Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Space Western

Outland A Space Western Film Discussion

The badge. The shotguns. The swinging saloon doors. The righteous marshal, bound by duty and honor to stand alone against the anticipated arrival of armed assassins – the tension heightened by countdown clocks everywhere. Why, it’s “High Noon” in space!

Roy and I discuss “Outland” (1981), Peter Hyams’ western transplant to one of Jupiter’s moons, with plenty of characteristic digressions – some of them predictable (as when Roy pauses to give entire synopses of classic-though-tangentially-related television shows) and some not so much so (almost anything out of my mouth). Digressions upon digressions. You know you’re in trouble when the first 20 minutes of the show is taken up by us palavering about westerns, spaghetti westerns, and the unscrupulous Italian film industry.

The countdown clock may sputter to two hours, but don’t forsake us, oh my darlings. You can watch it if you care to, here:

I’ll leave Roy to stand alone on Sunday night against the arrival of three special guests: Warren Friedrich (organizer) Robert Wood (author) and David Hirsch (author/columnist: Starlog Magazine). They’ll be talking “Space: 1999,” so I’ll be on the first coach out of there. More specifically, the topic will be Calgary: 1999, a celebration of the sci-fi cult television series starring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Nick Tate. The convention will be held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, April 28-May 1.

Enjoy the exchange, opposite the Oscars, and share your questions and comments when they livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, at a special time, this Sunday evening at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

And don’t forget to change your clocks!

More about Calgary: 1999 here:

https://www.facebook.com/Space199950years

March 11, 2023
Outland Space Western with Sean Connery

By the late 1970s, John Wayne was dead and the enduring genre of the American movie western was left a high-plains drifter.

Sure, there were revisionist westerns and elegiac westerns and, from beyond our borders, spaghetti westerns and even acid westerns. But by and large, the great tradition of sundrenched morality tales, with white hats beating black hats to lay the cornerstones of justice and civilization, had run their course.

Still, never underestimate the resonance of a good myth.

In the wake of “Star Wars,” with its space cowboys, cantinas, and laser sidearms, shoot-‘em-ups and showdowns were increasingly cast on distant worlds, though all-too-frequently without the uncomplicated, “classic western” moral gravitas.

A notable exception is “Outland” (1981), a gritty update of “High Noon,” transplanted to a mining colony on one of the moons of Jupiter. Sean Connery plays the upright marshal who, like Gary Cooper’s Will Kane, is left to stand alone against hired gunmen.

Space truly is the final frontier, as Roy and I discuss “Outland” on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. We’ll be looking for armchair deputies in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Friday evening at 7:30 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

March 9, 2023
Moon Zero Two A Groovy Space Western Surprise

With a dry name like “Moon Zero Two” (1969), I was expecting the worst. But you know what? It turned out to be a damned entertaining movie!

Groovier than “Barbarella” and less somber than “Journey to the Far Side of the Sun,” “Moon Zero Two” is a compelling adventure that pits Bill Kemp (“The Andromeda Strain”s James Olson) – an on-the-rocks, faded American hero, the first astronaut to land on Mars, now reduced to collecting space junk – against a nefarious millionaire, who presents him with an offer he can’t refuse.

Along for the ride is “Space: 1999”s Catherine Schell (here billed as Catherina von Schell), as Clementine Taplin, who also enlists Kemp for what he thinks will be a quick side-job. Their efforts to reach her brother’s claim on the far side of the moon prove to be a source of friction against Kemp’s previous arrangement.

Any movie that sports Pink Panther-esque opening credits animation and intergalactic go-go dancers (the Go-Jos!) can’t be all bad. With a whacked-out jazz score by Don Ellis of “The French Connection” and a title song sung by Julie Driscoll, this is one crazy Hammer film.

Marketed in the U.S. as a space western, there are also noir elements, but little of the grit desired by the writers. Personally, I think it would make a satisfying double feature with “Outland” (1981), Sean Connery’s “High Noon”-in-outer-space.

All in all, one of the less-deserving targets of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” “Moon Zero Two” is wholly self-aware in providing an hour-and-forty-minutes of diverting entertainment.

Check it out here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEftsDL4Shc), and let us know what you think in the comments section, as we livestream on Facebook. We’ll salvage what we can in our discussion on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, this Sunday evening at 7:00 EDT!

(PLEASE NOTE: Because of the upheaval of Hurricane Ida – and the resultant worn nerves – there will be no show tonight.)

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

September 3, 2021

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