THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME / RKO Radio Pictures - 1939

It's another Friday wif' Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a classic story by Victor Hugo starring Charles Laughton as the poor hunchback, Quasimodo. Of course, Lon Chaney played the character in 1923 and Anthony Quinn played him in 1956, I saw the Quinn version at the theater when it came out. Our 1939 version had a whopping $1,800,000 budget, and, it shows.

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip of the theme from this great movie, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to atomic Quasimodo, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME!

It's amazing to see the huge amount of extras used in a number of breathtaking scenes! Here, they prepare for a celebration in the town square.

Naturally, poor old Quasimodo is crowned king of the fools.

In the love interest department on the poor side of town, Esmeralda saves this handsome clown, Gringoire, from hanging by marrying him!

You can see how the heavy makeup and body suit must have been extremely uncomfortable and sweaty!

Esmeralda is falsely accused of murdering the Captain of the Guards and is ordered to be hung! The guy in the goofy looking monkey suit sentencing her to death there is the actual murderer, I wonder what they wear when the Numbskull and Boneheads boy's club assembles?..

Anywho, Quasimodo saves the day by swooping in on a rope, he grabs Esmeralda and takes her to the safety of the bell tower. A very exciting scene to say the least!

Quasimodo freaks out Esmeralda by riding and jumping to and fro on the tower bells while they clang away!

Quasimodo brings her a small pet bird to keep her company, he covers the twisted side of his face as he watches her enjoy the gift. She then learns how intelligent and sensitive he actually is!

Quasimodo single handedly prevents the angry mob from storming the church, exciting stuff!

In the most satisfying scene, Quasimodo gets revenge on his cruel master by tossing him out of the bell tower to a well diserved death on the ground below! Goodnight, sweet asshole!!

Esmeralda and Gringoire give a thankful look back to see Quasimodo with his best friends, the gargoyles, as the two leave the city to persue their dreams...

PSYCH-OUT - "Freak Out In The Darkness" (1968)

Welcome to the summer of love Freak-Out Friday edition of The Dungeon! I know it's only Wednesday, but Freak-Out Friday sounds better than Freak-Out Wednesday! This damn thing is just one big flashback anyway, so what difference does a couple of days make? The title on the Spanish poster translates as "Passport To Madness!"

Unlike other psychedelic and biker movies of the 60's like "The Trip," "Psych-Out" is not a Roger Corman production, but instead was a Dick Clark movie, and it makes for some noticeable differences!

Susan Strasberg had top female billing in both "The Trip" and "Psych-Out," the only difference is that she is actually in this movie! If I recall correctly, she was only in "The Trip" for a handful of minutes! In "Psych-Out" she plays a deaf girl searching for her flipped-out brother in San Francisco!

If you're not stoned enuf, you might just haight this movie!

Sandals have got a bad rap over the years, but as far as comfort is concerned, you just can't beat a good pair of Bikenstocks! There was a time in the 60's when independent sandal makers were able to eke out a fairly decent living!

The lead character in this film is played by Jack Nicholson, and what do you think his name is, that's right, Stoney!!! "Psych-Out" was made one year before "Easy Rider!"

Stoney is the lead singer in a psychedelic rock band called "Mumblin' Jim!"

Here's where Dick Clark got it all wrong! The two bands appearing in "Psych-Out" were The Seeds, and The Strawberry Alarm Clock, two bands I like a lot, but there's just one thing, this movie is about San Francisco, and those two bands were from L.A. It would have made it a lot more authentic if he would have used a couple of bands like Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service! Still, a chance to see The Seeds for a couple of minutes in a motion picture is worth the admission alone! The trippiest thing is that the music in "The Trip," a movie set in Los Angeles, was made by the San Francisco band, The Electric Flag!

Bad trip! This looks like a psychedelic version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller!"

Never ever take the black acid!!

I remember years ago seeing an advertisement in a newspaper that read, and I quote, "Jesus Saves, and at today's prices, that's a miracle!!!"

Just like Susan Strasberg, Bruce Dern was in both "The Trip" and "Psych-Out!" In this film, he plays the lost whacked-out brother known among the locals as "The Seeker!" He's trying to find out where his scrambled brains went!

"Psych-Out" has got more story to it than "The Trip" but that doesn't make it a better movie, because the story is actually pretty stupid! I completely left out Dean Stockwell's character Dave on purpose because I can't stand those kind of sanctimonious, enlightened, headband wearing hippies,  they just bug me, and I don't need to be bugged any more than I already am!

                                               No, No, don't give the deaf girl the acid!!

And on that note, I'm off to go see two other classic 60's - 70's Bay Area musicians in concert tonight, Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald!  Want to see it? "Psych-Out" is a double feature DVD coupled up with "The Trip" that's available on Netflix or Amazon! Just let someone else drive!!!

2010 / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 1984

It's Space Mission Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots the excellent $28,000,000 follow up to the 1968 special effects trend setting 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY by the great sci-fi author, Arthur C. Clarke. I got to see 2001 at the new Cinerama theater in Seattle in 1968, whotta trip that was, nudge nudge, wink wink!!..

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip featuring the HAL computer being brought back to the land of the living, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the mini flying saucer, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... 2010!

Roy Scheider plays American astro scientist, Dr. Heywood Floyd. He consoles his wife in their very cool bedroom (Forry called it 'the badroom') before the next thing he knows, he's being brought out of hybernation inside the giant soviet spaceship, Leonov.

Then, he has to console a frightened female Russian crew member as they have to inflate huge reentry balloons to escape disaster when they're forced to fly close to Jupiter to save fuel and assure their return to Earth!.. And, it's one Hell of a ride!

Dr. Floyd assists Dr. Curnow (John Lithgow) before his spine chilling space walk over to the 2001 spaceship, Discovery One.

Curnow and a Russian finally make it over to the spinning Discovery and turn the light on!

A space gateway is put up between the two ships, then, Dr. Chandra (Bob Balaban) goes over and brings HAL back to life, part of that process is heard in our soundclip.

The monolith appears, and, when a manned probe is sent over to investigate, it zaps the craft, killing the Russian inside!

Mysteriously, Dave Bowman (Kier Dullea) broadcasts a message to all the people of Earth, who are on the verge of nuclear war. Then, he appears in the Discovery with Dr. Floyd.

Dave tells Dr. Floyd about an amazing event that is about to happen, then, millions of monoliths start pouring out of Jupiter!!

They hook up Discovery to the Leonov for the extra propulsion they need to escape before freakin' Jupiter collapses in on itself and becomes another sun! Discovery is destroyed after it's unharnessed from the Russian ship, that barely makes it to safety!

One last message is transmitted to the lowly Earthlings...

Now, there are two suns in the sky! I have to do a painting of this scene for myself, it strikes a primordial nerve with me.