Saturday, September 12, 2015

THE WRECKING CREW - Mack David and Frank De Vol - "House Of 7 Joys" (1968)

"The Wrecking Crew" was the final installment of four Matt Helm films! The others being "The Silencers," "Murderers' Row," and "The Ambushers!" 
Welcome to another hot time Saturday night down in The Dungeon! Mix yourself up an ice cold dry martini or pour yourself a glass of Scotch, and let's get down to some not so serious business!

The star of "The Wrecking Crew" is the man himself, Mr. Cool, aka Dino Martin!

The co-stars are a bevy of beauties that will make any fan of the 60's feel like they found the pot of gold at the end of the corporate psychedelic rainbow!

"The Wrecking Crew" was probably my least favourite of the quartet, but is still a fun watch for a number of reasons! Without a doubt, "The Wrecking Crew" is a farce, and if you try to take it seriously, you'll be sorely disappointed! You just have to enjoy it for what it is, simplistically stupid, but a joy to enjoy!

That's a lot of gold bullion, and it's on a train that's about to get hijacked!

Now THAT is a cool phone! It only calls one very important place, so it doesn't need a dial!

Yet another bombshell who didn't even get top billing was Tina (Gilligan's Island) Louise!
Enjoying Tina's dance is Nigel (The Skull, Jason and the Argonauts, The Face of Fu ManChu) Green as supreme leader Count Massimo Contini, aka: the man who stole the gold!

Classy Nancy Kwan as Yu-Rang will probably always be remembered most for her very first two movie classics, "The World Of Suzie Wong," and "Flower Drum Song!" 

So Tina Louise was Ginger on 98 episodes of "Gilligan's Island" starring Bob Denver, and Bob Denver's gig previous to "Gilligan's Island" was "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis" as Maynard, and just what was Maynard's classic line when someone spoke to him? 
That's right, it was "You Rang?!" Are you starting to see a pattern here?

The next gorgeous gal in this feature was Sharon Tate as Freya Carlson, Matt Helm's unwanted clown escort! Surely everybody knows the shocking true story about Director Roman Polowski's wife Sharon Tate who was brutally murdered by the Manson clan! If you don't, Google it!

Poor Dean, he has rendezvous with four of the best looking women in Hollywood at the time, and unlike James Bond, his suave character doesn't even ever score once!

Business is pleasure, but something like a bomb always wrecks all the fun!

Excellent shot of the two beauties Elke Sommer and Sharon Tate together! Elke has the role of Count Massimo Contini's girlfriend Linka Karensky!

A lot of the fight scenes have an obvious stunt man filling in for Dino, but in  the closeups, he's kicking ass himself!

Freya finally lets down her hair, and ditches the clown costume for something a little more appealing to Matt Helm!

She also does a little dance that just possibly might be the best part of the movie!

 At least Matt Helm gets to drive a cool Lincoln Continental instead of a station wagon in this movie! Here he is pulling up to that world famous dive, the House of 7 Joys which is celebrated in the theme song written by Mack David and Frank De Vol! This movie has a lot of eye candy in it, and I could have chosen a lot more pictures, but that's exactly the reason we've chosen to limit ourselves, otherwise, these things would go on forever!

Just in case you never watch this film, you need to know that Matt Helm had all the components to put this helicopter together in the trunk of his car in two large suitcases!

Visually, a lot of "The Wrecking Crew" is green screen city!

There were plans to have Sharon Tate and Dean Martin reunite for a fifth Matt Helm feature
 called "The Ravagers," but Dean refused to continue on with the series after the horrible murder of Sharon Tate by the Manson family, which all adds up to making "The Wrecking Crew" one of the silliest but saddest films of all time!
So that's the last of the Matt Helm films in The Dungeon Library, and now that I see that this 4 DVD set is selling online for a minimum of about $45.00, I guess it's time for my copy to vamanos too!

Friday, September 11, 2015

THE FOG / Revolution Studios - 2005

As weird as it's been around here at Tabonga's place lately, this is just perfect. Number 1... How in the Hell was I supposed to even know that they remade THE FOG?!!.. Who cares?!! So, I'm done with the sound clip and getting the stills when I realized, where in the heck are freakin' Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis? Then it dawned on me, this isn't the DVD I ordered on Amazon 7 months ago and never watched until now and can't get my money back because the time limit for a refund has passed and the dummies sent me the wrong version!!

Good news is that there are some nice stills for you to enjoy, this is actually a decent flick about four ghost sailors drowned in 1871 that have arisen to take back their territory.

I've got a sound clip for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over by our creepy fog bank, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's a spooky little sample from... THE FOG!

Here's an opening shot of the lighthouse at Antonio Island, just off the coast of Oregon and where our foggy tale takes place...

Something's pulling this fishing boat's anchor and creating havoc for the crew... Oh crap, grab the beers before they go over the side!

Nothing more beautiful than a good old grease fire...

Madge!.. MADGE!!.. You in there?

The hour is neigh and this ghostly dude is looking for trouble!

In town, the ghost causes all the glass in the building to shatter and fly through the air.

The church pastor gets caught up in the terror as glass shards swirl around him!

Then, they start flying into and through him. This is one terrifying, gruesome scene!

This guy catches on fire after opening that there book!

It's actually a love story as the ghost lays one on the oldest woman in town, she's been waiting for him!! Gimme a break!!! So, we're back tomorrow with more cool junk!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

YOU TRY SOMEBODY ELSE - Etherl Merman - Max Fleischer (1932)

Welcome to another installment of Weirdsville Wednesday down in The Dungeon!
I've got a good one for you tonight, and if you don't like it, then go try somebody else!!

"You Try Somebody Else" might just be one of the first ever music videos, and to think MTV thought they were doing something new and innovating some 50 years later!

"You Try Somebody Else" starts off as a cartoon!

Just unroll this jailbird's stripes and he's ready to join society again!

But it just so happens that this cat is incorrigible!  He's not out two seconds, and he's already looking for trouble!

The first house he goes into has an unprotected safe!

What's inside the safe?  A chicken, a fish, and some eggs!!!
Seems like there was a fine line between a refrigerator and a safe!

The fish pleads for his life! After all, he's got a family!

Here comes Betty Boop to save the day! What Betty Boop is doing in an Ethel Merman singalong or what Ethel Merman is doing in a Betty Boop cartoon is anybody's guess!

Betty's got that bad cat in her sights all right!

The jig is up, and she marches him off to the authorities!

SO just what the Hell is going on here anyway? Good luck with that one!

The bad cat sees a picture of Ethel (Everything's Coming Up Roses) Merman in the paper..................

.............and now it's time for the famous "bouncing ball sing along!"
a oneuh, a twouh, a three....Hit It!!

"You Try Somebody Else!!"
"You Try Somebody Else (We'll Be Back Together Again)" was written by the mighty force of Ray (I'm Sitting On Top Of The World, Bye Bye Blackbird) Henderson, Buddy G. (Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries) Desylva, and Lew (Beer Barrel Polka) Brown!

Now what this song, and this prison break scenario have in common is way beyond my conception!
I literally have no freakin' clue as to what the connection is, except for the fact that they have nothing in common at all! I guess when you're on the inside, you have no choice but to try somebody else!

There's nothing that's much merrier than an army of prison guards shooting a bunch of prisoners!

The final shot is of a bunch of prisoners getting electrocuted together!
I guess their chance to try somebody else is over!
All I can say is seriously...... WTF?!

Monster Music

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