Wednesday, May 18, 2011

CITY OF FEAR - Jerry Goldsmith - "I Don't Want To Die Vince" (1959)

"City Of Fear" is my kind of movie, dark and dank, simple but effective! No big mysteries, just a story of desperation! Extremely deep desperation!!

Vince Edwards as Vince Ryker, and the guy he busted out with are on the lam in an ambulance! They think they have escaped and made off with a large canister full of 100% pure snow, but in reality, the canister is filled with radioactive Cobalt 60! Vince's buddy is already on the verge of croaking from exposure!!

The cops have set up check points all over the place, but Vince is always one step ahead of them! His buddy bit the big one, so Vince got himself some fresh duds, and a different ride!

Vince is a very smart cat, he even picked up a sailor hitchhiking, so he completely fools everyone with his ruse! Hey, kinda looks like Clark Kent! "It's okay officer, he's my boyfriend!"

The music for "City Of Fear" as composed by the Oscar winning Jerry Goldsmith swings pretty good, and is interesting the whole way! From 1951 to 2004, Jerry Goldsmith did it all, big and small! I've told you before that he composed the music for 7 episodes of "The Twilight Zone," and 18 episodes of "Thriller," and here's a sample of his work from the late 90's, titles like "Mulan," "Star Trek:Insurrection," "The Mummy," "The 13th Warrior," and "The Haunting!" Jerry also had a sense of humor, they say he wore an ape mask while conducting the score for "Planet Of The Apes!"

Lyle Talbot as Chief Jensen and John Archer as Lieutenant Mark Richards have got their hands full trying to track down an escaped killer carrying what amounts in 1959 terms to a time bomb!

Every cowpoke's dream, Patricia Blair has the role of Vince's girlfriend! Besides being in "Black Sleep," Patricia was Goldy in 6 episodes of "Yancy Derringer," Lou Mallory in 22 episodes of "The Rifleman," and 116 episodes of the "Daniel Boone" show as Rebecca Boone!

They have sent in every cop in the country to look for Vince armed with Geiger counters in hope of tracking down the radioactive trail he's leaving!

You might not recognize the name but Joseph Mell on the right has got a mug you can't forget from flicks like "Two On A Guillotine," and "Black Zoo," and here, he's Eddie Crown, the money man with a shoe store for a front! Sherwood Price is the punk named Pete Hallon!

If you don't play straight with people, sometimes bad things can happen to you!!

"If you wanna make the move, then you better come in, it's just the ability to reason that wears so thin, living and dying and the stories that are true, secrets to a good life is knowing when you're through, black coat, white shoes, black hat, Cadillac, the boy's a time bomb!" - Rancid

A perfect portrait of Los Angeles, circa 1959.

Hubba, hubba, how bout those gams??

Eddie and Vince don't see eye to eye for long, and after he disposes of Eddie, Vince steals his Lincoln! Vince needs to get out of town badly, the heat is on!

From there on out, it's man versus can, and you can place your bet who the winner is going to be!

The can escapes the first chance it gets, and rolls off the seat when Vince stops at a gas station, only to end up in a tuft of grass!

The nice gas station man saves the can from destruction out on the street, but when Vince notices it's gone, he turns around and frantically backtracks, and eventually finds it again!

Alone together, back in the Hotel room, Vince gets tired of the can's taunting lies, infidelity, and promises of fortune, but he still can't get it open!!

Run, Vince, Run! You can't outrun Hell when you're carrying it with you!

Exterminate the vermin!

By some miracle, Vince is able to elude his pursuers by ditching into a coffee shop!

I couldn't ever stand watching Vince Edwards as Dr. Ben Casey in even one of the 153 episodes he was in, but then I just didn't like that show! He's great when he's tough and gritty like in "City Of Fear" or "The Mad Bomber!"

Well, it's pretty obvious what this is all leading up to, but if you want to see the real final shot, You'll have to rent it yourself from Netflix!

Monday, May 16, 2011

YOKAI MONSTERS Spook Warfare / Daiei Motion Picture Company - 1968

Welcome everbloody to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite, the word 'Monster' is even in the title of our offering, the movie also known as BIG MONSTER WAR and BIG GHOST WAR!!

The story's about an evil Babylonian vampire that comes to old Japan, and, an army of Japanese demons and ghosts gather to battle him.

The excellent music is by Mr. Sei Ikeno, Sei had 89 composing credits that includes the titles THE BLUE BEAST, BIG SHOTS DIE AT DAWN, THE BLACK TEST CAR, KEN, FOREST OF NO ESCAPE, RED ANGEL, THE WOMAN GAMBLER, THE HOUSE OF THE SLEEPING VIRGINS, THE BRIDE FROM HADES and THE FOX WITH NINE TAILS.

Well then, it must be that time... The time when we bring in our littlest helper, and, all around cool cat, you know the one... Rufus The Gnat!.. Give a big yippee yahoo for Rufus!.. Now that the formalities are fini, hit the 'GO' button, Rufus, an' start our Eariffic Earclip for... YOKAI MONSTERS Spook Warfare!

The crypt of our villian, Daimon, located somewhere in Afrika. He gets woken up by treasure hunters.

He decides he wants to rule Japan, so, he sets out on his long sea journey...

Daimon emerges to start his reign of terror, and, the plan is very simple...

Kill, then possess the body of the good and noble lord. That way, he can have a great deal of authority and power to assist in his twisted plans.

This local Water Demon just happens to catch the action, so now, he knows about Daimon!

And, Daimon doesn't stop there, Hell no!! Every soul he steals gives him the added power to duplicate another copy of himself!

The Water Demon gathers his fellow demons, spooks and ghosts together to spread the word about the evil vampire that is now among them, and, horning in on their territory!

Get this... The monsters in this film look exactly the way they do in old woodblock prints and watercolor paintings that depicted them!

The locals encounter the spooks in the fields. You wonder how many anime series probably steal from the YOKAI MONSTERS imagery! INUYASHA springs to mind.

Three very cool spooks!

The Long-Necked Monster tries it's best to choke the vampire!

Daimon doesn't take kindly to all the spooks' harrassment.

The story is also a hilarious comedy at times, with wild cartoon-like incidents!

Awesome sets and props, wow!!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to monster rumble we go...

Daimon puts all his eggs in one basket, so to speak, as he joins his clones together into one giant creature!

The Umbrella Monster distracts Daimon just long enough for a few other spooks to perform the task of sticking stakes into his eye, which is the way to kill this vampire according to a book they read!

Daimon turns the water red with his own blood during his death throes.

After their victory, all the spooks dance and prance back into the countryside. A proud day for Japanese monsters, to be sure!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!!..

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??