There’s Got To Be A Morning After

Merry Christmas, 007

I’ve given you the best Christmas present possible: a staggeringly rare 1969 clip of Nina on Morecombe and Wise singing Craig Kennedy’s favorite seasonal tune and mine, John Barry’s “Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?” from ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE:

Favorite Xmas Scene Theatre: Female Trouble (1974)

John Waters truly loves Christmas. And there’s no better proof then this ode to the family at holiday time:

 

Sci-Fi Xmas Catalog ’77

Christmas Comes Early

The first and last time the 007 Silhouette carried gifts into the gun barrel.

A Man Went Looking For America…

The man who gave us The Monkees, EASY RIDER and the seminal New Hollywood production company, BBS, has passed into the celluloid gates beyond. Bert Schneider was a pivotal figure in the late 60′s and 70′s, a smart, progressive producer who celebrated talent and subversion as his resume proves. With a pilot scribed by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker, THE MONKEES had the advantage of a perfect faux-band with terrific music by Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, and Carole King, along with a hip sensibility notches above the typical studio rip-off schemes. Schneider and director Bob Rafelson even dropped the laugh-track in the second season, a clear rebuke to network mandates. Testament to The Monkees impact was the fact that The Beatles were vocal fans of the show which resulted in Michael Nesmith being invited to the A DAY N THE LIFE orchestral sessions. The profits from the show allowed Schneider to indulge his film producing jones which he put to use by financing The Monkees amazing, deconstructionist, HEAD (1968), followed by a low-budget proto-biker project called EASY RIDER that AIP had passed on since they didn’t trust Dennis Hopper at the helm. The massive critical and popular success of this archetypal 60′s film led to the formation of BBS Productions (for Bert Schneider, Bob Rafelson and Steve Blauner), whose halycon days cineastes can only dream of — I know I have.

"A Safe Place"

The first time I called up EASY RIDER’s editorial consultant, Henry Jaglom, to discuss SKIDOO (another story), Henry grilled me in his no-bullshit way about my knowledge of BBS Productions, who went on to produce one of the most important series of films in American cinema history. From Jaglom’s oblique mystical A SAFE PLACE (1970) starring Orson Welles, Tuesday Weld and Jack Nicholson to Bob Rafelson’s FIVE EASY PIECES (1970) to Nicholson’s little-seen directorial debut DRIVE, HE SAID (1970) to Peter Bogdanovich’s award-winning THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971) to Rafelson’s under-rated KING OF MARVIN GARDENS (1972), capped by Schneider’s Oscar winning documentary about America’s disastrous Vietnam excursion, HEARTS AND MINDS (1975), BBS produced films that spoke to the 70′s discontent and disillusionment utilizing the era’s best cinema talents. That kind of cynical yet honest center cannot hold and Schneider retired from film-making by the end of the decade. Our friends at Criterion honored this groundbreaking period with one of their greatest releases, AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY featuring the above films (minus HEARTS AND MINDS), remastered in glorious Blu-Ray. Bert Schneider’s kind will not be seen again, and this brief Hollywood flirtation with American reality should be studied by every disciple of cinema.

Happiness Is A Warm Toy Gun

 

Friday Song: The Beatles

Still my favorite Beatles song, written by one John Lennon of Liverpool, England.

Syd Cain RIP

A sad week, including a personal loss, and one wishes Prince Sirki would take a long holiday. Production Designer Syd Cain passes at the time of year I always conduct a yearly viewing of ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (1969), as you know, my personal favorite Bond film as others have taken this unique cinematic entry in the 007 canon to their bosom. In absence of Ken Adams, who he assisted on DR. NO, Cain designed not only FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, but OHMSS with his own sleek 60′s esthetic, particularly the iconic Piz Gloria and Blofeld’s cavernous ice caves. He worked on and off Bond films all the way up until GOLDENEYE (1995). His other films include FARENHEIT 451 (1966) and Hitchcock’s FRENZY (1972). Strangely, I was watching THE ROAD TO HONG KONG (1962) and was impressed by the pre-007 spy sets – turns out Syd Cain was the production designer with his own golden eye towards the secret agent age…he had all the time in the world.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Otto Preminger

Happy Birthday to visionary producer/director and battler against censorship:

VHS Theatre: Grampa’s Sci-Fi Hits (1989)

I found this essential Amvest VHS at the late lamented Tower Video in Sacramento after I had left my own position at the Watt Avenue locale (when John McCrea from Cake was a clerk at the hipper Tower Records next door). For a few reasons, one that involves youthful hallucinogenic shenanigans, I well recall the night I rented this tape, along with HEAD and LEGEND for a profound evening before the VCR, also armed with a video camera to record my visionary observations (given my state). But I digress. We’re talking about GRAMPA’S SCI-FI HITS – and by “Grampa” I mean Al Lewis of THE MUNSTERS fame, assaying the role he seemed to adore playing (if you recall his Howard Stern appearances and his Italian restaraunt) but this time in an inexplicable green-screened cartoon rocket ship and a heard but not seen pet bat named “Igor.” Grampa guides the wayward ship through space while providing us with a stellar collection of genre trailers in fairly good quality given the format and company. I’m a sucker for previews and this does not disappoint.

Starting apropos with the FLASH GORDON serials (including the re-released ones to capitalize on STAR WARS), we jump to the fantastic teaser for the kitsch 1980 remake (“Pathetic earthlings, who will save you now?”), then go into the fun trailers for that space kitty kat, BARBARELLA and the scary, brilliant one for ALIEN. Grampa jumps around the genre spectrum with ads for THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (“The cast is completely crazy”); FARENHEIT 451 (“Look for her – there she is: Julie Christie”) and the perfectly awful DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS, directed by Mario Bava, starring Vincent Price and that immortal duo of screen comedy, Franco and Ciccio. As if that’s not enough, we go to the wild, way-out VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS with its incredible Jack Nietzche theme, “The Last Ride” and one of my personal 60′s drive-in favorites. Whoever put this collection together knew their stuff, for the trailers are arranged thematically, so we get a nice selection of classic kaiju like GODZILLA; GODZILLA VS MEGALON; GHIDRAH THE THREE HEADED MONSTER (“A new high in screen terror!”); VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE; ATRAGON (“You will see flying saucers!”); and of course, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. There’s a few oddities like CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS, one of Andy Warhol’s favorite films and you can see why; and BATTLE OF THE WORLDS, one of many 60′s Italian space operas, but this one features Claude Rains (“in his most challenging role!”). Grampa also presents trailers for EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS with iconic SPFX by Ray Harryhausen, the technicolorful, THIS ISLAND EARTH, and of course, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Then we get a final burst of landbound horror with THE BLOB (“starring Steve Mcqueen and a cast of exciting young people!”). Some of the films advertised on the box such as FRIDAY THE 13TH PART II and THE INCUBUS don’t show up, fitting since neither belong.

Eventually Grampa must sleep the sleep of the undead, bringing this nifty night of previews to a fitting end. Tho the banter with Grampa and Igor isn’t the height of wit, Lewis is fun to watch and it’s certainly not as painful as many of the 80′s compilation tapes. Strangely, the second in this series, GRAMPA’S MONSTER MOVIES, is available on DVD while this superior one is not. I didn’t even have a copy until a couple years ago until I made a pilgrimage to the Amoeba VHS section specifically to find it — and by Gawd, I found the damn thing for only one dollar. Yes, twas as awesome as my psychedelic memory recalled. So if you’re browsing the tape racks of a store or garage sale or on the webs, keep your eyes peeled for this sc-fi blast from the video past and pop it in for a Friday night pizza party…tell ‘em Grampa sent you.

Happy Birthday Woody

And hopefully, great minds share the same birthday — if not year.