As my CD collection (because I have a CD collection) can prove, I'm a big fan of the Danny Elfman-fronted Oingo Boingo, at least before they became Boingo and became kinda "meh." In one of the odder collisions of pop culture, the band performed on Jerry Lewis's annual Labor Day telethon in 1987, performing "We Close Our Eyes" (which, strangely, seems to be lip-synced) and "Not My Slave" (which isn't?).
But that's not all the live Oingo I've got for you -- here's the band performing "Not My Slave" and "Elevator Man" on the short-lived (Sinbad-hosted!) "Keep on Cruisin'" the same year.
Of course, these clips come from a time after the band had become a bit more pop and less experimental. For a look at them closer to the era of FORBIDDEN ZONE, check them out on "The Gong Show" over a decade earlier, when they were still performing under their full moniker of "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo."
Throughout his decades in the show business industry, Clint Eastwood has become an cultural icon, playing a vast variety of tough guy characters, ranging from cowboys to cops to curmudgeons to chair yellers. Meanwhile, actor Joe Dimmick has become an icon in his own right, playing a vast variety of Clint Eastwoods.
Dimmick is the owner of "Dimmick's Doubles," a celebrity lookalike company he founded in 1979 and of which Dimmick himself is the biggest draw. Dimmick's Eastwood impressions, beginning in 1977 when he answered a "Variety" ad, have led him to a certain degree of squinty-eyed fame and fortune, as Dimmick has portrayed Clint characters in commercials, television and even films, playing Eastwood archetypes in Mel Brooks' ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS and the action comedy ACES GO PLACES 2. (In the latter, his character of "Filthy Harry" is hired by a Henry Kissinger impersonator.)
But his biggest role as "Clint Eastwood" is in the 1987 film FILTHY HARRY, a feature-length epic Dimmick wrote, produced, directed and starred in that serves as an excuse to both parody DIRTY HARRY and give brief showcases to many of "Dimmick's Doubles" themselves, as impersonators of Joan Collins, Tom Selleck, Burt Reynolds (as "Slick") and more show up in minimal-to-supporting roles.
FILTHY HARRY is, as you can probably guess, not a "good" movie. The jokes are stale and terrible, the impersonations are only vaguely convincing (Stallone is laughable) and the performances are, to be kind, amateurish. But it also has a strange likeability about it -- there's nothing mean-spirited about the impersonations, and there's nothing in the film other than some comic violence that would give it anything more than a "G" rating if the MPAA ever touched this thing.
Mike Sullivan pretty much nailed it in his "Shock Cinema" review when he called it "an abject failure" as a comedy, but "any film where a Yamaha keyboard actually receives an on screen credit during the opening...has earned the right to be watched sober at least once." It's a ridiculous vanity project that's basically just an advertisement for a company that allows you to hire a mediocre Whoopi Goldberg impersonator, but it's about the most affable mindless monstrosity that you could imagine.
(This 2003 article even suggests there was a sequel, called MAGNUM FARCE, but this may have just been an offhanded comment Dimmick made. Anyone have any ideas if this exists?)
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.
Imperial Entertainment provided plenty of low-rent thrills during their time as a VHS distributor, and you can relive some of that excitement with this four minute promo meant for the eyes of video store owners. Michele Soavi's STAGE FRIGHT, which is pretty great, gives you free trick or treat bags! NINJA CONNECTION gives you ninjas! DEMONS 2 gives you excitement from its current theatrical release! And THE BALLAD OF DEATH VALLEY gives you a bland western made 17 years ago.
The FLASHDANCE star looks forward to reconnecting with old friends. The commercial doesn't really sell the city, so maybe it's just geared towards people that already have memories of growing up there? Or maybe people that know Jennifer Beals?
Marvel's iconic heroes weren't always at the top of the entertainment food chain. In 1987's Macy's Day Thanksgiving parade (hosted by Willard Scott), Captain America teams with Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, RoboCop (whose comic likeness Marvel had the rights to at the time) and more to fight Hulk and Doctor Doom. It manages to be slightly more embarrassing than the '70s live-action Spider-Man series.
The worst thing about Saturday morning cartoons having vanished from popular culture is that kids will no longer get important information about ferrets. This particular piece tells the tale of the black-footed ferret, which has a happy ending - there are now more than 1,000 wild critters of the like, a stark contrast to this report that places them on the brink of extinction. (As a special bonus, witness a Fruity Pebbles commercial with Barney Rubble as Prince.)
Made in 1987, this fifteen-minute short was created to sell a future project, but this little behind-the-scenes sales pitch about notorious VHS staples BLOOD CULT and THE RIPPER ("The first films shot directly for the video market," goes the claim) is a pretty nifty timepiece. Especially when they hype the music video.
Today is the birthday of two '80s low-budget action icons -- Sandahl Bergman (RED SONJA) and the late Robert Ginty (THE EXTERMINATOR). The duo were teamed in the 1987 sci-fi actioner PROGRAMMED TO KILL (aka THE RETALIATOR), in which Bergman is a "Barbie Rambo killing machine," and Ginty is the man who has to take her down. It's.. not a good movie, but damn, does the trailer make it look pretty great. (A ridiculously young Paul Walker is in this as well, but he doesn't make the trailer.)
HICKEY AND BOGGS star Bill Cosby has been getting a bit of a drubbing on Twitter over the past couple of days, so let's get back to what we can all agree on - that LEONARD PART 6 is a terrible, terrible film. Even Cosby, who denounced the film, agrees.
Produced as part of the anthology film NEO-TOKYO, Yoshiaki Kawajiri's THE RUNNING MAN stands on its own just fine as the tale of a Death Race-style racing champion who continues the "game" long past the moment it ends. A great short, and a fine intro to those new to anime history.
And now, a brand new dance to watch and learn! In 1986, Todd Graham created APOCALYPSE POOH, a mash-up of "Winnie the Pooh" and APOCALYPSE NOW that took on a life of its own in the underground VHS trading circuit of the era. (You can read all about him in my interview with him here!) His immediate follow-up is a similarly-inspired mix of the clean-cut Archie Comics gang and the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen." It is perfect.
