Comments on: Doug McClure’s Four Stages of Manliness

By: KeithA

KeithA — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:55:09 +0000

Island at the Top of the World completely slipped by me. Looks like it goes to the top of my Netflix queue, even higher than Black Scorpion 2.

By: David Lee Ingersoll

David Lee Ingersoll — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:32:50 +0000

Matthew -

I suspect that the Viking movie you’re thinking of is Island at the Top of the World which is actually set at the North Pole rather than the South.

By: Tom Meade

Tom Meade — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:07:13 +0000

I suppose when I remember People I just block out all the boring bits and focus on Sarah Douglas and the volcano-worshiping samurai. I guess I confuse it in my mind with the TV show Adventure Island where all the different cultures got shipwrecked in one place and the samurai were always getting in fights with pirates and magicians…

It helped!

By: The Rev. D.D.

The Rev. D.D. — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:14:09 +0000

Land is my favorite of the three as well. Plenty of dinos, the plot rarely drags, and it’s not afraid to whack major characters. Rarely is a climactic scene so downbeat in tone…

As far as Core’s exploding fire toad, I just figured it was the prehistoric analog to the instantly-exploding car in most action movies. They weren’t any cars to toss off a cliff and blow up, so they went with what they had.
It also never fails to crack me up due to its insanely inept execution. Big explosion though. Either it drank natural gas or produced amounts of methane that would put a Hereford to shame.

By: Matthew Fudge

Matthew Fudge — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:19:30 +0000

Yeah, I suppose he is better than Hasslehoff. Still you seem pretty much stuck with Hugh Grant so fairs fair.

Yeah, Land..Forgot is better than People, which is all a bit grim. Really any movie in which a U-boat is attacked by a dionsaur is basically okay. I often get these movies mixed up with the one with Vikings living in Anarctica, which I dunno the name of.

By: KeithA

KeithA — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:21:36 +0000

McClure was a big deal on TV for a while. My mom loved him — a crush she says is easier to still feel OK about than her earlier crush on Arch Hall, Jr.

I like this film much better than The People that Time Forgot. I just find that one to be a drag, with far less dinosaur action than I got in this or The Land that Time Forgot (which I love). Of course, it does have young Sarah Douglas in it, but it never gets around to dressing her in skimpy ritual robes or anything like it should have. And there’s way too little McClure and way too much Patrick Wayne, who I think is the spitting image of Charlton Heston, rather than of his own father.

And we could have sent you David Hasslehoff, so watch out.

Jessica: I’m going to be laughing about that for days.

By: Matthew Fudge

Matthew Fudge — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:10:05 +0000

Doug Maclure was the token american in a lot of british stuff in the 70s, hired I assume under the assumption this would somehow make the cheap hurried tat more attractive to north american audiences. All I can ask is (a) is that true? are you yanks more likely to watch this because Doug’s in it? (B) Doug Maclure, really? Couldn’t you have leant us someone better?

By: hman

hman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:16:59 +0000

The random exploding fire toad is a classic scene in B cinema to me.

By: JessicaR

JessicaR — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:02:23 +0000

I unabashedly love Peter Cushing to bits in this movie, he’s like a character out of sketch comedy, Extreme British Man. McClure does nothing for me, so I’m enchanted by the actor who doesn’t deliever a line in a manner that can’t be described as “flustered”. Plus I’m amused they keep the Lost World tradition of the hottest cavegirl/native having a glued on outfit instead of the requisite ragged tunic with rags bundled around the feet. And the scene two men having a sweaty wrestling match next to a huge carnivorous plant, with throbbing pink lips and a dark bristle of spikes around a pulsing red core…

By: The Rev. D.D.

The Rev. D.D. — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:20:06 +0000

I think People is a bit better film, as far as actual quality, but Core is just so crazy and bad. It’s got its slow parts, but the critters are fun (if completely insane.) It’s not a bad party movie, but watching it on your own can be kind of a drag.
Still, Peter Cushing, even in a less-than-stellar role, is hard to beat.
And the sweaty, barely-clad Caroline Munro….WOW. YOWZA. HOMINA HOMINA HOMINA. And so on.

That didn’t help at all, did it?