YVSS #32 - Richard W. Munchkin (City Lights / PM Entertainment)

Richard W. Munchkin has taught me a lot since I first talked to him in January of this year. During that time I was beginning my quest to learn all that I possibly could about City Lights and PM Entertainment, who brought the world over 100 wacky action movies between 1985 and 2000. The story of City Lights and PM is an incredibly interesting one that I have only just begun to write about. The majority of this podcast is focused on the City Lights days, during which Joe Merhi and Rick Pepin produced a plethora of bloody action films with miniscule budgets, short scripts, and shooting schedules that only went above a week because the company was able to lie their way into more time with the needed equipment.

City Lights made 8 or 9 films in its first year of existence, and Munch was an integral part of them all. He describes his role in the City Lights days as that of production manager / art department / wardrobe department / caterer. During those days he saw many spectacular stunts, gun shots, and low budget tricks that we talk about in detail. Eventually he was even given the chance to direct a film that, in my mind and no one else’s, is an absolute classic; Dance or Die. The awesome music from that movie opens up the show. From there he crafted himself a ten-year-long career in directing that resulted in films like Ring of Fire 1 & 2, Deadly Bet, and Fists of Iron. He has since moved onto a career in professional blackjack, and has even written a book, Gambling Wizards: Conversations with the World's Greatest Gamblers.