Happy 25th, THUNDER RUN!

Twenty-five years ago today: May 30, 1986.  Having already given us new releases starring Lee Marvin (THE DELTA FORCE) and Charles Bronson (MURPHY'S LAW) earlier that year, Cannon further cemented its credentials as the home of the geezers of action with the great Forrest Tucker's final theatrical film, THUNDER RUN.

Reviewed here at The Horn Section for its 20th Anniversary back in the early days of our blog, THUNDER RUN remains unavailable on DVD in the U.S.  It's still a shame. 



True, THUNDER RUN had plotholes Tuck could have driven "Thunder" through.  For example, no one noticed the pickup truck in the back of the 18 wheeler while loading the cargo?  Director Gary Hudson also spent way too much time on the unrelated hijinks of his more youthful cast members before giving us what we really wanted: Tuck taking on scar-faced, heavily armed terrorists on a lonely desert road.

Doesn't matter.  The gloriously goofy and action packed second half more than makes up for the flaws.  Where else will you see an 18 wheeler jumping a train, or VW dune buggies armed with heat seekers?  Enjoy the trailer full o' cheese above, and hope that THUNDER RUN either finds its way to DVD or Netflix Instant soon so we can all rediscover it.

Film Review: HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL (1959)

No DVD yet?  Why I oughta....

"Why the Hell isn't This on DVD Yet?" -- Number 60





HAVE ROCKET WILL TRAVEL (1959 Columbia) Starring The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Joe DeRita), Jerome Cowan, Anna-Lisa, Robert Colbert.  Directed by David Lowell Rich.


Inept NASA janitors Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe decide to help scientist Anna-Lisa after her latest failure at developing a fuel formula.  The bumbling custodians wreak havoc on the mission rocket and end up accidentally launching themselves as America's first space travelers.  After landing on Venus, they encounter a friendly talking unicorn, a fire breathing tarantula and the planet's computerized leader. The latter clones our heroes, setting up a battle with their evil robot replicas.  Finally the maintenance men make it back to Earth, returning to a hero's welcome and a high society party.  Uh oh.

With short subjects no longer in production and the Three Stooges hotter than ever in 1959 thanks to television, Columbia fulfilled one of Moe's longtime wishes--a legitimate shot to make full length features.  HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL was obviously rushed out to capitalize on the Stooges' resurgence and perhaps as a result many longtime Stooge collaborators are nowhere to be found.   The sci-fi spoof is written by Rafael Hayes and directed by David Lowell Rich (A LOVELY WAY TO DIE); both specialized in westerns and crime dramas and neither had much of a background in any comedy, much less Three Stooges comedy.

At a short 76 minutes HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL feels more like three different two reelers shown in sequence than a standalone feature.  Specifically, it's as if two slightly below par Curly shorts are bookending one of the better Joe Besser sci-fi efforts.  The opening third at the space center is reminiscent of any number of Curly/Shemp shorts with the trio being employed as handymen, with particular homage paid to A PLUMBING WE WILL GO.  It's familiar but executed well enough.  The Venus section is loaded with cheesy charm if lacking in fresh gags.

The film is topped off with a truncated celebration much like the party in HOI POLLOI, which was already long past its first remake (HALF WITS' HOLIDAY, Curly's 1947 swan song), and it had to be disappointing to kids in 1959 to see this setup without the obligatory "pie fight" payoff.  Despite this oversight (gotta keep the running time short enough for a double feature, eh Columbia?) there's more slaps and headknocking in HAVE ROCKET WILL TRAVEL than the aging Stooges would have in their subsequent movies (Moe was 62 and Larry 57)--in fact, this film probably contains the very last eye poke from Moe, as that part of the routine was soon retired due to fears of children imitating it. 

Curly Joe DeRita

This was Joe DeRita's debut as the third Stooge.  While his attempts to imitate Curly's vocal mannerisms are ill-advised, they are brief and would (thankfully) be missing from the rest of the team's comeback efforts.  DeRita was still settling into his role at the time of HAVE ROCKET and while he's no Curly (who could be?) he proves to be a solid old vaudeville pro who fits well overall with this more mature version of the Three Stooges and reestablishes some of the chemistry that was lacking in the Besser shorts. 

With Anna-Lisa

The Three Stooges took a couple of tries to really hit their stride in the Curly Joe era.  After the big-budget misfire SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES (1961), longtime Stooge collaborators such as director Edward Bernds, screenwriter Elwood Ullman and ace utility player Emil Sitka were brought aboard and the stories became more appropriate for feature length while continuing to liberally lift gags from the team's heydey.  None of these films quite reached the level of the Curly two reelers (and the boring romantic subplots continued), but the four flicks from 1962 to 1965 are all worth watching, with the 1965 finale THE OUTLAWS IS COMING! being probably the best of the bunch and allowing the legendary comedians to go out on a high note.

So---why isn't this on DVD yet?

This one is a puzzler, because virtually everything Stooge related is available, including all of the Columbia shorts and the other five Curly-Joe full length features. HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL stands alone, undeserving of its isolation.

Why it should be on DVD:

Okay, so there's the creative missteps, the rushed quality and the lack of longtime Stooge cohorts. On the plus side HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL also has the least intrusive romantic subplot of the Curly Joe era.  Neither the best nor the worst latter-day effort from the team, it would certainly be welcomed to DVD by Stoogemaniacs--much more than the awful and demeaning "Fake Shemp"/Joe Palma concoctions and the mostly subpar Besser two reelers.

Film Review: THE BIG BOODLE (1957)

"Why the Hell isn't THIS on DVD yet?" -- Number 59

THE BIG BOODLE (1957 United Artists) Starring Errol Flynn, Rossana Rory, Gia Scala, Pedro Armendariz, Louis Oquendo.  Directed by Richard Wilson.

Flynn is a blackjack dealer in Batista-era Havana who unwittingly accepts phony pesos from player Rory. He is late realizing the error, and she leaves him high and dry, holding the funny money and fully responsible for it under casino rules.  Flynn's bad night gets worse: he is attacked on his way home, and cop Armendariz accuses him of counterfeiting after finding the boodle on him.  Now unemployed yet prohibited from leaving the country, Flynn attempts to clear his name with the help of banker's daughter Scala---who is also Rory's sister.

THE BIG BOODLE is often cited as "feeble", "emphasizing Flynn's career decline" and "sad", with various reviews describing the star as "flabby", "indifferent" and "wasted".   Okay, it's no classic.  The story is as predictable as it gets, and direction by Richard Wilson (AL CAPONE) is strictly routine despite his fine lensing of the locale (the film was shor entirely on location in Cuba).   But while the film is mostly forgettable, it's nowhere near as disastrous as you've been led to believe, and while Errol Flynn is given some sadly ironic dialogue ("For me to reach 67, it's going to take a lot more than Jai Alai") he wasn't in grave condition just yet.

It is sad to see the former Captain Blood requiring a very obvious stunt double for an undemanding hotel struggle.  But after watching this film, I can't imagine anyone (well, okay, maybe the always hyperbolic Charles Higham) describing Flynn using the terms above.  He looks battered for much of it, but with good reason--he's attacked repeatedly and beaten during an interrogation.  Taking that into account, Flynn merely looks his age (47) here; Charlie Sheen looks worse in recent photos.   If his days as a matinee idol are over, it only makes him more convincing as an everyman. Looking the part helps a great deal as Flynn gives a professional but not terribly inspired performance: he's clearly coasting on his considerable screen presence here.

Okay, so there's nothing special about the script, direction or performances, and there's no freak show attraction either, since Flynn's Brave Last Days were a couple of years away (in fact, a Hollywood comeback in THE SUN ALSO RISES was just around the corner).  So who's going to be interested besides Errol Flynn diehards?   Well, for fans of Rory and Scala, THE BIG BOODLE is a must.  Striking blonde Rory had only a few opportunities as a leading lady and made barely a dozen films before retiring.  The equally beautiful Scala (who sadly suffered from depression and committed suicide at 38) was a few months away from her breakthrough role in DON'T GO NEAR THE WATER.  Flynn personally chose both for this film.

THE BIG BOODLE also offers late-Batista era Havana itself, with plenty of beach scenery and a little bar and casino hopping too.  It is one of the last opportunities to see a U.S. picture filmed there, as the embargo was only three years away.  Ironically, THE last U.S. picture filmed there was an embarrassment to Flynn and everyone else involved: CUBAN REBEL GIRLS, in which the star truly is on his last legs physically and the entire project is as amateurish as can be.  Perhaps reviewers are confusing the two films when they savage this one.  THE BIG BOODLE is ordinary, but it's an acceptable little flick that is a painless watch for Flynn's fans.

So...why isn't this on DVD yet?

Well, it finally will be on May 17th, so I'm cheating a bit on this one.  MGM Screen Archives has it available for pre-order.  With Warner Archive starting to get to Flynn's post-World War II output for his longtime home studio, one of the biggest stars of the 1930's and 1940's is finally getting his due and his long-neglected later vehicles renewed visibility.

Why it should be on DVD:

The opportunity to get a good, 90 minute look at scenic (and in parts, seedy) Havana, the "The Latin Las Vegas" prior to the Castro revolution.  THE BIG BOODLE also boasts an interesting cast, with the rare opportunity to see beautiful Italian actress Rory (who retired at 35 after barely a dozen films); the stunning, but troubled Scala; and of course, Flynn.  If you're a fan of any of them or the locale you'll want THE BIG BOODLE in your collection.   If you'd like a sneak preview, it's currently available on Netflix Instant.

Film Review: THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING (1935)

"Why the Hell isn't this on DVD yet?" -- Number 58

THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING (1935 Columbia) Starring Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Wallace Ford, Donald Meek, Arthur Hohl, Arthur Byron, Paul Harvey.  Directed by John Ford.

Robinson is "Jonesy", a milquetoast who works at Harvey's accounting firm and has an unrequited crush on co-worker Arthur.  He's such a straight arrow that he not only has zero absences for 8 years, he's never even been late to work.  But Jonesy's attendance record is broken when the incompetent police apprehend him one morning, mistaking him for the town's most notorious criminal Mannion (also Robinson), his doppelganger.  Achieving some measure of celebrity from this coincidence, Jonesy is pursuaded by his boss to begin ghost-writing Mannion's "autobiography", not knowing that the racketeer has learned about his "dead ringer" and plans to frame his mild double for crimes upcoming.

John Ford was known for his westerns, Robinson for his serious mafiosos. These unlikely sources teamed to tweak Robinson's image and gangster films in general, both of which were ripe for ribbing by 1935.  It would be a mistake to say it is all fun and games (it is chilling to realize Jonesy is actually ordering a hit while impersonating Mannion) but any serious undertones are presented very subtly.   Predictably the timid accountant finds his assertive side as his lawless double, and uses this newfound assuredness only to woo Arthur and pursue his dream vacation with her (Shanghai).



Robinson is marvelous in his dual role, and his performances here and in THE MAN WITH TWO FACES (1934) proved the actor was far too talented to be pigeonholed as a gangster.  Arthur's role here was also a breakthrough, as not only the first of her many screwball comedies but her screen debut as a blonde as well, a look she would keep for the rest of her career.  Arthur had been directed by Ford in her very first film a dozen years prior, in the silent CAMEO KIRBY (1923).

Ford was a few months away from the first of his Oscars of (THE INFORMER) and maximizes the script's comic potential while deftly keeping your mind off the wild implausibilities.   Ford does show that even the greatest aren't perfect with one very noticeable continuity goof, as Jonesy should be returning to a flooded apartment after that closeup on the still-running faucet as he leaves.  But yeah, I'm nitpicking.  Three of Hollywood's all time greats teamed up to really put on a show here, and it's another in the TCM rotation that is well worth your DVR space.

So.....why isn't this on DVD yet?

Beats me.  It undoubtedly would be if it were Warner's property, but Robinson was on loan to Columbia for this crowd pleaser, and so it remains inexplicably missing, with only a VHS release to date.

Why it should be on DVD:

Robinson.  Arthur.  Ford.  All in top form, with Eddie G. and the old master doing so while giving their fans a change of pace.  Enough said.  This one richly deserves wider availability.

Missing No Longer: DON'T MAKE WAVES (1967) and NEVER SAY GOODBYE (1946)

The Missing No More list grows larger, thanks to the Warner Archive.

No, they haven't been perfect; they still haven't put MAVERICK out in single season sets yet, only a 3 episode sampler.  With THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW now out there, MAVERICK and LOVE THAT BOB! are unquestionably the 1950's series most in need of the Complete Season treatment.  

Television quibbles aside, the folks at Warner continue to make us happy with their film selection, bringing for the first time to DVD two more longtime M.I.A.'s reviewed during The Horn Section's debut year online in 2006.

Warner Archive's latest release is 1967's DON'T MAKE WAVES, reviewed at the Horn Section here.  The late Tony Curtis was reunited with his SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS director Alexander Mackendrick in what would sadly turn out to be the latter's swan song.  It was arguably Curtis' last good comedic role as a leading man (unless you want to count William Girdler's legendary THE MANITOU) and probably Sharon Tate's best performance.  The term "eclectic cast" was meant for films like this: Claudia Cardinale, Mort Sahl, playmate China Lee (at the time Mrs. Sahl), Robert Webber, Dave "Mr. Universe" Draper, Edgar Bergen, and, playing themselves, Jim and Henny Backus!

Comedy was never considered Errol Flynn's forte, but the action star acquitted himself well in NEVER SAY GOODBYE (reviewed here) despite a weak script.  Warner Archive has been releasing much of the star's neglected post-WW2 output, and while GOODBYE isn't a great film, it does have several points of interest:  Forrest Tucker showing off his comedic chops long before AUNTIE MAME, the eternally gorgeous Eleanor Parker as the lady both men are wooing, and Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel.

Two down, but many more out there...Number 58 is on the way.

Film Review: HELLZAPOPPIN' (1941)

"Why the Hell isn't THIS on DVD yet?" -- Number 57

HELLZAPOPPIN’ (1941 Universal) Starring Ole Olson, Chic Johnson, Shemp Howard, Elisha Cook Jr., Martha Raye, Mischa Auer, Hugh Herbert, Jane Frazee, Robert Paige, Richard Lane, Clarence Kolb.  Directed by H. C. Potter.


Olson and Johnson return to Tinseltown with the longest running musical in the history of Broadway with HELLZAPOPPIN’,  but Universal insists on changing everything while translating it to the silver screen.  “This is Hollywood.  We HAVE to!”  Thus the literally plotless play must now have structure.  For starters, this means dual love stories crafted by writer Cook: for Raye and Auer, and for Frazee and Paige.  Meanwhile Olsen and Johnson resist the studio impositions in their unique way, shouting their own instructions at hapless projectionist Howard. 



This quintessential Olson and Johnson vehicle is often compared to other kitchen-sink comedies: from the pre-Code DUCK SOUP and DIPLOMANIACS to the more modern groundbreakers BLAZING SADDLES and AIRPLANE!.   However HELLZAPOPPIN' is the most anarchic and surrealistic of them all.  Breaking the fourth wall?  How can you break it when it never really gets established here.  Screenwriter Nat Perrin had the requisite background (he got his start working with the Marx Brothers) and Olsen and Johnson appear only too happy to be skewering  Hollywood and the conventions of film.  The suits out west never really got their unrestrained comedy, and the team had been rejected by movie audiences for a decade.

“Any similarity between HELLZAPOPPIN’ and a motion picture is purely coincidental.”   Potter, Perrin and company take all of five seconds to demonstrate this.  The film opens with your normal production number with costumed dancers meticulously making their way down stairs...which quickly flatten, causing everyone involved to slide all the way down to Hell!  Which is, of course, a Poppin', with devils canning males and females until a taxi arrives to drop off Olson and Johnson.  "The first cab driver to go straight where I told him to!"

Whether making sly allusions to then current films like CITIZEN KANE, getting creative digs in at the Hays Office, or making subtle points about the merits (superior in the team's view, clearly) of a live performance, HELLZAPOPPIN' is consistently mind-bending and inventive for a just-right 84 minutes.  When Olson and Johnson are watching themselves onscreen and commenting with their backs to us, it's hard not to think of MST3K. 

HELLZAPOPPIN' is helped considerably by musical numbers that are actually enjoyable. Whitey's Lindy Hoppers all but steal the show with a truly amazing number, even by the Hoppers' standards.  But the other songs are also enjoyable, and typically serve as backdrops to the continued lunacy, such as a deliveryman's incessant attempts to deliver Mrs. Jones' new potted plant and messages for children in the audience.  By 1941 standards, Mother probably didn't want them watching this anyway. 

So....why isn't this on DVD yet (in the U.S.)?

Apparently only one reason: legal issues.  Specifically, over the rights to the play and film versions and. apparently, between the Olson and Johnson estates.   The latter is especially disappointing, not to mention short-sighted, as this is the team's signature work and deserves a wider audience.

Why it should be on DVD:

Well, OK, it is--in the U.K. and Australia only.  But everywhere else,  HELLZAPOPPIN' is largely unknown 70 years after its release.  The legal issues have kept the film off cable television and off VHS and Laserdisc for decades.  While the film stays in obscurity, so does the comedy team of Olson and Johnson, which is a real shame.  If the story of feuding between the estates is true, someone get these folks together!  It has to be easier than your typical sports labor deal.

A lost comedy masterpiece, and by far the prime example of "anything goes" film comedy in the period between the pre-Code early Thirties and the Mel Brooks and Monty Python era forty long years later.

The jaw-dropping, gravity defying performance by Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (billed here as the Harlem Congaroo Dancers) which is arguably the best dance number ever committed to film.  The Hoppers were great in A DAY AT THE RACES (which had the added bonus of vocals from the incomparable Ivie Anderson) and the Nicholas Brothers were fabulous in STORMY WEATHER, but the HELLZAPOPPIN' jitterbug probably tops them all.

Bottom line: make this lost classic available in the U.S. on a remastered DVD!  Currently available at Amazon Instant for a fee.

Film Review: CHILDREN OF TIMES SQUARE (1986)

"Why the Hell isn't this on DVD yet?" -- Number 56

CHILDREN OF TIMES SQUARE (1986 Made for TV/ABC) Starring Brandon Douglas, Joanna Cassidy, Howard E. Rollins Jr., David Ackroyd, Jason Bernard, Silvana Gillardo, Larry B. Scott, Annie Oringer, Mars Callahan.  Written and directed by Curtis Hanson.

Fifteen year old Pennsylvanian Douglas runs away from his mother (Cassidy) and stepfather (Ackroyd) and takes the bus to New York.  His money doesn’t last long and he ends up in Times Square, potential prey to flesh peddlers or, if he's luckier, drug dealers.  Given this choice, Douglas joins Brooklyn counterpart Nucci in working for Rollins' cocaine selling Leopards.  Meanwhile Cassidy races against time to find her son.

The cautionary tale for teens was a TV-movie staple throughout the Seventies and Eighties from 1971’s MR. AND MRS. BO JO JONES to 1988’s SHATTERED INNOCENCE. CHILDREN OF TIMES SQUARE is a cut above the norm, thanks largely to director/writer Curtis Hanson.  In his only telefilm to date, the future Oscar winner (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) does a fine job establishing the seediness of the locale and fleshing out his youthful characters. Feeling unwanted is Douglas' motivation: his father abused him and Ackroyd is nonplussed to inherit the task of raising a teenager.  Refreshingly, Douglas is no angel--he smokes pot, leaves his infant half brother unattended to go to a concert, and steals money from his mother’s purse.  Ironically street life gives him the responsibility he lacked at home; he becomes arguably Rollins' most conscientious and hard working peddler.

While Douglas sees the Leopards as a means to survive, Nucci simply wants to help to his hard-luck, overworked mother Gallardo.  Hanson's script also provides plausible backstories for hard luck streetwalker Oringer and Rollins' street leader, Scott.  Then 24, the latter is convincing playing a character nearly a decade younger and very effective in a role far different from his comedic turns in FEAR OF A BLACK HAT and the REVENGE OF THE NERDS series.

The late Rollins (so memorable in RAGTIME and FOR US THE LIVING) was also given a chance to play against type here as the Faginesque adult (blink and you'll miss: one of his deliveries is to a "C. Dickens"), but unfortunately he turns in an uneven performance in THE CHILDREN OF TIMES SQUARE.  At times he's suitably menacing, but in other moments that call for subtlety that (i.e. reassuring a Leopard after a beating and robbery, the firing of "sucker" Callahan) he's as theatrical as Michael Caine in ON DEADLY GROUND and temporarily brings in the cheese factor Hanson was trying to avoid.  This notwithstanding, the film stays afloat until the final quarter, when the script requires Rollins' character to take chances that he's been established as being far too intelligent to risk, in the name of giving us a happy (network imposed?) ending.

It isn't the definitive film on the subject (that would be 1984's heartbreaking documentary STREETWISE, also sorely missing from DVD), but CHILDREN OF TIMES SQUARE is probably about the best TV Movie possible about street runaways.   

So......why isn't this on DVD yet?

Made for TV movies about social issues from the "three network" era tended to age quickly (i.e. the Times Square presented here was gone less than a decade later) and usually need a big current 'name' for DVD release.  In this case, the biggest name (since Rollins is no longer with us) is behind the camera and his last hit was 8 MILE in 2002.

Why it should be on DVD:

It would make a fitting twofer in tandem with the aforementioned STREETWISE (one of the most glaring omissions of the 1980's IMO, and a future review here) and there's admirable talent involved here on both sides of the camera.  Douglas, a familiar face who had few opportunities to carry a film, makes the most of this one.

Hanson's upcoming TOO BIG TO FAIL will be his first made for TV movie since CHILDREN OF TIMES SQUARE, which is currently available at Netflix Instant.