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Weekend Discussion Thread: Grand Theft Movie

Alert reader Larry suggests:

In the “Beast of Yucca Flats,’ Mike accuses para-deputy Jim Archer of stealing the movie. I would argue that the mom and dad of yucca flats were the guilty party. but it had me wondering, who else in MST’d history was guilty of stealing a scene or movie when no one was looking. Or caring.

What’s your pick?

107 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Grand Theft Movie”

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  1. duke of puddles: i watched ‘Santa Clause’ unMST’d

    Well, it wasn’t so bad–The first one with Tim Allen was sort of cute, but the second one was way too distracted by goofy subplots, and by the time they got to that third one with Martin Short, none of the cast wanted to come back, that was just a cry for help.

    (Yes: That, and the “I approve this message” thing, I am going to nag. It’s a matter of principle.)

       0 likes

  2. Son of Gorgo says:

    By far Susan Gordon in Tormented

       14 likes

  3. A lot of good ones mentioned already…

    I’ll go with George Lazenby, David McCallum, and especially Monte Markham in Master Ninja II. I could see George as Monte’s agent constantly battling McCallum and his terrorist organization as a series instead of The Master.

    With that being said, Van Patten and Van Cleef should have been guest stars on THAT show instead of vice versa.

       4 likes

  4. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    duke of puddles: Gamera and Godzilla might disagree.

    “Not necessarily” encompasses all possibilities and thus there’s no level on which it can be disagreed with. But whatever.

       1 likes

  5. mando3b says:

    Ray Dunakin:
    Oh, another sound effect that stole the whole movie was the electronic hawk sound from “Deathstalker and the Warriors From Hell”.

    “I just heard an eagle meow!”

       6 likes

  6. In the season 12 movie Killer Fish, I was quietly watching the movie, laughing at the riffs, until I saw someone I recognized from my youth – Dan Pastorini, quarterback of the Houston Oilers! I remembered he had a short, unsuccessful stab at a movie career, but had never seen one of his movies until this. Jonah and the bots had no clue who this was, so I had to add my own riffs. For example:

    Karen Black’s character, while dressing Dan’s wounds: “I hope you are a fast healer.”
    Me: “I was a lifelong Oilers fan, and as a fan I can definitively say – no, he is not!”

       12 likes

  7. pete_plums_drivers_license says:

    Ray Dunakin:
    Oh, another sound effect that stole the whole movie was the electronic hawk sound from “Deathstalker and the Warriors From Hell”.

    You had to go there, didn’t you?
    How about the Twanging Catarrhs of Inexplicable Oklahomans Dubbing Foreign Movies?
    For what POSSIBLE reason would Sandy Frank hire a couple of the ladies from the Pawhuska Historical Society to voice Barbella and Florbella, the head-shaving, brain-eating hotties from “Gamera vs Guiron”? My theory is that the dubbing was done in Japan, and they were a couple of military wives who answered an ad. Anyway, the only reason I can think of to ever watch G.-vs-G. ever again.
    But wait! In “Starcrash,” Caroline Munro’s voice is dubbed (why?), and by…CANDY CLARK? The pride of Norman, OK?! And Hamilton Camp voices Elle like he’s running for Sheriff of Osage County.
    WTAF? Do Sooner accents play well in foreign markets?
    [Delicious Trivia I: Candy Clark’s presence is probably explained by the fact that she was married to Marjoe Gortner for one year, the same year “Starcrash” was made.]
    [Delicious Trivia II: Edith Hanson is the tall, Dodge-Dart-driving redhead who played Tom’s mother in G.vs.G. Google “Edith Hanson Amnesty International”–she’s even got a Wiki entry.]
    Coffee’s wearing off.

       6 likes

  8. goalieboy82 says:

    Donald Pleasence in both the movies he was in. was watching the very underrated film Fantastic Voyage last night (he was in that too)

       9 likes

  9. yelling_into_the_void says:

    Crabby the hat.

       6 likes

  10. pete_plums_drivers_license says:

    Benjamin Wink:
    A lot of good ones mentioned already…

    I’ll go with George Lazenby, David McCallum, and especially Monte Markham in Master Ninja II.I could see George as Monte’s agent constantly battling McCallum and his terrorist organization as a series instead of The Master.

    With that being said, Van Patten and Van Cleef should have been guest stars on THAT show instead of vice versa.

    First, “Never show a good movie in the middle of your crappy movie” applies triple here. Check out imdb on Charles Collins, Charlie Patterson in the second half of Master Ninja I. That clip is from one of his two starring roles. “The Dancing Pirate.” His bio is kinda sad, and that b&w clip of him hoofin’ shows just how badass he was as a dancer.
    Second, those four eps (maybe more of them) were like an incubator for ingenues. Each of the female leads went on to bigger stuff; in “Out of Time Step,” BOTH “sisters” overcame being on the same set with that Van Patten weasel.

       3 likes

  11. goalieboy82 says:

    wish we could say this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iqLhdInGrk

       0 likes

  12. goalieboy82:
    wish we could say this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iqLhdInGrk

    It’s hard to get excited about a football team whose fans don’t wear oversized novelty simulacrum of chunks of dairy products on their heads. (And even harder to get excited about this game in particular.)

       4 likes

  13. jay says:

    Hamlet –

    A play by Shakespeare presented in German dubbed back into English and who do they choose to voice Claudius?
    Ricardo (Khan) Montalban. Can a voice steal a show?

       11 likes

  14. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    jay:
    Can a voice steal a show?

    Magic Voice stole every scene she was in until she started being voiced by Mary Jo. IMHO.

       4 likes

  15. jonny_mal says:

    yelling_into_the_void:
    Crabby the hat.

    Crabby really did own every scene he was in

       2 likes

  16. Cornjob says:

    Lynn Fredrick as Kendra in Phase 4.

    The struggling radio operator in Women of the Prehistoric Planet.

       3 likes

  17. bartcow says:

    The toy cars/boats/helicopters in Danger: Death Ray!! And the persistent theme music therein.

    Community Theater Grocery Store Lady from Time Chasers. And that’s in a movie that features a Pink Suit, Marty, mullets, 90s fashion, a Noo Yawk cabdriver, and a dearth of skydiving grandmothers.

       9 likes

  18. pete_plums_drivers_license says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpSUPL3evFo

       2 likes

  19. Yeti of Great Danger says:

    bartcow:
    The toy cars/boats/helicopters in Danger: Death Ray!! And the persistent theme music therein.

    Oh, that theme music. You’re correct in that it stole the show, and now I have it as the swingin’est ringtone ever. BA DA DA DA DA DAAAAAA! DA DA DA DA!

    p.s. Also just got another, totally different ringtone via one of my Rifftrax downloads. In the first Sherlock Holmes movie that B&MJ did, there’s a door buzzer going off and Mary Jo saying in a completely deadpan voice, “No, everybody stay where you are. I’ll get it. No, it’s fine. I got it.”

       4 likes

  20. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    pete_plums_drivers_license: How about the Twanging Catarrhs

    I regret to report that that word does not mean what you think it means:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catarrh

    I think there IS a stringed instrument with a similar name, but thus far my guesses on its spelling have been inaccurate. So it goes.

    As a tangent off of my own comment, does anyone recall the Brains using the “you keep using that word…” riff? They used riffs from “The Princess Bride” now and then but I don’t remember them ever using that one. But then, I don’t know of anyone who can remember them all.

       2 likes

  21. GareChicago says:

    Really? Really?? No mention of this yet?

    Ahem.

    Mikey. And he didn’t steal no bike either!

    Gare

       9 likes

  22. EAG46 says:

    Son of Gorgo:
    By far Susan Gordon in Tormented

    Agree 100%. She handled a tough acting job very well.

       8 likes

  23. bartcow says:

    Yeti of Great Danger: Oh, that theme music.You’re correct in that it stole the show, and now I have it as the swingin’est ringtone ever.BA DA DA DA DA DAAAAAA!DA DA DA DA!

    p.s.Also just got another, totally different ringtone via one of my Rifftrax downloads.In the first Sherlock Holmes movie that B&MJ did, there’s a door buzzer going off and Mary Jo saying in a completely deadpan voice, “No, everybody stay where you are.I’ll get it.No, it’s fine.I got it.”

    Totally off-topic, but I finally got around to watching MJ & B’s Cat Women of the Moon, and I was gasping for air at various points. It reminded me of a WDT idea I had that may or may not work: what side/post-MST project do you enjoy the most? Specifically, a particular movie/short/riff/book from any of the riffing groups or individual authors, etc. For me, Drugs Are Like That by Rifftrax is solid all the way through, CT’s version of SCCTM might be the best version out there, and now I’ll add MJ & B’s CWotM to the list. Print-wise, the ACEG is indispensable, if incomplete. And I enjoyed Kevin’s A Year at the Movies and Trace’s Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children.

    Maybe that’s casting the net too wide. What do you think, sirs and ma’ams?

       5 likes

  24. Leonard Maltin says:

    GareChicago:
    Really? Really?? No mention of this yet?

    Ahem.

    Mikey. And he didn’t steal no bike either!

    Gare

    I figured Mikey would be mentioned, so I just had to come here and say that Betty’s mother absolutely steals the movie every time she’s near the camera.

    “You’re quite handsome! May I touch your gun?” God bless the ill-advised filmmakers for making sure her and Mikey were put in a scene together.

    Also, I don’t know if you can steal an educational short film necessarily, but if so, well, all I have to say is hats off to Ray, the Whimsical Lampshade!

       5 likes

  25. mst3kme says:

    Bartcow:

    Do you know about the MST3K and Rifftrax channels on Pluto TV and Twitch?

    I thought most MSTies knew, but someone recently posted to Kevin on his Twitter that he had just discovered Rifftrax.

    bartcow: Totally off-topic, but I finally got around to watching MJ & B’s Cat Women of the Moon, and I was gasping for air at various points. It reminded me of a WDT idea I had that may or may not work: what side/post-MST project do you enjoy the most? Specifically, a particular movie/short/riff/book from any of the riffing groups or individual authors, etc. For me, Drugs Are Like That by Rifftrax is solid all the way through, CT’s version of SCCTM might be the best version out there, and now I’ll add MJ & B’s CWotM to the list. Print-wise, the ACEG is indispensable, if incomplete. And I enjoyed Kevin’s A Year at the Movies and Trace’s Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children.

    Maybe that’s casting the net too wide. What do you think, sirs and ma’ams?

       1 likes

  26. pete_plums_drivers_license says:

    touches no one’s life, then leaves: I regret to report that that word does not mean what you think it means:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catarrh

    I think there IS a stringed instrument with a similar name, but thus far my guesses on its spelling have been inaccurate. So it goes.

    Sorry, sorry. That is an INCREDIBLY ancient reference. Back in the Twenties, Alexander Wolcott, writing a review of a new play for the New York Times, was making snarky remarks about the first-night audience’s being obnoxious about not taking their nose-blowing to the lobby during the play. He wrote the following line, repeated endlessly for years:
    “All through the solemn subterfuges of Mr. Hichens’s drama, they sat, idly, strumming their catarrhs.”

       3 likes

  27. GareChicago says:

    mst3kme:
    Bartcow:

    Do you know about the MST3K and Rifftrax channels on Pluto TV and Twitch?

    I thought most MSTies knew, but someone recently posted to Kevin on his Twitter that he had just discovered Rifftrax.

    We finally joined this century and got a Smart TV which has Pluto installed as one of the Apps.. now I had Pluto on my phone forever, but rarely had time to fire it up. With it on my tv, it’s now running MST3K or RT channel all the time, especially when I’m puttering around in the kitchen cooking up something.

    Sure beats the old days, loading up different VHS tapes.

    Gare

       4 likes

  28. Gypsy throughout the Mitchell episode.

    Pearl Forrester in whatever episode it was that she keeps repeating Clayton. Clayton. Clayton.

    Nummy Muffin Coocol Butter.

       9 likes

  29. Gravity says:

    Satan in the “Out of This World” short. The actor didn’t simply chew the scenery; he devoured it with fava beans and a nice chianti.

       7 likes

  30. Murdock Hauser says:

    Son of Gorgo:
    By far Susan Gordon in Tormented

    Yes, indeed. She was great.

    Also, not much of a character but an object that stole the movie and that’s Tom Servo’s gumball machine Mom in ‘Hobgoblins’. The way she out acted that insane woman Fantazia was remarkable.

    Tom: Mother, get out of there please!

       5 likes

  31. GareChicago says:

    TIMMY!

    Gare

       3 likes

  32. pete_plums_drivers_license:
    This topic is going to be deeply deleterious to all the plans I’d made to get something done around here this morning….

    The TRAGICALLY uncredited actress in the parallel-bars sequence in “I Was A Teenage Werewolf.” Addressed as “Karinne” or “Kerry” by the principal, it’s possible that it’s Elaine Dupont.

    For four minutes on screen, she OWNS that movie.

    And as scary and famous as the scene where Michael Landon watches her from the corner of the gym might be, IMHO she TOTALLY sells the next sequence where he’s chasing her across the stage. Wow.

    [I watched that sequence before I posted this, and it follows Guy Williams telling us in a low, serious voice about how they pull the teeth on baby minks “first thing,” which may be the worst thing in the whole movie. Then Kevin steps on the line where the principal calls the gymnast by name, with the most obscure riff on record, “Kerry Sloan.”]

    That’s Dawn Richard, who also modelled in Playboy and other publications of the time. She appears multiple times before that, notably getting tricked by the candy gag. (“My Falsies!”)

    Servo says “Kerri Slug”, a riff on Olympic Gymnast Kerri Strug.

       3 likes

  33. My pick is Jan Kayne as the hysteric maid in Radar Secret Service. How scene partner Myrna Dell kept a straight face I’ll never know!

       5 likes

  34. pete_plums_drivers_license says:

    SmudgyTheBootblack: That’s Dawn Richard, who also modelled in Playboy and other publications of the time. She appears multiple times before that, notably getting tricked by the candy gag. (“My Falsies!”)

    Servo says “Kerri Slug”, a riff on Olympic Gymnast Kerri Strug.

    Sweet JEEBUS, you’re right on all counts. I picked up her name as “Kerry” or something like that, because I had to watch the original movie, because Kevin walked over the principal’s line. On listening again, the principal called her “Teh-RAY-suh,” and dropped the last syllable. I never picked up either that it was Dawn Richard, because she’s listed so high in the credits, or that she’s all through the movie. And I’ll buy “Kerri Slug,” because the original air date for that MST ep is shown as being right after the time frame when Kerri Strug was all over TV.
    I need to watch IWATW again, carefully, except that every time I do my S.O. gets annoyed because after about fifteen minutes in, I start screaming about, “Where’s the DVD?! Where’s the DVD?!
    THX.

       3 likes

  35. Lawgiver says:

    Brock Lee Rubberband:
    Gypsy throughout the Mitchell episode.

    Definitely this.

    I would have expected to see Vadinho from “The Puma Man” on this list. Not only was he more competent than the so-called superhero, he had a presence that made the movie watchable (with riffing of course!).

       8 likes

  36. Say No To Yes says:

    Valaria definitely stole every scene she appeared in in “Robot Holocaust.”
    Honorable mention: the tunnel filled with lethal oven mitts.

       7 likes

  37. Ray Dunakin says:

    Watney stole the movie “Outlaw”, but not in a good way. Probably would be more accurate to say he went joyriding in it, spun doughnuts, blew the tranny, rolled it a couple times, took the wheels off, and left it covered with graffiti.

       7 likes

  38. Leonard Maltin says:

    Totally forgot one of the most obvious ones: The horseshoe in The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman

       4 likes

  39. bartcow says:

    mst3kme:
    Bartcow:

    Do you know about the MST3K and Rifftrax channels on Pluto TV and Twitch?

    I thought most MSTies knew, but someone recently posted to Kevin on his Twitter that he had just discovered Rifftrax.

    I don’t have Pluto or Twitch, but there’s a pretty good selection of MST/RT on Amazon Video. And I have a thumb drive loaded with random stuff that I plug in from time to time.

       1 likes

  40. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    pete_plums_drivers_license:
    “All through the solemn subterfuges of Mr. Hichens’s drama, they sat, idly, strumming their catarrhs.”

    Maybe he was punning on the theoretical stringed instrument with a similar name. :-)

       2 likes

  41. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    Ray Dunakin:
    Watney stole the movie “Outlaw”, but not in a good way. Probably would be more accurate to say he went joyriding in it, spun doughnuts, blew the tranny, rolled it a couple times, took the wheels off, and left it covered with graffiti.

    Ahh, Jack Palance’s hat left him in the wind…

       2 likes

  42. pete_plums_drivers_license says:

    touches no one’s life, then leaves: Ahh, Jack Palance’s hat left him in the wind…

    I dunno, in the following exchange,
    “…Because YOU. Are BEHAVING. Like a bitch in HEAT. And not like a queennn.”
    “What! Get out of here. GET out of HERE! You disgusting wwwuuurrrrrmmmm….”
    who really steals the scene–Jack, Jack’s hat, the Queen, or the Queen’s remarkable ability to simulate an F-86 air intake finished in department-store lipstick with her mouth?

       6 likes

  43. Scott Strong says:

    The goofy bird-footed mother and her husband in The Incredible Melting Man. A WTF moment if there ever was one.

    The stoner driving the VW bus in Laserblast.
    Faaaarrrr out, man!

       8 likes

  44. GareChicago: We finally joined this century and got a Smart TV which has Pluto …

    I watch what I can on shoutfactorytv.com. In my observation, everything that’s on Pluto is available on demand on Shoutfactorytv. By my reckoning there are 74 episodes on Shoutfactorytv and 40 on Netflix. The rest I have to find bootleg on youtube. club-mst3k is the best source to find them.

       0 likes

  45. Cornjob says:

    This has probably already been noted, but John Reynolds as Torgo totally stole the show in Manos: The Hands of Fate. Not sure where he took it though.

       4 likes

  46. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    Cornjob:
    This has probably already been noted, but John Reynolds as Torgo totally stole the show in Manos: The Hands of Fate. Not sure where he took it though.

    Well, he MISPLACED it. That’s why There WAS No Show as such.

    “I have no act.”
    “Yeah, I saw it.”

    I think Torgo might have been too “major” a character to be said to have stolen the show but then, I don’t really know the rules on this. :-)

    I suppose my vote here would be The Head Wife, who provided exposition but failed to explain any of it. I’m sure it all made much more sense in Hal Warren’s head.

    I remember that while riffing the credits, Servo said that someone “stole the show” but I don’t remember if he was referring to the cops or to the parking couple. Oh well.

       3 likes

  47. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    mando3b: Oh, and poor lil Debbie in Manos: a thankless role, a shameful end, and yet still sympathetic. (Actually, I’m surprised human services hadn’t rescued her from those parents before all that Manos horse hockey started . . . )

    Oh, c’mon, we know almost nothing about what sort of parents Mike and Margaret were prior to the film.

    Off-topic, one of the mildly annoying things about the Rifftrax version of “Manos” (the fact that I frequently enjoy Rifftrax hardly means that I think it’s perfect) was Mike(the real Mike) deliberately getting confused about the line “First vacation.” He meant of That Particular Summer, Mike, That Certain Summer, not in the entirety of film-Mike’s life. Sheesh.

    “Manos” is distinctive as one of the few MST3K films that was the ONLY film of the director in question. It’s our sole look into the mental maelstrom that was Hal Warren and I think most would concur that it was quite sufficient, thank you.

       3 likes

  48. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    Leonard Maltin:
    Totally forgot one of the most obvious ones: The horseshoe in The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman

    I liked the Ouija board. A Mobius strip of a plot point, it came out of nowhere and went nowhere. Still, how many super-heroes use rayguns AND Ouija boards? It just shows that Batwoman was ready to think outside the box.

       4 likes

  49. mando3b says:

    Gravity:
    Satan in the “Out of This World” short. The actor didn’t simply chew the scenery; he devoured it with fava beans and a nice chianti.

    Love it, love it . . . This brings up a question tangential to this week’s WDT: What is your favorite chew-the-scenery performance in an MST3K ep? Toblerone? The community-theater devils in Out of this World and The Undead? Mikey? Or could it be the weirdo peripherals in Skydivers, who don’t chew the scenery as much as incessantly gnaw at it, like mice or termites?

       4 likes

  50. GareChicago says:

    mando3b: Love it, love it . . . This brings up a question tangential to this week’s WDT: What is your favorite chew-the-scenery performance in an MST3K ep? Toblerone? The community-theater devils in Out of this World and The Undead? Mikey? Or could it be the weirdo peripherals in Skydivers, who don’t chew the scenery as much as incessantly gnaw at it, like mice or termites?

    I can sum up that WDT right now, quick and easy:

    The Killer Shrews. They literally chewed the scenery.

    Gare

       6 likes

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