Second Chance (1953)

Director:  Rudolph Mate

Writers:  Oscar Millard, Sydney Boehm, D.M. Marshman Jr., Robert Presnell Sr.

Composer:  Roy Webb

Starring:  Robert Mitchum, Linda Darnell, Jack Palance, Sandro Giglio, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Reginald Sheffield, Margaret Brewster, Roy Roberts

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  For the First Time--3D With Important Stars!

Plot:  Mobster Vic Spalato's girlfriend Claire is in hiding in Mexico and she's willing to testify for a US Senate investigation committee, if she can make it back to the US alive.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Don't you hate it when you think you're going to be watching a crime picture and it ends up being a drama with a little bit of crime element?  That's this one.  It's a good thing it's set in Mexico.  At least it has that going for it.  I'd swear that about half the film (it's only 78 minutes anyway) is a long-ass date between Russ (Mitchum) and Clare (Darnell).  No kidding.  The romancing gets old and it doesn't really add anything to the plot except they're falling for each other and they think about what they'd do with a second chance.  Oh, there it is, the movie's title.  The rest of it involves Cappy (Palance) trying to find Clare and keep her from getting back to the States to testify against some crime boss or something.  The best part about the film is the exciting finale that has these three and five others stranded on a cable car.  It's certain death when the cables start to snap.  Will they make it?  That was the best part.  I'm sure that idea alone was what started the rest of the story.  The rest of the movie isn't bad; it's just not all that interesting, especially when you think you're getting into a crime flick.

The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)

Director:  Edgar G. Ulmer

Writer:  Jack Lewis

Composer:  Darrell Calker

Starring:  Marguerite Chapman, Douglas Kennedy, James Griffith, Ivan Triesault, Boyd 'Red' Morgan, Cormel Daniel, Ed Erwin, Jonathan Ledford

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  The Most Amazing Picture Of The Year! He's Invisible! He's Deadly!

Plot:  A crazed scientist invents an invisibility formula. He plans to use the formula to create an army of invisible zombies.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This is one of legendary low budget sci-fi/horror director Edgar G. Ulmer's last pictures and it's pretty good.  The acting is good and there's more story than you'd think for a low budget hour long flick.  It takes a while before Joey Faust is rendered invisible (which isn't to say that it's slow or bad) but once that happens the pacing picks up and it's a reasonably entertaining race to the end.  It's not a bad way to kill an hour on a lazy day.

 

Ghost Rider (2007)

Director:  Mark Steven Johnson

Writer:  Mark Steven Johnson

Composer:  Christopher Young

Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Peter Fonda, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Long ago, he made a deal... to save someone he loved... What he didn't know was the price he would have to pay...

Plot:  When motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze sells his soul to the Devil to save his father's life, he is transformed into the Ghost Rider, the Devil's own bounty hunter, and is sent to hunt down sinners.

My rating:  7/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

For years, I've heard nothing but how shitty this movie is.  It's not that bad at all (I watched the extended version).  It's not great but I found it fun and enjoyable.   The casting was great.  Nicolas Cage did a good job in the role.  His hair was obviously dyed jet black which never quite looked right with his face.  He would've been about 43 at the time which isn't old enough to make a difference.  Maybe it was the hair style.  Anyway, I though Peter Fonda as Mephistopheles was a fun choice considering his 60s Biker genre flicks.  And Sam Elliott as Caretaker was a brilliant move.  He uplifts every movie he's in and that scene with him and Johnny near the end was great where he's riding a fire-y horse.  It could've been stupid as shit but with These two guys in the role, it worked for me.  I dug the set-up, and even though the meat of the story wasn't all that bad, I still liked the picture.  I'm not invested in the comics so I've got no history with the character.  I watch these comic book movies cold.   The sequel sounds like a fun rid even though the IMDb rating is even lower than this one.  I'm not going to beat down any doors to watch it but I will check it out someday.   Look at the cast on that one!  Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba, Anthony Head.  Unfortunately, composer great Christopher Young didn't return for it.

Robot Monster (1953)

Director:  Phil Tucker

Writer:  Wyott Ordung

Composer:  Elmer Bernstein

Starring:  George Nader, Claudia Barrett, Selena Royle, John Mylong, Gregory Moffett, Pamela Paulson, George Barrows, John Brown

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Adventures Into The Future in New TRU-3 Dimension

Plot:  The monstrous Ro-Man attempts to annihilate the last family alive on Earth, but finds himself falling for their beautiful daughter.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

This isn't nearly as bad as the internet suggests.  If you look at who this was intended for (little kids on a Saturday lineup of cartoons, maybe a chapter from a couple of serials and double feature (this film being on the bottom) of sci-fi and action or comedy), then this doesn't look so bad.  Sure, it's goofy as hell.  There's no doubt the alien villain's (Ro-Man) costume is bargain basement, "what do we have lying around to make a spacesuit?", and silly.  The bubble-blowing alien radio is just the best in dumb fun.  It's an easy target to goof on this flick which adds to the fun.  Halfway through this 62 picture, a romance blooms and it's off to make out in a field before heading back to home base to ask the girl's dad for her hand in marriage.  THE FUCK?  It's courageous that they are able to risk their lives when there's a robot monster on the loose wanting to destroy the last surviving humans on Earth.  And then they get married and the occasion is a happy one despite the murderous alien outside their walls.  Whatever.  It's a silly movie made for mindless entertainment.  As a soundtrack nerd, one of the things that tickles me the most is that this is one of the first film scores from Elmer Bernstein.

Melvin and Howard (1980)

Director:  Jonathan Demme

Writer:  Bo Goldman

Composer: 

Starring:  Jason Robards, Paul Le Mat, Elizabeth Cheshire, Mary Steenburgen, Michael J. Pollard, Charles Napier, Martine Beswick, John Glover, Dabney Coleman

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Poor Melvin. All he wanted was to be Milkman of the Month. Instead, he lost his job, his truck, and his wife. Then Howard Hughes left him $156,000,000.

Plot:  The story of hard-luck Melvin E. Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

The performances in this thing are solid.  Everybody nails it.  Paul Le Mat's Melvin is just a down to Earth guy, Mary Steenburgen brings it (she and Bo Goldman won Oscars for Best Actress In a Supporting Role and Best Original Screenplay respectively), and Jason Robards has that mystique and curiosity needed for Howard Hughes.  And then there's Charles Napier who owns his brief moment as the mystery man who drops off the will.  It's a warm-hearted story about real people with real problems that get upended when it looks like Melvin's good deed for an old man might make him a millionaire 156 times over.  Uh, oh...Nudity Alert!

Thank you, Mary Steenburgen.  Where was I?  Oh, yeah.  Melvin's struggles with the will (and he kind of just wants to be left alone) reach an apex when he testifies his story to a prosecutor and judge (among many others) that don't believe a word of what he claims.  The judge is coldly and harshly played by the always great, Dabney Coleman.  This is probably when the movie gets the most serious and dark.  A few minutes later, it's time for the flick to wrap up and move onto the credits, but before we do, we get one more brief scene not seen from Melvin and Howard's time together.  It's the perfect bookend to an often charming film.

As Seen on TV: The K-Tel Story (2006)

Director:  Cam Bennett

Writer:  Cam Bennett

Composer:  Murray Pulver

Starring:  Dave Thomas, Bob Washington, Philip Kives, Raymond Kives, Don Reedman

More info:  IMDb

Plot:  Combining hilarious inventions, a whole lot of plastic and the ultimate hard sell, his company K-Tel rewrote the rules of advertising and went on to become one of the largest, loudest marketing success stories the world has ever known. This documentary tells the incredible rise, fall and eventual resurrection of the company responsible for creating products such as the "The Miracle Brush," "Record Selector," and the "Patty Stacker."

My rating:  7/10

Will I watch it again?   Nah.

Just like their classic 70s & 80s TV commercials, this TV documentary is short and sweet.  Dave Thomas narrates this entertaining and informative flick that tracks the beginning of the famous company of products you didn't know you needed until you saw the commercials for the hundredth time.  It follows their rise and fall and their comeback.  As a kid in the 70s, this was a nostalgic treat seeing a lot of things I hadn't seen in over forty years.  The most interesting bit was about how they got into the record business and created the compilation albums when they hadn't existed in that form before.  That was surprising.  And like all things great, when you succeed wildly in an industry that wants you to fail and take the money for themselves, you're probably going to lose the long game.  It's an interesting and fun 45 minutes about a piece of pop culture history that should put a smile on anyone's face who lived through it.

Steelyard Blues (1973)

Director:  Alan Myerson

Writer:  David S. Ward

Composer:  Nick Gravenites

Starring:  Donald Sutherland, Howard Hesseman, Peter Boyle, Jane Fonda, Mel Stewart, Morgan Upton, Jessica Myerson, John Savage, Nancy Fish, Roger Bowen

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  If you can't beat 'em ... drive 'em crazy!

Plot:  A group of misfits decide to leave for a place that they can all be free. Their mode of transportation is a PBY flying boat. The only problem is that the PBY needs a lot of work and they will need jobs to pay for the parts. When they find that they have only 10 days before the PBY is sold for scrap, they decide on borrowing the parts for their trip.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Hoo, boy.  I don't know what to say.  This flick meanders and doesn't feel like there was a complete grasp of what the filmmakers wanted and how to achieve it.  Sutherland is either doing a smashing job of looking bored and lazy or he's high.  It could be both.  Boyle is kind of fun because of his many costume/character changes.  He's got the 'lost his marbles' thing down pat.  Howard Hesseman is a blast.  He's probably my favorite character of the bunch.  The misfit band of oddballs doesn't work for me and neither does the lackadaisical pace and vibe of the film.  This was writer David Ward's first movie (the Internet says this was made in 1971 and released in 1973) and his next one was THE STING (1973).  These two pictures almost couldn't be farther apart in quality.  The Warner Bros. DVD has the film in anamorphic widescreen.  The only extras are the theatrical trailer (fullscreen), a 4 minute short film made during the film of this movie called, WOULD YOU BELIEVE?  PETER BOYLE! and a trailer for DUKES OF HAZZARD: THE BEGINNING.  The fuck?

Every Home Should Have One (1970)

AKA:  Think Dirty

Director:  Jim Clark

Writers:  Herbert Kretzmer, Milton Shulman, Marty Feldman, Barry Took, Denis Norden

Composer:  John Cameron

Starring:  Marty Feldman, Judy Cornwell, Garry Miller, Shelley Berman, Hy Hazell, Julie Ege, Penelope Keith, Moray Watson, Jack Watson

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  That Face ... That Body ... Marty Feldman Is Back - Funnier Than Ever!

Plot:  Teddy, working at an advertising agency, has to come up with a campaign for frozen porridge.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Nah.

It's cute and it's a good vehicle for Marty's talents.  Besides the cast, one thing that adds to the fun are the vignettes where Marty's imagination takes over and goes into his fertile, naughty mind.  It's been a long time since he and his wife had a roll in zee hay and he's thinking about sex all the time.  The comedy is often broad and silly and some of the jokes landed well enough for me to laugh out loud a few times.  Feldman is endearing and you can't help but like him, at least I can't help it.  His charm, innocent qualities and outright brilliant comedic timing shine in this very British sex comedy.  And Peneloope Keith is hilarious!

It's from a different era and feels different (as it should) which also makes it appealing.  Most sexy comedies of the era don't bring the laughs nearly as much as this one.  The sub genre is littered with unfunny garbage.

Nine Deaths of the Ninja (1985)

Director:  Emmett Alston

Writer:  Emmett Alston

Composer:  Cecile Colayco

Starring:  Sho Kosugi, Brent Huff, Emilia Crow, Blackie Dammett, Regina Richardson, Vijay Aritraj, Lisa Friedman, Kan Kosugi, Shane Kosugi, Bruce Fanger

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  The Ninja Master... is now The Ninja Avenger

Plot:  Two anti-terrorist agents are assigned to free a busload of American schoolchildren in the Philippines who are taken hostage by terrorists.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

It starts with a pre-credit sequence followed by a cheesy pop song during the opening credits trying to be like Bond.

It also stars Vijay Aritraj who was in OCTOPUSSY (1983) just two years earlier (this is his second film role).  After than it goes into standard B-picture action movie mode.  Sho Kosugi provides the best action.  At least the camera lingers long enough on him and his opponent for a while so you can see the choreography.  It's not always a good idea to do that because it can show the slow beats each fighter hits to make it work.  There is no nudity.  Booooo.  But you do get this...

Is she doing it for you?  How about these little fellas?

That scene's not nearly as entertaining as it should've been. And that's one of the issues I have.  Scenes like this little guys fighting the one dude should have been longer and more fun.  This flick needed more creativity.  It's got some decent moments but there's an underlying vibe of just making a movie and not making "the best movie we can".  Had the filmmakers gone that extra mile, this could be a cult classic.  But they'd also have to ditch the guy who plays the main villain who acts like he things he can copy Peter Sellers from DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) because he can't.  He's so fucking annoying that he brings down the picture.  This would've been the kind of movie I would've watched with friends in high school on a Friday night and had a blast with.

A Great Ride (1979)

Director:  Don Hulette

Writers:  Walter Dallenbach, Thomas Pope

Composer:  Don Hulette

Starring:  Perry Lang, Michael MacRae, Michael Sullivan, Margo Ann Berdeshevsky, Hal Bokar, Jan Burrell, Bryan Englund, Ben Fuhrman, Ernie Garrett

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  They road across the back country looking for a dream ... that became a nightmare!

Plot:  Cocky, overconfident motocross champion Jim Dancer and his more mature and levelheaded bike racing buddy Steve Mitchell decide to trek from Mexico to Canada via an unmarked off-road route. During their eventful pilgrimage the carefree fun-loving (and seeking) protagonists encounter a mixed bag of folks who include a perky middle-aged lady who wrecks cars for a living, two sexy swinging babes, a friendly farmer, and a hotshot aspiring motocross rider teen who challenges Dancer to a race. It gets crazy from there.

My rating:  8/10

Will I watch it again?  Absolutely!

This flick was outstanding!  What a nice surprise!  The two leads, Lang & Sullivan, have such a natural chemistry together.  They're so likable.  The movie starts with the pair's motocross bikes' tires up against the chain link fence on the US/Mexcio border...and they're off!  They get into all kinds of little adventures, some fun, some kind of dangerous.  There is some very good acting going on here, too.  Hal Bokar plays a rancher the boys stumble upon.  He knocks it out the park with a natural performance that you'd swear he was a seasoned character actor with hundreds of credits under his belt.  Nope, he wasn't and doesn't.  He showed the chops in the movie to make me think he could've been a solid B-list actor at the very least.

I don't want to spoil this movie because I watched it knowing absolutely nothing about it but early on, some teenager challenges Jim to a race and it doesn't end like wants it to.  The kid's father is a stern asshole with an M-16 and a souped-up pickup truck and he's out for blood.  The ONLY problem I have with the movie is that his truck is tricked out with a computer that not only tells him how much fuel he has with the miles left (which I'm down with) and things like oil pressure and the like, but it also tells him how far he is from the boys and dumb shit like that.  How the hell could it or anything else know where they are to calculate that shit?  It couldn't and it's dumb.  Other than that, what happens to the father was shocking and very satisfying.  I so much want to talk about it but I can't.  It's this sub-plot the provides the film with tension that you don't expect and it oddly works nicely among the other little things that Steve & Jim get into and they don't even know who this guy is.  This cat & mouse game adds a lot to their adventure. 

I would say pictures like this don't generally have the luxury of quality acting because I've never seen a picture like this.  It's a biker flick in the sense that the two leads ride bikes but it's not like any biker flick out there.  It's more of a road film with Jim & Steven having a cross country adventure.  It's more than that, though.  Director Hulette strings all of these vignettes together in such a smooth way that it all feels so natural.  I've seen so many low budget movies that struggle to keep your interest and to form a reasonable narrative and this one does it better than a lot of larger budget pictures with hardened professionals working on it.  This isn't some hidden masterpiece that sits up there with the greats but it's a most enjoyable and satisfying picture.  It's got racing, sex, scenery, bonding, death, humanity and revenge.  They chose an appropriate title for sure.   Oh, and there's nudity for those of you who like that sort of thing.  Ick.

Goliath and the Barbarians (1959)

Original title:  Il Terrore dei Barbari

Director:  Carlo Campogalliani

Writers:  Gino Mangini, Emimmo Salvi, Nino Stresa, Giuseppe Taffarel

Composers:  Carlo Innocenzi (original Italian version), Les Baxter (US version)

Starring:  Steve Reeves, Chelo Alonso, Bruce Cabot, Giulia Rubini, Arturo Dominici, Gino Scotti, Livio Lorenzon, Luciano Marin, Andrea Checchi

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  I Will Kill 10,000 Barbarians...And They Will Call Me GOLIATH!

Plot:  When barbarians invade his village and kill his father, a local man wages a one-man war against them.

My rating:  6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

It's a pretty good bet that if Steve Reeves is in a period piece as a hunky Hercules type, then there's a good chance it's at least mildly entertaining.  I'd say this one's better than average but not good enough to stand out in any way among the other films of the time and genre.  If you like your Steve Reeves shirtless then this movie will more than satisfy that requirement.  He's good in this, although it's a shame his voice was dubbed by someone else.  There's enough action sprinkled throughout to check that box off.  The pacing is pretty good and it's a good looking picture.  The store more than satisfies an adventure film like this.  When American-international Pictures bought the rights for the US, they had it re-scored by Les Baxter.  That's the version I saw.  I'd like to see the original Italian version with Carlo Innocenzi's score.  Baxter's is good, with a memorable main theme.  Soundtracks were released of both.  Maybe I'll find them on YouTube.

The Big Bus (1976)

Director:  James Frawley

Writers:  Fred Freeman, Lawrence J. Cohen

Composer:  David Shire

Starring:  Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, John Beck, Rene Auberjonois, Ned Beatty, Bob Dishy, Jose Ferrer, Rugh Gordon, Harold Gould, Larry Hagman, Sally Kellerman, Richard Mulligan, Lynn Redgrave, Richard B. Shull, Stuart Margolin, Howard Hesseman, Mary Charlotte Wilcox, Walter Brooke, Vic Tayback,

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  AT LAST - THE FIRST DISASTER MOVIE WHERE EVERYBODY DIES (laughing)

Plot:  The ultimate disaster movie parody. A nuclear powered bus is going non-stop from New York City, New York to Denver, Colorado, and is plagued by disasters due to the machinations of a mysterious group allied with the oil lobby. When the driver is injured, a washed up, down on his luck, but used to be great type, who as it happens, used to be engaged to the inventor's daughter is brought in to drive the giant bus which includes a one lane swimming pool and a one lane bowling alley.

My rating:  7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

This is simply hilarious.  It's so much in the vein of AIRPLANE! (1980) that you'd swear it was made by the same people but it wasn't, none of them.  If you don't like AIRPLANE! style comedies then you won't dig this one, either.  The jokes are all over the place, silly, ridiculous, absurd, broad, dumb and just plain fucking hilarious.  I saw this back in the early 90s and I remember it being funny but not this funny.  The beauty of the performances (and everyone in this is ridiculously funny) is that almost everyone is playing it straight and by almost, I think only the lounge piano player is being goofy (goddamn, he's funny).  Hell, even David Shire's wonderful score is playing it straight as if this were a big budget serious disaster flick.  And it doesn't matter one bit if you guess where the jokes are going, they're still funny.  While this isn't as multi-layered with jokes like AIRPLANE!, it's still got a lot of laughs.  It's an absurd premise with a big payoff.