Friday, June 20, 2008

Robot Monster

6 comments:

Todd Mason said...

Oh, the Ro-Manity.

Cap'n Bob said...

Another Ed Wood masterpiece. Even the coming attractions stink.

Todd Mason said...

Close, Cap'n, but no splinter. This was that Other Auteur of 1950s no budge, Phil Tucker...less amusingly than Michael Medved seemed to think, the justifiably hostile reaction to this film supposedly so depressed Tucker that he attempted suicide. His previous adventure, DANCE HALL RACKET, is most famous for Lenny Bruce's contribution as the guy gluing pasties on strippers; IMDb notes several (striptease) films I haven't previously heard of after ROBOT MONSTER, including the versatile "BROADWAY JUNGLE aka HOLLYWOOD JUNGLE," before coming upon his last masterpiece, CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS. He managed to contribute to such underwhelming fare as the GET SMART! movie THE NUDE BOMB, and ORCA as well as Dino's KING KONG, in later decades.

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0875973/

I was thinking that ROBOT MONSTER is a Very strong contender in the stakes for Worst Philosophical Musing in the Form of a Dramatic Film. But there are So many contenders there, not least Oscar-winning CRASH.

mybillcrider said...

I saw this one very late one night at an Aggiecon some years ago. It's bad.

Todd Mason said...

Ah. The JUNGLE film is actually a crime drama of sorts about Phil Tucker-style film making.

Todd Mason said...

Not sure I've ever looked at the trailer before, nor seen the title card at the end with all the comic books, one-sheets for ROBOT MONSTER itself, and what looks like copies of the shudder pulp HORROR STORIES in the background. A rich stew of inspiration.

THE CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS no better, looks less ridiculous (gorilla suit/diving helmet robots/"Ro-Men" don't cut it no-how), but is just as hilarious.