she could n't say no is a 1954 comedy-drama film starring robert mitchum and jean simmons .

the last film in the long directing career of lloyd bacon , it was later re-released as beautiful but dangerous .

she couldn ' t say no ( 1954 film )

she couldn ' t say no ( 1954 ) - ( original . . .
she couldn ' t say no ( 1954 ) - - ( movie clip ) . . .
an heiress decides to pass out anonymous gifts in a small town in she couldn ' t say no ( 1954 ) , starring jean simmons and robert mitchum .
an heiress decides to pass out anonymous gifts in a small town in she couldn ' t say no ( 1954 ) , starring jean simmons and robert mitchum . >
two years after starring in the classic film noir angel face ( 1952 ) , robert mitchum and jean simmons reunited for a much different film , a small - town romantic comedy titled she couldn ' t say no .
1954 she couldn ' t say n . . .
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…bacon directed his last movie , she couldn’t say no . the rko comedy starred a miscast robert mitchum as a doctor who woos an eccentric benefactress ( jean simmons ) .
had it dared to be as provocative as it ' s title , she couldn ' t say no might have been something special . as is , it’s not a bad film , but it is something of a let - down .
well , she didn’t say “consciously , ” but we were interested to know whether this was your intention .
home birth in arkansas mid - 1950 ' s , doc sellers ( robert mitchum ) with mother barbara ( gloria winters ) and dad dick ( dabs greer ) , tipsy big - city visitor corby ( jean simmons ) waiting outside , in she couldn ' t say no , 1954 . >
( 1954 ) , caused controversy because of star jane russell ' s revealing costumes .
david denby has been a staff writer and film critic at the new yorker since 1998 .
i was born in 1954 and my mother was a movie enthusiast and she saw this movie . she loved the name of jean simmon ' s character , corby lane , in this move ,
she couldn ' t say no
. so she named me
corbett
so my nickname would be
corby
. i love this name . . . it was tough when i was young , but it is different and mine and i grew to love it . i was also born a redhead , which added to my corby - uniqueness . wish i could ' ve been there to watch it with you !
you can’t effectively say that donald trump is vulgar , sensational , and buffoonish when it’s exactly vulgar sensationalism and buffoonery that his audience is buying .
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are . see what’s now showing
i couldn ' t settle to this until i ' d worked out where i recognised jean simmons from . i should have bloody known , murder she wrote ! given that it was only 2 episodes and about 30 years later i can ' t quite believe my reaction was so instant !
with frank’s career in a decline and ava’s on the rise , the battles grew more barbaric . she called him a gangster ; he attempted suicide . and while the marriage lasted only two years , the passion never waned . says kitty kelley : “no one ever loved a woman the way frank loved ava gardner . she was his female counterpart—mercurial , volcanic , jealous . they just couldn’t live with it . ”
novak still wasn’t ready . but somehow her lack of readiness made her a more poignant madge . even logan came around , admitting that novak brought a quality to the film he hadn’t foreseen : he thought that she wore her shocking beauty “like a crown of thorns , ” as if it were a physical deformity .
for all of that , ava learned to hold her own in a love affair . in the late ’40s she met sinatra and immediately recognized him as her rhett butler . says dahl : “she told me that she never loved another man as much as she loved frank . ”
on the waterfront ( 1954 ) is a classic , award - winning , controversial film directed by elia kazan - a part drama and part gangster film . the authentic - looking , powerful film is concerned with the problems of trade unionism , corruption and racketeering . and it is set on new york ' s oppressive waterfront docks , where dock workers struggled for work , dignity , and to make ends meet under the control of hard - knuckled , mob - run labor unions that would force them to submit to daily ' shape - ups ' by cruel hiring bosses .
when korby ' s anonymous gifts start raining into this little country paradise , the results aren ' t quite what she expects . . .
novak was installed at the studio club , a curfewed dormitory for young starlets where cohn could have his expensive new possession watched around the clock—even tailed by studio detectives to make sure she didn’t follow the wayward path of rita hayworth . no men allowed .
those who were close to ava in her final years say that , although she was in pain , she harbored few regrets . a woman who always lived for the moment , he refused to clutter her london flat with mementos . “i don’t like all that stuff hanging around , ” she said . “i don’t need to be reminded every minute . ” even wrinkles , it seemed , were no obstacle for the indomitable ava gardner . “honey , there comes a time when you’ve got to face the fact that you’re an old broad , ” she once declared . “i’ve had a hell of a good time , so my face looks , well , lived - in . you won’t find me standing in front of a mirror , weeping . ”
i don ' t know nothin ' , i ain ' t seen nothin ' , i ' m not sayin ' nothin ' .
( 1930 ) , although it had nothing in common with the 1954 film except the title . ( that title has been used for two additional films , also with different stories . ) bacon had been one of hollywood ' s most prolific and versatile studio directors , churning out 100 films of every genre , including biographies , comedies , and war films . but his later films were undistinguished . his final film , also an rko - hughes production ,
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simmons plays korby lane , a wealthy young woman educated in england ( hence her accent ) who returns to a little town in arkansas for the first time since she was young . she wants to anonymously repay the town ' s citizens for donating for an operation which saved her life when she was a toddler and her family had no money .
if young ava harbored notions about becoming an actress , she never spoke about them to her family . in a letter written to a girlfriend when she was 13 , however , she confessed that hollywood made an early imprint on her . “i always wanted…be a movie star , ” she wrote . “i still do , but i know i can’t so i have about given up hope . ”
you mean , did i intend to follow up galsworthy and walpole ? oh , no , no , no . family life , no . family life just goes on . toughest thing in the world . but of course it is also the microcosm of a world . you get everything there—birth , life , death , love and jealousy , conflict of wills , of authority and freedom , the new and the old . and i always choose the biggest stage possible for my theme .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
when kilgallen’s item appeared , davis called novak and apologized , reassuring her that he’d had nothing to do with it . “we can handle it any way you think best , ” he told her . “i realize the position you’re in with the studio . ” but novak insisted that the studio didn’t own her , and she invited davis over to her house in beverly hills for a spaghetti dinner . for novak , davis was perhaps more than just an exciting , sympathetic man . he might be her co - conspirator in saying no to harry cohn , no to jean louis , no to muriel roberts—no to anyone who tried to put his or her stamp on her .
and while she wasn’t a smash on the screen in the beginning , she was a major success with mickey rooney—the 21 - year - old who was one of metro’s hottest properties . when they met on the studio lot , he was dressed in a carmen miranda costume , complete with platform shoes , and she was wearing a red coat and a blue ribbon in her hair . “she was the loveliest lady i had ever seen , ” says rooney .
after her 1946 divorce from shaw , ava began to concentrate on her career . teamed with clark gable and deborah kerr in the hucksters , she received good reviews but retained her fragile self - image . “ava wouldn’t even go eat in the commissary because she was so scared to walk in and see lana turner and greer garson , ” says actress arlene dahl . “she said she’d rather crawl under a rug than climb down some stairs into a party . ”
later , of course , gardner would give up car chases in favor of evenings at home . after her career reached its artistic apex with the night of the iguana in 1964 , she began to retreat ; always uncomfortable in front of the camera , she accepted roles in 12 movies in the 16 years before she died . not because she wanted to prove anything as a performer ; instead , she told one reporter , “i do it for the loot , honey—always for the loot . ”
he couldn’t win . he was booed when he flew to chicago to appear at a benefit for jesse jackson and his operation push . he sang one song and left the stage . “never again , ” he told sy marsh . “never again am i going to extend myself . ”
mobster vic spalato ' s girlfriend claire is in hiding in mexico and she ' s willing to testify for a us senate investigation committee , if she can make it back to the us alive .
john berryman said that for a writer any ordeal that doesn’t kill him is terrific . the fact that his ordeal did finally kill him doesn’t make what he was saying wrong .
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- neither of which tallies with the film ' s content . director lloyd bacon notched up a fair number of hollywood classics in the course of his highly productive career , including the landmark musical
over the next two years , she slogged along in films in which she was mainly ornamental . she found her escape in romance : after a dalliance with millionaire howard hughes , she married bandleader artie shaw in october 1945 . a strong - willed intellectual with four marriages behind him , shaw , then 35 , worshiped ava’s body . “she was a goddess , ” he says . “i would stare at her , literally stare , in wonder . ” her mind , it seemed , was another matter . mocking her for being a lowbrow , shaw sent her to a psychoanalyst who “made me crazy , ” as she put it later .
if a person honked her car horn as often as simmons did , she ' d be arrested for disturbing the peace . in addition , she abused the medical - alert horn for frivolous reasons , another misdemeanour .
in the end , ava gardner said that she was tired of living . struggling against lung disease and the partial paralysis that was the legacy of her 1986 stroke , the woman whose mesmerizing looks and public life once defined the term screen goddess spent her last weeks inside the sumptuous flat off hyde park , london , where she lived with her longtime housekeeper , carmen vargas , and her beloved welsh corgi , morgan . exasperated with her failing body , she took little interest in food , and for the first time in her life , she stopped fighting . plagued by a limp and a weakened left arm , she suffered a bad fall a week before she died , and she lay on the floor , alone and unable to move , until vargas returned . when old friend sydney guilaroff called from los angeles on jan . 20 , the once fiery gardner sounded weak and dispirited . “i feel as if i have pneumonia again , ” she said . “i can hear the water in my lungs . ” then she told him , “i don’t want to live anymore . ”
“harry cohn used kim novak like a chess piece , ” remembers vernon scott , a reporter who covered hollywood in the 1950s and who probably knew novak better than any other journalist on the beat . “her only problem was , in the beginning , she wasn’t a very good actress , and i think she knew that . ”
as a teenager my view of the world was bleak . i was the only one of my small group of misfit friends to leave home to go away to college . not long before i did , i saw agnès varda’s film , vagabond . i can’t remember if i saw it at the local art ho…
a bit of a dud , truth be told . the cast try valiantly and there ' s some funny moments here and there , but the flimsy narrative leads to a film that somehow drags at 89 minutes .
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vertigo has been called hitchcock’s most personal film , but in a fundamental way it is novak’s as well . judy’s reluctant transformation into the ghost of madeleine is an eerie echo of her metamorphosis into a movie goddess . the mysterious madeleine—a creation dreamed up to mask a murder and therefore never “real” to begin with—is uncommunicative , withdrawn , passive . she is essentially a cipher . like proust’s madeleine , she exists only to arouse emotions in others . novak had been well trained for that role—after all , cohn had time and again driven home the point that she was nothing but a face .
the name he picked was loray white , who happened to be performing at the silver slipper . she was a singer , an attractive young woman originally from houston , a member of the black bourgeoisie . in 1956 she had had a small part in cecil b . demille’s overwrought epic the ten commandments , and she had danced on broadway . sy marsh remembers her as “a beautiful woman , bright , articulate , very well spoken . ” at 23 , she had already been married twice and had a six - year - old daughter . davis gave her a call , and she went over to his suite .
gave this film a scathing 1 - 1 / 2 star review , particularly denigrating mitchum ' s performance . i ' m glad i tried it anyway , because i think the reviewer on mr . maltin ' s staff must have gotten out of bed on the wrong side the morning he or she watched the movie . the three star review in
no . i occasionally have an anti - roth reader in mind . i think , “how he is going to hate this ! ” that can be just the encouragement i need .
it was still “the will mastin trio with sammy davis jr . ” at the time , even though davis had started to push ahead of his father and “uncle . ” silber described them as “just a glorified dance act at the time . mastin was very determined to keep the name ‘will mastin’ out in front . ” mastin and sam davis sr . had grown up in show business as part of a “colored revue” known as holiday in dixieland ; they had learned what they were allowed to do and what could get them run out of town : no speaking directly to the audience , no impressions of white people . so when sammy wanted to do impressions and sing , they told him , “you can’t do it . ” they insisted , “you don’t even know how to sing . ” davis had grown up hearing what he couldn’t do . his response to that would be reflected in the title of his first book , yes i can .
besotted with the 19 - year - old , rooney pursued her relentlessly . after a six - month courtship , the two were wed in a quiet ceremony near santa barbara . sixteen months later , the marriage was over . according to ava , she and mickey were too immature for the roles of man and wife . “i simply didn’t fit into his world , ” she said . “he had already been through it all , and i hadn’t even begun my career . ”
the priest is told by kayo dugan that there is a code of silence , called
d ' n d
on the docks :
deaf and dumb . no matter how much we hate the torpedoes , we don ' t rat .
father barry persuasively argues that they must break the code of silence and testify , but he feels defeated when the men don ' t respond to his words :
others complain that i don’t make the fundamental idea plain enough . this is every writer’s dilemma . your form is your meaning , and your meaning dictates the form . but what you try to convey is reality—the fact plus the feeling , a total complex experience of a real world . if you make your scheme too explicit , the framework shows and the book dies . if you hide it too thoroughly , the book has no meaning and therefore no form . it is a mess .
there was indeed a breathtaking lushness about ava : luminous skin , languid eyes , and lips by botticelli . her hourglass figure made time seem to stop for most men . on aug . 23 , 1941 , she arrived in hollywood with beatrice , who had volunteered to serve as her chaperon . given a seven - year contract by mgm , ava soon discovered that studio head louis mayer was at least as demanding as her mother had been : like other starlets in his stable , she was placed in the hands of calisthenics instructors , hairdressers and diction coaches and forbidden to leave the city without permission . compelled to pose for endless pinups , she was given walkthrough parts in pictures like calling dr . gillespie and kid glove killer . years after , she said , “i had no experience and knew f— - all about anything , but i had no doubt that i’d be a movie queen . ”
i don’t ask writers about their work habits . i really don’t care . joyce carol oates says somewhere that when writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch , they’re actually trying to find out “is he as crazy as i am ? ” i don’t need that question answered .
“how the hell did they let him go ? ” silber wondered . he knew that sinatra wouldn’t have let him out of his engagement at the sands , even for one night . “i don’t know how he did it , but sammy came , and it was the most ludicrous thing . i mean , all this for five minutes . it was just how deep this affair went . i was sent to chicago to go to kim and say , ‘sammy loves you . ’”
' bad films ' : one - and - a - half - star ( out of five ) film ratings by ' the motion picture guide ' ( jay robert nash and stanley ralph ross , cinebooks , inc . ; 1927 - 1983 )
novak herself has admitted , “in the early films i had no experience , i was just doing it . ” but what she did have was a special relationship with the camera : it registered an honesty of emotion that she possessed—an unteachable quality that distinguishes a goddess from a mere actress . that quality hits you right between the eyes in william inge’s picnic ( 1955 ) , in which novak plays madge , the small - town beauty who wants to be loved for herself .
at stake was not only novak’s career as a screen star—by this time she was the no . 1 box - office draw in the country—but also davis’s potential career as a dramatic actor , one of his cherished but still unfulfilled ambitions . even without novak complicating things , it wasn’t going to be easy . his appearance in 1958 on general electric theater was almost canceled because the sponsors threatened to pull out for fear of alienating audiences south of the mason - dixon line .
miss novak , james stewart , albert [ sic ] hitchcock and all of the visiting press will stay at the clift where miss novak’s fetish for lavender will be fulfilled in her posh suite when she arrives may ninth . her suite will be lavender - scented ; bed sheets and pillow slips in lavender ; and while she’s tubbing in lavender - scented water she may take her calls on a lavender - colored bathroom telephone .
about before ; i ' ll never understand why women in the ' 50s thought it was chic to cut off most of their hair . ) my only wish for the film would have been a little more development of doc and korby ' s relationship .
loray davis ended up in a big , rented house in the hollywood hills . the good news was that she had become mrs . sammy davis jr . the bad news was that he wasn’t there . she was left alone with 20 pairs of shoes , a mink stole , and a dazzling ring . arthur silber remembers that white used to call him up in tears , complaining that davis was “supposed to be married to her but was still running around with kim . ” whatever career advantage she thought she might have gained from marrying davis never materialized . six months later he paid her $ 25 , 000 to divorce him , but it would take him three years to extricate himself from the marriage .
a wealthy heiress returns to a small arkansas town to furtively reward the townsfolk who helped to save her life when she was a young girl .
shirley rhodes , the wife of george rhodes , davis’s trusted and beloved music director , was one of davis’s closest friends . she visited him the day after davis announced the engagement from the stage at the sands . “you know , ” he told her , “i’m making 25 grand a week , and i’m sitting here with a bowl of soup i don’t want . i don’t want to be here . ”
corby lane comes to a small arkansas town to play santa claus because , when she was a small child traveling with her impoverished father , the townspeople saved her life by donating money needed for medical treatment . she meets and falls in love with “doc” sellers , an easy - going doctor .
kim novak seemed to have disappeared during the sturm und drang of davis’s sham wedding . after a few months of clandestine meetings , she simply retreated . her version of the affair is “it was a very dangerous relationship then—a white woman and a black man , no matter his status—it simply didn’t mix publicly . i was suddenly in the eye of a hurricane . . . . my agent told me my career would be over if i continued to see sammy . some of my friends wouldn’t even return my telephone calls . ” novak’s biographer , peter harry brown , always felt that it was cohn who was the villain of the piece .
it ' s a thin premise that relies on the quirkiness of the characters for the comedy , which doesn ' t really gel . there isn ' t much chemistry between simmons and mitchum , but i can think of worst ways to spend a couple of hours .
altovise davis , naturally , feels different about the relationship . a former dancer , she became involved with davis during the london run of golden boy in 1968 , when she played his sister in the musical . when he first invited altovise up to his suite , she was wary of his reputation . “they call you ‘the carpenter , ’” she told him , “’cause you nail every girl you meet . ” but she always believed that davis loved her “unconditionally . we loved each other very much . i was like a kid in a candy store , and he wanted me to have the best . ” altovise’s tragedy is that davis introduced her to a lavish world where a beautiful silver bowl , filled to the brim with cocaine , was kept on the bar .
which brings us back to job . in the book of job , god hurts job in order to test his faith . the reader knows that god exists , and has a divine , or perhaps just mysterious , reason for trying job . but until job ' s body is plagued by god , he doesn ' t question that there is a reason for his torment . the same is basically true of william and his family . until events lead his family to start clawing at each other ' s throats , he goes about his business as best he can . as a result , when you watch
the witch ,
you often don ' t seem to know what the film is about . but the film ' s title is a big clue : this is a fantasy about empowerment , albeit through unorthodox methods .
in the street , a shocked crowd gathers around joey ' s body . introduced characters are local parish priest father barry ( karl malden ) who delivers the last rites , joey ' s father pop doyle ( john hamilton ) , and joey ' s fresh - faced sister edie ( eva marie saint ) . one of the neighbors , mrs . collins ( anne hegira ) knows this was no accident :
same thing happened to my andy five years ago . . . ( about joey ) he was the only longshoreman that had the guts to talk to them crime investigators . . . everybody knows that .
pop laments that his son didn ' t follow his advice :
kept telling him . don ' t say nothin ' . keep quiet . you ' ll live longer .
angered by the senseless murder of the brother she was close to , edie screams :
i want to know who killed my brother !
cohn took all the credit for creating rita hayworth—he was also obsessed with her . she was columbia’s resident sex goddess in the 1940s , but she had a bad habit of getting married . her first husband was a 40 - year - old car salesman named edward c . judson ; she then married director orson welles , aly khan , heir apparent to the ismaili muslim throne , and singer dick haymes . every time she got married , her box - office standing eroded . her marriage to khan , a notorious playboy and womanizer , kept her out of pictures for more than two years , infuriating cohn and further alienating her fans .
simmons is magnetic as charlotte , her lovely , delicate face reflecting the inner turmoil of a woman battling for sanity after she walks out of a mental institution .
less than a week later , ava gardner , 67 , died quietly in her canopied chippendale bed . after bringing in ava’s breakfast tray on jan . 25 , vargas came back in mid - morning to find that she had stopped breathing . sobbing , vargas called gardner’s physician and close friends paul and spoli mills , who rushed over from their flat across hyde park . “it was very simple : she’d gone to sleep after breakfast , and then she died , ” said paul .
davis wasn’t as lucky , though he would finally be lucky in love . soon after the frightening events of 1957–58 , he met the swedish actress may britt at the mocambo club on sunset boulevard . like novak , britt was a shy , towering blonde with a breathtaking face , who shone in murder , inc . , the blue angel , and the young lions . when she married davis in 1960 , twentieth century fox declined to renew her option , and her studio career ended . she never regretted that loss , however . “i loved sammy and i had the chance to marry the man i loved , ” she says .
the most sublime moment in the film is when madeleine , in an immaculate white coat , stares at the cross section of a giant sequoia tree on the california coast . with a black - gloved hand , madeleine touches a ring on the ancient tree and whispers , “somewhere in here i was born , and there i died . it was only a moment for you . you took no notice . ” in that moment , hidden in madeleine , there is judy’s masked yearning to live , to be noticed , to become real .
the director george sidney , who made the eddy duchin story , jeanne eagels , and pal joey , all with novak at columbia pictures , became one of cohn’s most trusted intimates . “people used to say , ‘i’m going to beat harry , ’” sidney recalls . “but no one could beat harry—he was too smart , he was too sharp . you really have to understand that mr . mayer , harry cohn , jack warner—these men with their blood and their money and their reputations , they smelled out who had star material . ”
burt boyar never felt that davis’s life had really been in danger . “he was too valuable . in truth , harry cohn had much less value to the mob . every place sammy played , the copacabana , the chez paree , the latin quarter , the latin casino in philadelphia , all these places were owned by the guys , and they couldn’t afford to let sammy get hurt . ” but sy marsh insists to this day that “sammy was inches away from getting killed . ”
i loved this primarily on an aesthetic level , like just robert mitchum and jean simmons ' voices and faces playing off each other should be enough for anyone . the story isn ' t as clear as the tv guide synopsis made it and honestly i don ' t know if that synopsis helped or…
“we had to help ourselves , we had to do some straightening out , ” silber says . the first thing they did was to call donjo medlavine , but they couldn’t reach him , so they called mob boss sam giancana at the armory lounge in forest park , illinois . that’s where giancana was known to order killings along with his linguine—he was allegedly responsible for the deaths of more than 200 men . davis asked for “the doctor , ” a reference to “dr . goldberg , ” giancana’s code name whenever he was in las vegas “dating” the singer phyllis mcguire . “giancana says , ‘we can protect you here in chicago , or when you’re in vegas , but we can’t do anything about hollywood , ’” silber remembers . “‘don’t go back home unless you straighten things out with harry cohn . ’”
“i knew we were in trouble then—that was the beginning . sammy had no choice but to tell me everything , ” silber recalls , “because nobody could touch that telephone , except sammy or me . sammy had been with hundreds of white girls , some quite big names , like ava gardner—although that was no romance . that was just ‘let’s go over and get laid . ’ this was different . frank knew this was big trouble . he had to tell frank because frank had an interest in the sands . ”
the force of the attack would be , in part , that the female characters are unsympathetically treated , for instance that lucy nelson in when she was good is hostilely presented .
the peril began at dusk . says terrail : “she was jekyll and hyde . it was the drinking . she’d be fabulous from 9 a . m . to 7 p . m . , until the mai tais were served . then it was an entirely different personality—ava from hell , with whole nights of drinking , wild times , car chases . ”
it fell to marsh to put davis’s house in order . first he got rid of some of the paid entourage ; then he went around to the various casino owners to whom sammy owed money . “so i came into the office and saw that he owed the sands hotel , ” says marsh . “he owed donjo medlavine , [ one of the three owners ] of chez paree . so now i come in and i see i’m paying donjo medlavine in chicago . . . . i go to medlavine , who’s getting not a lot , say $ 500 a week , but he likes that money coming in . so i say , we just can’t do that anymore . i got his uncle and his father down to a minimum . it just went on and on . ”
but it wasn’t all roses for davis . when marsh signed on as his business partner , he discovered that davis was deep in debt . “he’d never been out of debt in his life , ” marsh realized . “every club wanted him , so they would say , ‘here , sammy , take $ 5 , 000 . ’ so he would—and then he owed them [ an engagement ] . that was the problem . he was playing clubs to pay off his indebtedness . ”
the next girl to walk through cohn’s door was marilyn novak , a shy , plump , large - boned 20 - year - old from chicago with no acting experience but a breathtaking face . cohn had found his blonde . since there was already a marilyn , the first thing that had to go was her name . she balked at being renamed “kit marlowe , ” and , incredibly , she won that battle . they compromised on “kim” novak—the name of the son of her chicago friend and business manager , norma herbert , then norma kasell . kasell was running chicago’s fair teens club for a local department store when she discovered novak , and helped groom her for a modeling career and a $ 400 scholarship to the patricia stevens professional academy . this led to her going to california to demonstrate refrigerators as “miss deepfreeze . ”
he third of the three films that jean simmons grudgingly made for rko pictures in the early 1950s was conceived as a screwball comedy but , beset with an uninspired script and a director who was well past his prime , it failed spectacularly to live up to its potential . as in her first ( and best ) film for rko -
novak had also asked to meet davis—and she wasn’t alone in being attracted by his intense magnetism . men seemed to consider davis ugly , because he was short and slight , his features flattened . but women knew better . his personal charisma was so great , his stage presence so sexually charged , that women were outrageously drawn to him . when the new york daily news columnist bob sylvester wrote cruelly , “god . . . hit him in the face with a shovel , ” davis was devastated . “that hurt , ” boyar recalls . “it always hurt him . but after a while he got used to it , and he’d say , ‘it’s getting me where i’m going . ’”
what matters most isn’t there at all . i don’t mean the solutions to problems , i mean the problems themselves . you’re looking , as you begin , for what’s going to resist you . you’re looking for trouble . sometimes in the beginning uncertainty arises not because the writing is difficult , but because it isn’t difficult enough . fluency can be a sign that nothing is happening ; fluency can actually be my signal to stop , while being in the dark from sentence to sentence is what convinces me to go on .
as the youngest of seven , ava had more in common with her nieces and nephews than with her older siblings . “she was a tomboy back then , ” says nephew al creech , who was born to her sister elsie in 1925 . “we’d play marbles , and she could hold her own . in the summer we’d use mattresses as trampolines , until our mothers caught us . ” .
it’s more useful for my mistakes to ripen and burst in their own good time . i give myself all the opposition i need while i’m writing , and praise is meaningless to me when i know something isn’t even half finished . nobody sees what i’m doing until i absolutely can’t go any further and might even like to believe that i’m done .
“if you were there that night , ” one member of davis’s entourage explains , “you’d think , no wonder he hugged nixon . ” sy marsh believes that davis had spent the first half of his career making himself loved by the white world , and the second half trying to make himself loved by the black world . “that’s the reason he married altovise gore , ” in marsh’s opinion . “she was a black woman . it would open up more doors to his being accepted . ”
the fact that i am interrupting serious work to answer these questions proves that i am so stupid that i should be penalized severely . i will be . don ' t worry
by the time davis was appearing in mr . wonderful , mastin and sam davis sr . were still part of the act , but everybody knew that they had stayed on too long . davis sr . gracefully stepped aside , but mastin just couldn’t give it up . “it was tragic , ” boyar remembers . “even when he was out of the act , it was still called ‘the will mastin trio starring sammy davis jr . ’” mastin would travel with davis and would insist on having his own dressing room , bringing out his costumes and makeup but never going onstage .
sweet small town comedy with a misleadingly salacious title ( probably supplied by producer / perv , howard hughes ) . if it doesn ' t rise to the heights of . . .
silber recalls , “he sat her down—he was sitting in a chair and i was sitting on the bed—and he made her a proposition , to marry him for a certain sum of money . she would have all the rights that mrs . sammy davis jr . would have , but at the end of the year they would dissolve the marriage . she agreed to that , and that’s what took the heat off . ”
oh when you really think about it there is just something so odd about these films were two people bicker throughout only to decide to get married by the end ! no matter how short a time they have actually known each other . it only ever seems to be disney who gets shit about it too !
boyar also feels that davis knew how attractive he was to women . “sammy liked his looks—he knew his face was ugly , but he worked on his body . he kept himself in fantastic shape and he was so immaculate . he had a wonderful v - shaped body , and he loved his little behind . he would make a point of it , he would say , ‘isn’t that adorable ? ’” boyar feels that “he would have preferred to look like cary grant , but he was pretty satisfied with what he had . he recognized it worked for him . ”
always . months of looking at the manuscript and saying , “this is wrong—but what’s wrong ? ” i ask myself , “if this book were a dream , it would be a dream of what ? ” but when i’m asking this i’m also trying to believe in what i’ve written , to forget that it’s writing and to say , “this has taken place , ” even if it hasn’t . the idea is to perceive your invention as a reality that can be understood as a dream . the idea is to turn flesh and blood into literary characters and literary characters into flesh and blood .
there ' s one thing we ' ve got in this country and that ' s ways of fightin ' back . gettin ' the facts to the public . testifyin ' for what you know is right against what you know is wrong . now what ' s ratting to them is telling the truth for you . now can ' t you see that ? can ' t you see that ?
not so much the ideas as their background . i don’t care for philosophers in books . they are always bores . a novel should be an experience and convey an emotional truth rather than arguments .
the energy comes in surges—in bunched mini - waves , so rhythmically charged that they never bore the listener , even the listener who loathes every word that comes out of his mouth , every frown and eye - rolling grimace , every gesture of his right hand , which disposes of the world’s idiocy in jerking sweeps to the side . in one patch in a recent speech ( the speech in which he read his proposal to ban all muslims from entering the united states ) , trump ran from hillary clinton ( “she’s got no strength . she’s got no stamina” ) to the united states being “ripped off on trade , ” and then to veterans “not being taken care of , ” and then to generals wasting time talking on television , and then to “bush” ( mimics a man sleeping ) , then to hillary’s complaint that trump’s tone was not “nice” ( “we have people whose heads are being chopped off …” ) , then to the need for smart people ( “i know a lot of tough people … but they’re not smart” ) , then to the money we “owe” ( “we owe nineteen trillion … trillion , trillion , trillion dollars . who the hell ever heard of the word ten years ago ? there was no such word” ) , then back to the trade imbalance with china , japan , and mexico ( “we’re going to build a wall . it will be a real wall . . . . it’s gonna happen” ) .
i ' ve talked a lot about what
the witch
is about without mentioning how well it ' s about it . that ' s partly because the film is so consistently engrossing that i surrendered to it early on . eggers ' hyper - mannered camerawork draws you in by evoking johannes vermeer ' s portraits and the landscape paintings of andrew wyeth ( there ' s also an overt reference to one of francisco goya ' s more famous paintings , but i can ' t tell you which one for fear of ruining a surprise ) . the complex sound design and controlled editing also help establish a mood that is ( paradoxically ) both inviting and somber .
the witch
draws you in so well that you won ' t realize its creators have been broadcasting exactly where they ' re taking you .
the story follows an oil heiress named korby lane , played by jean simmons . korby travels to the small town of progress in rural arkansas . once there , she begins anonymously doling out large sums of money to the townsfolk .
let me tell you what stooling is . stooling is when you rat on your friends , the guys you ' re with . johnny wants a favor . don ' t think about it . do it .
it didn’t take long for the gossip industry to go into high gear about the attraction between davis and novak . someone at tony curtis’s party must have put in a call to dorothy kilgallen , the columnist for the hearst newspaper chain , who slyly asked in her gossip column , “which top female movie star ( k . n . ) is seriously dating which big - name entertainer ( s . d . ) ? ” and if those initials weren’t enough of a tip - off , she followed the item up two days later with “studio bosses now know about k . n . ’s affair with s . d . and have turned lavender over their platinum blonde . ”
i watched this when it showed on tcm this past summer , and , like you , i found it a very cute movie . i disagree completely with maltin ' s review , and once again i agree when i say it ' s more of a three star picture . i liked seeing mitchum in a role like this ; it was different change of pace from him , and in my opinion a very nice one .
well , setting the matter of form aside for the moment , we were interested in her attempt to relate you to the tradition of the family chronicle . is it in fact your conscious intention to recreate what she calls the pseudo - saga ?
britt knew that davis had risked his career to marry her . but there was a more intractable problem in the making : she had to compete with his need to perform , and that need ultimately won out . the marriage ended in 1968 .
he is asked to lure to the rooftop of his tenement building a young dockworker joey doyle , one of the informant union workers who is planning to cooperate with crime investigators by testifying ( before the waterfront crime commission ) against gangsters who tyrannically control the docks . terry shouts to fellow pigeon - lover joey in his apartment , in the opening lines of the film . he unwittingly becomes a pawn in setting a trap to murder his fellow longshoreman dockworker :
but supposing i say to you that nearly all the women in the books are there to obstruct , or to help , or to console the male characters . there’s the woman who cooks and consoles and is sane and calming , or the other kind of woman , the dangerous maniac , the obstructor . they occur as means of helping or obstructing kepesh or zuckerman or tarnopol . and that could be seen as a limited view of women .
the studio contoured her figure by encouraging her to purge 15 pounds . then they changed her hair , dyeing it three shades of blond at once . columbia pictures’ house designer jean louis was brought in to remake her wardrobe . he had created the notorious second skin glittering with sequins that marlene dietrich wore for her nightclub premiere in las vegas in 1953 ; he would also sew marilyn monroe into the sequined formfitting gown she wore when she sang “happy birthday” to john f . kennedy at madison square garden in 1962 .
let’s face it , some women who are sane also happen to know how to cook . so do some of the dangerous maniacs . let’s leave out the sin of cooking . a great book on the order of oblomov could be written about a man allying himself with woman after woman who gorges him with marvelous meals , but i haven’t written it . if your description of the “sane , ” “calm , ” and “consoling” woman applies to anyone , it’s to claire ovington in the professor of desire , with whom kepesh establishes a tender liaison some years after the breakup of his marriage . now , i’d have no objection to your writing a novel about this relationship from the point of view of claire ovington—i’d be intrigued to see how she saw it—so why do you take a slightly critical tone about my writing the novel from the point of view of david kepesh ?
vaguely is the word . i don’t know who i’m like . i’ve been called a metaphysical novelist , and if that means i have a fairly clear and comprehensive idea of the world i’m writing about , i suppose that’s true .
bucolic comedy doesn ' t have many laughs , but does have a cozy vibe that isn ' t entirely unpleasant in its benevolent dullness . arthur hunnicutt , as the small town ' s drunk sheriff , steals the movie away from simmons and mitchum , both of whom just conjure jarring memories of angel face . at the very least , a much more benign movie than that title and a credit reading
howard hughes presents
might be reasonably feared to portend .
davis couldn’t get even a private message ( actually a “secret message , ” according to arthur silber , who refuses to elaborate ) to novak , because her family had only one phone , and it was a party line . “sam asked me , begged me , to go for him , ” silber recalls , “but i didn’t want to go . he literally got down on his knees—tears were coming out of his eyes . ” finally silber acquiesced . at that time there was a twa flight that stopped in las vegas at three in the morning . silber caught it and flew into los angeles , then picked up an american airlines flight to chicago . donjo medlavine was waiting for him on the tarmac when the plane arrived . he had a few choice words : “what the fuck has he gotten himself into now ! ” silber and medlavine were sitting at the airport when silber was suddenly paged over the loudspeaker . it was sammy’s stepmother , peewee davis , saying , “he’s coming on the next flight . ”


standing in the shadows of motown is a 2002 documentary film directed by paul justman that recounts the story of the funk brothers , the uncredited and largely unheralded studio musicians who were the house band that berry gordy hand picked in 1959 .

they recorded and performed on motowns ' recordings from 1959 to 1972 .

the film was inspired by the 1989 book standing in the shadows of motown : the life and music of legendary bassist james jamerson , a bass guitar instruction book by allan slutsky , which features the bass lines of james jamerson .

the film covers the funk brothers ' career via interviews with surviving band members , archival footage and still photos , dramatized re-enactments , and narration by actor andre braugher .

the film also features new live performances of several motown hit songs , with the funk brothers backing up gerald levert , me ' shell ndegeocello , joan osborne , ben harper , bootsy collins , chaka khan , and montell jordan .

the impetus behind making the film was to bring these influential players out of anonymity .

in addition to bassist james jamerson , the funk brothers consisted of the following musicians : jack ashford ( percussion ) ; bob babbitt ( bass ) ; joe hunter ( keyboards ) ; uriel jones ( drums ) ; joe messina ( guitar ) ; eddie willis ( guitar ) ; richard " pistol " allen ( drums ) ; benny " papa zita " benjamin ( drums ) ; eddie " bongo " brown ( percussion ) ; johnny griffith ( keyboards ) ; earl van dyke ( keyboards ) ; and robert white ( guitar ) .

the funk brothers produced more hits than the beatles , the rolling stones , and the beach boys together .

it was their sound , according to mary wilson ( of the supremes ) , that backed the temptations , the supremes , the miracles , the four tops , gladys knight & the pips , marvin gaye , stevie wonder , and mary wells , among other noteworthy bands during their tenure from 1959 to 1973 .

standing in the shadows of motown

listen to standing in the shadows of motown [ soundtrack ( deluxe edition ) ] now .
standing in the shadows of motown ( 2002 ) , a documentary about a group of detroit musicians who backed up dozens of motown artists .
that ' s changing with the new documentary standing in the shadows of motown , which opened in new york and los angeles nov . 15 and goes to 12 more cities this weekend .
were part of the group of musicians known as the funk brothers whose sound defined motown in the 1960s and 70s . they worked with such legendary performers as diana ross and the supremes , the temptations , marvin gaye , the four tops , stevie wonder , smokey robinson , the miracles and many more . the funk brothers are the subject of the new documentary standing in the shadows of motown .
standing in the shadows of motown
, is the documentary film that tells the story of motown ' s legendary studio band , the funk brothers . the funk brothers were a relatively unknown group of musicians who have played on as many no . 1 one hits as the beach boys , the rolling stones , elvis and the beatles combined ! !
standing in the shadows of motown
first movie screening at the library of congress . the funk brothers gathered in detroit last november 2000 for filming . they were : bob babbitt , richard ' ' pistol ' ' allen , jack ashford , uriel jones , joe hunter , eddie willis , joe messina and johnny griffin .
think of the supremes , gladys knight , smokey robinson , marvin gaye , martha reeves , stevie wonder and the temptations . you hold decades of pop musical history in your mind : the motown sound . now ask who the instrumentalists were on their records . or don ' t even bother , because the question is asked and answered in the affectionate new documentary
standing in the shadows of motown .
in the movie , fans are asked , who played on the recordings with those artists ? who for example was behind gladys knight ?
the pips ?
asks one motown fan .
documentary about the funk brothers , a group of detroit musicians who backed up dozens of motown artists .
i n 1959 , berry gordy gathered the best musicians from detroit ' s thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company . over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on
my girl ,
bernadette ,
i was made to love her ,
and every other hit from motown ' s detroit era . b y the end of their phenomenal run , this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the beach boys , the rolling stones , elvis and the beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music . they called themselves the funk brothers . f orty - one years after they played their first note an a motown record and three decades since they were all together , the funk brothers reunited back in detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story in standing in the shadows of motown . w ith the tumultuous sixties as a backdrop , motown ' s unsung heroes take the viewer on a compelling journey in time as they trace the evolution of the motown sound
from its origins in detroit to its demise in los angeles during the seventies . through the eyes of the riveting characters who ruled hitsville ' s studio by day and the club scene of detroit by night , we enter a world of unparalleled soul and emotion as the funk brothers revisit the sites of their musical roots , triumphs , and eventual heartbreak . f or more than four decades , from the dance floors of the world , to the detroit riots of 1967 , to the war in vietnam , the music the funk brothers created has played a major role in the cultural fabric of all of our lives . standing in the shadows of motown finally puts some faces on that music and introduces these heroic musical figures to the world .
the phenomenal story of motown has been told many times - - so many times in fact that the notion of an untold part of its legacy seems far - fetched . but as the documentary film
motown has one of the most closely protected catalogs in the music industry . but slutsky says this film has more than 30 songs in it , thanks to company founder gordy , who opened it up for the making of the movie .
what ' s interesting about these performances is that the singers make no attempt to imitate the original artists , and yet the funks turn the songs into soundalikes anyway . is it possible those great motown stars were more or less created by these unsung musicians ? the funks think that is a distinct possibility . of course , the backup singers had a lot to do with it , too , and this movie never gets around to them . they ' re in the shadows of the shadows .
drummer uriel jones , left , and pianist joe hunter , original members of motown ' s house band , still play in detroit .
the motown sound came to an end in 1972 , when gordy moved the label from detroit to los angeles , with
no warning and no acknowledgement .
the funks found out from a notice tacked to the door . some of them followed motown to the coast , but the magic was gone , and the movie doesn ' t ask the obvious question : why didn ' t some of the singers they worked with know how important they were , and demand them , or return to detroit to record with them ?
standing in the shadows of motown
interlaces interviews with the surviving funk brothers with new performances of many of the hit songs , and some sequences in which events of the past are re - created . the flashback sequences are not especially effective , but are probably better than more talking heads . or maybe not . the contemporary performers who sing in front of the funks include joan osborne , ben harper , me ' shell ndegeocello , montell jordan , gerald levert , chaka khan and the flamboyant bootsy collins , who upstages the funks , not to his own advantage .
no , it wasn ' t the pips , the miracles or the vandellas . the musicians who played behind all of the motown stars on their studio recordings were the funk brothers . the funk brothers ? paul justman ' s documentary , based on a book by allan slutsky , gives belated praise to motown ' s house musicians , the men who played under all the motown hits recorded in detroit .
nov 19 , 2002 motown backup band , the funk brothers tavis smiley interviews two members of the legendary motown house band , the funk brothers , frontman and percussionist jack ashford and keyboardist joe hunter .
— a documentary about the funk brothers , a group of detroit musicians who backed up dozens of motown artists from 1959 to 1972 .
you will need this cd for disc 2 which has many instrumental versions of motown classics . worth the price for instrumental version of supremes love is like an itching in my heart which is sensational
the first motown sides were cut in
studio a ,
which was simply the garage of berry gordy , the label ' s founder . it was down four steps from his kitchen and originally had a dirt floor . along with sun studios in memphis , it was one of the birthplaces of the last half - century of american hit music . the movie returns to that location (
hitsville , usa
) for sessions in which the surviving funk brothers remember the good times and bad , and the very sound of the studio itself .
after all of the credits roll , we see a few of the funk brothers leaving the snake pit and turning off the lights .
i ' m not even a big fan of motown records , but this film is something else . the funk brothers were the sessions players who played on a large percentage of the hits of the 60 ' s and early 70 ' s . sadly some of the key players died before this film was made but the remaining musicians get together and play . the contemparay film of them reformed playing motown classics is absolutely marvellous . it helps if you put the 5 . 1 sound on as well . the first performance brought me close to tears . the documentary film is also interesting and the stories about the legendary bass player ( who i had never heard of ) james jamerson and others are fascinating . i watched it three times in the first month of owning the dvd . this is an essential music dvd for those interested in the history of motown .
this is a great documentary which captures the essence of the funk brothers and the way they defined the motown sound in the 1960s as the label ' s resident session band . the film was made some years ago and a number of those featured have since died , so this is the nearest one can get to sitting in a pub with these groundbreaking musicians and listening to their tales of life in 1960s detroit . a particularly moving part of the documentary is when band members black and white describe the camaraderie amongst them following the murder of martin luther king and the subsequent flaring of local tensions . the stories of those band members who had died prior to the documentary ( in particular james jamerson and benny benjamin ) are not forgotten with a particular focus on jamerson . it even inspired me to get my bass out of the loft !
having seen the film , recently , on the motown night bbc3 , i bought the cd purely for the joan osbourne versions of ' ( love is like a ) heatwave ' and ' what becomes of the broken . . .
i ' ll admit my view may be a little twisted , but when you think motown , it ' s the story of the incredible studio band with a revolving set of vocalists ,
slutsky says .
they were the continuity . they were the reason motown sounded the way it sounded .
a soundtrack featuring the film ' s live performances came out in september . among the highlights are osborne ' s wrenching what becomes of the brokenhearted , levert ' s fiery reach out i ' ll be there and bootsy collins ' boisterous do you love me . the soundtrack will be included in a deluxe edition due in january that will feature a second cd with 16 classic motown tracks stripped of the vocals and strings to emphasize the music of the funk brothers . a dvd with additional filmed interviews and a concert at the knitting factory in los angeles are due next spring .
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as motown ' s studio band , the funk brothers kept those unforgettable grooves bubbling up from the basement at hitsville usa .
their music fueled the careers of the temptations , the supremes , the miracles , the four tops , gladys knight and the pips , marvin gaye , stevie wonder , mary wells and others from the time the company started in the late 1950s until it left detroit for california in 1973 . ( related item : funk brothers , where art though now ? )
detroit | michigan | 1959 . berry gordy gathered the best musicians from the city ' s thriving jazz and blues scene for his new record company : motown . they called themselves the funk brothers | and they were the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music . this is their story .
in 1959 , berry gordy jr . gathered the best musicians from detroit ' s thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company . over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from motown ' s detroit era . by the end of their phenomenal run , this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the beach boys , the rolling stones , elvis and the beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music . they called themselves the funk brothers . forty - one years after they played their first note on a motown record and three decades since they were all together , the funk brothers reunited back in detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story , with the help of archival footage , still photos , narration , interviews , re - creation scenes , 20 motown master tracks , and twelve new live performances of motown classics with the brothers backing up contemporary performers .
this february 2004 the dream was fulfilled when the funk brothers won their long overdue lifetime achievement awards , and it felt great ! after years of playing music as the studio band for motown records in virtual anonymity , they received their long overdue acknowledgement as an important part of rock and roll history . i am proud to be part of the production of this movie about their lives .
during paul justman ' s film documentary standing in the shadows of motown , based on al slutsky ' s book of the same name about the session musicians who played on motown recordings in detroit from the late ' 50s to the early ' 70s , one of the interviewees is heard to comment that once those musicians , who dubbed themselves the funk brothers , finished cutting a backing track , it almost didn ' t matter who sang over it . it is no criticism of the singers who appear on this soundtrack album , which consists mainly of the new performances of motown hits that punctuate the film , to say that the music heard here bears that observation out . the singers have been well chosen for the songs . me ' shell ndeg�ocello , for example , offers a contemporary gloss on smokey robinson ' s
you ' ve really got a hold on me
and channels eddie kendricks on the temptations '
cloud nine ,
while gerald levert makes like levi stubbs on the four tops '
reach out i ' ll be there ,
joan osborne lives up to martha reeves on the vandellas '
( love is like a ) heat wave ,
and bootsy collins brings humor and outrageousness to the contours '
do you love me
and the capitols '
cool jerk .
but the legend on the back of the disc ,
starring the funk brothers on all tracks
is well put . this is a cohesive group , not just some studio professionals . the band is mixed louder and much more clearly than they were in the 1960s , when their sound was compressed , toned down behind the vocalists , and presented ( at least on the am radios on which it was most frequently heard ) in mono . while the motown sound was the product of its singers , songwriters , arrangers , and producers as well as the musicians who played the instruments , their contribution has been undervalued , and this recording demonstrates that amply .
special thanks to : seen at the end of the movie . see video excerpts
the spotlight is finally shining on this colorful cast of characters who toiled in
the snakepit
of berry gordy ' s hit factory at 2648 west grand blvd . and who have reunited to promote the film .
note : sad news . johnny griffith , one of the funk brothers , died over the past weekend . a reminder that this film comes just in time .
the content of this film is amazing . there is however a video to sound sync issue . in a film it’s really annoying in a music documentary doubly so . the fact i have still given it five stars shows how amazing the content is for me .
given three stars solely for the music . especially for joan osborne ' s singing of what becomes of the broken hearted .
save on classic and contemporary films online and in store through 8 / 6 .
jack ashford , whose distinctive tambourine graces dozens of classic hits , says the seven - minute ovation the film received after its screening at the toronto film festival in september
blew my mind .
the film has gotten critical acclaim and emotional audience responses since it began screening in september , evidenced by the toronto film festival ovation .
they played on more no . 1 hits than elvis presley , the beatles , the rolling stones and the beach boys put together . but to the general public , they remain largely unknown . unlike the galaxy of beloved motown stars , songwriters and producers , the funk brothers were rarely recognized for their contribution to what became
the sound of young america .
interesting documentary about great musicians and the music business behind the scene . lots of good music .
filmmaker , paul justman ' s documentary based on allan slutsky ' s book looking at the uncredited tamla motown musicians that worked on more number one hits than any other artists to date , the funk brothers . made up from a group of session musicians , the funk brothers worked on all the motown hits of the sixties working with the likes of marvin gaye , stevie wonder , the temptations and smokey robinson . however , when berry gordy moved the studios from detroit to los angeles in 1972 . he did not take the musicians with him and they fell into obscurity . justman ' s film brings them together again after 40 years and , using a handful of guest singers such as chaka khan , ben harper and bootsy collins , he gets the funk brothers to perform some of the hits they worked on .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
i was an out and out motown afficionado when i was younger and when in ' cool ' circles it was deeply unfashionable to be so ( i kept fairly quiet about it ! ! ) .
this film is based on a book of the same title by mr . allan slutsky that won the 1989 rolling stone / bmi ralph j . gleason music book award . mr . slutsky a new jersey - based musician , author , and movie producer who worked for 14 years in putting together the movie , told me that after a theatrical run , the film will go to cable and then be released on tape and dvd . the documentary movie has already played in los angeles for a week in december 2001 in order to qualify for next year ' s academy awards , but that its official world premiere will be in detroit in january or february of 2002 . produced by paul elliott and david scott , executive producers allan slutsky , paul justman , sandy passman and karen ellis founder and ceo of this site the educational cyberplayground .
a documentary that celebrates rick hall , the founder of fame studios in muscle shoals , alabama , and the signature sound he developed in songs such as
i ' ll take you there
,
brown sugar
, and
when a man loves a woman
.
backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight . their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music , but we ' ve had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead , until now .
having seen the film at a cinema and bought the dvd , i bought the cd on the strength that the dvd cut the songs sharply , when playing the songs only . the star guest singer is joan osbourne , particularly with
what becomes of the broken hearted
. it ' s good to see most of the funk brothers in action , while they were still alive . sadly , many have passed on since this album was made . either way , if you love the music motown played at hitsville , detroit , this is a recommended purchase , as you will not get this opportunity again .
roger ebert ' s speech on empathy for the
11th hour
series on april 9th , 1994 , being republished here in honor of his birthday june 18 .
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roger ebert was born on this day in 1942 , and died a little over five years ago . i owe a good part of my success…
a celebration of the musical work of a group of session musicians known as
the wrecking crew
, a band that provided back - up instrumentals to such legendary recording artists as frank sinatra , the beach boys and bing crosby .
these guys were the guys behind motown , this is where it was at , amazing stuff by amazing musicians , you will never regret buying this album .
demonstrates , there was more to the success of the detroit - based label than singing babes in gowns and founder berry gordy ' s business acumen . there were also the self - named funk brothers : the session players putting the unforgettable guitar sounds into
you keep me hangin ' on
and the creeping bass line behind
i heard it through the grapevine .
these guys were a crucial piece of the puzzle but have remained largely anonymous .
my personal pics from the library of congress screening that i took from the question and answer period after the movie was screened . ~ karen ellis
while the standing documentary tells the funk brothers ' story via interviews , stock footage and still photos , the accompanying soundtrack takes liberties , pairing the surviving musicians with contemporary pop , r & b and funk artists . together , they faithfully recast motown hits . what could have been a disaster - - would you want to muck with
ain ' t no mountain high enough
? - - works beautifully , thanks both to the brothers ' chops and the thoughtful artist selection . while enlisting a soul brother like ben harper was a no - brainer , the inclusion of joan osborne was especially astute . after all , osborne ' s deep connection to r & b is why her production of the holmes brothers ' speaking in tongues disc was genius , and she acquits herself beautifully on
( love is like a ) heat wave
and
what becomes of the brokenhearted .
similarly , bass boss meshell ndegeocello gives chaka khan competition in the gospel diva department . bootsy collins , gerald levert and montell jordan also contribute . motown purists may baulk at this concept , but they ' d have to agree these readings are smart , respectful and very , very soulful . - - kim hughes
sessions would last all day and into the night . a producer would come in with a song and a few chords and they ' d play with it , adapting it to the house style , adding a touch here , a riff there , until it emerged as the big , bold and sometimes almost unreasonably happy motown sound . in one of the movie ' s best sequences , we see them cobbling a song together almost from scratch . sometimes , they remember , they were so overworked they ' d hide out in a nearby funeral parlor , where gordy wouldn ' t think to look for them .
the music that ennio morricone composed for so - called spaghetti western movies is probably the best known , and some of the best , of the work he produced during his long and distinguished career . morricone kill : spaghetti western music from the maestro . . .
one thing that i always noticed in the traditional
motown
music from the 60 ' s is either the sound of the tamborine or the vibes . little did i know it was the same guy on every album . unlike many
true story
documentaries this was a good story with a happy ending . most times when we watch documentaries about celebrities we tend to see much of the bad and ugly moments from their past . certianly nobody is perfect with a squeeky clean background , however , i appriciate the fact that the producer of this movie put more emphasis on the good things and the funny stories and less on the conflicts and the shortcommings . all of the extra features give you a sense of who these people are with the extra unedited footage of the band interacting with one and other . the part about the guys that died before , during , and after production was especially touching because it brought closure to a situation with many loose ends . i feel that this story has a happy ending because those who are still living and those who passed on are satisfied that they were recognized for their contributions . personally i would have liked to see the concert in its entirety instead of a few clips in between the candid interviews but overall it was a very well balanced and well written story about a band that most people didnt even know existed . even though most people didnt know about the band , we can all relate because we know the songs . as each musican shares his involvement with motown i know and
feel
where they are comming from because i probably have listened to their music a hundered times over .
what ' s left to be said about the
motown sound ,
that treasure trove of pop ' n ' soul music that once poured forth from berry gordy ' s tiny detroit studio ? a lot , it turns out . vocal artists like the supremes , the temptations , marvin gaye , smokey robinson and the four tops , whose records first charted in the early 1960s , became household names . but few people . . . read more
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
director michael mann is known for modifying moods through music , particularly in urban settings . there . . .
i was looking forward to watching this dvd and whilst it was nice that these people have got some recognition it did feel like they went on about that lack of attention rather too much in this film ! by the end of the dvd , which in itself should ' ve been retitled
the funk brothers
rather than such a generic title , it was rather annoying being told how little recognition they apparently received . whilst some may like the interview then a piece showing them at a new concert format , i found that to be disappointing . with respect , none of the cover versions came anywhere close to the originals and seemed to be there just to make the film long enough to be screened . i found myself fast forwarding through most of the concert footage . i can only conclude that getting the rights to some of the archive material was beyond the budget of the producers . the interviews were interesting but they just didn ' t hold my attention in the same way that the
muscle shoals
dvd did for me . it deserves a pat on the back for at least attempting to showcase the unknown but it comes across as low budget , made for tv documentary - interesting and watchable , but only the once .
jamerson , who despite his heavy drinking was an unparalleled bassist , is one of the dominant figures in the story . ashford tells how jamerson was once so wasted he couldn ' t sit upright but pulled the near - impossible feat of playing the demanding bass line on marvin gaye ' s what ' s going on lying flat on his back .
despite the long - term damage this film and the soundtrack ' s title theme did to bluegrass , the soundtrack stands as one of the best introductions to instrumental bluegrass available . the blistering virtuosity of multi - instrumentalists eric weissberg and marshall brickman ripple through such . . .
i accept that the 60s material will not be of great quality , but i did not expect the most . . .
former supremes star mary wilson says :
they made music that the people of the world could enjoy and no longer have to hide that they listened to rhythm and blues . they made it pop . they took one ethnic genre and created a whole other genre : the motown sound .
and yet the motown sound was , quite simply , their sound . no disrespect to the singers , but , as drummer steve gordon observes ,
you could have had deputy dawg singin ' on some of this stuff .
the documentary argues that they played on hits that sold more records than the beatles , elvis , the beach boys and the rolling stones combined - - but were almost anonymous .
an interview with terry gilliam , director of
the man who killed don quixote .
the hero of the funk brothers themselves seems to have been the late james jamerson , the bass player who used only one finger but seemed able to keep two times at once . their stories about him are legion . the other original funks were drummer benny benjamin , pianist joe hunter and guitarists eddie willis and joe messina . the movie always talks with or about perhaps a dozen other musicians who played on many or most of the motown records , but it ' s difficult to keep them straight - - because , of course , they were not famous .
if you like motown , you will love this cd great great tracks . . . plus various backing tracks too ! its great to listen to the original music without the vocals and to appriciate how . . .
remembering betsy palmer , anne meara , b . b . king and other reel - important people we lost in may
2003 cd - ean 044006469126 - motown tribute with ben harper , bootsy collins , chaka khan , ndegeocello , tom scott , levert and more .
justman avoids getting too maudlin by injecting humorous anecdotes or shifting to one of the exhilarating performances by the reunited band with singers such as joan osborne , bootsy collins , gerald levert , chaka khan and montell jordan , ben harper and me ' shell ndgeocello gleefully strutting their stuff . with the exception of brief appearances by the temptations ' otis williams and martha reeves , the filmmakers consciously decided not to include motown ' s well - known stars .
justman deftly interweaves interviews , re - enactments , archival footage and band performances of classic tunes with contemporary artists . many of the stories center on those who died before the film was made .
movies - on - tv : ken fox ' s picks for the week of jan . 21
after about eight years , i couldn ' t keep the funk brothers motivated ,
slutsky says .
i was like the crazy aunt in the attic . i was doing jesse jackson ' keep hope alive ' speeches .
a play with music by lanie robertson , lady day at emerson ' s bar & grill , directed by lonny price , first opened on broadway in the spring of 2014 with audra mcdonald starring as the heartworn billie holiday singing and telling stories . . .
after viewing product detail pages , look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in .
one of the film ' s quietest moments recalls the chilling day when word reached the studio that drummer benny
papa zita
benjamin , a heroin addict , had died .
amazing piece of history . found it quite emotional at times , but the joy these musicians bought the role deserves at least this tribute .
buy the mp3 album for £7 . 99 at the amazon digital music store .
review : what ' s left to be said about the
motown sound ,
that treasure trove of pop ' n ' soul music that once poured forth from berry gordy ' s tiny detroit studio ? a lot , it turns out . vocal artists like the supremes , the temptations , marvin gaye , smokey robinson an… ( more )
track 1 - 1 covering martha & the vandellas ' original 1963 hit track 1 - 2 covering the miracles ' original 1962 / 63 hit track 1 - 3 covering the contours ' original 1962 hit track 1 - 4 from a combination of the alternate take and the original backing track for the four tops ' hit recorded at hitsville , detroit , summer 1966 track 1 - 5 covering the four tops ' original 1966 hit track 1 - 6 covering the temptations ' original 1966 hit track 1 - 7 covering jr . walker & the all stars ' original 1965 hit track 1 - 8 covering jimmy ruffins ' original 1966 hit track 1 - 9 covering marvin gaye ' s original 1968 hit track 1 - 10 original track for the supremes ' hit , recorded at hitsville , detroit , summer 1966 track 1 - 11 covering the capitols ' original 1966 hit track 1 - 12 covering the temptations ' original 1968 hit track 1 - 13 covering marvin gaye ' s original 1971 hit track 1 - 14 covering marvin gaye & tammi terrell ' s original 1967 hit track 1 - 15 recorded january 9 or 10 , 1970 , first issued on the album the earl of funk , soul 715 , september 1970 track 1 - 16 recorded october 1961 . issued as single boom boom / drug store woman , vee - jay 438 , may 1962 track 1 - 17 issued as single ( your love keeps lifting me ) higher and higher , brunswick 55336 , july 1967 track 1 - 18 from the album evolution , issued as single scorpio , sussex 226 , october 1971 0riginal album inspired by the book standing in the shadows of motown ( the life and music of legendary bassist james jamerson ) , by dr . licks 2 - 2 , 2 - 4 , 2 - 5 , 2 - 7 , 2 - 8 , 2 - 10 , 2 - 12 , 2 - 13 , 2 - 15 to 2 - 17 , 2 - 19 to 2 - 21 , 2 - 23 are basic tracks
despite the long - term damage this film and the soundtrack ' s title theme did to bluegrass , the . . .
the longer it took , the more we believed that it wouldn ' t be pulled together ,
ashford says .
but allan had so much tenacity and drive , and he kept us hanging in there .
this is an excellent tribute to the funk brothers . long overdue . sadly several members are no longer with us , but the story was well told and structured well , which made for very interesting viewing . great insight into the music behind motown . they deserved far more acknowledgement , brilliant musicians .
you have these men who are getting older , fighting the pain of obscurity and who have done something that influenced the world ,
he says .
includes free mp3 version of this album . autorip is available only for eligible cds and vinyl sold by amazon eu sarl ( but does not apply to gift orders or primenow orders ) . see terms and conditions for full details , including costs which may apply for the mp3 version in case of order returns or cancellations .
director michael mann is known for modifying moods through music , particularly in urban settings . there were all those rain - slicked tracking shots in miami vice , for example , accompanied by phil collins and dire straits . for 1995 ' s heat it was moby , lisa . . .
motown . you know the music . you ' ve heard it a thousand times , 40 years on its still on the radio , still on adverts on tv , and being played in pubs , clubs , cafes , shops , restaurants and at 1000 ' s of weddings , every day , all over the world . quite simply its some of the best music and greatest songs ever written . everyone is familiar with the artists who made it famous . . . . . . . . marvin gaye , diana ross , stevie wonder , the four tops , smokey robinson , the list goes on and on . but who actually created the music ? who came up with that sound ? well here it is . . . . . . a music documentary about the funk brothers , the guys behind the music , who never got the recognition they so deserved ( until now ) , who were paid a pittance , but came up with 3 hits a night , and at the end of their day had played on more number 1 ' s than the beatles , elvis and the beach boys combined . the greatest hit factory of session musicians who have ever lived . this film will make you cry , it ' ll make you laugh , it ' ll make you angry and tug on every heartstring . . . . . . . . . a beautiful representation of a bunch of incredibly gifted , but little known musicians , who created a sound from nothing that will last forever . i am a professional musician ( piano / keys ) and am fortunate enough to play many motown songs made famous by the funk brothers , in a 10 piece band , with horns / backing vocals / the lot ! when we first started out , i made every member of the band watch this dvd and they came back to the next rehearsal with a completely different outlook , a fresh approach , and a new perspective on the music they were playing . if you have any interest in music at all then you will love this film , and if you play an instrument , at any level , then its an absolute must . a joy to watch , and a wonderful insight into some of the most amazing music ever created . please buy it , you will not be disappointed !
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stephen sondheim ' s effervescent comic soufflé , a little night music , is the most effortlessly enchanting of . . .
director paul justman ' s film is a funny and often exuberant story of the comradeship between a band of jazz musicians who tell their often bittersweet stories , recalling the eccentric personalities , comical studio antics , marathon recording sessions and battles with personal demons . they are glad for the public recognition but lament that it came too late for some of their colleagues .
the sound was born in and nurtured by a series of detroit clubs , places like the chit chat and 20 grand , now closed , where the funks and other musicians got their start and returned to their roots . separately they were great and together they were beyond great ; it ' s clear that working steadily behind literally hundreds of hits fused them into a group that all but thought with one mind . as they remember those days , they ' re like military veterans or the members of a world series team , and we realize nothing that came after ever held the same joy for them .
the film takes its name from a book co - producer allan slutsky published in 1989 about bassist extraordinaire james jamerson , who had died six years earlier . while researching jamerson , slutsky came to know the other dozen or so funk brothers , who had been recruited by gordy from detroit ' s thriving nightclub scene . slutsky says ,
i knew i had stumbled upon the last great unmined musical story of the ' 60s .
© © 2004 universal music enterprises , a division of umg recordings , inc .
℗ ℗ 2004 universal music enterprises , a division of umg recordings , inc .
justman says that when you watch the film , you can ' t help but root for the musicians .
the music that ennio morricone composed for so - called spaghetti western movies is probably the best . . .
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stephen sondheim ' s effervescent comic soufflé , a little night music , is the most effortlessly enchanting of his distinguished career . composed entirely of waltzes , this warm and winning 1973 recording features a flawless cast including len cariou , hermione gingold , and the divine . . .
pack your beach blanket for a bittersweet tale of love and summer ' s magic .
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it still took slutsky 11 dogged years to make the film a reality . he says he made dozens of pitches to studios , but no one believed anyone would care about a bunch of studio musicians unless big stars were involved .
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then there was pianist earl
chunk of funk
van dyke , who banged the keys so hard that his instrument had to be constantly retuned .
allan slutsky and carla benson both helped me out with my project called the national children ' s folksong repository where we can document more unknown culture makers like the funks . you can help preserve and celebrate the oral tradition of america when you contribute folksongs and playground game songs to the online archive . find out how you can help .
they tell of robert white , so shy that he was afraid to tell a waiter that he was the one who played that evocative guitar on my girl .
fantastic documentary which goes beyond documentary itself : it is a musical celebration ( where many young artists like joan osborne and ben harper pay their tribute to those who made motown sound ) and a docudrama ( some scenes are re - enacted ) plus archive footage and brand new interviews to the funk brothers . and it is not just a matter of good cinema , but a matter of passion and dedication , both from those who made the film and from those who made that music , their craft , their music skills and their heart . and you will find out lots of information and interesting details as well , about that era that , after watching this fabulous and not enough known documentary , you will miss even more than ever
trippy indie madeline ' s madeline is the movie that lakeith stanfield and boots riley from sorry to bother you want to see the most .
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were celebrated with two grammys at the awards show feb . 23 , 2003 for
a tribute to the late tab hunter , a gay matinee idol and hollywood trailblazer .
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jule styne and stephen sondheim ' s score for gypsy has had five major recordings : the 1959 original broadway cast album starring ethel merman ; the 1962 original motion picture soundtrack starring rosalind russell , partially dubbed by lisa kirk ; the 1973 london cast . . .
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but slutsky was determined to get the funk brothers ' story told , and only coincidental meetings with businessmen paul elliott and david scott , amateur musicians who financed the movie , got it done .
ashford , who played tambourine , vibes and percussion , says the musicians always appreciated slutsky ' s efforts .
jule styne and stephen sondheim ' s score for gypsy has had five major recordings : the 1959 . . .
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ginger baker looks back on his musical career with cream and blind faith ; his introduction to fela kuti ; his self - destructive patterns and losses of fortune ; and his current life inside a fortified south african compound .
featuring the funk brothers : jack black jack ashford , bob babbitt , johnny griffith , joe hunter , uriel jones , joe messina , eddie
chank
willis , benny
papa zita
benjamin , james
igor
jamerson , eddie
bongo
brown , earl
chunk of funk
van dyke , robert white and richard
pistol
allen .
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love hip - hop collects romantic rap songs like blackstreet ' s no diggity , heavy d ' s now that we found love , 3rd bass ' pop goes the weasel , and tony ! toni ! tone ! ' s if i had no loot . though the compilation could use a few more . . .
a brilliant new album that revisits classic tracks with artists like ben harper and joan osborne it really is great music , i thought that covering heard it through the . . .
i started crying , man , because no one had ever cared about us like that . my mind immediately went to the funk brothers who didn ' t make it . it ' s bittersweet , but who can question god ? when you see footage of earl ( van dyke , pianist ) and robert ( white , guitarist ) , they wanted it too , just as bad as we do . but they ' d be happy because we always talk about them .
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beginning life as a 1944 novella by colette , gigi was adapted into a 1951 play by anita loos , then into a 1958 musical film by alan jay lerner with its music by lerner and frederick loewe . the 2015 broadway show . . .
,
a major initiative to celebrate this nation ' s rich musical heritage .
carla ' s brother keith benson , and cousin john ingram , plus misty love , cherokee pree , and delbert nelson .
] baby , there ain ' t no mountain high enough / ain ' t no valley low enough / ain ' t no river wide enough to keep me from getting to you .
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region : region 2 ( this dvd may not be viewable outside europe . read more about dvd formats . )
. . . forward to watching this dvd and whilst it was nice that these people have got some recognition it did . . .
a look back at robert zemeckis ' half - animated classic , who framed roger rabbit , on its 30 - year anniversary .
also appearing : joan osborne , gerald levert , me ' shell ndegeocello , bootsy collins , ben harper , chaka khan , montell jordan and tom scott .