cigarjoe

I cut all these directors and films some slack, after all, after 30 years of Motion Picture Production Code censorship, the freedom to finally shatter "artificial" norms and shock must have felt quite thrilling. I consider Kiss Me Stupid a treasure.

I was heavily into Westerns as a kid mostly watched them on TV there were quite a few on in those days, but occasionally I'd see one at the theater, I remember seeing The Alamo at the local Lowes Triborough theater It must have been a road show cause I remember getting a souvenir booklet. I remember going to Nevada Smith and then not too long after that to see For A Few Dollars More in 1966 at the Astoria Theater. I went to school in Manhattan on 54th street between 5th and 6th Ave so I was two blocks from Times Square. At some time late in the year either November or December some of the Times Square theaters began showing a double bill of A Fistfull Of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More so it was a short walk for me to spend about four hours after school watching Sergio Leone's films. At the end of December The Good The Bad and The Ugly had its US premier. I went to that multiple times. Then the Times Square theaters started stringing all three of them together so you had a triple bill that you could spend almost 6 hours at. The Leone Westerns must have did pretty good business cause the theaters would bring them back in triple bills up to 1968 when they added Hang 'em High to the three Leone Westerns with Eastwood being the connection to all four, so now you could spend 8 hours at the theater and of course I did.

And the WHY of this?

Didn't Marion have a nooner with her boyfriend before she took off with the money?

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées of comics that are created for a Belgian and French audience. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim predominantly under the pseudonym Mœbius and to a lesser extent Gir, which he used for the Blueberry series and his Western themed paintings. Here is link to a nice introductory video of some of his works. Be forewarned he's French.

Great story

The main thing off putting at first is the Polish filming locations, quite different, especially when The Inland Empire was the area surrounding Spokane Washington, so I was expecting (since he grew up around there) something along Twin Peaks lines but no it's completely different, I think I've only watched it twice I'll have to give it a go again like you said to get the jigsaw puzzle together.

And in comparison Visual NEO-NOIR Chronological film list (a work in progress) Girl Of The Night (1960) Never let Go (1960) The Savage Eye (1960) The 3rd Voice (1960) Why Must I Die? (1960) Blast Of Silence (1961) The Young Savages (1961) Night Tide (1961) Underworld USA (1961) Something Wild (1961) All Fall Down (1962) Cape Fear (1962) Experiment In Terror (1962) Manchurian Candidate (The)(1962) Private Property (1962) Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) Satan in High Heels (1962) Shock Corridor (1962) Stark Fear (1962) Twilight Of Honor (1963) The Naked Kiss (1964) The Pawnbroker (1964) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Lorna (1964) The Glass Cage (1964) The Thrill Killers (1964) Strange Compulsion (1964) The Strangler (1964) Angel's Flight (1965) Brainstorm (1965) Flesh and Lace (1965) Hot Skin And Cold Cash (1965) Love Statue (The)(1965) Mirage (1965) Once A Thief (1965) Tell Me in the Sunlight (1965) Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965) Aroused (1966) Mr. Buddwing (1966) Espions à l'affût (aka Heat Of Midnight) (1966) Seconds (1966) Rage (1966) Harper (1966) The Chase (1966) In Cold Blood (1967) The Incident (1967) In The Heat Of The Night (1967) Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) The Sex Killer (1967) The Pick-Up (1968) Marlowe (1969) The Honeymoon Killers (1969) Darker Than Amber (1970) Shaft (1971) Across 110th Street (1971) The Getaway (1971) Get Carter (1971) Hickey & Boggs (1972) Fat City (1972) The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) The Long Goodbye (1973) Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (1974) The Nickel Ride (1974) Chinatown (1974) Lenny (1974) Road Movie (1974) The Drowning Pool (1975) Farewell My Lovely (1975) Night Moves (1975) Seven Beauties (1975) Taxi Driver (1976) The Killer Inside Me (1976) Bad (1977) The Late Show (1977) The Big Sleep (1978) Dressed to Kill (1980) Union City (1980) Body Heat (1981) Thief (1981) Blade Runner (1982) Hammett (1982) Blood Simple (1984) Paris, Texas (1984) Tightrope (1984) To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) After Hours (1985) Blue Velvet (1986) Angel Heart (1987) Siesta (1987) Slam Dance (1987) Kill Me Again (1989) The Grifters (1990) The Kill-Off (1990) The Hot Spot (1990) Wild At Heart (1990) Impulse (1990) Dick Tracy (1990) Delicatessen (1991) A Rage In Harlem (1991) Delusion (1991) Reservoir Dogs (1992) Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) The Public Eye (1992) Red Rock West (1993) Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) True Romance (1993) The Wrong Man (1993) China Moon (1994) The Last Seduction (1994) Pulp Fiction (1994) Natural Born Killers (1994) Blink (1994) Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Se7en (1995) Fargo (1996) Mulholland Falls (1996) Hit Me (1996) Jackie Brown (1997) L.A. Confidential (1997) Lost Highway (1997) A Gun, A Car, A Blonde (1997) This World, Then the Fireworks (1997) Dark City (1998) A Simple Plan (1998) The Big Lebowski (1998) Palmetto (1998) Payback (1999) Night Train (1999) The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) Mulholland Drive (2001) Sin City (2005) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) The Black Dahlia (2006) 36 Quai des Orfèvres (2006) No Country For Old Men (2007) The Lookout (2007) Honeydripper (2007) Across The Hall (2009) Give 'em Hell Malone (2009) Dark Country (2009) The Missing Person (2009) The Killer Inside Me (2010) Hotel Noir (2012) The Iceman (2012) Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014) Too Late (2015)

Geez, he missed every shot, no bullet holes in Rocco.

It has great cinematography but that is about all, it just doesn't work, there are no town sets whatsoever to juxtapose the landscapes, its as if they spent all the money on cameos. I was watching to see Eli Wallach. The big stars in 1969 were Peck and Sharif. One memorable sequence is Julie Newmar's nude swim quite surprizing & unexpected. 3/5

They should make a factual film about the real one. The Lac-Mégantic rail disaster occurred in the town of Lac-Mégantic, in the Eastern Townships of the Canadian province of Quebec, at approximately 01:15 EDT, on July 6, 2013, when an unattended 74-car freight train carrying Bakken Formation crude oil rolled down a 1.2% grade from Nantes and derailed downtown, resulting in the fire and explosion of multiple tank cars. Forty-two people were confirmed dead, with five more missing and presumed dead. More than 30 buildings in the town's centre, roughly half of the downtown area, were destroyed, and all but three of the thirty-nine remaining downtown buildings had to be demolished due to petroleum contamination of the townsite. Initial newspaper reports described a 1-kilometre (0.6 mi) blast radius.

A Joseph Calleia line always got me chuckling, he plays Val, brother of Edna Bartelli (Lola Lane), he is at Lester's looking at Constance Worth, Lester's squeeze, with a poop eating grin, he turns to Lester and remarks, "If she'd cut off her head she'd be pretty." Sort of a screwball noir, 7/10

Dark Country (2009) Honeymoon To The Twilight Zone Detour for two on their honeymoon to hell. Inspired by the Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and EC Comics, i.e., it's Tales from the Crypt series, Thomas Jane and Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist (1988)) fashioned the screenplay from Murphy's eerie short story. Directed by Thomas Jane (Jonni Nitro (2000)), with cinematography by Geoff Boyle (Enemy at the Gates (2001), Mutant Chronicles (2008)), and the films music was by Elew, and Film Editing was by John Lafferty and Robert K. Lambert. Thomas Jane's directing is competent with an excellent grasp of Noir stylistics. His acting is fine. Lauren German is very believable as Gina with a top notch performance. Ron Perlman has a nice cameo. Working with a $5,000,000 dollar budget this film fits nicely into the low budget slot once occupied by the old poverty row studio cheapy noirs. Fans of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Night Gallery will also get a nice jonze from this, at least this fan did. A straight to DVD Sony Pictures Entertainment release 7/10. Fuller review with more screencaps here in Film Noir/Gangster pages.

Dark Country (2009) Honeymoon To The Twilight Zone Detour for two on their honeymoon to hell. Inspired by the Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and EC Comics, i.e., it's Tales from the Crypt series, Thomas Jane and Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist (1988)) fashioned the screenplay from Murphy's eerie short story. "I wanted to make a movie that was for people who enjoy movies that are off the beaten track, you know?" said Jane. "I wanted to make a movie for fans of cult films, for fans of "The Twilight Zone", for guys who stayed up late to watch "The Outer Limits" when they were probably too young to do that." Thomas Jane Directed by Thomas Jane (Jonni Nitro (2000)), with cinematography by Geoff Boyle (Enemy at the Gates (2001), Mutant Chronicles (2008)), and the films music was by Elew, and Film Editing was by John Lafferty and Robert K. Lambert. The film was shot in 3D high definition and 2D high definition, and according to Wikipedia"Wanting to have as many graphic novel elements Jane brought on-board comic artist Tim Bradstreet to work as the visual consultant and production designer in addition to Berni Wrightson, who provided the designs for the character Bloodyface, and Ray Zone as the 3D supervisor. Jane chose to do the film in 3D as a way to prove to the filmmaking community that you could create a low-budget film in 3D and have it turn out looking great." I'm not a fan of 3D, nor for that matter a fan of most current popular comic centric cinema, so I never saw this upon it's initial release. In 2D on the home screen it's entertaining enough. The film stars Thomas Jane (Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999),The Punisher (2004), Give 'em Hell Malone (2009)) as Dick, Lauren German (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(2003)) as Gina, Ron Perlman (Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), The City of Lost Children (1995)) as Deputy Thompson, Con Schell as Double, Chris Browning as Stranger, and Rene P. Mousseux as Crime Scene Trooper. Dick (Thomas Jane) Gina (Lauren German) Dick and Gina. Lust/Love at first sight. Dick just passing thru Vegas. Gina, girl of his dreams. Gina ex Cheetahs stripper. Gina, working a casino table, looking for a way out. Hitched. A quickie Vegas marriage. A hot sheet motel, consummation. The Scorpion. They decide to take Gina's '61 Dodge Polara and head to **** hometown, Sonoma California. Desert in all 360. Beat the heat drive at night. The The Big Chief Gas Station/Diner. Top off the tank. A stranger at the counter warns Dick to stay on the interstate. The backroads double back, they dead end. Dick and Gina take a shortcut anyway. The headlights spot a road sign for Searchlight 25 miles. They took the wrong fork. They make a U-ey. The road is deserted. A big half moon lights up the desert. Dick shuts off the headlights and drives by moonlight. Gina feels hot. Gina feels frisky. When Dick turns the headlights back on there is a guy standing in the middle of the road. Dick swerves to miss him and goes off the shoulder. The man was in an accident his flipped over car is just down the road. The man has no recognizable face. Dick tells Gina to call 911. She can't get service. They pick up the guy and put him in the back seat. Looking for a light of a hospital, they drive to a dead end. They make another U-ey and head back they way they came. Dick and Gina argue about getting lost. The bloody-faced man in the back comes to and screams. He gets hysterical. He tries to strangle Dick. It's all Gina can do to keep the car on the road. Slamming on the breaks Gina steers to the shoulder. Dick and the man tumble out of the car. Dick grabs a rock and smacks him upside the head. Then keeps pounding him until he's dead. Dick not thinking too clearly tells Gina they have to bury the body and forget it ever happened. Driving off on a dirt road they dig a shallow grave with a tire iron and dump the body in. While Gina is scooping dirt into the hole Dick goes and gets a drink out of their cooler. He rummages around in her handbag and finds a gun. When Gina gets back into the car he asks her about it. She tells him about working at Cheetah's when she had first gotten to Vegas, and about the creep that was obsessed with her. Dick naturally asks Gina if the guy they just buried was the creep. She replies that without a face it;s hard to tell. Dick and Gina finally pull into a rest area and clean up. While washing up in the men's room Dick discovers that he lost his watch. Gina tell him to forget about it but Dick tells her his name is engraved on the back. He has to go back and get it. Gina refuses to go, so Dick tells her to wait there with the gun while he drives back. While leaving the rest area Dick must have missed seeing the signpost up ahead indicating he just passed the border of Noirsville and into The Twilight Zone. Thomas Jane's directing is competent with an excellent grasp of Noir stylistics. His acting is fine. Lauren German is very believable as Gina with a top notch performance. Ron Perlman has a nice cameo. Working with a $5,000,000 dollar budget this film fits nicely into the low budget slot once occupied by the old poverty row studio cheapy noirs. Fans of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Night Gallery will also get a nice jonze from this, at least this fan did. A straight to DVD Sony Pictures Entertainment release 7/10. Full review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/07/dark-country-2009-honeymoon-to-twilight.html

Across the Hall (2009) Noir Hotel Sleeper Neo Noir that's surprisingly entertaining, well made, and very interesting to look at. Directed competently and stylishly by Alex Merkin who, to quote IMDb is "A New York native hailing from the prestigious Boston University College of Communication, Merkin is noted as being a "talent to watch" by Daily Variety". The film stars Mike Vogel as Julian, Danny Pino as Terry, Brittany Murphy as June, Brad Greenquist as The Porter, Arie Verveen as Lucas, Natalie Smyka as Anna, Guillermo Díaz as The Cook, Dov Davidoff as The Bellhop. The Director Merkin sticks in a few Classic Noir quotes, i.e., June registers as Kathie Moffet, Jane Greer's character from "Out Of The Past," and Terry later walks under a Theater Marquee that's playing "Nightmare Alley," there may be a few more. The four leads are excellent, the cinematography and music a treat. 7/10 Full review with screencaps in Film Noir/Gangster pages.

Across the Hall (2009) Noir Hotel Sleeper Neo Noir that's surprisingly entertaining, well made, and very interesting to look at. Directed competently and stylishly by Alex Merkin who, to quote IMDb is "A New York native hailing from the prestigious Boston University College of Communication, Merkin is noted as being a "talent to watch" by Daily Variety". The film was written by Alex Merkin, Jesse Mittelstadt, and Julien Schwab and is actually an expanded version of his short film which was written by the same three above with the addition of Kris Johnson. The excellent cinematography was by Andrew Carranza, and the Music was by Bobby Tahouri. The film stars Mike Vogel as Julian, Danny Pino as Terry, Brittany Murphy as June, Brad Greenquist as The Porter, Arie Verveen as Lucas, Natalie Smyka as Anna, Guillermo Díaz as The Cook, Dov Davidoff as The Bellhop. The story is told in real time, flashforwards, and flashbacks and takes place in the once ritzy now slowly decaying, past it's prime, Riverview Hotel. A drunk and very distressed Terry (Pino), who has suspected his fiancée June (Murphy) of infidelity has followed her to The Riverview, where, he suspects she is playing hide the sausage with another guy. Terry goes to the reluctant night porter (Greenquist) and bribes him to give him room 508 across the hall from June's room 507. The Riverview Hotel Terry waits in the room. He uses his cell phone and calls his best friend Julian (Vogel). Julian is relaxing in a tub with an icepack on his knee. Terry tells him that he broke into his house took Julian's revolver and followed June to the hotel. He plans to gun the lovers down. Julian asks Terry where he is at, and when Terry tells him that he is in the room across the hall Julian freaks. <spoilers> He freaks, you see, because it's Julian who is with June in room 507, in the Riverview Hotel, in Noirsville. Noirsville Night Porter (Greenquist) "Out Of The Past" quote June (Murphy) the cell phone call to Julian (Vogel) Terry (Pino) The Director Merkin sticks in a few Classic Noir quotes, i.e., June registers as Kathie Moffet, Jane Greer's character from "Out Of The Past," and Terry later walks under a Theater Marquee that's playing "Nightmare Alley," there may be a few more. The four leads are excellent, the cinematography and music a treat. 7/10 Full review with more screencaps here: https://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/07/across-hall-2009-noir-hotel.html

Holly Hunter and my daughter on the set of Always 1989.

She's not bald but wearing a blonde wig probably, below a cropped image. See what you think.

That would be late night fare for sure.

greater magnitude examples, please?

Rage (El mal) (1966) Mexican Film Soleil Neo Noir Director Gilberto Gazcón fashions an interesting Neo Noir that feels like a Western, is part Inferno, Wages of Fear and Guilty Bystander mixed with a bit of the anxiety of both Panic In The Streets and The Killer That Stalked New York. The film's vivid color palette gives it a pulp-ish paperback cover look, it's similar in that respect to the color Noir Slightly Scarlet (1956). Glenn Ford is compelling as the weathered Doc Reuben even though haunted by his failure to save his wife and child and drinking himself to death he can still keep his skills sharp and show compassion and kindness towards Maria. Stella Stevens at 30 is at the height of her beauty, she is the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold looking for a way out of the life. She is sexy, sassy, and sweet. David Reynoso is great as Pancho he holds his own with Ford and displays his acting chops. The rest of the cast is very good and the landscapes around Durango are beautiful. Very entertaining, but this film needs a good restoration. Café con leche noir. 7/10 Full review in Film Noir/Gangster and with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/07/rage-el-mal-1966-mexican-film-soleil.html

Rage (El mal) (1966) Mexican Film Soleil Neo Noir Director Gilberto Gazcón fashions an interesting Neo Noir that feels like a Western, is part Inferno, Wages of Fear and Guilty Bystander mixed with a bit of the anxiety of both Panic In The Streets and The Killer That Stalked New York. The screenplay was jointly written by Gilberto Gazcón Teddi Sherman, Fernando Méndez, Guillermano Hernández, and Jesús Velásquez. The cinematography was by Rosalío Solano and the Soundtrack was by Gustavo César Carrión. The film's vivid color palette gives it a pulp-ish paperback cover look, it's similar in that respect to the color Noir Slightly Scarlet (1956). The film stars noir vet Glenn Ford (Gilda (1946), Framed (1947), The Undercover Man (1949), The Big Heat (1953), Human Desire (1954), Experiment in Terror (1962)) as Doc Reuben, Stella Stevens (Man-Trap (1961)) as Perla, David Reynoso ( Presage (1974), Que viva Tepito!(1981), El último túnel (1987)) as Pancho, Armando Silvestre ( La Impostora (2014), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)) as Antonio, Jose Elias Moreno (Santa Claus (1959)) as Fortunato, Dacia Gonzalez (The Shark Hunters (1963)) as Maria, David Silva (Los Fernández de Peralvillo (1954), Campeón sin corona (1946) Espaldas mojadas (1955)) as Bus Driver and Isela Vega (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)) as a prostitute. Wages Of Fear quote Doc Reuben (Ford) runs a medical clinic in a small Mexican village. The village is booming with the influx of construction workers who are blasting a new road across the backcountry. Except for practicing medicine, Doc is a bit alienated from normal human contact outside of his medical duties, and obsessed with drinking himself to an early grave. You see, Doc blames himself for not being able to save his young wife and baby during childbirth. He drinks to forget. His main companion is his german shepherd dog. Pancho (Reynoso) is a local who got a job on the road crew as a dynamiter. He learned his trade in the mines. Pancho and his wife Maria (Gonzalez) are going to have a baby, and Doc is happy to check Maria's progress, but tells Pancho that she will need a specialist when the time comes because she will need a caesarean section. Pancho's friend Fortunato (Moreno) is a dozer operator on the road crew. His pet cat Princesa is acting strange. When the crew drives back to town Pancho's cat jumps out of his arms and attacks Doc's dog. The general consensus is that Princesa is pregnant. A few days later Doc gets bit by his own dog. Dog bites Doc At the end of the week the supply truck brings a load of prostitutes to entertain the road crew. One of prostitutes is Perla (Stevens), and at the "fiesta" she is very attracted to Doc who is quite drunk. Doc sneaks off to the clinic with a couple of bottles of booze and Perla follows. Doc throws her out and starts to hallucinate in a very graphic noir-ish sequence. In the morning a very hung over Doc finds Perla asleep upon his examination table, she has missed the truck. Perla (Stevens) at Docs The next day Fortunato drug into town by ropes, he is delirious and foaming at the mouth, he has rabies. Perla and Doc get to know each other but Doc is still standoffish. Doc explains about the death of his wife. Ten days later the supply truck arrives and Perla leaves town. Rabies Pancho arrives in town on his donkey cart early the next evening and tells Doc that Maria is contracting, Doc tells Pancho to hurry back and he'll follow in a company jeep. On the way back to his place Pancho runs into Doc's dog, the dog is bloody and foaming at the mouth and snarling at the Donkey's legs. The dog is rabid. Doc drives up sees the situation and shoots the dog. He now realizes that he was bitten ten days ago and that he is also infected. He counts the days back to when he was bitten and realizes that he has 48 hours to get treated. When Doc tells Pablo that he has to get to the nearest big city to get shots Pablo grabs Docs gun and threatens to kill him. Doc says OK but floors the Jeep leaving Pablo in the dust as he speeds off in the growing darkness to Noirsville. Noirsville Glenn Ford is compelling as the weathered Doc Reuben even though haunted by his failure to save his wife and child and drinking himself to death he can still keep his skills sharp and show compassion and kindness towards Maria. Stella Stevens at 30 is at the height of her beauty, she is the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold looking for a way out of the life. She is sexy, sassy, and sweet. David Reynoso is great as Pancho he holds his own with Ford and displays his acting chops. The rest of the cast is very good and the landscapes around Durango are beautiful. Very entertaining, This film needs a good restoration. Café con leche noir. 7/10 Full review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/07/rage-el-mal-1966-mexican-film-soleil.html

Some Like It Violent (1968) Comparatively, an Exploitation "Roughie" Masterpiece When the "B's" went out of production low budget guerrilla Exploitation Grindhouse "C through Z's" took over. I can count probably just using the fingers of both hands how many of them are worth a look. Some Like It Violent is one of them. The film stars Bob O'Connell as Johnny Scaro, Sharon Kent (who looks a bit like Kathryn Leigh Scott in a blonde wig) as Dolores, and Natara as prostitute Zelda. Scaro's blonde hooker uncredited starred in producer Barry Mahon's (Hot Skin, Cold Cash (1965)). That's it, the rest of the cast is lost to history and they probably didn't use their real names anyway. O'Connell is a blast to watch, bug-eyed, and channeling Cagney in his his crazed monologues about making on his own it in the streets. The opening sequence of Scaro with a machete chopping up the mannequins is reminiscent of Sam Fuller's intense opening sequence for The Naked Kiss. As with most all of these cheapy productions, the whole range of acting ability and lack of it is apparent and, of course, the requisite T&A is displayed. These bottom of the budget barrel exploitation films bridge some of the the gaps between poverty row B production Noirs and the Hollywood output of Neo Noirs that picked up again in the 70's. Needs a good restoration, worth seeking out, more than just a "skin flick" 6-7/10. Full review in Film Noir/Gangster board,

Some Like It Violent (1968) Comparatively, an Exploitation "Roughie" Masterpiece When the "B's" went out of production low budget guerrilla Exploitation Grindhouse "C through Z's" took over. I can count probably just using the fingers of both hands how many of them are worth a look. Some Like It Violent is one of them. "FILM NOIR HAD AN INEVITABLE TRAJECTORY… THE ECCENTRIC & OFTEN GUTSY STYLE OF FILM NOIR HAD NO WHERE ELSE TO GO… BUT TO REACH FOR EVEN MORE OFF-BEAT, DEVIANT– ENDLESSLY RISKY & TABOO ORIENTED SET OF NARRATIVES FOUND IN THE SUBVERSIVE AND EXPLOITATIVE CULT FILMS OF THE MID TO LATE 50s through the 60s and into the early 70s!" (The Last Drive In) Vice Raid. Times Square Area. A two squad cars converge on a West Side flop. It's one of Johnny "Big Daddy" Scaro's many houses of prostitution scattered around Manhattan. Vice Detective Scott Lehman in charge. Hookers and their Johns/tricks, are caught in the net. Two of Scaro's goombahs are watching the **** hit the fan from their Chevy sedan across the street. They should have been inside making the collection. They got lucky goofing off. One of them Frankie Shive has got a ridiculous upside down Groucho Marx-ish moustache, it must have been cool in '68. Frankie is getting nervous, he can't stand the sight of "fuzz." Bruno the Buffalo is the driver. They split. Meanwhile, Big Daddy is up in his apartment enthusiastically showing bad girls what happens when they get "outa" line. He's gleefully, systematically, dismembering a female mannequin with his machete in front of his two terrified personal hookers, Zelda and the Blonde. They are his "private stuff." Their sole purpose is to lounge around the apartment until Johnny gets a itch, and then they'll scratch it, and maybe both at the same time. Johnny's got big needs. They are topless. Their standard uniform. They are being watched by a captive audience of other mannequins. Apparently Johnny is a bit of a wacko. A misogynist through and through, Johnny treats his women like bitches. Whacking Mannequins Johnny "Big Daddy Scaro (Bob O'Connell) The private stuff agrees "Big Daddy" is crazy Frankie and Bruno get caught in a Mid Town traffic jam. Frankie Shiv hops out of the car and walks to Scaro's Hell's Kitchen apartment house and breaks the bad news. Frankie tells Johnny that he should move to a better dump. "I like it here!" Frankie: I was just about the make the collection on the house and the heats crawling all over like roaches out of the woodwork. They got the girls and some customers also. Johnny: Uuuh, and you say Scott was there. How long ago did this happen? Frankie: About forty-five minutes, I left Bruno in some traffic. Hey Johnny why don't you get out of this lousy place? It stinks! Johnny: Ahaa, I like it here, I got business here, I got friends here, and I feel safe here. I was born only two blocks from here. Now you know why I like it here. What are you the D.A. or something? Johnny, **** off, calls his shyster to see what happened to his protection. He hears the lawyer out and hangs up the phone. Johnny: A bunch of doofus punks I gotta deal with these days, no class, and no honor. [he looks at the two hookers sitting around like pets taking the proceedings all in] What are you looking at, what is this a zoo or something? Go on, beat it, scram, get outta here. Get the hell outta here you make me sick. Dapper Dan stops by and gives Johnny information about a computerized dating service. Dapper confirms that he did indeed get the straight dope on its potential from Johnny Basto. Wider Horizons Social Contact Service. He tells Johnny... Dapper Dan: I never seen anything like it, machines do all the work, and the broads come out of the walls. The broad is really raking it in. You think she's going to go along with the plan? Johnny: don't worry I'll take care of it. Dapper Dan: We're gonna need Brinks. Johnny: That's funny, we're gonna need Brinks, Brinks for Johnny Scaro! Johnny is now excited. After Johnny's boys "convince" Alma Mae Cookson to let them take over her service, Detective Scott Lehman is busy recruiting an old acquaintance Delores, the daughter of a cop shot by Scaro's boys to pose as a client of the new operation. Delores fills out the questionnaire with the help of Scott and gets matched up with none other than Johnny Scaro. The "date" doesn't go well and Johnny rapes Dolores. When Johnny finds out from his mouthpiece's informers that Dolores was working for the police he goes ape. Scott camps out at Dolores' Westchester house expecting trouble Scott and Dolores hit it off. Johnny and his crew plan an assassination, Johnny wants to make the hit himself. It all goes Noirsville. Noirsville Times Square Frankie Shiv Johnny trapped like a rat in the sewerDirected by Kemal Horulu and well written also by Kemal Horulu. Camera was by Joe Mangine, Assistant Camera Bill Tobin, Edited by Phil Fitzpatrick, Sound by T.A. Dougher, Production Manager Ian Merrick, Assistant Production Manager Al Lee, Script Girl Kathleen Lee, Negative Cutting Bing Jong, Laboratories Arta Lab, and Sound Recording by Magno Sound. It was produced by Barry Mahon (Hot Skin, Cold Cash (1965)). The film stars Bob O'Connell as Johnny Scaro, Sharon Kent (who looks a bit like Kathryn Leigh Scott in a blonde wig) as Dolores, and Natara as prostitute Zelda. Scaro's blonde hooker uncredited starred in producer Barry Mahon's (Hot Skin, Cold Cash (1965)). That's it, the rest of the cast is lost to history and they probably didn't use their real names anyway. O'Connell is a blast to watch, bug-eyed, and channeling Cagney in his his crazed monologues about making on his own it in the streets. The opening sequence of Scaro chopping up the mannequins is reminiscent of Sam Fuller's intense opening sequence for The Naked Kiss. As with most all of these cheapy productions, the whole range of acting ability and lack of it is apparent and, of course, the requisite T&A is displayed. These bottom of the barrel exploitation films bridge some of the the gaps between B production Noirs and the Hollywood output of Neo Noirs that picked up again in the 70's. Needs a good restoration, worth seeking out, more than just a "skin flick" 6-7/10. Full review with more NSFW screencaps at Noirsville.

First season of the original Twin Peaks was great, the second not up to the first. Fire Walk With Me I liked a lot. I don't have Showtime so will have to wait for it's second coming. As far as the rest of Lynch's films I like them all to varying degrees so far with exception of Inland Empire which I haven't quite gotten into yet, I've watched it maybe twice.