» Movie Themes and Soundtracks

BLACK TIGHT KILLERS: TITLES AND THEME SONG

Uranium Willy — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:45:13 +0000

BLACK TIGHT KILLERS THEME SONG AND TITLES

Can any help me and tell me who the singer is on the great theme song here for Yasuharu Hasebe’s stylish spy thriller Black Tight Killers. I am working on a review of the film right now and expect it to be my next post. The music is by Naozumi Yamamoto but I am curious as to who the guy singing the song is. It is simply great to say the least. I loe the filma dn will save my comments and critiques for the post but the opening title sequence is so cool that I made a clip of it and uploaded to my Viddler account. It is certainly paying homeage to (or simply ripping off) the James Bond opening theme songs but who cares because this is so nice to look at. Japanese girls in 60′s style hairdos, go-go boots and mini-skirts look so darn cute even when brandishing a swithblade. Unlike the James Bond theme song sequences that are elaborate but end when the film begins the luridly stunning visual techniques of The Balck Tight Killer’s theme song continue throughout the movie. I hope to have that review up in a day or two. Damn, in fact I still have twenty minutes of the film to finish and I had better get on that first. Enjoy this sample for now of some nice Nikkatsu style go-go dancing action.

UPDATE: The singer on the song is actor Akira Kobayashi himself. The song’s title is Don’t Cry Drifter. Lyrics by Hiroko Sekino and music by Jun Kitahara. Got this from the hardcodes subs over opening credits of all places though was not easy as the subtitles are white they are all but impossible to read in some places as they blend in with the white background. I had to guess at a few letters but think I got it right.

AUDIO FILES FOR THE COMPLETE ZOMBI OST BY GOBLIN REPLACED

Uranium Willy — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:50:39 +0000

Click on the album cover above to get to the original post featuring the complete seventeen track version of Goblin’s Zombi (Dawn of the Dead) original sountrack. Tracks are joined to make three longer -but easier for me to deal with- files. A couple tracks had some technical issues and had were uloaded separately. I probably could have solved the problem but just wanted to get this stuff up. Still have to update my Jimmy Page Death Wish II OST and the Sream for Help OST by John Paul Jones then I am pretty much caught up with all my old audio files that went belly up when my last ‘free’ hosting service deactivated them for no reason. The fielsa re hosted now through my site and as long as I make my payments once a year they will be available to the needy public.

AUDIO FILE UPDATES: JIMMY PAGE’S LUCIFER RISING OST FILE REPLACED

Uranium Willy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:07:32 +0000

I am finally getting around to replacing most of my audio files thought the process is one post at a time and will take a little time. I have decided the best way to do audio files is to host them yourself. Do not rely on all those ‘free’ file storage services out there. Too many size and bandwidth rescritctions and after a lot of work you may find one day that all your files have been removed for no particular reason. I upgraded my package at Maiahost.com and now have more storage than I should be able to use any way soon. The links should be more reliable load a bit faster on a decent connection. There are download instructions at the bottom each post and if you have issues downloading I will try to help you. Best thing to do is work with a media downloader add-on in Mozilla. You can get audio or video from here if you figure it out. Realplayer and the full version of Quicktime have some options for downloading and saving audio and visual media as well. I may not replace all old audio posts and I will just have to wait and see. I will begin first by replacing album length features since those take a lot of time to do and I can get them out of the way. Some I will replace file in posts featuring hard the find albums Death Wish II by Jimmy Page, the rock opera Flash Fearless vs the Zorg Women parts 5 & 6, John Paul Jone’s Scream For Help and the European version of the Zombi (Dawn of the Dead) soundtrack by Goblin. But first I will link you back to one of my most visited posts ever, the one featuring Jimmy Page’s soundtrack to the Kenneth Anger film Lucifer Rising. In my original post I could only feature a version in two parts with about five trimmed off of it but now, for the first time ever, I present the entire uncut and unedited Lucifer Rising OST. While it is not impossible by any means to find this online some people just do not know how to search for this stuff or how to use things like bittotrrents or Rapidshare. So if you have been looking for this all your life and simply cannot find it anywhere then follow the instructions at the bottom of the post and you should be able to download the album with no major problems. And if you have some issues leave a comment and I will try to guide you through the fairly painless process.

CLICK HERE FOR THE POST FEATURING THE SOUNDTRACK TO LUCIFER RISING

SERGIO LEONE’S 1966 MASTERPIECE WESTERN: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Uranium Willy — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:55:56 +0000

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo)

1966/Director: Sergio Leone/Writers: Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Leone

Cast/ Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Petito

I was living in San Antonio Texas where my dad was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base when The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was released. We all packed ourselves in his Valiant station wagon and went to the Valley-Hi Drive to see the film and it left an impression on me that was to linger for the rest of my life. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a film that falls into a very narrow category for me. Films that I feel are not only great films but films worthy of deeper introspection and multiple viewings and each viewing seems as fresh as the first one. It is a film I am not even comfortable commenting on here. There are a few others as well that would make me shudder to do a post here at my humble site about: Apocalypse Now, The Last Picture Show, Dr. Zhivago, Lord Jim and even Blade Runner and other films of the same caliber that have left such a lasting impact on me that I simply feel unworthy to expound on them in any fashion. And is another reason and that is that films like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Apocalypse Now have been critiqued and reviewed to death on the net. I usually try to select more obscure and little viewed films of an often trashier variety here at the Café to pander. Also I try not to be too pretentious with my comments and speculations. I will leave all that to the experts. Certainly many films deserve deeper philosophical reflection but I am not the sort of person to publicly delve into all that sort of thing. In simple terms I like to proceed with my foot as much out of my mouth as possible. But when I watch a film like this one I am usually transported to another world all together. So with that as an introduction let’s take a look at this western masterpiece by maestro Sergio Leone.

Sergio Leone is one of the most influential directors of all time and yet his total number of films numbers only about half a dozen. There is debate on the net about what his best film was with some commenters saying things like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a great film but not Leone’s best film. Well I disagree and there are always people who want to sound like they are more into the ‘inner’ information by making some sort of staggering denouncement like that. Like people who say that the Beatles were not really a great band or that Marlon Brando could not act. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the work that all of Leone’s other films are measured by. The film falls into the spaghetti western genre but like any truly great film it transcends genres and categories and goes to not only be a great western film, spaghetti or burrito, but a great film period. A great epic motion picture. Period.

But guess what? It is still a fun film to watch. That’s right. It is a great film and full of all those deep meanings the ‘thinking’ film reviewers like to sit around and hash over and debate about but it is succeeds on a very basic level as well. It is a classic adventure story that has at its core the most simplest of themes: human greed and the pursuit of gold. The film is the third of Leone’s westerns that starred a young Clint Eastwood in the role of the Man With No Name. Eastwood had been playing the cowboy Rowdy Yates in the TV series Rawhide. The series came to an end after Eastwood had completed the first two Leone westerns A Fist of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More and Eastwood was weighing options when Leone and his wife flew to the California to negotiate his return to the character in the third film of the trilogy. Eastwood was never one to be shy or quibble and after a couple days of talks Eastwood flat out said he would make the film for a payment of $250,000 and 10% of all North American profits. Leone was not happy with the deal but wisely went ahead and made the picture with the brash young actor and soon to be filmmaker. It is debatable the film would have succeeded the way it did had Leone decided to go with another actor at this point. The film also had a huge budget, for the time, that would climb to about $1,300,000 in the end. The film would be shot in Spain and the majestic panoramic shots by cinematographer Totino Delli Colli actually resemble much of the American southwest. The film simply must be seen in widescreen format.

As I said the film takes one of the simplest of themes, the pursuit of instant wealth, and turns it into an epic adventure that uses the American civil war as a backdrop. There was very little actual campaigning between the Union and Confederacy in the state of Texas (which remained neutral during the war) the territories of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona but there some early skirmishs, like the Battle of Glorietta Pass in new Mexico, that the Confederacy lost. The film may exaggerate the scope and range of some of the Civil War here but it is acceptable since the film does not purport to be historical drama. It uses the Civil War as a vehicle for something else the way Apocalypse Now did with the Vietnam War. A shipment of Confederate gold was robbed by a band of men led by Baker. There was some double crossing and the gold was stolen from the thieves by a man named Jackson. On the trail of Jackson (now under the name of Bill Carson) is the hired gun known as Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef). Angel Eyes is a cold blooded, remorseless killer. We are introduced early on as well to the Mexican bandit Tuco (Eli Wallach) who is a wanted man always being pursued by bounty hunters. Bounty hunters became a recurring motive in spaghetti westerns. Tuco soon becomes partners with the laconic ‘Blondie’ (Eastwood) who is himself a sort of bounty hunter. Blondie seems to be more of an opportunist than a bounty hunter and strikes up a strange partnership with Tuco whereby Blondie ‘captures and turn in’ Tuco for the growing reward money only to set him free from the gallows rope with some sharp shooting. Maybe I can spend a brief moment with each character before I continue with my film comments.

The Good: As anyone who has seen the film realizes the term ‘good’ here must mean not so bad when compared to the two other mongrels. Blondie’s ethics are as flexible as the other two characters when dealing with the prospect of instant wealth but he does not kill unless drawn on and shows acts of compassion the other two characters seem unable incapable of. With sympathy in his eyes he hands a dying Union Captain a bottle of whiskey, he shares a smoke with a dying young soldier and in the end shows mercy to Tuco when Tuco probably would not have done the same if the tables were turned. He is not above a double cross himself or leaving a buddy stranded in the desert without food or water. We really never learn anything about the character in any of the films except that he is essentially motivated by money. He tends to be a little smarter than the other people around him and is always faster on the draw.

The Bad: In For a Few Dollars More Lee Van Cleef played basically a good guy. While Eastwood’s bounty hunter character in that film was motivated by reward money Van Cleef’s character was equally motivated by revenge (and money). In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly his Sentenza/Angel Eyes character is a killer who thoroughly enjoys his work. He does not always do his own dirty work and often has some partner or gang to back him up. He is shrewd as well and maybe as equally shrewd as Blondie but lacking any compassion or sense of mercy. He is patient and predatory as his tracks the trail of the gold that finally leads him to Tuco and Blondie. The character was originally top be played by Charles Bronson but Bronson was committed to The Dirty Dozen. He would eventually star as the mysterious harmonica player in Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West.

The Ugly: No doubt the most interesting of the three characters, or at least most entertaining, is Tuco as played by Eli Wallach. Wallach was not overly excited about playing another bandito type character like the one he played in 1962’s How the West Was Won but he finally agreed to the role after talking with Leone. Tuco’s character is the most developed in that we learn things of his past; his brother is a priest, he stayed at home and helped while his brother studied the priesthood and he himself chose the other option… a bandit, his parents are dead and that he is wanted for a comically long list of crimes. Wallach’s performance adds some comedic relief to the film but Tuco is as tough as they come and handy with a gun himself though probably the slowest of the three. He becomes evilly vindictive when he is betrayed by Blondie and left to die in the desert. One wonders if his revenge may have been less, or at all, had Blondie not basically screwed him over so bad.

Most of the story centers on the relationship between Tuco and Blondie with Angel Eyes being a menacing presence that seems to be lurking just outside events on the screen. After the strange business arrangement between Tuco and Blondie is severed after Blondie concludes his partner will never be worth more than $3000 Blondie all but leaves Tuco for dead in the desert. Tuco does not die so easily and winds up in a small village where he re-equips himself with firearms and ammo and a spiffy new sombrero. With vengeance on his mind he sets off after Blondie and finds him working with his new partner Shorty who Blondie is forced by Tuco to, well, leave hanging. Tuco decides to take a walk through the harshest section of the desert with Blondie. Of course Tuco will have a horse, an umbrella, a few guns and lots of water. Blondie will be on foot and that is about it. It does not take too long for Blondie’s gringo skin to start burning and peeling much to Tuco’s amusement. The way one may shoot a dying dog Tuco finally takes some slight degree of pity on Blondie and is going to end it all with a bullet when a dark wagon being pulled by panicked horses appears on the desert’s horizon. This is the second time fate has intervened to save Blondie from Tuco. The first was earlier in the film when Tuco had Blondie with a noose around his neck in a hotel room and canon ball strikes the building allowing Blondie to escape. During the course of events at the wagon Tuco gets the name of the cemetery from Jackson (Bill Carson) while Blondie gets the name on the grave. They are now bound to each other again and Tuco takes Blondie to a nearby monastery that is run by his brother. Blondie recovers slowly and witnesses a scene where Tuco’s brother, Father Ramirez, all but curses Tuco and slaps him (for which he gets punched in the face) and Tuco leaves heartbroken but tells Blondie how much his brother loves him. In another act of compassion Blondie does not pull the rug out from under Tuco and allows him to have his version of things and shares a smoke with him.

They are soon captured by Union soldiers since they are wearing Confederate uniforms as disguises. They are led to a POW camp where Angel Eyes has secured a position, somehow, as a Sergeant. Angel Eyes got information from beating Jackson’s girl friend Maria that led him to believe Jackson was being held in a POW camp. As it is Jackson is dead but Tuco has assumed his Bill Carson identity and Angel Eyes is quick to seize the chance to beat information out of him with the help of one a eyed prison guard who Tuco vows to get even with and eventually does. Angel Eyes get the information he needs from Tuco and rather than beat Blondie half to death he sets off with to get the gold and split it up with his new partner. Tuco and Blondie are later reunited and out gun Angel Eye’s gang in a small town being blasted by artillery fire. Angel Eyes decides he is no match for the two of them and decides to bide his time and disappears. Tuco find themselves in the middle of a Civil War battle for an unimportant bridge. While the bridge on the one hand is the senseless cause of casualties on both sides it is also an obstacle between the two men and their gold. They cannot really go get their treasure in the middle of a bloody battle and so they blow the bridge up in a spectacular scene that actually had to be shot twice because it was not captured on film the first time. The film moves towards it conclusion at a perfect pace. Not rushed or hurried and the scene where Tuco runs through the cemetery looking for the grave of Arch Stanton is one of my all time favorite dramatic scenes. It could have gone one for another couple minutes even. Of course what all this is leading up to is the immortal three way showdown in the center of the cemetery. The scene cannot be over praised in how the tension builds up between then three men. Leone’s editing along with the perfect score by Ennio Morricone has yet to be duplicated in my opinion. The scene slowly builds up to the blaze of gunfire that is over in a heart beat. Blondie decides to sever the partnership yet one last time but as I said earlier he shows he is different in this sense from Tuco in that he shows a little mercy at the films conclusion that Tuco may not have had in him in the same situation.

And of course before closing this article off something must be said of Ennio Morricone’s exquisite soundtrack. He scored the first two Man With No Name films and, I believe, Leone’s remaining films (Once Upon a Time in the West, Fist Full of Dynamite and Once Upon a Time in America) but his score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is as perfect as a film sore can be for a film. By this I mean how the sore seems to describe the characters themselves and helps to bring the scenes to life. Another composer for the film would have been like another actor in the place of Eastwood. It would not have worked. I have posted a few samples from the soundtrack. Most people are aware of the theme song but not know some of the other tracks. I included an image of the Hugo Montenegro album versiosn, with Moog Synthesizers, as I used to own that LP. I guess I could ramble on and on about this film. If you have not seen it then see it. If you have seen it then see it again. I saw it with my wife and she loved it and it is possible she may even see it again someday she said. This is as good a recommendation as you are about to get since she is one of those people who can only see a film once in a lifetime.

SELECTIONS ROM THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY SOUNDTRACK BY ENNIO MORRICONE

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY-TITLE THEME
Download audio file (01-ennio_morricone-the_good_the_bad_and_the_ugly-jce.mp3)
THE SUNDOWN
Download audio file (02-ennio_morricone-the_sundown-jce.mp3)
THE ECSTASY OF GOLD
Download audio file (20-ennio_morricone-the_ecstasy_of_gold-jce.mp3)
THE DUEL
Download audio file (17-ennio_morricone-due_contro_cinque-jce.mp3)

HOW TO DOWNLOAD AND SAVE AUDIO/VISUAL FILES FROM THE URANIUM CAFE:
If you want to download and save an audio (or even video) file this is the easiest way to do it:
1) Use Mozilla Firefox
2) Install any number of add-ons that capture Flash Media. I use Fast Video Download. It is straight forward and easy.
3) Play the file let it buffer a bit then click on FVD in your status bar and select the file then rename it after the download completes.

URANIUM CAFE DOUBLE FEATURE: DON KNOTTS IN THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN w/ THE RELUCTANT ASTRONUAT

Uranium Willy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:59:09 +0000

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

1966/ Director: Alan Rafkin/Writers: James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

Cast: Don Knotts, Joan Staley, Liam Redmond, Dick Sargent, Skip Homeier, Reta Shaw, Bert Mustin

Sometimes we all have a certain movie in our lives that holds a special place. A link to fond memories and long forgotten times. When it comes down to it I am a sentimental sap. For me The Ghost and Mr. Chicken with the fidget king Don Knotts is one of those films. The 1966 Universal film had already been out for some time before I began catching it late night on old network TV. If you’re too young that means no cable or VCR. The image was adjusted by “rabbit ear” antennae that usually had strips of tin foil at the top to secure a slightly better image. The film, as I recall, played annually as part of a Halloween program and I had to stay up past midnight usually to catch it. No problem for me as I seem to be nocturnal by design. Knotts of course is best remembered for his role as the quirky and nervous though tough talking and big hearted Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith show. He won some Emmy’s for his performance on the show and after five successful seasons he went on to continue making “big pictures” after the successful The Amazing Mr. Limpit in 1964. The story here, from an interview with Knotts, seems to be that he was under the impression that The Andy Grittith show was to end after five seasons and Griffith seemed to be of the same idea. Knotts secured a contract with Universal only to find Griffith had decided to continue on with the show and offered Knotts to continue. Of course it was too late and he would return now and then to reprise his role as the shaky Barney. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is supposedly derived, at Knotts suggestion, from an episode of The Andy Griffith Show called the Haunted House where Barney and Gomer go to retrieve Opie’s lost ball on the grounds of a haunted house in Mayberry.

There is some disagreement about whether or not the Universal back lot studio house used in the film is the same one made and used for the creepy mansion in 1960’s Psycho. Wikipedia says yes and IMDB says no. While the credits roll over the house used for the TV show The Munsters the Simmon’s House in the film is actually situated next door to The Munster’s House on Universal’s Colonial Street. The house, of course, plays an important role in the film as any haunted house does in a haunted house movie. Knotts plays Luther Heggs, a basement confined typesetter with aspirations of moving upstairs and being a real reporter (he’s been studying that and karate for years through the mail). He works for a small town paper in Rachel Kansas run by George Beckett (Dick Sargent, the 2nd Darren of Bewitched) who is a decent guy and likes Luther. He is harassed by the jockish bully Ollie who called him “scoop” and patronizes his dreams. Seems too that Luther and Ollie live in the same boarding house and Luther must endure Ollie’s taunts over the meal table. Luther also has a big crush on Ollie’s “girl” Alma (sexy in that All American girl way Joan Staley, and the image of her November 1958 Playboy centerfold posted below should attest to that) and tries his best to get her attention and soon has the chance of his lifetime when he is offered the chance to stay a night in the Simmon’s murder mansion to capitalize on the 2oth anniversary of the infamous murder-suicide of “old man” Simmons and his wife.

The night in the mansion soon turns into a terror fest for poor Luther as he is soon haunted by loud noises, secret passageways, blood stained, self playing pipe organs and a portrait of Mrs. Simmons with a pair of garden shears in her throat, blood gushing from the wound. Luther passes out but following the news story the next day he becomes a town hero. A picnic is held in his honor and he delivers a nervous speech and later receives a summons to appear in court in a libel suit. Seems the surviving heir of the Simmons estate, Nicholas Simmons (Philip Ober), does not take kindly to new plans to save from the house from destruction. Seems the banker’s wife (Halcyon Maxwell played by Reta Shaw), who owns 51% of the banks shares, feels the house is a bone fide conduit to the spiritual world and one she and her little sisterhood of small town “occultists” want to preserve. Nick Simmon’s crafty lawyer makes mince meat of neurotic and shaky Luther in court and all seems lost until the judge decides the best way to settle the matter is for the jury to go to the Simmon’s mansion at 11:30 that evening and wait until the stroke of midnight to see just what happens. And what happens is nothing and Luther is further made to look like a fool in front of the towns people and the people who believed in him like George Beckett. As a dejected Luther walks away from the house the organ music resumes and he finds the paper’s janitor, and his friend, Mr. Kelsey (Liam Redmond) at the keyboard. Seems the whole affair was staged by Kelsey to draw out the real murderer, Nicholas Simmons, and to clear himself of suspicion since his garden shears were the murder weapon. The film ends with Luther marrying the robust Alma and all in all this is a great movie.

The direction by classic TV sitcom director Alan Rafkin is nearly flawless and it is too bad he did nto do more big screen projects as he handled this one just fine. The music score my Vic Mizzy suits the film perfectly and the theme song was ripped by your humble editor here and is posted below for your pleasure, as are some pictures of lovely Joan Staley from her Playboy shoot. She would all but stop making films after this film when she suffered a near broken back from a fall from a horse. She would make TV appearances and it seems great to me that she even got this role considering she was a Playmate model. Things weren’t as uptight as I thought they were. The onrunning gag in the movie of yelling ‘Atta boy Luther” (or another name) started a bit of a trend for a while. The gag was supposed to be the idea of Andy Grittith and I recently saw a newer film that had a person in the background yell “Atta boy Luther” though I cannot find the film now. If someday I do I will return here and edit this post. A scene from the film appears in the Jim Carrey movie Yes Man and it was possibly Knott’s best film. He has spoken highly of it and some of his other Universal films, including The Shakiest Gun in the West and The reluctant Astronaut. He seems to harbor some regrets for the more risqué The Love God? (question mark part of title). I am searching for that film and have seen in once way too many years ago to comment on it. We can save that one for another day and more on to our next feature The Reluctant Astronaut.

Download audio file (GhostMrChicken.mp3)

THE THEME TO THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN BY VIC MIZZY

Joan Staley (Alma in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken) in her

November 1958 Playboy Centerfold, the year and month I was born.

Now I think we can see why Luther was shaking so much.

The Reluctant Astronaut

1967/Director: Edward Montagne/Writers: James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

Cast: Don Knotts, Leslie Nielsen, Arthur O’Connell, Joan Freeman, Jesse White, Jeanette Nolan, Frank McGrath, Bert Mustin

Knotts followed up The Ghost and Mr. Chicken with Universal’s 1967 film The Reluctant Astronaut, produced and directed by Edward J. Montagne. Montagne was better known as a film and TV producer (he produced The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, the Shakiest Gun in the West and The Love God?) but sometimes dabbled in some directing though the bulk of that was for TV. Among the shows he produced was 55 episodes of McHale’s Navy. Some familiar faces crop up from The Ghost and Mr. Chicken as well as the Andy Griffith show. The film is not as fantastic as The Ghost and Mr. Chicken but is still worth a sound recommendation and watch if you’re a fan of well made 60’s style comedy movies.

Knotts plays, with his typical and unique style of jittery anxiety, Roy Fleming, a 36 year old amusement park ride operator who still lives at home with his worrisome mother and self-absorbed father (Arthur O’Connell). The ride he operates is the rocket ride and the irony is that he is so afraid of heights that he needs help getting down the step ladder from his super old assistant, played by character actor Bert Mustin (b/w image below) whose roles sadly usually went uncredited both in the film credits and in Internet sites like IMDB and Wikipedia. He was also one of the old town’s men on the Andy Griffith Show, usually sitting on the sidewalk making onrunning commentaries about the other town’s folk. Roy as a tremendous crush on the hot dog stand girl Ellie Jackson (Joan Freeman). Unlike the character of Alma in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken this gal is a total ice queen who blows of poor Roy all the time without apology. She only begins to show some interest after he gains some celebrity status later in the film. Alma at least listened to Luther, but Ellie’s character is simply unlikable as far I am concerned and presents an obstacle in the film’s being as rewarding as Knotts’ romantic paring in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.

Unfortunately as well for Roy his father Buck Fleming is a WWI vet who wants to relive his exaggerated glory days through Roy and sends off an application to be an astronaut to NASA for Roy. Much to everyone’s surprise, and in particular to Roy’s, he is accepted into training a WB-1074. Poor Roy is pressured by his dad and his war buddies into heading off to Houston to make everyone in the family and town proud and there he runs into supportive astronaut Frank Griffin (played straight by a young Leslie Nielsen). After a few bumblings he meets his supervisor Donelli (played by the Maytag Man himself Jessie White) who informs him that his job has nothing to do with orbiting in space but everything to do with waxing floors: a WB-1074 is an apprentice janitor. Tough talking Donelli does not have much patience for Roy but luckily astronaut Griffin has taken a liking to him and in one instance has Roy pose, with his industrial mop, with other astronauts and crew members. The picture is published in his hometown paper and the mop is no deterrent to his father’s unshakable belief his son is an astronaut. The mop is a government ruse to disguise his top secret status. Roy goes back home to set the record straight but soon loses nerve when he sees not only what a hero he has become but that icy Ellie has thawed out a little, though not much, regarding his presence around her.

Roy returns to NASA more perplexed than ever and one day is mortified to see over the security cameras that his dad and a couple of his WWI buddies have decided to pay Roy a visit at the training center. Roy dons an astronaut suit and tries his best to pretend to be a real astronaut but soon, after a series of mishaps, reveals he is anything but and in the process gets himself fired by Donelli. Later in a heart to heart talk Buck Fleming reveals to his son that he was not a decorated war hero but served his time as a pencil pusher. Roy is distraught and hits a local bar to drown his sorrow, only to be plucked out later by Griffin so that he can actually be an astronaut. Seems the Russians have designed a space ship so advanced that they are sending not a cosmonaut up in it but an ordinary dentist. Not to be outdone NASA decides to send Roy the janitor, with a fear of heights of course, up alone. Of course while in space Roy manages to flub up everything and nearly has himself killed until he remembers his previous astronaut “training” at the kiddie park and successfully fires his retro rockets and lands intact. He of course becomes now a national hero and Ellie simply loves him now and they get married.

At the end Roy is seen hiding in bushes, again, rather than flying on a plane to his own honeymoon. I feel the relationship between Roy and Ellie is the weak point of the film and writers Greenbaum and Fritzell did much better in this department in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. A small problem however in an otherwise funny and enjoyable film I highly recommend. The movie would start getting lots of play time a couple years later after the Apollo moon mission began. Another fine score by Vic Mizzy with the theme song posted below.

Download audio file (TheReluctantAstronaut.mp3)

THE THEME TO THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT BY VIC MIZZY

THE COMPLETE ZOMBI VERSION OF THE DAWN OF THE DEAD SOUNDTRACK BY GOBLIN

Uranium Willy — Sun, 03 May 2009 04:19:01 +0000

Lots of personnel changes over the years for this prog rock band initially influenced by bands like King Crimson and early Genesis. I am not sure who is who in the picture above (expect for Dario Argento in the front of the color picture of course) and if anyone can help clear it up I would appreciate it. There are lots of pictures online but most did not help to sort out the mystery for me. I will try to figure it it out by the time I do another post on them as I have drafts on Profundo Rosso, Suspiria and Tenebre, with complete scores, queued up. More information can be found at this official band site. This is the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack recorded by Goblin for the European version of the film, Zombi, and does not included any incidental music or stock film scores that other versions contain. A very listenable album of chilling music and one I have been using lately while surfing or reading blogs. The scores certainly helped some of the films they were made for, most definitely Dario Argento’s often meandering, chaotic works. In exchange for Argento’s assistance in the production of Dawn of the Dead George Romero allowed the more explicit European version to feature the Goblin score more predominantly. Goblin often collaborated with Aregento and did some of their best scores for his horror and giallo films. To make things a little easier on myself the songs are grouped together in small batches of about four rather than one link per song. Enjoy and more Goblin coming soon.

SOUNDTRACK TO ZOMBI-THE EUROPEAN VERSION OF

DAWN OF THE DEAD

Had to join these songs together in clips of about 15 minutes each. Otherwise I would have to deal with uploading seventeen tracks to my site them creating an embed code for each one and that seemed like too much work. This is meant as more of a sampling anyway and if you like ti get the real album -if possible-but if you want the files you can download them. I edited in a second or two of space between tracks so you can use something like Audacity or Soundforge and separate the songs. Hey, I’ve done it before. Anyone whose ever had to deal with APE files or FLAC files knows that long files like this are not impossible to deal with with a sound editor and create indivual tracks.

Dawn of the Dead (Goblin) A

Download audio file (Zombi_OST_A.mp3)

Dawn of the Dead (Goblin) B

Download audio file (Zombi_OST_B.mp3)

Dawn of the Dead (Goblin) C

Download audio file (Zombi_OST_C.mp3)

Tracks 11 and 16 had some issues beyond my control and I could not join them together with the longer clips in Sony Acid 7. They are posted here and the continuity is disrupted but, hell man, it is free anyway stuff so relax.

Dawn of the Dead (Goblin) Track 11

Download audio file (zombi_11.mp3)

Dawn of the Dead (Goblin) Track 16

Download audio file (zombi_16.mp3)

Goblin band members/Zombi lineup

Fabio Pignatelli- bass
Massimo Morante- guitar
Maurizio Guarini- keyboards
Agostino Marangolo- percussions

TRACK LIST

1. L’alba dei morti viventi (06:02)
2. Zombi (04:21)
3. Safari (02:08)
4. Torte in faccia (01:54)
5. Ai margini della follia (01:20)
6. Zaratozom (03:34)
7. La caccia (03:36)
8. Tirassegno (02:48)
9. Oblio (05:10)
10. Risveglio (01:03)
11. L’alba dei morti viventi (Alternate Take) (05:14)
12. Ai margini della follia (Alternate Take) (01:40)
13. Zombi (Sexy) (02:22)
14. Ai margini della follia (Alternate Take) (03:40)
15. Zombi (Supermarket) (03:17)
16. L’alba dei morti viventi (Intro – Alternate Take) (00:56)
17. Zombi (The Living Dead’s Voices!) (Bonus Track) (02:10)

JOHN PAUL JONES’ SOUNDTRACK TO MICHAEL WINNER’S: SCREAM FOR HELP

Uranium Willy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:08:56 +0000

JOHN PAUL JONES’ SOUNDTRACK TO

SCREAM FOR HELP

TRACK LIST 1985 vinyl edition Title Writer(s) Length 1. Spaghetti Junction - Jones 5:01 2. Bad Child - Jones, Jacinda Baldwin 5:46 3. Silver Train - Jones, Anderson 3:48 4. Crackback - Jones, Page 4:16 5. Chilli Sauce – Jones 4:59 6. Take It or Leave It – Jones, Madeline Bell 4:28 7. Christie – Jones 3:08 8. When You Fall in Love – Jones, Jacinda Baldwin 3:36 9. Here I Am - Jones, Simon Bell 4:43 LINE-UP John Paul Jones – Keyboards, synthesiser, bass guitar, guitars, vocals Jimmy Page – Electric guitars (1 & 4) Jon Anderson – Vocals (3, 7) Madeline Bell – Vocals (6, 9) John Renbourn – Acoustic guitars (8) Graham Ward – Drums and percussion (4,7,8,9) Colin Green – Guitars (7,9)

SPAGHETTI JUNCTION (w/Jimmy Page)

BAD CHILD

SILVER TRAIN (w/ Jon Anderson)

CRACK BACK (w/ Jimmy Page)

CHILI SAUCE

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

CHRISTIE

WHEN YOU FALL IN LOVE

HERE I AM

AUDIO FILES MAY BE NOT WORK FOR A WHILE. I AM RESOLVING THE ISSUE. PLEASE HANG LOOSE WHILE ALL FILES ARE MOVED TO MY HOSTING ACCOUNT AND THEN MOVED BACK TO INDIVIDUAL POSTS. IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME BUT IT WILL GET DONE EVENTUALLY. SORRY.

URANIUM WILLY 4 FEB 10

How to download the song. Must have Real Player:

1) Play the song.

2) Right click on player and select “Download This Song to Real Player”

3) Song will down load using your download manger, but song title will change.

4) Save song, rename, enjoy. Will not show download option? Go to the download link page in my sidebar.

NEW AND DOWNLOADABLE MP3 FILES FOR: JIMMY PAGE’S DEATH WISH II SOUNDTRACK

Uranium Willy — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:31:25 +0000

JIMMY PAGE’S SOUNDTRACK TO

DEATH WISH II

Who’s to Blame

The Chase

City Sirens

Jam Sandwich

Carol’s Theme

Release

Hotel Rats and Photostats

Shadow in the City

Prelude

Jill’s Theme

Big Band Sax and Violence

Oh Mama (Hypnotizing Ways)

URANIUM WILLY 4 FEB 10

How to download the song. Must have Real Player:
1) Play the song.
2) Right click on player and select “Download This Song to Real Player”
3) Song will down load using your download manger, but song title will change.
4) Save song, rename, enjoy.
Will not show download option? Go to the download link page in my sidebar.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ORIGINAL AWARD WINNING POST

RUSSELL CROWE AS HANDO THE SKINHEAD IN 1992′s ROMPER STOMPER

Uranium Willy — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:29:16 +0000

ROMPER STOMPER

1992/Director: Geoffrey Wright/ Writer: Geoffrey Wright

Cast: Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie, Alex Scott, Leigh Russell, Daniel Wyllie, James McKenna, Eric Mueck, Frank Magree,

Romper Stomper was early on in Russell Crowe’s movie acting career and when I first saw the film on VHS back in the 90’s he had yet to achieve the level of stardom he has since attained. Had I known Crowe already and some of the Hollywood work I have seen of his lately, such as A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man I would have thought something like “wow, he really made some wild movies way back then, not like Gladiator at all”. But when I first saw the film I really knew very little of the guy and doubt that I even knew his name, which only added to the intensity of this already riveting drama about angry skinheads in Melbourne Australia. Crowe is simply mesmerizing as Hando, the leader of a band of skinheads who at the moment are focusing their plentiful hatred and violent behavior on the local Vietnamese community. The film was written and directed by Geoffrey Wright and has a blood pumping soundtrack of instrumental music as well as the “Oi” type skinhead punk rock music. The photography is often rawand grainy and the editing fast at the right moments but not overboard and constantly jerky, as it often can be with this type of film. Along with Crowe are Australian actress Jacqueline McKenzie and actor Daniel Pollock, who had played a small role with Crowe in 1991’s Proof, another great independent Australian film.

The film opens up with Hando and his band of neo-Nazi misanthropes intimidating and beating some Vietnamese skateboarders in the train station of a blue collar neighborhood in West Melbourne. The scene quickly set the tone and pace for the rest of the film and there is little let up as the tensions between Hando and his gang and the local Vietnamese escalate as the immigrants seek to find business opportunities in their community. Hando is the dangerous yet charismatic leader of the group and his best mate is Davey, a brooding, thinking type who has a softer nature. He hides his tattoos from his German speaking grandma and collects matchbook covers his father sends him. He seems to have roots the rest of the band lack, including Hando, who reads quotes from Mein Kampf and hurls Italian pasta rather than eat “wop” garbage. The friendship seems solid and deep until Gabe (McKenzie) is introduced into the story as a sexual diversion for Hando. Gabe is really screwed up herself as she is running away from her incestuous father Martin, played well and creepy by Tony Lee.

Gabe is more educated than the thugs she throws herself in with but she falls under the spell of Hando and is even excited by the violence and vandalism the gang dishes out on anybody or anything that crosses them. This becomes really apparent than when it is discovered the local Vietnamese are going to buy the pool hall they hangout in and turn it into a restaurant. The skinheads become immediately enraged and their racial loathing becomes utterly apparent. They go and beat a couple teenagers nearly to death and perhaps would have, if not for the fact one boy who escaped the beating returns with carloads of Vietnamese youth, already fed up with the skinheads, who soon begin to outnumber and over power Hando and his gang. A really great chase and fight sequence develops with great sound effects and film score. In the end the skinheads are driven back to their warehouse hangout and are driven out and it is sacked and burned.

Seeking refuge the gang boot out some squatters from another warehouse and during their time there it is found out that Gabe is an epileptic after she has a seizure. The uncultured and crass skinheds mock her and call her “spazz” and imitate her seizures and only Davey has any sympathy. It is this incident that drives a wedge between Davy and Hando. Hando kicks Gabe out, both because he is put off by her epilepsy, but also because of her sarcasms about him and the gang botching an easy job the night before, that of robbing her father’s house.

Davey tells her to seek him out as soon as she can. She is totally pissed and in the heat of anger calls the cops and tells them where Hando and the gang are hiding and they are the ones responsible for the attack on the Asians and the robbery and assault on her father. The cops show up and the youngest member who waves a fake gun at the cops. Gabe spends the night with Davey (and there as a couple really wild sex scenes in this flick) and when Hando shows up the next day they all flee the police search. Hando kills a convenient store clerk who looks Indian or Pakistani with his bare hands and the three are fugitives for murder now. The film ends with Davey fighting Hando on the beach after Hando tried to choke the life out of her when he finds out she was the one who called the cops. Hando dies violently with the Nazi dagger he loaned Davy the money for earlier in the film.

The movie is simply powerful and Crowe is chilling as the sociopathic Hando. The acting and direction is excellent from start to finish. The film was shot on 16mm and has a look much older than 1992. Actors Daniel Pollack and Jacqueline McKenzie had an off screen relationship during the filming of the movie. Problems with the relationship as well as Pollock’s attempts to manage his heroin addiction may lhave contributed to his horrific suicide by jumping in front of a train shortly before the film was released. The incident was made into a song by Crowe’s rock band at the time 30 Odd Feet of Grunts and called The Night That Davey Hit the Train. McKenzie went on to a fairly respectable career in Australian film and TV, with some roles in Hollywood as well, and Crowe to international superstardom.

Below is an MP3 sample of one of the catchy Aryan pop classics from the film.

A LITTLE NEO NAZI BOOGIE WITH

PULLING ON THE BOOTS

Download audio file (PullingOnTheBoots.mp3)

DOWNLOAD THIS NAZI FOOT STOMPER HERE

JIMMY PAGE’S SOUNDTRACK TO KENNETH ANGER’S ALEISTER CROWLEY FILM: LUCIFER RISING

Uranium Willy — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:17:23 +0000

I have been hearing about this infamous falling out between Led Zeppelin maestro Jimmy Page and filmmaker, writer Kenneth Anger for decades now. Sadly the only the material I can find on the net still seems to the same variety of articles that appeared in rock fan magazines back in the seventies. This is actually one of the few great legends in the world that I have some sort of connection with. Well, in a sort of incalculably indirect way. I saw Page with Zeppelin back in 1977 in Ohio, and briefly met Anger at a book signing at the fantastic Scarecrow Video store in Seattle, where he signed my special copy of Hollywood Babylon with the Aleister Crowley quote Do What Thou Wilt from The Book of the Law. I had a nice little collection of Crowley books, most from Samuel Llewellyn Press at one time, though I doubt it could compare to the collection by Anger and of course the filthy rich Jimmy Page who was reputed to have had at one time the 2nd largest collection of Crowley books and memorabilia in the world, including Crowley’s Boleskin House, perched on the cheery shores of Loch Ness in Scotland. It was one of three fantastic houses a then young Page owned (all have since been sold I believe). He also owned a house in the Kensington district of London called the Tower House, designed by Victorian architect William Burgess and formally owned by Richard Harris, and it is in this house that the drama between Anger and Page unfolded.

Anger had been inside the rock circle for some time, in part due to his avant garde (a fancy word for confusing usually) films such as Scorpio Rising which had a score of old rock music that actually prevented the film from being shown publicly for decades due to copy write issues. He met Anita Pallenberg who was seeing soon to be deceased Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. She would later become Keith Richards’s common law wife. The Stones took a liking to Anger and his liberated views views on life and vast knowledge of occult matters, and in particular his passion for British occultist Aleister Crowley. Their public image would shift from Brit bad boys to decadent and sinister rockers during their time with Anger. Their song Sympathy for the Devil from On Her majesty’s Satanic Service was inspired by conversations with Anger. Jagger would even score an Anger film called Invocation of My Demon Brother. I have seen the film and it is a really horrendous soundtrack in my opinion. Some repetitive experimental sounds on what sounds like an early Moog synthesizer. Jagger is a good musician as well as singer and could ahve done something a little better maybe.

Jimmy Page had developed his own interest in matters occult and with Crowley in particular. He owned an occult bookstore called the Equinox and, as mentioned, out bid other rock dignitaries like David Bowie in the purchasing of Boleskin Manor. Page and Anger met at an auction of Crowley memorabilia in about 1973 and a friendship was formed. Anger asked Page if he would be interested in scoring his latest and most ambitious film project Lucifer Rising (or whatever the working title may have been) and Page enthusiastically accepted. Anger was allowed access to a film editing facility in the basement area of the Tower House that was set up to edit scenes for The Song Remains the Same, the Led Zeppelin concert film. Exactly what the reasons for Jimmy’s alleged loss of interest in the project are depend on what source you are reading. A lot of things were said later in the press that seemed fueled by resentment on both men’s part. Essentially after a period of time the friendship began to cool off and Anger returned to one day to find himself locked out of the lower area of the house he was working in. The rest of the house had always been off limits to Anger. as well as the general public, being ast the tiem the only of William Burgess’ houses not open to the public. It seems there was a domestic quarrel between Page and his girlfriend (perhaps Charlotte Martin who Page had a long a stormy, though little publicized, relationship with, including marrigae and divorce) the night before and it was she who locked Anger out. Anger claimed he could not reach Page despite repeated attempts and Swan Song offices did not communicate with him as they are known to do with people and the public regarding Led Zeppelin issues. He eventually gathered his belongings and called the offices to inform them Page was fired as the film’s composer. In interviews following the incident Anger blamed Page’s lack of productivity (after more than year he had produced only 23 minutes of music that Anger found too morbid) on his increasing use of heroin. In some interviews (there is a brief comment by Anger on youtube but the video was all “psychedelic” looking, so I did not link it) Anger does not seem that bitter and says Page is a beautiful person who has let his drug use get control of him. In other statements he has also said Page has a good work ethic and commitment to projects, but that he had basically became a junky and now behaves like a junky in unpredictable ways and asocial ways.

Page seemed surprised by his firing and has said he had been kept busy with Zeppelin matters and getting Swan Song off the ground and thought Anger was happy with the music he had so far produced and that he had more than the 23 minutes but not in a final stage of production. Page was less hostile in press statements than Anger was (what do you think with a name like that, right? Though he was born Kenneth Wilber Anglemyer) but seemed disappointed byt he whole affair. The simple truth is that Page did have a drug problem and it did affect his decisions and performances in later Zeppelin periods. Too what degree that affected this situation, or did not, we can only speculate. However it did not seem like an appropriate issue for someone as normally polite as Anger to keep bringing up publicly. It simply made him appear vindictive and simply too bitter.

Anger would eventually enlist the help of ex-protégée Bobby Beausoleil in getting a finished soundtrack for the film. This was no simple task since Beausoleil had been a California prison since 1969 for a Mansion Family related murder. It was a prior murder of Gary Hinman over a bad drug deal and not of Sharon Tate. A soundtrack of Jimmy’s completed 23 minutes was released in the early eighties on Anger’s own Boleskin House Records, catalog number BHR666 and was limited to a release of 1000 copies on clear blue vinyl and these are considered almost priceless now to vinyl collectors.

Well, I have linked the composition here and you can be the judge of it all. Page plays all the instruments, including guitars, ARP synthesizers, percussion and the theremin (or sometimes theramin, the musical instrument that responds to hand motion). There is some interesting vocal sections near the beginning area that sound like the chorus in 2001: A Space Odyssey when the apes are flipping out around the monolith. The intro to In the Evening from In Through the Out Door is supposed to from some of the recording sessions. It has also been said that some of the incidental music from Death Wish II was based on what Page was working on during the Lucifer Rising sessions. For years I had always heard of this mentioned to as “the Black Album” and it was the substance of myth. Along with the myth of the album were the myriad rumors that began during this period of the late seventies that jimmy’s involvement in black magic had led to the bands misfortunes, such as the death of Robert Plant’s son, Robert’s serious car accident, Page’s health issues and declining ability to work and perform as he once had and finally the death of John Bonham at Page’s house. These rumors and legend still persist in the history of the band. Both Page and Anger, as far as I can tell, got over their period of conflict and moved on with their lives though the friendship was over. In later interviews the men had good things to say about each other and any mention of a black magic curse is done tongue in cheek by the both of them.

Here is the Jimmy Page OST to Lucifer Rising in its entirety:

LUCIFER RISING

Download audio file (jimmypageluciferrising.mp3)

My Rapidshare link to the complete Lucifer rising OST