The movie adaption of Agatha Christie's novel Evil Under the Sun, published in 1941, premiered March 5, 1982 with a stellar cast. Peter Ustinvo appears as Hercule Poirot for the second time. He previously played the detective in Death On The Nile. Evil Under the Sun also starred Dame Maggie Smith, Roddy McDowall, and Diana Rigg.
This movie did not do as well at the box office as previous Agatha Christie adaptions had, but it did receive critical acclaim with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 86%.
Back to the Future and Fright Night each won three Saturn Awards at the annual ceremony held by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films on May 28, 1986. Ladyhawke won two awards.
Back to the Future won Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actor for Michael J. Fox for his performance as Marty McFly, and Best Special Effects for Kevin Pike.
Fright Night won Best Horror Film, Best Supporting Actor for Roddy McDowall for his performance as Peter Vincent, and Best Writing for Tom Holland (not of Spider-man fame).
Ladyhawke won Best Fantasy Film and Best Costumes for Nana Cecchi.
Anne Ramsey won Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Mama Fratelli in The Goonies.
Back to the Future won an Oscar for Special Effects and nominated for three more, but since this was a Steven Spielberg movie, it had more of a wider appeal to audiences than the others at the Saturn Awards. None of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror films that year were nominated for any acting Oscars. Of the ones that did receive nominations, they were only nominated for the technical awards.
The wonderfully bad movie Laserblast was inflicted...er, released into theaters March 1, 1978. It was a science film, which the director Michael Rae hoped would cash in on the craze from Star Wars IV: A New Hope, released the year before. Unfortunately, it has been ranked one of the worst of all time. It featured a pretty good cast, including Ron Masak, Keenan Wynn, Roddy McDowall and Eddie Deezen.
The lead actor Kim Milford was nominated for a Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst Actor.
Mike and the bots riffed it in the 6th episode of the 8th season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Horror-comedy movie Arnold, from director Georg Fenady, was released November 16, 1973. It starts with the recently deceased Lord Arnold Dwellyn getting married to his fiance Karen, played by Stella Stevens. Arnold knows his family is greedy and after his money so he sets deadly traps for them all over his estate.
It also starred Roddy McDowall and Elsa Lanchester. It was nominated for a Saturn Award (Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror) for best horror film in 1975 but lost to The Exorcist.
Planet of the Apes, a science fiction classic, was released April 3, 1968. It was based on the novel by Pierre Boulle (Bridge Over the River Kwai). It starred Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter.
It involves a crew of astronauts who crash land on Earth in the distant future, where apes have evolved and are the dominant species. Humans are kept as slaves.
It was nominated for two Academy Awards and won an honorary Oscar for John Chambers' achievements in make-up. This didn't become a category until 1981.
In 2001, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Charlton Heston's line "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" is listed as #66 of top 100 movie quotes.
Everyone's favorite super-hero show, Batman, aired its first episode Hi Diddle Riddle, January 12, 1966. The show featured a theme song to which we know the all words...word, rather and took 'camp' to heights never achieved before or since. It starred Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo. Throughout its three season run, a galaxy of stars appeared, such as Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, Cesar Romero as the Joker, Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, and Eartha Kitt as Catwoman.
Other guests were Vincent Price, Caroline Jones, Bruce Lee, Ethel Merman, Liberace, Roddy McDowall, Joan Collins and Lee Meriwether.
Remember 'some days you just can't get rid of a bomb'? The shark jumping out of the water and clamping on Batman's leg?
