Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini-Ep #31: The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Smoke

Episode Date: October 15, 2015

Each week, comedian Gilbert Gottfried and comedy writer Frank Santopadre share their appreciation of lesser-known films, underrated TV shows and hopelessly obscure character actors -- discussing, dissecting and (occasionally) defending their handpicked guilty pleasures and buried treasures. This week: Rethinking "The Loved One"! The joys of Harvey Keitel! And Gilbert meets Samuel Z. Arkoff! Our sponsor today is one of the premiere independent labels in the world, DFA Records, based out of downtown New York City and co-founded by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. DFA Records is proud and excited to release the second album from Greek singer songwriter production guru and all around genius savant, Larry Gus. His new album is entitled “I Need New Eyes." Visit the DFA online store @ http://store.dfarecords.com for more details and to order your copy today. and for 20% off your online order, use coupon code “GILBERT” on the DFA store. MeUndies is offering you TWENTY PERCENT off your first order at http://meundies.com/gilbert. That’s a special offer just for GGACP listeners. Make sure you go to meundies.com/gilbert to get twenty percent off your first order of underwear in tons of styles and colors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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independent labels in the world. DFA Records, based out of downtown New York City and co-founded by James Murphy of LCD Sound System. DFA Records is proud and excited to release the second album from Greek singer-songwriter, production guru, and all-around genius savant Larry Gus. His new album is entitled I Need New Eyes. This new album sees Larry Gus moving slowly out of his sample-based roots and now using clearer songwriting structures as his starting point, his lyrics stare intensely into obsessions, anxieties, and inadequacies, while the music he makes takes on vibrant, sunny, psychedelic, pop, percussive, polyrhythmic drums, and multi-layered dense arrangements.

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and to order your coffee today. And for 20% off your online order, use coupon code GILBERT at the DFA Store. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert and Frank's Amazing Colossal Obsessions. I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. You know, before we start, Gil, I just wanted to extend our thanks to a fan of ours who sent us some swag, and some for me and some for you.

Did you see this, by the way, Spine Tingler, the William Castle story? Oh, yes. Really good. The Tingler, you know Castle story? Oh, yes. Really good. The Tingler, you know, is one of my favorites. It contains special premiere footage of the Tingler. The Tingler premiere. These were made, and there's an Al Lewis documentary here

called Al Lewis in the Flesh, and Spine Tingler, the William Castle story. These were sent by our friend Jeffrey Schwartz, who's a fan of the podcast, and I just wanted to give him a shout-out, because he sent us some good free stuff. Yo, yo, let's give him a shout-out. So thank you, Jeffrey. In the house.

Easy. Yeah, in the easy. I love it when you work street. It's great. Like I'm sitting here with Grandmaster Flash. Okay, I'm going first here this week. Now, I had the best of intentions this week. I recorded something off Turner Classic Movies,

and I thought, this is a Gilbert Gottfried type of movie. Yes. We can talk about this one. In fact, it's come up on the show. One of our podcast guests was even in it. Yeah. And that's Paul Williams. Oh.

And I'll give you the cast. Three Batman villains, three different Batman villain actors were in this movie. Roddy McDowell, Uncle Miltie, and Liberace. Oh, was this the funeral? Yes, the loved one. The loved one. The loved one. And Rod Steiger.

And Rod Steiger, right. And I remember Rod Steiger, he plays, I think his name is Joy Boy. Yes, and his mother is Mrs. Joy Boy. Yes, and he goes, And she would always sing to me, Mama's little Joy Boy, Joy Boy likes pasta, you know, like, I forget, ginger? Lobster or something. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, she pulls live lobsters apart with her teeth. I mean, it's an over-the-top, I really, I had seen it as a kid, and I had fond memories of it. And I said, oh, The Loved One, I have to record this. Jonathan Winters plays two parts. Like I said, Uncle Miltie's in it. Written by Terry Southerner, wrote Dr. Strangelove. How can you go wrong? Yeah, one of those you want to like.

And it just doesn't work. Oh, wow. Now, maybe our listeners will disagree with me. I mean, the pacing is off, the direction is off. Robert Morris is the star, and he's playing a Brit, so right away. Oh, yeah. And it almost sounds like his voice is dubbed. It's very strange. I thought, how could this movie with, I mean, Dana Andrews turns up, and James Coburn, and everybody's in it. Roddy McDowell's funny as a corrupt movie executive. And it just kind of lies there.

The pacing is off. It tries too hard. It's just, it's falling all over itself to be dark and to be irreverent. I remember they used to show it on TV a lot. And I, but boy, that was the last time I saw it was so many years ago. It's the same thing that happened to me with Lord Love a Duck. I mean, and I know that some of our listeners are going to disagree. Another Roddy McDowell thing. But just these are movies I remembered seeing when I was 16, 17.

Oh, and it was so irreverent. And Loved One and that cast and Steiger. I'll watch Steiger and anything. And I sat there and my wife walked in for five minutes and she looked at it and she said, this is terrible. She was right. It just, with all that talent, it just wasn't holding together. So, once again, I had to do a quick bit of misdirection. Now, here's a black comedy that does work,

and I know you're going to know this one too. This is The Jeffersons. Yes. Because it's a black comedy. Watermelon Man with Godfrey Cambridge. No, the movie is... I refuse to be sucked into your sick world. The movie is, Vincent, you'll guess this,

Vincent Price, Joseph Cotton. It's made in the 70s. It's about a doctor who exacts revenge on a group of doctors that he thinks killed his wife. This wasn't Dr. Fives. The abominable Dr. Fives. Yeah, the abominable Dr. Fives. I'll tell you, this is one that I saw as a kid and that really does hold up.

I mean, it's one of the strangest movies ever made. And it's one of those movies that's scary but with a sense of humor. A complete sense of humor. Yeah. I mean, it's one of those movies that's scary but with a sense of humor. A complete sense of humor. Yeah. I mean, it's madcap. It's camp, you know, but it's so sick. Yeah. And it's so dark.

And you could see Vincent Price is having a fun time. I was doing research on it, and according to the research, Price would laugh so much that his makeup would fall off. And they had to keep redoing it and redoing it because it's so silly but brilliant in its own way. If you haven't seen it, it's a black comedy. It's a British comedy or a British horror film from 71, I think. And Price is – how do I explain this? He's disfigured.

Oh, yeah. And his wife is injured and dies on the – I guess in a car accident Oh, yes, yes. That's his theme. So one of them is killed by bats, and then Terry Thomas is one of the doctors, and he shows up with his crazy assistant of Volnavia, and they drain Terry Thomas' blood. I don't want to give the whole plot away.

It is so off the wall. Scott Linyard is, of course, on his trail. Yeah. And it's hilarious in spots. I mean, the deaths are so elaborate and so clever. It's a Samuel Arcoff picture, American International. Oh, yeah. I met him once.

You met Samuel Z. Arcoff? Yes. I remember I was doing a TV show or movie or something, and there was going to be a break that we'd had to wait around for. And out of nowhere, like the producer or director of the thing says to me, do you want anything? You want us to get you a book? And they said, not only can we get you the book, but we can drive you to his office and he'll autograph it. I love this. Did you tell this on the show? I don't think you did. No, no. So great. We went to a bookstore. They got me the book. They drove me to Samuel Arcoff's

office. I love it. And. Was he chomping on a big stogie? Yep, yep. Oh, he didn't disappoint. And, of course, I asked him about Lon Chaney Jr. working with him. Was it The Indestructible Man? What did he work on with Lon Chaney Jr.? Oh, I forget which one it was. Okay.

But he had worked with him. Okay. And I forget my director's name. Like, we'll say Dan. And so I say, oh, can you please autograph the book? And Samuel Lockhoff writes in the book, I don't know who you are, but Dan says you're okay, and that's fine with me. I love that. You still have that?

You have it sitting around somewhere in the house? Yes, yes. That's great. I still have it. That's great. I'll have to dig out my Hanna-Barbera autograph. Oh, my God, yeah. I'll show that when I work.

Sam Markoff was one of those, just like William Castle. Yeah. King of the Zs. Yeah, yeah. It was garbage. He knew it... King of the Zs. Yeah, yeah. It was garbage. He knew it, and he was damn happy. Oh! So there was a movie, Q,

that Sam Arcoff put out, and it had Michael Moriarty in it, and people actually liked Michael Moriarty's performance, even though the movie was ridiculous. I remember it. Yeah, it was the flying monster. It's like Ghidra or something. Yeah, it looked like it was so obviously like a puppet on screen.

It had a nest on the Chrysler building. Yes, it was completely ridiculous. So Roger Ebert said after he saw the movie, he said he liked Michael Moriarty in it. And he said, it's a great method performance in a total piece of dreck. And Samuel Arcoff proudly goes, the dreck was my idea. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Look up Samuel Z. Arcoff if you guys don't know his stuff.

Somebody should make a documentary about him, now that there's a castle documentary. But see The Abominable Dr. Fibes. It's absolutely fascinating. It was directed by a guy, I'm not going to pronounce his name correctly, Robert Fuest, or Robert Fuest, R-F-U-E-S-T, who was an interesting guy who directed a lot of episodes of The Avengers. Remember The Avengers?

Oh, yes. Patrick McNee. And he also worked with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. So he came from comedy. Oh, yeah. And he had a great sense of humor. Like I said, the film's a horror film. It's a comedy.

It works on a lot of different levels. It's very, very strange. And production design is great. Do you remember he's got this band? Oh, yes, yes. Of mechanical musicians

called the, what are they called? Dr. Wizard's Clockwork, Dr. Fybe's Clockwork Wizards. A very, very strange film. And there was a sequel, Dr. Wizard's Clockwork, Dr. Fibes' Clockwork Wizards. A very, very strange film. And there was a sequel, Dr. Fibes Rises Again. Yes. And around the same time, they came out with Theater of Blood.

A couple years later, 73, Theater of Blood, where he played a disgruntled actor getting revenge on critics who had hurt his career. But I, again, did deep research on this one. There was supposed to be a sequel called Fibes Resurrectus that starred Forrest Ackerman. Oh, wow. Can you wrap your mind around that? Wow. Like as a poor man's Vincent Price.

So the sequel's not as good, Dr. Fibes Rises Again, but it's fun. So I knew you'd know this one. Now, Vincent Price, according to his daughter's book, who we have to have her on the show. Oh, okay. Vincent Price's daughter said that Vincent Price, I guess he grew up in, like, New England or something, and he was very anti-Semitic at growing up and like living there and then when he went out to

hollywood right like all the people he dealt with were jews and it totally uh changed his way of thinking and he was good friends with peter laurie i never knew that i never knew that he was that he was an anti-sememite early in life. And they said he became like very liberal-minded. Interesting. Bringing it back to the Jews. Yeah.

That's my jazz band. Bringing it back to the Jews. You know, Gil, when you look good, you feel great. Yes. It's a cliche, but it's true. Yes. Like when I walk in here and I see you, you greet me and I come off the elevator and you're wearing stolen bathrobe and slippers from the MGM Grand.

Yeah, that's the way I look good. Yes. Yes. And underwear with stains that I can't identify. Well, you've come to the right place. MeUndies understands this, Gil, and that's why they've designed underwear that makes you look and feel fantastic. MeUndies is made from Modal. It's a fabric that's twice as soft as cotton. And that's twice as soft as whatever underwear you're wearing right now. Well, sometimes I just wrap myself in aluminum foil.

So I run out of clean pairs. I've seen it. It's not a sight for sore eyes. MeUndies has tons of colors and styles and the only place to get matching pairs for men and women. They even release a new design every month. Plus, we all know that paying for shipping sucks. So, MeUndies has removed that from the equation. All orders in the U.S. and Canada ship for free. in Canada, ship for free. MeUndies even has a money-back guarantee.

If you don't love your first pair, you get to keep it for free. You literally have nothing to lose. To sweeten the deal, MeUndies is offering you 20% off your first order at MeUndies.com slash Gilbert. That's our special offer just for our listeners. Make sure you go to meundies.com slash Gilbert to get 20% off your first order and so that they know we sent you. Oh, did I ever say my movie? No, you might want to get to that at some point. Okay. This, I'm going to be totally out of the ordinary here. Oh. In that it's not an old film.

Like, it doesn't go back to the 70s or even 80s. Wow. This one's in the 90s. I think 95. Scandals. It came out. And it was just on TV recently. And it reminded me how the movie always held my interest.

And that was the movie Smoke. Oh, gosh. I've never seen that. Yeah. William Hurt, Forrest Whitaker. Is Harvey Keitel in it? Harvey Keitel. Yeah.

And you know what? Nationality. Uh-huh. Forrest Whitaker, by the way, Ashkenazi. Little known fact you you know who's jewish yaffet koto and that's true kidding is he really koto is actually love yaffet koto midnight run doesn't so yeah and uh yeah. And I oh, I think Stalker Channing is in it. OK, yeah. And it's one of these movies, you know, a strange low budget film. But and and it's not like that much happens in it, but it takes place. Most of it centers around a smoke shop. Harvey Keitel, the Jew, is running.

And William Hurt is an author whose wife had died, and he's still in mourning about that. And Forrest Whitaker is like, he owns like a car garage, like in the middle of nowhere. And all of a sudden this black kid shows up and is like, he's living with William Hurton, but stalking out Forrest Whitaker. out Forrest Whitaker. And it's one of those movies that it's not like there's so much happening, but it's just so great to see actors acting. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and great actors, too. Yeah. I mean, all those people can do no wrong. And all of them. Yeah. All of them have, like, at least one good monologue. And you realize just the joy of watching, you know, fine actors act. Yeah, well, I like the Altman movies for those reasons. Yeah.

I mean, I like Short Cuts, you know, is a movie like that with just a lot of performances. Yeah. Great performances. Or Nashville. And it's like, you know, it's those kind of movies where, like, I feel like acting students should watch them. Smoke. Yeah. I've never seen it.

Is Wayne Wang the director? Yes. I think so. Okay. I think he's, I think it has more than one director. Okay. So it was almost like a, like a, not an ensemble film. What do they call that? I'll think

of the word I mean. The word I'm thinking of. So I've never seen it. It's good? Yeah. Smoke. Yeah. I liked it. It always just held on to me. Okay. That's quite a segue from Smoke from, what was it? Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl. Now Now was this in the same segment? Yes Boy oh boy Doesn't it seem like we just did a 40 minute episode of this? I feel like we've done a mini series So the movies this week are Smoke

And I forgot mine The Abominable Dr. Fives Oh that's how we mentioned Q Yes but I can't recommend the loved one. Yeah. So this has been Gilbert and Frank's Amazing Colossal Obsessions. Here we go, boys.

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