Johnny Showtime: Junesploitation 2025 Wrap-Up

 by JB

It was quite a month.

With another Junesploitation slowly disappearing in our subconscious rear-view mirrors, it’s time to look back and assess. Was it a success? YES, a rousing one. Were there highlights? YES: for me it was the delightful screenings of films that I had not seen in a VERY long time: Death Race 2000, Dr. No, Men in Black, American Splendor, The Girl Can’t Help It, The Kids are Alright, and Code of Silence. These films are old friends.

More so than any previous Junesploitation, I actually watched a few flicks that I HAD NEVER EVER SEEN BEFORE. The best of these included: Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man; The Prestige; Fireball 500; Monster from the Ocean Floor; Phantom Stallion, and City on Fire. Extra special: seeing Son of Frankenstein at the famous Egyptian Theater in Hollywood with my wife and son for Father’s Day. Be still my beating heart!

Finally, even though the following are dyed-in-the-wool exploitation classics, I somehow cannot ever bring myself to love them: Shaft’s Big Score, Police Story, Friday the 13th, Four of the Apocalypse, and Mondo Cane. Maybe next year. What follows is a shameless rehash of pithy capsule reviews I dutifully posted as the month went on...

See you all next June.

June 1 – Italian Crime
Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976)

Batshit crazy buddy cop movie succeeds in blending elements of James Bond, Starsky & Hutch, and Italian giallo. The opening motorcycle chase is amazing and apparently filmed in downtown Rome without permits or permission. One quibble is that all the sexy stuff comes off a little rapey. One bonus is that it features both Adolfo Celi, who played Largo in Thunderball, and Franco Citti, who played Michael’s bodyguard Calo in The Godfather. Stay away from the two leads; people die around them LIKE FLIES.

June 2 – Zombies!
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)

Surprisingly raunchy, surprisingly gory version of a crazy cross between The Walking Dead and an ABC Afterschool Special. More fun than it has any right to be, the filmmakers delight in including material never seen in other zombie movies: zombie dick, zombie cats, zombies on a trampoline! Great supporting cast includes David Koechner, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Cloris Leachman. How many other zombie films can you name that feature a real Oscar winner?

June 3 – David Carradine
Death Race 2000 (1975)

Always fun, very prescient— lots of parallels to today’s political morass. Carradine’s Frankenstein drives in a cross-country road race where the drivers score points for killing pedestrians. Corman made it because he thought Rollerball was going to be a big hit—and he beat Rollerball to theaters by a month! It seems like every line between Sylvester Stallone and Louisa Moritz was improvised, especially “You know what? You’re a baked potato.” The opening credit graphics look like Junior High School student notebook doodles, as do the designs of the race cars! Grade A Junesploitation fodder.

June 4 – Blackspoitation
Shaft’s Big Score (1972)

Disappointing sequel to the original blacksploitation sensation. All the right elements are here, including Richard Roundtree and other original cast members, but a snail’s pace and a feeling of “nothing new here” sinks it. The film suddenly springs to life in its final half hour for a crazy long chase involving helicopters and boats. Director Gordon Parks also wrote most of the music.

June 5 – Magic
The Prestige (2006)

Finally got around to watching this. For 19 years the fact that I confused this film and The Illusionist (and didn’t want to watch “the bad one”) kept me from watching either. This one is a very enjoyable dark romp, full of Nolan’s labyrinthian plotting, Christian Bale’s intensity, and Ricky Jay’s love of the history of magic. Compelling and tricky, but probably 20 minutes too long. Bonus celebrity cameo by David Bowie playing Nicola Tesla. I’d say that this film was Michael Caine’s audition tape for Alfred in Nolan’s Batman films, but Batman Begins was released the year before. “Some men just want to watch the world… disappear.”

June 6 – Giallo
Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966, Mario Bava)

Terribly atmospheric ghost story featuring top-notch art direction and creepy locations. Bava's direction and editing provide some impressive jump scares. I'm also giving this one bonus points because I thought I had it figured out... and then it tricked me. This is one of the only giallos I've seen that doesn't suffer from the infamous "middle hour" sag. My only quibble is its sometimes-languid pace. Viva la Bava!

Day 7 – Kung-Fu!
Police Story (1985)

This barely qualifies as a Kung-Fu movie because there's so little Martial Arts in it. This seems to have been an attempt to make Jackie Chan more mainstream by putting him in a more conventional police thriller. Lots of comedy; Chan literally gets hit with pies. Lots of slapstick, including a tedious scene where Chan juggles four phone calls and four phones. It is to laugh. The "three cars down the hilly shanty town" sequence, the "umbrella on the bus" sequence, and the "concluding broken glass/mall sequence" make the film almost worthwhile. Halfway through this, I realized what I had meant to watch was Supercop. My bad. What saved this was that I watched it with my lovely wife and friend-of-the-site Heath Holland from Cereal at Midnight.

Day 8 – Heists!
Tower Heist (2011)

A little bit by-the-book, but star-studded caper film: the supporting cast features a deep bench of reliable character actors, Kate Upton and Robert Downey Sr. have cameos. Alan Alda is surprisingly good as the villain. What other heist movie uses the Macy's Freaking Thanksgiving Parade as a distraction? How great is this film? Friend-of-the-site Heath Holland from Cereal at Midnight went to sleep halfway through!

Day 9 – Free Space!
Dr. No (1962)

Great things were born in 1962: the James Bond series and me. The new 4K disc of this looks exquisite, and this is a film I am very familiar with. Surprising how many elements of the series are here in the very first entry: really the only thing missing is Q giving Bond all his nifty gadgets at the start of the new mission. Joseph Wiseman makes a great villain: "Unfortunately, I misjudged you. You are just a stupid policeman."

Day 10 – Jess Franco!
She Killed in Ecstasy (1971)

How amazing is it that different wigs change Soledad Miranda's appearance so damn much? During Howard Vernon's convention speech, is he deliberately channeling Hitler in his voice and posture? Just how "meta" is it when Soledad Miranda kills the director of this film? Like I said, she just couldn't stand how much he used that zoom lens.

Day 11 – '90s Action!
Men in Black (1997)

Peppy little action comedy about big bugs, goop, and shaking dogs. Apparently, if you don’t count the opening and closing credits, this film is only 68 minutes long. Why wasn’t the song “Forget Me Not” mentioned in the end credits? That’s the original song “Men in Black” sampled/plagiarized. Where was Vincent D’Onofrio’s Oscar nomination for playing Edgar? Is there any other movie where Tommy Lee Jones sings an Elvis song?

Day 12 – Cartoons!
American Splendor (2003)

Revelatory film about Harvey Pekar and his one-of-a-kind comic book. Funny, trenchant, and endlessly sad, why didn’t this unique film garner more Oscar nominations? I believe it was only nominated for Best Screenplay. Paul Giamatti deserved one for playing Pekar. “You know, everyday life is pretty complicated stuff.”

Day 13 – Friday the 13th!
Friday the 13th (1980)

My antipathy for this classic is well known, so I thought perhaps seeing it in a real theater with a real audience for the first time would change my mind. Thanks to my local Cinemark Cinema, last night I finally got my chance. I thought the young audience would really get into it, but they didn’t. They sat and watched in dutiful silence, like they were watching it for a school assignment or something. The theater was packed! (Kevin Bacon’s package in his two-sized-too-small Speedo got a big laugh.) I think maybe a large portion of the audience, unfamiliar with the first installment, were disappointed that there wasn’t more Jason. Anyway, always great to see Betsy Palmer (who I always knew as a perennial panelist on the Sixties gameshow I’ve Got a Secret) and watch a real snake get cut in half.

Day 14 – Free Space!
Fireball 500 (1966)

I put this on, thinking it was the great, lost Beach Party movie (Frankie and Annette? Check. Harvey Lembeck? Check. William Asher? Check.) But it is not. Lembeck does not play Eric Von Zipper, he plays a Southern bootlegger. The whole thing comes across as an Elvis movie without Elvis -- with Frankie instead of Elvis, Annette instead of Ann-Margret, and Fabian instead of Bill Bixby. Seinfeld’s Uncle Leo shows up for some strained comic relief. For a movie about stock car racing, this movie has a very sluggish pace. I count only three songs — what a rip-off.

Day 15 – Revenge
(Is there a reason that the Junesploitation theme of Revenge falls on Father’s Day?)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Bela Lugosi’s Ygor seeks revenge on the jury that condemned him to hang, using Frankenstein’s monster as his blunt instrument. Super lavish production full of Expressionist art direction, lavish sets, and Basil Rathbone’s overacting. (“Drink?” “Darts?”) Hey! Watch out for that bubbling sulfur pit in the basement that neither of the first two movies EVER MENTIONED ONCE.

Day 16 – '80s Comedy
Top Secret! (1984)

Zucker/Abrams/Zucker parody of Elvis movies and Cold War dramas AT THE SAME TIME. Hilarious, although some of the jokes seem dated. I wondered how many young people would get the Blaupunkt, Ronald Reagan, and Ford Pinto references. Better are Val Kilmer’s musical numbers: “Skeet Surfing,” “How Silly Can You Get,” and “Moving the Rug.” French Freedom Fighters are named Latrine, Deja Vu, and Chocolate Mousse. Watch for the amazing sequence, filmed entirely in reverse, featuring Peter Cushing. Viva Nick Rivers!

Day 17 – Fulci!
Four of the Apocalypse (1975)

Typical Fulci mixed bag-- some sequences are mind-blowing, other sequences... less so. Fabrio Testi is very handsome.

Day 18 – Rock N Roll!
The Girl Can’t Help It (1956)

Thoroughly delightful live-action cartoon served up by Frank Tashlin. Fun story about Tom Ewell trying to make Jayne Mansfield a singing star, featuring musical numbers with Julie London, the Platters, Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Eddie Cochran. It’s the coolest, hepcat. Sight gags aplenty… with beautiful, life-like color by Deluxe. Does anyone else think this film is actually progressive and anti-sexist because it’s arguing that the Mansfield character should be allowed to choose domestic life over a career, if that’s what she really wants?

Day 19 – Free Space!
Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954)

Neat quickie from Roger Corman (his first film as producer) shot in only six days on the beaches of Malibu. Julie (Ann Kimble) swears she sees something in the ocean, but no one believes her! Steve Dunning (Stuart Wade) shows up to woo Julie and sing a song. The titular creature looks a lot like the one from the previous year’s It Came from Outer Space. The score sometimes sounds like Jaws, almost 20 years before Jaws. Cinematography by Floyd Crosby, David’s father and DP on all the Beach Party films. The new Film Masters Blu-Ray features a Tom Weaver commentary filled with excerpts from a Corman interview and great bonus features. 64 minutes of fun. In retrospect, I should have saved this FOR DAY 20.

Day 20 – Exploitation Auteurs!
The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

Risible entry in the big monster sub-genre due to 1) the titular beast being a mere lizard on miniature sets, 2) the film being concerned with every plot thread except the monster’s: hero Don Sullivan’s buddy/buddy relationship with the Sheriff, his little sister Missy’s battle with a crippling disease, and the local rich Curmudgeon’s hatred of everyone and everything. As if this 64-minute drive-in wonder needs any more padding, Sullivan sings three songs! Directed by Ray (Killer Shrews, Poptarts) Kellogg. Production manager Ben Chapman did NOT play the Creature from the Black Lagoon; that was a different Ben Chapman.

Day 21 – Westerns!
Phantom Stallion (1954)

I figured it was about time to finally watch this low-budget B-movie programmer as its one sheet poster has decorated my walls for the better part of 35 years. I finally found it on the YouTubes (Thanks, Heath!) and it did not disappoint. Hero Rex Allen arrives at a horse ranch to reconnect with calvary buddy Slim Pickens. He immediately senses that something is wrong when the owner of the ranch, Michael Reilly (Harry Shannon) is almost killed by a wild horse. The Ranch Foreman (Don Haggerty) suggests that this "wild horse" has been "attracting" the ranch's "prize stock" to "run off" with it and "go rogue." He's full of shit, of course, he's actually been selling the ranch's prized Mustangs and pocketing the cash. He is in cahoots with his fiancé, the ranch owner's niece (Carla Balenda) who is the Lady MacBeth of the piece. I loved all the action; there is a chase or a fistfight every five minutes or so. The plot is far too complicated for a 54-minute film, but that just speaks to this little movie's ambition. The utter heartlessness of the villains is something to see. I mean, the ranch owner's niece gleefully watches as he is stomped to death by a horse. Yikes! Then the villains attempt to kill a CHILD. Gadzooks! Harry Shannon plays the ranch owner; he was Kane's father in Citizen Kane, Cooper in High Noon, and Chief Gould in Touch of Evil. Rex Allen later narrated all of the Disney “True-Life” Nature films; his voice was VERY recognizable.

Day 22 – Teenagers!
Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)

A gang of grumpy alien teenagers land on Earth and quickly reduce a dog to its skeleton with their scary ray guns. The aliens are searching for a suitable home for the “Gargons,” monsters from their home planet that look like giant lobsters. The film is so amateurish that the only pleasure it offers is cheap special effects shots showing humans turned into skeletons. These special effects are not special: the camera was simply paused while the actor was replaced by a skeleton. We have NO SCENE where a WHOLE GROUP of humans are skeletonized, and it soon becomes obvious that filmmakers used a SINGLE SKELETON over and over. Teenagers from Outer Space uses the same stock music library cues later used in Night of the Living Dead. For vintage horror fans, watching Teenagers from Outer Space will fill them with uncanny audio déjà vu. You’ll recognize every cue; you will wish you were watching Night of the Living Dead again instead of wasting your time with Teenagers from Outer Space.

Day 23 - New World Pictures
The Kids are Alright (1979)

Twenty-two-year-old superfan Jeff Stein assembled this terrific collection of live Who performances and early television appearances, then persuaded the band to cooperate with the production and film special material just for the film! The Kids are Alright is a treasure trove: the band performs “Shout and Shimmy” at the National Blues and Jazz Festival in 1965, we see the promo film for “Happy Jack” that never aired on BBC’s Sound and Picture City, unused footage from their famous Woodstock performance, the band performing “A Quick One While He’s Away” from the unreleased Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus television special, and two musical numbers staged just for the film, “Baba O’Reilly” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” These would be the last performances of Keith Moon with the Who; he died one week after seeing the rough cut of the film. The Kids Are Alright was distributed the New World Pictures; they didn’t just make quickie exploitation films. They also distributed documentaries and foreign films by Fellini, Bergman, and Kurosawa.

Day 24 – Hong Kong Action!
City on Fire (1987)

Terrific Ringo Lam police drama, often cited as a key inspiration behind Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Chow Yun-Fat goes undercover to bust a hard-core group of jewel thieves. His boss is facing pressure from an upstart young detective who wants to take over the department. Danny Lee is terrific (as usual) as the lost criminal who seems to know that his time is almost up. I don't get the plagiarism accusations that used to fly around: except for a shot of the criminals walking four abreast down an alley and the Mexican stand-off at the end, these are completely different movies. It's almost like Tarantino said, "What if you re-thought City on Fire from exclusively the criminal's standpoint?" Both great crime films.

Day 25 – Wings Hauser!
Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)

This is the movie for which the term "batshit crazy" was invented. Upon this rewatch, though, I noticed the batshit stuff is mostly in the first half. The second half is a bit of a slog. Norman Mailer wrote and directed this adaptation of his own novel for Cannon Pictures. Ryan O'Neal wakes up after a five-day bender and... boy howdy, has his life gone awry. He proceeds to recount the story of his last five days to his dying father Lawrence Tierney. O'Neal was married to the duplicitous Debra Sandlund, who has now taken up with maniac police chief Wings Hauser. The whole plot revolves around rich, bored white people; drug deals gone awry; and decapitated heads. Why, oh why, couldn't O'Neal have just stay married to his true love, Isabella Rosellini? Towards the end of the film, there is suddenly so much voice-over narration from so many different characters, you know there were problems in the editing room making this sleazy soap opera stew make sense. Early on, Rossellini brags that Hauser gives her five orgasms a night; later, Hauser claims it's SIXTEEN. C'mon, kids -- get your stories straight. Good advice: "Never call an Italian "small potatoes."

Day 26 – Eurosploitation!
Mondo Cane (1962)

Reprehensible “shockumentary,” the first of its kind, featuring nasty tribal rituals, real animal cruelty, and a superior-sounding narrator who might just be Satan. Segments include a town that worships Rudolph Valentino, Australian female lifeguards, snakes for dinner in Japan, strange mating rituals world-wide, self-flagellating Catholics in Calabria, California pet cemeteries, bizarre Tokyo hangover cure health spas, African village pig roasts, radioactive Bikini Atoll fish, beer-loving Germans, French geese preparing for their futures as Foi Gras, dog gourmets in China, New York restaurants that serve insects, and many more! Contains the 1964 Best Song Oscar nominee “More.”

Day 27 – Free Space!
Bikini Beach (1964)

This AIP drive-in special is jam-packed: horny surfing kids, dumb-as-rocks motorcycle gang leader, drag racing with Don Rickles, a Beatles parody called the Potato Bug, Donna Loren telling us in song that “Love Is The Secret Weapon,” Annette Funicello showing her navel against Walt Disney’s express wishes, Elizabeth Montgomery reading some of the voice over narration even though she’s NOT in the film but WAS married to writer/director William Asher, a five-man bald instrumental group called the Pyramids, cameos from Boris Karloff and Stevie Wonder, cinematography by David Crosby’s father Floyd, Keenan Wynn as a duplicitous senior citizen’s home owner, a surfing chimpanzee, and a climactic go-cart race. Why do I love this film so much?

Day 28 – Cannon!
The Cannonball Run (1981)

Wait, am I doing this right?

Day 29 – '80s Action!
Code of Silence (1985)

Tough, gritty cop movie that really shows off the Chicago I know and love: endless trash-strewn streets, endless traffic jams, a bar on every corner, and empty factories that DO NOT produce steam and sparks, but only exist for Chuck Norris to blow them up. Code of Silence is a tad more realistic than the standard Chuck Norris picture, though there is a scene where Chuck dispatches many henchmen by kicking them all in the head. The opening “stake-out gone wrong” scene is a mini-masterpiece of screenwriting and editing. Ralph Foody plays Cragie, who accidently shoots a Hispanic teen but covers it up by planting a weapon on the boy. Five years earlier, Foody played the dispatch officer in The Blues Brothers who nasally intones, “The use of unnecessary force in the apprehension of the Blues brothers... has been approved.” Other great supporting performances are provided by Dennis Farina, Henry Silva, Molly Hagan, Bert Remsen, Nathan Davis, Ron Dean, and Mike Genovese.

Day 30 – Italian Horror!
Black Sunday (1960)

This cautionary tale asks us all to be careful when we burn witches and reminds us all that karma is a bitch. Atmospheric as all get out, this is the film that really puts Mario Bava on the cinematic map. Still, Black Sunday falls prey to one of “JB’s IRREFUTABLE RULES OF GIALLO,” in that the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes are pure movie dynamite, but the middle hour and seven minutes are a snooze; their production seems to have been turned over to some other group of filmmakers entirely, perhaps an amateur B team. Oh, well... the sight of Barbara Steele’s “holy face” would become one of the most iconic images in all of horror film history.