Richard Benjamin in Quark (1977)

Obscurity factor: 8

In the year 2222, Adam Quark (Benjamin) is an officer of the United Galaxies. He commands a ship with a crew of 6 and travels the Universe protecting the Federation from Gorgons, bedding princesses, fighting evil and... collecting garbage. Though he and his crew are often charged with important duties, his charter is part of the Sanitation Patrol. His crew consists of Ficus (Richard Kelton), a Vegeton - sort of an ambulatory, plant in human form, Gene/Jean (Timothy Thomerson) - a transmute with a full set of male and female chromosomes (leading him to exhibit either hyper masculine or stereotypically feminine behavior), Betty and Betty (The Barnstable twins, better known as the Doublemint Twins), a beautiful blonde and her exact clone (both of them have the hots for Adam and neither will admit to being the clone) and Andy, the android, made from spare parts and chronically chicken. They are based out of Perma One, a space station run by Otto Palindrome (Conrad Janus) and overseen by The Head (Alan Caillou), a disembodied head with an enormous skull and very long eyebrows who only appears on communication screens.

Adam Quark with The Bettys (image courtesy of Wikipeadia)

Each week (for the 8 weeks the series was on) found the crew on another strange mission, most of which were vaguely familiar. The plots were parodies of iconic sci-fi films and television episodes including 2001, Star Wars, Star Trek and Flash Gordon. The cast does a nice job of making the characters likable, though many of the situations and much of the dialog is silly. The Barnstable twins are extremely good at looking gorgeous and speaking in unison, but not much else, Tim Thomerson is very sexy in a skin tight denim jump suit and Richard Benjamin holds it all together and manages to make the silly situations fun and enjoyable. Guest stars include Joan Van Ark and Barbara Rhodes.

The series was released on DVD a few years ago. Above is part one of May the Source Be With You uploaded to YouTube by quarkscow.

Obscurity factor: 8 (available on DVD, largely forgotten mid-season replacement series)

James Coburn & Raquel Welch in The Last of Sheila (1973)

Obscurity factor: 1

One night after a party at their home, Sheila Green, wife of film producer Clinton Green is killed in a hit and run accident. A year later, the guests from the party are invited for a week on Clinton's yacht. There's the script writer (Richard Benjamin) and his wife (Joan Hackett), the agent (Dyan Cannon), the starlet (Raquel Welch) and her manager (Ian McShane) and the director (James Mason). But a gathering organized by Clinton is never just a gathering - all the guests are to play a game. They're each given cards with a secret on them and must discover each others secret without letting their own be revealed. Each night there is a trip to shore with a clue given that leads to the answer to one of the secrets. What makes the guests uneasy is that each of the secrets relates to an incident in one of the guests lives. When the game leads to murder all bets are off!

This was on TCM last night. Its obscurity is dubious in that it's notorious for being written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim. The plot is full of extremely clever twists and turns and you must watch closely to keep up with them all, but the film is, in some ways, a bit too clever for its own good.

It's available on DVD and can be watched instantly on Amazon. The trailer for it is above, uploaded to YouTube by Nederama. The poster above is available from MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor: 1 (somewhat notorious, available on DVD)

Paula Prentiss & Richard Benjamin in He & She (1967)

Obscurity factor: 5

Paula (Prentiss) and Dick (Benjamin) are a young married couple living in a cozy apartment in New York. Paula is a social worker and Dick is a cartoonist. His comic book has been turned into a television series and his superhero is played by very vain, hammy actor, Oscar North (Jack Cassidy). They also have a crazy building super and a crazy firefighter neighbor (Kenneth Mars) who visits them by walking across a plank suspended between their two windows. As with all situation comedies, this troupe of characters came together to make a little magic each week. This situation comedy is said to be the forerunner of the style of comedy featured on iconic 70's sitcoms like Mary Tyler Moore, though it was a bit before its time. It was canceled after only one season. That's a shame, really, because it's a very cute show. Below is the first installment of the episode titled The Phantom of 84th Street.



He & She isn't on DVD, though several full episodes have been uploaded to YouTube. You can however find a DVD set on iOffer.com.

Obscurity factor: 5 (somewhat iconic and remembered by hard core TV fans, mostly unknown otherwise, available on YouTube)

Scavenger Hunt (1979)

Obscurity factor: 7

The runaway success of It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World led Hollywood to several copycat ventures. There was a Remington Steele episode, a movie with everyone looking for something under a big "K" somewhere (that's one of those lost films that I remember from my youth but can't find - all those lost films will become a post some day) and this film from 1979. Milton Parker (Vincent Price) has died and left a huge fortune. His will decrees that it will be given in its entirety to the winning team of a scavenger hunt he has set up. The teams include his greedy sister (Cloris Leachman), her son (Richard Masur) and her lawyer (Richard Benjamin), the old man's servants (Roddy McDowell, Clevon Little, James Coco and Stephanie Faracy), his nephews (Dirk Benedict and Willie Aames), his son in law Henry Motley (Tony Randall) and his kids and a cab driver (Richard Mulligan) who helped him out once, who is eventually joined by Scatman Crothers. As the teams head out to pillage San Diego for the items on the list they wreak all sorts of havoc on population and countryside, encountering a slew of familiar faces such as Ruth Gordon, Meatloaf, Arnold Schwarzenegger in cameo roles.

One of my favorite moments features Liz Torres (Julie, the photography studio owner on Phyllis) playing a psychic from which one of the teams needs a crystal ball. Before they can even knock, she opens the door and knows in minute detail what they want and why they want it. It's a brilliantly written little moment. Also look for Robert Morley as the lawyer and executor of the estate.

Though the film has yet to be released on DVD, it can be found on VHS. It's also uploaded to YouTube in its entirety, thanks to dalekenbuck. The poster above is available from MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor: 7 (available on VHS and YouTube, not on DVD, buried by the sands of time)

Walter Matthau & Glenda Jackson in House Calls 1978

Widow Dr. Charley Nichols (Matthau) has just reentered the dating scene. It's the swinging 70's and opportunity abounds. Imagine his surprise when he encounters Ann (Jackson), a charming, intelligent woman who likes him, but has no patience for his fast and loose new lifestyle. Ann is a handful, but then again, so is Charley.

 
This is a charming comedy of manners that is handled deftly by the seasoned cast. Also in the film is Art Carney, Richard Benjamin, Candy Azzara and Dick O'Neill. It wasn't a runaway hit, but it did spawn a television series that ran for three years (1979 - 1982) and starred Wayne Rogers and Lynn Redgrave.

 

There is no video of this film available online, but there is some of the resulting television series. Above is the opening credits for it uploaded by bretmaverick2004. The film is available on DVD, though is mostly only known to hard core fans of Matthau and Jackson. The poster above is available at MoviePosterShop.com

Obscurity factor: 7 (available on DVD, largely forgotten)