David Keith/Keith David Part One

Now, one may be thinking I'm doing this because of the fact that these two gentleman's names are reversals of one another's, and therefore there is comic value.

Wrong.  (Well, maybe a little.)

I am a huge fan of both, and have been for decades.  And in many ways, chronologically and cinematically their careers parallel.

Unlike Keith David, David Keith is not classically trained, but peruse this piece of information and learn that he paid his dues learning his craft:

I'll start with David Keith because during the very early 80's he was frequently a major player in big budget films.  (And I took notice of many on Spectrum!)  He appeared in large roles in Take This Job and Shove It, Firestarter,  The Lords of Discipline (disappointing, but it is based on one of my favorite novels of all time), Brubaker, White of the Eye (An inexplicable and beautifully shot suspense film that paves the normal 80's murder mystery path before having a not unwelcome third act seizure), and Gulag, as well as supporting parts in An Officer and A Gentleman (earning a golden globe nomination), The Rose, and Back Roads. 

 

There were missteps, of course.  During that 80's run, He directed The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck, complete with notorious tone-deaf and disturbing moments that would have cultivated the same controversy as Revenge of the Nerds' cringe-inducing waterbed Darth Vader scene, if it had achieved the same success and following as Revenge.

However he must be commended for having the cojones to take on H.P. Lovecraft's Colour out of Space in his film, The Curse.  Many said it couldn't be filmed.  He gave it a shot.  Good luck finding it.  It doesn't appear to be streaming and the Scream Factory blu appears to be an expensive rarity.

He has popped up in many television, film and direct to video roles and continues to do so to this day.  Active recurrently in occasional "A-film" roles such as uber-asshole slugger Jack Parkman in Major League II,  "The Devil" Jack Murdock in Mark Steven Johnson's unfairly maligned (especially if you watch the Director's Cut) Daredevil, and one of McConaughey's right hand men in Jonathan Mostow's eternally underrated U-571.  (He also seems to play dudes named Jack a lot).  He did a fine job as the doubtful detective tracking desperate thief James Spader in the underrated The Stick-Up. 

The 2000's for the most part have offered more than its fair share of less than comparative quality, but he's still there.

Keith has the rare ability to be both menacing and kind-hearted, and despite his not cracking the "actor's A-list", that versatility has kept him employed. 

A burly guy from Tennessee (the college hat worn several times in White of the Eye, despite his character being from Tucson) with a borderline southern accent, piercing eyes, and a twisty grin, he's a "Hey! it's that guy!" familiar face to many.  One of those actors like the terrific Treat Williams, who must have either had an ineffectual agent or just made bad choices for roles. Constantly busy, but not appearing in too many blockbuster films.  

He was this damn close, though.

As I said, however, he's still working to  this day.  I've seen him guest star on major television series like Law & Order: SVU (an effective appearance, this), Hawaii Five-O, among many others, and in many supporting film roles, and he also has a few upcoming movies and a series in the pipe.  Socially active, he’s a voice against sexual assault and trafficking.

I liked him a lot in his youth, as his voice and intensity did set him apart from a large portion of his peers. I regarded him as one of my favorite actors as a kid. He hasn’t gone anywhere, but it’s unfortunate he didn't catch that wind of superstardom.  Since the late-90's kicked in, the level of material dwindled, but he's been an effective and busy movie journeyman, one whose name and screen presence at least carried the juice to get him leads in direct-to-video films for a substantial period of time.  

Let’s just say if David’s in it, I'm probably interested.

Striking Moments from Largely Forgotten Films

 I don't know what possessed me to write this piece, but I've always been a fan of the underdog, and have always been one myself.  So, for some reason I started racking my brain for moments that "popped" in movies that didn't. There's art in them there films, even in possibly small stretches.

1.  Halloween II  (2009). 

Rob Zombie's much maligned sequel to his own remake has a lot wrong with it.  However, there's a scene, a gut-wrenching piece of maestro-level acting from Brad Dourif, that literally had me in tears.  Dourif, who many know as the town doctor in Deadwood and poor Billy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, plays the cynical Sherriff Brackett (the role that belonged to Charles Cyphers in the original) and he's just found out his beloved daughter Annie has been murdered.  The grief shown is of the heart-rending variety that I don't think I've seen since Ed Harris' mournful explosion when Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio drowns in The Abyss, or Leonardo DiCaprio's shock over his daughters in Shutter Island, and I've not seen again.

2.  The Puppet Masters (1994).  

The character played by the underused actor Eric Thal, has been released from the grips of a parasitic creature that writer Robert Heinlein's mind envisioned and unleashed upon us all. Later he has a breakdown in the shower in a scene that probably gives decent insight into visualizing drug withdrawal. 

A colleague, played by Julie Warner, attempts to pick the nude Thal up off the shower floor.  (She's unable to because of the size difference, so she merely holds his weeping form).  This is not sexual, it's empathy on full display.  This is true acting at its finest by a pair of then young performers that never really broke that Hollywood ceiling.  The Puppet Masters is an underrated film that deserves re-assessment, but this scene packs one hell of a kick.

3. Deep Rising. (1998).   

Our Hero's sidekick, Kevin J. O'Connor, muse of Stephen Sommers, comes upon the suffering form of antagonist Wes Studi. O'Connor realizes Studi is trapped in a situation he can't escape from, and is enduring a slow and agonizing death.   Despite Studi's character being a murderous insufferable bastard, O'Connor mercifully gives him a handgun so he can end the suffering on his own terms, a largely undeserved gesture.  This is proven when Studi promptly fires the weapon directly at O'Connor.  

Some people don't appreciate or deserve even the smallest favors.  

"Here endeth the lesson." -  Sean Connery, The Untouchables

4.  Lightning Bug. (2008). 

Green Graves is a poor teenage kid who likes to make model creatures ordered (that his mother's cro-magnon boyfriend calls "faggot pottery monsters") from magazines, and creature monster and gore effects.  His mother has dependency issues, (both substance and relationship) and finds herself mercilessly run over and murdered by that piece of shit boyfriend played by Waingro, I mean Kevin Gage, who specializes in pieces of shit.  When Green realizes this, he puts his skills to use.  

Using his make up and effects abilities, he manufactures a situation where Gage's character gets himself shot to death.  After the smoke settles, the kid emerges quietly from the forest behind the trailer where the gunplay occurred, and removes the mask from his face that made it all happen.  This is a fist pumping moment.  

5.  Rookie of the Year (1993). 

 In this silly kids laugher, a 12 year old Thomas Ian Nicholas (future star of American Pie, a film I've proudly never seen) breaks his arm, and after it mends, the over-tightened tendons result in him throwing a 110 MPH fastball.  Needless to say, he ends up with the lowly Chicago Cubs.  Daniel Stern, a perennial Rob Will favorite directed this little jaunt, and makes small appearances as pitching coach Ralph Brickma.  Ralph spends more time dealing with our little lead on the level of conserving airline food than controlling his fastball however.  

He also gets trapped in the gap between the doors of adjoining hotel rooms.

"Little help"

"Little help, now."  he mutters to the ceiling.

Stern's worth the price of admission alone, in fact this applies to all of his films, Home Alone notwithstanding.

Readers?  See C.H.U.D.  You not only get Stern, you get John Heard.  

6. Three O'Clock High.  

In Phil Joanou's debut, 1987's Three O'Clock High, the crux of the plot is Casey Sziemaszko's character, Jerry Mitchell, attempting to avoid a fight with his High School's newest student, uber-hard-ass Buddy Revell.

In a scene late in the film, in desperation, Jerry attempts to pay Revell not to fight with him.  This appears to work, as Richard Tyson (brilliant as Revell) sneers at Jerry and growls,

"You didn't even try.  How does that feel?"  

From the first of many times I've seen the film, I felt that.  Right in the gut.  That disgusted face.  The condescension.  Even at his desire not to get his ass kicked.  Mitchell's full-on attempt at self-preservation. Engaging in an act of self-survival, he gave in to his fear.

And was made to feel like less than a human for it.  And Revell, psychotic turd that he appears to be, has an inkling of truth in his question.   

I'm not gonna lie.  I've used that phrase in insult many times in my life.  "How does that feel?"

A Christmas Vinyl Destination: Chipmunk Punk

I don't know where the songs on Chipmunk Punk caught my 9 year old ears, but the record ended up on my Christmas list in 1980.  Somehow, gift-giving channels got crossed and I ended up with two copies, but to rest the heart of the cousin that was feeling bad about that, I told her: "It's always good to have a back up!"

When you had the fumblefingers I did with vinyl, that was the truth, yo.

Now, on Chipmunk Punk there's no God Save the Queen, I Don't Care About You, or Johnny Hit and Run Paulene, this shit's meant for kids after all. Though many cult record enthusiasts through the 40 years since its release have apparently complained about the lack of true punk on its track listing, I rather dug it. It really was my introduction to New Wave and Power Pop, and that's no joke.  Blondie,  The Cars, three from The Knack, and Glass Houses-era Billy Joel were all dropped on me here.  All artists and albums that frequent my personal rotation to this day.

It may have been the pre-empt to my true punk turn seven years later in Wausau, WI.

Besides, it is very difficult for me to visualize Alvin, Simon, and Theodore thrashing about on stage with safety pins grafted to their fur.  Yes, please try to picture Alvin with the A on his shirt adjusted to the "Anarchy" icon, Simon slam dancing with Wendy O Williams, and Theodore attempting to stage dive during a solo for California Uber Alles.  Wait.  There's no solo in that song. 

It also caused a resurgence for the Chipmunks as they bounced back into the public eye like they hadn't been since the late 60's.  I can remember their Saturday Morning cartoon igniting just a year or so after this record went gold.  

 YES.   Chipmunk Punk sold over 500,000 copies, and that's pretty amazing for a novelty record.  One that doesn't include this on it:

 

I still have my copy, and no you can't have it.  A wonderful Christmas gift from 40 years gone by is still resting comfortably in my album stacks.

Aliens: So Whatchoo Want?

 I was watching Signs this morning and I noticed that during the alien invasion that takes place in the second half of the film, a television expert testifies about how during the 70's, UFOs and crop circles were water cooler talk for a long period of time. 

 I know this as truth as my dad's paperback collection verified it to a degree:

I loved the blurry photos contained in these books, with "proof" of flying saucers.  Plate-like objects caught in black and white frozen moments, raising eyebrows of folks from the late 50's to the late 70s.  The Loch Ness squads built numbers across the world, demanding answers.  On television, Leonard Nimoy narrated the creepy-ass In Search Of:, making me realize that not only did Sasquatch and vampires prowl the Earth, UFOs were patrolling the skies, planning who-knows-what?

In the 90's Science Fiction and conspiracy shows (The X-Files, Alien Autopsy) were bee-boppin' and scattin' across screens, screaming the words "Area 51" into our faces as movies like Fire in the Sky, Contact, and Men In Black sold tickets and a few chills in the theatres.  Side note:  It wasn't until I read John Keel's Mothman Prophecies that the "Men In Black" concept really got under my skin. 

It's worth a read, kids.  As good as the underrated Mothman movie is, it really works more as a fictional conceptualization of what happened in Virginia in the late 60's as depicted in the book.  Disappointingly, the movie Men in Black makes them seem like some sort of interstellar protection unit, where the real life encounters were allegedly far more sinister.  But I'm digressing again.

Tom Hanks' character in Apollo 13 is touring some American riff-raff through NASA and throwin' out quips like "Someday a computer may be able to fit in a single room".  Now we're walking around with devices in our pockets that have the circuitry power hundreds of times over the machinery that powered the space missions.  Only now they're tik-tokking and snap-chatting people engaging in stupid behavior, broadcasting sporting events, and storing our music.  Thanks to the fact that these things have top flight cameras on them, interstellar sky occurrences are captured almost constantly, and there aren't enough dudes in suits to send to doorsteps in order to quiet the witnesses.

Now the government is admitting that all that hub-bub over the decades that they shushed and poo-poo'd is not only real, but everywhere.  Take a click and a read:

So where do we go from here?  Now that it's pretty much confirmed, the Gubmint is acting like it ain't no thing, and if it were they wouldn't have time for it.  The conspiracy end is pretty much wiped clean and those interested are free to dig.  

Somehow, it just doesn't feel the same does it?

Movies I Stayed Up Late For: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Long before Spectrum, the Saturday Night Movie, (or Friday, or Monday, depending on which one of the 3 networks were rolling a flick) was pretty much the sole source of movie consumption for me as a young budding cinephile. I can remember a specific Friday Night, at about the age of 9, when being babysat by my sister Laurie, (who spent most of the shift on the wall phone) watching the 1978 Philip Kaufman version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I curled up in a giant multi-shade green afghan my Mom had constructed for protection.  

Fam?  You all know the one.

I watched the whole thing mesmerized.  Once again, the concept of being "taken over" by "the other" was one that really had me creeped out as a kid.  I stayed up pretty late for this one, as with commercial interruption, it was pretty lengthy.

Hoping Donald Sutherland (and his afro), Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, and Veronica Cartwright would have an answer for the "pod people's" replication and replacement of the human race was all I had on my mind that evening.  I knew it was fiction, trust me, but the way my mind worked I still required the positive resolution.  Even in the cinematic arena.

    

To this day when discussing truly upsetting or disturbing faire cinematically, my wife likes to remind me:

"It's not real, Rob."  And I do know this.

But I still can fall prey to the darkest of content, and that's why I research the depths of modern horror films and avoid what I believe will stain my heart and soul to the best of my ability.  I just can't go to some corners of others' imaginations.

Anyway, that happy ending in Invasion? It wasn't there for me.  As evidenced by one of the most shocking and derailing moments of 70's cinema, and cinema in general that I had been subjected to at that point.  

And still have been really.

Donald Sutherland's point and screech, and Ms. Cartwrights defeated and agonized wailing. 

To soften that blow, I used the comedy I've written about in Looking For Laughs.  And the magic of Mad Magazine. 

Thanks, usual gang of idiots!

Santa Project Tidbits: Hardrock, Coco, and Joe

I have a memory, though fleeting, it is clear as day.  Somers, WI and I'm sitting on my mom's lap as she sings me the chorus to the song Hardrock, Coco, & Joe. 

The song comes from a short Christmas film that aired on Chicago TV for decades.  I never forgot it, and I never will.  I can remember giggling when my Mom tried to duplicate the super-deep tone of the part sung by Joe in the chorus. 

 I eventually saw it myself as part of The Bozo the Clown show.   It's a very old part of TV history, particularly in the midwest and I need to add it here.  Enjoy.

Below the video, enjoy a little history of the clip.

Movies I Stayed up Late For: Damnation Alley

 I remember reading an article at one point that in 1977, Fox Studios was going to lean on Damnation Alley, a science fiction film based on a novel by Roger Zelazny, as a tent-pole film.  The article is a good piece of reading, check it out by clicking here:

In my mid-teens, the flick was being broadcast late at night, which is probably where it belonged.  I remember being horrified by the opening 17 minutes which depicts a nuclear war from the point of view of underground missile silo operators and sundry other military personnel.  We get George Peppard, Jan Michael Vincent, Paul Winfield, and a dead-silent Murray Hamilton who was probably thinking Jaws felt a hell of a lot more than two years prior at that point.  Also, after the apocalypse fades, we get to enjoy the company of Jackie Earle Haley, hot off of his role as Chico Bail Bonds' slugging center fielder, Kelly Leak, in the previous year's Bad News Bears.  Long before his brilliant turn as Rorschach in Watchmen.

Anyway, at the age of my viewing, nuclear war was my biggest fear.  You can tell that from my own words here: Fear of the atom

Damnation Alley ended up looking as terrible as it did because, according to that article, Fox kept siphoning budget money to shine up its other 1977 release.  That flick being one you may be familiar with:  Star Wars.   It was ridiculous how antiseptically clean the military facility and its technology looked, just to then be juxtaposed with a filthy desert wasteland after World War III.  I guess we all know where the money went.  

Cut.  Everybody load up for New Mexico!

As I was reading the piece, I kept wondering who in the hell running the studio was thinking that this movie, (and don't get me wrong, if executed properly it could have been better than B movie trash) with its dead-serious and uber-dark opening sequence could have been the centerpiece of a studio's release line-up.  The events opening the film are far scarier than Darth Vader could ever be, (even when executing Order 66 which came years later in a prequel).

It would have sent me running up the damn aisle!!  The End of the World as a plot device for one of a studio's main pieces of profit-searching?  That's some poor judgment.  I wonder if the choice for greenlighting this was made by the same cat that gave the thumbs-up to Star Wars?

Another question, here: Ya gotta wonder who the target audience would have been for this film at full budget.  No one, (at least I hope not) took their kids to see stuff like this in 1977.  Hard to imagine Burger King cups with the cast of Damnation Alley on them.

When I finished watching the film (which got progressively worse) I went to bed that night thinking that it was just another Roger Corman-type dart at the wall; it was that bad.  

I had no idea!