I watched this classic the other day and it is a gem. Everything you want in a Bond movie.
Quick synopsis:
An American spacecraft is hijacked from orbit by an unidentified spacecraft. The US suspect it to be the Soviets, but the British suspect Japanese involvement since the spacecraft landed in the Sea of Japan. To investigate, MI6 operative, James Bond, agent 007, is sent to Tokyo, after faking his own death and being buried at sea off HMS Tenby (F65).
Upon his arrival, Bond is contacted by Aki, assistant to the Japanese secret service leader Tiger Tanaka. Bond goes to Osato Chemicals to meet Mr. Osato himself, masquerading as a potential new buyer. Osato humours Bond but, after their meeting, orders his secretary, Helga Brandt, to have him killed. Outside the building, assassins open fire on Bond before Aki rescues him. The assassins are disposed of via a helicopter with a magnetic grab.
Bond and Tanaka learn that the true mastermind behind the space hijackings is Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE. After a big battle involving Bond and good-guy Ninjas in a secret base below a dormant volcano, Blofeld activates the base’s self-destruct system and escapes. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas escape through the cave tunnel before it explodes, and are rescued by submarine.
Bond gets all the woman he can satisfy in this movie.
I stumbled upon this blog that is all about guys that put on ape and gorilla suits and performed in Hollywood movies in decages past. Hey, Markozen blog is about ‘Everything and Anything Anytime,’ and this is ‘Anything’ in spades.
The blog talks about the men that wore these simian costumes. It really gets into the ventilation of the suits and other arcane science regarding ape suits. They get technical regarding shoulder pads in the gorilla suits, material used, how the head and hands fit etc. Ultimately they come back to ventilation. It must get hot in those thick furry getup’s. Totally crazy stuff.
The photos on the site are cool and quite hilarious. Some examples below.
This may have been from ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ TV show.
The Terror of Tiny Town is a 1938 American film produced by Jed Buell, directed by Sam Newfield, and starring Billy Curtis. It is the world’s only musical Western with an all-dwarf cast. The film was filmed at a sound studio in Hollywood and partly at Placeritos Ranch in Placerita Canyon, California. The inspiration of the film came when Jed Buell overheard an employee jokingly say “If this economic dive keeps going, we’ll be using midgets as actors”.
Using a conventional Western story with an all dwarf cast, the filmmakers were able to showcase gags such as cowboys entering the local saloon by walking under the swinging doors, climbing into cupboards to retrieve items, and dwarf cowboys galloping around on Shetland ponies while roping calves.
Jed Buell was able to find about sixty cast members for the film, with an average height of 3’8”. He found most of them through talent agencies, newspaper ads, and radio broadcasts. The film presents Jed Buell’s Midgets. Many of the actors were former members of the performing troupe, Singer’s Midgets., and played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939.
Turner Classic Movies had a run of 1950’s and 1960’s science fiction movies. I took a look at Cosmic Monsters, The Green Slime and Queen of Outer Space. They fit into a capital B category for B-movies. Even though the special effects are primitive, in relation to today’s standards, and funny, we have to give the film makers credit for trying. The Green Slime effects are actually pretty good.
Airplane! (titled Flying High! in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan and the Philippines) is a 1980 American satirical parody film directed and written by David and Jerry Zucker as well as Jim Abrahams, and produced by Jon Davison. It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and features Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lorna Patterson. The film is a parody of the disaster film genre, particularly the 1957 Paramount film Zero Hour!, from which it borrows the plot and the central characters, as well as many elements from Airport 1975. The film is known for its use of surreal humor and its fast-paced slapstick comedy, including visual and verbal puns and gags.
First Jive Dude: Shiiiiit, maaaaan. That honky muf’ be messin’ mah old lady… got to be runnin’ cold upside down his head, you know? Second Jive Dude: Hey home’, I can dig it. Know ain’t gonna lay no mo’ big rap up on you, man! First Jive Dude: I say hey, sky… subba say I wan’ see… Second Jive Dude: Uh-huh. First Jive Dude: …pray to J I did the same ol’ same ol’! Second Jive Dude: Hey… knock a self a pro, Slick! That gray matter backlot perform us DOWN, I take TCB-in’, man! First Jive Dude: Hey, you know what they say: see a broad to get dat booty yak ’em… First Jive Dude, Second Jive Dude: …leg ‘er down a smack ’em yak ’em! First Jive Dude: COL’ got to be! Y’know? Shiiiiit.
Randy: Can I get you something? Second Jive Dude: ‘S’mofo butter layin’ me to da’ BONE! Jackin’ me up… tight me! Randy: I’m sorry, I don’t understand. First Jive Dude: Cutty say ‘e can’t HANG! Jive Lady: Oh stewardess! I speak jive. Randy: Oh, good. Jive Lady: He said that he’s in great pain and he wants to know if you can help him. Randy: All right. Would you tell him to just relax and I’ll be back as soon as I can with some medicine? Jive Lady: Jus’ hang loose, blood. She gonna catch ya up on da’ rebound on da’ med side. Second Jive Dude: What it is, big mama? My mama no raise no dummies. I dug her rap! Jive Lady: Cut me some slack, Jack! Chump don’ want no help, chump don’t GET da’ help! First Jive Dude: Say ‘e can’t hang, say seven up! Jive Lady: Jive ass dude don’t got no brains anyhow! Hmmph!
True lies was one of the Terminator’s better movies. Especially if you are a fighter jet buff. The Marine Corps Harrier jet scenes were really cool. But in the movie what was that awesome bridge? Well it is described below.
Scenes from the movie:
The Harriers moving in to attack the terrorists
The Harriers evade anti-aircraft missiles fired by the terrorists
The terrorists are on their way to fornicate with the virgins and drink free wine in Muslim Martyr heaven. Not to mention play some cards with Osama Bin Laden and watch porn movies.
More on the bridge
The Seven Mile Bridge is an iconic bridge in the Florida Keys of United States, stretching out into the open sea, connecting Knight’s Key in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. At the time of its completion in 1982, it was the longest continuous concrete segmental bridge in the world, and is currently one of the longest bridges in America.
Seven Mile Bridge actually consist of two bridges in the same location. The older bridge, originally known as the Knights Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Pacet Channel Bridge, was constructed from 1909-1912 as part of the Overseas Railroad. After the railroad sustained considerable damage during the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, the bridge was refurbished for automobile use only. Dismantled tracks was recycled, painted white, and used as guardrails. It had a swing span that opened to allow passage of boat traffic, near where the bridge crosses Pigeon Key – a small island that once served as the work camp for the Florida East Coast Railway. When Hurricane Donna in 1960 inflicted further damage, decision to construct a new bridge was made.
A new, wider and sturdier Seven Mile Bridge was built right next to it from 1978 to 1982. When that happened, the original Seven Mile Bridge was nudged out of Florida’s transportation system. The vast majority of the original bridge still exists, used as fishing piers and access to Pigeon Key, but the swing span over the Moser Channel of the Intracoastal Waterway has been removed.
The total length of the new bridge is just under seven miles at 6.79 miles (10.93 km), and is shorter than the original. Each April the bridge is closed for approximately 2.5 hours on a Saturday and a “fun run,” known as the Seven Mile Bridge Run, of 1,500 runners is held commemorating the Florida Keys bridge rebuilding project. The event began in 1982 to commemorate the completion of a federally funded bridge building program that replaced spans that oil tycoon Henry Flagler constructed in the early 1900s to serve as a foundation for his Overseas Railroad.
The old bridge is still a popular spot with both locals and tourists, but it’s slowly falling apart. Salt water and storms are eroding the bridge faster than the state can afford to repair it. Much of the bridge is now closed – only a 2.2 mile section of the Old Seven Bridge is still open to pedestrians and cyclists.
Two years ago, a nonprofit community group called “Friends of Old Seven” was formed to try to preserve, and if possible, repair the bridge. The Florida Department of Transportation, which owns the bridge, cannot afford to sink a lot of money into the bridge’s upkeep, but is still willing to donate half of the $18 to $20 million required to repair the bridge. The community is now working hard to put up the other half.
Here’s how the insane vehicles were created in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
Talks of the twisted metal and high octane vehicles that would populate “Mad Max: Fury Road” began when director George Miller showed production designer Colin Gibson three walls filled with storyboards of the film 15 years ago.
“He said, ‘One day this could all be yours,’” Gibson recalls to Business Insider of what Miller presented him. Gibson just didn’t realize how far away that “one day” would be.
Gibson began building the cars to be featured in the film as far back as 2003, when it was originally going to be shot in South Africa with Mel Gibson returning as Max, a loner in a post-apocalyptic world who navigates through the different gasoline-starved tribes in order to survive.
But the plug was pulled on the film leading up to the Iraq War, and the project lingered in development hell until four years ago.
The final version is an action-adventure film starring Tom Hardy as Max and Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa. Responsible for driving the massive “War Rig” to replenish her village’s gasoline needs, Furiosa goes rogue and dashes in the truck to parts unknown in hopes of freedom, picking up Max along the way. The village’s evil ruler, Immortal Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) unleashes his “War Boys” and their gonzo fleet of vehicles to hunt them down.
Built over 11 months before production began in late 2011, the close to 200 vehicles Gibson created range from a sedan with massive metal spikes sticking out of it to a giant truck covered with stereo speakers.
The iconic vehicle from the “Mad Max” franchise is Max’s 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT. The super-charged car made its first appearance in “Mad Max” in 1979 when Max was chasing down bad guys with it while he was still a cop. It returned in “The Road Warrior” (1981) where Max used it to escape the clutches of the evil forces who want to take it from him for the gasoline.
Gibson knew the importance of the car, so he didn’t make many changes to its look. “All we had to do with it was make it another 45 years older,” he said. “More rust. More rattle. Less original parts.” But with Hardy now as Max, Gibson also saw the car as a passing of the torch. “When we changed Maxes, it becomes even more important that we have that particular handoff.”
Like in “The Road Warrior,” much of the action in “Fury Road” is on a massive 18-wheeler. But like all things in the movie, it’s unlike any you’ve ever seen. With two V8 engines, and modified cabins throughout, Gibson created a vehicle that the audience wouldn’t get tired of looking at half-way through the movie.
“War Rig was one built more to a prescription than an imagination,” he explains. “It was such an important part of the story that George and the storyboard artists had come to a greater consensus of what was required.” Gibson points out that there are up to 13 different characters inside the rig at any one time through the movie. Gibson said the classic John Wayne western, “Stagecoach,” was an inspiration for creating a moving location where the drama plays out over a long stretch of time.
War Rig
Perhaps the most challenging vehicle, for all involved in the film, was the bandwagon that follows Immortal Joe’s armada of twisted vehicles into battle. “George said every army has a little drummer boy and ours was Spinal Tap on acid,” said Gibson.
The Doof Wagon is a big rig strapped with massive drums in the rear, endless speakers in front of it, and a stage where the blind and disfigured Coma the Doof Warrior rocks out on his flam-throwing guitar. Gibson said it was the most difficult vehicle to run as its six foot wheels (which they took from old mining tractors) would get buried in the sand. And then there was the noise. “George Miller has very expansive tastes so everything has to be real,” said Gibson. That means the speakers blared music all the time. “Some of the actors could barely hear themselves act,” he said. But Gibson made the error of when creating the flame-throwing guitar that it did not also play. “I foolishly built it as a prototype,” he said. “George was most emphatic that the guitarist had to be able to play, so we went back to the drawing board and made something that could play and shoot flames.”
Falling Down is a 1993 thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher and written by Ebbe Roe Smith. The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster, a divorced and unemployed former defense engineer. The film centers on Foster as he treks on foot across the city of Los Angeles, trying to reach the house of his estranged ex-wife in time for his daughter’s birthday party. Along the way, a series of encounters, both trivial and provocative, cause him to react with increasing violence and make sardonic observations on life, poverty, the economy, and commercialism.
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