A Film Memoir by Brian Armstrong
A Film Memoir by Brian Armstrong
Annotations and HTML by Walt O'Hara
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As soon as the Premiere of Fist Full of Magnums (FFM) was over, work began on what was to become our most popular film, Bloody Magnums (BM). Yes, a sequel. Why not? We had a willing leading man who could act, Jim Callan; a group of character actors including the Reston Mafia (Bob Sargent, actor and cameraman; Larry Russell, actor and weaponmaster; Richard Mustakos, actor; and Jake Vail, actor and fellow Foley artist) who added spice to all our productions; and the indispensable ingredient for all Totally Shameless Productions....the "Wally Girls and Guys." (i.e., girls and/or guys who admired Walt and followed his lifestyle).
O’HARA Speaks |
Some lifestyle! Overeducated and underemployed! Brian is flattering me here. I’d call them "starstruck," myself… Some people thought moviemaking was sooo much cooler than it really was. In any event, we never lacked for enthusiastic volunteers. --Walt |
Bloody Magnums was an unqualified success for the Armstrong/O’Hara team. We worked well together during this period using the formula where I was co-writer, executive producer, and editor, and Walt was co-writer, Director, and special effects/make-up man. This distribution of labor provided little opportunity for the creative differences.
Walt was on a creative high during 1985. His mark is on every page of the script and every scene of the film. Due to my taking a job in New Jersey with EDS, I gave Walt free rein to do his thing after we jointly wrote the original film outline and shot two scenes with Nancy Campbell before she moved to Boston. He molded the script on paper while he shot the film with great success. He retained the narrative of the original script and gave life to the characters through sight gags, memorable dialogue, and solid direction of action. My long-distance calls to him from Jersey rarely involved creative discussions. Receiving the rushes for this film was great fun because in most cases the final product exceeded my expectations.
O’HARA Speaks |
I enjoyed
making this movie… it encompassed inspiration from some of my cinematic favorites, zombie movies (particularly the
exquisite DAWN OF THE DEAD
and the oft-maligned DAY OF
THE DEAD by George Romero,
ZOMBIE and CITY OF THE WALKING DEAD by Lucio Fulci, and anything by Dario Argento). The
hard part for me, scriptwise, was maintaining the carryover characters from Fist Full of
Magnum. I wanted to have Jim’s character back in the picture, but I also wanted to
give him a greater depth and complexity—not just be a wisecracking guy with a big
gun. |
My biggest contribution to this film concerned overall production and post-production. To put it bluntly, I got everyone together where they were supposed to be when I was still in Washington; bugged Walt to keep shooting more and more footage; and put the whole thing together into a well-paced, slick little detective/spoof/horror film when the shooting was completed. Also, I co-directed the opening scene of Kate McCall’s murder, Reno’s encounter with the hooker (i.e., Carol Kocian), and the second part of the finale before leaving for New Jersey.
O’HARA Speaks |
The emphasis on shooting "more and more" footage sometimes led to continuously adding to the plot where I didn’t have to. I for one was stumped on a few occasions where I had Jim C. available, a free day, and some pressure from up north to "give me some more stuff." So I’d just make stuff up, write the script for that day and shoot it. The Alexandria Roller Rink and the flashback scenes ALL came from my desire to "get something in the can." --Walt |
ARMSTRONG Responds |
I disagree. I think the Alexandria Roller Rink, the flashback scenes, and other scenes add substance to the plot. Alas, the creative differences between director and producer. --Brian |
O’HARA Gets the Last Word |
Bollocks, ANYTHING that adds dialogue to a production with amateur actors is a bona fide risk, a lesson we would learn in spades in that great dialogue exercise, MAGNUM OPUS. Personally, I would have cut out the roller rink scene and added another cool murder scene, but that’s from the perspective of 1997. --Walt |
Jim Callan was really pumped after the "Fist Full of Magnums" Premiere. This was great news for us, because we were ready for the sequel and needed him on board to create another great film. He really was perfect for the Magnum series because of his ability to convey feelings and action with facial expressions. This was key to post-synchronized Super-8 film where live sound was not possible. Like Eastwood, Jim’s lines were terse and to the point. All other emotions and ideas were to be conveyed by his face. Jim would have been a great silent movie actor, for he really had a photogenic face that could communicate without dialogue. Since I am a big fan of silent films, which is probably the highest compliment I could give an actor. He also had the physical presence and machismo to pull off the hero role. There is never a question in any of the Magnum films that Jim in his Eastwood/James Bond persona had the ability to defeat the bad guy. He was the star.
O’HARA Speaks |
I have to hand it to Jim—he was no horror movie fan, and all this undead stuff must have been pretty confusing to him, yet he put in his best job yet into this picture, reprising the Dirty Jimmy character in a decidedly different plot structure. Jim shows a much greater range in this picture—his character demonstrates rage, pathos, regret, and a whole host of other emotions that you wouldn’t expect from a one-dimensional "tough guy." --Walt |
Walt, the Spike Lee of Super-8, was again both in front of and behind the camera in Bloody Magnums. As an actor, he played Dirty Jimmy’s partner, Nick Reno. Reno was Walt’s invention and worked as a character, because he was a maverick with a heart of gold just like Walt. With the exception of the phony British accent that seemed to come and go throughout the film, the character of Nick Reno was one of the more developed roles ever created in the Magnum series. Walt really loved the role and added ample biographical information about the maverick Reno in contrast to the Sphinx-like Dirty Jimmy. Jimmy fought crime because of passion; Reno was the original soldier of fortune, working for booze, broads, and his ex-wives’ alimony checks. His character is bigger than life in BM and really contributed to its success.
O’HARA Speaks |
Reno was a classic "sidekick" character, doomed to be killed in the last reel. I modelled him after a couple of real life police officers I knew at the time, with a healthy leavening of Nick Nolte’s character from 48 HOURS. And as for being the Spike Lee of Super-8, remember, nobody ELSE wanted to work those hours, and I worked cheap! A word about the accent: it was Bob Sargent's idea that I try to give Reno a New England accent; that's why you hear all those long vowels and soft "h's". IT WASN'T A PHONY ENGLISH ACCENT! Unfortunately, I suck at impressions-- though I've always thought the part where I say "Ouch, That SMAHTS" (ouch, that smarts!) to be pretty funny. --Walt |
Walt’s great performance in FFM as Indio Von
Steuben left large shoes to fill for the villain of BM. Since Indio was dead and Walt was
playing Nick Reno, we passed the torch to the lone survivor of the FFM finale, "the
girl with the knife." The girl with the knife, Glynis Irwin, had demonstrated her
ability to capture the audience’s attention by
brutally killing one of the
Baxter boys in the cemetery in one of the opening scenes of FFM. Also, her fight with
Dirty Jimmy in the finale of the film provided a first round in the battle between the
sexes. Now she was back to get revenge for Indio’s death. Although we revealed no
love connection in FFM, she now vows revenge for the death of the man she worshipped and
loved...Indio. In fact, she now carries the head of Indio in a box as a tribute to her 
love for him. Walt even came up
with a name for her: Tura Satana (a ripoff from the Russ Meyer movie, Faster,
Pussy Cat, Kill! Kill!). Thus, Tura Satana is the ultimate Wally girl. (Note:
the original script called her Nurse Satana. I don’t remember when we changed her
name to Tura and why she was a nurse). Web Note: Hit reload on
your browser if you want to see Tura kick this guy's butt again.
The Faster Pussycat Movie Poster
O’HARA Speaks |
Russ Meyer was one of those twisted
individuals that Hollywood occassionally produces—maverick, sexist, irreverant,
preposterous, and totally, totally addicted to pretty women with large breasts. I
love his ferocious and funny cinema style— much of what I wrote was inspired by such
great Meyer flicks as Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!, Mudhoney,
SuperVixens, and Common Law Cabin. His films created
some terrific archtypes (check out Tura Satana in the animations above and tell me if
Glynis’ character doesn’t come pretty close… ). Glynis was modelled
mostly after the Tura Satana character, with a liberal sprinkling of Bettie Page
thrown in On a related note, someone gave me Russ Meyer's phone number during the shooting of Bloody Magnums. I thought, yeah, right, this is really genuine, while I was dialing. I heard a voice on the other end of the line... "Russ Meyer." I was tonguetied. I was talking to the great man himself! All I could blurt out was "pleasedtomeetcha I'mabigfanMistahMeyer!" A couple of microseconds went by, then I heard "Jesus, one of them..." and the phone hung up. Brush with greatness? Or pathetic geekboy fan? You be the judge. --Walt |
The following plot summary was included in the program for the premiere of Magnum Opus and sums up the plot quite well:
BLOODY MAGNUMS (1986) James Callan, Walt O’Hara, Glynis Irwin, Jake Vail.
Tura Satana, ex-lover of I.V. Steuben, conducts series of brutal occult murders to lure Callanhan back from San Francisco...This ploy works. Callanhan and DC Homicide liaison Nick Reno discover that Satana has created an army of blood-drinking zombies from beyond the grave. Again, bullets fly, mayhem ensues. Look for Bob Sargent as the police officer who gets one hell of a stomach ache.
Believe it or not, Walt and I followed our original script very closely during the production of this film. This wasn’t too hard, since little dialogue was included in the original. Walt, the master of memorable dialogue, filled in the blanks. We did add a few scenes when we realized holes had been discovered in the plot (i.e., no more dopey fill in dialogue shots like the jogging shot in FFM to fill plot holes). Walt and I were on track on this one. During late 1985 and early 1986, he responded well to any long distance suggestions I fed him from my house in New Jersey. The result was a tight story line that kept the audience involved in the action.
We began writing the script on 4/18/85. Very little dialogue was included in these first drafts before I left town. Walt developed most of the memorable lines from this film during the summer an fall of 1985. With the exception of lines one and two, all the other lines listed below were O’Hara creations:
1. Dirty Jimmy to Tura Satana after Nick Reno stabs her with a knife:
"Red is your color."
2. Dirty Jimmy to Tura Satana after he finishes her off with a punch:
"That was one tough broad."
3. Whore to Tura Satana after Tura tells her zombie henchmen to eat her:
Tura: Now. Get her. Eat her. (Order to her zombies)
Whore: "Hey, you some kind of dyke?"
4. Dirty Jimmy remarking on the odor of the morgue after Coroner Gheistlich bit into a burrito:
Jim: "Damn thats some burrito."
Coroner: "No. That’s the body, inspector. He’s been decreased for at least 6 months."
5. Officer Salt to the zombies eating his internal organs:
Officer Salt: "I hope you get indigestion."
(The zombie then hits him in the face with his own kidney)
6. Dirty Jimmy to Corrupt City Official:
Dirty Jimmy: "An AU Professor, an authority? you must be joking."
7. Nick Reno and Whore with Riding Crop:
Whore: "Are you Don Johnson?"
Reno: "Are you Cher?" (with bad Boston accent)
Reno: "So, you are matriculating at Vass-ah are you? Well I always liked academics."
8. Dirty Jimmy and Reno by Lincoln Memorial:
Jimmy: "The killings, the violence, the brutality, the stupidity. It all takes its toll.
Reno: So why don’t you retire. You could get a pension. You have enough points.
Jimmy: No. For some strange reason I feel like I’m doing the right thing. I couldn’t do anything else. What motivates you? Why do you do it? Why join homicide?
Reno: "The extra pay, man. I got three ex-wives. The alimony is killing me with alimony."
9. Dirty Jimmy and Kate talking about his future in flashback:
Jimmy: "I must tell you though. I’m torn between AMWAY and the Police Academy."
10. Dirty Jimmy and Billy Rae McCall talking about his impending trip to Vietnam:
Billy: "Do you think its true what they say about you know sideways on the women?"
Jimmy: "You boy, you."
11. Man to Dirty Jimmy after he saved him from zombies:
Man: "I hate those zombies, they ate my sister."
12. Dirty Jimmy passes Nick Reno a napkin after he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and says:
Dirty Jimmy: "Here’s this napkin. Like a sleeve, but disposable."
13. Dirty Jimmy commenting on Kate’s slit throat:
Dirty Jimmy: "Her once soft neck."
14. Dirty Jimmy and Nick Reno outside Alexandria Roller Rink:
Reno: "We don’t know for sure that this isn’t a setup."
Dirty Jimmy: "That’s why they issue us such nasty toys, Reno (he points to his gun).
15. Dirty Jimmy talking to Gloria Cummings:
Gloria: "Tura Satana worked for him last year before she started getting involved with some really weird shit."
Dirty Jimmy: "Weird in what way?"
Gloria: "Witchcraft, voodoo, demonology, …AMWAY."
Dirty Jimmy: "AMWAY, GROSS!" (he spits out his coffee)
O’HARA Speaks |
One of several disparaging references to Amway in this movie for some reason. Don't ask me why. I usually was hit on about once a month by some Amway salesman who presumed that if I were working in a bookstore I'd be an easy mark for the Amway method.... To this day, whenever I hear the phrase "network marketing," my eyes glaze over... --Walt |
16. Tura talking to her henchmen about Dirty Jimmy:
Tura: "I think I’ll floss my teeth with his Achilles tendon."
Tura (brandishing bat): "I’m going to shove this up your ass and turn you into a popsicle."
Tura: "I’m going to cut out your chitlins, bastard."
Tura: "I want to cut off his balls and juggle."
17. Gheistlich, looking at an Introduction to Biology Book…
Coroner Gheistlich: "Har har har… D-N-A!" (shaking head as if amused)
18. Gloria Cummings sobbing her heart out to Callanhan about the death of her fellow hooker in an earlier scene:
Gloria: "She was only 40…. She wanted to be a DANCER!… sniff."
The resulting flashbacks, reminiscences and
"almost a relationship" between Jim and Gloria in the picture were my attempt to
make Jim’s character more three dimensional. For the most part, I think I was
succesful in retaining the "Eastwood Parody" element of the plot, though I
don’t think it is as pronounced as it was in the first movie. 
. I wanted
her to have Tura's Foo-kicking, Karate-chopping lethality with Bettie's sexiness, all
wrapped up in one femme fatale package. I realize that ever since
