cult film freak: November 2020

Written by James M. Tate / 11/25/2020 / No comments / bob newhart , comedy , dick van dyke , exploitation , jean stapleton , norman lear , parody , paul benedict , pippa scott , seventies , sixties , vincent gardenia

SERVING NORMAN LEAR'S 'COLD TURKEY' FOR THANKSGIVING

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJw8C2vFW5S7YKPcNDv0dA73r3qgmcHiTz8LaVcp0epEdoloyFRT-ajsReKylWl0LwR8zDnfZTFZKgK8pAvMl1gSDGgCrEYjeQj76pxhmyXBhdnf48rolVRXjBu4lAQJIHDSsMi75yt_rqFbLugZcnQTmVxnWu-BufZPJeZT9kYOQS50idl91IOyU3Pw=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1042" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJw8C2vFW5S7YKPcNDv0dA73r3qgmcHiTz8LaVcp0epEdoloyFRT-ajsReKylWl0LwR8zDnfZTFZKgK8pAvMl1gSDGgCrEYjeQj76pxhmyXBhdnf48rolVRXjBu4lAQJIHDSsMi75yt_rqFbLugZcnQTmVxnWu-BufZPJeZT9kYOQS50idl91IOyU3Pw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dick Van Dyke preaches in Norman Lear's COLD TURKEY Year: 1971 Rating: **1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>While Halloween and Christmas themes/names are easy to find, Thanksgiving is more difficult unless just happening upon the one and only feature film that TV-producing icon Norman Lear ever directed, fitfully titled COLD TURKEY and, with the abundance of extreme facial close-ups by a barrage of actors and actresses mostly known either then or later for the small screen, it's more of a TV-movie in nature... The plot is simple, silly and farfetched, and a bit too complicated for its own good, taking over halfway through to pick up: A billion dollar Tobacco company's willing to pay $25 million to any town that quits smoking for a month...

bob newhart, comedy, dick van dyke, exploitation, jean stapleton, norman lear, parody, paul benedict, pippa scott, seventies, sixties, vincent gardenia

SERVING NORMAN LEAR'S 'COLD TURKEY' FOR THANKSGIVING

Dick Van Dyke preaches in Norman Lear's COLD TURKEY Year: 1971 Rating: **1/2 While Halloween and Christmas themes/names are easy to find...

DONALD SUTHERLAND & JULIE CHRISTIE IN 'DON'T LOOK NOW'

<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/-XdOhZvdP0uw/X7spaC73fEI/AAAAAAABaBQ/YveBbmTlgBwe1uUl4LRurmON3pckIn4bACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/6.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1235" data-original-width="1280" height="386" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XdOhZvdP0uw/X7spaC73fEI/AAAAAAABaBQ/YveBbmTlgBwe1uUl4LRurmON3pckIn4bACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h386/6.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julie Christie in Don't Look Now 1973 Rates: ***12 </td></tr></tbody></table>Never let your young daughter play outside, around water... and if she plays with dolls, why a windup military man with a gas mask? That aside, caution is the pulse to Nicolas Roeg's eerie/offbeat thriller DON'T LOOK NOW set in Venice where marrieds Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie deal with their daughter's prologue-drowning a few years prior... And while Christie is always great, the mainline is Sutherland's John Baxter, restoring the antique ruins of a Catholic church and, while most likely an Atheist, he cares more about the significance of the religious art than priest Massimo Serato...As the best scenes involve Sutherland's dark, brooding journey into the ancient city of channels surrounding by antique buildings while indoors, the (in)famous overlong sex scene feels like director Roeg finishing an unrealized racy student film, less important than what we're really after... Julie Christie's haunted Laura is more in touch with her deceased child because of a bright-blue-eyed Hilary Mason, a blind seer led around by a talky sister. But Sutherland's as close-minded to that concept as the priest is to the restoration. Meanwhile, the second half gets into a Neo Noir investigation with detective Renato Scarpa asking those subtle yet pointed questions. Leaving the scariest sequence till the end, and you'll know where <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/10/cronenbrood.html">THE BROOD</a> children came from after witnessing the most nightmarish of nightmarish female demon dwarfs in an eclectic, arthouse horror that, while all over the place textually, does have a destination... just as long as you know who to follow. And what's following them.

cult, donald sutherland, exploitation, hilary mason, horror, julie christie, massimo serato, mystery, nicolas roeg, renato scarpa, seventies

DONALD SUTHERLAND & JULIE CHRISTIE IN 'DON'T LOOK NOW'

Julie Christie in Don't Look Now 1973 Rates: ***12 Never let your young daughter play outside, around water... and if she plays with dol...

JOANNA GOING AND REBECCA STAAB IN A NEWER 'DARK SHADOWS'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-533nR3L_ReY/X7YNymhbeHI/AAAAAAABZ54/MDRCdBoMKNwbf6N9PAQT7W4KTpww8WKuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1719/00.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1719" height="358" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-533nR3L_ReY/X7YNymhbeHI/AAAAAAABZ54/MDRCdBoMKNwbf6N9PAQT7W4KTpww8WKuwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h358/00.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joanna Going in Dark Shadows Year: 1991 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Dan Curtis turned his daytime soap DARK SHADOWS into a nighttime soap/miniseries that holds up pretty well with a younger Barnabas Collins in Ben Cross, seeming more like a lovelorn college professor than vampire, but he does bare his fangs enough times into the likes of Rebecca Staab for a Body Count element that ups (and progresses) the terror and suspense, mostly taking place in an old seaside manor where Collins rises/returns to an eccentric family that only knew him through a looming portrait from many, many years ago...And it's no wonder the poor fella falls so quickly in love with the newly arrived (yet very familiar) babysitter of troubled boy Joseph Gordon-Levitt — and Joanna Going is the most beautiful actress to ever hit the small screen, ever, and is what makes this DARK SHADOWS intriguing and worthwhile. Also like the original, we go back in time to Collins' own turf, the 1700's where snaky/flaky uncle Roy Thinnes can act sinister with the other family members, all somewhat benign before the Salem Inspired/Religious Zealot transition. But the show hits a big wall with the otherwise talented Lysette Anthony as an all-knowing/all-seeing phantom/wraith so powerful, vicious and vile, Collins loses his bite, and purpose (a young girl ghost is also a cop-out). Although by the end of the one and only season, Going and Cross's romance keeps the viewer intrigued... as we shall be, for eternity.

ben cross, dan curtis, franchise, horror, joanna going, joseph gordon-levitt, nineties, roy thinnes, TV, vampire

JOANNA GOING AND REBECCA STAAB IN A NEWER 'DARK SHADOWS'

Joanna Going in Dark Shadows Year: 1991 Rating: ***1/2 Dan Curtis turned his daytime soap DARK SHADOWS into a nighttime soap/miniseries that...

ANTON DIFFRING WITH ERIKA REMBERG IN 'CIRCUS OF HORRORS'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i5L8fOmRhzY/X7CKo65YoeI/AAAAAAABZrA/n-u2RyiHD7Ic6SD7fT8DLY4Y0eG61OXRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s922/zzz.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="922" height="294" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i5L8fOmRhzY/X7CKo65YoeI/AAAAAAABZrA/n-u2RyiHD7Ic6SD7fT8DLY4Y0eG61OXRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h294/zzz.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">title: Circus of Horrors Year: 1960 rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Anton Diffring's England-exiled German plastic surgeon character Dr. Schuler is really into madly reconstructing once-beautiful women's injured/deformed faces, and winds up running a circus after he and two followers happen upon German drunk Donald Pleasence, who trades his small rural circus for his war-scarred daughter to be Patient X of the big tent spectacle a decade later...And the now successful circus owner/secret doctor Schuler meets his match in Erika Remberg as a lethal, facially-deformed whore... later yearning to be the show's rope-dangling main attraction instead of voluptuous blonde <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/jungle.html">Vanda Hudson</a>, stunt-riding on horseback before spinning against flying knives... Ironically, CIRCUS OF HORRORS is more a body count thriller than horror: the deaths "mysteriously" occur to the doctor's post-surgery beauties who are just about to move on from the "Jinxed Circus", so there's plenty of suspense hindered only by the grownup little girl, now in her beautiful twenties and romanced by an intrusive cop, sniffing around the mad yet never hammy or overboard lead antagonist's schemes far too soon, making even gorgeous British starlet <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/yvonne%20romain">Yvonne Romain's</a> vulnerable and dangerous third act feel both rushed and overlong.

anton diffring, body count, british, circus, donald pleasence, erika remberg, exploitation, horror, sixties, thriller, yvonne romain

ANTON DIFFRING WITH ERIKA REMBERG IN 'CIRCUS OF HORRORS'

title: Circus of Horrors Year: 1960 rating: **** Anton Diffring's England-exiled German plastic surgeon character Dr. Schuler is really ...

SIAN BARBARA ALLEN IN THE TV-HORROR 'SCREAM, PRETTY PEGGY'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXvoyERT0UaUnX1STuzUtCnRM96GNHLIt7nt3tArjYzr2iY_2J-maczMLTT_UxVi0IWRSX0MJTalTa5rr66H2plHJPy70-ZeCT7p611UGnQYdmA_IRptXbiKtQ1dyR1eYP2vLD-EPQIGimxuvShtg0UVNm4tawI8rivPlKBblJt3wjGg7vOnX-RGqTZg=s400" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="350" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXvoyERT0UaUnX1STuzUtCnRM96GNHLIt7nt3tArjYzr2iY_2J-maczMLTT_UxVi0IWRSX0MJTalTa5rr66H2plHJPy70-ZeCT7p611UGnQYdmA_IRptXbiKtQ1dyR1eYP2vLD-EPQIGimxuvShtg0UVNm4tawI8rivPlKBblJt3wjGg7vOnX-RGqTZg=w350-h400" width="350"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Sian Barbara Allen is one of those artsy-looking actresses that could only derive from the 1970's: A round-faced Jessica Harper type that a guy would hopelessly crush on after being her friend a little while, and is so down-to-earth she doesn't quite realize how PRETTY she is, even when that aspect pivots the title SCREAM PRETTY PEGGY... yet all she really does is whine the name, "Jeffrey..."A sculptor living in a dark spooky mansion with lushy mom Bette Davis, playing a mellower BABY JANE here... but since horror leans towards youth, Sian Barbara Allen is both the ingenue and antagonist...As in, antagonistic, nosy and downright pushy to her new boss (hired for light housekeeping) played by benign THAT GIRL actor Ted Bessell... Who, it turns out, harbors a crazy sister in the guest house and, well, let's just say the end twist of this Universal TV-Movie is both predictable and blasphemous to a theatrical classic about a man-child with mommy-issues... And yet the dark and contained setting serves up a nicely balanced combination of old school haunted house and modern exploitation body count, which only includes two victims but it's genuinely terrifying how "the sister" looks, knife-poised in semi-darkness, and it's no surprise this kinda show scared television audiences when we all had relatively small screens as today, a wider view uncovers all the dated flaws... yet there's still a nice little short-story vibe showcasing both the creepiness of a slowburn-creepy little tale and the monkey-cuteness of the ingenue (who'd appear on a Columbo with the same stock music).

bette davis, exploitation, haunted house, horror, seventies, sian barbara allen, ted bessell, tovah feldshuh, tv movie

SIAN BARBARA ALLEN IN THE TV-HORROR 'SCREAM, PRETTY PEGGY'

Year: 1973 Rates: ***1/2 Sian Barbara Allen is one of those artsy-looking actresses that could only derive from the 1970's: A round-face...

JOHN CARPENTER'S UNDERRATED GHOST STORY OF 'THE FOG'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gRQuKdQhprM/X9U04KmAl6I/AAAAAAABaoA/ilWHrSiiGQMw9zh1AIbxRVUeIeXoRQBIACLcBGAsYHQ/s540/44877151_592334171195763_9043340000082526208_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="463" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gRQuKdQhprM/X9U04KmAl6I/AAAAAAABaoA/ilWHrSiiGQMw9zh1AIbxRVUeIeXoRQBIACLcBGAsYHQ/w343-h400/44877151_592334171195763_9043340000082526208_n.jpeg" width="343"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fog autographed DVD Year: 1980 </td></tr></tbody></table>Depending how you look at it, John Carpenter's THE FOG is a zombie flick since the titular weather-pattern wraiths move in a slow, nightmarish pace. And within that mobile-moving, misty shroud are what you'd get from a good old fashion ghost story, which this is John Carpenter's homage version of...Literally starting with old timer John Houseman spinning a campfire legend to kids while setting the plot in motion about their small seaport town, founded on a deception that a ship of lepers was accidentally destroyed by nature — with enough gold to get the town's proverbial ball rolling...And now in the 100-year Centennial Celebration, the wraiths, brandishing giant hooks, blades and resembling demonic fisherman with obscured hoods and lighted eyes, are after exactly six people — their own unlucky number now unlucky for the surprisingly low body-count in what's also Carpenter's mellow "drinking movie" of sorts...Starring Adrianne Barbeau, the director's then-wife, as a sultry-voiced deejay of mellow jazz, and otherwise providing a sort of strategic Roman Chorus for the fog's momentum, alerting both the characters where it's headed and the audience where the characters should go because of it... while Carpenter's HALLOWEEN ingenue Jamie Lee Curtis falls (way too quickly and unrealistically) head-over-heels for an older-man, and one of the director's regulars, tough guy actor Tom Atkins; both he and Curtis investigate his best friend's disappearance on a fishing boat leading to a cool "ghost ship" scenario... the duo provides an added bonus to alleviate Barbeau from having to work too hard...<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w7hzZgHJHFg/X9U4kJ-6Q-I/AAAAAAABaoo/Y2WdU5dvZxUSHAQozLv9v_VioCbauR6_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s934/44544442_590180974744416_988086316258295808_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="934" height="301" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w7hzZgHJHFg/X9U4kJ-6Q-I/AAAAAAABaoo/Y2WdU5dvZxUSHAQozLv9v_VioCbauR6_wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h301/44544442_590180974744416_988086316258295808_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamie Lee Curtis in THE FOG Rating: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Different than HALLOWEEN and similar to THE THING and PRINCE OF DARKNESS, this is more of an ensemble, and, just as he would later on, Carpenter juggles his characters nicely... And unlike most main female characters of this genre, the voluptuous brunette Barbeau is definitely no cliché uptight novice: well into her thirties, she has a curious young son who, while they are separated, gives Atkins and Curtis someone to protect along with an actual urgency and purpose leading to a narrowed-down third act. But it's the town's basement-dwelling priest, played with sublime ambiguity by Hal Holbrook, who steals the show while telling half of it...Meanwhile, added to the mix is Jamie Lee's mom, legendary PSYCHO starlet Janet Leigh who, alongside another HALLOWEEN ingenue and Carpenter regular Nancy Loomis, provide a second duo to follow towards a particular location — where everyone winds up except the lighthouse-trapped Barbeau... And the split-second surprise-ending is one of the greatest ever in this solid, vastly underrated, personal favorite Carpenter vehicle that, compared to his more celebrated films surrounding, seemed to roll under the pop culture horror movie radar: A cult film's cult film, if you will.

adrienne barbeau, eighties, george buck flower, ghost ship, horror, james canning, jamie lee curtis, janet leigh, john carpenter, john houseman, nancy loomis, thriller, tom atkins

JOHN CARPENTER'S UNDERRATED GHOST STORY OF 'THE FOG'

The Fog autographed DVD Year: 1980 Depending how you look at it, John Carpenter's THE FOG is a zombie flick since the titular weather-pa...

JOHN AGAR AND JUNE KENNEY IN 'ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--WFFbDxQluk/X6jMQhRcnkI/AAAAAAABZmM/dztU79a75v4HgSZS9QswpVQVf65sAP_mwCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-18%2Bat%2B12.48.20%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="750" height="246" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--WFFbDxQluk/X6jMQhRcnkI/AAAAAAABZmM/dztU79a75v4HgSZS9QswpVQVf65sAP_mwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h246/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-18%2Bat%2B12.48.20%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attack of the Puppet People Year: 1958 Rates: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>A better-suited title for ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE would be A CASE OF DOLLS, and literally as dollmaker John Hoyt places real people, from strangers to former employees to, as tiny hero John Agar goes, an employee's fiance, into sealed packages, and all with one thing in common...Their last mistake was entering the dollmaker's backroom where a sci-fi genre laser-cannon awaits... And although director Bert I. Gordon — aptly nicknamed Mr. Big since his forte was either extra large/small protagonists in a normal sized world — is known as being campy and silly, he can tell a pretty decent story, and this is one of his best, save for that vapid title since they're NOT Puppets (although there's one creepy Dr. Jekyll puppet) and never attack anyone, being totally harmless as the best sequence has the passive ensemble realizing they're all stuck together in a world that consists of a huge dial-up telephone and a phonograph... They have a nightly recess so their mostly polite captor isn't all that bad, just really lonely, and his rudimentary kinship with secretary June Kenney is pathetically endearing... It's just too bad we couldn't hang out with these dolls... ranging from a vain beauty to a young girl singer to a soldier to a cool teenager (TOUCH OF EVIL hophead/beatnik Ken Miller)... for longer: Their interaction is so relaxing, it's a shame they decide to escape so soon, which is understandable, and also quite suspenseful but... Mr. Big knew how to make the most of his character's downtime, no matter what size.

bert i. gordon, cult, exploitation, fifties, horror, john agar, john hoyt, june kenney, ken miller, science-fiction

JOHN AGAR AND JUNE KENNEY IN 'ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE'

Attack of the Puppet People Year: 1958 Rates: **** A better-suited title for ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE would be A CASE OF DOLLS, and liter...

KENT TAYLOR & GENE NELSON IN MAURY DEXTER'S 'THE PURPLE HILLS'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0MlBgnNweR8/X8n7LaNpPHI/AAAAAAABaa0/cLl2qiVngOMAynQN5s_ghYZptQidXElAwCLcBGAsYHQ/s863/23%2B2.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="863" height="353" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0MlBgnNweR8/X8n7LaNpPHI/AAAAAAABaa0/cLl2qiVngOMAynQN5s_ghYZptQidXElAwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h353/23%2B2.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Purple Hills Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Another Maury Dexter Western following WALK TALL that Kent Taylor played a character that tries conniving and convincing a beautiful woman to go against the good guy, who doesn't seem all that good: in this case bounty hunter Gene Nelson, collecting on a bounty he has to fight for... The twist is that classy lowlife Taylor also wants credit for the hefty sum but without being blamed by the bounty's younger, vengeful brother played by stuntman Jerry Summers, supposedly raised by beautiful Joanna Barnes, much too young as he's far too old for the role...But Russ Bender as the aged sheriff is perfectly cast by Dexter, per usual, as most of the picture has four people after a dead body whilst fearing the inevitable collision of angry Apaches...Winding up the finale on a dilapidated bridge where the "good guys" hole up against approaching Indians (fighting each other as well), and it's as good a shoot-em-up as anything John Ford could do. Plus these b-Western programmers (especially Maury Dexter's) get right to the point, yet there's still tons of pulpy dialogue, especially by Taylor, a genuine scoundrel while Gene Nelson stands around looking strong, blond, determined and, as they say... The Devil gets all the great lines.

action, floyd crosby, gene nelson, jerry summers, joanna barnes, kent taylor, maury dexter, russ bender, western

KENT TAYLOR & GENE NELSON IN MAURY DEXTER'S 'THE PURPLE HILLS'

The Purple Hills Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2 Another Maury Dexter Western following WALK TALL that Kent Taylor played a character that tries c...

MACKENZIE PHILLIPS DRIVES 'RAFFERTY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3ULlz9ZoP6g/X6U2Vq3JrSI/AAAAAAABZfE/cnLhPVCSVlsd3MdXP4Y7o1ww5H4ifYIqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1609/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-05%2Bat%2B11.57.30%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1042" data-original-width="1609" height="259" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3ULlz9ZoP6g/X6U2Vq3JrSI/AAAAAAABZfE/cnLhPVCSVlsd3MdXP4Y7o1ww5H4ifYIqQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h259/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-05%2Bat%2B11.57.30%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Martin Smith & Mack Phillips Year: 1975 Rates: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Combine the personalities of Sally Kellerman and Mackenzie Phillips... one a mellow dreamer, the other a gun-toting schemer... and you have Kellerman's entire character from the previous years' road movie, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/04/james-caan-and-peter-boyle-in-noir.html">SLITHER</a>, making this affable performance seem like she's merely along for the ride, leaving all the scene-stealing edginess to her better half Phillips... And basically making Alan Arkin's Rafferty, a boozing ex-Marine/DMV instructor kidnapped by the pair, along for the ride's ride as RAFFTERY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS goes from scene to scene/town to town gathering mossy strangers along the way...From victimized gas station attendants to Las Vegas con man Alex Rocco to Arizona barfly Harry Dean Stanton to young soldier Charles Martin Smith (sharing a terrific motel scene with <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/07/american-graffiti-theatrical-experience.html">AMERICAN GRAFFITI</a> alumni Phillips), they all merely serve witness to the eclectic trio who find predictable camaraderie along the breezy trip; although Arkin lacks initial reluctance: Seconds after Phillips sticks a gun to his head (and even fires it off over his head), elevator music lazily orchestrates a freeway wide-shot like a TV-production, which this often resembles a grungy, freewheeling version of... actually a good thing since RAFFERTY has nothing to lose or gain to either educate or annoy an audience, which refers to both the character and the movie — one worth watching over and over for that reason alone: Lethargy on wheels can be infectious.

alan arkin, alex rocco, comedy, drama, exploitation, harry dean stanton, mackenzie phillips, road movie, sally kellerman, seventies

MACKENZIE PHILLIPS DRIVES 'RAFFERTY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS'

Charles Martin Smith & Mack Phillips Year: 1975 Rates: ***1/2 Combine the personalities of Sally Kellerman and Mackenzie Phillips... one...

STEVE MCQUEEN'S FINAL LIFETIME BOUNTY FOR 'THE HUNTER'

<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/-t818RZyHi8Y/X6OdFJaoeqI/AAAAAAABZZY/OlELjM34nx4N3z8nyZRvOaTbSkM5u_0GwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1797/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-04%2Bat%2B9.46.36%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="1797" height="279" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t818RZyHi8Y/X6OdFJaoeqI/AAAAAAABZZY/OlELjM34nx4N3z8nyZRvOaTbSkM5u_0GwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h279/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-04%2Bat%2B9.46.36%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Debbie Miller & Steve McQueen Year: 1980 Rates: ***1/2 </td></tr></tbody></table>Steve McQueen began his career as a bounty hunter on TV's WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE and ended as one on the big screen, twice: TOM HORN was also a rebounder tale, and actually resembled a theatrical motion picture while THE HUNTER looks and plays-out like a made-for-TV movie... But a pretty good one as McQueen's real life Ralph 'Papa' Thorson seeks various bond-skippers, each more difficult than the next: In one case the violent powerhouse nephew of McQueen's GETAWAY foe Ben Johnson; and later a literally explosive tractor vs Trans Am cornfield chase... Leaving the best for last... That finally suits the big screen involving a desperate, hostage-taking young "shooter" on a subway train, obviously influenced by THE FRENCH CONNECTION as opposed to McQueen's classic BULLITT that THE HUNTER deliberately contradicts, particularly since real life car-fanatic McQueen plays a terrible driver, effectively humorous compared to more contrived setups: like Papa's crowded house of poker buddies, an endearing black kid, a finagling Jewish boss, a crooked cop friend, and a much too perfect pregnant girlfriend, stalked by a vengeful speed-freak adding furious camp value and yet, overall, THE HUNTER delivered for McQueen's fans what they (and even he) didn't realize was a swan song. Plus it's the first and last time he'd utter the cliché line, "I'm too old for this" in a vehicle that's both the end of phase one and the beginning of a comfortably aging phase two — that tragically never happened.

action, ben johnson, cop, crime, eighties, eli wallach, kathryn harrold, steve mcqueen, tribute