Tagged: 1960s
Duane Jones in Night of the Living Dead
Duane Jones in Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Vitals
Duane Jones as Ben, resourceful zombie-hunter
Rural Western Pennsylvania, Spring 1968
Film: Night of the Living Dead
Release Date: October 4, 1968
Director: George A. Romero
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Especially here in western Pennsylvania, George A. Romero’s masterclass in economical filmmaking Night of the Living Dead has risen to mythic status among cinephiles. Though born in New York City, Romero graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1960 and remained local to Pittsburgh where he filmed short productions including a segment for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood before his directorial debut that became a landmark in independent film, horror cinema, and movies at large.
Night of the Living Dead premiered at the Fulton Theater in Pittsburgh on October 1, 1968, three days before its wider release that drew controversy due to its violence and bleakness—simultaneously exemplifying what was increasingly permissible in American cinema in the wake of the crumbling Production Code that had restricted filmmakers for more than thirty years.
Despite this harsh reception from critics and audiences not prepared for its content, Night of the Living Dead developed a growing cult following to become one of the most profitable movies ever made. It recouped at least $30 million against its $125,000, which Romero had kept modest through guerrilla filmmaking techniques and casting local actors and friends like legendary Pittsburgh TV presenter “Chilly Billy” Cardille as himself, allowing Romero to reserve most of the modest budget for special effects.
While many rightly include this iconic horror flick among their spooky season watch-lists in October, Night of the Living Dead also qualifies as the rare “Daylight Saving movie”. The action is quickly established to be set on the Sunday in spring when clocks spring forward an hour—much to the chagrin of the cynical Johnny (Russell Streiner), who lost an hour of sleep on the morning he accompanies his sister Barbra (Judith O’Dea) to their father’s grave site, said to be “200 miles into the country” though actually filmed in Evans City… just 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh.
After one of the titular living dead attacks the siblings and knocks Johnny unconscious, Barbra manages to escape in his ’67 Pontiac LeMans and find refuge in an isolated farmhouse, where she comes face-to-face with Ben (Duane Jones)—a serious, resourceful man of action who quickly takes command of the situation… and their survival. Continue reading
Johnny Cash at San Quentin, 1969
Johnny Cash performing at San Quentin State Prison, February 24, 1969. Photo by Jim Marshall.
Vitals
Johnny Cash, country rock superstar
San Quentin State Prison, California, February 1969
Film: Johnny Cash in San Quentin
Release Date: September 6, 1969
Director: Michael Darlow
Background
Today would have been the 94th birthday of Johnny Cash, born February 26, 1932 in Arkansas. After his initial success recording hits like “Folsom Prison Blues” and “I Walk the Line” for Sun Records, Cash began his tradition of performing concerts at prisons with a New Year’s Day 1958 gig at San Quentin State Prison, with a 19-year-old Merle Haggard among the inmates in attendance.
A decade later, Cash was retaking control of his life and career after both had been stalled by his narcotic addictions. It was a fortuitous time for his self-rehabilitation as Columbia Records had recently hired visionary producer Bob Johnston, who was more eager to entertain Cash’s unorthodox collaborations—including the singer’s long-expressed desire to record an album inside a prison. Folsom State Prison responded first after Johnston called them and San Quentin, resulting in Cash recording his now legendary concert there on January 13, 1968.
Despite little promotion from Columbia, At Folsom Prison revitalized Cash’s career as it rose to the top of the U.S. Top Country Albums chart and won a pair of Grammy Awards. A year later, Cash returned inside the walls of a California state prison to record yet another live album to an audience of inmates—this time returning to San Quentin, just north of San Francisco and 100 miles southwest of Folsom.
This was Cash’s first album recorded without longtime lead guitarist Luther Perkins, who died following an August 1968 house fire, so guitarist Bob Wootton joined bassist Marshall Grant and drummer W.S. “Fluke” Holland in Cash’s Tennessee Three backing band. Additional acts included Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, and the Carter Family—including June Carter, who had married Johnny the previous March, just weeks after his on-stage proposal in Ontario. The entire group arrived at San Quentin for a performance on February 24, 1969—two days before Cash’s 37th birthday. Continue reading
Mark Frechette’s Revolutionary Rags in Zabriskie Point
Mark Frechette and Daria Halpern in Zabriskie Point (1970)
Vitals
Mark Frechette as Mark, revolutionary college dropout and forklift driver
Los Angeles to Death Valley, California, Summer 1968
Film: Zabriskie Point
Release Date: February 5, 1970
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Costume Designer: Ray Summers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Michelangelo Antonioni refocused his existential “Antoni-ennui” lens onto the American campus counterculture for the offbeat drama Zabriskie Point, which premiered 56 years ago today on February 5, 1970, four days before its wider release. Poorly received by critics and audiences upon its release, Zabriskie Point earned a cult following in the decades to follow as newer audiences appreciate the raw style and performances, the deeply human story photographed by cinematographer Alfio Contini against the vast California desert, and a contemporary rock soundtrack featuring Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia, The Rolling Stones, and The Youngbloods.
“Who the hell is he?” someone asks of our protagonist in the opening scene. Indeed, the moviegoing public may have wondered the same thing. After directing the likes of Alain Delon, Richard Harris, David Hemmings, Marcello Mastroianni, and Monica Vitti, Antonioni anchored Zabriskie Point with non-professional actors Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin in its leading roles. Casting director Sally Dennison discovered Frechette at a bus stop during the 20-year-old carpenter’s shouting match with a man leaning out of a window three stories above them. “He’s twenty, and he hates,” Dennison tersely explained in her recommendation to Antonioni. Continue reading
Our Man Flint: James Coburn’s Tuxedo
James Coburn in Our Man Flint (1966)
Vitals
James Coburn as Derek Flint, bon vivant superspy
New York City to Marseilles, Spring 1965
Film: Our Man Flint
Release Date: January 16, 1966
Director: Daniel Mann
Costume Designer: Ray Aghayan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
James Coburn originated the character of Derek Flint in Our Man Flint, one of the many spy spoofs in the wake of ’60s Bondmania, released sixty years ago today. Technically, the film premiered a month earlier in St. Ann’s Bay in Jamaica, though it wasn’t widely in theaters until the American release on January 16, 1966. It would be followed the next year by a sequel, In Like Flint—which also happens to be Austin Powers’ favorite movie… and, indeed, you can see plenty of shagadelic DNA in the Flint series. Continue reading
My Night at Maud’s: Jean-Louis Trintignant’s Sheepskin Jacket
Jean-Louis Trintignant in My Night at Maud’s (1969)
Vitals
Jean-Louis Trintignant as Jean-Louis, serious-minded engineer and conflicted Catholic
Clermont-Ferrand, France, Christmas 1968
Film: My Night at Maud’s
(French title: Ma nuit chez Maud)
Release Date: June 4, 1969
Director: Éric Rohmer
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Considered one of the best French actors of the post-war era, the late Jean-Louis Trintignant was born 95 years ago today on December 11, 1930. Trintignant worked with many prolific directors but his sole collaboration with Éric Rohmer was the Nouvelle Vague drama My Night at Maud’s—the fourth-released of Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales”.
My Night at Maud’s premiered at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival and would be nominated for two Academy Awards. Trintignant portrays the ambitious engineer Jean-Louis, deeply in love with the young biology student Françoise (Marie-Christine Barrault) he has seen at his church, until just before Christmas when his friend Vidal (Antoine Vitez) introduces him to the eponymous Maud (Françoise Fabian). The night of their first meeting features intense discussions ranging from ethics to existence until, at Maud’s existence, Jean-Louis spends an awkward—and initially platonic—night in her bed, acting only on his newfound attraction by kissing her before he leaves in the morning.
Through their subsequent interactions, Jean-Louis’ faith conflicts with his growing attraction to the outspoken, divorced atheist as he and Maud recognize the tragic unlikelihood of lasting love between them. Continue reading
Salt and Pepper: Sammy Davis Jr. in Green Suede
Sammy Davis Jr. in Salt and Pepper (1968)
Vitals
Sammy Davis Jr. as Charles Salt, nightclub singer and co-owner
London, Spring 1968
Film: Salt and Pepper
Release Date: June 21, 1968
Director: Richard Donner
Costume Designer: Cynthia Tingey
Tailor: Charles Glenn
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Multi-talented entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. was born 100 years ago today on December 8, 1925. Davis started performing on stage at only three years old when he joined his father and godfather in a touring act named after the latter: the Will Mastin Trio. After serving in the Army during World War II and maintaining his stardom through the ’50s, Davis developed an informal but enduring association with fellow entertainers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford that has become immortalized as the “Rat Pack”. (It was reportedly at Davis’ insistence that Sinatra changed the group’s initial name from “the Clan” to “the Summit”.)
The Rat Pack’s heyday was through the early 1960s, consisting primarily of stage shows and feature films like Ocean’s 11 (1960), playing a group of Army vets teaming up to rob five Vegas casinos. But as Dino’s character declares in that flick, “old times are only good when you’ve had ’em,” and the group’s cultural domination began to sizzle within a few short years. Sinatra had spent a small fortune to renovate part of his Palm Springs estate in anticipation of a visit from Lawford’s brother-in-law—who happened to be then-President John F. Kennedy—until Attorney General RFK advised his brother to limit his association with the mob-connected Ol’ Blue Eyes… so both JFK’s visit and Lawford’s upcoming role in 4 for Texas went to Bing Crosby instead.
Ever the diplomat, Davis maintained professional ties with Lawford as the two pallies starred in three more films through the end of the ’60s, adapting their Rat Pack personas to the times in Salt and Pepper (1968) and the Jerry Lewis-directed sequel, One More Time (1970).
Salt and Pepper was the second film directed by Richard Donner, who would more successfully revisit the black-and-white buddy comedy subgenre two decades later with the Lethal Weapon series. Davis and Lawford play swingin’ London nightclub operators-turned-spies Charlie Salt and Christopher Pepper, respectively, who uncover a plot to overthrow the British government. Continue reading
Marriage on the Rocks: Dino’s Red Sweater and Green Slacks
Dean Martin in Marriage on the Rocks (1965)
Vitals
Dean Martin as Ernie Brewer, playboy advertising executive
Los Angeles, Fall 1965
Film: Marriage on the Rocks
Release Date: September 24, 1965
Director: Jack Donohue
Costume Designer: Walter Plunkett
Background
As we’re gliding through December, my playlist is increasingly loaded with Christmas classics—often sung by the great mid-century entertainers like Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Rat Pack icons Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
After the Rat Pack’s heyday in the early ’60s had all but ended, the latter two pallies co-starred in Marriage on the Rocks, released sixty years ago in September 1965 amidst their career highs that included Sinatra recording September of My Years and appearing in an Emmy-winning documentary about his life and career, while Martin had just debuted his long-running variety show on NBC after knocking the Beatles from the top of the charts with “Everybody Loves Somebody”. Continue reading
Farewell, Friend: Alain Delon’s Casual Jacket and Turtleneck
Alain Delon in Farewell, Friend (1968)
Vitals
Alain Delon as Dino Barran, discharged French Army doctor
Marseilles, France, December 1963
Film: Farewell, Friend
(French title: Adieu l’ami)
Release Date: August 14, 1968
Director: Jean Herman
Costume Designer: Tanine Autré
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Last year, the world said adieu to French screen and style icon Alain Delon, who was born 90 years ago tomorrow on November 8, 1935. Among his prolific filmography that includes Plein Soleil (1960), L’Eclisse (1962), The Leopard (1963), Le Samouraï (1967), and La Piscine (1969), one of Delon’s less-remembered films is the 1968 French-Italian heist caper Adieu l’ami—which translates to Farewell, Friend (also re-released as Honor Among Thieves). The film established Charles Bronson’s stardom in Europe, though it wouldn’t be released in the United States for another five years. Continue reading
Dustin Hoffman in Double Denim as Lenny Bruce
Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce in Lenny (1974)
Vitals
Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce, controversial comedian
New York, Spring 1964
Film: Lenny
Release Date: November 10, 1974
Director: Bob Fosse
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
Background
Did you know that Eleanor Roosevelt gave Lou Gehrig the clap?
Groundbreaking stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce was born 100 years ago, on October 13, 1925, in Long Island. His first steps into comedy were fittingly unconventional; while serving in the Navy during World War II, he dressed in drag to entertain his shipmates, eventually leading to his discharge. After struggling through the New York comedy circuit in the 1950s, Bruce began to find his footing toward the end of the decade, releasing his first solo record The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce in 1959 and delivering his now-legendary Carnegie Hall set during a snowstorm in February 1961.
Legal battles soon became inseparable from the outspoken Bruce’s act and reputation. His October 1961 arrest for obscenity put him squarely in the crosshairs of law enforcement, and over the next five years his performances were increasingly shadowed by surveillance, arrests, and prosecutions for obscenity and drug possession, while he became a living symbol of the struggle for free speech.
On August 3, 1966, the 40-year-old Bruce was found dead of an apparent morphine overdose at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Reflecting on the irony of a man persecuted for words, journalist Dick Schaap concluded his Playboy eulogy with a bitter epitaph: “One last four-letter word for Lenny: Dead. At forty. That’s obscene.”
Decades before he was reintroduced to modern audiences through Luke Kirby’s Emmy-winning performance in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Lenny Bruce was the focus of Bob Fosse’s 1974 biographical film Lenny starring Dustin Hoffman as the titular comedian. The movie received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Hoffman, though it won zero. Continue reading
The Dreamers: Michael Pitt’s Suede Jacket, Jeans, and Chuck Taylors
Michael Pitt in The Dreamers (2003)
Vitals
Michael Pitt as Matthew, expatriate student and self-professed cinephile
Paris, Spring 1968
Film: The Dreamers
Release Date: October 10, 2003
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Costume Designer: Louise Stjernsward
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Much discourse around Bertolucci’s 2003 erotic drama The Dreamers (which premiered in Italy 22 years ago today) centers around what the characters aren’t wearing, so I’ll flip the script by focusing on Louise Stjernsward’s evocative costume design that brings to life Parisian culture against the backdrop of the 1968 student protests.
Hailing from San Diego and studying in Paris, Matthew encounters sibling activists Isabelle (Eva Green) and Théo Fontaine (Louis Garrel) among his “freemasonry of cinephiles”—introduced during the very French situation of Isabelle asking Matthew to take her cigarette during a police demonstration at the storied Cinémathèque française. He’s quickly drawn into the siblings’ strange dynamic of deeply incestuous overtones littered with cinematic references epitomized by Isabelle’s insistence on leading the trio on a run through the Louve as seen in Bande à part. Continue reading
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