vadim directs

Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda on the set of Barbarella. 1968.

festival time!

George, Ringo, Jane Birkin and so on. I seem to recall something about Harrison getting into some sort of very minor trouble with the law while attending the festival but I can’t find any information about it anywhere right now.

Festival jurors Louis Malle, Monica Vitti, Roman Polanski.

Claude Lelouch, Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Louis Malle and Roman Polanski. I think at 5′7″, Godard is the tallest of the bunch.

Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. Cannes 68!

grammar school 1957

I wonder which position Jagger played.

making zabriskie point

Wow, considering that it was neither directed by an ageing Chaplin nor did it star the Burtons, Zabriskie Point sure got an inordinate amount of press back in the day. Here’s a sampling of the coverage from Films and Filming beginning in February 1968 (above).

July 1968.

October 1968.

January 1969.

bay of angels

La baie des anges. Demy. 1963.

eastwood

Clint Eastwood modeling sweaters for Playboy.

smooth criminal

A burglar at age 16. Arrested June 5, 1936.

cover art

Julie Christie and Roland Curram in Darling.

the beach boys love you

I was pretty jazzed to find this ad featuring The Beach Boys—in the middle of their “Brian’s Back” campaign—hocking car stereos not just because it features the classic line up all with great facial hair but also because the record they were pushing at the time was The Beach Boys Love You . Everyone always makes a big stink about Pet Sounds—and with good reason—but I think I like Love You more.

I believe that this is the first album that Brian soley wrote and produced since he relinquished control of the group following the failed Smile sessions. When the other guys agreed to allow Brian to write again were they aware of how moog-fixated he’d become or that the material that he would hand them would be songs about Johnny Carson, rollerskating Lolitas and the solar system bringing wisdom? Anyway the record is fascinating and—even though it may take a little getting used to—is an unjustly overlooked corner of their rather large catalog.

If you’re unfamiliar with this 1977—well, I’ll call it a masterpiece of sorts, it can be found here. Be warned that Brian, Carl and Dennis are all in very poor voice with Dennis and Brian’s voices being in particularly ragged shape. Al, however, rather nails his take on (I kid you not) my favorite track, “Honking Down the Highway”. Don’t miss that “woo” and that “yeah” that he throws in or this ragged live version. Also watch out for “I Want to Pick You Up”, the creepiest song about touching a child this side of “Baby Greaser George”. I wish Danny Tanner and his boys had sung “I Want to Pick You Up” to Michelle. Finally, if the lyrics to “Mona” seem a bit made-up-while-going-along, here’s a solo Brian demo that will dispell that assumption.

cute couple alert

Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in Rouben Mamoulian’s Love Me Tonight. 1932.