Now I know a few of us have brought them up before because they defiantly are their own genre...especially their 80's movies. You see Crown International on a VHS and know it's gonna be a b-movie with some cheese.
I was looking at a VHS of a movie i'm gonna watch now and it got me thinking.....what's the story behind Crown International Pictures????
Well I found out if anyone is interested that they started as an independent film studio in 1959 and they are primarily known for low budget flicks, grindhouse cinema, biker films, exploitation films, and B-movie drive in fare.
Movies like TomBoy, My Chauffeur, My Tutor, Hunk, Jocks, My Mom's a Werewolf, Coach.
My question is has anyone seen The Virgin Queen of St. Francis High ??? I'm intrigued?
Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
I should bring up that the Too Cool for School collection is pretty much a plethora of Crown International movies!
Posted by Secret Admirer (Member # 3574) on :
Oh, they did My Mom's A Werewolf? You don't say?
I love Tomboy (and all the others), and I think Virgin Queen Of St. Francis High is great. Crown International makes my favorite kinda films!
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Crown International Pictures is a synonym for fun. Iīm collecting their movies and have to thank you Muffy because i had forgot that list.
I havenīt seen The Virgin Queen of St. Francis High but why does that movie poster look so familiar...hmmm?
Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
The poster keeps making me think it's Jodie Foster or something? It's available to rent on Amazon so I may just do that over the next couple days........plus if Admirer says it great I gotta trust him he hasn't stirred me wrong so far? haha
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
Crown International Pictures are 80's b-movie rock stars.. My Chauffeur and My Tutor are probably the best known of the bunch, but movies like Coach and Double Exposure are really my favs looking through the catalog link. When I see there logo I know I'm in for some fun.
[ 02. February 2012, 19:30: Message edited by: Valley ]
Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
I found this cool Blog with a write up on The Beach Girls.....warning it's explicit! haha the links on the side are pretty funny also
Now i need to read the rest of that awesome blog Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
Of course you started an awesome topic Atomik! I'll try and watch it and get back to your topic about it Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
Some of Crown-International's older titles wound up being made fun out of in the TV show "Mystery Science Theatre 3000"!
One of the ladies in "The Beach Girls" was a Playboy centerfold in the early 1980's and is now on one of those silly "Real Housewives Of..." reality-TV series.
IIRC, Crown-International was run by a husband-wife couple, Mark & Marilyn Tenser. I don't know if they are still there today.
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
StevenHW, absolutely dead on...Crown was run by a husband and wife team, the daughter and son-in-law of company founder "Red" Jacobs who was an old school film guy. (I believe that he worked at RKO!) Apparently, the company still exists today licensing its huge vault of titles to DVD, etc. As I recall, there was even a little Time Magazine article on them back around the time of the release of "Weekend Pass" on their extraordinarily good formula for success and marketing techniques (open on a holiday weekend at drive-ins, have some comedy, cute girls, etc.). Of course, I love the company very much for all the titles mentioned here--and gosh knows, I own all those Crown collections, including the couple put out by Rhino circa 2004 called "Horrible Horrors"--but we can't ever forget the best-titled Crown pic ever, "They Saved Hitler's Brain" (a/k/a "Madmen of Mandoras.") That title just makes me smile as one of the greatest movie titles ever, right up there with "Hell Comes to Frogtown," "Drag Me to Hell," "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies," and my all-time favorite title, the great Italian giallo, "Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key." (I've spent years trying to work that into a converstaion.) :-)
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
quote:Originally posted by Valley: Coach (1978)
When Olympic Gold medalist Randy Rawlings is hired as a high school basketball coach, her new employers were not aware that she is would be a woman. After Randy forces them to honor their agreement, the school principal does everything he can to make her fail. Randy overcomes the doubters and succeeds in creating a winning team among other things..
We discussed other movies such as "My Tutor" and "Private Lessons" recently, but for me the best and most fun movie to enter the student/teacher terrority is "Coach". As a person that has played sports my entire life with a passion for basketball, watching "Coach" as a teenager was a blast.
The chemistry between Cathy Lee Crosby and Michael Biehn seemed genuine and rather sexy from the viewpoint of a teenager. Watching it again on the Too Cool For School DVD set was not quite the same, but still an enjoyable link to the past.
Okay.. for anyone that has seen "Coach" they will probably remember gawky Ned and the meaning of "Jabberwalky".
I posted this in the 70's section, but I doubt many folks have actually seen "Coach". The Too Cool For School Collection is worth purchasing for this movie alone. I still need to watch more of the movies, but it is was a bargain and I highly recommend.
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
Thanks, Valley, for the memories! I hadn't thought about "Coach" and Cathy Lee Crosby in years. In the late 1970's, I worked as a projectionist at a drive-in. (At least I can say that I had one cool job before I die.) Anyway, we played a lot of Crown stuff, and I remember one week it was a double bill of "Coach" and the forgotten, weird, but very interesting "French Quarter," which is new to DVD. I have fond memories of lugging the heavy 35mm film cans from the side of the road every Thursday. (The prints were tossed off a passing Greyhound bus each week.) Man, those were the days... I miss them so much. Now drive-ins just show first-run and sub-run movies, nothing like the stuff Crown made. Even the weakest Crown picture had something going for it. After AIP and New World, they were my favorite exploitation distribution company. I have the two DVD sets of "Horrible Horrors" released by Rhino circa 2004, and they contain a lot of great Crown stuff, including the somewhat slow, but certainly well made and intriguing, "The Hearse." Viva la Crown and the Jacobs-Tenser families for making my adolescence a trip and a half!
Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
quote:Originally posted by Crash: I have fond memories of lugging the heavy 35mm film cans from the side of the road every Thursday. (The prints were tossed off a passing Greyhound bus each week.)
Awesome memories Crash! I find that so hilarious they just chucked them on the side of the road.......Drive-ins in those days were the most fun.......I saw Return of the Jedi at the Drive-in and fondly remember seeing it larger then life above me while playing on the swing set below the screen.
For anyone that's interested there is a Drive-in Database of closed and still open theaters and has links and pictures on some:
Thanks so much, Muffy! The prints really were chucked to the side of the road!!! My projectors at the drive-in even had the old carbon-arc lamps that actually burned these thick pieces of pencil lead. They were hot and dangerous! But my favorite part of the evening was about midway through the second feature when I got to plug in the mic and announce through the car speakers, "Snack bar closes in 15 minutes." (Just like in the old Cheech and Chong skit!) Oh, I forgot to mention that you had to sit outside the projection booth because of the build-up of carbon dioxide/monoxide from the burning carbon-arc lamps! If I ever get to heaven, I hope that they make me the official projectionist. I would show all the great movies from this forum!
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Great memories Crash! I enjoy reading them. AIP and New World sure were great companies...
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
We never had drive-ins over here. Cool stories, Cash.
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
Logan5, a drive-in close to me is showing eight horror films over two nights the second weekend in September, including "Frankenstein Created Woman," "The Oblong Box," and "Blood on Satan's Claw." They do it every year, but I always have something come up. This year, I'm there, dudes and dudettes. I'm glad you guys liked the stories.
Posted by Helen_S (Member # 5804) on :
Crash I hate you
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
Here it is... Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
And to give you guys a flavor of the day-to-day workings of a drive-in when we weren't showing movies, here was the bane of my existence. I was always out with a screwdriver and pliers wiring the post speakers back on. The slide was actually part of the pre-show reel that we would run. It included the short warning you about pulling off the speakers, trailers, and snack bar stuff. We always played the National Anthem too! The present-day drive-ins that I've been to still run a pre-show and add a short from the Drive-In Theater Owners Associaton urging you to support your local drive-in! With the advent of FM radio sound, these speakers are now relics, but some drive-ins still maintain one row of speakers for fools who don't have car radios!
[ 22. August 2010, 11:02: Message edited by: Crash ]
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
And another story: drive-in food. I can't begin to tell you about the horrors of eating anything that didn't come pre-wrapped. We used to keep huge garbage bags of leftover popcorn for the next night's show. So what if it was a little mushy? We also over-salted it to sell more soda. The less said about the burgers and hot dogs, the better. When I was a kid, I remember my old man warning me never to eat them because they were made of "tainted" meat. I never really understood what he meant, but it sure sounded scary. Anyway, here is a snap from a vintage drive-in ad. They call it "BBQ," but when you see it, I think that it can only charitably be called "dog barf." Enjoy because it's "prepared the Southern way"! (I'm sure that there is some drive-in in Texas still serving Castleberry's--and showing the intermission short!)
[ 22. August 2010, 15:12: Message edited by: Crash ]
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Supercool stuff Crash! Love the ad.
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
Here it is, my beloved "Hi-Way 219 Drive-In," in business since 1950! I forget to mention one salient feature: Miles from nowhere, it is located right next to a mink farm, so in the hot summer, the smell in the air wafting over the grounds is just horrendous. (I can't make this stuff up.) Unfortunately, there is no BBQ crap on the menu, but you can get an order of Wing Dings--if you dare--for $4.99.
[ 22. August 2010, 15:29: Message edited by: Crash ]
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
when watching some YouTube videos a little while back crash i saw one about drive in theatres across the us and some guy was talking about having to change all his projectors over to these new digital ones and it was about i think $70,000 - $80,000 a pop and I can't remember how many screens they had but the initial outlay was pretty big bucks and then he went on to say how much of a cut the studios would take from ticket sales and from what I remember it was a colossal amount which left the theatre to have to more or less either make ends meet with food sales or basically go under!
I don't know how many drive in theatres have been lost over the years but you can see why some of these places don't survive.
I went to the movie theatre (not a drive in as we are not lucky enough to have them over here) for the first time in a few years a few weeks back to watch mad max fury road and when you add up all these costs,I think 2 adult tickets was about 23 UK pounds,2 x 3d glasses I think another 4 uk pounds,popcorn and a coke I think about another 7 or 8 pounds and then you got any additional travel costs it made for a pretty expensive night out and I can see why I don't go that often.
Infact One of the dailys over here done a survey not that long ago about the high costs of going to the cinema and how it is now putting people of going in there droves.
What is pretty sad!
[ 02. June 2015, 11:02: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
Here's a couple of crown international releases that I've always liked
1983s crown international release - double exposure was a decent crime thriller with some pretty way out there scenes,one where the model is killed by a rattlesnake is one that's always stuck in my head,it's a daft but quite effective scene especially if you've got a phobia towards snakes!
Quite a sleazy little flick this,why it's listed as a comedy crime drama on IMDb is anyone's guess unless they consider a killer going around murdering young models in sadistic ways as being comical.
Also from crown international pictures from the same year(83) is my tutor a comedy drama starring matt latanzi,carren Kaye and also features screen veteran kevin mcCarthy and a young crispin glover.
Always enjoyed this one a lot as well!
From the others that i've seen tomboy was likeable enough though I thought lacking in laughs for what was billed as a comedy,beach girls I quite enjoyed (I've got the blu ray),Malibu high is fun but completely bonkers,looking at it there's actually quite a few of there titles I've never seen!
[ 02. June 2015, 12:18: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
So far, iīve seen these CIP films: The Beach Girls, Coach, Hunk, Jocks, Lenaīs Holiday, Malibu Beach, My Chauffeur, My Momīs a Werewolf, My tutor, Stanley, Terror and Tomboy.
I have quite a lot of these actually. Iīll try to check out few more CIP films during my summer holiday next month.
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
My chauffeur that's another one I've seen,Matthew causey who played pondo Sinatra in the directors earlier hit the party animal turns up in a small uncredited cameo then after that dissapears from movies altogether.
He now teaches at a university in dublin Ireland.
My chauffeur is actually pretty good fun from what I remember!
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
I'm glad that you guys resurrected this thread. Crown's output was always good fun. Even if the film wasn't particularly good, at least it wasn't boring. YW, Malibu High is a movie that I have been recommending for years to folks who think that they've seen it all when it comes to drive-in cinema. A naughty high school student. She seduces her teachers for grades! Now she's using her assets as a hit woman for the mob...Malibu High! (I don't know what the real trailer sounded like, but that's pretty good, no? LOL)
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
dug out my malibu high dvd and noticed i still haven't watched the second film on the disc - trip with the teacher from 1975 starring zalman king.
malibu high is a blast,absolutely ridiculous it's one of those films that after watching it has you thinking that you just dreamt it all because it's just so insane!
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
It is! I'll say it again: Listen to us, gang. Malibu High is a blast. That's a perfect description: so insane you think you've dreamt it
The late, great Zalman King, once an actor and then the master of likeable, well-made soft-core porn... Many years ago, late at night, I'd stumble upon an episode of King's long-running Red Shoe Diaries on the Showtime network. I'd always chuckle at how little the anthology's host, David Duchovny, soon to be a huge TV star, had to do. Every episode opened with him as "Jake" sitting in a diner or on a park bench. He'd open a letter, and you'd hear him in voice-over read stuff like, "Dear Red Shoe, I once had a love like you had..." and then they'd fade into the main story. After the obligatory second soft-focus, dreamy sex scene at the end of the episode, Duchovny would return, usually standing outside on a deserted sidewalk or railroad track. He'd stuff the letter in his pocket, turn to his beloved dog, and say, "Come on, Stella." And then they'd just mournfully walk down the sidewalk or track for a little while. Fade to black, bring up credits. No memorization of lines, no acting, literally reading for about 30 seconds. If ever anyone talks about "phoning in" a part, Duchovny comes immediately to mind. ROFLMAO
[ 29. July 2015, 16:53: Message edited by: Crash ]
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
Looking on imdb crash From 1992 - 1996 david duchovny done 43 episodes of the red shoe diaries,i know it was before his career really took off but I'd love to know how much he was picking up per episode,I bet it wasn't to shabby amount.
I would think at the time he was probably laughing his head off!
Posted by Alien (Member # 37378) on :
I loved "My Tutor", Sylvia Kristel was a goddess!
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Watched two CIP films directed by Joseph Ruben (The Stepfather, Dreamscape etc.) The Sister-in-Law (1974) and The Pom Pom Girls (1976) were both pretty good films.
John Savage was very good in SiL in his early role. Add some nudity and 70s style grim ending and you have a nice little film in your hands.
Robert Carradine, Michael Mullins, Lisa Reeves and very cute Jennifer Ashley star in PPG. This was an excellent coming of age/high school film which i highly recommend.
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
never seen either of them atomik,been wanting to watch the pom pom girls for quite some time,the sister in law sounds good as well,like john savage as well he's been in some great pics!
i always remember this crown pictures title in the old video shops - killpoint starring richard roundtree and cameron mitchell,anyone ever catch this one?
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
I have Killpoint vhs tape. I need to check it out one of these days.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
"Bobby blows all his college savings on a van and tries to get the girl of his dreams. It's a wild time with Bobby and his friends." (IMDb)
Watched The Van (1977). Not quite Pom Pom Girls but fun stuff anyway. Much more nudity in this one.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Weekend Pass (1984)
This was a decent teen flick, not nearly as bad than i thought it would be. Weekend Pass was written and directed by Lawrence Bassoff, the same man did Hunk three years later. The story offers nothing new and the acting is a bit wooden but you can see nice LA scenery, some nudity and the theme tune is cool.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Watched Galaxina (1980) which is a sympathetic low-budget sci-fi flick written and directed by William Sachs (Hot Chili etc.)
Set in the year 3008, the crew of the Intergalactic Space Police cruiser Infinity is on patrol duty in deep space. They have to find gemstone called blue Star before evil Ordric gets it. Playboy Playmate of the Year 1980 Dorothy Stratten is Galaxina, first android with real feelings. Thereīs few cool settings plus spoofs and jokes but of course the film is best remembered for its lead actress, who was brutally murdered shortly after the movie's release.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Watched Donīt Answer the Phone (1980).
"A deeply disturbed Vietnam veteran terrorizes the young women of Los Angeles and taunts a radio psychologist with descriptions of his grisly crimes." (IMDb)
What a sleazy and highly entertaining CIP flick! The movie was originally called The Hollywood Strangler but then they decided to jump the "Donīt.." -films bandwagon
Nicholas Worth gives a scary and fun performance as Kirk Smith, a serial killer who has an ego larger than a skyscraper Then thereīs these two cops (James Westmoreland and Ben Frank) joking around while trying to figure out who the killer is. Lots of nudity on offer here and i also enjoyed the synth heavy score.
Check it out if youīre not a diehard member of the womenīs rights movement Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
The late, great Nicholas Worth's crazy, blubbering performance--he even does a Hispanic accent at one point--is something to see. It's up there with Joe Spinell in Maniac, performing like you are starring in King Lear instead of a gutter-trash exploitation film. If you can get past how truly sick and misogynistic the film is, it's fairly entertaining--because of Worth.
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
(Above Martin Kove and his comedy partner in Last House On The Left)
Always makes me laugh how many of these former Video Nasties had comedy cop duo's in them,one minute you've got sickening acts of on screen violence and the next you've got a couple of bumbling cops running around to Benny Hill https://youtu.be/MK6TXMsvgQg type music
OK that's a bit of an exaggeration!
Posted by Pittsburghgirl (Member # 7514) on :
Wow this is one helluva thread! I enjoyed reading through the whole thing, B movies and drive in theaters. I've seen Malibu Beach and My Chauffer. I was just talking about going to the drive ins with my hubby. We went a few times when we were dating. We usually took my car because it was a mid sized hatchback, so we'd pop it open and sit back there to watch the movie. One time, I stopped for beer and asked him if he was going to drink much. He said no, so I only bought a six pack. I popped one open at the drive in, and he proceeded to chug down five beers in a matter of minutes. Needless to say, I was not happy. He then fell asleep halfway through the movie (Independence Day)! Lol good times.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Haha, what a fun story, Pittsburghgirl
Go check out Independence Day: Resurgence next month and tell him to get the six pack this time to close the circle Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
PGHGirl, you need to go to the annual Super Monsterama at the Riverside Drive-In in North Vandergrift in September. While I'm not really enthusiastic about Friday's all Spanish horror night, Saturday's selections are super: The House of Dark Shadows, The Night of Dark Shadows, The House that Dripped Blood, and The Bat People. (OK, so that last one isn't very good, but they typically have a throwaway as the fourth film for those still awake.)
Go Penguins!
Posted by Pittsburghgirl (Member # 7514) on :
Thanks Crash! I will go if I can find someone else to go along, maybe my niece. My husband doesn't like horror movies. I will have to get him to the drive in for Independence Day Resurgance, and this time around, he can drive and only have one beer!!!
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
ROFL. I've had some adult beverages at drive-ins before. I'm a bad boy. Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
I'm about 20 minutes into this movie The Glove (I've just paused it) from 1979 and John Saxon is fighting a couple of camp guys by the pool and one of them is Nicholas Worth the Killer from Don't Go In The House,never seen Don't Go In The House Before but I recognised him straight away and i realise where I know him from now it's 1990s The Darkman with Liam Neeson.
He's got a really creepy grin so I can see why he's well suited to playing a sadistic killer in Don't Go In The House.
The Glove of what I have seen so far has been really entertaining,John Saxon's really cool in it,anyone here seen it?
[ 09. June 2016, 12:21: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
Posted by skatexedge (Member # 5712) on :
quote:Originally posted by Muffy Tepperman: I should bring up that the Too Cool for School collection is pretty much a plethora of Crown International movies!
I've got that DVD set. Love it! Plenty of R rated mayhem and nudity in many of them. The Beach Girls was a favorite. With future Housewives of Orange County star and Playboy Playmate JEANA TOMASINO (KEOUGH)!!! The kind of movies I used to sneak into back in the early 80's! LOL The movie posters used to just suck me right in with promises of naked girls back then. Good times. Nowadays kids just go to Google and type right in what they want to see. Back in the day........it wasn't like that!
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It's available to rent on Amazon so I may just do that over the next couple days........plus if Admirer says it great I gotta trust him he hasn't stirred me wrong so far? haha
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Crash I hate you
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