Saturday, February 27, 2010

Saturday Music for Paul Mazursky

THE FUTURIST! found this montage of clips from the films of Paul Mazursky set to music composed by one of his favorite musical geniuses. If any of you do not know who Paul Mazursky is and what films he directed, that is a shame. Mr. Mazursky has not made a LOT of films, but he was a shining light in the production of film during the 70s and 80s. He is a director and screenwriter and started as an actor. In many of his films, he will appear briefly as a minor character or just as a walk on. HE has, also, appeared in many other director's films as an actor. The many films he steered toward completion to the screen varied in subject matter; mostly dramas tinged with melancholy comedy that explored human relationships that encompassed wife swapping couples, the rocky road of marriage, divorce, infidelity, immigrants, social and class struggles and the lonely elderly all lost in a changing America. THE FUTURIST! wants to re-watch some of these films again and he anticipates a book on Mr. Mazursky arriving next Spring from the author Sam Wasson who recently wrote a very good tome on the film career of Blake Edwards.

The montage below does flow with visual teases from all of Mazursky's films; a few are missing. You will see one of THE FUTURIST!'s favorite underrated actors George Segal in these scenes and see images from:

BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (1969)
BLUME IN LOVE (1973)
HARRY & TONTO (1974)
NEXT STOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE (1976)
AN UNMARRIED WOMAN (1978)
THE TEMPEST (1982)
MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON (1984)
DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS (1986)
ENEMIES: A LOVE STORY (1989)
THE PICKLE (1993)

The song you will hear accompany this images is played at the conclusion of BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE. It is played over the final sequence which rates very high in THE FUTURIST!'s favorite movie endings. It is an ending that might not play well for today's audience, but it is soul lifting, beautiful, and Felliniesque.

Listen and watch and then rent these films:


WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE
performed by Jackie DeShannon
composed by Burt Bacharach

2 comments:

Dara said...

Enemies: A Love Story was on TV the other night, but I didn't watch it because it had Ron Silver in it.

THE FUTURIST! said...

You don't like Ron Silver?

He was a bit irritating in most of his roles.

ENEMIES: A LOVE STORY is one Mazursky movie THE FUTURIST! has not seen.