Posted by Steve Monaco at May 27, 2006 8:46 PM

The Saturday Serials

The Master Mystery (1919), starring Harry Houdini

The Moon Riders (1920), directed by serial great B. Reeves Eason

Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), starring Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 27, 2006 8:20 PM

Desmond Dekker, R.I.P.

At least he didn't end up like Bonnie and Clyde . . .

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 26, 2006 4:16 PM

Soul Kitschin'

Would you buy a used fire from these men? No, it's not the leads from The Lord of the Rings, it's the touring version of The Doors, with Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger-ho-Tep, and Cult singer Ian Astbury.

A 2002 piece in The Nation by Doors drummer John Densmore spelled out his side in the remaining band member's legal disputes, and he came out as a true keeper of the sixties' flame-- he was keeping his word to Jim Morrison that he (and the band) would never allow the music to be used for commercial purposes. In doing so, he's turned down millions for the others as well, but the sincerity of the guy was obvious.

Well, bad news for John's admirers and fans of the music: the sellout has officially begun. A story at fortwayne.com, of all places, quietly slipped in the news that the three remaining Doors "believe it's time to put their band's legacy (and, ahem, potential profitability) front and center."

Also: "Dick Wolf, the force behind the ubiquitous Law & Order franchises, is producing a full-length documentary on the Doors for theatrical release-- with all three surviving Doors on board as co-producers." It gets worse, with coffee table books, CD retrospectives, and a 40th anniversary blitz for "Light My Fire" and the first album. But the worst is saved for last:

"And talk about strange days, there's even a plan to take the Doors to Vegas in 2008. Jeff Jampol of Doors Music Co. said the surviving members and Morrison's estate are negotiating a deal in the 'tens of millions of dollars' to build a special theater of 800 to 1,200 seats at a Las Vegas casino and tailor-design a standing show."

Great. No announcement of what, exactly, the shows will contain (good news: they don't want anything that would cheapen the band's image). "We're creating something, but we're not sure what it's called," Jampol said.

Maybe they don't, but we do.

Great minds suck alike: Ray Manzarek and George Winston

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 25, 2006 1:20 PM

Mr. Pilkington Changes Trains

I was a latecomer to the Ricky Gervais podcasts (I became a convert thanks to a gift from E. Yarber-- thanks again, E.!), but I made up for it right away, and now have not only the two podcasts series, but all of the British broadcasts from the past few years. These are the shows where Ricky and his writing partner Stephen Merchant first met their producer and (soon) co-star, the amazing Karl Pilkington.

If you've heard the podcasts, you know all about Karl's round head, his obsession with chimps, what time of day he could eat a knob-- on and on. If you're not familiar with these shows, trying to explain the above would be like trying to explain Karl himself-- I don't think it can be done. Only exposure to his cracked logic and blunt opinions can get the essence of the great Mr. P. across.

So here's a clip from one of the last UK shows, where Karl describes a recent train trip, accompanied by Ricky's earsplitting laugh.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 22, 2006 6:27 PM

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

Last week's audio montage clue was from the latest Albert Brooks movie, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, a film that, predictably, I like more than most. To give me my meager due, that's perhaps because I get it more than most of the people who wrote about it, at least in one way: this wasn't Albert's "big statement" movie, but was more his version of Lum and Abner Go to Yugoslavia. I'll explain.

While Albert has proven his acting chops in others movies, most of the time in his own movies, he plays "Himself," or, in this case, literally "Albert Brooks." He's "Albert" the same way his comedy idol was "Jack Benny." And often, when those comedians had movie careers (like Bob "Sepulchre-Breath" Hope), they'd make a film where they went to another country for the predictable culture clash.

In Albert's case, it makes perfect sense-- he can't do romance or yuppies anymore, and he's not quite old enough to start on death exclusively. So he made a small comedy about his character, "Albert," looking like a schmuck in another country for a change.

(By the way, the bucolic radio comedians Lum and Abner made a movie called L&A Abroad, where they did indeed go to Yugoslavia-- really a Hal Roach backlot-- working for the U.S. government!)

So congratulations to the following winners: Vince Tuss, Wayne Palmer, Cate Fogarty, Corey Anderson, Hank Parmer, Bill Hearne, Justin Cullen-Benson, and Jeremy Hodess. And special congratulations to Joe Rosenberg, who wins the new Buddy Guy CD, "Bring 'Em In."

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 21, 2006 9:24 PM

The Monday Movie Quiz #107

It's an all-picture quiz this time. Here's the movie's main character, the lovely Mary:

She moves across the hall from this greasy creep

and is bothered by another while on a late-night drive.

Know the film? Then send me an email with its title by late Sunday night, and if you're right, experience the clammy chill, er, thrill of seeing your name in next week's winners circle.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 21, 2006 3:51 PM

The Saturday Audio Quiz #1

Don't get excited, there's no prize for this quiz, and it won't even happen on a regular basis, but I thought it could be an occasional bonus for those who actually come by this page on the weekend. Its inspiration comes from hearing some surprising-- and surprisingly contemporary-- actors show up on some old radio shows I've been listening to.

The first one was completely unexpected, even though it's from one of radio's last gasp attempts at drama, a mid-'60s anthology series from ABC called Theater Five. Listen to our star open the show (his is the first voice you hear), and then, to see if you're right, listen to the opening credits. (By the way, that's Fred Foy, announcer for the Lone Ranger and Dick Cavett, reading over that groovy theme music.) When you learn who it is, be thankful I didn't post the whole show.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 20, 2006 1:53 AM

My online haunts

I've always been too lazy to assemble even the most cursory of links section, and the bad news is, I still am. So instead, once and awhile I'll list a few sites I've enjoyed. In fact, I'll do it right now.

1) Farewell, Klaus Kinski, Jr. and The By-Pass Control. I've been hoping that Klaus might see the light and go back to providing his readers with great paperback covers and Italian soundtracks, but I certainly understand the burnout that comes from keeping the blog-beast fed. If he never returns, he has the eternal thanks of many, especially for the rare Morricone. If you visit for the first time, skip the top 3-4 entries when he was signing off and go down to the music and book covers-- choice stuff from somebody who knew both well.

2) Scar Stuff. More mp3s can be found at this weblog mostly devoted to Halloween and scary kids' records. That description only scratches the scratchy surface of the stuff on this blog, and it is a near-bottomless source of kitschy horror records-- there's even a download of the Famous Monsters of Filmland LP with Bowery Boy Gabe Dell performing as both Frankenstein and Dracula. And best of all, it features the entire album The Surfsiders Sing The Beach Boys Songbook, a laugh-out-loud awful vocal group bop-bop-bopping thru Brian Wilson's peppiest songs. (Both this and the Famous Monsters record are posted in their March 2006 archive.)

3) The Mobius Home Video Forum. It's not as active as it's been, but it's still a good and varied discussion forum for movies both mainstram and cult, American and elsewhere. Some writers for Video Watchdog participate on a regular basis, and if you ever needed to know which is the best video version of Bird with the Crystal Plumage, you'll be in Heaven here. Besides, yours truly even posts an occasional note.

4) Farewell, Wege. Just as I've been hoping Kinski Jr. would return to the blog fold, I've all but expected a "Grand Re-Opening" sign at Norwegianity, Mark Gisleson's amazing act of blogging stamina, if not out-and-out death defiance. (He's the only blogger I know who's been in an actual back-alley fistfight because of his online writing.) I know he's doing noble work in its place, even if it is for a Democrat, but I've missed my Wege fix the past couple weeks-- no matter how long it took to eat my desk-bound lunch, I never got to the end of a day's worth of Mark's postings. I can't help but believe he isn't missing it himself-- in fact, here's a recent pic where he was asked what he'd do if he could no longer blog.

Hurry back, brother!

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 18, 2006 10:27 PM

My movie year (so far)

1) Bordertown (1935), directed by Archie Mayo. Dig the brim on Muni in the poster-- he plays Johnny Rodriguez, a disbarred Mexican lawyer who runs a mecca for American sinners, and until Spencer Tracy came along in Tortilla Flat a few years later, his had to be the worst Mexican accent by a "Best Actor." (Muni won his Oscar in 1936, Tracy won in '37 and '38.) While the murder subplot for this was recycled in They Drive By Night, this is actually Muni's Road House, the Patrick Swayze/Rowdy Herrington mastermess. The first half-hour is pretty dull, but as soon as Johnny moves back to Mexico and opens his version of The Titty-Twister, it gets good, and when Bette Davis strides around, it's even better-- her full-figure shots in those gowns are as close to pre-Hays salaciousness as its gets. She was a great crone, but as a young woman, she was really hot stuff.

2) Top Line, aka Alien Terminator (1988 - Italy), starring Franco Nero and George Kennedy. This movie has everything, at least when it comes to stealing gimmicks from American movies of the decade, and I'd rather watch it again than any of the U.S. hits it ripped off. The "Terminator," with its melted eye and post-Disco wardrobe, is almost as funny as the brief appearance by George Kennedy, whose voice must have been dubbed by Rip Taylor. The rest of the movie is equally and refreshingly ridiculous, especially its monsters-- where Hollywood would have created World War III to get rid of a Terminator like this one, the Italians kill it by having a mad bull ram it until it flies to pieces!

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 18, 2006 1:34 PM

The Record Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

(By the way, mp3s of both volumes of the above can be found here.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 15, 2006 3:07 PM

The Monday Movie Quiz #106

A long audio clue that should give it away for some and completely mystify most others. If you know the movie this sound is from, send me an email with the title by late Sunday night-- if you're correct, you'll thrill to the sight of your name in next week's winners circle.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 14, 2006 11:58 PM

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

As Christina O'Sullivan put it in her email, "Burn one for the Gipper!" Last week's movie in question was the 1951 Klan-noir classic, Storm Warning, with Ronald Reagan, Ginger Rogers, Doris Day and Steve Cochran. Reagan plays a small-town D.A. who's after the Klan, and Rogers is a visitor who accidentally witnesses one of their murders. While it doesn't pack the punch of Roger Corman's examination of racism and Southern justice, The Intruder (starring William Shatner), it's still a surprisingly taut drama with some suspenseful and strong scenes.

Although Reagan as the anti-Klan good guy and Doris Day as Rogers' innocent sister are the stars the movie is recognized for today, for me the star is Steve Cochran, the greasy, hoody-looking guy in last week's photo clue. Cochran usually didn't play good guys, and when he did, they were usually troubled ones, but I've never seen him play such a stupid, monobrowed creep as his character in this-- by the end, he makes Neville Brand seem couth. The supporting cast, many of them in white robes, features lots of familiar faces from '50s TV and movies, including Gene Evans, Ned Glass, Paul Brineger (Wishbone from Rawhide), Dabbs Greer and King Donovan (Mr. Imogene Coca).

So congratulations to the following winners: Wayne Palmer, E. Yarber, Bill Hearne, Hank Parmer, Jen McCabe, John Middleton, Christina O'Sullivan, Michael Kelly, and Kevin Musolino. And special kudos to first-time quiz player, Justin Cullen-Benson, who wins this week's grand prize: the DVD Insomniac Tour Uncensored.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 14, 2006 10:19 PM

Happy Mother's Day

Charles Bukowski and his mother, Katharina

Rose Nader and her son, Ralph

Beach Boy Dennis Wilson and his mom, Audree

Jackie and Sly Stallone, back from the mother-and-son two-fer at the plastic surgeon's

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 14, 2006 2:16 AM

The Beach Boys Unsurpassed Masters

"Won't last forever . . . it's kinda sad . . . "

I'm just now getting around to one of the most amazing bootleg sets of all time, and the ultimate for Brian Wilson and Beach Boys fans: The Unsurpassed Masters series, a 20-plus volume history of the creation of every record, Beach Boys and otherwise, that Brian Wilson made for Capitol Records in the 1960s. Each volume is dedicated to one of the albums, and is often multi-disc. Pet Sounds is covered by two volumes, both with 4 CDs, plus another 2-CD volume for the making of "Sloop John B"!

As for how this set came to be, a very good BB boot website has this explanation: during the making of the 1984 documentary The Beach Boys: An American Band, someone with access to the group's tape vault helped himself to high-quality VHS-stereo dubs of virtually all the existing master recordings. In many cases, these bootlegs sound better than any of the same material released by Capitol to date.

They are not, however, for any but the diehard fan, and I am so much of one, I'm actually starting at the beginning with the Surfin' Safari volume. I didn't expect much from a (single) disc with multiple takes of their first album, but I was surprised how interesting it was, primarily for two things: 1) the infectiousness of Brian Wilson's bass playing, which gets better with every take as he literally learned the instrument as he went, and 2) the cleverness of Brian's little joker songs that filled between the surf tracks-- he was mimicking perfectly the cutesy pop stuff he'd heard on the radio (and Lawrence Welk) his entire life, and yet got it to rock at least a little. (Here's a sample, with Brian and his 15-year-old brother Carl a mere 45 years ago, getting into the groove of "County Fair," with Dennis gamely trying to keep up.)

I never thought I'd want to listen to this album again, yet halfway through the takes on the CD, I got up from the desk-- I'd been playing it as background noise-- and plunked down on the couch between the speakers to listen. That way, too, I could also hear more clearly how laugh-out-loud rotten Mike Love was from the very start.

The Love Bloat, coming to a Grand Opening near you

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 12, 2006 9:44 PM

My movie year (so far)

1) Ren she da zhan, aka Calamity of Snakes (Hong Kong - 1982), directed by William Chang. Let's get the evil animal movie out of the way first. Of course, horror films from Hong Kong often use real, live creepy-crawlies for some of their gross-out appeal-- I just watched 30 minutes of another HK fright called The Devil, which seemed to specialize in shots of people spitting out centipedes and small serpents. But this one outdoes anything I've seen yet for sheer numbers-- the climactic scene certainly involved hundreds of live snakes-- and wholesale slaughter of the animals. On the one hand, you see actors rolling around on countless writhing snakes (or having them dropped on them, even while having sex); on the other hand, you also see the snakes chopped to pieces, set on fire, and attacked by mongeese (which bite the heads right off the cobras-- didn't know that). In other words, double your horror, double your fun!

2) L'Inferno (1911 - Italy), based on Dante's The Divine Comedy and the art of Gustav Dore. At its best, it's an amazing cinematic recreation (silent, of course) of the drawings of Dore. The website for the DVD gives a good feel for the film, with a picture gallery and trailer. But thumb's down to the hellish new score by Tangerine Dream, which is complete with sung lyrics that tell the story along with the film.

3) Corruption of the Damned (1965), directed by George Kuchar. 213 directorial credits are listed on Kuchar's imdb page, and not one of his films is available on DVD or even VHS, at least above-ground. (Give that list a look just for the titles-- I especially like the sounds of The Guzzler of Grizzly Gulch, I Was a Teenage Rumpot, and Fill Thy Crack with Whiteness.) This may be the only silent film noir in the canon, not that it really belongs anywhere. Kuchar himself describes it like this: "Big in everything it says, big in everything it does, this picture bursts from its girdle of traditional Hollywood pyrotechnics and falls all over the place in a paroxysm of flabby sensuality, senselessness and insanity." Need I say more? (UPDATE: Holy shit! The Video Data Bank page for George Kuchar has Quick-Time streams of practically all of his films!)

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 9, 2006 10:08 PM

The Moldy Bookshelf of Essential Horror

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 8, 2006 1:49 PM

The Monday Movie Quiz #105

A very tough, but all-American quiz this week, perhaps for old movie experts only. To see if you qualify, see how many of these three faces you recognize:

The movie's fourth star isn't shown, but you can hear his well-known voice in this accompanying sound clip.

As you can tell by the quality of both clues, this movie isn't on DVD, and it's not shown on TV. Still, with these clues, you should have a fighting chance of getting it. If you think you know the answer, send me an email by Sunday, and if you're right, expect to see your name in next week's hooded winners circle (and maybe even get the next fine, fine grand prize). Good luck.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 7, 2006 5:12 PM

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

Supposedly, Eli Wallach was hopping mad when he learned that his character was "The Ugly"-- he assumed that he'd be the middle titular character, leaving the almighty Lee Van Cleef, with his adorable visage, to take the third role in Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. It's doubtful that ol' Lee would have been as offended; in fact, his next movie, The Big Gundown, was promoted with the catch-phrase, "Mr. Ugly's Back in Town!"

(Eli's next movie was The Tiger Makes Out, which had its own poster tagline: "It's all about a Greenwich Village cat on the make ... ... who ends up with Gloria, the housewife, by mistake!" It's undoubtedly even worse than it sounds, but look at this mid-sixties, NYC-centered cast!)

Back to TGTB&TU-- while Eastwood now lists it as one of the very best things he's done, he was bored during the filming and at the time liked it the least of his three Leones. Many of the rest of us, however, saw it long ago as the best film Clint was ever in.

Director Alex Cox has an interesting piece in The Guardian about how Leone, along with Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellman, killed off the Western in the '70s. (By the way, here's the picture Cox mentions at the beginning of the article.) And for no good reason whatsoever, here's a pic of Cher, starring in her own version of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, or at least the last two-thirds.

So congratulations and a walk through the desert with Eli to the following quiz winners: Joe Rosenberg, E. Yarber, Hank Parmer, Corey Anderson, Ryan Backman, Michael Kelly, Jen McCabe, Bill Hearne, Christina O'Sullivan, Dustin Gaynor, Vince Tuss, and Tim Smit. And epic Western-size congrats to our one and only all-time quiz champeen, Wayne Palmer, who gets the grand prize, a DVD of the documentary Townes Van Zandt - Be Here to Love Me. "Delivers a rough-edged truth"-- Anthony Lane, New Yorker. "A Townes Without Pity"-- Steve Monaco.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 7, 2006 4:26 PM

The continued squandering of Jackie Chan

Halcyon days: Jackie in Drunken Master II.

Rush Hour III has started production, with a story line set in Paris, because what could be funnier that Chris Tucker in France? I was hoping that New Line wouldn't give Tucker his outrageous demands for a third film, but they did: "$20 million against 20% of gross along with a second-picture commitment for the same salary on a film to be determined later." (Replace "20" with "15" and that's how much Jackie gets, but he also gets Hong Kong distribution rights.) Tucker sucks, of course, but since the last RH movie made $345 million, it's one of the few Hollywood paychecks that halfway make sense.

As a longtime fan of Jackie's, it's so frustrating to see the greatest action star of our time squandered so badly. He's already too old to be playing the kind of insipid parts they give him in the U.S., and he's prevented from making films in this country as a director. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like he's doing better work in his own country. No one's saying that he shouldn't do light comedy-- he's great at that, too-- but what we're missing out on is his mature work as a star and filmmaker.

Jackie himself has said he wants to make an American version of his kind of action film, and we can only imagine what he could do with the kind of budget that would entail. With the right project and proper budget, there's no doubt he would be a great director of action epics. And he could continue to be their star, making up in comedic turns for what he can't do physically (and even a diminshed Jackie Chan is still capable of amazing stunt work). They'd be fantastic movies.

But it's apparent with the Rush Hour deal that he'll never do them here. And unless he goes back to Hong Kong and makes them there, that means he'll never make them at all.

Shit-- why is movie news always so bad anymore?

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 4, 2006 10:33 PM

London After Midnight: The Book

The film may no longer exist, but the novel still does, at least if you can afford it-- a movie/book tie-in from 1927.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 3, 2006 1:03 AM

The Monday Movie Quiz #104

Time to toughen up this here quiz. So this time it's a sound clue, and a very brief one. Of course, we don't want to make it too tough, so there's a huge hint at the very end. But if you love this movie as much as I do, you won't need the music. And if you know the title that this clip comes from, send me an email by late Sunday night. If you're correct, expect to see your name in next week's garlic-breathing winner's circle, with the possibility of winning the Big Prize.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 2, 2006 2:00 AM

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

The answer to last week's quiz, as half-a-million people seemed to know, was the Xmas classic, Rosemary's Baby. There was a little disagreement over who's who in the picture clue, as well as the clue itself. For the record, besides Mia Farrow and Roman Polanski, that's Van Johnson and Joan Crawford with them. (Notice that Farrow's the only one looking in the camera lens while everyone else looks to the side-- I wonder if Mia's soon-to-be hubby, Frank Sinatra, was standing in the wings, demanding attention.) That's also William Castle (not Tony Bennett) at the other end, and yes, as producer of the film, I should have included him somehow in the clue.

(Quiz champeen Wayne Palmer observed that Polanski looks thrilled to be in such august company, to which I replied that he looks as happy to be there as a 12-year-old girl would be to find herself in his bedroom.)

Speaking of William Castle, the section on the making of this film in his autobiography Step Right Up! I'm Gonna scare the Pants Off America is pathetic-- poor Bill believed that real Satanists, angry about their portrayal in the movie (as what? wrinkly, old character actors?), put a curse on him and gave him kidney stones! Someone close to him should have told him to be glad that it wasn't the Manson family, instead.

So congratulations to all of these sharp-eyed quiz winners: Vince Tuss, Wayne Palmer, Mark Gisleson, Corey Anderson, Ryan Solovjovs, Bill Hearne, E. Yarber, Jen McCabe, Bill McLaughlin, Tim McDonough, Rick Endo, James Moomey, Chris Hesler, Christina O'Sullivan, Hank Parmer, Tim Smit, Michael Kelly, and Gopal Kidao. And ultra-Satanic congrats to Melissa Baker, who wins this week's Grand Prize: the soundtrack to Thumbsucker, with songs by Elliott Smith and Tim DeLaughter's Polyphonic Spree. (Here's a picture of one of the latter's fans.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 2, 2006 12:33 AM

« April 2006 | Main | June 2006 »