" NIGHT OF THE LEPUS " on ME-TV!

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

Svengoolie, on ME-TV, is showing " NIGHT OF The LEPUS " right now! I meant to get this up before...I don't know of anyone else here but Richard in the Western time zone, so...........

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...ME has brought KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER back in the " Sci-Go Saturday " line-up. Good.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...NOTL got a little " parental caution " from Svengoolie - And, in fact, it has blood/dead bodies appearances that were a touch extreme by 1972 still kind-of running  standards, still a little bit " good ol' horror movie " standards. Was it PG?

  At.the time, I read about it in a piece in the old weekly LIFE in a piece on the boom-let in " nature strikes back " horror movies. I saw it maybe a year later on CBS's Friday night " Late Movie " at 11:30, which would show tween/young teen-friendly horror/SF/rock'n'roll/slapstick comedy movies.

[Richard Willis]

Night of the Lepus was rated PG in 1972 by the Motion Picture Association of America. The PG-13 rating didn't exist at the time. It could only have been rated PG (parental guidance) or R (restricted -  no one under 17 without a parent).

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...Didn't see this till now, Richard, thank you.

[Richard Willis]

For those that missed it, Night of the Lepus is playing this Monday 10/12 at 3:30 PM or 6:30 PM on Turner Classic Movies. 

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

.Even before I saw that Richard had bumped this, I decided to add on to this to tell you that I'm now watching Svengoolie showing Clint Eastwood " in " Jack Arnold's TARANTULA. I had forgotten, plot-wise, about the " humans monster-ized, too " plot angle not to mention acromealgy.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...

Svengoolie now has THEM!, complete with bright pink lettering of the title phrase in the opening title, as the pre-cable era syndication prints we grew up on saved money by not bothering with. It takes up more time in Svengoolie's slot than a usual movie does - Is it literally uncut? - and Sven does less " bits "/liner notes than usual.

[Richard Willis]

Did you catch Svengoolie's guest shot in the Dick Tracy comic strip? It was from Sep 27 to Oct 5, 2020.

[JohnD]

Hey! I saw the Svengoolie episode featuring Night of the Lepus. I fell asleep half way through. Do the rabbits win?

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...THEM! rather reflected the militaristic Fifties mindset, in the general tendency of Fifties monster movies having the U.S.
military clean up/go after the Big Scary Thing. For a film that I suppose was at least partly intended as matinee fare, it is interesting to note the portrayal of alcohol consumption - First, while some military are cleaning up giant-ant mess, one comments " When we're through with this, I'm going to do something to bend my elbow! " or similar.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...And then, we see the main characters going to an advanced alcoholism ward, where a hopeless drunk/regular guest of the ward I guess has some info on.seeing the giant ants. He is presented as a loveable eccentric/character. Would a modern film present booze this way? We are perhaps more hypocritical/hiding of it now.
Another plot aspect I did remember is how the main characters, in pursuit of more info on the ants when they are not yet generally well-known,, meet USAF pilot Fess Parker, who is being imprisoned in a psychiatric ward after reporting encountering the ants - and the main characters, after talking to Parker trying to convince them he's not crazy, tell the psych ward authorities that Parker is dangerous and should kept in the psych ward! The implication is that he will be let out eventually, but...

[Richard Willis]

Not the giant ants, which I believe were also in the Los Angeles area, but the 1953 War of the Worlds movie was close to home. The Wiki entry says:

"Many of the major world capitals are destroyed by the Martians, and the United States government makes the decision to drop an atomic bomb. The Martians' force shield, however, proves impenetrable."

In 1953 my parents and I had just moved to newly built house in what had been citrus groves. Dialogue in the movie says that they dropped the bomb "in the Puente Hills," which were walking distance from our new home. We wouldn't have made it.