To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Which Italian Western has the last line in the English version: "Exactly!"?
No one has answered this one.
Who did Richard Harrison say actually directed I SETTE GLADIATORI, which was credited to Pedro Lazaga?
No one has answered this question yet.
Who did Richard Harrison say actually directed REVERENDO COLT, which was credited to Leon Klimovsky?
Bertrand van Wonderghem and Angel Rivera knew that it was Marino Girolami.
In which Italian Western did Richard Harrison play a clergy man?
Bertrand van Wonderghem knew that it was ANCHE NEL WEST C'ERA UNA VOLTA DIO, aka BETWEEN GOD, THE DEVIL AND A WINCHESTER.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which actor in the 1971 movie FIDDLER ON THE ROOF made an Italian Western?
Which Italian director used the name Calvin Jackson Padget?
By what name is Robin McDavid better known?
Name the movies from which these images came.
Rick Garibaldi and Bertrand van Wonderghem identified last week's photo of Giuliano Gemma and Nazzareno Zamperla in UN DOLLARO BUCCATO, aka ONE SILVER DOLLAR, aka BLOOD ON A SILVER DOLLAR.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonderghem identified last week's frame grab of Nazzareno Zamperla in I SETTE GLADIATORI, aka GLADIATORS SEVEN.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonderghem identified last week's photo of Nello Pazzafini and Bud Spencer in BANANA JOE.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
No one has identified the 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:
Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of WandaVision (2021)
The Making of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)
The Making of Loki (2021)
The Making of BLACK WIDOW (2021)
The Making of SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
The Making of THOR LOVE AND THUNDER (2022)
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS (2004) - David and Kathy Rose had the idea to make a movie about London's Windmill Theater - a theater that opened before World War 2, and became the only theater still open during the Nazi Blitz because most of it was underground. Getting the rights to theater manager Vivian Van Damm's memoir TONIGHT AND EVERY NIGHT as well as his daughter's book WE NEVER CLOSED by Sheila Van Damm, the filmmakers fashioned a rich historical comedy starring Judi Dench as a wealthy old widow wondering what to do after her husband died. She decided to buy an old ruined theater and then set about finding someone to run it. Enter the character played by Bob Hoskins, who thought it was time for England to have a 24 hour a day vaudeville venue. "Although many of the events referred to in this film are broadly based on events which actually took place, the depictions of all events and of the characters involved have been fictionalized and therefore are not to be viewed as factually accurate." When other theater companies picked up the idea and profits started to dwindle at the Windmill, Dench suggested that they should feature naked women on stage. They eventually got a license to do that as long as the nude women were only seen in tableau, like an artistic painting. Towards the end of the film, sentimental melodrama takes over from the comedy, but strong performances maintain viewer interest. Dench and Hoskins were as delightful as expected, but Christopher Guest was astonishing as the stuffy Lord Chamberlain who had to be charmed into granting the license for nude woman on the stage. Kelly Reilly, recently on Yellowstone, was quite fetching as the young woman with "English nipples". Also in the cast was Toby Jones, who recently had a reoccurring role in the MCU, and director Waris Hussein in a small bit. Martin Sherman was credited with the screenplay while Stephen Frears directed.
Mildly enjoyed:
A CHORUS LINE (1985) - In 1975, theater director Michael Bennett conceived and created a thrilling Broadway show based on the idea that every member of an anonymous chorus line had a life story to tell. It was so successful, that an effort to turn it into a movie began. Almost ten years later, film director Richard Attenborough made an attempt and the result was poor. While the show was about the lives of dancers desperate to get another job, the movie became about the choreographer trying to pick "4 and 4" out of the hundreds who audition while dealing with the return of a former lover, and star dancer, who wants a job - even if it is in the chorus line. Much of the material from the show was dropped, and the song "What I Did For Love" was changed from a dancer contemplating life after not being able to dance anymore, to a woman leaving her choreographer/lover as a way to save their romance. The only fun in watching this again reminded me about how lovely Janet Jones was.
Classic Albums "Phil Collins Face Value" (1999)
DEADHEADS (2011) - I don't feel that I've really seen this film because I caught it on the THiS channel which removed all of the bad language and most of the gore, but what I saw I found surprisingly fun and engaging. Michael McKiddy climbs out of a body bag and finds himself in something of a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD situation. While zombies all around him are flesh eaters, he isn't, and he doesn't yet realize that he's also a zombie - but one that walks and talks like a normal human. Ross Kidder bumps into him and he's another of the living dead that walks and talks like a normal human - but he has acquired a taste for human flesh. Seeing a newspaper, McKiddy realizes that he has been dead for three years and he still has the engagement ring in his pocket that he was about to give to Natalie Victoria. Dispite the chaos surrounding them, McKiddy vows to deliver the ring to Victoria, and Kidder decides to come along and promises to stop eating people. Kidder also brings along Markus Taylor, a flesh eating zombie that Kidder trains like a dog. At first Thomas Galasso (now Sebastian Galasso) seems to be a substitute for Duane Jones from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, but it turns out that he's a convict who has volunteered to help contain a mysterious military experiment that has gone wrong. So the zombie thing is only happening in a small area, and when our heroes break the quarantine - with the help of Harry Burkey, Galasso - along with Bejamin Webster and Greg Dow - is sent to get them. Billed as "The Pierce Brothers", Brett and Drew T. Pierce were inspired to write and direct this movie by the original THE EVIL DEAD, clips from which are seen at a Drive-In Theater. The Pierce Brothers' father, Bart Pierce, worked on the 1981 film as a special effects artist. There are many bits on which to quibble about in this film, but it was engaging enough to prevent me from wanting to fast-forward to solve the mystery of McKiddy's death.
FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK (2021) - It is a hoot to see Alice Bag and Kathy Vallentine participate in this celebration of the first all woman rock band signed to a major U.S. record label. Aside from their place in history, Fanny means little to me because they never produced a song that I found memorable.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (2004)
Did not enjoy:
AHOCKALYPSE (2018) - It was nearly impossible to watch this on the THiS channel as all of the edits for gore rendered it nearly incomprehensible. However, what was left convinced me that I need not bother trying to find a less censored copy. You might think that a movie about a hockey team fighting off flesh-eating zombies would have been made in Canada, but this movie came from Minnesota. And the real story isn't about surviving zombie attacks - it about team captain Jesse Rennicke's desire to marry bitchy Kaylee Williams. In the end, after Williams has become a zombie, she, unlike all of the other zombies, still wants Rennicke to propose. Luckily, the attractive older woman - who is still alive, Gabrielle Arrowsmith, comes to the rescue. I guess Kelly Chase and Barry Melrose are actual hockey celebrities as they play themselves in this unfunny comedy co-written and directed by Wayne Harry Johnson Jr.
OATH OF VENGEANCE (1944) - PRC billed Buster Crabbe as "King of the Wild West". It would have been more accurate to call him "King of the sped up fistfights". This was the 21st of the 36 "Billy the Kid" series, during which Crabbe was renamed Billy Carson on his horse Falcon. After losing a wrestling match with a calf, sidekick Al (Fuzzy) St. John quits the cattle business to run a general store, in which Marin Sais runs a post office. Crabbe comes to visit, and soon discovers that local rancher Mady Lawrence is convinced that the newly arrived "Nesters" have been rustling her cattle. After a series of sped-up fistfights, Crabbe uncovers that Jack Ingram is the real rustler - who has been stealing the cattle and then selling them back to Lawrence. Accused "Nester" Karl Hackett is willing to be jailed to await a trial, but Ingram sends Charles King to break him out of the lock-up and hide him away inorder to start a shooting war. Of course, after more sped up riding and punching, Crabbe sets everything straight. By this time, Sais decides that St. John is husband material, so Fuzzy hightails it out of town just as Crabbe is getting an apology from Lawrence.
O.K. CONNERY, aka OPERATION KID BROTHER, aka OPERATION DOUBLE 007 (1967) - With absolutely no plot momentum, O.K. CONNERY is a drag to sit through. There are four screenwriters credited, but no one bothered to figure out a story that made sense or a way to tell it with mounting tension or interest. The main focus seems to be how to make as many references to the James Bond movies starring Sean Connery as possible. Towards that end, the filmmakers can be thanked for giving Lois Maxwell and Bernard Lee more to do than they usually get to do. However, the main gag of the movie is that they got Sean's younger brother Neil for their star, playing a character named "Neil Connery"; the brother of their best agent. Instead of a plasterer as he was in real life, Neil is a plastic surgeon here with the ability to wield the "ancient Tibetan process defined as The Hypnotic Process of Total Recall". This ends up coming in handy when attacked, as he can Dracula-like instantly hypnotize his assialiant to change targets. The only fun to be had with this film is in picking out all of the references to the James Bond movies; THUNDERBALL's villain Adolfo Celi plots to take over as "Alpha" from Anthony Dawson, who played the man stroking the white cat as the head of SPECTRE in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and THUNDERBALL. Here we get to see his face, but he's got no feline. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE's Daniela Bianchi plays a kind-of Pussy Galore in this film, leading an all female crew piloting a yacht. At first I thought that the villains in these movies were more forward thinking than mainstream society, until the villain plots to kill off all of the women with his all male subordinates. While there are no belly dancers under this film's opening credits as in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, Celi watches a film of a belly dancer projected on the back of a topless woman as he gets a massage. Naturally, as the film was produced by Dario Sabatello, wife Agatha Flori is the first woman you see as the movie begins. As with the MacGregor Westerns he produced, Sabatello hired Ennio Morricone to do the music, this time sharing composer credit with Bruno Nicolai. Khristy is brought in to sing the title song, but, unfortunately, the music score is so pervasive that it becomes as irritatingly dull as the rest of the movie. Director Alberto De Martino got a better result with MISSIONE SPECIALE LADY CHAPLIN, also co-starring Daniela Bianchi. Ana Maria Noe should be mentioned for doing a pretty good impersonation of Lotte Lenya as a character named "Lotte". Actress Yachuco Yama, aka Yee-Wah Yang, had a small role in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and also gets more to do in this film.
SUGAR COLT (1966) - This movie plays like the filmmakers went into production without a finished script and then couldn't quite figure out how to put it together. Or the filmmakers tried to rescue the film in the editing room and ended up losing any logic the script originally had. In any case, it is hard to believe that this was the second film directed by Franco Girladi since his first, SETTE PISTOLE PER I MACGREGOR, was so good. Unlike that film, SUGAR COLT never finds a balance between the humor and the deadly action. The idea of a secret agent in the wild west isn't unworkable; after all The Wild Wild West began its successful run on U.S. television in 1965. But an agent calling himself "Sugar Colt" wouldn't sound cool to anyone who speaks English as a first language. A film with that idea would have to create a special atmosphere for that not to sound stupid, and this film doesn't achieve that. Our hero arriving in Snake Valley undercover as a traveling doctor named Tom Cooper would seem to be the proper beginning to the film, especially considering the bouncy theme song created by Luis Bacalov and Ennio Morricone. Having that occur after an opening sequence where in a mass of soldiers are buried under an avalanche, and then a scene in which our hero's uncle is murdered in the streets, bouncy music is a jarring change of tone. And the plot in which an evil rancher, possibly a former Confederate Colonel (though it is never stated as such), "disappears" a regiment of Union soldiers in order to secretly hold each of them for a $10,000.00 ransom from their families seems incredibly unworkable. In the preview for this film, Hunt Powers is billed as the latest discovery from the famed Actor's Studio. Of course, Powers real name is Jack Betts and this was his first feature film after six years of television work. The female lead is Soledad Miranda, who is sometimes costumed in a tight red dress which is very fetching. It is fun seeing the usual sets and locations in Almeria, Spain, as well as familiar faces like Erno Crisa, Jose Canalejas, Victor Israel, George Rigaud, Valentino Macchi, Nazareno Zamperla, Luis Barboo, Francisco Brana, Giuliano Raffaelli, Gina Rovere and even Mara Krupp from PER QUALICHE DOLLARI IN PIU. It is notable that when our hero sheds his disguise as Dr. Cooper and announces that he is Sugar Colt, he guns down a bunch of bad guys firing ten times from a six shooter.
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Charles Gilbert Watched:
Wagon Train "The Malachi Hobart Story" Franchot Tone plays a grifting preacher who befriends Duke (Denny Miller). Irene Ryan (Granny Clampett) has a role as a gullible housewife who pays the Reverend $300 to pray her supposed "dead" husband into heaven.
HANG 'EM HIGH (1968)
JOE KIDD (1972)
TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARAH (1970) A "nun" wearing heavy mascara in the desert?
Creature Features Movies with host Vincent Van Dahl:
SCREAM OF THE WOLF (1974) Made-for-tv movie with an interesting cast.. Peter Graves tries to enlist big game hunter Clint Walker in investigating 6 local murders apparently perpetrated by a vicious animal. A werewolf is suspected. Disappointing end.
WHEN MICHAEL CALLS (1972) TV movie. Elisabeth Ashley receives sequential phone calls from a mysterious boy in distress. Another disappointing conclusion.
Neither of these fit the format.
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David Deal Enjoyed:
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (81)
THE OUTSIDER (83)
A STRANGER IN TOWN (57) - Reporter Alex Nicol visits a sleepy English village to cover the suicide of a local, young pianist/composer. Turns out there is a lot going on behind the scenes and perhaps it wasn't suicide at all. This small mystery unfolds with finesse and the matter-of-factness we've come to expect. I like Alex Nicol (see Heat Wave AKA The House Across the Lake) and even with a bad haircut here, he holds the attention with ease.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK (55) - Judge Joel McCrea rides into the town of Bannerman to make sure the laws are being followed. The Bannerman clan run the town but when the elder's (John McIntire) son (Kevin McCarthy) is taken in for murder by McCrea, things turn sour. Jacques Tourneur's top notch western was shot in the warm and sometimes surreal tones of Ansco Color which give it an unusual feel. McCrea is in prime form here, casually taking things in hand. John Carradine is the chameleon-like Colonel heading the solid cast of supporters.
ALPHAVILLE (65)
STREET OF CHANCE (42) - When walking by a construction site, Burgess Meredith is hit on the head with debris. When he wakes up, he goes home to find his wife moved. He goes to her place and she said it's been a year since she's seen him while he thought he left her for work that morning. Confused, Burgess tries to find out what happened, and comes across news that he's wanted for murder! Fun mystery is slowly unraveled, and the ending is satisfying. Claire Trevor is Meredith's sweetheart for the last year, and Sheldon Leonard is the cop looking for him.
THE SWORD OF MONTE CRISTO (51) - George Montgomery leads a company of dragoons in the service of the emperor of France, but is assigned to the emperor's half brother (Berry Kroger) who is determined to usurp power. Rita Corday is Lady Christianne who leads a double life as a masked fighter against the tyrannical measures put in place by Kroger. Soon, George and Rita are joining forces for the greater good. Fun Hollywood adventure in the mold of many others, and no better or worse than them.
CALL ME KATE (22) - Interesting documentary on Katherine Hepburn.
HYSTERIA (65)
FUNERAL IN BERLIN (66)
Mildly enjoyed:
THE STRANGE MRS. CRANE (48) - Marjorie Lord is the wife of a wealthy politician. When her old partner Robert Shayne shows up to blackmail her for past criminal behavior, she kills him. Things quickly become complicated for Marjorie when another woman is arrested for the murder. Fun to watch Marjorie unravel under the pressure but no great shakes.
DORABELLA (77) - Jeremy Clyde becomes infatuated with female "magician" Dorabella (Ania Marson), so much so that he drags his traveling companion David Robb along as they take Dorabella's luggage on a long journey by coach to a castle in the northern climes. An episode of the British TV series Supernatural, this Gothic tale has loads of atmosphere.
STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (44) - Fresh out of the Marines, William Terry is on his way across the country to California to meet the girl wrote him nice letters while he was fighting. On the train he meets Dr. Virginia Grey, and it turns out they will both soon be engulfed in the mystery that awaits them. A Republic programmer helmed by Anthony Mann, it shows the promise the director would achieve in his long career; this Gothic tale reeks of atmosphere and dread.
SLAUGHTER HOTEL (71)
TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000 (58) - A professor and his antsy financier have a built a machine that allows them to contact the future and swap objects with the inhabitants. When the financier pushes the machine to far, a deadly mutant female shows up and starts killing. Famous poverty stricken production - released by AIP - has an interesting premise but not the budget nor the talent to make much of it.
Did not enjoy:
THE STRIPPER (63) - Joanne Woodward works in a third rate magic show that blows into the small town where she grew up. When manager Robert Webber steals everything and ditches her, Joanne shacks up with old family friends Richard Beymer and his mom Claire Trevor. Beymer gets the hots for Joanne much to the chagrin of neighbor Carol Lynley. Unfortunately, no one kills anyone else. Not recommended.
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Angel Rivera Enjoyed:
"Mighty Ursus/Ursus, Son of Hercules" (1961/1962) Great action: great stunts and effects and great music. The recently deceased Ed Fury was great as the hero. With Moira Orfei as the bad girl and Mary Marlon as the good girl.
Superman and Lois Season 3 Episode 9
"Station 19" and "Grey's Anatomy" Season Finales
"Young Sheldon" Season Finale
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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
Beyond Mombasa (1956, George Marshall)
Silo – season 1 – episode 4
The English – season 1 – episode 5
Kaamelott – season 5 – episodes 1 & 2
Doom patrol – season 4 – episodes 3 & 4
Mildly enjoyed
Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness (2022, Sam Raimi)
Mr Pickles – season 1 – episodes 1 to 3
Did not enjoy:
The unnamable (1988, Jean-Paul Ouelette)
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