Saturday, April 30, 2011

CYBORG 2087 - Paul Dunlap - "The Man From Tomorrow" (1966)

Well, tonight's feature is a spacial deal that's hard to locate, but somehow Tedmo managed to dredge up a copy out of a black hole somewhere, so 3, 2, 1, here's "Cyborg 2087!"

"Cyborg 2087" is a high-tech movie about time and space manipulation, and the ramifications implied therein, and the longevity of the Dymo labelmaker is quite apparent too! On the left is the back of actress and comedian Joann Pflug's head!

This is the interior of the time capsule, and it's passenger, Michael Rennie as Garth A7. Garth is a cyborg and he is being sent back in time to 1966 to stop an action from happening that will affect the entire future, even his own existence!

Voilà!!! 1966! Just like that!

Garth has landed near a ghost town, and he is confused, because this is not what 1966 was supposed to look like, but it sure was a cheap and handy set to use!

Cowboy movie icon Chubby Johnson and his pal were goofing around in the ghost town when they suddenly come in contact with Garth! After Garth shoots their dog, you don't like him too much, but it turns out that his ray gun just stuns the victims for a while! Tyler MacDuff is victim Sam Gilmore. Looking at Tyler's acting credits makes me want to go back in time myself to the 1950's, and just sit around watching television all day, and all of the night!

Garth makes contact with the lame sheriff played by Wendell Corey! You can hear Wendell's distinctive voice in the sound clip saying things like "I can't figger out what's going on out here!" Wendell ran for congress in 1966 as a Republican, but was defeated in the primary! He wouldn't get another opportunity, because he died in 1968 at the age of 54! Wendell was in some real classics like "Agent For H.A.R.M," and his last film was "The Astro-Zombies!"

I just like the shot of this Fiat, and the fact that they had a Playboy Club in a town with about 500 people or less in it!

It's no coincidence that the man from the future should end up in the town where "Future Industries" is located! Oh, the irony of it all!!

Garth snags himself a 1966 trench coat and fedora so he could blend in better, but Hey buddy, what about those boots?

Karen Steele is Dr. Sharon Mason! Unlike us less fortunate, and just like President Obama, Karen was born in Hawaii, and to prove it, she was even in an episode of "Hawaiian Eye!" Dr. Mason and Garth are about to do a mind meld, and when it's through, she will end up doing anything to help him!

Dr. Mason takes Garth to Dr. Carl Zellar's pad for some treatment. Dr. Zellar was played by none other than Warren Stevens, who despite having at least 160 different roles in his life, will always be remembered as Lieutenant 'Doc' Ostrow in the überclassic 1956 production, "Forbidden Planet!" As far as I can tell, Warren is still kickin' around today!

Okay, that's enough dry scientific stuff, let's get this party going with some killer dancin' music from the Maestro Paul Dunlap! Paul is one of The Dungeon's favourite composers, and with titles like these, I'm sure anyone would agree he was simply one of the best! Scattered throughout his 133 credits are titles like "I Was A Teenage Werewolf," "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein," "Blood Of Dracula," "How To Make A Monster," "The Angry Red Planet," "The Three Stooges In Orbit, "Black Zoo," and "Dimension 5." Do I need to say more? Paul passed away just a little over a year ago at the age of 90, but his legacy will live on forever!!

The dancin' teenagers are at Dr. Zellar's place, and consist of Betty Jane Royale in the white top as Jill, Jimmy Hibbard as Rick, John Beck as Skinny, and Sherry Alberoni as Dr. Zellar's daughter, Laura! Out of the four, Betty Jane and Jimmy both only had about two more appearances but John Beck went on to have a good career that included 67 episodes of "Dallas" as Mark Graison, and 38 episodes of "Flamingo Road" as Sam Curtis and roles in cult classic flicks, "Sleeper," and "Rollerball," but it's the little blonde Sherry Alberoni who has the biggest story to tell! Sherry Alberoni was a second season Mouseketeer, and she got the job because the producer thought that the little lisp she had was cute. Sherry went on to do cartoon voiceovers for "Scooby-Doo," "Josie and the Pussycats," and "Super Friends," and was in 1970's horror classics "Sisters Of Death," and "Nightmare Circus" aka "Barn Of The Naked Dead!" In 1962 she was also a singer in her brother Roy's band, "The Rhythmaires!" Whew!!!

Here they come, trotting down the street, no, it's not The Monkees, it's The Tracers, the evil bastards who have come to get Garth and either kill him or bring him back! Dale Van Sickel as Tracer #1 has 287 acting credits, and 164 Stunt man credits, and Tracer #2 is Troy Melton who has another 105 acting credits, and 42 Stunt man credits! Troy was 64 when he was doing stunt work on "Pee-wee's Big Adventure!" What a pair!!!

Time for Garth to leave the house, but the kids notice there does seem to be something different about him!!

The Tracers literally 'Crash' the party!!

You'd think these guys were just a couple of dumbasses the way they trot around looking at their GPS tracking watches....

......But they turn out to be pretty mean and devious as it turns out! Here they have Dr. Mason suspended in a barn, and if that's not bad enough, they keep swinging her back and forth!

There's a long chase and fight scene back in the ghost town and in The End, Garth comes out on top!

Sealing his own fate, Garth A7 reigns supreme! Michael Rennie had a great career, but after "The Day The Earth Stood Still," producers would try to recapture that special Klaatu moment with films like this to no avail! His last movie was in 1970 as Dr. Odo Warnoff in "Los Monstruos Del Terror" or "Assignment Terror!"

Friday, April 29, 2011

STANLEY / Crown International Pictures - 1972

Welcome everbloody to Friday Night Drive-In with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon! Tonite's feature is about a dude that just wants to get away from civilization to live with his serpentine swamp friends, and, his favorite is the one he calls... STANLEY. Also, we're throwing in a classic MIGHTY MOUSE cartoon at the end, since we're at The Drive-In!

There are no credits for music, but, Steve Alaimo and Bobby Radeloff were composers of the sappy music. Surely, Steve was the singer.

Awrat, then!... Lettuce bring in our fuzzy lil' fiend and 'GO' button pusher, who else... Ralphie The Tarantula!! He's here to start our Eariffic Earclip for... STANLEY!

Chris Robinson plays snake lover, Tim Ochopee. Chris was, get this... THE BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE in 1957!! I totally remember that article in an early issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS! (I used to have a complete set of 'em!)

I dunno... Those two pics seem to contradict each other! The drunk there, uncredited Charles Kaufman, looks a lot like Dungeon actor, Rodney Lee, aka THE CREEP and bald evil assistant, Pluto, in SILVER ANGEL vs THE DEATH ZOMBIES.

What a bizarre love triangle, Tim has the hots for over-the-hill exotic dancer, Gloria Calvin, played by Marcia Knight. Marcia played Jim's Woman in THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS and the deadly, Suzy Belmont, in THE SKY DIVERS, both of those were great MST fodder! Oddly enough, RED ZONE CUBA is my favorite MST cut-up! We love you Coleman Francis!! Rey Baumel plays her horny, ass-hole manager.

Here's Steve Alaimo as bad guy, Crail Denning. I remember watching Steve on KMAK Caberet on Channel 47 out of Fresno in the early sixties. I also remember him saying that he didn't like the song he was singing, but, the record execs were forcing him to! He also appeared on WHERE THE ACTION IS five times in 1967.

This is the super nutzo... Psycho Simpson! Psycho's played by Paul Avery, who was a cameraman in SUPERMAN, and was in TV episodes of THREE'S COMPANY, SOAP and TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE.

Tim patiently watches as two of his tormentors get their just deserts, a big mud pie in the mush!!

Psycho goes into Tim's pad and kills some of his beloved pets. A few minutes later, though, Psycho ends up snake bit and floating face down in the water!

Gloria decides to bump up her act by biting the head off a live snake...

Unfortunately for her, Tim was watching the show, and, you just don't do that to one of his homies! So, he tosses a few of the biting critters on her while she's in bed, touché!!

There's more fun in store for the number one jerk, Thompkins, played perfectly by the popular and still working, Alex Rocco!

Thompkins dives in the pool and finds to his chagrin that he's surrounded by a pile of deadly snakes. Watching this scene is hair raising as you see the things bite him relentlessly, wild!!!

Tim gets rough with his girl, and, Stanley bites him in the face. I won't show what Tim does next...

Tim goes berserk and starts the place on fire, so, girlie's outta there!

Here's a flick where nobloody wins!!

Monster Music

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