Never The Dragon Shall Meet

 

 (imdb)

NINJA DRAGON-1986-In Hong Kong, a businessman (Richard Harrison) seeks revenge on a group that killed his partner. Meanwhile two gangs are involved in a turf war. As usual with director Godfrey Ho, this movie has two story lines that never intersect. After the tragic ending of one story, the master ninja fights the red ninja (Paulo Tochi) to the death. Star Harrison played the same character in several other Ho paste up jobs.

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Indonesia

 

 (imdb)

THE RAID: REDEMPTION-2011-An elite group of law officers invade the criminal stronghold (kind of an apartment house for scum) of a powerful (and weird looking) drug lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy). All goes well for a short time until a kid is killed and the gang is alerted. For some stupid reason, the old Lieutenant didn't tell anyone they were coming so they are cut off from reinforcements. One guy Rama (Iko Uwals) meets his brother there, one of Tama's right hand men. It's just one big battle for survival with the drug lord monitoring the whole thing via closed circuit TVs. 

Very violent, brutal and graphic with some wild bloody fights. This Indonesia production was written and directed by the Welsh born Gareth Evans who made a sequel THE RAID 2 IN 2015.

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Girls with Guns

 

 (youtube)

GUN GIRLS-1957-Girl gangs are the trouble this time. Nice girls from decent families committing armed robbery for kicks. Con artist Joe (Timothy Farrell;his role is identical to the one in GIRL GANG)) sells guns to two girls, Teddy (Jeanne Ferguson) and Dora (Jacqueline Park) deal in larceny and stolen goods. He romances semi-innocent Joy Jenkins (top billed Eve Brent) to set up a robbery in the warehouse where she works. The girls rob the place, conk a guard and leave behind some clues and only get 14 dollars for their trouble! Deciding to leave town they steal Joe's money then Joy drops a bombshell. She's pregnant with Joe's kid! Joe of course rejects her and she shoots him. Teddy and Dora wreck their getaway car. Dora has a long scene on her deathbed and the story ends with a police lineup of tough girls and the narrator asking if one of them could be yours. 

Harry Keaton (also on GIRL GANG) plays Joe's henchman Luke and Barbara Weeks (from Wood's THE VIOLENT YEARS) plays Teddy's mother. More low budget sleazy crime drama morality from director Robert C. Dertano (it was his last movie}. A year after making this movie lead actress Eve Brent was cast as Jane to Gordon Scott's Tarzan in TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE.

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Girls In Gangs

  (wkipedia)

GIRL GANG-1954-4 girls rob a guy and steal his car. They take it to greasy drug pusher Joe (Timothy Farrell) who sells them joints except for one girl who wants a shot of heroin. Joe shows another girl how to shoot up and his heroin addicted lackey brings over a couple of "green horns". "Weeds today. Shots tomorrow". Later "the kids" have a pot party that leads to dancing and sex. One girl has sex with her employer and then Joe and his abortion doctor lackey Doc Bradford (Harry Keaton; also in Ed Woods' THE SINISTER URGE) blackmail him with a rape charge. Joe sets up a daylight robbery of a gas station. It doesn't go too well. One guy is shot and killed and one of the girls is wounded badly. She's dragged back to Joe's place where Doc attempts to remove the bullet. She dies. The remaining two girls have a cat fight. The police arrive and arrest everyone and Doc while trying to escape is shot in the back. 

Despite the drug injection scenes any seriousness is lost with all the dumb situations and dialogue trying to "out Wood" Ed Wood but Farrell's performance as the grouchy sleazy pusher Joe is worth watching! Director Robert C. Dertano made RACKET GIRLS (also with Farrell).

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Wild

 

THE WILD RIDE-1960-Wise ass speedster Johnny Varron (Jack Nicholson; the same year as LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS) runs a cop off the road. He and his "gang" like to play chicken. He's upset when his pal Dave (Robert Bean) goes "shallow" while “playing” and blames Dave's girlfriend Nancy (Georgiana Carter). Dave dumps her because Johnny says so but Dave has second thoughts and decides to step out on the gang. Johnny kind of kidnaps Nancy and tries to molest her but Dave catches them, freaks out and crashes his car and dies. Johnny takes the blame and surrenders to the police. His gang abandons him. "The stud's gone bad. Let's split". 

Roger Corman was the executive producer. The director Harvey Berman was a UCLA drama teacher. Much of the cast were amateurs. As for the dialogue, as Johnny's older lover says "Speak so I can understand you". There's also a re-cut version that makes the main story a flashback.

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Dual Belas!

 BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT-1942-Prof. Brenner (Bela Lugosi) is a criminology teacher by day and at night he's Karl Wagner who runs a Bowery mission that's a front for robbery and murder. Sgt. Crawford (Dave O'Brien) investigates. Wagner's M.O. is to kill one accomplice at the scene of a crime. He recruits psycho killer Frank Mills (Tom Neal; he'd star in DETOUR in 1945) to help. Wagner's nurse Judy (Wanda McKay) doesn't suspect but her boyfriend Richard (John Archer) goes undercover as a bum to study the underprivileged and winds up dead. The nutty ending has an insane doctor resurrecting Wagner's dead victims who in turn kill him. Since Richard comes back to life he and Judy live happily ever after. When Richard is on the Bowery he meets two oddballs almost in a row. One is played by Pat Costello and the other by Bernard Gorcey! Wheeler Oakman, Victor Adamson and Snub Pllard have small roles.

Director Wallace Fox made several "East Side Kids" comedies (that were set in The Bowery) and directed Lugosi in THE CORPSE VANISHES the same year. After making PILLOW OF DEATH, one of the Inner Sanctum series of film at Universal he drifted into low budget westerns then went into TV (The Gene Autry Show, Ramar Of The Jungle). He dies in 1958.

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2020/01/vanishing-bride.html

Sam Katzman was the executive producer of this low budget quickie released through Monogram but it's not bad despite some lapses in reason!

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Teenage Gangs

THE REBEL BREED-1960-Police Lt. Brooks (Gerald Mohr) sends two rookie cops into a tough high school to infiltrate two gangs there. Frank Serano (Mark Damon) is posing as half Mexican-half African American and Don Walters (Douglas Hume) is a white guy. There's a black gang (the word Negro is used throughout the movie) called The Ebonies led by Satchel (Al Freeman Jr.), a Mexican gang The Caballeros and a white gang called The Royals. Almost immediately Frank gets beat up by The Cabs because Lola (Rita Moreno) the sister of gang leader Manuel (Richard Laurier) is assigned to a school project with him. Meanwhile she's making time with Jimmy (Don Eitner), a white guy (and Royal). Of course the real bad guy is Buck (Richard Rust), pot pushing leader of the racist white Royals who report to Mr. Elliot (Charles Franc). Manuel is a good gang leader though. He won't let his boys use grass. Later Buck accidentally kills Jimmy in a fight but makes it look like Manuel did it. He’s so bad he gives Satchel's little brother a joint to smoke. Many other things happen: Lola is pregnant, Buck finds out his slutty white girlfriend is actually black and the Royals paint Satchel white. Things come to a head at a pot party thrown by Buck that Lola joins trying to find evidence that Buck killed Jimmy. Frank infiltrates the party and Lola’s dad (Jay Novello) also shows up (he found out she’s preggers) to get harassed. Things really get out of hand when Muscles rats that Buck killed Jimmy and Frank and Don reveal their real jobs. Mr. Elliot appears with a gun. Thank god, the Cabs show up to help save the day. When Lt. Brooks gets there he lectures them (“When are you going to learn?!”). Love blooms for Lola and Frank. Everyone else is forgotten.

 I like the fact that THIS REBEL BREED lays most of the blame on the shoulders of the kids involved because they can't get along simply out of prejudice. The editing is a little sloppy but two directors are credited which could have something to do with it. The first Richard L. Bare had directed shorts and a few movies but was doing the TV western “Maverick” around the same time. He later directed all 166 episodes of the TV comedy “Green Acres”. One of his last films was the split screen slasher melodrama WICKED, WICKED. The second was William Rowland, a producer/director of low budget films (most of which I know nothing about...). Some mild “soft-core” sex scenes were added to the 1965 re-release of THE REBEL BREED and dubbed THE BLACK REBELS.

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2012/01/wicked-stuff.html

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Mixed Up...

MIXED BLOOD-1984-This movie is a hoot! It's about Brazilian street gangs fighting over the drug trade on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Most of the gang members are underage kids. If it sounds similar to the Brazilian drama PIXOTE (made in 1981) the female lead in that film Marilia Pera plays Rita La Punta, the leader of one of the gangs ("They cannot go to jail. Too young").

The story involves violence,drugs,prostitution,shootouts, racism and police corruption. All the characters talk in exaggerated accents and the dialogue is very dramatic and over the top. With lines like "I'm the one who tells you how to piss". Cheesy salsa music plays in the background.

It was filmed on location in Alphabet City by Paul Morrissey (ANDY WARHOL'S DRACULA). There are some good scenes but most of the shootouts are inept and there are some awkward reaction shots.

Some reviews cite the realism of the whole thing but to me it seems to take place on another planet! Also with Geraldine Smith who had been in BAD and FLESH  by Morrissey, Linda Kerridge (SURF ll) and John Leguizamo in his film debut.

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Story of a Fake Bruce

STORY OF THE DRAGON-Bruce Lee lookalike Bob (Bruce Li) and his inept friend (Carter Wong) are fired from their restaurant jobs after a fight with 3 "foreigners". They prevent the duo from getting other jobs and get beat up again. They manage to get a job unloading ocean containers. The foreign gang is run by an Asian martial arts teacher with very dark skin and a black wig (I think he was suppose to be Japanese). The nephew of the container station owner shows up and beats up the gang. Though there's a lot of talk about foreigners I think this is suppose to take place in San Francisco which would explain all the white guys. Fake Bruce opens his own school and teaches everyone. The big boss, Mr. Grace says of Kung-Fu: "it's out of date. It's 900 years old!".  Later Lee-Clone beats up Mr. Charlie (Roy Horan) but a "boxing champion" wrecks the school. The boxer defeats Lee in a fight but he trains hard for a rematch. Everyone joins in for the unintentionally funny fights in the finale.

This may also be known as BRUCE LEE: A DRAGON STORY re-dubbed to "less resemble" the real Lee's life story. Co-directors Chi Chang and  Hua Chen were better know for cinematography and second unit work.

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Teenage Strangler

TEENAGE STRANGLER-1964-This once obscure made in West Virginia slasher movie gained a new audience when TV viewers saw it on an episode of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000.

A small town is terrorized by a killer who strangles women and leaves a red cross on their foreheads. Jimmy Walton (Bill Bloom), a member of the local hot rod gang "The Fastbacks" comes under suspicion because he keeps sneaking out to meet his girlfriend Betty (Jo Canterbury) who was eyewitness to one of the murders. It seemed the killer was wearing a Fastbacks leather jacket. At their local dive Mickey's, a girl sings a weird song called "Yikes Stripes" after mentioning Peter, Paul and Mary, The Beatles and the Chad Mitchell Trio! Another Fastback member Curly starts trouble bullying a nerd. The hard nosed police Lieutenant Anderson (John Ensign) investigates, lectures the teens, argues with the adults and does seem to care despite his gruff exterior (and lack of acting skills). The school janitor Mr. Wilson (some sources say it's Ron Ormond) hangs around too but nobody suspects him. Most of the acting is bad but top acting honors go to John Humphries as Jimmy's little brother Mikey who whines and cringes constantly every time he's on camera. Much of Jimmy's trouble seems to involve a bike Mikey stole but Jmmy got blamed for. According to his father the family had to move to a new town because of it! Jimmy and Curly have a hot rod race where Mikey gets slightly injured and Curly is suspected of the murders. Of course Mr. Wilson is the culprit, a former teacher ruined by a student's accusations.

TEENAGE STRANGLER is hilariously inept. I've never seen so much bad acting in one movie! Director Ben Parker may have made a few other movies and shorts but it seems none of the cast ever acted again. The music is by Danny Dean and The Daredevils. Originally called TERROR IN THE NIGHT.

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No Gas in 2012

TOOTH AND NAIL-2007-In this sort of twist on post-apocalyptic zombie cannibal movies, it seems the world ran out of gasoline in 2012 and civilization collapsed. “The American dream became the American nightmare” says Darwin (Robert Carradine), the bearded egghead who leads a small group of survivors with names like Dakota, Ford, Torino and Yukon in a Philadelphia hospital. He seems very optimistic about “creating a new life” but the rest (except for a little girl who doesn't talk) are the usual bickering self obsessed imbeciles. When a new girl Nova (Emily Catherine Young) arrives things seem to deteriorate but she has a secret. 

Later on Michael Madsen shows up as Jackal, the leader of The Rovers, a group of cannibalistic nomads. The twist here I guess is that the flesh eaters are human not zombies. The dialogue is terrible, the action scenes too dark and some of gore effects too phony. Vinnie Jones (X MEN:LAST STAND) has a small role. Director Mark Young made THE KILLING JAR (also with Madsen) after this. I never saw so many producers on one movie! 

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Shorts

In the  middle of Hurricane Sandy so I'll have to keep it short (with some shorts)!

PERVERSION FOR PROFIT-1965-Infamous propaganda film warning of the horrors of adult magazines (called smut) and it's effects on society. It's on screen narrator is George Putnam, at the time a popular radio and TV commentator. It makes some valid points but it's all lost on it's unintentionally funny dialogue. It was produced by real estate developer and financier Charles Keating, later involved in the 1980's savings and loan scandal.

ASK ME, DON'T TELL ME-1961-Interesting short produced by Youth In Service, an early '60's organization that tired to help teenagers in gangs (or jacket clubs). Black, White and Hispanic youth are all involved. There's straight narration but occasionally another guy talks in jive and nice background music by The Five Chips (they do versions of Johnny B. Goode and La Bamba). It's very positive and not the usual propaganda crap.

THE TROUBLE MAKER-1957-Mel, a big mouth liar who likes to spread rumors gets 2 football players into trouble after lying about dating a female student. Not much else happens and at the end the narrator asks "what would you do?". It was directed by Herk Harvey who a few years later made the unforgettable CARNIVAL OF SOULS.

GANG BOY-1954-Badly made but interesting little short about teenager violence as two street gangs (one White, one Chicano) do battle. Danny, the leader of the Chicano gang narrates most of it as he looks back on his life and remembers how he became a "gang boy". Was this the inspiration for WEST SIDE STORY? 

Producer Sid Davis and writer/director Arthur Swerdloff made several other shorts along this line. Most of them used post-sync dialogue, a device later used to the hilt by Doris Wishman on most of her films.

Take care and stay dry!