MAN WITH A CAMERA - "Second Avenue Assassin" (1958)

 Hey! Welcome to another Saturday Night Special from down in The Dungeon!  Tonight's special feature was a lot of fun to watch for me, because it's a TV show that I was totally unfamiliar with, but stars one of my favourite actors, Charles Bronson!

 "Man With A Camera" ran two seasons from 1958 to 1960, and this was the first episode titled"

"Second Avenue Assassin!

 "Man With A Camera" stars rugged Charles Bronson as free-lance photographer Mike Kovac! Charles was Igor in the 1953 classic "House Of Wax," and then it was another 5 years before he got this starring gig, and then of course he went on to be in a shitload of TV western shows, "The Twilight Zone" episode called "The Man," "The Magnificent Seven" and the whole "Death Wish" series!

 

 Mike Kovac drives a sweet 1958 Ford station wagon!

 This is a story about a boxer named Joey Savoyan, an old neighborhood rival of Mike Kovac who is about to get his first crack at the champion, but for some reason he doesn't want his picture taken!

 No photographers allowed, so Mike Kovac punches this big oaf security guy in the gut, and goes on in to try and find out what the problem is!

 Yeah, that's right, Tom "Billy Jack" Laughlin has the role of Joey Savoyan!

Mike Kovac tauts Joe into fighting with him, since he had beaten him when they were kids, but as tough as Mike is, Joey's training gets the better of Mike and he ends up.........

 ..........Getting completely knocked out!! Now finally, all the other photographers are allowed to take some pictures!

 Mike goes to chill and bury his sorrows at some local dive.......

 .............When he's approached by Joey's girlfriend Dolly MacDermott, as played by the always amorous Ruta (Hollywood Squares) Lee!!

  All the journalistic photographers got their pictures all right, but it just wasn't what Mike had envisioned!

Dolly has told Mike that Joey is supposed to throw the fight, but he wants out, so they work out a plan to foil the mobsters! Dolly waits in the car while Mike meets with Joey again!

The Champ and the mobsters show up, and all Mike has to do is get a picture of them all together with Joey, and show it to the authorities, and it's light's out, baby!

Leonard ( I Want To Live) Bell as Jaspar Riker, Art Lewis who was in two "Twilight Zone" episodes, "A Most Unusual Camera," and "The Fever" as Al, and Theodore Marcuse, who only lived to the age of 47, but somehow managed to be in an episode of "Lights Out," an episode of "Thriller," two episodes of "The Twilight Zone," an episode of "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea," an episode of "Burke's Law," two episodes of "Batman," three episodes of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," and one episode of "Star Trek," as Willie Fletcher! When they needed a bad guy, I doubt he ever failed an audition!

All set to get that picture, and if things didn't go all awry, it would be pretty anti-climatic!

For you, life is a lot simpler, all you have to do is click here, and you can see for yourself!

Thank the Lord!!

SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER / Columbia Pictures, Andor Films - 1977

It's Friday yet once again, and, time for a trip into the past delivered by Dungeon god, Ray Harryhausen. The story goes like this... Sinbad (Patrick Wayne) needs to deliver Prince Kassin, who was transformed into a monkey, to the lands of the Ademaspai to restore him to his human form in time for his coronation. On the way, Sinbad must contend with the evil witch Zenobia, her son and their magic and several Ray Harryhausen creatures.

Here's the evil witch Zenobia, she can change into different animals to avoid detection while spying on her enemies!

Before Sinbad and the gang head off on their quest, Zenobia creates three demons to fight them. They remind me of the creatures in FIRST MEN IN THE MOON.

They reach their destination and the crew takes off toward a mountain fortress where Kassin can be transformed back to his human form. I wouldn't want to be the guy with that big box on his head!

Kassin is shown what he looks like as a monkey, and, he's fairly repulsed at the sight.

Sinbad has a sorcerer go along for the ride. Although he has Zenobia in a glass jar, she summons a giant wasp to attack him!

As the gang moves toward their destination, they encounter a giant Walrus and have to fight for their lives once again! There was also a giant Walrus in the Japanese flick, GORATH!

Then, a big creature shows up while the girls are out skinny dipping (it's kinda weird to see a Harryhausen movie with partial female nudity!!) and it looks like there's going to be more trouble, but...

They find out that he's a good guy and he wants to help, and, he knows where they want to go! Kassin and him become fast friends, a nice twist.

The big lug takes them to the place they seek. Inside, they try and figure out how to change Kassin back to human form.

Okay, okay... Here's whut we been waiting for... The freakin' EYE OF THE TIGER! Atchally, he gots two eyes, whut da' Hell!!

The big guy squares off against the giant Tiger and the fight is on!

Crap!!.. The Tiger kills our big pal, so, Sinbad is left to the task of finishing off the monster! Everything turns out fine and Kassin makes it to his coronation in the nick of time!.. Back tomorrow, with more... From The Dungeon!!

JARRETT - Screen Gems - (1973)

Tonight I've got a special presentation for you, and it's brought to you courtesy of a Grant from the United States Film Historical Society, Branch 13, Texas, USA!

"Jarrett" was a made for TV movie from 1973 that is all but impossible to find, and it's a real shame, because it's quite the 1970's Pop Culture Freakout Extravaganza!

If you guessed "Jarrett" is set in sunny Southern California, then you're right!

The star of the show is Glenn Ford as stolen art investigator Jarrett! We're big fans of Glenn, but we've never had a chance to talk about him much, because he didn't make a lot of low-brow movies like this! Check out this bachelor pad! He's up on the chair because somebody left him a special delivery of a cobra snake!

This is the way the way they discussed business in the 70's. Putters and martinis in the morning!

"Jarrett" has an incredible killer cast that includes Forrest (The Abominable Snowman, The Cosmic Monster, The Crawling Eye, F Troop) Tucker as the almighty Reverend Vocal Simpson (and Vocal he is)............

..........And Dungeon darlin' Yvonne (Bat Girl) Craig as the snake dancin' for the Lord, Luluwa!

Luluwa needs to hit the jackpot so she can afford some dancin' lessons!

Yvonne Craig passed away just last year, and they can try, but I doubt there will be another like her!

Laraine Stephens as Sigrid Larsen was only in a couple of movies, but she killed it on TV from 1961 to 1983! Jarrett has her dress up in her traditional country garb in order to stir up her memory of past deeds gone down, and to also take advantage of shooting in the quasi-traditional Danish town of Solvang, California!

The bad guy henchman flips Jarrett's car upside down!

A lot of what happens in this movie reminds me of "Fireball Jungle" just for the sheer over the top WTF!? factor!

Yvonne is back and out of the shower with soap still in her hair!

The iconic stupido Robert Easton is also in there!

Robert was in every western movie ever made, or at least it seems like it!

What happened anyway? Western movies and TV shows were a staple of entertainment from the 50's to the 70's, and now the genre seems to barely exist!

Sigrid has a moment when she realizes that her Father's discovery of scrolls older than the Dead Sea scrolls are about to go up in smoke!

So her and Jarrett roll 'em and smoke 'em!

So, "Which way did they go George?"

Great shot! I've seen this many times before, just not under these circumstances!

Nice Ride!!
Tabonga says this a 1968 Mercury Cougar!

The entrance to Hell, So Cal 1973!

Supreme overlord of the dark side is Anthony (A Study In Terror) Quale) as Cosmo Bastrop!

Cosmo welcomes Jarret and Sigrid to his vast underground catacomb!

Turns out that besides dealing in stolen art, Cosmo has the freakin' worlds largest comic book collection, and it's catalogued from A to Z that not only includes "Captain America," but also "Zap," and "The Incredible Furry Freak Brothers!"

And Sigrid and Jarrett have one last pensive moment together!
Thanx again Grant!!!