THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975)

The year is 1975…and…

I cut out and pasted movie advertisements in a spiral notebook during that transitional movie year all those many, many movie years ago. Looking at it now, much of the print from the faded pages has yellowed, but yes, I still have it! So I’ve decided this month to stroll down memory lane and comment on some of the film ads from my movie scrapbook.  I’ll also try to fit in a suitable 1001 movie entry at the end of each post since that is still the point of this blog.

1975 Movie Scrapbook (Post 4: The Campy and Cheesy)

1.Bug

Bug is a film by the self proclaimed master of horror William Castle. I admit that I went to see this movie when it came out. From what I remember, Bradford Dillman was a science teacher who unearthed some deadly firebugs who cause havoc and eventually achieve the ability to spell. Which if I remember correctly was  a much scarier scene than I just described. The ad has a screaming woman holding a telephone that a bug has just ignited with the tagline, “The Picture to See With Your Eyes Closed!”

The clever ad also advices you to check your car, neck, hair and bed after leaving the theater. (I can't remember if I did all that after I saw it.)

2. Mysteries From Beyond Earth

Thanks to Erik Von Daniken (or no thanks to) and his book Chariots of the Gods? There were an awful lot of psuedo-documentaries during the mid-70’s about UFO’s, the Lock Ness Monster and Big Foot, Noah’s Ark or The Seach for the Historic Jesus. And yes, we the mid-70’s viewing public paid to see these movies! I admit I kind of liked them at the time, though today they would just stick something on these topics at 2 a.m. on The History Channel.

The ad for Mysteries From Beyond Earth asks, “What is the message from beyond the stars which has been kept secret from our world until now?” The picture on the ad features a meditating guru, drawings of Ed Wood imagined spaceships and something in little glass cases which look like the robot maid from The Jetsons, though I’m pretty sure that isn’t what it’s supposed to be.

3. Mysterious Monsters

Yet another of those docu-dramas (and yes, I did go to see it at the theater!) that features the search for Bigfoot and proclaims "PROOF! There are giant creatures living at the edge of our civilization!" Narrated by Peter Graves (Ever seen bigfoot naked?)

4. Sisters

The most highly acclaimed THRILLER of the decade! the ad booms for this interesting early Brian DePalma effort which features Siamese twins and 70's party girls Margot Kidder and Jennifer Salt next to a knife that is about six feet long! Or maybe that’s just the perspective. Anyway, I see the knife as six feet long! 

The ad to the right doesn't include the knife, but sometimes you just can't find a copy of an ad on the Internet that looks like the one you had pasted into your scrapbook 38 years ago!

5. Black Christmas

I give the advertisement for this film credit. If this movie doesn’t make your skin crawl…It’s On TOO TIGHT! is a pretty good tagline. And the picture of Santa, who actually looks like a cross between, St. Nick, the demon from The Exorcist and a Lhasa Apso is pretty scary. The cast is interesting: Olivia Hussey (Romeo and Juliet), Margot Kidder (Superman), Keri Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) and John Saxon (seemingly every other B horror movie ever made). The movie is also directed by Bob Clark, who later made a less scary movie for the season called A Christmas Story.

Today’s 70’s Campy and Cheesy movie experience is...

 

 The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The first time I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show was actually at a rare afternoon showing in Atlanta. Some of the regular Rocky crew began reapeating lines back to the screen like they are supposed to do, but some in the audience took exception and started yelling for them to shutup. The dispute ended when a neutral party said, "Let them speak. It's part of the show!" The audience applauded and the naysayers were cast aside. I've seen it a few times since, though I've never put on high heels and experienced the Rocky Horror experience fully. So It goes.

It's a pretty silly movie, but like many cult movies, it grows on you after awhile. The music is catchy and I love the song "Science Fiction Double Feature."

DELIVERANCE (1972)

The year is 1975…and…

I harken back to that time where I cut out and pasted movie advertisements in a spiral notebook during that transitional movie year all those many, many movie years ago. Looking at my notebook now, much of the print from the faded pages has yellowed, but yes, I still have it! So I’ve decided this month to stroll down memory lane and comment on some of the film ads from my movie scrapbook. I’ll also try to fit in a suitable 1001 movie entry at the end of each post since that is still the point of this blog.

1975 Movie Scrapbook (Post 3: Burt Reynolds)
Whether or not you were a fan of good ole boy epics like White Lightning, Hooper or Cannonball Run, you got to admit that there was no bigger star during the 70’s than Burt Reynolds. I found five ads for Reynolds movies in my scrapbook.

1. Man-Eater

All I can say about this one is…I was had! After Jaws came out in the summer of 1975, there were some copycat films, but the one called Man-Eater was just a renamed re-released version of the 1970 Burt Reynolds movie Shark! And yes, I did see go to see Man-Eater at the theater when it was re-released. The ad has a large picture of Reynolds superimposed over a picture of a shark. The caption reads, BURT REYNOLDS is the bait…and a killer shark is stalking the waters! Man-Eater-It will rip you apart! More BITE than JAWS.

I do give the ad some credit, as I have never forgotten the More BITE than JAWS tagline. (And for the record, it did NOT have more bite than Jaws.)

2. The Longest Yard

One of the best of the 70’s Reynolds flicks was certainly the prison football film The Longest Yard. The ad features Burt and his hairy chest (of course) and states, The audiences Don’t Just See It-They Cheer It! They Love It! An unnamed quote also states THE LONGEST YARD is a fierce, funny movie. For men, for women, for everyone. Still can’t believe they remade this with Adam Sandler, but that’s another story.

3. Hustle

In this ad, we have sleek and sexy Catherine Deneuve looking beautiful in a backless dress and has a hand on the hairy chest of our man Burt! I never saw this one but the ad promises They’re hot. She’s the call girl. He’s a cop. They both take their jobs seriously!

I do have to admit that the combination of the star of Umbrellas of Chernbourg and the star of W. W. and the Dixie Dance Kings doesn’t seem quite right somehow.

4. Lucky Lady

This film probably looked good on paper. Recent Oscar winners Gene Hackman and Liza Minelli teamed up with Burt and Singin’ in the Rain director Stanley Donen. The ad has no blurbs and just relies on a big picture of the three stars in prohibition era garb. I do remember when this came out, though I’ve never mustered up any desire to see it.

5. Clockwork Orange/Deliverance

“The two most controversial movies of our time! the ad in my scapbook proclaims. I’m not sure about that, but this is a helluva a good double feature in my book, and it reminds us of those days of yesteryear when we actually had double features, kind of like major league baseball had scheduled double headers. (Waxing nostalgic about both)
I will say the picture in the ad of Malcolm McDowell (not the ad I have pictured here) does not look like it is from A Clockwork Orange, though that is probably a small quibble for a double feature I’d like to see.

And today’s 70’s Burt Reynolds movie experience is...

Deliverance

Deliverance is a film I see every few years and is still one of my favorites. And, yes the sodomy “squeal like a pig” scene is usually the first thing people bring up when they talk about Deliverance (that and the Dueling Banjos duet). But this movie has much to say about male bonding, urban vs. rural, right and wrong and when it is necessary to take the law into your own hands. It’s definitely a guy picture in that women are something “out there” or “back home.” Women are just a thing far, far away and men are freed from their domestic shackles to go canoeing and be men...away from the ball and chain! Though you never know when a hillbilly sociopath or two may be lurking around the river bend. Nothing is perfect, I guess.

And Burt is at his best in his breakthrough role as the macho adventurer with seemingly no fear of anything.

TOMMY (1975)

The year is 1975…and…

I harken back to that time when I cut out and pasted movie advertisements in a spiral notebook during that transitional movie year all those many, many movie years ago. Looking at my notebook now, much of the print from the faded pages has yellowed, but yes, I still have it! So I’ve decided this month to stroll down memory lane and comment on some of the film ads from my movie scrapbook. I’ll also try to fit in a suitable 1001 movie entry at the end of each post since that is still the point of this blog.

1975 Movie Scrapbook (Post 2: The cast pictures at the bottom of the ad)

One of the cheesier parts of ads from some movies of this era were the pictures of the cast lined on the bottom or the side of the ad. Sometimes the pictures had no name, sometimes they contained a name and sometimes mentioned something about the character-those were usually the funner ones. This was popular, though not limited to, disaster films. I believe it was Roger Ebert that said whenever you see the pictures at the bottom of the ad on film poster, you know it’s probably a pretty bad film.

1. Johnny Firecloud

I still remember the commercial for this film. “Johnnnny Firecloud!” the announcer said with I believe an echo. In the print ad, (not the ad I have pictured, though I like this one too) this Native American action adventure features what looks like a silhouetted lynching by what appears to be redneck lawmen and a raging shirtless Johnny Firecloud about to punch someone which emerges into a giant firecloud! The ad rages, They pushed and shoved and leaned …and leaned harder until they bought themselves an All-American one man massacre! The pictures at the bottom of the ad of the cast for Johnny Firecloud don’t seem to include the most interesting supporting player I saw in the cast credits. That would be Marlon Brando’s controversial Oscar stand-in acceptor Sacheen Littlefeather! Wouldn’t it have been great to have heard the speech at Oscar time if we had heard…the winner for Best Supporting Actress is…Sacheen Littlefeather for Johnny Firecloud! Unfortunately, this film was never really on the Oscar radar…or any other radar that I can remember.

2. Breakout

Tough, serious and mean looking Charles Bronson seemed born to be an action star. He did some memorable supporting work during the 60’s in The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape and had a great staring role in Once Upon a Time in the West. The only problem with his starring roles from the 70’s is that most of them weren’t very good. But you can’t fault him for lack of volume. He seemed to crank out an action movie every other week during the mid-seventies. For Breakout, I still remember the TV ad for this proclaiming, BRONSON! BREAKOUT! BEAUTIFUL! The print ad before me has a large red nosed Bronson surrounded by drawings of explosions, helicopters, airplanes and people climbing ropes. The pictures of the cast at the bottom of the ad include little blurbs.

CHARLES BRONSON: The hit man of “Death Wish”
ROBERT DUVALL: the brains behind “The Godfather”
JILL IRELAND: Has a proposition for escape
RANDY QUAID: the law breaking sailor from “The Last Detail”
JOHN HUSTON: the big boss of “Chinatown”
SHERREE NORTH: has a sure way to distract prison guards!

My favorite of these blurbs is obviously Ms. North and her ability to distract the prison guards. I guess she lures them away with her homemade chocolate brownie recipe!

3. Tommy

The Ken Russell film based on The Who’s rock opera would definitely be on my 1001 list, though it isn’t on any of the 1001 actual lists. The cast pictures at the bottom (technically the sides as well as the bottom) of this ad features Ann-Margaret as the Mother, Roger Daltrey as Tommy, Eric Clapton as the Preacher, Keith Moon as Uncle Ernie, Oliver Reed as The Lover, Elton John as the Pinball Wizard, John Entwistle as Himself and Tina Turner as the Acid Queen. Interestingly, there is no side picture of Pete Townsend. Go figure.

4. Undercovers Hero

A Peter Sellers movie that is described in the ad as Six Sellers in One! Peter Sellers was a major comedic talent and played multiple roles in several films (Dr. Strangelove, The Mouse That Roared etc.). But this ad for Undercovers Hero is the only time I have ever heard of this movie! The pictures of the cast at the bottom is interesting in that they are all pictures of Sellers in different gettup.

Apparently an alternate name for this movie was Soft Beds, Hard Battles, but I never saw it under that title either.

5. Once is Not Enough

This theatrical soap opera based on the Jacqueline Susann novel spawned perhaps the silliest of all the movie ads that feature the pictures of the cast/characters at the bottom of the ad with a little blurb at the bottom. They are worth repeating in full.

Kirk Douglas as “The husband for sale-bought for $3 million!”

Brenda Vaccaro as “The high-fashion editor with low desires!”

David Janssen as “The novelist who couldn’t live the fantasies he wrote about”

Deborah Raffin as January “The daughter-a virgin eager to make up for lost time”

George Hamilton as “The playboy-the swinging set’s most wanted ‘escort’”

Melina Meccouri as the lady with “Untold wealth, untold marriages-her real love”

Gary Conway as “The Astronaut, but we know by the description that he is “a hero-but to his wife-something else.”

The ad’s tagline in bold print reads, JACQUELINE SUSANN’S BOLD BEST SELLER THAT EXPLORED ALL THE AVENUES AND DARKEST ALLEYS OF LOVE AMONG THE INTERNATIONAL SET!

I can’t say I miss this type of theatrical soap opera on the big screen, but I do miss the ads for them.

Today’s 70’s Movie with the cast pictures at the bottom of the ad experience is...

Tommy

                                                                       

Since none of  the movies with “the cast at the bottom of the movie ad” made the cut for the 1001 list, I just decided to watch Tommy again.

The film version of Tommy may seem a little clunky in spots, and the song stylings of Jack Nicholson and Oliver Reed are less than inspired, but Ken Russell's film is still an original and creative interpretation of The Who's Rock Opera.

Musical highlights include:

1. Tommy's plight begins with the songs "Amazing Journey" and  "1951" and put in the context of a World War II setting. A dramatically effective as way to start to the film.

2. "Eyesight to the Blind" envisoned as a temple to worship Marilyn Monroe.

3. "Acid Queen" Once you see Tina Turner as the Acid Queen, it's hard to imagine anyone
else doing it.

4. "Cousin Kevin" I may have to revise this one on the list. The scene featuring Kevin Nicholas's demented sociopath  Kevin torturing the deaf/mute Tommy quickly made me start to feel uncomfortable and wish it would end quickly.

5. "Fiddle About" Keith Moon was no singer, but he has an absolute field day as Tommy's perverted Uncle Ernie.

6. "Champagne" Bizarre fantasy not in the original Who album involving broken TV's, a river of baked beans, suds and a writhing Ann-Margaret (pictured above). What more could you ask for?

7. "I'm Free" Daltrey finally gets the opportunity to sing halfway thought the movie. Really like his adulation during this song.

8. "Sally Simpson" The song about Tommy's most adoring fan and maybe my favorite song from the movie.

9. "See Me, Feel Me/Listening To You" is a rousing way to end the film.

10. and of course, Elton John as The Pinball Wizard. (pictured below)

WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971)

The year is 1975…and…

I harken back to that time when I cut out and pasted movie advertisements in a spiral notebook during that transitional movie year all those many, many movie years ago. Looking at my notebook now, much of the print from the faded pages has yellowed, but yes, I still have it! So I’ve decided this month to stroll down memory lane and comment on some of the film ads from my movie scrapbook. I’ll also try to fit in a suitable 1001 movie entry at the end of each post since that is still the point of this blog.

1975 Movie Scrapbook (Post 1: Kid flicks)
Movies designed for kids when I actually was actually a member of that demographic.

1. The Strongest Man in the World

I certainly saw all of the Disney/Kurt Russell/Joe Flynn/ Medfield High comedies back in the day. I’m pretty sure this was the last in the series. The ad says, “A secret formula explodes…POOF!…Instant Muscle…Instant Fun!” Same plot as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes only with brawn instead of brains.

2. Benji

A movie that just plain makes you feel good! and “America’s most lovable new hero!” the ad claims.

How can you say anything bad about a movie featuring the lovable mug of Benji with a giant heart next to the pooch’s head? The heart mentions the Oscar nominated song (I Feel Love, which I’m guessing is not the Donna Summer song of the same name) from the film.. And no, I’m not going to say something bad about Benji.

3. The Apple Dumpling Gang

For chicanery, skullduggery, tom foolery and habitual bungling! was a Disney tagline if there ever was one. I did see this Tim Conway/Don Knotts vehicle when it came out. Liked it thirty-eight years ago…but have no desire to revisit it.

4. Escape From Witch Mountain

Another Disney where the main characters are Caught in a world where they don’t belong. They have to escape! I just know that flying saucers and Bette Davis are involved, and I’m pretty sure this is the only movie you could make that statement about.

Correction: Apparently there was a Return to Witch Mountain which also involved Bette Davis and flying saucers, but I never saw that one either.

5. The Hound That Thought He Was a Raccoon

If you grew up watching Disney film trailers in the 60’s and 70’s, you probably remember announcer Dick Tufield doing the narratiion in a distinctive voice that always seemed to stress the first couple of words as in Thuuuu Hooound Who Thought He was a Racoon. Don’t think I ever saw this one, but certainly can hear Dick Tufield saying Thuuuu Hooound Who Thought He was a Racoon in the back of my head now.

Today’s 70’s Kid flick experience is...

Willy and Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

You could make a joke that Chris, the librarian is so old that he saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in the theaters when it was new! Interesting and heartening to know that it is still a perennial favorite and would certainly make my 1001 list. How can you not love Willy Wonka and his wonderful world of chocolate? Though the real Willy Wonka chocolate bars from the 70’s weren’t that great. One change in viewing it again: I thought Sluggworth was pretty scary when I was a kid, but this time he would only make the “kinda creepy” category.

And another thing: I wish people would stop using Willy Wonka memes on the Internet. That's more than "kinda creepy."