Movie Ad of the Week: THE DIRT GANG (1972) a.k.a. FAT MOMMA (1973)

The ad above is from the December 1, 1972 opening of THE DIRT GANG in El Paso, TX. Below...

...the same film's release in Boston as FAT MOMMA on March 21, 1973.

Movie Ad of the Week: Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre in New Rochelle (January 1963)

Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre appeared at the RKO Proctor's theater in New Rochelle on Saturday, January 26, 1963 to promote the release of THE RAVEN, the fifth of eight movies Roger Corman made for American International Pictures based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Radio and TV announcer Fred Robbins, best known for CBS Movie Nights, introduced Karloff and Lorre that afternoon.

Marquee Gazing: SAVAGE SISTERS at the Woods

Eddie Romero's action-packed fighting femmes flick SAVAGE SISTERS (1974), now available as an MGM Limited Edition DVD-R, has been a TOS favorite since its occasional appearances on Commander USA's Groovy Movies beginning in August 1986. So imagine our surprise when we spotted it on the marquee of Chicago's legendary Woods Theater during a recent viewing of the Michael Keaton-meets-Maria Conchita Alonso romcom TOUCH AND GO (1986).

About an hour into the movie, 12-year-old Louis DeLeon (Ajay Naidu), streetwise son of single mom Denise DeLeon (Alonso), skips school to see SCARFACE in one of the last of the Loop theaters.

However, the establishing shot in this open matte VHS source reveals the actual program at the Woods that week: THE BOUNTY (1984), starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins and released by Orion Pictures, paired with the decade-older AIP release SAVAGE SISTERS.

We knew Orion had kept many of the '70s AIP films in theatrical circulation until 1987, so the appearance of SAVAGE SISTERS on a marquee with a then-new Orion release didn't surprise us.

What did surprise us was the realization that TOUCH AND GO -- an August 1986 release evidently filmed during the spring of 1984 -- was in theaters at the same time we first caught SAVAGE SISTERS on the USA Network!

Marvel spoofs FROGS and BLACULA

Our statistics went through the roof last week after we posted the Crazy magazine spoof of the SHAFT tv series (thanks in part to the referrals from our friends Marc Edward Heuck and Marty McKee on Facebook and Twitter, respectively), so we decided to dig one year deeper into the archives for this pair of parodies from an earlier Marvel Comics attempt to ride Mad's wave of success. The color comic book Spoof was only around for 5 issues, but it stood apart from its influences and competitors in that it seemed to eschew studio films in favor of ribbing the smaller but no less popular indy releases of the day, including 2 horror films from American International Pictures, FROGS and BLACULA. So without further ado, here's F-F-FROGS! from issue #3 (January 1973).

And heeeeeere's BLECHHULA! from issue #4 (March 1973). Enjoy!

The Endangered List (Case File #9)

THE FEMALE RESPONSE (1973)

CAST
Raina Barrett (Leona)
Jacque Lynn Colton (Rosalie)
Michaela Hope (Sandy)
Jennifer Welles (Andrea)
Gena Wheeler (Victoria)
Marjorie Hirsch (Marjorie)
Roz Kelly (Gilda)
Lawrie Driscoll (Karl)
Edmund Donnelly (Mark)
Todd Everett (Gary)
Richard Wilkins (Tom)
Phyllis MacBride (Rachel)
Suzy Mann (Ramona)
Curtis Carlson (Alex)
Herb Streicher a.k.a. Harry Reems (Max)
Anthony Scott Craig (Caller)

Richard Lipton (Leland)

CREDITS
Produced by Richard Lipton
Directed by Tim Kincaid
Director of Photography: Arthur D. Marks
Music Composed by Bill Reynolds
Music Arranged and Conducted by Manny Duran
Screenplay by Tim Kincaid and David Newburge
Film Editing by Graham Place and Arthur Marks, Atlantis Films, Inc.
Sound by Graham Place
Art and Sculpture by Richard Corben, Aaronel De Roy Gruber, and Jamie De Roy
Hairstyles Created by Albert Brown

A Filmpeople Presentation
A Richard Lipton Production
A Trans-American Release
Running Time: 89 minutes
Aspect Ration: 1.85:1
Rating: R

Color by Movielab

SYNOPSIS

A newspaper columnist with firm ideas about feminine freedoms, Marjorie (MARJORIE HIRSCH) is fired by her editor for expressing her libertarian views in her column. Convinced that her employer was no longer in touch with today's morals and acceptance of the sexual revolution, she begins a probe of public attitudes and instigates a seminar in sex among a representative group of young women.

Sandy (MICHAELA HOPE), a free-living young hippie, denounces the restrictions of married life to the girls at the seminar and describes as an example an afternoon spent with Gary (TODD EVERETT), a young man who picked her up as she was hitchhiking to a country bungalow she maintained. She explains how she introduced him to some drug-boosted love-making as the pair spent an interval in the surrounding forest.

Social restrictions have no bonds on Victoria (GENA WHEELER) who forthrightly describes herself as a high-priced call girl. She declares that she sees nothing wrong with an occupation in which she is handsomely paid for making love to the most sophisticated men in New York. However, she does admit that it becomes boring at times and does not eliminate the possibility that she might one day settle down.

Such an existence fascinates Rosalie (JACQUE LYNN COLTON) who admits that she doesn't have the body to be a successful prostitute. In fact, with her weight problem, any affair with a man would be a relief from her virginal state.

The problems of a suburban housewife are expressed by Leona (RAINA BARRETT) who relates the boredom of life with a husband who has allowed his professional ambitions and drive for material gain to interfere with their emotional life, relegating love making to a routine duty.

Gilda (ROZ KELLY) reveals her interest in the offbeat propositions described in the ads of the underground press. She expresses shock at their audacity but it doesn't discourage her from determining to investigate their erotic possibilities. Responding to one of the ads, she finds herself imprisoned in a bed and bound at the wrists by her co-respondent. Another attempt finds her with a young man (RICHARD LIPTON) who insists that she must dress up like his mother and treat him like an infant in order to relate to her sexually.

Resentment of the masculine image forces Andrea (JENNIFER WELLES), a pretty blonde socialite, to tease the men she meets, luring them on then coldly cutting them off at the peak of their interest. Her technique backfires, however, when, spurning the advances of a young garage mechanic, she is raped by him in her shower. But, rather than an ordeal, she finds she enjoys the experience.

Rosalie, too, finally gets into activities more satisfying sexually when she joins a group of swingers who believe in love making as a group activity.

For Leona, the routines of suburbia take a painful turn when, responding to an obscene phone call, she finds that her frustration forces her to listen to the caller…and sense erotic enjoyment from it.

Victoria's life as a call girl appears to end when she receives a marriage proposal from one of her clients. They agree to a rendezvous and, although she is sure that he wasn't sincere, he appears and they go off together.

The girls end their seminar in agreement that the social revolution is a welcome change and that each had learned much from her sisters to guide her in improving her own love life.