One day, while shopping at my local supermarket, I happened to stumble upon the (drum roll) dollar DVD. So—having previously admitted to being a “bad old movie junkie,” you can just imagine my sheer joy at finding these cheesy, campy, corny and sometimes poorly preserved old movies…and all for a dollar!
I now possess stacks and stacks of these
low-budget delights:
.Warning from Space(1956), a superbly campy sci-fi film replete with bad dubbing and aliens tormenting Tokyo in the cheesiest star-shaped costumes ( with one big dumb eye in the center) I have ever seen.
lots of Voodoo, Nazis and best of all Mantan Moreland. •The Monster Walks (1932), with Willie Best as “Ol’ Sleep N’ Eat.”
•The Brain that Wouldn’t Die.
•Topper Returns.
•Tales of Tomorrow (1951-1953), with a
VERY young Leslie Nielsen.
•World War II (The German Front), an
eye-opening Frank Capra propaganda film.
·The Bat, with Vincent Price and Agnes Morehead.
•No no Nanette •Dinner at the Ritz.
•The Beverly Hillbillies.
•The Lucy Show.
•The Andy Griffith Show.
•Shane , with Jack Palance.
Just to name a few.
An article in USA Today calls the enthusiasm over the dollar DVD “a new phenomenon.” It goes on to say that, “…consumers are snapping them up.” It also warns consumers to choose carefully, least they are disappointed—they just don’t get it, do they?
I could go on and on ad infinitum with raves for
these inexpensive forms of entertainment but
suffice it to say that they have provided this
“junk movie junkie” with hours and hours of pure
viewing pleasure.
I would like to digress a bit here and take this
time to talk briefly about a certain actor: star of
many dollar DVD’s. An actor: recently deceased
(Nov. 10, 2006). An actor: the quintessential
“crumb” of the “silver screen.” An actor:
Volodymyr Palahniuk (a name that defies
pronunciation!). An actor (please Syl come to the
point!): Jack Palance, childhood friend of my
father (and friend of my uncle on my mother’s
side as well).
Most people I talk to only remember Jack Palance as Curly or Duke in City Slickers, his 1992 Academy Awards 73 year old one-hand push-ups, or maybe as the evil gunfighter Jack Wilson in Shane, but I have pretty much been aware of him all my movie-viewing life due to my dad (who grew up with Jack and his brother in Lattimer Mines, PA.) who would always comment to me about his “overacting.” My dad recounts that when they were kids and they played “cops and robbers” Jack was always the robber. And when they played “Cowboys and Indians,” Jack was always the “Indian” (who were the bad guy’s pre “political correctness”). All this was in practice, no doubt, for his subsequent roles: Dr. Jekyll (Mr. Hyde too), Ebenezer Scrooge and Count Dracula -- and for his movies, including: The Man in the Attic (1953), Sudden Fear (1952) and “Panic in the Streets (1950).
By now you may be asking yourself if there is a point to all this talk about a dead actor. The answer is, “no, not really.” It’s just that, one day while visiting my mom, I came across this photo:
Yes, it’s ol’ Jack and I sitting on the couch during a 1975 visit to my grandmother’s (my mom's mom) house in Hazleton, PA (a neighboring town of Lattimer Mines and another one of Jack Palance’s “stomping grounds”) waiting to taste my grandmother’s legendary Perogies.
Please note the “Leisure Suits.”
Enjoy!
Good post.
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