tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post1073797422658696014..comments2024-01-25T05:48:13.938-06:00Comments on Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies: The Executioner, Part II (1984): or, Just Say No to DrugsThe Vicar of VHShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06832137990485130735noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-87190229951362709992010-04-22T19:20:55.754-05:002010-04-22T19:20:55.754-05:00I should note that while the Punisher had debuted ...I should note that while the Punisher had debuted before this film came out, he had not received his own series until after it came, only appearing about a dozen times in the interregnum, so I doubt the makers of this film had that property in mind. Of course, the Executioner (as in Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan; this film does not officially adapt those books), reprints of the Shadow, etc. had steadily shown up in bookstores.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-81098272126136558262009-06-02T19:20:33.605-05:002009-06-02T19:20:33.605-05:00Did you notice that they never attempt to explain ...Did you notice that they never attempt to explain how the Executioner finds so many crimes in progress? He just pops up on cue. Even the best policeman rarely, if ever, just stumbles upon a crime in progress. <br /><br />Other writers realized the incongruity of this, and set about solving the problem. <br />In the sequel novel to Death Wish, Death Sentence, Brian Garfield realized this. <br />Page 38<br /><br />"Long ago Paul [the Vigilante] had learned not to waste time in fruitless search for felons in the act of committing crimes; the odds were too long. A robbery took place in the city every three minutes.....but it was an enormous city and there were three million potential victims".<br /><br />Paul Benjamin, besides using himself as bait, comes up with the idea of shadowing the court houses. After all, criminals often are repeat offenders who have to show up for parole hearings, methadone treatment, etc. So, he tails them from the court house. See page 56<br /><br />http://www.captaincomics.us/forums/index.php?topic=15755.0%3Bwap2<br /><br />In Hero At Large and The Exterminator 2, we see the protagonists listening to a police scanner.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-77244471409262684442009-05-30T05:57:08.010-05:002009-05-30T05:57:08.010-05:00http://www.amazon.ca/Serial-Vigilantes-Paperback-F...http://www.amazon.ca/Serial-Vigilantes-Paperback-Fiction-Encyclopedia/dp/0786441658<br /><br />The book Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction will cover this Vietnam Vets to Vigilantes trend. It tended to peter out after the 1980's, with 1985's The Annihilators as one of the last examples. <br /><br />By the way, oddly enough, in the first Exterminator film, a policeman accidentally calls the Exterminator "The Executioner".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-28321374070350852142009-05-18T14:40:00.000-05:002009-05-18T14:40:00.000-05:00@Anonymous--thanks for the exhaustive scholarship ...@Anonymous--thanks for the exhaustive scholarship on the subject! Even if the subject of the scholarship is not in actuality the subject under discussion in this review. <br /><br />Whether THE EXTERMINATOR ripped off the PUNISHER is not really my concern here, since I'm not reviewing THE EXTERMINATOR. It's mentioned here only b/c it seems to be the movie distributors were hoping moviegoers would think THE EXECUTIONER, PT. 2 was a sequel to--though as stated clearly above, it was not.<br /><br />I mention THE PUNISHER only as a point of comparison to what the vigilante in this movie is up to, not to make any claims as to whether it or THE EXTERMINATOR came first, second, or fifth. I stand by my claim that the plot is PUNISHER-esque, as much as it's RAMBO-esque. <br /><br />Thanks for reading, though! Stay vigilant!The Vicar of VHShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06832137990485130735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-38963606333089563402009-05-17T05:16:00.000-05:002009-05-17T05:16:00.000-05:00http://www.geocities.com/cheeksilver/goobers1.htm
...http://www.geocities.com/cheeksilver/goobers1.htm<br /><br /> The original Shadow had more than a little in common, attitude-wise, with writer Don Pendleton's popular (and much imitated) "Mack Bolan" character, whose bloody, one-man war against organized crime is chronicled in the EXECUTIONER paperback series. While I've never been overly enamored of Mr. Pendleton's creation, myself... even he deserved far better than the wholesale swiping of his conceptual mainsprings enacted by comics scribe Gerry Conway (during his lengthy tenure on Marvel's SPIDER-MAN series), re: The Punisher.<br /><br />Quite simply: "Frank Castle" (a.k.a., The Punisher) was lifted, wholesale -- origin; motivation; and motif -- straightaway from the better-known (and immensely popular, at the time) EXECUTIONER series of novels. A man whose family is wiped out during a "mob" crossfire; the near-psychotic obsession with (and totemization of) "the holy, cleansing power of firearms"; the hag-ridden quest to rid the world of all gangsters, everywhere -- preferably, one bullet at a time. "And so" (in the words of the immortal Vonnegut) "it goes."<br /><br />Stuff this shameless and opportunistic goes well beyond any reasonable definition of the word "homage"... particularly when the original creation (to say nothing of its author) is never afforded so much as a tipping of the hat by latter-day parvenus. Were I Mr. Pendleton's legal counsel... this sort of thing would have occasioned a hefty little lawsuit decades ago.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-57509618617407242662009-05-17T05:15:00.000-05:002009-05-17T05:15:00.000-05:00"The plot is equal parts The Punisher and Fir..."The plot is equal parts The Punisher and First Blood: in a 1980s Los Angeles where crime is rampant and hobo-patterned red bandannas are ubiquitous, the people cower in their homes, praying for a savior."<br /><br />http://tarstarkas.net/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=rhafc05l2kiflfgk333m28m701&topic=267.msg534#new<br /><br />I recall few people huffing of the Exterminator as a Punisher rip-off. Well, "we all live in glass houses"....<br /><br />http://jabootu.net/?p=687<br /><br />Yes, the Punisher came out in 1973, and the Exterminator came out in 1980. However, I seriously doubt that they had the former character in mind when this film came out. In any event, somebody got ripped off.<br /><br />"Basically, the Punisher always seemed to me a very direct rip-off of the Executioner, the lead character of a long series—eventually over three hundred of them—of pulp drugstore paperback books starting back in 1969. Mack Bolan was a Vietnam special forces vet, his family was killed by the Mafia, and used his combat skills to kill, ultimately, thousands upon thousands of mobsters. Frankly, I’m amazed there was any organized left in this country by the time he was done.<br /><br />The Punisher was basically the Executioner, a murderous sorta-hero awkwardly inserted into the Comics Code-supervised Marvel Comics superhero universe back in a 1974 issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. It wasn’t until later, when Wolverine of the X-Men confirmed a taste for anti-heroes, that the Punisher started getting his own series (and by now he’s had quite a few). In these the superhero aspects of the universe were downplayed in favor of often baroque but straighter killing-the-gangsters stuff. I’ve never really been sure why Marvel was never sued over the Punisher. Perhaps he floated around so long as a minor character that when he hit it big, it was too late to retroactively sue for copyright violation".<br /><br />http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19008<br /><br />http://woldnewton.blogspot.com/2009/04/serial-vigilantes-of-paperback-fiction.html<br /><br />A helpful book by Brad Mengel will detial the paperback original adventure series trend, including the vigilante characters, with a release date in June.<br /><br />Gerry Conway also admitted the influence of the Shadow.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-30295013740607056882009-01-27T13:28:00.000-06:002009-01-27T13:28:00.000-06:00Kate--I thought about mentioning the Backyard Nam ...Kate--I thought about mentioning the Backyard Nam sets, but I ran out of space. :) I liked the way explosions were indicated by someone blasting a flamethrower from just out of frame, too!<BR/><BR/>Duke--You DEFINITELY need to see this one. Knowing your early-career Stallone fixation, this knock-off will warm the heartles of your cock...or something.<BR/><BR/>Karswell--<BR/>>>I do likie the bat shittamous.<BR/><BR/>Are you high RIGHT NOW? :PThe Vicar of VHShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06832137990485130735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-64063088262934785212009-01-27T13:23:00.000-06:002009-01-27T13:23:00.000-06:00I unleashed some bat shit this week too, haha... T...I unleashed some bat shit this week too, haha... The Kings of Batshittery. It's what all the cool d00ds are saying these days.<BR/><BR/>Not sure I've ever seen this one either, box art looks a little too much on the action oriented side of the isle for my tastes but I do likie the bat shittamous.<BR/><BR/>No to drugs. Yes to Kitty.Mr. Karswellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15889717828895556186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-70940413879936245602009-01-23T13:01:00.000-06:002009-01-23T13:01:00.000-06:00Wowee. Yes, I must watch this. It sounds like Ra...Wowee. Yes, I must watch this. It sounds like Rambo crossed with Westside Story crossed with Death Wish. I love how 80's movies always have the dudes dressing in what would now be considered gay at best. I'm reminded of Sleepaway Camp, in which all of the jocks dress in cut-off jean shorts and knotted t-shirts and/or muscle shirts, and generally look like they are rent boys who just walked out of a bar called A League of Extraordinarily Horny Gentleman.<BR/><BR/>Props on the great review, Vicar. I must add this one to ye olde DVD collection.The Duke of DVDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04931606833969681610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4032450846239938332.post-27462883947497276902009-01-22T09:34:00.000-06:002009-01-22T09:34:00.000-06:00I blind-viewed this one as part of the "Grindhouse...I blind-viewed this one as part of the "Grindhouse" box as well, and can attest to the... erm... WOW-ness of this movie. As in "wow, I can't believe I'm watching this and--WOW--I can't believe I'm having this much *fun* watching this!" I was pretty much *raised* on 80s action flicks (HBO used to screen some real barrel-scrapers with commercials that included the timeless catchphrase "It ain't Bergman, but things blow up") and this has some of the kooky energy of the weirdest of those movies. The 'Nam Flashbacks are particularly amazing--I especially love the unmistakably deciduous-forested "jungle" sets. Killer write-up of this little nugget of weirdness, sir!Tenebrous Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10032561062849200919noreply@blogger.com