4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More 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!
Tomorrow will be the birthday of Stephen King. Normally, we honor folks on their birthday but tomorrow is also Bill Murray’s birthday so we’re going to honor King now.
In others words, it’s time for….
4 Shots from 4 Stephen King Films
Creepshow (1982, dir by George Romero, written by Stephen King, DP: Michael Gornick)
Maximum Overdrive (1986, dir by Stephen King, written by Stephen King, DP: Armando Nannuzzi)
Sleepwalkers (1992, dir by Mick Garris, written by Stephen King, DP: Rodney Charters)
The Stand (1994, dir by Mick Garris, written by Stephen King, DP: Edward J. Pei)
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988. The show can be found on Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!
This week, it’s time to name the Doctor of the Year!
Episode 2.16 “After Dark”
(Dir by Eric Laneuville, originally aired on February 29th, 1984)
It’s time for the annual end-of-the-year dinner, during which the Women’s Auxiliary will announce their pick for Doctor of the Year. Last year, to Dr. Craig’s shock, Westphall won the award. This year, Dr. Craig is sure that he’s going to win. Even though Craig says that he doesn’t care about awards, he still has his wife, Ellen (Bonnie Bartlett), write out a speech for him.
The dinner is just as boring as usual. The majority of the doctors who show up mention that their spouse couldn’t make it because they suddenly came down with the flu. When it is time to announce the Doctor of the Year, Dr. Craig prepares to accept the award. However, the award is given — for the second year in a row — to Dr. Westphall!
Seriously? I mean, what the Heck? Nothing against Dr. Westphall but what exactly has he done to deserve the award this year? Dr. Auschlander has continued to see patients while battling cancer. Dr. Craig performed a heart transplant! Meanwhile, Dr. Westphall has dealt with the administrative stuff and been kind of grumpy. I’m totally on Dr. Craig’s side here. There’s no way Westphall deserved that award for two years running.
Westphall, himself, had to leave the awards dinner early because of an emergency at the hospital. (More on that below.) Dr. Craig accepts the award in Westphall’s place and — surprise! — gives a sincere speech about how much he appreciates Dr. Westphall’s leadership. Good for Dr. Craig! That said, there’s no way Dr. Westphall deserved the award this year.
Meanwhile, Kathy Martin, who we last saw being raped by Peter White in the morgue, is missing. Peter wanders through the hospital in a narcotic-induced haze, carrying his ski mask in his pocket. He nearly attacks Shirley. He does attack Wendy Armstrong and this time, he doesn’t even put on his ski mask. Fortunately, Fiscus hears Wendy’s screams and knocks Peter out with a fire extinguisher. Peter is taken away by the police while Westphall heads to Peter’s home to tell Peter’s wife that her husband is the Ski Mask Rapist.
Victor is thinking of getting divorced. Bobby, on the other hand, decides to ask Joan to marry him. And Dr. Morrison continues to get too involved with his patients. When Joseph (Dan Hedaya), a construction worker dealing with random bouts of blindness, is told that he’ll have to quite job, Morrison calls out a fellow doctor being callous. Good for Morrison!
The episode, a well-acted one that deftly mixed drama and comedy, ended with some unanswered questions. Peter’s been arrested. Is he gone for good? And where is Kathy Martin? And seriously, how did Dr. Westphall win that award!?
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly watch parties. On Twitter, I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday and I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday. On Mastodon, I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix! The movie? Rocky Balboa!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, find Rocky Balboa on Prime, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! I’ll be there happily tweeting. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
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!
Today, we remember actor David Hess on his birthday. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 David Hess Films
The Last House On The Left (1972, dir by Wes Craven, DP: Victor Hurwitz)
Hitch-Hike (1977, dir by Pasquale Festa Campanile, DP: Franco Di Giacomo and Giuseppe Ruzzolini)
The House On The Edge of the Park (1980, dir by Ruggero Deodato, DP: Sergio D’Offizi)
Body Count (1986, dir by Ruggero Deodato, DP: Emilio Loffredo)
This music video from the German group Scorpions has an old west theme that fits the song well. Send Me An Angel is Scorpions at their most soulful and showed audiences outside of Germany that the band was capable of much more than just singing about being rocking you like a hurricane.
This song was included on Scorpions’s 11th studio album, Crazy World. It was the 4th and final single to be released off the album and it went on to become one of Crazy World‘s signature tunes. While the song peaked at #44 at the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and at #22 in the UK, it was a huge hit for the band in the rest of Europe. It was especially popular in Belgium, proving once again that Belgians just have better taste in music than the rest of the world.
Meiert Avis is one of those directors who has worked with everyone who is anyone. He directed many of U2’s early, acclaimed music videos. He later frequently worked with Chris Cornell and the Pretty Reckless and he directed the feature film Far From Home.
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 Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!
This week, Mark and Jonathan meet yet another grouchy old man.
Episode 4.14 “Country Doctor”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on January 13th, 1988)
Grouchy old Dr. Hudspeth (Roscoe Lee Browne) is getting older and his health is suffering but if he retires, who will take over his practice? Jonathan and Mark come together to show Dr. Hudspeth the importance of having faith in other people and also how much everyone in the town has come to love him.
This episode was sentimental in the typical Highway to Heaven way. Grouchy old man are always secretly saints on this show. That said, this episode didn’t do much for me because the doctor was a little bit too grouchy. That’s a polite way of saying that Roscoe Lee Browne yelled almost all of his line and never quite came across as being as great a doctor as he was supposed to be. Browne wasn’t alone. Everyone in this episode overacted, including Michael Landon and Victor French. Considering how over-the-top the show tends to be with everyone delivering their lines normally, having people shout pushed the show over the edge.
In the end, this was Highway to Heaven on autopilot.
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, Casey investigates a case of insurance fraud.
Episode 1.4 “To Catch A Thief”
(Dir by Teddy Sills, originally aired on November 4th, 1957)
A thief and his girlfriend mug a business owner named Mr. Whitaker (John McGovern). When the police capture the thief, Mr. Whitaker claims that more money was stolen from him than was recovered. Casey is sent undercover to discover whether or not Whitaker is lying or if a cop actually skimmed the cash that they recovered.
Pretending to be the thief’s girlfriend, Casey approaches Mr. Whitaker and tries to blackmail him. When Mr. Whitaker appears to be innocent, his secretary (Mary James) falls under suspicion. Mr. Whitaker, however, is eventually exposed as trying to commit insurance fraud when he has a conversation with his secretary at the police headquarters. Unfortunately, for him, the room was bugged.
This episode bothered me. On the one hand, I didn’t want an innocent police officer to be suspended for stealing money that he didn’t steal. On the other hand, having Casey go undercover as a blackmailer felt almost as if it verging on entrapment. As well, I found it hard to understand why Mr. Whitaker would be fooled into thinking Casey was the one who had robbed him earlier. Didn’t Mr. Whitaker see the people who mugged him?
Through the Shattered Lens