Movie: (1956) An American cowboy living in Mexico discovers his cattle are being eaten by something, and eventually he finds out what it is.
Opening: Painting day on the SOL
Invention exchange: Jonah has the Disco Cannon; Kinga asks “What if the Titanic had hot water?”
Segment 1: Tom and Crow describe their ideal monster movies
Segment 2: Tom unveils his new fashion line, “The style of Hollow Mountain”
Segment 3: Tom and Crow are festival creatures making Jonah and the Mads increasingly distraught
Closing: How movies would be improved if characters were eaten by dinosaurs
Stinger: Sarita speaks softly and throws a big stick
(42 votes, average: 3.98 out of 5)
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• This one was pretty good. I laughed a lot. The movie is one of those incredibly stupid but watchable bits of nonsense and the riffing and host segments are generally where they should be. The festival creatures sketch is a riot.
• Callbacks: “Watch out for snakes!” (Eegah!), “This is where the fish lives” (The Touch of Satan).
• Speaking of callbacks, what about “milling about”—a phrase used during season one to describe a Mexican town? Did Joel resurrect that one?
• Many many years ago, in the early days of the web, I stumbled upon a homemade site that celebrated (a little too much, it seemed to me) movie characters caught in quicksand. I forget if this one was included, but it should have been.
• Crow makes a reference to “special parts.”
• I love the running gag of Margaritathe maid dashing off to see her favorite TV show
• Crow sings a version of the theme song. Tom says “Meta!!”
• Cast and crew roundup: Co-director Edward Nassau supervised the dinosaur sequences in “The Lost Continent.” Producer Edward Nassour was animation supervisor on that movie as well. Willis O’Brien, who did design work, worked on “The Black Scorpion.” Writer Willis H. O’Brien was supervisor of special effects for “The Black Scorpion.” Margarito Luna was a crane operator for “The Black Scorpion.” Composer Raul Lavista was musical director on “Samson vs. the Vampire Women. Visual effects artist Jack Rabin was special photographic effects creator for “The Saga of the Viking Women,” “Rocketship X-M” and “Invasion USA.”
In front of the camera, Mario Navarro, Pascual Garcia Pena, Roberto Contreras were in “The Black Scorpion.” Guillermo Hernandez was in “The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy” and “Samson vs the Vampire Women.” Margarito Luna was in “Samson vs the Vampire Women.”
• Fave riff: “Has anyone seen my accent” Honorable mention: “I mind! Get this gringo off me!”
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This was a surprisingly entertaining, if dumb, movie. Decent riffing, in the good, but not great category.
Ah, the dinosaur western. An embarrassingly underused sub-genre. When done well (and it has been done well), it can be magical. But when it could have been done better, the end result is one hell of a funny MST3K episode. This is one of my top favorites of the season.
The movie is kind of like “Last of the Wild Horses” with a dinosaur… IN COLOR! It has a weird history that I’ll share/potentially bore you with below, and, honestly, it’s another movie that not “bad”, per se. But, as they say, it’s perfect for our experiments.
Some observations:
-As I mentioned above, this movie has a strange history. Many have noted its similarity to the far superior film The Valley of Gwangi, which features stunning stop motion by the master of the craft, Ray Harryhausen. That film is, in my opinion, one of the most fun dinosaur films ever made. However, the similarities aren’t coincidental: Gwangi and Beast were both based on the same story treatment, conceived in the 1930’s by special effects pioneer Willis O’Brian, the man who created the effects for 1933’s King Kong, and us MSTies know for his work on The Black Scorpion. In the 1950’s, O’Brian has fallen on hard times, and his story was ultimately sold and went through numerous changes, ultimately emerging as this film, a very different story than O’Brian had in mind. Aside from a story credit, he did not work on the film in any capacity. The following decade, Harryhausen, who was O’Brian’s protege and had worked with him on developing the original story treatment in the 1940’s, took it upon himself to bring O’Brian’s vision of a dinosaur western to the screen, and succeeded in creating a far superior picture than The Beast of Hollow Mountain was. Originally titled “The Valley Where Time Stood Still”, The Valley of Gwangi was released in 1969, several years after O’Brian’s passing. Another fun fact: Gwangi stars Finder of Lost Loves himself, Tony Franciosa… ahem, sorry… James Franciscus, who we know from Marooned, AKA The Space Travelers! Definitely give that one a watch if you haven’t seen it!
-The open is one of my favorites of the season. The premise surrounds what I call a “joke for a certain generation”, something that younger viewers probably won’t get. It’s humor that I appreciate (even though I’m only 24!), and I’m so glad it’s part of this season!
-Again with the superimposed smoke in Jonah’s invention exchange! WHY?! But it’s still funny. The Mad’s invention (another riff theft) is classic MST3K. Also, Kinga looks sharp as hell in that captain’s hat!
-Jonah’s line “I found the clog in the septic tank!” nearly killed me. A classic example of a joke giving a scene a whole new meaning. Eww.
-Callbacks: “Ding-Dong” (I’m choosing to believe this is a reference to Cave Dwellers. You are invited to think the same thing.); “Watch out for snakes!” twice! (Eegah); “This is where the fish lives!” (The Touch of Satan)
-Classic MST3K Bits: “Jim Dandy to the reeeescue”; several uses of the Mr. Ed voice; Jim Henson’s “Magnum P.I. Babies”!”; “Gymkata!”; How NOT to be seen!”; “Slowly I turn…”; “[fill in the blank] of the ooooooollllllldddd weeeest!”
-Star Wars References (yes, again. There are a lot this season!): “He interrupted his Lando Calrissian cosplay.”; “I feel a disturbance in the Force, as if a drunk voice screamed out and was suddenly silenced.”
-In Segment 1, we see Jonah again working on his space suit. The segment is one of my favorites of the season. As a monster movie fanatic, this conversation about human drama/characterization vs Monster action and screen time is one I’ve had to suffer through too many times to count. Tom and Crow really sum up the two extreme sides of the debate nicely. Tom’s film sounds like Charlie Kaufman trying to direct a Godzilla movie.
-Also, how much do you want to bet the bubble edit at the end of the segment was because someone (I’m thinking Jonah) cracked up at the line “in calling my own Movie Sign… please…”
-The riffing during the brawling scene is particularly strong and funny. The one glaring omission? No Star Trek fight music! We do get a “Gymkata!” though. Think of the restraint it must have taken the writers to not hurl Hi-Keeba after Hi-Keeba at this scene. Not that one wouldn’t have been welcome, of course…
-Again, if this was Season 3, Crow’s line about lining up to get the new “Aye aye iPhone” would have gotten an arm ripped off.
-At one point Tom gets ticked at Crow and lunges at him saying, “Oh, would you JUST…”. It’s a very Kevin-esque moment, and I’m sure that was intentional.
-The chinstrap jokes get funnier and funnier, and the payoff comes in Segment 2, which might be my favorite of the season. Every time I see it, I can’t stop laughing. From Tom’s voice and dialogue to Crow’s silent sashaying across the screen with his chinstrap stuck to his upper lip, and of course Gypsy’s hanging body, Jonah’s poorly fastened shirt, and the reaction shots from the Mads, everything clicks and not only feels like classic MST3K, but stands on its own as a brilliant piece of comedy. Tom’s line “Truly the height of… fasten?” nearly sent me to the E.R. with pizza stuck in my windpipe. A truly brilliant host segment.
-The day “hashtag” and “Facebook status” jokes become dated will be an interesting one for the new MST3K. One day it’ll be as foreign to viewers as the Urkel sketch in “San Francisco International” probably is to most millennials.
-Crow’s line “Yeah, we’re made out of those special parts!” surely put a smile on many a MSTie’s face. It sure put one on mine! And this is only the first of two references to the original theme song we get in this episode!
-Nice personal moment: as the cemetery scene is wrapping up, I practically bellowed “The BEAST of HOLLOW MOUNTAIN!!!!” at the screen, in the great tradition of The Projected Man, The Pumaman, and The Horrors of Spider Island. Seconds later, Tom does his little speech to end the scene, and dramatically mentions the lack of monster halfway through the movie. I smiled. :)
-By the way, the first actual sign of any monster in this movie comes a whopping 50 minutes into the episode, when Poncho is eaten (even though we only hear the Beast and see his shadow). The Beast is finally spotted, first in Earl Sinclair style and then in full stop motion glory, for the first time at the 1:03.26 mark in the episode, with a mere 23 minutes left in the episode (which also, of course, includes the final segment and the credits). Sheesh!
-Does the bass beat that begin’s the Skeleton Crew’s version of “Wild Rebels” remind anyone else of the main theme to Village of the Giants?
-Ah, Segment 3. Dare I say another classic? The gradual escalation of panic is painfully funny. When the crew return to the theater, Tom says “That wasn’t us!” Hmmmmmmmm…
-The end segment has a funny running gag of characters rushing offscreen to go watch TV. They mention Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, House of Cards, and Orange is the New Black.
-I COMPLETELY echo the guy’s sentiments about Yakkity Sax making life better. Yet another moment where the MST3K crew are, inexplicably, inside my head.
“But the cowboy didn’t like him so he shot him in the face!” is another wonderful moment. I wonder if it came from a fan?
-As usual with MST3K monster movies, the riffing becomes sublime when the monster is onscreen. But how, with that ridiculous flailing tongue, did they not include at least one Giant Gila Monster “BLABLABLABLABLAAAH”?
-The end segment is yet another winner. It’s a premise I’ve often pondered myself, and a twist on a host segment idea I’ve always thought would would be perfect for the show. And whoa, huge slam on 8 year olds outta nowhere!
-End Credits Music: Fashion Show Music; Wild Rebels; United Servo Academy Men’s Chorus Hymn
-Favorite Riff: “C’mon, Future Glue!”
-Honorable Mentions: “When in Mexico, see the invisible birds!”
“Is Poncho really worth four wet socks?”
Every country has a monster, indeed! While not as consistently funny as the previous episode, this one is a lot of fun (and easy to watch because Jimmy and Felipe are both pretty cute!) The host segments are, overall, funnier than most previous episodes’ have been. The costumed festival/dance that confused Jonah and the Mads was hilarious (“That wasn’t us…”), and the fashion show cracked me up. Was there a reason for the beanbag chairs and the bead curtain during the first segment? That one was funny too, but it really highlights how stiff and lifeless Tom seems– I miss his nonfunctional but wiggly arms.
It still seems like the closings in Moon 13 are a little weak; just a mild joke or two and then awkward silence while the movie is put away. Seems like kind of a waste of screen time, but that’s a minor complaint.
The movie itself kind of drags until the second half, but the jokes are still good; it seems like Jonah and the bots have settled into a more relaxed riffing pace by this episode. I love how fluid the movie’s pronunciation of Enrique’s name is. Also, at one point, Jimmy tells his partner to go “make some more formula” for the calf he’s feeding. Was baby formula, for cows, really a thing in the old west?
This episode has my name in the credits!
Favorite riffs:
“Speaking of disappearing–” “Has anyone seen my accent?” (I swear it sounds like Mike making that riff)
Yeah, if you punch and shoot at the same time, it adds speed to the bullets.
Is he expecting to hydroplane over the water?
Thanks for coming by and watching Jimmy single-handedly fight a dinosaur; you’ve been the best.
I gotta say, this beast has shown a lot of patience…
Die with dignity, Beast!
Was everyone in this movie a stereotype? How about the allosaurus?
About the same time I was watching 1105 the comic strip Cul de Sac had its little redhead girl Alice achieve her long sought goal of getting a prize out of one of those claw machines at the store. It was a plastic dinosaur and her brother told her it was an allosaurus. She thought he said Alice-saurus and was delighted to have it terrorize all of her other toys.
That was a more textured and believable plot than Beast of Hollow Mountain. Maybe if they had put a bullet bra on the dinosaur, too, it could have floated out of the quicksand? That would have been cool.
I had better hopes for this one after “Avalanche” which I think was the best of the season.
The movie, after all, is right in their wheelhouse. But perhaps because we don’t get an actual beast for so long (doesn’t he show up with about 10 minutes to spare?) what we really have is just a western, and while they did a few in classic MST3K, they had Frank’s expert hand and his love for the genre. Here they don’t seem nearly as confident, and it shows.
That said, there are some good parts — the fight in the marketplace scene is pretty funny, as is the scene (for no good reason) in the graveyard. I don’t think the quality drops as far as it did in the first episodes, but this isn’t one of the season’s best.
7 out of 10.
I liked the repeated “Beast of Burden/Hollow Mountain” riffs.
Here’s a bunch of info I rounded of for Beast of Hollow Mountain. I don’t agree with Crow that the use of “beast” made me think the monster would at least be more Cryptozoological.
Co-Director Edward Nassour, born April 7, 1911, died Dec. 15, 1962
Co-Director Ismael Rodriguez, born Oct. 19 1917, died Aug. 7, 2004
Actor Guy Madison (Jimmy Ryan), born Jan. 19, 1922, died Feb. 6, 1996
Patricia Medina (Sarita), born July 18, 1919, died April 28, 2012
Carlos Rivas (Felipe Sanchez), born Feb. 16, 1925, died June 16, 2003
Eduardo Noriega (Enrique Rios), born Sept. 25, 1916, died Aug. 14, 2007
Julio Villarreal (Don Pedro), born Nov. 7, 1885, died Aug. 4, 1958
Pascual Garcia Pena (Pancho), born Sept. 17, 1910, he died in 1977 but I can’t find the date
Lupe Carriles (Margarita), born Dec. 25, 1913, died Feb. 6, 1964
Writer and art director Jack DeWitt, born May 19, 1900, died April 22, 1981
Writer Willis H. O’Brien, born March 2, 1886, died Nov. 8, 1962
Actor Manuel Arvide (Martinez), born Jan. 8, 1897, died Jan. 22, 1969
Actor Jose Chavez (Manuel), born June 12, 1916, died July 13, 1988
Actor Roberto Contreras (Carlos), born Dec. 12, 1928, died July 18, 2000
Director of Photography Jorge Stahl Jr. died Nov. 4, 2003
Film editor Holbrook N Todd, born Feb. 10, 1906, died Aug. 7, 1972
Film editor Fernando Martinez, born Oct. 28, 1921, died Nov. 9, 2010
Production manager Henry Spitz, born March 4, 1905, died June 26, 1989
Assistant director Gene Anderson Jr., born May 28, 1922, died May 5, 1979
Photographic effects artist Louise DeWitt, born July 25, 1905, died Aug. 18, 1992
Visual effects artist Jack Rabin, born March 18, 1914, died May 25, 1987
Stunt Double Bill Catching, born June 16, 1926, died Aug. 24, 2007
Script supervisor Bobbie Sierks, born Aug. 22, 1910, died March 4, 1978
Co-Director Edward Nassau supervised the dinosaur sequences in The Lost Continent
Producer Edward Nassour was animation supervisor on Lost Continent
Willis O’Brien did design work, he also worked on The Black Scorpion
Actor Mario Navarro was also in The Black Scorpion
Actor Pascual Garcia Pena was also in The Black Scorpion
Writer Willis H. O’Brien was supervisor of special effects for The Black Scorpion
Actor Roberto Contreras was also in The Black Scorpion
Actor Guillermo Hernandez was also in The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy and Samson vs the Vampire Women
Actor Margarito Luna was also in Santo vs the Vampire Women and was the Crane Operator for The Black Scorpion
Composer Raul Lavista was musical director on Samson vs. the Vampire Women
Visual effects artist Jack Rabin was special photographic effects creator for The Saga of the Viking Women, Rocketship X-M and Invasion USA
Other dates
Oct. 20, 1960, 1960: Actress Patricia Madina married Citizen Kane actor Joseph Cotten
April 1, 1957, film released in West Germany
April 18, 1957, film released in Mexico
April 23, 1957, film released in Sweden
May 3, 1957, film released in Finland
Not exactly one of my favorites of the season; the first 2/3rds-ish of the movie proper just DRAG, and the jokes don’t land quite as hard as they did in the last episode (or the next one, not to get too far ahead of myself), and the first two sketches are fun but not really memorable. That said, when the Beast finally appears, the riffing really picks up, which helps save the episode. I really love the meta riff referenced in the post, and I think the 3rd sketch is a “whole run of the show” classic, the kind where they set up a simple premise and execute it to perfection (Patton’s reactions are wonderful).
Favorite riff (that doesn’t directly reference the show): “Coldplay *punch* isn’t *punch* that *punch* bad! *punch*”
I agree that this one kind of resembles “Last of the Wild Horses”, right up until the Beast arrives. And it works really well for the show. It’s fairly entertaining, but has a whole lot of riffable moments.
I thought the host segments were good, especially Max’s lines during the festival whatevertheywere segment. I could easily hear Frank saying those lines. And as for the proposed dino movie from the closing, it might not be the coolest movie ever, but I’d certainly go to see it. Show it at a drive-in and it’d be perfect.
Host segment 3 worked for me. I liked the sharply escalating distress from Jonah and the Mads, while the bots dance around (and around and around and around).
A pretty good episode for me. I like that there’s one Western in Season 11 but am also glad they’re weren’t more, as it seemed/seems like a difficult genre for the best riffing. Best host segment was the fashion show. Jonah certainly can pose and sashay. Favorite riff was the running (literally) gag of characters rushing off to watch Game of Thrones, etc.
And I’m calling it right now — Panchito was the cutest and best child actor all season, even if he suffered from the all-too-common CDWHT syndrome (Can’t Do What He’s Told).
p.s. Site question, why no stars for rating this episode?
Mario Navarro was born in 1949 and also appeared in The Magnificent Seven.
I’d like to give a shout out to Cornjob for another great comment. Keep circulating the opinions.
This was a strong all around episode. It did have some rough patches as far as riffing went because stretches of the film were so damn boring and inert that you could tell they were struggling to find something to work with, but once the dinosaur finally shows up, it just goes berzerk and the riffing is top notch. And the host segments are all strong, especially Segment 3…I lost it completely at Patton’s “WHO DO WE HAVE TO KILL TO SLATE THY ANGER!!!” shriek.
Some random reflections:
– I was aware of this movie’s backstory with Willis O’Brien and whatnot and I’m very glad Ray Harryhausen got the chance to do his mentor’s idea right with “Valley of Gwangi,” because this version is ****. Not only is the dinosaur poorly done (that tongue!), but there is absolutely no explanation given for why an allosaur suddenly appears out of nowhere. In “Valley of Gwangi,” it was a whole lost world (dubbed “The Forbidden Valley”) full of dinosaurs. Here, it’s just some random allosaur that pops up with no explanation.
– I believe Gypsy is correct; this is the only known case in cinema history of a man actually being strangled by a dinosaur. (Good example of how cheap the film is; the dinosaur eats one guy off screen, strangles one other guy and only eats onscreen an equally poorly animated cow.)
– I must say, for an obviously low budget effort, the film looks gorgeous. Really great use of Technicolor and it looks like they shot on location in Mexico, because the setting looks terrific too. Pity it’s not in the service of a better movie.
– Besides sharing O’Brien, this cast has like half its actors from “The Black Scorpion,” including the little kid, who didn’t listen to anyone any better in that movie than here.
– Drunk Dad became my favorite character very quickly. (“Throw me out of the cantina? Greedo shot first, you all saw it!”)
– I admit the little kid was better than some we’ve seen this season (I want Paul from “Cry Wilderness” terminated with extreme prejudice), but I still found him annoying. Maybe it was the voice.
Favorite riffs:
“I milked the cow.”
“And I fed the chickens.”
“Okay, well, that’s a bull and those are pigeons.”
“You’re not wearing your dress?”
“Jimmy will decide that.”
“JIMMY’S going to wear it?!”
“That’s my purse! I don’t know you!” (“King of the Hill” joke! I get that reference!)
“Now that is a hit and run.”
“Excuse me, we need to exchange information. Hello? Hello!”
“All around the mulberry bush, the dinosaur chased the people.”
“Hey, movie, sorry I’m late. Traffic was a nightmare.”
“We’ll play with Julio down by the schoolyard.”
“Wait! I have lots more details about how your father perished!”
Westerns are really not my cup of tea, and found Gunslinger and Wild Horses an absolute chore to get into. Although I did like the Rifftrax of Buffalo Rider. This one took me past the first host segment, but once the fight scene started just afterwards, it hit its stride for me. Are the striped pants historically accurate?
I love the mads ripping off invention exchange ideas from a riff in the previous episode. Subtly evil, and a nice reward for watching the episodes in order.
Fave riffs: “What if they decide they like this so much they don’t need Sarita?”, “Yeah. If you punch and shoot at the same time it adds speed to the bullets.”, “Get off my property you crummy kid. I’ll tell your dad…oh right.”, “So, I guess you’re not marrying Enrique any more, huh?”
A very solid episode for me. I also agree that one Western is about right, and this one is particularly dumb and goofy (and also charming, in its way). I really, really love the third host segment. It feels classic but it also beautifully captures the vibe of the new show (for me). (I will confess that while I really like the second host segment, it feels just a little too retro for me. I squirm a little at those times — but that’s not to say it isn’t an excellent host segment in its own right.)
This was a weaker episode of the season for me, but I was really struck by one particular thing about the source material…
If you completely remove the stupid monster, this would have actually been a decent Western-drama. Seriously. There was no tension built up at all. It was just BOOM! there’s the monster, kill it!
In all honesty, I really watched this EP to fill the void before “Starcrash”. :)
I mentioned above that one of the biggest strikes against the film is that there’s basically no explanation for the dinosaur at all. Why is this one random allosaur still alive and hanging out in the Mexico wilderness? No explanation given and very little build up at all. Just a few stories about “the cursed mountain,” then Drunk Dad is eaten offscreen, then nothing else for a while and then BOOM, the dinosaur shows up out of nowhere. Uh, no, you have a dinosaur roaming around in modern times, you have to give at least some kind of lip service explanation as to where it came from. Did they not read the 50s monster movie rules?
I found the year, but without a date I didn’t want to include it, since it does no good for the This Date in MSTory listings.
So, funny thing about this episode. When I was watching it for the first time a few weeks ago, my little sister, who has never cared much for MST3K in the past, walked in right at the scene where Panchito flees from Margarita. Panchito hops on the horse and rides away, and Crow says “wow, Panchito’s a total baller!” That one line made my little sis positively explode with laughter for at least a solid minute. She sat down and watched the whole rest of the episode with me, saying she didn’t know MST3K was this funny, losing it over many more lines and especially at “The dinosaur has the sassiest walk!”, and asking if we could watch more.
Kids today with their slang (and hula hoops and fax machines), I don’t even know what “baller” means, but if Crow saying it every once in a while is what it takes to convince my sister to start watching Mystery Science Theater with me, I’m fine with it!
I’ll echo others in saying that, good lord, Host Segment 3 is funny. Kinga’s wailing of “MAKE IT STOOOOOOP” is my favorite part. The fashion show segment is wonderful too. I think this episode has the strongest collection of host segments of any episode I’ve seen this season (which is up until Yongary).
And speaking of Yongary, where it again pops up, I really love Servo’s “monster” voice that he uses to personify these rampaging dinosaurs. It’s hilarious.
Favorite lines:
“Oh, he’s fine. Call off the intervention!”
“Jeff Goldblum said we can keep the ranch!”
Jonah: “I’m turning this off!”
Servo: “You can’t. We’ve tried.”
Crow: “Yeah, we’re made out of those special parts.”
“There should be a drinking game for whenever you see a horse’s butt.” “We could call it Pancho, and then your kids could play Panchito, where they beg you to stop.”
“My tongue is stuck to my ice cold hand.”
“All right, Enrique Rios, it’s just you and me and OH MY GOD!”
Would it be totally crazy, then, to suggest that they actually started writing a Western-romance and decided mid-stream to include some dino-action elements? Is that too nuts? Heck, just look at “Doomsday Machine”. They finished that one five years after original filming was cut off. So, nope, not nuts at all!
No, that sounds quite plausible. I think most likely is that some producer got his hands on O’Brien’s cowboy/dinosaur idea, combined it with some dull unproduced Western romance script he had already and filmed it as such.
The “dino out of nowhere” thing might have been more effective had it been a surprise. You know, like they completely hid the fact that a dinosaur shows up in the third act so for 2/3rds of the movie, viewers are going with the cowboy romance and then BAM! It suddenly turns into a monster movie! What a twist! Yeah, it’d be stupid and nonsensical like a bad M. Night movie, but it’d be entertaining.
But no. Here, not only is the movie literally called “The Beast of Hollow Mountain,” but the movie poster had a big closeup glamour shot of the dinosaur’s kisser. So instead you’ve got two thirds of a movie about a dull cowboy romance and an increasingly impatient audience wondering when the hell the whole reason they paid to see the movie shows up.
“He looks like Spider-Man, if Spider-Man worked for U.P.S.”
“He’s a Gene-Simmons-a-saurus!”
“I wonder at which dojo she trained to use the bo staff.”
“Not a good one”.
“And the town celebrates getting rid of the one American!”
(all, deadpan: Yay”). Love that callback to one of my favorite shorts, “Junior Rodeo Daredevils”.
I really like this episode. Very solid host segments and movie riffing. Good placement on the “draft” list when deciding on which episode to watch for that day’s “fix”.
VikingWoman, I enjoyed your story about your little sister got drawn into the show based on a riff that fell into her “target-zone” of reference, and was funny to her. This is an example of how I like that the show contains references and observations that honor and respect the frames of reference based on generation, and intentionally or not they cover things that I recognize from “living” the 60s, 70s etc., but they also caught the attention of your sister with slang she is familiar with.
I love this show!
Normally I find the post-M&tB “C’mon, movie, hurry up and do the cool stuff from the title!” humor just plain slob-offensive (ever listen to the real thing from a bunch of beered-up fratboys at a Friday night cineplex?) and worry how much of it might be generationally creeping into the S11 writers after the Avalanche riffs.
But in Jn&tB’s case, they’re absolutely right: NOTHING HAPPENS for 3/4 of the movie! Even those who were going to be responsible non-bingers and watch a little at a time probably watched the whole stretch waiting for an actual plot point to show up.
When we get the joke about the one villager attacked by a silhouette–“Normally this would happen before the title!”–actually, they’re right, it would.
I wasn’t aware, and had to look up IMDb to see which came first, the Beast or the Gwangi–And while I was reminded of other movies that don’t seem to set up their big marketable climax at all and just paste it into the third act (anyone ever sit through Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman?), it feels like a script that might have started out as some other B-genre and quickly had the sci-fi horror added for the kids by the producers in the last-minute marketing.
Accdg. to IMDb, a native Spanish-actor version was shot alongside, so the producers may have been more interested in the local-color Mexican-audience market than the US one.
And yes, Patton’s reaction to Creepy Traditional Native Parades is pure Frank, and studied like a virtuoso.
Although once the guys discover what crushes the Mads’ wills (like Castle of Fu Manchu worked on Dr. F and Frank), always wondered why they never followed up on it. :)
I’m trying to cut this season some slack, I really am. I understand that the first season of a TV show always has its growing pains, and with roughly 17 years between seasons and a largely all-new staff and crew, this is effectively a first season for the new MST3K. I’m being forgiving as they re-figure-out how to pace their riffs and as the actors work to feel comfortable in their characters.
But this episode was the first time I’ve ever gotten *angry* at a TV show that I like. It was the result of Tom repeatedly bursting into song, lazily replacing words in the lyrics with “beast” or “hollow.” The altered lyrics were never clever and if anything, detracted from the reference being made. It was as if somebody thought Digger Smolken was someone to be emulated. (I thought the “Digger Smolken Medley” sketch was funny — they knew those lyrics were awful. Here, they’re presenting the songs as legitimate riffs.)
By what felt like the fifth or sixth time he did it, I snapped out loud at my screen, “Knock it off!” with genuine annoyance in my voice. Fortunately, it was at the same time in the episode that that type of riff stopped happening. But I did not like feeling that way toward one of my favorite TV shows.
Between that and Sampo catching the plagiarism of an entire paragraph from IMDb in the previous episode, I’m starting to be disappointed in this revival. There’s a difference between going through growing pains and doing things that you should know better than to do from the outset. I really hope they turn things around over the course of the next few episodes — my concern right now is that while I don’t know what their shooting schedule was, I get the impression that they were hurrying to knock all fourteen of these episodes out. (Which would explain the incredibly distracting bubble edits — why wouldn’t they take the time to get one good take?) If my suspicions are right, then I don’t think they’d have the time to learn what worked and what didn’t work before completing the season. (I’m watching these one per week, so I don’t know how things will progress.)
And while I’m venting: I thought that the third segment was very funny and an example of the kind of sketch that MST3K has always excelled at… right until they didn’t bother writing an ending for it. The lack of ending was underscored further by Jonah dismissively announcing movie sign. Throwing in a couple of ADR lines in the theater to try to end the sketch after the fact doesn’t cut it. You want “That wasn’t us” to be the punchline? Then during the last shot on the bridge, have a naked Crow and Tom walk into the frame (while the costumed characters are still milling around) and ask Jonah what he’s yelling about. Just as Jonah begins to react “Wait, but if you’re–“, movie sign goes off. Ending and punchline achieved.
The Beast of Hollow Mountain passes the Bechdel Test in the squeakiest of squeakers. Sarita asks Margarita to take her flowers, who hears and obeys.
A “comical” sidekick character named Pancho and no Cisco Kid jokes? Guess that one has fallen a bit too far into obscurity.
Crow’s sitting position in HS1 for me brings to mind Kermit sitting on the wall. Also love how Jonah is so depressed by Tom’s pitch that he’s begging for Movie Sign.
Why is Sarita so dead set against Pancho working for Jimmy and Felipe? I would think that engaging in some honest work would be far better for him than hanging around the cantina getting hammered off his massive hinder.
So during HS2, is Tom imitating a specific personality, or is he just doing a generic snooty fashion show MC?
Those bizarre costumes we see during the pre-wedding festivities bring to mind something I saw in the travel documentary Full Circle with Michael Palin. While travelling up the South American coast, a town they stopped in was celebrating Corpus Christi. Some of the participants in the procession wore similar costumes, which were meant as caricatures of the conquistadors.
The “stampede” is clearly footage of cows going at an amble sped up, which makes it look like they’re speed walking.
@ Sampo: For the HS3 summary, perhaps you probably should have added, “Or is it them?”
It’s not really a callback per se. That particular riff alludes to the Tom Slick cartoons featured on George of the Jungle.
I’m not sure I get your problem. Host segments in the original show frequently didn’t have proper endings. The whole point of Commercial/Movie Sign was so they wouldn’t have to come up with proper endings.
This film is a one-horse film. Except for that other horse. And that one.
Like the Avalanche before it, the Beast in this film takes a long, long time to show up. Way too long. I don’t really care about the love triangle or the sole, heroic white guy that the town just can’t live without. But when Dino shows up – BAM – now that’s a movie!
The crazy ceremony-dance thing was completely bonkers and hilarious and the kind of thing I love MST3K for. That’s what I like so much about the formula of the show – it sets up jokes that you would never be able to make in any other context.
“Sack of monkeys in my pocket, my sister’s ready to go.”
It’s why the Sci-Fi-era sketches were often tedious because of the story arc being shoehorned in. The show’s best host moments are all the great one-off segments about something we’ve just seen in the film, like the restaurant scene from I Accuse My Parents or a random song about Sodium (because the kids’ lack of sodium knowledge is shocking!). When you know there’s going to be some joke that’s very specific to the film, that makes watching it more worthwhile.
Which is why, although I love everybody involved with the show, and I had a great time watching and re-watching the show, I’m not incredibly interested in the stab at the story arc from this season. To be sure, I don’t mind it, and it gives us an opportunity to see (SPOILER) Mary Jo sing*, but I do wish they had more of these crazy one-off host segments in this season. Every Country Has a Monster was such a promising teaser of possibilities. The Dark One’s Renaissance Bar and Grille franchise presentation was funny, and of course there are some more of them, but I feel like they missed some golden opportunities in some of these episodes to talk more about the movies in the host segments and less about either themselves or just random stuff.
I will say that, in my entire life, I have never been part of a crowd watching a fight. It looks like being in such a crowd can be pretty fun, but also pretty dangerous.
*Almost
WeatherServo9 –
I will say that, in my entire life, I have never been part of a crowd watching a fight. It looks like being in such a crowd can be pretty fun, but also pretty dangerous.
As an aside, I was on a bus many years ago where two teenage black girls began a ferocious fight, clawing and kicking in the confined space. By the time they were subdued there were bits and pieces of hair weave scattered around the bus and one rider commented that it looked like we had been invaded by tarantulas.
Back to 1105. I liked Panchito. Even though he had (what did someone call it?) Can’t Do What He’s Told disease, he manages to take his fraternal lemon and make some lemonade in his life. He was a real Junior Rodeo Daredevil.
Rats! Missed the editing timeout by THAT MUCH. Please change “fraternal” to “paternal” in the above entry. Can’t even blame that one on Spellcheck, darn it!
“But, the cowboy didn’t like him so he shot him in the faaace!”
I wonder if that was a reference to the mondegreen “But his bosses didn’t like him so THEY SHOT HIM IN HIS FACE” that some people hear.
Yeah, like Avalanche, the riffing doesn’t pick up until the disaster shows up. And, like Crow I too was disappointed that the beast was just a dinosaur.
I like how throughout the movie they make jokes about the characters using things like Uber, Linked In, septic tanks, but then a joke comes up about bubble gum, and they have to clarify that bubble gum wasn’t invented yet. Weird.
You know, Kinga’s invention is actually kinda useful…..
I loved the part where the boy kicks the rock away, and Jonah reacts as through the rock got kicked in his direction.
Fun episode. It’s good to know you can always depend on a Caucasian cowboy in 19th century Mexico to be the most honest and decent man in the county.
It’s a surprisingly well made movie, given it’s an awkward mashing together of two completely disparate genres.
This episode is a winner to me for “Meanwhile, on the set of Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” riff.
I’ll second that theory–There’s WAY too much interest in the drama of Gringo Cowboy Menaced by Rich Rustler to be even remotely interested that there might be, y’know, a dinosaur or something trivial like that loose in the vicinity.
Last minute studio repatchings of a lying-around B-script to some other suddenly marketable premise happened often in the days of 50’s B-movies. (And, as a few recent examples spring to mind, still happen…I mean, producers didn’t really set out for the Jem & the Holograms movie to end up like it did, did they?)
By a roundabout way, the Digger Smolken comparison is actually a pretty good illustration for my impatience with it too:
I’d hoped to save most of this till we had to go over 806 on the Thursday threads, but for the scene where Jn&tB ask “Is Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II trying to be funny?”, well, yes, actually–Charles B. Griffith, who wrote both Wizards II and Undead, was the most tongue-in-cheek scriptwriter for AI and New World, and Digger inserting his lyrics “because I am mad” was supposed to be his comedy-relief shtick.
Here, when JH&B do their Mad-Lib inserting of the title into a song riff, it’s not because they are mad or trying to be funny, it’s because they’re didn’t really HAVE anything else about the scene for an encore to stretch out the riff of the song showing up–Aside from just repeating the movie title over and over as if that itself was a poke at the movie (a bad SciFi/RiffTrax habit), and maybe some veiled jokes that The Title Stuff Hasn’t Happened Yet.
It’s just annoying, is all, even in an otherwise good-riffing episode.
Joel Hodgson is still credited as co-director, by which one may assume he’s doing the on-set host segs, while the movie riffs are filmed later and separately?
And between this and the Raccoon segment from 1102–and the end of the Christmas episode, for those who’ve gotten that far–there’s still the old-school CC vibe of the “Trumpy, you can do magic!” and “Are you happy in your work?” segs where they start just sarcastically aping a crazy movie scene in detail, and then KEEP GOING to the point that it spins completely out of control and going Wrong.
I don’t see why you think the end timing is “off”, the Punchline Achieved moment is cut off at just the right point, like when the cable segments used to cut off suddenly by going to commercial.
Now this is pretty much everything I had hoped for in the relaunch. A really comfortable episode. And the fact that someone snuck in “Hugh Janus” is the end credits is just the icing on the cake.
There was a pun that more or less sealed my approval of the revived series, clay…..achin’….when I heard that it felt like old times. It was a long wait to see the beast, longer than I would’ve expected. The series gradually improves and I’ll have more to say about Starcrash, including a missed riff opportunity.
I found the movie kind of charming, though I think they dug up the script and just added the Dino to the whole stampede thing. The major portion of the film reminded me of those obscure things as a kid in the 70’s or 80’s teachers were allowed to show on projectors the last day of school before they splurged on those top-loading VCR’s.
The 3rd segment reminds me so much of a Sci-FI era episode with the “torment Mike vibe”. I enjoyed that dynamic so much more than Joel’s “Jim Henson’s Robot Babies” and I hope they stick with the angle.
Not that I’m trolling a Joel Vs. Mike (god no). I just like the lighthearted hazing type behavior they would give Mike. It was just my cup of Earl Grey, Hot.
Can’t forget the start of Manos.
Joel: “Manos..”
Servo: “The…Hands of Fate.”
Rinse and repeat.
We can forgive that as those opening scenes were akin to watching an empty fish talk so they really drove it home that the title had the word Hands in it twice.
If you’re not satisfied exploiting one genre, just exploit a bunch! I half-expected Jimmy to take a spaceship to the moon, retrieve a nuke from the aliens there only after receiving a harsh reminder about raising Ponchito right, and the use stock footage of an A-bomb test to dispatch the creature which, in turn, would create a race of disfigured, subterranean Communists that drink blood.
And so, I’m going to relieve my self of all of this shameless ripping off by watching “Starcrash”. That should be good, right?
Some comments on the segments:
-Another Minnesota joke in the opening, as Crow’s picture of a turtle and a pirate is a nod to “evaluation” pictures that people are asked to draw to the Minneapolis-based Art Instruction, Inc.
-Something tells me that Segment 1 was inspired by the frustration that the writers were likely having in terms of the film taking forever just to get to the promised monster.
-Segment 3 (as well as the final segment in the next episode) definitely has vibes of the legendary “Trumpy’s Magic Things” segment from Pod People (as in the Mads being weirded out by what they are watching).
Kinda biding my time until Starcrash, but this isn’t a bad episode. I’ve never been into westerns, so this is kind of a slog, but the riffing is very good. Just want to echo the comments of how the monster takes way too long to show up. The highlight of this episode, to me, is the host segments. All of them are top-notch. Segment 3 seems to be the consensus favorite, but I also really like Segment 2, with Servo’s euro-accent and the Mads as sunglasses-wearing fashion critics.
Fav riffs:
“All around the mulberry bush, the dinosaur chased the people”
“Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!” -It’s stupid and immature, but I laugh every time
Jimmy: “Unbuckle your gunbelt.”
Servo: “And then the pants. Real slow.”
Although, y’know, that’s (quote-fingers) “Manos”, just sayin’…
(Ie., the puzzling use of quotation marks on a movie title.)
I’m pretty sure the stampede WAS the thrilling climax of the earlier Gringo Rancher script–Only here, they’re to distract away from the Allosaurus, and just make it more difficult to fight him.
Yeah, sort of sad when A Thousand Stampeding Head of Cattle in the story are just meant to be a mild annoyance by the villain…
(Counted about five or six great missed Starcrash riffs, one glaringly no-brainer, but that’s for another Saturday morning.)
I watched this episode for the 2nd time last night. Great looking print- nice opening riffing on the Credits. Overall, this is a good not great (so far)- but, like every episode of the original series, I will likely watch this one over a dozen times. I liked the old drunk guy a lot- maybe they should have had him visit the SOL. Anyway, like the other 13 in the new series- I AM THRILLED to have them.
I’m glad we have them as well, and glad I spent the money on the KS, but as the season goes on I’m beginning to think more and more this is “MST3K-lite”. It’s not bad at all, but nowhere up to the greatness of the original. And perhaps that’s as it should be.
I agree that they escalate the humans’ suffering for the perfect amount of time before calling things off. My problem is that the skit has no ending. Like sketch comedy, each of these host segments is a skit. A skit should, in essence, be a little story, and every story should have a beginning, middle, and end. But this skit goes…
Beginning: Jonah and the Mads discover two creepy figures wandering around the SoL for no apparent reason
Middle: The off-putting figures’ presence makes everybody increasingly distraught
End: The off-putting figures’ presence makes everybody increasingly distraught
That isn’t an ending. Everything leading up to where the ending should be was great. The funny part of the skit was the middle, and that’s fine. I’m not asking for a great ending, or even a good ending. I just want there to be an ending — something to indicate that the skit is now complete. Movie sign, in and of itself, is not an ending.
Using your examples: “Are You Happy in Your Work?” had an ending — food was spilled into Cambot, thereby ruining the performance. Because of that, Gypsy wants to start over, much to everybody else’s distress. In fact, that skit is a good example of how movie sign accentuates a skit’s conclusion.
The Trumpy segment, I admit, also doesn’t have an ending, just like this segment. That was also more than 25 years ago, and expectations for comedy evolve. What makes for a good sketch in 1991 on a relatively “underground” TV show is different than what makes for a good sketch in 2017 on a show with more mainstream distribution.
Having a solid premise with no ending is a problem that all sketch comedy faces. It isn’t a problem exclusive to MST3K — the final sketch of last night’s Saturday Night Live, for example, also didn’t have an ending. Probably because they simply ran out of time in the live show, but still, it felt jarring when the audience suddenly started applauding and the show went to commercial. That same jarring feeling occurred here. It isn’t that they didn’t stick the landing — it’s that they didn’t even attempt the landing.
I liked this one, though I have to say I went into it expecting more “Black Scorpion” riffs since the two movies shared so many actors and behind the scenes peeps. Maybe something about Carlos Rivas (Felipe)always getting messed up with monsters… and gringos.
if you’ve not seen this tweet, it’s worth your time to check out:)
“I put this clip of Jonah to music and I’m so glad I did.”
https://twitter.com/ItsKayti/status/854705269846290432
jonah’s sassy!
like others have said, westerns just aren’t my thing, and the ones in the past eps are easily the most “skippable” for me when i’m making a choice about it. this time however, the new crew shows how great they can shine… it’s really, really good riffin’, so now i can finally say i have a “favorite western” ep! never had one before…
ending or no ending (thanks, “skit police”), i love the banal madness of s3. maybe it’s satirizing the overly fragile, paranoid, panicky psyche of modern americans? then “it’s point” is the reactions themselves, and there is no “proper” ending. (these might have been written/filmed too early last year to make a solid, but someone could have screamed “WE HAVE TO BUILD A WALLLL!!!” during it… ;0)
well just for being a western, just one, or maybe just a half-a-star off, but easily a top ep this short new season in my book! the crew more than made up for my expectations of it.
“love it!”
https://twitter.com/paulandstorm/status/856184354841780225
Not that I expected to be getting academic about this, but most of the old-school Hodgson-era sketches didn’t HAVE endings–They’d be interrupted by Movie sign or Commercial sign, or Joel hitting the button and saying “We’ll be right back”.
Usually after the sketch premise had gotten so far to the extreme, things couldn’t get much worse. The only other example that springs to mind is the opening seg of Manos, where Joel programs the Bots to be his sycophantic admirers, which gets worse to the point that Joel finally says “Y’know, I’m starting to think this wasn’t such a good idea–We’ll be right back”. And just as they cut the sketch to commercial, Trace’s still-sycophantic Crow gets in “Here, see this butt? Please kick it.”
That’s not an “ending” either, but that and the commercial break are perfectly timed caps off the sketch.
Otherwise, not sure why you’re getting so sticklered over it–There are rules in comedy, but you’re allowed your own instinctive ones if it works.
It’s not like sketches have cardinal rules written in stone, after all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJT989Sog4Y
Klesmer music? Why?
I actually have a soft spot for the westerns episodes. I’m actually kinda stoked that this is the ep. with my name in the credits. The challenge with westerns is just that there’s very little territory that hasn’t already been covered by things like The Three Amigos, Rustlers Rhapsody, Blazing Saddles, and so on. (and there was maybe one too many call backs to the Blazing Saddles theme song…)
Admittedly, it’s not much, but they do make a point of saying the swamp is starting to dry out Also, that disappearances are linked to dry swamps in the local legend. And we have that whole scene with the dino chasing Panchito that establishes the beast’s hatred of mud, so…
Not disputing this, but for me the riff always feels like a variation on the “much rejoicing” bit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Some other riffs I like
Delivered by the Pony Boy Express. It just says, “Stay gold.”
I want my 2 dollars!
The movie was so goofy which to me makes the best episodes.
And, my take on Segment 3 is this line that I consider nails the spirit of MST3K: (Kinga): “Is this that Hamilton show that everyone is talking about?”
HS3 was, IMO, the funniest HS so far in the series. Overall, I could do without them, but that one had me gasping for air.
Also, I loved the fact that Guy Madison seemed so cheerful and delighted by the suffering of others throughout the film. Pancho died and Panchito is mourning? Count on Guy to have a big smile on his face. Oh, and it was roughly 2/3 of the way through the film, and there was no monster!