Dick Miller's always been a favourite of mine. I remember when Fangoria, of all magazines, evidently developed a Miller obssession and mounted a big Miller campaign, dedicating pages and pages to updates on his career whenever some new Joe Dante picture came out or he'd cameoed in a Fred Olen Ray joint.
From his AIP work through to Mr. Futterman, he's been a joy to watch. A BUCKET OF BLOOD is one of my all-time favourite films (I did a stage version of it, which was a massive local hit!), and not least because of Miller's performance in the lead role. In LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, he carries a salt shaker around in a little fob so he can season the flowers he eats - wonderful! And his banter with Jonathan Haze in IT CONQUERED THE WORLD makes me think the entertainment world missed a bet by not raising this sublime comedy team up to the lofty heights of, say, Martin and Lewis.
PIRANHA ("All you guys do is drink beer and hide!" - pace, Tim Lucas), ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL ("They're ugly, ugly people.") and EAT MY DUST ("Uht! Uht! Uht!") are only a few of his fine New World Pictures moments.
In the eighties, he was great in THE TERMINATOR, GREMLINS, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, EXPLORERS (the Adult Male Lead! as Fangoria screamed) and CHOPPING MALL, along with many others. I was delighted to see him arrive in New York with Jackie Joseph in GREMLINS 2. And he was a further delight - out-acting the rest of the cast in the bargain - in that Tales From the Crypt movie DEMON KNIGHT. Sadly he was entirely cut out of PULP FICTION, in which he'd apparently played a junkman styled on Redd Foxx.
I haven't seen him on the screen lately, and he must be getting pretty old. But if anyone shares my admiration and appreciation for that magic Miller touch, shout it out! Shout it to the rooftops!
From his AIP work through to Mr. Futterman, he's been a joy to watch. A BUCKET OF BLOOD is one of my all-time favourite films (I did a stage version of it, which was a massive local hit!), and not least because of Miller's performance in the lead role. In LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, he carries a salt shaker around in a little fob so he can season the flowers he eats - wonderful! And his banter with Jonathan Haze in IT CONQUERED THE WORLD makes me think the entertainment world missed a bet by not raising this sublime comedy team up to the lofty heights of, say, Martin and Lewis.
PIRANHA ("All you guys do is drink beer and hide!" - pace, Tim Lucas), ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL ("They're ugly, ugly people.") and EAT MY DUST ("Uht! Uht! Uht!") are only a few of his fine New World Pictures moments.
In the eighties, he was great in THE TERMINATOR, GREMLINS, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, EXPLORERS (the Adult Male Lead! as Fangoria screamed) and CHOPPING MALL, along with many others. I was delighted to see him arrive in New York with Jackie Joseph in GREMLINS 2. And he was a further delight - out-acting the rest of the cast in the bargain - in that Tales From the Crypt movie DEMON KNIGHT. Sadly he was entirely cut out of PULP FICTION, in which he'd apparently played a junkman styled on Redd Foxx.
I haven't seen him on the screen lately, and he must be getting pretty old. But if anyone shares my admiration and appreciation for that magic Miller touch, shout it out! Shout it to the rooftops!
