The difficulties of decision making are up next, with "Right Or Wrong (Making Moral Decisions)" (1951), one of the many “What would you do?” shorts that filmmakers couldn’t be bothered filming an ending for; followed by the mind-numbing "Drugs Are Like That" (1979) — the one short ever to warn us that doing anything and everything is just like developing a deadly addiction to drugs (complete with early synth sounds and trippy visuals that probably did more harm than good) and narrated by a washed-up Anita Bryant (who, oddly enough, didn’t compare drug use to homosexuality — she was probably fearful of another pie in the face).
"The Trouble With Women" (1959) delves deep into the waters of gender bias in the workplace (which is fine with me since women always get promoted before I do anyway) but, unfortunately, never actually tells you what their problem is, and instead only suggests that we treat them courteously and stuff. Bah! "It Must Be The Neighbors" (1966) finds a family man in the middle of a decade-long pissing war with his sloppy neighbor who gets caught with egg on his face when the Health Department says his old trash can with the bottom eaten away is not kosher and sends an informative, no-nonsense employee out to instill an extreme form of mysophobia into the neighborhood kids, turning them all into little Adrian Monks.
The last short here, "Shake Hands With Danger" (1980), was not only one of the final educational shorts from the great Centron Corporation, but is also the only *exclusive* piece in the whole of this RiffTrax collection that has never been available online. In it, all sorts of OSHA dropouts get killed or maimed around big machinery as a charming Johnny Cash-like theme song plays. To this day, this Herk Harvey directed short is still used in many training programs. This unreleased RiffTrax version contains some CGI versions of our three riffers as they sit and watch the short on a screen (Mike is seen as himself while Bill is an inflatable parrot and Kevin as a tub of popcorn — you can pretty much figure out why this one wasn’t released online).
While some of these shorts really don’t make for the best riff fodder, the gang keeps these shattered little gems glued together quite well and this volume is a great way for MST3K fans to rekindle the romance of tearing open one’s shorts (no, wait, that didn’t come out right). Rating: C+
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Snorticle! I too miss MST3K, and I hadn't realized RiffTrax had covered so many films. Nice work.
I downloaded their audio-only RiffTrax for The Matrix, and I've been sold ever since. Funny, funny stuff.
2 - Luigi Bastardo
Thanks, Phillip. I haven't heard the RiffTrax for The Matrix yet...I can't bring myself to watch that movie again. I did manage to check out their commentary for Twilight a few weeks ago and that movie most assuredly had it coming.
3 - Zack
They recently riffed the sparkly vampire movie Twilight... it's the best they've done thus far, I think.
4 - Luigi Bastardo
My significant other was rather obsessed with Twilight a while back (poor thing) so I jumped at that RiffTrax just to break the monotony if nothing else. The "Benny Hill" moment was wonderful.
5 - Corn Job
I also think that their treatment of the dreadful movie The Happening is extremely funny, and very well deserved. That movie is so incredibly awful that I was already laughing constantly when I originally watched it on it's own, and I knew right away that it would make for an excellent Rifftrax.