Regeneration

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION is the second "official" sequel to the 1992 hit UNIVERSAL SOLDIER and a highly anticipated reunion of that film's stars: action icons Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Like all of their recent films, it went directly to home video, but probably deserved better treatment. Director John Hyams hired his father, the noted action director Peter Hyams (CAPRICORN ONE), who worked with Van Damme on TIMECOP, to be his cinematographer, which lends the low-budget production a high-budget sheen. It’s a good, not great, action movie held back by a limited budget and routine screenplay.

Like his dad, John shows a real flair for staging exciting action sequences, including a very nice opening car chase. Unfortunately, the stars we really want to see are only given glorified cameos (Dolph only worked five days on the project), leaving the bulk of the emoting to the incredibly stiff mixed martial artist Andrei Arlovski. It also means that the many fights and stunts, as well done as they are, have little dramatic weight, because they’re being performed by characters we don’t know or care about.

OG UniSol Luc Devereaux (Van Damme) is pressed into service to rescue the children of the Russian Prime Minister from terrorists who have hijacked the Chernobyl nuclear plant and threaten to blow it up. Their secret weapon is a badass new Universal Soldier, played by Arlovski, who is seen demolishing four other UniSols with his brutal fighting style. Lundgren’s turn as Luc’s archenemy Andrew Scott is short but definitely sweet.

The score and sound design are compatible with Hyams’ vision, and with a better script and more participation from its name stars, this UNIVERSAL SOLDIER sequel could really have been something.

This Fall, Daddy's Home

Dylan Walsh (NIP/TUCK) demonstrates that he’s no Terry O’Quinn in THE STEPFATHER, a limp remake of the 1987 film that did little box office, but became a cult favorite on cable and home video. Based on the true story of family murderer John List, the original STEPFATHER was a smart understated thriller with a corker of a complex performance by O’Quinn (LOST), who returned for a 1989 sequel. Under the direction of TV journeyman Nelson McCormick (who worked with Walsh on NIP/TUCK), the remake is routine boogeyman stuff.

The difference between the two films is evident from their opening scenes, in which the Stepfather cleans up, changes his appearance, and leaves his house after the off-screen murders of his family. Whereas Joseph Ruben, the director of the original, played the scene in a calm, understated fashion, echoing the cool sociopathy of the main character, McCormick adds whooshing camera tricks, “scary” music, and close-ups of the murdered children, which is much less interesting and respectful of its audience.

Now calling himself David Harris, the Stepfather finds a new family in Portland, Oregon with divorcee Susan (Sela Ward) and her three children. The two youngest take to David immediately, but the oldest is Michael (Penn Badgley), a high school senior home from military school, a supposed bad seed with a bad temper, but not played that way by Badgley (GOSSIP GIRL), who’s also too old to be convincing. He’s a bit suspicious of his new stepdad’s temper and the way he can’t keep the details of his backstory straight.

Scripter J.S. Cardone (SNIPER 3) apes the structure, but not the nuance of Donald E. Westlake’s original. Act Three really ramps up the stupid and adds an insulting coda. McCormick overdoes the horror clichés—the springloaded cat, the face in the mirror, a raging thunderstorm—making this STEPFATHER a technically polished but dramatically void affair. Amber Heard is Michael’s petulant girlfriend in a hilarious variety of bikinis. Paige Turco (THE AGENCY) and Sherri Stringfield (NYPD BLUE) are wasted as Susan’s sister and her partner. Also with Jon Tenney as Susan’s ex, Nancy Linehan Charles, Braeden LeMasters, Skyler Samuels, Jason Wiles, and Jesselyn Gilsig.

More On Robert Culp

Anyone interested in the life and career of the late Robert Culp, the I SPY star who passed away last month, should probably read Stephen Bowie's fine appreciation of the actor on his Classic TV History blog.

Meanwhile, if you're into junky movies, pay a visit to a new blog by Don Guarisco, Schlockmania, which covers spaghetti westerns, Roger Corman movies, and reviews of old FANGORIA issues, among other offerings.

Finally, you know I've been covering the tough, gritty, strange world of men's adventure novels here at Johnny LaRue's Crane Shot, but nothing on the "men's sweat" magazines that lined drug store and newsstand shelves during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. I hope to review some eventually, but until then, pay some attention to the Men's Adventure Magazine blog.

A Boy Magician On A Fabulous Adventure

Roger Corman was at his laziest during the mid-1980s, when he appeared to recycle James Horner’s BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS and Christopher Young’s DEATHSTALKER scores and tons of stock footage into half the films he made. His Concorde Pictures was very busy churning out sword-and-sorcery quickies in the aftermath of CONAN THE BARBARIAN and THE BEASTMASTER, and the 1985 release WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM is packed with scenes ripped straight out of Corman’s DEATHSTALKER and SORCERESS. The stock footage isn’t even used well; it’s often just tossed in at random with narration poured over it to fill gaps in the narrative.

Like Corman's BARBARIAN QUEEN, WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM was shot in Argentina by native director Hector Olivera. The PG picture also aims at a family-friendly audience, which surely disappointed fans looking for the blood and boobs common to the genre. At least there’s plenty of unintentional humor to be found in its incompetence and hammy performances.

The plot by Ed Naha (TROLL), who wrote a book about Corman, finds evil sorcerer Shurka (soap actor Thom Christopher, just off the BUCK ROGERS TV series) conspiring with Queen Udea (luscious Barbara Stock, who moved from this to SPENSER: FOR HIRE) to bump off the King of Axholm and take his throne. Trying to stop him are young magician Simon (Vidal Peterson, the young star of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES), whose father was also murdered by Shurka; his large white furry companion Gulfax (Edward Murrow wearing the silliest Chewbacca costume you’ve ever seen); and Kor the Conqueror, lazily played by Bo Svenson in an amusing lark of a performance.

Maria Socas, whose nude acting was the highlight of Corman’s lame THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS, pops up just long enough to introduce clips from SORCERESS’ climax and turn into a woman-sized rubber insect. For sure, WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM moves. It may not make any sense, but it throws one clumsy action scene after another at the audience at a rapid clip. One of them has Svenson hacking up zombies, even though he was obviously never on the same set with them (nor is he present during the big climax—just close-ups of him on a black set waving a sword over his head). Another swordfight between Svenson and a giant uses no special effects; the camera is placed on the ground pointing up to make Svenson’s opponent look huge.

Given that Naha was probably assigned to write the screenplay around the stock footage, it’s no surprise that the story is illogical. The American stars, recognizing this, let their hair down and gave loose performances. Svenson even sings something like an Irish folk song during a battle with ghosts. Christopher camps it up big time, zapping his midget minions with poorly animated rays and turning soldiers into mice. WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM is terrible, but also one of the most entertaining Corman fantasies of the ‘80s. It also made some money, since the related-in-title-only WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM II followed four years later.

Scream (Not That One)

Stuntman Byron Quisenberry scraped together some bucks for two weeks of shooting at the Paramount ranch, and emerged with SCREAM, a somnabulent horror flick that may well surpass FINAL EXAM and THE FOREST as the most boring slasher movie ever made.

Quisenberry was the writer, director, and executive producer, but his best talent was hiring veteran character actors whose presence provides what entertainment value SCREAM has. Alvy Moore (GREEN ACRES), Pepper Martin (SUPERMAN II), Hank Worden (from a zillion westerns), Gregg Palmer (FROM HELL IT CAME), and badass Woody Strode (SPARTACUS) worked a couple of days for Quisenberry, but most are killed off too soon.

Rafters spending the night in a Texas ghost town are picked off one by one by an unseen killer who brandishes a bloody array of tools. Unfortunately, Quisenberry chose to depict most of the murders off camera, cheating viewers of any visceral thrills to make up for his slack pacing and confusing plotting. The killer may or may not be the ghost of a 19th century sea captain; even the Shriek Show DVD commentators are confused. You’d have to be a hardcore horror completist to want to try to figure it out.

Composer Joseph Conlan moved from this to SIMON & SIMON and other mainstream TV fare, and cinematographer Richard Pepin became one-half of PM Entertainment. I don’t know why Shriek Show bothered to release this on DVD. Commentators Marc Edward Heuck and (the unidentified) William Olsen struggle to find something to talk about with Quisenberry. Olsen argues with the director about story nitpicks, and Heuck amazingly compares SCREAM to Luis Buñuel. Aquarius released SCREAM in New York City in 1983 as THE OUTING, and Quisenberry says he made money on it. I'm not sure it was ever titled SCREAM until the VHS release. The young cast includes John Wayne’s youngest son Ethan.

Share The Ultimate Modern Adventure

Producer/writer/star Tony Anthony (an American star of several Italian westerns of the 1960s and 1970s, such as GET MEAN and THE SILENT STRANGER), producer/writer/co-star Gene Quintano (later to flirt with Hollywood filmmaking by directing NATIONAL LAMPOON’S LOADED WEAPON 1), and director Ferdinando Baldi (who helmed Anthony in BLINDMAN) teamed up with the Go Go Boys at Cannon (Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus) to create the world’s first (and only?) 3D ripoff of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Baldi, Anthony, and Quintano, as well as co-screenwriter Lloyd Battista (another American actor who found success writing and appearing in European genre pictures), were just coming off a massive success: the spaghetti western COMIN’ AT YA!, the first mainstream 3D movie to play U.S. theaters in a long time. Made quickly and cheaply in Spain, COMIN’ AT YA!, fueled by an entertaining marketing campaign that emphasized stuff whizzing past the camera into the audience, grossed something like $12 million at the American box office in 1981, ensuring a nice payday for its makers and a followup for audiences.

Westerns were, of course, already passé by the time COMIN’ AT YA! came out, but the 3D gimmick was novel enough to draw a paying crowd. For the “sequel,” which came out barely a year later, Cannon (which was not involved with the 3D western) and company turned to the big hit RAIDERS for inspiration, cast the tight-lipped Anthony again as the wry hero, and returned to the Marks 3-Depix StereoSpace Converter 3D process (the SuperVision and WonderVision hoopla on the poster is pure hooey) to craft some cheap thrills.

Perhaps sensing that audiences’ excitement for 3D would be dead by the time they could make another movie, the filmmakers go all out to exploit the process as rarely seen before. If you can name it, Baldi probably throws it into the camera. Indeed, the 21-minute prologue is an all-out assault of phantasmagoric 3D mayhem pitting soldier of fortune J.T. Striker (Anthony) against a formidable array of snakes, spikes, skeletons, dogs, chasms, broken glass, buzzards, flaming boulders, and an exploding castle.

From the castle, Striker retrieves a key that opens four jeweled 6th-century crowns containing treasure. One is already destroyed before the movie opens, and one is in a museum. The two that Striker has to worry about are in the possession of a psycho cult leader named Brother Jonas (Emiliano Redondo), who holds them in his mountaintop compound protected by masked followers. To get the crowns, Striker assembles his madcap squad: alcoholic mountain climber Rick (co-writer Jerry Lazarus), circus strongman Socrates (Francisco Rabal), and Socrates’ daughter, acrobat Liz (Ana Obregon, still a sexy star in Spanish television).

A caper movie is essentially what TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS is, and the center portion goes through the typical MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE standbys of assembling a team of specialists and mapping out a plan on a scale model of a heavily fortified enemy camp. We’re also introduced to Brother Jonas, who is said to be a regular old thug from Brooklyn, but is obviously from the Dr. Doom school of megalomaniacs (and so sketchily drawn that to call him the film’s antagonist is purely perfunctory).

I imagine the film was a real pip in 3D, but there’s still some kick to its 2D presentation, if only due to the silliness of all the stuff jammed into the camera lens. It isn’t a good movie by any real standard, but it’s an enthusiastic one and completely insane in the way so many Italian genre movies are. Take for example the climax, which doesn’t make a damn bit of sense, but involves flamethrowing gems, lasers, a revolving head, masked ninjas with machine guns, stained glass, the fakest-looking 3D serpent ever, and a melting face a la the end of RAIDERS. And that final shot…what the hell? And an Ennio Morricone score to match!

Despite (well, because of, really) the lunacy of its storyline and setpieces, TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS failed to do anywhere near the same level of box office that COMIN’ AT YA! did, and the shortlived 3D craze was dead as well by the end of 1983. Tony Anthony never acted again, though he did produce a pair of action movies for Quintano to direct.

Test

Just testing. Move along. Nothing to see here today.




-- Post From My iPad

Location:Marigold Ln,Champaign,United States

Random Comic Book Splash Page: The Occult Files Of Dr. Spektor #18

Dr. Adam Spektor was one of the few original characters published by Gold Key to make any kind of lasting impact on readers. Created in 1972 by writer Don Glut and artist Dan Spiegle as a detective who investigated the supernatural (very much like Dr. Terry Thirteen over at DC Comics), Dr. Spektor premiered in the anthology MYSTERY COMICS DIGEST #5, but soon jumped to his own book, THE OCCULT FILES OF DR. SPEKTOR.

"Masque Macabre" was a full-length tale in the 18th issue of DR. SPEKTOR, penned by Glut (who wrote most if not all of Spektor's stories) and drawn by veteran Jesse Santos, who gave our bearded hero a foxy foe in this adventure set in Vermont--Spektor's Native American assistant Lakota!

While Spektor may have had its fans at the time, less than two years after this splash page was published, the character made his last appearance in GOLD KEY SPOTLIGHT #8 (probably an inventory story). THE OCCULT FILES OF DR. SPEKTOR had been canceled a couple of months earlier in 1977, and though the book produced one final issue five years later in 1982 (!), it was merely a reprint of #1. And Dr. Adam Spektor goes out with a whimper.

Gun The Man Down

John Wayne produced the 1956 western GUN THE MAN DOWN for his Batjac Productions. Filmed after GUNSMOKE’s first season on CBS, GUN THE MAN DOWN was the last feature film of James Arness’ career, one of the first for 25-year-old Angie Dickinson, who receives an “Introducing” credit, and the first for director Andrew V. McLaglen, who had been an assistant director on several Wayne films.

Arness plays Remington Anderson, one of three bandits who rob a bank, during which a teller is shot. He’s wounded and left behind by his partners Rankin (Robert Wilke) and Farley (Don Megowan), who also take his girlfriend Janice (Dickinson) as a hostage. After recovering and serving a one-year prison sentence, Rem sets out for revenge, finding his fellow crooks—and Janice, who’s now shaking up with Rankin—in a small town presided over by avuncular sheriff Morton (Emile Meyer).

Story and screenplay by Sam Freedle and Burt Kennedy, respectively, are standard B-western stuff. McLaglen shot quickly without much money (the town is bereft of extras) and without much action to punctuate the limp cat-and-mouse shenanigans. Arness shows little in terms of big-screen charisma, though one can’t deny he’s one of TV’s greatest leading men. Also with Michael Emmet, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, and Harry Carey Jr. as the deputy. I think everyone in the movie except Meyer guest-starred on GUNSMOKE at least once, and McLaglen directed 96 episodes.

A Lollipop In My Glove Box

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, which was released in Europe in 1980, but not in the U.S. until 1983, is my first horror film directed by one of Quentin Tarantino's favorites, Lucio Fulci.

A priest commits suicide in Dunwich, Massachusetts at the same time psychic Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl) is working a séance in New York City. It shocks her into a coma, but everyone thinks she’s dead, and she’s buried in a coffin. Cigar-chomping reporter Peter Bell (THE RAT PATROL star Christopher George, slumming big time), snooping around the graveyard, hears Mary pounding on the lid of her coffin and rescues her.

Believe it or not, being buried alive is not the worst thing that happens to Mary. When the priest killed himself, he opened the gates of Hell and caused the dead to rise from their graves and put Fulci’s special effects crew to gruesome work. A girl pukes up her innards and rips her boyfriend’s brains out of his skull, maggots are mashed in another girl’s face, and, in the most notorious scene, a drill penetrates the head of the town perv (Giovanni Lombardo Radice, who was often billed as John Morghen).

DAWN OF THE DEAD’s massive success in Europe made this and several other Italian gore films, many also directed by Lucio Fulci, inevitable. This one, at least, delivers the goods, and the special effects are as good as they are gory. Amazingly, George seems to be taking his only Italian horror film seriously, even with puffed rice masquerading as maggots glued to his face, and his performance is quite good.

Besides the special effects, there’s little reason to watch CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, but seeing as they’re the film’s raison d'être, I guess that’s reason enough. To his credit, Fulci does more than just splash blood on the screen; he’s skilled at milking suspense.

Finally, A Book On Jack Hill

Jack Hill is one of America's most interesting and creative filmmakers, though it's likely you haven't heard of him unless you're into stuff titled THE BIG DOLL HOUSE and THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS. Although Hill hasn't directed a film since 1982's SORCERESS (which was cut by producer Roger Corman against Hill's will and may be the least "Hill-like" of his features), Scottish writer Calum Waddell's McFarland book about the man, JACK HILL: THE EXPLOITATION AND BLAXPLOITATION MASTER, FILM BY FILM, will give you a fresh look at his career and tell you where you should begin investigating his work.

Hill directed sixteen features between 1964 and 1982 and wrote a few more. Waddell covers them all in great depth, aided by Q&A sessions with Hill himself, whose remarkable memory for detail and unassuming manner are well known to those who have enjoyed his DVD commentary tracks.

Many of us Hill fans are well aware of the often fascinating production histories behind his more prominent features like his Pam Grier films COFFY and FOXY BROWN and the Quentin Tarantino favorite SWITCHBLADE SISTERS, but the juicy stuff here covers Hill's earlier work co-directing four Mexican horror films starring Boris Karloff (the horror master's last work) and a West German nudie called ME, A GROUPIE.

Waddell does a very good job describing the films (without wallowing in lengthy plot synopsies), providing pertinent background information, and occasionally giving us the points of view of those who worked on the films, including Hill's producing partner (and one-time girlfriend) Jane Schaffer and actresses Judy Brown (THE BIG DOLL HOUSE) and Joanne Nail (SWITCHBLADE SISTERS), to name a few.

One niggling problem that runs through the book is Waddell's unease with the more politically incorrect material that runs through Hill's filmography. Drive-in pictures of the 1970s were usually filled with torture, rape, female nudity, and depraved violence. What made Hill such an interesting director is that he was able to integrate all these required ingredients (really, there's no way he would have been able to make these exploitation movies without including these elements), but add three-dimensional characters, political subtext, wit, style, and subversive humor. This is what made, for instance, pictures like THE BIG DOLL HOUSE and THE BIG BIRD CAGE stand out above most of the grimy women-in-prison films that quickly followed in the wake of Hill's success. Waddell appears to be quite uncomfortable with these exploitative elements, and there is an amusement factor to reading the author's apologetic questions to Hill about the rapes or bare breasts that populate his films and the director's responses along the lines of "No, I'm not ashamed of it" or "I abhor political correctness" or "Because I thought it was funny." Perhaps Waddell is too young to remember a time when trashy movies weren't afraid to be trashy.

These speedbumps aside, outside of Hill's DVD commentaries (of which he has done ten that I know), JACK HILL: THE EXPLOITATION AND BLAXPLOITATION MASTER, FILM BY FILM is the finest chronicle of the director's career that I know of and is highly recommended.

Happy Birthday, Leonard

The finest science officer in Starfleet turns 79 today! Where is that Buick Riviera today?

Culp On Cain’s Hundred

To remember Robert Culp, who passed away Wednesday at the age of 79, I watched two episodes of the shortlived TV series CAIN'S HUNDRED in which Culp guest-starred. More interesting is the fact that Culp also wrote one of them.

But first, a little information about CAIN'S HUNDRED. The NBC series debuted in the fall of 1961 with just one regular character: Nicholas Cain, played by actor Mark Richman (who later acted under the name Peter Mark Richman). Cain was a Syndicate attorney who decided to go straight after the murder of his fiancé. He joined the FBI as an agent, and dedicated himself to capturing America's top 100 mobsters.

Created by the bright Paul Monash, who later produced PEYTON PLACE and JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE before moving from television into motion pictures, CAIN'S HUNDRED was not successful. Much of the blame should fall on Richman, a dour leading man whose lack of humor and charisma extended to the rest of the show. The series contained little action, so if it's going to consist of white men standing around rooms and talking, it had better be good talk. It did draw terrific guest actors, such as Jack Klugman, Robert Duvall, Robert Blake, and David Janssen, and opened with a strong theme composed by Jerry Goldsmith, but it was just not a very good show.

It did, however, present Robert Culp with a screenwriting opportunity. At this point, he had only written one episode of TRACKDOWN, a one-season western in which Culp starred for Four Star Productions. The same year he appeared twice on CAIN'S HUNDRED, he also penned two teleplays for THE RIFLEMAN.

Culp's first appearance on CAIN'S HUNDRED was "The Plush Jungle," which aired January 2, 1962. It was written by Franklin Barton (later a producer of HAWAII FIVE-0) and directed by Alvin Ganzer.

Syndicate man Benjamin Riker (John Larch) sets his sights on Amalgamated World Transportation Company, which he believes will be perfect for his smuggling operations. To get the company, Riker sends his men (including Harry Dean Stanton) to strongarm Amalgamated's customers into taking their business elsewhere.

To help smooth the transition, Riker ingratiates himself with Amalgamated's vice president, Kurt Yoder (Culp in horm-rimmed glasses), who uses the opportunity to assert himself with his stern father Zales (Larry Gates), the president of Amalgamated. Culp is playing somewhat against type as a weak executive who is easily manipulated by the sinister Riker for his help in putting Riker's man on Amalgamated's board.

You'll notice I didn't mention Nicholas Cain in the previous synopsis. That's because he isn't much of a presence in the episode, and, in fact, may have less screen time than Culp does. Reportedly, the network and/or Paul Monash were becoming dissatisfied with Mark Richman's performance, and in some later episodes, Richman barely appears at all.

As for Culp, it's an interesting role that lets him play someone who isn't as confident as he usually played, but "The Plush Jungle" isn't terribly original or dramatically vivid. But his next CAIN'S HUNDRED segment gave him a juicier part.

Just three months after "The Plush Jungle," on April 3, 1962, Culp appeared in "The Swinger," for which he also provided the teleplay. Directed by Tom Gries, "The Swinger" stars Culp as nightclub singer Hank Shannon (who is unconvincingly doubled by Culp's friend Sammy Davis Jr., who also cameos). His old friend Nicholas Cain approaches Hank in Las Vegas to pump him for information about an upcoming summit of Syndicate men to be held at the home of Hank's friend Marcus Jackson (Bruce Gordon).

Now it's no surprise that Culp wrote a plum part for himself, but he also created a rich guest role for Gordon, who was famous at the time for playing Frank Nitti on THE UNTOUCHABLES. Jackson is another gangster, but one who has been beaten down by life, who has sacrificed his family obligations for the Mafia. Now, his wife is a vegetable in a hospital bed, and his 17-year-old daughter Lucinda (Zina Bethune, who would star on THE NURSES the following season), home from school for the holidays, despises him.

It's very strange to see Mark Richman relegated to third banana in his own series, but "The Swinger" is Culp's and Gordon's show all the way. Not only does Culp give himself plenty of the hip lingo he and Bill Cosby would sling around on I SPY, but he also gets to show off the fast draw he mastered on TRACKDOWN. Gries, later a two-time Emmy winner, lets the drama unfold in a lot of long takes. While, like "The Plush Jungle," there's no action, but a lot of talk, the dialogue is sharp and deep and sounds like it must have been fun for the actors.

Despite the creative success of "The Swinger," CAIN'S HUNDRED lasted only five more episodes. Richman went on to a long, successful career in television mostly, though occasionally in features; his tame spy flick AGENT FROM H.A.R.M. was mocked on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000.

Robert Culp, of course, became a household name as the co-star of I SPY, an actor in dozens of films and television shows, and the star and director of the underrated crime drama HICKEY AND BOGGS, which sadly never received a DVD release during Culp's lifetime. While his CAIN'S HUNDRED appearances are pretty much forgotten today, at least one of them, "The Swinger," played an important part in Culp's career.

RIP, Robert Culp

The fine television and film actor Robert Culp has died at age 79, I'm sad to report.

Although Culp appeared in many films during his acting career of more than fifty years, it is television where he made his bones. Culp was a ubiquitous guest star on television dramas, most notably his three appearances on THE OUTER LIMITS, including the stunning "Demon With a Glass Hand," which was directed by Byron Haskin (WAR OF THE WORLDS) and written by Harlan Ellison. Almost as great as "Demon" is "Architects of Fear," in which Culp plays an American scientist who is transformed into a monster in order to fool the world's superpowers into coming together to fight a common enemy.

Culp was also a regular on the underrated western TRACKDOWN, the groundbreaking 1960s spy series I SPY, and the 1980s superhero takeoff THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. He also appeared several times on EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND as the father of Patricia Heaton's character.

In addition to acting, Culp was also an excellent screenwriter, penning episodes of THE RIFLEMAN, CAIN'S HUNDRED, TRACKDOWN, I SPY, and THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. For an excellent history of Culp's three-year run as the star of I SPY, track down (no pun intended) his audio commentaries on Image's I SPY DVDs, which are among the most detailed and candid histories of a television series I've encountered.

Culp also directed one film, and it's one of the best crime dramas ever made by a one-time director. 1972's HICKEY AND BOGGS reunited Culp with his I SPY co-star Bill Cosby as down-and-out private detectives looking for a missing girl and $400,000 from a botched bank robbery. It's a fascinating and downbeat story with terrific action sequences, including exciting shootouts in the L.A. Coliseum and the Dodger Stadium parking lot. It isn't easy to find today--it's never been released on VHS, DVD, or Blu-ray--but fans of the private eye genre should keep an eye out for HICKEY AND BOGGS. MGM HD has aired a very nice hi-def print of it.

For more on Robert Culp, see this post on THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, this post on his 1981 TV-movie KILLJOY, and this post on the I SPY novels.

A Murderer In A Million

Wrapping up my Chopper Cop reviews with the third and final book of the series. It also has the best title. Well, maybe the best title of all time: DYNAMITE MONSTER BOOGIE CONCERT.

It's actually an accurate title, as the book is set at a massive outdoor rock concert called Monster Boogie. Not only is it sure to be a dynamite show, but there's a strong indication some crazy bastard may actually try to dynamite it.

Our star is anti-establishment cop Terry Bunker, who, contrary to how he appears on Popular Library's covers, is a young, long-haired hippie and 'Nam vet who takes special cases for the California governor on his tricked-out motorcycle that boasts a shotgun strapped to its handlebars. Bunker is assigned to investigate threats against the upcoming Monster Boogie show from a crank who says he or she plans to blow the venue up.

Among the victims/suspects are a thinly veiled Grand Funk, an obvious Janis Joplin clone, and a Rolling Stones ripoff led by charismatic lead singer Paul Byrd. Writer Paul Ross (surely a house name created by Chopper Cop packager Lyle Kenyon Engle) throws in several action scenes and a little bit of sex; even Bunker gets into the act, spending the night before the concert inside a tent with a pair of curvy jailbait.

The book's best setpiece takes place after an unknown sniper busts into Bunker's place while he's making it with the Janis clone and tries to shoot him. The shooter escapes in a station wagon with a big head start, while Bunker leaps barefoot onto his chopper in pursuit. Ross' depiction of the hair-raising chase is one of the best car (or cycle) chases I've ever read, and I was cringing every time Bunker's bare foot slid across the asphalt.

This 1975 novel is a lively read. I don't know why Popular Library discontinued the series. They aren't groundbreaking books nor do they push any boundaries, but they're entertaining and refreshingly left-wing in their approach.

Happy Birthday, Bill

The greatest starship captain of all time is 79 today!

Coupla Things In Lieu Of A Real Post

Here are a couple of interesting blog posts you may want to check out.

The mysterious Arbogast on Film presents an interesting look at the 1955 science fiction picture CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN. Directed by hack Edward L. Cahn, penned by Curt Siodmak (THE WOLF MAN), and starring the steady Richard Denning (CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON), CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN is a pretty good sci-fi take on zombies that long predates George Romero's "creation" of the genre.

Also, over at Diversions of the Groovy Kind, ol' Groove unearths some obscure works of art from mostly uncredited pencilers in the DC Comics stable during the 1970s. See some really cool contents pages drawn especially for DC's awesome 100-Page Super Spectaculars.

Global Swarming

Sitting through direct-to-DVD or Sci-Fi Channel movies can be a real chore, but what makes the task worthwhile are those rare occasions when you find a real sleeper. Sometimes it’s something so junky that it makes you crack up incessantly (SHARK ATTACK 3), and occasionally you discover one truly well-made and exciting with moments of wit (FRANKENFISH). INFESTATION, recently released on DVD, is one of those nice surprises, the good kind.

It picks up at the beginning of Earth’s invasion by giant insects that knock everyone out and wrap them in cocoons. In a nice change of pace, the creatures’ origin is never explained and is thankfully not the result of an evil government conspiracy.

Cooper (FANBOYS’ Chris Marquette), a likable slacker, is the first to awaken, and joins up with a handful of survivors: father-and-son Albert (Wesley Thompson) and Hugo (E. Quincy Sloan), cute Sara (Brooke Nevin), and weather girl Cindy (Kinsey Packard). Discovering the big bugs are attracted to sound, the group makes its way on foot to the house of Cooper’s ex-military father Ethan (Ray Wise, recently excellent as the Devil on REAPER), who has a bomb shelter filled with supplies.

The group doesn’t reach Ethan’s intact, however. Some are killed, some are transformed into creepy person/bug hybrids (nice work by the visual effects department), and one is captured by the bugs and taken to their nest. The remaining survivors decide to head toward the nest to rescue their friend and destroy the insects.

Wise is great (I love the way he exclaims, “Candy!”, when he spies a police station armory) and having a tremendous amount of fun, maybe even as much fun as the audience is. INFESTATION is not a comedy per se, but there are plenty of funny bits that don’t hurt the integrity of the scares, but rather reinforce the film’s more serious moments. Director Kyle Rankin’s screenplay gives the characters more depth than usual, and there’s a real weight to the relationship between Marquette and Wise that raises the stakes. It helps that the CGI and practical effects are extremely well done for a film of this budget level, which makes the creatures genuinely scary foes (if, admittedly, lacking in personality).

Rankin, best known for his PROJECT GREENLIGHT film THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS, may be an exploitation filmmaker to keep an eye on. He has a nice sense of pacing, isn’t afraid to use gore and nudity without going overboard, and adds welcome humor to this creature feature. He also uses Ray Wise in his features, which is always a smart choice. Also with Linda Park (STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE), Todd Jensen, Diane Gaeta, Jim Cody Williams, and Deborah Geffner. Steven Gutheinz’s nice score sounds like an homage to Danny Elfman.

RIP, Peter Graves

I'm sad to report tonight that actor Peter Graves has died at his California home, four days before his 84th birthday (MSNBC obit here).

Graves, the younger brother of GUNSMOKE star James Arness (the family name is Aurness), was a solid, dependable leading man in features and television who made his splash in Hollywood as the traitorous POW Price in Billy Wilder's wonderful STALAG 17. Throughout the 1950s, he worked his ass off in major films (NIGHT OF THE HUNTER), schlocky sci-fi (Bert I. Gordon's BEGINNING OF THE END, Roger Corman's IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, even Billy's brother W. Lee Wilder's KILLERS FROM SPACE), and in TV guest shots.

He starred in six television series--the westerns FURY and WHIPLASH; COURT MARTIAL; the classic MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and its 1980s comeback; and the documentary series BIOGRAPHY on A&E, which spawned a Phil Hartman parody on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE--as well as the epic miniseries THE WINDS OF WAR and WAR AND REMEMBRANCE. He also was surprisingly funny as the oblivious Captain Oveur in 1980's AIRPLANE!

What's interesting about Graves' AIRPLANE! turn is that he was reportedly bemused why Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams would want to cast him, an actor who had always acted in serious roles, in a comedy. Even while shooting AIRPLANE!, Graves was confused as to what the gag was, but like a professional, he pressed on. It wasn't until co-star Lloyd Bridges told him, "We're the joke, Peter," that he began to catch on, that it was the juxtaposition of familiar dramatic actors playing the material straight was what was funny.

Of course, it was that quality that made MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE the international sensation it became. Although Graves didn't join the '60s spy series until its second season, replacing Steven Hill (later the D.A. on LAW & ORDER) as the star, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE flourished under his steady presence. Because the plots and situations were frequently so outlandish, they needed to be grounded in some level of reality to make them plausible. While Graves was a limited actor, he was always a believable one, and he had a way of performing the most absurd material in such a way that the audience totally bought it. You can read some of my posts on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and Graves here.

It should also be noted that Graves dabbled in directing, helming one MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE segment and a 1966 episode of his brother's GUNSMOKE.

Good Guys Wear Black/A Force Of One

I celebrated Chuck Norris' 70th birthday by watching two of his films from--when else?--the '70s. In his second starring vehicle, 1978's GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK, Chuck is right on the edge of drive-in stardom as John T. Booker (as the opening titles make clear), a retired Special Forces vet living a relaxed lifestyle as a graduate student/test driver (!) near San Francisco.

In Vietnam, his unit, the “Black Tigers,” is ambushed and left to die by the U.S. government on a mission to rescue American POWs from a prison camp. Five years later, a beautiful young woman named Margaret (Anne Archer), who claims to be a reporter, approaches him at work and starts asking questions about that classified mission. When his former squad members start getting bumped off one by one, Booker takes his revenge all the way to the source, corrupt new Secretary of State Conrad Morgan (James Franciscus).

Norris’ most overtly political vehicle to date deserves props for its complex and even slightly thought-provoking storyline, but suffers from Chuck’s presence. At this point in his career, Norris is not solid enough as an actor to carry a film with as little action as this one, a point plainly clear during a dialogue-heavy climax at Morgan’s home. The stunts, when they occur, are pretty good and cleanly directed by Post (MAGNUM FORCE), especially the famous one used in the trailer where Norris’ stunt double jumps through the windshield of a car, but the movie as a whole is flat and way too gabby, though not entirely unentertaining.

The supporting cast helps a lot. Franciscus makes for a silky antagonist, Archer is natural and lovely, Lloyd Haynes (ROOM 222) lends solid relief as Chuck’s old boss, and Dana Andrews (LAURA) provides a few poignant moments as Morgan’s assistant. Andrews, who looks unwell, is dubbed in one scene by Jonathan Harris (LOST IN SPACE), who receives special on-screen thanks. Jim Backus (GILLIGAN’S ISLAND) pops up in a very strange and out-of-place cameo as a doorman.

Mark Medoff, who co-wrote the screenplay, won a Tony two years later and an Oscar nomination eight years later for CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD. Max Franklin wrote the novelization. Here's the trailer:



Chuck's second of three films for American Cinema, 1979's A FORCE OF ONE, goes out on a limb by casting him as Matt Logan, a karate champion and owner of a Southern California karate school.

Narcotics detective Sam Dunne (Clu Gulager) consults Logan for assistance after his men are systematically murdered by a ninja who crushes their windpipes with his bare hands. Dunne’s surviving squad members, including the attractive Mandy Rust (Jennifer O’Neill, who gets top billing), begin training with Logan, so they can defend themselves against their mysterious foe. Logan joins the investigation when it appears that the killer may be a member of his close-knit martial-artist community.

Plotting and characterizations by screenwriter Ernest Tidyman (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) are strictly TV-level, as is the action, which consists of a few training sessions, a couple of bouts in the ring, a tame car chase, and some alleyway exchanging of kicks. The fine supporting cast helps pick up the slack in Paul Aaron’s direction and Norris’ quiet performance, though Chuck looks comfortable only in scenes where he’s teaching karate. Aaron seems to have favored a realistic approach in his directing, shooting with long lenses and letting his actors play loose with dialogue.

Also with Ron O’Neal (SUPERFLY), Eric Laneuville, James Whitmore Jr., Aaron Norris, Clint Ritchie, Pepe Serna, Taylor Lacher, Charles Cyphers, and Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, who appeared on Norris’ WALKER, TEXAS RANGER TV series many years later. Chuck and his brother Aaron served as fight choreographers. A FORCE OF ONE made pretty good dough at the box office for American Cinema, which financed the more successful Chuck vehicle THE OCTAGON in 1980. Like he did for GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK, the great announcer Ernie Anderson voiced the theatrical trailer for A FORCE OF ONE: