Old Movies For Young Stoners Bob Calhoun

Philena Franklin is back but she's still on strike with SAG AFTRA so we've got some PUBLIC DOMAIN ZOMBIES for our first of two special HALLOWEEN episodes! First, we have rights-free ghouls invading a Ralph's in Burbank in MESSIAH OF EVIL (1974) from Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the forgotten Lucasfilm power couple who later brought you HOWARD THE DUCK (1986). After really getting disturbing letters from her artist father, a young woman named Arletty (Marianna Hill) goes to the creepy coastal town of Point Dome to find out what's going on. She finds a polyamorous threesome, strange people gathering to stare at the sea at night, and, yes, flesh-eating zombies with blood streaming from their eyes. Also starring Elisha Cook, Jr., whom Greg calls the greatest film noir patsy of all time, and Royal Dano, Disneyland's voice of Abe Lincoln. Now streaming on Prime, Shudder and just about everywhere else--it's public domain!

Next, we have Bela Lugosi himself in WHITE ZOMBIE, widely considered to be the first zombie flick ever. A rich plantation owner wants Bela to put a voodoo spell on the woman he loves, but gets so much more than he bargained for. This movie has some of the creepiest zombies ever and one of Bela's best performances, and a banger of an opening score according to Greg. The best print of White Zombie is streaming Kanopy, a free video streaming service available through participating public libraries.

This episode is a bit of long one because we're so happy to have the full crew back again. We open with some talk of the Hollywood strikes, the end of Netflix DVDs by mail, a review of Sean Howe's new book AGENTS OF CHAOS, Cory's encounter with Pat Morita, and so much more.

OMFYS Hosts: Bob Calhoun, Philena Franklin, Cory Sklar and Greg Franklin

MUSIC
Theme song: Chaki the Funk Wizard
"We Get Stoned All Night Long" by Three Stoned Men, courtesy of John Blackwell

"Minor Lament for Solo Bass" by John Patitucci, courtesy of YouTube Audio Library
"Swan Lake" Op.20 by Tchaikovsky, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Movie and trailer audio courtesy of Archive.org

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San Francisco movie and media critic Pam Grady joins us and she finally brings Westerns into OMFYS with ZACHARIAH (1971), a homoerotic oater starring John Rubenstein and a very young Don Johnson as star-crossed gunslingers who just can't quit each other on their road to hippy-dippy enlightenment. Billed as "The First Electric Western," Country Joe & the Fish, the James Gang and the New York Rock Ensemble show up with their late-1960s Gibson guitars and Fender stacks even though everything else about the movie takes place in the 19th Century. John Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones nearly steals the show by shooting a dude and then playing a kick-ass drum solo. ZACHARIAH is streaming on YouTube but this DVD-rip on Archive is far superior so Airplay that to your flat screen: https://archive.org/details/zachariah-1971-dvdrip-xvi-d

Our second feature is the very-noir psychological western PURSUED from tough guy director Raoul Walsh in 1947. The Hollywood pothead par excellence ROBERT MITCHUM plays Jeb Rand who struggles to recall the massacre of his family through repressed memories and expressionist dream sequences. Making the past more than prologue is that the people who slaughtered the Rands are still plotting to finish the job. Also starring Teresa Wright as Jeb's love interest and sister-by-adoption (ew); Judith Anderson as the matriarch who's definitely keeping secrets; and the Skipper's dad, Alan Hale Sr. New Mexico's landscapes are brought to life in PURSUED by the breathtaking cinematography of James Wong Howe and it's all set to a sweeping Max Steiner score. Bob and Cory also discuss how Raoul Walsh got his eyepatch plus the ghastly prank the great director played on Errol Flynn, so wait for that.

PAM GRADY will be introducing Scorsese's Dylan near-mockumentary, ROLLING THUNDER REVUE, on Sunday, Sept. 24th at the 4 Star Theater (2200 Clement Street, San Francisco). Go here for tickets and info: https://www.4-star-movies.com/calendar-of-events/scorsese-more-than-a-gangster-rolling-thunder-revue-a-bob-dylan-story-live-music-500-pm

You can follow Pam on X (Twitter) @cinepam and read many of her latest reviews on the #AWFJ site: https://awfj.org/blog/author/pam-grady/

OMFYS Hosts: Bob Calhoun, Cory Sklar and Greg Franklin
Philena Franklin is on strike but her dad did the TikTok Report.

Philena will return later this month for our PUBLIC DOMAIN ZOMBIE episode with MESSIAH OF EVIL (1974) and Bela Lugosi in WHITE ZOMBIE (1932).

MUSIC
Theme song: Chaki the Funk Wizard
"Pray for the Flying J" courtesy of Count Dante & the Black Dragon Fighting Society.
"Royale" by Josh Lippi & the Overtimers and "Les-ly" by Mini Vandals courtesy of the YouTube Audio Archive.

Trailer audio courtesy of Archive.org

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S2E10 - The Music Business w/ All Night Long (1962) & King Creole (1958)

Independent filmmaker Floyd Webb joins us once again for a pair of classic near-noirs that show that the music business was scammy and sleazy long before Spotify, but it was maybe a little cooler when you had Walter Matthau in a smoke-filled backroom plotting how to screw the talent. First, we've got Charles Mingus on bass, Dave Brubeck on keys and Patrick McGoohan from THE PRISONER (!) on drums--and he's really playing those drums--in ALL NIGHT LONG (1962), a jazzified retelling of Shakespeare's Othello from British director Basil Dearden. This movie's got jazz cigarettes, reefer madness, awesome mid-century modern set design and some amazing musical performances from Mingus, Brubeck, Tubby Hayes and John Dankworth. Then, our ELVIS EPISODE was unexpectedly the third most popular installment of OMFYS in June, so the King is back in KING CREOLE (1958), a musical New Orleans noir from the braintrust that brought us CASABLANCA--producer Hal Wallis and director Michael Curtiz. Joining Elvis are Walter Matthau as ruthless gangster Maxie Fields, Dean Jagger as Elvis' feckless father, film noir regular Paul Stewart as Maxie's rival, Vic Morrow as a street thug, future nun Dolores Hart as the good girl, and Morticia Addams herself Carloyn Jones as the hard-luck dame who hopes Elvis can help her go straight. All this plus some of the best songs of any Elvis movie.

Floyd discusses his upcoming martial arts documentary, THE SEARCH FOR COUNT DANTE, that he's been working on for way too long now + some awesome screenings in Chicago that he has coming up. Find out more about Floyd and what he's got going on at
https://floydwebb.com/
https://thesearchforcountdante.com

Also featuring THE STRIKE TOK REPORT with PHILENA FRANKLIN, a rundown of reactions to the SAG AFTRA and WGA strikes on TikTok.

Co-hosts: Bob Calhoun & Cory Sklar

Greg Franklin is on assignment. Philena Franklin is on strike but will return for our public domain Halloween ep.

ALL NIGHT LONG (1962) is currently streaming on Criterion Channel as part of their excellent British Noir series and it's also available for free with commercials on Tubi.

KING CREOLE (1958) is part of Criterion Channel's Elvis series and it's available with ads on Pluto.

The Elvis Episode (S1E8): https://soundcloud.com/omfys/s1e8-the-elvis-episode-w-roustabout-1964-the-worlds-greatest-sinner-62

Music:

OMFYS Theme Song: Chaki the Funk Wizard
The Deadliest Man Alive: Count Dante and the Black Dragon Fighting Society (1997). All rights reserved.
"Greaser" and "Smoke Jacket Blues" by TrackTribe courtesy of YouTube Studio Audio Library

All trailer audio courtesy of archive.org

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Podcaster, pop-culture writer and three-time and reigning Ms. Noir City AUDRA WOLFMANN joins us to talk about defending her Ms. Noir City crown, and one of her favorite sub-genres: Beatsploitation. We kick things off with Seijun Suzuki's psychedelic yakuza noir, TOKYO DRIFTER (1966). This isn't Beatsploitation per se, but there are plenty of dudes in mod suits and the film is so incomprehensible that it's gotta be poetry man. Plus it's got jazz, rock and roll, 60s bubblegum pop, and haunting Japanese torch songs. Audra asks if this movie is really a noir, and Bob wonders if it's actually a musical. Either way, Cory gets it right when he says it's a "trip factor 10." Our next film is Roger Corman's dark, beatnik satire A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959), where Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) becomes a coffee house arts sensation by killing pets and people and covering up his victims with clay. It's one of Roger Corman's best and Hollywood everyman Dick Miller's only lead roles.

We also talk about the unexpected dominance of Gweneth Paltrow's new weed brand, the return of Taco Bell's Volcano Menu, how Covid drove Bob to binge on Hostess Ding Dongs, and how the movies are back baby--but at what cost? Audra also discusses her history with Noir City, her all Weird Al burlesque troupe, and her podcasts: SPEAKEASILY VS. THE 80s and RETROPHILIA. If you're digging OMFYS, you should definitely check out and subscribe to Audra's amazing pods:
http://www.audrawolfmann.net
https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/retrophilia-the-90s-in-music-film-culture/id1598247675

Philena also joins us later on for "The Strike Tok Report," a now regular feature on OMFYS until those cheap studio bastards pay the actors and writers some decent wages and royalties for keeping our asses at home watching Netflix, Hulu and Max (It's not HBO; it's just Max). We had to shelve our BARBIE EPISODE because Philena is a SAG AFTRA member and there is no more struck work than BARBIE. We'll be sure to post this ep as soon as the strike is over and it's no longer relevant. Yay.

Join us in August as we keep things jazzy with ALL NIGHT LONG (1962) and KING CREOLE (1958).

Special Guest: Audra Wolfmann

Hosts: Bob Calhoun, Cory Sklar and Greg Franklin

PHILENA FRANKLIN IS ON STRIKE.

Trailers and movie audio courtesy of ARCHIVE.ORG.

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Former TCM Underground chief programmer Millie De Chirico joins us to talk about her book, "TCM Underground: 50 Must-See Films from the World of Classic Cult and Late-Night Cinema." She also helps us get through our TCM Underground withdrawals that we've all been going through since Turner Classic Movies cancelled the Friday night cult movie cavalcade in February. First, Millie and the OMFYS crew discuss a trio of way underground short films from Curtis Harrington and Kenneth Anger (RIP): THE WORMWOOD STAR (1956), INAUGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME (1956), and INVOCATION OF MY DEMON BROTHER (1969). Millie and Cory shed a lot of light on the occult art scene of 1950s Los Angeles, and one of its central figures, the bewitching (maybe literally!) Marjorie Cameron, and Philena's "TikTok Report" shows us that people are still very afraid of these movies, which is a good thing. Curtis Harrington, who directed WORMWOOD STAR and stars in PLEASURE DOME, sticks around for our feature, his haunting zero-budget horror film, NIGHT TIDE (1961). Dennis Hopper plays a sailor drawn to a sideshow mermaid (Lindy Lawson) who might just be the real thing. Marjorie Cameron also appears as The Water Witch plus bongos by Chaino.

There is a big SPOILER WARNING! on this one because we DESTROY THE ENDING. We usually edit this stuff out but the spoilery bits may help people understand NIGHT TIDE and the conversation is just too fun to end up on the virtual editing room floor. At least Bob thinks so, and he's usually the spoiler police. If you haven't seen NIGHT SIDE stop listening at the 1:13 mark of this episode and skip ahead to the weed recs four minutes later (1:17).

Both of our featured filmmakers, Kenneth Anger and Curtis Harrington, are LGBTQ+, so please consider this our ACCIDENTAL PRIDE EPISODE. Love is love.

Ask for Millie De Chico's TCM UNDERGROUND book at your local bookstore or succumb to the corporate octopus and order it online from you know where, or maybe this somewhat more benign corporate bookseller. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tcm-underground-millie-de-chirico/1141004302

Also, check out Millie's excellent film podcast, I SAW WHAT YOU DID. If you like this podcast, you should definitely subscribe to hers. It's streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and all the major pod apps. https://wondery.com/shows/i-saw-what-you-did/

Join us in about two weeks for our BARBIE EPISODE with MUSCLE BEACH PARTY (1964) and BACK TO THE BEACH (1987), one of Cory's favorites.

Co-hosts: Philena Franklin, Cory Sklar, Greg Franklin and Bob Calhoun
Theme song: Chaki the Funk Wizard
Trailer audio: Archive.org

Mermaid by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100671

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

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The PhilenApocalypse as foretold by prophecy is finally upon us! Philena Franklin has taken over OLD MOVIES FOR YOUNG STONERS and has transformed it in NEW MOVIES FOR OLD STONERS! Both movies are in color and both have synchronized sound! No silents! No subtitles! One of these movies is even from THIS CENTURY!!! Can OMFYS survive this brush with modernity??? Listen and find out!

First, Philena shows us what it was like to grow up in the Franklin household with MIDNIGHT MADNESS (1980), a movie she claims her dad, OMFYS co-host Greg Franklin, made her watch repeatedly during her formative years. David Naughton (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON), Eddie Deezen (GREASE), Maggie Roswell (THE SIMPSONS), and Stephen Furst (ANIMAL HOUSE) star in this wacky scavenger hunt comedy produced by Disney (although you wouldn't know it from the opening credits). The Mouse kept their name off of this one. It's also Michael J. Fox's first film, which probably helped the studio recoup their losses from it on the home video market once Family Ties hit.

Then, Philena takes us to 2013--just 10 years ago!--for WARM BODIES, a zombified retelling of Romeo and Juliet with Nicholas Hoult from RENFIELD as a rotting zombie searching who finds true love, and John Malkovich in the Lord Capulet role. I'd wanna say it's the first movie featured on OMFYS with CGI effects, but there might've been some video toaster action going on in LOST HIGHWAY (1997) from our "In Cold Bud" episode.

We also talk about the WGA strike and what musical artists are torturing the poor, starving writers on the picket line.

Hope you enjoy all the newness but we promise to get back to black and white with our next episode where we will be joined by longtime TCM Underground programmer Millie De Chirico for Curtis Harrington's NIGHT TIDE (1961) with Dennis Hopper + Kenneth Anger's (RIP) occult short, INVOCATION OF MY DEMON BROTHER (1969).

Co-hosts: Philena Franklin, Cory Sklar, Greg Franklin and Bob Calhoun
Theme song: Chaki the Funk Wizard
Trailer audio: Archive.org

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Contact: oldmoviesforyoungstoners AT gmail DOT com