Thursday, January 07, 2016

MOOM PITCHER REVIEW! REVENGE OF IVANHOE starring Clyde Rogers (Italy, 1965)

Like Eddie Haskell, I am a stickler for historical inaccuracies in film. But hey, with a nice Sunday PM UHF TV ca 1975 wonder like this why should I give a hoot? Ivanhoe (Clyde Rogers aka Rik Van Nutter) has just come back from the Crusades but his problems are only beginning what with the local populace being terrorized by the local rulers led by the evil father/son team of Bertrand and Cedric of Hastings who are aided and abetted by Lockheel, a guy who looks way too much like Sugar Coated Andy Hernandez of August Darnell fame to the point where you'd think there'd be a lawsuit somewhere down the line.

Along the way Ivanhoe gets into more'n the usual hassles resulting in a whole slew of sword fights and other bash crash action scenes that are guaranteed to keep the ten-year-old stocking feet tee-vee viewer in you activated at least for a few minutes. Good enough that you don't even notice the overt Robin Hood references here including a comedy relief holyman in the Friar Tuck role (and there is a member of Ivanhoe's gang named Tuck, so maybe this is one of those bizzaroid distorted references to the Hood legend that mirrors the whole LEAVE IT TO BEAVER Mayfield = Cleveland comparisons for sheer strange coincidental effect).

Surprisingly good action/swashbuckler here that you should get hold of. For maximum effect watch this on a sunny afternoon when you should be playing either outside or in a knotty pine rec room filled with your toys and games as well as a few old sweatshirts strewn around. It wouldn't hurt if you can watch this on an old Philco, though you'll have to conjure up your own roll-a-sage chair commercials for the times you wanna sneak into the kitchen to get yerself a glass of Kool Ade.

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