The Cotton Club from 1984 for Mod (Retro) Movie Monday at Tiki Lounge Talk

The Cotton Club, 1984

Sometimes the Mod Movie Mondays don’t come until Tuesday. Most of the time they’re not really Mod, but it sounds good in the title. This week we have a retro-tastic movie that captured the 1920s in a way they could only do in the 1980s. From Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Evens, here’s

The Cotton Club

from 1984 starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Gregory Hines, Bob Hoskins, James Remar, Nick Cage, Maurice Hines, Lonette McKee, Lawrence (Larry) Fishburn and Fred Gwin.

Wow! With a cast and management like that, plus a $42 million buck budget at the time, there’s no way this movie couldn’t be one of the best, most entertaining, most award-winning and amazing flicks of all time, right? Right?

Well..er..

Ok, back in 1984 the movie got panned pretty bad. People expected a lot more from the guys who brought you “The Godfather”. Well kids, this flick was plagued with problems from the start, including money troubles and an actual murder. But 26 years later no one really remembers much of that. What we remember was a movie that looked incredible, with hot flappers and Richard Gere actually playing the coronet. We remember a movie that took Duke Ellington’s music and recreated it with some of the best jazz session musicians available at the time, some playing antique instruments to get the right sound. We remember Herman Munster playing a gangster, and not one but TWO 80’s montages. And, of course, in true mid-80’s fashion, there was a music video (Ill Wind) inserted neatly into the middle of the flick. And yet not one note of the score was played on a DX-7.

What I’m getting at is The Cotton Club is really a damned good movie, not matter what the critics at the time had to say (dig this: Time Mag has the original 1984 review posted online! See it here).

Why you should watch this movie: Beautiful sets, incredible music, terrific dance sequences. Fantastic characters drawn from Lena Horne, George Raft, Bix Beiderbeck, The Nicholas Brothers and pretty much every gangster from New York to Chicago. Gregory Hines tap dancing with his brother, Maurice. Bob Hoskins trying not to look like his character from Roger Rabbit. Diane Lane looking hot as hell. Pretty good Cab Calloway impersonator. Wacky Hollywood ending which lets you in on the big secret…which is don’t take this movie too seriously. It ain’t the freakin’ Godfather.

Dinner and Drinks: For dinner, why not choose from the Cotton Club’s menu? As for drinks, if you can get your hands on some bathtub gin, go for it. If not, I’d say Manhattans and champagne cocktails are in order all around.

My Take: As a young swinger just starting to learn jazz clarinet and sax, and just recently discovering the great riffs of the masters such as Ellington and Calloway, hearing this music in stereo and seeing performers play it and dance to it on the silver screen was a really big deal for me. This movie combined all the things I liked: Hot Jazz, hot flappers, gangsters, classic cars and big-brimmed hats. I learned all the songs on the album and could play all the solos by age 15. It was one of the first movies we recorded off HBO using our new-fangled video tape recording machine (The one with the top loading tapes and the remote with the wire on it), and I watched it over and over again. I dressed like the gangsters (including the hat) and incorporated their style into my first writings. Yeah, that’s right kats, even back then I was into the scene, into the retro thing long before it was labeled ‘Retro”. Dig? Yeah man, that’s a solid five.

-Zoot Jackson filling in for Tiki Chris, reporting from a smokey basement speakeasy somewhere in Harlem.

Catch a new Mod Movie Monday every week (sometimes even on Monday) here at Tiki Lounge Talk, the hepcats’ joint for jumpin’ and jivin’.

For The Mad Men Lovers: How To Succeed In Business Without Even Trying, 1967 for Mod Movie Monday

In honor of Sunday’s Season Four Premier of Mad Men, I thought I’d treat you swingers to a little fun flick from 1967…based on the Broadway musical, here’s

How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying

from 1967 starring a young and crazy Robert Morse as J Pierrepont Finch.

When I first watched Mad Men four years ago, the one person that really clicked in my head was Cooper. He had a very familiar look, especially his expressions. Through the magic of the modern interwebs I was able to do a world-wide search for this actor’s previous accomplishments (Ok, I went right to IMDB) and realized I had recently seen the kat in How to Succeed in Business!

Robert Morse in "How To Succeed In Business"

Man, what a great circle of events. Robert Morse originated the part of “Ponty” in HTSIBWET in 1961 and won a Tony for best actor. When the movie came along he, along with Rudy Vallee, Ruth Kobart and Sammy Smith all recreated their roles from the Broadway version. His character starts out as a window washer who, with the help of a book entitled, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” decides to take a shot at climbing the corporate ladder. Executive is written all over his future, and his goal is to someday run the company.

Robert Morse in Mad Men

Change the timing by 30 years, and it becomes very easy to see Cooper’s character starting out with some of the same characteristics, basically making his character in How To Succeed a possible background (although a goofy one) for Burt Cooper. (What’s really funny is how the film treats the Advertising Department and its stigma at the company).

Basically, it’s a very kool connection for the retro series Mad Men to make by hiring an actor who actually portrayed these types of characters at the actual time this series takes place. Dig?

As for the movie itself, what a fun flick it is. It’s a musical with some swingin’ tunes. The sets are fantastic…more early-60s style than late. Ultra Modern and swanky-galore. Since it was originally staged in ‘61, the movie maintains that era’s look and feel.

There are a lot of laughs, and by the end you’ll be hoping the kid makes it. When it’s over, watch a first season Mad Men and you’ll see a few cues from this movie. The kids that put this series together definitely watched this flick once or twice!

-Tiki Chris reporting from the screening room at World Wide Widgets.
This is Tiki Lounge Talk, the swingin’ retro tiki blog for kool kats and hip kitties.

Mod Movie Monday: Logan’s Run, 1976

Logan's Run

If you watch this movie and think, “Hey, this looks like it was filmed in a mall!” you’d be right.

Swing back to 1975, when America was proud of its upcoming Bicentennial celebration and sci-fi films were still using stop animation and model rockets on strings.

Somewhere in Texas a film crew was shooting a movie with a $9 million buck budget and a lot of hope. What they ended up with is a somewhat cheesy looking but still fantastic movie.

Logan’s Run, 1976

Starring Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter, Roscoe Lee Browne, Farrah Fawcett and Peter Ustinov.

Logan's Run - The Love Shop. Groovy.

This was ’70s sci-fi at its best (before Star Wars came along and set the new standard). A futuristic, post-apocalyptic world where people had ’70s hair and polyester clothes, and the buildings’ interiors looked like the mall you went to when you were a kid. All they needed was an Orange Julius and a Copper Rivet to make it complete. You probably already know the plot - in this futuristic society, people are cared for by machines which supply food, clean air and water. The family unit is non-existent; sex is for pleasure and babies are mysteriously incubated by machines. To keep the (un)natural balance, everyone has a “life clock”, basically a plastic gem from Woolworth’s embedded in their hand which tells them when it’s time to die (age 30). But everyone gets down with this plan, because they don’t believe they are dying, they believe they are being renewed. Groovy.

This always reminded me of the Monorail at Disney World.

Here’s the catch: Some kats don’t buy this “renew” jazz that’s laid on them, and believe there’s a much better place to live called “Sanctuary”. Yes, that’s right, they believe there’s a much better place than the place where you pretty much don’t have to work, don’t have to worry about finding food, or getting sick, where you can have all the sex you want without consequences and where you never have to worry about getting old…yeah, I guess some people might not dig that life.

The Life Clock.

So these kats are always trying to skip town, get away through some crazy underground system of tunnels that looks like a sewerage plant, to the outside world. They keep trying, and the police (known as Sandmen) try to stop them. This happens a lot.

Now, I won’t give away the whole story, but I’ll tell you this much: The adventure begins when the computer that runs society has a great idea to turn a Sandman into a runner by advancing his alarm clock several years to 30. Now he will die if he doesn’t infiltrate the runners’ gang and find this “Sanctuary”. Hence the name, Logan’s Run.

The "active pool" of the Water Gardens located in Ft. Worth, Texas

Why bother watching this flick: It’s pure fun, ’70s style, and it actually was filmed in a mall (see pix below) From the obvious toy model of the city to the toga-like clothes to the 35 year-old-style holograms, this movie is full of the stuff we loved back in the day. They even have laser guns. The imagery is very kool in many parts of the movie, and even with the low-budget effects it’s still a good flick with an original story. One thing really neat about using malls and other existing yet future-looking sites to film at is the illusion that this world isn’t really much different from ours, and that this future isn’t too far off from our own.

Here’s the Logan’s Run trailer from 1975:

Logan's Run - The Great Hall

On Location: The Texas Apparel Mart, a mall build in 1964, scene of Logan's Run

My story: I first saw this movie in 1976 on a brand new TV channel called “Prism” (Philadelphia Regional In-Home Sports and Movies). Prism came in on a big black plastic box with a clunky knob that you turned from “TV” to “PREMIUM”. Prism was off the air most of the day, and usually came on around 8pm. It mostly broadcast Phillies games with a couple of movies in between. For what seemed like months, the only movies it showed were That’s Entertainment! parts one and two, and Logan’s Run. I think we watched each of these movies a thousand times. No wonder I like sci-fi and old musicals. For years I used to kid with friends that the world of the future looked like the Searstown Mall in Pleasantville, NJ. Then 25 years later I looked it up on the internet, and lo and behold, the thing was filmed in a mall.

Well, that’s that on this oldie but goodie. I can’t give it five stars for great acting or special effects, but as a testament to its grooviness, there hasn’t been a remake of it in 35 years…at least not yet.

-Tiki Chris 9 reporting from the Great Hall. Renew! Renew!

Mod Movie Monday: Midnight Cowboy, 1969

Midnight Cowboy

Look at the Poster on the left kids, to the bottom left corner. Notice the ‘X’ Rating. Back in the ’60s an X-rating was given to movies the way NC-17 ratings are given today. The X-rating was adopted by the adult film industry as “XXX” and didn’t last long in mainstream films. So don’t let the rating throw you. This is no stag reel. It’s one of the greatest dramas ever put on film. Here’s the first and only X-Rated movie to win an Oscar (three, actually)…

Midnight Cowboy, 1969

Starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman (along with performances by Brenda Vaccaro, Sylvia Miles and John McGiver).

Note from the Tiki Bar: NO SPOILERS HERE. Read on, but be careful if you’ve never seen Midnight Cowboy and search the web for info…since the movie is over 40 years old, there are spoilers everywhere. And believe me, you want to see the movie cold.

The Movie: This movie is gritty, rough, funny, poignent and fantastic. And because it’s filmed on-location, it’s got lots of great shots of the way things looked and the way people lived back in the late 1960s. From Joe Buck’s solid-state radio that he loves so much to the Cadillacs and old Checker cabs on the streets of New York, it’s like a time capsule waiting to be discovered.

Midnight Cowboy was adapted from a 1965 book by James Leo Herlihy. The director, John Schlesinger wanted to bring the story to the silver screen with Dustin Hoffman in the role of Ratso Rizzo, a small-time conman living on the streets. Actors like Warren Beatty were considered for the role of Joe Buck, the Texas ‘cowboy’ who moves to New York City to make it rich as a hustler…a male prostitute to rich women. Schlesinger finally chose Jon Voight, a relatively unknown actor for Joe Buck, feeling that by doing so the character would be more believable. A magic combination was born.

"I'm walkin' here!"

There’s no way I can lay down  how powerful this movie is here, especially if you’ve ever been broke with dreams of living in paradise. There are several themes going on in this flick. One is of Joe Buck trying to be something better than a dishwasher, and relying on his looks to get rich. Another is of Ratso Rizzo, looking for someone who will help him get off the streets and down to Miami, where he believes he can live out the rest of his days in luxury (and even overcome his handicap). And of course there’s the bond that forms between the two, so strong that it’s sometimes mistakenly interpreted as a homosexual relationship (spoiler: it’s not a homosexual relationship).

The Cinematography: This movie wasn’t shot, it was crafted. From the camera angles to the background music to the imagery of the cold winter juxtaposed with the bright Miami Beach scene, every frame in this movie has something to say. Plus it’s got one of the craziest, best mod-psychadelic sequences in any movie to come out of the era…the party scene, a la Village 1968, which actually includes cameos by ‘Warhol Superstars’ Viva and Ultra Violet. Drugs, strange imagery, weird music, far-out people and lunch meats make this one of the best scenes in a flick full of great scenes.

Midnight Cowboy Parodied in Futurama

The Icons: Even if you’ve never caught this movie chances are you’ve seen or heard something that references it. The line “I’m Walkin’ Here!” was first shouted by Ratso Rizzo in this film. The iconic image of the cowboy, out of place and down on his luck has been copied time and again. Hell, he even gets ketchup on his new blue jeans. References to scenes and characters have been made in numerous movies and TV shows including Forrest Gump, Back to the Future II, Futurama, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and Rizzo the Rat from The Muppet Show.

The Music: “Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me” is the song most associated with this movie, with the haunting Midnight Cowboy Theme running a close second. Originally “Everybody’s Talkin’” wasn’t supposed to be in the movie. Harry Nilson had written the song “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City” for the movie, and “Everybody’s Talkin’” was used as a stand-in song during editing. It stuck. It’s hard to imagine what this movie would be like without it. The sorrowful end theme was written by John Barry and again, has become iconic. (Note: Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” was considered for use in the film. Just wouldn’t have been the same.)

Why this post is so damned long: Cheers to you if you’ve made it this far. Ok, I know I usually promise to keep things short. I got a little carried away with this one because out of all the Mod Movie Mondays, this is probably the most serious, well made and definitely one of the best. It’s got three Oscars to prove it, too…Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Picture…plus 23 other wins and 12 nominations including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. But it’s more than that to me.

I first saw this movie when I was around ten or so. It was edited for TV, and since they edited down the sex scenes to only the slightest suggestions, most of it seemed like more of dark comedy than a drama. My parents loved this movie (on a different level) and for the remainder of their lives would quote things like “Gimme some soup” and “Dumb cowboy”.

This scene in Midnight Cowboy was shot in Hollywood, FL in front of the Great Southern Hotel. This is a few blocks from where I work. Bottom images shows the Hotel as it sits today, closed.

When I was a little older I got to see the uncut version, (which confused the hell out of me). What I picked up from it the second time around was the desperateness of the characters to get out of cold, mean city and down to Florida, where everything was bright and sunny and beautiful.  That stuck with me for years, and when I saw the movie again in my twenties, I understood all of it…and the idea of the Sunshine State being the escape from drudgery became a sleeping giant in the back of my mind.  Hell, even the theme song unintentionally refers to Florida: “I’m goin’ where the sun keeps shining through the pouring rain, goin’ where the weather suits my clothes”. If anyone ever felt the desperation Enrico did, it was yours truly, kats.

In 2000 I finally “hopped on the bus” and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to start a new life with my wife Colleen. “Everybody’s Talkin’ at Me” went through my head as we crossed the border from Georgia into Florida, and the sun actually was shining through the pouring rain. And believe me, the weather suits my clothes.

Dinner & drinks: Wait ’til the end of the movie. You’ll thank heavens for anything you’ve got in the kitchen.

-Tiki Chris, AKA ChrisPFlorida reporting from where the sun keeps shining through the pouring rain…

The Vampire Lovers, 1970: Mod Movie Monday

It may not be Halloween, but that’s no reason not to crank up the air, curl up under the sheets and take in one of the most fun-to-watch freak-a-rama movies from the early 1970s…

Hammer Films Presents

The Vampire Lovers, 1970

Starring the voluptuous Igrid Pitt, George Cole, Roger Morton, Kate O’Mara and Peter Cushing.

For those of you who are not hip to the Hammer horror films, these are the kats who gave us the great Dracula films of the 50s-70s starring Christopher Lee as the the Count and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. They’re also responsible for One Million Years B.C. with Raquel Welch, and other great titles like The Brides of Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein, and Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb. Read the rest of this entry »