Bad Catholic TV Notes Fauda

Doctor Who: The Rescue and The Romans

The Bad Catholic has been watching more classic Doctor Who.  This two disc set released in 2009 contains "The Rescue" and its follow up serial "The Romans" originally broadcast in January and February of 1965.

The Rescue

This two episode story is intended to introduce the Doctor's new companion, Vicki, played by Maureen O'Brien.  The Tardis lands on the planet Dido and discovers a crash landed earth ship (more particularly a British space ship with the Union Jack on the tail fin).  It turns out that Bennett, one of the survivors, has killed off the native population of Dido and the remaining members of his crew other than the teenage Vicki (presumably because she looks good in mini-skirts).

Bennett keeps Vicki in line and scares off any visitors by dressing up as Koquillion, a native to Dido and pretending to hold Vicki and Bennett hostage.   The Doctor figures it all out and unmasks Bennett and the real Didoans come out at the end and finish Bennett off.

Barbara goes nuts with a ray gun and kills Vicki's pet sand beast thinking it is a hostile alien. (shoot first and ask questions later).  Then, with nothing better to do, Vicki decides to ship out on the Tardis to replace Susan who got left on earth in the last episode to marry her human boyfriend.

The Romans

The Rescue ends with a cliff-hanger (literally) of the Tardis falling off a cliff.  The next episode opens with the Doctor, Vicki, Barbara and Ian hanging around an abandoned Roman villa in the first century (the owner was apparently campaigning in Gaul and took all his family and servants with him).   We learn that the crew has been here for months just hanging out and drinking wine.

The Doctor and Vicki decide to go visit Rome.  After the Doctor and Vicki leave, Ian and Barbara are captured by slave traders.  Ian becomes a galley slave and then a gladiator and Barbara is bought to serve the Empress Pompea in the Imperial Palace in Rome where Nero takes a shine to her and chases her around the palace.

The Doctor discovers a murdered musician and takes his place and he and Vicki also wind up in Nero's court.  The Doctor gives Nero the idea to burn Rome to the ground so that he can have urban renewal.  Rome burns while the crew gets back to the Tardis and takes off for their next adventure.

Vickie and Koquillion

The third episode of the four episode serial was played mainly for laughs with Nero chasing slave girl Barbara around the palace behind the back of his wife.  This episode was broadcast on the same day as the funeral of Winston Churchill and the British public was reportedly not amused.

Like all of these BBC discs, this set is chock full of extras.  The audio commentaries with William Russell who played Ian, director Christopher Barry and set designer Raymond Cusick are excellent as are the documentaries, including Girls! Girls! Girls! a retrospective on the Doctor's female companions of the 1960s.

Five out of five Jelly Babies.

Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964)

TED (2012)

I picked up the DVD of 2012's Ted in the bargain bin at the local Wal-Mart.  I didn't have very high hopes for it.  A movie about a talking Teddy Bear seems like a pretty lame premise.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised.  Ted is genuinely funny.  Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane really delivers the goods as the beer drinking, woman chasing, foul mouthed magical teddy bear companion of Mark Wahlberg.

I understand that there's a really lame sequel to this movie which came out a year or two ago which received mixed reviews and flopped at the box office.  Not having seen it yet, I'm not in a position to judge, but the original was definitely worth the five dollars I paid for it.  Four out five Teddy Bears.

John Carpenter's ELVIS

This made for TV movie from 1979 stars Kurt Russell in the title role, Shelley Winters as Gladys Presley, and Kurt Russell's real life father Bing Russell as Vernon Presley.  Kurt Russell was married for a short time to Season Hubley who plays Priscilla Presley.  The outstanding renditions of Elvis songs were performed by Ronnie McDowell.

Kurt Russell really nailed it in this movie.  His portrayal of the King of Rock 'N Roll is spot on.  Ruseell is excellent playing both the young naive Elvis and the middle aged, jump suited, drug soaked Elvis.  The secondary cast members are also all excellent.

The Blue Ray from the Shout Factory contains archival interviews with Russell and director John Carpenter along with a "Making of" Featurette.  The feature commentary by country artist Ronnie McDowell and Elvis' real life cousin is worth the price of admission just by itself.

Five out of Five guitars.

The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show 1969-1971

I've got one word to describe this two disc set:  AWESOME!

Johnny Cash and Joni Mitchell

I'm the type that buys a ton of DVDs and Blue Rays and then never watches them.  Last night I finally got around to popping this DVD set into the player - WOW!

Johnny Cash's TV show ran on the ABC television network from 1969 until 1971.  It was broadcast live from the Ryman Auditorium (then the home of the Grand Ole Opry) in Nashville.  From the beginning Cash did what he wanted to regardless of what the network wanted.  If he wanted to talk about Jesus - he talked about Jesus.  If he wanted to talk about Vietnam - he talked about Vietnam - who cares what they think.  The show was broadcast live so there wasn't much the network could do about it.

Johnny Cash and Linda Ronstadt - after she put her panties on!

The sample of musical guests on these discs are incredible.  Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Pete Seeger, Carl Perkins, Neil Diamond, Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, and, of course, Mother Maybelle Carter and the girls.

Johnny Cash and Pete Seeger

The performances are interspersed with commentary by contemporaries.  It was really interesting to hear about June Carter's outrage when Linda Ronstadt showed up in a mini skirt with no underwear!

Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison

This is really a great set of discs for music lovers and students of American culture.  10 out of 5 stars.

JACKSON COUNTY JAIL & CAGED HEAT

For this weekend's entertainment, I watched the Shout Factory's Roger Corman's Cult Classics Double Feature DVD of 1976's Jackson County Jail and 1974's Caged Heat.

This DVD has a cool feature called "The Grindhouse Experience" that allows you to watch both films back to back with period bumpers and trailers of other exploitation films.

JACKSON COUNTY JAIL

Advertising executive Dinah Hunter(Yvette Mimieux) leaves a promising career in Los Angeles to start a new life in New York City.  She heads east on a long cross-country drive that becomes a nightmare after she picks up some hitchhikers and finds herself beaten up and stranded in a small town, then is thrown in the jailhouse on vagrancy charges.  Dinah finds herself at the mercy of some bad cops, but she finds a way to escape with another prisoner, Coley Blake (Tommy Lee Jones).  Now the two embark on a wild car chase with the police . . . Also starring Robert Carradine, Howard Hesseman and Mary Woronov.

Everything that can go wrong does go wrong for poor Dinah.  She is the victim of male chauvinism at her job, then comes home and finds that her boyfriend, played by WKRP's Howard Hesseman is running around on her.  She quits her job and calls up and old friend in New York who's happy to hire her.  She never makes it.  Dinah makes the mistake of driving across the country in her yellow AMC Pacer (remember those!).  Dinah should have dumped the crappy car in L.A. and taken the airplane but she wants to see the country.  She sees a lot more of it than she intends to.  

Feeling sorry for a young couple she picks up a couple of hitchhikers who steal her car and her purse. Unfortunately for Dinah, she's now lost in Deliverance country.  The owner of the roadside bar she goes into expects to get more than a handshake to let Dinah use the phone.  When Dinah isn't willing, his buddy the Deputy Sheriff locks Dinah up because she doesn't have I.D.   

I don't know what kind of jail this is, but they've got men and women in cells side by side with open bars.  Dinah is in a cell next to a young Tommy Lee Jones who puts in a stellar performance.  The night jailer decides that he might as well take advantage of a locked up woman and proceeds to help himself.  Yvette Mimieux does a great job of acting the part of a rape victim.  After being raped, Dinah picks up a stool and beats the jailer to death.  (What kind of jail is this, where they have a wooden stool that can be easily turned into a deadly weapon sitting around in jail cells?)

Tommy Lee Jones gets the keys and lets them out and the chase is on.  All of this leads to the climactic final shoot out with the cops where Tommy Lee is killed and Dinah is returned to jail to, presumably, face murder charges.  (There was a made for TV sequel to this called Outside Chance that picked up where this movie left off and was the Women In Prison movie after Dinah's conviction.).

The DVD features an audio commentary by Director Michael Miller, Producer Jeff Begun and Director of Photography Bruce Logan.

CAGED HEAT

Thrown into the penal hell of Connorville, petty criminal Jacqueline (Erica Gavin) must fight against the ruthless inmates, a cruel warden (Barbara Steele) and her depraved staff.  Eventually she forms an uneasy friendship with two hardened inmates.  When these three unite, they find themselves on a sexy and violent adventure seeking escape, money and revenge.  Also starring Roberta Collins and Rainbeaux Smith.  Written and directed by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs).

Connerville Prison for Women is apparently run by the same people who run all those women's prison's in the Phillipines that Pam Grier served so much time in.  There's the sadistic crippled and sexually frustrated warden and her very butch second in command and girlfriend.  There's the prison doctor who likes to give electric shock therapy to the girls and to give the good looking one's a lobotomy so they will just lie there while he takes what he wants.

The inmates at Connorville are very clean.  They take lots and lots of showers.  In order to save money, the inmates don't wear uniforms they are allowed to wear their street clothes (halter tops, hot pants and mini-skirts!).  And the female guards wear skirts above the knee and high heels.  This must be scientific penology!  

Three of the girls manage to get away and score big when they rob a group of bank robbers!  But they're not finished - they want revenge on Connorville!  They break back into prison and shoot it out with the guards.  It's so exciting the crowds at the drive in probably took a break from making out to actually watch the movie!

The DVD features an audio commentary with Writer/Director Jonathan Demme who later directed Silence of the Lambs, Director of Photography Tak Fujimoto and Actress Erica Gavin.

There is also a Leonard Maltin interview with Roger Corman about both films. This was a great DVD for a lazy weekend.  Five Stars.