Click to View Larger...Batman (1967) - Batman, often promoted as Batman: The Movie, is a 1966 film based on the Batman television series, and the first full-length theatrical adaptation of the DC Comics Batman. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film starred Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. The film was directed by Leslie H. Martinson, who also directed a pair of the television series episodes; "The Penguin Goes Straight" and "Not Yet, He Ain't", both from season one.
The cast includes members of the original TV cast, including Alan Napier as the Wayne Manor butler Alfred Pennyworth, Neil Hamilton as Commissioner Gordon, Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara and Madge Blake as Aunt Harriet. Appearing as the criminal characters that they played on TV (and given the name the Rogues Gallery of Villains) are Cesar Romero as the Joker, Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, and Frank Gorshin as the Riddler. Julie Newmar, who left the movie before production started to do other work, is replaced with Lee Meriwether as Catwoman. Lee Meriwether stated in an interview Julie Newmar had hurt her back and she was unable to do the feature film.
Click to View Larger...Ms. Magnificent (1979) - The film was shot and released as "Superwoman", but when Warner Bros/DC Comics got wind of this, they took the producers to court. There were enough similarities for the court to impose "changes" on the producers, so they had to go back and delete all references to the character's name from the soundtrack, scratch out the "S" logo on her costume and re-title the film.
The producers considered "Ultrawoman" before settling on "Ms. Magnificent." DC also wanted the judge to order them to delete the flying sequences, but he concluded that flying did not infringe on DC's characters, since many other super-heroes could also fly.
All film prints of the original version, and all copies of the original movie poster, were recalled and presumably destroyed, although a few examples of the poster still exist, then new posters (with the new title) and new film prints were distributed and remain the only version in distribution today.
In recent years it has become known that the original "Supewoman" version of this film, in addition to theatrical exhibition, also got a very limited VHS/Beta distribution in the early days of home video, and a few bootlegs of these tapes have turned up from time to time in collector's circles.
The "actress" who played the title role, Desiree Cousteau was the Hustler centerfold for the September 1978 edition of the magazine.
I know this isn't the typical drive-in movie poster, but for some reason I just really like the poster, always have...
Click to View Larger...Shaft in Africa (1973) - At home in his New York City apartment, John Shaft is drugged with a tranquilizer dart, then kidnapped and persuaded by threats of physical force, the promise of money, and the lure of a pretty tutor to travel to Africa (much of the movie was filmed in Ethiopia), assuming the identity of a native-speaking itinerant worker. His job is to help break a criminal ring that is smuggling immigrants into Europe then exploiting them. But the villains have heard that he is on his way.
Shaft must pass a test before being hired for the job; the test involves him surviving in a small, overheated room without water, and a floor covered in deep sand, mimicking the supposed conditions of Africa. Shaft ingeniously covers himself with the sand, thereby avoiding heatstroke and winning the contract from his employer. (More after the jump...)
Click to View Larger...Truck Turner (1974) - A 1974 blaxploitation film, starring Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto, and directed by Jonathan Kaplan. The screenplay was written by Michael Allin, Jerry Wilkes and Oscar Williams. Isaac Hayes also scored the music for the soundtrack.
Truck Turner (portrayed by Isaac Hayes) is a former professional football player who becomes a bounty hunter (along with his partner Jerry) in search of a bail-jumping pimp in Los Angeles, California. After a shootout where Truck has to use deadly force to kill the pimp, Turner becomes a marked man and is targeted by hired assassins.
This was a fill-in job for Isaac Hayes that fell in someplace between singing about the bad mother Shaft, and when he was the wise Chef on South Park. I'm not sure where his 3 episode arc as Gandolph Fitch on Rockford Files falls in there.
