Movie Ad of the Week: FLATFOOT (1975)

The first of four Italian crime comedies starring Bud Spencer as Inspector “Flatfoot” Rizzo, PIEDONE LO SBIRRO (1973) was released in the U.S. under three different titles by a small distributor (S.J. International) hoping to capitalize on Spencer’s stateside success in THEY CALL ME TRINITY and TRINITY IS STILL MY NAME. Three sequels followed -- FLATFOOT IN HONG KONG (1975), FLATFOOT IN AFRICA (1978), and FLATFOOT ON THE NILE (1980) -- none of which received much, if any, exposure in the U.S.

FLATFOOT
Kansas City, KS
April 18, 1975

THE MARSEILLES CONNECTION
Thomasville, GA
July 20, 1975

A FISTFUL OF HELL
Cedar Rapids, IA
December 12, 1975

Movie Ad of the Week: Fabian and Peter Lorre in New Rochelle (August 1962)

Peter Lorre and Fabian appeared onstage at the RKO Proctor's theater in New Rochelle on August 27, 1962 to promote FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, an Irwin Allen production in CinemaScope based loosely on Jules Verne's novel. The two were introduced by legendary WINS-AM disc jockey Murray "the K" Kaufman. The other half of that afternoon's Barbara Eden double feature was SWINGIN' ALONG (1961), a Tommy Noonan-Peter Marshall comedy also released as DOUBLE TROUBLE.

Movie Ad of the Week: WHOSE CHILD AM I? (1977)

The British fertility clinic exploitation pic WHOSE CHILD AM I? -- shot in 1974 as WHO'S HARRIET? and starring Kate O'Mara (THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN) -- was submitted to the MPAA in February 1975 and began a regional roll-out from Brian Distribution later that year. With newspaper ads that made it look like a horror film, and co-billed with a real horror film (THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT), it opened at the Marbro Drive-In in Kingsport, TN on September 29, 1977.

Over a year later -- and no longer aimed at the horror crowd -- it opened in the New York City area on a double bill with EMBRYO on December 15, 1978.

Movie Ad of the Week: MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR in Atlanta (1974)

This nearly four-hour long program of Beatles and Rolling Stones short subjects opened in three theaters in Atlanta on December 20, 1974. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR (1967) was made for British television and aired on BBC1 on December 26, 1967. It didn't reach U.S. shores until seven years later, when Carson Entertainment Group released the 55-minute film to theaters on combo programs such as this one (Despite what is written on Wikipedia and the IMDb, New Line Cinema didn't distribute MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR until the late '70s). THE BEATLES AT SHEA STADIUM (1966) runs 48 minutes long and is a film of the fab four's concert at Shea Stadium on August 15, 1965. THE ROLLING STONES AT HYDE PARK (1969), a.k.a. THE STONES IN THE PARK, is a 53-minute long documentation of the Rolling Stones' July 5, 1969 concert in Hyde Park, two days after the death of guitarist and founding member Brian Jones. CHARLIE, MY DARLING! (1966) runs 60 minutes and covers the Stones' 1965 tour of Ireland (An alternate cut, titled CHARLIE IS MY DARLING, was released on DVD in 2012).