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Well, I in fact had another Movie Night just over a month ago, but got busy with stuff just afterward for a few weeks and forgot to post here about it until now!

Because of scheduling conflicts, two of the trio who attended my last Movie Night (read about it here) back in early February (who shall now go by the nicknames "Doc Mangles" and "Linehan"), couldn't make it, so the solo guest this time was the enthusiastic "Mr. 80s" (as he will now be known), who brought packaged flavored popcorn and some really good bottled root beer (I forget the brand, but it's a smaller label, perhaps regional to CT or the Northeast). I supplied the salsa and chips.

First up were some more trailers from Synapse's 42ND STREET FOREVER VOL. 2 disc (following up on the selection from the last Movie Night):

* SKATETOWN U.S.A. --I thought I was going to scramble his brain with this, especially after the sad, recent demise of Patrick Swayze, but somebody showed Mr. 80s the trailer on YouTube earlier that same day(!). A film he never knew existed, and though my thunder was stolen, seeing it in 16:9 on a 50" screen was a big step up. Billy Barty's stumble/shrug to the audience was a highlight, as was a villainous Ron "Horshack" Palillo.

* ROLLING THUNDER --great flick, criminally M.I.A. on DVD. Mr. 80s, who's in his early 30s, had never heard of it before, and didn't know who William Devane was, but naturally spotted Tommy Lee Jones. Guess I should burn my taped-off-of-Encore VHS to DVD-R soon...

* DIXIE DYNAMITE --He didn't know William Devane from Adam, but I have to give Mr. 80s credit for having the good sense to recognize the late, great Warren Oates (probably because of STRIPES) in this fun SMOKEY & THE BANDIT rip-off.

* THE DARK --I vaguely remember seeing TV ads for this back in '79, but I don't think I caught up with this on cable afterwards. This was all new to Mr. 80s, who immediately was hankerin' for it, and I'd have to second the motion. Fortunately, its on disc via Media Blasters/Shriek Show, so I'll be Netflixing it and it'll likely be a Movie Night feature attraction very soon.

* THE EVIL --Neither of us have seen this apparent also-ran mash-up of THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE and THE EXORCIST, but it actually looks pretty good, though unfortunately unreleased on legit DVD, as far as I know.

* THE EVICTORS --As this "true crime" horror trailer was running, we both agreed that, at least from an advertising standpoint, even the cheesiest and/or most derivative of these films looked a whole lot more interesting and potentially entertaining than the equivalent horror films of the last 10-15 years.

* DEADLY BLESSING --A very early role for Sharon Stone grabbed Mr. 80s' attention, plus Ernest Borgnine as the leader of an evil, Amish-esque sect. Another one we'd both love to see in full, but curiously absent from DVD, which is especially strange since it's a Wes Craven horror flick. You'd think there'd be enough marquee value there for a disc release in the last nine years.

* RABID --Unlike the Fulci/Romero-worshipping Doc Mangles, Mr. 80s is not a zombie film fan, though he does like some of the more mainstream Cronenberg stuff (THE FLY, HISTORY OF VIOLENCE). Of course, the rampaging homicidal masses here are not strictly zombies, still, Mr. 80s could see the seed planted here that eventually led to 28 DAYS LATER.

Next, a RIFFTRAX short, "The Trouble with Women", from the disc, RIFFTRAX: THE SHORTS VOL. 1.

You either love MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 (and its offshoots) or you hate it. We both love it (at its best). When I was working at the video store on slow shifts, along with kid-safe film & TV faves, I'd often run better episodes on the store monitor, and frequent co-worker Mr. 80s (who knew of the show but hadn't actually watched much of it) would crack up many times while re-stocking the shelves, especially when they tackled the Kathy Ireland flick, ALIEN FROM L.A. "The Trouble with Women" was short and sweet, and often hilarious, thanks to the ridiculously misogynistic main character, who gave Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett plenty to work with.

The main attraction: Russ Meyer's FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL! KILL! via R1 DVD.

Mr. 80s specifically requested this one, as he had seen the trailer awhile back and was hooked. Though essentially nudity-free, it didn't disappoint. Lori Williams' "Billie" will always be my favorite, while Mr. 80s was fascinated by sometimes sexy/sometimes scary Tura Satana. Plenty of laughs and excitement (like the fact that Stuart Lancaster's character calls his own son "The Vegetable"). When it was over, Mr. 80s actually clapped with approval.

Afterward, a rock video recorded from VHI Classic: Huey Lewis & The News - "Doing It All for My Baby"

Pretty elaborate Frankenstein motif and set-up before the singing starts, probably in response to Michael Jackson's Thriller video. Quite good makeup (was this a Rick Baker assignment?), transforming Huey Lewis into both Ol' Flat-Top and a Doc Brown-ish mad scientist, and whoever played The Bride was super-hot (I remarked that she sort of looked like Tilda Swinton, if Tilda was an 20-year-old sex kitten). The keyboardist who played the comical hunchback assistant played his part very well.

Finally, a couple of vintage TV episodes--

T.H.E. CAT: "The Brotherhood" (via a DVD-R bootleg), plus the precredits teaser from another episode, "Crossing at Destino Bay" (ditto).

Having watched all but one show in the complete run of T.H.E. CAT, I consider "The Brotherhood" to be the all-around best episode of the series. Robert Loggia, as former burglar & circus high-wire artist, now bodyguard-for-hire Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat, enters a building to find a young woman held hostage by a shotgun-wielding Albert Salmi, who wants her ex-cop father (Ted Knight) in exchange, so he can kill him for revenge... but the crime syndicate claims death-dibs on Knight. Can T.H.E. Cat save the father and daughter from both threats, before the clock runs out?

Thought Mr. Cat often eschews firearms, here he enters the scene brandishing a handgun, and later uses a sniper's rifle with a big infra-red sight (suspiciously like the guns T.H.R.U.S.H. agents used in THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.). He also gets into a quick, brutal fight with some mob goons on an express train, hurling one screaming to his death. Very rough, hard-boiled stuff, especially for mid-1960s network TV; a far cry from most of the other U.S. action shows from the time, many of which were trying to out-camp BATMAN, by that point.

Mr. 80s was shocked to see Loggia as a relatively young man (like many people he recognizes Loggia mainly as the toy company executive from BIG, and in roles as elder gangsters) and didn't really know who Salmi was. I reminded him that Salmi was in DRAGONSLAYER (and about a million TV guest spots) and pointed out that the actor subsequently killed himself and his wife in a murder/suicide almost 20 years ago... with a shotgun. Naturally, Mr. 80s knew Ted Knight from CADDYSHACK and TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT.

Though he wasn't quite as jazzed about the show as I am (probably because it was getting late), I still had to show the teaser to "Crossing at Destino Bay", so he could see Loggia face-off with eccentric hitman "Scorpio"... played by Robert Duvall! That rocked his world a bit.

Lastly, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: "Inside the Closet", from the Season 1 DVD set.

Another specific Mr. 80s request. I don't think I'd seen this one since it had originally aired in 1984. I remember it being kind of a big deal at the time because Tom Savini directed it and did the creature and makeup effects for it. Not the best the show had to offer, but not a bad little episode in and of itself. The bits of somewhat graphic violence surprised me, as I thought that was a no-no for broadcast TV back then, although maybe standards for first-run syndicated shows were slightly more lax than network TV. The actress was cute, though I joked that she looked like Olive Oyl compared to the leads in FASTER, PUSSYCAT, and that Fritz Weaver (solid, as usual) resembled former senator John Kerry.

All in all, another resounding success... and it looks like the next Movie Night will be late-night this Friday night (barring unforeseen problems), with Mr. 80s and Doc Mangles.