Movie Ad of the Week: THE PHYNX (1970)

World Premiere - Wednesday, May 6, 1970 - Indianapolis, IN

Q: "How do you get a super secret agent into Albania to spring some big shots out of there?"

A: "Form a pop musical group and get invited to Albania!"

THE PHYNX has the reputation of being one of the worst major studio releases of the past 50 years, but it isn't that bad. We'll even go out on a limb and say that 30-40 minutes of it are actually pretty clever and funny (especially the scene with Larry Hankin as record producer "Philbaby" and a backlot musical number that seems to be referencing "This Boy" from A HARD DAY'S NIGHT), leading us to the conclusion that George Foster & Bob Booker's story would've worked better as one of their comedic concept LPs rather than a feature length movie. A rare 35mm screening of THE PHYNX is happening tonight at the Cinefamily, but if you're like us and you don't live in L.A., you'll have to make do with the Warner Archive DVD-R and this insightful blog post by our friend Marc Edward Heuck.

Movie Ad of the Week: SEDUCE AND DESTROY w/ ANGELS' BRIGADE (1982)

The Aaron Spelling/Leonard Goldberg series CHARLIE'S ANGELS enjoyed three wildly successful seasons on ABC before the ratings went south at the start of the fourth, mostly in response to the departure of Kate Jackson (whose Sabrina Duncan character was certainly our favorite Angel). The show ran for another two seasons but was gone from prime time for almost a year when this cash-in double feature rolled into six Atlanta-area theaters on March 12, 1982. Ironically, SEDUCE AND DESTROY is a retitling of Ted V. Mikels' THE DOLL SQUAD (1973), the snail-paced tale of an all-girl commando team's mission to stop a rogue government agent from stealing U.S. missiles, which Mikels claimed for years was the uncredited blueprint for the Spelling/Goldberg show (One of the characters is even named Sabrina). The second feature, Greydon Clark's ANGELS' BRIGADE (a.k.a. SEVEN FROM HEAVEN) -- about seven young women in a customized van who wage war against drug dealers led by Peter Lawford and Jack Palance -- was sold as a CHARLIE'S ANGELS knock-off when first released in 1979, but it also predates the hit TV show. Announced in the trades in January 1973 as a blaxploitation film titled SEVEN SOUL SISTERS, it was originally to star R&B singer Ginji James in the role that eventually went to leading lady Susan Kiger (Playboy's Miss January 1977), and Aldo Ray as a corrupt cop in business with the drug dealers.

Movie Ad of the Week: FIRECRACKER w/ BAMBOO DOLL HOUSE (1981)

This double bill of Philippines-shot exploitation from New World Pictures opened at the Rialto Theater (Atlanta, GA) in May 1981. Cirio H. Santiago's first directorial effort for New World since COVER GIRL MODELS six years earlier, FIRECRACKER was a remake of Santiago's own TNT JACKSON (1974) and starred Jillian Kesner, "1981 Winner of the North American Black Belt Olympics" (Similarly, the publicity for TNT JACKSON claimed that star Jeanne Bell was an "Ebony Fist Award" winner). The music is mostly taken from SHOGUN ASSASSIN (1980) and the film's most memorable setpiece was shot in L.A. by director Allan Holzman and cinematographer Don Jones.

BAMBOO DOLL HOUSE is a re-release of WOMEN IN CAGES (1971) that utilizes the ad campaign for THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (also '71).

Movie Ad of the Week: HOMEBODIES (1974)

Free admission and a prune for the grandmothers of the world on this beautiful Mother's Day. And for their grandkids, look, there's a kiddie matinee of Burt Kennedy's THE WAR WAGON (1967)!

Movie Ad of the Week: CASSY (1975)

Nearly 5 years after showman Kroger Babb struck box-office gold with it at the Loop Theater in Chicago, Géza von Radványi's UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (1965) resurfaced in the Windy City as CASSY for a one-week run at the Woods Theater in November 1975. The G-rated movie was subsequently acquired by distributor Samuel Sherman, who hired Al Adamson to shoot new sex & violence scenes for an R-rated MANDINGO-inspired re-release in 1977 under the title UNCLE TOM'S CABIN and later as WHITE TRASH WOMAN.

Movie Ad of the Week: HERE AND NOW (1971)

A few ads for the French-Canadian sexploitation film L'INITIATION (1970), directed by Denis Héroux, which began its long tour of the U.S. in 1971.

Thanks to John W. Donaldson for the L'INITIATION ad (Le Petit Journal, April 26, 1970)

Movie Ads of the Week: HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD

Movie Ads of the Week: The many faces of DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT (1973)

THE FORGOTTEN - Des Moines, IA - June 1, 1973

THE SNAKE PIT - Pittsfield, MA - July 6, 1973

BEYOND HELP - Newport, RI - July 27, 1973

DEATH WARD NO. 13 - Lowell, MA - August 24, 1973

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT - El Paso, TX - November 2, 1973

Compiled by Jon Putnam & Chris Poggiali

Movie Ad of the Week: A LABOR OF LOVE (1976)

Movie Ads of the Week: Fanne Foxe in POSSE FROM HEAVEN (1975)

Movie Ads of the Week: RICHARD PRYOR, LIVE IN CONCERT (1979)

The great standup comedy performance film RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE IN CONCERT was released in February of 1979 to immediate critical and box-office success.

Six months later the producers reworked the film by incorporating footage that was shot on a different night of Pryor performing the same material, and re-released this new version in August '79 under several titles including RICHARD PRYOR IS BACK LIVE IN CONCERT, ANOTHER PRYOR: RICHARD PRYOR LIVE IN CONCERT, and RICHARD PRYOR LIVE - PART TWO. The ad campaigns implied that this was a sequel, despite notices that warned "Most of the material in this film was in the first concert."

So how can you tell the two versions apart? As reported in the Vincent Canby review below, Pryor wears a wristwatch in the second film!

Movie Ads of the Week: PREACHERMAN (1971) and PREACHERMAN MEETS WIDDERWOMAN (1973)