Movie Dude Close Encounter

In anticipation of the review this week of  It Came From the 70's by Connie Corcoran Wilson, we decided our second 70's movie would be Close Encounters:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon

 

I think almost everyone should know the plot to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Close Encounters was Steven Spielberg follow up to Jaws (1975). This is a science fiction movie about one group of people, out of many across the world, who have all had a close encounter with UFO's. There is an international team, which is also tied into the military in the USA, following the close encounters in an attempt to communicate with the aliens.

Richard Dreyfuss plays Roy Neary, an electrical lineman who has a close encounter of the third kind with an UFO. Neary becomes obsessed with what he saw and a vision he is having of what urns out to be Devil Tower. Teri Garr plays his wife, Ronnie Neary. Jillian, played by Melinda Dillon, is  single mother whose son is abducted. François Truffaut plays Claude Lacombe  a French researcher who is trying to communicate with the aliens.

FYI:

The Hynek System is commonly used to classify sightings of UFOs. Developed by J. Allen Hynek, the system categorizes experiences with UFOs and possible extraterrestrials on a scale of 'close encounters'. Hynek originally proposed three types of close encounter, but more have been added later 

Close Encounters of the first kind are when you see a UFO within about 150 yards.

Close Encounters of the second kind are when you see a UFO in the sky or on the ground and it leaves evidence behind such as scorch marks on the ground or indents etc.

Close Encounters of the third kind are when you see a UFO with visible occupants inside.

I learned to drive in a big old station wagon in the 70's. The first car I cruised the streets in at night when I was in high school was a station wagon. Because of that little fact, when Roy and Jillian took off cross-country right through the fence in the huge station wagon, I was saying to myself "Oh, yeah!"

It was decided by all of us that Close Encounters has a timeless quality. The movie is not dependant on current trends or events from when it was made.

It does not scream "this was made during the disco era of the 70's.

Even the special effects don't feel dated (with the exception of the tall alien at the end.) We all agreed that it was impressive that they could do all the special effects without computers.

Quotes for the night:

Roy Neary: "I guess you've noticed something a little strange with Dad..."

Movie Dude Weekend - 70's edition 1.1

In anticipation of the review of  It Came From the 70's by Connie Corcoran Wilson, here at the home of She Treads Softly we decided to revisit some 70's movies.
Our first choice was Logan's Run.

 

 

Logan's Run, 1976
Director: Michael Anderson
Cast: Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter, (also Farrah Fawcett and Peter Ustinov)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set in 2274 in an automated computer run city within an enclosed dome, the young inhabitants of the city pursue life's pleasures. The one drawback to their youth oriented hedonistic society is that at age 30 you must participate in a ceremony called Carousel. Although the citizens are told it is for renewal, they are actually terminated. Those who try to escape are called runners. It is the job of  a Sandman to track them down and kill them. Logan 5 is a Sandman. The personal property he turns in from he last runner he killed sets into motion orders from the city/computer that he needs to become a runner himself and search for "Sanctuary." He turns to a young woman he met, Jessica 6, to help him find Sanctuary. They are pursued by his friend and fellow Sandman, Francis 7. 

 

 

First, I must admit that 70's movies are the movies of my life during high school and college, so this was nothing but fun for me.

 

While this was pure nostalgia for me,  the other Movie Dude viewers had a great time commenting on how 70's the whole movie looked. Choice comments from the evening included:

 

"How very 70's to envision that the future lies in spandex tights and body suits."

 

"And, honestly, who doesn't like to lounge in a caftan?"

 

"The entire city looks like a mall."

 

"Any excuse to get naked... How many times has Logan suggested that they take their clothes off? Logan is all about taking off the clothes."

 

 

Movie Dude Weekend: T3 & T4 buffet edition

Movie Dude weekends have been scare lately.

The Movie Dude hasn't been scare, he (and his kin on alternate Fridays) is here every Friday night, but we haven't had an official Movie Dude approved weekend.


Last Friday, for example, we watched
Hello Dolly, 1969, with Barbra Streisand,
Walter Matthau, and Michael Crawford

and

Dr. Doolittle, 1967, with Rex Harrison




But this weekend is officially Movie Dude approved.


We watched Terminator 3 and 4.


Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines, 2003
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken



Terminator Salvation, a.k.a. Terminator 4, 2009
Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood

Quotes

Pick-up Lines for Wonder Boy from T3, as selected for him by Movie Dude and Just Me:

"Desire is irrelevant."
"All I need is a healthy female of breeding age."
"You remind me of my mother."

Earlier Quote from Movie Dude:

"Don't you hate it when you go to an all-you-can-eat buffet and then they tell you you've had enough? I was on my eleventh round at the buffet and an employee told me, 'Sir, you've had enough. Please go back to your table.'"

"My record of plates full without getting caught is 14."

"I'm not sure it qualifies as a super power."

Movie Dude Weekend: Piranhas and Angels

We began this Movie Dude Weekend with a particularly bad movie:

Piranha, Piranha, 1972

Director: William Gibson

Cast: Peter Brown, Ahna Capri, William Smith

No one was really watching the movie. Instead Just Me had her laptop out and commenced with searching the internet for name generators. With out any more tedious explanations here are the names for most of our motley group:

Just Me is Dancing Blackberry, Saucy Lolly, Freaky Zombie, Sugar Squeeze.

Wonder Boy is Sweaty Quack, Ugly Zombie, Rockstar Coconut, Cuppy Dove.

Movie Dude is Blinky Cinnamon, Fighting Mango, Departed Werewolf, Pumpie Cheeks

Dragon scribe is Blood Thirsty Banana, Tickling Donut, Crazy Vampire, Lovey Bunny.

Princess Pink is Singing Tamarind, Tangy Viper, Wandering Poltergeist, Sweety Snoockums.

Some of the names seemed to strangely fit people better than others. I'll let you guess who really should be called what name.

The next two movies were:

The Trouble with Angels, 1966

Director: Ida Lupino
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Hayley Mills, Binnie Barnes, Gypsy Rose Lee



Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows, 1968
Director: James Neilson

Cast: Rosalind Russell, Stella Stevens, Binnie Barnes, Mary Wickes, Susan St. James




Quotes for the evening:

Movie Dude, on The Trouble with Angels: Why didn't they ever make the monk version of this?

Just Me: Wonder Boy has three sides.

Lori : Good

Movie Dude: Bad

Just Me: Testy

Movie Dude: He hit me in the groins.

Lori: It is groin or loins, not groins.

Movie Dude: I know you play D&D with other people, but can you play it alone?

Just Me: Oh Movie Dude, that would be the most saddest thing of all...

Aliens vs. Avatar and Zombies

We watched two movies for Movie Dude weekend.

Aliens (1986)

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser
Director: James Cameron

We actually watched Alien a couple weeks ago and wanted to continue the series. While we all enjoyed Aliens, the second film in the series (OK, I hide my face and didn't watch some parts, but I'm a known whimp), what really became quite apparent to all of us after recently also watching Avatar was the similarities between Aliens and Avatar. James Cameron directed them both but you'd expect some new ideas, right? (Or is that just us?) Anyway, we sat down and all started listing the very obvious tie ins between the two movies.

Obviously, in Avatar, Cameron is beating us over the head with his message. He's more subtle in Aliens. He doesn't explore the idea that the aliens could be sentient beings in Aliens, but makes it quite clear that the Na'vi are sentient (and preferable) in Avatar. The two movies appear almost, but not quite, polar opposites in their message. The aliens destroying the human settlement is bad in Aliens, good in Avatar. Destroying the alien hive is good in Aliens, bad in Avatar. Very simply humans have opposite roles; they are, very basically, good in Aliens and bad in Avatar.

The design of all human structures and technology is analogous. The ship design and interior seemed interchangeable in both movies. The military scenes were parallel, practically indistinguishable in spots, as were the weapons and military shuttles. The mecha suit/robotic walker was a startling, almost identical connection between the two movies. The final battle was practically the same. No wonder we all felt we had watched Avatar before, thinking it was just the noble savage storyline at the time when the actual root of this feeling goes much deeper and far reaching.

Both movies involve a corporation (bad, greedy) planning to use a planet for it's resources. The company is always bad and is acting only in its best interests. The military is depicted as short sighted in both movies. Another obvious connection is the casting of Sigourney Weaver in a tough woman role in both movies. We noticed other casting choices for recent roles in Avatar that seemed to correspond with choices Cameron previously made in casting Aliens.

Clearly the roots of Avatar are found in Aliens. Then, when looking around to see if anyone else noticed the obvious connections between the two movies, I read that visually Avatar and the Halo games are quite similar and that Halo borrows from Cameron’s Aliens. When asked about this, Cameron claims since he originated it, he's allowed to reference it, or recycle it, depending on your point of view. Apparently Cameron has a little problem coming up with new, original ideas and other people have also noticed that Avatar uses many recycled concepts from his Aliens film. Interesting...

I Am Omega (2007)

The Asylum movie

Starring: Mark Dacascos, Geoff Meed Jennifer Lee Wiggins
Directed by Griff Furst

This is another last man on earth, Omega Man movie based on Richard Matheson's book I am Legend. Originally a SciFi channel movie, the most obvious weakness of I Am Omega is a lack of character development, but we weren't watching it for the plot or character development. There are some great zombies in this movie. Mark Dacascos is a martial arts master (and the Chairman on Iron Chef America) so he fights zombies with weapons, as well as roundhouse kicks and nunchuks. Dacascos is actually a decent actor, so he elevates this B movie. We liked it, but you know us...

Quotes:

Movie Dude: If you pee on a zombie does it die?

Lori: I'd like to think that, at least for a little bit, we could all fight our way through a zombie hoard.

Movie Dude Weekend: I am Legend marathon

This last week for Movie Dude Weekend we watched film adaptations of Richard Matheson's science-fiction novel I Am Legend:



The Last Man on Earth, 1964

a.k.a. The Damned Walk at Midnight, The Night Creatures, Vento di Morte, L'Ultimo Uomo della Terra

Director: Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow
Cast: Vincent Price, Franca Bettoja, Tony Cerevi, Emma Danieli







Omega Man, 1971

Director: Boris Sagal
Cast: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo






I Am Legend, 2007

Director: Francis Lawrence

Cast: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield




Movie Dude and Just Me both felt that Omega Man was the best movie of the three, but they are rather partial to Charlton Heston.

Quotes:

Just Me: What would I wear if I were the last person on earth?

Movie Dude: I'd go naked.

Just Me: I wouldn't

Movie Dude: I know, I'd wear my Sith robe!

Just me: Oh! Good idea!

Sorry Movie Dude Weekend's have been scarce for several weeks. We're trying to pack to move. Movies watched on the 10th included the last two Indiana Jones movies, The Last Crusade (1989) and The Crystal Skull (2008). The next weekend, the 16th, was viewers choice. Just Me picked Terminator Two: Judgement Day (1991) and Movie Dude picked Jaws (1975).

Movie Dude- Emo Arnold Edition

Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines, 2003

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken





They Live, 1988

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George "Buck" Flower

Quotes:

Movie Dude: Arnold's gone emo.

Just Me: I bet he sits alone in his room and writes sad poetry.

Arnold in T-3: "Anger is more useful than despair."

Just Me: Take that to heart, Emo Arnold.

Arnold in T-3: "If you were to die, I will become useless. There will be no reason for me to exist."

Just Me: Arnold's being all emo again.

----
From They Live: "Life's a bitch and she's back in heat."
----

Later, speaking of hairy men, and more specifically Sean Connery:

Movie Dude: And then he says, "Shave me down my butlers." And then he gets all naked....

Movie Dude: That's right, Just Me - all your fantasies will come true.

Just Me: What fantasies?

Movie Dude: I don't know your fantasies.

Movie Dude Weekend

This weekend we watched the first two movies in the Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures Collection.

Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1984

Director: Steven Spielberg; Producer: George Lucas

Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw

Quotes:

Movie Dude: One of my friends had his gym shorts fall down when he was running in P.E. this week. He was going commando.

Lori: Well, there is a moral to that story...

Just Me: Yeah. Wear a belt.

Movie Dude Weekend: Traditional Star Wars Marathon

It was the traditional Spring Break Star Wars marathon

Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 1999,

Episode II: Attack of the Clones, 2002,

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, 2005

Star Wars Episode IV, 1977

The Empire Strikes Back, Episode V, 1980

Return of the Jedi, Episode VI, 1983

Director: George Lucas

Frequently repeated comment heard during the original three movies which were altered with new CGI:

SHAME ON YOU, GEORGE LUCAS!

All the participants, except me, know their Star Wars trivia and often questions are asked and answered. Although I have often had questions, I never have had any answers - until today. A question arose: Did anyone know what Han Solo did that caused Jabba to put a bounty on him? Because I had read Star Wars: Rebel Dawn, book three of the Han Solo trilogy, I knew the answer to that question and several others. Yeah.

Movie Dude Weekend: Memorial and 2012

The first thing we did for Movie Dude weekend was watch two DVD's of pictures that were shown at my brother-in-law's funeral. They were both wonderful tributes and we will cherish the pictures for years to come.

Next was the movies. You had to know we'd be watching 2012.

2012

Director: Roland Emmerich

Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton

"Disaster movie maven Roland Emmerich's apocalyptic sci-fi thriller following the prophecy stated by the ancient Mayan calendar, which says that the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012. When a global cataclysm thrusts the world into chaos, divorced writer and father Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) joins the race to ensure that humankind is not completely wiped out."

I really enjoyed 2012. The special effects were great. There was plenty of action and suspense. Movie Dude commented several times that the action and special effects were beyond belief, which, yeah, is true. But, for me, when I watch an end of the world thriller I want it to go beyond what I can imagine - and I can imagine pretty darn bad.

Movie Dude and Just me were pretty chatty all through the movie... until Movie Dude fell alseep. Don't ask me how he could fall asleep. It is an intense movie. Just Me threw a coaster at him to wake him up. I'm kind of looking forward to watching 2012 again, with Wonder Boy. He won't talk during the movie.

All the Kind Strangers (1974)

Director: Burt Kennedy

Cast: Stacy Keach, Samantha Eggar, John Savage, Robby Benson, Arlene Farber

"Samantha Eggar and Stacy Keach play motorists held prisoner by a family of seven sweet-faced young orphans and their savage guard dogs. The children only want a mother and father but are willing to kill anyone who rejects them. Jon Savage co-stars with Robby Benson, who sang the theme song. All the Kind Strangers was initially telecast November 12, 1974. "

I remember watching this on TV when it first came out. It didn't seem quite as creepy now as it did then. Of course, I might have been distracted because there was a lot going on during the movie.

Just Me and Movie Dude had pulled out Just Me's netbook and were checking out online videos. This is one of their new past times for movie night - that and flipping through all the TV music stations. If it's not toddler tunes, it's chilled out vibes. They both found their favorite song for the evening - Rockin' the Beer Gut.

While watching a My Little Pony video, we saw one of the cute little ponies lick another one.

Movie Dude: Look! They're mating!

Just Me: They are not. This is not My Little Pony XXX!

Movie Dude: Let's Search for that!

Just Me: No. You're sick.

Movie Dude Weekend: strip lights and whiskers

Movie Dude Weekend has been on a short hiatus since I was out of town for part of February. Bad movies were watched, and comments were made, but, alas, they never made it to the blog. This weekend actually featured some good movies.

Guys and Dolls, 1955
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine









I, Robot, 2004
Director: Alex Proyas

Cast: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Tudyk, Bruce Greenwood

Comments:

Just Me: We will turn off the strip lights

Movie Dude: Strip lights! Where's the pole?

Just Me: Wonder Boy's closet

Wonder Boy: W-h-h-a-a-a-t?

Just Me: This is all going right over your head, isn't it?

Continuously repeated after they heard it on a National Geographic video about walruses: "Sensitive whiskers memorize each other's face."

Just Me to Movie Dude, who was wearing a T-shirt with Jimi Hendrix on it:

Each time you drool, Jimi Hendrix cries.

Movie Dude Weekend: Brains and Clogs

Evil Brain From Outer Space (1956)
Starring: Ken Utsui

Director: Teruo Ishii;Akira

A monstrous evil brain from outer space leads his minions on a crusade to conquer the universe, and unleashes hideous monsters on Earth that spread deadly diseases. Superhero Starman must rescue Earth from the menace of the evil brain while battling armies of monsters the brain sends against him.(IMDb) Known as Super Giant in his native Japan, Starman's trademark is a blend of frantic action and primitive special effects.

The Brain From Planet Arous (1957)
Starring: John Agar, Joyce Meadows

Director: Nathan Juran

A powerful criminal brain from the planet Arous, Gor, assumes the body of scientist Steve March. Thru March he begins to control the world by threatening destruction to any country challenging his domination. Another brain, Val, works with Marchs future wife Sally to defeat Gor. Val explains that Gor will be vulnerable when he is forced to leave March at intervals to re-energize. Gors vulnerable spot, the Fissure of Rolando, is described in a note left by Sally in Steve's lab.(IMDb)

We had planned a long theme night of movies featuring brains (we were surprised to discover we have at least 6 movies featuring "brain" in the title) but an unfortunate incident cut our enthusiasm for brain movies short.

Movie Dude Weekend, Contamination and Space Odyssey

Contamination (1980)
aka Alien Contamination
Actors: Ian McCulloch, Louise Marleau, Marino Masé, Siegfried Rauch, Gisela Hahn
Director: Luigi Cozzi

This Italian made science fiction exploitation film by director Luigi Cozzi freely borrows from Alien, but you can also see an influence of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and It came from Outerspace. Our version was dubbed in English. There are these extraterrestrial eggs that show up on a ghost ship in NYC. It turns out that these eggs can spray you with an acid-like goo, which in turn causes it's victims to explode. The eggs have come to Earth from Mars and are part of a plot to take over the world. A bizarre heavy breathing is played when the eggs begin to pulse and glow before they explode. Movie Dude made this heavy breathing even more odd as it was a sound effect he picked up on immediately and insisted on repeating. It's a bad movie. Trust us.

Star Odyssey (1979)
originally called "Sette Uomini D'oro Nello Spazio"
director: Alfonso Brescia
Actors: Yanti Sommer, Gianni Garko, Richard Hatch, John Saxon

Star Odyssey is another Italian made film in which Earth is attacked by an intergalactic villain and his army of strangely Nordic looking robotic androids who all sport a bob-with-bangs haircut. This little gem wanted to be Star Wars. And oh how it tried to make that dream come true. We have aliens, who look different (think of the bar scene). There are annoying anthropomorphized robots with emotions, Tilk and Tilly. There's an evil guy wearing a black cape with a suspiciously force-like abilities. (There are several characters, who when their eyes glow, have mind control abilities.) They have light sabers, well, white shiny-sword like light sabers. Our version was dubbed in English.
Just Me and I loved Oliver's mustache. It looked like two false eyelashes glued on his upper lip at a rakish angle. We loved the fact that in our version they said "You-Foo" for UFO

Quotes:
Movie Dude: Why won't you give me warm fuzzies, Wonder Boy. You always give me cold pricklies.
Just me: What the...?
Movie Dude: Warm fuzzies are complements, nice things we do for people.

Movie Dude: New Year's Eve Edition

We had an exciting Movie Dude marathon. The first 4 movies were from Movie Dude's recently acquired Elvira Movie Macabre DVDs.

Elvira's Movie Macabre: Man-Eater of Hydra/the House That Screamed

Maneater of Hydra: 1967, A group of tourists spends a weekend on a lush island occupied by a demented botanist. Little do they know that carnivorous plants are the welcoming committee! A Spanish-West German co-production released in the former country as La Isla de la muerte ("The Island of Death"), in Germany as Das Geheimnis der Todesinsel ("Secret of the Island of Death").

The House That Screamed: 1969, Students keep disappearing from a French boarding school for troubled girls. Are they running away or are they being kidnapped?A Spanish production released in Spain as La Residencia ("The Residence").

Elvira's Movie Macabre: Blue Sunshine/Monstroids

Blue Sunshine: 1978, Several former college students find their former drug experiences catching up with them in an unexpected and terrifying manner in this horror movie.

Monstroids: 1978, a.k.a. It Came From the Lake, Monster; Monster is the story of young people whose lives are placed in jeopardy by the presence of a gigantic prehistoric lake monster created from toxic waste.

Men in Black (1997) Men in Black II (2002)
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Men in Black follows the exploits of agents Kay (Jones) and Jay (Smith) members of a top-secret organization established to monitor alien activity on Earth.

Quotes:

Movie Dude: Do you think Wonder Boy would ever be an underwear model?

Lori: Ask him.

Movie Dude: Wonder Boy, would you?

Wonder Boy: It is either 42 or I'm probably not going to answer the question.

Lori: Say "No."

Movie Dude: You want to model 42 pairs of underwear!?

Wonder Boy: No. The answer is no.

Just Me: That's what mom said to say.

Movie Dude: They were looking at me funny for wanting Elvira DVDs. I said she looked pretty darn good for 58.

Lori: Did that embarrass you?

Movie Dude: No! I actually felt kinda proud...

Movie Dude: There was something I was wondering Aunt Lori... How many calories does the Grim Reaper burn a day? I'm sure he works every day...

Movie Dude Weekend: 50 movie pack extravaganza

Movie Dude weekend consisted of Movie Dude and Just Me selecting movies from three different 50 movie packs.













Breaking news: Movie Dude got a Snuggie, which he brought along for movie night.
Movie Dude, speaking of the open back: It's too bad you can't go natural wearing a Snuggie.
Uh-huh, and now the movies.

Warriors of the Wasteland (1982) aka The New Barbarians
Actors: Fred Williamson, George Eastman, Giancarlo Prete, Anna Kanakis Andrea Coppola, Vito Fornari, Giovanni Frezza, Ennio Girolami

Product Description

The year is 2019 in a post-apocalyptic future, a group of weary survivors is faced with a relentless onslaught from a gang of roving bandits. Into this conflict comes two men, rivals by nature, but forced to take the same side against a common foe. The survival of the human race may very well come down to the outcome of this battle!

Just Me's first movie pick, Warriors of the Wasteland is a grindhouse, spaghetti sci fi. It was a truly awful film that was seriously influenced by Mad Max but also Escape from New York, Star Wars (use that hate), and perhaps even Star Trek (sound effects). It would be fun to watch it again and start writing down all the different movies that influenced it. One of the bad guys, from the group called the Templars, ripped a book in half at the beginning of the movie saying something like, "Books. They are the cause of this whole apocalypse." The Templars at one point in the movie chanted "Hate and Exterminate" (Dr. Who influence anyone?) There was super cool midi music and neato sound effects. Just Me certainly knows how to pick 'em! (The movie is rated R, but would certainly be a pg13 today. The violence was more laughable than gory and there was some peek-a-boo almost nudity.) This is so bad that it's highly recommended.

Just Me: I wonder if they had toilet paper.
Lori: After the apocalypse?

Movie Dude: Let's Google things while watching Swamp Women.

Swamp Women, 1955
a.k.a. Swamp Diamonds, The Cruel Swamp
Director: Roger Corman
Cast: Marie Windsor, Carole Mathews, Beverly Garland, Jill Jarmyn, and Touch Connors (aka Mike)

Description:

An undercover policewoman helps three female convicts escape from prison so that they can lead her to a stash of stolen diamonds hidden in a swamp.

Movie Dude choose this movie based, I'm sure, on the title and that fact that it starred a young Mike Connors, known as Touch Connors in this film. It was pretty slow so it was abandoned once Just Me and Movie Dude read (yes, they were Googling while watching) that Robot Monster was even worst that The Beast from Yucca Flats (one of our all time favorite bad movies.)

Just Me: Are you making me go to weird sites again?
Movie Dude: It's completely legit - Horror Host Graveyard.
Movie Dude: I wonder how you get a job as a horror movie host....

Robot Monster 1953
a.k.a. Monster From Mars, Monsters From the Moon
Director: Phil Tucker
Cast: George Nader, Claudia Barrett, Selena Royle, Gregory Moffett

Description

The Robot Monster has been sent to Earth as the advance party of an impending invasion. Ordered by The Great One to capture several humans, the Robot Monster becomes confused once it learns more about humans.

We all agreed that Robot Monster was not the worst movie ever made. It has a super cool alien who looks like a guy in a gorilla suit with a diving helmet for a head (the Ro-Man) who has wiped out the whole population of the earth, with the exception of one family of hu-mans. Plus he has a bubble machine. How can a movie with a bubble machine in it be bad? Oh, and the Ro-Man communicates with his superiors through old surplus WWII radio equipment. You know what, the plot doesn't matter. This is a truly great awful movie.

The last movie of the evening was another Just Me selection:

Panic, 1983, aka Bakterion, I vivi invidieranno i morti (Italy), Pánico (Spain)
Starring: David Warbeck; Janet Agren; Roberto Ricci; Jose Lifante

Description:

A scientist's experiment with a deadly bacteria goes awry and leaves him horribly deformed. The monstrous man then runs amok in his town. Filmed in Italy and Spain.

OK. This is an awful movie, although it was fun to watch. It's an Italian film, the actors dialogue was dubbed in English, but it was filmed to make you think it was set in Great Britain. The continuity was lacking and the plot dropped all sorts of potentially interesting threads. Really, if you didn't know from the description what was supposed to be going on at the beginning, you would have a difficult time following the movie.

Movie Dude (from scenes at the beginning): Did I just see a monkeys....
(He didn't)

While watching Movie Dude commented that David Warbeck, the New Zealand born actor who played Captain Kirk (heh, heh, heh) in the movie would have made a great James Bond. Guess what? Trivia from IMDb said that David Warbeck "was on the (exceedingly) short list to be the third James Bond, in Live and Let Die (1973), until Roger Moore was able to spring free from TV commitments."
Cool.