Allegedly Barabbas was a thief and murderer, but I never saw him do more than get wasted, try to hump women and burn Rome down. I guess he did kill a few guys, but this was the ancient world and people would run into your spear all the time then. Continue reading “Barabbas (1961)”
Category: 1960s
Superargo vs. Diabolicus (1966)
Even though I never deciphered what a Superargo was, I marvelled at both the genius of the idea as well as the flawless execution of it. What if you were to take a masked wrestler who was the very best at what he does (wrestle and stuff) and make him a secret agent?
And what if he had to foil a madman bent on world domination? And what if this wrestler had to take on an entire island lair of henchmen to save his girlfriend before the madman can blow the island up and escape in his rocket? And what if this wrestler was the heavyweight champion of the world?
And most importantly of all, would defeating this madman and causing his secret hideout to not only explode, but to sink straightaway into the sea count as one of his mandatory title defenses? Continue reading “Superargo vs. Diabolicus (1966)”
She Freak (1967)
A surprisingly unremarkable movie in all aspects, especially considering its subject matter, She Freak pointlessly updates Tod Browning’s Freaks by adding a twenty minute prologue detailing star Claire Brennen’s (Jade) unhappiness at her job in a small town diner. I don’t know about anyone else, but I paid my two bits to see pinheads, geeks, fat ladies, strongmen, and seal boys, not to watch Jade rebuff the greasy tub of a boss she has before running off to the join the carnival. Continue reading “She Freak (1967)”
Giant of the Evil Island (1965)
Giant of the Evil Island promises us so much. Like a giant. And an evil island. And director Piero Pierotti (Hercules Against Rome) delivers exactly all of it! Now you may need to be a bit flexible on your definition of what a giant is since the pirate Malek appears to be of normal size, though admittedly stocky enough that a little kid might think he was giant. But there’s no doubting the presence of an evil island since Piero has the good sense to actually name Malek’s island hideout as Evil Island! Continue reading “Giant of the Evil Island (1965)”
Hell’s Belles (1969)
This is the movie where Jeremy Slate finally puts it all together! At last, Jeremy Slate unleashed and untamed, riding roughshod all over the desert southwest in search of his stolen motorbike, a taciturn biker-cowboy who lives by his own code! And who loves on his own terms!
The promise he showed in the laughable Hell’s Angels propaganda movie, Hell’s Angels ’69 comes to fruition with his steady and steely performance in Hell’s Belles as he’s freed of his dopey sidekick Tom Stern as well as the even dopier story from that flimsy film. Continue reading “Hell’s Belles (1969)”
The Mooncussers (1962)
The problem with The Mooncussers is that it manages to steal copiously from Treasure Island which isn’t really an awful thing to do since that was a great Disney movie and I’ve always said that if you’re going to steal, you should steal from pirates because it isn’t their crap to begin with.
It’s just that if you’re going to re-use the entire “pirate pretending to be good guy actually deep down has a soft spot for the kid” gimmick, your pirate should be convincing in being a pal to this kid and the kid probably shouldn’t be wearing a red silk shirt for a good portion of the movie. Continue reading “The Mooncussers (1962)”
The Sea Pirate (1966)
Other than Long John Silver, Johnny Depp, and Willie Stargell, Robert Surcouf is one of our greatest and favorite pirates who ever sailed the seven seas or played left field. As befitting a man of such stature that I hadn’t heard of him until this movie, The Sea Pirate is not exactly the high profile vehicle these other pirates enjoyed (Treasure Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, the 1979 World Series), but that doesn’t mean his story isn’t worthy of an obscure mid 1960s Italian swashbuckler! It means that he’s deserving of two such films! But it also means that the second film, Il grande colpo di Surcouf has no known English release. Continue reading “The Sea Pirate (1966)”