S1E11 - THE SUPERHERO EPISODE with Mr. Freedom (1968) & Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (66)

With superheroes dominating today's multiplexes and streaming channels, we look back at the 1960s, when people got way into superheroes for two years and then got the hell over it. First, we've got the superhero as a metaphor for American imperialism, racism and police brutality in MR. FREEDOM (1968), a savage satire produced in France and directed by American expat William Klein. In "Mr. Freedom," fellow expat John Abbey (The Sandpiper) plays a sociopathic himbo in red, white and blue football pads who takes a break from beating up Black people to keep the "mixed-up, sniveling crybabies" of France from falling to a communist invasion led by an inflatable Chinese Dragon and a Russian agent clad in a comical amount of foam rubber. Featuring wacked-out visuals that capture the look and feel of French sci-fi comics (think Moebius) and later American dystopian comics such as "Dark Knight Returns" and "The Watchmen." Also starring Donald Pleasance as Mr. Freedom's boss, Dr. Freedom, Delphine Seyrig as Mr. Freedom’s girlfriend, and French pop and jazz legend Serge Gainsbourg. Director William Klein died on the same day that we taped this ep. RIP. For our B-feature, we go waaaay low budget with "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo" (1966), a ramshackle effort from Ray Dennis Steckler, the mad genius behind the world's first monster musical, "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies." The film starts out as a pretty severe crime drama but then makes one of the most jarring tonal shifts in history when Rat Pfink and his trusty sidekick Boo Boo show up and turn it all into a goofy superhero flick, no doubt inspired by the wave of "Batmania" that swept the nation in 1966 with the brief mega success of TV's BATMAN with Adam West. This one's got some rock and roll numbers + a gorilla (!), causing Philena to ask why dudes are so into apes, a question that the straight cis men on the panel don't have all that good answer for. It's perhaps something we'll have to ponder in a future Ape-isode of OMFYS. MR. FREEDOM is streaming on Criterion Channel. RAT PFINK A BOO BOO is on tubi + it's including in Severin Films' upcoming "The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler" blu-ray boxset. The set also includes "Wild Guitar," "The Thrill Killers," and "Incredibly Strange Creatures..." among others + intros by Joe Bob Briggs. Go to severinfilms.com for more info. Weed is at your local dispensary. If you get it on the streets, we don't need to know. Hosts: Philena Franklin, Cory Sklar, Greg Franklin, Bob Calhoun Co-producers: Bob Calhoun & Cory Sklar Contact Email: oldmoviesforyoungstoners AT gmail dot com Twitter: OM4YStoners Instagram/Facebook (Meta): oldmoviesforyoungstoners Mastadon: [email protected]