This is the infamous French TV clip when Whitney Houston appeared with the legendary (and whiskey soaked) French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg on a talk show. Gainsbourg drunkenly … but clearly … describes what he wants to do with Whitney … in English. Whitney actually handled herself quite well, considering. Definitely one of the creepiest … and funniest … TV moments ever!
A song R.E.M. composed for Milos Forman’s Andy Kaufman-biopic “Man on the Moon” in 1999. A beautiful song about death and dying. 14 years later, it still packs quite the emotional punch without being sappy or melodramatic.
As you know, I’m still catching up on great music made since the time my kids were born and I went into new music hibernation. This immensely cool song is a raw, nasty, lo-fi rocker by Primal Scream. From the 2006 album, “Riot City Blues.”
To say that these are my two favorite Doors songs seems obvious given the name of this here blog/website. But these short, sweet, and infinitely weird / complex Doors songs sum up what’s best about Jim Morrison’s legendary band without the girth that makes many mortals fall asleep.
Both are from the Doors’ 2nd album “Strange Days” released in 1967. “Strange Days” was also the title of my favorite Kathryn Bigelow film, which I discussed earlier on Dave’s Strange World.
People Are Strange:
Strange Days:
This is one of my favorite Jonathan Richman songs, dedicated to my favorite civil servant … my lovely and hard-working wife.
Z Channel was a Los Angeles-based cable-TV movie channel that was active during the 1970s and 1980s. What made Z Channel different from HBO, Showtime, and other popular movie channels at the time was their eclectic programming and willingness to show films no one else was showing on television, cable or otherwise. The programmer, a man by the name of Jerry Harvey, was a hardcore cinephile and was diligent about tracking down the most obscure cinematic gems. His intelligence, intensity, and diligence impressed (and sometimes annoyed) a lot of filmmakers, studio executives, and other creative types in Hollywood.
Z Channel was incredibly popular with the creative community in Hollywood. Harvey was so well-respected, he was able to get the rights to show Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” during the 1977 Oscar season (while it was still in many theaters) which arguably led to its multiple Oscar nominations and wins. He also championed Oliver Stone’s “Salvador,” which also led to its critical resurgence and subsequent Oscar nominations in 1986. However, Harvey’s most important legacy was the promotion of the so-called “director’s cut” and “letterboxing,” which preserved the widescreen composition of films for viewing on non-widescreen TVs. In 1983, he showed the original director’s cut version of Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate,” a film many considered a notorious flop, but a film that Harvey felt was a great film undermined by studio tinkering and the director’s own insecurity after the original director’s cut was severely criticized. This led to premiering Bernardo Bertolucci’s 5 1/2 hour European (and in America, X-rated) director’s cut of his classic “1900,” as well as the European cut of Luchino Visconti’s masterpiece “The Leopard.”
Despite the professional respect he won by many in the creative community, Harvey was a very, very troubled man. He eventually shot and killed his second wife, before committing suicide in 1988.
“Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession” is a great documentary not only about Z Channel and the early days of cable TV, but of Harvey himself. It was directed by John Cassevetes’ daughter Alexandra Cassevetes and contains interviews with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Altman, Paul Verhoeven, Vilmos Zsigmond, Henry Jaglom, Jacqueline Bisset, Alexander Payne, Jim Jarmusch, Theresa Russell, James Woods, Penelope Spheeris and many, many other directors, screenwriters, and actors who testify about the importance and influence of Z Channel.
While a lot of it is sad, the documentary is an orgy for film buffs, with lots of great clips and interviews. This is one of my desert island films.
“Ordinary People” winning the Best Picture Oscar over “Raging Bull” in 1980 is considered one of the biggest cinematic crimes of all time by many. I’m not one of those people. “Raging Bull” is, indeed, the better film, but “Ordinary People” is a really good movie and much better than its reputation would have you believe. (Funny, but no one complains that “Coal Miner’s Daughter” got robbed that year … which is one of THE best biopics of all time … but I digress).
“Ordinary People” is often dismissed as the type of middlebrow melodrama that philistines give points to because it displays such “good taste.” That’s not entirely unfair, but “Ordinary People” has a lot of virtues. It contains a great script by Alvin Sargent, admirable (albeit non-flashy) directing by Redford, and best of all, solid acting performances by Donald Sutherland (arguably his best performance … and one that is severely underrated), Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Elizabeth McGovern (who is receiving a well-deserved career resurgence on “Downton Abbey,”) … and Timothy Hutton.
Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor that year for this film, but he’s actually the lead. He should have been a contender for Best Actor, but considering his competition that year included Robert DeNiro for “Raging Bull,” Peter O’Toole for “The Stuntman,” John Hurt for “The Elephant Man,” and Robert Duvall for “The Great Santini,” putting Hutton in the Supporting Actor category was probably a shrewder move. His character is the center of the film and Hutton’s extremely rich performance is the emotional core.
Hutton’s performance is so raw, so wounded, so ferocious, it’s one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by any actor. It is the equivalent of James Dean’s performance in “Rebel Without a Cause,” only without the method actor baggage that Dean brings to “Rebel.” It’s an incredibly intense performance that’s neither mannered or pretentious. As much as I love Sean Penn, many of his performances ultimately seem like acting. Hutton’s portrayal of a teenager trying to come to grips with his brother’s death, his own suicide attempt (due to guilt over his brother’s death), and the fact that his mother may not love him seems heartbreakingly real.
Hutton seemed poised to become one of the best and most successful actors of his generation. But fate had a different idea in mind. What’s sad is that Hutton didn’t piss away his talent with bad choices or bad movies … at least not in the beginning. With the exception of “Taps” (which was a hit), none of his follow-up performances achieved the popular or critical success of “Ordinary People.” And all of these follow-up performances were perfectly admirable choices: “Taps,” Sidney Lumet’s “Daniel,” John Schlesinger’s “The Falcon and the Snowman,” and Fred Schepisi’s “Iceman.” All of these films were among the best, if not underrated films, of the first half of the 1980s. This was an era before young actors were seeking out their “franchise” to bank $100 million before they got relegated to character roles. Hutton has stayed employed over the years and it’s always a joy to see him on screen. But Hutton should have had the career Sean Penn had (though please note, I am in no way saying Penn doesn’t richly deserve the great success he’s obtained). If anyone deserves a Robert Downey Jr.-style comeback, it’s Hutton. He’s the real deal.
The rise of punk in the 1970s caught a lot of the traditional hard rock Gods of the day off guard. However, some of these bands took it in stride and did their own take on the raw assault that was punk. Led Zeppelin did their version of punk with the song “Wearing and Tearing” which is OK, but ultimately kind of “meh.” Queen wins the prize with “Sheer Heart Attack” from 1977’s “News of the World.” Yes, it’s a mite overproduced for an authentically punk song. But the song’s relentlessly loud, frenetic approach ultimately wins out. Coupled with Queen’s earlier “Stone Cold Crazy,” you are witnessing the birth of speed metal.
Forget “Bohemian Rhapsody.” “It’s Late” should be THE Queen song that’s played ad nauseum on classic rock radio. This is pure, balls-to-the-wall, non-campy hard rock that will peel the paint off the walls. That relentless multi-layered lead guitar sound by Brian May feels like a wool sweater in hell. And let’s not forget that cataclysmic drum sound by Roger Taylor that will shake your molars. Totally epic in every sense of the word. Allegedly this was a favorite of Kurt Cobain’s (given its presence in the Kurt Cobain documentary “About a Son”). It was also put to great use in Jody Hill’s brilliantly demented comedy “Observe and Report.” From the 1977 album “News of the World.”
A bitchin’ hard rock cover of the Stones’ apocalyptic classic, this time done by Mitch Ryder’s 1971 band Detroit. The only cover that comes close to matching the intensity of the original. Ryder’s guttural vocals from hell are mucho intense.
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