The recent post on Euro-Westerns got me to thinking of BLINDMAN, a movie starring Ringo Starr as an evil cowboy who herds a group of women through the desert. I've never actually seen the movie, although as a huge Ringo fan I've seen photos of publicity materials for his various films. Then it occurred to me that Ringo was actually quite a cult movie star himself. He was in CANDY as Manuel, the seductive Mexican poolboy, if I remember correctly [???], Frank Zappa's 200 MOTELS as Larry the Dwarf, CAVEMAN, a "prehistoric comedy", and THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN alongside Peter Sellers. IMDB lists a bunch of other movies I've heard vague things about: LISZTOMANIA, SEXTETTE, SON OF DRACULA , THAT'LL BE THE DAY, etc.

The only one of these movies I've seen is 200 MOTELS, but I'm curious about the others, especially SON OF DRACULA and CAVEMAN. Are they actually good? Should I seek them out?

And for heavens sake, how did Ringo get involved with the trashy low-budget movie biz?

The whole thing mystifies me...

. . . one of those you mention that is actually very good is THAT'LL BE THE DAY (1973), in which Ringo plays a good friend to David Essex (a British singer of the time) as they make the best of things in a sort of down-market seaside town - the film is a quite serious exploration of the times, the music, and Essex's attempt to do "something" with his life; there is a pretty good R1 DVD available from Anchor Bay . . . the direct sequel STARDUST (1974) is even better as Essex tries tc come to terms with being a famous pop star; well, not just "famous", but the most famous pop star in the entire world!! . . . this one was directed by the reliable Michael Apted, does not include Ringo in the cast, but we do get Keith Moon - no R1 DVD that I kow of . . . these two films used to play as a double feature at the "Art Houses" during the mid-70s . . .

BLINDMAN is great, but Ringo is more of a prop than anything, the way a dwarf is in a Jodorowsky movie (or a Ringo Dwarf in a Zappa movie, come to think of it), added weird local color. He's not a cowboy so much as a greasy Bandito biker-type (pre-bike, however) pimping hijacked Mormon brides along with his unlikely brother Lloyd Battista to the Federalistas and he's named Candy! But he's wearing every Ring in his Ring-o collection as well! It's all outlandish and diffuse enough that I'm not sure where my memory leaves off and I'm just making things up (ie pursue immediately ensuing plot points with extreme caution). He's got an equally evil and despicable (they're very Watersian 'world's filthiest people' types) lover, "Sweet Mama"and an evil sister as well, and when she's suddenly in peril, the tables turned, Ringo disarmingly turns on his old Beatles Spaniel eyed pathos charm, wailing in the desert "I want me Pilar!" His South of the border Liverpudlian accent is pretty special.

This movie is Saturday morning cartoons for rock and roll casualties (those making the movie as well as watching it), the fun-spectrum and mentality equivalent of destroying a hotel room while pursuing groupies. If that's your taste, there's none better, and it betters kindred rock vanity projects Motels and Son of Dracula by a long shot because the star-writer Anthony is a semi-pro cineaste who has gotten this kind of moviemaking self-indulgent madness down to a quasi artform by this stage. Good fun.

CAVEMAN was concocted by Carl Gottlieb (who cowrote THE JERK and the first three JAWS films) and Rudy DeLuca, who helped write several of Mel Brooks' comedies including SILENT MOVIE. Both are big on visual gags, so the humor in CAVEMAN is specifically dependent on that. They crafted a minimalisic prehistoric language for the characters to speak (except for one, who's already on to English). Ringo does a decent job with his performance as a little caveman who helps lead a tribe of outsiders that don't fit particularly well in with their larger, more savage counterparts. It's not a great picture, but it does possess a silly charm. The contributions by cast members like Shelley Long, Dennis Quaid, Evan Kim, Jack Gilford, and even Richard Moll (as the abominable snowman) are enjoyable.

One very noteworthy aspect of the film is its visual effects. It has a good chunk of stop motion animation in it, created by the likes of David Allen, Randy Cook, Pete Kleinow, Jim Aupperle & Jim Danforth - some of the key talents in the field. Their dinosaurs are part of the film's humor and as such are a delight. I think their efforts were nominated for an Academy Award, but lost out to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Okay, so it sounds like his movies are actually kind of interesting then! I definitely want to see BLINDMAN now!

I also read a few reviews of SEXTETTE... apparently it stars an 85-year-old Mae West as a seductress? Crazy!

And don't forget GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROAD STREET.

Well, OK, you can. Ringo and wife Barbara Bach co-star in this Paul McCartney vanity project about Paul's frantic search for the missing tapes of his upcoming album. Not that the search prevents him from singing a bunch of songs in the movie at recording sessions, TV specials, etc. The music is very good, and the story strictly lightweight, but I imagine most McCartney fans like it. I do at least, although it's not an easy film to recommend. Ringo even plays drums in the movie and on the soundtrack album, IIRC.

On a related note, is the Paul McCartney & Wings concert film ROCKSHOW planned for a DVD release? I notice a few DVDs bouncing around eBay, but I suspect these are burned from the ROCKSHOW laserdisc. I first saw ROCKSHOW on EMI/Thorn's murky videotape (although I suspect it looked murky even in theaters), which I dubbed and watched 100 times. Several years ago, I taped a VH1 telecast of it, but I'd like to see this one cleaned up a bit with a better sound mix.

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE!!!

Ringo also supplied narration for early episodes of the popular children's television show THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE. My 3 year old boy is Thomas nuts and often watches these early episodes. Barely a day goes by without Ringo's voice echoing through the house!

To be honest, his turn as station master on that show is the role of his I like best and find best suited to him.

My bias will show through so let me get it out of the way here: I love big trainwrecks. Skidoo, Myra Breckenridge, Hitler's Son, these are gems that I treasure. With that out of the way...

SEXTETTE may be the greatest film ever made. Yes it is Mae West's last film, yes she wears lingerie, and yes you can see her stir her dentures with her tongue in some scenes. But let me add that you will have the inestimable pleasure of hearing Timothy Dalton singing that old smash Love Will Keep Us Together (with Mae providing the "whatevers" to finish each chorus) and that should be enough to keep you interested.

Ringo plays one of Mae's ex-husbands (number 3 or 4, I can't remember) and sports an atrocious East-European accent of indeterminate origin. The whole thing plays like a made for tv movie that went out of control and is simply too much for mere words.

Rhino has it out on a cheap dvd in a full screen transfer and though it doesn't look particularly good it's probably as good as this film will ever look for home video.

If Ringo and Mae aren't enough, you will also see Tony Curtis, Keith Moon, Alice Cooper, George Hamilton, Regis Philbin, and Dom DeLuise in a tour-de-force performance where he tap dances on top of a piano! Did I mention the wonderful theme song by Van McCoy?

My absolute highest recommendation, you will not be disappointed (though you may get nauseous at times).

tom.

Thomas the Tank Engine--OF COURSE!

That show was big when I was about 12 years old and first starting to get into the Beatles... my little brother was a huge fan of Thomas and we'd watch the show together, me for Ringo and him for the bizarrely clay-faced trains! We'd replay the same episodes over and over again, to the point where some of the dialogue will probably never leave my memory. I always thought Ringo looked weird with that little feather earring and was happy to see him without it during his 2001 All-Starr tour.

Yes, it's true... I am a Ringo obsessee and will probably never rest until I've seen every single one of his movies!

"Yes, it's true... I am a Ringo obsessee and will probably never rest until I've seen every single one of his movies!"

Now that that's been made clear and is out in the open... ^_^

Kate, have you seen "Princess Daisy"? Based on the Judith Krantz book, I think it's more mini-series than actual movie. Haven't viewed it in yonks but do recall liking it as well as that Ringo (and Barbara Bach) have guest-starring roles in it as Princess Daisy's relatives.

Don't forget the documentary about T REX that Ringo directed; "BORN TO BOOGIE". Watched it the other night...really...weird.

No, regretfully, THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE and 200 MOTELS are the only movies/shows starring Ringo that I've seen, aside from the Beatles movies. Only recently did I even recall his strange career in film. Thanks for letting me know about it, though... now I have to seek it out!

I seem to recall seeing somewhere (here?) some years ago that SON OF DRACULA was essentially a lost film. That's too bad---the soundtrack album got a ton of play at my house as a teen though I never did see the movie.

And yes, the soundtrack was on an eight-track tape. Wanna make somethin' of it? :lol: