Mad Fan Letters

Here's Mad's version of perennial Sunday Afternoon war flick Where Eagles Dare, which is always fun when it's on. It's by Larry Seigel & Angelo Torres, and is spot on as always. But stay tuned till the end credits for a surprise, and the real reason it's being posted today.

The real reason for posting this, is this fan letter that appeared a couple of issues later, from ol' squinty eyes himself, which is rather cool. I also like the fact that Clint is so old school Hollywood, he refers to a movie as a 'picture'. Let's bring that phrase back.
The 'Warriors' movie Clint refers to, by the way, isn't THE Warriors, but Kelly's Heroes, which he starred in and Brian Hutton directed.

In actual fact, Clint became a semi-regular correspondent:

So did any other celebs take it on the chin, and write into Mad? You betcha. Sure, 99.9 % of these are probably just posed photos ( including Eastwood's ) and The Usual Gang Of Idiots have made up letters to go along with them, but I like to think at least a couple are genuine. They're great pictures anyway:

You say you're not much of a reader, Jon? Mad's perfect for you, then.

Wally Wood's MAD Comic Opera

Hanno's been on ( as Mark & Lard used to say ), with a request. Nefarious Neil Hansen would like to see Frank Jacob & Wally Wood's comic opera from the July 1960 issue of Mad.
Well, I need as little excuse to post stuff by Woody as you do to read it, so let's join Dick Tracy & Tarzan ( alongside just about every other newspaper strip character of the time ) in the Ape Man's search for love. You're gonna want to pore over every panel.

Mad Movie Cops

In the '70's urban paranoia had reached such a height, that the old white hatted heroes were no longer seen as relevant. And Hollywood answered with a new breed of movie cop, the kind that trampled all over criminal's rights as well as their spines.
These were heroes who were barely one step removed from their enemies, but as borderline psychotic fascist Dirty Harry and bigoted asshole Popeye Doyle rampaged through the streets, cleaning up the scum, we loved 'em. And they directly inspired every single action hero since, with the attraction that the viewer was at least vaguely challenged into whether these were the kind of screen heroes we wanted, or deserved.

Mad meanwhile, wasn't interested in all this socio-political nonsense. Here's Dirty Larry and What's The Connection?

Mad Revisionist Westerns

Love the revisionist westerns of the '70's, me. After years of boring old John Wayne on every Sunday afternoon, we suddenly got exciting, 'Now' westerns like Little Big Man, Jeremiah Johnson, Soldier Blue, High Plains Drifter and the one us kids were safely allowed to watch, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. 
Remember the end of term, where instead of lessons, we got to watch a film in the assembly hall before breaking up for summer holidays? It was always Butch & Sundance at our school.

Mad only got round to doing a couple of those, sadly, so no Jerkymiah Lonesome or Sobber Boo Hoo, but we did get Botch Casually & The Somedunce Kid:

And Dustbin Coughman in Little Dull Man: