Week of February 19 - 25, 2022

 

 

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

Brain Teasers:

What reason did Frank Wolff give for accepting the role in UN DOLLARO TRA I DENTI?

No one has answered this question yet.

How many Westerns did Jim Brown make in Almeria, Spain?

George Grimes and Angel Rivera knew that there were two: 100 RIFLES and EL CONDOR. He also made TAKE A HARD RIDE in the Canary Islands.

How many Westerns did Jolly Films make with Clint Eastwood?

George Grimes and Angel Rivera knew that it was one. He did three with director Sergio Leone, but Alberto Grimaldi and P.E.A. made FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY.

How many Westerns had music by Dan Savio?

George Grimes knew that it was three. For some unknown reason, when Morricone worked for producers Arrigo Colombo and Giorgio Papi at Jolly Films he was billed as Dan Savio on  DUELLO NEL TEXAS, LE PISTOLE NON DISCUTONO, and PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI, 

And now for some new brain teasers:

How many Westerns had music by Leo Nichols?

How many Italian Westerns had contributions by Albert Band?

Why did Robert Woods not appear in 7 DONNE PER I MACGREGOR ?

Name the movies from which these images came.

George Grimes, Bertrand van Wonterghem, Rick Garibaldi, and Angel Rivera identified last week's frame grab of Gordon Mitchell in NATO PER UCCIDERE, aka BORN TO KILL.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem, Charles Gilbert and John Black, identified last week's frame grab of Jacques Bergerac in L'IRA DI ACHILLE, aka THE FURY OF ACHILLES.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's frame grab from CONTAMINATION, aka ALIEN CONTAMINATION.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's frame grab from BLIND WOMAN'S CURSE.

Above is a new 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:

Highly enjoyed: 

JANE FONDA IN FIVE ACTS (2018) - Though he's seen in one still, there is no mention of Donald Sutherland or FTA.

Enjoyed: 

Rome season two (2006)

Mildly enjoyed:

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "John Leguizamo and Lena Waithe" (2022)

Only Murders In the Building (2021)

OSCAR MICHEAUX: THE SUPERHERO OF BLACK FILMMAKING (2021) - It would have been interesting if writer/director Francesco Zippel talked about the other 

African American filmmakers working before and at the same time as Micheaux to perhaps illustrate what made Micheaux special. Why is Micheaux more important than Richard Kahn? Or Noble Johnson and George Perry Johnson?

WITHIN OUR GATES (1920)

THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED (1920)

Did not enjoy:

WRONG WAY (1972) - Comparing this to director Wes Craven's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (also 1972), director Ray William's film is bad in every way. Though at least these incompetent cops foil the kidnapping scheme of the third set of bad guys needed to bring this flick over the 70 minute running time. Few people who worked on this movie have any other credits on the IMDb, which is a good thing. Laurel Canyon and Candy Sweet seek help for a broken down car in the country from some weed dealers, who surprisingly decide to rape them. Three bikers think this is a "bad scene", don't join in and leave. Candy's father calls the police asking them to find his missing daughter, and two lunkheads eat up a lot of the film's running time driving around country roads. Finished, the weed dealers leave the two young women, who decide to wander off the road to seek help, so that when the police stumble upon the crime scene, the victims are nowhere to be found. The young women stumble upon a Manson-like cult that is about to bury a dead body, so more rape and attempted murder is in store. Meanwhile, in a cabin, two guys unrelated to the dealers or the cultists, rape a kidnapped woman. A different set of cops stumble upon the cultists and save the two young women. The original two cops are called to check out the cabin. They kill, and are possibly killed, in a gunfight with the kidnappers, but the woman is rescued. The unseen dispatcher on the radio remarks on what a day it has been. Someone was able to get footage of a helicopter which gives the film some added production value.

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David Deal Enjoyed:

BOTTLE ROCKET (96)

THE NIGHT STALKER (72)

SPY TODAY, DIE TOMORROW (67)

DUNE (21)

WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES (62)

Mildly Enjoyed

AUTUMN LEAVES (56) - Spinster Joan Crawford embarks on a whirlwind marriage with younger Cliff Robertson who turns out to be seriously mentally ill. Pretty dark stuff from director Robert Aldrich but the resolution doesn't quite ring true.

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Angel Rivera Watched:

I watched two documentary series.

The first three parts of "Let's Talk About Bill Cosby". The series tells about how Cosby did so much for the African-American community before his penchant for drugging women and having sex with them without their consent became known. Things like the hiring of black stuntmen; improving the image of the African-American family among other things. Part four airing this Sunday on Showtime will tell about his fall from grace. The series also shows how those in the black community feel about what he did and what has become known of his clandestine activities.

Another documentary series which is close to the above is the A & E series, " Secrets of Playboy" episodes 1-5. After seeing "Star 80"(1983) where Bob Fosse and Cliff Robertson present Hefner as the world's number one pimp, seeing this series makes one even more disgusted by what he got away with. Especially when his ex-girl friend, Sondra Theodore, one time playmate of the year tells of her years of abuse at his hands: such as being manipulated into having sex with different women and men while Hefner watched and snorted cocaine. Also how assaults against Playboy bunnies were covered up to keep the Playboy brand from scandal. Bill Cosby also shows up in this series as he was a frequent guest at the Playboy mansion. The next episode will be airing on A & E this Monday.

Movies I watched were: "Samson and the Slave Queen"(1963) where Maciste was changed to Samson for American consumption and Zorro was changed  to El Toro.

"Behind the Mask of Zorro"(1965) which gave Tony Russell aka Tony Russel (nee Tony Russo) his turn at playing Zorro. He claimed he was up for the role of Disney's Zorro, but lost out to Guy Williams who he claimed in an interview was not as good a fencer as he. Here Russell with a little grey at his temple looks better than when he played a Zorro imposter on the Disney show; so it was probably better that he did not get the role then. As for the movie it is only mildly entertaining. He did better in the Gamma One Films he made.

One other film I watched, which I catch every time I see it is on is "L. A. Confidential"; probably the best neo-noir film ever made.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:

Mine de rien (2018 Mathias Mlekuz)

Gintama (anime) episodes 27 & 28

Enjoyed:

Loki – season 1 – episodes 5 & 6

A series of unfortunate events - season 2 – episode 10 / season 3 – episodes 1 to 4

Nobody (2021, Ilya Naishuller)

The last son (2020, Tim Sutton

Mildly enjoyed:

Bulgasal, immortal souls – season 1 – episodes 5 & 6

Voodoo island (1957, Reginald le Borg)

Murderville – season 1 – episodes 1 & 2

The twilight people (1973, Eddie Romero)

Fort Dobbs (1958, Gordon Douglas)

Last looks (2021, Tim Kirby)

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Charles Gilbert watched:

SWORN TO VENGEANCE (1993) TV movie based on a true incident has police sergeant Jack Stewart (Robert Conrad) discovering in the woods the bodies of three teens slaughtered with a knife. He wants the case but a fellow officer (Tom Atkins) resents the grandstanding. Clues come mainly from a vision of a woman (Sharon Farrell) who claims she is otherwise  not a psychic. Peter Breck plays the chief of police.  Conrad and Farrell worked together years earlier in an episode of The Wild, Wild West 'Night of the Amnesiac'.

BLACKENSTEIN (1973) Mild mannered Doctor Stein (John Hart) gets a request from one of his former pupils to help her boyfriend, a quadruplegic of the Viet Nam war, to restore his limbs. The vet experiences deleterious results from the medical procedure transforming into a grunting killer. In the end the doberman's from the L.A. police canine unit have him for lunch. Atmospheric but with budgeted Strickfadian effects in a nondescript lab. 

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