JSngry Posted December 30, 2006 Report Posted December 30, 2006 What kind of psycho/goof/nutjob kind of a flick was this, anyways? Richard Lester, y'all, RICHARD FREAKIN' LESTER!!! Quote
RDK Posted December 30, 2006 Report Posted December 30, 2006 Caught only the last few minutes before Don't Knock the Twist. Yeah, Lester was wild in those types of films (inc Hard Days Night). Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted December 30, 2006 Report Posted December 30, 2006 I saw it in the early 60s. It was terrible then. Couldn't IMAGINE how awful it is now. MG Quote
Dan Gould Posted December 30, 2006 Report Posted December 30, 2006 I saw they were running this and wondered, WTF? but didn't switch over. Quote
JSngry Posted December 30, 2006 Author Report Posted December 30, 2006 I saw it in the early 60s. It was terrible then. Couldn't IMAGINE how awful it is now. MG Musically, yeah, it's pretty, uh... whatever. Although the Eugene McDaniels clip is something else, and in the best possible way. The exhaling of cigarette smoke while singing is sublime. And the trad stuff probably sounds better to my ears now than it would have a few years ago. Hell, it's POP MUSIC, and as such, hey, why not? But it's not the music, it was the directing, especially in the first half. Ray, if all you saw was the last bit, you missed the best stuff. Visual puns and gags out the wazzoo, easily at the level of the best of Kovacs. My favorite - a raucous drum break with the camera aimed fairly close up at the drumsticks, which do not move even a little. WTF!?!?! And lots of camera/editing jokes too. Unlike most of these type movies, I tolerated the music to get to the movie itself. And I was highly entertained! Quote
JSngry Posted December 30, 2006 Author Report Posted December 30, 2006 And the Del Shannon clip just confirmed a long-standing suspicion of mine. That cat was plian ol' WEIRD. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 1, 2007 Report Posted January 1, 2007 I saw it in the early 60s. It was terrible then. Couldn't IMAGINE how awful it is now. MG Musically, yeah, it's pretty, uh... whatever. Although the Eugene McDaniels clip is something else, and in the best possible way. The exhaling of cigarette smoke while singing is sublime. And the trad stuff probably sounds better to my ears now than it would have a few years ago. Hell, it's POP MUSIC, and as such, hey, why not? But it's not the music, it was the directing, especially in the first half. Ray, if all you saw was the last bit, you missed the best stuff. Visual puns and gags out the wazzoo, easily at the level of the best of Kovacs. My favorite - a raucous drum break with the camera aimed fairly close up at the drumsticks, which do not move even a little. WTF!?!?! And lots of camera/editing jokes too. Unlike most of these type movies, I tolerated the music to get to the movie itself. And I was highly entertained! Now you mention it, it was McDaniels' appearance that made me go to see it. If I recall, he sang "Another tear falls", which I think was the B side of "Chip chip". MG Quote
Neal Pomea Posted January 1, 2007 Report Posted January 1, 2007 A pop song by John Leyton? I only knew him as Charles Bronson's tunnel king buddy in The Great Escape (one of the escapees by rowboat). I must have been flipping back and forth and missed Del Shannon. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 1, 2007 Report Posted January 1, 2007 A pop song by John Leyton? I only knew him as Charles Bronson's tunnel king buddy in The Great Escape (one of the escapees by rowboat). I must have been flipping back and forth and missed Del Shannon. John Leyton was a teen idol (who COULD act, as in "Great Escape"). He had several big hits in the UK in the early '60s. I suspect he couldn't sing, but his records were produced by Joe Meek, a British version of Phil Spector, and SOUNDED fantastic. (I think Meek's only US hit was "Telstar" by the Tornadoes.) I tried to get a job with Meek once, but got the brush-off. MG Quote
JSngry Posted January 1, 2007 Author Report Posted January 1, 2007 Joe Meek also engineered a Joe Harriot EP! Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 1, 2007 Report Posted January 1, 2007 (edited) Joe Meek also engineered a Joe Harriot EP! Well, I didn't know that! Bet Spector never engineered a Wild Bill Moore date! MG New thread? Edited January 1, 2007 by The Magnificent Goldberg Quote
BERIGAN Posted January 29, 2007 Report Posted January 29, 2007 (edited) On again, 4:30 PM EST Jan 29th....today in case you didn't know! Edited January 29, 2007 by BERIGAN Quote
sidewinder Posted January 29, 2007 Report Posted January 29, 2007 Joe Meek also engineered a Joe Harriot EP! Well, I didn't know that! Bet Spector never engineered a Wild Bill Moore date! MG New thread? Joe Meek worked for some time as Denis Preston's assistant at Lansdowne, engineering quite a few of their jazz sessions. Then branched off and did his own thing. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 29, 2007 Report Posted January 29, 2007 Joe Meek also engineered a Joe Harriot EP! Well, I didn't know that! Bet Spector never engineered a Wild Bill Moore date! MG New thread? Joe Meek worked for some time as Denis Preston's assistant at Lansdowne, engineering quite a few of their jazz sessions. Then branched off and did his own thing. Ah, so that was the connection! MG Quote
Soulstation1 Posted January 29, 2007 Report Posted January 29, 2007 FWIW it's trad, dad is airing in about 4 hours on TCM Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 29, 2007 Report Posted January 29, 2007 Gene Vincent was a consistently GREAT vocalist & performer even under heavy duress. Yeah - I saw him in a disused warehouse in Southall in '61 or '62, with Sounds Inc, and he was effin' dynamic! Even with his leg in irons! (Mind you, Jerry Lee, whom I saw in Boulogne in '63, was the total killer!) MG Quote
Guest youmustbe Posted January 30, 2007 Report Posted January 30, 2007 LET'S ROCK was on before....did you all notice the Jazz cats? Quote
tatifan Posted January 30, 2007 Report Posted January 30, 2007 Unless I've missed it, nobody's mentioned the rare J.R.T. Davies sighting in this film!! Yes indeed, he's a performing member of "The Temperence Seven". I had forgotten about him being in this band, but that beard looked kind of familiar! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Temperance_Seven Quote
medjuck Posted January 31, 2007 Report Posted January 31, 2007 FWIW it's trad, dad is airing in about 4 hours on TCM Thanks for the warning. I phoned home, had my wife TIVO it and just watched it. I've been trying to see this film for 40 years! Only because it's by Richard Lester. It would be tempting to think that the Beatles hired him for A Hard Day's Night because of this film. It's very stylish and full of self referential jokes. (I loved the way Gene McDaniels was photographed: looks like a Herman Leonard photograph come to life.) However i think the Beatles really hired him because he'd made a short film with the Goon Show folks: The Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 31, 2007 Report Posted January 31, 2007 However i think the Beatles really hired him because he'd made a short film with the Goon Show folks: The Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film. I think that's right. Actually, it wasn't very good - well, not as good as I thought it ought to be. But I was a passionate Goons fan in those days. MG Quote
DukeCity Posted January 31, 2007 Report Posted January 31, 2007 Here is "Dick" Lester's directorial debut: "The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film" Eleven-minute short of a series of slapstick bits, with Peter Sellars and Spike Milligan. Nominated for an Oscar® in '59 for Best Live Action Short. Some sites list the (uncredited) music as being done by Lester. It's a West Coast sounding quartet (don't tell Chewy!), so even if Lester put it together, does anyone recognize the players? (BTW: Part I is most of the film at 9:30. Part two has the last two bits, but the film has no end credits) Quote
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