Movie Ad of the Week: WEAPONS OF DEATH (1981)

Writer-director Paul Kyriazi's third martial arts feature, WEAPONS OF DEATH, opened in Miami, FL on July 24, 1981. To learn more about this film and others by Kyriazi, including his unreleased kung fu comedy NINJA BUSTERS (1984), check out this post by our friend William S. Wilson of Video Junkie Strikes Back from Beyond the Grave

A Jack Starrett/William Smith double feature to screen in Philadelphia on 7/26

Hey there! I'll be at the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art on Friday, July 26 to introduce 16mm screenings of two movies starring William Smith and directed by Jack Starrett: RUN, ANGEL, RUN! (1969) and HOLLYWOOD MAN (1976). The show starts at 7:30 pm. The event site is here, the press release is below. I hope to see some of you there! -- Chris Poggiali

FINAL FRIDAY FILMS AT THE MAUSOLEUM

Introducing a new monthly 16mm double-feature from Exhumed Films and Cinedelphia.com

Exhumed Films, Philadelphia’s long-running genre film programmers, are teaming with Cinedelphia.com, the online center of Philadelphia’s film community, to present a monthly double-feature of rarely screened films. The series will be held on the final Friday of every month and will feature thematically-related movies projected on 16mm.

The ongoing series debuts on Friday, July 26 and will feature two films from director Jack Starrett and star William Smith:

RUN, ANGEL, RUN! (1969)

Motorcycle gang member Angel reveals the secret inner workings of his club to a journalist and is then forced to go on the run with his girlfriend in tow. Actor Jack Starrett’s directorial breakout hit and William Smith’s first role in a biker film, a genre that he would go on to dominate.

HOLLYWOOD MAN (1976)

Smith stars as Rafe Stoker, a movie producer who gets mixed up with the mob while trying to raise completion funds for his new biker picture. Co-written by Smith, the film is a somewhat autobiographical tale of the toils and tribulations that come with working in the low-budget biker movie industry.

Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art (PhilaMOCA)
531 N. 12th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123

http://www.philamoca.org
http://www.exhumedfilms.com
http://www.cinedelphia.com

Movie Ad of the Week: DELUSION (1981) / THE HOUSE WHERE DEATH LIVES (1984)

Alan Beattie's DELUSION (1981), starring Patricia Pearcy, David Hayward, Simone Griffeth and Joseph Cotten, opened in Santa Fe, NM on January 23, 1981. It was the last release from The International Picture Show Company, the indie that brought U.S. audiences SOLDIER OF ORANGE (1979), THE VISITOR (1980), WHERE TIME BEGAN (1978), the Tim Conway comedies THE BILLION DOLLAR HOBO (1977) and THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY & THAT-A-WAY (1978), and THE MAGIC OF LASSIE (1978).

Three years later, Beattie's movie arrived in 32 "Aquarius Showcase Theatres" in the New York area as THE HOUSE WHERE DEATH LIVES (February 3, 1984) from New American Films, a short-lived company co-owned by filmmaker Tim Kincaid and his wife, Cynthia DePaula.

Movie Ad of the Week: BRUCE LEE'S ORIGINAL SCREEN TEST (1974)

Veteran producer and distributor Laurence Joachim first released the 7-minute Bruce Lee screen test in 1974 as a bonus attraction with THE GREEN HORNET (a.k.a. TALES OF THE GREEN HORNET), the first of two feature films he and his son Marco prepared from episodes of the ABC TV series (1966-1967) that introduced Lee to American audiences as Kato, the Green Hornet's sidekick. Joachim kept the screen test in theatrical rotation for the next half dozen years, using it to support his other Dragon-titled releases: FURY OF THE DRAGON (a.k.a. GREEN HORNET II), RAGE OF THE DRAGON, DRAGON'S INFERNO, DRAGON ON FIRE, and CALL ME DRAGON (a.k.a. BRUCE LEE AGAINST SUPERMEN), in which Lee imitator Bruce Li steps into the role of Kato!

Hartford, CT - November 27, 1974

Primos, PA - December 31, 1976

Hartford, CT - October 27, 1978

Los Angeles, CA - October 10, 1980

The Endangered List (Case File #137)

THE MERMAID (1973)

Starring

Rene Bond

Peggy Church

Robyn Whiting [Jacqueline Giroux}

Directed by

Ronnie Runningboard

[Dan Martin]

An

Argon Production

Released by

Freeway Films Corporation

Running time: 84 minutes

PLOT SYNOPSIS

This may sound a little fishy to you, but the producer swears every word of the story is true. A drunken old salt in a tough waterfront dive relates to the younger seamen present the story of his marriage to a mermaid and the resulting issue of that marriage ... four little barracudas, one-fourth fish and three-fourths human.

A quartet of the listeners believe him and set forth to find the mermaid and her daughters. They do. A fabulous shore dinner ensues.

The sailors dig it, and all ends happily, as it should, with the younger sailors embarking upon the sea of life with their newfound mermaidettes.

For the story behind this obscure nudie cutie, check out David Friedman's audio commentary on the Something Weird DVD of THE ADULT VERSION OF JEKYLL & HIDE.

Movie Ad of the Week: THE BEST OF SEX AND VIOLENCE (1982)

The Charles Band-produced trailer compilation THE BEST OF SEX AND VIOLENCE (1981) played midnight shows in 14 Chicago area theaters on February 5-6, 1982 as a presentation of The Alternative Film Society, a New Jersey-based organization that “four-walled” theaters for midnight movie screenings and dusk-to-dawn shows in the early 1980s. Under the title SCREAMS OF FLESH AND BLOOD, this "comic look at Hollywood's wildest moments" filled out many of the Society’s “5 Deranged Features” programs at drive-ins during the summers of 1982 and ’83 (We wrote about those here), even though it was already available on home video through Band’s Wizard Video label. Since none of the movies pictured in the ad (THE DIRT GANG, WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS, two different GINGER flicks) have anything to do with THE BEST OF SEX AND VIOLENCE, here's a list of the 28 trailers that do appear in the film: BURY ME AN ANGEL; THE DOBERMAN GANG; TUNNELVISION; THE SIN OF ADAM AND EVE; ALICE IN WONDERLAND; CINDERELLA; FAIRY TALES; EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD; TANYA'S ISLAND; I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE; TOURIST TRAP; THE BOOGEY MAN; ZOMBIE; THE SINGLE GIRLS; THE WORKING GIRLS; THE MANHANDLERS; DR. MINX; TRUCK STOP WOMEN; THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE; BEYOND ATLANTIS; THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT; SWEET SUGAR; TERMINAL ISLAND; EBONY, IVORY & JADE; DR. BLACK & MR. HYDE; DOLEMITE; THE HUMAN TORNADO; DISCO GODFATHER.

Movie Ad of the Week: BLACK SAMURAI w/ GREEN HORNET II (1977)

JIM KELLY

May 5, 1946 - June 29, 2013

Al Adamson's BLACK SAMURAI (1976), starring the late Jim Kelly and based on the sixth novel in Marc Olden's Black Samurai paperback series (The Warlock), returned to 15 theaters in the New York area -- edited for a PG rating -- on September 9, 1977. The co-feature was GREEN HORNET II, a retitled re-release of FURY OF THE DRAGON (1976), the second collection of GREEN HORNET television episodes.

Movie Ad of the Week: ICY BREASTS (1975)

RICHARD MATHESON

February 20, 1926 - June 23, 2013

LES SEINS DE GLACE (1974), directed by Georges Lautner and starring Alain Delon and Mereille Darc, opened as ICY BREASTS in two New York theaters on December 10, 1975 as part of Joseph Green Pictures' "International Film Firsts" series. The story is from the late Richard Matheson's first novel, Someone is Bleeding, published in 1953.

Movie Ad of the Week: NIGHTMARE w/ STAYIN' ALIVE (1980)

This action-packed double bill opened at the Woods Theater in Chicago on September 26, 1980. NIGHTMARE was shot in 1978 as SPREE but received its widest exposure as SURVIVAL RUN (1980), while STAYIN' ALIVE is one of several alternate titles for Robert Endelson's grindhouse favorite FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE (1977).

The Endangered List (Case File #136)

MAFIA ON THE BOUNTY (1980)

Starring
Jackie Gayle
Jackie Vernon
Joe E. Ross
Jay Lawrence
Frank de Kova
Robert Adell
Joe Bellucci
Helen Slayton-Hughes
Sally K. Marr
Marius Mazmanian
Vic Tayback
Stan Ross
Richard Stuart
Gerald Nelson
Janet Wood
Rudy Diaz
Jimmy Christy
Al Kahn
Vera Lockwood
John Hanson
John Decker
Bob Leslie
Marlene Tracy
Michael Perrota
Lionel Decker
Luce Medalla
Jeffrey Reese

Written and Directed
By
Joseph Van Winkle

Produced by
Sidney H. Levine

Executive Producer
Robert Adell

Cinematography by
George E. Mather

Supervising Sound Editor
Richard L. Anderson

Adell Productions

Released by
American General, Inc.

MPAA rating: PG (1977)


SYNOPSIS

In a most unusual plot to gain control of America’s newly legalized gambling territory, Atlantic City, Albert Sordi conceives a highly nefarious scheme to eliminate several top Mafia family figures by arranging an Appalachia type meeting aboard a yacht which is stationed off the shore of San Diego, California.

However, the unusual doesn’t really begin to happen until the gay liberated crew of “The Pinky Bee,” which is captained by liberationist John Hansen, meets the mobsters. And when comedian Jackie Gayle (Pinky), a member of the crew who suffers from mental seizures which leads him to believe that he is actually Captain Bligh, the power that rises within him readily enables the crewman to overpower the Mafia chieftains (Jackie Vernon, Joe E. Ross, Frank DeKova, Robert Adell and Jay Lawrence). Thus, in a most hilarious, side-splitting seagoing adventure, where a female crew member, believing that the mobsters are actually motion picture producers, tries to audition for the Cosa Nostra bosses before the planted bomb (aboard the ship) goes off.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Filmed in San Diego starting on July 25, 1977. Submitted to the MPAA for rating in October 1977. A sneak preview was held at the Fallbrook Theatre in Canoga Park, CA on March 7, 1980. A soundtrack album, most likely a 12-inch 45 rpm, was issued and consists of only two tracks: "Big Boss (Disco Long Version)" and "Big Boss (Vocal)."

Movie Ad of the Week: ONLY THE COOL (1972)

Jean Delannoy's LE PEAU DE TORPEDO (1970) -- starring Stéphane Audran, Klaus Kinski, Lilli Palmer and Michel Constantine, and based on the novel by Francis Ryck -- opened in Ogden, Utah forty-one years ago today (June 9, 1972) under the title ONLY THE COOL. It was re-released as THE DEATHMAKERS.

The Endangered List (Case File #135)

FEMALE FEVER (1977)
a.k.a. FUSION

CAST
Luanne Roberts (Ruth)
Eric Stern (Michael)
Damian Zisk (Cathy)

with
Uschi Digart
Neola Graf
Dede Daily
Shannon Lane
Sandra Henderson
James Sweeney
Mitch Evans
Jane Peters
Kendall Saunders

Directed by
Alain Patrick

Written by
Mikel Angel

Produced by
Ed DePriest

Cinematography by
Michael Stringer

Production Manager
Mike Weldon

Location Sound
Don Jones

Music by
Jack Preisner

Vocals by
Darrell Cotton

Re-recording
Ryder Sound Service

Sound Boom
Bob Chinn

Wardobe
Antoinette

A
Canyon Films
production

MPAA rating: R (May 1973)

Released by
American Films Ltd. (1977)

Filmed for $500,000 in 1971 as FUSION, and supposedly based on a novel by Richard Evans. Submitted to the MPAA in May of 1973 by Adpix, Inc. Released as FEMALE FEVER by American Films Ltd. in 1977. New York-area opening on January 25, 1978 handled by Downtown Distribution Corp. (a.k.a. Cinema Shares International).

PLOT

A bizarre tale of sex and psychodrama begins when Cathy, an inexperienced young artist, is befriended by Ruth, a worldly and sophisticated woman. On the spur of the moment, Ruth invites Cathy to live with her.

At first, Ruth is flattered by Cathy’s devotion, and the undertones of a lesbian relationship bring them closer and closer. As Cathy develops a possessive fixation on the older girl, we begin to realize that she has a dark, psychotic side to her nature.

At a house party given by Ruth, she encourages Cathy to mingle with her guests. Cathy is persuaded by Michael, a gentle, handsome man, to go with him to his home. There, in spite of herself, she succumbs to his masculine charm. It is her first love affair with a man and she is torn by her feelings toward Ruth and her newly found attraction to Michael. She confesses to Ruth these mixed emotions and of her affair with Michael. Ruth tries to explain to an innocent Cathy, that it is possible to love more than one person at the same time.

Later, in a chance meeting, the triangle takes form. Ruth and Michael are attracted to each other and begin an exciting courtship. They try to let Cathy down gently but she is hurt and confused. In their desire not to hurt her, they include Cathy in all their activities, but soon their longing to be only with each other leads Ruth and Michael to exclude Cathy more and more from their company.

Eventually in a desperate move to break away, Ruth and Michael go to Acapulco. Brooding alone, Cathy is torn between the two people she loves. In a scene remarkable for its outstanding photography, she fantasizes the murder of Ruth and Michael, her tortured mind rationalizing her act because she had loved them both. She has crossed the thin line between love and hate and now they must pay for her rejection. The is one of the most eerie and bizarre murder scenes ever put on film.

As Cathy’s fantasy comes to an end, we find Ruth and Michael at the door. They are returned from their vacation and together they inform Cathy that they were married in Acapulco. Cathy feigns delight, but starts living out her nightmare in reality. As the picture ends, suspense grips us and we are left wondering whether or not Cathy’s murderous fantasy will become real.

Movie Ad of the Week: Bela Lugosi in New Rochelle (December 1950)

"Mr. Horror himself" Bela Lugosi and his Horror & Magic Stage Show appeared at the RKO Proctor's theater here in New Rochelle on December 29, 1950. The movie screened before his performance, THEY CREEP IN THE DARK, was a retitling of THE APE MAN (1943).

The Endangered List (Case File #134)

STUMP RUN (1959)
a.k.a. STUMP RUN IN SKUNK HOLLOW

Starring
Edgar Buchanan (Buck Gaskin)
Slim Pickens (Babe Gaskin)
Rand Brooks (Wayne Lawson)
Kaye Elhardt (Leatha Gaskin)
Helen Jones (Sarah Good)
Nada Zawodny (Hannah Hoover)

with
Sandy Cuthbert
Gene Herlocker
Harry Kirk
Ralph Nelson
Vincenz Panny
Rudy Pfeiffer
Bob Stanovich

Directed by
Edward Dew

Written by
Rod Peterson

Story by
Ralph Benedict
and
Billie Iles

Produced by
William "Red" Reynolds

Cinematography by
Leonard Clairmont

Edited by
Ronnie Ashcroft

Music by
Paul Dunlap

Released by
Ronnie Ashcroft

Re-released as STUMP RUN IN SKUNK HOLLOW beginning in 1965

Compiled by John W. Donaldson

and Chris Poggiali

Mystery Movie: KISS ME BLOODY (1966-1967)

Here's something that hasn't happened since our SPLIT-SECOND SMOKEY post over three years ago: We've actually solved a Mystery Movie before the entry was posted! Advertised as "The picture that shocked the producers of BLOOD FEAST and 2000 MANIACS" -- and sometimes co-billed with those films in the North Carolina and Virginia territory -- KISS ME BLOODY was released by Charlotte-based distributor Dominant Pictures during the 1966-1967 drive-in season and then fell off the radar, an indication that it was a quickie retitling of another movie. A thorough investigation by Chris P. and longtime Temple contributor John Donaldson eventually revealed the film's true identity: the Miami-lensed cheesecake gore flick LOVE GODDESSES OF BLOOD ISLAND (1963), scripted by H.G. Lewis stock actor William Kerwin and first released by Dominant in '64 as SIX SHES AND A HE!

After passing it off as another Herschell Gordon Lewis "Blood" movie, Dominant went back to the SIX SHES AND A HE title and managed to book playdates for it through 1970. The movie fell off the face of the earth soon after and is still considered lost, although Something Weird Video offers an incomplete version (47 minutes) assembled from the footage they've been able to locate. Check it out!

Compiled by John W. Donaldson

and Chris Poggiali

Movie Ad of the Week: SKELETON ISLAND (1973)

The Australian children's film STRANGE HOLIDAY (1969), also known as BOYS OF LOST ISLAND and based loosely on the Jules Verne novel Two Years' Vacation, was retitled SKELETON ISLAND when Trans National Film Corp. released it as a kiddie matinee in New York during the weekend of February 24-25, 1973.

The Endangered List (Case File #133)

RIDE TO ECSTASY (1974)

CAST

Carmen Macera (Alice)

Jamin Selig (Tom)

Aurora Lee (Mary Jane)

Daniel Harris (Bruce)

Produced by
Joseph T. Fink?

Directed by
Rene Martinez, Jr.?

Released by
Re-Mart International

Rating: Self-applied X


PLOT SYNOPSIS

Mary Jane, a teenage girl, goes to her Aunt and Uncles’ house for a 30-day vacation.

The picture is a comedy in which the Uncle, by chance, sees his niece one day in the nude, in the bedroom. The Uncle, after feasting upon the gorgeous body of his niece, falls in love with her and begs her not to go out on dates so often but to stay home and keep him company. The old timer makes love to the young chick.

Funny things happen when the old rooster is caught between the chick and the hen.

One of five movies released by Re-Mart International, a Tampa-based film production and distribution company co-owned by producer Joseph Fink (DEATH CURSE OF TARTU, STING OF DEATH) and director Rene Martinez, Jr. (THE GUY FROM HARLEM, THE SIX THOUSAND DOLLAR NIGGER). Their first release, ROAD OF DEATH (1973), was an R-rated biker flick directed by Martinez and starring Carol Connors and Jack Birch. YOUNG, RICH AND RIPE (1974) and RIDE TO ECSTASY were released with self-applied X ratings, but THE KID AND THE KILLERS (1974) and something called THE SANGUINARY (1974) -- which is also known as SHOCK and may or may not be the U.S. release of LA CASA SIN FRONTERAS (1972) -- were rated PG. When Fink succumbed to brain cancer shortly after these five hit theaters, Re-Mart dissolved and Martinez (who may have directed RIDE TO ECSTASY) went on to make the two worst blaxploitation movies of all time.

Movie Ad of the Week: BAD GUYS WEAR BLACK w/ KUNG FU STREETFIGHTER and MEAN KUNG FU KILLER (1979)

This action-packed triple bill of martial arts mayhem from L&T/Ark Films arrived in Detroit on November 21, 1979. BAD GUYS WEAR BLACK, an obvious nod to the Chuck Norris hit GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK from the previous year, is KARATE SABUK HITAM (a.k.a. BLACK BELT KARATE). The second feature, KUNG FU STREETFIGHTER, is DA MO WU YING QUAN, re-released in 1982 by Best Film & Video Corp. as THE TREASURE OF BRUCE LEE. The third film, MEAN KUNG FU KILLER, is HE LAN DU REN TOU, also known as AMSTERDAM CONNECTION and BIG BAD BOLO.

Movie Ad of the Week: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, LOVE, GEORGE (1973)

World Premiere - Friday, August 17, 1973 - New York, NY

Written by a director (Robert Clouse), produced and directed by an actor (Darrin McGavin) and starring two Academy Award winning actresses (Patricia Neal and Cloris Leachman), this psycho-thriller set in a New England fishing village opened in two New York City theaters on August 17, 1973. Not surprisingly, it didn't do much business under this unwieldy title and was rechristened RUN STRANGER RUN by December of '73, the same month co-star Bobby Darin passed away at age 37 (This was his final film). It played under this new title throughout 1974, sometimes co-billed with THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, and was on TV by February of 1975.