Reap This Righteous Rift

 

 

 (wikipedia)

REET, PETITE AND GONE-1947-Bandleader Louis Jarvis (the great Louis Jordan) goes to visit his dying father but is too late. In the old man's will, Louis inherits everything if he marries a woman dad describes in the will. Oddly the woman described matches their crooked lawyer's (Lorenzo Tucker) secretary. Louis and his manager Sam (Milton Woods) advertise for the leading woman in their new play who must match the description for Louis' wife. Despite the thin plot, this is really a showcase for the real Jordan to show off his talent doing the title song, “The Green Grass Grows All Around”, “Ain't That Just Like A Woman” and more. 

Director William Forest Crouch directed many musical shorts featuring Jordan, The Jubalaires, Nat “King” Cole and others.

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Arch Halls

THE CHOPPERS-1961-A group of juvenile delinquents strip cars for kicks in this seldom seen low budget teenage crime drama. The leader of the group is spoiled rich kid Cruiser (Arch Hall Jr. in his film debut), assisted by Torch (future director Robert Paget), Snooper (Larry Buchanan regular Burr Middleton), Ben (Chuck Barnes; later OJ Simpson's agent) and Flip (Rex Holman from MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD). Parts of it are narrated by a reporter named Jim Bradford (producer/writer Arch Hall Sr. in an un-billed role) concerned because  "our greatest national resource is in danger".The gang uses a truck full of chickens and a guitar case full of tools to disguise their operation.

They do business with junk man Moose (Bruno VeSota who had a cameo role in NIGHT TIDE the same year) and harmonica playing Cowboy (Britt Wood who also sings a song). Insurance investigator Tom Hart (Tom Brown) tracks them down with the help of his blonde secretary Liz (Marianne Gaba; also in MISSILE TO THE MOON) and police Lt. Fleming (William Shaw). Cruiser uses a two way radio (while lounging in his cool hot rod) to warn his gang when "the bandits" are closing in.

Arch performs "Monkey In My Headband" and another of his compositions "Konga  Joe" plays on the radio. No matter what anyone says, these songs are cooool! Eventually their car stripping leads to a massive shootout in a junk yard where, after two cops are killed  Cruiser wants to give up but Torch refuses. The cops resort to using a bulldozer to get the gang. After his arrest Cruiser  dejectedly says: "We had a ball. A real ball".

There's a lot of jive talk and it's fairly violent for the time. It was the last movie directed by Leigh Jason who's career started in the late '20's. By the time of THE CHOPPERS he'd been working mostly in TV.

Next up for the father and son Hall team would be EEGAH!

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Actually There's No Party..

THE WILD PARTY-1956-Anthony Quinn stars in this grim melodrama the same year he played Quasimodo in the French production of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Here he plays Ton Kuphen, a loony ex-football player-loser reduced to petty crime. His pals include fruity con-man Gage (Jay Robinson), broke jazz pianist Kicks (Nehemiah Persoff who narrates) and Honey (Kathryn Grant), Tom's spacey semi-innocent girlfriend. They terrorize a society couple, a Navy lieutenant (Arthur Franz) and his rich fiancee (Carol Ohmart, later Vincent Price's wife on HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL)) who Kuphen becomes obsessed with. The four "beats" talk annoying jive in this lurid and racy (I guess for the time) drama with a disappointing finale. Paul Stewart and Barbara Nichols appear in one scene together and Nestor Paiva has a small role.

The jazz score is by Buddy Bregman and Barney Kessell. Maynard Ferguson and Bud Shank appear in an un-credited on-screen band. Director Harry Horner had made RED PLANET MARS and BEWARE, MY LOVELY and was also production designer on many films.

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