Wednesday, January 27, 2010

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!



THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY- 1978

Listed as THE STUPIDEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME, "Thank God it's Friday" really lived up to its reputation. Released during the height of the disco-crazy 1978, this film had a soundtrack packed with loud heart thumping disco beats with the beats per minute listed along with the name of the performing artist.

Even though Donna Summer's Oscar winning song "Last Dance" was number 1 through the summer of 1978, don't expect anything else that is Oscar worthy in this stinker. Viewing this movie 32 years after it's release; it was interesting to see a young Jeff Goldblum, Debera Winger, Terry Nun (before she became lead singer of the new wave band "Berlin") and Lionel Ritchie with a giant afro singing along with his former band The Commadores.




The cast of characters consisted of Jackie (Mews Small) described as Dental hygenist by day and drugged up disco freak by night! Sure I love to have someone like that to clean my teeth. Through out the movie she passed drugs to the square husband of a yuppie couple. Poor guy was dragged to the world of disco by his wife, who wanted to teach him "How to have a good time".



Paul Jabara the writer of the Oscar winning song "Last Dance" also starred in this turkey as one of the many bachelors hitting the disco to "get lucky" and "Fame" star Valerie Landsburg plays Frannie one of the 2 teens who snuck out from their suburban home to enter a disco queen contest.

A bit of trivia information: in the movie Stephen King's "Christine", the scene where the Christine and her owner were parked at a drive-in the movie playing on the big screen was "Thank God it's Friday".




Friday, January 22, 2010

VIOLENT MIDNIGHT



VIOLENT MIDNIGHT - 1963

Wow talk about a B-Movie! This one takes the cake! I have never heard of Del Tenney before, but now that I've seen this movie, I have to kneel down and bow to his GREATNESS!
This has all the elements of a made-for- drive-in movie. It's filled with violence, sex and nudity, that top "Psycho" in every way.

"Violent Midnight" portrayed women as foolish sex- starved objects and the men shown as strong, angry but violent.

Elliot Freeman played by Lee Phillips is the son of a wealthy man. After returning home from the Korean war and the death of his father, Elliot became a recluse. He lives alone in the family's dying mansion, where he paints his anger and pain away.

Elliot is not only wealthy but his good looks make him a target for the sex starved females who attend an all girl college nearby his estate. Later he became the murder suspect of his model Delores. She was in love with Elliot while she was carrying the child of her ex boyfriend, a local hoodlum named Charlie (James Farentino). Charlie is a bum who drives the laundry truck in an out of the all girl college where Elliot's step sister is a psychology major.

Charlie is also popular with the popular girls, but it's Silvia, the white trash middle age woman who would do anything for Charlie's love...even KILL!







"THE BIG CUBE"



"THE BIG CUBE"-1969

I used to think Lana Turner was a superior blond actress with the beauty of a Marilyn Monroe and the talent of an Elizabeth Taylor. But until I finally saw "The postman always ring twice" I had on idea that Lana Turner only best fitted as a B-rated actress of a Jane Mansfield.

So when I tuned in to "The Big Cube" I know I am in for a moldy treat. The movie opens with the scene as Adriana Roman (Lana Turner) announce she will retire from years of being a stage Diva to marry an old millionaire; then psychedelic color and a Herb Alpert-like go-go version of "Lean on me" comes on as the opening titles! You know you are in for a trippy time!

You see Adriana's step daughter Lisa, is mixed up with a bad crowd; a drug dealing boy friend Johnny (George Chakiris) and a nymphomaniac best friend. So when Adriana moves into the big house as her step mother, Lisa was not happy.

One night Adriana and her husband come home late from a respectable evening of dinner and the theater, they stumble upon Lisa holding a orgy in their living room. Angrily daddy throws out all of Lisa's friend and forbid her ever see Johnny her boy friend again.

Too bad for Adriana, because soon after that, her husband drops dead. It's up to Adriana to discipline the wild Lisa, she prevents Johnny from marrying Lisa and withhold every dime of Lisa's inheritance until she cleans up her act.

Of course Lisa will not do that, not only she won't comply, she teams up with her boyfriend to prove Adriana is a junkie and unfit to be Lisa's guardian... that's when the fun begins!



There are lots of silly sex scenes and bad drug over dose performances from Turner. The drug effects sequences look like a health film from high school. Johnny played by a 30 something George Chakiris looks like a combination of George Hamilton and John Travolta. He looked so familiar to me, I used to get him mixed up with Farley Granger, then I remember he was placed so prominently in a dance sequence with Rosemary Clooney in "White Christmas".



By now you know I enjoy middle age ladies run screaming frantically for no reason in movies and this one satisfy that thirst very well. Also I enjoy the taglines selling this flick, lines like "Poor daddy. Bibi was just shedding her inhibitions. So he threw the gang out. He never should have done it. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never!"