Talkin' Flicks with Me, Myself, and Zach (#2/15)
"Filmed in 1978. Produced, directed, written and edited by John De Bello. It was really awful but for some reason I still remember it pretty well. It had so many sequels and the original was re-released in 95. 87 minute long theatrical release, bumped up to a whopping 90 minutes! But that was around the time I joined the bureau. I never had a chance to see it..."
We're talkin' of course, about
Now Playing: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1990)
Expectations: I'm setting the bar lower than a limbo stick tonight. These are mostly B movies after all. The only thing I've heard of this movie is what York told me and honestly that was mostly about the DVD format wars. The man loves his special features. I'm expecting some classic zombie movie spoofs, and some cutesy humor.
Reality: Adorable. Where to begin? First off, this is one of those slapstick comedies with tons of sight gags and dad joke energy just radiating off of it like Chernobyl. Too fun. Immediately it starts off with the theme song: "AttaAAAAAAck of the Killer Toe MAYY Tooooes!" Probably not everyone will be but I was pretty charmed to imagine John De Bello just working late in his study writing the lyrics while his wife yelled at him to come to bed. The songs are bad. For better and for worse.
One bit that got some laughs out of me was when the gov't set up their anti-tomato task force with a chief of disguises. Every 15 minutes or so we'd check in on this serious black dude in a roly poly tomato costume. This movie is precious, but don't watch it if you're not down with the Top Secret or Naked Gun modus operandi of humor. There's tons of influence going on here; I even think the ending may have inspired Mars Attacks which seems like a very safe thing to say given my audience.
Here's a fun full circle fact: This was Dana Ashbrook's first role before he took on Bobby Briggs in Twin Peaks. Well that was fun, good one York. I'll see you next time!
"Filmed in 1978. Produced, directed, written and edited by John De Bello. It was really awful but for some reason I still remember it pretty well. It had so many sequels and the original was re-released in 95. 87 minute long theatrical release, bumped up to a whopping 90 minutes! But that was around the time I joined the bureau. I never had a chance to see it..."
We're talkin' of course, about
Now Playing: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1990)
Expectations: I'm setting the bar lower than a limbo stick tonight. These are mostly B movies after all. The only thing I've heard of this movie is what York told me and honestly that was mostly about the DVD format wars. The man loves his special features. I'm expecting some classic zombie movie spoofs, and some cutesy humor.
Reality: Adorable. Where to begin? First off, this is one of those slapstick comedies with tons of sight gags and dad joke energy just radiating off of it like Chernobyl. Too fun. Immediately it starts off with the theme song: "AttaAAAAAAck of the Killer Toe MAYY Tooooes!" Probably not everyone will be but I was pretty charmed to imagine John De Bello just working late in his study writing the lyrics while his wife yelled at him to come to bed. The songs are bad. For better and for worse.
One bit that got some laughs out of me was when the gov't set up their anti-tomato task force with a chief of disguises. Every 15 minutes or so we'd check in on this serious black dude in a roly poly tomato costume. This movie is precious, but don't watch it if you're not down with the Top Secret or Naked Gun modus operandi of humor. There's tons of influence going on here; I even think the ending may have inspired Mars Attacks which seems like a very safe thing to say given my audience.
Here's a fun full circle fact: This was Dana Ashbrook's first role before he took on Bobby Briggs in Twin Peaks. Well that was fun, good one York. I'll see you next time!
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