Fur Cryin’ Out Loud- It’s “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf”-Tonight!

Sometimes father knows best- but, do we celebrate Father's Day when father knows beast- as in, transforming into one? Tonight on MeTV, a divorced couple's attempts to co-exist could be derailed  when it's the hubby who gets the fur coat-and their son can't get anyone to believe that his encounters with werewolves  aren't just a cry for attention– in “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf”!

This 1973 film starts out with some father-son festivities-  divorced dad Robert and his son Richie head for a "boys only" weekend at the family cabin in the mountains. A moonlight stroll turns into a walk on the wild and woolly side when they are jumped by what appears to be- a werewolf! Dad  fights to protect Richie, only to get  bitten while struggling with the attacker, who ends up dead. A closer look at the deceased confuses the two- he appears to be totally  human! When questioned,  Richie describes the vicious battle in detail, not sparing the fact that the adversary was a werewolf- only to be met with patronizing words from the disbelieving authorities.

After a while, Richie's mom,  Sandy, is concerned about him not admitting the werewolf story is just a fabrication. Her concern leads her to bring Richie to a psychiatrist who surmises that Richie has actually convinced himself that the wolf man story is true as a way to justify that his father had to kill a man, even if  in self-defense.This flea-brained Dr. Phil fill-in comes up with  a "hair of the dog (or wolf)" type solution- why not have dad take Richie back to the cabin again?! He thinks if the boy sees that everything is perfectly normal in those surroundings, he'll forget the "stories" and  return  to reality.

And so-they return to the cabin- during - wait for it- another cycle of the full moon! So much for the reality trip- Robert again transforms into a wolf man.  When Richie spots the man-beast, he flees from the cabin area- ending up barging into the romantic camping trip of a young couple in a motor home. They take him in for the night (so much for romance)- but aren't on board with his werewolf tale either. Richie ends up back with dad at the cabin-  but things get more sinister, as new victims of some savage beast are discovered- and- even worse-Richie discovers that his own father is now a werewolf!  Soon, Mom gets involved, along with a religious cult of hippies- all in danger during the full moon cycle.Will Richie be able to convince someone that there really IS a werewolf on the prowl-  before the creature claims more victims- including his family members?

This is another film we get asked to show all the time- people are fascinated by the unusual werewolf make-up used on Kerwin (not Berwyn) Matthews, which actually helped him decide to get out of movies! We’ll tell you about him and the rest of the cast, and show you part of an original  "Star Wars"-themed open we did for this show years ago- and years before we knew that Mark Hamill was a fan of our program.

"The Boy Who Cried Werewolf" rises, like the full moon, tonight at 10 pm eastern/pacific, 9 central, or check time and channel in your local listings or at www.metv.com . Don't forget that MeTV is saluting the late great Adam West all Saturday, with many shows that he appeared in, both during the day, and again late night, with, of course, "Batman" right after our show (the very first episodes of the 1966 show) and  even "The Outer Limits". (For all those who have asked if we can bring back the 1966 "Batman" movie we have previously shown- sadly, the rights are not available to us.) Our Chicago area viewers can take another look at "The Mummy's Tomb" this morning at 11 am on WCIU, the U.

Thanks for the congrats on the anniversary of my first hitting the airwaves. yeah, been at this for a long time...and, yeah, it has been worth it. Thanks for  helping me get this far!

Join us for  pre-Father's Day  furry fright tonight! (Should Richie just get his dad  the gift of hair care items- or a flea collar?)