Hi, Nole,
Enjoyed Mike’s Rant last week. I wanted to point out that I had seen actor Dennis Christopher (so great in “Breaking Away”) while channel surfing. He had a recurring part in “Deadwood”, and is still very active on the biz. He always kind of reminded me of an American Roddy McDowell, only without the tremendous resume, though he has some notable genre credits under his belt (“Fade to Black”).
Dennis Christopher co-starred with Richard Thomas (“Battle Beyond the Stars” and “The Waltons”) in “September 30th, 1955”, a movie about the day James Dean died. I’m really digressing here, but when I was a kid I saw a made-for-TV movie in 1975 called “The Silence” with Richard Thomas, about a West Point cadet who was “silenced” in school – none of the other cadets were allowed to talk to him as a type of punishment. It was one of those unforgettable made-for-TV memories that could only have happened in the early/mid 1970’s. A fantastic movie.
Here are two other ‘70s made-for-TV movies that made an lasting impression and hold great memories:
“Trapped” (1973) starring James Brolin. A great movie about Brolin’s character trapped in a department store overnight, and chased by a group of Doberman guard dogs.
“The Other Side of Hell” (1978) starring Allan Arkin. A great movie about a sane man trying to break out of an insane asylum.
“The Last of the Good Guys” (1978) starring Dennis Dugan, Jonathan Harris, and Larry Hagman. A group of police officers try to convince their superior (Robert Culp, if I remember right) that one of their partners, who died, is still alive, so his family can collect on a pension.
God, I’d love to see all three of those again, plus “The Silence”. Wish Hollywood would get on the ball and start releasing some of these great old ‘70s made-for-TV features.
I may write more about these films in a future Oddservations, but for now I’ll just mention them in case someone has seen them.
Also, I was unprepared to hear of Ron Carey’s passing. Like Mike, I too have great memories of “High Anxiety” Mel Brooks’ ’77 incredible homage to Hitchcock, and I thought in many was Ron Carey stole the show. “Boss, why did you do it?”
Andy Lalino
Clearwater, FL
WOW! I thought I was the only one to remember "The Silence"!! That movie, shown just after Saigon fell and Vietnam was still fresh in our minds, haunted me for years. ---Nolan
Nolan,
I'm sure you've been asked this a million times, but is there any chance I could get some DVDs burned of Creature Feature? For a small fee, of course. Email me back if you have the time.
Thanks!
Joe [no last name]
Hey Joe,
Unfortunately, in a word, no. I wish I had unlimited time to get everybody who writes me copies of Creature Feature, but I don't. The popularity of such a service cannot be overestimated, but we have to be careful about how much we commit to with the limited resources we have.
That said, there has been discussion about expanding the Creature Feature Database to include DVD sales. Biggest hurdle is making sure the rights to the Dr. Paul Bearer bumper spots are in the public domain (which they seem to be as far as we can determine), ascertaining whether there are any rights conflicts regarding the movies themselves, getting hold of the best source material available, who's resposible for pressings and mailings, etc., etc.. These are all details to take into account.
There used to be a pretty steady trade of Creature Feature tapes on eBay, but that seems to have gone into remission at this time.
The backload of DVD requests I get is huge, but I'm afraid I myself am already way behind schedule in other commitments to digress into the disc-copying business. HOWEVER, like I said, options are being explored to ease this situation.
Thanks for writing! ---Nolan
To send an email to Letters to the Editor write to: Crazedfanboy1@aol.com. Any emails sent to this address will be assumed intended for publication unless you specifically instruct me not to. I can and do respond privately, if that is your preference. Frequently, it's both ways.---Nolan
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