MIDNIGHT LACE - Doris Day - "The Strangest Most Terrifying Game" (1960)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is a movie I first saw a long, long time ago. It was made in 1960, and is titled......

.........."Midnight Lace!"

"Midnight Lace" stars Doris Day, whose body of film work is usually confined to the puppies and cotton candy realm, so it freaked me out as a kid to see her in a movie like this, kind of like how I felt when Frankie Avalon got stabbed in "The Haunted House Of Horror!"

Doris is a rich American in London!

Her British husband is played by the always charming Rex (Dr. Dolittle) Harrison!

I look at this shot, and the word 'stuffy' comes to mind first thing!

Hence the title "Midnight Lace!"

The 'Danger' signs come into play more than once to help deliver the foreboding overall feel! 

Dungeon stalwart Roddy (Planet of the Apes) McDowall 

has the role of an annoying possible suspect, a role that fits him well!

But all in all, "Midnight Lace" is basically a suspenseful showcase for Doris Day!

Gee Willikers, where's Rock Hudson when you need him?

Not really the best time to be celebrating anything!

Doris is stuck in the dark and claustrophobic lift going up to her flat!

These days any prank, annoying, or threatening phone call you make can probably be traced back to you, but back in the day when phone booths existed, it was a lot easier to hassle people on the phone anonymously! Like today, if you called your local dive bar and asked for mouse knuckles like Tabonga and I used to do, you'd probably have the authorities up your butt in no time at all!

Doris just turned 96 four days ago on April 3rd!

In a 60's male-dominated society, "Midnight Lace" was a film that had a female in the lead role, and supporting roles like Myrna (Nora Charles) Loy, and......

.....Natasha (The Fourth Square) Parry! Oddly enough, Natasha was also in another movie with the word midnight in the tile in 1950, "Midnight Episode!"

I don't have the exact calculations, but I'd bet that close to 40% of "Midnight Lace" is different head shots of Doris Day!

Doris Day has 43 acting credits to her name, but she was also a very successful singer, and songs with her vocals have been used in movies 117 times and growing, and that's why she will never be forgotten, because of songs like "Dream A Little Dream," "Tea For Two," and "Que Sera, Sera!"

Belated Happy Birthday Doris!! We love you!

PUNK VACATION / Windjammer Productions Inc. - 1990

Here we go again with another Friday Freak Out, here at The Dungeon!.. This time, the tranquility of a small California hamlet goes south after a diner owner is brutally murdered by a gang of vicious punks. The eldest daughter vows to get revenge on the punks for killing her dad, but she winds up being abducted by the gang. This leads to an all-out war between the punks and the redneck town residents! Shot in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, released direct to video.

This one stars a big pile of actors with very few credits attached to their names! Roxanne Rogers plays the punk's female leader, Ramrod, and Don Martin (great name!) plays Deputy Sheriff Don.

The story starts here, when an obnoxious punk on a motorcycle tries to harass a diner owner and his daughter. The owner chases the jackass away but him and his buddies come back to deep six the old man and scare the crap out of the daughter who's waiting in a car!

The punks are holed up in a barn on a ranch, they are a sharply dressed motley crew!

After one of the punks is shot, they transfer him to the local hospital where's he's handcuffed to his bed. The guard has his chair where he sits and checks out a women's undies catalog to kill some time!

The diner owner's oldest daughter gets involved, she tries to kill the punk in the hospital room, then goes out and confronts the punks at the ranch! It doesn't go well... One strange thing is, there are two or three punks with European accents! It's just weird.

Deputy Don and his pal Sheriff Virgil break up the party and rescue the undies-clad daughter.

The word is out and the local rednecks show up with their rifles, time for blood!..

They break up into groups, these guys get caught under nets the punks punk them with! It takes like five minutes for them to get out, when, all you'd have to do is lay your goddamn rifle down, idiot, then, simply, remove the net!! Ach du lieber!

These duffuses get punked when they get knocked off half way across the pipe!

These three dudes are pilling their way up a steep incline by a rope tied to a tree, when, another punk cuts the rope! They take quite a tumble!

Here's Ramrod, she kinda gets what she deserves, she gets shot but gets away at the end, Wow, there you have it, I'm done here. Eegah!! etches another notch on the old Dungeon Wall of the Weird tomorrow, don't miss it...

SATURN 3 - "The Ultimate Space Adventure" (1980)

Welcome to another Wild and Wooly Wednesday down in The Dungeon! I never realized it was so hard for an artiste to capture the likeness of Farrah Fawcett before, but obviously it is! So one of the taglines for this movie was "The Ultimate Space Adventure!" Just remember, they said it, not me!

It's called "Saturn 3" and it was made in 1980! "Sa-Turd 3" might have made as much sense!

Oddly enough, I kind of liked "Saturn 3" and, it must be pretty riveting because I only fell asleep once!

In Spanish or Portuguese, they had to completely change the name to "Saturno 3" or nobody would have understood it!

"Saturn 3" is well-lit eye candy, and as long as you don't take it too serious, you might actually have a good time, maybe!

If I am ever involved with another movie project, this is the way to go! There are basically three cast members. There are a handful at the beginning and end, but the core of the film is three people! They were all pretty big names, but if you made a movie with a cast of three, and didn't have to pay them much, it would sure make film making easier, and look how much extra money they had to spend on set design and effects because of it! For this movie, it's Harvey (Mean Streets) Keitel as the mean spirited Captain Benson!

Farrah (Logan's Run) Fawcett as Alex! (I can't help but think she's a humanoid or a cyborg!) For me Farrah will always be Farrah Fawcett Majors as Jill Munroe on "Charlie's Angels!"

Since 1976, over six million copies of this poster have been sold, and you can still get it on eBay and other online sites!

Farrah has since moved on and left us all behind at the age of 62 in 2009!

Kirk (Lust For Life) Douglas on the other hand seems to be indestructible, and just turned 101 last December!

So, I'm sure those three were paid very well, but having less actors made more money available for neat stuff like this!

Kirk and Farrah did make a handsome couple! I could see why they'd just like to be left alone in space together!

 How can you go wrong? You get a chance to briefly see both Farrah's boobs, and Kirk's 64 year old butt!!

I don't think this artiste did a very good job of capturing Farrah's beauty either, and look at that pouty mouth! They never have a problem so much with Kirk, but they just can't seem to get Farrah's eyes right either!

 You can bet drugs are going to be a BIG problem in the future!

So I'm just guessing you already know what this movie is about, and if not..........

.........I'm sure as Hell not going to be much help! 

Let's just say there's trouble in paradise in the form of a big robot with a small head, and his mentor that he's getting all his information from is a horny homicidal maniac, and I think that pretty much explains it all!

That would be the no longer attached hand of Captain Benson that's freaking out Farrah Fawcett!

This is one of those I just like this shot things!

In an effort to make himself more appealing to Alex, the robot appropriates what's left of the head of Captain Benson! The one thing I don't get is, if all those fragile hoses are so important, wouldn't it be real easy to snip a few of them? They don't look any more durable than your common neoprene or polyethylene tubing! A simple razor knife, and this terror would be toast!

Besides "The Ultimate Space Adventure," one of the other tag lines reads....."Some 'thing' is wrong on Saturn 3," and that is the real story!!