RIP TOMMY KIRK 1941-2021

The prolific actor has passed away.

Tommy Kirk was first seen by the public on TV in 1955 on "TV Readers Digest" and his career took off quickly.

He then appeared in many shows but was best known on TV as Joe Hardy on the "Hardy Boys Mysteries" in 1957. His most famous role came that year as well when he was cast as Travis Coates in the Walt Disney film "Old Yeller".

Kirk then went on the make "The Shaggy Dog" anf "The Absent Minded Professor" also for Disney. Genre fans know him best for such films as "Village Of The Giants", "Pajama Party", "Ghost In The Invisible Bikini", "The Wild Weird World Of Dr. Goldfoot", "Blood Of Ghastly Horror", "Mars Needs Women" and "It's Alive".

In 1975 Kirk was fed up with acting and got out of the business. He only made very sporadic film appearances in films such as "Attack Of The 60 Foot Centerfold" in 1995 for Fred Olen Ray.

Kirk passed away on Sept. 28th, 2021 at the age of 79.

RIP JEAN HALE 1938-2021

The well known actress has died.

Hale started her acting career in 1960 on an episode of "The Naked City" and went on to appear in many TV shows such as "Dick Powell Theater", "My Favorite Martian, "Perry Mason" and many others.

She also starred in several movies the likes of "Violent Midnight", "The Oscar" and "In Like Flint". Most genre fans remember her in "The St. Valentines Day Massacre" and an episode of the original "Batman TV show entitled "The Mad Hatter Runs Afowl" and ""The Contaminated Cowl.

Jean Hale and I shared the same birthday. She was born on December 27th and she passed away on Aug. 3rd, 2021 at the age of 82.

KING OF KONG ISLAND 1968 (TUBI)

This one is tough to sit through, but it does have a couple of things going for it.

Brad Harris is Burt Dawson, and explorer who is suddenly attacked by two rather shoddy looking gorillas.

The gorillas kidnap a beautiful woman named Diana (Ursula Davis) and then it's up to Burt to rescue her. A mad scientist, Albert Muller (Marc Lawrence) wants to take over the world so he is trying to create a race of killer gorillas using implanted radio receiver parts.

Burt meanwhile is on the trail to rescue Diana when he stumbles upon a beautiful woman named Eva (Esmerelda Barros) who lives in the jungle. She cannot speak, but she helps Burt find the lair of the mad doctor.

This is a very bizarre film I first saw on the USA network many years ago. I couldn't really like it then and I still don't, but I do like seeing Barros. There are several directions this film seems to want to go, but it never does go anywhere.

Barros steals the film when she is on screen, which isn's near enough. She passed away last year but I will always remember her for this role. I wasted 90 plus minutes of my life with this film. Watch at your own risk.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Angie Dickinson is 90, Ian Ogilvy is 78, Angela Pleasence is 80, Candice Michelle is 43, and Marilyn McCoo is 78.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Brigitte Bardot is 87, and Dita Von Teese is 49.

WHAT BIG EYES 1976 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Another interesting episode from the series "Beasts" from the BBC.

This episode concerns an RSPCA officer played by Michael Kitchen who is horrified to learn that a small pet shop has been buying wolves and experimenting on them.

The shop owner, Leo Raymount (Patrick Magee) has been trying to find proof of lycanthropy. This is a slowly built and very tense episode which really comes to a great climax and makes one think.

Nigel Kneal developed this program and wrote it as well. I'm glad Sinister is slowly bringing these out, and if you're a fan of well done British horror then I suggest you check this out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Christina Milian is 40, Olivia Newton John is 73, Lysette Anthony is 58, Victoria Vetri is 77, Martine Beswick is 80, and Kanako Urai is 40.

SHIP OF THE DEAD 1959 (SINISTER CINEMA)

A grim little movie indeed.

Horst Buchholz stars as a carefree young man named Philip Gale. He spends the night with a prostitute and wakes up in the morning to find the ship he was supposed to sail on is gone, and to make matters worse, the woman has stolen his passport and money.

Philip discovers just how hard life is without his papers and money, but he does his best to find a ship that will take him back to his home in New Orleans.

Philip meets a beautiful young woman named Mylene (Elke Sommer) and they hit it off very well. He finally gets a shipping gig on a broken down boat called the "Yorkkie" and promises he'll stay in touch with her.

The ship proves to be more of a slave ship than anything else and the Captain treats the crew like garbage. One day Philip and another crew member discover illegal cargo, namely ammunition hidden in jars of plum jam.

This leads to many problems and it's also discovered that the Captain plans to sink his own ship and collect money for it.

This is a very downbeat film with a tragic ending for all involved. This is another film that seems to have slipped into obscurity, and that is a shame as it is a very brutal and engaging film. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Heather Locklear is 60.

FEAR NO MORE 1961 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Very good and obscure film noir.

Mala Powers stars as Sharon Carlin, a woman who boards a train and finds a man waiting for her with a gun.

He threatens to kill her and then she sees the body of a dead woman sitting in a chair. The killer knocks Sharon out and when she comes to she finds a detective there named Joe Brady (Robert Karnes) who accuses her of murder and attempts to arrest her.

Sharon manages to escape and is almost hit by a car driven by a man, Paul Colbert (Jacques Bergerac) and his young son. Paul takes his son back to his estranged wife and drops Sharon at her apartment. When Sharon enters she finds her friend Keith staying there and decides to go to a small coffee shop and talk further with Paul about what happened earlier in the evening.

After some conversation Sharon heads back to her apartment only to find Keith (John Baer) dead as well. Now Sharon knows she is being set up and enlists the aid of Paul to find out why.

There are a lot of cool twists and turns in this very well made film and it moves along very quickly. Bergerac is very good in the role of Paul, a man who is pulled into one of the most bizarre plans ever, and of course, Powers is gorgeous as always and does her usual great job.

I'm not too sure why this film is in obscurity, but it happens sometimes with little movies as we all know. I could swear I have seen this before, but it must have been many years ago.

If you're a film noir fan you really should do yourself a favor and check this one out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Bert I. Gordon is 99, April Hunter is 48 and Fawnia Mondey is 46.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Paul Petersen is 76, and Kairi Hojo is 33.

RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE 2003 (S0NY)

The second film in the series.

This picks up exactly where the first one left off. The Umbrella Corporation has opened up the hive again and it spells even bigger trouble.

They unleash the army of zombies from below and all of Raccoon city is under attack from the walking dead. Alice (Milla Jovovich) and a handful of survivors must now fight for their lives as the city slowly crumbles under the zombie attack.

Since containmwnt is impossible, the government decides to use a nuclear bomb to stop the invasion and there is very little time to escape the city, especially since it has been blocked off in all directions. The corporation has also introduced a new creature called Nemesis, which is very interesting and deadly as well.

This is a good entry in the series and the action is non-stop from start to finish. It was a huge money maker and any horror fan should enjoy this film. The rest of the cast includes Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr and Jared Harris.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Asa Maynor is 85, Catherine Oxenberg is 60, Debby Boone is 65, and Erin Marie Hogan is 36.

THE 10TH VICTIM 1965 (TUBI)

I have heard of this film since the early 70's and finally got the chance to view it.

Set in the 21st century, the film is about a world where murder is legal in the form of "hunts". Two people are chosen at random to hunt and kill one another.

This story centers around Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) and the gorgeous Caroline Meridith (Ursula Andress). She is a huntress looking for her 10th kill which will land her a very good TV deal.

After a lot of cat and mouse they start to fall for each other and that makes it very complicated to get their job done. Andress steals the entire movie with her sexy good looks. She was one of the worlds most beautiful women and to see her in this film is a real treat.

I admit I was surprised by the ending. It was totally out of left field. The cast also includes Massimo Serato, Salvo Randone and the beautiful Elas Martinelli.

I highly recommend this film if you want something a little different and if not just see it for Andress. She is delicious.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Rebecca Balding is 66, Yvonne Wilder is 84, Cynthia Hull is 74, and Teresa Gimpera is 85.

RIDERS OF THE DEADLINE 1943 (PLATINUM)

Very well made Hopalong Cassidy film.

A young friend of Cassidy's named Tim Mason (Richard Crane) is framed for a robbery and then is killed while "escaping" from jail. Cassidy is blamed for killing his friend and drummed out of the Texas Rangers.

Cassidy (William Boyd) then begins to investigate and discovers a gang of smugglers behind the crimes and the killing. One of the members of the gang is named Nick Drago (Robert Mitchum) and he has a personal hatred for Cassidy.

Those two have some classic battles but in the end Hoppy regains his dead friends good name and we find that his being kicked out of the Rangers was only a ploy.

I found this to be a fast moving and fun western. It's the 50th of 66 Hopalong Cassidy westerns. The rest of the cast includes Jimmy Rogers, Andy Clyde, Monta Montana, Herbert Rawlinson and Frances Woodward.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Sophia Loren is 87, JoAnna Cameron is 70, and Brinke Stevens is 67.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Kim Richards is 57, David McCallum is 88, Victoria Silvstedt is 47, Natalie Eva Marie is 37, Bobbie Bresee is 74, and Monica Swinn is 73.

RESIDENT EVIL 2002 (SONY)

19 years ago this movie came out and it still works today.

Milla Jovovich stars as Alice, a beautiful young woman who works as a security officer for a major corporation known as "The Umbrella Corporation". The movie starts when someone uleashes the "T Virus" in an underground lab and it kills everyone in the complex.

Alice wakes up in her bathtub and remembers nothing about her life. He mind has been stalled on purpose by the Umbrella people because they don't want anyone to know what happened with the T Virus.

A special unit is sent into "The Hive" as it is called to investigate and they soon find everyone has been transformed into a zombie with the urge to kill and consume.

Animals are also infected and so Alice and the unit must deal with killer dogs and mutated monsters as well as zombies.

This film is fun and fast paced with a lot of surprises. This was the first in a franchise of films that I believe has seven follow-up sequels. I hadn't seen this film in over 12 years and it was nice to visit it again.

The rest of the cast includes Michelle Rodriguez, Anne Bolt, Ryan McCluskey and Oacar Pierce. I'm sure most of you have seen this film, but if not you might want to.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO..

Frankie Avalon is 81, and Veronica Carlson is 77.

MAN WITH THE GUN 1955 (TUBI)

Robert Mitchun stars in this great little western.

Mitchum is Clint Tollinger, a "town tamer" hired by a group of people to clean up the crime which is running rampant.

Lee Sims (Henry Hull) the marshall is ineffective and has no roblem letting Tollinger do his job. Clint finds that the local saloon madame is his old flame, Nelly Bain (Jan Sterling) and this makes things even more complicated.

He begins to seek out the faceless men who rule over the town and during the course of his investigation he is involved in several gunfights with people who work for the hidden men.

Everything comes to a head when it's discovered who is really behind the crime ring in town. This is a very engaging film and there isn't a thing to dislike about it.

Mitchum is great as always and the supporting cast includes Karen Sharpe, John Lupton, Emile Meyer, Ted de Corsia, beautiful Barbara Lawrence and Leo Gordon in a great role as a baddie named Ed Pinchot.

Western fans will enjoy this a lot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Cassandra Peterson is 70,and Pat Crowley is 88.