BRUCE CAMPBELL AND SAM RAIMI: 1970s and 1980s SHORT FILMS – CLEVELAND SMITH AND MORE

Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m an enormous fan of Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, Scott Spiegel, Josh Becker, Robert Tapert and all the rest of the Michigan gang who hit the jackpot with the original The Evil Dead (1981, 1983). Ever since then they’ve starred in, written, and directed countless other movies and television projects like Hercules the Legendary Journeys, Spider-Man, Adventures of Brisco County Jr, you name it. 

      Even before The Evil Dead, the gang had been making amateur Super-8 short films emphasizing the kind of cornball, slapstick humor you’d expect of creative teens goofing around with their very first movie productions.  Like many fans I first caught glimpses of the shorts in the Sam Raimi episode of The Incredibly Strange Film Show which also featured Within the Woods, the Evil Dead proof of concept short.

CLEVELAND SMITH: BOUNTY HUNTER (1982) – This last of the Michigan Mafia’s short films is among the most accessible and enjoyable. I review the older ones below. As the title indicates, this 9-minute flick was one of the earliest Raiders of the Lost Ark parodies ever made.

The talent of those involved triumphed over the tiny budget and lame special effects as Bruce Campbell portrayed the mustachioed Cleveland Smith, heroic man of action. This short opens in mock-Republic Serial fashion, pretending this is Chapter 36 of Smith’s adventures.

Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter plays like a live-action Warner Brothers or Woody Woodpecker cartoon and is a fun watch on that level. The Michigan gang’s infectious enthusiasm carries the comedy short, helped by the “cool” factor of knowing what the gang members went on to achieve in the years ahead.   

Sam Raimi played a Nazi villain and Evil Dead costar Cheryl Guttridge played Sally, Cleveland Smith’s pith-helmeted girlfriend. Scott Spiegel, Ted Raimi, Robert “Mr. Lucy Lawless” Tapert and Bridget Hoffman portrayed the native jungle tribe like the one in the Indiana Jones movie.

Oh, and the priceless object that Cleveland and the Nazis are fighting over? A pair of rubber pants called “the Waders of the Lost Park.”

THE BLIND WAITER (1980) – The Michigan Mafia’s love of Three Stooges shorts is on full display in this reasonably entertaining piece of comedy. The Brucemeister General has the title role, Scott Spiegel plays the Clumsy Chef, Sam Raimi is the Stuttering Busboy and Robert Tapert plays the Deaf Manager.

Liz Dennison, in her only film appearance, gets an “and” credit, as in “And Liz Dennison as the Sexpot.” Interestingly, she lives up to the role using just her attractive face and memorable facial expressions, no skimpy outfit or outright vamping.

Josh Becker co-wrote and co-directed this short with Spiegel. Sam and Bruce show up in additional roles as customers who suffer at the hands of the inept lead trio during the Yakety Sax portion. At 17 minutes, The Blind Waiter is a tad too long but to me it’s entertaining enough to be worth sitting through.

ATTACK OF THE HELPING HAND (1979) – In this 6-minute short Linda Quiroz – later to star in the Michigan Mafia’s horror film Thou Shalt Not Kill Except … – stars as a woman fixing a meal with Hamburger Helper in her kitchen.

The iconic Helping Hand mascot suddenly appears and starts flirting with the woman. Suddenly he attacks her and she must fight him to the death. Fans of our guys will certainly recognize how the Helping Hand’s actions like flipping off the woman are like Bruce Campbell’s dismembered hand in Evil Dead II.

Not only that, but the Helping Hand even stabs Sam Raimi to death from behind like Bruce’s hand does to the woman at the end of that same film. Sam plays a Milkman who happens by and Bruce himself puppeteered the Helping Hand.

The woman subjects the hand to the kind of torture usually inflicted on Mr. Bill or Froggy from The Ghoul, but since it’s the aggressor it’s easy to take. The “here we go again” ending featured the arrival of the Pillsbury Dough Boy, whom Sam “Mr. Billed” in Attack of the Pillsbury Dough Boy (1976). 

HOLDING IT (1978) – Okay, this 19-minute item is mostly played straight with some hokey comedy interjected here and there. Running: The Motion Picture could work as an alternate title for this short since it’s almost one long chase scene. 

Bruce Campbell plays two roles – a secret agent and the villain whose thugs want microfilm that he’s carrying. Sam Raimi plays one of the villain’s thugs and it was a marginally amusing coincidence to see Sam sporting a Reservoir Dogs look 14 years before Reservoir Dogs came out.

The title of the short refers to the hapless hero of the tale, who gets mistaken for Bruce’s secret agent character and gets chased by the bad guys, all the while having to hold in his urine since he was interrupted before he could hit the men’s room.

From a technical side I’m sure cinema professionals could point out whatever proficiency our guys were already beginning to show at that early stage. Overall, though, Holding It is of interest only because of what the Michigan Mafia went on to do in later years. Josh Becker wrote and co-directed.

SIX MONTHS TO LIVE (1977) – Featuring a cast of over a dozen! This milestone short from the Michigan gang was directed by Sam Raimi & Scott Speigel and starred Sam, Scott, Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Jane Bultrud, Kathy Stepanian and more.

The gang started going by The Metropolitan Film Group for this comedy short in which Sam played a man who learns he has just six months to live. Sam wants to live those months to the fullest.

Slapstick antics followed and this piece wound up earning Sam and company a lot of publicity when it was aired on Ron Sweed’s Movie Host show The Ghoul.

Sweed’s Ghoul character was the official successor to Ghoulardi and Ron was known for his own comedy bits on the show so him airing a comedy short on a horror host program was a perfect fit. Some of the guys began making semi-regular appearances in skits on The Ghoul. 

JAMES BOMBED IN HERE TODAY … GUN TOMORROW (1976) – This is one of the shorts that our guys screened for friends and classmates at Groves High School. As you can guess, it was a James Bond parody and starred Bruce as the title character with Sam Raimi & Annette LaDuke in supporting roles.

Our heroic spy goes up against the sinister Chinese villain Fu Achoo and his minions, including Odd Slob. Scott Spiegel directed.

Lots and lots of slapstick with periodic gags that Mel Brooks might have considered in his younger years. That’s not a putdown, I’m just saying that the Michigan gang’s youth shows in this particular short. Reasonably fun. 18 minutes long.   

*** In addition to the above efforts, earlier in the 70s our guys did some very crude remakes of old Three Stooges shorts like Three Pests in a Mess, Loose Loot and several others. And THE car from the first Evil Dead movie makes brief appearances in some of the gang’s shorts.

Curse of the Werewolf (1974) only features an incredibly young Bruce for a very brief moment. The 2 minute and 38 second piece was never finished, either, so even though it’s readily available online there’s not much to see. 

FOR MY LOOK AT HORROR MASTER JORG BUTTGEREIT’S EARLY SHORT FILMS CLICK HERE.