Spent much of the week with dodgy internet service which propelled me into an even greater movie binge than usual (for me at least). This turned out to rectify two films which were always absent from my viewing, Deadly Weapons (1973) and Double Agent 73 (1974). Knew about them ever since Jonathan Ross schooled me on shite exploitation director repackaged as feminist film pioneer Doris Wishman back in the late eighties for the television series The Incredibly Strange Film Show (1988 - 1989).
Both films are indeed terrible like I presumed they would be. Inept in almost every way; the latter film has one of the worst car chases I've probably ever seen. Not sure how any sane person could find burlesque dancer built like a sack of spuds turned "actress" Zsa Zsa, AKA Chesty Morgan appealling, but different strokes for different folks, I guess. She oddly reminded me of Madame Cholet from The Wombles the way she shuffled around on screen in that ridiculous wig.
However, there is a silver lining and a point to this post and that's Deadly Weapons has a cool soundtrack that I dig. Largely consisiting of KPM library music, the highlights from it include a nasty slice of electric guitar that's almost Morriconne-esque in style, courstesy of Alan Parker (not that one) on the track Hippy. The film's main theme is an uncredited track by Mike Lease and The Studio G's Beat Group called Hard-Selling Woman which instantly transports me away to some underground nighclub from a bygone era and makes it the best thing about Wishman's film, in my humble opinion.
Aside from the surprisingly decent Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965), I haven't enjoyed anything else from the director who I personally dubbed the Thora Hird
of Exploitation Cinema. These two infamous entries haven't dissuaded me one bit in changing my opinion, but Deadly Weapons' soundtrack is definitely a winner, in my book.
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Need a list of great soundtrack songs from otherwise irredeemable movies.
Ones that immediately come to mind:
Herbie Hancock - Bring Down the Birds
Ennio Morricone - Magic and Ecstasy
Umberto Smaila - Mad Dog Killer (Theme)
Franco Micallizi - Stridulum (Theme)
Riz Ortolani - Corpo Di Linda
Tim Krog - The Boogey Man
Disasterpeace - Body Drop
Meant to post this track for The Boogey Man.
Three which immediately sprang to my mind:
Paul Misraki - La Ville Inhumaine (Alphaville)
Stanley Myers - Cavatina (Deer Hunter)
Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)
Feeling like a philistine admitting to preferring Also Sprach Zarathustra as an intro to American Trilogy more than anything else. Worked great in the film Elvis (2022).
The only good thing about 2001... is that it inspired Carpenter to make Dark Star as a riposte to it.
I liked the model designs, the apes, the source of John Landis' "see you next Wednesday!" recurring reference, and of course Leonard Rossiter being in it. None of those things stop the film from being a complete chore to sit through, however.
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