Page for May 10 - 16, 2008.
(Banner by Chris Casey)
The purpose of this page is to find others with a shared interest
in these kinds of movies, and to keep me from getting that "No new
messages" response when I check my email. So, please
drop me a line
with comments or questions about
Italian and Spanish action movies,
or Martial Arts fight flicks.
William Connolly
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Ah, me...
After 26 years, I now have to work up a resume as my job has been "elimintated".
If anyone knows of a good working opportunity, preferably in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles,
please drop me a line.
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Contents: Trivia Game (below),
Recent Viewings (below),
Unanswered Questions and Requests,
Stuff For Sale or Trade - *New Stuff Added*,
Stuff I'm Looking For,
Some of my favorite films,
and Links.
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A collector is looking for PAL speed (25 fps) English language DVDs or VHS of the following
titles
(Not PAL converted from NTSC copies):
SONNY AND JED
THE MIGHTY KHAN
GIANTS OF THESSALY
VALLEY OF THE RESOUNDING ECHO
RAPE OF THE SABINES
REVOLT OF THE GLADIATORS
THE TARTARS
ATLAS AGAINST THE TSAR
SECRET MARK OF D'ARTAGNAN
If you have copies of these, please
drop me a line.
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Brain Teasers:
In which Italian film can Gordon Mitchell be seen conducting a Catholic Mass?
No one has answered this one yet.
Can you name a movie inwhich Sal Borgese co-stars with a dog?
No one has answered this question yet.
Which actress reportedly began her career in a Fellini film and a Visconti film before doing an Italian Western and eventually making films for Troma?
No one has answered this question yet.
Can you name an actress who appeared in 7 Westerns and who was born in Almeria, Spain?
Mike Eustace and Rick Garibaldi knew that it was Nieves Navarro, aka Susan Scott.
Which Western reuses the instrumental version of TEXAS GOODBYE for its closing credits?
No one has answered this question yet.
Can you name an Italian actress who has only made a Western with an English director?
Mike Eustace knew that it was Rosanna Schiaffino of A MAN CALLED NOON, directed by Peter Collinson.
Who is Hong Kong's "Sixty Million Dollar Man"?
No one has answered this question yet.
And now for some new brain teasers:
In what movie does Richard Harrison turn into a green scaly monster and then is shot to death by Gordon Mitchell?
In what movie does Richard Harrison, Gordon Mitchell and two Turkish actors enact an "out-stretched arm in the middle" gesture again and again?
Which movie starring Richard Harrison and Gordon Mitchell is an uncredited remake of BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK?
What movie featuring Tommy Sands has special effects by the fellow who also did Godzilla movies?
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Name the movies from which these images come.
Maria Veneziani and Mike Eustace recognized last week's photo of Tony Anthony in GET MEAN.
Above is a new photo. Can you name from what movie it came?
Above is a new photo. Can you name from what movie it came?
No one identified the above frame grab.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Issue #77 of SPAGHETTI CINEMA is now available.
In it, Mike Eustace continues his essay on Sword and Sandal flicks, "Nights of Pleasure...
Days of Strife", with a look at "The Monsters of Hercules".
James Chaney concludes his translation of the interviews conducted by Franca Faldini and Goffredo Fofi
with Italian Western directors Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Duccio Tessari and many others.
Finally, Mickey Hargitay is memorialized in two articles. First is an interview by Gerard Dessere conducted in 2002. And then there is a brief biography with filmography.
SPAGHETTI CINEMA
A 50 page photocopy journal investigating Italian and Spanish
popular cinema, S.C. began publication in 1984 and continues
to come out as often as possible.
From Hercules to The Man With No Name; from I VAMPIRI to CEMETARY MAN
- S.C. offers research and opinion on the kinds of movies
which excited us as children and continues to fascinate under
more mature scrutiny.
For a list of back issues and ordering information
click here.
Trivia questions welcomed!
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
M.A.M.A. #54 is now available with Michael Reid's exhaustive listing of movies, TV and anime
based on the Shinsengumi; including THE LAST SAMURAI, GOHATTO, Samurai X, THE MAN WHO KILLED
RYOMA, TENGU TO, BAND OF ASSASSINS and ASSASSINATION. Mike Eustace also continues to comment
on recent Celestial DVD releases of old Shaw Brothers movies.
For ordering information, click on "drop me a line" below.
MARTIAL ARTS MOVIE ASSOCIATES
A 20 page photocopy journal investigating Asian action films, M.A.M.A. began publication in 1985.
For a list of back issues and ordering information
click here.
Trivia questions welcomed.
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I would be interested in knowing what movies you are watching and what you are
enjoying or not. So please drop me a line
if you'd like to share. Here's what I watched last week:
Highly enjoyed:
SOUL MUSIC by Terry Pratchett - This Discworld novel actually comes before HOGFATHER, and one of the pleasures of reading it aloud to my wife is feeling that the TV production of the later novel personified the characters perfectly. We can easily visualize those actors in this story. Unfortunately, doing a TV movie of this book now would probably rule out Michelle Dockery getting to play Susan again as the character is a teenager here.
Enjoyed:
John Adams #3 "Don't Tread On Me"
John Adams #4 "Reunion" - Ah, finally the appearance of Sarah Polley.
Lexx 2.9 "791" - An episode directed by Jörg Buttgereit, the guy who directed NEKROMANTIK. More Amy Kerr please!
TO PLAY THE KING - Not as entertaining as HOUSE OF CARDS, but still fun.
THE FINAL CUT - The nudity that Isla Blair didn't do for Hammer, she's made up for with the BBC.
Mildly enjoyed:
Bones #56 "The Verdict In the Story"
House #84 "Living the Dream"
Scrubs #150 "My Princess" - Well, now that NBC has cancelled this, Countdown with Keith Olbermann is the only GE production in which I have an interest.
Women's Murder Club #12 "And the Truth Will (Sometimes) Set You Free"
MGM When the Lion Roared
Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio
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Mike Eustace wrote,
"I got round to watching 14 AMAZONS again last nght, which you mentioned some weeks ago on your web page. It's a goofy film with lots of mad things happening, like the human bridge, and stealing the grain with sharpened bamboo canes. Plus Lily Ho playing a young boy when her tits are clearly bigger than anyone else's. I also had trouble with the pompous attitude of the gentry towards servants: When Shu Pei Pei comes back after stealing the grain, she apologises for doing so, because it was against orders. So Grandma is quite prepared to have her beheaded for disobedience, and Shu Pei Pei is quite understanding about it, despite the fact that she's just saved everyone's life. The only reason it doesn't happen is that Lily Ho says that she helped her steal the grain too, so her being family, Grandma reluctantly decides that if she executes Shu Pei Pei, she'll have to execute Lily Ho too.
"Apart from that, the massed battles and martial arts activity is excellent.
"Anyway, the killer fact that I'm about to reveal occurs in the sequence where the dam breaks and the flood engulfs the bad guys. During that sequence, there are two shots of horsemen falling backwards down the cliff. Those shots have been borrowed from TARAS BULBA.
It was the particular colour of the uniforms and the saddle-blankets that alerted me, so I went back and step-framed, and sure enough there are the Polish Knights with their shiny breastplates and plumed hats falling backwards off their horses.
"Funny old World, ain't it ?"
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