Poor Pretty Eddie

Yowza, here's a new old one I watched recently for the first time: Poor Pretty Eddie aka Redneck County, Black Vengeance, and Heartbreak Motel .  This sleazy 1975 backwoods set hicksploitation flick stars Shelly Winters, Slim Pickens, and Ted "Lurch" Cassidy and was apparently produced by pornographers attempting to make a legitimate mainstream picture to avoid undue attention by the FBI!  It knocked my socks so far off my feet I was inspired to write this capsule review entirely in haiku form.

Caution: spoilers ahead!

Poor pretty Eddie
Slow motion kick to the crotch
Shelly Winters sloshed

Rape scene cutaway
Rednecks ogling humping dogs
White sequined jumpsuit

Rabbit stew breakfast
Is that a dog collar?  Yep
This meal is ruined

Low Southern Gothic
Race relations? Women's rights?
Slim pickin's down here

Lurch stabbed but not dead
D. Lynchian red wedding
Not so pretty Ed

Here's a trailer:

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Battle Beasts commercial (collect all 84!):

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry

In preparation for the new Mad Max film coming out soon which looks to be a welcome throw back to the dangerous practical automotive stunts of yore, I watched Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) this weekend as a testament of how car chase films used to be made before the advent of CGI, namely using real live cars to actually smash up and destroy on film, and the main star in this one is a real beauty, a 1969 lime green Dodge Charger R/T 440.

There are a couple scenes in this flick that I almost couldn't believe were actually done live on camera were it not for mine own eyes: one a high speed chase involving a police helicopter flying perilously close to the aforementioned Charger--a scene with an added element of pathos since the late Vic Morrow was a passenger on this non fatal helicopter ride--and the ironic climactic scene, which I shan't spoil for anyone that has never watched this film, but which is a pretty amazing shot to see for the first time and would probably be done in CGI if filmed today.

Starring Peter Fonda--with his long flowing locks looking startlingly similar here to a pre-op Bruce Jenner--and an unbilled cameo by Roddy McDowall, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry is a great action car chase flick; it would make a good double feature with Tanatino's Death Proof.

Here's the trailer:

May the Fourth be with you

Hagoromo sea chicken commercial: