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The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)

 
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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:38 am    Post subject: The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) Reply with quote

In this one, Jimbo Berkey treats us to an exercise in pure imagination with these comments about The Beast of Yucca Flats from his website, Free Classic Movies.

Prepare for a little time traveling, folks . . .
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Imagine a warm Friday night in May of 1961, and a young fellow calls his best girl to invite her to the movies. He wants to take her to the Sky High Drive-in so they can snuggle in the front seat in relative privacy while watching the movie on the huge outdoor screen.



She asks what the movie is, and he replies that it's something about a beast in the desert, and she asks who the star is . . . Natalie Wood is in West Side Story . . . Gregroy Peck is in The Guns of Navarone . . . who's in this movie?



He thinks quickly and tells her that nobody famous is in the show, but his buddy Tommy says that it is a great picture. Tommy took his best girl to see it last weekend and he thought it was one of the best pictures ever!



The girl asks him what the story is about, and the fellow tells her that a Russian scientist is going to the A-bomb test area at Yucca Flats, Nevada, and he is exposed to radiation from an A-bomb test while Russian spies are chasing him and trying to kill him.



The radiation turns the scientist into a deranged killer, strangling everyone he meets.



A family on vacation gets right into the middle of the mess when their two young sons go wandering off into the desert. The father goes searching in the desert for his sons while two local-yokel cops are searching for the killer. When one of the cops sees the father wandering in the missile range they shoot him, thinking the father is the mad killer.



The two boys are still lost in the desert, but not to worry, the mad beast of Yucca Flats discovers them and gives chase!

"Doesn't it sound great, honey?" the boy asks his girlfriend over the phone.

"Well," she replies, "I think I'd like West Side Story more, but the popcorn is really good at the Sky High Drive-In, so when will you pick me up?"

Grab your best girl and a bowl of freshly popped white kernel popcorn drizzled with warm melted butter and pretend that the couch is the front seat of your 1958 Packard while you enjoy the show.




____Jimbo Berkey


_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:54 am; edited 6 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________

Just for the record, Jimbo's entertaining comments above (for a truly horrible movie) is an example of how he earned an All Sci-Fi T-shirt!

Which he wisely allowed this young lady to wear for the picture he sent with his "thank you" note.
Wink



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Rocky Jones
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Joined: 17 Dec 2014
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 8:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is a title I've heard of by haven't gotten around to digging up. It seems to be on YouTube by a couple of posters so I'll check it sometime soon.

These days when I think of Tor Johnson I think of the marvelous cartoon series that characterture artist Drew Friedman did based on him. I won't reproduce one here, but check the Google Image Search for a bunch of them. I think he did these back in the '80s for an alternative newspaper syndicate.

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=Drew+Friedman+tor+johnson&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=1
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 1:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________

Don't look know, Rocky, but the title at the top of the thread is a link to Jimbo Berkey's site where you can start watching the movie in seconds flat! Very Happy

All of the threads that refer to Jimbo Berkey's website, like this one, have the movie link built right in!

Here's the link again. The Beast of Yucca Flats

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Rocky Jones
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Location: North Texas

PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That link gives me page with the words "Loading the player..." on them due to my defensive browser settings. I'm sure Mr. Berkey means well, but as someone hyper-paranoid about web security I stick to the major known sites like YouTube for streaming.

I actually started watching this title last night before bedtime. It harks back to the old days when the lowest budget films had to avoid shooting with sync sound. Nowadays you can shoot full color with sync sound from a pocket mirror size phone you can carry in your pocket. All we need are drive theaters to watch them with.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________________________________

Jimbo's videos use the JWPlayer, and some sites say it is safe, like this one --

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111121022740AAASPyu

-- which said this.

Best Answer: The reason it looks like the one Youtube used to use is because it is the one Youtube used to use.

I've been using JW Player for a couple of years on the sites I make. It's very good.


But other sites don't paint such a rosy picture, so you're probably wise to steer clear of it. However, each movie on Jimbo's site has a download link at the bottom, so if you can choose not to download the player, perhaps you can download the movies you want to watch.

I've had the JWPlayer on my computer for years and never had problem, for whatever that's worth.
Confused
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Dr Acula
Planetary Explorer


Joined: 23 Feb 2016
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Flag on the moon - how did it get there?

A great classic if you like crazy old sci-fi flicks with Tor Johnson, like me.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2020 1:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Here's a nice high-quality version of this movie, along with the MST3K version! Very Happy


___ The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) Improved Quality


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________________ MST3K Beast Of Yucca Flats


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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
________________________________

~ The first scene in the film is the strangulation murder of a woman who has just stepped out of a shower, by a man whose face is never shown. The film implies that the killer molests her corpse. The murderer is dressed like Javorsky after the blast, but the murder is never mentioned again. Javorsky as The Beast has burns on the backs of his hands, but the pre-credits strangler does not.

Note from me: I wondered about that scene all the way through the movie. Weird.

~ The first scene raised many questions: Who was the girl? How did Javorsky kill her before he mutated? Was it an unmentioned scene in the middle of the film?

According to Tom Weaver's interview with producer Anthony Cardoza, the scene was shot after the movie was completed, and Coleman Francis put it there because he liked nude scenes.


Note from me: Yes sir, nothing clarifies a plot line like a pointless nude scene. Rolling Eyes

~ According to Anthony Cardoza, the rabbit at the end was not scripted; a wild baby jackrabbit wandered into the shot.

Note from me: Boy, some critters will do anything to break into motion pictures.

~ Shot without sound. To avoid having to sync a lot of sound in post-production, the actors turned away from the camera when speaking, and cupped their hands over their mouths when shouting.

Note from me: What a brilliant money-saving strategy! No need for rehearsals, because the director can stand off camera and tell the actors what to do! No ruined scenes because of actors who blew their lines! Very Happy

~ The setting was based on the real-life Yucca Flat, which has been called "the most irradiated, nuclear-blasted spot on the face of the earth."

Note from me: This must have been before the government wised up and conducted tests in the Pacific . . . to screw up somebody else's part of the world. Rolling Eyes

~ Since no audio was recorded during principal photography, during scenes in which firearms are used, the muzzles of the guns are usually out of shot when the weapons are fired. Also, in scenes of gunplay, many characters appear at first to have suffered life-threatening bullet wounds, only to appear in later scenes fully recovered with no visible signs of having been wounded.

Note from me: Add to this the fact that during the shoot out between the government agents and foreign spies near the beginning of the movie, the two groups stand next to their cars about twenty feet apart, banging away at each other while making no serious attempt to take cover.

And one bozo stood next to his car and calmly reloaded his revolver in plain view of the other group — until he was finally shot dead. Big surprise.

~ It has been speculated that this film was the partial inspiration for the "Incredible Hulk" comic book that came out a year later. The stories and certain plot points are very similar.

Note from me: This is possible, I guess — but I suspect Stan Lee had better things to do than watch bad movies like this one

~ Filmmaker Jim Wynorski has always wished that bad movies would be remade instead of good ones, as he thinks that they could be improved. He has suggested that this film and The Creeping Terror (1964) could be redone.

Note from me: I'm not real impressed by Mr. Wynorski's stated opinion. Frankly, it's sort of a no-brainer to suggest that movies that sucked could be improved!
_______________________________

I found out that the attractive young lady which Tor Johnson carried around in the desert for ten full minutes (with her head hanging back at a painful angle) was Miss Linda Bielema.

When two policemen found her at the mouth of a cave after Tor Johnson final put her down and wandered off, they said she was still alive. So they picked her up and carried her several minutes . . . until they discovered she'd died. Sad






So, they left her there in the desert, and nothing more was said about the poor woman! Sad
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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ralfy
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Joined: 23 Sep 2014
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2022 10:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Feature in 1080p quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeEAeJtLawo
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