VANISHING POINT - Delaney and Bonnie & Friends - "You Got To Believe" (1971)

Tonight's Saturday Special is "Vanishing Point," a guilty pleasure of a film that Tabonga and I saw back in the early 70's at the Fox Theatre in a double feature with the equally trippy "Zachariah!"

On the surface, "Vanishing Point" is not much more than an elongated chase scene, but read between the lines and you'll find an intriguing story of innocence, oppression, and the helplessness of individuals in society in general!

You know you're in BIG trouble when a police helicopter is tailing you like this!!

Looks like this might be the end, but "Vanishing Point" is just getting started!!

Barry Newman is ex-cop Kowalski! It's no big deal, he just has this 1970 Dodge Challenger to deliver to San Francisco from Colorado, but he was driving too fast, and now he's got law enforcement officers after him, and it's too late to turn back! Kowalski is a true rebel without a cause!!

No relation to wrasslin' heavyweight champion, Killer Kowalski or this band! Kowalski is the second most common name in Poland!

"Vanishing Point" is a car chase musical that includes performances by Mountain, Jerry Reed, Big Mama Thornton, The Doug Dillard Expedition, Segarini & Bishop, The J.B. Pickers, and more! Yes, I do have the original worn out soundtrack on vinyl!!

Clevon (BLAZING SADDLES) Little is a blind DJ named named Super Soul who gets wind of Kowalski's plight, and cheers him on and communicates with him via the radio in the car as to what's going on with the police! John (GOOD TIMES) Amos is Super's sound engineer!

In an attempt to ditch the cops, Kowalski heads off into the desert, and becomes even more hopelessly befuddled!

Lost out in the desert somewhere, there's bound to be flashbacks of better and worse times, especailly when they're both the same memories!

Then things go from worse to really bad!

Kowalski meets up with this charming old prospector played by Dean Jagger! Dean Jagger's first film was in 1929, and was titled "The Woman From Hell!" He was in films like "X-The Unknown," and also had the role of Ed Lindsay in the Twilight Zone episode titled "Static!"

The old prospector leads Kowalski to this hippie revival scene led by Severn (BONGO WOLF'S REVENGE) Darden as J. Hovah, where the music is being provided by none other than the fantastic Delaney and Bonnie and Friends!

How much talent can you get on one small stage? Starting on the left is Merry Clayton, solo artist and background singer extraordinaire, who contributed to such super classics as The Stone's "Gimme Shelter" and Lynyrd Skynrd's "Sweet Home Alabama!" In the middle is the phenomenal multi Grammy Award winning Rita Coolidge, and on the right is sweet Bonnie Bramlett herself, one of the most soulful singers to ever grace the planet! In the 90's Bonnie turned up on Roseanne's TV show in the reoccurring role of Bonnie Watkins! Bonnie Bramlett also sang some backup vocals on an album by one of my favourite bands, Little Feat's killer LP "Dixie Chicken!" Merry Clayton's brother Sam was also the conga player in Little Feat!

Delaney Bramlett was one of those rare people, a white guy with real deep down soul! Besides Delaney, I've had the pleasure to hear two other guys sing live that are in the same category, Bud Cockrell, and Monty Byrom! Those are the kinds of voices that will send you to Goosebump City and make you believe in The Holy Ghost! Delaney also wrote the song they're singing, "You Got To Believe!" R.I.P. Delaney and Bud, Monty's still kickin' it with the Buckeroos!

This is one of the few times Kowalski smiles in this movie! Barry Newman went on to have a nice career, and even had his own TV show in the mid 70's called "Petrocelli" that ran for 44 episodes!

And don't forget about the gay thugs, Anthony (CHICKENFOOT) James, and Arthur (EASY STREET) Malet on their honeymoon, and the beautiful Gilda Texter as the naked desert rat riding her Honda around in circles! Shows you how twisted this film is, Gilda only acted in four films, most of her long career was spent working in the wardrobe department!

Probably intended as some form of Rapture, the ending is inevitable, and if just in case you've never seen it, "Vanishing Point" is available on Netflix! Keep on believing!

METROPOLIS / Universum Film - 1927

It's Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our super classic silent film was directed by the masterful Fritz Lang who utilized many talented craftsmen to help create this awesome spectacle. The budget was 1,300,000 DM, has runtimes from 80-210 minutes and was released on March 13th. For years, all that survived of the METROPOLIS prints were incomplete original negatives and copies of shortened, re-edited prints. Over a quarter of the film was believed totally lost, but, in July 2008 Germany's 'ZEITmagazin' reported the discovery at the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken of a 16mm dupicate negative copy of the original full-length 35mm print, which had been sent to Argentina in 1928!

Lil' Rufus The Gnat has the night off because the music from this copy was so pedestrian that we have no soundclip for it! So, enjoy your time off Rufus, we'll see you back here next Friday! And, buzz-a-buzz buzz to you, too!!

So then, the story goes like this... In the futuristic city of Metropolis, which is divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior that will finally bring all the people together.

The class distinctions are shown in sharp contrast, the working class live underground in an oppressive atmosphere, while the affluent live above ground and frolick in their pleasure gardens, and, who have nothing else to do except chase half naked chicks around a water fountain all day...

The high pressure job of keeping the power running smoothly throughout the city is placed squarely on the shoulders of the workers!

During a tense moment at the power station, the leader's son, Freder, hallucinates this vision of the furnace becoming a giant demon eating the workers!

Joh Fredersen meets with the inventor, Rotwang, who shows him his newest creation, a robot.

I just really love this shot!

The city planners have access to some pretty cool software!

This is an awesome shot of the workers all marching in huge columns!

The robot is changed into an evil living person whose ultimate job is to go underground and divide the workers.

Evil Maria becomes an oversexed icon!

Brigitte Helm plays Death in these great scenes!

Love this, check out evil Maria's posture!

Telephone communication with visual imagery was an idea that was meant to become reality, seemed obvious even in 1927.

Evil Maria causes the entire undergound to flood, forcing all the workers above ground!

This is a photo Eegah!! took of Forry's robot at his place around the turn of the century.

TIME OUT FOR REFRESHMENT TIME!!

Hey! Anybody who has ever done it, will surely fondly remember a hot Summer night at the Drive-In, and all that jazzy super bad food that nobody should eat, but somehow we all lived through it, so take that speaker off the window, and head on over to the refreshment stand and grab yourself something to chow on, and in the meantime, here's a leftover Summer Classic from "Catalina Caper" by Little Richard, called "Scuba Party!!Turn It Up!!

It didn't even matter if you had your pajamas on! Uumm! Pizza!!

Prior to tacos, sammich's were all the rage!

Don't forget to get yer big dill pickle or maybe a pickled pig's foot!

Take that burger, and go sit on the hood of the car, and lean up against the windshield! You probably always thought windshields were curved for wind resistance, no way, that's an angle for a perfect back support!

Don't forget the fries!!! Hey mister, how much do I owe you? One pizza, one sammich, a pickle, burger and fries, with 4 soda pops, that'll be a dollar three eighty, kid! Better get going or you'll miss the cartoon!!

"The Pig Keeper's Daughter" rated X, SOOIEE!!! This was probably the last time the words Del and Mac were ever hyphenated together!!