The Incredible Shrinking Man

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Someone asked me where we could get copies of the great old sci-fi horror movies I mentioned in an earlier post. The Amazing Colossal Man and Teenagers from Outer Space are out of print, although TOS is available online for free under a Creative Commons license. My friend also mentioned his vivid memories of The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), which included a battle between the tiny chief protagonist, wielding a needle, and a spider 10 times his size. You can watch the entire scene above. I think the special effects great considering the budget involved. In any event, most of it's done with jump cuts and off-camera action. It actually had me at the edge of my seat! The movie is available in the boxed set, "Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection," put out by Universal. The Amazing Colossal Man and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman were reissued a few years back on VHS, but I wasn't able to locate anything more recent. Mystery Science Theater 3000 did their thing with ACM, and I remember it as being an especially hilarious episode. All are listed at Amazon.com.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 "The Amazing Colossal Man" quotes [Link]

The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman

A number of people have asked me how I came up with my blog name. "The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" was one of the earliest movies I can remember. I'll never forget when she ripped the roof off a bar where her husband was cavorting with some hussy. I thought I remembered a scene where she grabs a giant hypodermic needle (intended for her) and spears a scientist with it. My friend Joe corrected me--that was from "The Amazing Colossal Man." In ACM, the gigantism is caused by exposure to plutonium. The doomed hero adds about 52 feet to his height, and then wreaks havoc (in Las Vegas!) whilst completely bald and wearing a diaper the size of a football field. It's as if Mahatma Gandhi was supersized and became very, very angry.



I saw these movies, as well as many other sci-fi horror films, in an ever-changing series of rec rooms belong to my parents' friends. My folks went to monthly card parties, and it was not uncommon for children to tag along and retreat, with the host's kids, to the basement to watch TV. I was prone to nightmares, so these Saturday night horror-fests were just the thing to keep me up for weeks. One that really scared the hell out of me was "Teenagers From Outer Space." The movie combined two favorite themes of 50s B films: juvenile deliquency and alien invasion. What's worse than an alien invasion? An invasion of alien juvenile deliquents. The scene that did me in was early in the movie, when a snotty young punk of an alien (named "Thor" according to the entry in Wikipedia) zaps the little dog Sparky with a death ray. It reduces Sparky to a skeleton, which collapses to the ground with a horrifying rattle. I was probably about seven, and skeletons already figured large in my nightmares. It was bad enough that there were people skeletons, but the realization that there were dog skeletons...that was too much. I think my chronic insomnia started about then.

Teenagers From Outer Space at Scifimoviepage.com [Link]

UPDATE! Watch Teenagers From Outer Space here. [Link]

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

A remake of one of my favorite movies, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, is currently in production. I'm confident it will fall far short of the original. If you've never seen the 1974 thriller about a hijack-for-extortion scheme on a NYC subway, do yourself a favor and rent it. Why won't the new one be any good? First of all, the original was set in decaying, menacing New York of the 1970's; in other words, when it looked like a real city. Second, you'll never see another cast of character actors like this--not a pretty face in the lot. It includes Walter Matthau, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Jerry Stiller, Doris Roberts (Raymond's mom!), and Robert Shaw as the icy "Mr. Blue." The huge ensemble is rounded out by characters who are identified only by politically-incorrect labels such as "the Hippie," "the Pimp," and "the Spanish Woman." And then there's the subway train, hurtling through the tunnel at high speed, and big 70's era police cars crashing into each other. Two thumbs up!

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three at Internet Movie Database [Link]

Straight out of Ohio*

A friend, noticing comments in an earlier post, asked me "who is Scott Walker?" Noel Scott Engel was born in 1943 in Ohio, started out as a teen crooner, eventually adopting the stage name Scott Walker. He moved to the U.K. in the mid-60s, where he still enjoys his greatest fame. After morphing through several musical styles and increasingly eccentric personas, Walker became a near-recluse, producing only three albums since 1980. His last album, The Drift, has been lauded by some critics as brilliant and avant garde, and by others as nearly unlistenable. Despite his having many high-profile fans (David Bowie and Sting, among others), he is largely unknown in the states. Perhaps that explains the tardy U.S. release of the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, which includes a far-out studio session where Walker samples the sound of a man punching a side of meat.




UK Trailer Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
Included in TimeOut London's 50 Greatest Music Films Ever

*like me!