COMIC BOOK COVER GALLERY sidebar: Comics-based films (from various eras) that I saw in the '60s, '70s, and '80s

As much as folks talk about superhero fatigue among movie-goers, there's still an ongoing buzz attached to the DC and Marvel Comics cinematic universes. And comics-related flicks remain a much bigger deal now than they were when I was a kid in the 1960s and '70s, and even into theoretical adulthood in the '80s.

Today's gallery gathers images from comics-based movies I saw in those decades. It's not limited to films first released in that era; 1930s and '40s movies and movie serials are certainly fair game. The gallery includes movies I saw in theaters, on TV, via home video, and in screenings at the Syracuse Cinephile Society, or at the 1976 Super DC Con in New York City. It excludes TV series, but includes TV movies, and at least one feature-length compilation of TV series episodes (1974's Kato And The Green Hornet), plus one time when a local station in Syracuse aired a bunch of Hulk cartoons from the 1966 limited-animation Marvel Super Heroes series as its Saturday afternoon movie . And while the focus is on films based on comic books or syndicated comic strips, we're throwing in properties (like the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet) that originated in other media. I'm arbitrarily excluding Tarzan and Zorro, and less-arbitrarily excluding pulp hero Doc Savage, the latter only because I didn't see Doc Savage, Man Of Bronze within the stated timeline. 

In the time frame, there were a number of comics-related film or TV-movie projects teased but never made, including adaptations of Black Widow (starring Angela Bowie), Captain America, Spider-Man, Silver Surfer,and  Vampirella (pictured above); actress Barbara Leigh was said to be set to star in a Hammer Films Vampirella adaptation, but if that was true at any time, it wasn't true for long.

So! Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear! Lights! Camera! ACTION COMICS! 

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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here

My Movie Library

I dig movies. I don't consider myself any kind of serious movie buff, but I've always enjoyed movies, especially movies seen in a theater. The home video experience does not match a proper visit to the cinema. Not for me, anyway.

That said, I do own a bunch of feature films on home video. For popcorn-free kicks, I decided to look through my video library and list the movies I have in my possession. That includes a number of titles from when my daughter was younger and still lived under our roof. Those are still here, so they're on the list until the if/when of her wanting to add 'em to her own home library

This list crosses formats--VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray--and it includes a few films not officially released on home video, acquired from friends and/or from specialty video dealers. It does not include anything recorded off TV or cable. It excludes direct-to-video releases, and I've tried to avoid listing movies made for TV. It was a coin-toss whether or not to list my bootleg VHS copy of Roger Corman's unreleased 1994 parvum opus The Fantastic Four, but here 'tis.

I'm not sure this is a comprehensive list. I mean, I physically looked through all of the tapes and discs I could find in my house, but there are a few movies I would have sworn I still owned--notably Airplane! on Blu-ray--but couldn't locate my copy. Can't prove it, so i didn't list it. And I didn't bother listing what movies I own in multiple versions, but that category would include Head, Rock 'n' Roll High School, That Thing You Do!, and What's Up, Doc?

An honorable mention to movies I used to own but relinquished in space-saving purges over time, movies like Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, Slade in Flame, Bloodstone's star turn in Train Ride To Hollywood, and many others stubborn memory won't conjure on demand. And although my three all-time favorite movies--That Thing You Do!, A Hard Day's Night, and It's A Wonderful Life--are represented here, films like Casablanca, The Mark Of Zorro, and The Maltese Falcon are also among my top flick picks, and are conspicuous in their absence in my library.

And as a final note, I've gotta mention that I rarely find time to watch movies at home. There are many titles listed here that I have yet to see. But I'll get to the ones I get to. Lights! Camera...!

MOVIE SERIALS

The Adventures Of Captain Marvel (1941)

Batman (1943)

Batman And Robin (1949)

Captain America (1944)

The Phantom (1943)

FEATURE FILMS

American Splendor (2003)

Animal Crackers (1930)

The Baby-Sitter’s Club (1995)

Backbeat (1994)

Batman (1966)

Batman Begins (2005)

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)

Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (1993)

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Brain Donors (1992)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)

The Cocoanuts (1929)

The Dark Knight (2008)

Detroit Rock City (1999)

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)

Duck Soup (1933)

Empire Records (1995)

End Of The Century: The Story Of The Ramones (2003)

Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

The Fantastic Four (1994)

Fathom (1967)

Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992)

Ferry Cross The Mersey (1964)

Freaky Friday (2003)

Frozen (2013)

The Green Hornet [aka Kato And The Green Hornet] (1974)

Hairspray (1988)

Hairspray (2007)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

Having A Wild Weekend (1965)

Head (1968)

Help! (1965)

High Fidelity (2000)

Holes (2003)

Horse Feathers (1932)

I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)

The Incredible Journey (1963)

The Incredibles (2004)

Inside Out (2015)

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

The Jerk (1979)

The Jungle Book (1967)

Keep Off My Grass! (1975)

Let It Be (1970)

The Lone Ranger (1956)

Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

Mary Poppins (1964)

Moana (2016)

Monkey Business (1931)

North By Northwest (1959)

Oliver & Company (1988)

Paulie (1998)

Pay It Forward (2000)

The Phantom Empire (1935)

Rent (2005)

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Song Of The South (1946)

The Sound Of Music (1965)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Stand By Me (1986)

Standing In The Shadows Of Motown (2002)

Still Crazy (1998)

Stuart Little (1999)

Suburban Girl (2007)

Superman: The Movie (1978)

Superman II (1980)

Superman III (1983)

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987)

Superman Returns (2006)

The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

That Thing You Do! (1996)

Then She Found Me (2007)

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

To Sir, With Love (1967)

Veronica Mars (2004)

A Walk To Remember (2002)

What’s Up, Doc? (1972)

Wonder Woman (2017)

Yellow Submarine (1968)

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

Old Movies On TV

 

Some months back, a whim sparked me to try listing old movies that I saw for the first time on television. It didn't matter if I caught the flick on broadcast TV or on cable, but I deliberately excluded anything I saw on home video, or on pay stations like HBO. And, obviously, my chosen parameters prohibited listing anything I saw in any kind of movie theater before seeing it on a cathode-ray screen at home.

(I also wasn't absolutely sure what I wanted to consider as old. I arbitrarily excluded network TV broadcasts of then-recent movies like True Grit and The Poseidon Adventure.)

Why would the restrictions matter? Because this list is a specific recognition of discovering old movies on TV. Man, there was something magic about discovering old movies on TV.

And discover I did. Sure, four-year-old me saw the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night at the drive-in in 1964, and that was seismic; but it also meant a lot to me to finally see their 1965 follow-up Help! on Channel 3's afternoon movie matinee when I was a teen in the '70s. Remember: home video did not exist in any sort of everyday way in the '60s and '70s. Local broadcast platforms like Films At Four, Saturday Action Theater, and Dialing For Dollars provided opportunities to see so, so many movies I'd never seen. Network and cable offerings expanded all of that even more.

This was huge. I first saw the Marx Brothers on a weekend late show on Syracuse's Channel 9. What was the weekly showcase called? Old-Time Movie Classics? No, that wasn't it. But whatever it was, on one Saturday evening into Sunday morning in the early '70s, it showed me Groucho, Chico, and Harpo in Room Service (maybe not the best possible introduction for my Marx Brothers 101), and then completed the double feature with Groucho, Chico, Harpo, AND ZEPPO in Duck Soup. 

Awright. I was hooked.

I remember calling our local CBS affiliate in the mid '70s to complain that they weren't carrying that evening's CBS Late Movie, which was the Monkees in Head. Bastards! I caught it the next time around a few months later. And when you see the end in sight, the beginning may arrive. 

This list is far--VERY far--from complete. I couldn't remember which Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Road pictures I saw on TV, nor which Godzilla and Starman and other cheesy Japanese sci-fi flicks, nor if I saw The Born Losers on TV or at our (still open!) budget movie house The Hollywood Theatre. There should be more Tarzan movies than the three that I listed. There should be some Three Stooges. Abbott and Costello. And Matt Helm! I know I saw at least some of Dean Martin's Matt Helm movies, probably on Films At Four or somesuch. Maybe all four of them? But I don't remember for sure.

Still, consider this list a snapshot of a time when I was (theoretically) growing up, and watching a lot of movies on TV. I rarely do that nowadays. I go out to the movies when something interests me (generally to the above-mentioned Hollywood), but the in-home movie experience doesn't hold much interest for me anymore.

So here's a toast to the days when it did.

12 Angry Men

Adam's Rib

The African Queen

Alakazam The Great

The Apartment

Arsenic And Old Lace

Artists And Models

At The Circus

Babes In Toyland

Barbarella

The Battle Of The Bulge

Beach Blanket Bingo

Beach Party

Bus Stop

Carousel

Casablanca
Casino Royale [1967]

Cat Ballou

A Change Of Habit

Citizen Kane

Diamonds Are Forever

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome

Dr. No

Dr. Strangelove

Dracula [1958]
Duck Soup

Expresso Bongo

Fail Safe

From Russia With Love

Gimme Shelter

The Girls On The Beach

Go West

Goldfinger

Good Times [1967]

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

Head

Help!

The Horn Blows At Midnight

Horsefeathers

How To Commit Marriage

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

It's A Wonderful Life

The Last Of The Secret Agents?

Love Happy
Loving You
The Maltese Falcon

The Mark Of Zorro [1940]

Miracle On 34th Street [1947]
My Friend Irma

A Night In Casablanca

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The Pink Panther

The Producers

Room Service

The Seven Year Itch

A Shot In The Dark

Ski Party

The Spy With My Face

Support Your Local Gunfighter

Support Your Local Sheriff

The T.A.M.I Show

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure

Tarzan's New York Adventure

Tarzan Triumphs

Them!

Thunderball

To Be Or Not To Be [1942]

To Have And Have Not

Town Without Pity

The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre

Under The Yum Yum Tree

West Side Story

What's New Pussycat?

What's Up, Tiger Lilly?

The Wizard Of Oz

You Only Live Twice

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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

POP-A-LOOZA: Lights! Camera! REACTION! My Life At The Movies: Rock 'n' Roll!

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is a Lights! Camera! REACTION! look at rock 'n' roll movies.

This piece was written in 2018, and I haven't added much to my rock 'n' roll flick ticket stub gallery since then. We talked about the Herman's Hermits pastiche Ripped! in our last Boppin' Pop-A-Looza; I also saw Times Square and Earth, Wind & Fire in That's The Way Of The World, neither of which is exactly Casablanca, nor even Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. I did pick up a DVD copy of Gerry and the Pacemakers in Ferry Cross The Mersey, and I'm looking forward to watching it. 

I'm surprised my original piece didn't mention Prince, Morris Day, and Apollonia in Purple Rain, a movie I certainly enjoyed in its original 1984 theatrical run. That's a pretty big omission, and it stuck out immediately when I re-read the piece this week. Oops? This is what it sounds like when bloggers cry.

I also omitted Detroit Rock City, an inessential but fun 1999 jukebox movie about KISS fans in the '70s. Detroit Rock City was an authorized KISS project, but the band only appeared in a climactic in-concert cameo, allowing, y'know, actual actors to carry the day. The result was silly and inconsequential, and I liked it a lot more than the lackluster 1978 TV movie KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park. 

I'm sure I forgot others that should have been cited in the original article, but I regret forgetting about Detroit Rock City and especially Purple Rain. I betcha I'll regret others as I remember them. But omissions notwithstanding, it's still a decent piece about my love of rock 'n' roll movies. "Lights! Camera! REACTION! My Life At The Movies: Rock 'n' Roll!" serves as the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download

Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

Follow me on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

POP-A-LOOZA: Lights Camera! REACTION! My Life At The Movies

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is my attempt to remember the first movies I ever saw when I was a little kid in the '60s: "Lights! Camera! REACTION! My Life At The Movies."

This was first posted here in 2017 as the inaugural entry in a sporadic blog series. I haven't gotten back to writing very many editions of Lights! Camera! REACTION!, but I have a few notions that may yet inspire sequels. Hey, it's a franchise! Pop--Looza has already reprised "Read The Movie," my reminiscence of reading paperback movie adaptations. A few more entries in this series will likely be among near-future shared posts at Pop-A-Looza. Some of them will need to be updated before sharing, and a L!C!R! about the movies I saw in 2019 is too time-specific to bother re-posting at Pop-A-Looza. (And a line in its closing paragraph, hoping that 2020 would bring many more opportunities to visit movie theaters, provides a cold, prickly feeling in the context of how that miserable year played out.)

For now, we look back at where my movie story began. "Lights! Camera! REACTION!" is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download

Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

Follow me on Twitter @CafarelliCarl