Pippi in the South Seas

Pippi in the South Seas
September 1, 1975
Beta/ G. G. Communications Inc. (dubbed American version)
Children's, Comedy, Fantasy, Action
DVD
B

This has only the title in common with the book, but I actually think the story of Pippi rescuing her papa from pirates works much better than the visit to the island where he's a cannibal king.  (The '70s were still somewhat pre-p.c., but I wonder if the racial stereotypes in print explain the changes for the big screen.)  The journey to the South Seas is probably my favorite part, especially with the flying machines Pippi improvises, first a balloon bed (heck, I want one of those even as an adult) and then a Gilligan's-Island-like bike-powered airplane.  Things slow down a bit once they arrive on the pirate island, but I like the wry humor (some of which is due to translation), like the way that the pirates talk about the raft-building book, and their childlike behavior.  As noted earlier, Beppe Wolgers has quite a few scenes in this one, and it's fun to watch him play mind games with his captors, but I would've liked to have seen him show more strength and bravery, while still having Pippi rescue him.

This is probably Pippi at her most awesome, still kind and generous, but even braver and more innovative.  Sometimes she fights pirates (with a sword, a mop, whatever's handy), and sometimes she outsmarts them. She sings not just her theme song but also a couple pirate ditties, which are dubbed nicely.

Tommy, Annika, and Mr. Nilsson are along for the ride, but none of them get much to do compared to Pippi.  (The horse stays at home, probably too heavy for the balloon.)  Annika whines more than usual ("I don't think Mommy will like this"), but then she has more reason than usual, and she nonetheless goes along with the adventures.  And the whining is funny (especially with her nasal accent, like she's Arnold Stang's daughter), so I didn't mind.

Because of the plot and change in setting, most of the villagers from the earlier films are missing.  Staffan Hallerstam, formerly Benke the bully, plays Marko, with his blond hair dyed black.  Fredrik Ohlsson and Öllegård Wellton do appear briefly as Annika and Tommy's parents, but they're going on a three-week vacation, leaving the kids in Pippi's custody.  Ah, the carefree '70s!

Pippi Goes on Board

Pippi Goes on Board
August 1975
Beta/ G. G. Communications Inc. (for American dubbed version)
Children's, Comedy, Fantasy
DVD
C+

Even as a child, I found this the most forgettable of the four Pippi movies.  It has neither the freshness of the first movie nor the adventure of the last two.  There's even less of a plot than before, but on the other hand there's too much of the cops (Göthe Grefbo and Ulf G. Johnsson) and robbers (Hans Clarin and Paul Esser).  Still, I like that this is where the New York kids started dubbing Pippi, Tommy, and Annika, which added to the fun for this '70s California kid.  (Annika's accent is especially strong.)  And again, the nature scenes are nice, with the friends this time getting "shipwrecked" for a day or two.

Among the other returning Pippi regulars are Fredrik Ohlsson and Öllegård Wellton as Tommy and Annika's parents, Margot Trooger as Miss Pruselius (the spelling varies), Siv Ericks as the candy shop owner, and Staffan Hallerstam as Benke (but he doesn't bully anyone this time).  Beppe Wolgers appears only in the opening flashback, which is the closest Pippi gets to actually going on board.

Love and Death

Love and Death
June 10, 1975
United Artists
Comedy, Historical
VHS
C+

I remembered this film as funnier than I found it this time.  Some of the jokes fall flat, but oddly enough it's not bad as a pastiche of 19th-century Russian novels (with a few dashes of Ingmar Bergman).  I thought the best performance was given by Harold Gould, then 51, who was probably best known at the time for playing Rhoda Morgenstern's father on TV.  As in Sleeper, Woody and Diane plot an assassination, this time Napoleon's.

Norman Rose, who's the voice of Death, did an unidentified voice in Pinocchio in Outer Space and would be a radio voice in Radio Days.  (No, no one personifites Love.)

Escape to Witch Mountain

Escape to Witch Mountain
March 21, 1975
Disney
Children's, Sci-Fi, Mystery
DVD
B+

This is the oldest movie I own that I saw on first release, although I bought the DVD recently.  I hadn't watched the film in over 30 years, but I remembered loving it as a kid and there was something haunting about it (pun not quite intended).  Watching it again, I could see why I was so enthralled.  I don't quite love it now, but it's still very, very appealing.  Some of the appeal then and now:

• Twelve-year-old Ike Eisenmann and ten-year-old Kim Richards, as Tony and Tia "Malone," are convincing both as siblings and as believable kids with unbelievable powers.
• There's what I call the Harry Potter Fantasy, not the magic so much as the myth that the main characters may be unhappy, orphaned, and picked on by bullies, but their specialness will be recognized and they'll find a society where they're not only accepted but warmly welcomed.  
• The magic is pretty cool though, and the sort of thing that kids (especially younger kids, like seven-year-old me) would want to do or at least see, like the dancing marionettes and the communication with animals.
• A different fantasy is the wealthy lifestyle that the brother and sister experience, although there's a sinister side to it.
• While the movie probably wouldn't induce nightmares, there's a well done menace throughout, starting with the credits that use the motifs of dogs and escape and eerie music, some of which continues through the film.  (Tia wins over the attack dogs.)
• The special effects, until we get to the flying vehicles at the end, have held up well after almost forty years.
• While it's not a traditional mystery, there is a puzzle to solve, as Tia remembers more and more of their shipwreck.
• The California coast looks lovely but also menacing, all those cliffs.
• The starcase is awesome!
• Last but not least, Winky the sidekick cat!

I recall the 1978 sequel as not as good but I haven't seen that since the '80s.  I have no interest in the remakes.

The small role of a psychic was towards the end of Dan Seymour's career; he was the slave-buyer in Road to Morocco and Abdul in Casablanca.  Reta Shaw, who runs the orphanage here, was the cook in Mary Poppins.  Tiger Joe Marsh, who plays Lorko, the guard with a convenient allergy to cats, was the Naked Turk in Son of Blob.

Harry Holcombe, who plays Capt. Malone, would be a priest in The Big Bus.  Dermott Downs, who plays the red-haired bully Truck and comes across as a mean version of Johnny Whitaker, would be Harvey in Freaky Friday.  Paul Sorensen would play a policeman again in The Shaggy D.A.  Donald Pleasence would have a completely different villain role from quiet and sinister Deranian, as brash record producer B. D. Hoffler in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

And I was hooked before the dialogue started.

Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World

Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World
May 1974
Walter Shenson Films/Fox
Comedy, Fantasy, Children's
VHS
C+

My review of the book based on the movie (not to be confused with the Ted Key story that inspired the movie) is at the bottom of this review.  I do have to add that the movie's charm seems to have faded.  (As has the videotape unfortunately.)  There really should be more of the title character, not just in the cheesy special effects but interacting with his boy Billy, for the sad false ending to have more impact.  The film is moderately entertaining but the title and title song are better than the movie as a whole.  And the poster (which I have a copy of) is even better.

Since this is a Walter Shenson production, it's not surprising that a couple of faces familiar from A Hard Day's Night show up:  Victor Spinetti as Professor Ribart and Norman Rossington as Tom respectively.  And Victor Maddern, who plays Dog Home Manager, was the junkman in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

See also, http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/08/1973-alan-fennell-digby-biggest-dog-in.html.

Mame

Mame
March 27, 1974
Warner Bros.
Musical, Comedy, Historical
VHS
B-

Yes, Lucy and the little boy can't sing.  Yes, she's miscast in other ways (age, appearance, demeanor, etc.), but I enjoy this film about as much as the 1958 non-musical Rosalind Russell version, and not just as cheese.  For one thing, it has the better Vera Charles, the wonderful Bea Arthur, who gets a good duet with Lucy and knows how to deliver a zinger, as she was then proving on Maude and would later prove on The Golden Girls.  (The duet does have a reference to Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, but on the surface the two of them are presented as straight.)  I also like seeing Don Porter as Mr. Upson, since even as a bigot he's fun to watch.  Oh, and I was pleasantly surprised that Ito, while still sterotyped, seemed to have more dignity and didn't giggle.

That said, I don't know why they cast John McGiver as Mr. Babcock and gave him less to do than Fred Clark did.  I don't know why Pegeen has been changed from an interior decorator to a maid and interacts even less with Patrick.  Or why Agnes Gooch has been blended with Norah Muldoon, and the father of her child made a complete mystery.  By 1974, unwed pregnancy was a lot less controversial or shocking than it was in the '50s, so this time Mame can open a home for "single mothers."

But, yes, it is campy.  Though it tugs at the emotions with what must be at least fifty hugs (there's even a hug montage towards the end), it's even less plausible than the Russell version, to say nothing of the Patrick Dennis novel, reviewed here http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/06/auntie-mame-irreverent-escapade.html.  I mean, there's a scene where Mame and her nephew are sitting on a spoke of the Statue of Liberty's tiara!  And what about the HUGE production number about how Mame has given the South back its pride by capturing a fox, with her charm!  The movie was considered, with reason, to be dated upon its release, but watching it now it seems more like a warm-up for the overdone musicals of the later '70s, such as Sextette and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Burt Mustin had a small role in a Merlin Jones movie and was 90 when he appeared here as Uncle Jeff.  Barbara Bosson, who plays Emily, had a minor role in The Love God?  Ruth McDevitt was in Change of Habit and plays Cousin Fan here.  Leonard Stone, who plays the stage manager, was Mr. Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.  Jerry Trent was a dancer in The One and Only...Family Band as well, while Kenneth Grant, Sr. would dance in Sgt. Pepper.

Pippi Longstocking

Pippi Longstocking
December 25, 1973
Beta/G. G. Communications Inc. (for American dubbed version)
Children's, Comedy, Fantasy
DVD
B-

This German-Swedish big-screen adaptation of the Astrid Lindgren story (actually edited down from a television series) came out in 1969, but I'm going with the '73 date because this is the version I grew up with through its frequent showings on American television.  Yes, the dubbing is bad (not only out of sync but with incongruous accents, from German to Southern American to quasi-Peter-Lorre), and even by the standards of late '60s TV the special effects are weak.  But these add to the charm of the film.  I'm using the "fantasy" label because of Pippi's incredible strength, but what most struck me on this viewing is how the childhood joys presented are such simple yet elusive ones, from candy feasts to the unspoiled outdoors.

The movie is also, of course, about friendship, with Pippi (Inger Nilsson) having loyal and adoring pals in her neighbors Tommy and Annika (Pär Sundberg and Maria Persson).  And she's got her monkey Sir (sometimes Mr.) Nilsson and her horse Little Old Man.  The series, which Olle Hellbom would continue to direct, would primarily focus on these five, although what I'm referring to as "other Pippi regulars" (due to tag limitations) would appear in from one to three others of the remaining movies.

Beppe Wolgers would return as Pippi's sea captain father (with a much larger role in Pippi in the South Seas), while Fredrik Ohlsson and  Öllegård Wellton would again be Tommy and Annika's parents.  Göthe Grefbo and Ulf G. Johnsson would be back as policemen Klang and Kling respectively.  (No, I don't think these names are Pufnstuf tributes.  It's probably more to do with alarm bells.)  Hans Clarin and Paul Esser would therefore be back as crooks Dunder-Karlsson and Blom.  And Margot Trooger would return for more humiliation as the prissy Miss Prysselius.  Staffan Hallerstam, who plays bully Benke here, would have a more sympathetic role as Marko in Pippi in the South Seas.  Siv Ericks (role unknown) would also be in Pippi Goes on Board.

Sleeper

Sleeper
December 17, 1973
United Artists
Comedy, Sci-Fi
VHS
B-

This is an uneven movie (based very loosely on Rip Van Winkle) in which ironically the most topical jokes-- Nixon, Cosell, Polaroid, McDonald's, etc.-- are actually the funniest, while the physical humor, except for the giant fruits, vegetables, and yes, chicken, only works for me because of the jazzy instrumentals.  The sci-fi elements though are I think mostly successful, especially the look of the movie, including the heavy use of white and black.  Diane Keaton, once her character shakes free of her pretentious, upper-class background, is a lot of fun, whether doing Tarzan swings or imitating Brando.  Woody Allen is playing his usual character, but the idea of placing him in this futuristic setting (where almost no one reacts to his jokes) is a good one.  I do have issues with the movie-- too much kidnapping! and stereotypes that don't redeem themselves by being actually funny-- but overall, I recommend it.

George Furth, who was Howie in The Cool Ones, is one of Luna's party guests.  Lou Picetti, who's the Miss America M.C., would be one of the strangers Alvy questions on the street in Annie Hall.  Peter Hobbs, who plays Dr. Dean, would also be a doctor in Nine to Five.  Whitney Rydbeck, who plays the robot Janus, would be the auctioneer in A Very Brady Sequel.

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web
March 1, 1973
Hanna-Barbera
Children's, Fantasy, Musical
VHS
B

Some of what I feel about this movie is mentioned in my review of the E.B. White book-- http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/06/charlottes-web.html-- but I want to add some things.  It is a very 1970s-televisiony movie, but I don't consider that a bad thing.  The Hanna-Barbera animation is "limited" but there are some lovely images, and I like how they captured Charlotte's personality in a few simple facial details.  The voice cast includes performers from The Partridge Family (Danny Bonaduce, Dave Madden) and Bewitched (Agnes Moorehead, the incomparable Paul Lynde as Templeton), as well as you'll-know-them-when-you-hear-them voices (Herb Vigran, Pamelyn Ferdin).  Debbie Reynolds is perfect as Charlotte-- warm, smart, loyal, but also with an edge.  (You can believe she'd suck blood out of flies, or inflict minor revenge on Templeton.)  The script by Earl Hamner, Jr. is both more slapsticky and more sentimental than White's book, but the focus stays mostly on the cycle of life and the importance of friendship.  There are perhaps too many songs by the Sherman brothers, and some of them sound like previous music of theirs, but there are some stand-outs, slow almost mournful tunes like "Deep in the Dark" and "Mother Earth and Father Time," as well as jaunty songs like "Zuckerman's Famous Pig" and the smorgasbord tune.  What chokes me up is not Charlotte's death, which is subtly led up to, but Wilbur's fear that her children will all abandon him, and that line from the book, "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer."  And it's not often that you find a film adaptation equal to the book.

Of the singers, Jackie Ward sang Linda Evans's songs in Beach Blanket Bingo; and Dick Bolks, Paul DeKorte, Susie McCune, Gene Merlino, Paul Sandberg, and Bob Tebow would all be part of the chorus in Heidi's Song.

Cancel My Reservation

Cancel My Reservation
September 21, 1972
Naho/Warner Bros.
Comedy, Mystery
VHS
C

Louis L'Amour wrote the novel that this Southwest mystery was based on, with the less Hope-ful title of The Broken Gun.  I can only imagine what Dominic Frontiere would've done with that, since he sings the Jackson-5ish "Cancel My Reservation" over both opening and closing credits.  Bob H was pushing 70 at this point, but his character is supposed to be 42, and he's paired with 48-year-old Eva Marie Saint, who looks stunning.  (And she shows off a lot of skin for a middle-aged woman, including in hot pants.)  The two of them are unhappily married because she's a women's libber whose "own thing" is becoming co-star on his talk show.  (They interview a pre-Happy-Days Pat Morita as a karate expert.)  Even though he doesn't seem to like children (he says that two rude autograph-seekers, one played by the director's daughter, at the airport are a good argument for the Pill), she blames herself that they haven't had any kids.  The happy ending, after he's several times arrested and they both come close to dying, before he finally solves the mystery, is she's pregnant and can leave the show.  Even though she told "Crazy" (Anne Archer) that she hated being stuck at home while her husband went off to work, she seems pleased about this.

As for the mystery, it includes Forrest Tucker and Ralph Bellamy as villains, some Indian land rights, and a few murders.  Keenan Wynn plays the local sheriff, and Chief Dan George a really old Indian.  I haven't read the book, so I don't know how much of this was added by co-adapters Bob Fisher and Arthur Marx, who'd teamed up for I'll Take Sweden.  I am fairly sure though that the joke, "I'll come back for my stomach later," when Bob is on the back of a motorcycle is a direct self-steal from Sweden.  And I suspect L'Amour did not include a rape joke.  (Eva MS, upon finding out that the Indian girl Bob H is accused of killing wasn't raped, says, "And that gets you off the hook with me.")  The movie is of course sexist and racist, although I suppose it could be worse.  It's incredibly dated, even for its time (the Twiggy joke for instance), and the cameos of Bing, John Wayne, Johnny Carson, and Flip Wilson are only slightly better than those in Birds Do It.  (At least they're given lines, although not good ones.)  Oh, and this time Herb Vigran plays Roscoe Snagby.

The movie isn't dreadful but it doesn't even have the camp appeal of Hope's '60s comedies.  It's just sort of there.  I guess see it if you're curious and/or a completist.

This is somewhat the chronological midpoint of this project, since I started with 1929 and I'm unlikely to finish before next year.  At the moment, I don't own any movies from after 2012, but that will probably change before I'm through.

Points for correct use of "whom"

Son of Blob

Son of Blob (AKA Beware! The Blob)
June 21, 1972
Jack H. Harris Enterprises
Comedy, Sci-Fi
VHS
C+

The "film that J.R. shot," post-Jeanie and pre-Dallas, this is not quite a sequel, not quite an homage, and not quite a parody of the 1958 original (which I've seen but don't own).  It has a more interracial cast than a typical '50s sci-fi movie would've had, including Godfrey Cambridge getting eaten by the title character as he's watching the Steve McQueen movie on television.  There are also hippies, one played by a pre-Laverne & Shirley, even pre-American Graffiti Cindy Williams.  There are hoboes, including director Hagman and his buddy Burgess Meredith.  There's an uptight businessman, played by Richard Stahl, who specialized in this sort of thing.  My favorite character is the half-crazed scoutmaster Dick Van Patten (his "mustard" lecture is the only genuinely funny dialogue), but he gets killed offscreen.

Other than celeb-spotting (Sid Haig plays Zed), and special effects that range from cheesy to surprisingly good (I like when the blob oozes through vents), there's not much entertainment value here.  I got annoyed with the main female character, who mostly just screams, sometimes calling her boyfriend's name to warn him, when he's well aware of the danger.  The movie has none of the oomph and silliness, not to mention show-stopping songs, of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and it doesn't particularly succeed as sci-fi either.  Still, it's an OK time-waster, worth seeing a time or two.

Tiger Joe Marsh, who plays the Naked Turk, would be Lorko in Escape to Witch Mountain.  (He's actually from Chicago.)

Star Spangled Girl

Star Spangled Girl
December 22, 1971
Paramount
Comedy, Romance
VHS
C

This adaptation of a Neil Simon play didn't make anyone happy, including Neil Simon.  There are two things that strike me on this viewing.  It is sort of funny, even if sometimes I'm laughing at how hard they're trying, from the Midnight Cowboy joke to the way the dialogue, Tony Roberts's in particular, sounds completely unnatural.  (His "perfect aurals" line and his description of a feather duster stand out most.)  The other thing is that you've got these two young guys publishing an underground weekly magazine, but one is a shoplifter and the other a stalker (even after the victim repeatedly tells him she's not interested), yet they think they can question what's wrong with America.  Yes, some '60s activists were hypocrites, but no one ever calls these two out on these specific issues.  Yes, Amy (played by Sandy Duncan with a Florida twang) almost calls the police a few times, but she's too forgiving.  And then she falls for Roberts (the shoplifter) and empathizes with Todd Susman (the stalker).  The film is even more of a mess than it was 40 years ago, including the whole thing of Roberts supposedly sleeping with his landlady (so he can put off paying the rent), but only shown doing dangerous sports like sky-diving.

The song "Girl," which Davy Jones sings over both opening and closing credits, is the same one he performed on the classic Brady Bunch episode that year.  Peter Hobbs, who plays the man in the car who buys the Nitty-Gritty because it sounds like smut, would be Dr. Dean in Sleeper.  The duck is uncredited, but probably not the one from The Million Dollar Duck, which Roberts and Duncan had costarred in earlier in the year.

Harold and Maude

Harold and Maude
December 20, 1971
Paramount
Comedy, Romance, Musical
DVD
B+

Thirty-year-old screenwriter Colin Higgins, 42-year-old director Hal Ashby, and 23-year-old Bud Cort (as almost 20-year-old Harold) and 75-year-old Ruth Gordon (as almost-80 Maude) brought their unique, quirky talents together to make this unique, quirky movie, ably supported by 40-year-old Vivian Pickles as Harold's fantastically pretentious, mostly unflappable mother.  This is a tricky film to talk about because it's become a Cult Movie, some people's favorite movie, and it's certainly meant a lot to me since I saw it at 19 on campus.  (They also showed Amarcord and a beach party movie, not all on one night.  It was a very confused film society.)  I think it's one of those not quite great movies.  I don't think everything in it works, like the way Maude keeps stealing cars, but it remains wise, sweet, sometimes joyous, and very funny.  I don't want to oversell it, because it's also in a way a quiet, little movie, with many long-distance shots and details to hunt out (like the PermaSeal on the coffin).  I think when you watch it, you have to get past its reputation and just enjoy it, because that's what Maude would want.

Ruth Gordon is just right as life-loving Maude, although I kept thinking She doesn't look 80, she barely looks 70.  Baby-faced Cort as Harold, despite his faked suicides, has a gentleness that is rare in movies, and when Maude brings him to life, he expresses it whimsically, as when he somersaults.  The script by Higgins is sharp and dry (he'd later pen Foul Play and 9 to 5, two other movies that mean a lot to me), while Ashby not only gets just the right emotions out of everyone (even the cartoony characters, like Harold's uncle), but he has some great shots, like the tombstones that look like a computer punch card from a distance.  And I must say that the Cat Stevens songs fit the movie perfectly, perhaps not as good as the Simon & Garfunkel music in The Graduate, but integrated even more effectively.

Marjorie Eaton, who was Miss Persimmon in Mary Poppins, this time plays Madame Arouet.  Michael L. Davis was Chief of Police in Skidoo and is unconfirmed as a policeman here.  Eric Christmas, who plays the priest disgusted by the idea of Harold's "firm young body" commingling with Maude's "withered" flesh, would be Senator Polk in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!  Shari Summers, who plays Edith Phern (one of Harold's computer dates) would be a nurse in Who's That Girl?

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
June 30, 1971
Paramount
Children's, Musical, Fantasy
VHS
B-

Does it seem weird that I don't exactly know what I think of this movie?  I mean, I grew up with it, and the book it's based on.  (My review: http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/07/charlie-and-chocolate-factory.html.)  Let's start with Willy Wonka, since the title was changed for the movie adaptation (adapted by Dahl himself, although he hated the subsequent rewrite).  Gene Wilder manages to be both charming and creepy.  (Not Johnny Depp level creepy, but that's a later discussion.)  All of the children misbehave, even our hero Charlie, although he at least atones for it.  The chocolate manufacturing plant is at once an awesome little amusement park and a potential death factory*, with an acid-trip boat ride.  The songs are either classic ("Candy Man," "Pure Imagination"), or they're stupid but catchy (the Oompa-Loompa songs), or they're filled with unwieldy Anthony Newley rhymes ("Cheer Up, Charlie," "I Want It Now, etc.).  The humor is either sly (many of Wonka's lines, the teacher's riffs) or pathetic (many of Grandpa Joe's lines).  Speaking of Grampa J, I think he's malingering.  He (along with the other three grandparents) has apparently been bedridden for twenty years, and yet the local news vendor knows him and GJ can somehow sneak tobacco and chocolate into the house.

Anyway, I'm going with my default grade, B-.  The movie could be better, it could be worse.  It's entertaining but not amazing.

Oompa Loompa Rusty Goffe would play two different goblins in Harry Potter movies.  Little person Frank Delfino plays an auctioneer rather than an Oompa Loompa; he was in Please Don't Eat the Daisies, and would go on to play a Kaplutian on The Brady Bunch.  And, no, I don't know why the O-Ls are orange.


*Unlike in the book, we never actually see the bad kids recover.

Before tragedy struck

The Barefoot Executive

The Barefoot Executive
March 17, 1971
Disney
Children's, Comedy
DVD
B+

This was one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid, but I don't think it's just nostalgia that made me enjoy it so much this time.  For one thing, it's really funny, not just the satire of television but even some of the slapstick.  (I could've done with less of the "ledge" scene though.)  For another, there's actually a consideration of ethics, with Kurt Russell (20 on the day this was released but playing a 21-year-old), as mailboy Steve Post (ha ha, pun), lying and cheating his way to the top of the network, but then realizing that love-- of his girlfriend and of the title character-- and self-respect matter more than money, fame, and success, so the three of them ride off together on a motorcycle, a later '60s version of what the Beach Boys sang of in The Monkey's Uncle: a bride, a groom, a chimpanzee.

Yes, it's another Disney chimp movie, with the simian this time picking programs that will be ratings successes.  (One is Laugh-Out.  There are lots of little digs at current or at least recent shows.)  Raffles is left in the care of Steve's girlfriend, who is played by 20-year-old Heather North, the future Daphne of Scooby-Doo, when her Italian neighbors can't take him on their move to San Francisco.  I mention this detail because no one ever points out that maybe the Bernaduccis deserve the million-dollar check for raising the chimp to be a TV critic.  The movie is full of holes and implausibilities and WTF moments, but I'm not putting it in the fantasy genre.  (It's not like it's a talking chimp.)

Steve, who initially dislikes the chimp, finds out Raffles's talent, and switches him with a look-alike.  (Again, you expect some sort of pay-off, like that Steve will sell the Raffles impostor for the big check, but, no, the second chimp disappears from the movie after awhile, his fate unknown.)  Steve becomes network vice-president, before Joe Flynn, as Russell's boss Francis X. Wilbanks, and Harry Morgan, as Flynn's boss E. J. Crampton, with the help of Wilbanks's nephew Roger, foil his scheme.  Roger is played by 22-year-old John Ritter in his big-screen debut, and he's wonderful.  He's cast against type, somehow both nerdy and slimy, but he has a proto-Jack-Tripper moment when he dashes down the hall and leaps over a desk, after figuring out who Post's mysterious roomie is.

The movie has other future and past TV stars, like Wally Cox (Mr. Peepers), who has a larger role here than he did as Wampers in The One and Only...Family Band, this time as the "simple" asthmatic chauffeur for Joe Flynn.  Bill Daily, in between I Dream of Jeanie and The Bob Newhart Show, has a not-much-of-a-stretch cameo as a navigator.  Dr. Bellows, Hayden Rorke, also shows up.

Alan Hewitt, who was Professor Shattuck in the Merlin Jones movies, plays Farnsworth here.  This time Arthur Tovey plays a man at the baseball game, Herb Vigran a fireman.  James B. Douglas (later Buddy Didlo, no, that's not a typo, in The Gong Show Movie), Peter Paul Eastman (a newspaperman in The Love God?), George N. Neise (Ben Milford in Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady), and Jeffrey Sayre (a senator in Skidoo) play TV executives.  Sponsor Glenn Dixon was a family member in The Love God?

Beulah Bondi (Jimmy Stewart's mother in It's a Wonderful Life) appears in a clip from So Dear to My Heart (1948, I've never seen it).  Newscaster Ed Reimers basically plays himself, as he did in Sgt. Deadhead (which also involved a chimp).  Bruce Rhodewalt was Clarke in The Perils of Pauline and plays Jason R. Wilbanks.  Hank Jones played the town delivery boy in Family Band and is Stan here (the guy who sees the chimp going up and down the mail elevator).

Policeman Peter Renoudet was a Dakota townsman in Family Band and would be a roller derby ticket-taker in The Shaggy D.A.  Iris Adrian, who was Mary Lou in Go West and a French soubrette in The Road to Zanzibar, was pushing 60 when she played the irate woman shopper, but she would go on to other Disney films, like Freaky Friday.

I must note that the sort of title song, "He's Gonna Make It" (it says "barefoot" but not "executive"), doesn't have very many lyrics, but what it has manage to be both delightful and embarrassing in the use of '60s slang, with this sentence being the best/worst:  "When they start rapping that he's too young/ He makes his mind up/ That he'll wind up/ Number one/ And the whole wide world will know that he's around/ Though other cats get uptight and try to put him down!"

The Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio

The Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio
January 1971
Cinépix Film Properties (CFP)
Comedy, Porn
VHS
C+

This was rated X, although it shows no genitals, even if, yes, it's not his nose that grows.  Other signs that this is the early '70s: Gepetta thinks living alone is a "bummer," the "bacchanal" looks like a bad trip, and the nudity that we do see is free of tats and piercings.  Oh, and the budget is really, really low.

Gepetta is a virgin, so after the Fairy Godmother [sic] turns Pinocchio into a real man, he's supposed to go make love to his creatress, but he keeps getting distracted to serve as a gigolo at and near the bordello across the street.  The pimp has a New York accent, and the crowd at the "wrestling match" has an international jet set look (but, again, very low budget).  One of Pinoke's tasks is to "convert" a lesbian couple who speak in men's voices (one sounds like Bogie).  The Fairy Godmother "punishes" our hero by making his woody grow to over six feet.  When Gepetta is almost gang-raped, he hits the gang with his penis (discreetly covered by scarves), then he runs away in shame at his ugliness.  True love triumphs, although we never see him and Gepetta get past hand-holding.  

This movie isn't particularly sexy or funny, but it's mildly entertaining and probably worth a look if you're curious.  Karen Smith, who's Mabella here, would be the red-haired neighbor Mary Kay in Freaky Friday.

Santa and the Three Bears

Santa and the Three Bears
November 7, 1970
Ellman Film Enterprises
Children's, Fantasy, Musical
VHS
C+

No, Santa doesn't eat porridge or sleep in beds that are too soft, too hard, or just right.  He's mostly offscreen, but he becomes a bone of contention between Otis the town drunk and Wilma Flintstone.  OK, Hal Smith (who ironically played a drunk Santa in The Apartment a decade earlier) is playing a park ranger and Jean Vander Pyl is the talking bear mother of talking cubs (played by Annette Ferra of The Cool Ones and Bobby Riha of The One and Only...Family Band).  This is one of the movies that was part of my '70s childhood and, although never a favorite, is pleasant and innocuous enough, and at about 45 minutes is brisk enough.  I was surprised on this viewing at the lack of gender stereotypes (except with the blue and pink bears in the dream sequence).  Both the ranger and Nana Bear are caring and brave, and the two cubs are drawn much alike, except for slightly different color fur.  The music is middling, no standouts (like "Different" in Pufnstuf), but nothing wincey like in Pinocchio in Outer Space.  

Speaking of Pinoke, no, OK, I'll save that for tomorrow, and not spoil the innocence of this post....

Togetherness

Togetherness
September 13, 1970
General Film Corporation
Comedy, Romance
VHS
D

Unfunny, somewhat unsavory farce with inconsistent characterization and music that alternates between a pleasant if repetitive Greekesque tune and an old-timey tune for whenever something wacky is supposed to be going on.  George Hamilton and Peter Lawford are rich playboys (Lawford a prince) who lie to a supposedly intellectual but actually very gullible blonde bombshell Yugoslavian Communist athlete.  Neither manages to seduce her but she does catch their habit of talking to and/or looking right at the camera.  Also featuring an annoying poodle that looks like a county fair prize when it's not barking, a countess who seduces Hamilton then later locks them into his bedroom, bad Yugoslavian food, and Jesse White as an ugly-American tourist.  Nice Greek scenery though.

Pufnstuf

Pufnstuf
May 1970
Universal
Children's, Fantasy, Comedy, Musical
VHS
B-

A big-screen spin-off of the Saturday morning cult classic, this works fairly well on its own terms.  (The "H.R." of the series title is dropped for some reason.)  We get the set-up of Freddie the flute becoming magical and Jimmy's arrival on Living Island, as well as Witchiepoo's somewhat baffling coveting of Freddie.  I mean, seriously, his whiny voice annoyed me even as a child.  He doesn't do anything but talk (in that annoying voice).  OK, he's gold and covered in diamonds, but still.  This movie adds an extra Freudian dimension (or perhaps brings out what was subconscious on the show), when Witchiepoo dresses up as a miniskirted blonde who teaches Jimmy to boogaloo.  (Jack Wild was 17 playing 12 or 13.)

As a kid, I was more into all the crazy creatures-- a hippie tree!  Cling and Clang!  the winds with different accents!-- but this time I was more impressed by the "human" performers.  Wild brings sincerity and openness to his role; Jimmy doesn't roll his eyes like a teenager, no matter how cheesy and/or psychedelic things get.  The eye-rolling is left to Martha Raye, as the supremely irritated Boss Witch, a role added for the film, as was Mama Cass Elliot's Witch Hazel.  Cass performs easily the best song in the movie, "Different," which applies not only to the witches but to fat people, hippies, gays, and, well, Jimmy.  The early part of the movie (before Freddie's enchanted) shows how Jimmy is mocked for his accent.  He finds friends on Living Island, and his desire to return home is even more inexplicable than Dorothy's wish to leave Oz.  (There are a lot of parallels to the then three-decade-old classic children's fantasy movie, all of them deliberate according to Sid Krofft.)  Yes, he's being pursued by Witchiepoo, but Billie Hayes is a lot less threatening than Margaret Hamilton.  I like the little touches she adds to the role (they come across as improvised), and the only downside to the scenes at her castle (my favorite set) are that her incompetent hench-creatures get tedious after awhile.  (Although it's always nice to see Allan Melvin get work.)  No wonder Witchiepoo opens and closes the movie.  Oh, and kudos for product-placement of Universal's logo (representing Earth) right in the middle of a song.

Little person Buddy Douglas played a bellhop in The Graduate.  Another little person, Angelo Rossito (Seymore Spider and Clang), was Billy Barty's assistant in The Perils of Pauline.  Barty himself plays Googy Gopher and Orville Pelican.  Allison McKay (role unknown) was the cigarette girl in Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!  Jane Dulo (Miss Flick) was in Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Salelady?   (Co-writers of this movie, Si Rose and John Fenton Murray, were respectively the producer and writer of that one.)  Johnny Silver (Dr. Blinky and Ludicrous Lion) was the Zipper Man in How Sweet It Is!

Woodstock

Woodstock
March 26, 1970
Warner Bros.
Documentary, Musical
VHS
B+

Three hours of peace, love, and music.  And, yes, mud.  Although of course I wasn't there (I was a baby with parents over 30), this documentary seems to do a fine job of capturing the good and the bad of the (in)famous concert, mostly the good.  I like how we see not just the musicians, and all those hippies in the crowd, but the people who helped keep things running, from the middle-aged people providing food and Porto-Sans to the shirtless long-haired carpenters and litter-picker-uppers.  Although this isn't the first of my movies to use split-screen (it pops up in How to Commit Marriage, which is much squarer of course), the technique is used well, sometimes telling two (or more) stories at once.  It also provides visuals that underscore the music, as if you could watch every band member at once, or see simultaneous close-ups on a fast-strumming hand and a straining face.

The movie is mostly about the music, which ranges from competent to amazing.  My top three are CSN, Sly & the Family Stone, and Ten Years After.  I'd drop the Who and two or three other acts to make this a more manageable length.*  Yes, I know how important the Who were in rock history, but I've never cared for their sound.  Nonetheless, I'm tagging Keith Moon, because he gives an unforgettable performance in a movie eight years later, acting rather than singing, in Sextette.

Note: my copy of this movie is from the MTV showing for the 20th anniversary of the concert.  As such, it's book-ended by commentary before and after the movie, actually quainter than anything in the movie.  ("There was no MTV then," gasp!)  Also, every commercial break (of which there were of course many) had a disclaimer that MTV didn't condone the use of illegal drugs or the abuse of legal ones.  Since I haven't had cable in about 20 years, I have no idea if they still do that.  Or if they even show this movie anymore.  And, yes, more time has passed since that airdate than had passed between '69 and '89.


*No, I haven't seen the four-hour version of this movie, or the bonus two hours.  I'm not sure I want to actually.

Hercules in New York

Hercules in New York
February 25, 1970
RAF Industries
Comedy, Fantasy, Action
VHS
B-

Arnold Schwarzenegger's first film is shared with a then more famous Arnold, Mr. Stang, who plays Pretzie the pretzel vendor.  Although Hercules has an onscreen girlfriend, the movie is actually more about the bromance between the two Arnolds.  Schwarzenegger is credited as "Arnold Strong," and in the version I taped off TV (and on initial release) he's badly dubbed.  The movie is sometimes known as Hercules Goes Bananas, and there is a continued debate within the film over this "Greek peasant's" sanity.  Of course, the real world of late '60s New York doesn't come across as any more believable than that of Mount Olympos.  The professor and his daughter (Herc's mortal main squeeze) are given dialogue that's even more stilted than that of the gods and goddesses, so it feels like the whole movie was translated.  That might explain why Samson (not Greek) and Atlas (who's supposed to be holding up the world) show up to assist Hercules in the big fight scene.  He's temporarily lost his "divinity," which means he can't lift more than 750 pounds.

I know, don't try to make sense of this movie.  Don't ask why a hot dog vendor chases Pretzie across the city to give him the sauerkraut for his hot dog.  Don't ask why Zeus has a foggy crystal ball, or why all the machinations of the gods and goddesses are explained at length and yet still make no sense.  Don't ask why Pluto (who has an offscreen Cerberus) rules a rather Christian hell and acts like a fop.  Don't ask why Mercury takes a helicopter, and then later flies on his own.  Don't ask why Nemesis has a Finnish accent.  Don't ask why the weight-lifting contest is televised in front of a yellow curtain, much expense spared (as throughout this movie.)  Don't ask why the gangsters are straight out of the '30s.  Don't ask why no one notices that Pretzie steals a pulp nonfiction book, or why a man forgives Hercules breaking his ribs.  Don't ask why there's an obvious panty shot and a drug joke in what IMDB categorizes as a "family film."  Don't ask why all the mortals have been directed to indicate surprise with dropped jaws and bugged out eyes.  And please don't ask why Hercules is fighting a man in a very obvious bear costume.

Dennis Tinerino, who plays Atlas, would be one of the musclemen in Americathon.  Schwarzenegger obviously went on to bigger and better things.  But this is probably the peak of Stang's career.