The Killers (1964) Revue Studios :: Universal Pictures / P: Don Siegel / D: Don Siegel / W: Gene L. Coon, Ernest Hemingway (story) / C: Richard L. Rawlings / E: Richard Belding / M: John Williams / S: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes, Clu Gulager, Ronald Reagan
Man, those character descriptions are hoot and a half … After the surprising financial success of their first hell-razin’ outlaw biker flick, Roger Corman immediately followed up The Wild Angels with another sordid tale of motorized hooligans. Based loosely on a Monterey, California, incident back in 1965, where several members of the Hell’s Angels were accused, arrested, and later acquitted on several rape charges, Devil’s Angels came to the same conclusion for the fictionalized Skulls club — but then deviates rather radically on the biker’s reaction to being railroaded by local law-enforcement. Needless to say, the locals didn’t “Stay out of their way…”
Devil’s Angels (1967) American International Pictures / EP: James H. Nicholson, Samuel Z. Arkoff / P: Roger Corman, Burt Topper / AP: Jack W. Cash / D: Daniel Haller / W: Charles B. Griffith / C: Richard Moore / E: Kenneth G. Crane, Ronald Sinclair / M: Mike Curb / S: John Cassavetes, Beverly Adams, Mimsy Farmer, Leo Gordon, Buck Taylor
I believe I was born with a defective gene that explains away my preference for the Tottenham stomp of the Dave Clark Five over the Mersey beat of the Beatles. Perhaps this same mental defect explains my complete and total indifference to Rosemary’s Baby. Now, now. I don’t hate the movie. It has merit. It just, I don’t know, never really clicked for me. (My lifelong aversion to Mia Farrow probably isn’t helping matters, here, either. The old Beelzefudds were a hoot, though.) That’s me shrugging right now.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) William Castle Productions :: Paramount Pictures / P: William Castle / AP: Dona Holloway / D: Roman Polanski / W: Roman Polanski, Ira Levin (novel) / C: William A. Fraker / E: Sam O’Steen, Bob Wyman / M: Krzysztof Komeda / S: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, Elisha Cook Jr.
The Dirty Dozen (1967) MGM :: Seven Arts Productions / P: Kenneth Hyman / AP: Raymond Anzarut / D: Robert Aldrich / W: Nunnally Johnson, Lukas Heller / C: Edward Scaife / E: Michael Luciano / M: Frank De Vol / S: Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown, Ralph Meeker, Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas, Clint Walker
Your Tour Guide.
