In honor of actor Richard Griffiths, on what would have been his 78th birthday, and the impending release of the new NAKED GUN film starring Liam Neeson, I present this fun scene from THE NAKED GUN 2 1/2: THE SMELL OF FEAR. Enjoy my friends!
Red Heat (1988, directed by Walter Hill)
Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a Russian who lives in Moscow. Art Ridzik (James Belushi) is an American who lives in Chicago. They have two things in common. They’re both cops and they both recently lost their partners while pursuing Russian drug lord Viktor Rostavali (Ed O’Ross). When Danko comes to Chicago to bring the recently arrested Rostavali back to Moscow, Ridzik is assigned to be his handler. When Rostavali escapes from custody, Ridzik and Danko team up to take him down.
Directed by Walter Hill, Red Heat may not be as well-remembered as some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s other action films from the 80s but it’s still a good example of Schwarzenegger doing what Schwarzenegger did best. Danko may not have been the quip machine that Schwarzenegger usually played but the movie gets a lot of comedic mileage out of his straight-to-the-point dialogue and the culture clash that Danko, a proud Soviet, experiences in Chicago. It’s also an exciting action film, featuring a classic bus chase that perfectly complements Schwarzenegger’s bigger-than-life persona.
It gets a lot of mileage from the comedic chemistry of Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi. The always-talking Belushi provides a good comic foil to the steely Schwarzenegger. Made in the waning years of the Cold War, Red Heat featured Belushi learning that the Russian cops didn’t worry about Miranda warnings and Schwarzenegger learning about “decadent” capitalism. Belushi does a good job defending the honor of America. Schwarzenegger, an anti-communist in real life, does an equally good job defending the Soviet Union. Ultimately, they put aside their differences and show that even people on opposite sides can work together.
(We all know who won ultimately won the Cold War, though.)
Walter Hill specialized in buddy action movies. Red Heat isn’t up to the level of 48 Hrs but it’s still an entertaining East-meets-West action film that packs a punch.
Retro Television Review: Malibu CA 2.24 “Scott A Go Go”
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 Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999. Almost the entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
Yes, this is from the first season. I don’t care. I refuse to waste my time looking for a second season advertisement.
This episode …. well, I don’t have much to say about it. Find out why below.
Episode 2.24 “Scott A Go Go”
(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on May 6th, 2000)
This is one of the Malibu CA episodes that has not been uploaded to YouTube so I can’t review it. However, I can give you the plot summary from imdb:
Lisa tries to find out what Scott has bought for her birthday but he won’t tell. Traycee and Alex ask about the present and Scott tells them it’s rollerblades. The girls tell him Lisa has her heart set on an expensive Tiffany watch. Later Lisa asks Scott for some hints as to what his gift is and she mistakenly concludes he bought her the watch. She’s so overjoyed that Scott doesn’t have the heart to correct her. Scott wonders how he will pay for the $800 gift. Murray suggests that he come with him to the “Guys a Go-Go” club and audition as a male dancer.
Wow, that sounds awful! Malibu CA is a show that is so predictably bad that just reading the plot description, I can already imagine Scott looking confused, Lisa overacting, and the audience going, “Wooo!” at Scott dancing.
By the way — Lisa has her heart set on a $800 Tiffany watch? Really? Lisa (the character, not me) might want to consider that Scott is a waiter!
Anyway, if this episode is ever uploaded to YouTube, I’ll do a proper review. Until then, I’m just happy to have an excuse to not have to watch this show this week.
Song of the Day: Theme From Danger: Diabolik by Ennio Morricone
Today’s song of the day comes from Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack for Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik.
Scenes I Love: The Hallway Scene From Mario Bava’s Shock
Today’s scene that I love comes from Mario Bava’s 1977 masterpiece, Shock. This, as the title of the YouTube video states, is one of the best jump scares ever.
8 Shots From 8 Films: Special Mario Bava Edition
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!
Today, the Shattered Lens pays tribute to the memory and the legacy of the maestro of horror himself, Mario Bava! Bava was born 111 years ago, today.
6 Shots From 6 Mario Bava Films
Black Sunday (1960, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Mario Bava)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Mario Bava)
Black Sabbath (1963, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Ubaldo Terzano)
Blood and Black Lace (1964, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Mario Bava)
Planet of the Vampires (1965, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Antonio Rinaldi)
Kill, Baby, Kill (1966, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Antonio Rinaldi)
Bay of Blood (1971, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Mario Bava)
Shock (1977, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Alberto Spagnoli)
Artwork of the Day: Film Fun (by Enoch Bolles)
by Enoch Bolles
From 1928, comes this portrait of law and order.
Music Video of the Day: place of my own by Purity Ringer (2025, dir by ????)
For today’s music video of the day, we have the latest from Purity Ring.
Enjoy!
Late Night Retro Television Review: 1st & Ten 1.3 “All Roads Lead To Dayton”
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.
This week, the Bulls are on the road!
Episode 1.3 “All Roads Lead to Dayton”
(Dir by Bruce Seth Green, originally aired on December 9th, 1984)
The Bulls are playing their second game in Dayton! It’s a road game and Coach Denardo tells all of the players that they are expected to conduct themselves like gentlemen on the road.
“Booooo!” the team replies.
Denardo replies, “I know but the owner’s a broad now….”
Speaking of Dana Barrow, she has a lot to deal with. The Arcola Brothers are still trying to muscle their way into the team’s business. Meanwhile, her ex-husband, Paul (now played by Ben Cooper), is determined to get his team back. At the hotel in Dayton, he and his sleazy lawyer arrange for Dana’s drink to be drugged so that the hotel’s assistant manager can rape Dana while being filmed by a camera hidden behind a two-way mirror. They plan to leak the tape to the press and claim that Dana is a nymphomaniac who shouldn’t be allowed to own an NFL team. Fortunately, quarterback Bob Dorsey stops by Dana’s hotel room to discuss an offer he’s gotten to become a sports commentator and he proceeds to beat the hell out of the assistant manager, shatter the mirror, and give the camera the finger. And he wins the game!
Take that, Dayton!
He even scores an extra touchdown, just so the Mafia won’t make any money on their bets.
Take that, Arcola Brothers!
The episodes of 1st & Ten that are on Tubi are apparently a combination of episodes that were edited for syndication and the original HBO episodes. The version that I saw of All Roads to Dayton was clearly the HBO original, as there was significant amount of cursing and quite a bit of nudity. I get the feeling that those were the two main reasons that 1st and Ten found success when it first aired. It certainly wasn’t for the acting or the storylines, neither of which were especially noteworthy. That said, I’m from Dallas and I’ve heard all the stories about the Cowboys and Jerry Jones so I imagine that this episode’s depiction of a football team on a road trip was probably fairly tame when compared to the real thing.
As for this episode, Dana was a bit too naive to be believed. Delta Burke actually gives a good performance as Dana but the scripts continually let her down. We’re only three episodes in and Roger, the team’s general manager, has planted drugs in her house, caused Bob to get seriously injured during practice, and drugged her so that she could be raped in her hotel room. I would seriously be looking for a new general manager at this point. On the plus side, I do like Geoffrey Scott’s performance as Bob Dorsey. He’s charming without being smarmy about it.
Next week …. more football stuff, I guess.
Guilty Pleasure No. 84: Last Action Hero (dir by John McTiernan)
Oh, Last Action Hero.
Ever since this film was first released in 1993, it’s usually held up as an example of a Hollywood fiasco. The script was originally written to be a modest satire of action films. The screenwriters wrote the character of Jack Slater, an movie action hero who comes into the real world, for Dolph Lundgren. Instead, the film became an Arnold Schwarzenegger extravaganza and the studio ended up tossing a ton of money at it. When the film was originally released, the reviews were mixed and the box office was considered to be disappointing. (That it went up against the first Jurassic Park was definitely an underrated issue when it came to the box office.) Ever since then, The Last Action Hero has had a reputation for being a bad film.
Well, I don’t care. I like The Last Action Hero. Yes, it’s a bit overproduced for a comedy. (It breaks my own rule about how no comedy should run longer than two hours.) Yes, it gets a bit sentimental with ten year-old Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) using a magic, golden ticket to enter the film world of his hero, Jack Slater. If you want to argue that the film should have devoted more time to and gone a bit deeper into contrasting the film world with the real world, I won’t disagree with you. But I will also say that Sylvester Stallone starring as The Terminator in Jack’s world was actually a pretty funny sight gag. Danny knowing better than to trust a character played by F. Murray Abraham made me laugh. Danny’s fantasy in which Arnold Schwarzenegger played Hamlet was made all the better by the fact that his teacher was played by Laurence Olivier’s wife, Joan Plowright. Danny DeVito as Whiskers the Cartoon Cat makes me laugh as well, even if it is perhaps a bit too bizarre of a joke for this particular film. (There’s nothing else about the Jack Slater films that would explain the presence of a cartoon cat.)
When you set aside the idea of the Last Action Hero being a symbol of Hollywood bloat and just watch it as a film, it emerges as an enjoyably goofy action movie, one that captures the joy of watching movies (because who hasn’t wanted to enter a movie’s world at some point in their life), and also one that features a rather charming performance from Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Schwarzenegger, I should add, plays both himself and Jack Slater. One of my favorite jokes is when the real Schwarzenegger is at a premiere and he mistakes the evil Ripper for Tom Noonan, the actor who played him in the previous Jack Slater film.) Yeah, the golden ticket is a little bit hokey but who cares? Underneath all of the special effects and action and money spent on star salaries, Last Action Hero is an action movie and comedy with a heart. Danny meets his hero but also gets to become a hero himself. And Jack Slater turns out to be everything you would hope your movie hero would be. In the end, it’s obvious that a lot of the criticism of this film has more to do with the appeal of riding the bandwagon as opposed to what actually happens on screen.
Last Action Hero is a movie that I’ll happily defend.
Previous Guilty Pleasures
- Half-Baked
- Save The Last Dance
- Every Rose Has Its Thorns
- The Jeremy Kyle Show
- Invasion USA
- The Golden Child
- Final Destination 2
- Paparazzi
- The Principal
- The Substitute
- Terror In The Family
- Pandorum
- Lambada
- Fear
- Cocktail
- Keep Off The Grass
- Girls, Girls, Girls
- Class
- Tart
- King Kong vs. Godzilla
- Hawk the Slayer
- Battle Beyond the Stars
- Meridian
- Walk of Shame
- From Justin To Kelly
- Project Greenlight
- Sex Decoy: Love Stings
- Swimfan
- On the Line
- Wolfen
- Hail Caesar!
- It’s So Cold In The D
- In the Mix
- Healed By Grace
- Valley of the Dolls
- The Legend of Billie Jean
- Death Wish
- Shipping Wars
- Ghost Whisperer
- Parking Wars
- The Dead Are After Me
- Harper’s Island
- The Resurrection of Gavin Stone
- Paranormal State
- Utopia
- Bar Rescue
- The Powers of Matthew Star
- Spiker
- Heavenly Bodies
- Maid in Manhattan
- Rage and Honor
- Saved By The Bell 3. 21 “No Hope With Dope”
- Happy Gilmore
- Solarbabies
- The Dawn of Correction
- Once You Understand
- The Voyeurs
- Robot Jox
- Teen Wolf
- The Running Man
- Double Dragon
- Backtrack
- Julie and Jack
- Karate Warrior
- Invaders From Mars
- Cloverfield
- Aerobicide
- Blood Harvest
- Shocking Dark
- Face The Truth
- Submerged
- The Canyons
- Days of Thunder
- Van Helsing
- The Night Comes for Us
- Code of Silence
- Captain Ron
- Armageddon
- Kate’s Secret
- Point Break
- The Replacements
- The Shadow
- Meteor
