By Selwyn Harris
Malibu Express (1985).
Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987).
Savage Beach (1989).
Guns (1990).
Do or Die, a.k.a. Girls, Games and Guns (1991).
Fit to Kill (1993).
Day of the Warrior (1996).
L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies: Return to Savage Beach (1998).
Occasionally, names do speak for themselves, as is evident in the above titles of films created by explosive exploitation auteur Andy Sidaris (AndySidaris.com).
Even the Chicago-born, Louisiana-raised director's 1988 classic Picasso Trigger--the title of which contains no references to death, destruction, and/or exotic locales--is distinctive in the signature Sidaris style. It's instantly intriguing, even mildly provocative. And, of course, once you see the poster for Picasso Trigger, or any other Andy opus, you can't help but be hooked.
The Andy Sidaris formula, more or less, goes like this: Take a low-budget James Bond escapade set exclusively in a sunny climate, populate it with eager-to-unveil-themselves Playboy Playmates and Penthouse Pets, and then add in copious firearms, helicopters, car chases, and things that go boom (in more ways than one).
Sidaris's skills as a filmmaker have elevated his romps above mere B-movie status and into an enduring cult phenomenon. Although even he would be quick to point out that his leading ladies comprise the ingredient that packs the most punch (again, in more ways than one).
Frequently called upon to play secret agents, high-priced assassins, and other forms of globe-traveling adventurers, the sirens of the Sidaris canon read like a who's who of who's naked and hot in recent high-impact skinema: Julie Strain (Picture: 1), Dona Speir (Picture: 1), Shae Marks (Picture: 1), Hope Marie Carlton (Picture: 1), Patty Duffek (Picture: 1), Cynthia Brimhall (Picture: 1), Roberta Vasquez (Picture: 1), and Julie K. Smith (Picture: 1) are just a handful--okay, they're much more than a handful--of repeat performers in the Sidaris roster.
Now, just as Sidaris stormed drive-ins and grindhouses for the first decade of his reign and video stores and late-night cable TV in the second, he's electrifying the DVD market with his films available on premium discs as part of various "Triple B" collections[http://www.andysidaris.com/Shop.htm]. And that, naturally, stands for "Bullets, Bombs and Babes."
In addition, the guy-oriented channel Spike TV is presently in the midst of airing Andy's awesome endeavors in succession over two weeks as part of its "Films of Fury" series.
As much as a Sidaris film bears its maker's stamp, the man himself is always fast to point out that each project is a team effort and frequently a family affair. His wife, Arlene Sidaris, has produced Andy's movies, while their son, Christian Drew Sidaris, is continuing on as a director in his own right. Among the latter's credits are Hard Hunted (1992), Enemy Gold (1993), and The Dallas Connection (1994).
In fact, Sidaris is so enamored of his collaborators that he always speaks of their films as "ours" and uses "we" when describing the creative process.
Andy Sidaris took time out from making the world safe for nuclear blasts and naked boobs to talk to MrSkin.com. We thank him for that--and for so much more.
What inspired you to carve out this unique place for yourself in the realms of exploitation filmmaking?
What inspired me was growing up in Louisiana and having uncles that owned five movie theaters in black neighborhoods in Kansas. I'd go to those theaters all the time and they'd let me sit in the projection booth. It was just like Cinema Paradiso.
My favorite movies in particular were the Frank Buck adventures, jungle movies, Tarzan and such. And those are a pretty clear influence on what I've done.
I don't like movies where there are a bunch of guys in a dirty alley saying "Motherfucker! Motherfucker!" and stabbing and slitting each other's throats.
I love adventures. So that's what I turned to.
Was your first film of this nature?
My first movie was The Racing Scene in 1969, which was a documentary about James Garner's passion for auto racing. Then I made Stacey for Roger Corman. Malibu Express is actually a remake of Stacey.
The distribution was the tricky part with Stacey, and that had to do with Roger Corman. About eight years later, I ended up doing all right with it.
One of the trademarks of your films is beautiful women who take their clothes off on camera. How has this affected their play on commercial networks like Spike TV?
Well, beginning on January 2nd, Spike began showing each of my films once a night for a fourteen-day consecutive run. We started out in the wee hours of the morning, but the ratings were so good that they've moved us up to prime time, right there in competition with the big boys.
For Spike, each film is cut to eighty-six minutes, and they have been just great every step of the way, especially in allowing me to help with the editing.
I always shoot coverage, meaning that if we shoot a girl in the shower with her breasts out, we also shoot her with just a lot of cleavage.
And there is very little profanity in our movies. In twelve movies, there are three profane words, total.
The movies have been so successful on video, on pay cable, and on commercial TV that we're represented by Warner Brothers. We're the only independent they represent. We're very happy to work with Warner Brothers and very proud of that.
How about the "Triple-B" Collections?
Those are three-packs of my movies on DVD. Each three-pack contains a movie that hasn't been released yet. We did those with BCI Eclipse, and that company is absolutely wonderful.
How has your filmmaking process changed through the years?
It really hasn't. We know what our movies are--they're corny, they're fun.
We always shoot on 35mm. Digital looks terrible to me. I really feel like it doesn't work. And I don't like blue-screen stuff. It looks like a cartoon to me.
What we do, when we blow up a Lincoln, is we really blow up a Lincoln. And we've gotten so good and so efficient in making these films that we can do them more inexpensively now than we could ten years ago.
For example, we bought one Mercedes and blew it up in four different movies. It's fun. It's the challenge of taking eighty cents, doing a movie, and making it look pretty good.
The movies have legs. They continue to stand on their own.
Up until and including Guns, your films always played in theaters. They've since gone straight to video. Has that affected you?
That's only in the States! In a lot of countries, we're still theatrical--Germany, France, and the Philippines especially. We also send four or five prints to India and Pakistan.
Do you have a favorite among your own films?
You know, it's almost like having children. But the picture that really set the tone was Hard Ticket to Hawaii.
We're doing a movie next year called Battlezone Hawaii that will pay tribute to Hard Ticket. We'll be bringing back the snake, bringing back the girls in the khaki uniforms. It will be set out on an island where the Alexa diamond was put into a Fabrege egg and stolen.
We'll shoot part of Battlezone in Vegas. That's another thing that distinguishes our movies: we shoot on location.
Shreveport, Louisiana, for example, turns over the town to us when we're shooting. The police department and the fire department help us with the explosions. They have to blow stuff up that they've confiscated, so they wait for us.
And we have a friend in Las Vegas who runs helicopter rides. We pay him $75 to $100 and he flies us all over. A Hollywood studio would hire a chopper for $20,000 and the cost would go up from there.
But when we're shooting in Vegas the first guy I call is my helicopter pilot. For big scenes in the helicopter, we dress blow-up dolls in the girls' costumes and shoot that. We do not put lives in danger.
Of the many gorgeous women in your films, who are the extra-special stand-outs to you?
Dona Speir and Julie Strain. And Shae Marks, too.
Dona had the greatest body in history--and I mean her whole body was flawless. Her arms, legs, elbows, everything. Flawless.
We set up our bedrooms for wardrobe changes, and Dona would come out with these outfits on and it was just the greatest runway show in the world.
And Julie is wonderful. She lives four blocks from us. One morning Regis [Philbin] and [his wife] Joy, who are our good friends, came over to play tennis and Julie left a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for us. She's like having a cheerleader! And she's got the most outrageous wardrobe in the world too.
Julie will be in our next movie, but her role will be like Bosley on Charlie's Angels. She'll be there and she'll be large breasted and we'll expose her. It will be fun!
And what's next after Battlezone Hawaii?
The Dawn Patrol. We're going to find Amelia Earhart.
And we can't wait to go along for the ride.
