During this past Anime Boston 2011 there was one panel where I and fellow site writer, pantsukudasai56, sat in and had one of the better times during the convention weekend. It was the panel being held by the on-line podcast and site, Anime World Order, and it was called “Anime’s Craziest Deaths”. It was pretty much two hours of just watching clips of some of the craziest death scenes in anime history. One which stood out and had quite a reaction from the crowd was from the action anime series, Black Lagoon.
This scenes qualifies as one I love just for it’s sheer audacity and craziness which typifies much of the action genre in anime. Black Lagoon has so many cool and crazy characters that it was only fair that the show contain scenes and sequences to match their personalities. This scenes pits the protagonists’ WW2-era PT boat versus a Soviet-era Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship. Now one would ask how could an antiquated PT boat even take on such a heavily-armed and heavily-armored chopper gunship whose sole purpose is to take on tanks and armored vehicles.
Well, glad you asked.
The only way to answer that question is to watch the scene and just marvel at just how it’s level of craziness just continues to increase as the scene moves along to it’s surprising climax. All I can say about this scene is…
I love Saturday and not just because it’s the weekend! Nor is it just because Saturday is the day that I traditionally go down to either Northpark Mall or the Galleria and spend way too much money on DVDs, book, lingerie, and handbags. I love Saturday because Saturday is the day that I get to bring you another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers.
It might not be obvious from the trailer but this is actually a really good, surprisingly somber film. Director Gary Sherman later went on to make the infamous Vice Squad.
3) The Touchables (1968)
The writer of this film, Donald Cammell, later went on to co-direct Mick Jagger in 1970’s Performance. As far as I can tell, The Touchables is not available on DVD. (There is an earlier film called The Touchables that’s available from Something Weird Video but it’s a different movie.) If anyone knows that this film is available, please let me know as I’ve just recently read a book on Cammell and right now, his films are something of an obsession of mine.
“Stanley — a snake that learned that only man kills his own kind…” All film trailers use to feature pompous narration but the best exploitation trailers managed to take the standards of pompous narration to such an extent that it became a work of postmodern art. As for Stanley, I actually own this film. It was on one of those 8-movie compilation DVDs that were all the rage a few years ago. The copy I saw looked like it had just been transferred off of a beaten-up VHS tape (and it probably was) but the movie still gave me nightmares because I’ve got a thing about snakes. (By the way, clicking on the above link will lead you not to the copy I watched but to a “special edition” Stanley DVD. To my best knowledge, the special edition looks a lot better than the copy I own.)
“Johnny Firecloud — a hate story!” This appears to be one of those films that just asks, ‘What else can go wrong?” I mean, not only is Johnny Fireclould having to deal with prejudice but the whole thing apparently involves a nuclear war as well.
Admittedly, I probably wouldn’t have given this trailer a second thought if not for the fact that I’ve gotten into running lately. Still, this trailer does feature the priceless “You can kiss my feet” scene, a scene that is memorable for a lot of reasons, the least being the look on James Coburn’s face. And remember, you’ll love Goldengirl “even after you know her secret.”
(Interesting sidenote: On Amazon, Goldengirl is only available in VHS form. You can either spend $126 to get a “never before watched” copy or you can spend $4.90 to get a used copy.)
Through the Shattered Lens 