(Originally reviewed March 17, 2020)
Wikipedia defines an auteur as “an artist, usually a film director, who applies a highly centralized and subjective control to many aspects of a collaborative creative work; in other words, a person equivalent to an author of a novel or a play. The term commonly refers to filmmakers or directors with a recognizable style or thematic preoccupation.” If that doesn’t describe Ray Dennis Steckler, I don’t know what does. He’s probably best known (and rightly so) for The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies. This, however, just might be his magnum opus.
Rat Pfink a Boo Boo is what you get when you take a hard-hitting crime melodrama, a rock n’ roll musical, a dime-store superhero movie, and a killer ape flick, toss them in a blender, and put the setting on WTF. Apparently, Steckler started out making the crime picture and became dissatisfied with the results. To amuse himself (or more likely to cash in on the popularity of Batman and Robin) he had his main characters become half-assed superheroes mid-film. He also padded out the rest of the running time with musical numbers and an attack by a guy in a (rather impressive) ape costume. The results are Z movie heaven.
What’s interesting is that the early scenes are quite intense, given the budget and the fact that it was shot silently with the sound added in post-production. Steckler manages to wring genuine suspense from the scenes of the trio of hoodlums mugging a woman in an alley, as well as the scenes where they verbally harass Carolyn Brandt (Steckler’s leading lady on screen and off) over the telephone. He does a fine job on the musical sequences too (this is the guy who made Wild Guitar after all). The editing of the performances is remarkably competent and would look right at home on MTV if it had existed in 1966.
It’s when heartthrob singer Lonnie Lord (Ron Haydock, who also wrote the screenplay) and dim-witted gardener Titus Twimbly (Titus Moede) become their crimefighting alter egos Rat Pfink and Boo Boo does the movie really take off. The costumes look like they came out of a dime store, but that’s kind of what makes them awesome. The fight scenes have a filmed-in-someone’s-backyard quality to them. What’s astonishing is that they are staged and edited with a surprising amount of panache. You also have to give Steckler credit for staging long motorcycle chases and parade scenes with no budget and zero permits. It’s guerilla filmmaking at its finest. (Speaking of gorilla, the ape suit is excellent and probably ate up whatever budget Steckler was working with.)
What’s more is that the film is only 66 minutes, and it moves like greased lightning. There’s no fat on it whatsoever. Sure, Incredibly Strange Creatures is great and all, but it bogs down like a son-of-a-bitch in the second half. This one is over before you know it and leaves you wanting more.
Oh, and how about that title? You might think it’s a weird play on “a Go-Go”, but it’s not. The onscreen title was supposed to read “Rat Pfink AND Boo Boo”, and the person who designed the titles just forgot to add the “N” and “D”. I wish there was a better explanation for it. Then again, the oddball title just makes the movie that much more memorable.
Today’s bloated big-budget superhero movies could take a page from Ray Dennis Steckler’s playbook. There’s more ingenuity on display here than in a dozen MCU films. Do you think the Russo Brothers could make something this good if they had a Ray Dennis Steckler budget? Who knows? I’d rather imagine what Ray could’ve done had he been given just a tenth of a budget as those guys had when they did Avengers: Endgame.
AKA: The Adventures of Rat Pfink and Boo Boo.
JANUA-RAY NOTES:
1) The opening in which a trio of hoodlums attack a woman in an alley has a very Thrill Killers vibe to it, as do the scenes where they terrorize Carolyn Brandt.
2) Director Signatures: The opening title sequence uses the same font and grainy art style of The Incredibly Strange Creatures, there’s some odd narration in the beginning (“This is Lonnie Lord… his fans are legion!”), scenic shots of Hollywood Boulevard, lots of musical numbers, and a LONG chase scene in the third act.
3) Steckler’s Stock Player Round-Up: Carolyn Brandt, Ron Haydock, Titus Moede, and James (the nightclub comedian from Incredibly Strange Creatures) Bowie.
4) Shameless Self-Promotion: During the “Rat Pfink” musical number, one of the dancers wears one of the zombie masks from Incredibly Strange Creatures.
5) Like Incredibly Strange Creatures, this is an odd mash-up of genres (in this case, crime thriller, musical, and superhero movie) that should NOT work, but it’s so damned charming that you (or at least I) just have to love it.
6) I like that Rat Pfink and Boo Boo’s alter egos have alliterative names, just like all the best superheroes.
7) The scene where Haydock and Moede emerge from the closet in their Rat Pfink and Boo Boo garb is one of my favorite scenes in cinema history. Very few movies turn on a dime so sharply midway through and manage to make it work. Rat Pfink a Boo Boo is one of those movies. Only a guy like Steckler could pull off something like that.
8) The Severin Blu-Ray only contains the black and white version, so I guess that means I won’t be parting with my Media Blasters DVD of the tinted version any time soon. It’s still a fun movie either way, but I personally prefer the cheesy color sequences from the DVD.
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