![]() However, Sidaris takes it much further, whether he was consciously aware of it or not, to a place where the audience almost wishes for a Crisis on Infinite Earths-style denouement to make sense of the continuity between films. Part of this is simple recasting of the same actors in multiple roles across the series, which is always somewhat disorienting and amusing. The “Crisis” of the title collapsed this “Multiverse” into one reality and wiped out all others, thus theoretically simplifying the shared continuity of all the major ongoing DC series.Ĭonditioned by this concept of alternate timelines and fed by consumption of even more media with stories of alternate histories, characters existing in different dimensions, and other similar concerns, sitting down to watch the films of Andy Sidaris with careful attention (and in a short span of time instead of one per year) makes them seem very much like an episodic storyline that takes place across multiple realities. During Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was revealed that each Superman and Batman existed in his own universe. The short version: all of the different versions of DC characters all existed simultaneously in different dimensions, in whole called the “ Multiverse.” For example, there have been multiple Superman and Batman characters and storylines created throughout the history of DC Comics. In the 1980s, DC Comics decided to consolidate and simplify the continuity across all of its books in an epic storyline titled Crisis on Infinite Earths. Alternate timelines, parallel realities, and retroactive continuity are nothing new in the realm of comics. To any attentive viewer who has spent sufficient time reading comic books, the seemingly lazy continuity problems in Sidaris’s films take on a different significance. ![]() It’s also doubtful that anyone was expected to actually pay much attention to what is going on in the films, since doing so could lead to serious confusion and ridiculous film writing like, say, what you’re reading right now.ĭetail from the poster for “Malibu Express” (1985). This schedule was probably also how Sidaris expected people to watch the films -a new one once a year, with little thought given to re-watching the previous films- so continuity between series entries was likely not too high on his list of priorities. Sidaris is best known for his stretch of films running from 1985’s Malibu Express through 1993’s Fit to Kill, a series Sidaris christened “Bullets, Bombs and Babes.” Sidaris made his films for cable and international markets, and he turned out roughly one film in the series per year. They may be mostly remembered for “bullets, bombs and babes,” but watching the films more closely reveals a series of parallel realities and retroactive continuities rivaled only in comic books. Watched together, the two films feel like alternate-reality versions of the same story, and it turns out this is not the last time Sidaris would play with reality and identity over the course of his films. The two films feature identical plot lines and characters, and even share some lines of dialogue, but one film’s private detective is a race car driving Playmate ( Stacey’s Anne Randall) and the other is a goofy cowboy who can’t shoot worth a damn ( Darby Hinton as Cody Abilene in Malibu Express). But fewer may know that it’s also the plot of his 1973 film Stacey. ![]() Along the way, the detective discovers all the secrets of the family and then some, and before the story ends there’s been a helicopter chase and a fair amount of gunplay before a single photograph provides all the evidence needed to identify a murderer.Īs any Andy Sidaris fan could tell you, that’s the plot of his 1985 film Malibu Express. Her nephew is a little light in the loafers, as they say, his wife is sleeping with the houseboy, and there’s also an aloof niece with some dubious friends. See if this story sounds familiar: a private detective is hired to live in the home of a rich old woman for a few days to find out whether any of her family members are truly worthy of inheriting her estate. ![]() I have used different images and trailers, made a few corrections and updates, and added links to some of the text.) (NOTE: This piece was originally published by Fine Print in the Summer of 2011. Playboy Playmates, Penthouse Pets, and Parallel Realities: The Comic Book World of Cult Filmmaker Andy Sidaris ![]()
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