Monday, March 24, 2008

Murder and Manhunt in the Caribbean Jungle Lands

I don't know a damn thing about this movie, except for what you can see on this poster and that it was released in 1958. It isn't on DVD, probably was never on VHS, and won't be on television anytime soon (nor do I recall it ever being on TV).

Nope, MACHETE is just one of thousands of pictures churned out by Hollywood studios to fill one end of a double bill. All of its stars are dead, as are producer/director Kurt Neumann (who committed suicide in 1958) and screenwriter Carroll Young, so it's likely that neither anyone who was involved in MACHETE's production nor saw it theatrically back then are able to discuss it today. I'd be surprised if anyone still living who did manage to see it someplace, maybe on TV at 3:00am back in 1966, could remember anything about it.

I guess we're just left with this one-sheet to tide us over. A grinning Lee Van Cleef swinging a sharpened machete. Punching. A half-naked Mari Blanchard flinching from the rampaging approach of a crazed madman and his crimson-stained blade. And, oh, that swimming scene!

Don't ask me why, but I'm really curious about MACHETE.

By the way, I found that poster while searching for this one:

I'd buy a ticket to this right now if I could.

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