The Helen Morgan Story directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Ann Blyth as the titular character purports to show the life of torch singer Helen Morgan. I use the word purport since The Helen Morgan Story as noted on Wikipedia "has fictional touches liberally added for dramatic purposes". This isn't really surprising since most all biographical movies change and add facts in order to make a feature movie entertaining, as opposed to someone making a documentary.
The failing with The Helen Morgan Story is that I knew nothing about Helen Morgan before I watched the film, and after watching The Helen Morgan Story I feel I still know very little about her. What I gleaned from the movie was Helen Morgan was a torch singer, picked the wrong type of man, and had a problem with alcohol. I'm sure there was more to her life than these facts.
Ann Blyth was quite attractive in her role and a very good actress with one exception - she wasn't very believable in the parts of the movie where she had to appear drunk. This is a weak spot, acting drunk, where I have seen many other actors and actresses struggle. Paul Newman, as one of Morgan's poor choices in men, was just as cool as you would expect. A surprise, at least to me since I associate him with stand-up comedy, was Alan King as Newman's sidekick. He not only was very believable in his part, but also had great repartee with his girlfriend/wife in the movie, Cara Williams of Pete and Gladys fame.
The songs in The Helen Morgan Story were sung by Gogi Grant and lip-synched by Ann Blyth. This is a real puzzlement to me as to why this was done, since Ann Blyth was a singer in her own right. Ann Blyth/Gogi Grant perform eighteen songs in the movie. The Helen Morgan Story also features Rudy Vallee performing one song and The Castro Sisters are also featured in the movie.
One last interesting fact I found when researching the movie was that Doris Day was originally offered the part and turned it down, since she didn't think the portrayal of alcoholism would be conducive to her clean cut image. I personally don't think the inclusion of Doris Day instead of Ann Blyth would have changed the movie very much.
Pray TV is a 1980 theatrical release and should not be confused with the 1982 TV movie of the same name. Pray TV (1982) is a drama starring John Ritter, while Pray TV(1980) is a screwball spoof starring Archie Hahn, who is best known to my family as Doughie Duck. Archie's character at the first of Pray TV has many references to ducks and Hahn even does a short bit as Doughie Duck. One other interesting side note to Pray TV is that it was the first big screen appearance of Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman).
Pray TV is about a failing TV station placed in the hands of Dabney Coleman, who promises to make a success of the station. He does this by changing the format of the station to anything with a religious subtext, from cooking shows to exercise shows. This sets the movie up for a series of comedic vignettes, most of which are fairly humorous.
My only disappointment with Pray TV was Dr. John and Devo are both seen primarily as background to other events happening on the screen. Dr John leads the choir at a drive-in movie theater that has been converted to an evangelist's church and he sings "The Collection". Devo appears as Dove at a religious award show singing "Shrivel Up". It's a puzzlement to me why the producers went to the trouble to hire Dr. John and Devo and then under-use them in the movie.
I couldn't find a trailer for Pray TV, but I did find a video clip from the movie featuring Devo as Dove.
Thunder Alley was the last movie Annette Funicello made for American International Pictures, purveyor of The Beach Party Movies, and except for a bit part in Head, she didn't appear in another major motion picture until 20 years later when she re-teamed with Frankie Avalon for Back To The Beach. Annette wasn't idle during that period, she made appearances in numerous TV shows. Her appearance in Thunder Alley was her most adult role in any of the AIP films, even more so than in Fireball 500, and like that movie, Thunder Alley has a stock car racing theme. This time out her usual co-star/love interest Frankie Avalon was replaced with Fabian
Like Avalon in Fireball 500, Fabian also tools around in a George Barris customized car. As you can see from the above photo, his Dodge Charger is a pretty ugly piece of machinery. It seems Fabian always gets black-outs when he gets boxed in during a race and his last black-out caused the death of another racer. He finds the only person who will hire him is Jan Murray, who runs a Thrill Show (similar to Joie Chitwood's Thrill Show) and can use another driver.
Annette plays Jan Murray's daughter and she also drives in his Thrill Show. As you would expect, Annette and Fabian, at first, can't stand each other, but eventually fall in love. Both Annette and Fabian did great with their parts, with one exception. Part of the plot called for Annette to get drunk and whether Annette had never been drunk or just didn't have the acting chops to play drunk is undecidable. However, this is the only weak spot in Annette's acting in Thunder Alley.
Fabian has no songs in Thunder Alley and Annette sings only one song, "When You Get What You Want", a very slow and plaintive song, accompanied by The Band Without A Name (who later changed their name to The American Revolution). The Band Without A Name also does the title song to the movie "Thunder Alley".
I found Thunder Alley to be the least enjoyable of any of the Beach Party offshoots. It moved slow and the story was predictable. I would recommend it only to anyone interested in seeing some vintage stock car racing and/or Thrill Show footage.
Back To The Beach opens with an intro blending the world of movies and TV with real life. We are told all about Frankie being a teen idol and that he was once a great surfer and that Annette used to belong to a cult known as The Mickey Mouse Club and has an addiction to Peanut Butter (she once did commercials for Skippy). This was a nice touch and is probably the way those who grew up with Frankie and Annette could actually jumble reality and fantasy in the deep recesses of their minds. On a side note, the name "Frankie" is never used in Back To The Beach due to some legality with the original series. Avalon is always referred to as either The Big Kahuna or some play off that name and the end credits list him simply as Annette's husband.
Back To The Beach's plot is on par with the original Beach Party Movies and pokes gentle fun at all the tropes from those movies. Frankie and Annette live in Ohio and decide to take a vacation. They'll stop in California and visit their daughter for a couple of hours. Of course this visit turns into an extended stay and, as if you couldn't guess, Frankie and Annette wind up becoming jealous of one another, have a spat and, of course, get back together before the end of the movie.
Even with the recycled plot, Back To The Beach is a fun movie. Not only did I get to revisit with Frankie and Annette, but Back To The Beach is filled with cameos: Bob Denver and Alan Hale Jr. from Gilligan's Island, Barbara Billingsley, Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow from Leave It To Beaver, Ed "Kookie: Byrnes from 77 Sunset Strip, plus Don Adams of Get Smart fame has an extended role. I should also mention that everyone's favorite football star/convict, O.J. Simpson, makes an appearance spoofing his old Hertz commercials.
On to the musicians: Dick Dale, Frankie, and Connie Stevens sing "California Sun", Fishbone and Annette sing "Jamaica Ska", Stevie Ray Vaughn and Dick Dale perform "Pipeline", Pee Wee Herman rocks out on "Surfin Bird" and Frankie, Annette and the cast all sing "Some Things Go On Forever". Plus, the soundtrack from the movie is loaded with other great "feel good" songs.
I really enjoyed Back To The Beach and I think you will too, if you enjoyed the original Beach Party Movies. So, check out Back To The Beach, I don't think you'll be disappointed and you'll probably have a smile on your face when the movie is finished.
The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is what I think you would get if Robert Rodriquez and David Lynch sat down and watched Deadwood and then said "Hey, Let's Make A Western". My brain imagines this scenario because The Last Rites of Ransom Pride has Spanish touches reminding me of Rodriquez's El Mariachi/Desperado, imagery reminding me of David Lynch, and W. Earl Brown from Deadwood has a role in the film....and heck, I might as well include a trace of Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia is included in my mash-up.
The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is about Ransom's lover Juliette Flowers (Lizzy Caplan) trying to bring Ransom's body home for burial. He was in a shootout in Mexico and killed Bruja's (Cote de Pablo from NCIS) brother, the priest, by mistake. Bruja will trade Ransom's body for his other brother Champ (Jon Foster). Sounds simple enough, but oh what a twisted journey this will be. The Last Rites of Ransom Pride was co-written by the great Texas singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard, who most people will know wrote "Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother" made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker. I'll go on record here saying IF all you know about Ray Wylie Hubbard is the above, you are missing out, check out anything by Ray Wylie, you won't be disappointed.
The Last Rites of Ransom Pride features a couple of musicians. The father of Ransom Pride is played by Dwight Yokam, a retired gunfighter who has taken up the ministry. Dwight ain't wearing a hat for most the movie, so you know he going to be a real SOB. I think not wearing a hat just always puts Dwight in the mood for being an ass, at least in any movie I've seen him in, and I might add he's darn good at it too. As a matter of fact, "Hatless Dwight" is so good at being an unlikable person, if I was hanging with him in real life, I would have to insist he always keep his hat square on his head.
Our other featured musician in The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is Kris Kristofferson, whose weathered face and years of acting have made him grow comfortably into a role of a cowboy in any film in which he appears.
The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is very well written with a lot of great dialogue, with the best line, in my opinion, being delivered by Peter Dinklage. If you would like to find out what he has eaten while standing up, you'll just have to watch the film.
My only disappointment was that Ray Wylie Hubbard didn't appear in The Last Rites of Ransom Pride. However, he does have four songs on the soundtrack: "Black Wings", "Rooster's Lullaby" with Tiller Russell, "Four Horseman of the Apocalypse" with Liz Foster and Lucas Hubbard, and "Enlightenment" with Kevin Russell.
Please check out the comments below to hear what Ray Wylie Hubbard has to say about"The Last Rites of Ransom Pride".
I'll have to give Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow credit because the only actual drag racing in the movie was done by two of the female characters. I thought this was quite unique for 1959. No one in the movie, with the exception of one girl's father, seemed to think there was anything out of the ordinary about female hot-rodders.
The movie begins with the above mentioned drag race through what I assume was "The Los Angeles River" where many years later they filmed the racing scenes in Grease. The Good Girl, Lois, gets away but The Bad Girl wrecks her car. Lois makes it back to the gang's hot rod club but is later confronted by the Police and gets charged with illegal racing. In a plot recycled from many other teen exploitation movies, the gang is going to lose their clubhouse/garage because they can't pay their rent. Connected to the garage is another part of the clubhouse: a small diner/music club ......a garage and a diner....this place is huge!....NO wonder a bunch of teens can't pay the rent!!!
In the diner part of the clubhouse, The Renegades are playing. This band had an interesting line-up, it featured drummer Sandy Nelson (Teen Beat, Let There Be Drums and a slew of drum LPs), Bruce Johnston (future Beach Boy), Nick Venet (who signed The Beach Boys and produced some of their early albums) and Richard Podolor (future producer of Three Dog Night and Steppenwolf). The Renegades play one instrumental, ""Geronimo", which includes firing guns into the air and then are joined by some of the girl members of the club who sing "He's My Guy".
When Lois' parents find out about the trouble she has been in they ground her, but agree to let the gang come over for a party since she can't go out....Ahh, don't you just love permissive parents! In the meantime Lois' crazy Aunt Anatasia arrives with her crazy parrot (Do All Parrots Sound Like Gilbert Gottfried?). She just happens to own a haunted house the gang can use since they got kicked out of their clubhouse.....to clarify, the aunt owns the house, NOT the parrot. Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow even has some social commentary at the party when a couple of the adults talk about how much pressure the kids are under having to live in the atomic age.
After the boys leave, the girls have a slumber party and and play a new record by The Renegades, "Charge". At the same time they are watching an old black and white Western movie on TV, which featured the Calvary charging the Indians...well I assume the movie was in black and white...but it's actually hard to tell since Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow itself is in black and white. The next day Lois, who is still grounded from driving, has her crazy aunt, who doesn't know how to drive, agree to drive her out to the haunted house. This results in a wild ride with the parrot making wisecracks the whole time (listening to the parrot's voice, I'm pretty sure this must have been Gottfried's father or grandfather!).
A lot of spooky goings-on happen at the old house, but the teens aren't deterred and decide to put on a Spook Ball and raise money. The party features The Renegades doing "Ghost Town" and a very square looking dude, Jimmy Maddin (who just happens to be the music coordinator for the movie and must have decided to coordinate himself into the film) sings a song called "Tongue Tied".
Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow really starts to fall apart at the end. There's another drag race between the two girls, but it happens off screen. There's a talking car (all of a sudden I felt like I was having a Disney flashback). The final odd bit is we find out the person who is haunting the house is someone who was let go from a movie studio. The motive as to why he is haunting this particular house is never explained. An interesting footnote: the guy playing this part is actually Paul Blaisdell, a famous special effects guy, wearing one of his own creations from The She Creature. Despite the weak and confusing ending, if you're into 50s teen movies, you'll probably dig Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow.
I couldn't find a trailer, but below is a clip from the movie with The Renegades doing "Geronimo".
"World War II has just ended, and young Everett Laidlaw who had joined the battle overseas to avoid jail for Moonshining, returns home and reunites with his kin. But surviving the war will soon seem like a cakewalk for Everett as he deals with his wacky family and struggles with coming of age in small-town America" is how Dixie Lanes was described.
The above description sounded like this would be a pretty decent movie and since I'm a fan of Hoyt Axton I was anxious to see it; however, there were so many things wrong with Dixie Lanes that I really don't know where to begin. The main problem lies in the lack of focus on any certain plot and/or a decision as to what type of movie was being made. Somewhere near the halfway point of Dixie Lanes a plot finally emerged; but in the meantime the movie had meandered from one idea to another while trying to decide if it was a madcap 40s movie, a family drama, or a mystery. I'm not saying it would be impossible to combine all of those elements, but they each seem to be treated as a separate entity and none ever converged with any other. I can only guess the lack of focus in the movie was due to an inexperienced director, this was his first movie (and he only directed one more movie eight years later).
Hoyt Axton, whose own likability shone through his character, did a fine job with the role he was given. Even though the box cover makes it appear that Hoyt and Karen Black are the stars of the movie, the movie mainly revolves around his son, Everett (Christopher Rydell). A brief footnote to Dixie Lanes - although not a musician, but only related to one, Bruce Springsteen's sister Pamela plays Rydell's love interest in Dixie Lanes and appears topless in one scene.
