BEAT GENERATION 1959 (OLIVE)

I love this film!!

This Albert Zugsmith production was a shot between the eyes for me when I first saw it back in the 80's. I simply could never forget it.

Steve Cochran stars Dave Culloran, a sour on the world police detective who is assigned to the case of a violent rapist, Stan Hess (Ray Danton).

Hess picks married women to rape and beat and one day he gets the name and address of Dave and rapes Dave's wife Francee (Fay Spain). This only makes Dave even angry at the entire world.

The investigation continues as Dave and his partner Jake baron (Jackie Coogan) gather clues. This sounds like a standard detective story, and it is, on the surface, but lurking just below the surface is a wild Zugsmith story involving beatniks and other off the wall characters.

The movie works its way to a bizarre climax and chase scene involving Culloran and Hess which takes all kinds of odd turns.

There are many interesting characters here, but to me, of course was the one played by Mamie Van Doren. Her role as Georgia Altera is perfect. She is a woman on high sex drive who is just looking for any man after her divorce from her husband Harry (Ray Anthony).

I like this a lot as I said before and if you haven't seen it...you should. The rest of the wonderful cast is like a who's who of film and televison. It includes Louis Armstrong, Margaret Hayes, James Mitchum, Cathy Crosby, Dick Contino, Irish McCalla, Maila Nurmi, Maxie Rosenbloom, Woo Woo Grabowski and Charles Chaplin, Jr.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! MAMIE VAN DOREN FOREVER!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Mara Corday is 95, Jewel Shepard is 67, and Jim Ross is 73.

ASSIGNMENT SKYBOLT 1968 (DARK FORCE ENTERTAINMENT) BLU-RAY

I was surprised to see this pop up on Blu-ray because I always thought I'd never see this little gem.

This filmed in Greece, James Bond knock-off is very well done. Agent Dan Holland (Nikos Kourkoulos) has a very dangerous mission ahead.

His assignment is to find a stolen Hydrogen Bomb that has been stolen from a base in Turkey. The even bigger problem is that the people who stole it are planning on using it on the United States 6th Fleet while they are stationed in the port of Pireaus.

There is a lot of violent action in this film and it's a much darker tone than othe Bond rip-offs, which in this case is a real plus. The women are all very hot and there are several implied "sex scenes" and a sexually aggressive whipping.

Gregg Tallas directed this movie and he handles it very well. The film looks very good in this Blu-ray presentation and the color saturation is gorgeous.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this film for fans of the genre.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tia Carrere is 58, and John Considine is 90.

THE RED CIRCLE 1960

This is a very enjoyable German Krimi from Edgar Wallace.

A master ciminal barely misses the guillotine and returns to London for another crime spree.

The criminal is only know as "The Crimson Circle" and he vows 25 people will die. Scotland Yard has been unable to stop him after 18 deaths, so the head Inspector is deemed too old to be effective on the case. However, Inspector Parr (Karl-Georg Saebisch) gets one more chance, and it backfires in his face.

Seven more people die because the plan failed. A younger detective is called in and works on the case. Involved in this weird case are many red herrings including a young woman who may have criminal ways, many questionable police officers and a mysterious frenchman.

There are plenty of twists and turns and I found the story never waivered. It keeps the viewers interests and I find is odd that this little German thriller isn't better known.

There is a nice twist at the end and it doesn't disappoint. The rest of the cast includes the beautiful Renate Ewert, Erica Beer, Fritz Rasp and Thomas Adler.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Suzy Kendall is 88, Michele Mercier is 86, Kimberly Page is 55, and Kumi Mizuno is 88.