In this scene, Flash earns the title of savior of the universe. Or, at least he does until Zarkov accidentally knocks him out. Between the Queen soundterack, Melody Anderson chanting, Ornella Muti vamping, Brian Blessed mugging, and Max Von Sydow doing his thing, this is a true scene that I love!
On Friday night, I was at the #FridayNightFlix live tweet hosted by our very own Lisa Marie and the conversation turned to Flash Gordon and one of the best movie soundtracks of the 80s. Even if you’re not a fan of the movie, you have to admit that the theme song rocks.
For today’s music video of the day, here is Queen performing Flash. Welcome back to 1980!
To help cover expenses while I was in college, I would usually get a part-time retail job during the winter break, helping to restock shelves and telling customers where they could find the really cheap Christmas gifts that had put on clearance because only the only people who buy them were the desperate fools who had put off shopping until the last minute.
Christmas music was usually playing nonstop. It drove some people mad. I could always handle it except for the year that they wouldn’t stop playing this song. I know you’re saying what many other people said to me when I complained that year, “Jeff, it’s a cute song!” Imagine having to hear it ten times a day.
From my nightmares, here is today’s song of the day.
I’ll spare you the details of some of the variations that my coworkers and I came up with for Suzi Snowflake. They definitely were not safe for work.
In this scene from Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas, David Bowie stops by the home of his old friend, Sir Percival Crosby, and meets Sir Percy’s long-lost American relative, Bing Crosby! A discussion of modern music and parenting techniques leads to them performing a duet of Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy.
This was Bing’s final Christmas special and he died just five weeks after filming completed. This scene is a holiday classic and has been described. by the Washington Post, as “one of the most successful duets in Christmas music history.”
When asked about David Bowie, Bing said he was “clean-cut kid and a real fine asset to the show. He sings well, has a great voice and reads lines well.”
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Director Richard Fleischer was born 109 years ago today.
4 Shots From 4 Richard Fleischer Films
Fantastic Voyage (1966, directed by Richard Fleischer)
Soylent Green (1973, directed by Richard Fleischer)
Mr. Majestyk (1974, directed by Richard Fleischer)
As a group, The Beatles never released an “official” Christmas song, though the members of their fan club received a recording of Christmas Time Is Here Again in 1967. After the band broke up, all four of the members recorded Christmas songs on their own. Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime is probably the most remembered. I don’t know if I would say it was the most popular but anyone who has ever had to rush out to do some last minute Christmas shopping has heard it playing in countless stores on December 24th. Whenever I’ve been in a store while Wonderful Christmastime was playing, I’ve always felt as if the song was taunting me but it is definitely a part of the season.
McCartney recorded this song at his farm. He was just getting into what was then known as “electropop,” which is why he used a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer in the song. More than anything, that weird bouncing noise probably explains why this song is so well-known. Whenever I hear this song, I imagine that this is what Christmas sounds like on Mars.
The video was shot at at the Fountain Inn in Ashurst, West Sussex. Though the members of Wings had nothing to do with recording the song, they all appeared in the video because they were all hanging out with McCartney on the night that it was filmed.
Reportedly, Paul McCartney receives $400,000 a year in royalties from Wonderful Christmastime.
It wouldn’t be the Thanksgiving season without sharing these scenes that I love from the brilliant sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati. I’m looking forward to seeing my family in Baltimore this Thanksgiving and, for maybe the 100th time, watching this classic episode.
Believe it or not, this episode was based on a true story! It didn’t happen in Ohio. Instead, it happened in Atlanta, Georgia and it was real promotion stunt for a local station, WQXI. Years later, a young copywriter named Hugh Wilson heard the story while he was working WQXI. Wilson later moved to California, started writing scripts, and eventually created WKRP In Cincinnati.
I always feel bad for the turkeys but I am glad that the survivors were able to launch a counter attack.
It’s probably not a good sign that the “final” trailer forNow You See Me: Now You Don’t dropped today without me previously hearing that a third movie was coming out. I enjoyed the first two Now You See Me movies and I am looking forward to seeing the third one but I wonder how many people really remember either one of them. Ten years is a very long time, especially now.
Two Americans meet up in Turkey in 1922. Josh Corey (Charles Bronson) is a cynical soldier-of-fortune who, along with his mercenary crew, is hoping to make money out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. Adam Dyer (Tony Curtis) is the heir to a shipping company and is hoping to get his last remaining boat out of the Turkish dock where it’s been interned since World War I. Osman Bey (Gregorie Aslan), one of the local powerbrokers who has risen to power since the Turkish Revolution, hires Josh and Adam to escort his daughters and their protector, Alia (Michele Mercier), to Mecca. Actually, the plan is for them to instead go to Cairo to recover a priceless treasure. The journey to Cairo is filled with action and betrayal as Josh and Adam try to navigate the upheaval of the post-war Middle East.
You Can’t Win ‘Em All is a mix of action and comedy, an adventure that owes more than a little to the other big budget heist films of the 60s and 70s. (Director Peter Collinson was hired due to his work on The Italian Job.) The film’s humor comes from the partnership of the stoic Bronson with the talkative Tony Curtis. In fact, the film’s main flaw is that Tony Curtis talks too much. Curtis simply will not shut up. After about fifteen minutes, I was tired of listening to him. Curtis’s acting limitations really come through the more that he talks and, as a result, Bronson walks away with the entire movie by saying next to nothing. Bronson keeps largely quiet because he doesn’t have to speak to make an impression. His stare says everything that needs to be said.
You Can’t Win ‘Em All is uneven but it has a few good action sequences and Bronson doing what Bronson did best. Watching this movie made me appreciate Charles Bronson all the more. Even when working with a less-than-great script and a miscast co-star, Bronson still had the undefinable quality that made him a star.
Through the Shattered Lens 