JENNIFER RUNYON AND TIM MATHESON ARE GOING 'UP THE CREEK'

<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/AVvXsEhbtMlk38LVC2UluxkzhCPNuoBc8cgdpuE5sgJnHbKuYQ4uwMdm49XwsYorczldVm3qfcr-csPh7e2m5Uz9b4VJqXj5T8bThY3cDakhth8xZ9YJRRer5chXIyaM9yBS0Cf-pmRC7gdbJuoQ1ex-bejywWzuzP5T8NDIJrDj0tCLYXsqBYfgMc8oop6Ri2Xb/s2104/Screen%20Shot%202026-03-08%20at%206.25.22%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="2104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtMlk38LVC2UluxkzhCPNuoBc8cgdpuE5sgJnHbKuYQ4uwMdm49XwsYorczldVm3qfcr-csPh7e2m5Uz9b4VJqXj5T8bThY3cDakhth8xZ9YJRRer5chXIyaM9yBS0Cf-pmRC7gdbJuoQ1ex-bejywWzuzP5T8NDIJrDj0tCLYXsqBYfgMc8oop6Ri2Xb/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202026-03-08%20at%206.25.22%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jennifer Runyon in UP THE CREEK Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A year following this neglected outdoor comedy, Tim Matheson would ask Chevy Chase to kill him in FLETCH. Chase was originally designed for OTTER in ANIMAL HOUSE, a part that made Matheson, a former child actor who was growing into various roles like a bad cop in MAGNUM FORCE, a household name... but only where cool people live...<br> <br> In FLETCH, Matheson looked somewhere in his late thirties, playing an established businessman. Here he's a broke, grungy college slacker and actually looks much younger than in FLETCH but way too old to be a student. But that's probably intentional...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, college, comedy, dan monohan, eighties, james b. sikking, jeff east, jennifer runyon, john hillerman, julia montgomery, stephen furst, tim matheson

JENNIFER RUNYON AND TIM MATHESON ARE GOING 'UP THE CREEK'

Jennifer Runyon in UP THE CREEK Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 A year following this neglected outdoor comedy, Tim Matheson would ask Chevy Chase...

CLINT EASTWOOD AS DIRTY HARRY VS DAVID SOUL 'MAGNUM FORCE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEggddRaxfTZWmxM0fRmOcq_dQH6yyUtPhdz2zBbVyBJMPjkpwaoNYi6PSa9yorfjFWgF2yNK2kYGTkULjoIzcfwUPuBc9ePT0Dd0OTVyeW7kIdyA0Z8sTTzoZgPik9qz_ap6SyVg1D2ELWvTuX-i4CQQaxShQ2AZEeudzOVeavohhR3Zp0MFxAVz8nnzNQg/s2308/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-05%20at%209.58.47%20PM%202%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1286" data-original-width="2308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggddRaxfTZWmxM0fRmOcq_dQH6yyUtPhdz2zBbVyBJMPjkpwaoNYi6PSa9yorfjFWgF2yNK2kYGTkULjoIzcfwUPuBc9ePT0Dd0OTVyeW7kIdyA0Z8sTTzoZgPik9qz_ap6SyVg1D2ELWvTuX-i4CQQaxShQ2AZEeudzOVeavohhR3Zp0MFxAVz8nnzNQg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-05%20at%209.58.47%20PM%202%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood and David Soul in MAGNUM FORCE Year: 1973 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director Don Siegel's DIRTY HARRY was a cultural phenomenon that gave Clint Eastwood a franchise and character for two decades while defining his persona even beyond the Sergio Leone westerns...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But it was the 1970's, a decade of gritty films but also political correctness, and the sequel... written by John Milius and Clint's future THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT director Michael Cimino... gave the thug-beating, lawbreaking lawman a break by creating a story where there are literal killer cops... actually doing what Harry's been accused of influencing or even instigating (he's even joked about being a suspect since he hates criminals so much)— all to make Dirty Harry Callahan less crooked and more by-the-book, by comparison...  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, clint eastwood, cop, david soul, dirty harry, felton perry, franchise, hal holbrook, john milius, michael cimino, richard devon, robert urich, seventies, tim matheson

CLINT EASTWOOD AS DIRTY HARRY VS DAVID SOUL 'MAGNUM FORCE'

Clint Eastwood and David Soul in MAGNUM FORCE Year: 1973 Rating: ****1/2 Director Don Siegel's DIRTY HARRY was a cultural phenomenon tha...

TIM MATHESON IS A BOWLING 'DREAMER' WITH SUSAN BLAKELY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil40AZ6WSVk0N5AhV26Dsg3-ILqNFhtiOacRCoc0XrwktNmvz123nsLqpVabhFLCt0_GlgiXuLYtTZtFTWZIlzmYBcHdzg-GB4CMjeD2s14LE1FLFwFXVHpcgFtAG9Sk7Po2Nua56_wQ6S/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-04-11+at+12.32.43+AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil40AZ6WSVk0N5AhV26Dsg3-ILqNFhtiOacRCoc0XrwktNmvz123nsLqpVabhFLCt0_GlgiXuLYtTZtFTWZIlzmYBcHdzg-GB4CMjeD2s14LE1FLFwFXVHpcgFtAG9Sk7Po2Nua56_wQ6S/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-04-11+at+12.32.43+AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tim Matheson and Susan Blakely in DREAMER Year: 1979</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Quickly following a retro opening-credit montage of the unique and antique history of the sport of bowling, you’d think the motion picture was about to end...<br> <br> With the kind of gloriously climactic energy composer Bill Conti gave to Rocky Balboa's final bout in the two films made, we have Tim Matheson, as a character named DREAMER, winning a tournament as victorious music blares.<br>

import, jack warden, matt clark, mews small, richard b. shull, seventies, sport, susan blakely, tim matheson

TIM MATHESON IS A BOWLING 'DREAMER' WITH SUSAN BLAKELY

Tim Matheson and Susan Blakely in DREAMER Year: 1979 Quickly following a retro opening-credit montage of the unique and antique history ...

ELYSSA DAVALOS IN 'THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lpiquHJSJi5SpwA2rgp_kzJZqyBMubT4dDaKlDGlCi4hjtoEg5NAr-hQibLQvOuOcTj_RX5q11kFCH3628lqcg1sYAwok0Ygp8nJnSU8p3ZXKsJbXpQ0bTJAo1BOELuTZuqOX0lh4yTR/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-13+at+2.17.49+PM+2.37.05+PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lpiquHJSJi5SpwA2rgp_kzJZqyBMubT4dDaKlDGlCi4hjtoEg5NAr-hQibLQvOuOcTj_RX5q11kFCH3628lqcg1sYAwok0Ygp8nJnSU8p3ZXKsJbXpQ0bTJAo1BOELuTZuqOX0lh4yTR/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-13+at+2.17.49+PM+2.37.05+PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Eylssa Davalos and Robert Pine in THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN Year: 1979</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The original APPLE DUMPLING GANG is one of those experiences you remember as a kid for two good reasons: Don Knotts and Tim Conway as clumsy bank robbers Theodore and Amos. But upon rewatching you realize they aren’t in the movie enough...<br> <br> Too much time's spent on Bill Bixby and a group of orphans, who deemed themselves The Apple Dumpling Gang, <i>not</i> named after Knotts and Conway despite this superior sequel keeping the title for continuity’s sake (liken to THE PINK PANTHER and THIN MAN franchises). <br>

comedy, disney, don knotts, elyssa davalos, harry morgan, morgan paull, sequel, tim conway, tim matheson

ELYSSA DAVALOS IN 'THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN'

Eylssa Davalos and Robert Pine in THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN Year: 1979 The original APPLE DUMPLING GANG is one of those experi...

PAMELA SUE MARTIN POSSESSES 'BAY COVE' WITH TIM MATHESON

<span style="font-size: 100%;"><table align="center" 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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvHEbew72cCzvwnfJqTdk_pMfP_mxYsdvSthYFczVDhTnCeeh0_ZTjzu9oRnAI0He1o8Uw7k5JwzusO5-lzLOXV5ngsMGotFsomdD-yIFzEkh2CWhrwfPZdbspvdQEmgyZsi9tIg4fKcNtN1qM1DwWJ0tWClRz6SXIOeNOzTuXjED_i0WTFXbwA7LIp4q/s1536/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-21%20at%204.24.46%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1232" data-original-width="1536" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvHEbew72cCzvwnfJqTdk_pMfP_mxYsdvSthYFczVDhTnCeeh0_ZTjzu9oRnAI0He1o8Uw7k5JwzusO5-lzLOXV5ngsMGotFsomdD-yIFzEkh2CWhrwfPZdbspvdQEmgyZsi9tIg4fKcNtN1qM1DwWJ0tWClRz6SXIOeNOzTuXjED_i0WTFXbwA7LIp4q/w400-h321/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-21%20at%204.24.46%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><u>Pamela Sue Martin in BAY COVE Year: 1987 Rates: ***1/2<br></u></span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Occasionally, made-for-television horror movies are surprisingly good, like GARGOYLES, SALEM'S LOT, or </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Pamela Sue Martin and Tim Matheson as a big city couple who decide to move to the nearby old-fashioned island of BAY COVE, which, it turns out, has some strange content...</span><br> <br> <span style="font-size: 100%;">Including an eerie old man who stares out a window SENTINEL style; neighbors who hatefully fear dogs like STRANGE INVADERS; and a cemetery that's most recent headstone dates back to the 1700's, possibly making the middle-aged residents a couple hundred years old as Pamela Sue's our investigative Mia Farrow ala ROSEMARY’S BABY (sans impregnation) while in-denial Matheson adheres quickly to the weird locals, taking the John Cassavetes soulless husband mantel; and Woody Harrelson's the heroine's best friend who, like Maurice Evans, gets a piece of clothing stolen before buying the farm... </span><br>

barbara billingsly, eighties, exploitation, horror, james b. sikking, jeff conaway, marsha moreau, mystery, occult, pamela sue martin, thriller, tim matheson, tv movie, witch, woody harrelson

PAMELA SUE MARTIN POSSESSES 'BAY COVE' WITH TIM MATHESON

Pamela Sue Martin in BAY COVE Year: 1987 Rates: ***1/2 Occasionally, made-for-television horror movies are surprisingly good, like GARGOYLE...

MEL BROOKS & ANNE BANCROFT REMAKE 'TO BE OR NOT TO BE'

<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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyldTe2uDO0aKQVaxYcBTBxfZKEIRb2_J1v93UvLRHAeEpwrp_3Hh-9wVFVqd8uITL_jRQl_N0ZbiKOfaXFUA8ofUH3sDOE1dAJTkBxLFEl4Ht045IBbThDVmY_250Bb_vrqh7bPXSlJJe/s1600/BDDefinition-ToBeOrNotToBe-b-1080-800x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="494" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyldTe2uDO0aKQVaxYcBTBxfZKEIRb2_J1v93UvLRHAeEpwrp_3Hh-9wVFVqd8uITL_jRQl_N0ZbiKOfaXFUA8ofUH3sDOE1dAJTkBxLFEl4Ht045IBbThDVmY_250Bb_vrqh7bPXSlJJe/s400/BDDefinition-ToBeOrNotToBe-b-1080-800x450.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mel Brooks makes a Bust of Hitler SCORE: **1/2 Year: 1982</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Starts out decently enough, and surprisingly different for Mel Brooks to direct a remake: something that isn't a parody of a serious genre or a humorous take on historical events... <br> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <br> But then the set up, of a husband and wife who are famous stage performers in Poland who, when Hitler takes over, has to close up their theater, becomes an overlong skit involving Brooks and real-life wife Anne Bancroft, with the aid of a sad throwaway role by ANIMAL HOUSE star Tim Matheson as a love-struck soldier: The entire menagerie playing an elaborate scheme on the Nazis that gets way too complicated for it's own good in this remake of a Jack Benny 1940's vehicle (when ensemble comedies were the norm)... Not only do all the wires get tangled up within each other, there's way too many to begin with. And it's understandable turning the Nazis into complete buffoons, especially when spoofing them... but in doing so it takes away any valid threat, making it meaningless to have to trick or defeat them in the first place.<br> <br>

anne bancroft, comedy, mel brooks, nazi, remake, tim matheson, world war II

MEL BROOKS & ANNE BANCROFT REMAKE 'TO BE OR NOT TO BE'

Mel Brooks makes a Bust of Hitler SCORE: **1/2 Year: 1982 Starts out decently enough, and surprisingly different for Mel Brooks to dire...

KURT RUSSELL & TIM MATHESON: 'THE QUEST' DOUBLE-FEATURE

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKjIPP2K2bJUP-ygco0ny_tpziKEARAzN-BjgFlgCd0hXGBtLVJJs34W356A60cee_GFkz8-YhWMaVtgrh2CokNS0StuKQGFmStnPDS3Jih0sQOWhg67YaJkUy_rxDrkOmdZKbac-KIc/s1600/q1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKjIPP2K2bJUP-ygco0ny_tpziKEARAzN-BjgFlgCd0hXGBtLVJJs34W356A60cee_GFkz8-YhWMaVtgrh2CokNS0StuKQGFmStnPDS3Jih0sQOWhg67YaJkUy_rxDrkOmdZKbac-KIc/s200/q1.jpg" width="142" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1976</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMJbbHyYx5UrAIddyCAfXD8Fs_W-ngteflM0a13RMUNWkrU1vU64u7STyG_wmovLQIe5aZRIzLmKILqemyXHkb10AMVCyUmT7eYC93vTDgMng3w4bZKlfRdCXCxbjvz-DA6q_GyCZaCpc/s1600/q2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMJbbHyYx5UrAIddyCAfXD8Fs_W-ngteflM0a13RMUNWkrU1vU64u7STyG_wmovLQIe5aZRIzLmKILqemyXHkb10AMVCyUmT7eYC93vTDgMng3w4bZKlfRdCXCxbjvz-DA6q_GyCZaCpc/s200/q2.jpg" width="146" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">combined grade: B+</td></tr> </tbody></table> Before Kurt Russell joined forces with director John Carpenter and Tim Matheson partied with the Delta Fraternity, the ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and ANIMAL HOUSE alumni, both lifelong child actors turned leading men, played estranged brothers reunited in the short-lived Western television series THE QUEST…<br /> <br /> And while the first and only season isn't yet (and may never be) on DVD, the pilot episode and THE LONGEST DRIVE is available to the public...  Although the show starts out centering more on crippled gunslinger Tank Logan, played by Brian Keith, who winds up, once Russell’s Morgan and Matheson’s Quinton go to a small town where not only most of the story takes place, but the title is all but forgotten – and there’s not much of a quest, really, yet this is a fun, eclectic ninety minute ride nonetheless.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-kwB8MjVeY0tSjalgtWWqiMd1PjIkMS-7h45pEgtQBplAtBxrd0gRxFZb4-eVZqUqWrYoYA0AgTl-UMA4iVzmVKSy1yINPyLV4ny5Yzpcg7bhxzF3Kdo7y6IhBlj9PFpzwC59JQfVMx0/s1600/MV5BMTg3NDM1MDk3NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODYwNzU2._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-kwB8MjVeY0tSjalgtWWqiMd1PjIkMS-7h45pEgtQBplAtBxrd0gRxFZb4-eVZqUqWrYoYA0AgTl-UMA4iVzmVKSy1yINPyLV4ny5Yzpcg7bhxzF3Kdo7y6IhBlj9PFpzwC59JQfVMx0/s200/MV5BMTg3NDM1MDk3NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODYwNzU2._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg" width="136" /></a></div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8FYg-BnPZb9NZ1ECXp3bBBC4IZX1Xt2Mi7noRt_wPCCwA6uDcmfca3UvBwG4RR57IYs7OdM2zfpApVwosM2cTbR_X3OssX_n9HKRXwoGvU-_VfV_6yahoXkacqgJ7oRmCbaKeovd0bmI/s1600/MV5BMTkyODA3NDIxNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDYwNzU2._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8FYg-BnPZb9NZ1ECXp3bBBC4IZX1Xt2Mi7noRt_wPCCwA6uDcmfca3UvBwG4RR57IYs7OdM2zfpApVwosM2cTbR_X3OssX_n9HKRXwoGvU-_VfV_6yahoXkacqgJ7oRmCbaKeovd0bmI/s200/MV5BMTkyODA3NDIxNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDYwNzU2._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg" width="151" /></a>Russell is the both main character and sidekick. Serving as a Caucasian Tonto with a nickname of “Two Persons,” he was captured at a young age and raised by Native Americans, or as called back in the day, Indians, making his speech halting and his idealism strong, the polar opposite of the more narrow-minded white man surrounding the main stars, including Keith’s Logan...<br /> <br /> Which doesn’t mean he’s not an endearing character readymade for audiences to root for: Montage scenes where Tank teaches Quinton (Matheson), who was a young doctor in San Fransisco, how to use a six shooter like a Wild West outlaw are fun and involving, allowing the always likable and wide-smiling Matheson to step out of his co-star’s shadow.<br /> <br /> Russell and Matheson’s chemistry, which was to be the basis of the entire show’s plot about two estranged brothers searching for their missing sister, is overshadowed by Brian Keith and his connection with either sibling – as a mentor to one and an example of a flawed but ultimately kindhearted outlaw to the other. So much attention is given Keith, one would except him to headline the series that followed.  <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeI48btiT2jgiM4PmvU5dyR6aHd3cLXImYCCQqW-jKIf0bMixhgv55iBuBmzzi-TXYydkzk-TVfbD5FiZ84iUNVPRXgjyZ1c88USO9qACjRZtCektsJ7EV9wRhkI9LTPpHR0m0yzHUgeM/s1600/q2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeI48btiT2jgiM4PmvU5dyR6aHd3cLXImYCCQqW-jKIf0bMixhgv55iBuBmzzi-TXYydkzk-TVfbD5FiZ84iUNVPRXgjyZ1c88USO9qACjRZtCektsJ7EV9wRhkI9LTPpHR0m0yzHUgeM/s200/q2.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXp9TD6PD7tBLL9WkbsMkbSa_JTI3I8xt_jEEbc9eeBwK_2KBik_GnqbBHt44m7dpTxPNB2CgQYPVkWPOxc7483D-5e78VAIkxgeUOeaqE1Wum1yzw3ezVnsxa4Zq4pgZDPnRPSYHwyE/s1600/q1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXp9TD6PD7tBLL9WkbsMkbSa_JTI3I8xt_jEEbc9eeBwK_2KBik_GnqbBHt44m7dpTxPNB2CgQYPVkWPOxc7483D-5e78VAIkxgeUOeaqE1Wum1yzw3ezVnsxa4Zq4pgZDPnRPSYHwyE/s200/q1.jpg" width="110" /></a>And in the middle of the first and only season, a two-part episode titled THE LONGEST DRIVE has now become a "movie" although it's really a prolonged episode...<br /> <br /> Which doesn't mean that DRIVE, where Russell's Two-Persons and Matheson's Quinton help another old man out, isn't a fully fleshed out yarn...<br /> <br /> Unlike the intentionally endearing Brian Keith character from the pilot, Dan O'Herily is a tough old codger who, running a dilapidated ranch, needs someone, anyone, to herd his cattle across the plains for enough money to keep the business going. Although O'Herily's Matthew Hatcher does loosen up a bit, he's a hard boss to endure, mostly taking it out on Erik Estrada's Santos, a lifelong ranch hand.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZE_eM7bzLbDjhVMB0KnfAk5zd-nWdSXW-Iq8k-7FZQbXJJ_gsvFVQgzP1oMr7wy4KLBUNOHsWyQirMnMgtQCMoEe8zrXuPGHz25Kff-VWDcAmbT7aN2-jc-OLEdbW5UBOWFL0xIzVneg/s1600/q1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZE_eM7bzLbDjhVMB0KnfAk5zd-nWdSXW-Iq8k-7FZQbXJJ_gsvFVQgzP1oMr7wy4KLBUNOHsWyQirMnMgtQCMoEe8zrXuPGHz25Kff-VWDcAmbT7aN2-jc-OLEdbW5UBOWFL0xIzVneg/s200/q1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> Along with Estrada, who was a year away from his star-making CHIPS role, is an eclectic mix of "losers" including Gary Lockwood as a womanizing gambler; an out of place John Rubinstein as a young sketch artist (you'll notice his character's work above and below)...<br /> <br />  Keenan Wynn as an alcoholic cook (his son Tracy wrote most of the series); Woody Strode as a stubborn blacksmith; and two young brothers with underlying nefarious agenda to steal cattle along the way.<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuK8ijHsTAtCWigT2XomnzAcMSTedyv47_Yp9sjOiST5Sky8WMmBuO_jbZfD_FqshNCvuI_cMAwympTqqFPMIlLewSUkdqPUDkfBEgpLPJxZRn8x822eKh-8dH6beWiF-D2K5QodpuWIs/s1600/q6.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuK8ijHsTAtCWigT2XomnzAcMSTedyv47_Yp9sjOiST5Sky8WMmBuO_jbZfD_FqshNCvuI_cMAwympTqqFPMIlLewSUkdqPUDkfBEgpLPJxZRn8x822eKh-8dH6beWiF-D2K5QodpuWIs/s320/q6.jpg" width="144" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNvVywOCHuRTiPr3PMxdN-7QhCG1JO8EojYxwz7-E84h-mGXdRm62MqWKAsnZCut4PsOi-BeJkRBYkYoVTstu6PXP85zshTjHw7NV9m9Eb05UuG6jrJ0wyx_J1FhdwOJM1R3elQBdCDOI/s1600/q5.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNvVywOCHuRTiPr3PMxdN-7QhCG1JO8EojYxwz7-E84h-mGXdRm62MqWKAsnZCut4PsOi-BeJkRBYkYoVTstu6PXP85zshTjHw7NV9m9Eb05UuG6jrJ0wyx_J1FhdwOJM1R3elQBdCDOI/s320/q5.jpg" width="144" /></a>THE LONGEST DRIVE is an involving adventure as this unfit group head out under the scorching sun, and yet the snags that occur along the way, including an Indian visit and a group of armed teenage poachers, are resolved much too easily, leaving the two white trash rustlers with the most potential for an impending threat.<br /> <br /> The last part, after a few characters bite the dust early, involve the survivors risking their lives to make the drive on time across the most dangerous terrain, although everything's summed up into one five minute scene where each character, practically dying from the heat, discusses their past, wherein a skinny, wimpy looking Rubinstein, reminiscing on his Yale Football past, takes you out of the Western genre peril... And yet he surprisingly pulls off a good fight scene earlier on, showing he's more than a token wet-behind-the-ears city slicker. And the chemistry between Russell and Matheson is so established and cozy they hardly interact at this point. So in a nutshell, THE QUEST, based on these two available episodes, seemed like a fairly decent show. Too bad, during the mid-to-latter 1970's, the Cowboy genre was no longer popular with television audiences. So keep your fingers crossed for a compete bagful of QUEST reviews, possibly coming to a frontier near you...<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

brian keith, kurt russell, morgan woodward, tim matheson, TV

KURT RUSSELL & TIM MATHESON: 'THE QUEST' DOUBLE-FEATURE

year: 1976 combined grade: B+ Before Kurt Russell joined forces with director John Carpenter and Tim Matheson partied with the Delta...

LEE PURCELL & TIM MATHESON IN ALMOST SUMMER

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8jJvLIUnojTVzsra2ATI6aGUxckcXbjgVaMOBFeuxBsc0fbFFkKBUEcpSdyoipHwDWwvy8sLkAPKtSbOq5_mExu5rEiV9zJLzCDEAO9kTdkVM5dRsHzj3i_Ir4GbZ-y8rR8IuO4Uc1Xd/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-12-17+at+4.01.34+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="1020" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8jJvLIUnojTVzsra2ATI6aGUxckcXbjgVaMOBFeuxBsc0fbFFkKBUEcpSdyoipHwDWwvy8sLkAPKtSbOq5_mExu5rEiV9zJLzCDEAO9kTdkVM5dRsHzj3i_Ir4GbZ-y8rR8IuO4Uc1Xd/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-12-17+at+4.01.34+PM.jpg" width="269" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR: 1978</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The same year Tim Matheson helped lead the Delta Fraternity to victory in ANIMAL HOUSE, he co-starred in a much smaller and far more subtle, less historically significant and practically impossible to find comedy that also involved a food fight, although his character, high school quarterback Kevin Hawkins, is nowhere to be found when the munchies fly… <br /> <br /> <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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvheatLZ84V5jbm1K83vT5OtHp18Vu6oUCUzo_Yx_sARDFMpTMJ8d8vJteOVss9JCO2FKNRlR3HFWSz1x2Trq6fJe_BEQMFlLf-QTltKbHCP2MAb_S_uGfCxneGqdlRhIHR9lxDwtVkE/s1600/5.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvheatLZ84V5jbm1K83vT5OtHp18Vu6oUCUzo_Yx_sARDFMpTMJ8d8vJteOVss9JCO2FKNRlR3HFWSz1x2Trq6fJe_BEQMFlLf-QTltKbHCP2MAb_S_uGfCxneGqdlRhIHR9lxDwtVkE/s400/5.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lee Purcell in Almost Summer</td></tr> </tbody></table> Either is his on/off girlfriend Christine Alexander. Played by the lovely and talented Lee Purcell a year after the surf classic BIG WEDNESDAY, she desperately wants to become class president, a title pretty much in the bag: That is until political manipulator Bruno Kirby as Bobby DeVito, along with future WHITE SHADOW star Thomas Carter as sidekick Dean Hampton, discovers an underdog to possibly steal the election away from the energetic shoe-in, Christine, who's not only popular but can really deliver a heartfelt speech about obscurity and suicide...<br /> <br /> Enter the film’s buried lead… As Darryl Fitzgerald, THE WANDERERS character-actor John Friedrich, usually cast as unstrung neurotic types, provides an everyman dark horse candidate that, like much of the cast herein, behaves more like college students than high schoolers... Although Didi Conn, the same year she played the endearing Frenchy in GREASE, fits the bubbly youthful aura to a tee. With her wide signature grin and an immense crush on the climbing Darryl, she’s the true diamond in the rough, perfectly acting her naïveté. <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifO8_UYyLUGdr3XuJHnV9jQwtUaxZ1wvM6YjYl1Fr1SLTcQFCBYPFZzI4aT9UBuFKQXzEmN3NGPCBJHBuA5mLXF_V4dNpSvWNQtvfHT9TJg4QHLAnN97BKXfSrnUNPxl_NLjXEcZ2fx_Y/s1600/Screen+shot+2015-08-30+at+1.08.38+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifO8_UYyLUGdr3XuJHnV9jQwtUaxZ1wvM6YjYl1Fr1SLTcQFCBYPFZzI4aT9UBuFKQXzEmN3NGPCBJHBuA5mLXF_V4dNpSvWNQtvfHT9TJg4QHLAnN97BKXfSrnUNPxl_NLjXEcZ2fx_Y/s1600/Screen+shot+2015-08-30+at+1.08.38+AM.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim & Lee</td></tr> </tbody></table> The breezy title, shown in neon licorice font during a frolicking beach party opening, makes ALMOST SUMMER seem like a free-for-all high school romp, when in actuality the plot is lean and contained, strictly adhering to the fairly serious election plotline.<br /> <br /> <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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfr8Hf3aoBEqIcUl6OoktZU9yUk89TedG_jQL3vLJ3HHFLO37Q85LtFNaDFr8_2CM0ZHSdG0s85meWBzz2WPkm8HlOpC-xh8zUupp38EfucTd30kSjhGS7uvLoLMMHXVUO6feP0uIOONA/s1600/Picture+2.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfr8Hf3aoBEqIcUl6OoktZU9yUk89TedG_jQL3vLJ3HHFLO37Q85LtFNaDFr8_2CM0ZHSdG0s85meWBzz2WPkm8HlOpC-xh8zUupp38EfucTd30kSjhGS7uvLoLMMHXVUO6feP0uIOONA/s200/Picture+2.png" width="91" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Score: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> And possibly caused by the fact many bootleg VHS-converted titles have been edited from their original source, the only real downside is that we never get to know the characters well enough before the ballots are counted... especially Friedman's Darryl: turning from unknown zero to popular politician, he should have been more fleshed-out for the transition to really matter... Also more interaction between John and polar opposite Lee Purcell, the two most interesting performers throughout, would have worked to energize the heated competition...<br /> <br /> Instead, Purcell's sporadic spats with Tim Matheson are reminiscent of any high school melodrama, and her hinted-at romance with Bruno Kirby is as believable as Hilary Clinton hooking up with Karl Rove. Perhaps some party time groovin' to The Beach Boys would help alleviate the busy and stressful wheeling and dealing had on campus. Maybe the writers were making a grownup story within a youth oriented setting, on purpose, to show how politics can effect the youth culture, or something... But Either way, the talented actors and actresses make this SUMMER worth experiencing... at least once.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Vm3FegV21E9KhohZ2fXmCSgee4xdWWVW-KyZ46edZFgDuFdql8_01-CA9hZ0705oU9fE4LSC_mUzRq6a1oOV6UeoVnKm9rVGDQPC-TtJCNyhGVtt0qA-vjRewMs4tsBsvZaDRgw5M0k/s1600/111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Vm3FegV21E9KhohZ2fXmCSgee4xdWWVW-KyZ46edZFgDuFdql8_01-CA9hZ0705oU9fE4LSC_mUzRq6a1oOV6UeoVnKm9rVGDQPC-TtJCNyhGVtt0qA-vjRewMs4tsBsvZaDRgw5M0k/s1600/111.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To the left... Byron Stewart and Thomas Carter  (Coolidge & Hayward) would later star in THE WHITE SHADOW</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

bruno kirby, didi conn, high school, import, john friedrich, lee purcell, seventies, thomas carter, tim matheson

LEE PURCELL & TIM MATHESON IN ALMOST SUMMER

YEAR: 1978 The same year Tim Matheson helped lead the Delta Fraternity to victory in ANIMAL HOUSE, he co-starred in a much smaller and f...

ANOTHER BLOODY BAGFUL OF ECLECTIC HORROR

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1wZCElo50Qk0keX2GBEK2JtwwDFplgcCa3U5iCLeHStTwcBnwX8mszSds2tOO_LJcicYNcAM95LiynGGtxbizMwRxB_fP62pXAjt3lBLbUeri222I2Al4VugbZUM7IP5eh4AZO8v3DE/s1600/31966_117684458274518_114286515280979_90987_2058846_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1wZCElo50Qk0keX2GBEK2JtwwDFplgcCa3U5iCLeHStTwcBnwX8mszSds2tOO_LJcicYNcAM95LiynGGtxbizMwRxB_fP62pXAjt3lBLbUeri222I2Al4VugbZUM7IP5eh4AZO8v3DE/s1600/31966_117684458274518_114286515280979_90987_2058846_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Pictured: Connie Nelson Year: 1971</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><u>DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN:</u> </span>Here's an Al Adamson directed b-movie so tailor made for a drive-in theater, you might have to roll your car inside the living room to watch it...  <br /> <br /> <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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZ_Tf4w3s95ibAoDFbCtVvlBVeWAMhid94oHMeFXyOiWrWkgFr3Rropv-egmdol50Wu2MFf4XmQhhm9A4s226pY1KlxqTUN7dTL3qj3_5Ks8ZXilDmB1zmjULkNDIgstv8Um6sSXcRjKA/s1600/220px-Draculavsfrankposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZ_Tf4w3s95ibAoDFbCtVvlBVeWAMhid94oHMeFXyOiWrWkgFr3Rropv-egmdol50Wu2MFf4XmQhhm9A4s226pY1KlxqTUN7dTL3qj3_5Ks8ZXilDmB1zmjULkNDIgstv8Um6sSXcRjKA/s1600/220px-Draculavsfrankposter.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>DraculaVFrankensteinSCORE: **</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Not exactly a pairing-up of two classic monsters, DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN is more of an exploitation horror: Involving monolog-driven mad scientist J. Carrol Naish working out of a carnival fun house with an axe-wielding idiot man-child, Lon Chaney, sent to kill women for experiments to give his other employee, a brooding Count Dracula, eternal life...<br /> <br /> All the while reanimating Frankenstein's Monster who resembles a melted cabbage... But the worst thing is that it can be quite boring with tedious bouts of dialogue, spouted mostly by two love-struck heroes: A man helping his new girlfriend find her lost sister and eventually happening upon... all that stuff already mentioned (a much cooler yet unlucky couple are beach lovers Connie Nelson and our pal, Gary Kent.) Although at times it can be somewhat involving: A fact which remains completely unexplainable.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLd5yzlr1upOTeYTIc7nU8pdIQ4K8dsvnH3sm1QV-4yuHJ0qWWmGE8_sTw7Semcvt2dFBYg9-OopnXnlxhLu0cRrPmis-ncCj_SICF6Pv-udFlCAlg1yqDrzDdhVclr4J9TDMnm5Hikj4/s1600/209867.1020.A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLd5yzlr1upOTeYTIc7nU8pdIQ4K8dsvnH3sm1QV-4yuHJ0qWWmGE8_sTw7Semcvt2dFBYg9-OopnXnlxhLu0cRrPmis-ncCj_SICF6Pv-udFlCAlg1yqDrzDdhVclr4J9TDMnm5Hikj4/s1600/209867.1020.A.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>1982 rating: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="font-size: 100%;"><u>THE FOREST:</u><b> </b>The set-up to this woodsy body count low budget slasher: the massacre of two couples arriving at the forest... The women first and their boyfriends, who, for some reason, arrive later on... </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: 100%;">This is merely a bizarre platform for a subplot involving the ghosts of two children and their crazy, cannibalistic father played by director Don Jones's stock actor Gary Kent (SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS), who kills, then eats, all females that cross his path: a cheap horror with a lot of activity, including a backstory involving the then-normal dad, kids, and a cheating wife just screaming to be killed keeps you interested enough to forget it's yet another FRIDAY THE 13th ripoff, but with a unique personality all its own. NOTE: The killer's son, child/pre-teen actor Corky Pigeon, played a geek named Freddie (whose secret was tap dancing) on the 80's sitcom SILVER SPOONS. </span><br /> <br /> <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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8BOzeyrPA00f3O4e-S01GP8sJzUQHBX9wxxnodhUCT5P-gByAoj_Sa3_yynsCT4Gh1Cf7sOKpWqvJsNmAhgJYVypMxtearAmAubeKZov_EcTDgmftaAtWueccoNz3kW7Gy0AnjYrdqc/s1600/SPIDERBABYT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8BOzeyrPA00f3O4e-S01GP8sJzUQHBX9wxxnodhUCT5P-gByAoj_Sa3_yynsCT4Gh1Cf7sOKpWqvJsNmAhgJYVypMxtearAmAubeKZov_EcTDgmftaAtWueccoNz3kW7Gy0AnjYrdqc/s1600/SPIDERBABYT.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1964 rating: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u><span style="background-color: white;">SPIDER BABY:</span></u> Whenever there's a horror film about a backwoods family of dimwitted yet dangerous loons, it's usually compared to, or accused for stealing from, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE... but no longer.<br /> <br /> This film, written and directed by Jack Hill ten years prior, starring Lon Chaney as the caretaker of two lethal sisters and their lanky, lughead brother played by scene-stealer Sid Haig, is not only groundbreaking and shocking, but lots of fun as most of the fear is implied: when outsiders visit the house, will Lon be able to stop the twisted clan... especially gorgeous Jill Banner, using knives like spider's teeth... from murdering them? And although things drag in the middle, it's still a minor classic.<br /> <br /> <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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieM1INJkiG1BOQ5_nBWmr9rUMfc-_rOT7pBg5HENx_z2kvVj0mwiLbDi2aZCSaDLEQhudVeHxvVmg7VLivbWGKNLM6v3JC4UdPkdRTDO2Cs0TMvmuEdoFsN0Qgjv8HNjfAUNzyKLFl9AI/s1600/stee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieM1INJkiG1BOQ5_nBWmr9rUMfc-_rOT7pBg5HENx_z2kvVj0mwiLbDi2aZCSaDLEQhudVeHxvVmg7VLivbWGKNLM6v3JC4UdPkdRTDO2Cs0TMvmuEdoFsN0Qgjv8HNjfAUNzyKLFl9AI/s1600/stee.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1987 rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="font-size: 100%;"><u><span style="background-color: white;">THE STEPFATHER</span></u>: A fantastic, fully-satisfying suspense/horror from Canada about a man who always needs a new family to kill starring Terry O'Quinn, years before gaining fame on LOST...</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: 100%;">As the title character, one minute he's extremely bland and unassuming, the next an intensely driven, strict "family values" patriarch, and eventually a complete psychopath, yet never showing<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>the cards... Keeping protagonist Jill Schoelen, as the unfortunate new step-daughter, on her toes. Meanwhile, a</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> side-story involving a young man's search for the Stepfather (before he strikes again) adds a nice peripheral balance, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchock and Brian De Palma's best work.</span><br /> <br /> <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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDMurKghokV9O4HuiR2FTYoKqnYGWEgHUt0O5XHWMGTQaJj27iz_pgy53wn1zJoZPI3L2PW7NGX7afVmyZaRtDWT-vFy1ZCz08H_jHX9BINRkCeKMpY2apo5SZW93dMV5z9pbGB343M0/s1600/INNOCENT+BLOD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDMurKghokV9O4HuiR2FTYoKqnYGWEgHUt0O5XHWMGTQaJj27iz_pgy53wn1zJoZPI3L2PW7NGX7afVmyZaRtDWT-vFy1ZCz08H_jHX9BINRkCeKMpY2apo5SZW93dMV5z9pbGB343M0/s1600/INNOCENT+BLOD.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1992 rating: **</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><u>INNOCENT BLOOD:</u> Decent</span> premise with good beginnings: A sexy, hungry french Vampire (Anne Parillaud) in America sets her sights on mafia kingpin Robert Loggia... a clever gag has her being repelled by Loggia's breath before she bits him... he's Italian, therefore reeking of garlic.<br /> <br /> Our anti-heroine bloodsucker, while feasting on various evil mobsters, falls in love with undercover cop Anthony LaPalgia while they both try stopping Loggia, who's not only head of the mob but now a powerful vamp himself while director John Landis, returning to horror a decade after AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, balances humor and horror okay, but there's not enough going for either genre... Unlike the Werewolf classic, BLOOD is neither funny or scary: The choice of the vamps screeching like rabid cougars is pretty lame. And in the Landis fashion, there are many clips of other classic movies being watched on television by various characters, but homage becomes too excessive: making one long for those films instead.<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEtk5vRX5shaYgwdBS87G2mc8Mvv_Zn_cu7T5FtP-7o2oiDAha-s7Z9_5JRzq2YIbY1q6qmc2mGpXOJ1GKnJh4wKA6GJ1qCaVowb1g8aLp79oJhxqlFcDUeipZ0rwPKQw0LW7dfT-rEs/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEtk5vRX5shaYgwdBS87G2mc8Mvv_Zn_cu7T5FtP-7o2oiDAha-s7Z9_5JRzq2YIbY1q6qmc2mGpXOJ1GKnJh4wKA6GJ1qCaVowb1g8aLp79oJhxqlFcDUeipZ0rwPKQw0LW7dfT-rEs/s1600/Picture+1.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>1983 rating: *1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">AMITYVILLE 3D</span>:</u> Gone are the days when 3D meant things moving towards the camera in a contrived manner. It's hilarious seeing this in 2D years later after the gimmick not only wore off, but is seen as merely that. Yet this film suffers from more than pretension of a 50s-era trend trying desperately to regain itself in the 1980's...<br /> <br /> Although the first ten minutes as Tony Roberts and Candy Clark trick a pair of seance-giving charlatans is not bad, the rest of the movie, after Roberts moves into the ghostly manor with his gorgeous daughter Lori Laughlin (visited by her friend, Meg Ryan), is quite stale. And those ever-buzzing flies just aren't scary... In fact, they never were.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yUb1BgajHDH2rGnUZfVdG02tX7J7LHzoVqBEFE0_Ou5yA0hWA_8g30nze8azfN8jlv55_rzueQ5KAFNlOL6ZWIRJYejpqHK5V8mW71RWr-uL24K8Fa4fUt35Falch1Zs6ZHK6-EPdno/s1600/CONNELLY.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yUb1BgajHDH2rGnUZfVdG02tX7J7LHzoVqBEFE0_Ou5yA0hWA_8g30nze8azfN8jlv55_rzueQ5KAFNlOL6ZWIRJYejpqHK5V8mW71RWr-uL24K8Fa4fUt35Falch1Zs6ZHK6-EPdno/s1600/CONNELLY.JPG" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1985 rating: *1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>PHENOMENA</u>:<b> </b>It's hard to stare at bugs, especially maggots, for very long... Some can't even say the M word out loud...<br /> <br /> But not for teenager Jennifer Connely who has the power to read their little minds, thus aiding Donald Pleasence, as a insect forensic expert, in finding a serial killer roaming around much like the phantom in Dario's SUSPERIA, which this is either a ripoff or, since it's the same man behind it, a homage by crashing girl's heads through windows, using a Goblin soundtrack but this time adding Iron Maiden and Motorhead tunes: So if you enjoy watching Jennifer Connelly, right after a flashback role in ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA and before playing a sexy ingenue in her career making CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, this isn't bad... but if you want a good horror flick, or a movie that actually goes somewhere: best try something else.<br /> <br /> <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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbZ3xxmG9g6wJugMtMtPNrRT4SkIskpWZ5mt9BuEQlp2N_QNyWUspnPnZmOoGCmPxdoSFg35Qo0SLge-JPeVPX0WLFA7WVGIfSfIRodlagoMiDUyW-kKJ5mPoJQSydl3Cllg5J1_fB0I/s1600/28204.1020.A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbZ3xxmG9g6wJugMtMtPNrRT4SkIskpWZ5mt9BuEQlp2N_QNyWUspnPnZmOoGCmPxdoSFg35Qo0SLge-JPeVPX0WLFA7WVGIfSfIRodlagoMiDUyW-kKJ5mPoJQSydl3Cllg5J1_fB0I/s1600/28204.1020.A.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1981 rating: **1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u><span style="background-color: white;">THE HAND:</span> </u>Michael Caine is terrific in this otherwise mediocre thriller by first-time director yet already screenplay Oscar winning Oliver Stone. Story centers on a cartoonist (Caine) who loses his hand in an automobile accident – technically the most riveting scene. After which he rehabilitates while the severed limb is, or seems to be, crawling around doing his dirty work for him.<br /> <br /> <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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOeyE_QLpRh_ELN9GE8rV8OG5faVnELp7iiakuRN1exf8kPNrIKFnyi3me8u05ohCfWcIbqO-xZlCGqpMVk89hEWsz8bkLeNn06mggHO30vXU_xnwsRosg2QUuW0zG06q6FcMBYn-5fo/s1600/n1111.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOeyE_QLpRh_ELN9GE8rV8OG5faVnELp7iiakuRN1exf8kPNrIKFnyi3me8u05ohCfWcIbqO-xZlCGqpMVk89hEWsz8bkLeNn06mggHO30vXU_xnwsRosg2QUuW0zG06q6FcMBYn-5fo/s200/n1111.jpg" width="107" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Midnight Relocated</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Stone’s best direction occurs during taut conversations between Caine and the people around him, providing a suspenseful base liken to stage-influenced British horror films, building character development in lue of cheap shocks. But scenes involving The Hand itself look a bit cheesy, and sporadic cuts to black and white seem misplaced, contrasting from our protagonist turned antagonist and revolving side-characters Annie McEnroe (THE SURVIVORS, THE HOWLING II) as a tempestuous college student, Bruce McGill as a temperamental shrink, and Caine’s cheating wife Andrea Marovicci: his ultimate target.<br /> <br /> The film has moments, but loses its grip less than halfway through. Although, witnessing Michael Caine slowly going mad – a role that, according to Stone, took a toll on the actor’s real life – is worth the ninety minutes.<br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div>

al adamson, candy clark, connie nelson, cult, eighties, exploitation, gary kent, horror, jennifer connelly, lon chaney jr., michael caine, oliver stone, pamela sue martin, sequel, seventies, tim matheson

ANOTHER BLOODY BAGFUL OF ECLECTIC HORROR

Pictured: Connie Nelson Year: 1971 DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN: Here's an Al Adamson directed b-movie so tailor made for a drive-in the...

TIM MATHESON IS 'DREAMER' W/ SUSAN BLAKELY & JACK WARDEN

<div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/04/dreamer.html">DREAMER REVIEW MOVED HERE</a><br /><br /> <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/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt_ZMpkavYuDmZ_VykKW3-Z0TbTp0oIyQqnvcUDWQToaomgrk4ugs0pgn1BE_lmJU59v0CKVFfd2x8O_fJsLdUbSqbmxIWvi9fQkp02JGzRt1LIzTwjXiAL3nB9QE1vbp8zguZ9VYdKNYL/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-10-09+at+1.32.41+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1150" data-original-width="1270" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt_ZMpkavYuDmZ_VykKW3-Z0TbTp0oIyQqnvcUDWQToaomgrk4ugs0pgn1BE_lmJU59v0CKVFfd2x8O_fJsLdUbSqbmxIWvi9fQkp02JGzRt1LIzTwjXiAL3nB9QE1vbp8zguZ9VYdKNYL/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-10-09+at+1.32.41+AM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Susan Blakely looking down on DREAMER Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkR2P7WXUo7vKjCP2WA2AHafd-RGQ4L2hJcz5RFTvONEWGcRS32wQA_kwWWT3VlLinnnsKeHn4L8M9fiFJ8uGC8ooN1n1Wp7bcWW9mLM1Be1voq3yPoPP71ZJHsdKR4BCL46rgCgB0YB8G/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-10-09+at+1.29.35+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkR2P7WXUo7vKjCP2WA2AHafd-RGQ4L2hJcz5RFTvONEWGcRS32wQA_kwWWT3VlLinnnsKeHn4L8M9fiFJ8uGC8ooN1n1Wp7bcWW9mLM1Be1voq3yPoPP71ZJHsdKR4BCL46rgCgB0YB8G/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-10-09+at+1.29.35+AM.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tim Matheson bowls another strike in DREAMER</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKE7ABhv09Q9uFzz1icN1T8xruRTFsUalFQK0YmVgS6n_Ia_juRpQXzjfilJ9MuGySr_XK6_xWi5B3jodfsWY_JX_G8lPtRAMaBCGTTqwxDzCd9a3MehWdLkR2izVUvzLKRttJsSQ14vJL/s1600/d3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKE7ABhv09Q9uFzz1icN1T8xruRTFsUalFQK0YmVgS6n_Ia_juRpQXzjfilJ9MuGySr_XK6_xWi5B3jodfsWY_JX_G8lPtRAMaBCGTTqwxDzCd9a3MehWdLkR2izVUvzLKRttJsSQ14vJL/s640/d3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim Matheson is Dreamer in DREAMER</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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import, jack warden, matt clark, mews small, richard b. schull, seventies, sport, susan blakely, tim matheson

TIM MATHESON IS 'DREAMER' W/ SUSAN BLAKELY & JACK WARDEN

DREAMER REVIEW MOVED HERE Susan Blakely looking down on DREAMER Score: ***1/2 Tim Matheson bowls another strike in DREAMER Tim ...

THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qId1DGLK1w1efq9kDdifuFEqISMUuePH76MG5J5fAfBimA2DjO0s3F7qveOmiwmnM7OyJCGva-g90VTcVKO6H7z_ZNTzg7CKApjIClZbeGpXkZ4EDjK-2Ek576NgZpYAgtV-qw1RVubv/s1600/title00_232603687.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="423" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qId1DGLK1w1efq9kDdifuFEqISMUuePH76MG5J5fAfBimA2DjO0s3F7qveOmiwmnM7OyJCGva-g90VTcVKO6H7z_ZNTzg7CKApjIClZbeGpXkZ4EDjK-2Ek576NgZpYAgtV-qw1RVubv/s640/title00_232603687.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1979 cast: Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Tim Matheson, Elyssa Davalos, Robert Pine rating: ***1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> The original APPLE DUMPLING GANG is one of those experiences you remember as a kid for two reasons: Don Knotts and Tim Conway as two hilariously clumsy bank robbers. But upon rewatching you realize they aren’t in the movie enough.<br /> <br /> Unlike using comic relief mascots sparingly in a successful manor (so not to ware out their welcome), like John Belushi in ANIMAL HOUSE, Sean Penn in FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, or Michael Keaton in BEETLEJUICE, the comic duo are needed much more in the first Disney film that spends too much time on Bill Bixby and his orphans who deem themselves The Apple Dumpling Gang. That’s right… the Gang isn’t even named after Knotts and Conway – but in this superior sequel they keep the title for continuity’s sake.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggACr0G2O2KJ0d9n1tJvnPp894CS9qJpfs8s3zrEOWFouHRj4gzLOWw8vSQ-ARWxV9OQKGrLH_hErLARn5x01T-C8vY3krCLd_f4ovdeQUlgsPUj9cERLppuA5Y5l7RW73iO91i_vWJYUo/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggACr0G2O2KJ0d9n1tJvnPp894CS9qJpfs8s3zrEOWFouHRj4gzLOWw8vSQ-ARWxV9OQKGrLH_hErLARn5x01T-C8vY3krCLd_f4ovdeQUlgsPUj9cERLppuA5Y5l7RW73iO91i_vWJYUo/s640/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elyssa Davalos and a shifty Robert Pine</td></tr> </tbody></table> We begin with the two bumbling crooks Theodore (Knotts) and Amos (Conway) who’ve gone straight. Riding around on a faithful mule they enter a mining town to hit a bank: depositing money this time. But two scruffy bank robbers, posing as tellers, steal their loot and the adventure begins – mostly dealing with “The Apple Dumpling Gang” being mistaken as sharpshooters since they accidentally thwarted the legendary Sheriff Hitchcock (Kenneth Mars), who keeps on their trail in a Wile E. Coyote fashion.<br /> <br /> Tim Matheson, as a young private in a Calvary Fort being marauded of supplies, drives the necessary plot; Harry Morgan runs the show with his right hand man played by CHIPS sarge Robert Pine; and providing the love interest (to Pine and then Matheson) is the gorgeous Elyssa Davalos as Morgan’s classy daughter.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiW-81BpCnqSW9riewR9t_EVumLJtJd3mCt4nANUyARz0J-ulUqEeK62iabs2n9I99VVlJSb2DaxBvtwDmh4c2pXo3iEiX-FssgyfsiKVkpcd416G19uvkhPSQ5Ag4OS0CB4_ANHefemMv/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiW-81BpCnqSW9riewR9t_EVumLJtJd3mCt4nANUyARz0J-ulUqEeK62iabs2n9I99VVlJSb2DaxBvtwDmh4c2pXo3iEiX-FssgyfsiKVkpcd416G19uvkhPSQ5Ag4OS0CB4_ANHefemMv/s640/4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elyssa Davalos as Miss Millie Gaskill</td></tr> </tbody></table> Theodore and Amos go from the Fort to a prison to an underground lair run by Jack Elam and his henchman. There are plenty of locations and twists and turns and, while some of the gags aren’t drop dead hilarious, there’s enough going on to keep you entertained till the climax involving a speeding train heist. <br /> <br /> Great stuff and proof that sequels <i>can</i> be better.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVUYxlMiIlaJE41QXbI7i_MPAu2hIRiULqkRVXDMULRzS0aG4SwbG79chVOOqwwSeznYRiTIkU2uAbGiuC6IbzMHfelXab5DmmtxV-gMdW7f6RqlIZWS-AmXB50rfU3fNQaomfKH3mITv/s1600/title00_232819344.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVUYxlMiIlaJE41QXbI7i_MPAu2hIRiULqkRVXDMULRzS0aG4SwbG79chVOOqwwSeznYRiTIkU2uAbGiuC6IbzMHfelXab5DmmtxV-gMdW7f6RqlIZWS-AmXB50rfU3fNQaomfKH3mITv/s640/title00_232819344.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harry Morgan leading Morgan Paull and Robert Pine</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6zsusxX3KbMRKqzU7snb2wNJ1E58eMzm_94ogZF0JDgUEWXEzwF4nULmov04D4OPDcxMBEvNJvGkSeIwOffo0CnjiVcIv7gSpsRuC-xCDRTI6mz44cifSxh8-nFEHmSJ6oCwa4qX18kO1/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6zsusxX3KbMRKqzU7snb2wNJ1E58eMzm_94ogZF0JDgUEWXEzwF4nULmov04D4OPDcxMBEvNJvGkSeIwOffo0CnjiVcIv7gSpsRuC-xCDRTI6mz44cifSxh8-nFEHmSJ6oCwa4qX18kO1/s640/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The late Morgan Paull following Richard X. Slattery's orders</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiNqRZCxgDXhFzPUNJUIz8yMzwFIbudBKb7V-fYP90yzBDTuVIzxcp9ERtcwEZsVvgDIpO19KdCAvn8MY_ZVNdm4pS-Qc9I2BN5d4nX3Jzo3ZSagdX-A9GZJgi3IzemNiQD546D3ct3wTg/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiNqRZCxgDXhFzPUNJUIz8yMzwFIbudBKb7V-fYP90yzBDTuVIzxcp9ERtcwEZsVvgDIpO19KdCAvn8MY_ZVNdm4pS-Qc9I2BN5d4nX3Jzo3ZSagdX-A9GZJgi3IzemNiQD546D3ct3wTg/s640/5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lovely Disney ingenue Elyssa Davalos rides a train</td></tr> </tbody></table> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=jamtaci-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000Y11BBC&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=jamtaci-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B008H6GH9W&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>

comedy, disney, don knotts, elyssa davalos, harry morgan, morgan paull, sequel, tim conway, tim matheson

THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN

year: 1979 cast: Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Tim Matheson, Elyssa Davalos, Robert Pine rating: ***1/2 The original APPLE DUMPLING GANG is on...