#OregonMade Film Series: Kansas City Bomber Raquel Welch Comes to Portland

Next up in our #OregonMade Film Series at The Hollywood Theatre is the Roller Derby classic: “Kansas City Bomber.” You may recall this film being featured in our Oregon Film history series Raiders of the Lost Archive – but, either way, here’s your chance to check it out on screen. The screening is 7p on Monday, April 1.

Raquel Welch plays aspiring roller derby sensation KC, a star-in-the-making who gets transferred to Portland early in the film, eager to become the dominant player of the local scene. Continue reading... “#OregonMade Film Series: Kansas City Bomber Raquel Welch Comes to Portland”

2018 Oregon Film History Conference – May 4

Photo credit: Dawn Smallman

Since 2015, Oregon Cartoon Institute has offered an annual one day crash course in Oregon film history attended by educators, historians, curators, librarians, archivists, writers and filmmakers.

Fourth Annual Oregon Film History Conference
Friday, May 4, 2018
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
University of Oregon, White Stag Auditorium
70 NW Couch
Portland, OR

This year’s conference focuses on the minor cinemas of Oregon: newsreels, educational films, industrial films, promotional films, scientific films, television commercials, student films, experimental films, animation, home movies. Continue reading... “2018 Oregon Film History Conference – May 4”

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE Praying Mantis (James Keach, 1993)

Be excited avid RotLA readers as we are finally finding our way to that most prolific and talented of TV actresses Jane Seymour, and, yes, her time spent here in Oregon. We’re sure there have been many of you waiting but there’s a bonus for your patience – “Rocky Horror” and “Spin City” star Barry Bostwick. It really does not get any better than that intrepid readers, and, so without further delay, Raider/Contributor Phil Oppenheim takes you into 1993’s thriller…

It’s time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a neglected Portland-set, #OregonMade movie that’s all about an insane woman who kills her lovers as they’re just about to make love. Continue reading... “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE Praying Mantis (James Keach, 1993)”

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE Tandem Hearts (Jon Garcia, 2012)

This week our intrepid Archivist takes us into the heart and soul of Portland indie filmmaking with a recent classic, made on a proverbial shoestring, from prolific filmmaker Jon Garcia. If you don’t know Jon’s work, it’s worth starting with this one and then taking in his “The Falls” trilogy – making a day/night of it (see links below).

And if that’s not enough, Raider/Contributor Phil Oppenheim leaves us with a timeless classic quote from Abbey Road (which immediately precedes “Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl, but she doesn’t have a lot to say…”). Continue reading... “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE Tandem Hearts (Jon Garcia, 2012)”

Oregon Film’s 50th Anniversary Trailer of #OregonMade Productions Plays Hollywood PDX

Oregon Film turns 50 this year and to celebrate we commissioned filmmaker & editor Josh Lunden and composer Jake Hull to put together a fantastic new trailer that celebrates more than 109 years of film, television, animation, commercial and interactive production here in the state.

Featuring many, many clips from #OregonMade films sourced edited together by Lunden and a live score specially written and recorded by Hull, the trailer takes a 3 minute journey from the earliest of silent films to the latest Oscar Nomination for “Kubo and the Two Strings” – and everything in between. Continue reading... “Oregon Film’s 50th Anniversary Trailer of #OregonMade Productions Plays Hollywood PDX”

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE Kansas City Bomber (Jerrold Freedman, 1972)

This week our Raider/Contributor skates back to the 70’s to that highest of high times for that uber-niche genre of Roller Derby films. Whether you just barely remember Rollerball (the original) or your obsessed with Unholy Rollers, or you are more of a Roller Derby Modernist and rely on Rollerball (the remake) and Whip It, you must acknowledge that the Godmother of them all is Kansas City Bomber. But did you know that KC was actually happiest Portland? Raider/Contributor Phil Oppenheim takes us under the laces and beneath the helmet(less)s of the 1972 Raquel Welch classic…

Continue reading... “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE Kansas City Bomber (Jerrold Freedman, 1972)”

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE: The Apple Dumpling Gang (Norman Tokar, 1975)

It’s a trip back to a time of Saturday Matinees and large groups of kids in the back of Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagons for Gen X-ers who remember when Television Stars made movies – long before the time of Movie Stars making television. For those of us who made those journeys – The Apple Dumpling Gang was right up there with Cannonball Run, Smokey and the Bandit and, even, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. If you don’t remember it, maybe it’s time to check out the comic abilities of two icons: Don Knotts and Tim Conway, two bonafide TV Stars who took a trip into the Deschutes National Forest and came out with what can only be called an Apple Dumpling Franchise…with cheese. Continue reading... “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE: The Apple Dumpling Gang (Norman Tokar, 1975)”

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE: Mara of the Wilderness (Frank McDonald, 1966)

Oregon doubles for Alaska in this week’s RotLA edition and it brings some (early) Batman-esque Romp! Danger! and Romance! to the fore in the process. Yes, Adam West is this week’s featured artist in a Deschutes National Forest set feature which predates Mr. West’s glorious days as the first caped crusader to appear on our screens and sends him into the woods to find unexpected love with a Nature Child and danger from rogue hunters in the form of Petticoat Junction’s Lori Sanders and Theo Marcuse, respectively. Continue reading... “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE: Mara of the Wilderness (Frank McDonald, 1966)”

“Paint Your Wagon” and Its Place in Oregon’s Cinematic History

On Thursday, Nov. 16, Oregon Film, Kickass Oregon History, the Baker Heritage Museum and the Hollywood Theatre screen PAINT YOUR WAGON (1969), one of the most spectacular movies in Oregon’s long, rich, and varied film history.  

As the story goes – Gov. McCall appointed Warren Merrill, Oregon Film’s first director, in 1968 specifically to ensure that the permitting and transportation process for the Paramount feature shooting in Baker County went as smoothly as possible. This means as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the production of the film, we also celebrate 50 years of the Oregon Film Office. Continue reading... ““Paint Your Wagon” and Its Place in Oregon’s Cinematic History”

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE
: Dr. Giggles (Manny Coto, 1992)

This week’s Horrregon Edition of our Raiders of the Lost Archive series rightly celebrates an icon of Oregon’s rich cartoon and comic history: Dark Horse Comics and Mike Richardson. It’s easy to argue that Mike is one of, if not the most successful and lucrative film producers here in the state, and we’re proud of that. Our RotLA post this week takes us back to the very first film Mike produced which twists the proverbial knife into many iconic Portland locations in a fun, unique and ultimately horrific fashion (and you may never look at Franklin High in the same way again). Continue reading... “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVE
: Dr. Giggles (Manny Coto, 1992)”