Saturday, January 13, 2007

Shoot And Score

Before a full afternoon and evening of watching the NFL playoff games, a few of us had a good time up at the Gordyville flea market, where we marched up and down the lengthy dirt aisles, soaking in the ambiance of NASCAR trucker caps, lighters that also contain a compass and a flashlight, CB radios and other electronics from 1975, dusty paperback books and other awesome assorted junk. As usual, I ended up spending more money than everyone else, thanks to the two dealers who were selling old VHS prerecords and bootleg DVD-Rs for 50 cents and $5.00 respectively.

Here's my haul from today:
  • SCHOOLGIRL KILLER, a 1968 Italian mystery/horror film that I wouldn't have bought if I had known Dark Sky was putting it out on a 2.35:1 DVD this spring.
  • NO HOLDS BARRED with Hulk Hogan. "Zeeuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssssssss!"
  • PLAYMATES, which is not as kinky as it sounds. It's actually a '70s made-for-TV movie with Alan Alda, Doug McClure, Connie Stevens and Barbara Feldon. I have no idea how funny it is, but it's probably never going to be on DVD, so I'm glad I salvaged it.
  • BLOODFIST VI: GROUND ZERO: I've seen it and really don't need it, but you never know when I might want to revisit Don "The Dragon" Wilson fighting sexy Cat Sassoon in a cheap Roger Corman-produced DIE HARD ripoff set in a nuclear missile silo.
  • THE KING OF THE KICKBOXERS with Billy Blanks and veteran character actors Don Stroud and Richard Jaeckel
  • REBEL ROUSERS: For some reason, I've never seen this '60s biker flick with Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and Cameron Mitchell. It has to be great.
  • RETROACTIVE, which is by the director (Louis Morneau) and star (Jim Belushi) of MADE MEN, an action movie I really like a lot
  • RENT-A-COP: Notoriously bad action film with Burt Reynolds as a badass Chicago cop and Liza Minnelli (!) as a hooker. I'm the only person who will admit seeing this in a theater, but I don't remember a damn thing about it.
  • THE TAKING OF BEVERLY HILLS, which reportedly has a shitload of stunts and explosions in it
  • LADY DRAGON 2 with Cynthia Rothrock
  • BULLETPROOF, a ridiculous action movie with an awesome cast: Gary Busey, Henry Silva, L.Q. Jones and Thalmus Rasulala
  • FORCE: FIVE: I already had a dub of this fun martial-arts movie, but this copy should be a bit better.
  • THE LONERS: I don't know much about this biker flick, but it was directed by Sutton Roley, an excellent TV director who only made a couple of features
  • STUDENT BODIES, a silly horror-movie spoof that I got only so I could burn a copy for a friend at work who really likes it
  • BOBBIE JO AND THE OUTLAW: I've always wanted to see this action picture starring Marjoe Gortner and directed by Mark Lester, if only to see the scrumptious Lynda Carter topless, a lifelong dream.
  • WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS: Doug McClure fights a giant octopus! Twice! I saw this at B-Fest one year, but slept intermittently through it. I saw all the giant-octopus fighting though.
  • TURKISH STAR WARS, which is not really the name of the movie. But it is a Turkish ripoff of STAR WARS. Unfortunately, it's in Turkish with no English subtitles. However, I did a chapter search, and every chapter except one landed on an action scene with no dialogue and lots of kung fu, so maybe it doesn't matter. Hopefully, it's as entertaining as the Turkish 3 DEV ADAM, which pits Captain America and Santo against an evil Spider-Man!
If any of you have any reviews, comments or suggestions about which of these films I should made a priority to watch, please let me know in the comment section.

6 comments:

katie said...

did you get some more flashlights? another razor? sounds like some good finds. i need some movies mckee. i'm falling behind already. is the rash better? how are the new crowns?

Marty McKee said...

Um. No, but looked at some cool ones. No. Yes. Don't get one until Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

I've always found BULLETPROOF an absolute bore, for some reason. BOBBIE JOE won't let you down, particularly on the Carter/mammary score. I also have a soft spot in my heart for RENT-A-COP, which is lousy (Rome poorly steps in for Chicago!), but I find Liza Minelli is actually in ARTHUR mode, trying her hardest to be funny in a crummy flick -- she seems to be enjoying herself, and while Burt is in subdued-MALONE mode, his underplaying works with her. I also like a lot of the supporting actors (Bernie Casey, James Remar, Richard Masur), although Robbie Benson and Dionne Warwick don't do much for me. And it has a nice Jerry Goldsmith theme. I admit, I might actually buy the under 10-buck dvd one of these days, but I am a Reynolds fan -- it really is an extremely mediocre movie.

You like Sidney Furie way more than me (I find almost all of his straight to vids, including ones you liked, lousy, save HIDE AND SEEK with Vincent Gallo), but BEVERLY HILLS is indeed watchable, with, if I recall, Matt Frewer making an amusing sidekick to Ken Wahl. Robert Davi was doing good work then and tries. I have the widescreen laserdisc, and the movie plays, a pan & scan video is probably more of a chore to get through. But it's worth a look, certainly for the Furie completist.

Marty McKee said...

Yeah, I have liked a lot of Furie's recent stuff. THE RAGE with Lorenzo Lamas and Gary Busey is very good, in particular. I also liked HOLLOW POINT and his movies with Dolph Lundgren. Not that he's infallible, as you know if you've ever experienced GABLE AND LOMBARD or PURPLE HEARTS or--ugh--SUPERMAN IV.

BULLETPROOF should be a lot better, considering its cast and its director, Steve Carver, who made fun junk like DRUM and LONE WOLF MCQUADE.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, THE RAGE has some great action footage (assuming it isn't pinched from somewhere) but I find the plot really not adding up in my estimation, even in a straight-to-video way...I'm waiting for HIT! (sort of Furie's FRENCH CONNECTION) to come out, I've only seen a pan & scanned vhs of it...have you seen it? If not, I heartily recommend. It might be my third fave Furie film (after IPCRESS and COMPANY C)...

Anonymous said...

I like KING OF THE KICKBOXERS quite a bit. Nice fights and hilarious drama ("Nooooooooooo!"). Stroud's hairpiece is amazing. I think you will really enjoy RETROACTIVE as it is just as good, maybe even better, than MADE MEN.

BULLETPROOF has always been a cult favorite of mine. I edited the opening scene down to 4 minutes for the hell of it and put it on YouTube. It works much better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGXs_e67Oo

Will