DAS KLEINE CHAOS - "The LIttle Chaos" (1967)

 

This week's Saturday Night Special is a very short film made in the earliest part of the career of avant-garde Bavarian filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder called "Das Kleine Chaos," or "The Little Chaos." 

 

Besides directing and writing, Fassbinder also frequently took on the role of composer, production designer, cinematographer, producer or editor, or basically anything that needed to be done.

This early film also starred Marite Greiselis in her only film outing ever.

Christoph Roser was also Producer of the first three shorts made by Fassbinder, and acted in two of them before going another direction!

Besides one TV show appearance, this was also it for Greta Rehfeld.

Fassbinder was an anomaly at best. At fifteen, he declared that he was gay to his parents, and yet he got married to women twice, but didn't Father any children. His wife and ex-wife also either worked with him, or acted in his movies.

In this scene his friends are making out, and Fassbinder steps in and shows his buddy how to really kiss a woman!

"The Little Chaos" is only nine minutes long, so there's not a lot of time for trivialities.  The trio had failed miserably at selling magazines, so they went back to to rob the people instead.

"The Little Chaos" somehow reminds me of a very abbreviated and super low budget version of the in home invasion in "A Clockwork Orange."

To be even more threatening, Fassbinder sets a picture hanging on the wall on fire.

Without too much effort, they find a box with some cash in it, and Fassbinder asks what the other two are going to do with their share.

Being the consummate film fanatic, Fassbinder gets a wry smile on his face and states that what he's going to do with his money is go to the movies!! Fassbinder was a true artist, and like many artists he used a lot of drugs, and ended up paying the ultimate price. Rainer Werner Fassbinder died from an overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills at the age of 37 in 1982, a victim of his own self abuse. They say that by his side there was a script that he was working on, because that's just the kind of guy he was!

Extra Bonus......The music during the ending credits is a very cool song called "I Can't Control Myself" by those wild guys known as The Troggs.

TABONGA LAFFS XMAS 21

It's Friday the 17th, which means, It's time for some Tabonga! Laffs XMAS 21 - Hope you get a little chuckle or two or three.

Hope your day's going good, you can see mine is!...

KNIGHT RIDER VS. MY MOTHER THE CAR - "Who Did It Better?" (1965 or 1982)

 

People are always asking me, when it comes to talking cars, who the Hell did it better, "My Mother The Car" from 1965, or "Knight Rider," in 1982, so I thought it was about time to clear the air on this subject once and for all.

To many people, the choice might be obvious, but you might just be surprised by the final analysis! 

Let's just take a look at both of their first episodes and find out!

Both shows have macho stud stars, first off there's Dick Van Dyke's brother Jerry, who is a hilarious comedian and musician. Jerry is funny as Hell, but he wasn't very good at making decisions, having turned down the role of Gilligan because it was stupid, but accepting this role.

And then there's "The Hoff."

Jerry is a colorful character named Dave Crabtree who has just found his reincarnated Mother in a used car lot! Yeah, it's a little complicated.

 David Hasselhoff is "The Hoff." what else matters?

Both these guys are too cool in their own way!

Mother was an extremely modified 1928 Porter designed by the incredible mind of George Barris who also created TV's 1960's Batmobile among a host of other vehicles.

KITT was a black 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am designed by Glen Larson. George Barris also worked on later designs!

Again, both cool in their own right!

As far as control panels, Mother is pretty simple no doubt, but effective.

KITT's dashboard is a lot more impressive, and easily wins this round.

As far as significant others, Maggie (Tales Of Terror) Pierce is perfect as Dave's wife Barbara Crabtree!

Pamela Susan (Night Gallery, Mod Squad) Shoop is Maggie. Knight Rider's first date.

Who makes a cuter couple? The dorks.........?

Or...............The vagabonds?

These are the two Crabtree children, Cindy (Slumber Party Massacre II) Eilbacher as Cindy Crabtree, and Randy (Clown Alley) Whipple as Randy Crabtree.

Barrett (The NeverEnding Story) Oliver is the only kid in "Knight Rider." One annoying kid always wins out versus two.

In "My Mother The Car," there's a party going on, and a California band named "The Spats" is playing the party music! The Spats had a single out in 1965 called "Gator Tails and Monkey Ribs" that is pretty catchy, but never quite caught on. The Beatlesque song here sounds like it should be titled "Hold Me Tight," but I don't see that on their one album "Cookin' With The Spats." Wonder why they are called The Spats? Check Out Those Spatterdashes!

In "Knight Rider" there's music playing on the jukebox in a bar by Quarterflash, whose song "Harden My Heart," an ode to cheeseburgers, hit number three on the Billboard Charts in 1982.

It was a pretty even score, and I have to admit having a female lead singer who plays the sax is pretty dang cool, but having a fairly obscure band like The Spats at a poolside party makes all the difference to me, so "Come Honk Your Horn" just barely edges out "Knight Of The Phoenix."

THE TWILIGHT ZONE / "The Prime Mover" - 1961

Here's a great little episode starring Dana Clark, Buddy Ebsen, Christine White, Nesdon Booth and a host of excellent co-stars. The story's about Ace Larsen, a compulsive gambler that always seems to be down on his luck when it comes to the deadly sin. But when his friend Jimbo reveals a secret to him, Ace sees a way to ultimate riches and fame... Yeah, we'll see about that.

Ace owns a small café where he had a slot machine brought in as a way to increase business but Ace keeps putting quarters in with no payout. He's desperate for a win so asks a trucker if he'd like to flip for his tab, double or nothing. The trucker says okay, Ace flips a quarter, and loses.

The trucker says thank you, takes the 'lucky' quarter and puts it in the slot machine, and what do you know... JACK POT!!

Needless to say, Ace doesn't take it very well. 

Then Ace hears tires screeching, he goes outside to see a car flip over and crash into an electrical station! I've seen this same crash in other movies, one I know for sure is in WAR OF THE SATELLITES. 

Ace has Jimbo go with him to the crash site, where, Jimbo uses telekinesis to turn the car back over. Ace cannot believe what he has just witnessed...

Ace gets Jimbo to tell him about his powers, one that he's had all his life, and, he doesn't think it's anything special. Ace sees an opening.

With Ace's girl Kitty in tow, him and Jimbo hit the strip using their secret to manipulate dice and the roulette wheel. Is that an awesome still or what?!

And they make $200,000 in one night!!

But of course, Ace has bigger plans, a way to double his money. He contacts a few mob members and invites them over to play dice.

After checking things out, the boys are in, but, they're playing with the boss's dice.

Ace has hired the cigarette girl to be his girl, and he's winning like crazy. It's down to the last roll and Jimbo interrupts him, it's important.. But Ace just ignores him and tosses the dice...

OOPS!!

Ace is thinking... Wha' hoppin'??

Later Ace and Jimbo have a hoot after what they had been through, just ran out of gas!

Knocked back to reality, Ace sees the errors of his ways, and gets rid of the slot machine. Come on you guys, move it!!

Great ending with Jimbo showing us he's still got it, he did it for the better.