Semiquincentennial Movie Project #26: The Werewolf of Washington

 

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

Week #26: Washington, D.C. -

 

 

 

The  capitol of the United States, Washington, D.C., was established on July 6, 1790 

Details about Washington, D.C.:

Even though it is not a state, the city does have an- 

Official bird: wood thrush

Official flower: cherry blossom 

Official tree: scarlet oak

Additional historical trivia:

It took over 150 years, but in 1938 Washington, D.C. finally got it's own official "state" flag.

If you look among the gargoyles at the Washington National Cathedral, you'll see a unique one...

 

To date, only one U.S. President is buried in Washington, D.C., Woodrow Wilson.

Surprisingly, the Folger Shakespeare Library in D.C. that has more information about the Bard than any other site in the world.

Residents of D.C. have only been able to vote in Presidential elections since 1961.

While it may not have the most museums of any city in the U.S., D.C. does of the most museums per square mile. And the most visited ones, too.

Famous people born in D.C.: J. Edgar Hoover, Al Gore, John Philip Sousa, Marvin Gaye, Stephen Colbert, Kevin Durant, Goldie Hawn and "bad m-f-er" Samuel L. Jackson  

 

The Werewolf of Washington (1973): 

All current political insinuations aside, this is unabashedly a satire of the then current administration in the White House, President Richard Nixon. It is obvious from the very beginning that the film makers were making a political statement. More than once the film's President echoes Nixon's oft repeated statement:  "Let me make this perfectly clear..." And, after the death of the werewolf, one character echoes, or at least steals, a line from Nixon's past: "Well, you guys won't have Jack Whittier to kick around anymore" (And even the name of the main character is a jab at Nixon... Whittier was the name of the California town that Nixon claimed as his hometown...) Also, Jack lives in the Watergate Hotel, and we all know the story of that famous landmark in relation to Nixon.

The movie is classed as a "horror / comedy", but to tell the truth the horror is taking a back seat to the comical scenes, even the ones that may or may not be intended as "comical". One thing in particular is the transformation of Jack from man to werewolf. The budget must have been very very low. The film makers relied on the outdated, even by 1970's standards, of stop-motion and dissolves. It is hardly even distinguishable from the way the transformation occurred in the 1941 classic Lon Chaney film.

There are many times when the film jags in it's presentation, giving an impression of breaks in the film (and maybe that was only because that's all the studio has left of the original film... I can't say, but I do think it's highly likely that the budget for the film was so low that they couldn't afford to have seamless transitions.) 

Stockwell doesn't help much in the way the film comes off. It's not as if he is just starting out early in his career, however. By this time Stockwell had been around for over 25 years, and he had several decent roles during that time. It's just that he is seemingly at a loss how to play the character. At times he is guilty of "playing to the back of the theater"; overacting out the wazoo. Alternately there are some scenes where his acting is so laid-back that it almost feels as if he is comatose.

At times I think the scriptwriter did not know what to do with his character. There is a lot of stuff that just doesn't click. For one thing, the setup. Jack Whittier (Dean Stockwell) is serving time as a liaison in Europe, specifically Hungary, for some reason, I think it is supposed to be because he had been having an affair with the President's daughter.  But he gets a call to return to the U.S. because he is going to take over as the Press Secretary for the President (Biff MacGuire).

 

 

 

Before he can get the hell out of Dodge (or Budapest, as the case may be), Jack runs into a werewolf. He manages to kill the werewolf with a convenient silver tipped cane he has. (The only way you can kill a werewolf is with silver.) But he is bitten by the werewolf before it (he) dies. And we all know if you survive a werewolf attack you are automatically gifted with the curse of becoming a werewolf yourself.

Before he leaves Budapest he encounters the mother of the man (werewolf) he killed. She is apparently not too distraught over it. Instead she gives him a veiled warning that he is destined to become the next in line for the position of King Wolf. There is some lead up to his leaving, including having some generic official telling him that it was all his imagination, since even the body of the man (former werewolf) has disappeared. Jack believes all of this is some sort of plot by the Communists (although why they would go to this kind of trouble would not make sense anywhere but in a Hollywood movie...) 

Back in Washington, Jack takes on his new job as the President's top PR man. But he keeps having this problem. He sees a pentagram on the hand of people who will eventually become the next victim of the werewolf. Initially the victims are (conveniently) people who are in direct opposition of the President politically. Although they don't really flesh out the potential of the implications of that coincidence. One of them is obviously supposed to represent Margaret Mitchell and another is probably supposed to be Katharine Graham of the Washington Post. 

 

The fist victim, the Margaret Mitchell parody, called Mrs. Captree (Nancy Andrews), is attacked as she stumbles drunkenly through a parking lot late at night. The next scene shows a woman returning to her car after grocery shopping and finds the body in a grocery cart next to her car. And you can't help but wonder... it's broad daylight now. Didn't she see that body when she parked her car at the beginning? 

Concerning the Katharine Graham parody, called Angela (Jaqueline Brookes), her demise is absolutely bonkers. She is out on the road and pulls into a gas station to get some gas, not even aware that the werewolf is riding on the roof of the car. Hmm. A werewolf riding on the hood of a car... where have I seen that before...?

 

 

 

 

 

Gradually Jack becomes convinced he is becoming a werewolf, but whenever he tries to tell any one, no one believes him. In fact, the Attorney General (Clifton James) actually considers the culprit to be a member of the Black Panthers. OK, so they do occasionally try to connect the victims to people opposed to the President, but basically it's only the AG who is espousing that belief. And because he is a stereotypical racist, no one takes his view seriously either. 

 

No matter what Jack does to try to remedy the situation, most people just pass it off as he is severly overworked and just needs to take a chill pill. Ultimately he gets a psychiatrist to chain him up for the final night of the 5 night full moon. But the President's daughter, who still has the hots for him, even though she is supposedly engaged to be married, tries to free him. Somebody frees him, and this dimwit even gets on a helicopter with the President and a diplomat. And of course, he changes. 

 

It's probably not a spoiler alert that Jack ultimately is killed. But that doesn't mean that someone else won't be carrying the banner.

Probably the funniest part of the movie comes at the end. We get the standard disclaimer:

"All characters appearing herein are wholly fictitious and any relation or connection between any of the characters appearing or referred to herein and any actual person is coincidental and accidental."

Yeah, right. That's entirely unintentional that the President comes off as being like Nixon. It's coincidental that Mrs. Captee is quite a bit like Margaret Mitchell. It is just a freak of cinema nature that Angela could be mistaken for Katherine Graham. There is even a mad scientist in the basement of the White House who, although he doesn't even remotely resemble Henry Kissinger, is named "Dr. Kiss"...

One of the things that really bugs me about this movie: In classic werewolf mythology, the werewolf only changes during the full moon. OK, so the full moon only occurs on one night per month, and the werewolf as portrayed in Hollywood gets three days (I'm assuming the night before and the night after). Here, however, it lasts for 5 nights. Just how long is the full moon cycle, anyway?  If 5 is acceptable, then why not 6 or 7? You see? If there is no standard then he could just change any damn time he wanted to... 

And, while we are at it... why does the full moon have to be fully exposed in a camera view before the transformation occurs? Seriously. The camera shows that the moon is full but it is partially hiiden by the Washington Monument. At that point Jack is still in his human form. He only becomes a werewolf after the full moon comes out from behind that monument... 

Probably the biggest downfall for the movie is it is wholly reliant on the current political situation at the time. It is, really, a satire on the Nixon administration, and if you were only a baby, or not even born yet, and only know about the events from studying history, it may not be all that relevant. Unless you want to make it all about the overall politics in general when it comes to whomever might be in power at the time of reading this piece. (To note: the current President is Donald Trump. Whether you view the President of the film as him, or any of the previous or forthcoming holders of that office is up to you. Or, you could just, I don't know, maybe read a book about Nixon?  The horror!)

There are a few cheesy "oh, check this out" moments in the film that can probably been seen as efforts to inject comedy into places where comedy may not be necessary. For instance, at one point Jack plots out the places where the werewolf has attacked it's victims, and whaddya know, it just coincidentally forms a pentagram. And the final place where the next victim will be killed turns out to be... at the Watergate Hotel... Isn't that cute...? 

Despite it's flaws, and there are a few, the film is good enough to garner a watch at least once. Myself, I'll probably never revisit it, but I was entertained for and hour and half, at least. But then, if you have been reading a while, you know I like cheesy movies.

See you next time. Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy

 

 

 

 

Celebrate the Drive-In: Coffy

Celebrate the Drive-In is a tribute to a beloved venue of the past. During it's heyday, a trip to the drive-in was one of my favorite things, both on the rare occasions as a child, and in my early adulthood. This blog is going to celebrate Drive-In Day (Jun 6) with a series of movies that I was too young to see (or in a couple of cases, not even born yet) that I wish I could've experienced in a drive-in. Keep coming back for the entire week as there will be one per day for the duration.

 

Women! Can't live with them, can't shoot them! Presenting the next Coming Attraction! Coffy!

 

 

One of the tropes of the era of 70's film was the one termed as "blaxploitation". For a brief period from about 1969 to 1979 Hollywood attempted to appeal to a sector of the populace, the black audience, by producing films that were supposed to draw in a viewership of the country that did not find movie figures that it could relate to in the standard fare of the day.  

Blaxploitation is a portmanteau word, combining "black" and "exploitation". It was coined by Junius Griffin, the leader of the Beverly Hills NAACP. It was not meant to be a complimentary word. Griffin was pointing out that, by making movies that depicted blacks as power figures in the community, but as mainly working in the criminal world, was no better than the previous tradition of depicting them as subservient.

The Hollywood machine was influenced by the rising Black Power movement in this respect. The idea did have some merit, whether or not their hearts were in the right place. The basic idea was to present black people as being in control of their own destinies, without having to answer to "The Man" (the white people). While it did provide an outlet for the populace to see black people in more prominent roles, it wasn't necessarily well received by said populace.

Among the people who spoke out against this new trend was Jesse Jackson, who criticized the trend because it tended to promote a different type of stereotype, making the black person a caricature in a different form. Instead of the "yassuh, boss" caricature, the films promoted the idea that black people were violent hypersexual criminals. Often in these films the main character was working in unsavory roles; pimps, pushers, etc.

On some rare occasions the main character would be a character working on the right side of the law, but even those characters would often be less scrupulous about their actions than their white counterparts. Shaft featured Richard Roundtree as a private detective who had no qualms about taking the law into his own hands. Truck Turner starred Isaac Hayes as a bounty hunter and Black Belt Jones had Jim Kelly going head to head with the Mafia, both of which had their hearts in the right place, even if the execution of their ideals would have caused Superman to recoil in shock.

Rarer still were the use of females in starring roles. Pam Grier made a career out starring in these kinds of films, and her characters were often characterized as "embodying strength, style and resilience". She was one of the first, if not the first female action star. She got her start in the "women in prison" genre with such films as The Big Doll House (her first starring role), Women in Cages and The Big Bird Cage. But she started getting recognition for her potential in action movies with Coffy and Friday Foster.

In terms of blaxploitation films, I think many of her films helped to make the genre more accessible to people like me. She was not on the side of the criminal. Most often she was more of a vigilante, seeking justice in a world where "justice" was a mythical concept. That's why I chose Coffy as a choice for Celebrate the Drive-In Week. Her character in the film has some ideals that appealed to me, even if often she strayed into areas that the law-abiding public might frown on.

Grier went on to many other significant roles. You may remember she made appearances at The Midnite Drive-In several times. She was Wendell Jones' wife in Greased Lightning. She was a former cohort of Snake Plissken in Escape from L.A. She was also in Mars Attacks! and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.  She was a favorite of Quentin Tarantino, who cast her as the lead in Jackie Brown in 1997. And as recent as 2023 she was still active, appearing in Pet Semetary: Bloodlines.

By the way, a side note, in case you didn't know: Pam Grier is the sister of Rosey Grier, the former NFL football star turned actor, who made his debut at The Midnite Drive-In last year in The Thing with Two Heads. 

 

    

Coffy (1973):

The protagonist (I hesitate to use the word"hero") of this film is a woman who goes by the name of "Coffy". Her last name is Coffin, so the appellation appears to be derived from that. (Elsewhere I read her name is Flower Child Coffin, but I don't recall it being mentioned in the film...) Coffy is a woman with a mission.

 

 

The first time we meet Coffy is after a man called Grover (Mwako Cumbuka), enters a bar and tells his boss, Sugarman (Morris Buchanan), that he has a surprise waiting for him in his car. When Sugarman gets to the car he finds a woman desperate for a drug fix, willing to "do anything" to get said fix. It turns out, however, that she is just faking it to lure the two to a private session of her own brand of "justice". She executes both of them.

 

Sugarman and Grover

Coffy, in her private life, is a nurse. Her sister, LuBelle, has become a heroin addict, due to LuBelle's dealer, Sugarman. Coffy is determined to rid the world of those she deems responsible.  But Sugarman is only the beginning. As usual in movies like this there are higher ups that are running the show.

Coffy has a friend on the police force, Carter (William Elliot), and at one point she seems on the verge of revealing everything she has been doing in her vigilante role to him. But she backs away at the point, only hinting at the idea that the evil doers dealing drugs in the black community deserve death. 

 

Coffy and Carter having coffee

 

She also has a boyfriend, Howard (Booker Bradshaw), who is an up and comer in the world of politics. He is a city councilman on the verge of being elected to Congress. 

 

Coffy's boyfriend, Howard

 

She continues on her goal, eventually working her way into the "stable" of prostitutes run by a character called King George (Robert DoQui). This is primarily to get in contact with her ultimate drug kingpin goal, Vitroni (Allan Arbus). But in so doing she is also looking to gum up George's drug dealing. She substitutes sugar for his heroin stash.

Coffy and King George

 

Eventually she does get called to Vitroni's house, because Vitroni likes a certain type of girl which Coffy pretends to be to get inside. 

Coffy and Vitroni

 

But her ruse is discovered and she ends up being held captive. And just before Vitroni sends his henchman, Omar (Sid Haig) out on a quest to kill her, she finds out that her "loyal to the people" boyfriend Howard is not all that honest as a politician. 

 

Vitroni and Omar

Of course, Coffy manages to escape her captors and exacts more of her vigilante justice. Including that traitor of a boyfriend...

Despite the drug connection that seemed to be a part and parcel of the typical blaxploitation film, this one has several things that set it apart. For one, it has a resounding anti-drug message. And, of course, there is the fact that the main character is a woman as opposed to the generic male dominated movie. Up until this point women usually played secondary roles that were typical in lots of movies of this type.  Grier, I think, opened the door for many movies yet to come, where a female character could carry the load that was typically left to only male protagonists.

You should be forewarned, however, that the film is not without some titillating (no pun intended) scenes. In other words, several scenes with topless women. This film, being firmly entrenched in the drive-in milieu of the 70's, almost HAD to have that. But the good thing is (almost) none of it comes off as exploitative. They all happen in character with the situation at hand. Both Grier (on screen) and director Jack Hill (off screen) play these scenes well. Occasionally they may come off as a little unnecessary (I refer basically to the all out "catfight" scene in the brothel here; not the brawl itself, just that the ripping of the dresses may not have been all necessary). 

The only real objection I have to the film is the way that Vitrioni and Omar take out King George, believing that George was responsible for sending Coffy to kill him. I won't reveal here what happens, but it absolutely shocking in its execution.

 

Outside of Grier the rest of the cast is pretty unremarkable. But: Does Robert DoQui look familiar? He had pretty extensive career playing cops, but many of you who watch the same kinds of movies I do may immediately recognize him; he was the Detroit police sergeant in charge in the RoboCop films. Allan Arbus may also trigger a "hey, I know that guy!" thought. He was the psychiatrist in several episodes of the TV series M*A*S*H*. And Sid Haig menaced a lot of people in secondary roles throughout his career. None of them really stand out here, however, but that doesn't mean they were just flashes in the pan.

Don't go into this film expecting too much. As a vigilante movie. it pretty much toes the line established in movies that came before it and followed it, plot wise. You should go into it, however, expecting to see the potential from it's lead actress, who surely impacted many actresses who came after her. Is Coffy her best movie? Hardly. But she does put up a good performance.

Until next time, drive safely, folks. Remember, drugs are bad for you. And so are women with a grudge. Come back tomorrow for  Hot Rod Girl! 

Quiggy

  

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #11: Serpico

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

 

Week #10: New York -

 

The state of New York was established on July 26, 1788. 

Details about New York:

 

State bird: bluebird

State flower: rose

State tree: sugar maple

Additional historical trivia:

New York City, in the state of New York, was the nation's first capital; as such it was where the first President was sworn into office.

The state plays host to the "World's Largest Pancake Breakfast", due to the fact that the world's largest pancake griddle is in the state (28 feet in diameter... I'm hungry, but not THAT hungry...)

The 85 mile Delaware aqueduct is the longest tunnel in the world.  

New York City, of course, has many numerous landmarks and sites for pilgrimages. I won't inundate you with a lot of them, but Grand Central Station, Central Park, the United Nations and the Dakota (site of the killing of John Lennon) are among the "must-see" places in NYC.

Seven of the US Presidents can claim the state of New York as their birthplace, including the current one (as of this writing...)

As well as the many politicians you have heard of, the state was also the birthplace of numerous other celebrities: Carl Sagan, Mark Zuckerberg, Mike Tyson, Martin Scorcese, Robert DeNiro, as well as numerous bands that got their start in New York.... (for example: ever hear of KISS...?) 

Serpico (1973): 

 There are some interesting little tidbits of information revolving around the film production of "Serpico", based on the life of Frank Serpico as related in the book by Peter Maas, who was writing about a real police officer who fought against corruption in the NYPD back in the 60's. One of the most intriguing casting possibilities had Robert Redford and Paul Newman, fresh off of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, with Redford as Serpico and Newman as his cohort in the endeavor to eliminate the corruption. I think it's a good thing that Frank Serpico made an effort to dissuade the producers, otherwise we might not have the pair in their second iconic pairing, The Sting.

Also, originally there was an effort to try to get Sam Peckinpah to direct the picture. We might have had an entirely different picture if that had happened. Sidney Lumet was brought on board, a decidedly better director to portray the intrigue of the investigation, without the Peckinpah tendency towards violence. Also, Pacino as Serpico might not have happened because he was also considering taking on the role of Lenny Bruce in Lenny. 

Several fairly familiar faces made their roles in the film. Jack Kehoe, familiar to many as The Erie Kid in the aforementioned The Sting, played Tom Keough, one of Serpico's partners on the force, and his first introduction into the corruption in the department. Also John Randolph and Biff McGuire played Serpico's superiors. And don't miss James Tolkan, Principal Strickland in the Back to the Future films, (with a full head of hair, no less), made one of his early meatier appearances in film.  

The story, of course, follows Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) from a new recruit to his later career as an undercover cop. Early on he is under some pressure to get a haircut and a shave to make him look more like the standard cop, but he insists that his look makes him more readily fit in with the criminal faction if he keeps it.

 

His first introduction into some of the less than reputable side of the department involves him being with his first partner as a patrolman, and at a diner he finds that some of the public has been giving out free perks, in this case food, but instead of going with the flow and taking what the proprietor is willing to serve the pair for free, he insists on getting what he really wants to eat, and (ye Gods!) actually paying for it.

His first job as an undercover cop involves being given a bribe to basically look the other way at some crime. Serpico is a morally straight character and refuses to go along, and reports the bribe to his superiors. His insistence on following the legal path serves to make him a less than desirable member of his fellow police officers community, however.

He begins to fear for his life from said fellow officers, especially when he keeps trying to report the corruption. He transfers to another department and finds that the corruption is still prevalent in his new position. He makes several attempts to try to get the problem solved through the normal channels, but continually finds himself rebuffed and ignored, even by the commissioner. He pairs up  with a fellow straight-laced cohort, Bob Blair (Tony Roberts), who tries to help using his own connections. But blockades to his efforts keep cropping up, especially since even some of the higher-ups are in on the corruption.

 

The idealistic Serpico gradually becomes more jaded as the efforts to clean up the police force meet with resistance. Plus, he gradually becomes a persona non gratis among his fellow officers as he continually refuses to play along with the standard norm of operations. Eventually his efforts do garner some success, but at the cost of his having to appear as a witness on a grand jury investigation, which he initially doesn't want to have anything to do with.

The ultimate outcome is Serpico is shot while trying to perform a drug bust, and there is some evidence that the cops he was partnered with had some involvement in it.  Serpico does survive and the movie ends with a note that he subsequently resigned from the police force and moved to Switzerland.

 

As usual, I relate some of the details about the reception of the film. Rotten Tomatoes currently ranks the film as being 93% Fresh. It made a decent profit, having a $3.3 million budget, but bring in about $50 million at the box office in US and worldwide ticket sales. Pacino garnered an Oscar nomination for his performance, but as I have said in other reviews, Jack Lemmon's role in Save the Tiger took home the statuette. I don't think the Academy got it right on this one, although as I have also stated, I would have given Robert Redford in The Sting the award. Pacino was a loser along with Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail and Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris to Lemmon, either of which was better.

Serpico also got a nod for Best Screenplay from Another Medium (Maas' book). Here too it lost, this time for The Exorcist (book by William Peter Blatty, and there's a film I have never worked up the courage to watch..). Also in competition for the Award were The Last Detail (book by Darryl Ponicsan; a great story, check it out!), The Paper Chase (book by James Bridges) and Paper Moon (book by Alvin Sargent). 

The film is a dramatic portrayal of a real person, and thus an intriguing look at the persistence of one man to buck the system. I doubt I would have had the courage to go through the lengths that Frank Serpico did to get the system exposed, although I have to say I would be just as reluctant to dirty myself and my personal commitment to not delve into the seamier side of the office politics.

So, I say Serpico is well worth a look. Especially if you are as big a fan of Pacino the actor as I am.

Well, folks, this review came in a bit late, but I still made it under the wire of the week. Almost didn't. Had some health issues earlier. Also, a note, next week's review won't be up Sunday, either. But I hope to get back on track by the following week.

Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy

 

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #4: Gator

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

 

Week #4: Georgia -

 

The state of Georgia was established on January 2, 1788.

Details about Georgia:

State bird: brown thrasher

State flower: Cherokee rose    

State tree: live oak

Additional historical trivia:

Georgia is the home of the vaunted peanut, and our  39th U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, was a peanut farmer in the state prior to his political career.

The stove top waffle iron, the cotton gin and even Coca Cola, are all products that first saw the light of day in the state. 

Georgia is one of only three states that proudly displays the motto "In God We Trust" on it,

Some famous people from Georgia: Jimmy Cater (of course), Martin Luther King, Jackie Robinson, Jeff Foxworthy and Ray Charles all were born in the state.   

 

 

Gator (1976): 

Gator is actually a sequel to White Lightning, the 1973 film that introduced the character of "Gator" McKlusky. That film features Gator as a moonshine still operator who goes undercover to help trap other moonshiners. But Gator is no flunky for the government. His real goal is to get revenge on a crooked sheriff who killed his younger brother.

 

After the end of White Lightning, Gator was essentially a free man,  and went back to his old lifestyle. Meanwhile at the capitol building, the governor of the state, played by Mike Douglas, is ranting about how he looks in the press because of that one degenerate county in the state. What county? Why Dunston County, home of Gator.

But the governor has a man that may be able to help, Irving Greenfield (Jack Weston). Greenfield is touted as one of the top agents in the Federal government. Greenfield has a plan. 

 

The key to solving the dilemma with Greenfield is to somehow nullify the influence of the county bigwig (and top crime boss) "Bama" McCall (Jerry Reed). What Greenfield proposes is getting the help of a recent parolee, our friend "Gator", to help bring in McCall.

 

Of course, catching Gator is going to be half the battle. Because he knows the swamps better than just about anybody, and can run through that stuff like a cottonmouth in the brush. But eventually the Greenfield crew do run down Gator. Since Gator is almost assuredly running moonshine again and a third conviction would send him away for a loooong time, Greenfield thinks he's got Gator by the cajones. 

 

But Gator is not quite ready to throw in with the Feds. That is, until Greenfield threatens to send Gator's dad Ned (John Steadman) to jail for moonshining, and putting his daughter, Susie (Lori Futch) into foster care. See, Greenfield already has them, even if not under arrest, and if Gator refuses to help bring Bama McCall in, he's going to be one lonely man with all hi family out of the picture. (As usual, these Feds play dirty...)

 

So Greenfield takes Gator to Dunston County, where it turns out that he and Bama were old buddies. Bama is willing to let Gator come in on his operations. See, Bama is a wheeler dealer in town, running all kinds of shady operations. Be forewarned! Jerry Reed is Bama, and if your only connection to Jerry Reed is a good 'ol boy who is harmless, like Cledus in the Smokey and the Bandit films, or J. D. Reed in the TV series Concrete Cowboys, you are NOT gonna like Bama... He's a lowlife of the first order. 

Bama has all kinds of crime in his milieu, like extortion, corruption, selling drugs. Gator is not entirely OK with this, but he is willing to go along with for a while. But then he discovers the really bad vice that Bama is into... prostitution.  And not prostitution with what would be at least normal, if not acceptable. See, Bama's big prostitution ring consists of underage girls. This really disgusts Gator and he tells Bama he wants out.

 

But Bama is not the kind of guy to just turn his back and ignore a backslider in his operation. He has two muscle boys, Smiley (Burton Gilliam) and Bones (William Engesser) to help him change Gator's nind, by hook or crook. 

 

Gator now wants to help Greenfield bring Bama down, and hooks up with a reporter, Aggie Maybank (Lauren Hutton) and a little off her rocker former city employee, Emmeline (Alice Ghostley) to break into City Hall and get files that will put Bama and some of his political cohorts away for a long time.

 

Don't get the idea that this is a typical Reynolds comedy. There is some serious stuff going on here, and more than one person is going to die. Think of it as something like Lethal Weapon. There is a bunch of comedy sprinkled throughout, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, the serious side is going to come to the fore.

But one of the more humorous parts of the movie (at least for me, are the scenes where Bones, who is apparently Bama's chauffeur, in addition to one of his bully boys, has to drive Bama around in a converted red  Plymouth Gran Fury. Note: this is not the only car they used, just one of them. Anyway, the exaggeration of how big Bones is is highlighted by the fact that he has to stick his head out through the sun roof. (I'm fairly sure he was probably sitting on a box or something in the car scenes... Surely the actor wasn't THAT big...)

  

This was Burt Reynolds' first feature film as a director. According to what I read, Reynolds originally turned the role saying "it's a terrible script." But then they offered him the opportunity to direct and suddenly it was "a great script"... (The things Hollywood will do to get their way...) I couldn't find any information on a budget, and it didn't exactly break box office records. It only grossed $11 million. 

The critics weren't exactly kind to the movie either. On Rotten Tomatoes, the aggregator of what is the critic viewpoint, it stands at only 14%. Charles Champlin, a reviewer for the Los Angeles Time, not only managed to denigrate the movie, but also the kind of crowd that liked Reynolds movies: "Gator looks exactly what it is, a commercial concoction assembled for an undemanding mass market." (Phhht, Chuck...)

Ranker, one of my favorite go-tos for public opinion of films, however, ranks it #7 all-time as one of Reynolds' best movies, beaten out only by the first Smokey and the Bandit, The Longest Yard, Deliverance, Hooper, The Cannonball Run and White Lightning (in that order). My opinion is Gator is a movie that will appeal to those who love Reynolds screen charm and also for those action movies that blend a little humor into the mix. I especially liked seeing Bama get his comeuppance, even if I didn't particularly care to see Jerry Reed playing a thoroughly unscrupulous bad guy.

Well, that's it for this time. See you for the next entry, featuring the state of Connecticut.

Quiggy

 

  

Two Heads Are Better Than One

The Midnite Drive-In has often been the source for numerous "double-header" features over the years (as in two movies for the price of one).  I guess we would have to class today's presentation as a "quadruple header"...

 

 

There is a standard catch phrase often used in some circles that "two heads are better than one". Of course, in the standard use of the idiom, people usually mean that two people working together on the same goal usually have better success than just one person by his or her self. This handy little motto has been around for centuries.  A passage from the Bible is one of the earliest examples I found of this:

"Two heads are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

But this is referring to two separate bodies of people.   What happens if both those people are sharing the same body however?  There are examples of the concept when one body is occupied by two people in film. All of Me, a Steve Martin comedy had Martin's character, Roger Cobb, being co-occupied by the spirit of Lily Tomlin's Edwina Cutwater, to comedic effect as both tried to work together to make the co-habitation work. 

You could add some of those demonic possession movies to this list, but, really, those are a different kind of animal all together, because the evil spirit in question completely dominates the character and the real owner of the body has no input into the decisions. 

On the other hand, there are these two examples. Each one involves a fully functional head attached to a body (with the original head still intact). That Biblical bit about helping each other becomes decidedly problematic.  Especially when the two heads are diametrically opposed to each other in principles or thought.  

 

 

The Thing with Two Heads (1972): 

Dr. Max Kirschner (Ray Milland) is a brilliant doctor. Well, brilliance and demented go hand in hand in these kinds of movies, so he is also a bit off his rocker.  

As per the norm, Max has been doing some decidedly strange work in the operating room.  What he has done is grafted a second head onto a gorilla. (That's Rick Baker in that gorilla suit, and also the designer of much of the more exotic special effects in this feature.)

Max is elated with his success. Except the two-headed gorilla is not exactly emotionally stable.  It breaks out of it's cage and runs rampant down the city streets outside the hospital. Eventually the gorilla is caught in a supermarket. It turns out he wasn't a rampaging savage creature... he was just hungry. The ultimate plan for the gorilla was to let the new head become acclimated to the body and then remove the original head.  (You didn't think he was just trying to create a new hit exhibit at the local zoo, did you...?)

The reason why Max has been working so diligently at this experiment is that he is dying.  And like most of us, he doesn't want to die just yet.  Fortunately he is a brilliant doctor, with his own medical research facility and the funds to change his future.  Unfortunately he is rather unprincipled as to his methods. He has a subordinate seek out an acceptable body. Then, when he gets his "victim" the plan is to attach his head to the body, and of course, ultimately take it over.

This movie is classed as a "horror/comedy" so there are several things that are spliced in to the film to get to that "comedy".  For one thing, at the outset it is established that Max is a racist. He had recently hired a new doctor for his facility, apparently without an interview or even a working knowledge of his new hire.  Because when he finds out that Dr. Fred Williams (Don Marshall) is an African-American, he tells the new doctor that the contract that Fred signed is null and void. 

Fred insists that Max has to keep him on for the trial period otherwise there will be some serious legal issues, so Fred is assigned to a desk job to keep him out of the way.  Meantime, Max's subordinate is seeking that body.  An effort is made to convince an inmate on Death Row in prison to agree, and they manage to get Jack Moss (Rosey Grier) to accept.

But wait. Jack is a black man. Won't that be a situation that Max would reject outright? Unfortunately he has no say in the matter, because he is basically going in to a coma and is about to die. So the doctors under him decide they have to act right away in order to save him.  Of course, when Max wakes up he's not entirely pleased the operation was a success...

For that matter, Jack is not entirely happy with having another head in the game. The comedy part comes into play in full force after this (although whether it's actually funny is a matter of opinion.) Jack only agreed to this situation because he is innocent of the murder he was convicted and sentenced for, and having this cranky old geezer just doesn't help matters much. 

(And just as a side note: How the hell long has Jack been on Death Row anyway? In these days when appeals can keep a Death Row inmate on there almost until death actually takes his life before the government does, it seems that Jack has had a short time on it.  The movie indicates he is due to be executed forthwith, the reason he is granted a stay of execution.) 

There is a conflict when Jack takes control of his body and escapes the hospital.  He has the advantage, however, because most people who see him run away rather than try to help capture him. (That extra head just might come in handy after all...) At first they try to commandeer a car, conveniently the car owned by Fred (remember Fred?). But with police chasing him and this car being a less than acceptable example of a getaway car, they end up crashing. But not to worry.  Jack manages to get a hold of a dirt bike. 

And with that, a chase through a dirt bike track and an open field with Keystone Kops in cars chasing them, the movie takes a weird turn.  I didn't time it, but I bet that police chase takes up at least 20 or 25 minutes of the film. And since this was BEFORE The Blues Brothers, it may be a source that John Landis got his iconic chase scenes from in that classic film.  This movie had a much lower budget, however, so there are only about a dozen police cars. And apparently the budget was stretched thin because several times the car that crashes in a scene already shows signs of having been in a previous crash.  (There is one scene, even, where the car that crashes flips, and it's obvious there is no engine under the hood...)

Eventually Jack and Max and Fred escape the cops and make their way to Jack's girlfriend, Lila (Chelsea Brown). She is surprised to see Jack, and even more surprised to see his new addition, but she apparently takes it into stride, rather than running and screaming for the hills.  She does, however have a bit of curiosity about Jack's new situation because she delivers what is probably the best line in the movie...

"Is there anything else you've got two of?"

A valid question, if you ask me...

Well evil Max has plans to get rid of Jack's head, even if his body is not one that Max is happy with, but jack is not ready to go so gently into that good night.  Ultimately Jack wins out, but being that this is a good-natured comedy more than a horror film, Max is still alive, albeit in need of a new body.  The last scene features Jack, sole possessor of his body, traveling down the road with Lila and Fred, singing:

"Oh, happy day! Oh, happy day! When Jesus washed my sins away!" (REALLY!!! Would I lie?)

There is one big hole here, plot wise.  For one thing, Jack is still a convicted (and now escaped) felon. And on top of that, the issue of who actually committed the murder that Jack was on death row in the first place is never really resolved. So maybe that "Oh, happy day!" is a little bit premature. But then no one ever overestimated the coherency of these kinds of movies.  Maybe they were looking towards a sequel.

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971):

From the trailer: 

 "No woman is safe from his deadly embrace! No man is safe from his killer lust!" (And no audience member is safe from the devastating ennui...)  

The story here is that Bruce Dern plays a demented (there's a stretch...) scientist. Dern plays Dr. Roger Girard, a man who lives with his wife, Linda (Pat Priest) and his assistant, Max. 

 

Dr. Girard

Linda

Max (with Linda)

 

Why is he demented? Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact that he still holds a grudge over getting canned from his previous job. Or maybe it's because he has such a friendly relationship with Casey Kasem. But possibly it's just because he likes to, in his spare time, graft the head of one animal to another.  No reason, just because no one else is doing it...

Roger has a friend, a fellow doctor named Ken Anderson (Casey Kasem) who comes around to visit him. Ken is concerned because Linda has told him that Roger spends WAAAY too much time in his lab, to the detriment of neglecting his newlywed wife. But since Roger has much more interest in his secret scientific experiments, he doesn't really see the negative effect he is having on her.

 

Ken

 

Roger and his assistant, Max, are planning on the next phase of his experiments, that is to graft a head onto the body of a fully functioning body of another.  The ostensible reason is that they may be able to prolong the life of a valuable intellectual whose body is deteriorating.  It later comes out that Max has much more invested in the success of this experiment because he is suffering from a debilitating disease but wants to go on living.

When a really psychotic criminal, Manuel Cass (John Cole), escapes from a maximum security prison ("maximum security" apparently meaning the door is locked...), and ends up on Roger's estate, he is shot by Roger as he tries to do some bad things to Linda. 

Cass (with Girard)

 

Just prior to this he has killed Roger's estate caretaker.  The caretaker's son, Danny (John Bloom) is distraught.  Danny is also mentally disabled.

Danny (pre-op)

 

Max sees the opportunity to test Roger's head transplant theory, since Cass is now dead, and Danny can only be improved in mental capacity by the procedure. Psychotic brain of a criminal being considered a vast improvement on mental deficiency, take it as you will.  This is not Casablanca quality theater, you know.

As you might expect, Danny is not pleased with the change in situation, nor is he pleased with the fact that this psycho seems to have taken over every aspect of control of it's new body.  Danny can only look on in horror as Cass manipulates his new body and takes up his preferred method of dealing with life; killing and molesting people.

Danny (post-op)

 

The cops have surmised that Danny is a prime suspect, because apparently, by the footprints found at the scene of the crime, there can be only one person with that big a footprint. But when they try to find Danny to question him, they are told by Roger that Danny and his father left town a week before. Not entirely buying the story they keep looking, especially after bodies keep piling up that suggest the culprit is the same person. Although, by now, they are aware that Cass has escaped.

Eventually both Linda and Ken (remember Ken?) find out the truth and, with Roger and Max,  begin their own search for the monster Roger and max created.  And we find out that Max wants to capture him/it alive because he wants to use Danny's body for his own head transfer (so who is more demented... Roger or Max?)

You already know pretty much how this HAS to turn out. All of the bad people are killed in a cave in in an old mine, and Ken and Linda escape.  Of course, neither of them are going to reveal to the police what REALLY happened, just that Roger and Max and Danny were killed in the cave-in. (They don't even mention Cass, so I guess the escaped lunatic is officially still on the loose.)   

In summary, Harry and Michael Medved, in their book The Golden Turkey Awards, had a category "The Worst Two-Headed Transplant Movie". In it, these two movies competed with a third movie, a Japanese entry in the genre: The Manster: Half-Man, Half-Monster (not reviewed here). In their opinion, the winner of "the Worst" was The Thing with Two Heads.  Having not even seen the Japanese movie, I can't exactly make a completely knowledgeable decision, but if I were to make one just on these two movies I would have picked "The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant.

Well, folks, the one head I have is telling me it's time to head home.  And thankfully I won't have to compete with a second head.  Driving the Plymouth is a tough thing to do by myself.

Drive safely.

Quiggy