GULL COTTAGE NETWORK: RETRO SUNDAYS - VAULTED TREASURES: AMAZING STORIES - LIFE ON DEATH ROW / YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME (1986) by CEJ With episodes directed by Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorcese, Danny DeVitio, Joe Dante, Irvin Kershner, Robert Zemeckis and many others - including Steven Spielberg himself, Spielbergs anthology series, AMAZING STORIES (licensing its name as an homage to the worlds oldest ongoing sci fi magazine first published in 1926) was one of the most heartbreaking wonders of mid 1980s television. Hey, streaming is wonderful, but many cinematic gems (for various reasons) have yet to make the leap to NetFlix, Hulu, Blu-ray or even DVD. In fact some have never been released in ANY home video format. For this reason we saved our old school VHS tapes / players and DVD burner; and love to return to the vaults to relive old faves. With a murderers row of talent not only behind the lens but at the keyboard, AMAZING STORIES stable of legendary writers included Richard Matheson (I AM LEGEND, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN), Mick Garris (MASTERS OF HORROR, HOCUS POCUS), Brad Bird (THE IRON GIANT, THE INCREDIBLES), Earl Pomerantz (TAXI, CHEERS, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW), Menno Meyjes (THE COLOR PURPLE, THE SIEGE), Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel (SPLASH, PARENTHOOD, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN), Gail Parent (SHEILA LEVINE IS DEAD AND LIVING IN NEW YORK, CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN) and numerous others. Notwithstanding its powerhouse list of creative contributors however (and lets not forget that composers roster including John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Danny Elfman, Georges Delure, Michael Kamen, etc.), after a stunning debut on September 29th, 1985 - back to back on NBC with the premiere of the rebooted ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, AMAZING STORIES nosedived in the ratings its next few weeks (going head to head with both a run of World Series games and the sponsor-loving older demographic tuned into MURDER SHE WROTE) and never fully recovered its scheduling equilibrium. As direct counter-programming to the World Series, AMAZING STORIES launched with its first four episodes (Ghost Train, The Main Attraction, Alamo Jobe and Mummy Daddy) deliberately aimed at children and teens. And as such (coupled with Spielbergs desire to not preview episodes for the press), even when the next slew of more intense TWILIGHT ZONE / ONE STEP BEYOND-ish stories such as The Amazing Falsworth (directed by CAPRICORN ONE and OUTLANDs Peter Hyams; and starring Gregory Hines as a self styled nightclub clairvoyant who becomes the object of a serial killer), Eastwoods Vanessa In The Garden (with Harvey Keitel as a 19th century painter using his craft to bring back his departed wife), and Scorceses terrifying Mirror, Mirror (with Sam Waterston and Tim Robbins) it would find itself in an uphill battle to lose its kiddie show perception during the remainder of its short two year run. Constantly pre-empted, and with some episodes at times airing on Tuesday (and even Friday!!! if we recall correctly) nights, for those who DID become fans of the series, it became hard to keep up with where to find it. Always intended not only as a forum for established filmmakers to burn off a little creative energy, but as a pedestal from which new up-and-comers whod caught the eye of Spielberg and his producers (ST. ELSEWHERE and NORTHERN EXPOSUREs Joshua Brand & John Falsey; and CREEPSHOW / TALES FROM THE DARKSIDEs David E. Vogel) could also be discovered, AMAZING STORIES did double duty also as a teething ring for future filmmakers the likes of director Phil Joanou (THREE OCLOCK HIGH, STATE OF GRACE), Kevin Reynolds (ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, WATERWORLD, 187), and even actors with aspirations to take the lens as director - among them Burt Reynolds, Danny DeVito and Timothy Hutton. With that kind of never before & never again assemblage of talent, AMAZING STORIES would, over the succeeding years film school nerds infatuation with cinema history, become a cherished cult well of untold riches. Feeding this new found appetite, during the 1990s many of AMAZING STORIES episodes would be edited together as three-fer and four-fer syndicated TV movies under the titles AMAZING STORIES: THE MOVIE, AMAZING STORIES: BOOK ONE, BOOK TWO, etc. And VHS tape versions of these film assemblages would be released in the U.S., Europe and Japan. In 2006 the four disc boxed set AMAZING STORIES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON was released worldwide. But, while issued in Japan and Germany in 2009, the SECOND SEASON and COMPLETE SERIES boxed sets of AMAZING STORIES has yet to see a U.S. dvd version. For DVR / DVD burner enthusiasts, the first and second season independent episodes sporadically air on the SyFy network, and the film version assemblages on Starz! / Encores MoviPlex and Encore Mysteries movie channels. During the second season, legendary genre author Richard Matheson became the shows Creative Consultant, and its tone changed significantly to the (at times) darker feel and narrative subtextual complexity of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, ONE STEP BEYOND, THRILLER, THE OUTER LIMITS and ROALD DAHLS TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED. Two of the series best at this time included the (to date unreleased on DVD in the U.S.) episodes LIFE ON DEATH ROW (orig. airdate 11-10-86) and YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME (10-20-86). A ten year precursor to Stephen Kings THE GREEN MILE (the serialized novel first published in 1996) LIFE ON DEATH ROW (scripted by ALIEN NATION and FARSCAPEs Rockne S. OBannon - from a story concept by Mick Garris; and the episode directed by Garris) starred the late Patrick Swayze in arguably the greatest role of his career - as luckless convicted murderer / thief Eric Peterson, who took the life of a man during a botched armored car robbery; then after being stricken by lightning during a failed prison escape, finds himself possessed of the power to heal - a power which may now ironically grant a pardon for his past crimes. Surely a story which wouldnt be produced for television in the post Pan Am / Lockerbie and post 9/11 world, Kevin Reynolds nerve wracking masterpiece in audience manipulation YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME starred the always amazing Charles Durning (hey, who else could stand toe-to-toe with Pacino in DOG DAY AFTERNOON, with Hoffman in TOOTSIE, and Reynolds in THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, ... and come away with an Oscar nomination) as an everyman who awakens in the wee hours from a nightmare concerning a plane crash; then - convinced its a premonition, travels to the nearby airport in an attempt to persuade authorities to halt a particular upcoming flight. While yet to see dvd release, both LIFE ON DEATH ROW and YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME were recently made available via Neflix. As the streaming giant tends these days to drop titles with great regularity however, we recommend - if youre not inclined to DVR or DVD burn them from a cable TV broadcast, to check out these two gems ASAP before they once again fall into that great void between light and shadow / between science and superstition. Okay, yeah, thats the narration from THE TWILIGHT ZONE and not AMAZING STORIES. But you get the idea. CEJ
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 06:47:17 +0000
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