Sid Haig Movies

First telecast January 5, 1971, Alias Smith and Jones was the pilot for the popular TV series of the same name. This genial rip-off of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stars Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Kid Curry, two notorious Western bandits who have become folk heroes because of their refusal to kill anyone. Heyes and Curry would like to go straight; the governor offers them that opportunity, provided they can stay out of trouble for one year. Assuming the aliases of Joshua Smith and Thaddeus Jones, Heyes and Curry begin their "retribution" process as tellers in a very tempting, very unguarded bank. Perennial guest star Susan Saint James provides the feminine angle in this tongue-and-cheek effort. Alias Smith and Jones ran until January 1973, by which time Roger Davis had replaced Pete Duel, who committed suicide on the last day of 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Hill directed this alternately brutal and campy look at desperate women behind bars. An American named Collier (Judy Brown) has been convicted of murder in the Philippines and is sentenced to a grim women's prison in the jungle, where a mysterious German woman, Miss Deitrich (Christiane Schmidtmer), is the warden, and her head guard, sadistic Lucian (Katheryn Loder), keeps her charges in line through intimidation and violence. Collier shares a cell with tough-talking bisexual prostitute Grear (Pam Grier), hard-boiled political prisoner Bodine (Pat Woodell), thick-skinned but good-humored Alcott (Roberta Collins), drug-addicted Harrad (Brooke Mills), and tight-lipped Ferina (Gina Stuart). Bodine's boyfriend is the leader of an underground revolutionary faction, and when she learns he and his comrades are in danger, she begins to plot an escape for herself and her cellmates, with travelling peddlers Harry (Sid Haig) and Fred (Jerry Frank) becoming her unwitting collaborators. Meanwhile, Lucian is stepping up her torture of the prisoners at the behest of a mysterious masked stranger, and Collier is determined to find out who is behind the systematic brutality. The Big Doll House was the first "Women In Prison" exploitation epic produced for Roger Corman's New World Pictures; it was a big hit on the dive-in and grind house circuit, and spawned dozens of imitations (which are still being produced today). By the way, that's Pam Grier singing the theme song! ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A live-action rendering of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, this time we follow the exploits of the two Cold War "no-goodniks", Boris and Natasha. Sent from their beloved Pottsylvania by their "Fearless Leader", their job is to try to capture a missing time-reversing microchip. Espionage films being what they are, however, "Fearless Leader" has something nasty up his sleeve. Big-name stars and guest appearances keep this one going. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

C.C. Ryder (Joe Namath) is a biker who rescues Ann McCalley (Ann-Margret) from a rape attempt by a gang of malevolent hippies. She makes love with him to show her appreciation, but their romance meets with obstacles when gang-leader Moon (William Smith) seeks revenge for C.C.'s interference. They battle for control over both the gang and Ann in this truly bad biker movie. Namath was chosen because of his hero status as a football player in the 1970 Super-Bowl upset by the New York Jets over the highly favored Baltimore Colts. Brash Broadway Joe predicted a win and made sure it was not an idle boast. One of the producers of this dog was Margret's husband Roger Smith which explains her appearance in this forgettable film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A former baseball player (Alan Arkin) has descended into alcoholism, and meets up with a has-been entertainer (Carol Burnett) when both spot a briefcase containing secret documents. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Drug enforcement agent Cat (Kathy Shower) is sent to Mexico by her boss (Robert Quarry) when fellow agent and former boyfriend Clint (Brian Thompson) is held captive by cocaine-trafficking fiends. The head of the drug cartel turns out to be Morgan (William Smith), a former agent now on the wrong side of justice. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

While Captain Stanley is on vacation, his replacement is Captain Robertson (John Anderson), a hardbitten veteran firefighter who sees no value whatsoever in the Paramedic program. Tonight's emergencies include a young asthsma victim (Lee H. Montgomery) trapped in a drain, a berserk biker (Sid Haig), and an old man (Burt Mustin) whose chair has caught fire. And on a lighter note, Dr. Early (Bobby Troup) keeps mixing apples with oranges--and doesn't like it a bit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A piece of made-for-television hack work that suddenly became sort of topical 23 years later, with the attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, Evening in Byzantium was a two-part made-for-TV feature based very loosely on Irwin Shaw's best-seller. The book involved intrigue and romance at the Cannes Film Festival, but the television producers evidently thought that this did not justify a two-night prime time movie event, so they added a story about Middle Eastern terrorists using the Cannes Film Festival as part of a larger plot to attack the West. Glenn Ford plays Jesse Craig, a down-on-his-luck producer with a film project in mind involving terrorists, who goes to Cannes to raise money and finds himself dealing with his ex-wife (Shirley Jones) and romancing Erin Gray. But before too long, he uncovers a plot by real terrorists to replace commercial airliners in flight (blowing them out of the sky and taking over their authorized flight paths) with specially converted airliners and bomb targets in the United States. Also on hand is Vince Edwards, playing an actor with a radical political agenda, who is alarmed that Ford's proposed film parallels his own terrorist plans; Michael Cole as Ford's associate; Eddie Albert and Gloria De Haven as a couple with ties to the movie business; Harry Guardino as a skeptical American security officer; and Marcel Hillaire as the French police inspector trying to unravel the terrorists plans. It's all very silly, though played very sincerely by most of the cast, and none of the plot described is less plausible than the notion that Glenn Ford and Erin Gray could ignore the 36-year difference in their ages. Evening in Byzantium was originally shown in August of 1978 as part of the syndicated Operation Prime Time programming series, intended to compete with the three networks. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Blaxploitation icon Pam Grier stars as Foxy Brown, a sexy but streetwise woman whose ne'er-do-well brother Link (Antonio Fargas) is a drug dealer who owes mobsters 20,000 dollars. To get the hoods off his back, Link names Foxy's boyfriend as a government agent trying to wipe out organized crime, and the mob soon has him rubbed out. But Hell hath no fury like Foxy Brown scorned; posing as a hooker to get the inside scoop on the mob, she goes on a crusade to find out who murdered her man, and she exacts revenge with the help of a local activist group. The supporting cast includes cult figure Sid Haig as a bad guy (as usual) and Peter Brown and Kathryn Loder as a seriously kinky couple who rule the local mob. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Peter Berg stars as Henry, a chronic gambler forever in trouble with the mob and the law. Through the auspices of his old friend Cowboy Jack (M.K. Harris), Henry is hired as an all-around flunkey by gang boss Paul Hellwart (Terence Stamp). But there's a problem: Henry is currently sexually involved with a nubile young miss (Michelle Johnson) who happens to be Hellwart's main squeeze. Disloyalty begets violence, and violence begets more violence. Anyone looking for logical character development and clever plot twists will be disappointed by Genuine Risk, though action fans will get their fill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Devil's Rejects director Rob Zombie resurrects one of the most notorious slashers in screen history with this re-imagining of the 1978 John Carpenter classic that spawned numerous sequels and countless imitators. As a child, young Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) committed one of the most unspeakable crimes imaginable. Subsequently locked in an asylum and placed under the care of Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), the hollow-eyed boy grew into an emotionless man determined to escape back to his hometown of Haddonfield and complete the murderous mission that he began so many years back. These days, the long-abandoned Myers house sits decrepit and overgrown on a peaceful suburban street, its boarded windows and rotting wood a silent testament to the slaughter that has haunted Haddonfield for decades. Now Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) is back, and as the children of this typical Midwestern town fill the sidewalks for a fun-filled night of tricks and treats, Haddonfield is about to find out that there is no escape from pure evil. Brad Dourif, William Forsythe, Udo Kier, Dee Wallace, Sheri Moon Zombie, Danny Trejo, and Adrienne Barbeau co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Taking his cue from such 1970s horror classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977), animated rocker Rob Zombie goes celluloid with the throwback shocker House of 1000 Corpses. Running low on gas as they travel the highways of America in search of the ultimate roadside attraction, a group of teens pull into Captain Spaulding's (Sid Haig) museum of oddities (which also offers fried chicken and gasoline) only to become obsessed with uncovering the mystery of a legendary local maniac known only as Dr. Satan. When an attractive and mysterious hitchhiker subsequently offers to give the thrill seekers a personal tour of Dr. Satan's old stabbing grounds, a breakdown forces them to take refuge with a group of menacing oddballs as a fearsome storm rages outside. As the evening progresses and the backwoods hosts' Halloween festivities become ever more threatening, the teens soon realize that the legend of Dr. Satan may hold a bit more contemporary weight than any of them had previously thought. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide