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Reviews
The Illustrated Man (1969)
Stood up to expectation
Saw this movie years ago late one night on telly when I was about 12 and watched again recently. Glad to say it stood up to expectation, a personal all time fave. Considering it was made in 1969 it was well ahead of its time. One of the few book adaptations that actually worked. The sets, props and characters were still impressive, even though the moog soundtrack gets a bit irritating at times, but it was the late 60's. A great dark and twisted way to present a selection of Bradbury stories which would be a big ask for any film maker to pull off without a lot of flack from the sci-fi purists. With todays movie technology would like to see a remake of this film, particularly the Long Rain and the Veld. Steiger was on top form in this film, who hated snakes and the woman who made his life a living hell...'When I fiiind her, I gonna keeeel her.'
White Line Fever (1975)
Blue Mule
Saw this movie when I was about 7 yrs old and thought it was one of the better truck movies of the 70's. Movies back then were all about stunts, and cool cars and trucks getting trashed big time. Everything else like story lines and character development just got in the way. This film had the best truck crash stunt ever, no special effects then, if you wanted to jump a truck 200 ft through a giant glass structure, you had to use a real truck and a real glass structure. There was a killer chase scene where the Blue Mule and an old Ford Louisville battle it out. The Mule T-bones the louie a beauty at full noise. The producers did a top job on getting the right looking truck for the movie, the Blue Mule was a sharp lookin rig, for a while there.
California Fever (1979)
California Fever down under...
Yes we got the California Fever TV series down in New Zealand in 1979-80. I was 12 yrs old and realised there was no God in the universe when we saw 16 yr old kids in the US driving hotted up cars like that to school. Vinnie had a metalflake painted '70 Firebird with fat cragars, Ross had the customised Ford van which was later replaced with some kind of mad max lookin' 4x4, Laurie had a beat up 69 fastback Mustang. The 4 on the floor kids hung out at Ricks Place (Lorenzo Lamas) which looked to be shot at Newport Beach by the wharf. Was there a year or 2 ago, wondered if it was the location, good ice creams there anyway. Pretty straight line show story and acting wise, young disco bunnies (hehe) cool cars, lamo bands etc. However had an appealing cheese factor, and a couple of believable actors cast. Would be keen to see again as was a great time capsule for the times... flare kitted vans, disco, polyester tees, beaches, crusin, even some illegal drag racing. Like Chips they would always be helping out some poor sod, and squeezing in the latest California fad every episode. Would particularly like to see the first episode (may have been the pilot) which featured some authentic cruise night footage which may have been shot on Sunset or Van Vuys, was hoping for more of that action throughout the series. Appeared to capture the perception of the southern Cali vibe of the late 70's. Deserves 8 out of 10 just for petrolhead appeal.