Wednesday, November 23, 2011

SALT AND PEPPER - Sammy Davis Jr. - "I Like The Way You Dance" (1968)

I think it's about time to lighten up this joint a little bit, and spice things up with some "Salt and Pepper!"

Ratpack member, the amazing Sammy Davis Jr. is Soho nightclub owner Charles Salt!! As is the nature of the beast, we often show stills of people smoking cigarettes, which was a natural social phenomena back in the 50's and 60's! Me and Tabonga both smoked a goodly portion of our lives, and are probably lucky to still be breathing! Sammy Davis Jr. had a four pack a day habit, and died of throat cancer at the age of 64! So, it's like Wow, he smoked that much and still lived that long, or Jeez, if he hadn't smoked, he would have lived to be 106! Best advice, just don't start!

Fellow Ratpack member Peter Lawford is co-owner Christopher Pepper! Peter Lawford will always be embedded in my memory bank as Nick Charles, "The Thin Man," a TV series that ran from 1957 to 1959 and also featured the awesome Phyllis Kirk as his wife Nora Charles, and of course, Asta the Dog!!The more astute of you will have figured out that indeed, the black man is the white spice, and the white man is the black spice, unless you try and squeeze Cayenne into the equation!

As displayed in last weekend's feature, making out in public in Britain was the swingin' thing to do in the 1960's, because everybody knows that "England swings like a pendulum do" - Roger Miller

There's a dead body in the guy's club, a female secret agent, and somebody has taken away her number and name!

Sammy Davis Jr. is an enigma! He had a notorious reputation back in the day, because he was boldly and publicly married to May Britt, a white woman! Besides the world famous Heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson, that just wasn't being done that much, and sure wasn't appreciated by an intolerant and naive public, and yet he was still quite popular!! Sammy had that weird look because his left eye was glass, due to a car crash in 1955, and he wore an eyepatch for awhile, but was eventually convinced that he didn't need it by Humphrey Bogart!

"Salt and Pepper" shows a cool rockin' side of Sammy, much more akin to The Isley Brothers than to the Gawdawful hit song Sammy had in 1972, "The Candy Man," that makes me shiver just to think about!

Sammy Davis Jr. was the son of a vaudeville star who was actually named Sammy Davis Sr. Sammy was a multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist who was kind of like Howard the Duck, he lived in a world he didn't create, but he made the best of it, and he wasn't billed "The Greatest Living Entertainer In The World" for nothing!!

This is a shot from the other side of the street, a gentlemen's club, where the clientele is so stuffy, they can die reading the paper, and nobody notices or really even cares!

Eyepatch and Scar, obviously the bad guys!!

THE worst green screen backgrounds I have ever witnessed in my life! Totally unbelievable in scope and substance!

Upgrade the cool quotient, the wild toad's car is amphibious to boot, unless it gets riddled with bullet holes, and leaves our heroes stranded!

Just have a good time, and don't expect anything serious!

Oh Crap! Sammy just shot and killed Peter's naked girlfriend, because she was just getting ready to kill him!

Doesn't it all look too perfectly comfortable? TV's on, tie loosened, shoes kicked off, and the latest edition of your favourite daily rag is in hand! Life in 1968 was good!

Really? My how security has changed in a few short years! This film was shot in the colour of 1960's gullible!

I guess when your daily life consists of hangin' out with Frankie, Dino, and Joey, it takes something a little extra to put some bang into your life!

Well, at least nobody got hurt in the end, kinda........so if you want a mild diversion from your normal daily routine, you might want to check it out streaming on Netflix! Prefect for the holidays, if you know what I mean!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

LADY FRANKENSTEIN / Condor International Productions - 1971

Welcome to Monster Monday wif' Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite we gots another in the very long line of FRANKENSTEIN flicks, it stars Joseph (FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON) Cotton and Rosalba (HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD) Neri. Mel (ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS) Wells directs, it had, get ready, 7 writers and 7 producers!

The music is by Alessandro Alessandroni, he has a total of 49 composing credits which include titles like YOUR TURN TO DIE, HELLO GLEN WARD.. HOUSE DICK, THE MAD BUTCHER, THE VIRGIN OF BALI, SINBAD AND THE CALIPH OF BAGHDAD, WHITE FANG AND THE GOLD DIGGERS, WOMEN'S CAMP 119 and PORNO EXOTIC LOVE.

From the look on the Atomic Clock there, well, it looks like it's time to bring in our little fuzzy Dungeon fiend and button pusher, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Okay Ralphie, letz start the show, sooo, push that big red 'GO' button there, somewhere in the clutter, now, Ralphie! Here's our cool soundclip for... LADY FRANKENSTEIN!

It's pretty much the same old story... When Dr. Frankenstein is killed by the monster he's created, his daughter and elderly lab assistant continue his experiments. They attempt another transplant, this time the assistant's brain in to the muscular body of a retarded servant, in order to prolong his life. Meanwhile, the original monster seeks revenge on the grave robbers who sold Dr. Frankenstein the body parts.

Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant, Charles, break in their new mad lab...

Discovery can be very absorbing... And, bloody!

It's amazing how bad the dummy getting the brain looks!

Luckily, there was an electrical storm that night! Otherwise, they'd have to give the theater audience their money back!

My big boy!.. Come give daddy a hug!

Honey, not so tight!....

It has sort of a COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK appearance, olive drab is always a good color for monster garb.

So, what do you want me to say?.. It's freakin' Italian!!

That's what you call, 'dying for some barbecued ribs.'

And, the killing doesn't stop there!

She's a mad-in-love scientist as she works away on her new science project!

The thing doesn't take too kindly to being confronted by the angry townspeople.

This is really a great part, the monster picks up some building facade and tosses it onto those two guys there! Then, he plows through a brick wall!! ..Damn!

Makin' the case for Big, Strong an' Ug-ly!!

The angry crowd make their way inside the Frankenstein castle.

Lady Frankenstein does the thing in with a sword through it's putrid guts!

The mob breaks in and sets the place ablaze, what else. Lady Frankenstein and her new man don't care about anything except their love, they lay in a bed of passion as Rome burns. You can see their legs at the bottom right in the last pic.

Monster Music

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