The Indestructible Man

Rating:
Summary: Yet another 1950s madman resurrected by wacky scientists
Review: Hollywood just couldn't get enough of clumsy, oafish, neo-Frankenstein monsters in the 1950s, as this movie demonstrates quite well. Lon Chaney, Jr., looking like a cross between Babe Ruth and Walter Matthau, plays Charles "Butcher" Benton, a death row inmate who swears revenge on his partners in crime for turning states' evidence and helping earn him a date with the gas chamber. I'm not sure why they call him the Butcher, though; as far as we are told, all he did was help hold up an armored car, steal 600 grand, and hide it where no one, especially his partners, would ever find it - looking back, the whole hiding all the money thing may have a lot to do with his partners' selling him out to the cops, but you just try explaining that to Butcher yourself. One must assume he killed someone during the heist - either that, or he was a meat butcher before he turned to a life of crime. He swears he will kill the guys who ratted him out, a threat that his three former partners scoff at for the logical reason that the Butcher is a day away from being executed. What they don't know is that the Butcher has a plan; in a brilliant move, he allows himself to be killed, fully confident that, against all the odds in the world, some crazy doctor will bribe some morgue attendant into selling him his corpse, at which point the doctor will, in looking for a cure for cancer, accidentally bring the Butcher back to life with several hundred thousand volts of electricity and give him superhuman strength and a skin that even Ginzu knives cannot penetrate. This is exactly what happens. (Actually, the Butcher doesn't really make any plans to back up his seemingly hollow threats at all; he just gets lucky.)

Granted a second lease on life, missing only the ability to speak due to the debilitating effect massive volts of electricity have on the human vocal cords, he decides it's about time to start earning that nickname he loves so dearly. While all of this is happening, a bland police detective named Dick Chasen (played rather woodenly by Max Showalter) remains committed to finding the stolen money and implicating the three spineless hoods who helped Butcher carry out the heist, although it is entirely possible that he is just using this as an excuse for him to begin putting the moves on the Butcher's old burlesque dancer girlfriend. Eventually, all of these characters and plot points come together for as satisfying an end as you might expect (this is a criticism, not a note of praise), but in the meantime Lon Chaney Jr. stumbles around like a drunk man with one wooden leg, occasionally scrunching his face up into what is supposed to be a fierce expression as the camera zooms in for a close-up. As far as urban Frankenstein-esque movies go, Indestructible Man isn't that bad; the decision to have Chaney utter no lines whatsoever after his execution and resurrection seems like a wise move, but then you think about how many additional lines this threw Max Showalter's way. Realizing you can't win either way, you immediately begin to forget everything about this rather dull sort-of-monster movie.

Rating:
Summary: Silent, But Deadly..
Review: Lon Chaney jr. is great as Charles "Butcher" Benton, in this enjoyable shlock-fest. Sitting on death row, he swears revenge against his former partners in crime, including his sleazoid lawyer who got him put away in the first place. Benton is executed the next day. His body is sold to a scientist who inadvertently brings him back to life during an experiment. Not only that, but Benton is now an indestructible maniac, impervious to bullets! Benton is also unable to speak, as his vocal cords have been destroyed by the 300,000 volts of electricity used on him. He kills the scientist and his assistant (played by the ever goofy Joe Flynn), then shambles forth to continue his rampage. This is a pretty good revenge flick. Both cops and innocent bystanders are wiped out for getting in his way! Benton stalks and eventually catches up with his ex-cronies, dispatching them in quick fashion. I was surprised at the body-count, seeing as this did come out in 1956. If you like murder, mayhem and back-from-the-grave horror, this is a must! ...

Rating:
Summary: Low-budget gem...a surprise...
Review: This film really isn't so bad if you consider a few things. An encouraged guy named Jack Pollexfen (not unlike Ed Wood) had an idea (not unlike Ed Wood) and cast a great actor from the past (not unlike Ed Wood). The difference is that this is a take on "noir", though without the finesse of those earlier films (sorta like Ed Wood). Production values, as in any independent film with a somewhat believable plot, are low. ("Blair Witch Project", though innovative, was not much different). My idea is not to criticize it for its tackiness, but for its idea. The acting isn't that bad. Marian Carr is actually quite effective as the only female lead. Casey Adams was good as he could be; made a big mark on TV in "Green Acres"; it's almost a take on "Dragnet", the hit TV series at the time (though Adams has more life than Jack Webb ever did...). Then there's Lon Chaney, Jr., relegated to idiotic roles because Hollywood never knew what to do with him; with the studio collapse of the early 50's, no one remembered his touching performance as "The Wolf Man" (1941) or his most remarkable performance (as Lenny) in "Of Mice and Men" (1939, directed by Lewis Milestone). Whaddya do with a guy like this? Perhaps he knew that he was "hard to cast", but I beg anyone to say that his heart wasn't in it. Today's wave of independent film is suddenly recognized as a force to be reckoned with; budgets as they are, I think some of the "lousy" films of the 50's tried to do the same thing. They didn't have Miramax to back them...NO ONE, for that matter. Still, I was a part of the Drive-In crowd back then, and I still appreciate this kind of film fare. Even bad independent film should be respected, to a point. The really trashy films will be just that; small moments of ingenuity should be respected. I have the VHS version, and now the DVD. Both are of low quality, but I find both equally entertaining. This film has been written off as junk by the studios who've produced it. Despite the bad VHS/DVD transfers, the film held my interest. Decide for yourself.