DEADLY IS THE FEMALE - "Gun Crazy" - King Brothers Productions (1950)

Welcome to a real Saturday Night Special down in The Dungeon, a .38 Special, that is!

My old pal, Arizona's amazing Al Perry told me this was his favourite film noir flick, and since it was already on my list, it seemed like the time was right!  The story was written by the brilliant blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo who also wrote such classics as "Rocketship X-M," and "Johnny Got His Gun!" Co-creator of Mr. Magoo Millard Kaufman allowed his name to be used in the credits as writer as a front for Dalton Trumbo! Figuring enough time had passed by 1992, Millard revealed the truth about the credits to the world!

 Just because a young man has an over-fascination with guns doesn't make him a criminal, that is, until he steals one!!  Meet young Barton Tare!

So it's off to reform school for the kind young man with a love for guns but a hatred for the killing of anything! He just likes to shoot the damn things! And despite all the pleas for leniency by his  sister, Bart is sent off for quite a few years! The young Bart Tare was played by none other than Russ Tamblyn (credited as Rusty Tamblyn) in his sixth film appearance!

One of the first things Bart does when he gets out of reform school is go to the carnival with his two best buddies from childhood that he's kept in touch with, and the most interesting thing is an act by sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr as played by the super cute Peggy (Curse Of The Demon) Cummins!

Well, you might say it was love at first sight...................

...................But not until they were both in the sight of each other's guns! I'd like to see this act today where you invite a complete stranger up on stage from out of the audience to shoot out candles on your head! The grown up Bart Tare was actor John Dall, a man with a short but fruitful career! In his first film role ever, the movie "The Corn Is Green," John was nominated for 'Best Actor In A Supporting Role'! He was also in Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Rope!"

So there you go, Bart joins the act, but not for long after he has a dispute with the Boss about whose girl Annie is, and they off and get married!

These two crazy kids are so in love and life is beautiful! The song "Laughing On The Outside (Crying On The Inside) says it all, and was written by Bernie Wayne and Ben Raleigh, and was sung by Frances Irvin!

Unfortunately, the money that they have saved doesn't go very far after a couple of bad nights at the casino! It doesn't take them long to figure out that their one common talent might also be a way to generate economic success! At first they were only going to rob one place, but you know how that goes!

When they need a getaway car,  Annie pretend hitchhikes, and you know the first dirty old man who comes along is going to pick her up!

They do this a couple of times, where there's an interesting scene shot from the backseat of the car into the back of Bart and Annie's heads as they chit chat!

After a few heists, they start having to change up their identities to be able to get through the road blocks!

Then after a few close calls, they finally have a run-in with the police, and after a hot pursuit Bart shoots the tires of the police car, and even though he didn't shoot the officers, he still feels bad that they got hurt in the crash! Annie, on the other hand, feels no remorse at all!

On the run, broke, and now having to ride in a boxcar for transportation, Bart and Annie decide to try and pull off one last big robbery, and then call it quits forever, and try and lead a safe and sane life!

I love this movie, but right here they lost me! They devise a plan to rob the payroll of the Armour Meat packing plant, and somehow, Bart manages to land a job as a delivery guy to the plant, and Annie gets a job as a secretary in the office! If it was that easy to get a job, I'm thinking they should have stopped right there, and settled down, but I guess that would have made for a happy but dull ending!

It's now revealed that Annie can be a cold and ruthless killer! Bart on the other hand is still as kind hearted as ever, but because he loves her so much, he's willing to follow her to the bowels of Hell!

Thinking they've got it made now, the kids go out and have a good time! Here they are on the roller coaster! Unfortunately life is a like a roller coaster too, and they're about to hit the big dip! The serial numbers on the money they stole have been traced down, and it doesn't take long before their money is no good, and they're tracked down!

The final escape attempt includes this beautiful shot that all you car afficinados should be able to appreciate!

Whether you want to quote Jim Morrison or Bugs Bunny, it makes no difference because "This is the End," and "That's all, Folks!!"

Al was 100% right, "Gun Crazy" is a really fine film right up there with "Kiss Me Deadly!" Makes sense since the original title of this film was "Deadly Is The Female!" The original poster is so not this movie, and it doesn't take much thought to understand why they changed the look and the title to the much more dynamic "Gun Crazy!"                             

THE SNAKE WOMAN / Caralan Productions Ltd. - 1961

It's Snake Bite Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a tale set in northern England in 1890, all about a Scotland Yard detective that's sent to a village to investigate a series of deaths caused by snakebites.

Eegah!! sent over a nice lil' soundclip with a teaser by the narrator and theme from this movie for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the atomic viper pit, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... THE SNAKE WOMAN!

A doctor in the village, who has a large collection of venomous snakes in his laboratory for medical reasons, injects his wife with snake venom in order to cure her mental illness.

The wife later gives birth (but dies) to a daughter that the villagers begin to call "The Devil's Baby." Arnold (THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN) Marlé plays the kindly Dr. Murton.

Eventually, the villagers burn down the doctor's house, the doctor's bitten and dies when the snakes try to escape the fire, the baby daughter is saved when she's taken and secretly raised by a local shepherd. Years later, the little girl's all grown up!

Then, locals start to die from snakebites, soooo...

Scotland Yard gets involved! They send their man, Charles Prentice, to investigate the rash of deaths in the village. John McCarthy, on the right, plays Charles, who can also be seen in THE ELECTRONIC MONSTER, DUBLIN NIGHTMARE, THE BEDFORD INCIDENT and DR. STRANGELOVE.

Charles uses a flute to attract snakes in a field at night, but, beautiful Atheris shows up instead. She stops him from shooting one of her little buddies that slithers into the scene! Susan Travers plays Atheris and also starred in PEEPING TOM, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES and FRENZY.

Charles later learns about the curse of the Snake Woman from an old lady who dabbles in black magic. She pulls out a doll and tells Charles to shoot it three times, in order to break the curse, and so, he does!

Dr. Murton decides to confront Atheris, but, she changes into a snake and bites the docor before he can shoot her!

In the end, Charles shoots a snake in the grass, and, with everyone watching, it changes back into Atheris right before their eyes! Back at Scotland Yard, the Inspector tosses the case file into the fireplace, since no one would ever believe the story!! Tune in tomorrow to see what the Hell Eegah!! has in store for us!

DEVIL's ANGELS - Roger Corman Presents: (1967)

Welcome to Wide Open Throttle Wednesday, and tonight's feature film, "Devil's Angels!" I'm sure Roger Corman gave a special big bonus to whoever came up with that title!

The music used in  "Devil's Angels" was composed by record producer and former Lt. Governor of California, Mike Curb! Mike wrote the music for a lot of biker movies including "The Wild Angels," "The Glory Stompers," "The Born Losers," and "The Savage Seven," but it somehow never affected his conservative electability! Strange bedfellows indeed! Any of the guitar driven parts of the music are by the always phenomenal Davie Allan and the Arrows!

This shot pretty much says it all, one quite large stinking rancid vat!

"Devil's Angels" is by far not my favourite biker movie, but it is an interesting period piece!

The casting director should have been put out of his misery for deciding to choose John Cassavetes for the role of the leader of the biker gang, "The Skulls!" As good as an actor as he was, John was born in New York City, and there's nothing about him that makes you feel like he might be the leader of a West Coast motorcycle gang!

Nuthin' but pure unadulterated style! I'd be shocked if Coors Beer didn't pay for product placement, but then again, in California in 1967, it's probably what you would be drinking, either that or Olympia!

They look like a nice enough bunch of guys, maybe just a little misdirected!

Maurice McEndree had the role of the ridiculously dirty faced Joe the Mole!

Now this shot is a piece of work, to get that many bikes and people in one shot and still frame your subject is not a simple task, so kudos to cinematographer Richard Moore!

The gang is searching for a hole in the wall of happiness, but they're not exactly sure where they're going! The only real reason "Devil's Angels" is even a movie is because it was made as a follow-up to the successful "The Wild Angels," but that movie had Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Michael J. Pollard in it, and it makes a big difference!

So where else would you look for a hole in the wall but smack dab in the middle of nowhere, and  a little burg called Brookville!

Brookville is celebrating their 27th Annual Picnic, and high up on the roster of things to do is go to the beauty contest!

Nobody's happy about a motorcycle gang showing up at this joyous event...............

....................But all the guys in the gang promise to be good!!!!

This is a great portrait of Sheriff Henderson as played by one of the hardest working men in show business, Mr. Leo Gordon! The Sheriff has agreed to let the bikers camp outside of town, as long as they don't cause any mischief! (Good luck with that one!)

New girl in town and beauty contest loser Marianne decides to take off with the cutest guy in the gang, thinking that he must be a nice guy!

Wrong! He's a biker, not Prince Charming! Stupid girl! They give her booze and pot and then after she's nice and comfortable with the whole thing, they decide to rape her!

In real life, Mimsy Farmer is a whole lot more interesting and intelligent than Marianne could ever dream of being! She was in The Outer Limits episode titled "Second Chance," and in the late 60's, she was in a greasy chain of youth in unrest flicks like"Hot Rods To Hell," "Riot On Sunset Strip," this movie, and "The Wild Racers," before traveling to Italy in the 70's and hooking up with Dario Argento and others in Giallo classics like "Four Flies On Grey Velvet" and "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black!" Although Mimsy's last acting role was in 1991, she still has Art Department credits in this decade as a sculptor for movies as diverse as "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides!" She even has more sculpting credits for a movie that is currently in production "Guardians of the Galaxy!" Needless to say, this is one talented lady, and she just had a birthday five days ago, so it's a little late, but Happy Birthday Mimsy!

As the gang rides off into the distance, I'll tell you that if you really want to see "Devil"s Angels," you can find it streaming on Netflix! End of story!