10th Anniversary of The Midnite Drive-In

 

Well, folks, your humble(??) blogger has achieved yet another milestone! 

Friday marks the 10th anniversary of this blog.  (As to why today, instead of Friday for this post, I have another entry already committed to post on that day, and I didn't want to overwhelm you with multiple posts...) 

Back in October of 2015 I came across a blogathon: The Universal Pictures Blogathon. That blogathon was hosted by Silver Scenes, and it inspired me to create this blog with the intention of delving into the kind of shock and schlock of the old drive-in theaters of yesteryear.  A daunting task in itself, I admit, but made even more daunting by the fact that I kept straying from my original goal.

True, there were plenty of low budget trips into the kind of stuff that both my idol, Joe Bob Briggs, and I love.  But often I would stray into mainstream fare, too (what Joe Bob referred to as "indoor bullstuff").  And worse, between late 2020 and early 2023 the blog was pretty much in idle. I managed only 4 posts during that period. Blame it on COVID. But in late 2023,  I made an effort to revive it. And this time I have (mostly) kept to that theme of drive-in shlock.

When I realized that the 10th anniversary of the blog was coming up, I decided, much as I did with the 5th anniversary, to try to find a suitable set of movies that would exhibit the heart of the drive-in experience.  So, I browsed some pictures of old drive-in movie newspaper ads to inspire me.  Unfortunately, many of the ones that appealed to me included one movie I had already covered, and I was loathe to rehash it just to get to the other movie(s).

But finally I found one that had three new movies for the blog. And after watching them, I thought they really were meant to be for this anniversary celebration, given that I am trying to return to cheesy schlock.  All three were released in a landmark year, 1958.  The three movies in question, reviewed below, were: Night of the Blood Beast, The Brain Eaters, and The Screaming Skull.

Among the other great classic movies released that year were: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, The Blob,  The Fly, Frankenstein's Daughter, From Earth to the Moon, I Bury the Living,  I Married a Monster from Outer Space, It! Terror from Beyond Space, Missile to the Moon, Queen of Outer Space, The Space Children, Teenage Caveman and War of the Satellites. 

You could also add to that list Attack of the Puppet People, Blood of the Vampire, Colossus of New York, The Crawling Eye, Curse of the Faceless Man, Earth vs. The Spider,  Frankenstein 1970, The Lost Missile, Macabre, Monster on the Campus, She Demons, Space Master X-7, Terror from the Year 5000, and The Thing That Couldn't Die.

(Oh, yeah... The year also saw the release of A Night to Remember, Auntie Mame, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Damn Yankees, Gigi, I Want to Live!, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, King Creole, The Last Hurrah, No Time for Sergeants, The Old Man and the Sea, Separate Tables, South Pacific and Teacher's Pet...  if you're into that kind of stuff... But you are going to wait a loooong time if you expect to see most of them being shown at The Midnite Drive-In...)

So now the management presents you with a triple feature.  A trio of movies that will have you on the edge of your seat.  A trilogy of films that will make your hair stand on end. A trifecta of cinema from Spook Central. In other words...

An event to give you THE SCREAMING MEE MEES!

The horror genre would be seriously deficient without the efforts of American International Pictures. Elsewhere on The Midnite Drive-In, I have given bits and pieces of the history of the company, so I won't rehash it here. (Feel free to click on "AIP" link in The Greatest Movie Studio of All Time (American International Pictures) section of the home page. You'll find every AIP movie I have reviewed there. Or you could just click that highlighted link in the text above...) All of the movies today were a product of AIP.

 

Night of the Blood Beast (1958):

Directed by Roger Corman, one of the first things you notice in the credits is it was written by Gene Corman. That's right, the director's brother. Boy, Roger knew how to save money in more ways than one... Along with a newcomer, Martin Varno, who did most of the screenplay credit, this script, which was originally titled Creature from Galaxy 27 went into production in early 1958, with a 7 day shooting schedule and a budget of $68,000.

The film starts out like it might be a science fiction movie as opposed to a horror movie because we get a scene of a rocket ship about to blast off into space. After some fairly cheap special effects during the opening credits (except for the scene where it blasts off from Earth, the ship looks like cartoon drawings, rather than models), the film wastes no time in getting to the meat of the story.

 

 

The astronaut, Major John Corcoran, has successfully completed his space launch, but on trying to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere he experiences a malfunction. Neither the rockets nor the emergency chute that would slow down the space ship seem to be working and the rocket crashes to the Earth, killing Corcoran.

At the scene of the crash two fellow scientists inspect the wreckage. They are informed by higher ups to clean up the wreck site, but there are some strange things around. For one, one of the scientists, Donna Bixby (Georgianna Carter) says that the wreck has traces of some strange mud composition. And when other scientists show up, the other scientist who was first on the scene, Dave Randall (Ed Nelson), points out to the newcomers that the hole in the space ship seems to have gotten much larger. (Not to mention the fact that there appears to have been some invisible creature or something moving through the underbrush, unnoticed by either of the first scientists...) 

 

Coming up on the scene are fellow scientists, Dr. Alex Wyman (Tyler McVey), Steve Dunlap (John Baer) and Julie Benson (Angela Greene). Julie has the added interest in the events because she was engaged to be married to Corcoran sometime after his return. Dr. Wyman notices something strange when he examines Corcoran's body. After 3 hours since the crash there is no sign of rigor mortis in Corcoran's body! Wyman says they are going to take Corcoran's body back to the lab to continue his examination.

At the lab Wyman is a bit perplexed. Corcoran's body is almost assuredly dead, but the expected after effects of the deterioration of his body issue is still not there. 

 

Also, all communication with the outside world seems to be stopped. They can't raise HQ or the Air Force or anybody on the short wave radio. While the body is still being examined, with Wyman finding a mysterious scar on Corcoran's body, Dave heads outside to see if he can find a problem with the communications tower. While out there he is attacked by a mysterious creature coming from the nearby woods.

Although Dave survives, things continue to seem to be going wrong at the station. It appears that someone, or something, wants to isolate the station. Both vehicles that could be used to go get help have been disabled somehow. There is a magnetic force field surrounding the area that is the cause of the malfunctions of the radio and the vehicles... 

And Corcoran's body continues to act weird. Now it seems like his blood pressure is back to normal for a body that should be alive, not dead. Plus a blood sample taken reveals that it has, not the normal two blood cells, white and red, but a third type of blood cell that seems to be attacking the other two. And there seems to be alien embryos growing inside of him. At this point, most people would probably say there is too much weird s**t going on here and abandon the base, but these are scientists who have more curiosity than prudence in their make-up.

The crew decide that they have to stay at the station and keep watch, but things go drastically wrong. Something kills Wyman, taking Wyman's head, and (apparently), Corcoran's body. (Because, after all, Corcoran is dead, so he couldn't move himself... or...) Well, it turns out that Corcoran has come back to life, which can't happen, but it did.  He seems to be normal at first, curious about what is going on. But gradually it becomes apparent that some alien creature has a telepathic communication going on with Corcoran. (OK, so it is science fiction after all..)

 

 

The alien finally makes it's appearance and Corcoran pleads with his friends not to kill it. Why? Because the creature is not a threat it only wants to help the human race... (Yeah, so do any number of alien races who supposedly come in peace...) Corcoran (or maybe the alien communicating telepathically through him) tries to plead with his friends to give the alien a chance to explain itself. ("Can't we all just get along?" and all that folderol...) 

Well, as it turns out, the plan to "save" the human race is to actually destroy it and replace it with the aliens. Corcoran realizes this and realizes that the only way to stop this plan is to kill himself, and thus the alien embryos inside him.

 

This is a much better movie than it sounds like, believe me.  While there are some parallels that make it seem like it is sponging off of previous better films, such as The Thing from Another World and even Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the film does have a bit more in it than just a cheesy knockoff. To be fair, it wasn't well received, and some reviews are downright scathing. One reviewer claimed that the alien looked "like the San Diego Chicken after it had been tarred and feathered"and another said that it resembled "a human-sized parrot that had been covered in feces"...  Ouch.

 

 

OK, the alien aside, which admittedly does look kind of ridiculous, the story is pretty good. The creature does resemble a bird man, but that was made necessary because someone in the front office said the original alien's nose looked "too Jewish". The film was not without it's controversy. Martin Varno sued Roger Corman twice over the writing credits. Check out the "WGA arbitration" section of the wikipedia article on the film if you are interested.

 

Aliens come in all sizes, however, as the next feature will prove.

 

 

 

The Brain Eaters (1958):

"A few weeks ago Riverdale, Illinois was just another quiet small town. Then on that Saturday, shortly after midnight, a living nightmare began."

 

And with that not so subtle beginning, the movie jumps right in to the meat of the story.  Two men encounter each other and one bumps in to the other, causing the first man to drop his glass container.  Rather than have a cordial (or maybe not-so-cordial) discussion about the accident, the man carrying the container starts to beat the crap out of the other man.

 

The star and narrator, Glenn (Alan Frost) is traveling with his fiancée, Elaine (Jody Fair), to meet with his father to share the good news about his impending wedding. But they get sidetracked. Something odd is going on up ahead, so the two get out to investigate. While walking through the woods they come upon a couple of dead animals. But the weirdest thing is they discover a cone like object that they don't understand. 

 

 

 

Elaine asks Glenn "What is it?"

Glenn: I don't know. (Which turns out to be an oft repeated phrase....)

The curious object becomes a point of interest in Washington. A senator, Senator Powers (Jack Hill), demands to be apprised of the situation and takes control of the investigation. One wonders how much free time the Senator has if he can go off gallivanting around the country rather than spend time voting in Congress, but this is the movies, so I guess he can vote on his time off...

 

 

 

So off he goes to the site, where the scientist of note investigating this object, Dr. Kettering (Ed Nelson) is finding some intriguing facts. And using some highly questionable methods to do so. (One of the most ridiculous things he does is fire a gun into the interior of the cone. Seems to me that a qualified scientist would realize that that could result in the bullet ricocheting around and ultimately damaging valuable equipment inside, if not actually ricocheting enough to come back out the opening and hitting HIM...)

 

Eventually Kettering clambers inside, but doesn't find anything useful. Meanwhile, Glenn's father, who is coincidentally the mayor of the local town of Riverdale, has returned from a disappearance.  And he is emotionally unstable.  The crew go back to his office to find out what has happened to him. The mayor tries to kill his son and his friends, but he, himself, is killed instead.

 

 

 

After he dies, they inspect the body and find that some parasite has attached itself to the back of his neck. They figure that the parasite had injected some kind of poison that would have eventually killed him if they hadn't shot him. There is something going on with these parasites, but where did they come from?

Eventually they determine that the cone did not come from outer space, but actually came from the interior of the Earth.

 

Seems these parasites are a remnant from an earlier prehistoric age. They are determined to take over the Earth and bring about an age of peace, and their intentions are good (at least to their way of thinking...) The essence of their takeover and their motives is reminiscent of the typical "red scare" movies of the time. (In other words, mankind is diseased and only the parasites can bring about a new age where everything can be fixed, as long as the populace submits to their rule.) One look at these creatures and you'll get the idea that maybe they need to grow a pair before they try taking over the world...

 

 

(No that's not some delicacy from the buffet table at the sushi bar... those are the intelligent parasites...)

 

Of course, the humans don't want to be controlled by the "saviors" and put up a fight.

 

Leonard Nimoy (curiously, credited as Leonard "Nemoy") makes an appearance late in the film as Dr. Cole, a scientist who had disappeared 5 years before. He is alive, but he has been controlled now by the parasites.  (BTW, you might not recognize him, because he is made up to look like an old man. Only his voice is enough to trigger your recognition.) 

 

 

 

The Brain Eaters has one claim to fame in the fact that the producers were sued by Robert A. Heinlein, a science fiction author who found many similarities in the story to his own novel, The Puppet Masters. He got $5,000 dollars in a payoff and one stipulation, that no mention of his name be used in conjunction with the film.  A plan to adapt the novel, The Puppet Masters, to the big screen was jettisoned as a result.  Although, eventually a film version more true to the original novel would be produced in 1994.

 

As this film is also only an hour in length (and even that seems a little long considering), it has some entertainment value.  The suspense is enough to keep you watching, but it suffers from some pretty subpar acting. There are some familiar faces here however, if you watch the same kinds of movies I do. Joanna Lee, who plays Alice, was also in Plan 9 from Outer Space, as Tanna, one of the aliens,. Ed Nelson was a frequent actor in many AIP films, including the first movie in this entry Night of the Blood Beast.  

 

 

 

 

 

The Screaming Skull (1958):

Frightfest Guide to Ghost Movies, by Axelle Carolyn, lists The Screaming Skull as one of it's 200 "must see" ghost movies. She refers to this one as an "atmospheric, yet unevenly paced" picture.  

And, BTW, you can't go wrong if you add the Frightfest Guide series to your reference collection. All of them are not only entertaining in their own right, but excellent go-to guides for the horror genre. As of this writing there are seven books in the series, covering, in order of publication, (with each having "Frightfest Guide to" preceding them) Exploitation Movies, Monster Movies, Ghost Movies, Werewolf Movies, Grindhouse Movies, Vampire Movies and Mad Doctor Movies.

  

The film opens, in the time honored tradition of such exploitation film makers like William Castle, with a warning: 

"The Screaming Skull is a motion picture that reaches it's climax in shocking horror. It's impact is so terrifying that it may have an unforeseen effect... It may kill you! Therefore, it's producers feel they must assure free burial services for anyone who dies of fright while seeing... The Screaming Skull."

And to put an exclamation point on that the camera zooms in on an open coffin with a placard that reads

 

(BTW, unlike William Castle, who went so far as to actually hiring people to pose as nurses in the lobby to deal with frightened patrons, and even had a real insurance company on hand to sell life insurance policies in case the patron died of fright (Macabre), there is no indication that the producers followed through with any subterfuge of having someone on hand to provide "burial services" to patrons...) 

 

OK, so now that you are well informed and, if you wish to continue on despite that warning I will begin this portion of the review... don't say you weren't warned...

 

The film opens with newlyweds Eric (John Hudson) and Jenni Whitlock (Peggy Webber) arriving at Eric's estate.  Eric is on his second marriage. His late wife, Marian, had died not long after their marriage.  The house that Eric and Jenni are now planning to make their newlywed home is barren, because Marian had all the furniture in it moved out in preparation for she and Eric to stock it with new furniture. (Eric apparently never put the old furniture back in after she died...) But he tells Jenni he will bring it all back tomorrow.

 

 

 

Unseen by either is a figure peeking in on the two. This is Mickey (Alex Nicol, who was also the director of the movie), the gardener for the home, who is later revealed to be mentally disabled. Mickey kept up the garden for the two years Eric had been away, and as Eric tells Jenni, he and Marian used to spend hours working in the garden.

 

 

 

The Reverend Snow (Russ Conway) and his wife, only introduced as "Mrs. Snow" (Tony Johnson), show up to greet them. Mickey shows up and Eric introduces him to Jenni. The two visitors each take one of the pair aside, and during the course of discussion it is revealed that Jenni is rich and Eric is barely struggling to keep his head afloat. (And if you don't see what's coming, boy, are you naive...)

 

Mickey is somewhat reserved in talking or even greeting Jenni, and instead seems to have a longing for the return of Marian. He even talks to a portrait of Marian and asks her to "send them away." Apparently Mickey is still not convinced that Marian is actually gone.

 

Eric reveals to Mrs. Snow that Marian has had an unhappy past, which included her losing her parents. They had been in a drowning accident. Coincidentally then, that Reverend Snow reveals to Jenny that Marian, too, had been in an accident that resulted in her drowning in a pool on the garden property.   

 

During their first night as newlyweds, Jenni is awakened at night by a weird banging downstairs. When she goes to investigate she finds an open window banging in the wind, but after she closes it she sees a painting of Marian and it startles her.  

 

 

 

She tells Eric it looks just like her mother. She confides her fears to Eric, and Eric tells her (implants the idea, that is) that Mickey is up to some shenanigans.  He is mentally disabled, after all, and just can't accept the idea that Marian is actually gone.

 

At least, that's what Eric tries to convince Jenni is going on.  Except nothing entirely untoward has even happened yet. Just a window left open, maybe inadvertently, and a leaf from the pond in the house. But that doesn't last for long. Jenni hears strange noises and finds a skull in a cabinet, one that wasn't there the last time she looked.

 

 

 

Eric, ever the loving husband, tries to help her by burning the portrait of Marian with Jenni.  But in the ashes Jenni sees a skull. Eric insists that there is no skull.  But after Jenni passes out, Eric picks up the "non-existent" skull, and hides it in the pond.  At this point, you are probably coming to the conclusion that this is just a cheap cheesy knock off of Gaslight.

 

 

 

Ah, but friends, this isn't the world of psychological thriller, this is the world of horror. Admittedly, up to this point there is nothing entirely "horror" about the movie, and I admit, by 50 minutes into this 70 minute movie I was getting kind of bored. But as it turns out, Eric was involved in a superficial attempt to scare his newlywed rich wife to death, but someone still blames him for the death of Marian, his previous wife.  No, it's not Mickey, who is probably too mentally challenged to even dig up a grave to find a skull.

 

Nope, and I probably don't need to tell you who is going to enact revenge on Eric, who apparently was responsible for the death of Marian, after all. 

 

 

 

Alex Nicol, who played Mickey, chose this script for his first attempt at directing. The script was based on a story by Francis Marion Crawford, which in turn drew it's inspiration from a real legend of a screaming skull. Every review quoted in the Wikipedia article on this film is pretty dismissive of the film. One claimed it was a "truly awful example of drive-in cinema". That may be my opinion for the first 50 minutes of the film, but really. if you can last until that last 15 minutes, I think it improves the film exponentially. Cheesy as it is. 

 

Better yet, just find a copy of it and skip everything up to the point where Jenni tells Eric that Reverend Snow is convinced the skull is real as is going to bring a crew of people onto the property to search for it. (About the 53 minute mark). At that point the movie actually becomes interesting. Eric begins to look for the skull he hid earlier, but now cannot find, and suspects Mickey of having seen him hide it and  taking it.  

 

Although much of that last 15 minutes, including the expected attack on Eric by an unknown force, is kind of shoddy, it is still intense enough to garner some interest. Eric, as expected, gets his comeuppance. 

 

Of the three movies in this entry, I think this may be the worst of the three, but still, it's not as bad as Teenage Zombies...

 

Well, folks, sleep well. 

 

Quiggy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals!

.... and a Happy New Year!

 

 

Note: This will be the first of a planned series of Christmas entries I will be making over the next couple of months. If you're saying to yourself "But, Quiggy, it's not even Halloween yet", I say "Get over yourself, Ebenezer!"

 

 

So, what if you had that fantasy come true, that of most young kids, that you could be on your own and do what you want, without  the interference of those pesky adults and older siblings?  That is the setup here, and that's all we really need. Other than that, there really is no plot. Sure, there is that threat of having your home invaded by would-be thieves, but even that is just a setup for the layout of what is essentially a live-action version of a Looney Tunes cartoon.

I mean, think about it. In both of these movies, the bad guys could be substituted with Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam, with the character of Kevin being Bugs Bunny. No matter what happens to the bad guys, they aren't really damaged much more than if a 100 lb. anvil was dropped on Elmer Fudd's head. Just a quick "Ow! That hurt!" and then back to trying to capture that "wascally wabbit" (I mean, bratty kid).

 

 

 Home Alone (1990):

The McAllisters are going on vacation for Christmas. Rather than spend it in boring old Chicago, they are going to Paris. And life at the McAllister household is hectic as a result. Not just Peter (John Heard) and his wife, Kate (Catherine O'Hara) and their 5 kids, but also a perennial hanger own and total mooch of an older brother, Frank (Gary Bamman) and his wife and five kids are all running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to get ready to catch the plane early the next morning.

Our hero, Kevin (Macauley Culkin), is frustrated because, being the self-centered type, he thinks everybody is out to get him. To his credit he does get treated a bit like an unruly child, but then basically he IS an unruly child. However, the only one who really seems to have it in for Kevin is his older brother, Buzz (Devin Ratray) who, in typical movie older brother fashion, does everything he can to make Kevin's life hell.

The setup begins when dad Peter unplugs the clock to check on a charger and plugs it back in without resetting the clock. This in effect sets up the next morning when the entire house awakes to realize they overslept and the shuttle service they hired to take them to the airport is waiting outside. Long story, short, they rush to the airport and just manage to make it on the plane before its departure.

Except a foul up in the process occurs when Kevin is left behind.  And in typical fashion, mom is the first to realize that Kevin didn't make it with them and is still home alone. 

 

Kevin wakes up to discover his whole family is gone. Shock eventually segues into elation that his dream of being able to do what he wants without interference is a dream now come true. As any 8 year old would do he initially starts doing things he had previously not been allowed to do, like jumping on the bed and pillaging his older brother's room.

 

Eventually he does settle down somewhat.  He even goes grocery shopping.

 

One of the scenes that gradually makes Kevin grow up a little is when he has an encounter with Old Man Marley (Roberts Blossom). Marley is a recluse in the neighborhood, and as such, is the subject of some pretty sinister rumors from the neighborhood kids, such as the fact that he murdered his whole family with a snow shovel. Kevin is at first scared s**tless of Marley, but he eventually learns that Marley is a nice old man who has had problems of his own with his own family. Both Kevin and Marley eventually learn something from each other and depart as friends.

 

In time Kevin realizes that a pair of suspicious characters he has seen hanging around the neighborhood are in fact home burglars. Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) have been casing the neighborhood for weeks, figuring out which houses were going to be vacant during the holidays so they can rob them blind.  Of course, one of the houses on their list was the McAllister house, since everyone was supposed to be going to Paris.

 

But when they see little Kevin they become confused and think maybe the family didn't go after all. But it gradually begins to dawn on them that Kevin is all alone, so their plans go back to the original stage. Meanwhile Kevin becomes aware of the pair and determines that he, and he alone, is the only block between a successful robbing of his family home and a defense from the robbers.

This sets up the last third of the movie as Kevin goes from an 8 year old kid to the equivalent of a mix of McGyver and a Rube Goldberg creator. He sets up an elaborate series of blockades, including hot wiring a door knob, painting grease on ladder rungs, and icing up the sidewalk out front. You might get the idea that Kevin watched a hell of a lot of Wile E. Coyote / Roadrunner cartoons and learned how to avoid the mistakes that Herr Coyote made so he could be successful. 

 

Of course, the family eventually returns home just in time on Christmas Day. Mom first, since she refused to wait for a direct flight and had to use all her wiles to get home to her son.  But she only beats the rest of the family by 10 minutes. The rest of the family having waited for the direct flight Mom would not wait for. 

 

One of the better parts of the movie is when Kevin uses a VCR tape of an old (fictional, BTW) film noir film called Angels with Filthy Souls. A tough gangster named Johnny (played by Ralph Foody) has some bad words with another character named Snakes and Kevin uses this film to convince a pizza delivery guy to be satisfied with a 20 cent delivery tip. An interesting tidbit for you if you've seen the fake movie scene: Originally the parts were going to be reversed with the parts of Snakes and Johnny being played by the other actor.

 

Also a great cameo in this movie by John Candy as the leader of a polka band who gives Mom a ride to Chicago. Candy did this movie for almost free as a favor to John Hughes (having previously made Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Uncle Buck with the director).  I read on wikipedia that because Candy came on board for so cheap that Hughes just let him ad-lib his whole role, and his parts are pretty funny.

Robert De Niro turned down the role of Harry, and as a result the part went to Pesci. As good as De Niro is, even in movies where he is required to be comedic, I am thankful he chose to pass. I can't imagine anyone in that role but Pesci.  

So, the movie was pretty successful upon it's release. It raked in $476 million dollars against a budget of on $18 million and was surpassed only by Ghost that year in terms of ticket sales.  It currently has a 66% rating on the Tomato-meter. Among some of the critics who didn't like it was Owen Gleiberman, who apparently missed the homage I saw in it as a tribute to those old Looney Tunes cartoons. He called it a "sadistic festival of adult-bashing". And note: I wrote the comparison of Kevin's blockades above as "a mix of McGyver and a Rube Goldberg creator" before I read it, but apparently me and Roger Ebert were on the same wavelength... A quote from wikipedia article on the movie: He compared the elaborate booby-traps in the film to Rube Goldberg machines, writing "they're the kinds of traps that any 8-year-old could devise, if he had a budget of tens of thousands of dollars and the assistance of a crew of movie special effects people"...

Home Alone was such a huge hit that it inspired a sequel, Home Alone II: Lost in New York.

 

 

Home Alone II: Lost in New York (1992): 

This film segues from the fist movie and pretty much starts out the same way. This time the McAllisters and the rest are on their way to spend Christmas in Florida. I think it is supposed to be taking place the following Christmas after the debacle of a trip the family tried in the first film, so the maturity that Kevin garnered from the first film didn't apparently last long, since he is still being the same rather obnoxious little kid he was being last year.

 

This time the family is going to Florida. As usual, the family wakes up late and has to rush to get to the airport. No, the family does not end up leaving poor Kevin behind this time. Instead a bit of confusion happens as Kevin gets separated and chases after a man he thinks is his dad and ends up on a plane to new York instead of the one the rest of the family is boarded to go to Florida.

Fortunately for Kevin he has his dad's carry on which has his wallet. After wandering around new York for a bit and realizing he has to find some place to stay he books a room at the Plaza Hotel, using his portable recorder to convince the hotel booking agent on the phone that is dad is making the reservation. (Something that can't be encapsulated by writing about it... you have to see it. It probably wouldn't work in real life, but this is the movies).

The hotel concierge, played by Tim Curry, is suspicious and does many attempts to try to catch the non-present father, but of course, since dad is really not there he has no success. Kevin uses the portable recorder, as well as an inflatable Bozo the clown to hide the fact that he is there alone. As well, he has a tape of the film noir sequel to the previous movie, Angels with Filthier Souls. (The title of this blog entry comes from a quote in that faux movie...)

 

While wandering around Central Park Kevin encounters a homeless woman, credited as The Pigeon Lady (Brenda Fricker). Once again circumstances cause Kevin to rethink his initial reaction, which is fear, to finding out that the pigeon lady is really a nice person after all. And both of them, as in the previous movie with Kevin and Marley, come away with a new outlook on life.

 

Meanwhile, it turns out that our bad guys from the previous movie, Harry and Marv, have escaped jail and are planning to hit a local toy store, which has thousands of dollars of it's sales that is going to be donated to the local children's hospital. The two spot Kevin and recognize him, but since they are focused on their crime they mostly just try a half ass attempt at accosting Kevin, but end up just forgetting about him.

 

Not a good idea. Since Kevin has found out about their plan he makes an attempt to foil the robbery. And then, much as in the first movie, he sets up an elaborate trap that plays out much as it did in the first movie: Rube Goldberg traps and Looney Tunes hijinks.

"But wait...!" you are thinking. "He's not at home..." Well, it turns out that dad has a cousin living in New York, one that is conveniently out of town while his house is being renovated. (and, BTW, that house looks like it's been condemned and abandoned to me, so just how much renovation did it need...?)

 

Harry and Marv are looking for revenge. Might have been better if they just hightailed it out of town since they already had a satchel full of loot, but these two mental giants think that getting that kid is a more important goal than anything resembling prudence. And of course, they failed to learn their lesson when dealing with Kevin the first time.

 

Eventually Kevin foils these two geniuses and wins the day, as well as garners the thanks of the toy store owner, Mr. Duncan (Eddie Bracken). And, as they say, all's well that ends well.

Just wondering. Is there anyone besides me that thinks Brenda Fricker (the Pigeon Lady) looks a lot like Susan Boyle? Have to admit I had a little crush on Fricker after that movie. Sure, she's about 15 years older than me, but who says you have to have crushes on younger women?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Alone 2 was not the smash that the first one was, but it still managed to come in third in ticket sales behind Aladdin and The Bodyguard. It was made for $28 million and pulled in almost $400 million at the box office.  However, it was not the big favorite among critics... what do they know? It ranks only 35% on the Tomato-meter. Audiences begged to differ, however. It has an average of A- on a scale of A+ to F with those of us who actually paid to see the movie rather than have our tickets bought for us by our employer/newspaper. 

Home Alone 2 also has a phenomenally better musical soundtrack. The first movie had very little Christmas music in it, it was mostly the score of the film with a small number of songs. On this movie you get quite a number of favorite melodies accompanying the film, including "Sleigh Ride" sung by TLC, "Silver Bells" sung by Atlantic Starr, the classic favorite "Jingle Bell Rock" as sung by Bobby Helms and my favorite, "A Holly Jolly Christmas", sung by Alan Jackson.

  

 

Late breaking news! Remember those two film noir movies I mentioned above that Kevin puts to ingenious  use? I just found a clip that includes his first watch of both of those films and the subsequent pranks he plays on various people with them. You don't need to watch the whole movie to understand what's going on, they are self-explanatory. Enjoy!

 

 

Well, folks, Christmas is almost upon us. Have a happy holidays. And be sure ALL your family is present before you start on a journey, even if it's just across town to grandma's house.

Quiggy

 

October 10, 1962: The Date That Changed the World

 

Once again, I am finally getting around to a project that I had intended to do 3 years ago.  As with my post Dec 11, 1961, which I initially wanted to post in 2020 for my 60th birthday, I had intended to do another post for my sister the following year for her 60th birthday, this time picking a schedule of shows which appeared on TV the night she was born. In this case I queried her about the choices, since it was intended as a birthday present, so I wanted the shows to be the ones she would have liked to see.

Her tastes being a bit more sedate than mine, for the most part, since she likes old TV westerns and dramas. Unfortunately, in order to stick to the theme, that is, the schedule actually had to be feasible to watch in one night, I couldn't give her an entire night of TV westerns. (To wit, both Wagon Train and The Virginian aired episodes that night, but they were on at the same time.) But for the most part, this is her selection for that night. Once again I am making use of a website that lists the night's available broadcast schedule:

October 10, 1962

 

And since by the time she was born our parents were living in Texas, the following listings are in Central Standard Time (as opposed to EST, which I used in my own birthday post).

A brief spoiler alert!  I tell the plot of the whole episode in the following encapsulations of each TV show. You can still watch the shows, they are all watchable, but if you want to go through the list and find the episodes and watch them first, I'll still be here when you get back.

As with my post last year for my own birthday TV night, I am endeavoring to post a link to a place where you can watch the episode, always assuming someone hasn't removed it from the internet. 

 

TV Night at Karen's House: October 10, 1962:

 

 

7:00 PM: The Virginian: ("The Big Deal")

(Note: Unfortunately there is no YouTube link to this episode, but I found a Daily Motion link, albeit divided into two parts.) 

The Big Deal (pt. 1)

The Big Deal (pt. 2) 

 

Background: The Virginian was a TV series that was based on a movie, which in turn was based on a novel by a guy named Owen Wister. As with the book and the movie, the main character in the TV show was known only as "The Virginian". Even his friends address him as "Virginian". You can see this crop up occasionally in movies, although in most other cases the character actually has a name given during the course of the plot, even if everybody addresses them by the nickname. (See James Caan's character "Mississippi" in the movie El Dorado. The character actually has a name, "Alan Traherne", but nobody calls him that, not even himself.) The Virginian (James Drury) is the head honcho on a ranch owned by Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb). The Virginian's main cohort in running the ranch is Trampas (Doug McClure). The show is a typical 60's era western with lots of moral dilemmas solved, along with the occasional gun play that can be found in such series.

 

In "The Big Deal", Judge Garth is faced with a dilemma.  He owns much of the land that he runs his cattle on, but one section he has only been leasing, because it is owned by a South American (Columbia) entrepreneur. The entrepreneur has since died, and his son Enrique Cuellar (Ricardo Montalban) has come to Wyoming to negotiate a sale of the land, as he is not interested in continuing the lease.

Cuellar ingratiates himself with several of the women in town, including newspaperwoman Molly Wood (Pippa Scott) and Garth's daughter, Betsy (Roberta Shore), but he has some trouble making fast friends with male members, including Trampas who just doesn't trust him. Maybe Trampas has a clue on the nature of Cuellar...

Because when the chips are down, Cuellar tells the Judge to make him an offer on his land.  The Judge offers a tentative amount of $5000, but Cuellar counters him with an offer of his own, $100,000, which apparently is more than it would cost to buy the whole state of Wyoming, considering the Judge's reaction. The Judge rejects Cuellar exorbitant price.

 The Judge tells his men to move the cattle off the meadow where they are grazing back to the base farm area. Unfortunately that requires that he pass through Cuellar's land. And since Garth is not only NOT the owner and no longer has a valid lease for use of it, he is trespassing. 

 

Cuellar objects, but the Judge tells him he will have to wait six days for a circuit judge to come through and issue a restraining order to make him cease and desist. So it comes back down to a battle of wills, and although the Judge is a bullheaded type, Cuellar may just be a bit stronger in that department.  Cuellar makes several attempts to get his point across, including stringing up some barbed wire across his section of the land.

The whole thing ends in rather maudlin fashion (not surprising since this is a 60's idealistic vision of the west) as Betsy gets caught up in the barbed wire and is badly hurt.  There of course are no bad effects from this, and the two combatants come to an agreement amicably. I gotta say it just seemed to schmaltzy an ending for my tastes however. 

Also, after watching a few episodes of the show, I have no love for the Judge character. He is kind of a jerk. But he is the money man in town so everyone seems to kowtow to him. But that's just my opinion. 

 

8:00 PM: The Beverly Hillbillies ("Meanwhile, Back at the Cabin")

 

 

Background: The premise of The Beverly Hillbillies is thus: Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), a backwoodsman in the Ozark Mountains region of Missouri discovers oil on his property. As a result he is encouraged to move to the Beverly Hills area of California, because after all, you can't live in the backwoods of Missouri if you worth millions of dollars... The rest of the Clampett clan that moves with him are his daughter, Elly Mae (Donna Douglas), his mother-in-law, Granny (Irene Ryan) and his nephew, Jethro (Max Baer, Jr.). The TV show involved a repetitive series of "fish out of water" vignettes, as the clueless Clampetts and the snobbish elite in Beverly Hills clash. 

 

In the first season we get to witness the arrival of the Clampetts in Beverly Hills, The third episode of the series involves establishing the "fish out of water" theme that would make the series popular during it's initial run, as well as that "meanwhile, back at the cabin...: portion. 

In the scenes that take place at the new mansion that the Clampetts have begun their occupation, they are still set in the mindset of life back in the hills. Among the vignettes, we are treated to Granny washing clothes in a tub on the lawn and hanging them out to dry on a clothesline, even though the mansion is probably equipped with one of those "new-fangled" electric washer and dryer contraptions. We also get to see Ellie may take a bath in a wooden washtub set up in the kitchen, with bath water hauled in from the "cement pond" out back (that is a swimming pool to you and me...) 

Jethro gets himself a new girlfriend in the form of Miss Hathaway (Nancy Culp), the secretary for Mr, Drysdale ( Raymond Bailey), the executive at the Clampetts' bank. Miss Hathaway has made it her goal to refine Ellie Mae into debutante material, including getting her to dress up in fancy dresses (ye, gods!). And Ellie Mae thinks a bra that Miss Hathaway brought is some kind of a fancy slingshot, further showcasing the tomboy nature of the young girl.  And Miss Hathaway is shocked to find out that Ellie Mae is still bathing in a wooden tub, despite the fact that there are several bathrooms upstairs.  (The Clampetts think all those rooms upstairs belong to other residents in the mansion.)

 

"Meanwhile, back at the cabin", Jed's cousin, Pearl (Bea Benaderet) is taking care of the cabin for Jed for when he returns. In the process, she meets Mr. Brewster (Frank Wilcox) who has come to tell Pearl that her cousin and his family are safe in their new digs. Pearl, being the essence of a man hunting female looking for a new beau tries to put the charm on Mr. Brewster. When Mr. Brewster wants to call the Clampetts he finds out the nearest phone is actually some 40 miles away.  Pearl offers to help him find the phone, but ends up taking him 60 miles out of the way, and then suggests that they might as well go on to Beverly Hills by car. 

 

This episode, although basically just establishing the naivete of the mountain folks in their new roles as members of high society, is an example of the kind of episodes the entire series would promote. The show lasted for 9 seasons, but by the end of it's last season it proved to be losing it's connection with the public at large.  It was cancelled in favor of the pressure by the studio brass to transition to more urban connections. Pat Buttram, a star on another rural series, Green Acres, is quoted as saying that 1971 was "the year that CBS cancelled everything with a tree- including Lassie." The Beverly Hillbillies would be replaced by the likes of All in the Family, Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and Cannon, as well as a few that wouldn't even last the next season. But that was pretty much it for the theme of rural comedy, for a while at least.

 

8:30 PM The Dick van Dyke Show ("The Attempted Marriage"):

 

 

 

Background: The premise of The Dick van Dyke Show centered around Rob Petrie (Dick van Dyke), who was a comedy writer for a fictional variety show called "The Alan Brady Show". Working with Rob were two other comedy writers, Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) and Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam). Some of the sketches centered on them and their interactions at work, while others centered on his home life with his wife. Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) and their son, Ritchie (Larry Matthews). Also making appearances were Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), the producer of The Alan Brady Show, and occasionally Carl Reiner as the titular star of the fictional TV series, Alan Brady.

 

In "The Attempted Marriage" Ritchie wakes Rob, who is trying desperately to sleep in on his day off. What Ritchie wants is for Rob to read him the inscription on a platter that he, Ritchie, found while tooling around in the basement (because there's nothing good on TV).  The platter, it turns out was a wedding gift from his platoon to Rob and Laura after they got married.

This inspires Ritchie to inquire about the circumstances of how they actually got married. It turns out there were a few problems on the way to the altar. (You didn't think the title "The Attempted Marriage" was just a misprint, did you?)

 

The first thing is that Rob shuffles and stumbles in his proposal, and is surprised when Laura says "Yes". He actually expected her to reject him... But plans are made to get married that Sunday. (What, no wedding plans that extend for a few months?) Later, on the day of the marriage, Rob sits in the jeep at their site where he proposed, having second thoughts and trying, but failing, to talk himself out of it. 

Eventually he comes to his senses, but the jeep is not cooperating with him. He decides he is going to run to the chapel. Except he ends up spraining his ankle. And with less than 10 minutes to get to the chapel, and him being an hour away (now more like two hours, since he is going to have to hop there). Of course, when he gets there the wedding party is long gone.  And Laura thinks Rob stood her up for his own marriage.

He convinces her that he sincerely does want to get married and they arrange to do it the next Sunday. But Rob, after getting himself checked out by the Army doctor, finds out that he has a virus and the doctor wants to quarantine him for a week. (Maybe this whole "get married on a Sunday" is a bad idea?  Why not try for a Wednesday...)

Of course, the doctor is insisting on the quarantine against the objections of Rob, who rightly so figures that this delay might be the straw that breaks the camel's back on his impending marriage and relationship with Laura, so he tries to duck out.  But at the church he collapses.  Thus instead of a marriage in a church, Rob and Laura do get married, only in a hospital room.

Ritchie professes his gratitude that they finally did get married, otherwise he wouldn't have been born (at least not while we are entrenched in the conservative 60's TV world..), and thus he would have missed out on his favorite TV shows. 

The Dick van Dyke Show, in my humble opinion, was better when it centered on relationships at work. Neither Sally, Buddy or Mel appear in this episode, so the interaction with his co-workers is on hiatus. But it does have quite a bit of the physical comedy for which the show was famous.  Van Dyke was a great physical comedian in his early career.  (He is still alive as of this writing, and will celebrate his 100th birthday in December). 

 

 

9:00 PM Naked City ("And by the Sweat of Thy Brow"): 

Background: Naked City was a police procedural drama. The police crime show has been a fixture on TV, and radio before it, since the inception of the media. Some have had an everlasting impact on the culture (who hasn't ever heard of Dragnet, with the iconic Jack Webb?) Naked City may not be one the most memorable of the genre, but it ran for 4 seasons. It featured several different lineups over the years, mainly attempts to try to get the public interest going, although in one case, an actor quit the show because he didn't like having to travel all the time to NYC, where the show was filmed. (The show centered around a NYC police precinct, and was filmed there, apparently mostly for authenticity). 

 

One of the things of interest to the modern viewer is the raft of then unknowns who appeared on the show, "before they were famous". (Martin Sheen, for instance, appears in this episode, although he is uncredited... and it's one of those "blink and you'll miss him" appearances... he has one line, and is only on camera for about 15 seconds. The rest of the scene is focused on the other two characters in the scene.)

The scene opens with a guy skimming across rooftops where he is stealing the money left out for milk deliveries. Later identified as Jonah (Richard Jordan in his first role), he catches another guy attempting to perform a purse snatch. The woman, Sarah (Barbara Barrie), is overwhelmed until Jonah swoops in and rescues her.  But he doesn't want to hang around for the thanks she has to give 

The police are looking for the purse snatcher and eventually come across a man (David Clarke). The man identifies Jonah as the one who was the purse snatcher and seemingly draws their attention away from him, when in fact he was the attacker.  The police focus on finding Sarah so she can identify him, but are also looking for the other guy, Jonah.

Meanwhile Sarah seeks out Jonah, trying to draw him out of hiding.  Jonah is friendly with her, but is reluctant to come out into the light.  The reason for this is he suffered from a disfigurement earlier in his life and because he considers himself hideous, stays in the shadows. 

But, as so often happens in these kinds of stories, she eventually draws him out.  And the police find Jonah and bring him in.  But when two other victims of the purse snatcher identify the other man as the guilty one, they let Jonah go. Detective Adam Flint (Paul Burke) tries to help Jonah and eventually finds him a job.

Both Flint and Sarah succeed in drawing out Jonah from his reclusiveness and it appears, by the end, that a friendship (and possibly a more romantic relationship) may be on the horizon for Jonah and Sarah (who is also something of a loner).

The core of this particular episode is not so much on the police procedural as it on the acceptance of people who are different, making the difference not so important as the two major protagonists may view that difference.

Well, folks, the night's entertainment draws to a close.  Time to toddle off to bed.

 

 

Quiggy