Clark's Angels

 

 (internet movie cars database)

ANGELS REVENGE-1979-Las Vegas singer Michelle Wilson (Susan Kiger) ends her engagement at the palace. For some reason, Arthur Godfrey is in the audience. He goes backstage to congratulate her (he seems stoned). Then her manager (Alan Hale) tells her she's booked for Johnny Carson. She drops everything when her drug using brother Bobby gets beat up by a dealer. Bobby's teacher April (Jacqulin Cole; wife of the director) visits Michelle and in less than a minute she convinces Michelle that they can bust up the drug ring with a little help. They assemble a group of consisting of Terry Grant (Sylvia Anderson), a stunt woman. Karate teacher Kako (Lieu Chinh), ex-junkie-model Maria (Noela Velasco), policewoman Elaine Brenner (Robin Greer) and high schooler Trish (Liza Greer). They buy a van from Pat Buttram, then visit a comical right wing group lead by Lindsey March (Jim Backus) and steal their munitions. They torture a pusher (Darby Hinton) for info. The two guys behind the drugs are Mike (Jack Palance) and Burke (Peter Lawford). Neville Brand is listed in the credits but the version I saw cut his role. There are several comical fights in this useless “Charlie's Angels” rip-off directed by Greydon Clark (SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS (1977).

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The Un-Lost Clown

 

 (imdb)

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT-2024-This documentary looks into the stories surrounding the making of THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED with a long interview (shown in segments) with director Jerry Lewis. Besides concentrating on the movie it's part biography focusing on Martin & Lewis, his other movies, Jerry Lewis theaters, etc. He talks a lot and others praise the film (like Martin Scorsese who hasn't even seen it). Some dismiss it (like Harry Shearer who had seen it). Later Lewis condemns it. It puts to rest some main rumors. The film wasn't locked away in some vault in Berlin. It was not lost or even unfinished. Lewis had a complete unedited working copy in his own vault. Much of the movie is shown (including the ending) and there's even production films. You can see Anton Diffring as the camp captain. Many people clamber for its release but see this first before you take a side.

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Happy New Year!

 

Whatever

 

 (imdb)

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE?-1969-Already loony Claire Marrable (Geraldine Page) goes off the deep end when she finds out her recently dead husband left her nothing in his will so she decides to kill her female servants. Relocating to Arizona, she gets rid of Mrs. Tinsley (Mildred Dunnock) and hires Mrs. Dimmock (Ruth Gordon). Her new next-door neighbor is Helen Vaughan (Rosemary Forsyth) and her young nephew Jim (Michael Barbera). She has an affair with Mike Darrah (Robert Fuller), a mechanic who is working with Dimmock to find out what happened to Miss Tinsley. 

It has a little twisting end and it's really not much but the score by Gerald Fried and photography by Joseph Biroc are a plus. It's based on a novel by Ursula Curtiss who also wrote “I Saw What You Did” which William Castle had made into a movie in 1965. Director Lee Katzin, besides his TV work, went to make the bizarre THE PHYNX (1970) and the pretty good LE MANS (1971). He also made the failed Sci-Fi TV movie THE STRANGER (1973). He replaced original director Bernard Girard on this after a week of filming. Right before the movie's release Ruth Gordon won a best supporting actress Academy Award for ROSEMARY'S BABY.

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“People Are So Concerned About…Dogs”

 

 (imdb)

THE BODY SNATCHER-1945-Edinburgh 1831-Dr. MacFarland (Henry Daniell), a clinical no nonsense teacher at a medical school has cab man Grey (Boris Karloff; in ISLE OF THE DEAD the same year) steal bodies from cemeteries for medical experiments. MacFarland's new assistant Fettes (Russell Wade) has a conscience and doesn't like his boss’ methods. He wants MacFarland to do an operation on a crippled child but he refuses. Grey seems to have something on the doctor. When MacFarland says he needs a new body to work on, Fettes goes to Grey who kills a young female street singer (Donna Lee). When Fettes wants to tell the police, MacFarland convinces him not too. 

Meanwhile, handyman Joseph (Bela Lugosi; also in ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY the same year) hangs around, listening. He tries to blackmail Grey but Grey kills him. Later MacFarland has had enough of Grey and kills him but unfortunately for the good doctor Grey isn't done with him! 

This is probably the best of the Val Lewton-Karloff collaborations with Boris giving a command performance and Daniell a close second. Edith Atwater co-stars along with bits by Robert Clarke, Mary Gordon and Bill Williams. This was director Robert Wise's second film for producer Lewton (who co-wrote the screenplay based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson) after THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944). Henry Daniell (who was later in several episodes of the Boris Karloff hosted “Thriller” on TV) played Prof. Moriarty against Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes in THE LADY IN GREEN the same year. 

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Bounty Hunters In Italy

 

 (imdb)

THE GREAT SILENCE-1988-Somewhere in the old west (Italy), bounty hunters like Loco (Klaus Kinski; in I BASTARDI the same year)) are out of control and the governor wants to put a stop to it. Roaming the countryside is Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant from A MAN AND A WOMAN (1966)), a gunfighter who's hired by families to kill bounty hunters to avenge the deaths of their loved ones. A widow (Vonetta McGee; later in BLACULA (1972)) hires Silence to kill Loco who murdered her husband. Meanwhile, a store owner hires Loco to kill Silence. In recent years critics go on and on about this western allegory that tries way too much to be like Leone (Ennio Morricone scored it) and director Sergio Corbucci (also one of the screenwriters) needs a history lesson.

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TV Power

 

 (imdb)

THE POWER WITHIN-1979-Unreleased TV movie about stunt pilot Chris Darrow (Art Hindle), obnoxious and conceited, who is struck by lightning and gets some special powers. He can shoot electricity from His fingers. He goes to his estranged father, Gen. Darrow (Edward Binns) for help. After dad reveals the secret, Chris was born soon after his mom was exposed to nuclear radiation, they go to Dr. Miller (Susan Howard), who runs some tests. Harrows’ assistant Capt. Holman (Richard Sargent) is in league with some spies (David Hedison & Eric Braeden) to steal a suspended animation device NASA plans on testing. Chris can shoot energy bursts that are controlled by a watch he wears. 

This early attempt at a superhero scenario is ok for a TV production having been directed by busy John Llewellyn Moxey (THE NIGHT STALKER (1972). A story goes that this Universal TV movie had originally been planned as a big screen version of Marvel Comics' “The Human Torch” but SFX proved too costly.

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