Flashback 1978 (part two) - GREASE, HOOPER, CONVOY...

Photoplay, June

Yesterday's horrors are today's gold dust - Kingdom of the Spiders and The Redeemer were both released on DVD in 2012. At the time they didn't tempt me into the cinema, but low-budget exploitation soon had a second chance at success when home video became hungry for horror.

Photoplay, June

A sequel to SWEENEY. I thought this was just as violent as the first, but it only scored an 'AA' certificate.

Photoplay, July

Nichelle Nichols, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and Persis Khambatta (with hair) at the press conference that announced Star Trek - The Motion Picture was finally to become a reality - after years of stalled projects.

Photoplay, July

Jack Jones stars as the pop singer making The Comeback in one of Pete Walker's best horrors.

Film Review, July

Publicity photo of Jack Jones with young Pamela Stephenson - she became famous not for her movie roles, but for being one of the Not The Nine O' Clock News team.

Photoplay, July

The Wild Geese attracted a storm of negative publicity for shooting in South Africa while there was still strict apartheid there, despite the production working hard to have an integrated crew.

Film Review, July

"Read the book, then see the film." No thank you, that would spoil it completely...

Photoplay, July

Tippi Hedren (star of The Birds) trying to prevent a lion from mauling her daughter, Melanie Griffith, during one of many unplanned accidents during the making of Roar! In fact, the production had so much trouble, it didn't get released until 1981.

Much more about Roar! here.

Photoplay, July

Tim Curry did his best to escape the image of Frank N. Furter (of The Rocky Horror Picture Show) by appearing in an ITV drama series about the life of Shakespeare. 

This Miami Herald TV guide was a souvenir from my summer holiday that year. It contained an early preview of the forthcoming Star Wars homage, Battlestar Galactica. 

See also this article from 2010 about the eight movies that I caught during that holiday in the US, before any of them had been released in the UK.

Photoplay, August

Warlords of Atlantis was the fourth and last family adventure from Amicus Productions, better known for their horror films. The miniatures of the undersea monsters were built by Roger Dicken, whose next job would be working on the various incarnations of the Xenomorph in Alien. More about Roger Dicken's creations here.

Photoplay, August

Full-page portrait of Michael Douglas, back when he was still a co-star. Seen here in a hospital outfit for one of the big thrillers of the year, Coma.

Film Review, August

A ten-year anniversary re-issue of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey looked more like Star Wars opportunism, especially as this poster solely uses a recommendation from George Lucas! I was happy to see it in the cinema again, though playing a Tom & Jerry (in space) cartoon beforehand was a rather confusing.

Photoplay, September

Flimsy premises for movies are nothing new. Convoy was originally a hit single about a truckers' convoy being chased by the police. Director Sam Peckinpah span that out into his most family-friendly feature. It also confirmed Kris Kristofferson as a star, but he was less charismatic than Burt Reynolds, and Convoy had less substance than Smokey and the Bandit. Looked great though, and my first experience of Peckinpah was rewarded with his trademark machine-gun editing and slow-motion action. 

Film Review, September

Disaster films ran out of disasters. The result was disastrous. If The Swarm had been played for comedy, it might have survived the critical mauling. A great cast trying their best not to be embarrassed by the scenario of killer bees. A new low for Michael Caine, though Jaws: The Revenge awaited. While I loved Irwin Allen's earlier disaster movies, this looked bad. I later caught it on TV.

Grease was the word and the movie and the soundtrack of hit songs that dominated the British charts all summer long.

Photoplay, October

Who's that wearing the Olivia Newton-John mask?

Photoplay, October

Ian Ogilvy (the star of Witchfinder General) fills Roger Moore's shoes in TV series The Return of the Saint, while Roger was busy being James Bond.

Photoplay, November

Before Drive, there was Walter Hill's The Driver, which doesn't have the style or the music that backed up Ryan Gosling, but the mythic characters and silent, mysterious, single-minded driver (Ryan O'Neal) was an influence.

Photoplay, November

Brad Davis, star of Midnight Express, sitting next to the real Billy Hayes (left), the subject of the film and author of the book. Director Alan Parker started a storm with the country of Turkey with his depiction of the people and their prisons. They were right to complain - the stigma of the film remained for decades afterwards.

Immediately after the first Star Wars, Harrison Ford never stopped appearing on movie magazine covers.

Advance publicity for Hooper, with Jan Michael Vincent (before Airwolf) and Burt Reynolds. Note Burt's silver Watkins jacket, all the rage at the time.

Film Review, December

Hooper! The late Hal Needham's ode to the undersung profession of stunt performers. Also great fun, without too much overindulgent comedy that make The Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit sequels date so badly.

Film Review, December

An eclectic soundtrack, fleshed out with songs that barely feature in the film. Barbra Streisand somehow more prominent than Faye Dunaway, the star of Eyes of Laura Mars. Produced by her boyfriend, Barbra wanted to star in it. John Carpenter had scripted it but also wanted to direct. That honour went to Irvin Kershner.

Film Review, December

Remakes ahoy! Superb value double-bill, Roger Corman's original Piranha, directed by Joe Dante, supported by a reissue of Brian De Palma's Carrie (heavily pushing John Travolta's bit-part).

Photoplay, December

Because of the success of The Muppet Show, Frank Oz returned to puppeteering and voicing Miss Piggy for the making of The Muppet Movie - the very first one. The following year he'd be operating and voicing Yoda for The Empire Strikes Back. Then he became a director (Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bowfinger...). The lesson being, if you want to be a director, stick your hand up a pig.

All these movie magazine Flashbacks are also listed in the sidebar down the right.

Lawrence of Arabia and more from 1963

Blow Up, The Trip and more from 1967

Barbarella, Witchfinder General and more from 1968

Rosemary's Baby, When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, Women In Love and more from 1969

M*A*S*H, Myra Breckinridge and more from 1970

The Devils, Deep End, double-bills and more from 1971

A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather and more from 1972 

The Legend of Hell House and the last of the Planet of the Apes and more from 1973

Zardoz, Westworld, The Exorcist and more from 1974

The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and more from 1975 

Jaws, Logan's Run and much more from 1976...

Rocky, Carrie, Grizzly and much more from 1977 (part one)

Star Wars vs Sorcerer and much more in 1977 (part two)

WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968) - Paul Ferris' soundtrack on CD

Paul Ferris' haunting soundtrack to Witchfinder General had been promised by De Wolfe music for, literally, years. It kept appearing and disappearing from Amazon listings and their website. Rather suddenly, in December, the CD appeared for sale again, but this time there was news on Twitter that people had actually received their copy! I wasted no time in ordering one.

Honestly, I've wanted this soundtrack for forty years, ever since first seeing it on ITV late at night. It's a memorable soundtrack, let alone one for a pivotal British horror movie. Ever since, I've been to listening to the film's audio on cassette, a habit started before days of home video, waiting for a soundtrack. It was never officially released as an album. A few tracks surfaced on vinyl in music libraries, (that I only heard last year), but now all the music is on this CD. Better still, it's been remastered from the original quarter-inch master tape.

The full track listing for the Witchfinder General CD is here on the De Wolfe shop website...




Interesting interview with Warren De Wolfe about forthcoming plans (possibly Curse of the Crimson Altar soundtrack) and their ongoing series of CDs that group library tracks used in cult movies and TV (like the original Monty Python TV series). Interview here on MovieMusic Italiano.

My look at the movie Witchfinder General here...



This blog is usually for articles rather than news items. While I constantly forward cult movie news on Twitter, I rarely blog it as well. Non-Twitter users are able to browse my @BlackHoleMovies Twitter feed without having to join Twitter. I swear it's not about cats and coffee, but pared down to interesting photos, articles and trivia that other Twitters have found.
See here... https://twitter.com/BlackHoleMovies

Also, I post the most interesting finds on the Black Hole cult movies Facebook page - I also let followers know the moment there's a new article on this blog.
Here... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Hole-cult-movies/

ONLY GOD FORGIVES (2013) - catching up with Nicolas Winding Refn

Don't ask me to pick my 'film of the year', but Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives was certainly a high point. I'm still watching everything else he's directed - here's the story so far...

Drive drew me in with its 1980s vibe and car-centric story. I loved it for being unpredictable, gorgeously shot and music-heavy, with characters and performances as intense as David Lynch used to produce. Similarly, the ultra-violence caused me to flinch and shut my eyes. It's probably very realistic, so I've heard.

But is Drive the pinnacle of director Nicolas Winding Refn's career? It was my entry point to his work and I then started at his beginning with the first of the Pusher trilogy, which turned out to be a good match for Drive. 

Another violent loner in an impossible fix. Though Pusher isn't at all stylised. It looks totally authentic, with unfussy, tight camerawork, all on location. Almost invisibly directed, I wasn't sure that any or all of the characters weren't playing themselves. Centred around Frank (Kim Bodnia) a street pusher, it was hard not to think of this as a documentary where the camera was somehow invisible. The only familiar face was a (bald) Mads Mikkelsen, who I remembered as 'Le Chiffre' from Casino Royale. The difference between those two characters demonstrate his huge range as an actor. 

Mads Mikkelsen and Kim Bodnia in Pusher

All three Pusher films are definitely worth seeing for Refn fans, but the first (from 1996) is the best. Describing the mechanisms of illegal drug distribution in a big European city (Copenhagen, Denmark - which has a huge international sea port). Detailing and humanising how the middle-men operate between the big guys who import drugs and the sellers on the street. When a deal goes wrong, Frank has to solve his cash-flow crises quickly, or face serious, merciless physical retribution.

The next two Pusher films didn't deliver the same hit in terms of street education, but rather continues following the other characters, for a fuller picture of how people in a high-risk business work outside the law, within the community. These aren't grandiose, organised, traditional families as represented in The Godfather, but shattered groups of dysfunctional people whose principal employment is trafficking,

Pusher was a startling and accomplished debut for Nicolas Winding Refn, shot around the city where he was born, acclaimed by the film-making hierarchy in Denmark. But, as he revealed in the 2012 documentary 'NWR', the two sequels were aggressively rejected, angering him so much that he vowed not to work in his home country ever again! He returned to America (having briefly lived in New York while growing up) to continue making films.

Trying some of Refn's later work, I didn't enjoy Fear X (2003) though it starts off very well. The surreal elements cheated and diffused the premise (John Turturro investigating the death of his wife) until it meant nothing at all. When reality becomes so remote, it was hard to tell what, if anything, was actually happening to the character. Perhaps I just lost the plot...

Refn's feature-length British TV episode of, er, Miss Marple, (Nemesis, 2007) stars Geraldine McEwan and Richard E. Grant, but shows absolutely no flourishes that distinguish it from any other TV drama. I'd love to know why he did this! 

There's still more Mads Mikkelson in Refn's Valhalla Rising and a Bane-like, beefed-up Tom Hardy in his breakthrough Bronson still to look forward to, LoveFilm permitting. 

In the meantime, came the chance to see a preview of Only God Forgives with a director Q and A afterwards. There were several such screenings around London in June 2013, before the official UK release. Presumably a strategy to give reviewers a chance to formulate their thoughts and maybe sync with early word-of-mouth (which proved to be polarised).

Luckily, I wasn't expecting another Drive, despite it having Ryan Gosling front and centre. And again, with violent revenge is at its core, like so many action films and thrillers. But little about Only God Forgives is predictable. Which I loved. If you want to impress me, show me something new.

Shot entirely in Thailand, it presents Bangkok not from the colourful bustle that tourists enjoy, but the dark backstreets and vivid colours of the underworld at night. For me, it really channels Bangkok. The traditional music, the carved wooden decor, the sound of rain on the streets all accurately and powerfully evoked the city. 

Julian (Ryan Gosling) manages a kickboxing arena as a front to sell drugs. When his brother is killed by a retired cop, it's up to him to get revenge. But Julian is traumatised by obsession and needs motivating by his appalling mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) to uphold family tradition.

Cliff Martinez is called on for a very different soundtrack. Again, don't expect 80s synths, but expect a great soundtrack, with Thai karaoke and terrifying ambience. Visually drenched in psychedelic, saturated colours. Stark, beautifully composed cinematography. A woozy pace and surreal scenarios.

Dialogue is kept to a minimum, but so is movement. Characters move slowly or barely at all, unless they need to. This increases tension as each scene refuses to foreshadow what will happen. You have to watch, because it's quite non-verbal. Any stillness is tense because you never know when it's suddenly going to get nasty. Gosling is even more stone-faced, with even less dialogue than in Drive. The other one to watch carefully is Vithaya Pansringarm, as the karaoke-loving ex-cop. The most memorable character is played by Kristin Scott Thomas, completely out of her safety zone as a terrifying, worst-possible mother. 

Afterward the screening, Refn said he doesn't want to be predictable and baulked against cashing in with another Drive. Anyone expecting another Drive won't get it here. Only God Forgives was in fact originally planned as the project he'd make before before Drive. Ryan Gosling only starred in it because the original actor dropped out (to do a superhero movie) leaving Refn all prepared for a project without a leading man! While they were doing the promotional tour for Drive, Refn asked Gosling what his next job was, and was surprised to hear that he'd nothing lined up! That's why Gosling is in Only God Forgives!
Talking afterwards, Refn actually spelled out a few subtexts (that I'd completely missed), and it was a shock to hear a director betraying his intentions while we were still so fresh from it. It has much of the atmospheric mystery and obliqueness of the characters are what I also enjoy about David Lynch's best films. But his comments are completely unlike Lynch's policy of leaving viewers to make up their own minds. Maybe Refn should too.

At the end, he mentioned that he was devoting the near future to working on the proposed Barbarella TV series, and news about him has been rather quiet since.



I looked at the possible music influences on the Drive soundtrack here...

Ian Hendry - the actor's first biography

An acting talent, a premature death - too typical of the time

You might know Ian Hendry from playing opposite big names like Sean Connery in The Hill (1965), Catherine Deneuve in Roman Polanski's Repulsion (both 1965) or Michael Caine in Get Carter (1971).

Ian Hendry (without sunglasses) in Get Carter

You might know him from cult, sci-fi or horror films. Astronaut training with Roy Thinnes on the Journey To The Far Side of the Sun (1969, UK title Doppelganger). Facing his destiny and his reflection in one of the Tales From The Crypt (1972). Picking a sword fight in a pub with Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (made in 1972 but not released until 1974). Trapped with Leo McKern learning the secret of Damien: Omen II (1978). One of the teachers tangling with the Children of the Damned (1964). Because of all these roles, and more, Hendry is a familiar face, synonymous with seemingly effortless, poignant, tough performances.

Alan Badel and Ian Hendry in Children of the Damned

Perhaps he's best represented as the leader of the critics' circle that was picked off by Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood (1973). Besides standing out against an amazing cast, he also gets an amazing, bouncy sabre duel with Vincent Price.

Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) really doesn't like bad reviews

Hendry landed far more leading roles in TV series, where he impressively racked up over five hundred episodes and TV plays. He left after the first ever season of The Avengers (1961), leaving Patrick Macnee to become the star. He quit in search of film roles, one of many turning points in his life that may not have been for the best. He met John Steed again in an early episode of The New Avengers (1976, To Catch A Rat) playing an over-the-hill secret agent.

Patrick Macnee and Ian Hendry in The Avengers

This new biography of Ian Hendry, the first ever, tells the turbulent story of the actor's life and how aspects were often reflected in his many screen roles. His increasing alcoholism becoming a large factor in his suitability for subsequent work.

But this is a fierce defence of Hendry's abilities as well as a diary of his declining health. The tragedy is that this was a familiar lifestyle of the time, so many dying prematurely because of unrecognised and largely untreated addictions. In the book, Hendry's problems are constantly compared to other alcoholics whose acting careers somehow suffered less. It's interesting for the many stories about the similar behaviour of many of his contemporaries and co-stars, who also aged visibly because of nicotine and alcohol dependency. Something all too evident now that we can review entire film careers so easily.

In Theatre of Blood as the critic paying for his scathing reviews

Much has been written about the "hellraisers" of the 1960s and 1970s, usually biased towards the actors who (somehow) managed to keep working successfully, like Richard Burton. But here is an actor with similarly destructive habits and a comparable talent who never got as big a break.

A fascinating read, highlighting his near misses and a growing sense of what might have been. This celebrates the body of work he achieved, points out much that I'd missed and sensitively narrates his increasingly disastrous private life. Hendry's painful decline is capped with an incredibly sad death that has haunted me since. A terrible way to go and a formidable warning against the glamour of hellraising.

Gabriel Hershman's extensive research was backed with an impressive roster of interviews with those who knew or worked with Hendry. A thorough filmography lists all his known appearances and throughout the book, it always notes their availability (or existence).



'Send In The Clowns - The Yo Yo Life of Ian Hendry' on sale here from AbeBooks.

Author Gabriel Hershman has his public Facebook page here. There's an interview with him about the book here on RetroSellers.

There's also a professional-looking fan website for Ian Hendry here with rare photos and YouTube links. They also have a Facebook page regularly updated with contemporary press clippings and more photos.

It's that day again...

"Merry Christmas"

Flashback 1977 (part one) - ROCKY, CARRIE, GRIZZLY, SWEENEY!

A look at British movie magazines published in 1977. This was probably the peak of my cinemagoing years, at least weekly. I've several magazines from each month and there's plenty of great adverts in them, so this year will be spread over two posts because it's so picture-heavy. And speaking of heavy... 

January, Photoplay Film Monthly

1933, 1976, 2005... every thirty years, a new version of King Kong! But this was my first Kong, as I'd somehow missed the original on TV before then. The publicity for this had been exciting, especially the news of a full-sized Kong robot, built by Carlo Rambaldi. After seeing the film though, his name wasn't a watchword for quality. Not until he worked on something more convincing, which he did with Close Encounters, Alien and E.T..

The producers played down the fact that for almost all of the movie, Kong was played by a man in a suit. Despite the lack of credit in the publicity material, they used Rick Baker in the suit (that he also built) for most of their publicity photos - like the shot on this cover (above). Baker was about to become a special make-up effects legend, wowing the world with his transformation and zombie prosthetics for An American Werewolf in London and later perfecting his ape suits for Gorillas in the Mist.

January, Films and Filming

While lazily thinking that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a movie from 1974, it was a surprise to find Films and Filming reviewing it in January 1977 (above)! This single page led me to do a little research and write about the infamous horror film's rocky reception in the UK.

January, Film Review

Especially weird that, because The Texas Chain Saw Massacre didn't get a usual nationwide release, movie magazines were running sensationalist adverts for horror films Schizo and Survive, while Chain Saw wasn't even mentioned and no adverts appeared in Photoplay or Film Review magazines to herald its release in cinemas.

Marathon Man got a great head start with the publicity from William Goldman's bestselling novel. The movie adaption is a superbly tight thriller with a great cast, including Dustin Hoffman, Marthe Keller and Laurence Olivier (with William Devane and Roy Scheider in supporting roles!). It benefits greatly from the many New York City locations.

January, Films and Filming

January, Film Review

I'm not suggesting you see Elizabeth Taylor in The Blue Bird, it's just that this is a photo of her and a young Patsy Kensit!

January, Film Review

The Enforcer. Shouldn't that be, 'Clint Eastwood is still Dirty Harry?'

January, Films Illustrated

I bought this issue of Films Illustrated because of this colour photo from the climax of Carrie. Filming this scene, Sissy Spacek remembers that she was to remain on stage until it became too hot for her - that was her cue to leave the stage. She waited long enough for the hairs on the back of her neck to be singed!

February, Film Review

Carrie was one of my favourite ever cinema experiences, making every other Brian De Palma film a must-see (well, until Wise Guys, anyway).

February, Film Review

While US movies were moving to photographic posters, the UK were making do with painted artwork like this one for the first Sweeney movie, which makes it look like a boys' comic!

February, Film Review

Simple poster for Scorsese's Taxi Driver. If someone could explain how Jodie Foster continued making Disney movies after appearing in this, I'd love to hear it!

February, Photoplay Film Monthly

The wonderful Grizzly, at one point going to be called 'Claws', is basically Jaws on land. With about as much gore - but not in UK cinemas. The widescreen DVD was my first chance to see the bloody mayhem. This has now been promised on blu-ray...

More about Grizzly, here.

March, Film Review

March, American Cinematographer

It only took a couple of films for word of mouth to save Garrett Brown the need to advertise his revolutionary way of producing smooth tracking shots without the need for laborious laying of tracks. The Steadicam mount also meant that the camera could move smoothly around corners and give more lifelike point-of-view shots. His work would be showcased extensively in The Shining, particularly the low angle shots of Danny roaming the corridor and running through the maze, not to mention the opening 'long-take' murder in Halloween.

By the time Network was released, Peter Finch was already dead. His performance as Howard Beale, the news announcer who melts down on air but drives the ratings up, won him a posthumous Academy Award.

March, Films and Filming

Faye Dunaway's ruthless TV executive still resonates today as the battle for ratings continues to exploit celebrity meltdowns...

March, Films Illustrated

A typical 'quotes' poster that tells you how good a movie is without letting you know what it's about. This is rare for Woody Allen as he's not directing and it's based on the true stories of blacklisted writers who used other writers' names to get their work commissioned. While Woody plays opposite Zero Mostel, this is as serious as it is funny.

Not content to have a fast-moving action/comedy/romance, Colin Higgins had to add a huge 'disaster movie' scene. An early case of a story being 'Bruckheimered'. A lot of fun, the first film to team up Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, but strangely not often mentioned alongside their later comedy double-acts. Richard Kiel also appears here as a silent killer henchman with silver-teeth, before being cast in The Spy Who Loved Me.

More about Silver Streak, here.

June, Film Review

Zoltan - Hound of Dracula. What a silly film. Would make a great double-bill with Devil Dog - Hound of Hell though.

June, Film Review

This looked too fierce and transgressional to tempt me into the cinema at the time. Don't think I could have coped with the opening newsreel scenes as a teenager (I'm assuming it was left intact in UK cinemas).

As an adult, I really appreciated its uncompromising ferocity as ahead of its time, with a unique tone that failed to be replicated in the recent remake.

More about Would You Kill A Child, here.

June, Films Illustrated

Tentacles needed a lot more money to live up to the concept of a giant killer octopus. It's still bonkers-watchable for the incredible cast coping with a bloody awful script. Bo Hopkins should get some sort of Bad Oscar for his heartfelt speech to his killer whales. Catchy score from Stelvio Cipriani though.

More about Tentacles, here.

April, Film Review

As we've seen (Taxi Driver above) Jodie Foster was already in demand, here starring in creepy Canadian thriller The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane. The story of this not-so-little girl living with her dad on the edge of town, trying to fend off the attentions of predatory paedo (Martin Sheen) is still very watchable.

More about The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, here.

June, Film Review

After two adult thrillers, Jodie's back again as the lovable tomboy who swaps bodies with her mum (Barbara Harris). Elements of the story had been done before, but this was the first Freaky Friday and years before Big. Jodie on a skateboard!

June, Film Review

June, Film Review

By the time the UK got Rocky, the publicity could wave all its Oscars at us. Then sports movies suddenly got big...

June, Photoplay Film Monthly

Director Dan Curtis was better known for his TV series (Dark Shadows, Kolchak - The Night Stalker) and creepy TV movies (Trilogy of Terror) but based on Burnt Offerings, should have been given more movies. Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Bette Davies and Lee Montgomery are all impressive.

I compare Burnt Offerings to The Shining, here.

July, Films Illustrated

This had flack at the time for the bad language - something hard to imagine now. Now it comes over as an honest portrayal of locker room talk. What keeps Slap Shot interesting is the desperate story of the small town ice hockey team mixed with offbeat pre-Animal House humour. It also bears comparison with Parker and Stone's Baseketball. 

More about Slap Shot here.

July, Films Illustrated

The cast alone makes this worth a watch, not to mention the extensive location work. The massive WWII operation recreated, is undercut by not being famous as anything pivotal in the history of the war. One of many impressively sprawling epics directed by Richard Attenborough.

July, Films Illustrated

Part Two of 1977 is here...