Well, dear readers, I picked up quite a few new DVDs yesterday, all titles that should be out on Tuesday. So, last night I watched one of them – a Cliff Richard musical called The Young Ones. It was an eye-popper this musical was. First off, it’s totally enjoyable and winning, and Mr. Richard is charming. The film is giddily entrancing and quite mad – sort of an amalgam of Babes In Arms, Bye Bye Birdie and West Side Story, with one rather mind-boggling number that will have your jaw dropping – think Bob Fosse and Steam Heat with umbrellas. It was directed by Sidney J. Furie, who would, in a few years time, give us The Ipcress File. There are times during the film when you’ll swear you’re watching Bye Bye Birdie, because of the costumes and the way it’s shot, although this film precedes the film of Birdie and it’s not spoofing rock and roll. There are a few Elvis type numbers, but most of the songs are firmly entrenched in the land of the Broadway/MGM musical. The choreography, like the film, is stylistically all over the place – some Jerry Robbins here, some Onna White there, with a bit of Gower Champion and Gene Kelly thrown in, along with the above-mentioned dose of Bob Fosse. And do you know who the choreographer was? Well, I’ll tell you who it was because why should I keep that information from you after bringing it up in the first place? The choreographer was none other than Mr. Herbert Ross, that’s who the choreographer was. The transfer looks amazing (Anchor Bay via Studio Canal – every time I see the Studio Canal logo, which I love, at the beginning of a DVD, I know it will be a superb transfer), it was a Cinemascope film and the transfer is enhanced for widescreen tvs. There is also a commentary track with Mr. Furie, which I’ve only listened to a bit of. The most interesting thing about that is that Mr. Furie, who I’d always presumed was a Brit, sounds like an American. Anyway, I totally recommend this – if you need one more reason to try it, it also has the sublime Robert Morley. Anchor Bay has also released Summer Holiday, another Cliff Richard musical (similar in style, also choreographed by Mr. Ross), which I also got but haven’t watched yet.
I went from The Young Ones to I Want to Live! starring Miss Susan Hayward in her Academy Award-winning performance. She’s great in this film. The film is a bit wacky at times, but it still works and is quite powerful. It also has a cool, man, cool score by Johnny Mandel, which is played by some cool, man, cool players (who are also featured in the film) – Shelly Manne, man, Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Pete Jolly, man. They are the most cooliscious, man.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? What am I, trying to win the Longest Paragraph in History Award, man?
I am here to tell you that we’ve only had one guess in our Unseemly Trivia Contest. How is that possible? If you haven’t seen the question (we did not have a lot of dear readers yesterday) then just check out yesterday’s notes which are lying next to yesterday’s mashed potatoes, man, and then send your unseemly guesses. And for those who have been posting their own unseemly trivia queries, save them and send them to me and I will have some guest trivia contest questions. If I use your question I will send you a sparkling prize.
Well, it is now 8:55 a.m. and I think that is a fine time for all of us to click on the Unseemly Button below.
I also bought a brand spanking new CD yesterday, a Japanese import of Astrud Gilberto’s The Shadow of Your Smile. I have always been a fan of Miss Astrud Gilberto and her charming wispy voice. This is my favorite of her albums, and it’s rather annoying that it has never been released here in the US. Beautiful songs, spectacularly arranged and orchestrated by the likes of Mr. Claus Ogerman, Joao Donato and Mr. Don Sebesky. My favorites on the album are The Gentle Rain (not to be confused with Pat Boone’s The Gentile Rain) and Funny World, which has music by Mr. Ennio Morricone himself. I love these Japanese imports of Verve LPs, because they don’t come in jewel cases – they look like miniature LPs. I’ve got quite a few of these (Japan Columbia did most of the Miles Davis albums this way, too) and I find them totally cool, man.
I’m still not quite feeling up to snuff. Now wait just a darned minute, man. Isn’t snuff the stuff you sniff? Why on earth would I want to feel up to snuff? I don’t even like snuff and yet I want to feel up to it. Luckily, I don’t want to feel up snuff because that would be unseemly, man. But I do like that sentence “Isn’t snuff the stuff you sniff”. I think that is a fine sentence, don’t you, dear readers? Say it aloud – it just trips lightly off the tongue, doesn’t it? Well, I don’t know about lightly off the tongue, that might be stretching it. Have you ever stretched “it”? “It” doesn’t look so good stretched – iiiiiiiiiittttttttttttt. I don’t like a stretched “it”, let me tell you that. A stretched “it” is not pleasing to the eye nor is it pleasing to the I. What the hell am I talking about?
We found out an important thing yesterday here at haineshisway.com. We found out that westerns are not our dear readers thing, man. Westerns are not cooliscious, man, and we shall never discuss them again. Not only will we never discuss the western again, we will also never eat a Western Omelet again. We will never again watch a film in which Wes Stern appears (well, there aren’t that many). We will never drive down Western Ave. again. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, the western is kaput here at haineshisway.com. No John Wayne here at haineshisway.com, only Ethel Merman. If Ethel Merman had starred in High Noon, you can bet your western boots we’d be discussing it. Wouldn’t Ethel be great in High Noon? I can hear her singing now:
Bad men,
Come soon.
Meet at
High noon.
We’ll fight
And they will die
I’ll be ridin’
I’m ridin’ high
Noon.
Or
There’s no shootout like this shootout
Like no shootout I know.
There’ll be guns a’blazing that’s for certain
I am gonna shoot Frank Miller now.
Miller’s gonna have his final curtain
Yes, he’ll be hurtin’ and how!
Yes, what a shame that never happened. Oh, well, no more westerns, ever.
Well, dear readers, it’s very gray outside. Man, is it gray, man. And my kitchen reeks of Chinese food, which is what I ate last night. I must take the remnants out to the trash can. And then I shall come back in the house and stretch “it” some more, just for the hell of “it”.
Today’s topic of discussion is not westerns. Don’t even think about discussing westerns. I do not want to hear one mention of a western, or there will be bitch-slapping going on here. Westerns are verboten, in case you hadn’t heard. No, today’s topic of discussion is up for grabs because today is Sunday and Sunday is free-for-all day at haineshisway.com. That means you can post whatever you wish, as long as it falls within our stringently set guidelines. In other words, don’t mention a western. So, post away and I’ll be back later to see what y’all are discussin’. Most of all, be cool, man. Put on some Shelly Manne, man. Or some Herbie Mann, man.