Film & Water #57 – Ants!

THE FILM & WATER PODCAST

Episode 57: ANTS! (aka IT HAPPENED IN LAKEWOOD MANOR)

Rob welcomes back podcaster extraordinaire Daniel Budnik to discuss the 1977 TV movie ANTS! starring Robert Foxworth, Lynda Day George, Suzanne Somers, and Myrna Loy!

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17 responses to “Film & Water #57 – Ants!

  1. Wow, we inspired something! And any show that talks about Joanie Loves Chachi is one I’m going to have to check out! Actually, there are plenty I now have to check out. Thanks Daniel!

    But Rob, you’ll allow discussion of BJ and the Bear and Sheriff Lobo, but WON’T have me on to discuss their source material, Smokey and the Bandit, the second highest grossing movie of 1977 after that forgettable science fantasy flick?

    As for Ants!, I have never heard of it, but I’m aware of the awesomeness of Robert Foxworth’s Henley-like beard and fro combo, because my mom loved her some Falcon Crest back in the day.

    Fun episode!

    Chris

    1. Thank you, Chris! Please tell Cindy that she is Cool.

      If you like Joanie Loves Chachi, you’ll probably quite enjoy Eventually Supertrain. My co-host (and Podcast Pal) Amanda and I get pretty detailed while constantly discussing how awesome Al Molinaro is.

      As an aside: The way to talk about BJ and the Bear/ Sheriff Lobo on any podcast is to slip it into a conversation. Usually, the host won’t have time to react until you’re done saying your peace. Just a tip to all the HALOs out there. (That stands for Hardcore Loboites, by the way.) Perkins Forever!

  2. The 1970s were filled with lots of weird TV movies! I’m unfamiliar with ANTS! but I’ve never forgotten DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL (1978). It’s stars Richard Crenna & Yvette Mimieux as a couple who mistakenly adopt a German shepard puppy, who happens to be one of Satan’s minions. There’s a scene where the dog tries to telepathically compel Crenna to stick his arm into a lawnmower! That scared the hell out of me as a kid. The kids are played by Kim Richards & Ike Eisenmann (Witch Mountain) and you don’t get more 1970s than that. Like Myrna Loy, it features an older actor who had seen better material. Character actor Victor Jory (Gone With the Wind) appears in it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSAmUDlUUhQ

    One 1970s TV movie that I can highly recommend is DYING ROOM ONLY (1973) starring Cloris Leachman, Ned Beatty, Dabney Coleman, & Ross Martin. Written by the great Richard Matheson, Cloris plays a woman whose husband disappears in a remote/rural diner. Everyone is very hostile and nobody helps her as she becomes more desperate. It’s not a horror story really, but terrifically creepy and suspenseful.

  3. What I love about this podcast is that it doesn’t always go for the ‘classic films’ and can just talk about movies like this! I had never heard of this movie before. I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it. But I can lament the end of Myrna Loy’s career. She’ll always be Nora. (It reminds me of when I saw Jane Greer in an episode of Quincy. That was a long way from the smoldering Femme Fatale in ‘Out of the Past’.)

    I love Night of the Lepus. Nothing could be scarier than seeing rabbits run through a tiny town set, supposedly demolishing real buildings.

    This whole thing seems to borrow a lot from ‘Leiningan versus the ants’, a short story I think I had to read in 8th grade, 10th grade, and sophomore year of college. I get it, a gasoline moat is a decent defense against grown based insects.

    Now I think we need coverage of ‘Them’.

    1. Thanks Anj!

      I don’t go out of my way to plan it out, but I figured it was a nice balance to cover something so obscure like ANTS after discussing two classics, POTA and ROMAN HOLIDAY.

      And I’d love to cover THEM! at some point, or any of those giant creature features of the 50s.

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