Tuesday, December 16, 2008

posted without comment

2 comments:

Dennis Cozzalio said...

Oh, man... Here I am sitting at the office writing lesson plans for tomorrow, and so I pop on over and press play. There's that theme music.... that Movie of the Week font that seemed to be everywhere in the '70s (does it have a name?) and that vaguely 2001-inspired logo comin' at ya... and that weird sense of anticipation I used to feel in my gut when I was 11 years old and watching The ABC Movie of the Week (Tuesday, Wednesday, whenever) first-run.

I don't remember The Reluctant Heroes, but with that cast how could I have forgotten? Ken Berry? Warren Oates? Trini frickin' Lopez? I didn't know much from inexpensive war movies back then, however-- my taste ran toward the horror movies, of course. Do you remember The Screaming Woman with Olivia De Havilland? Or Bad Ronald? Or The Initiation of Sarah? Or The Devil's Daughter? That one starred the patron saint victim of the ABC Movie of the Week, Belinda J. Montgomery. And she was also the lead in the movie that gave me my very first taste of the women-in-prison genre-- not Caged Heat, but Women in Chains. This one had a cream of the crop TV cast-- Lois Nettleton, Jessica Walter, Louise Benson, Penny Fuller, John Larch,. Jenny Jameson, and as the sadistic prison guard, none other than Ida Lupino! Whoa! Believe it, it was titillating enough for this plenty-innocent 12-year-old.

Thanks for bringing all this back to me tonight, Lindsay, and distracting me from decimals and fractions, even for just a little while.

Lindsay Vivian said...

I left this post mainly for that beautiful movie of the week intro that you as you said, brings it all back, though it was a little before my time. Also, as you say, whoever put Ken Berry and Warren Oates in the same movie is a documented genius! God, either the wrong people are in programming, or the wrong people are watching TV.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Hell, you have my blessing to repost with your insightful comments. Your a trove of brain stuff, Dennis, your enthusiasm is delightful!