Burt Topper Movies

Burt Topper was a 30-year-old veteran of the TV mills when he made his big-screen directorial debut with Hell Squad, which he also produced and scripted. Subsequent Topper film efforts bore such lurid titles as The Diary of a High School Bride (1959), War is Hell (1959) and The Devil's Eye (1969). Perhaps because he upheld the traditions of the low-budget 1950s exploitation picture into the comparatively more sophisticated 1960s, Topper was embraced as a near-genius by French film critics. This surfeit of adulation served to make Topper an object of ridicule amongst American critics, though in fact his films aren't really all that bad: The Strangler (1964), for example, boasts some startlingly effective moments, as well as a standout leading performance by Victor Buono. Topper also served as executive producer of several worthwhile films, among them the 1968 speculative thriller Wild in the Streets (1968), which was as overpraised by mainstream critics as most of his earlier efforts were underappreciated. Burt Topper hasn't been heard from since his 1976 "comeback" picture, the tantalizingly titled The Day the Lord Got Busted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
1985  
R  
Nine Las Vegas showgirls are chosen to go fight terrorists in the Middle East (by distracting them?) in this under-par action drama with some nudity and sexual encounters. The son of a diplomat has been kidnapped by Arabs -- as usual cast in the role of villains -- who want to get their hands on the secrets for constructing a special nuclear weapon. It is the mission of the showgirls, should they accept it, to rescue the hostage, get a tan, and jump into that large shared bathtub as often as they can. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Bainbridge ScottGlen Hartford, (more)
1979  
PG  
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Brian Foster (Wesley Eure) is a young inventor who creates a mechanical dog as part of a home protection system. When he falls out of favor with his boss Ralph Norton (Conrad Bain), the boss' pretty daughter Casey (Valerie Bertinelli) uses her pull to save the company and Brian's job. Mr. Gibbs (Jim Backus) is the rival company president who covets the mechanical mutt. He sends double agent Ken Sharp (Larry Bishop) to do his bidding, and Ken in turn hires a pair of bumbling crooks (Red Buttons), (Chuck McCann) to steal the dog. The real star of this family-oriented comedy is the mechanical dog Chomps. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Wesley EureValerie Bertinelli, (more)
1976  
PG  
A con-man/preacher fools a bunch of naive folks. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

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1971  
PG  
In this drama, a former sergeant accompanies his deceased friend, a black man, home from Vietnam. There he tries to persuade the deceased's white girlfriend and the Indian leader of his motorcycle gang to come to the funeral. The ex-sarge also tries to understand the ins-and-outs of biker life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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1969  
R  
1969  
R  
Faulkner (Christopher George) is an ATF agent who shut down the moonshine operation of Burl (Ralph Meeker) in his Southern state hideaway. Along with agent Martin (Ron Rifkin), the duo uses eight escaped prisoners for the job, promising their freedom should the mission succeed. Fabian stars as one of the more unlikely criminals and Leslie Parrish drips with sweet Southern charm as a honeysuckle rose in this routine adventure film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Christopher GeorgeFabian, (more)
1968  
 
A rock star decides he'd rather rule the free world than just sell records in this ambitious fusion of political satire and teen exploitation. Teenage rebel Max Flatow (Christopher Jones) has grown tired of life in suburbia with his domineering mother (Shelley Winters) and weak-willed father (Bert Freed), and, having saved up 800 dollars he earned by selling home-brewed LSD to his schoolmates, he blows up the family car with a makeshift bomb and strikes out on his own. A few years later, Max has adopted the name Max Frost, and is one of the world's biggest rock stars, selling millions of records and earning a fortune from concert appearances and music publishing. Max has learned firsthand about the buying power of America's youth, and when Sen. John Fergis (Hal Holbrook) asks Max to appear at a "youth rally" to mobilize younger voters, he realizes the kids could also sway an election if they wanted. At Fergis' rally, Max debuts a new song, "Fourteen or Fight," which demands the voting age be reduced to 14; the youth respond by rising up in support of Max's demands, reducing many American cities to a standstill. As political leaders bow to public pressure, the age of suffrage is reduced to 15, but rather than choosing candidates to support, Max decides it's time he and his inner circle took control. After Max doses Washington, D.C.'s water supply with LSD, congress votes to make any registered voter eligible to hold federal office, and before long Max Frost has become president of the United States. Once in office, Max unveils a bold plan to once and for all do something about people over 30 -- including his parents. Wild in the Streets features an early screen appearance from Richard Pryor as drummer and political activist Stanley X, while media personalities Dick Clark, Walter Winchell, Army Archerd, and Melvin Belli portray themselves. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote the songs for fictional rockers "Max Frost and the Troopers," including the hit single "The Shape of Things to Come." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Shelley WintersChristopher Jones, (more)
1967  
 
The fast-paced world of stock-car racing provides the backdrop for this drama that centers upon a driver who is forced to retire after a blackout causes the death of another driver. He then begins working at a "Thrill Circus" as a stunt driver. There he meets the proprietor's daughter, who also drives there, and her lover. The professional driver is bored by his new job and so begins training the girl's beau to be a professional. The training is good and the young man wins his first race. This causes the banished driver's gold-digging ex-girl friend to try to steal the hot young driver away from the daughter which creates some problems between the younger and the older drivers. They reconcile when they are paired up during a crucial 500-mile race. In the midst of the race, the older pro feels another blackout coming on. By the end of the film, he realizes that the fainting spells are a psychological reaction to a childhood trauma. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Annette FunicelloFabian, (more)
1967  
 
Big bad bikers butt heads with a small-town sheriff in this bargain-basement sleaze-fest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
John CassavetesBeverly Adams, (more)
1967  
 
This trashy documentary tries but fails miserably to live up to other comparable exploitation items such as Mondo Cane. Graphic animal cruelty is show as live chickens are fed to a ravenous lizard, dogs fight to the death, and a Caesarean operation follows the skinning of a live snake. Stock footage showing victims of Nazi concentration camps is inserted supposedly to illustrate that man is inhuman and cruel to both animals and people. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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1966  
 
In this musical aimed at teenagers, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian battle it out for Annette Funicello's affections on the stock car track. The tale begins when smugglers trick Avalon into taking on contraband during a cross-country race. He catches on to their ploy and helps the Feds capture the crooks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Frankie AvalonAnnette Funicello, (more)
1964  
 
In this exciting Korean War drama, a yellow-bellied sergeant stays back after sending his courageous unit to attack a communist bunker. Most of the men are slaughtered, but still the rest press on and successfully secure the bunker. The cowardly sergeant takes all the credit and then accuses the surviving fighters of cowardice. He waits expectantly for a medal, but one of the sergeant's superiors isn't sure he deserves it. One of the evil sarge's soldier's threatens to tell and so is killed. The sergeant then leads his men to disregard a cease-fire and attack a regiment of disarmed communist troops. This enrages the enemy who manages to kill him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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1964  
 
In this dreadful science-fiction film from director Leonard Katzman, four astronauts fly to the moon in the year 2000 in hopes of finding it suitable for colonization. Instead, they are diverted by a spaceship piloted by an alien monster and a deadly meteor shower, ending up on an uncharted planet where they are menaced by gillmen and giant crabs. Originally titled The First Woman in Space (for co-star Francine York), this low-budget atrocity features ridiculous monsters previously seen in The Wizard of Mars and other films. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Francine YorkJames B. Brown, (more)
1964  
 
In 1964, as the "Boston Strangler" killings of young nurses in Boston remained unsolved, this film was rushed into release to exploit the horrifying situation. Victor Buono gives a chilling performance as Leo Kroll, a worker in a Boston hospital who has a propensity for strangling young nurses. Like Norman Bates in Psycho, Leo has an extremely unhealthy mother fixation. When Mom (Ellen Corby suffers a heart attack and Clara (Jeanne Bates), a young and attractive nurse, is assigned to care for her, Leo's hormones start to rage. On one hand Leo is attracted to Clara, but he is also jealous of her, fearing that she has replaced him in his mother's affections. Leo proceeds to go on a killing spree, targeting young and attractive nurses. But Leo's downfall is imminent; he is a collector of kewpie dolls, and mistakenly leaves one behind at the scene of one of his murders. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Victor BuonoDavid McLean, (more)
1959  
 
This socially-conscious drama claims to provide an examination of the problems inherent in teen-age marriages. It centers on a 17-year-old girl who marries a much older medical student. Her parents are terribly upset, but her former boyfriend nearly goes berserk with jealousy. One day she innocently accepts his invitation to meet him on an empty sound stage at his father's studio. He attacks and attempts to rape her. Fortunately, her husband finds out about the meeting and in a nail-biting climax stalks the would-be rapist from a narrow catwalk high above until he can stop the killer in the film's shocking conclusion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Anita SandsRon Foster, (more)
1959  
 
In this Western, a good-hearted gunfighter helps a young cowboy find the cruel cattle baron who killed his daddy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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1959  
 
A simple wartime drama with nothing special in its story or characters, Tank Commandos stars Robert Barron as Lieutenant Blaine, an American officer fighting in Italy. He has been charged with heading up a unit of men to destroy an underwater bridge used by German tanks. One of the men in Blaine's squad is Diano (Donato Ferretta), an Italian-American whose language skills get him the job of interpreter with the local population. He is needed because there is only one Italian who knows where this underwater bridge is located -- and he is just a little kid. In this era of double-billed features, Tank Commandos was paired with Operation Dames at the cinemas and drive-ins. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Maggie LawrenceWally Campo, (more)
1958  
 
This video offers a double dose of war dramas. The first Suicide Battalion chronicles the courage of two GIs who risk everything to cross enemy lines and bring back secret documents from an outpost overrun by the enemy. The second Hell Squad follows the exploits of five Yankee soldiers who must make their way through the vast North African desert and survive constant attacks from the Nazis, desert raiders, and other foes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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1958  
 
This romantic melodrama centers on a love triangle shaped by the restless, dissatisfied girl friend of a crop-duster who refuses to marry her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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1958  
 
This war drama, set in Tunisia during WW II, chronicles the exploits of five American soldiers lost in the desert and unable to radio for help because all broadcasts are being monitored by the Nazis. As they attempt to travel through the dust and heat, the men engage in skirmishes with the enemy. Sometimes they must even ward off aerial attacks. Only one man survives the ordeal. Eventually he comes across an enemy mine field. Nearby he sees a thirst-crazed German lieutenant who has a map of the mine placements. In exchange for the map, the GI gives the German water. The ungracious Nazi tries to double-cross him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Wally CampoBrandon Carroll, (more)

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