Wednesday, April 27, 2011

SHATTER - David Lindup - "Call Him Mister" (1975)

Now this one is a little bit different, it's an action adventure crossover brought to you by the combination of Hammer Studios and Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers, and called simply "SHATTER, Shatter, Shatter, Shatter"

.....and there's no hopping vampires either!

There's an African dictator by the name of Ansabi M'Goya in town just in time to be assassinated! Ansabi was played by Yemi Ajibade who was in a couple of other Hammer flicks like "The Devil Rides Out," and "The Witches."

Things sure do change fast once a person is out of the public eye, it's all hookers and champagne!

Shatter steps in to spoil the party, nothing personal, it's just a job!

The uncredited hooker is really cute!

Cool leading man Stuart Whitman is Shatter! Stuart might not look that tough, but he was actually a pretty good boxer when he was in the U.S. Army in the 1940's, having racked up some 30 odd victories! Stuart Whitman has had an incredible career that didn't really include much horror or sci-fi over the years, but the first two uncredited roles he ever had were in two of the biggest sci-fi classics ever, as a man just standing around in "When World's Collide" and as a sentry in "The Day The Earth Stood Still," both in 1951! He was also Sergeant Walters in 13 episodes of the TV series "Highway Patrol" with Broderick Crawford! In the 80's he was in "The Monster Club," Demonoid: Messenger Of Death," and "Invaders Of The Lost Gold!"

For some reason I keep reading this as "Cool World Hotel!"

Shatter stuff!

Anton Diffring is the Big Cheese Hans Leber, the master of this puppet show! You gotta be super cool to use a phone like that! You walk into an office and a guy is using a phone like that, then he's either The Boss or insane, and maybe both! We'll always honor Anton for his roles in "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" and "Circus Of Horrors" if not for his phone skills!

Pull my finger, Hans Leber!!

I think I'll pass on that offer, Mr. Shatter!

No, No, No, this is not one of those kind of films! A very awkward moment for Shatter!

Time out for some well deserved product placement, and kill two birds with one stone!!

The fantabulous Peter Cushing has the role of British Secret Service agent Paul Rattwood, and quite the rat he is! Can you believe Peter Cushing was only in 129 titles, it seems like he played Van Helsing or Baron Frankenstein that many times alone! This would be Peter Cushing's last Hammer film!

This is Lily Li, as Mai-Mee, or the gal who comes to Shatter's rescue! Lily was also in "The Oily Maniac!"

Now it's Shatter's turn to be in the center of the bullseye!

The very James Bondsy music in "Shatter" was written by a Mr. David Lindup who also composed the music for 6 episodes of the late 1960's TV cartoon show "Spider Man!" His music has also been used on "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "The Ren and Stimpey Show!" He also did a lot of orchestration and arranging, and his son Mike is in the UK band Level 42!

The cat behind the bar is Lung Ti as tough guy Tai Pah. Lung Ti's career started in 1969 with a movie called "Return of the One Armed Swordsman!" Since then he's been in a fistful of flicks, and has one currently in production called "Two Knives" where he plays a charcter that's the same as my favorite Chinese restauant, Chen Yeng! Hey barkeep, bring us over a couple of Tsingtaos please!

Mild-mannered bartender by night, and martial artist instructor, champion, and all around bad ass the rest of the time!

Tai Pah and Shatter chum up and go downtown to catch some of the local action. Much better than MMA, there's no wimpy cage to protect the fans, they've got a drummer who can put down a tight drum roll at just the appropiate times, and they have a great menu during happy hour!

Jeez, I get acrophobia just by looking at this picture!! Yikes!!

Shatter gets in a lot more trouble!

In the end, it all falls into Tai Pah's ass-whuppin' lap quite nicely, and Hans Leber gets a chance to see if he can fly! "Shatter" should not be confused with the highly touted 1985 First Comic with the exact same name, by Peter B. Gillis and Mike Saenz that was heralded as THE first comic book created entirely on a computer, but it's really a tie because the lesser known team of Brian J. Riedel and Gary Wray actually completed a 12 page indie comic on my buddy Bill Ellis's computer, entitled "Click-A-Mouse" the same year!

Monday, April 25, 2011

TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA / Toho / Saperstein - 1975

Welcome everbloody to Monster Monday wif' Tabonga, here at The Dungeon... Tonite we gots a wild and wooly flick that we haven't even reviewed yet, hard to believe! In this, yet another Toho/Saperstein adventure, Godzilla comes to the rescue when an alien race rebuilds Mechagodzilla in order to destroy the Earth. Also, a traitorous Japanese scientist gives them control over a second monsterous weapon: Titanosaurus.

The music was composed by the most awesome, Mr. Akira Ifukube. Here's a little reminder of some other titles he worked on... GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS, RODAN, THE MYSTERIANS, BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE, DAREDEVIL IN THE CASTLE, TOUGH GUY, ATRAGON, MOTHRA vs GODZILLA, DAGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, KING KONG ESCAPES, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, LATITUDE ZERO and YOG: MONSTER FROM SPACE!

Hey, look over there!.. No, to the left... Buzzing around the big red 'GO' button... See it? That's our littlest of all Dungeon pals, Rufus The Gnat! Yay for Rufus!.. Anywhere, he's here to push that big red 'GO' button, there, and start today's Eariffic Earclip for the... TERROR OF MECHA-GODZILLA!

There are some flashbacks at the beginning from the original meeting of the two a year earlier in GODZILLA vs MECHAGODZILLA. Here, Big G's getting his nails ground down by the spinning Mecha G!

As a bonus, there's a cool rocket submarine that gets thrown into the mix!

The alien toasts the vengeful Dr. Mafune and their devious plan to destroy planet Earth, as we know it!

The doctor has plans to control Titanosaurus to the peril of the foolish Earthlings, because, they refused to believe in it's existence! He'll show them!!

They make their way to the alien command and control center, secretly located below ground.

Great costumes, miniatures and composite shots! With these Japanese classics, damn, you always get your money's worth!!!!

This is Katsura Mafune, robot daughter of the doctor, killed in an experiment and brought back to life as a cyborg by the aliens...

What, are you stupid? Right there!.... Where??

At the sight of Titanosaurus heading their way, the sub fires up it's rocket engines for a quick getaway... Hang on, Scooby, we're outta here!

If you were a robot, you'd probably find this highly erotic!

The two big bad boys hit the town, hard!

Here's Big T's money shot! Too bad this is a full screen print!

This one has some of the very best Big Time Wrassling moves you'll ever want to see!.. Yee-haw!!

Everbloody wants to get into the act!! Hot cha cha cha cha!

When he's out of finger missiles, well, he just uses his electric ray!

The battle keeps going back and forth until Big-G finally rips Mecha-G's head off!..

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??