THE URANIUM CAFE

THE URANIUM CAFE MATINEE: THE CREEPING TERROR

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 06:23:10 PDT

A creature that looks like a cross between a Chinese dragon puppet and the Pope sucks up people into its maw. A sheriff, his wife, and a "handsome" scientist battle it to the end, with a sub plot about the evils of bachelorhood.

SEE THE CREEPING TERROR RIGHT HERE >>

THE CULT CLASSIC THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HUMAN HISTORY!

THE CREEPING TERROR

THE SADIST/1963/ARCH HALL JR.

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 07:33:02 PST

THE SADIST

1963/Director: James Landis/Writer: James Landis

Cast: Arch Hall Jr., Helen Hovey, Richard Alden, Marilyn Manning, Don Russell

AKA: SWEET BABY CHARLIE

I have been hurt by others. And I will hurt them. I will make them suffer like I have suffered.

Charlie Tibbs

Most all of the movies here The Uranium Café (though not all) are low budget and/or obscure films that I have learned to have some degree of respect for. If a movie is simply too bad or has no special qualities that helps them transcend their b-movie (or z-movie) status I do not do anything with them here. That’s does not mean anybody will like them of course. I love the ted V. Mikles film Astro Zombies as well as Al Adamson’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein, though most people just do not see anything redeeming in them at all. Sometimes a film exists out there that undeservedly gets lumped in with those odd sorts of z-movie schlock. Either they end up in the same category through “guilt by association” or by the fact they were drive-in movie fair at best when they were released. And yet truth be told sometimes they are pretty good movies and deserve much more recognition than they have garnered over the decades. Such is the case with 1963’s The Sadist, produced and distributed by Arch Hall Sr.’s Fairway International Pictures, and starring Arch Hall Jr. in what is surely his most memorable film role from his brief acting career. He would soon quit acting altogether and pursue his real dream of being an airplane pilot, and on the side would be a rock singer and later novelist.

Surely the film was a bit ahead of its time in its portrayal of young thrill-killers on a road rampage. No doubt inspired by the headlines out of Nebraska at the time that told the story of young killers Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate –the models for characters in later films such as Badlands and Natural Born Killers- The Sadist was an exploration of new types of horror that was emerging in American cinema. While monsters and mutant insects were still popular, the new type of terror patterned after Hitchcock’s 1960 genre masterpiece Psycho seemed to focus on the real dangers in the world, with stories of strange, twisted killers –presented as confused teenagers or nerdy, withdrawn hotel clerks- that were often lifted from headlines of the day. In the end nobody believes insects exposed to radiation will grow to enormous proportions and invade a small town, but everybody lives with the terror of being the victim of some deranged maniac who kills either because he is driven to do it by “inner demons” or because he just likes it. The Sadist is an unsettling film and a couple cases the violence jolts you in way that not too many films up to that time had been able to do.

Before going into an examination of the general story one cannot ignore the influence of cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (credited in his early films as William Zsigmond). The name is more familiar to people who like to read the credits with movies like Close encounters of the Third Kind and The deer Hunter. But Zsigmond got his early experience working with b-movie auteurs like Ray Dennis Steckler (who appears to gotten his start working with Arch Hall Sr. himself) and Al Adamson. The Sadist is his first American film and it is quite an accomplishment, and much better than some of his later 60’s film work, like Psycho A Goo Go or Satan’s Sadists, to name a couple I can remember seeing. He uses black and white here to great effect. All the action takes place in a junk yard and that could be something that could get stale really quick, but it never really does. The camera moves around from various angles and sometimes we are inside a car looking out through a cracked, bloody windshield or we are staring down the barrel of a .45, feeling the helplessness of the victims in the film. At times he employs the use of a handheld camera that shows more restraint and experience than most all of the directors who the technique nowadays. If you like to study camera angles and lighting and how the camera can make a scene work (or ruin it) then you will not be disappointed in this one.

And that brings us to the story and acting. It was written and directed by James Landis, who does not have much credit under his belt and wrote mostly for TV, and did a couple other features with Arch Hall Jr. (Deadwood ’76 and the Nasty Rabbit, both which I now have but have not seen yet) before seemingly vanishing from the movie making scene, despite showing great ability with this feature. In particular he was able to help Arch Hall Jr. through coaching and rehearsing to help develop the truly despicable character of Charlie Tibbs. In the book I Walked With A Zombie, actor Richard Alden (character Ed Stiles in the film) tells Tom Weaver working with Landis was great to work with though Landis seemed to be a real outsider and not good at “kissing ass”. Most of the cast, other than Hall Jr. and Landis had little or no prior acting experience. Marilyn Manning had played along Arch Hall Jr. in Eaagh!, while Helen Hovey was Arch Hall Jr.’s cousin and Don Russell was not an actor, rather a friend of the Hall family it seems. He did do some further work with ray Dennis Steckler in front of and behind the camera and seems he directed a 60’s “nudie” film called Tales of a Salesman with an uncredited Zsigmond doing the camera work. But still, like the rest of cast (except “outsider” Richard Alden, who had to actually audition for his part as he was not a friend or member of the family) none were actual movie world people. At yet they all give fine performances (in particular Helen Hovey in her only screen appearance ever) under Landis’ direction. His script is filled with great lines of dialog of a near Jim Thompson quality. Too bad he did not make a few more films like this, but in the end we have this one great film to remember him by.

(SPOILER ALERT!) In The Sadist three school teachers are headed to a Dodgers baseball game in Los Angeles when they have automobile trouble. They pull into a service station and junk yard in the middle of the countryside only to find nobody is available to help them repair their broken water hose. They banter on about baseball, with Carl Oliver (Don Russell) trying in vain to explain the rules to clueless Doris Page (Helen Hovey). Sweet Doris blushes as fit Ed Stiles (played by Richard Alden who pumped weights regularly on the set t seems) takes off his shirt and begins working in one of those Archie Bunker sleeveless type t-shirts. Things seem a little eerie and out of place and they wonder where the owners and crew could be. An answer is soon provided the form of snickering and gun wielding Charlie Tibbs (Arch Hall Jr.) and his girl friend Judy (Marilyn Manning, who utters not an audible sound in the film but rather whispers everything into Charlie’s ear).

The pair is soon terrorizing the trio and forces Ed to continue working on the car, hiding little intention as to what their fate will be after his work is complete. There is plenty of sharp and most of the time clever dialog back and forth between Ed and Charlie. When Carl tries to reason with Charlie his promptly pistol whipped. Charlie is really on edge with the fact that the three are teachers, and that teachers have never thought too highly of himself or Judy, so why should he think highly of them in return. He takes pleasure in degrading Doris, making her eat dirt. In a scene that is shocking even by today’s standards he shoots Carl right in the face, after taunting him slowly while drinking a soda pop to cool off from the heat. The scene is very surprising and you just don’t see it coming (unless you have read this review first and I’ve spoiled it for you, sorry about that). It may be the first such scene in movie history, or at least where it is so graphic. You see poor Carl’s head take the impact. After this Ed and Doris know they are done for and Ed does what he can to stall Charlie. But Charlie ain’t having none of it. He lets know Ed he is dead one way of the other, but he live a little longer so long as he is fixing the car, but he had better hurry it up.

The tension in the scenes never really wears out as Ed and Doris stand off the best they can against the two thrill-killers. (I am not sure, but this may be the first film to coin the term thrill-killers. If anybody knows of a prior film to use the phrase please let me know and I will amend this.) Things shift gears when a pair of motor-cycle cops arrive to get gas. Charlie dispenses them without much problem, but it changes the situation enough to finally give Ed and Doris a chance to get free. After getting a face full of gasoline Charlie accidentally shoots Judy and Ed and Doris flee into the junk yard. Charlie is soon playing cat and mouse with them, but he has a gun and they are basically defenseless. The scene could grow tedious but the fine camera work keeps it going. Ed is often criticized as being a wuss but in fact he does the best he can do against a maniac with a loaded gun. In the end he almost even gets his hands around Charlie’s neck, only to be gunned down as he charges the killer lion a bull. It is good scene and we are rooting for Ed as Charlie’s gun start clicking on empty shells, but we all forget, as does Ed, that Charlie picked up and extra gun from the cops he killer earlier.

It is not a big surprise that Charlie gets what is coming to him as he chases Doris through the desert hills. But it is not the justice we really want. We want Doris to run a stick through his eye or something, but instead Charlie accidentally falls into a pit of rattlesnakes and is bitten over and over. Like the gun scenes that used live ammo, the snake scene used live venomous snakes and Arch Hall Jr. was none too thrilled with the situation. In the end Doris survives by a fluke of fate more than final girl skills and appears distraught and disoriented as the film closes. For a moment the film seems to go in the direction that Doris may meet a dealt end and that Charlie would survive to go on killing without Judy. But it ends the way a movie like this normally should end, with evil being stamped out and good prevailing but being pretty roughed up.

The film is full of little twists and surprises. Not the least of the surprises is the freaky performance by Arch Hall Jr. himself. Prior to The Sadist he had played fairly safe roles, good guys in Wild Guitar and Eaagh!, and a juvenile delinquent with a conscience in the Choppers. But here he goes all out and his over the top performance adds to the believability of Charile Tibbs rather than detracts from it. At first his squeaky voice and strange grimacing seem comical and you wonder what is going on, but by the time he blasts the begging Carl in the face with a .45 slug you have become fairly uncomfortable with the character. And while Judy is seemingly mute she is also dangerous and appears to goad Charlie on with whispered suggestions. Of course like movies of this caliber and budget there are some problems and this or that, in 20/20 hindsight, could have been done better. But those issues, as far I am concerned, are so few and far between I see no reason to mention them. Maybe you have heard of this film and have yet to get around to it since you associate Arch Hall Jr. with things like The Nasty Rabbit or Wild Guitar (which is a good movie too in my opinion) and think he is not able to carry the role of a “sadist” for an entire film. But the man does a great job, as did all the players in crew in this sadly over-looked and under appreciated thriller.

>>SEE THE SADIST AND THE CHOPPERS HERE<<

>>LISTEN TO SOME AUDIO CLIPS FROM THE SADIST HERE<<

LITTLE ANNIE FANNY/HARVEY KURTZMAN

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:32:34 PST

I was a mere lad when Playboy was being published in the 60’s and I usually got glimpses of the magazine when my brother’s and I went back to Paris Kentucky to visit my dad’s in the summer. It was actually at my weirdo cousin Allen Kenny’s house we found the magazines and look through in awe in the innocent days before pubic hair was even shown. One feature I always gravitated to was the amazingly drawn (painted actually) comic strip Little Annie Fanny that appeared in periodic issues. The strip was the creation primarily of former MAD magazine editor Harvey Kurtman who later enlisted fellow EC artist and writer Will Elder when the chore of meeting Playboy’s publication demands became too much for one genius alone. The strip was a development of Kurtman’s beaver Goodman Beaver comic strip that got him sued by the Archie Comics creators. But it got him connected with Playboy and got the attention of Hefner who gave Kurtzman creative freedom with the storyline so far as Playboy’s standards of perfection were met. They were met and exceeded by the painstakingly intricate hand painted panels and socially astute satire. Few comic strips have ever come close to achieving what Little Annie Fanny did in terms of presentation and content. And it happened, for the most part, during the sixties and the naive Annie drifted in a daze from one swinging adventure to another and never seems to (totally) lose her innocence, though she always lost her clothes. The strip was an obvious parody of the Little Orphan Annie strip by Harold Gray and Little Annie Fannie even proclaims “Leapin’ Lizards” in tough situation as did Little Orphan Annie. The strip was all but over by the 70’s though she made occasional Kurtzman/Elder penned appearances up to 1988. She made a reappearance in Playboy in the 90’s but as Kurtzman had died in 1993 it simply was not really the same. And by then Playboy itself had lost much, if not all, of the magic it had in the sixties.

FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS POST

SHERLOCK HOLMES/JEREMY BRETT

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:03:02 PST

Until only recently I had never seen a episode of the British television production, by Granada Television, of the 1984 to 1994 Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett as Conan Doyle’s master sleuth and David Burke and Edward Hardwicke taking turns at Dr. Watson. There were a few reasons for this that I will go into but in the end I think I may have been simply hard headed and biased towards anyone playing the role other than Basil Rathbone. But that is not the only reason and as time has gone on I can see some flaws in the Rathbone films, though not in his particularly perfect portrayal of Holmes. I picked up the boxed set a month or so ago and at the same time begin reading some of the stories in my two volume collection of the complete adventures of Sherlock Holmes that I keep on my bedside table.

I went into the series with some skepticism, but not to the degree I went into the new Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey Jr. interpretation. My main concern was not with Jeremy Brett, who I knew nothing off other than his performance is praised, but with the fact it was a British TV production. I typically do not like British TV shows, with exceptions of course, simply because of the way they look. The sets usually look like sets and the camera work looks washed out, as if it were all shot on video rather than film. For all I know it may be. Sometimes the camera work is in and out of focus and the sound quality is flat at best. More like something you would see on PBS (which is where this version of Sherlock Holmes wound up) than on American prime time or cable, and not to say what shows up on US TV is really better in substance but is usually better in form than most British TV which is in opposition to the usually above average British cinema. While the visual quality was better than lets say Fawlty Towers (which I think is a superb comedy) my worries were soon confirmed and I had to force myself through to the end of the first couple episodes I watched but soon I was hooked by Brett’s riveting interpretation. Brett brought life to the Holmes character in a way I have moved over into my reading. The character I imagine still looks like Basil Rathbone for the most part but has more animation and emotion than before thanks to Jeremy Brett. Brett appeared to have a hard time after a while with leaving Holmes on the set and certainly suffered from the intensity he put into the role. He had personal issues as well dealing with manic depression and eventually persistent despair following the death of his wife. Brett, who died in 1995 from heart failure, was considered a kind and warm hearted man with a charming sense of humor. He hid these personal qualities in order to create the near misanthropic character of the brilliant but egotistical Sherlock Holmes whose passion for his work process rather than his love for mankind drove him onward.

I now have completely arrived at a state where I am not worried about how the series was shot and for the most part have changed some of my old opinions about the look of British TV shows. It all seems to work out fine. The show also addresses and corrects two major problems I always had with the Basil Rathbone films. First the series puts Holmes back into Victorian England where he rightfully belongs. The Rathbone films took the extreme liberty of making Holmes contemporary to 1940’s England and even created stories where he dealt with Nazi’s. To be fair at times the scenes in the film had a look and feel that slipped in and out of eras and certainly Rathbone’s Holmes was a man of the 19th century. But an even larger issue with the Rathbone films was the portrayal of his biographer, professional associate and only true friend Dr. Watson by Nigel Bruce. Now as a film partnership the dichotomy created by Rathbone’s shrewd and logical Holmes and Bruce’s simply bumbling and clueless Watson is great. I do not hate the way it comes off at all, but being a fan of the stories I always felt that Bruce’s Watson came nowhere close to the man in the story who actually assisted Holmes in the solving of the cases. Bruce’s Watson is usually shown mumbling to himself and essentially being intellectually worthless to Holmes. Burke and Harwicke present a Watson that is more worthy of being Holmes’ closest human companion.

The series tries to stay as true as possible to the stories but with some liberties of course. I just watched The Dancing Men and The Speckled Band and found them to be extremely close to the written stories. The series also touches on Holm dependence to various drugs such as cocaine and morphine during times when he has no work or a conundrum to solve with his exquisite mind. I certainly regret that my biases kept me from watching these shows until now but I am delighted that I finally got the series and have been watching a couple a night lately. I do not even know if I have the entire series or not since the information on the box and disc is in Chinese (I live in China for those who do not know) and I hope I have all the 41 episodes Brett did before his tragic death at 61 years old. Like Rathbone Brett’s performances as Holmes have become the roles that have defines his professional career, but what a grand thing to be remembered for. I can say with little reservation (but with fear of blasphemy) that Brett’s interpretation of Sherlock Holmes is the definitive one, even eclipsing Basil Rathbone’s brilliant performances. For what is worth coming in third place would be Peter Cushing in the atmospheric Hammer production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Cushing did some more roles as Holmes for a BBD TV show as well as some radio broadcasts. Those TV shows are all but lost as the TV network reused the original tapes for taping other shows. I did manage to find a couple of the surviving episodes and will review those one day here.

PERFORMANCE/1970/JAMES FOX/MICK JAGGER

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:19:07 PST

PERFORMANCE

1970 / Directors: Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg / Writer: Donald Cammell

Cast: James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, Michele Breton,

Amazingly this fairly historic and influential film was not released on DVD until February of 2007. It stars James Fox, Mick Jagger and Anita Palenberg. Palenberg also helped with writing some of the film script. Prior to Performance James Fox had played mostly proper English gentlemen of one sort or another. Here he convincingly plays the viscous and violent Chas, an East side London gangster who is the enforcer for boss Harry Flowers. Fox' s performance is chilling and has been cited as influential on the London gangster type that appear in the newer British crime movies by directors like Guy Ritchie. It is too bad Fox did not do more roles like this. In fact he would all but retire from acting after Performance and devote his energy to being an evangelical Christian, only appearing here and there over the years in films, most recently as Varuca Salt' s father in Tim Burton' s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The film itself was controversial at the time and Warner Brothers was shocked by what directors Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg delivered to them when they were expecting a pop-music movie similar to The Beatles A Hard Day' s Night. The film captured the darker feel of late 60' s period London and there is fairly graphic sex and drug use (some purported to be real). In one scene Anita Palenberg injects what we assume is heroin into her butt cheeks. Even by today' s "flexible" standards the scene is unnerving. There were rumors that Palenberg - who had dated Rolling Stone' s temperamental and star-crossed guitarist Brian Jones and then later became Keith Richards common law wife and mother of their three children - had an affair with Jagger during the filming. Neither have ever confirmed this and Palenberg has sharply denied it.

While Fox stretched his capable acting abilities and created the evil and yet ladish Chas, Jagger and Palenberg simply play themselves and yet it is a perfect balancing act between Chas' uptight and rigid sensibilities and Taylor and Pherber's "free love" and drug using inclinations. After Chas becomes a target of the mob he works for he goes into hiding while trying to escape the country to America where gangster like him are truly appreciated. He winds up staying in the bizarre and decadent household of reclusive rock star Taylor (played by Jagger) and his girlfriends Pherber (Palenberg) and Lucy (Michele Briton). Taylor does not warm up to Chas, but finally Chas convinces him that he needs a " Bohemian atmosphere " to hole up in for a short while. Chas and Taylor begin to get drawn into each other' s dangerous worlds and a twisted connection is formed. Pherber slips Chas some psychedelic mushrooms and Fox is soon wearing wigs and lipstick and searching his soul while grooving to some far out tunes. Jagger is great as the reclusive and jaded Taylor and performs a really good blues song on guitar in one scene.

The ending is somewhat odd and confusing but it seemed fitting really in this case. Normally I do not like a strange ending to a movie that leaves too many questions. The look and sound of the film is marvelous and it is supposed to have been the first full length film to employ what is known as the " cut-up technique " , formally used in literature by people like Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs. It is the method of splicing random scenes together to create an effect of irregular yet seemingly purposeful continuity. It is a common technique in film anymore and you hardly think it is anything special now. The film had problems with release and distribution and was widely panned at the time of its release as lurid and exploitive (are those supposed to be bad qualities?), but has since went on to be considered one of the great films of British cinema. Some parts may seem dated, such as the strange synth tracks and experimental photography played at the beginning during a court room scene. Some other parts are ahead of their time even, for example a song sequence that predates MTV in the way it is done. It is tough and hallucinogenic at the same time. A hippie/gangster movie. Not a genre that was explored much. It does not become an " acid trip " movie in any way though some scenes have those elements.

Also check out Fox's excellent performance as Peter Marlowe in one of my all time favorite films, 1965's King Rat with George Segal and Tom Courtenay, about existence in Changi POW camp in Singapore during WWII. There will a post of that remarkable film coming soon.

Here is an article about the film showing the reactions to it in the early days and then how those opinions have changed. The statements are from the cast and crew.

As well here is a nice piece on James Fox from the Cinebeats blog by Kimberly Linbergs.

THE URANIUM CAFE MATINEE/THE VAGRANT/1992

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:53:58 PST

He's not just in your mind...he's in your house.

He's NOT home alone.

READ MY REVIEW OF THE VAGRANT OVER AT NECROTIC CINEMA HERE

THE VAGRANT

GIRLS WITH GUNS

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:58:11 PST

When I ran The Uranium Cafe over at my old and now defunct URL one of my more popular categories was my Girls with Guns. I am now reviving that category here and will try to be a bit selective with the images I post, as I usually am anyway. There is no shortage of girls and guns on the net but a lot of it simply is not really what I am into here. Does not mean those images are not cool or enticing, but they do have the kernel of uranium needed to make it here. They are typically cheap, and exploitative and sometimes simply degrading to women. Okay, not much different than what I am posting here, but some of mine are in black and white! Expect more as I have tons of this stuff. As always, enjoy.

THE URANIUM CAFE NECROFILES/THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW/MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND/SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED/THE SNOW CREATURE

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:26:45 PST

THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW

1959/Director: William J. Hole Jr./Writer: Lou Rusoff

Cast: Jody Fair, Russ Bender, Henry McCann, Paul Blaisdell

I am as big a fan of API films as any b-movie fan can be. Some of the best stuff of the 50’s and 60’s came out of the company. But Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow is nothing but a turkey and waste of time and all the more because it seemed like, going into it, that it was going to be something like the very entertaining Dragstrip Girl. The film runs a mere 65 minutes but the time is the only thing that drags in this mess since we only see a brief race at the beginning between two girls. The haunted house segment itself is not even introduced until the last 20 minutes of the film and plays no part in the previous 45. It is just sort of thrown in haphazardly and the movie wraps with a Halloween style party that also does not make much sense. Makeup artist Paul Blaisdell is the ‘ghost’. He dresses up in a slightly modified (sans boobs) She Creature costume and when his identity is revealed at the end he talks in the most annoy9ing falsetto voice you have ever heard and plugs a few other AIP films –something the company often did, plug one film from inside another- and whines and confesses he is haunting the place because AIP did not let him play the monster in some other films. I can’t imagine audiences of the time knowing who Blaisdell was or getting the ‘in jokes’. The longest 65 minutes of my life. The film does seem to earn it reputation as one of AIP’s truly worst films. And that is some dubious honor indeed.

MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND

1968/Directors: Gerardo de Leon, Eddie Romero/Writer: Reuben Canoy

Cast: John Ashley, Angelique Pettyjohn, Ronald Remy

Eddie Romero directed a trilogy of sorts of island movies. The first two were Terror is a Man (sometimes referred to as a very loose interpretation of the Island of Dr. Moreau. I do not have this film but am seeking it (NOTE: Since this writing I have gotten not only this film but all five, actually, Eddie Romero Island films in high quality AVI formats). I do have the 2nd film called Beast of Blood but I can’t locate it here in this mess but it will turn up one day. Mad Doctor of Blood Island is a super low budget story of chlorophyll blooded zombies on a tropical island and stars AIP regular John Ashley as the hero. The copy I have looks like hell but this film is pretty fun over all. A mad doctor with a limp, sexy island girls and ultra violent deaths –including disembowelments and beheadings- make up for the film’s shabby quality. I mean shabby even if you get a good copy and not one like I put together from Youtube and tried to restore with some software I have. Really annoying near vomit inducing camera work whenever the monster appears. Has to be seen to believed. The film was produced by Independent-International which also is the company responsible for unleashing most of those Al Adamson films on the world. Sadly coming from me that is a recommendation.

SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED

1974/Director: Michael Findlay/Writers: Ed Adlum, Ed Kelleher

Cast: Alan Brock, Jennifer Stock, Tawm Ellis

Great title. Great poster art. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. A whacky college professor invites a group of students out to some remote island to confirm that a Yeti lives there (having got lost from the mountains of Tibet I suppose.) The students are treated to strange exotic foods and stories told by manservant Laughing Crow, who seems to be in competition with Torgo from Manos: The Hands of Fate for the coveted strangest manservant to a twisted master award. The editing and camera work is atrocious really and the acting –overacting more accurately- and dialog even worse. The Yeti is simply unbelievable and if you say to yourself “that looks like a guy in a fuzzy Halloween costume” you have unconsciously unraveled one of the film’s two surprise endings. I do not like to spoil all the surprise endings to an ‘interesting film’. So then nothing can stop me from disclosing that the other surprise ending is that the professor is actually part of a secret society of cannibals who lure students out to the island every few years to feast on them. For fans of z-movies only.

THE SNOW CREATURE

1954/Director: W. Lee Wilder/Writer: Myles Wilder

Cast: Paul Langton, Leslie Denison, Teru Shimada

This 1954 feature from United Artists may well be the very first Yeti/Abominable Snowman film. It may well have served as the inspiration for the much better 1957 film The Abominable Snow from Hammer. In this film however the Yeti is actually captured and transported back to LA where it escape from the refrigerator it is being kept in and runs amok in the sewers of LA. The film suffers from just too much dialog from the actors and not enough Yeti mayhem. The creature hurls a few stones but mostly we see it in the same repeated shot where it walks out of the shadows… the scenes cuts to the actors doing something… the it creature walks backwards into the shadows again. They must do this ten times during the movie. The yeti suit is really weird and I swear the thing has a square ass! Not as bad as Shriek of the Mutilated though and both films are for fans of Bigfoot/Yeti films.

THE URANIUM CAFE PINUP GIRL/BETTY BROSMER

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:25:46 PST

THE URANIUM CAFE AUDIO SAMPLES: THE SADIST

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:53:20 PST

In the process of preparing a post on one of my all time favorite films, and one that was a bit ahead of its time as we will explore shortly, 1963's The Sadist with Arch Hall Jr..One of several things that stands out in the film is the gritty Jim Thompson like dialog. Some of the exchanges between Hall's character, Charlie Tibbs, and the rest of the cast are just classic. In particular are the exchanges between Tibbs and school teacher Doris page, played by Hall's real life cousin Helen Hovey in her only, yet outstanding, film role. Right now getting some screen captures made and researching some back ground information on the film. Will probably have the post finished by tomorrow, but you can't rush a project like this. Glad to have received some encouragement on this from none other than Arch Hall Jr. himself and so the pressure is on. If we are lucky "Charlie Tibbs" himself share a few memories of his involvement in this great thriller. Lets keep our fingers crossed. For now check out some audio samples I put together and if if have not ever seen the film I am sure these will get you in the mood to check it out ASAP. You can sample the film here at The Uranium Cafe Matinee actually, but you need to get this film on DVD as the soundtrack and cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond can not be fully appreciated in streaming format. These are from Public Domain versions of the film from The Internet Archive and I think a restored and impressive Blu-Ray version is now available from Johnny Legend's DVD company is available here. Or Johnny, to avoid confusion, has given permission for interested fans and potential customers to contact him directly at his email and he will clear up and question about products there: johnnylegendrocks@gmail.com

INTRO NARRATION

TITLE SONG

WHEN THE PLAYER SWATS THE BALL

ENTER CHARLIE

MORE AUDIO SAMPLES FROM THE SADIST:

HOW CAN YOU BE SO INHUMAN

YOU'RE NO MORE THAN AN ANIMAL

EAT THE DIRT! TASTE IT!

SCHOOLS OUT TEACHER

YOU HAD A CHANCE MISTER

MY MUSIC COLLECTION/BOBBIE GENTRY/NANCY SINATRA/FREDA PAYNE/THRILL KILL KULT

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:45:52 PST

A new category here that shifts away from movies and comic books and into music samples, featuring the often extremely varied music styles I have grown up with and loved all of my life. This first post features all female singers and mostly from the 60’s (Freda Payne’s Band of Gold was 1970 but it is close enough to include into the 60’s I think) except for one song from The Thrill Kult, featuring some vocals by New York poet, “cinema of transgression” style actress and performance artist Lydia Lunch. Like the posts we refer to as eye candy I am going to call this ear candy and not go too much in some sort of history behind each song. Could do something like that in another style posts someday. Suffice to say that all of these songs are great and not really that obscure. But lets be honest, sometimes with music too obscure is a euphemism for not very good really. Who knows what the next post may feature. Prog Rock? Black Metal? Psychedelic or Punk? For now let the girls wail away.

BOBBIE GENTRY - SON OF A PREACHER MAN

NANCY SINATRA - THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN'

FREDA PAYNE - BAND OF GOLD

MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT w/ LYDIA LUNCH - DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS

URANIUM WILLY'S BULLPEN/SPECIAL NOTICE

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:37:28 PST

I enjoyed uploading and storing stuff at my Rapidshare account and had a a lot of stuff set to go up there and then share here. The issue though of file sharing in any form has gotten pretty nasty here of late and it came to my attention that Google could ban my site and cancel my account for posting links to file sharing services like RS. So, for now those days are over and where you would have seen a link to a Rapidshare file before you will now see this notice:

I am very concerned about the recent crack downs on the net with file sharing services and have learned that Google could easily ban my site and cancel my account for providing upload links to places like Rapidshare. Google is now monitoring it sites more closely I read and I do not want my site taken down for providing upload links. I did not think it was a big deal to do this but it seems like it can be. After the seizure today (2 Feb 2012) by the FBI of data at places like Megaupload I have decided to remove all Rapidshare links from my blog. Very sorry about any inconveniences this may cause.

I will try to figure out a way to share links but if and when I do it will not be on this site or this Google account, nor even at Blogger. I may set up a Wordpress site for something like this. I actually have a sort of mirror version of The Uranium Cafe at Wordpress I did as an experiment and all back RS links are there and active, though you would have to search them out until I can think of something else like a sidebar banner with link. But for now, here at Blogger, I will just get on with blogging -as I am sorely behind on several posts in the draft folder- and not worry too much about it, though I hope all of this mess does not get too out of hand. Living in China I have come to rely on places like Rapidshare for things I would not be able to see or hear otherwise. Lets wait and see.

THE URANIUM CAFE MATINEE/DEVILS OF DARKNESS

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:31:49 PST

He's a Vampire with a Cult Following.

What Was This Sinister Evil That Robbed the Dead...And Killed the Living?

SEE DEVILS OF DARKNESS RIGHT HERE >>

Devils of Darkness from Bill Courtney on Vimeo.

DEVILS OF DARKNESS

THE URANIUM CAFE NECROFILES/EEGAH/WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET/UNTAMED YOUTH/THE BLACK SCORPION

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:16:55 PST

EEGAH!

1962/Director: Arch Hall Sr./Writers: Bob Wehling, Arch Hall Sr.

Cast: Arch Hall Jr., Marilyn Manning, Richard Kiel, Arch Hall Sr., Ray Dennis Steckler

Eegah! Was a vehicle by Arch Hall Sr. that was to help launch his son into acting and singing stardom. Maybe that did not really work out but Arch Hall Jr. was involved in a handful of pretty interesting film projects that include one of my favorites, the 1963 film The Sadist. He was never going to be the next Frankie Avalon or Elvis as his dad may have hoped for but whose to say that was ever the plan anyway. Eegah! (or sometimes just Eegah so you don’t get confused) was produced by Hall Sr.’s Fairway-International Pictures out of Burbank CA and features Richard Kiel (Jaws from the Bond flick the Spy Who Loved Me) as a caveman who has been living on a diet of sulpheric water that has kept him nearly immortal. He roams the mountains on the outskirts of Palm Springs and one day kidnaps Roxy Miller, one of those 30 something teenagers, who, along with boyfriend Tom Nelson (Hall Jr.) went searching for her father (played by Hall Sr.) in the desert. Her dad was out there to confirm the existence of said caveman and himself wound up it captive. Soon Eegah is being shaved and eating lather and putting some pretty forward mating moves on poor Roxy who keeps trying to distract him by wanting to look at his ‘etchings’. The films features a then unknown (and basically still unknown) Ray Dennis Steckler –who also worked as the cameraman- in a small part towards the end of the film. Steckler would later do Wild Guitar for Hall Sr. -appearing, I if I remember right, in the film under his actor name Cash Flagg- and have his The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? Distributed by Hall Sr.’s Fairway-International. Hall Sr. just had that God-given gift for spotting young talent I guess.

WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET

1966/Director: Arthur C. Pierce/Writer: Arthur C. Pierce

Cast: Wendell Corey, Keith Larsen, John Agar, Irene Tsu

Directed by Arthur C. Pierce (Mutiny in Outer Space) and starring John Agar (the same year he did Larry Buchanan’s Zontar, the Thing from Venus) and Wendell Corey (Rear Window, Astro-Zombies), Women of the Prehistoric Planet is supposed to be, I have read, an attempt to deal with civil rights issues in the mid-sixties. Luckliy the film makers did not cast black actors as the ‘prehistoric’ inhabitants of a lost planet –that winds up being named Earth at the film’s end by the astronauts…ooohhh, what a clever twist that was- and instead decided to cast Asians as the Centaurians. Incredibly these alien Asians often talk in short little wise proverbs the way Asian always did in old films. The tag line - “It’s the battle of the sexes as savage planet women attack female space invaders!” is infamously misleading as nothing of the sort ever happens. The words “women of…” were added to the original title of The Prehistoric Planet by producer Jack Broder and some scenes of bathing native women were added –though the scenes are available only in the hard to find foreign release of the film and in the American trailer- and no combating prehistoric women are to be found. We do get see iguanas fried by ray guns and listen to long winded 60’s sci-fi style explanations about the effects of traveling at the speed of light but not one prehistoric woman cat fight. Wendell Corey slurs and mumbles his sentences and Agar is looking more and more uncomfortable in his films roles. Pretty hokey fun.

UNTAMED YOUTH

1957/Director: Howard W. Koch/Writers: John C. Higgins, Stephen Longstreet

Cast: Mamie Van Doren, Lori Nelson, John Russell

Most of the ‘great’ juvenile delinquent films were put out by the smaller independent studios like AIP and Allied Artists but big guys Warner Bros. put out the JD/rock-n-roll hybrid film Untamed Youth which seems to be little more than a showcase for Mamie Van Doren’s various tight, bouncy knit sweaters. The film looks and feels like an AIP production and features a cast of familiar faces to the JD films of the time, which while tame by today’s wanton standards were often to difficult to distribute with their themes of unwanted pregnancies, reefer use and good boys gone bad. The ‘kids’ in this film are really bad at all and are hauled off to a cotton farm top do cheap labor for the farm’s corrupt owner Russ Tropp (John Russell). Cotton picking gets boring and so sometimes Eddie Cochran starts playing air guitar and doing a poor man’s Elvis while the gang snaps their fingers and shimmy their hips. At night they all mill around the barracks and watch girl with satrs in eyes Penny Lowe (Van Doren) slink around like a stripper and sing les Baxter penned rock tunes that all sound like a Carl Perkins’ rock-a-billy tune. The old looking teens are stereotypes from every teenager film from the time and there is not much real action outside Van Doren’s cheesy song numbers. For JD fans only.

THE BLACK SCORPION

1957/Director: Edward Ludwig/Writers: David Duncan, Robert Blees

Cast: Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas

One of my favorite manly heroes Richard Denning (Creature from the Black Lagoon) manages to romance sultry Mara Corday (The Giant Claw) while, at the same time, finding time to save Mexico from giant scorpions unleashed from the earth’s depth by a volcanic eruption. The scorpions were designed by Willis O’Brian and many of the other monster in the film were ‘left-overs’ from unused scenes from the original King Kong. The greatest menace in the film is not the hungry scorpions (who all have straight white teeth!) or the other subterranean creatures but the little brat Juanito (Mario Navarro) who manages to screw up every imaginable situation trying to be a ‘big man’ and help out. At times it looks like Hank Scott (Denning) wants to toss the kid in a pit somewhere but the pain in the ass is Teresa’s (Corday) son and he needs to put up a decent front if he is goIng to get anywhere with her later. O’Brian’s work partner Pete Peterson did most of the actual animation and do to budget constraints much it was actually filmed by he and O’Brian in Peterson’s Encino, CA garage. The budget also prevented actual stop action animation from being used in many crucial scenes and rather you have the poorly double-exposed looking traveling mattes –an old process that can work well and is now basically called blue screen- that don’t look much better than the mutant lobster in Teenagers from Outerspace. Worth a viewing just for the times the scorpions actually look real and menacing.

AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF HEIDI SAHA/WARREN MAGAZINES

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:10:58 PST

In this post I try to briefly explore the fallacious near urban legend surrounding one of the most obscure of all Warren Magazines, An Illustrated History of Heidi Saha. Heidi was the daughter of science fiction editor Art Saha who was also pals with Forrest J. Ackerman. She accompanied Forry to the 6th annual Comic Art Convention in 1973 dressed in Vampirella garb and took home a couple prizes for her attire. Later a one run magazine tribute to the 14 year old Heidi was published and a bit of a stir was caused. I remember Heidi Saha when I was a kid and collecting Warren magazines and to this day I cannot believe some of the wild speculations about Forry’s intentions in publishing the magazine. I will only believe he was a good man and the magazine was put out in more innocent times. There are no nude pictures of Heidi in the magazine unless you count the one where she is a baby. The picture caption on page two that says “Looking at Heidi can be Hobbit forming” is pretty bizarre by modern standards and may be a bit in bad taste as are some of the images of her in jungle garb. But the idea that Forrest J. Ackerman was some sort of pedophile grooming his victim is something I have a hard time accepting.

The book was only printed in one run of 500 copies and has even become something of a legend among Warren collectors. I managed to find jpeg copies of the entire magazine online and saved them. together into a folder. I do not really want to upload all 36 images here and so I made a PDF file of the magazine. As far as I know this may be the only full PDF version online but I am not sure I have read blog posts that refers to a digital copy, but I can not find a full copy in PDF or CBR format and so made this one up myself. The quality is off and on but you are not going to find this in better shape I think and if you do please send me the link.

For more information on this post click here.

PHILIP GLASS/NORTH STAR

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:32:01 PST

North Star was composed as a soundtrack for a film called Mark Di Suvero, Sculptor by Francois de Menil. I have never seen it but would like to if I get the chance. What is important about this album in my personal listening history is that it was the first real exposure to minimalist music I had outside Brian Eno’s Music for Airports and Discreet Music. Glass was an established composer and performer by the time I picked up the album at a little record store in San Antonio Texas in the mid 80’s but I had never heard of him. I picked up the album simply because it was on the Virgin label (back when the label design was by Roger Dean) and I had long identified Virgin Records with performers like Tangerine Dream and Mike Oldfield, both whom I liked at that time (and still do)very much.

I would later explore much of Glass’ other works and currently am listening to Music in 12 Parts and it is haunting and incredible. A lot of what he does, of course, tends to sound the same after a few records and yet I seem to have developed a strange liking for it. But the music on North Star is slightly outside what Glass normally does in that it is on the heavy side as far as the performance goes. The only other album I have ever heard that may remotely compare would be one called Organ Works, released much later than North Star which came out in 1977. The instruments on the piece were common equipment for 70’s rock and prog bands. They include Farfisa, Hammond and Yamaha organs, Fender Rhodes piano, as well as an ARP synthesizer. There are some curious vocal pieces on the album as well, one song being nothing but a choir doing a Glassesque minimalist chant that is nothing short of dizzying.

The two MP3 selections here focus on keyboard performance. The first one Victor’s Lament is an aggressive piece that churns forward with brooding intent while the second selection Age Des Orages is one of those swirling, hypnoptic type things Glass does so well but it is approachable because the song duration is short. In fact all the pieces are about three minutes long and even for people who detest Glass and the whole minimalist thing there may be at least one or two things they can relate to on this once hard to find album that has been recently re-released and added to Glass’ gigantic catalog. Philip Glass is not music for the masses by any stretch but if you like minimalist music like Eno, Fripp (sometimes) or Steve Reich you should enjoy Glass' dabbling here in, essentially, progressive rock music.

The text for this post was taken from a now defunct version of The Uranium Cafe at My Opera. Check that piece of history out here if you want.

Roger Dean's design for the original Virgin label.

For more information on this post click here.

VICTOR'S LAMENT

ANGES DES ORAGES

THE BLOODTHIRSTY TRILOGY/VAMPIRE DOLL/1970

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:07:45 PST

VAMPIRE DOLL

1970/Director: MichioYamamoto/Writers: Hiroshi Nagano, Ei Ogawa
Cast: Jun Hamamura, Yukiko Kobayashi, Kayo Matsuo, Yôko Minakaze, Atsuo Nakamura

Also Known As: Chi wo sû ningyô: Yûrei yashiki no kyôfu/Bloodsucking Doll/Chi o suu ningyô/Fear of the Ghost House: Bloodsucking Doll/I klironomia tou vrykolaka/The Ghost Mansion's Horror: A Bloodsucking Doll/The Legacy of Dracula/The Night of the Vampire/The Vampire Doll

I recently got in this batch of films called The Bloodthirsty Trilogy, all from TOHO pictures and directed by Michio Yamamoto and co-written by Ei Ogawa (who wanted his professional name to sound like Edgar, as in Edgar Allen Poe). I don’t gather that the films were actually intended as a trilogy and that was most likely a packaging gimmick, but the films do have some similarity in terms of themes and production that link them together more in terms of appearance and atmosphere than actual storyline. I am using the title Vampire Doll for the review here though the title of the film appears as Bloodsucking Doll on this, the British release called Legacy of Dracula, or The Bloodthirsty Trilogy. The other films include Lake of Dracula and Evil of Dracula, and those films too have a long list of confusing AKAs. But Vampire Doll is the first of the three films in terms of chronology and, like the other films in the series, what makes it stand out as a movie is the apparent influence on the film’s look and story by the Gothic films of the west, and in particular the successful vampire movies produced by Hammer studios during the late 50’s and through out the 60’s. That is not to say that Vampire Doll and the next two films are remakes or redoing of western vampire films without reference to Japanese horror lore. There is in fact a successful blending of Asian and western horror themes here that, along with the Terence Fisheresque sets, make the Bloodthirsty Trilogy an enduring little collection of movies.

It can be debated, I suppose, whether or not the first film, Vampire Doll, is really even a vampire movie at all. The antagonist, Yuko, is called a vampire by the people seeking her but she has more the elements of a zombie (she is being animated beyond death, we find out later, by hypnotism). She also has the qualities of the vengeful, wrathful spirit one finds in many Asian horror movies, returning to wreck vengeance on people who betrayed her during her life. Important in this type of Asian story is the link between the vengeful spirit and its family surviving family members. And such is the case here with Yuko and her mother and later her father, whose identity is revealed in a perhaps unnecessary plot twist at the film’s end. And believe it or not there is an actual "Vampire Doll" in he film, but I will let you discover that scene for yourself.

The film starts off in classic Gothic horror style with Yuko’s boyfriend, Kazuhiko Sagawa, traveling in a taxi in a stormy downpour to the home of his beloved Yuko. The house, on the inside and out, look more like the House of Usher than something you may find in the Japanese countryside, but that never seems to be an issue with the story's credibility. The house sets the mood for the film and the viewer can rest assured that they will be in for a spooky ride throughout the film. And for the most part they are. The movie does not disappoint if you are a fan of atmospheric Gothic horror. The story eventually follows the plight of Sagawa’s sister, Keiko, and her boyfriend Hiroshi, as they try to him after he has not been heard from since his trip to visit Yuko. Like Sagawa they soon discover from Yuko’s mother that Yuko has died, killed in a car accident a few weeks before. But of course there seems to be more to the story than her mother lets on about and the pair find excuses to stay around the house long enough be harassed by the hunchbacked handyman and hear and see apparitions of Yuko. I have to be honest, I am not really sure whatever happened to Sagawa now that I think about it. I will assume he was disposed of by the hunchback Genzo, but I can’t recall that ever being made clear, though Genzo does have a knack for violently accosting the male guests, including Sagawa. The appearance of Yuko is an effective mixture of Gothic vampire and Asian ghost, and is something is fairly common in Japanese and Asian horror these days, to the point of being a little trite in fact. But the image of the haunted, madly gazing ghost girl is something ingrained in Asian horror culture and in this film Yuko’s frightful appearance is most effective. Much more so than some of the newer Japanese ghost stories in my opinion, though some of the new stuff is okay too.

The weak point of the film is the ghastly (but not spooky ghastly) score by Riichiro Manabe, who has the dubious distinction of being TOHO’s worst film composer. The opening theme music is not too bad, but the rest of the film’s music is inappropriate and in particular the harpsichord parts. On this point the filmmakers should have let the Gothic mood alone as it sounds more like The Munsters at times than Dracula. But other than that issue –and it is a minor issue really- the film is a nice work and in some people’s view the best of the three films. The next two movies actually try to deal with a Dracula like vampire character and in doing so those stories became a tad bit campy, while Vampire Doll retains enough of the genuine feel of classic Japanese horror as to be a great film all on its own, with its references to British and old American horror classics being marginal at best. Reviews of the other two films in the works, so check back soon. Also noticed there were not many great images for this film online, so I made up a healthy little collection of screen captures for you to enjoy.

TRAILER FOR VAMPIRE DOLL

THE INCIDENT/1967/MARTIN SHEEN

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:09:17 PST

THE INCIDENT

1967/Director: Larry Peerce/ Writer: Nicholas E. Baehr

Cast: Martin Sheen, Tony Musante, Beau Bridges, Ruby Dee, Jack Gilford, Ed McMahon, Donna Mills, Brock Peters

Written by Nicholas Baehr and Directed by Larry Peerce, 1967’s The Incident is a gritty and disturbing film whose explorations into human cruelty and passivity have lost none of their topical value. I was surprised to find out that Baehr’s screenplay (based on his teleplay Ride with Terror) was never a stage production as the film has all those qualities. Almost all of the action takes place one setting, that of a New York City subway train. The mixed cast deliver an outstanding ensemble performance. It is shot in b/w (as was his film One Potato, Two Potato, which dealt with interracial relationships in America, and racial issues play a theme in the Incident as well) which lends a documentary style to the movie that adds to its realism more than takes away from it. If you look at the scenes shot of the actual subways stations the camera work is shaky and out of focus at times. This is because the New York Transit Authority refused Peerce and crew permission to shoot location scenes, but in guerilla fashion the scenes were shot by cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld anyway, using hidden cameras, sometimes concealed in bags whose whirling motors drew the attention of subway authorities at times. When the police became overly suspicious Hirschfeld and his clandestine cameramen left the scene and returned later to finish the shots.

Joe Ferrante (played by an edgy and at times over the top Tony Musante in his first screen role ) and partner in crime Artie Connors (a young Martin Sheen also in his first big screen film role) are a couple punks out looking for kicks. Their idea of kicks is mugging and terrorizing the citizens of late night New York who are unfortunate enough to cross paths with the pair. Joe is pumped up and simply psychopathic. Though it is not implied in the script we take a guess and assume he and Artie may be hopped on some sort of amphetamines. They do share swigs from a bottle of cheap wine or whiskey hidden in a brown paper bag. Artie is more of a follower and seems to do some of the things he does in an attempt to impress or gain approbation from Joe. The pair board a subway car that populated with people, mostly couples with one exception, we are introduced to, along with their personal problems, at the film’s beginning. The passengers are made-up of familiar faces from film of the late 60’s and early 70’s and include Beau Bridges, Jack Gilford, Gary Merrill, Brock Peters, Donna Mills, Ruby Dee and, in a surprisingly convincing role, Ed McMahon of The Tonight Show fame. Each person and couple have serious issues and problems and weaknesses that Joe and Artie, like true predators, home in on and exploit. Of particular note are the issues with: a man who is the early stages of recovery from alcoholism and is desperate for a second chance in life, a young man struggling with expressing his homosexuality, a couple whose marriage is under strain from raising their child and making ends meet, and a black man who is bitter and angry at the cards he has been dealt in life.

As the film progresses Joe and Artie go from passenger to passenger and basically terrorize them. and egg them on, seeking a confrontation. While some people say that the passengers are collectively passive and back down from the two thugs I do not feel this is entirely true. The alcoholic (played by Gary Merrill) stands up to them as best he can when they torment a passed out bum. But in the end he can physically do nothing against the pair. An elderly women (Thelma Ritter) and her husband (Jack Gilford) refuse to be pushed out by these young and disrespectful punks, and Ritter’s character actually slaps Joe at one point, but in the end they are defenseless and Joe shows self-control in not beating the old pair to a bloody pulp. Ed McMahon’s character, a husband worried about his job and family, refuses to allow Joe to stroke his daughter’s hair and set the scene for the final climatic conflict in the film between Joe and his one true rival, a young soldier with a broken arm from Oklahoma (played by a cherub faced Beau Bridges).

Much can be said about the passivity of the passenger and yet when we put ourselves in their position how can we be sure we would act. Nice to think we would be like the heroic young army soldier from the south who ultimately is the one to stand alone against Joe and Artie, but I am not so sure. There are a couple younger and strong looking characters who could have certainly assisted young Pfc. Felix Teflinger (Bridges), including his timid Army buddy, but they all sit and do nothing when the time comes. If they had all stood up at the film’s end they could have easily taken Joe, knife or no knife. But like a herd of zebra they sit passively and watch while the predators attack what appears to be a weak member of the herd, grateful, that they have been spared. The final scenes where they file out of the subway car one by one is depressing and, unfortunately, too true to life to be comforting. And even more disturbing is the idea that this happened at a time when riding a subway in an American city was probably a hundred times safer than it is nowadays.

CLIP FROM THE INCIDENT

SUKIA MAGAZINE COVERS

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:41:03 PST

The Italian Fumetti Sukia was similar to the Spanish horror magazine Hembras Peligrosas in layout and artwork. The stories were nicely drawn and a little over the top in some ways with their graphic depictions of sex and violence. The series of vampire stories were written and drawn by Renzo Barbeni and Fulvio Bostttoli. Sukia Gragomic was a vampire who with her swishy gay servant Gary faced various evils through the course of the magazine’s 153 issue run from 1977 to 1986. As well Sukia is hunted by journalist Bill Thomas who one the one hand wants to detroy her for the vampire she is and on the other wants to love her in some form or another.The covers were outstanding in their luridness and eye to detail and were drawn in that distinctly European style of the time. There were some sites that featured many of the interior stories od Sukia and Hembras Peligrosas but sadly they have long been taken down by the people who ran them. This is great stuff and I know people always say this but it true; they just don’t make comics like this anymore.

Did manage to find four issues of Sukia, including issue #1, online in PDF formats. You can download those from my Rapidshare here:

For more information on this post click here.

OUTRAGEOUSLY VIOLENT AND PERVERSE COMIC MAGAZINE COVERS FROM MEXICO/OSCAR BAZALDUA /NUMBER TWO

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:06:26 PST

Rounded up a new collection of simply crazy Mexican fumetti magazine covers. These covers all come form the site Historietas Perversas which I will take a guess and say translates as A History of Perversions,* and boy oh boy does that describe this assortment of adult comic magazine covers. No idea really who the artists for the various covers are,though I am sure Oscar Bazaldua is handling the chores on more than few, but I will just let the paintings speak for themselves. I have yet to see what is on the interior of one of these books but I am definitely curious. These covers are not for the easily offended or squeamish or for people who have never been on a major anti-psychotic drug at some point in their lives.

* A reader informed me that the more accurate translation would be Perverse Tales. Sounds better even. Thanks Alcidas.

URANIUMWILLY'S BULLPEN

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:23:06 PST

With the publishing of my last post on Star 80 The Uranium Café at Blogger reaches a significant point; all my posts from my old blog address have now been posted (with a couple odds and sods still in the draft folder, but all major posts have been caught up). It took much longer than I had hoped it would and I suppose there are reasons for that, not the least being that I have reached a place where I just not as passionate about blogging as I was a couple years ago. I most definitely will continue blogging both here are at Necrotic Cinema (my modern horror movie) but I guess some zeal has gone out of me. But that may come back. The truth is the last year has been a trying time for me in my personal life and blogging simply became peripheral to trying to sort out serious problems with my life, both in terms of living in China and spiritually as well, but that is all I will really say about that stuff. But I took some hard blows and was on the ropes for a bit and the last thing on my mind was movie blogging.

And I will just be frank about it, I can continue blogging with an absence of comments but I do not find it much fun really. This is an issue that I have had to deal with for a long time. And not only myself of course. Many blogs I follow have few comments. It is the nature of the blogging world I suppose. The topics are a bit obscure and not very topical. I do not really write in a way that makes the reader feel involved I suppose. I am very interested in my reader’s opinions but I do not ask questions in my posts or do things that generate possible interactions, like “top ten” lists or polls. But I will most likely not change that, so I have to accept things. But I can’t help but feel frustration. Here is a listing my top five posts with total numbers of page views:

TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS/1945/JOHNNY WEISSMULLER
Jun 22, 2011, 2 comments 3,256 Pageviews

KENNETH ANGER'S LUCIFER RISING/SOUNDTRACK BY JIMMY PAGE
Jun 13, 2011 2,911 Pageviews

OUTRAGEOUSLY VIOLENT AND PERVERSE COMIC MAGAZINE COVERS
Jul 21, 2011, 4 comments 1,416 Pageviews

ROMPER STOMPER/1992/RUSSELL CROWE
Oct 5, 2011 1,078 Pageviews

EROTIC AND ADVENTEROUS PULP MAGAZINE ART FROM MEXICO
Sep 21, 2011 1,015 Pageviews

Of course a certain percentage of that is referrer spam, but I tend have that controlled here pretty well, so the numbers are fairly accurate. There are about eight or nine thousand page views here and yet only three comments (I excluded my replies). But (now my bitter side comes out) I visited a site the other day that just did one of those “top ten” horror films of 2011. A picture from the film with three or four sentences under them and there were (then) 18 comments. And the person running the blog had yet to even reply to anybody. I simply decided to give up expecting comments and interaction. I will continue to work but I am a loss for this phenomenon. But the comments I do get are great and often they add to the information to the post, so thanks a million to those commenters I have had and hope to continue to have.

Lots of great stuff on the back burner but I will get it out now when I do. Basically when I feel like it. I do not care about numbers and traffic any longer as well. I will continue to do the type of posting I have been doing and yet I am going to take it easy too. I need to study my Chinese more and I have some music and video projects I want to get into as well. And while the tone of this post may sound negative I just want to say that The Uranium Café will be bringing you lots of new goodies in the year to come. My next project is to catch up my A to Z list and then on to more posts on the obscure and yet wonderful films (and music and comic books) I have been pandering here for quite some time, and still with no goofy looking Amazon or Google Adsense crap at the bottom of the post. Never had that junk and never will. The Uranium Café is still a blog with a credo. And who needs comments when you have a code, right?

STAR 80/1983

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:41:14 PST

STAR 80

1983/ Director: Bob Fosse/ Writers: Teresa Carpenter, Bob Fosse

Cast: Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts, Cliff Robertson, Carroll Baker, Roger Ree, David Clennon, Josh Mostel, Lisa Gordon

Star 80 is the 1983 film by Bob Fosse that deals graphically and unflinchingly with the rise of Playboy Playmate of the year Dorothy Stratten to modest fame and her brutal murder by her controlling and fame obsessed husband Paul Snider. The film is done in a type of documentary style with actors playing the significant people in Dorothy's life adding hindsight to the event. We know what the ending of the film will be and Fosse takes us directly right to the bloody scene itself in and then retells the story in various flashbacks and narrations. While perhaps not Fosse's best movie it is a well shot and edited film that has actually been criticized for dealing with the subject matter in such a glossy and stylish manner. It is significant for Fosse as well in that it is the last film this great director ever directed. He went on to work in other areas of film making and production. This it too bad really as this is the same skilled director who also gave movie goers Lenny and All That Jazz.

Eric Robert's performance as the pimpish and success driven Paul Snider is not over praised. He does a masterful job of showing the shallowness and insecurity Snider possessed as well as the depth of his jealously and manipulativeness of a naive Dorothy Stratten. Some scenes are worth several replays simply for Robert's performance alone. On the flip side however I have read several overly critical reviews of Muriel Hemingway's portrayal of Dorothy Stratten, the one most common criticism seems to be that she simply was not as beautiful or sexually enticing as Stratten was. I agree that Dorothy Stratten had that perfect Playmate charm that made her the object of any red blooded man's fantasies, but I feel Hemingway, and director-scriptwriter Fosse, were trying to reveal more about Stratten's character and personality than her Playboy bunny body. However Hemingway did get breast implants to get the role, implants that later would rapture and cause a series of health issues for her.

Hemingway's prior film performance was as Woody's schoolgirl love interest in Manhattan. It is a similar role in that she plays an innocent and trusting waif that slowly comes to maturity and independence by the end of each film, but Manhattan ended on a much more optimistic note than the fatalistic and despairing Star 80. We know even before we see the film what the ending is and as I said the films opens with a blood covered Eric Roberts casting aspersions to the people who drove him to kill Dorothy and reveling in his victory. If he can't have her no one will.

Roberts plays the streetwise hustler Paul Snider who meets Dorothy in a Vancouver B.C. Dairy Queen where she is working the counter. Hemingway convincingly plays a bored girl fresh out of high school who becomes quickly susceptible to Paul's charms and lavish gifts. Less susceptible is Dorothy's mother played by Carol Baker. Her distrust of Snider is immediate and the antagonism between the two characters is palpable at times. After Paul has decided Dorothy is Playboy material there is a great scene where he and Dorothy's mother have a conflict over her signing the papers to allow under aged Dorothy permission to fly to LA and be shot for the spread. She is having none of it but he forges her signature and she is soon at the Playboy Mansion hobnobbing with all the people Paul want to be associated with. It is apparent that he sees Dorothy as his ticket to the life he has always wanted, his chance to move away from his small time deals and hustles and to mingle with the jet set of the late 70's celebrity crowd. He will simply stop at nothing to protect his investment and secure his own road to fame and riches. He soon pressures Dorothy into marriage and is in LA and riding her coattails into the Playboy Mansions where he quickly alienates himself with his crass and aggressive personality.

Among the people concerned about Dorothy is Hugh Hefner, who is played hereby Cliff Robertson. Hefner was so upset by the performance he actually sued Fosse though I myself see nothing negative about the portrayal. She now has made friends and associates and has begun to grow as a person and seeks some independence from Snider's exploitive schemes. Among her new associates is film director Aram Nichols played by Richard Rees and is a less than veiled representation of Dorothy's new lover director Peter Boganovicvh. Boganovich wrote his version of events in the book Death of the Unicorn, and he was sued by Hugh Hefner as well for an unflattering portrayal. Just how noble does Hugh expect himself to appear in film and print? Bogdanovich was crushed and distraught over Stratten's murder, so much so in fact that he essentially began ¡°caring for¡± her younger sister Eileen (Lisa Gordon in the film) and would wind up marrying her when she turned twenty years old, the same age as Bogdanovich's daughter.

The final scenes of the movie were shot in the actual house where Stratten was murdered. As Snider sees his chance at the big time slipping away little by little he employs a private eye played by Josh Mostel (son of comedian Zero Mostel) to track her while she is in New York filming with Aram. When it becomes clear she is having am affair his first response is how can he sue Aram and get some money. The matter is seen as a breach of contract almost, but soon his macho ego is shattered and the slimy Paul Snider soon turns into the lethal Paul Snider when he buys a pump action shotgun. Despite her promises to Aram not to see Snider again she stops by for one last meeting, to settle things. She brings some money as a way to sever the partnership and when she turns her nose up at the poster Paul has made, that will outdo Farrah Fawcett's in his opinion, he is further insulted. Of course no one can really know what happened in the last hours but the event in the film are portrayed in a chilling fashion. As the movie winds down the viewer has become dazed by Dorothy's plight and by Snider's untiring persistence in controlling her up to the very end. While the film shows Snider incapable of having sex with Stratten the facts seem to show she either had consensual sex or was raped by him. She was at some point trussed up a sex device he designed and is shot in the face point blank. Snider would turn the weapon on himself and when their bodies were found hours later in the August heat of Los Angeles they were both covered with swarms of black ants.

The film is often interpreted as showing the dark side of the American dream and what people will do for fame and power. While Snider is obviously the most evil person in the film Hefner and Bogdanovich are felt to be as exploitive of Stratten beauty and naivete as he was. This is explored in the Pulitzer Prize winning article by Teresa Carpenter for the Village Voice. They certainly were not violent men but certainly one has to question their motives as well. There is a lot of stuff on the net and one thing that is not explored in the movie is the very real possibility that Dorothy had slept with Hefner and even other people at the Mansion. I do not know if this is important to the film or the story and film makers always have to bend the truth in one direction or another to make a person's life a watchable film.

I am usually not satisfied when I review a difficult film and in this case I am the most dissatisfied with any review I have ever written, long or short. The movie has struck me in a deep way each time I have seen it (the last time being last night with my wife) and yet I cannot seem to put into words why I am so impacted. It is a fast paced and chilling film and not one that is easy to watch. Even the scene where beautiful Dorothy is shot is brutal, showing the blast impact on her cheek. While a great technical achievement and story it is too bad that Fosse elected to have this grim story be his film directing swansong.

MY CLIP OF SCENES FROM STAR 80

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY/1966/SERGIO LEONE/CLINT EASTWOOD

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:07:05 PST

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo)

1966/Director: Sergio Leone/Writers: Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Leone

Cast/ Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffr, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Petito

I was living in San Antonio Texas where my dad was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base when The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was released. We all packed ourselves in his Valiant station wagon and went to the Valley-Hi Drive to see the film and it left an impression on me that was to linger for the rest of my life. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a film that falls into a very narrow category for me. Films that I feel are not only great films but films worthy of deeper introspection and multiple viewings and each viewing seems as fresh as the first one. It is a film I am not even comfortable commenting on here. There are a few others as well that would make me shudder to do a post here at my humble site about: Apocalypse Now, The Last Picture Show, Dr. Zhivago, Lord Jim and even Blade Runner and other films of the same caliber that have left such a lasting impact on me that I simply feel unworthy to expound on them in any fashion. And is another reason and that is that films like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Apocalypse Now have been critiqued and reviewed to death on the net. I usually try to select more obscure and little viewed films of an often trashier variety here at the Café to pander. Also I try not to be too pretentious with my comments and speculations. I will leave all that to the experts. Certainly many films deserve deeper philosophical reflection but I am not the sort of person to publicly delve into all that sort of thing. In simple terms I like to proceed with my foot as much out of my mouth as possible. But when I watch a film like this one I am usually transported to another world all together. So with that as an introduction let’s take a look at this western masterpiece by maestro Sergio Leone.

Sergio Leone is one of the most influential directors of all time and yet his total number of films numbers only about half a dozen. There is debate on the net about what his best film was with some commenters saying things like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a great film but not Leone’s best film. Well I disagree and there are always people who want to sound like they are more into the ‘inner’ information by making some sort of staggering denouncement like that. Like people who say that the Beatles were not really a great band or that Marlon Brando could not act. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the work that all of Leone’s other films are measured by. The film falls into the spaghetti western genre but like any truly great film it transcends genres and categories and goes to not only be a great western film, spaghetti or burrito, but a great film period. A great epic motion picture. Period.

But guess what? It is still a fun film to watch. That’s right. It is a great film and full of all those deep meanings the ‘thinking’ film reviewers like to sit around and hash over and debate about but it is succeeds on a very basic level as well. It is a classic adventure story that has at its core the most simplest of themes: human greed and the pursuit of gold. The film is the third of Leone’s westerns that starred a young Clint Eastwood in the role of the Man With No Name. Eastwood had been playing the cowboy Rowdy Yates in the TV series Rawhide. The series came to an end after Eastwood had completed the first two Leone westerns A Fist of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More and Eastwood was weighing options when Leone and his wife flew to the California to negotiate his return to the character in the third film of the trilogy. Eastwood was never one to be shy or quibble and after a couple days of talks Eastwood flat out said he would make the film for a payment of $250,000 and 10% of all North American profits. Leone was not happy with the deal but wisely went ahead and made the picture with the brash young actor and soon to be filmmaker. It is debatable the film would have succeeded the way it did had Leone decided to go with another actor at this point. The film also had a huge budget, for the time, that would climb to about $1,300,000 in the end. The film would be shot in Spain and the majestic panoramic shots by cinematographer Totino Delli Colli actually resemble much of the American southwest. The film simply must be seen in widescreen format.

As I said the film takes one of the simplest of themes, the pursuit of instant wealth, and turns it into an epic adventure that uses the American civil war as a backdrop. There was very little actual campaigning between the Union and Confederacy in the state of Texas (which remained neutral during the war) the territories of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona but there some early skirmishs, like the Battle of Glorietta Pass in new Mexico, that the Confederacy lost. The film may exaggerate the scope and range of some of the Civil War here but it is acceptable since the film does not purport to be historical drama. It uses the Civil War as a vehicle for something else the way Apocalypse Now did with the Vietnam War. A shipment of Confederate gold was robbed by a band of men led by Baker. There was some double crossing and the gold was stolen from the thieves by a man named Jackson. On the trail of Jackson (now under the name of Bill Carson) is the hired gun known as Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef). Angel Eyes is a cold blooded, remorselss killer. We are introduced eary on as well to the Mexican bandit Tuco (Eli Wallach) who is a wanted man always being pursued by bounty hunters. Bounty hunters became a recurring motive in spaghetti westerns. Tuco soon becomes partners with the laconic ‘Blondie’ (Eastwood) who is himself a sort of bounty hunter. Blondie seems to be more of an opportunist than a bounty hunter and strikes up a strange partnership with Tuco whereby Blondie ‘captures and turn in’ Tuco for the growing reward money only to set him free from the gallows rope with some sharp shooting. Maybe I can spend a brief moment with each character before I continue with my film comments.

The Good: As anyone who has seen the film realizes the term ‘good’ here must mean "not so bad" when compared to the two other mongrels. Blondie’s ethics are as flexible as the other two characters when dealing with the prospect of instant wealth but he does not kill unless drawn on and shows acts of compassion the other two characters seem unable incapable of. With sympathy in his eyes he hands a dying Union Captain a bottle of whiskey, he shares a smoke with a dying young soldier and in the end shows mercy to Tuco when Tuco probably would not have done the same if the tables were turned. He is not above a double cross himself or leaving a buddy stranded in the desert without food or water. We really never learn anything about the character in any of the films except that he is essentially motivated by money. He tends to be a little smarter than the other people around him and is always faster on the draw.

The Bad: In For a Few Dollars More Lee Van Cleef played basically a good guy. While Eastwood’s bounty hunter character in that film was motivated by reward money Van Cleef’s character was equally motivated by revenge (and money). In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly his Angel Eyes character is a killer who enjoys his work. He does not always do his own dirty work and often has some partner or gang to back him up. He is shrewd as well and maybe as equally shrewd as Blondie but lacking any compassion or sense of mercy. He is patient and predatory as his tracks the trail of the gold that finally leads him to Tuco and Blondie. The character was originally top be played by Charles Bronson but Bronson was committed to The Dirty Dozen. He would eventually star as the mysterious harmonica player in Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West.

The Ugly: No doubt the most interesting of the three characters, or at least most entertaining, is Tuco as played by Eli Wallach. Wallach was not overly excited about playing another bandito type character like the one he played in 1962’s How the West Was Won but he finally agreed to the role after talking with Leone. Tuco’s character is the most developed in that we learn things of his past; his brother is a priest, he stayed at home and helped while his brother studied the priesthood and he himself chose the other option… a bandit, his parents are dead and that he is wanted for a comically long list of crimes. Wallach’s performance adds some comedic relief to the film but Tuco is as tough as they come and handy with a gun himself though probably the slowest of the three. He becomes evilly vindictive when he is betrayed by Blondie and left to die in the desert. One wonders if his revenge may have been less, or at all, had Blondie not basically screwed him over so bad.

Most of the story centers on the relationship between Tuco and Blondie with Angel Eyes being a menacing presence that seems to be lurking just outside events on the screen. After the strange business arrangement between Tuco and Blondie is severed after Blondie concludes his partner will never be worth more than $3000 Blondie all but leaves Tuco for dead in the desert. Tuco does not die so easily and winds up in a small village where he re-equips himself with firearms and ammo and a spiffy new sombrero. With vengeance on his mind he sets off after Blondie and finds him working with his new partner Shorty who Blondie is forced by Tuco to, well, leave hanging. Tuco decides to take a walk through the harshest section of the desert with Blondie. Of course Tuco will have a horse, an umbrella, a few guns and lots of water. Blondie will be on foot and that is about it. It does not take too long for Blondie’s gringo skin to start burning and peeling much to Tuco’s amusement. The way one may shoot a dying dog Tuco finally takes some slight degree of pity on Blondie and is going to end it all with a bullet when a dark wagon being pulled by panicked horses appears on the desert’s horizon. This is the second time fate has intervened to save Blondie from Tuco. The first was earlier in the film when Tuco had Blondie with a noose around his neck in a hotel room and canon ball strikes the building allowing Blondie to escape. During the course of events at the wagon Tuco gets the name of the cemetery from Jackson (Bill Carson) while Blondie gets the name on the grave. They are now bound to each other again and Tuco takes Blondie to a nearby monastery that is run by his brother. Blondie recovers slowly and witnesses a scene where Tuco’s brother, Father Ramirez, all but curses Tuco and slaps him (for which he gets punched in the face) and Tuco leaves heartbroken but tells Blondie how much his brother loves him. In another act of compassion Blondie does not pull the rug out from under Tuco and allows him to have his version of things and shares a smoke with him.

They are soon captured by Union soldiers since they are wearing Confederate uniforms as disguises. They are led to a POW camp where Angel Eyes has secured a position, somehow, as a Sergeant. Angel Eyes got information from beating Jackson’s girl friend Maria that led him to believe Jackson was being held in a POW camp. As it is Jackson is dead but Tuco has assumed his Bill Carson identity and Angel Eyes is quick to seize the chance to beat information out of him with the help of one a eyed prison guard who Tuco vows to get even with and eventually does. Angel Eyes get the information he needs from Tuco and rather than beat Blondie half to death he sets off with to get the gold and split it up with his new partner. Tuco and Blondie are later reunited and out gun Angel Eye’s gang in a small town being blasted by artillery fire. Angel Eyes decides he is no match for the two of them and decides to bide his time and disappears. Tuco find themselves in the middle of a Civil War battle for an unimportant bridge. While the bridge on the one hand is the senseless cause of casualties on both sides it is also an obstacle between the two men and their gold. They cannot really go get their treasure in the middle of a bloody battle and so they blow the bridge up in a spectacular scene that actually had to be shot twice because it was not captured on film the first time. The film moves towards it conclusion at a perfect pace. Not rushed or hurried and the scene where Tuco runs through the cemetery looking for the grave of Arch Stanton is one of my all time favorite dramatic scenes. It could have gone one for another couple minutes even. Of course what all this is leading up to is the immortal three way showdown in the center of the cemetery. The scene cannot be over praised in how the tension builds up between then three men. Leone’s editing along with the perfect score by Ennio Morricone has yet to be duplicated in my opinion. The scene slowly builds up to the blaze of gunfire that is over in a heart beat. Blondie decides to sever the partnership yet one last time but as I said earlier he shows he is different in this sense from Tuco in that he shows a little mercy at the films conclusion that Tuco may not have had in him in the same situation.

And of course before closing this article off something must be said of Ennio Morricone’s exquisite soundtrack. He scored the first two Man With No Name films and, I believe, Leone’s remaining films (Once Upon a Time in the West, Fist Full of Dynamite and Once Upon a Time in America) but his score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is as perfect as a film sore can be for a film. By this I mean how the sore seems to describe the characters themselves and helps to bring the scenes to life. Another composer for the film would have been like another actor in the place of Eastwood. It would not have worked. I have posted a few samples from the soundtrack. Most people are aware of the theme song but not know some of the other tracks. I guess I could ramble on and on about this film. If you have not seen it then see it. If you have seen it then see it again. I saw it with my wife and she loved it and it is possible she may even see it again someday she said. This is as good a recommendation as you are about to get since she is one of those people who can only typically see a film once in a lifetime.

YOG THE SPACE AMOEBA/1970/ISHIRO HONDA

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:07:37 PST

YOG THE SPACE AMOEBA

1970/Director: Ishirô Honda/Witer: Ei Ogawa

Cast: Akira Kubo, Atsuko Takahashi, Yukiko Kobayashi, Kenji Sahara, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yû Fujiki, Noritake Saito

I sometimes notice how I neglect topics I am very interested in here. For one example I have yet to review a single Vincent Price film here though I have dozens here waiting to be praised. Another area of ‘film criticism’ I am remiss in maintaining is the Japanese kaiju (strange monster) films, and in particular the excellent films of Ishiro Honda. I had to search my own site to find that I have in fact a couple Honda film here already and those are King Kong Escapes and Frankenstein Conquers the World While I have seen plenty if kaiju eiga (monster films) I am a bit lost in the genre outside the films of Ishiro Honda and his TOHO works. There are other memorable kaiju eiga director such as Jun Fukuda but overall I just never get tired of Honda’s vision. Honda worked with special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya create some of the most memorable ‘men in rubber suit’ monster ever to stomp an urban area to rubble. And while I am on that, lest I forget, I actually read a couple reviews online og Yog: The Space Amoeba that said things like “you can tell it is just a guy in a monster costume” and then the review would go on to criticize the acting and other special effects. Even sarcastically mocking the miniatures of cities and villages. Now while I myself may poke a little fun and there I want it to be clear that I love these films and any jabs I give are directed at the film with zero malice on my part. Anyone who brutalizes an Ishiro Honda film because it has guys running around in rubber suits is missing the entire point. I may not know that that point is myself come to think of it but I just like these films and I need to do posts on them here.

Yog is one of Honda’s last keiju films and was made in 1970 when most of TOHO’s great monster epics were behind them. Tragically Eiji Tsuburaya died earlier in 1970 and did not have the opportunity to again work with Honda on the special effects and they were instead handled by Teisho Arikawa. The film was scored by the immortal Akira Ifukube who did the scores for most of the great kaiju films of the 60’s. The story follows investigative reporter and photographer Taro Kudo (Akira Kudo from Monster Zero, Destroy All Monster and Matango) as he seeks to unfathom the mystery of the Jupiter bound space craft Helio 7 after its secret return to Earth (which luckily he just happened to see outside the window of his airplane). His investigation leads him to the island of Selzio which –according to the film- housed a garrison of Japanese troos during the war and therefore explains why the natives there speak perfect Japanese. Sounds good to me.

He is accompanied n his trip by the adorable Ayako Hoshino (played by the adorable Atsuko Takahashi) and later by the questionable and not very adorable Mr. Obabta (Kenji Sahara). Not only did Helio 7 return unexpectedly to Earth but the ship was hijacked by Yog, a malevolent space blob or cloud of energy that can also navigate space ships. Once on Earth Yog is able to inhabit and control the bodies of terrestrial fife forms, such as a cuttle fish that transforms into the daikaiju (giant strange monster) Gezora. Gezora is one of the more obscure kaiju ever created by TOHO but is all the more interesting for this reason. I think some of the scenes of tentacled Gezora tromping up and down the beaches of Selzio looks just fantastic. The cinematography in Honda’s films is consistently glorious and the lush photography here by Taiichi Kankura is typical. After Gezora’s weakness for fire is exploited Yog also inhabits two other animals and creates the kaiju monsters Ganime –some sort of lizard I guess, like a horny toad- and the mutant turtle Kamoebas. Later in the film there is a duel between Ganime and Kamoebas but unfortunately Gezora returns to the sea and is not seen again.

But this is actually an interesting aspect of the film in my opinion. The monster here are smaller in scale than Godzilla and his friends and foes. Godzilla stands as tall as most skyscrapers in Tokyo and military weaponry is useless against him. Here Gezora is huge no doubt but little taller than some of the elevated huts that dot the Pacific island’s beach. And he is wounded by fire not from combat with another monster but from the humans. In fact Yog has an exploitable weakness in that it is sensitive to ultra-sonic noises, and again the humans learn to use this against the creatures Yog has possessed. The final showdown between Ganime and Kamoebas has two dark clouds hordes of shrieking bats over head that the creatures are sensitive to. It seems reasonable to assume then that a few tanks or jet planes would be able to kill the creatures off. This was in fact a problem I had with the Godzilla films where fighter jets annoyed Godzilla less than a mosquito annoys a human.

The cast of stock TOHO actors do a fine job. After Yog TOHO would resort to using less known faces and even TV actors with little or no experience in front of a motion picture camera. Akira Kudo is fine playing against type as the unkempt and undisciplined photograher Kudo. In particular I enjoyed Kenji Sahara as Mr. Obata. Obata is obviously a man not to be trusted from the start. We know this because he has a well trimmed goatee and smokes with a cigarette holder. He is later possessed by Yog but by the film’s end he is resisting the creature’s orders as best he can and commits a final act of heroism that redeems him as a human being. Movies are great in that regard. One gets to redeem himself after a wasted life of sin and also have a captive audience witness the event and sigh. Maybe not one of the more well known or popular TOHO kaiju but in no ways a disappointment as a sawn song of sorts.

THE URANIUM CAFE MATINEE/FEAST OF FLESH/THE DEADLY ORGAN/PLACER SANGRIENTO

the.uranium.cafe@gmail.com (Bill D. Courtney) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:53:06 PST

A masked killer prowls the beaches of Argentina,

injecting beautiful girls with heroin,

and then using weird organ music to make them his zombie slaves.

SEE FEAST OF FLESH/DEADLY ORGAN RIGHT HERE >>

FEAST OF FLESH/THE DEADLY ORGAN