RIP LARRY STORCH 1923-2022

The great comedic actor has passed away.

Larry Storch was an actor I had grown up with since a very early age. I believe he was in everything you could inamgine as far as film and TV genres go.

Storch began his long career in movies and TV in the 1951 film "The Prince Who Was A Thief". He did hundreds of voice overs in 1962 and 63 and appeared in many various movies such as "The Great Race", "The Monitors", "Airport 75" and the one I loved best was 1980's "Without Warning".

His biggest claim to fame was TV however and he appeared on "Gilligan's Island", "Married With Children" was the voice of Drac in the "Groovie Ghoulies" cartoon show, plus he even had a role in the first episode of "The Night Stalker as a TV newsman. The episode was entitled "The Vampire". His best remembered role was as Cpl. Randolph Agarn on the comedy smash "F Troop". He also voiced Phineas J. Whoopee on the cartoon "Tennessee Tuxedo and Friends".

A true talent and very funny man indeed. He passed away on July 6th, 2022 at the age of 99. He will be misswed, but what a legacy he leaves behind.

CARD SUBJECT TO CHANGE 2010 (TUBI)

An excellent look at the real world of pro wrestling.

The primary focus of this film is the New Jersey based National Wrestling Superstars (NWS) and the people who work for them.

Many wrestlers are interviewed including Kevin Sullivan, Shari Martell (her last interview), Jim Cornette, Lacey Von Erich and many more. Various clips from their matches are shown as well.

The main interest is however, that these small companies only pay from $5-$35 per match. Yes, you never get rich in the VFW halls, school gyms and so forth.

This is a world most people either don't care about or understand, but it is indeed a very brutal way to make a living. The NWS actually closed down in 2012, but for a few years it was a top draw in most small places they played at.

It's a shame that pro wrestling has become the swamp that it is, because these kinds of companies were the backbone of the entire industry, and now once again major corporations have destroyed it.

If you're an old school wrestling fan you might want to check this out. It'll bring back some good memories.

RIP JAMES CAAN 1940-2022

A very good actor has passed away.

The prolific actor James Caan started his screen careen on TV in the series "Naked City" back in 1961 and never looked back.

He started out in Television in many shows such as "Ben Casey", "Death Valley Days", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and many more. He stretched his acting wings in the intense 1964 film "Lady In A Cage". In that film he portrayed a complete psycho who terrorized a woman in her home.

His career kept rising as he had starring roles in "The Godfather", "The Godfather 2", "Brian's Song", and "Dick Tracy". I loved those films, but I remember him most for "Dick Tracy" as his character of "Spauldoni" was spot on, if brief.

Caan was also VERY memorable in the sci-fi film entitled "Rollerball". It's a classic everyone should see. Caan passed away on July 6th, 2022 of undisclosed reasons. He was 82.

LOVE SLAVES OF THE AMAZONS 1957 (KINO) BLU-RAY

I had heard about this film for years due to it's incredible title, but had never been able to view the film.

When it was announced that Kino was releasing this movie I got really excited and ordered it right away. This is one of those rare cases for me when the anticipation of the movie was much better than actually seeing it.

The presentation from Kino is simply beautiful, but damn, this film is sadley lacking in everything. The story centers around a man named Peter Masters (Don Taylor) who goes on an expidition to the Amazon looking for a treasure and finds a tribe of lovely women in the jungle who wants to make him their "love slave".

This movie really cannot decide if it's a serious exploitation film or a comedy. Nothing about this film really caught my attention except for the dance number with some very lovely women.

I hate it when this happens, but this movie really let me down as far as to what I was expecting. It's a really strange entry in the Universal films of the 1950's as it does not fit into any genre.

The rest of the cast includes Eduardo Ciannelli, Gianna Segale and Tom Payne. You may like this film, but I cannot say I cared for it at all.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Nan Peterson is 91.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Sylvester Stallone is 76, and Burt Ward is 77.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tommy Cook is 92, and Lisa Montell is 89.

SHE SHOULDA SAID NO 1949 (SINISTER CINEMA)

This fun little B picture is also known as "The Wild Weed".

This is another of the famous "Roadshow Attractions" from the infamous Kroger Babb.

Lila Leeds plays a beautiful woman named Anne Lester who works in a small nightclub. Almost all of her money goes to her brother to keep him in college so he can get the education she never had a chance for.

During a party she gets involved with a man named Markey (Alan Baxter) and he introduces her to marijuana. Soon she is hooked and her life begins to spiral downward. Her brother discovers what she is doing and kills himself in shame.

This is one of many films that depicted the damgers of marijuana usage during the 40's and 50's. Actually these kinds of films date back to the 30's with "Reefer Madness" and the like.

Leeds starred in the because she was busted along with actor Robert Mitchum doing drugs. Her career never recovered and she only appeared in one more film in an uncredited role.

The rest of the cast includes Lyle Talbot, Jack Elam and Michael Whalen.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Gina Lollobrigida is 95.

RIP JOSEPH TURKEL 1927-2022

The very prolific actor has passed away.

Joe Turkel appeared in literally hundreds of TV programs and movies in his 40 plus year career.

The Brooklyn born Turkel started his movie career in 1949 in the film noir entitled "City Across The River" and made 4 more movies that year alone.

He also appeared in such movies as "Cell 2455 Death Row", "The Killing", "St. Valentines Day Massacre", "Village Of The Giants", "The Bonnie Parker Story" and many more.

His most well known movie role was in the Stanley Kubrick film "The Shining". His TV appearances included such shows as "Tales From The Darkside", "The Texan", "One Step Beyond" just to name a few.

Joe Turkel passed away on June 27th, 2022 at the age of 94.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Susan Penhaligon is 73, Pia Reyes is 58, and George Stover is 76.

BLONDE IN BONDAGE 1957 (ALPHA)

Odd, but interesting film noir from Sweden.

Mark Miller stars as an American reporter named Larry Brand who is assigned to do a story on Swedish nightlife. His editor pays for him to go to that country and get a good story.

When he arrives he finds a lot of beautiful women and hangs out with them to get his story. However one night he almost has a car accident and meets a man named Max (Lars Ekborg) and a woman with him named Mona Mace (Anita Thallaug).

Brand notices that Mona is a very beautiful woman, but there seems to be something wrong between her and Max. Brand accompanies them to where Mona works, which is a small strip club in the middle of Stockholm.

He also discovers that Max is keeping Mona under his thumb by turning her into a drug addict. Brand makes a plan to get Mona away from Max, but this is not very easy to do.

This is an interesting film on many levels, but the two you'll notice most are the actors and the locations. There are not too many Swedish film noir and that alone makes this a must for noir fans.

The born in Norway Thallaug is quite a looker in my opinion, and that doesn't hurt the film at all. Check it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Robert Ito is 91, and Bret Hart is 65.

ALIEN HUNTER 2003 (TUBI)

This was a nice evenings entertainment.

The plot is pretty straight forward. James Spader stars as Julian Rome, a cryptologist who is invited to solve a mystery about signals from outer space that first started in 1947.

At the South Pole, Julian finds a secret base run by the military and inside of this base they have a weird shell-like contraption that is beaming the signal. But nobody has been able to sole what that signal means.

While the soldiers try to open the object, Rome finally manages to discover that the message is a dire warning from space not to open the capsule. Too late, it gets opened minutes before Rome can warn anyone.

An alien life form escapes and then proceeds to infect the entire crew with a strange malady that slowly kills them and everything else they get close to.

They report their findings to government officials, and these men decide that everyone left alive at the base has to be killed because they will infect and destroy all life on Earth.

The film has a rather interesting ending even though it is a bit of a downer. This movie is by no means original, but it is fun to watch and moves along at a good pace. If you watch close you can see stock footage from John Carpenter's "The Thing" from 1982.

The cast also includes Carl Lewis, Janine Eser, John Lynch and Leslie Stefanson. This filmed in Bulgaria effort does not fail to entertain those looking for simple entertainment.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Pamela Anderson is 55, Jean Marsh is 88, and Debbie Harry is 77.