Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Late Night Retro Television Review: Hunter 1.12 “The Avenging Angel”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Hunter, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1991.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, someone wants to help out Hunter!

Episode 1.12 “The Avenging Angel”

(Dir by James Whitmore, Jr., originally aired on January 18th, 1985)

After Hunter receives an anonymous phone tip, he arrests Dr. Pierpoint (Angus Duncan) for attempting to hire a criminal known as “The Rat” to kill his wife.  When Hunter makes the arrest, he actually has to Mirandize him twice because the doctor was unconscious the first time that Hunter read him his rights.  Oh, Hunter!

Unfortunately, things fall apart at trial.  The Rat (Robert Pastorelli, whose career later fell apart after the mysterious death of his girlfriend) changes his testimony at the last minute and says that Pierpoint never hired him to kill his wife.  The case is dismissed.  Hunter is upset.  Even more upset is Arnold Morton (Robert Gray), a surveillance expert who idolizes Hunter and who makes it his mission to take down not just Pierpoint and the Rat but also defense attorney Nell Armstong (Nancy Stafford).

This was an interesting episode.  The story didn’t quite work but the idea behind it was intriguing.  Morton, who has bugged Hunter and has been following him for weeks, considers himself to be Hunter’s avenging angel.  When Hunter makes it clear that he’s not cool with the whole vigilante thing, Morton turns on him like a lover scorned.  This is like Hunter’s version of Magnum Force.

As for McCall, she spends most of this episode just trying to go on a date with her latest boyfriend, Ted (Rod Haase).  Unfortunately, Hunter keeps interrupting.  Ted is a nice guy about it but it’s pretty obvious that McCall and Hunter are meant to be together.

The highlight of this episode?  Hunter destroying his phone while searching for a bug.  In the role of Captain Dolan, John Amos got to do his whole, “Hunter, what the Hell are you doing!?” thing.  That’s always entertaining.

As I said, the episode didn’t quite work.  I never really bought that Arnold could do everything that he managed to do in this episode.  I mean, for someone who lived in an abandoned arcade and drove a broken-down van, Arnold seemed to have unlimited resources.  I will give a shout out to the show’s art department for including a poster of Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 in Arnold’s office.

It’s always funny to me how, in every episode, Hunter has got someone trying to kill him and no one but McCall seems to care.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.38 “First Arrest”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Decoy, which aired in Syndication in 1957 and 1958.  The show can be viewed on Tubi!

This week, it’s the next-to-last episode Decoy!

Episode 1.38 “First Arrest”

(Dir by Arthur H. Singer, originally aired on June 30th, 1958)

Casey meets with a new, rookie policewoman (Ellen Madison) at Coney Island.  The rookie just made her first arrest and is now in tears because she’s worried that she’s ruined someone’s life.  Casey tells the story of her first assignment and what it was like to make her first arrest.

Flashback time!

The NYPD believes that a fencing operation is being run out of a Coney Island carnival sideshow.  Young and eager, Casey gets a job as an exotic dancer at the carnival.  (Calm down, boys.  She wears one of the least-revealing costumes of all time.)  Shy and insecure Willie Graff (Joshua Shelley) develops a crush on Casey.  Casey, suspecting that Willie is the fence, plays along but she starts to feel guilty as she realizes that Willie isn’t some sort of dangerous criminal.  He’s just a down-on-his-luck guy who is cutting a few corners.  He even introduces Casey to his mother (Ruth McDevitt).

When Willie gives Casey a diamond necklace, she assumes that it must be stolen but it turns out that it’s his mother’s necklace and that Mrs. Graff wants Casey to have it.  Casey is actually relieved because it seems like Willie isn’t the fence that she’s looking for.  However, then Willie gives her a mink coat and admits that he bought it from someone who had stolen it.  Though saddened, Casey forces herself to arrest Willie.

In the present, Casey assures the rookie that she will soon get used to arresting people and she won’t care about them anymore.  Yikes!

As you may have guessed, I didn’t really care much for this episode.  That idea of Casey being someone who doesn’t care about the people who she arrests pretty much goes totally against everything we’ve seen over the past 37 episodes.  The thing that always set Casey apart was that she does care.  She has to do her job but she also understands that sometimes, people just make mistakes.  Unless it’s case in which she was threatened, Casey usually doesn’t take any joy in slapping the handcuffs on someone.

As much as I hate to say it, Beverly Garland is not particularly convincing in the flashback scenes.  Young Casey is written as being continually breathless and unsure of herself.  There’s nothing about Beverly Garland’s screen presence that suggests insecurity.

This was a disappointing episode.  Next week, we’ll be finishing up Decoy and I hope it goes out on a better note than this.

Join #TubiThursday For In The Mouth Of Madness!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

Hi, everyone!  Tonight, on Mastodon, I will be hosting the #TubiThursday watch party!  Join us for In The Mouth of Madness, starring Sam Neill!

You can find the movie on Tubi or YouTube and you can join us on Mastodon at 9 pm central time!  (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.)  We will be using #TubiThursday hashtag!  See you then!

Scene That I Love: Donald Sutherland Discusses John Milton in National Lampoon’s Animal House

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tomorrow would have been Donald Sutherland’s birthday.  Today’s scene that I love comes from one of my favorite Sutherland performances, as the professor who dislikes John Milton in Animal House.

“This is my job!”

4 Shots From 4 Films: Is It October Yet?

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

We’re halfway through July, which means that it’s time for me to get ready for October!  (Seriously, who cares about August and September?)  Here to inspire are….

4 Shots From 4 Horror Movies

Frankenstein (1931, dir by James Whale, DP: Arthur Edeson)

Night of the Living Dead (1968, dir by George Romero)

Halloween (1978, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cudney)

Inferno (1980, dir by Dario Argento, DP: Romana Albano)

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: 1st & Ten 4.8 “Injustice For All”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing 1st and Ten, which aired in syndication from 1984 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on Tubi.

Oh my, this epiosde.

Episode 4.8 “Injustice For All”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on November 23rd, 1988)

The Bulls narrowly win a game against Texas’s team when Coach Denardo decides to give the ball not to usual running back but instead to Bubba Kincaid.  Bubba is pronounced the hero of the game, which makes Jethro jealous.  During the next game, when Denardo tries to pull off the same play, Bubba insists that the ball should be given to Jethro.  Jethro fumbles the ball and Bubba falls on it, scoring once again for the Bulls.  Afterwards, Bubba assures the press that Jethro was supposed to fumble and that Jethro is actually the hero of the game.  That’s  nice!

Less nice is what happens when the press talks to Coach Denardo.  When asked whether or not he thought Texas lost because they had a black quarterback, he shrugs and says, “Maybe.  Blacks have excelled at every other position in the game.  Eventually, they’ll excel as quarterbacks.”  Denardo is branded a racist.  He insists that his words were taken out of context.

Personally …. I don’t know, it all sounds pretty racist to me.  The question was definitely racist.  Denardo wasn’t asked if he felt Texas lost because their quarterback didn’t play well.  Instead, he was specifically asked if Texas lost because their quarterback was black.  Then, Denardo’s answer is that apparently blacks are not good quarterbacks right now but they will be someday.  How is that not racist?  Denardo (and the reporter) are taking an individual player, considering nothing about him beyond his race, and then saying that’s why his team lost.  All Denardo had to say was that the quarterback struggled, just as many white quarterbacks have struggled.  Denardo could have just said, “Race doesn’t have anything to do with it.”  Instead …. well, you get the idea.

The Dobbs Corporation, which now owns the Bulls, has recently had to settle a lawsuit about their discriminatory employment practices.  Executive Michal Westwood (Paul Tuerpe) wants Denardo fired and really, Denardo probably should be fired.  But TD Parker (OJ Simpson) tries to play peacemaker.  He tells Denardo that it would help if he apologized.

“TD,” Denardo says, “I’ve got white friends and I’ve got black friends.  But if you don’t drop this, I might have one less black friend.”

And then, presumably, Denardo complimented TD for being articulate.

Meanwhile, Dr. Death’s attempt to have a one night stand with a biker chick (Beth Broderick …. wait a minute, Aunt Zelda!?) comes to an end when he meets her son and discovers that the kid is being abused by his mother’s other boyfriend.  Dr. Death takes the kid under his wing and then beats up the abuser.  Yay!  Seriously, this whole episode should have just been Dr. Death beating up that guy.

And Denardo really should have been fired.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 8.1 The Crew’s Cruise Director/What a Drag/Doc’s Slump

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

Come aboard, it’s time to start season 8!

Episode 8.1 “The Crew’s Cruise Director/What a Drag/Doc’s Slump”

(Dir by Richard Kinon, originally aired on September 22nd, 1984)

The season starts with the Captain gathering the crew  — including Ace, your ship’s photographer! — in his cabin and telling them that Julie will not be joining them on their next cruise.  Or any other cruise for that matter.  Julie has eloped will never be seen again.  (In real life, Lauren Tewes was struggling with a cocaine addiction and was fired after the seventh season.)  Everyone drinks a toast to Julie, even Captain Stubing who has previously been established as a recovering alcoholic.

The new cruise director is Bernice Bronson (Diane Ladd), who is oddly abrasive and doesn’t seem to care about keeping any of the passengers happy.  Seriously, why is this woman a cruise director?  I understand that The Love Boat had corporate sponsorship so I have to wonder how the actual executives at Princess Cruise Line felt about one of their employees being portrayed as being so incompetent at her job.  Fortunately, Julie’s sister — Judy McCoy (Pat Klous) — is also on the cruise.  A former cruise director herself (who, we’re told, taught Julie everything she knew), Judy takes it upon herself to cover for Bernice.

This week’s cruise is an all women’s cruise to Alaska.  Along with going to the coldest place on Earth, the passengers also get to have a pajama party in the ship’s lounge and one of them will win a date with sexy singing sensation (snicker) Engelbert Humperdinck.  Engelbert only appears briefly in this episode, which is good because I misspell his name every time I try to write about him.

Doc’s new girlfriend, Emily (Michelle Phillips), is not amused that Doc is on a boat full of women.  She knows that Doc has a reputation and a history.  Ace and Gopher take it upon themselves to try to convince Emily not to leave Doc.  Doc just looks exhausted in this episode.

Emily really should put the blame on publicist Jane Fletcher (Patty Duke).  Jane’s the one who came up with the idea for the cruise and also the contest to win a date with the singer whose name I can’t spell.  Jane’s husband (Bert Convy) and his best friend (Arte Johnson) decide to disguise themselves as women and sneak on board.  Jane immediately recognizes her bathrobe at the pajama party so she pretends to be in love with Captain Stubing in order to make her husband jealous.  Meanwhile, Bernice falls in love with the husband’s friend and she quits her job.

OH MY GOD — THE CRUISE IS WITHOUT A CRUISE DIRECTOR!

Well, don’t worry.  The Captain offers the job to Judy and Judy accepts.

This episode was …. well, it was okay.  It felt strange not having Julie aboard but Judy seems like she’ll be a good replacement and I’m also happy that Ted McGinley is now a permanent member of the crew.  Personally, I would love to have a pajama party on a cruise ship.  That said, Jane should have divorced her idiot husband and Doc really should do something about this midlife crisis that he’s been having for the last eight years.

I’m looking forward to this new season, though.  Love is still exciting and new.

Scenes That I Love: Jack Meets Lloyd in The Shining

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The scene below is, of course, from Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece, The Shining.

In this scene, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) stumbles into the Overlook Hotel’s ballroom, still fuming over having been accused of abusing his son.  A recovering alcoholic, Jack sits at the bar and thinks about how he would give up his soul for just one one drink.  And, on cue, Lloyd (Joe Turkel) appears.

As I was watching this scene, it occurred to me that, way back in 1980, there probably was some guy named Lloyd who saw this movie in a theater and was probably totally shocked when Jack suddenly stared straight at him and said, “Hey, Lloyd.”

The brilliance of this scene is that we never actually see Lloyd materialize.  We see him only after Jack has seen him.  So, yes, Lloyd could be a ghost.  But he could also just be a figment of Jack’s imagination.  Jack very well could just be suffering from cabin fever.  Of course, by the end of the movie, we learn the truth.

Everyone always talks about Jack Nicholson’s performance as Jack.  Some people love it and some people hate it.  (I’m in the first camp.)  However, let’s take a minute to appreciate just how totally creepy Joe Turkel is in this scene.  Turkel was a veteran character actor and had appeared in two previous Kubrick films, The Killing and Paths of Glory.  Two years after appearing in The Shining, Turkel played what may be his best-known role, Dr. Eldon Tyrell in Blade Runner.  Today, incidentally, would have been Joe Turkel’s 99th birthday.

From Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, here’s Jack Nicholson and Joe Turkel: