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Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Red Zone Cuba

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Red Zone Cuba

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: i can't tell which is better--the movie or the episode
Review: this is one of the best episodes of mst3k ever. all of coleman francis' movies are pure bad movie genius. plus mike and the bots were in top form all through the 6th season and especially on this episode. watch it at least 10 times. if you don't think it's the funniest thing you've ever seen, then you have deep problems to deal with.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: red zone cuba-even the best have a bad day
Review: With the utmost respect to the comic genuis of mst3k, red zone was a lackluster episode. Poor mike put up a brave fight against coleman and his horrible film, but if you're not a seasoned misty, this film may just kill you. But you know what I say, the worst episode of mst is better than the best day of any other show.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My brain is now tapioca...
Review: Wow... I finished watching this episode mere moments ago, and i think my brain has turned into Jello. It takes a long time before you realize that no there will be no more than a vague plotline throughtout the entire "film". Random Scene changes, serious continuity problems(day night day night day night afternoon...), and a complete abscence of intelligble dialogue, combine to make this film completely unwatchable. Eventually it reaches the point where as Servo says " the movie seems to have just thrown up it's hands and given up on the plot" If it weren't for superb riffs from the satelite of love gang, i think i might have had to go to the bathroom and evacuate my stomach. If you have ever heard the legend of Coleman Francis and want a great example of his complete lack of talent watch this film, watch it anyway because the comments are hilarious. However don't plan to do anything requiring brain wave activity for a few hours afterwards... As Crow says "aside from never being able to experience joy again" and " I can never harm this movie the way it has harmed me" Amen...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "Be sure to get a brand-new chin!"
Review: The short was, as is usual, great (did you know that the narrator and the older speaker were one and the same?), but this was one movie that I just had trouble believing hadn't been edited by the MST3K people. If it hadn't included a short, I just wouldn't have believed RZC was in its original format, it was that jumpy. The host segments were lower than usual, but the riffs made up for it. I didn't understand what was supposed to be funny about "I'm Cherokee Jack," and I personally would've used more Three Stooges jokes ("Nyah-ah-ah, this is almost as bad as when we were caught by the Nazis!" "Oh, a wise guy, eh?" and where were the Stooge sound effects when Coleman Francis was pushing people around?) and done a little bit more with the "Castro" appearance (I loved "Get...real...beard."), but that's just a matter of taste. And what was the deal with the young woman in Cuba?

"Hey, commies are cute!"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You and your chi-chi frogs legs!
Review: This is one film you would never sit through without Tom, Crow and Mike along. As Mr Badmood says below, it is incredibly incompetent in just about every category. Which only makes the riffing -- some of the most inspired of the Mike era -- more welcome. Watch it with someone you love, and you'll find yourselves trading quips -- 'Oh, he's good in anything' -- for days. If you buy just ONE MST video, buy Mitchell. If you buy two, get Red Zone Cuba. (Anyone else find it strange that the two most inspired episodes of a program called Mystery SCIENCE Theater are a bad cop flick and a war movie?)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hypnotic sludge
Review: I wholeheartedly agree with assertions that Coleman Francis was a far worse writer/director than Ed Wood. Say what you want about Mr. Wood, he could at least employ dialogue that allowed for character development and develop a relatively cohesive plot. Indeed, Red Zone Cuba is a horrible movie, and yet I feel strangely drawn to it because I am baffled as to why CF thought such a tale deserved screen time. I can only surmise that Francis thought it remarkable that the bay of pigs invasion relied heavily on government-backed militants and Free Cuba activists who didn't care where the men they recruited came from; they just needed warm bodies on the front line. Ex-cons and luckless drifters like the two desperadoes with the escaped con Griffin were almost certainly among their numbers. Dull plot, virtually absent dialogue, and bleak landscapes notwithstanding, what makes Red Zone Cuba a really terrible movie is that it just isn't focused at all. One might think with a $30,000 budget, Francis would confine the story more directly to the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Ideally, the movie might have ended with the trio's escape and more time and effort would have gone into developing a cohesive plot and general film statement. Instead, the film packs on forty extra pitiful minutes AFTER the escape when the three pillage and loot their way West to cheat a widow out of a hardly credible 'mine'. Why bother? Wasn't, as Crow stated, this movie supposed to be about Cuba? Herein lies the paradox of the movie: was it about the Bay of Pigs invasion force, or was it about a vile escaped con called Griffin, who 'ran all the way to hell?' Was the story extended into a tale of Griffin's last days because, perhaps, Francis' ego wasn't assuaged by the quantity of screen time he got? Or am i just reading way too much into the whole damn thing? I feel fortunate to have seen the movie, and grateful to Best Brains for having softened the blow of the second worst movie I have ever seen. I didn't like this particular MST the first time i saw it, but it seems to have garnered a special place in my heart now. I recommend this comically revamped film as a thinkpiece as well as a classic MST3K episode.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Worst Movie Ever.
Review: The Mst3k Episode Guide says it best: "This movie is little more than a series of still photos that amount to a flipbook." Who is (or was) Coleman Francis, and what the hell was he thinking when he decided to make this film? Well, actually, I'm glad he did, or wouldn't have this hour and a half of hilarity. This is one of the best Mike episodes of the series, and I recommend it whole-heartedly. Is there anyone else out there who would like to see these MST episodes released on DVD, with the added bonus of being able to watch both the MST version and the original non-MST version? I think it would be cool to be able to watch this movie as the esteemed Mr. Francis intended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Coleman Francis: Comedian of the Century
Review: I would have loved to see _Red Zone Cuba_ straight up, no sillouette. The "invasion" scenes rival some of the better work of Monty Python. And the Castro look-alike! "I'm Cherokee Jack!" The movie alone would have you paralyzed with laughter.

But then you get M&TB to sit in front of it and you are in for some kind of treat. It was no problem for them to get good riffs out of this one: the riffs came gently and easily, amplifying Francis' spectacle to the nth degree. I was reluctant to laugh as much as I had the need to for fear of missing another comment. This is one of my favorites to be sure. Thank you Coleman Francis, and thank you MST3K!

P.S.- Is it just me or in Red Zone Cuba has Mike not yet found his niche yet in the SOL host segments? Instead of the Mike of the Sci-Fi years whom we could always expect a focused personality from, late S5 Mike is kinda foggy-headed and aimlessly goofy. But then again, replacing Joel had to take some guts, and if Mike hadn't yet found his place in the show I can understand that. But "it's just a show, I should really just relax!"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "I'm Cherokee Jack"
Review: The best MST3K on video. Their riffs on Coleman Francis are right up there with Mitchell. I rewound the Cherokee Jack thing at least eight times.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "There's 80,000 of them and 7 of us."
Review: This has got to be the best MST _ever_. Coleman Francis fails miserably at attempting to make a deep, insightful war-time film. But hey, one man's loss is another man's (and two 'bots') gain. The side-splitting comments are non-stop; some highlights: "Ah, so it's marshall law in Rat's Ass Missouri." "My name is Death, I'll be your waiter." and "It looks a lot like Cuba out here, but just ignore that."


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