Smashing Time - 1967 - UK

Smashing Time - 1967 - 5/10 

 
Two young Northern birds arrive in Swinging London.
Fame and glamor beckon, until they realize they have been robbed.
They manage to get “hostessing” jobs, but success continues to sidestep them.
English slapstick seems like a mad cousin to the “Carry On” films.
Terrific cast, crazy 60’s look, yet everything is too much.
No real meat, while everyone tries so very hard.

Poor Cow - 1967 - UK

Poor Cow - 1967 - 6/10 

 
Working class drama of Joy, her poor choices, and the men who drift in and out of her orbit.
Preggers and wed by 18, Joy’s husband is an abusive yob.
At least when he is sent to prison, a mate of his turns up, and he is a kinder, gentler sort.
More or less … until the Law catches up with him as well.
Dreary throughout, yet the characters are easy to relate with, especially if your life has bad decisions.
Debut film by Ken Loach lays down a career template.

Good Morning … And Goodbye! - 1967 - USA

Good Morning … And Goodbye! - 1967 - 5/10

 
Barnyard Gothic finds Boland, rich and influential, with no more wick in his stick.
While wife Angel is a lust driven nymph of the ancient school, fleshly and indifferent.
A FFFF type, she drains a hunky construction worker, seduces her daughter’s boyfriend.
Boland, remember Boland, encounters a pagan elemental (Haji) who restores his mojo.
Despite overripe narration and juicy female lines, this Russ Meyer twaddle is mildly titillating, often boring.
Alaina Capri, one of Meyer’s powerful man-eaters, devours the camera.

The Sorcerers - 1967 - UK

The Sorcerers - 1967 - 5/10

 
Professor Montserrat just needs a subject.  Intelligent, inquisitive, sober.
Once under, he should be able to read the subject’s mind, experience vicariously their day to day.
From there, control the subject.
Alas, wife Estelle has other desires: theft, violence, bloody murder.
The weaker sex?  Fool!  Estelle is soon up to all manner of diabolical mischief.
Even for a dated film, the pacing is slow, and the director lets scenes run much too long.
A pruning would aid this one, although there is a melancholy vibe.

Gunn - 1967 - USA

Gunn - 1967 - 6/10  

 
A retired mob boss is liquidated on his boat.
Even though the new cartel warns him, Peter Gunn owed the old man.
And as the new chief starts squeezing, casino owners cry for help.
Reboot of the vintage TV series seems out-of-step from the start.
1967, the Summer Of Love, yet the interiors are Jazz clubs and gangsters in fedoras.
The mystery angle is good, great twist, Stevens laid back (seems too old to lure the ladies, though).
For the cult of Sherry Jackson, she has a meaty role and is as intoxicating as ever.
Look for Carol Wayne at the end.

The Public Cemetery Under The Moon - 1967 - S Korea

The Public Cemetery Under The Moon - 1967 - 5/10
AKA - Wolhaui Gongdongmyoji // 월하의 공동묘지(기생월향지묘)

Perhaps Wol-Ha was born unlucky.
During the Japanese occupation, her brother was imprisoned.
While she was forced to work as a geisha or comfort woman.
Even later, married, she sickened, then died.
Then the new wife and her mother made moves to murder her son.

 
Lumbering ghost story spends a lot of time with the sneaky Nan-Ju.
Replacement wife, covetous, treacherous.
Enjoyable, if corny.  Beautifully shot, if much too slow.

Zontar: The Thing from Venus - 1967 - USA

Zontar: The Thing from Venus - 1967 - 3/10

 
Our alien offers to come to Earth and help solve humanity’s problems.
(Just like politicians, tyrants, megalomaniacs, martinets, from Biblical times onward.)
Fortunately, for Zoltar, it reaches out to the one “scientist” gullible enough to believe a Venusian telemarketer.
In no time flat, our three-eyed, bat-winged, Cthulhu wannabe holes up in a cave and begins global domination.
Bad film, bad acting, ripoff script, and the characters are beyond stupid!
Connoisseurs of trash cinema, this is one dingy brown pile.

Spring Night, Summer Night - 1967 - USA

Spring Night, Summer Night - 1967 - 7/10

Eldest son Carl is unsuited for farm work.  Coal mines are closed, but he would have not fit in there, either.
Then there is Jessica, his sister (half-sister, actually), equally unhappy with her lot as surrogate mother to the children.

 
Stifled, bored, attracted, what happens seems foregone.
Especially in that rural, pocket-community which is already riddled with adultery and drinking.
Five months, the swelling aftermath, guilt and resignation.
Bear in mind, 1967 was the Summer Of Love, Vietnam raged, Civil Rights activists marched.
Meantime, this region harks back to 1930’s Depression America.
This is an authentic time capsule of a region people choose to forget.

English subs = https://subscene.cam/subtitle/3303358

I watched with creeping recognition.
The Canaan signpost – Canaan had been in my father’s sales territory (heavy equipment).  
Summer’s he often took me along for a week.  Appalachian hamlets were a mix of the busted and painted over.
I recognized characters, as well as some of their activities.
Beer brews, Stroh’s, Schlitz, Blatz, Black Label, were local faves.
A childhood friend fooled around carelessly, was forced to marry his two-months along girlfriend.  Pa stood behind, rifle swinging at his side.  Their marriage was a happy one.  Decades on, they died within a week of each other.
Unlike in the film, coal mines were not all closed at this time.  Mid 70’s, I worked in Buffalo Creek to pay for my way to Los Angeles.  Coal work was dirty, difficult and dangerous, yet I was desperate to get away.
Appalachia has ever been exploited, the people discarded.

Maneater Of Hydra - 1967 - W Germany

Maneater Of Hydra - 1967 - 5/10
AKA - La Isla de la Muerte  //  Island Of The Doomed

 
No, no, no!  Listen up, potential turistas.
No matter how far off the beaten track you want to go, you don’t ever want to go to no deserted island.
Especially if the lone inhabitant is a scientist, or researcher, or doctor, who likely needs guinea pigs.
Baron von Weser welcomes his guests, whereupon the stroll, and the deaths, begin.
His specialty is carnivorous plants.  Small ones, that feast on mice.
No one would make large plants, would they?
Endearingly bad movie, which boasts atrocious dubbing (part of its charm) and decent acting.
The print has never been restored (as of 2023) and it remains 7th generation.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - 1967 - USA

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - 1967 - 6/10

 
Jack answers a vague classifieds ad and is soon whisked to Europe.
In Paris, he encounters Nikki; then in Monte Carlo, her highly competitive father.
Nikki and family are affluent. So he stays on the case, keeps playing the games.
Confusing thriller as Jack is unsure of his mission.
Soon, however, he realizes the assignment has put him in grave danger.
Early made-for-TV movie is near Hollywood standards, with jazzy Lalo Schifrin score.
Excellent casting of Robert Wagner and Peter Lawford, with Jill St. John.
“Such a needless expenditure of time and energy, like your life itself.”

Samurai Rebellion - 1967 - Japan

Samurai Rebellion - 1967 - 7/10
AKA - Jôi-uchi: Hairyô Tsuma Shimatsu //  奪命劍

The local lord, displeased with his mistress, forces her to marry the son of a swordsman.
Surprisingly, the young man, Yogoro, and girl, Ichi, enjoy each other and fall in love.
Two years later, the lord changes his mind, and wants Ichi back.
By any means necessary.

 
Simmering buildup of corroding clan loyalty, honor, and whether to obey a despotic leader.
By the final half hour, tensions boil over and blood begins to flow.
Possibly too slow for impatient types.
The theme of bully leaders ordering followers and retainers to do their dirty work while they reside in comfort still resonates.

The Touch Of Her Flesh - 1967 - USA

The Touch Of Her Flesh - 1967 - 4/10

As soon as Jennings departs, wife Claudia lets in her lover de jour.
While they start grinding (keeping on trousers, black panties, and socks), Jennings remembers he forgot something.
Astounded by the groping, he dashes into the street, is struck by a car, loses an eye, and is temporarily paralyzed.
Recuperating, Jennings vows revenge on all lustful and lust inspiring females.
An incredibly long sequence by à go-go dancer before death – Jennings takes his time watching.
Next, a burlesque house, where no one notices the guy in a wheelchair, with an eyepatch, and dart blowgun.

 
Artsy grindhouse has vast stretches sans dialogue.  Instead, music by Rachmaninoff or Bach.
Dialogue is atrociously looped.  Watch for the telephone, on and off the cradle.
Unbelievably bad, though essential for fans of buxom women.  Topless throughout.

A Taste Of Flesh - 1967 - USA

A Taste Of Flesh - 1967 - 4/10

Another blunder.  I thought I was acquiring another of the “of her flesh” series by Michael Findlay.
Wrong.  This is a Doris Wishman roughie.
Two armed men invade the apartment of two women and a friend.
Assassins, it turns out, who run at the mouth.
Appalling film boasts flesh, but suffers from being boring.
The actors are inept.  My theory is Wishman hired thespians at a nearby truckstop.

 
A fantasy sequence carries lesbian overtones, which make some giddy.
I’m ambivalent whether such was the living arrangement or not.

Japanese Summer Double Suicide - 1967 - Japan

Japanese Summer Double Suicide - 1967 - 6/10
AKA - Muri shinjû: Nihon no natsu  //  無理心中　日本の夏

 

During Japan’s violent summer, a sex hungry girl latches onto a suicidal man.
They accidentally wind up at a Yakuza meeting place and are forced to remain.
The men wait for weapons, as a conflict with rival gangs is imminent.
Add a young male, obsessed with guns and bent on killing as many people as possible.
Symbolic of the “youth crisis” in Japan.
And, a Westerner, a sniper, eluding police and shooting at random.
A slow film, saturated in various death wishes.
Also of a specific time, which is passed, largely forgotten, so outside events seem incomprehensible.

Hot Thrills And Warm Chills - 1967 - USA

Hot Thrills And Warm Chills - 1967 - 5/10

 
Toni regroups with her old gang, Dody and Kitten, and plan a high stakes heist.
Mardi Gras.  The bejeweled crown of the King Of Sex!  The plan to lift it.
Beforehand, they hit the club and see hard-rocking Glory Rhodes, admire a topless dancer, then slick the sheets with aroused males.
Yeah, one of those kinda of films.  The kinda films men used to like.
Once talking stops and the “plot” kicks in, this becomes a shambles.
Completely incoherent.  Get in the mood, drink two bottles of Thunderbird first.
Subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/hot-thrills-and-warm-chills/english/2998025

The Killing Bottle - 1967 - Japan

The Killing Bottle - 1967 - 6/10
AKA - Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Zettai zetsumei  //  国際秘密警察 絶体絶命

 
Agents from the International Secret Police face off against the ZZZ group.
ZZZ plans to assassinate the prime minister of Buddhabal with a deadly expanding foam.
Fast moving spoof of spy thrillers, peppered with hijinks and bumbling action sequences.
Nick Adams has a flair for comedy and engages well with Tatsuya Mihashi.
Makoto Satô and Annu Mari are memorable villains.
And Kumi Mizuno plays the comic, yet lethal, “assistant.”
Rumors linger about a her torrid affair with Adams, whose death the next year launched numerous theories.

Two For The Road - 1967 - UK

Two For The Road - 1967 - 6/10

 
Ups and downs of a ten year marriage.
Faithless, competitive, verbally sparring, swooning at the sight of the other.
Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney have genuine chemistry in the edgy “love” story.
While not exactly Martha and George (Virginia Woolf), they are on their way
A beautiful looking film, and Hepburn is radiant, yet I never bought the marriage.
This is a soured couple, with sugar sprinkles tossed on from time to time to simulate romance.
Not remotely a comedy, but a couple on the brink of divorce, no longer appreciating each other.

The Invaders: S01 - 1967 - USA

The Invaders: S01 - 1967 - 7/10

 
I had not viewed this influential series for a couple decades.  Rewatching brought back memories.
The show boasts a gorgeous, “wet color" look, over-saturated, but typical of Quinn Martin productions.
Dominic Frontiere provides an evocative credits theme and numerous music cues.
Architect David Vincent squares off against extra-terrestrial planet grabbers.
Mr Vincent wins stray battles here and there, but the potential outcome seems ominously one-sided.
Roy Thinnes plays lead (at least producers made him an architect, rather than a writer) who gets nowhere trying to convince officials and military brass he’s not some arm waving Sasquatch alarmist.
Special effects were barely more than mattes, models and dissolves, and there is no arc to the story (those were rare in 1967).  Dave hurries from point to point, thwarting one alien stratagem after another.

 
My brother and I were wild about this when it aired, and we thought it almost equal to The Outer Limits.
Almost.  Not quite, though.
Midway, we started having problems with both alien intelligence, as well with our red-blooded hero.
The aliens had some damn good tactics:  weather disruption, mind control, contagion …  except they kept launching attacks one at a time.  Giving their pesky architect nemesis just enough time to zoom in and foil them - - again.
C’mon, they mastered interstellar travel.  They could have figured out what flight he was on and zapped his airliner.
End of story.

 
Another plus for Team Alien.  Sex appeal.  They had hotties.  Suzanne Pleshette and BarBara Luna (sic).
Is Vincent interested?  Heck, no.  (In a rival show airing in ‘67, Kirk would not have hesitated an instant, no sir.)
Another thing, and this is really big, where did ole Dave get his money?
Sure, he was an architect and drummed up business occasionally.  Yet enough for flights, car rentals, motel rooms, nice clothes, blue plate dinners, and the infrequent date with a big-haired blonde (strict earthling variety)?
Things cost money - plenty of money.  My brother and I had paper routes, so we grasped the concept of budgets.
Anyway, my brother, eight years old, figured it out one episode.

 
A pair of Alien agents are chasing Dave all over West Virginia in their big Ford.
Dave eventually gets the drop on them and crisps ‘em both.  Another victory for architecture.  End of Part IV.
Then, during the Epilog, my brother points and hollers,  “Hey!  He’s driving their car!”
Sure enough.  Dave is rolling easy in the aliens' blue Ford.
“I bet he stole their car,”  my brother continued.  “I bet he emptied the trunk, searched the glove compartment.”
Oh?
“Yeah, he took all their money!  Probably found their motel room and swiped their watches, money stash, custom suits.  He stole everything!  We won’t see it, but he’s gonna sell that Ford, too.  Once he kills them, I bet he drives all their Fords to the Used Car lot.  That’s how Vincent does this week after week.  He’s a thief!  Like a grave robber!”
Pretty hard to argue with his theory, I must say.

The Invaders has not dated too much - depends on one's tolerance for the sometimes leisurely pace, I guess.  I might even get to season two eventually, say in two or three years.

Magical Mystery Tour - 1967 - UK

Magical Mystery Tour - 1967 - 6/10

 
The movie Beatles’ fans pretend to forget about.
Fab Four (wizards) climb aboard a bus bound for anywhere.
The bus is merely a conveyance to reach assorted destinations.
Once there, a musical number.
Plot is nonexistent in this stoned mess, filmed in the Psychedelic 60’s.
Much of the English daft humor will escape viewers, as well as music hall homages.
Think knock-off, amateurish Monty Python, though they were two years away.
Watch for the music, and for the Beatles.

Tonite Lets All Make Love In London - 1967 - UK

Tonite Lets All Make Love In London - 1967 - 6/10

 
Cinematic time capsule during the height of Swinging London.
Concert footage spliced with interviews (famous, forgotten or obscure).
Julie Christie, Lee Marvin, Michael Caine reflect on the times.
Mick Jagger muses upon a future where more people have less to do, and possible discontent.
Nightclub sequences, protest rallies, fashion, nudity, artists, with nonstop music.
Musical groups include “The” Pink Floyd, Eric Burdon and the Animals, The Rolling Stones.
For Pink Floyd fans,  Syd Barrett leads “Interstellar Overdrive."
Fast moving, rapid cut film relies on knowledge of faces, history and mores of the era.
Experimental work, part high concept, part pretentious meandering.