After Dark June 1977 (Part 2)

This issue of After Dark featured the "Hot Books for a Hot Summer". So what was hot in 1977? Haywire by Brooke Hayward. Brooke was the daughter of producer Leland Hayward and film star Margaret Sullavan. The book was a harrowing chronicle of growing up rich, famous, and eternally on the verge of extinction in the glamorous thirties. Billy Hayes was from a middle-class Long Island family who found himself arrested in Turkey for possession of a small amount of hashish. The five years he spent in the Turkish prison is chronicled in Midnight Express. A fictional account of a man whose term in prison leads to spiritual enlightenment and the rejection of conventional norms is Falconer by John Cheever.

Joyce Haber's The Users tells the tale of a young girl who becomes a popular socialite when she marries a movie star. She then uses her "talents" to push her gay husband to the top of the box-office heap. This book was later made in to a TV-movie starring Jaclyn Smith, Tony Curtis and John Forsythe that I have on VHS. I've watched it numerous times because it also features my favorite actress, Carrie Nye.

Legendary lady Marlene Dietrich gets a new biography by Sheridan Morley aptly titled Marlene Dietrich.

Other books featured and reviewed were:
Valentines and Vitriol by Rex Reed
Darling You Were Wonderful by Harvey Sabinson
Cast of Thousands by Anita Loos
We Thought We Could Do Anything by Henry Ephron
Starring Fred Astaire by Stanley Green and Burt Goldblatt
The Films of Robert Redford by James Spada
Billy Wilder in Hollywood by Maurice Zolotow
Rudolph Valentino by Alexander Walker
A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion

Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland is a disturbing book closely based on the real-life story of twin gynecologists found dead a few years ago (a few years ago from 1977 that is) in the debris-littered bedroom of their New York apartment.

Speaking of twins: Jack and Patrick Walsh are identical twin actors and dancers who got a full page color portrait in this issue by Herbert Migdoll.

Those who don't know Dave Kopay better read his book called The Dave Kopay Story. Dave was the first professional football player to come out of the closet.

I have finally found someone to blame for the horrible but still lovable film Sextette. Ian Whitcomb was the music vocal director for the Mae West film.

Al Pacino was performing on stage in Boston in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel.

The Cherry Orchard was performed at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Here is some of the cast in perfomance: Irene Worth, Cathryn Damon, Raul Julia and Mary Beth Hurt.

Irene Worth was playing Madame Renevskaya.

The director of this production was Andrei Serban.

The Deep was hitting the film theaters making a star out of Nick Nolte.


His beautiful co-star in The Deep was Jacqueline Bisset.

Tom Ligon was a dedicated actor.


While filming a scene for NBC's Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys, pains in his side almost blew his scene but he finished before being rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. He explained to the doctor that he was vain and wanted the tiniest scar possible. Four days later, he was back on the set performing a fight scene and then off to New York to film The Courier. He also starred as Chester Jump in Jump.

Tom goes shirtless and shows his scar.

Robert Altman's film (and one of Mom Smackley's favorites) 3 Women with Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall was released in 1977.

From the family that produced the Bee Gees, comes the latest talent, Andy Gibb with his new album "Flowing Rivers".

Bette Midler had an ad in this issue for her new LP set "Live At Last".

Speaking of ads, here is one for surgical hair replacement. It looks like, according to the ad, it will only cost you an eye.

Another ad featured urethane gym shorts available in silver, gold, black, white, yellow, or CLEAR VINYL. Why couldn't they have shown the shorts in clear vinyl?

David Leong designed some shorts in urethane, also. These icy-looking nylon shorts came with a matching bag. Perfect for a summer at Fire Island.

Well, that's it for this issue. Before we close the covers on this one, I wanted to share one more photo from Victor Arimondi's Character Fantasies that were featured in Part 1.

The Muscles from Brussels

Yes, the mystery man from my previous Blues Clues post is Jean-Claude Van Damme. For my What’s On? Wednesday post, I’m going to give you a week-long marathon of films to see starring the Belgian action star. Each night of the week can be spent enjoying a different film showcasing JCVD.

Start your week off with one of his earliest hits—Kick Boxer.

Out to avenge his brother’s injuries, JCVD enlists the aid of an instructor to help him master the fighting style of Muay Thai. JCVD takes on the fighter who paralyzed his brother in a deadly battle. Guess who wins?



One of the funniest things to see is the drunken dance he does in the middle of the film.


Tuesday would be the perfect time to watch a film like Hard Target. Legendary action director John Woo directed this 1993 film as his first American movie.

JCVD’s acting is really not that good in this one, but the action is over the top. Yancy Butler hires JCVD’s out-of-work to help find her father. What she didn’t know was that her father was in a high-stakes gamble with his life in a “Most Dangerous Game” type competition with himself as the prey. His other co-star: His mullet!




Two action stars were needed for Universal Soldier.

My pick for a Wednesday viewing starred JCVD with Dolph Lundgren. They play two Vietnam soldiers who killed each other and were re-animated in the future to be an elite special forces unit. They have no memories of their previous lives until JCVD starts remembering and begins to unravel what’s been done to him and must face off against his former enemy, Dolph. Great action and gratuitous butt shots.



JCVD’s highest grossing film is my pick for Thursday. Timecop is a futuristic tale where criminals travel in time to steal or kill and it’s up to JCVD to bring these foes to justice.

JCVD is known for his splits in fight scenes or the occasional training montage, but this film had the best use of his splits. As a thug was shooting a taser gun at him, he jumped to the counter to avoid the shot, letting the tasers hit the water that was spilled on the floor. The resulting shock took down the thug and JCVD was back on the case.



My Friday pick is the best of the JCVD vehicles, Replicant.

Michael Rooker plays a cop trying to catch a serial killer played by JCVD.

A secret government project has cloned the killer and this “replicant” (also played by JCVD) has a telepathic link to the killer as well as some memories.

This isn’t the only time JCVD has had a dual role. He has played against himself in five films (Double Impact, Timecop, Maximum Risk, The Order and Replicant). I guess they were thinking that “If you like JCVD, you’ll like him twice as much”.



Saturday’s pick is a video game come to life. Street Fighter is a fun movie with cartoon-like action.

JCVD plays the All-American Col. Guile in a story based on the Street Fighter II video game.

Raul Julia gives his last performance as Gen. Bison and while I like Raul in a lot of movies, his acting in this is too much. He plays every line so over-the-top it can’t really be considered camp.

Pop sensation Kylie Minogue and actress Ming-Na are fun to see in action roles they are not normally noted for.



Let’s slow down (but not much) for Sunday with the action/drama featuring JCVD in old age make-up. The Quest is another story along the lines of Kick Boxer that centers on JCVD flashbacks to a Muay Thai competition.



Not the best in the bunch, but notable for featuring Roger Moore. What was he doing in this film? Maybe he needed a new car or make a payment on his house.


Well, have fun with these Van Damme films and if you get a chance to see JCVD, the film where he plays himself, let me know how it is. I’ve been curious to see if he can play himself or if his acting still bad. Just not wanting to waste the rental.