Reviews
Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas (2014)
NOT THAT BAD- Reminded Me Of Vintage RANKIN-BASS
I watched BUDDY'S MUSICAL Christmas (2014) independent of being a fan or follower of the original movie ELF (I've seen it- but it was never a favorite.), and I thought this to be very reminiscent of the many classic Rankin-Bass specials (RUDOLPH, SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN.) And found it to be very entertaining. Jim Parsons was great. As were Ed Asner (Santa in the original ELF!) and Gilbert Gottfried. The songs weren't as bad as expected. A few were catchy. The animation was interesting (Watch the characters MOUTHS!) I can't wait to see it again next year. Recommended! Perhaps the best, new Christmas special in DECADES!!!
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: A Home Away from Home (1963)
Scream Of HItch
It could be a coincidence, but change the setting and this is 2/3rds a remake of the British Hammer movie SCREAM OF FEAR from 1961. (This Hitch episode is from 1963.) The lead actress even favors, wears a similar sheer dress and her hair just like that films star, Susan Strasberg! There are so many similar elements. The girl entering the scene by mistaken identity. (In a reverse sort of way from SCREAM.) The body popping up here and there. If you've seen both, you'll know what I mean. I couldn't stop thinking this was a covert SCREAM OF FEAR the whole time. That said, this was a VERY suspenseful episode. Recommended!
Little Girls (1966)
A great timepiece.
Found this available in DVD. I had no idea what to expect. The blackmail plot was pretty implausible. Whether by original casting or the passage of time, the "girls" looked far more like college age, than high school. So no real exploitation in that aspect. This had good, crisp, black and white photography and struck me as a missing link, somewhere between THE KNACK (And How To Get It) (1965-UK) and FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL KILL (1965). One woman's outfit reminded me of Tura Satana from PUSSYCAT. I wonder in which order they all were made? There's some pretty brisk nudity and sex, but all soft core. That said, it's a great timepiece, I'm glad I saw it and would give it three stars.
Arnie (1970)
Herschel was Charlie The Tuna! and give us a BOX SET!
I was 10 when this premiered and watched it regularly. The comment here about Arnie being moved or pre-empted because of political coverage jogged my mind a bit. Remember when that political stuff was on all the network channels and there was nothing else to watch? A nightmare for a kid in 1970. I remember Arnie being a good family show and probably had a crush on Sue Ann Langdon and didn't know it. (As I was 10!) But she was a doll. I remember Charles Nelson Reilly, too. I can't recall Arnie *ever* being shown in reruns. Come on SHOUT FACTORY! Give us a box set! The thing I was most enthused about was that my school teacher told us that Herschel Bernardi was the voice of CHARLIE THE TUNA! So we must have discussed it in class for some reason! I always watched Arnie with that in mind.
Rock 'n' Roll Christmas (1988)
I Just Found Out I Have This On VHS!
Dug out an old VHS I recorded in 1988 and found this on there. It starts out with an intro by the cast of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN saying the regular Fox TV schedule will follow after. Hosted by a YOUNG Dennis Miller. (My sister thought he was HAL SPARKS!) This is made up of existing rock videos and film clips from John Cougar, Eddie Money, Pat Benetar, U2, Bowie, Kinks (Father Xmas), Run DMC (Hollis), Beach Boys, Little Richard, Marvin Gaye, Buster Poindexter, Robert Plant(!), THE BEATLES(!) and an old Elton John clip of him doing "Step Into Christmas." I still have all the original 80s TV ads (cheezy!) and for an 18 year old tape, it's razor sharp. Forget Tivo- VHS is King!
Mary (1985)
So Worthy of Airing or a DVD Box.
I remember this series well and was really into it when they cancelled the show. This was the last best thing Mary ever did. This is when networks stopped giving a TV show time to find it's audience. There were wonderful characters. Katie Sagal (soon to be on MARRIED WITH CHILDREN) as the chain smoking co-worker. And I'll never forget John Astin's character. He would enter a scene and introduce himself, hand extended... "Lasalle... Ed Lasalle." I seem to recall he was the papers reviewer- who never actually attended a show. This is very worthy of TV airing or a DVD Box. I guess the initial hope of TV Land actually resurrecting rare shows is long gone. Seek this one out if you can.- Dr. Mark
The Frozen Inferno (2000)
Where Did You See It?
Greetings. I linked to this via looking for JACK FROST. In the Movie Connections sections it says that apparently, one of the clips in FROZEN INFERNO is from that film. It is called Jack Frost aka. MOROZKO(1964). It is a 1960s Russian film. INFERNO sounds really cool. Apparently it is a student film? Where did those of you who have commented seen this short film? If anyone knows where I can get a copy. Please let me know. I hope this is enough lines. I need 10 to comment. Ha Ha. I like to see as many short films as I can. If you've never seen JACK FROST- the Russian version- take a look. aka. FATHER FROST (dvd) Thanx, Mark.
Dogs in Quicksand (1999)
I've never had so little fun watching a movie
Got this for ten bucks in a 4 movie set called "Rural Folk" from Brentwood DVD. Even at $2.50 a movie, I felt ripped off. I was at first impressed with reviews suggesting this was a good indy flick. Note that the rave reviews here are from LOCALS to the area where this was made. If this had been made in my small town and I knew all the sites, local dudes and pudgy soccer moms that appeared as "actors" in this thing, I might have been slightly amused to see the folks, locale and living rooms of my town. Being as I DON'T live there, I was looking at my watch 10 minutes into this mess. The acting was terrible. I mean TERRIBLE! Not one actor rose a bit above someone appearing in a local stage production. Even the one cop that was trying to sound like Slim Pickens. They all played to the back row, too. Shot on video, this is the new age version of local theater. Beware... Your town could be next!
The Two Little Bears (1961)
My Review Of The Rare TWO LITTLE BEARS
TWO LITTLE BEARS (1962) bw-82m (20th Century Fox) Shown on Fox Movie Channel, c.04/03. After they unearthed the long lost JOHN AGAR film HAND OF DEATH (1961), this was probably next on my Fox most wanted list. BEARS has a super, widescreen Scope intro, but P&S for the rest. (But OK.) The Brenda Lee opening with lots of bears on set is surreal. BEARS starts off like a 50s sitcom. Eddie Albert (3 years B4 GREEN ACRES) is the dad and also the school principal. Mom (Jane Wyatt) seems to have wandered in off the set of FATHER KNOWS BEST. The plot mentions Winnie The Pooh. Brenda Lee uses her own, southern accent, but this is not explained. 3rd billed Soupy Sales has little more than a walk on as the town cop. Butch Patrick and his brother want to be real bears and have costumes that they fantasize in. This has their teacher upset. (Nancy Culp- soon to be Miss Hathaway on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES.) The boys put on their bear costumes and go to see the fake gypsies on the edge of town. They tell the boys they need a special salve to make them bears, but they are out of it right now. There is a brief, creepy Halloween night scene. Enter a grown up Jimmy Boyd ("I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus") as Lee's date. Now it's a musical as they sing teen love songs to each other. Boyd gives Lee a special present of a big jar of homemade freckle removing cream. (Though it's Boyd who has the most freckles!) The boys discover this and decide is the "magic bear salve". Amazingly, it works (!) or we'd have no movie. The boys turn into what looks like footage from a Castle 8mm Films home travelogue movie about bears. Bears scamper around with overdubbed voices. They invade a golfers lodge in the country, go down the chimney and eat stuff from the cupboard. Then they meet a Mama Bear (That I'm pretty certain is voiced by June Foray), that sort of adopts them. At one point she starts to tell a tale of "Goldilocks and the Three Humans" but there is an abrupt cut to the next scene. Was something cut out? It still runs longer than the time listed in TVM. "Pickle Relish" is used as a euphemism for cussing. No earth shaker, but worth seeing once. Side note: Butch Patrick (recently on E! Celebrity Date, c. 2003) makes his 3rd appearance here. First Butch Patrick was HAND OF DEATH, then PRESSURE POINT- Uncredited, as "Imaginary Playmate. Then, after BEARS, was in A CHILD IS WAITING w. Judy Garland- directed by John Cassavetes and with Billy Mumy! All in 1962.- from Mark Hill
J.T. (1969)
J.T.- What A Great Hour Of T.V.
I can't add much about this great hour of T.V. that hasn't already been covered in the other posts. But maybe a few memories. The strongest being the line from the show that was featured in the T.V. ads.
Grandma: What you want for Christmas... Child?
J.T.: I want me this cat I found.
I'll never forget those sentences as long as I live. For some reason, my sister, a childhood buddy and I thought it was the funniest thing and it became our catchphrase for a while. To this day, I can go up to them and say, "What you want for Christmas... Child" and get the right response. And I remember J.T. buying the tuna, bopping to the transister radio he found (stole?) and keeping the cat in a stove in an abandoned building.
I feel fortunate to have taped this on CBS the last time they showed it around Christmas of 1991. I think about 4pm on a Sunday afternoon. It wasn't even listed, I just heard an announcer say it was coming up and I had a blank tape loaded and hit record.
Keep your eyes peeled in used bookstores. I was lucky enough to find a hardback book of J.T., illustrated with on-set B&W photographs, taken I think by Gordon Parks. The writer was Jane Wagner. The same one who later worked with Lily Tomlin.
If you want to see the original opening of The CBS Children's Film Festival- go to this site: (email me for the link) They have a clip of it you can see online.
Questions?/Comments? * This Has Been e-mail From: "Dr. Mark" Hill * The Doctor Of Pop Culture /*/ e-mail to: drmark7@juno.com
It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman! (1975)
I Remember This SUPERMAN Play!
Being a big SUPERMAN fan, I can remember when this musical was on TV. I think it was broadcast as an episode of the late night ABC WIDE WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT. At the time, the old SUPERMAN TV show was popular in reruns again. What made me think to look this up, is that I am currently watching a vintage (c.1966) episode of I'VE GOT A SECRET on THE GAME SHOW NETWORK. The celebrity guest is an actor named Bob Holiday, who was currently starring on broadway in the original play. With songs by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, who also wrote "Bye Bye Birdie." Holiday came dressed in his Superman costume, and his "secret" was to teach Steve Allen how to fly on a wire. I seem to recall seeing a TV GUIDE article about the play from around this time. I can remember the cast album of this play being available in budget "cut-out" record album bins for many years. The stars in the stage play (or at least on the show album) were Jack Cassidy and Linda Lavin. I sure wish I would have bought one then, but checking on the net, the cast LP was re-released on CD in 1992! Those are my memories of IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE. Mark R. Hill
Rabbit's Kin (1952)
Trivia About Pete Puma's Voice
Priceless dialog: Bugs: "How many lumps you want?" Pete Puma: "Oh, better give me a lotta lumps. A *WHOLE* lotta lumps... (After realizing his mistake) No thanks, I'll do it myself."
Did you know that the character and voice of "Pete Puma" in the Warner Brothers cartoon "Rabbit's Kin" was based on Frank Fontaine's character of "Crazy Guggenheim." Pete's voice was provided by Stan Freberg. Freberg reprised this voice in another Warners cartoon (as Pete!) and in 1990 as Pete on "Tiny Toon Adventures."
The Swinger (1966)
A Review Of Ann-Margret's THE SWINGER by "Dr. Mark" R. Hill
THE SWINGER (1966) C-81m Paramount. Directed by George Sidney (MGM's Pete Smith Specialties, Our Gang shorts, BATHING BEAUTY, ANCHORS AWEIGH, THE HARVEY GIRLS, KISS ME KATE, BYE BY BIRDIE, VIVA LAS VEGAS.) Sidney was president of Hanna-Barbera Productions for several years in the 1960's. THE SWINGER stars Ann-Margret (THE FLINTSTONES, KITTEN WITH A WHIP, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, TOMMY, MAGIC) and Tony Franciosa (TV's Valentine's Day, THE NAME OF THE GAME, THE PLEASURE SEEKERS, A MAN COULD GET KILLED, FATHOM). There is a pencil thin plot involving Ann not getting noticed as a women writer, so she pretends to be a `swinger' to draw attention to herself. Surely this was inspired by Russ Meyer's THE IMMORAL MR. TEAS (1962) and MONDO TOPLESS (1966), released the same year as THE SWINGER! THE SWINGER opens with a loud, boisterous narrator and scenes of traffic in the streets, storefronts, advertising signs, etc., just like TEAS and TOPLESS (Virtually all of Meyer's work.) Add a splash of TV's BATMAN (which premiered 01/66) with BATMAN-like camera angles throughout and even cartoon Pow! Zow! Zap!s at the end. There are still photos made into stop-motion montages and sped-up photography. It has wild, razor sharp color and is full of pop icons. It's very lurid for it's time with a pseudo-Playboy magazine setting and imagery, dirty old bosses chasing secretaries around desks, hot-rods, Ann on a motorcycle, Ann in really sheer tight-fitting pants. Ann-Margret's character uses her own real last name. (OLSSON). Don't look for many good cameos. There are some semi-familiar TV faces- but none are 1st string. With Robert Coote (GUNGA DIN, GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, THE COOL ONES, THEATRE OF BLOOD), Horace McMahon (THE GRACIE ALLEN MURDER CASE, BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, THE DETECTIVE), Nydia Westman (KING OF THE JUNGLE, THE INVISIBLE RAY, CAT AND THE CANARY), former stripper Barbara Nichols (SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, PAJAMA GAME, WHERE THE BOYS ARE, THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS, THE LOVED ONE) The musical theme song and opening number copy the opening of BYE BYE BIRDIE. The logo and poster were done by Al Hirschfield (who did the cover for Aerosmith's DRAW THE LINE LP.) TV Movies and even Psychotronic dismiss this with poor reviews. Not a great story, but a great piece of pop culture. I don't think anyone has actually seen this film since the advent of the Psychotronic Encyclopedia-era or they couldn't miss it as an early link between Mondo movies and Hollywood. *Before* BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. More important for it's visuals than plot. It's a big-budget, major studio Russ Meyer film- before he actually made one!. I can't believe this is not mentioned in reference books. Russ Meyer should be either furious or honored at the homage. It's too close for comfort. Don't miss it!
(Don't look now- the Psychotronic Encyclopedia will be 20 years old in 2002!)
Fandango (1985)
Background Of FANDANGO
Nothing I can add to all the previous comments on the greatness of FANDANGO. But I was in love with FANDANGO long before it was actually made as a feature. In the few places I can find any background text on FANDANGO, it says it was based on Reynold's student film, "PROOF". But I know it titled as "MONTEZUMA'S REVENGE". In fact, a friend used to have a 16mm print of MONTEZUMA's REVENGE that I first saw in his basement theater in the early 80's (Maybe even the late 70's) I have a crude video transfer from his print made in 1987. This film is about 20 minutes and is in black and white. In it, a group of guys start out playing cards and then decide to take a road trip to Mexico to see "the Donkey Lady", with none of the graduation and wedding plot yet in place. This film is as wonderful in its own way as is FANDANGO. I've seen it a dozen times and couldn't believe when I discovered it had been remade as FANDANGO. I don't think any of the original cast of MONTEZUMA end up in FANDANGO. Music is just as important to MONTEZUMA as it is in FANDANGO, using LOGGINS AND MESSINA'S "Just Before The News" as it's theme. I too assembled a FANDANGO soundtrack of my own after the fact, along with getting the LOGGINS AND MESSINA track. I would like to hear from anyone else who has seen MONTEZUMA'S REVENGE.