Reviews

Wow, after the fifth time the kid (Richie Bridgestone - who grew up to be assistant manager at a Lum's Restaurant) ran around screaming that his Dad was a werewolf, I was hoping grumpy sheriff Robert Wilke would do a Dirty Harry on him: "Did I fire six shots, or only five?" Unfortunately, nobody bites the kid, and he even outlasts his Dad.

Kerwin Matthews plays the Dad and star werewolf. Matthews had a great career playing Sinbad, Gulliver, and various other hero characters in many action films when he was young, in the 1950s and 1960s.

By 1973, Matthews was 47 years old, and he looked like a paunchy middle-aged father of a teenage boy. He lives by himself in a cabing by the woods, and his son comes out to visit for some parenting time. Their first night going for a walk for some bonding, a werewolf attacks and bites Dad before dying.

The rest of the movie features the worst transformations ever, with all the werewolf effects coming from the Party City clearance aisle. The werewolf mask is laughable. I wonder if this was intended for children, or as an "After-School Special?"

Wolfy has perfectly combed hair with blonde streaks in the mostly brown fur. That is so off the rails! Who is his hair-stylist? That should have been the big mystery that Sheriff Wilke solved! "Who does your hair, deary?"

Robert Wilke plays the sheriff, and he is in super-grumpy angry Wilke mode. Back in the 1950s and '60s, he was in tons of Westerns, usually playing a grumpy, mean-spirited villain. Now he is a lot older (69 years old in 1973), and a lot more grumpy and mean. As he tells one bystander at a crime scene: "Have you seen enough? Are you happy now? Get out of here before I give you a citation!"

While the kid's Dad is out and about causing car accidents and murdering a lot of people, his son is busy telling everyone that Dad is a werewolf. Eventually Sheriff Wilke takes him seriously and all hell breaks loose with the final bloody shootout. At that point the annoying boy says "Couldn't you have just waited until morning?" Ta-Da! What a brilliant son for any Dad to be proud of.

The handicapped nerd and his best friend (Jason Lively) are the lead characters. In 1992, the movie Hellmaster copied this formula, but the story there was satanic possession not alien slugs. The Hidden also had alien slugs in 1987, and that was a fun movie too.

The critters originally came to America in 1957, and the first and only infected teenager was put into cryogenic stasis. That lasted until the local fraternity wanted to do a Halloween prank, and the lab tech (David Paymer) let the zombie out of the tube.

From there is just slugs running around the campus, and infected zombies (sluggers) trying to infect more people. It is never clear what the slugs goal is, or what the point of the invasion is. They just go into people and turn them into creeps, and it is up to the good guys to burn them up with a flame thrower. Tom Atkins plays the lead detective, helping Lively and his girlfriend (Jill Whitlow) wipe out the invaders.

There is a fair amount of black humor. Most of it reflects the 1980s era, so it is kind of stale. The pace is pretty fast, so it is an easy movie to enjoy.

This episode is very nice. Randall is asked to protect a deaf mute girl, and she is very sweet, innocent, and wholesome. Her Father (Roy Barcroft) does not explain much, and Randall is just happy to earn some money.

As Randall and the young girl (Carolyn Kearney) get to know each other without words, it is clear that they are making a connection.

Her Father returns, shot by a trio of convicts looking for his share of their loot from a crime they all committed years earlier. Seemed very unreasonable and greedy on their part.

Randall is told to take the daughter and run, but he decides to stay and fight. An excellent shootout occurs between Randall and the three thugs. The twist comes when Carolyn ends up saving Randall's life.

Now how could Randall just walk away? Married to a girl who came through when he needed her, whose Father owed him his life, what could be a better way to start a family? Even if he had not married her, I think that there should have been a second episode with Carolyn Kearney and Randall.

What a rough episode. The lady that inspires two men to kill for her is played by Gloria McGehee, who died in 1964 at the age of 42. In this episode, she looked like she was in her fifties. She had a sour look on her face in every scene.

Her mean hearted husband is played by Larry Ward, who usually played a villain in most roles. Ward almost catches his wife with his friend Larkin, but his wife puts the blame on a passing peddler. Ward immediately tracks the wagon down, and drowns the peddler (as Louie Pheeters watches from under a shrub, where he was sleeping).

Larry Ward's equally shady home-wrecker pal is played by John Larkin, who died in 1965 at the age of 52. Larkin not only betrays Ward by sleeping with Ward's wife, McGehee, but he also plans to kill his friend Ward, and does.

Last but not least is Louie Pheeters, played by James Nusser. Pheeters was the whiny drunk who was always creeping around Dodge asking for free drinks, and drinking the leftovers that were left at the bar.

Ted Jordan also shows up in his usual role as the town gossip that runs around telling Marshal Dillon that something happened.

Marshal Dillon, like usual, shows he is not a very gifted detective. He rides by the sluice where the peddler is floating dead, not once, but twice as he goes to visit Larry Ward at his farm, and returns.

It takes Louie Pheeters riding out the next day with Dillon before he spots the dead body in the water. Then Dillon immediately arrests Pheeters even though based on what Ward told him, he was the last one to see the peddler alive, and the peddler was found dead where Ward said he had warned him to stay away from his wife.

By sheer luck Dillon figures out who killed Ward when he visits Ward's home and finds his wife was having drinks with Larkin. Larkin tips his hand by running off on his horse with Dillon giving chase. The wife gets away scot free, but thanks to her, three men died.

I really enjoy Father Brown. It is a fun series with some good actors and interesting stories. The only negatives are Bunty and Inspector Mallory.

When Inspector Mallory (Jack Deam) replaced Tom Chambers as the main law enforcement, it was like replacing a diet of filet mignon with McDonalds. Just horrible. Jack Deam is not capable of acting or character development. He throws the same hissy fits in every episode, makes the same nasty comments towards Father Brown, and is just plain repulsive.

After several years on this series, Jack Deam has not added any nuances or evolution to his character. He could say the lines slightly differently to show some appreciation for Father Brown, or that he has compassion for people, but he never does.

Bunty is another incredibly annoying character. Her arrogant personality and sarcastic remarks are not something that I have ever seen from a woman character who is set in the 1950s. Bunty ruins every episode as soon as she starts picking on Mrs. McCarthy with her rudeness and arrogance towards her.

Bunty also happens to be several inches taller than literally every character who appears on this show. She hulks over people, and yet her character is written as if she is a dainty little teenager. It makes many scenes with Bunty just totally ridiculous.

I wish that Bunty and Inspector Mallory would both move on. This show needs an inspector who can be professional and treat people with respect, and a supporting character who is written for the 1950s time period that the series is set in. Sid and Lady Felicia were both great when they were on this show.

James Brolin is in this movie about five minutes. Jason Momoa gets around fifteen minutes, and after the kid, he is the main character. Zendaya only shows up in the same vision over and over again, for a total of about five minutes of screen time. Ninety percent of this movie is Paul Atreades (Timothy Chalamet) talking to his mother, played by Jessica Ferguson. "Mommy why am I special." If you enjoy that kind of lame mother-son relationship dialogue, then this movie is for you. I thought it was beyond boring.

There is no action at all until the last thirty minutes. Then it is basically watching how badly the Atreades clan botched everything, and how incompetent they are, and how they get the entire population of a city massacred due to the negligence of their top security man, James Brolin. I can honestly say nothing positive about this movie, except that it was a big waste of time.

I saw this movie on TV when I was a kid, and I had all my GI Joe action figures out with their jeeps and it was a hell of a lot of fun. Most of this movie is pretty much a typical War buddy movie with a couple of action battles, until the end.

This movie sort of builds up to the action packed, gory, gritty, violent ending. Once it has cranked up to the last battles, it goes all out, flame throwers, grenades, artillery, machine guns, hand-to-hand combat, in-your-face action. I cried at the end, but I was just a little kid. This is a great movie. I see it every few years, and it is still brutal.

I got about ten minutes into this episode. Sabrina tells her friends, "Hey thanks for all of you almost dying to put Lucifer in hell. Now I want you to help me bring him back. You may all die, again."

That was it for me. I cannot watch this lunatic character and her non-stop crazy train.

Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver), who never carries a gun or rifle when Marshal Dillon is facing gunslingers, manages to shoot a passing Indian in the back in this episode.

Chester is on vacation to visit his cousin. He stops for a drink of water at a farm, and as soon as he sees Eddie Little Sky, he shoots him in the back. Sky was not even armed.

What makes this even more craven is that Chester always forgets his rifle when Matt Dillon is facing down bad guys. Chester will be standing meekly near Dillon, always unarmed. Just there to call Doc Adams when the gun-fighting is over.

Because Chester shot Little Sky in front of Callie (Jena Engstrom), who was trying to help Little Sky, she forces Chester to take Little Sky into the woods and tend to his gunshot.

Now the odds of anyone just healing up without medical attention are slim and none. Since this is fantasy, Chester takes out the bullet with a pocket knife, and makes it all better.

In spite of Callie fawning all over Little Sky, there is no interest from Little Sky. He also has no interest in befriending Chester. When Little Sky is well enough to ride a horse, he takes Chester's horse, saddle, and rifle, and rides like hell away from Chester.

The horse, saddle, and rifle represent everything Chester owns. The Indian only needed a horse. They usually rode without any saddles. He also did not need a rifle. Giving a rifle to an Indian who was a renegade off his reservation was a federal crime in those days.

The writers for Magnum have no clue what ethical behavior means. In this sleazy episode, Magnum and Higgins engage in a basic conflict of interest when they are hired by opposing clients in a divorce. Even in Hawaii that must be a red flag.

Eventually they go on to try to cover up the involvement of one of their clients in an armed jewelry store robbery. Magnum seems to try to violate every possible law in every episode. This is like watching a crime show from the point of view of the criminals.

Rick finds a dead customer in his bar. Apparently he is so incompetent that before closing up, he and his staff did not walk around the bar & restrooms to check that nobody was still inside. One guy died in the bar, and his dead corpse stayed overnight. I wonder what the hygiene is in a bar like that?

So Rick becomes obsessed with finding the guy's daughter, and telling him the news himself. The coroner is fine with that, because apparently everyone in Hawaii does not follow any laws, rules, or protocol, and they do personal favors for all their buddies.

Eventually Rick finds the woman, Suzy Madison, played by Betsy Phillips. Zachary Knighton and Betsy Phillips appeared together in "The Love Inside" in 2015. Betsy has not seen her Dad in years, and has no interest. Rick is determined to meddle in her life so he can feel good about his own empty life.

Rick finds out her Dad had a houseboat, and he creeps in to check it out, and sees that her Dad had literally dozens of his daughter's paintings that he bought from her online, using a fake name. How touching. Apparently his daughter's paintings suck so bad that nobody else ever bought any of them. Rick has to show Betsy the boat, so she can realize that her Dad was the only person that ever cared about her paintings, and he really loved her (crappy) art. Betsy cries, and Rick feels like a big man.

Finally, we get the big moment when Higgins is supposed to marry TC, and give up her cherry for a green card. They actually have a really marriage & reception set up at a picnic table at a public park for the fake marriage. Hopefully none of the park bums will crash the wonderful event.

Fintan Meyler, who had come from Ireland to become an actress, plays the Mexican girl Chavela, who is being harassed by the same two cowboys on three separate occasions. On their last attempt to seduce Chavela, she runs into the woods and falls and hurts her head. The cowboys had just earlier clubbed her father, played by Simon Oakland, into unconsciousness. So it can be presumed that they had their way with the also unconscious Chavela. They certainly did not run to Doc Adams to get help.

While I tried to like this episode, the first problem was that Fintan Meyler seems to be doing a traditional "Old Country" Italian accent. I had to check the title of the episode, I thought it was Luigi's Daughter, or Giuseppi's Daughter, not Miguel's Daughter. Simon Oakland is pretty bad too. When Dillon asks his name at the beginning of the episode, Oakland responds "MIG- GOO -EL" which means he did not even try to figure out how Spanish people pronounce Miguel, which is MEE-GELLE. It was pretty bad to watch him mis-pronounce his own name.

I loved Simon Oakland in Kolchak, the Night Stalker, but here he gives his character no human dimensions. He just acts like a robot saying several times "I must kill to defend my honor," and similar traditional Old School macho-Father remarks. No doubt he was just reading his lines, but he gave them no human feeling, no Fatherly passion, nothing.

After Miguel & Chavela are attacked for the third time, Dillon takes one of the men into jail. No mention is ever made as to whether or not he went to trial or was convicted, or what his sentence was. The second villain, played by Ed Nelson, gets away, and Matt Dillon can't find him.

After a couple of weeks, Miguel brings the dead body of Nelson to the Marshal's Office. Dillon never asks if the would-be rapist was shot in a gun-fight, or anything else. He just arrests Miguel on the spot. It seems like Miguel should have gotten cut some slack considering that the two cowboys attacked his home, attacked him, and tried to rape his daughter. But Matt Dillon takes the hard line against a minority character. I doubt he would have done the same thing if it had been one of the Anglo town locals. Overall, this episode is pretty bad for a lot of reasons.

At the beginning, the show seemed pretty funny. The situations seemed very unlikely to work unless they were scripted. It seemed more like a Saturday Night Live skits show than a prank show. I had a few laughs.

Unfortunately, the writers started re-using ideas pretty quickly. I have seen about 3-4 variations of the magic cream sales show. Even the main actors seem to have trouble laughing and acting like the shock ending is a surprise. The victims are all now recognizing that they are on "Fameless" which seems very unlikely considering that this show is usually on at 3 in the morning, and I am guessing the audience rating is just over zero.

If you can get the first season, I thought it had a few funny moments.