cynicschism

      The Monterey Pop Festival, held at Monterey, California on three days in June of 1967 was probably the first major rock festival in the U.S., pre-dating its more famous cousin, Woodstock, by two years.  A variety of music acts and genres were represented, including soul, fusion, rock and pop, though most of the players would be categorized in the pop/rock category.  Of course June 1967 was also the Summer of Love, so there were lots of hippies and wannabes in attendance.

       What would a rock festival be without a documntary to record what happened there?  As Monterey was the first big U.S. rock festival, the 1968 film Monterey Pop was the first important festival movie when it was released a year and a half after the festival, in late 1968.

       With so many acts performing, only the highlights made it into the rather short film, which in only 79 minutes long.  Among the better known acts on film were The Mamas and Papas,  Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin with Big Brother, performing an intense all-out version of Ball and Chain,  Otis Reding, who appeared only six months before his death, Simon and Garfunkel.  Two of the most famous parts of the film feature two acts from England, The Who and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Both feature guitar smashings-Pete Townsend smashing his into pieces, and Jimi Hendrix, adding a new twist by setting his guitar on fire before smashing it apart.  Both acts won a large new following after their performance at Monterey.  The movie concludes with a long raga by Ravi Shankar.

       The movie was directed by D.A. Pennebaker, who had just released his documentary about Bob Dylan, Don’t Look Back.  Pennebaker made good use of hand-held cameras to get a record of the experience.  Between the actual performances, there are shots of the attendees, some dressed in the new hippie costume, others who aren’t quite there yet and are wearing their old square duds.  It really is a time capsule from the 1960’s.  Anyone who wants to take a look back at the times or wants to see and hear some of the most famous acts of classic rock will truly enjoy this movie.

       The easiest way to describe the 1959 film Odds Against Tomorrow is that it is one in a long line of distinguished movies in the bank-heist genre. The plots all follow a similar line: A group of disparate characters plan to rob a bank and then…something always seems to go wrong.

       In the case of Odds Against Tomorrow, there are three people in on the heist:  An ex-cop (Ed Begley) who is just getting by in forced retirement, a racist ex-con (Robert Ryan) who is drifting about, and a jazz musician (Harry Belafonte) who has a gambling problem and owes his bookies big time.  All need a lot of dough and the quicker, the better.

     And just as you suspect things might go wrong, you know there will be one mastermind, who will try hard to keep the others in the gang from screwing things up.  In this case, the ex-cop is the man with the plan, the person who has come with the idea, scouted a location, timed when things happen at the bank, and then lets the others in on the plan.  While most of the action takes place in New York City, the last third of the film is located in a small town in upstate New York. The big-city ex-cop figures if the gang travels upstate to a small-town with a small police force, but with a local bank that has lots of payroll money on a certain day, things should go fine.  So the three head to the small town to do their thing.

       As expected, the ex-cop is kept busy trying to keep the racist and the black jazz musician from going after each other and concentrating on doing the bank robbery.  After waiting nervously for the moment to come, they get into the bank, hold guns on the employees still there after closing time, and proceed, as bank robbers are wont to do, putting the money into satchels Things seem to be going according to plan. They always do.  The ex-cop is the first one out the side door with his satchel. And just at that moment, by chance, a prowl car stops to talk with a citizen on the street corner, and notices the ex-cop walking away from the bank with a satchel. The policeman calls halt, draws a gun and starts shooting. The mastermind fires back, as his two accomplices try to escape to the car parked on a side street.  But, the mastermind has the car keys, and he’s been hit by the cop and is fading fast. He tries to toss the car keys to his two accomplished but can’t. Realizing he’s trapped, he points the gun at his head and shoots himself.

       The two accomplices, who never liked each other, decide to turn on one another with guns drawn.  One chases after  the other with the police in pursuit.  Not to give the ending away, but the final scenes tip a hat to the gangster classic White Heat.

       All three leads are perfect for their parts. Character actor Ed Begley plays a role he has done well with before, the little everyday man with big plans. Robert Ryan is truly menancing as the racist ex-con, who truly looks like he could go off at any minute.  And Harry Belafonte is good as the jazz cat with a gambling jones.  Shelley Winters and the always lovely Gloria Grahame are excellent in supporting roles as Ryan’s girlfriend and as a se-ductive neighbor who would like to get him in trouble.  Wayne Rogers, later of M*A*S*H,  plays a GI who loses a bar fight to the ex-con.

       Director Robert Wise keeps the pace up throughout the 95 minute picture.  The trip upstate and the robbery of the bank show a steady hand and an eye for the unusual, as does the whole picture.  Even though anyone who has seen other heist movies will probably guess that things will not turn out well,  this film will still keep you interested.  The moral of the story?  Maybe it’s this simple: No matter how carefully everything is planned in life, there is always a randon event to mess everything up, like a cop car that stops by chance and unravels the whole plot.  Life’s a bitch.  Especially for movie bank robbers.

       Bang, zoom. You’d hear those two words very often if you tuned into the recent Honeymooners marathon that ran on WGN (DTV 307) on December 31, 2008 and concluded New Year’s Day, 2009.  The station ran the 39 episodes, known as the Classic 39, that were originally broadcast on the Dumont network from 1955 to 1956. Since the mid 1980’s, earlier and later versions of the Honeymooners sketches that ran on various Jackie Gleason variety shows have also been available, but they cannot compare to the single season when The Honeymooners was a regular half-hour stand alone comedy.

       For those who are aleady on the moon, the series concerns the trials and tribulation of Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), his long suffering but loyal wife Alice (Audrey Meadows), his best friend, city sewer worker Ed Norton (Art Carney) and his wife Trixie (JoyceRandolph). Most plots revolve around Ralph and Norton’s get rich quick schemes, their attempts to get around their wives’ rules, and the battle of the sexes among married couples.  And at least once in every episode, Alice will remind Ralph of his extra large girth, while he will threaten to send her to the moon or warn her that one day she will get hers, threats which he never carries out.  Contemporary TV shows are still doing variations on plots first broadcast on The Honeymooners over fifty years ago.  One of the trademark parts of the show is the barebones set of the Kramden’s apartment. A table and chairs, a chest of drawers, and icebox and sink and bare walls are about all the Kramdens have.  The bedroom is rarely seen.  When it comes to simple living, Ralph and Alice were ahead of their time.  No wonder Ralph is always trying out crazy get rich quick plans.  One of the surprising elements of the program is how nice the Norton’s place is.  Unlike the Kramdens, they have nice furniture, a TV, a phone, wallpaper, a washer and dryer and other accoutrements of the middle-class lifestyle.  How they do so, on Ed’s salary, is never revealed.

       The marathon will also run on New York’s WPIX, which has run the old episodes for years and years.  The Honeymooners marathon is a perfect obsession for those who are tired of the New Years Eve shows with their collection of tired pop stars.  It was fun to sit back with a Norton-sized hero, laugh at the “poloponies” episode, hear Norton’s famous greeting, “Hiya, Ralphie boy, pal o’mine” and see Ralph admit his mistakes and finally realize that his wife Alice in the greatest.  Same goes for The Honeymooners.

       As I mentioned in an earlier post about Christms carols, one of the slighly naughty ones was Santa Baby, sung by Eartha Kitt.  She would purr her way through this seductive Christmas classic, asking Santa for de luxe only.  Then the sad news came that Eartha Kitt had passed away on Christmas Day at the age of 81.

       Of course, Ms. Kitt was a well-known Broadway star, movie actress, and concert performer, and there is much to remember her for.  But the playing of Santa Baby, first recorded in 1953, every year during the Christmas season, was perhaps the thing she was best known for by most Americans.  The fact she passed away on that holiday is sadly ironic.

       It was time to pack away the Christmas carols until next Christmas anyway.  It is sad that Ms. Kitt passed away at the same time.  But Santa Baby will be back again next year, and he’ll be asked to hurry down the chimney again, just as he has been for the last fifty years.  And with the sultry voice of Eartha Kitt doing the asking, what Santa could refuse?

       A strange story has come out over the last few days.  Sir Paul McCartney is now claiming that it was he and not John Lennon, who ‘politicized’ the Beatles and was the first member of the band to alert the others to the wrong of the Vietnam War.  Now, the story gets even more interesting.  McCartney claims he learned about the Vietnam War after a visit with Bertrand Russell, the famous British philosopher and peace activist.  Seems Sir Paul popped in on Russell one day and had a chat about world affairs.  During the course of the conversation, Russell alerted McCartney to the problems concerning U.S. involvement in Vietnam.  Then, later on, Beatle Paul told his bandmates, including Lennon, about the true facts about Vietnam.  So, according to McCartney’s account, it was he who was the original politically engaged Beatle.

       The story is excerpted from an interview McCartney gave to an English journal called Prospect.  Already, some critics are questioning McCartney’s account.  Did he really meet with Russell, and then influence the rest of the group?  Or is Sir Paul trying to do a little revisionist history, and putting himself over Lennon?  It was Lennon, with such songs as Revolution and Give Peace a Chance, who has always been seen as the most overtly political of the Beatles, both during his time in the group, and after their breakup.  I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more about this new revision to accepted Beatles’ history in the next few weeks, as people try to puzzle out Sir Paul’s story.  Did he, or didn’t he?  Time will tell.

For those who enjoy vintage TV mystery programs, one of the best of them all, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, is now playing on the Chiller channel, DirecTV 257, weekdays at 12 PM, EST.  Hitchcock started on TV with Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a half-hour program of mystery stories that ran from 1955 to 1962.  Many of the stories depended on a final plot twist to bring the show to an end.

After seven years of the half-hour format, the show changed its title to reflect the new hour-long program.  Hitchcock still appeared to give his black humor introductions and epilogues, including his famous introduction-Gooood Evening. While the half-hour program usually had a sudden surprise ending, the hour shows were more traditional. When the story was good, it could fill up the hour entertainingly, but when it was poor, the hour seemed to stretch on and on. Like any TV show, some episodes were better than others. The program was on the air for three seasons, broadcasting a total of 93 episodes, ending its run in 1965.

The program is currently on its second run-through of episodes on the Chiller channel. Unlike shows like Seinfeld or Everybody loves Raymond, which have been on just about anytime of day for many years, you never know when the Hitchcock hour will be on again. So tune in some lunch time while it’s still available. Good evening.

It happened before I took up the blog habit, but I would just like to take note of the recent death of Richard Wright, keyboardist and occasional song-writer for the British spacerockers Pink Floyd.  Wright died of cancer at the age of 65 a few weeks ago.  He was not the most influential member of the band, but did contribute his part to their music. And considering there were only five members of Floyd over a twenty year span, that’s a pretty solid contribution.  Wright co-wrote some of the songs on Floyd’s best-known album The Dark Side of the Moon, which was the longest-running album on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and one of the best-selling records of all time.

Pink Floyd has not been active for many years as a recording unit, but they have left more than their share of great music for people to enjoy, and Wright was an important part of that. 

One more brick from the wall. During the recording of the 1979 album The Wall  Wright was fired from the band, but continued recording the album as a session musician.  When the band went on tour to support the record, Wright was paid as a regular musician.  The tour was so expensive to produce that the three member of the band lost money on the tour.  Only Wright made money from the tour. He later rejoined Floyd as a regular member.  RIPF Richard Wright.