The Endangered List (Case File #163)

In the early morning of September 9th, 1960 at the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah, Mickey Thompson became the fastest man in the world. Behind the wheel of his Challenger 1 - a long, sleek streamliner powered by four GMC 6-71 supercharged Pontiac engines (one for each wheel) – he broke the land speed record by going 406.6 miles per hour. If you’re having a difficult time wrapping your head around that number, think of it this way: he traveled the length of two football fields in one second flat. By the time his autobiography was published by Prentice Hall in January 1964, he had amassed close to 200 international and American land speed records and established himself as not only one of the most innovative and competitive people in racing but an extremely successful businessman.

Anyone interested in learning how one documentary about Thompson (THE MAN IN THE IRON CAGE) became another documentary about Thompson (MICKEY THOMPSON: MAN IN THE STEEL CAGE), both of them so obscure that neither is listed in the Internet Movie Database, then we highly recommend the article "Rage in the Cage: The Making of a Mickey Thompson Documentary," which can be found in the new issue of The Journal of Interstitial Cinema (#6). Order it here!

THE MAN IN THE IRON CAGE (1983)

Starring
Mickey Thompson
Larry Huffman
Pat Buttram

Appearing in
"The Celebrity Challenge"
James Brolin
Ruth Buzzi
Troy Donahue
Dan Haggerty
Kent McCord
Martin Milner
Ken Norton
Ted Nugent
Denver Pyle
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Dick Smothers
Elke Sommer
Clint Walker

Produced and Directed
by
Ed Forsyth

Associate Producer
Gary Crutcher

Photographed by
Gary Foster
Henning Schellerup

Music Composed
and Conducted
by
Bill Loose

Special Music
by
Ted Nugent

Assistant to the Producer
Gary Foster

Additional Cinematographers
Craig Stewart, Jr.
Fred Bailey
Jeff Nolke
Marty Zimmerman
Don Wyman
Garry Oversby
Pete Kallion
Glen Roland
Rick Hasselo
David Waelder

Camera Assistants
Marty Bivens
Don Hale

Still Photographers
Gene Esquivel
Bill Groves

Production Sound Mixers
John Vincent
David Bruno

Post Production Supervisor
Lee Frost

Sound Effects Editors
Eddie Gilbert
Cal Haas
Stan Markel
Derek Scott

Music Editing
High Note Productions

Negative Cutters
Brian King
Ted Sawicki

Unit Manager
Marland Proctor

Historian
Collene Campbell

Technical Advisor
Gary Campbell

Titles and Opticals
Title House

Sound Re-recording
Glen Glenn Sound

Laboratory
Consolidated Film Industries

An
M.T. - A.E.
presentation

Running time: 86 minutes

MICKEY THOMPSON: MAN IN THE STEEL CAGE (1985)

Starring
Mickey Thompson

Hosted by
Larry Wilcox

Narrated by
Thomas Brown

Directed by
Lee Frost

Produced by
Gary Foster

Music Composed by
Bill Loose

Presented by
RLF Enterprises

MPAA rating: PG

Want to learn more about THE MAN IN THE IRON CAGE and MICKEY THOMPSON: MAN IN THE STEEL CAGE? Don't miss "Rage in the Cage: The Making of a Mickey Thompson Documentary," an exciting article that can be found only in the latest issue of The Journal of Interstitial Cinema (#6). Order it here!

The Endangered List (Case File #159)

THE LOVE ROBOTS (1967)
originally SHIRO NO JINZÔ BIJO

Starring
Rika Mizuki
Mari Mukai
Hideo Saeki
Hidekatsu Shibata
Mikio Terashima
Tamami Wakahara
Shôhei Yamamoto
Jôji Ôhara

Directred by
Kôji Wakamatsu

Written by
Yoshiaki Ôtani

Cinematography by
Hideo Itô

Gaffer
Hajime Isogai

Wakamatsu Productions

U.S. Version
Felix Lomax [Bob Cresse]
R.L. Frost [Lee Frost]

An
Olympic International Films
release

B&W / U.S. version: 72 minutes

PRESSBOOK DESCRIPTION

In this bizarre world of distorted human pleasures, we have come to accept the most heinous crimes against mankind as just another example of the degeneration of our species. Even the most jaded individual could not forgive the creators of the Love Robots. Love Robots are beautiful young girls, abducted right off the street who, through a procedure that rivals anything the Marquis de Sade might have dreamt of, are turned into monsters, capable of killing a man or loving him on command. The Love Robots then become an item for sale, willing to accept any master and perform any act. The Love Robots must surely be the lowest ebb of slave trading. Now through the bold new techniques of an eroduction this sordid practice is brought to light in a manner that, until very recently, could not have been shown. Only now can the intimate eye of the camera reveal the lust, greed and abnormal practices in such shocking detail. Only now can no one fail to realize the consequences of the tragic ...

Bob Cresse, the distributor of THE LOVE ROBOTS, produced a hardcore remake of the film in 1976, THE LOVE SLAVES. Directed by Bob Chinn under the pseudonym "Robert Husong," it's now available on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

The Endangered List (Case File #158)

HENTAI (1966)

Starring
Sayuri Sakura
Kyôji Kokonoe
Kôtarô Mori
Masayoshi Nogami
Kuniko Masuda
Noboru Misawa
Ken Sugiyama
Kenji Hagi
Ken Akaishi
Noboru Takeishi
Shigeo Sone
Jirô Urashima
Miki Jô
Hiroko Okamoto

Directed by
Hiroshi Nishida
and
Takashi Shiga

Written by
Hiroshi Nishida

Produced by
Noboru Nishiyama

U.S. Version
Felix Lomax [Bob Cresse]
R.L. Frost [Lee Frost]

Music by
Noboru Nishiyama

Planner
Minoru Chiba

Re-Recording Mixer
Sam Kopetzky

A
Nihon Cinema Film K.K.
production

An
Olympic International Films
release

B&W / 81 minutes / U.S. version: 71 minutes

Los Angeles - September 2, 1966

PLOT

An important and respected Tokyo industrialist named Kasama hires Kyoko and Sugita, two young and eager detectives, to find his missing daughter. The few clues he is able to give them reveal that the missing girl had recently made friends with an unsavory group of people, one of whom appears to be connected with a powerful and mysterious nightclub owner called Takami. Kyoko, a brave and lovely girl, goes to work for Takami in order to learn more about his organization, even though he forces her to submit to his passionate advances and eventually delivers her to a special client for peculiar sexual experiments.

She and Sugita gradually learn that Takami operates a large narcotics ring headed by an unknown "Big Boss" who always appears masked, that together they abduct pretty young girls, addict them to heroin, rape them and put them to work as prostitutes. One of these seduced and addicted girls, she discovers, is Kasama's missing daughter. With the help of an international narcotics agent, Kyoko manages to escape from Takami and his goons, and while the Tokyo police track down and arrest the members of the gang, she and Sugita rip the mask of respectability from the brutal "Big Boss' - Kasama, their prominent client. To his utter horror, this ruined man learns that he has unknowingly raped, drugged, and prostituted his own child. Hentai is not a pretty story, but neither is the condition of Kasama's beloved daughter when she is finally returned to him, her body ravaged and her mind destroyed by her father's abnormal lusts.

REVIEW

The boom in Japanese movie production during the last ten years has established the Japanese as masters of the craft in at least two major areas: tastefully made sex/violence pictures, and imaginatively mounted science fiction films. An excellent example of the former is HENTAI (Abnormal), a recently completed product of the Japan movie mills that was brought into this country by Olympic International Films for U.S. distribution.

HENTAI is a pulse-pounding detective story which incorporates all the elements of a successful mystery: drama, intrigue, suspense, strong characterization, and a shocking, completely unexpected twist ending. Add to this a quartet of stunningly beautiful Japanese girls and a hard-hitting screenplay that features plenty of action and wild scenes of all types.

HENTAI is basically about a man-woman team of detectives that is retained by a wealthy industrialist to locate his missing daughter. During their search they encounter many dangers and accidentally uncover a nest of evil that stretches throughout all of Asia. The heroine in the story is the lovely Kyoko, half of the detective team. Her partner is Sugita, a private eye with a roving eye who flips for every pretty girl he meets along the road.

Effectively combining narration by both halves of the detective with dialogue, HENTAI tells a powerful story. It is an exceptional picture and should not be missed when it opens all over America.

                                                    -- Wildest Films, October 1966

BOB CRESSE said...

I was getting the Japanese films so cheaply it was a joke. I'd buy the rights for America, Belgium, and England for $4,000. Then I'd sell the Belgium and England rights for $4,000, and we'd have America for free. Unfortunately, the Japanese films did not go over well here. The American audiences liked the Japanese women, but they couldn't relate to the Japanese men. The funny part is that these were often very well made films. And to show the depth of Lee's talent, look at one of these Japanese films, which Lee would dub himself. He'd get three or four actors and actresses and sit in the sound studio and direct the dubbing and he'd do a good job. Because of the vowel and consonant sounds, it's much easier to dub a German or Italian film than it is to do one from Japan. But Lee could do it pretty well.

                           -- Interview by Mike Vraney (Cult Movies #9, 1993)

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!

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.”

One-Sheet of the Week: SLAVES IN CAGES (1971)

"SLAVER I BURO" / SLAVES IN CAGES (1971)

Advertised as being "New from Denmark," this legendary B&D/S&M roughie is actually one of three micro budgeted, non-sync-sound softcore quickies that director Lee Frost and producer Armand Atamian made using short-end scraps of film and then passed off as Danish productions through their Phoenix International Films. Go HERE for more info.

The Endangered List (Case File #49)

THE CAPTIVES (1970)

Directed by
Carl Borch
[Lee Frost]

Produced by
B.T. København
[Armand Atamian]

Photographed by
E.R. Frederiksen

Assistant Director
Brüel Marquart

Sound Recording
Hans Sørensen

Editing Supervisor
Peter Cooke

CAST
Brigit Krøyer (Avi)
Karl Hansen (Max C. Kragh)
Orla Nsu (Edith)
Leif Betheas (Jorgen)
Annelise Dette (Liala)
Emil Kjarum (Steen)

Rating: self-applied X

Released by
Phoenix International Films


PLOT

Max C. Kragh (Karl Hansen), a wealthy industrialist, and his wife Edith (Orla Nsu) are traveling through the hills of Denmark heading toward their weekend retreat, when they see a young girl, Avi (Birgit Krøyer), thumbing for a ride. They stop for the girl, and suddenly Max is pulled from the car by two of Avi’s friends, Steen (Emil Kjarum) and Jorgen (Leif Betheas), while Liala (Annelise Dette) watches happily from the other side of the road.

The kids seem unmotivated in their violence, as though they were a representation of a future generation of wild human animals that our society has only begun to get a taste of.

Half crazed with drugs, they kidnap Max and his wife and break into an unoccupied house. Now their hidden, depraved thoughts are brought out into the open. The night becomes an orgy of lust and terror for Max and Edith. They are subjected to countless indignities. Max best represents their hatred for the establishment and becomes the focal point of their terror. At last, Edith is sexually assaulted by all while Max is forced to watch, the final act of debasement in an already lust filled night.

Film director Carl Borcht moves his cast expertly through a story that on occasion seems almost stylized and unreal, which only heightens by contrast the scenes concerning human sex. The film has a message far greater than “don’t stop for hitchhikers.” Denmark is the first country in the world to legalize pornography. Perhaps through that the generation depicted here could be possible.


The second of three micro budgeted, non-sync-sound softcore quickies that director Lee Frost and producer Armand Atamian made using short-end scraps of film and then passed off as Danish productions through their Phoenix International Films -- the other two "imports" being RIDE HARD, RIDE WILD (1970) and SLAVES IN CAGES (1971) -- THE CAPTIVES first hit theaters in March of 1971. Phoenix International later collapsed into Freeway Films when Atamian started producing hardcore hits like BEACH BLANKET BANGO, CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE PEANUT BUTTER FREAK and the Johnny Wadd series. According to Atamian's niece, Julia St. Vincent, Frost loosely remade this for Freeway as the hardcore SWEET CAPTIVE (1979), starring Rhonda Jo Petty, John Holmes and Paul Thomas.


The older actor pictured below -- credited as "Karl Hansen" -- looks a lot like John Dunn from Richard Robinson's ADULTERY FOR FUN & PROFIT and IS THERE SEX AFTER MARRIAGE?


Julia St. Vincent and her sister worked for their Uncle Armand while they were in high school and designed many of the Phoenix International one-sheets and ad mats, including the ones featured here.

Destructible Dog: RACE WITH THE DEVIL (1975)

Over at Destructible Man, the Flying Maciste Brothers have put out a call to all bloggers to present their favorite Animal Dummy Deaths ever committed to film for the first-ever Destructible Blogathon. "We want everybody to bundle up," say Howard and Kevin Maciste, "dig deep into the recesses of their consciousness, fiddle about a bit and then go over to your laptops by the fireplace and post about the cinematic ANIMAL dummy death that you covet the most!"

Chris Poggiali & Robert Plante proudly present...

Ginger, The Destructible Dog

and other goodies from

RACE WITH THE DEVIL

Once upon a time there was a writer-director named Lee Frost...

...who wrote a screenplay with his co-writer/producer partner Wes Bishop entitled...

..."So Mote it Be."

A car chase/horror hybrid about two vacationing couples in an RV who witness a human sacrifice and must outrun what has to be an entire county of devil worshippers, the film was set up at 20th Century Fox with Alan Ladd, Jr. and went into production as RACE WITH THE DEVIL.

Not long after the cameras started rolling, however, Frost and Bishop were replaced by director Jack Starrett and producer Paul Maslansky.

Starrett had originally been cast as Sheriff Taylor, one of many law enforcement roles the Texas-born actor-director took over the years. Maybe you've seen him as Deputy Fred in THE BORN LOSERS (1967)...

...as Sergeant Bingham in HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS (1967)...

...and its sequel, ANGELS FROM HELL (1968)...

...as the Sheriff in THE GIRLS FROM THUNDER STRIP (1966)...

...or as Deputy Sergeant Galt in FIRST BLOOD (1982), among others.

When Starrett took over as director, R.G. Armstrong stepped into the Sheriff Taylor part. So many substitutions so soon into production!

I've always thought this shot was a missed opportunity. Imagine the sweet foreshadowing substitution/deception we would've been blessed with if that sheriff's badge had only five points instead of six.

OK everyone, quiet on the set! I'm ready for my closeup!

Uhhhh, wait a sec -- why does that prop guy have a rope?

Roger (Peter Fonda), his wife Kelly (Lara Parker), Alice (Loretta Swit) and husband Frank (Warren Oates) return from dinner to find that the locals have given them...

...well...

...not exactly a warm reception.

What goes up, must come down.

Ginger belonged to Kelly, so former Dark Shadows femme fatale Parker gets to have an emotional moment with the fluffy doggy dum-dum.








Captain America and John Dillinger quickly take control.




Buckle yourselves in.

Comin' through.

Rigor mortis already?

Nah, this must be the one they got from the taxidermist.

Into the fridge you go.

One of the film's most memorable and effective moments has the two couples being attacked by deadly snakes that have been placed in their RV by the dastardly devil cultists. It's a beautifully edited sequence utilizing real snakes...

...dummy snakes...

...and the shadows of dummy snakes.














During the climactic chase there is a more traditional but just as satisfying dummy appearance.

Low bridge ahead.

Frank honks the horn...

...alerting Roger, who's climbed up on the roof to take care of a meddling cultist.


The fall guy.

Hey you! Dummy!

Who, me?




Hey, why are you doing that?

Uhhhhhhhh--

-- ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh



Stunt man or dummy?

Definitely a dummy.

Stunt man.



Dummy.

That's all for now. Have a good night. Drive safely.

And try not to die like a dog.