Lyle Waggoner as Batman-1965

Portions of this screen test turned up in the docudrama (docucomedy?) BACK TO THE BATCAVE but I ran across the whole thing on YouTube today. Out of all of the actors who auditioned for BATMAN in what would become the biggest TV series of 1966 (reportedly including square-jawed future Tarzan Mike Henry), Lyle Waggoner was supposedly the favorite. He looks good here, especially in the early version of the costume. Better than his Robin, one Peter Deyell. The handsome Waggoner would coast for a few more years as he became the announcer and resident hunk on THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW. He eventually got his own chance at the camp super hero genre as WONDER WOMAN's "Steve Trevor" in the late seventies. Peter Deyell became a behind the scenes utility guy working in make-up, producing and all other aspects of the film industry on projects ranging from THE PLANET OF THE APES to cult favorite MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH. Thus it was instead Adam West and Burt Ward whose careers were skyrocketed and eventually shot down by the bizarre success of the TV Caped Crusader.

Stages # 3

Don't know if this ever came out on DVD but here's a wonderful VHS tape from about 20 years ago that features Broadway performances that had been re-created live on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW! Since Ed was based in New York City, it was apparently quite a simple task to get the performers on regularly. This collection features Ethel Merman from 1968, the cast of OKLAHOMA from 1955, Pat Suzuki from FLOWER DRUM SONG, Carol Channing doing "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" from '59, Julie Andrews from MY FAIR LADY as well as CAMELOT (with Richard Burton as King Arthur!), Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence (whom I would later see in SUGARBABIES) from WEST SIDE STORY (1958), Anthony Newley doing his wonderful "Who Can I Turn To?," Gwen Verdon from SWEET CHARITY, Richard Kiley from MAN OF LA MANCHA and Pearl Bailey from her 1967 interpretation of HELLO, DOLLY!. Whew! If that's not a true "best of" I don't know what is! If you're a musical fan and want to catch some of these little seen performaces from now-legendary shows, see if you can find Disney's THE BEST OF BROADWAY MUSICALS!

FailBlog

If you're an Internet Junkie, you've probably heard about FailBlog at http://failblog.org/. It's sort of a combination of NATIONAL LAMPOON's "True Facts" and Jay Leno's "Headlines," with the added bonus of YouTube clips. Well, now they're moving into comics blog territory. In the tradition of my Random Panels of Comic Book Weirdness (as well as a hundred similar features on other sites), I spotted this rather blatantly NSFW image of Spider-Man and Sandman over there today. I think it's Jim Mooney art. If you want to laugh, check out FailBlog.

Inglorious Bastards

INGLORIOUS BASTARDS is the title of the long-awaited but finally in sight new Quentin Tarentino film. It is, according to a script leaked to the Internet, supposedly about a group of Jewish commandos in World War II who go up against a ruthless SS officer. Clips recently shown on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT show Hitler and a female character with a strong role.

Supposedly, Tarentino was making this picture because he was so enamored of the 1978 neo-grindhouse picture with the same name. That said, this thing seems to have no resemblance at all to the original except for the title...and quite frankly, it's not THAT good of a title!

The 1978 INGLORIOUS BASTARDS quickly became one of my all-time favorite war movies. What it is NOT is realistic in any way. What it IS is a rip-roaring, old-fashioned good guys vs. bad guys epic with a motley crew of escaped army prisoners taking over a secret mission after they accidentally shoot the specially trained commando troops who were disguised as Nazis!

An unapologetic B movie from the word go, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS stars Bo Svenson who had turned out to be a surprisingly charismatic leading man (in the WALKING TALL sequels) after years as a great TV character actor. Fred Williamson checks his legendary ego at the door and is great as the number two guy. Additional roles are filled by, among others, Peter Hooten (who was just about to become memorable as TV's DR. STRANGE) and the son of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA's Richard Basehart. Everyone involved gives an A list performance (even though the Italian production is dubbed and some of the actors do NOT dub their own voices!).

On their way to be court-martialed for various reasons, our unlikely heroes escape when their caravan is attacked. They decide to head for neutral Switzerland. Along the way, we have to deal with the various eccentricities of each character as they learn how to get along for their common good. Then, through a most convoluted but workable scenaro, they end up inheriting an Allied mission to capture or destroy a secret weapon being carried by train.

Beautiful photography, a rousing score, a seemingly endless supply of bullets, Nazis with bad aim, naked girls with machine guns, a surprisingly good cast and alot of old-fashioned derring-do make it a winner all the way to the somewhat sudden ending.

It's surprising Hooten didn't become a bigger star as he steals many scenes here. There's a good chemistry between Williamson and Svenson, also.

INGLORIOUS BASTARDS is clearly inspired by THE DIRTY DOZEN. It is also reminiscent of WWII fantasies like Clint Eastwood's KELLY'S HEROES or Errol Flynn's DESPERATE JOURNEY where a sense of fun and excitement carry the viewer along in ways that never happened in the real world, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS is a violent but most enjoyable romp of a swashbuckling soldier film. Although little-known (I had never even heard of it until recently myself!), it comes close to being a perfect B movie and certainly didn't need to be remade. Luckily, it doesn't seem as though Tarentino's version is really a remake after all.

UPDATE: I read where Quentin is intentionally misspelling the title as "Inglourious Basterds" and that the Brad Pitt starrer will compete at Cannes. Pitt's character is described in PEOPLE as "...leader of the 'Basterds,' a group of Jewish-American soldiers who scalp and brutally kill Nazis." He is said to be "...not your Warner Brothers 1950's WW2 hero … this is a hillbilly straight from the mountains of Tennessee."

Glitches

The good news is that my previous post was my 1600th one! Wow! The bad news is that I've noticed that quite a number of my earlier pre-revamp postings now have format glitches that I had not anticipated. These are generally around the pictures and lead to single words sometimes being spread over three or four lines! Ugh! This is easily fixable. However, I have chosen NOT to fix it because...well...there's 1600 posts!! There's also a glitch which causes an ad to pop up sometimes in the middle of a photo!! I don't know what the hell that one's all about! Still, I trust my readers to be able to work around those issues. Besides...like I said...1600 posts!!! Wow.

Movies That Fell Through the Cracks # 48

Made in 1975 but timely again due to the country's current economic woes, BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME is a documentary of sorts. I say "of sorts" because, unlike traditional documentaries, this picture has no narration whatsoever. It is, in fact, completely made up of old movie scenes, public domain newsreel footage and music from the 1930's as it chronicles the Great Depression. Directed (or should one say compiled?) by Phillipe Mora, an Australian of French heritage, it nevertheless manages to give a fairly good and accurate portrait of how things were and how folks escaped from how things were. The Marx Brothers, Clark Gable, W.C. Fields and dozens more stars appear in both classic footage and newsreel images. The still alive then Jimmy Cagney appears practically enough to have demanded compensation for this picture! Locally, at least, it got a lot of hype with TV ads and--as you can see--a special popcorn promotion! It's out there on DVD but still pretty unknown. Director Mora had previously done the same thing exactly with a history of the Nazis entitled SWASTIKA (1973) Soon enough, though, he was doing things like the superhero musical, THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE and THE HOWLING sequels. He's still working today.

Overstreet Ads # 4/ Bat-Mite Meets Flaming Carrot