Carol Burnett, Charles Grodin & Teri Garr in Fresno (1986)

The runaway success of series like Dallas and Dynasty inspired this miniseries spoof in the mid 80's. Starring Carol Burnett as Charlotte Kensington, the matriarch of a rasin dynasty in the city of the same name, the show follows the lives of the Kensingtons and their arch rival, Tyler Cane (Dabney Coleman) as they struggle for ascendency in the business of rasins. The intrigue and drama involve Charlotte's mercenary son Cane Kensington (Grodin) and his bitter wife Talon (Garr) as well as a perpetually shirtless ranch hand named Torch (Gregory Harrison). Will the failing Kensington empire survive or will Tyler Cane succeed in trouncing them?

This miniseries walked a very fine line between parody and sincerity, and consequently was misunderstood by certain segments of the viewing public less attuned to irony. It was met with mixed reactions that lead network executives to present the encore airing with a rather unfortunate laugh track. The shows have never been released on DVD commercially, but can be found in unofficial versions. Above are a few clips from the series, including the opening credits, uploaded to YouTube by AztecaTheater.

Obscurity factor: 5 (has cult status among a small group of fans, forgotten by most, not on DVD, hard to find)

Donald Sutherland & Ellen Burstyn in Alex In Wonderland 1970

"Now what?" That is essentially the dilemma Alex finds himself in after his first film is heralded as a winner by Hollywood insiders in this film about film directed by Paul Mazursky. He sets about trying to answer that question by taking meetings with producers, reading scripts, brainstorming with friends... His aimless approach leads him to question everything and settle on nothing. It's 8 1/2 for the hippie generation and it wades into both of those iconic entities up to its hips. Alex dabbles in acid and considers social unrest and class warfare as subjects for his sophomore effort, all the while, the film references Fellini's masterpiece directly with scenes parodying it and even features a cameo with the famed director. These self-indulgent, solipsistic scenes are juxtaposed with beautifully rendered moments with Alex and his family, scenes that are so simple and honest that they make the characters and even the more outrageous circumstances seem believable. Ellen Burstyn plays his patient wife and Viola Spolin, the improvisational acting teacher plays his mother. In addition to Fellini, look for a cameo by Jeanne Moreau and one by Mazursky himself, playing a mucho mod producer. There's an autobiographical element to this movie. Mazursky and his writing partner Larry Tucker had just come off the phenomenal success of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).



While not part of the cultural zeitgeist, this film is on the radar over at TCM. That's where I saw it. It isn't available on DVD, but there are VHS copies of it floating around. There are also a few scenes of it uploaded to YouTube. Above is the fantasy musical sequence featuring Jeanne Moreau uploaded by Filmboblog.

Obscurity factor: 8 (not on DVD, no online video readily available, occasionally on TV)

Stockard Channing & Joseph Bologna in The Big Bus 1976

Before the Airplane franchise that revitalized Leslie Nielsen's career there was this 1976 disaster movie parody. The Big Bus had it all - action, suspense, danger... On the cutting edge of technology, the nuclear powered Cyclops is the first luxury bus. For its maiden run - a non stop trip from New York to Denver - after a bomb wipes out the driver and co-driver the team turns to Dan Torrence (Joseph Bologna), a promising bus driver with a dark incident in his past that kiboshed his brilliant career. The film follows the progress of the enormous Cyclops as it navigates the route to Denver and a minefield of attempts to sideline it by a group of oil sheiks and Iron Man, a diabolical villain in an iron lung. Also featured in the cast are a veritable who's who of 70's Hollywood actors - Ned Beatty, Lynn Redgrave, Sally Kellerman, Larry Hagman, Richard Mulligan Jose Ferrer and the irrepressible Ruth Gordon.

The centerpiece of the action is the bus itself - an articulated double decker affair with 32 wheels, wrap around windows and a graphic, orange and yellow paint scheme. It was fitted out with an amazing assortment of features, including automatic, enroute tire changer and flags of the world that sprang from the roof at the touch of a button. Inside were found a cocktail lounge, captains dining room, swimming pool and bowling alley. Here, in a clip uploaded to YouTube by clipfilmix we see the bus making its first appearance:





If you enjoy disaster movies, or parodies of them, then The Big Bus is a must see.

Obscurity factor: 4 (available on DVD, rarely shown on television, footage available on YouTube, recent enough to still be remembered by many)

Madeline Kahn in The Dove 1968

Do you stay up late to watch the TCM Underground films? Are you always looking for something new from the past? Then we'd probably get along just fine. This is the blog for you. Here you'll find all sorts of unexpected films, the ones that slipped through the cracks of history and are now laying forgotten, under the floorboards of fandom. Subscribe and discover the wonders of Ingrid Bergman in The Visit, Joan Crawford in Della and Rosalind Russell in Rosie. I'm sure many of you will know more about the films than I do, but I'll try and provide some new and unexpected information to keep you entertained.

To begin with let's talk about Madeline Kahn. Oh, how I wish she was still alive! She was one of those actresses that I wished I could have worked with in some capacity. Her light touch was tempered with an off beat sense of humor that was just a few steps down from Andy Kaufman's. She went to Hofstra University, on Long Island, graduating in 1964 with a degree in speech therapy. Her first major film role was Eunice in What's Up Doc, which is one of my favorite films, and hardly obscure to anyone who has a modicum of film knowledge. However, two years before that she was part of an obscure short film parodying the work of legendary Swedish film maker, Ingmar Bergman called De Düva or The Dove. Ms. Kahn plays a lesbian with designs on the young ingenue. The film was produced by George Coe, Sidney Davis and Anthony Lover. You may remember Coe from the film Kramer vs Kramer as the head of Dustin Hoffman's agency. I was so pleased to finally get a chance to see the film when Tbirdsof1965 uploaded it to YouTube earlier this year. Watch for Madeline Kahn calling a cigar a "phalika symbol" as if that's what the Swedish translation of the word was.





Obscurity factor: 8 (not available on DVD or VHS, never shown on television, full version available on YouTube)

Look for more posts soon on the best films you never saw!