The Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition is 15 Years Old

The entire Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition is 15 years old.

More specifically, Return of the Jedi: Special Edition was released 15 years ago TODAY.

Check out the trailer for the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition.

Cool As Ice - Oct 18, 1991

Vanilla Ice gifted the world with his acting 20 years ago. His movie, Cool as Ice, debuted in Oct 1991.  And the world would never be the same.

Check out the trailer:

Double Feature Friday: Dracula spoofs

Check out AWESOME-tober-fest at my other blog for a Halloween celebration. This year I'm reviewing all things Dracula!

This is an ad for a parody of Dracula starring George Hamilton as the Count. This ad is from May 1979.

This is an ad for a 1995 spoof by Mel Brooks starring Leslie Nielsen. Needless to say, it was not as successful as Young Frankenstein.

See the trailer for Love at First Bite:


See the trailer for Dracula Dead and Loving It:

Bram Stoker's Dracula - Nov 20, 1992

Check out AWESOME-tober-fest at my other blog for a Halloween celebration. This year I'm reviewing all things Dracula!

Here's an ad for Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. Gary Oldman starred as Vlad Dracula.  It's from Nov 1992.

See the trailer:

Dracula - Dec 22, 1952

This is a newspaper ad for a 1952 stage production of Dracula.  This particular stage production was the same adaptation of Stoker's novel that Bela Lugosi was starring in around 1927 before he was cast as Dracula for the 1931 movie.

This is an ad for a double featuring of Universal's Frankenstein and Dracula. The ad is from 1956. I would have loved to have seen this double feature.

Check out AWESOME-tober-fest at my other blog for a Halloween celebration. This year I'm reviewing all things Dracula!

Howard the Duck - Aug 1, 1986

Howard the Duck was released 25 years ago today on Aug 1, 1986. Infamously, it bombed at the box office and is widely considered one of the worst movies of the 80s.

Also turning 25 years old today is:

Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives. Arguably one of the best movies in the Jason Vorhees series.



See the Howard the Duck trailer:


See the Jason Lives trailer here:

Double Feature Friday: Cannonball Run II and Speed Zone

Cannonball Run turned 30 years old this week. So for Double Feature Friday, here are ads for the sequels.

Here's the first sequel to Cannonball Run from 1984. Nearly all the main characters returned plus tons of other new celebrity cameos were added.

Here's the unofficial second sequel to Cannonball Run, Speed Zone from 1989. The original title was Cannonball Run III, but it was changed at the last minute.  The only character to return in this movie from the first two is The Sheik played by Jamie Farr.

Here's the trailer for Cannonball Run II:


Here's the trailer for Speed Zone:

The Gumball Rally - Aug 13, 1976

Looking at movies about illegal cross country road races...

Here's an ad for The Gumball Rally.

Cannonball! - Nov 5, 1976

I'm looking at cross country road race movies this week.

Here's an ad for Cannonball! from 1976. David Carradine plays an ex-con who signs up for an illegal outlaw road race that starts in Santa Monica, CA and ends in a garage in New York City. Along the way he must deal with other outlaw drivers and the mafia who are out to stop him from winning.  Carradine's brother, Robert, also stars in the film.

Notice in the ad that the 55 speed limit sign is used in the middle.  This would be done again in the ad for
The Cannonball Run four years later.

See the trailer:

Fireball 500 - Aug 4, 1966

The Cannonball Run turned 30 years old this week.  So I'm looking at ads for other "cross country race" movies this week.

Here's an ad for the Frankie and Annette feature, Fireball 500. The movie also starred teen idol Fabian. Moonshiners finagle stock car driver Dave Owens (Frankie) into a cross country road race. Dave is helped by Jane (Annette) and Leander (Fabian). Dave and Leander begin a friendly rivalry for Jane.

The Fireball 500 of the title was a heavily customized 1966 Plymouth Barracuda.

See the trailer:

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Cannonball Run turned 30 years old this week, so I'm looking at ads for movies about cross country car races.

Here's an ad for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World from 1963. This was an all-star comedy featuring Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Phil Silvers, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Ethel Merman and Johnathan Winters.

Watch the trailer:

Cannonball Run - 1981

Cannonball Run turns 30 years old today. So here's an ad for the first one. All week this week I'll look at ads for movies that were similar to, if not direct inspirations for, Cannonball Run.

I talk about the real life origins of the Cannonball Run movies here.

See the trailer here:


Here are some of the great outtakes from the end credits:

AC/DC: Let There Be Rock - May 1982

Here's a 1982 ad for a re-release of the AC/DC concert film, Let There Be Rock. The movie was originally released in 1980 and featured footage from their concert in Paris in 1979. That 1979 tour would be the last for original lead singer Bon Scott who would die while recording the album Back in Black in late 1979.

This movie was released on DVD today.

Watch the rockin' trailer here:

Double Feature Friday: The Fly and Return of the Fly

It's the Vincentennial.  Vincent Price would have been 100 years old this year.

Here is an ad for one of the movies that made Price famous, The Fly from 1958.

Here's an ad for the sequel to The Fly, Return of the Fly, from 1959.

Watch the trailer for The Fly (narrated by Vincent Price)


Watch the trailer for Return of the Fly

Midnight Madness - Feb 15, 1980

Here's an ad for the teen comedy Midnight Madness from 1980. It stars David Naughton, Stephen Furst and Michael J Fox.

I couldn't find the trailer, but here's a great scene in the movie that takes place within an old, vintage video arcade. You can see a bunch of awesome games machines like Death Race, Indy 800 and Star Fire.

Double Feature Friday: Orca and Up from the Depths

Finishing up underwater disasters this week...

Here's the ad for the 1977 killer whale movie, Orca. I love how they built up the killer whale in advertisements for this movie. Watch the trailer, they pretty much do everything except say, "Killer Whales are better than humans". And they almost kind of say that.

Jaws The Revenge sort of borrowed the animal revenge plot aspects of this movie. A killer whale witnesses Richard Harris kill his mate and child. The whale then goes on a killing rampage in the fisherman's village trying to lure the fisherman into a confrontation.

I also love the text on the ad. The killer whale is one of the most intelligent creatures in the universe?! That's a rather bold statement. And the whale will hunt down that person across time? Is there time travel in this movie?  He he hunting for hundreds of years?  It just sounds hilarious.

Here we have an ad for the 1979 monster flick, Up from the Depths. The movie is very C-grade horror about a heretofore unknown species of shark that is awakened and starts killing people at a beach resort.  I love the picture of that crazy ass looking shark on the ad.  You can see the monster better in the poster.

Check out other underwater movies here.


See the trailer for Orca:


See the trailer for Up from the Depths:

Deepstar Six - 1989

This week's theme continues last week's, underwater movies.

Here's an ad for Deepstar Six. I've always loved the look of this movie's poster, but I've never seen the actual movie. The synopsis is very similar to The Abyss; a group of underwater explorers in a nuclear sub disturb an alien presence on the bottom of the ocean. It stars Greg Evigan, Nia Peeples and Miguel Ferrer.

See other underwater movies here.

See the trailer:

The Abyss - Aug 11, 1989

Continuing my look at underwater movies.

Here's an ad for James Cameron's The Abyss starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio and Michael Biehn.  It's about a group of deep sea divers and oil drillers that discover they aren't the only thing inhabiting the bottom of the ocean.  The effects in this movie, particularly the water tentacle, were done by ILM and were what convinced George Lucas that the tech was there to start development of the Star Wars prequels.

See more underwater movies here.

See the Trailer:

Leviathan - Mar 17, 1989

I'm going to continue my theme from last week of underwater movies.

Here's an ad for 1989's Leviathan.  The story involves underwater divers who discover a wrecked Soviet ship and bring back some cargo to their base on the ocean floor. One by one, the diving team is hunted and killed by something they brought back.

The movie starred Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Ernie Hudson and Hector Elizondo.

See more underwater movies here.

See the trailer:

Triple Feature Friday: Pinocchio, Omega Man, Evel Knievel

Chuck Heston week was really last week.  However, last Friday was April Fool's Day so I felt I had to post the April Fool's Day ad.  So, better late than never, here's an awesome triple feature ad featuring another Heston classic, Omega Man. Omega Man was an adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend.

Also on this advertisement you'll see an ad for Disney's Pinocchio which turned 31 in 1971.  On the bottom you'll see the movie Evel Knievel starring George Hamilton as the titular daredevil.  Evel Knievel was a biographical movie about the daredevil filmed primarily in his hometown of Butte, Montana.  It should not be confused with the unbelievably awesome Viva Knievel! movie from 1977 that starred the real life Evel Knievel.

Here's the Omega Man trailer:


Here's the Evel Knievel trailer: