Strike!

CHINA STRIKE FORCE-2000-This Hong Kong action crime drama has two security officers (Aaron Kwok & Leehom Wang) battling two drug smugglers (Mark Dacascos & Coolio). There's a lot of martial arts and violent fighting but the story slows down when one of the officers meets an undercover Japanese Interpol agent (Norika Fujiwara) but the finale is great! 

Director Stanley Tong made several movies with Jackie Chan and the big screen version of MR. MAGOO.  

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Ganja & Hess

GANJA AND HESS-1973-Over the years I've heard a lot about this low budget independent African-American vampire movie known for years as the only other starring role for Duane Jones, the doomed hero of Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. It's a very odd, untypical horror film displaying actor/writer/director Bill Gunn's personal (and un-commercial) vision. 


It's not without it's faults(mostly due to budget constraints)but the fact that it was made at a time when so called "blaxploitation" films were big in theaters it's quite an exception!


Jones plays Hess, an affluent anthropologist who has an addiction to blood (he's also immortal). After his suicidal assistant (director Gunn) kills himself, Hess drinks his blood and puts his body in a basement freezer. He causes a distraction at a doctor's office and steals vials of blood and syringes then visits his young son at a boarding school. Soon after he meets Ganja (Marlene Clarke), the assistant's wife (she's looking for her husband). She comes to stay with Hess for a while and winds up falling for him. She discovers the frozen body in the basement but marries Hess anyway and he makes her like him. Although Hess is a blood drinking killer he fears God and quotes the Bible many times. At first Ganja seems to hate her new existence but that changes in the finale. 


I've read that the producers planned on making a typical black cast vampire tale (perhaps along the lines of BLACULA?)but director Gunn gave them something they weren't expecting! 


According to some sources GANJA AND HESS was recalled by the producers (despite winning a critic's prize at Cannes) and heavily edited from it's original 110 minutes to 78 and re-titled BLOOD COUPLE while the unedited version was held by The Museum of Modern Art for years. 


I'm sure it influenced Romero's MARTIN, another un-Hollywood vampire film. 


All in all if you are expecting a vampire film in say the Count Yorga vein you will be highly disappointed. 


Bill Gunn had directed Marlene Clarke in the earlier and never released STOP. He died in 1989 at age 51. Clark had been in movies like NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN, PUTNEY SWOPE and BEWARE!THE BLOB and later played Lamont's fiance on TV's Sanford & Son. 


After G & H Duane Jones taught acting at a college on Long Island and only took sporadic small roles in movies in the '80's. He died of heart disease in 1988 at the age of 52.       

The Unholy 3

THE UNHOLY 3-1925-This was the first collaboration between actor Lon Chaney and director Tod Browning for MGM. (Their previous films had been for Universal). It's the story of three circus performers who decide to turn to crime. 

Their leader is Echo (Chaney), a ventriloquist who disguises himself as an old woman. Harry Earles (Hans in 1932's FREAKS, also directed by Browning) is Tweedledee, a sadistic little person who pretends to be a baby! Future Oscar winner Victor McLaglen is Hercules the strongman who's more subservient to Tweedle than Echo. They set up shop in a store that sells birds (where Echo's skills make the parrots talk a lot!). Mae Busch is Rosie, the con woman in on their act. 

It's unusual but cool the way Browning gets across the ventriloquism scam considering this is silent film!

By coincidence every time the store sells a bird, the residence they sell to is robbed. Unfortunately, things don't turn out so good. Tweedledee and Hercules don't like being "bossed" by Echo and Hector, the store manager falls for Rosie, making Echo jealous. When Echo is delayed in going out on a job the duo goes out on their own and a man is killed. They decide to pin the murder/robbery on Hector but Rosie doesn't like it. They tie her up and decide to lam it with a bound Rosie in tow and a mean looking ape that they just have to happen in the store (Echo wants to take it because it's stronger than Hercules). The gang hides out in a cabin while Hector is left to fend for himself against the trumped-up charges. Animosity grows in the hideout. 

Meanwhile Rosie tells Echo if he helps vindicate Hector, she will stay with him forever (in spite of the fact she's in love with Hector). He goes to the courtroom and after some ventriloquism tricks fail, he admits his guilt in front of the judge. While this is going on, back in the cabin Tweedledee overhears Hercules tell Rosie they could split the stolen loot 2 ways. The little guy releases the angry ape. It goes after the strongman who kills Tweedledee right before he's done in by the ape! Echo's confession exonerates both him and Hector and Echo releases Rosie from their bargain so she can be the one she loves. 

THE UNHOLY 3 once again proves Lon Chaney's prominence as the greatest silent screen actor of all time. Without the use of make-up, he conveys the tone of the story with facial expressions alone. It's an incredible sight to witness which once again makes the usual love triangle (a mainstay of so many Chaney films) plausible and heartfelt. The screenplay is by Waldemar Young (who wrote several other Chaney/Browning vehicles like THE BLACKBIRD, LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT and WEST OF ZANZIBAR). It's based on a story by Tod Robbins, who also wrote the story that became the infamous FREAKS.

So popular and successful MGM chose to remake this in 1930 as Chaney's first talkie (and ultimately his last film) although Browning did not direct it. 

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Pride Of The West

RAWHIDE-1938-New York Yankees baseball legend Lou Gehrig crosses over into acting in this low budget modern day western. 


Gehrig (playing himself) decides to quit baseball to go and live a quiet life on his sister Peggy's (Evalyn Knapp) ranch in Montana! He runs afoul (no pun intended) of Mr. Saunders (Arthur Loft) and his crooked bandits. His gang strong arms local ranchers to join his "association"

.

The real star though is singing cowboy Smith Ballew who plays Larry Kimball, a lawyer and love interest for Peggy. He and Lou have a great fight in a saloon where Gehrig uses some billiard  balls to take out the bad guys. The Iron Horse isn't too bad (he even sings briefly!) and says things like "What kind of country is this anyway?" and "This will be more fun than  the World Series". 

Ballew does two cool songs and after the very happy ending Lou finds out The Yankees have met his
contract demands and goes back to New York!

RAWHIDE (a 20th Century production)  is an amazing time capsule capturing for posterity a sports legend who a mere 3 years later would be dead....
   

Director Ray Taylor made over a 150 films from 1926 to 1949 including FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE and THE GREEN HORNET.  The Gehrig biography THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES would be made in 1942 with Gary Cooper in the lead role. RAWHIDE  is available on DVD. 

Thanks again to Ton for digging up this one!

And thanks to anyone who reads this!

   

Creature

CREATURE-2011-Three obnoxious couples heading for New Orleans take a detour and wind up being terrorized by some insane hillbillies while a swamp creature (who was once a man) prowls around killing. It's later revealed that one of the guys on the road trip is actually part of clan and is leading the others to a spot so the inbred crackers can perform a blood sacrifice. This is sort of a rip-off of Rob Zombie's HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and in the movie's only highlight Sid Haig plays a character similar to his "Capt. Spauding" in 1000!

There's nudity and gore but there's also a lot of yelling and the ending is ridiculous. It's the only movie (so far) directed by Fred Andrews, a TV production designer.

Thanks for reading! (Thanks Tony for getting me this too!)

Seeing Is Believing

BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL-1984-Some movies really have to be seen to be believed. When I tell people about this thing they usually look at me strangely (well, stranger than they usually look at me). That's why I don't tell anyone about this..um..movie anymore. Fortunately when I first saw it , I was with my friend Tony so I have a witness. 

This shot on video insanity is about a religious but sexually repressed woman (Shirley L. Jones) who after some endless conversations about religion, dating and sex visits a doll shop and buys a strange puppet (it looks like the popular Jerry Mahoney but with dark skin and dreadlocks) that the store keeper says can grant the owner's “heart felt wish”. She buys it, takes it home and puts it on the toilet bowl where she proceeds to strip and take a shower. The puppet comes to life and watches her. He (it?)attacks her (his first works are “how do you like that,bitch?”) and ties her to a bed (some scenes of his feet and hands are obviously a little kid). She yells “Untie me, you wooden headed bastard!”. He abuses and rapes her but she decides she likes it! 

Seeing a puppet having sex with a grown woman is pretty strange. It's not a quick scene. It goes on for a while! 

The next day the puppet is gone. She searches the house (“Mr. Wonderful, where are you?”) but he's nowhere to be found. She throws her bible away and seduces a street hustler who grunts and groans but she's just bored. Later she goes to Elmo's bar and picks up a guy. They have sex but once again she is unfulfilled. She gets the puppet back and pleads for sex but the dummy is unresponsive until she tries to destroy it. A toy rabbit playing cymbals is featured in the bonkers ending. 

 While I've seen many shot on video horror films. BDDFH takes the cake. It comes right off a hand held camcorder with very little editing. The stop and start button being the most commonly used device. There's a way too loud Casio like musical soundtrack that at times obscures the dialogue. It's offensive, embarrassing and hilarious. Especially when you take time to think that adults made and acted in it! The writer/director Chester N. Turner remains a mystery man. No one seems to know anything about him except he made one other “feature” called TALES FROM THE QUADEAD ZONE (also with Jones). Rumors say he was killed in a car accident in the early '90's.

Thanks for reading!