Evening Entertainment: "No Small Parts" looks at the life and career of Warwick Davis

Warwick Davis has been a notable figure in genre film since playing Wicket the Ewok in RETURN OF THE JEDI, no matter how many layers of make-up his face is covered in.  The latest episode of "No Small Parts" looks at Davis and his career, and serves as a fitting mini-biography of underappreciated figure.

Neil Sedaka sings "Waterbug" from PLAYBOY KILLER (1968)

Weirdly, this is one of TWO Sedaka tracks that made their way into sleazy '60s horror films, but PLAYGIRL KILLER is ever better than his rendition of "The Jellyfish" in STING OF DEATH because Sedaka actually appears and plays a supporting role in the film.  His odd dancing deserves a movie all its own.

Trailer: The "lost" film ROCK'N'ROLL HOTEL (1983) with Judd Nelson and Rachel Sweet

Shot in 1982, this musical flick featuring Nelson, Sweet, Colin Quinn and Dick Shawn (among others) was thought to be lost for years, but has recently turned up, though it's still unavailable on home video in any format.  Read more about it here -- and it looks like a lot of fun.

BLIND ALLEY (1981), a neo-noir short film from Elliot Lavine

Elliot Lavine is known around San Francisco as the programmer of the famous Roxie Theater from 1990 until 2003 and curator of many local film festivals featuring the best in classic cinema. But before he was programming festivals of film noir, he was making shorts based on the work he loved.  Here's 1981’s BLIND ALLEY, the botched robbery of the payroll out of a meat packing planet leads the thief in a world of paranoia, and the partner he left behind won’t leave well enough alone.

Tim Reid and Tom Dressen perform a routine about race relations in the '70s

Reid, who turns 70 today, is best known as Venus Flytrap on "WKRP in Cincinnati," but before breaking into sitcoms, he was half of "Tim and Tom," one of the (if not the) first interracial comedy duo with fellow stand-up Tom Dressen -- a partnership that started when both met at a Junior Chamber of Commerce meeting in Chicago.  Here's one of their '70s-era routines, presenting potentially touchy race issues with an ease and a sense of humor few have managed since.

PROTEST - A short about a 1981 protest against CALIGULA

During the Vancouver release of 1981's Penthouse-produced all-star spectacle CALIGULA, the film's release found itself heavily protested due to "community standards," and this short doc features footage of the protests, mostly consisting of a bunch of people that readily admit to having never seen the movie in the first place.  Play faulty logic bingo! 

Good thing nobody can try to shut down the release of a movie today due to questionable content, right?

A 1980 news report on Laserdiscs, the "latest electronic wonder"

Why is Laserdisc better than tape?  Sacramento station KTXL investigates!

Morning Cartoon: See what all the jazz is about in THE INTERVIEW (1960)

I don't know what everyone's complaining about.  You can watch THE INTERVIEW right now, or at least the one directed by Ernest Pintoff, the Oscar-winning animator who made the Mel Brooks short THE CRITIC, featuring an interview with a jazz musician.

Morning Music Video: Traci Lords - "Control" (1994)

The NOT OF THIS EARTH (take 2) star's biggest musical hit was this 1994 techno track, featured in the MORTAL KOMBAT soundtrack.  The music video is very James Bondy, which is never a bad thing.

Evening Entertainment: Michael Moorcock on 1979's "Time Out of Mind"

"Time Out of Mind" was a 1979 BBC TV series focusing on science fiction and fantasy that I can't find a heck of a lot of info about, but it sure looks nifty from what I've seen.  This episode serves as a great documentary/interview on Michael Moorcock, the science fiction/fantasy writer, artist and Hawkwind collaborator, who turns 75 today.  Happy birthday, sir!

John Waters shows off his Baltimore home on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" (1984)

Get a peek into the home of Waters as he talks about his record collection, his stolen paintings, his polio vaccine and Edith Massey's shoes from FEMALE TROUBLE.  Then Pat Moran shows up.  Narrator Robin Leach seems a little perplexed.

Avoid a cold like Joan in 1964's Coronet short

Flu season's here, and if you haven't gotten your shot because THAT'S HOW THEY TRACK YOU, here's some advice on keeping healthy from the guardians of our health.  Keep well for the Dutch festival, like Joan!  Don't ever go near a child, because they are filthy.

The Screen Gems logo causes panic in the mini-documentary THE S FROM HELL

The Screen Gems logo created in 1964 caused a strange sense of panic in viewers of a certain age, and Rodney Ascher's great little documentary short explores the varied reactions and memories to the logo.  Is it evil?  We may never know. 

Pink Lady, Hugh Hefner and the Playboy Bunnies sing "My Kind of Town"

From the 1980 variety show "Pink Lady," one of the greatest bad ideas ever aired.

1987's forgotten animated musical ROCK ODYSSEY presents Scatman Crothers

Hanna-Barbera's feature film ROCK ODYSSEY is mostly remembered only by die hard animation fans, but the Robert Taylor-directed flick is a strange little monster that deserves slightly less obscurity.  Intended as a TV special in 1981, the film featuring a thin plot thread as an excuse to animate music videos of covers of classic rock hits was shelved until 1987 when ABC got cold feet due to some of its disturbing imagery.  When finally released to international audiences, some additional sequences were added featuring Hanna-Barbera characters.  It's never been released in the U.S., but it occasionally plays on TV in Latin American countries, though the Spanish dubbing lacks the dulcet tones of Scatman Crothers, who plays the film's jukebox narrator.  Good luck finding a complete English langauge copy, though as it's mostly musically-based, it doesn't make much difference.

John Cleese's James Bond ad campaign for Schweppes in 1989

Before Cleese actually joined the Bond franchise in 1999's THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, he "spoke out against unnecessary violence in the cinema" in an ad campaign for Schweppes in this Bond-influenced promotional short that appeared on the 1989 VHS release of LICENSE TO KILL.

Morning Cartoon: Eliot Noyes Jr.' 1973 SANDMAN, done entirely in sand

Would this be SANDimation?  Anyway, it's neat.

Morning Music Video: Tik and Tok - "Days of Glass"

The musical mime duo Tik and Tok appeared in RETURN OF THE JEDI and XTRO, opened for Gary Numan and are a friggin' robotic musical mime duo. 

Evening Entertainment: Eugene Levy stars in 1988's THE ENIGMA OF BOBBY BITTMAN

Happy birthday to the heavily eyebrowed Levy, who turns 68 today!  Drive your Chevy to the Levy with his 1988 Cinemax comedy special, a fake documentary profiling his "Bobby Bittman" entertainer character that originated on "SCTV."

Gregg Araki's music video for The Micronauts' "The Jag"

Araki is a bit of a divisive figure in film, but there's know doubt that the DOOM GENERATION and MYSTERIOUS SKIN director, who turns 55 today, has an eye.  It's one naturally suited for music videos, so it's kind of a surprise that he hasn't directed more of them, but here's one about a fantasizing supermarket shopper that was released about the time of Araki's SPLENDOR.

Afternoon Music Video: Guy Pearce's "Fly All the Way"

I wasn't sure what to expect from the first video from MEMENTO, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT star Guy Pearce, but I don't think it would have been this, an increasingly bizarre (and disturbing) video featuring Pearce is a wide variety of pitchmen.  It's pitched with just a little more obvious self-awareness than an Eric Wareheim music video, but Tim White's journey into the land of the weird is certainly a compelling one.

(Thanks, Nerdist!)

In the News presents "Record Breaking Dominoes"

There's something satisfying about watching thousands of perfectly-placed dominoes falling down in order, and this 1980s news brief for kids showing off a group of Japanese students breaking the world record for dominoes in a gym fits the bill quite nicely.  I'd honestly watch the whole 35 minutes of the spectacle if it was available.

Rich Hall's cheesecake/STAR WARS comparison from "Continental Drifters" (2011)

International treasure Rich Hall opines about how STAR WARS hurt film in a diner in his BBC road movie special from 2011.  It may be the best pop culture diner rant that Quentin Tarantino didn't film.

Get a lot out of your Henenlotter with the BASKET CASE 2 promo reel with Joe Bob Briggs and Dr. Ruth

From "the company that brought you RED SCORPION and MOONTRAP," Shapiro Glickenhouse, came 1990's double dose of horror oddities from Frank Henenlotter, and this promo reel, meant to entice video stores into picking up the titles, certainly tries to sell them as movies that "everybody's talking about."  We get clips of Joe Bob Briggs talking about the film on "The Tonight Show," Dr. Ruth diagnosing Gabe Bartalos, and a segment from "Good Day, New York" from the set of BASKET CASE 2.

The kids show "Just Kidding" visits video game company Imagic in 1983

"Just Kidding" was a local TV show created in the Bay Area, and this segment from one of their 1983 shows is pretty amazing, giving a behind the scenes look at Imagic, one of the most reputable creators of home video games in the early '80s.  Seems like a good place to work.

Morning Cartoon: The Mighty Heroes in THE STRETCHER, directed by Ralph Bakshi and Robert Taylor

Robert Taylor, the animator who lent his talents to the likes of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Challenge of the SuperFriends," "Spider-Man" and countless more cartoons, passed away last week.  Here is one of his many projects with Ralph Bakshi, from the 1966 series "The Mighty Heroes," featuring five heroes that are only vaguely mighty.

Morning Music Video: Elysian Fields - "Channeling"

Start the day with some magic musical mushrooms.  There's a hell of a lot of visual crazy going on in Steven Mertens' music video, but it's the sort of crazy that works beautifully with Elysian Fields' groovy track.


Elysian Fields - Channeling from Steven Mertens on Vimeo.

Evening Entertainment: Harry Hall's 1991 short film THE HOUSE OF CLOWNS

One would think that a short film called THE HOUSE OF CLOWNS would be a horror film, and it kind of is, though Hall's tale of a young woman telling the story of how she was raised by clowns is campily nightmarish in a way that's not immediately obvious, as the film is more a completely bizarre look at a non-existent clown culture.  It features... well, a lot of clowns.  And a clown rendition of "Romeo and Juliet."  And fireworks. 


THE HOUSE OF CLOWNS (vintage 1991) from HARRY HALL on Vimeo.

Get your "Meteor" game piece at Jack in the Box!

Everybody is very excited about possibly winning this contest that ties into the 1979 sci-fi flick METEOR.  Presumably, this is because none of them have seen METEOR, one of 1979's most notable duds.

Gingerbread Land (1991)

Patti Hudson is "the Gingerbread Lady" in this low-budget how-to video featuring children singing, a weird yellow puppet named "Yellow," the eating of stray M&Ms and plenty of instruction on putting together a proper gingerbread house for a beginner.  It's strangely hypnotic.  Read more about her here.

Trailer: N!xau in CRAZY SAFARI (1991), the GODS MUST BE CRAZY sequel with hopping vampires and Bruce Lee's ghost

N!xau, the Namibian bushman who rose to brief fame with his role as a tribesman who goes in search of the origins of a Coke bottle in 1980's THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY, would have turned 70 today, at least according to IMDb.  While GODS never led to much of a huge career or paycheck (he was reportedly paid a few hundred dollars for the blockbuster hit), he did go on to star in four increasingly low-rent and wacky sequels to the film, only one of which made it to U.S. shores but that proved to be much better in Asia.  Here's the third entry in the series, the Golden Harvest-produced CRAZY SAFARI, also released as THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY III, in which me meets hopping vampires and the spirit of Bruce Lee.

Psychedelic Tomato (1969) from "Sesame Street"

Look, I have no idea.  Apparently it aired on "Sesame Street," but it's more like the trip sequence from a drug scare film.

SCTV wishes you a Happy Hanukkah with the "You! Chanukah Special"

Libby Wolfson (Andrea Martin) wants to tell the gentiles about the Hanukkah traditions, enlisting guest Sue Bopper Simpson-no, wait, make that Bopstein-to tell the story of the holiday.  Unfortunately, Wolfson can't get the story right.

John Carpenter and Rankin-Bass present THE THING

The trailer for Carpenter's 1981 classic gets a remake using footage from Rankin-Bass's Christmas classics.  And it's amazing.  Why has this not been posted on every "cool stuff" blog around?

Thanks Todd Graham!

Morning Cartoon: The Harlem Globetrotters Meet Snow White

In the '70s and early '80s, Hanna-Barbera was basically just trying to retry its name characters in as many combinations as it could.  Laff-a-Lympics!  Robonic Stooges!  Fred and Barney Meet the Thing!  That makes the bizarre combination of 1980's "The Harlem Globetrotters Meet Snow White," aired as part of "Fred and Barney Meet the Schmoo" a little bit more understandable, but it's still kind of strange watching the Globetrotters try to help Snow White learn how to really handle an apple.

Morning Music Video: Meat Loaf - "If You Really Want To" with Caroline Munro

MANIAC star Munro plays a number of diverse roles (including a vampire), all of which feel like they can never love again!  Good thing the Loaf is here, from his 1983 album "Midnight at the Lost and Found."

Evening Entertainment: Heather O'Rourke and Morey Amsterdam promote Disneyland renovations in "Believe You Can... And You Can!"

You didn't think playing a virus was the only way I'd celebrate Morey Amsterdam's birthday, did you?  In this 1983 TV special, made as a thinly-veiled promotion for the new renovations at the "Fantasyland" part of Disneyland, Amsterdam plays "J. Fauntenoy Chiffenrobe," a strange sprite creature who helps a young girl upset that she has to move by, er, showing her how cool Fantasyland is going to be.  The girl is Heather O'Rourke, POLTERGEIST's Carol Anne, whose tragic death in 1988 lends the cheery promotional vehicle an accidentally morose tone.  It would honestly be pretty creepy anyway, what with a really random morality about wishing and dreams and being penalized for not dreaming enough.

A couple bickers in a laundromat in the Hal Hartley-esque 2000 short film 100% COTTON

P.J. Raval's short is barely over four minutes and features deliberately deadpan delivery, but it encapsulates a relationship falling apart in a nutshell with only the slightest hint of drama. 

Bob Odenkirk is Armand Assante in "Advantage Agassi"

Sure, the idea of tennis pro Andre Agassi as a star of a made-for-cable action flick may be dated, but this sketch from "The Ben Stiller Show" is great anyway, thanks to Ernie Hudson as himself, Odenkirk giving the world's greatest (and possibly only) Armand Assante impression and some perfect narration.

Celia Weston in the 2005 short RESURRECTION, from the director of TEETH

Today marks the birthday of actress Celia Weston, whose memorable presence can be felt in the likes of FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and as the southern Jolene in the later seasons of "Alice."  She can currently be spotted on "American Horror Story: Freakshow," but here she is in Mitchell (TEETH) Lichtenstein's 2004 short film RESURRECTION, playing a mother whose housekeeping efforts are less than stellar.

The Bay City Rollers cover David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel"

Eh, why not.

FLASH SIRLOIN (1981) is a homemade, restaurant-set FLASH GORDON homage

Oh, sure, it was made for about two bucks on a lazy weekend in 1981, but Chris Maxfield and John Torretta's 8mm-lensed little fan film (using no doubt unlicensed Queen music) has a sense of exuberance and fun that plenty of similar homemade films today lack.  This wasn't done to get famous, this was done because a bunch of guys had a lot of fun making a silly little movie.  HARDWARE WARS is the clear inspiration.

Update:  From what I can tell, it seems to be shot at this place in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, which is still open!

Morey Amsterdam is a virus, and only Pepto Bismol can help

Today would have marked the 106th birthday of the comedian, songwriter and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" regular, so here's a commercial in which he plays a virus.  (Here's a better example of his talents, with frequent collaborator Rose Marie.)

Morning Cartoon: Isha Patel's THE BEAD GAME (1977)

Ease into the week with a more unusual work than normal, as Patel's beautifully-crafted work of bead animation is a heck of a lot more focused on having compelling images in a theme of increased aggression rather than a standard narrative.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. 

Morning Music Video: Jane Birkin - "La Gadoue"

Birkin turns 68 today.  Send her a card.