Coleman Francis is one of those special D.I.Y. filmmakers we hold near and dear down here! What drove this man to make movies? I'm sure we could discuss it for hours, but for whatever reason, Coleman did it, and tonight's feature
"Red Zone Cuba" is the third film in the trilogy that included "The Beast Of Yucca Flats," and "Skydivers!" No, it's not a monster movie, even better, it's a Coleman Francis movie, a night train to a fine world, and the only place I know where you can get a copy is over at the most mysterious place I know of,
The Web of Mystery!
Special guest star John Carradine not only gets to do the introductory scenes, he also gets to sing the theme song too! I can't believe how excited I am, after all this time, to present to you
"Night Train to Mundo Fine", the original title of the movie, sung by John Carradine with music by the amazing Ray Gregory and the Melmen! Trust me, you haven't lived until you've heard this one!
This guy just came to interview John Carradine!
They paid to have John there a certain amount of time, and with no more lines, what's he supposed to do but 'Puff, puff, puff that cigarette."
The other two guys in this 'buddy' movie are Harold Saunders as Cook, and Anthony Cardoza as Landis. Anthony and Harold were also in "Skydivers!"
Coleman Francis is Griffin (and The Narrator too), a man who has just escaped from prison for a crime too nefarious to even be known! I find it amusing that Coleman does the narration, but his character has a very limited amount of lines, almost to the point of being mute at times!
Man, good thing they left the tailgate down, or Griffin would have never been able to sneak into the bed of that pickup truck and complete the escape!
Now that's the perfect Sheriff circa 1966!!
Anthony Cardoza was the guy behind the scenes that made Coleman's trilogy a reality. Anthony Cardoza had a full-time day job as a welder, but he was the guy who came up with all the money, and ended up editing the movies! Once they were shot, Anthony said that Coleman thought his part was done! That's the reason this was the last movie they would do together! Two years later, all his efforts finally paid off for him when Anthony produced the female biker flick "The Hellcats," and finally made some money!
If Curly had smoked, N'Yuk, N'Yuk, N'Yuk!!!
Fly out of Lancaster, next stop Cuba! In Coleman Francis's world, Cuba was only like 7 minutes from somewhere, anywhere!
Okay, Tony, put on the fake beard, no shit, now this looks like Cuba for sure, I mean, where else could they possibly be? Tijuana, Haight Ashbury, Greenwich Village?
In 1966, Malibu Beach looked as much like Cuba as anywhere else! At least they got out of Palmdale for a day!
Palm trees and what appear to be abandoned migrant farm worker buildings in Santa Paula look like Cuba, that's for sure!
This must have been some kind of re-occurring nightmare that Coleman had. Freedom fighting Yanks in Cuban prisoner of war camps sweating it out, and waiting for just the right moment to attempt an escape! Just for the record, they still have no real clue why they are even in Cuba!
How to look like it's the last straw in Cuba, have another smoke!! When Coleman couldn't come up with any lines to write, smoking a cigarette was always a surefire way to kill some time!
The boys commandeer this plane, and are just barely able to flee Cuba amidst a hail of bullets!!
I don't know, this is one of those, "I just like this shot for some unexplained reason" deals!
Back in the U.S.A, broke and hungry, Coleman's character finally comes alive only to kill and rape the only two people that have been nice to him in the whole movie!!
Associate Producer Charles Harter is the store owner Cliff Weismeyer! Charles had one other role as Chuck in "Bigfoot!"
Cliff's musically inclined daughter and rape victim is Elaine Gibford in her only role ever!
All that and the till is empty! Before Griffin cleaned it out, there was a quarter!
Okay, enough diversions, now it's time to head on over and see the wife of the dying guy they met in the Cuban prison cell, who told them there were riches on his property!! Lanell Cado's only other credit is a good one! She was the gal who was strangled in the opening scenes of "The Beast Of Yucca Flats!"
Hey man, that's a cool shot! So what am I supposed to do? I don't know, light another cigarette or something!
Only movie I've ever seen where one of the cops drives a Buick!
Okay Coleman, come out with your hands up! Tony's out of money and everybody's tired, let's wrap this thing up and get the Hell out of here!!!
That's it! That's all they got out of it, a broken cigarette and a quarter, which for 1966 wasn't that bad, but still.............
Coleman Francis is one of those special D.I.Y. filmmakers we hold near and dear down here! What drove this man to make movies? I'm sure we could discuss it for hours, but for whatever reason, Coleman did it, and tonight's feature "Red Zone Cuba" is the third film in the trilogy that included "The Beast Of Yucca Flats," and "Skydivers!" No, it's not a monster movie, even better, it's a Coleman Francis movie, a night train to a fine world, and the only place I know where you can get a copy is over at the most mysterious place I know of, The Web of Mystery!
Special guest star John Carradine not only gets to do the introductory scenes, he also gets to sing the theme song too! I can't believe how excited I am, after all this time, to present to you "Night Train to Mundo Fine", the original title of the movie, sung by John Carradine with music by the amazing Ray Gregory and the Melmen! Trust me, you haven't lived until you've heard this one!
This guy just came to interview John Carradine!
They paid to have John there a certain amount of time, and with no more lines, what's he supposed to do but 'Puff, puff, puff that cigarette."
The other two guys in this 'buddy' movie are Harold Saunders as Cook, and Anthony Cardoza as Landis. Anthony and Harold were also in "Skydivers!" 
Coleman Francis is Griffin (and The Narrator too), a man who has just escaped from prison for a crime too nefarious to even be known! I find it amusing that Coleman does the narration, but his character has a very limited amount of lines, almost to the point of being mute at times! 
Man, good thing they left the tailgate down, or Griffin would have never been able to sneak into the bed of that pickup truck and complete the escape!
Now that's the perfect Sheriff circa 1966!!
Anthony Cardoza was the guy behind the scenes that made Coleman's trilogy a reality. Anthony Cardoza had a full-time day job as a welder, but he was the guy who came up with all the money, and ended up editing the movies! Once they were shot, Anthony said that Coleman thought his part was done! That's the reason this was the last movie they would do together! Two years later, all his efforts finally paid off for him when Anthony produced the female biker flick "The Hellcats," and finally made some money!
If Curly had smoked, N'Yuk, N'Yuk, N'Yuk!!!
Fly out of Lancaster, next stop Cuba! In Coleman Francis's world, Cuba was only like 7 minutes from somewhere, anywhere!
Okay, Tony, put on the fake beard, no shit, now this looks like Cuba for sure, I mean, where else could they possibly be? Tijuana, Haight Ashbury, Greenwich Village?
In 1966, Malibu Beach looked as much like Cuba as anywhere else! At least they got out of Palmdale for a day!
Palm trees and what appear to be abandoned migrant farm worker buildings in Santa Paula look like Cuba, that's for sure!
This must have been some kind of re-occurring nightmare that Coleman had. Freedom fighting Yanks in Cuban prisoner of war camps sweating it out, and waiting for just the right moment to attempt an escape! Just for the record, they still have no real clue why they are even in Cuba!
How to look like it's the last straw in Cuba, have another smoke!! When Coleman couldn't come up with any lines to write, smoking a cigarette was always a surefire way to kill some time!
The boys commandeer this plane, and are just barely able to flee Cuba amidst a hail of bullets!!
I don't know, this is one of those, "I just like this shot for some unexplained reason" deals!
Back in the U.S.A, broke and hungry, Coleman's character finally comes alive only to kill and rape the only two people that have been nice to him in the whole movie!!
Associate Producer Charles Harter is the store owner Cliff Weismeyer! Charles had one other role as Chuck in "Bigfoot!"
Cliff's musically inclined daughter and rape victim is Elaine Gibford in her only role ever!
All that and the till is empty! Before Griffin cleaned it out, there was a quarter!
Okay, enough diversions, now it's time to head on over and see the wife of the dying guy they met in the Cuban prison cell, who told them there were riches on his property!! Lanell Cado's only other credit is a good one! She was the gal who was strangled in the opening scenes of "The Beast Of Yucca Flats!"
Hey man, that's a cool shot! So what am I supposed to do? I don't know, light another cigarette or something!
Only movie I've ever seen where one of the cops drives a Buick!
Okay Coleman, come out with your hands up! Tony's out of money and everybody's tired, let's wrap this thing up and get the Hell out of here!!!
That's it! That's all they got out of it, a broken cigarette and a quarter, which for 1966 wasn't that bad, but still.............
14 comments:
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Coleman had a vision, that's for sure...
is that really the same gal from "Beast"?!? doesn't look like her!
Prof,
You know I wouldn't lie unless I thought I could get away with it! Same gal from that titillating scene, amazing what a little makeup will do! It shocked me too!
Eegah!!
I love those Young Republicans with their cool hats at the end, when they come out of nowhere to gun down Griffin in cold blood!
We can thank the MST gang for bringing way whack films like this to our attention. Their version of RED ZONE CUBA kills!
Actually those are Young Democrats just giving away free bullets!
LoNg JoHn A-Go Go
Where did you find this movie I've been looking for it for at least 5 hours.
I looked for 5 years!
Wow how did you find it?
It wasn't easy!!
1o,
I deleted your last comment by mistake, there are no guarantees, but you can try The Web Of Mystery!
Oh gawd, how I love this wild movie! All three of Coleman Francis' "b-movies" in fact! His movies (NOT the MST3K versions) are, like the works of Ed Wood, Ray Dennis Steckler, Ted Mikels, and so many other low-budget auteurs we know and love, are really a treat to watch! Not because of the riffing and snark lobbed in their direction by outliers, but because these are TRUE independent films, made by guys and gals who loved filmmaking more than money, and did their best to make films under their extreme circumstances and limitations! HOORAY for all the people with a camera and a group of friends and family members who make these films...for FUN!!!
Thanx KD! I love it when people dig through the archives! I have never made it through one MST episode myself, but Tabonga likes the originals and the MST versions! I like movies like this for what they are worth, or like you said, family and friends, or I guess you could call it charm.
I love coleman francis or francis coleman or queer face quack worth. They are all great.
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