The Endangered List (Case File #123) - FOUND!

TWO FOR THE MONEY (1971)

Starring

Richard Smedley (Joey)

Susan Dreger (Earlene)

Carla Green (Jill)

Berry Christian (Harvey)

Vinnie Hardin (Porky)

Paul White (Tom)

Robin White (Jeri)

Chuck Camp (George)

Linda York (Fran)

Stacey Daniels (Mr. Neighbor #3)

Linda Vroom (Mrs. Neighbor #3)

Produced, Written, Directed

by

Robert Lee
[Lee Frost?]

Associate Producer

Ted Botkin

Production Manager

Mike Castle

Director of Photography

Stan Slate

Cameraman

Bill Coors

2nd Unit Cameraman

Bob Tom

Sound Mixer

Ted Botkin

Boom Man

Roger Derfer

Gaffer

Hugh Corcoran

Key Grip

Mike Levine

Make Up

Gem Burns

Music

Gentlemen II

Edited by

Silvia Mulconery

Assistant Editor

Mike Prever

Wardrobe

Sheila Dehner

Set Design & Decorating

Teddy Peterson

A

Gentlemen II

Production

Released by

Sack Amusement Enterprises, Inc.

Running time: 81 minutes

PLOT SYNOPSIS

…An intriguing look at two mismatched couples forced into an explosive relationship…as the twistings and turnings of their lives begins to eat away at the “love and marriage” fairy tale.

Joey and Earlene – outcasts of society – set out to recover their previously buried fortune which is (so they think) buried in the desert. Joey is an ex-con and Earlene is a whore right out of “Irma La Douce.” They find that their stolen money is not only under 6 feet of earth, but topped by a plush home in a newly built housing tract! The smell of money is overpowering, though, and they break into the home and in the process become voyeurs of a love scene between the young owners of the home, Harvey and Jill. As our impish redheaded whore observes Harvey’s lovemaking, she resolves to mix work (hers) with pleasure (his and hers). Joey’s goals remain more ordinary: to be rich and happy – in that order.

They commandeer the house after Harvey leaves for work and Joey forces Jill to undress so that she won’t be able to escape so easily. He tries to ignore a growing desire for this sensual child/woman with her catlike eyes. He throws himself into jack-hammering through the living room floor in an effort to regain his hidden money.

In the meantime, Earlene and Porky (the gross but aptly–named partner of Joey) occupy themselves by tormenting and torturing helpless, naked Jill. Even Harvey’s return home from work doesn’t distract them – in fact, Harvey learns from Earlene that “home life” can be dull.

The ingredients are all there and what follows is as bizarre as a night with the Marquis de Sade: …the rape of Jill by the mountainous, sadistic Porky, as Earlene watches hungrily, gun in hand…the seducing of Harvey by Earlene with a forced audience, his wife Jill – and all Earlene wants is to demonstrate for Jill how to “get it on” properly!...the erotic dreams of Earlene and her wild fantasies of Joey raping Jill…the hidden sexual awakenings of Jill and Joey’s desire for her…

The final savage act is played out in the midst of a neighborhood orgy, and you are left stunned. Can Joey and Jill survive the plunder/rape/murder and find a loving, gut-level relationship?

Big thanks to

Mike Decker

of

Just for the Hell of It (J4HI)

for hooking us up with the pressbook!

Movie Ad of the Week: THE ELECTRIC CHAIR (1976)

The IMDb lists a June 1977 release date for J.G. Patterson's THE ELECTRIC CHAIR, but we know it opened in Lumberton, NC one year earlier, on June 4, 1976.

In 1977, it was acquired by Orrin Pictures (of Far Rockaway, Queens) and paired with TRIP WITH THE DEVIL, a.k.a. Rolf Olsen's WENN ES NACHT WIRD AUF DER REEPERBAHN (1967)...

...which had already been released here in 1970 as UNEASY SUMMER.

Special thanks to Mike Decker/J4HI!

The Endangered List (Case File #122)

DROP OUT (1971)

Starring
Susan Wescott (Billie)
Mark Fore (Kunt)
Anita (Susan)
Linda Vroom (Millie)
Jerome Scott (Link)
U. Heidi Sohler [Uschi Digard] (Bara)
Barbara Caron [Barbara Mills] (Theda)
Vinnie Hardin (Sam)
Tony Monson (Roy)
Zena (Dancer)
Crickett (Dancer)

Produced, written, directed
by
Robert Lee
[Lee Frost?]

Associate Producer
Ted Botkin

Production Manager
Mike Castle

Director of Photography
Stan Slate

Cameraman
Bill Coors

2nd Unit Cameraman
Bob Tom

Sound Mixer
Ted Botkin

Boom Man
Roger Derfer

Gaffer
Hugh Corcoran

Key Grip
Mike Levine

Make Up
Harry Hash

Music
Gentlemen II

Edited by
Silvia Mulconery

Assistant Editor
M. W. Prever

Wardrobe
Sheila Dehner

Set Design & Decorating
Teddy Peterson

A
Gentlemen II
production

Distributed by
Sack Amusement Enterprises, Inc.

Running time: 81 minutes

PLOT SYNOPSIS

The star of our “Drop Out” is a young girl named Billie who is running away from a life she can no longer justify.

While hitch-hiking north on the Coast Highway, she is picked up by Sam Thorn, a 300 pound sexual glutton, and the two journey together on towards San Francisco.

As it grows later in the day, Sam pulls his car, with the sleeping Billie, into a motel operated by his friend, Kunt Harris, a part time neo-Nazi and full time voyeur.

Thus begins for Billie a series of sexual escapades starting with a hilarious running bout with Big Sam Thorn.

Sam, with more than his feelings hurt, checks out the next morning without paying for Billie’s room, leaving her in the hands of the “Crazy” Kunt.

Billie agrees to work off her bill as a maid at the motel, working under the direction of the constantly inflamed Kunt.

At the motel, she encounters a host of unforgettable characters including: Millie, the leggy go-go dancer, who turns Billie on to where the lights are low and the action is hot; Susan, Kunt’s hot pants wife driven mad with desire for Link, the handsome young filmmaker, who travels with his buxom assistants, Theda and Bara, and plans to capture the motel occupants’ wilder sexual moments on film, with or without their consent.

The motel is alive with sexual activity; room to room and wall to wall. Kunt takes as much advantage of it as possible, occasionally employing his spy glasses to enjoy the indoor activities of several of his patrons.

Link and his comely assistants have a tremendous romp putting it all on film. But now, they have a new idea for the perfect ending to their work of sexual art. It was the perfect climax: A live, unrehearsed gang bang using Billie as their unsuspecting victim.

It seemed as if it was going to be just another beach party until four of them got Billie alone!

P.S. This is the fourth motion picture brought to you by Gentlemen II Productions: “Sinthia,” “Matinee Wives,” “Casting Call” and now “Drop Out.” Soon to be followed by “Two for the Money.”

Movie Ad of the Week: THE POSSESSOR (1980)

October 3, 1980 - Santa Fe, NM

Eugenio Martin's HORROR EXPRESS (1972), which had been playing on American television since 1975, was re-released theatrically by New Century Pictures in 1980 as THE POSSESSOR, an alternate title not on the IMDb.

Updating the IMDb: Blogger Contributions

Two of our blogging buddies have officially joined the Temple's "Updating the IMDb Board of Review" by contributing the following corrections...

John Charles of Video Watchdog and By John Charles sent us evidence that the Carlos Tobalina softcore pic TONITE...I LOVE YOU -– starring Liz Renay, "the world's most beautiful woman" and former girlfriend of mobster Mickey Cohen -- was released a year prior to the 1974 date given on the IMDb. We dug around a little more and found the above ad, from an April 28, 1972 opening in Salt Lake City, UT.

John also sent us the above ad for Larry Brown's loopy AN EYE FOR AN EYE, from its theatrical run in Gastonia, North Carolina, beginning on September 28, 1973. Better known under its re-release title THE PSYCHOPATH, this strange serial killer thriller -- about a disturbed TV kids show host named Mr. Rabbey (Tom Basham) who kills abusive parents -– is incorrectly listed on the IMDb as a 1975 release.

Brian Bankston of Cool Ass Cinema wrote to tell us that Bill Rebane’s RANA, THE LEGEND OF SHADOW LAKE sports a 1981 copyright date during the closing credits, but the IMDb claims a 1975 release date. Because of its flashback structure, we wouldn’t be surprised if Rebane actually did start production in 1975, but the article above -- from the September 24, 1981 issue of the Madison, Wisconsin Capital Times -- confirms that the bulk of RANA was shot in 1981. When syndicated television airings of the film began in 1988, the year most often cited in TV listings was 1977, but we’ve also found 1980 and 1985 noted in various newspapers. The IMDb entry should be changed to 1981.

Movie Ad of the Week: LOVELY BUT DEADLY w/ JUST BEFORE DAWN (1983)

The short-lived Juniper Releasing was responsible for this unlikely double bill, which crept into 22 tri-state New York theaters almost as an afterthought on December 2, 1983. LOVELY BUT DEADLY (1982) is a PG-rated fighting femme flick about a karate-kicking high school cheerleader, Mary Ann "Lovely" Lovett (Lucinda Dooling), who goes after the drug dealers responsible for a wacky weed hybrid called "Elephant" that all of her comely classmates are hooked on and also caused the OD death of her brother (The original story is credited to Lawrence D. Foldes, the producer of MALIBU HIGH, which many TOS readers will recall features a song titled "Lovely But Deadly" over its opening credits). The co-feature, JUST BEFORE DAWN (1981), is a backwoods horror schlocker starring George Kennedy and Chris Lemmon that had already played on Showtime over a year earlier.

Updating the IMDb: The World Northal Edition

My interest in the World Northal Corporation began on February 20th, 1982, when I saw my first Shaw Brothers kung fu movie, TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG, on WNEW’s “Drive-In Movie.” I didn't know it then, but TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG -- which had been released to theaters the previous August -- was one of the 13 movies that formed World Northal's first trendsetting "Black Belt Theater" TV syndication package. A few years ago I wrote an article about the company for George Reis’ excellent DVD Drive-In, and although subsequent research has revealed a couple of errors in the piece (including one that is now on the IMDb, and I’ll take full responsibility for correcting), it’s otherwise very thorough and includes quotes from a brief interview I did with former company head Mel Maron. For anyone unfamiliar with World Northal and its “Black Belt Theater” packages, I highly recommend reading that article before continuing with this post.

Like most of the independent distribution companies that handled imported martial arts movies (New Line, Aquarius, 21st Century, Transcontinental), World Northal was based in Manhattan, so the nationwide release “track” for their product began in the Times Square-42nd Street area, with additional playdates in the outer boroughs. After its New York debut, it might take weeks or even months for a movie like THE MASTER KILLER to reach other theaters on the track, such as the Colonial in Hartford, the McVickers in Chicago, the Capital in Philadelphia, and the Rialto in Atlanta. After a year on the track, the World Northal releases would be edited for time and content (by Larry Bensky) and sold to TV in the company’s successful syndication packages.

There are three sources responsible for the inaccuracies on the IMDb related to World Northal's kung fu releases. The first and most obvious is the regional release pattern of indepedent movies during the 1970s and '80s, which the ad below nicely illustrates. SATURDAY THE 14TH opened in October 1981, NEIGHBORS was a December '81 release, and REVENGE OF THE SHOGUN WOMEN hit theaters in the New York-New Jersey area in January '82, so one would assume that THE FOUR ASSASSINS and CHALLENGE OF THE NINJA were also late 1981 or early '82 releases -- yet World Northal premiered them both in November 1980.

The second is the MPAA database. For reasons possibly related to the syndication deals, World Northal would submit their movies to the MPAA months after they opened in New York. For example, THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS -- which played on 42nd Street in July 1980 -- is one of several World Northal releases from '80 that the MPAA has on file as being submitted in 1981.

The other source for incorrect information is John Willis' annual Screen World. Willis apparently got a lot of his information from Variety and its city-by-city box-office reports; if THE SPEARMAN OF DEATH was drawing big numbers in Cleveland for a week in January 1984 and Willis had no prior data for it, the movie would appear in the following volume of Screen World as a January 1984 release, even though it had been in circulation since 1982.

To gather the following information, I consulted the New York Daily News, New York Post, Newsday, Chicago Tribune, and Village Voice movie listings, as well as Boxoffice.
                                                                          -- Chris Poggiali

THE AVENGING EAGLE (1980)
a.k.a. LONG XIE SHI SAN YING (1978)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1980)

THE BLOODY AVENGERS (1980)
a.k.a. BA GUO LIAN JUN / BOXER REBELLION (1976)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1980)

CHALLENGE OF THE NINJA (1980)
a.k.a. ZHONG HUA ZHANG FU / HEROES OF THE EAST (1978)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of 1982, but it first appeared in New York theaters in November 1980

DEATH CHAMBER (1981)
a.k.a. SHAO LIN SI / SHAOLIN TEMPLE (1976)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1981)

DEATH STROKE (1981)
a.k.a. ZHU ROU RONG / BUDO WING (1979)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1981)

DISCIPLES OF DEATH (1983)
a.k.a. SHAOLIN ZI DI / MEN FROM THE MONASTERY (1974)
Under the distributor credit, 1976 is given as the World Northal release date. It’s actually 1983.

DYNASTY OF BLOOD (1983)
a.k.a. CI MA / BLOOD BROTHERS (1973)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1983). Release date is November 9, 1983 (New York)

ENTER THE FAT DRAGON (1983)
a.k.a. FEI LUNG GWOH GONG (1978)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of January 1984, but it played in New York in 1983. This date should also be applied to the company credit.

THE EXECUTIONERS OF DEATH (1980)
a.k.a. HONG XI GUAN / EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN (1977)
In the company credits of the IMDb, New World Pictures is credited with releasing the movie in 1982. It’s possible their sub-distribution office in Atlanta (New World Pictures of Atlanta) handled it in the ATL territory -- and someone who lived in the area at the time added this information -- but New World didn’t release the movie nationally. The company credit should be World Northal (1980).

FISTS OF THE WHITE LOTUS (1982)
a.k.a. HONG WENDING SAN PO BIA LIAN JIAO / CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS (1980)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of 1983, but it played in New York theaters in 1982.

THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS (1980)
a.k.a. WU DU / FIVE VENOMS (1978)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of 1981, but it first appeared in New York theaters in July 1980.

THE FOUR ASSASSINS (1980)
a.k.a. MA KA PO LO / MARCO POLO (1975)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of 1981, but it first appeared in New York theaters in November 1980.

HEROES TWO (1984)
a.k.a. FANG SHIYU YU HONG XIGUAN / BLOODY FISTS (1974)
I couldn’t find a U.S. one-sheet or ad for HEROES TWO, but it opened on 42nd Street in June 1984 on a triple bill with DEATH CHAMBER and FIVE MASTERS OF DEATH. World Northal later changed the title to KUNG FU INVADERS for a TV syndication package.

THE INCREDIBLE KUNG FU MASTER (1980)
a.k.a. XING MU ZI GU HUO ZHAO (1979)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1980)

THE INVINCIBLE KUNG FU BROTHERS (1983)
a.k.a. FANG SHIH YU YU HU HUI CHIEN / THE SHAOLIN AVENGERS (1976)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1983)

THE INVINCIBLE ONE (1983)
a.k.a. HONG QUAN XIAO ZI / DISCIPLES OF SHAOLIN (1975)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1983).
Release date is November 16, 1983 (New York)

KARATE EXTERMINATORS (1984)
a.k.a. WAN REN ZAN / KILLER CONSTABLE (1981)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1984). Release date is November 1984.

KILLER ARMY (1982)
a.k.a. DA SHA SI FANG (1980)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1982)

THE KILLER FROM SHANTUNG (1980)
a.k.a. MA YONG ZHEN / BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1980)

THE MASTER AVENGERS (1981)
a.k.a. FEN ZHU CHI LAO HU / MASTER KILLERS (1980)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1981)

MASTER OF DISASTER (1982)
a.k.a. LUNG FU SIU YEH / THE TREASURE HUNTERS (1981)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of 1983, but it played in New York theaters in 1982.

MISSION KISS AND KILL (1980)
a.k.a. LANG DANG JIANG HU (1979) - Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1980)

ROAR OF THE LION (1983)
a.k.a. NAN BEI SHI WANG / LION VS. LION (1981)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1983)

THE SAVAGE FIVE (1980)
a.k.a. WU HU JIANG / FIVE TIGER GENERALS (1974)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of 1981, but it played in New York theaters in 1980.

THE SPEARMAN OF DEATH (1982)
a.k.a. TIE QI MEN / THE FLAG OF IRON (1980)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of February 1984, but it played in New York theaters in 1982.

STONER (1981)
a.k.a. TIE JIN GANG DA PO ZI YANG GUAN / HONG KONG HITMAN (1974)
Distributor info is missing and should be added: World Northal (1981)

THE THREE AVENGERS (1980)
a.k.a. DA CHA TOU (1979)
The IMDb lists a U.S. release date of October 1981, but it played in New York theaters in 1980. Also, "re-release" needs to be removed; THE THREE AVENGERS and ENTER THREE DRAGONS are two different movies, but the person who last updated the company credits seems to think they're one and the same. Therefore, Cinematic Releasing Corporation (1979) needs to be removed from the company credits, since that applies to ENTER THREE DRAGONS and not THE THREE AVENGERS.