REEL WILD CINEMA: EPISODES SEVENTEEN TO NINETEEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its look at the Forgotten Television item Reel Wild Cinema (1996-1997).

This time around it’s Episodes 17-19.

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE SEVENTEEN (May 12th, 1997)

Title: Southern Sleaze

Truncated Films Shown:

MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN (1964) – An example of Hicksploitation. H.G. Lewis of all people wrote and SANG for this movie. A country western singer, tired of the artificial feel of mainstream Nashville music, spends some time with his North Carolina relatives to soak up some authentic atmosphere.

The singer gets caught in the middle of feuding mountain families, a corrupt sheriff, moonshiners and the drivers of such “White Lightning” throughout the region. As the violence increases, some dead victims are dumped in moonshine stills, where the whiskey is so strong it dissolves the bodies.

This flick is one weird animal. It’s part Hee Haw, part Dukes of Hazzard, part Deliverance and part Li’l Abner.

JENNIE, WIFE/ CHILD (1968) – Believe it or not, THE Vilmos Zsigmond (as William Zsigmond) was the cinematographer for this cheapjack, half-assed variation of the Karl Malden/ Carroll Baker film Baby Doll.

The title character Jennie is married to a man so old that he can’t really satisfy her. She cavorts with the studly farmhand on the side, and the resulting triangle ends in violence.

I love a weird song in a bad movie, and Jennie, Wife/ Child has one titled I Love My Birthday Suit, the ultimate skinny-dippin’ anthem.

HIP, HOT AND 21 (1966) – Dale Berry of The Girl and the Geek fame strikes again with this film! Lorna Maitland herself is in a supporting role and Larry Buchanan regular Bill Thurman shows up as well.

A traveling salesman meets a hillbilly family named McClunkey. At last, the origin of George Lucas’ weird expression “McClunkey” revealed! (I’m kidding.) The salesman gives the hillbillies fifty bucks for their oldest daughter Diane in a truly repulsive moment. 

He abandons Diane in the big city, where she develops toughness and street smarts amid all the sleaze and crime. 

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for and excerpts from Two Thousand Maniacs (1964), Girl with an Itch (1958) and Child Bride (1938).

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE EIGHTEEN (May 19th, 1997)

Title: Hollywood Expose

Truncated Films Shown: 

HOLLYWOOD’S WORLD OF FLESH (1963) – Think of this as Mondo Flesh in the spirit of Mondo Cane, Mondo Bizarro and other mondo movies. It’s ostensibly a documentary exposing the seedy underbelly of Hollywood but it’s obviously as fake and staged as all the other mondo films.

This is an early production for the infamous Lee Frost, famous for The Black Gestapo, The Thing with Two Heads and countless other examples of schlock. 

A VIRGIN IN HOLLYWOOD (1953) – This was also released as Side Streets of Hollywood.

A female reporter is sent undercover to dig up the horrific details of Hollywood sleaze and seediness. At least this film’s not pretending to be a documentary. Our heroine gets in the expected undercover dangers before blowing the lid off the industry.

And what would a 1950s movie be without 3-D?! Yes, this baby calls for those cheap, fragile 3-D glasses. As for the storyline, if you liked the sordid feel of Gypsy Rose Lee’s murder mystery novels then you might enjoy this.

SWEET SICKNESS (1968) – More truth in advertising about what scuzzy Hollywood producers and directors expect from the women they hire. Seriously, with so many blunt flicks like this going back so many decades you’d think there was ample warning about the Harvey Weinstein types that lie in wait for aspiring actresses.

At any rate, naive Dee and worldly Connie arrive in Hollywood looking for stardom but finding only drugs, abuse and cops who have been bribed by the studios. Even Dee finally sells out to get what she wants. Think of Pia Zadora’s The Lonely Lady but even dumber.

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for and excerpts from Model School (1940), Starlet! (1969) and Hollywood After Dark (1968).

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE NINETEEN (June 9th, 1997)

Title: Nudist Camp Night 

Truncated Films Shown:

BLAZE STARR GOES NUDIST (1962) – Another Nudie Cutie, those films that were so scandalous in their day but are as tame as Benny Hill sketches now – well, except for the toplessness. Blaze Starr, whose affair with Louisiana’s governor inspired the Paul Newman movie Blaze, decides to dabble in the nudist camp lifestyle.

Doris Wishman, a Psychotronic Hall of Fame member, directed Blaze playing herself in this flick. The story is presented as if a stripping headliner like Ms. Starr leads as hectic a life as a big starlet. Nude living calms her nerves and lets her deal better with life’s pressures. DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!

NUDE ON THE MOON (1961) – I did a detailed review of this legendary schlock film back in 2013, but for those unfamiliar with it, here’s a synopsis. Desperate to beat the Soviet Union to the moon, some daring scientist/ pilots fly their own vessel to the lunar surface.

Once there, our heroes discover that the moon has a breathable atmosphere and is home to a nudist colony of telepathic alien beauties who sport antennae on their heads. The usual “spacemen encounter an all-female civilization” adventures unfold.

Good old Doris Wishman (of course) helmed this all-time classic among fans of bad movies.

ELYSIA aka VALLEY OF THE NUDE (1933) – Yes, this nudist flick is from 1933. I might be surprised if not for the fact that my reviews of 1910 issues of Fool-Killer magazine showed me that the nude lifestyle was a fad in certain circles even back then.

This 1933 attempt at titillation will put modern viewers to sleep as a professor unleashes a scandal by way of his highbrow embrace of the benefits of the nudist lifestyle. Or “sun worshipping” lifestyle. I guess nudists in those days were like vegans today – always boring the rest of us about their way of life.

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for and excerpts from Nude Ranch (1940), Nature’s Sweethearts (1963) and Pussycats Paradise (1960).

NEXT TIME AROUND I’LL REVIEW THE FINAL THREE EPISODES OF THIS SHOW AS WE GET BACK TO MORE OF THE USUAL TYPES OF BAD MOVIES.