THE FARMER 1977

"They Committed Murder, Rape, Arson and One Mistake...They left The Farmer Alive"

"He doesn't get mad. He gets even." 

After decades of being unavailable and morphing into one of the great holy grails of '70s exploitation revenge cinema, THE FARMER has finally (sort of) escaped out into the wild. Long teased by Bill Olsen at Code Red for a DVD release going as far back as 2006 (the trailer popped up on several of his releases) and in addition several screen grabs from the restoration were posted. Since then, he's talked of music rights, unpaid IRS tax liens on the film, etc., and claiming that only "23 people would buy it".  

Recently it showed up on YouTube posted by Van Lukassen in a transfer from a bootleg VHS he had purchased. The upload was removed about a week later due to copyright infringements (reportedly instigated by Bill Olsen) but not before it had been downloaded and since then has shown up on the Internet Archive (although it seems to be gone from there as of this writing), but has appeared on "that"  torrent site.

Obviously derived from a multi-generational tape source (see the screengrabs) with several instances of tape roll and audio/video dropouts although far from pristine it's watchable and back in the pre-DVD days of VHS collecting, I paid $20.00 for bootleg VHS tapes (usually with burned in Greek subs or such) at Chiller Theatre Conventions or via mail order that looked on par or worse than this. 

Produced by and starring Gary Conway (I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN 1957) it was directed by editor David Berlatsky (THE DEEP 1977) in his only directorial credit. Filmed in the summer & fall of 1975 around Atlanta GA., according to the AFI Catalog website the film went through financial difficulty during production before being picked up by Columbia in 1976 for distribution and had its world premiere in Detroit, MI. on Feb. 25, 1977. It seems to have had a limited theatrical run (sometimes titled BLAZING REVENGE or THE KILLER FARMER), although allegedly it ran at Marine Corps bases throughout the country. According to Variety (via the AFI website), the film had to be reportedly trimmed to avoid an X-rating for violence from the MPAA.  TV Guide called it "A totally negative film of violence that barely avoided an X rating". 

Of course, the big question is - does the film live up to its decades-long quest and hoped for status as one of the great revenge exploitation films of the era? The answer is yes and no. Falling into the category of "decorated returning veteran seeks vengeance" genre, the film is interesting in that it sets its timeframe in post-WWII rather than the usual Vietnam era '70s, and to its credit, it does attempt to address the issue of race and prejudice. On the downside, there is a highly convoluted & drawn-out plot that takes much too long to get where it needs to go and to what we're all waiting for.

Conway plays Kyle Martin a decorated WWII Sgt. who upon returning home to his family farm finds it destitute and in dire financial shape after the death of his father. It's been looked after by an African American caretaker, Gumshoe (Ken Rendard TRUE GRIT 1969) and with whom Kyle seems to have a close relationship (which will play out in the film climax) Immediately Kyle runs into problems with the local bank who demands payment for the back taxes owed. 

In the aftermath of a road accident near his farm, Martin rescues gangster Johnny "O" (Michael Dante THE BIG SCORE 1983) from his wrecked car, and as a reward, Johnny gives him $1500.00 which is still short the amount needed for the bank. There is also Betty McCrail (Angel Tompkins THE TEACHER 1974) a former girlfriend of Martin's, who now works for Johnny "O", and she rekindles her relationship with Martin. Later Johnny is blinded in a gangland altercation and offers Kyle more money if he will take vengeance for him on those responsible. Kyle waffles initially but is soon forced into a bloody vendetta when the gangsters violently attack those close to him. 

The movie works as expected (you basically know which characters are destined to die the moment they're introduced) but because the film takes almost an hour to get both the reason for and the actual instigation of the title character's vengeance it seems rather meandering for that first hour and the ending is highly implausible which is a shame as the film would end nicely without that last scene. 

The film does have some interesting moments including Martin hanging his uniform and Silver Star on a scarecrow and the action sequences are terrifically brutal and live up to the hype (Martin is particularly effective with his shotgun) along with being well-edited (which makes sense as the film's director is an editor). For a low-budget film, there is an excellent feeling for period detail including clothing & vehicles, and an actual parade is neatly integrated into the plot.  

Conway does a good job as the title character often wears aviator sunglasses which hide his eyes and give him a blank expressionless stare. As mentioned, the violence is extremely brutal including acid thrown in a face, a man burned alive, non-flinching close-ups of shotgun blasts to bodies, point-blank shootings to the groin & face, and an especially harrowing & brutal rape in a barn. 

The music is by Hugo Montenegro (I see the soundtrack pop up occasionally in used bins as it's much easier to find than the film itself) and features a song by ex-Byrd Gene Clark titled American Dreamer which was also used in the Dennis Hopper film AMERICAN DREAMER in 1971.

Since the film's appearance on YouTube Bill Olsen has made statements yet again concerning a possible release at some point, now with "only 26 people wanting to buy it" (which at least is three more than before).

Here are some screengrabs that Code Red DVD posted back in 2006 showing their restoration work:

TRUCK TURNER 1974

Black, Bold and Bloody Mean! 

"Anybody ask you what happened, tell 'em you've been hit by a truck...Mac "Truck" Turner!" 

In recent years blaxploitation has been parodied and riffed on so much that the entire genre has sadly become an almost huge joke upon itself and lost in the shuffle is the fact that there are excellent films here along with more artistry at work in them then you might imagine. TRUCK TURNER was released just as the genre was peaking with THREE THE HARD WAY, FOXY BROWN, ABBY, and TNT JACKSON among many others all being released the same year. 

After the massive success of his soundtrack for 1971's SHAFT, it seemed only natural for the composer Isaac Hayes would make the transition to acting, and his role in TRUCK TURNER was immediately preceded by the quirky but excellent TOUGH GUYS which paired him with Lino Ventura (and is overdue for a legit release). And of course, Hayes supplied the soundtrack to both films with his work on TRUCK TURNER soundtrack is great and stands right up there with his work on SHAFT.

Written by Oscar Williams (BLACK BELT JONES) along with Michael Allin (ENTER THE DRAGON) and uncredited help from Leigh Chapman (DIRTY MARY AND CRAZY LARRY), it was originally conceived by American International as a project for a Caucasian actor (Robert Mitchum and Ernest Borgnine were among those considered). It was re-written right before production as a blaxploitation vehicle which according to the informative commentary on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray by director Jonathan Kaplan caught him by surprise. Kaplan also relates that when Isaac Hayes was first shown the script, he objected to the title character's misogyny and the use of the word "bitch" with the result that they took the character in a different direction than most blaxploitation male leads and in turn brought a rather sweet love story into the plot. 

The opening credits start off in the shiny & new office building Los Angeles and then moves to blighted urban streets with endless rows of bail bondman storefronts and were introduced to the title character who on a bit of reverse-SHAFT, lives in a squalid apartment littered with food containers and empty beer bottles.  Hayes is ex-football player-now bounty hunter Mac "Truck" Turner who along with his partner Jerry (Allen Weeks - who was the recipient of the "picking your feet in Poughkeepsie" interrogation by Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION) are hired by a slimy lawyer (the great Dick Miller in a wonderful pink sports jacket) to track down Leroy "Gator" Johnson (Paul Harris ACROSS 110TH STREET) a notorious pimp who skipped bail leaving Truck's friend & bondsman Nate Dinwiddie (Sam Laws HIT MAN). Tracking Gator down, Truck & Jerry participate in a high-speed car chase while pursuing the pimp in a spectacularly staged sequence. 

After Truck kills Gator in a shootout, Gator's "business partner" Dorinda (in an off-the-rails performance from STAR TREK's Nichelle Nichols) vows revenge on Turner thereby setting in motion the main plot of the film. Dorinda who operates her girls out of a swanky Beverly Hills house (with a huge picture of her late partner adoring the living room) gathers a cadre of her fellow pimps (one of whom wears a variety of terrific western shirt/matching eye-patch combos) and offers half a cut of her business to whoever kills Turner. The standout among the would-be assassins is the cold, calculating & very quietly menacing Harvard Blue (Yaphett Kotto).

Nichols as Dorinda is a true force of nature here - not so much chewing scenery but devouring it whole and then spitting it back out. She seems to be gleefully glad to shed her Star Trek image and her long uninterrupted monologues are the highlight of the film as she spews bile at anyone that comes within her sight.  Throwing out lines such as "We call her Turnpike, cuz you gotta pay to get on and pay to get off!" she brings a grin to your face whenever she is on-screen.

The film alternates between bloody squib-filled shoot-outs (Hayes's Turner carries a .44 Magnum in a nod to DIRTY HARRY) and light-hearted moments (there is some genuinely funny stuff here). Although Hayes's acting range is limited, he brings a great presence & charisma to the screen whether being shirtless while coolly dispatching would-be assassins (along with a complete lack of police presence) or sharing some tender (and sometimes funny) moments with his girlfriend Annie (a nicre performance from Annazette Chase THE MACK). Although Week's performance as Turner's partner Jerry has come under criticism from some, I think he is quite good here and his scenes with Hayes show some real chemistry between the two (along with some light comedy) and makes me wish there were a sequel with the pair and Chase's Annie. 

Jonathan Kaplan had started out with Roger Corman on NIGHT CALL NURSES and THE STUDENT TEACHERS (which is my favorite of the "student" and "nurses" cycle) and THE SLAMS with Jim Brown. He worked his way up the food chain later directing WHITE LINE FEVER, HEART LIKE A WHEEL, and MR. BILLION (which deserves a nice Blu-ray) among others then a busy career in TV. In TRUCK TURNER he stages some great action sequences including a prolonged and bloody shootout in a hospital with patients on gurneys being pushed over, an operating room being invaded with exploding blood bags, and a nifty death POV sequence.    

FIGHTING MAD 1976

"When You Push Too far, Even A Peaceful Man Gets Fighting Mad"

   The third of three movies Jonathan Demme (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) directed for Roger Corman, this followed CAGED HEAT (1974) and CRAZY MAMA (1975). Even though it was written by Demme (along with CAGED  HEAT), FIGHTING MAD had the most "work for hire" feel to it of all his Corman productions. Demme, even in his later work tended to be at his best when he focused on quirky characters and small-town oddballs such as in MELVIN AND HOWARD and in the underrated & unknown CITIZENS BAND. He also always seemed to favor strong female characters which one can see in CAGED HEAT and even in the sometimes silly & wacky CRAZY MAMA.

    Part of Corman's deal with 20th Century Fox which meant that Roger had a bit more money than usual for his productions that made for a slicker and bigger looking film (sometimes for the better & sometimes not), FIGHTING MAD mixes in some 70's Whole Earth Catalog ecology along with the then-popular hicksplotation (although here lacking moonshine), revenge such as WALKING TALL and BILLY JACK along with independent salt-of-the-earth folks fighting greedy corporations. 

     Stoic Tom Hunter (Peter Fonda (THE WILD ANGELS) travels back to his small Arkansas hometown with his young son. Through his monologue to his son, we learn that he's divorced and leaving "the big city" as he hated living there and his wife wouldn't leave with him. Returning to the family farm he finds his father Jeff (John Doucette PATTON) and his brother Charlie (a young Scott Glenn billed here as Scott Glen) engaged in battle with a greedy land developer Pierce Crabtree (TV actor Phillip Carey) who heads up the appropriately named Crabtree Corp. Seemingly wanting to run roughshod over the entire area Crabtree is busy throwing up shopping malls and adding strip mines while forcing the local townsfolk off their land at a fraction of its value while enlisting the help of the corrupt local law enforcement and hired strong-arm goons.

   Wasting no time in kicking things into gear Tom is back in town barely one day before his brother and sister-in-law are killed in a fiery car crash after being piled with liquor and he begins a relationship with his old flame Lorene Maddox (Lynn Lowry I DRINK YOUR BLOOD). The spineless & corrupt sheriff (Harry Northup BOXCAR BERTHA) along with Crabtree dismiss the crash as a "drunken accident" and when the shifty realtors show up at the family farm with legal paperwork and a model of the proposed shopping mall they plan to build on the families farmland Tom smashes the model and clobbers the evil realtors with a hoe. 

    With a film like this, you know what's coming and the way the plot unfolds and the character's motivation and reaction to the unfolding events that make it either work or not. Fonda was always an interesting actor and watching him balance his initial laid-back persona with his later vengeance-seeking righteous-driven character is interesting although the constant brooding and simmering anger go on too long sometimes (along with shots of earthmoving equipment & strip mines). Watching him commandeer a bulldozer to break-up a neighbors house repossession or calmy kill off the land developers in their expansive home with a bow and arrow is loads of fun. Crabtree and his posse of crooks seem to live together in a swanky ultra-modern house with interiors that look to be from a Playboy photoshoot. The bow & arrow is a bit perplexing it does reinforce the back-to-nature wronged man protecting his land and the way of life. The sequences of families being evicted by the developers and the bulldozing of their homes bring to mind the depression era and the WPA photographs of the '30s. As to be expected the action sequences and Fonda "putting it to man" are the best parts of the film. 

    The film's pacing is kind of choppy and sometimes has trouble keeping consistent pacing. Just when the action starts ramping up Fonda goes into a bar and broods for a while or stops by for a roll in the hay with Lynn Lowry. The secondary characters including Douchette and the young Scott Glenn all bring a sense of grounded realism to their characters and Carey brings an atmosphere of the slimy big businessman (and ultimately thoroughly evil) that make you want to cheer on Fonda's character even more. One of my favorite actresses Lynn Lowry has a rather thankless role here but as usual, brings a wonderful presence to the small role. She also contributes a couple of topless scenes that along with some bloody shootings barely nudge the film into an "R" rating by 1970's standards.

   The film bears a close approximation to New World's later BLACK OAK CONSPIRACY from 1977 and that film's producer and writer Jesse Vint would claim that he brought the story idea to New World and they "appropriated" it for FIGHTING MAD. They did later allow Vint to make his film and there is a sameness to the plots although FIGHTING MAD is a better film.  

    As mentioned before because this was one of Corman's films made in conjunction with Fox there's more of a feeling of "bigness" to the film including helicopter shots, a larger cast, and the use of actual Arkansas locations that work much better than the usual So. Cal. locations for New World films.  

   The schizophrenic music score by longtime Fonda friend and collaborator Bruce Langhorne is all over the map with banjo themed moments for the family and farm scenes and a jarring electronic score for the action sequences. There's also the classic plaintive harmonica the pops up every time somebody dies that we care about. 

   Not a great movie but a film that does what it's supposed to do and thanks to Fonda's performance which brings quiet simmering anger to the character rather than the over-the-top bloody revenge that's the usual hallmark of these films. 

   Available on DVD from Shout Factory with Charles S. Duplin's interesting MOVING VIOLATION which has a rare leading man and nice guy role for Stephen Mchattie and the always welcome Kay Lenz.