John Ampalas is or is not Martinez?

[Yojimbo]

Da, dada da da, dada da, da, dada, da, da, Villa Alegre!! Dude! You are one of the few people who actually remember that show. Most of the Gen-X were watching something else apparently. So if you remember the multi-racial scenes towards the final few seasons and remember a snot nosed "oriental" boy specifically in one scene confusing the "black" boy over the term "taco" meaning "Kite" in Japanese instead of something to eat (it also meant "octopus" in Japanese which got major confused looks from "black boy") then that was me. Funeral Directors man. They creep me out. So as a funeral director, I am like a reverse zombie, a Bizzaro world zombie.

[darth los]

After your post last night, I discussed this scene with my wife and she pointed out to me that in that particular scene (the theater audience) right before the woman makes the statement about having enough gorillas in the city, there is a white male audience member attempting to make his way down the row, presumably to his seat, and in the process he jostles this woman causing her to react with irritation at which time she makes this statement. It is my wife's contention that the gorrilla quote, in this regard, was directed at the rude man who jostled her like a gorrilla would. I vaguely recall this happening, but would have to rewatch to verify. Actually, given that I have such a fondness for King Kong (one of those rare movies that I watched as a kid and still find watchable now as an adult) I am glad that this little bit of racism (and there are other moments in the film) might possibly not have been in there after all. It wouldn't be the first time that a blatantly racist scene was in a movie of that era. If it was in some other state or rural area i would probably think the same thing, but i remember that scene and it didn't seem like she was directing the comment to anyone in particular and was making a general statement. I remember going back and watching it several times just to make sure of what i just wtnessed and it seemed racist. Go back and watch it again and let me know how you feel about it upon further review. On a related note: I also loved that movie as a kid. It's my second favorite monster movie behind the original mighty joe young. That's actually the first flick i remember making me cry as a kid. They used to give both of them every year during the thanksgiving vacation along with some godzilla flicks. Oh, and by the way, there's no way kong could beat godzilla. That was total crap. Damn i missed those days.

[Yojimbo]

It wouldn't be the first time that a blatantly racist scene was in a movie of that era. If it was in some other state or rural area i would probably think the same thing, but i remember that scene and it didn't seem like she was directing the comment to anyone in particular and was making a general statement. I remember going back and watching it several times just to make sure of what i just wtnessed and it seemed racist. Go back and watch it again and let me know how you feel about it upon further review. On a related note: I also loved that movie as a kid. It's my second favorite monster movie behind the original mighty joe young. That's actually the first flick i remember making me cry as a kid. They used to give both of them every year during the thanksgiving vacation along with some godzilla flicks. Oh, and by the way, there's no way kong could beat godzilla. That was total crap. Damn i missed those days. I will check the flick and confirm or deny. Wouldn't surprise me if there was a racist jab -- back then it was totally ok and routine to utilize racial humor. On your related note: Kong could never beat the real godzilla, but that Kong looked so lame (and so did that Godzilla) so you kind of wish that they both would lose, or at least now you do. I do miss those badly dubbed films like Gargantua and Gammera. For some reason, I remember really freaking out and getting into Giant Robot, as I recall identifying heavily with the little kid in the film, and getting sad at the end of the film when Giant Robot flys into space with the evil alien (who was so explosive that one fingernail could waste a whole city block) sacrificing himself for the good of the world! I've got to go out now and find a copy of that film.

[darth los]

On your related note: Kong could never beat the real godzilla, but that Kong looked so lame (and so did that Godzilla) so you kind of wish that they both would lose, or at least now you do. I do miss those badly dubbed films like Gargantua and Gammera. For some reason, I remember really freaking out and getting into Giant Robot, as I recall identifying heavily with the little kid in the film, and getting sad at the end of the film when Giant Robot flys into space with the evil alien (who was so explosive that one fingernail could waste a whole city block) sacrificing himself for the good of the world! I've got to go out now and find a copy of that film. No way he could beat godzilla. They've tried shooting Ballistic missile, atomic bombs and dropping him into a volcano for pete's sake!! Not a scratch on him. Kong on the other hand was brought down by mere bullets from helicopters/planes. No contest. They don't call godzilla king of the monsters for nothing. Hell, Godzuki could probably beat kong. My favorite part of that film was when kong was posturing and beating his chest and godzilla proceded to light his chest up in flames. Kong sure ran an hid behind that rock rather quickly doncha think? I loved the godzilla movie with that robot Jet Jaguar. It's gotta be one of my favs. I think it was the megalon flick. Boy were those films terrible.

[Yojimbo]

No way he could beat godzilla. They've tried shooting Ballistic missile, atomic bombs and dropping him into a volcano for pete's sake!! Not a scratch on him. Kong on the other hand was brought down by mere bullets from helicopters/planes. No contest. They don't call godzilla king of the monsters for nothing. Hell, Godzuki could probably beat kong. My favorite part of that film was when kong was posturing and beating his chest and godzilla proceded to light his chest up in flames. Kong sure ran an hid behind that rock rather quickly doncha think? I loved the godzilla movie with that robot Jet Jaguar. It's gotta be one of my favs. I think it was the megalon flick. Boy were those films terrible. Yeah terrible, but I would trade most of the major blockbuster releases of the last few years for just one beat up betamax copy of even the worst dubbed film from that genre, and at it's worst, it still looks like Hitchcock compared to Day 2 Contagium.

[darth los]

Yeah terrible, but I would trade most of the major blockbuster releases of the last few years for just one beat up betamax copy of even the worst dubbed film from that genre, and at it's worst, it still looks like Hitchcock compared to Day 2 Contagium. Yeah you gotta love men in rubber suits and miniature tanks. Back on topic: did we ever come to a consensus on whether or not amplas' character in dawn is martinez? I mean there's no doubt he was one of the actors on the roof but it is never clear which one of them was martinez. On the commentary savini and gar aren't even sure.

[Yojimbo]

Yeah you gotta love men in rubber suits and miniature tanks. Back on topic: did we ever come to a consensus on whether or not amplas' character in dawn is martinez? I mean there's no doubt he was one of the actors on the roof but it is never clear which one of them was martinez. On the commentary savini and gar aren't even sure. Philly pointed out, and rightly so, that it was not stated for certain in the films, however clearly there is no evidence to show either that he was or was not Martinez. Ampalas was clearly a lead character for that particular scene, having one of the two lines spoken by the raiders that evening, and being that Ampalas was well liked by GAR, the concept that GAR meant Ampalas' character to represent Martinez is not a far stretch. So you can make a good case that by inferrence Ampalas was meant to be Martinez, but there is no direct evidence of such. So in this regard I turn to the consensus and looking back I see most believe that Ampalas was in fact Martinez. The only point that made me contradict this notion is, as I previously stated, the DOTD novelization with Sparrow and Romero covers this specific scene and never states that the cholo is in fact Martinez, leaving me to speculate that Martinez could have been anyone: the priest, Miguel the zombie who bit his girlfriend (his last name could have been Martinez) or some character we never actually see. Of course in the novel, the scene is relayed to the reader from Roger's point of view, and he wouldn't have known that the cholo was martinez, any more than he would have thought his name was "Sue". Again, Philly's point is well taken in that just because he is not mentioned as Martinez does not prevent him from being Martinez. Philly also pointed out that they would have no reason to point out this character. Also pointed out was that since the makers of the film have lives of their own and have moved on to other, brighter things, and in so doing do not recall whether or not the rooftop cholo was Martinez, WE WILL NEVER KNOW FOR SURE!! So my long winded response leads to this: No, it was never resolved for certain, but majority rules that Ampalas is indeed Martinez. I respect the boards and the heads here, and if they say it is Martinez, then he likely is. It is as good of a conclusion as we are ever going to have on this issue.

[darth los]

I also think that he was martinez as well. Now on the comment of them moving on to brighter things, i could make the argument that dawn could have been the pinacle of savini's career and definitely GAR'S. It was dawn that put savini on the map and was the most famous movie he ever worked on, although whether it was friday the 13th is debateable. However, imo savini's work and improvisation in dawn was far superior to his work in friday. As for GAR, imo he will never top what he did in dawn. NOTLD is his landmark film but he perfected it with dawn.

[Philly_SWAT]

Dude! You are one of the few people who actually remember that show. Most of the Gen-X were watching something else apparently. So if you remember the multi-racial scenes towards the final few seasons and remember a snot nosed "oriental" boy specifically in one scene confusing the "black" boy over the term "taco" meaning "Kite" in Japanese instead of something to eat (it also meant "octopus" in Japanese which got major confused looks from "black boy") then that was me. Well, I have an amazing recall on some things. The scene you are referring to? I have no recall of that. I dont remember much about that show. Are you on imdb or anything?

[Yojimbo]

Well, I have an amazing recall on some things. The scene you are referring to? I have no recall of that. I dont remember much about that show. Are you on imdb or anything? I personally have never seen any episodes of my season on Villa Alegre. This aired in the era before home VCRs were common, and the only way I could catch episodes as a kid was if I was sick at home from school (or faking it, which my parents would rarely fall for) As far as I know, Villa Alegre has never been in rebroadcast and, unlike Electric Company, has never been the subject of much nostalgia or put into a re-release. IMDB: Yeah, a friend of mind hipped me to my page on IMDB. I guess I ended up there, probabaly as the result of a bot, after the release of Wonder Woman collectionon DVD. There's nothing there on the page really, just my name and a description of the episode. No posts, no photo.

[darth los]

We have an honest to god celeb in our midst guys. HOLLA !!