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August 10, 2024
Just want to thank you for your piece on The Last Unicorn.
I grew il watching that movie and was watching it tonight with my
daughter. While researching who actually sang Mia’s parts I came across
your article and found it interesting and informative.
So, thanks again!
Warmly,
Hollay
June 18, 2024
Hi,
While doing research on the memoir I’m writing I came upon your review of Survivor.
I was the Set Decorator/Props
Master on that movie. A Brit called Grey Lipley was the Art Director.
His claim to fame - and the reason he got the job no doubt - was his
involvement with the Duran Duran Wild Boys pop vid.
Survivor
was shot in an around Cape Town at end of ‘85/86. The underground city
location was an old power station at the bottom end of Long Street in
the CBD. The shipwreck was in Llundudno (Cape Town); the desert
location was Atlantis, nowhere near it, about 30 kms up on the West
Coast, this weird little desert area in a mediterranean landscape; and
the railroad scenes were shot in a village called Touwsrivier, in the
Karoo, about 150kms inland.
Cheers,
Carsten Rasch (credited as Cas Rasch)
Cape Town
October 7, 2021
[re: Demonwarp]
Hello Keith,
I just wanted to thank you for
your fabulous comprehensive review of both the film and both
scripts. The interview was even more fabulous added bonus.
Kudos to you for researching and compiling all this. It was an
extremely informative insight into the low-budget film process in the
80s.
Your article was as solid as
anything on "Cinephilia & Beyond" Great Job.
Regards
Kris Kjornes
P.S.: Any chance I can
get a PDF copy of either draft of the Demonwarp
screenplay?
Alas, I just have the scripts in old-fashioned paper format, and I currently have no access to a scanner.
September 9, 2021
Hi. I just stumbled across your site.
LOVED the review of The January Man. You nailed the
problems right on the head. I worked in the film lab that made release
prints for this & watched it about a hundred or more times &
kept thinking "gee he's overacting" or "why are they doing this" or
"who made that ridiculous toupee for Rod Steiger"? Kudos though to any
film with a mad killer who uses Neil Sedaka as a calling card.
Nice commentary at the start
too, about the joys of film-making. If first time directors knew what
it took to get their vision on screen, they might just write a book
instead😉
Cheers!
b-francis
April 15, 2020
Hey Keith...... long time fan. It is
funny that you did Inspector Clouseau. About 8
years ago or so I was on a Podcast where we talked about odd movie
sequels and this was the one that I highlighted. I knew this movie
existed I just never actually seen it. Upon watching it I was stunned
to realize that when Peter Sellers comes back to the role… hes actually
playing the version of the character that Alan Arkin did. I also never
exactly knew that Alan Arkin had such a penchant for physical comedy.
He does seem unsure of himself… not everything works… I summed up
talking about this movie by saying there's A-line in the movie that
Clouseau says. "There is a time to laugh and there is a time not to
laugh and this is one of those times."...... I think that best sums up
this movie
Billy Flynn
February 8, 2020
[re: Goddess Of Love]
It's a mere detail but the idea of
putting the wedding ring on the finger of statue of Venus comes from a
short story of the XIXth century, Prosper Mérimée's La Vénus d'Ille
(unless Mérimée cribbed the idea from an earlier source).
A bridegroom in his cups puts
his wedding ring on a recently-unearthed statue of the eeevil
phoenician Venus and can't manage to pry it off, so in the wedding
night the statue comes and strangles him (everyone is vainly looking
for a rational explanation).
From your review I understand
it would have been a better movie than this one.
Keep up the good work ! (I
don't always agree with your reviews but they're always worth reading.)
Laurent Garnault
February 1, 2020
One unknown movie that I wish somebody,
some day, would review is Emmanuelle
vs Dracula. No, I’m not kidding, it exists and its exactly what
the title says. The makers were a bit unclear on the whole
concept, though: One of the vampires has a suntan and is wearing a
crucifix !
Sandra
I admit
that I hadn't even heard of this movie before you told me about it. A
little research on it at the Internet Movie Database uncovered a few
reviews that should satisfy your wish. As for if I will review it,
well, after reading those reviews... uh... well....
December 30, 2019
[re: The Barbarians]
Want to know something weird? I thought
of this movie, which I saw years ago, this morning. Then this evening I
find your review. That happens to me a lot: I think of a movie and its
on the tv within a week; I think of a song and its playing on the next
radio I hear. If it’s a kind of esp, it’s useless. Why can’t I
think of winning lottery numbers? Or racehorses?
I believe I watched The Barbarians because Richard Lynch
was in it. I’d watch pretty much anything he was in. One thing I did
like was how the Ragnacks (or whatever they were called) all had
the same tattoo: two lines – the sign of the open road. Simple and
elegant. As far as the movie went, it seemed like an okay example of
s&s. Mind you, the bar isn’t set very high in the genre. Would I
watch it again? If I was in the right mood.
Some things you have to be in
the mood for. Blazing Saddles,
for instance, is hilarious if you are in the mood and idiotic if you
aren’t.
Sandra
If you
watch the movie again, best stay clear of the DVD version; the visual
quality
is crap.
November 13, 2019
I am a fan of your reviews and have
enjoyed them for many years. However, after a great deal of travel, I
could not remember the name of your site. I could see your page in my
mind, the top banner and Shatner's face in the "Genres" section, but
for the life of me my mind went blank.
In frustration, I searched and
dug out an old, broken phone and fired it up for the bookmarks. What a
relief.
It was a delight to find you
are still updating. No pressure, but as you are able, keep up the good
work, you have fans out here.
There, I said it now I feel
better.
Cheers,
TsH
Thank you very much. It's very nice to
know my work is greatly appreciated.
October 6, 2019
[re: Ron Livingston, Relative
Strangers]
I've always thought he'd be great
portraying Richard Nixon. Hear me out, I think he could pull it off,
whether in a comedy or a serious movie. Thanks for your web site.
aminthepm2001
May 19, 2019
I would like to suggest a movie (or two)
to you. They are called The Devil's
Carnival and its sequel The
Devil's Carnival: Alleluia!
They were made by the team behind Repo:
The Genetic Opera and are
musicals like that movie was. I'm a big fan of them and I would like to
see what you think of them. Peace out.
Ringo Fonebonius Jones
August 27, 2018
Ah yes, Russian Roulette. There’s
a special charm in watching a movie set in your own city, though you
tend to do things like think, “He’s driving along Fourth Avenue ...
just passing Burrard,” which distracts from paying attention to the
plot. At the time, I lived just around the corner from Rudolf
Heke’s apartment building. As I recall, it was a pretty good
movie.
Sandra
July 15, 2018
[re: The Philadelphia Experiment]
Just read your latest review.
Personally I don't have an issue with time travel films regardless of
whether they go to the present or past (I find outdated technology in
films charming rather then distracting), i'm fine with different films
having different rules about time travel since it's a fantastical
concept that nobody really knows that much about (and there's no idea
when or if it will ever be possible in our lifetimes). My
personal favorite time travel film is Timecop.
One time travel film I would
recommend to you is Primer, as
it was actually written by someone with a degree in mathematics who was
a former engineer, it's very hard sci-fi with super technical dialogue
and philosophy. Wasn't really my kind of film, but I could
definitely see you getting something out of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primer_(film)
It got a minor theatrical
release and is somewhat of a cult hit now (but not one of those cult
hits that almost everybody has seen like Boondock Saints) so it could
make for an interesting review.
Also The Philadelphia Experiment got a
sequel in 1993, which only got released to 2 theaters and made less
then $3,000 dollars. It has a somewhat interesting plot, but
definitely suffers from having a lower budget then the first film.
Michael Prymula
Thank you
for sending your opinion on time travel movies, and for the suggestion
of Primer. I had heard of the title before, but I
didn't know what the movie was about until you told me. It does sound
interesting, so I will look out for it. As for the sequel to The Philadelphia
Experiment, I
actually did watch it many years ago when it was released on VHS, but I
don't remember too much about it... though my memories suggest it was
better than the terrible 2012 remake of the original film.
April 15, 2018
[re: Miracle Of The White Stallions]
You didn’t mention one fact that I found
interesting: Robert Taylor was cast because he and Col. Alios Podhajsky
looked a lot alike from a distance. That means that during the
scene where the horses perform for the American soldiers, that’s the
real Colonel putting the stallion through its paces.
The problem with the character
is the problem with Robert Taylor in general: the man always appeared
to be thoroughly pissed off about something. I don’t know anything
about him personally. Maybe he did go through life in a state of
simmering rage. It didn’t make him appealing on screen. He never had
any chemistry with his leading ladies.
The only decent performance he
ever gave, IMO, was in The Last Hunt,
where he played a mentally unstable sadist. He was convincing in that
role.
Sandra
March 14,
2018
Hey I'm really glad you liked Big Bad
Wolf, that one was a pleasant surprise for me. I've
got another obscure horror film i'd like to recommend - Cards of Death. It was the holy
grail of horror films for years because of the fact that it only ever
got a limited VHS release in Japan in 1985 (despite being made in the
U.S.), it was until 2013 when Bleeding Skull gave it a limited VHS
reissue that most people even saw it. Fortunately it's finally
available for everyone to check out via the website Shudder.
All you have to do is sign up
for a free trial, then you can stream that film and many other horror
films: https://www.shudder.com/watch/cards-of-death/2337527/1
The film centers around a
group of people being taken hostage and being forced into disturbing
and graphic situations, so despite being labeled as a slasher film it
actually has more in common with films like Hostel despite pre-dating
it by two decades. It certainly has it's flaws, but it's
interesting enough to be worth a review.
Michael Prymula
February
2, 2018
[Re: Nomads]
I just thought of this title. It
certainly qualifies as an unknown movie. It’s weird, but I liked
it.
Sandra
That
Pierce Brosnan movie would indeed be a great movie to review. Once I
have given my most
recent Pierce Brosnan movie review (Taffin) some room, I'll look for Nomads.
May 19, 2017
Hello,
It may be hard to believe, but
House
of the Long Shadows is the 13th adaptation of Earl Derr
Bigger's novel Seven Keys to
Baldpate (1913). Twice on Broadway with actor/playwright
George M. Cohan; seven motion pictures (three silent, four with sound);
two radio adaptions; and two television productions.
Cohan deliberately made the
stage play "old fashioned" in 1913, and that sensibility stuck with it
ever since. Golan and Globus probably OKed the production because
by 1983 it was in public domain and wouldn't have to pay royalties.
So it is no surprise that a
copy of a copy (of a copy, etc.) fails to catch fire.
Thanks for the enjoyment your
web page has brought me,
Bill Culbertson
April 25,
2017
Enjoyed your Riverbend
review. I agree, Steve James was an underrated presence. He was
excellent in movies like The
Exterminator and To Live and
Die in LA as well.
Someone ripped a VHS copy of Riverbend
and put it out on YouTube.
Hopefully it will make it to a legit DVD/blu ray release one day but in
the meantime here it is in all its haggard glory:
https://youtu.be/Pk0kk39Iiew
Best,
Charles
March 20,
2017
[re: An Enemy Of The People]
This movie was broadcast on Channel 4 in
the UK in or around 1985. The review on Ceefax (which might still be
available) said that although the movie and most of the other actors
were stiff, McQueen was excellent. I watched it and entirely agreed. I
still remember the way he delivered his lines, the whole body acting,
the conviction of his inflections in delivery.
I have little interest in
McQueen the action star, and feel this movie is unjustly overlooked
because it is too much of a challenge to people's expectations, and
therefore prejudices. Just like McQueen's character in the film! For
that reason alone it deserves wider release - it could actually help
create the world based on truth Dr. Stockmann fights for in the film!
Rumwold Leigh
February 27, 2017
Thanks for your entertaining review of the film Disk-O-Tek
Holiday (1966). Though I'm not sure when you initially
published your review -and am aware content online has expanded
exponentially- please be advised that, according to Discogs.com, the
once-unknown Casey Paxton went on to become legendary (imho) disco-era
artist D.C. La Rue.
Danny de San Francisco
February 22, 2017
[re: The
Time Crystal]
Hi Greywizard,
I've been enjoying your
reviews. I've even seen a few of these movies myself. Some
of my favorite obscure films are: Deathstalker
II, Raiders of the Sun,
and Expect to Die.
I used to see this movie on
local UHF tv regularly, and it might be right up your alley: http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0083198/
On my station KBHK 44 it aired
as Tut and Tuttle. It's a
made-for-TV children's fantasy adventure where a 1980's boy goes to
ancient Egypt and helps young Tut and his sister fend off a coup.
Points of interest include actors Robbie Rist, Jo Ann Worley and Vic
Tayback, and director Ron Howard in his early days as a director. I
remember a magic crystal, a football helmet, a lot of sand, and Tut's
sister pensively addressing the main character "Bobby Tuttle." I
don't know how "unknown" you would consider it, but it popped into my
head recently and a few googles later I tracked it down. Haven't seen
it in at least 20 years, and I probably never saw the entire thing. Fun
memories though!
Jax Crawford
November 1, 2016
[re: Death Riders]
Every once in a while I get curious about
my past and punch in "Death Riders" on whatever search engine I happen
to be enamored with at the time to see if anyone is aware of the Death
Riders Motorcycle Thrill Show of which I was a member for 6
years. Sitting here at work this morning, I got curious and found
your review of the Death Riders
movie and found it to be fascinating. I do agree with on one
point in particular, a point I had when the movie was released; why did
we do what we did?
You're right, the movie never
really explored that. For me, It was that I was going to break
the world's record for distance on a motorcycle and become so rich and
famous that I would do only 4 major shows a year, as opposed to the 60
or 70 shows we did in 4 months out of the year. In trying to book
shows, no one would take me seriously even though I had built my own
ramps, had a good bike and leathers (actually, canvass at the time, I
was a vegan) but only 18 so no one would care to take me
seriously. Ended up with Floyd who turned out to be a really
great guy, a father figure for me and for that matter, all of us in the
show.
Floyd and the show gave me an
experience that would require a book to describe so I will leave the
details to imagination right now but offer that it did help groom my
character for the rest of my life. I joined the Marines after the
show where I got technical training, did well in leaving the
Marines after 4 years at the rank of Sargent and went on to a
successful career in medical devices. Danny became an
owner/operator over-the-road trucker, his big brother Floyd Jr. owned a
number of doughnut shops in Danville, Cheese (Ron) ran his own plumbing
company, Steve is a retired cop for Danville as of a few years ago,
Larry hooked up with Hollywood from our movie experience and became an
audio expert - I see his name pop up in movie credits from time to
time, Rusty, our clown, passed away a couple years ago.
I found your review
fascinating in that I gave me somewhat of insight to your character and
how you perceived our movie which takes it to a personal level.
My reaction was, "Wow, a real person actually watched our movie, scene
by scene and was interested in that part of our lives". Now it
will be difficult to focus on work without thinking of this time of my
life. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the Death
Riders.
Joe Byars
August 23, 2016
[re: Once
In A Blue Moon (1995)]
Have a copy of Kenny and
Co. and thought it was fantastic. Their '70ish translated
pretty much much to my '77 in Canada. Only grade 2 at the time, but did
encapsulate that time (looking at the older dudes that were way cooler
than me). Just want to bring up a Canadian one that is probably of the
same calibre, just with a twist of humour, Canadiana, and chicken that
comes in a bucket (delicacy at the time)...Movie hard as hell to find,
but heartwarmingly obscure... Just FYI
Terry
August 12, 2016
Hi there!
I've been a long, long time
fan silent admirer of your site since at least '05. I went from high
school through college reading your site and I loved the unique
perspective you brought to these "Unknown" movies. I want you to know,
your site has led me to [At Least] 3 movies that I absolutely love with
all my heart. Without The Unknown Movies, I wouldn't have come across
(and blind bought) Emperor of the North (Pole), Sonny Boy,
& Strange
Shadows in an Empty Room. Also, I've got a huge fondness for
PM entertainment movies now-my heart skipped a beat when I purchased
the Robert Patrick movie Zero
Tolerance and saw that familiar logo!
Anyway, keep up the good work,
if I may be so bold as to suggest some, I'd love to see some more
spaghetti westerns like Mannaja,
or Massacre Time.
Keep upholding those REAL
movies!
Ross McClintock
Thank you
very much for writing in, Ross! I'll be reviewing a spaghetti western
in a few weeks, and I'll certainly review more in the future. And don't
worry - I'll continue to tell readers what real movies are!
July 16, 2016
[re: Operation
Daybreak]
Thank you! You answered an ancient
whats-that-movie question of mine. I googled my way to your review of Goliath
Awaits. I remembered the mutual suicide in a flooding church
basement. And Nazis. But that was it.
Bob Stein
Glad to
be of help!
May 4, 2016
I enjoyed your review of Valdez Is
Coming and would like to add a thing or two...
This film is, in many ways, an
homage to Hombre. Here's why I
think so...
Hector Elizondo, an actual
blue-eyed Latino in a role that was seemingly written in just for him
and which mirrors the role of the Vaquero in Hombre, which was, as I'm sure you
know, played to perfection by Frank Silvera. His money scene is a
veritable re-write of the scene in Hombre
where Silvera climbs the hill to parlay with Newman, right down to the
playful wave of the hand.
The attitude that Segundo
takes at the end toward shooting Valdez (he refuses) is, again, a
rewrite of the final scene in the mining cabin in Hombre...."She's not my woman." It
explains both the macho attitude toward fighting for your own woman
(the men in both films who should, don't) as well as the secondary
status of women in general in these films.
In both fils the hero is being
chased because he has something of value to the
bad-guy...money&water in Hombre...a
woman in Valdez.
Finally, both films are about
the expected role and behavior of Latinos in a White West. In Hombre, Mendez lectures Hombre on
knowing his place and lives a life of servitude himself, as if it were
the natural way of things. In Valdez,
both Valdez and the Silvera character show this same deference and nod
at their acceptance of it. It is this understanding of power that keeps
Valdez so low-key until he shows out.
Of course, this is further
shown by the addition in both films of an even lower caste, Apaches
and, in Valdez, Blacks.
Just my two cents...good
review.
Gibbons
Thanks
for writing in with those observations. I think a big reason the two
movies are similar are because they are both based on novels written by
the same author (Elmore Leonard).
April 23, 2016
[re: The Phantom Kid]
I'm pretty sure the reason there
were any musical numbers at all in this film was because it's
basically a follow-the-leader to Bugsy
Malone. It's possible there were more numbers (not having
seen the film, I can't say) that were edited out for pacing and/or low
quality.
Brandi
You may
be right. That could explain why there was more than one director on
the movie.
January 12, 2016
Longtime (early 2000s) reader here; love
to catch up on new reviews every couple of months. Thought you would
get a kick out of this
excellent article on the rise and fall of PM Entertainment.
Cheers,
Austin
December 29, 2015
[re: The Man With One Red Shoe]
The fact is that the French sense of
humour is so different from that of the English-speaking world - they
think Jerry Lewis is a genius, for goodness sake! - that any attempt to
translate a French comedy is doomed to fail. When they say "the
French, they are a funny race", they don't mean "funny ha ha".
From what I've seen of French comedies, they like slapstick a great
deal, but have no real sense of the ridiculous.
When I was in college, I saw a
production of Jean-Paul Sartre's The Respectable Prostitute
which was played as a jolly farce, and was pretty darn funny.
Sartre, of course, didn't intend it to be a comedy. French
philosphers aways take themselves very seriously. And of course they
can never just do something,
they have to philosophize about it. Sartre's philosophy can be
summed up as "Nothing matters, so why bother ?" As in, why bother
thinking about Existentalism ?
I have seen both the French Cage Aux Folles and the
American Birdcage, and the
French one is much funnier IMO.
Anyway, I don't care for
Hollywood's habit of making remakes of foreign films. If I was
interested, I see the original, as I did with Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a
Swedish writer's story about Swedish people, set in Sweden - I think a
Swedish film is more likely to understand the characters. Know
what ? If you keep typing the word 'Swedish' it begins to look really odd.
Sandra
December 29, 2015
I stumbled on your great site while
trying to solve a little puzzle.
There's a pop band here in
Canada called Stars that I'm fond of, and their lead singer did a small
solo album a few years ago. It begins with a cheesy voice-over
"It began one stormy night in the Aleutian Islands..." and I was
curiously where it came from. With a bit of Google-fu, I ended up
at your review of The Golden Seal.
It turns out that singer Torq
Campbell was the young star of this film.
And this solo side project is
called "Dead Child Star" - which strikes me as both poetic and a bit
tragic, especially in the context of his recurring themes of holding on
to one's innocence and playfulness.
Anyway, neat site - I look
forward to digging to find some interesting gems in your trove of
reviews!
Hope you had a Merry
Christmas, and have a great 2016!
Cheers,
Gareth
October 7, 2015
Hello again!
A long time ago, I read your
review of Rituals and as I result, I
developed this weird fascination with the movie (probably because it
sounded very creepy as well as impossible to find). It wasn't until
very recently that I managed to buy my own copy and I have to say, it
was everything I hoped it would be. It's a movie that manages to stay
tense throughout most of its running time (especially the last couple
of scenes) and even the severed head managed to throw me off guard when
it appeared, despite that scene being in the trailer.
Anyway, I just wanted to say
thanks for introducing me to such a great movie!
Alissa
P.S. Nice to see some
appreciation for Golgo 13 as well! He's very underrated
in North America, which is a complete shame.
August 8, 2015
[re: Little Ninjas]
Hello.
I used to love this movie and watch it all the time as a kid (27 now).
I just finished re-watching it, and after having that "did I really
just sit through this?" reaction I decided to look it up online to see
if anyone had an opinion on the movie. I didn't expect to find
anything let alone a full in-depth review that pretty much described it
to a tee. Anyway I just wanted to say I enjoyed reading your
review and it gave me a really good laugh, and I needed one, so thanks.
:)
Raul Hernandez
July 27, 2015
[re: Gargoyles]
I'm fond of that movie myself. It's one
of the few 70s tv movies that still show up occasionally and are worth
another look when they do. Another is The Norliss Tapes. I didn't think of
the Gargoyles as 'demonic forces', though; the script seemed to me to
say that our idea of demons is based on sightings of them. I also
doubt that they would be able to conquer humanity, since only the
winged ones are able to breed, and even if the females lay thousands of
eggs at a time, we outnumber them millions to one. Plus there's
that reeeeally long incubation period.
Cheers,
Sandra
June 17, 2015
[re: The Mouse And His Child]
I just read your review of that film and
can empathize with your tale of being haunted by it because of your
encounter with it as a child. Not because I saw the film as a child but
because of the book which it was based on. I suspect it might come
closer to justifying the real estate the film version has taken up in
your brain all those many years if you ever wanted to check it out.
At any rate, I read The Mouse and His Child
back in middle school and still not only recall portions of the book
but the actual reading of it. I may have read it once or twice in the
decades since but particular sequences are almost certainly permanently
etched into my brain and from the first time I read it no less
The dog food label for one.
That had a much larger role in the book than in the film with much of
it being a deep explanation of the religious movement that sprang up
based around "The Last Visible Dog". The Mouse and His Child has
been described as the only children's book which doubles as a treatise
on existential philosophy and the film doesn't particularly do a good
job of carrying that across. Manny's ultimate fate was the same in each
version but the book made it quite obvious how hellish he would
consider that fate while the film doesn't really set up the character
that way. The shrew armies are another instance that didn't come across
as well because they were portrayed as borderline comic relief rather
than the murderous lunatics of the book.
As for the other moment you
mention burning into your brain, I would hazard a guess that it was
either "PEANUT BRITTLE!" or the parts harvesting. The former was more
violent than I recall the book sequence being while the latter actually
managed to be less.
Michael Stakely
June 8, 2015
[re: The Naked Face]
"Can you name a non-Bond movie [Roger
Moore] appeared in while doing James Bond?"
Ffolkes, aka North
Sea Hijack aka Assault Force,
in 1979. A very underrated film, I think.
Brandi Weed
Yes, I guess I should have included that
movie. Though I'm pretty sure the rest of Roger Moore's non-Bond movies
made during his Bond period are pretty unknown to most people.
June 7, 2015
Howdydo, and thanks for giving The Angry
Red Planet a fair shake. More Flash Gordon than Gravity, but they still got some
things right. First-time scripter Sid Pink knocked out the
initial draft in 5 days with no pre-formed idea of how it would
conclude. Naura Hayden, under contract to Pink, suggested that adding
scientific elements might make it more credible. Sci-Fi guy Ib
Melchior, who recently passed @ age 97, offered a free rewrite if
allowed to direct.
Pink admitted that the
'Cinemagic' gimmick didn't work out as expected. Developed
by comics artist Norman Maurer, who also designed the Martian aliens
and landscapes, the process intended to make actors appear as a
live-action comic. (Freeze any Mars scene, and it DOES kinda look
like a comic.) Test stills convinced them that it would
work. Regrettably, when filmed it looked like what it was:
B-movie types going thru the motions while trying not to embarass
themselves.
Cinematographer Stanley Cortez
(Night of the Hunter), unhappy
with being shut out of indie productions due to his rep of being slow
and tempermental, offered to work for union scale. (The entire
crew, as well as fading Bogart clone Gerald Mohr, also worked @ union
scale.)
Mike Mueller
June 1,
2015
[re: I.Q.]
I recall seeing this when it was in the
theatres. The bit I remember best is Einstein asking Fry's
psychologist character "How are the rats?" Fry: "I've
switched to experimenting on the students." E says, "My God, the mazes
must be HUGE."
My favorite two stories about
Einstein are probably apocryphal, but fun:
1. Somebody noticed that
Monday to Friday a little girl would enter Einstein's house shortly
after school let out, stay a few minutes, then leave. Asked what
that was about, Einstein explained, "I do her mathematics homework and
she gives me the cookies from her lunchbox.";-)
2. This one comes from Shelley
Winters' first autobiography, Sheila
or Sharon or whatever
( I can't
remember) Called Shelley,
so it has to be taken with a grain of
salt. Shelley never let the truth get in the way of a good story:
When Shelley and Marilyn
Monroe were starlets, they were room mates. One night, after
Shelley had just broken up with Burt Lancaster and Marilyn with whoever
she was seeing, the two of them, presumably after a few drinks, said
"Why can't we just be like men and make notches on the bedpost?
Why do we always get involved ?" So they decided to make a list
of all the men they'd like to boink. First name on Marilyn's list
was Albert Einstein.
Shelley
: Isn't he kind of .... old ?
Marilyn: Yes, but I hear he's really healthy.
Several years later, after the
two of them had made the bigtime, Shelley noticed a framed photograph
of Einstein on Marilyn's mantelpiece, with the inscription To Marilyn, with gratitude.
:-D
Sandra
May 13,
2015
[re: Sword Of The Valiant]
I'm surprised to learn that someone made
a movie based on Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight, a medieval poem written by someone
who was not Chaucer. I believe the same individual also wrote The Pearl, in which the
narrator, mourning the death of his baby daughter, has a vision of her
as a heavenly maiden, dressed in white, and asks, poignantly ; "Art
thou my pearl, that I have plaint?"
Well, enough about that.
One thing that always
irritates me in historicals is when the interiors are brightly
lit. "Where's the light coming from?" I yell. Fireplaces
and candles don't produce all that much light, particularly if the room
is large. If you have watched Wolf
Hall, for instance, it's dark
once night falls. If you have ever tried to read or sew or
whatever by candlelight, its a good way to go blind.
If the movie ever shows up on
tv, I might watch, just because of the connection to the poem, but I
won't have any expectations.
Sandra
May 7, 2015
[re: The Legend Of Black Thunder Mountain]
Greywizard:
Hello, I read your critique of
the movie and I was smiling when I came across the part about the crazy
old mountain man (Glen Porter). That man was my father and I remember
visiting the set and meeting Bozo and feeding her marshmallows, and
looking at all the animals. My dad stopped acting due he had three kids
and it was real hard back than to find work if you did not know the
right people. Thank you for writing about this movie - it was not a
flattering review but you talked about it so thank you.
Very respectfully,
Jake Porter (Son of the Crazy
Mountain man)
May 7, 2015
Hello,
I read your review of Scarface
Killer and thought you might like to know that The Cop In Blue Jeans also starring
Jack Palance is out on dvd on The Swingin' Seventies 50 movie pack from
Mill Creek. Both of these movies are in the collection. I
hope this is of interest to you.
Glen
May 4, 2015
I've been a fan of your site for quite a
while and I just wanted to say that I really admire the work you put
into every review. I'll admit, it also saves me from being very bored
at my job!
I do have one film suggestion
as well.
The Meateater, a very low budget
horror movie from 1979. It's basically about a horribly burned guy
living in an abandoned movie theater who starts killing people (or at
least tries to scare them off) when a family buys it.. The acting isn't
very good, a standout being a scene where an old man is asked if he
wants something and replies by repeating "No" while slowly shaking his
head while the camera zooms in on his face. It's a rather surreal
experience, to say the least.
Again, love your site. Keep up
the amazing work!
Alissa
January
30, 2015
[re: The Traveling Executioner]
"Why would anyone want to be
an executioner?", like "What kind of woman decides to become a guard in
a men's prison?" or "What kind of person applies to become the one who
picks up dead bodies and takes them to the morgue?" or "Why would a
doctor spend a career looking up people's rectums?" (I asked my
gastroenterologist and she pointed out that she sees things nobody else
does - such as my intestinal tract) - is one of those questions with no
answer except, "People are weird. "
Sandra
You are
probably right.
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