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| Lon Chaney Jr. .... Charles 'Butcher' Benton Casey Adams .... Lt. Dick Chasen Robert Shayne .... Prof. Bradshaw Ahh now here is an oldie but a goodie.Sort of "Dragnet" meets "Man Made Monster".Most of the critics have a ball picking this flick apart but I find it highly watchable.We get a lot of Dragnet style narration which saves time & money.We also get many shots of Lon Chaney's extremely baggy eyes.Looks like luggage he's carrying around under there.(Brings to mind whenever Bugs Bunny would square off with the Tazmainian Devil he'd yell out"Oh baggy eyes!" to get Taz's attention).And the characters have such wonderful names! Charles "Butcher"Benton is scheduled to die in the gas chamber.His attorney Paul Lowe (good name)meets with him.It seems that Lowe actually hired Benton,Joe Marcelli & "Squeamy" Ellis(love the name) to heist an armored car.Benton hid the 600 grand from the robbery.So Joe & Squeamy rolled over on Benton and turned state's evidence.Lowe according to Butcher railroaded him to death row. Benton has other ideas.Not only did he refuse to divulge the location of the hidden loot but he promises Lowe he will kill him, Squeamy & Joe. Lowe isn't too concerned as coming back from the dead doesn't happen too often.Ahh but we know better don't we kids? Lt Dick Chasen (another good name) the cop on the trail of the stolen cash visits Eva Martin, Benton's girlfriend.But she didn't know that Charles was The Butcher or involved in the rackets.As he leaves he spots the slimy Lowe.Lowe visits the girl and finds a note from the late Butcher.Inside is a map.So the dirty SOB slips a fifty in the envelope and heads out with a shot at 600G's. Dr Bradshaw and his assistant (an unbilled Joe Flynn) have illegally gotten access to Butcher's body.With the typical mad scientist flair and procedure they resurrect Butcher.Some nonsense about a serum and 287,000 volts of electricity.Butcher lives and his cells have multiplied to such an extent that he is almost indestructible. Butcher lives up to his rep and repays the two mad medicos by snapping their necks.Butcher decides to head back to LA and do the same for his old gang.He blazes a trail of death and destruction on the way back to see his old pals by killing a few cops and innocent bystanders.He gets shot a few dozen times and just shrugs off the hot lead. Eva nearly wets herself when Butcher shows up.When he discovers that Lowe pulled a bait and switch on Eva he throws her aside and goes hunting.Eva calls the cops but they think she's been smoking her lunch when she says Benton is alive. Benton heads to Joe's place first.Eva tries to warn Joe and he thinks Butcher hired an assassin.So he splits and Benton is left empty handed, his eyes quivering.But Squeamy shows up as a consolation prize.Butcher happily tosses him about a quarter mile to his death and kills a cop to stay active.Butcher finds Joe at Lowe's place and uses him as a frisbee from five stories up. Lowe decides it is better to rot in prison than to die by the hand of The Butcher.So he gives the cops the map.They hit the sewers armed to the teeth.Butcher catches a bazooka shell in the gut and a face full of flame thrower and keeps on going.Can anything stop this baggy eyed engine of destruction? Chaney has almost no dialogue and whether this is due to his alcohol consumption is up for speculation.But he does come across quite well as a mute killing machine.I like the cast especially Casey Adams(who may have been a bit too nice to be a cop).Worth a look. |
| The Indestructible Man |
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