Exploitation Week: Detroit 9000

What’s shakin’ babies.  Welcome back to Day 2 of Exploitation Week and boy howdy did I find a humdinger of a film.  We have action, nudity, car chases, gunfights a complex heist leading to cop murders. Baby this is a packed film.  So brush off your patrol blues, prep your unlimited ammo six shooter and practice your racist epithets.  This is Detroit 9000.

Sing Misty for Me!

Spoilers are out of sight, baby.  Real righteous.

The Band of Brothers event; intervary becomes a charity event for Congressman Aubrey Hale Clayton (Rudy Challenger of Hit Man, ‘Sheba, Baby, The Slams, Sanford and Son, Killer on Board, Sole Survivor and Harlem Nights) gets robbed for over $400,000.  The black community screech at the cops for this robbery and wonders where police protection was.  The white community is claiming it is a scam to get attention to the media and create racial issues.  This is in the streets of Detroit has to be answered. 

We're booking you for being too fine. Heh.

Enter 14 year veteran cop Detective Lieutenant Danny Bassett (Alex Rocco of The Godfather, Herbie Goes Bananas, Nobody’s Perfekt, The Entity, Cannonball II and The George Carlin Show)a street savvy white cop that has a wife in the bug house, he is strapped for cash and is an honest cop behind the 8 ball has been assigned this robbery.  He knows he is screwed.  If it was blacks that did the crime, the community screams foul. If whites did it they scream foul and if he cannot solve it, he’s screwed.

   

The trifecta of boned doesn’t stop there as he is assigned a partner Detective Sergeant Jesse Williams (Hari Rhodes of Earth II, Conquest of Planet of the Apes, To Sir, with Love, Most Wanted and Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story) a college educated, street smart black man and member of the community is fine with the team up but cannot fathom how Bassett can deal with all the crap life has handed him. 

Hey sucka, leave a comment on the page or Facebook!!

They both tackle the case from different angles as well as sources in the hopes to solve the case at the ridiculous time restraint of 48 hours.  A prostitute at the local brothel Roby (Vonetta McGee of Blacula, The Norliss Tapes, Shaft in Africa, Repo Man, Hell Town, Cagney & Lacey and L.A. Law) knows of a double cross from the heist and tries to tell the cops but is conflicted as she knows Jesse from a younger and more innocent time in her life.  

The gang that hit up the felons of the heist go their separate ways to let the heat cool off and yet are packing hardware and ending up in shoot outs with cops.  WTF??!!!   Be cool cats and this could just wash over but NOoOoOOo they got to go right to blasting patrolmen.  With every tick of the clock and suspects and leads drying up Bassett and Williams are almost at their wits end.

I have just a few notes of this movie.  Cinematography is done 35 mm Panavision(anamorphic lens) and this is recorded in 4-track Stereo (double layered 2 track for audio taping) and given this was filmed in 1973 you can still see damage from the 1967 race riot in Detroit all over the town; a point referenced in the film as well.  This was well written and really embraced the time of change in both cultures attempting to tolerate one another in the hopes to acceptance. 

Writer Orville H. Hampton (Rocketship X-M,The Alligator People, Jack the Giant Killer and Riot on Sunset Strip) did his level best to show each of the stereotypes from both sides of the fence to a realistic standing…although I myself have not heard the term Honky that many times ever. 

TV director and producer Arthur Marks (Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Linda Lovelace for President and The Monkey Hu$tle) was said the filming process was a double edged sword in that he was uncomfortable with the violence and nudity but the experience did allow him to further on into Film with a different view of how violence is portrayed.

Western TV Week: Gunsmoke

Howdy buckaroos and welcome to the finale of Western TV Week.  Now given I had not seen this series prior to this write-up I got to find out all sorts of facts.  Placed in the surrounding area of Dodge City Kansas this is the first of the TV Westerns to be shown in the Midwestern states rather than the West coast.   So get your daisy suits cleaned, polish them spurs and prep for one mighty fine shindig.  This is Gunsmoke.

Hmm wonder how Peter Graves is doing.

Festus: Spoiler Dillon!!!!

Right off the first episode you get a feeling this show is going to have a sense of style to it.  It gets introduced by the Duke himself, John Wayne.  Giving praises to both the show and cast members.  Not too shabby for right out of the gate and was adapted from the same name titled radio show to television.

Deputy US Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness of The Thing from Another World, Iron Man, Hellgate, Hondo, Them! And McClain’s Law) dispenses justice in Dodge City and the surrounding areas.   Having two regular deputies Festus Haggen (Ken Curtis of Rio Grande, The Searchers, The Killer Shrews, The Giant Gila Monster and Ripcord) a cantankerous grump and Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver of Touch of Evil, Kentucky Jones, Gentle Ben, Duel and McCloud) a scrappy fellow with a good gun hand, Dillon had the authority to deputize anyone of use and wanting to serve the good folk of Dodge City and the surrounding territories.   Keeping the peace with compassion but backed up with six shooters and rifles.

Low down horse thieving...Hey is that Scotty?!!

One of notoriety in my opinion is the half breed Indian blacksmith, Quint (Burt Reynolds of Dan August, Deliverance, Shamus, White Lighting, The Longest Yard, Smokey and the Bandit and Malone) whose main role was to go into a residing town and apparently get the crap wailed out of him.  Granted Quint gave as well as he got but still lay off the poor guy.    

When the fellas are not out keeping the peace, they are taking in a show at the Long Branch Saloon to catch Miss Kathleen “Kitty” Russel (Amanda Blake of Sunny Side of the Street, Lili, A Star is Born, The Red Skelton Hour and Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge) who is quite the eyeful.  Miss Kitty is the sole proprietor of the saloon/hotel/brothel and yet was never viewed as a madam in the town’s eye but a business woman.

 

Gator McKlusky??!!!

A few points of interest I thought I would bring up.  While the story takes place in Dodge City; there are more than a few locations that look awfully familiar.  Such as Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, Paramount Ranch, Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth California and Simi Valley.  For most of the interior shots from anything to a gunfight to a bar room brawl we can surmise these shots took place in the CBS Studio Center as well as California Studios for the in-depth rafter lighting for the bar’s interior shots.

Miss Kitty takes no guff.

Also the barrage of guest stars of the show such as Claude Akins, Ed Asner, James Doohan, Barbara Eden, Leif Garrett, Beverly Garland, Jodie Foster and Dennis Hopper  just to name a handful.  Lasting for 20 years this Western truly gripped the imagination.

Western TV Week: Have Gun, Will Travel

Bueno dias campers and welcome to Day 2 of Western TV Week so let’s saunter on through.  This time we move towards San Francisco to a professional gunfighter, a trouble shooter if you will.  The Enigmatic Paladin has his own calling card.  So saddle up, have an ace in the hole and have your wits about you.  This is Have Gun Will Travel.

hmm methinks this young lady is from the F-Troop tribe.

Paladin: I don’t think you got a good look at this spoiler while you had it. The balance is perfect.  This trigger responds to a pressure of one ounce.

Former West Point graduate and Civil War Veteran Paladin (Richard Boone of Halls of Montezuma, Call Me Mister, Return of the Texan, Pony Soldier, Medic, Hombre and Big Jake) has emerged from the war in favor of the finer things in life with his care free hotel room in the Carlton.  When he wasn’t enjoying a series of poker or a bottle of Dom Perignon and seats at the opera; a professional gunslinger with his business card over a picture of a chess knight piece that reads: Have Gun, Will Travel…Wire Paladin, San Francisco.   

Brisco's got nothing on Paladin!

This man was characterized as an anti-hero. I assume this is due to the fact he is constituted as a bounty hunter, gunfighter and everyman’s hero.  Traveling from town to town on horseback or by train he found his mission objectives and earned his money.  To me, he came across as a necessary evil. The final justice in a land that had no real law was at the barrel of his balanced and weighed .45 revolver, his derringer and a lever-action Marlin rifle. His marksmanship was second to none.  His training, intelligence and tactical analysis gave him a massive edge.

The only other reoccurring character is handy boy and bellhop Hey Boy (Kam Tong of The Hunters, Who Was That Lady, Walk Like a Dragon, The Virginian, Women of the Prehistoric Planet and Dimension 5) who Paladin harassed but it was good natured ribbing.

Now we discuss a few interesting notions of the show. Most of the character Paladin is shrouded in mystery.  You get the concept that he is not proud of being a soldier in the Civil War and his personal honor is greatly tarnished from this. 

 So many TV actors cut their teeth under this show and many other have furthered their existing careers such as: Ken Curtis of Gunsmoke, Charles Bronson of The Dirty Dozen and the Mechanic, Jacqueline Scott of Gunsmoke and Ironside, character actor George Kennedy of Gunsmoke, Dr. Kildare and the Naked Gun trilogy and Norma Crane of Fiddler on the Roof and They Call Me Mister Tibbs! 

Ow landed on my keys!

Once again Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, Iverson Ranch and Bronson Canyon Griffith Park were being used as background trails from horse thieves and bushwhackers.   The series was filmed in 35mm Spherical and recorded in mono for audio. Paramount once again is the production for the CBS entertainment as it was with Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Program and The Red Skelton Show.  A darker storyline but justice always prevailed in one form or another.

Western TV Week

Howdy pardners and welcome to the mass conglomerate that is TV Westerns.  And boy howdy we have more than a few to get through this week and I hope yer six guns and spurs are clean and ready for action. So I will meet you in the tavern for a boilermaker and a round of cards.  Remember there is a no tolerance for cheaters.

I hope you all enjoy and again feel free to drop suggestions, comments and complaints so I know how I am doing.

I crap bigger than you!