Saturday, July 22, 2017

THE LAS VEGAS STORY - Hoagy Carmichael - "The Monkey Song" (1952)

Welcome to another Saturday Night Special down in The Dungeon! Tonight's feature has an extra special cast, and also features Vincent Price is one of his non-horror roles! It's a fun movie to watch for a lot of reasons!

As one of the producers, who knew Vegas better than Howard Hughes?

Vincent Price deserved to have his name on the main credits too!

Rather than "The Las Vegas Story, it really should have been titled "A Las Vegas Story!"

During the collage splash of a bunch of casino neon signs, you'll see all the great names including "The Golden Nugget," and "The Flamingo," but.......

.........On the stage of the movie, they call the main casino "The Fabulous," and they even use the same kind of lettering as the real one!

Too me, shots inside of a 1950's casino are fascinating!

Equally fascinating is the pairing of Vincent Price and Jane Russell as the less than happy couple! They both have problems, hers are love, and his are.......

..........Money! 
Vincent's character is seriously in debt, and has a gambling problem, not a good combination!

Victor (One Million B.C.) Mature is the local cop and spurned lover, another bad combination!

 Brad Dexter went on to be one of the original "Magnificent Seven," and that's a feat all unto itself!

 All the two shots of Vinnie and Jane are fabulous too!

I love this shot of Jane in front of "The Last Chance" bar and casino! It looks like the entrance to Hell, or a kid's ride on the boardwalk!

My how times have changed!

Here's the fun part! Songwriter Hoagy Carmichael is Happy, the narrator and guy who plays the piano and performs at The Last Chance! Hoagy wrote classics like "Stardust," and "Georgia On My Mind!" My sound software is giving me problems, but I did find this video on You Tube of him here performing "The Monkey Song!" It's a must see!!! I wish the quality was a little better, but it's better than nothing for sure!

I thought this shot of them photographing one of the stiffs was pretty funny!

This is an odd shot!

Very cool penthouse shower!

Jane Russell was in a movie with Marilyn Monroe called "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," that pretty much underscored her career. Two years later they tried "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes," this time with Jeanne Crain, but Jane's career never really blasted off like it should have!

I'm not the biggest fan of long drawn out chase scenes, but how can you go wrong in a battle between a helicopter and a woody out in the desert? You can't, and that's just how good "The Las Vegas " story really is!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This movie looks great! Will add it to my (already too long) want list... :)

EEGAH!! said...

For sure you need to see it, and I'll stake my reputation you'll like it, except that, I don't have a reputation, but I promise it's worth a watch anyway!

Anonymous said...

Hey now! You and Mr. (or Mrs.) Walking Tree are tops with me, 'cause you created this great, crazy, fun website that ever since I stumbled upon it, I can't not keep coming back! :) Thanks, and cheers!

(I swear I'll get a Google account/identity one day very soon so I can log in fer reel!)

TABONGA! said...

Okay, to completely clear this up - Tabonga! is one old Dude... Mr. Tabonga!.. Hey, I like that!

Anonymous said...

And that means EEGAH!! is...?

EEGAH!! said...

...The other olde dude!!

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of years past when I had a couple of buds I used to hang out with watching old movies and TV shows on weekends. I'm the only one left of that group, which also included my dear old dad, so I have to do a bit of arm-twisting to get the missus to watch episodes of Outer Limits or flicks like Night of the Blood Beast (a favorite o' mine). I don't dare try to spring Wasp Woman on her again, because I recall only too well her reaction to THAT b-movie (or bee-movie). 'Twas her worst-ever reaction to a movie of any kind, ever!

EEGAH!! said...

You're not alone in that boat buddy! I found out a long time ago, it's really not necessary for couples to have the same taste in order to get along, but separate viewing rooms are a good idea!

Anonymous said...

We actually have three DVD collections: hers, mine, and ours! ;)

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