cult film freak: January 2019

Written by James M. Tate / 1/31/2019 / No comments / antony carbone , barboura morris , bert convy , body count , dark comedy , dick miller , ed nelson , judy bamber , lynn storey , maxwell h. block , roger corman , thriller

ROGER CORMAN'S 'A BUCKET OF BLOOD' STARRING DICK MILLER

antony carbone, barboura morris, bert convy, body count, dark comedy, dick miller, ed nelson, judy bamber, lynn storey, maxwell h. block, roger corman, thriller

ROGER CORMAN'S 'A BUCKET OF BLOOD' STARRING DICK MILLER

Dick Miller and Judy Bamber in A Bucket of Blood YEAR: 1959 This is a classic and timeless Roger Corman film about a tortured yet conten...

JACK HILL'S 'PIT STOP' AKA 'THE WINNER' FEATURING SID HAIG

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tsubxEJkH88/XXPXb5W7exI/AAAAAAABG-M/4mJ-2D272A83_zhFK-sZDMfyzwuE0ufLACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-09-07%2Bat%2B9.07.11%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="904" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tsubxEJkH88/XXPXb5W7exI/AAAAAAABG-M/4mJ-2D272A83_zhFK-sZDMfyzwuE0ufLACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-09-07%2Bat%2B9.07.11%2BAM.jpeg" width="340"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Denise Lynn and Sid Haig in PIT STOP Year: 1969</u></td></tr>
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PIT STOP is actually THE WINNER, and there's only one pit stop — where villain turned strategic wild card Sid Haig stops for half a second during the last race. Which isn't your usual climax since the movie continuously peaks throughout. Backed by tough instrumental rock — the fat, crunchy guitar sounding more 1950's than 1967 — this low-budget curio's directed by b-movie icon Jack Hill, before his signature women-in-prison and/or urban blaxploitation flicks...<br>
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Filmed around Los Angeles in B&W from city streets to a steely-dusk junkyard  to the rowdy track, where the racing is mostly Figure 8: practically suicide even for the most intrepid hot dogs, and, with each smash-up always ending in a loud, boisterous, go-go barroom, Hill clearly lets you know what driver's behind the wheel, and when: Either Sid Haig's cocky Hawk Sidney or main character Dick Davalos as Rick Bowman, both working for Grant Willard, played by veteran actor Brian Donlevy, who's cooler and colder than the drivers he subtly <i>pits</i> against each other. And there's always a reason for the racing around, established within lean exposition that stretches PIT STOP beyond that era's hot rod exploitation fare — but it's <i>all that</i>, too... <br>

beverly washburn, brian donlevy, denise lynn, ellen burstyn, exploitation, jack hill, race car, richard davalos, sid haig, sixties

JACK HILL'S 'PIT STOP' AKA 'THE WINNER' FEATURING SID HAIG

Denise Lynn and Sid Haig in PIT STOP Year: 1969 PIT STOP is actually THE WINNER, and there's only one pit stop — where villain turne...

TV-MOVIE EXPLOITATION OF 'SINGLE BARS, SINGLE WOMEN'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LqxO3wgl0NQ/XXAAr_WF35I/AAAAAAABG0Y/S-l46Rhw6H4k3aW6lLcms-L5-Bhr_00GACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-09-04%2Bat%2B11.01.53%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="622" data-original-width="773" height="321" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LqxO3wgl0NQ/XXAAr_WF35I/AAAAAAABG0Y/S-l46Rhw6H4k3aW6lLcms-L5-Bhr_00GACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-09-04%2Bat%2B11.01.53%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Shelley Hack checks out the single life circa 1984</u></td></tr>
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SINGLE BARS, SINGLE WOMEN could've been titled THE LAST DAYS AFTER THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, centering on the notorious 1980's Single Bar scene as the title, based on a Dolly Parton song, depicts the Waterloo of that particular pre-AIDS scenario, and is dated but almost intentionally since the subject, too, was going out of style, fast... <br>
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The setup is the most interesting and overall entertaining, getting to know the eclectic characters ranging from a recently-dumped Shelley Hack, who, despite having gone round-for-round with Robert DeNiro in Martin Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY, never got her due as an actress. After a one-night-stand at the central bar, Bandini's, with square-jawed Brett Cullin as a serial single, she's haunted by her ex, played by the (at that time) most famous cast member, Paul Michael Glaser (adding to the usual "former TV stars in a TV movie" template): Making Hack and Glaser the Ron Howard/Cindy Williams ala AMERICAN GRAFFITI, and too much time's centered on their working-things-out when more fun's had back at the club, where most of the picture takes place in a single "singles" night...<br>

brett cullen, christine lahti, dolly parton, eighties, ensemble, exploitation, jessica nelson, kathleen wilhoite, mare winningham, paul michael glaser, rick rossovitch, shelley hack, tony danza

TV-MOVIE EXPLOITATION OF 'SINGLE BARS, SINGLE WOMEN'

Shelley Hack checks out the single life circa 1984 SINGLE BARS, SINGLE WOMEN could've been titled THE LAST DAYS AFTER THE LAST DAYS ...

ROD TAYLOR IN 'HOTEL' W/ CATHERINE SPAAK & KEVIN MCCARTHY

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0-GJ6jqNxXM/Xj2WiVZ7mGI/AAAAAAABOAc/frSYv0GOGn4tlf9KQmQnmxACUfFBNjnngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-02-07%2Bat%2B8.53.04%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="917" data-original-width="1348" height="271" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0-GJ6jqNxXM/Xj2WiVZ7mGI/AAAAAAABOAc/frSYv0GOGn4tlf9KQmQnmxACUfFBNjnngCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-02-07%2Bat%2B8.53.04%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Catherine Spaak loathes lover Kevin McCarthy in HOTEL Year: 1967</u></td></tr>
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The 1967 film HOTEL occurs at a strange and contradictory crossroads for women: While Catherine Spaak plays the typical young and complacent, older rich man's trophy girlfriend, she can't stand him — and even tells him so. That being Kevin McCarthy, whose Curtis O'Keefe represents two things Hollywood despises...<br>
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He's supposedly a Christian, leading a bizarre prayer ritual that sounds as if God were his own personal accountant; and he's a corporate raider who's actually pretty sharp, knowledgeable and experienced: Yet we're not supposed to appreciate (or even notice) these things because no one in the movie does: As a phony-polite, sophisticated villain, McCarthy plays the kind of boss even his closest, well-paid employees roll their eyes at. And yet he's the most interesting character — especially when opening-up to Spaak's Jeanne about how he was once young, broke, and denied a job as assistant desk clerk at the St. Gregory i.e. our titular HOTEL... <br>

annazette chase, catherine spaak, drama, ensemble, jack donner, jazz score, karl malden, melvin douglas, merle oberon, michael rennie, richard conte, rod taylor, sixties, vikki dougan

ROD TAYLOR IN 'HOTEL' W/ CATHERINE SPAAK & KEVIN MCCARTHY

Catherine Spaak loathes lover Kevin McCarthy in HOTEL Year: 1967 The 1967 film HOTEL occurs at a strange and contradictory crossroads fo...

CHARLES BRONSON IN MICHAEL WINNER'S 'THE STONE KILLER'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gdBuNqwJOsU/XrHqCzVTttI/AAAAAAABStA/zGxBAGgjSgwrXtnPQJntEY9V4mN3F5XjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/95682577_964906483938528_5113686872635211776_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="918" height="292" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gdBuNqwJOsU/XrHqCzVTttI/AAAAAAABStA/zGxBAGgjSgwrXtnPQJntEY9V4mN3F5XjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/95682577_964906483938528_5113686872635211776_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in Michael Winner's THE STONE KILLER Year: 1973</u></td></tr>
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Michael Winner's 1970's exploitation crime trilogy starring Charles Bronson made the tough guy actor as famous as Sergio Leone's Man With No Name trilogy put Clint Eastwood successfully on the map... And the Bronson flicks <i>are</i> modern asphalt Westerns about a hit man; a vigilante...<br>
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And between THE MECHANIC and DEATH WISH is his edgiest performance in the shoot-first cop flick the likes of... back to the Eastwood similarity... DIRTY HARRY: Only Bronson's Lou Torry is more realistic since THE STONE KILLER is a visually-stylistic nostalgic Neo Noir as our man dons a gumshoe trench coat; investigates a list of repeatedly-spoken culprit last names; and uses sparse dialogue with hardly any conversation lasting longer than it takes to move the story from one scene to the next, and there are plenty...<br>

action, charles bronson, cop, crime, exploitation, jack colvin, john ritter, michael winner, neo noir, norman fell, paul koslo, ralph waite, seventies, stuart margolin, thriller, twilight time

CHARLES BRONSON IN MICHAEL WINNER'S 'THE STONE KILLER'

Charles Bronson in Michael Winner's THE STONE KILLER Year: 1973 Michael Winner's 1970's exploitation crime trilogy starring ...

JEFFREY LYNN STRANDED IN 'LOST LAGOON' WITH LEILA BARRY

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iI2WgOYoj3w/XDKafXQitqI/AAAAAAAA-fk/KXP_XKKEcq0NdqzxmUca0M3ApNvYP5xtQCLcBGAs/s1600/lost-lagoon-movie-poster-1958-1020702827.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="476" height="356" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iI2WgOYoj3w/XDKafXQitqI/AAAAAAAA-fk/KXP_XKKEcq0NdqzxmUca0M3ApNvYP5xtQCLcBGAs/s400/lost-lagoon-movie-poster-1958-1020702827.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">LOST LAGOON</span></b></span> officially released in 1958</u></td></tr>
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Of the three World War I returning veterans in Raoul Walsh's prohibition-era gangster classic THE ROARING TWENTIES, two roared like lions while one purred like a kitten...<br>
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The latter being Jeffrey Lynn, who played the third banana that James Cagney liked (even <i>after</i> snaking his dame) and Humphrey Bogart despised: Of course these two became huge stars and eventually legends while Lynn remained a lanky, sophisticated character-actor who never reached genuine leading man status...<br>
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Though decades later he'd make an attempt in a very low-budget, Bahamas set, Calypso-exploitation romance centering on an unhappily married middle-aged father of two, Lynn's Charlie Walker, and for the record: Neither Bogart or Cagney had a calypso song named after and sung about any of their characters: one of a small handful of natives on a small Bahamas island provides a sporadic Roman Chorus, just in case we get lost within the extremely simple plot... <br>

calypso, exploitation, fifties, island, jeffrey lynn, leila barry, melodrama, peter donat, romance

JEFFREY LYNN STRANDED IN 'LOST LAGOON' WITH LEILA BARRY

LOST LAGOON officially released in 1958 Of the three World War I returning veterans in Raoul Walsh's prohibition-era gangster class...

SEARCHING FOR A MOVIE IN DENNIS HOPPER'S 'THE LAST MOVIE'

cult, dennis hopper, donna baccala, drama, drug culture, indie, julie adams, michelle phillips, peter fonda, poupée bocar, samuel fuller, seventies, severn darden, stella garcia, tomas milian, toni basil

SEARCHING FOR A MOVIE IN DENNIS HOPPER'S 'THE LAST MOVIE'

Dennis Hooper resembling his youngest Rumble Fish son YEAR: 1971 Within Dennis Hopper's infamous post-EASY RIDER flop, THE LAST MOVI...

MAURY DEXTER'S 'HARBOR LIGHTS' FEATURING MIRIAM COLON

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldH3PKIPZAI/XCsZ-w8Ah-I/AAAAAAAA-T0/fDFHJ9va5089nXrJb_dx3PNre9kPz4ygACLcBGAs/s1600/57096.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="540" height="335" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldH3PKIPZAI/XCsZ-w8Ah-I/AAAAAAAA-T0/fDFHJ9va5089nXrJb_dx3PNre9kPz4ygACLcBGAs/s400/57096.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><u>Director: Maury Dexter </u>Year of Release: 1963</u></td></tr>
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Director Maury Dexter's only lasting Hollywood fingerprint is having been a permanent assistant producer and sporadic director of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE... <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NpypPJFCBZg/XCrA9B-murI/AAAAAAAA-O4/yz0D7ycfK1st1UpH_iQ6VZTYU2eCOpySwCLcBGAs/s1600/2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1311" data-original-width="587" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NpypPJFCBZg/XCrA9B-murI/AAAAAAAA-O4/yz0D7ycfK1st1UpH_iQ6VZTYU2eCOpySwCLcBGAs/s400/2.jpeg" width="178"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Miriam Colon</u></td></tr>
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But in the early 1960's he turned out a great number of little films with genres ranging from Westerns, Beach comedies, and, as in 
the case of the very obscure HARBOR LIGHTS, a "New Noir" crime flick starring Kent Taylor, the film begins with a younger man with a similar tiny-mustache that Kent usually dons in Dexter's villainous roles — for instance, the sparse cowboy picture, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/12/WalkTall.html">WALK TALL</a>...<br>
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And this is one of those waterfront thrillers in the style of TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT. Or any type of balmy Noir; here taking place/filmed at San Jan, Puerto Rico while not making much use of the exterior location despite the deliciously pulpy title with a dime-novel approach, most of the scenes are handed off from interior locations where guns are drawn, fists fly, last names tossed around, and in this case a treasure that Kent's intrepid pawn, Dan Crown, acts like he knows the whereabouts of despite the fact his brother (the mustached guy in the intro) is as estranged from the family as can be... being dead and all, which got the plot rolling... <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnrgXa9Neg4/XCrBcB_7LBI/AAAAAAAA-PA/s85RpG0d9HU-320U13H8bTkj0Z64JTUngCLcBGAs/s1600/3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="762" height="393" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnrgXa9Neg4/XCrBcB_7LBI/AAAAAAAA-PA/s85RpG0d9HU-320U13H8bTkj0Z64JTUngCLcBGAs/s400/3.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Miriam Colon in Harbor Lights RATES: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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And this is really a gambling picture despite only one quick scene involving Jeff Morrow's lead villain in a hotel casino where most of the interior running-around takes place. But our hero does have to desperately venture into the dusty streets lined with old stucco buildings; and he eventually winds up in an oceanic boat chase... <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dcfya6aEA_k/XCsUf06xPoI/AAAAAAAA-Sk/B-xC-C_OXAwAMjqUgDK2U9HVj4_igeqEwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-12-31%2Bat%2B11.02.06%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="218" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dcfya6aEA_k/XCsUf06xPoI/AAAAAAAA-Sk/B-xC-C_OXAwAMjqUgDK2U9HVj4_igeqEwCLcBGAs/s200/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-12-31%2Bat%2B11.02.06%2BPM.jpeg" width="83"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Colon on Saul</u></td></tr>
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But what makes these HARBOR LIGHTS really shine is Twentieth Century Fox's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/08/makes-jack-a-dull-boy.html">THUNDER ISLAND</a> Spanish fox Miriam Colon as ingenue Gina Rosario...<br>
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Who'd later play Al Pacino's angry mother in SCARFACE and is more recently known within the BREAKING BAD universe as Tuco's soap opera addicted grandma on the first episode of BETTER CALL SAUL. And here, many decades earlier and quite a beauty, she starts out not trusting Taylor but winds up trying to keep him out of harm's way: in particular, from Jeff Morrow's character, simply referred to as Cardinal and who she had some kind of past with...<br>
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action, crime, jeff morrow, kent taylor, maury dexter, miriam colon, neo noir, pulp

MAURY DEXTER'S 'HARBOR LIGHTS' FEATURING MIRIAM COLON

Director: Maury Dexter Year of Release: 1963 Director Maury Dexter's only lasting Hollywood fingerprint is having been a permanent a...

DANNY DEVITO UNDELETED FROM 'CAR WASH' W/ BROOKE ADAMS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Danny DeVito in CAR WASH with Tim Thomerson</u></td></tr>
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Before he became famous as the angry little dispatcher for a hard working group of otherwise optimistic cab drivers on TAXI, Danny DeVito had a scene in CAR WASH with Brooke Adams that would wind up on the cutting room floor, although he can be scene at this moment behind lady's man Tim Thomerson about to land a date.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X59drAxcX8Y/XP4F2AqsrgI/AAAAAAABEWg/8_luC6I7KKgr1YiW0-Cor92eF0zT7hOqQCLcBGAs/s1600/2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1328" data-original-width="1566" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X59drAxcX8Y/XP4F2AqsrgI/AAAAAAABEWg/8_luC6I7KKgr1YiW0-Cor92eF0zT7hOqQCLcBGAs/s1600/2.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Danny DeVito in CAR WASH slapping a table with Tim Thomerson as Ken in the foreground</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Danny DeVito in CAR WASH with an angry Brooke Adams on his tail and Lauren Jones</u></td></tr>
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brooke adams, cameo, danny devito, ensemble, seventies, tim thomerson