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| June 1986 |
Flight Of The Navigator (1986)
A fun film with great (for the time) special effects. Flight Of The Navigator, like most films I saw in the 1980's was girlfriend friendly. But to see Star Trek IV or 2010: The Year We Make Contact I had to pay by seeing *at least* three John Hughes films!
On the back of the clipping: $7.69 for a Tahbilk cabernet sauvingnon. Fetch the time machine, Jeeves
The Terminator
I regret that I never saw The Terminator at the cinema. I was 19 and much too busy being in love, getting my drivers license and playing in a band. But as always, I still found the time to cut the movie ad out of the paper.
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| December 1984 |
On the back of the clipping:
Salem's Lot (1980)
I saw Salem's Lot on TV rather than this edited cinema version and I remember it being quite scary. I also remember being surprised at how well David Soul could act.
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| From The Sun newspaper March 20 1980 |
On the back of the clipping:
Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii / Rust Never Sleeps
My older brother took me to see this in 1979 or 1980. As an impressionable teenager this was the most mind blowing double feature I've ever seen and hugely influential on my future musical life. I smuggled in cassette player (actually a massive ghetto blaster - the Mayfair cinema was pretty relaxed) and recorded the whole thing.
The Awakening
An old-school horror film released in 1980 in the midst of a slasher and zombie film explosion. Needless to say it was a box office dud. I didn't see it but I loved the poster enough to add to my newspaper clippings collection.
On the back of the clipping: a bottle of 1976 Wynns Coonawarra Hermitage then for sale at $2.75 recently sold at auction for a grand total of.... $27.50. Like The Awakening it hasn't aged very well.
Urgh! A Music War
Here's an obscure one for you. The Police were the draw card, but they were only one of twenty eight bands in this film of live performances from mainly UK punk/new wave bands.
On the back of the clipping: note the 'Tandoori Turkey' Christmas dinner from Moghul
Monty Python's Life Of Brian
After Star Trek: TMP, Alien and uh, Moonraker this was my next favourite movie of 1979. What fourteen year old scifi nerd didn't like Monty Python? The best of the Python movies by far.
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| The Sun, November 14 1979 |
On the back of the clipping: the 'You Asked For It' column sounds like a Monty Python sketch itself..
The Shape Of Things To Come
This was the crappiest of crappy Star Wars rip offs. Made in Canada (not Italy for once). It was bad, not in a 'so bad its good' way, just plain bad.
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| August 23 1979 |
On the back of the clipping:
Xanadu
I have no idea why I cut this out of the newspaper in 1980. I wasn't at all interested in anything related to Olivia Newton-John and I was devastated ELO one of my favourite bands was involved. Still, Xanadu is a very catchy song....
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| August 1980 |
On the back of the clipping: cricket, cricket, cricket
Airport '80: The Concorde
I never saw this film at the time, but I always looked forward to the dramatic 'Airport' movie posters. This one was no exception, promising action and excitement. Much more than the film delivered.
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| December 5 1979 |
On the back of the clipping: Riteway supermarkets!
Time Bandits
Monty Python-esque, funny and surreal, this was one of Terry Gilliam's best films and one of the bright spots of my 1981, a year filled with ever increasing school and family angst.
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| December 10 1981 |
On the back of the clipping: cheap furniture when 'colonial' was the design de jour
The Nude Bomb
I was a huge Get Smart fan so naturally I cut this clipping out but I didn't bother seeing the film. I was too busy seeing the dozens of sci-fi films released in 1980. By all accounts the film lived up to its title. Bomb, that is.
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| October 30 1980 |
On the back of the clipping:
The Final Countdown
No, not the bombastic song by the band with a continent for a name, but the not-very-good 1980 film starring Kirk Douglas. As a financially struggling 15 year old I needed to ration my film viewing for more exciting things in the pipeline so I avoided this one. Loved the poster though.
On the back of the clipping: Church of Scientology grand opening, Aker Bilk and Basil's Seafood Restaurant. Ah, Melbourne...
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| August 1980 |
Prophecy
Anyone remember this one? It came hot on the heels of Alien and was directed by John Frankenheimer. I never saw it and still haven't but I cut out the clipping anyway as I really liked the image (an obvious 'Alien egg' rip off)
On the back of the clipping: before cutting my Dad's newspaper to pieces, I would always read the 'Rap Around' music news column.
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| September 15 1979 |
Battle Beyond The Stars
Another highly enjoyable Star Wars rip off, Battle Beyond The Stars was basically The Magnificent Seven in space.
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| Battle Beyond the Stars Dec 25 1980 |
On the back of the clipping:
The Empire Strikes back
Words can't describe the excitement and anticipation I felt leading up to the release of this. I cut out every article and mention of it in magazines and newspapers. I recorded (on cassettes) every interview and promo piece on TV shows (The Don Lane show in particular) and radio. The movie did not disappoint and in my opinion remains the best of the entire series.
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| August 9 1980 |
On the back of the clipping: more fabulously unsubtle Melbourne restaurants.
The Muppet Movie
Through years of watching Sesame St and later the Muppet Show TV series, the Muppets were well ingrained in my DNA by the time this movie came along. Seeing it was probably an uncool thing to do as an early teenager, but I felt I was never too old to enjoy the Muppets.
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| From The Herald December 1979 |
On the back of the clipping: you don't see many too many in-depth record reviews for classical music these days.
The Humanoid
Another highly entertaining Italian Star Wars rip off. The byline says "the most imaginative film of its kind since Star Wars" Exactly. Check out the Darth Vader look-a-like on the bottom right of the poster.
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| The Humanoid Aug 23 1979 |
On the back of the clipping:
Star Trek The Motion Picture
After Star Wars this film was the biggest movie event of the 1970s for me. What a mind blowing trip it was with stunning special effects and a majestic soundtrack. Pity about the plodding story, but back then it didn't bother me.
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| Star Trek The Motion Picture December 20 1979 |
On the back of the clipping: an eclectic collection of films on offer in December 1979
Buck Rogers In The 25th Century
This poster promised more than the film (basically some TV episodes edited together) could deliver but I still enjoyed it. It was from the production team behind Battlestar Galactica and the sound effects, music and special effects were embarrassingly similar.
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| The Herald Aug 8 1979 |
On the back of the clipping:
The Black Hole
The Black Hole, shown in glorious 70mm, was one of the most spectacular films I'd ever seen and the special effects were refreshingly dark and moody. Pity about everything else in the film.
This clipping is from The Sun, May 28 1980
On the back of the clipping: they don't make jobs like these any more...
Alien
I was enthralled and terrified by Alien in 1979. I knew when the 'chest burster' scene was going to happen but it still gave me an electrifying jolt. I cut this clipping out of The Sun newspaper 20 December 1979.
The other side of it reveals a mixed bag of movies showing at the time. I avoided Meteor but saw Kiss Attack of the Phantoms at least three times.
Warlords of Atlantis
I never saw this film but that didn't stop me cutting out the ad. I love that 'Are You Being Served?' is the second movie. Guess they thought let's shove on any old mismatched film, no one's going to turn up anyway. And they didn't ...in droves.
Warlords of Atlantis (AKA Warlords of the Deep) clipping from the Melbourne Herald, Aug 10, 1979
The back of the clipping is far more interesting. You can buy a Bay gelding for $500, very handsome and great for kids.
2001: A Space Odyssey
The ad trumpets "Before Star Wars there was and there will always be 2001: A Space Odyssey." It didn't really need to say that - there was always an audience for 2001. But for a brief period in the post-Star Wars world everything in science fiction had to have a link to that most successful film.
26 August 1978, The Melbourne Herald newspaper.
On the back of the clipping: who remembers the Swagman restaurant with "the floorshow we are famous for"
Starcrash
The greatest Star Wars rip-off of all was the completely ridiculous and insanely enjoyable Starcrash. I really wanted to see this at the time but yet again my mother and her overactive rip-off radar prevented me.
Starcrash. Clipping from August 23 1979
On the back of the clipping. Anyone remember Waltons stores?
Monster (AKA Humanoids From The Deep)
Late 1970's shocker from producer Roger Corman about fishy monsters from the deep. With a character called Miss Salmon. Even as an impressionable fifteen year old I knew this one was a turkey. Still, the poster got my attention (the monster).
On the back: now this is much more interesting. The Casiotone M-10 back then was considered more or less a kids toy. Now it one of those semi-revered keyboards searched out for by vintage music gear fans and synth geeks. I had one for a while and recorded a few songs with it in the early 1980s.
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