By Jack Stephen
Rumble Fish (1983), directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
This movie could be one of my tops of all time; it is a perfect film. It has a great cast (including Tom Waits as a soda jerk), excellent soundtrack, and wonderful production design. The film is shot in black-and-white except for the rumble fish; it looks incredible. The soundtrack by Stewart Copeland of the Police is on point. I have always been a Police fan, especially Stewart Copeland, as he is a top drummer, as tight as they get. The percussion on this score is used in such an interesting, unique way. Being the composer on this really allowed him to let loose. The track “Don’t Box Me In” is a collaboration between Copeland and Stan Ridgeway of the band Wall of Voodoo, who had the alternative hit “Mexican Radio,” which had a pretty cool video back in the day; I can still see that lizard being spun on a spit over an open flame. Based on the book by S. E. Hinton, this could be the best film adaption of one of her books. Hinton’s books were my middle-school experience, as I read them all. I felt like I could really relate to Rusty James the lead character, played by Matt Dillon, who was just a young guy who’s lost and takes it all for granted. Lucky to be alive and lucky to learn his lesson, by the end, it all made sense to me.
Boogie Nights (1997), directed by P. T. Anderson.
This movie probably has the best film soundtrack ever. There are so many awesome tracks tying together a great movie. The film incudes a great performance by Burt Reynolds. At the time, I hadn’t seen him in a bit, and he just stole almost every scene he was in. There was also a great scene with Alfred Molina smoking crack as he is playing “Sister Christian” by Night Ranger, followed by “Jesse’s Girl” by Rick Springfield. It was fucking tense!
The top scene was probably the New Year’s Eve party wrapping up the 1970s. William H. Macey enters the house, and the Steadicam camera operator is catching everything, in a single three-minute take. “Do Your Thing” by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band is playing. It was perfect, as a broken man morally corrupted by the porn business can’t take his wife (played by real life porn actress Nina Hartley) fucking another dude as she has done over and over. New Year’s Eve 1979 seemed like a good enough of a time to end it as any. Watch this movie or listen to the soundtrack or do both, you won’t be disappointed.
Miller’s Crossing (1990) directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.*
This film was super cool and had a lot of great performances, especially by John Turturro and Albert Finney. There are choice phrasings in the writing, along with excellent exclamations, including “What’s the rumpus?” and “gave him the high hat.” A Boston Irish mob tale, this film did it so well. The scene that really struck me was the attempted assassination scene of Albert Finney’s character Leo O’Bannon. The song spinning on the phonograph was “Danny Boy” by Danny Patterson. Leo’s lying in bed smoking a cigar just winding down, as the assassins come in. He is ready to roll as his house starts to burn. He escapes effortlessly, jumps out the window, kills the assassins with their own Tommy gun, and even guns down the getaway driver just as the last notes of “Danny Boy” trail off—pretty sweet. I remember almost cheering; it was just badass.
My favorite Coen brothers’ movie is The Serous Man. This movie is so fantastic, it has a little bit of everything: deep philosophy, cool tunes, and a classic protagonist downfall. The score features some classic Yiddish tunes mixed with some Jefferson Airplane. I laughed out loud during the scene when the Columbia Record Club collections guy finally got through on the phone. I and many other people were duped by this Columbia Record Club scam back it the day. You got seven cassettes for a penny, then you would get billed full price for a selection of the month or something of the sort. I think I still have a few of the cassettes. I and a lot of other suckers got turned over to collections. It was always a cool experience though. I remember seeing the record club ad on the back of a magazine and mentally picked some albums.
One day, I filled it out, cut the check for one cent, and mailed it in. It was fun to get the cassettes in the mail, but the bill later came back to haunt me. Don’t overlook this film, it’s a real gem.
*Note: Back in my acting days, I was a day player on the Coen brothers’ film True Grit. As it went, my on-camera shot got cut down, but it was still pretty cool to spend the day with Joel and Ethan Coen on a film set in north Austin. Almost to the end of the movie, you can see me lumbering across the screen for a couple of seconds. So it goes in the acting business.
Do the Right Thing (1989) directed by Spike Lee.
I am a big fan of Spike Lee. He takes chances and does some amazing filmmaking. This film really blew mine and a lot of other people’s minds. It is a simple tale of a hot day in Harlem when things sort of boil over. Radio Raheem is killed by the police in the climax. His character is almost the catalyst by happenstance. He roams the neighborhood holding a boombox blasting “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy, and he is respected by everyone. His refusal to turn off the song during the confrontation at Sal’s leads to his downfall. Sal crushes the boombox with a baseball bat, sending Radio into a blind rage. “My music” he yells!
My favorite Spike Lee film is Mo Better Blues, the follow up to Do the Right Thing. It didn’t really get the same attention, but what a fantastic film. It stars Denzel Washington as Bleek Gilliam, the beleaguered trumpet player who juggles women, club owners, and musicians’ egos. It also has an excellent soundtrack by Branford Marsalis and a great story—where do you go when you lose everything and what might you do?
This film really brought it home for me as I was always a big Jazz head. It was like I was getting to peek behind the curtain. All the while, I was just another fan, sitting on a bar stool at El Chapultapec, the famous Denver jazz club.
A vignette:
I am standing just off stage. My heart is pounding. I take a deep breath to try and get composed. I’m up next. I peek through the curtain. The crowd is hot, maybe 100 or so patrons having a pretty good time, judging by the sound of things. The host riffs on the last comic, a couple of the digs land and the crowd enjoys the callback. He takes a beat and starts hyping me up. He says they’re so lucky to have me there tonight, nonetheless I’m the one who feels lucky. This is happening! He says my name. I part the curtain and head to the stage. I shake his hand as the crowd cheers. I take the mic out of the mic stand and place the stand aside. I face the crowd.
What song is my entrance music? “Outshined” by Soundgarden
No comments:
Post a Comment