Shout Factory Keeps The 70’s Rolling Along With Some Genre Classics…

Posted on June 4, 2013 by geelw

Seeing these three films pop up on the Shout Factory site almost makes me feel old, except for they got me excited that they’re back in circulation, so I’m bouncing around the room. OK, not so much at my age… but any activity is good when you get this creaky. I added the road movie from hell Race With the Devil as a Random Film of the Week last year, but haven’t got around to Electra Glide in Blue (a really good, quirky cop flick with one of those depressing 70’s endings) and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, a pretty cool extended car chase flick with some great action and yep, another smasher of an ending sequence.

Hmmm, with all this road wreckage, wild hippie women, devil worshipers doing their thing in the woods and assorted traffic cops going through really lousy workdays, it’s a wonder real people drove ANYWHERE during this period. Well, they had to go to the movies too, so I’d gather an evening at the drive-in for a triple feature of all three might have been happening somewhere out there back in the day…

Anyway, that’s two more films I’ll need to add to the RFotW pile – stay tuned…

Random Film of the Day*: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

Posted on May 20, 2013 by geelw

*For the next few days, I’m going to add a random film the great Ray Harryhausen worked on. The legendary special effects MASTER passed away on May 7, 2013 at age 92 in London and yes, the film world has lost a true giant as well as a fine and talented gentleman…

the golden voyage of sinbad Ha! Motivation-killer flu, you can’t keep me from posting! Anyway, onward! It took Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen fifteen years to follow up their classic fantasy film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad with the second of three movies starring the fabled sailor and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad both looks and feels almost as timeless as that first adventure.

Much better casting for some of the principals in this “sequel” meant more engaging characters, Ray’s animation and effects work were mostly superb and composer Miklós Rózsa contributed a truly outstanding and memorable score that’s one of his best works of that era. As with the other Schneer/Harryhausen family films, this one’s not just for the kids and it’ll bring a nice Saturday morning smile to your face if you haven’t seen it before…
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Random Film of the Week(end), Too: IT’S ALIVE

Posted on April 21, 2013 by geelw

Larry Cohen’s brilliantly cheesy (yet pretty freaky) 1974 horror flick is a campy and bloody good time for genre fans, but it also managed (and still manages) to be an interesting bit of debate material if you watch it with someone who takes its messaging too seriously. I say keep it down with the heated discussion and try not to get caught up in real-life arguments about big pharmaceutical companies using people as guinea pigs with horrifying results and/or the usual pro-life and pro-choice issues, camp out on the sofa with some popcorn and beverages and enjoy this one for what it is. Buried under that bloody good fun and Bernard Herrmann score is a classic that got a few funky sequels made, all of which are worth checking out (despite being of slightly to moderately lesser quality as time went on). That and hell, the 70’s vibe in this one is in full effect thanks to some fine casting and scenery chewing by the principals… and that REALLY hideous monster baby…

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Random Film of the Week(end), Too: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

Posted on April 7, 2013 by geelw

As directorial debuts go, Michael Cimino’s 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot makes for a weird and wild first film that’s chock full of quirky characters, absurd situations and plenty of action. It’s also one of Clint Eastwood’s best performances of that decade as Thunderbolt, but Jeff Bridges steals the film with his offbeat Lightfoot, a happy-go lucky misfit who’d teamed up with Eastwood after he inadvertently saves his bacon from an assassin. The film is part drama, part comedy, part action and all Cimino rolling the dice, letting his cast have their way with his script and whipping out a wild ride that’s still a pretty memorable movie. Just the absurdity of Thunderbolt pulling off a bank job using a wheeled 20mm cannon is reason enough to see this, but toss in Bridges in drag at one point plus a crazy guy in a car with a raccoon and trunk full of rabbits, shake well and watch what happens…
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Texas Chainsaw 3D: Nope, Screaming Won’t Help At All…

Posted on December 30, 2012 by geelw

Hey, maybe… just MAYBE, this will actually be good. But I’m an old, old cranky guy about stuff like this, so I doubt it. The fact that they reference the 1974 original in the trailer and TV spot is a bit irksome to an old fart like me because I know that it’s rare that a horror flick gets a well done remake or sequel. Not impossible, mind you – just rare. All (lousy) puns intended there, by the way. Still, I’ll give this a look without the 3D gimmickry at all once it’s cable bound. Hey kids! A good horror film is maybe 90% mood anyway (or more if it’s made before the late 50’s) and this one seems to be doing a wee bit too much plot jiggering and trying to tie in exactly to Tobe Hooper’s classic (still a fairly relentless viewing experience that’s a lot less bloody than you’d think if you’ve never seen it before). Well, good, bad or otherwise forgettable, if you DO get scared during this reboot… “just keep saying to yourself: It’s only a MOVIE, It’s only a MOVIE, It’s only a MOVIE…”