Movie Ads of the Week: HELL UP IN HARLEM vs. THAT MAN BOLT (both 1973)

How big of a star was Fred Williamson on Friday, December 21, 1973? Big enough for two of his action vehicles to open in New York on the same day! American International unveiled HELL UP IN HARLEM, their quickie sequel to BLACK CAESAR, opposite Universal's internationally shot karate/superspy flick THAT MAN BOLT. The Daily News even pitted the two films against each other by running their opening day ads on the same page.

The Endangered List (Case File #124)

BLACK CHARIOT (1971)

Starring
Bernie Casey
Barbara O. Jones
Richard Elkins
Gene Dynarski
Pauline Myers
Michael Warren

Written, produced and directed
 by
Robert L. Goodwin

A
Third World Distributors & Malcolm Berkley
presentation

View-Master: THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

We haven't done a View-Master post in a while, but you can read Chris' review of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE packet in the latest issue of Cinema Retro (Vol. 8: #24), on sale now!

Movie Ad of the Week: SWEET KILL (1972)

Those fine folks at the IMDb have Curtis Hanson's SWEET KILL listed as a 1973 release, but we've found an opening date of March 15, 1972 for the sexy psychothriller on two screens in El Paso, TX (The film was submitted to the MPAA in 1971 as SWEETKILL). After playing through the rest of the year and failing to set box-offices ablaze, Roger Corman reportedly had Hanson shoot additional nude scenes so SWEET KILL could be reworked into a sexploitation movie and re-released as THE AROUSERS. This is the version that was released on VHS by Embassy Home Entertainment in the '80s and is now available on DVD from Shout! Factory (misleadingly packaged and being sold under the SWEET KILL handle and advertising campaign). The ad below is from the May 16, 1973 opening of THE AROUSERS in Findlay, OH. Jim Hillier and Aaron Lipstadt's 1981 book Roger Corman's New World (BFI Dossier #7) lumps SWEET KILL/THE AROUSERS together in the same entry, with a May 9, 1973 release date and no indication that two different cuts of the film exist.

Movie Ad of the Week: JOSHUA AND THE BLOB (1972)

John C. Lange's animated 7-minute short JOSHUA AND THE BLOB (1972) -- a follow-up to his JOSHUA IN A BOX (1969) -- was acquired by Jack H. Harris Enterprises, submitted to the MPAA for a G rating, and used as an added bonus with SON OF BLOB (a.k.a. BEWARE! THE BLOB) for some theatrical bookings.

Movie Ad of the Week: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (1974)

Duke Mitchell's THE EXECUTIONER -- better known as MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE -- carries a 1978 release date on the IMDb, but above is the ad for its world premiere as LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON at the Globe (a Times Square porno house) on December 19, 1974. By August of '75 it had been retitled MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE and was playing the Skyway Drive-In in Las Vegas (co-feature: WHITE LIGHTNING) as well as two theaters in Washington, D.C., where it was co-billed with VOODOO HEARTBEAT.

Movie Ad of the Week: STAG MODEL SLAUGHTER (1975)

Mike Decker of Just For the Hell of It! (J4HI!) sent us this cool ad mat a couple of weeks ago to use for a future "Updating the IMDb" entry, but the title is so rare that we thought it should get its own post. American International Pictures released Pete Walker's HOUSE OF WHIPCORD beginning in November 1974, but by July '75 it had been retitled STAG MODEL SLAUGHTER by United Producers for select territories like Texas, where we found it co-billed with HELL HOUSE GIRLS, a re-release of SCHOOL FOR UNCLAIMED GIRLS (AIP's version of Robert Hartford-Davis' THE SMASHING BIRD I USED TO KNOW). United Producers performed another facelift on Walker's film and in December '75, a year after its stateside debut, it was re-released again as THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S MODELS, paired with HOOKERS REVENGE (a retitling of THEY CALL HER ONE-EYE) on a double bill that played successfully through the rest of the decade.

Mystery Movie: HOUSE OF TORTURE (ca. 1982)

When the dusk-to-dawn drive-in ad to the right (from Altoona, PA) was included in one of our random movie ad posts over two years ago, someone wrote to us and asked if we knew the true identity of the second feature, HOUSE OF TORTURE. We did not, but thanks to our old pal Nathan Miner -- the former editor of the fanzines Bits 'N' Pieces and The Drive-In Theatre Newsletter -- we know it now! Nathan mailed us the summer '94 issue of The Drive-In Theatre Newsletter (Vol. 2, No. 2), which features a great article by Ohio-based writer Jim Swarts entitled "Into the Drive-In Void!" Swarts attended a few dusk-to-dawn shows at drive-ins around Canton and Akron in the early '80s, including a "5 Deranged Features" program that included HOUSE OF TORTURE, which turned out to be Herschell Gordon Lewis' THE WIZARD OF GORE (1970) with a new title card spliced into the opening credits.

CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE (1976) was shown on the same dusk-to-dawn program, as was SCREAMS OF FLESH AND BLOOD, which was revealed to be the John Carradine-hosted trailer compilation THE BEST OF SEX AND VIOLENCE (1981). However, what was advertised as THEY’RE COMING TO GET YOU -- the title of Sergio Martino's ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK (1972) when Independent-International released it in the U.S. in 1976 -- was actually Al Adamson's DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN (1971), also an I-I release, with a new "THEY'RE COMING TO GET YOU" title card spliced into the opening credits.

But wait! It gets better! NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST, another Independent-International title, was also on the same program. Normally this would mean the 1975 werewolf vs. Yeti movie starring Paul Naschy, which I-I released in the U.S. in 1977, but -- according to Swarts -- what was actually shown was Ted V. Mikels' THE CORPSE GRINDERS (1971) with its title cut off and no new title card inserted in its place.

Swarts also describes a "Gore Galore" all-nighter he attended at the Gala Twin Drive-In, where only two of the five "hits" listed in the ad below -- BLOODEATERS and INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS -- were actually shown. BLOOD ORGY turned out to be Andy Milligan's THE GHASTLY ONES (1968), NIGHTMARE IN BLOOD wasn't the John Stanley movie but rather the Al Adamson biker flick HELL'S BLOODY DEVILS (1970), and BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHER was Kent Bateman's THE HEADLESS EYES (1971) instead of Andy Milligan's BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS (1969).

This all-nighter in Cleveland ran all of the movies advertised, but other dusk-to-dawn shows that played across Pennsylvania and Ohio (and parts of Wisconsin) during the 1981 and '82 drive-in seasons evidently did not. Does anyone else remember catching "5 Deranged Features" or similar, questionable programs in the early '80s?

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.