42nd Street Forever, Vol. 2:
The Deuce
U.S.A. | 2006
 Featuring
William Devane, Dana Andrews
Jim Brown, Warren Oates
Senta Berger, Angelique Pettyjohn
Marilyn Chambers, Darren McGavin
Mike Connors, Louis Jourdan
Alan Steel, Scott Baio, etc.
Color, B&W | 128 Minutes | Not Rated
Format: DVD (R1 - NTSC)
Synapse Films
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8
     6   10 = Highest Rating  
Guest Review by Rod Barnett
Once again the fine folks at Synapse films have put together a trailer compilation to rival the best ever assembled. Continuing in the same vein as the first 42nd Street Forever collection, Volume 2: The Deuce brings together a little over two hours of often rare and always entertaining previews. This second dip into the art of the sell ranges a little wider than the first disc. Some might complain that a few of these clips shill for flicks that never played in any of the venerable movie houses along New York City's 42nd Street, but I was happy to see the broader scope of this DVD as it added a hint of true unpredictability to the mix. Yeah, it's true that having trailers for The Hideous Sun Demon, Dragstrip Riot, and The Giant Gila Monster harkens back to the age of the drive-in double feature more than the grimy, sticky interiors of urban grindhouses. But with the wealth of joys presented here I just don't find that a good reason to whine. This is fun stuff and, as with the first one, points me toward even more movies I'd never heard of before and would really like to see.
    The disc gives you the option of watching the entire program as one long show or you can pop to any desired trailer from the chapter selection menu pages. While both are fun ways to explore the contents, I enjoy the themed groupings in which the clips are arranged. There are revenge flicks including Ms. 45, the first Billy Jack film Born Losers and the legendary Rolling Thunder. I'm glad to finally see this trailer as I've heard about this nasty little film for years. Championed by Quentin Tarentino (among others) as one of the best of the '70s vengeance films, I can now see what the fuss was about. An amazing cast (William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, James Best, Dabney Coleman) in what seems to be a pure shot of crowd-pleasing violence. Seeing this preview puts me on the long list of folks clamoring for a DVD release — with extras please!
    There are a couple of clips for '70s southern-fried comedies with Dixie Dynamite being the stand out. Anything with Warren Oates is worth a look even if there's more time spent with the young girls in cutoff jeans than with that fine actor. (Then again, girls in shorts are a good thing too!) This moves us into a few biker movies including Hells Angels on Wheels which sports a young Jack Nicholson and "the wildest party scene ever put on film". Yeah, right. Still, it also promises a Hell's Angels wedding which sounds funny if not at all realistic. Next up we have a group of car movies. These are simple, straightforward flicks that glory in the twin joys of beautiful girls and beautiful cars. The much talked about Van Nuys Blvd. is present focusing on the 'cruise night' phenomena first made famous on that Los Angeles street. The film, like the cruising itself, seems to be about nothing at all but the trailer is capped by the sight of two cars being beaten to death by a group of punks. There's nothing like senseless violence against inanimate objects to dazzle and fascinate. Burnout takes place in the world of drag racing and the footage of the races looks much more interesting than the clichéd story. Detailing the appeal of Off Road racing is Dirt, which appears to be a documentary but the information in the preview is a bit fuzzy. It might be fiction or not, but the racing footage seen here is very exciting stuff.
    No trailer collection of this type would be complete without a Blaxploitation film represented, and they've turned up some very rare ones this time out. Savage is a hard one to locate; with the tagline "...And His All Girl Army" it just shot to the top of my 'To Find' list. Kenner stars Jim Brown in what could be described as 'Shaft in India'. Tick...Tick...Tick also stars Brown as the new sheriff of a small southern town dealing with racists and crime on an almost 50/50 ratio. I'm not sure Jim was good enough an actor to pull it off but I'd love to find out. This takes us to our one spaghetti western clip, for Take a Hard Ride — one of the few black-cast westerns of the '70s. It's a good come-on for a solid movie.
    There are a few spots for Euro-Spy films taking their cues from the Bond movies' huge popularity. Both flavors are sampled, with the spoofs looking more entertaining than the straight thrillers. Although I'm not too sure Spy in Your Eye could be taken as seriously as the preview seems to indicate it was intended. At least The Last of the Secret Agents looks amusingly stupid in a Martin & Lewis kind of way with a cheesy title song sung by Nancy Sinatra as an extra incentive for the curious. The best title award goes to Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die, a spy film starring Mike Connors that looks like 'Mannix in Rio de Janeiro'. It looks like a fun movie... but I do wonder why Connors' character eats bananas continuously throughout the trailer.
    The brief science fiction section is of interest for the rarity of the films advertised. The Clones was one of the first to mine this sci-fi subject for scares but is very hard to see now. Mission Mars stars the great Darren McGavin in an all too infrequent big screen leading man role. Hell! A cheap double feature DVD of those two would get my money and fast. The horror films in the mix are scattered around a bit, with Cronenberg's Rabid, Craven's (still missing on DVD) Deadly Blessing, The Dark, Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971), and the very well-edited clip for the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The real surprise for me was the trailer for The Evil, which looks to be one rip-the-doors-off haunted house movie with a nice cast. I'm really interested in finding this one.
    Of course, as with the first 42nd Street Forever DVD there are a lot of previews for sex films, both soft and hard. The soft sex films of the 1970s were mostly harmless T & A parades with just enough story to get by — the ones represented here are good examples. The Pom Pom Girls, College Girls, The Babysitter, Pick Up and Delinquent Schoolgirls are all tease and little flash. Promising all kinds of salaciousness, they're mostly leering voyeur stuff a little above the nudie cuties of the '60s. They're harmless and somewhat erotic but the trailers probably contain most of the 'good stuff', making them a fun, sexy 3-minute ride. (That may have come out wrong!) Some of the harder — or more clinical — sex films on view are I, A Woman, Helga, The Curious Female and Street Girls. These look like less fun to me, veering into violence for the sake of violence. Still the mixture is well handled and I have to admit that I'd like to see all of the advertised skin... uh, I mean movies.
    The oddest detour comes near the end of the set with a few Peplum trailers such as Samson and the Slave Girl and Revenge of the Gladiators. These are the square pegs in round holes I guess, but since they lead into the bloody trailer for Shogun Assassin it still works. And saving the strangest for last, we are pummeled by the unholy trinity of Scott Baio, Patrick Swayze and roller disco in Skatetown USA. There are no words for this preview — it simply must be seen. (Or not, depending on your tolerance for roller disco.)
The DVD sports no extras, with only the 56 trailers presented in 1.85:1 widescreen (16x9 enhanced). The trailers are in generally good shape, looking better than might be expected considering the rare nature of some of their subjects. As with the first volume the sound is in Mono, but is always clear and strong. This is a great DVD for fans of movie preview trailers and I recommend it just as enthusiastically as I did the first disc. With any luck next year we'll see a couple more volumes in this series. 11/14/06
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