Psychotronic Video Issue # 40

IN THIS ISSUE!

ROBERT DOWNEY SR. started out making unique and controversial "underground" films in Manhattan, became famous with his classic PUTNEY SWOPE, and has continued to make social satires whenever he can raise enough money. His talented son, now a household name mostly for the wrong reasons, started out as a little kid in his dad's movies. Downey was interviewed by Matt Moses in Brooklyn.

JOHN SAXON, one of the most Psychotronic actors around, told Mia and I that he would be happy to be interviewed for PV at the Fangoria convention in NYC during the major snow blizzard of 95. For some reason it took nearly nine years before the interview took place, but it was worth the wait. A teen star at Universal in JD and rock and roll movies, Saxon went on to an incredible international career including ENTER THE DRAGON and NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST. He was interviewed by Rick Bayne.

BRETT HALSEY, like Saxon, started at Universal, later found work overseas, and had a long fascinating career. He was in JD movies, RETURN OF THE FLY, four Lucio Fulci movies, and he married several beautiful European actresses! Tony Williams, from Wales, has provided interviews with Bruce Campbell, Diana Dors and Frankie Howerd (so far) for PV.

We saw THE LAST SAMURAI at a typical multi screen mall (in Maryland). When the movie started the edge of the screen had a large and growing batch of projected hairs and lint on the right side. When a "bargain" matinee is $8 I at least expect a clear picture. Since there are no projectionists to yell up at anymore, I missed the opening by looking for the (kid) manager so he could fix the problem. At the end of the movie the print bubbled, burned and broke! I haven't seen this happen since watching some forgotten adults only nudie movie as a teenager at the Standard in Cleveland. Again, I was the one who got up and searched for a manager. I also loudly suggested that everybody in the theater ask for their money back (I was in an emotional and rebellious mood). We all got "free" tickets for a future show.

I hadn't read very much about THE LAST SAMURAI, am not a big fan of Tom Cruise, director Edward Zwick, or even Samurai movies, and had no expectations. I have doubts about some of the historical accuracy and a few parts seem contrived - but I think it's an excellent (even important) movie. It hit me hard like ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, LAST OF THE MOHICANS, THE LAST EMPEROR and very few other historical epics. It shows the monumental turning point in history when Japan's Army was modernized by American advisors (what about the Europeans?) and deadly state of the art killing machines (Gatling guns). The young and weak emperor is shown as a pawn of corrupt industrialists. THE LAST SAMURAI is loaded with (controversial) implications about what Japan later did to Russia, Korea and China, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, (and much of what is going on today if you choose). It has been criticized (all over the web) for distorting history (show me a historical move that doesn't!) and for being anti- American. I guess it is because it clearly shows America meddling where it shouldn't and sowing the seeds of its own problems. The critics might prefer THE BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA (58) starring John Wayne.

With another overflowing Obits section, we again highlight three people who helped shape our world.

LENI (Helene Bertha Amalie) RIEFENSTAHL (101), from Berlin, was a dancer turned actress in popular mountain films. She was the director, writer and star of THE BLUE LIGHT (31) and soon volunteered to work for the Nazis. She produced and directed TRIUMPH OF THE WILL (34) and OLYMPIA (36), brilliant Nazi propaganda features (she called them documentaries) that are still studied, admired and copied today. Riefenstahl, who appeared totally naked in WAYS OF HEALTH AND BEAUTY (25) and in her own OLYMPIA, was thought by some to have been a mistress of Hitler. She spent three years under Allied arrest, then was taken to court by the French, but was cleared of war crimes. She then spent time in a mental hospital and lived in poverty. She later filmed Nubian tribes and ocean life and books were published of her photos. She was still working and scuba diving at 100.

STROM THURMOND (100), from Edgefield, South Carolina, was the longest serving and oldest Senator in American history. When he ran for president as a States Rights Dixiecrat in '48 his platform was for segregation and stronger anti-miscegenation laws, and against anti-lynching laws. In '57 he staged the longest filibuster (think James Stewart in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON but ranting against integration for over 24 hours) in history. When he became the first major Southern political leader to switch from Democrat to Republican in '64, it signaled a significant shift in American politics. Thurmond backed Goldwater for president in '64 and helped Nixon become the Republican candidate in '68. When it was revealed after his death in June that he had an elderly illegitimate "mixed race" daughter, the positive spin was that he was a very caring dad who was always there for her when she needed help or money. The reality is that modern America's most powerful racist politician (he was at the top of the list to ssucceed the president) fucked one of his family's black maids (when she was 16!), then bribed the daughter for decades to make her lie to save his career. By the way, miscegenation laws weren't struck down by The Supreme Court until 1967 and they are still on the books in South Carolina.

HAROLD VON BRAUNHUT (77), from Memphis, was a marketing genius who owned 195 patents. He created and advertised incredible sounding but useless mail order novelty items sold in comic books including Crazy Crabs, Invisible Goldfish, X-Ray Specs ("See Through Skin! See Though Clothing!"), and the infamous Amazing Sea Monkeys ("A True Miracle Of Nature!"). He once managed novelty acts and raced motorcycles as the Green Hornet. The billionaire P.T. Barnum of kids' comic ads was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations. He paid to have Protocols Of The Learned Elders Of Zion (from Czarist Russia) and Henry Ford's The International Jew republished together as one handy volume of hate. He donated millions to American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell and Aryan Nations Founder (and Christian Identity Church pastor) Richard G. Butler. His relatives revealed that he was actually Nathan Braunhut from Manhattan, the son of German Jewish immigrants. He died from a fall in his home in Indian Head, MD, just outside of Washington D.C.


Did any of you see THE MEN WHO KILLED KENNEDY? The BBC documentary series first played in England and all over Europe in 1998 but the full nine hour version didn't debut here until The History Channel aired it in late 03. The many conflicting theories don't add up (LBJ was responsible!?) but the series makes it clear that only a fool (or most of the American public) would still believe (unelected Republican president) Gerald Ford and the Warren Commission's single bullet theory. Once a person accepts that an American president was assassinated by an unknown but highly organized group of people, one of the shooters (or a chosen "patsy") was murdered live on TV, then that our government has covered up the facts for over 40 years, it just might make them depressed, detached, scared, confused, angry, cynical. I have mixed feelings about The History Channel but they have at least opened up the radical idea of questioning the history we have all been taught to believe. By the way, THE MEN WHO KILLED KENNEDY used scenes from Larry Buchanan's NAUGHTY DALLAS (!), featuring stripper Jada, but neglected to mention that they were not filmed at Jack Ruby's club.

Many, most (all?) Fox and Fox News Channel talk and news shows discussed, joked about or pretended to be horrified by heiress Paris Hilton's home sex/porn video when it was "leaked" to the internet. The premier episode of her GREEN ACRES copy "reality" show THE SIMPLE LIFE topped ratings on Dec. 2, then all seven (so far) episodes of the series (plus outtakes and unaired footage!) were released on DVD on Jan. 20 (this set a fast release record). Hilton, by the way is also in that new 109 million dollar children's classic THE CAT IN THE HAT, which enjoyed a brilliant cross promotion deal first ­ with the U.S. Post Office! It was Fox's Bill O'Rielly who effectively launched a campaign to pressure CBS to cancel plans to air their Ronald Reagan movie. He said it would really be wrong and unpatriotic to make or show an even partially critical movie about a beloved ex president who can no longer defend himself. What about all the JFK movies? And how long before we have a major anti FDR/New Deal movie? It could help the movement to have Roosevelt replaced on American dimes. Fox News commentators told us that Rush Limbaugh isn't a lying law breaking hypocrite, but a victim of an extortion plot. Fox News found a black expert to appear on TV and explain what a great guy Strom Thurmond was and that liberals would twist the facts about his secret daughter to discredit him. The fair and balanced network also wants you to remember (by repeating it at every opportunity every single day) that nobody can beat Bush in the next election. Bush already has the largest by far (and still growing) re-election "war chest" in history. I always thought that if a popular president who was doing a good job ran for re-election during a time of crisis, he would easily be re-elected, without massive spending, news blackouts, and overkill propaganda.

72 year old Fox owner Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is being cleared by (Bush appointed) federal regulators to buy DirecTV. Did you know that the head of the F.C.C. is the son of Secretary Of State Colin Powell? Murdoch will become the only media titan with satellite, cable and broadcast assets in America. Murdoch already controls dominant satellite TV services in Britain (Sky Broadcasting), Italy (where he helped the richest man in the country become the singing Fascist fan premier), Latin America, and Asia. Murdoch's third wife Wendy Deng, a Communist Chinese businesswoman, is about the same age as his first three children.

Meanwhile President Bush declared that candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a good governor of our most populated and wealthiest state. I hear that if California were a country it would have the 5th largest economy in the world. Before the recall election this was a small item in the news: "The most powerful conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal exploded in a huge, fiery cloud on a Florida test range after being dropped by an Air Force cargo plane in the last developmental step for the nearly 11-ton Omother of all bombs.' An MC-130E Combat Talon I dropped the 21,700-pound satellite-guided GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, over the test range at Eglin Air Force Base in northwestern Florida, said base spokesman Jake Swinson. A plume of smoke rose more than 10,000 feet in the air and was visible 40 miles away in Pensacola, Florida. OIt looked like a big mushroom cloud filled with flames as it grew and grew and grew,' Swinson said after the afternoon test. OIt was one of the most awesome spectacles I've seen.'' Remember that funny nuke scene in TRUE LIES? I bet Jeb Bush would make a good president some day.


And speaking of Bush brothers, during Neil Bush's divorce hearings facts about his business dealings were revealed. He not only earns millions as a paid "advisor" to a Chinese Communist Semiconductor company (co-managed by the son of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin), but they provide him with free hookers! In court (where he presumably swore on a Bible) Neil said he did not know why Asian women he didn't know arrived at his hotel door, removed their clothes and fucked him. I bet they were beautiful. I wonder if any of them were under age? Meanwhile President Bush has publicly reprimanded the Democratically elected leader of Taiwan for daring to question the (obvious) sinister motives of Communist China, the most heavily armed nuclear dictatorship in the world. This is the country with the largest army in the world that backed Americas opponents in Korea and Viet Nam, still occupies Tibet, destroys temples and churches, represses, jails and kills dissidents (including Christians), uses slave labor, and is now the sole supporter of the insane (horror movie fan) son of the Great Leader of North Korea (of the famous Axis Of Evil). Communist China is now America's biggest trading partner. Just check the products you buy at Walmart.

I think Republicans are selling out The United States Of America in every possible way at an alarming hyper rate that none of us can really comprehend, but at least they vote. Do you? If not, just sit back with your mouse and your remote and see which of your favorite science fiction movie plots come true in the years to come. Hint: it will not be the ones with aliens, flying super heroes, or a time machine for going back to alter history or to visit when things seemed to make sense.

Michael J. Weldon

40 YEARS AGO ­ My top 20 movies:

BLOOD AND BLACK LACE
CHEYENNE AUTUMN
DR. STRANGELOVE
FAIL- SAFE
FIRST MAN IN THE MOON
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS
THE FLESH EATERS
GOLDFINGER
HARD DAY'S NIGHT
HORROR OF PARTY BEACH
IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD
KISS ME QUICK!
KISS ME STUPID
LAST MAN ON EARTH
THE LONG SHIPS
LORNA
MARNIE
MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
MOTHRA
2000 MANIACS

Congratulations to PV contributors Fred Brockman and Frank Uhle, who both were married in '03.