Movie Madness

Otto Preminger’s Skidoo is often cited as one of 1968’s strangest movies. Another oddity from that year is Peter Bogdanovich’s first movie, Targets, with the truly great Boris Karloff nearing the end of his life.

If you watch some of the Monkees episodes in yesterday’s post, it’s likely you will see Monte Landis. Busy guy that he was, Monte appeared in seven episodes of The Monkees and he is also found here. Targets opens with scenes borrowed from 1963’s The Terror.

From “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” to “Hey, Hey!”

Were the Monkees based upon A Hard Day’s Night or HELP!? If the first movie was the inspiration, the full-blown zaniness and colorfulness of the TV series certainly reflected the Beatles’ second foray into film.

The Monkees was an instant hit, starting on September 12, 1966 with ‘The Royal Flush’, featuring my mother’s old pal, Vince Beck, in one of his trademark comedic roles. He was even funnier performing for the family in person.

Click on the Archive logo in the upper right to see the complete list of episodes. Vince also appears in ‘Son of a Gypsy’ and, with Mike Nesmith conspicuous in his absense, “Card Carrying Red Shoes’. Fingers crossed these videos will continue to be available for a while longer.