Jack H. Harris was a slick operator who spent his life distributing other people's movies and reaping a good enough living from that to be part of the Malibu Colony. But on the creative side he was of creating The Blob starring Steve McQueen. And he leveraged the fame which came from that success all the rest of his life. John Carpenter says Harris referenced The Blob when he was trying to get a deal for Dark Star, suggesting that film alone was enough for a young guy like Carpenter to trust him. But as the years went by, the drive-in market dwindled and then the movie rentals which killed that off started to weaken as well. What to do?
At beginning of his film career Woody Allen had taken a Japanese spy thriller titled Secret Police: Key of Keys and totally redubbed it with comedic intent. He shifted scenes and added a few to create a brew which was entertaining under the title What's Up Tiger Lily?
Harris was no dummy. What had worked for Allen might well work for him many years later, so that in 1991 he allowed something similar to happen with his most famous effort -- The Blob. The result was a strange movie titled Blobermouth. And with a few animated tricks here and there and some manipulation of the original film elements, for the first time the Blob from the 1958 movie actually speaks. As it turns out, he's a smartass comedian in the style of Henny Youngman.
The movie-in-a-movie is changed from Daughter of Horror (also known as Dementia) to The Mighty Peking Man. This adaptation is helped immensely by the rather overwrought acting of Steve McQueen in the original. The work on this new soundtrack was done by the L.A. Connection's Mad Movies outfit. Here's what they say about it.
"LAC's improvision [sic] version of the 1958 Stever McQueen classic, one of the most well known [sic] of the many old sci-fi films. Teenager McQueen (in his first movie) and his friend struggle valiantly to keep a gelatinous glob from another galaxy from devouring their small town and its denizens. The new plot: A battle between Steve and the Blob to see who can get their act on The Tonight Show and be dicovered[sic]. In 1992, the All-Stars took improvisation one step farther, giving voice to The Blob via an animated mouth in a new film- BLOBERMOTH. BLOBERMOUTH brought internation acclaim to its LAC creators and the already famous film."
For proof of just how goofy a vintage flicker can get, watch the film below. I found the modified movie funnier than I expected, to be honest.
Happy thanksgiving. I'd love to taste some pumpkin pie but it isn't sold in the UK as far as I know. We have adopted other American food like hot dogs, milkshakes and peanut butter but not pumpkin pie.
ReplyDeleteI had some particularly good pumpkin pie this year at my daughter's house. Ate too much of it and gave myself a bit of a stomach ache, but it was a good stomach ache.
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