The beloved Pat Morita passed away on
Thanksgiving Day at the age of 73 of natural causes in his Los Angeles
home. His work both as Arnold on the original Happy Days series, and
as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid films were fantastic. Morita was
nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for his work in the first Karate
Kid film, which still ranks as one of the most funny, inspiring, and
quotable characters in film history. Morita has more than 100 acting
performances to his credit, and even had a stint as a standup comedian in
the 60s where he was known as "The Hip Nip."
Here's a neat old article from 1967 about his act at the time. We'll
be preparing a nice tribute soon on an upcoming
podcast. In the meantime, I'll have a
glass of sake in your honor. I learned a lot about life's
confrontations from you as Mr. Miyagi, and your restaurant was never as
good once Al took it over.
THE SPIDER PIT SCENE
A HISTORY of the LONG LOST SCENE FROM KING
KONG
AND PETER JACKSON'S ATTEMPT TO RECREATE IT
The original King Kong is one of America's
greatest movies. Though the versions that have existed through the
years have gone through dramatic edits. In 1938, 5 years after its
original release, there was wholesale chopping of over 4 minutes of
footage deemed too shocking and violent for the audiences. We
detailed much of this in an article on
The Censored Scenes of Kong
a couple years back. Luckily dedicated film preservationists were
able to track down those scenes, but there's long been a sequence that was
cut after an initial screening by the film's director himself, Merian C.
Cooper, that's never been found. Known as the "Spider Pit Scene", a
thrilling segment in which men are eaten alive by various creepy crawly
creatures after Kong shakes them from the log into the ravine, had been
spoken of by folks who read the script, with only scant evidence of its
existence.
Stella Stevens
is best known for her roles as the comic
Appassionata Von Climax in Li'l Abner, a kind hearted prostitute
named Hildy in The Ballad of Cable Hogue, a retired hooker named
Linda Rogot who is married to Ernest Borgnine in The Poseidon
Adventure, and a tough Captain Taylor in the all female prison movie
Chained Heat. She's also been in over a 100 other movies and
TV shows.
As a kid in the 1970s,
Aquaman became my favorite character in the comics—and his comic book had
already been cancelled! I read the back issues and followed his terrific
series in Adventure Comics, written by David Micheline, which included the
incredibly dramatic death of Arthur, Jr., otherwise known as Aquababy. But
most importantly, Aquaman was a founding member of the Justice League of
America, the best comic book team ever!
Perhaps the highest
achievement of Aquaman, and certainly what made him a household name, was
his involvement within animation. Filmation Studios created a truly
faithful version of Aquaman for the Superman-Aquaman Adventure Hour in
1967. That’s right, not the Superman-Batman Adventure Hour, Aquaman! The
Adventure Hour was my first experience with Aquaman and remains without a
doubt the definitive version of the character for me. Later, Aquaman
teamed up with the exclusive cast of headliners to form the Super
Friends—his place forever cemented in pop culture history.
Rappers can sometimes do a great job in
movies, but 50 Cent's attempt to follow their footsteps in Get Rich Or Die
Trying, to put it mildly...totally sucks. A shitty story, shitty acting,
shitty rapping, shitty pacing, and shitty shit shittiness makes this one
pretty shitty film.
50 plays himself, only he's called Marcus so they can embellish the truth.
He's shot within the first 3 minutes of the film and then there's a
flashback scene to his childhood. We're going to spend the next 90 minutes
"learning how it all began", or as Fifty would say, "learfing fow fit fall
fegan". Half of what he says through those piano key teeth of his is too
hard to decipher. A scene where he's talking with his mouth wired shut
(from one of his many gunshot wounds) is no more difficult to understand
than the lines he delivers prior to that.
50 has about 3 different expressions in the film
1) Angry face with mouth shut
2) Angry face with mouth open
3) Goofy smiley face with big teeth sticking out
Every minute he's onscreen, 50 just seems
empty inside. He looks tough, for sure, but his character just comes
off as a hollow shell of a man who's just reading his lines and going
through the motions.
If you’ve never seen Dean singing his heart
out in the 1990 cult classic Rockula with Toni Basil and Thomas
Dolby you’re missing out on a rare treat. He’s also well loved for his
role as Chainsaw in Summer School which he says has been in a loop
on HBO since 1987. We recently talked with Dean about losing his mind on
ALF, hanging with Billy Bob Thornton in a Zombie movie, singing in a rock
band about Mr. T, and his thoughts on masturbation.
Halloween is always the best time
of year at retroCRUSH! In the past we've given you The 100 Coolest
Monsters, The 100 Scariest Movie Scenes of All Time (before Fangoria and Bravo,
to boot), and even the biggest collection of Weird Halloween Costumes on the
internet! So we're keeping the traditional alive with a special look at
the 100 Greatest Horror Movie Performances. Once again, we've teamed up
with the resident horror geniuses at
Trash Film Orgy to put our spooky heads
together and come up with a list that really honors the greatest performances in
horror movie history.
To poor comic book readers who couldn't
keep up with the stiff inflation rates to continue purchasing Jughead each
month, there were many money making opportunities to be had within the
pages of the comics themselves! I sold seeds door to door for The
American Seed company, and enterprising young kids could also sell
America's favorite newspaper, Grit! Keith Lowell Jensen explores the
pleasures and perils of selling overpriced greeting cards door to door,
all in the quest to win "fabulous prizes".
I love classic arcade game music almost
more than I love Devil Dogs (sorry, Marcia). And it's the classic
games o' the 80s that always have the best music. Here's a trip down
memory lane with the best of them all.
#10 SPY HUNTER
Featuring a modified synthesizer version of the famous Peter Gunn theme,
it really gets you in the mood for hunting spies. Pretty much all
you did in this game was drive down the street and shoot every car you
saw, so they might as well have named it "Super Highway Kill Spree" and it
would have probably been more appropriate.
CLICK HERE to listen.
I screwed up while backing up my email and
to make a long story short, lost every single email from the last 4 years!
If you've sent something my way in the last couple months, please be a
dear and resend it to me! I'm especially in need of any photos,
article suggestions, and other whatnots. You can re-send them to
rberry@retrocrush.com.
Thanks! Even just a quick email to re-touch base and say "HI" would
be nice so I can get you back in my address book! Especially if you're
that guy who sent me pictures of the refurbished Bates Motel!
Web
www.retrocrush.com
Our good friend Jenny from sewdarncute.com is
sellilng these super cute denim tote bags, and tons of other swell
things for the holidays. Just click the picture above to
snatch one up pronto!
BACK
IN BLACK
I miss Johnny Cash.
I'm sad that I didn't see him in concert,
especially when he came to Sacramento with his wife and played at the
Radisson hotel about 8 years ago, and can't remember what I could have
possibly been doing that could have been more important than seeing the
man grace the world with his presence. Johnny Cash is my favorite
rock star. His incredible voice could make a good song magnificent.
More so than Elvis, The Beatles, Stones, or Zeppelin, Cash is what Rock
and Roll is all about to me. Not wanting to follow any trends, just
sing fucking good songs. Johnny knows of the torture, pain, and love
we all feel in life. "Walk The Line" isn't as good as seeing him
walk the earth again, but its a great peek into the mysterious and cool
life of one of the most badass musicians to ever walk the planet.
Let's see how widespread retroCRUSH fans really are!
Click the map above and you can see the worldwide map of everyone
that's checked in so far. Add your own name and location with
amazing ease.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman is incredible in the new film
Capote, in which he dramatizes the title character's visit to a
small town to write what would become "In Cold Blood", the world's
first non-fiction crime novel. It's in limited release, but its
worth the drive if you can find it in a theater near you. To
hear our special "Driving Home From The Movies" review, just
CLICK HERE to subscribe to the retroCRUSH Podcast and listen to
episode #38.
artwork by Johnny Ryan, comic genius
VOTE FOR RETROCRUSH
AND SAVE A HOBO!
We've gone on a hobo killing spree, and the only way
to stop it is by voting for our podcast at Podcast Alley.
Please help us out, 'cause it'll make us climb the charts and become
internet superstars. Sure, not voting may rid the world of
drifters, but if you take the time to vote, I can buy that can of
Spaghettios I've been saving for.
Not too long ago, I was really missing how cool
fireflies looked at night. They don't exist where I live anymore, so
in desperation I turned to the internet to see if there was a way to
order live fireflies, and release them in my backyard. I
figure one night of firefly magic might be worth it. They're
one of the great nostalgic things from my childhood that I wish I
could have again. Of course, fireflies can't survive a night
in a glass jar, let alone UPS shipping, so I came up dry.
What I did find, though, is a kickass company called
Firefly Magic that sells sets of custom made LED lights that you can
put in your yard and enjoy the same eerie firefly light effects
every night of the year! I got a solar powered set of 12
lights that I had fully installed within 30 minutes of taking them
out of the box. They're now one of my favorite things, as my
friends and I love just staring at them in my backyard at night.
They have the same color and random pulsing pattern as the real
thing. I've got a short video of them in action that you can
watch if you
CLICK
HERE. Give the fine folks at
FIREFLY MAGIC a visit and
check them out for yourself. I can't think of a more unusual
and rewarding gift you could give.
