Vintage Wrestling Magazine Photos, part 1: Suplexes and Backbreakers and Piledrivers, Oh My!

I know, I know, I've been out of the look for a while, but I won't bore you with any long-winded explanations. Let's get on with the next post!

You may recall last summer that I mentioned acquiring several classic wrestling magazines from a store known as the Time Capsule. Well, I went there again last month and picked up another batch. These mags are a blast to read. Besides the kayfabed (that's wrestling talk for portraying the events that take place in pro wrestling as real and maintaining the suspension of disbelief) articles/interviews and ratings for each territory, you could always count on glorious black-and-white color photos of your favorite wrestlers. Whether they were posed shots, candid photos, or action at ringside, the photographers made an art form out of snapping pix of the warriors of the ring.

It is was pride that I present to you the very first installment of my vintage wrestling magazine photos. Each picture will be accompanied by a brief caption, explaining the context of each snapshot and who's in it. Now let's get ready to rumble! And remember, keep an eye out for the flying dropkicks!

The son of CFL (Canadian Football League) legend and wrestler Angelo "King Kong" Mosca, Angelo Mosca, Jr. didn't quite match his father's career in the ring. He started off raw but got a huge push right off the bat. Mosca, Jr. improved greatly halfway through his run in the Mid-Atlantic area, though. He had an athletic style and a good look, but lacked the charisma to be a superstar.

Angelo Mosca, Jr. scores a victory. I'm not sure whether this photo was taken during  his run in Florida, Central States, or Jim Crockett Promotions. I feel he could have been a better wrestler had he had more time to hone his skills and work on his charisma. At least we have enough footage out there to prove he wasn't all that bad, compared to some true duds (i.e.,  Brutus Beefcake, Steve DiSalvo, The Snowman, Big Red, etc.).

"We are the champions, my friends! And we'll keep fighting 'till the end!" Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood stand triumphantly, having just defeated Jack and Jerry Brisco for the NWA World Tag Team Titles at the first Starrcade in Greensboro, North Carolina, on November 24, 1983. Both Steamboat and Youngblood combined quickness, agility, and lightning-fast moves to make one of the greatest tag teams ever. Youngblood died tragically at the age of 30 after suffering a series of heart attacks brought on by a ruptured spleen. R.I.P., Jay. You, along with your younger brothers Mark and Chris, are the true Youngbloods (not that sissy folk rock band)!

"Let me at 'im, ref! I want a piece of his hide!" No one will ever accuse Blackjack Mulligan of being  a great technical wrestler, but with his straightforward tone of voice and mean look, he earned his place in wrestling history as one-half of the legendary tag team, The Blackjacks. That's referee Bill Alfonso sitting on the top turnbuckle, knowing better than to get in Mulligan's way.

Bruno Sammartino was the king of the northeastern United States wrestling scene in the 1960s and 1970s, twice holding the WWWF World Heayvweight Title. He made a special appearance at the now-defunct Bob & Al's TWILIGHT ZONE Video Arcade in Staten Island, New York on January 29, 1984. He had the chance to sign autographs, pose for photos, and even play a few video games.

Dick Slater wears his U.S. Heavyweight Championship proudly. This badass Floridian combined Terry Funk-esque brawling with pure wrestling into a total package. One of the most underrated wrestlers to ever enter the game.

Blood was a hallmark of wrestling magazine photos. Here, Slater has a sleeperhold applied to Greg the Hammer Valentine. Greg Valentine came from a wrestling heritage (His father, the late Johnny Valentine, was a major star throughout Texas and the Mid-Atlantic areas in the 1960s and 1970s). Just like Slater, Valentine was a wrestler and a brawler, so when they met, it was like two bulls going at it in a pen.

How would like to meet these monsters in a dark alley?  Although best known to younger fans as the comical duo of the Bushwhackers, Luke Williams and Butch Miller first gained international fame together as the hated Sheepherders. They brought their roughhouse, brutal tactics everywhere, from San Antonio and San Juan to Calgary and Oklahoma City. I myself preferred them as heels (wrestling talk for bad guys).


 

Zach's 31 Nights of Horror debut! 10/1/2011 - An American Werewolf in London

Yes, I'm sure you're all wondering where I've been. Long story short, some of the keys on laptop keyboard stopping working and I had to bring it to Best Buy to get fixed. It's been a week now since I had it, but I should have my laptop back this week. So there you go.


With that out of the way, I'd like to announce an exciting month-long project I've set for myself.  Since October has started and Halloween season is well underway, I'm going to do my part to celebrate it by watching one horror movie every night this month. As a long-time horror movie buff, this is an idea whose time has come. I'll do a short post for each movie, although I won't be doing the in-depth reviews I would normally do. I will revisit some of these movies in the future for more comprehensive reviews. For now, though, follow me through the corridors of a dark castle as we meet up with werewolves, re-animated corpses, giant mollusks, demon-possessed women, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Godzilla, mad doctors, vampires, aliens, flesh-eating furballs, giant insects, and tons more monsters and psychos. These are....

Zach's 31 Nights of Horror!

#1. An American Werewolf in London (1981) ***** stars

 Directed and Written by John Landis

Stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne

Music composed by Elmer Bernstein

Make-up and Special Effects by Rick Baker, Elaine Baker (Rick's then-wife), Doug Beswick, Steve Johnson, Craig Reardon, and others.

  

 The year of 1981 may have been the Year of the Rooster according to Chinese Zodiac Astrology, but for horror movie fans it was the Year of the Wolf. Three major movies dealing with werewolves were released that year: Joe Dante's homage/re-imagining of the werewolf sub-genre The Howling, Michael Wadleigh's socially conscious Wolfen, and the best of them all, John Landis's alternately funny and scary An American Werewolf in London.

What makes An American Werewolf in London a true classic is that is both a straightforward werewolf movie and a new twist on the werewolf motif. In years past, werewolves in movies were typically men who turned into the iconic beasts of the night during a full moon through the use of lap dissolves. While these victims of lycanthropy (fancy term for a person who claims to be a wild animal) would grow fur and claws, they always ran around on two legs in torn clothes. Here that is completely 86'ed. When David Kessler (David Naughton) undergoes his transformations into a werewolf, he becomes a feral wolf which can run on all fours.

Rick Baker's (as well as the team that assisted him) effects are simply breathtaking. Once again, a traditional movie werewolf was done away with in favor of a more sophisticated technique. Rather than showing David Kessler undergo his transformation through lap dissolves and cutaways, his entire body experiences a radical transformation. His nose, hands, teeth, legs, arms, and all other body parts completely change into those of a wolf's. Latex, bladders (inflatable plastic or latex balloons powered by air), and other ingredients help achieve the transformation sequences. One scene in particulate shows David undergoing a transformation without the camera ever cutting away. It is an absolute tour-de-force of special effects that still stands up 30 years later.

All the principals in this movie are great in their roles. David Naughton makes for a very tragic figure. Besides being a stranger in a strange place (as the title suggests, he is an American tourist in Britain), he lives with the effects of a werewolf bite that doom him from the outset. Jenny Agutter is very appealing as nurse Alex Price. She provides the comfort and companionship for David as he is trying to make sense of what has happened to him. Griffin Dunne is David's best friend Jack Goodman. Although he gets killed off early by the same wolf that bites David, that is not the end of Jack's presence. He reappears as a gradually decomposing corpse in various dreams experienced by David. These scenes are both shocking and downright hilarious. Despite his state of decay, Jack is able to talk with David in his dreams. The idea of your dead friend talking to you in your dreams about such subjects as his funeral and your sanity while he's rapidly decaying is both very frightening and very funny. But this isn't a comedy. There are some very funny sequences (e.g., David waking up naked in a cage with wolves in a zoo) but this is first and foremost a horror. The comedy is appropriately placed and never looks down on horror movies or werewolves.

Overall, I can't think of a movie that better portrays the werewolf. The effects are outstanding, the acting is convincing, and the story is completely original. No true horror fan's collection is complete without An American Werewolf in London. It gets my highest possible recommendation.

It Came from YouTube, Volume One

Today marks the debut of something incredible. A new installment in my blog that will blow your minds away. You will laugh, cry, smile, scream, and shudder at what you are all about to witness. You are stepping into the YouTube Zone.

Okay, so maybe it's not that dramatic, but it is something I plan on doing occasionally when I don't have more substantial posts in the works. The format for my It Came From YouTube series is simple: I'll post different videos I've found on YouTube, accompanied by my unique brand of commentary. Let's go to the first clip!

Exhibit A: How a Young Man's Simple Game of Joust Turned His Living Room into a Battlefield

Joust is a seriously awesome game. I mean, what's more fun that riding a flying ostrich across a screen knocking enemy jousters off their ostriches and collecting eggs left behind? Video game players in the '80s got a real treat with this game as two friends could go head-to-head. It's one of the most fondly remembered games of the '80s, but this 2-minute long ad is a bird of a different feather.

First off, I never knew an ordinary living room in a suburban would be a jousting arena. While's it bigger than the average living room, it's not exactly the kind of place where knights, perched upon their ostriches, can duel to the death without causing all kinds of destruction. I have to wonder where this kid's parents are or why none of the neighbors aren't rushing over to find out what the hell is going on at this place.

As if that isn't bad enough, the jousters actually rise through the floorboards of the house to do battle. Where may I ask, did they come from? Was this house built on some Indian burial ground a la Poltergeist? Is there another dimension that exists beneath this home? Or is the kid having a really bad acid trip? The mind boggles at exactly where these mysterious knights and their ostriches come from.

But the cherry that tops off this sundae of an absolute mind-fucker is the climax. After the victor conveniently crashes through the window, presumably to find another kid in the neighborhood with a copy of Joust so he can battle more knights, the kid in this spot finds an egg on his floor. This isn't just some little egg you find in a carton at the supermarket, oh no. This egg is about as big as a sofa chair cushion and measures about as long as a chair leg. Upon making this discovery, the guy picks up the egg, and I shit you not, stuffs the goddamn thing down this throat! Somehow this egg shrinks in size as he swallows it, making it look like he's deflating a balloon.

Then comes the moment that makes this ad so ridiculously crazy and trippy. The guy starts spinning around like he's having an epileptic fit. It sounds weird enough, but then his head starts transforming. By the end of the commercial, this poor kid's head has become that of an ostrich's. I'll let that one sink in your minds for a few minutes.

I'm absolutely speechless at the whole concept for this ad. Advertising majors, take note: if you ever create commercial concepts, please don't do so while under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs. If nothing else will convince you, the sight of a man's head transforming into an ostrich's will. Anyone who plans on taking any drugs while reading this, don't even bother. Watching this ad alone will give you a trip that not even the worst hallucinogens can top.

Exhibit B: Did You Know Glenn Beck Moonlighted as a Televangelist?

That's not exactly true, but seeing this guy rant and rave you'd swear it was the former Fox News pundit. This guy's name is Jonathan Bell, a Canadian expatriate who decided he'd settle into the Dallas-Fort Worth area and spread the word of God via televangelism. After the various televangelist scandals in the late '80s, Bell took a different avenue than the Bakkers and Swaggarts of earlier. Bell opted for a cheaply-made cable access program shot with a single camera and a cheap blue backdrop. This is as low-rent as it gets, folks. Not even the movies of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Al Adamson, and Ted V. Mikels look as cash-strapped as Bell's show. I think the video shot for my childhood birthday parties had better production values than Bell's short-lived program (He did only two shows before pulling the plug).

Bell took a more confrontational approach than his predecessors. Whether Bell was yelling about Satanists supposedly melting babies into candles or telling men and women to love Jesus and God before they love anyone else, he was never at a loss for inane subjects. Hearing him persuade his audience to tell the police or him if they've been inappropriately touched and then finding out that this guy is a registered sex offender for slapping the rears of young boys shows where this wackjob's priorities really are.

Even funnier is the fact that Bell was once a hairdresser. Yes, you read that right. A man with badly thinning hair somehow managed to get a license to do other people's hair. Next thing you know, Cher is going to be telling women to respect their natural beauty and avoid plastic surgery.

On a more serious note, it's a good thing this pondscum has vanished into obscurity. Then again, I'm hardly surprised that a televangelist would get caught in such a scandalous incident.

That's it for this first installment of It Came From YouTube.

A Trip to Pinball Paradise: The Pinball Wizard Arcade in Pelham, NH

Finding a true arcade in today's Chuck E. Cheese knock-off-filled wasteland is a tough task. Most modern arcades, if you can even call them that, are filled with loud, annoying ticket games and the occasional sit-down racer or first-person shooter. Not much diversity or excitement there, if you ask me. Thankfully, there are more adventurous entrepreneurs who buck this annoying trend by dedicating arcades to the classic video game, pinball, and even electro-mechanical arcade games. The most popular example of this is Funspot's American Classic Arcade Museum in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, but there are other fine examples of this phenomenon.


The Pinball Wizard Arcade, as you might expect from the name, is mainly dedicated to pinball games from all eras (well, at least from 1970 on) and companies. There's at least 90 pinball machines ranging from true classics like Black Knight (1980) and KISS (1979) to current titles like Tron: Legacy (2011) and Family Guy (2007). Seeing all the old classics and the brand spankin' new titles side-by-side in such pristine condition should give veteran pinball wizards flashbacks to their high school and college days. Let's face it, how many places are you going to find both a Star Trek pinball game based on the original series (1991, Data East) and one based on The Next Generation (1993, Williams) together?

"Beam up to the Pinball Wizard Arcade, Scotty." Trekkies will love this double dose of Star Trek

The Pinball Wizard Arcade is like a crash course on the history and evolution of pinball machines. The earlier games like Big Show and Champ (both 1974) are more low-tech but just as charming with their buzzers and bells and light-up scoreboards. Modifications and themes like digitized voice samples (my favorite by far is the "Welcome to Xenon" message you get when starting a game of Xenon), dot matrix scoreboards, multi-level playfields, and movie/TV series/band tie-ins are in abundance here, too. With the dirt bike-themed Blackwater 100 (1988), the player must shoot three balls with the plunger up into the double-level playfield. Fish Tales (1992) features a fishing rod-shaped plunger and a moving fish topper above the marquee. Each game has its own unique design and quirks that make them stand out from each other.

Extinguish the fire while you get rid of some pesky gophers on the golf course and fish off for some bass off the pier.

Pinball marquee artwork has a very rustic, comic book look as seen on these three late 1970s games.

Of course, pinballs aren't the only type of game available for play at the Pinball Wizard. There are also 180 or so video games dating all the way back to Tank (a 1974 2-player game released by Atari daughter company Kee Games). The golden age of video arcade games (1978 - 1984) is represented well here by popular classics like Pac-Man (1980), Defender (also 1980), Frogger (1981), and Q*Bert (1982). You'll even find lesser-known games that have slipped through the sands of time like Black Widow (1982), Wacko (also 1982), and Circus Charlie (1984). Fans of '90s fighting games will also get their fix here with the original Mortal Kombat (1992), The King of Fighters '96 (1996), and Street Fighter Alpha 2 (also 1996). 

It's the Taito All-Star Line-up! But wait a minute! Why is there a Tecmo game sandwiched in between Elevator Action and Jungle Hunt?

Now you can take out the centipedes and millipedes side-by-side! No need to bring bug spray here, just a lot of tokens and good game-playing skills.

The staff here is incredibly friendly and always willing to share various factoids about the games on the floor. Tokens are reasonably priced: four for a dollar, twenty for $5, forty for $10, and one-hundred for $20. I would highly recommend the Pinball Wizard Arcade to anyone looking to see and play classic pinball and video games. There are not many places where you can find these games in near-immaculate condition.The games at the Pinball Wizard look so good you'd swear they were just released last week. They look and play just as fine as when they were first shipped to pool halls, arcades, bowling alleys, and other public places where coin-op games could be played back in the 1970s and 1980s. This enthusiast of classic pinball and video games couldn't be more pleased with the selection and condition of the games here. Go check it out!

Looking at Retro Arcade: Pac-Man by Plug & Play

As long as the '80s nostalgia train has been running, companies have been repackaging the video games of that era for new audiences in several ways. Multi-game compilations for modern gaming consoles, anniversary re-releases for arcades, and TV plug-it-in-and-play games have brought the classics of video games' golden age to the 21st century. Today I'll be examining Retro Arcade: Pac-Man from TV Games, one of their selections in the TV plug-and-play genre. Combining 12 of Namco's arcade games from 1979 to 1983, this is a terrific buy for anyone who wants to relive their childhood or discover the games of an era they never experienced.

First off, here's a listing of the games to be found on this compilation:

1. Pac-Man (1980)
2. Dig Dug (1982)
3. Pole Position (1982)
4. Galaga (1981)
5. Galaxian (1979)
6. Bosconian (1981)
7. Super Pac-Man (1982)
8. Xevious (1982)
9. New Rally-X (1981)
10. Mappy (1983)
11. Pac-Man Plus (1983)
12. Pac & Pal (1983)

Now most of you reading are probably asking yourselves: where the hell is Ms. Pac-Man on this multi-game set? I was surprised myself when I found out that Pac-Man's female equivalent was missing but wasn't terribly disappointed. Let's face it: Ms. Pac-Man has seen a 20th anniversary reissue with Galaga (another game that is a tad overrated in my opinion), a 5-in-1 plug-in game, a 7-in-1 plug-in game, and God knows how many other re-releases. You can still find it in several arcades, bars, and movie theaters. It's great to see some of Namco's less popular but still fun Pac-Man entries make the cut here. While I'll concede that Ms. Pac-Man is better than Pac-Man, the title of the best Pac-Man game truly belongs to Super Pac-Man, but more on that later.

"Hey! How come Pac-Man makes it onto this set and not me? Doesn't anyone have respect for a lady like me?" We  hear ya, Ms. Pac-Man

I really like the design scheme of Retro Arcade. Complete with a joystick, two buttons (appropriately labeled "A" and "B"), and even a replica of a coin slot mech that takes you back to the main menu, it really takes the player back a good 30 years. Those old enough to remember the Golden Age of Video Games will like this added touch. It's a nice icing on the cake that complements this package.

For those not readily acquainted with these games, here's a quick description of the gameplay for each:

Pac-Man: The one that started it all. Eat up all the dots while evading the enemy ghosts and eat up the bonus fruits that periodically show up. Swallow a power pellet to turn the tables on the ghosts and eat them.

Dig Dug: Now you've dug yourself up some trouble here, haven't you? Help Dig Dug pump up the Pookas (red tomato-looking things with yellow goggles) and Fygars (green fire-breathing dragons) in order to advance to the next round. Get a bonus veggie every time you drop two rocks (which can also be used to squash the enemies).

Pole Position: This ain't NASCAR. Get behind the wheel of an F-1 race car and finish the qualifying lap on the Fuji Speedway. Do that and you'll enter the Grand Prix. Look for puddles, competing cars, and roadside signs!

Galaga: The extremely ubiquitous sequel to Galaxian. Shoot down the space bugs (butterflies, bees, and other intergalactic insects) and dodge their oncoming fire. Remember to let yourself get captured by a Boss Galaga and then shoot it down so you can reclaim your stolen ship and get double the firepower.

Galaxian: The game that took Taito's Space Invaders and added everything that was missing from the pioneering game (namely, full color and a slightly faster-moving  ship). It's pretty much the same as its more successful and superior sequel Galaga: shoot down these nasty space bugs. No double ship trick here, though. Bummer!

Bosconian: Move your space ship in eight ways to eliminate the enemy bases while clearing out enemy ships, asteroids, and space mines. Sadly, the joystick on this home version doesn't make it so easy to move in all eight directions as in the original arcade game.

Super Pac-Man: No dot-munching this time! Eat up doughnuts, apples, corn husks, and other goodies. Gobble a super power pellet to grow ten times your normal size and become invincible to the ghosts. Get keys to unlock doors to power pellets, super power pellets, and different kinds of food.

Xevious: One of the earliest free-moving space shooters is also one of the strangest ones too. Are those flying CDs you're firing at? Why are there square-shaped pyramids and gray orbs on the ground that shoot at you? How come none of the enemies in this game make any sense? Argh!

The first person who can explain what these enemies are supposed to be gets a Double Stuff Oreo cookie. Seriously!

New Rally-X: A rare, modified sequel to an underrated classic retains all the original's elements and adds a few new tweaks. Guide a race car around an obstacle course while evading enemy cars. Unleash a cloud of smoke to stop them in their tracks. Collect all the flags as well as the Lucky Flags (take your remaining fuel and add it to your score) and bonus flags (multiply your score).

Mappy: It's Tom & Jerry brought to the video game world! Help a police officer mouse recover the stolen items and avoid the cat burglars and the big boss cat. Open a flashing door to unleash a wave to capture the cats. Don't dilly-dally: they do come back.

Pac-Man Plus: Don't be deceived by this game's similar appearance to the original Pac-Man. Now you're drinking beverages for bonuses rather than fruits. The ghosts now sport green leaves on their heads when you eat a power pellet. Sometimes not all of them turn blue when you eat a power pellet. All this and other exciting changes to a tried-and-true game.

Pac & Pal: Now you've got a green little friend named Miru to help you out. He'll collect the fruits and bring them to you while you avoid the ghosts. Miru can get sneaky and bring the fruits to the ghosts' lair sometimes, so make sure you get them quickly!

"I'm a mischievous little guy, but no one ever suspects me because I'm so cute!"

I'm happy to report that the majority of these games are excellently reproduced here with all the original graphics, sound effects, and music. You'll hum to the catchy theme of Dig Dug, dance to the "Enter Your Score" ditty of Mappy, smile at the humorous cut-scenes in Super Pac-Man, and chuckle at the antiquated synthesized voice samples in Bosconian (Is he saying "Battle stations!" or "Oh baby!"?). This is almost as good as buying the original arcade versions of these games and setting them up in your home.

"You'll enjoy pumping up these nasty Pookas and Fygars as much as I do!" says Dig Dug

Sadly, this collection falls flat on a few levels. Let's start with my least favorite game here: Pole Position. Now I enjoy playing this whenever I can find it in an arcade because I can use a steering wheel to guide the car. Racing games were made to be played in an arcade where you can feel like you're actually driving. Not only that, but you also get a gear shifter, an accelerator, and a brake in the arcade version. Sadly, the home version has none of these features. Trying to move a car with a joystick is tedious because you have to toggle the "ball" of the joystick to move the car around. It's very sensitive, so driving off the track becomes a more common occurrence than in the arcades. Even worse, the "A" and "B" buttons are used in place of the arcade's gear shifter to switch between high and low gear. This feels cumbersome after a while and may cause you to take your hands off the joystick by accident. This version of Pole Position is better left untouched.

The version of Xevious contained here is ridiculously hard. When it comes to most video games, there's always a difficulty curve: start off easy, then gradually increase in difficulty. Not here. Shortly after encountering the first few waves of enemies (mostly CDs and skull-shaped heads) you're instantly bombarded by black pea-shaped things that explode, floating fireballs, and red-eyed, winged ships. Granted, these foes do appear in the original arcade version, but not until later in the game. Whoever put this version of of Xevious on Retro Arcade must be laughing his ass off at the frustration of players trying to advance.

Overall, there's really not much to complain about here. Ten of the twelve games are reproduced nicely, so that's a good batting average. The majority of Namco's classic arcade games are included here, although I can think of a few notable omissions (Jr. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position II, Pac-Land, and Rally-X all would have made acceptable additions). Regardless of these quirks, this compilation is a must-buy for the serious or casual video game collector. Most physical and online retailers sell it for between 20 to thirty dollars, so it's a bargain by any collector's standards. Highly recommended, but don't tell Ms. Pac-Man that! I hear she might consider breaking up with Pac-Man over her being slighted.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 power pellets.

Quickie update... brought to you by Sunkist (the best soda in the universe)!

Breaking away from movie reviews for a spell, I thought I'd update my faithful readers on a recent trip made to The Time Capsule in Seekonk, Massachusetts, and Cranston, Rhode Island. But first, here's a cheap plug for my favorite soda: Sunkist! With a crisp, orangey taste, it beats the pants off all its competition (Fanta, Crush, and all supermarket knockoffs). Although not necessarily a retro thing, a bottle of Sunkist always goes good with a '50s drive-in monster movie or an '80s sex comedy. Here's a vintage ad from 1978 that uses a modified version of The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations and a beach setting. Check out all these beautiful women in the commercial, long before plastic surgery, overdone makeup, and boob jobs became "prerequisites for beauty".

Anyway, here's the low-down on The Time Capsule. Both stores are well-sized and offer tons of comic books, DVDs/videotapes, video games (going all the way back to the Atari days), magazines, and more. They also sell an assortment of paperback novels (some of which are movie novelizations), records, CDs, 8-tracks (ask your parents, if you're around my age), trading cards, and lots of other cool stuff.

For variety and selection, the Cranston, RI store gets my choice as the best of the two. As you walk in, your eyes dart in all directions at the boxes of comic books and magazines sitting on floors and tables. Want old Famous Monsters of Filmland issues? They've got those. How about DC and Marvel comics from all eras? They're here too. If you look hard enough, you'll even discover more mainstream stuff like issues of People and TIME.

Not satisfied yet? Then take a left into the next room. It's cramped, but the space is used perfectly. This is where the videotapes, records, CDs, and music memorabilia take precedence.

Lastly, there's the third room on the far left. Here you'll find DVDs, 45s/78s, and video games. All the movies are organized by genre and alphabetically.

So what did I find? About 20 vintage wrestling magazines spanning the years of 1978 to 1986. There's tons of great photos (both black-and-white and color), fan letters, interviews, and other pieces in these mags. I'll have a more comprehensive post on them, along with scans. Stay tuned!

Retro Reviews: Enter the Ninja (1981)

Looking over the various sub-genres and fads that run through movies, there's usually at least one film you can pinpoint as being the one that started it all. The Bela  Lugosi version of Dracula kicked off the 1930s monster cycle which also saw Frankenstein, Island of Lost Souls, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Mummy come to the screen. Airport begat the disaster movie fad that spanned the entire 1970s.

This brings us to the 1981 Cannon cult classic Enter the Ninja. Just as Enter the Dragon established kung-fu as a movie trend, Enter the Ninja did likewise for ninjutsu. It made an international star out of the then-unknown Sho Kosugi, who despite playing a villain here was cast in more heroic roles later in Revenge of the Ninja and other ninja movies. The actor who plays the hero in ETN, strangely enough, is not Japanese but rather an Italian (Franco Nero, familiar face from numerous Italian-made westerns and gialli). Throw in a cast of veteran B-movie stars and character actors (Susan George, Christopher George, Will Hare), loads of  fights, the most overdramatic death sequence in movie history, a nifty soundtrack, and nice location shooting in the Philippines, and you have one of the most enjoyable action flicks of the '80s.

After finishing his training at a scenic ninja school, Cole (the aforementioned Franco Nero) decides to pay his army buddy Frank Landers (Alex Courtney) and beautiful wife Mary-Ann (Susan George) a visit at their lush Philippine mansion. All is not right there, however. A greedy land developer named Charles Venaurius (Christopher George) wants to buy Frank's property for his own purposes. As if that isn't bad enough, Venaurius has recruited Cole's old rival Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi) to take him out.

If one accepts the fact that Nero had no ninjutsu training for this movie and was replaced by fight choreographer Mike Stone for all his fights, it becomes somewhat difficult to take Nero seriously in his role as Cole. After all, how could an Italian-bred and born man know anything about the martial arts and play such a character? Actually, the editing for his fight sequences is so seamless it's hard to tell that Nero is being doubled for his fights. His character is an American, which he does a much more convincing job of looking the part. Judging from his stilted dialogue, I'd say Nero was dubbed by another actor. Seems like a fair trade-off: looks American but can't speak with an American accent.

Kosugi was virtually an unknown before doing Enter the Ninja. After watching it I can understand why he was such an in-demand actor for similarly-themed movies. With a legit background in such forms of martial arts as Kendo and Judo as well as numerous tournament championships and trophies (three consecutive L.A. Open Martial Arts Tournament victories from 1972-74), he does his action scenes superbly. From the moment Cole is accepted into the school, it becomes readily apparent just how jealous Hasegawa is of the gaijin's (Japanese term for foreigner) success. Hasegawa makes for a worthy rival for Cole, making the anticipation for their climactic battle worth the wait.

Although I don't want to spoil the climax, I have to say I was struck by the emotions of both Cole and Hasegawa once the victor emerged. Despite being rivals, both men have a mutual respect for each other. In accordance with ninjutsu tradition, the loser must be killed honorably. I will leave it to you to find out who lives and who dies, but it is a very emotionally charged scene that may make your eyes a little misty.

The action sequences are masterfully executed. The first ten minutes contain no dialogue. It shows Cole's final test to become accepted as a ninja. He battles numerous red ninjas and evades several obstacles before reciting the Nine Levels of Power for Master Komori (Dale Ishimoto) and completing his test. It shows just how important visuals can be to telling a film story. Actions do indeed speak louder than words here!

Switching gears to a less serious side, I was laughing non-stop at Christopher George's over-the-top performance as the scummy land developer tycoon. He chews his scenes like Swiss cheese, often punctuating them with crazed rants. When Venaurius bitches at his chubby, hook-handed henchman Siegfried (Zachi Hoy) or snotty British-accented right-hand man Mr. Parker (Constantine Gregory), he does it as if they've raped his wife and killed his dog. I'd be tempted to call it bad acting, but Christopher George can be forgiven. He clearly seems to be relishing his villainous role for all it's worth. After all, how can you hate a character who says such lines with gusto like:

"Murder him. Smash him. Waste him!"

"Are you ready for my supreme creation?"

"That's preposterous! This is twentieth-century Manila,. not feudal Japan!"

"Well I want a ninja. Find me a ninja who believes in the old ways, Mr. Parker."

You gotta love Venaurius. Did I mention he also has a team of female synchronized swimmers which he conducts to classical music?

And let's not forget Venaurius's death by shuriken at the hands of Cole. If there's a scene besides the final fight that makes Enter the Ninja so great, it's this one:

If I learned anything from watching Enter the Ninja, it's that death by shuriken will make you stretch out a long yell, raise your right arm up, put your left hand on your chest, look at where the shuriken hit, look back at your assailant, then fall over slowly.

Enter the Ninja: the movie that started it all for ninjas. Except for Susan George not being able to show off her lovely body, I haven't got a complaint about this classic. Surprisingly, it's not even on DVD, despite 2011 being its 30th anniversary. C'mon MGM, Enter the Ninja must be released within my lifetime, dammit! It does appear frequently under the Impact channel on Xfinity (formerly Comcast) On Demand, so you can check it out there.

Overall rating: **** out of ***** stars.

Retro Reviews: The Land Unknown (1957)

The 1950s saw an exciting rise in the production of sci-fi movies produced by major and independent studios alike in Hollywood. Most employed the then-new plot devices of alien invasions and normal animals enlarged to gigantic proportions. Others used more traditional plotlines but tweaked them for the 1950s. One of them was the expedition-to-a-land-where-dinosaurs-are-still-living storyline. The Land Unknown was just one of these types of films.

After a warm water lake is discovered near Antarctica, a Naval expedition led by Commander Harold Roberts (longtime stuntman and action star Jock Mahoney) is dispatched to investigate the area. Cmdr. Roberts's crew includes news reporter Margaret Hathaway (Shawn Smith), Lieutenant Jack Carmen (William Reynolds), and machinist's mate Steve Miller (Phil Harvey, and yes, Steve Miller really is the character's name!) They are forced to descend into a volcanic crater by a violent storm. Upon touching down, they find themselves in a tropical land that is a throwback to the Mesozoic Era. There they encounter different types of dinosaurs, carnivorous plants, a cute little tarsier (a small gray primate that lives throughout Southeast Asia, East India, and the Philippines), and even a survivor from a previous expedition, the crazed Dr. Carl Hunter (Henry Brandon).

Universal-International planned this to be their biggest sci-fi production to date. While their previous entries like It Came from Outer Space and Tarantula had modest budgets, The Land Unknown was going to be their 800-pound gorilla. Director Virgil W. Vogel had this to say in an interview published in Fangoria #73, May 1988:

Jack Arnold was originally assigned to direct The Land Unknown. I was helping him storyboard the picture. It was supposed to be in color and have an all-star cast; it was really going to be a big picture. In fact, one of the guys they talked about for the lead was Cary Grant, although I don't think they ever approached him on it. Universal sent me to the Astoria Studios in New York, where I spent three or four weeks going through footage of the [Richard] Byrd expedition [1946-47], looking for stock footage we could use in The Land Unknown.

So why is it, you ask, that no A-list actors or color are anywhere to be found in The Land Unknown? The answer is money. Vogel went on to say in the same interview:

... but then the effects department and the makeup department spent all their money. Universal spent so much on the monsters, they didn't have any money left to make the picture!

And with this overspending, the proposed color and name stars were 86'ed. Jack Arnold lost interest in the project, feeling that it wouldn't be worth his time. Vogel was then assigned to the picture by the powers-that-be. He was able to convince U-I to let him keep the Cinemascope for the movie so it would have at least one other selling point besides the dinosaurs.

As it stands today, The Land Unknown is a good Saturday matinee movie. Jock Mahoney, more renowned for his stunts and roles in Westerns and a few Tarzan movies, is an odd choice for a leading man. What he lacks in charisma he more than makes up for with his leaping, diving, jumping, and other amazing stunts. Mahoney does okay with the role he's given, but just doesn't come across too effectively. Shawn Smith is fine as the movie's sole female cast member. Although she plays more of a typical submissive female character who always seems to get in trouble, she does do her share of exploring on her own without the men. Smith looks very much like Janet Leigh in the scenes where her hair is tied up.

If there is one standout performance in The Land Unknown, it's got to be Henry Brandon's part as Dr. Carl Hunter. He does a fantastic job playing a crazed man who has lived in a prehistoric land without any human contact for a decade. In one of his arguments with Cmdr. Roberts, Hunter gives this choice speech:

Maybe you will if you aren't trampled to death first or eaten alive or die of starvation. Wait till the Antarctic night comes and for nine months the black air hangs round you like a rotten rag and your eyes are blinded from the dark and from your own sweat, and you lose each other - and you're alone - alone. Do you hear me? ...Always alone! 

And to think that snobby critics say these kinds of movies don't have any good acting! No one ever said this was Shakespeare, and it's not meant to be. I hate to sound like I'm going on a tangent, but I've loved monster movies since I was a young child and always will. I've always preferred my movies to be fun and entertaining. Let some reclusive snob take all the pretentious Fellini and Bergman nonsense for himself or herself. I'd rather be swept away into a world of wonder and imagination than be bored to tears by some clichéd "social issue" drama.

Alright, enough bitching on my part. Let's get back to the review! The special effects, although dated by today's CGI standards (or lack thereof), they are acceptable and get the illusions across well. The much-maligned T-rex is a man a 12-foot tall suit with hydraulic-controlled eyelids, mouth, etc. Costumed dinosaurs mostly come across badly in movies (check out the ones in the forgettable 1948 lost world adventure Unknown Island for example), but the one here is good for what it is. The best scene with the t-rex is the one where it confronts the crew's helicopter. In the movie's only instance of blood, one of the chopper blades cuts the monster across the throat. This scene and the other rex-copter encounter were both filmed in miniature. They are both very convincing, even if the background landscape is just a cyclorama backdrop with painted mountains and trees!

The elasmosaurus which lives in the lake near Hunter's cave retreat is by far the most effective creation in The Land Unknown. At fifteen feet wide and 6-8 feet high above the water, it makes a great first impression. Its first appearance occurs when Hathaway is rowing in a boat alone, and it's a very scary scene indeed! How would you like to be kayaking along along a lake and seeing something like this?

I don't know about you, but I'd be amazed at the sight of such a large creature!

Another equally effective shot with the elasmosaurus occurs when Hathaway prepares to leave Hunter's cave to join the rest of her mates. As she climbs the ladder, she sees the monster's head pop out near the entrance and immediately drops back down. Even for a child of today's technology-driven society, this would still be a frightening sight!

The rest of the creatures seen here range from fair (the pterodactyl that flies over the team's helicopter, which is merely a prop on a fishpole!) to just plain bad (a pair of battling monitor lizards enlarged via trick photography). In the movie's original theatrical trailer, the narrator hilariously calls the monitor lizards a pair of stegosauri! Now if I'm not mistaken, stegosauri had plates across their backs and spikes on the ends of their tails. These monitor lizards have none of those features. While the tyrannosaurus rex, elasmosaurus, and pterodactyl are convincing enough, there is no way you can tell me with a straight face that these monitor lizards are supposed to be stegosauri! Now do these look anything like stegosauri to you?

Nah, I didn't think so either.

So overall we have a somewhat flawed but still entertaining prehistoric monster movie. It's available on DVD as part of Universal's Classic Ultimate Sci-Fi Collection, a combination of two formerly exclusive to Best Buy five-movie sets. They are now together in one giant set, which also contains such favorites as the previously mentioned Tarantula, Cult of the Cobra, The Mole People, and Monster on the Campus. The Land Unknown is heartily recommended to anyone with a love for 1950s sci-fi movies, dinosaurs, Jock Mahoney, and/or expedition-to-a-lost-world movies. Just remember to look all around the next time you decide to go kayaking or swimming at a big lake. You just never know where an elasmosaurus might be lurking!

Overall rating: ***1/2 out of ***** stars

About this dive

Nostalgia is a huge thing in our culture. It seems that anything older than twenty years is bound to make a comeback or has already made one. Sadly, we also live in a culture where short attention spans are the norm. Anything older than last week tends to be dismissed as "uncool" or "out-of-date." 

However, there are brave souls out there who buck this trend and do their best to chronicle nostalgic things. I consider myself a member of this club. I'd consider myself an anomaly of my generation (the so-called Millennials). My music playlist is about 98% pre-1990s music, ranging from Buddy Holly to Gary Numan, Muddy Waters to Pat Benatar. My movie collection ignores most post-1992 films, focusing more on the decades of the 1930s through the 1980s. I know my way around Pac-Man or Super Mario Bros., but give me an XBox 360 and a copy of one of the Halo games, and chances are I won't last a minute. CGI is persona non grata in my movie collection, but older styles of SFX like stop-motion animation and animatronics are always welcome.

One thing I love about retro pop culture: just when I think I've discovered everything out there, something totally new and exciting comes across my radar. That is why I rarely visit movie theaters to see new films or wear the latest fashion trends. I'm dedicated to preserving the past which I never got to experience first-hand.  Through reviews, photos, memories, and (hopefully) interviews, I'll take you on a journey through the past. We'll observe everything from territory wrestling (back when the U.S.A. was divided into roughly 30 or so wrestling territories, as opposed to today's national monopoly run by the McMahon Mafia, err, Family) to the atomic/outer space sci-fi/horror movies of the nifty fifties. No matter how obscure it is, I'll give it exposure here.

Caveat: I may occasionally cover some current television shows, movies, video games, etc. if they have a connection with yesteryear. One example is Pawn Stars. I love watching Rick Harrison and the guys observe and buy items from virtually all fields of culture. You'll definitely see coverage on that fine show along with History Channel's other nostalgia-friendly programs, American Pickers and American Restoration. I must warn you this: if you're looking for ruminations on Lady Gaga, Twilight, or The Office, you've showed up at the wrong joint. I do have my standards when it comes to what I want to discuss!

I want this blog to be like a restaurant of sorts: it has a specialized menu that caters to a specific audience. While some might consider my blog to be for a "niche market," there will be no shortage of topics to cover. Have fun reading what I have to post and spread the word to friends and family. I leave you with these parting words: Retro is not just a state of mind, it's a way of life! 

Catch you on the flip side