quote:Originally posted by Pittsburghgirl: California Dreaming (1979). TT moves to California from Chicago to live the California experience. Stars Dennis Christopher, Seymour Cassell, and Glynnis O'Connor. First off, I was disappointed when Impact had this listed as a 1980's movie (1988 I believe) on VOD. Second, I don't know what decade this was supposed to take place- late 1970's, or a movie filmed in the 70's but trying to take place in the 60's and not really succeeding?! I thought the whole movie was a mess. Anyone have any thoughts?
I would like to see this one. The cast looks very interesting.
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Atomik, that is what drew me to this movie, but I didn't think it was very good. My first thought: how can you go wrong with Seymore Cassell and Dennis Christopher?
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
Just watched The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976).
"Born with no immunity against disease, he lives in a plastic prison. Inside he is protected. Outside, there is the chance of death. But the chance of love".
This was nice little made-for-television drama directed by Randal Kleiser. John Travolta plays the 16 year old Tod and he´s pretty good. Glynnis O´Connor is his love interest.
Tod lives upstairs in this cool sterile "mini house" and then they create this super ugly suit you can see below so he can leave the house Strong emotions, 70s teens having fun and cute little love story. I like the fact that they decided to leave the ending open.
I happen to like these after school special type films. I know that many people can´t stand this stuff but i think these movies have that special charm.
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I agree with you Atomik - I find those TV movies charming and entertaining too. Some are better than others of course. They have low-key stories that you just don't see in larger movies.
I saw California Dreaming years ago, but I think I liked it. Might have to see it again.
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My college biology professor enjoyed pointing out all the medical inaccuracies with The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. He said that the kid should have been dead by the end of the film. LOL
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Watching Billy Jack (1971) right now. Was this a drive-in theater staple, Crash? I seem to remember a friend telling me her parents took her to the drive-in, and this was one of th pe movies shown. I do remember watching it on tv in the late 70's or early 80's
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Oh yeah, Billy Jack was a drive-in classic back in the day. It's such a silly, schizophrenic film. Here's this half-breed with some hippies advocating peace. How does he accomplish that? By kicking a bunch of guys in the throat and beating the crap out of them.
Anyway, after the first one was a hit, Tom Laughlin's ego just got out of control. (The sequel, The Trial of Billy Jack, is almost three hours long!) I find the sequels--as well as his Western, The Master Gunfighter--to be laughable jokes. Laughlin couldn't write or direct his way out of a paper bag, and his acting skills were pretty much limited to the aforementioned kicking guys in the throat. To top things off, he cast his homely wife as the female lead. She could act slightly better than he could, but every time she was on screen, all I kept thinking was "He's married to her?"
[ 16. July 2016, 13:09: Message edited by: Crash ]
Posts: 2008 | From: Dixieland | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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Oh yeah, the acting is pitiful. I was shocked too when I found out he was married to her. She is really quite homely. I think the Billy Jack movies appealed to the hippie teens of the 60's and 70's. I've never seen anything else Tom Laughlin did.
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I agree. The Billy Jack films are products of their era and have dated badly. They are interesting though as examples of what one fringe lunatic actor/filmmaker could accomplish outside the studio system.
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Watched the 1972 Italian giallo What Have You Done To Solange which i thought was truly terrific and never realised it was shot here in the UK which came as a cool surprise!
Decent Morricone score,loads of nudity,brutal kills without being overly gory and with a great mystery plot playing out that will keep you guessing till the very end this was a seriously good watch!
This was in the Arrow Film sales a little while back and I passed on it silly me,definitely wished I picked it up now!
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
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I have this Solange film, warrior. Sounds interesting, i need to check it out!
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I really enjoyed it Atomik,it's a bit sleazy and some of the dubbed dialogue and acting comes off as being hilarious but the stories strong as is the Ennio Morricone music score.
That as well as having an at times creepy atmosphere and with loads of shots of 70s London I definitely give this one the thumbs up though it certainly won't be to all tastes!
Yeah if you get chance Atomik check it out I think chances are that you would probably enjoy it!
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
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I have the Arrow release. Wow, 2 mins 15 secs cut from the Redemption video.
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Solange is a real favorite of mine. It's excellent--good plotting, nasty killings, nice pace, cool time-capsule of the era, good Morricone score... There's a lot to like with this, one of the best gialli.
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quote:Originally posted by aTomiK: I have the Arrow release. Wow, 2 mins 15 secs cut from the Redemption video.
Yeah the killers method of slaughter is pretty disturbing to say the least and being a family site I can't go into any detail but I would have loved to have sat in with the censors back in the day just to have seen a few reactions
I thought you may have seen it Crash and would have imagined that you liked it and I agree it does perfectly captures the 70s and the fact it was shot in London instead of Rome,etc makes for a nice change!
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"Solange" was like the lost, forbidden fruit in the U.S. for so long, whispered about by a few, but seen by no one. Originally released by AIP as "Terror in the Woods" and later by the folks who brought us "Last House on the Left," Hallmark Releasing, as "The School That Couldn't Scream," it was one of those elusive foreign films that supposedly had a U.S. theatrical release, but I never, ever saw any advertising material from the AIP release so who knows where it actually played as "Terror in the Woods." For years, I had a blurry grey-market censored copy on VHS of "The School That Couldn't Scream." I eventually picked up the 2002 Shriek Show/Media Blasters DVD, which is uncut.
For younger folk, the late 60s and 70s, pre-VHS, were an interesting period to grow up in with a love of things like "Solange." Without the Internet, all you had to go on was a tiny mention of it in a magazine. And if you didn't live near a grindhouse or flea-pit drive-in, you'd never see the thing or find out anything about it because no one ever reviewed these films (and gosh knows, there's no way it would ever play on late-night TV). Heck, for years, I'd heard about a film called "The People Who Own the Dark" because I'd seen it mentioned in Cinefantastique magazine and noticed that it was on the bottom of some drive-in triple bill far away. It was only years later that I learned that it was a pretty good Spanish horror film with Paul Naschy, also distributed by Hallmark. When even Franco's "Vampyros Lesbos" got an official DVD release in the U.S., I knew that that era had come to an end.
Here is an ad matte from one of the later "School" re-releases:
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Cool ad Crash,never realised how many alternate titles this thing had -
USA (dubbed version) Terror in the Woods USA (reissue title) The Rah Rah Girls USA (reissue title) The School That Couldn't Scream USA The Secret of the Green Pins USA What Have You Done to Solange?
Pretty crazy really and i'd imagine for some people very confusing!
Anyone ever watched this 1973 horror The Legend Of Hell House starring the great Roddy McDowall before?
I've heard the title mentioned many times over the years but have never got around to watching it!
[ 20. July 2016, 12:37: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
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The Legend of Hell House: Tremendously scary, well-written novel by the great Richard Matheson that was very much watered-down by the studio for the film. Poor Richard Matheson, another one of his babies tampered with! A lot of people like the film--those who haven't read the book--and it is well-made (Heck it was produced by Nicholson from AIP and Fennell who co-produced the original The Avengers TV series) and acted (love, love, love Pamela Franklin) by a great cast. There are a few somewhat tame scares, and the whole enterprise comes off as a missed opportunity. And wait until you see the big reveal with a "surprise" cameo. It's so ludicrous that I dare you not to laugh. I think that Robert Wise's The Haunting remains the best, scariest haunted house film by a wide margin.
[ 20. July 2016, 21:50: Message edited by: Crash ]
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To make matters even more confusing regarding the alternate titles for What Have You Done To Solange, it was released as Who's Next in the early days of the video format here in Holland.
Anyway.. Massimo Dallamano was Sergio Leone's cinematographer, and did some very good stuff as a director too, including Venus In Furs (1969, not to be confused with the Jess Franco movie by the same title), Solange's companion piece What Have They Done To Your Daughters (1974), and the ultra cool Colt 38 Special Squad (1976).
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I agree with Crash, but I always though Legend of Hell House was a so-so movie that paled when compared to the far better Haunting. It had some good ingredients, but the whole just wasn't satisfying. I haven't read the book, but whenever I hear the name Richard Matheson I always think of his Jack Finney inspired 'Bid Time Return' which was made into 'Somewhere in Time'.
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Matheson's I am Legend is perhaps the finest horror novel/novella ever written, and Bid Time Return was made into an excellent movie. I just don't get what happened to Hell House other than the studio was scared of the book and wanted a PG-rated film. The book is R-rated for sure. Posts: 2008 | From: Dixieland | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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He really was a sci-fi / fantasy great wasn't he? I just looked him up on Wiki again, I'd forgotten half of the stuff he was involved in! For some reason I get his back catalogue confused with Jack Finney (which could be the 'Bid Time Return' / 'Time and Again' thing) but he has a much much more impressive body of work.
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
"A Chicago mob enforcer is sent to Kansas City to settle a debt with a cattle rancher who not only grinds his enemies into sausage, but sells women as sex slaves." (IMDb)
Wow, this was a highly entertaining crime film directed by Michael Richie. Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin shine and look out for "revealing" first feature film performance from Sissy Spacek. Great stuff!
"Cow flesh, girl flesh, it´s all same to me" - Mary Ann Posts: 7055 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2008 | Site Updates: 7
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