![]() ![]() He was a world champion wrestler and worked extensively as an extra. Tiger Joe Marsh was one of the locals outside of Dracula’s castle. Laneuville was first covered in another great sci-fi, The Omega Man (1971). Benjamin was first covered in the excellent sci-fi Westworld (1973).Įric Laneuville showed up in a small comedic part as Russell. The hilarious actor and director Richard Benjamin played the role of Dr. Hamilton’s knack for comedy has been a well-kept secret until now, but he’s certainly funny in “Love at First Bite,” a coarse, delightful little movie with a bang-up cast and no pretensions at all.” Actors – Love at First Bite (1979) “QUITE unexpectedly, George Hamilton’s Dracula turns out to be - pardon the expression - a scream. New York Times film critic Janet Maslin said in an Apreview: ![]() It didn’t fare better on, coming in with 68 percent on the Tomatometer and only 55 percent audience approval. We will just have to suspend our sensibilities and take ourselves back to the times of Blazing Saddles (1974) ![]() They seem witless rather than mean-spirited, but that’s not much of an excuse.” This film destroys the modern standards of PCness. New York Times film critic Janet Maslin noted at the time of release, “Some of the film’s ethnic jokes skate by on very thin ice. Some of the humor, shall we say, pushed the boundaries when it was released. I am going to start right away, saying this is a funny movie. Today on the Classic Movie Reviews Podcast, we are taking on Love at First Bite (1979). As a technical note, references and citations are listed for each show on the site at. Arte Johnson also successfully hams it up as the Count’s faithful assistant in a comic send-up of Dwight Frye’s role in Dracula. Overall though there’s more misses than hits, which includes the ill-advised flying bat special effects that comes off looking so hokey that it almost demotes this to a B-movie level.Hello to all of the classic people that are returning. The film does have a lot of famous cameos including the two stars of ‘The Jeffersons’ TV-show who appear separately in bit parts. The whole thing would’ve worked better had it focused exclusively on Saint James and Hamilton and analyzed their attempts to make their offbeat relationship work, which could’ve put a fresh spin on the vampire theme instead of devolving it into Jeffrey’s dumb attempts at trying to destroy the Count by using all the cliched methods like garlic, mirrors, etc., which quickly becomes stale and cartoonish. Benjamin has played this obnoxious jerk-type one time too often and although he is quite good at it, it was still getting to be old shtick and it’s easy to see why he quit acting soon after and went into directing. Unfortunately the film falls flat when it introduces the Jeffrey character. I also liked how her messy apartment nicely reflected her screwed-up life and personality. Normally having a film character invite a stranger, in this case the Count, who she has just met at a club back to her place would be considered insane, but here it works as a nice satire on the one-night-stand fad of the 70’s and the on-going conversation that the two have as they proceed to make-out is by far the funniest bit in the film. Saint James on-the-other-hand seemed too old for her role as she was already in her mid-30’s, but she manages to pull it off surprisingly well. His foray into comedy was a last ditch effort to save his floundering career and the gamble paid off as he’s quite funny and almost like a natural. Her boyfriend Jeffrey (Richard Benjamin) who also acts as her psychiatrist, is not pleased by this and becomes obsessed with destroying the count by using all the old vampire killing methods, but the count always stays one step ahead of him, which is enough to send Jeffrey to the mental hospital.Īlthough this film isn’t well remembered it was a big hit when it came out and a comeback movie of sorts for Hamilton whose dramatic leading man roles during the 60’s and early 70’s had completely dried-up by this time. 4-Word Review: Dracula dates fashion model.Īfter being kicked out of his castle by the Romanian government Count Dracula (George Hamilton) moves to New York City where he starts up a relationship with the beautiful, but troubled fashion model Cindy (Susan Saint James).
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