T-Bird Gang (The Mads)

Film Year:  1959

Genre:  Drama, Crime

Director:  Richard Harbinger

Starring:  John Brinkley, Edwin Nelson, Tony Miller, Coleman Francis

The Movie

The story of T-Bird Gang is a simple revenge "thriller" (without the thrills) as a robbery gone wrong results in the death of a watchman.  The watchman's son Frank is with him as he dies, as his last act in this mortal coil is to tell him that the suspects were driving a white Thunderbird.  Frank goes on the prowl to find the gang that killed his father but are convinced by the police to go undercover in the gang and help gather enough evidence to put them away for good.

We're introduced to this film as the movie so bad that Roger Corman had his name taken off of it.  I'm not sure that's entirely true.  He did make it and his name isn't in the credits, but it was produced under Filmgroup, which was a studio he started up with his brother and they ran together.  T-Bird Gang was one of the first movies produced by Filmgroup, along with MSTed film High School Big Shot, which also doesn't have Corman's name in the credits (neither does Girl in Lovers Lane, which was also a Filmgroup production).  Corman's stamp is pretty much the Filmgroup name.

The film itself is more or less just a lame cheapie targeted at teens who want a dour drama about rebellious youth that may not end well, but dammit they were against the system, baby.  Acting is stiff and wooden with little to nobody sounding like they're seasoned professionals.  Case in point, a supporting role of a police captain is given to Mystery Science Theater's legendary auteur Coleman Francis, who gives this role the same amount of strength and gusto as we saw in his performance in Red Zone Cuba...none at all.

There's something endearingly silly about T-Bird Gang though.  It's fun to watch in its incompetence, not unlike an Ed Wood movie.  The drama is a failure and most of the time it doesn't really try all that hard anyway, and it feels like it's just stretching for time until they've reached an hour so they can finally end it.  It's amusing to see them push those scenes and pad as hard as they are because there is more effort in that than in giving the movie an actual plot.  Oddly, with as static and as inert as it is, it's never boring because the filmmaking is so fascinatingly uninvolved that I just want to study what makes it tick.  If that's the low bar for success that T-Bird Gang wants to step over then I'm sure it's pleased with itself.

The Riff

Trace, Frank, and Chris compare the film a bit to Walk the Dark Street, which I totally see as it's a dour, depressing, and incompetent crime drama.  On the other hand, I think that's harsh because T-Bird Gang is much more amusing than Walk the Dark Street is.  Trace and Chris even state at the end that they enjoy the movie, while Frank grunts "Me too!" half-heartedly as he runs to the bathroom (which is a Frank trademark at this point).

Whatever the case, one thing that this movie has going for it is that it has very little dialogue.  When things get quiet then Trace and Frank have a tendency to fill that silence with wall-to-wall jokes.  They're pretty rapid fire throughout the movie and their hit ratio is impressively high.  This is all the more impressive considering Trace flubs right out the gate by making an Avengers riff that accidentally gets twisted into an MST fan pandering riff, as a gang member snaps his fingers and Trace exclaims "Manos PI...I meant Thanos!  Already..."  While this could be a set-up for disastrous things to come, they rebound fairly quickly and just start shooting off some killer material.  And with the self-serious noir combined with trademark Corman cheapness, there is certainly a lot to comment on.

"That's real blood, they couldn't afford the fake stuff!"

Today's guest is none other than former Mystery Science Theater 3000 host and RiffTrax creator Michael J. Nelson, one of the finest riffers who has ever lived.  There's nostalgia in the air for the old writers room, as Mike, Trace, and Frank discuss writing old episodes of the series, including drinking tequila during the writing of Untamed Youth (Mike misremembers the episode as Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy but J. Elvis Weinstein has always clarified what episode it was) and they talk about their enthusiasm and struggles with Radar Secret Service, while also delighting in remembering jokes and bits from the series and the origins of MST's most memorable moments.  Mike also discusses how he hadn't kept anything from the series and how he almost accidentally got his coat auctioned off with all the other props.  There is discussion of the various featured MSTed actors they've met over the years, including Lloyd Bridges, Richard Keil, and Reb Brown.  Maybe it's because the constantly delayed No Time to Die was about to be released (finally), but they discuss their favorite James Bond movies, while Frank relates he loves Goldfinger and Skyfall, Trace says "Octopussy...I mean, NOT Octopussy" (before correcting himself I was about to say that was a very bold statement), Mike abstains from a favorite but says he grew up with Roger Moore, and Chris talks a little about growing up with Pierce Brosnon but stating the only one that was good was GoldenEye (I like The World is Not Enough myself, but I'm pretty much the only one that does).  Mike ends it with a small (but not unearned) dig at poor Timothy Dalton.

Maybe I'm just old school, but I like Dr. No the best.  Other nonspecific Connery films are up there too, along with the exceptional better-than-Casino-Royale-fight-me-bitch Skyfall, and I enjoyed No Time to Die a goddamn lot more than I thought I was going to.

I was laughing and smiling all throughout T-Bird Gang, and I even found the movie to be an oddball hoot.  With a fun commentary over a daffy movie with a strong guest in the wings, T-Bird Gang is one of the Mads finest offerings, methinks.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Classic