just kept looking until he found them. I was given the scene where we lie to our Father about where we have been. We tell him that we’re berry picking, not looking for Maria. I did all of the kid's lines at the audition.</div>

eighties, heather menzies, interview, jaws-clone, musical, seventies, sixties

COMPLETE INTERVIEW W/ ECLECTIC ACTRESS HEATHER MENZIES

Heather on VEGAS Heather Menzies (the widow of Robert Urich, who went by Heather Menzies-Urich until her recent death) was a child actre...

JAMES CAGNEY'S GRAND NATIONAL PICTURES 'GREAT GUY'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Great Guy 1936 Score: ***</u></td></tr>
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<u>GREAT GUY</u>: Perhaps James Cagney left Warner Brothers for Grand National Pictures to change his image. After all, the first of two films is titled GREAT GUY, and in most of his previous ventures he's either a gangster, an endearing con artist or both. It's ironic that GREAT GUY didn't differ much from what he became famous for — only instead of conning or playing tricks on people he's protecting them as the new Chief Investigator for the Bureau of Weights and Measures...<br />
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Doesn't sound exciting on paper, but the first half makes use of Cagney's quick wit charm and especially his intrepid attitude as he cleverly reveals a crooked delicatessen and gas station for cutting and thus charging customers more money — during the Depression. The actual plot in a picture without much of one is connected to how he got the gig in the first place — the friend he replaced had been severely injured by mysterious thugs, so while cleaning up the city he's got them to contend with, all leading to a third act taking place almost entirely at an upper class society party, giving our man a chance to strut around in his usual devil-may-care rhythm to out-maneuver both intellectuals  and crooks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T7a3QaU9tKA/WkdCGbNTobI/AAAAAAAA0Qg/6VCC1-iSfjUrJfpUerLWJBW_Cw5_Eqq_wCLcBGAs/s1600/25994682_414667212295794_1184677723905111514_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="960" height="258" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T7a3QaU9tKA/WkdCGbNTobI/AAAAAAAA0Qg/6VCC1-iSfjUrJfpUerLWJBW_Cw5_Eqq_wCLcBGAs/s320/25994682_414667212295794_1184677723905111514_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Grand National Logo: the big hand unveiling the leetters</td></tr>
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But tough mug Joe Sawyer (THE KILLING) makes for a difficult bulwark. There are wild spurts of rat-a-tat dialogue with only a few punches pulled. And last but not least, the major difference between Grand National and Warner is the quality. If watching Cagney's films in order, you'll suddenly come across this duo hintered by grainy aesthetic and snapping, crackling audio.<br />
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But no matter how the screen looks in any of these older projects, and with fast-motion opening credit music straight out of an antique cartoon short, Cagney mesmerizes with the kind of spontaneity lacking in other actors of that era, and still remaining relevant in style and substance. And remember, not long before his reign there was nothing but Silent Films — until "modern" technology and actors like Jimmy Cagney put an end to that.

comedy, drama, dwight frye, james cagney, musical, philip ahn, thirties, william frawley

JAMES CAGNEY'S GRAND NATIONAL PICTURES 'GREAT GUY'

Great Guy 1936 Score: *** GREAT GUY : Perhaps James Cagney left Warner Brothers for Grand National Pictures to change his image. After ...

Written by James M. Tate / 12/23/2017 / No comments / biopic , deborah goodrich , drama , eighties , emily longstreth , exploitation , frederic forrest , george grizzard , harry northup , m. emmett walsh , made-for-TV , mark harmon , true crime

MARK HARMON AS TED BUNDY IN 'THE DELIBERATE STRANGER'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Starr Andreeff bikes to doom in The Deliberate Stranger YEAR: 1986</u></td></tr>
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<i><u>INTRO ON JAMES DOBSON: </u>Skip to the third paragraph to avoid this pre-review anti-preaching preaching, but, having grown up in a Christian household, God was never personally shunned even through a string of rebellious years, but a man considered highly respected in the religion can take a flying leap into the flaming pit he makes money warning others about...</i><br>
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<i>Dr. James Dobson, whose particular niche-fame is from a show he calls "Focus On The Family," had met with serial killer Ted Bundy right before his Florida execution. The famous pastor told the public that, if executed, Bundy would walk with him in heaven, and he didn't think Ted should have to "ride the lightning" of the Electric Chair at all: So since Dobson's daughters were (and are) all intact, living peacefully with steady heartbeats, it never occurred to him that this sociopath psychopath was no kindhearted, misled Thief on the Cross: You were another conned fool, Dobson... </i><br>

biopic, deborah goodrich, drama, eighties, emily longstreth, exploitation, frederic forrest, george grizzard, harry northup, m. emmett walsh, made-for-TV, mark harmon, true crime

MARK HARMON AS TED BUNDY IN 'THE DELIBERATE STRANGER'

Starr Andreeff bikes to doom in The Deliberate Stranger YEAR: 1986 INTRO ON JAMES DOBSON: Skip to the third paragraph to avoid this pre-...

'DOWNSIZING' IRONICALLY ENLARGES AN OBVIOUS AGENDA

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released: 2017</u></td></tr>
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Since The Environment is so important —  and supposedly right at the tipping point for the world's demise... why does Alexander Payne's DOWNSIZING spend so much time and money on trailers and commercials misleading audiences that it's a fun and frolicking science-fiction comedy starring Matt Damon and Kristin Wiig (the latter who's hardly in the picture at all)?<br>
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It should be right up front if their cause belongs to everybody. Instead, the stage is set for a near-future society that, in order to save tons of money while helping to "save the Earth," shrinks willing people down to five inches. When certain characters bring the environmental message up, it's usually with shrugged sarcasm — as if to get that out of the way in order for the Matt Damon Romantic Comedy to begin...</div>

2017, alexander payne, matt damon, new

'DOWNSIZING' IRONICALLY ENLARGES AN OBVIOUS AGENDA

Year Released: 2017 Since The Environment is so important — and supposedly right at the tipping point for the world's demise... why...

FLY CASUAL W/ 'STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI' AKA 'STAR WARS VII'

2017, adam driver, carrie fisher, daisy ridley, fantasy, franchise, jj abrams, mark hamill, new, oscar issac, rian johnson, science-fiction, sequel, star wars

FLY CASUAL W/ 'STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI' AKA 'STAR WARS VII'

Why not make use of the little big cards given out for fanatics who bought the earliest tickets available YEAR: 2017 Since J.J. Abrams&#...

DAVE & JAMES FRANCO JOIN FORCES FOR 'THE DISASTER ARTIST'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rsSzE7uksZQ/WjIToVeCm_I/AAAAAAAA0B0/yLrCXTJnPekiIQnEtSd6SZ4Zetm5OxNhQCLcBGAs/s1600/disaster-artist-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1166" height="248" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rsSzE7uksZQ/WjIToVeCm_I/AAAAAAAA0B0/yLrCXTJnPekiIQnEtSd6SZ4Zetm5OxNhQCLcBGAs/s400/disaster-artist-1.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Franco hits the "Hi Mark" in The Disaster Artist YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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Tommy Wisseau is a strange guy made niche-famous by a strange movie: THE ROOM is his soul, and is unintentionally hilarious. So it's not an easy task for James Franco to play a real-life person who is so unique and one-of-a-kind, the entire ROOM cult phenomenon would mean nothing without the real Tommy's presence: a bizarre dreamer who was never, ever, ever supposed to be on the big or small screens... Ever!<br>
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Thankfully, Franco has help in THE DISASTER ARTIST, based on the book by Wisseau's partner in schlock crime, Greg Sestero... here played by James's brother, Dave... to where this movie-about-a-movie feels more like an equal collaboration than a one-man-show. Not like Franco's leading performance isn't good and/or quirky  enough on its own to make the viewer believe he's really Wisseau. But like most comedies from the last decade, centering more on reactions from the punchline than the punchline itself,  brother Dave is given strategic extra screen-time so that Wisseau's persona could — as smoothly yet awkwardly as possible — transfer beyond THE ROOM's cult base into the mainstream i.e. fans of the Brothers Franco...</div>

2017, bio, comedy, james franco, new

DAVE & JAMES FRANCO JOIN FORCES FOR 'THE DISASTER ARTIST'

James Franco hits the "Hi Mark" in The Disaster Artist YEAR: 2017 Tommy Wisseau is a strange guy made niche-famous by a strang...

SAD DEMISE OF CURTIS JACKSON ON 'THE WHITE SHADOW'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u style="font-size: 12.8px;">Unusually hatless, Eric Kilpatrick's Jackson lies beside his signature shades and a broken bottle with blood red white...</u></td></tr>
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Growing up, a couchy, cloistered white boy nearing middle-school, addicted to a television show about black High School basketball players in the ghetto, one of the worst viewing experiences occurred on a personal favorite series THE WHITE SHADOW when Eric Kirkpatrick's Curtis Jackson, the soul  of the show with streetwise lingo; a red-fronted cap straight out of Fat Albert or an early-70's Blaxploitation flick; a pair of dark sunglasses; and a penchant for "funkadelic" music: the last grasp of epic greatness before rap took over as groundbreaking musicians were replaced by drumbeats and samples borrowed from others... Anyways...<br>
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On the final episode of the SHADOW's second (leading to a final third) season, which would take out some of the grooviest, and goofiest, characters ranging from Thomas Carter's central player James Hayward to Ken Michaelson as the gawky geeky Jewish butt of all jokes, Goldstein, and a character whose sleek and slender rhythm bookended smoothly with Jackson's natural ease, Nathan Cook as Milton Reese: We'll continue the sad tale of Curtis Jackson's demise from the 2nd Season finale, THE DEATH OF ME YET, with captions below each photo providing plot-points, quotes, and some trivia.<br>

eric kilpatrick, ken howard, seventies, thomas carter, tribute, TV

SAD DEMISE OF CURTIS JACKSON ON 'THE WHITE SHADOW'

Unusually hatless, Eric Kilpatrick's Jackson lies beside his signature shades and a broken bottle with blood red white... Growing up...

MATT DAMON & JUDE LAW IN 'THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Vintage cover of the Patricia Highsmitch novel</u></td></tr>
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It's rare that a "modern" American remake of a New Wave French film would be ten times superior. Then again, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY from 1999 and 1960's  PLEIN SOLEIL (PURPLE NOON) are really two variations of Patricia Highsmith's novel that the American version's named after...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u style="font-size: 12.8px;">Alain Delone's Tom's too upfront</u></td></tr>
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In PURPLE NOON everything is presented through dialogue, including what Ripley, played by then-newcomer Alain Delon, intends to do to the older, more experienced mentor he was hired to bring back to his frustrated rich daddy. Any and all suspense is lost in this colorfully playful version compared to the dark yet spry and jazzy Anthony Minghella Neo Noir starring Matt Damon in the TALENTED title role, and the perfect young man in Jude Law's Dickie Greenleaf, a sort of shallow, frolicking, womanizing beatnik in stylish clothes (with a sax instead of bongos), bedding a local girl while engaged to the sweet-natured Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge, his cheated-on soulmate (who makes him wear a ring i.e. what ends up the film's "McGuffin").<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CihJl1hn4MY/WiXuzOW_ayI/AAAAAAAAz9Y/DR_u8A5uJx4UL632ynMocc0aG8Bz7tfJQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-12-04%2Bat%2B4.43.38%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="958" height="210" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CihJl1hn4MY/WiXuzOW_ayI/AAAAAAAAz9Y/DR_u8A5uJx4UL632ynMocc0aG8Bz7tfJQCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-12-04%2Bat%2B4.43.38%2BPM.jpg" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Unlike the original, Dickie's goading is very effective</u></td></tr>
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We'll name a few more folks but some writeups dealing with a handful of characters tend to read like a phonebook. But one thing's clear — there's nothing better than a motion picture with two stories in one: for example, PSYCHO with Janet Leigh first leading the story and then being covered up... And here, Judd Law's spoiled rich kid —acting like he owns life itself in an endless party of jazz and drink — steals the show as if Damon's Tom Ripley is aware of just that: Despite being a bonafide sex symbol, Matt Damon never had the perfect looks of an actor who got by on his appearance alone, making him a sublime, mild-mannered sociopath to realistically covet the life of a seemingly flawless guy while providing enough homo-erotic tension... a catapult for the senses and storyline both... to make every proverbial page-turning moment more and more intriguingly addictive...<br>

anthony mingbella, gwyneth paltrow, jazz score, jude law, matt damon, neo noir, nineties

MATT DAMON & JUDE LAW IN 'THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY'

Vintage cover of the Patricia Highsmitch novel It's rare that a "modern" American remake of a New Wave French film would b...

DOUBLE REVIEW OLD & NEW OF DISNEY'S SWORD IN THE STONE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u style="font-size: 12.8px;">First Summary Short review of THE SWORD IN THE STONE from an old archived short version writeup: Disney Score: ***</u></td></tr>
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This has as much to do with King Arthur as The Phantom Menace does with Darth Vader as a clumsy pre-teen squire named "Wart", working for a mean step-father and bullying brother, befriends the wizard Merlin, more goofy than wise, and his talking pet owl.<br>
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Merlin turns the kid into several animals including a fish, squirrel and bird, teaching him more about Darwin's natural selection than anything that'd aid him in his future position as King of England, which is only shown for the last five minutes after "Wart" pulls the titular sword from the stone with inevitable ease. The songs aren't too annoying, the animation looks good, and it definitely won't bore the kiddies. Adults, however, might take a snooze.<br>

animation, disney