Short: (1948) The many aspects of the modern chicken farming industry are shown.
Movie: (1946) A disfigured man takes revenge on the college pals he believes caused his condition.
First shown: 2/10/96
Opening: Tom is getting into real estate
Intro: Pearl is going out and puts Crow in charge
Host segment 1: Tom is inside an egg
Host segment 2: Mike calls his old girlfriend to ask her to help him escape
Host segment 3: Crow wants Mike and Tom to sing “Hang down your head, Tom Dewey”
End: Letters, Tom is not a good landlord, and Dr. F. turns Pearl’s date into a chicken of tomorrow
Stinger: “Creeper, Creeper, Creeper! YOU give me the creeps!”
(217 votes, average: 4.30 out of 5)
Loading...
• This is one of those episodes where the short really builds up a head of steam, but the riffing of the movie just can’t maintain the pace, so it starts to drag in the last half hour. But overall it’s a great episode, with mostly good host segments with Dr. F a bit less wimpy than last week.
• This episode is included in Shout’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXII.”
• You can read Paul’s comments on this episode here.
• In the opening, watch Mike think about Crow’s “cajones” remark for several moments before objecting. Nicely done.
• I had no memory of the bit in the intro where they seem to be extracting a portion of a stuffed animal from Gypsy’s teeth. Nice little random element.
• Why is Dr. F quietly sewing the head of piglet onto the body of a fish? Why not?
• Of course that’s Paul as the oily lothario Sandy. Poom!
• Pearl again calls Crow Art.
• Mike is pitch perfect as a pouting 7-year-old when told Crow will be his babysitter.
• Note for anyone seeking an unMSTed version of this short: There is a different short with same title at archive.org. It does include some of the same footage, but it’s definitely a different short.
• There is so much realty talk in this episode. Who on the writing staff was buying a house?
• Obscure reference: Mike mentions a painter named Susan Rothstein. I’ve googled her and there does appear to be such a person, but she’s pretty obscure.
• Only slightly less obscure: Mike’s reference to Alicia de Larrocha. Also pretty obscure: references to jazz musicians Terry Gibbs and Diane Schuur.
• In the short, the narrator claims there is no county in a America where somebody is not raising chickens (I assume he means commercially). That’s a remarkable thing, if true, and I bet that’s not true any more (again, at least not commercial chicken farming; raising a few chickens for personal use is, I think, on the increase).
• Sadly, this is the last short for more than 30 episodes.
• Season seven brings us a new non-spaghetti ball bumper: A shot of a movie projector with the name of the movie on a card nearby. Rather than the rotating series of bumpers we had in season six, either the projector or the spaghetti ball was used.
• Callbacks: “Oh, it’s true.” (The Dead Talk Back)
• This is one of the oldest movies MST3K did. Only “The Corpse Vanishes,” “The Mad Monster” and “I Accuse My Parents” are older. By the way, the woman playing Joan Bemish is Mickey Dolenz’s mom.
• Of course, an early highlight is the old grumpy shopkeeper Mr. Harkins, who seems to have cracked them up.
• In segment two, for the first time in a long time, we find Mike actively trying to escape the SOL. That’s not something that had really been on the front burner in the latter half of season six.
• That’s Bridget on the phone, and, I think, Paul as the little kid.
• Interesting line when Crow sees the “23” on the Creeper’s lair: “Hey. it’s KTMA!”
• Segment 3 is one of those sketches about a bad idea for a sketch. The brains seem to enjoy the meta-ness of them. But they’re not so much funny as kind of wry.
• Cast and crew roundup: Producer Ben Pivar had a story credit on “The Leech Woman.” Editor Philip Cahn also worked on “Lost Continent.” Makeup guy Jack Pierce also worked on “Amazing Transparent Man.” Set designer Russell A. Gausman also worked on “The Leech Woman” and “This Island Earth.” “Revenge of the Creature,” “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis” and “The Thing That Couldn’t Die” (which I think is why you keep seeing that hamburger/map picture on people’s walls). Sound tech Joe Lapis worked on “The Leech Woman.” Score composer Hans J. Salter also worked on “This Island Earth” and “The Leech Woman.”
In front of the camera: Tom Neal was also in “Radar Secret Service.” Fred Coby was also in “Jungle Goddess.” Peggy Converse was also in “The Thing that Couldn’t Die.” Tristram Coffin was also in “Radar Secret Service,” “The Corpse Vanishes” and “The Crawling Hand.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. This was prop assistant Dean Trisko’s last episode and Beth McKeever’s last episode as an intern.
• Fave riff from the short: “I’ve seen the episode where the eggs are coming too fast and she puts them in her mouth!” Honorable mention: “You think I can wear these pants out tonight?”
• Fave riff from the movie: “Honey? My face is as big as ever and someone shot my sizzler off!” Honorable mention: “Clog dancers!”
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
“God is dead?! GOOD!”
I always found this movie very murky – probably thanks in large part to what Zee (#34) called its “gloomy fortiesness.” It did have potential to be a somewhat deep and effective film, but it would have needed several rewrites.
I agree w/Sampo: Mike does make a great pouty kid. The whole babysitting segment is pure gold.
And how about those chickens? Who wouldn’t want to be a chicken sexer?
I love Chicken of Tomorrow, possibly because I live about 10 minutes from the farm at which it was filmed. I’ve even been in the building where you saw the egg auction in the short. It’s used for offices now but still has some of the old eggy based signage, etc.
I cannot comment on the ugliness of some of the people at the auction, I think that’s been bred out of the county.
And yes “Chicken slice to the width of one electron” still gets me to the point where sometimes I have to stop the video
I can see a little why some people thought the main feature was was slow, but I actually find the Brute Man to be one of the best episodes ever. The following moments are some of my favorite:
– Popular Trio article in the newspaper.
– Rondo’s dead acting
– Cheap production, such as the lame foley of police running up steps… “Who’s coming?” “Clog dancers!”
– “shave and a hair cut, two bits” knock on door acknowledged by mike and bots
… This and more were some great, goofy comments in the episode.
One of my fave’s from start to finish, watch it over and over again AND IT NEVER BUMS ME OUT. It even has Mickey Dolenz’s mom!
“I thought I would look up and it would remind me of something but no…”
Poom!
Ah yes! Paul’s appearance as “Sandy” is one of my favorite moments in season 7. Uhhg, perfect depiction of the uncomfortable creepiness of someone who would take Pearl out on a date & gloat about it with Dr. F. A calssic moment brilliantly executed!
‘Chicken of Tomorrow’ is a pretty good short, I love the industrial films – great fodder for riffing. The overlap between chicken breeding and ‘quality petrolium products’ reminds me of “truck farmer’.
Not really a memorable episode, but there’s a few good riffs that keep things moving. I’d give it a 3 star rating, but the skit with “sandy” bumps it up to 4!
As I’ve mentioned, I like season seven. Although this ep tends to drag in places, it still has plenty of memorable moments (most of which have already been mentioned). So I’ll go with a few that haven’t:
Short: Dad, can you slice a little faster? We’re kinda hungry …
Movie: Hi honey! Defeated Truman today!
We just got to the “Dewey defeats Truman” debacle in history class a few days before I first saw this episode on tv, so I’ve always thought the Tom Dewey references were hysterical.
A good episode that I do enjoy. I can’t recall a favorite riff from the movie but the scene with the chicken sexer and Crow’s “Whoa! Milton Berle there!” always gives me a giggle. If you didn’t know, Milton Berle, one of the all-time great comedians and a TV pioneer was rumored to have such a huge penis that when he died it was joked that they had to bury it separately.
I love this episode. The riffing on the short and the movie were both A’s in my book.
Newspaper Headline “Backbreaker kills again!”
Crow: Chiropractor on rampage!
Did you guys know Rondo Hatton has a horror award named after him?
http://www.rondoaward.com/
The part where the chicks run around is the cutest thing.
Hey, clean your fingers! :shock:
Is this the episode with “They killed Savage Pier!”? If so, that had me rolling for days.
I really loved this episode! The riffs were sharp and hilarious, and the host segments were very good. Even segment 3, with the whole Tom Dooley-Tom Dewey thing, was funny in part to Servo and Mike’s frustration with Crow trying to make the song work.
The short, while not in my Top 10 favorite, is enjoyable. I especially love the “wtf” moment, where as the narrator mentions how chickens shouldn’t have problems laying eggs, a female voice comes in saying, “That’s what you think, big boy!” Crow’s response of “That was..WIERD!” is so well said its hysterical.
As for the movie, I think it’s a great example of how they had not lost their riffing strength, even after the torture that making MST:TM brought. The characters and the all-too-convienent plot points give M&tB plenty to work with. M Sipher already mentioned my fav line: “Her hair looks like something you’d pound meat with!” by Mike. I love Crow’s subsequent laugh, and then “huh?”, afterwards. The running cigarette gag with the cop on guard is also humorous; I’ve always loved the line “I gotta get a carton of these for my pregnant wife!” And if there was ever a weekend discussion thread for “Characters who were actually funny” in an MST movie, I’d give my vote to the old grocery store owner. His unexplained anger at everything is just great.
Unlike some here, I don’t have a problem with the way Rondo Hatton was treated by the ‘Brains. After all, Hatton was under contract, probably being paid more than the average person in the country at the time. He was taking a negative and turned it into something that created a way to make a living. If Rondo was not pleased with the way Universal was casting him, all he had to do was retire from the film industry altogether, or even attempt to find another studio that would give him different roles.
“Him and his friends were bobbing for anvilles!”
I thoroughly enjoyed all of Season 7. This episode is no exception.
What’s interesting here was that I was kinda liked the movie. Although I dug the riffing, I found myself trying to pay close attention to everything that was happening with the movie and its characters.
As so many people here have said, the high point is Mike doubling over with laughter at the cranky old man. I remember watching this section often because it was just so damn amusing.
I actually liked the “Tom Dewey/Dooley” sketch, but then again I was one of those wretched North Carolina school children forced to learn this song in school growing up, along with “Carolina in My Mind” and “Nothing Can Be Finer”. So hey, I’m all for making fun of it, even it if is kind of silly.
So it’s OK to make fun of Robert Z’Dar’s face, but not rondo Hatton’s?
“There’s no driver! THE CHICKENS ARE TAKING OVER!!”
Ace. :grin:
I like this episode. I also like the movie itself. It might have something to do with being made in the late 1940s that makes it nice. If this movie were made in the ’50s it would probably be another piece of atomic monster crap.
I don’t really care for the short. It has good riffing, but there’s something dreary about The Chicken of Tomorrow.
Ahh, Sandy. Paul Chaplin as Sandy alone makes this a great episode. The ACEG has a perfect written description of the sound that Sandy makes when he sees Pearl. When I read it in that book, I hear Sandy. Paul does some little movements during his scene. The way he checks out Pearl and gives Dr. F. the “okay” sign. And of course, “POOM!”
I think episode 702 was an immediate palette cleanser, as far as Dr. F. and Pearl are concerned. While not exactly dominant, Dr. F. is more like his old self in this episode.
I’m watching the short again, and there’s a scene with a calendar in the background (the one with the grading machine weighing the eggs). I believe the calendar says 1948 or 1949. My money is on June, 1948 since that month did begin on a Tuesday.
@ #62: No, “Sauvage Pierre” is in “The She-Creature”. Still a great moment, though.
I like this episode. It’s not my favorite from Season 7, but it’s solidly funny (it used to be in my Top 25, but it’s since been replaced, though I’d still put it in the Top 50). I don’t let the real-life story of Mr. Hatton get me down – I can’t help it ’cause the riffing is so good.
I remember somebody on YouTube once made a music video for Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” using clips and audio from this episode – the guitar interlude in the middle was set to the shopkeeper scene, and it fit perfectly. Unfortunately, I think it’s been deleted by the powers-that-be in the years since I’ve seen it.
Nothing to see here. Weak short (though it’s still funny), “drab and dreary” movie, so-so riffing, and no Frank – it all adds up to a fairly forgettable episode.
BTW: Wasn’t the reason PRC released this because Universal was so embarrassed by the way the movie exploited Hatton?
A good solid ep–both the the short and the film riffing.
But it’s not one I turn to often. I think the bad print, the murk, might be a reason. Or just watching poor soon to pass away Hatton plod through this for his paycheck. That sounds like I don’t like this ep…I do…it’s just not one I can’t wait to show my girlfriend…
Just read Hatton’s bio on IMDB. Quite an interesting, sad story.
Crow spends all of Segment Two reading Cosmo. Classic.
I love this episode; but then again, I love this entire SEASON. Extremely dreary and depressing, yet M&TB make it just sooo funny.
Fave riffs:
“Well you see I’m blind” “Lemon Jefferson”. Perfect timing by Kevin as Tom.
“I’d like us to be friends.” “GeeIdon’tknowIhavesomanywellokay.” More great timing by Trace as Crow.
“We couldn’t help noticing you weren’t wearing a hat.”
“Whoa, is Rondo straining krill through his mouth?”
So Sandy is not the first oily man that Pearl has ever taken to the mat? That makes my skin crawl.
I like Pearl leaving Art in charge. He tries. But Mike steals the scene with the fit he is having.
This really is a weak collection of in-movie host segments. Tom is inside an egg. So what? The girlfriend call has potential but instead it turns into a long walk for a weak punch line. The Tom Dewey song is a dud as well.
Favorite Riffs:
Short:
The chick hatches. Mike “whoa. What did I do last night?”
As the chicken sexer is inspecting the chicks: Crow “whoa. Milton Berle there.”
The truck moseys out of the building. The narrator says. “Speed is essential.’ Crow “I said speed is essential.”
Narrator “The temperature of an egg when laid is over 100 degrees. Every minute it’s left in a hot nest in a hot hen house takes away some of its moisture and freshness.” Mike “So put your mouth under a chicken.”
Narrator “Gather your eggs often.” Crow “Make sure to put them all in one basket.”
Movie:
Crow shouts “But be quiet. We have to sneak up on him.”
Lt. Gates “We stumbled onto something this morning.” Crow “We stubbed our toe.”
Mike as chemistry professor. “Mr. Moffat I have never spanked a senior before, until now.”
Helen “I knew he was in some sort of trouble I didn’t know it was with the police.” Mike “I thought he was pregnant.”
The over-cranky shopkeeper (who loses his delivery boy) brings me back again and again. (“Dear God, I hate you!!”) MaryJo’s DVD intro has her admitting that she was surprised this movie was chosen and that upon reflection they probably wouldn’t have chosen it later on. As this was just after Frank’s departure, I suppose the movie selecting process was in flux — but I’m glad this one made it through.
I don’t mind them using Rondo Hattan in a horror role, after all he got paid(and paid well) for his work and he’d likely have difficulty getting work elsewhere back then. As Paul Chaplin said of it: “Rondo Hatton the actor had acromegaly, the disease that enlarges bones in the hand, feet and face. That fact opens up a large irresolvable issue concerning the movie industry’s use of this poor afflicted fellow; he was paid, after all, and movie work is nice work. Yet it can seem exploitive of misfortune. One thing’s for sure: Rondo makes a great Brute Man.”
I’d say this is a average episode, with decent riffs. The best is yet to come with season 7, though, with classics like Deathstalker, Escape 2000 and Laserblast.
I thought the episode was OK; I agree that the short is great and the bit in the movie with the angry shopkeeper is particularly funny.
But, for a good movie with Rondo Hatten, check out “The Pearl of Death”, one of Universal’s Sherlock Holmes movies. Rondo shows up as the Oxton Creeper (what, is there a Creeper franchise?), but the movie wisely keeps him in the shadows up until the end.
So, how bad was this movie? After World War II, International bought Universal (becoming Universal-International). They were not happy with Universal’s products at the time and cleaned house. The Brute Man was one of the last pictures shooting and when done it was deemed so bad by the new studio suits it was sold to PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation, one of the Poverty Row studios). Adding to all the other comments about this feature is the rare film appearance of Janelle Johnson, who by the time this film began shooting in November 1945 had already given birth in March to future Circus Boy and Monkee, Micky Dolenz. She was married to another Universal contractee, George Dolenz, perhaps best remembered as TV’S Count of Monte Cristo (he died in 1963). Micky would later record numerous versions of a bedtime lullaby written by his mother with fellow actor Matt Willis, titled “Pillow Time,” which first appeared on the 1969 album “The Monkees Present.” She passed away in 1995. She was “The Creeper’s” first victim in this film.
Favorite lines (Chicken of Tomorrow):
“Their destination is the brooder house.” Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Everybody, Soylent Green is made from Chickens.
[stained pants on guy feeding chickens] Hey, you think I can wear these pants out tonight?
[charbroiled chickens] These chickens were smoking in bed.
Yes, chickens sliced to the width of one electron. These must be model’s portions.
Favorite lines (The Brute Man):
She’s laced up tighter than a catcher’s mitt.
Objects on my face may appear closer than they really are.
He looks like an Easter Island statue.
[shooting and commotion at blind girl’s apartment] Jerry Lee Lewis moved in upstairs.
[Creeper smiling at blind girl] Oh, does he strain krill though his mouth…big baleen.
Hey, why the long face? [They took a long time getting to this little chestnut.]
Her hair looks like something you’d pound meat with.
Final Thought: An ugly and depressing movie, no wonder Universal sold it to PRC. I give this one 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Regarding the Bechdel Test, The Brute Man passes. Joan and one of the socialites make a lunch date as they leave the party near the beginning. Also, Helen and Dorothy discuss piano playing.
The product placement in the short wasn’t exactly subtle.
And I’m a bit surprised that there weren’t any remarks made about the rough handling of the chickens. Especially when you consider the riffs from Catching Trouble. Maybe Joel and/or Frank were the primary sources of those riffs.
Missed riffing opportunity: During the auction scene in the short, one of them should have said, “Sold American.”
Host Segment 3 feels drawn out and pointless.
Favorite Riffs
Dedicated to the chickens who lost their lives in the Great Chicken War.
Fellow poultrymen, our cherished freedoms are threatened on all sides.
“Nevertheless, speed is essential, and it is here that the motortruck plays such a big part in poultry raising.”
I said speed is essential!
The unholy alliance between Big Oil and Big Chickens.
Everybody, Soylent Green is made from chickens!
Lick your eggs, or have a friend lick them.
There’s no driver! The chickens are taking over!
(Actually, you can see the driver’s hands on the wheel. But the angle of the shot does make it difficult to see him.)
Take our word for it, a police car.
This Brute Man sounds horrible. Where can I hide? Oh wait, I am Brute Man.
Mr. Moffat, I have never spanked a senior before.
Mrs. Bates, can Norman come out and play?
I know, you’re mad, aren’t you? Just like when I deformed your face.
Honey, my face is as big as ever and someone shot my sizzler off.
‘ Rodents!?! AAAAHHHH!
main issues i have with this film…
while Rondo is no Steve McQueen the people that he meet react like he has snakes for eyes or something.
Rondo’s character is a jerk, forgets to use RADAR! or SODIUM! when mixing chemicals and pays for it the rest of his life.
his friend the former presidential candidate, however, is an even bigger jerk and aside from being married to Ms. Frigidare, gets away scott free.
and just to rub our faces in it, the only friend Rondo has in the whole stupid thing is friends with him because she’s blind!
aside from Lassie skating on her killing spree in ‘the Painted Hills’ i can think of no bigger miscarriage of justice in a MST’ed film.
can you?
Great episode! Even with the lack of a fantasy or sci-fi element, the top-notch riffing makes up for it. Everyone’s Creeper/Brute Man impressions crack me up every time.
“Hey, Creeper” “Hi person”
The short was funny, but not hilarious. I still enjoyed it. Who slices ANY meat that thin? Even sandwich meat should be thicker than that! Your chicken slices shouldn’t be blown away by a gentle breeze…
@#5 – As a Kansan, I can verify that EVERY county in Kansas raises chickens. In fact, I’d bet there’s someone raising chickens in nearly every square mile or two. And if you were going for sparsely populated by saying central Kansas, you should go with western Kansas. That’s true desolation.
This episode is okay, minus the host segments. Segment 3 is the type I really hate, where they just kinda make fun of how the skits aren’t funny. Lame. Jay Leno – lame. But they are right – the Season 6 and 7 skits, almost down to a one, are not very funny. But it’s very easy to skip over them in DVD format, so that’s what I do.
The movie is a slog, but it’s okay, until you realize that everyone is acting like Rondo Hatten is a disgusting monster, when that’s actually how he looked. When I realized this it made me kinda sick that people would do that to him. But, I guess he took the job…
It’s funny how in the Rocketeer movie they had a Rondo character and he was about 6″ 6′, where Rondo looked about a foot short than that at least.
All in all, a middle of the road Season 7 episode, but bring on the Season 8 resurgence to the funny.
Just a nit-pick clarification. There is no e in Micky Dolenz.
Mickey is a mouse. Micky is a Monkee.
Life long Monkees fan.
Haven’t seen this one, but I’m starting out on my MST3K bucket list trek. I’m starting with the KTMA episodes, and working my way through. Wish me luck!!!
Too bad, or just as well, that Crow didn’t realize being in charge of everybody, including Dr. Forrester, meant he could have just ordered Dr. F to bring the Satellite back to Earth. Oh well.
Not one of their more memorable ones. Though I think this is like the setup with the “Cheating” short and “Wild World of Batwoman,” where the short was a little better than the film.
The only truly funny point was the grumpy old store clerk, and Trace’s verbal shout-back after the young delivery boy leaves (“Dear GOD I HATE YOU!!”), not to mention the memorable, “Cree-per cree-per cree-per, you give me the creeps!”
I had to rewatch the clip I posted in 2009 above of the cast watching “You give me the creeps!” during the filming of Diabolik. Still cracks me up. Such a funny acting decision by the actor. As written, the lines could have been performed in a comedic way, but he just decides to go full-on rage in every reading. I almost want to use his lines in captioning pictures of Tard the Grumpy Cat.
Men and women… breeding better poultry. Good short; some industrials are funny because they are lame or just horribly dated, This one is well made, good narrator, and pretty good explanations of the egg/chicken industry.
I don’t have a problem with Rondo; in many movies, people are made out to be hideous monsters when they are merely plain or unusual-looking. I do sometimes wonder or hope that the actors involved don’t have self-esteem issues as a result. E.g., the scarred-for-life lady in ‘Brain that Wouldn’t Die’ merely has a few bumps in front of her ear(makeup, I know) but they treat her like Quasimodo. It’s the nature of showbiz, there is always a suspension of disbelief.
What does bother me a little is in the Chicken short, they show the development of the chick in the egg, and they had to break the eggs to show the insides; meaning those chicks almost certainly died just for this dumb short. Then again, there were thousands of eggs waiting in line behind them, its not like there’s a shortage of chickens, what with every county producing them. And I pity the people of 1949, gnawing those pale scrawny chickens, while we gorge ourselves on plump, meaty, juicy tender poultry of the modern chicken era. The Chicken of Tomorrow has truly arrived!
Not a great episode, but still more tolerable than some of the swill from this season…as an owner of hens, I can attest that they chime in with “that’s what YOU think BIG BOY” every once in a while.
“God Is Dead!? GOOD!!”
Plus, I disagree with viewers (@45) that saw Brute Man as just a crime noir film. Sorry, the ‘experiment’ that leaves Hal disfigured is a simple science lab concoction that he barely survives, and transforms him into a mutated killer. That is science fiction more in line with Peter Parker than Dashell Hammett.
Although a competent movie, its charm is riffable because: Hal was always just a jerk; the murders actually seem to have lightened his mood long enough for him to try for friendship with the blind girl. His final attempt to kill her proves him irredeemable: he had to be put down. And the blind girl is revealed to be more stupid than compassionate; she harbors a fugitive with secrets, who shoves wads of money and jewels into her paw, and then is shocked when he might be a criminal.
When I originally saw the short, I remember having a discussion with my future spouse (who had lived on a farm) about whether every county in the U.S. raised chickens and she and I agreed that no, there had to be a few urban ones that didn’t at the time. The urban chicken movement has apparently made it true once again; there are articles about raising chickens in Manhattan and the Bronx that I found (do the chickens have to leave the Bronx too?), though roosters are banned in NYC. The fact that Alaska has boroughs, not counties, saves the day on having to raise or find arctic chickens.
@#22 So that’s where the butt half of the stuffed cat came from! Dr. F has the front half of the piglet attached to his fishtail. I think it would’ve been kind of impressive if Mike had pulled the butt half of the piglet out of Gypsy’s mouth rather than the cat’s. I would’ve puzzled over that for such a long time, though, that the start of the chicken short would’ve been lost on me. I love how Pearl appears to be wearing a fur wrap over a cotton tee-shirt for her date, who does that?!
The movie: I love the little girl who wants to play boogie woogie. That girl’s all right.
“Oh, the doctor said it would be two or three thousand dollars [to fix the blindness] at least.”
Crow: But I’d rather have a car.
Much like last week, the short is awesome and the movie is rough. How I wish Season 7 had received a full 24 episode run. That would have allowed for the new dynamic between Dr. F and Pearl to develop completely. And that would have altered the dynamic of the Sci-Fi era. I look at Season 7 as a what-if, an alternate reality where MST3K was allowed to live out Seasons 7-10 on Comedy Central.
Ok, so Pearl pushes Dr. F around alot. But, not always! In Escape 2000, Dr. F puts his mother in a “home”! lol
I’d like to think that this back and forth would have continued throughout the season. One week, Pearl is the harasser, and the next week, Dr. F is. That would have been fun. And there was a third alternative, where Dr. F and Pearl worked together, like in the Melting Man episode.
I’m glad they did Brute Man, but it is kind of sad to watch that movie. But that fits the overall depressed mood of Season 7. While not of the level of Season 6, it’s still pretty good. Had it gone to a full season, it may have surpassed 6.
Creepygirl, I LOVE The Monkeys! Especially their hit song Lost Train to Clarkstown!
@JCC:
Now you’re just bein’ mean.
THE BRUTE MAN is a pretty good (but not great) episode, it’s got some laughs and a pretty good short, and just like last week’s episode, the short is a long one (leading into the first Host Segment) and the movie is shorter and a bit of a drag. THE BRUTE MAN is a drab kind of movie, but its got its share of memorable moments. The overly hostile store owner is the best, next to leading man Rondo Hatton, of course.
Rondo has one of the most distinct faces in all of B-movie history (also: his gravelly voice sounds like a combo of Danny Trejo and Vin Diesel) and his story is a fascinating one; I keep waiting for someone to make a good documentary about him. I guess the closest thing we have to a modern Rondo is actor Michael Berryman, who has something like 26 different birth defects. By all accounts, Berryman’s a really nice guy, and his unique looks have kept him working for years in films playing various mutants, bikers, mental patients, and other various miscreants.
The Host Segments aren’t very good, but they do contain some little nuggets of good comedy. When Servo is inside the egg in HS#1, the way he plainly asks Mike to “go on with your story” got a laugh out of me, as did Crow’s exclamation that he’d “get a whole bunch of paper towels” after Egg-Servo breaks. The Thomas Dewey skit in HS#3 isn’t very funny, but I really like Crow’s jubilant “Weeeeeee!”
Also, the much maligned Dr. F/Pearl dynamic is actually pretty good in this episode. It works for me. I love Dr. F’s little science experiment. And special shout-out goes to Paul Chaplin as Pearl’s skeezy date, Sandy. “POOOOM!!”
–
RIFFS:
–
short (the last one for a long time…it’s a good one tho):
eggs in a frying pan,
Crow: “These are your chickens on drugs.” —–do young people (in their early 20s) even get this joke/reference?
Mike: “Some eggs are sent to solitary.”
Servo: “Aren’t there supposed to be panty hose in there?”
Mike: “40pc McNuggets to go!”
Mike: “I’ll have an egg tomorrow, I swear!”
Crow: “That was WEIRD!” —–the perfect reaction to the chicken saying “That’s what you think, big boy,” which is, indeed, totally weird.
–
movie:
as Creeper walks down street,
Mike: “Everybody talk me, can’t hear word say.” ——a great Midnight Cowboy joke…
on the sight of the number 23,
Crow: “Hey, it’s KTMA!”
Mike: “Evening, Creeper.”
Servo: “What’s this scene for?”
movie: “I didn’t knock..,”
Mike: “I creeped.”
–
THE BRUTE MAN is a slight uptick in quality over last week’s season premiere. The rest of Season 7 is gold as far as I’m concerned; some of my favorite kind of movies: low budget 80s apocalypse and fantasy flicks and crummy 70s horror movies.
–
The Creeper creeps,
3/5
robot rump #82: his friend the former presidential candidate, however, is an even bigger jerk and aside from being married to Ms. Frigidare, gets away scott free.
Well he was killed by the Creeper, so he didn’t get off entirely.
I actually do like the digs at Donald MacBride’s hammy performance (“Apparently Noel Coward runs the police department”) although he’s the only one apart from the cantankerous shopkeeper who seems to give a crap about “acting”. Tom Neal apparently can’t convey anything; there’s no way of telling if Cliff Scott feels remorse over what he’s done. He just recites his story like some Books-on-Tape reader on valium.
One online review of this movie stated (paraphrasing) that the actors just realized this was a Rondo Hatton vehicle and stayed out of the way. It’s pretty true; there’s just no effort in pretending it’s anything but a cheap programmer featuring what was considered a “movie monster”.