Ann-Margret at Cinebeats

Kimberly at the always great Cinebeats has posted a wonderful tribute to an all time favorite, Ann-Margret. I have posted about Ann a few times here but Kimberly's post blows away anything I could come up with. The link to Cinebeats is over under the Cinema Blog links. Check it out.
Also here are a couple of great shots of Ann with another one of my favorite people, Mr.Dean Martin, behind the scenes of the Matt Helm picture they shot together.

Dust Off Those Grooves (Chapter Six)

Frank Sinatra, for all of his greatness, could never be completely convincing singing pop songs in the sixties. He can't hide his contempt of the material that he layed down on albums like That's Life, My Way and Strangers In The Night, and these album's worst moments are the most shallow items in the great mans catalogue. Dean Martin, on the other hand, could sing any song in any genre and give it a warmth and relaxed reading that Sinatra could never match.
Dean Martin's reprise catalogue in the sixties is one of the most underrated in all of popular music. Time has buried just how popular these records were and listening to them now we are able to hear some of the most revitalizing music of the period. Dean, like Elvis, could sing anything and make it a Dean Martin song. Give him a Jimmy Webb song like By The time I Get To Phoenix and he'll nail it, King Of The Road and he'll make it seem like he is singing his autobiography. He could inject the most tragic songs with hope and add an elation to happier tunes that no one could match.
Choosing a favorite Dino album from the Reprise period is near impossible, from the sublime Dream With Dean to the nostalgic Once In A While we are given hundreds of quality performances by a man whose reputation would tell you that he didn't give a damn, we know now that Dean Martin was a lot more complicated than people could have ever imagined.
Houston would be an important album in any one's oeuvre for just two tracks alone, the stunning pair of singles in the title track and I Will, but add on ten more country rock infused classics and you've got a masterpiece.
The Lee Hazelwood penned opening title track is one of the sixties great moments with Dean giving one of his all-time great performances. Never has a man at the end of his rope sounded so defiantly relaxed. He knocks Hazelwood's ultimate ode to a loner trying to get home completely out of the park and by the time Sun legend Billy Lee Riley comes in on the harmonica we already have one of the great singles of the sixties.
Side one's brassy energetic feel is laced with sweet remembrances of love and it ends on the lovely Down Home which returns us to the loner of the title track. The album's underlying story is that of a man who stepped out just a little too much but can still get salvation, if he can just get home. Get back to where you belong indeed.
Side Two opens with the legendary I Will, one of Dino's biggest hits, and its wonderfully mournful string section gives side two a different feel. I defy anyone to not be moved when Dean sings, "I don't want to be the one who loves you babe but I will". It's a heartfelt performance that does the deceptively simple thing of making you believe him.
Side Two is, over all, a little more mellow and lush than the first but by the time Dean's character is thrown into jail in the great Detour we realize that the loner from Side one is still with us. The album closes with You're The Reason I'm In Love and we have are character resolving to perhaps finally stay but not without reservations, when Dean sings "Some may doubt that I believe" he seems to be answering not only his critics but also a generation that never gave him enough credit.
Houston also features one of the great sleeve designs, this is why LPs were made, from the terrific montage of photos on the front to the hilarious back comparing Dean to the city of Houston.
Dean Martin remains one of the most underrated and under-appreciated performers in popular music. His place in rock history is particularly in need of attention as he is the connecting point between Bing Crosby's revolutionizing the art of singing to the emergence of Elvis Presley. Had he come to prominence just one or two decades later he would have been one of the great rock icons. His complex relaxed style can be seen in everyone from Bryan Ferry to Jarvis Cocker. For a man who supposedly didn't give a damn, I'd say he did more than just all right.

Dust Off Those Grooves (Chapter Nineteen) Out Of Sight By David Holmes

Early promotional material for OUT OF SIGHT had the music of Cliff Martinez listed as the score. Martinez is certainly no slouch as his music for films such as THE LIMEY and especially SOLARIS are among the finest in modern film, but no one else could have scored OUT OF SIGHT like Irish D.J. and musician David Holmes.
OUT OF SIGHT producer Danny Devito had heard some of Holmes' solo material, been very impressed and approached him about providing some tracks for OUT OF SIGHT. Holmes obliged and once director Steven Soderbergh heard them the famed Irish musician was hired on to do the full score.
The OUT OF SIGHT album is simultaneously among the great soundtrack albums and the most frustrating. Great, as each Holmes track is astonsihingly inventive and remarkably fresh, but frustrating in that many ques from the film aren't here. Hopefully one day the missing bits will appear, in the meantime let us celebrate the soundtrack we do have...an ingenious mixture of old and new...a cool get together where The Isely Brothers, Walter Wanderly and Dean Martin can hang out partying to the unforgettable grooves of one very 'possessed by genius' Irish DJ.
OUT OF SIGHT was recorded in Belfast, Ireland at Drama studios. Holmes was joined by a sizzling band featuring Tim Goldsworthy on drums, Phil Mossman on guitar and bass, and Darren Morris on keyboards. Holmes himself produced, scored and arranged the sessions that would culminate in some of the most unforgettable tunes of his already iconic career.

The Holmes tracks are all marked by the great playing of the band so a little time should be spent with the talented members. Drummer Goldsworthy has worked with Holmes quite a bit on the albums DON'T DIE JUST YET and LET'S GET KILLED. He has also had time with everyone from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion to The Beta Band. Guitarest Mossman is a top remixer and also supplied licks to the above Holmes records as well as the Manic Street Preachers. The unforgettable keyboard work of Morris has graced many of Holmes best records, as well as Spencer and The Manics. The session was engineered by Andrew Scheps, a man who has brought some sensational sonic sounds to bands as notable as The Red Hot Chili Peppers and U.2.
OUT OF SIGHT marked the first of many collaborations between Holmes and director Soderbergh. The two have an interesting relationship and the build up to the scores is fascinating, as Holmes will begin sending the director mix cds months in advance to set the mood. These discs give the director an opportunity to hear possible older songs that might appear in the film, and to get an idea of the mood Holmes is going to emulate. These mixes have proven inspired in the OCEAN'S trilogy the two have done together for once obscure songs by Elvis Presley (A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION), Dave Grusin (ASCENSION TO VIRGINITY) and Frank Sinatra (THIS TOWN). I am willing to bet that Holmes has one of the largest and most diverse record collections in the world, and it is this embracing of all types of music that separates him from almost any electronic based musician of his generation...it is that diversity that marks OUT OF SIGHT as not just a great soundtrack but also one of the truly great albums of the nineties.
The album kicks off with a bit of Scott Frank's dialogue from the film. The entire running time of the record is made up of some of this dialogue. As on his solo albums, Holmes expertly mixes this dialogue in with the tracks so it not only isn't distracting but actually adds to each individual song.

The Isley Brother's roaring IT'S YOUR THING opens up the music section of the album and it is a great choice, even though in actuality it closes out the film. The famed groover would later be used to open up the short lived KAREN SISCO television series.
IT's YOUR THING leads into the first Holmes original, a short piece entitled I THINK YOU FLOODED IT. The song with its smooth opening bassline and acoustic guitar interchange is a funky little work out that fits the sweltering Glades, Florida section of the film perfectly. Mossman's guitar work here is particularly sweet.
Brazilian composer Mongo Santamarie's infectious WATERMELON MAN follows and it continues to give the early part of the album the same hot and humid feel as the first half of the film.

JAILBREAK, the second Holmes track, follows and it is another funky short piece highlighted this time by the near tribal percussion of Goldsworthy. Dean Martin's legendary AIN'T THAT A KICK IN THE HEAD comes in on its heels and the great Cahn and Van Heusen sounds tailor made for the album. The song has been overused a bit since, but ten years ago it was still fresh and its inclusion on the album was a great move by Holmes.
The Martin track gives way to one of the key moments on the album, the lovely keyboard driven THE TRUNK SCENE. Fashioned for one of the film's great scenes, THE TRUNK SCENE is haunting stuff as the band lock down into a slow seductive groove punctuated by the Morris' incredible playing. This is also the track that changes the tone of the album from the sweltering sunshine of Florida to the bitter cold winter of Detroit.
FOLEY PART 2 follows and it is a nice, if extremely short, Holmes composition made great by the quirky electric guitar work of Mossman. The longer RIP, RIP follows and it is another one of the great tracks in Holmes canon. It's a low down keyboard driven bit of hard funk that wouldn't have sounded out of place on any number of Parliament albums from the seventies. The dialogue snatches, featuring Don Cheadle's menacing Snoopy Miller, is used perfectly well here as well.
Willie Bobo's SPANISH GREASE follows and I think it is possibly the one slip up on the abum. The track is great on its own but it would have fit in better with the album's first half. Still it does add to the at times disorienting schizophrenic natured editing of the film, which is probably why it was placed here.
The Isley Brother's get an encore on the record with the tough and smoking FIGHT THE POWER...the song is used so perfectly in the film that I can't hear it now without the George Clooney line announcing "Let's Go To Detroit" placed at the beginning of it.
The second great minimal keyboard track is up next, and like THE TRUNK SCENE, TUB SCENE is an unshakably great seventies style mixture of keys, bass and percussion. Holmes production work here is sublime and my only compliant with the song is that it ends. Not since The Doors RIDERS ON THE STORM has a Hammond organ sounded so menacing and seductive.
Walter Wanderly's brilliant take on Jobim's ONE NOTE SAMBA breaks the mood of TUB SCENE and it is followed two more short Holmes tracks, THE DRIVE TO RIPLEY'S and BITCH OUT. The tracks work as nice short workouts for the band as a group, as if Holmes is getting them geared up for the albums great final downbeat moment.
NO MORE TIME OUTS is my favorite David Holmes track, and that is saying a lot as there are few modern artists I value more. Starting off with the film's most haunting and tragic dialogue, the song is one of the most moving I have ever heard with its long opening keyboard solo that pretty much encapsulates thirty years of cool crime films about lost dreams and failures. Tipping his hat to Portishead's majestic ROADS, this is David Holmes at his most brilliant and it closes the album on a strong note of weight and resonance. Ten years later, this track is still a stunner...

The OUT OF SIGHT album would receive rave reviews upon its release, especially in Britain. It would begin one of the most important partnerships between a composer and director in modern cinema, and it deserves to be remembered as one of the best soundtracks of the nineties. The work is currently out of print, although prices for used copies haven't sky rocketed yet. I can't recommend a collection more, NO MORE TIME OUTS alone is worth any price you might pay for it.
Holmes has continued his extraordinary journey, and his recent OCEAN'S THIRTEEN soundtrack is one of his finest albums.
My two previous David Holmes articles can be read here and here.
For more on Holmes check out the Gritty Shaker fan site, which is unfortunately not updated anymore but many of the interviews are still active and you can read some of Holmes thoughts on OUT OF SIGHT and Soderbergh.

A Showdown With Dean Martin and Rock Hudson

Even though it contains the only screen teaming between two of the biggest stars in Hollywood history, George Seaton's 1973 feature SHOWDOWN has been largely forgotten. Starring Dean Martin and Rock Hudson, SHOWDOWN has been unjustly neglected since it opened and closed quickly back in June of 1973.
Seaton had been directing since the mid forties when he shot SHOWDOWN in 1972, and it would turn out to be his final feature film as director. A talented, if undervalued director, Seaton is probably most famous for the original version of MIRACLE ON 34th STREET. Other credits include the searing Clifford Odets adaptation, THE COUNTRY GIRL, the charming TEACHER'S PET and the best picture winning AIRPORT. A two time Oscar winner, Seaton would sadly die of cancer just a few years after finishing SHOWDOWN.
SHOWDOWN would mark one of the last major appearances by Dean Martin, who was said to be unhappy during the shoot due to the death of his favorite horse. SHOWDOWN also marked an end to the great Rock Hudson's prolific run of films that had started in the fifties and he would just work sporadically after 1973.
SHOWDOWN was a bit out of step for the early seventies. Directors like Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellman had totally transformed the American Western and the fairly subdued and elegiac SHOWDOWN didn't stand much of a chance in mid 1973.
Seaton's film tells the fairly simple story of two men, Chuck and Billy, who grew up together but went very separate ways in their lives. Rock Hudson's Chuck settled down and became a lawman while Martin's Billy chose a life of crime. It is a story that had been told a countless number of times before and since but there is something so weary and sad about SHOWDOWN that I think it stands apart from them.
With it lovely, and at times, haunting score by David Shire and wisely shot 2.35 compositions, SHOWDOWN is a very effective film throughout it's fairly short running time of 99 minutes. There is something positively epic in this little film about two friends who chose the most different of lives but never stopped caring for each other or forgot where they came from.
The acting is fine throughout with Martin and Hudson surrounded by many top tier character actors including Donald Moffat and Ed Begley, Jr. in a smaller role. Susan Clark does a good job as Chuck's wife Kate but I always think of Tuesday Weld when I watch the film and can only imagine the multi-layered performance she would have given in the part. Hudson is at the top of his game here, middle aged and exhausted looking but still beautiful. He does a brilliant job at playing a man who has a job to do that he knows will ultimately ask him to make the hardest decision of his life. Martin is excellent as well and it is a performance that improves as the film goes along. At first it appears Dean will be giving one of his patented comic and winking performances but he does some really remarkable heavy dramatic work here as a man who knows what his destiny holds and that there isn't any escape from it.
Shot by prolific cinematographer, Ernest Laszlo, SHOWDOWN is gorgeous to look at and his photography is particularly good in the films many flashback scenes to the boys youth, when they were the closest of friends.

SHOWDOWN isn't perfect, I don't think that anyone working on it realized that they had what was close to being a really great film on their hands. It could do with being about thirty minutes longer as more characterization is needed, especially with Kate and Chuck. It feels edited a bit tight also, although the cutting by DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER editor John W. Holmes is mostly well done throughout. SHOWDOWN feels like a film that the studio expected to fail but that somewhere along the way, Seaton and crew realized they might have a winner on their hands. I think had that thought been there at the beginning, SHOWDOWN would have turned out to be a small masterpiece. As it is, it is a solid and moving good film with more great moments than anyone might expect.
SHOWDOWN does indeed reach greatness in its final few minutes where we see both men reaching their individual destinies. There is a particular flashback scene and a line speaking of "the world spitting at you" that brings a tear to my eye every time I watch the film and the look on Rock Hudson's face at the end of this movie is the work of a master giving one of his last truly great performances.
SHOWDOWN would open and close quickly with very little critical or popular attention given to it. For most in the Summer of 1973, it was a product of a time that had slipped away. Ironically it was about two men who themselves were living in a world that had passed them by. SHOWDOWN would appear briefly on VHS in the mid nineties but has never been released on DVD. It is currently missing in action and is rarely mentioned in film circles.

SHOWDOWN reminds me of some of Jean-Pierre Melville's films. It, of course, doesn't achieve the greatness of Melville but in its own small way it has some of the same emotional resonance as the great French master's films.
Late in his life, Dean Martin was said to get great pleasure from watching old westerns on tv. I often think about the lovely man, sitting in his chair smoking, with perhaps a drink, and watching the flickering memories of his youth. I sometimes wonder if he ever happened to stumble across SHOWDOWN during one of those Western marathons he so enjoyed. Would he have flipped quickly by or would he have stopped, if only for a brief moment, and smiled at a film that is a lot better than anybody has ever given it credit for? There is no telling, we lost Dean as well as Rock years ago and I suppose in a way it is fitting, even if it is unjust, that SHOWDOWN has in its own way all but been lost to time also.

This Man Was Not Lazy

I am still on vacation and barely have any time to write. Next week, upon returning, I am planning a big look at the new Dean Martin album FOREVER COOL that is streeting tomorrow. I did want to post a small response to a couple of news articles that I have seen recently.

I don't have any problem with someone who isn't a fan of Dean Martin's career but I do have a problem with people calling him lazy. This man was not lazy. From the early fifties well into the seventies, this man remarkably juggled a prolific music career, television series and a full time film career. Add that on to numerous public appearances, live shows and charity related causes and you have a man that for over thirty years worked his ass off...and made it look incredibly easy, which of course it wasn't.
In an entertainment world where artists can barely manage to do one of the above, the fact that Dean Martin was able to do all of them, and well, is quite remarkable. Many people who know nothing of the man will no doubt continue to take great delight in throwing around terms like 'lazy', but this is the furthest thing from the truth. The ease that Dean Martin projected was not only one of his biggest assets but also one of the most difficult roles he ever took on. This was a complex, hard working man who's image for many often overshadows his accomplishments.
Love him or leave him, just don't underestimate how hard he worked.

Regular postings will continue next week with a few more sporadic bursts throughout this one.

Brother, You Are Going Down: George Seaton's Showdown (1973)

A unfairly overlooked work from director George Seaton, Showdown (1973) is an elegiac and moving Western starring two of American film's greatest icons, Rock Hudson and Dean Martin. Opening and closing quite quickly in 1973, Showdown would turn out to be the last feature directed by the talented Seaton, an Academy Award winning filmmaker whose career stretched across four decades.



Billy Massey and Chuck Jarvis have been best friends for as long as they can remember. They played together as children and it seemed like nothing in the world could ever come between them. A splinter occurred when Chuck married Kate, a woman Billy had always been in love with. As they grew further and further apart with age, Chuck became a respected lawman while Billy turned to a life of robbing banks. After being apart for years, Billy and Chuck’s lives intersect again with tragic results.




George Seaton was born in South Bend, Indiana in the spring of 1911. His initial interest in film lay in acting but Seaton discovered fairly early on that his real talent was with the pen. After years of writing films for 20th Century Fox (including A Day at the Races and A Song for Bernadette) Seaton turned his attentions to filmmaking and he made his debut as a director with Diamond Horseshoe (1945). A talented, if undervalued director, Seaton is probably most famous for the original version of Miracle on 34th Street. Other credits include the searing Clifford Odets adaptation, The Country Girl, the charming Teacher’s Pet and the best picture winning Airport. A two time Oscar winner, Seaton would sadly die of cancer just a few years after finishing Showdown.




Showdown didn’t just mark the end of the road for George Seaton, as it would also feature one of the last major appearances by Dean Martin, who was said to be unhappy during the shoot due to the death of his favorite horse. As if that wasn’t enough, Showdown also also marked an end to the great Rock Hudson's prolific run of films that had started in the fifties and he would just work sporadically after 1973. Showdown stands a real symbolic end to a particular period in American filmmaking and at times it does feel like a nostalgic tip of the hat to the traditional Westerns that were all but dead by 1973. After all this was the period that saw directors like Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellman totally transform the American Western and the fairly subdued Showdown must have seemed quite out of step to the few folks who saw it upon its initial release. Pity, as Seaton’s film is actually much closer in spirit to a film like Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid more than most would have recognized at the time.




With it lovely, and at times, haunting score by David Shire, Showdown is a very effective film throughout it's fairly short running time of 99 minutes. There is something positively epic in this little film about two friends who chose the most different of lives but never stopped caring for each other or forgot where they came from.






The acting is fine throughout with Martin and Hudson surrounded by many top tier character actors including Donald Moffat and Ed Begley, Jr. in a smaller role. Susan Clark does a good job as Chuck's wife Kate, but I always think of Tuesday Weld when I watch the film and can only imagine the multi-layered performance she would have given in the part. Hudson is at the top of his game here, middle aged and exhausted looking but still beautiful. He does a brilliant job at playing a man who has a job to do that he knows will ultimately ask him to make the hardest decision of his life. Martin is excellent as well and it is a performance that improves as the film goes along. At first it appears Dean will be giving one of his patented comic and winking performances but he does some really remarkable heavy dramatic work here as a man who knows what his destiny holds and that there isn't any escape from it.




Shot by prolific cinematographer, Ernest Laszlo, Showdown is gorgeous to look at and his photography is particularly good, although the video and TV versions in circulation ruin the film’s striking 2.35 visual design.






Showdown isn't perfect, I don't think that anyone working on it realized that they had what was close to being a really great film on their hands. It could do with being about thirty minutes longer as more characterization is needed, especially with Kate and Chuck. It feels edited a bit tight also, although the cutting by Diamonds are Forever editor John W. Holmes is mostly well done throughout. Showdown feels like a film that the studio expected to fail but that somewhere along the way Seaton and crew realized they might have a winner on their hands. I think had that thought been there at the beginning, Showdown would have turned out to be a small masterpiece. As it is a very good film with more great moments than anyone might expect.







Showdown does indeed reach greatness in its final few minutes where we see both men reaching their individual destinies. The ending of the film is particularly devastating and the look on Rock Hudson's face as the film closes is powerful, powerful stuff. Showdown shows off Rock Hudson as a master giving one of his last truly great performances.







Showdown would open and close quickly with very little critical or popular attention given to it. For most in the Summer of 1973, it was a product of a time that had slipped away. Ironically it was about two men who themselves were living in a world that had passed them by. Showdown would appear briefly on VHS in the mid nineties but has never been released on DVD. It is currently missing in action and is rarely mentioned in film circles, although it does pop up occasionally on Encore’s Western Channel.








Late in his life, Dean Martin was said to get great pleasure from watching old westerns on TV. I often think about the lovely man, sitting in his chair smoking, with perhaps a drink, and watching the flickering memories of his youth. I sometimes wonder if he ever happened to stumble across Showdown during one of those Western marathons he so enjoyed. Would he have flipped quickly by or would he have stopped, if only for a brief moment, and smiled at a film that is a lot better than anybody has ever given it credit for? There is no telling as we lost Dean, as well as Rock, years ago and I suppose in a way it is fitting, even if it is unjust, that Showdown has in its own way all but been lost to time also.

***This is a massively revised piece that I first posted several years ago here...the screenshots are new, as is much of my text. I just can't seem to shake this film...