To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Complete the English language line from and Italian Western: "Early to bed, early to rise ____ ____ _____ ______ ___ ____."
In A PISTOL FOR RINGO, our hero says, "Early to bed, early to rise, gets shot right between the eyes."
Which "black listed" American screenwriter is now considered a producer on two Westerns made in Spain?
No one has answered this question yet.
What character did Robert Woods originally play, but was replaced by David Bailey in the sequel?
Tom Betts, George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Gregor MacGregor.
Charles Gilbert asks, "Which sword and sandal film played in prime time on ABC Sunday Night Movie and was intended as a pilot for a TV show?"
George Grimes knew that it was Hercules And the Princess of Troy with Gordon Scott.
Which veteran of Italian Westerns made a movie in Spain with Willie Nelson?
Tom Betts knew in OUTLAW JUSTICE that Nelson appeared with Sancho Gracia, Simon Andreu and Aldo Sambrell. (Why the hell the IMDb has this listed as THE LONG KILL is a mystery.) Angel Rivera just went with Sancho Gracia. Bertrand van Wonterghem, George Grimes and Charles Gilbert just went with Aldo Sambrell.
And now for some new brain teasers:
By what name is Alberto Terracina better known?
Which Italian screenwriter, who worked on Westerns, was the subject of a movie based on his autobiography?
Which two Italian screenwriters, who worked on Westerns, were credited for the story on a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Name the movies from which these images came.
George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Alberto dell'Acqua in KILLER CALIBER .32.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's frame grab of Fernando Rey and Antonella Lualdi in ARRIVANO I TITANI, aka SONS OF THUNDER, aka MY SON THE HERO.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Grimes identified last week's picture of Tom Scott and Fred Harris in MING, RAGAZZI!, aka MR. HERCULES AGAINST KARATE.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Angel Rivera and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune in YOJIMBO.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
**********************************************************************
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:
She-Hulk Attorney At Law episode two (2022)
Enjoyed:
I Am Groot (2022) - This series of 6 minute shorts on Disney + got me to laugh out loud. 1) "Groot's First Steps", 2) "The Little Guy", 3) "Groot's Pursuit", 4) "Groot Takes A Bath", 5) "Magnum Opus".
IRON MAN (2008)
THOR (2011)
Mildly enjoyed:
IRON MAN 2 (2010)
The Flight Attendant season two (2022)
SAMSON AND DELILAH (1996) - A Lube production in association with Lux, Betafilm, Rai Uno and Turner, this two-part TV film is a German/Italian/United States co-production directed by the Englishman Nicholas Roeg. Fans of Roeg's earlier films probably won't notice any traces of his style here except in a few montage sequences. The storytelling in SAMSON AND DELILAH is mostly conventional, even using a narrator. This version of the Bible story is written by Allan Scott, Massimo De Rita and Simone De Rita, but Scott gets solo credit for the screenplay. It includes most of the bits from the story, but the order has been rearranged. The writers also add a subplot whereby some young Israelites try to goad Samson into leading a rebellion. These guys eventually attack the Philistines with a ragtag Army which is easily slaughtered. As usual, the writers feel the need to embellish the character of Delilah making her a cousin to the Philistine King and a "loose woman" hanging around the court. Samson sees her threatened by a lion and that's why he kills the beast, but doesn't introduce himself after the deed. Later on, that is the lion in which he finds the bee's honeycomb, from which we see him take a bite. It is explained later that Samson shows a taste for the "forbidden flesh" of Philistine women, which inspires the Philistine General to set Delilah on him. Perhaps the most effective element of this new version is the dramatization of Samson's marriage. How he is shown to be welcomed into the home of a Philistine family and how the woman he loves is forced by a representative of the King to betray Samson is the most affecting section of the film. Debora Caprioglio plays the role and will break your heart. Elizabeth Hurley plays Deliliah and is delectable in the role. While the film doesn't quite establish the "good girl" "bad girl" choice the 1949 film does, Jale Arikan is effective as the Jewish woman who loves Samson and who keeps trying to guide him in his actions. While the 1949 film avoided any mention of the hero's Jewishness, this version even includes his "bris" as a baby and much discussion of the Israelites as God's people. Interestingly, the narrator explains that the Philistines overpowered the Israelites because they had discovered the secret of Iron while the Jews still fought with Bronze swords. Dennis Hopper plays the Philistine General, who is written in the manner of the French Lieutenant-Colonel in LA BATTAGLIA DI ALGERI - he does his duty but soon realizes that Philistine control won't stand. When Samson tears off the gate of Gaza, Hopper is in the Temple and sees it shake, and so has a premonition of how the story will end. Eric Thal is not like the celebrated bodybuilders known as "Hercules actors", so there are few "beefcake" shots of him. But he brings conviction to the role of Samson, who even gets to show himself as a wise judge for awhile. Other members of the splendid cast include Diana Rigg as Samson's mother, Michael Gambon as the Philistine King, Daniel Massey as the Jewish religious leader and Paul Freeman as Samson's father. Marco Frisina is credited with the music for this show, but Ennio Morricone is credited with the "end title music". Filmed in Morocco, SAMSON AND DELILAH (1996) is particularly effective in presenting these characters as people of the desert with a wealth of physical detail not even hinted at in other versions.
Did not enjoy:
THE FIRST TIME (1969) - What young man in 1969 didn't want to have sex with Jacqueline Bisset? That was the selling point for this movie which I never got around to watching when it was in theaters. Wes Stern, Rick Kelman and Wink Roberts are having no luck in getting girlfriends, so when one hears about a bordello across the border in Canada, they cross the border at Niagara Falls in search of it. They don't find it, but mistake Bisset as a prostitute because they see her using a phone in a bar. Being a British citizen, she asks the three American boys for help in crossing the border into the U.S. After a lot of touristy sight-seeing around the Falls, they all end up in a hotel, which Bisset agrees to in order to get some sleep. The three boys think that now is the moment, and agree, one by one, to visit the sleeping woman in the room. Roberts doesn't want to wake her up. Kelman confesses that he's promised to wait until he is married. When Stern approaches the room, he overhears Bisset get the phone call from her married lover saying that he doesn't want to see her and that the affair is over. Thinking that she serviced his two friends, Stern whines about her not wanting to have sex with him. Bisset takes him to bed to reassure him that there's nothing wrong with him. In the end, Stern accompanies her back to the border where he suddenly realizes that she isn't a prostitute. Ann-Margaret's husband, Roger Smith produced this flick with his wife's manager, Allan Carr, and veteran James Neilson directed. Not surprising, the climatic bed scene is rather chaste and tasteful. Sharon Acker of POINT BLANK (1967) makes a sexy but brief appearance as the potential new wife for Stern's father.
LIONS LOVE aka LIONS LOVE (...AND LIES) (1969) - I can't find out when "...AND LIES" was added to the title but perhaps it was done after writer/director Agnes Varda re-watched this "experimental" flick and recognized how phony it was. Using an Andy Warhol "superstar", Viva, and the co-writers and stars of the Broadway show HAIR, James Rado and Gerome Ragni, as well as the director of the 1961 movie version of Jack Gelber's play THE CONNECTION, Shirley Clarke, Varda seemed to have desired to make an "underground" New York City movie in Hollywood. This is the kind of movie which could inspire home movie makers to think that they too could do that if they had a professional crew with which to work. The film starts with a production of "The Beard" by San Francisco-based poet Michael McClure, in which Richard Bright bites Billie Dixon's foot on stage. Viva, Rado and Ragni walk into the small theater during the production, and proceed to divert the audience's attention from the stage as they try to find seats. There's a rumor that Jim Morrison was in the audience for this scene, but I couldn't find him. The film then cuts to the movie's soundman checking his recording equipment in the living room of the house in which most of the movie takes place. After flashing lights give us the title LIONS LOVE LIONS LOVE LIONS LOVE (by MAMA LION - added from a bar sign) with a narrator speaking the words, we hear the film crew telling the three "stars" that the camera is rolling we then get a seemingly endless scene of the trio spouting dribble. As a man says, "Can we be actors and be real?", we get a rolling credit list: "THESE STARS ARE VIVA JIM RADO JERRY RAGNI CO-STARRING SHIRLEY CLARK CARLOS CLARENS EDDIE CONSTANTINE MAX LAEMMLE STEVE KENIS HAL LANDERS SOME KIDS AND A TELEVISION SET IN A FILM PRESENTED BY MAX L RABB PRODUCED WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY AGNES VARDA THE PLAY THE BEARD BY MICHAEL McCLURE STAGED BY RIP TORN PLAYED BY BILLIE DIXON RICHARD BRIGHT AND MANNEQUINS CAMERA STEVE LARNER LEE ALEXANDER WILLIAM WEAVER RUSTY ROLAND SOUND GEORGE ALCH AND Y BABBISH GEORGE PORTER EDITING ROBERT DALVA CAROLYN HICKS PRODUCTION JACQUES TROIS LYNN LITTMAN JOHN JOHN MUSIC JOSEPH BRYD LAB CFI (copyright) 1969 BY MAX L RABB PRODS INC LIONS LOVE BY AGNES VARDA". Near the end of the film, Viva tells the camera that she agreed to do the movie partly because she was expecting to have a script with lines to memorize and not to have to improvise her dialogue. Well, improvise she does, with occasional off-camera direction by Varda. We get pages of a calendar showing us that the film starts on June 2, 1968. While the trio blabber while hanging out naked in a swimming pool, a kind of a plot shows up with Shirley Clarke arriving at LAX and being met by Carlos Clarens. Clarke is staying with Viva while she takes meetings with Hollywood producers about financing her new film. The trio perform nonsense for Clarke, until the film cuts away to young people on the Sunset Strip and on a beach are being corralled by police men. On June 3, the trio play nonsense games with telephones before being joined by Clarke for coffee. Later Clarens sits with Clarke at a cafe at Sunset and Palm, before Tower Records opened across the street. Clarens tells Clarke about local artist Rick Harold, who is shown doing an awkward dance towards the camera. The trio joins Clarens and Clarke at the cafe before the film cuts to a scene supposedly of Hollywood "suits" discussing financing Clarke's movie. We next see the trio eating in front of a large picture window. Later, Clarke joins the trio to watch LOST HORIZON on TV. When the TV changes to footage of Robert Kennedy on the campaign trail, Viva says that "in a sea of ugliness, a good looking politician is not to be sneezed at." On June 4, some kids show up and convince Viva that taking care of kids is hard. She pours some Dr. Pepper into a baby bottle for a little boy while the TV shows a program on "The Pot Problem". Telling the children that sleeping pills are candy, the trio use the peace to read from three different books about saints while in the garden. Back with the "suits", we see the producers refuse to give Clarke "final cut". Alone in the house, Clarke fantasizes about making a movie featuring the trio naked, but carefully avoids showing their genitalia. Clarke then tells Varda behind the camera that she's not an actress and can't play the attempted suicide scene Varda wants. So Varda takes her place on the bed and plays the scene, until Clarke relents and does the scene. On June 5, the trio return from being out all night at a party. They turn on the TV to see the news about the Robert Kennedy assassination. The trio are awakened from sleeping by a phone call from New York announcing that Andy Warhol has been shot. Eventually, they notice Clarke in bed with an empty bottle of sleeping pills and Viva telephones the police. On June 6, there's more TV coverage of the Kennedy assassination. The trio sits again in front of the picture window eating. Ragni turns to the camera and explains that this is not a TV dinner, but a "landscape" dinner because that's what they are watching. He reminds the viewer that they are also watching a landscape, but brags that he's in a movie and you're not. Suddenly, Eddie Constantine rings the doorbell to the house and passionately kisses Viva after she opens the door. She tells him that she's living with two fantastic boys so he walks away. In a second take, Viva explains that she can't start all over again with Eddie. Rado and Ragni come to the door and Eddie leaves. There is a montage of newspaper headlines for June 7 involving the death of Robert Kennedy, the shooting of Andy Warhol and the casting of Omar Sharif to play CHE. That same article also mentions that Tom Fielding will appear in Jacques Demy's THE MODEL SHOP. On June 8, the trio decide to clean up the house while the Kennedy funeral is playing on TV. On June 9, Clarke is out of the hospital and back in Viva's house. Clarens visits and Clarke says that the suicide attempt was silly. An off-camera voice mentions that it is even more silly when Varda plays the scene. Clarens opinions that Clarke should have made her movie about Hollywood in New York, and when she counters that "this is the actual physical place", Clarens pontificates about how "there was never such a place as Hollywood anyway." There is a fun montage of various Hollywood images, including the movie studios in 1968. This leads to a scene inside Larry Edmund's Bookshop, and a quick shot outside the store as Peter Bogdanovich can be seen leaving holding up his book on John Ford for the camera. This is at the book store's old location, also seen in ALEX IN WONDERLAND, before it moved about a block east. The trio performs the same scene we saw at the beginning from "The Beard" in the empty swimming pool before the group of pot smoking children. Finally, each of the trio does a monologue to the camera, ending with Viva saying that she's so sick of doing monologues, that she'd like to just breathe. Off camera, we hear Varda tell the crew to just let the film run-out on Viva just breathing.
Hongaraka ni ayume, aka WALK CHEERFULLY (1930) - For his tenth silent feature film, director Yasujiro Ozu made a rather conventional melodrama about a gangster who wants to impress a young woman by leaving his criminal life. Naturally, it isn't so simple to accomplish. But he proves his sincerity, so she celebrates his release from prison in the end.
******************************************************************
Charles Gilbert watched:
THE LAND UNKNOWN (1957) B&W. First film I saw at a theater in the 50's. I was too young to critique the laughable dinosaur effects.
KITTEN WITH A WHIP (1964) B&W. A teen runaway (Ann-Margret) imposes herself upon political candidate David Stratton (John Forsythe) in his home while wife (Audry Dalton) is out of town. Her persistence leads him to begin concealing their relationship that turns violent when she invites some wild friends over to terrorize the harried victim. Gets the MST3K treatment.
******************************************************************
David Deal Enjoyed:
A DREAM COME TRUE (63) - Aliens contact Earth and we launch a ship to meet them on Mars. Will they be friendly? Russian science fiction film with outstanding design. It was purchased by Roger Corman and footage from it was used in Curtis Harrington's Queen of Blood. That makes it worth seeing right there.
FRANKENSTEIN (31)
FLY-BY-NIGHT (42) - Dr. Richard Carlson gets mixed up with spies looking for a secret formula. He becomes entangled with professional artist Nancy Kelly as they outsmart dumb cops and outwit the Axis spies. Robert Siodmak's comic adventure is breezy and interesting as it unravels.
NATALIE WOOD (20) - Excellent documentary put together by Natalie's daughter.
IN THE DUST OF THE STARS (76)
THE MUMMY (32)
Mildly enjoyed:
YOUNG FURY (64) - Gunslinger Rory Calhoun comes back to town after doing time. His old gang is coming to get him for squealing on them and another gang of hooligans led by his son is also in town to cause trouble. Another modest AC Lyles western directed by Christian Nyby. Not great but it's fun to see all the old timers like Richard Arlen, Lon Chaney, Virginia Mayo, John Agar, and even William Bendix in a cameo.
ESCAPE (71) - Dashing escape artist/private eye Christopher George is hired by murder suspect William Windom to help him in the event of his kidnapping. Turns out Windom created a dangerous living organism and he destroyed his lab out of fear of it. His brother, John Vernon, was supposedly killed in the lab but now he's back and wants to finish the experiment. Weak made-for-TV pilot that didn't make the cut but survives as time capsule anyway. Deep cast of cameos.
EYE OF THE CAT (69) - Ailurophobe Michael Sarrazin is lured into a plot to do away with his cat-lover aunt Eleanor Parker by her hairdresser Gayle Hunnicutt. Of course, things do not go to plan in this Leslie Stevens-produced, Joseph Stefano-scripted twisty thriller directed by TV specialist David Lowell Rich. Some good cat wrangling and supernatural undertones are the highlights of this tepid entry.
THE MAN WITH THE GLASS EYE (68)
THE FROZEN DEAD (66)
******************************************************************
Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
Les Tuche 4 (2021, Olivier Baroux)
Derry girls – season 3 – episode 3
I am Groot – season 1 – episodes 4 & 5
The sandman – episodes 9 & 10
La flamme – season 1
Il consigliori (1973, Alberto de Martino)
The singing detective (2003, Keith Gordon)
Mildly enjoyed:
Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Kanketsu-hen - Fukushusha Scar / Full metal alchemist : the revenge of Scar (2021, Fumihiko Sori)
Young Sheldon – season 3 – episodes 2 to 4
Le flambeau – season 1 – episode 1
Did not enjoy:
La morte ha fatto l’uovo ( 1968, Giulio Questi)
******************************************************************
Angel Rivera Watched and Enjoyed:
Because it was the 45th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, the HDNet cable channel was showing several of his films.
I watched "Fun in Acapulco"(1963) which is among my favorites and "Roustabout"(1964) another one of my favorites which features one of my favorite Elvis songs, "Big Love, Big Heartache".
The plot of the first one features Elvis as the member of a trapeze artist family act who holds himself responsible for the death of his brother killed in a trapeze accident. Elvis is in Acapulco trying to get himself together. His costars are: Ursula Andress, fresh off of making "Dr. No"; Mexican actress Elsa Cardenas and Argentinian- born actor Alejandro Rey, best known for his role playing opposite, Sally Field in the sitcom, "The Flying Nun".
The plot of the other has Elvis as a motorcycle riding traveling singer who hooks up with a traveling carnival show after falling for the boss's daughter.
Here he uses some of his karate moves against some locals who pick a fight with him. His costars this time are: Leif Erickson and Barbara Stanwyck as the owners of the carnival and as the daughter of Leif Erickson, Joan Freeman, best known for her roles in "The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze"(1963) and "The Reluctant Astronaut"(1967).
I continued to watch some Raquel Welch movies shown on TCM, on her features day such as: "The Biggest Bundle of Them All"(1968) in which she got top billing. Here she plays the girlfriend of Robert Wagner who along with Godfrey Cambridge and two other lesser known international stars hold up an aging Mafioso played by Vittorio De Sica". When they discover that De Sica has no money and has been forgotten by his old cronies, De Sica decides to instruct Welch's and Wagner's crew in "pulling off a heist". Along as the mastermind of "the heist" is Edward G. Robinson who always worked with De Sica in "pulling off capers". Welch shows off a lot of skin in bikinis and revealing "mod" outfits and is wonderful in a comedic fashion as Wagner's girl with a brain and a heart.
The other feature was "Fuzz" a 1972 film in which she plays a female police officer. The film does try to show how women police officers get some mistreatment from their fellow male officers, but it does not go into this too much as it is supposed to be in good fun. Besides her character seems to hold her own with all the "razzing" from her fellow officers. Welch gets billing after the male leads: Burt Reynolds (with whom she costarred in"100 Rifles"(1969), Jack Weston, Tom Skerritt,and Yul Brynner.
Also as TCM then had a Toshiro Mifune Day. I watched possibly the greatest adventure film of all time, "The Seven Samurai"(1954) and then one of the best crossover team-ups in Japanese history "Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo"(1970). I also watched what is known as "The Samurai Trilogy"(1954-1956).
On YouTube I found a short video about "8 Vintage Female Warrior Movies for Sword and Sorcery Fans".
With the exception of two, all the films were made in the eighties trying to cash in on the success of "Conan, the Barbarian"(1982). All the films belong to a sub-genre of female warrior movies. Here scantily clad women with perfect physiques did the battling usually reserved for their male counterparts.
The films were: "Barbarian Queen"(1985) which starred the late Lana Clarkson who died in record producer Phil Spector's mansion and for which he was convicted of murdering her. Spector later died in prison.
"Hundra"(1983) which starred Laurene Landon who had previously portrayed Mike Hammer's secretary Velda in the 1982 film based on Mickey Spillane's novel, "I, the Jury";
"War Goddess"(1973) a film directed by Terence Young and featuring Luciana Paluzzi;
"The Arena" a 1974 film starring Pam Grier and her "Black Mama, White Mama"(1973) costar, Margaret Markov;
"Red Sonja" the 1985 film which was actually based on a character created by Conan creator, Robert E. Howard and starring Sylvester Stallone's then wife, Brigitte Nielsen.
"Sheena" (1984) which starred the late, and one time "Charlie's Angels" star, Tanya Roberts;
"The Lost Empire" a 1984 film directed by Jim Wynorski; and
"Sorceress" a 1982 film which starred twins, Leigh and Lynette Harris who also played murder victims in 1982's "I, the Jury".
I, then sought out the films on YouTube and first found "Barbarian Queen"(1985) which features a topless Lana Clarkson strapped to a vertical table wearing only a thong in between scenes of her battling and killing bad guys with her sword.
Then I found "Hundra"(1983) which also features a nude Laurene Landon in one scene and scenes of her using a sword to take out bad guys.
I also saw "Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman"(1971) a crossover between Japan's blind swordsman and Hong Kong's popular disabled swordsman.
******************************************************************
