Personally, I still believe Manos has not been topped. I agree, though, Skydivers is a hunk of steaming puke that had to be cleaned up by MST3K. Even though Skydivers may be lacking plot, the editing was not too horrible, whereas with Manos, Mike told Margaret to go back in the house, not once, not twice, but THRICE. And who can forget the lovely copsicle scene?
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Well I agree that Skydivers was done with a professional crew and should have known better.
But it's the END PRODUCT that matters the most in judging this. By a mile it's Manos.
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But it's the END PRODUCT that matters the most in judging this. By a mile it's Manos.
"Manos" by a mile. "Skydivers" seems to be a movie shot by (and for) rednecks with Down's Syndrome, but it tries to have a heart and to be "about" something. Manos is just 3rd rate Lovecraft shot without any regard for the elements of story telling...or even coherence. I'm not saying that Hal Warren (the fertilizer salesman behind "Manos") was an evil person, just that he had an absolute ANTI-talent for making movies. Whereas Coleman Francis simply had more ambition than talent or ability or budget.
My favorite part of "Manos": the part where the family is fleeing into the desert, and Margaret claims she "can't go any further" (although the little girl fleeing with them seems to be doing fine). She CAN, however, make it all the way back to the evil house. So how does that work?
The skydiving footage may be the only thing going for this Z-grade film.
Possible spoilers:
In the climax(in the MST3K version), where the two villains are hunted and killed in cold blood, by a bunch of gangsters, I love the bit were Mike and 'Bots call this scene, "A Republican fantasy."
Yeah, I love is when Mike says "I'm gonna shoot me a hippie! Hey, get your hair cut hippie! That's not too groovy, is it?" as the guy's shooting at the car.
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Offical Member of the Harold Saunders Fan Club
Whoever said the editing on this movie wasn't too horrible is insane. Remember when the blonde guy pulls up, and there is a shot of the husband nodding, even though he hasn't shown in the scene until then? Remember that!? Then there's the sky diving death scenes where the guys descend over a thousand feet in a second! Not too horrible!? Bah!
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As bad as this film is, I definitely prefer it to Manos. I really have to be in the mood to watch Manos. Something about that film just bugs the crap out of me 90% of the time. I know it's about the worst film ever made, but it's more than that. Even with Joel & the Bots I still can't watch it. It just pisses me off. Skydivers, however, is horrible but in a funny way. It's definitely one of my favorite MST's along with Eegah, Mitchell, and a few others.
"There sure is a heck of a lot of glancing going around"
"Hey! From up here it didn't look like his shoot.... opened."
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Say, that gangplank really gave you what-for, friend!
I think Manos is worse than Skydivers, about equal to Beast of Yucca Flats, and better than Red Zone Cube (Night Train to Mundo Fine)
shareIt's very close for me, but I have to say that "Skydivers" edges out "Manos" for worst, only because I would watch "Manos" again with Joel and the 'bots but seeing "Skydivers" or even "Red Zone Cuba" once is more than enough.
So far I haven't been able to get through "Beast of Yucca Flats", mostly because I don't have the MST3K version of it.
"Prophecy is a guess that comes true. When it doesn't, it's a metaphor."