MST3K: Episode 619 - Red Zone Cuba

I'm watching all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes in order. More about that here and here.

Episode 619: Red Zone Cuba

First aired: Comedy Central on 17 December 1994
Availability: iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon DVD (Rhino), Amazon DVD (Shout!), Rhino (Solo DVD/out of print), Shout (Solo DVD), Best Brains

Night Train to Mundo Fine

Two words that will bring fear into the hearts of men: Coleman Francis.

Well, maybe not fear. Unless you're trapped on a spaceship with robots and are the subject of a mad experiment. In that case, you should find a box of hamdingers and make your escape.

Unfortunately for Mike on the Satellite of Love, Joel had already used the escape pod in the box of hamdingers, so he had to watch another Coleman Francis film.

Remember Episode 609: The Skydivers? That was probably the best of the three films Coleman Francis wrote and directed. This one might have been the worst, although in a few days, we'll get to find out for sure.

The entire Bay of Pigs invasion force storms the beach at midnight.

Either way, it has all the hallmarks of a Coleman Francis film.

Airplanes? Check.

Parachutes? Check.

Coffee? Check.

Cigarettes? Check.

Gunning down the villain? Check.

Really lame acting? Check.

Really bad production quality? Check.

Continuity non-existent? Check.

"He ran all the way to hell ... with a penny and a broken cigarette"

Yes, it's another wonderful trip into the mind and talents of Coleman Francis.

Did I say wonderful? Yeah, that's not the word.

However, the rules say that the Mad Scientist sends a really bad movie to the subject of the experiment, so a Coleman Francis movie it is.

Coleman Francis escapes prison and hooks up with a couple of ex-cons who find their way to Cherokee Jack who takes them to the group planning the Bay of Pigs invasion, but they aren't paid like they expect, so they try to escape but are captured and force to participate with the entire invasion force of less than a dozen, but get captured by the Cubans, but escape and fly to Florida where they dump an old man down a well and look up a fellow prisoner's wife, but they get captured at the end, except for Coleman Francis who is shot dead, so the viewers live happily ever after. The end.

How to improve your speech.

The short film -- did I mention there's a short film? It's a Coleman Francis film, and they aren't that long. So, a two-hour episode of MST3K needs to run two hours, and that sometimes means a short film.

Remember the short film in Episode 313: Earth vs the Spider? Well, this is another in the Speech series. No lip and tongue action in this one though.

Although the lower body movements are said to help your speech.

Wait. Lower body movements? Lots of lip and tongue action? Speech can be more exciting than one might think.

Anyway, the episode. Bad film. Odd short. Fun riffing.

It's a winner.

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