B-Movie Gazette: REMEMBERING THOMAS JEFFERSON BYRD (1950-2020) - TONY NOMINATED VET ACTOR APPEARED IN 7 SPIKE LEE FILMS, MURDERED LAST YEAR IN ATLANTA

B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - WITHOUT WARNING (1980)

Greetings All - It would be cool to do a post one time called the ten most essential B-flicks, sort of a B-Movie 101 thing. If that ever happened I would have to include this sci-fi horror classic from Graydon Clark (Black Shampoo, Satan's Cheerleaders.) This one's a don't pass go and don't collect $200 folks, just see it, Or watch it again. I'm not even going to begin to explain the plot except you have these flying disc things that attach themselves to people, in this case campers on an outing and kill and feed on them. Eventually these discs are tied to an alien, a hungry alien. A forerunner to 1987's Predator sort to speak and with a flat-out goofy cast. Jack Palance and Martin Landau, say what? And looking drugged out I might add but the real surprise here is veteran character actor Larry Storch, from the '60's, a guy who knew 150 dialects and here he is in this as a boy scout leader lol. Also known as It Came Without Warning, this gem is streaming free now only on Plex. 2.75 stars/2.75

Sunday, June 6, 2021

REMEMBERING THOMAS JEFFERSON BYRD (1950-2020) - TONY NOMINATED VET ACTOR APPEARED IN 7 SPIKE LEE FILMS, MURDERED LAST YEAR IN ATLANTA

Amid all the hubble bubble of last year's pandemic, election and protests, it may have been hard to notice we also lost a great actor who was gunned down in Atlanta, shot in the back multiple times by someone almost one-third his age. Very little is known about what happened or the cause of the altercation except that the two had some sort of argument or conflict inside a store hours earlier. The 30 yr old suspect was eventually arrested.

Funny as shit in Red Hook Summer, downright scary in Clockers, Byrd starred in a total of seven Spike Lee movies and was also a Tony-nominated Broadway vet. Tonight we pay tribute to his great work and while he may be gone, thanks to a little something we call cinema, we can pay him a visit in a lot of different ways. Vaya Con Dios, Mr Byrd!

CLOCKERS