Sunday, October 25, 2009

Movie That Fell Through the Cracks # 57

I always love finding out about a cool-looking film I had no idea existed. This clip from 1969's THE MONITORS popped up on Facebook this evening and I clicked on it to watch on YouTube. I went back long enough to hit the "Like" button during the clip but afterwards the clip was gone and I wasn't even sure who had posted it! My own profile didn't even indicate I had "liked" anything!

I was meant to see it I guess as It looks amazing! In spite of amateurish acting it has nice cinematography. A check of IMDB revealed that it was done by the legendary Vilmos Zsigmond! Based on a story and screenplay by sci-fi author Keith Laumer, it essentially tells the black-comedy story of an already completed benevolent alien invasion that makes things better and the efforts of a group of people to return to the status quo. The director went on to a long and successful TV career so one is tempted to blame the amateurish quality on perhaps a lack of budget for retakes.

The bizarrely psychotronic cast includes Guy Stockwell (brother of Dean), STAR TREK's green girl Susan Olver, F TROOP's Larry Storch. Keenan Wynn, Avery Schrieber, comic Jackie Vernon, Peter Boyle, Senator Everett Dirksen and Mr and Mrs Alan Arkin and pretty much their whole family!

From what I read, THE MONITORS ran on late night TV quite a lot in some parts of the country a couple decades back but was never released on VHS or DVD. I found one dried up source for the whole film on the Net but I'll keep looking. This one looks great!

3 comments:

  1. i'm sure you already checked but http://www.ioffer.com/i/THE-MONITORS-DVD-1969-guy-stockwell-susan-oliver-RARE-112648247 $4.99 ($5 to ship though)

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  2. It's utterly beyond me how I could have missed ever seeing or hearing of this movie until now, considering that in every respect -- the cast, the subject, the genre, even the year it was made -- it's so obviously my kind of thing. Now I've got to see it.

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  3. Is it my imagination or did all movies/TV shows of that era call for "actress to dance in front of a roomful of men" and made Susan Oliver their go-to go-go girl? Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

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