Saturday Music from a Film That Means a Lot

THE FUTURIST! feels a bit melancholy today ... but when doesn't he? Being that par for the course, his Saturday music post for today is a bit of music of lament from a movie that means very much to him ... so very much. One day perhaps, he will reveal why BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID is such an important movie in his life, but for now let him just present this bit of music without much explanation. The composer of the score that many questioned at its release is by Burt Bacharach. A western with music by Burt Bacharach ... ah ... there you have the criticism. THE FUTURIST! says, "Who cares?!!"

Listen and think of your regrets:


NOT GOIN' HOME ANYMORE
composed by Burt Bacharach
from the film BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)

Saturday Music for Leaving

THE FUTURIST! attended a "going away" festivity of sorts. It was a gathering of co-workers who were saying goodbye to one who decided she had had enough. This person of THE FUTURIST!'s acquaintance may not be going to anywhere better financially or appropriate to her educational background, but the parachuting from the the huge airliner of despair, aggravation, humiliation and tedious disregard for her as a human being was an escape that had to be made. She decided to unlatch the cargo door, suffer the powerful winds of the high altitudes of Life and ... leap. THE FUTURIST! just hopes she pulls the parachute cord before she hits the ground at high plummeting speed.

In between laughing, gossiping and assorted appetizers and plenty of booze, the gatherers at this departure party decided to partake of a little karaoke. THE FUTURIST! is not one to indulge in such frivolity, but he was asked to pick an appropriate tune for the guest of honor to lend her not-so-perfect pipes of vocalization to and ... as usual, THE FUTURIST! leans to his favorite composer of the 20th century ... Mr. Burt Bacharach. In this case, THE FUTURIST! chose this song from the Broadway show PROMISES, PROMISES that Mr. Bacharach and his lyricist Hal David wrote the music for to the book written by Neil Simon based on the film THE APARTMENT.

THE FUTURIST! knows it is a song about a woman expressing her emotions in respect as to when to depart from a relationship ... but, he felt that it matched the night's theme.

Please Listen:


KNOWING WHEN TO LEAVE
music by Burt Bacharach and Hal David
performed by Jill O'Hara

P.S. Those that attended loved the rendition and the music. Bacharach never disappoints.

A Moment with Liquor: Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson with Martini & Rossi on the Rocks

Ah ... yes, Burt ... yes .. SAY YES!

Yes, Burt Bacharach wrote the Martini & Rossi jingle.
It is short, but sweet and gets to the point.

By the way: this might be Burt's best singing performance ever.

SWEATER WEATHER!

Ah, yes ... today was wonderfully cool ... a breeze with the slight nip of Autumn. One could feel that delightful tremor in the skin of the coming coolness ... the thought ... the vision of wearing a nice warm sweater .. a pullover with sleeves ... a sweater vest or an argyle .. maybe a fatherly button down cardigan. Oh, ... yes ... no matter the fashion it felt like sweater weather today. That means it's time to open the drawer and gaze open those sweaters ... and play some Autumnal Bacharach.

September, you big wonderful tease!

The Absolute Zeros Prove to be Absolutely Positive

THE FUTURIST! has been feeling very very low lately.
Yes, you've heard it before, but this time he feels
like he hit the floor head first ...

In a state of complete foggy ennui and thoughts of the abyss,
THE FUTURIST! found this incredible recording of some obscure
bands doing covers of Burt Bacharach songs.

Here is THE ABSOLUTE ZEROS doing their rendition of
(There's) Always Something Left to Remind Me

This one is a wonder. Well, at least it took
THE FUTURIST!'s mind away from sharp instruments.

Saturday Music for Filmbrain

Today's Saturday Music post is a personal one. Well, these posts are all personal. It is THE FUTURIST!'s own personal neurotic blog. However, this post goes out, meta-personally, to Mr. Andrew Grant, film critic, film blogger, the founder and president of the DVD distribution label BENTEN FILMS, and famed Brooklyn misanthrope. As a blogger and internet acquaintance, he is known as Filmbrain. THE FUTURIST! found a kindred spirit in Andrew Grant in many ways. His love of films and the music of Burt Bacharach. He loves his cocktails. He loves the movie NETWORK. He loves Serge Gainsbourg. He has a knack of channeling his rage through fantastic clips of George C. Scott barking like a rabid dog. He dislikes poseurs and sycophants. He has been very friendly to THE FUTURIST! and likes to gossip in a very humorous manner. But, most of all, he parachutes from the dull airline of everyday existence into the great void of despair. It seems, due to not hearing from him at times, that his chute carries him for long distances ... as he wafts along alone, melancholy and listening to the whoooosh of despondent air envelop him ... until his feet, once again, reach the grounds of The Sedate State of Getting By. THE FUTURIST! can understand ... he lives in Utter Despair, N.J., for Pete's Sake!

Mr. Andrew Grant

aka Filmbrain

seen here in an image that

THE FUTURIST!, himself, sees in a similar manner

each morning in his medicine cabinet mirror.

In a few days, Andrew will be leaving Brooklyn and the United States for a new home in Berlin, Germany. THE FUTURIST! wanted to salute the kindred spirit in Andrew by posting a selection from the 1973 film musical version of James Hilton's LOST HORIZON with music by Burt Bacharach. Awhile back, it came to THE FUTURIST!'s attention that Filmbrain (Andrew) has a warm spot in his heart for this failed enterprise ... he even posted a nostalgic look back to his first time seeing the film as a small boy. Read about it here on his blog. THE FUTURIST! owns an LP of this very score himself. If you love Bacaharach and you are a completest, you should own the recording. Anywho, Andrew will be going to a new place, perhaps one that will be his Shangri-La of sorts ... let's hope so. However THE FUTURIST! knows one thing, if he knows anything at all ... melancholy follows you ... everywhere. He will find it packed securely in his luggage. IT has a devious way of being undetected by airport security.

This is the opening number from the film. The trumpets are quite ... impressive.

Please fasten your seat belts.


LOST HORIZON - INTRO
composed by Burt Bacharach lyrics by Hal David
from the film LOST HORIZON (1973)


Filmbrain loves Serge Gainsbourg. As an added treat, THE FUTURIST! is including this number he found on YouTube. Mr. Gainsbourg, not singing, but playing the piano with cocktail glasses around him, a cigarette smoldering nearby and ... it appears ... that the Maltese Falcon is on the piano top. This is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Listen:


ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE
performed by Serge Gainsbourg


Finally, THE FUTURIST! wishes to include another Bacharach tune in honor of the departing Filmbrain. This inclusion is very metaphysical and full of an odd sense of how THE FUTURIST! feels about Filmbrain's spirit. He has mentioned that he loves the acting of Jack Lemmon, which THE FUTURIST! can understand. AS a child, THE FUTURIST! always wished he was Jack Lemmon. Well, maybe a combination of Mr. Lemmon and George Segal. Two "everyman" type actors whose cinema personalities and problems that a young person, who never had even encountered the very problems he was watching on the screen, seemed to identify with. Strange, yes. Even so, he felt a kinship. THE FUTURIST! loves the following music from the film THE APRIL FOOLS. He has never seen this movie from 1969 which stars Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve, but he has always wanted to ... it's a Lemmon performance he has missed all these years. The music is so beautifully wistful, melancholy and romantic. To THE FUTURIST! it is one of his favorite Bacharach tunes and the music he associates with his sense of Filmbrain.

THE FUTURIST! pictures Filmbrain as a "Jack Lemmon" character. An everyman beset by Life. He is leaving behind the routines and problems of his current existence for foreign shores ... much like the American Lemmon finds solace in the arms of the European Deneuve in the film's storyline. Of course, this is how THE FUTURIST! imagines the "character" of Filmbrain. He could be entirely wrong. But he wants to see him in this manner ... and hopes, in Berlin, Andrew can sport a smile that is akin to the one Lemmon is wearing as he nestles his head against the bosom of the beautiful Deneuve.

Listen and look at that album cover:


THE APRIL FOOLS
composed by Burt Bacharach
from the film THE APRIL FOOLS (1969)

Andrew aka Filmbrain, THE FUTURIST! salutes you today and hopes the best for you in your new environs in Germany. Knowing you as a fine writer and then actually communicating with you via Twitter and emails was a delightful surprise. THE FUTURIST! has learned much from you and has found you to be an intelligent, morose, extremely witty and funny soul. One day, THE FUTURIST! will buy you a cocktail, converse in person and, maybe, as despondent kindred spirits of Utter Despair ... cry together.

Bon Voyage and stay in touch!

THE FUTURIST! has a Dream

THE FUTURIST! wants to do this ... get reasonably plastered on booze (in suit and tie, of course) and sing the theme to 1967's multi-directed mess of a James Bond spoof CASINO ROYALE. The Burt Bacharach composed theme song does have words, which you can hear at the very end of the film ... besides the grand orchestrated version during the opening animated credits performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. He wants the Fake Dog band and Mighty Atomics to support him led by DJ Affable Webster. It's a dream, but can't some dreams come true in this cruel, ugly, disappointing occasionally cloudy with a chance of showers world?

Saturday Music with Bacharach

At this time in April, THE FUTURIST! is always reminded of George Roy Hill's BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. The film holds a special place in the small dark heart of THE FUTURIST! .... yes, it's not the greatest film ever made or full of deep meaning .... but, it was one of THE Films that made THE FUTURIST! really truly love movies. It's too complicated to go into, too personal and emotional, actually, but late April and Spring bring Butch and Sundance to mind ... AND that un-Western Movie-like score by the great Burt Bacharach. Here's the bit that accompanies the sepia toned photo montage of the outlaws' excursions from the law on the East Coast of America.

Listen:


THE OLD FUN CITY
composed by Burt Bacharach

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

Great Opening Credit Sequence Theater

CASINO ROYALE (1967)

directed by John Huston, Kenneth Hughes,

Val Guest, Robert Parrish and Joseph McGrath

Saturday Music for "Guy Who Looks Like the Vampire from HBO's True Blood"

Yesterday THE FUTURIST! had decided to devote December's Saturday Music posts with 4 weeks of the movie music of John Barry ... however, a conversation with an acquaintance, known to those of the fair sex as "the guy who looks like the vampire from True Blood", reversed THE FUTURIST!'s decision. Why? Through idle conversation it was revealed that he loved the sounds of Burt Bacharach as much as THE FUTURIST! ... well, one could question if another could hold the sounds of Burt Bacharach as close to the heart as THE FUTURIST! does, but that is beside the point of this post. The point of this post is to fulfill his promise to said "guy who looks like the vampire from True Blood" and feature one of THE FUTURIST!'s favorite Bacharach/Hal David tunes sung by Dionne Warwick. It is evocative of all that Bacharach is ... the sound of the instruments (especially the horns), the voices, the forward locomotive-like turning of the beat. It is pure late 60s pop music sound ... and THE FUTURIST! could close his eyes and imagine himself in a very cool 60s setting hobnobbing with people in fine tailored suits and cocktail dresses and holding a very dry martini and letting this music envelop him ... but then he would open his eyes and realize it was ... a dream.

Listen:


ARE YOU THERE WITH ANOTHER GIRL?
performed by Dionne Warwick
composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David

Saturday Music to Listen to While Being Consumed by a Gelatinous Red Alien Goo

Burt Bacharach is absolutely one of THE FUTURIST!'s favorite composers of music. This has been made evident in previous Saturday Music posts. Every year THE FUTURIST! has his Back to Bacharach Martini Party and everyone that comes must be in tie and jacket or party dress. It's a blast. Appropriately for SHOCKtober, THE FUTURIST! was shocked to learn that Bacharach wrote the title tune to the Steve McQueen fright film THE BLOB. The tune that accompanies the animated credits is quite catchy and seems so playful and bouncy... it doesn't prepare you for the hi-jinx perpetrated by the gelatinous mass of dark red goo from deep dark outer space that feeds on human flesh. Well, let the fun begin!

Listen:


THE BLOB THEME SONG

from the film THE BLOB (1958)

composed by Burt Bacharach and Mack David

Bad Movies that Can Be Loved

On August 16th The Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles showed a reported pristine print of a film that was reviled by critics in 1973. The film is Lost Horizon, a musical version of the James Hilton novel that was filmed once before in 1937 by Frank Capra, but at that time, it was done as a straight drama. Hollywood producer Ross Hunter had the grand idea of taking the story and adding an entire musical score to sing and dance to ... and he chose actors who were not known to sing and/or dance. Peter Finch, Liv Ullman, George Kennedy, Michael York, John Gielgud and Sally Kellerman were the principal actors and the sole song and dance veteran was Bobby Van (featured once in an earlier post). Mr. Hunter wanted a lush romantic Broadway type of score, but the studio was wary due to the fact that the musical motion picture was nearing extinction and would cost a fortune to mount a production. The studio suggested that the score be hipper and more pop-ish to entice a new audience. They selected Burt Bacharach and Hal David to write the score. The movie did cost a fortune and was highly anticipated ... and then it crashed and burst into flames much like the plane that strands the passengers in the Tibetan mountains outside of Shangri-La in the original story.

Below you will find a video that an audience member took during the August 16th showing at The Egyptian. The section of the film shown is of Olivia Hussey and Sally Kellerman each expressing their desire to lead the other's life. Olivia wishing to live in the modern outside world and Sally wanting to stay in Shangri-La. The song is The List of the Things I Will Not Miss. You will see evidence of the production's mis-steps in casting and odd choreography. Keep your eyes peeled for the clumsy footwork, the cute point of view to audience head shots that were quaint in old MGM musicals, and the climb up the library shelf ladder.

What THE FUTURIST! loves about this video is the laughter and joy exuded by the theater audience. They are reveling in the pure unintended camp of the film. THE FUTURIST! read that the film was enjoyed thoroughly by the packed audience and was applauded at its finale. Interesting. They loved this failed film. And truth be told THE FUTURIST! has heard the soundtrack and doesn't think all the music is that bad ... but the voices singing? ouch (!) .... oh, if only THE FUTURIST! could have been there with friends to see this! A Burt Bacharach oddity on that massive screen with all that audience mojo going on! Movies can provide strange magic for the soul. That's what THE FUTURIST! calls Shangri-La!

Saturday Music to Swing, Baby

Today feels like a Burt Bacharach Day. In honor of this inexplicable feeling, THE FUTURIST! posts this Saturday Music entry ... the theme song from the film of the same name Promise Her Anything; sung with 60s gusto and bravado by the iconic Tom Jones.

Listen:



PROMISE HER ANYTHING
performed by Tom Jones

Saturday Music for Solitary Souls

It's Memorial Day weekend. Traditionally, most suburbanites grill and open up their backyard swimming pools. This seems to be occurring in the neighbor's yard behind the abode of THE FUTURIST! He heard little Jason Endicott howling with pleasure; not due to the imminent possibilities of frolicking in the water, but because his father uncovered the carcass of a dead squirrel that had gotten trapped under the pool tarp during the Autumn or Winter. Regardless what season the little rodent met its dreadful end, it seems to have delighted the sadistic/immature gross-out sensabilities of an 8 year old boy.

Otherwise, Utter Despair seems a bit deserted. Many have gone away for the 3 day weekend to endure family or friend social gatherings at the beach or a country cabin. This Saturday's music selection is from one of THE FUTURIST!'s favorite composers. There is nothing more, musically, to make him smile than the melodies of Mr. Burt Bacharach. This election is an obscure Bacharach/Hal David composition and is sung by B.J. Thomas who also warbled their tune Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head. It starts off in a odd OOM PAH PAH German tuba style, but quickly acquires the familiar sound of Bacharach. It has a melancholy feel, much like Raindrops. You can hear that singular style of Bacharach that brings to mind a bit of tinkly ragtime; the feeling you get from looking at old sepia colored photos. Throw a hissy fit and wave your hand at THE FUTURIST! in disgust, but Bacharach is a genius. Listen:



EVERYBODY'S OUT OF TOWN
performed by B.J. Thomas