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(More customer reviews)[42nd STREET FOREVER VOL. 4] This fourth volume of cinematic sleaze from the drive-in and grindhouse days of the 70's is bottom-feeding at its frothy finest - bile, scum, sewage, swill: call it what you will, these flicks are so bad they make celluloid sewer-trolling look like deep sea diving in the coral reefs off the Great Barrier Islands. I kid you not. The first two volumes in this series are my favorites, the third was a tad weak and shorter than it's predecessors, and this time someone really had to scour through the hairballs and pond scum in the murky filters of the cesspool to find what amounts to be some of the worst films that probably no one ever saw at your local drive-in back in the glory days of weed, whiskey and wasted youths. But if you're a fan of exploitation trailers, especially reel-ly bad ones, you're in for a treat.
Back in the day, these flicks were the anemic lifeblood of the drive-in movie circuit as it got ready to draw its last gasping breath, more so than grindhouse theaters, which had already transitioned over to hardcore triple X films and martial arts flicks in the more urban areas. Made by hacks who were only interested in the sensationalism and prevaricated press that got their odious offerings propped up like cardboard cut-outs in carnival tents and promoted in vitriolic venues where 2/3's of the audience wasn't even watching - they were preoccupied with getting high or laid or 'goofing' on the films after doing both. In those days, almost no one went to the drive-in to watch the movie.
So, what's in store for you kiddies in this dubious volume of tawdry, tasteless trailers? Well, there's some crime syndicate sleaze, murder and serial killer kicks, an assortment of apocalyptic viruses unleashed upon the unsuspecting, a sword and sandal saga or two, a few horrible horror failures, two or three Eurohorror embarrassments, a totem of insolent Indian folklore and shamanistic shenanigans, renegade rebel militias, a 'token' blaxploitation bomb, raucous and rowdy redneck bikers, insulting and infantile 'Animal House' knock-offs, curdled teen comedies aimed at the autistic and a ladle of low budget 'epics' made for next-to-nothing and hyped like 'Lawrence of Arabia'.
There's not nearly as much horror, cult, sexploitation, sex comedies or gothic films as in earlier volumes, and very few Eurotrash trailers - I wish somebody would put out a collection of gaillos, Eurocult, Spaghetti westerns, mondo flicks, sex comedies, Gothic horror, hyper-violence and sexploitation trailers from Europe - I'd be in heaven if they did. OK, OK, it's not about me - back to what's here...
It's rather sad to see such once-revered and admirable actors like Lee Marvin, Hal Holbrook, Jack Palance, Robert Culp, Yul Brenner, Kurt Jurgens, Dawn Wells, Martin Landau, Phil Silvers, June Alison, Ray Milland, Keenan Wynn, Jan Michael Vincent, Peter Sellers, Peter Fonda, Richard Burton, James Coburn, Michael Sarrazan, Gene Hackman, etc. reduced to playing characters that border on the buffoonish in films that are downright embarrassing, but as they aged, drank or drugged to excess, it was the only work offered to them, and we all have to eat, right? Besides, the heyday of the Hollywood blockbuster was over during the 70's, and wouldn't return in one form or another until the 80's.
Some of the better flicks/trailers - 'It Came Without Warning', 'The Psychic', 'Let's Scare Jessica To Death', ' Embryo', 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown', 'Breaking Point', 'Walking Tall, Pt. 2', 'Shout at the Devil', 'Die, Sister Die', 'March or Die', 'The Syndicate', 'The Loves and Times of Scaramouch', 'The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman', 'The Klansman', 'Goldengirl', 'The Jezebels' and 'Bonnie's Kids' ("Thank God she only had two!" is the tag line - killer stuff...).
Some of the worst flicks/trailers - 'Yor-Hunter From the Future', 'Tender Flesh', 'New Year's Evil', 'Can I Do It...Till I Need Glasses?', 'Humongous', 'Gray Eagle', 'Shadow of the Hawk', 'Die Laughing', 'Americathon', 'Simon, King of the Witches', 'In God We Trust', 'Monkey Hustle', 'Blackout', 'Legend of Boggy Creek', 'The Boogeyman', 'Rituals', 'Combat Cops', 'Moving Violation', 'Hog Wild', 'The Hard Heads' (these rednecks make the Beverly Hillbillies or Squidbillies look like the Rockefellers)...
We are also privileged to see the introductory films by later stars like Dennis Quaid, Matthew Modine, David Carridine, Steve Guttenberg, Leif Garrett and Susan Anton, among others. Quite the honor, I assure you. Everything that was wrong with the 70's is on display here, and I periodically cringed uncomfortably having lived through this heinous era, and sat in disbelief at what rubbish passed as entertainment back then. But it's not like disco and John Travolta were any better, was it?
Not the best assortment of flotsam and jetsam, but for terrible trailer freaks like me, it's a cool way to kill some time. I'd never be able to sit through the films, but I can laugh my butt off while watching the best bits in these condensed confections, can't I? Can't we all?
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42nd Street Forever Vol. 4 (2008)
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