Movie: (1987) A young boy, alerted by Bigfoot that his forest ranger father is in peril, travels to the woods to save him.
Opening: Gypsy is working on some overhead wiring and is dropping objects on J&tB. Crow tries to catch one and fails.
Invention exchange: Jonah uses a theramin for Thanksgiving music; the Mads have rotating Carvel Ice Cream characters.
Segment 1: The bots are laughing raccoons and Jonah is a laughing dad
Segment 2: Jonah explains how the movie got made
Segment 3: Brain Guy, Bobo and Pearl visit Kinga and Max
Closing: Crow & Tom, wearing a Red Hawk disguise, try to trick Max into giving them the keys to Jonah’s ship.
Stinger: Big game hunter guy chows down.
(59 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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• Jonah explains that he is required to act out the show open each time. I have to say I don’t really get it, but then I don’t really get the whole “liquid video” thing.
• This episode features the first appearance of Rebecca Hanson as Synthia, the clone of Pearl. She was a big hit during the 2017 live tour.
• Interesting riff: “This looks like a state park.” In the ACEG, Mary Jo denigrated this very type of riff. Did Joel and the writing team know that?
• There is a long quiet space of no riffing during Red Hawk’s monolog
• Increasingly obscure riff: “I also have dental practice in Minnesota.”
• Callbacks: “Rowsdower?” (Final Sacrifice), a mention of an interociter (This Island Earth).
• This film shares a writer and several cast members with the 1977 Brigham Young biopic “Brigham.”
• The film was Jay Schlossberg-Cohen’s only full feature. According to his website, he once served as director of the Maryland Film Commission and now works as a fine artist.
• Puppeteer Grant Baciocco shared a story about a connection to Cry Wilderness on the MST3K Discussion Board:
“When we were filming this, I instantly realized that the cinematographer listed in the credits lived upstairs from me in my first apartment. By chance, I saw him walking down the street a couple months ago and told him they’d be riffing this film and he flipped out. He said, “I didn’t think anybody remembered that film.” He said it was the first project he worked on in Hollywood and the whole crew thought that the director was going to be the next Spielberg … until they started filming.
Grant also revealed he was Kevin’s virtual hands in the grooming of Patton.
• Fave riff: “Wikipedia, the print edition, at last.” Honorable mention: “Let’s head out to supercuts, son. I’m buyin.’”
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They should have called this movie “THE KID WHO WAS TOLD TO STAY BUT NEVER DID”.
Interesting riff: “This looks like a state park.” In the ACEG, Mary Jo denigrated this very type of riff.
I like to think this riff was a deliberate reference to Mary Jo’s comments on state parks and state park jokes.
This one is building into becoming a classic. Pairs great on a rainy day with Boggy Creek.
A very funny episode, with or without riffing. Apparently the animals in the park have a code of honor that says if a ranger is about to shoot you with a tranquilizer gun and decides to come back later, you have to stay around for him to take his shot.
Cry Wilderness showed the Mads inflicting pain on Jonah and the ‘Bots nearly out of the gate. Pod People was more coherent than this movie.
Georgia zombie and MST fans rejoiced when there were not one, but two references to “The Walking Dead.”
If 1101 was a draft for this season, 1102 was a polished doctoral thesis, complete with citations to the appropriate pages on Wookiepedia, the Star Wars Wiki. Everything was spot on, and fit together like a Swiss watch from the Trollenberg train station tourist kiosk. The movie itself was perfect fodder: Nonsensical plot, irritating kid as protagonist, and seasoned lightly with leftover Stallones. Bonus that the raccoons were too darned cute.
Favorite riff: “Ever see a man get disemboweled?”
UGGHHH! Lord save us from juvenile heros. However when paired with great riffing and a more in sync cast, music that swings into high I LIKED IT VERY MUCH!
Rotating Carvel Ice Cream Cake Characters is the best use of an Invention Exchange in many, many years. Carvel was in on the joke, too: https://twitter.com/carvelicecream/status/852983632968859648 .
While I liked Reptilicus, Cry Wilderness made me feel a lot more optimistic and excited for the rest of the new season. Something about it just felt more natural, I guess. Still trying to get used to the bots’ voices, but I’m loving Jonah’s riffing. I also loved “skeleton crew”; I hadn’t caught on to the name until Kinga said it in this episode. It was fun to see Pearl, Bobo and Brainguy, even if the scene wasn’t that funny… I did like Kinga’s outburst of “Max, make them lunch!!” though.
This movie’s setting was really beautiful, but it’s ironic (and unpleasant) that a pro-nature film has to have its “wild” animals so obviously tied to the logs or whatever they’re standing on. And why, WHY did every adult actor have to emphasize every line by waving his arms around? I talk with my hands too, but jeez, that looked unnatural. Also, I love that these supposedly experienced hunters/law enforcement professionals had no muzzle awareness at all. Someone needs to teach them to never point their weapon at anything they do not intend to shoot– especially each other.
There was a consistent pace of great riffs all through this movie. The hunters’ inexplicable decisions to “leave this [dangerous animal] for later” turned into a great running joke. I’m surprised no mention was made of the Wallace Shawn-lookalike biker’s batch that was on full display in unspeakably tight jeans… *shudder*
My favorite riffs:
“Are they being chased by orcs?”
“Ah, just another damn clue…”
“Deus ex lack of machina!”
“EVER SEE A MAN GET DISEMBOWELED BEFORE?!”
You could have a drinking game for non-drinkers. Every time the kid actually stays when told to stay you have to knock one back. Spoiler Alert: Your sobriety would not be in danger.
Oh boy. This has got to be one of the worst movies they’ve ever riffed. Dumb plot, dumb dialogue, bad execution, bad acting, stupid looking bigfoot. Just awful….which, of course, makes for a very good episode.
My take?
The spontaneous laughing was just plain creepy.
Loved the Rowsdower reference!
The end sequence with Jo&tb trying to escape was hilarious.”Just give us the keys you stupid man”!
In all, a better episode than 1101.
Like others, I got a distinct “Pod People” feel from this one, though “Cry Wilderness” has a lower body count and a more annoying kid. I thought the animals were cute, and even seemed to put aside the whole predator/prey thing (except for the tiger eating the deer, but that’s the way it goes). And gun-toting Morgan (no relation) earned a place on the “Most Loathsome” list from a couple of weeks ago.
The host segments were funny, and I thought the visit from Pearl, Observer and Bobo was kind of like an evil version of Joel’s visit in “Soultaker”. The riffs were great, and seemed better paced than in “Reptilicus”.
By the way, my watching the new shows one per week worked out, in a way. When the Native American sidekick told the Native American spirit guide, “Last time I saw you, you were stuck in that cave,” one of the guys riffed, “Well, Happy Easter.” I saw this one on Easter Sunday.
The crown jewel of the new season. The movie is one of the most utterly insane things I’ve ever seen and therefore the perfect riffing target.
“PAUL, YOUR FATHER IS IN DANGER!”
“I’VE BEEN TO THREE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS, IS THIS THE RIGHT PAUL?”
“You’re just a dumb Indian!”
“WHOAH!”
“I’m not high, but my dog is and so am I.”
“These are my friends.”
“I’m not his friend, I’m not even indigenous to the area, call the police.”
“Son, it may be the head injury talking, but I submarine lightbulb.”
“And now footage of them attempting to flee the ‘Cry Wilderness’ set. I’m Werner Herzog.”
“The wonderful thing about tiggers is…nothing. We’re tigers. We maul things.”
“Red Hawk died for real and we need a place to crash.”
And, of course:
“BANG!”
“Dad, I got bored, will you read me a story?”
“I listened to you for 15 seconds, aren’t you proud?”
Paul is easily in the top 5 most detestable MST child characters. Not a single redeemable quality, and, of course, the fact that if he’d JUST KEPT HIS DUMB LITTLE ASS AT SCHOOL NOTHING WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.
And of course, another MSTed movie with a protagonist named Paul. What does that make, eight, nine movies?
Part of me wishes they’d riffed on this later in the season, when everyone had really settled into a groove. They’re still machine-gun-spraying riffs a bit here (IMO), which prevents this one from being the straight up home run other people are calling it in my eyes.
Then again, there’s nothing wrong with a standup triple, which I think this episode easily qualifies as. I’m certainly not the first, nor the last, person that will mention what a perfect movie this is for MST3K – nonsensical, over-the-top performances, incompetent editing (the “YouTubed” bear footage kills me), all sorts of fodder to riff on – and Jonah & Co. rise to the occasion with some great riffs, funny runners (“BANG!”, every time Jim laughs), and decent host segments. I truly love Patton’s version of the terrible, TERRIBLE song that plays over the closing credits, and as Satoris mentions above, Jonah’s line read of “Just give us the keys, you stupid man!” is gold. This might be the episode I recommend to someone wanting to give Season 11 a try – yes, the movie is wretched, but it’s not Invasion of the Neptune Men wretched, and there’s just so much goofiness to go around.
Favorite riff: “I want to feel the breath you take before you kill, Dad”.
Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. Couldn’t stop laughing. Obscure references. Modern references. Call backs to old episodes. Just awesome.
This film may as well have been called “Self-Fullfilling Prophecy: The Movie”
One riff I was especially proud of getting was “Did M.C. Escher build this set?” during a shot of the kid climbing up a flight of stairs (due to the camera angle, it looks like the kid is going *upstairs* at first)
Synthia is an interesting idea for a character, a clone of Pearl, but they don’t really do much with her this season. I do think it’s funny that Pearl thinks leaving a clone of her’s behind with her granddaughter makes everything okay.
The segment where Pear, Brain Guy, and Bobo show up was interesting, but seeing Kinga break down about not having a family was kinda sad, and didn’t seem played for laughs. it’s especially dark when you remember that Pearl essentially killed her father Clayton.
I’ve lost count. Loved the “Werewolf” callback. (“Paul, I loved your letter to the Corinthians! “)
Also, what was with that song over the ending credits? What kind of message was that trying to convey. “Climb to the top even though you’ll never reach the top”…okay, seriously, WTF IS UP WITH THIS MOVIE?!!!
First, let me just say… BANG!
Wow, what a movie. Being a cult movie fan/collector, I was familiar with 7 of the 14 movies riffed this season. The other half? Never heard of them. This was one of those films. What a perfect example of Joel’s “haunted house” theory of MST3K movie introduction. A truly bizarre movie that defies explanation, and makes you question your sanity as you watch it. It’s a tale of snow suddenly appearing then melting minutes later, stock footage running wild, bowel-cutted boys, psychic connections, dubbed adults, laughing Native Americans, weird eagles, resurrection, Faux Stallone, laughing, a random tiger, Coca-Cola, raccoons, laughing, and the Sasquatch that seems to make all the difference.
And laughing.
But more than that, this is a triumph of movie riffing. After hitting it out of the park with a strong start in Reptilicus, it was a long wait for me to get to the early backer access to this episode. Boy, was it worth the wait. This truly is not only one of the best episodes of Season 11, but honestly, one of MST3K’s finest moments. Period. An instant classic.
Some notes/observations:
-Skeleton Crew Interstitial Songs: “To Earth”, “Creepy Girl”, “Sidehackin'”; “United Servo Academy Men’s Chorus”
-End credit songs: whimsical piece from the movie soundtrack; Creepy Girl, Sidehackin’, To Earth
-All the hysterical animal voices are very Joel-esque. Reminded me a lot of the forest scenes early in The Day the Earth Froze.
-“I’m not high, but my dog is and I am!” is classic.
-Is that fox wearing a collar?
-I dug the Montauk Monster reference during Faux Stallone’s eating frenzy. It’s one of those obscure references that only a few people will get. I did. Very funny!
-Wow, Faux Stallone just went ahead on and damn near choked that raccoon, didn’t he? Pretty despicable. He and Ross would surely have been drinking buddies.
-In the “playful raccoon” sketch, the five cereal boxes are each adorned with images of characters from the movie, with titles that corresponds to each of them. Dubbed Daddy is on a box of “Grown Man Bowel Cuts”, Jim is on “Jim’s HA HA’s”, Faux Stallone is on “Morgan’s Crispy Carcasses”, Bigfoot is on “Bigfoot’s Fruit Feet”, and principal guy is on a box of “Rice Skeptix”! The boxes are all Gizmonics brand, and feature the MST3K logo. A nice touch!
-Callbacks: “Rowsdower?” “That’s ZAP Rowsdower to you!”; reference to an Interociter (This Island Earth); “Paul?” “I enjoyed your ketter to the Corinthians!” (Werewolf), “He’s a danger to himself and others!” (Attack of the Giant Leeches)
-Classic MST3K riffs: “SERPENTINE!!!!”; “You look at them. I’m bitter.”; “FOCUS!”
-“Bye bye baby!” killed me. It got me in the same way “Ole!” from Danger! Death Ray does.
-The second segment teases Jonah’s spacesuit, which he constructs in the background of several future host segments. It becomes important later…
-The “following the movie plot” laser cut prop is amazing! I love the bobble head figures! The whole segment really reminded me of a similar one from Catalina Caper, and felt very Season 2-ish.
-Lots of Star Wars references in this episode: references to Kashyyk, Darth Vader’s breathing (“Let the Harris flow through you”), Ewoks, Chewy and Life Day, and Order 66. Tom says “Use the Force!” as Paul passes the flashlight in the snow. This season is Star Wars reference heavy!
-“Well, Happy Easter!” is a classic, and especially funny if you’re watching it on Easter. Just saying…
-In the begging of the third segment, Kinga and Max are flipping through blank ratings pages. Classic MST3K silliness.
-THE PEARL/BOBO/BRAIN GUY CAMEO!!!! I was surprised to read so much negativity regarding this segment online. Baffling, at least to me. I loved it! Seeing these three together again was goosebumpy awesome! The awkwardness was obviously part of the purpose of the segment, and the relationship between the denizens of Moon 13 and “Gramma Pearl” develops in future episodes.
-It’s crazy how much Bill HASN’T changed once back in the costume and makeup! Mary Jo is wonderful as always. Her line “No, were not doing that.” was so hysterical; it reminded me of Joel’s “No, I don’t really want to” from Soultaker. Bobo… took some getting used to. Lots of observers (pun intended) have noticed how odd he looks. The obvious culprit is the one piece foam mask, replacing the two piece rubber mask that we are used to. It was most likely a time saving method, and by the trio’s second cameo, I was used to it. I was just so happy to have Kevin involved, and he’s still hysterical as the character. Kevin remains the MST3K personality with the longest continuous history with the show. Here’s to hoping that he, Bill, and Mary Jo return fur Season 12.
-Jonah references Megaforce at one point. A Rifftrax reference?
-In the final few minutes of the movie, Crow produces a paper bag that he hyperventilates into. If you Kickstarter backers remember, Joel teased this prop way back in Update #38, leaving its identity a mystery and unleashing a cavalcade of wild speculation from the fans. Did anyone here guess correctly?
-Patton is brilliant and hysterical in the final segment. “Still think I shouldn’t play with toys, DAD?!”
Favorite riff (as previously mentioned): “I’m not high, but my dog is and I am!”
Honorable mentions:
“And dubbing.”
“Son, this might be the brain injury talking, but I submarine lightbulb!”
BANG!!!!
Fighting a cold this morning, and the meds have me floating in a stream-of-consciousness state. Bear with me…
This movie has a very distinct flavor of ABC After School Special to it. Obviously trying to cash in on the Grizzly Adams thing, but way missing the mark. I agree the “State Park” joke was probably a deliberate callback for the fans in the know (although the “cave” in the movie is much more reminiscent of an abandoned zoo). The visit from Pearl, Bobo, and Brain Guy is a necessary continuity to the old series. I love how Felicia shouts, “Grandma!”, and Mary Jo’s reaction is consistent with he treatment of the space kids earlier. Her makeup and hair seem a little off, though – maybe that’s just age. Also this is where we establish the Synthia character. I love when they get a good running gag, and “Bang!” had me giggling every stinking time. I hope that raccoon wasn’t seriously hurt in that strangling scene. Where was this movie filmed? Kinda has an Alberta feel to it. Or maybe the Idaho panhandle. The schoolmaster deserved at least one Pink Floyd riff (“How can you have any pudding if you believe in Bigfoot!?!”) I too, am a money bag kind of kid.
On a technical note, typo
“Movie: (1987) A young boy, alerted by Big Foot that is forest ranger”
HIS forest ranger.
I too loved this episode, I watched it back to back with episode one.
Surprised no one liked fake Stallone’s choking a raccoon to anything in the short catching trouble.
And why do the kids at the prison/school/orphanage just sleep in one big room? And why was their creepy teacher in the room!
On a technical note it might be a nice detail to put episode numbers by the skeleton crews songs. Meaning from which episode they originated.
????
I noted that in my huge post above. It’s a lot of text, so it’s easy to miss in all of that! ;)
Cry wilderness? Okay, if you insist.
WILDERNESS!!!!!!!!
This one has a relationship with Boggy Creek II (And The Legend Continues – to be not heard about by anyone) in the sense that the film can never quite figure out tonally or structurally what it wants to be. And it raises question after question that it never successfully answers.
Bigfoot speaks English through a magic medallion, but only to one little boy (and one old ghost). And Bigfoot can also apparently teleport to anywhere he wants to be, or at least appear as some kind of vision. Okay, why? Why is Bigfoot magic? This is never explained. And how does this one little boy get chosen over anyone else who stumbles into these woods to know about these things? Never explained beyond ‘they shared some Coke once.’ And why does the old ghost of Red Hawk just sit around in the woods all day? What does he do?
As for the film itself, is this an environmental/nature message film or a Harry-Potter-type little-kids-have-magic film? Is it making some kind of statement about single parenting? Is it a comedy? At times, it wants to be or do all of these things and succeeds at none of them.
The film does have one redeeming quality, though. There are some great location shots. Even the shot where the semi picks up our little ‘hero’ is filmed on some beautiful stretch of interstate somewhere.
One redeeming quality the film does not have is the obvious harm caused to at least one raccoon. CW is part of a trend of this season to have films from the ’70s or ’80s where the actors interact directly with live animals on camera in real time, and it’s often super creepy to watch (as it is here with a guy choking a raccoon).
Oh, the kid. Our hero. Yes, he never stays where he’s told. Yes, it gets really annoying. Yes, he literally hitchhikes across the entire continental USA all by himself, and that trip alone would make an entire separate movie (please, please no one ever make a prequel to this film telling that story) but it’s only briefly mentioned in passing to get to the ‘real story’ (whatever that actually is). Yes, the adults around him seem to be clueless and incompetent. In this movie, their general incompetence totally fails as a plot device because when the adults in a story are incompetent, this is supposed to be offset by the younger protagonist who is supposed to know what’s really happening and be super competent. But this kid doesn’t really know what’s going on (okay, he knows *slightly more* than they do) and he himself is also super incompetent. So basically everyone in the film (even the supposed awesome big-game hunter) is super incompetent at whatever job or role they have, and it is super annoying to watch.
(Note to self when making my next movie: Don’t ever name any character Paul.)
CW also continues the trend for this new season of MST3K to showcase a big, color movie. As I watched each successive movie this season, I have to admit that these big color films all began to look the same to me. I know they couldn’t really do a black-and-white film in widescreen, but I feel like they needed something different for contrast in at least one episode. Maybe that’s something they can ponder/figure out for season 12.
The riffing slows down quite a bit from Reptilicus, and that’s great. Because the film itself is rather languid, it’s nice to see our riffers give their jokes some breathing room as well.
Pearl, Brain Guy and Bobo are still riding around space in their van!? Okay, sure, I should really just relax. They didn’t quite get the makeup right for BG and Bobo, but I suppose it’s as close as possible. It’s so great to see Mary Jo, Bill and Kevin, though. This starts this trend (that will hold through the final episode of this season) of trying to tie this new season into the Sci-Fi era mythology of the show. I find that interesting, given that this new season is really Joel’s baby and he could have just ignored all that. And it’s also interesting that (SPOILER ALERT) given everyone else who gets a cameo, Mike Nelson never once shows up (even playing another character, as Joel does). Maybe he just didn’t want to, I don’t know. But given how forcefully the Observers appear later on (and even SPOILER ALERT Paul Chaplin), there are so many of these Sci-Fi era references in this season that Mike’s absence feels really awkward to me. Again, maybe season 12?
Cry Wilderness is a perfect film for the MST3K treatment, and I feel like they did a great job with the riffing. I give this episode five out of five mesh shirts.
One correction: it’s spelled “theremin”.
I also felt like they were settling into a groove with this one, which was good to see. But the movie itself DRAGS in the last half. Maybe it was just me. I’m going to end up watching all of these repeatedly, so maybe it will grow on me.
I did enjoy how the kid mastered the art of teleportation (seriously, how did he get from the school to the truck to the exact spot in the woods where his dad was? Amazing!).
We were simultaneously posting! TECHNOLOGY! I should think to myself it’s just a post I should really just refresh!
Mono County, in California. They actually mention it on their website:
https://www.monocounty.org/commission/
That mountainous salt structure they randomly cut to that Servo makes the Pink Floyd reference about is, in fact, in Mono Lake, and is the actual structure in the Wish You Were Here artwork.
EDITED TO ADD: The Cry Wilderness Wiki page, where I got this information from, was created on April 16, 2017. That’s right, two days AFTER Season 11 debuted. That is how obscure this movie was.
Jonah and the ‘bots were on point with this one, but the movie itself… man, this movie is just WAAAAAAY out there. The second host segment explains my feelings about it nicely: Why was this movie made? Who was it made for? Is there some cryptid subculture that treats Bigfoot as a sort of guardian-of-nature character aligned with Mystic Spirit Native Americans(tm)? I really missed that part of American mythology, apparently.
Otherwise, yep, they’re really getting into the swing of things now on board the SoL and Moon 13. Two solid hits in a row to start the season really amplified my hope that they knew what they were doing.
One other thing about the movie; did anyone else sit through the first half hour going, “Is this a sequel? Was there a whole other movie about him befriending Bigfoot through the power of Coke and radio?” Because it really felt like a sequel to a film that never got made.
More favorite riffs:
“Hi, I’m your girlfriend. I appear when you make racist comments.”
“Look, product placement. Heinz ketchup paid for Hunts ketchup to be in this movie.”
“At some point you will need YouTube to finish your movie. This is acceptable.”
“Does a bear go in the woods? Well just watch.”
“THE BEAR HAS A GUN!”
“Meals on Wheels? Awesome!”
“Jonah, what’s radio?”
“It’s like a podcast you can’t control.”
Ah, the first classic of the new era. This thing was easily the most bizarre and misguided attempt at whimsy since Pod People. If you’re telling skeptical people to check out season 11, start here. It’s on my list with Space Mutiny, Werewolf, and of course Pod People as go-to episodes when I need a laugh.
Quick thoughts:
– The big story is the Pearl/Bobo/Brain Guy cameo. Sure I wish they were there on Moon 13 but it was still hilarious. Pearl looks great (and with some hilarious makeup), and the others look like barely any time has past. Yeah, Kevin’s mask is weird but oh well. I love how the 2nd bananas on this show instantly bond. Hopefully next year they can work in Pearl coming to bother Kinga a little more.
– Bubble editing is a little strange still. Hopefully they use it less and things go on. Still, bubble and liquid movie technology is another great Joel invention — making Jonah act out the opening every time is a perfect way to change things up.
– Everyone seems more relaxed in this episode and more really to settle down. Kinga and TVsSoTVsF (yeah, that’s the right way to abbreviate it) get meta about having Pearl and Co. back.
– The scene with the raccoons in the cabin looks like it must have been chaos to film. Those things are clearly biting the actors at one point.
– A Dental Practice in Minnesota — NOW I finally got it, and I live here. One thing that’s changed since the first run of the show was that the “Outrage of the Week” syndrome is going to leave people lost pretty quick on some of these references. Is Pepsi ad outrage still a thing?
– Man, ET did more damage to product placement that he knew: Pod People and Simon, Mac and Me and McDonalds, this mess and Coke…
– BANG is the first great running gag on the new show and is now in the top 5 of running gags.
Danzilla “Cornjob” McLargeHuge, Student of Kaijuology, I’m on my phone, so editing down to just the line I want to quote is too tough, but “Grown Man Bowel Cuts” is a hilarious and terrifying typo.
Loved Reptilicus, but, THIS is MST3K at its finest! A hilarious episode on par with the classics.
I think my favorite moment was the raccoon host segment. Jonah’s laughing was everything I love about the mood of MST3K.
It’s back, folks!
Some factoids and stuff for daily updates:
Cry Wilderness
Screenwriter Philip Yordan, born April 1, 1914, died March 24, 2003
Actor Tony Giorgio, born Sept 27, 1923, died Feb. 1, 2012
Actor Foster Hood, born March 12, 1923, died March 24, 2008
Actor Gordon Gale, born Sept. 23, 1940, died March 17, 2006
Actor Darwyn Swalve, born Aug. 20, 1946, died May 5, 1999
Producer Gene Ruggiero, born June 20, 1910, died Feb. 19, 2002
Cinematographer Joseph D. Urbanczyk, born Dec. 10, 1956
Musical supervisor Ralph Ives, born Jan 14, 1914, died July 2, 2000
This film shares a writer and several cast members with the 1977 Brigham Young biopic “Brigham.”
The film was Jay Schlossberg-Cohen’s only full feature. According to his website (http://www.schlossberg-cohen.com/biography/) he now works as a fine artist and once served as Director of the Maryland Film Commission. There’s also a photo of him presenting a portrait to President Bill Clinton.
http://www.schlossberg-cohen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/event_jscclintshake_1995-600×370.jpg
MST3K puppeteer Grant Baciocco shared a story about a connection to Cry Wilderness on the MST3K Discussion Board:
“When we were filming this, I instantly realized that the cinematographer listed in the credits lived upstairs from me in my first apartment. By chance, I saw him walking down the street a couple months ago and told him they’d be riffing this film and he flipped out. He said, “I didn’t think anybody remembered that film.” He said it was the first project he worked on in Hollywood and the whole crew thought that the director was going to be the next Spielberg…until they started filming.”
http://forrestcrow.proboards.com/user/696/recent
Grant also revealed he was Kevin’s virtual hands in the grooming of Patton.
They’ve had plenty of dated outrages, that one thing in KTMA about them working on that waste of funds improvement project for that guy, the John Sununu gets a haircut riffs.
As for Magic Bigfoot, yeah there’s some schools of thought about Bigfoot that believe he has magic spiritual powers, can teleport, and sometimes is in league with saucer hippy new age aliens.
I get the impression that earlier drafts were a lot less concrete about Bigfoot not being in the kid’s head.
I’ve said it elsewhere, but the Solaris riff here really makes not only this episode, but the entire revival worthwhile to me. (The Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans riff in Beast of Hollow Mountain is a nice bonus.)
The movie itself is mystifying, but not so mystifying as the fact that it was written by an Academy Award winning screenwriter. Who was also the credited writer (Apparently he was a front) of the wonderful Johnny Guitar. Go figure.
Also, can someone explain the “dental practice” thing? I must’ve missed it.
It refers to the asshole who shot Cecil the lion. He was a dentist in Minneapolis.
I’d reference Carvel’s immortal “C.P.”, but the name keeps causing the Auto-censor to delete the Wikipedia link.
And no, he wasn’t shaped like a whale, Santa, or laundry bag, but he absolutely wasn’t shaped like a guitar, either.
Leave it to daddy-Joel to still know how to direct classic old-school sarcastic-deadpan movie-mock host segments.
The whole “We’re raccoons, we’re mischievous, we’re playful!” seg has that distinctly “Trumpy, you can do magic!” vibe going for it. :)
Anyone remember the last time they referenced Megaforce BEFORE Rifftrax?…
And of Charlton Heston’s “El Cid”, too, according to the Deeb. Think I’ve got to back and watch Woody Allen in “The Front” again.
(raises hand) Yep, here. You don’t just go around SAYING that you shared a Coke with Bigfoot last summer, and hope the audience didn’t want to see that instead.
Usually with low-budget sequels, if it’s the same director, we get, like Ator, ten filler recap minutes of the first movie to remind us of its presumed coolness (“She HAD to ask…”), but if it’s different producer/directors, like Alien From LA or Boggy Creek II, the script just spends the first act’s dialogue heavily alluding to all the important stuff that’s happened since the first movie we never got to see, so that all us presumably first-movie fans can wink knowingly.
If there is an earlier movie for the writer and director, IMDb doesn’t know the Connection, so it may become the next MSTie trivia challenge. Whatever it is, maybe it’ll show up on Amazon Prime. ;)
BTW, did we get a riff linking the fact that Danny dresses like a Coke can with the crushed Coke cans at the bottom of Bigfoot’s cave? Seem to remember we did, but the riffs were going too speedy for all but the best to stick.
Among other great missed-opportunity riffs:
– “You’re a hunter?–Go hunt. You’re an Indian?”
“‘Go indy.'”
– (Morgan shows Danny incriminating Time-Life illustration of chainsaw sculpture)
“‘Coincidence, kid?…Read the book.'”
– (Bengal tiger suddenly wanders into plot)
“Surprisibus! Surprisibus!”
(“Must have escaped from the circus”) “‘What, in Africa?'”
Dear… GOD. O_O
Part of me is laughing, but part of me is unspeakably horrified at the implications…
Good catch, man. This may be the last time I type one of these on my phone. Autocorrect = good old fashioned nightmare fuel…
Ohhhhhhh (they’re BOTH David Warner)! That’s what the deeper riff was. I thought the joke was apropos of nothing, but was still funny as a standalone. That makes it work even better!
I liked this episode, and most of what I have to say is already being said.
However, and I’m not sure this is the thread to discuss it, I don’t really understand (or like) why the felt the need to make Jonah “act out the opening every time”, unless it’s just a gag to get him out of the cold open as abruptly as possible.
“Cry Wilderness”. It’s still better than “On Deadly Ground”.
One of my favorite riffs: “If that guy’s Ted Nugent, I’m dead!”
“This might work out…Paul will now get eaten by Ewoks and the movie ends!”
I love the cameo by the three “bikers”. They’re about as believable as the “bikers” in “The Hellcats” and “Girl In Gold Boots”.
While I liked seeing the host cameo by Professor Bobo, Pearl, and Brain Guy, the segment fell kind of flat for me the second time around.
Kenotic, I’m glad you mentioned “Mac and Me”. While “Cry Wilderness” is not the movie length commercial for Coca-Cola that “Mac and Me” was for McDonald’s, it’s still pretty shameless, especially how the kid and Bigfoot make a big mess in the pristine, wonderful wilderness and just leave it.
MST will never die, I dig it to the end!
Remind me of the Futurama opening. They establish that the opening happens in-universe every episode, which leads to a few fun references in some episodes (apparently Leela crashes into the jumbotron every time because of her one eye).
When I was looking through actors for this film, I discovered two of the three bikers are from Iowa. I am too, so it struck me as interesting. I even have several shared Facebook friends with one of them.
Now that I’ve watched #1103 “Time Travelers” I was struck by something: “Time Travelers” was actually a “plausible” and thought-provoking movie and was extremely interesting because of it and “Cry Wilderness” was a totally goofy, can’t-possibly-be-serious, lost in itself, mess… and was extremely interesting because of it!
Yup, the training wheels are off and MST3K is officially back… mostly.
My favorite host segment was when the bots, as raccoons, knock over boxes of cereal in harmless fun… until Crow starts hammering on a propane tank. (Dramatic pause) It’s host segments like this that make me LOVE MST3K!
However, Kinga and Max need to snap into place quickly. The host segments really feel like feast or famine, and most of the famines come from Moon 13. I love their characters, I love their motivations, but Felicia and Patton just aren’t Kinga and Max yet.
That being said, the core of the show, being the theater, is genuine MST3K!
Yeah the Solaris riff was gold
You know, despite the general horribleness of this movie, it is beautifully photographed in a gorgeous place. Take away the bad actors (that is, all the actors), and the tiger, and this is a pretty decent outdoors movie. (The same can be said for at least two more later episodes. Well, except the tiger – I haven’t seen any unexpected tigers in other movies yet.)
FUDGIE THE WHALE – EARLY 80s CARVEL COMMERCIAL (loaded with fudge and nuts!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS6ki8D7zQA
why hasn’t anyone compared “faux stallone” (morgan was the character name, is that right?) to ross allen? ross wasn’t an -actor- portraying a -character!- (and that WDT thread was “loathsome characters,” If’n I Recall Correct…) nope… ross was just plain loathsome. stay outta my yard, ross! leave those bunnies alone!
1982 – Carvel Santa and Chanukah cakes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MamQwAnbCSo
yeah, between all the raccoon abuse, the seven/eight-second memory span actor-motivation stylings (i blame the director for that though), and all the forced laughing, laughing, LAUGHING!!…
Carvel CP doll Tv Commercial 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcVno8saeZY
joel’s mentioned in a couple recent interviews that he has two movies this season that he really kinda hated/drove me crazy, but won’t name them (yet). i’m guessin’, “cry wilderness” and “carnival magic”… nearly all the other the other movies this season at least have some sembelance of “professionalism;” i.e.(sometimes y ;0) these two movies (CW and CM) both smack of “crew never made a movie before, and never did again.” well, i know now that the CM maker did a good number of them before that point, but -man,- it sure doesn’t show! (hey, WDT – “guess joel’s two least-faves of S11!” but that’d be spoiler-heavy, likely…)
Carvel C O’ P commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7wj9UmcjYk
(really? -really?- you thought adding an “o'” to a cp made an irish cp??)
beastie boys had a track called “c.p.” (thanks ej for the warning!) on a disc called “some old b.s.” (there’s another name that won’t pass filter-muster) – kinda like their version of the KTMA eps; some pre-“license to ill”-era stuff their fans wanted to get their hands on, but had trouble finding boots. so i learned about carvel back then… thanks b-boys! i would’ve been at a disadvantage understanding that joke without ’em…
CP – Beastie Boys (definitely not for the kids!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DOMxm0o12c
“and they laughed, and they laughed, and they laughed… until they were all – quite, quite mad!”
Some old Carvel Ice Cream commercials from the 70s USM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJiaIEAe5ec
Dear Great Pumpkin: Everyone’s cray-cray.
Has anyone mentioned how the forest becomes the desert briefly (when the tiger goes into the mine and our crew follows it) and then goes back to being forest again?