Killer Diller takes the characters from Clyde Edgerton's novel and simplifies them to deliver an entertaining movie with a message. Tricia Brock the Director/Screenplay Writer of Killer Diller works mainly in TV and her production of Killer Diller has all of the earmarks of an After School Special: troubled young man finds himself and makes good; a group of outcasts all work together for a common goal; acceptance of someone who is "different" into the group; finding out that "different" people may have something to offer you that you don't recognize at first look. Wesley (William Lee Scott), a young man in and out of trouble finds himself in a halfway house at a Baptist College. Wesley is to be the new guitarist for the halfway house's gospel band. At first, Wesley is surly and doesn't get along well with the other members of the house. Through a misadventure, Wesley happens upon Vernon (Lucas Black) an autistic young man who drives an invisible Plymouth. When Wesley finds out that Vernon is a virtuoso on the piano, he convinces the other members of the halfway house to join him and Vernon in forming a blues band. This doesn't sit well with either Vernon's father (the excellent W. Earl Brown) who is overprotective of the boy or with the director of the halfway house, Fred Willard. No need to fear, everything works out in the end as the band (The Killer Diller Blues Band) is a hit. The halfway house director uses the blues band to garner more funds for the college, while Vernon's father learns to let go and allow his son be his own man. The above description of the movie may sound a little "sappy", but the plot plays out quite nicely. While Killer Diller isn't the greatest movie you are ever going to see, it's still a fairly entertaining 95 minutes that's anchored by great performances from Lucas Black and W. Earl Brown. The biggest disappointment with the movie was that I rented it because it showed Taj Mahal in the cast (he's listed sixth in the credits). Sadly, Taj Mahal only shows up as the movie opens and as the movie closes. Although the movie never gives a full explanation, it appears that Taj was Wesley's mentor and left him his guitar when he died.
In 1978, when Sextette was made, Mae West was an iconic figure like Bogart and Monroe. The passage of years has dimmed her status somewhat, but I tried to view Sextette in the context of the year it was made. I'm almost sure that I saw this movie in the theater, but the passage of years has also dimmed my memory. I'm sure we were thrilled to see such an icon back up on the big screen in 1978, especially since Sextette threw a couple of bones to the younger generation by including Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, and Keith Moon among the cast.
Unfortunately, viewing Sextette today all I could see was a creepy looking old woman (I apologize to the memory of Mae West) delivering Mae West's one-liners. While I'm not technically knowledgeable enough to know exactly how the movie was shot, I do know that the make-up used on Mae West caused light to bounce off her face making it appear blurry and washed out at times. I'm not talking about close-up shots where they could put Vaseline on the lens, I'm talking about scenes with other actors where you can clearly see their faces. Instead of achieving the desired effect of making Mae's face look younger, it actually achieved the opposite effect. Another thing that added to Mae looking older was her costuming (credited to Edith Head), it looked like Mae was always wearing something straight out of one of her 1930s movies.
The basic plot of Sextette is that Mae and Timothy Dalton have just wed and they are on their honeymoon. Unfortunately, their plans for the bedroom keep getting interrupted. Mae is kept busy trying to make sure World Peace happens (I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP!), while Timothy Dalton spends most of his time trying to convince people he's not gay. A side note: while Dalton had yet to play James Bond (he had been offered the part several times already) in Sextette it turns out that he's a spy.
As the movie rolls along we get different dance/song numbers and different guest stars showing up throughout the movie. Keith Moon probably has the best guest starring role as a wardrobe dresser, he's flounces about while Mae tries on different dresses delivering one of her famous one-liners with each one. Ringo Starr shows up later in the movie as a movie director, an ex-husband of Mae's, trying to shoot a rehearsal love scene. I thought I had missed Alice Cooper, but he doesn't make his appearance until almost the end of the movie where he sings a disco-like number: "Never Never". Two other music performers of note have brief parts: Van McCoy (who also wrote and sings the theme song "Marlo") appears as one of the peace delegates and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and The Raiders has a very brief scene as a room service waiter, cleverly named Keith. One last music connection that should be noted is Dom De Luise who sings The Beatles "Honey Pie" next to a cardboard cutout (that looks almost as lifelike) of Mae West.
After watching several movies built around rock/country music with the plot secondary to the music, it was refreshing to see this light romantic comedy where the musical performances are integrated into the plot. Unlike some of the similar movies from this time period, The Girl Can't Help It (GCHI) could easily exist without the music acts and still be entertaining.
A gangster (Edmund O'Brien) wants to reclaim the limelight from his golden years of fame. His plan is to make his girlfriend (Jayne Mansfield) into a famous pop singer, then he'll marry her and as the husband of someone famous he'll have his name back in the newspapers. Of course, in today's world O'Brien would be counting on getting his own reality show. O'Brien hooks a washed up press agent (Tom Ewell) into his plan and everything is set to go. Only a couple of problems: Jayne can't sing, she'd rather be a housewife, and as if we didn't know this was going to happen - Jayne and Tom fall in Love.
Using the construct of the music business enables GCHI to include musical acts as part of the story. The very first music act we see in the movie is Nino Tempo (No April!) performing in a nightclub where Tom is sitting alone drinking. As the movie rolls along we get perfomances from Little Richard, Eddie Fontaine, Johnny Olenn, The Chuckles, Abbey Lincoln, Julie London, Gene Vincent And His Blue Caps, Eddie Cochran, The Treniers, Fats Domino, The Platters, and Ray Anthony
Tom gets a phone call at the nightclub to come talk about a job. Since Tom recognizes the address to be in a ritzy part of town, he agrees and that's when he first meets up with O'Brien and gets drawn into the plan; but more importantly, this sequence also includes the first appearance of Jayne Mansfield. She throws open some connecting doors and the director frames her in the doorway. With her perfect hourglass figure, I can only imagine the audience "gasping" when they first saw her on the big screen. Frank Tashlin, the director, who previously directed cartoons, has been quoted as saying "big breasts were some of the funniest things going". GCHI has a lot of of cartoon elements, including a great sight gag sequence as Jayne makes the Iceman's ice melt, the Milkman's milk explode and another man's glasses crack. The below photo from the movie seems to combine Tashlin's thinking about big breasts and a sight gag into one shot.
As with any movie with so many great music acts, everyone will have their favorite(s). I especially liked Little Richard and Fats Domino, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that they are both already two of my favorite performers and I'm thrilled anytime I get to see them. There really wasn't a bad or boring musical performance with any of the acts, which isn't always the case when so many performers are included in one movie. Julie London appears in a sultry dream sequence singing "Cry Me A River" that is still embedded in my brain.
GCHI is available in a DVD box set that includes "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw" and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?' OR You can rent it through Netflix OR catch it on The Fox Movie Channel, since it seems they show it at least once a month (sometimes more than once a month!)
I purchased this movie for one reason, it was listed as David Allan Coe's second acting appearance, and since I'm a big DAC fan, I wanted to check it out. I had already seen DAC in his acting debut: Buckstone County Prison. David Allan Coe (DAC) wasn't great in that movie, but he wasn't terrible either. He's much better in Lady Grey and a lot of that has to do with a role more suited for him: a country music star named Black Jack Donovan.
As the opening credits were rolling, I got another surprise when I saw that Lady Grey was produced by Earl Owensby. One of the first scenes takes place in the same kitchen that was in the whorehouse in Buckstone County Prison and just a little bit later in the movie Lady is singing (a very bad acoustic performance) outside on a large rock outcropping that is the same one that David Allan Coe led the escaped prisoners around in the aforementioned movie. Lady Grey was obviously shot at Earl's studio in Shelby, NC with a few additional scenes around Charlotte NC.
Lady Grey Jackson is a local celebrity singer. She gets signed to a band that has recently played at the local fair and goes on tour with them. One of the band members is cold to her for no apparent reason. The manager eventually winds up raping (?) Lady, I put that question mark there, because he backhands her once, she falls to the bed and the next thing we know it's morning and she's naked under the sheets as the manager is leaving and telling her she wasn't any good anyway. Lady returns home, but the band member that was previously cold to her seeks her out and asks her to join the new band he is playing in - The Black Jack Donovan Band. She gets signed to Black Jack's band as a writer and backup singer. Eventually Black Jack decides she's good enough to go out on her own and releases her from her contract and she becomes a star. Her old manager now has control over her little sister, the reason is REALLY unclear why, the film hints that he's either her pimp, drug supplier, lover....heck, maybe he's some type of hypnotist! Anyway he has a hold on Lady's sister and in order to protect her, Lady let's him manage her again. Of course he's just as big an ass with Lady as he ever was; but he eventually, as we say here in The South, gets his "just desserts". The last scene in the movie is Lady getting her life back on track at a benefit concert. We see Alabama opening for her and are then treated to our final (Thank Goodness!) song by Ginger Alden.
Now that I have the plot out of the way, I can go on to all things David Allan Coe (DAC), the reason I watched Lady Grey and the ONLY reason I would recommend watching Lady Grey to anyone. We finally meet up with DAC in his office about 40 minutes into the movie, where we see him on the phone inviting Willie and Leon to come to his BBQ. After he gets off the phone, DAC asks Lady, who does she sound like: Tammy or Loretta (believe me, she doesn't sound even remotely close to either one of those ladies or for that fact to anyone with talent!). DAC decides to hire her on as a writer and backup singer for his band. I will note that DAC does the same bad fake laugh in this scene that he did in Buckstone....or maybe this is just his real laugh!
We find that DAC has a BBQ on a weekly basis and to stay on his good side, you are expected to always attend. At the first BBQ, DAC introduces Lady and she sings (?) another terrible song. We also see DAC sit down with a couple of lookalikes for Willie Nelson and Leon Russell.....well, the Willie actor looks a little bit like Willie Nelson, BUT the Leon Russell actor doesn't even come close to being a good lookalike!
We finally get the first decent song in the movie, when we see DAC singing at a concert, of course this is marred, when next up is his duet with Lady on still another terrible song. I couldn't find anything about who wrote these terrible numbers....they don't sound country....they don't sound pop or folk or any recognizable genre....unless BAD is a genre.
DAC is a success with the songs that Lady has written for him, but she's disgruntled because he's getting all of the credit. DAC puts her in her place by telling Lady how things really are in life and that he will block her from working with anyone else since she has a contract with him. This is a pretty decent scene, since it appears to be DAC basically telling how hard the music business is when you're first getting started. Actually, the only weak scene that DAC has, and it's not that bad, is his last one in the movie, where he is supposed to be outraged over Lady not being able to keep her career on track.
Lady Grey tried to use some props to make things seem realistic. For example: They used the cover of DAC's Greatest Hits LP, but taped over "David Allan Coe" with "Black Jack" and they made the letters in "Black Jack" much larger than "Greatest Hits" - honestly it looked liked someone had their grade school student do the design. There was a tour bus (I assume DAC's) with a sign on the side that was made too short to cover the original sign underneath. They did do a good job with some fake country music magazine covers. My favorite realistic touch was at a second BBQ, where we see someone with their back to the camera wearing a jacket that says "The David Allan Coe Band"!!!
I couldn't find a trailer for the movie, but I did find the below clip from Lady Grey on youtube (It's gets screwed up towards the last)
Hard Country (HC) is about the hardscrabble existence of Kyle (Jan Michael Vincent) and his girlfriend Jodie (Kim Basinger in her movie debut). On the surface HC just appears to be a slice of life about a couple of rednecks from Texas, but under the surface it has an underlying theme of women empowering themselves. Although Tanya Tucker (the reason that I rented this movie) has only a small part in the movie, her appearance in HC is an integral plot point.
HC begins with Kyle doing manual labor in a chain link fence factory as the title song, written by Michael Martin Murphey (who also co-wrote the movie) plays over the credits. After a hard day of work Kyle takes his girlfriend Jodie to the local club. It's Kyle and Jodie's one year dating anniversary and he gives her what he thinks is the perfect present - a small pin of a Lone Star Beer bottle. This seems to please Jodie, so I guess this is an acceptable gift for a one year anniversary in Texas!!!!
Appearing on stage at the club is a special guest, Caroline (Tanya Tucker), who left town and became a big star. Tanya sings one song by herself and does a duet with Michael Martin Murphey. Caroline is an old friend of Jodie's and she and her manager Ransom (Lewis Van Bergen) go back home with Kyle and Jodie. Jodie and Caroline go off in another room to talk about old times and this where we find that Caroline is the only one of a group of friends that followed her dreams. Jodie wanted to be an airline stewardess, but things didn't work out for her due to some family problems and now she's got Kyle, who really thinks a woman's place is in the home. This scene is where Caroline/Tanya plays a pivotal part in the movie when she tells Caroline "A woman who needs space for herself gets out of Texas. It's a great place to be from and a great place to come home to but you've gotta leave it first, before it smothers you." and "In Texas, we're the only piece of property a man has left to defend." These comments weigh heavy on Caroline and really get her to thinking about what she wants out of life.
The rest of HC deals with Jodie trying to assert her independence from not only Kyle but from her own family. She finally has to turn her back on both and realize that she has to become her own woman and not worry about everyone else. Once she shows Kyle that she doesn't want to leave him, but will if that's what it takes to fulfill her own dreams, Kyle actually comes to some self realization of his own.
I probably made this movie sound a lot more serious than it really is, the message is actually just an undercurrent theme in the movie until toward the end. HC includes a lot of humor, most of it revolving around Kyle's best friend Johnny Bob (Gailard Sartain). Lewis Van Bergen appears twice in HC doing a great turn as the sleazy manager. Speaking of doing a great turn, Michael Parks as Kyle's successful, but unhappy brother, really brings his "A" game to HC. There are a lot of musical performances on stage at the club throughout the movie by Michael Martin Murphey and one with Katy Moffatt. HC also includes a fight, a huge practical joke, a beer drinking contest, romance, a car chase, and some dramatic moments. I hate to use the old cliche, but HC really does have something for everyone.
Here are some facts you might like to know up front: I'm not that big of a Beach Boys fan. I think they were a great "singles" band at the first part of their career and I still like those earlier hits. I never bought into the whole "Brian is a genius" statement. All of Brian Wilson's later work just left me scratching my head and wondering what the big deal was.
Now you have an idea of where I'm coming from when I watched two different movies about The Beach Boys. First a biopic: Summer Dreams: The Story of The Beach Boys (SD) based on the Steve Gaines book "Heroes and Villains: the True Story of The Beach Boys" and second the documentary: Endless Harmony: The Beach Boys Story.
I liked the fact that SD lets the viewer know right up front that the movie added dialogue and created scenes, plus that the music in the film was not sung by The Beach Boys. At least that's giving you some sense of what's in store for you in this film. The first part of Summer Dreams is stronger than the second part and I think a lot of that has to do with facts. Since the first part is concerned with formation of the band and how they achieved success, it's much easier to base this part of SD on noted and known events. Although I'm sure, like any biopic, the facts have been condensed or re-arranged to fit into the short time span of a TV movie. In the second part of SD, we get more into the personal side of the Beach Boys and SD struggles some with showing the downside of success - especially Brian's drug use and mental illness and Dennis' drug use and philandering. Even though, SD may not be completely accurate, it still didn't shy away from some of the truths, even including a brief segment about Dennis getting tangled up with Charles Manson.
The movie starts with the accidental drowning of "down on his luck" Dennis Wilson and flashes back to show us how he got to that point in his life. SD mainly focuses on the relationship between brothers Brian (Greg Kean) and Dennis (Bruce Greenwood) with Carl (Bo Foxworth) playing only a secondary role in the movie, as do Mike Love (Casey Sander) and Al Jardine (Andrew Myler). Murry Wilson (Arlen Dean Snyder), their father, is shown to be a tough S.O.B. and from what I have read this is somewhat of an accurate portrayal of him. Man! it's no wonder the Brothers Wilson had such problems, because it appears Murry's terrible child rearing skills may have been a cause of Brian eventually becoming mentally ill (although drugs probably added some to this), Dennis being a wild child rebelling against his upbringing and although we don't get a full grasp on Carl, it appears he became withdrawn and that food was his friend.
Endless Harmony: The Beach Boys Story (EH) mainly focuses on the music and only briefly mentions any personal or band problems. It was interesting to see events in EH that correlated with the fictional events shown in SD. The main problem with EH is that is became quite repetitious hearing how great all the Beach Boys music was over and over. I would rather have seen a documentary that was more accurate and combined some true details that were incorporated in the fictional SD instead of just the mostly white washed version that is EH. Of course EH was authorized, so I imagine that The Beach Boys had a good bit of control over the final product. Two things that I definitely did come away with from watching both SD and EH, Mike Love was a much more integral and important part of The Beach Boys than I had imagined, and Mike Love must have the worst sense of fashion, since he appears in one sartorial disaster after another.
I often wonder, does it seem strange to today's younger generation that there was such controversy over a pre-fabricated group that didn't play their own instruments. As the years have rolled on, there's been several hit bands put together under the same premise without any controversy. However, the late 60s were a different time in music: Wanting to be hip and cool and artistic instead of rich and famous were the norms not the exceptions; and of course, casting four young men, two of whom were actual musicians, into a scenario that caused them to appear fake to their peers was just asking for trouble.
Speaking of peers, unlike a lot of my own peers, I never had any trouble with The Monkees. They had a lot of great singles and their TV show was nice light entertainment. Of Course, having Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and Neil Diamond writing songs for you gives you a big step toward having a great rock/pop song. Add in the promotional value of being on a weekly television show and showcasing some of these songs and you have a fast track to a hit song. Anyway, I never saw The Monkees as any more of a manufactured money making machine than KISS. Both groups have entertained me in their own ways and that's good enough for me.
I actually did see The Monkees once in concert in 1969, well I saw THREE Monkees, since Peter Tork wasn't touring with the band at the time. It has always surprised me that Peter was the first to initially quit the band, knowing how much Mike Nesmith disliked being a Monkee. While I don't remember anything memorable about the show, I don't recall being disappointed in the concert. I do remember that there were a few teenyboppers in the audience, but they were so few that they really stood out. The Monkees were almost upstaged by their opening act Sam and The Goodtimers (previously the backing band for The Ike and Tina Turner Revue....and with that pedigree there's no wonder they were so good). Sam and The Goodtimers also were the back up band for The Monkees during this concert, although Mike played guitar for the whole show and Mickey did a drum solo. Otherwise, Davy and Mickey just sang and banged on some tambourines from time to time.
Daydream Believers - the Monkees Story (DB) covers the group from their conception until the end of their TV show. As with any biopic, you can't look at this as a documentary. The movie is made to be entertaining with facts taking only a secondary role. The first part of DB is about the show's conception and casting for the parts, while the rest of the movie mainly concerns itself with The Monkees desire to be seen as real musicians and their struggle to gain control from the studio over their own music. What I came away with is that Davy and Mickey would have been happy just being actors playing musicians, even though they did join forces with Peter and Mike. Peter was your typical California airhead, always into TM or any other "groovy" fad and Mike was sort of a hard to get along with ass. I'm not saying any of these are correct, just that's what DB showed me about each of the characters.
All the actors did a good job with their lip synch, which sometimes is where these music biopics have a real problem. Another plus, while none of the actors were exact doubles, all four of the actors had enough of a resemblance to their real life counter parts to give an air of believability to the movie. Besides The Monkees, the only other musicians featured in DB were Jimi Hendrix (who unsuccessfully was an opener for The Monkees on one of their tours) and a brief segment where The Monkees meet The Beatles, although I only noticed John Lennon in this scene, mainly since he has a speaking part, but the credits also show Paul and George as characters.
The DVD is a real bargain since it's loaded with extras: Besides the movie and the trailer, there are three separate twenty plus minute interviews with Mickey, Peter, and Davy. I watched all three of these and found that I like the TV Mickey, Peter, and Davy MUCH better than I like the real life actors. There are also three separate commentaries by Mickey, Peter, and Davy, but by the time I had watched the interviews, I really didn't want to hear anything else these three might have to say. IF I decide I need anymore Monkees in my life, I'll stick to the TV show or the music.
