TIKI CULTURE

The African Queen 1951 with Bogie for Mod Movie Monday

This week we take a trip down the river with Humphrey Bogart and Kathrine Hepburn on

The African Queen, 1951.

Noir at heart but filmed in Technicolor, The African Queen easily fits under Noir and Mod Movie Monday categories as it definitely deals with the darker side of humanity. Swing back to North Africa, 1914. News reaches a small German settlement that the Fatherland is at war. British missionaries are suddenly caught in the crossfire, and when Kathrine Hepburn’s character’s brother dies, she leaves the burning wreckage of her church with none other than alcoholic captain Bogie on his beat-up old jalopy of a steamer, The African Queen. Together they trek down a treacherous river full of all sorts of nasty things, including Germans with those funny little spikes sticking up out of their helmets. They catch wind that a German warship is anchored at the mouth of the river, and Hepburn does all she can (in the eyes of God) to sober up Bogie and get him to help her find a way to destroy the ship.

The African Queen

One of Bogie’s finest roles, he is very convincing as a gin-swilling roughneck. That may have something to do with the fact that while they filmed this flick in the jungles of Africa, Humphrey Bogart and director John Huston stuck to a steady diet of baked beans, canned asparagus and Scotch whiskey. There was a method to their madness…they were the only two from the cast and crew that made it through filming without getting dysentery or malaria. This included Hepburn, who drank only water and had dysentery so bad they had to keep a bucket next to the camera.

There is some great trivia on The African Queen at IMDB.

The African Queen dry-docked in Key Largo, FL

Just as the ’58 Plymouth Fury was a character in Christine and the pimped-out Dunham Coach Eldorado was a character in Superfly, so was the little steamer The African Queen (I suppose this turn of the name was to indicate the double meaning, as Hepburn’s character also acted like the Queen of Africa). The boat had already been in actual service for 4o years when they used it for the film, and went on for many years after working hard along the river. Today the boat is still in service…it’s docked in Key Largo, FL just off the Overseas Highway (US 1). It’s on display, looking very close to the way it did in the movie, and is available for charters. It’s really no where near as big as it looks in the movie. Kind of funny that it would end up in Key Largo, with Bogie’s connection to that island with his 1948 movie.

Booze: Gin. British Gin.

Here’s the trailer from 1951…

- Tiki Chris reporting from the jungles behind The Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, South Florida

A Collection of Fun Old Scary Movies for Halloween

The Halloween Season is a very busy one for Ole Tiki Chris P. I’ve been going bananas decorating every day for our big Halloween bash, and have been too beat to lay down some groovy stories. So I’m cheating a little…here’s a kool post from last year with some great movie ideas. Tomorrow I’ll post two new horror flicks and a couple of drink recipes too!

If you’re into old movies, I don’t have to speil about the wonders of the original Dracula, Frankenstein & Wolfman. You’ve probably seen them, or they’re already on your list. So here’s a few creepy flicks that may have escaped your radar…some you’ve heard of, but maybe never got around to witness. Some you’ve probably never heard of, but take it from this kat, they’re fun to watch and might even give you the heebee-geebees. I’ve included the IMDB link so you can get more info. So here goes, in no particular odor (I mean order. Damned spellchecker.)

The Haunting (1963) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/
One of the first ghost stories I ever saw as a kid, this black & white thriller sets three unsuspecting volunteers in a secluded, creepy mansion with a scientist conducting an experiment on sleep deprivation. Secretly the well-intended scientist believes the mansion to harbor spirits, and his volunteers have been selected for their apparent sensitivity to the spirit world. The spirits come. It’s krazy. A well-crafted movie from a well-written book, you’ll want to watch this one with the lights off and some spiked hot chocolate.

The Uninvited (1944) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037415/
Ray Milland leads this Noir thriller centering around a haunted house on the English coast. He and his sister move into the lovely old home only to find there are skeletons lurking in every closet. A well-written and well-acted movie, this one is at the top of my ghost movie list.

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/
Jack Nicholson at his craziest/finest. Stephen King may have hated this adaptation, but there’s no denying this is one of the creepiest, scariest, most disturbing movies ever made. From blood pouring out of the elevators to butchered children to eerie music from a not so distant past, The Shining will leave you with chills and craving for more. The sets of the Overlook Hotel are so evil and creepy looking that the hotel itself becomes one of the main characters (as intended). Even the opening credits are scary!

A Bucket of Blood (1959) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052655/
Beatniks, jazz, pretty girls and ‘innocently’ unintentional murder for the sake of art. This early Roger Corman film is as dark as dark comedy can get. Creepy, BW & even an actual bucket with blood in it. This is one of those movies where you’ll be saying “They got away with THAT in 1959?”

House of Wax (1953) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045888/
No Paris Hilton, but plenty of Vincent Price at his best. Murder, wax and insanity. Need I say more?

Mark of the Devil (1970) (aka Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065491/
Hot 60’s European chicks getting tortured as witches. Amazingly realistic and gory for the time, the plot centers around Inquisitors using their power to satisfy their sadistic lusts. Pretty damned disturbing, actually. The American version is dubbed pretty well, so you don’t have to read subtitles. Lots of torture devices, dirty villagers, and torture of pretty medieval women that borders on a snuff flick. Don’t let the kids near this one.

Young Frankenstein (1974) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/
It’s not easy to pull off a really great spoof of a really great movie, but they really nailed it with this one. Mel Brooks in his heyday with Harvey Korman, Peter Boyal, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Madeline Kahn, a cameo by Gene Hackman and Gene Wilder at the reins. Wilder plays the grandson of Victor von Frankenstein. He refuses to believe his grandfather’s work had any merit until he visits the ‘old country’ and finds his journal. When he decides to try the experiments himself, hilarity ensues. Shot in black and white with the same techniques as movies from the 30’s (and with some of the same sets as the original “Frankenstein”) this flick is timeless, with great gags, great writing, and Teri Garr looking like a real honey.

The Exorcist (1973) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/
Speaks for itself. If you ain’t seen it, see it. It’ll blow your mind. Scary, evil, disturbing. Interesting note: Max von Sydow played Father Merrin, the old priest. He was only 43 at the time. He also played the role of Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and Director Burgess in Minority Report (2002). Talk about a career!

The Changeling (1980) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080516/
Probably the best Ghost Story I’ve ever seen on film. George C. Scott stars as John Russell, a music composer who moves to a secluded vintage mansion outside of Seattle, hoping for some peace and quiet. What he gets are strange noises, visions, and visitations. As he unravels the mystery he gets drawn deeper into the web of the strengthening spirit. I don’t want to give anything else away! This has been one of my favorites from when I first saw it as a kid. Even though it was released in 1980, it has that old 60’s-70’s production style that makes it even creepier than any of the newer flicks can go for. Sure, new movies have great effects, but when they’re too slick they just don’t have that gritty creep factor.

Ghost Story (1981) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082449/
What happens when you get Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks and John Houseman together in their retirement years? A very creepy ghost story, that’s what. Add Patricia Neal, Alice Krige and a 50 year old bloody secret and you’ve got the makings of a very spooky film. 80’s production values are laughable, but if you can get past that it’s a fun flick to watch.

Christine (1983) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085333/
“She’s Death On Wheels” was the movie’s slogan. Another Stephen King adaptation, this time by John Carpenter. Nerdy teenager finds a beat to hell ’58 Fury “That’s uglier than he is”, spends all his time fixing it up and driving it, all the time becoming possessed by the demon car. It follows the book fairly well, but the way Carpenter translated the story to the screen has become legend. There’s even a Christine Car Club dedicated to restoring and preserving ’58 Plymouth Fury Christine clones (and a few real movie cars). With no computer graphics to help them, 25 Plymouths were used in the film, with about 15 of them being destroyed (which brought car guys like me to tears). It was later said that many of the destroyed cars were junkyard dogs anyway, didn’t run, didn’t even have engines, and were just painted rustbuckets used for the shots. A little Trivia: When my family and I went to see this in the movies around Christmas, 1983, we drove to the theater in my father’s ’64 Caddy. When we came out, people were pointing at his finned car and yelling, “It’s Christine!”…even though it was powder blue and didn’t look anything like a Fury! A few years later my Dad and I bought a ’59 Plymouth Savoy (with a ’58 front end on it) with the intention of making a Christine Clone. Turns out the motor was shot, and it was too much trouble to do it so we sold it back to the guy we bought it from for the same $200 we paid for it.

Bucket of Blood, 1959 & House of Wax, 1953 for Mod Movie Monday

Double click to open full-size...read the comics, they're great!

OK Swingers, the leaves are falling, the air is turning chilly (for most of you kats) and Halloween is just around the corner. So you know what that means… It’s time for some vintage horror flicks! So from now until Halloween, Mod Movie Mondays will feature some creature double features to get your blood flowing…possibly into the fangs of a vampire…Let’s kick it off with one of my favorite B&W dark comedies,

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Staring Dick Miller (You’ll know him when you see him) as a mildly mentally-handicapped busboy working in a Bohemian cafe, who learns somewhat by accident that he has a talent for sculpture. But his talent, you’ll see, isn’t as amazing as one might think, as this modern-era Michelangelo sort of…well…cheats.

Beatniks, jazz, pretty girls and ‘innocently’ unintentional murder for the sake of art. This early Roger Corman film is as dark as dark comedy can get. Creepy, BW & even an actual bucket with blood in it. This is one of those movies where you’ll be saying “They got away with THAT in 1959?”

The idea and outline of the film was developed in one day, and the whole thing was shot in less than a week on a very limited budget, but Corman’s concept to stray from mainstream horror films of the time and create a dark comedy routed in Beatnik culture puts this film as one of my favorites as a truly enjoyable, kookie and fun flick from one of our favorite eras.

House of Wax, 1953

In 3-D! Starring Vincent Price, this classic horror flick embodies the spirit (all puns intended) of the movies we love. A far-out story, creepy effects and VINCENT PRICE. Plus it was the first mainstream studio film to be made in glorious 3-D, opening up a trend in movie making that would have its highs and lows and finally come full-circle 50 years later when the technology finally caught up with the idea.

Even if you don’t watch it in 3-D, its such a gory flick for the time that you’ll be amazed, once again, that they got away with this stuff in the puritan ’50s. As a point of trivia interest, this film and the above-mentioned Bucket of Blood share some story ideas…and an actual line: “(He sure) knows his anatomy.” Crazy.

-Tiki Chris P. swingin’ in the balcony of the movie palace down the block from the Tiki Bar. Dig it, Daddy-O!

Retro Movie Alert: MACHETE Opens This Weekend

Robert Rodriguez does it again with a grainy, early-70’s style badass movie, MACHETE.

Machete is a story of deceit and revenge. Like all fo Rodriguez’s work, it is highly stylized and promises to be one hell of a flick. There’s sure to be plenty of blood, guns, knives, violence and laughs. And web sources say that Lindsay Lohan will be mostly naked onscreen, which is A-ok with me.

Plus…
DIG THIS CAST!

Danny Trejo
Robert De Niro
Jessica Alba
Steven Seagal
Michelle Rodriguez
Jeff Fahey
Cheech Marin
Don Johnson
Lindsay Lohan

Yes, I’m not kidding. De Niro in a film with Steven Seagal and Cheech Marin. And Don Johnson. And Lindsay Lohan. And Jessica Alba. And…ok, you get my point.

For you retro style fans, get ready to bask in the orangy faded glow of low-budget funk-era cinema. Taking his cues from movies like Dual, Vanishing Point and Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! Rodriguez will certainly not disappoint with this period-style flick.

It’s times like these I wish I still had my 1973 Chevy Caprice Classic with the wire caps, dual spotlights, diamond-plate fender skirts and ’49 Packard hood ornament. That low-slung beaut would have been perfect to cruise up to the theater in for this flick.

Here’s the Trailer for Machete, opening this weekend:

And here’s the official site: http://www.vivamachete.com/

-Tiki “Mack the Knife” Chris reporting from the arsenal in the shed behind the Tiki Bar.
Tiki Lounge Talk, the fun Tiki Talk Blog for kats & kittens who dig cocktails and retro groovyness.

Blast from the Past! 1999 for Mod (Retro) Movie Monday

This week we swing back to the glorious ’60s with a mid-century mod extravaganza,

Blast from the Past

Starring Brendon Frasier, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek

Duck and cover kids, because the laughs are flying! Ok that was corny as hell, but it’s in the spirit of this goofy flick. It’s all about a typical, mid-century California couple with a typical, 35 year-stocked underground bomb shelter which houses air scrubbers, a hydroponic garden and an exact duplicate layout of their surface home right down to the corner bar with the martini shaker. A series of events drives them down into the shelter, and once the automatic locks are set, they’re forced to stay for 35 years until the radiation has dissipated.Not long after that their son is born. They name him Adam.

Thirty-five years later, as the supplies finally begin to run short, Adam is given the task of returning to the surface to check out the situation and get more supplies…and find a nice girl to bring home so they can start repopulating the world.

Ok, I think you’re starting to catch the drift. In 1962, the quaint little house was situated in suburban LA among palm trees and orange groves. But by the late 1990s the section had deteriorated into a disgusting, miserable area of failed urban sprawl. When Adam reaches the surface, he finds nothing to be normal, and assumes the weird people are mutants deviated from the nuclear fallout, and that the poor condition of the streets and building is due to 35 years of war. Well, I guess he wasn’t too far off.

As the saying goes, hilarity ensues as Adam (with his 50’s manners and knowledge of culture up to 1962) tries to blend in with the modern times and get the supplies necessary to sustain his family in the shelter for another 35 years.

I think this movie is great on so many levels it’s hard to know where to start. Frasier makes a great 50’s guy from his look to his mannerisms. He can even swing dance. Alicia Silverstone has the right amount of modern wise-ass mixed with a 50’s sitcom innocence. The movie really shows the complete difference between the old days and the modern without over-doing it. Even though the whole thing seems fantastic, it’s all pretty believable. And funny.

As usual I won’t give away any important plot points for jokes. Suffice to say when a swingin’ kat from 1962 lands feet first into 1998, you’re going to have some funny situations. They pull it off great in this flick.

Martinis for drinks, of course, and for food…how about some Atomic Wings? Or maybe just popcorn.