cult film freak: May 2019

Written by James M. Tate / 5/29/2019 / No comments / dana andrews , ethel barrymore , forties , hoagy carmichael , melodrama , merle oberon , music , romance

DANA ANDREWS AND MERLE OBERON CONNECT IN 'NIGHT SONG'

dana andrews, ethel barrymore, forties, hoagy carmichael, melodrama, merle oberon, music, romance

DANA ANDREWS AND MERLE OBERON CONNECT IN 'NIGHT SONG'

Dana Andrews in NIGHT SONG Year: 1947 The third of three films featuring Dana Andrews and musician Hoagy Carmichael, and this time, Andr...

KNOCKOUT BARBARA PAYTON IN THE BOXING NOIR 'BAD BLONDE'

<table 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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0m7EqTYDr-Y/XhYmQ83z5OI/AAAAAAABM80/8XbwgdejAqcHb76aYjDXF9_eVqlWY6jZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-01-08%2Bat%2B10.55.58%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="842" height="267" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0m7EqTYDr-Y/XhYmQ83z5OI/AAAAAAABM80/8XbwgdejAqcHb76aYjDXF9_eVqlWY6jZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-01-08%2Bat%2B10.55.58%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Barbara Payton is Hammer's BAD BLONDE Year: 1953</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the Hammer British Film Noir BAD BLONDE originally titled THE FLANAGAN BOY, a bulky and not altogether brilliant English boxer gets a shot when his 
trainer connects with a rich Italian promoter who can make it all 
happen: But there are a few catches... <br>
<br>
First, everyone has to
 live at a rural lakeside estate where the fighter, Charlie Sullivan (Tony Wright), 
will prepare for future moneymaking matches... Second and most important, Charlie needs to 
get along with the rich man’s baby-faced, perpetually pursed-lipped wife Lorna, played by  goading, manipulating, voluptuous and built-for-action with sparks-flying starlet Barbara Payton. Basically, the
 first moment Charlie sets his smitten eyes on the sullen temptress, his edge is gone… As is his sanity, to his trainer's chagrin. Liken to, years later, when Burgess Meredith barks at Sylvester Stallone's dame-distracted Rocky Balboa: "Women weaken legs!" Nothing changes in the boxing game, it seems...  <br>

barbara payton, boxing, british film noir/melodrama, british new wave, hammer noir, love triangle, sport, thriller

KNOCKOUT BARBARA PAYTON IN THE BOXING NOIR 'BAD BLONDE'

Barbara Payton is Hammer's BAD BLONDE Year: 1953 In the Hammer British Film Noir BAD BLONDE originally titled THE FLANAGAN BOY, a bu...

GEORGE SEGAL SLUMS IN 'BORN TO WIN' WITH ROBERT DENIRO

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-inC1_oyHoOc/XOh-SWdCEmI/AAAAAAABEIM/8bvwIQmPsUMNXruOmP7xf9kpZ-XoNWn5ACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-05-24%2Bat%2B1.34.08%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1346" data-original-width="1600" height="336" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-inC1_oyHoOc/XOh-SWdCEmI/AAAAAAABEIM/8bvwIQmPsUMNXruOmP7xf9kpZ-XoNWn5ACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-05-24%2Bat%2B1.34.08%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>George Segal and Marcia Jean Kurtz YEAR: 1971</u></td></tr>
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With a title full of irony about a current junkie/former hairdresser doing all he can to score smack on the streets of New York City, there's far too much downtime...<br>
<br>
And it happens right when things are at a nice rudimentary pace, beginning with a groovy soundtrack during an attempted small-time heist by George Segal and his cool black sidekick...<br>
<br>
Who soon separate... and while it's clever that Segal's "J" meets his lady while attempting to steal her car, a contrived bedroom scene with Karen Black happens far too soon. Ironically, given her super-cool track record at that point, she doesn't seem like the renaissance era starlet from the likes of FIVE EASY PIECES or the gem that started it all, EASY RIDER. Her part here is a mainstream role in a would-be full-blown avant garde exploitation flick....<br>

counter-culture, drug culture, exploitation, george segal, hector elizondo, karen black, marcia jean kurtz, paula prentiss, robert deniro, seventies

GEORGE SEGAL SLUMS IN 'BORN TO WIN' WITH ROBERT DENIRO

George Segal and Marcia Jean Kurtz YEAR: 1971 With a title full of irony about a current junkie/former hairdresser doing all he can to s...

INFAMOUS JOHN CARPENTER 'VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED' REMAKE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8JU6o2SZp3A/XOSxAqRneCI/AAAAAAABEDQ/0pTwYCbVG3soje5mkhcl1BUOliH1rw4TwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-05-21%2Bat%2B3.08.23%2BAM%2B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1215" height="338" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8JU6o2SZp3A/XOSxAqRneCI/AAAAAAABEDQ/0pTwYCbVG3soje5mkhcl1BUOliH1rw4TwCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-05-21%2Bat%2B3.08.23%2BAM%2B2.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Front and back left Lindsay Haun with </u><u><u>Jessye Quarry</u>  YEAR: 1996</u></td></tr>
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What happened to John Carpenter's filmmaking skills in the 1990's is a mystery. Even more mysterious is why it took four years after THEY LIVE to enter that decade, and then direct an unnecessary remake,  MEMOIRS OF THE INVISIBLE MAN, which is THE THING compared to what's possibly his worst film, also a remake, titled VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED — although it's still pretty fun to watch i.e. make fun of... <br>
<br>
Starring a handful of actors and actresses who all starred in franchise films, there's main man Christopher Reeve in his last role before the tragic horse-jumping accident. But, alas, the four-time SUPERMAN is pretty wooden here as the politically-correct husband of one of several townswomen who — after the entire town of Midwich falls unconscious at the same time — wind up impregnated by what the characters later learn are alien children: Who are the best thing going, especially the leader played by an icy-cold  Lindsey Haun, with a penetrating expression of experience and cunning, and she's more worthy to fear than the one good kid (Thomas Dekker) is to sympathize with...<br>

camp, christopher reeve, horror, john carpenter, kirsty alley, linda kozlowski, mark hamill, michael pare, nineties, remake, thriller

INFAMOUS JOHN CARPENTER 'VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED' REMAKE

Front and back left Lindsay Haun with Jessye Quarry YEAR: 1996 What happened to John Carpenter's filmmaking skills in the 1990'...

TIM CONWAY & GARY GRIMES STAR IN DISNEY'S ASS KICKING 'GUS'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3kQpcPLJTlU/XNuXP86yqQI/AAAAAAABD3I/9KRZT9FdMUUK_isE054Ejtp0lOCF5d97gCLcBGAs/s1600/60262937_704054333357079_7221663985517461504_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="960" height="302" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3kQpcPLJTlU/XNuXP86yqQI/AAAAAAABD3I/9KRZT9FdMUUK_isE054Ejtp0lOCF5d97gCLcBGAs/s400/60262937_704054333357079_7221663985517461504_n.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tom Bosley with Tim Conway in GUS Year: 1976</u></td></tr>
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Despite
 the fact it's about a Donkey kicking field goals... literally an ass kicking movie... GUS is one of the 
most entertaining Disney live action ventures made during the 1970's. 
The plot involves an underdog teen from some foreign land who is the 
younger brother of a perfect, square-jawed soccer star sibling, 
worshiped by his father. But Gary's Andy Petrovic has something that 
will make him famous without making him famous, but rather, his pet mule
 has all the talent: able to kick a football far into the surrounding 
forest. Although Gary's Andy is not altogether worthless.<br />
<br />
Gus only kicks
 after hearing the important word, spoken by Andy and, for the most 
part, Andy only: "Oyage!" Thus, mule and boy is witnessed by a football 
scout for a losing team called THE ATOMS played by Ronnie Schell, 
voice-star of the second best Disney venture, THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE, who was sent to the Petrovic farm to witness the older
 brother for his magic foot for the team's punter. But compared to the 
ball kicking jackass, Soccer boy means nothing.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M5jqCR_Dg7I/XNuV7ttXKeI/AAAAAAABD20/DLOwNEE3jdw0Yq9eDdkbGyN2JqtCP_A1ACLcBGAs/s1600/60119418_704056560023523_3183284207648505856_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="671" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M5jqCR_Dg7I/XNuV7ttXKeI/AAAAAAABD20/DLOwNEE3jdw0Yq9eDdkbGyN2JqtCP_A1ACLcBGAs/s400/60119418_704056560023523_3183284207648505856_n.jpeg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Signed by Tim Conway and Ed Asner</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The best scenes occur when Andy and Gus get slowly, 
awkwardly warmed up with the team and his fans, and like the first half 
of most Disney films, our title hero just can't loose. Eventually, Andy 
gets lost in the mix despite falling in love (and vice versa, which 
rarely occurs so quickly) with one of the cutest Disney ingenues 
ever, Louise Williams as Debbie, who, along with Don Knotts, is on the 
DVD cover (shown above) autographed by Ed Asner, as the team's grumpy 
coach who really has to put faith into this risky decision, while Tim 
Conway plays...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table 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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uS8m8aezBGY/Vtdhqy07ifI/AAAAAAAArRQ/5KxQdFafcjA/s1600/3.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uS8m8aezBGY/Vtdhqy07ifI/AAAAAAAArRQ/5KxQdFafcjA/s320/3.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>GUS Score: ****</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So let's center on the bad guys who 
rule one particular scene that intentionally steals the entire movie; 
Gus causing two hired thugs, Tom Bosley as Alpha Male ex-con Spinner 
with his dopey sidekick, Tim Conway's Crankcase, to chase the 
escaped-kidnapped donkey around in a supermarket. Wide-eyed when 
experienced on the big screen as a child, this fifteen minute scene, 
occurring while Gus is trying to return to a big climactic game.<br />
<br />
And 
hell, if this store scene doesn't bring a smile to your face, something 
is wrong. But poor actor Gary Grimes despises GUS for ruining an 
already fledgling, at that time, career... And yet, GUS doesn't 
hurt <i>our </i>career one bit, but provides an eclectic two-hours of 
one of the most bizarre, wonderfully campy and genuinely creative comedy
 films ever. And you CAN'T quote the film's star on that, but Cult Film 
Freak stands behind it fully: "OYAGE, Muthas!"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pAwqGuUsVq4/XNuWKFMdA6I/AAAAAAABD24/GLi_QgqivSwq-QZk5y3l7hBUaM36hsAMACLcBGAs/s1600/60348712_704054330023746_8234371601232035840_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="960" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pAwqGuUsVq4/XNuWKFMdA6I/AAAAAAABD24/GLi_QgqivSwq-QZk5y3l7hBUaM36hsAMACLcBGAs/s1600/60348712_704054330023746_8234371601232035840_n.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tom Bosley's skeleton fighting Gary Grimes' with a cat in GUS</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>

comedy, disney, don knotts, gary grimes, seventies, sports, tim conway

TIM CONWAY & GARY GRIMES STAR IN DISNEY'S ASS KICKING 'GUS'

Tom Bosley with Tim Conway in GUS Year: 1976 Despite the fact it's about a Donkey kicking field goals... literally an ass kicking m...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/13/2019 / No comments / biopic , cameron mitchell , doris day , drama , fifties , gangster , james cagney , melodrama , music , romance

DORIS DAY TRIBUTE W/ JAMES CAGNEY IN 'LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME'

biopic, cameron mitchell, doris day, drama, fifties, gangster, james cagney, melodrama, music, romance

DORIS DAY TRIBUTE W/ JAMES CAGNEY IN 'LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME'

James Cagney and Doris Day YEAR: 1955 LEAVE ME OR LEAVE ME is both a showcase for Doris Day's voice and proof she could really act, ...

GENE HACKMAN RIDES IN 'BITE THE BULLET' WITH JAMES COBURN

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RuThwO2dlF0/XWnUfj9K6gI/AAAAAAABGiE/1AQ4Tno_POAYRwAQfYKP2oXiDcL87QXagCLcBGAs/s1600/4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="755" height="327" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RuThwO2dlF0/XWnUfj9K6gI/AAAAAAABGiE/1AQ4Tno_POAYRwAQfYKP2oXiDcL87QXagCLcBGAs/s400/4.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Coburn in BITE THE BULLET Year: 1975</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A homesteader's chopping wood when James Coburn rides up and, after asking several questions without a response, tells the man he doesn't know nothin', for which Wood Chopper replies: "I ain't the one who's lost." And snappy dialogue is the best thing going, especially with Coburn's scene-stealing character, at one point saying to young and obnoxious Jan-Michael Vincent, more antagonistic than he'd ever been before or after: "I want you to tell me the story of your life: Just skip everything up till the last fifteen minutes."<br>
<br>
BITE THE BULLET is a Western action/adventure about a horse race more character-driven than horse-driven, and that's good and bad since the characters are played by wonderful actors who share a few wonderful moments, but some are borderline cliché: Like pacifist Gene Hackman as an ex Rough Rider who may have been the founder of PETA while Candace Bergen is a modern feminist in chaps, and would have been more realistic if played by tougher-looking "hooker" Sally Kirkland, who'd sell her body the same year in another Western, BREAKHEART PASS: both featuring a pivotal train and veteran actor Ben Johnson, here an old-timer with a predictable death scene...<br>

action, adventure, ben johnson, candace bergen, ensemble, gene hackman, james coburn, jan-michael vincent, richard brooks, sally kirkland, seventies, western

GENE HACKMAN RIDES IN 'BITE THE BULLET' WITH JAMES COBURN

James Coburn in BITE THE BULLET Year: 1975 A homesteader's chopping wood when James Coburn rides up and, after asking several questi...

JOHN WAYNE HITS LONDON FOR THE COP THRILLER 'BRANNIGAN'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mrt-kbvPxog/Xwc8lK2dr5I/AAAAAAABV5w/qkacbgvJQ-UhjlEx9hwhxO7fgf5LxtTeQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-07-09%2Bat%2B8.41.53%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="1542" height="267" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mrt-kbvPxog/Xwc8lK2dr5I/AAAAAAABV5w/qkacbgvJQ-UhjlEx9hwhxO7fgf5LxtTeQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-07-09%2Bat%2B8.41.53%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Wayne stays tough in England as BRANNIGAN Year: 1975</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After supposedly passing up DIRTY HARRY, John Wayne made two tough cop films (tough films about tough cops), and this is the second: The first being <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/03/mcq-john-wayne.html">McQ</a>, centering on a Seattle detective who stays put while this Chicago lawman is sent to England to pick up a Chicago gangster... <br>
<br>
<span class="_mh6 _wsc" id="cch_f18e85997ba47bc"><span class="_3oh- _58nk">Though more along the lines of BULLITT than either of the two HARRY films that had already come out, BRANNIGAN, once again named after John Wayne's character's last name, isn't as much a police procedural while mostly centering on the stranger in a strange land premise, but without following the usual fish-outta-water elements since he gets adjusted to this new country's rules, like not carrying a handgun, by simply not following them. And he's never really effected by the foreign surroundings visible from riding shotgun in an unmarked vehicle driven by pretty female sidekick Judy Geeson...</span></span><br>