Flicks

Think along the lines of "Amazon Women on the Moon", and this film did come out the same time and you have the lesser known "Flicks". Maybe not as effective as that previous mentioned film, but this wacky and pleasing send-up of yesteryear's Saturday matinée serials did have more hits than misses in what was a imaginative comedy that doesn't deserve to be forgotten. I probably would liked a little more variety, but the choices showed some freshness it how it tackled the loony premise. What's on show; bizarre newsreels, animated opening and epilogue involving retired cartoon stars. Then bring on the up-coming attractions; with the names attached to "No Way Jose", I bet you couldn't wait. Then we get features like the zany Flash Gordon spoof "New Adventures of the Great Galaxy", horror films get turn upside down in "The House of the Living Corpse" (my pick of the lot) and then we get a human-size bug thinking himself as a suave private eye in "Philip Alien". The cast featured some comic performances by Pamela Sue Martin, Joan Hackett and Martin Mull. The clever dialogues go hand-to-hand with the source material. In all its silly, but fun and spot on with its snappy gags in its quick and breezy format.

My review was written in May 1987 after watching the movie on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.

A lot of effort from divers hands went into "Flicks", a/k/a "Loose Joints" and "Hollyweird", a homage to various film genres which fails the crucial test: is it funny? Contributors include the late Joan Hackett and production consultant Clark Paylow plus numerous folks who have gone on to bigger things: mask makers Stephen and Charles Chiodo, currently making their own pic "Killer Klowns"; a set dresser Bill Paxton who has since got meaty acting roles in "Aliens" and other fils. Picture was shot in 1981, but never released theatrically, surfacing finally in video stores.

Director Peter Winograd's format tries to recreate the old-fashioned cinema program: coming attractions, a cartoon, a serial and main feature. If the writing and execution had been amusing the pic might have attracted an audience; instead, it is merely pastiche, emulating in very ordinary fashion the film prototypes.

Animation director Kirk Hendersn captures the style of a "Tom & Jerry" cartoon in various "Cat and Mouse" segments, but the material is boring, concerning the twosome at a cartoon characters' retirement home alternately brawling and reminiscing about the good old days of non-limited animation.

Coming attractions satires are puerile: "Now Way Jose", an all-star film that is too expensive to be made, and "Whodunit", a flat, boring mystery pic. "News R Us" uses old newsreel footage to spoof the "March of Time' format for the nth time. The main feature (a padded half-hour segment) stars Martin Mull and Berry Kennedy in "House of the Living Corpse", playing like a cliched horror film rather than commenting on same.

Two segments starring Joan Hackett from an Outer Space serial feature cute special effects, mocking "2001", the original "Flash Gordon" serials and other space epics.

Ironically, if "Flicks" had been released, it might have changed film history a bit, in that its second feature segment "Philip Alien Space Detective" commits in bold relief exactly the same errors which sanek "Howard the Duck" years later. As voiced by Harry Shearer and Sandra Kearns, humanoid moths (guys wearing elaborate masks) come to Earth on a tough-guy detective case, with Philip Alien styled as a Bogie-type moth gumshoe. The seduction scene with human Pamela Sue Martin plays just like Lea Thompson's similar assignment in "Howard the Duck", and the belaboring of the premise (of treating an invader in a weird mask as normal) is identical.

This film seems to have become quite obscure but I think that it is an original and unique film that is a wonderful parody of matinees. The Cat and Mouse cartoon sequences are outstanding. The animation in these segments is great and the segments themselves are very creative,clever and funny.

The trailer at the start about the big new film that has all the movie stars who are going to be in it has a very funny punchline to it. The news reel jokes are also very funny. The New Adventures Of The Great Galaxy previews are creative although I would have liked the segments to have been longer because I think that they could have done a bit more with them and they don't really have a conclusion to them.

The first main feature that is called House Of The Living Corpse is a very funny send up of haunted house type movies that I actually thought had some suspenseful moments to it that went along well with the humor. The acting in this segment is also good. I thought that Betty Kennedy stood out the most with a very funny performance.

The second feature that is called Phillip Alien is also enjoyable. It looks like it would have been the most technically difficult part of the film to do but I think it comes over well with good effects. The script of this part is creative and it moves along at a good pace with an imaginative story and a good shoot out at the Hollywood sign that is exciting to watch. Pamela Sue Martin is an attractive and likable ally to the alien and the story has some good twists to it.

In all the film achieves what it sets out to do by being clever,imaginative and funny.

My former roommate, Peter Kelly, worked on this film circa 1981 (the "1987" date listed above is not correct, although this went straight to video without being released). I remember he brought home the shovel that was used to stick out of the guy's head. I also visited the work area once and saw the makeup for the final "Philip Alien" sequence. If you've seen the film, you wouldn't believe how intricately those false arms were worked on with all sorts of tiny pumps and gadgets.

He had some great stories to tell about Susan Blakely originally being cast for the "Liz Stone" character, but being replaced by Pamela Sue Martin after the first week of shooting.

Years later, I sat down and watched the video, which then was called "Loose Joints." I have to be honest (and I'm pretty picky, mind you): the film is not all that bad, up until the final "Philip Alien" sequence. The animation sequence took a lot of work for a film of this nature, and I'm surprised more fans haven't picked up on the general cult appeal that some of these sequences have.

Something tells me they didn't have the heart to cut out the "Philip Alien" sequence since that has one of the biggest stars in it and they worked so hard on the mechanical arms. That sequence is confusing and humorless and some of the gags they thought would work so well, such as a woman obsessed with bugs falling for a multi-armed extraterrestrial, simply did not work (in this reviewer's opinion).

Still, there's some good stuff here worth checking out. My roommate went on to make another crumby horror flick called "Nightmare On Elm Street." That's show biz.