TARANTULA (1955)

Director: Jack Arnold

Writers: Robert M. Fresco, Martin Merkeley, Jack Arnold, adapting Robert M. Fresco’s “No Food for Thought” script used for an episode of the Science Fiction Theatre television series

Producer: William Alland

Cast: John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll, Nestor Paiva, Ross Elliot, Raymond Bailey, Hank Patterson, Edwin Rand, Bert Holland, Steve Darrell, (and uncredited cast) Clint Eastwood, Eddie Parker, Tom London, Edgar Dearing

At his home lab in the desert just outside the small town of Desert Rock, Arizona, Professor Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll) is experimenting with a synthetic nutrient. Deemer is concerned that there won’t be enough food to feed the world’s rapidly growing human population. His nutrient is activated by a radioactive isotope and then injected into various baby lab animals. They mature into adults in only several days and then continue growing to enormous size. When Deemer is attacked by an assistant (Eddie Parker), who had tested the nutrient upon himself and became disfigured, the lab is damaged and set ablaze. One of the test animals escapes into the desert, a giant tarantula that continues to grow and soon feeds on any creatures it can find, including man.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

In the late 1940s, Universal-International Pictures was the successor to Universal Pictures. Initially, the new merger tried to clean up Universal’s act by abandoning serials, B-films, and those now-revered horror films that kept them afloat since the 1930s. Once the atomic age got underway, science fiction replaced horror as a film genre label, but the new Universal went right back to making monsters again. By 1955, they were known for producing some of the most iconic sci-fi frights of the decade.

The preeminent science fiction director of the 1950s had to be Jack Arnold. After his Universal-International hits It Came from Outer Space (1953), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), and Revenge of the Creature (1955), Arnold seemed to be the go-to-guy for directing the studio’s sci-fi films. That is probably why Arnold was allowed to adapt a much less sensationalistic television production he had directed. The television series Science Fiction Theatre (1955–57) episode “No Food for Thought” dealt with a reclusive scientist working in his desert home laboratory developing a synthetic nutrient to help feed the ever-growing world population. While a few characters are similar, the intent of the new film was to thrill and chill, so we get the addition of a lot of death and destruction via a towering tarantula. Now, that’s what you need to sell popcorn, folks!

Director Arnold seemed to enjoy using the desolate expanse of desert settings in his films. Perhaps that drew him to the original teleplay, but he also used it to great effect in It Came from Outer Space and here in Tarantula. Again, we are made aware of how alien this environment is to man’s usual habitat.

John Agar is the poster boy for the 1950s sci-fi hero. Agar was not particularly enamored with the genre, but he was a working actor taking the roles he was offered, and he kept being offered starring roles in sci-fi movies. No doubt, since those flicks made money, the producers must have figured: Why mess with success? Let’s get Agar to do another one! In later years, Agar seemed to appreciate that he had fans because his sci-fi movies entertained them and that’s what it’s all about.

Whenever I think of John Agar, Tarantula is always the first film that comes to mind. Agar is probably at his most appealing in this film. He has a regular guy manner with a mix of good humor and easy confidence. Since he is clean cut and handsome, you just know he is going to get the girl. I like how Agar’s Dr. Matt Hastings has his professional pride ruffled by the local sheriff’s (Nestor Paiva) teasing when Hastings doubts the acromegalia disease explanation of a local’s death, only to be disputed by the esteemed local egghead, Prof. Deemer.

English actor Leo G. Carroll had been making film appearances since 1934 and had roles in six Alfred Hitchcock movies. Carroll is certainly best known to the boob tube generation as Alexander Waverly, the chief of the secret agent outfit in the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–68) and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966–67).

Carroll’s Prof. Gerald Deemer may be the cause of the terror of Tarantula, but he never really earns our contempt. His secrecy regarding the fate of a couple of his assistants has us feeling suspicious about him, but he reveals himself to be a well-meaning and idealistic person rather than a truly mad scientist. Eventually, he even earns our pity.

In an interesting departure from the usual sci-fi tropes, Tarantula does not rely on atomic fallout induced mutations or extraterrestrials to provide the threat. Leo G. Carroll’s Prof. Gerald Deemer seems to be a benevolent character working on a very valid concern: trying to pioneer a new technique to provide food for the population explosion. Indicative of the advances in technology being used to provide greater comfort and conveniences in American life, 1950s movie scientists were often being portrayed as good guys pursuing lofty goals. This is also a more challenging scenario that does not relegate the threats of scientific advancement to only being perpetrated by mad scientists. Society was evermore impacted by scientific advances that were being readily embraced, yet we always need to be reminded that there are potentially disastrous unforeseen consequences from pursuing even the most benevolent goals in science.

Mara Corday plays the love interest, though her Stephanie Clayton never has the time to play doctor with John Agar’s Dr. Matt Hastings. Almost as soon as they meet, the sci-fi shit hits the fan. I enjoy the beginning of this likely romance when Hastings meets Stephanie (call her Steve) Clayton. She arrives in Desert Rock to be a research assistant to scientist Prof. Deemer living just outside of town. Clayton and Hastings have a meet-cute at the expense of the nosy hotel clerk (Hank Patterson) who introduces them, but there are no forced conflicts or character arcs shoehorned into the story to make their relationship “interesting.” They are just two attractive, pleasant, single people who happen to meet and take a liking to each other. That is usually how it works in real life, Screenwriting 101 contrivances be damned.

Modern sensibilities may demand that any leads in a movie, male or female, must be “proactive.” I think that the power of this film is that the menace of the giant tarantula is way beyond the ability of any of the locals to cope with and that they all react in a perfectly believable fashion; they shout, scream, shoot, run, make frantic suggestions, but they are just scrambling to stay alive. Stephanie Clayton and Dr. Matt Hastings serve the story as two simple characters to identify with as the dangers mount. The picture is about how the situation makes us feel, not about the heroics of the cast.

I find it odd, but also realistic, that our movie’s hero, Dr. Matt Hastings, may have hunches and does his due diligence finding an explanation for the reasons behind the movie’s menace, yet his most constructive action is just telling the cops to call in the military. The average schlub would have to deal with the situation the same way. There are no brilliant deductions and daredevil stunts performed by our top-billed star to save the day. That makes this simple monster movie play out in a much more relatable manner than most of today's overblown Hollywood junk.

Keep your eyes peeled for an unbilled Clint Eastwood in a bit part behind the oxygen mask as the leader of a squadron of Air Force fighter jets. Eastwood would also have a funny bit part earlier the same year in John Agar’s first sci-fi fright flick, Revenge of the Creature (1955). Eastwood not only gets the opportunity here to upstage John Agar’s Tarantula heroics, for he would also have a much higher profile role 28 years later when Tarantula’s leading lady joined him for her own bit part in Sudden Impact (1983). There Mara Corday plays the waitress who pours way too much sugar into the coffee she serves Eastwood’s Dirty Harry.

People have always wondered why the disease of acromegaly is referred to as “acromegalia” in Tarantula. Beats me. However, the seeming inconsistency of Prof. Deemer’s synthetic nutrient causing infant animals to quickly mature and become giants while the humans that use the nutrient become deformed by acromegaly-type symptoms has usually been written off as a gimmick to include some additional monstrous characters into the story. I think that the writers may have realized that acromegaly is a form a gigantism only enlarging select portions of the body, and that it is an affliction that strikes adults, whereas gigantism that causes enlargement of the entire body begins in childhood. Therefore, it makes sense that the synthetic nutrient causes acromegaly deformities in adult humans while it turns infant animals into giants.

There! Your favorite anal-retentive genius has finally justified that apparent scientific contradiction in this fine film. However, I am still stumped as to why our hero Dr. Matt Hastings literally taste tests a pool of what turns out to be giant tarantula venom. Yuck!

PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writers: Jo Heims, Dean Riesner

Producer: Robert Daley

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch, James McEachin, Don Siegel (as Donald Siegel), Clarice Taylor, Jack Ging, Irene Hervey, Britt Lind (as Brit Lind), Duke Everts, Jack Kosslyn, George Fargo, Tim Frawley, Otis Kadani, Mervin W. Frates, Paul E. Lippman, Ginna Patterson, Malcolm Moran, (and jazz musicians as themselves) Cannonball Adderley and Johnny Otis 

Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood) is the evening disc jockey at KRML, a jazz radio station in Carmel, California. One of his frequent callers is a woman who always requests that Garver play the song “Misty.” After his shift one night, Garver stops at his favorite local bar and meets a woman named Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter). Garver takes Evelyn home and she reveals that she went to the bar hoping to meet Garver since he had mentioned on his program that he hung out there. Garver realizes that Evelyn is the listener who always requests “Misty.” The two spend the night together. What Garver thought would be just a casual fling leads to Evelyn obsessing over him and disrupting his life. Garver soon reunites with Tobie Williams (Donna Mills), a past lover that he feels serious about. This drives Evelyn to increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut is one of this Eastwood fan’s favorites. In Play Misty for Me, we see Eastwood’s typical manner applied to a character and situation much different than the crime thrillers and Westerns he is most associated with. This movie delivers a different kind of tension due to Eastwood’s character not being accustomed to a life of violence. 

During a 17-year acting career, Clint Eastwood had learned a few things behind the camera and knew how to relate to actors. Eastwood formed Malpaso Productions in 1968 and had begun starring in his own film projects. Everything really seemed to come together for his directorial debut, Play Misty for Me. Eastwood had been in the business long enough to have established some industry relationships for the talents he needed to collaborate with, he had made a marketable international name for himself as an actor, and Universal Pictures had already distributed three of his Malpaso Productions’ films. Therefore, Eastwood was able to secure a deal with Universal Pictures to distribute his first film with him as director. 

Play Misty for Me is far more than just a vanity project. Eastwood really delivers with an intimate and leisurely paced film that continues ratcheting up the complications and suspense to make for an intense and entertaining movie. 

This story’s role for Clint Eastwood gives him a chance to be a guy with an ideal lifestyle. He seems a bit more carefree at the start of the film than most of his other film characters, yet we are still treated to some of Eastwood’s typically terse wit. It is fun to see Eastwood play someone who is not an action hero get ensnared in an increasingly dangerous situation. His Dave Garver character is just a promiscuous disc jockey that has one too many one-night stands. You can’t blame the guy for being tempted by so much opportunity. With his looks, a classic Jaguar, and a real swingin’ bachelor pad, the Carmel-by-the-sea jazz DJ is bound to land plenty of ladies who are begging to be on his playlist. 

Casual sex quickly turns into crazy stalking from Dave Garver’s number one fan, Evelyn Draper. As the groupie from hell, Jessica Walter gives one helluva performance. She displays sentimentality and devotion that is so desperate it ultimately makes her seem rather pathetic. Initially, Evelyn seems sweet and naive, but she manages to manipulate confident stud Dave Garver. At first, Garver thinks that he is the one in control, but hooking up with Evelyn was just what she intended and she reels him in with her seemingly casual attitude about having sex immediately. There is always the risk of emotional entanglements when physical intimacy is involved. When Garver’s latest catch does not want to be released, she goes off the deep end and tries to capsize his entire life. Before long Garver feels “smothered.” 

Donna Mills plays Tobie Williams, the lady with whom Dave Garver had a recent relationship that he wants to renew. She is reserved, levelheaded, and a bit reluctant to start up again with the randy disc jockey, but Garver is persistent, has a way with words, and looks like Clint Eastwood, so he just can’t miss. Unfortunately, Garver had started taking more requests than just playing records from Evelyn Draper… 

This film’s main cast is pretty small, but there are other characters that help to dilute the tension before it starts to build again. Their humorous interaction with Eastwood’s Dave Garver not only entertains; it also helps to expand the audience perception of Eastwood as more than just a badass movie hero. Frequent Eastwood director Don Siegel takes the role of Murphy, the bartender at Dave Garver’s favorite hangout. James McEachin is full of witty banter, on-air and off, as Sweet Al Monte, Garver’s fellow disc jockey. Garver gets more teasing from Clarice Taylor as his cleaning lady, Birdie. Police officer Sgt. McCallum, played by John Larch, is the authority figure that has to help deal with Garver’s stalker problem and reminds us that Eastwood’s character is just another citizen in trouble. 

This film takes its time to establish the picturesque Carmel, California setting, Dave Garver’s lifestyle, and the gradual renewal of love between Garver and Tobie. Director Eastwood indulges in what amounts to a musical intermission with Roberta Flack’s song “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face“ playing during a lengthy montage of Dave Garver and Tobie Williams strolling and making love in the solitude of nature. This is followed up with attendance at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Some probably thought that first-time director Eastwood was just being self-indulgent, but this musical recess brings us down from an outbreak of insanity and makes us happy that Eastwood’s character has started to find some new joy in his life. We are given time to relax and become comfortable and hopeful that things are going Garver’s way after the conflicts he has had with Evelyn, which were becoming evermore alarming. 

Play Misty for Me spins us a twisted love triangle that has a little added bite in the midst of the sexual revolution era. At that time, people became more upfront about indulging their lust and openly skipped the responsibility of attachment before getting it on. Once some of them had been making it with the right person, they may have sought something more meaningful and lasting. The ongoing problem is that not all sexual partners evaluate feelings the same way or have the same motives. Play Misty for Me deals with the free love scene’s worst-case scenario: Hell hath no fury like a groupie scorned.

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964)

Director: Sergio Leone

Writers: Adriano Bolzoni, Mark Lowell, Victor Andrés Catena, Sergio Leone, Jaime Comas Gil, (and the following uncredited writers) Akira Kurosawa, Ryûzô Kikushima, Fernando Di Leo, Duccio Tessari, Tonino Valerii

Producer: Arrigo Colombo, Giorgio Papi, Pietro Santini

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volontè, Marianne Koch, José Calvo, Margarita Lozano. Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, Antonio Prieto, Joseph Egger, Daniel Martin, Benito Stefanelli, Mario Brega, Bruno Carotenuto, Aldo Sambrell 

A gunslinger stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into the small town of San Miguel just south of the Texas border. He finds that two feuding crime families dominate the town: the Rojos and the Baxters. The stranger decides that there is a lot of money to be made by playing the families against each other. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

An unofficial remake of the Japanese film Yojimbo (1961), A Fistful of Dollars is truly historic. It established the Italian-made “spaghetti western” as an internationally successful film genre and launched the international star status of American actor Clint Eastwood. Director Sergio Leone’s intense and stylish take on the Western genre changed it forever.

Death hovers over nearly every scene in the film. The arrival of Eastwood’s “Man with No Name” character immediately results in violence. Our assumptions that he will be the hero to set things right are challenged through out most of the story. He is an antihero that sees the grim situation of a town almost entirely populated by two rival gangs as an opportunity to exploit for wads of cash. Of course, he often has to use his deadly gun fighting skills to achieve his goals. Nobody could have played the part better than Eastwood, and he deserves all the success that followed. 

The “Man with No Name” character that Eastwood plays in this first of three films is so effective because we know nothing about him. He has an air of mystery about him that is due to him simply not telling anybody much of anything. In his world, all anyone needs to know is that he is looking for work as a gun fighter. The less anyone knows, the easier it is for him to turn things to his advantage. 

This film established the laconic attitude and individualism that would typify Eastwood’s characters in the multitude of films he would continue to headline. It takes an actor with real presence to pull off a role like this without seeming to be just an affected poser. Of course, it is Eastwood in this less-is-more role and performance that established most of the image many action heroes of later years vainly hope to achieve. Most of them come off as pale imitations. 

Eastwood’s impact is aided enormously by a great director in Sergio Leone. There is a style shown here that still seems fresh and exciting, no matter how many other directors in the decades since have been influenced by it. Gone is all idealism in people and society. Leone’s world of the old American West is populated by brutal characters dealing with the fragile beginnings of civilization being cobbled together in a barren wilderness. His films are full of men with striking and unusual features covered in stubble and sweat. Leone lavishes plenty of close ups on the many interesting faces he casts in his films. The testosterone levels reach the saturation point when the voices being dubbed for these barbarians sound so deep and guttural that they seem animalistic. 

The chief villain here is Ramón Rojo. He is one of three brothers that lead the Rojo gang of liquor sellers competing with the gunrunning Baxter family to control the town. While his marksmanship and quick thinking are admirable, Ramón is such a macho showoff and ruthless sociopath that you really have to hate his guts. Gian Maria Volontè is so commanding and despicable as Ramón, that he makes a welcome return as a different villain in the sequel For a Few Dollars More (1965). 

Director Leone not only infused the Western with a brutal and selfish cynicism, he energized it with gritty and melodramatic style. His interest in the music used in his Westerns was as important as the cinematography and the staging of his action scenes. He began his collaboration with composer Ennio Morricone on this film with fantastic results. The music punches up the emotions of every scene as well as establishing a break from the American attitude in this movie genre. Morricone’s music, as well as Leone’s directorial style, has become a classic standard for the Western film.