205 - ROCKET ATTACK U.S.A. with short: THE PHANTOM CREEPS PT 2

Synopsis:  The feature is a paranoid, low-budget Red Scare movie from the ’50s.  It starts as Sputnik is launched by the Soviets.  So an American spy is sent over to Russia in a piper airplane to see if they are building an atomic missile ahead of the good ol’ U.S. of A.  When the spy gets to Moscow, the first place he goes is a club with lousy service to watch a spastic belly dancer and a guy who puts flaming torches in his mouth and spins around.  A blonde woman then gives the spy a secret message... or a maybe it was a menu (I don’t know).  The spy goes to the blonde woman’s apartment, where she woodenly tells him that she is now the mistress of the Soviet Minister of Defense.  So the spy hides in her closet when the Minister shows up to “reveal his secrets.”  It turns out that the sneaky Commies are considering using their new atomic missile in a pre-emptive attack against the good ol’ U.S. of A. before America has time to develop a working missile.  A pseudo-British guy tells the spy to go to meet the wooden blonde woman in Leningrad, where the Soviet missile is located.  There, they try to sabotage the missile, but their sabotaging skills are about as good as their acting skills, so they completely fail and are all shot.  Back in EveryTown U.S.A., some chunky people are parking cars and talking, when we suddenly switch to New York City.  There, we see lots of unrelated scenes before being shown some stock footage of a nuclear bomb test (I guess it’s suppose to mean NYC just got nuked).  The End.

Don’s Review:  This was an okay spy film, with the exception of being compelling, exciting or interesting.  The acting is wooden all around and the cheapo effects are incredibly crappy (in particular, the hilariously cheesy scenes of the launched Soviet missile).  The riffs by Joel & the ’Bots started a bit slowly but, by the time the spy guy got to Moscow, the riffs stepped up and were very funny for the rest of the movie, with some great, on-target comments (okay, okay, I know it’s a lame pun).  I also thought a couple of the host segments were excellent, in particular, the nuclear war themed “Civil Defense Bowl” which is one of my all-time favorite skits.  This is a very good and under-appreciated episode, IMO.  Trivia Note:  This is also the first episode with a post-credits stinger (the clip is an old blind man saying “Help me!”).  Also, this is the episode in which Servo got a “haircut” and then had an odd-looking, cylindrically-shaped head for both this and the next episode.

Don’s Rating:     [S:   F: ]

  
Related Link:
   (1) Mighty Jack’s MST3K Review (Episode Review)