TOWING (1978) – How obscure is this flick? As of this writing there are only 2 user reviews of it at IMDb. That actually makes Towing better known than some of the other flicks I’ve reviewed here at Balladeer’s Blog, but the fact that Joe Mantegna, Sue Lyon, Dennis Franz, Mike Nussbaum, Jennifer Ashley and J.J. Johnston are in this movie make it worth examining.
What’s this movie about? Well, let me start by pointing out that sometimes bad movies are as effective as folk songs at preserving a tiny portion of history or cultural zeitgeist that would otherwise be completely forgotten as the decades go by.
Towing is about that period in the 1970s when Chicago tow-truck operators scandalously began towing vehicles out of parking lots based on VERY questionable grounds of being in violation of city regulations. The sleazy towing companies would charge the vehicle owners much larger than reasonable fees to get them back. Continue reading
BIRD OF THE IRON FEATHER (1970) – This African American drama was produced for Chicago’s educational station WTTW. The storied black radio and television pioneer Richard Durham created and wrote this soap opera/ soul drama that originally was to air every weekday like network soap operas did. 
WTTW was approved for a $600,000 grant to produce one hundred 30-minute episodes of a series dramatizing the contemporary experiences of black Chicagoans. The title Bird of the Iron Feather was a reference to the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech in which he described African Americans as “birds of iron feathers unable to fly to freedom.”
*** What was supposed to be the inaugural game in the new league the NSAC – the ATLANTIS UNIVERSITY ATLANTEANS hosting the SOUTH FLORIDA TECHNICAL COLLEGE WILDCATS – was postponed yesterday over the weather. All of the NSAC teams will play next Saturday. 
MANHANDLED – The TYLER COLLEGE APACHES welcomed the DODGE CITY COLLEGE CONQUISTADORS in this game. The Apaches dominated Dodge City College on both sides of the ball and led by a score of 17-7 come Halftime. After the break, Tyler left the Conquistadors even further behind in an authoritative 27-7 rout. 
HI, CHAPARRALS! – This game saw the COLLEGE OF DUPAGE CHAPARRALS take on the visiting ROCHESTER (MN) TECHNICAL COLLEGE YELLOW JACKETS. Usually a close rivalry game, this year’s edition of their clash was all Chaparrals to a degree that Rochester TC should just burn the game tape and deny being in Illinois yesterday. The College of DuPage won SIXTY to FOURTEEN! 
THE THAMES VALLEY CATASTROPHE (1884) – Written by Grant Allen. The story is presented in the form of a memoir about the destruction of London as seen from “the futuristic” 20th Century. 
ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #25 (Aug 1974) 
Democrats flushed the justice system down the toilet in their unhinged political persecution of President Trump. The cases against him were clearly travesties all along. 
In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy and Richard, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class (EO6) hosted this neglected cult show that debuted on February 9th, 1985. Balladeer’s Blog continues its celebration of the program’s 40th anniversary year.
The Texas 27 Film Vault aired on Saturday nights from 10:30pm to 1:00am. The show was broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma. 
BARBARY COAST (1975-1976) – William Shatner was the main draw for this series set in 1800s San Francisco and its Barbary Coast section famed for gambling, crime, gunfights, brawls, partying and dance hall girls. Shatner starred as Jeff Cable, hero of the Union Army during the Civil War, now serving as a special government agent like Robert Conrad’s character in The Wild, Wild West. 
BARBARY COAST (May 4th, 1975) – This 2-hour telefilm was directed by the one and only Bill Bixby, who also made a cameo appearance. Jeff Cable (Shatner), West Point Graduate and Civil War hero fresh off fighting the Democrat Party’s hate group the Ku Klux Klan for President Ulysses S. Grant, arrives in San Francisco. Cable’s new mission is to shut down the Crusaders, an organization of Klan members who moved west and started their plot to become California’s version of the KKK. 
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