YELLOWHAIR AND THE FORTRESS OF GOLD (1984) – Reviewers need to lighten up about this movie. Especially over at IMDb. If those reviewers actually think this film deserves a low rating of 4.2 they’re being silly. I eat, sleep and breathe bad movies and I settled in to finally watch this supposed bomb fully expecting something hilariously awful. Nope. It’s no masterpiece but it’s a fairly good movie with a butt-kicking female lead.
Actually, Yellowhair and the Fortress of Gold is better than 1980s schlock like the Allan Quatermain flicks or many Chuck Norris films. The production values are above many other Eurowesterns, which is what this really is, despite its Raiders of the Lost Ark pretensions. They’re also above many, many Grade Z action movies of the decade.
In my opinion the admittedly dopey opening seems to prejudice too many reviewers, who harden into hatred before the movie properly gets underway. The success of the first Indiana Jones movie a few years earlier prompted many studios to try touting all their new action releases as being “like Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
To capture that same old-fashioned cinema/ Republic Serial feel, director Matt Cimber presents the opening moments of Yellowhair and the Fortress of Gold as a “meta” trip to a movie theater, complete with excited, squeeing children. To pile on the corn even more, there’s a melodramatic voice-over setting the scene by depicting this movie as if it’s the latest chapter of the serialized adventures of Yellowhair (Laurene Landon), our half-breed Indian heroine, and her platonic friend the Pecos Kid (Ken Roberson).
NOTE: Yes, that makes for a cringingly lame opening sequence but let’s face it, it’s only slightly more awkward than if Cimber had relied on setting the scene with an opening scroll like Star Wars and its sequels had revived years earlier and which other movies had been copying ever since. Anyway, you can tell some reviewers don’t bother watching beyond that opening sequence since their reviews bash the whole movie as if it’s like that. Actually, the voiceover disappears and the story proceeds like in any other film after that ill-advised opening dose of nostalgia. Continue reading
ADRIAN, MI REGION, DAY ONE: The top seeds – the DENISON UNIVERSITY BIG RED – took on the 4th seeded LA ROCHE COLLEGE REDHAWKS and shut them out 4-0. ### And the 2nd seeded HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY STUDENT PRINCES won a 4-3 game for the ages over the 3 seeds – the ADRIAN COLLEGE BULLDOGS. 
CORTLAND, NY REGION, DAY ONE: The top seeded CORTLAND STATE RED DRAGONS did battle with the 4 seeds – the ALVERNIA UNIVERSITY GOLDEN WOLVES – and defeated them 7-3. ### And the 3 seeds – the TUFTS UNIVERSITY JUMBOS – folded, spindled and mutilated the 2nd seeded PENN STATE AT HARRISBURG LIONS by a final count of THIRTEEN to FIVE. 
BALTIMORE, MD REGION, DAY ONE: The 4 seeds – the SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY RIVER HAWKS – toppled the top seeded COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY LIONS in a 5-4 Instant Classic of an Upset. ### And the 2nd seeded JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY BLUE JAYS downed the 3 seeds – the FARMINGDALE STATE RAMS – in a 6-2 affair. 
PART NINETEEN: James Larkin Pearson, creator of this new Fool Killer, featured a complaint that I can relate to, since I go through the same thing here at Balladeer’s Blog – “Democrats write and ask me to lambaste the Republicans and Republicans write and suggest that I cuss out the Democrats. All right, boys, I am going to comply with both requests, and then you will both be mad.” 
*** Equally sleazy, money-hungry “spiritualists” – nicknamed “Boogers” in the slang of the time. Arthur Conan Doyle was still alive in 1919 and, as usual, that otherwise rational man willingly served as a public cheerleader for those con artists who claimed to be able to contact one’s dead loved ones. 
THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT (1977) – With the latest blatant abuses by the FBI and elsewhere coming to light here’s Robert Ludlum’s novel about abuse of intelligence-gathering by BOTH the left and the right. There are Deep State operatives, too, like in today’s headlines.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The 3 seeds – the PENN STATE AT DUBOIS LIONS – the defending National Champions of USCAA baseball, played the 7th seeded BRYANT & STRATTON COLLEGE AT ALBANY BOBCATS. The Bobcats did the difficult work for the Lions, having eliminated the top seeded Newport News Apprentice School earlier in the day. 
CENTRAL REGION: DAY ONE – The (5) UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT MONTICELLO BOLL WEEVILS utterly annihilated the (4) MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS to the tune of THIRTEEN to TWO! ### The (1) AUGUSTANA (SD) VIKINGS defeated the (8) OKLAHOMA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY BISON by a Polo Score of 12-10. ### 
Block Books from centuries ago were a form of illustrated storytelling, most often associated with religious topics. Naturally in a period of limited literacy the graven woodblock picture- stories made theological tales even more popular with the masses. In approximately 1455 – 1480 these “proto- comic books” addressed the Antichrist and the End Times.
DAY THREE, GAME ONE: The 4 seeds – the WRIGHT STATE AT THE LAKE LAKERS – took on the 10th seeded BLUEFIELD STATE BIG BLUES in an elimination game. The Lakers turned a 2-1 edge over the Big Blues in the 1st Inning into a 3-1 lead in the 2nd. 
PART EIGHTEEN: In this issue the Fool Killer stated his mission in his newest incarnation (Or “regeneration” we could say with tongue in cheek.) was “the general overturning of all established institutions of every kind.” … “The Hour of Doom has struck for many of this old world’s pet institutions.” Quite a long way from his 1830s mission of driving the Devil out of the Tennessee Hills and killing fools who tried stealing the “hidden” gold of the Melungeons!
DAY TWO, GAME ONE: The 10 seeds – the BLUEFIELD STATE BIG BLUES – faced another elimination game, this one against the 2nd seeded UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI AT CLERMONT COUGARS. The Big Blues had already sent (6) Southern Maine College home and were looking for another scalp. 
DAY TWO, GAME TWO: The top-seeded NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (Shipbuilders) clashed with the 4 seeds – the WRIGHT STATE AT THE LAKE LAKERS. When the Builders grabbed a quick 4-1 1st Inning lead few knew that they would only score 1 more Run the rest of the way. 
DEMOCRATS HARASS INNOCENT NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS FOR WEARING MAGA HATS – Democrat intolerance knows no bounds. Their ugly political prejudices govern their behavior in all things, from hiring decisions to physical assaults on people wearing clothing they don’t like. 
The Asians that Democrats were filmed harassing recently in Washington DC turned out to be people who had fled North Korean tyranny and sought asylum here in the US. Those former North Koreans thought they were becoming part of a free society but Democrats work hard every day to make the country less and less free and to make it resemble the kind of oppressive country that these brave North Koreans escaped from. CLICK 
Balladeer's Blog 