February 20, 1995
UPI
The Hitler Tapes
Phone sex employee Karen Zaczkowski demonstrates why all us pathetic losers are better off letting our fingers do the walking, in "The Hitler Tapes," the tragic sequel to "Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend."
By Joe Bob Briggs
Drive-In Movie Critic of Grapevine, Texas
The sequel is finally here to 'Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend.' Remember the great Denver cult film starring Andren Scott as the loser who spends his entire life's savings on hookers in less than two weeks? One of the greatest independent comedies ever made.
And now part two is finally here--with hot bikini babe Karen Zaczkowski wandering around a suburban Kansas town, listening to tapes and watching videos of her former phone-sex client, 'Marcus Templeton.' Marcus has become so depraved that hookers turn down his business, and all he wants to do is sit around in his underwear, 'eating meat snacks and dessert items,' trying out new hair-growth systems, and paying women to let him videotape them in the shower. One after another, the working girls tell him how pathetic he is and walk out of his life, but the Marcus we know still manages to hold out hope in the end. Someday he'll be able to whine or beg enough to get a beautiful woman to like him.
A winner. A really really strange one. But a winner.
Seventeen breasts. Back-shaving. Drooling. Gratuitous bust-development ads. Drive-In Academy Award nominations for Becky Van Lewen, as a book-reading bathtub-loving babe who gets sick of Marcus' peeping through the window; Monica McFarland, as an experienced hooker so confused by Marcus that she doesn't which act to use; Jeannette Feher, as the showering fraulein who says 'Your bare torso was most unattractive'; Christie Cass, as the hooker who waits in bed while Marcus swallows 'Insta-Vigor' tablets, for saying 'Why me?'; Cindy Radiff, as the nekkid bodybuilder; Jean Wolf, as the blind date who serves home cooking, for saying 'Enough with the breasts! I'll kill you!'; the enormously talented Karen Pombo, an exhibitionist who strips for Marcus while telling him how pitiful he is; Karen Zaczkowski, as the bored phone-sex girl who tells him 'You remind me of a serial killer' and 'I'm in no mood to have my breasts pawed at'; and Andren Scott, the ultimate dweeb whose life can fall apart when 'Cable X' is pre-empted for 'Cartoon Junction' for saying, 'Yes, Mr. Mendick. No, I didn't come in for work. See, I was shot in the head recently by a call girl. Yes, I'm feeling much better. I'm fired? Okay, thank you very much.'
Four stars. Joe Bob says check it out.
May 29, 1995
The Joe Bob Report
Even Hitler Had a Sequel
Halfway through shooting, Andren Scott walked into a convenience store and was murdered during a robbery. Director Ronnie Cramer, who was a childhood friend of Scott, was so upset he scrapped the film entirely. Then friends convinced him to edit what he had as a tribute to his dead buddy.
So what we end up with is one of those strangely fascinating items that can only turn up in the B movie world - a flick that's not really a complete film, but is hard to take your eyes off of, in part because of the bizarre death of the star.
Ronnie has taken the footage and put a weird European artsy-fartsy spin on it, with hot bikini babe Karen Zaczkowski wandering around a suburban Kansas town, listening to tapes and watching videos of her former phone-sex client, 'Marcus Templeton.'
Marcus has become so depraved that hookers turn down his business, and all he wants to do is sit around in his underwear, 'eating meat snacks and dessert items,' trying out new hair-growth systems, and paying women to let him videotape them in the shower. One after another, working girls tell him how pathetic he is and walk out of his life, but the Marcus we know still manages to hold out hope in the end. Someday he'll be able to whine or beg enough to get a beautiful woman to like him.
Not much of a plot, but who needs one? The gaps are filled in with strangely appropriate music videos by Ronnie's band, Alarming Trends.
June 21, 1995
Starflight Sound Studio
1175 S. Lincoln, Denver, CO
Mixing session for 'The Lost Tape':
Engineers: Ronnie Cramer, Lonnie Ray, Scott Renick
August 21, 1995
Starflight Sound Studio
1175 S. Lincoln, Denver, CO
Mixing session for 'The Lost Tape':
Engineers: Ronnie Cramer, Lonnie Ray, Scott Renick
September 1995
Score
Hitler Tapes star Karen Pombo gives you an eyeful of her zeppelins in this cult favorite!
One of the biggest 'cult' movies of the new wave is Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend, an unusual title even by exploitation standards. It's success led to a sequel, The Hitler Tapes, and a comic book adaptation by director Ronnie Cramer.
In Even Hitler, Andren Scott plays security guard Marcus Templeton, a junk-food eating, depressed peeping tom. A flop with women, he uselessly wipes out his bank account on a parade of phone-sex teasers and rough-trade call girls in two weeks.
Secretly recording his encounters, he plays the tapes when he's alone. 'Maybe I'm dwelling on breasts all the time,' Marcus moans before he's shot by a hooker angered by his hidden camcorder.
The movie is both very funny and relentlessly downbeat. Cramer cast his prick-teasing, abuse-flinging actresses well - especially super-stacked Karen Pombo in a brief but eye-popping scene - and Scott is damned near perfect as Marcus. Surviving the bullets but still a hopeless case, Marcus continues his unrewarding sexcapades in The Hitler Tapes. New twists are added and most of the actresses from the first film return, including Karen Pombo. ('Look at them Marcus. Look how big they are. You're very lucky I'm showing them to you.')
There's a touch of Russ Meyer when Pombo rubs her huge breasts with a Luger, mouthing the barrel. According to Cramer, 'Karen has a real following because of her performances. Just remember that the part she plays is nothing like her real personality!' The advertising for both films captures that sleazy flavor of the poster artwork from exploitation's heyday in the '60s. Tragically, Scott was killed by robber in real life before the filming was completed. Cramer, a close friend of the actor, finished Hitler Tapes during post-production and dedicated the film to his memory. - Elliot James
September 4, 1995
NCSA Mosaic
What's New: September 1995
Joyce Wankable Electronic Publishing
Winston-Salem, NC, US
The second issue of this NC-based Webzine features interviews with indie filmmaker Ronnie Cramer, Chapel Hill band Southern Culture on the Skids, plus a page dedicated to Conan O'Brien, and much more.
August 21, 1995
Joe Bob Goes to the Movies
Syndicated
Greetings Joe Bob,
I just had to write and thank you for your encouraging words about "Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend." Even my wife Sarah (who hated the film) felt compelled to give it another chance after reading your column. (Now that I think about it, maybe she's just bitter because I cast her as the ill-tempered call girl who kills Marcus Templeton at the end of the movie.)
Thanks again and best wishes always.
Sincerely,
Ronnie Cramer
Scorched Earth Productions
Dear Ronnie:
Are you telling me your wife does NOT put "Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend" on her resume?
December 1995
Flashback News Agency
Broken Minds Har Bytt Adress!!!
Filmfanzinet Broken Minds har nyligen bytt adress. Den nya adressen �r:
Ystarv�gen 57B, 906 25 Ume�. E-mail: roroln95@student.umu.se. Broken Minds
#8 �r ute i slutet av februari och kommer bl.a. att inneh�lla: Laura
Gemser, intervju med Ronnie Cramer (EVEN HITLER HAD A GIRLFRIEND), intervju
med Todd Tjersland (SEX, SHOCKS & SADISM), intervju med Matt Jaissle
(LEGION OF THE NIGHT), spaghettiwestern, Herschell Gordon Lewis,
recensioner och mycket mer. (sweden)