Author Archives: Jedadiah Leland

Music Video of the Day: Take My Breath Away by Berlin (1986, directed by Marcello Anciano)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Take My Breath Away was written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock after the producers of Top Gun realized that they needed a romantic scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis and that they would need something other than Danger Zone to play during it.

The song was originally offered to The Motels but it was eventually recorded by Berlin.  Like most of the soundtrack-related music videos of the 80s, the video for Take My Breath Away is a mix of clips from the film and clips of the band performing.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Armegeddon It by Def Leppard (1988, directed by Wayne Isham)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The theme of this video seems to be that Def Leppard is the band that has fun onstage and off!

This footage for this video was shot over the course of two shows at McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado. Originally, the footage was going to be used for a future concert film but, when Armageddon It was released as a single, the band’s record label said that they needed a music video to accompany it and they needed it immediately. Since the band didn’t want to do another “concept video” (and really didn’t have time to come up with a concept in the first place), the Denver footage was hastily edited together.

The end result was that Armageddon It went on to the become the band’s fourth top ten hit in the United States.

Enjoy!

Rustlers On Horseback (1950, directed by Fred C. Brannon)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Before I say anything else,  want to express how much I appreciate how straight-forward the title of Rustlers On Horseback is.  There are horses and there are rustlers and often the rustlers do ride the horses.  No lies detected.

Mistaken for being an outlaw, Marshal Rocky Lane (Allan Lane) becomes a member of a gang that’s led by Leo Straykin (Roy Barcroft).  Leo has taken over the Reynolds Ranch and he’s planning on cheating a land agent out of $100,000 so that he can finance his future crimes.  However, Leo isn’t working on his own and Lane and Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller) work to discover who the outlaw’s secret boss really is.  (This is a low-budget, Poverty Row western so there aren’t that many possibilities.)  However, Lane is not the only person working undercover.  George Nader plays the son of the murdered ranch owner.  Nader is looking for his own revenge.

This is a pretty standard Poverty Row western, with Lane looking convincing while riding a horse and shooting a gun.  The “secret boss” makes the film a little bit more interesting than I was expecting but not that much more interesting.  As is so often the case with these movies, how you react will depend on whether nor not you’re already a fan of the western genre when you watch it.  If you like westerns that don’t have much filler between the chases and the gunfights, a western like this will be up your alley.  If you’re not a fan of the genre, this film won’t change your mind.

This film was one of George Nader’s early roles.  Nader made a handful of B-movies, including the infamous Robot Monster, before he branched into more mainstream films.  Eventually, he found work in Europe and found fame as FBI Agent Jerry Cotton in a series of German films.  After an accident left him sensitive to light and ended his acting career, Nader found success as a writer.

As for Allan Lane, he went on to become the voice of Mr. Ed.

Music Video of the Day: Mother 93 by Danzig (1993, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The above video was the second one for Mother, hence why it’s called Mother ’93.  It features live footage of the band performing at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in California.  At around the same time this video was in rotation on MTV, Glenn Danzig was invited to audition for the role of Wolverine in one of the early attempts to make an X-Men film.  Danzig, who had the right look for the role, had to turn down the opportunity due to scheduling conflicts.

This video also inspired a classic line from Beavis and Butt-Head: “That little dance isn’t very cool.”

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Wild Night by John Mellencamp, featuring Me’shell Ndegeocello (1994, directed by Jonathan Kaplan)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today’s music video of the day is for John Mellencamp’s cover of Van Morrison’s Wild Night.

In 1994, the opening of this video was the most popular 40 seconds on MTV.  I have traveled in a lot of taxi cabs and Ubers.  I’ve been lucky enough to have some very good drivers but none of them appeared in the 1992 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.  The driver, in this video, is played by Shana Zadrick, a model who was often compared to Cindy Crawford.

Back in 1994, if you enjoyed this video, you could go down to your friendly neighborhood Musicland (or Suncoast Motion Picture Company) and, for just $19.98, you could see even more of Shana in this commemorative video:

The other good thing about this video is that bassline, which was provided by Me’shell Ndegeocello.  Wild Night was released at the same time that Ndegeocello had her biggest solo hit, If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night).

This video was directed by Jonathan Kaplan.  A former film school classmate of Martin Scorsese’s, Kaplan got his start directing films like Night Call Nurses and The Student Teachers for Roger Corman.  He eventually became a mainstream film and television director.  His most highly regarded film is probably 1988’s The Accused, for which Jodie Foster won her first Oscar.

Music Video Of The Day: Right Here Right Now by Jesus Jones (1990, directed by Matthew Amos)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Inspired by the collapse of Soviet-style communism in the late 80s and the early 90s (in particular, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the overthrow of Nicolae Ceaușescu in Romania), Right Here, Right Now not only sold over 1 million copies but it was also the most played song on college radio in 1991.

The video, which mixes performance footage with news footage from Eastern Europe, was the first music video to be directed by Matthew Amos.  Amos went on to direct videos for Stereo MCs, Manic Street Preachers, Slipknot, and the Charlatans.

Music Video of the Day: Connected by Stereo MC’s (1992, directed by Matthew Amos)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This was one of the first songs to define the decade that the 90s would be.  Of course, within a few years of the song being released, the idea of being “connected” would have a totally different meaning for a lot of listeners.

This is another video directed by Matthew Amos.  He also did yesterday’s video, I’m Free.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: I’m Free by The Soup Dragons (1990, directed by Matthew Amos)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

I’m Free was originally recorded by The Rolling Stones in 1965 and was the last track on the Out Of Our Heads album.  To quote Rolling Stone Magazine, the original song was a “folk rocker.”  The version by the Soup Dragons was much more psychedelic and featured a verse from Jamaican reggae performer, Junior Reid.  I’m Free became the band’s biggest hit, reaching the number 2 spot on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart.

Director Matthew Amos has also directed videos for Stereo MCs, Jesus Jones, Slipknot, and Blur.  He’s also film several awards shows and stage productions for the BBC.

Salt Lake Raiders (1950, directed by Fred C. Brannon)

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When convicted murderer Fred Mason (Myron Healey) escapes during a prison transfer, frontier Marshal Rocky Lane (Allan Lane) is brought in to re-capture him.  It’s believed that Fred has returned to the ghost town of Silver City so that he can retrieve a buried treasure of $100,000.  But when Rocky tracks Fred down, Fred insists that he was set up and that he didn’t kill anyone.  Rocky, Fred, and Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller) are soon captured by outlaw Brit Carson (Roy Barcroft), who is also searching for the money.

I wasn’t planning on watching Salt Lake Raiders today.  I’ve long wanted to review a Whip Wilson western and I was hoping I would be able to find one of his films, Silver Raiders, on YouTube.  However, every search that I did for Silver Raiders just returned Salt Lake Raiders.  Instead of watching a Whip Wilson western, I ened up just watching another Allan Lane western.

Salt Lake Raiders is a competently-made but not very memorable western.  The person who set up Fred is no big surprise.  The ghost town is a good location and, as always, Allan Lane is a believable hero.  Eddy Waller, as usual, plays sidekick Nugget Clark and lovely Martha Hyer plays the daughter of the man who Fred was accused of killing,  The movie holds your interest but it’s also so predictable that it is easy to understand why the studios abandoned B-western movies once television started giving them to people for free.

Unless I missed it, there is no mention of Salt Lake City or any other salt lakes in this movie.

The Black Hole (1979, directed by Gary Nelson)

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It’s the Future!  The USS Palamino is on a mission to explore deep space.  On the Palamino are Captain Dan Holland (Robert Forster), Dr. Alex Durant (Anthony Perkins), Lt. Charlie Pizer (Joseph Bottoms), Dr. Ellen McRae (Yvette Mimieux),  a trash can-looking robot named Vincent (voiced by Roddy McDowall), and a hard-drinking, out-of-place journalist named Harry Booth (Ernest Borgnine).

The Palamino has nearly completed its mission when it comes across a black hole.  They also come across the USS Cygnus, a ship that disappeared 20 years ago.  Boarding the Cygnus, they discover that it is ruled over by Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Maximilian Schell) and that the crew appeared to be made up of robots.  Dr. Reinhardt plans to direct his ship to fly through the Black Hole.  Dr. Durant is inspired by Reinahrdt’s determination to discover what lies on the other side.  The rest of the crew is suspicious of Reinhardt, especially after they meet Maximillian, the hulking red robot that serves as his bodyguard.

One of the studio’s first attempts to make a film for grown-ups, The Black Hole was also the first Disney film to receive a PG rating.  The Black Hole has a lot going for it.  The cast is stacked with talent.  (I haven’t even mentioned Slim Pickens as the voice of a beat-up robot.)  The plot is interesting and I think anyone watching will be able to relate to Reinhardt and Durant’s desire to explore what lies inside of the Black Hole.  Even when seen today, the special effects hold up fairly well.  Maximillian is actually frightening at times.   There are some violent moments that definitely earn that PG rating.

It’s just too bad that the movie is so damn boring.

The Black Hole is a movie that calls out for a director like Nicholas Meyer or even Douglas Trumbull.  Instead, the movie was directed by Gary Nelson, a television director who lets the story plod along at a slow pace. The movie goes through the motions but it never really captures the wonder or the excitement of being in space.  The journey through the Black Hole is visually impressive but it takes forever to get there and then it’s over too quickly.  Disney spent so much time on the special effects that they forgot to come up with a script worthy of them.

The Black Hole is a film that should have been much better than it was.  As long as Disney is remaking all of their old films, I say it’s time to remake The Black Hole.  Get the right director and make it the film that it should have been.