MST3K
Register
(Corrected quote)
(48 intermediate revisions by 15 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Quote|I killed that fat barkeep!}}
 
 
{{Ep infobox
 
{{Ep infobox
 
| name =415 - The Beatniks
 
| name =415 - The Beatniks
Line 5: Line 4:
 
| image_size =200px
 
| image_size =200px
 
| airdate =[[November 25]], [[1992]]
 
| airdate =[[November 25]], [[1992]]
| mstdirector =
+
| mstdirector =[[Joel Hodgson]]
 
| runtime =
 
| runtime =
| turkey =
+
| turkey =November 25, 1992, 6pm<br/>
| hour =
+
| hour =[[January 27]], [[1994]]<br/>[[January 28]], [[1994]]
 
| aka =
 
| aka =
 
| movdirector =[[Paul Frees]]
 
| movdirector =[[Paul Frees]]
 
| movyear =[[1960]]
 
| movyear =[[1960]]
| cast =[[Tony Travis]], [[Joyce Terry]], [[Peter Breck]], [[Karen Kadler]]
+
| cast =[[Tony Travis]]<br/> [[Joyce Terry]]<br/> [[Peter Breck]]<br/> [[Karen Kadler]]<br/> [[Sam Edwards]]
 
| short1 =General Hospital, segment 2
 
| short1 =General Hospital, segment 2
 
| s1director =
 
| s1director =
 
| s1year =
 
| s1year =
| s1cast =[[Roy Thinnes]], [[Emily McLaughlin]]
+
| s1cast =[[Roy Thinnes]]<br>[[Emily McLaughlin]]<br>[[Carolyn Craig]]
 
| Short2 =
 
| Short2 =
 
| s2director =
 
| s2director =
| s2year =414 - [[Tormented]]
+
| s2year =414 - [[MST3K 414 - Tormented|Tormented]]
| preceded_by =416 - [[Fire Maidens of Outer Space]]
+
| preceded_by =416 - [[MST3K 416 - Fire Maidens of Outer Space|Fire Maidens of Outer Space]]
 
| followed_by =
 
| followed_by =
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Quote|[[I killed that fat barkeep!]]}}
  +
 
==The Short==
 
==The Short==
   
 
===Synopsis===
 
===Synopsis===
Jessie loves her husband Phil, who is in love with another woman, who is engaged to another man. . . so Jessie decides to host a painfully awkward engagement party.
+
Jessie loves her husband Phil, who is in love with another woman - who is engaged to another man - so Jessie decides to host a painfully awkward engagement party.
   
 
===Information===
 
===Information===
Line 33: Line 34:
   
 
===Synopsis===
 
===Synopsis===
  +
[[File:Beatniks.PNG|thumb|244x244px|'''''The Beatniks'''''|left]]
It's 1960 Los Angeles, and 28-year old petty thug Eddie Crane (Tony Travis) is headed nowhere. He leads a pack of hateful hoodlums who don Halloween masks and rob mom-and-pop stores for drinking money, then decamp to a one-table "diner" to squabble over the pathetic spoils.
+
It's 1960 Los Angeles, and petty thug Eddie Crane (Tony Travis) is headed nowhere. He leads a pack of hoodlums who rob mom-and-pop stores for drinking money, then decamp to a one-table diner to squabble over their ill-gotten spoils. Eddie is cynical and he seems to harbor a grudge against the world.
He's quite the cynic ("Nobody does nothin' for nobody for nothin'", he opines bitterly, if redundantly) and he seems to harbor a grudge against the world. In a more realistic film, Eddie would have a serious drinking and/or drug habit by this stage in his life.
 
   
When superannuated talent agent Harry Bayliss (Charles Delaney, who passed away before the film was released - coincidence? ''You'' decide) chances to see Eddie twitch, warble, writhe, gesture and smirk to the strains of a jukebox in a closet-sized greasy spoon - (it is playing a song about ''sideburns'') - he - ''naturalement'' - wants to sign him to a big recording contract, and pronto (presto?). "You call that singin'? That was ''nothin'''!" scoffs the jaded Eddie. How true that is. Initially disinterested, when the potential of large sums of money is mentioned, Iris, his gun moll, goads him into accepting the proposition.
+
When talent agent Harry Bayliss (Charles Delaney, who passed away before the film was released) chances to hear Eddie sing, he wants to sign him to a recording contract. Eddie is initially disinterested, but when the potential of large sums of money is mentioned, Iris (Eddie's girlfriend) goads him into accepting the proposition.
   
Eddie arrives at Bayliss' office, trailing his posse like a piece of toilet paper stuck to his shoe. He jettisons his tough persona with suspicious alacrity long enough to sensitively render a maudlin love ballad during an audition for one of Bayliss' show biz contacts and then he's on his way to fame and fortune. After a hasty cleanup over a montage by Bayliss' secretary Helen Tracy and a tender sharing of intimacies over lunch with same, Eddie  delivers a couple of remarkably somnambulistic "live" television performances that counter-intuitively inspire feverish screams of girlish desire, cause the studio switchboards to be jammed with fans' phone calls and rocket his career skyward.
+
Eddie and his friends arrive at Bayliss' office. He auditions for one of Bayliss' contacts and then he's on his way to fame and fortune. After a shopping montage with Bayliss' secretary Helen Tracy (and a tender sharing of intimacies over lunch with same), Eddie delivers a couple of television performances that inspire feverish screams of girlish desire, causing the studio switchboards to be jammed with fans' phone calls and rocket his career skyward.
   
 
Eddie is drawn to Helen - perhaps the only decent girl he has ever known and a stark contrast to Iris. He begins to sense the existence of a better world and starts to take a poorer view of his buddies.
  +
[[File:Beatniks.png|thumb|258x258px|'''''The Beatniks''''']]
  +
Bayliss installs Eddie ''et al'' in a local hotel while Eddie awaits the next step in his career. They celebrate by drinking, dancing, playing loud music and wrecking the place. When the hotel manager shows up to complain, Eddie's friend Mooney ([[Peter Breck]]) amuses himself by tormenting him.
   
 
As Eddies' star rises, his "pal", the jealous, semi-psychotic Mooney waxes ever more violent and determined to keep Eddie in his place - with the gang. When Mooney shoots a barkeep during a robbery, Eddie plunges into existential despair. He telephones Helen and tells her he's not going to continue in show business. When she tries to talk him out of it, declaring her love for him, he rebukes her, accusing her of being motivated by greed. She hangs up on him and he realizes he needs to apologize.
   
 
Meanwhile, at Helen's insistence, Bayliss goes to the hotel room of "the gang" to find out what the problem is, where the shrieking, paranoid Mooney promptly slashes him with a straight razor. Bayliss is taken to the hospital in serious condition and the police begin a manhunt for Eddie, thinking he is the culprit.
From the very first, Eddie is drawn to Helen - perhaps the only decent girl he has ever known and a stark contrast to Iris, the hateful psychopathic harpy and kabuki actress he hangs out with. He begins to dimly sense the existence of a better world than the one in which he has hitherto dwelled and starts to view his running buddies in a starkly malignant light.
 
   
  +
Eddie goes looking for Mooney, and a confrontation ensues. When the police arrive on the scene, Eddie cooperates and confesses his involvement. His show business career may be delayed (or ended entirely), but he clears his conscience and reconciles with Helen.
Bayliss installs Eddie ''et al'' in a local hotel while he waits to do a show or a recording or something. They proceed to party hearty by drinking, dancing, playing loud music and trashing the place. (Curiously, they don't invite anyone else up to their room). When a comedy relief hotel manager shows up to complain, Mooney amuses himself by tormenting him. Suddenly there is a knock on the door. Eddie: "It's just the 'house dick' - I'll handle it." "How accommodating!", Tom Servo chirps.
 
 
As Eddies' star rises, his "pal", the jealous, semi-psychotic Mooney (scenery-swallowing Peter Breck) waxes ever more violent and determined to keep Eddie in his place - with the gang, in the gutter. When Mooney shoots a big-boned barkeep over a ham sandwich, Eddie plunges into existential despair. He telephones Helen to emote on her and tell her he's not going to go the show biz route. When she tries to talk him out of it, declaring her love for him, like a poisonous adder he strikes at her, accusing her of being motivated by greed. She hangs up on him and he realizes he needs to apologize. "I'm comin' over!", he says to the dial tone.
 
 
Meanwhile, at Helen's insistence, Bayliss goes to the hotel room of "the gang" to find out what the problem is, where the shrieking, paranoid Mooney promptly slashes him with a straight razor. Bayliss is conveyed to the hospital in serious condition and the police begin a manhunt for Eddie, thinking he is the culprit.
 
 
Up to this point, Eddie has not demonstrated many positive qualities that do not also nakedly serve his self-interest (except some disgusted reluctance to join in the gang's hotel room "fun" and the ability to be courteous when the situation demands it). When he goes looking for Mooney, it's not clear whether it is from a quest for justice for Bayliss, out of anger at Mooney's interference in his affairs, or in an attempt to impress Helen. This is why we never really develop much sympathy for the Eddie character.
 
 
Will Eddie really lose out on the promise of a new life - the decent, respectable girl, the career, the fame and the money - and stay with his despicable cronies?
 
 
Contains some of the worst attempts at songs ever written, a plethora of continuity errors and boom shadows, and no beatniks.
 
 
Shut up, Iris.
 
   
 
===Information===
 
===Information===
  +
* First and only directorial effort from voice actor [[Paul Frees]], who can be heard introducing Eddie when he makes his first TV appearance and also as the voice of the police detective in the hospital.
 
  +
* The film was shot in 1958 under the title of '''Sideburns and Sympathy'''.
  +
* In 1958 it was announced the film was to have been produced by Elmer Carl Rhodan Jr (1922-1959).
  +
* In addition to producing teen exploitation films such as ''[[Daddy-O]]'', Rhodan was the son of the owner of a chain of Midwestern Commonwealth Theater chain.
 
==The Episode==
 
==The Episode==
   
 
===Host Segments===
 
===Host Segments===
  +
[[File:Beatniks2.PNG|thumb|259x259px|'''Pocket pool''']]
 
 
'''Prologue:''' [[Joel Robinson|Joel]] cruelly dominates the Bots in a painful game of rock-paper-scissors, until [[Gypsy]] crushes Joel in revenge.
 
'''Prologue:''' [[Joel Robinson|Joel]] cruelly dominates the Bots in a painful game of rock-paper-scissors, until [[Gypsy]] crushes Joel in revenge.
   
'''Segment One (Invention Exchange):''' Everyone recovers from their injuries received the prologue. The [[Mads]] have developed Good Luck Troll Costumes, based on those weird little plastic troll dolls that were all the rage in the 90's. Joel demos his literal take on Pocket Pool, though he denies [[Tom Servo]] the use of the bridge.
+
'''Segment One (Invention Exchange):''' Everyone recovers from their injuries received the prologue. The [[Mads]] have developed Good Luck Troll Costumes, based on those weird little plastic troll dolls that were all the rage in the 90's, complete with exposed plastic butts. Joel demos his literal take on Pocket Pool, though he denies [[Tom Servo]] the use of the bridge.
   
 
'''Segment Two:''' Either you are or you aren't a beatnik, according to Joel and the Bots, and the folks in the movie really aren't. To help the folks at home, they helpfully list ways to tell if you aren't a beatnik.
 
'''Segment Two:''' Either you are or you aren't a beatnik, according to Joel and the Bots, and the folks in the movie really aren't. To help the folks at home, they helpfully list ways to tell if you aren't a beatnik.
  +
[[File:BeatniksMST3K.png|left|thumb|241x241px|'''Either you are or you aren't a beatnik''']]
 
'''Segment Three:''' The Bots hold a slumber party, and discuss dreamy Tony Travis from the movie. Turns out he's a high school pal of Joel's; however, the phone call they end up placing is less than inspiring.
+
'''Segment Three:''' The Bots hold a slumber party, and discuss dreamy Tony Travis from the movie. Turns out he's a high school pal of Joel's; however, the phone call they end up placing is less than inspiring. They then aim their swooning in Mooney's direction.
   
 
'''Segment Four:''' Servo stars in a dramatization of the life of a 50’s rock star based on the movie, from anonymity to overnight stardom to pathetic has-been.
 
'''Segment Four:''' Servo stars in a dramatization of the life of a 50’s rock star based on the movie, from anonymity to overnight stardom to pathetic has-been.
  +
[[File:Beatkniks mads.jpg|thumb|253x253px|'''Good Luck Troll Costumes''']]
 
'''Segment Five:''' [[Crow T. Robot|Crow]] goes nuts like Peter Breck's character Mooney. Joel reads a letter in the meantime, and he and Tom debate if "dickweed" a swear word. The Mads find their costumes less than ideal for pushing the button.
   
 
'''Stinger:''' A crazed Mooney throws his gun.
'''Segment Five:''' [[Crow T. Robot|Crow]] goes nuts like Peter Breck's character Moon. Joel reads a letter in the meantime, and he and Tom debate if "dickweed" a swear word. The Mads find their costumes less than ideal for pushing the button.
 
   
 
===Guest Stars===
'''Stinger:''' A crazed Moon throws his gun.
 
 
===Other Notes===
 
'''Guest Stars'''
 
 
*''Tony Travis (voice)'': [[Michael J. Nelson]]
 
*''Tony Travis (voice)'': [[Michael J. Nelson]]
   
  +
===Trivia===
'''Airdate Notes'''
 
*This episode debuted as part of [[Turkey Day '92]].
+
*This episode debuted as the first episode of ''[[Turkey Day '92]]''.
  +
*[[Mary Jo Pehl]] provides the voice of [[Magic Voice]] for the first time, a role she would remain in for the rest of the [[Comedy Central]] years.
  +
* According to ''[[The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide|The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide]]'' Mooney's line "I KILLED THAT FAT BARKEEP! is one of Best Brains' all-time favorite lines.
  +
* The comic Tom is reading in the fourth segment is ''Superman'' Vol 2. #53
  +
  +
=== Callbacks ===
  +
* • ''"Rock candy baby you’re mine, yeah!"'' ([[MST3K 307 - Daddy-O|''Daddy-O'']])
   
===Obscure References===
+
== Obscure References ==
 
*''"I have seen the best guys of my emanation deployed by badness."''
 
*''"I have seen the best guys of my emanation deployed by badness."''
 
Frank is misquoting the [[Wikipedia:Allen Ginsberg|Allen Ginsberg]] poem "[[Wikipedia:Howl|Howl]]".
 
Frank is misquoting the [[Wikipedia:Allen Ginsberg|Allen Ginsberg]] poem "[[Wikipedia:Howl|Howl]]".
Line 94: Line 95:
 
*''"Let's do some crimes!"''
 
*''"Let's do some crimes!"''
 
A quote from the 1984 movie ''[[Wikipedia:Repo Man (film)|Repo Man]]''.
 
A quote from the 1984 movie ''[[Wikipedia:Repo Man (film)|Repo Man]]''.
  +
*''"They robbed Paul Wellstone!"''
  +
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wellstone Paul Wellstone] was a Senator from Minnesota, serving from 1991 until his death in a plane crash in 2002.
 
*''"Travis Bickle?!" "Sometimes I wish a rain would come and wash away all the scum of the city."''
 
*''"Travis Bickle?!" "Sometimes I wish a rain would come and wash away all the scum of the city."''
 
Travis Bickle was the title character in the 1976 film ''[[Wikipedia:Taxi Driver|Taxi Driver]]'' (which is also the source of the "rain" line).
 
Travis Bickle was the title character in the 1976 film ''[[Wikipedia:Taxi Driver|Taxi Driver]]'' (which is also the source of the "rain" line).
  +
*''"Havin' a ball/With a crazy chick..." ''"''Who?  Francis Farmer?"''
  +
The actress [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Farmer Frances Farmer] struggled with mental illness throughout her life, and was allegedly lobotomized during one of her institutionailzations.
 
*(Harry Bayliss: "Get in touch with Morrisey...") ''"... And tell him to stop crying."''
 
*(Harry Bayliss: "Get in touch with Morrisey...") ''"... And tell him to stop crying."''
​A reference to singer/professional sadsack [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrissey Morrisey] , warbler of angsty depressing songs.
+
A reference to singer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrissey Morrisey], known for his depressing songs.
*''"Hey, I was watching 'She's the Sheriff'!"''
+
*''"Hey, I was watching ''She's the Sheriff''!"''
''[[Wikipedia:She's the Sheriff|She's the Sheriff]]'' was a sitcom that aired in first-run syndication from 1987 to 1989.
+
''[[Wikipedia:She's the Sheriff|She's the Sheriff]]'' was a sitcom that aired in first-run syndication from 1987 to 1989 that starred Suzanne Somers.
  +
*"I was thinkin' we could go down there, grab us some quick loot; go down to Mexico and be Ban-Dee-Dos!" ''"Yeah and we can then ride Yoshi to the Mushroom Kingdom."''
  +
A riff playing off of Mooney's complete detachment from reality; [[Wikipedia:Yoshi|Yoshi]] is the green dinosaur-ish eating-machine which the Super Mario Bros. would occasionally ride. When this episode aired, Yoshi just made his debut in [[Wikipedia:Super Mario World|''Super Mario World'']] (which takes place in Dinosaur Land rather than the Mushroom Kingdom).
  +
* ''"Hey, I found a wheat penny!"''
  +
The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_cent#Wheat_cent_(1909%E2%80%931958) US 1 cent coin] had an image of stalks of wheat on its reverse side from 1909 until 1958 (so it probably wouldn't have been as impressive to find a wheat penny at the time the movie was made as it would be now).
  +
* ''"Bernardo, No!"''
  +
<nowiki> </nowiki>Bernardo was the hot-headed brother of Maria who tried to kill her lover Tony in West Side Story.
  +
  +
==Video releases==
  +
[[File:Beatniksdvd.jpg|thumb|400x400px|'''MST3K DVD cover''']]
  +
*Commercially released on DVD by [[Shout! Factory]] in March 2010 as part of [[Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XVII|Volume XVII]], a 4-disc set along with ''[[MST3K 101 - The Crawling Eye|The Crawling Eye]]'', ''[[MST3K 910 - The Final Sacrifice|The Final Sacrifice]]'', and ''[[MST3K 1005 - Blood Waters of Dr. Z|Blood Waters of Dr. Z]]''. The set has been out of print since 2017. The episode was subsequently reissued in September 2018 as part of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Lost and Found Collection|The Lost and Found Collection]]''.
  +
**The DVD in both sets includes the DragonCon '09 panel ''The Main Event: Crow vs. Crow'', [[The Mystery Science Theater Hour|MST Hour]] wraps, and a theatrical trailer.
   
 
{{Season4}}
 
{{Season4}}
Line 110: Line 126:
 
[[Category:Unrated movies]]
 
[[Category:Unrated movies]]
 
[[Category:Episodes directed by Joel Hodgson]]
 
[[Category:Episodes directed by Joel Hodgson]]
  +
[[Category:1950s movies]]
  +
[[Category:Crime movies]]

Revision as of 00:15, 3 February 2020

I killed that fat barkeep!


The Short

Synopsis

Jessie loves her husband Phil, who is in love with another woman - who is engaged to another man - so Jessie decides to host a painfully awkward engagement party.

Information

The Movie

Synopsis

Beatniks

The Beatniks

It's 1960 Los Angeles, and petty thug Eddie Crane (Tony Travis) is headed nowhere. He leads a pack of hoodlums who rob mom-and-pop stores for drinking money, then decamp to a one-table diner to squabble over their ill-gotten spoils. Eddie is cynical and he seems to harbor a grudge against the world.

When talent agent Harry Bayliss (Charles Delaney, who passed away before the film was released) chances to hear Eddie sing, he wants to sign him to a recording contract. Eddie is initially disinterested, but when the potential of large sums of money is mentioned, Iris (Eddie's girlfriend) goads him into accepting the proposition.

Eddie and his friends arrive at Bayliss' office. He auditions for one of Bayliss' contacts and then he's on his way to fame and fortune. After a shopping montage with Bayliss' secretary Helen Tracy (and a tender sharing of intimacies over lunch with same), Eddie delivers a couple of television performances that inspire feverish screams of girlish desire, causing the studio switchboards to be jammed with fans' phone calls and rocket his career skyward.

Eddie is drawn to Helen - perhaps the only decent girl he has ever known and a stark contrast to Iris. He begins to sense the existence of a better world and starts to take a poorer view of his buddies.

Beatniks

The Beatniks

Bayliss installs Eddie et al in a local hotel while Eddie awaits the next step in his career. They celebrate by drinking, dancing, playing loud music and wrecking the place. When the hotel manager shows up to complain, Eddie's friend Mooney (Peter Breck) amuses himself by tormenting him.

As Eddies' star rises, his "pal", the jealous, semi-psychotic Mooney waxes ever more violent and determined to keep Eddie in his place - with the gang. When Mooney shoots a barkeep during a robbery, Eddie plunges into existential despair. He telephones Helen and tells her he's not going to continue in show business. When she tries to talk him out of it, declaring her love for him, he rebukes her, accusing her of being motivated by greed. She hangs up on him and he realizes he needs to apologize.

Meanwhile, at Helen's insistence, Bayliss goes to the hotel room of "the gang" to find out what the problem is, where the shrieking, paranoid Mooney promptly slashes him with a straight razor. Bayliss is taken to the hospital in serious condition and the police begin a manhunt for Eddie, thinking he is the culprit.

Eddie goes looking for Mooney, and a confrontation ensues. When the police arrive on the scene, Eddie cooperates and confesses his involvement. His show business career may be delayed (or ended entirely), but he clears his conscience and reconciles with Helen.

Information

  • First and only directorial effort from voice actor Paul Frees, who can be heard introducing Eddie when he makes his first TV appearance and also as the voice of the police detective in the hospital.
  • The film was shot in 1958 under the title of Sideburns and Sympathy.
  • In 1958 it was announced the film was to have been produced by Elmer Carl Rhodan Jr (1922-1959).
  • In addition to producing teen exploitation films such as Daddy-O, Rhodan was the son of the owner of a chain of Midwestern Commonwealth Theater chain.

The Episode

Host Segments

Beatniks2

Pocket pool

Prologue: Joel cruelly dominates the Bots in a painful game of rock-paper-scissors, until Gypsy crushes Joel in revenge.

Segment One (Invention Exchange): Everyone recovers from their injuries received the prologue. The Mads have developed Good Luck Troll Costumes, based on those weird little plastic troll dolls that were all the rage in the 90's, complete with exposed plastic butts. Joel demos his literal take on Pocket Pool, though he denies Tom Servo the use of the bridge.

Segment Two: Either you are or you aren't a beatnik, according to Joel and the Bots, and the folks in the movie really aren't. To help the folks at home, they helpfully list ways to tell if you aren't a beatnik.

BeatniksMST3K

Either you are or you aren't a beatnik

Segment Three: The Bots hold a slumber party, and discuss dreamy Tony Travis from the movie. Turns out he's a high school pal of Joel's; however, the phone call they end up placing is less than inspiring. They then aim their swooning in Mooney's direction.

Segment Four: Servo stars in a dramatization of the life of a 50’s rock star based on the movie, from anonymity to overnight stardom to pathetic has-been.

Beatkniks mads

Good Luck Troll Costumes

Segment Five: Crow goes nuts like Peter Breck's character Mooney. Joel reads a letter in the meantime, and he and Tom debate if "dickweed" a swear word. The Mads find their costumes less than ideal for pushing the button.

Stinger: A crazed Mooney throws his gun.

Guest Stars

Trivia

Callbacks

  • "Rock candy baby you’re mine, yeah!" (Daddy-O)

Obscure References

  • "I have seen the best guys of my emanation deployed by badness."

Frank is misquoting the Allen Ginsberg poem "Howl".

  • "...Mrs. Harvey." "She's a big rabbit!"

A reference to the 1944 stage play Harvey, (which was subsequently made into a feature film starring Jimmy Stewart) in which the main character is a man with a six-foot-tall rabbit named Harvey for an imaginary friend.

  • "E-O eleven..."

From the theme song to the original version of Ocean's Eleven.

  • "Let's do some crimes!"

A quote from the 1984 movie Repo Man.

  • "They robbed Paul Wellstone!"

Paul Wellstone was a Senator from Minnesota, serving from 1991 until his death in a plane crash in 2002.

  • "Travis Bickle?!" "Sometimes I wish a rain would come and wash away all the scum of the city."

Travis Bickle was the title character in the 1976 film Taxi Driver (which is also the source of the "rain" line).

  • "Havin' a ball/With a crazy chick..." "Who?  Francis Farmer?"

The actress Frances Farmer struggled with mental illness throughout her life, and was allegedly lobotomized during one of her institutionailzations.

  • (Harry Bayliss: "Get in touch with Morrisey...") "... And tell him to stop crying."

A reference to singer Morrisey, known for his depressing songs.

  • "Hey, I was watching She's the Sheriff!"

She's the Sheriff was a sitcom that aired in first-run syndication from 1987 to 1989 that starred Suzanne Somers.

  • "I was thinkin' we could go down there, grab us some quick loot; go down to Mexico and be Ban-Dee-Dos!" "Yeah and we can then ride Yoshi to the Mushroom Kingdom."

A riff playing off of Mooney's complete detachment from reality; Yoshi is the green dinosaur-ish eating-machine which the Super Mario Bros. would occasionally ride. When this episode aired, Yoshi just made his debut in Super Mario World (which takes place in Dinosaur Land rather than the Mushroom Kingdom).

  • "Hey, I found a wheat penny!"

The US 1 cent coin had an image of stalks of wheat on its reverse side from 1909 until 1958 (so it probably wouldn't have been as impressive to find a wheat penny at the time the movie was made as it would be now).

  • "Bernardo, No!"

Bernardo was the hot-headed brother of Maria who tried to kill her lover Tony in West Side Story.

Video releases

Beatniksdvd

MST3K DVD cover