Reviews

I stumbled on to this short, because it came packaged as a bonus feature on a DVD with the movie, "Girl Gets Girl" as the main feature

The plot is pretty straight-forward. A woman comes across another woman who is exiting a building while she is entering. They are instantly physically attracted to one another, and on the spur of the moment, decide to head straight for the apartment where the woman who was entering the building lives. They then share an evening of passionate lovemaking. Upon waking up the next day, the two of them finally begin talking, and immediately discover that they are political polar opposites.

I won't go into detail about what happens next, as it would obviously spoil the ending. Overall, I would say that this was well written, well directed and well acted, but hardly profound.

The folks at Yahoo were smart enough to use major babe Milana Vayntrub's face in the thumbnail that linked to this complete mess. It's pretty much unwatchable.

Most of the humor appears to revolve in some way or another around the swishiness of Karan Soni's character. There are a whole lot of other unoriginal stock characters as well, including a bitchy older sister, a burned-out stoner, and a sexy female computer.

In general, the whole thing has the feel of a sub-par five minute Saturday Night Live sketch that someone unwisely decided to stretch into a full half-hour. For genuinely funny humor revolving around the crew of a spaceship, stick with Futurama.

I just watched this episode on YouTube. It was my first experience with the show, which I viewed out of curiosity. If this is typical of the series, chances are, I won't be watching too many other episodes. There were so many elements that simply made no sense at all. There's a scene where she's walking down the street, and people are handing her huge wads of cash for seemingly no reason whatsoever. And where exactly does one go to "rent kids" for anything?

I'm giving it three stars, because Miss Hutton does deliver one (and only one) humorous quip that still holds up and would be considered funny in any context. I can easily imagine Marge Simpson saying this:

"You're now witnessing before your very eyes, the greatest transformation of the ages. I'm changing from a sensitive, naive person into a bitter, cynical, uncaring person. In other words, I'm gonna become a human being!"

Not being extremely familiar with the customs and ways of the 18th century, I cannot vouch for whether or not the story depicted in this film is historically accurate. However, viewed purely as an example of early story telling, it is certainly watchable, if not exactly thrilling. I watched this off of a public domain DVD (that also contains three other old movies), and the quality of the film transfer varies a bit throughout. In some places, it's jittery and in others, a bit dark and blurry, but overall, considering it's age, these are very minor details. One should be thankful when anything this old survives at all.

Alice Brady is quite likable in the title role, as are the women who play her sisters. It starts out humorously, with the girls' stern religious father scolding them for playing the piano (which I can only assume, was considered to be an "unladylike" activity among Quaker society in the 1770s). A couple of minutes later, they are seen in another room laughing and making a mockery of his tantrum. However, as the film progresses, the subject matter becomes more and more serious. While there are some slow spots in the middle, it eventually concludes with a cliffhanger, and even a trick ending.

The main problem with the version I viewed, is that the musical accompaniment, featuring a theatre organ, remains inappropriately whimsical throughout, even during a pair of scenes involving violent deaths. Although the film is listed as being a historical romantic drama, this often gave the impression that one was watching a comedy without any punchlines. So be forewarned, should you view this off of Mill Creek Entertainment's "Family Collection" DVD, you might want to consider turning the sound down.

Discussing the plot of this indecipherable mishmash of bad acting, phony accents and glued on facial hair would be completely pointless. Filmed shortly after Fidel Castro had risen to power, somebody must have thought that having a cigar smoking guy in a beard and flat-topped hat, barking out orders in a Colonel Klinkish manner, would be funny enough in itself to sustain an entire hour's worth of entertainment. Needless to say, it isn't.

Although this film is listed as being in color, the public domain version I checked out at the library was in black & white. This probably diminished the one thing it had going for it...some nice scenery.

Finally, I should mention that the title has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the plot. No "Girls" are "Taking Over" anything. I guess the only way they could think of to promote this pile of crap was to emphasize the fact that it does include a few pretty señoritas in bare midriffs.

I stumbled upon this curiosity on YouTube while randomly looking for British invasion related material. This film is essentially just a 12 minute lecture on bicycle safety, aimed at preteens. It involves two boys who race each other, not to see who can pedal the fastest, but who can pedal the safest by obeying the rules of the road, with predictable results. Peter Noonë is the referee, and a young (13 year old) Keith Chegwin is one of the two cyclists.

This is mainly of interest as a period piece, with some spiffy opening and closing music in 6/4 time, which includes a cheesy Austin Powersesque organ with the flute stops pulled out. Also featured in the film is Hermans Hermits' then current (and final) hit, "Betcher Life I Do."

This film has recently made it on to YouTube, and I have to say that it's probably more entertaining now than it was at the time of it's release. In 1978, when big-budget star-studded musical extravaganzas like Grease were all the rage, this must have looked like a glorified home movie by comparison. The only person in it who had any showbiz credentials at all (at the time) is the wood-shop teacher, played by well known singer/songwriter Dave Frischberg.

The dialog, the acting, the singing and the dancing are all ridiculously amateurish, but there are two things this movie has in it's favor that make it quite watchable: Many of the songs are actually quite good (surprising for something that was made during the height of the disco craze), and the fact that the entire cast appears to be in on the joke. They all instinctively realized that the best way to suddenly break into silly song and dance routines about shop class, jockstraps and training bras, is to maintain completely deadpan expressions on their faces, leaving it to the audience to provide the laugh track.

Filmed over the summer of 1977 at John Muir Jr. High in Burbank California (not Van Nuys Jr. High as is often mistakenly reported), the kids were all ages 13-15 at the time of filming, and considering that this appears to be the sole movie credit for most of them, one can only marvel at the energy they put into a project that was obviously not their chosen vocation.

This series will always hold a special place in my memory. I turned 12 years old in November of 1969, and the 1969 - 1970 season was really the last time I regularly watched cartoons on Saturday morning. I was just starting to take an interest in girls on a romantic level, and I vaguely recall identifying with the Terry Dexter character. I often found myself daydreaming about rescuing a beautiful blonde princess from the clutches of an evil villain. In the trivia section, it mentions that the final episode is "rare" because it only aired once. Frankly, I have no recollection of any episode airing more than twice (initially, and then during summer reruns).

As of April 2007, there is currently only one episode available for viewing on YouTube, and it's in Spanish. Alas, while Princess Dawn is still as pretty as I remembered her, I now realize that the title character is just an ersatz Yosemite Sam. I could purchase the DVD that is currently available to see if the English speaking voices I grew up with jog any nostalgic feelings, but I have a hunch it will ultimately lead to disappointment. With just about everything being released on DVD, one can now easily explore anything that was popular in one's youth. Unfortunately, one can never be 11 years old again.

Since I'm probably one of only six people who has actually seen this film, (the other five were probably sitting in the theater with me that day), I guess I should comment on it, just to confirm that it actually exists, or at least existed at one time. When I was 13 years old, I vaguely remember seeing this on a double bill at the Fairfax with Disney's "$1,000,000 Duck." It couldn't have been there for more than a week, if that. I only hazily recall two things about it:

1. There's a scene where a bunch of kids are watching Jack Klugman on television. He is evidently trying to raise money for something or other that has something to do with them.

2. At the time, "The Odd Couple" was a highly rated television series, and I noticed that in this film, he wasn't wearing a toupee like he did on TV.

For the life of me, I cannot recall a single other thing in this movie. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

One look at the box cover, and you pretty much know what you're in for should you decide to rent this film. Lots of moralizing and stilted dialogue that's fairly typical of low budget youth oriented movies of this vintage. Like Leslie Neilsen, Ed Platt's overly serious deadpan delivery would prove to be much more effective when put to comedic purposes nine years later on "Get Smart."

Prolific actor John Saxon broods a lot, and comes across looking like an ersatz Marlon Brando. Luanna Patten, as his romantic interest, is equally as dour. Only the ever reliable Sal Mineo and the then 13-year-old Shelley Fabares seem to be genuinely enjoying themselves. Even when she has to perform such obligatory clichés as screaming "I'll never grow up if you keep treating me like a child!" and then running up to her room and crying, one gets the impression that she's in on the fact that this ain't exactly Shakespear, and is purposely camping it up. Her character is named "Twinkie" for gosh sakes!

Other than that, this film will be of interest to trivia buffs who might be surprised to know that before becomming the well known poet/songwriter, Rod McKuen actually had a brief film career in low budget productions such as this, and even gets to croon a tune while Saxon pretends to strum his guitar...One of the great running gags of this film is the fact that it is so obvious that the activity of his fingers never even remotely resembles the music emanating from his instrument. Sal Mineo, on the other hand, appears to be really playing the drums, A talent he would put to good use a few years later in the "Gene Crupa Story."

I caught this film at an art house in 1978. I only remember three things about it:

1. The catchy tune sung my Mama Cass Elliot over the opening credits.

2. Two flighty females running from one "Peess-Wa" (French for out-house) to another on the streets of Paris.

3. A scene in which one of the two flighty females gets lipstick applied to her nipples.

Also, if I remember correctly, I believe I was probably the only heterosexual in the entire theatre.

What's great about this film, is that it doesn't just show you a series of little fifteen second sound-bites of vintage performances, but lets each clip run it's course, so you get to hear the entire song. Although many of them are obviously lip-synched (most notably "California Girls" from the Bob Hope special), there are enough rarities here to satisfy even the hardest of hard-core fans. The highlight of the movie, for me at least, was "In My Room" with a full orchestral backing from 1963, that must have been Al Jardine's very first filmed performance with the group. If only all musical documentaries were this good!

The problem with this film is that all of the humor is derived from the over-the-top characterizations of all of the familiar players in the Watergate scandal. While Dan Hedaya, Jim Breuer, Dave Foley, Harry Shearer and Saul Rubinek all give funny perfomances, it's difficult not do so when your aiming at targets that are that easy. None of them really has anything amusing to say, and there isn't a single memorable or truly witty line in the whole movie.

Michelle Williams also turns in an appropriately Jan Brady-esque portrait of a typically ditzy American teenager, circa 1973. The real stand-out supporting role, however, is Devon Gummersall's portrayal of Kirsten Dunst's zonked-out hippie older brother. Anyone who was in high school in the early 70's (as I was) probably remembers having at least one wasted pot-head in their class, and his performance hits a bull's-eye!

Watchable, but immediately forgettable afterwards.

The thing I remember most about this series was the fact that George's speaking voice sounded exactly like Frankenberry's, from the Frankenberry/Count Chocula breakfast cereal commercials that were popular at the time...In other words, nothing even remotely resembling the baritone nasal scouse of the real George Harrison. I also seem to recall a couple of occasions where the animators didn't quite get the lead vocalist correct (in one episode, Paul was singing lead on "No Reply"). In spite of all that, the series still managed to be quite entertaining, and was the first place I had ever heard the songs "From Me To You" and "Paperback Writer." I only owned Beatle albums and not singles, and neither of those songs were on any Beatle LPs at the time.

It has been nearly 20 years since I saw this movie at an art-house evening of 60's artifacts. All these years later, there are basically two scenes that somehow stick in my mind. That of Frank Zappa walking his pet cow on the studio backlot, and Davy Jones and Toni Basil doing a boneless soft-shoe to Nilsson's "Daddy's Song."

Perhaps if the Beatles had had talented people like Jack Nicholson, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider working for them a year earlier, "Magical Mystery Tour" would've come out looking something like this, instead of the debacle that it was. Ranks right up there with the best of all of AIP's lava-lamp operas from that period.

As this movie begins, the number "1969" is superimposed at the bottom of the screen, indicating what year it is. The scene ends with the young Cameron Crowe-like character picking through a stack of his sister's records. Included among them is Joni Mitchell's "Blue" album, which in reality, wasn't released until the summer of 1971. An inexcusable mistake in a film that most critics have lauded for it's period authenticity.

There is a scene that takes place about three quarters of the way through this film that is not only one of the ten funniest scenes in the history of movie-making, but probably does even a better job of summing up what the year 1964 was all about than Dr. Strangelove. It involves Christian Juttner, who must confront an evil looking one-eyed barber, and a snake-like pair of electric clippers.

And forget Burt Lancaster & Deborah Kerr on the beach in "From Here To Eternity." For sheer lustful passion, that scene doesn't even come close to Nancy Allen's roll in the hay with Paul McCartney's Hoffner bass.

A flawless masterpiece!

Anyone expecting to see nudity in this film, be forewarned! It's the GHOST that's invisible and not the bikini!

A feather-light musical comedy involving a group of college kids who enter a talent contest at a summer resort. Grazina Frame sings a catchy song called "1st time bitten, 2nd time shy," the Baker twins sing a fluffy piece of nonsense called "Romeo Jones," and Freddie & The Dreamers make an appearance singing "Don't do that to me." Anyone who enjoyed sitting through the likes of "Having a wild weekend" and "Ferry cross the mersey" should enjoy this one as well.

Although I can barely remember a thing about the plot or characters of this short-lived sitcom, for some reason, the melody and lyrics of the theme song are as vivid in my mind today as they were thirty years ago when I last heard them. Which just goes to show you, even the most forgettable of TV programs, can at least produce a memorable tune:

Who owns that fabulous face? The Ugliest Girl In Town........... Who's clothes are setting the pace? The Ugliest Girl In Town....

Since the day she made the scene................................ She's made the cover of every magazine.......................... She's got the whole world in a spin............................. She's so far out, she's in!.....................................

Guys are bustin' to date, The Ugliest Girl In Town.............. Girls are trying to imitate, The Ugliest Girl In Town...........

You Don't have to be a, Mia or Sophia,.......................... This is the year of the clown................................... Be the chickiest, kickiest, Ugliest Girl In Town................

Something very interesting happened in the theatre I was watching this film in during the scene in the middle when the three leading male characters take the fax machine out into a vacant field and trash it. Suddenly, the whole place was filled with the sound of men's laughter, while all of the women in the audience basically just sat there looking puzzled. When the scene was over, I thought about this for a moment, and then the reason for this suddenly occurred to me...I don't think women are quite capable of feeling that kind of anger and rage towards an inanimate object, and probably have a tough time understanding the testosterone surges that cause men to completely lose control like that. Anyway, to make a long story short, I laughed hysterically throughout this whole movie, identifying with virtually every scene, while the woman I saw it with mostly just sat there and shrugged her shoulders. To be fair, I promised her that the next time we went out we'd go see a CHICK movie. I'm not looking forward to that.