Lizards and Lassos

This entry is in celebration of Legends of Western Cinema Week

The hosts of the event are: Along the Brandywine, Hamlette's Soliloquy and Meanwhile, in Rivendell.

 

A note: As usual, I am pushing the envelope here. Our hosts were looking for classic westerns, and I actually like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood and some other classic western actors. But I like to see just how far I can take the original theme and see if I can get a reaction. Thus, cowboys vs. dinosaurs. 

 

Dinosaurs crop up in the most unusual of circumstances.  The creatures dominated the landscape millions of years ago, but the pesky critters just seemed to be unwilling to let the past go.  

The first dinosaurs to appear on film were mostly set in prehistoric times, the actual dinosaur age. As near as I can tell, the first movie to have dinosaurs outside of their natural historic period was The Lost World, a 1925 silent film based on a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, he did publish stuff other than his most famous work featuring Sherlock Holmes). And several years later, in 1948, a similar story was filmed featuring dinosaurs on an Unknown Island. Both involved finding a heretofore unknown modern area of the earth that still had dinosaurs living on it.

Most of the films that came out during the history of dinosaurs fell into one of the two categories, prehistoric features or modern areas that still had some remnants. A couple of my favorites from the 70's The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot were set in the WWI era and featured a forgotten land under the icecaps, based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. You should check those out.

And we can't forget that Godzilla is basically a dinosaur that had been dormant for centuries but was resurrected by a nuclear bomb. And the Jurassic Park movies involved modern scientists using genetic material to recreate dinosaurs for a theme park.

Two movies that I watched way back in the 70's on UHF stations come to mind, though, which featured cowboys battling dinosaurs. Those more or less fit into that of the "modern times" category, despite the relative span of time between the movie release and the actual time period.  And they feature some rather "exotic" ways for the characters to deal with these historic anomalies.

 

 

 

Valley of the Gwangi  (1969):

   

In the pre-credits, the scene opens up with a group of people searching the desert for a lost friend. They find him, on the verge of dying, looking like he's been in some kind of monstrous fight.  The only thing he has is a bag with something in it squealing like the dickens, and his only word before dying is "Gwangi!" An old woman warns the leader of the search party to leave the bag and let whatever is in return to the valley from whence it came, but he just calls her a silly old fool and ignores her dire warning.

A Wild West rodeo comes in, making an appearance in a town in Mexico. The star of the show is also the host of the show, one T. J. Breckenridge (Gila Golan). T. J. has a trick pony show where she rides it on a diving board and jumps into a big vat of water. (Entertaining people was pretty easy back in those days).

 

Onto the scene comes a former lover of T. J., Tuck Kirby (James Franciscus). Tuck still has the hots for T. J., but holy ego-deflation, she rejects him. As well as his offer to buy out T. J.'s circus. Or at least her prize wonder horse that she uses in her diving trick. But T. J. is not impressed with Tuck or his offer.

 

Run out of town, so to speak, Tuck meets up with a British scientist,  Professor Bromley (Laurence Naismith),  out in the desert looking for dinosaur bones.  The professor shows Tuck a fossil he found which includes a footprint (or hoof print) of a creature Bromley refers to as an eohippus, an ancestor of the modern day horse, only the eohippus was much smaller. He relates to Tuck that his finances have grown slim in his quest to search for more proof that the eohippus existed alongside prehistoric man.

 

Meanwhile back at the circus a fellow circus hand, Carlos (Gustavo Rojo), {the same guy who told the old woman to go fly a kite in the opening} approaches T. J. and tries to convince her that this new exhibit he has brought her, referred to as "El Diablo" is the ticket to bigger fame and fortune. Tuck has come back, along with a young boy he has befriended, Lope (Curtis Arden). T. J. is still not receptive to Tuck's offer, but when Lope jumps into the bull ring to try to become an impromptu matador and finds himself in danger, Tuck jumps in to rescue him.  This act of heroism, of course, causes T. J. to immediately become re-enamored with Tuck. Enough so she decides to let Tuck see her new exhibit, "El Diablo" which turns out to be a real live eohippus!

 

Of course, Tuck sneaks in Bromley to have a look and leading to  visions of fame, fortune and a knighthood for Bromley. But other plans are in the works.  Professor Bromley meets the old foolish woman and her gypsy clan, who concoct a plan to steal the eohippus and return it to it's home. Of course, the old woman is only doing it to prevent a curse from falling upon her people, but Bromley is trying also the trick her in showing him the valley in which the eohippus was found.

 

Carlos, who tried to stop the act, is knocked out, but tells T. J. that Tuck was involved in the kidnapping. She and her partner give chase after Tuck, who is not involved, really, but is following Bromley and the clan. He catches up with Bromley who uses all his charms to convince Tuck to come in on his side; fame and fortune for Tuck and scientific notoriety for Bromley for a discovery of a hidden cache of prehistoric creatures that are bound to be in this hidden valley.

The gypsies release the eohippus and let him find his way home, but Tuck and the rest of the crew find it went into a hidden passage. On inspection they find it comes out in the hidden valley.  On coming into the valley they are attacked by a pterodactyl (flying dinosaur) . It looks like they have found a lost world of prehistorical creatures. But that's not the only creature. They also find an ornithominus, which is eventually attacked by an allosaurus (our titular "Gwangi").

The others are committed to get out of Dodge, but the professor, ever the scientist refuses to leave, at least until he comes face to face with Gwangi... In the mix also comes a stegosaurus. (It seems the producers and Ray Harryhausen (the stop motion animator of these creatures) decided to go all out on this endeavor.

 

 Despite the fact that Gwangi seems to be a destructive force to be reckoned with, the crew eventually captures it and takes it back to the circus, with visions of dollar signs dancing in their eyes. Obviously these people have never seen any of the previous films or even future films that pit a prehistoric behemoth against a public spectacle.  But, you know how all this is going to end don't you?

 

 

Ray Harryhausen was behind the stop motion in this endeavor. As usual, his work is pretty spectacular, taken in the context of the time it was made. Cinema goers today might be apt to laugh, since it doesn't compare to what can be done with CGI. 

 

 

The Beast from Hollow Mountain (1956): 

 In the beginning of the film we see three cowboys following a trail. Just in case you need to know what this movie is about, we get a voice over from the narrator:

"Deep in the back country of Mexico, there rises a grim and mysterious mountain, which is said to be hollow. It's interior has never been explored because, at it's base, lies an impassable swamp. The superstitious link of the hollow mountain and the swamp and their folk legends as places of evil... great evil. They tell of a strange animal from the dawn of creation that inhabits the area, coming forth to prowl and pillage only in time of drought. They tell of man and cattle disappearing without trace. But perhaps these are only tales.. tales told by simple people."

 

The three cowboys consist of Jimmy (Guy Madison) and Felipe (Carlos Rivas), co-owners of a cattle ranch, and Manuel (Jose Chavez). Manuel serves as the superstitious native in this piece.  He spouts the typical "we can't go there, we need to turn back, no one has ever come back alive" narrative we come to expect from the uneducated masses in these films.

 

Just after rescuing Felipe from a quicksand trap, Jimmy and Felipe find a dead cow, drowned in the swamp. Hot headed Felipe is convinced that rustlers are responsible for luring their cattle into the swamp, specifically Enrique Rios (Eduardo Noriega). Jimmy tells Felipe to stay calm and not use his gun instead of his brains.  Jimmy is going to town to visit the top dog, or alcalde, Don Pedro (Julio Villareal). 

While there, Enrique comes on the scene and we almost get our first fight but Don Pedro breaks it up. It seems that Enrique has it in for Jimmy not only because he is in competition for cattle sales, but Enrique's girlfriend / future wife is showing an interest in this American. Sarita (Patricia Medina) is showing way too much interest in Jimmy and Enrique thinks Jimmy is trying to move in on his woman.

 

In his effort to get Jimmy to throw in the towel Enrique has convinced Jimmy's farm hands to quit, ostensibly because of their superstitions about the haunted mountain nearby. But Jimmy gets Pancho (Pascual Garcia Pena) and his son, Panchito (Mario Navarro) to come on board. Jimmy and Felipe are still investigating the disappearance of cattle and are absolutely convinced that Enrique is behind all of the bad things that are happening.

 

 

But the truth of the matter is that there is another culprit. It takes  a full hour of the film for it's appearance in the film, but the real culprit behind the disappearances is an allosaurus, a remnant from prehistoric times. 

 

In terms of the concept of being believable, this creature, I have to note, is not the quality stop-motion animation that Ray Harryhausen  brought to the previous film in this blog entry. For one thing, this dinosaur can move like the wind. You might find yourself laughing at the chase scenes, and the closeups of just the feet of the creature are obviously some guy in dinosaur feet walkingaround. The creature makes it's way into the ranch and stampedes the cattle. Which helps Enrique's plan since he had actually planned a stampede anyway to cause Jimmy to lose his cattle.

Jimmy rides out to try to battle with the allosaurus and Enrique ends up showing up too, although not necessarily to help; he is still looking for a way to drive Jimmy out of Dodge. And of course our hero helps out Enrique when he gets in trouble and is on the verge of becoming the allosaurus' next meal. (Gotta wonder about this dinosaur... it seems to have an appetite that is never sated....)   

For the first hour of this movie it gradually plays out like a typical two reeler from the early cowboy pictures days. You get the good guy rancher, Jimmy, who just wants to make a decent go in the cattle business. You get the sneaky bad guy, Enrique, who just doesn't like the competition. You get a love interest and some sneaky goings on behind the scenes.  In fact, without the injection of a dinosaur into the mix, this could easily be mistaken for one of those generic westerns that the low-rent studios like Monogram and Mascot and Republic studios put out in the 30's and 40's.

The film was originally conceived as an idea by Willis O'Brien of King Kong fame, but was shelved for years. When it finally got a green light, O'Brien, who was still alive at the time, was considered for the job of special effects, but it eventually went to another team of artists. 

Beast will never be mistaken for a truly high quality film. The monster itself is pretty shoddy and the acting of the humans never really gets above a level of adequate. But if you like those old poverty ow westerns, the western part of the movie is decent enough. My only issue is that, as mentioned above, that dinosaur seems to be pretty damn quick. I kept waiting for it to roar "Epa! Epa! Epa! Andale! Andale! Andale! Arriba! Arriba! Arriba!" like the cartoon character Speedy Gonzalez. Which wouldn't have necessarily been out of place since this movie was an American and Mexican co-production, and filmed in Mexico to boot.

Well, folks, the old Plymouth is warmed up and ready to make the run home. Gotta detour a little south to avoid that swamp, but I think I might make it.  Drive safely.

Quiggy

 

  

Witty Outlaws

This is my entry in the William Goldman Blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room

I have stated before that I am a director groupie.  My favorite directors include John Carpenter, Marin Scorcese, Stanley Kubrick, Ron Howard and Rob Reiner.  But directors would just be nobodies without a good script to with which to work.  I admit I never paid much attention to the scriptwriter's credit in movies however, until I saw The Princess Bride.

I loved the movie, and the dialogue just zinged.  So I began to check out past credits for the screenwriter, William Goldman.  I found out that he was a two-time Oscar winner, for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men, both of which I had seen, but well before I recognized that scripts made a movie better.

Goldman started out as a novelist and migrated to Hollywood as some novelists do to be a fixture on the movie set.  While not all of the movies he wrote the screenplay play for were fantastic (Memoirs of an Invisible Man, anyone?), it wasn't entirely the fault of Goldman.  (Even Invisible Man has some good dialogue).

Goldman's best work was when he was adapting his own novels.  Magic, Heat, and the aforementioned The Princess Bride among them.  The Princess Bride novel reads kind of like a movie adaptation until you realize he wrote the novel some 15 years earlier.

I like All the President's Men, even though he didn't really have much to work with as far as dialogue went.  But Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has about as much quotable dialogue as the Princess Bride.  And you'll be remembering it long after you have finished watching the movie.

And it could've been pulled off with any number of leads, but the movie scored big time when it landed Paul Newman and Robert Redford for the leads.  Along with guest appearances by great character actors, the highlight of which is Strother Martin, the movie made a big splash.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969):

In the late 1890's Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) is scoping out a bank for potential robbery.  Meanwhile The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) is playing blackjack in a saloon (and if you have quick eyes or good ears you will notice one of the players is Sam Elliott in possibly his first big screen role).  After a brief tense confrontation with one of the players accusing Sundance of cheating, the two take off for their hideout.

Back at the hideout there is a confrontation in store.  Butch is ostensibly the leader of the gang, but Harvey Logan (Ted "Lurch" Cassidy) has eyes on taking over.  He challenges Butch to a fight.

It turns out that Harvey had an idea to rob the Flyer, a train both on the going and coming routes, which Butch thinks is a pretty good idea.  They rob the train on the going with an exchange with a young dedicated guardsman named Woodcock (George Furth).  They hideout in a nearby town where an industrious sheriff tries to marshal a posse to go after them, unaware that the culprits are in the building above him.

While Butch fools around with the whores in the whorehouse Sundance goes off looking for a woman of his own.  He finds her, but as it turns out Etta Place (Katherine Ross) is already involved with the two.

Later, the gang pulls it's second attempt on the Flyer.  Finding an extremely difficult safe, Butch calls for more dynamite to blow it.  He ends up blowing the entire railroad car to smithereens, scattering the money everywhere.

The fly in the ointment, however, is the arrival of a second train which has what is called a "Super Posse".  As Butch an Sundance and the remaining gang take it on the lam, they split up, with Butch and Sundance going one direction and the rest going another.

Butch: "How many of them are following us?"
Sundance: "All of them."
Butch "ALL of them?" (turning and pointing to the rest of the gang) " What's the matter with those guys?"

The pair determine that the "Super Posse" consists of several well known lawmen.  They run but are ended up cornered on a mountain overlooking a river.  Their only options are to fight it out or surrender.  Until Butch comes up with a better idea...

After their narrow escape, the pair head to New York with Etta, and eventually to Bolivia.  Where they revert to their old ways of robbing banks.  With some rather inept first attempts since neither of them speak Spanish.  They have to be taught rudimentary Spanish by Etta.

Well, eventually the law in Bolivia is on the trail of the pair, known as "Los Bandidos Yanquis", so they come to the conclusion that they need to go straight and get legitimate jobs.  They take on jobs as guards for Percy Garris (Strother Martin), a mine owner who is consistently getting robbed of his payroll.

But on the trip Percy is killed and the bandits corner Butch and Sundance.  They give up the payroll, but later get the drop on the bandits and take the money back.  Deciding that the legal life is not much fun, they decide to go back to robbing.  But Etta has had enough and leaves them.  A final scene occurs as, after they have robbed another bank they are cornered in an abandoned building.

The great thing about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is that the script makes it all worthwhile (not to mention two actors who could pull off the repartee with such panache).  Goldman has such an ear for dialogue the movie is a treat to listen to, even if you aren't actually watching it.

Well folks, time to saddle up and head home.  Drive safely.

Quiggy

South of the Border

This is my entry in the Rock Hudson Blogathon hosted by In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood and Love Letters to Old Hollywood.

The Undefeated (1969):

The Civil war has ended.  Unfortunately for Col. John Henry Thomas (John Wayne), the news comes a couple of days late.  His cadre of Union soldiers has just demolished another cadre of Confederate soldiers.  Thomas is distraught over the needless slaughter of men who should have lived to an older age.

Thomas and a group of loyal companions decide to round up a herd of wild stallions, the goal being to sell the herd to the States.  Thomas is joined by a cast of soldiers that include many names of which you have probably heard; Roman Gabriel as Blue Boy, the adopted Indian son of Thomas; Ben Johnson, a frequent guest star in Wayne movies, as Shortgrub, Thomas's second-hand man; Dub Taylor as the cook McCartney (That's MR. McCartney to you...).  The men round up horses and prepare to sell them.

But the people who represent the United States are trying to back out of the deal.  They are only prepared to take 500 of the 3000 horses Thomas and his crew have captured.  They also try to weasel out on the agreed upon price of $35 a head, instead insisting on $25 a head.   But Thomas insists it's all or nothing, and at the previously agreed upon price to boot.  He instead decides to take a counter offer from representatives of Emperor Maximillian in Mexico, and heads to Mexico with his herd.

Meanwhile, Col. James Langdon (Rock Hudson), of the former Confederate States has decided there is no use in living in a country that doesn't meet his standards and decides to pack up his former crew and their families and go to Mexico themselves, to offer their services to Emperor Maximillian. 

He has with him a cast of his own famous names like Jan-Michael Vincent as Lt. Bubba Wilkes, the potential husband of his daughter; Merlin Olsen as Little George, his burly blacksmith;  and Bruce Cabot as his First Sergeant, Newby.

Langdon burns down his ranch, rather than sell it to carpetbaggers, or leave it for them to take over and goes on a trek towards the border with his crew.  Both Langdon and Thomas have to deal with agents who are determined to prevent them from crossing the border, but both end up safely in Mexico.  (Or so it seems they are safe, anyway, but you know it's not going to end so quickly, don't you...?)

Eventually the two groups do hook up.  At first there is some animosity after Langdon learns that Thomas was on the other side.  But the two become somewhat partners as the former Union soldiers band together to help the former Confederates defend themselves against a band of Mexican banditos.  Later, Langdon invites Thomas and his buddies to a 4th of July celebration.  Which  ultimately breaks out in an old-fashioned, all-out (but good natured) brawl.

But all is not well in Mexico.  The Juaristas (the rebels who oppose Maximillan and his French rule) are on the rampage, and before this movie is over, both the Thomas contingent and the Langdon forces are going to have to come to terms that Maximillan's days are numbered as ruler of Mexico.  There is of course a rousing ending, and both forces do end up friends t the end.  Butwhat else would you expect from a Wayne movie?

There are a whole host of other recognizable faces in this movie other than those mentioned above.  Lee Meriwether plays Langdon's wife, but you will (or should) al;so be able to spot Royal Dano, John Agar, Richard Mulligan, Paul Fix and a host of other character actors who showed up in dozens of TV and movie westerns (and other genres of film).   See if you can count them all. 


Time to saddle up and head back to the ranch.  Drive safely, folks.  And watch out for banditos and rebels on the way home.

Quiggy

Blooming in the Shadows

This is my entry in the Wonderful Ingrid Bergman Blogathon hosted by The Wonderful World of Cinema.

Cactus Flower was a stage play before it became a movie.  One of the most interesting facts I learned about it was the fact that Lauren Bacall had played the part of Stefanie Dickinson on stage and, quite naturally, expected to be offered the part when it was due to be filmed.  But producer Mike Frankovich decided he wanted someone a bit younger than Bacall, who was 45 at the time.  So who does he get?  Ingrid Bergman.  (Bergman was almost 10 years older than Bacall...)  Needless top say Bacall was pissed.  But it eventually worked out because the two kissed and made up and eventually worked together on Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

Ingrid Bergman had a career that spanned 50 years.  Even in her old age she was still an attractive woman and she passed on that attractiveness to her daughter, Isabella Rosselini.  She could still carry a movie, all the way up until she died.  Witness her performance in her last film, the TV movie  A Woman Called Golda (about Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, for which she won an Emmy).  She certainly did well in Cactus Flower, although only her co-star, Goldie Hawn, was nominated for an Oscar.  But Bergman could just as well have been nominated, too.

Cactus Flower (1969):

The truth about the matter is I don't understand how Toni Simmons (Goldie Hawn) can be infatuated with dentist Dr. Julian Winston (Walter Matthau).  He must be one hell of a charmer in bed.  Matthau plays an inveterate bachelor and ladies man who has a thing going with a girl half his age. (If only I could be so lucky...)  The thing is he's told her that he is married and has three kids.  Except he's not really married and there are no kids.  But there is a method to his madness.  Such as it is.  By making her believe he is married, he doesn't have to commit to a long-lasting relationship.

Except that Toni tries to commit suicide because she's in love with the big lug but he keeps standing her up, she thinks, for his wife.  Fortunately for Toni, her neighbor Igor (Richard "Rich" Lenz)  happens to smell the gas in her apartment and breaks in to save her.  But Toni had sent a letter to the dentist telling him of her plans to commit suicide.  Which his assistant, Stefanie (Ingrid Bergman) did not give him right away.  When he gets the letter he immediately cancels the rest of his appointments and rushes to her apartment.

Upon realizing that she is still alive and coming to the conclusion he can't keep up the charade any longer, he tells her he is going to marry her.  After he divorces his wife.  Which he doesn't have.  (he can't tell her he was never really married, could he?  Then she'd know he was a liar, and that would be bad...)  So now the doc desperately needs someone to pretend that she is his wife so he can divorce her.

His solution?  Get his assistant to pose as his wife.  But unbeknownst to him, Stefanie is secretly in love with him.  And she has some misgivings about the whole charade.  But she ends up going though with it, telling Toni that she and Julian, as man and wife, no longer love each other and that she, Stephanie, approves of Julian's plans to "divorce" her.  Unfortunately, she doesn't really do a really good job of convincing Toni that it's all over between them.  Toni is convinced that Julian's "wife" still loves him.  (Which of course, she does.)

If you are the least bit romantic, you will feel for Stefanie.  Here is a woman who is a shy "cactus flower", a woman who has an unrequited love for a man but has too much self respect to put herself out there.  Bergman is great as the woman who goes to any lengths to please the man she loves including going against her better judgement to help him maintain a lie.  You only hope it all works out in the end.  (Which end I won't reveal, but I will tell you it is satisfying.)

Well, folks, time to fire up the old Plymouth and head home.  To my lonely apartment.  Where I don't have a 20 something girl waiting for me.  Or even Goldie Hawn, which would be just as nice...  Drive home safely.

Quiggy

The Life of (Dexter) Riley

This is my entry in the Kurt Russell Blogathon hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Return to the 80's.

Kurt Russell has been around for decades.  People my age can probably first remember seeing him as the Jungle Boy who showed up in an episode of Gilligan's Island.  Or maybe even earlier.  He had a handful of appearances on TV shows in the early sixties, beginning with an appearance on Dennis the Menace in 1962.  And although he was in at least 15 movies and TV shows over the first 7 years of his acting career, he didn't really hit the big time until he was cast as Dexter Riley, a student at Medfield College.

Dexter was a college student at the institution who was constantly in dutch with Dean Higgins (Joe Flynn), mainly because he was a supreme screw-up.  He and a cast of fellow ne'er-do-wells were constantly on the verge of being kicked out of the university.  These were not the Omega fraternity malcontents of Animal House (it was Disney, after all), but they did not get on the Dean's List, either.  The core group of misfits are probably just winging it to avoid the draft.  (Although in Disney films, war never really exists, unless it was to glorify heroes of the American Revolution or the Civil War.  Vietnam, to my knowledge never was even mentioned in Disney films at least during the actual conflict...)

Russell made three movies with Disney as Dexter.   I don't remember a hell of a lot of my childhood experiences at the movies, but I can vaguely remember seeing The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.  I would have been about 7 or 8 at the time it came out, but it might have been a re-release and was showing a year or two later.  The Dexter series was my guilty pleasure as I grew older and me and my compadres thought we had outgrown Disney movies.  I still enjoy Dexter even 50 years later.

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969):

The "bad boys" of Medfield College indulge in their favorite pastime, that of bugging the board meeting of the university.  This was the late 60's, of course, and it wasn't James Bond, so "bugging" essentially comprised of setting up a two-way walkie talkie, one hidden in a plant in the board room with the mike open, and the other with the group who would listen in to the proceedings.

Dean of Medfield College, Dean Higgins (Joe Flynn), expounds on how the budget of the college can ill afford the $20,000 outlay for a computer.  I know you can buy one personal computer for about 1/50th of that these days, and I'm not entirely sure that $20,000 would have been enough for the room size contraption that passed for computers in the late 60's, but this is Disney, so accuracy is not a factor.

Anyway old fuddy-duddy miser Dean Higgins wants to spend the money that could be used for a new computer on such things as sidewalks and such, despite the objections of his science professor, Quiggley (William Schallert).  Dexter and his buddies have a plan, though.  They get in touch with A. J. Arno (Caesar Romero), a local wealthy business man, and convince him to let the college have his computer.  Unbeknownst to everyone, however, Arno is wealthy not from his business dealings, but because he is running illegal gambling joints around town.

Arno comes through for the guys however, and the computer is set up in a lab on campus.  Dexter, while fiddling around with it, however, gets fried by an electric storm, which somehow downloads the entire contents of the memory banks of the computer into his head.  It also gives him incredible abilities to absorb other knowledge, such as an ability to learn languages just by reading a book, and to garner the contents of an encyclopedia by speed reading it.

With dollar bill signs lighting up in his eyes Dean Higgins sees Dexter as his ticket for the college to win a trivia challenge and for once and for all putting his nemesis, Dean Collingsgood (Alan Hewitt) of nearby State.  But Dexter insists that instead of fellow big brains on the team, he wants his buddies, none of which are much smarter than a package of Juicy Fruit.  (How these guys every made it past the entrance exams is a mystery, but in 1969 you had to do something to keep from being sent to Vietnam...)

Things go well for the Medfield team even though Dexter ends up having to do all the answers to the questions himself, since his buddies can't even reasonably take a cue from him on how to answer.  But a question that involves the answer "AppleJack" triggers a memory of the illicit records in the computer concerning Arno's gambling ring, and Arno and company realize that Dexter is a threat to their misdeeds and kidnap him (with the intention of disposing of him).

His buddies realize what has happened and devise a plan to rescue Dexter.  Hijinks ensue, as is typical of this type of Disney fare, with an ultimate car chase that is a riot, and Dexter is safely (sort of) delivered to the studio where he can be on the quiz program.  But not all is well that ends well, as Dexter suffered a concussion during the rescue and is gradually losing his grip on the computer knowledge he garnered.  Stay tuned for the end, because it is worth it.

Now You see Him, Now You Don't (1972):

The next film in the series we finally discover that Dexter is studying chemistry and has a wacky plan to develop the formula for invisibility.  But his efforts are dismissed as a flight of fancy by Dean Higgins.  The dean has his sights on a fellow student, Druffle (Ed Begley, Jr.), to win an award being offered by philanthropist Timothy Forsythe (Jim Backus).  Druffle's experiments with bumblebees is thought to be the saving grace for Higgins to put Collingsgood in his place once again.

Meanwhile, A. J. Arno has been released from prison (where he went at the end of the previous movie for his illegal gambling operation).  Arno has obtained the college's mortgage, but his intentions are not altruistic.  Fortunately Dexter's experiment has, through unforeseen circumstances, produced a real viable invisibility formula.  Using the formula, Dexter and his buddy Schuyler (Michael McGreevey) sneak into Arno's offices and discover Arno's true plan; to foreclose on the college and use the land as another gambling mecca.

After revealing the nefarious plans, Higgins realizes his hopes are hinged on winning the Forsythe award, but Forsythe has turned down Medfield College as an entrant in the contest because he doesn't think much of Medfield's potential.  So Higgins enlists to play a round of golf with Forsythe.  But Higgins is an incompetent player (he has never even played, although he touts himself up enough that Forsythe allows him to play.  Using the invisibility formula again, Dexter manages to help Higgins win the round and Forsythe agrees to let Medfield back in the contest.

But Higgins thinks his golfing ability is good enough to win a contest with the pros and enters a tournament with a couple of pros.  But without Dexter being on hand, it is evident that Higgins is exactly what he is, an incompetent duffer.  Arno sees this and realizes there is something funny going on and has his henchman spy on Dexter, where he discovers the truth about the invisibility formula.  Arno plans to use the invisibility formula to hijack a bunch of money from the bank.  Hijinks ensue once again as the ubiquitous car chase with Dexter and friends trying to stop Arno, who now has Dexter's invisibility formula and makes not only he and his henchman invisible, but ultimately the getaway car, too.  Once again, stick around for the end, because you won't want to miss how Dean Higgins reacts when he discovers that Dexter's formula is not really a fraud.

The Strongest Man in the World (1975):

The boys in the chemistry lab are up to their usual antics, sneaking a cow into the lab for experiments.  Schuyler has been working on a formula that will increase the potentia to make fatter healthier cows.  But all is not bright in Medfield.  It seems that the college is on the skids financially and Dean Higgins is about to be ousted.  The Board of Regents wants some new blood.

Higgins desparately pleads for a 30 day reprieve to try to get things turned around.  Although what he could manage to do in thirty days is anybody's guess.  His first try is to fire Professor Quiggley (William Schallert, who was absent for school when they filmed the second feature.).  The science professor has been too lax in his spending habits for the college, at least in Higgins' mind.

But an accident in the chemistry lab causes Schuyler's cereal mix to become very interesting.  It gives it an incredible power boost. Schuyler's mutt Brutus, which is a shrimpy little terrier being bullied by a Doberman, eats some of the cereal and then barges down the door to chase the Doberman.  Dexter also ate some of the ceral and found his strength increased exponentially, too.

Since eating the enhanced cereal is seen as the key to the new strength, Dean Higgins sees dollar bills again.  He contacts the owner of the Crumbly cereal company, Aunt Harriet Crumbly (Eve Arden) and proposes a show of the potential.  After virtually destroying the board room, Higgins and  Crumbly concoct a plan that has potential.  They will have a televised weightlifting contest between Medfield and it's arch-rival, State.

Coincidentally enough, Crumbly's rival in the cereal business, Kirwood Krinkle (Phil Silvers) and the Krinkle cereal company are big supporters of State.  So a televised match between the State weightlifting team and what Medfield can manage to field has the potential of being a media advertising extravaganza.  Of course, Medfield doesn't really have a weightlifting team, but Dexter and his pals, along with Schuyler's super cereal think they have the game in the bag.

One of Harriet's board members is a traitor and lets Krinkle in on the secret.  Krinkle gets in contact with A. J. Arno (can't they keep this guy behind bars?) and Arno is hired to sneak in to the Medfield chemistry lab and steal the formula.  Unfortunately the Keystone Kops syndrome affects them and they are unsuccessful.  So they fall back on plan B.  Kidnap Schuyler and find out what the formula is from the source.

But the information Schuyler gives them is faulty as it turns out that, really, what caused the increased strength was not the cereal concoction at all.  Will Dexter and company solve the riddle in time to save the day?  (Foolish question, it's Disney after all)  But the final race to save the day is again worth a watch.

I guess I should have stayed in college.  Maybe by now I would be rich from my invention of a device to rescue cats from trees without actually having to climb the tree.  Drive home safely folks.

Quiggy

Risque Business

This one is dedicated to Chris (Angelman), a fellow blogger, who has inspired me to check out more than a few movies I might never have watched otherwise.

***Note to the Fainthearted:  Both of these movies are VERY adult-oriented.  The movies herein were originally rated X and, although they have been since retroactively rated R, they could be construed as very offensive to some of my more conservative readers.  I don't intend to intentionally try to glorify either one, just make some comments on the background and the content of the movies themselves, but they are graphic in their content.  It goes without saying, if you decide to watch either one, the kids should be put to  bed early first.  You have been warned.***



In the early years of cinema, pretty much "anything goes" (within reason) was the adage that movie producers followed.  In retrospect, even the most audacious and prurient aspects of the movies in the "pre-Code" days are pretty tame, if you watch movies today.  But there was an outcry over the violence and sex as it was portrayed, and "glorified", in the eyes of its detractors  in the movies ca. 1930.  Hollywood chose to be pro-active on the outcry and created a set of rules (known as the Hays Code, after its writer,  Will Hays, then president of the MPAA).

These rules addressed many issues that were being expressed by concerned citizens about the way things were presented in the theaters.  Some of the concerns were how violence and the lawbreakers in movies seemed to be glorified (in the eyes of the detractors).  Sex was another issue.  Moral decency in general was what was wanted by the opposition.  So in 1934, there began to be enforced a code of decency designed to appease these people.  And you had to abide by these rules or your movie wouldn't get released in a manner that would guarantee you a wide release to the public.

But by the early 60's, this began to be a problem for some in Hollywood.  Some directors would push the envelope so to speak, trying to get things in their movies that the code prevented, but they felt compromised their artistic integrity by leaving out.  (It's up to you to decide whether anything they left in was "artistic".)  Eventually, Hollywood and the MPAA had to abandon the Code altogether, and instituted instead a ratings system.

Originally these ratings consisted of four: G, M (later replaced by GP, then PG), R and X (later replaced by NC-17).  PG-13 was added in the 80's in response to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which was considered to graphic, violence-wise,  for PG, but not entirely worth pushing it into an R-rating.

X (or NC-17) originally did not mean, entirely, a movie of a provocative sexual nature.  In fact, X was never really an officially recognized rating in the beginning.  It was what movies which did not receive official MPAA ratings or its "Seal of Approval"  were rated (signified by one of the three tamer ratings).  Although this eventually came to mean sexual content, other things might push the Ratings Board to not approve the movie for  recognition, including language, drug use and aberrational behavior.  But if you are of a certain age, say 40 or over, you couldn't be faulted for thinking X was strictly for sex movies.

 ***Confession: In the early 1980's I went to a drive-in to see a horror movie that had been rated X, thinking I'd get to see zombies having sex.  The only thing I got was an upset stomach, as it was pretty graphic, but not for any sex (of which there was none)  It still remains the ONLY movie I ever left in mid-showing.***

Myra Breckinridge (1970)

My first impression on viewing this movie, which I checked out from my local library, was that the library must have no idea what they got.  I'm not easily shocked.  After all, I have seen and even  liked A Clockwork Orange, and truth be told, that one is probably even raunchier on some levels than this movie (it was originally rated X, too.).  I can't even imagine what went through the executives minds when they saw the final output.  If the commentary on my DVD can be believed, however, there was a cloud of smoke over the entire production, and I don't mean cigarette smoke... it would explain a lot of the bizarrenes that floats throughout the movie.

In the beginning we have Myron Breckinridge (Rex Reed),  a gay man who is undergoing a sex change operation.  John Carradine plays the surgeon performing the operation.

The surgeon extraordinaire

And he must be one HELL of a good surgeon, and it must one HELL of a good job, because Myron comes out the other side as... Raquel Welch???

Myron and Myra

Now called "Myra", (although Reed as Myron makes quite a few appearances, which will confuse you, unless you realize that it is the inner self of Myra coming to the fore...at least, I THINK that's what its supposed to be), she starts out on her goal.

Myra (again)

What's her goal?  That's a good question.  I'll let Myra (Myron) herself state it:

"My goal is the destruction of the last vestigial traces of manhood, in order to realign the sexes, while decreasing the population, thus increasing human happiness and preparing humanity for its next stage"

In other words, pervert what is considered normal, and make normality a perversion.... or something like that.  (Hey, don't blame me.  I haven't smoked pot in many years, and I doubt I could figure it out even if I was stoned.)


Myra goes to the Buck Loner Studios in Hollywood where she tells Uncle Buck (John Huston), a former cowboy star and owner of his own studio, that she is Myron's widow.  She claims that through that marriage she is privileged to half of the Buck Loner empire, by virtue of being married to the son of Buck's sister, Gertrude.  Since Buck knows that Myron was not into women, he immediately disbelieves her and sets out to prove it.  But in the meantime he gives her a job in his acting studio, teaching "posture and empathy".  (If you have to ask what those two subjects have to do with each other, you aren't paying attention.  Go back up to the last sentence of the  first paragraph of this movie review...)

Buck Loner doing his impression of the Flying Nun

Myra goes about trying to achieve her goal, which includes seducing both halves of a straight couple in one of her classes, Rusty and Mary Ann (played by Roger Herren and then newcomer Farrah Fawcett).  Meanwhile she still has to keep old Uncle Buck on his toes, who keeps trying to discredit her claim to half of his empire.

Sweet innocent Rusty

Sweet innocent Mary Ann

Also included in the cast is Mae West who, by this time in her life, looked like a badly made kewpie doll, but she still has the acting chops that got her started in the industry 50 years earlier  (At least that's what I'm calling them.).  She plays Leticia Van Allen, a casting agent, but she only deals with men, if you get the idea.  Tom Selleck made one of his first appearances (sans mustache) as one of her stable of actors. ("stable"... Gives a whole new meaning to the word "stud" doesn't it?)

Leticia and her stud of the moment

Along the way in this confusing romp West gets to sing a song (it was in the contract).  Otherwise he appearance in the movie only seems to serve as an excuse for backbiting between Myra and Leticia (and according to the rumor mill, West and Welch did more than a little backbiting behind the scenes.)

I won't give away how the movie ends.  (For one thing, I'm not entirely sure it DOES end...maybe its still running on my DVD player and I just don't know it.)  In case you couldn't tell, this movie is ranked as one of the worst movies ever made.  I can't say anything to that, because many of the other movies on lists I've seen are just plain bad.  Bad acting, bad script, bad directing (think anything done by Ed Wood...)  No one's work in this movie is really worthy of being rated as "bad acting" (except MAYBE Mae West who is basically a caricature of her persona from years before).  Bad script?  Well, I never read the book, so I have no idea how it was originally written, although I have a great deal of respect for what I HAVE read by Gore Vidal (the author of the original novel).  Bad directing?  Now there you could make a case.  It is relevant that Michael Sarne never was asked to direct another Hollywood movie, as much for the fact that this movie bombed and lost a bucket full of money as anything else.

It garnered a lot of bad reviews at the time.  My favorite quote is from Time magazine which says the movie, supposedly a comedy, is "about as funny as a child molester".  And, truth be told, I didn't get half of what was probably supposed to be considered "comedic" in the movie.

There was a lot of controversy upon the release of the movie, including a couple of lawsuits.  See, the director interspersed the movie with cuts from older films, the point being to emphasize the emotions in the scene, I guess.  But some of the real people (older actors and actresses) in those clips took great offense to the use of their images in such a film and sued.   Loretta Young and Shirley Temple's images were the issue, and I guess they didn't take too kindly to the film content and how their images were being used in the context of the film.

Its a wonder some of the actual stars didn't sue over the use of their images in the movie.  Then again none of the major names in the movie is really surprising, considering their output in the same time period.  John Huston in particular stands out.  He seems to be a slimy character, but then you have to remember he was also a VERY slimy character in Chinatown.  

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Joe Buck (Jon Voight) is a young man with stars in his eyes of going to New York City and becoming rich, doing the only thing at which he thinks he has any skill; being a sexual escort (male hooker).  .Joe is a very naive individual.  And from the start he has no real idea what he is doing.  His first few attempts are colossal failures.

The wide-eyed newcomer

The first time he actually thinks he's picked up a potential client (Sylvia Miles) it actually turns out she is in the same line of work.  One of the rare funny scenes in the movie is when both are trying to surreptitiously bring up the subject of payment.  She goes off on a tear, berating him for asking for money from her.  (She tells him she is 28 years old.  Miles was actually in her late 30's at the time of this movie, and she looks like she's in her middle 40's in this scene, so if she is 28, I'm a recent 18 year old high school graduate...)  Joe, embarrassed, pays her and leaves.

The old hooker with delusions of youth

 While at a bar, Joe meets Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a street hustler, who gives him some advice that he should get a go-between (pimp).

Ratso and Joe meet

 He takes $20 of Joe's money, promising him to hook him up with a person (John McGiver) to help him.  But it turns out that the guy is a street preacher who seeks to convert Joe.  Joe leaves and goes looking for Ratso.

Saving Joe's soul

After several days of wandering the streets looking for Ratso and sitting alone in his hotel room, not making any money, Joe is locked out of his room, due to his delinquency in paying his bill. Eventually Joe runs across Ratso, but Ratso is broke.  He offers Joe to let him stay at his place, which turns out to be an abandoned building.

Life in the desolate side of town

You can't help but feel for these two characters, despite the seediness of their existence.  Joe scrounges money any way he can, including selling blood, while Ratso shows him how to steal stuff.  The two develop a relationship, and because deep down Joe is really a caring person, he is concerned for the gradual deterioration of Ratso's health.  Ratso's dream is to get out of New York and go to Florida, where he believes his health will improve.  Meanwhile Ratso struggles to carry on, and does so in the best fashion he can.

"I'm walking here.  I'm WALKING here!"

Like the previous movie, there are several intercut scenes, some showing Joe's life as a kid, and some seeming to be drug-influenced intercuts which have nothing to do with the movie other than emphasizing the emotion of the scene.  Jennifer Salt, daughter of the screenwriter, shows up as the girlfriend of Joe in some of the scenes in his earlier life. Joe is more or less shown to be a product of his upbringing.  He was raised by a grandmother. The grandmother was either a slut or a kept woman herself.

You don't really get too much of the background of Ratso, since the focus is on Joe, but we do find out that his father was an uneducated immigrant.  The two visit his grave during one scene.  As Ratso's health gradually worsens, Joe's friendship becomes stronger and eventually he does what he has to do to get Ratso and himself to Florida.

On the way

Spoiler Alert! Jump to the next paragraph if you don't want to know how it ends: This movie is stark all the way through and if you are expecting a happy ending, you are doomed to disappointment.  Although Joe and Ratso do arrive in Florida, it is ultimately too late for Ratso as he dies on the bus just as they arrive in Miami.  You can see the sadness in Joe's eyes as he closes his friend's eyes so people will think he is just asleep.

The movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture (the only X-rated movie to achieve that accomplishment).  It also won for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Both Voight and Hoffman got nominated for Best Actor, but lost to John Wayne who finally got a long deserved Oscar for True Grit.  And believe it or not, 40+ year old trying to pass for 28 Sylvia Miles got nominated for Best Supporting Actress (although, personally, I think the Academy was off its rocker for that one. Fortunately Goldie Hawn took home the trophy, however.)

This movie still holds up, even after almost 50 years. But don't take that warning at the header too lightly.  Like a previously reviewed movie here, A Clockwork Orange, it is not a movie for the average family-oriented person.  Exercise caution!

Time to fire up the old Plymouth and head home.  After these two movies, I think I'll avoid Hollywood and New York City and just stay in the relatively saner part of small-town Texas.

Quiggy