Film Screenings / Programs / Series
MODS GO TO THE MOVIES: VEHICLE FILMS OF THE 1960s
August 3 – August 5
August 3 - 5, 2013
Before the music video, there was the rock film. A so-called ‘vehicle film’ for bands, the earliest examples were rock revue films with thin plots that served no other function than to catapult these musicians and groups into stardom. A HARD DAY’S NIGHT took this one step further and cast The Beatles as themselves, or rather as caricatures of themselves. Typically light-hearted and quirky, these films were made for the teen generation. Although many of them are now painfully dated, a number were made by gifted filmmakers who found ways to use the genre to surprisingly interesting ends. We will be showcasing the rarely-screened HAVING A WILD WEEKEND – featuring the Dave Clark Five, and helmed by John Boorman, making his feature-film debut – and the rock revue film JUST FOR FUN, as well as a wild program of 16mm Scopitones (the precursor to the music video) and other surprises from the Swinging Sixties!
Curated by Rachael Guma; special thanks to Gare B. Noir, Linda Evans-Smith (WB), and Christopher Lane & Michael Horne (Sony).
SCOPITONES!
Scopitones (pronounced Scope-a-tones) are one of the great lost gems of modern pop music and culture. Early 1960s precursors to today’s music videos, they were distributed on color 16mm film with a magnetic soundtrack, and made to be shown only on a Scopitone film jukebox. The first Scopitones were made in France around 1960, and the craze spread throughout Europe (particularly in West Germany and England) before crossing the Atlantic to the US in mid-1964. A few years later, Scopitones fell victim to bad luck, poor business decisions, and alleged Mafia connections. Most of the machines were destroyed but the films became highly prized by collectors. Bursting with bright colors, sexy babes, and hunky guys, Scopitones are an amazing time capsule of 1960s pop culture with a special focus on classic French ye-ye and Vegas lounge music. Thanks to the good graces of collector Gare B. Noir, who will present a selection of Scopitones featuring the likes of Procol Harem, Michael Polnareff, Francoise Hardy, Billy Lee Riley, and Gale Garnett, this evening will provide an opportunity to look back to an earlier era and a long-lost form of entertainment!
Sat, Aug 3 at 6:00
John Boorman
CATCH US IF YOU CAN aka HAVING A WILD WEEKEND
1965, 91 min, 35mm, b&w. With The Dave Clark Five.
John Boorman made his feature debut with this film designed to showcase the talents of The Dave Clark Five. Despite this, it’s an unusual, and even radical, take on the ‘vehicle film’, an increasingly melancholy film in which the Dave Clark Five do not appear as themselves, but as a team of freelance stuntmen, and only perform their music off-screen. Far from being a conventional pop vehicle, the film concerns itself with the frailty of personal relationships, the flimsiness of dreams, and the difficulty of maintaining spontaneity, authenticity, and integrity in a stage-managed ‘society of the spectacle’. It’s a fascinating pop-film and a truer-than-usual time-capsule.“This movie has an aftertaste. It’s bittersweet – which is an old-fashioned word with connotations of sadness, of nostalgia, and perhaps of something one might call truth. It is one of those films that linger in the memory.” –Pauline Kael
Sat, Aug 3 at 8:30, Sun, Aug 4 at 6:30, and Mon, Aug 5 at 9:15
Gordon Flemyng
JUST FOR FUN!
1963, 85 min, 35mm. with Mark Wynter, Cherry Roland, Bobby Vee, and Ketty Lester.
JUST FOR FUN’s flimsy premise involves teenagers forming their own political party when Britain’s stuffy Prime Minister makes the mistake of curtailing broadcasts of rock music programs. But story definitely takes a back seat to spectacle here as the plot is forced to squeeze in between dozens of quick musical numbers, typically performed using eye-popping, if inexpensive, sets and costumes, all photographed by cinematographer (and later acclaimed director) Nicolas Roeg! Watch for Dusty Springfield, performing here as one of the Springfields.
Sun, Aug 4 at 4:30 & 8:30, and Mon, Aug 5 at 7:15
