Chris Poggiali has a great new article on the exploitation movies that ran on WNEW Channel 5 in New York's Saturday afternoon "Drive-In Theater", offering up previously undocumented information on TV packages from World Northal (including their incredible Black Belt Theater offerings) and Cinema Shares, as well as some company history, all done with Chris' characteristically impeccable detail:

http://dvddrive-in.com/TV%20Guide/driveinmovie5.htm

That was a terrific article, almost exhausting in its completeness and research.

I wonder if Chris has had opportunity to talk to Maron since new Canadian company Peace Arch reportedly bought the entire libraries of Castle Hill and Trinity Entertainment? This pretty much makes them an instant mini-major. And maybe means we can hope for better DVD releases of the classic exploitation titles both those companies owned.

I agree that it was a great read. Reading about the distribution of exploitation movies always fascinates me.

"Hotter than Kotter!" :D

Poster Pit

Great article -- it answered a lot of questions that had been floating in my head for years!

Another brilliant, exhaustively-researched piece on exploitation film history by scholar Chris Poggiali. It made my lunch break! Cool illustrations, too.

I hadn't known that THE MANSON MASSACRE had played anywhere as early as 1971, that was a revelation to me. Most of the country didn't see it until a limited release in 1976. In Seattle, it was the co-feature with Bava's TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE.

Fascinating piece and chock full of info about what kung fu films played here. I remember Drive-In Movie on WNEW in New York and watched a few of these films and even taped a few (the only off-the-air tape that survives is FOUR ASSASSINS, which is repped by a poster in the article). But I wasn't that into old school kung fu at the time, so I didn't plunge into it (plus I was married at the time and had a child somewhere in there, a couple of factors that get in the way of developing new obsessions). Then a decade later, divorced but still a parent, I was ready for something new and got into all the new Hong Kong films (John Woo, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Tsui Hark), and hung out at the 43rd Chamber (referenced in the article) to learn about them and pick up copies. While there, I kept hearing fans talk with reverence about the old kung fu movies and I started taking notes for future reference.

By 1997, as it became finally clear that the Hong Kong film industry would never again produce another such wave of great movies like they did in 1992-1994, e.g. HARD-BOILED, THE MAGIC CRANE, DRAGON INN, SUPERCOP, WING CHUN, THE HEROIC TRIO, THE EAST IS RED, FULL CONTACT, MOON WARRIORS, KUNG FU CULT MASTER, GREEN SNAKE, BLACK CAT and NAKED KILLER, I found myself more and more curious about old school kung fu and picked up some titles I had heard about but hadn't seen, y'know like MASTER KILLER (THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN) and 8-DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER. And, suddenly, a long dormant obsession came to pulsating life. Along the way, I picked up a VHS tape of BLOODY AVENGERS (BOXER REBELLION) that turned out to be a taped-off-Drive-In Movie copy, but with the commercials edited out. I had once taped this myself, watched it and then taped over it and here I was paying $15 for the same thing! The more I realized that I once had the opportunity to tape a lot of these films, the more I kicked myself. Gradually, I picked up copies of a large number of the titles on the list in the linked article.

Cut to the last few years and the Shaw Bros. titles on that list are all coming out in remastered/restored legit DVD editions, including many never available, to my knowledge, on VHS around here before. And many non-Shaw titles have gotten the royal, legit treatment as well, including BROKEN OATH, DANCE OF THE DRUNKEN MANTIS, 7 GRANDMASTERS, 18 BRONZEMEN, SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW, DRUNKEN MASTER, DREADNAUGHT, PRODIGAL SON, KNOCKABOUT, THE MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER, etc. So, I no longer have to look for somebody else's taped-off-the-air copies. :P (And yes, I now have a fully restored DVD of BOXER REBELLION, along with the same for every other kung fu film I watched/taped off Drive-In Movie.)

I wish reading articles at dvddrive-In didn't give me a headache. Change the font!

I can't read white type on a black background. It kills my eyes, and it looks ugly.