REEL WILD CINEMA: THE FINAL THREE EPISODES (20-22)

Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television feature wraps up its look at Reel Wild Cinema (1996-1997).

As we close out this item with episodes 20-22, some readers have requested that I add a warning about the extreme nature of some of the bad and weird movies that were presented on this program. So please be aware of that before you click “continue reading.”

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE TWENTY (June 16th, 1997)

Title: Pit of Sin

Truncated Films Shown:

SCUM OF THE EARTH (1963) – Seldom has a movie been so appropriately titled! Herschell Gordon Lewis, a Psychotronic Hall of Famer, narrated, wrote and directed this scuzzy look at organized crime exploiting young models with compromising photos.

Once again, it’s like the industry (and by the industry I mean the business) is telling on itself and the way the people running it are literally Scum of the Earth. This film is sickeningly sleazy and goes far beyond where Ed Wood’s The Sinister Urge went.

I’ve only ever watched this flick once. It’s THAT unpleasant.

THE WAGES OF SIN (1938) – One of the cautionary movies that never developed the huge cult following of schlockers like Reefer Madness and Cocaine Fiends. That’s difficult to understand since it technically throws in a lot more true crime than those well-known films did.

A good-natured young lady gives in to her attraction to a bad boy who gets her to use marijuana and soon has her working as a hooker in his brothel. We viewers are told that marijuana is even worse than cocaine AND we get to see a bi-locating woman in a bonnet. (Poor editing shows her on the dance floor and sitting down at the same time.)

All that and “a big cash prize”, too!

THE WILD AND WICKED (1956) – Dammit, ladies! If Reel Wild Cinema has warned you once, it’s warned you a million times that trying to become a model can lead to your own destruction! In this movie, also released as The Flesh Merchant, a woman visits her sister in Hollywood and decides to give modeling a try.

From there she becomes a high-priced escort and then an outright prostitute. As tawdry as this may sound, The Wild and Wicked is milder than what you see on network television programs today.

Camp and unintentional laughs galore.  

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for and excerpts from How to Undress in Front of Your Husband (1937), Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) and Bummer (1973).

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE TWENTY-ONE (June 23rd, 1997)

Title: Nudie Cuties

Truncated Films Shown:

DR. SEX (1964) – No sex anywhere in this movie, it was just the Nudie Cutie version of clickbait. THE Wayne Rogers co-wrote this movie, believe it or not, and makes a cameo appearance. He also co-wrote The Astro-Zombies years later.

A psychiatrist who specializes in sexual dysfunction treats a series of patients in vignettes about their bawdy fantasies. He then plans to write a book about all of them similar to The Kinsey Report.

As usual with these flicks, the material here is so lame it could come from Laugh-In or Benny Hill if not for the toplessness.

BOIN-N-G (1963) – Herschell Gordon Lewis and David Friedman managed what should be impossible – they slapped together an Adam Sandler movie long before Sandler came along! Like Sandler always did, they stocked the film with buddies and some attractive women, wrote painfully unfunny jokes and called it a day.

Our auteurs play a pair of schlubs who figure that anybody could make money from producing a Nudie Cutie so they try their hands at it. Supposed hijinks cause setback after setback for the would-be filmmakers. Not funny and – by 2024 standards – not the least bit sexy.

THE “IMP”PROBABLE MR. WEE GEE (1966) – By 1966 movies like the ones in this episode were barely running on fumes. This Mr. Wee Gee deal is a typically lackluster example. The star is the most important element – it’s famous photographer Arthur “Wee Gee” Fellig, whose pics of assorted celebrities show up in a few scenes.

I have no idea what possessed him to appear in a Golden Turkey like this, but what can ya do? His character falls in love with a store mannequin like in the movie Mannequin. He follows the mannequin to Paris and London (Are mannequins really that well-traveled?) while encountering lovely ladies. It’s even dumber than it sounds. 

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for and excerpts from What the Frenchmen Saw (1962), Where Sin Lives (1964) and Instant Orgy (1967). 

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE TWENTY-TWO (June 30th, 1997)

Title: Sword & Sandal Extravaganza

Truncated Films Shown:

HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (1961) – Peplum veteran Reg Park plays Hercules and THE Christopher Lee portrays the villainous King Lico in this muscles and monsters film. The storyline involves Hercules returning from battle only to find his wife rendered senseless.

An oracle tells our muscle-bound hero that she can only be saved by a stone from the Underworld, so Herc enters the domain ruled by Hades in search of that object.

Monsters, illusions and Rosalba Neri pop up as the tale progresses. 

THE WITCH’S CURSE (1962) – Legendary strongman Maciste, a character who goes back to the silent film era, wanders into a 1600s town, loincloth and all, yet is accepted at face value!

As fans of Psychotronic movies know, when Maciste is involved anything goes, from encounters with Gengis Khan to dinosaurs to Middle Eastern Sheiks.

At any rate, this particular film finds our hero entering the Underword to save the surface world from a curse inflicted by an evil witch. 

TAUR THE MIGHTY (1963) – This Italian movie is better known for behind the scenes business rather than the film’s actual content. It was originally being peddled as a Tarzan movie until threatened legal action forced the name of the hero to be changed to “Taur.”

The story deals with an aggressive nation abducting the two daughters of a peaceful king. Taur and his African pal Ubaratutu set out to rescue the ladies and avert a full-scale war. 

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for and excerpts from Colossus of the Stone Age (1962), Ali Baba and the Sacred Crown (1962) and Seven Blows of the Dragon (1972).

THAT WRAPS UP REEL WILD CINEMA! IT’LL BE A DIFFERENT TOPIC FOR THE NEXT LOOK AT FORGOTTEN TELEVISION.