The Creature Wasn't Nice (1983)
416A fairly obscure entry into the great Leslie Nielsen's catalogue, this film came along in 1983, after Nielsen had established a new direction for his career in comedy. Many are unaware, but for the first several decades of his acting career, Mr. Nielsen was actually the "handsome leading actor" type, taking mostly serious roles, most notably as Commander John Adams in the highly influential sci-fi classic "The Forbidden Planet". But after his successful role in the comedy hit "Airplane!" in 1980, and then the tragically short, but hilarious television series "Police Squad!" (which would later see new life as the "Naked Gun" movie series), this movie was the first comedy film that would feature him as the star.
Written, directed, and acted in (as goofy crew member "John") by the great Bruce Kimmel, this film is a low budget but hilarious spoof on the science fiction genre in general, but most especially the 1979 Ridley Scott hit "Alien". The story centers around a small space crew who go land to do a scientific survey of a planet. While there, they find a strange red alien "jelly", that the resident science officer Dr. Stark takes back to the ship for study. Over time, the goo grows, until it fully evolves into a terrifying, dripping, singing cyclops!
The film also features classic British actor Patrick Macnee (of "The Avengers" fame) as Dr. Stark, comedian actress Cindy Williams (of "Laverne and Shirley" fame) as ship psychologist Annie McHugh, and Garrit Graham as the snarky pilot Rodzinski. Rodzinski in particular, brings a fantastic string of snappy one-liners throughout the movie, including lines my child-self found irresistibly hilarious, such as "Gee I could shit a brick!".
When I first saw this as a kid, the VHS rental copy was titled "Spaceship", and after the huge success of Nielsen's "Naked Gun" movies, it would later be re-re-branded on home video as "Naked Space", to try and cash in. So it doesn't help that for a movie already terribly obscure, most people who HAVE seen it, don't even know it as it's actual, original title, "The Creature Wasn't Nice". Granted, that title is a fairly major spoiler, but I mean, when you're dealing with a spoof of "Alien" you're kinda already going to figure that out! Plus it's just a great title.
So sit back, and enjoy what I consider to be a truly funny little comedy gem, that I am glad to help reach a new and (slightly) bigger audience!
To read more about the film, go check out the accompanying article, over at the official Retro Revelations blog site!
http://retrorevelations.blogspot.com/2017/02/silver-screen-stories-creature-wasnt.html
And to read more about the great career of Leslie Nielson, here is tribute article I did on him, years ago:
http://retrorevelations.blogspot.com/2013/11/dont-call-me-shirley-tribute-to-leslie.html
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