ISN'T IT SHOCKING? (1973)

ISN'T IT SHOCKING? aired on Oct. 2, 1973 as part of ABC's "Movie of the Week" series and it stars a young Alan Alda as the sheriff of the small dying town of Mount Angel. The town is dying because only old people live there. Alan is bored and just riding out his last few days before he takes a new police job over in the thriving metropolis of Horse Creek. Then a serial killer strikes!

Mount Angel is full of quirky characters and the script by Lane Slate (who also wrote a number of other memorable 70's TV movies, most notably THE CAR) quickly brings the town to life. Right from the start I liked this movie and the naturalistic tone of the conversations. Especially the playful banter between Alda and his secretary Louise Lasser. Alda is dating with a single mother who runs the local roadside motel, but Lasser knows that he's secretly (even to himself) in love with her so she just plays with him nonstop. It's a lot of fun to watch. Anyway, there's a killer on the loose, but nobody even knows it because he's using a homemade defibrillator to make it look like the elderly victims died of a heart attack. But then the bodies start piling up so fast that Alan begins to suspect that something sinister is going on.  He decides to get to the bottom of it.

Quick pace, funny script, quirky town folk, nice camerawork and a excellent cast (including Ruth Gordon, Lloyd Nolan, Will Geer and Edmond O'Brien!)...I didn't want ISN'T IT SHOCKING? to end! If some TV exec back in 1973 had a brain he would have made a TV show about the adventures Sheriff Alan Alda and his town full of weirdos, but I guess Alan was already busy with "M.A.S.H.". Oh well, if you like small town mysteries, then check it out.

EDGE OF DARKNESS (1943)

The small Norwegian fishing village of Trollness (pop. 800) has been under Nazi control for the last two years. The citizens have tried a few small things to undermine the Germans (ruining the canned fish coming out of the cannery, random fires, etc.), but without weapons they have no hope of overtaking the 150 Nazi soldiers.

Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan both live in Trollness and are lovers. Flynn is a fisherman and looked upon as the unofficial leader of the Rebellion. Sheridan is the daughter of the only doctor in town and he disapproves in her involvement with the Resistance Movement. To complicate matters even further, her brother and uncle are in cahoots with the Nazis. Also, the young German commandant of Trollness is a go-getter and wants to make a name for himself by crushing the Rebels once and for all.

If you were expecting EDGE OF DARKNESS to be overly melodramatic and sentimental just because if came from the early 1940's you'd be partly correct, it had a few sappy moments, but at the same time it didn't shy away at all from showing the Nazi's just straight up mowing down town folk with machine gun fire. Also, in the most shocking part of the film it strongly implies that Sheridan was raped (off screen) by the Nazi's!

Good acting, exciting story, nice scenery, plenty of action (and one awesome explosion stunt), a young Ruth Gordon, piles of dead bodies, blood soaked shot of a guy's head after committing suicide with a gun...I say check it out. It's not the most action-packed WWII movie ever, but the story is intriguing and I enjoyed myself from beginning to end. I would love to see a remake or even play a video game version of this story.

Look at how young Ruth Gordon is!

SCAVENGER HUNT (1979)

A wealthy game inventor, Vincent Price, croaks while playing a frog game and leaves his entire $200 million estate to the person (or persons) who can collect the most points from a list of Scavenger Hunt items he left in his will. The potential beneficiaries (family, servants and a taxi driver) have until 5pm this afternoon to gather the items. Chaos ensues.

As far as IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD knockoffs go, SCAVENGER HUNT is an alright film. You’re not gonna soil your Ewok Underoos with piss from laughing so hard, but you might get a chuckle or two. The most notable thing about the film (thanks to the passage of time) is the cast. From Vincent Price and Arnold Schwarzenegger to Ruth Gordon and Scatman Crothers…this movie has a great cast! I was most impressed by the then 30 year-old Richard Masur playing the spoiled and mentally unwell son of Cloris Leachman. He was a trip. (It’d be a lot of fun to sit down and really analyze the entire cast of this film. Did you know that Carol Wayne, who played Vincent Price’s nurse, died just a few years later of suspicious causes at the age of 42?)

Simple story, impressive cast, interesting Southern California filming locations, quick pace, unfunny but not painfully unfunny humor, an ancient Jack in the Box, numerous vintage cars. Not the funniest movie ever (or even funny at all), but it has a certain charm to it. Worth watching for fans of 1970’s comedies.