This video for For Whom The Bells Tolls was filmed at a show at the San Diego Sports Arena in 1992. Beavis was at this concert and Lars Ulrich pointed right at him and said, “There’s Beavis!”
Enjoy!
Author Archives: Jedadiah Leland
Flat Top (1952, directed by Lesley Selander)
During the Korean War, Navy Commander Dan Collier (Sterling Hayden) reminisces about World War II. In 1944, he was newly assigned to the USS Princeton and dealing with a collection of hotshot pilots who had no idea about the realities of war. His executive officer, Joe Rogers (Richard Carlson), was everyone’s friend. Collier, however, had to be their commander. At first, everyone in that ship resented Collier and his emphasis on discipline. But eventually, the men came to learn that war wasn’t a game.
There’s little about the plot of Flat Top that will take anyone by surprise. Of course, the stern and by-the-book Dan Collier is proven to be correct when it comes to the proper way to fight a war. This film was made during the Korean War so there was no way it was going to suggest that the Navy could be incorrect about anything. The film was produced by tiny Monogram Pictures, who actually found enough money to film in Cinecolor. Monogram also got permission to shoot on an actual carrier, which brought some authenticity to the proceedings. The film makes heavy use of stock footage. A lot of the footage will be familiar from the countless number of World War II documentaries that have been put together over the years but it’s still seamlessly combined with the footage of the actors sitting in the cockpits of their planes. It’s probably not a coincidence that the movie features the characters fighting in support of Douglas MacArthur’s return to the Philippines. When this film went into production, Truman had just ended his hopes for reelection by removing MacArthur from command in Korea.
The cast is uniformly good and it’s full of familiar faces. William Schallert, Todd Karnes, James Best, and Phyllis Coates all appear in supporting roles. Sterling Hayden is believably gruff and no-nonsense as Dan Collier. Thanks to them and the actual combat footage, Flat Top is watchable albeit predictable.
Music Video of the Day: Raining Blood by Slayer (1991, directed by ????)
Back in the day, Slayer gave Tipper Gore nightmares.
This song found a new audience when it was used to break up a hippie music festival on South Park.
Enjoy!
In A Class Of His Own (1999, directed by Robert Munic)
At an Oregon high school, Rich Donato (Lou Diamond Phillips) is the most popular adult on campus. He defies the school’s no music rule by dancing in the cafeteria. He keeps discipline in the hallways and he counsels the school’s most troubled students. He’s the adult that all the students come to for advice. He’s the adult who everyone looks to as being a life coach. However, Rich is not a teacher or a guidance counselor. Instead, he’s just a custodian and handyman. Rich is smart but he never graduated high school. He doesn’t even have a G.E.D.
That becomes a problem when the school board announces that all employees of the district are now required to have, at the very least, a GED. If Rich can’t take and pass the GED test in 30 days, Rich will lose his job. Rich fails the test the first time he takes it but wife and the students at the school come together to try to help him pass. Along the way, the special education teacher (Joan Chen) diagnoses Rich as having both ADD and dyslexia, helping to explain why Rich always had trouble in school. Even though their parents say that Rich is just a janitor and not worth the trouble, the school’s students never stop believing in him.
Made for television, In A Class Of His Own is based on a true story. It takes a typical “inspiring” approach to the material, which means there’s nothing surprising about this movie. Everyone likes Rich, even the principal (Tom McBeath) who wishes that Rich would stop dancing in the cafeteria. Luckily, Lou Diamond Phillips is likable as Rich and his performance suggests that he truly cared about the film’s message. And it’s a good message! If you have a dream, don’t give up. And don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Q&A (1990, directed by Sidney Lumet)
Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton) is the son of a New York cop and a former cop himself. Having put himself through law school, Reilly is now an assistant district attorney. When Reilly is assigned the case of Mike Brennan (Nick Nolte), a popular detective who claims to have killed a Puerto Rican drug dealer in self-defense, everyone assumes that Al will come down on the side of Brennan. Instead, Al discovers that Brennan is corrupt and that the shooting is connected to a drug lord named Bobby Texador (Armand Assante). Bobby just happens to be married to Nancy (Jenny Lumet), who is Al’s ex-girlfriend.
Nobody was better at capturing the hustle and the gritty language of New York City politics than Sidney Lumet and some of the best scenes in Q&A are the ones where characters like Al, Brennan, and even Bobby are just hanging out and being the New Yorkers that they are. The dialogue in those scenes crackle with cynicism, as everyone knows better than to trust anything that anyone says. Coming after Serpico and The Prince of the City, this was Lumet’s third film to focus on corruption in the NYPD. It was a world that Lumet obviously knew well and he brings the eye for detail that a story like this needs to hold our attention.
Unfortunately, the plot of Q&A is often too dependent on melodrama and coincidence. Asking us to believe that Bobby would just happen to be married to Al’s ex is asking a lot. As opposed to the documentary feel of Serpico and especially The Prince of the City, Q&A feels like an extended episode of a cop show, with little of the moral ambiguity that Lumet brought to his best films. Q&A is good but its never as good as it could have been.
As an actress Jenny Lumet doesn’t really have the depth necessary to make Nancy a believable character. (Francis Ford Coppola wasn’t the only director to miscast his daughter in 1990.) But the rest of the cast is uniformly excellent, with Luis Guzman, Fyvush Finkel, Lee Richardson, Paul Calderon, Charles S. Dutton, and Patrick O’Neal all turning in good supporting performances. Of the leads, Hutton is often overshadowed by the more flamboyant performances of Nolte and Assante but, overall, he does a good job of anchoring the film’s story. Nolte is excellent in the role of Mike Brennan. It’s just too bad that the film eventually turns him into a standard movie villain.
Sidney Lumet would return to theme of New York political corruption with the underrated Night Falls On Manhattan.
Music Video of the Day: Been Caught Stealing by Jane’s Addiction (1990, directed by Casey Niccoli)
Today’s music video of the day is for a song that is perfect for May Day.
This video features people stealing from a grocery store in Venice, California. The barking was provided by Annie, who was Perry Farrell’s dog. The song was not originally envisioned as featuring Annie but, after Farrell brought her to studio with him, she insisted on getting involved. It’s now impossible to imagine the song without her.
Director Casey Niccoli was Farrell’s then-girlfriend and has often been described as his muse during the early days of Jane’s Addiction.
Enjoy!
Colorado Ranger (1950, directed by Thomas Carr)
The Shamrock Kid (James Ellison), Lucky (Russell Hayden), and the Colonel (Raymond Hatton) ride into the town of Cattle Junction. They are on the trail of a group of outlaws who have been causing trouble but everyone in town mistakes them for being outlaws themselves. Feisty ranch owner Anne Hayden (Julie Adams, beautiful as always) even locks them in a basement to keep them from causing trouble! Far more serious, though, is Jim Morgan (Stephen Carr), who tries to hire the men to force the ranchers off of their property.
This is a typical homesteader vs ranchers film. The story behind the making of the film is more interesting than the film itself. It was one of six films that the director and the cast shot concurrently over the course of a handful of days. Each day, the cast and crew would set up at a different location and shoot scenes for all six films. The other interesting thing about this film is that Elllison and Hayden were better known for playing Hopalong Cassidy’s sidekicks than for being leading men. Like Fuzzy Knight (who appears in this film), Ellison and Hayden were born sidekicks. They were likeable but not particularly convincing as being tough lawmen.
This film has all of the familiar faces who usually appeared in these films, actor like Fuzzy Knight, George Cheseboro, Tom Tyler, and Bud Osborne. Fans of the B-western genre will be happy to see them but the overall film is memorable only for Julie Adams. I wonder if this movie was a hit in Colorado.
Music Video of the Day: Cannonball by The Breeders (1993, directed by Kim Gordon and Spike Jonze)
Cannonball was the biggest hit for one of the best bands of the 90s, The Breeders. And the song’s music video was one of the best that ever played on MTV. According to Kim Deal, this song was inspired by the Marquis De Sade. Thanks to this video, most of us will always associate this song with the Deal sisters having fun in rehearsal, Josephine Wiggins showing off her cool professionalism, and Jim MacPherson beating the Hell out of those drums.
This video was directed by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and a young up-and-comer named Spike Jonze. This was Jonze’s first music video.
Enjoy!
The Guvnors (2014, directed by Gabe Turner)
Back in the day, The Guvnors were one of the most feared and powerful firms around. Based in London, this group of football hooligans were famous for the brutality of their fights. More than 20 years later, they’ve all retired from hooliganism and, more or less, gone on to live normal lives. (One of them is a cop!) Their former leader, Mitch (Doug Allen), preaches non-violence and worries about his son copying his past mistakes. When he runs into the former members of a rival firm at a soccer game, he makes a point of shaking hands with them. The past is over.
When young drug dealer Adam (Harley Sule) takes over a London manor estate, he is eager to fight the former members of the Guvnors so that he can establish that he and his gang are now in charge of the neighborhood. Mitch tries to ignore him until a former Guvnor, Mickey (David Essex), is murdered in his home. Mitch gets the old firm back together again for one last brawl.
Also know as Hoodies vs Hoodlums, The Guvnors is gritty but contrived, with action that plays out at a slow pace while managing to hit just about urban gang movie cliche imaginable. There was a lot of potential to the idea of Mitch getting the old gang back together again but it doesn’t happen until nearly an hour into this 95-minute movie so, with the exception of a sepia-toned flashback, we don’t really get much of an idea of who these people were in the past. Doug Allen project quite authority as Mitch but rapper Harley Sule (credited here as Harley Sylvester) is unimpressive in the role of Adam. He doesn’t come across as being a dynamic enough leader to take over a manor estate, let alone defeat a group of middle-aged football hooligans.
Despite a premise with a lot of kick, The Guvnors misses the goal.
Music Video of the Day: If There’s A Heaven Above by Love & Rockets (1986, directed by ????)
I have no idea who directed this video from Love & Rockets. Do you know? If so, let me know in the comments.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 