MOVIE CAPSULES

Q - Z

Queen Of Outer Space (1958) The old 'astronauts land on planet of beautiful women' routine. Starring Eric Fleming, Laurie Mitchell and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Director Edward Bernds was a veteran of Three Stooges films. Uses leftover sets and costumes from assorted sci-fi movies. See how many you can spot.

Rancho Deluxe (1975) Droll contemporary western comedy of low-key cattle rustlers. Has a sleepily sardonic post-Vietnam / Watergate sensibility. Scripted by Thomas McGuane (92 In The Shade). Stars Jeff Bridges, Sam Waterston, Slim Pickens (Major Kong), Elizabeth Ashley, Harry Dean Stanton and Patti D'Arbanville.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955) The movie that made James Dean an icon. Directed by Nicholas Ray, also starring Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. Watch for Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III), young Dennis Hopper and not-so-young Edward Platt (the Chief on Get Smart).

Red Line 7000 (1965) Hollywood looks at stock car racing with its usual 'tough men and the women who love them' angle. Skids and soap. Lots of rear screen projection racing scenes. Most surreal element is George Takei playing a NASCAR crew chief. It's also interesting how everyone seems to live in the same Holiday Inn. But it does have some genuine racing footage and lots of mid-60's atmosphere. Also some fun musical numbers and a generic rock instrumental that pops out whenever anyone turns on a radio or record player. Directed by Howard Hawks.

Repo Man (1984) One of the best movies to come out of the original punk rock years, this takes sci-fi comedy, workaday grit and the goofier side of film noir, throws 'em all into a blender and pours it onto a platter of punk tunes. The instrumental score contributions by The Plugz are excellent. Directed by Alex Cox and featuring Emilio Estevez (his finest moment), Harry Dean Stanton, Fox Harris, Tracey Walter, Sy Richardson, Olivia Barash, Vonetta McGee and a '64 Chevy Malibu.

Repulsion (1965) Roman Polanski directs Catherine Deneuve as a withdrawn young woman who doesn't cope well at all when left alone in her sister's apartment. Full of slow-building dread and disrupting hallucinations. Excellent cinematography.

Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962) Anthony Quinn gives a devastating and devastated performance as a washed-up boxer in this film adapted by Rod Serling from his original teleplay. The cast also features Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris and young Cassius Clay / Muhammad Ali.

The Return Of Dr. X (1939) I'm guessing this is your only chance to see Humphrey Bogart as a blood craving, bunny cuddling, b-movie monster: the 'back from the dead' Dr. Xavier. Other players include Rosemary Lane, John Litel, Dennis Morgan, Creighton Hale and the one and only, Huntz Hall.

Revenge Of The Creature (1955) The first sequel to The Creature From The Black Lagoon. The hapless Creature is captured again and hauled back to a Florida Marineland dive by John Agar. Agar and John Bromfield study the specimen by chaining him up and applying cattle prods. The poor mug falls for Lori Nelson, and eventually the inevitable breakout and kidnapping occur. Crusty boat captain, Nestor Paiva, makes a brief reappearance; Clint Eastwood makes his first film appearance as a lab technician with a little mousy pal. Another case history of incompetent science.

Rock Around The Clock (1956) The untrue story of Bill Haley and The Comets. Once again, a doughy, middle-aged manager gets the credit for rock 'n' roll (plus, he's a jailbait chaser). But the bizarre music biz antics are balanced by some cool tunes and hep dancing. With the Platters, Tony Martinez and Freddie Bell and His Bellboys.

Rock Rock Rock! (1956) Really young Tuesday Weld is a rock-crazed teen obsessed with getting a special evening dress for the prom to keep her crooning boyfriend, Teddy Randazzo, from straying. Plot takes a strange turn to banking regulations and contractual law. Woven around this is the deus ex machina presence of Alan Freed and cool appearances by Chuck Berry, The Flamingos, Frankie Lyman and The Teenagers, The Moonglows, LaVern Baker and the smokin' Johnny Burnette Trio. Tuesday's songs are ghosted by Connie Francis.

Safari 3000 (1982) The second non-sequel drained from the crankcase of Death Race 2000. Stars David Carradine, Stockard Channing and Christopher Lee.

Scared To Death (1947) Bela Lugosi stars in a poverty row horror wherein a dead woman tells the story of how she got into that condition. Bela plays a hypnotist, with Angelo Rossitto (Freaks) as his assistant. George Zucco plays the putative villain. Unusual in that it's in color... and even for poverty row, this is a very disjointed film.

Scared Stiff (1953) A horror/comedy starring Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. Actually a remake of Bob Hope's The Ghost Breakers (1940). If Jerry's mugging gets on your nerves, watch it for the one and only Carmen Miranda. She's not the female lead, but she does have a secondary role, and gets in some fun musical numbers.

Seconds (1966) A bored, aging businessman (John Randolph) pays a mysterious corporation to transform him into a new, younger man (Rock Hudson). He moves to California to be an artist, but complications ensue. Interesting subtext content, especially considering the real-life double-life Rock was living. Directed by John Frankenheimer. With Salome Jens, Will Geer (The Waltons), Richard Anderson and Jeff Corey.

The Serpent and The Rainbow (1988) Anthropologist investigates voodoo and zombies in Haiti on a pharmacological basis. Based on a non-fiction book by Wade Davis. Includes voice-over work by avant vocalist, Diamanda Galas.

Les 7 Péchés Capitaux (1961) Aka: 7 Capital Sins. A multi-director anthology film, as was somewhat in vogue in the 60s. Jean-Luc Godard, Roger Vadim, Sylvaine Dhomme, Edouard Molinaro, Philippe De Broca, Claude Chabrol and Jacques Demy each direct a segment based on one of the seven deadly sins. Godard's take on sloth, starring Eddie Constantine 'as himself' is a terrific hoot, and features a surreally languid Hawaiian guitar soundtrack.

The Seventh Seal (1956) Max von Sydow plays chess with Death in this classic Ingmar Bergman film.

The Seven Year Itch (1955) Billy Wilder adapts George Axelrod's (The Manchurian Candidate, Lord Love A Duck) Broadway play. Manhattan white collar worker, Tom Ewell gets the whim whams over his new upstairs neighbor, Marilyn Monroe. Well, wouldn't you? Plenty of 50's atmosphere that may not be true-to-life, but has its charms.

She (1964) Hammer's version of the H. Rider Haggard story about an immortal queen who rules a lost city. Stars Ursula Andress, John Richardson and the requisite Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (those two really should have been cast in a version of The Odd Couple at some point).

Sherlock Jr. (1924) Compact silent feature directed by and starring Buster Keaton as a movie projectionist who enters the movie screen and gets mixed up in a detective story. With Kathryn McGuire, Ward Crane.

Smiles Of A Summer Night (1955) One of Ingmar Bergman's earlier, funnier films. Charming late 19th century sex farce set at a country estate. Major source material for Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy.

The Space Children (1958) An alien in a cave controls children telepathically to sabotage nuclear experiments. Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester) and Russell Johnson (The Professor) co-star.

Spartacus (1960) Kirk Douglas stars as rebel slave, Spartacus, in this state-of-the-art, wide-screen, swords 'n' sandals epic directed by Stanley Kubrick. Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, score by Alex North. Also starring Laurence Olivier, Tony Curtis, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Nina Foch, Herbert Lom and Joanna Barnes.

Spellbound (1945) A Freudian thriller from Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. This is the one with the Salvador Dali designed dream sequences. The score by Miklós Rózsa includes the ever-popular theremin.

Split Second (1953) A sneering convict-on-the-run and his cohorts hold hostages in a Nevada ghost town that's about to be blasted to smithereens in an A-bomb test. That ol' A-bomb doesn't scare him -- he's too busy flirting with the tough-talkin' dame hostages and waving his pistol around. And sneering. With Stephen McNally, Frank DeKova, Paul Kelly, Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling, Keith Andes and Richard Egan.

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1964) Richard Burton is so world-weary it hurts to watch in this de-glammed cold war spy study. Damp, dreary and brilliant.

Tales Of Terror (1962) A horror anthology -- another of AIP's Price/Poe diversions. The first segment features VP as a father with a dead wife, dying daughter and a heck of a dysfunctional situation. Second segment co-stars Peter Lorre in a comedy tale with VP going over the top as a prissy champion wine taster. Basil Rathbone co-stars in the last story as a hypnotist who keeps VP alive after he dies, or something like that. It all comes to a messy end.

Teenage Caveman (1958) Standard AIP number starring young Robert Vaughn as a... well, no getting around it -- a teenage caveman. With a 1950s haircut (where'd he get the Brylcreem?). His tribe has a bunch of tedious rules and he just can't stay out of trouble. Includes a deep surprise ending.

Teenage Devil Dolls (1952) Gritty zero-budget J.D. scare film depicting a teenage girl's descent into the drug underworld. Shot without live sound, story told mostly in voice-over by the cop in charge of her case. Probably a bit of influence from the Dragnet radio show there. Nice score by Robert Drasnin, including theremin (or something similar) for the drug scenes.

They Live! (1988) John Carpenter's 80's protest movie, in which right-wing yuppies turn out to be aliens who run the world. A droll little yarn with some nice details -- love those subliminal messages.

They Won't Believe Me (1947) Robert Young plays a weaselly philanderer who gets himself into a deadly jam. Jane Greer, Susan Hayward and Rita Johnson play the women he three-times.

The Thief Of Bagdad (1940) Guided through a long and troubled production by Alexander Korda, this is one of the finest fantasy films ever made. Sabu (as Abu the Thief) saves his nebishy pal, Prince Ahmad, from death -- several times -- helps Ahmad romance the Princess of Basra and even deals with the evil Vizier Jaffar (Conrad Veidt, who played Cesare in the original Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari). Fine score by Miklós Rózsa, hallucinatory set designs and shot in that dream-like early Technicolor. Pure exotica.

The Thing From Another World (1951) Produced by Howard Hawks and directed by Christian Nyby, this is a terrific sci-fi adventure detailing the trouble that results when an Arctic research team discovers and thaws out a frozen alien. Fast pacing and smart, snappy (sometimes overlapping) dialog make this one a cool breeze. Stars Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite and James Arness as The Beaver, er, The Thing. Effective score by Dmitri Tiomkin. "Keep watching the skies!"

13 Ghosts (1960) Another spook show from William Castle. This one came out with the Illusion-O gimmick, with ghost viewer glasses that let you see the ghosts. Or not see them -- your choice. A classic spook show, as Donald Woods' financially-challenged family moves into a haunted house they've suddenly inherited. Gotta love the kids' names: Medea and Buck. Margaret Hamilton plays the spooky maid. Also with Martin Milner as a smug lawyer.

This Island Earth (1954) Square-jawed scientist Rex Reason stumbles onto a really neat mail order catalog of electronic parts and soon finds himself drawn into a think tank operated by high-domed aliens. Faith Domergue co-stars as the female scientist, along with Jeff Morrow as the polite alien. Fun fact to know: To avoid underwear lines showing through her silver 'outer space' jumpsuit, Ms. Domergue went without. Directed in color by Joseph Newman.

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) Rob Reiner's improvised satire of the heavy metal tour biz. This imaginary bad band actually turned out to be the most influential band of the 80's.

Thunderball (1965) The gimmicks are beginning to get out of control in this, the fourth Bond film. But Sean Connery is still on the job, along with Claudine Auger (Domino), Luciana Paluzzi (Fiona) and Adolfo Celi (chief villain, Largo). Large doses of underwater action in this one. Score by John Barry. Theme song delivered with conviction by the only man for the job, Tom Jones.

THX 1138 (1971) From early in George Lucas' career comes this future bummer sci-fi story, as was in vogue at the time. Lucas still hadn't seized on the cross-marketing concept he would later exploit so thoroughly. Somehow I can't see Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence bald action figures doing nearly as well as wookies and ewoks. Bleak story with some dry humor and very effective art direction and design. Fine Lalo Schifrin score includes snatches of percussion-dominated future music. Wish there was more of that.

Tobor The Great (1954) Elderly scientist builds a brawny robot intended for space travel in his secret basement laboratory. His grandson hangs out and makes friends with Tobor ("Robot" spelled backwards!). Evil spies try to steal the technology. You can probably see where this is headed, but I find it all very disarming in a 'nostalgia for the future that never arrived' kind of way. Laugh if you want, but the ending always makes me a little misty-eyed. What can I say? For some people it's Lassie. For some it's Bambi. For me, it's Tobor!

Tristana (1970) A film by the incomparable Luis Bunuel. Catherine Deneuve plays a young woman summoned to live with aging fop guardian, Fernando Rey, after the death of her mother. Rey is smitten with her, and takes unfair adavantage of the situation, but conflict arrives with Franco Nero as a young artist. There are additional twists of character and some extreme surgery before things arrive at an uncomforting end. More grounded than some of Bunuel's films, but still with disturbing dreams and occasional obsessional imagery.

Twist All Night (1961) Aka: The Continental Twist. Louis Prima, Sam Butera and The Witnesses star in a twist-ploitation film. Sadly, no Keely Smith (she and Louis had divorced not long before), but June Wilkinson plays Louis' girlfriend. And lemme tell ya... June doing the twist in her strapless, push-up dress is an architectural wonder. Plotwise, Louis is trying to keep his nightclub open despite the shady dealings of the evil art dealer upstairs. A nice helping of musical numbers -- and a few of them seem to be genuinely live rather than lip-synced!

Twist Around The Clock (1961) A remake of Rock Around The Clock, reworked to exploit the twist craze. See the entry for the earlier film and substitute the twist for rock 'n' roll (strangely, the perspective of this film is that they are two totally different forms of music!!) and Chubby Checker for Bill Haley. Plus The Marcels and Dion, who does not twist, but wanders.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick's futuristic quest into the nature of humanity still packs a helluva wallop thirty years later. Cool furniture too. Very stylized -- sometimes attacked as sterile, though I think that misses the intent. A pure film experience -- just sit back and let it wash over you. Definitely hold out for wide-screen format and accept no imitations or sequels. Oh, right -- a capsule. Humanity evolves, de-bugs a computer glitch and evolves some more.

The Unearthly (1957) John Carradine does his thing as only he can, playing a mad scientist trying to find the secret of eternal youth. Tor Johnson plays an unfortunate patient who now serves as a servant. In a weaker role than usual, Allison Hayes is a potential victim. In the tradition of pre-war poverty row horrors.

The Unholy Three (1925) Directed by Tod Browning (Dracula, Freaks), this stars Lon Chaney as a sideshow ventriloquist, who along with a midget (Harry Earles, also in Freaks) and a strongman (Victor McLaglen), operates a crime ring.

The Unknown (1927) Vintage weirdness from director Tod Browning (Dracula, Freaks), starring Lon Chaney as circus star, Alonzo the Armless Wonder. Or is he? Young Joan Crawford is the female lead, Estrelita, who has a hand phobia. Also with Lon's strongman rival, Norman Kerry, and Lon's dwarf crony, Cojo.

Vice Raid (1959) Another forgotten gem from the B-meister, Edward L. Cahn. Mamie Van Doren is a professional 'escort' assigned the task of framing a straight-arrow cop who's been making a nuisance of himself with the big boys. The plans go smoothly at first, but soon begin to fray -- this cop's not yer average patsy. And when her sweet little sister blows into the big city, trouble lies ahead.

Vice Squad (1953) A day-in-the-life police procedural starring Edward G. Robinson as a vice squad captain trying to prevent a bank heist while dealing with a number of other sometimes related cases. Just another day in LA, with lots of men in hats. Paulette Goddard has a small role as the operator of a 'classy' escort service. Also watch for a young Lee Van Cleef as one of the bank jobbers.

The Virgin Spring (1959) Ingmar Bergman's medieval precursor to Last House On The Left.

Vivre Sa Vie (1963) Aka: My Life To Live. Jean-Luc Godard directs his then-wife, Anna Karina as a record shop clerk with ambitions of becoming an actress, who becomes an unapologetic prostitute instead. Divided into 12 chapters, and no sentiment included.

The Walking Dead (1936) Boris Karloff stars as a poor schlub set up by fatcat mobsters to take the fall for one of their murders. He fries in the chair, but is brought back to life by a doctor experimenting with an artificial heart. Paybacks are hell.

Weekend (1967) Far out, far left social satire from Jean-Luc Godard. It starts off seeming like it might merely be moderately twisted, but within twenty minutes, one realizes that this movie is playing by its own rules. Except it doesn't have any. With massive vehicular mayhem, a piano recital with running commentary, characters that realize they're in a movie, a singing phone call and plentiful gunfire. A blast, by any meaning of the word. The movie that deconstructs itself.

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Liz and Dick go at it hammer and tongs while George Segal and Sandy Dennis look on. "Don't talk about our son, Martha!" Directed by Mike Nichols, shot by Haskell Wexler.

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) Another media satire from Frank Tashlin. Something of a companion piece to The Girl Can't Help It, except this time it's Tony Randall getting all flustered over Jayne Mansfield. No music stars in this one, but there are some nice TV ad parodies in the opening credits. With Mickey Hargitay, Joan Blondell, Betsy Drake, John Williams, Henry Jones and lots of booze and boob jokes. Sort of loses its way by the end. Chicken farmers?!?

Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory (1971) A somewhat twisted children's fantasy movie. Some of the musical numbers are a bit gooey, but Gene Wilder's twitchy performance puts a nice spin on the proceedings. Keep an ear out for the things he mutters under his breath.

The Witchmaker (1969) Aka: Legend Of Witch Hollow. Sleazy occult adventure with an evil coven running amok in the Louisiana swamps. Featuring Alvy Moore (Mr. Kimball from Green Acres!) as a college professor trying to put a stop to it. With several Playboy playmates and that late-60s plot staple -- ESP.

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) A strange, hallucinatory fantasy with musical numbers. That something this odd can become a staple of mainstream culture just goes to show you that it must tap into the collective unconsciousness in some powerful ways. A materialization of Great Depression anxieties? It makes a nice double-bill with Zardoz.

The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm (1962) Produced by George Pal, this combines his Puppetoons with live action. The story combines biography of the Brothers Grimm with three of their fairy tales. Laurence Harvey (The Manchurian Candidate) and Karl Boehm (Peeping Tom) play the Brothers. Other live talent includes Russ Tamblyn, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Backus, Claire Bloom, Walter Slezak, Barbara Eden, Arnold Stang, Terry-Thomas and Buddy Hackett.

Wrestling Women Vs. The Aztec Mummy (1964) Aka: Las Luchadoras contra la Momia. The second entry in Rene Cardona's Las Luchadoras series. Lorena Velazquez and Elizabeth Campbell star in a complicated tale of tomb robbing, revenge from the dead, Asian gangsters and mad science. And wrestling! Don't forget the wrestling.

X - The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963) Ray Milland stars as a doctor who develops eye drops that enable x-ray vision. The usual battle with stodgy peers ensues, but not before we get a (discreet) peep show party scene. Trouble is, the x-ray vision keeps getting stronger and he can't make it stop! Actually a rather bleak and bleary little flick -- one of Roger Corman's more original efforts. With Diana Van Der Vlis and Don Rickles in a non-comic heavy role.

X The Unknown (1956) Radioactive goo bubbles up from the earth's core and makes trouble for the usual scientific/military team. A fine example of the British approach to 50's sci-fi. Cast includes the inimitable Leo McKern.

You Only Live Twice (1967) The fifth official 007 film. James Bond (Sean Connery, natch) goes to Japan in this edition, where he fakes his death (thus the title) to get to the bottom of Spectre's latest scheme. Scripted by Roald Dahl. With Donald Pleasance, Tetsuro Tamba, Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi (both vets of Kagi No Kag, source film for What's Up, Tiger Lily?). Extra cool theme song performed by Nancy Sinatra (music by John Barry, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse).

Zabriskie Point (1970) Michelangelo Antonioni directs this existential counterculture movie from the tail end of the 60's. It spends some time wandering in the desert, but nevertheless manages to come up with a big finish. Plenty of psychedelic mood music by the likes of Pink Floyd.

Zardoz (1974) Wonderfully unique future-weirdness film written and directed by John Boorman. Sean Connery, sporting a big mustache and long ponytail, plays a barbaric Exterminator who infiltrates the Vortex domain of the Immortals. More complicated than that makes it sound, with a lot of original (and funny) ideas thrown at us. Also stars Charlotte Rampling and John Alderton. Great fun, and Connery's always cool.

Zombies On Broadway (1945) Second string comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney play bumbling NY press agents sent to the Caribbean to find real zombies for a nightclub floorshow. Not only do they find real zombies, but also the one and only Bela Lugosi. Things take a bizarre turn when Brown is zombified himself, and no one really seems to care. Freaky.

Descriptions © 1998 to 2001 M.Ace