B-Movie Gazette: CHARLTON HESTON IS AN OVER-THE-HILL BURNED-OUT QUARTERBACK FOR THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS IN "NUMBER ONE" (1969)

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

Thursday, September 29, 2022

CHARLTON HESTON IS AN OVER-THE-HILL BURNED-OUT QUARTERBACK FOR THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS IN "NUMBER ONE" (1969)

"Hup, hup, I should have stayed on the set of Beneath The Planet Of The Apes!"

Number One had all the makings of a character-study classic but unfortunately came out as a misfire from start to finish. It's a film that really if you were to remove the backdrop has very little to do with the game of football. It's misguided, at times aimless and suffers from a lackluster supporting cast that leaves Heston to fend for himself and help us connect the dots with his character flaws. His being an alcoholic and womanizer should normally be interesting stuff in contrast to a sports hero but all that stuff just doesn't connect here.

The movie's one saving grace is the fact that the real New Orleans Saints at the time gave their full blessing and the players and the facilities are used nicely throughout. Still, given the year, subject matter and a superstar leading man, this is a huge disappointment. Had all those things gone the other way it really could have been an Easy Rider of football. Not only does it not work as a character study, there's no action either. Heston once said that Call Of The Wild was the one film he should never had made and knowing the story behind that West German atrocity I can dig it but he should have added this to the list as well.

Currently streaming free on Tubi. 1.75 stars/5