If
you were acting in an Al Adamson movie, your career was probably in trouble.
However, he somehow arranged for Nelson Riddle to pen the theme song to Hell’s
Bloody Devils (it was originally conceived as a spy caper titled The
Fakers) and Charles Earland composed a wonderfully funky soundtrack for his
blaxploitation film The Dynamite Brothers. Adamson prided himself on his
films’ profitability, but he never claimed they were great art. Regardless, he
was mostly well-liked by his colleagues, so it is a shame he met a tragic end
worthy of his exploitation films. Adamson’s career and premature demise are
chronicled in David Gregory’s entertaining documentary, Blood & Flesh:
The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, which screens during this
year’s FrightFest in the UK.
Adamson
was the son Victor Adamson, who at one-time had quite a career going as an
actor and director of silent and early talkie westerns under the name Denver
Dixon. His son Al took a shot at following in his footsteps, but quickly changed
courses, believing he had an aptitude for helming horror and other assorted
genres that featured gratuitous nudity and violence. The early years were a
little rocky, but he had a great deal of success selling his biker and
stewardess movies to drive-ins and grindhouses.
Along
the way, Adamson employed a number of faded Hollywood stars, who had fallen on
rough times. The great John Carradine was an Adamson regular, but even two of
the surviving Ritz Brothers turned up in one of his later films. Unfortunately,
he met a rather violent end. At this point, Flesh & Blood veers into
true crime territory as it follows the investigation into Adamson’s
disappearance and the grisly discovery of his body.
Frankly,
it is impossible for a film to be dull when it can cherry-pick choice clips
from the Adamson filmography. His co-stars included Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., Russ
Tamblyn (of West Side Story and Twin Peaks fame), Jim Kelly (Black
Belt Jones), Angelo Rossitto (the diminutive actor best known for Tod
Browning’s Freaks and schlocky Lugosi movies like Scared to Death),
adult film star Georgina Spelvin, and Gary Graver (who was Orson Welles’s loyal
cinematographer during his final years).
So
yes, there are plenty of exploitation elements in Gregory’s film, but it also provides
a fascinating perspective on the exploitation movie business, at its peak. Yet,
it is really all about Adamson the man and filmmaker, who emerges as a sympathetic
(if somewhat roguish) figure well worthy of our time and attention. In fact,
the film gets rather poignant during the third act, especially when covering
Adamson’s devotion to his late wife and his own violent fate.
Adamson’s
story is definitely worth telling, especially when it comes liberally illustrated
by clips of such eccentric and outrageous cinema. It is just a shame he cannot
enjoy the overdue ovation. Very highly recommended for grindhouse fans, Blood
& Flesh screens this Friday (8/23) during FrightFest 2019, in the UK.
