RICH'S B (AND WORSE) JUVENILE DELINQUENT THREAD

[LawrenceA]

The Devil's Sleep was the first of three films in which Timothy Farrell appeared as Umberto Scalli. The other two were Rackets Girls (1951) and Dance Hall Racket (1953). Now there's a trilogy that deserves a Criterion Blu-Ray box-set.

[JamesJazGuitar]

2 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

The Devil's Sleep was the first of three films in which Timothy Farrell appeared as Umberto Scalli. The other two were Rackets Girls (1951) and Dance Hall Racket (1953). Now there's a trilogy that deserves a Criterion Blu-Ray box-set.

So he gets away with his crimes in The Devil's Sleep and does other films.   Good for him!   Does he meet his end in the last film, Dance Hall Racket, or did the series just end due to lack of interest? 

Either way I love the poster for The Devil's Sleep.   Hey,  any poster that uses bevy is tops with me. 

[LawrenceA]

Racket Girls aka The Blonde Pick-up

Dance Hall Racket featuring Lenny Bruce

[scsu1975]

18 hours ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

So he gets away with his crimes in The Devil's Sleep and does other films.   Good for him!   Does he meet his end in the last film, Dance Hall Racket, or did the series just end due to lack of interest? 

 

I think he buys the farm.

[Dargo]

1 hour ago, scsu1975 said:

I think he buys the farm.

Are you talkin' like Cagney did after he retired from the biz, or how Cagney did in so many of his gangster movies?

(...just to be clear here, of course)

[scsu1975]

1 hour ago, Dargo said:

Are you talkin' like Cagney did after he retired from the biz, or how Cagney did in so many of his gangster movies?

(...just to be clear here, of course)

I'm talkin' belly up, bit the bullet, hard as a carp, kicked the bucket, dead as a doornail, ...

[Dargo]

5 hours ago, scsu1975 said:

I'm talkin' belly up, bit the bullet, hard as a carp, kicked the bucket, dead as a doornail, ...

Oh.

So you're sayin' The Devil's Sleep has no rural setting in it at all then, eh?!

(...btw Rich...I've heard of the phrase "bit the BULLET", but isn't that an expression used when someone goes ahead and takes some action that they're not especially happy about doing, and as compared to the expression "bit the DUST", and which I believe you really meant to say here)

[JamesJazGuitar]

2 minutes ago, Dargo said:

Oh.

So you're sayin' The Devil's Sleep has no rural setting in it at all then, eh?!

(...btw Rich...I've heard of the phrase "bit the BULLET", but isn't that an expression used when someone goes ahead and takes some action that they're not especially happy about doing, and as compared to the expression "bit the DUST", and which I believe you really meant to say here)

You're confusing noirs with westerns.   

[Dargo]

SOOOO, in essence then, IF some bad guy dies in an URBAN setting within a film noir, and where of course those kinds of flicks are usually set, THEN it's perfectly acceptable to say he "bit the bullet". However, and somewhat conversely, IF the bad guy dies in an oater, aka a "western", then and ONLY then is it legit to say he "bit the dust".

Okay then, I think I've got this now.

Question though: How about if the bad guy dies in a musical? What the hell do we we say he "bit" THEN???

(...what..."the choreographer", maybe?!!) 

 

[scsu1975]

1 hour ago, Dargo said:

SOOOO, in essence then, IF some bad guy dies in an URBAN setting within a film noir, and where of course those kinds of flicks are usually set, THEN it's perfectly acceptable to say he "bit the bullet". However, and somewhat conversely, IF the bad guy dies in an oater, aka a "western", then and ONLY then is it legit to say he "bit the dust".

Okay then, I think I've got this now.

Question though: How about if the bad guy dies in a musical? What the hell do we we say he "bit" THEN???

(...what..."the choreographer", maybe?!!) 

 

We all have way too much time on our hands. By the way, I believe Farrell also croaks in Racket Girls. Yet, he still manages to return for Dance Hall Racket. What a guy!

[Dargo]

2 hours ago, scsu1975 said:

We all have way too much time on our hands. By the way, I believe Farrell also croaks in Racket Girls. Yet, he still manages to return for Dance Hall Racket. What a guy!

Nope, not me, Rich.

Back in the '80s when I went to the record store to buy that Styx album, they were sold out of it.

(...and then when I went back a few months later, I was more into The Cars)

[LawrenceA]

20 minutes ago, Dargo said:

Nope, not me, Rich.

Back in the '80s when I went to the record store to buy that Styx album, they were sold out of it.

(...and then when I went back a few months later, I was more into The Cars)

Were they Just What You Needed?

[Dargo]

8 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

Were they Just What You Needed?

Well Lawrence, You Might Think so, but then I got involved with My Best Friend's Girl by thinking she was Just What I Needed.

(...turned out she'd eventually tell me Bye Bye Love, and the rest as they say is history)

[scsu1975]

Coming soon:  Savages From Hell

[Dargo]

Just watched it on YouTube, Rich, and can't wait to see how you, ahem, "savage" it.

(...btw, I don't think I've ever seen a BMW chopper before...well, at least not in any '60s biker flick I've ever watched in the past, anyway...Harleys, the occasional British and Japanese bike, but never any German iron...sorry, you'll have to excuse this long time rider here...I know this probably won't interest you)

[scsu1975]

Savages From Hell (1968)

Justifiably obscure low-budget and even lower-talent biker flick filmed in Naples, Florida.

A migrant worker chick named Teresa, with an IQ of around 11, falls for the leader of the pack, who is named High Test. High already has a chick named Lucy, who is not thrilled with this new development. Teresa’s brother Marco (no relation to Rubio) drives some kind of monster vehicle I’ve never seen before. We also get treated to a five-minute boring segment featuring swamp buggy racing. The other 75 minutes are equally boring, as High Test decides to snatch Teresa and have his way with her. Will Marco get there in time?

The flick features a catfight between Lucy and some other chick, and a few fistfights here and there which showcase punches being thrown and not landing. There are also a few gunshots with no smoke.

The “actress” playing Teresa is cute and has nice buns (upon which the camera lingers), but there is no light on in the house, if you get my drift. The only performers who show a modicum of talent are Bill Read, as a biker named “Bingo,” and Bobbie Byers, as Lucy. I have to admit I did start to appreciate Byers acting a bit more when her shirt started coming off in various scenes.

If you are still awake for the climax, it features Lucy, High Test, Marco’s monster vehicle, and a sheriff who appears out of nowhere saying “I understand. Listen, I know what happened.” Apparently he is the only one who did.

Making his film debut is Cyril Poitier, older brother of Sidney. Cyril plays a gas station attendant, so obviously his brother didn’t pull any strings.

[scsu1975]

Coming soon: The Rebel Rousers

[scsu1975]

The Rebel Rousers  (1969) youtube

Directed by Martin B. Cohen

Pointless, plotless, and boring biker flick whose only novelty is Bruce Dern not playing a complete psycho for a change.

Cameron Mitchell (looking like a thin-haired, bloated, and even-more-catatonic version of Dean Martin) has knocked up Diane Ladd. (Stick with me here, it gets worse.) The two have several scenes together which are apparently meant to induce slumber in the audience … and the effort is successful. Dern is some guy Mitchell knew in high school, and they bump into each other a few times, the second time when Mitchell’s car breaks down with Ladd along for the ride. Dern manages to temporarily keep his gang of bikers from roughing up Mitchell, but eventually Mitchell is turned into a piñata. While the rest of the gang tries to figure out who has first dibs on Ladd, Mitchell manages to escape, bringing back a mob of pitchfork-wielding undocumented immigrants, led by the late Robert Dix, son of the even later Richard Dix.

Jack Nicholson and Harry Dean Stanton play gang members. Nicholson wears zebra-striped pants; the less said about Stanton’s outfit, the better.

The only highlight of the film is when Dern performs a mock wedding between Nicholson and Ladd, reading from the Harley-Davidson Service Manual: “Regular lubrication and maintenance will help you operate at peak performance.”

The opening credits indicate this film was made in 1969. Other sources say it was filmed in 1967 and released in 1970. In any case, it shouldn’t have been filmed, and it definitely should not have been released.

[DougieB]

I wonder if this is where Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd met and, if so, was Laura Dern conceived somewhere in the middle of this mess? It sounds like a pretty h orny group.

[scsu1975]

52 minutes ago, DougieB said:

I wonder if this is where Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd met and, if so, was Laura Dern conceived somewhere in the middle of this mess? It sounds like a pretty h orny group.

They were married almost 10 years before this film was released. Laura was born in 1967, so maybe ... and maybe this film contributed to their divorce.

[scsu1975]

Time to revive this thread. 

Coming Soon:  Chrome and Hot Leather

 

 

[scsu1975]

Chrome and Hot Leather (1971)

Directed by Lee Frost

Can a movie with Marvin Gaye as a Green Beret be that bad? Uh … yeah.

Granted, he’s not the star. That honor goes to William Smith, who plays the leader of a biker gang. Smith is T. J. (I’m pretty sure that doesn’t stand for Tor Johnson), and he spends most of the movie showing off his impressive torso. The plot revolves around one member of the gang causing the death of two women. Turns out one of the women’s boyfriends is a Green Beret named Mitch, played woodenly by Tony Young. So Mitch gets his buddies together, which includes Gaye, Peter Brown and some other guy I never heard of. The foursome set out to take out the trash. We get an absurd sequence where they buy Kawasakis and train on them, becoming such experts that they can vault over trucks and ride standing on the seats. The climax is ridiculous and boring, as they use various military weapons to subdue the gang.

Not much can be said about the acting, but I’ll try. Young looks like he is hypnotized for most of the film, so it’s hard to root for him. It’s even harder once he gets it on with one of the biker chicks, considering he just buried his girlfriend. Now if you read that previous sentence, I guess I could have phrased it differently. Anyway, the chick is played by cutie Kathy Baumann, who doesn’t impress with her acting but does impress with her body. Thank you, Kathy. I don’t know why Gaye was cast in this film, unless it was because Smokey Robinson wasn’t available. Brown is decent, but has to take a back seat to everyone else. Smith plays his usual bad-a** dude with great aplomb, and even manages to get off a few good lines. In fact, there are a few humorous scenes in the film, like when the good guys put in an order for the equipment they need to carry the fight – which includes grenade launchers, explosives, and a very large truck. Now I’m no military expert, but I’m pretty sure you can’t use this stuff against civilians, even if they are scum.

 

[scsu1975]

Coming soon:  The Diary of a High School Bride

 

 

[scsu1975]

The Diary of a High School Bride (1959)

Directed by Burt Topper

The lesson here seems to be that if you are a 17-year-old high school senior who marries a 24-year-old, your parents will be peed-off, your friends will diss you, your ex-boyfriend will get turned on, and your acting career will end up in the toilet. Who saw any of this coming?

Judy (Anita Sands) carries a stuffed animal with her, even on her wedding night. Maybe there is something Freudian in that; I wouldn’t know. Her new hubby Steve (Ronald Foster) lives in a one-bedroom apartment, but is a law student, so maybe Judy hopes that someday he will become rich and unprincipled. Chris Robinson, as her borderline psycho ex, is not very menacing, and can be taken out with a few punches. There are several scenes in a teen hangout, a dive which seems to be a combination of fast-food diner, beatnik café, Spanish guitar and dancer mishmash. One of the patrons does something weird with his cheeks, but I didn’t rewind to study it more carefully.

Tony Casanova, who apparently had a singing career for a few days (you’ll see why if you watch this), performs the title tune, and also another ditty in the hangout. The ending has a modicum of suspense, but by then I doubt if you’ll be paying attention. The only bit of interest is a passing reference to The Screaming Skull, which was far better than this opus – and which is also not saying much. At least that film featured a nice performance by Peggy Webber’s upper body.

 

[scsu1975]

Coming soon:  Speed Crazy