Monday, April 12, 2021

Bumps in the Road - Group II

Still buried under an avalanche of work, stress, anxiety and who knows what else... Bumpy times indeed. But to get us over the hump, I have another mound of TV & movie bulges. These are from projects I've watched in my rare moments of decompression time over the last several months. Today's cover boy, however, is a person I came across while trying to do research on my prior post. This is one Perry Lopez, seated next to (a displeased-looking) Miss Natalie Wood as Nick Adams hovers nearby. Nat and date-mate Perry never worked with one another, but I'm going to put this picture around 1955, when Nick and Perry worked in two films with the other, I Died a Thousand Times and Mister Roberts. Lopez was also a close pal of one James Dean and all four of them shared many a shindig together prior to Dean's death.


Here we have a scene from The Comancheros (1961), which starred John Wayne and, at far right, Stuart Whitman.

At this point in the movie, we can catch a glimpse of Stu-ie. Ha ha!

There's plenty more of the handsome Mr. Whitman right here

Peter Wyngarde was often one to show some bulge. He does so a few times in the British-made thriller Night of the Eagle (1962) - released in the U.S. as Burn, Witch, Burn.

The witch here is his wife Janet Blair, though even with her prominently featured in the foreground, Wyngarde steals the scene...!


Wyngarde was reportedly reluctant to do the movie, but rethought the situation when he came upon a luxury car her wanted to purchase. The cost of that vehicle was what he requested for a salary!

There's always plenty of Bonanza's Little Joe (Michael Landon) to spot.

From the third season on, he practically always wore the same costume and the pants were often revealing.



As one of my loyal readers once pointed out, a little Little Joe sighting often made sitting though an episode of the venerable western series more tolerable.

Another long-running western was The Virginian, which costarred Doug McClure. He often wore the same blue-grey pants, too, and they tended to show him off to good advantage.


Here, McClure waits for guest star Tom Simcox.


And finally, we see McClure exiting a bank with a wad of cash.

That's not the only wad on hand...!


Bernie Casey and Ron O'Neal portray prison cellmates in the 1977 movie Brothers. In a couple of instances, they are stripped down to their briefs for either searches or punishment.

Casey had appeared the year before in The Man Who Fell to Earth, which included a nude swimming scene. Both he an O'Neal had rear nudity in this movie, too.


O'Neal had made quite a splash a few years prior to this in the movie Superfly (1972) and its sequel.


Recognize this hirsute fellow? The one-time model and almost-actor is notorious for having been handed a huge big-screen break which turned into a huge big-screen flop.

Yes, the man above is one Klinton Spilsbury, who was cast (after having essayed two minor TV guest roles) in the title role for The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981.) He had a big hat to fill, a big mask to fill and big pants to fill and he really wasn't able to aptly achieve any of those things.

During one brief sequence however (especially since he doesn't even don the famed costume until very late in the picture), we see that there may be something going on in those powder blue pants...

Spilsbury was reportedly very unpopular on the set, deemed egotistical, and had his voice dubbed for the final print of the film, leading to his virtual banishment from the screen thereafter.

In 1979, Otto Preminger directed the espionage thriller The Human Factor (1979) with British actor Nicol Williamson. (Williamson was to portray Merlin in Excalibur two years later.) In the film, he takes a rather eye-opening stroll with a male acquaintance.


Can you make out Merlin's magic wand? Ha ha!




How 'bout now?

Lastly, I give you Thomas Gibson in the 1993 dark comedy Love & Human Remains. You might recall Gibson from the hit sitcom Dharma & Greg?

Here you get to see what only Dharma laid eyes on...!

BONUS PICS

Not bulges, but the aforementioned strip search sequence from Brothers.

Those with a keen eye could see a bit more of Bernie than usual!

The End!

13 comments:

normadesmond said...

😃

Shawny said...

Whoa, the Michael Landon scenes were insane. I think my parents used to watch Bonanza back then, and I would have been playing with my toys, not paying attention. I wonder if anyone noticed that since screen quality was so poor.

Gingerguy said...

I laughed at Merlin's wand. I remember scandal about Nicol Williamson from Excalibur, he apparently was a nightmare to direct in "I Hate Hamlet" and injured a costar with a prop. Paul Rudnick is a funny writer but wasn't laughing. I think of that story whenever I watch "Excalibur". And Peter's peter is the only reason to watch "Burn Witch Burn" it's a great little film and you can or could see it on youtube. It's from one of those crazy gothic romances called "The Conjure Wife", he has a hot little body as an added attraction. Thanks for a great break from my work torment Poseidon

hsc said...

Another great round of pics, Poseidon!


Peter Wyngarde's bulge was actually cited in a 1970s book, CLASSICS OF THE HORROR FILM, by noted film scholar William K. Everson, who bizarrely claimed in his review of BURN, WITCH, BURN:

"The occasionally somewhat erratic editing was at least partially attributable to the hero’s insistence on wearing indelicately tight trousers, forcing the director to shoot him in extreme long shot or extreme closeup much of the time! (This trivia information is recorded only to prevent future auteurists from discovering a definite pattern to the photographic style, and determining that medium shots for the wife and none for the hero are metaphors symbolizing a lack of communication between the two!)"

However, as you can plainly see in the frame grabs, there's plenty of views of those "indelicately tight trousers" fully packed and bulging away, with no avoidance apparent. And there's nothing particularly "erratic" about the editing.

Years later, when film scholar Tom Weaver interviewed the director of BURN, WITCH, BURN, Sidney Hayers, and asked him about Everson's comment, Hayers responded, "That is not true. [...] I cannot honestly recount one instance of that."

Wyngarde's later TV series JASON KING frequently put all the manly goods on display in an even more in-your-face way, but in outfits so garish and dated they're downright painful to view. (Supposedly, the character and his outfits were one of the main inspirations for Austin Powers.)


Thanks for another fun and titillating post!

A said...

Thanks for another great post, Poseidon!

And if you have time, more Perry Lopez please.


A.

Poseidon3 said...

Norma=happy=good

Shawny, I guess it's a matter of what you're used to. I never considered the screen quality poor when the analog screens were all we had! LOL But certainly reception could be a factor. Many a day I was sent by my father to the TV to adjust the antennae. I think Mike's bulges made their way through the airwaves on some level, though today's technology helps us see them even more. I have some on DVD that I haven't gotten to put up yet. It's unreal...!

Gingerguy, "Excalibur" is one of those movies that was on ALL THE TIME when my family (mother/stepdad) finally got pay cable. I was all about Nicholas Clay as Lancelot and would seek out that movie in order to catch his semi-nude scenes. Added bonus for today's viewers is the chance to see Helen Mirren camping it up as Morgana. BTW, I was in a production of "I Hate Hamlet!" I played the actor's agent Gary Peter Lefkowitz (sp?) and after it was all said and done found out that I'd done it 180 degrees from Alan Arkin who'd originated it. He was very New York/funky/backwards ballcap and I was deep tan, white-blond, California fizz...! Heigh ho.

hsc, I have to admit that the bulge shots I put up of Peter from "BWB" were caught on the fly - so to speak! Ha ha! - and were caught by my ever-watchful roaming eye. It's not like he is seen that way continuously for long stretches. So it could be possible that some of the editing/staging was affected along the way. But it sounds like that author was pretty focused on/obsessed with the topic at hand! I have never seen an ep of "Jason King" but I have definitely seen photos from it and it is jaw-dropping! Thank you!!

A, I was very startled to see quite a few chummy pics of Perry with James Dean and Nick Adams (both allegedly bisexual) with Natalie tossed into the mix. I'd love to know more about that group...! I really only knew him from a guest shot on "Star Trek" and less so from "Chinatown" but I see that he was in "Taras Bulba" and I recall at the time I caught that wondering who Tony Curtis' cute brother was... He probably has some interesting tales to tell.

Dov said...

As tight as Michael Landon's pants were you could tell he was circumcised.

Shawny said...

Oh my, I just googled Jason King. Now I HAVE to watch it. Thank you HSC (I feel like I’m thanking a corporation with that handle.)

Shawny said...

Has anyone proven that Jason King was not in fact one of Lily Tomlin’s characters?

joel65913 said...

Another very fine collection Poseidon!

The look on Natalie's face is hysterical, it was probably a fleeting reaction to something that just happened to be captured but she does look peevish.

Oh those 60's Westerns always great for beautiful men in ultra tight pants. Landon seems to have been the king of snugness!

I was a bit surprised to see Nicol Williamson show up here. A great, great actor, adore him in Excalibur-he's obviously having a great time but I've seen him in several other things as well and he was capable of enormous variety, but I've never seen him as much of a lust object. It doesn't help that I've read that he was a difficult man with a prickly explosive temper.

Haven't seen Brothers but it looks like I should keep an eye out for it!

Thank you for carving out a little time to give us some lovely viewing!!

Unknown said...

Wishing you health and respect. Thank you for taking time to help us view some great men.

angelman66 said...

Hi Poseidon - hope our collective stress levels simmer down soon! Your blog always helps. Laughed out loud with delight to see you include one of my favorite horror films here, Burn Witch Burn; just watched it again and saw exactly what you did—-that Peter Wyngarde was one hot number and I don’t blame Janet a bit for doing a little voodoo to keep him in her bed. Also thanks to you, I have put Brothers on my must see list! (Into the prison milieu since I just found a wonderful 30 minute clip of the infamous Don Johnson Sal Mineo stage production of Fortune and Men’s Eyes on YouTube, didn’t even know it existed!)
- Chris

Poseidon3 said...

Thanks much for the info on "Fortune," angelman66! I had no idea at all that ANY footage existed of that play. Fascinating. I couldn't resist including a little bit of it in my latest bulge post. I became interested in prison movies because they used to almost always involved a stripping down or showering scene. Probably desensitized myself with regard to some of the violence in them as a result whereas I used to very sensitive and impressionable to such things. (I have the movie of "Fortune" on VHS and it was fairly gritty! Tough to beat the classic "Cool Hand Luke" for that genre.) Take care!