May 23 - 29, 2026

 

To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.

Brain Teasers:

Which Italian Western has an English language version that ends with the line, "The red and the black"?

It is EL ROJO.

Which Italian Western has in the English language version, "I'm scarier than you."?

No one has answered this one yet.

Which Spanish actor was a professional soccer player in Mexico before returning to Spain to become an actor?

Tom Betts and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Aldo Sambrell.

Which Italian actor wrote the screenplay for the best Western he made?

Tom Betts and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Luigi Montefiori, aka George Eastman, with AMICO, STAMMI LONTANO ALMENO UN PALMO, aka BEN AND CHARLIE.

By what name is Kevin Mancuso better known?

Tom Betts and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it is Joe D'Amato, aka Aristide Massaccesi.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which Italian Western appeared in the U.S. with a completely new theme song, not on the Italian version?

Which Italian Western, with music by Riz Ortolani, came out in the U.S. with music added from a different Italian Western with music by Riz Ortolani?

By what name is Ken Wood better known?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Tom Betts and Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's photo of Aldo Sambrell and George Eastman in AMICO, STAMMI LONTANO ALMENO UN PALMO, aka BEN AND CHARLIE.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Jack Palance and Anita Ekberg in I MONGOLI, aka THE MONGOLS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's photo of Adriana Ambesi and Cesar Benet in MALENKA, aka FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

No one identified that above photo. 

Can you name from what movie it came?

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I am interested in knowing what movies you have watched and what you enjoyed or not. So please send me an email at scinema@earthlink.net if you'd like to share. Here's what I watched last week:

Enjoyed:

SHERMAN'S MARCH (2007) - Writer/director Rick King made this compelling documentary for the History Channel which seeks to set the record straight on the campaign by General William Tecumseh Sherman deep into the Southern States during the American Civil War. It is the campaign which directly led to the end of the conflict.

Forever Young: A Grammy Salute to Rod Stewart Live (2026) - Like many people I first became aware of Rod Stewart when I heard "Maggie May" on the radio. I bought two of his albums, Every Picture Tells A Story and Never A Dull Moment, and then some albums by Faces. I felt his collaborations with Ron Wood were the highlights of his career, so when he did Atlantic Crossing, I lost interest in him. After seeing recent appearances by Paul McCartney and Paul Simon on TV - both of whom have lost most of their vocal abilities, I was curious to see how Stewart was holding up. Stewart's voice had always been a bit ragged, so age hasn't hurt him much. Stewart got on my good side by doing "You Wear It Well" and "Ooh La La", though the latter song was done by Ronnie Lane on the Faces album. The show was well-staged and always held my interest, particularly with a number of beautiful female instrumentalists. The version they played of "Maggie May" was outstanding, and their rendition of a song I hate, "Do You Think I'm Sexy", was enlivened by Stewart leading some of his band into the audience and interacting with the patrons.

Mildly enjoyed:

The Residence (2025) - Uzo Aduba is delightful in this amusing mystery comedy which would really have been more enjoyable at less than the 8 episodes Netflix gave it. It is nice to see Al Franken back on TV.

Did not enjoy:

THE BEST HOUSE IN LONDON (1969) - Joanna Pettet is trying to get the "working girls" off the streets of Victorian London; give them a safe place to live and an attempt to learn a legal trade. In a dual role, David Hemmings plays a man who wants to help Pettet and the man who to pretend to help Pettet in order to get a nice house to turn into a bordello. The good Hemmings is also keen on helping Warren Mitchell getting his flying ship off the ground. After George Sanders is killed in India, the bad Hemmings ensures that Pettet gets the big house, which the villain soon fills with "working girls".  To pay for her good deeds, Pettet will rely on the income from Sanders' Opium trade, which Chinaman Wolfe Morris is trying to stop. There doesn't seem to be enough female nudity to justify this movie getting an X rating, but things were stricter in 1969. I am certain that writer Denis Norden, who also wrote THE BLISS OF MRS. BLOSSOM and BUONA SERA, MRS. CAMPBELL, intended this to be funny, but as directed by Philip Saville, who also directed the movie version of STOP THE WORLD: I WANT TO GET OFF!, it isn't. Hammer fans might get a kick out seeing Maurice Denham, Martita Hunt, Veronica Carlson, Ferdy Mayne, Milton Reid and Thorley Walters in small roles, while French film fans can enjoy seeing Dany Robin.

THE BLACKENING (2022) - In 2018, the comedy troupe 3Peat made a short film, which inspired producers to turn it into a feature. An horror film satire/comedy, this film's writers Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins had no qualms about tossing in elements of SAW, JUMANJI, FRIDAY THE 13th and other movies hoping to turn this into a SCARY MOVIE-like franchise. I don't like the SCARY MOVIE films either, so I found this tiresome. A group of young African Americans rent a cabin in the woods to celebrate Juneteeth. The first two to arrive discover a mechanical game called The Blackening, featuring a Little Black Sambo character and are soon done-in. When the others arrive they discover they are being threatened with death by a masked guy on TV sets. Eventually, the group overpowers two masked fellows, who turn out to be white guys who have been paid to menence the group. The interesting twist at the end is that the white guys were hired by one of the group who wants revenge for being humiliated at a party ten years before. Having grown up in Vermont, the villain knew nothing about African American culture and so didn't know how to play "Spades". Ridiculed, the villain proceeded to get drunk for the first time in his life and killed a woman while driving home. He went to prison for four years and had been plotting his revenge since. Not surprising, the group finally survives but worry about being shot to death if they call the cops for rescue. So, they call the fire department, who then hit the group with high pressure fire hoses after they arrive. Tim Story, who directed the 2005 FANTASTIC FOUR with Jessica Alba and the two RIDE ALONG movies, was this film's director.

THE TRUE GAME OF DEATH (1979) - This film says that it stars Bruce Lee, and it features enough footage from THE WAY OF THE DRAGON, aka RETURN OF THE DRAGON, to perhaps justify that credit. However, the film stars a Bruce Lee lookalike that the IMDb says is Bruce Le, but I don't think so. After five minutes of footage of the actual Bruce Lee, the film cuts to newspaper headlines announcing Bruce Lee's death and then footage of the funeral. We are then introduced to the Bruce Lee lookalike who the narrator reports is an actor who wants to be Bruce Lee and we see him exercising for about five minutes. Then the lookalike is on a movie set performing a stunt. After the director wraps for the day, the lookalike and his American wife Alice (billed as Alice in the credits but reported by the IMDb as being Alice Meyer who appeared in a Swedish porno video in 1997) are accosted by a gangster who wants to manage the lookalike. Naturally, when the gangster orders his minions to force the lookalike, our hero beats them away. Eventually, the gangsters threaten Alice into giving the lookalike a drug, which they say will only cause the fellow to sleep for three days. After a rather explicit bed scene with Alice (scored with an instrumental version of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina), our hero goes to take a shower. A villain sneaks into the bedroom and forces Alice to give the drug to the lookalike at gunpoint. The word goes out that the lookalike is dead and Alice is devastated. A new servant becomes part of the household, and it is obvious that it is the lookalike using the same disguise Bruce Lee used in FIST OF FURY, aka the CHINESE CONNECTION. However, Alice doesn't see through the disguise until she confesses to the servant that she killed her husband at the behest of the gangster. The lookalike unmasks himself and says that he'll never forgive her. Tearfully, she drives away before her husband can think better of it and runs after her. The gangster's minions kidnap Alice, while the lookalike gets distracted by a student practicing his kung fu skills in front of teacher Wen-Tai Li. For no good reason, the lookalike spars with the student and beats him. A fellow student is passing by, see his classmate defeated and jumps into the fray, only to also be defeated. Teacher Li challenges our hero, and is also defeated. Was this added to the movie to increase the running time? Anyway, our hero finally figures out that the gangster has kidnapped his wife and sets out to rescue her. Reports about the content of Bruce Lee's unfinished last movie, GAME OF DEATH, had been widely reported, and so directors Tien-Tai Chen and "Steve" (whom the IMDb identifies as Steve Harries) do their version of our hero having to go up various levels and battle a variety of  foreign fighters. They didn't find someone to match Kareen Abdul Jabar's height, but the Black guy they got does a passable Muhammad Ali boxing dance. After our hero saves Alice, he orders to her to call the police. The lookalike is able to prevent the gangster from running away, but leaves him for the police to arrest. Aside from the audacity to fictionalize Bruce Lee's death, there is nothing to enjoy in this movie. The fighting instructor is credited as Kam Bo, which is a name that Sammo Hung sometime uses, but the acton here is too poor to be his doing. The IMDb reports that this Kam Bo is Bong Luk, a veteran director who was sometimes credited as Bong Lu, Bang Lu, Luk Pang, Pang Luk and Luk Bong.

VIGILANTE (1982) - Some accused DEATH WISH with Charles Bronson of being racist. Writer Richard Vetere and director William Lustig seem to go out of their way to make certain that their film doesn't get that rap by having the fellow espousing the need for vigilante justice played by Fred Williamson. Steve W. James is the good cop who appeals to those tired of having to put up with the street thugs saying that "the system" will take care of them. Naturally, James is blown to pieces in an ambush led by the leader of the street thugs. However, our main hero is Robert Forster whose wife is brutalized and his baby son killed by the thugs. Carol Lynley has one scene as the Assistant D.A. who isn't very helpful to the grieving husband. Joe Spinell has one scene where in he slips Judge Vincent Beck a bribe to give the evil suspect in the crime a suspended sentence. Forster is so incensed that he physically assaults Beck, for this he is sentence to jail time. Luckily, inmate Woody Strode knows Forster's case and will look after him. For those who want to see Forster's naked butt, there is a shower scene where Strode rescues our hero after a guard gives a pass to two low-life inmates who want to rape our hero. After Forster is back on the streets, his wife leaves him for a new life elsewhere. At first Forster isn't quite ready to join Williamson in being a vigilante. However, as he is driving out of town, he runs into the thug who brutalized his wife. This leads to a long car and foot chase in which our hero gets bloody justice. The film ends with Forster getting revenge of Judge Beck with a car bomb. Fans of crime films set in New York City will enjoy seeing Richard Bright of THE GODFATHER, former NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen of THE FRENCH CONNECTION, Alex Stevens of SUPERFLY and Ray Serra of WOLFEN appear.

                                                   

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Angel Rivera Enjoyed:

"HARLOW" (1965)

I first saw this film as a kid back in the sixties when I only had a B&W TV. TCM premiered the film on their cable channel , so I was finally able  to see it in all its full technicolor and wide screen glory. Having read enough about the real Jean Harlow, I realized that this was a highly fictionalized version of her life. Carroll Baker gives a fine performance as the original platinum blonde bombshell. In the cast are Angela Lansbury as her mother; Raf Vallone as her step-father; Red Buttons as her ever faithful agent; along with Leslie Nielsen; Peter Lawford as her ill fated husband, Paul Bern;and  Mike Connors (billed as Michael Connors);  Still well worth seeing.

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Charles Gilbert watched: 

LADY DRACULA (1976) Evelyn Kraft appears as the female vampire infected by Dracula (Stephen Boyd) in 1876 and brought to life again 100 years later. Police commisioner Brad Harris is smitten by her beauty as he investigates murders she commits. Herbert Fux, who was also in LADY FRANKENSTEIN, appears uncredited.

HORROR CASTLE (1963) Rosanna Podesta and Christopher Lee together in a tale set in a mansion where the museum introduces a menace from the Nazi regime.

NIGHT OF THE GHOUL (1975) Hammer legends Peter Cushing and Veronica Carlson star with a young John Hurt. A roadster race during the Roaring 20s leads two couples of young people to a gloomy mansion where lives a retired clergyman with a menacing secret in his attic. 

HOUSE OF THE VAMPIRE (2021) Short independent production is quite compelling. A female skeleton is discovered in the dank basement of a widower by his adult children.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed: 

Rawhide (1951, Henry Hathaway)

Alias Smith & Jones – episode 'A fistful of diamonds' (1971, Jeffrey Hayden)

Ihr verbechen war Liebe (1959, Geza Von Radvanyi)

De Hollywood à Tamanrasset (1989, Mahmoud Zemmouri)

Les barbouzes (1964, Georges Lautner)

No name on the bullet (1959, Jack Arnold)

Gideon's day (1958, John Ford)

Absolute value of romance (2025, Lee Tae-gon) – episodes 1 to 8

Mildly enjoyed:

Geunyeoui Sasaenghwal / Her private life (2018, Hong Jong-chan) – episode 16

Bowfinger (1999, Frank Oz)

Trial and error / The dock brief (1957, James Hill)

Danger man – episode 'View from the villa' (1960, Terry Bishop)

Did not enjoy:

Arsène Lupin – episode 'Une femme contre Arsène Lupin' (1970, Tony Flaadt)

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David Deal Enjoyed:

STUFFED (19) - Interesting documentary on taxidermists. I had no idea.

DEATH AND DIAMONDS (67) - See the Eurospy Guide.

WITCHCRAFT (64)

MARTY, LIFE IS SHORT (26) - Highly recommend this documentary on Martin Short.

ELEMENT OF CRIME (84) - This never fails to impress.

THE LIFE OF CHUCK (14) - The life of Chuck which affects all of us. Agreeable reflection on appreciating the seemingly small, yet important parts of a life.

ATOM AGE VAMPIRE (60) - From 2007: "This late-night favorite medical horror/Jekyll and Hyde concoction still holds up due to some good photography, a cool score, and the generally delirious ambience."

Mildly enjoyed:

HOUSE OF CARDS (68) - George Peppard uncovers a conspiracy led by Orson Welles to create a fascist new world order. Another glossy adventure set in exotic European locales that will not leave much of an impression. Director John Guillermin (The Blue Max) puts the cast through the paces including the beautiful but undoubtedly fragile Inger Stevens, whose character is the catalyst of the story. This is not a bad film - it has 60s style in spades - but it's not really worth a postcard home.

THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST (45)

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