A-Z Challenge 2014: N is for Never Too Young to Die!

1986

Yeah, it's a video poster - but those count too! Here's a goofy 80's James Bond takeoff that at least had the good idea to actually hire a former James Bond - George Lazenby - to seal the 007 deal. Plus you have Vanity, Gene Simmons, and Robert Englund.  And, aw, what the heck - you got John Stamos too. And his hair. And a crazed hermaphrodite villain.  If you're not thinking "I need to see this right away...." then you should be!




Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: M is for Mad Monster Party?

1967

Rankin/Bass Productions made some of the most beloved holiday TV specials from my youth. Stuff like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. But they also made feature films - and this is one of my favorites of their productions.


Our favorite classic monsters brought to life with stop motion animated puppets - it's a great way to introduce youngsters to the monsters! You know you're in for a good time with the voices of Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller!





Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Puppet, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: L is for The Last Starfighter!

I purchased the novelization of this movie long before I saw it - in fact, I missed it at the theater for whatever reason and only caught up with it on home video. I really don't know why that was, because I'd read the book and thought the story - boy plays video game, little knowing it's really an audition for a real space war - was wonderful.



I thoroughly enjoyed the movie too - Lance Guest and Catherine Mary Stewart are the youngins; Dan O'Herlihy and Robert Preston are the old pros, and it's a terrific little flick. There are some really cool behind the scenes factoids too: director Nick Castle played Michael Myers (The Shape) in Halloween (1978); and this movie is the first to do all of its space visual effects with computer animation! (Yes, they're slightly primitive - but better than you'd expect from thirty years ago!)



Yes, this is the preview, or teaser, poster - but I actually like it better than the release poster - plus, this was what the cover to the novelization looked like - and it was truly eyecatching.




Until next post-er, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: K is for Kiss Me Deadly!

1955

Although there have been other Mike Hammers in the movies and on TV - I think Ralph Meeker might have been the best of them all. He's tough, mean, and nasty - just like Mickey Spillane wrote him.



This is a terrific 50's film noir with Hammer drawn into the case when a female hitchhiker he picks up gets dead - and it's a particularly gruesome death too. (And look! It's a young Cloris Leachman!)  After that Hammer's on the job - fist fighting, gun fighting, throwing people down stairs, the works.




The McGuffin everyone is after is mysterious - and very lethal. The movie comes down to one of the craziest climaxes ever put to film - and that's saying something!







Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: J is for Johnny Dangerously!

1984

After his successes in Night Shift and Mr. Mom, Michael Keaton made this comedy spoofing the gangster flicks of the 30's and 40's. Despite a credible cast, the movie's wild humor didn't really catch on in theaters, though it seemed to work better on cable TV where it played constantly in the mid-80's.


If you like those old movies though - you'll find a lot to laugh at here.






Until next post - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: I is for I Wanna Hold Your Hand!

1978

The same guys who later made Back to the Future - got started with this wonderfully nostalgic look back at the Beatlemania craze that struck this nation when the Fab Four came to visit. It's great fun and has a wonderful cast, including those listed on the poster, and Eddie Deezen - pictured between the two girls. Recommended.






Until tomorrow - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: H is for Hard Ticket to Hawaii!

1987

Andy Sidaris was a sports producer and director for ABC in the 60's and 70's. But he really wanted to make movies. Keeping this short - he eventually started making movies with his wife Arlene. He wrote and directed; she produced.


They had a incredible formula - action movies mainly shot in their beloved Hawaii. Lots of good looking people in the cast - male and female. Nudity and softcore sex scenes - but much less sleazy than you'd think - almost wholesome (!). Very light profanity. No direct violence against women. Lots of gunfights, fist fights, explosions, and stunts. Tongue in cheek scripts. Andy and Arlene made twelve of these movies in the 80's and 90's. This is one of my favorites, the second in the Golden Twelve.


I find Andy and Arlene Sidaris to be fascinating. I wrote a long post about them and their movies a while back - if you want to read more about them here is a link:

Bullets, Bombs, and Babes!

Until next post - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!