cfc_can

I saw this show back in 1978 and never saw it again though I often dreamed about it. It left a lasting impression. Thank heavens that someone recently put it on Youtube. The memories came flooding back. This was basically a variety show along the lines of Donny and Marie, using the Archie characters. There were songs, long skits and quick joke skits. The comedy wasn't that great. The gags were mostly of the "groaner" variety. Still, to see the characters come to life was a real treat. Also, they added Big Moose and Midge to the Archies rock band. I did notice a few odd things. Moose was considerably less "stupid" on the show. I don't think he even said "D'uh!" once. Reggie seemed more neurotic than nasty. Archie seemed a bit uptight and not as likable as in the comics. The Jughead version on this show seemed to like girls which is considerably different than the Jughead I grew up with. The skits dealt with the gang having to dissect frogs in Miss Grundy's class, Archie and Betty debating an important decision (the kind they never even hinted at in the comics), Archie debating with his dad (Gordon Jump-AKA Arthur Carlson from WKRP in Cincinnati!) about his freedom to buy a car and Veronica misplacing a set of tickets. There were lots of quick jokes in between and a few songs. The main one was called (I think) "Smile on Your Face". There was one in which Betty sang of how unfair it was that Archie preferred Veronica to her. It was almost like a musical soap opera. My favorite was called "Gotta Break Our Date Tonight" in which the gang took turns calling each other to either set up or break a date for the evening. It was very creative. The show was a pilot (actually the second pilot) for what would have been an Archie TV series but it never happened (sadly). The show then seemed to disappear completely. There would later be a (disappointing) TV movie in 1990 based on the comic strip but the characters were all grown up by then and a lot of changes had occurred. This show, although not perfect, is a real treat for anyone who grew up reading the comics and digests. It is also a good artifact of 1970s entertainment. culture.

I saw this back in the early 1980s on First Choice Superchannel Pay TV. If I remember correctly, it only aired once or twice. It's basically a filmed stage play but a pretty good one at that. The story is about Palance, a passing motorist and his two small children (though he looks more like their grand-father than their dad), stopping at the isolated, rural home of two old women when he has car trouble. He gets the idea that the house is full of valuable antiques and that the two old women are senile. He decides to stay on for awhile and makes the two kids help him with his plan to loot the place though they clearly do not want to. Needless to say, the two old women are not quite as helpless as they seem. It's cheap looking but manages to sustain interest, no small feat given the very limited number of locations. The film takes place almost entirely in the home of the old women. There are no real special effects or stunts but the film contains a sense of eeriness and nastiness which many bigger budgeted movies do not. Palance is known for having played many schlock roles but he is genuinely menacing here as the evil father. The IMDb lists Christopher Lee as being the "host" but in the version I saw, there was no host/narrator. According to one book that I read, this was made as a pilot on videotape for a proposed television series (a la Tales from the Darkside/Twilight Zone) which never came to pass. It deserves more attention. Even now, over 20 years later, certain scenes, especially the surprise finale, remain clear in my memory.

This is not a porn film, nor is it a biography on the life of Xaviera Hollander, whose book based on her experiences in the world's oldest profession was big stuff at the time. (for that story, check out The Happy Hooker with Lynn Redgrave-1975). This movie is a low budget, Canadian made sex farce in which Xaviera is deported from the USA and has to find a new place to set up camp. Many countries will not allow her to stay as she is "too sexy". She finally lands in a fictional European country where she soon reverts back to her old madame-ish ways. There is a fair amount of exposed flesh but nothing too explicit. The film is more silly than anything else. The comedy is outrageously bad. It has an air of "what-were-they-thinking-at-the-time?" including a slapstick bicycle chase which I guess was meant to be like the silent movies but can't even measure up to those. The odd part is that it features several veteran Candian performers: Henry Ramer as the nasty official who opposes Xaviera, Jayne Eastwood as his libidinal wife, Marvin Goldhar playing various detectives, Colin Fox and Jackie Burroughs are also thrown in for good measure. The movie was directed by the late Al Waxman and is a good indication of why he didn't direct many features afterwards. In his biography, he talks about this movie with pride as it was a money maker in it's day. Today, it has a campy, cult-ish quality but not much else.