Cannonball! (1976)

There was a brief craze of car based drive-in movies that cropped up in the seventies. These flicks ranged from the serious like Vanishing Point all the way to the absurd like Death Race 2000. Cannonball falls more towards the latter which shouldn’t be a surprise since it is made by the same director, Paul Bartel, and was made the following year. With that in mind lets dive right into some more automotive carnage.

Our main character in Cannonball is Coy Buckman, played by David Carradine. We meet him as he is having a nightmare where he is driving a car only to be shot thru the forehead. He wakes up and then sneaks out to the garage to find his best friend Zippo working the car from his dreams. There is a big race, the Cannonball, coming up and they are getting the car ready. The winner gets a cool 100k and becomes an immediate legend. This brings together a motley crew including a German professional race car driver, a van full of lovely ladies, a surfer couple, and an old enemy from Coy’s past. Once they hit the road hijinks ensue.

I think that Cannonball is trying to be a funny movie, but the tone is so off that it doesn’t work, at least for me. There is some light comedy that is immediate followed by someone getting blown up or smashed under a car! I’m not talking slapstick stuff where we see them walk away with there hair all frazzled… these characters die! While that works well in the odd dystopian setting of Bartel’s previous effort, Death Race 2000, here it fails. That is probably because it is set in the real world and I just couldn’t get past the fact that with this many bodies dropping the characters would be able to just walk away at the end.

A more important question is how are we even supposed to like these characters? The best example of this is Bennie, played by the always awesome Dick Miller. The character is introduced with his henchmen planting something on the German’s car. We later find out that he is Coy’s brother and has a ton of money bet on him to win. So of course, he is going to have all these complicated schemes that will lead to fun shenanigans, right? Nope he just straight up kills people while the movie plays it up as if he is comic relief. I found that rather jarring. It would have been much better if they had just made him a villain and given the movie a darker tone. Instead we get other bits of comedy like the singing cowboy broadcasting from a Dodge Charger, the van of lovely ladies “dealing” with some cops, and the continually more banged up Lincoln Continental gag. I really don’t know what to think about this one.

They straight up killed that dude!

This was a New World Pictures production, so we get the Corman regulars showing up. In addition to those that I’ve already mentioned we also get actresses Mary Wornov and Belinda Balaski. Directors Joe Dante and Allan Arkush make small appearances. Roger Corman even shows up for a short scene as a district attorney trying to shut the race down. Though hands down the best and craziest cameos have director Paul Bartel, who also plays the mobster taking all the bets from Miller’s character, in a scene with a couple of henchmen. They are played by an uncredited Sylvester Stallone and Martin Scorsese! All these people have connections to Roger Corman and the low budget flicks he was cranking out as either a director or later a producer.

I like Paul Bartel’s movies. The aforementioned Death Race 2000 as well as Eating Raoul and the criminally ignored Private Parts are great movies. His stuff is always quirky as he has a unique style. I’m not sure if it just doesn’t fit this kind of movie or if he needed to go completely dark or light with this one. Cannonball doesn’t work for me and I can’t recommend it.

© Copyright 2020 John Shatzer

Q the Winged Serpent (1982)

With the passing of the great Larry Cohen I found myself in the mood to check out some of his movies. Q the Winged Serpent was always a personal favorite of mine, so I thought I’d start off with it. Not only is it an excellent example of Cohen’s style, but the cast is crazy good. 

The movie hits you right in the face with what you are about to watch. A window cleaner is working outside a woman’s office and leering at her in a semi creepy way. This goes on for a couple of minutes before he loses his head… literally! This is how we are introduced to a couple of New York City cops working that case, Shepard and Powell. They are played by David Carradine and Richard Roundtree. Caine from Kung Fu and freaking Shaft are our detectives! How great is that? Eventually they figure out there are two cases, one with a giant bird flying around killing people and another with a follower of the ancient Aztecs that is running around sacrificing people. Of course, they are related.

If those two cases weren’t enough story, we also get introduced to a sad sack smalltime criminal, Jimmy Quinn, played by Michael Moriarty. After a failed diamond heist, he finds himself running away and hiding, only to end up in the creature’s nest. He tries to parlay that knowledge into a big payday by holding the city hostage, sort of. He won’t tell them where to find it until he gets paid! The paths of our detectives and Jimmy all intersect and by the end credits everything works out, probably.

Best cops ever!

Cohen was a genius as both a writer and director. This could have been a mess of a movie with too many characters and stories vying for screen time. Instead we get a movie that is tossing action at you at a breakneck pace daring you to keep up. The narrative jumps between poor Jimmy trying to get something going for himself, to Shepard digging into the mysticism of the Aztecs to figure out what is eating the locals, to Powell being a no-nonsense cop tracking down a crazed murderer. Somehow the three are balanced in such a way that not only do they move along and resolve nicely, but they all connect for the audience by the time the end credits roll. I don’t know how he made this all work, but it does.

Since this is a monster movie, I have to talk a bit about the creature. They don’t shy away from showing it. It is brought to life on screen with a combination of stop motion animation and some rear projection. I’ve heard some people complaining that the monster looks cheesy, but I love the old school effects work and think it looks just fine. For as quickly as this was made and with the smallish budget, they did an awesome job. Plus, they shot the movie and then added the monster in later which is not how this is normally done and itself should have led to issues. Again, I have no idea how they managed to pull this off.

Love the creature effects work.

One last thing that I wanted to mention. Larry Cohen was famous for stealing shots, basically shooting in public without permission. Part of the fun of watching one of his movies is looking for those shots where random people on the streets react to what is going on. Cohen would hide the camera so hopefully no one would notice what they were doing which lead to these natural reactions. Here there are a couple bits where people are reacting to blood dripping on them from above as Q flies away with a victim. Watch the people around the actors and remember they aren’t in on the gag. It is awesome to watch.

Q the Winged Serpent is a great movie with an even better cast. If you dig monster movies, flicks shot in New York City in the seventies and eighties, or just want to check out a Larry Cohen movie this is the one for you. I highly recommend it.

© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer

Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for me to talk about one of my favorite movies of the ‘80s. I discovered Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat on VHS and it was one of the first legit tapes that I bought for my collection. The movie has everything you could want and stars a plethora of genre actors. David Carradine, Bruce Campbell, Deborah Foreman, M. Emmet Walsh, and John Ireland are just a few familiar faces you will see. If that cast doesn’t get you excited you aren’t a horror fan. But before I gush too much let me discuss the plot.

Best VHS tape I ever owned!

David and Sarah bring their daughters to the town of Purgatory so that he can fix an issue with the production of a blood substitute he has sold Count Mardulak. The Count, played by the always awesome David Carradine, owns the town and is hoping to revitalize it with the new factory. Or so he says. The truth is the town is populated by vampires hoping to break away from their old lives of hunting and being hunted. Thus, the creation of the factory and the production of the blood substitute. There are complications when Mardulak’s second in command, Jefferson, decides to build his own army of vampires to destroy the town and the factory. One of his co-conspirators is Shane, who is in love with Sarah and has his own agenda to win her back. And if that isn’t enough for you there is also a Van Helsing in town looking for the Count!

This is another great movie that has only in the last few years been given a proper release on DVD. The story is a solid mix of horror and comedy wrapped into a nice western package. There are some scary looking vampires, bat/human hybrids, some transformation scenes, and plenty of fangs. The obsession that Shane has with Sarah also leads to a creepy bit with him straddling her naked on a bed. Mixed in with the horror are some very funny lines, the bumbling Van Helsing played perfectly by Bruce Campbell, and an amusing umbrella kill. And while it is set in modern times we still get cowboys, shootouts, horses, and of course the showdown where two vampires draw on each other at high noon, or I guess midnight…

I’m not going to rehash all the dialogue that I enjoyed, but I will mention one bit. When Jefferson and Mardulak are having their big showdown and the Count out draws him Jefferson is surprised. To which the count replies, “Did you really think we were the same age Pilgrim?” Not only is that a reference to John Wayne, but Jefferson is dressed as and probably was a Pilgrim. Come one that’s funny! Speaking of comedy there is a lot more going on than just witty one liners. The highlight of this has to be Campbell and his ability to do physical comedy. From dumping more sand out of his shoe than it possibly could have held to being unable to navigate a simple wall, to the hollering and flailing when he is “converted” this is comedy gold.

Comedic gold!

The end of Sundown has a nice twist. Spoilers Mardulak is actually Dracula who changed his name because he got too famous. Even though he beats Jefferson it is actually a cross erected quickly by David and Sarah that save the day. Jefferson and his followers are toast, while Mardulak and his are unaffected. He sheds a tear and announces that they have been forgiven. This might be the first time that Dracula is the hero of a movie. I can’t think of another.

Watch Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat. It is worth your time and money. It fits nicely with any of director Anthony Hickox’s flicks like Waxwork I and II or Warlock: Armageddon. This guy made some damn good horror movies over a five-year period.

© Copyright 2017 John Shatzer