Once They Lived In Palaces
Once They Lived In Palaces, Leo Bloom: Actors are not animals! They’re human beings! Max Bialystock: They are? Have you ever eaten with one? The Producers, Mel Brooks 1967 Gene Wilder passed this week, and I was surprised how much…
13 Ghosts (1960)
13 Ghosts has stood the test of time well, as have most of Castle’s films. While much is made of the gimmick of seeing the ghosts with 3d glasses, the movie itself is well made and not just a vehicle…
War Of The Colossal Beast (1958)
After being hit by a number of bazooka shells and falling some 700 feet from the top of the Hoover Dam 60 foot Glenn Manning, Duncan Parkin, somehow survived and ended up, flowing downstream, in Mexico. It’s there that Manning,…
Hannie Caulder (1971)
By 1971 the ripples the spaghetti western movement were in full effect in both sides of the Atlantic and Hannie Caulder is definitely a product of those times and the progeny of the films of Leone, Corbucci or Parolini more…
Mars Attacks The World (1938)
A large ray from Mars comes crashing through to Earth and messes up the atmosphere causing major storms, which could end up killing everyone. It turns out that Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) plans to destroy the Earth so a…
From Beyond The Grave (1974)
Four tales of terror revolving around an antique store owned by the grim-looking Peter Cushing where various characters secure objects without paying the correct price with possible doom awaiting them. The first shopper, Edward Charlton(David Warner)is a smug, narcissistic know-it-all…
Outlaw Riders (1971)
As biker movie fans are aware, they can vary tremendously in quality: there are the top-tier films that transcend the genre and demand classic status (THE WILD ANGELS, NORTHVILLE CEMETERY MASSACRE, HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS), the middle-level offerings that wrestle…
Howard the Duck (1986)
Considered one of the most notorious box-office flops in history (next to the ‘Road to Morocco’-ripoff ‘Ishtar’ with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty the following year), ‘Howard the Duck’ became the laughing stock of critics and movie-goers alike when it…
My Names Is Nobody (1973)
The story goes that Sergio Leone felt like he had to top the Italian box office earnings of “They Call Me Trinity” so he came up with the idea for “My Name is Nobody.” This lavish international production is a…
Delicatessen (1990)
Delicatessen is hard to pin down under a specific genre label; it’s a surreal black comedy, a human drama, a post-apocalyptic horror movie, a twisted thriller, a futuristic fantasy; and all in all; one of the strangest and most original…
Doctor X (1932)
Use of Technicolor in its early two-strip days was primarily reserved for musicals and comedies -it was rarely used for dramas. That’s why it’s such a treat to see how well it could be used in a production such as…
The Big Bad Virtual Print Fee
I have not made it secret that I think that the approaching the end of the Virtual Print Fee is a very good thing. I have converted theatres, sold projectors and though long and hard about the changing movie landscape….
Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
From horror’s premier team of Roger Corman, Vincent Price and, of course, Edgar Allen Poe comes this menacing, macabre and suspenseful tale of insanity, death and betrayal. This film is certainly one of, but maybe even ‘the’ finest Corman-Poe film….
The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965)
* Jon Hall must have been desperately in need of money to get involved in this beached whale of a movie where he not only starred in but also directed. Hall as famed Oceanologist Dr. Otto Lindsey is trying to…
Two Lost Worlds (1951)
During the 40s and the 50s many sci-fi and adventure movies were produced about giant monsters fighting brave adventurers. “One Million B.C.” (1940) is probably the best known example and the one that started the trend, but there were many…
The Bees (1978)
“The Bees” is a LOT of fun (but you have to be willing to go along for the ride and NOT take it seriously at all). Kind of a cross between a TV sitcom (like “Three’s Company”) and Irwin Allen’s…
The Day the Sky Exploded (1958)
In a joint US/UK/USSR effort to send a man into space USAF pilot John McLaren, Paul Hubschmid, is chosen to go aboard the X/Z Atomic Rocket on a trip around the moon and back. As the X/Z approaches the moon…
The Amazon Head Hunters (1932)
This film entails Belgian explorer Marquis de Wavrin’s four years in the South American Amazon jungle in search of a friend who disappeared in Ecuador. After crossing the Andes Mountains, and exploring the Galapagos Islands, de Wavrin and his Indian…
Angel Unchained (1970)
Angel Unchained has the ingredients of your basic AIP picture- bikers, ‘cowboys’ (rednecks), hippies, and lots of action. Unfortunately, it isn’t entirely synthesized. Perhaps I could’ve known this by seeing it had been re-rated a PG-13 by the MPAA, but…
Waterworld (1995)
Sort of like a Mad Max meets Indiana Jones set on a planet-wide ocean, Waterworld hit theaters back in 1995 with a surprisingly decent critical reception but unforgiving responses from the masses, resulting in a domestic box office tally just…