Africa Addio A.K.A. Africa: Blood and Guts, Farewell Africa (1966)

An Italian mondo documentary directed by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi, with music by Riz Ortolani.
Scenes of various things happening in Africa in 1964 are shown and explained.
The best parts about this to me are Riz Ortolani's music (knew it sounded like Cannibal Holocaust) and being filmed in Technicolor Techniscope. I did appreciate that it showed a wide variety of material. There was everything from poachers and corpses to white women at the beach in Cape Town. From what I've read, it's all real and not staged. There was stuff that disturbed me and that's pretty gruesome. The zebra scene was not cool. However, the narrator pointed out that the only dangerous animal in Africa is humans. I don't mind seeing human skeletons scattered along a road and being run over by jeeps, but the zebras did not deserve what happened to them. It's difficult to describe something like this. If you're ready to see anything and everything, get ready to read subtitles really quickly because I would recommend it. If you don't want to see nudity, violence and stuff like that, Discovery Channel, National Geographic and Animal Planet skip the grizzly and gruesome details of reality. Africa was not fit for children's programming in the mid-'60s. I rate this awesome just for being so wild and raw.

A Big Hand for the Little Lady A.K.A. Big Deal at Dodge City (1966)

An American western directed and produced by Fielder Cook, starring Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Burgess Meredith, Charles Bickford and Kevin McCarthy.
A family stop at a saloon/hotel where a high stakes poker game is happening. The husband has quit gambling, but insists on watching. He joins the game and bets all of his money before having health problems. His wife decides to step in and play for him.
So cool. The plot was not very complex, but held my attention well. Casting and acting was good and all of the dialogue fit. I liked the casting of Burgess Meredith because I think he's a good actor and recognize him as Satan from The Twilight Zone episode, Printer's Devil. Filmed in Technicolor, it looked good to me. All other film elements aside, this was about the surprise ending. I won't spoil it because you should watch it. I rate it good.

The Shooting (1966)

An American adventure western directed by Monte Hellman, starring Jack Nicholson and Warren Oates.
A woman hires two men from a gold mine to escort her across a desert. The men's co-worker recently had problems in town and left. All along the way, there are problems with the woman and then another man she knows shows up to join them.
This was listed as adic western, but is not. That doesn't mean it is not a good western, though. The plot of characters traveling to some distant point is one of my favorite premises because so much can happen between. The mysterious woman and her even more mysterious gunslinger made a great contrast to the classic rough cowboy and his seemingly infantile partner. This film was made around the same time, with mostly the same cast and crew as Ride in the Whirlwind, but this was a few thousand times better. Same cameras, so video looked good. Framing and composition was amazingly better, just look at this shot (image). I liked the vast expanses of desert for a setting. There was lots of dialogue which was written well and the acting was convincing. The only part I didn't like was the inconclusive ending. I rate this awesome. Watch it.

Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)

An American western directed by Monte Hellman, starring Cameron Mitchell and Jack Nicholson.
Three cowboys stop to rest where outlaws are hiding and become fellow targets of a manhunt. One of them is shot and the other two hide out at a farm before attempting another escape.
This was not an acid western, but was listed on the Wikipedia page as such. This is the quote from that page which would best fit this film: "in the Acid Western, it is the reverse, a journey towards death; society becomes nightmarish". However, this lacked the outlandish and counter-culture characteristics of acid westerns I have liked.I could tell that this was shot on the type of Technicolor Cinemascope camera/film combos that I like because the video looked good, but the frequent, treble-biased gunfire grated on my ears. This got 6.5/10 on IMDB and 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, so other people think it's relatively good. I just don't see how it's that much different than the average, regular western of the time. I rate it o.k. because it seemed mediocre to me.

7 Women A.K.A. Seven Women (1966)

An American drama directed by John Ford, starring Anne Bancroft and Flora Robson.
A new doctor goes to work at an American mission in China. She is not accepted, but her help is needed because a Mongolian warlord is marauding in the nearby area. There is a pregnant woman there and sick people from a nearby British mission show up.
This is supposedly really important as one of the best films ever and is on several lists of those. Wikipedia also says that John Ford was trying to make a point about morality with it. The point was about those who actually act in a moral manner and those who merely claim morality. I thought it was alright. The plot mostly held my attention because there was always something happening. The characters were cast well and the doctor reminded me of Lieutenant Ripley from the Alien franchise (complete with jacket, red hair and cigarette). What I did not like was the production. I find 1960s production to be lacking in an annoying way. Everyone was announcing their lines and the video had a color balance which was too warm for my taste. Other critics gave it mediocre scores and I am too. I rate it o.k.

One Million B.C. (1940) & One Million Years B.C. (1966)

1940
An American adventure directed by Hal Roach, starring Victor Mature, Carole Landis and Lon Chaney Jr.
1966
A British adventure directed by Don Chaffey, starring Raquel Welch and Robert Brown.
An exiled caveman from one tribe meets a woman from another tribe and they bring the tribes together.
These were as similar as they were different. The newer one looked better in every way. 1940 had clean shaven cavemen and 1966 had all bearded. The special effects looked better and more convincing in 1966, but anyone who knows about the techniques used will appreciate the cleverness of 1940 much more. I was really impressed by the level of compositing and shot framing to make the monsters large. The plots are mostly similar and scene by scene, but there are some major differences like the ending. I don't want to over-analyze here, but I'm sure someone has done so elsewhere. I think they are equal, but would never watch them back-to-back again. I rate them adequate. If you're into primitive special effects, check it out.

Fahrenheit 451 (1966 & 2018)

A fireman meets a woman and they become friends. The fireman is in the business of finding and burning books and the woman is in league with book hoarders. Eventually, the fireman starts questioning why things are the way they are and begins to read the forbidden books.

1966 A British science fiction directed by Francois Truffaut, starring Julie Christie and Cyril Cusack.
The 1966 British film was great. I liked it because the plot fit in with Brave New World, 1984 and THX 1138. It also seemed to accurately reflect what Wikipedia says about the book synopsis. The characters seemed to act like they were on a 1960s British sitcom, but they did fit their roles. Although the special effects looked fake, but were convincing as far as plot was concerned, everything else looked and sounded plausibly realistic. I thought it was a really cool movie and rate it awesome. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the books/movies mentioned above.

2018 An American science fiction directed by Ramin Bahrani, starring Michael Shannon and Martin Donovan.
The 2018 American version was bad. I almost immediately wanted to turn it off for many reasons. The top of these reasons was the plot not accurately reflecting Ray Bradbury's novel. Even the characters and their relationships were rewritten. Montag doesn't even have a wife in 2018! As I said with The Hobbit (2012 - 2014), apparently Ray Bradbury's writing was not good enough for Ramin Bahrani. Who cares if it's classic literature which has stood the test of time? The acting was way over the top: overacting. Compared with the 1966 version, these people should be committed to a mental hospital for the way they played their roles. The special effects looked realistic, but were not convincing in the least bit, except the library fire. Obviously, modern technology allows a reasonably realistic representation of a person being burned. The only thing that I really liked was the "+100" bit. Anything above and beyond expectations was +100, implying that the population had lost conception of numbers and degrees of magnitude. I rate this shit because I ended up turning it off at around the hour and ten minutes mark.

El Rio series (1959 - 1970)

American westerns directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne.
John Wayne is in a group of "good guys" who must stay within the sheriff's office during conflict with criminals. The 3 films have differing varieties of this, but the main idea is the same.
This series got worse as it went on. Rio Bravo is one of my favorite films and I am keeping the other ones, but they did not live up to its standards. How can you beat Dean Martin and Walter Brennan playing music in the office while under siege? In El Dorado, the sheriff was the drunk instead of a deputy to John Wayne and the sharp-shooter from Rio Bravo became a can't-shooter with a sawed off shotgun. I won't even mention all of the character changes in Rio Lobo. Let's just say that John Wayne was a soldier during the civil war. Don't get me wrong. The plot and characters were the main focus of the 3 films and high production value for the time made them classic westerns. I do actually like all of them. I just think that the writing blew its load on #1 while 2 and 3 got sloppy seconds. 1 more beef with the series: where is my Sergio Leone style crane up and out exit shot? When exploiting western film cliches (as these films do), why not go all out and make it a complete package? I rate this series good. I know I've reviewed 2 of the films already, but this is an update/summary. If you like 1960s American westerns, watch these.

The Ugly Dachshund (1966)

An American Disney comedy directed by Norman Tokar, starring Dean Jones.
A man whose wife is obsessed with her dachshunds adopts a great dane.
I remember watching this countless times when I was younger. My sister always wanted to watch Disney stuff and I think this was one of her favorites. The plot was really simple and the characters showed absolutely no development at all. The video was optimized for the situational comedy of the plot. It featured way too much dachshund footage, but tended to portray them in a negative light. They were always making messes to leave the great dane in the middle of and accept blame. The audio was filled with cheesy music and wacky foley sound effects. Overall, this is a good example of a bad movie. There was nothing subtle or deep about it. I rate it poor because I've seen much worse.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep A.K.A. Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas, Godzilla versus The Sea Monster, Gojira, Ebira, Mosura Nankai no Daikettō (1966)

A Japanese daikaiju science fiction directed by Jun Fukuda, starring Hideyo Amamoto.
A young man's brother is lost at sea from a shipwreck. He steals a boat that a bank robber has already stolen to look for his brother. They are attacked by a giant lobster and was up on an island where an illegal nuclear weapons factory is using slave labor. There, they awaken Godzilla while the slave labor send for Mothra to save them.
This was cheesy. I thought the surf soundtrack fit well with the marine monster and Godzilla's dance scene with the jets was hilarious. There was a scene during the monster fight where Godzilla lifts his head out of the water and Ebirah smacks him with a claw. I thought that was well-edited and the foley was funny. The monsters' acting was good, even if the human acting was sub-par. Overall, a regular Godzilla flick with some unintentional humor. I rate it adequate.

The Magic Serpent A.K.A. The Mystic Dragons' Decisive Battle, Sea Serpent Wars, Kairyu daikessen (1966)

A Japanese samurai kaiju fantasy directed by Tetsuya Yamauchi.
A royal child is taken from his home by a kung fu and magic teacher when his parents are killed by a dragon that was summoned by a rival samurai. As an adult, he encounters adventures which lead him to return to his home and battle the evil samurai.
Great! This was cheesy and lo-fi, but that's why it's so good. The kaiju monsters were really cool. They appear at the beginning and end of the film, but the middle gets bogged down in politics and too many characters. There were also other special effects in the smaller scale action scenes scattered liberally throughout the duration. What we've got here is good style and special effects, but somewhat lacking in plot, characters and pacing. I rate it awesome because waiting for the monsters was worth it.

The She Beast A.K.A. La Sorella Di Satana A.K.A. Revenge of the Blood Beast (1966)

A British Italian horror directed by Michael Reeves, starring Barbara Steele.
A man and his wife stay at an inn in Transylvania where their car is sabotaged. They crash the car into a lake where a witch was killed many years before and the wife becomes possessed by the spirit of the witch.
I could tell this was Italian by the low quality video and lack of focus on the plot. Lack of dynamic range on Italian video cameras of the '60s led to overexposed lights and underexposed darks, with no compensation being made by the operators. The framing is usually far too close, leading to confusing scenes with too much going on. The plot and characters lose emphasis when sub-plots take over most of the film. In this case, the dealings of the innkeeper and drunken Van Helsing stole the show. Editing was done in the most jarring way, with scenes suddenly and violently cutting to one another. I can see lots of the things that I hate about new American films in these old Italian disasterpieces. I rate this bad based on technical ineptitude leading to lack of communicative ability.

Venus Flytrap A.K.A. The Revenge of Doctor X (1966)

A Japanese American science fiction film directed by Kenneth G. Crane or Norman Thomson , starring James Craig.
A mathematician at NASA is stressed at work and takes a vacation. First he drives in America, where he picks up a venus flytrap plant. He then visits Japan where he gets another carnivorous plant and fuses them together to create a monster.
This may be the worst film I have ever seen. It's not as long as Some Kind of Monster or Ben Hur, but every excrutiating second is painful to watch (except one scene). The main character is an asshole who shouts nearly every line of his poorly delivered dialogue. The plot was boring and the slow pacing made an hour and 33 minutes seem to take forever. The bad audio was too loud and distorted like an old kung fu flick and every time an animal was on screen, it was crying out in distress. The bad video was blurry and grainy, although in color. The only thing that I liked was the topless female diving team. Yes, hidden in the center of this terrible film is a wonderful scene full of female anatomy points. I put the pictures up so you don't have to sit though the painful experience of the film itself to see them. I rate this shit. DO NOT WATCH!

The One Eyed Soldiers (1966)

A Yugoslavian, Italian, British American action adventure film directed by John Ainsworth.
Some men are looking for a hidden treasure that was owned by the dead father of a woman.
The plot was murky and the characters barely identifiable. Obviously the presentation was not clear. With generic style and slow pacing, the film dragged across my screen for an hour and fourteen minutes. The lead actress was beautiful, but that is all that I can say as a "pro" for this film. I rate it bad.

El Dorado (1966)

An American western by Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum.
After accidentally shooting a boy, a gunslinger is shot by the boy's older sister. A bullet lodges by his spine, causing him to have fits of paralysis. A younger man decides to journey with the gunslinger and they go to a town where a harrier shoots a member of the same family that they've been in contact with. A feud starts and they have to revitalize the drunken sheriff to help them.
The plot was very complex, but the characters were good. The old deputy reminded me of someone who I thought would grow old like him but didn't. The style and production value were pretty standard for a western of this time period. I'm rating this adequate.

Come Drink with Me (1966)

A Shaw Brothers wuxia directed by King Hu and Sammo Hung, starring Cheng Pei-Pei.
A group of bandits has a political prisoner and the government has a bandit prisoner. The sister of the political prisoner is sent to get back her brother. She is aided by a drunken beggar.
For such an early date, this really is a good film (me agreeing with Wikipedia: may never happen again). The plot is extremely complex and the main characters are all very good and identifiable. The style reminds me of later kung fu and wuxia films, probably because they copied it from this one. There is wire involved as well as special effects to illustrate magic kung fu powers. If you like fu (and I know you do), this movie is for you! I'm rating it awesome.

Chappaqua (1966)

An experimental film by Conrad Rooks.
A man goes to a French clinic because he has problems with drugs.
The audio and video were a mess.
I said I wanted to see a "psychedelic spiritual quest", not a "psychedelic spiritual mess"! This film was totally incoherent, but there were some pretty sights and sounds involved. Unfortunately, they weren't beautiful enough to save it from getting a bad review.

Born Fee (1966)

A corporate mind control flick by Open Road Films and Columbia Pictures.
A rich woman with a platonic boyfriend has trouble distinguishing wild animals from pets.
The audio and video are both VERY 60s.
Check out: The man's malaria medicine overdose.
The acting sucks, the music sucks and what type of relationship does this "couple" have that makes them so distant? I know! It's that 1960s screen relationship in which certain actions are forbidden by the film industry. I really didn't like this movie. I wouldn't recommend it.

blowup (1966)

a drama mystery directed by michelangelo antonioni
a photographer is in the park taking pictures when he sees evidence of a murder.
the video was grainy as expected, but good. this film has "source music" or "diegetic" music by herbie hancock and the yardbirds. the definition of these terms is music that is generated by the story. a character turns on a tv or radio, goes to a concert, plays an instrument. the resulting sound is diegetic or source music. during the yardbirds' song, jeff beck's equipment malfunctions and he breaks his guitar.
check out: the mimes and the fate of mr. beck's guitar pieces.
I thought this was good. I didn't understand all of it completely, but I did enjoy it. if you're into "art films", weird movies, or strangeness, you'll like this as much as I did.