THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN / Universal Pictures - 1971

Here's a great movie, one I saw in 1971, a tension fraught thriller, big time!.. When the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico, are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares a state of emergency. Years prior to this incident, a group of eminent scientists led by Dr. Jeremy Stone advocated for the construction of a secure laboratory facility that would serve as a base in the event an alien biological life form was returned to Earth from a space mission. Stone and his team go to the facility known as Wildfire and try to isolate the life form while determining why two people from Piedmont, a wino and a six-month-old baby, survived. The scientists study the alien life form, unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger in the lab than expected, which is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device for this type of situation!

I have a nice sound clip for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our alien mold shooting gallery, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a sample from... THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN!

After authorities locate the grounded satellite in Piedmont, well, it's not a very pretty sight.

The inside of the Wildfire lab is nothing but eye candy and actually a real containment facility.

The incoming doctors and scientists have to go through a series of decontamination safe guards before entering the lab. Here, Dr. Hall gets the top layer of his skin toasted off!

Dr. Hall is also in charge of the old man and the baby found alive in Piedmont.

In the meantime, Dr. Stone and Dr. Leavitt search the satellite scoop for clues to the mystery. A small dent is found and on further inspection using their microscope, they find the culprit.

But, the damned thing is mutating right in front of their eyes!.. Now freakin' what?!

What a cool shot, it looks like an impossible task using those rubber gloves!

UPDATE: The Andromeda Strain just keeps on mutating...

HEY, JERKFACE!!!... No crowding at the bathroom line!

It's up to Dr. Hall to deactivate the self-destruct device, not an easy task!

It's armed with lasers, Dr. Hall gets stung a number of times, including one to the face!

You can hear in the sound clip that the doctor accomplishes the deactivation with eight seconds to spare. The Andromeda Strain has mutated into a less potent enemy, but, what will happen to it in the future?..

DER TOD IM ROTEN JAGUAR - Peter Thomas - "Death In The Red Jaguar" (1968)

"Death In The Red Jaguar" was the second to the last of the Jerry Cotton films featuring George Nader, and is the hardest to find a copy of for some damn reason, but I found this one for me and you! So freakin' welcome to another Saturday Night Special in The Dungeon, guns a blazin' style!

The original title of this motion picture is "Der Tod Im Roten Jaguar, and this time, we find our hero Jerry Cotton in San Francisco, California! The music once again spews forth from the genius mind of Peter Thomas, who in my feeble mind is the missing link between Herb Alpert and George Martin! Here's just a little taste; the rest is left to your imagination!

Jerry Cotton is pissed, and this is the reason why........

........In the opening scenes, this bozo is shooting up everything in sight! He just ran into a theatre and has just turned around to see................

.............This whole room of surprised gals getting ready for the next act!

Jerry Cotton goes into action just in time to save all the lovely damsels in distress!

Here's something you don't see every day, a look inside of a vintage 1968 juke box playing real 45's!

As kitsch and campy as the Jerry Cotton films are, they can also be extremely brutal! To show how callous the murderer is, they have him kill an innocent child!

The daughter of the killer's landlord is quite a sight to behold, and after she answers the phone, she also does a little impromptu dance just for the helluva it!

I'm extremely open to any conversation that can attempt to explain what this pilgrim look is all about, because I don't get it!

These three shots just might explain what this film is all about!!!

In a real James Bond moment, Jerry Cotton's car drops a bunch of nails in the path of the car of one of his pursuers! I have also lost a lot of sleep trying to figure out if the T N A license plate is a coincidence or not!

Scenes shot inside of meat lockers are always going to convey some kind of gross weirdness for good reason, especially if you're a vegan!

Of all the great shots I could have chosen from this film, I don't know why exactly, but I really dig this one! Pretty cool, right?

If you're some kind of big shot executive, and you have that painting on the wall of your office, there's a very good chance you might be some kind of fucking psycho nutjob!

Just in case you forgot this film was set in San Francisco!

In 1968, I'm surprised they didn't go down to the Haight/Ashbury district for some real colour!

So, let's do a survey! What area was kinkier in 1968, Soho, Greenwich Village, Haight/Ashbury or your home town? I'll be looking forward to your comments!

Jerry Cotton's red Jaguar drives across the Golden Gate bridge, and off into the sunset!
And that, leaves us with only one more Jerry Cotton movie to do! It's a sad, but glorious moment!

EEGAH!! & TABONGA! AT THE MOVIES 7 / The Early Sixties

Eegah!! and I got to see a lot of early sixties monster movies together, it was our favorite thing to do. Here are a few more titles we were fortunate enough to see at the time...

Hammer's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA was okay, but, it just didn't seem to have the punch we were looking for. The makeup wasn't that great to start with.

THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH was such a yawner that Eegah!! didn't even remember seeing it!!.. There were only like two half way scary scenes, giving it a D+ on the old Dungeon scale.

MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN really got to Eegah!! He said he had some bad dreams after seeing it. I'm sure that statue caught our eye, I mean, we were only 12 years old!

Now, here's a wild 'n' weird little sci-fi adventure we saw from Czechoslovakia called MAN IN OUTER SPACE. Actually, we loved it, we always enjoyed comedies like LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, A BUCKET OF BLOOD and CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA.

We thought THE WITCH'S CURSE was a great little sword and sandal adventure. Our favorite part was when Maciste jumped over a ravine in Hell. You'll have to watch the movie to see what we're talking about! We're back tomorrow with more cool junk, see you there!..

CORRIDA POUR UN ESPION - Ray Danton - "Code Name: Jaguar" (1965)

 

It's time to dig back into The Dungeon vault of spy and secret agent flicks for tonight's feature, "Corrida Pour Un Espion" released in the U.S. as "Code Name: Jaguar!"

To set the mood, here's just the smallest taste of the music in "Code Name: Jaguar" written by the brilliant French composer Michel Legrand! Three years later, Michel would win the Academy Award for 'Best Original Song' for the tune "The Windmills Of Your Mind" from "The Thomas Crown Affair" starring one of my favourite actors, Steve McQueen, who we haven't had a chance to talk about since "The Blob!"

 This is a film about sneaky cameras, big and small!

 And the star is Ray Danton as Jeff Larson! If you're not a big Ray Danton fan like me, then don't waste your time on this movie, because it's nothing but a showcase for Ray! He just does his thing, and if you and anybody else doesn't like it, then that's just tough!

 The Russians have a big hidden spy camera that is creating lots of problems, and it's up to Jeff to sort it all out!

German tough guy Horst Frank is in there causing all kinds of havoc!

Jeff Larson is not shy, so when he gets out of the shower and is told to hold his hands up, that's exactly what he does!

There's nothing politically correct about Jeff Larson! If he's not pulling a woman's skirt up over her head in scuffle, then he's burning guys with cigarettes to get them to answer questions!

As it turns out, she was on his side anyway! The woman in question is Pascale Petit! I used to always have a penchant for blondes, but the more Euro spy movies I watch, the more I find brunette women provocative! The other female lead in the film is the equally gorgeous Helga Sommerfield! Pascale and Helga spend quite a bit of time bickering over Jeff! My favourite dark haired actress today is Annet Mahendru in "The Americans," as Nina Krilova! She's got a look I really like!

No matter what he does, it's still always hard to take Ray Danton serious!

 This whole scene looks pretty science fiction!

There's a landmine hooked up to the Russian spy camera to keep anybody from messing with it!

Even though the mine itself is booby-trapped, that's not enough to stop the likes of Jeff Larson!

 Now if this shot doesn't convey lonely, I don't know what does!

Nice Mustang convertible!

 Awww! Poor little Jeffy is tired!

Too bad for her that the maid opened the cigarette case triggered to send poison gas into Jeff Larson's face before he did!

The Russians try to brainwash Jeff Larson after they finally capture him, but they're going to need some strong detergent to launder a whacked out brain like that!

And you're right, they ran out of quarters!
Tabonga will be back on Friday with Lord knows what, and I'll be back on Saturday with yet another Jaguar adventure featuring the other most irreverent secret agent of all time, and Dungeon fave, Jerry Cotton! Until then.................