TOUCH OF EVIL - Henry Mancini - "¿Dónde Está Mi Esposa" (1958)

"Touch Of Evil" is one of my favourite movies, and goes way beyond being merely special with an all-star cast, this film is Magnífico y Súper Fantástico!!! The Maestro Henry Mancini wrote the score, and although Henry is well known as the composer of "The Pink Panther Theme," and "Moon River," my favourite of his works will always be the timeless "Peter Gunn" theme!! Working effortlessly in all genres, including the Whitey Thomas era of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Here's just a small snippet of how Hank could rock!

You would't really think a couple of D cell batteries and a cheap $2.99 kitchen timer would be capable of causing much trouble, but....

...this vintage Chrysler and it's passengers are about to become toast! This movie starts off with about a four minute single shot that follows the car right to the point where it explodes, while at the same time introducing the stars Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh as Mike and Susan Vargas! The gal in the car is just one of the four and a half classic beauties of celluloid in this movie, Joi Lansing as Zita! Reading the credits, I knew Joi was in this film, but it took me forever to find out where, since she's gone before it really gets rolling hard!

This is one film that I'm not going to say much about the people involved, because unlike the Director Orson Welles, I'm only mortal! Orson also gets credit for his starring role, and for writing the screenplay, but it was based on a novel titled "Badge Of Evil" by Whit Masterson! Living large, Orson's character Police Captain Hank Quinlan, is made to look even bigger than life, by constantly having the camera shot up at him from a lower position!

Here's a good topic for discussion! So what do you think, does the Oscar winning Charlton Heston make a convincing Mexican? His Spanish is fairly decent! It's very odd, but it seems to work!

The Grande Familia, Akim Tamiroff as Uncle Joe Grandi, and Valentin de Vargas as pinche Pancho! Valentin was the 'go to' guy for many a Mexican and/or American Indian role for many years. Akim was actually of Armenian descent! Every Mexican guy I know named Pancho's real name is Francisco, but actually it's Javier!

For Janet Leigh,"Touch Of Evil" was two years before "Psycho" and 9 years after her appearance in the first Jerry Lewis directed short film ironically titled "How To Smuggle A Hernia Across The Border!"

I told you there were four beauties, here Zsa Zsa Gabor makes a very brief appearance as the strip club owner as Hank Quinlan gobbles down another candy bar!!

This is one of the few times you'll see Hank Quinlan smile in this movie, and here's the reason why....

.....Hank has just cast his eyes on his old flame, the amazing Marlene Dietrich as the bar owner Tanya! I would say at this very point in time, or maybe any time, Marlene was the hottest 57 year old woman on the planet!!!

For various reasons, the Grandi family is trying to make the Vargas's life miserable by doing crap like aiming a flashlight at Susan Vargas through the Hotel window from some adjacent building just to be creepy!

Susan has had enough, and tells her husband she needs to go back over the border to America where she would feel safer!!

Right!!!! She ends up just across the border in the middle of nowhere at the lovely Mirador Motel, a place with no other customers that just also happens to be owned by the Grandi family!

Dennis Weaver has the role of the night man at The Mirador, and he's so weird, you think he's going to go all Anthony Perkins on Janet, but he's a little too crazy to go that far!

You think this blind woman's role has some significant purpose as she listens in on Mike's phone call, but it's just Orson being weird!

Janet Leigh was a real valley girl having been born in Merced, California! Her arm was broken before this film started production, and they had to take the cast off and do everything in their power to not make it look broken during the shoot!

"Hey Captain, Look what I found!" Joseph Calleia is Police Sergeant Pete Menzies, Captain Quinlan's lackey and partner, planting evidence and doing whatever it takes to make the Captain the most respected cop in the land despite his obvious personality defects! Joe was in at least two classic big monkey movies, The Gorilla," and "The Monster And The Girl!"

Grandi and Quinlan strike up a deal with The Devil, and after Uncle Joe proposes a toast, Hank tells him he doesn't drink after having his 3rd or 4th double bourbon!

Irish Catholic Mercedes McCambridge has the role of the bad ass leader of the pack! Mercedes McCambridge also had a stunning career that included an Oscar winning performance in her film debut, "All The King's Men," but her most well known accomplishment was as the voice of the devil child in "The Exorcist!" Originally not credited as promised, she made an appeal, and they had to make a new print that included her name in the credits!

"Touch Of Evil" is a great good cop/bad cop and race relations in the 50's story, and I have no doubt that this scene has multiple interpretations as big loser Hank and the big stuffed head of a once proud bull that eventually lost the fight, are shot in juxtaposition to one another!

Hank asks Tanya to read the cards, and tell him what his future holds, but instead she says, "You have no future Hank!"

Now the camera shoots down because a totally defeated Hank Quinlan is no longer the big man he used to be! "Touch Of Evil" is dark, gritty, and grimy like a chocolate bar dropped in the dirt! Just pick it up, eat it and enjoy!

EVIL BRAIN FROM OUTER SPACE / Starman Fights The Monsters - 1966

Here's a redo of a small post we did way back on June 10, 2008, 13 years and 1 day ago!! Whatever that means. Anyway, here's a Japanese flick starring Starman put together from three other movies, and basically why it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. That's why you gotta love it!..

As in all the Starman stories, we start first with a visit to the Emerald Planet, somewhere in space. The 'people' there are a strange lot, they don't do much but they do send Starman to Earth to stop alien invasions there...

In this one, this scientist has the evil brain in this metal case, trying to get away from the police who are chasing him. While being captured, he ends up dropping the case into a stream and it's lost.

After the police question the scientist, he's released and begins working with others to stop the menacing evil brain from outer space! He tells all about the horrible things the brain is capable of, some really gruesome stuff!

And here's his audience, young kids!!! What the Hell, man! And the kids are eating it up!

Starman joins the discussion in his Earth duds, but before he leaves, he changes into his super hero attire and flies away as they wave goodbye, he's on their team, yay!

Here's the mad doctor and his one-legged henchman... So you know, you know?

Man, reminds me of when I built my model train scene on a piece of plywood in the garage when I was a kid.

Starman sneaks around in the mad scientist's backyard and sees where the secret lab is, plus, they have the case with the evil brain inside.

Then from one of the movies, the Space Mutant appears who's touch is certain death!

And from the Poison Moth Kingdom is this fancy Dan! Stylin'...

This sends chills up my spine. Starman barely stops these two weirdo before they were going to use those pikes to attack the small boy and girl from the earlier pic!.. Seriously!!

Cool shot of Starman tossing aside that goofball.

The threats just never end, our hero just smiles back before trouncing the jerk!

Let us not forget the other movie monster, this is the Devil's Incarnation, and has another touch of death especially for you!

They finally find the evil brain but it 'splodes!

The Space Mutant shows up again but ends up as a small pile of writhing gristle!

I guess they find the real brain and pour acid on it, game over man! Have a great weekend, try and have some fun!

THE BEAT GENERATION - "Way-Out Parties Beyond Belief!" (1959)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is the result of my reinvigorated interest in Vampira and her very cool career, and the path led me here, because in 1959 Albert Zugsmith, produced four movies that were all very fascinating for a number of reasons, but what I found most interesting was how they used a large number of the same actors in all four movies (Ala Roger Corman), and then each film also had it's own group of other special individuals.

Let me try and explain.
No slouch in the production department, Albert Zugsmith had already produced three of my favorite movies, "Written On The Wind," "The Incredible Shrinking Man," and "Touch Of Evil," before this, and in 1958 he produced "High School Confidential," starring Russ Tamblyn, but also in the cast were Mamie Van Doren, Ray Anthony, Jackie Coogan, Charles Chaplin Jr., and Norman Grabowski who would all be in his next three or four movies too, along with a lot of other notable names like Vampira!

The first movie of the 1959 series was "Night Of The Quarter Moon," and the second one was "The Beat Generation."
The third movie was called "The Big Operator," which I'll tell you more about on Wednesday, and the fourth was called "Girls Town."

So rather than try and explain all the complex intricacies of this movie called "The Beat Generation," I'm just going to introduce you to some of this crazy amazing cast!
Steve Cochran has the lead role in this film, and is the co-star of "The Big Operator."
He was also in the "Twilight Zone" episode titled "What You Need."
At the age of 48, Steve sailed off in his yacht to Guatemala, but died of a lung infection before he ever got there.

 Looking as good as ever, in this film, the versatile Mamie Van Doren plays a slutty tramp, but in "The Big Operator," she's Mrs. Everyday Housewife. She was also in "Girls Town."

 Ray Danton is a nasty serial rapist in this film, and in "The Big Operator," he plays an evil hit man called The Executioner. Personally, I like Ray better when he plays more humorous characters.

Jackie Coogan, aka Uncle Fester, is in three of the four movies. In this one he's a cop, In "The Big Operator," he's a crook!

 At this point in time, no one knew what an impact the cartoon character's of Charles Addams' world would have on pop culture. Did you know that when Maila Nurmi developed her Vampira character, one of her main influences was the wife in The Addams Family cartoons, who at that time, wasn't even known as Morticia yet? 

In "The Beat Generation," Maila was a beat poetess, and in "The Big Operator" she plays a hip gallery owner! She doesn't get enough screen time in either movie in my humble opinion!

 I also find it fascinating that in both movies, she is billed as Vampira. That would be kind of like billing Bela Lugosi as Dracula I think.

 
Trumpet playing band leader Ray Anthony is in all five of Albert Zugsmith's 1958-59 films!
Ray also performed the original theme song in Zugsmith's "The Incredible Shrinking Man."


Famed accordionist from Fresno, Calif, Dick (Daddy-O) Contino is also in "Girls Town."

 Just like me, Albert Zugsmith must have been a big music fan, because all of these films have music in them. Cathy Crosby performs a song in all but
"The Big Operator."

 
Margaret (13 West Street) Hayes was also in "Girls Town."


 Bill Daniels is also in three of the four movies, but he was also better known as a singer!


One of the characters working in all four of the 1959 Zugsmith films was the comedy relief guy Norman Grabowski. Not exactly a household name, Grabowski as they call him, is one of the most important people in this movie, especially to hot rod fans around the world since he was literally the creator of the T-Bucket style of hot rod. He also designed Kookie's hot rod in "77 Sunset Strip." That bit of information makes this pose a lot more understandable! Four to the floor and pedal to the metal!!

That brings us to another category! Charles Chaplin, Jr. was not only in all five of the 1958-59 films, he was also one of many actors used by Albert Zugsmith who were children of other very famous stars, in this case, Charlie Chaplin!


Robert Mitchum's son James or Jim, who has a stunning resemblance to his Dad, was also in "Girls Town!" Not in this movie, but other actors like this are John Drew Barrymore and Harold Lloyd Jr.


Albert Zugsmith either really liked music, or he knew that it really gave a film that extra punch, so when he wasn't using musicians as actors, he was using musicians as musicians, like Louis Armstrong.
In "High School Confidential," there was an appearance by Jerry Lee Lewis, and The Platters show up in "Girls Town."
Also, the main soundtrack for "The Beat Generation" was written by the guy who also did most of the music for Mr. B.I.G., the swingin' Albert Glasser!


And that brings us to a list of all the various and sundry actors and musicians of all ilks who make up the balance of very interesting characters in these movies like Fay (Hercules Conquers Atlantis) Spain!

Irish (Sheena: Queen Of The Jungle) McCalla!

Professional boxer turned actor, Slapsie Maxie Rosenblum! And the list of characters in the five films goes on and on with names like Michael Landon, Nora Hayden, Mel Welles, Julie London, Dean Jones, Agnes Moorehead, Nat 'King' Cole, Frank Gorshin, Mickey Rooney, Mel Torme, Jim Backus, Jay North, Leo Gordon, Paul Anka, Elinor Donahue, Gloria Talbott etc. etc. etc.
If you watch "The Beat Generation" and "The Big Operator" back to back, it can surrealistically seem like it's a continuing story. Steve Cochran quits his job as a cop and divorces Fay Spain, and Steve and Mamie Van Doren get married and have a kid, while Ray Danton goes from serial rapist to hit man, and Vampira never notices any of it because she's way too cool!!