Saturday, April 30, 2011

CYBORG 2087 - Paul Dunlap - "The Man From Tomorrow" (1966)

Well, tonight's feature is a spacial deal that's hard to locate, but somehow Tedmo managed to dredge up a copy out of a black hole somewhere, so 3, 2, 1, here's "Cyborg 2087!"

"Cyborg 2087" is a high-tech movie about time and space manipulation, and the ramifications implied therein, and the longevity of the Dymo labelmaker is quite apparent too! On the left is the back of actress and comedian Joann Pflug's head!

This is the interior of the time capsule, and it's passenger, Michael Rennie as Garth A7. Garth is a cyborg and he is being sent back in time to 1966 to stop an action from happening that will affect the entire future, even his own existence!

Voilà!!! 1966! Just like that!

Garth has landed near a ghost town, and he is confused, because this is not what 1966 was supposed to look like, but it sure was a cheap and handy set to use!

Cowboy movie icon Chubby Johnson and his pal were goofing around in the ghost town when they suddenly come in contact with Garth! After Garth shoots their dog, you don't like him too much, but it turns out that his ray gun just stuns the victims for a while! Tyler MacDuff is victim Sam Gilmore. Looking at Tyler's acting credits makes me want to go back in time myself to the 1950's, and just sit around watching television all day, and all of the night!

Garth makes contact with the lame sheriff played by Wendell Corey! You can hear Wendell's distinctive voice in the sound clip saying things like "I can't figger out what's going on out here!" Wendell ran for congress in 1966 as a Republican, but was defeated in the primary! He wouldn't get another opportunity, because he died in 1968 at the age of 54! Wendell was in some real classics like "Agent For H.A.R.M," and his last film was "The Astro-Zombies!"

I just like the shot of this Fiat, and the fact that they had a Playboy Club in a town with about 500 people or less in it!

It's no coincidence that the man from the future should end up in the town where "Future Industries" is located! Oh, the irony of it all!!

Garth snags himself a 1966 trench coat and fedora so he could blend in better, but Hey buddy, what about those boots?

Karen Steele is Dr. Sharon Mason! Unlike us less fortunate, and just like President Obama, Karen was born in Hawaii, and to prove it, she was even in an episode of "Hawaiian Eye!" Dr. Mason and Garth are about to do a mind meld, and when it's through, she will end up doing anything to help him!

Dr. Mason takes Garth to Dr. Carl Zellar's pad for some treatment. Dr. Zellar was played by none other than Warren Stevens, who despite having at least 160 different roles in his life, will always be remembered as Lieutenant 'Doc' Ostrow in the überclassic 1956 production, "Forbidden Planet!" As far as I can tell, Warren is still kickin' around today!

Okay, that's enough dry scientific stuff, let's get this party going with some killer dancin' music from the Maestro Paul Dunlap! Paul is one of The Dungeon's favourite composers, and with titles like these, I'm sure anyone would agree he was simply one of the best! Scattered throughout his 133 credits are titles like "I Was A Teenage Werewolf," "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein," "Blood Of Dracula," "How To Make A Monster," "The Angry Red Planet," "The Three Stooges In Orbit, "Black Zoo," and "Dimension 5." Do I need to say more? Paul passed away just a little over a year ago at the age of 90, but his legacy will live on forever!!

The dancin' teenagers are at Dr. Zellar's place, and consist of Betty Jane Royale in the white top as Jill, Jimmy Hibbard as Rick, John Beck as Skinny, and Sherry Alberoni as Dr. Zellar's daughter, Laura! Out of the four, Betty Jane and Jimmy both only had about two more appearances but John Beck went on to have a good career that included 67 episodes of "Dallas" as Mark Graison, and 38 episodes of "Flamingo Road" as Sam Curtis and roles in cult classic flicks, "Sleeper," and "Rollerball," but it's the little blonde Sherry Alberoni who has the biggest story to tell! Sherry Alberoni was a second season Mouseketeer, and she got the job because the producer thought that the little lisp she had was cute. Sherry went on to do cartoon voiceovers for "Scooby-Doo," "Josie and the Pussycats," and "Super Friends," and was in 1970's horror classics "Sisters Of Death," and "Nightmare Circus" aka "Barn Of The Naked Dead!" In 1962 she was also a singer in her brother Roy's band, "The Rhythmaires!" Whew!!!

Here they come, trotting down the street, no, it's not The Monkees, it's The Tracers, the evil bastards who have come to get Garth and either kill him or bring him back! Dale Van Sickel as Tracer #1 has 287 acting credits, and 164 Stunt man credits, and Tracer #2 is Troy Melton who has another 105 acting credits, and 42 Stunt man credits! Troy was 64 when he was doing stunt work on "Pee-wee's Big Adventure!" What a pair!!!

Time for Garth to leave the house, but the kids notice there does seem to be something different about him!!

The Tracers literally 'Crash' the party!!

You'd think these guys were just a couple of dumbasses the way they trot around looking at their GPS tracking watches....

......But they turn out to be pretty mean and devious as it turns out! Here they have Dr. Mason suspended in a barn, and if that's not bad enough, they keep swinging her back and forth!

There's a long chase and fight scene back in the ghost town and in The End, Garth comes out on top!

Sealing his own fate, Garth A7 reigns supreme! Michael Rennie had a great career, but after "The Day The Earth Stood Still," producers would try to recapture that special Klaatu moment with films like this to no avail! His last movie was in 1970 as Dr. Odo Warnoff in "Los Monstruos Del Terror" or "Assignment Terror!"

7 comments:

  1. That title card is unbelievable!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw this a while back and for as cheap as it is, it's fairly compelling. It's also another part of the blueprint for THE TERMINATOR and its sequels. Also, there is a homage in BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET. 2 men in black (1 played by the director, John Sayles) who come to track the BROTHER, trot and move like "The Tracers."

    Questions?/Comments? * This Has Been e-mail From:
    "Dr. Mark" Hill * The Doctor Of Pop Culture /*/ drmark7@juno.com
    MY WEBPAGE: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/popmusicpopculture

    ReplyDelete
  3. i just saw Michael Rennie in a great episode of "the Invaders" doin' his badass alien guy thing. thanx for turning me on to this movie, not too long ago...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Please tell me that you’re going to keep this up! It’s so good and so important. I can’t wait to read more from you. I just feel like you know so much and know how to make people listen to what you have to say. This blog is just too cool to be missed. Great stuff, really. Please, PLEASE keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That was a pleasure Professor, and Espana, we'll go on as long as we can, or at least that's the plan, glad you dig it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. look out guys, Espana is a robot!...

    ReplyDelete
  7. The character of the reporter, "Jay C." in the little blue Fiat, was written in the script by Arthur C. Pierce (who studied acting when he first came to LA) to play the role himself, but producer Earle Lyon wanted to have Harry Carey Jr. in the role instead. However, you can hear Arthur doing two voiceover parts in another of his films, The Human Duplicators. --KD

    ReplyDelete