Today’s music video of the day comes to us from Hrdza, a band from Slovakia. It’s an adaptation of an old folk song and it’s a nicely energetic and fun little video. I have to admit that as I was watching it, I saw a lot that reminded me of my own family. It’s kind of nice that I can relate a song and a music video from Slovakia to my own big American-Italian-Spanish-Irish family. Some things are universal!
Enjoy!
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’s episode is a strange one.
Episode 5.12 “It’s A Dog’s Life”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on July 28th, 1989)
One night, after Jonathan foils a mugging by using “the stuff” to turn the mugger’s gun into a water pistol, Mark sits down on a curb, lies down in the grass, and bemoans that he never gets to do anything on his own. He never gets “the stuff.” He has to worry about his health while Jonathan, already being dead, cannot be hurt again. Why, he wonders aloud, does he always have to be “Jonathan’s dog?”
When Mark opens his eyes, Jonathan is gone. However, there is a dog sitting next to him. Convinced that the Boss has 1) turned Jonathan into a dog and 2) given Mark “the stuff,” Mark proceeds to reunite a runaway with his family and he also thwarts a convenience store robbery. When the dog indicates that it wants to live with the runaway and his family, Mark sadly returns to the shabby hotel where he and Jonathan were staying. He sees a man standing out on a ledge, threatening to jump.
“My first solo assignment!” Mark says.
Mark runs upstairs and climbs out onto the ledge. He tells the suicidal man that he has no fear of falling because he has the stuff. Suddenly, Jonathan appears and tells Mark to get back inside before he falls. Jonathan reveals that Mark never had the stuff and that Jonathan was never a dog. Instead, Jonathan was just off on another assignment.
Mark falls off the ledge.
Oh no, Mark’s dead!
No, actually Mark is dreaming. Mark wakes up in his hotel room and realizes that Jonathan is gone. But the dog is taking a bath….
And the episode ends!
The second-to-last episode of Highway to Heaven is an odd one. With Jonathan gone for the majority of the episode, Victor French gets the opportunity to carry a story on his own. Sadly, French himself would die before this episode aired. Unfortunately, while French is fine in this episode, the story itself is presented in the rather cartoonish style that Highway to Heaven always used whenever it featured a comedic episode. The runaway’s mother is portrayed as being such a loon that’s hard not to think that the kid would be better off on his own. As well — is Jonathan a dog or not!? The episode’s refusal to answer this question is a bit annoying.
Next week, we will finish up Highway to Heaven with the show’s final episode.
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 an elderly crime lord.
Episode 1.25 “High Swing”
(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on March 31st, 1958)
Casey rides to the hospital with a young woman named Anne (Zohra Lampert). Anne has overdosed on heroin. Before she dies, Anne tells that Casey that she was poisoned by an old man named Otto Flagler (Albert Dekker). After learning that Anne was a pickpocket, Casey goes undercover as a thief until Otto Flagler approaches her and invites her to come live and work with him and his wife, Lily (Edith Atwater).
Casey is shocked to discover that Lily is in a wheelchair, the result of an accident that occurred when Lily was a trapeze artist. Otto is a mugger because he needs the money to take care of his wife. Casey even starts to feel sorry for Oto and Lily. That said, Casey is still a cop and she has a job to do. When Otto realizes that he and his wife are about to be arrested, he slips heroin into their coffee. By the time the police arrive, both Otto and Lily are dead.
Casey is upset. One of the other cops offers to buy her a cup of coffee. Casey says that she won’t be drinking coffee for a while.
This was a sad episode. Casey didn’t really have to do much to solve the mystery. The whole point of the episode was that Otto and Lily were not master criminals. They were two people who loved each other and found themselves in a desperate situation. That said, Otto did murder Anne so let’s not feel too sorry for him.
Albert Dekker and Edith Atwater both gave good performances and, as always, Beverly Garland was excellent in the role of Casey. This was a good episode.
In 2022’s The Wrong High School Sweetheart, Mea Wilkerson plays Danielle, a real estate agent who dated Danny (Alex Trumble) in high school. (Dani and Danny! How cute!) Danielle and Danny broke up when Danny went off to college on a baseball scholarship. Now, Danny has returned home and he’s eager to start things up again with Danielle. Danielle’s wimpy fiancé, Tod (Doug Rogers), isn’t happy about that.
“You just had the wrong high school sweetheart,” Vivica A. Fox says once it’s become obvious that Danny is psychotic. Vivica plays the high school principal. For some reason, she is best friends with her former student, Danielle. Vivica A. Fox appears in all of the “Wrong” films and she’s usually cast as an authority figure. It almost always falls on her to say the film’s title. Sometimes, she’s a bit judgmental. If she says you “picked,” the wrong person, you know everything is your fault. In this once, she makes it clear that Danielle is not to blame because she “just had” the wrong person in her life. It’s always a fun to see Vivica in these films.
The “Wrong” films are almost always entertaining. The Wrong High School Sweetheart certainly is. David DeCoteau’s campy sensibility is uniquely suited to these films. The Wrong High School Sweetheart features Danny chanting, “Stronger than steel/Hotter than the sun/Danny Brooks won’t stop/Til he gets the job done!” while exercising in his underwear. Alex Trumble throws himself into the role of Danny and good for him.
As always with the “Wrong” films, some familiar faces show up in small roles. Tracy Nelson plays a therapist. And, of course, Eric Roberts shows up as a detective. Hopefully, we’ll get a sequel called The Wrong Detective.
Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:
Yesterday’s song of the day came from Ben-Hur so it only seems appropriate that today’s song of the day should come from Elmer Bernstein’s classic score of 1956’s The Ten Commandments.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1956’s The Ten Commandments.
Cecil B. DeMille is often unfairly dismissed as a director, just as Charlton Heston is often underrated as an actor. To me, this is one of the most powerful scenes in DeMille’s filmography. The sound of the screams is haunting. However, one must remember that, as with all the plagues that afflicted Egypt, the Pharoah was given fair warning.
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!
4 Shots From 4 Biblical Epics
Samson and Delilah (1949, dir by Cecil B. DeMille, DP: George Barnes)
The Ten Commandments (1956, dir by Cecil B. DeMille, DP: Lloyd Griggs)
The Gospel According To St. Matthew (1964, dir by Pier Paolo Pasolini, DP: Tonino Delli Colli)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973, dir by Norman Jewison, DP; Douglas Slocombe)
Chag Sameach!
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, OJ has some wisdom to share.
Episode 3.8 “The Brink of Death”
(Dir by Bruce Seth Green, originally aired on November 4th, 1987)
There’s a lot happening in this week’s episode.
For instance, Bubba and Jethro now own the bar where all of the Bulls hang out. To be honest, I thought they always owned the bar but apparently, they didn’t. As I’ve said a few times in the past, the way these episodes were edited for syndication occasionally makes it a bit difficult to actually follow the storyline.
Wide receiver Billy Cooper (Michael Toland) was kidnapped by Stuart (Richard Tanner), the nerdy guy whose girlfriend Billy stole. Stuart wrapped up Billy in a straight jacket, forced him to wear a “Dumb Jock” label on his forehead, and then filmed him screaming in fear of a bunch of fire ants. Billy’s girlfriend dumped him because Stuart was “more interesting.”
But the main plotline dealt with Dr. Death, the defensive player who was played by Donald Gibbs. While playing against Oakland, many of the Bulls were tackled by Joe “The Terminator” Morgan (Andre Newman), a notoriously dirty player. Dr. Death decided to get revenge by tackling Joe Morgan during a kick return, even though Joe had signaled for something called a fair catch. (I guess that meant that no one was supposed to touch Joe.) Joe Morgan ended up in the hospital. The owner of the Oakland team pressured Joe to press assault charges against Dr. Death, who was already feeling guilty about injuring Joe as severely as he did.
It was up to O.J. Simpson to talk some sense into Joe Morgan. O.J. went to the hospital and told Joe that football was all about getting injured. O.J. asked Joe if this was the way he wanted to go out.
By appealing to Joe’s desire to be remembered as a killer football player, OJ is able to convince Joe to drop the charges.
(I should mention that OJ himself was an early contender for the role of the actual Terminator.)
O.J. Simpsons saved the day again!
What’s an Insomnia File? You know how some times you just can’t get any sleep and, at about three in the morning, you’ll find yourself watching whatever you can find on cable or streaming? This feature is all about those insomnia-inspired discoveries!
If you were having trouble getting to sleep last night, you could have watched 1981’s 300 Miles For Stephanie.
Tony Orlando — yes, the singer — plays Alberto Rodriguez. When the movie begins, Alberto is a rambunctious military veteran who is notorious for drinking too much and getting into fights. After his latest arrest, he is ordered to turn his life around. With the help of his cousin (Edward James Olmos), he gets a job as a cop in San Antonio. Eventually, he gets married and he becomes a father to Stephanie.
When Stephanie is born, Alberto is told that his daughter probably won’t make it to her fifth birthday. The struggle of raising a handicapped daughter becomes too much for Alberto’s wife and soon, Alberto is a single father. When Stephanie makes it to her fifth birthday, Alberto rides a bicycle 300 miles to a chapel so he can give thanks to God. Later, after his story is picked up the San Antonio media, Alberto resolves to run to the chapel, covering 300 miles on foot in just five days.
300 Miles For Stephanie is clearly a made-for-TV movie from the early 80s. It’s the type of movie where every dramatic beat leads to the inevitable fade-out for commercials. The budget is low and there’s not a single subtle moment to be found in the film but the story itself is so touching that it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s because it’s Holy Week. Maybe it’s because I’ve recently had to say goodbye to people that I loved. Maybe I’m just as sucker for these type of stories. It doesn’t matter. I cried.
As an actor, Tony Orlando was a little stiff but he still brought a likable earnestness to the role and he got good support from Edward James Olmos, Pepe Serna, Gregory Sierra, and Peter Graves. Graves’s role is small but, as Alberto’s captain, he’s exactly the type of fair-minded authority figure who we could use more of nowadays.
It’s a touching film. In real life, Stephanie, who no one expected to see her second birthday, lived to be 26 years old.
Previous Insomnia Files:
Through the Shattered Lens