ASCENSEUR POUR L'ÉCHAFAUD - Miles Davis - "Frantic" (1958)

As bad as last night's movie was, that's how good tonight's feature is, and if you don't know anything about it, then it is my sincere pleasure to present to you, "Elevator To The Gallows", a severely cool film with a beyond cool soundtrack by the mysterious Mr. Cool himself, Miles Davis!!! Being a huge Miles Davis fan, I hate to admit it, but I wasn't familiar with this film until I found it on Netflix, in French, with sub-titles, and what a find it was!

Starring:Louis Malle's first flick brings hip wit, intrique, mystery and suspense all wrapped up like pigs in a blanket with Miles Davis syrup poured all over it and spills it right in your lap! It's one of those kind of films where the problems just keep compounding into something that you know is going to have to burst eventually!

Maurice as Julien Tavernier and Jeanne as Florence Carala are madly in love, there's just really only one small problem!!

Florence is married and her husband is Julien's boss!!

So Florence waits around while Julien takes care of the dirty work!!

Julien was all ready to pick up Florence and get out of town, but upon realizing he'd left a major clue behind, he returns, only to get stuck in the elevator when the security guard cuts off the juice for the weekend!!

That's the basic set-up, but in the meantime, these kids steal Julien's car that he left running when he hastily ran back into the building!!

It's a regular Bonnie and Clyde scene as the kids use Julien's ID, camera, and gun to party with, and then kill this German tourist!!

All the while Florence has no clue what's going on and continues to search all the regular dives!!

For this film, Miles used a different quintette that featured Barney Wilen on Tenor Sax, René Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass, and the everpresent Kenny Clarke on the drums!!

Florence seems to be the only one who didn't read the paper and see that Julien's mug is smeared all over the front page for thr killing of that German tourist!!

After a whole bunch of stuff happens, Julien finally gets out of the elevator about 24 hours later, but has no clue what kind of trouble he's in for something he didn't do!! Yeah, it's just a little twisted!!!! Unfortunately for Julien, these gals, unlike Florence, did read the paper and call the cops!!

I'm not going to tell you how this great film ends, because I really do encourage you to see this truly classic and classy film!!

This is only a taste of the music in this film! You can rent this movie, you can buy this DVD or CD, and while you're at it, pick up a copy of Miles' work on the soundtrack for "Jack Johnson!" That's one of my favorite of Miles' electric releases with John McLaughlin on Guitar, Michael Henderson pumping out the bass, and Billy Cobham on drums! I also just found out there's a 5 disc box set of extra music from the "Jack Johnson" sessions out there too! It's pretty pricey, but includes a ton of stuff with a host of different players like Sonny Sharrock, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Bennie Maupin, Steve Grossman, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Gene Perla, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Lenny White, Airto Moreira, and Hermeto Pascoal!! I know what I want for X-Mas!!

ALIEN ZONE - Stan V. Worth - "Last Stop On 13th Street" (1978)

In the 50's and 60's, a lot of times films were so bad, they were good, you understand the concept, but something happened in the 70's, and it wasn't just in the movies, what used to be bad, but fun and kitsch was now just bad, without any real redeeming qualities at all. That brings us to tonight's film, a terrible, cheap ass piece of crap that I don't even know why I'm taking the time to write about, except that it's pretty much the epitome of what happened, and how we've ended up where we are right now!!

The soundtrack music was composed by Stan Worth, and the title song had lyrics written by Ayn Robbins, and was sung by Steve March! I guess it did have one redeeming quality, the alternative name for the DVD release was "Last Stop On 13th Street!"

What a concept, you could listen to the music on your transistor radio in the kitchen or the bathroom! Amazing!! What will they think of next?? What's the coolest is, look how much our way of listening to music has changed, but toilets are exactly the same as they were 40 years ago!!!

WTF???

Happy New Year!!!

WTF???

I do think they got the music wrong, 1978, they should have used music from some band that sounded like a combination of "Cherry Vanilla", "Wizzard", and "Sweet!"

THE HAUNTING / MGM - 1963 / Music by Humphrey Searle

Director/producer Robert Wise hit homerun tonight with very great spooky flick from yesteryear! Other movie Robert direct you may not know... THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, THE BODY SNATCHER and THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN.

British music composer Humphrey Searle have decent career and work on THE BABY AND THE BATTLESHIP, THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN, THE MONSTERS and DOCTOR WHO!

Here was an excellent sample of Mr. Searle' work, and, truly spooky!

Julie Harris and Claire Bloom play psychic gurlies, and that why they there, to attract ghost!!

Creepy ghost like Julie best...

What the?!!

Oh, and not to fergit great performance by Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn. In 2008 Richard play Bernard Qualtrough on Brit TV series SPOOKS! In heyday, Russ be the dude!! Notice drink in Russ' hand?

Somebloody could get hurt aroun' here, so, might as well... have another beer!

Robert' wife show up and all Hell break loose!! Probably best to believe in spook!

DAMN PIGEON!!..

THE WITCHES - Sir Richard Rodney Bennett - "The Devil's Own" (1966)

What a bunch of Freaks! Have you ever sat around and wondered how many secret meetings or get togethers are going on in your own town right now?? Gangs, Covens, Nazis, Religious Fanatics, Sex Fiends, Money Lenders, Politicos, etc, etc! You're sitting home staring at your computer or watching TV, eating pizza, and drinking beer, just trying to relax, and at the same time there are all kinds of people out there still trying to figure out how to take over the world for one nefarious reason or another, and if it wasn't for movies like "The Witches," you probably wouldn't even bother thinking about it!!

Joan Fontaine plays Gwen Mayfield in her last film outing, and turns in what I find to be an incredible and fascinating performance!! The film begins in Africa, and the locals aren't real fond of Gwen!! That's all you need to know, because she has a breakdown after this scene, goes back to a small town in England and gets a job in a church school!

This is a Hammer film, so you know something's not going to be right with the townsfolk, and you'd be right!!

Joan notices strange things happening in the village! She finds weird footprints in the mud and gets 'accidently' trampled by some sheep, but is helped by all those kindly local people again!

She was getting way too close to something, so with a little help, the flashbacks start up!

Next thing you know, Joan's lost her memory and is tossed into this can of vegetable soup!!

I became a big Joan Fontaine fan after watching this film again!

So back to the meat and the music!! Seems Joan was on to something, all those weirdos are Devil worshippers led by the lady with the candles on her head

A one, and a two, and a three....Let's Go!!!!

The Soundtrack is by Richard Rodney Bennett, who was knighted by The Queen in 1998 for his service to music!!! He's that good!!!

"C'mon now baby and take a chance, Say that you'll let me have this dance, Well let's dance, well let's dance, We'll do the twist, the stomp, the mashed potato too, Any old dance that you wanna do, But let's dance, well let's dance!!!!!!"

"Hey baby, yeah, you thrill me so, Hold me tight, don't you let me go, But let's dance, well let's dance, We'll do the twist, the stomp, the mashed potato too, Any old dance that you wanna do, But let's dance, well let's dance!!"

"OK, Wail Now!!!!"