To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
What film was director Giulio Questi and writer Franco Arcalli planning when they got the offer to make a Western in Spain?
George Grimes and Angel Rivera knew that it was LA MORTE HA FATTO L'UOVO, aka DEATH LAID AN EGG, aka PLUCKED!
What life experience did director Giulio Questi say inspired his only Western?
George Grimes and Angel Rivera knew that Questi fought with the anti-Fascist Partisans in World War 2. They found coming out of the mountains to get supplies from villages as scary as the bandits arriving in the town in SE SEI VIVA SPARA, aka IF YOU LIVE, SHOOT, aka DJANGO KILL.
Which film by director Sergio Leone has a film editor listed as one of the screenwriters?
No one has answered this question yet.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which Italian stunt man and actor became the director of a Western in which he appeared?
Which Italian stunt man and actor did Richard Harrison frequently employ but complained that the man never told him "thank you"?
What American actor voiced Franco Nero in the English language version of DJANGO?
Name the movies from which these images came.
Bertrand van Wonterghem, Rick Garibaldi and George Grimes 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 identify from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's photo 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 Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Liam Redmond and Walter Barnes in SOTTO DIECI BANDIERE, aka UNDER TEN FLAGS.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
No one has identified the above frame grab.
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:
DESPERATE SOULS, DARK CITY AND THE LEGEND OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY (2022) - Writer/director Nancy Buirski's video essay, with talking heads, about the making of the 1969 Best Picture Oscar winner, and the times in which it was made, is masterful... but having the music from THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY over footage from THE WILD BUNCH seems a curious choice.
Doctor Who "The Star Beast" (2023) - Hearing that there was a new Doctor Who episode, I went to the channel guide for BBC America and couldn't find it. So I checked the Sy-Fy Channel, and it's not there. Ta-da! I found it on Disney+.
GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023) - There seems to be a surprising amount of influence from director Roland Emmerich's GODZILLA (1998), though that film's humor has been replaced by an heavy dose of Japanese melodrama. A new wrinkle is that this Godzilla can regenerate after being wounded, so perhaps a little influence from REPTILIUS (1961). But every time composer Akira Ifukube's "Godzilla March" is heard, the film is thrilling.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 (2023) - This is my third viewing.
Professor T "The Mask Murders" (U.K., 2022)
Mildly enjoyed:
GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS (2017) - Released on Netflix internationally, this animated film deals with humanity fleeing Earth from Godzilla, with the help of the extraterrestrial race Exif, who have been vagabonds in space for generations. After failing for 22 years to find another planet on which to live, the few thousand surviving humans decide to return to Earth, hoping that in the 20,000 years since they left, Godzilla would have died. (The time difference from their perspective is caused by traveling faster than the speed of light.) Meanwhile, our hero is furious that humanity gave up fighting Godzilla all those years ago, and since he's come up with a new battle plan, he is eager to return and possibly face the monster. Not surprising, they find that not only is Godzilla still alive, but it is bigger and badder than ever. Even with a whole new arsenal of technology in their hands, can humanity survive the onslaught of what the Exif believe is the great destroyer sent by their god to punish humanity for thinking they were superior? Those used to the rather straight forward plotting of previous Godzilla movies will probably find this needlessly complicated by a pile of sci-fi ideas. I would probably have enjoyed this more if it was live action, as I don't respond very well to anime.
Hoppity Hooper (1964) - I was gifted one disc from a set called "200 Cartoons" from Mill Creek that featured the first six episodes of this TV series which is the first I've heard of it. Produced by Jay Ward after the end of The Bullwinkle Show, it only ran for 17 episodes, but it featured similar nonsensical humor. It also made numerous allusions to Rocky & Bullwinkle.
The Gumby Show (1956) - That same disc from "200 Cartoons" featured a bunch of old Gumby shorts. These were not playing on TV where I grew up, so seeing them as a 67 year old was interesting, but only mildly entertaining.
Did not enjoy:
AIR BUD: GOLDEN RECEIVER (1998) - While there are no Weinsteins in the credits for this movie - the second in the AIR BUD series, Dimension Films gets a credit though the film was released by the Walt Disney Company. As the golden retriever who played the title role in the first AIR BUD had died, four new dogs were brought in to take his place. Kevin Zegers returns as the boy with a dog who can play basketball. Cynthia Stevenson replaced Wendy Makkena as Zeger's mother while Alyson MacLaren replaced the Mather Twins as his little sister. The family tries to leave the dog behind when they go to a professional basketball game, but Buddy knows how to get out of the house and hide in the back of their car. During the game, Buddy can't resist joining the play, which gets alot of attention on TV. Low budget Russian circus owners, Nora Dunn and Perry Anzilotti, see Buddy on TV and decide that a basketball playing dog can revitalize their act. Meanwhile Zeger starts high school and decides that being on the football team is what he wants. Of course, it soon turns out that Buddy can catch a football, and the two become the stars of the team. Meanwhile, Buddy takes a shine to new veterinarian Gregory Harrison and does what he can to bring Harrison and Zeger's widowed mother together. After Harrison proposes marriage to Stevenson, Zeger runs away from home, and Buddy sets off to bring him back. Naturally, Buddy is then kidnapped by Dunn and Anziolotti, and Harrison decides he had better retreat. Zeger's football coach, Robert Costanzo, convinces Zeger that allowing Harrison to marry his mother doesn't mean that anyone is forgetting his deceased father. Of course, it is now time for the championship game, and without Buddy, Zeger's team looks like it will lose. Thankfully, a chimpanzee being held by Dunn and Anzilotti engineers an escape for Buddy, which leads the dog to run into the arms of Harrison and the police to arrest the bad guys. Harrison delivers Buddy to the football game, earning Zeger's gratitude. However, the dog is injured when a large teenage blocker tackles him, so Zeger has to win the game with a human teammate. While the film ends happily for Zeger's family, the movie was considered a box office flop, so more sequels were direct to video - AIR BUD: WORLD PUP, AIR BUD: SEVENTH INNING FETCH and AIR BUD: SPIKES BACK. And then our four legged hero had puppies leading to the AIR BUDDIES series of seven films not to mention the two Santa Paws flicks. It is always nice to see Cynthia Stevenson and I'm happy to report that she only returned for four of the sequels. Tim Conway and Dick Martin appear as the sports casters for the final game. Don't confuse actor Dick Martin with this film's Canadian director Richard Martin who would later make SLAP SHOT 3: THE JUNIOR LEAGUE.
3 DIAS, aka THREE DAYS, aka BEFORE THE FALL (2008) - After gaining notice with four short films, Spanish writer/director F. Javier Gutierrez got to make a feature film and what an unpleasant film it is. It is not surprising that for his second feature film he was lured to Hollywood to make RINGS, the third of the U.S. films based on the Japanese film THE RING. An unpleasant young man, Victor Clavjo, is asked to help get a TV set to work. When the static clears, the news comes over that in 72 hours an extinction level meteor will hit the Earth ending mankind. Clavjo's mother, Mariana Cordero, runs to a neighbor's home to find that he has murdered his whole family before taking his own life. Worried about her other son and his family, Cordero insists that Clavjo drive to their country house. Her son isn't there, but his four children are. Their TV doesn't work, so they don't know that doom is coming, and Cordero wants it to stay that way. Unfortunately, news comes that Eduard Fernandez has gotten out of prison and is on his way to take revenge on Cordero's other son and his family. Cordero is killed and it falls on Clavjo to try and protect the children long enough for the meteor to kill everyone. If you like your thrillers to be fatalistic, then maybe you'll enjoy this.
COLORADO TERRITORY (1949) - W.R. Burnett's 1941 novel HIGH SIERRA was made into a gangster film that same year which made Humphrey Bogart a star. Eight years later, director Raoul Walsh did a remake of his 1941 film as a Western with a script by future Oscar winner for PATTON Edmund H. North and John Twist, who would work again with Walsh on 1964's A DISTANT TRUMPET. Joel McCrea had the lead role in the remake as a convict who escapes from prison in order to help invalided friend Basil Ruysdael pull off one last job for his retirement. McCrea agreed, though he confessed that he wanted out of "the game". Everyone ended up double-crossing McCrea, except for the two old men - including Henry Hull as Dorothy Malone's father, and the half breed Virginia Mayo, who attached herself to the gang. In the end, McCrea and Mayo died from the posse's bullets, and the stolen money seemed to have been given to Brother Frank Puglia to rebuild the church at Todos Santos. In 1955, director Stuart Heisler made a third version of HIGH SIERRA, returning it to the modern day gangster film with Jack Palance and Shelley Winters as I DIED A THOUSAND TIMES.
COLORADO SUNDOWN (1952) - William Witney again directs Rex Allen (The Arizona Cowboy with Koko the Miracle Horse of the Movies) and Slim Pickens in a Western from Republic Pictures. It seems unusual for a Western to start with the arrival of a stagecoach that hasn't been attacked by bandits, and Rex Allen didn't sing the theme song under the opening credits. However, they all gather at a relay station, where Rex is joined by The Republic Rhythm Riders to sing a tune, while passengers Mary Ellen Kay and Louise Beavers lose control of their dog, who spooks the horses so that the stage takes off at a gallop. Of course, Rex and Slim race after the coach and bring it under control. Slim works for Rex at Rex's ranch in Texas, but our heroes have ventured to Pine Valley because Slim has inherited property. Meanwhile, the sibling owners of a lumber mill, June Vincent and Fred Graham, complain that anti-flood regulations have ruined their business in favor of the recently arrived ranchers. They hope to bribe an agent from the Foresty Service into declaring the trees infected with a blight so that they can cut all of them down, but the agent doesn't go for it. So, Vincent poisons him and then brings in brother John Daheim to pretend to be him. It turns out that the ranch the evil brother and sister thought they were going to inherit has been splilt three ways - with Kay and Pickens co-owners. However, the villains begin to buy up all of the other ranches with the fear of the tree blight leaving everyone in danger of flooding it if rains. Naturally, Allen uncovers their evil plot and sets things straight, but not before Beavers and the dog get shot, and Vincent poisons Daheim hoping to blame his death on Allen. Using action footage of a gun battle and flooding from some other Republic Pictures, COLORADO SUNDOWN sports more quality than its low budget would suggest. The highlight of the film is when Slim Pickens looks at the photo of his mother in a locket, and the mother is played by Pickens in a wig and glasses. The mother tells Pickens that it is okay to beat up a bad guy because the bad guy hit him first - which Pickens proceeds to do. With some songs like "Under Colorado Stars", Allen is joined not only by the Republic Rhythm Riders, but also by co-star Mary Ellen Kay. Another song is sung solo by Slim Pickens.
THE COUNTRY GIRL (1954) - Broadway director William Holden wants Bing Crosby to star in his new play, but producer Anthony Ross thinks it is a bad idea because Crosby has become an unreliable drunk after the death of his son. Crosby's wife, Grace Kelly, is dubious about saddling her husband with the responsibility of such a big role. Things don't go smoothly as the play is mounted, and Holden blames Kelly, accusing her of using emotional blackmail to keep Crosby dependent on her. After Crosby spends the night in jail, Kelly and Holden have a yelling match where it becomes apparent that Crosby is using emotional blackmail to keep Kelly dependent on him. Chastised, Holden admits that he's fallen in love with Kelly. The show finally opens in New York and Crosby seems to be back on his feet, but Kelly decides that she can't leave him for Holden. Did the original play by Clifford Odets feature musical performances? The movie won Grace Kelly a Best Actress Oscar, while the play won Uta Hagen a Tony Award. The play has been revived on Broadway twice and twice off-Broadway. There have been two television adaptations, and I don't see the appeal people have for the material. The movie version, written and directed by George Seaton, is very close to melodrama with a lot of annoying bluster. Perhaps at a time when alcoholism was rarely examined in drama, THE COUNTRY GIRL could have been considered daring, but now it seems painfully obvious.
THE LAST PRODUCER (2000) - Veteran film producer Burt Reynolds feels that the young people who now run the movie business don't give him any respect, but he hopes that a screenplay by Sean Astin could be the hit that'll put him back on the top. However, studio executive Benjamin Bratt won't give him the time of day and is trying to maneuver the script away from him. Reynold hopes to get help from former partner Charles Durning, but Bratt gets Durning kicked off the lot. As Reynolds drives around town in a busted car looking for financing, the film gets cameos from Robert Goulet, Erin Gray, Angie Dickinson, James Farentino, Alex Rocco, Shelley Berman and Shecky Greene. Ann-Margret plays his pill addicted wife, Lauren Holly plays the girlfriend of a potential Arab money man while Greg Germann introduces Reynolds to gangster Rod Steiger. In the end, Bratt succeeds in cutting Reynolds out of the deal even after Reynolds foils Durning's effort to kill the son-of-a-bitch. Reynolds tells Steiger that he's out of the business but then Steiger tries to sell him on a script he has. Clyde Hayes is credited as the writer for a story oozing with bitterness, which the viewer suspects must be how director/star Burt Reynolds feels. Unfortunately, the film is less than compelling and less than entertaining. In the U.S., it played as a USA Original Film on cable.
THE LIQUIDATOR (1965) - I was looking forward to this movie when it first came out, and I was expecting a gritty thriller. Imagine my disappointment in finding that it was a comedy. Reportedly, so was the novel by John Gardner upon which this movie was based. Well, 50 some years later, I knew it was a comedy and not an hard film to sit through. But I still didn't enjoy it, though seeing Gabriella Licudi, Jennifer Jayne and Suzy Kendall provided some entertainment. And Jill St. John got a better role here than she would get in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER.
ONCE BEFORE I DIE (1966) - Considering that John Derek began his career as an actor, one might think that he would have some talent for directing actors, but no such talent is evident in this World War 2 flick. While watching this adaptation of the 1945 novel QUIT FOR THE NEXT by Lt. Anthony March, one wonders if Derek's handling of the action scenes was such that the footage wouldn't cut together, so he opted for the "artistic" multiple image/freeze frame/optical manipulation seen in the final product - or did he always intend to do it that way. The film begins with Ursula Andress in a bikini enjoying a canoe ride down river rapids. Later, when she arrives at a polo field just as the Japanese attack the Philippines do we realize how anachronistic that bikini was - since such attire didn't become well known until 1946. However, Wikipedia reports that two-piece bathing suits did exist in the 1930s, so maybe I'm mistaken in thinking that Andress in a bikini was just a nod to her becoming world famous in a bikini in DR. NO. As Derek had been drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944 and saw service in the Philippines, perhaps he had some personal knowledge of the fighting there, but the action in ONCE BEFORE I DIE was rather unconvincing - at least what could be seen though the double exposures and freeze frames. Not surprising, John Derek's personal life was more interesting than the movie. He married Turkish-born prima ballerina Pati Behrs Eristoff in 1948 and had two children with her. He left that family when he met Ursula Andress in 1955. Derek and Andress married in 1957, but broke up in 1964 when she reportedly took up with Ron Ely - who co-starred in ONCE BEFORE I DIE. Derek and Andress were divorced in 1966, before the release of their movie. As a side note, Andress first appeared in Playboy in 1965 with photos taken on the set of NIGHTMARE IN THE SUN which co-starred Derek who also produced the film. Anyway, back to the movie. Realizing that the Japanese are invading the Philippines, Col. John Derek tells his girlfriend, Andress, to jump into her car and head straight for Manila in order to get safely off the island. Do not stop at the house to get her puppies and her father's papers. Later, as Derek leads his troop of American polo players and Filipino soldiers on horseback towards headquarters, they find Andress caught in a jam of refugees with her puppies and her father's papers. So, Andress joins the troop making their way through the jungle. Not surprisingly, Andress has difficulty coping with the war, so, in the end, after just about everyone around her is dead, she has to reluctantly kill the one remaining Japanese soldier menacing her. Aside from all of the "beauty" close-ups of Andress, Derek seemed determined to showcase Andress as a dramatic actress, but, as I wrote before, he showed no talent for directing actors. Other actors ill-served in this movie are Richard Jaeckel, Ron Ely and Jock Mahoney - who appeared without credit. While reportedly Andress filmed nude scenes for ONCE BEFORE I DIE, there was no nudity in the version I saw from the Encore Action channel.
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David Deal Enjoyed:
DEATH IS NIMBLE, DEATH IS QUICK (66)
THE MARKSMAN (53) - Wayne Morris is a sharpshooting lawman assigned to stop a long-time rustling racket. Elena Verdugo is the rustler's author daughter who longs for Wayne. This oater runs only an hour and with the number of bad guys that Wayne kills, this qualifies as a body count movie. Wayne is a winning lead in this fun-enough western.
DANGER ROUTE (68) - See The Eurospy Guide book on amazon for a complete review of this Seth Holt entry.
MEXICAN SLAYRIDE (67) - The Eurospy Guide covers this Riccardo Freda entry.
GENESIS II (73)
THE TALL TEXAN (53) - Lloyd Bridges, framed for a murder, is being taken to El Paso on a wagon with other passengers. When they come upon a wounded Indian, they take him in and are promptly attacked by his tribe. When the troupe fends off the tribe, the Indian promises them gold if they let him go with a horse. They all take the bait and decide to pool it and pan for gold. This small and interesting western is part "...Sierra Madre" and part siege, as the Indians renew their attacks. Lee J Cobb and Marie Windsor are the standouts among the supporters.
THE INVISIBLE DR. MABUSE (62)
TERROR CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE (65)
Mildly enjoyed:
HERCULES AND THE PRINCESS OF TROY (65)
FACE OF MARBLE (46) - Scientists John Carradine and Robert Shayne are attempting to reanimate the dead. Carradine's daughter and Shayne's girlfriend both want the madness to stop, while the housekeeper and voodoo priestess spends her time making love potions and poisons. Monogram scattershot mad doctor flick with zombies/ghosts, "blood madness" killings, and cops thicker than the plot. One of the poverty row studio's last "straight" horror flicks, thank goodness.
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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
Kureiji kuruzu / In love and deep water (2022, Yusuke Taki)
Undead or alive (2007, Glasgow Phillips)
Night gallery (1969) Pilot episode
Sledge Hammer ! - episode « Dori day afternoon » (1988, James Sheldon)
Star Trek – episode « The alternative factor » (1966, Gerd Oswald)
The wonderful story of Henry Sugar (short) (2022, Wes Anderson)
Mildly enjoyed:
Havana (1990n Sydney Pollack)
Mr Imperium (1951, Don Hartman)
Radar men from the moon (serial) (1952, Fred C. Brannon) episodes 5 to 12
One step beyond – episode “the dream” (1959, John Newland)
Ji xian feng / Vanguard (2020, Stanley Tong)
Fallait pas !.. (1996, Gérard Jugnot)
Did not enjoy:
Teen-age strangler (1965, Ben Parker)
Xiang ye qi tan / Lantern festival adventure (1979, Pei-cheng Chang)
Chopping mall (1986, Jim Wynorski)
Ghoulies (1984, Luca Bercovici)
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