Robert Culp and Eli Wallach in "A Cold Night's Death", and "She Waits" starring Patty Duke, David McCallum and Dorothy McGuire

Last night we had another classic from the ABC Tuesday Night Movie of the Week.  "A Cold Night's Death"(1973) is a sci-fi tale with only three actors that's more or less a takeoff on "The Thing from Another World", but with a very clever karmic twist. Eli Wallach and Robert Culp are a pair of scientists sent to the North Pole to relieve the present crew, who are working with research monkeys, testing them at high altitudes for the space program, seeing how they respond to various temperatures and other conditions. A helicopter pilot (Michael C. Gwynne) familiar with the laboratory flies them up there in a raging snowstorm. Instantly, it's apparent that something is wrong. The main Quonset hut is trashed, food is scattered everywhere, chairs are askew. Equipment and pipes are frozen because a windum has been left wide open. The men cautiously inspect the facility, fearing foul play. No enemy is present, but the scientist on duty is deceased, frozen solid in his chair. He was using his tape recorder when he died.

The chopper pilot shows them where everything is located, how to make water from snow, etc. He shows them the chimp room, but wants to get the hell out because of the blizzard outside. He needs to take off asap. Culp and Wallach wrap the body of the frozen scientist so it can be flown back to base. After that, it's just the two of them for the rest of the movie. I saw it the night it aired, and at the time, I'd never seen The Thing from Another World, and "The Thing" by John Carpenter was still nine years away, so I didn't know the comparison, and to me this was totally original, with two scientists at the North Pole, freezing, slowly going mad, and turning against one another. Culp is the open-minded one, willing to consider the possibility that something (not someone) is messing with their equipment. The tape machine erases. The water heater breaks. The windum keeps opening in the middle of the night, subjecting them to sub zero temperatures. There are scenes of Robert Culp outside, in Arctic snow gear, with snow-glare goggles, where the only thing visible are his lips. His efforts to shovel snow into the hopper, for water, slowly become more strenuous. In the lab, the monkeys are getting rambunctious. There's a detail you will notice about the monkeys without realizing you've noticed it, something that is shown again and again.

Things get worse between Culp and Wallach, because Culp knows something inexplicable is going on, while Wallach, ever the rationalist, is too scared to admit Culp is right. Wallach busies himself with monkey experiments, and - of all the chimps present - the one named "Allie" seems to be doing okay, considering that when the scientists arrived, the poor creatures were almost frozen to death.

Wallach finally pulls a gun on Culp when he discovers Allie dead in a cupboard. Figuring Culp killed him (but for what reason?), he says, "I know you aren't sane. You've got hypoxia so I'm not holding you accountable. But I am gonna lock you in the lab for the time being, until we can radio for help." As he's saying this, Culp has just struggled mightily to stay alive while outside shoveling snow, becoming increasingly lethargic, his face and beard growing icicles. This is one of the scariest scenes in the movie, and the scariest Freezing to Death scene since the one in "Stalingrad" (when the soldier freezes at the end). Robert Culp's acting here is phenomenal; he must've researched Arctic hypoxia and the experience of freezing to death. But Wallach doesn't get it. He doesn't see that Culp is physically disabled. He just assumes that Culp killed Allie the chimp, when he could not possibly have done so, being four-fifths dead himself. What force is causing this havoc? What demon is pulling them apart? Is it the Abominable Snowman? Wallach thinks Culp is tricking him, trying to experiment on his psyche. How? By freezing himself to death?

But then that Noticeable Thing kicks in, the one I mentioned earlier. Culp notices it, and we have our inexplicable monster. It's a heck of a twist to this psychological, sci-fi horror. I'd forgotten about this movie, but once it got to about the ten minute mark, when they find the frozen scientist, I remembered having seen it. It's a classic and the acting doesn't get any better. Two Huge Thumbs Up. The picture is slightly soft, and in places the dialogue is out of sync, but not enough to cause a problem. Don't miss it.  ////

The previous night, Patty Duke starred with a top cast in "She Waits"(1972), yet another TV Movie. Duke is "Laura", the newly married second wife of "Mark Wilson" (the late David McCallum, sans Gigantic Head). Prior to leaving on a business trip, he's taking Laura to Lowss Ang-less, to the Hollywood Hills home of his mother (Dorothy McGuire). Mom has asked to meet Laura, though she'd prefer if the couple don't stay there. Laura is eager to learn more about Mark and his family. What was his first wife like? And mother? Mark doesn't really want to talk about either of them. He's either embarrassed,  or ashamed, or there's a secret. All we know is that Mom's been in a mental institution. Her helper (Beulah Bondi), insists that she get some rest.

When Mark's best friend and business partner (James Callahan) visits, he flirts with Laura before taking the couple out to dinner. It's no biggie. He's good-natured, not threatening. "Oh come now, David," Mark jokes, "You can steal her from me when we get back from Japan." Then they move on to business matters. But Laura wants to know more about Elaine, Mark's first wife. "Come on, Mark. Tell me. What was she like? Was she pretty?" Mark won't answer, so David interjects: "Yes, Laura, she was. In fact she was very pretty." Patty Duke was no slouch in the looks department herself. I liked her show (The Patty Duke Show) when I was little, it was one of the first shows I can remember watching. Well, it must be in her contract, because - once inside the house, and after meeting Mom - she starts hearing voices, then does the Identical Cousins thing again. Remember? "They laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike - you can lose your mind, when cousins.......are two of a kind!" Laura's being possessed by the spirit of Mark's first wife Elaine, who died and is seeking revenge.

But revenge for what? How did she die? When did she die? No one will tell Laura a thing. Institutionalized Mom keeps saying "It's Elaine! She's never left this house!" But her doctor (Lew Ayers) says, "There's no such thing as possession." Didn't he see "The House that Would Not Die"? C'mon! Get real! Everybody knows there's possession! (Or what about "Bad Ronald"? Did any of them see that? Could Elaine be hiding in the walls?). Patty Duke takes over the movie, much in the same way Kitty Winn did the other night. Laura is scared to death of what's happening in her bedroom. Curtains are billowing, someone's talking on the phone. The doorknob keeps turning but nobody's there. "But there IS someone," says Mom. "I'm telling you, it's Elaine!" But no one believes her, and McCallum is gaslighting her, his own mother.

Laura tracks down the origin of a household music box, which plays a big part in the mystery. It came from an antique shop near Century City and was one of a matched pair: one melancholy, one joyful. I can't reveal any more about it. But when Laura asks Mark's Mom about the box, Mom finally spills the beans. The secret comes out, the one Mom's been keeping, for which she was put in the nuthouse. It seems she's been protecting her son, but why? How did Elaine die? Well, you're about to find out.

"She Waits" is a slow burn. There isn't a lot of supernatural razzle-dazzle (not compared to our last two haunted house flicks), just the billowing curtains and the invisible phone caller. Instead, it's all about the tension caused by The Secret, and the conflicting behavioral reactions. Mom gets gaslighted, called crazy, but remains earnest. Mark is evasive. He's covering something up, under the guise of "that was all in the past". Doc Lew Ayers is of the mind that: "It can't be explained by science so it must be hogwash". Man, what a fool. I'm a huge fan of science, but not scientists, especially modern-day ones. I can't stand that astronomer guy Neil deGrasse Tyson, what a smug a-hole. He thinks he knows it all but he doesn't. Not even close. And that's because all science can do is measure. That's all science IS, is measuring. Measuring one thing or another. And to be sure, what science has accomplished is astounding. But when they find, or hear about, something they cannot measure (or hear or see) they call it BS. That's why I like science but not modern scientists, with notable exceptions.

Patty Duke struggled with manic depression, and likely used it as motivation in roles like this one. She doesn't go all out, like Kitty Winn, but when she does become Elaine, her method of performance is effective because it draws out how and why she died. And, it vindicates Dorothy McGuire (as Mom), whose performance is the best in the movie. The family are removed from the world, and there's a great line where Beulah Bondi says, "Look out that window, Laura. There's 20th Century Fox to your left, Century City to your right. What self-respecting ghost would haunt any house around here?" Great cast, good movie if slow to build. Two Big Thumbs Up. It needs a new print though. The picture is soft but watchable. ////

And that's all I know. I just don't get it with the Dodgers. How can you win 211 games in the last two seasons, but get swept by two lesser teams (Padres and Diamondbacks) in the first freaking round of the playoffs? And give up a truckload of runs but barely score any? How can Clayton Kershaw pull the same stunt again and again? I just absolutely do not get it. Thank goodness the Cincinatti Reds had a good year and almost made the playoffs. Did anyone follow the Reds and see Elly de la Cruz? Man, that kid is incredible. And I don't get the Angels, either. How can you have Mike Trout and Shohei Otani, and finish far below .500? Indeed, how can you not win a championship? Ah well, 'tis only sports.

My blogging music was Klaus Schulze "Deus Arrakis" (one of his best), and my late night is Wagner's Parsifal. 

I hope your week is going well, and I send you Tons of Love, as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Kitty Winn and Barbara Stanwyck in "The House That Would Not Die", and "Bay Cove" starring Tim Matheson and Pamela Sue Martin

My goodness, "Exorcist" fans: who knew that Kitty Winn was possessed before Linda Blair? Indeed she was, in "The House That Would Not Die"(1970), another TV Movie from Aaron Spelling. I'll even bet that Winn got her role in The Exorcist because of her performance in this flick. She's really good, and does things with her face and voice that are very,very scary.

It starts with the horror movie standard of The Move To The New House. I have to cut in to say that I'm gonna make the shortest-but-most-honest haunted house film ever made: a couple (could be a husband and wife, aunt and niece, or whomever) move into an old house. They realize it's haunted the very first night, or before they even buy it, so they do the sensible thing and move out. End of movie. It would be about 25 minutes long, and there would be an option to get your money back if you didn't like it, but no one could say it was far-fetched because that's what anyone in their right mind would do if they moved into a house like this one. I mean, there's that title: "The House That Would Not Die." That tells you right there it's alive! And, it's not only alive, but it's refusing to die! "C'mon house, die already!" "No. I will not!" And you're planning to move in? What're you, insane? Don't the people in these flicks watch horror movies? And what kind of neighborhood is it, where - first of all, the neighbor just walks in, silent and unannounced, to "welcome you to the neighborhood", and the next thing you know, the neighbors insist you hold a seance: "Welcome to the neighborhood, so nice to have you. Seance tomorrow night, your place."

"Oh...okay." (Um, John, I think we oughta sell this house. I know we just bought it today, but I really think this movie should be over.)

Ahh, but thank goodness they don't move out (and that I don't make my movie), because then we'd never get scared witless. We need dumb characters to stay in houses long after they should've fled, and in our two movies this blog, the inhabitants more than overstay their welcome. In this one, Kitty Winn and our very own Barbara Stanwyck move into an old Amish house in The Sylvania of William Penn. They love the old woodwork and huge stone fireplace. Their neighbor, a college professor named "Pat McDougal" (Richard Egan), stands in their doorway in silhouette, saying nothing, which creeps them out, but of course he turns out to be Right Neighborly. He insists they have supper at his place, even though he's only just met them, and they only moved in five minutes ago. They of course accept, and Pat hooks Kitty up with young "Stan Whitman" (Michael Anderson Jr.), one of his graduate students. Then director John Lewellyn Moxey (a TV horror vet) throws us in the deep end right away with the initiatory seance. "It's how we welcome people to the neighborhood around here." He also wastes no time having Richard Egan put the moves on Barbara Stanwyck. On the second night, before the seance, he gets her in a clinch in her kitchen. They start making out but he gets so aggressive that she has to push him away. Something's apparently come over him, and director Moxey makes use of double imagery here that William Friedkin would later improve on to create the Father Karras/Green Demon double facial image in The Exorcist.

But it's when Kitty Winn starts freaking out, shortly after the seance, that things start getting out of hand. Stanwyck has a dream that night, in which she encounters Kitty in their garden in pitch darkness. The wind is blowing, and Kitty's face seems to change shape. Her voice sounds like it's coming from far away. Barbara looks frozen, as in a paralysis dream, while Kitty looks amorphous. I'd love to see the Kino Lorber restoration on DVD because this scene is scary as hell. Things get worse when Kitty hears a voice calling to her from the fireplace and responds in kind, in that far-away voice of her own. Grad student Whitman suggests it could be demonic possession, three years before The Exorcist. His professor Richard Egan says "nonsense, if anything she's developing schizophrenia." But Whitman, who's grown fond of Kitty, refuses to allow her to be examined. "A psychiatrist will only cause the demon to dig in deeper. What she needs is an exorcism." Yes, he actually uses that word. And then Kitty Winn was in that movie, as Regan's tutor.

Thanks goodness for Stan Whitman, because he insists they go to the Hall of Records to see who used to own the house. A painting of a Revolutionary War general has fallen in the fireplace and burned, and it turns out he owned the joint, way back in 1785. They find a family bible in the basement that has a girl's name in it: Amanda. Barbara Stanwyck calls for another seance to try and talk to Amanda, but this time, the medium lets out a bloodcurdling scream (take off your headphones before it happens): "Get out of this house! You mustn't stay another night!" Now, it's the house that starts freaking out. Wind gusts flare the fireplace, doors open into nothingness. Richard Egan gets possessed again and looms over the gathering. Get out now! Then Kitty Wynn's face starts phase shifting again. Stan Whitman looks in the basement for a secret chamber, because he's actually seen enough horror movies to know that if someone is possessed, and the house is doing it, then something is buried in the cellar! Here, it involves the Revolutionary War.

The effects used for voice and face-doubling are spine chilling. Without a doubt Kitty Winn got noticed for this film. She's very pretty. I wonder why she didn't have a huge career? Babs Stanwyck is ever the old pro, in white-haired Big Valley mode. Richard Egan is just-plain big and scary, looking like he could tear you limb from limb. But Michael Anderson's brainy grad student is the main problem solver. There are only 8 characters, so it has the closed-off-from-the-world feel of the best horror movies. Two Bigs, verging on Two Huge, which it would've earned with a better picture. I'm not sure if I saw this one when it was aired in October 1970. I was only ten. My family had just moved. I was probably watching Adam-12 and getting used to our new house, just like the people in the movie. I may have seen it,  but if so, I don't remember. Watch it on consecutive nights with our next one, the terrifying "Bay Cove", a TV movie that I did see on it's initial air date of October 25, 1987. It was called "Bay Coven" then, but apparently whoever owned the rights decided to deduct the "n" for a DVD release, thinking "Coven" was a spoiler for the plot. I disagree; we know early on it's about witches, but the important point is that it's extremely doggone scary. It held up every bit as I remembered.

Tim Matheson and Pamela Sue Martin are "Jerry" and "Linda Lebon", a thirtysomething couple living and working in NYC. She's an up-and-coming real estate exec. He's new with the same company but hates being a "suit". "I'm used to working with my hands, Linda. The hardest thing I did all day was sharpen a pencil.". Jerry would rather be blue collar, he's a carpenter by trade, and he also wants the two of them to start a family. "Kids need a house with a yard to play in. We can't raise 'em in an apartment loft."

So, when they meet another couple at a company party, who tell them about Devlin Island,  Jerry can't wait to check it out. I must cut in, because - I mean, c'mon already! - you don't buy a house on a place called Devlin Island. Especially an old Cape Cod house. They had all those witch trials for a reason, okay? Do you really think it was all just superstition, or persecution? Ride "Snow White" at Disneyland and get back to me. Then tell me there's no such thing as witches.

Jerry is more excited than Linda to check out the island, but when they get there and see the house that's for sale, she changes her mind about moving. It's only 100 grand. She agrees they can't pass it up. Jerry can make any repairs himself; its a steal! There is one caveat: they'll have a tenant sharing the lot. An old lady named "Beatrice Gower" (Barbara Billingsley) lives in a guest house on the property. "But she won't bother you", says the realtor. "Her family's  been on the island since the 1600s. I thought it would've been unfair to evict her." No problem, says Jerry, but when they actually move in, Beatrice does seems a little nosy. Linda finds a satanic bible the first day. Shouldn't that be a clue to get out? "That was my father's favorite book" says Beatrice. Oy! Then, neighbor James B. Sikking has a cow when their dog gets loose and chases his cat. Rufus is just a little mutt, but Sikking runs him over. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see him as I was backing out." If it was me, I'd've nuked the joint then and there. A bunch of dog-hating satanists? See ya. It's another one of those movies where you should get the hell out on the first day, but they never do.

Pamela Sue Martin soon goes into Nancy Drew mode, and you can tell she was just waiting for the chance. There's a creepy old man peering out a windum every night in the house next door, and at an anniversary party for James B. Sikking and his wife, Pam discovers they are 300 years old. The old man tells her, "I'm not his grandfather, I'm his great grandson!" Tim Matheson, meanwhile, starts growing a goatee without realizing it. He thinks the neighbors are just fine: "They're wonderful people, what's the problem?!" He sides with them and argues with Pamela, who's now on her own, with 300-year-old little kids making voodoo dolls of her.

Their friend Woody Harrelson arrives for a visit, and goes snooping around the cemetery. When he asks why none of the locals are buried there, Sikking decides he's gotta go. Woody then drives his jeep off a cliff. He's super young and clean cut here. He should've stayed that way, right out of "Cheers". Tim Matheson is always good at playing a collegiate prick. This is a variation on that persona, but it's really Pamela Sue Martin's show, as she has to go up against a Rosemary's Baby-type clique. I remember watching this movie as a 27 year old and being scared out of my wits as usual. I don't think I ever watched any of these TV horror movies with another person present, because it might've watered down the effect. It's weird; a horror movie in a theater is meant to be watched with an audience. But a horror movie on TV is better all by your lonesome. The ending in Bay Coven is spectacular. I won't tell you what happens, but it has to do with Jerry being part of the bloodline. There's a full-on pentagram circle in the basement, with chanting witches and warlocks in black cloaks and Nancy Drew investigating. Two Big Thumbs Up and a high recommendation, but call it "Bay Coven", not "Bay Cove". The original title was scarier, which (witch!) is the whole point.  ////

And that's all for tonight. My blogging music is Klaus Schulze "Kontinuum". My late night is Wagner Gotterdammerrung. The Rams did their best against Philly, and I can accept the loss, but what is the deal with the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw? It's like a re-run every year?  100+ wins in the regular season, then three-and-out in the first round of the playoffs. What's the deal? I send you Tons of Love, as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Cloris Leachman and Robert Bradford in "Hitchhike!", and "The Death Kiss" starring David Manners, Adrienne Ames, and Bela Lugosi

Continuing our TV Movie kick, last night we found another one from the ol' memory bank: "Hitchhike!" (1974, exclamation point included in the title), starring Cloris Leachman as a woman on her way to San Francisco who picks up a hitchhiker en route. Never a good idea. The opening scene shows a breakup call to her boyfriend, so we know she's now single and lonely (Leachman is 46 here but looks 10 years younger). The hitcher is handsome, and holding a sign that says "Need Ride to San Francisco", so she doubles back to the freeway ramp to pick him up. The only trouble is that he's just killed his stepmother, with whom he was having an affair. Shades of "A Howling in the Woods". 

It wasn't a consenting relationship; in fact, the stepmom was a sexual predator. "Keith" (Michael Brandon), who is 25, is only three years younger than she was. His stepmom married his Dad for his money, and Keith is a troubled young man to begin with. His real Mom left when he was a kid. Dad is always gone on business. It was the era of the Latchkey Kid. Keith spent his teens in a mental institution, and now, as an adult still living at home, he's had his horny, 28 year-old stepmom harassing him, so he associates human touch only with sex, and because she's his Dad's trophy wife, he hates her for it and kills her. Then he sticks out his thumb and Cloris Leachman picks him up. She doesn't know he's disturbed, and because he's a functioning psycho, he can jump back and forth between seeming normal. He does have a hair trigger temper, however. He disables Leachman's car radio because he doesn't like classical music (which should get him kicked out right there).

They stop at Ports O' Call in Long Beach, which is really cool cause it's not there anymore (remember Ports O' Call?). Because she doesn't know his past, but can tell that he's troubled, she starts coming on to him to put him at ease, in a friendly, but cougar-ish way. And because her affection is genuine, he responds positively, and the next thing you know, they're on the beach, in a cove, for some extracurricular activity. Still, he's got severe emotional problems. When she tries calling her sister, he hangs up the phone. When she offers to stop at a motel, for more hubba-hubba, he says, "No! I wanna go to San Francisco now!" and he trashes the motel office. It's a little unbelievable that she would stick with him after this sequence, especially after he almost chokes her while she's sleeping. She must be pretty hard up, and he is a handsome guy.

But by now, her sister wonders what's taking her so long to arrive, and the body of his stepmom has been discovered. Two alerts go out; a missing persons report on Cloris (filed by her sister), and an APB on Keith. The APB is issued from Los Angeles. The detective in charge is Henry Darrow. The missing persons report is handled by SFPD's Cameron Mitchell, and they meet up on the coast, when the motel owner calls to report the office fight. Darrow and Mitchell are two TV greats, and their pairing is another reunion, this time from "High Chaparral". Once Keith knows the cops are onto him, he forces Cloris out of the driver's seat and takes the wheel. There are some great chase scenes - it must be in San Francisco's contract that, if you film there, you've gotta have an awesome car chase.

The verdict: it's really good (though again, mote thriller than horror) but there's way too much focus on the "Breezy" aspect, the mismatched romance, which was very big in the early '70s. Remember "Breezy"? It was Clint Eastwood's first directorial effort, where his character had a fling with a free-spirited hippy girl. You have a similar, but reversed deal here: a middle-aged-but-young-looking, free spirited woman hooks up with what she assumes is a young stud but who happens to be a killer. It's the '70s psychology trip of Repairing The Broken One, which is fine, because you could explore that theme in any era, but when they did it in the 1970s, there was too much "breezy-ing" around; i.e. dancing on the beach with the Lalo Schifrin music playing. Good thing the coppers are realistic and hard-nosed. The actor Robert Bradford is really good as Keith, but it would be nice to know more about the character's background. Why was he in a mental institution? It can't be because of his stepmom. She wasn't around back then. Too much time is spent with flirting, like when Cloris buys Keith a floppy hat and insists he wear it, forcing him to stay in "little boy" mode. "Oh aren't you cute." We get it already.

Still, though it could've been a little better written, it's a good psycho thriller. Two Bigs, and now we really will get down to horror, with no more monkeying around, but we might have a lot of reruns because they didn't make a ton of horror films, not nearly as many as they made Westerns and crime flicks. The picture is soft but watchable.  ////

The previous night, we watched "The Death Kiss"(1932), which was billed by the uploader as "starring Bela Lugosi". I couldn't recall if we'd seen it before, so I rolled the dice and it turned out we had. Another thing was that the person listed it under "horror", which, once again, it wasn't. It's a straightforward murder mystery. Though we've seen it (likely at the beginning of Covid), it's fun because the murder takes place on a movie set. Which is not fun if you're Alec Baldwin, Jon-Erik Hexum or Brandon Lee.

Lugosi plays the general manager of the movie studio in question. His director on "The Death Kiss" (the name of the movie-within-the-movie) wants another take of a crucial scene, an identifying "kiss of death" by a beautiful woman, that will point out a target to a hitman.  "No spinning around like a top this time, Mr. Grant", says the director. His star is a bit of a ham. "Lights, please. And....action!" The camera rolls, the death kiss takes place, the shot is fired...

And it's real! I have to cut in to say that I'm nominally on Alec Baldwin's side, but what a clusterf**k that situation is, and it's beyond poor taste on Baldwin's part to go ahead and complete that movie. My opinion of him is much lower than when he was Mr. Cherrywood, if that indeed was his real name. And it must be asked yet again: why would there EVER be a need for live ammunition on a movie set? 

I mean, listen: when I was a kid, my Dad wanted to tell me all about The War. He even built model Messerschmitts and Stukas and hung them above my bed. And when I was old enough to understand, maybe about 6, he told me that, in basic training, they actually shoot live ammo above your head as you're crawling in a trench below barbed wire. I believed him (and it's true), but I always wondered, though I never asked him: "Why do they need to use real bullets in basic training? Couldn't they just use blanks? Why risk  shooting a young soldier?" I am guessing it's so the recruits will feel the terror of war, so that when they actually are in combat, they'll be trained to be very careful. By using real bullets, they're teaching them to keep their heads down.

But what excuse could they possibly have in the movies? I know that movie directors see themselves as macho MFs, and we all know about Screamer A-holes like John Landis, until they kill somebody (and get away with it), but again, why real ammo? I don't think much of Alec Baldwin anymore, even though I always loved him before this, because he's made it all about him, not about the lady he shot. And now, he's finishing the movie (cause that's what's important, right?), just like Landis (and Spielberg) did after cutting Vic Morrow and two little kids in half. But they still haven't explained why real bullets are needed on a movie set.

And that's what the detective is trying to find out in "The Death Kiss", and why, at the last minute, a .45 was substituted for a .38. He's got a comical guy in a dictator's uniform helping him solve the case (a future Mel Brooks motif). And of course there's a million suspects, especially the leading lady. There's a creative chain-of-evidence that even includes the developing of the camera negative (hooray for the lab!), but there's very little Bela Lugosi, so little that you're figuring he's gotta be the murderer.....and I won't tell you if he is or not. It's fun, fast paced, and inventive, and it foreshadows future gun deaths on movie sets. Here's a question, just because it bugs me: is there any chance the Rust shooting was a murder? Didn't the Arizona DA originally charge one, or maybe manslaughter? 2nd degree murder? I dunno, it's just fishy, the way Baldwin has acted, and the excuses and finger-pointing everyone made, it seemed like maybe there was a secret. And the issue is not just "if it's murder" because it probably isn't (but it could be), the issue is that If It Was A Murder, Hollywood would have No Problem Covering It Up. Just like Frank Marshall tried to cover up The Twilight Zone deaths, and he's still making movies today! The moral of the story is that if you make big money for the entertainment industry, they'll cover your ass, because you are an asset, no matter what you do. Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Death Kiss", even though it isn't horror. The picture is very good. It's weird that, in the old days, they didn't make anywhere near as many horror movies as they did Westerns and crime flicks. You can go through hundreds and thousands of the latter two, but watch about 150 horror movies from the Golden Era and you're done. That's why it's been so hard for us to find new ones, and why we've been binging on TV movies. It must be noted, however, that the IMDB fans love this movie, which has merited a Kino Lorber restoration. It does reunite three of the Dracula stars, though "reunite" may be overstating it, as both films were made in 1932. Maybe they made em back-to-back, like the Clint Walker flicks. Lugosi is all charm and dignity in this role. He was said to be a fine stage actor in Hungary. Well, anyhow. It's very inventive stuff overall, and apparently well regarded.  ////

As a bonus movie, I have "A Haunting in Venice", which I saw today in Porter Ranch. I'm not gonna tell you anything about it, cause it's new, but you really must see it. It's the perfect Halloween movie. It takes place on Halloween night, in 1947 Venice, Italy. Director Kenneth Branagh stars as Detective Hercule Poirot. It's based on an Agatha Christie book, and man, did they ever get the atmosphere just right. Like all the Christies, it's a murdalization mystery, but full of supernatural overtones because it takes place in a supposedly haunted house. It has a fantastic cast. I don't like too many modern movies, but this one gets an A+. Featuring great photography, snappy direction, and plot, plot, plot. Go see it, they knocked it out of the park.  ////

And that's all for a hot Saturday night. I just went for my walk, and you'd think it was July out there. I love it. Horns up for the Rams at home tomorrow. Can they take Philly? I think they can. Had Coach McVay (who we love), not Coach McVay-ed the team out of a win against the Bengals, the Rams would be 3-1. They should've won that game, and they've been competitive in all four. They've been playing against every pre-season prediction made by the pundits, who said they'd finish among the last in the league. I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict an upset against the Eagles. Go Rams! My blogging music is Klaus Schulze "La Vie Electronique #4", my late night is Wagner Lohengrin. I wish you an awesome Sunday tomorrow and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman in "A Howling in the Woods", and "The Longest Night" starring David Janssen and James Farentino

Last night, we selected "A Howling in the Woods"(1971) expecting another werewolf-infused TV Movie. We were wrong; it's not even strictly horror, more of a twisted thriller, so we kind of got off track Halloween-wise (sorry, I'll make it up to ya), but it's still doggone spooky and a heck of a good story. And, you get Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman reunited.

Barbara is "Liza Crocker" (nee' "Staines"), back home in Stainesville, Nevada to realicecooperate pending her divorce from husband "Eddie" (Hagman). The reason for their breakup is unspecified but it's probably because he's an adulterer, given his job as a New York City cheesecake photographer.

So Liza is back, in the mining town her grandfather founded, but no one seems happy to see her. She's been gone since graduating from high school, which was 20  years ago. The sodbuster at the local gas station creeps her out, the way he eyes her while she's filling her tank until she finds out he's "Lonnie Henshaw" (Bill Vint), who was just a kid when she knew him in the old days. He's the Shurff's son. "Sheriff Henshaw" (Ford Rainey) also owns the gas station. Liza checks in at the Stainesville Hotel, owned by her Dad, but run at the moment by her stepmom, "Rose" (Vera Miles), who explains that Dad's out of town on an archaeological dig in Mexico. Liza only knows Rose through correspondence, but finds her a very nice lady, remarking, "So much for the myth of the Wicked Stepmother." Rose introduces her son from a prior marriage, "Justin" (John Rubenstein). He's a talented pianist, and also a Vietnam vet who was wounded in action. He walks with a limp and has a bushy Scott Jacoby hairdo, but seems pleasant enough. He and stepmom Rose tell Liza not to worry too much about the locals. "Maybe they're jealous or resentful 'cause you went to New York and made good."

There's a dawg who keeps howling in the woods (hence the title), a big, sad old bloodhound. "How come nobody rescues that dawg?" Liza asks. "Because he's a chicken thief!"one of the rednecks tells her. "Rescue him? I've been tryin' to kill him for weeks now." Liza is outraged. "That's cruel! I'm going to find him and bring him some food." Before she can do that, she's goes exploring around the lake, and meets a little girl named "Betsy" (Lisa Gerrtsen), who is crying. "What's wrong?", Liza asks her. "My friend Melanie drownded (sic) last month". Liza asks Rose if she knows of a little girl drowning. Rose says: "Oh, that must be Betsy, telling her stories again. She's a bright one, but lonely, and with a creative imagination. She makes things up all the time." But Liza wonders. "Why would she make up a story like that?"

Indeed. Why would she make up such a horrible story?

And now, when Liza  goes to feed the howlin' doggo, the owner of the General Store doesn't wanna sell her any meat. He finally does, and she locates and feeds the dog, then he leads her to a spot in the underbrush at lake's edge, and starts howling all over again. Hunger wasn't his problem after all. He's sad because....(holy jumpin' juniper berries!)...there's a grave there! Okay, so maybe we do have a horror movie on our hands. We've got a drownded little girl, and now a wooded grave. And the town seems to have a secret. Everyone looks at Liza cross-eyed, wishing she'd make up with her husband and go back to New York. She has a better idea: "I'm gonna go to Mexico and find my Dad". But stepmom Rose doesn't like it, so she types a fake telegram, supposedly from "Dad", saying "no need to come, I heard about your plan but I'll be back in two weeks." Okay fine. But then Liza gets a message from "Sally Bixton" (Tyne Daly), the mother of the deceased Melanie. Sally knows Liza from high school and has been signaling a need to talk (to no avail) since Liza arrived in Stainesville. Sally is Lonnie Henshaw's sister, and the Sheriff's daughter. Before Liza meets with her, she sees little Betsy again. Her face is all bruised up, and we in the audience already know that her dog-shooting pappy beat her for talking about Melanie's drowning. Seeing her bruises, Liza becomes incensed. "Who would do that to a nine-year-old girl?!" She wonders why her "friendly" stepmom Rose, and her stepbrother Justin would say that little Betsy "makes up stories." "She showed me Melanie's grave! It's not a story, that little girl really drowned!" Justin then tells her, "Look, Liza, this town went bad after you left. Sometimes it's better to let a bad town die."

There's obviously a Big Ol' Honkin' Secret goin' on, and we've gotta find out what it is. But as Liza knows, the more They Don't Wanna Tell Ya, the bigger the secret must be! And, they are trying to gaslight her, all and sundry, but she just keeps digging and digging. Tyne Daly spills the beans, for which she gets beaten by Lonnie her sodbuster brother.

By now, Liza's husband Eddie has driven to Stainesville from New York, trying to save his marriage. Liza at first doesn't wanna see him, but he keeps sticking around, hoping for another chance. Good thing, too, because Liza is going need him. She's just been attacked in the woods at night, knocked down and scratched by what Rose says was the big dog, but we know it was a person; we saw a human hand.

At one point, it looks like some pretty Oedipal stuff is going on, and you go "Wow! Who wrote this movie, Jim Morrison?" But then there's a twist, and while the ending is a nail biter (and very scary), it still takes five minutes of exposition to ex-schplain things, because it's very, very convoluted.

I don't wanna tell you what Tyne Daly told Liza because that would reveal the big secret, but the convolution at the end has to do with clearing all of that up. There's a cut-and-paste note identifying little Melanie's killer. It's a creepy flick in general, but it could've been 15 minutes shorter. Still, Two Bigs and a high recommendation. 1971 was a weird year, because the 70s didn't yet know what to do with themselves once the 60s had immediately ended. Everything was still unsettled, zeitgeist-wise, and you could say that 1971 was like Canada, in the way that Canada isn't a real country. 1971 wasn't a real year because it wasn't of the 1960s or the 70s, It kinda got caught in-between. Prog rock hadn't started, and glam rock had yet to be invented. I don't know if the Smiley Face was around yet, or the Green Ecology Flag, but it was a year when nothing happened, except for guys getting killed in Vietnam. Long story short, it wasn't a real year, but then 1972 got the ball rollin', and by 1974 things were cookin'. It was the greatest rock 'n roll year of all time. So things worked out pretty well for the decade as a whole, despite its unceremonious start. In the '60s, there were no non-years. Every year in the '60s was its Own Thing, with its own flavor. '63 was different from '64, '68 from '69, 1967 was a Decade Unto Itself, and they were all amazing, every year in the 1960s was a mondblower. No wonder, then, that 1971 got lost in the shuffle. The picture is good but not great.  ////

The previous night, continuing our TV Movie run, we watched "The Longest Night"(1972), another classic I remembered from the genre's heyday. This one aired on September 12th, 1972, just two weeks before "Moon of the Wolf". I definitely saw it on that night, and while once again it's not strictly horror, it has a horrific element (you'll see what), and the subject matter is again plenty scary. It's another TV movie that scared me silly as I watched, and what's more, it's based on a true story. James Farentino stars as "John Danbury", an escaped convict/kidnapper. The script wastes no time getting things underway. A mother and her young adult daughter are staying in a motel. "Norma Chambers" (Phyllis Thaxter) has come to pick up daughter "Karen" (Sallie Shockley) from her university, to get her away from the Hong Kong flu epidemic. Karen is already running a fever. There's a knock at their door. A man wearing a police cap looks legit, asks for Norma by name, and she answers. But Holy Deception, Batman!, because it's not the police, it's James Farentino with a shotgun. He's got a trampy, insouciant woman with him (Skye Aubrey). Other than the police hat, they aren't trying to disguise themselves. They tie-and-tape Mom, and carry Karen, bound and gagged, to their car parked outside the motel door.

Mom soon escapes the room, and manages to honk a car horn, but by now, the kidnappers are long gone. Already they're burying Karen in a coffin-like wooden box, in a pre-dug hole in the ground. Farentino has rigged it with an air pump, a light, and a fan, all run by battery. There's a jug of water with a rubber straw, but no food, and there's instructions for her to follow. "The more you use your light and the fan, the shorter your battery will last. If you use them sparingly, you will live as long as one week. I'm sure your father will have paid your ransom by them, so don't worry. But don't use your light unless necessary." 

So there's your horror element: buried alive in a coffin-like box, not unlike the protagonist in Corman's "Premature Burial". But in that story, written by Poe, the guy chooses to be buried alive. The gal in this story did not, and it happened in real life.

After leaving Karen Chambers in the ground, Farentino and his sociopath girlfriend hole up in a beachfront crash pad. He starts making phone calls to Karen's wealthy Dad (David Janssen) with ransom instructions. "No law enforcement and no mistakes, or she's dead." Farentino demands half a million clams in unmarked 20s. "Gonna take at least 8 hours to sort 'em" says the bank president. Of course, the FBI is in on it, though Janssen doesn't want them interfering. "I'll deliver the ransom myself. I'm not taking chances with my daughter's life." But on the first delivery, the Santa Monica cops inadvertently screw things up, by running a check on Farentino's car. He's forced to flee the scene without the ransom money, and now he's really pissed off. Janssen is worried that he's gonna kill Karen as payback, so he puts ads in the paper, and gets his plea on the news: "To the kidnapper, please know that the screw up wasn't my fault. I brought the money like you asked. I did not bring those police officers." Farentino hears this and believes him. He gives Janssen one more chance: "But this time, if I see one cop - even if it's not your fault - I'm walking away, money or no money, and you'll never see your daughter again." Needless to say, Janssen is scared shiftless. The FBI, led by Mike Farrell, insists on having their agent ride along. He's hunkered down in Janssen's back seat, covered up but ready to start shooting.

This time, the transfer goes smoothly. Farentino has already sent his girlfriend back East, to meet up with later. Right now, he's bought a fast boat to escape in, and he's bailing to Acapulco. However, he does keep his promise to reveal Karen's location. His directions aren't good, though. She's somewhere on the grounds of an abandoned government property, now in total darkness and almost out of air. A screen shot has kept us abreast of the clock. "Day One: 0800". "Day Two: 1320". Now we're on Day 5, but she's long since used up her battery. Mike Farrell finally finds the sycamore tree that Farentino gave as a marker. "Dig, men, dig!" They use shovels, then bare hands. Karen is rescued, barely conscious, as Farentino's boat is located by helicopter and run aground. The aftermath is given in voiceover.

Here's the thing that bothered me: this movie is based on a true story, and they put the guy's name on the YouTube post, so I looked him up. He's Gary Krist, who in 1968, did the same, actual kidnapping. You can Google the victim's name also. But what astounded me, is that he only did ten years of his sentence. The reason? Because he "reformed"; i.e he studied in prison to be an MD (he was a smart guy), and so they let him out to freaking practice medicine in South America. A guy who buried a girl in the ground! I can personally testify that the criminal often gets treated better than the victim, and this MF walked free - after burying a person alive - after just ten years. He was rearrested in the early 2000s for running a Mexican immigrant smuggling scheme. Gee, ya think? It's like that murderer Jack Henry Abbott who was championed by Norman Mailer, because he had "street level" writing talent. Okay fine, but does that mean he's reformed, or should be let out of jail? Of course, Mailer got him out, and he murdered some kid waiter at a restaurant, for bumping into him in a hallway.

And you ask me why I don't like liberals. As a victim myself, I stand for all victims of violent crime, especially unacknowledged ones like me. I effing hate criminals, I don't think they should EVER get out of prison. I'm not for or against the death penalty, but if a murderer gets executed I don't give a flying f-k. In fact, there are some who, if they're 100% for-certain guilty, I'd be glad to pull the switch myself.

And that's because I know what it feels like to be kidnapped, to be bound up and tortured. I wasn't buried in the ground, but.....

And so it's freaking unbelievable that this Krist dude got only ten years. It's NOT about whether some POS is "reformed" (and I'm talking about violent criminals). Once you've shown your true nature, it's about What You Have Done, not about how you have "reformed". Heck, even if you're now a devout Christian, and even if you sincerely mean it, if you are a kidnapper, murderer, rapist, etc. - you still need to spend your entire life behind bars. When you die in your cell is when they'll let you out. So screw these people, and screw the parole boards who let them out. The freaking Chowchilla guys got out, too. Un-freaking-believable! They buried kids alive in a school bus and they're walking the streets today. Is it any wonder this country is in trouble?

I'm sorry, I'll shut up now. And please excuse the vehemence. But when I read about Gary Krist, after seeing this movie, it really, really upset me. Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Longest Night". The picture is very good.  ////

And that's all I've got. My blogging music is (you guessed it) Klaus Schulze again, "La Vie Electronique #2". My late night is Wagner "Parsifal". I hope your week is off to a good start and I send you tons of love as always.  ////

David Janssen, Barbara Rush, and Bradford Dillman in "Moon of the Wolf", and "Scream of the Wolf" starring Peter Graves, Clint Walker and Jo Ann Pflug

To begin Halloween season, we've got a double feechum of movies that I've always watched together, or back to back. For one thing, their titles go together as we shall see, and for another, they concern the same subject (though with slightly different plots). Finally, both are made-for-TV and aired within two years of each other. Let's start with the earlier one, "Moon of the Wolf"(1972), which I first saw on it's original air date of September 26, 1972 (according to IMDB). It was a Tuesday Night Movie of the Week. I would've been just starting 8th grade. I can't overemphasize how great TV movies were in those days, and especially the horror movies. They were as scary as anything in theaters, at least until "The Exorcist" and "Texas Chainsaw" rewrote the rule book and raised the bar. Anyhow, few things have ever scared me as bad as "The Wolf Man" (the original with Lon Chaney), and as far as monsters go, nothing is scarier than werewolves, so when you add in a Louisiana bayou location, with huntin' dogs, swamp rednecks, a "Shurff" who's trying to keep order, and the remains of an old, aristocratic plantation family, consisting of a brother and sister, well, man....I was hooked from the first frame of this flick, as the producers knew we'd all be.

It opens with the murder of a cleaning woman near the swamp. She was poor, but young and pretty. Whoever killed her didn't leave much of her face. The shack 'necks (led by Royal Dano) think it's gotta be wild dogs. But "Sheriff Aaron Whitaker" (David Janssen) says, "What dog do you know that can strike a fatal blow to a person's temple?" In other words, how come dem dogs know a human pressure point? The Sheriff starts investigating at the home of the departed woman, whose old Cajun grandpa is in the throes of delirium. He hasn't long to live, and keeps hollering about something called a "Lookeroo", or "Luke-a-roo".

Folks, have you ever had a phrase that stuck with you for ages, for whatever particular reason? Well, this one stuck with me, and we'll see why. This old guy, on his deathbed, keeps moaning about a "Lookeroo". He examines the hands of his bedside visitors, like a palm reader. Then he cries, "Lookeroo, Lookeroo"!

Meanwhile, Sheriff Whitaker has been introduced to "Louise Rodanthe" (Barbara Rush), the sister from the aforementioned aristocratic family. She's just back from New York, where she'd been living until illness brought her home to realicecooperate. She confesses she had a crush on the Sheriff in 3rd grade, and it was mutual, so a sort of chaste romance is set up. Her brother "Andrew" (Bradford Dillman) seems overprotective of her, even though she's 45. He gaslights her, saying, "Louise, remember - you need rest. You aren't well."

The town doctor (John Beradino) is trying to nail down the cause of the swamp victim's death, and when Sheriff Whitaker finds out the gal was pregnant (from the superstitious Black lady who knows the town's secrets), he presses and the doctor admits: "Yes, it was I who got her pregnant." Because of his stature, and her lack of same, he couldn't let it be known he was in love with her. "But I didn't kill her," he swears.

We soon believe him, after one of the rednecks (Geoffrey Lewis), is locked in jail for starting a punchout with the doc, who he believes is the killer of his sister. But while Geoff is in jail, we hear growling, then a beast tears the bars off his cell. Geoff and the deputy in charge are both murdalized beyond recognition. The Sheriff now asks, "What kind of man could tear the iron bars off a jail cell?"

Bradford Dillman joins the rednecks in a swamp-wide wild dog hunt. "It's gotta be them dogs!" says Royal Dano. But when Louise hears about the old grandpa's babbling, she tells Sheriff Whitaker, "I speak French. May I see him?"

Whitaker takes her to grandpa's shack, and he reads her palm. Oh no! "Lookaroo, Lookaroo, Lookaroo!" A quizzical expression crosses her face, then she realizes, "He's speaking in a Cajun dialect. It's not 'Lookaroo', but 'Loup Garou'. Loup Garou means werewolf!"

Folks, when I asked you if a phrase has ever stuck with you, this one's stuck with me for fifty years. Because, first of all, there's just something about that term: "Loup Garou". Then there's the way grandpa says it. And you're down in the bayou, near the swamp, in a shack, and then, the moment Barbara Rush translates it, we see a Hairy Werewolf hand.....

I can remember it hitting me as I watched the movie, as a 12 year old. Then it Really Hit Me the next day, and a big part was the Cajun atmosphere. Loup Garou = Werewolf. And then they showed the hairy hand.

I remembered that sequence (and especially grandpa's delirious moaning) ever since I first saw the movie, and when I was about 40, I Googled (or maybe Alta Vista-ed) "Loup Garou", because I always remembered that phrase . I wanted to find out what the name of the movie was so I could look for it on tape or DVD. I didn't remember who was in it, I only knew "Loup Garou", and that the phrase had scared the bejeeezus out of me. So that's why this movie gets Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, even if other factors might prevent the highest rating.

But to recap: you've got the bayou, you've got overall-wearing swamp 'necks, who are less belligerent than Texas rednecks. They hunt with hound dogs and mind their business. You've got a Sheriff who grew up in town, but is more intelligent than the 'necks. You've got a doctor who was sleeping with the pretty-but-dirt-poor cleaning gal, you've got the superstitious middle-aged Black plantation lady, who is proud of taking care of the family and knows their secrets. Then you've got the werewolf himself, a sympathetic figure (though terrifying) because, like Lon Chaney, he can't help that he's a beast. It's genetic, and his malaria makes it worse. He takes pills for it, but he hasn't been taking them lately. And so, he's been killing, and his sister Babs Rush will be next! Can David Janssen save her in time? Only bullets blessed by a priest can kill the Loup Garou.

You never forget what scares you, and this movie scared the heck out of me. Also, and very importantly, the whole idea was not just getting scared, but wanting to get scared, liking to get scared. And when you watched a scary movie in your room, it was just you and the TV set. Don't miss "Moon of the Wolf". The picture was very good this time, the TV-movie color print was almost razor sharp.  ////

The previous night's movie, the second in our joined pair, was "Scream of the Wolf"(1974), a terrifying tale of a possible werewolf on the loose in Los Angeles. Now you see why I watch 'em back-to-back on consecutive nights. Both have similar themes and almost identical titles. Peter Graves stars as "John Wetherby", a big game hunter-turned-author, who is asked by the LA County Sheriff to assist on a murder case, one so ghastly that it seems like an animal must've done it. But what kind of animal could tear the roof off a car and break the windshield? Wetherby is grossed out to learn what was done to the victim, a local real estate agent, but he posits, by the tracks left behind, that a very large wolf could be the culprit. The only problems are that, a) there generally aren't wolves in Los Angeles, and b) there's a supernatural aspect to the tracks; they go from quadruped, to biped, to no ped at all. They just disappear. "What kind of animal can run on four legs, then on two, and then just fly away?", the Sheriff wants to know. Wetherby has no answer, so at the Sheriff's urging, he asks his fellow hunter and friend "Byron Douglas" (Clint Walker), for help. Douglas, like Wetherby, also lives in the Hollywood hills, but unlike Wetherby, Douglas has no interest in helping solve the case. He's standoffish, even cynical, and smirks when he learns of the victim. "Ahh yes, the travails of modern man, while the animal has stayed true to it's nature." Then he smirks some more. Wetherby's girlfriend Jo Ann Pflug is unnerved by Douglas, who keeps showing up at restaurants, news briefings, whenever she and John are together.

Meanwhile, the killings continue, including a young hillside couple and then a Sheriff's deputy. The news gets out about the disappearing wolf tracks, and the Sheriff has his hands full with reporters' questions: "Sheriff, are we talking about a werewolf? The public has a right to know." "Sheriff, are your men using silver bullets?" He replies no comment to all.

Wetherby keeps asking for Byron Douglas's help, but he now seems amused by the killings. Jo Ann Pflug thinks he's behind it for sure, or it could be the creepy giant he lives with, a man named "Grant" (Don Megowan), who Douglas took a liking to because he could beat him at arm wrestling. Douglas finally agrees to help Wetherby after their own arm wrestling match, but their wolf hunt gets ugly real quick. Douglas wants John to accompany him to South America for an unimpeded, good-old-fashioned Stalk, with no rules or regulations, but Wetherby is done hunting. He just wants to write books. Douglas is dismayed to find that his old friend has turned into such a wuss. "I was hoping to have my partner back," he says, but it doesn't work out that way.

Lemme tell ya: we've been watching Clint Walker in many different roles, from a straight-arrow Western Sheriff, to a cold-but-honest bounty hunter, to an ex-alcoholic construction boss battling a demonic bulldozer......but this time, he's downright Evil. Straight up. That smirk of his is schpooky, and he has a gauntness to his face (even though he's the size of Dick Butkus) that makes him look like a vampire.

But still, it leaves the question....is he the werewolf? Indeed, is the killer a werewolf, or a wolf of any kind? And how do we know it's Clint Walker? It might be Grant, the behemoth he lives with. Grant doesn't like Peter Graves very much, and then Graves finds Walker's body during the wolf hunt!

But then.......

Like Killdozer and Moon of the Wolf, I saw this one when it was first shown on TV. I've seen it about five times now, and it never gets any less scary. This is one of Clint Walker's best performances, though we like him much better as a good guy because he's too convincing as an evil one! Peter Graves is very good in the investigative role, driving around in a vintage mid-70s bitchin' Corvette, on either Ventura or Santa Monica Boogalord. And you have to love Jo Ann Pflug, the quintessential mid-70s TV chick. Directed by Dan Curtis, who brought you Dark Shadows and Kolchak the Night Stalker. Curtis knew how to scare ya, and he does so here in spades. Two Huge for "Scream of the Wolf". The TV print this time is not the best, but watch it anyway. Get your Halloween season off on the right frightening foot. We'll be doing horror movies all month.  ////

And that's all I know. Speaking of wolves, I looked it up, and the biggest one ever caught weighed 175 lbs. My dog Alice was a big ol' black Lab, and strong as a tank (she liked to pick up a tree limb in her mouth and wave it around to show off), and she probably weighed around 80. So you can imagine a wolf 95 lbs heavier. My blogging music is Klaus Schulze "La Vie Electronique #10", my late night is Wagner "Tannhauser". I wish you an awesome week filled with hilarious Trump news, and I send you Tons of Love, as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :) :)

Clint Walker in "KIlldozer", and "The Oil Raider" starring Buster Crabbe

Yeah, last night's movie was "Killdozer"(1974). You knew it had to happen, with us being on a Clint Walker binge. We even presaged it, by mentioning it as one of his classics. When did we first watch it, anyway? Was it in the YouTube era? I'm guessing it was, probably early on, like way back in early 2020. Can you believe it will soon be four years since Covid started? Time doesn't just fly, it takes the freakin' Concorde. Well anyhow, with Walker movies on the bill, sooner or later we were gonna get around to Killdozer, and we did, and it was every bit as good as we remembered.

Six men are working a construction site on a remote Pacific island. It's just a little sand bar, really. I say "construction", but it actually looks like they're grading roads or building a landing strip. There's one allusion to that, but their exact work is never specified. As the movie opens, we're in outer space, observing the progress of a meteorite as it ejects from it's home planet and makes its way down to Earth, where it crash lands on the self-same island while emitting synthesizer noises. That's the last we hear from it for the next five minutes, as the crew engage in hijinx. "Dutch" (James Wainwright) and "Mac" (Robert Urich) are goofing around instead of working. They find an old WW2 Quonset hut with a picture of Veronica Lake inside. She provides a welcome distraction until bossman  "Kelly" (Clint Walker) discovers the men slacking and orders them back to work.

This establishes some back story on half the crew: Dutch and Mac are the new guys with the least seniority. Dutch is a light hearted, fun loving fellow; Mac is just a kid, but has a big responsibility: he drives the company's D9 bulldozer, a beast of a machine - 50 tons, 13 feet high. Kelly, the boss, is a hard ass, but has reason to be, according to Dutch: "He's a dry drunk. This is his last chance with the company. He's gotta finish this job on time or he's done." That's why there's no goofing off around Kelly. 

While Mac is out bulldozing, he runs into an object, sunk into the cliff side, that stops the D9 in it's tracks. He gets Kelly to help him free it, and Kelly is able to dig the thing out. "It's metallic, could be a meteorite." While he's removing it, the rock starts making synth noises again, and it fuses its life force into the blade of the D9. Killdozer is born! While this is happening, Mac sees the transfer of energy. The lifeforce senses this, wants no witnesses, and irradiates Mac, who - on his deathbed, badly burned - testifies to Kelly what he saw. Kelly at first won't accept it, even though Mac's fried to a crackly crisp with radiation burns. "It could've been caused by the meteorite, but so could his madness at the end."

Okay, fine. Who would jump straight to: "It's gotta be the demon-possessed bulldozer!"? But then, that night, the crew's senior engineer "Dennis Holvig" (Carl  Betz), who is also Kelly's second in command, is out having a smoke, and the Dozer tries to chop off his foot. This time, both men admit there's a ghost in the machine, but they believe it's a mechanical bugaboo. "C'mon, Dennis, we've all had tractors malfunction on their own, without a legit explanation. I'll have Chub check it stem-to-stern in the morning." But before mechanic "Chub" (Neville Brand) can go the D9 over, sixth member "Beltran" (James A. Watson Jr.) has taken it for a joyride, attempting to show that there's nothing wrong with the brute. He soon finds out he's wrong, however, when the thing starts shifting gears, and disabling its own brakes, before driving Beltran to the sand dunes and squashing him beneath its treads. Now, two of the six crewmen are dead, but Kelly still won't believe the Dozer's responsible, until he observes it operating with no one in the driver's seat. He can only watch as it runs roughshod over their campsite, destroying their radio, beds, stove, everything. "All we've got left is some canned goods and two jerrys of water."

There's no question the D9 is extremely pissed off, but it would be nice to know its motivation. Of course, it's really not the Dozer's fault, any more than it was Regan's fault when Father Karras went out the windum. The D9 is possessed, you see, by a Predator-like entity, in the form of the blue light that rode the meteor to Earth. Whatever it is, it's not a happy camper. It doesn't play nice, and now the remaining four crew members take two jeeps and a truck, with the supplies they have left, and drive up a hillside to hide, after seeding the beachhead with DY-no-Mite! in an attempt to kill the Killdozer, but all that does is make it angrier.

And now, we find out that it can read minds, because it knows where the men are hiding. It finds them in a canyon, up a trail, and kills Chub by squashing him in his jeep. That leaves just Kelly, Dennis and Dutch to continue the fight, and Dutch has been pounding whiskey in search of a "logical explanation". He drives off a cliff and the D9 squashes him. which leaves only Kelly and Dennis, who try using the company's steam shovel against the D9 in a Battle of the Tractors that summons to mind movies like "Predator vs. Alien" or "Freddy vs. Jason" or Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.. One of my all-time favorite children's books was "Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel", so you know who I was rooting for, but the two men soon realize they're outmatched by the massive Killdozer. Earlier, Mac had said, "You can't kill a machine", and now Kelly thinks of his words and agrees, saying, "Mac was right! Because we aren't dealing with a machine, but a Thing!" This movie is reminiscent of "The Thing", in the way the men are whittled down, one at a time, and the fact that the entity comes from another planet and infects a host body. Finally accepting that the killer is a Thing and not a machine, Kelly considers what it's made of - blue light - and decides to use electricity to kill it, and I implore you to watch the movie for yourself to see how it all turns out. Yes, there are admittedly some slow moments when the D9 is just driving around, deciding who to kill next. But it has headlights for eyes, and it makes those beeping synth sounds..........(I mean, holy smokes man, are you kidding me?)

It's damn scary, and of course you agree. The D9 makes Clint Walker look like a shrimp. The crew's road grader is bigger (it's one-a-them trucks with 20-foot-high tires) and I don't know why they didn't try using it against the Killdozer, but I mean - hey. this is great stuff. Killdozer! The title alone is worth your time. For me, its been good enough to watch twice (thrice if you count the original airing on TV in 1974) and I'll watch it again in a couple of years, maybe even a couple of months. Two Bigs, and it would get Two Huge if not for the slow moments, which are few. The D9 itself gets Two Gigantic. The movie could've done with more Neville Brand ("tell 'em to git 'n git"), but it has Robert Urich in a very early role. It's a classic and the picture ain't bad this time, for a TV-movie color print.  ////

The previous night, we had our old pal Buster Crabbe in "The Oil Raider"(1934), kind of a Poverty Row version of "There Will Be Crud", made 80 years earlier. And in fact, it's probably a better movie. For one thing, it doesn't have Daniel Day Lewis hamming it up. Buster plays "Dave Warren", a wildcatter seeking an oil strike. First, he needs money to fund a "lease", so he goes to "J.T. Varley" (George Irving), a wealthy speculator. The first 15 minutes of the hour-long film are used to set up two things: 1) That Buster has an enemy, a driller named "Simmons" (Max Wagner) who starts fights on the job. After Buster beats him up and fires him, Simmons vows to get even. The second thing established is a potential romance, when Buster goes to Mr. Varley for a loan and spends 7 minutes chatting up Varley's niece "Alice" (Gloria Shea), which will give him an ally when he needs one.

With Varley's fifty thousand dollar loan in hand, Buster sets about finding another oil lease, and locates one that looks promising. Soon, his crew have raised natural gas to the surface, which means oil isn't far behind. But at the same time, Mr. Varley has just received bad news: one of his major investments has gone bankrupt, costing him 100,000 dollars (over a mil in today's dough). He needs money fast, to remain solvent. Hearing the news of Buster's impending gusher, he gets an idea. The fine print of their contract says that Buster can borrow no extra money without Varley's permission, so Varley undercuts his machine tool supplier, and when Buster needs more dough to keep the oil lease functioning, Varley refuses to lend it to him. And when Buster says, "That's okay sir, I'll get it somewhere else", Varley - having heard about Simmons from company scuttlebutt ("we had a troublemaker on the job"), Varley asks around at the driller's union and locates the embittered Simmons, offering him a cut if Simmons will sabotage the well, and thereby kill the lease. By their contract, this will enable Varley to take possession of the lease from Buster, start it up again, and make a killing when the well spouts a gusher.

"Kill that well, but nothing else, you hear me Simmons? There's to be no violence, I don't want to end up in prison."

But all Simmons knows is violence, and besides, he wants revenge against Buster, so instead of sabotaging the well, he fixes the brakes on Buster's truck. Buster has to jump as it's careening down Santa Susana Pass Road. "I think someone was planning to kill me," he says afterward, "and I have an idea who." He knows for sure it was Simmons: "But I think he got paid for doing it." Buster thinks it was Mr. Varley who paid him, seeing how he wouldn't make Buster a loan when he needed it.

But he can't convince Alice that her uncle is a crook, even though Simmons is now planning to blow up the well by igniting the natural gas at the drill tap. Get ready for another white-knuckle Box Canyon chase. Buster's pal Jim will save the day.

Look, you can either spend an hour with this static but entertaining flick, or you can waste half a day with Paul Thomas Anderson. He made one good movie: "Magnolia", and if I watched that again I'd probably say it wasn't very good after all. But "There Will Be Blood", with that knock-down drag-out between Daniel Day Lewis and the other guy at the end, which was supposed to be a metaphor for corporate ruthlessness? Fuggeddaboudit! Go with Buster Crabbe, instead. He gives you the oil biz in a nutshell. Two Bigs. They have a real oil derrick and the picture is soft but watchable. I'm not trying to be a jerk, or a get-off-my-lawn curmudgeon. It's just that I didn't realize how overblown most modern movies are, and how bad the acting is (by supposedly great actors), until I started watching older films. In this case, I'm not saying Buster's a great actor, but he is a great movie star, and a serviceable actor, and he gets the job done over DDL, who's supposed to be a genius actor but was only good in "Last of the Mohicans". Everything else he was in, he was terrible because he chewed the doggone scenery. "Gangs of New York", anyone? I rest my freakin' case. And I love Paul Thomas Anderson for caring about The Valley, but he can't make a good movie to save his life. Well, anyhow, I'll shut up. PTA did put Cupid's in his last picture, so God Bless him. ////

And that's all I know. How about that Rams overtime win? They're showing some grit, and Puka Nacua is incredible. In my mention of classic TV Movies the other day, I inexplicably left out "Pray for the Wildcats" and "Savages", both starring Andy Griffith and both among the greatest movies ever made, TV or otherwise. Please, oh Gods of Cinema, forgive my omission. My blogging music is Klaus Schulze "La Vie Electronique #9", my late night is Wagner "Das Rheingold". I hope you had a nice weekend and I send you Tons of Love as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Joel McCrea , John Carradine, and Miroslava in "Stranger on Horseback", and "The Bounty Man" starring Clint Walker and Margot Kidder

Last night's movie was "Stranger on Horseback"(1955), a short-but-epic Western in which Joel McCrea stars as "Judge Richard Thorne", sent to audit the town of Bannerman in an unnamed state that looks like Arizona. He has a philosophy, voiced-over as he rides: "When you come out west, you need two things: your law book and a gun. And the closer you get, the more you hold tight to the latter." When he hits town, the first thing he notices is that everything is named "Bannerman": The Bannerman Hotel, Bannerman General Store, Bannerman Livery. Oh, there's a Kettering's Barber Shop, and a blacksmith named Taylor, but "They're Bannerman's cousins", a tall gent informs him. He's "Col. Buck Streeter" (John Carradine), a Federal prosecutor, but in name only, because he does no prosecuting unless the Bannermans allow him. The silver-tongued Colonel shows Judge Thorne around town, ever the country gentleman (as only John Carradine can play). After conducting a census, Thorne meets with "Sheriff Nat Bell" (Emile Meyer) to ask about crime, and gun violence. "Aww, we never have any of that around here."

Written into an early scene is an acknowledgement by author Louis L'Amour that the town boss "Josiah Bannerman" (John McIntire) is not a back-and-white villain. A Mexican man, an illegal immigrant, is brought by a deputy before the Sheriff. The man explains that his wife died and he's got three boys. "They have only me," he says in broken English, "so I come to America, the rich country". He, and all his small boys, signal a willingness to work, and Col. Streeter says, "there's four new hires for Josiah", indicating that Bannerman hires good men at fair wages. L'Amour's conflict - Judge vs. Land Baron - thus has ambiguities.

Continuing his conversation with the Sheriff, Thorne asks: "What was that funeral I saw when I rode in?" 

"Oh, that? Well, that in fact was a shooting, but an act of self defense. It don't count as a crime, so there's no need for me to make an arrest."

But the Judge is thorough. "Okay, well then can I have the name of the man who did the shooting? I need to interview him as part of the process." Sheriff Bell hems and haws, then coughs up: "It's Tom Bannerman, Josiah's son". Smelling a cover-up, Judge Thorne tracks Tom down; he's slamming shots at the Bannerman Saloon. Tom is played by Kevin McCarthy, in Big Grin Mode when he was young. Needless to say, he don't take kindly to being questioned. "You heard the Sheriff, it was self defense!" "Maybe so, but I still have to give you a trial. and until I do, the legal charge is murder."

When Josiah hears about this, he tries to mollify Judge Thorne with an invite to a fancy dinner. "Let's talk like reasonable men. I know my boy's a little wild. I can discipline him myself." 

But Thorne can't be swayed: "I can't allow that, Mr. Bannerman. That's not how the law works, I'm afraid".

There's a subplot involving "Amy Lee Bannerman" (Miroslava), Josiah's niece, where she's engaged to the nerdy town banker, also a cousin, but he's a drip and she's attracted to the Judge. Thorne likes her too; she's beautiful and she stands up to Josiah. She's fiery, knows that cousin Tom's a killer, and the plot may hinge on her loyalty to the extensive Bannerman clan. Meanwhile, the Judge has won the allegiance of the Sheriff, who's embarrassed at having been under the thumb of Josiah. Now, he's ready to die upholding the law, and when Judge Thorne decides they need to spirit Tom out of town in the middle of the night, to avoid a multi-Bannerman attack, Sheriff Bell willingly backs him, blowing several holes in the jail door when Josiah's henchmen break it down. The good guys are on the run now, riding over a mountain pass, taking Tom to the town of Cottonwood, where a fair trial can be held away from the Bannerman influence. And lo and behold, Amy Lee rides out to join them, bucking Josiah's orders. Also along are two witnesses who saw the shooting, in which Tom is claiming self-defense. They will testify they saw him try to rape the dead man's wife, and when the man intervened, Tom killed him: it was cold-blooded murdalization.

There's only one trail that leads out of town, so it's easy for Josiah to figure out where the Judge and his group have gone, and with many men to back him up, he tracks Judge Thorne and encircles him in the mountain pass. A gunfight ensues that will not only decide Tom's fate, but that of the Bannerman family going forward.

The movie is about how law and order ultimately settled the West. Before it arrived, in the form of Federal judges and the Army, bullies ran towns, like Trump. They glad-handed a few, paid henchmen well (and henchmen felt powerful by proxy). The citizens went along to get along, and kept their heads down to avoid trouble. And - like Tom Bannerman - the scions had their way, got drunk, or killed someone and called it self defense, and they got away with it because Donald Trump always owned the Sheriff as well as the town. But then the Federal government started sending Judges or creating Army outposts, and the day of the Western small town shot-callers slowly came to an end. Two Bigs verging on Two Huge for "Stranger on Horseback". You can't beat a Western with Joel McCrea, and you get John Carradine in the bargain. I hadn't heard of the actress Miroslava (single name), and was saddened to read that she committed suicide, at age 30, not long after this movie was completed. She's very beautiful and captivating in her role as Amy Lee, but was apparently heartbroken over the breakup of an engagement. The picture is color, slightly soft.  //// 

The previous night once again featured the combo of Clint Walker and Aaron Spelling, working out of what looked like the same location they used for "Yuma". It's another made-for-TV Western called "The Bounty Man"(1972). Maybe they shot 'em back to back. Walker plays "Kinkaid", a bounty hunter with a black beard that looks painted on. We see how good he is at his trade in the opening scene: two outlaws are celebrating with a drink from a mud puddle, believing they've outrun him after two days on horseback. They discover they're wrong when Kincaid pops up out of nowhere. One guy draws and gets blown in half.

The bounty on these men is 500 bucks, and when Kincaid brings them in to collect (one dead, one alive), another local bounty hunter named "Angus Keough" (Richard Basehart as a total dirtbag) doesn't appreciate the competition. With his scuzzball gang to back him up, he threatens the gigantic Kincaid. Basehart uses his renowned voice to great effect, issuing whiskey-and-cigar-smoked threats: "Listen here, Kincaid. We've been workin' this area since you wuz in short britches. Why don't you pack up and git?"

When Kincaid tells him to stick it, that he's now going after the notorious "Billy Riddle" (John Ericson), Keough tells him he's crazy. "Riddle's holed up in Battle Creek, which is hemmed in by mountains. That town's mostly outlaws who see Billy as a hero. You'll be walkin' into a trap and you'll never get out alive."

"5000 dollars says I will".

"Oh, so it's five now, is it? Just last month it was only three, and even that much wasn't enough for us to try takin' him, and I got five men. Like I'm saying; you go practice your trade somewhere else." When Kincaid refuses, one of Keough's men wants to shoot him, but Keough has a better idea. "Let that he-man go to Battle Creek. Either he gets killed, or he leaves with Riddle and we steal him. Either way, we win."

Kincaid does ride into Battle Creek, which is situated in a box canyon as described. He busts into a saloon, pulls Billy out like William Devane in "Rolling Thunder", and rousts Billy's girlfriend (Margot Kidder), but she's a handful: "I love Billy! You'll have to kill me to stop me from coming with you." Kincaid ties her up also, puts them both on horses, and they all ride off at his gunpoint. Prior to hunting Billy, Kincaid had stopped at Tom Brady's gun shop, where the one-armed Brady (who must've thrown so many passes that his arm fell off) gave him a riot gun, which he demonstrates during the escape from Battle Creek by blowing several tunnels in the door. But now, in the desert at night, it's our three against Keough and his lowlifes, who're aiming to ambush and kill Kincaid, then take Billy for themselves to collect the five grand bounty. God only knows what they'll do to Margot Kidder.

The Keough gang manages to shoot Margot's horse, so now she's riding double with Kincaid. They're also out of beef jerky and have just one canteen of water. Keough has plenty and offers Kincaid a deal. "I'll give ya food and water for Billy. You can keep  the girl and we'll let you live." But in between, Billy has talked Margot into seducing Kincaid, by using her wiles as a "saloon girl". Kincaid's a loner ("He's a lonely man", Billy says) whose wife left him for an outlaw. That's why he became a bounty hunter, to catch and kill the wife-stealer. Billy hopes that Margot can get Kincaid to sleep with her, so that when he's asleep, and she's still untied, she can get his gun and free Billy. But the plan backfires when she does sleep with Kincaid and falls in love. "He's a real man," she tells Billy, who's irate: "I thought you wuz gonna free me!"

And now, all three are gonna need each other, bounty hunter and prey or not, because Keough and his lowlifes have surrounded them during the night. And Billy is close to escaping. Kincaid has to come up with an ingenious plan to get out of this predicament. His rappelling prowess comes in handy.

Margot Kidder is only 24 here, and she's all heart, like her Lois Lane persona. She was such a sweetheart of an actress, and you feel bad about how her life broke down with mental illness and substance abuse. Like the tragic Miroslava, she too committed suicide, but she's a tough cookie in this role. John Ericson was amazingly 46 playing Billy Riddle, but supposed to be twenty years younger. He was actually a year older than Clint Walker in real life, but he looked like Billy the Kid. However, it's Richard Basehart who gets the acting honors, with long hair, filthy clothes, and an evil, envious grin. He looks like a real, backstabbing bounty hunter of the old West, who could only hunt his prey with a gang because he's really a wimp, like all gang members. Two Big Thumbs Up. The picture is good but dark in places; it's the color film, TV- movie-print-syndrome again. We're on a roll with Clint Walker.  //// 

And that's all I've got for a late September Friday. My blogging music is Klaus Schulze "La Vie Electronique #16", my late night is Wagner's "Die Walkure". I wish you a great weekend and a Rams win over Indy, and I send you Tons of Love as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)