702 - The Brute Man
Air Date	February 10, 1996
AKA	The Brute
Movie Director	Jean Yarbrough
Year	1946
Cast	Rondo Hatton, Jane Adams, Tom Neal, Peter Whitney
Preceded by	701 - Night of the Blood Beast
Followed by	703 - Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell

Contents 1 The Short 1.1 Synopsis 1.2 Information 2 The Movie 2.1 Synopsis 2.2 Information 3 The Episode 3.1 Host Segments 3.2 Other Notes 3.3 Obscure References

The Short

The Chicken of Tomorrow

Synopsis

We learn what is being done today to create the Chicken of Tomorrow. With a side mention of just how gosh darn important gas stations and oil are to the poultry industry.

Information

• This short was included on Shorts Vol 1, released by Rhino Entertainment on VHS in July 1998, and on DVD in February 2003 as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 2, a 4-DVD set with Cave Dwellers, Pod People and Angels Revenge.
• The short is narrated by Lowell Thomas, the famous American journalist, traveler and radio announcer (and also the inspiration for Arthur Kennedy's character in Lawrence of Arabia).

The Movie

Synopsis

Hal Moffat (Fred Coby before disfigurement, Rondo Hatton afterwards) is taking wholesale revenge by murdering those he holds responsible for his condition (his former college buddies and a professor of chemistry) and sundry others (delivery boys, store clerks, etc.). While on the run from the cops, he's befriended by Helen Paige (Adams), a blind, utterly naive piano teacher with a one-song repertoire. He develops a warmth for her that inspires him to add robbery to his murders so she may be provided with the money for an operation to restore her sight. The authorities, led by Noel Coward and a comedy-relief police lieutenant, are assigned to apprehend him [1]

Information

Rondo Hatton, who played the monstrous "Creeper" in this film and in House of Horrors (1946), was actually handsome as a young man, but later in life became disfigured by acromegaly, a form of gigantism brought about by unnaturally high levels of human growth hormone produced by a disease of the pituitary gland. Hatton passed away before the film was released. Universal was so embarrassed by its shameless exploitation of Hatton's disfiguring illness (which led to his death) that it sold all rights to the finished film to "B" studio Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). [2]

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Tom has become heavily involved in real estate, buying a duplex in Philadelphia with his agent Sherrie. He is convinced he needs no money to actually buy one.

Segment One: Pearl is going out on a date with the oily Sandy and puts Art in charge. The rest of the SOL crew is somewhat dismayed, especially after Crow takes his power too seriously.

Segment Two: Tom is inside an egg so that he and Crow can make an educational film. Mike decides that he will miss Tom too much over his twenty-one day gestation period, and attempts to remove him from the shell; instead, he slips and Tom ends up all over the floor.

Segment Three: Mike calls his old girlfriend Carla and tries to get her to help him escape, but she puts her little boy Matthew on the phone. Then Tom makes Matthew hang up because he's expecting a call from Sherrie.

Segment Four: Crow wants Mike and Tom to help him sing "The Crimes of Tom Dooley", except they will substitute Republican presidential candidate Tom Dewey because a character in the film vaguely resembles Dewey. Mike and Tom aren't that into it.

Segment Five: Tom closes on his duplex and ends up being the worst landlord ever as Mike reads letters. In Deep 13, Dr. F turns Pearl’s date into a chicken of tomorrow.

Stinger: The crotchety grocer says, "Creeper, Creeper, Creeper! YOU give ME the creeps!"

Other Notes

Guest Stars

• Sandy: Paul Chaplin
• Carla (voice): Bridget Jones
• Matthew (voice): Paul Chaplin

Obscure References

• "Et tu, Brute Man?"

A play on Julius Caesar's legendary final words, Et tu, Brute?.

• "It's Goofus and Gallant!"

Goofus and Gallant are two characters who regularly appear in the magazine Highlights for Children.

• "I'm being followed by a brute shadow..."

A parody of the Cat Stevens song "Moon Shadow".

• "Professor Cushman was laid to rest in a tiny, battery-powered car!"

A reference to Cushman, a company that manufactures golf carts and parking-patrol vehicles.

• "Exit stage left, even!"

​A signature line from the Hanna Barbara character Snagglepuss .

• "They forgot my Fruit Brute cereal!"

Fruit Brute was a breakfast cereal made from 1975 to 1983, part of the same "Monster Series" as Count Chocula.

• "He's Big Head Todd *and* the Monster!"

A reference to the band Big Head Todd and the Monsters.

• "Hey, it's KTMA!"

​KTMA was channel 23 (UHF) in Minneapolis, birthplace of Mystery Science Theater (but you knew that already ).

• "Let's make lots of money!"

Crow is quoting the song "Opportunities" by the Pet Shop Boys.

• "It's the Cheyenne Social Club!"

The Cheyenne Social Club was a Western comedy film starring Jimmy Stewart as a man who inherits a bordello.

• "Oh great, all my Gallery mags are in here!"

Gallery is a pornographic magazine.

• "Steelies!"

"Steelies" are a type of marbles.

• As the Creeper walks down the street after murdering the jeweler, Crow hums the first few bars of the Sesame Street theme song.
• "Let me put it this way, have you ever seen 'Chained Heat'?"

Chained Heat was a 1983 exploitation film set in a women's prison.

• "Rick Astley is selling newspapers!"

Rick Astley is a British pop singer, and more recently the subject of the RickRoll Internet meme and phenomenon.

preceded by: Season 6		MST3K Season 7					followed by: Season 8
		1996
701	Night of the Blood Beast (Turkey Day)	1996-02-03	703	Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell	1996-02-17	705	Escape 2000	1996-03-02
702	The Brute Man	1996-02-10	704	The Incredible Melting Man	1996-02-24	706	Laserblast	1996-05-18