This past February saw the passing of legendary Florida Man Ricou Browning, best known for embodying the “Gill Man” in the underwater passages of Jack Arnold’s classic CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON as well as its two sequels. We here at 124 S. 3rd Street wanted to pay homage to Browning’s less-known forays behind the camera as director and screenwriter, respectively.
This is not a career survey; Browning’s most famous creative work is probably the beloved dolphin franchise FLIPPER, which began as a theatrical film and was later adapted to television (before the infamous 1995 reboot with Elijah Wood and Isaac Hayes.) But these two films – the hate-filled grindhouse epic MR. NO LEGS and the bizarro-brain mutant crab thriller ISLAND CLAWS – both speak to Browning’s status as a pillar of Florida filmmaking, sure to offer delight and repulsion in equal measure on the last of these hot summer nights.
MR. NO LEGS
(aka GUN FIGHTER) (aka KILLERS DIE HARD)
dir. Ricou Browning, 1978
Tampa. 90 min.
In English.
MONDAY, AUGUST 7 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19 – 5 PM
“Don’t Double Cross Him or He’ll Cut You Down To Size!”
Spectacle first showed MR. NO LEGS in the summer of 2013, to great acclaim. Here’s how that original synopsis went:
Set in the ugliest Tampa imaginable, MR. NO LEGS follows two self-righteous police detectives (one with the obligatory porn-stache) tracking dope dealers and corrupt fellow cops, while trying to stay out of the clutches of an unstoppable mob enforcer. Enter Mr. No Legs: a martial arts master with many a violent trick hidden up his sleeves—and wheelchair, including shotguns, switchblades and ninja stars!
Meanwhile, racists start a rumble in a bar involving midgets and drag queens, whores get into broken bottle fights, and everyone double-crosses everyone else. Mayhem galore! Featuring a shameless cast of B- and C-listers, including Richard Jaeckel, Lloyd Bochner, John Agar, Rance (Ron’s dad!) Howard, and real-life double amputee Ted Vollrath as the snarling titular hero, MR. NO LEGS is a convoluted, ultraviolent, mean-spirited B-movie actioner that’ll leave you crawling on the ground.
“Nasty and hateful, MR. NO LEGS is of comparable regional interest to Browning’s family-friendlier fare because its drug runners operate out of the Ybor City suburb of Tampa, smuggling heroin via the state’s signature ‘Cuban’ cigars, culminating in a brain-flattening freeway car chase (a la Dukes of Hazzard) that lasts almost fifteen minutes.”
—Daryl J. Williams, The Baffler
ISLAND CLAWS
(aka NIGHT OF THE CLAW) (aka GIANT CLAWS)
dir. Hernan Cardenas, 1980
Florida Straits. 82 min.
In English.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, AUGUST 15 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19 – 3 PM
“A terrifying creation of the Nuclear Age!”
TV actor Robert Lansing (who also starred in Spectacle favorite 4-D MAN) and Barry Nelson (an American actor who nonetheless played James Bond in the original CASINO ROYALE, and who appeared in THE SHINING the same year he made ISLAND CLAWS) lead as marine biologists whose God-playing experiments result in crabs that grow to become eight feet long, terrorizing the town. These crabs are arguably the main draw of the film, and it makes sense: they were supervised by the great special effects artist Glen Robinson, of JAWS and the 1976 KING KONG remake.
Commingling the gee-whiz spirit of Atomic Era monster pictures with a noirish ambience via its Florida Keys locations, ISLAND CLAWS was Browning’s final go-round with his longtime creative partner and brother-in-law, screenwriter Jack Cowden. There’s an added dash of social consciousness as well, as one subplot concerns mistreatment of Hatian refugees and the film offers a panoramic portrait of a rural community besieged by toxic waste and rampant alcoholism.
Still not convinced? Check out this synopsis from one of the film’s many bootleg VHS releases…
Man is faced with his own destruction through 20th century technology. Nowhere is this more evident than in the lush tropical setting of ISLAND CLAWS. An experiment in Marine Biology goes terribly wrong in a sleepy little town near a nuclear power plant. Bizarre happenings create an aura of fear in the isolated village. Something, somewhere, is creating terror.
Suddenly it shows itself.
The vicious meat-eating crab, one hundred times its normal size, appears to destroy everyone and everything in the town.
The bone chilling climax is reached when the town has to slay the beast or be slain by it.