MichaelB wrote:It's the lack of love for Harry Alan Towers that really baffles me - I mean, the man did probably produce more Jesus Franco movies than anyone else, which has got to be worth some kind of eulogy.
There are a couple of tributes on
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And didn't he make the whole Christopher Lee Fu Manchu cycle of films? Even though the last two Franco directed ones were almost unwatchable! However it has been over a decade since I last watched any of them, so it might be worth going through my VHS copies to refresh my memory.
I suppose he did give Franco's films a slicker quality though (especially appreciated when compared to some of his recent One Shot Productions and shot on video works), with Christopher Lee and arty sex of De Sade adaptations. For my money though I much prefer the post-Towers Franco of Vampyros Lesbos, Female Vampire and Virgin Among The Living Dead. Though I still have yet to see The Bloody Judge, which I keep hearing is one of the highlights of their collaboration.
He does seem an interesting figure though, building films up through multi-country funding. And writing many films from Lucio Fulci's White Fang to The Mangler! Interesting to note that he was part of the Harry Palmer revival in the mid 90s with two TV movies. I wonder how Michael Caine was coaxed back to the part after such a long time since the previous films?
On another note where does this leave the Towers produced and written film of Moll Flanders that was apparently to be directed by Ken Russell?
I quite liked some of the Hughes films. I find The Breakfast Club always pulls me in every time I run across it on television. I like the enclosed, claustrophobic nature of the detention forcing all the different kids to interact and eventually come to enjoy each other's company as they realise their antagonisms are manufactured by their society more than coming from any personal attitudes they may hold.
I've only seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off a couple of times but remember being impressed at the difficult task of making an incredibly smug lead character interesting and amusing rather than just irritating. Though it has been years since I last saw it so maybe I'll feel different seeing it now.
My real guilty pleasure though would have to be Weird Science. I guess as a twelve year old computer nerd the idea that it might be possible to conjure up feisty Kelly LeBrock using my ZX Spectrum was, while ludicrous, just too compelling a fantasy to resist!
