Snow Devils

[Mr. Hockstatter]

Just recorded this from AMC last night.  It's an Italian sci-fi movie from 1965.  The polar ice cap is melting, and Captain Rod McBeefcake (okay I made up the last name) is called in to investigate.  They have a bit of a hard time getting hold of Rod, first they call up a girl who's playing miniature golf in a bikini, but Rod isn't there.  Then they call up a guy who's giving a class in Judo, but Rod isn't there either.  Then they call up a seaside resort, where Rod is playing chess against a little kid.  The woman calling about the fate of the world gets put on hold for about 5 minutes while Rod finishes up the chess game, then the little kid reminds him that since he defeated Rod at chess 6 times in a row, he gets to go on a mission with him.  Well, no, actually he doesn't get to go, but he does demonstrate his ability to read cue cards in a halting monotone.

Anyhow, Rod finally gets around to answering the phone, and he and his sidekick go to the Himalayas in search of the Abominable Snowman.  Perfectly logical to blame the old Yeti for the polar ice cap melting, just go with me here.  So, Rod meets some hot babe on the side of the mountain and tells her about his hometown, and how peaceful everything is there, they have a little makeout scene, '60s music plays in the background.

Perchance, they take shelter in a cave where, wouldn't you know it, the Abominable Smowmen have their headquarters.   But, actually they're aliens that just look sort of like the Abominable Snowman, except in green leotards.  Well, actually they look like chubby old guys with beards and fake fur on their arms.  In green leotards.  Turns out these aliens are using a big transformer to melt the ice cap, because it's the first step in their plan to invade.  Anyhow, this all gets resolved in a big fistfight and we think the day is saved, but wait!  Turns out the aliens have their main base on one of the moons of Jupiter, so Rod has to hop in a spaceship and go fight those guys as well.

This was really quite enjoyable (once they finally found Rod).  The special effects are just so incredibly cheesy you can't help but smile.  Numerous sentences composed of completely unrelated scientific sounding words are spoken in complete seriousness.  There's even a pretty girl who likes Rod, and she works on a space station that looks to be made from an inner-tube.  They use old teletype machines to print out data on the space station.  A Styrofoam boulder hits a guy in the head and he doesn't notice.  

This was a fun one.

[Shadowphile]

Sounds amazingly bad and therefore worth watching.

[dean]

Sounds great!  Can't go wrong with a plotline and special effects like that.  The boulder gag is always great to see, especially when supposed to be a serious effect.

Also, the start reminded me of a children's story:

The polar ice was melting, so we went to find Rod.  Was he at the golf course? No he wasn't at the golf course!  Was he at Judo? No Rod wasn't at Judo either!  Was Rod playing chess against a little boy? Yes Rod was playing chess against a little boy!  Everyone is now happy that they found Rod, except the little boy who lost at chess and was sad.

The end.



Post Edited (10-16-05 23:38)

[odinn7]

"There's even a pretty girl who likes Rod"

There's a joke sitting right there, but I'm not going to say it.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

There's an article on it over here:  http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/ThisMonth/Article/0,,103618,00.html
at the TCM site (oops, I guess it wasn't AMC).  Supposedly thery've got a trailer for it over there as well http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/Multimedia/Popup/0,,104850,00.html
But it didn't seem to want to play for me.


And yeah, that girl looked like she really liked Rod.  She was right in the middle of getting a bit miffed at him for the thing with the girl on the mountainside, but he interrupted her with a bunch of end-of-the-world ranting.  Really spoiled the mood.  She was still a little miffed.

[trekgeezer]

Okay, I saw the trailer and I must say my senses were shocked and my imagination was stunned. It's a shame they're not showing it again this month,  it looked like some good old fashioned drive-in cheese.

Hey, this Tuesday, Sept. 18 they're showing The Incredible Shrinking Man and The Wild, Wild Planet.  I have to get the VCR ready.

[Shadowphile]

Yup, the trailer is bad.  Therefore, must see.

[LH-C]

Don't you mean TCM? I missed most of it, but I am going to tape it the next time it's on, as well as 'Wild, Wild Planet'.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

Yeah, I meant TCM.  I taped Wild Wild Planet last night but haven't got a chance too see it yet.  Just the first 10 minutes.  Looks like it used a lot of the same props as Snow Devils, so I'm expecting something equally as good.

[Just Plain Horse]

I must say, Wild Wild Planet is aptly titled, albeit very cheap; the opening cedits reminded me of Destroy All Monsters...

[LH-C]

Yeah, both of those movies are crazy/bad!