Death Car On Tv

 

 (imdb)

DEATH CAR ON THE FREEWAY-1979-An actress named Becky (Morgan Brittany) is driven off the freeway by a mysterious black van. Later another woman is put in the hospital by a crash caused by the van. A reporter (Shelly Hack) investigates and butts heads with a police Lt. (Peter Graves) while being pursued by her estranged husband (George Hamilton) to get back together. Frank Gorshin is her boss and Barbara Rush is a co-anchor. Typical all star TV cast DUEL inspired melodrama directed by Hal Needham who has a small role. Also with Harriet Nelson as a blind landlady, Dinah Shore as a victim on TV, Abe Vigoda and Sid Haig.

Thanks for reading!

Movie of the Week

 

 (imdb)

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? -1974-This is an ABC movie of the week presentation. Steven Anders (Peter Graves; a year after MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE ended) and his kids Debbie (Kathleen Quinlan) & Alex (George O'Hanlon Jr.) are on vacation, exploring some caves. After his wife leaves to attend to her job, they go to explore a cave. There's an intense flash of light and an earthquake. Everything seems OK but the friend who was with them dies of what seems to be radiation poisoning. They high tail it back to town but the place is devoid of people. In another town, they find the shell-shocked Jenny (Verna Bloom; in HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER the year before) and an angry dog. Later they are held up and stranded when a gun toting motorist steals their car. They come upon a farm and meet Michael (Michael James-Wixted), a young boy whose parents were killed. They travel by a horse drawn buckboard and run into some more canine trouble. When it's discovered wife/mom is dead everything almost falls apart. When Jenny is saved from suicide Ander's survival speech gives them all hew hope. 

What exactly happened isn't explained precisely. Maybe a solar flare caused some kind of epidemic. 

Director John Llewelyn Moxey (from Argentina) began his film career as an editor and second unit director. In 1960, he directed Christopher Lee in THE CITY OF THE DEAD (aka HORROR HOTEL). He did lots of BBC TV productions and in 1966 again directed Lee in CIRCUS OF FEAR. Later he relocated to the US where he worked largely in TV and directed the standout TV horror movie THE NIGHT STALKER (1972).

Thanks for reading!

Mars

 

RED PLANET MARS-1952-Prof. Chris Cronyn (Peter Graves) and his wife Lynn (Andrea King; THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS) visit a giant telescope site where scientists there have just taken pictures of Mars which they believe show signs of life. This doesn't surprise Cronyn much as he claims to be getting radio signals from it. Meanwhile somewhere in the Andes a communist scientist Franz Calder (Herbert Berghof), a Nazi war criminal who once experimented on humans, tries to contact Mars for his superiors (led by Marvin Miller). Since he is the person who actually invented the device that Cronyn is using, he's rather bitter. Calder is not successful but can monitor Cronin's progress. Using Pi Cronin gets his Martian response. However this doesn't bode well with the US and it's economy starts to crumble. Everybody wants a piece of Cronyn but a Naval commander (Walter Sande) is sympathetic to him. The secretary of state (Morris Ankrum) wants the lab closed down and he and a General (Tom Keene) want the president (Willis Bouchey) to declare war on Russia. Just when all hope seems lost it's discovered God is on Mars! 

Communist Russia is destroyed by a religious uprising! However later when world peace has been established Calder shows up and drops a bombshell on Cronyn. He was the one sending the message replies, not Mars! Calder plans to tell the world of his charade but then a message really does come from Mars. Calder destroys the machine killing himself and The Cronyns but they die heroes. Vince Barnett, Henry Kulky and Gene Roth among others have small roles. 

This wild cold war propaganda movie was the debut film for director Harry Horner, also a production designer who who later made THE WILD PARTY. RED PLANET MARS is based on a play by John Balderston (who co-wrote the screenplay) author of the screenplays for FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935).

Thanks for reading!

Filmed On The Bayou

BAYOU-1957- Hi-jinx in the Cajun swamps as crab fisherperson Maria (Lita Milan) is ogled by pervert store owner Ulysses (Timothy Carey; bizarre as usual) while NY architect Martin Davis (Peter Graves; also in Bert I. Gordon's THE BEGINING OF THE END the same year) tries to win a contract to build a “civic auditorium”. His contractor friend (Douglas Fowley) gets him an interview with the city commissioner but Murphy (who calls Cajuns “animals”), his rival for the job embarrass him. Maria's father Emil (also played by Fowley though he doesn't get credit for the dual roles) has no more credit at Ulysses' store but U urges dad to put the hard sell on his daughter and make Maria attend a dance with him. After Davis almost runs Maria down in his speed boat, Ulysses does his greasy best to put the moves on her but when she resists he tries to rape her. Fortunately her father comes home and U scrams. Maria and Davis hook up at a bar and she shows him around the carnival. Ulysses beats Davis in a “pirogue race” and gives Davis a hard time. When Davis backs down from fighting everyone thinks he has no guts. Maria though is stuck on him and Ulysses starts trouble when they go for a boat ride. 

At a wedding “shivaree” Ulysses does a wild dance where he looks like he's being tortured. Again he challenges Davis to a fight but again the future MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE star backs down. When a storm hits, the two lovers decide to elope but dad is killed. After his funeral Davis and Ulysses have their fight and Davis whips his ass. Everyone (even his abused little pal Bos, played by Jonathan Haze) deserts Ulysses. Ed Nelson is also in the cast. 

Director Harold Daniels was later one of the credited directors of HOUSE OF BLACK DEATH. This nonsense, full of bad Cajun accents, played for years on the drive-in circuit under the title POOR WHITE TRASH.

Thanks for reading!

'50's Corman

IT CONQUERED THE WORLD-1956-AIP low budget S.F. classic from Roger Corman! When a government satellite disappears and then crash lands in the town of Beachwood California, a disgraced scientist Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef) claims that a visitor from Venus has landed and is preparing to take over the world. He tries to convince his friend Dr. Paul Nelson (Peter Graves) that this is a good thing ("That superior intelligence happens to be a personal friend of mine"). One way it hopes to accomplish a takeover is by sending out weird pulsating flying creatures that turn humans into emotionless zombies who herd the local populace into the desert for "protective custody" (we never see this however). Beverley Garland plays Claire, Anderson's hard nose wife who tries desperately to convince him of his folly despite being in love with him. Sally Fraser is Paul's cheery wife Joan who Paul is forced to shoot after she's taken over.

The script by AIP vet Lou Rusoff (DAY THE WORLD ENDED) provides a lot of great dialogue (Graves' speech at the climax is particularly memorable). The rubbery "inverted ice cream cone" monster/invader (created and operated by Paul Blaisdell) is usually a target of much ridicule and his demise (involving a blowtorch) is wacky but it hardly takes away from the enjoyment of the story which is really put over by the acting ans script. Also added is a small army patrol led by Dick Miller and his comical phony Hispanic sidekick (Jonathan Haze), Russ Bender as a general and usual screenwriter Charles B. Griffith as a scientist.

This is the only sci-fi/horror film Roger Corman made in 1956 but the next year he made the ultra cool NOT OF THIS EARTH! (which also features Garland)

One last note: Frank Zappa talks about IT CONQUERED THE WORLD at the beginning of the song "Cheepnis" on the album/CD "Roxy and Elsewhere".

Thanks for reading!

Real or Not Real?

THE MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS-1976-Pseudo-documentary from Sunn Classics. Hands on narrator Peter Graves is your host for this examination of the Bigfoot phenomenon. He visits sites where the creatures have been sighted, interviews eye witnesses and skeptics. Many locals testify to their experiences and other stories and photos are used but (except for the controversial Roger Patterson film) all the Bigfoot action is reenacted. (a note at the end of the credits says: Portions of this film taken from “Land of The Yeti”....) 

There's a rather lengthy segment on The Loch Ness Monster and psychic celebrity Peter Hurkos convinces Graves that Bigfoot is real. Hypnotism and lie detector tests are also used to confirm the legend's existence. It's outdated, far fetched and not as entertaining as other ones of it's genre (or pseudo-genre?).

Although writer/director Robert Guenette (who died in 2008) also made MONSTERS! MYSTERIES OR MYTHS?  and THE WORLD OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENON he also tackled more serious projects like segments of TV's HEROES OF THE GAME, cable's CRAZY ABOUT THE MOVIES and the excellent documentary ORSON WELLES :WHAT WENT WRONG?  

Not very important note: Though always referred to as TMM, the film is actually titled BIGFOOT:THE MYSTERIOUS MONSTER. At least the version I saw was (it was taken from a 16 mm print). 

Thanks for reading!

Parts Is Parts

PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR-1979 -Former second Darren Stevens on TV’s BEWITCHED Dick Sargent (who was in Paul Schrader's HARDCORE the same year) runs a camp of young people training to go to a place called America. Surprise! He’s actually in charge a secret cloning project called “Clonus” and is “harvesting” the poor dopes so their vital organs can later be used to save the lives of politicians, millionaires and other evil people.

Meanwhile Presidential shoo-in Jeffery Knight (Peter Graves) campaigns. One camper member and future organ donor named Richard (Tim Donnelley) falls in love with the strange looking Lena (Paulette Breen). After he finds a beer can in a nearby river, Richard decides all is not what it seems to be. He runs away and winds up in LA. He steals a bicycle and crashes into the garbage cans of retired reporter Jake Noble (Keenan Wynn). Richard kind of explains his situation (“Can you help me find my other part?”) and Jake argues with his wife (Lurene Tuttle) providing the most entertaining scene in the whole movie!

After viewing a film Richard brought with him Jake takes the clone to meet his DNA counterpart a professor named Richard Knight (Wow! What a coincidence! They are both named Richard!). He lives with his weird looking son Ricky. They seem more like lovers than father and son. Anyway, when Prof. is convinced that Richard is his clone he decides to contact his brother Jeffery who just happens to be running for President. Bad move! Jeff knows all about Clonus and in fact arranged to have the Richard clone made! That’s brotherly love!

The whole thing plays like a typical but slightly more violent ‘70’s TV movie. It’s bad and boring but funny and entertaining in spots. Director Robert S. Fiveson never made another movie but sued the makers of THE ISLAND in 2005 for plagiarism. I'm not even sure if this was ever released into theaters. I originally saw on cable in the early '80's.

Graves played George Washington in the made for TV THE REBELS the same year as this. Good commercial roles seemed to elude "Mission: Impossible"'s Mr. Phelps until AIRPLANE in 1980 but who can really complain about the guy who played the hero in KILLERS FROM SPACE??

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 later used this and produced one of their funniest episodes…

Thanks for reading!

Scream of The Wolf; Yawn of The Viewer...

SCREAM OF THE WOLF-1974-There were a lot of TV movies in the '70's. ABC even had it's own "MOVIE OF THE WEEK". and produced a lot of movies in all different genres. Several of them were of the horror variety. SCREAM OF THE WOLF is one of them. It was written by sci-fi/horror veteran scribe Richard Matheson (who's story DUEL was directed by the then unknown Steven Speilberg three years earlier and would become one of the most famous made for TV movies of all time....) and produced and directed by Dan Curtis, who's most famous creation, TV's first horror soap opera DARK SHADOWS had expired in 1971 after a 5 year run. Curtis and Matheson had worked together before on TV horror, most notably on THE NIGHT STALKER and it's sequel THE NIGHT STRANGLER and a version of DRACULA with Jack Palance in the lead.



Sounds like SCREAM should be a winner, right?



Well...actually...ummm...NO!



SCREAM is a typically disapointing TV movie that presents itself as a horror film then blows it by trying to offer a "normal explanation" for all the violent goings on....



Peter Graves (who's long running gig on MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE had ended one year earlier) plays an ex-hunter (now a writer) investigating the murders of some local residents by something that seems to be a werewolf. Clint Walker (who had his own long running TV show CHEYENNE in the '50's) plays Graves' ex-partner who seems determined not to hunt down the mysterious "monster". He also seems like a nut but the local sheriff (Phillip Carey) doesn't suspect him.



It's all kind of boring and the climax kind of rips off THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME! Jo Ann Pflug (who was also in Curtis' THE NIGHT STRANGLER) plays Graves' love interest. Walker's limping manservant (lover?) is played by Don Megowan, the husky western actor who starred in the 1956 horror film THE WEREWOLF!


Thanks for reading!

5 For The Price of One!

FIVE MAN ARMY-1969-This is a Hollywood backed kind of spaghetti western inspired by THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and THE DIRTY DOZEN. It was directed by American Don Taylor (who was working mostly in TV at the time) and written by Dario Argento (who directed his first movie the next year).

Peter Graves stars in between his gig on TV’s MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE. I guess being Mr. Phelps gave him the confidence to take on any project! As “Dutchman” he assembles the title group that includes James Daly, Bud Spencer and Tetsuro Tamba. Each has a special ability (like explosives expert) and they plan to steal gold from a train heading for The Mexican Army. While it lacks the atmosphere of Sergio Leone it does feature a great Ennio Marricone sound-track and a nice twist ending. American ex-patriot (at the time) Marc Lawrence (who died in 2005) has a small role as a carnival barker.



Thanks for reading!

My First one Here

Ok this is my first post here. I have another movie blog at another site but I decided to switch over here. I'll see how it goes. Anyway this is mostly about the movies I watch. I like all sorts but I particularly lean toward low budget films of the '50's but I watch all kinds. Here's my first movie post. It's kind of long...









THREE BY A WILDER AND CRAZY GUY!


PHANTOM FROM SPACE-U.A.-1953-It’s hard to believe that director W. Lee Wilder was the less talented older brother of Hollywood’s famous Billy Wilder and while Brother Bill was helming STALAG 17 (for which star William Holden won an Oscar) W made this cheap, minimalistic talkfest.



Two cops (Ted Cooper and Harry Landers) investigate the sudden appearance of a mysterious, headless “phantom” in a diver’s suit. The two cops interview witnesses and consult a doctor (Rudolph Anders from SHE DEMONS and FRANKENSTEIN 1970). Eventually Giger counters track down the space suited creature who escapes by shedding his seemingly indestructible suit, because....Ta Da ......he’s invisible! More talking and cigarette smoking ensues as the phantom hitches a ride on the doc’s car. While the doctor, his assistant (Noreen Nash) and an army major (James Sealy, later in the TV series THE SWAMP FOX) test the suit, the invisible alien (Dick Sands) roams the lab opening and closing doors, moving furniture and being terrorized by the doc’s dog. He (?) kidnaps the assistant and communicates by tapping. In the end he turns into a visible, bald headed humanoid who falls to his death and evaporates. The doctor sums it up: “So he came here from where ever from and right before our eyes his body went though the final phrases of life.”. Yup, that’s it!



An odd duo penned PHANTOM. William Raynor later wrote TARGET: EARTH and became a TV writer. Co-scripter Myles Wilder (Lee's son) wrote W’s next effort (and later episodes of GET SMART). Nominal leading man Landers was a TV pitchman in the ‘60’s and appears in the STAR TREK episode “Turnabout Intruder”. The eerie music is by William Lava (who later did the “F-Troop” theme). Not so SFX were by Alex Weldon who after doing his magic on INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN (1957) graduated to better movies like THE LONGEST DAY, KING OF KINGS, CRACK IN THE WORLD and PATTON. Wilder had been a handbag manufacturer before going to Hollywood in 1945 and producing Anthony Mann’s THE GREAT FLAMARION with Erich von Strohiem!









THE SNOW CREATURE-U.A.-1954 -This is it! The very first movie about The Abominable Snowman and of course it was produced and directed by Wilder (Brother Billy was making SABRINA the same year). It’s very crazy.



A botanist (Paul Langton) and photographer (Leslie Denison) in The Himalayas are forced to accompany their Sherpa guide (Teru Shimada, a Japanese actor who had a small role in WAR OF THE WORLDS and was later on US TV shows ) to Yeti country when the guide’s wife is Yeti-napped. After following some footprints the group come upon an abominable lair inhabited by the snowman and his family. Strangely, the minute he (?) sees the group he brings the cave ceiling down on himself killing his family. Not very bright daddy Snowman is merely stunned and somehow the botanist gains control and forces the Sherpas to take them all back to civilization. For a botanist this guy has alot of pull because he manages to have his institute send a special refrigeration unit to keep Snowy in. It looks like a telephone booth! He has trouble with immigration. They’re not sure if he’s man or beast and won’t let him/it into the country! The creature is very tall and kind of funky looking with fur glued on various parts of it’s body suit. You hardly ever see it’s face. Sometimes it looks like he’s wearing a hat! A famous medical examiner (Rudolph Anders in his second Wilder film) is brought in but Snowy escapes and hilarity follows when it (fast motion) clubs a guard. Emerging out of the darkness it kills a woman. When the creature retreats it’s the same scene of him attacking but shown backwards! Another funny scene takes place in a meat packing plant. It all ends in the storm drains under the city.



According to IMDB Lock Martin (Gort The Robot in DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) portrayed the title monster but I’ve also heard that it may have been someone else. Star Langton was a busy TV actor (he’s in The Twilight Zone premiere episode “Where Is Everybody?”) but was later in THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (’57), IT! THE TRRROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (’58) , INVISIBLE INVADERS and COSMIC MAN (both ’59)! What a resume! The Director Of Photography was Floyd Crosby. Also with William Phipps, Robert Bice and Robert Kino.

KILLERS FROM SPACE-U.A.-1954-Wilder also made this, his most famous grade Z thriller the same year as SNOW CREATURE and it seems to be the first alien abduction movie!

Peter Graves stars as Douglas Martin a pilot/doctor working with nuclear scientists who appears unharmed after his plane crashes and burns. Army brass believe he’s a traitor passing A-bomb secrets to the enemy. After he cracks up, he tells the real story while under the influence of a truth drug. Here we meet a group of the most memorable aliens in bad movie history!

Yes, it’s those guys in the skin tight jump suits & zebra belts sporting bushy eye brows and golf ball eyes.! The leader (John Merrick who talks like Paul Burich) fills Dr. Martin in on the fact that he died and was resurrected by the aliens so he can be their spy. They want to eliminate the human race and take over the Earth for their own kind. The future Mr. Phelps tires to escape their underground cave but is stopped by some stock footage lizards and enlarged shots of cockroaches. He eventually blows up the alien base (while dressed in pajamas, robe and slippers; he’s a casual hero) by cutting off their electric power.

The story for KILLERS is credited to the mysterious Myles Wilder and the script is by William Raynor (see above entry). James Sealy plays nearly the same army major he did in SNOW CREATURE. Square jawed Frank Gerstle (who would later be in movies by Ed Cahn, Corman and Sam Fuller) plays a fellow scientist.

Some of the funniest non-alien scenes involve out of place close-ups of an investigating agent played by Steve Pendleton. Wilder just keeps showing shadowy close-ups of these guy’s mug while other characters are talking! The bulge eyed aliens were created by Ed Wood vet Harry Thomas!

Interestingly, Director Of Photography William H. Clothier (who also shot PHANTOM FROM SPACE) went on to shoot many John Wayne westerns including THE ALAMO (1960). W. Lee Wilder would go on to make a few more movies like the boring MANFISH (1956) with Victor Jory and Lon Chaney, the wacky MAN WITHOUT A BODY (1957) and the weird THE OMEGANS (his last in 1968) with Ingrid Pitt but he’d never top this “trilogy of terror”.

Thanks for reading this!