Watched: 09/29/2023
Format: MST3K on YouTube (keep circulating the tapes?)
Viewing: First
Director: Someone, I'm sure
In my quest to catch the entirety of the Kim Cattrall filmography without it becoming a thing, I finally got around to the episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (S5:E3) in which Joel and the Bots watch the 1984 sci-fi opus City Limits.
You will guess from the fact it is not just an episode of MST3K, but from observing that a 1984 movie made its way to MST3K in 8 years that maybe this was not a movie that was in high demand, perhaps due to the fact it's a low-budget mess of a movie.
Weirdly, the movie features a number of known humans, begging the question: what was happening in 1984 for each of these people?
The movie features:
- James Earl Jones
- Rae Dawn Chong (on the poster above)
- John Stockwell (the guy from Christine and Top Gun)
- Dean Devlin for some reason
- John Diehl (many things, including Miami Vice)
- and, of course, Kim Cattrall
- And Robby Benson who was in stuff I've never actually seen
It feels like the movie happened to be a way station for actors on their way up or down. I won't guess further as to whom was heading up or down, but you can do the math. It's mostly weird to watch yet another 1980's no-budget post-apocalyptic movie but you actually recognize half the cast.
Anyway - I won't even really get into what it is or is about. Because Jamie and I had to piece together what was happening in a pause-the-movie moment about 2/3rds of the way through.
This movie is now famous mostly for spawning the Kim Cattrall bit on MST3K as someone on staff (I assume Trace Beauliue) was clearly a fellow appreciator of the actor.
It does help if you've seen Mannequin. I mean, not just to appreciate the sketch, but in life in general.
Does your quest to catch the entirety of the Kim Cattrall filmography include watching every season of SatC and its 2 movies? (It crossed my mind that you have watched all of SatC)
ReplyDeleteI watched bits and pieces of SatC over the years, and accidentally watched the entire first movie in a hotel in Minneapolis. I turned it on at the start, that I took to be the finish, and kept waiting for it to be over, and then I just gave up and watched the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteI have heard very bad things about the second film. I am not surprised Cattrall bounced.
SatC is categorically "not for me", but it's fine. But, let's be honest, the best parts were all Cattrall.