T-BIRD GANG - 1959

Now here's a pretty good little flick starring John Brinkley as Frank Simmons, Ed Nelson as Alex Hendricks, Tony Miller as Raymond, Pat George as Maria, Coleman Francis as police Captain Prell and Beach (sometimes Beech) Dickerson as Barney, with a small part played by Vic Tayback as a policeman.

An interesting fact about the poster, yeah, that's like a 1958 T-Bird there, the bad guys have like a 1955-7 T-Bird, which looks totally different! Plus, the people in the poster ain't in this film! Now, that's a good one, talk about false advertising.

The story's about a 'high school boy' who tries to figure out who murdered his father, then joins a gang of juvenile delinquents who work for a clever boss.

So, Frank pulls up to where his father is a watchman at a warehouse. His father has been beaten up and tells Frank that someone in a white T-Bird did it, then he dies.

Frank meets with Captain Prell and tells him that someone in a white T-Bird committed the crime. Prell says that it sounds like the Hendricks Gang, but the police can't pin anything on them. Frank asks Prell if he had a picture of Alex Hendricks, he wants to see what the guy looks like, and Prell shows Frank a photo of him.

Frank finds a white T-Bird, checks the registration, and goes into the Knotty Pine restaurant to see if he can identify the guy responsible for killing his dad.

One of the guys working for Hendricks, Boy, tries to start some trouble with Frank for brushing his shoulder when he came in.

Frank ends up knocking out Boy after a big scuffle. So Barney (these guys are not in high school!) comes over and tells Frank that the boss wants to talk to him and buy him a drink.

Remember, Frank doesn't like these people at all, but he's interested in finding out what they're up to. He sits down with them and Frank says he's interested.

Frank goes with Barney and Boy to rob a gas station for his first heist. That's Barney's gorgeous Shoebox with freaking tail fins!! And it sounds totally awesome.

Anyway, the cops show up, Barney and Boy drive off, leaving Frank there, and he's carrying a gun. They take him away.

At the station, Prell tells Frank to either work with him to capture the gang, or, he'll have to charge him with armed robbery! You figure out what Frank chose.

On the next heist, they go into the home of a wealthy couple and use nitrous oxide on them to put them out of commission.

And in the meantime, the crew steals anything of value they can get their hands on.

Raymond is Hendricks' right hand man, a psycho, and also the one that killed Frank's father. At the heist, Raymond saw Boy drop something into his pocket. Raymond takes the jewels out of Boy's pocket and shows them to Alex. Alex tells Raymond to cut Boy, so Raymond pulls his trusty switchblade out with delight.

Frank watches Alex be pretty damn evil as Boy screams from the wound he received. Alex tells the guys to take him to the hospital and just tell them that he had an accident!

Before the next heist, the gang sit back and listen to classical music. Barney picks up his bongos and starts playing along but Alex tells him to cut it out.

Since Frank's not able to make any phone calls, he and the police come up with a plan for Frank to write the address and time on the inside of a match book cover, and as they're passing through the hallway, the cop asks Frank if he has any matches, and Frank tosses them to him. The cop then calls the station with the info, and, viola!

The robbery is a bust and all the gang except Alex, Frank and Raymond get captured by the police. Alex has figured out that Frank was the one who ratted on them, so, they drag him back to the closed restaurant and prepare to kill him. Raymond had gone to do something but came back into the room and listens to Alex talking to Frank.

Frank sees Raymond but Alex is not aware of him standing there. Frank asks Alex some leading questions, and Alex reveals that he's going to be throwing Raymond under the bus and take the rap! Uh-oh!

Raymond breaks a pool cue and stabs Alex in the back a number of times, killing him.

And when Raymond tries to escape, the cops are waiting for him, goodbye you goddamn psycho, see you in Hell. Frank is safe now.

Alex's girlfriend has to say goodbye to her man, there with a pool cue stuck in his back, dead as a doornail... There you go, another tale notched into the old Dungeon wall.

THE RAY BRADBURY THEATER - "Usher II" (1990)

 

Some Saturday Night's are more Special than others, and tonight's feature is one of those!

This show was another recommendation my by friend, DJ, and all-around good guy, Lord Litter in Berlin! 

If you want to hear some very cool music that rocks all the way from The East Side Kids to The Mutant Beatniks, then you really need to check out some of his radio shows!

 

Episode 5 from Season 4 of "The Ray Bradbury Theater aired in 1990, and was titled "Usher II."

It's pretty hard to go wrong when you combine the talents of Ray Bradbury, Patrick Macnee, and Edgar Allen Poe!

 

The future is now, books are bad, and Patrick Macnee's character, a Mr. Stendahl is breaking a lot of laws, and the authorities don't like it, so they send out Stuart Devenie as Garrett to take care of business.

Also known as Stewart Devinie, and however you want to spell it, he's made a career out of playing characters and doing voices with names like Kernunnos, Fake Skourous, Governor Croque, Imperius, Sanganoon, Cormac, and Renfield.

Mr. Stendahl is a big fan of the work of Edgar Allan Poe.

It can be fairly difficult to mix genres like Science Fiction and Gothic Fiction, but leave it to Ray Bradbury to figure it all out, and get it right!

Mr. Stendahl's home is dedicated to the writings of Poe and is filled with weird robotic creatures.

 

Garrett reports back to his superiors that there is nothing out of the ordinary going on in the Usher house.

They decide to investigate for themselves which turns out to be a real bad idea.

One by one they are methodically murdered.

Mr. Stendahl enjoys the proceedings immensely! 

Some of Poe's finest works like "The Pit And The Pendulum," and "Premature Burial"..............

............Are acted out in full detail right to the end!

If only Garrett had read the books he burned, he would have been able to see what was coming, but alas........

 

"Ignorance is Fatal."

LOONEY TUNES / "Porky Pig's Feat" - 1943

Here's a wild one from director Tish-Tash that they played a lot on TV back in the day. Porky and Daffy team up for some hilarious gags just for us.

What a great name for a hotel!

So, Porky is looking at their hotel bill, he's waiting for Daffy to come back with the money to pay it off, the hotel manager is there waiting on him too.

Daffy has just lost all the money in a crap game where he rolled snake eyes. He drags himself to the door and overhears Porky and the manager talking.

Porky saying that he'll be there in a minute with the money, the manager says... I hope so!

So, Daffy goes on offense, he runs into the room and gets in the manager's face, telling him that how dare he question his integrity!

The manager says... You have insult me! He takes his glove off  and raises over his head.

And Daffy gets a brutal slap in the face!

Daffy repays him with with a return slap, but of course our little pal puts a horseshoe in his glove before swinging away!

Daffy does his famous shuffle and grabs Porky and their luggage and runs toward the elevator, only to encounter the manager waiting for them there.

Porky and Daffy run back to their room and lock the door. So, the manager breaks off some railing for the stairs and charges at the door...

But Daffy pulls the rug out from under the manager and he goes tumbling down the mile high stairwell, ooching and ouching all the way down.

When the manager returns to try again, Daffy pulls the rug and they hear the manager apparently tumbling down the stairs, but it was all a ruse because he was just standing outside their door the whole time! The boys run back into their room.

Their next attempt is to tie bed sheets together to make their escape.

Porky goes first, followed by Daffy. As Daffy is is descending down to the ground, he has to stop and do a wolf whistle!

It could have been a woman in a towel after a bath, but, it's a pin up of a gorgeous gal talking on the telephone in a phone book.

Porky gets down first and tells Daffy to hurry up! But Porky gets an epic hot foot, he shoots up like a rocket causing him and Daffy to end up back in their room.

Then they try and swing across to another building but the manager is there waiting for them and they swing back into their room where the manager boards the window up.

Months later while trying to figure out how to escape, Porky and Daffy come up with a plan, call Bugs Bunny, our hero, he'll know what to do!

Daffy calls Bugs to ask for his advice. Bugs says, did you try the elevator? Daffy replies, yes. Bugs says, did you throw him down the stairs? Daffy says, yes. Bugs says, did you swing across on a rope? Daffy says, yes. Bugs then says... Don't work, do they? Bugs was in the next room  the whole time, trapped there too!!