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1-4 of 4
- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Director
Jerry Gross was a semi-legendary exploitation movie producer/distributor, but--unlike his more notorious colleagues in the exploitation business such as Kroger Babb, David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney--very little is actually known about the man himself.
He started in the film industry in the 1960s as a director, but found his forte in distribution--or, rather, outrageous film promotions. Sensationalized come-ons, titillating taglines, wildly suggestive posters and titles scored Gross hit after hit on the grindhouse/drive-in circuit throughout the 1970s. His company, Cinemation, released titles like I Drink Your Blood (1971), Teenage Mother (1967), The Seducers (1962) and I Eat Your Skin (1971). In the mid-'70s he was quoted as saying, "I guarantee that all these are selling titles. The public just cannot resist a film if the title drags them in. Stars don't matter. Titles do!".
Gross didn't limit himself to just exploitation pictures, though. He also distributed important movies like Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) (although in a slightly re-cut version) but he is chiefly remembered for the sort of promotions that would have done P.T. Barnum proud (as would his name). When he released the first two "Mondo Cane" films--A Dog's Life (1962) and Mondo Cane 2 (1963)--on a double bill, he hired actors to dress up as native tribesmen and dance around cinemas to emphasize the films' subject matter of primitive rites.
Gross' finest hour unfortunately spelled the beginning of the end. "I Eat Your Skin", I Spit on Your Grave (1978) and The Boogey Man (1980), all released by The Jerry Gross Origination, are fondly remembered and were big hits. By this time, however, major studios were securing a monopoly over America's screens and the smaller companies were quickly going bankrupt, which is eventually what happened to The Jerry Gross Origination. Gross' post-bankruptcy company Ambassador Pictures quickly went out of business. That was around 1983, and since then Jerry Gross seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.- German-born Monika Ringwald began her career as a nude model in British magazines such as "Health and Efficiency" and the infamous "Witchcraft", amongst others. This led to numerous acting parts, mostly tiny roles in many British sexploitation movies. Her only lead role was in The Girl from Starship Venus (1975), a little-known film that deserves a cult following (it's apparently a favorite of Quentin Tarantino). She also appeared uncredited in the horror movie Satan's Slave (1976), although most of her scenes were missing from the original UK cinema and video versions. Ringwald also used a variety of pseudonyms to voice cartoons and appear on The Benny Hill Show (1969). She retired from acting in 1978.
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Born May 13th 1932 in Croydon Surrey, Selfe was involved in the British film industry since the late 40s, but his most well known work was in 70s Brit exploitation films. He produced 'Sweet and Sexy', 'Under the Bed', was the cameraman for The Hot Girls (74) and supervised the 3-D scenes in Pete Walker's Four Dimensions of Greta (1972) and directed Can I Come Too? (1979) and the action comedy White Cargo (1973) which starred Sue Bond, 'Dave Prowse' and David Jason in an early film role. From the early to late seventies Selfe also ran several sex cinemas in London's West End, and in 1981 directed hardcore footage for the 'export' version of Emmanuelle in Soho (1981). A regular eighties employer was American producer Dick Randall who hired Selfe to edit Don't Open till Christmas (85), and direct Don't Scream it's Only a Movie (89) - a horror film compilation hosted by Vincent Price. Selfe later specialized in 'Hollywood Nostalgia' videos- made up from old (public domain) movie clips sometimes under the alias Roy Selfe, and was interviewed about his exploitation film past in the 1995 BBC documentary 'Doing Rude Things'.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in Eastern Europe, Steve Hawkes (aka Hucks) emigrated to America as a teenager to pursue an acting career, citing Johnny Weissmuller as a childhood influence. He played a Tarzan-type character in a series of Spanish-language movies. In Spain his character was referred to as "Tarzan", but when they were released in English-language territories they directly avoided mentioning the Tarzan name, instead referring to Hawkes' character as "Zan" (as in Tarzan in the Golden Grotto (1969). In 1972 he played the lead in the much-loved exploitation movie Blood Freak (1972),in which he turns into a monster turkey.
In the early '70s he was badly burned in an on-set accident, putting an end to his acting career. Now completely retired, he runs an animal sanctuary out of Florida.