Not up to Firesign Theater quality levels
Added 10/15/2009
What do you get when half of The Firesign Theater cross the videos from a bunch of Republic Films cliffhanger movies with a campy, sarcastic soundtrack involving denizens of the Moon invading Earth with Rock and Roll and cannabis?
A surprisingly boring 75 minutes.
Never mind that Philip Proctor and Peter Bergman wrote the script and star in the production. They're not even on stage for more than 10 minutes. Never mind that the DVD cover suggests this is Reefer Madness on steroids. The drug angle doesn't even show up until 40 minutes into the video.
I gave this a 2 star simply because I loved seeing those Republic Film shows on TV in the 1950's. However, what Bergman and Proctor add to this is really lame. I guess if you got hit with a 'hash bomb' from the DVD, it might scramble your senses enough to think there was something funny here.
You'd do far better by listening to the Nick Danger segment of 'How Can You be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All" or Steve Martin's underrated "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" if you want a funny send up of classic films of the '30's and '40's.
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Loads and Loads of Loquatious Lingo
Added 8/3/2009
If I could have been involved in the making of a movie, right after GWTW, this would be next. The facetious premise is that Rock and Roll is evil, and it is so evil and deadly, that by blasting Smaltzy Music with large doses of Rock and Roll from the moon, Smaltzy Music, along with others on earth will be destroyed, or at least driven crazy. Commando Cody fights the moon men who are trying to destroy him with a ray gun. When I was a kid it was my good fortune to see many Republic Cliffhanger serials before the main feature at the town cinema. J-Men forever is made of clips from these serials and new words have been overdubbed into the rather convoluted, but wonderful story. Sometimes the voices are appropriate for the faces they are coming out of and sometimes they are not. This adds to the hilarity. J-Men is chock full of gay banter, rapid reparte, gifted gabbiness, heartfelt harangues, and zesty zingers. It is a gold mine of trite expressions, double entendres, euphemisms and non sequiturs. A boon to the complicated overdubbing is the fact that the speaking players often have their backs to the camera, have on bulky masks, or are shot from a distant camera range. What really "sends me" is the plethora of special effects these old serials had including, space ships, deadly ray guns and robots. Some of the dialogue includes, "you send me, the caped mad man had a statue made to honor himself against his will," and my favorite, "wait in the damn hall!" Who of us has not had to deal with an obnoxious person that we would like to simply tell with authority to "wait in the damn hall!" This movie is about creativity and I have deepest admiration to the crew that masterminded and produced this wonderful flick. Contrary to popular opinion, you would not have to be stoned to enjoy it--you just have to be an artiste.
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Classic Firesign
Added 7/21/2007
I've been enjoying this movie since the old NightFlight days. I remember the serials from when I was a small-fry and love the way they've been integrated into a tale only Firesign could add their with their twist.
My two boys grew up watching this, and wanted a copy for their very own. How could I refuse? We never get tired of it.
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When this first came out, I taped it off the TV and wore the tape out. Then I taped it again. And I wore THAT tape out. That was 20 years ago. Now it's available on DVD as I've just discovered. In short, Best. Movie. Parody. Ever. The use of the old Republic serials (Commander Cody and others) is BRILLIANT! It's MST3K meets What's Up, Tiger Lily.
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This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen in my life.
Added 1/19/2007
This is one of the absolute funniest movies that I've ever seen in my life. The only negative that I can think of about this movie is the fact that this movie is in black and white. Black and white movies are okay, but I personally prefer to watch colour or colourized movies. I love this movie. This is the type or kind of movie that I'll watch repeatedly. Get yourself a great big tall glass of your favorite beverage, get a big bag of popcorn, roll yourself up a big ol' fat joint and sit back and watch an absolute classic cult film that will never get old.
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