40 Double Features for 99 cents
When I was a kid in the 1970s we had something called "local theaters" (as opposed to multiplexes) that showed low budget films or "B" movies (as opposed to art house), usually double or triple features for 99 cents. I would spend entire Saturdays in the theater enjoying the show, and since I was a kid, I really didn't know the difference between a good and a bad film. It was ALL fun.
Here's some of my favorite movie memories from the 99 cent double feature days.
Here's some of my favorite movie memories from the 99 cent double feature days.
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- DirectorJohn HoughStarsPeter FondaSusan GeorgeAdam RoarkeDown-on-their-luck racers Larry and Deke steal from a supermarket manager to buy a car that will help them advance their racing chances. Their escape does not go as planned when Larry's one-night stand, Mary, tags along for the ride.DMCL is one of my all time favorites. Car crashes were real back then. I saw this one on a triple bill with Vanishing Point and White Line Fever. Then I sat through all three movies AGAIN and got in a lot of trouble when I came home at 9 PM. I was nine years old, mind you. Watch out for that train!
- DirectorRichard C. SarafianStarsBarry NewmanCleavon LittleCharlotte RamplingDuring the 1970s, car-delivery driver Kowalski delivers hot rods in record time, but always runs into trouble.Drive fast and crash. End of story.
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsJan-Michael VincentKay LenzSlim PickensIn 1970s Arizona, a young married man becomes an independent long-haul driver and he risks his life fighting the corruption in the local long-haul trucking industry.The trailer on TV showed a semi-truck crashing through a big glass sign of sorts. Sold. Bad ass CJ Hummer takes on the entire corrupt trucking industry and everyone gets hurt or killed around him but he don't care, he gonna crash that truck through that sign sooner or later. For some reason this title is not offered by Netflix, not even listed to be Saved. Please don't tell me it's lost forever.
- DirectorWilliam GirdlerStarsChristopher GeorgeAndrew PrineRichard JaeckelAn eighteen-foot-tall grizzly bear terrorizes a state park, leaving it up to a Park Ranger to save the day.Here we have one of the many low budget answers to Jaws. I cut out the cool looking newspaper ad and brought it to the theater, because they promised a bear tooth necklace in exchange. Hey, that's the same plastic tooth they gave out for that other Jaws rip off! They called it a shark tooth that time. It didn't dawn upon me that the severred horse's head would be shredded instead of surgically sliced off if a bear claw was indeed responsible. Now that I think about it, they probably borrowed the prop from Godfather.
- DirectorWilliam SachsStarsAlex RebarBurr DeBenningMyron HealeyAn astronaut is transformed into a murderous gelatinous mass after returning from an ill-fated space voyage.Oh what fun! An hour and a half of a man oozing all over the place. And how about that slow motion shot of a severred head falling down a waterfall. Also have to love the nurse running down the hall for five minutes and suddenly smashing through a glass door. Huh? That didn't even make any sense but that's what you get for 99 cents.
- DirectorRay DantonStarsPaul BurkeJim HuttonJulie AdamsA former mental patient uses astral projection to destroy the people he believes have wronged him.Probably saw this on the same bill as the Melting Man. Some dude in a jail cell goes into a trance and kills people, PSYCHICLY, whoo whoo. Okay, the hamburger that came out when the guy got his hand shoved into a meat grinder is forever embedded in my brain, but often the trailers for these flicks were scarier than the actual films were.
- DirectorJohn HayesStarsChristopher LeeSue LyonKirk ScottAfter witnessing a man's death in a bizarre accident, Father Pergado goes on a spiritual retreat, where he encounters his alien double bent on world conquest.Nothing happens in this film. There are a bunch of aliens dressed up like nuns and Christopher Lee appears for a few minutes. But the entire world blows up at the end so you just have to love it. I didn't know there was silver confetti inside the world but hey, a kid learns something new every day.
- DirectorSamuel FullerRafael PortilloStarsBurt ReynoldsArthur KennedyBarry SullivanA gunrunner loses his cargo near a small coastal Sudanese town so he's stuck there. When a woman hires him to raid a sunken ship in the shark-infested waters, he sees a chance to compensate for his losses. He's not the only one.Exactly what was this movie called? Caine, Kane, Man Eater or Shark? Well when I saw it it was called Shark! with exclamation point. It was actually made in 1969 but was re-released in 1975 to capitalize on the Jaws frenzy. It was part of a double bill with Grizzly no doubt. It doesn't really have anything to do with a killer shark but it stars Burt Reynolds and I think he shows his naked butt.
- DirectorJack StarrettStarsPeter FondaWarren OatesLoretta SwitTwo couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.RWTD was yet another Peter Fonda vehicle for cars crashing. Apparently after Easy Rider he was typecast as either a biker or at least someone driving something somewhere. This film looked so much better when I saw it in a drive-in as a kid than it did when I watched it again as an adult. But even back in the double feature days, I was well aware that this movie boasts probably the STUPIDEST ending for an action film, ever. And I love how the small town library has an entire section of books on the occult. How convenient.
- DirectorWilliam GirdlerStarsChristopher GeorgeLeslie NielsenLynda Day GeorgeA battle for survival ensues after a group of hikers encounters a chemically imbalanced forest.After Jaws made a splash, there came film after film about killer animals. This one didn't even bother to choose a killer animal, all the animals killed ya. Don't remember much from it so it couldn't have been very good, but still, gotta love the ingenuity.
- DirectorShirô MoritaniAndrew MayerStarsLorne GreeneKeiju KobayashiRhonda HopkinsThe shorted re-edited American version of Submersion of Japan, in which Japan slowly sinks into the sea as the US and Japan work together to stop it.This one is so off the map that I guess it doesn't even have an IMDB image for it. The disaster films were raking in dough with Towering Infernal, The Poseiden Adventure and Earthquake, but if you wanted to spend 99 cents for a double feature, what you got was Lorne Greene in a poorly dubbed Japanese movie that was originally called Nippon chinbotsu. When the Tidal Wave FINALLY strikes, the cardboard buildings that fall over are even cheaper than those that Godzilla took on. But in the year 2011 . . .
- DirectorMeir ZarchiStarsCamille KeatonEron TaborRichard PaceAn aspiring writer is repeatedly assaulted, humiliated, and left for dead by four men she systematically hunts down to seek revenge.Let's not forget the drive-in cult classics. Although they might have been a tad more expensive than 99 cents, they certainly delivered a punch for the buck. Other drive in classics included The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and Toolbox Murders. I tricked my mom into taking me to see the original I Spit On Your Grave and she's been traumatized ever since.
- DirectorMichael BenvenisteHoward ZiehmStarsJason WilliamsSuzanne FieldsJoseph HudginsEmperor Wang is leader of the planet Porno and sends his mighty sex ray toward Earth, which turns everyone into sex-mad fiends. Only one person can save the Earth, football player Flesh Gordon.If you were really sneaky as a kid, you somehow got into the X-rated double features. They weren't hardcore but they had a lot of sex jokes. Others in the genre included Alice In Wonderland, Cinderella, and Andy Warhal's Frankenstein and Dracula.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsGeorge C. ScottTrish Van DeverePaul SorvinoA marine biologist teaches his dolphins to communicate in English but shady characters plan to kidnap the trained mammals for a more sinister purpose.Sometimes the double features actually showed good movies that survived the test of time. In this one George C. Scott trains a talking, cussing dolphin how to plant bombs. Cool.
- DirectorOvidio G. AssonitisRoberto D'Ettorre PiazzoliStarsJuliet MillsRichard JohnsonGabriele LaviaJuliet Mills plays a young pregnant woman in San Francisco who is going to have the devil's baby during her strange possession. Richard Johnson shows up to help her... but what does he really want?Mom won't let you watch The Exorcist? No problem, there's some other woman spitting green pea soup and spinning her head around at your local 99 cent double feature. This was actually pretty scary stuff. "Whooooo are you?"
- DirectorPeter CliftonJoe MassotStarsRobert PlantJimmy PageJohn Paul JonesThe line forms here for the world's greatest and possibly most influential band--Led Zeppelin. This mesmerizing movie built around Zep's famed 1973 concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden is convincing proof why.Imagine my surprise when this one turned out to be nothing but a rock concert. My older brother was really into it but I was like, hey, where's the car crashes and the monsters?
- DirectorDonald CammellStarsJulie ChristieFritz WeaverGerrit GrahamA scientist creates Proteus--an organic super computer with artificial intelligence which becomes obsessed with human beings, and in particular the creator's wife.Eerie and creepy, with nothing much happening until the ending, but oh what an ending. To think this was way before any of us had home computers. If I remember correctly a super computer somehow impregnates a woman and then goes on a killing spree to protect the unborn baby. At least that's what I think I remember. Sometimes these movies are best left where the childhood imagination puts them.
- DirectorDan CurtisStarsRobert BurtonJohn KarlenGeorge GaynesThree bizarre horror stories, all of which star Karen Black in four different roles playing four tormented women.I swear I saw this in a theater, even though it was made for TV. Or perhaps that crazy killer voodoo doll was so whack that it deserved a spot in a 99 cent double feature even if it never made it there. This is pre-Child's Play killer doll madness, one third of the three segments Karen Black stars in. Nobody cares what the other two segments are about. Really.
- DirectorWilliam CrainStarsWilliam MarshallVonetta McGeeDenise NicholasAn 18th-century African prince, turned into a vampire by Dracula, finds himself in modern-day Los Angeles.I wasn't really into Blaxploitation. I guess those movies just didn't show up at my local theaters. But who didn't see Blacula? You just weren't American if you didn't see Blacula.
- DirectorRalph BakshiStarsSkip HinnantRosetta LeNoireJohn McCurryIn the late 1960s, a pretentious, womanizing young cat drops out of college, starts a riot in Harlem, hits the road with an ex-girlfriend and gets mixed up with domestic terrorists.This one actually had an X rating for its cartoon portrayal of breasts, humping and drug abuse, but somehow I managed to get in anyway. I was seven years old when this came out so I had no idea who Crumb was but I liked cartoons. Look at the cute kitty on acid!
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJennifer O'NeillStephen LackPatrick McGoohanA scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.At the tail end of the double feature era, this was another one that stands the test of time. When that head blew up you knew you were watching something altogether original.
- DirectorRichard MooreStarsDavid CarradineJeff CooperChristopher LeeA young martial artist embarks on an adventure, encountering other martial artists in battle until one day he meets an aging blind man who will show him the true meaning of martial arts and life.Of course there was no end to the double feature karate chops but this one is the most memorable, with David Caradine fighting monkey men and several other versions of himself. And what's with the guy soaking in a big cauldron of oil? Never did figure that one out.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDennis WeaverJacqueline ScottEddie FirestoneA business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.Steven Spielberg? Never heard of him. Guy being chased by a psycho truck driver for an hour and a half. Oh yeah! Although this one was also made for TV, it deserves a spot in my fantasy double billing with Trilogy of Terror. I can actually feel the soles of my shoes stuck to the soda pop soaked floor.
- DirectorDario ArgentoStarsJessica HarperStefania CasiniFlavio BucciAn American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.The one and only film I have ever crapped my pants while watching. One of the only double feature films that actually lived up to the hype about its scariness as well. Those TV spots weren't fooling: the only thing scarier than the last fifteen minutes of Suspiria are the first 85.
- DirectorWilliam GirdlerStarsCarol SpeedWilliam MarshallTerry CarterA marriage counselor becomes possessed by a demon of sexuality when her father-in-law, an archaeologist and an exorcist, accidentally frees it while in Africa.Once again, Mom won't let you watch The Exorcist? No problem. There's a low budget blaxploitation version down at the double feature for only 99 cents. There was yet another version too, I think it was called Ruby. And another, and another . . .