GENTLEMEN BRONCOS - "Title Cards" (2009)

 Tonight's Saturday Night Special has one thing going for it, so I'm just going to put the spotlight on that one element!!

I guess I'm just too olde to appreciate films like "Gentlemen Broncos" any more, but I'll tell you one thing, this movie has one of the best opening title sequences of any film I've seen lately, so in order to accentuate the positive, that's what I've got for you!

 "Gentlemen Broncos" is a story about a young Science Fiction author who gets his work ripped off by a famous writer, and then gets accused of plagiarism!

 So it's a stroke of genius to use pseudo covers of 1960's paperback books during the opening title sequences!

 Now I know a lot of you out there don't know what a book is, and for that I am extremely sorry that none of this makes sense!

There were many publishers of science fiction paperback books in the 60's, and each one of these fake covers is an homage to one or another!

Two of the more successful companies were Bantam and Ballantine!

I read many a novel published by Ace and Avon Books!

A lot of extremely cool books were published by Pyramid and/or Berkley Medallion!

Two more big publishers in the 60's were Dell and Crest!

I think what this movie is missing more than anything is counterbalance!

There's not one normal person, and it's like everybody in the whole universe is too weird to even shop at Walmart!

The husband and wife team of Jared and Jerusha Hess are responsible for most of this mess!

Jared and Jerusha Hess also wrote "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Nacho Libra" so it's not like they aren't talented, this thing just tries too hard!

I like this last cover the best, and I could have only hoped that "Gentlemen Broncos" would have been this good, but plain and simple, in my book, it just wasn't!
You are entitled to your own opinion!

ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND / Made In Wonderland, The Most Magical Musical Of All - 1972

Here's one from those crazy Brits! In this classic story by Lewis Carroll, Alice (Fiona Fullerton) falls down a rabbit hole and ends up in a magical dream world populated by surreal characters and bewildering adventures. As Alice searches for a way out of Wonderland, she encounters creatures such as the White Rabbit (Michael Crawford), the March Hare (Peter Sellers), the Queen of Hearts (Flora Robson), and the Dormouse (Dudley Moore). It includes many musical interludes sung by Alice and the other characters, natcherly.

On a picnic, Alice dozes off after eating. She drifts off into dreamland, where...

She falls down the proverbial Rabbit Hole, and goes down... Down... Down...

Alice goes through her 'too big'-'too small' routine. I like the part where she bumps her head on the ceiling as she attains her maximum height.

After extracting herself out of the rooms, the first character she meets is the hookah smoking Caterpillar played by Ralph Richardson. After a futile conversation with the worm, it slithers off into the woods.

Then, she meets the goofy Tweedledum (Fred Cox) and Tweedledee (Frank Cox), they sing a song of course. Because, well, they have an important message to get out to whomever will giv'em a listen!

Here are the March Hare and the Mad Hatter, Peter Sellers plays the Hare, Robert Helpmann plays the Hatter!

Alice spends some time at the Queen's palace. There are lots of fun things going on, like this wild croquet game where the cards are the wickets.

Lettuce not forget the Cheshire Cat played by Roy Kinnear. After awhile, the cat gets bored and disappears as mysteriously as he appeared.

Here's the Mock Turtle all in yet another quandary, he's played by Michael Hordern.

Love the makeup for the Gryphon, Spike Milligan plays the wild looking bird

Anyway, Alice goes on trial for being too big and out of place, the White Rabbit is the MC.

Alice has to defend herself against the allegations, but...

She is attacked by the others at the event, everything gets insane as Alice fights against the barrage of kookie characters!

Then of course, Alice wakes up from her slumber, only to tell her friends all about the adventures she had while in Wonderland!.. So, tune in tomorrow when Eegah!! will try and fulfill his weekly Dungeon Duties!

JAGUAR LIVES! - "Now Is The Time For A New Screen Hero" (1979)

Welcome to Wildcat Wednesday in The Dungeon!

I've been a longtime fan of boxing, kick boxing, and martial arts in general, but I never heard of this movie or it's star Joe Lewis until a couple of days ago!

  "Jaguar Lives!" came out a month after the birth of my first daughter in 1979, so I didn't have much time or money at the time. Our TV only got three channels, and I damn sure wasn't going to the movies!

  Jaguar and his partner and best buddy Cougar are on a mission to save the world!

Joe Lewis is Jaguar!

Joe Lewis is one of only five people to ever defeat Chuck Norris in the ring, and is considered to be one of the top three greatest kick-boxing champions in history!

 But they're just a couple of minutes too late!

 Cougar shoots Jaguar in the back before they can accomplish their goal, but despite the odds, Jaguar doesn't die, hence the title "Jaguar Lives!"

 Jaguar slowly works his way back into shape with help of his Sensai Woody Strode, when he learns that his old pal is dead!

 "Jaguar Lives!" might not be the best movie ever made, but it sure does have an amazing cast of characters like Barbara (The Spy Who Loved Me, Caveman) Bach!

 The always quirky and fun to watch Donald Pleasence is a big shot general of some third world cesspool!

 There are some interesting and novel fight scenes like this encounter with two of the General's men on motorcycles!

 Jaguar travels all over the world, and in each place he goes he encounters another world class star!

 All the big stars have small parts like John Huston as Ralph Richards! In a pretty tricky maneuver, John is one of five guest stars who had previously also appeared in James Bond movies!

The others are Barbara Bach, Donald Pleasence, Christopher Lee, and John Wiseman!

 Here's a couple of shots from another wild and wooly chase scene!!

Jaguar is on top of the car hanging on for his life as it careens through the streets!

 Not everything is as it seems!

The stunning Sally (Dr. Who, The Body Stealers) Faulker goes from lover to nun! She obviously has some honesty issues, so it should come as no surprise that she too, will also betray Jaguar!

Christopher Lee is not a man to ever be trifled with!

 Capucine of "Pink Panther" fame is looking as good as ever as the evil Zina Vanacore!

 Whip instructor to the stars and member of  "The International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame," Anthony De Longis is Cougar, aka Jaguar's worst nightmare!

"Jaguar Lives!" was shot in Spain, and the final fight scenes all happen at this wondrous place, the Belmonte, Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain or in English, The Belmonte Castle!
I found "Jaguar Lives!" to be a cool kitty, mildly entertaining, and more interesting than many films of this genre! It's actually perfect for a midweek diversion, if that's what you're in the market for!