Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

When it comes to monster movies, I would have to say that vampire movies rise to the top of interest for me. I can remember as a child watching Dark Shadows on daytime television, waiting to see what Barnabas Collins was going to do next. As time passed, I managed to catch most of the classic films, and I would have to say I was probably disappointed about half the time. Each decade seemed to bring its style to the vampire movie and with each change came things which added interesting interpretations to the vampire myth or were just plain schlocky. One film that left a lasting impression on me was a little something called “Count Yorga, Vampire”. It was probably around 1973 or 1974 when I first saw this film, which means I was probably either a 3rd or 4th grader. It was one of those Friday late night CBS movies. I watched with my face close to my pillow and by the time it was over, man was I freaked! Though certainly not a work of art, Count Yorga, Vampire is worth its time in pop-culture, fanboy, horror film gold. If they gave awards for “It’s-Bad-But-Good-At-The-Same-Time” awards, this film would have been nominated and probably won the category. I am going to take some time here to talk about the film and why I did and still like it.

History

American International Pictures was famous for grade B through Z films from the mid-1950’s to the mid-1970’s. Founded by James Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff, these were the folks who brought you such memorable classics as “Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow”, “I Was a Teenage Werewolf”, “Foxy Brown”, and all of those Annette Funicello-Frankie Avalon beach movies. Their market was pretty obvious: teens and young 20-somethings who were out on dates, making out in cars at drive-in’s and grindhouse theaters. The kids would need an excuse to get away from the older generation, so why not give them something to watch in between tongue-battles? To be fair, AIP would occasionally come up with something fairly decent, such as “The Raven” with Boris Karloff and Vincent Price, or “The Abominable Dr. Phibes”. One of their other efforts was a vampire movie made in 1970, originally based on Count Dracula, set in modern Los Angeles.

The thought of moving the infamous Count Dracula to a modern setting was not new. The plot idea had been used in a 1958 movie called “The Return of Dracula”. But by 1970, British blood-and-boobs movie studio Hammer Films had been churning out films based on Bram Stoker’s vampire villain since the late 1950’s, all set in 19th century Europe, most starring Christopher Lee. What AIP wanted was a Hammer-style film (vampires, blood, boobs) but with a cheaper price tag. The concept writer-director Bob Kelljan and producer Michael MacCready came up with was a retelling of Stoker’s Dracula novel, set in modern day Los Angeles, but with more sex and blood to bring it up (or down?) to the standards of a typical American International film. The first hurdle was getting the name Count Dracula. Either Hammer had exclusive rights at the time or AIP could not or did not want to pay the price to obtain that classic name. Hence, the first change was the vampire’s name. Now, he would be known as Count Iorga. That’s right, Iorga, pronounced YOR-guh. And the title? “The Many Loves of Count Iorga”. Yes, as originally conceived, the film was going to be a soft-core porn flick. That would soon change, too.

Enter actor Robert Quarry. Tall, handsome, charismatic, Quarry’s classical style and approach to the role of the aristocratic vampire would be a major step forward. However, one of Quarry’s stipulations to taking the role of Count Iorga was the film needed to be changed from a skin-flick with horror elements to a straight vampire movie. Apparently this was okay with Kelljan and MacCready, and so rewrites to the story were made to ratchet down the sex and up the scare- factor. Elements of the film’s former emphasis can still be easily noticed from scenes that remain in the movie, such as the count watching two of his vampire concubines embrace each other and the effect Iorga/Yorga has on at least one of his victims.

One final change to the film was the name. Samuel Arkoff was not happy with the spelling of Count Iorga’s name, and so the final title became “Count Yorga, Vampire”.

Summary
The story basically follows Bram Stoker’s Dracula from the point at which Dracula arrives in London. In Count Yorga, the vampire has come to early 1970’s Los Angeles, passing as a psychic medium and conducting séances. The daughter of a woman who ‘dated’ the count is trying to communicate with her. The modern versions of Mina and Jonathan Harker, Arthur Holmwood, Quincy Morris, and Lucy Westerna are all there. The count gives the daughter, Donna (Donna Anders), a couple of post-hypnotic suggestions and allows a couple at the senance, Paul (Michael Murphy) and Erica (Judith Lang), to drive him back to his house after the ritual. Once there, we see the count’s manservant, Brudah (Ed Walsh), a typical ugly brute who should have given anyone the first idea that something wasn’t right about Yorga.

The story continues with Yorga physically attacking Paul and biting Erica after the couple had sex in their VW van. Erica (the Lucy character) and Paul don’t remember any details of the assault. Erica begins to exhibit signs of anemia. Enter the movie’s Van Helsing: a hematologist, Dr. Hayes, played by Roger Perry. Noting the bites on her neck and her behavior, he begins to suspect a vampire. One memorable seen is her having nearly devoured the pet cat for want of blood. Erica ultimately becomes one of Yorga’s vampire brides along with Donna’s mother.

The vampire hunters end up convincing themselves that at least Yorga is the instigator of the strange things going on and may very well be a vampire. Paul ends up running off to Yorga’s mansion after Erica goes missing, but is killed by Yorga. Donna (the Mina Harker character) soon begins responding to Yorga’s hypnotic suggestions and finds her way to his mansion.

In another scene that owes a nod to Bram Stoker’s novel, Hayes is trying to decide if he should call the police and if anyone would believe him. His girlfriend replies that she would believe him because she recently saw a news story about a baby who had been abducted and drained of blood, as Lucy Westerna does in Dracula.

Two visits to the Count’s mansion give the audience some very good dialogue between Yorga and Dr. Hayes. The two play a conversational cat-and-mouse as they discuss topics that end up centering on vampires. In their final meeting, Hayes appears noticeably uneasy while Yorga is quite calm and reposed. Each one knows what is really going on and an uneasy feeling becomes the elephant in the room for them and the audience. Yorga asks for Hayes’ makeshift wooden stake, which the doctor reluctantly hands over. After some talk whereby Yorga proclaims the vampire as being superior to humans, he hands the stake back and says they should end the charade. “Would you now like to see that which you hoped you would not?” he asks.

Hayes is introduced to the vampire women and becomes their next meal. Michael, Donna’s fiancé, finds Hayes after he has been killed by the vampire brides and then finds Donna, her mother, and Yorga. He manages to kill Donna’s mother rather quickly thanks to Yorga shoving her in front of him. Yorga and Michael then battle it out but the Count goes down with stake through the heart.

The final scene is one of Michael and Donna fending off the remaining vampire women in Count Yorga’s mansion. Donna lets go of his hand. As Michael turns around to her, the camera becomes his eyes and we see Donna has become a vampire who now lunges at him.

Comments
It would not take much of a film critic to make some negative comments about this film beginning with the opening scene at the harbor in Los Angeles and the irritating narration. With a title like "Count Yorga, Vampire", you pretty much know what you're going to get when you decide to watch. But since I am a glass-half-full kind of guy, I would like to make some positive comments about this movie.

The first has to be Robert Quarry. His choice to make the movie a straight-ahead horror film appears to have been a good one and really showcases his talent as a stage actor. His presence on film is large and he clearly dominates every scene he is in, but often in an understated way. His Count Yorga is not a sympathetic character as many movie vampires have become over the years. Quarry’s scenes at the séance and with Dr. Hayes are good examples of the potential for over-acting but carried through with proper restraint. It is a shame he never got to actually play Count Dracula (at least to my knowledge he never did) as I am sure he would have made it a memorable performance either on stage or film.

The second good thing about Count Yorga is the borrowing from Bram Stoker just enough to create a good story but with added, modern touches and some twists. As I’ve already mentioned, the scene with Erica and her cat is almost legendary and was even removed from some prints after the initial release of the film. Also, the straight-ahead serious horror film mood is certainly more pleasing than a campy, tongue-in-cheek theme or the soft-core porn version they were originally planning on shooting (although vague elements of that script remain in the film).

The additional cast members are, for the most part, also good and the parts are as well played as could be expected. Roger Perry does a particularly good job as Hayes. The only disappointing character in the cast is Brudah.

To wrap this up, I’ll just say that as a 9-year-old kid, by the time I got to that last scene with Donna lunging at the camera with open mouth and fangs, I must have shot so high that I nearly hit the ceiling. I don’t know how I ever got to sleep that night (or if I even did). Not as surprising or scary by today’s standards, nevertheless Count Yorga, Vampire is definitely worth checking out if you like vampire movies or if you just have a taste for low-budget drive-in horror movies. It and the sequel, “The Return of Count Yorga”, are both available on DVD from MGM.

After Count Yorga
Quarry would go on to make other pictures for AIP, including the sequel to this film, “Dr. Phibes Rises Again”, and “Madhouse”. He was being groomed to be added to AIP’s group of stars, and possibly replace Vincent Price, before the studio was absorbed into Filmways, Inc. One of these films “Deathmaster” is considered by some to be an inferential sequel to the Count Yorga films since Quarry plays a vampire in it, although his name is changed to Khorda. The director Bob Kelljan would go on to make such other memorable classics as “Scream, Blacula, Scream”.


Summaries and other Reviews

http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/05/07/count-yorga-vampire/

http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewsa-d/countyorgavampire.htm

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/a-d/countyorgareturn7071.htm

http://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/c/countyorgavampire.q.shtml

http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies/count_yorga.htm

http://monsterhunter.coldfusionvideo.com/CountYorga.html

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A02E5DB1538EF34BC4A52DFB767838B669EDE


Video

http://www.fancast.com/movies/Count-Yorga%2C-Vampire/69821/827090861/Count-Yorga%2C-Vampire/videos;jsessionid=FC552125B74F5DA0F92B24D5E06EB8E3?autoPlay=true

Everybody Loves Pizza (or at least, they should)

I am an unabashed food-loving freak of pizza. It is hands down my favorite food. One of the first things I learned to cook as a child was English muffin pizzas from a recipe off a Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee pizza sauce can. I’ll eat most any type of pizza and enjoy pretty much all of them: frozen, thin, deep-dish, take-out, home-made … you name it. I have actually met some people who say they don’t like pizza. Not many, to be sure, nevertheless, they do exist. To them, I say, let them eat cake – and leave the pizza for us!

Since I have such a fondness of this self-contained meal, and I know many others do, too, I thought I would spend some time writing about pizza and sharing what I know and perhaps don’t know. This may become an on-going piece on the blog, as I doubt I will be able to cover everything I know and like about pizza in one entry, so consider this to be part 1 and we’ll go from there.

History
Go to most resources on the history of pizza, including wikipedia and it will probably tell you that pizza began in Naples, Italy sometime in the 18th to 19th centuries. Most of those resources will also go into the story of the first pizza Margherita made for Queen Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna di Savoia in the late 1800’s, which involved a bread crust topped with tomatoes, basil, and cheese (red, green, and white, the colors of the Italian flag). Beyond that, you tend to get very little information on this food’s origins. Modern pizza that Americans think of today did originate in the Mediterranean area, but to be true to the food, the idea of cooking a bread plate and placing toppings on it probably dates back thousands of years to the Greeks and Romans. Everything today from an open-faced burrito to focaccia to Indian naan bread can be considered a close cousin to what most people think of as pizza.

I came across a wonderful book just over a year ago called “Everybody Loves Pizza” by Penny Pollack and Jeff Ruby. It’s a coffee table book with everything from the history of pizza to best places to eat pizza in the U.S.A. and a handful of recipes to get people started. Not having been to Naples (though I would not mind making the holy pizza pilgrimage), I decided I would start this blog entry with pizza here in the states: the who’s, where’s, when’s, and so forth, borrowing information from that book and other sources (see below for helpful links).

American Pizza
Along with barbeque, pizza is probably one of the few foods that so many American people have opinions concerning what it is, what it is not, what is good, and what is not so good. Clearly using a baked flatbread as the base for a variety of toppings has expanded horizons in the USA over the last 100 years, going from mere tomatoes, cheese, and herbs all the way to tofu and barbeque chicken. And, yes, it is all pizza. You may not want to admit it, but it is, like it or not.

Because pizza is such a feel-good, comfort food for so many people, it is not surprising there is more than one place that considers itself to be THE originator here in the States. Athough most folks are willing to concede that Lombardi’s in New York City was the first official pizzeria to open in the good, ole’ U.S. of A., pizza was likely being made in more than one area of the country due to an influx of immigrants from Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In late 19th century Chicago for example, pizza was introduced by a peddler who walked up and down Taylor Street with a metal washtub of pizzas on his head, crying his wares at two cents a chew.

Safe to say, by the early 20th century, most major metropolitan areas of the country had at least one pizzeria somewhere in the city. But because of the somewhat segregated areas of these cities, it was virtually unknown outside of the Italian communities. It was peasant food. Of these Italian-American areas, it tended to remain more of an northern East Coast phenomenon with few exceptions (Chicago being one of them). It remained that way until the big one: World War II, or as some folks would say, “dubya-dubya two”. It seems not only did brave American G.I.’s go across the pond to help save Europe and the rest of us from fascist dictators, they also inadvertently became archeologists and sociologists. Wouldn’t you know it, one of the things they discovered and helped to bring back to the U.S. was pizza. First to be recognized were the already established pizzerias. Now, places like Lombardi’s, Frank Pepe’s, Joe’s Tomato Pies, Totonno’s and others had expanded business and more diverse clientele from doing virtually nothing but say, “Here we are.” Of course, that handful of pizza joints around the country just wasn’t enough. Expansion was necessary. Pizza was still more confined to larger metropolitan areas by the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, but change and unheard of growth for the food industry was about to come in such a wave, it would roll over North America and then some. The fuel was demand. What drove pizza to become so popular was good, old American commerce: make a buck.

The Birth of the American Pizza Parlor
Pizza may have started on the East Coast in the United States, but the impetus to create entire restaurants built on pizza as the main (or only) meal to be sold and eaten by middle-class America came from other parts of the country. No longer peasant food, pizza was now a meal that would be enjoyed and shared by families and friends from Pittsburgh to Peoria to Pacific Grove. Who, how, where, and when did this all begin, you ask? As near as I can determine, the progression of pizza into the popular and perfect sit-down, take-out, and delivery food came about mainly due to four men, all from the Midwest and West:

• Ike Sewell




• Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson




• Dan and Frank Carney




• Tom Monaghan
  

Ike Sewell. He was the original owner of Uno's Pizzeria in Chicago, IL, the originator of the Chicago deep-dish pizza. Though many question whether or not Sewell actually “created” the first deep-dish pizza in 1943, he and his establishment were certainly instrumental in creating a whole new style of true pizza pie, with pizza as the centerpiece of his bar & restaurant. His vision was to have something that was truly a meal, that people would sit down to eat with a knife and fork in a nice, decent place, not a folded triangle in your hand that you bought from some hole-in-the-wall you’d be ashamed to take your mother to. Today, Pizzeria Uno and Due are still going strong, and they have managed to franchise their operation out to other locations across the country. But if you want a true, good Chicago deep-dish pizza, stick with the original.

Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson. If you can’t figure out what contribution this guy made to pizza in America, you were probably born after 1987 and need to do some serious reading. To get you started, Shakey Johnson was a former G.I. who decided to open a tavern in Sacramento, CA. Initially, the place did just okay, but after he decided to add some food to the menu, things changed. Shakey’s became a hit virtually over night, and was one of the first restaurants in America to institute franchising as a means to get the word (and pizza) out. Shakey’s was always intended to be a family affair. You could watch the guys in the back making your pizza. There was dixieland music on player pianos, banjos, and sometimes even old-time movies. Pizza is and remains a food that is meant to be shared, and Shakey’s emphasized this aspect. Again, pizza had moved out of the poorer areas of large cities and had now become a family food for everyone to eat and enjoy.

Dan and Frank Carney. You may recognize the names, but if not, you’re forgiven. Try this name: Pizza Hut. And where did this auspicious beginning … uh, begin??? Well, Wichita, KS, of course. That’s right, not only is Wichita the birthplace of the first hamburger chain, White Castle, the largest pizza chain in the world was started there with very little money in a small building the Carney brothers had bought in 1958 to serve beer to college students. Food became a question, as in, what are going to serve these kids if they also want to eat? The Carneys had some friends who suggested pizza. “What’s pizza” they asked. A friend of their friends (with me so far) had a recipe for making pizza. He was invited over one night to make the Italian-influenced pie. One pizza down, tens of thousands of restaurants later, Pizza Hut is an unmatched success in the pizza restaurant business.

Tom Monaghan. What originally started out as DomiNick’s in Ypsilanti, MI, in 1960 became the now famous Domino’s Pizza. Domino’s had a successful formula that translated into big business, and their pizza was actually a second ingredient. The key to Domino’s success was delivery. Domino’s tended to locate themselves in college towns, and most studious college co-eds were too busy (or drunk) to make the trip to their favorite local take-out place. But a pizza place that delivers – whoa, Nellie, that’s manna from heaven! Where places like Uno’s, Shakey’s, and Pizza Hut encouraged folks to come in and eat, Domino’s really kept people out by opening strictly take-out & delivery places. It certainly worked, though, as over 8500 restaurants in 55 countries will testify.


That’s all that I have for now about pizza, but I will be revisiting this topic again in the days to come. In the meantime, bone-up on the history of pizza and check out the links below.

Resources

The History of Pizza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Pizza/PizzaHistory.htm

http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/FOOD_IS_ART/pizzahistory.html

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/5353/pizza/history.html

http://www.themaineedge.com/content/6683/A_brief_history_of_pizza/


Famous historical pizza places

http://www.firstpizza.com/

http://www.pepespizzeria.com/

http://www.totonnos.com/Aboutus.html


History of Famous American Pizza Restaurant Businesses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino%27s_Pizza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakey%27s_Pizza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzeria_Uno

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Hut


Books

http://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Loves-Pizza-Americas-Favorite/dp/1578602181/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231788517&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/American-Pie-Search-Perfect-Pizza/dp/1580084222/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231788517&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Pizza-Slice-Heaven-Ed-Levine/dp/0789312050/ref=pd_sim_b_26

http://www.amazon.com/Pizza-More-Recipes-Delicious-Homemade/dp/0811845540/ref=pd_sim_b_4

http://www.amazon.com/Pizza-Recipes-Homemade-Focaccia-Calzones/dp/0767903730/ref=pd_sim_b_16


Commercials

Shakey’s pizza commercials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Okb-VrLe4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz2AW_0EScg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNnjUqpHspw


Pizza Hut pizza commercials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdK9j-J4au4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiGdoIAgjPY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwRjdYTYrKk


Dominos Pizza commercials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUZDQ3_UN8c&feature=PlayList&p=211A51AB48D95E9D&playnext=1&index=8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E61MQ9PFVc8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdZCA_fvG9U


Other pizza restaurant commercials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDXdram-VrQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YHSq69Y-fU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wNOldqgBh8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk0LJW1eAS8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8erAINADR0

Donald, I hardly knew ye

On December 31, 2008, while vacationing in Mexico on his way to dinner, author Donald E. Westlake collapsed and suffered a heart attack. He died a short time later. I had planned on doing a blog entry about Westlake’s most famous fictional character, Parker, later this year, but just having learned about this tragic event this morning, I decided to put aside what I was going to enter on this site and devote some time to one of my favorite authors.

Donald Edwin Westlake was born on July 12, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up and attended a number of schools in the NYC area and Albany NY before graduating from high school in 1951. He would attend three different colleges in upstate New York and never earn a degree, although he received an honorary doctorate from SUNY in 1996. After a two-year stint in the US Air Force, he gravitated to writing, and found he loved it so much, he wanted to make it his career.

The column from the January 1, 2009 New York Times adds:

“Mr. Westlake, considered one of the most successful and versatile mystery writers in the United States, received an Academy Award nomination for a screenplay, three Edgar Awards and the title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993. Since his first novel, “The Mercenaries,” was published by Random House in 1960, Mr. Westlake had written under his own name and several pseudonyms, including Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt and Edwin West. Despite the diversity of pen names, most of his books shared one feature: They were set in New York City, where he was born.”

I truly learned of Donald Westlake through his pseudonym of Richard Stark and the fictional career criminal Parker. I had seen the film “Point Blank” with Lee Marvin in the role of Walker, a kind of combination of a foreign film shot in San Francisco and last homage to film noir in the late 1960’s. When the film "Payback” starring Mel Gibson in the roll of Porter was released, I became further fascinated with this anti-hero and so I eventually found a copy of the first book, “The Hunter”, and read it as it was originally meant to be read: in a very brief period.

Following “The Hunter” was a series of paperback crime thrillers featuring Parker (no first name): always trying to bring down a big score but consistently being thwarted by partners who were either too greedy or too inept for the job to go as planned. The writing was sparse: no adverbs. Westlake/Stark kept things terse and to the point. Parker himself is a man of few words. He dislikes conversations but puts up with them if it will help get to the point of bringing down a big robbery. Parker is really not so much an anti-hero as a complete non-hero. He actually has very few redeeming qualities. Parker is good at what he does. He is efficient. He is knowledgeable (about crime). He is trustworthy as far as expecting only his fair share and not out to double-cross anyone. He is good at killing someone with a gun or his own bare hands. Other than those traits, that about does it for our ‘hero’. Parker is not a homicidal maniac, but he will not think twice about killing anyone if the situation calls for it. He’s the muscle. He’s the ruthless thug. Nobody is killed needlessly, but if you get in the way of him and his money, you’d better be able to disappear in a second. Oddly enough, these traits are what makes the character so fascinating and makes me want to go back and read more!

Westlake wrote over a hundred books in his lifetime … and he did it all on manual typewriters, not even an electric IBM! The genres he covered ranged from what we would today probably call soft-core porn/hard romance (as Sheldon Lord) to humor (J. Morgan Cunningham) to science fiction; all with different pseudonyms. However, the work for which he received such notoriety came from crime novels, often with humor added. The Parker novels were exceptions to the added humor element. His final novel, “Get Real”, is supposed to be released in April 2009.

He wrote five screenplays and received an Academy Award nomination for “The Grifters”, adapted from a novel by Jim Thompson, another great writer whose work I have enjoyed. Noted sci-fi author Dan Simmons paid tribute to Westlake/Stark with his character Joe Kurtz in three hard-boiled crime stories. Writers like Elmore Leonard owe Westlake a debt of gratitude for being a co-conspirator and helping to pave the way for the modern crime novel. For that matter, we all owe Mr. Westlake a big ‘thank you’ for his providing us with such reading pleasure.

So long, Donald Westlake. I was looking forward to spending a lot more nights with you and our favorite criminal.