"if...." meets "Old School"

if.... (1968, UK, dir. Lindsay Anderson) was one of those films which changed my life. I was about 16, and Toronto’s City TV, in addition to showcasing pioneering new wave music from the UK in shows like The New Music, also dedicated itself to screenings of quality films, uncut and uncensored in the late-evening. I had turned on the TV one night about halfway through the film, right before the scene in the Packhorse Café, and I was entranced, mesmerized, and finally horrified by the way the rest of the film played out. I then spent the next year reading the television listings looking for a movie whose description might match what I remembered seeing (these were the days before the internet, and I hadn’t yet discovered film compendiums), knowing only the second half of the plot and that it featured Malcolm McDowell (who I knew from A Clockwork Orange). Finally, about eight months later, I found a description that matched, and managed to capture it on VHS. That copy went into wide circulation at my high school, along with VHS copies of Rude Boy (1980, UK, dirs. Jack Hazan & David Mingay) featuring The Clash and D.O.A. (1980, USA, dir. Lech Kowalski) with the Sex Pistols and Generation X (not to mention vinyl albums by The Jam and The Undertones). This was subversive stuff to 16 year old Canadian boys in a Catholic school!

I've been waiting for if.... to be released on DVD for YEARS. And Criterion is finally giving it to us on June 19, 2007.If you haven't seen it, perhaps this mashup will intrigue you and you'll check out one of the most important films of the 1960s. If you’re a fan of if…., hopefully you’ll take this in the spirit in which it’s intended, and not as sacrilege. Now if Warner would only release O Lucky Man!….

Fugeddaboutit in the Road

Before The Sopranos became the best show on TV and made over ten million Americans wake up in the morning and get themselves some HBO, it was a labor of love long in development hell.

We all so equate Tony Soprano’s opening credits drive through the netherlands of New Jersey with Alabama 3’s song about getting himself a gun, that it’s hard to believe that the credits were originally set to different music. During David Chase’s pitch of the pilot to HBO, he tried to go to the rights clearance mat with the folks at Apple Corp. But at the time, The Beatles were still bigger than The Sopranos, and Chase lost out on his first choice. Here’s what might have been…

Son of Sam Peckinpah

Over the last ten years, much has been written about "The Dark Side of the Rainbow" – the experience of watching the classic 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" with the volume turned down and simultaneously listening to the classic 1973 Pink Floyd album "The Dark Side of the Moon." The synch has been made easier with DVDs and CDs. Simply begin the album at the precise moment that Leo the lion roars for the third time during the opening MGM logo animation. The resulting sychronicitous audio/visual trip is quite intriguing, often astounding, and exceedingly surreal.

To watch a few of the finer moments, check out this page at Rolling Stone Magazine.

I’ve done a bit of research into other such moments of musical/filmic synchronicity that are less well known.

Here is my current favorite…

Elliott Smith’s demo version of “Son of Sam” (2000) and Sam Peckinpah’s "The Wild Bunch" (1969).



While living in Brooklyn in the late 90’s, tragic sadcore genius Elliott Smith spent a lot of time shooting up heroin and watching classic, art, and foreign films at the BAM Rose cinemas. Top of his list – the restored director’s cut of Sam Peckinpah’s classic "The Wild Bunch." When he wrote the original acoustic version of “Son of Sam,” he set it to the penultimate scene of the film – the gathering of the bunch before one of the bloodiest battles ever filmed. The track is available online if you don’t happen to own the “Happiness” single – and no, it doesn’t work with the album version on the "Figure 8" album. Start the song immediately as William Holden leaves the bordello. Watch as Ernest Borgnine plants his knife into the ground perfectly on the downbeat. Elliott sings: “Something’s happening” as the bunch get their guns from the horses; “I told the boss off and made my move” as William Holden walks back with his rifle; “Got no-where to go” as the bunch gathers to make their death-march. Listen for the chord change immediately as the bunch begins walking with confidence to the line “Not uncomfortable.” And of course – the line “But I know what to do” plays as the camera angle changes on the bunch as they continue the walk towards certain death as they go to avenge the honor of their fallen compadre Angel. The long shot begins to zoom in on them with the line “acting on orders from above.” A ton more of great moments. Excellent pairing. Well done, Elliott. Sleep soundly.