Sometime around the summer of 1988, the program directors at every local T.V. station in the country must’ve gotten together in their war room and decided to stop showing B-movies on Saturday afternoons. “Why should we beg Crazy Eddie and that wheezing old man from Carvel to peddle their insane prices and Fatty the Whale ice cream cakes during THE GLORY STOMPERS or THE POM POM GIRLS,” some young suit surely sneered, “when we can sell off 30-minute blocks of time to spray-on hair and turtle wax infomercials instead?” And just like that – poof! – those glorious days when a person could crash on the couch for 5 hours on a Saturday afternoon and click through a half-dozen programs like 9 in the Afternoon and Morgus and Commander USA’s Groovy Movies were gone.
I know what some of you are thinking – you’re thinking, “All those movies are on DVD now, uncut and letterboxed, so what are you complaining about?” Well, if you must know, it’s the disappearance of yet another movie viewing experience that’s got me all in an uproar. I know I can watch the movies any time I want, but it’s the experience of watching the movies on TV that I miss, an experience that would usually begin the previous Sunday, when I’d open the Daily News television listings and say, “Oh wow, [insert Adam Roarke biker flick or Crown International beach girl jiggle movie here] is gonna be on next Saturday!” but the movie was only a part of a bigger picture. The commercials, the station identification bumpers, the wear and tear on the prints, the sloppily excised sex and violence – the TV equivalent of the missing reels in GRINDHOUSE, I suppose, which means my words are falling on mostly deaf ears. Or as John Sebastian once sang, it’s like trying tell a stranger about rock ‘n’ roll.
One of the most exciting and influential movie experiences to ever hit Saturday afternoon television was Drive-In Movie on WNEW channel 5 in New York. I loved everything about Drive-In Movie, from the retro ‘50s jukebox-style bumpers – which lifted the “Alone at the Drive-In Movie” instrumental from GREASE – to the uniquely New York roster of tri-state area advertisers (discount electronics, designer jeans, Wometco Home Theatre, “This is Phil Rizzuto for the Money Store!”), and the programming was unbeatable: motorcycle movies, teen sex comedies, Japanese giant monster epics, Hammer horror films, AIP classics and, most importantly, kung fu movies. Lots and lots of kung fu movies. If for no other reason, Drive-In Movie deserves a place in the exploitation history books for being one of the first programs to drag Chinese kung fu flicks out of the grindhouses and into the living rooms of mainstream America – kicking and screaming, naturally.
Most of the credit for the success of Drive-In Movie must be given to Mel Maron, an unsung B-movie personality so unsung that he doesn’t even rate his own entry in the Internet Movie Database. A native New Yorker and veteran distributor, Maron first came to prominence as a sales manager for MGM and UPA in the 1960s before forming his own company, Maron Films Ltd., in 1970. Maron was not only a great distributor, but someone conscious of choices. If you’re four paragraphs into this article and still following me, there’s a good chance you’ve seen or at least heard of a few of the movies released by Maron Films: B.J. LANG PRESENTS (a.k.a. THE MANIPULATOR), CIAO MANHATTAN!, DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS, GODZILLA’S REVENGE, GROUPIES, ISLAND OF THE BURNING DOOMED, NEXT! (a.k.a. THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH), THE PROJECTIONIST, THREE BULLETS FOR A LONG GUN, TOWER OF SCREAMING VIRGINS, TOYS ARE NOT FOR CHILDREN, TRISTANA, and the unforgettable double bill of WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS and MONSTER ZERO. Maron also had a subsidiary company, Duffy Films, Inc., to handle soft-X features like THE CULT, a quickie cash-in on the Tate-LoBianco killings that would later be re-titled THE MANSON MASSACRE (Filmed in 1970, THE CULT premiered in Philadelphia on February 26th, 1971).
Despite a splashy start, Maron Films was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy by August of 1972, and Maron moved on to a sales manager position at Group 1 Films. Formed in the mid 1960s by Brandon Chase, Group 1 (also known as V.I. Productions, Ltd.) was a distribution company that specialized in sleazy European imports like ROOM OF CHAINS, AMUCK!, THE DEPRAVED (a.k.a. DIARY OF A RAPE), and NAZI LOVE CAMP #27, and was located – ironically – in swanky Scarsdale, NY. When Group 1 relocated to Los Angeles in 1975, Maron stayed in New York and accepted a position as executive vice president of domestic sales at a brand new film distribution house, Cinema Shares International Distribution Corporation.
Owned by Omni Capital Corporation, an investment banking firm that offered its clients tax shelter investment opportunities in motion pictures (as well as real estate, commodities, gas & electric, etc.), Cinema Shares and its subsidiary, Downtown Distribution, quickly accumulated an enviable catalog of titles thanks to Maron, who was soon promoted to president of the company’s domestic division. Film editors were hired to create “TV friendly” versions of the theatrical properties, and by 1976 the syndication division had a package of 23 feature films which had already been sold to stations in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles and other key cities. Some of the films released by Cinema Shares/Downtown that you may have seen on television or at a drive-in during the 1970s and 1980s: ACES HIGH, BLUE SUNSHINE, CRIME BOSS, DIARY OF AN EROTIC MURDERESS, DIE SISTER DIE!, EMANUELLE’S HOLIDAY, ESKIMO NELL, GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND, JACOB TWO-TWO MEETS THE HOODED FANG, MAD DOG MORGAN, NO WAY OUT (a.k.a. TONY ARZENTA), OPERATION THUNDERBOLT, RECOMMENDATION FOR MERCY, RIPPED OFF, SENIORS, TEXAS DETOUR, TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST, and BLOOD, SWEAT & FEAR.
With a born showman like Maron calling most of the shots (there was still a board of directors to answer to), Cinema Shares played hardball with daring and sometimes borderline fraudulent advertising campaigns. The Italian shocker WEB OF THE SPIDER claimed to be “Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.’” Gun-toting African-Americans dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes and headgear were the selling point of the blaxploitation actioner THE BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH. The sexy European comedy SCHOOL DAYS – about an alluring female high school teacher – featured the then-timely tag line, “Hotter than Kotter, and we’ve got her!” GODZILLA VS. THE BIONIC MONSTER invited a lawsuit from the producers of the hit TV shows “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman,” prompting Cinema Shares to quickly change the word “Bionic” to “Cosmic,” while the posters and ads for GODZILLA VS. MEGALON pictured the titular monsters slugging it out atop the World Trade Center – a shameless attempt to cash in on the ’76 remake of KING KONG.
Maron also jumped onto the Bruce Lee bandwagon by acquiring dubbed martial arts movies and releasing them to urban action theaters in the U.S., where they played double and triple bills for years. “Even though he had a short career with only a few films, Bruce Lee opened everyone’s eyes,” Maron told me in a recent phone interview. “When I saw kids going to these karate and kung fu schools that were springing up everywhere, I felt there was a natural tie-in between the martial arts and America.” Some of the movies in this genre that were released by Cinema Shares include BRUCE LEE: THE MAN – THE MYTH, FISTS OF BRUCE LEE, FISTS OF VENGEANCE, DRAGON SISTER, KUNG FU GOLD, SOUL BROTHERS OF KUNG FU, FURIOUS MONK FROM SHAOLIN, HONG KONG STRONGMAN, the 3-D bloodbath DYNASTY, and THE KILLING MACHINE, a Japanese bone-cruncher starring Sonny Chiba.
After the tax shelter laws were tightened in the latter part of the 1970s, Cinema Shares ceased operating as a theatrical distribution outfit and turned all of its attention toward TV and international sales. Maron left the company in 1979 to accept a position as executive vice president of distribution and marketing at the World Northal Corporation. Founded in 1976 as Northal Films by exhibitor Albert Schwartz, to showcase his popular French acquisition COUSIN, COUSINE – at that time one of the five biggest grossing foreign films released in the U.S. – the company was renamed World Northal in ’77 when Schwartz took on two partners, Frank Stanton and Victor Elmaleh. The trio’s original plan was to compete with Cinema 5, Libra, New Yorker and other foreign and specialty film boutiques, and while World Northal’s next few releases – BREAD AND CHOCOLATE, Peter Weir’s THE LAST WAVE, QUADROPHENIA, ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL – received mostly positive reviews and helped boost the company’s reputation as an arthouse distributor, they failed to recapture the financial success of COUSIN, COUSINE (which had grossed over $8 million). Not long after Maron’s arrival, however, an acquisition deal was inked with Raymond Chow’s Golden Harvest for six martial arts movies, and twelve more were licensed from Wolf Cohen, the sales agent for Globe Films, which owned the North American rights to the Shaw Brothers’ library. World Northal, a distributor classy enough to play “Promenade” from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition over its company logo, was suddenly in the kung fu movie business!
In addition to theatrical distribution, which began late in 1979 with THE MASTER KILLER, THE CHINATOWN KID and MISSION KISS AND KILL, the martial arts films were sold to Warner Amex, Showtime, Wometco Home Theater (WHT) and Times-Mirror for cable playoff. Most importantly, Maron brought in film editor Larry Bensky from Cinema Shares to prepare TV-friendly versions for World Northal’s television division, W.W. Entertainment. “Kung fu movies were really enjoying their biggest success with downtown urban audiences, primarily the African-American audiences,” Maron explains. “I was the first one to go on television with dubbed kung fu movies, after everyone told me it couldn’t be done. My rationale was that a lot of the kids were hungry to see those pictures, but they couldn’t because their parents felt uncomfortable letting them go to the downtown theaters.” By the time the first two syndication packages were made available in March of 1981, the number of kung fu movies represented by World Northal had swelled to 39 (13 titles in the “Black Belt Theatre” package, 26 in “Black Belt Two”).
Branching out further, Maron acquired the indie horror movies THE CHILDREN (which grossed over $5 million), THE ORPHAN, THE UNSEEN, and STRANGE BEHAVIOR, and picked up the Lee Majors action flick STEEL from Columbia Pictures. Jules Dassin’s CIRCLE OF TWO, a romance with Richard Burton and Tatum O’Neal, and the thriller THE DISAPPEARANCE starring Donald Sutherland were two poorly received attempts by World Northal to compete with the major studios. The company also continued its art film agenda by releasing HUSSY (starring Helen Mirren), SCUM, SWEET WILLIAM, and Nicholas Roeg’s BAD TIMING/A SENSUAL OBSESSION. At the same time, college film societies and repertory houses were booking QUADROPHENIA, THE LAST WAVE, and late acquisitions like THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL and FUNNYBONE (a.k.a. Larry Cohen’s BONE) as midnight shows.
On May 2nd, 1981, Drive-In Movie premiered on WNEW channel 5. The first movie shown was the Shaw Brothers production BRUCE LEE: HIS LAST DAYS, HIS LAST NIGHTS, one of the 13 films in World Northal’s original “Black Belt Theatre” package, which had already been sold to 21 television stations in the U.S. Drive-In Movie was enormously popular from the get-go, and WNEW stretched the 13 films in the “Black Belt Theatre” package by alternating them with movies from other syndication companies, most notably the 15 features in Gold Key Entertainment’s “Good Vibrations” package. First available in September of 1980, “Good Vibrations” contained CUTTING LOOSE, FUNNY CAR SUMMER, GETTING WASTED, GOODBYE FRANKLIN HIGH, GRAD NIGHT, MALIBU BEACH, MALIBU HIGH, MIDNIGHT AUTO SUPPLY, THE POM POM GIRLS, REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS, STARHOPS, SUNSET COVE, SWIM TEAM, THE VAN, and VAN NUYS BLVD. Gold Key also handled SATAN’S CHEERLEADERS, which was still playing dusk-to-dawn shows in rural drive-in theaters as late as 1987; a late-night favorite on WNEW, its sole Drive-In Movie showing was in February of 1982. A company called Teleworld provided WNEW with biker movies from the defunct Fanfare Corporation and several Hammer horror films (including the TV-friendly version of LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, re-titled TO LOVE A VAMPIRE). In later years, WNEW picked up a package from Cinema Shares and a package of AIP classics from Orion Entertainment, but for the most part Drive-In Movie was dominated by World Northal’s black belt packages.
In June of 1981, the board of directors at World Northal elected Maron the president and chief operating officer of the company. He resigned six months later. In early 1982, Albert Schwartz – the founder and former co-owner of World Northal – purchased Cinema 5 and renamed it Almi Cinema 5. Maron was brought in as president. By the end of 1982, the company had changed names again (Almi Pictures) and for the next several years the arthouse fare that had put Cinema 5 on the map took a backseat to such Maronesque titles as CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS, COIL OF THE SNAKE, EAGLE VS. SILVER FOX, FIST OF GOLDEN MONKEY, HANDS OF LIGHTNING, HORROR PLANET, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, JUSTICE OF THE DRAGON, THE SECRET NINJA, SEX AND VIOLENCE, SILENT MADNESS (in 3-D), SPACESHIP, and TIGER CLAWS.
Meanwhile, the “Black Belt Theatre” packages continued to be big money-makers for World Northal. In 1983, the company purchased four Billy Chong movies (A HARD WAY TO DIE, JADE CLAW, KUNG FU EXECUTIONER, SUPER POWER) from Transmedia Distribution Corporation – a New Jersey-based company owned by one Alice Hsia – and added them to the “Black Belt Two” package. World Northal also acquired a trio of Italian genre pictures, all starring British leading man David Warbeck, for quick theatrical playoffs and home video sales: horror master Lucio Fulci’s THE BLACK CAT and the Antonio Margheriti actioners THE LAST HUNTER and HUNTERS OF THE GOLDEN COBRA. These turned up later in World Northal’s “Action Flicks” syndication package, alongside the 1960s heist film SEVEN GOLDEN MEN and three Alain Delon vehicles (ICE, WHIRLPOOL, THE TWISTED DETECTIVE), which was sold to the USA Network.
After a five-year hiatus, Cinema Shares had a fleeting return to the theatrical market in the mid 1980s with a handful of low-grade Italian programmers, including Lamberto Bava’s MONSTER SHARK, the dreadful Mad Max rip-off RUSH and its equally terrible sequel, RAGE. After one-week runs on 42nd Street, where they were trashed by intrepid Variety critic Lawrence Cohn, these noxious throwaways were sold to video as “direct from theatrical release” and licensed to TV stations as part of Cinema Shares’ syndication packages. THE HEADLESS EYES, BLOOD WATERS OF DR. Z, the Italian horror film PANIC (starring Warbeck and Janet Agren), and Andy Milligan’s THE MAN WITH TWO HEADS were other low-budgeters that turned up on TV in the late 1980s sporting the Cinema Shares logo.
Drive-In Movie went off the air in July of 1988. The signs of its impending demise were in evidence months ahead of time, maybe even years if you consider the summer of 1986 when the program was pre-empted for a month so WNEW could broadcast the Empire State Games, or the occasional ill-fitting feature arbitrarily dropped into the timeslot (Wonderful World of Disney two-parters? RUSTLER’S RHAPSODY?). The “Black Belt Theatre” movies had been absent from the program since the previous October; WNEW was airing them, along with the AIP biker and horror movies, in late-night Saturday slots instead. This came to an end at the close of the 1980s.
World Northal’s days of distributing martial arts movies to theaters and television ended not long after. Dubbed versions of THE BASTARD SWORDSMAN and MY YOUNG AUNTIE played for weeks at the Rialto on 42nd Street in 1986, but received little (if any) big screen exposure anyplace else. MAD MONKEY KUNG FU, one of the Shaw Brothers productions in the “Black Belt Theatre 5” package, became the last old-school kung fu movie to be projected on 35mm in a 42nd Street grindhouse when it supported Jean-Claude Van Damme’s KICKBOXER at the Cine 42 in 1989.
During the eight years of its existence, Drive-In Movie pulled from at least six different World Northal/W.W. Entertainment packages. According to posts on the Kung Fu Fandom message board, a “lost” package put together in the company’s final days never saw the light of day in most cities and supposedly contained THE BASTARD SWORDSMAN, BATTLE FOR SHAOLIN (a.k.a. SHAOLIN INTRUDERS), BOXER FROM THE TEMPLE, BREAKING SWORD OF DEATH (a.k.a. DEADLY BREAKING SWORD), CLAW OF THE EAGLE, DISCIPLES OF THE MASTER KILLER (a.k.a. DISCIPLES OF THE 36TH CHAMBER), HOUSE OF TRAPS, INVINCIBLE POLE FIGHTER (a.k.a. THE 8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER), LIGHTNING FISTS OF SHAOLIN (a.k.a. OPIUM AND THE KUNG FU MASTER), MY YOUNG AUNTIE, and NAKED FISTS OF TERROR (a.k.a. THE SPIRITUAL BOXER). Another rumor is that a thieving World Northal intern made off with dozens of the masters and started his own bootleg video company, which would account for all the dubbed prints that proliferated on VHS in the early 1990s (I used to pick them up at a spot on the Deuce near 8th that later relocated around the corner and became the 43rd Chamber).
A few of the World Northal releases that never appeared in TV packages are BLAST OF THE IRON PALM, ENTER THE FAT DRAGON, THE JADE WARRIORS, KUNG FU WARLORDS PART 2, MASTER OF DISASTER, MISSION KISS AND KILL, NAVAL COMMANDOS, and QUEEN HUSTLER. Several films that were in the “Black Belt Two” package were never actually shown on Drive-In Movie: 18 FATAL STRIKES, THE INCREDIBLE KUNG FU MASTER, INTERNATIONAL ASSASSINS, MANHUNT, MASTER AVENGERS, REVENGE OF THE PATRIOTS, and THE SHAOLIN PLOT. Non-martial arts releases from World Northal, such as THE ORPHAN, STRANGE BEHAVIOR and the Shaw Brothers horror flicks BLACK MAGIC and REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES, were part of the company’s general syndication package and were aired on WNEW in late-night timeslots rather than on Drive-In Movie.
Maron, who has been the president of marketing & distribution at Castle Hill Productions for the past 23 years, lets out a chuckle when I suggest that his career in the motion picture business would make for a fascinating article. “I’m on the board of directors of the Palm Beach County Film & Television Commission, and when I was a guest speaker and one of the judges of their student showcase, they had me on a panel discussion and my area of expertise was the least interesting to the kids in the audience!” he laughs. “The other people on the panel were filmmakers, and the kids all wanted to know, ‘How do you get the films made, how do you do this or that’ – they couldn’t care less about distribution!”
1981
5/2/81 3pm BRUCE LEE: HIS LAST DAYS, HIS LAST NIGHTS
5/16/81 3pm FUNNY CAR SUMMER
5/23/81 3pm DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE
6/6/81 3pm THE MASTER KILLER
6/13/81 3pm GRAD NIGHT
6/20/81 3pm FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN
7/4/81 1pm SUNSET COVE
7/11/81 3pm THE THREE AVENGERS
7/18/81 3pm HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN
7/25/81 3pm DUEL OF THE IRON FIST
8/1/81 3pm HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS
8/8/81 3pm THE CHINATOWN KID
8/15/81 3pm THE FACE OF FU MANCHU
8/22/81 3pm RUN, ANGEL, RUN!
9/5/81 3pm HARD DRIVER
9/12/81 3pm EXECUTIONERS OF DEATH
9/19/81 3pm SCARS OF DRACULA
9/25/81 3pm DYNAMO
10/3/81 3pm THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS
10/10/81 3pm THE SAVAGE FIVE
10/24/81 3pm THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU
10/31/81 3pm THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM
11/21/81 3pm THE TATTOO CONNECTION
12/5/81 3pm TO LOVE A VAMPIRE
12/26/81 3pm THE STARHOPS
1982
1/2/82 3pm CUTTING LOOSE
1/9/82 3pm BRUCE LEE: HIS LAST DAYS, HIS LAST NIGHTS
1/16/82 3pm THE MASTER KILLER
1/23/82 3pm BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE
1/30/82 3pm THE THREE AVENGERS
2/6/82 3pm DUEL OF THE IRON FIST
2/13/82 3pm SATAN’S CHEERLEADERS
2/20/82 3pm TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG
2/27/82 3pm THE CHINATOWN KID
3/6/82 3pm FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED
3/13/82 3pm THE LOSERS
3/20/82 3pm EXECUTIONERS OF DEATH
4/3/82 3pm DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS
4/10/82 3pm SWIM TEAM
4/17/82 3pm DYNAMO
5/8/82 3pm STREET GANGS OF HONG KONG
5/15/82 3pm FIVE MASTERS OF DEATH
5/22/82 3pm SHAOLIN HANDLOCK
6/5/82 3pm MALIBU BEACH
6/12/82 3pm THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS
6/19/82 3pm THE VAN
7/3/82 3pm SPIDER-MAN: THE CHINESE WEB
7/10/82 3pm CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS
7/17/82 3pm THE UNBEATABLE DRAGON
7/24/82 3pm THE MASTER OF KUNG FU
7/31/82 3pm KILLER FROM SHANTUNG
8/7/82 3pm THE MUMMY (Hammer)
8/14/82 3pm BLUE SUNSHINE
8/21/82 3pm THE DEVIL’S OWN
9/4/82 3pm VAN NUYS BLVD.
9/11/82 3pm THE TATTOO CONNECTION
9/18/82 3pm THE SAVAGE FIVE
9/25/82 3pm THE FOUR INVINCIBLES
10/2/82 3pm THE TATTOOED DRAGON
10/9/82 3pm A MAN CALLED TIGER
10/23/82 3pm STONER
10/30/82 3pm THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE
11/6/82 3pm SLAUGHTER IN SAN FRANCISCO
11/20/82 3pm ROOTS OF EVIL
12/11/82 3pm AVENGING EAGLES
12/18/82 3pm DEATH CHAMBER
1983
1/1/83 3pm DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY
1/8/83 3pm THE HORROR OF DRACULA
1/15/83 3pm FIVE MASTERS OF DEATH
1/22/83 3pm STREET GANGS OF HONG KONG
2/5/83 3pm THE DEADLY ANGELS
2/12/83 3pm KUNG FU CONSPIRACY
2/19/83 3pm A HARD WAY TO DIE
2/26/83 3pm THE NINJA WARLORD
3/5/83 3pm BRUCE LEE: HIS LAST DAYS, HIS LAST NIGHTS
3/12/83 3pm THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM
3/19/83 3pm JADE CLAW
4/2/83 3pm SUPER POWER
4/16/83 3pm THE MASTER KILLER
4/23/83 3pm THE FOUR ASSASSINS
5/7/83 3pm CHALLENGE OF THE NINJA
5/14/83 3pm THE FLYING GUILLOTINE
5/28/83 3pm HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS
6/4/83 1pm SLAUGHTER IN SAN FRANCISCO; 3pm DUEL OF THE IRON FIST
6/11/83 1pm STREET GANGS OF HONG KONG
6/18/83 1:30pm GRAD NIGHT; 3pm DEADMAN’S CURVE
6/25/83 1pm THE SAVAGE FIVE
7/2/83 1pm RUN, ANGEL, RUN; 3pm THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS
7/9/83 1pm CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS; 3pm THE CHINATOWN KID
7/16/83 1pm THE UNBEATABLE DRAGON; 3pm THE THREE AVENGERS
7/23/83 1pm THE MASTER OF KUNG FU; 3pm EXECUTIONERS OF DEATH
7/30/83 1pm STONER; 3pm THE BLOODY AVENGERS
8/6/83 1pm THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU; 3pm AVENGING EAGLES
8/13/83 1pm FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED; 3pm DYNAMO
8/20/83 1pm THE SHUTTERED ROOM; 3:15pm THE TATTOO CONNECTION
8/27/83 1pm TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG
9/3/83 1pm DEATH CHAMBER; 3:15pm THE TATTOOED DRAGON
9/10/83 1pm DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE
9/17/83 1pm THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM; 2:45pm THE SPEARMAN OF DEATH
9/24/83 3pm THE DEADLY ANGELS
10/1/83 1pm KUNG FU EXECUTIONER; 3pm A HARD WAY TO DIE
10/8/83 1pm A MAN CALLED TIGER; 2:30pm THE BULLET TRAIN
10/15/83 1pm THE FOUR ASSASSINS
10/22/83 1pm SUPER POWER; 3pm KOWLOON ASSIGNMENT
10/29/83 3pm DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS
11/5/83 1pm KILLER FROM SHANTUNG; 3pm WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES
11/12/83 1pm THE NINJA WARLORD; 3pm THE RETURN OF THE MASTER KILLER
11/19/83 1pm THE DESTROYERS
11/26/83 1pm KUNG FU CONSPIRACY; 2:45pm TWO CHAMPIONS OF DEATH
12/3/83 1pm JADE CLAW
12/10/83 1pm BRUCE LEE: HIS LAST DAYS, HIS LAST NIGHTS
12/17/83 1pm FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN
12/31/83 3:30pm MALIBU BEACH
1984
1/7/84 2pm THE TATTOO CONNECTION
1/14/84 3pm AVENGING EAGLES
1/21/84 3pm FIVE MASTERS OF DEATH
2/4/84 3pm FISTS OF THE WHITE LOTUS
2/11/84 3pm MASKED AVENGERS
2/18/84 3pm INSTRUCTORS OF DEATH
2/25/84 3pm CHALLENGE OF THE NINJA
3/3/84 3pm STREET GANGS OF HONG KONG
3/17/84 3pm THE FACE OF FU MANCHU
3/24/84 3pm THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN
3/31/84 3pm KUNG FU EXECUTIONER
4/21/84 3pm THE FLYING GUILLOTINE
5/5/84 3pm DIRTY HO
5/12/84 3pm SLICE OF DEATH
5/26/84 3pm MORTAL COMBAT
6/2/84 3pm WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES
6/9/84 3pm ROOTS OF EVIL
6/23/84 2:30pm COP IN BLUE JEANS
6/30/84 2:30pm THE SPEARMAN OF DEATH
7/7/84 3pm DUEL OF THE IRON FIST
7/14/84 3pm THE MASTER KILLER
7/21/84 3pm TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG
7/28/84 3pm CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS
8/4/84 3pm THE FOUR ASSASSINS
8/11/84 3pm THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS
8/18/84 3pm THE MASTER OF KUNG FU
9/1/84 3pm THE UNBEATABLE DRAGON
9/8/84 3pm THE THREE AVENGERS
9/15/84 3pm THE DESTROYERS
9/22/84 3pm THE DEATH CHAMBER
9/29/84 3pm KILLER ARMY
10/13/84 3pm KUNG FU KILLERS
10/20/84 3pm THE DEADLY MANTIS (1978)
11/10/84 3pm SUPER NINJAS
11/17/84 3pm WINNERS AND SINNERS
11/24/84 3pm THE INVINCIBLE ONE
12/8/84 3pm STONER
12/15/84 3pm THE BLOODY AVENGERS
12/29/84 3pm KILLER FROM SHANTUNG
1985
1/5/85 3pm THE YOUNG MASTER
1/12/85 3pm RETURN OF THE MASTER KILLER
1/19/85 3pm RETURN OF THE DRAGON
1/26/85 3pm THE CHINESE CONNECTION
2/9/85 3pm THE GAME OF DEATH
2/26/85 3pm GAME OF DEATH II
2/23/85 3pm THE TATTOOED DRAGON
3/2/85 3pm BREAKER! BREAKER!
3/16/85 3pm SUPER POWER
3/30/85 3pm A HARD WAY TO DIE
4/13/85 3pm THE CHINATOWN KID
5/4/85 3pm FIVE MASTERS OF DEATH
5/11/85 3pm FISTS OF FURY
5/25/85 3pm SLAUGHTER IN SAN FRANCISCO
6/1/85 3pm HOT RODS TO HELL
6/8/85 3pm DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS
6/15/85 3pm THE DEADLY ANGELS
6/29/85 3pm KUNG FU CONSPIRACY
7/6/85 3pm JADE CLAW
7/20/85 3pm GOLIATHON
7/27/85 3pm THE SAVAGE FIVE
8/3/85 3pm STREET GANGS OF HONG KONG
8/10/85 3pm DUEL OF THE IRON FIST
8/17/85 3pm THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM
8/31/85 3pm KUNG FU EXECUTIONER
9/7/85 3pm EXECUTIONERS OF DEATH
9/21/85 1pm THEM!; 3pm CHALLENGE OF THE NINJA
9/28/85 1pm TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM; 3pm AVENGING EAGLES
10/5/85 1:15pm THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS; 3pm KUNG FU WARLORDS
10/12/85 1pm TO LOVE A VAMPIRE; 3pm ROAR OF THE LION
10/19/85 1pm DISCIPLES OF DEATH
10/26/85 1pm SCARS OF DRACULA; 3pm TWO CHAMPIONS OF DEATH
11/2/85 1pm THE CONQUEROR WORM; 2:45pm KARATE EXTERMINATORS
11/9/85 1:10pm THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH; 3pm LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF KUNG FU
11/16/85 1pm TALES OF TERROR
11/23/85 1pm BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB; 3pm YOR, THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE
11/30/85 1pm THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN; 2:45pm INVINCIBLE KUNG FU BROTHERS
12/14/85 1pm DOCTOR BLOOD’S COFFIN; 3pm INSTRUCTORS OF DEATH
12/21/85 1:15pm JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME; 3pm DIRTY HO
12/28/85 1pm THE OTHER; 3pm SLICE OF DEATH
1986
1/4/86 1pm THE BAT PEOPLE; 3pm WINNERS AND SINNERS
1/11/86 1pm THE OBLONG BOX; 3pm BRUCE LEE: THE MAN, THE MYTH
1/18/86 1:15pm TOMB OF LIGEIA; 3pm SHAOLIN HANDLOCK
1/25/86 1pm INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D.; 3pm IRON FINGERS OF DEATH
2/1/86 1pm GAMERA – SUPER MONSTER; 3pm STROKE OF DEATH
2/8/86 1pm THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM; 2:45pm THE MASTER KILLER
2/15/86 1pm THE RAVEN; 3pm SEVEN SOLDIERS OF KUNG FU
2/22/86 1pm COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE; 3pm STRIKE 4 REVENGE
3/1/86 1pm SPIRITS OF THE DEAD; 3:15pm BRUCE LEE: THE MAN, THE LEGEND
3/8/86 1pm THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN; 3pm SHAOLIN MARTIAL ARTS
3/15/86 1pm JENNIFER — THE SNAKE GODDESS; 3pm IRON CHAIN ASSASSIN
3/29/86 1pm MASTER OF THE WORLD; 3pm POWERFORCE
4/5/86 1:15pm THE BLACK CASTLE; 3pm THE FLYING GUILLOTINE
4/12/86 3pm THE SPEARMAN OF DEATH
4/19/86 1pm SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED; 3pm KILLER ARMY
4/26/86 1:45pm CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON; 3:30pm THE NINJA WARLORD
5/3/86 1pm BLACK SABBATH; 3pm THUNDERBOLT FISTS
5/10/86 1pm THE DEVIL WITHIN HER; 3pm DAREDEVILS OF KUNG FU
5/17/86 1pm SCREAM, BLACULA, SCREAM
5/24/86 1pm THE THING WITH TWO HEADS; 3pm KUNG FU HELLCATS
5/31/86 1:15pm THE ZOMBIES OF SUGAR HILL; 3pm THE DEADLY MANTIS (1978)
6/7/86 1pm THE STRANGER (1972); 3pm FISTS OF THE WHITE LOTUS
6/14/86 1pm DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN; 3pm MORTAL COMBAT
6/21/86 1pm FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD; 3pm THE INVINCIBLE ONE
6/28/86 1pm THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD; 3pm GODZILLA 1985
7/26/86 1pm THE UFO INCIDENT; 3pm THE UNBEATABLE DRAGON
8/16/86 1:30pm IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE; 3:15pm KUNG FU KILLERS
8/23/86 1pm PANIC IN YEAR ZERO!; 3pm CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS
8/30/86 1pm PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE; 2:45pm THE FOUR ASSASSINS
9/6/86 1pm MONSTER ZERO; 3pm THE FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH
9/13/86 1:15pm THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT
9/20/86 1:30pm GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER; 3:15pm SUPERFIGHTERS
9/27/86 1pm DESTROY ALL MONSTERS; 3pm DEATH CHAMBER
10/4/86 1:15pm TALES OF TERROR; 3pm SHAOLIN MASTERS
10/11/86 1:05pm THE OBLONG BOX; 3pm WARRIOR OF STEEL
10/18/86 1:15pm CONQUEST OF SPACE; 3pm KUNG FU GOLD
10/25/86 1:15pm WAR OF THE WORLDS; 3pm POWERFORCE
11/1/86 1:30pm WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE; 3:15pm THE KILLING MACHINE
11/8/86 1:15pm I, MONSTER; 3pm KUNG FU INVADERS
11/22/86 1:15pm THE WIZARD OF OZ (Toho, 1982); 3:15pm DEMON FIST OF KUNG FU
11/29/86 1:15pm CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS
12/6/86 1pm THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
12/13/86 1pm THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN; 3pm THE DESTROYERS
12/20/86 3pm THE RETURN OF THE MASTER KILLER
12/27/86 1pm UFOs ARE REAL; 3pm TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG
1987
1/3/87 1:30pm THE WOLF MAN; 3pm THE BLOODY AVENGERS
1/10/87 1pm SCARS OF DRACULA; 3pm SOUL BROTHERS OF KUNG FU
1/17/87 1:15pm THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS; 3pm THE MASTER OF KUNG FU
1/24/87 1pm THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE; 3pm SHAOLIN HANDLOCK
1/31/87 1pm BLACULA; 3pm KILLER FROM SHANTUNG
2/7/87 1pm BEWARE! THE BLOB; 3pm THREE EVIL MASTERS
2/14/87 1:15pm THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION; 2:45pm DYNASTY OF BLOOD
2/21/87 1:15pm THE BLACK CASTLE; 3pm THE KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR
2/28/87 1pm HORROR HOSPITAL; 2:45pm AVENGING WARRIORS OF SHAOLIN
3/7/87 1pm THE KEEPER; 2:45pm STONER
3/14/87 1pm BLACK SABBATH; 3pm WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES
3/21/87 1pm THE PUMA MAN; 3pm CHALLENGE OF THE NINJA
4/4/87 12:45pm THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
4/11/87 3pm A HARD WAY TO DIE
4/18/87 1pm THE OBLONG BOX; 3pm INSTRUCTORS OF DEATH
4/25/87 3:30pm SUPER POWER
5/2/87 1pm THE STEPFORD WIVES; 3:30pm SLAUGHTER IN SAN FRANCISCO
5/9/87 1pm THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN; 2:15pm MARK OF THE VAMPIRE
5/16/87 1pm CATASTROPHE!; 3pm KUNG FU WARLORDS
5/23/87 1pm LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF KUNG FU
5/30/87 1pm HOUSE OF DRACULA
6/6/87 1pm SATURN 3; 3pm THE BLACK HOLE
6/13/87 1pm STOWAWAY TO THE MOON; 3pm KOWLOON ASSIGMENT
6/20/87 1pm THE CONQUEROR WORM; 2:45pm THE FLYING GUILLOTINE
6/27/87 1pm SPIRITS OF THE DEAD; 3pm THE $1,000,000 DUCK
7/11/87 1pm METEOR; 3:15pm KUNG FU CONSPIRACY
7/18/87 1pm THE OUTLAWS IS COMING; 3pm THE SPEARMAN OF DEATH
7/25/87 1pm THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN
8/15/87 1pm JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH; 3:30pm THE NINJA WARLORD
8/22/87 1pm KUNG FU EXECUTIONER
8/29/87 1pm THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD; 3pm ROOTS OF EVIL
9/5/87 3pm AVENGING EAGLES
9/12/87 3pm THE DEADLY MANTIS (1978)
10/3/87 1pm CAPTAIN SINBAD; 3pm BARBARELLA
10/10/87 1pm THE CANTERVILLE GHOST (1986); 3pm THE NAKED JUNGLE
10/24/87 3pm ATRAGON
11/7/87 3pm LOVE AT FIRST BITE
11/14/87 3pm WAR OF THE WORLDS
11/21/87 3pm PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING
11/28/87 3pm THE MAD MAGICIAN
12/5/87 3pm DYNASTY
12/12/87 3pm GODZILLA VS. THE COSMIC MONSTER
1988
1/2/88 3pm YOR, THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE
1/16/88 3pm DREAMSCAPE
1/23/88 3pm D.A.R.Y.L
1/30/88 3pm ALLIGATOR
2/6/88 3pm WAR GODS OF THE DEEP
2/13/88 3pm TROLL
2/20/88 2:45pm PLANET OF THE APES
2/27/88 3pm CRACK IN THE WORLD
3/5/88 3pm THE PUMA MAN
3/12/88 3pm THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK
3/19/88 3pm BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES
3/26/88 3pm THE BAT PEOPLE
4/2/88 3pm RUSTLER’S RHAPSODY
4/9/88 3pm KING SOLOMON’S MINES (1950)
4/16/88 1pm THE YOUNG RUNAWAYS; 3pm THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
4/23/88 1pm TREASURE OF SAN BOSCO REEF; 3pm YOR, THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE
4/30/88 3pm BUCKAROO BANZAI
5/7/88 3pm THE GREEN SLIME
5/14/88 3pm EXPLORERS
5/21/88 3pm ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES
5/28/88 3pm THE CLAIRVOYANT
6/4/88 3pm THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT
6/11/88 2:45pm METEOR
6/18/88 3pm TALES OF TERROR
6/25/88 3:15pm TOMB OF LIGEIA
7/2/88 3pm THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
World Northal Logo
Sources: The Film Journal, New York Times, The Standard Star (New Rochelle, NY), Variety, Village Voice, Kung Fu Fandom (http://p081.ezboard.com/fkungfufandomfrm1), Project A.K.A. (http://www.projectaka.com/drive_in_movie.html), “From Bruce Lee to the Ninjas: Martial Arts Movies” by Richard Meyers et al. (Citadel Press, 1986), and “TV Series, Serials and Packages” (Broadcast Information Bureau)
Special thanks: Mel Maron, Castle Hill Productions, Fred Adelman, George Reis
© 2007 Chris Poggiali