EL BUNCHO

This was yet another movie that played endlessly in local syndication during my mis-spent youth, and I loved it. For a nine-year-old viewer, this is some pretty damned bleak stuff. Near-total worldwide blindness, dangerous gangs of looters (or worse), poisonous man-eating plants that pull themselves out of the ground to chase you...I mean, we're basically talking about the end of the world here!

Knowing that this was based on a British science fiction novel that was by all accounts a classic, I had been curious for years as to what the source material was like. Well, just five days ago I finally found John Wyndham's original, and BOY is it a different animal altogether! I would love to see a straight adaptation rather than the adventure/monster movie take that was employed for the 1963 movie. The original story focuses more on modern (1950's) society coming to a dead halt, and the survivors' attempts to start over rather than the threat of the triffids (which are a lot scarier in the book). Anyway, the novel is severely dumbed-down for the screen, and it kind of made me sad to think what the author must have thought of the movie. So, while I still like the movie for what it is, I recommend the novel for a story that will really make you think.

Over the years, I have seen many reviews that have mercilessly slagged ALAKAZAM THE GREAT as a bad movie, and it even made it into the highly questionable book THE 50 WORST FILMS OF ALL TIME. The question I have is: did all of you who hate this movie see the same film that I did when I was a youngster? I have shown many children this film over the years and not one of them failed to enjoy it.

ALAKAZAM THE GREAT is loosely based on the Wu Cheng-En classic JOURNEY TO THE WEST, a landmark of Chinese epic literature, and tells the story of an arrogant monkey king who learns the secrets of magic and becomes a cosmic pain in the ass. After a brief rampage through the heavens, he is imprisoned by the gods and eventually sent on a pilgrimage to atone for his sins and learn humility. The monkey must escort a young prince (who is the son of the gods) through a series of insanely lethal adventures in a land teeming with demons and monsters of every description, picking up a couple of unusual traveling companions along the way (an anthropomorphic pig-man and a burrowing cannibal). Much magic and cartoon ass-whuppin' ensues, and despite the (mercifully brief) musical numbers, this film has raw imagination to spare. Fast-paced and fun, this is not the dud that some would lead you to believe. Give it a chance!