October 9, 2003

SPEAKING OF VINCENT PRICE...

We WERE speaking of Vincent Price weren't we? Well, I was. Last Man On Earth is right after You Know What as one of my favorite movies. Not that it's that good. In fact, it kind of sucks. But my mother took us to the Montgomery Drive-In to see it as kids, and it scared shit out me. Hell, Mom took us to all the Hammer Films as well. If Christopher Lee was Dracula, and Peter Cushing was a killin' him, I saw it.

Price was amazing. All the Edgar Allan Poe movies; hell, I still have nightmares about The Pit and the Pendulum. I even like the Dr. Phibes movies. Although I will admit Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine left me a bit, ah, underwhelmed.

Vincent beat Martha Stewart and Jaclyn Smith by decades in pioneering upscale mass merchandising in the early sixties when he commissioned artwork for retail sale through Sears & Roebuck to us suburban-dwelling knuckle-draggers. If Vincent had selected it, well, your Mom had to have it hanging over the dinette. Such style, such polish!

The other thing I love about Vincent? He had the perfect English accent. You could catch a whiff of Oxford dons and Balmoral in that accent. Not a bad feat for a boy from St. Louis.

Posted by Kim Crawford at October 9, 2003 9:24 PM
Comments

My favorite VP movie is The Tingler. Man, that thing would get into you and it was all over with but the shouting and the squirming. Brings new meaning to the phrase Baby, scratch my itch.
Lynne

Posted by: Lynne at October 10, 2003 10:12 AM

"Last Man On Earth" is based on Richard Matheson's science fiction author's classic "I Am Legend." The Charleton Heston movie "Omega Man" is also based on "I Am Legend," but the Last Man is closer to the book and is a vastly superior movie.

http://www.thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=555

Posted by: Bill Dennis at October 10, 2003 6:35 PM

You are correct, Bill. I have a copy of I Am Legend. Matheson is a most prolific and underrated writer. The ONLY thing Omega Man got right was the character's name, Neville. But I give TLMOE artistic license here, because those zombies just HAD to scream MORGAN!!! It fit.

Posted by: Kim at October 10, 2003 6:44 PM
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