ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Good old American International Pictures released this epic nonsense just one year after its equally silly The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant.

Instead of a homicidal murderer's head on the shoulder of a gentle handyman, they decided to be even more offensive by putting a white bigot's head (Ray Milland) on the shoulder of a black convict (Rosey Greer). As with the previous film, most of the "special effects" consist of Ray Milland straining to keep his chin properly positioned on Rosey's shoulder while he hides his body behind the sizable girth of Mr. Grier.

The "two" of them don't get along very well (predictably enough), and sometimes they even punch each other in the faces — which, if you apply any logic at all, indicates masochistic behavior.

Rick Baker provided a two headed gorilla, the only genuine point of interest in this silly film by director Lee Frost.

Trivia note: The Thing with Two Heads would have made a great football player! He could spot the receiver and still keep an eye on the three guys who wanted to sack the quarterback!

Actually they almost did this idea, because the movie starred Rosey Greer, who played for the New York Giants. If they do a remake, they should make the two-headed man an actual giant and call it Attack of the 50 ft. Two-Headed Quarterback.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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What self-respecting sci-fi message board would not provide it's loyal members with easy access to the trailer and for the The Thing with Two Heads?

Well, friends and neighbors, never let it be said that All Sci-Fi doesn't give the people what they want! Here's the trailer.

Enjoy!

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

[Bogmeister]

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__________ The Thing With Two Heads (Trailer)


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Directed by LEE FROST This has been released on DVD, both as a single feature in 2001, and as a double feature with its slightly elder cousin The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971).

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This one is pretty bad. Even the 2-headed gorilla in the early scenes (played by Rick Baker, who went on to King Kong '76) struck me as quite bargain basement, and the scenes of the escaped ape running through a posh neighborhood scream Z picture.

Milland is amusing as a wheelchair-bound genius surgeon who is also a blatant bigot. He's always referring to 'your kind' when putting down the black characters and even some of them kind of roll their eyes at his over-the-top emoting — the stuffy elitist stuck in a blaxploitation-slash-horror stew.

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The title is actually pretty good. The Thing With Two Heads suggests some horrific proceedings, like maybe the two-headed guy going on some crazed killing spree. But none of that happens.

Grier plays a guy on death row who takes a chance on this new radical procedure, all kept hush-hush until success is assured. Grier is actually innocent and is mostly amiable, but obviously a big dude (12 years at pro football with the NY Giants & L.A. Rams). He manages to escape after the operation and there follows a protracted chase after he acquires a motorcycle. Half the police department's vehicles crash at one point or another during and after a motorbike race. This just seems to go on forever.

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Ed Naha in his HORRORS FROM SCREEN TO SCREAM summed it up best: "Priceless dialogue along the lines of Mad magazine follows."

BoG's Score: 3.5 out of 10

Besides the aforementioned 2-Headed Transplant movie mentioned above, there was also The Manster movie from the late fifties, about a 2-headed creep. I have to revisit that one as it's been many years since I've seen it.

2 More Trivia: That is famed bad guy-in-movies William Smith in cameo as one of the prisoners on death row; btw, Grier wrestled Sirhan Sirhan to the ground after the assassin shot Robert Kennedy in 1968.

Star Trek TOS actor alert - the two co-stars, Don Marshall & Roger Perry, both guest-starred on original Star Trek episodes a few years earlier, Marshall in "The Galileo Seven" and Perry in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" — though both had much shorter hair back then . . .



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[WadeVC]

I remember seeing this stinker at the movies when it was released.

To say it is cheesy is an insult to cheesy movies. But, there were a few scenes that made me laugh, so there is that.
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"You look like a pooped out pinwheel."
-Robot Monster