The Nightcrawlers: Cracking the Egg DVD

I have copies of the Nightcrawlers documentary, Cracking the Egg, on DVD for sale at The Florida Rocks Again! Online Superstore. $19.99 plus $5.98 shipping Proceeds go directly to the filmmaker, Kelly Rouse (daughter of the Nightcrawlers' Robbie Rouse).

"The Oliver Reed Film Festival" Blog

The Oliver Reed Film Festival at OllieFilms.blogspot.com

As anyone familiar with me or the BLOG! can easily tell, I'm a big fan of the late British film actor Oliver Reed, who is a cult hero in the UK, but relatively obscure in the states. My wife is mystified by my fascination with the "creepy" Reed, is "creeped out" by his films, and thinks I'm "gay" for "some dead actor."

But then, one must consider the fact that she doesn't drink.

In the ten years since his death in a Maltese pub, Reed's legend has grown, making him an icon of the ladmags, due largely to his alcohol-fueled misbehavior on British chat shows in the twilight of his career. Whether he was busking "Wild One" or snogging lesbian feminist Kate Millet and telling her, "I've had more fights in pubs than you've had hot dinners," the self-proclaimed "Mr. England" was always good for a laugh.

So I dig Ollie on two levels: first and foremost, for the films, and secondly as a negative role model. If I'm having a pint or two, I find myself channeling my inner Oliver Reed, but not to the point of getting into head-butting contests or anything like that.

Over the years, I've written a number of pieces about Ollie's movies, so now all of my essays, old and new, are being collected in The Oliver Reed Film Film Festival at OllieFilms.blogspot.com, a new blog that focuses on the filmography, the actor more than the drinker. Well, actually, in Oliver's case, the two are more or less inseparable.

If you dig the essays and want to see the films, please visit The Oliver Reed Store for DVDs of Ollie's Greatest Hits.

For your listening pleasure, check out The Mal Thursday Show #6, a tribute to The Girl-Getters (a/k/a The System), with cool sound clips and the rockin' sounds of various British and American beat groups.

S. Darko

Here's an expanded version of a review of S. Darko on which I collaborated with my wife Evie, who is an administrator/newsgatherer for the Twilighters Anonymous site (she got a screener of the movie because it features Jackson Rathbone, one of the teenage vampires in the Twilight films):

S. Darko is sort of the cinematic equivalent of a red-headed stepchild, the direct-to-video sequel to the 2001 cult film Donnie Darko, writer/director Richard Kelly’s visionary tale of high school, time travel, and alternate universes. Kelly had nothing to do with this belated follow-up to a film which really didn’t set itself up for a sequel in any way, shape, or form.

Since Donnie got obliterated by a falling jet engine at the end of that film, the sequel focuses on his little sister Samantha, played by Daveigh Chase, reprising her role from the original film. Chase is probably best known for playing Rhonda on “Big Love” and also voiced Lilo in Lilo & Stich. She certainly has grown up since her days in Sparkle Motion. She is a fine young actress, but can’t do much with lines like “Remember the future…”

The film is set in 1995, seven years after Donnie’s death. The plot, such as it is, involves Samantha and her friend Corey going on a road trip to escape the boredom of their lives, only to get stuck in a one-horse town in the Utah desert. There they encounter sly hipster Randy, played by Ed Westwick (Chuck on “Gossip Girl”,) and shy bookworm Jeremy, played by Jackson Rathbone of Twilight fame. Rathbone’s performance, which ranges from winningly boyish to manically aggressive, is a highlight of the film, as is John Hawkes’s portrayal of a creepy motel manager. Hawkes is always good, whether he's playing Starr in "Deadwood," Kenny's brother in "Eastbound and Down," or the convenience store clerk in From Dusk Till Dawn. There’s also a guy named Iraq Jack, played in full-on loony mode by James Lafferty, and a strange, scar-faced woman played by Elizabeth Berkley (Showgirls, “Saved by the Bell”).

Director Chris Fisher and screenwriter Nathan Atkins do get some of the details right, borrowing liberally from the source material without ultimately adding much to the mythology. Hardcore fans of the original will no doubt find fault with S. Darko’s deviations from the formula, while those who haven’t seen the original will find themselves scratching their heads, and wondering just what the hell is going on.

More Top Tens at Viewpoints.com

Click on the image to read review:

Florida Rocks Again! at Cafe Press

The Florida Rocks Again! Swag Shop is now open at CafePress.com.


The store offers genuine Florida Rocks Again! merchandise, including T-shirts, Trucker Hats, Hoodies, Coffee Mugs, and more.

Meanwhile, the Florida Rocks Again! Online Superstore is now operational, with posters, books, CDs, and DVDs featuring the All-Time Greats from the Sunshine State.

Top Tens at Viewpoints.com

Top Ten Oliver Reed Movies

Top Ten Biker Movies

Top Ten Horror Movies of the '60s

Top Ten Johnny Depp Movies

Top Ten Marlon Brando Movies

Top Ten Clint Eastwood Westerns

Top Ten Bruce Willis Movies

Top Ten Movie Musicals of the '60s

Yet More Reviews at Viewpoints.com

Books:

Hard Case Crime Series by Various Authors

Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops by James Robert Parish


Computers and Software:

Adobe Audition 3.0

Hewlett Packard HP Pavillion DV6000 Laptop


Electronics:

Blackberry - RIM Curve 8320 Cell Phone

Food & Drink:

Brown Cow All Natural Cream Top Yogurt

Cedar's Hommus


Local Places:

The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum - Austin, TX

The Common Interest - Austin, TX

Historic Fort Tumbleweed - Rockdale, TX

The Jacksonville Jaguars - Jacksonville, FL

LBJ Library and Museum - Austin, TX

O'Steen's Restaurant - St. Augustine, FL

Seven Bridges Grille & Brewery - Jacksonville, FL

South Austin Museum of Popular Culture - Austin, TX

Tiff's Treats - Austin, TX

War Memorial Auditoirum - Fort Lauderdale, FL


Movies & TV:

The Black Dahlia

Bye Bye Birdie

Extras: The Complete Series

Hawaii Five-O: The Complete First Season

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

The Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection

Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter

The Mummy's Hand

Night of the Living Dead

Phantom from Space

The Phantom Planet

Street Kings

Top Ten Horror Movies of the '60s

Top Ten Johnny Depp Movies

Top Ten Marlon Brando Movies

Top Ten Movie Musicals of the '60s

Travel:

St. Augustine, FL

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula

The BLOG! Movie of the Week is BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA, from 1966, directed by William "One Shot" Beaudine, starring Chuck Courtney as Billy the Kid and John Carradine as Dracula. This movie originally played as half of a high concept double bill with JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, another Western horror also directed by Beaudine. The script for this mess plays fast and loose with vampire mythology while also ignoring the history of the old west. For example, everybody knows that sunlight will kill a vampire, right? Well, in this picture, ol' Drac walks around during the day with no ill effects. Not that it's easy to tell whether it's day or night in this movie, as they both kinda look the same. As for the history part, it is well-known that William Bonney a/k/a Billy the Kid was gunned down at the age of 19 by his old friend Pat Garrett in 1881, but in this movie, he's alive and well, having gone straight and is now working as a ranch hand at the Double Bar B.

The character of Dracula had been portrayed in films by several noted thespians, including Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, and Christopher Lee, each of whom brought their own brand of menace to the role. In BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA, veteran character actor and notorious ham John Carradine plays the vampire as a dirty old man, a lascivious lech with a taste for young flesh. Check out the scene in the stagecoach, where he leeringly lusts after the photo of our heroine, Betty Bentley, played by the lovely Melinda Plowman. "18 and beautiful, eh?" What a filthy old creep!

Also look for Virginia Christine as Mrs. Oster, or as she was known in many a Folger's coffee commercial in the '60s and '70s, Mrs. Olsen, and a very special performance by a rubber bat on a string. Look for the prop man visibly manipulating the rubber bat on a string. He's right in the frame, and not just for a second, either. He's there as plain as day, baby. Well, that's why they called Bill Beaudine "One Shot," because he almost always printed the first take. Prop man in the shot? Print it! String clearly visible on the rubber bat? Print it!

As I mentioned, the character of Count Dracula is played by the great John Carradine, a man with over 300 motion picture and television credits, from his film debut in 1930's BRIGHT LIGHTS to his final screen appearance in 1995's BIKINI DRIVE-IN, which was released seven years after his death. His name lives on through his actor sons David Carradine, star of KILL BILL and the KUNG FU TV series; Keith Carradine, who played memorable roles in films like NASHVILLE and TROUBLE IN MIND, as well as portraying Wild Bill Hickock in the HBO series DEADWOOD; and of course, Robert Carradine, best known as Skolnick in the REVENGE OF THE NERDS movies and more recently, as Lizzie McGuire's dad. A protege of John Barrymore, John Carradine was known as "The Voice" thanks to his deep-throated baritone, and starred on the stage as well as the silver screen. He was a member in good standing of director John Ford's stock company of actors, appearing in the Ford classics STAGECOACH, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, among others. He also appeared in Grade-Z schlock like THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES, HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE, and SEX KITTENS GO TO COLLEGE. As Carradine himself once said, "I've been in some of the greatest films ever made - and a lot of crap, too."

While Chuck Courtney's Billy the Kid is pretty nondescript, Carradine's Dracula is a hoot, a crusty old vampire pursuing an age-inappropriate relationship with a tender young thing, played by the fetching Melinda Plowman. Starting out as a child actress, Plowman specialized in sweet and innocent types, usually on televison. She first worked with director William Beaudine, on the Disney serial THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SPIN AND MARTY, and also had a recurring role as Terry the babysitter on PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES. BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA was her last movie appearance, but she continued to work on the small screen in such series as GOMER PYLE, FELONY SQUAD, and THE WILD WILD WEST until 1968, when she disappeared from the face of the earth, or married a rich producer, take your pick.

BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA works equally well as a western and a horror movie, which is to say, not very well at all. However, as a comedy, it scores bigtime.

Available on DVD from, appropriately enough, Cheezy Flicks.

The Mal Thursday Show #6: The Girl-Getters

This episode of The Mal Thursday Show was inspired by Michael Winner's 1964 film, The System, released in the US two years later under the title The Girl-Getters, and starring the one and only Oliver Reed. The film concerns the misadventures of a group of rogues in a seaside resort, who set out to seduce all the pretty girls who come there on holiday, and has just been reissued on DVD in the UK.

We'll be telling the story of this lost classic of '60s cinema through the music of a bunch of British and American Beat Groups.

Dedicated to the memory of the late, great Ollie.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW!

Also available for download at GaragePunk.com and via iTunes.

Playlist:

THE GIRL-GETTERS: The Girl-Getters
THE SEARCHERS: The System
THE BIRDS: Next in Line
THE SONS OF FRED: I'll Be There
THE BEATIN' PATH: Original Nothing People
MICKEY FINN: This Sporting Life

THE BEAT MERCHANTS: Pretty Face
THE FIVE MORE: I'm No Good
THE KNICKERBOCKERS: One Track Mind
THE STYLOS: Head Over Heels
THE CHEYNES: She's So Respectable
THE DOWNLINERS SECT: Baby What's Wrong

DESTINY'S CHILDREN:

The Collectors
THE LOOT: Baby Come Closer
LES FLEURS DE LYS:

Mud in Your Eye
THE PRETTY THINGS:

You Don't Believe Me
THE RATIONALS: Leaving Here
THE MOCKINGBIRDS:

You Stole My Love

Be sure to check out the other episodes of The Mal Thursday Show, as well as 29 rockin' installments of Florida Rocks Again!, exclusively at GaragePunk.com

Yet More Reviews at Viewpoints.com

Books:

Tell the Truth Until They Bleed:... - jmdobies says "A Shadow History of Rock n' Roll..."

Food & Drink:

Blue Sky - Lite Creamy Root Beer - jmdobies says "Low Calorie Root Beer Without..."

Harriet's Original Texas Ranch... - jmdobies says "Spicy and Delicious Dressing and..."

Promised Land Dairy Midnight... - jmdobies says "Delicious, Ultra-Creamy, Super..."

Local Places:

Austin Karaoke - - Austin, TX - jmdobies says "Private Karaoke Rooms Provide..."

Whole Foods - Austin, TX - jmdobies says "Top Quality Natural Products, a..."

Movies & TV:

Abbott & Costello Go to Mars - jmdobies says "Bud and Lou Blast Off to a..."

Casino Royale (2006) - jmdobies says "The Roots of 007 - A Return to..."

Casino Royale (1967) - jmdobies says "Kooky '60s Satire of James Bond..."

The GOOD, The BAD & The UGLY - jmdobies says "Eastwood, Van Cleef, and Wallach..."

Hang 'Em High - jmdobies says "Clint Eastwood Rides for..."

Higglytown Heroes - jmdobies says "Awful Kids Show Is All Downhill..."

High Plains Drifter - jmdobies says "Clint Eastwood Paints the Town Red..."

The Killer Shrews - jmdobies says "Roscoe, Festus, and Deadly Rodents..."

Killers From Space - jmdobies says "Paranoid Cold War Sci-Fi About..."

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang - jmdobies says "Downey and Kilmer Are Great in..."

Rawhide - Second Season Vol. 1 & 2 - jmdobies says "Classic TV Western: Great Theme..."

Serenity - 2-Disc Collector's... - jmdobies says "The Crew from 'Firefly' Returns..."

Sesame Street - All Star Alphabet - jmdobies says "Stephen Colbert Leads Stellar..."

Top Ten Clint Eastwood Westerns - jmdobies says "Clint's Greatest Western Movies..."


Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women - jmdobies says "Stupefying Space Oddity With..."

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - jmdobies says "Parody of Music Biopics Gets..."

Overnight

The BLOG! Movie of the Week is Mark Brian Smith and Tony Montana's documentary Overnight, which charts the rise and fall of one Troy Duffy, who went from bartender/bouncer to Hollywood legend when his screenplay for The Boondock Saints was purchased by Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, who sweetened the deal by giving the neophyte writer the opportunity to direct the film, and also buying him the bar where he worked. Things quickly went south, as Duffy's hubris and general obnoxiousness alienated the studio, who put the film in "turnaround," leaving Duffy to scramble for a deal that gave him half of the original budget and no home video rights.

Meanwhile, his awful rock band, the Brood (not to be confused with the all-girl garage band of the same name) scores a record deal with Atlantic Records. Unfortunately, the same arrogance and self-aggrandizement that sabotaged the movie deal leads to Duffy blowing the record deal as well, as the band's CD (Release the Hounds, under the new band name Boondock Saints) sells only 690 copies, and the band gets dropped like a bad habit. Overnight is like watching a trainwreck in slow motion, a trainwreck where the conductor is a foul-mouthed, paranoid, bullying blowhard.

I lived in Massachusetts for many years, and worked in the rock n' roll business for almost as long, so I instantly recognized Boston-bred Duffy as a particularly noxious variation on a couple of archetypes: The Rock Fascist, usually a guitar player, who overrules every other guy in the band, because he knows it all; and The Masshole, a species unique to the Commonwealth, with the characteristic traits of racism, sexism, anti-semitism, and alcoholism.

Ironically, The Boondock Saints has become a cult film (one critic called it a movie "for those who find Quentin Tarantino too cerebral"), doing very well on DVD, but as I mentioned, Duffy failed to secure any backend on the Home Video rights, so he did not get a penny beyond his original deal. The closing montage shows Duffy's friends (including the filmmakers) and bandmates all working menial jobs. Meanwhile, Duffy has persevered, apparently none the wiser for his ordeal (for which he seems to think himself blameless), and is threatening to make Boondock Saints 2.

Fascinating, horrifying, and appalling, while remaining compellingly watchable, Overnight is one of the best documentaries ever made about the entertainment business. Duffy had the unprecendented opportunity of having both a movie and a record deal, but he blew it in epic fashion. The documentary ends with a quote from celebrity biographer and fellow pariah Albert Goldman:

"No man is really changed by success. What happens is that success works on the man's personality like a truth drug, bringing him out of the closet and revealing what was always inside his head."

The Last Woman on Earth

The BLOG! Movie of the Week this time around is THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH from 1960, produced and directed by Roger Corman, made in Puerto Rico for tax purposes, and shot back-to-back-to-back with BATTLE OF BLOOD ISLAND and CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA. The movie stars the same three leads as CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, Anthony Carbone, Robert Towne a/k/a Edward Wain, and the lovely Betsy Jones-Moreland as the title character.

It's a love triangle with an apocalyptic twist, featuring three largely unsympathetic characters: the gambler, the lawyer, and, of course, the title character, who turns out to a be a two-timing two-bit tramp. There are two versions of the movie out there, the original, full-color theatrical version and the expanded-for-television edition, in living back & white, which contains scenes filmed three years later by director Monte Hellman to pad out the running time.

The married couple Harold and Evelyn Gern, are played by Anthony Carbone and Betsy-Jones Moreland. Tony Carbone was born in Italy in 1927, and was raised in Syracuse. Looking to get out of the snow belt, Carbone headed west to Hollywood and made his film debut as "Foxy Gilbert" in 1959's ARSON FOR HIRE. He soon fell in with Roger Corman, who exploited his uncanny resemblance to Humphrey Bogart in such films as CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, BUCKET OF BLOOD, and THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM. He also got steady work in TV, on such series as THE UNTOUCHABLES, THE OUTCASTS, and on THE MAN FROM UNCLE in the episode "The Love Affair" where he played "Brother Truth."

THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH is played by Betsy Jones-Moreland, who was blessed with great cheekbones. Discovered by Roger Corman in 1956, when she was appearing in the LA production of THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC, she was cast in a supporting role in THE SAGA OF THE VIKING WOMEN AND THEIR VOYAGE TO THE WATERS OF THE GREAT SEA SERPENT, after which Corman chose her to star as the title character in this film. After that, it was mostly televison stuff on series such as ROUTE 66, THE BOLD ONES, and MY FAVORITE MARTIAN. She wound up her acting career playing the judge on seven PERRY MASON made-for-TV movies, alongside fellow animal rights activist Raymond Burr. Betsy Jones-Moreland passed away in April of 2006 at the age of 75 in El Monte, California.

The character of Martin Joyce, the lawyer, fifth wheel, and odd man out in our little drama is played by Edward Wain, better known as Robert Towne, who also wrote the screenplay for this gem. When Roger Corman was ready to leave for Puerto Rico to make the movie, Towne hadn't finished the script, so he was drafted to act in the film as well. That way, he could finish writing the movie and Roger wouldn't have to pay two people. The script is both underwritten and overwritten, full of heaviosity and over-the-topness.

Towne would go on to write the Academy Award winning screenplay to CHINATOWN and make a very nice living as a script doctor on such films as BONNIE & CLYDE and THE GODFATHER. He's still at it, having written DAYS OF THUNDER and the first two MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movies for his pal Tom Cruise, and most recently, the 2006 film version of John Fante's ASK THE DUST.

After Evleyn leaves Harold for Martin, her husband catches up with them, leading to the big fight scene, where the gambler attempts to bludgeon the lawyer with a tuna.

SPOILER ALERT: After Harold kills Martin in a church, the murdering swine and his unfaithful lush of a wife patch it up and get back together in the end. At least Harold knows Evelyn won't be cheating on him again, so they can start repopulating the planet with little drunks and gamblers.

A low-budget variation of ON THE BEACH, THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH is what they used to call a message picture, and the message seems to be "Humanity sucks."

The original version is available on DVD in a nice widescreen transfer as part of ROGER CORMAN's PUERTO RICO TRILOGY from Retrovision Media, and in lesser-quality prints from Alpha Video and other purveyors of public domain titles.

Even More Reviews at Viewpoints.com

Books & Magazines

Beverly Gray - Roger Corman:... - jmdobies says "Highly Subjective Bio of Low..."

• • James Ellroy - White Jazz - jmdobies says "Best of Ellroy's 'L.A. Quartet'..."
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• Food & Drink
  
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• Big Green Egg Extra Large - XLHD... - jmdobies says "The Cadillac of BBQ Grills Will..."
  
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• Cuisinart Brew Central DCC-1200W... - jmdobies says "Durable Drip Coffee Maker Brews..."
  
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• Uniflame 22" Kettle Charcoal... - jmdobies says "This Low-Budget Grill Will Rust..."

Local Places

• AMS Garage Doors - Mike Steward ... - jmdobies says "Great Garage Door Service at a..."


• Balcones Ranch - Austiin, TX - jmdobies says "So-Called Luxury Apartments Have..."
  
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• David Benitez - B-Squared... - jmdobies says "Austin-Area Company Makes..."
  
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• Pok-E-Jo's Smokehouse - Austin, TX - jmdobies says "Austin BBQ Place with Smoky,..."
  
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• Movies & TV
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The Legend of Boggy Creek

Welcome to the BLOG! Movie of the Week. Here's another lost artifact from the primordial ooze, the 1972 swamp documentary THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. It's a true story, well, it's based on a true story, anyway, or at least contains some elements of the truth, all about the denizens of Fouck, Arkansas who come face to face with a creature known as the Fouck monster. One part Bigfoot, one part Bullwinkle, he's a terrifying figure who howls plaintively into the night, frightening the heck out of the local citizenry.

This movie made a killing at the box office thanks to a scary ad campaign that packed 'em in, including a great trailer that promised a lot more than the movie delivered, but it got people to fork over their five bucks a carload to go see it in the first place...What I'm saying is that THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK is not the greatest movie in the world, but it's got a bigfoot in it, and if you saw this thing when you were a kid, it'll bring back a lot of memories.

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK cost 100,000 dollars to make and grossed more than 20 million dollars. It was one of the first of the so-called Bigfoot movies, which led to more Bigfoot movies, including LEGEND OF BIGFOOT, IN SEARCH OF BIGFOOT, CURSE OF BIGFOOT, CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, MANBEAST, HARRY & THE HENDERSONS, SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED, SASQUATCH ODDYSSEY, SASQUATCH HUNTERS, LITTLE BIGFOOT, LITTLE BIGFOOT 2: THE JOURNEY HOME, and NIGHT OF THE SASSY.

The film spawned two awful sequels: 1977's RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK was a G-rated adventure starring Dawn Wells, better known as Mary Ann on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, and Dana Plato, the one-time child star who would go on to overdose in 1999. None of the creative team behind the original BOGGY CREEK had anything to do with the completely unrelated sequel, but director Charles B. Pierce returned to the subject in 1988's vaguely related THE BARBARIC BEAST OF BOGGY CREEK II, also known as BOGGY CREEK II: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, a film you may remember seeing on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000.

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK is pretty lousy, but not that bad compared to the other two BOGGY flicks. And, if you happened to be crammed into the family station wagon down at the local drive-in back in '72, and witnessed this movie at an impressionable age, well, you might enjoy another viewing.

Or you might not.

Available on DVD from Cheezy Flicks.

The Wild Ride

JM Dobies here, presenting the BLOG! Movie of the Week. This time out, our long-forgotten feature is THE WILD RIDE from 1960, written and directed by Harvey Berman for Roger Corman's FilmGroup. The film stars a young Jack Nicholson as arrogant punk Johnny Varron, a teenage tough guy who's got a problem with authority figures. He deals with this deep-seated authority problem by driving way too fast in his souped-up hot rod, running motorcycle cops off the road, just for kicks.

He is, to use his own phrase, a "real far-out stud." He runs his gang ruthlessly as "top man," telling his underlings what to do and who to date. When his best friend Dave goes soft over a new chick, Johnny tells him to drop her, because "She's out...She doesn't fit."

Of course, thanks to his obsessive, control-freak ways, Johnny engineers his own downfall, and all because of this one square chick. If only Dave had listened...

If you think you've seen this film before, but you remember it being in color, you're probably right. There was a computer-colorized home video version retitled VELOCITY released in the 1980s. In an attempt to sucker the viewer into thinking it was a more recent Jack Nicholson picture, new scenes were added as a framing device, with some guy who looked and sounded nothing like Jack playing his character as an old man, telling his story to an '80s street punk with bad hair. Needless to say, it didn't work, and you're better off with the original.

Jack Nicholson has come to be known as one of our finest actors, but few would have predicted that at the time he made this movin' picture. He'd made only one film prior to THE WILD RIDE, 1958's THE CRY BABY KILLER, where he played another young punk with a taste for killing. He appeared in two other films in 1960, TOO SOON TO LOVE, where he again played a troubled teen coping with his chick's unplanned pregnancy, and most famously, a fine comic performance in the original LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, as squeaky-voiced masochist Wilbur Force, who gets off on getting his teeth drilled full of holes at the dentist's.

For Nicholson fans, it's fascinating to watch the young Jack show flashes of his future persona, and certainly a much better way to waste your time than renting THE BUCKET LIST.

Anyway, if you dig fast cars, crazy chicks, and cool hipster slang, this flick is for you. The dialogue is priceless, and while there's not much of a plot, the whole thing's over in less than an hour.

Available on DVD from Alpha Home Video and BCI/Eclipse, while VELOCITY, the colorized, augmented version is available from Concorde and is to be avoided at all costs.

The Oliver Reed Film Festival, Part One: The '60s

THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961): Ollie stars as a a young Spanish nobleman with a problem: he keeps turning into a wolf and disemboweling people. The film that led indirectly to Ollie getting his face slashed with a broken bottle in a bar fight in 1964. With Clifford Evans and Yvonne Romain.

PARANOIAC (1963):
Sub-Hitchcock hoo-hah with Reed as a creepy rich kid out to make sure he collects on his inheritance -- even if it means murder! My favorite (and most prophetic) line of dialogue: "I've been drinking. Now I'm going to drink some more."







THE DAMNED a/k/a THESE ARE THE DAMNED (1963): Not to be confused with Luchino Visconti's 1970 epic, this is a sequel to VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED and CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED with Reed playing a nasty biker who inevitably meets a bad end. An interesting combo of horror, sci-fi, juvenile delinquent and nuclear holocaust-type flicks.

THE SYSTEM a/k/a THE GIRL-GETTERS (1964):
Reed plays Stephen "Tinker" Taylor, a womanizing photographer in a seaside resort who gets his comeuppance when he falls for an upper-class fashion model named Nicola. Great theme song by the Searchers.

THE PARTY'S OVER (1965):
Reed plays "Moise," the leader of a pack of layabout no-goodniks called, appropriately enough, "The Pack." A wealthy young American girl falls into their orbit, and tragedy ensues. Ollie is mesmerizing as the charismatic, nihilistic would-be beatnik whose idea of a miracle is a girl who won't go to bed with him. Director Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger) tried to have his name removed from the credits after the British censors made heavy cuts. With Eddie Albert.

THE TRAP (1966):
Surprisingly tender adventure tale about a French-Canadian fur trapper who buys a deaf mute (Rita Tushingham) to be his bride. Ollie's accent varies wildly, at times spot-on, other times sounding more like a brain-damaged Belgian.

THE JOKERS (1966):
Two brothers plot to steal the Crown Jewels, but just for kicks. Co-starring Michael Crawford as Reed's ne'er-do-well younger brother.

DANTE'S INFERNO (1967):
Early Ken Russell effort made for British Television with Oliver as Dante Gabriel Rosetti. Creepy opening scene has him exhuming his wife's buried remains so that he can retrieve a book of his poems for his publisher from her coffin. Russell and Reed developed a shorthand for Ollie's acting range: "Moody One," Moody Two," and "Moody Three," ranging from quiet menace to bellowing rage.

I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT'S 'ISNAME (1967):
Director Michael Winner and writer Peter Draper conceived this as sort of a sequel to The System. Reed plays Andrew Quint, a successful director of TV commercials who rebels by quitting his job, breaking up with his mistresses, and taking a editorial position at a failing literary magazine. Mayhem ensues. With Harry Andrews, Carol White, and Orson Welles as Jonathan Lute, Quint's Machiavellian boss.
QUINT: I'm going to find an honest job.
LUTE: Silly boy. There aren't any.

OLIVER! (1968):
"More? MORE? Never before has a boy asked for more..." Reed sports epic mutton chops as the villainous Bill Sykes, and is great in the role, even if his death scene is eerily similar to the one he did in Curse of the Werewolf. Directed by his uncle, Sir Carol.

HANNIBAL BROOKS (1969):
An English soldier in a German P.O.W. camp is used as forced labor at the local zoo, and befriends an elephant named Lucy. It's STALAG 17 meets DUMBO. One of Ollie's most likeable performances. Co-starring Michael J. Pollard.

THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU (1969):
Reed stars as Ivan Dragamilov, head of the titular organization. Diana Rigg, at her loveliest, plays a crusading journalist who hires said organization to kill Dragamilov. Romance and mayhem ensue. With Telly Savalas.

WOMEN IN LOVE (1969):
Ken Russell adapts DH Lawrence, Glenda Jackson emotes for the ages while Alan Bates and Ollie have a nude wrestling match. With Eleanor Bron.

Stay tuned for The Oliver Reed Film Festival, Part Two: The '70s and The Oliver Reed Film Festival, Part Three: The '80s 'Til Death

Originally posted 9 August 2007

Alain Delon: 5-Film Collection

Diabolically Yours/The Swimming Pool /The Widow Couderc /The Gypsy /Our Story

Alain Delon was one of the great male film stars of the '60s, playing super-cool anti-heroes in a variety of international productions, most notably The Leopard (1963), Joy House (1964), Once a Thief (1965), and Jean Peierre Melville's trio of tight crime dramas, Le Samourai (1967), Le Cercle Rouge (1970), and Un Flic (1972).

This DVD boxed set brings together five films starring, and in some cases produced by, Alain Delon, starting with 1967's Diabolically Yours (Diaboliquement Vôtre), based upon a hardboiled novel by Louis Thomas, wherein Delon plays an amnesiac who may or may not be set up for murder. The piece de resistance of the set is 1969's The Swimming Pool (La Piscine), with Alain co-starring with the lovely Romy Schneider (What's New, Pussycat?) and model/actress/chanteuse Jane Birkin (she's no Francoise Hardy, but she's at her best here) in a bizarre love triangle with deadly consequences. In 1971's The Widow Couderc, Delon plays opposite French film icon Simone Signoret in yet another bizarre love triangle with, yes, deadly consequences.

Also included in the set are 1975's The Gypsy, with an aging Delon in the title role, and 1984's Our Story, directed by master farceur Bertrand Blier, which concerns, accoring to Delon's character, "The nympho and the drunk...Love at first sight on a train." Sounds like an excellent premise to me, and the results are intriguing.

To sum up, this DVD collection of Alain Delon's secondary work is a must for fans of the actor, as well as those who have never heard of the guy.

Available from Studio Canal/Lionsgate Home Video.

More Reviews at Viewpoints.com

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The Alternative Amazon: Must Have Films

I love movies. If I had the money, I'd build a screening room in my home that would seat a dozen or so, and I'd have a film and DVD library to rank with the Library of Congress. I'd own the entire Criterion Collection, not just Straw Dogs and Gimme Shelter.

But I don't have my own private Xanadu, or a huge DVD collection. If I don't really need to own the DVD, and most times I don't, I get it from Netflix. If I need to own it, I try to get it used on Amazon.com or cheap on Ebay.

That said, there are many titles that have never made it to DVD, or VHS for that matter. There are a number of private collectors who are currently putting their rare and otherwise unavailable films up for sale as DVD-Rs via the internet.

This gray market is invaluable for completists like me. When I was putting together The Oliver Reed Film Festival, I scoured the internet for a copy of The Party's Over, from 1965, to no avail. I even had the poster hanging in my office, yet I'd never seen the film.

So when I came across Must Have Films, and saw that it listed The Party's Over among its titles, I had to place an order. I also picked up the non-horror Hammer flick The Crimson Blade, another early Ollie performance. The service was pretty quick, which given that MHF is located only a few hours away from Austin, was to be expected. The artwork was nicely done, even if the print quality on The Party's Over wasn't great (forgivable given the rarity of the title). However, I would suggest MHF adopt a letter-grading system for dubbing quality/image resolution. Due to the washed-out quality of the taped-from-British-TV source tape, the viewer misses at least 25% of Oliver Reed's sullen scowl, and 30% of his glowering rage.

The site deals exclusively in titles that are not commercially available, and will pull a DVD if it is announced for legitimate release. The fact is, most of these films will never be issued on DVD, so Must Have Films will continue to offer them.

Another cool site is Yammering Magpie Cinema, which deals heavily in film noir titles.