The Films of William Grefé Quadruple Feature:
I first encountered the work of Florida-based low-budget exploitation independent film director William Grefé several years ago, when I saw his shocker Stanley (1972; short review: Willard with snakes) in a theater. Much later, I saw Impulse (1974) as part of an effort to watch films starring William Shatner. (Short review: Lousy crime thriller with Shatner chewing the scenery as a killer.) A little later, I caught the remarkable double feature Death Curse of Tartu (1966; short review: eccentric supernatural chiller) and Sting of Death (1966; short review: hilarious monster movie featuring the Incredible Jellyfish Man.) On a whim, I subjected myself to four other of his creations. (Oh, I should have mentioned that I saw the MST3K-riffed version of his motorcycle gang flick The Wild Rebels [1967] quite some time ago. No review, as I haven't seen it without wisecracks from Joel and the bots.)
The Checkered Flag (1963)
First film as director, after he wrote the screenplay and had to replace the original director. A simple variation on The Postman Always Rings Twice as the wife of a wealthy, older race car driver offers a young racer a bunch of money, a Ferrari (and its mechanic, both direct from Italy), and her love if he'll arrange an accident during a race to kill her husband. Lots of time wasted with stock footage of racing, and a long, irrelevant sequence in the middle during which the rival racers go to a nightclub with two young women (one of whom performs a dance in a bikini while a calypso band plays the appropriate little ditty "Bikini Baby"), get roaring drunk, and continue the partying at the husband's beach home. Notable for a gruesome twist ending. (Spoiler, I guess, although I doubt anybody reading this is going to run out and watch this thing.) The accident kills the husband, but also blinds the woman and leaves the young guy with both legs missing.
The Hooked Generation (1968)
Three lowlifes -- Daisey [sic], the Peter Fonda-ish leader; Dum Dum, named for the bullets he uses; and Acid, a heroin addict -- meet somewhere offshore with Cubans in full military uniform to buy drugs. (The implication is that they come directly from Castro. Still, would you send your drug runners out in uniform?) They wind up killing the suppliers and grabbing the stuff. A little later, the Coast Guard shows up. They get killed as well. A young couple happens by to witness the massacre, and get taken as hostages. Wanted by the Feds, their stuff is too hot to sell, so the rest of the film is them tormenting their prisoners and running away. They wind up in a Seminole community in the Everglades, adding some local color. Notable for our mandatory psychedelic freak out sequence occurring when the rather foolish Acid gets shot by the cops, apparently triggering his hallucinations.
Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976)
Our antihero first shows up in a skin diving outfit. He boards a sport fishing boat and attacks the three guys on board, sending them over the side to be eaten by his shark buddy. Only halfway through the film do we get his back story. After surviving a swim through shark-infested waters in order to get away from bandits in the South Seas, a local fellow gave him a medallion to wear. You see, the locals have a shark god, and the antihero's survival prove he's won the deity's favor. Now he spends all his time protecting sharks from harm and punishing those who hurt them. Complications ensue when a science guy wants to study one of his pregnant sharks, and when a woman who does an underwater dance routine in a metal bikini and her husband "borrow" one of his sharks to add to her act. They all betray his trust, and revenge follows. Too bad all the nighttime scenes are so dark you can't see a thing.
Whiskey Mountain (1977)
Two couples head up way into the backwoods on their dirt bikes in search of some Confederate stuff supposed to be buried somewhere. (One of the women has a map drawn by her grandfather.) Along the way, somebody keeps trying to sabotage them. (Setting a fire near their camp, cutting a rope they're using to cross a river.) About halfway into the film, we find out that some drug dealers have their stash near the place. The couple get captured, and only the help of a crazy old codger allows them to have a chance to fight back.
Why should I bother with this?
