(Originally published Sep 17, 2005) Went to QT6 (Quentin Tarantino's unique-to-Austin film fest) last night at the Alamo Downtown where Quentin shared prints from his personal collection. It was grind house triple feature night.
Quentin was there of course, who is a very chill very personable guy who seems right at home with a bunch of weird Austinites watching subpar (but still quite enjoyable) genre films. Every single film would be considered a Hollywood throwaway, but that didn't matter -- we were all there to share the favorite films of the uber-geek of the film world.
First up was Crack House, which I think was supposed to be an anti-drug flick but really was part blackploitation (what Quentin called "urban"), part revenge, and certainly all low-rent. it featured such choice lines as:
Lt. Johnson to Rick: Why did you join the gang? Was it the shirts?
Steadman [Jim Brown] to Crack house worker: Get the bitch a speedball.
Steadman to B.T.: Is this your bitch? (grabs her) Not any more.
I've been using the speedball line for years now, so it's no surprise to see it in such a high-class movie. e.g.
Co-worker: The boss is acting like such an asshat today. What the f% is up with him?
Me: Hell if I know. Someone ought to get the bitch a speedball.
Co-worker: Amen.
[in case you were wondering -- it's not too late to turn your crack house into a crack home]
After that we had The Dirty Outlaws (aka El Desperado), which is a spaghetti western / revenge flick about a lone gunman who at first is only interested in the gold but later avenges the death of a blind man out of sympathy.
Finally, there was A Fistful of Talons, a kung-fu piece starring an Indonesian, Billy Chong. Some excellent martial artistry here, but basically a Drunken Master clone (Billy Chong is one of the many Jackie Chan clones).
The best scene is the very last frame (frozen for the credits) where the main villian is attacked by an eagle, and just as he is "removing" the eagle from his head, Chong deals him a flying kick to the skull. Let's just say that if PETA got a hold of this one they might be a little upset.