cult film freak: January 2018

Written by James M. Tate / 1/31/2018 / No comments / 2018 , biopic , comedy , douglas kenney , joel mchale , new

SMUG DOUGLAS KENNEY BIOPIC 'A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE'

2018, biopic, comedy, douglas kenney, joel mchale, new

SMUG DOUGLAS KENNEY BIOPIC 'A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE'

The real Doug Kenney as Stork in the Animal House climax YEAR: 2018 Making a biopic about a famous comic actor is difficult, visually, s...

CLOCKWORK BEAUTY VIRGINIA WETHERELL IN 'THE CRIMSON CULT'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Smoking hot Virginia Wetherell in The Crimson Cult YEAR: 1968 </u></td></tr>
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Only wish this review could be more than a celebration of a beautiful blonde Brit who played the ultimate temptation in Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE... Virginia Wetherell as the naked "Actress" who enters a well-lit stage and eventually just stands there, robotic and sublime, while Malcolm McDowell's "cured" Alex can't lay his hands on her dynamic breasts before retching at the mere site and thought of it...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>from Clockwork Orange</u></td></tr>
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For a more human side to Virginia there's THE CRIMSON CULT, a haunted house/manor b-movie starring Christopher Lee as basically the same character he was in THE WICKER MAN, only far less interesting while his secret dominion partakes in a midnight celebration of killing the representation of a witch.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Virginia Wetherell as Eve</u></td></tr>
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Buried lead and the film's pre-possessed Renfield is Mark Eden, whose line, "Of course she does... She's an artist" finishes David Lean's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, and here he's the pawn in a twist that's not worth spoiling or, for that matter, even mentioning...<br>
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It does have to do with a coven of witches once led by horror fixture Barbara Steele in green makeup and a strange headdress, only she's merely seen in hallucinatory dreamlike flashbacks, and her BLACK SABBATH co-star and overall legendary veteran actor is Boris Karloff, a professor who's nicer than he seems... or is he?<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>As "Actress" In Clockwork Orange</u></td></tr>
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At one point, in the beginning, as Eden's Robert... in search of his brother who had vanished in that vicinity... is being led by our central CLOCKWORK ORANGE ingenue Virginia Wetherell... the future epic epitome of wanton, hypnotic, heavenly and devilish yet futile desire... through the spooky manor...<br>
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Before the professor shows his wheelchair ridden self, Eden quips about the dark surroundings, breaking a verbal fourth wall: "It seems like Boris Karloff will show up at any minute."<br>
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Virginia's Eve character is not only the ingenue but carries most of the plot through overall vulnerability, winding up in predictable peril as only the hero, a good actor who's rather sluggish and would be far better fit as a second or third banana, can save her... And their budding romance is more interesting early on as she'll deliberately, perhaps even strategically, shy away from his rather clumsy if cliché advances...<br>

barbara steele, boris karloff, christopher lee, horror, mark eden, michael gough, sixties, virginia wetherell

CLOCKWORK BEAUTY VIRGINIA WETHERELL IN 'THE CRIMSON CULT'

Smoking hot Virginia Wetherell in The Crimson Cult YEAR: 1968 Only wish this review could be more than a celebration of a beautiful blo...

LATE ACTOR BRADFORD DILLMAN HOWLS IN 'MOON OF THE WOLF'

barbara rush, bradford dillman, david janssen, seventies, tribute, tv movie

LATE ACTOR BRADFORD DILLMAN HOWLS IN 'MOON OF THE WOLF'

Bradford Dillman armed though not yet dangerous YEAR: 1972 TV Movies of the Week were perfect, but far from overall perfection. One of t...

RICHARD BENJAMIN & MOLLY RINGWALD TV MOVIE 'PACKIN' IT IN'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Upon heavy glance this is a creepy picture: Year Televised: 1983</u></td></tr>
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The husband/wife team of Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss isn't famous<i> </i>for what's arguably their best effort — a television movie titled PACKIN' IT IN with a non-famous Molly Ringwald whose father... like the theatrical TEMPEST... is tired of the ordinary life, moving to a rural location — not an island but in this case, the woods... <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>TV Movie Curve: ****1/2</u></td></tr>
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As the family goes to a better place to raise their kids and to breath the clear air, the jokes are quick and never forced while our hero provides the <i>weak husband out of his element</i> with ease. In one moment, before the shift from L.A. to Oregon (or Washington?), Molly's boyfriend, a punker named Johnny Crud, repeats how life is basically for the birds, and Benjamin replies: "Crud, get a job!" <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sam Whipple reigns</u></td></tr>
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The opening stages back home seems like its very own episode — followed by the family's luck running dry in the mountainous town that's more of a survivalist camp and that, at one point, winds up without any food or supplies. Benjamin, and comic actors like him who aren't exactly the macho type, are all reminiscent of (and inspired by) Woody Allen, so Tony Roberts, as the family's best friend and eventual foil, fits right in...<br />
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Meanwhile, Paula Prentiss is her usual tomboyish, independent pretty, smart and clever gal; Molly and AIRPLANE child actor David Hollander are suburb brats and only annoying to their parents, not the audience...<br />
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And the passive yet fully effective scene stealer is the monotone son of Kenneth McMillan's survivalist a--hole, played by Sam Whipple (who appeared with two more Brat Packers, Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy, in BLUE CITY, as shown in the picture below). Making PACKIN' is a nearly perfect adventure, and you'll feel right there, out there, in the comedic nightmare of "bad things constantly happening to nice people" i.e. "a nice person,"which is basically a sub-genre in itself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sam Whipple w/ another Breakfast Club Brat Packer, Judd Nelson Blue City Sam Whipple Blue City Sam Whipple Packin' It In </u></td></tr>
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andrea marcovicci, comedy, david hollander, eighties, kenneth mcmillan, molly ringwald, paula prentiss, richard benjamin, rural, sam whipple, tony roberts, tv movie

RICHARD BENJAMIN & MOLLY RINGWALD TV MOVIE 'PACKIN' IT IN'

Upon heavy glance this is a creepy picture: Year Televised: 1983 The husband/wife team of Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss isn't ...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/15/2018 / No comments / action , adventure , cult , indie , jazz score , mary mitchel , post-apocalyptic , ray milland , rex holman , richard bakalyan , road movie , russ bender , shary marshall , sixties , steely dan

DIRECTOR RAY MILLAND AVOIDS A BOMB IN 'PANIC IN YEAR ZERO'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Panic in Year Zero YEAR: 1962</u></td></tr>
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I don't need your helping hand...<br>
I can't be no savage...<br>
I can't be no highwayman</blockquote>
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Lyrics from <i>King of the World </i>by Steely Dan, a band with a handful of great musicians and only two songwriters, the latter reportedly influenced by a particular b-movie for their song about, basically, the end of the road, and yet the lyrics seem influenced against the dire, desperate situation on screen: An American International mid-sixties' B&W super low budget thriller with a consistently jazzy soundtrack befitting Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's own musical tastes. And anyone knows, bad movies can be the greatest time-filler, except when they are, surprisingly, quite good, solid and entertaining despite having been made for what feels like a straight-to-drive-in crowd: who usually watches everything but the movie itself... Enter PANIC IN YEAR ZERO starring a great actor who could pull off bad movies with ease, Ray Milland...<br>

action, adventure, cult, indie, jazz score, mary mitchel, post-apocalyptic, ray milland, rex holman, richard bakalyan, road movie, russ bender, shary marshall, sixties, steely dan

DIRECTOR RAY MILLAND AVOIDS A BOMB IN 'PANIC IN YEAR ZERO'

Panic in Year Zero YEAR: 1962 I don't need your helping hand... I can't be no savage... I can't be no highwayman L...

MUDDYING WATERS IN THE NINETIES-ERA BIOPIC 'I TONYA'

2017, 2018, allison janney, biopic, comedy, drama, margot robbie, new, sport

MUDDYING WATERS IN THE NINETIES-ERA BIOPIC 'I TONYA'

Year: 2017 limited and 2018 wide First off, the otherwise competent character-actress Allison Janney's highly praised role as infamo...

EARLY CAGNEY DOUBLE: HARD TO HANDLE & HE WAS HER MAN

caper, comedy, con man, crime, frank craven, import, james cagney, joan blondell, pre-code, ruth donnelly, thirties, victor jory

EARLY CAGNEY DOUBLE: HARD TO HANDLE & HE WAS HER MAN

Ruth Donnelly in HARD TO HANDLE **** Character-actress Ruth Donnelly is a genius. Was a genius. But art is eternal, and James Cagney is ...

JAMES CAGNEY & DWIGHT FRYE OPEN 'THE DOORWAY TO HELL'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1931</u></td></tr>
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Well if you don't watch your step, you're gonna find a way to treat yourself to a handful of clouds.</blockquote>
That's a line from James Cagney as a second-in-command mobster (named Mileaway) in his second and last film where he's not the star...<br>
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In fact it's his second movie altogether. The first, SINNER'S HOLIDAY, providing a few scenes that hinted his talents while THE DOORWAY TO HELL impressed Hollywood enough so that in his next gig, he'd be given the second-fiddle for a better sounding tune: as the legacy goes, when director William Wellman decided the short and stout, spitfire firebrand should fill the bigger shoes and play the lead, 1931's Warner Bros gangster b-flick THE PUBLIC ENEMY became it's own timeless orchestration...<br>

dwight frye, gangster, james cagney, lew ayres, thirties, warner archives