=

=

A - Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE TOPICS

-

No need to tell you who buxom Nancy's daddy was I hope? She grew up around stars like Elvis and the Rat Pack and all sorts of stellar talent and was signed in the early 60’s to Ol’ Blue Eye’s Reprise label. Success eluded her in the states but she gained a popularity in Europe and Japan that is still strong. She struggled for a hit in the USA and Reprise was about to drop her when things began to change for her after she met songwriter, arranger and producer Lee Hazelwood. Svengali and business whiz, Hazelwood redid not only her image into a chic mid-60’sLondon look but even convinced her to change her singing style and in 1965 she hit the American charts with the sexy and catchy These Boots are Made for Walking (a line from a western with her dad and Dean Martin). She went on to have a string of hits all arranged and led by Billy Strange. Another really big hit from this period is the duet with Hazelwood called Some Velvet Morning and it is a truly unique and slightly psychedelic little pop song. It sounds more like something from the Pink Floyd period with Syd Barrett than a top-40's radio hit from Frank Sinatra's little girl.

-

-

She went to do the really good Bond theme for You Only Live Twice and it is one of the better Bond scores in my humble opinion, but I have hardly seen any of the Bond movies since Live and Let Die. She did some acting during the late 60s and starred along side her pal Elvis in Speedway. She was the only singer to have a song appear on an Elvis album while the King was still alive. She would go onto to typify the look and sound of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Her career continued on and she still tours and performs, and when she was 54 she posed for Playboy and looked pretty good in a still innocent sort of way. She was sexy but in a safe and sweet way. The picture I included of her gazing at her own reflection in her underwear would be utterly different if it were Madonna.

-

A good fan site: http://www.movinwithnancy.fsnet.co.uk/conetents.htm

-

-

-

-

-

-

A - Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE TOPICS

-

Also filmed in 1964, and also in stunning b/w, Horoshi Teshigahra’s Woman in the Dunes shares another quality of Onibaba’s (see previous post)- that is, it is set in an unbearably claustrophobic situation. More so even as the drama unfolds in a huge sand pit where an educated Tokyo man is tricked while gathering butterflies for his collection into staying the night in the pit with a woman in a small hut, only to find the rope ladder he needs to exit as been removed the next day. There he is gradually forced oout of necessity into digging out buckets of sand to prevent the house from being buried as well as using the sand as a trade for food and water. The local villagers taunt him and torment him and the mysterious woman, who has long resigned herself to her fate, becomes dependent on him and infatuated with him. The mood is excruciating and it is never really explained who the villagers are or why the whole thing even happens. Rather we witness the man’s reluctant acceptance of his perpetual Sisyphus like task and even his inevitable immersion into it. The cinematography is fantastic and the acting tense and nerve racking. There is a steamy erotic quality to the film without it ever once being graphic or exploitive. Both films are masterpieces of postwar Japanese cinema and I do not have to be a film scholar to make that statement.

-

-

-

-

A - Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE POSTS

-

I am not such a student of film that I can explain why it is that the postwar period of film-making in Japan proved to be one of its most fruitful. Besides the astonishing samurai movies that came from that period there were also the touching and often tragic human drama films and the atmospheric horror films as well (and not only the great monster ones from Toho). Onibaba is sometimes classified as a horror film but if it is it is in the sense that Hitchcock made horror films as well, but it was the horror of the human mind and soul rather than ghosts and demons the characters have to deal with. Filmed in 1964 by Kaneto Shindo this film is unnerving and suspenseful with out ever being too graphic. The tone is set by incredible b/w cinematography, edgy music and excellent acting. The mood is claustrophobic as the action occurs mostly inside a large field of tall grass and reeds that is constantly undulating and swirling in the breeze and you cannot see beyond where you are at most of the time and you can never know what might be lurking only feet away in the tall grass. The themes are murder, lust, betrayal jealously, fears of death and insanity. How can you go wrong with this one?

-

-

-

-

-

-

A - Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE POSTS

-

-

• Bob: [referring to Rio's busted gun hand] It's been six weeks. That hand ain't gettin' no better. I say we lay for Longworth with shotguns and then go rob that bank. Rio: Ambushin' folks ain't exactly my style, Bob. Bob: I'd say your style's gettin' a bit slow. We brought you along because you're supposed to be the big man with the iron; but now, I think I could even out pull you. Rio: [Putting his hand on his gun butt] You're probably right, Bob. You probably could get six into me by the time I get that one into you.
• Deputy Lon Dedrick: You got a lot of guts, ain't you kid? Rio: You're the one with the gut Lon.
• Longworth: You've been tryin' to get yourself hung for the last fifteen years Kid. This time I think you might have made it.
• Bob: What about Longworth? Rio: Nothin' about him. In the mornin' I'll kill him and then we'll rob that bank.
• Rio: You may be a one eyed jack around here, but I've seen the other side of your face.
• Deputy Lon Dedrick: You ain't gettin' no older than tomorrow.
• [Longworth has tied up and whipped Rio] Rio: You better kill me. Longworth: No, there's no need for that. [smashes Rio's gun hand with a shotgun butt] Longworth: Your gun days are over. Put him on a horse.
• Louisa: You think that to kill him, will make you a man?Rio: Well, I don't know 'bout that. But I know that I thought about him every day for five years. And that was the only thing that kept me going.
• Bob: This is part that's goin' to tickle you; the sheriff in that town is named Dad Longworth.
• [Rio has just bluffed his way out of jail with an empty pistol] Rio: Looky here, Lon; wasn't loaded.
• Bob: Harvey Johnson's about to be a famous name in these parts. You're about to be gunned down by a man named Rio.
• [Modesto is attempting to stop Bob from double crossing Rio] Bob: I'm real disappointed in you, Modesto; pullin' a gun on an old saddle pal like that. Chico: One more word and I will kill you! Bob: One more word, huh? Let me see if I can think of one. How about g-r-e-a-s-e-r? Greaser? [Modesto pulls his trigger and realizes that Bob has unloaded his gun during the night] Bob: Lookin' for these, Modesto? (throws cartridges at him)Harvey: (laughing) Eat 'em, greaser. Chico: (throws his gun at Bob) Banditos! Bob: You had a good life, Modesto. (shoots him)
• Rio: Get up! Get up, you scum suckin' pig!
• Rio: I don't know, Dad. You may not want me around too long. You may be retired from robbin' banks, Dad; but I'm still in business.
• [Bob and Harvey are watching Longworth whip Rio] Harvey: We better get down there and do something. Bob: Do something? Not this old horse; Longworth's got enough shotguns down there to start a war. Besides, this might help get some of that snot-nose out of him.

-

Get up! Get up you scum sucking pig! Get up!

-

-

-

A - Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE POSTS

-

-

A - Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE TOPICS

- FIEND WITHOUT A FACE

-

1958/Director: Arthur Crabtree /Screenplay: Herbert J. Leder /

-

Cast: Marshall Thompson, Kim Parker, Kyanaston Reeves, Stanley Maxted, Terence Kilburn, Gil Winfield

-

-

This is a great little disembodied brain movie full of cold war paranoia and strange science gone awry angst. I could not figure out why these supposedly Canadian and American actors all had weird British or Irish sounding accents until I read that it was part of a series of British movies filmed during the late 50's that were supposed to be set in the States. It is on the Criterion Collection which as I understand tries to find and transfer the best quality prints possible. Well, the film looks great and is a barrel of fun. Plenty of unintentional laughs and some really disgusting looking brains that crawl like inch worms using their spinal cords. The story takes place on and around an American military base somewhere in western Canada. The characters are typical 50's sci-fi stereotypes... the dashing and sickingly noble hero and sexy but coquettishly innocent female lead who fall in love with each other after the obligatory cold period, the brilliant and ultimately altruistic scientist whose vision to help mankind turns against him and destroys him, and a whole slew of doofy supporting characters that hardly have a disembodied brain between the lot of them. The misguided doctor creates a machine that projects his thoughts as telekenetic energy and soon he can move small objects around his room. This is to suppose to help the world somehow. His thoughts soon evolve into an invisible and murderous power that is later made visible by increasing the level of radioactivity at the military base. The creatures are stop-action animated brains that spurt gobs of blood when shot or hacked with axes. One scene I really liked was when some Canadian redneck (played by a Brit) comes mumbling into a room where a meeting of the towns folk is going on. His brain has been drained by the one of the beasts and the expression on his blithering face is classic.

-

-

-

Definintly worth a look. Loads of fun and campy dialog that is taken seriously by the cast of bad actors. Check out the weird Jerry Lee Lewis lookin' guy that runs the nuclear power plant. This is a fine example of what I consider to be a thoroughly enjoyable campy, bad movie, worth watching over and over, while Neil Marshall's Doomsday is simply a bad movie and no fun at all. This is in the vain of Invasion of the Saucermen which I just watched and will do a post on as soon as possible. Good clean fun for the whole family. Well, maybe the Addams Family, but still good clean fun.

-

-

A little side project I have been working on for a while is my youtube site. I have been converting lots of video to suitable formats and learning how to do a few extra things to make the videos interesting. I will be honest, I am shameless and nab lots of other people’s trailers, but I try to nab only the best quality and then take credit for them. I usually do not nab clips and if I do I acknowledge it in some passing fashion. I am have the software now to get the scenes I want and money with them. I am working on some montage style videos with music I composed and recorded myself. I have made one Tetsuo experiment but will probably redo it before putting here on the Café because it got all grainy looking when it got to youtube. So, if you want o keep up with I am uploading or adding to favorites there please don’t be shy and drop by the Uranium Café Youtube site. So for now enjoy this first sampling form my site from Fined Without a Face. I did not make this clip, but thought it was so groovy I could not help snagging it and editing it a little. The actual credit goes to whoever, and much thanks my friend.

-

-

A TO Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE POSTS

-

AUDITION

-

1999/ Director: Takashi Miike/ Writer: Takashi Miike

-

Cast: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Miyuki Matsuda, Renji Ishibashi, Jun Junimura

-

I saw this a couple times in Seattle, once at the small Grande Illusions alone and once with my movie mate Matt and he just loved it. I can't believe I had a copy of this movie here and turned it back to the shop because the subtitles did not work in English. Later I would realize that I simply did not know how to use the Chinese remote and that the subtitles most likely did work fine. I have some of Miike's other films on DVD here like Visitor Q and Gozu and Ichi the Killer and some other Yakuza style adventure films that appear to be a long series, but I have not found a new copy of Audition. Damn me! Damn me to hell! Needless to say it is one great movie, a real stunner. It's the kind of movie that if you were a girl and your boyfriend sat around watching it over and over you may want to question the direction the relationship is headed. It is hard for me to give a thorough review being as I have not seen the film in years. I prefer to critique a film within a day or so of the viewing, or a week at the most, while the images are still fresh and vivid. Suffice to say a fan of shock cinema will not be disappointed at all. But shock cinema (and Miike is a shock film maker, there is no doubt) is a little misleading here in this case as the movie is a finely crafted and well acted and, in my humble opinion, the best of Miike's work that I have seen so far.

-

-

The basic story is about a film maker who is still grieving over his recently departed wife and decides to act on the advice of a friend to stage an audition for a film and in the process possibly meet a nice girl. There is a long series of auditions that transpire and most are rather comical. He does eventually fall for super lovely and waifish Ryo Ishibashi. Unfortunately she is a totally psychotic kook who interprets his later game of "aloofness" as the acts of a man who uses auditions to seduce innocent girls and she exacts her unique and gruesome revenge on the guy, who is really simply a nice guy trying to find a wife. He was actually reluctantly following the advice of his friend to play it cool in order to attract her even more. This brutal revenge stuff is apparently not new to the girl considering she keeps some mutilated, though very much alive, previous victim in a duffle bag in her place.

-

-

I do not want to tell you anymore, except that it may sound like a typical stalker, psycho obsessed girl flick in the vain of Play Misty for Me or Fatal Attraction, and it is all that, but it is quite different as well. It has a fatalistic and dark mood to it and it is unrelenting in the violence department though not gratuitous. It is the slasher girl getting even, and it is scarier just because she is so frail and demure on the one hand, but viscously calculating and without remorse on the other. Add to that the fact the male figure is basically innocent of the crimes she perceives him to be guilty of! The acting and film-work are both marvelous. The violence is grueling and unnerving and there are strange, disturbing flash back sequences. Not a movie for everyone but I am still looking for a new copy. Horror/suspense films just don't get much better than this!

-

-

Note: I finally picked up a working copy of Audition here in Kunming China and find my above review is suitable for the moment, though I feel the need to write something on the film again shortly. I've watched it twice, once alone and once with my wife and have a fresh perspective since the previous section of this essay was written. I would expect an eventual page on Miike's films and on there I will update my opinionon what I consider to be his masterpiece.

-

-

-

A TO Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE TOPICS

Born Thomas Jones Woodward, who later under advise from manager Gordon Mills changed his name to Tom Jones, was born in Wales and had a rough time getting his raunchy, sexy voice heard over the British airwaves in his early career. Before Gordon Mills, while being managed by Joe Meeks, Jones sang and fronted the group Tony Scott and the Senators and they had a sound that was influenced more by early American rock bands than anything else. The senators would became the Playboys and then the Squires before Mills would captain him into a solo career that made his name a household word by the late sixties. I remember watching the This Is Tom Jones TV show when I was a wee lad with my mom and he had all these strange stars from the time like Joel Gray and Petula Clark on there doing the variety stuff they all did back then. He always opened the show with his break through hot song It’s Not Unusual and the gals in the audience just went nuts. In the late 60’s he recorded less and performed more and his shows in Las Vegas were famous for having hotel keys and panties thrown up on the stage. He made friends with Elvis while there and the friendship lasted until the King’s death.

Like Nancy Sinatra (see a previous post) he also did a great Bond score for Thunderball. It is my 2nd favorite Bond score after You Only Live Twice. There is no doubt that Jone’s act was ahead of its time in the sexual tension department, but he retained some style and class in his tuxedo’s and short curly hair style. I recall reading about his studio and TV show guitarist Jim Sullivan. Seems there were two Jims in the mid-sixties doing all the studio work in London really, Big Jim Sullivan and another chap nick named Little Jim to distinguish the two. Little Jimmy Page would give up the safe world of the studio and join The Yardbirds and later form Led Zeppelin. Page was supposed to have sat in some Tom Jones sessions and maybe did some tracks for Its Not Unusual but I am not sure how accurate this is. Jone’s charisma is still alive and in 2000 released the album Reload, and it became the biggest seller of his career to date. His continuing popularity even into latter years just goes to show a hairy chest will never be out of style with women who like a man who is a real man and doesn’t mind flaunting his seething virility. Sigh.

I attached two video samples of Jones from his Las Vegas period during the early 70’s. I could have slipped in something from the mid sixties when he was wearing his fluffy sleeved white Edwardian shirts and tight black pants but I decided to go with the period he is most remembered for. He does a fine parody of himself in Tim Burton’s Mars Attack.

SHE’S A LADY

WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT

-

A - Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE TOPICS