Impulse DVD with William Shatner, Ruth Roman and Jennifer Bishop (NR) +Movie Reviews

A Delightfully Bad Piece of 1970s Sleaze With The Shat-Man!!

Vladdy Trout | Florida, USA | 02/21/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Hello fans of 1970s sleaze. This masterpiece stars Bill Shatner as a sleazy, cheesy, con man that hits on the older ladies and takes their money. From the Shat's rotten hairpiece down to the Boeing 747 wingpan collars on those happenin' shirts, this movie is awseome...lee bad!! There is an "ick" factor in this movie that you really can't shake off. The whole movie looks like it was filmed using the old family Super 8 film camera. I wanted to spray my eyes with Lysol when it was over!! I could not look away...I had...to...watch this movie...You cannot... deny...the IMPUSLE!! (Cool belly dancer in the opening credits.)"

LIKE A HERPES SIMPLEX THIS MOVIE JUST WON'T GO AWAY

John Gibson | San Diego, CA United States | 01/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A movie that ranks highly on my list of things never to be found dead in a ditch with. It's sublimely awful and mesmerizing at the same time."

The film Shatner would rather not have you know about...and

Kenneth M. Pizzi | San Mateo, CA United States | 01/20/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The early 70's were lean times for Bill Shatner and now just a distant memory for the award-winning actor who has now trumped another success as Danny Crane on the popular series "Boston Legal." With "Star Trek" cancelled in 1969, it's five year voyage conveniently trimmed to only three courtesy of NBC, Shatner was out of work, his (first) marriage was on the rocks, and clearly, the actor who is now so identified with the role of Captain Kirk, needed to expand his acting chops.

This film, and perhaps the obscure and eerie "Incubus" (1966), and filmed in the language of Esperanto, are the two oddest films Shatner had ever acted in.

Outside of infrequent guest starring roles on popular TV dramas like "Columbo" and the "Six Million Dollar Man," "Impulse" is a textbook example to all would-be actors that although your aspirations may climb to O'Neill on the Broadway stage, we all have to eat, and sometimes, we have to take what we can get.

This brings us to this Florida-made cheapie about a emotionally disturbed, leisure-suited conman/gigolo named Matt Stone who, posing as an "investment broker" seduces lonely women, bilks them for their savings, and then kills them. When he begins to date an attractive widow, her daughter, Tina, begins to suspect Matt's motives.

Fans of Shatner will find the film a howl--his overacting and facial expressions notwithstanding, much less the hilarious 70's fashions Shatner finds himself wearing--acres of polyester and and shirts with collars that entertain the proportions of a wing on a Boeing 747! Directed by William Grefe, it has all the makings of a lackluster made-for-tv melodrama. The director should get some points, however, for the ironic twist effectively linking together the "accidental" murder at beginning of the movie (shot in sepia) and Matt's demise at the end of the film.

Be warned: the transfer to DVD is very poor especially when viewed on anything more than a 40 inch plasma or LCD television. Ruth Roman, a popular b-actress from the 40's and 50's, (She was Farley Granger's love lover in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train") also stars in the film as well as Harold Sakata (Oddjob from 007's "Goldfinger") and Shatner's second wife to be, Marcy Lafferty, in a minor role as a hotel desk clerk Matt has an affair with."

Shat attack!

Jason Kirkfield | Rocky Mountain High | 09/15/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"So is Shatner really that bad? Yes and No. In other words, it's not all his fault. With the exception of Ruth Roman, the supporting cast are rubbish. Even worse is the production itself. They must have blown their budget on Shatner's wardrobe! LOL The nighttime shots (in full daylight) were particularly embarrassing. It's almost so bad it's good. Except it's not. It's just bad.

Nor does the title help. Impulse? The impulse to dress like a pimp and sell fraudulent stocks? But the alternate titles ("I Love to Kill" and "Want a Ride, Little Girl?") are no better. Even the title credits suck.

Have you seen Director William Grefe's film history at IMDB? just yikes.

So if you can appreciate the kind of role Shatner was born to play (the good, the bad, and the ugly!), then try to get a copy of Impulse. Or if you're a fan of low budget horror films, then you'd probably enjoy it, too. Otherwise don't bother.

As for the disc itslf, it's as cut-rate as the movie. No menu! Just pop it in your DVD player and the movie starts to play. Reminds me of the good old days of VCRs. My disc is the Braun Media release (2006). For some reason amazon is listing this with an incept date of 1975, but Impulse actually came out a year earlier. Nor is it clear why the other one here (the Tango Entertainment release) has a different run time: 90 vs. 82 minutes.

I'm giving it 2 stars because it stands as a beacon of mid-70s sleaze. I feel like to need to take a shower even after talking about the movie!
"

William Shatner Plus William Grefe Equals A Suave And Psycho

Robert I. Hedges | 05/13/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"William Grefe is known for cheap and ridiculous action-horror movies (e.g. "Death Curse of Tartu") while William Shatner is known for being, well, Captain Kirk. It was produced by Socrates Ballis, who is probably best known for his acting on "MacGyver." This post-"Star Trek" psychological thriller stars Shatner at his hammiest as Matt Stone, a suave con man, who jumps from woman to woman, killing them when he's finished extracting all the money he can from them. The film opens in 1945 in black and white with a young Matt killing his mother's assailant with a saber before the ridiculously cheesy title card is even shown.

The film jumps to 1974 with Shatner enjoying a belly dancer, much to the annoyance of his soon-to-be-late flame ("Nobody's 'just friends' with a belly dancer!") Shatner starts the film chewing the scenery, and it only goes downhill from there. The dialogue the actors were given didn't give them a lot to work with, I grant you. I was especially amused by the exchange Shatner has with his then-wife Marcy Lafferty as a hotel clerk-trollop: "Your buzzer's ringing....You better believe it is." I gave the film two stars, one of which is for Shatner's extensive polyester wardrobe. I have never seen leisure suits this gaudy anywhere (not even on Herb Tarlek,) and the striped tank top with red pants combination clearly must have been from a distant galaxy.

Before long Stone is trying to get money from a nutty old woman, Julia Marstow (played by Ruth Roman, who was best known for having been on the "Andrea Doria" when it sank,) and her attractive younger friend Ann Moy (Jennifer Bishop.) Unfortunately for Stone, Moy comes with a horrible daughter, Tina (Kim Nicholas) who goes to talk to her father's grave daily and distrusts Stone. I honestly couldn't decide which character was more unlikable: Stone or Tina. Of course Stone is mixed up with some unsavory criminals and is chronically indebted, hence his need for swindling. The only one we meet is a very strange Asian man, "Karate Pete" (Harold "Oddjob" Sakata) who wants in on the current scam. Stone doesn't want to share, so he arranges to meet him at a car wash where Pete shows up in a Winnebago emblazoned with a huge sign that says "Karate Pete" on the side for some reason. Nothing like maintaining a low profile when you are a vicious criminal. Unfortunately for Pete, Stone arranges a surprise hanging in what would be one of the most impossible to pull off subplots in B-movie history. Pete has a knife handy and cuts himself down, which leads to a long and silly fight with Stone. That, in turn, leads to the second star in my rating for one of the most ludicrous chase scenes in film history. Stone gets in his car and chases Pete through an operating car wash before running him over with his newly waxed car. Now I'm no expert, but I'm fairly certain that a man on foot can get through a car wash a lot faster than a car can, but I guess then we wouldn't get to see Stone run over Pete. Twice. (Once in reverse.)

Unfortunately for Stone, junior sleuth Tina has been tailing him by riding unnoticed in the back seat. When he finds out he goes nuts, though Tina never contacts the police. Nobody believes Tina's story anyway because of her predisposition to jealousy, but her story is borne out when Stone duels with Julia using guns and daggers, crashes a funeral, tries to drown Ann in an aquarium (!) and is finally gored to death by a saber by none other than his arch-nemesis, Tina. Oh, the irony.

The film is just jaw-dropping. It isn't scary, the acting is bottom-of-the-barrel (Roman acquits herself best,) the photography is poor (the day-for-night shots are abundant and terrible: Ed Wood would be ashamed,) and the transfer is not great either. Still, for a hilarious look at one of Shatner's most over-the-top performances and some of the worst clothes you will ever see anywhere, "Impulse" is a guilty pleasure for fans of camp classics."

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	Impulse Actors: William Shatner, Ruth Roman and Jennifer Bishop Genres: Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Suspense NR 2006 1hr 30min A paranoid leisure-suit wearing common gigolo named Matt Stone seduces lonely women, bilks them of their savings via an investment scam, then murders them.
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