THE GHASTLY ONES 1968

"Filmed In Cranium - Cleaving Color !"

     When you watch an Andy Milligan film is not like your entering a different world, you’re pretty much stepping into another dimension. Working out of a ramshackle Victorian mansion on 1960’s Staten Island and along with a semi-regular cast of freaks & weirdos he cranked out low budget sexploitation & horror films (with many of them now considered "lost") and often working on budgets less than $10,000. Staring out with soft-core sex features he turned to horror in the late 60’s when the hard stuff began to creep into the sexploitation market and 1968’s THE GHASTLY ONES was his first foray into horror gore and his first color feature.

    As was most of his horror movies this was a period piece, taking place in Victorian times. Milligan said that he liked to shoot period pieces as then it would be harder for the film to become dated as with a contemporary setting. However as with most of his “period” pieces THE GHASTLY ONES seems to exist in some kind of weird Victorian alternate universe where thermostats & and light switches are plainly visible (most times on hideously ugly frocked wallpapered walls) along with modern bathroom fixtures and the men wear BVD underwear & boxer shorts while women parade about in slinky see-thru nighties.
    Basically THE GHASTLY ONES is Milligan’s take on the standard “relatives gather to read the will and they start getting bumped off” plot infused with Andy’s usual percent for dysfunctional marriages (with the all women portrayed as backstabbing conniving bitches & men as spineless weasels) along with religious hypocrisy(here in the form of a pervert priest) with everything scored by overwrought library music.
    In addition there are his tacky & often ludicrously garish costumes (which Andy made himself) and everything framed by his handheld WWII vintage 16mm Auricon camera (which can often be heard whirring away in the background). Because he filmed in long continuous takes moving about with his camera you end up with many “WTF” close-ups including actors pimply backs and inanimate objects such as bedposts. To add just one more bit of lunacy to the proceedings you can actually hear Andy in several scenes giving directions in the background or prompting actors that had forgotten their lines.

    Opening with a man and a woman traipsing thru the woods while carrying an insanely large paper parasol, they are then brutally killed by a knife welding maniac. THE GHASTLY ONES then introduces us to three couples with the three wives being sisters (with husbands including Richard Romanus – later in Martin Scorsese’s MEAN STREETS) who are each shown in some of the most un-erotic love making ever filmed. After being summoned by the straight outa Charles Dickens family lawyer the couples learn that in order to partake of the sister’s late father’s estate they all most spend three days on his secluded island estate. As the father had a rather unhappy marriage he instructs the couples they must fill the house with “sexual harmony and marital love” (?!).
    Upon arriving on the “secluded” island (complete with the late 60’s neighborhoods of Staten Island plainly visible in the backgrounds) the couples meet the servants including snaggle tooth imbecile Colin (Milligan regular Hal Borske) and a couple of women one of them being Maggie Rogers, another member of the Milligan stock company. Colin was the first of many simpletons that Borske would play in Andy's epics and Rogers with her very distinctive angular face was probably the best actress in his troupe. As the completed film only about 60 minutes the producers insisted Milligan film the prologue of the two early victims (although by this time Broske had lost the fake teeth that were used throughout the film and there was no money to buy new ones).

    The various killings include pitchforks, band saw dismemberment & beheadings (among others) and in which the effects range from barely competent to almost laughably bad, are interspersed with long stretches of meaningless meandering dialogue. Although their bottom of the barrel schlock Milligan's movies are always a fascinating experience to set thru - even more so when you find out more about his background and the story behind his movies (of which there are many).
   For anybody interested in the world of Andy Milligan (a homosexual who frequented the NYC S&M scene) its well worth seeking the now OOP book The Ghastly One : The Sex Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan by Jimmy McDonough. A vastly entertaining and interesting read not only about Milligan, but the entire 60's early 70's NYC grindhouse industry along with the earlier underground theatre troupes that helped spawn it. There is fairly compelling evidence that he was involved in a murder at one point and although not a pleasant read (especially toward the end with his death from AIDS in 1991), its still a great book.
   THE GHASTLY  ONE is available on one of those loaded Something Weird double feature discs (along with Milligan's SEEDS OF SIN). Although loaded with scratches and green emulsion lines they help add to the overall tackiness and seediness of the proceedings. The DVD features a hilarious commentary track by Hal Broske and BASKET CASE director Frank Henenlotter including Broske relating the story behind the dead rabbit scene & other Andy stories. Something Weird also has put out Milligan's weirdly creepy THE BODY BENEATH. Fun stuff and well worth a look !

Hicksploitation Movie Night # 8 - THE LAST AMERICAN HERO 1973

 

     It’s probably not all together fair to tag THE LAST AMERICAN HERO with the ”hicksploitation” label as although it contains moonshining and car chases in the course of the plot (and was marketed as such by Fox), it’s an excellent character driven drama that features wonderful work by its leads (and a veritable “who’s who” cast of 70’s character actors lurking about). Based upon on an article written by Tom Wolfe in March 1965 issue of Esquire titled The Last American Hero is Junior Johnson ( later re-printed in his book THE KANDY KOLORED TANGERINE FLAKE STREAMLINE BABY), in which Wolfe traveled to North Wilkesboro Speedway in N.C. and profiled stock racer/ ex-moonshiner (and future racing icon & team owner) Junior Johnson.

   Johnson served as technical advisor on the movie and although highly fictionalized (with Johnson’s characters name changed to Jackson and the story brought forth to contemporary times), the movie is helped immensely by actual North Carolina locations and an audience friendly script that contains a hugely “Americana” story with the notion that celebrates individualism and going one’s own way. In many ways its also a fascinating time capsule of rapidly disappearing piece of America & the lower rung roots of modern day racing in the form of the hundreds local dirt tracks that once dotted the south.

   Released at a time when stock car racing (except for the occasionally showing on THE WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS) was essentially a south of the Mason-Dixon line pastime, it had a rather checkered initial release (surprisingly doing better business in northern theatres). Re-released several times (at one point re-tilted HARD DRIVER) it later gained a cult following thru T.V. showings and a growing audience from the “gear head” fan base – such as what happened with John Frankenheimer’s GRAND PRIX from 1966.
   Jeff Bridges was an Oscar nominee for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971) and had just come off John Houston’s excellent FAT CITY (1972) and the now sadly forgotten western BAD COMPANY (1972). Here he plays backwoods North Carolinian Elroy “Junior” Jackson Jr. who as result of running a police blockade in his 1968 Mustang fastback compels the local sheriff to throw his moonshining father (Art Lund) in jail. Although Junior is basically a hothead and showoff (ultimately which is what caused his father to land in jail), like most of the characters Bridges had played over the years he brings a real down to earth personality to the role (along with a slight goofiness – and plus there’s that grin) which makes it impossible to not to root for him from the opening minutes. In addition William Roberts script plays up the “small guy vs. corporate big guys” aspect well in the form of big time racing team owner Burton Colt (70’s slimy/evil guy Ed Lauter).

    Initially seeing racing as a means to help his family out financially (including brother Gary Busey & mother Geraldine Fitzgerald) he enters a demolition derby at the local track run by promoter Hackel (Ned Beatty), but soon begins clawing his way up the racing ladder (“Stars cost money Hackel !”). Entering a race at Hickory N.C. he meets up with promoter Cleve Morley (Clint Eastwood regular and PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE’s Gregory Willcott) and wry veteran driver Kyle Kingman (the great William Smith- here billed as William Smith II), who’s wonderful here as the current top of the heap driver with one eye cast warily over his shoulder at the up & coming youngster. An almost achingly pretty Valerie Perrine plays Marge a racing groupie with a heart of gold who while always aligning herself with the current hot driver takes an immediate liking to Junior, perhaps seeing in him a future champion and someone and although initially attracted to her (and later hurt) she is another one of life’s lessons for Bridge’s character.

    Although at its core THE LAST AMERICAN HERO is a basic one dimensional script (Who will win the big race at the end?!), it is blessed with wonderfully drawn three dimensional characters with only actress Geraldine Fitzgerald somewhat oddly cast as the mother. Although she’s fine here (and looks the part) her Irish accent comes thru rather strongly at some points. As with a lot of movies from this period (and as mentioned before) the supporting cast is filled with familiar faces including Erica Hagen who would have a memorable bit part later in THUDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT and additionally appear in about every TV detective/cop show during the 70's. Director Lamont Johnson shows up as an oily hotel desk clerk.
   Bridges is superb in the title role such as the scene where he makes a recorded letter to his family in one of those do-it-yourself record booths and later the closing shot where he waves a greeting to his friends while brandishing the first class trophy before disappearing into the winners press conference as he says good-bye to his past. Although the DVD is OOP this is rumored to be a future blu-ray release from Twilight Time.