Films of the 60s, Part 26: Only the Good Die Young

“Come out, Virginia. Don’t let me wait
You Catholic girls start much too late.
Sooner or later it comes down to fate,
I might as well be the one,
You know that only the good die young.”
---Billy Joel, “Only the Good Die Young”



One glance at the title of this particular survey of 60s films should give you one big spoiler alert. Sorry about that, but I think in this case it is warranted. Though Billy Joel's lyrics are more of a plea of seduction, in this case, I am using them as words of sacrifice. As you will see, these are movies all about sacrifice. In regard to the "spoilers," these are not movies with surprise endings. Plot is not an isolated element here. Rather, these three films encapsulate everything films should aspire to be. They do tell a story, but they take advantage of visual imagery, symbolism, narrative tricks, and reflections on humanity. It’s true, very young characters die in each of these films, and each of them could be defined as “good,” but the films and characters represent the 60s in France and Russia as a time of post-war bleakness, a time, though not isolated, of man’s inhumanity to man, and the dichotomy of this darkness and a religious background.



Ivan’s Childhood (1962, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Ivan is a twelve-year-old Russian boy caught in the conflagration of World War II, specifically his countrymen’s fight with the German Wehrmacht along the Eastern front. As the film moves along, we are exposed to more of his story, both in the present day, and in a series of four “dreams” that serve as psychological flashbacks. We find out that Ivan is tragically orphaned by the war. We also learn that, in an effort to avenge his family’s deaths, he wants to fight on the front lines. The Russian army uses him as a reconnaissance spy, due to his innocuous nature as a child. Through these back-and-forth splits in the linear narrative, we see the comparisons of a life of innocence with those of the harsh realities of war.

Ivan isn’t the only character we follow through the film. We also follow a few of the Russian soldiers, some of whom very much want to protect Ivan. In effect, they make a compromise by allowing him to spy, but not to fight on the front lines. Another solider, Kholin, spends most of his time trying to aggressively woo a young nurse, Masha. Through all these characters, we are exposed to nearly every primitive instinct of man, from revenge to caring, and from violence to lust. War, by its very nature, tends to reduce man to his basest instincts, but yet even this message is not the central one in Ivan’s Childhood. Being a great film with many narrative and visual layers, there are perhaps many messages that can be taken from it. As we can say of all great art, there are many interpretations, depending on the viewer.

It is amazing to think that this is Andrei Tarkovsky’s first feature film. The imagery within seems to come from the eye of a seasoned director. Nearly every shot means something within the narrative. Take, for instance, an early shot of Ivan in a burned out house. As he enters it, several of the fallen, hanging beams frame Ivan, pointing to him as some kind of aura of a religious figure. Another lasting and powerful image involves the Russian soldier, Kholin. In a forest of starkly white bark trees in the winter, he straddles a foxhole trench and hugs Masha, her feet dangling over emptiness. It perfectly captures how we have to hold each other up through difficult times, and that often our lives are completely in the hands of others. These are just two of the stunning images among many in the film. They all serve to underscore the sacrifice eventually made by Ivan, a heartbreaking reminder of the fragility of life and the utter ridiculousness of war as the eventual result of the petty differences between men and nations.



Au Hasard Balthazar (1966, Robert Bresson)

Au Hasard Balthazar has been called one of the most powerful allegories of the life of Jesus Christ ever put on film. Even though it can certainly be interpreted in this way, there are various other interpretations that are just as certain. Balthazar is a donkey. We are introduced to him and his human counterpart, Marie, and then subsequently follow them through their horrifically tragic lives. Marie is among a group of children who are the first “owners” of Balthazar, there at the presence of his birth. As if that wasn’t symbolic enough, the kids then playfully “baptize” the newborn donkey. As the two grow older, they are eventually separated, though their lives mirror each other’s.

Balthazar goes through seven owners, again a hugely symbolic element, reflecting the seven sacraments, the seven words from the cross, or the seven deadly sins. His life, moving owner-to-owner, and suffering abuses and indignities, are representative of the Stations of the Cross, eventually ending in Balthazar’s death on a hillside, much like Golgotha. Balthazar is given a wreath of flowers to wear upon his head, like the crown of thorns. It is absolutely intended symbolism, one can easily see. But, the question becomes whether this is supposed to simply be an allegory, or could there perhaps be other interpretations?

Jean-Luc Godard, who eventually married the young girl who played Marie, Anne Wiazemsky, famously said that Au Hasard Balthazar was “the world in an hour and a half.” While those with faith may take this to mean that life is suffering, but through saintliness, like that which can be attributed to either Marie or Balthazar, there is redemption, I think Bresson could have presented an alternative alongside this. Bresson’s films are typically bleak. They show the world for what it is, a harsh, violent, depressing, and inhumane landscape filled with selfish people. Marie and Balthazar are not selfish. Rather, they are subservient and meek. While Christian religion tells us that the meek shall inherit the earth, Bresson presents a tableau that shows the meek are simply tragic figures, swallowed up by the harsh world, eventually sacrificed, though we may not know the value of that sacrifice. After all, Marie’s father lies dying at the end of the film, her mother desperately praying for God’s compassion, her prayers unanswered. Remember, this is a specific choice Bresson makes as a storyteller. My point is that this is ok. Two viewpoints can coexist, even in discussing the same piece of art, and I think Bresson would adamantly agree. Is there another life for those who have faith, or is this is all that we get, a cold, harsh reality where we make choices for the benefit of our fellow man? It’s impossible to know, but both of us can disagree and coexist.



Mouchette (1967, Robert Bresson)

Mouchette, like Ivan, Balthazar, and Marie, is a young, tragic figure. In French, the name means “little fly,” and this is perhaps the most fitting description of this female adolescent. Her mother is bedridden, her father is an abusive alcoholic, and she is a social outcast at school. In other words, Mouchette doesn’t have much going for her. Her life is as bleak as it can possibly be. Painfully, Bresson gives Mouchette a few moments when her life may begin to improve, small glimpses of hope that are then just as quickly dashed. For instance, she meets a young boy at a fair and after the two playfully flirt with each other on the bumper cars, her father viciously slaps her in front of her crush, interrupting and in effect, destroying their courtship.

But, this is just the beginning of Mouchette’s tragic tale. During a rainstorm, she becomes lost and disoriented in the woods, usually the only place she feels comfortable. The woods are generally Mouchette’s only refuge. Lost, she eventually comes upon a poacher who has just killed the village’s game warden. Because she is a witness, the poacher deviously connives her to become his alibi. In her state of shock, fatigue, fear, and sadness, she agrees, and further becomes his rape victim. Humiliated, she leaves for home the next morning and must not only relate the poacher’s concocted story, but also claim that the two are lovers due to her being out all night. Upon her arrival home, she finds her mother eventually succumbing to her illness and dying. At this point, Mouchette has been deprived of the last tenuous sanctuaries she has in life. An elderly villager offers her a dress and shroud, intended for her mother. In an eerie calm, she takes the garments, walks to a nearby lake, wraps herself in the shroud and rolls herself into the lake, committing suicide.

While there is an easy allegory to see in Balthazar, and an underlying hope, all hope seems absent from Mouchette, or at least one has to really want to see any positive message within its narrative. It is less about saintliness or transcendence and more about the utter ugliness and tragedy of human existence. It is, at most times, difficult to watch because of this, but Bresson’s images are still riveting and captivating in their simplicity. The film is, if nothing else, a stark reminder that all existences are not equal and that, while there is indeed beauty in life, there is also injustice, inequality, and evil. While some are given little boosts here and there due to social stature, wealth, privilege, and even luck, others are not so fortunate. It is also a reminder of the fragile nature of youth and the crippling nature of depression and hopelessness. Though we can argue over other possible outcomes for Mouchette, the narrative effectively seals her fate and serves as a stark depiction of inhumanity. I am also reminded of the saying, which is not in the Bible, that God doesn’t give us more problems than we can handle. Mouchette is a symbol of the flaws inherent in this belief.

Saturday's Playlist: 12-10-11

Justin Timberlake – “Cry Me a River”
U2 – “Can’t Help Falling in Love (Triple Peaks Remix)”
Radiohead – “Lucky”
Sons & Daughters – “Don’t Look Now”
Bright Eyes – “Shell Games”
ABC – “15 Storey Halo”
LCD Soundsystem – “Movement”
Cut Copy – “Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat”
Modest Mouse – “Trailer Trash”
David Bowie – “TVC 15”
LCD Soundsystem – “Drunk Girls (London Session)”
Sufjan Stevens - “Detroit, Lift up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)”
Mew – “Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy”
Gorillaz – “19-2000”
Arcade Fire – “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”
Camper Van Beethoven – “We Love You”
The Black Keys – “Unknown Brother”
The Bird & the Bee – “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)”
New Order – “Vanishing Point”
R.E.M. – “Be Mine”
Viva Voce – “Black Mood Ring”
Suede – “Daddy’s Speeding”
Dum Dum Girls – “Bedroom Eyes”
Galaxie 500 – “Isn’t it a Pity”
Aloe Blacc – “Life so Hard”
John Cale – “Pablo Picasso”
Stephin Merritt & Susan Anway – “Plant White Roses (Buffalo Rome)”
U2 & Johnny Cash – “The Wanderer”
Red Sparowes – “In Illusions of Order”
Glen Hansard – “Say it to Me Now”
Sufjan Stevens – “Too Much”
Eels – “Looking Up”
Luscious Jackson – “Rollin’”
The Old 97’s – “You Drink Too Much”
Okkervil River – “The Valley”
Q-Tip & Raphael Saadiq – “We Fight / Love”
Better than Ezra – “(Untitled)”
Tom Waits – “Earth Died Screaming”
Childish Gambino – “That Power”
Postal Service – “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”
The Pixies – “Manta Ray”
The Smithereens – “Something New”
Iggy Pop & James Williamson – “Master Charge”
The Smithereens – “Time Won’t Let Me”
U2 – “Dirty Day”
Mew – “Comforting Sounds”
Bon Iver – “Michicant”
The Motels – “Take the L”
TV on the Radio – “All Falls Down”
U2- “’Baby’ Love is Blindness”
SWV – “Anything (Old School Version)”
School of Seven Bells – “The Wait”
Here We Go Magic – “Babyohbaby-Ijustcantstanditanymore!”
Woodhands – “Papa Don’t Preach”
Echo & the Bunnymen – “The Cutter”
The Smiths – “Barbarism Begins at Home”
The Thermals – “I Don’t Believe You”
Mumford & Sons – “Dust Bowl Dance”
The 88 – “Coming Home”
The Stepkids – “Outro”
Dolorean – “My Grey Life (Second Chances)”
Luscious Jackson – “Ladyfingers”

Thursday's Playlist: 12-8-11

Placebo – “Nancy Boy”
Death Cab for Cutie – “Monday Morning”
Kaiser Chiefs – “Heard it Break”
Thomas Dolby – “Radio Silence”
Andrew Bird – “The Whistling Caruso”
Zola Jesus – “Shivers”
Tom Waits – “I Wish I Was in New Orleans (Live)”
Baroness – “War, Wisdom and Rhyme”
Broadcast – “The Little Bell”
Best Coast – “Each and Everyday”
Sufjan Stevens – “In the Devil’s Territory”
The Cure – “Just Like Heaven”
Supertramp – “Breakfast in America”
Echo & the Bunnymen – “Fuel”
The Beach Boys – “Heroes and Villains (Stereo Mix)”
Smashing Pumpkins – “I Am One”
Nirvana – “Lounge Act (Boombox Rehearsal)”
Information Society – “Tomorrow”
The Cure – “Charlotte Sometimes”
Tom Waits – “Good Old World (Waltz)”
Danger Mouse – “My 1st Song”
The Killers – “All These Things That I’ve Done”
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – “Kisses Start Wars”
The Zombies – “This Will Be Our Year”
Wye Oak – “Plains”
King Curtis – “Mr. Bojangles”
The Jayhawks – “Red Light”
Male Bonding – “What’s That Scene?”
M83 – “Soon, My Friend”
Echo & the Bunnymen – “Heaven Up Here”
Band of Skulls – “Patterns”
Janet Jackson – “The Knowledge”
Gruff Rhys – “At the Heart of Love”
Kansas – “The Spider”
Orbital – “Satan (Live)”
Red Fang – “Hank is Dead”
Clem Snide – “Stoney”
Peter, Bjorn & John – “Black Book”
Sebastian Tellier – “Fantino”
Toro y Moi – “Divina”
RES – “Golden Boys”
Liam Gallagher & Steve Craddock – “Carnation”
The Smithereens – “Top of the Pops”
Swervedriver – “Last Train to Satansville”
The Dears – “Thrones”
Jesu – “Small Wonder”
M83 – “Echoes of Mine”
The Go-Go’s – “We Got the Beat”
The New Pornographers – “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”
Ministry – “Cannibal Song”
Echo & the Bunnymen – “No Hands (Peel Session)”
The Jayhawks – “Turn Your Pretty Name Around”
Suede – “Heroine”
Lucy Pearl – “Lucy Pearl Tells”
Bright Eyes – “First Day of My Life”
Missy Elliott – “Work It”
Stina Nordenstam – “Like a Swallow”
Fleetwood Mac – “Never Forget”
Prince – “Pop Life”
Big Daddy Kane – “I Get the Job Done”
Cymbals Eat Guitars – “Plainclothes”
World Party – “All the Young Dudes”
Serge Gainsbourg – “Ah! Melody”
Ty Segall – “Where Your Mind Goes”
John Cale – “Helen of Troy”
The War on Drugs – “Original Slave”
Gorillaz – “Every Planet We Reach is Dead”
The Rapture – “Blue Bird”
Oneohtrix Point Never – “Physical Memory”
Old 97’s – “Four Leaf Clover”
Nirvana – “In Bloom”
Drive Like Jehu – “Caress”
Stevie Wonder – “Overjoyed”
tUnE-yArDs – “Gangsta (Ad-Rock Remix)”
Jay-Zeezer – “99 Problems with Buddy Holly”
Phosphorescent – “Pride”
Kansas – “Sparks of the Tempest (Live)”
Skee-Lo – “I Wish (Street Mix)”
Washed Out – “Soft”
Jungle Brothers – “Strictly Dedicated”
The Jayhawks – “Sweet Hobo Self”
The Men – “With the Shah”
Tennis – “Bimini Bay”
The Beach Boys – “Surf’s Up (Piano Demo)”
Camper Van Beethoven – “(Don’t You Go To) Goleta”
Van Morrison – “Sweet Thing”
Love is All – “Make Out Fall Out Make Up”
Alice in Chains – “Them Bones”
A Tribe Called Quest – “Lyrics to Go”
U2 – “Heaven and Hell”
Can – “One More Night”
The Buggles – “Video Killed the Radio Star”
Fountains of Wayne – “She’s Got a Problem”
Hüsker Dü – “Pink Turns to Blue”
Mew – “Wheels Over Me”
X – “Johnny Hit and Run Paulene”
Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi – “Black”
Pearl Jam – “Crown of Thorns (Live)”

Wednesday's Playlist: 12-7-11

Dexys Midnight Runners – “Reminisce Pt. 1”
Rialto – “Monday Morning 5.19”
Aimee Mann – “Save Me (Live on Conan)”
Goldfrapp – “Believer”
Laura Marling – “My Friends”
Darker My Love – “18th Street Shuffle”
Sigur Rós – “Svefn-g-englar (Live)”
Gruff Rhys – “Shark Ridden Waters”
The Polyphonic Spree – “Light & Day / Reach for the Sun”
The Who – “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
Asia – “One Step Closer”
Iron Maiden – “Back in the Village”
The Future Sound of London – “Papua New Guinea”
Neil Finn – “King Tide”
Interpol – “NYC”
Warpaint – “Bees”
Snow Patrol – “Somewhere a Clock is Ticking”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Even in Dreams”
Aimee Mann – “Calling it Quits”
Simian Mobile Disco – “Skin Cracker”
John Cougar Mellencamp – “Small Town”
Danger Mouse – “Change Clothes”
Destroyer – “Song for America”
Red Fang – “Human Herd”
Paul Westerberg – “Born for Me”
A Tribe Called Quest – “Check the Rhime”
OK Go – “Muppet Show Theme Song”
A Place to Bury Strangers – “It is Nothing”
OK Go – “What to Do”
Q-Tip – “N.T.”
R.E.M. – “Life and How to Live It”
Stereo MC’s – “Deep Down & Dirty”
R.E.M. – “Hyena”
The Corin Tucker Band – “Doubt”
Paul McCartney & Wings – “Live and Let Die”
Portugal. The Man – “All Your Light (Times Like These)”
Yeasayer – “Rome”
Blondie – “Shayla (Live)”
David Bowie – “Fashion”
Christopher O’Riley – “Fake Plastic Trees”
Health – “Perfect Skin (Curses! Remix)”
Cat Power – “I Found a Reason”
David Bowie – “Shadow Man”
Jónsi – “Go Do”
The National – “Pay for Me”
Sigur Rós – “Með Blóðnasir (Live)”
Braids – “Lammicken”
Carissa’s Wierd – “The Color that your Eyes Changed with the Color of your Hair”
Megafaun – “Comprovisation for Connor Pass”
The English Beat – “Spar Wid me”
Cold Cave – “Confetti”
World Party – “Take it Up”
R.E.M. – “Be Mine”
Blitzen Trapper – “American Goldwing”
Neil Young – “Cinnamon Girl”
Can – “Soup”
Basement Jaxx – “Red Alert”
Mike Ness – “Big Iron”
Fennesz & Sakamoto – “0405”
The Boxer Rebellion – “Both Sides are Evil”
Blondie – “X-Offender”

Sunday's Playlist: 12-4-11

Blondie – “The Dream’s Lost on Me (Acoustic)”
Black Kids – “Hurricane Jane”
Heart – “Dreamboat Annie (Reprise)”
Camper Van Beethoven – “Five Sticks”
Wolf Parade – “Pobody’s Nerfect”
Franz Ferdinand – “The Dark of the Matinee (Headman Remix)”
OMD – “Bondage of Fate”
Wilco – “A Shot in the Arm (Alternate Take)”
The Jayhawks – “Sister Cry”
Flying Lotus & Thom Yorke – “…And the World Laughs With You”
Stevie Wonder – “Where Were You When I Needed You”
Björk – “Thunderbolt”
Stars – “He Lied about Death”
Mastodon – “Crack the Skye”
The Pixies – “Build High”
Blitzen Trapper – “Fletcher”
Sun Kil Moon – “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”
R.E.M. – “I Believe (Demo)”
The Duke Spirit – “Homecoming”
Tombs – “Constellations”
Little Scream – “The Lamb”
Thomas Dolby – “Flying North”
Christopher O’Riley – “Let Down”
Gorillaz – “19-2000 (The Wiseguys House of Wisdom Remix)”
Wolf Parade – “I’ll Believe in Anything”
Phoenix – “Love Like a Sunset Part II”
Cake – “The Distance”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Love Burns”
Blondie – “Detroit 442”
Florence + the Machine – “You’ve Got the Dirtee Love”
Remy Zero – “Save Me”
Kansas – “Carry on My Wayward Son”
Eels – “For You”
Hans Zimmer – “Dream is Collapsing”
Ryan Adams – “Rocks”
Jónsi – “Sinking Friendships”
Wilco – “Handshake Drugs”
The Smiths – “London”
Run-D.M.C. – “Together Forever”
Childish Gambino – “Not Going Back”
Blondie – “Call Me”
Fountains of Wayne – “Valley Winter Song”
Juana Molina – “Isabel”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Sheena is a Punk Rocker”
Camper Van Beethoven – “Sometimes”
She & Him – “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want”
Panda Bear – “Scheherazade”
Spoon – “Small Stakes”
The Psychedelic Furs – “President Gas”
A Tribe Called Quest – “Baby Phife’s Return”

Films of the 60s, Part 25: What If I Were Romeo in Black Jeans?

“What if I were Romeo in black jeans,
What if I was Heathcliff, it’s no myth,
Maybe she's just looking for someone to dance with.”
--Michael Penn, “No Myth”



Shakespeare. No one is more ubiquitous in world of English letters than the Bard of Avon. I’ll admit, though the current trend in education is to scale back on Shakespeare and supplement the curriculum with more current material, I am quite pro Shakespeare. It’s not that I don’t agree with keeping it fresh, it’s just that Shakespeare has been relatable to the human condition for over four hundred years. I have read every play and every poem. I have seen many of the plays performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Bill is my boy. Modern filmmakers and critics can hurl all the slings and arrows they like at him, questioning his identity or his legitimacy, and I will still be a fan. In other words, the play’s the thing. His work is so universal that it can be adapted into nearly any situation and still have relevance and connection. Cases in point, the following three films from the 60s, which took the classic works to entirely new levels.



The Bad Sleep Well (1960, Akira Kurosawa)

There have been many great portrayals and adaptations of Hamlet over the years: Olivier, Branagh, Tennant, Sons of Anarchy, Strange Brew… Yeah, you read that right. But, one of my favorites of all time is Akira Kurosawa’s take on the classic tale of revenge, The Bad Sleep Well. Toshiro Mifune certainly deserves to be considered alongside the best that have portrayed the tragic Prince of Denmark, though he was playing a businessman of Japan. Mifune plays Nishi, a young man who, at the start of the film, is getting married to Yoshiko, the daughter of a wealthy executive. In this way, we can already see how the story differs slightly from the classic tragedy. Hamlet never got married, though Ophelia’s grief-inspired dementia is symbolized in the fact that Yoshiko is hobbled. Reporters and police, the latter of which arrest one of the company men, Wada, for bribery, interrupt the wedding. As it turns out, this scandal was previously hushed up conveniently through another businessman’s suicide, and this is just one aspect of an untouchable corporate culture in which lower level employees sacrifice themselves for the higher-ups. Sound familiar?

Nishi seems at first to be complicit in the goings on, guiding Wada to the top of a volcano. Incidentally, this scene is how I always imagined the setting of the transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader as opposed to the ridiculous and overblown result. Anyway, Nishi ends up saving Wada and secreting him away as ammunition against the company that ‘killed’ his father. While he tries to find a use for Wada, he leaves a photo of the office building in the company safe, with a red ‘X’ over the window from which his own father jumped. That same building figures prominently throughout the film, taking the place of Elsinore Castle. Eventually, Nishi cleverly enacts scenarios in which Wada appears as a ‘ghost’ to scare the top executives, one by one. Nishi becomes an obsessed character, as any Hamlet model should, even becoming somewhat creepy as he whistles down the street, much like Omar in The Wire. There are great subplots with Yoshiko’s brother and Nishi’s best friend, all of which wrap up nicely in the end, but like Hamlet, there is indeed a tragic ending.

The Bad Sleep Well is one of those adaptations that is usually said to be “loosely” based on the original. In this case, there are several subtle changes. For one, the despicable union of uncle and mother is replaced by a corrupt corporation, but one is still a father-in-law. The brilliance of this change is to turn a revenge tragedy into one that also has social commentary on the state of corporate culture, an institution that did not exist in Shakespeare’s time. Kurosawa showcases something that we are seeing even today, a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, in which those being held down by their superiors still curry their favor. As Nishi says, “They starved you and my father with scraps from their table, killed you as scapegoats, and still you can’t hate them.” As we have learned from history, the only way change occurs is either through revolution or protest that alters minds, and eventually laws. As is said in the film, “It’s pointless trying to use the law against evil people.”



West Side Story (1961, Robert Wise)

There was a long period in which any high school class reading Romeo & Juliet was made to watch West Side Story as a way to bring the classic romantic tragedy more up to date. While the language of Ernest Lehman and Stephen Sondheim might have been more accessible to teens than Shakespeare’s, the language of musicals, at least before Glee, was seemingly foreign to those same youngsters. Now, Glee has performed a majority of the songs from the production and has made it somewhat more hip than it was in my time. In my previous survey of 60s musicals, I made a point about the logic of musicals, the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound, and how these affect my enjoyment of the films. West Side Story is one of those films in which people, and in this case incredibly unlikely people, spontaneously break out into song and dance.

We are introduced first to the Jets in the basketball courts of the projects of New York City. (Interestingly, this is now the location of Lincoln Center, which I recently saw as a location in The Changeling). Anyhoo, it’s fairly difficult for toughs to look…well…tough when snapping fingers in unison and then performing highly choreographed dance moves. This is exacerbated by the declaration of “Cokes all around” during the gang tête-à-tête. Nothing says a gang means business like an order of a round of sodas. While at first skeptical and put off, I was soon trying to suspend my disbelief and enjoying the mixture of dancing and fighting, seeing the dance as an artistic expression of anxiety, anger, fear, racial tension, and even love. In case you were wondering, no, I had not seen this film until recently, despite the fact that my parents had the original cast album on vinyl. While I don’t remember them every playing it in my presence, I found that I actually knew most of the songs, most likely due to their huge presence in the canon as musical classics. “America,” “Maria,” “Jet Song,” “Tonight,” and “I Feel Pretty” were all completely familiar to me.

West Side Story holds the distinction of being probably the most faithful adaptation of Shakespeare, up to a point. The Montague and Capulet families are smartly transformed into rival New York gangs, one white and one Puerto Rican. Like The Bad Sleep Well, it successfully adds a new social element, in this case being race relations and the inanity of gang/race/class warfare. “America” also nicely sums up the reason for immigration and the arguments between preserving culture and the concept of the melting pot. The lyrics and themes throughout the film are nothing short of brilliant. Add in the gorgeous cinematography, color, and wardrobe, and you have the reasons this film won 10 Academy Awards, is now a classic, and why I had to wait for about six months for a copy from Netflix. Luckily, in the midst of that wait, the Blu-Ray version was released and I was able to see the film in the way it was meant to be seen, sharp, vivid, and with glorious sound. The ending may be drastically different from its source material, but it is still more than a worthy adaptation, and indeed, all are punished.



All Night Long (1962, Basil Dearden)

To round out the trio of Shakespeare adaptations, we have another one of Bill’s most well-known works, Othello. I suppose the only other tragedy that would have been more infamous is the Scottish play. Basil Dearden’s All Night Long, like the previous two films surveyed above, places the familiar characters in a modern setting, in this case the London of the swinging 60s jazz set. Dearden even goes as far as to include actual jazz musicians in the film, including Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus. Paul Harris plays Aurelius Rex, our Othello, married to Delia, our Desdemona. The great Patrick McGoohan plays Johnnie Cousin, our conniving Iago. We also have a Roderigo and a Cassio, Rod and Cass respectively, but most of their character traits are bundled up into Cass exclusively.

Like West Side Story, All Night Long is fairly faithful in its translation, up to a point. It, too, changes the ending. Whether this is done to make it “less” tragic, or to put a director or writer’s stamp on the story, I do not know. Regardless, the performances in this film are magnetic. It is perhaps not a classic film in the way that the previous two are, but it is entertaining, especially for those who are fans of jazz. The jazz slang seems a little cartoony now, but the drug and alcohol use is at least accurately portrayed. There are no “Cokes all around” in this film. And, while the choreography dulls the sting of the violence in West Side Story, the violence in All Night Long is fairly brutal. When Aurelius shows his anger, it is palpable.

Aside from McGoohan and Harris’ great performances, there is also a young Richard Attenborough playing Rod, a music promoter. He toes the line nicely, bridging the gap between the English and the Americans, and also between warring “friends.” This film also adds a new element, that being one of not just stealing a lover away and ruining a great man with violent tendencies for power and wealth, but also of stealing away a musician from one band to another, or out of retirement. Jealousy is still one of the central theme here, as well as Johnny’s (Iago’s) desire for the limelight. The added element may not be as heavy as corporate malfeasance or race relations, but the original story of Othello is powerful enough to survive in any setting without another substantially important point. However, this might be what leaves it out of “classic” status.

Saturday's Playlist: 12-3-11

Bangles – “Hit Medley Mix”
Spacemen 3 – “Walkin’ with Jesus”
Japandroids – “To Hell with Good Intentions”
Megafaun – “Carolina Days”
Q-Tip – “Feelin”
Kasabaian – “Velociraptor!”
A Tribe Called Quest – “Oh My God”
Big Pink – “Crystal Visions”
Liturgy – “Generation”
Van Morrison – “Caravan”
Megafaun – “Eagle”
Tommy James & the Shondells – “Crimson and Clover”
Prince – “Beautiful Ones”
Here We Go Magic – “Hands in the Sky”
Dum Dum Girls – “Hold Your Hand”
Digable Planets – “9th Wonder (Blackitolism)”
Little Dragon – “Please Turn”
King Khan & BBQ Show – “Do the Chop”
Twin Shadow – “When We’re Dancing”
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – “Brenda”
Austra – “The Noise”
Faunts – “Alarmed/Lights”
Wilco – “Black Moon”
Big Boi – “Night Night”
Castanets – “Thaw and the Beasts”
Luscious Jackson – “Beloved”
Peter, Bjorn and John – “Young Folks”
Smashing Pumpkins – “The End is the Beginning”
The Weird Sisters – “Magic Works”
Blondie – “Dreaming”
Fleetwood Mac – “Hold Me”
The Sundays – “You’re Not the Only One I Know”
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – “Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks”
Otis Redding – “My Girl”