cult film freak: family

Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 6/29/2022 / No comments / counter-culture , david greene , deborah winters , drama , drugs , eli wallach , exploitation , family , julie harris , melodrama , seventies , stephen mchattie

DEBORAH WINTERS & ELI WALLACH IN 'THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP-MBgNs3ZYuupawDz-K8CmqTm3WO2YQUOQTPCLMX5OOc9oFooglNf8eqe04jZ7z_pWZdL3cYEDnQAHBI9jAamGUaEUKbo3wKVH0d3dKhjv-ODSy5cZz5Kfna5zJDcwMVeF6Fb99t0roFQ8idGQoN03NEZ1PG92Id261ZUsfIqC0hteenO8XhY1DwaiQ/s1398/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP-MBgNs3ZYuupawDz-K8CmqTm3WO2YQUOQTPCLMX5OOc9oFooglNf8eqe04jZ7z_pWZdL3cYEDnQAHBI9jAamGUaEUKbo3wKVH0d3dKhjv-ODSy5cZz5Kfna5zJDcwMVeF6Fb99t0roFQ8idGQoN03NEZ1PG92Id261ZUsfIqC0hteenO8XhY1DwaiQ/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>David Greene's obscure THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR is out to prove that a parent, in particular a father working eight-hours and then having a nightcap and sleeping pill to fall asleep, is just the same as a wayward teenager dropping acid...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The latter happens quickly as underrated starlet <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/deborah%20winters">Deborah Winters</a>, after watching brother Stephen McHattie's hippie band rehearsing, winds up in her own closet, seeing God on a mountain and thus, freaking out... </p><p><span></span></p>

counter-culture, david greene, deborah winters, drama, drugs, eli wallach, exploitation, family, julie harris, melodrama, seventies, stephen mchattie

DEBORAH WINTERS & ELI WALLACH IN 'THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR'

Title: THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR Year: 1970 Rating: ***1/2 David Greene's obscure THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR is out to prove that a parent, in part...

RACHEL ROBERTS & ANNETTE WHITELEY IN 'GIRL ON APPROVAL'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Annette Whiteley in GIRL ON APPROVAL Year: 1962</u></td></tr>
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If you didn't know the plot going in... that fourteen-year-old Sheila is an unwanted orphan who'd gone through a string of foster parents and is now "trying out for" a couple that could be her very last chance... she'd seem like any other girl her age: Bratty. Moody. Angry. Pouting. Shouting... Favoring friendly dad over competitive mom...<br>
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Basically, GIRL ON APPROVAL is about a normal bad girl at this age, and yet the plot (more a situation) adds enough suspense for the outcome to matter, but not only for the kid...<br>
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Parents Rachel Roberts and James Maxwell, who'd lost their daughter and, raising two young boys, wind up at each other's throat when this bad seed makes their domestic suburban life a living hell. From cutting up furniture with scissors to smashing things on the kitchen floor, the acting of young Annette Whiteley is strong and effective if one-note-grouchy: like an owl peaking through a messy nest of hair... <br>

annette whiteley, british new wave, drama, family, james maxwell, melodrama, rachel roberts, sixties

RACHEL ROBERTS & ANNETTE WHITELEY IN 'GIRL ON APPROVAL'

Annette Whiteley in GIRL ON APPROVAL Year: 1962 If you didn't know the plot going in... that fourteen-year-old Sheila is an unwanted...

MARK HAMILL AS DAVID IN THE 'EIGHT IS ENOUGH' PILOT EPISODE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Diana Hyland with Mark Hamill in the series pilot of EIGHT IS ENOUGH Season One from 1977-1978</u></td></tr>
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The tragic death of actress Diana Hyland aside (she was John Travolta's real life May/December fiance and his BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE mother)... her character Joan Brandford's exit four episodes into EIGHT IS ENOUGH ironically worked for the best, story-wise...<br>
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Especially since the hour-long suburban dramedy's pilot centered mostly on everyman Dick Van Patten's Tom Bradford and wife Joan struggling to raise those eight titular kids that remain somewhat peripheral during this rather bland kickoff: strange since the youngsters wound up meaning pretty much everything...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Defunct Photobucket effect w/ Dick Van Patten & Mark Hamill on EIGHT IS ENOUGH with Adam Rich and Laurie Walters</u></td></tr>
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Tommy and Nancy are played by different people (semi-cute cult-starlet Kimberly Beck and droopy eyed Oscar Wilde lookalike Chris English) while Mark Hamill, the same year his Luke Skywalker conquered George Lucas's blockbuster STAR WARS, is the eldest son, David Bradford, who, fed up with the full house, moves out and into a bachelor pad.<br>
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The next episode — and the rest of the series — wisely cast the likeable Willie Aames as Tommy, and who doesn't remember bowl-cut fan-favorite Nicholas: the youngest son played by Adam Rich, who was around from the very start unlike another sublime replacement in Dianne Kay's blonde bombshell Nancy. <br>

adam rich, betty buckley, diana hyland, dianne kay, dick van patten, family, grant goodeve, mark hamill, pilot, seventies, TV, willie aames

MARK HAMILL AS DAVID IN THE 'EIGHT IS ENOUGH' PILOT EPISODE

Diana Hyland with Mark Hamill in the series pilot of EIGHT IS ENOUGH Season One from 1977-1978 The tragic death of actress Diana Hyland ...

COOLLY CRUISING THROUGH DISNEY'S OFFBEAT 'SUPERDAD'

barbara rush, bob crane, bruno kirby, comedy, disney, ed begley jr., family, joby baker, kathleen cody, kurt russell, seventies

COOLLY CRUISING THROUGH DISNEY'S OFFBEAT 'SUPERDAD'

Kurt Russell kicking back in SUPERDAD Year: 1973 A bizarre Disney film called SUPERDAD starring HOGAN’S HEROES star Bob Crane who, at ...

KURT RUSSELL, MARTIN SHORT & MEADOW SISTO SAIL 'CAPTAIN RON'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kurt Russell, Martin Short and the beautiful Meadow Sisto in CAPTAIN RON Year: 1992</u></td></tr>
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Martin Short's greatest role was in THREE AMIGOS as a man who 
looked like a boy who acted like a teenager. But when he 
plays a husband/father, i.e. a typical guy in the VACATION style comedy CAPTAIN RON, it doesn't completely wash; and is one of many movies where a successful, hard-working yet uptight 
businessman learns how to become a flake in order to be liked by
 his family. Which happens all the time, on screen...<br>
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With the reluctant, almost accidental "help" of Kurt Russell, resembling ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Snake Plissken's goofy identical brother had he had one, he's the title character who passive-aggressively pilots a dilapidated boat Short was left by his dead uncle: And of course, the scraggly yet endearingly hopeless Ron is their only 
hope as he basically tags along on a busman's holiday around Caribbean-like islands...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Meadow Sisto as Caroline Harvey hotly walks the deck in CAPTAIN RON which Rates: ***</u></td></tr>
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During this uneven adventure/comedy our heroes encounter smugglers, guerillas, bad weather and a bevy of semi-chuckle situations that keep this boat floating, but 
only in shallow waters. What helps is both Mary Kay Place, as the 
wife/mom, and Meadow Sisto, as the daughter/sister, both wearing 
skimpy summer clothes and looking quite lovely. Like mother/daughter Karen Austin and Kerri Green in SUMMER RENTAL, Mary Kay and Meadow compliment each other perfectly. Both are the kind of personal pretty you eventually fall head-over-heels for.  <br>
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Chartered by the 1980's zombie-yarn NIGHT OF THE COMET director Thom Ebersol, 
the rhythm and timing is a tad off, which doesn't matter when it
 comes to a semi-enjoyable, semi-comfortable, glossy-neon 1990's time-filler. Yet the cast seems in on the joke — if this came out six years earlier, it'd make much more sense. And is Russell parodying himself, the genre, or the previous decade in which he finally grew up after all those years at Disney? <br>

adventure, comedy, family, kurt russell, martin short, mary kay place, meadow sisto, nineties, thom eberhardt