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Episode guide: 613- The Sinister Urge (with short: ‘Keeping Clean and Neat’)

613s

Short: (1956) A fifth-grade girl and boy demonstrate how to have obsessive hygiene habits.
Movie: (1959) Detectives investigate a murder that they suspect is related to a secret porno operation.

First shown: 11/5/94
Opening: M&tB throw Gypsy a shower
Intro: Frank’s missing and Dr. F. begins to worry
Host segment 1: Frank has become a mad bomber, and gives the SOL a taste of what he’s planning for Deep 13
Host segment 2: M&tB check Frank’s background for clues
Host segment 3: There’s little hope until Mike remembers Frank’s weakness
End: Dr. F. stops Frank’s plan, Mike reads a letter, Frank has been deep-fried
Stinger: “Dirk? No that can’t be Dirk…uh-uh…no…that’s not Dirk…no.”
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (249 votes, average: 4.51 out of 5)

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• I had a lot of people disagreeing with me the last time around, but I watched it again and I am going to stick with the “good-not-great” rating. It’s an Ed Wood movie, so you know it’s going to be good, and the riffing is fine, but the very topical host segments haven’t aged very well and that drags the overall rating down for me. Great short, though.
• You’ll find this episode in Rhino’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 9.”
References.
• Of course that’s Paul as Huggy Bear and Patrick as Rooster. On the basis of these incredibly brief cameos, they’ll make a re-appearance in next week’s “Urkel” segments. In fact I wonder if these appearances were thrown in just to add two more characters to the bits in the next episode.
• The springboard for the host segments was the spate of “mad bomber” movies that hit theaters in ’94, in particular “Speed,” “In the Line of Fire,” and the now-pretty-much-forgotten “Blown Away.” At the time, I didn’t get most of the references, because I don’t go to the movies a lot and I hadn’t seen them on video yet. I do give Frank credit for capturing the tone most of the villains in these movies had. His evil faces are fun.
• Tom says: “I think these scenes are from a completely different movie” and in fact they are. The pizza joint sequences were shot in 1956 for a film that was to be called “Rock and Roll Hell” a.k.a. “Hellborn.” It was never finished, so Ed used the footage for this.
• This movie has no relationship with what the porn industry — even back then — was really like. Sadly, in about 10 years, Ed would know a lot more about what the porn industry was really like.
• Non-spaghetti ball bumpers: datebook, bulletin board, film canister.
• Callback: During a host segment, Frank says: “You’re stuck here!” (Fugitive Alien).
• Speaking of callbacks, Mike refers to the the grinning car as “Jet Jaguar” and Crow whispers: “How would YOU know?” Fans had been doing that sort of thing for a while, so I guess it was inevitable that the writers would do it.
• Tom falls off his theater seat laughing, at one point.
• Cast and Crew Roundup: Cinematographer William C. Thompson (who was nearly blind when this film was made and required assistance) also filmed “Bride of the Monster,” “The Violent Years,” “Racket Girls” and “Project Moonbase.” Score composer Manuel Francisco a.k.a. Mischa Terr also composed music for “The Violent Years,” “King Dinosaur,” “The Unearthly” and “Bloodlust.”
In front of the camera, Harvey B. Dunn was also in “Bride of the Monster,” and “Teenagers from Outer Space.” Reed Howes was also in “The Phantom Creeps.” Harry Keatan was also in “The Violent Years.” Nick Raymond was also in “The Hellcats” and “Red Zone Cuba.” Conrad Brooks was also in “Bride of the Monster” and “Red Zone Cuba.” Kenne Duncan was also in “Radar Secret Service.”
• Creditswatch: Host segments directed by Trace Beaulieu. Interns Wendell Anderson, Julie Van Goethem and Sarah Swanson (though in this episode they gave her first name as “Sara”–they fixed it in the credits of the next ep) begin their stints.
• Fave riff from short: “Remember, people like you better when you’re pretty.” Honorable mention: “Don’t touch that!”
• Fave riff: “Well, THERE’S her hat!” Honorable mention: “I’m just gonna ask: Is this a juniper bush?”

154 Replies to “Episode guide: 613- The Sinister Urge (with short: ‘Keeping Clean and Neat’)”

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  1. MattG says:

    Was this the first instance of Mike & the ‘bots and Dr. F working together towards a common goal? I love it when heroes and villains team up for the greater good.

    No thoughts on the short, Sampo? Keeping Neat And Clean is one of my favorites, particularly the riffs about having the bathroom sealed, picking up stray hairs with a tweezer, wearing a shoe shine kit for a shoe, and Crow’s observation that the kid is becoming Howard Hughes and the instruction to comb his teeth. “Grooming is between you and the Lord God.”

    As for the movie, it has its moments. I like Crow’s remark that once the naive girl gets involved with the smut picture racket that the photographer puts her in more clothes than she’s ever worn in her life. Oh yeah, and, “Kline!”

       8 likes

  2. jjb3k says:

    What, no mention of Gloria? She gives the guys so much to work with (“Hey, could you scratch my back with your voice?”). I love Trace’s delivery on “All right, what sorta weird-ass get-up is she gonna have on this time?”

    “I’ll work ever so hard…and I’ll do a great job in your movie!” “Not like now!” I actually quite like this episode’s riffing. Maybe not fall-down spectacular, but still pretty consistently great. “Stand perfectly still, this is a movie!”

    The short is a classic too. Dozens of great quotables abound throughout (“Comb your Darrin Stevens haircut”, “Why couldn’t they have had Mamie Van Doren star in this?”, “Uh no, no, don’t touch that!”, “Never go to bed with wet hair” “Or a first date”, “In the ’50s, people responded well to disembodied authoritative voices”). And like Paul Chaplin in the ACEG, I learned the advantages of clipping one’s nails immediately after showering!

    The host segments don’t bug me. In fact, I kinda like the ones that are outdated today, since they act as a neat little time capsule of the period they were made in. I was only seven years old in 1994, yet I still seem to remember there being an awful lot of action movies in the theaters that summer. You’re right, Frank’s oily voice and bad puns are a perfect parody of the villains in those movies. “Tsk, tsk, Mr. Nelson, that’s not how the game is played!”

    “And don’t touch da BOOZE!

       7 likes

  3. Klisch says:

    I must have been living under a rock in the early 90’s cause I haven’t seen this episode either!

       0 likes

  4. Kris says:

    This was one of those movies in which the acting was so monstrously overblown, scenery-chewing, and terrible that it made the whole episode just a joy to watch. Gloria is quite simply the most frightening woman I’ve ever seen on the screen and I loved the absurd outfits she wore in every scene. You got the feeling that Ed Wood was salivating to try on a few himself. (And I bet he did.)

    “Ahhh, that was a good CRAP!”

    I loved the host segments. Besides the nod to all of those Blown Away-esque films (and I gotta wonder what film historians will conclude about the summer of ’94 when they review the frequency and inanity of them), Forrester strolling out of Deep 13, still tied to both chair and dynamite, to purchase potato cakes is just one of those moments that never gets old for me.

    Finally, please remember the following crucial element to good film-making: “You don’t direct Kline, you just get out of the way.”

       6 likes

  5. ck says:

    Kline STOLE this movie!

    You know, just like another Kline (as Otto West in A Fish Called Wanda, well, maybe not). :twisted:

       3 likes

  6. Professor Gunther says:

    “When middle-aged people horse around.”

    A five star (*****) episode all the way–and already everyone has nailed my favourite lines. We watched episode 423 last night. I love the Woode(a)n approach to humour!

       2 likes

  7. bartcow says:

    What, I don’t get to rate this one (maybe it’s my browser)?

    I like this one a lot. Not in my top 5, but occasionally makes the top 10. The drag scenes, the why-is-this-scene-here pizza joint fight, the “risque” porno theme, a great short, and, of course, Gloria’s Drano voice make it a fun watch.

    You’re right about the host segments, though. I remember Speed and Speed 2 and Bomby Bomb Bomb Boom (starring Tommy Lee Jones and Kurt Russell), but it is a very 90s thing. My favorite host segments are the ones that take their cues directly from the movie.

       0 likes

  8. Kris says:

    Bartcow, it’s not just you, I can’t rate it either. *tear*

       0 likes

  9. MikeH says:

    This one a fave of mine too. I wonder why though in the world of Ed Wood fans, this one is never mentioned, I only knew of this film when it was on MST. Oh yeah the pizza fight scenes were also used Night of the Ghouls. And Harry Keaton, who played Jaffe is Buster Keaton’s younger brother (credits have his name spelled wrong)

    “Oh no what what do I do with the arms”
    “I’m gonna think now”

    Loved all the scenes with Johnny Ride, I think he took acting lessons from Tony Cardoza.

       1 likes

  10. GizmonicTemp says:

    Question: Anybody have a guess as to why there were so many of these depressing dramas in season six? Man! What is up with this season?! All these really brought this season down.

    The short makes me long for the superior “Body Care and Grooming”, so it’s only OKAY with me.

       2 likes

  11. Paul J says:

    This episode will always have a special place in my heart. It was the first MST3K episode I ever saw. I was 11 years old. The first few minutes into the fantastic short and I new I had discovered something great.

       10 likes

  12. underwoc says:

    You know, I could actually do with a pair of pinking shears right now…

       4 likes

  13. Miqel says:

    (Narrator)”Brush and brush and brush, at least 100 strokes”
    (Mike) “Just keep brushing and brushing and saying the name of our lord and savior.”

    Another solid season 6 episode, not in my top 10 but a pretty good one. The short is awesome, the 1950s personal hygeine films are always funny – even without the riffing.

    The Frank goes postal thread is somewhat funny, especially the “Fugitive Alien” callback – “A-hahahaha, You’re stuck here!”

    My favorite riff from the movie is when the seargent asks the concerned taxpayer “do you have a daughter, Mr. Romaine?”
    (Tom) “… uh, daughter … is a daughther the thing with the wheel and the … no i’m thinking of a bike.”

    also

    When the about-to-be-killed girl is feeding the ducks,
    (Mike) “Just put it on my bill”

    -Something about how he delivers the line followed by Kevin’s quacking makes me laugh every time.

       4 likes

  14. jjb3k says:

    @ #10: I think Season 6 was when Frank was given more leeway over the movie selection process, and his favorite kinds of bad movies are the slow, plodding, talky, agonizing ones. Which explains the return of Ed Wood, all three Coleman Francis films, and stuff like The Dead Talk Back and The Starfighters and High School Big Shot and Samson vs. the Vampire Women (the latter was one of Frank’s favorites, and the Brains let him select it for the Season 6 finale as a going-away present before he left the show). I believe it was also thanks to Frank that Season 6 contained two made-for-TV movies from the ’70s (Code Name Diamond Head and San Francisco International), which he also loved.

    But that’s not to say every movie in Season 6 is crushingly bad. Zombie Nightmare is laughable ’80s cheese, Colossus and the Headhunters continues the fine Italian Hercules tradition established in Season 4, The Sword and the Dragon is just as wonderfully goofy as any other Russo-Finnish film, and Danger!! Death Ray made for my favorite spy movie episode ever. And let’s not forget the Mamie-licious feast of eye candy that is Girls’ Town!

       6 likes

  15. Spector says:

    Kline!!!

    Gotta disagree with you on this one, Sampo. While I concur the host segments are dated they’re still funny. The short and the movie were terrific.

    For me the lesser of the Ed Wood films they did was “The Violent Years”. This one for me is every bit as hilarious as when they riffed on “Bride of the Monster”. Bad acting, memorably bad characters, bad editing, it was all ripe for the Brains to mine for comedy gold.

    I loved Crow’s reaction when Harvey B. Dunn, who’d appeared in several previous films (Bride of the Monster, Teenagers from Outer Space) they’d riffed on, appears on screen: “Oh goody! This guy!!” The seeming joy in Trace’s voice at Dunn’s appearance made it sound as though, just when this film couldn’t get any riper to be riffed, along comes Dunn as the cherry on the sundae!

    So many memorable lines in this one, including their obsession on minor character Kline:

    “Kline, wait with the corpse. Kline, wait in the car. Kline, wait in the hoary netherworld. When is it Kline’s turn?”

    “Uh-huh, that’s not Dirk!”

    “it’s the fifties and booze is there”.

    “Body Care and Grooming: They’re cops!”.

    “Shift into another time dimension if it helps”.

    “Why, it’s big Ethel!”

    “And don’t touch da booze”.

    “Laugh, it’s funny!”

    “He’s the kindly old pornographer”.

    “Wow, we’re really learning a lot about porn”.

    “Kids come running for the great taste of porn!”

    One of my favorite episodes, five out of five.

       6 likes

  16. rockyjones says:

    I agree…I just love this episode! :grin: “Golden-Throat” Gloria is definitely the find of a lifetime (I’d love to know…just where on earth did Ed dig her up?), and her bizarre, girly, “Barbie doll” wardrobe just serves to amplify the “nails-on-a-chalkboard” aspects of both her voice AND personality. And then there’s Johnny…who has got to have THE most self-conscious, wooden onscreen personality I’ve ever witnessed.(“What do I do with my hands?!”). He can hardly even manage to look his fellow actors in the eye when speaking to them. (It’s almost like he’s reading cue cards.)

    Of course, the most hysterically funny aspect is what’s represented on-screen as “smut”…at least, the kind of smut that involves layers and layers of clothing…and of course, keeping perfectly still in front of a movie camera!

    The host segments are brilliant. I love it when all the segments follow one related thread. It really does display some the Brains most clever, compact writing.

    And even though some of the riffing is a little hit-and-miss, this is a perfect example of Ed Wood’s sleazy, unrealistic “morality” films that are so out of touch with reality that they practically riff on themselves, without any outside assistance! They continually raise the question: “Holy Cow…Just what color WAS the sky in Ed Wood’s world?”

       5 likes

  17. moviemorgue17 says:

    YOU’RE STUCK HERE!!

       1 likes

  18. HeatUpTheDeathRay says:

    “Good not great,” huh? I guess this is another instance that proves your theorem that, to paraphrase, one man’s MSTie meat is another man’s poison (alter gender as appropriate). I love this episode. Aside from the usual Woodian inane brilliance (include me in the group that can’t decide whether Ed was a frustrated genius or just very, very inept), you have Mike & the Bots in top form. While I agree the host segments come off as a bit dated now–though still funny–the riffing is top notch. They just seem to nail each character’s essence (especially Gloria’s) and just milk it for all it’s worth. I literally get tears in my eyes every single time I watch the scene in which the “naive actress from Podunk” gets her dressing down from Gloria (“Move your ass, curly, I’m comin’ in!”). Perhaps it’s just because her voice reminds me of every office lady with a smoke-addled larynx I’ve ever known. Perhaps…

    Incidentally, and I can’t recall if this is mentioned in the introduction that Conrad Brooks did for the DVD, but that’s Ed himself as the other pugilist in the hot dog stand, Rock and Roll Hell sequence. At thirty-something at the time the movie was made, he was maybe a tad old to pass as a tough guy tangling with teens (wow, check that alliteration!) at a ‘youth’ hangout.

       3 likes

  19. rockyjones says:

    “Did ya see this?…Michael Medved panned ‘Lickity Lovlies”!”

       1 likes

  20. Cliff Weismeyer says:

    I’m surprised that Sampo and others find this a mediocre episode. It’s not an all time great, but I think the gang is in a great groove in this one, especially Trace. His comment “Look- you can see the strings…ohhhh,” while Dirk is looking through the window brings me down every time.

    Also, the taxpayer scene is nothing short of amazing. Wisely, the guys mostly let it play itself out, because there is not much humor that you can add to what is already there.

    Again, though, Trace crushes it with his simple, incredulous “no it isn’t!” after Kenne Duncan explains how smut pictures are “worse than kidnapping and dope peddling” (????!!!!). Not a complex riff, but a perfect illustration of how absurd the argument being made is.

    My only complaint is (and generally I don’t like to reriff what was already there), that I thought that Harvey B. Dunn’s presence in the taxpayer scene begged a “she tampered in God’s domain” when Kenne Duncan is showing him the pictures.

    Thanks Sampo, for keeping this going. These postings are a highlight of my dreary workweek.

       4 likes

  21. spudmantrumpy says:

    “This looks like a job for Zimmerman!”

    Ed Wood, a Dylan look-alike, Kline, and smut?

    ‘A’ episode for sure.

       1 likes

  22. rockyjones says:

    #20-Ditto that last sentiment, Cliff W.!

       0 likes

  23. I don’t have a lot of time to write a detailed commentary for this episode so I’ll make note of my favorite riffs.

    Short:
    Mike – Just keep brushing and brushing and saying the name of our Lord and Savior!
    Crow – Why couldn’t they have had Mamie van Doren star in this thing?
    Servo: – Uh oh, now your hands are filthy again.

    Movie:
    Mike – Quickly, into the TARDIS!
    Crow – So they put her in more clothes than she’s ever had on in her life!
    Servo – Cars smiled more back then. (This also reminds me of the “growling” car from Design for Dreaming)

    Host Segments: “All but one: the one you let drive!”

    Overall a very good episode, not the best, in my opinion. My friends at college had a good laugh over the fact that you can see women wearing less than those in the movie being filmed at the start on any given summer day these days.

       3 likes

  24. Sampo says:

    Oops! Sorry for forgetting the rating thingy! It’s there now.

       1 likes

  25. Cabbage Patch Elvis says:

    This is one of my top ten for sure. Fantastic riffing, and what a film!!!! The scenes of Gloria and Johnny Ride alone are worth the cost of admission. And I agree with Sampo – the angry taxpayer scene is BRUTAL.

       2 likes

  26. H says:

    I find this a great episode. Short’s great, they always do well with the obsessive compulsive nature of 50’s hygeine shorts. Movie’s great, so insanely Ed Wood. The guys can’t help but do well with it. I think the host segments hold up well. Speed is still pretty well remembered and even if you don’t get the reference, they’re pretty funny anyway. I must admit, potato cakes are my weakness as well.

       2 likes

  27. Observer says:

    In U2’s early ’90s tour, ZooTV, they used a clip from the Sinister Urge between songs. I’d watched a tape of ZooTV many many times in college before ever seeing this episode, so I was shocked and delighted to learn that this is the film with the line: “Can’t blame them. They want new material. Our stuff’s been repeated too many times.”

    Makes me wonder which member of U2 is the big Ed Wood fan.

    And I repeat what everyone else says about Johnny Ride. Wonderfully riffable “performance”. The “Thinking now!” moment never fails to crack me up.

       2 likes

  28. Observer says:

    Here’s a video clip of the U2 song which uses part of The Sinister Urge in the intro. The Edge + Johnny Ryde:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcujW28HqFE

       3 likes

  29. crowtdan says:

    When Gloria tells the new girl to lift her dress all the way up to her hat. Oh man what a visual.

       2 likes

  30. Hammer Throw says:

    Love it, as I do all the Ed Wood episodes. Johnny Ride’s wooden bizareness is just great. “He’s wearing a femme-y jetpack!” “Oh no, what do I do with my arms. Oh geez.” The weird waving gesture he does while talking to Gloria. “What makes you say that?” “My mouth.” Just awesome stuff all around.

       2 likes

  31. I'm not a medium, I'm a petite says:

    5 stars, easy.

    Movie and Short are both top-form.

    Like most good shorts this one is earnest to the point of goofy, and personal hygiene offers so much to work with. And the guys work it hard and well.

    Same with the movie, too many good riffs to count.

    The Bob Dylan complex of riffs is superb.

    Every time one of them does Gloria’s voice, it’s pure gold.

    Regarding Hymie !

    The camera’s off now, right Ed ?

    The host segments, ok, I didn’t think they were all that good at the time, and they haven’t improved with age. But they do have their points :

    The squad room bit.. contacts on the street and huggy bear, the fingerprints are frank’s, saving every kid on the schoolbus but one, buying gypsy a new hat.. that segment did work very well. Good writing and good performances.

    The Movie and Short are soooo good that the weak parts of the host segments go down pretty smooth.

    And let’s not forget Kline. Oh, Kline. Tom Stoppard needs to do a Rosencranz & Guldenstern job on this film, a one man show called “Kline and the Hoary Netherworld”.

       1 likes

  32. omega2010 says:

    The Jet Jaguar reference gets me every time. The way Crow says “How would you know that?” suggests the Bots never showed Mike that particular movie.

    By the way, are potato cakes just some kind of large hash browns?

       0 likes

  33. fireballil says:

    A four star movie for me, I agree with Sampo that it’s good-not-great, because none of the host segments, though good, had anything to do with the movie.

    Two words: Pinking shears!

    Fave riff: When Johnny holds Gloria close and is telling her about some movie thing, Crow says, ‘I’m speaking directly to your brain!’

    Runner-up: Crow, as Kline stands on the patio over the closing credits: ‘Kline, wait by the corpse. Kline, wait in the hoary netherworld. When is it Kline’s turn?!’

    Also, there was a second time the phrase ‘hoary netherworld’ popped up. Wonder why that happened; did one of the writers just like it?

    The short was good also, I would have liked to have seen a grooming bit for a host segement, but, alas…

    Also good to see Gypsy get involved, inspiring Mike to come up with the potato cake idea.

       0 likes

  34. MPSh says:

    “Let’s drink A LOT!”

       3 likes

  35. Perhaps one of the oddest narrative hiccups in the movie was when Kenne Duncan started telling the story of “Mary” who was “fine in the school play”. We cut to Mary’s story, which we assume is just an “example” being narrated by “Bela Lugosi’s brother, Shemp Lugosi”. This goes on for a while, until we realize it’s actually happening within the context of the movie! So either Sgt. Duncan is psychic, or he has the ability to manifest people just by talking about them. It’s really weird.

    Favorite riff: Well, I’ll also have to vote for “So they put her in more clothes than she ever had on in her life!”

    I also loved the Bob Dylan references whenever Dino Fantini is on screen.

    And again.. Worst Actor Ever… Carl Anthony. I suspect that if you took off his business suit, you’d find a complex network of vacuum tubes and transistors keeping him alive. Crow didn’t call him “Hymie” from Get Smart for nothing.

       3 likes

  36. Kouban says:

    Am I the only one who, whenever Johnny Ride is mentioned, can’t help asking themself “Why can’t Johnny ride?”
    Also, I love that Ed Wood made these kind of morality plays, and then years later wound up directing porn.

       1 likes

  37. 1 adam 12 says:

    I have to disagree with Sampo here, I love Love LOVE this episode! It’s in my top 10.
    This is another of those eps where M&TB are chuckling at each other’s jokes, and it just sounds like a trio of friends trying to make themselves laugh. I find the riffing hilarious (see all the best lines above :lol: ). The host segments are a little dated, but still tell a pretty good & goofy narrative. My favorite exchange:

    Tom: I stopped that bus and I saved them kids!
    Crow: All except one!
    Tom: (gasp)
    Crow: The one you let drive!
    Tom: He showed me his license!
    Crow: He was seven!
    Tom: I’m a good cop! I’m a good cop!

    By the way, folks, it’s Regarding Heinie. You know, old people slang for a derriere, backside, butt, etc. Not Regarding Hymie–I can’t imagine BBI would be that offensive.

       2 likes

  38. I thought it was “Regarding Hiney (sp?)” as well, but since “Hymie” was the name of the android in Get Smart (played by Dick Gautier, who does look a lot like Carl “Johnny Ride” Anthony) I’m not as sure.

       0 likes

  39. fish eye no miko says:

    I rather like this episode. Gloria’s a great character to skewer, and the whole porn that is so NOT porn was funny (“So they put her in more clothes then she’s ever worn in her whole life!”). And the short is awesome; it’s definitely a favorite of mine )the little “Whoopie!”, “woo-hoo!” sounds as the skin cells fall off–priceless :grin: ). I’m not terribly keen on the host segs, but they’re not bad. I’ll watch them if I’m in the right mood, when is more than I can say for some host segs (some of the imposed-on-BBI story lines during the SFC eps, for example). I’d give this episode a strong 3/5. :smile:

       0 likes

  40. Cabbage Patch Elvis says:

    #39 – “Gloria’s a great character to skewer,”

    Um, do you mean what I think you mean? :oops:

       0 likes

  41. Droppo says:

    I actually love Frank’s performance in the host segments. Overall, it’s the definition of a 3-star episode for me. Solid, but, not an all-time classic.

       1 likes

  42. MikeK says:

    A great episode. This one has what are my favorite story-based host segments. The Star Trek stuff in Last of the Wild Horses is good, but I prefer Mad Bomber Frank.

    The short is good. Those kids sure have a lot to do. Ironically, while one might expect more prep time for the girl, it was Johnny that had the most to do in the morning. And that’s even taking the girl’s hair washing the night before into account.

    The movie is pure sludge, perfect for MST3K.

    A good riff, regarding Gloria and her producer. Crow: “Nowadays the people would have legitimate jobs at the USA Network.”

    It’s a nice reference to what are now two dated topics, mob controlled porn and the sleazy USA Network. Both have changed dramatically in their respective time frames.

       2 likes

  43. Dave says:

    If I can only have one, then this is my desert island episode. If I can have three, then I take the Coleman Francis trilogy. But this episode is jam-packed with laugh out loud goodness.

       2 likes

  44. Katana says:

    I *adore* the short, one of my top fives easily. The riff that holds a little nook in my heart is when the camera zooms in on the shampoo and Mike goes “Dun dun dun!” And as I’m going on a band trip in a week and will be sharing a room with three other high schoolers, I’m going to force them to watch this.

    As for the movie…it’s another one of my tops. It created a meme between me and my friends, which is as follows: “SMUT!!!” Caps lock is a requirement. Thank you Ed Wood and your insistency on not using the word “porn”.

       2 likes

  45. Graboidz says:

    I can’t recall the exact wording of the riff, but seem to remember Crow saying about the Blond chick calling for help at the beginning resembling Arch Hall Jr., that got me chuckling right off the bat.

       0 likes

  46. Roman Martel says:

    But exactly is the urge that is sooo sinister? The urge to make smut? The urge to kill? Or the urge to dress Kline in women’s cloths?

    I enjoy this one. Not my favorite Ed Wood that they tackled, but it’s got a lot of great moments. I love Wood’s take on dialogue. He creates a kind of poetry that no one else can duplicate. It’s so awkward to hear and I’m sure it’s just as awkward to say.

    Then you have characters like Gloria and Johnny Ride speak those lines and you’ve got some serious comic gold. Heck even the dull police procedural scenes are improved with Wood’s magical touch with dialogue.

    The short is one of my favorites. I love the observation that people responded well to disembodied voices back in the 50’s. It’s true today too. Try it at work or at home!

    The host segments are a bit dated, but I was one of those suckers that saw “Blown Away” and “Speed” in the theaters. Frank is doing a very good Dennis Hopperesque criminal mastermind. Was this the first time that the connection with Arby’s and Frank was made?

    Finally, this was one of the few episodes I caught when it aired. I remember seeing the smut scenes and wondering what Ed would think think of movies today.

       1 likes

  47. “Also, I love that Ed Wood made these kind of morality plays, and then years later wound up directing porn.”

    Just goes to show you he was right. Johnny is basically Ed and I think he saw what was happening to himself and I think it’s interesting that he was that self-aware.

    Anyway, I don’t think the host segments have aged a bit. Trace directed this one (if memory serves) and I think it’s one of the more visually dynamic episodes.

    And the short features my favorite riff of all time: “Before putting on your dress…” “…Caress.”

    I don’t know why, but it always gets me.

       3 likes

  48. Cabbage Patch Elvis says:

    Some of my fave riffs from the short:

    “Now to get pants and dragged around the track”

    “Mane and Tail really works”

    “Oh, don’t say underpants”

    “Rrrrr, mad dog” ala PW Herman

    “Oh, don’t say underthings”

    “Can I carry your soap home from school?”

    “Aaaaay”

    “What is my purpose in this world?”

       3 likes

  49. MLD says:

    This is my favorite Ed Wood film that was shown on MST3K, and the subject matter is really funny since it’s “So bad!”. lol

    I never understood the whole obsession with Kline though…He acted in this and one other movie, so maybe that was the whole joke about making him so cool? If so, it went past me.

    I actually have the original movie on DVD, and it had some nudity! Shocking. :lol:

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  50. GizmonicTemp says:

    jjb3k #14 – Amen to everything you said. Season six was just kind of a black hole for me (Not a Gloria reference). The only image I think of when thinking about this season is Mr. Grant hanging from the ceiling (High School Big Shot). (Sob!)

       1 likes

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