Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Features should be at least 40 minutes. Combined subjects, such as serials, shorts, trailer compilations, etc. should be at least an hour. So, four 15 minute shorts (like a serial), three 20 minute (like Three Stooges), two 30 minute, or at least an hours worth of trailers.

And we're missing GoldenWheels. My time is a little more limited this year, but I feel more engaged than last year.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

The Three Stooges listings would be me. :)

While the Stooges were a huge draw and were used to force theater owners to take other "B" films (or they wouldn't get Stooge shorts), their work was produced by Columbia's short subject division and the feature films were all done on limited budgets. Because of their new-found popularity due to TV exposure, those 1959-65 films were squarely aimed at the "kiddie-matinee market" a decidedly "B" area.

As for their shorts, all were created for the theater and were two-reelers which run ~20 minutes until the later years when the length dropped to ~15 minutes. I'd use the "serials" rule:
*EDIT*
And I see that caligulathegod beat me to that last one... :)

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Actually, I think it was my fault. I had found a feature done in the 1890s that was said to have the first nude scene in film history, so I thought it would be eligible due to that criteria. The trouble was, it was only a minute and a half in length.

I don't want you guys to think I'm trying to get away with anything, or that I'm trying to artificially inflate the number of movies on my watch list. I have no problem with taking it off my list if it's questionable. Just chalk it up to a newbie goof! :)

(Although if you happen to find anything in the 1890s that's closer to the suggested length and would be suitable. please let me know.)

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

I had forgotten we allowed those. One could almost argue all the Star Trek films were glorified B-Movies. After the first one, they went cheap and reused a lot of special effects. The sets were often redressed Next Generation sets. None really made that much money and only IV crossed over to secular audiences. All the Next Generation films were shitty, in retrospect. I dunno. What is the prevailing opinion? JJ Abrams Star Trek films are definitely not eligible.

Yeah, the Stooges are definitely ripe for this challenge.

I think I'd allow it JUST for Paul Newman as a Mexican bandit. That sounds like a new Check item.

Oh, and I did list Ringo and Caveman.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

The way it is usually done on the challenges that have length requirements (not all do), is include it for the checklist, but it doesn't get an official number.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'll fix that on my list!

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

I just watched Julie London in Crime Against Joe, a B-Movie from 1956 that was pretty good, and of course she sings in it. Streaming on Netflix.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

There was nothing longer in the 1890s! Officially, the first feature film was D.W. Griffith's JUDITH OF BETHULIA, 1913, or at least that's what they told us in a film history text once upon a time.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Ooops! I meant the Three Stooges in the list. It's now fixed to clarify that.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Of course! Right in the middle of the list so I'd be sure to totally miss it! :D

That's also Shelly Long's first major film. It also has Richard Moll (Night Court) as the Abominable Snowman.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

You can see how I handled it on my list, if you like.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Is Keanu's 47 Ronin safe to use for the financial bomb category? Obviously it was a bomb with a budget of $175 million and a domestic box office of $38 million, but I wasn't sure if it qualified for the challenge since it is such a big budget movie although I suppose that is the point of the category. Anyways, I am just asking since I am planning to watch it at some point soon either way.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

The Bombs are kind of an anomaly for this challenge. They really don't fit, being big budget and all, but I thought it would be fun if they were there. This is the only challenge that they would fit in. I don't really have a cutoff for what we count as bombs but $175/$38 sounds reasonably safe.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

One of the few films I have walked out of the theater on. Fucking terrible movie.

According to boxofficemojo, total worldwide gross on this was around $148 million. So it never even recouped it's budget. I figured the foreign take on it would at least get it's budget back.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

I figure the occasional Speed Racer or 47 Ronan are ok, as long as there is a balance of proper Drive-in flicks to go with them.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

I will be unavailable until late tonight. Going to meet Larry Cohen and have him sign my It's Alive poster.

http://www.cinemawasteland.com/show.html

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

JEALOUS.


I watched Secret Agent Club tonight with some friends... a 1996 movie starring Hulk Hogan as a dad who is also a secret agent for SHADOW, the world's protection service. It features appearances from Barry Bostwick and Jack Nance... yup, it was terrible. Eventually we just started riffing it MST3K style.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Sweet. Have fun. The only eligible autograph I have is a Gamera figure autographed by one of the actors from all 3 of the Heisei Gamera films.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

I see your point, but I love the film so very much!

Well, Speed Racer is sandwiched between the likes of Journey to the Seventh Planet and Teenage Zombies so I'm hoping I'm still in good standing! :D

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Giant apes, Detroit heists, and Hulk Hogan make up day 4. Here's the write-up - http://celluloidterror.blogspot.com/...nge-day-4.html

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

I watched PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961) this morning to honor Roger Corman's 88th birthday. It was the only Corman Poe movie I'd never seen in its entirety. Don't know why I waited so long. Most of it is quite good. The set design is particularly impressive, definitely making the film look way more expensive than it actually was. But what really struck me was how good the actors were, particularly Price, John Kerr, Luana Anders and Antony Carbone. They're portraying 16th century Spaniards and Englishmen, yet I never felt I had to suspend disbelief. Corman was notorious for not giving his actors much to work with, but they all seemed to nail their characters here. Not just the line readings, but the way they moved and the way they interacted with each other. Maybe they rehearsed by themselves a lot? Price is especially compelling, playing a tormented and tortured soul who, for most of the film, is the real victim, a much more layered character than usual for Price in these films. (Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay.)

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3711/...974a40a5_n.jpg

My only problem is the contrivance near the end designed to work the title pit and pendulum into the action. It seems forced, as if the script suddenly remembered what the title was and shifted gears to match. I'm not sure if it would have been a better ending if it had been allowed to play out the way it was developing without that twist, but I don't like the way Price's character transforms the way he does. It undercuts the genuine pathos we'd been feeling up to then. Oh, well... Still a worthy picture and better in some ways than most of the other Corman Poes.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Yesterday, I watched three appropriate films. First up, Best Worst Movie (2009) is a documentary about Troll 2, a travesty of a film that has developed quite the devoted cult following. At first, it was just an earnest doc about a crazy fandom and a couple of the actors (clueless and knowing) who had either forgotten all about their ill-advised acting stint or been hounding by this terrible film. Then, the film morphed into something else altogether when several of the actors display psychological problems beyond "being zany" and the question of fame comes up. Even people who see just how terrible Troll 2 is and have a life that has nothing to do with acting admit they would abandon it all for a chance at the fame acting brings.

Next up was Nightfall (1957), a film noir that stars Aldo Ray as James Vanning, an everyman on the run from some baddies. He meets up with Anne Bancroft's mysterious model and begins to fall in love, but the baddies are closing in, and to make matters worse, an insurance man is secretly watching James. It's a tense little film that includes a lot of film noir tropes (you could probably play "Film Noir Bingo" while watching) but definitely doesn't reinvent the wheel or leave a big impression. Still, Bancroft is absolutely stunning, and the film is enjoyable.

Then, while researching some of the directors/producers on the safe list, I came across Teenage Zombies which was directed by Jerry Warren and available on YouTube. So I settled in and watched a collection of six teens "act" their way to an unknown island inhabited by a mad, vamping scientist (Katherine Victor) who has created a nerve gas that makes people into willing slaves. Oh yes, it is just as bad as it sounds. There are odd plot developments and laughable dialogue, including a very, very long conversation about whether or not two teen boys should spring their girls from a cell. Everything is framed poorly, and there are no closeups or close shots really. The camera stays across the room as if avoiding the people around it. The highlight is Jay Hawk, easily the best worst actor among the teens, who is definitely concerned about his four missing friends but is VERY concerned that Reg has disappeared, cause Reg is just awesome and keeps his boat well maintained and is just a great guy, y'know. This was Mr. Hawks first and last role, and he was amazing.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

Not sure what all of today will include, but I started with kaiju, watching, Godzilla Raids Again, or should I say, Gigantis the Fire Monster, since I watched the dubbed version. And I plan on maybe watching some Three Stooges sometime today too as well. I might pick up another one of their sets, and a movie or two, or maybe wait till I get some money on my card, and pick up the Ultimate collection with all of the Three Stooges shorts, for $45.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

I watched Li'l Abner (1940) and Private Snuffy Smith (1942) last night. Thankfully they made up for the awefulness of those other two "Hillbilly" films in the set!

I *think* I've seen Li'l Abner before but can't say for sure. It's not great, but still a fun journey into Al Capp's world, a fair conversion from his comic strip that never really takes off. Costumes and makeup are very accurate as well as the dialect used in the strip. There are several funny lines and humorous moments but it never develops the comedy bite of the strip. I enjoyed seeing Buster Keaton as "Lonesome Polecat". Yes, it's the stereotypical depection of a "indian" but it's also like Capp wrote the character and Keaton does a good job in the role. Edgar Kennedy, as "Cornelius Cornpone," was another face I recognized and wasn't expecting. The main disappointment is there's a short section of film missing when Abner pulls a rock from under the heel of a guy he'd knocked out causing him to fall backwards. You know the guy falls but don't see it due to the jump caused by the missing film. I'd watch this one again and would pick it over the 50s musical version.

Private Snuffy Smith (1942) was also fairly good but not quite as good a translation as Li'l Abner. Edgar Kennedy has a larger role in this one as "Sergeant Ed Cooper," starting out as a revenooer and then Army Sergeant. I've never heard of Bud Duncan, who did a passable Snuffy Smith. A bit of research shows he was in dozens of silent films. Sarah Padden playes Lowizie but I didn't buy into her portrayal. It was so different from the strip that I had to remind myself who she was whenever she was on the screen. I had to look her up too and found she was in a large number of films from the late 20s through the late 50s. Its plot is a somewhat stereotypical war spoof, but still fun. Snuffy grows tired of dodging revenue agents, headed by Cooper (Edgar Kennedy), and decides to take the army up on their offer of free clothes, food and $21.00 a month. Once in the army he finds Cooper is his Sergeant. A new type of range finder is stolen and hidden in Snuffy's bag but Snuffy decides he has all the army discipline he cares for and, with the Army's blessing, heads back to the Smokey Mountains only to be followed by the thiefs *and* the Army doing maneuvers. The biggest issue I had was with a invisibility potion Lowizie makes and pours on the dog. They play that for laughs but it felt forced. Maybe had I been in the theater when this first ran I'd have found it funnier.

Re: Fifth Annual Drive-in/Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge April 1-30 2014
 

I watched my first Three Stooges short, on Youtube today, A Gem of a Jam. Didn't dig out my DVDs yet, as at the time I only had time for one short, so right now my list is fractionalized :P. After that I watched one of the Spaghetti Westerns from my Mill Creek Spaghetti Westerns set, a Lee Van Cleef vehicle, Grand Duel. It was a pretty good movie I thought, but I might be biased as I love his work. I skipped over Sundance and the Kid, as I had seen it before, and didn't really care for the comedy in it. I just didn't think comedy and spaghetti westerns go well together all the time, unless they are done very well. Some western comedies do work, like Blazing Saddles, and the Support Your Local... movies, but that movie I didn't think it worked too well. Might give it a try again, as maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it when I first watched it.