Bruce Of All Trades!

If ever you want to laugh out loud at the thoroughly complete charm of Bruce Campbell I heartily recommend Jack of All Trades, a two-season show of a mere twenty-two episodes made by the same folks that gifted the world with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. Campbell is utterly astonishing as he cracks wise with a barrage of double entendres that give you belly laughs. The premise of the show is set up each episode in the Emmy-nominated theme song. Check out the lyrics below.  (To hear the rousing song go to this link.)

In Eighteen-Hundred-One

The Revolution had been won

And Uncle Sam’s favourite son

Had a job he needed done

Which brought Jack to a lady

Both beautiful and smart

Who found his mix intriguing

A scoundrel with a heart!

[Chorus]

From the halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli

There was never a leatherneck braver

A Daring Dragoon is he

He’ll halt the whole advance

Of Napoleon’s attack

There ain’t a French or Pirate rogue

Who don’t know Jack

[Chorus]

From the halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli

Sailing around the bloody world

To defend democracy

And when you need a fightin' man

You trust to watch your back

Just ask the bloke right next toya. (Dang right)

It's Jack!

With British spy Lady Emila Rosthchild (the fetching Angela Dotchin), Jack Stiles weekly attempted to (almost) always succeed in outwitting and outfighting the knuckle-headed French forces led by Lord Croque (Stuart Devanie), the wimpy brother of Napoleon (Verne Troyer) and his henchman Captain Brogard (Stephen Papps). The is set on a mythical island dubbed Palau-Palau and populated by indistinct natives who seem to come from across the globe when the demand arises. 

In addition to his role as Jack Stiles, an American representative/spy working in concert with the British we get Campbell in a Zorro-like role of the "Daring Dragoon". The Dragoon is a masked devil-may-care and utterly indestructible warrior who comes to represent the very idea of liberty for the put-upon folks of Palau-Palau, and has wild fun doing it. 

There is little or no attempt aside from stage dressing to truly evoke the era, but rather to bring modern-era zingers and references to a wacky this never-never land of mild intrigue, dashing heroics and utter outrageous comedy. The only show that I can think of that was as wildly abusive to its historical setting is the vintage comedy F-Troop. 

But this is a show that you come for to see Campbell and despite all the hard work of the others without him and his knowing winks, the show would crash. It only lasted two brief seasons, but shows like this have a short lifespan anyway and those twenty-two episodes are gems. 

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Dojo Classic - Have Bruce Will Travel

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. is a big-time fun TV experience. I was a big fan when it ran in 1993 for its one and only season. For those who might not know, it's a weird western, a hip blend of science fiction and western motifs with a sarcastic wit that infuses the whole affair. It's full of rich and inviting characters, and some really excellent action by traditional TV standards.

The premise is pretty straightforward. Brisco County Sr.. is a famous bounty hunter who has at long last captured his arch-nemesis John Bly as well as all twelve members of his gang. While they are being taken to justice aboard a train, there is an attack and all thirteen villains escape killing County in the process. His son Brisco County Jr., a Harvard lawyer who has been adventuring in the West himself in recent years shows up to take on the mantle of his dad and to bring the killers to justice at long last. He's assisted by Socrates Poole a lawyer and representative of the rich men and robber barons who hired Brisco, and by Lord Bowler a competing bounty hunter who eventually becomes his partner.

And that's just the Western part of the story. It seems that there is also a mysterious object called "The Orb" which can give great power to people who can unleash it, and John Bly wants that power for mysterious reasons of his own. There's Professor Wickwire who is an inventor with his eye in the future and who dreams up all manner of odd devices to aid and bedevil Brisco in his quest. And there's Dixie Cousins, a saloon singer who comes to love Brisco and be loved by him, a gorgeous woman who sizzles the screen when she appears.

This show was a heady brew of modern sensibility brought to a classic format, the TV Western. Brisco is played by Bruce Campbell, Lord Bowler by Julius Carey, Dixie by Kelly Rutherford, Professor Wickwire by John Astin, and Bly by Billy Drago. There are all manner of great guest stars and continuing characters. My favorite is a hilarious gunman named Pete Hutter who has a fetish for his gun and a wonderful vocabulary, as well as a curious knack of returning from the grave. Also there is Aaron Viva, a sheriff who might remind many of a certain King of Memphis.

The show was developed to be a new take on the classic movie serial and features cliffhangers in each episode. The story of the Orb creates an ongoing tale that weaves through the series and is highlighted in several episodes. Really as I watched the series again over the last few weeks, I was struck by just how much stuff they fit into twenty-seven episodes. The show is lively vivid and the episodes swing by at a wonderful pace. There are very very few weak episodes and no clunkers in this series.

You will find a complete viewing experience with most mysteries solved and frankly a great deal of resolution brought to most of the characters. Once the Orb story wraps up, a bit of the energy from the show dwindles, but it's still funny. On some of the commentary there was talk what a second season would've been, and frankly it seemed sort of lame to me. What we have is one golden season of an exquisite TV show, an extended mini-series really and it's all of the story that I really need. Watching this collection is very satisfying. Highly recommended. 

I read some rumor online that new adventures of an older and perhaps evenwiser Brisco might be on the horizon. I hope so. 

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Man With The Screaming Bruce!

I'll say it up front -- the comic book is better than the movie. I'm a big Bruce Campbell fan (as this week's posts demonstrate) but as much as I want to like his independent project movie The Man with the Screaming Brain, I have to confess it fails in a number of respects. It's not the acting, which is top drawer or the very worst next to it. It's not the story, which is winner, filled with twists and turns and even a bit more. There are even scenes I like a whole bunch such as the delirious race across the town by the titluar "man with the screaming brain" and the raft of Soviet statuary which in some reflects the thematic points. But what the movie lacks, and it took the comic to show me, is atmosphere. Simply put this is a classic Frankenstein-inspired story which needed the dark of night to sell its wares and all of the story as seen on small screen is in bright unrelenting and unrepentant sunlight. 

I know that Bruce and company had to make the movie on a shoestring and had to go to Bulgaria to make that happen. So I'm not a hater of the efforts it took to put this story on the screen at long last. Apparently Campbell and his partner David Goodman had been trying to make this movie for nearly twenty years before they were able at long last get it done for the Sci-Fi Channel back in the early part of this century. This is a story which grew out of the same heady brew that birthed Evil Dead II and Re-Animator, both movies with bigger budgets and scuds of atmosphere. If the movie had been made for about the same money as those, it might well have shined (or better "gloomed") in its own singular hideous way. 

But alas bereft of enough cash, the outing falls short despite the strong acting efforts of Campbell and company. The special effects are simply not special enough to convince even for a moment and the robot they ended up with looks more like a leftover from a Devo video. The sets were scattered and reminded of the loathsome efforts of a Jerry Warren flick. (It hurts me to say that given how much I admire Bruce and what he tries to deliver.) 

I suspect that Campbell and Goodman just had to offload this project from their psyches and move on, and are happy enough with that. But even in the introduction to the comic book adaptation by artists Rick Remender and Hilary Barta working from the shooting script, Goodman admits and says Bruce agrees that the comics gets it righter. I wish it weren't so, but then at least the movie triggered a really entertaining comic book. Get it! Get the movie too, because even less than stellar Bruce is pretty diverting.

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My Name Is Still Bruce!

2021 -This is a review I wrote over ten years ago for this absolutely hoot of a movie starring "The Chin" himself -- the mighty Bruce Campbell. I just watched the movie again and enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time, if not more. 

My Name is Bruce is a frothy indy flick starring Bruce Campbell. The story involves a version of the real-life Campbell in conflict with a risen and murderous Chinese demon Guan-Di (war-god of the dead and bean curd). Mark Verheiden in the behind-the-scenes documentary indicates the idea for the story came to him while reading a vintage DC Alan Ladd comic book in which Ladd was presented as himself and brought into adventures apparently because his screen persona presented him as an experienced fellow in such matters. So it is with the new Campbell flick, he's in monster movies, so he can battle monsters. Clever device.

Bruce Campbell is an engaging actor who isn't afraid to make light of himself or the others around him. His self-made movies are highly self-referential and full of grade-B moments. The movie is a Dark Horse Indie Films project, and features cameos by both Verheiden and Mike Richardson, the publisher of Dark Horse. The version I got came with a tiny comic book version of the Dark Horse adaptation of the movie. It's also loaded to the gills with extras like behind-the-scenes stuff galore and other gags.

There's even a bogus movie in a movie called CaveAlien 2 and that gets a trailer in the extra features along with its own behind-the-scenes video. They seemed to have a lot of fun making this movie and it shows. It's got an Indie gloss for sure, but it watches like a professional film. They do a pretty good job hiding the low budget. I was reminded of the classic Big Trouble in Little China. 

Highly recommended. 

2021 - My opinion has not changed a jot. 

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The Lighter Side Of Boris!

Boris Vallejo painted some of my absolute favorite magazine and book covers and more than a few movie posters. Stepping into a niche carved by Frank Frazetta with his magnificent Lancer Conan the Barbarian covers, Boris was able to tap into a little of that Frazetta magic for and  even borrowed a pose or two along the way. As he continued to work and his covers became nigh ubiquitous on the paperback shelves I was put off a bit by the trend toward realism they exhibited. Boris for me was at his best when the landscapes were misty and the territory uncertain. The clearer the focus the less potent the magic. That said, Vallejo painted some delightful send ups of the very field he helped shape. The cover for MAD Magazine above of Conan and friend slicing deli meat makes me smile every time I see it, not because of the enormous sausage, but the intensity of the look on Conan's face.

(Frank Frazetta)

Vallejo found the magic again when he borrowed the famous pose from Frazetta which had been the inspiration of sorts for the Conan the Barbarian movie poster, and used it to mock many parts of society with the two Vacation movie posters he painted.

 love how one derives much of its meaning in comparison to the other. It's now hard to remember a time in this land when Chevy Chase was a movie star, but it did happen.

And finally one of my favorite actors is painted by Boris, the astounding Bruce Campbell as the stunningly stupid Ash , the "hero" of the Evil Dead movies and beyond. This poster is in no small way responsible for my discovery of the delightfully wicked Evil Dead films as the earlier images I'd seen on VHS boxes looked forbidding and grim. This painting hits the right tone and says that we have a film here that doesn't take itself all that seriously, but looks seriously entertaining. Thanks again Boris.

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Dojo Classics - Bubba Ho-Tep!

I'm late to this party I know, but I found a cheap copy of Bruce Campbell's Bubba Ho-Tep at my local Borders and it has become my new favorite movie. I've watched it a several times, with commentary and without, and I'm about ready for another viewing. This is a great flick, full of belly laughs, significant social commentary, and mummies!

The movie came out in 2002 sort of. The saga of getting this movie made and shown is a fascinating tale on its own. Joe Lansdale, a sometimes comic book writer, first wrote the long short story "Bubba Ho-Tep" many years ago for an Elvis anthology. Briefly it tells the story of an aging Elvis Presley stranded in an old folks home in East Texas and along with a black man who is convinced he's JFK, and together they confront an ancient misplaced mummy who lurks about the place sucking the souls of the helpless oldsters. The director Don Coscarelli got the movie going for very small money and created a wonder to behold, a true gem of a little film. Then he and Campbell literally carried it around showing it until it became a hit at film festivals, before getting some theater release.

Bruce Campbell is outstanding as the old Elvis, the late great Ossie Davis is magnificent as "Jack", and the other cast members do great work to sell this impossible scenario. The tone, the atmosphere of this movie are compelling. The score is magnificent despite having not a lick of Elvis music in it (too costly for this little flick) and the ending is pure schmaltz, too perfect to debate.

The special features on my copy are superb. There's a really good and insightful commentary by Campbell and Coscarelli, and another commentary by Elvis himself (Campbell in character as the King watching the movie for the first time, it's insanely funny all by itself).

This movie has been out there a long time. I've heard of it, but never ever seen it. I've been negligent and if you're like me, then you need to make a point to find and watch Bubba Ho-Tep the best "redemptive Elvis mummy movie" (to quote Campbell) around today!

There's a joke at the end of it about an upcoming movie called Bubba Nosferatu, and there has been an attempt to actually make it, but Campbell has said no, so it's no longer in the offing. I'd be afraid a sequel would take the bloom off this classic masterpiece of filmmaking. It's an exquisite movie.

Why this hasn't been adapted to comics I'll never know. It seems a natural.

UPDATE: While the movie Bubba Ho-Tep has not been adapted to comics still, Joe Lansdale has written a prequel featuring Elvis which hit the stands just yesterday. I didn't coordinate this re-post by the way, it's just a fluke. I didn't get the debut issue of Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers but I will likely get any trade from the folks at IDW.

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Ash Versus The Evil Dead!

Watched the debut episode of Ash Vs. Evil Dead this past weekend on Starz, and I have to give it an unabashed "Groovy"! This one does an exceedingly nifty job of picking up a story that has lain dormant for nearly twenty-five years since the release of Army of Darkness in 1992.  But the elements are still all there, and Bruce Campbell still has that quixotic charm which has made him a favorite movie and TV star now for several decades. Never an "A-List" celeb, Bruce is the king almighty and high overlord of "B-Listers".

Groovy Trio - Pablo, Ash, and Kelly

There's not much to announce about the story but I will attempt to avoid too many spoilers. Ash Williams has fallen victim to time, and now an aging one-handed denture-wearing wannabe Don Juan, he trolls the bars right at closing to pick up the desperate and the lonely to fulfill his base needs. That's the hero of this yarn, which shows us a world which quickly comes under attack by "Deadites" from another dimension, who invade the bodies of human beings and transform them into hideous and leering monsters bent on death and destruction. At the center of this is the Sumerian Book of the Dead made literally of flesh and blood, and in the keeping (so to speak) of Ash. Ever the "hero", Ash's first response to the "Deadite" invasion is to run away. But Pablo, a fellow employee who rather idolizes Ash tries to talk him out of that decision. Then fate takes a hand (so to speak) and things really start to slide into the gutter and by the end of the first episode we know that it will be Ash and company to the rescue. We are in so much trouble.

The power of Bruce!

Bruce Campbell is as funny as ever, blending that special dash of classic heroics with a heavy smear of sarcastic cowardice, he never does exactly what you expect, but always what you fear he might do. But in the end he is forced to do the right thing, but how long that lasts is anyone's guess. Sam Raimi makes this TV show look and feel just like the later installments of the Evil Dead franchise, a weirdo blend of gross-out horror and gross-out humor blended with just enough actual real suspense to make me yearn for the days when movies were actually a little bit scary.

This one is a winner, at least based on the pilot. Give it a chance. Bruce needs your support. For my thoughts on the Evil Dead movies check this out from many years ago now. Sheesh!

Now we need a big-screen adaptation of Brisco Country Jr. 

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Elvis Has Left The Tomb!

I was prowling around the local Dollar Store the other day, getting a few household items, when I stumbled across a bin of DVD's. I can't pass these up, you never know when you'll find a gem.

For just a few dollars I landed a copy of Bubba Ho-Tep - The Limited Edition, which comes encased in a delightful and exceedingly weird little mock up of a vintage Elvis super suit. It's unusual and highly distinctive. Glad to have it.

This find comes on the heels of my having found (for very cheap) the above volume which offers up not only the screenplay itself by Don Coscarelli (a hoot to read) but also the evocative story by Joe Lansdale which launched this joyride into pop culture and horror.

There's no doubt whatsoever that Bubba Ho-Tep is the best Elvis-JFK-Mummy movie of all time. I'll stake my reputation on that one.

TCB Baby!

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The Evil Dead!

I well remember going to the video store and looking for something interesting to watch. I rarely rented tapes, preferring frankly to spend a few more dollars and buy a cheap copy when I could. Then I had the movie for all time and could enjoy it at my leisure. But still there are movies you just want to see once and that will suffice. So the video store, a relic now of a bygone age, was a frequent stop in my travels.

One video I saw tucked away in the horror section was Evil Dead 2, the box featuring a skull staring at you sideways. It stuck in my memory, but it seemed to be just one more slasher movie, and those bloody things just bore me to tears. So I let it alone. This went on for a long long time. Finally for some reason, I became aware that this movie might be interesting, I forget how and I at long last rented it.


It was a revelation. I'd already by this time seen Sam Raimi's Darkman in the theater and loved it. So when I realized this was more of Raimi's vibrant moviemaking, I was very anxious to see it and a bit miffed at myself that I'd overlooked all those years. It proved to be a real hoot, a horror movie that offered up a few shocks, but mostly offered up an engaging story that never let up and was extremely funny. It's a wonderfully paced effort, with great visual gags and a really different kind of story. The ending I never saw coming the first time, though later I realized it was decently foreshadowed.


That began the search for more. Soon Army of Darkness was in the theaters and I enjoyed this one too though it's not really a horror movie at all, but a fantasy of a broader type. I became a Raimi fan. Bruce Campbell also was in my sights, having starred in The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., I found he was also in Darkman in a cameo. The smart nature of the vehicles these guys found themselves involved in really made me hanker to see the original Evil Dead.


When at last I did get hold of a copy, I was surprised. It's not like the others really at all. Of course this is a movie from a different era, filled with plenty of gore and horror cliches, but much more rugged and straightforward than its ironic sequels. I didn't quite know what to make of it. Clearly Evil Dead 2 was both a remake and a sequel at the same time while Army of Darkness was purely a sequel to that movie.

The original Evil Dead seemed not of the same brand. It's taken repeated viewings over the years but I've grown to really like this movie. It's crude for sure, but it's got a thematic sting that the later movies for all their craft lack. This one is horror, it's for real. Ash is buffoon for sure, but he's still a guy. Later Campbell takes him into a more surreal place and we care about him less while enjoying his hijinks nonetheless.


Recently I found Within the Woods, the short film by Raimi and Campbell that they used to get funding for Evil Dead. It's the same movie almost on an even smaller shoestring budget, but one which follows essentially the same plot, this time with Campbell as the monster and not the hero. It's rugged, the only print a bootleg, but if you want to see it follow this link.

I'd have to say that the original is now my favorite of the three, and that's not something I thought I'd ever say.

I read they might be making a remake of this original cult classic. I can see why they'd want to for financial reasons, but like most of these "remakes", it isn't really necessary. Just watch the original, it holds up quite nicely.

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The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr.!

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. is a big-time fun TV experience. I was a big fan when it ran in 1993 for its one and only season. For those who might not know, it's a weird western, a hip blend of science fiction and western motifs with a sarcastic wit that infuses the whole affair. It's full of rich and inviting characters, and some really excellent action by traditional TV standards.


The premise is pretty straightforward. Brisco County is a famous bounty hunter who has at long last captured his arch-nemesis John Bly as well as all twelve members of his gang. While they are being taken to justice aboard a train, there is an attack and all thirteen villains escape killing County in the process. His son Brisco County Jr., a Harvard lawyer who has been adventuring in the West himself in recent years shows up to take on the mantle of his dad and to bring the killers to justice at long last. He's assisted by Socrates Poole a lawyer and representative of the rich men who hired Brisco and by Lord Bowler a competing bounty hunter who eventually becomes his partner.


And that's just the Western part of the story. It seems that there is also a mysterious object called "The Orb" which can give great power to people who can unleash it, and John Bly wants that power for mysterious reasons of his own. There's Professor Wickwire who is an inventor with his eye in the future and who dreams up all manner of odd devices to aid and bedevil Brisco in his quest. And there's Dixie Cousins, a saloon singer who comes to love Brisco and be loved by him, a gorgeous woman who sizzles the screen when she appears.


This show was a heady brew of modern sensibility brought to a classic format, the TV Western. Brisco is played by Bruce Campbell, Lord Bowler by Julius Carey, Dixie by Kelly Rutherford, Professor Wickwire by John Astin, and Bly by Billy Drago. There are all manner of great guest stars and continuing characters. My favorite is a hilarious gunman named Pete Hutter who has a fetish for his gun and a wonderful vocabulary, as well as a curious knack of returning from the grave. Also there is Aaron Viva, a sheriff who might remind many of a certain King of Memphis.


The show was developed to be a new take on the classic movie serial and features cliffhangers in each episode. The story of the Orb creates an ongoing tale that weaves through the series and is highlighted in several episodes. Really as I watched the series again over the last few weeks, I was struck by just how much stuff they fit into twenty-seven episodes. The show is lively vivid and the episodes swing by at a wonderful pace. There are very very few weak episodes and no clunkers in this series.


You will find a complete viewing experience with most mysteries solved and frankly a great deal of resolution brought to most of the characters. Once the Orb story wraps up, a bit of the energy from the show dwindles, but it's still funny. On some of the commentary there was talk what a second season would've been, and frankly it seemed sort of lame to me. What we have is one golden season of an exquisite TV show, an extended mini-series really and it's all of the story that I really need. Watching this collection is very satisfying.

Highly recommended.

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Bubba Ho-Tep -- The Best Of Joe Lansdale!

I finally got a copy of Joe Lansdale's story "Bubba Ho-Tep". I was knocked out by the movie, which I reviewed in an earlier post. Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis are dynamite as the "King of Rock 'n Roll" and the "King of Camelot" taking on an ancient soul-sucking Egyptian mummy. It's a pure blast, and a surprisingly moving and potent character study of what it can mean to reclaim one's dignity.


The original story is no less impressive. I found in The Best of Joe Lansdale. It's an unabashedly crude tale which doesn't for a moment demure from speaking of the many aspects of human existence which demand our daily attention. The human animal is presented at his most basic, a creature subject to the demands of nature, but who can with will rise above the limits of the body and the expectations of society to achieve heroic things, things that need doing.


It's a wonderfully frank story of two crazy old men who find they and they alone can save their peers from a danger too strange and peculiar to even be noticed by the powers that be. Two old men, perhaps heroes of our age, perhaps two cracked-up old farts, or possibly both, work together because neither is enough unto himself to defeat an ancient evil that savages the very identity of what it means to be a man.

Joe Lansdale has found the perfect essence of great horror, placing the threat just at the edge of civilized knowledge in a remote corner where we don't think to look. Horror is with us always, but we avert our eyes or are too stupid to take note. It preys upon us because we don't want to know. In this story two men see and strike back. They fight for us all.

Congratulations Mr.Lansdale on a truly magnificent tale.


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