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Eclectic Film Discussion
Episodes
Sunday Aug 03, 2014
Sunday Aug 03, 2014
If you’ve never read one of the Man of Bronze’s adventures this podcast can serve as an introduction to him and his world. Although the character is not very well known these days, Doc Savage has a long and storied history. Born out of the fertile imagination of the great Lester Dent in the Depression of the 1930’s he is the perfect heroic man meant to exist as a beacon of nobility for people to aspire to emulate. An adventurer and righter of wrongs with an unbreakable code of ethics, Savage was the type of pulp fiction hero that could be enjoyed by readers of any age looking for fast action and wild plots. Yes, the violence often gets brutal in a Doc Savage novel but the bad guys will always be the ones that end up on the unfortunately placed sharp stick or at the bottom of that undiscovered deadly pit.
In this episode Doc Savage super-fan Brain Lindsey joins me for a conversation about all things Doc that ranges from the character’s background; his use of incredibly prescient gadgets; his five amazing companions; the best and worst of the novels and even the unfortunate 1975 George Pal produced film. As it appears that writer/director Shane Black is pushing to revive Doc as a film project in the near future we even speculate on who we’d like to see cast in the title role – we can be such conventional geeks! We also get into the details of the elements that make these books so much fun and pick apart some of the things that are a little questionable as well. If you’ve heard of The Shadow but never heard of Clark Savage, Jr. now is the time to let us escort you to the 86th floor of the EmpireStateBuilding and introduce you to one of the most impressive American fictional heroes of all time. I guarantee thrills and smiles aplenty!
If you want to drop us a line here at the podcast just write to thebloodypit@gmail.com and let us know what you think. Thank you very much for downloading and listening.
Wednesday Jul 09, 2014
Wednesday Jul 09, 2014
Umberto Lenzi's mad horror film NIGHTMARECITY can be accused of many crimes but it will never bore you. The movie has the forward momentum of a runaway freight train (which makes it a blast to watch) and it also has the brains of a decapitated chicken (making it maddeningly idiotic). But it presents such a spectacle that all critical faculties just seem to melt away in the warm glow of watching a piece of junk cinema just drop all pretense and go for the jugular every few minutes. As a matter of fact, it would seem that the idea in the editing room may have been "Never let more than five minutes go by without something outrageous or violent occurring". If you asked Lenzi in his later years about this movie he would often try to claim that the story had an anti-military or anti-nuclear energy message but we all know that the real thing to be learned here is that murderous, rage-driven, radiation infected killers can only be put down with a bullet to the head! And they are clearly not aliens. And they get you when you sleep. Wait! Wrong movie.
Anyway- I am joined this time by returning podcast partners Troy Guinn and Jeff Nelson. This is the first time the three of us have recorded together since our epic Yor, The Hunter From The Future episode and I think this one is more entertaining. We have a great time talking about our favorite moments in the film and somehow find more than one way to relate NIGHTMARECITY to the classic TV series All In The Family. I am not kidding. We discuss the finer points of running zombies; the question of infected vs undead; the problem of emoting when Hugo; and whether this film is more of a rip-off than other Italian horror movies of the same era. Also, Jeff has once again provided a nice piece of artwork to grace the show for which I am eternally grateful. He always goes out of his way to help us out over on the NaschyCast and his addition to this show only improves the entire affair.
If you wish to comment the email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com so feel free to let us know your thoughts on the episode. Thanks for downloading and listening.
Tuesday Jun 24, 2014
Tuesday Jun 24, 2014
Tarzan is one of the best known characters in all of English language fiction. Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs more than one hundred years ago the jungle lord descended from British aristocracy has become one of the most easily recognizable figures in world literature. Along with Dracula and Sherlock Holmes he forms a kind of trinity of classic fiction that is constantly ripe for rediscovery and reimagining. With the huge level of success reached by the ape man novels many, many imitations have been created over the years and even the number of official adaptations are too many to take in easily. There were many attempts to film the story of Tarzan in the silent era but it wasn't until MGM Studio obtained the rights in the early 1930's that a profitable series of movies was produced. Indeed, the MGM series was so successful for so long that there has yet to be a longer, uninterrupted film run for Tarzan onscreen or for a single actor in the title role. Of course, at a certain point RKO Studio took over production of the movies but that doesn't really matter- unless you were concerned about budgets!
The dozen Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films are the way the character was burned into the world's popular consciousness and I honestly doubt that Tarzan would be as famous and well known if not for this hugely popular film series with him as the star. Perhaps the character endures because the black & white images from these films were absorbed into the brains of a generation or two of children hungry for adventure in the trees? Maybe one of the biggest reasons the original 24 Tarzan novels never go out of print is that young boys were inspired to seek out more of the jungle man’s thrilling tales than the films can provide? Regardless, these movies are a large amount of fun for the adventure fan hungry for jungle action.
Joining me to discuss (briefly) all twelve of Weissmuller's run is my buddy Chris Herzog. Chris is a freelance writer and all around nice guy - it was he who proposed the idea of doing this episode of the podcast. In fact, it was all his idea and I wash my hands of it! No, no. Chris was able to convince me this was a good idea pretty easily even though I knew I would have to finally finish watching the series and then refresh my memories of the early entries. That took time but it was great fun. I hope that he and I will be able to collaborate on more shows in the future even if it might only be once a year.
If you have any comments or suggestions please write to us at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we just might incorporate your ideas into a later show. I apologize for the near constant background buzz in the audio but it was either have that noise in the show or fry in the oppressive May heat- we opted for the buzz. Sorry! The show ends with a song from the late, lamented Boston band The Cavedogs called Tarzan and his Arrowheads- the lyrics always struck me as quite ERB inspired. Enjoy!
Saturday Jun 07, 2014
Saturday Jun 07, 2014
STREETS OF FIRE is both the perfect distillation of the action films director Walter Hill had made up to 1984 and a stylish box office disaster. In my opinion it is also a masterpiece of pure cinema combining elements of film noir, musicals, crime stories, romance and tough guy humor into a something not seen on film before. This may not be Hill's best film but it is the best representation of his talent completely unfettered within the Hollywood movie making machine.
I recently rewatched this movie on cable (where I always seem to have seen it) and posted about it on Facebook wondering if I was alone in my love for SOF. I was not! Dozens of people came out of the closet as fans and when Ted Haycraft mentioned that we needed to talk about it I suggested we record our conversation for a show. A few minutes later I asked filmmaker and comic book writer Robert Tinnell if he would join us and he enthusiastically agreed. We had a great time talking about this under seen and under discussed piece of 80's action cinema and we hope you will enjoy hearing us babble.
If you have any comments or if you are a secret fan of STREETS OF FIRE drop us a note at thebloodypit@gmail.com and let us know. Maybe Walter Hill fans should develop a secret handshake or just address each other as Tom Cody! Thanks for downloading and listening.
Thursday Mar 13, 2014
Thursday Mar 13, 2014
With the thirteenth episode it is just me flying solo again. As this podcast features a random assortment of things that interest and/or entertain me I have no fear of zigging around and sometimes talking about things most folks know nothing about. In that vein, this time out I'm bringing you a fun piece of Horror Radio that requires a little explanation. Os, in this short show, I first explain who author M. R. James was; then I point you toward the wonderful literary podcast about his ghost fiction and finally I present one of the odder audio adaptations of his work - all in a day's work for a media magpie such as I am!
Sunday Dec 15, 2013
Sunday Dec 15, 2013
Friday Oct 18, 2013
Friday Oct 18, 2013
Friday Oct 11, 2013
Friday Oct 11, 2013
Tuesday Aug 20, 2013
Tuesday Aug 20, 2013
THE BEASTMASTER is one of the most beloved Guilty Pleasure films of the 1980s. Countless screenings of it on cable in the late 80's and early 90's cemented its place in the hearts of film fans all over North America. Its easy to understand this movie's place in the memories of wide-eyed young men - if you were looking for a fun adventure tale on a rainy afternoon you could do much worse. The film sports lots of small scale action, pretty women, real animals doing odd things and a sword wielding hero running through the whole thing kicking villainous ass at every turn- what is there not to love!
Not all of us came to the BEASTMASTER party early but luckily co-host Jeff Nelson is a longtime fan of the film and is willing to defend it from --- those who might sneer. But will Mr. Nelson's fandom hold up as he and I examine all three movies in this series. That's right- there are three Beastmaster movies and we are gonna cover all of them! So set back, relax, keep an eye out for theiving ferrets and join us as we discuss the madness of THE BEASTMASTER TRILOGY. We even touch on the television series as best we can considering we've never seen a single episode.
If you would like to comment on the show or fill in any of the gaps in our knowledge please drop us a line at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we'll be happy to respond. Maybe next time out we'll talk about the ATOR trilogy.
Saturday Jun 08, 2013
Saturday Jun 08, 2013
Sometimes I am lucky enough to meet very accomplished people whose work I admire. Often these are authors I seek out for the chance to discuss their books or research subjects but in the past decade or so I have been able to meet several people who work in the film industry at one level or another. This has been fascinating as most of them have been very willing to talk about their work and also relate anecdotes about the pitfalls of filmmaking. To my good fortune, one of these people has been William Stout. Mr. Stout is an acclaimed illustrator, creature designer, storyboard artist, production designer and the writer of a few screenplays. This last bit of his resume was a surprise to me when his name turned up as the co-scripter of the Roger Corman produced barbarian epic THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS (1984). I had decided one uneventful night to revisit this little film now that it was available on DVD from Shout Factory and my surprise at this credit was total. As soon as I verified that it was indeed the same William Stout I knew I just had to ask him about it.
I first met Mr. Stout a few years ago when we struck up a friendship over shared music interests and since then its been a highlight of the Wonderfest convention each Spring to talk to him informally about his work. He is a charming, funny man with enough great stories to fill more than one book and I have always felt lucky to be able to hear him tell his tales. I was thrilled when he immediately agreed to sit down and talk with me about THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS for the podcast. If you've never met Mr. Stout I think you'll enjoy this conversation as a way to get an idea of what a nice gentleman he is and if you have any interest in the behind the scenes shenanigans that can happen, you will be laughing along with me. Although we start talking about Roger Corman and the barbarian films of the 1980s the discussion ranges across several other movies too. I often forget just how many of my favorite movies William Stout worked on!
If you wish to contact the me about the podcast, the blog or anything else you can drop me a note at thebloodypit@gmail.com and I'll be happy to respond. I keep meaning to read out emails on the podcast but the show's schedule is so erratic I always forget! This episode can be grabbed as an MP3 at the link below or through iTunes. If you get the podcast through iTunes please consider rating and/or reviewing it. It would really help get the word out about what is going on here. Thanks!