Adventures In The Spider-Verse Part 1

Not long ago, I finally caught up with the latest Marvel movie, SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, which opened last December. I enjoyed the film, and it made me wax nostalgic about the different incarnations of Spider-Man I’ve experienced over the years. So join me as we take a trip back to a groovy time.

Note: Despite the image at the top of this post, this walk down Memory Lane doesn’t include, except in passing, the many animated versions of Spider-Man, or the comics that ran through the decades covered here.

 

When I was a five or six year old in the ‘70s, I became a fan of the web slinger via his appearances on The Electric Company. This was an educational PBS program that ran from 1971-1977, and featured such stars as Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, and, uh, Bill Cosby. The show posited itself as the hip alternative or companion to Sesame Street, and one way they grabbed kids’ attention was to align themselves with one of the hippest comic book characters of the day.

The recurring sketches entitled “Spidey Super Stories,” starred Danny Seagren, a puppeteer and professional dancer, who made history as the first live-action Spider-Man. Seagren’s version of the superhero never spoke (except in silent word bubbles), never appeared unmasked as Peter Parker, and never fought any of his normal foes like Lizard, Dr. Octopus, the Green Goblin, who were replaced by such supposedly evil entities as the Can Crusher, Mr. Measles, and Spoiler (who I guess spoils endings to movies, ‘cause what else can it mean?). Freeman apparently honed his narrator chops here as he lent his distinctive voice to explain Spider-Man’s motives to kids.

 

Over the run of 29 mini-episodes, Spider-Man was very popular with my elementary school mates who started collecting Spidey comics, and toys. My Mom even made me a Spider-Man costume, which I weirdly wore to school one regretful day. Anyway, the widespread love for The Electric Company shorts must’ve inspired somebody at CBS to give the already iconic character his own show.

 

The result, The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Nicholas Hammond (LORD OF THE FLIES, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD), made its debut in September 1977. One could say Hammond was the first feature-length live-action Spider-Man as the series started off with a 2-hour TV movie, and was released theatrically overseas.

I remember watching the show, but feeling bored by it. Like in his previous post, he didn’t fight any classic baddies, and his demeanor was cold, devoid of the snappy one-liners that he spouted as much as he spun webs. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee said in an interview, “They left out the humor. They left out the human interest and personality, and playing up characterizations and personal problems.” 

 

I liked Hammond, and the effects were actually pretty good for the time, but the show wasn’t given any chance to grow as it was cancelled after only 13 episodes. So in 1979, after two television adaptations, the concept of a live-action Spider-Man was dead in the water.

 

That is, until the mid ‘80s, when Orion Pictures, and the B-movie master, Roger Corman, attempted to resurrect his corpse. Corman had the film rights to Spider-Man, but only briefly as his option expired, and Cannon Films swept in to give Marvel Comics $250,000, and a percentage of the gross, to make the first real SPIDER-MAN movie.

Coming up: The fate of the Cannon collaboration, the time that James Cameron was poised to take over the character, and the rebirth of the iconic web-slinger in the wake of 9/11.

Click here for Part 2

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Soundtrack September Selection #3: THE TRIP (1967)

Selection #3 for Soundtrack September comes from fellow film buff Jon Mitchell who is the owner operator of Rockin’ Ammonia Karaoke. Jon is at City Beverage in Durham every Wednesday night so if you're in the Triangle area, please give him a visit. Take it away, Jon!:

“My all time favorite soundtrack, just happens to be from my all time favorite movie: Roger Corman’s THE TRIP.

Mainly because it’s just great exploito Psych, but on a deeper level it’s done by The Electric Flag, which while not a great band, they managed to come up with some great music that matched the film and was totally not consistent with their recorded output as a band.

Had they made another album after this, I’m sure it would have been great. But Buddy Miles went on to do his own thing with The Express with Mike Bloomfield going on to work with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills on the Supersessions album.

THE TRIP soundtrack album from The Electric Flag (although they are kind of in disguise - in a way it’s the precursor to XTC’s Dukes of Stratosphear outings) shows what they were capable of doing in the psychedelic genre, but unfortunately they chose not to follow that path.” 

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Cult Movie Catch-Up Via NEw Special Edition DVDs

Since this blog is relatively new we like to catch up with older films and appraise their recent special edition DVDs. Here I meet up with a couple of old friends: 

REPO MAN (Dir. Alex Cox, 1984)

A young punk (Emilio Estevez) becomes a automobile repossession man, who stumbles upon a car with dead space aliens in it and an entire low-life network bent on stealing it.

Harry Dean Stanton puts in a great gruff performance as Estevez's partner and has many pivotal lines that build his character as a master of poor man philosophy. Songs by the Circle Jerks, Iggy Pop (who wrote the theme song), the Plugz, and the Juicy Bananas among many other punk staples all line the frames of this flick perfectly. I saw this movie on cable many times in the '80s and love almost everything about it - especially the way every product - whether beer can or soup can is generically labelled i.e. with a white label and the word - "food" or "drink" printed alone.

The new DVD has a print of the film that looks better than I ever remember it looking and the overcrowded commentary with director Cox, executive producer Michael Nesmith (the Monkees!), three of the actors, and the casting director is fun too.

SUBURBIA (Dir. Penelope Spheeris, 1984)

I can't remember if I actually saw this movie back in the day. I remember the commercials for it with one punk saying “wake up and smell the coffee, man” being the first time I had ever heard that expression, but I don't remember it or other Roger Corman-produced movies for that matter being in heavy circulation on '80s HBO or Showtime.

Well, I mean as heavy as PORKY'S or POLICE ACADEMY or even BUCKAROO BANZAI for that matter. 

This movie about kids who squat on the outskirts of the suburbs in abandoned tract housing sure feels familiar, but maybe I'm thinking of OVER THE EDGE with Matt Dillon. Man, I loved that flick. This one has more roaches, rats, and rawk music in it so it goes much further over that supposed edge.

It’s funny that from this cast the most well known player here is Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Chris Pederson who recited the “smell the coffee” line was later in Oliver Stone's PLATOON and Kathryn Bigelow's POINT BREAK, but I doubt he’d really register with today's movie watching crowd.

This disc released as part of a Roger Corman Director's series on New Horizon video, has great commentary by director Spheeris. “The kids today look exactly the same,” she says more than once talking about the current resurgence of the punk movement.

With blueprints like this and SID AND NANCY getting the special treatment in rereleases and spiffy new digital transfers the punk kids of 20 years from now will look the same too. 

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DVD Review: EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS

Out today on DVD:

EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS: HOW THE SEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK 'N ROLL GENERATION SAVED HOLLYWOOD
(Dir. Kenneth Bowser, 2003)

“When Blake said that the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom...(but) it also leads to the grave” - Kris Kristofferson 

In this DVD, essential for anybody with even a casual interest in film history, William H. Macy's narration delicately explains one of the greatest or at least most interesting film making eras in this documentary adaptation of Peter Biskind's bestseller.

Covering the same material and even sharing a number of the same film clips as DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE the story should be familliar to film babble blog readers. Simply put to those just tuning in: the French new wave headed by Francois Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard influenced a band of movie brat outsiders who broke into the studio system after years of B-movie exile. 

Maverick cheapie teen-exploitation king Roger Corman mentored Peter Bogdonavich, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper and countless others to become the "New Hollywood." 

This gung ho gang made what were called "Now movies" like BONNIE AND CLYDE, EASY RIDER, THE GODFATHER, MEAN STREETS, and HAROLD AND MAUDE to name five. 

By the mid '70s the careers of many of the principle players were in decline while a couple of straight-laced film nerds from Malibu, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, cleaned up with JAWS and STAR WARS which this thesis proposes was the end of the era.

Whether or not that's true we get many fascinating anecdotes about crazy set antics, infidelities, and of course more stories about that damn mechanical shark. Good stuff indeed. Check out the cool DVD bonus interviews with many of the targeted directors and actors plus a revealing and humorous talk with author Biskind.

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