massacre at central high is a 1976 american thriller film directed by rene daalder and starring derrel maury , kimberly beck , robert carradine , and andrew stevens .

the plot follows a series of revenge killings at a fictional american high school , after which the oppressed students take on the role of their bully oppressors .

despite its title , it is not a slasher film but an unusual blend of political allegory , social commentary , and low-budget exploitation ; with the exception of the final sequence , no " adult " characters ( such as teachers and parents ) are seen .

in the uk the film was released theatrically as blackboard massacre .

it was shot on 35 mm film , and had a running time of 87 minutes .

the film 's director , rene daalder , described massacre at central high as " eerily predicting punk and columbine " .

it has also been cited as an influence on the 1988 black comedy heathers .

massacre at central high

massacre at central high <EOT> massacre at central high is an unusual revenge / exploitation film with somewhat confusing sociopolitical overtones .

looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing massacre at central high near you .

a while ago , i conducted an extensive interview with massacre at central high star rex sikes . ( which you can read here : urltoken here are a few of the highlights :

what can be considered as a proto - slasher , massacre at central high is , at the very least , a typical 70s social commentary film being masqueraded as exploitation cinema . something so complex but at the same time common among films from this decade .

the film ' s director , rene daalder , described massacre at central high as " eerily predicting punk and columbine " . it has also been cited as an influence on the 1988 black comedy heathers .

urltoken presents ' massacre at central high ' . for those of you who can ' t sit through this whole cheesy movie . . . it ' s cinema minuto ! for the full review visit urltoken !

okay , david…er , derrel…thanks for returning to central high with us and taking a trip down memory lane .

( 1955 ) , while the library death scene was shot at hollywood high school .

massacre at central high is a study in social oppression and bureaucracy at a high school level . at the most basic level , showing the never ending cycle of power , how men can be like weeds . you get rid of one group of power hungry bullies just to make way for ten more to spring up in their place .

this brings back memories . when i was younger , a cable station ran a double feature of heathers ( 1989 ) and massacre at central high . i thought that this choice of double feature flicks was hilariously demented .

[ 3 ] george kraus , high road to promontory : building the central pacific across the high sierra ( palo alto : american west publishing company , 1969 ) , 66 .

there is the old adage that the more things change , the more they stay the same . cliched ? absolutely . trite ? perhaps . accurate ? sadly yes and nowhere is it more apparent than in rene daalder’s brilliant and bleak 1976 film , massacre at central high . it is considered to be a huge influence on michael lehmann’s heathers , but while the darkness of that film is cushioned by some exquisitely played gallows humor , massacre at central high is truly the unrelenting real deal .

reports that approximately 4 , 000 men , “mostly chinese , ” are at work on the central pacific railroad .

maimed by bullies at a california high school , a new student ( derrel maury ) engineers acts of revenge .

this story survivor honoured on anniversary of babi yar massacre first appeared on the sydney morning herald .

in what can only be described as a “what the fuck ? ” moment , “massacre at central high” actually begins with the final shot of the movie , and then works its way through an opening credits montage consisting of the film’s many brutal and explosive highlights set to a sensitive sounding seventies soft rock song called “the crossroads of your life . ” once that insanity winds down we are introduced to david ( derrel murray ) – the new kid at central high , a large high school located near the california coastline . david immediately runs afoul of the little league gestapo that dominates the school .

i also was there for arthur’s death at hollywood high library . we all thought the blood looked cool running down the page .

and the central recommendation of the commission is that african governments should improve their governance .

summer 1863 : problems over financial and contractual issues arise among the central pacific board .

june 22 , 1870 : the central pacific railroad company merges with western pacific railroad .

activists have labelled an annual easter tradition as " cruel " and " nothing short of a massacre " .

dmitri shostakovich was emboldened by yevtushenko ' s poem to compose his symphony on the massacre . photo : supplied

' massacre at central high ' isn ' t really a slasher . to me , it ' s a stretch to even call it a horror film . i guess it is though , in the same way ' heathers ' , or to a lesser extent ' we need to talk about kevin ' , could be considered one .

1885 : the central pacific and the southern pacific formally merge into the southern pacific railroad company .

but relinquishing aid could be a small price to pay when the stakes are so high .

activists are not happy about a central otago tradition that sees 10 , 000 rabbits shot every year .

a new - in - town teenager decides to kill the members of a destructive gang at his high school , but finds himself unable to stop there .

at first glance , especially with the lurid title and various poster artwork , massacre at central high would seem just to be another exploitation film . fortunately there is lot more going on with it . definitely a product of the 70 ' s with its nihilistic tone , the film becomes more than just the standard kid stepping up to the bullies , indeed its central conceit is that we are all bullies or have the potential to be so . when david arrives at his new high school , he finds it is being ruled by a group of privileged kids who terrorize the other students through intimidation , threats and acts of violence . the other students feel so marginalized that they tolerate the abuse and accept it…

is heathers a remake of massacre at central high ? no , but only because heathers ’ creators have resolutely avoided giving any credit to the older film . in terms of actual plot , they are definitely close enough to justify a lawsuit . my understanding is that massacre is something of an orphaned production ( which is why it has never gotten the dvd treatment it deserves ) lost in legal limbo , which may explain why no such action has been taken . either that or maybe some money was exchanged , but never acknowledged .

founded in april 2006 , high - def digest is the ultimate guide for high - def enthusiasts who demand only the best that money can buy . updated daily and in real - time , we track all high - def disc news and release dates , and review the latest disc titles .

july 1865 : the central pacific railroad imports the first major group of chinese from china . [ 9 ]

adrian tamburini , opera singer will perform for the concert for 75th anniversary of babi yar massacre in ukraine at the hamer hall . 1 september 2017 . the age news . photo : eddie jim .

3 / 9 / 17 elena gorodetsky a survivor of the babiy yar massacre in 1941 in kiev , ukraine . photograph by chris hopkins

during the end scene when david ( maury ) is carrying the bomb out of central high , the actor lost his balance by limping on one leg , accidentally crashing into the school lockers in the hallway .

one of the worst assaults on african americans in arkansas’s history will be the focus of this program sponsored by the delta cultural center . join the little rock central high school national historic site on a charter bus trip from little rock through elaine , arkansas to " reflection and reconciliation : the elaine massacre " that will be held on sunday , april 23 , at 2 p . m . at beth el heritage hall , 406 perry st , helena - west helena , arkansas .

mark begins to fear for his own life and theresa begs david not to kill him . at central high , things have changed considerably as some of the students who were once at the mercy of the deceased begin to take over - and impose their sudden privileged status on the others . individually , they clumsily try to form alliances with david .

the director of central high is working with them already , the blu - ray of hysteria i received even has an interview with him . ( he did both films ) . but , correct me if i ' m wrong , they have never outright said " this is the next release we ' re working on " regarding central high . now they have . and they ' ve never " lied " before . jeez .

winter 1864 : the central pacific railroad company faces serious financial troubles and decline in caucasian employment . [ 7 ]

the tale of the aloha cheerleaders ' struggle against lincoln high . high points include such events as the aloha girls raiding a lincoln classroom to get drugs , then putting aforementioned . . . see full summary »

massacre at central high is one of the best films about high school life and what happens when no one looks out for the students . it is absolutely telling that you do not see one adult in the whole film until the climax at the school dance . even then the adults are just there , as ineffectual in presence as they were absent . which is part of the real life problem with bullying is that the adults that should be there to help guide , educate and protect students either turn a blind eye , especially if it’s just a “boys will be boys” kind of situation or even worse , aid and abet it . ( i actually had a teacher in junior high snicker as some kids picked on this one boy who was both dirt poor and developmentally disabled . sartre said hell is other people , but i would argue that junior high is right next to it . ) the film is almost forty years old and yet all the same problems are there . the only real difference is if massacre at central high was made nowadays , one of the bullies would be shooting video of their various attacks on their cell phones and uploading it to youtube and twitter . the ghosts of steubenville are still omnipresent and bully culture thrives long and strong .

this event is free and open to the public . a reception will be held immediately following the presentation . seats on the " delta express " charter bus from little rock are free but must be reserved in advance . the bus will depart from the little rock central high nhs visitor center at 10am and travel through elaine on the way to helena . we will arrive in time for a picnic lunch followed by a tour of delta cultural center exhibits before the reflection and reconcilliation program . the bus will return to the central high national historic site following the reception , arriving back in little rock at approximately 6pm . charter bus transportation coordinated by little rock central high school national historic site is funded by the lower mississippi delta initiative . bring a sack lunch and snacks . youth under 16 must be accompanied by an adult .

david ( derrel maury ) is a new student at central high in southern california . the school is run on a social order dictated by a group of four bullies : bruce ( ray underwood ) , craig ( steve bond ) , paul ( damon douglas ) and mark ( andrew stevens ) .

because of this , massacre at central high gets away with the implausible in ways other less - ambitious genre films couldn’t . we not only accept the tiny student population , the complete absence of adults ( until the very last dance sequence ) , and the unlikely murder scenarios , but actually understand how they work to strengthen the film’s message . what would otherwise be considered budget - related flaws , now seem like deliberate choices made for intelligent reasons .

in the uk the film was released theatrically as blackboard massacre . it was shot on 35mm film , and had a running time of 87 minutes .

the massacre became a legendary event of the american rebellion against the british with many controversies and myths surrounding the true facts . even when the gun smoke faded away , the subsequent murder trial raised high emotions and the results were not considered fair by either side .

massacre at central high is a fascinating film . viewed from every possible angle , it’s an exploitation movie down to its very core . it’s a revenge thriller with creatively planned murders ; it has a mega - buttload of impressive explosions ; and it features more than its share of gratuitous nudity . even its title was chosen specifically to capitalize on the popularity of tobe hooper’s the texas chainsaw massacre . yet for all of its exploitative elements , there’s no getting around the fact that writer / director renee daalder ( dutch and male ) was trying to do something more ambitious than create another drive - in movie .

i can’t write this post only about massacre at central high . for me , and for many others , this movie is inextricably linked with heathers , a movie i’ve seen literally hundreds of times . i can probably still quote it word - for - word . when i was a budding little cynic , i was known at the local video store as the - girl - who - only - rents - heathers . seriously , if it had moved on the shelf , they’d simply point to its new location . so it’s almost criminal that i’ve never seen massacre , given that certain key plot points and pretty much the last act of heathers are direct rip - offs from it .

marty was the dork of doddsville high . one day he got mad . . . then he got even !

in the case of massacre at central high , though , i don’t have to expend any effort at all to figure out what daalder was trying to say in his blood and tits drive - in movie . in fact , it would take far more effort to deny the film ' s pretensions and dismiss it as just another horror movie . in the case of this film , the question isn’t whether or not subtext exists , but whether or not that subtext allows the film to transcend what might otherwise be some pretty fatal flaws .

my first encounter with massacre was a 49 cent rental at my local showtime video . i’ve been a huge fan of this one ever since , and have enjoyed more repeat viewings over the years than i can count . sadly , this flick has never been released on dvd , and i still make due with a dvd - r copy of my old electric video inc vhs . cult epics and rene daalder have wrestled around with the idea of dvd release for years and nothing has ever come of it . i would very much like to see a special edition dvd release of massacre at central high . this one deserves a much larger audience , if only for being one of the few horror films that could never be remade .

synapse films started the week off with a pleasant surprise via their facebook page when they announced that they will be releasing massacre at central high on dvd and blu - ray sometime in 2016 . per the post synapse has already begun work on a completed hd transfer supervised by director rene daalder . synapse is still tracking down the original audio elements and will be doing some additional picture restoration . no word yet on what extras will be included but we can certainly expect that there will be plenty .

a week later , the “bowling green massacre” inspired a similar outcry—and a similarly nonchalant response from conway . i texted her afterward to ask whether she was in trouble with trump . “not at all , ” she replied . “why would i be ? ”

one of my favorite horror films . a social commentary film about the socially oppressive tier structures of high school . featuring robert carradine looking very much like the type of man i ' d have been very interested in when i was in high school .

the presenters will share stories and history of their respective families related to the massacre , but the journey of reconciliation between the two presenters will also be given special relevance .

armed revolution ? if so , does that mean the film thinks david should have given in like everyone else and let the bullies rule central high ? that doesn’t seem likely , which explains my confusion . the point of an allegory is to have a point , which

a high school student ' s slumber party turns terrifying as an escaped mental patient with a drill decides to crash the party .

at the roll change , the italian version is missing a cut on the school .

they are being detained at ziway , 150km south of the capital , addis ababa .

“judas iscariot got 30 pieces of silver ; mitt romney got a dish of frog legs at jean - georges . and even at that , it was the appetizer portion , ” a high - ranking white house official told me . “we’ve sort of taken out his larynx—how can he criticize [ trump ] now ? ”

may have , but which is the only aspect of its production left at all ambiguous .

molly ball is time magazine’s national political correspondent and a former staff writer at the atlantic .

phil fontaine publicly accuses the catholic church of physical and sexual abuse at its residential schools .

david ( derrel maury ) , a new student at central high , meets mark ( andrew stevens ) , an old friend whom he once helped out of a jam at their previous school . mark tells david that the school can be like a country club for him if he befriends bruce ( ray underwood ) , craig ( steve bond ) , and paul ( damon douglas ) , the bullies who rule the school student body ; mark has become their somewhat reluctant accomplice .

april 1869 : grenville dodge and collis huntington finally decide on a meeting point for the union pacific and central pacific lines after much debate—promontory summit , utah .

[ i ] massacre at central high [ / i ] is a low - budget film , but the acting is surpisingly good , especially by the lead , stevens and a young robert carradine . while many of the characters in the film come off as somewhat stereotypical , they work well with the confines of the plot , making it similar in theme to heathers , though its ' tone is completely different . shame that the print used for the long out - of - print vhs is scratchy as hell - - this is a title really in need of a good dvd release .

innis sm , kuhnlein hv , kinloch d . the composition of red cell membrane phospholipids in canadian inuit consuming a diet high in marine mammals .

british prime minister tony blair telephoned mr meles to express his concern at the killing of demonstrators .

ultimately , i did like this movie , despite its more - than - questionable political message . i was constantly surprised and delighted by the elements that heathers clearly rips off . in the end i think it’s fine that heathers stole so much , because a movie like massacre needs everything done a little better : a better message , a better ending , better production . though perhaps the biggest difference is that massacre entirely lacks humor , while heathers is absolutely known for its humor . and while certainly the hunger for power spreads from heather to heather , in the end , veronica ain’t havin’ none of that shit , and i’d like to believe westerburg high’s a better place for it . furthermore , i felt like there were actually people worth saving at westerburg . i can’t say the same for central .

july 23 , 1869 : the sacramento union describes the town of truckee as an active town with many connected to the central pacific railroad . however , many have been discontent because of a three - month delay on the part of central pacific in paying the workers there , most of whom are chinese . [ 35 ]

the film attracted little attention when first released , but when reissued in 1980 , new york times critic vincent canby praised it as " an original , fascinating work " , and named it as one of his 20 favorite films of the year . roger ebert also discussed the film favorably on his television show sneak previews , describing it as " intelligent and uncompromising " . by contrast , john ross bowie , in comparing the film with the more comedic heathers , dismissed massacre at central high as " exploitative " and " devoid of technique " , and criticised its technical flaws and " wooden acting " .

surprise announcement ! it ' s " m " for " monday " announcement day ! announcing one more synapse films release that begins with the letter " m " . . . morituris , manos : the hands of fate , mosquito , and now . . . massacre at central high ! the violent cult - classic gets the hd treatment and , for the first time ever , gets a truly authorized optical disc format release in conjunction with director rene daalder . coming from synapse films on dvd and blu - ray in 2016 ! synapse films is proud to announce work has begun on massacre at central high , directed by rene daalder . rene has completed and supervised a beautiful hd transfer for us , and we are in the process of locating the original audio sound elements ( stored at paramount , evidently , so we ' re working with their legal department as fast as we can to get access ) and doing some additional work at reliance mediaworks / prime focus for picture restoration ( the master was created from a negative element , but were making it the best we can make it ! ) . extras are still to be coordinated , so no further info on additional supplemental material is available at this time ( rene is busy now working on a new film , so we are waiting for him ) . we ' ll give more info on the release , as we have it . we may be able to post some sample frames of the new hd master in the near future right here , on the synapse films facebook page .

november 10 , 1869 : the houston and texas central railroad’s agent john b . walker signs a contract with san francisco labor contractor chew ah heang for 300 workers .

rene daalder ' s [ i ] massacre at central high [ / i ] , made several years earlier , starts off with a basic exploitation premise and manages to become something much more , coming off as a forerunner to [ i ] heathers [ / i ] . derrel maury is david , the new kid in town , who meets up with his old friend mark ( future erotic thriller vet andrew stevens ) and is instructed by mark how to blend in . mark ' s one of the gang of four guys that run the school , bullying those below them on the social ladder and generally acting like dickweeds .

rex sikes : massacre as i recall was shot in the early part of 1976 , seems like late winter early spring , it’s always hard to tell in los angeles where the weather is perfect year round . i would have been approaching 21 or 22 at the time , we all were in our twenties as i recall .

was held in august , 1976 at the long - gone pacific theater on hollywood boulevard in los angeles .

students at a residential school near james bay get a chance to equal that of children in urban centres .

that would make sense in light of how david beats the crap out of the gang at the new school .

residents at a nova scotia reserve gather to hear the news as ottawa makes an announcement for residential school survivors .

a priest agrees that action by the church may be in order to address allegations of abuse at residential schools .

the title might suggest a cheap hybrid of carrie and death wish , but massacre at central high is not your typical drive - in movie . granted it ' s filled with violence , blood , and nudity , and the revenge angle is quite powerful , but its examination of high - school politics is the element that really gets your brain working . we ' ve all experienced it - - the jerk jock gets transferred to another school , and right away someone fills his position as king of the cretins . those at the top of the social structure exercise their ultimately negligible powers in order to make themselves feel bigger and better than everyone else . it is this tradition that massacre at central high pierces with a razor - sharp skewer . unfortunately , the picture is very hard to find in this age of sickening political correctness . a typical knee - jerk reaction would be to say that films like this glorify school violence - - currently a big concern . but , as always , that sort of viewpoint is formulated without really looking at the message of the project . yes , it ' s violent . yes , it deals with a teenager killing other teenagers . but ultimately , what does this accomplish ? no matter how many are killed , they ' re immediately replaced . violence does not solve the problem . this is the point , and it ' s stated with a subtle brilliance that really hits home . of course , this underground classic also benefits from a terrific exploitation cast and an imaginative approach to the material . the scratchy , grainy color cinematography has a low - budget beauty that not everyone can appreciate . the melding of professional and amateurish elements results in a genuinely tense , scary experience . . . but one with much more to offer than your typical psycho epic .

january 15 , 1869 : leland stanford writes to fellow central pacific railroad “associate” and big four member mark hopkins , complaining about the central pacific’s pace and saying that “our work from ogden to monument goes very slowly . our contractors have many excuses… we must rely upon strobridge’s forces to finish up the work and to have the grade ready for the track . ” [ 28 ]

david quickly becomes disillusioned and decides to take action , systematically killing them off . mark confronts his former friend in his workshed with the intention of shooting him but david gets the upper hand . he locks both mark and theresa in the shed while he heads back to central high for his final plan : to blow up the entire school during the alumni prom .

the central otago great easter bunny hunt has seen up to 10 , 000 rabbits shot in previous years and people for the ethical treatment of animals ( peta ) is not happy about it .

february 16 , 1868 : the daily alta reports that chinese railroad workers reached the canyon at truckee . [ 24 ]

later that night , bruce , paul , and craig go to david’s house and confront him inside the garage – where david is working on rodney’s car . david refuses to come out from under the car so bruce gives him a shove which accidentally causes the heavy car frame to crash down onto david’s leg ! david is crippled for life , but tells authorities that it was simply an accident and that he was alone at the time . after a few weeks in the hospital david returns to central high with a limp and a thirst for revenge . he decides to liberate the students of central high by eliminating the brutal bullies that oppress them . first on the hit list is bruce , who is electrocuted after some hang glider sabotage . then craig is snuffed after diving headfirst into a drained pool . finally big dumb paul gets his in a fiery auto wreck .

eight people are invited to their old high school for their ten - year reunion where a fellow former student , disfigured from a prank gone wrong , is out to seek revenge .

may 1 , 1868 : the san francisco bulletin reports from the portland oregonian that superintendent hart of the oregon central railroad and his contractors have employed 40 chinese and expect in the next day or two to employ 25 or so more . the grading is progressing at a rate of 2 miles per week . [ 26 ]

you can read a much better assessment of the movie at vanity fear , a blog i intend on making regular reading .

this 1962 tv special shows everyday life and christmastime at the roman catholic - run kamloops indian residential school in british columbia .

one evening , the copper - haired yelena watched volodya tie the black tzitzit around a high - backed chair . in the morning , she awoke to find him strangled in its grip .

synopsis : a young students ' promising athletics career is cut short . school bullies smash his leg , leaving him semi - crippled , brooding and twisted , he strikes back , using spectacular and brutal methods . he wreaks powerful revenge on each of his assailants , there is almost no limit to the ingenuity of his murderous imagination . massacre at central high ( beyond terror ) director : rene daalder format : dvd cast : derrel maury , andrew stevens language : english year : 1976 cat number : bt4497 barcode : 5030462044972 label : starlite release date : 12 april 2010 no of discs : 1 genre : horror cert : 18 available from all good uk dvd outlets . . . . . . twitter : @ cstoneuk website : urltoken you tube : urltoken facebook : urltoken

if you fell asleep reading orwell ' s animal farm with a tv blaring heathers in the background , you might dream something as cynical , blackly comedic and weird as massacre at central high . whether by design or by accident ( when you ' re sitting in the dark watching the final product , how important is this distinction anyway ? ) a one - two combo of flat , monotone performances and atonal string music creates a layer of dreamy surrealism on top of the after - school special aesthetic . it ' s a strange affect that mostly works in the movie ' s favor . i have my doubts as to the veracity of herzog ' s claim that he hypnotized the entire cast of heart of glass , but i would have no problem believing that the cast of…

the outside of the school was pomona college . there was a school in burbank called villa cabrini that we shot a lot of the interior stuff at . where the guys come and beat up rodney ' s car…stuff like that was shot at cabrini .

july 1 , 1862 : congress passes the pacific railroad bill , approving the central pacific project building the line from california as well as chartering the union pacific railroad company to build westward from the missouri river .

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the interior of carol ' s apartment belonged to paul raymond . the exterior was where caroline munro actually lived at the time .

april 18 , 1866 : the daily alta reports of an explosion at colfax at camp 9 , near gold hun , after a blast was set off and the seam blast was reloaded . among the six men killed , three are chinese . [ 12 ]

[ 53 ] “at home and abroad , ” frank leslie’s illustrated newspaper , 14 jun . , 1879 , p . 243 .

at a time when monuments are flashpoints of nationalist anger , he says the symphony is a " living " monument to humanity .

[ 16 ] john r . gillis , “tunnels of the pacific railroad , ” van nostrand’s eclectic engineering magazine , 5 jan . , 1870 , p . 418 - 423 . central pacific railroad photographic history museum . urltoken

massacre starts off with a new kid , david , looking for the “student lounge . ” it’s clear right away that the students of this school are scared shitless of a clique of tyrannical jerks who , unfortunately , have wrangled david’s friend mark to be part of their crew .

spring 1864 : work on bloomer cut , a major point in the central pacific track , begins . there exist payroll records for chinese workers during january , february , and april of 1864 , and likely more . [ 4 ]

dmj : “we are finally finishing up rene daalder’s massacre at central high , a film we’ve been working on for a while . we have a pretty amazing samurai - gore animated feature coming to blu called path of blood , and in september we have a great independent film called the creep behind the camera , a docu - drama about the real - life vic savage , the director of the shlock - classic the creeping terror . on that blu - ray of creep , we also include a new 2k scan of the creeping terror from original vault materials , too ! also in september , we release our standard version of argento’s phenomena . our steelbook release of that title is running pretty low ! next year , we’ll have a great 80s horror that people have been waiting for ( i can’t mention the name… yet ) , so we’ll announce that soon ! ”

leaders from ukraine and across europe mark the 2016 anniversary at the site by a new memorial to the jews slain there . photo : ap

it was bitter sweet for me . it is difficult to watch oneself and then i see my broken nose throughout . the audience that was there seemed to like it . tom logan and i hung out quite a bit and there were times in hollywood when people would spot us and ask for autographs because we were kids from central high . i later took a director friend of mine to see it at another hollywood theater so she could see my work in the film . she was positive . i am glad it has been well received through the years , surprised and glad .

june 15 , 1858 : the sacramento union reports on the hiring of 50 chinese workers for the california central railroad , which “bids fair to demonstrate that chinese laborers can be profitably employed in grading railroads in california . ” [ 1 ]

all i can say about this film is . . one of the worst i have ever seen . boring , and not scary at all .

at 82 , in her commission flat in melbourne , yelena gorodetsky ( her married name ) remembers september 30 , 1941 " like yesterday " .

new kid david learns a lot during his first day at central high . it turns out the small school is run with an iron first by a quartet of rich male students , including his old friend mark , who just happens to be dating teresa , the very pretty girl david immediately takes a liking to . mark tries to get david into the exclusive clique , but david refuses to associate himself with such overt bullies . his impatience reaches its boiling point when he catches them ( without mark ) trying to rape two female students . he beats the snot out of them , and—in retaliation—they drop a car on his leg . once a dedicated runner , david is now left with a permanent limp . he gets his revenge by arranging fatal accidents for his three assailants . at first , the students at central high enjoy their newfound freedom from the clique’s tyranny , but as that freedom turns to chaos , the various factions try to convince david to help them takeover the school and run it in their image . realizing he’s merely created more bullies , david begins to systematically murder the new crop of wannabe rulers . with no other way to end this eternal cycle , he decides to blow up the school during the annual alumni dance , but when teresa arrives at the gymnasium and tells him she’s not going to leave , even if it means dying with everyone else , he grabs the bomb and runs outside . it detonates while in his hands , ending the violence once and for all .

january 1864 : the first known chinese workers for the central pacific railroad company arrive . foreman ah toy and headman hung wah lead a crew of 21 men to work on clearing the dutch flat - donner lake wagon road . [ 3 ]

a high school transfer student , pushed to the edge by a trio of brutal bullies , resorts to murder to reclaim the school from oppression , and later turns against the students wanting to fill the vacuum of their oppressors .

an orphaned teenager finds himself being dominated by his aunt who ' s hell - bent on keeping him with her . . . at all costs .

own all of the previous ' mission : impossible ' movies to watch at home for just $ 3 . 99 each with ticket purchase . buy tickets

even so , heathers is clearly superior in its execution and overall themes . it avoids being an allegory about fascism and instead serves as one of the best satires of high school life ( and society in general ) ever made .

[ 43 ] “miscellaneous–arrival of chinamen at new orleans , ” daily alta california , 9 jan . , 1870 , p . 1 . “sambo’s successor : arrival of two hundred and fifty chinamen at new orleans–queer scenes and incidents , ” daily alta california , 30 jan . , 1870 , p . 4 .

may 5 , 1869 : a reporter for the daily alta california describes the scene in rosebud , a neighboring town to victory , where 557 chinese of “the grand army of civilisation” have arrived to be sent north to the northern pacific railroad . in salt lake city , the central pacific railroad is said to be essentially complete save for two rails which would be laid at the final ceremony . [ 31 ]

our lead is david , who transfers to a new school filled with other 20 - somethings masquerading as high schoolers , and he soon finds out that four bullies rule the school with an iron fist , lording it over everyone else .

i fell into teaching by accident and i found myself with a new career all of a sudden . i just loved it from the very start . i have been a drama director at a number of elementary , middle and high schools over the last 22 years . there is nothing more fulfilling than working with children , helping them to discover and achieve their dreams on stage . although working regularly at a school makes it a little harder to take off for auditions than when you ' re doing the types of odd jobs i had been doing .

worse yet , to the extent americans remember world war i at all , it is as a futile war , a massive , utterly senseless butchery of a damned generation . that was not the way americans at the time conceived it . more controversially , it is an excessively simple way of conceiving it even now .

rs : we shot some of it at griffith park , the drives and the stop . after they get in the car we shot at another location , a condemned school in burbank . when they stop me i obviously was driving as was steve i believe . after a few takes i hear someone yell “sikes hit the van ! ” and i got blamed for crashing into the van . it never happened and eventually i was exonerated . but at first i was blamed .

rs : it was filmed at griffith park which we used for the parking lot . it was a little spooky watching a dummy – with my blue jean jacket on it get blown sky high . i was holding a girl’s hand i was dating and watching me and part of my clothing go bye bye . the production crew asked if they could use my jacket because they forgot to get one and promised that they would replace it – well not to my satisfaction did they replace it . instead i got some crummy old blue jean jacket . not cool at all .

a group of cheerleaders from the local high school decide to show their school spirit for their football team by sleeping with the opponents the night before the game so that they can be so worn out the opposition won ' t be able to play .

personal characteristics included ethnicity ( african american , native american , white ) , gender , formal education ( less than high school , high school or equivalent , at least some college ) , and living arrangements ( living alone , living with others and married , living with others and unmarried ) . the categorical variable , poverty status , combined information on medicaid status and household income from all sources in 2001 . the medicaid group included all participants who reported receiving medicaid . the “no medicaid , lower income” group included all others who reported an income < $ 25 , 000 . the “no medicaid , higher income” group included all others reporting incomes ≥ $ 25 , 000 .

it ' s not clear in the film what particular thing david “saved” mark from at the other school . do you remember anything in the original script about that ?

. he was actually very comfortable hanging around the sets . in fact , he was so comfortable…he would shoot spit wads at other actors when he was off camera !

in the autumn sun , six - year - old yelena kurchinsky heard she was on a death march , and she tugged at her mother hana ' s skirt .

the zelman memorial symphony orchestra will perform shostakovich ' s symphony no . 13 ( " babi yar " ) in hamer hall at 2pm on sunday , september 17 .

the students of central high are happy to finally be free , but it doesn’t take long for the formerly abused to become abusive themselves . meet the new boss , same as the old boss . fat slob oscar begins throwing his weight around . rodney becomes a snob who can’t stop fawning over his new car . arthur becomes even more obnoxious and uses his superior intellect to insult the library patrons . worst of all , spoony , mary , and jane turn into self righteous hippies that decide who could use a “good fuck ! ”

david is the new kid at central high . the only person he knows is mark , who runs with the local toughs led by bruce . mark and david share a bond from years before when david came to mark ' s aid when mark was being beaten by school bullies . david keeps his distance , preferring not to join the " club . " he tries to convince the other students not to be pushed around , and intervenes once too often on their behalf . when he directly becomes a victim of bruce ' s gang , david orchestrates a plan that causes an attrition problem among the members of the clique . mark worries for his safety , even though he and david were once friends .

july 1866 : the rail line to dutch flat , 69 miles from sacramento , is completed . the chinese work force is at approximately 3 , 933 . [ 13 ]

november 1860 : sacramento merchant collis p . huntington agrees to invest in engineer theodore judah’s railroad project and brings in four other investors : mark hopkins , james bailey , charles crocker , and leland stanford . together , they formed the first board of directors for the central pacific railroad company .

oh , and here ' s the plug . i ' ll be showing both of these movies this friday night at odd obsession films on 1659 n . halsted at 11 : 00 p . m . , so if anyone out there lives in chicago , stop on by . there ' ll be trailers , shorts , and two pretty nifty flicks .

next week , she ' ll be honoured at a concert where a 75 - voice chorus will join the zelman symphony orchestra and other luminaries to commemorate the 110 , 000 people killed at babi yar . these were mostly jews , but also people who hid them , as well as gays , communists , prisoners of war and people with mental illness .

august 27 , 1866 : workers begin clearing the shaft along the projected tunnel line of tunnel 6 . they make progress for 30 days until removing rubble becomes too difficult . to solve this problem , engineers drive the abandoned locomotive sacramento to gold run , which at that point is as far as the central pacific extended . its 12 - ton steam engine is hauled up to donner pass and let down into tunnel 6 . the job takes 6 weeks . [ 15 ]

with each successive conway outrage , her “haters” hold their breath and wait to see if the ax will finally fall . trump bestows his favor unpredictably , and veterans of past republican administrations look at the chaos in the white house and say a shake - up is inevitable . “the white house was not set up in a functional way , ” a former high - ranking official in george w . bush’s administration told me . “this is unsustainable . ”

. the lights came on and he stood up and turned around . i looked at him and he looked at me and he said , “you ! ” and i said , “you ! ” he jumped over the two rows of seats and sat down next to me and talked about the film for the longest time . i think he went to movies like

the original exploitation template heathers originated from is a surprisingly brisk and entertaining movie . it lacks the dark humor of its successor , but successfully establishes a strange high school universe of its own , and racks up the bodycount in an engaging manner . absolutely worth checking out !

the country , as she described it , is at the mercy of atheists and agitators who want to tell “the majority” how to live their lives . fitzpatrick was kindly and hospitable , serving me coffee and snacks in neat little bowls . but once she got going , she could barely contain her disgust at the snobs and celebrities who were not giving the new president the chance he deserved—people like ashton kutcher , who lambasted trump at the screen actors guild awards in january . “i’d like to kick the tv in , honest to god . ”

the research project was led by the stc with assistance from the school of public health and the departments of psychiatry and pediatrics at the university of saskatchewan ( saskatoon , saskatchewan ) .

but when i first started going out to movies in elementary or junior high school , i remember all of us boys would sit behind the cutest girls in the theater and my friends would all say really stupid stuff trying to be funny . uncharacteristic of me at the time , i ' d do the opposite . i would just sit there and be quiet , not making a complete ass of myself in front of the girls like all my friends were doing .

conway spent eight summers packing blueberries at a nearby farm , where she sometimes drew onlookers with her remarkable , automaton - esque speed and ability to work for long stretches without a break . she brought a similar intensity to her schoolwork . “i didn’t think she was a deep thinker , ” one of her high - school teachers told cosmopolitan . “but i do remember that she would argue her point relentlessly . you would pray to god that the bell would ring . ”

three days of protests began on 6 june against alleged electoral fraud in last month ' s parliamentary elections . during the demonstrations police fired on the crowds , killing at least 36 people .

the memorable exploding locker scene was accomplished using a real stuntman tethered to a harness and pulleys which yanked him away from the blast . however , the gas pressure was turned up too high and blew out the lights on the set , an unplanned effect which remains in the finished film .


sayonara jupiter ( さよならジュピター sayonara jiupitā , english release : bye bye jupiter ) is a 1984 japanese science fiction film directed by koji hashimoto and produced by toho .

the script was adapted by pioneering science-fiction author sakyo komatsu from his novel of the same name .

the special effects were directed by koichi kawakita .

cast with a mix of actors speaking english , french and japanese , the film was conceived by toho as a rival to the forthcoming box office blockbuster hit 2010 .

the two films bear comparison of plot elements .

this was actor akihiko hirata 's final film role .

he was set to star in the return of godzilla ( 1984 ) , but died of throat cancer before he was cast .

in one scene , captain hoger kinn watches ghidorah , the three-headed monster , which featured a much younger akihiko hirata .

sayonara jupiter ( film )

sayonara jupiter ( film ) <EOT> koichi kawakita , of the " ultraman " series , provides the special effects for " sayonara jupiter . "

[ 20 ] . information sourced from ' about the film ' text - based special features from : sayonara jupiter . dvd . discotek media . 2007

[ 21 ] . the " making of special " that accompanies the special features on discotek media ' s sayonara jupiter dvd reveals the " jupiter ghost " to be the mothership of an alien race , another element from komatsu ' s book that gets short shrift in the film adaptation .

the original japanese movie trailer from 1983 in high definition . alternativetitles : operation jupiter jupiter inferno sayonara jupiter original : sayônara , jyûpetâ country : japan release : 1983 directors : koji hashimoto , sakyo komatsu actors : dangely diane akihiko hirata andrew hughes tomokazu miura hisaya morishige masumi okada huggert rachael irwin ron william h . tapier

while extracting water from the martian polar ice caps , ancient carvings are uncovered describing an alien spacecraft crashing into jupiter , postponing plans to turn jupiter into a second sun .

sayonara jupiter , aka bye bye jupiter , is a wildly imaginative science fiction film that centers on an impending disaster which could possibly wipe out the planet earth and destroy humanity as we know it . told in the obscurest of ways , the film is jam - packed with stupendous special effects and consistently outstanding production values , making it one of the most interesting and unusual sci - fi efforts to come out after toho ' s hiatus from the space genre with their 1977 film , war in space . blessed with an international cast and a believably constructed future world , sayonara jupiter is a little known gem that may stumble in its editing , but in the end makes for a highly enjoyable science fiction yarn that has a lot going for it .

daikaijusokogeki ! wrote : i also already made a topic about the film . urltoken

set in the 22nd century , sayonara jupiter depicts an era where much of the solar system has been colonised . the jupiter solarisation project has been established to turn jupiter into a new sun , thereby providing energy to humankind ' s far - flung outposts . of course , not everyone is comfortable with this proposal of planetary genocide , with the jupiter church performing anti - solarisation demonstrations and being a general nuisance to the cause . however , a newly discovered black hole threatens the existence of earth , so dr . eiji honda ( tomokazu miura ) – surely a loving homage to eiji tsuburaya and ishiro honda – and his colleagues devise a new plan where jupiter will be sacrificed in the hope that it will adjust the black hole ' s trajectory .

" peter " ( paul tagawa ) leads the cult known as the jupiter church with pop songs and dolphin tricks .

a bigger problem is the film ' s depressing and wholesale lifting of visual designs and sequences from western productions . the approach to the solarization ships hovering over jupiter shamelessly steals miniature designs and camera angles whole cloth from both

the best from over 15 years of asian film reviews , interviews , features and news . . .

probe reveals that a wayward black hole is heading toward the solar system and which will destroy all life , but honda hits upon the idea of altering his " solarization " plans for jupiter and instead send jupiter into the black hole , thus altering its trajectory .

with this in mind , the amount of time dedicated to an earth - bound subplot involving the jupiter church , who live in an idyllic , beach - based commune ( shot on okinawa ) , and their mascot dolphin named jupiter is puzzling . interludes where jupiter church leader peter ( paul tagawa ) whips out his acoustic guitar to sing songs about how pleasant the world is , coupled with montages of wildlife frolicking about and enjoying their natural surroundings , feel like they ' re from a different film altogether . the motivation behind the jupiter church is generally questionable . they clearly love what earth has to offer , but are happy to see that be destroyed , along with themselves and billions more , if it means that jupiter is not sacrificed to deflect the black hole .

this entry was posted in theater fantastique and tagged 80 ' s , dolphin , japan , jupiter , killer shark , science fiction .

yes , you read that rating right . five stars out of five . i find that films that get this kind of rating are the top in their genres or fields . if that’s the measurement , then sayonara jupiter is a clear winner because it’s in a genre of its own . quite what genre that is is anyone’s guess . i’ll do my best to describe this film to you but it does get a bit abstract . here goes .

i confess to being one of the actors in sayonara jupiter - - as a space pilot in the beginning and end of the movie . in fact , that guy reaching out for a gravitationless hamburger in one of your photos is me . your review is much too kind to the film . it ' s most distinctive attribute : it was ( at that time , at least ) the most expensive science fiction movie ever made in japan . charlie in washington , dc

for all its mistakes and cheesy melodrama ( of which there is a lot ) , sayonara jupiter is strangely endearing nonetheless and gave the sub - genre the technical revamp it so sorely needed to continue being relevant . the film , while quite successful , came and went without much staying power . interestingly , it never saw a u . s . release , which partly explains its obscurity . its presence is barely a footnote in western understanding of the long and turbulent history of japanese genre cinema .

what i ' ve seen and heard of this film reminds me of message from space . is my assessment correct ?

in truly excessive flair , sayonara jupiter throws caution to the wind as it bombards its viewers with non - stop information , sometimes large sweeping concepts that have little to nothing to do with the overall story that it is trying to tell . whether these were intentional red hearings or just weird tidbits of info about the world that these characters inhabit , it ' s still unknown by this reviewer , but it accomplishes its end goal in keeping us on our toes in expecting the unexpected . visually this film is in a class of its own and that is really something when you consider the absolute oddness that is at the core of this production . without a doubt , this film took me for a loop and when i made it to the end of this twisted little sci - fi tale i could truthfully say that i had seen something that i ' ve never seen before . give this one a try if you ' re up for something different , refreshing , and wholly unbelievable . sayonara jupiter is . . . . .

we don ' t have enough data to suggest any movies based on bye - bye , jupiter . you can help by rating movies you ' ve seen .

though bye - bye jupiter is not available on blu - ray , an hd version can be rented or purchased on the japanese versions of amazon video and itunes .

in the 22nd century , humanity is facing a population problem as it continues to expand through the solar system . to make more inhabitable planets , a plan is created to solarize jupiter to create another sun . however , life being discovered on the large planet and continued protests from a group named the jupiter church threaten the plan .

the film follows dr . eiji honda as he prepares to set into motion the “jupiter solarization project” , which aims to turn the planet into a new sun so as to colonize nearby planets and moons . just as the project is about to come to fruition , a hippy cult known as the “jupiter church” , led by a famous singer / songwriter , begin making terrorist attacks against the space station , threatening the success of the “jupiter solarization project” and the advancement of mankind . to make matters worse , a black hole has been discovered moving through the galaxy and it is on a collision course with our solar system . realizing the impending doom at hand , dr . honda proposes to blow up the planet jupiter just as the black hole crosses its path , forcing the black hole from its current course towards the planet earth and instead sending it out of our solar system . still even with the existence of mankind in the balance , the “jupiter church” cult still pursues to bring down the jupiter project by any means necessary . will humanity survive this cosmic crossroad of fate , or will mankind ' s personal problems spell our ultimate downfall ?

tamura wrote : what i ' ve seen and heard of this film reminds me of message from space . is my assessment correct ?

solaris director : andrei tarkovsky year 1972 solaris is a hypnotic russian science fiction film brought to us by the legendary director . . .

[ 3 ] . desjardins , chris . outlaw masters of japanese film , i . b . tauris , 2005 , p . 7

" in the 22nd century , the united earth federation has begun colonizing neighboring planets in the solar system . while attempting to extract water from mars ' polar ice caps , a uef science team uncovers ancient carvings that describe the crash of an alien spacecraft on the planet jupiter several millennia ago . the discovery postpones the initial phase of the jupiter solarization project , a plan to transform the gas giant into a second sun , providing both additional solar energy for earth and making the outer worlds fit for colonization . from minerva station in the orbit of jupiter , dr . eiji honda is dispatched to ensure that alien life does not exist on jupiter before the planned mission is to commence .

early on in the film , our lead is watching old toho movies on some sort of futuristic super - 8 player . he turns off

black orpheus director : marcel camus year 1959 black orpheus is a beautiful and magical film that borrows elements from the orpheus and . . .

film this – graphic novels that should be made into feature films hard boiled writer : frank miller artist : geof darrow col . . .

komatsu and his army of special effects technicians were not content to rest on the laurels of the studio ' s illustrious past and were keen to bring their film in line with the technological advancements pioneered by star wars . for sequences involving spacecraft ambling through the cosmos , komatsu insisted that suspending the models with wires – the way those scenes had been achieved in the past – was not an option . to film these scenes , the production acquired the dykstraflex , a motion control camera system first developed by john dykstra in 1976 to film similar scenes in star wars . programming the movements one wishes to have for a given shot , the dykstraflex can repeat that motion again and again , allowing special effects crews to photograph individual elements of the shot – background , model spacecraft , etc . – and then composite them together later to create the completed effect . sayonara jupiter was the first japanese production to employ such a process , in a bid to give the japanese sci - fi film a much - needed technological revamp .

when it comes to off the wall situations and unpredictable narratives , sayonara jupiter stands proud in its obscurity as it throws a ton of information at you that simply comes off as crazy . first of all , the cult terrorist group the “jupiter church” , is run by a spaced out guru who sings nonsensical songs about a dolphin named jupiter in order to inspire his followers . say what ? not only that , but this peaceful group ' s main goal is to stop the transition of jupiter , from a planet to a sun , by injuring and killing as many people as they can . hell , even when they find out that the only way to save mankind from the black hole is to destroy jupiter , they still don ' t give a shit and basically decide to continue on with the sabotage of the “jupiter solarization project” simply out of spite . needless to say their motivations are anything but logical , but there in lies the appeal of this off kilter production . in this stellar smorgasbord we get unusually blatant product placement , a ridiculously hilarious and brutal jaws homage , a mysterious alien race , hints of an ancient civilization on mars , the already mentioned space hippy terrorists , and a zero gravity space sex scene that is truly out of this world in execution and delivery . with all of this weirdness , how can you really go wrong ?

the film is like nothing made by the japanese film industry before or since . like an aging marathon runner , toho ' s visual effects department , which had been as good as any in the world in the late - 1950s and early - ' 60s , had become downright quaint in the wake of

now let ' s get down to what this film really excels in , aside from its oddity factor , and that ' s the effects . with a combination of visually splendid planet - scapes , essentially sublime matte work and wonderfully crafted miniatures , sayonara jupiter is a non - stop thrill ride for those of you out there that appreciate the practical art of filmmaking . you could almost say that the movie ' s effects far surpass the film ' s other elements , coming off as more of a showcase of the collaborative filmmakers ' artistic efforts over the core of the story . every aspect of the movie ' s visuals are obsessively constructed in a tangible presentation that fully brings this production to life . you ' ll find yourself getting caught up in the moment as you witness scene upon scene of atmospheric space anomalies that just exude atmosphere and tone . the presentation is absolutely fantastic , and the unimaginable worlds that sayonara jupiter is able to bring to the table is a sure sign that this production is not to be taken lightly . in the end , it ' s the combination of all of these factors that really give the film its unusual appeal . be it the outlandish premise , the diverse cast of characters , or the sheer visual beauty that this movie is able to convey , you really can ' t deny that this is a spectacle that always keeps you guessing , and for that alone it ' s worth a look .

i also already made a topic about the film . urltoken it is available on dvd from discotek media , so i ' d give it a rental .

shanghai express director : sammo hung year 1986 shanghai express , also known as millionare ' s express , is a dense action comedy film th . . .

although much time and expertise was dedicated to the technical aspects of the production , it appears that the narrative doesn ' t receive the same amount of attention , as sayonara jupiter struggles to keep its many story strands in order . some scenes are bogged down in copious mumbo - jumbo , whilst other elements are barely developed . case in point : the " jupiter ghost , " a mysterious entity – part giant sentient organism , part space vessel – that aimlessly galavants amid the storms in the planet ' s great red spot . once established , its presence in the story is never really explained or taken advantage of [ 21 ] . despite being presided over by the story ' s creator , the two - hours plus film can ' t quite boil down all the elements of komatsu ' s gargantuan source material , which was published as two volumes .

さよならジュピター , aka bye bye jupiter . japan 1984 . directed by koji hashimoto & sakyo komatsu . starring diane dangely , tomokazu miura , akihiko hirata . in japanese with english subtitles or english dubbed .

by avoiding the archetypal fantasy of star wars , komatsu ' s story inadvertently draws many comparisons with the 2001 : a space odyssey sequel , 2010 : the year we make contact ( 1984 ) , which was being produced concurrently by hollywood . both films deal with the idea of jupiter turning into a new star , with 2010 being based on arthur c . clarke ' s follow - up novel 2010 : odyssey two ( 1982 ) . both clarke ' s and komatsu ' s books were published the same year , with the film adaptation of sayonara jupiter making it into japanese cinemas months before 2010 : the year we make contact was released in the u . s . , rendering any accusations of copying or ripping off somewhat moot . however , it ' s likely there was a competitive element in seeing who could finish their production to the highest standard first .

although a big - screen iteration of the story was always the writer ' s goal , komatsu ' s efforts also yielded a novel published in 1982 . in the spring of 1983 , toho began film production in earnest , with koji hashimoto assigned to direct . having worked as an assistant director for various tokusatsu productions throughout the 60s and 70s , sayonara jupiter was hashimoto ' s debut as a fully - fledged director . however , he was not alone . rather than abandoning his creation to the tumultuous quagmire of the filmmaking process , komatsu was also heavily involved in day - to - day production decisions , earning him the unusual credit of " executive director . "

dobermann director : jan kounen year 1997 dobermann is a rabid and fast paced french heist film with teeth to bare , brought to us by dire . . .

[ 23 ] . lee , maggie . ' space battleship yamato film review ' , hollywoodreporter . com , 2010 . urltoken ( accessed : january 23rd 2014 )

what reason would you want to watch this ? well , it is the most batshit insane film i’ve ever watched . it has the filmic effect of a telex machine , just punching line after line and character after character at you . relentlessly bashing you with solemn senior citizens and brooding heroes with nothing to really brood about , the film moves from earth to space to jupiter to mars to island hippieland and back to jupiter without a care in the world . it’s got the most cheerful theme song to listen to as jupiter goes up faster than you can set your hair on fire in a pepsi commercial . it has a dogged persistence in staging its setups and characters in a wonderfully designed universe while giving the script equivalent of a slinky to play with . despite everything i saw , i’m proud it’s in my collection because my world is better having seen it rather than having only heard about it . buy it online or wherever you find it and stick into your collection to impress your friends at parties that you have a crazier film than house of 1 , 000 corpses . otherwise , if it turns up on tv ( god forbid ) or at a film festival , then get whiskey - blind drunk ( and i mean that ) and enjoy .

sayonara jupiter is a strange science fiction concoction , featuring a eclectic collection of ideas that literally liter this obscure space story in a half - hazard and chaotic manner . it ' s a wild production that truly feels untamed thanks to all the diverse elements that inhabit its twisting narrative . the acting portrayals of tomokazu miura and diane dangely , as the star crossed lovers dr . eiji honda and maria basehart , are a nice touch to what could have been a rather disconnected space yarn . though the strangeness of the film does allow for an extremely detached presentation to unfold , we are still pulled in by both actors commendable approaches to their respective characters and that is quite an accomplishment .

film historian stuart galbraith iv ' s most recent essays appear in criterion ' s new three - disc seven samurai dvd and bci eclipse ' s the quiet duel .

run lola run director : tom tykwer year 1998 run lola run is an off the rails , pulse pounding german film that follows a young woman by . . .

but even though the reach of sayonara jupiter exceeds its grasp , its aspirations are commendable . a zero - gravity love scene between miura and former flame - turned - jupiter church activist maria ( dangely diane ) is another particularly impressive special effect , although the prolonged sight of two naked people dreamily fondling each other whilst floating through the cosmos can be chuckle - inducing . the film also utilises a huge , multilingual cast . characters wear a universal translating button , resulting in conversations that often mix japanese , english , french and german depending on who ' s speaking , which is interesting to see play out . the production sought the talents of many french , german and canadian actors , however , many of the minor english - speaking roles seem to be performed by amateurs or semi - professionals , which occasionally stand out as being particularly awkward . as was the case with the green slime , they were most likely expatriates living in japan .

easily discotek ' s best toho dvd to date , sayonara jupiter is an excellent release across the board , featuring superb video and audio quality while also being stocked with a ton of extras . to be fair , though , this release isn ' t quite as grand as the pioneer two disc set that was released in japan , but given that the region 2 set is now long out of print , sold for more than three times the cost of this one , and lacks english viewing options , the choice between the two should be easy for most .

tomokazu miura takes on the role of dr . eiji honda , the scientific hero of this interstellar enigma . miura does an excellent job in this wild effort , and he helps bring all of these fantastic and out of control elements together , allowing the ridiculousness of all that is going on around him seem somewhat plausible and genuine . if there is one thing to be said about sayonara jupiter , it ' s that it is a film that could easily have fallen into spoof territory . with such a large array of wackiness combined with a fantastical premise , you ' d think the film would be categorized as a comedy , but thanks to the dead - serious performance of tomokazu the movie sustains its craziness and revels in it with a straight - laced disposition . the central character of eiji honda is essential in keeping all of these elements in check and miura does a wonderful job in wrangling in all of the galactic mayhem .

awesome ! it must have been an interesting shoot to be on , seeing that the film had a rather diverse cast and was rather ambitious , being the most expensive sci - fi out of japan . even though you ' re only in the film for a brief moment , your scenes still leave an impression , so good job . love the product placement too in that scene .

star wars , of course , is a film that needs little introduction , and its impact on cinema and global popular culture has been written about in more depth elsewhere . what does need to be said , however , is that it was a film whose reputation preceded it , even in the months immediately after its initial u . s . release in may 1977 . toho were quick to catch on to the new potential boom in the market , releasing the war in space as early as december – a full six months before lucas ' s film made it into japanese cinemas during summer 1978 .

daikaijusokogeki ! wrote : early on in the film , our lead is watching old toho movies on some sort of futuristic super - 8 player . he turns off samurai i : musashi miyamoto when his friend comes in and wrestles him . the lead later leaves to meet with one of the scientists planning to tour jupiter ' s atmosphere , then his friend plops in a movie and it ' s ghidrah the three headed monster and starts to root for godzilla .

this is a list of references for bye - bye jupiter . these citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based . these references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers , which look like this : [ 1 ]

dvd ( 2007 ) discotek do their best and present a cleaned up , remastered picture . the film holds up well and looks great on a big hdtv . audio wise , we get the original japanese audio with clean subtitles and an english dub . the dub is the icing on the cake in terms of having a last laugh with the film . enjoy it because the alternative is start questioning things about your sanity that you hadn ' t before . we get a decent making of and a text essay from one of the films creators . trailers for the film and fine discotek products wrap up this cinematic masterpiece .

sorry for bringing back an ancient thread . but i finally managed to watch this movie , and couldn ' t resist . i don ' t think my opinion matters to anybody , but i need to let this out . especially for such an old , unknown film . i just love sayonara jupiter . it was crappy as far as characters and pacing went . but i still love it . the basic story , although incredibly drawn out and crowded with different ideas , was great . a massive object heading towards earth is nothing new , but it certainly was interesting to see them use both old and new ideas to associate with the catastrophe . now many people would probably , and understandably , groan at all of these long , artsy , and sometimes needless scenes . but i liked the feeling these scenes gave out . i get a sense of awe and wonder at the emptiness of space , the eerie atmosphere of the zero - grav scene , the haunting appearance of the jupiter ghost , the hypnotic ( but cheesy ) songs peter played , and even the fun , useless novelty of a pro - longed shark attack ! it made the movie a sort of weird mash up of art , both high and crude . like an almost psychedelic gallery . perhaps my most favorite of scenes were the ones on jupiter itself . the gas and smoke was mystifying and the jupiter ghost was quite an interesting sight . the characters . . . really didn ' t fare too well . especially the english - speaking ones . eiji honda , carlos , and peter were probably the only real interesting ones of the bunch . but obviously that ' s because these characters recieved the most focus , and also the best acting , of the film . but thanks to the major impact of jupiter and its " ghost ' s " final cries , i actually saw the planet as a nice character itself . so , no doubt , i felt a slight pull of emotion when it finally went away . note : movie characters don ' t typically pull at my heart . . . the fact this was just a planet should really make this weird . but perhaps that ' s what the developers were aiming for . my only major complaints about this film ( on a mere personal view ) was the horribly mind - numbing length of the whole thing and how downplayed the aliens and jupiter ghost were . i suppose the ghost did everything it needed to for the story , but it still felt . . . meager . now then , sorry for the post . but i needed to type this . . .

when scientists discover that a black hole is approaching the solar system , earth ' s only hope is to abandon the solarization project and instead send jupiter into the black hole . dr . honda must race to complete the new mission before time runs out ! "

[ 15 ] . shoemaker , greg . ' daiei : a history of the greater japan motion picture company ' , originally published in japanese fantasy film journal , issue # 12 , 1979 , p . 15

dust _ pan wrote : i ' d consider more of the long , mostly drawn out environmental shots , like the ships and jupiter , to me more artsy . the naked floating scene is definitley more wtf . it does become a very weird , surreal moment though .

i barely remember watching this four years ago . . . the only thing that really sticks out about the movie is the godzilla cameo and the zero gravity sex scene . definitely tells me i need to rewatch this film .

welcome to the lucid nightmare blog , where i ' ll be discussing everything film related from horror , sci - fi , fantasy , foreign flicks , and all that is in between . i ' ll be giving my opinions , reviews , and general tid bits from obscure to mainstream films and hopefully enlightening some people on some long lost gems that deserve to be seen by the masses . i ' ll also be updating on my progress in the film industry as i tackle various film projects so you ' ll be seeing tons of behind the scenes photos , videos , and trailers of the projects that are plaguing my mind . so everyone enjoy and prepare for the nightmare .

) , and in an attempt to reconcile both commercial needs and artistic ambitions everything everybody wanted was left in the final cut of the film , which runs a grueling two hours and nineteen minutes ( and feels even longer ) .

it ' s interesting to see the industry starting to have more confidence in larger budget productions . however , similar to hollywood ' s over - reliance of previously existing properties ( particularly comic books and graphic novels ) , these japanese releases are pinning their success on the nostalgia and loyal fandom generated by these old favourites . like hollywood , the japanese blockbuster – space operas or otherwise – exists in a holding pattern that eschews risk . as such , it may be a while before we see another warning from space , green slime or sayonara jupiter . some may argue that it ' s no great loss , as these films have less than stellar reputations . but , as this journey has hopefully illustrated , our view of popular japanese visual culture wouldn ' t be the same without them .

. though the film offers much that is new , special effects director koichi kawakita ( in his first major assignment in that role ) depressingly feels the need to clone the work of others simply because he finally has been given the hardware to do so .

paired up with tomokazu ' s dr . eiji honda character , is actress diane dangley playing the role of maria basehart , a “jupiter church” cult member and former lover of the hero scientist . dangley does a great job as the conflicted terrorist , who ' s caught between her love for a man from her past and the task of thwarting the exploitation of the planet jupiter . though the fundamentals of her character were questionable at best , you still feel a deal of sympathy for the situation that she finds herself in . the storied relationship that honda and herself share is an interesting thematic glue that holds this film in place for the most part . the movie enjoys metaphorically showing us the contrast between each faction of this conflict , and both dr . eiji honda and maria basehart are basically the spokespersons of their respective group , allowing us to approach this turbulent subject from more of an intimate angle . for that reason alone i would say that dangley does a respectable job with the material that she is given , and though you may not see eye to eye with her character ' s motivations in bringing down the “jupiter solarization project” , you still are able to appreciate the internal struggle that she goes through and that ' s always appreciated .

in 2240 , the people of earth decide to turn jupiter into a sun . this will allow the human race to expand and explore more of the solar system and open up the opportunities for the whole race and take the pressure off the need for more energy as we move further out . while working out the final details for this enormous project , it is discovered that there may be lifeforms in the atmosphere of jupiter . how do we know this ? because someone helpfully carved the details onto the surface of mars for us to read ! so , while our heroes are digesting this information , a space probe with some of the cast onboard is destroyed by a rogue black hole . this black hole is on a collision course with our sun which will most likely destroy the inner solar system and us along with it . faced with this bleak future , the human race decides to push jupiter into the path of the black hole by detonating the gas giant and hopefully change the black hole’s course .

akihiko hirata ' s role as inoue ryutarou in this film was the actor ' s final role before he died later that same year . hirata was planned to appear in the return of godzilla as doctor hayashida , but was replaced by yosuke natsuki after his death .

however , maybe this was for the best . at the end of part 1 of this essay , it was suggested that this type of film had reached an impasse ; at best regurgitating storylines from previous entries and , at worst , using stock footage to cheaply bulk up the running time by simply showing the same old effects sequences . for tokusatsu to survive , it was going to need to think outside the box , or rather , outside the japanese film industry , which had been stubbornly self - sufficient up until that point .

so if toho ' s plan to capitalise on star wars was to rip off its own back catalogue , toei deemed it a far more logical strategy to rip off star wars itself . their film , message from space ( uchu kara no messeji , 1978 ) , not only borrows similar plot elements , settings and aesthetic choices ( including the typeface design of the title ) , but also mimics the music cues from john williams ' s iconic score for lucas ' s film . it is , in every way , an unabashed copy .

, 1984 ) is an awkward blend of derivative if state - of - the - art visual effects and misguided efforts by the once dominant japanese film studio toho to fashion a hollywood - style blockbuster with broad international appeal . after the death of legendary effects pioneer eiji tsuburaya in 1970 and the near - collapse of the japanese film industry soon thereafter , toho produced a handful of mostly threadbare godzilla movies for children ' s matinees before concentrating its efforts on high - concept , bigger - budgeted movies that it hoped would appeal to both a wide domestic market and international audiences .

for a single disc release , sayonara jupiter is packed with extra content . the star attraction here is a half hour " making of special " , covering mostly the special effects that went into the production . unfortunately , the video quality is a little iffy , as seen here , but the reason for this is because pioneer ( the company in japan which put out the r2 dvd , and the same dvd discotek is using for their release ) , decided to transfer the original vhs tape of this " making of " special directly to dvd . as a matter of fact , the very beginning of the special starts off by saying toho video . so , what we are watching essentially is a copy of the original vhs cassette , which is kind of nostalgic in a way , but also makes one wish that the original source could have been found . the feature is still very informative and in depth on how a lot of the sequences were created , making for an excellent inclusion regardless .

first unit sequences are equally derivative or smack of box office concessions . the idea of a doomsday cult determined to destroy the solar system in order to save it is impressively prophetic . its pop star - turned - guru , peter ( paul taiga ) , eerily resembles shoko asahara , the leader of the aum cult that created a nationwide panic after releasing sarin gas into tokyo ' s subway system in 1995 , and like asahara , peter deceptively denies playing any role in his followers ' efforts to sabotage the jupiter project . unfortunately , the film ' s producers saw in these scenes the chance to insert drippy commercial pop songs , to say nothing of a ludicrous sequence that , of all things , rips off

is an embarrassingly indulgent and self - serving essay by yuko weisser about her pals putting on an osaka stage production based on the film . as with the unfortunate books she co - authored with husband thomas weisser , the essay is rife with clumsy grammatical and factual errors . ( she claims , for instance , that

tokusatsu cinema was in its death - throes throughout the 1970s . pioneering special effects director eiji tsuburaya had passed away in 1970 , and ishiro honda retired from feature film directing in 1975 [ 8 ] . thus it ' s easy to see why jun fukuda ' s interplanetary adventure the war in space ( wakusei daisenso : za uo in supesu , 1977 ) has been viewed as ' toho ' s last " hurrah " for their special effects department ' [ 9 ] . sadly it does not represent the best of send - offs , as the film was rushed into production in the wake of a certain cinematic phenomenon happening in america : george lucas ' s star wars ( 1977 ) .

bye - bye jupiter is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1 . 85 : 1 , and is anamorphic for widescreen tvs . sadly , the video track has been heavily window boxed ( a black border around the image ) . this will allow the dvd to play without a hitch on older sets , which sometimes crop the edges , but also causes for the video , from the perspective of newer sets , to be needlessly compressed .

in the 22nd century , scientists from an energy - depleted earth research new fuel sources in the far corners of the solar system , where they discover an ancient alien race from jupiter as well as the emergence of an apocalyptically dangerous black hole . koji hashimoto ' s 1983 sci - fi adventure was conceived as a japanese competitor to the upcoming sequel to stanley kubrick ' s classic 2001 , titled 2010 , and often mirrors the sequel ' s plot .

, a 30 - minute , full - frame behind - the - scenes documentary apparently culled from a vhs source , as it retains toho video ' s logo from the mid - 1980s . the show focuses almost entirely on the film ' s technical aspects , but offers little in the way of interviews and mainly shows first unit and effects sequences being filmed .

now , just read that last paragraph back to yourself . because when i read that i thought “hot damn ! this is the movie for me ! ” but nothing could prepare me for this nor will it prepare you for it either . the film swings on angles from melodrama to crazy logic street in the blink of an eye . first of all , who the hell would bother blowing up jupiter ? the logic presented is that we need the extra solar energy . but as a reservoir of raw materials to build and power humanity’s journey to the outer solar system , jupiter makes more sense as a gas giant . europa and io , with their supplies of water and molten rock and ore , would be destroyed in the event so there’s more material gone . next , there’s the problem of the lifeforms in the atmosphere of jupiter . would they really kill all that life for more energy ? in any event , it doesn’t matter because once the world is threatened with black hole suckage ( is that even a word ? ) , the earth federation gleefully throws the jovians under a bus . finally , the whole idea of a black hole travelling through the solar system and not hitting anything important until it smacks into the sun is such an insane idea , it beggars belief . did nobody read a book on quantum physics or mechanics back in the 70’s or 80’s ? i understand not a lot was known about black holes back then but we knew enough that nothing escaped its grip . the mere distance of earth to a local black hole would be enough to draw us into its grip . look at it another way : if tomorrow the sun became a black hole , how long would it take before it sucked us in ? yeah , there’s your answer .

the audio can be accompanied with , removable , english subtitles . the subtitles only appear for the non - english speaking parts in the film , though . for those interested in the pricey region 2 set , it ' s worth mentioning that this release lacks the original 2 . 0 audio track and the 5 . 1 dts track of the movie that are located there .

at the start of the 1980s , producing large - scale films was still increasingly troublesome . even a filmmaker as senior and internationally recognised as akira kurosawa felt the pinch , requiring the help of george lucas and francis ford coppola to secure additional funding from 20th century fox to finish his period epic kagemusha ( 1980 ) when toho was unable to foot the bill on its own . kurosawa also resorted to shooting adverts for suntory whiskey on the set for extra finance / publicity as channels within the japanese film industry continued to dry up . kagemusha went on to win the palme d ' or at the 1980 cannes film festival ( a victory shared with bob fosse ' s all that jazz ( 1979 ) ) and was a domestic hit . however , this success hardly reversed the downturn of the industry .

) , in his last film - he died of cancer soon after this was released - japanese actor masumi okada has a small , english - speaking role while longtime toho star hisaya morishige turns up as the president of the earth federation , adorned in unconvincing white wig and flowing beard . besides morishige and miura , more famous at the time as the husband of momoe yamaguchi , there are no stars .

i mean , where to begin ? after acolytes of the jupiter church are arrested for a crazed protest at minerva base ( they smash a single computer over and over ) , honda recognizes one of them as the love of his life , maria ( diane dangely ) – who’s french , to keep with the multinational theme – and immediately grabs her by the hand and runs with her in slow - motion through the halls of the ship . when they reach his private cabin , they make zero - gravity love , moonraker - style . in an abstract sequence , they float naked through the cosmos , holding hands like superman and lois lane , while delivering background exposition that amounts to : they haven’t seen each other for years ; he likes outer space ; she doesn’t really care for it . within the blink of an eye , maria is back on earth along with the rest of her protest group , whose daily activities apparently consist of hanging out on a sunny beach , tanning , windsurfing , and smiling with glazed eyes at their leader and spiritual guide , the aforementioned peter , who has a pet dolphin named jupiter , and sings pop music about how wonderful the earth is . the beach scenes suggest a j - pop video directed by roger corman . an underwater camera captures a woman swimming topless , her breasts gliding slowly toward the camera , as though this is going to be that kind of movie . late in the film , a killer shark attacks poor jupiter , gorily mauling him to death . honda – on a rare visit to his home planet – attempts to recreate the climax of jaws by throwing explosives into the water and firing at them with a pistol . when the shark cannily dodges the explosions , honda plunges the boat’s propeller into its face and grinds it into pieces . returning to the beached and blood - drenched dolphin , honda looks at the bikini - clad girls and beach bums and asks optimistically , “is there a vet around ? ”

likewise , the green slime wasn ' t particularly well received when it finally reached u . s . theatres in the summer of 1969 , especially in the aftermath of stanley kubrick ' s 2001 : a space odyssey ( 1968 ) , which had been on release for a solid year before fukasaku ' s film reared its bargain - basement head . the film was also dubbed into japanese ( an interesting role reversal ) and released in japan by the end of 1968 . the japanese version is almost 20 minutes shorter than the u . s . cut , and is , unsurprisingly , a far more brisk affair . another major difference between the two versions is the theme music . the japanese cut utilises a big , brassy fanfare by toei composer toshiaki tsushima over its opening credits sequence , a portentous march that ' s typically heard in tokusatsu movies . the u . s . version features a misplaced novelty psychedelic - rock number composed by charles fox , and sung by richard delvy , which certainly plays up the camper aspects of the production , and perhaps didn ' t do the film any favours after space odyssey showcased the technical and artistic integrity the sub - genre was capable of . bizarrely , the song was released as a promotional single .

it is the year 2125 . the earth’s population is 18 billion , and colonies throughout the solar system hold an additional five billion ( the opening titles inform us ) . new sources of energy and sustenance are urgently pursued to sustain those vast numbers . on mars , the polar ice cap is detonated to melt free a new source of water ; but it also reveals previously hidden markings on the planet’s surface , pictographs which suggest an ancient alien intelligence , a la chariots of the gods . a similar discovery is about to be made on jupiter . an operation known as the j . s . ( “jupiter solarization” ) project hopes to use a chain reaction of nuclear fusion to transform the planet into a sun , thus providing a source of energy for the outer colonies . but the planet hides a secret : something strange and mammoth hides deep within the gas giant , which transmits a mysterious signal when two officers , “chief investigator” eiji honda ( tomokazu miura ) and “intergalactic linguist” millicent willem ( rachel huggett ) , fly their shuttle dangerously close to the alien object . meanwhile , a black hole begins to materialize near the planet , swallowing one of their vessels and threatening to consume earth within two years . a plan is hatched to “divert the path” of the black hole by slightly modifying the j . s . project – the planet will be exploded instead . when word of the new plan reaches the protest group called the jupiter church – led by a grinning , guitar - toting , dolphin - owning hippie named peter ( paul tagawa ) – they attempt sabotage with explosives and laser guns .

set in the year 2125 , when space travel and colonization within the solar system is commonplace , dr . eiji honda ( tomokazu miura ) - the character apparently so named in honor both tsuburaya and director ishiro honda - is a scientist working on a project to transform jupiter into a " second sun , " and thus provide energy for colonies established on the outer planets . plans for this are opposed by a radical religious cult ( founded by a bearded former pop star ) , who repeatedly attempt to sabotage honda ' s efforts aboard