A Working Actor: Roddy McDowall (Screen Drafts Home Version 22)

For my Draft, I chose to do our first actor draft. I chose it because I wanted an excuse to watch The Martian Chronicles months after our Ray Bradbury Draft. And I could have gone with Rock Hudson, Bernie Casey or Roddy McDowall. I decided on Roddy because it was pride month, but his career was so vast, that I tried to focus on the least obvious picks. I chose films from every period of his life and did not avoid cameos (of which he did many), television or cartoon work. We each got four choices and since there are seventeen total options I allowed to be played, the film not picked in placement two is the number one film.  Placements were based on who had the best hand during a game of 5 card stud. I also put in a half veto that went to two players. It could only be used if both agreed. Other than that, all but the top spot had two vetoes and one override. The A position had only one veto. The day after we played the music video game and I announced my game, I found a new Roddy McDowall biography at Barnes and Noble. Kismet. We (Vanessa, Nick, Scott and I) played the game at an English pub. Nick's friend Jessie joined us.

 17.  The Martian Chronicles (1979) 

This was my absolute favorite thing I watched. I thought the ending very much mirrored Rock Hudson's stand at the end of Giant, and that is why he was perfect casting. Roddy, giving great side eye, is good in this as the bemused Father Stone, his section relates how religion squares with the martian invasion, and for me it is very interesting. No one else found this interesting. Bradbury himself declared it boring. Scott played it I vetoed and Nick overrode.

16. Everybody's Dancin' (1950)

Nick played this at next to last because Roddy only has a walk-on bit as himself. This is a weird lets put on a show picture that my wife felt uneasy about because the main singer, Spade Cooley, the king of swing, murdered his wife irl. That aside the movie isn't terrible. There is a character called the chicken lady that we all found amusing.

15. Scavenger Hunt (1979) 

I played Scavenger Hunt which has an all star cast and is a take on Mad Mad Mad Mad World. I just did not laugh. Roddy plays a butler who is part of a scavenger hunt to win an inheritance. Nick did find some humor and threw out a veto. It was overridden by Scott.

14. Laser Blast (1978)

Vanessa tried to play Class of 1984 here, but Scott threw out a veto. She then chose Laser Blast. This was a mondo film some of us saw in a theater and damn near fell asleep. All agreed that the effects were fun. Roddy's cameo as a doctor contributed nothing, and there was no real high points in this film.

13. It! (1967) 

Scott first played Roddy's only directorial effort Tam Lin, but I used my last veto. So he picked It! This is the first Roddy lead performance played. He's a bit stiff here, and we all found the film tonally confusing.

12. Fright Night 2 (1988) 

This might be a controversial choice, but Nick played this because he found it lesser than the first and didn't even like the first all that much. Vanessa and Scott were surprised, but Nick argued that Roddy was not all that heroic and did not have enough do. Scott vetoed, and I overrode because I never quite bought Charlie with his gf.

11. Angel 4: Undercover (1994) 

I played Angel 4 here. I love the Angel series. Nick revealed that he has no interest in seeing the others, but this is the least of them. It's ranked this high because Roddy is a great villain in this, all agreed.

10. Class of 1984 (1982)

Vanessa hated this movie. She found Perry King charmless. She also found the choices his character makes to be wholly unbelievable. It was vetoed at first because some great Troma-level scenes are in this with the students. And Roddy is good as a science teacher, and Michael J Fox is great.

09. Tam Lin (1970) 

From all these games we have played, Tam Lin might be the movie I liked least that I used a veto on. I did not want Roddy's only directorial effort to be at the bottom. I did find one truly interesting scene between the male lead and his eventual love interest. That meeting has such strange energy. The rest of the film could be called boring and tonally confusing.

08. Double Trouble (1992) 

I fucking loved the Barbarian Brothers growing up. There is one good actor in the duo and one bad. Three of us agreed on this. Nick, the one who liked the one in the Raiders sweater played Double Trouble here. No one thinks this is a masterwork, but Roddy's villain work in this is certainly masterful. 

07.  The Pirates of Dark Water "Pilot" (1991)  

I played this cartoon pilot after Nick and Vanessa put there half vetoes together to move up Roddy's episode of Night Gallery. Dark Waters is a fun surprise. We all agreed if we found it as children (and Scott did) we would have been regular viewers.

06. Five Card Stud (1968) 

The film that inspired how we chose placement was chosen by Vanessa here. And it is a little low. This is a good film with a very good Roddy performance and a great Robert Mitchum performance. There are some surprises so I won't give anything away but well worth watching. 

05. Man Hunt (1941) 

Scott played Man Hunt here. This is Roddy's only child performance in this draft. He plays a young man who helps a fugitive to avoid getting caught. This fugitive was seeing if he had the ability to kill Adolph Hitler. He could have taken a shot at him, but only wanted to see if it was possible so didn't take the shot. The Germans find out about him and go on a man hunt. Some of the ambiguity was frustrated and the female lead never quite worked.

04. The Snoop Sisters "A Black Day for Blue Beard" (1974)

Nick played this after Vanessa vetoed his playing of The Legend of Hell House. We all had praise for this show starring screen legend Helen Hayes. This episode featured Roddy as the killer and Vincent Price as an aging horror star accused. It has good laughs, and was no doubt the prototype for Murder She Wrote.

03. Night Gallery (1969) "The Cemetery"

Here I played Night Gallery. I loved Roddy's turn as the bratty nephew that kills his sick uncle for an inheritance. And I loved Ossie Davis as the put upon butler. I just felt it had one twist to many to be effective. I think some of the players could have had this at number one.

02. Arnold (1973) played by V

At two, Vanessa played Arnold. It's kind of a proto Saw because a dead man dictates how his family's life is going to go with cassette tapes that are played from a tape player on his coffin. Roddy has the weirdest death. His clothing is rigged to tighten until he blows up basically. This movie, we all agreed, has cult film written all over it. It is funny, weirdly sexy and great.

01. The Legend of Hell House (1973) 

The dinner sequence in this, group of people in a haunted house, film is next level in terms of effects, especially for the era. Roddy plays the one member of the investigators who had been to the house prior and survived. This is a weird, psycho sexual classic that should be talked about more.

Game 21 (the music videos draft) will be written up soon, and game 23 will be played in a few days (Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Final Destination).