FLESH & BLOOD: THE REEL LIFE & GHASTLY DEATH OF AL ADAMSON (2019)

Wednesday, December 31, 12:01 am

Late last night I suddenly and impulsively watched FLESH & BLOOD: THE REEL LIFE & GHASTLY DEATH OF AL ADAMSON on Amazon Prime.

I thought it was GREAT.

To be honest, I was not a fan of exploitation/genre filmmaker Al Adamson's work to begin with, so that fact made me only vaguely aware of his actual filmography. As I watched the documentary, I realized and slowly remembered, that a film called DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN (1971) was by him. I think it might have been stills from that film of the Frankenstein monster that informed my disinterest in Adamson's work. I was not impressed with the make-up. That terrible makeup gave me a sense of how cheaply made these films were. Usually for me that isn't a turn-off but a turn-on, but my artistic tastes are capricious.

Anyway, backing up a little, the documentary focuses on Adamson's film career and also his shocking death: his body was discovered buried in the floor of his house after he had gone missing. That's how the doc starts, so that's not a spoiler. But then we go through Adamson's life and eventually learn the details of his death.

I love this film. NOW I want to see these awful movies, hahaha!

It's delightful listening to his friends, past cast and crew members tell stories of the man and working with him.

All the stories and clips are pretty terrific, but I especially loved the anecdotes from DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN (and working with actor J. Carrol Naish). Also, Sam Sherman, Robert Dix, Russ Tamblyn offer great stories, but I was especially delighted to see Fred Olen Ray offering great commentary as well. Another favorite aspect I've now discovered of Adamson's films is how they re-titled them and re-released them to blatantly capitalize on current fads and trends. For instance, BLAZING STEWARDESSES was a mildly T&A film that had primarily western genre trappings to take advantage of BLAZING SADDLES' popularity. BLAZING STEWARDESSES would later be re-released under three other titles: TEXAS LAYOVER, CATHOUSE COWGIRLS (to capitalize on the popularity of THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS), and THE GREAT TRUCK ROBBERY (with some additional footage of a truck robbery, because CONVOY and other trucker movies were then popular).

There's a section on a UFO documentary that Adamson shot, BEYOND THIS EARTH, and as they discuss this film, there's a strange mood change from Sam Sherman and friend/actress Stevee Ashlock (who played a woman abducted by aliens). There seems to be a sinister secret attached to the making of this film, a sort of conspiracy vibe about UFOs, which is both unexpectedly weird, serious and fascinating since the vibe comes from both Sherman and Ashlock in separate interviews Adamson was devoutly a non-believer of UFOs going into making his film, but this weird meeting Ashlock talks about during filming seemed to change his mind. Really weird.

The stories about his one children's film (!), CARNIVAL MAGIC, are pretty good, too!

The final section on Adamson's murder is also well done and his housekeeper's comments during this section are simple and straight forward but ultimately compelling.

An excellent documentary from director David Gregory and Severin productions. Meanwhile, check out Al Adamson's filmography at your own risk!: PSYCHO A-GO-GO! (later reworked and re-titled as THE FIEND WITH THE ELECTRONIC BRAIN and then majorly overhauled and again re-titled as BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR); BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE; FIVE BLOODY GRAVES; SATAN'S SADISTS; HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS aka VAMPIRE MEN OF THE LOST PLANET; ANGELS' WILD WOMEN aka SCREAMING ANGELS; DYNAMITE BROTHERS aka STUD BROWN; DEATH DIMENSION aka DEATH DIMENSIONS aka FREEZE BOMB aka ICY DEATH aka THE KILL FACTOR aka BLACK ELMINIATOR; and many more.

#30DayFilmChallenge - Day 5: ED WOOD (1994)

Day 5: "A film where a character has a job you want."

Okay, I'm going with ED WOOD (1994, directed by Tim Burton, screenplay by Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander) and the title character (played by Johnny Depp) has the job of screenwriter/film director. There are probably other films with characters that have that job that I could have chosen, but I feel that Ed Wood in ED WOOD seems most appropriate. Wood's filmmaking efforts are arguably sincere but leavened with some limiting circumstances (like a lack of sufficient funds) and Wood's own dubious creative choices and tastes. The difference between Wood and myself is that he actually finished some projects.

Shot in black and white, Depp is quite wonderful as Ed Wood, boyish in his energy and enthusiasm, and determinedly positive in the face of difficulty. Martin Landau is terrific as Bela Lugosi (winning an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor) and the ensemble cast is also excellent. For me, the appeal of director Ed Wood, in this film and in real-life, is his insistence to make art despite circumstance and possibly even talent or skill. Arguably, I might have more directing skill than Wood (emphasis on arguably), but I lack his tenacity to follow through on projects, a quality I seriously need to develop and/or tap into.

Other possible films featuring the same job, this time on vivid display in two documentaries, AMERICAN MOVIE and HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER'S APOCALYPSE.

AMERICAN MOVIE (1999) focuses on independent filmmaker Mark Borchardt (as well as his friend, Mike Schank) and his efforts to make his B&W horror film, COVEN (which Borchardt's determined to pronounce as "COH-ven"). At first glance, the film seems like a study of a not quite capable filmmaker trying to make a film. You hear some of his plans and ambitions and the way he describes his film and the scenes he intends to include, and well, his description sounds like wishful thinking and the audience feels already the execution will be far less than he imagines. As an example, we see him directing a scene in the woods. Borchardt's manning his own camera, and as he lies on the ground and has set up his shot, he tries to direct his handful of actors. He gives them a specific direction regarding blocking - a fine tuning of where they already are standing - and, if I remember correctly, no one moves at all in response. And, after a beat, he shoots the scene. I remember watching this film and my wife walked in and started watching it as well and then she said she had to leave the room, "This reminds me of you..."

Ummm...

HEARTS OF DARKNESS (1991) is the brilliant documentary of APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola as the subject of his troubled film and his efforts to get through the agonizing process of shooting, which was faced with many setbacks and delays, cost overruns and his near bankruptcy. What makes me embrace this film is the portrait of an artist trying to achieve something on an ambitiously grand scale, not only in physical scope but artistically. In one scene, he compares the original concept of APOCALYPSE NOW to an Irwin Allen film. Film producer Allen was known for his disaster films, like THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and THE TOWERING INFERNO. Coppola's comparison is based on his idea that initially APOCALYPSE NOW was simply full of spectacular, crowd-pleasing scenes and exciting, thrilling (but arguably superficial) moments. BUT, now that he was in the middle of the production, he realized he was wasting an opportunity to properly consider the subject matter, the Vietnam war, and so he was re-writing and trying to figure out how to improve things as he went along. And he feared his efforts were going to be horrendous. In reality, Coppola ultimately made another cinema classic, but his process was typically difficult and perhaps, even self-destructive.

In all three of these films, I'm fascinated by the artist and his dreams and then the difficult reality of trying to achieve those dreams: lack of money, lack of assistance, lack of inspiration, the limits of one's own talent and persistence through hardship, the general difficulties of trying to shape an idea into reality.

"Alright, let's shoot this fucker!" - Bela Lugosi (as played by Martin Landau) in ED WOOD.

#30DayFilmChallenge

#30DayFilmChallenge - Day 4: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)

DAY 4: "A film with a number in the title."

I had a tough time trying to pick a title for today, but the winner is… 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968).

Some runners up:

16 BLOCKS, the Bruce Willis/Mos Def film that I happened to catch on cable a few years ago, got hooked enough to stick with it, and ultimately found it surprisingly affecting, which I’m chalking up to my strong sentimental streak;

SUPER 8, which I found enjoyable throughout, although the actual main storyline I found forgettable. This film has one of my favorite sequences, when the kids, amateur filmmakers, are shooting a scene for a Super 8 film at the train station and the boys suddenly realize the girl they cast in the film (for perhaps other reasons) can really act, but then suddenly the train comes and crashes and we’re back to the main story (whatever)…;

1941, Steven Spielberg’s first flop, an expensive and critical flop which he made up for in spades with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but I still like this extremely loud and unsubtle comedy;

1900, a Bernardo Bertolucci film that I saw years ago in a theater (in Pittsburgh?). I remember finding it vividly directed, but I’ve forgotten lots of it, too… I’ll need to revisit it;

THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION, because, well, what a great title, and a wonderfully goofy movie… Jeff Goldblum and his furry, white cowboy chaps! And I still occasionally say, “I don’t give a flying handshake..!”;

And another film that I’ll actually use later in this challenge…

But back to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (directed by Stanley Kubrick, screenplay by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke (based on Clarke's novel).

Love that this is a merger of sci-fi film and art film, arguably an experimental film as well. Years ago I had a book edited by Jerome Agel, THE MAKING OF KUBRICK’S 2001. Full of cool articles and topics related to the film, among them audience and cultural reactions. Included was an outline analyzing the film, breaking down scenes and considering the meanings, which was written by a female high school student. Kubrick actually read it (either she or a teacher of hers mailed it to him?) and he was impressed by her thoughts on the film. If I’m remembering correctly, the student had plans to do scientific research and one scientific question she considered was whether or not the soul can be located in one’s DNA, like an actual element, which was a fascinating idea. Anyway, at some point years ago, I misplaced the Agel book, but somewhat recently, I was delighted to discover another copy at a used bookstore.

One of my favorite film transitions of all time is the understandably famous one from 2001, from the prehistoric past of the DAWN OF MAN sequence to the futuristic year of 2001 with a bone as murder weapon (well, tool) thrown up into the air, “flying” in slow motion and then the sudden cut to the Pan Am space clipper heading to the moon, a clever combination of visual images and intellectual ideas.

I did see 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in the theater once and I’m wondering if that was my first time watching it. It’s quite possible. It was at the Four Seasons in Niagara Falls and I remember my mom took me (us? I think one or two school friends came as well... Steve? Peter? NOTE: Steve and Pete and myself went to the movies fairly regular during high school, hence...). During the sequence when the astronaut, Bowman (played by Keir Dullea), is traveling through the atmosphere of Jupiter and it starts getting way psychedelic, even psycho-delic, my mom started grabbing my arm really hard, because the posterized aerial shots of the landscapes started getting to her and she was trying not to scream.

I know a guy who is a writer for the Washington Post (yes, I’m pseudo-name dropping without, uh, actually dropping a name) and he’s an eloquent cinephile, but he is NO fan of 2001. I think he described it once as equivalent to “looking at a rock.”

Too bad for him, but I think 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is great from beginning to end and I love how it strongly elevated and expanded the sci-fi film genre in terms of what other kinds of stories could be told in that genre beside pulpy escapism. A very inspirational work on several levels.

#30DayFilmChallenge