Which Way Is Up? (1977) How Do Three Richard Pryor’s Fit In With Today’s Changing Climate

There’s not many Richard Pryor films I hadn’t rented on VHS or managed to record from a TV broadcast. Such a brilliant comic and mighty fine actor. My whole pre-teens to my twenties the double act of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder never left my screens. I can drop into Stir Crazy at anytime and still be in fits of laughter. I’d even seen all the others like Brewster’s Millions with John Candy and that bizarre one called The Toy! There was great fun to be had with Critical Condition and Moving plus he could also turn in a superb dramatic performance alongside the best of them like with Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto in Blue Collar. One that had gone right under my radar was Which Way Is Up? Reading that he plays three different characters I just couldn’t wait to watch it.

Rubin And Ed (1991) Trent Harris Unleashes Crispin Glover And Howard Hesseman In A Cult Movie Gem

Signed copy by director Trent Harris too!

Now I knew I was gonna be in for a surreal trip so I lubricated up the old mind gears with a few bottles of strong, dark as oil, ale. The first line on the back of the DVD box reads “A delirious detour from the ordinary!“. I grab another bottle and guzzled back more of the good stuff. With a chance encounter with this curious cult Rubin and Ed DVD flying into my mitts from afar, I just couldn’t get my hairy arse sat down quick enough. “Right here I go, I’m going in”

Who’s Harry Crumb? (1989) When Fletch Is Outta Town John Candy Is On Call

When you need a master of disguise detective and Fletch is on vacation, who you gonna call? Well private investigator Harry Crumb is next down on the list.

Taglines – Nerves of steel. Body of iron. Brain of stone.

Society (1989) Saucy Debauchery Cult Of The Social Elite

What with Halloween nearly upon us it only feels right to jump into a horror and one with a big pumpkin sized barrel filled with pitch black humour instead of sweet candy. Not sure how I had missed the delights of Society, it had truly passed me by. Luckily I had my younger brother Dan to disturb and warp my mind. And what with the riot that was to come forth, I don’t know whether I should be thankful or not? hehe of course I was, it’s a total blast but I assure you, it’s not for the faint-hearted. It’s saucy, sexy and rather naughty and, without doubt totally utterly bat-shit insane.

Hannibal Brooks (1969) Ollie The Elephant Goes On World War 2 Road Trip

I love the way Oliver Reed can go from the pure brute force anger filled badboy roles to lighthearted comedic sweet roles, Hannibal Brooks is by far the latter. Ollie plays reluctant soldier, Stephen ‘Hannibal’ Brooks, a captured prisoner of war,  imprisoned at the Stalag VII-A camp near Munich. Brooks gets the chance to help out at the local zoo, feeding and shuffling poo, giant poo at that. The bringer of said big poo is Lucy the Elephant (Aida). Brooks is shocked by the sight of Lucy but it’s not long before the two become great friends. Lucy quickly warms to Brook’s sweet, calming nature and obeys every word he says. It’s not long before these two friends will be spending a lot of quality time together.

Running Scared (1986) Maybe Scared To Ruin Your Teenage Memories?

There are some films in your teenage years that resonate a true fondness in your memory. You remember when you first watched it, that feeling of getting to know the characters as their friendship for each other develops. Invested in their close bond together on the screen, you care for these characters as they look out for one another. This comes across in laughter, bravery in the face of danger, keeping an eye on their partners back, a bond so close they could be brothers, a real bromance. The buddy cop movie is always a sure fire winner in that movie genre cannon. Running Scared ticked all those boxes for me as a youth.

The Man in the White Suit (1951) What Obi-Wan Kenobi Got Up To In His Early Years

Way before Obi-Wan Kenobi was having a right laugh bothering Jawas and scaring the bejeezus out of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine he’d grown up in an industrial northern town in England, Earth. Going under the name of Sidney Stratton he had been a keen amateur inventor. He was clumsy and socially awkward in his younger years but this didn’t phase his creative mind constantly coming up with scientific ideas. For Sidney’s inventive imagination and intellect had come up with the idea of creating a fabric so unbelievable that it could change the whole world.

Night of the Creeps (1986) Alien Brain Bug Zombie Parasites

Opening in space, with a wet your panties laughing scene involving a hilarious looking freaky baby like rubber alien, naked, speeding down a corridor. Running as fast as his little legs can take him, this alien is being hunted down. In his arms he carries a large container which he frantically manages to jettison out into space. The container starts a trajectory on to Earth, the year is 1959.

Castle Keep (1969) Surreal WW2 Fairy Tale With Burt Lancaster & A Bunch Of Sweet Ladies.

After watching director Sydney Pollack awesome film The Yakuza I searched for projects of his I may of missed and Castle Keep from 1969 is what I found. A World War Two movie with a big twist, that twist is, (no spoilers) it’s completely batty and totally off it’s shopping trolley. It also stars the legend Burt Lancaster playing the warmongering one eyed Major Abraham Falconer.

Cul-De-Sac (1966) Eggs, Mead and Pleasence in a Dress

Can you judge a film by it’s cover? Yeah course you can in this case! Flicking through a few movie titles on a search for something different I stumbled across the intriguing title of Cul-De-Sac. What grabbed me in was the minimalist artwork from the cover of The Criterion Collection release and then the hook, line and sinker, Donald Pleasence. Oh I do love a good Donald performance and this film highlights his quirky style to the fullest.