Sunday, March 30, 2014

Movie Ad of the Week: PIRANHA! PIRANHA! w/ THE FEARMAKER (1972)



This double feature from Lyman Dayton's short-lived Seventh Seal Distribution opened in Provo, UT on November 8, 1972. PIRANHA! PIRANHA! -- shot in Venezuela under the title CARIBE -- was the second of three low-budget action films co-starring William Smith and Peter Brown, who had played Texas Rangers Joe Riley and Chad Cooper, respectively, on the NBC western series LAREDO (The other two films were CHROME AND HOT LEATHER and CAMPER JOHN). The second-billed THE FEARMAKER is a horror movie filmed in Mexico in 1968, starring Katy Jurado and Paul Picerni. Both films were rated PG. Dayton later formed Doty-Dayton Productions with his father-in-law, George Doty, and specialized in G-rated family entertainment like WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS, SEVEN ALONE, AGAINST A CROOKED SKY, and BAKER'S HAWK.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The Endangered List (Case File #140) -- Found!


PATTY, an exploitation sex film inspired by the Patty Hearst case, exists in three different versions: the R-rated, the soft-X, and the hardcore. The negative for all three was rescued from a condemned movie theater in New Jersey almost seven years ago and sold on eBay to a DVD company on January 14, 2008. A DVD/Blu-ray will hopefully come out sometime soon.


PATTY
(1976)

Starring
Sarah Nicholson [Jennifer Jordan] as Patty
Lenny Montana as The Racketeer
Turk Turpin as The General
Renay Granville as Patty's Mother
Frank Scioscia as The Sports Promoter

with
Jamie Gillis
Frank Adonis
Julia Sorel
Bob Roberts

Produced & Directed by
Bob Roberts

Written by
Bob Roberts
and
Joyce Richards

Cinematography by
Henry Smafwitz

Music by
Al Goodman
and
Sammy Lowe

Song Credits

"Patty"
Written by Mark Barkan and Don Oriolo
Performed by The Moments

"Do What You Feel"
Written by Al Goodman, Harry Ray and Walter Morris
Performed by The Rimshots

"Revelation"
Written by Sammy Lowe
Performed by The Rimshots

"Look at Me"
Written by Al Goodman, Harry Ray and Walter Morris
Performed by Retta Young

"It's Gonna be Such a Beautiful Day"
Written by Mark Barkan and Don Oriolo
Performed by The Moments

"Love for the People"
Written by Mark Barkan and Don Oriolo
Performed by Chuck Jackson

"Gotta Get a Gun"
Written by Mark Barkan and Don Oriolo
Performed by Chuck Jackson

"Sexy Mama"
Written by Al Goodman and Harry Ray

Performed by The Moments

"Takin' It"
Written by Walter Morris, Sammy Lowe, Al Goodman and The Rimshots
Performed by The Rimshots
Soundtrack album available on
Stang Records


World Premiere: February 11, 1976
Bryan West Theater

Rating: Self-applied X (1976)
MPAA rating: X (1978)

Released by
Trans World Associates

***





Sunday, March 23, 2014

Movie Ad of the Week: JUNGLE WARRIORS (1984)



JUNGLE WARRIORS, starring everyone credited in the ad above -- but not Dennis Hopper -- opened in over 50 theaters in the New York City area on November 23, 1984.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Movie Ad of the Week: HOLY WEDNESDAY w/ WEB OF THE SPIDER and DIARY OF AN EROTIC MURDERESS (1975)



This triple bill of "super suspense horror" opened at the Palmetto Drive-In theater in Florence, SC on December 18, 1975.

HOLY WEDNESDAY, also released as FANGS, was filmed in 1973 by writer-director Art Names, and stars Les Tremayne, Janet Wood, Bebe Kelly, Marvin Kaplan, Alice Nunn, and Bruce Kimball. Its regional release through World Wide Films began in December '74.

The second feature, WEB OF THE SPIDER, was directed by Antonio Margheriti and is a remake of his 1964 film CASTLE OF BLOOD. Shot in Rome in 1971, it stars Anthony Franciosa, Michèle Mercier (in the Barbara Steele role), and Klaus Kinski as Edgar Allan Poe. Cinema Shares International released it here in 1975.

DIARY OF AN EROTIC MURDERESS, another Cinema Shares release from '75, was filmed in Madrid in 1973 as LA ENCADENADA. Starring Richard Conte, Marisa Mell and Anthony Steffen, it was directed by Manuel Mur Oti.

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Movie Ad of the Week: MONSTERS OF THE DEEP (1977)



The Italian underwater documentary CARI MOSTRI DEL MARE/DEAR MONSTERS OF THE SEA (1976), better known as FRIENDLY MONSTERS OF THE SEA, was four-walled in the United States in 1977 by its filmmaker, Bruno Vailati, under the title MONSTERS OF THE DEEP. It opened in Gallup, NM on June 2, 1977.

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Movie Ad of the Week: WARRIOR QUEEN (1987)



Prolific pornographer Chuck Vincent had been alternating between hardcore adult films (FAREWELL SCARLET, ROOMMATES, JACK N' JILL) and R-rated drive-in fare (SUMMER CAMP, HOT T-SHIRTS, PREPPIES) for over a decade before he cast Donald Pleasence opposite Sybil Danning in WARRIOR QUEEN, a sexploitation take on THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII that actually recycles some of the climactic death and destruction footage from the 1959 Steve Reeves film! Co-starring Rick Hill from DEATHSTALKER, Josephine Jacqueline Jones and porno star Samantha Fox, Vincent's version was shot in Italy and produced by Harry Alan Towers and Joe D'Amato. Boris Vallejo painted the movie poster, which doesn't look much different from the ones he was doing for Roger Corman around the same time (the DEATHSTALKER series, BARBARIAN QUEEN, AMAZONS, NAKED WARRIORS). Seymour Borde & Associates opened the R-rated, 69-minute cut of WARRIOR QUEEN in Chicago, New York and several other major cities on January 23, 1987. The unrated videocassette from Vestron runs 10 minutes longer.