The Vegas Strip War (1984)

Network: NBC
Original Air Date: November 25th, 1984


I have to wonder how on earth they got Rock Hudson to star in this plodding, ill advised drama/thriller about warring casinos on the infamous Las Vegas Boulevard. I get how they got Sharon Stone, she was still virtually an unknown actress at the time (with questionable chops) and I even get how they got James Earl Jones to do a fascinating Don King rip off (this guy can do anything), but the Rock? I dunno, it’s not connecting for me. But then again, so little does…


Sharon and Rock enjoy the pokey!
The Vegas Strip War is mostly of interest to people (like me) who love to see films shot in Vegas. I grew up there and am always fascinated with how the town continually changes. There is this fantastic scene featuring Rock hanging out in Downtown Vegas, which used to be the hub of the city. The empty, rain slicked street really captures a city that no longer is.

But enough pontificating on my part, how bad is this movie?

It’s bad.

I mean it’s really bad. Like confoundingly-confusingly-ploddingly-suckily bad.

So Fine
Rock is Neil Chaine, owner of the Desert Inn. He loves to ply his customers with wine, women, cars and lots of attention. He’s a good businessman, but is suddenly pushed out by the board members of his casino for alleged mob ties. Somehow, all the love he gets in the first five minutes of the film turn nasty as he’s ousted during an impromptu board meeting in a horse stable! So he goes across the street and buys the Tropicana! And then all bets are off as Neil charms his way into success, near defeat and then back to success again.

So Fine Part II
Nothing in this film makes sense. It’s written like a grand Shakespearian tragedy with long bits of dialog that mean nothing and have no real logic. There’s a nice bit of racism to be had as well, featuring Pat Morita as the rich Asian man who rings in other rich “orientals” and Jones accusing everyone of disliking him because he’s black (that is until Sharon Stone puts a cork in his bottle! It’s not as dirty as that sounds…). It’s fairly predictable, kind of unwatchable and yet sort of captivating. As I’ve said before, if you like films that take place in Sin City, this is a must.

You've got to be kidding me?!?
This was not only Rock Hudson’s last made for TV movie but it was also his last film before he succumbed to the AIDS virus a year later. Watching The Vegas Strip War now feels bittersweet because it’s hard to detach this dim-witted tele-flick from the very real heartbreak that was the last days of Rock Hudson’s life. He’s in fine form here and looks pretty good. He might not have left this earthly plane with a scorcher, but this true professional exited this life like the star he was. That makes me happy.

So Streets of Fire!

Patrick Swayze 1952 - 2009

There is absolutely nothing I can say that won't be said better by someone else on the internet. Patrick Swayze was an icon. Pure and simple. He appeared in some of the best loved films of the 80s into the 90s. He seemed like a true gentleman and proved you could be straight and still dance like that. He was, for many of us, the guy we grew up watching. And we loved him.

Patrick had his hand in more than a few television projects, his final being The Beast which aired earlier this year on A&E. As he struggled with pancreatic cancer, my love and admiration only grew for him. I am deeply saddened by his passing.

Here's a couple of stills of Patrick in Return of the Rebels:












Strangely enough, I finally got to see this movie only a couple of weeks ago. I started writing my review of it last week between classes. Patrick is the bad guy, and man, he's oh-so-good at it! I will post the review with more stills when I finish it.

Patrick in Renegades:


This has to be my all time favorite thing Patrick ever did (with Roadhouse coming in a close second!). Before 21 Jump Street, Patrick and his merry band of reformed street thugs went undercover as cool young things, infiltrating all that is evil for the young... Originally a made for TV movie which aired in 1982, it became a very short lived series in 1983... only six episodes. I remember watching ever single one.


Patrick also appeared in the following television movies/mini-series:

The Comeback Kid (1980)
Pigs vs. Freaks (1984)
North & South (1985)
North & South: Book II (1986)
King Solomon's Mines (2004)
Icon (2005)



RIP Patrick. You were one of a kind. I'll miss you.

Here is the opening credits for Renegade, aka the best show ever:

Dark Night of the Scarecrow DVD Postponed!!!

Say it ain't so!!!!

I just saw a post at Horror Yearbook regarding the postponement of the DVD release of Dark Night of the Scarecrow, the single most anticipated DVD release of the year! Apparently the original DVD company fell through. Needless to say, a tear or two was shed. But read the article - writer J.D. Feigelson is looking for another distributor. Fingers crossed J.D.! I know you've put a lot of work into getting this movie to its audience.

Strangely, 2009 has seen the release of several other awesome television movies such as Bad Ronald, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark & The Bermuda Depths (all through Warner Archive). With the exception of a few other titles, the release of Scarecrow would mean the very top films in the sub-genre had become available to a whole new crowd. I have faith this will happen, just not right this second.

Hang tight Bubba!!!




That's Bubba literally hanging tight!

Dick Berg 1922 - 2009

Long time television producer Dick Berg (aka Richard Berg III), whose company Stonehenge Productions was responsible for several awesome television movies such as Someone I Touched, The Spell and Are You in the House Alone (featuring an early & quite menacing performance by Dennis Quaid) has passed away at the age of 87.

His incredible filmography boggles the mind.

The LA Times wrote a fantastic article about Mr. Berg that you should read if you are unfamiliar with his work. Like Levinson & Link or Aaron Spelling, this man's heart was in it and I just love him for it.

The Darkness and the Light

OK, let's start with the dark first, shall we?

You can pop on over to Pretty Scary to read my review of a movie called Drifter: Henry Lee Lucas, which features Antonio Sabato Jr. (Melrose Place, General Hospital) as one of the most menacing killers in the history of true crime. OK, so Antonio is not a bad actor. In fact, he is downright fun, but such an odd choice to play one of the most revolting killers of our time. However, I thought I might take this time to make note of how Henry has gotten hotter as time progresses:

The Real Henry... not so hawt:



The late Robert A. Burns as a version of Henryin the underrated Confessions of a Serial Killer, also not hawt:



Michael Rooker in the ultimate portrayal in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.OK, he's pretty hawt:



Antonio Sabato, Jr. as seen in Drifter is way too hawt:



I find it interesting (and slightly sad) how film seems to be leaning more towards an attractive face rather than someone who is right for the part. I mean, I like Antonio a lot, but what a miscast...

Now that I'm done with my little dissertation on beauty and serial killers, let's get on with it!

The Streaming TV Movie of the Week


Policewoman Centerfold is a tame, but totally engaging film that aired on NBC on October 17th, 1983. Based on a true story, Melody Anderson is uber-hawt Jennifer Oaks, a girl who sends her pictures to a Playboy-esque magazine as a joke. Well, the laughs on her folks, because they love her and invite her to California for a pretty sexy and racy photo shoot (the end result looking surprisingly authentic). The magazine people tell her that she'll gain confidence, but they forget to mention that she's also invited a lot of heartache from her co-workers at the police force. Also, her cop partner/boyfriend Nick Velano (Ed Marinaro, talk about hawt!) ain't too thrilled by it either. So there goes Jennifer taking on the man! Btw, Donna Pescow plays her BFF, the woman who totally encourages Jennifer to do the shoot and then chastises her for doing it. Wow, what a tangled web we weave Donna! The cast is great, especially Melody who is strikingly beautiful but not so much that you're distracted by it. She does blue collar OK and makes the character sympathetic and likable.

It's streaming on Netflix as we speak, so please stop by and give it a watch.

And one final note, Amanda By Night is now a college girl. My classes started yesterday and all I can say is YIKES! So, I will do my best to post when I can, but I have no set schedule as of now. And yet I have so much up my sleeve, but my time management skills suck. But please keep looking into the ether for updates, reviews, whatnot.

OK, as you were.

Werewolf: The Series Coming to DVD!

Thanks to Temple of Schlock for reminding me that Werewolf is going to see the light of day! Although I don't remember the episode storylines that well, I certainly have fond memories of this fun riff on The Fugitive, which I found to be utterly amazing when I was a wee little Amanda By Night. Temple wrote this informative article about the show, which is due out on DVD on October 6th, and I would rather direct you there, since my memories mostly revolve around the lead actor, John J. York, who is absolutely yummy!

A tasty morsel!

I found this great Fan Site which will help you count down the days until this awesome show gets its second shot! YAY!

Don't Go To Sleep (1982)

Network: ABC
Original Air Date: December 10th, 1982

Dennis. Weaver.

Weaver became an iconic presence in TV movies when he starred in the Spielberg classic Duel (1971) but he was always that kind of cool - He was the kind of class act that made watching television so much fun. Weaver ran the gamut on the small screen playing everything from a protective husband/father defending his clan against a gang of bikers to a cokehead real estate agent! He was also so unabashedly unpretentious, I always found him to be a totally contagious addition to whatever film or series he graced. Whether he was a big city cowboy or put-upon dad, he was just so easy to watch.


Weaver weaves a tale
In 1982 he did another awesome turn in the oft-forgotten ghostly Don’t Go to Sleep. I find that fans of made for television movies adore this film, and it certainly transcends the medium, so I find it odd that it never became a part of the casual viewer lexicon like Trilogy of Terror or the other Don’t movie, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. Maybe it fell through the cracks because it came out after the made for television horror rage, but it definitely deserves to be on the list of the best small screen genre films of that era, and ought to be considered a love letter to a dying breed.

Weaver plays Phillip, a father who is moving his two kids (Robin Ignico & Oliver Robins), wife Laura (Valerie Harper) and mother-in-law Bernice (Ruth Gordon) to a new home. At the outset things seem fairly normal until they arrive (it might be worthwhile to note the address contains the numbers 666). We find out that they have lost a daughter named Jennifer, who was killed in a horrible car accident. Each family member carries some guilt over the death, but no one is truly willing to either discuss it or look deep enough into their feelings to free themselves. Then one night Jennifer (Kristin Cumming) appears in front of her little sister Mary (Ignico) and sinister things start happening around the house. Jennifer is one ticked off ghost, and is out for blood.

The great Ruth Gordon telling it like it T-I-IS
Like all good ghost stories, Sleep has a timeless quality to it and has aged very well, still playing as straight horror even now. Maybe it’s because it’s a wonderfully shot tale about the universal issues of loss and repressed guilt and that it hits every horror beat perfectly. But the shocks, of which there are plenty, wouldn’t have worked so much if the family dynamic wasn't so dead on (no pun intended!). Dysfunctional families have always existed in film, but rarely lived on television (at this point in time). After the end of The Brady Bunch in the early 70s, TVMs and shows definitely took a turn to the more realistic, showcasing the difficulties in keeping the unit together and Sleep really capitalizes on that struggle. Harper and Weaver are fantastic as the beleaguered, sorrow-filled parents placing blame for their child’s death on themselves and on each other. Ruth Gordon keeps things quirky, as per her usual fashion, but also elicits sympathy and of course, gives grief wherever she can.

And those death scenes! I prefer not to give too much away, but look out for a lizard, a pizza cutter and a radio (not all in the same scene!) which become awesome potential murder tools.


Yikes!

Sleep is a key film in the sub-genre of small screen horrors. Following the more well known cult classics like the above-referenced Dark, Sleep benefits from a pulls-no-punches attitude and sequences of straight up ghastly terror, especially during the last third.

Produced by Aaron Spelling, it would be a treat to see something like The Aaron Spelling Collection released on DVD. He had his hand in many a made for television horror film (including Satan's School for Girls, Home for the Holidays & Taste of Evil to name but a few), several of which are worth a revisit and deserve to be more than a mere footnote in Spelling’s jiggle filled filmography.

Read more reviews at:

Kindertrauma

Hysteria Lives

Read an interview with Oliver Robins at Icons of Fright!

What, Me Honest?

Wow, I’m floored. I got another great blog award called The Honest Scrap Award. It comes from a writer I do admire so, John Kenneth Muir. His blog Reflections on Film/TV is one of my favorite spots so I am just absolutely gobsmacked.

This award is given to “a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant. This award is about bloggers who post from their heart, who oftentimes put their heart on display as they write from the depths of their soul.”

Ummm, did anyone else see the word brilliant? I know, it’s exciting!

Thank you so much John for your continual support of my blog. It is a high honor indeed, and I truly mean that.

The fun part of this award is that you are supposed to write ten honest things about yourself and then nominate seven other bloggers you admire to do the same. Well, as you know, I love talking about myself and I love spreading the love so two great tastes that taste great together make for a really fun, kind of experimental award!

Here goes:

1. I prefer vhs to DVD. There, I said it.

2. Magnum P.I. is my all time favorite show and I cry every time I watch the episode Limbo, where Magnum "dies." Luckily, the bigwigs at CBS brought Thomas back for half a season and the show ends on a much lighter note. One which I am glad they ultimately chose.

3. Riptide might be full of hot-as-Arizona-asphalt-machismo in the way of Perry King and Joe Penny, but I always had a crush on the nerdy guy played by Thom Bray. In fact, I’ve been in love with him since I was about 13. That’s a long time!

Mmmmmm....

4. I love minimalist slashers like Madman and The Prey. I think less is more in the world of slice and dice and hate when horror decides to get all caught up in its own subplots.

5. I am absolutely terrified to go back to school in the fall. It’s been almost 15 years, but it’s about time I did something worthwhile in this life.

6. I actually babysat for Karen Black when I was a production assistant on a movie. Her daughter was a very sweet girl; Karen was… something else entirely.

7. I told Gillian Anderson I liked her cleavage and she thanked me.

8. I cried a river when Bea Arthur passed away. She reminded me a lot of my mom, and died on what would have been my mom’s birthday (she passed away in 2005).

9. I wish my writing was funnier. And I mean funny-ha-ha.

10. I sometimes wish Parker Stevenson’s car would break down outside my house and he’d ask to use my phone. Yeah, you can read in-between the lines on that one!

OK, enough about me, what do you think about my hair?

Or, more importantly, here are seven incredible blogs you should be visiting every day:

Kindertrauma: One of my favorite spots, this site just keeps getting better and better.

Anchorwoman in Peril: Ross hasn’t been around to update it lately, but he’s got two other swell blogs that you can visit from the Anchorwoman site (Musty Moments and My First Dictionary). His writing is sublimely brilliant, and he’s cute to boot!

Cinema du Meep: Michael’s blog has something for everyone… and then some. For a completely unpretentious look at all things cinema, with an extra nod towards the obscure, this is your one stop shop!

Moon in the Gutter: I love this site. Jeremy, who also has a couple of offshoot blogs you can connect to through Moon (including Harry Moseby Confidential, which is absolutely incredible), knows a little bit about everything and is so openly honest about his love for film in general, he is constantly reminding me why I have had such a crush on the medium. And the layout – well, it’s fantastico! Oh yeah, and he loves Lou Grant! How I adore this guy!

Awesomeness for Awesome's Sake: Beware: This is not a work environment friendly blog, but it's a must see. Full of all things pop culture - adult and otherwise - it’s a fun, if slightly shocking, site and sometimes it’s the most fun in the world!

Tower Farm Reviews: Just discovered this blog about a month ago. It’s awesome. I mean, they give equal love to slashers and made for TV movies with Tori Spelling. Now that’s just cool.

Club Silencio: And finally, a blog I just don’t visit enough, but love every time I get a chance to pop by. You can tell by the moniker, there’s a little extra love for the Lynch, and that just wins my heart. But it’s also a very well written and beautiful looking blog. Stop by and tell ‘em Amanda By Night sent ya!

These lists are always hard because I love so many blogs out there, and I like changing up the lists a bit when I can, because I don’t want to mention the same ones over and over again. I hope no one feels omitted, because I love you all! It’s been a wild ride, an age of discovery if you will, surfing the untamed net and realizing that yeah, awesome movie lovers still exist.

And of course, please stop by John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Film/TV because it’s one of the best! Thanks again John!

Bad Ronald is Coming to DVD! Warner Archives Needs a New PR Company!

Alright, Warner Archive word of advice, PROMOTE your movies. You've got a lot of good, obscure titles available on DVD. A lot of titles you can make money by selling, but first we must know they are available. It's simple, really.

Shoot, Bad Ronald will be available starting tomorrow through Warner Archive. It's an awesome movie, one of my all time favorites. Read my review, then go pick up your copy, dig?

The Bermuda Depths is on DVD! Who Knew?!?

Someone simply posting as "Anonymous" tipped me off to the fact that The Bermuda Depths came out on DVD the same day Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was released by Warner Archives!

I have to go back to what I said the other day, nice marketing campaign! Sarcasm intended.

Big thanks to Anon for cluing me in on this. The Bermuda Depths is a visually striking and haunting poem of a film. It has struck a cord with more than one latch key kid and seemed to be one of the most elusive television films floating around the ether. Well, now it's here and hopefully it's here to stay!

Check out this news article from Dread Central. And now go pick up your DVD! Now!