It's Mittwoch, and there's no monsters hanging around, so Let's Rock!! Tonight's flick is one of Ted V.Mikels pre "Astro-Zombies" features and it's called "Girl In Gold Boots," and for some reason, it's available at Netflix, and is one of the few movies that I would ever suggest that you watch the version with the Director's comments first! Ted's dialogue doesn't ever get in the way, and it's a ton of fun to listen to him describe what's going on! He gets a big kick out of it, and so will you!
"Girl In Gold Boots" is a simple tale at best! Leslie McRay is Michele Casey, deadend country girl waitress with higher aspirations in life, and Tom Pace is the loser Buz Nichols who stumbles into her life, and offers her a chance to be a big-time Go-Go dancer like his sister in Hollywood! Leslie was in some awesome cult-o-holic classics like "Hell's Bloody Devils," "Guess What Happened To Count Dracula?," Al Adamson's "The Female Bunch," "Blood Orgy Of The She-Devils," "Coffy," "Willie Dynamite," and "Death Race 2000!" She has also tackled being a director, a writer, and a producer! After being crowned Miss Fullerton, lovely Leslie went on to be Miss Hawaii and competed in the Miss World and the Miss Universe competitions! Tom Pace was also in Ted's "The Astro-Zombies," and "Blood Orgy Of The She-Devils!"
This would be bad-ass bikers Duke Graham and Jerry Ambler's only film appearances! They piss Buz off, and he pours beer on their bikes, but when it comes down to the standoff, Buz is the one with the handgun!
Here's proof that you don't need to spend a gazillion dollars to get a good shot, all you need is a good eye!!
In the commentary, Ted will tell you that they rented this six-wheeler for a day, and used the footage just to take up some time. Everybody in the cast and crew had to get a chance to fart around and drive the thing!
Bars Leaks and Blue Chip Stamps, Buz robs a gas station! I would honestly like to know how many of you actually know what Blue Chip Stamps are!!!
It just so happens that Buz's sister is the lead Go-Go dancer at the hottest spot in town, a real club that was called The Haunted House!"
Of all the clubs in town including the Whiskey A Go-Go, the one I regret the most that I never got to go to would be The Haunted House, with it's creatures, vampires, and King Kong stage! Talk about something that needs to be brought back from the dead!!
Here's Mark (8 1/2) Herron as the big bad Boss Leo McCabe, and, William (She-Freak, HEAD) Bagdad as his main stooge Marty, along with Buz enjoying his Sister's act! In the commentary, Ted relates how the 'raising one eyebrow' trick was William Bagdad's number one schtick!!
Here's Buz's sister, the swingingest act in town, Bara Byrnes as Go-Go queen Joanie Nichols! Try and find one thing in this shot that doesn't scream 1968! Good luck! In 1959, Bara was in both "The Beat Generation" and "Girls Town!"
To be perfectly honest, these two white girls, don't hardly have a lick of rhythm between the two of them, but I guess that doesn't really matter!
Here's a great shot of the girls and the stage!
"Girl In Gold Boots" is essentially a Ted V. Mikels' musical, and Ted will tell you that's there's like 17 original songs in the movie, and you know what, most of them are pretty cool! You can see where the title comes from, all the second string dancers are only good enough to wear silver boots! I think this is the scene where you see a waitress in the club, and Ted says, "That's my secretary!"
The Boss of the club is having a big party at his pad, and the entertainment is none other than Mr. Bongo Rock himself, Preston Epps! "Bongo Rock" was a bongo-driven tune that reached #14 on the Billboard Charts in 1959! Later less successful releases like "Bongo Rocket" and "Bongo In The Congo" would lead to things like being in this movie! Probably only Ted V. Mikels knows who the conga player was!
In the commentary, Ted tells you that the people at the party were mostly his neighbors, and people that included the Deputy D.A. and his wife! That concept so much reminds me of our meager attempt at filmmaking!!!
The basic soundtrack for the movie was composed by Nicholas Carras, but additional songs are provided by Chris Howard, George Eddy, Larry Cartell, co-star Jody Daniels, Jay Schlessinger, Nick Busillo, Bobby Batson, and Dave Silverstein! Whew!!!! Personally, I love the small tidbit I've given you!
Jody Daniels had the co-starring role of Finley 'Critter' Jones, the good guy!! Jody was also in Larry Buchanan's "The Eye Creatures" and his last role was in 1974's "Policewoman!" Jody not only wrote, but also performed the song, "You Gotta Come Down!" When writing about a single film, this is the first time I've ever been able to use the names Ted V. Mikels, Al Adamson, and Larry Buchanan in one review. That shows you how powerful "Girl In Gold Boots" really is!
Joanie's got a drug problem, so Michele is launched into the spotlight!
Critter cleans house on The Boss and Marty, and saves the day!!
Back to the beach and the happiest ending of all time!
This awesome lobby card shows Michele and the rest of the dancers after she becomes the brightest star in the universe! Who knew that Go-Go dancing would be so close to God!
To finish off, here's a record cover from the co-stars of the Arch Hall film "Nasty Rabbit," Pat and Lolly Vegas, performing on the world famous King Kong stage of the Haunted House themselves!
And just to prove that it's impossible to get too much of a good thing, here's a modern version by The Mermen that was suggested by an anonymous commenteer!
I liked this movie so much after I saw it when it was first released, that I named the next dawg I got, a little caca-poo, "ZACHARIAH!" 
I had never seen a surreal musical western before "ZACHARIAH," and not only did it have, as seen here, the James Gang in it, it also starred one of the best bands of all time, Country Joe and the Fish! 
On the left is Don (Miami Vice) Johnson as Matthew, and on the right is John Rubenstein as Zachariah, best buddies about to go on the adventure of their life! Both Don and John are still actively working today and have works in production! No musical slouch, John Rubenstein is also a singer, and has composed the music for a quite a few movies himself, like "The Candidate" and "Kid Blue!"
Here's Country Joe McDonald as the leader of bad-guy gang, The Crackers. How can you not love a movie that just takes it for granted that there were rock bands and electricity in the 1800's? What a beautiful concept! Country Joe and the Fish released their first LP in 1967, and it was called "Electric Music For Mind And Body" and is arguably one of the most psychedelic albums ever! How is it even possible that they are not in The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame? But then of course, you could say the same thing about Link Wray or Steve Miller!! Abba is in the Hall of Fame, and Guns and Roses is in there, but not Country Joe and the Fish, what a travesty of justice!
This is Barry Melton, amazing guitarist and sometimes vocalist for The Fish! 
Much to the chagrin of nice guys all over the world, even back in the olde west it was true that the chicks dug the bad boys!
Chicken Hirsch and David Cohen were the original drummer and keyboard player for The Fish, but by the time this movie was made, they had been replaced by Duke Dewey and Mark Kapner!
"ZACHARIAH" is a film about trials and tribulations and is based on the book "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse! At the beginning of the movie Zachariah has just gotten himself a shiny new pistol, and he and Matthew set off to make something of themselves, and the first thing they do is join up with The Crackers!
The boys devise a plan where they go into a new town, and The Crackers set up and start playing on one end of town, and while all the town folk are distracted, Zachariah and Matthew rob the bank on the other side of town!
Joe Massot wrote the main script, but all the jokes and one liners were written by our favourite band of zanies, The Firesign Theatre. The four members of The Firesign Theatre were Phillip Austin, Phil Proctor, David Ossman, and seen here in a small role as the bank teller is Peter Bergman, who I'm saddened to say, just passed away a couple of months ago on February 9th. R.I.P. Peter, we're sure gonna miss you!!
"ZACHARIAH" is a cornucopia of musical talent that you'll never see in one place again. The Ragin' Cajun Doug Kershaw has the role of 'The Fiddler,' and performs a manic version of a song also written by him, the "Ballad Of Job Cain!"
Job Cain is the baddest gunfighter in the West, and Zachariah thinks he's the one who can take him down, even though 'The Fiddler' told him that "20 man tried, and 20 men died, and you've killed only one!" When Zach and Matthew arrive at the lair of Job Cain, the house band is ironically enough, the James Gang! 
Joining Joe Walsh on guitar were drummer Jim Foxx, and bassist Tom Kriss! After Joe Walsh left the band in 1971, he was replaced for a while by the fantastic Domenic Troiano, who two years later was replaced by the brilliant but troubled Tommy Bolin! The two awesome songs the James Gang perform are "Country Fever," and "Laguna Salada!"
Here he is, the man himself, one of the most dynamic drummers in the world, Elvin Jones, as Job Cain!
Elvin Jones played the traps with John Coltrane for six years, and recorded with the quartet one of the most beautiful jazz records ever put to vinyl titled "A Love Supreme!" Elvin also performed with other legends Charles Mingus, and Miles Davis. He also played with his two talented brothers, Hank, and Thad Jones!
After polishing off some nitwit in a showdown, Job Cain takes over from Jim Foxx and plays a powerful drum solo that just accentuates how bad he really is! 
Zachariah wasn't ready to take on Job Cain just yet, and Zach and Matthew have a parting of the ways, and Zachariah heads off to Belle Starr's to become a man! 
Talk about your cult musicals, Patricia Quinn who has the role of Belle Starr, was also Alice, in Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant!" The music at Belle Starr's joint is a song called "Grave Digger" and is provided by yet another great but mostly unheralded band, The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble! Before he passed away in 2002, Ensemble keyboard player Mark Kamen founded the now legendary Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation!!
Two round pegs in square holes were the duo of Byard Ray and Obray Ramsey from North Carolina who performed as White Lightnin'. Their musical contributions to "ZACHARIAH" were two great tunes called "Shy Ann" and "Down In The Willow Garden." They recorded at least two LP's, "Fresh Air" which was fairly traditional material, and "File Under Rock!" that features an odd amalgam of musicians including bassist extraordinaire Chuck Rainey and jazz trumpeter Jimmy Owens among others! 
I well imagine that you're familiar with the expression "to ride off into the sunset," well, what kind of ending were you really expecting? Do something nice for yourself, you can get the movie from Netflix, or buy the soundtrack from Amazon, either way you can't go wrong!
