Though Once Parodied On SCTV, 1970’s “Goin’ Down The Road” Is One of Canada’s Most Iconic Films

Goin Down The Road’s Peter and Joey Sharing A Pint

As a teenager, I was a huge fan of SCTV, the Canadian-based sketch comedy show that gave us such talents as John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Martin Short. For my money, SCTV blew most of Saturday Night Live away with their original characters, but there was one thing that they truly excelled in, and that was movie parodies. Their demented version of Polanski’s “Chinatown” called “Polynesian Town,” their overly abusive version of “The Godfather,” with their pimpish “network president,” Guy Cabellero, subbing in for “Don Corleone,” and one that I didn’t quite get at the time, “Garth & Gord & Fiona & Alice,” the story of a Moncton doctor and lawyer (who spoke like a more rural Bob and Doug McKenzie) heading to Yonge Street in Toronto to get “all kinds of jobs and girls.” It was an incredibly funny episode of SCTV, but as a young Philadelphian with hardly any exposure to Canadian cinema outside of David Cronenberg, I had no idea that the film that they were having a bit of fun with was one of the most iconic films in Canadian history: Donald Shebib’s documentary-styled 1970 film “Goin’ Down The Road.”

The film tells the story of Joey (Paul Bradley) and Peter (Doug McGrath), who leave their low-paying cannery jobs in Nova Scotia for the chance at a better life in Toronto. Wide-eyed and optimistic through the promises of their friend that they will get higher paying jobs and the promise of a place to stay with family, the boys head west with their car that dons the message “Our Nova Scotia Home” spray-painted on the side. The harsh reality of that move west hits home quickly when their relatives recoil and hide upon seeing how uncouth the boys are, and the promise of a job goes up in flames when they find out that their friend Anton from back home has lost his job some time ago and cannot help them find work. Though somewhat discouraged, Joey still hopes for an office job while Peter will gladly settle for anything that will get them out of their temporary Salvation Army hostel.

The next day, Peter gets a job at a bottling plant, while Joey’s dream of an office job in advertising goes down the tubes when the human resources department breaks the news that he has absolutely no qualifications. Peter then helps Joey get a job at his plant and armed with some spending money, the pair hit Yonge Street looking for girls just like Candy and Joe Flaherty in the now infamous SCTV parody. A key scene for both characters happens here as Peter prowls the street looking for anything in a skirt, while Joey tries to flirt and is rejected by a beautiful young woman who is listening to Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédie No. 1.” Again, they both want a better life, but Joey realizes for a second time that the life of an urban sophisticate may be too far out of his reach.

These scenes in the streets of Toronto are played out in the same way that John Schlesinger freely rolls out Ratso Rizzo and Joe Buck in New York City, in an honest and almost documentary-like style that had come into fashion during the recent British films of the late 1960s. This style is the defining greatness of “Goin Down The Road,” with its natural flow that feels true to the film’s two protagonists. They are lost, good-natured men in a big city and the low budget raw visuals work in line with their plight. This film is the first for actors McGrath and Bradley, and they do a fine job immersing themselves in their roles, and it shows because nothing in their performances seems remotely contrived. Also, in a perfect pairing that was becoming somewhat commonplace in that era, like Earth, Wind, and Fire’s music for Melvin Van Peebles “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” the soundtrack features two original folk songs from the then unknown talents of legendary singer Bruce Cockburn, who would go on to become one of Canada’s most celebrated musicians. Cockburn’s songs for “Goin’ Down The Road” lyrically address the plight of the film’s leads.

The Opening Scene From “Goin’ Down The Road”

“Goin’ Down The Road” reflects the real life issue that occurred in Canada when thousands of young people emigrated from the Maritimes to Ontario looking for work throughout the 1950s and 1960s. A trend that became so prevalent at the time that the Ontario government began building many housing projects in the early 1960s just to handle the rapid influx of internal immigrants from the east. This wave of immigration changed in the late 1960s when a new group of immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean began to settle in Toronto in mass, thus leaving folks like our Joey and Peter without any affordable housing in their own country. Though the film never relates any direct conflict between the main characters and the new wave of immigrants, it does offer some insight as to why two Canadian citizens would feel estranged not too far from their own hometown. Toronto was quickly becoming an international, cosmopolitan place that was so far removed from Joey and Peter’s upbringing that they would soon be crushed by it quickly. In the end, despite the bad jobs, bad relationships, and bad luck, Peter and Joey stay true to each other like good Canadian boys, consistently bailing each other out of various jams, and director Donald Shebib does not spare any of the awkwardness and the fear of strangers in a strange land, even if it is their own country.

Bovine Ska and Rocksteady 2/18/15: The Twinkle Brothers

This Week’s Spotlight Artist: The Twinkle Brothers

Last week (2/11/15), the Bovine Ska and Rocksteady did its 19th Annual Anti-Valentine’s Day radio show but please never let it be known that Lily and I are against the concept of love. We are just against the idea that we need a holiday to show that we have love for one another. Sadly, we found out that on February 15th, Professor Irving Singer, a colleague of Generoso’s while he was at the CMS Program at MIT had passed away. Irving was a great teacher, philosopher and writer, and a World War Two combat veteran. He wrote the celebrated three volume collection, “The Nature Of Love,” as he spent much of his later life thinking about why we love one another. We dedicate this show to Irving and we started the show off with two positive sets about love, with tracks like Winston Samuel’s 1964 release for the SEP label, You Are The One (I Love). And after a mento set and a set of gorgeous rocksteady cuts, we launched into our never before done on the show spotlight of The Twinkle Brothers.

Formed by Norman and Ralston Grant in Falmouth, Jamaica, the Twinkle Brothers began their musical careers, as many of their peers, performing in local festivals and contests. The original line up consisted of: Norman Grant (drums and vocals), Ralston Grant (vocals and guitar), Derrick Brown (bass), Karl Hyatt (percussions), Eric Bernard (Piano) and Bongo Asher (percussion). Shortly after their foundation in 1962, the Twinkle Brothers won the Trelawney Mento Festival, beginning their streak of festival success for the next 6 years, which culminated in gold medals for Norman as a solo artist and the Twinkle Brothers as a group in the all island contest in 1968. In the midst of these festival performances, The Twinkle Brothers caught the attention of Leslie Kong and recorded their first single, “Somebody Please Help Me” in 1966, which is the first track to kick off this spotlight on The Twinkle Brothers. The name The Twinkle Brothers from an interview with Norman Grant in 2006: “We were rehearsing one day when a Rasta elder by the name of So-Me-Say heard us play and told us he was going to give us a name. He came up with the name Twinkle Brothers. I guess that because it was already nightfall, he got inspired by the stars in the sky. We’ve held that name ever since.”

1970 was a busy year for the Twinkle Brothers. By 1970, the Twinkle Brothers began recording for Bunny Lee, whom they would record about 14 tracks with, and who Norman Grant recalled as his favorite producer. Bunny also introduced the group to Lee Scratch Perry, and they recorded only one single “Reggae For Days” with him, which is a rare and difficult track to find In 1973, the Twinkle Brothers moved to Phil Pratt and recorded for his Sunshot label. By the mid-70s Norman had begun to dedicate his work in other directions. He opened a record store in Falmouth, and in 1975, he joined the Sonny Bradshaw band. Eventually, Norman moved to the UK.

Listen to the full program: HERE.

Enjoy! The archive will be available until 3/2/2015

Generoso’s Fiendishly Delicious Chicken Scarpariello! (Shoemaker’s Chicken)

Today, we will teach you how to make Chicken Scarpariello (Shoemaker’s Chicken) Truthfully, I have absolutely no idea why it’s called this or the origins of this incredibly bad for you dish. What I will say is that the final product, a creamy mix that has sausage, chicken and artichoke hearts was so delicious but heavy, that it knocked Lily and I out for about an hour. If done correctly, the whole dish should take you about an hour but we really feel that it is worth it.

You will need the following: 2 pounds of chicken breast, 1 pound of Italian sausage (we used our local butcher’s Calabrese sausage for this as it’s a bit more firm but harder to find), three medium sized potatoes, one cup of chicken stock, a tablespoon of butter, two cups of white flour, six ounces of artichoke hearts, a lemon, rosemary, salt, pepper, onion powder, and olive oil.

You can put this on top of a light pasta if you are insane but trust me, you really want to avoid making this dish any heavier than it is. Let us know how yours came out. Love, Generoso and Lily!

Music:Niccolò Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 6

Bovine Ska and Rocksteady 2/11/15: The 19th Annual Anti-Valentine’s Day Show

A great sad cut by the late Freddie McKay

OK, I assume that after reading the title of this post, you completely understand where we are coming from with this special edition of The Bovine Ska and Rocksteady. People for varying reasons hate this holiday so we should give you ours: it is the greatest relationship destroying holiday of all time! Unlike other relationship crushing holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s Day sets itself apart in the area of emotional (and sometimes materialistic) expectations. What to give and plan if the relationship is just a few weeks old could result in an a cataclysmic outcome. So, what does this have to do with Jamaican music? Well, like any songwriters and performers of ska, rocksteady and reggae are not exempt from the tortures of love gone awry and this show was packed with their miseries.

Our show began with an hour long tribute to the concept of loneliness featuring such tracks as: “I’ve Been Lonely” by Peter Tosh and Hortense Ellis (Studio One-1966) and “Sometimes I’m Lonely” by The Pioneers (Trojan-1972). Followed by a second hour which featured tributes to “Tears” and “Sadness” featuring cuts like Errol English’s “Sad Girl” (Torpedo-1972) and “Tears From My Eyes” by the great Jackie Opel (Top Deck-1965). Each break punctuated by our Anti-Valentine’s Day theme of “He/She Left Me for What?” Real life excuses, read by Lily, written by couple who broke up over the most trivial of reasons.

Listen to the full program: HERE.

Enjoy! The archive will be available until 2/24/2015

Barbara Loden’s Debut Film, ”Wanda” From 1970, Is A Cinema Verite “Badlands”

Barbara Loden and Michael Higgins in “Wanda”

There is a moment in Barbara Loden’s only directorial effort, “Wanda,” when our titular protagonist removes the onions off of the burger she was ordered to get her newest man, Mr. Dennis, that sums up this film well. You see, Wanda (also played by director Loden) has met our Mr. Dennis (Michael Higgins) just the night before while he was robbing a bar, and they are now on the lam, shacked up together in a dingy motel room when he lashes out at her for forgetting the one item he desperately wants off of his food order, the onions. It is a sad moment, but Wanda quickly performs this task soon after going out to get the food in the middle of the night and makes up for her mistake in the exact same way, with a tired resolve and dead eyes.

Wanda has recently left her husband and children in a mining town somewhere in rural Pennsylvania; she didn’t want that life anymore nor a life with the first man she jumps in bed with after her husband or the man after him. In fact, it’s made pretty clear that her lot in life traps Wanda. She is a poor, pretty, and not very bright young woman who like Sissy Spacek’s Holly in “Badlands,” is just willing to tag along for lack of anything else to do, but unlike Badland’s Holly, Wanda is emotionally numb and frankly just stupid enough to believe that she can handle what is about to go down.

There is much to be admired of “Wanda,” the first theatrically released featured film to be simultaneously written, directed, and starred by a woman here in the United States. “Wanda” has a raw, improvisational style of acting that heightens the realism of the performances and a well-matched low budget stretched 16mm cinematography by Nicholas Proferes. There are no long gorgeous shots during “magic hour” here, where the cold shabbiness of the visuals add to the hollow desperation of the film’s leads. After “Wanda,” Proferes, would go on to lens her husband, Elia Kazan’s 1972 film, “The Visitors.” Kazan, the brilliant director of “On The Waterfront,” claims to have little to do with “Wanda” during its production but would go on to say that Loden and Proferes would combine to make an excellent team by bouncing ideas off one another.

What I found to be the key in the success of “Wanda” is that Loden never betrays her two lead characters. The film is never sentimental or heroic, for Wanda and Mr. Dennis would not be heroic by any means in real life. As you go deeper into their relationship you see the shell of two very broken people, who have been told by those around them that they would never amount to much, and, despite any effort, they never will. You somehow know that the big job that they are going to pull is not going to work. A grand end just cannot happen, as that would be out of line with their life paths. It is a nihilistic yet entrancing film that steps into darker territory with each scene, culminating with one of the most soul crushing endings this side of Jeanne Dielman. But, in the end, we do not have a modern feminist hero nor an anti-hero for that matter; we only have another walking causality who will fade into nothingness.

Director Loden Speaking with Mike Douglas About “Wanda”

Shortly after winning the International Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival for “Wanda,” director Barbara Loden, who was born in Marion, North Carolina, told film critic Michel Ciment about her hometown: “If I had stayed there, I would have gotten a job at Woolworth’s, I would’ve gotten married at 17 and had some children, and would have got drunk every Friday and Saturday night. Fortunately, I escaped.”

It has been said of Barbara Loden that she was a shy and soft-spoken loner, like her character in “Wanda.” Sadly, Loden and her real life husband Elia Kazan would become estranged after she received many accolades for her directorial debut and only film, and they would remain estranged her until her death in 1980 at the age of 48 from breast cancer.

Rip Torn Plays a Mean Guitar in “Payday”, 1972’s Overlooked Country Music Tragedy

“Payday’s” “hero,” Maury Dann,with his entourage

I’ll start off this review by saying that I have always been a huge fan of actor, Rip Torn. He is that hulking man with the confident grizzled look, who is armed with a voice that can only be described as “pleasantly gravelly.” Going back some twenty years ago after seeing Rip’s fine comedic performance as Albert Brooks’ jolly attorney in “Defending Your Life,” my friend Steve asked me, “Have you ever seen Rip Torn in that dark film where he plays a country singer, called “Payday?” I had never heard of it at the time, but it was his second comment that really sold me on the quest to find it, “The film is as if you followed a character from Altman’s “Nashville” into hell.” I had seen Rip Torn play mean in that world as Dino, the evil country music promoter in Alan Rudolph’s 1984 film, “Songwriter,” but nothing could prepare me for the vile character of Maury Dann, who Rip plays in Daryl Duke’s “Payday.”

To say that “Payday” is about country music is to akin to saying that “The Man With The Golden Arm” is about drumming. Rip Torn’s Maury Dann is a minor country music star, famous enough to afford a Cadillac and a driver/cook/bodyguard named Chicago (Cliff Emmich), his hot girlfriend Mayleen (Ahna Capri), and an enormous bag of uppers, but he is still playing small dive bars where he has to hustle to keep caravan moving. Maury’s crew is somewhere in Alabama heading from state to state to record and play more gigs, but along the way, Maury’s going to inflict some major damage to almost everyone around him.

The film opens with Maury performing at a roadhouse; it’s a fine song, but if you are looking for a music-filled “Inside Llewyn Davis” styled narrative, then you have the wrong film. Again, “Payday” isn’t about country music as much as the world of the country music performer rotting from the inside out. Soon after the gig, our Maury takes a young fan into the back of the Cadillac for a quickie, while his guitarist Bob (Jeff Morris) meets another fan named Rosamond (Elayne Heilveil) who he takes back to his motel room and rapes her after she is put off by Bob’s advances. The next day, Maury heads back home, as any good country singer should do to see his mama, but she is conveniently “bedridden,” strung out on uppers, and soon harasses her son for more bennies to fuel her day’s chores. He hands her a bag, picks up the hound dog, and is soon off to duck hunt with some good old boys, but this picture of southern normalcy also gets broken the moment he returns when Maury beats up Bob for asking to buy his mom’s dog because mom is too messed up to take care of it. After the fight, Bob is left behind by Maury, who leaves his dog as well, and picks up Rosamond, who he adds to his entourage despite the protests of Mayleen, who quickly understands, as we are, that Maury is thinking that he’s too big for his cowboy boots.

In a trailing car, is Maury’s band, and slick city manager McGinty (Michael C. Gwynne) who advises Maury on just about everything along the way, including a stop at a radio station to do some airtime promotion with a small time disc jockey who Maury bribes with some game birds and a bottle of Wild Turkey. Despite the “gifts,” once Maury turns down the disc jockey’s request to play a charity gig later that week, Maury clearly gets the word that his new record “Payday” might not get the additional spins he wants. Yes, payola is still alive and well in the Deep South just like the north, and we again see the breakdown of the homespun country music star take another rough tumble.

There will be more rough times ahead and Maury is coming apart with every attempt at playing the game the old country music way, but with every effort going up in flames, including what should be a touching birthday visit with his son, which ends in disaster when Maury’s ex-wife reminds him that his son’s actual birthday was eight months ago. We know now that this was the beginning of days of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, and the whole outlaw country music scene, so the question becomes: Is Maury a good old boy himself pretending to be an outlaw or the other way around?

Original trailer for “Payday”

Released a few years before Altman’s “Nashville,” “Daryl Duke’s “Payday” never lets you off the hook in its viciousness, its bold non-use of music, and its total lack of joy which keeps you riveted to your seat. Sadly, Duke only directed one other film of note, the 1978 heist film, “The Silent Partner,” before spending his remaining career directing television mini-series like the highly successful, “Thorn Birds.” Rip Torn’s performance as Maury Dann is just extraordinary, a standout for 1970s, the last era of the actor and the reason why you should watch this film. Torn is the complete embodiment of his character and fills the screen with sadness and rage as he missteps over and over again while trying to balance the country music outlaw against a soft-hearted small town man who just wants to make it big.

Generoso’s Dangerously Fatty and Delicious, Neapolitan Sausage Soup!

I wait for the coldest and snowiest days of the year to make this soup, a blend of small and large flavors with a whole lot of fat to keep you going through the wintry mess. Though no cream is added, you will find this to be a savory and creamy soup that I hope you will enjoy despite the rather unhealthy ingredients 🙂

You will need: One pound of sweet Italian sausage, four strips of bacon, one sweet onion, one leek, two large potatoes, ten ounces of kale, one box of vegetable stock, salt, pepper, olive oil, four cloves of garlic and shredded Parmesan. Enjoy and let me know how yours turned out!

Music: Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 by Hector Berlioz

Bovine Ska and Rocksteady 2/4/15: Bobby Aitken

Our spotlight artist Bobby Aitken

Coming to you from a frozen, snow-covered Cambridge, it’s the Bovine Ska and Rocksteady! Wow, these last few weeks have been rough with bad weather. We are also back this week, after missing last week’s show due to Generoso’s hospital stay. He’s improving but that combined with the snow has made doing the show difficult but we were glad to be back. Starting the show off this week were two sets of delicious early reggae, beginning with a massive tune from Sound Dimension, “Great Mu Gu Ra Ga” which was released on Bamboo in the UK in 1970. Our spotlight would be on the early vocal tracks of Bobby Aitken.

Brother of the godfather of ska, Laurel Aitken, Bobby Aitken, was born in Havana in 1933 and was orphaned in Jamaica at the age of eight. As a boy, he became a mason when his uncle pulled him away from a street gang and introduced him to the masonry trade in order to survive on his own. However, music became a more reasonable means for Bobby, especially seeing that he had a natural gift for it. A precocious 11 year old Bobby built his first banjo from sardine cans and learned how to play guitar on his own. And, by his mid-20s, Bobby had built up his guitar skills and formed the Carib Beats with Charlie Organaire and a man named Morgan in late 1959/early 1960. Together, the group performed primarily calpyso with a few skas, but the trio broke up after the rest of the group did not show up for a performance at the Blue Ribbon Club in Kingston. As a result, Bobby returned to masonry for a stint, only to make a comeback to music within a year as a solo artist with his single, Cracker’s Rush, which commented on a food shortage in Jamaica and was released in 1961 on the Blues label by Count P, an operator of a soundsystem on Spanishtown Road. We’ll began with this first solo recording of Bobby Aitken to kickoff tonight’s spotlight.

Eventually, after recording for a range of producers including Prince Buster, Coxone Dodd, Linden Pottinger, and King Edwards, Bobby Aitken formed The Carib Beats again with Charlie Organaire and Mike Williams. Other musicians including Bobby Kalphat, Vincent White, Conroy Cooper, Ansel Collins, Carlton Santa Davis, and Val Bennet would also rotate in and out of the group. The Carib Beats recorded for Joe Gibbs, Clancey Eccles, Bunny Lee, and most famously, JJ Johnson. The second incarnation of The Carib Beats would eventually break up as Bobby decided to focus more on his faith and became who he is known as today: the Reverend Robert Simmonds.

Listen to the full program with our Bobby Aitken spotlight: HERE.

Enjoy! The archive will be available until 2/17/2015

Richard Dreyfuss Makes Blue Movies The Old Hollywood Way in 1975’s “Inserts”

Richard Dreyfuss as “Boy Wonder” in “Inserts”

There is something magical about In Your Ear, a Boston record store/institution that lies in the basement of a Brazilian martial arts center on Commonwealth Ave. An eclectic shop where after a particularly bad week you will most likely find my wife Lily and I gleefully rummaging through the endless supply of old records, 8-track players, Mexican lobby cards, and vintage movie posters, many of which are for films that have been long forgotten. Unless of course you are Reed Lappin, a lovely man whom I’ve known for most of my thirty years in this city. Reed is the owner of In Your Ear and has always had a great admiration for movies, especially those small lost American movies, which to our good luck, he is always in the mood to talk about late on a Friday night. This past week’s excavation project at In Your Ear produced a poster of a British film from 1975 that starred Richard Dreyfuss and Jessica Harper that we had never heard of entitled “Inserts.” This nostalgic poster was reminiscent of Peter Bogdanovich’s “Nickelodeon,” but this one advertised a film that instead possessed an “X” rating and a tagline reading “A Degenerate Film, With Dignity.” As a result, it piqued our interests, and after a quick description of the plot by Reed, we decided to track it down.

The film is set in a disheveled Hollywood bungalow, sometime in the early 1930s, where we find a scruffy Boy Wonder (Richard Dreyfuss) sauntering around his home in the middle of the day, wine bottle in hand but still in his house robe as he talks up a one-hundred–words-a-second actress named Harlene (Veronica Cartwright) about shooting a scene. We soon find out that something has happened to Boy Wonder, and he has not left this home in some time, and, due to his fallout with the Hollywood system, he has been reduced to shooting pornographic loops in his living room. Harlene is one of his regular actresses, a pretty girl with a fairly irritating voice that is so shrill that we immediately understand why her transition to “talkies” has not been an easy one. Boy Wonder also had a problem making the jump from silent films, but we are not sure as to why this has happened, since directors made the move much easier than some actors who just did not have a “voice.” Early on, Harlene regales Boy Wonder with a conversation between Josef von Sternberg and Clark Gable that she overheard while waitressing where Sternberg had said that Boy Wonder was so down and out that he was panhandling, but that “this kid Gable” had defended him stating that “Boy Wonder was the only real genius in Hollywood and that he wanted to make a film with him,” a fact that Boy Wonder just shrugs off as he gets Harlene ready to shoot some “inserts,” which are short cuts to edit into to final film. Harlene does some smack and then tries to turn Boy Wonder on, even though it is widely known that his “rope won’t rise even a magic flute.”

Soon the male “talent” enters, an actor/mortician comically called “Rex The Wonder Dog” (Stephen Davies), a handsome, stoic young man who is a bit on the slow side and so very anxious to get a role in a “real movie” that he must hustle through his scene today to meet with some Hollywood producer in his hotel room for a shot. Boy Wonder then uses every director’s trick in his bag to get a violent rape scene out of Rex and Harlene, which is indeed as intense as needed, but, alas, Boy Wonder’s camera runs out of film before the climax, so he will eventually need to shoot another “insert” to finish his porno. It is during this scene that we understand that deep inside the dishevelment, Boy Wonder is a real director who is drowning in his own fear.

In walks in our heavy, Big Mac (a pre-“Pennies From Heaven” Bob Hoskins), the new Hollywood, tough and mean with enough money to bankroll Boy Wonder’s skin flick. Big Mac is thinking burger chains and freeways and reminds everyone in the room of Boy Wonder’s collapse from fame. He’s also shown up as usual, unexpectedly, but this time with another wannabe starlet, Cathy Cake (Jessica Harper). She wants to get into the “real movies” as well and makes it clear that although she may appear to just be “silly girl,” she is also more than willing to do what it takes to make it as a star. All that Harlene is looking for right now is her fix of heroin from Big Mac, who supplies her quickly so she is off to go upstairs to fix up despite the pleas of Boy Wonder who tells her she’s had enough. But she doesn’t heed Boy Wonder’s suggestion as we can clearly see that Harlene has had enough in more ways than one and soon she is found dead upstairs. It’s now up to Big Mac to make Harlene disappear, so he leans on Rex’s desire to become a star as Rex has the funeral connection that they need to get rid of the body. That leaves us with Boy Wonder and Cathy who give us almost sixty minutes of intense back and forth dialog as Cathy not only wants to get in the pictures but also get in the head of Boy Wonder. It is this scene with these two fine actors, which makes up the emotional core of the film. Here, Jessica Harper does provide us with the finest performance of the film as she brilliantly skirts the line between vulnerable ingénue and sexual coach.

Director John Byrum Talks About Casting Richard Dreyfuss

First time director John Byrum, who also wrote “Inserts,” creates this world in just one room and amazingly enough, in one take. It should not be surprising then that I should say that “Inserts,” though about the film industry, is really arranged like a stage play with actors having marked dramatic entrances. Though shot on one set, “Inserts” could’ve benefitted from a more daring cinematographer who could have exploited the small moments between Dreyfuss and Harper, which would have better accented the emotional intensity of their performances. One also wonders the necessity of the “X” rating the film received from the MPAA in 1975. Though the dialog may be tawdry, there is little sexually that would warrant an “X,” which even during this decade of sexual freedom might have been the reason for its unfortunate box office failure. One still has to admire this film’s ability to capture 1930’s Hollywood so well, a time and place where one small mistake could make or break a career and where talents could rise up through some very dark passages.

Thanks Reed for picking this one out of the bin for us.

De Sica’s “Bicycle Thieves” Turned Robin Hood in Jamaica, 1978’s Reggae Film,“Rockers”

Director Ted Bafaloukos and Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace from 1978

Living in Boston these last thirty years, I have come to have great pride in the role this town had in bringing international fame to Perry Henzell’s breakthrough cult reggae film, “The Harder They Come.” The film had not been well received on its initial release in 1972 but was eventually launched into cult film status when the Orson Welles Theater here in Cambridge began running it continuously as a midnight film in 1973 and would continue to do so over the next ten years. Despite the sometimes frigid weather, this town has been a hotbed for reggae music ever since and in 1996 I even began deejaying a ska and rocksteady radio show which I still produce to this day on WMBR in Cambridge and I even directed a few docs on the subject of reggae myself. Also for many years I curated the European Short Film Festival here so with “Rockers,” I have found a movie that falls right I between those two great loves of mine, Jamaican music and European cinema. Though “Rockers” is centrally about the Rastafarian lifestyle, I also believe that it falls into the sub-genre of the many films inspired by Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 neo-realist masterpiece, “Bicycle Thieves.” Well at least it begins that way for sure.

De Sica’s “Bicycle Thieves” begins with our protagonist, Antonio, who is struggling to feed his family in an economically depressed post-war Italy. To get work as a poster hanger, Antonio Ricci needs a bicycle so his wife sells their wedding linens, the only prize possession of the family, to afford to buy a bike for Antonio. Shortly after Antonio buys his bike; it is stolen, putting the lives of his family to risk so he must take swift action to find it before he loses his new job. Move the time and location to a post-colonial economically-depressed late 1970s Jamaica and you have the beginning of Greek-born director, Theodoros Bafaloukos’ “Rockers.” Antonio Ricci is replaced by Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace, who in real life is a very well respect drummer who many credit as creating the “rockers” style, and a man who is trying to feed his family on the meager money he makes as a session drummer and for playing watered-down reggae for tourists at a posh hotel outside of Kingston. He proposes to his wife the idea of being a record salesman to make more money and so he needs a motorcycle which she must begrudgingly fund. Horsemouth collects some debts, makes some loans and buys his motorcycle and immediately has it painted with the “Lion of Judah,” which refers to Revelations 5:5 to which Rastafarians interpret as the arrival Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. Horsemouth keeps his word and hustles some discs that he gets on account from legendary producer Joe Gibbs, and proceeds to sell them to the various record shops and sound system operators like Jack Ruby. This does not last long as just like our hero in Bicycle Thieves, Horsemouth’ s motorcycle is soon stolen and he must take action to recover it quickly or his future is in serious jeopardy.

What becomes interesting is the way that Horsemouth, our hero in “Rockers,” distinguishes himself not only from De Sica’s film, but also from its reggae predecessor, “The Harder They Come. “ Jimmy Cliff’s Ivanhoe is at least on appearance, a born-again Christian, but is also the quintessential angry young man that uses violence at the first opportunity when trouble arises. Whereas our Horsemouth, shortly after he avoids a violent encounter, goes through the trouble of breaking the fourth wall, speaking directly to the camera as he explains that he is an avowedly a non-violent Rastafarian. Horsemouth saunters through the early parts of “Rockers” not with a pistol in his hand like “The Harder They Come’s” Ivanhoe but with a smile and a passive attitude, that is until he realizes that his autocratic cheapskate boss at the hotel is also responsible for stealing his beloved motorcycle leaving Horsemouth, as he would say, “vexed.” After a botched attempt to retrieve his motorbike where Horsemouth takes a beating from his boss’ goons, he (Horsemouth) must now assemble his friends, who happen to be some of the greatest names in 1970s reggae music, from Big Youth to Dillinger to Richard “Dirty Harry” Hall, to not only steal back his beloved motorbike but to also “acquire” a wealth of riches to spread through Trenchtown in a Robin Hood-styled way. Different than the outcome of De Sica’s film but they both share an ending where the common man understands the reality of the economic slide.

All of the above occurs with a laid-back and even almost comedic level; different from the previous incarnations of the plot as this is a Jamaica that has begun to look at Rastafarianism, not as previous generations have in the past as a dangerous cult, but as a religion with accepted social practices. No scene bears this out more than when Horsemouth runs into his grandmother who berates him for his non-Christian lifestyle during a baptism in a river. Horsemouth is respectful of his grandma but still walks away with a smile as he extolls his Rastafarian beliefs as he is down but not out because he knows that Jah will see him through. It is a small scene but one that puts the protagonist’s actions in this film in the right framework.

The mostly non-professional actors do their best with their roles, especially the late “Dirty Harry” who shines in a now notorious scene where he and Horsemouth take over a DJ booth at a club because they just aren’t down with soul (the West). Of course the real star of the film is the soundtrack which has too many scenes of note to list here but three that always stand out for me: the aforementioned deejay scene with Dirty Harry, a concert scene featuring a beautiful performance from Gregory “The Cool Ruler” Issacs, and a small poignant scene where Burning Spear sings a cappella to Horsemouth to affirm his resolve after his motorcycle is stolen.

“Rockers” Trailer 1978

Though produced on a small budget, “Rockers” is visually more accomplished than “The Harder They Come” as many of these scenes are smartly framed by cinematographer Peter Sova and director Bafaloukos, who sadly would never direct another feature film but would go on to be the production designer for many of Errol Morris’ finest documentaries including: “TheThin Blue Line,” “A Brief History of Time,” and “The Fog of War.” It is uncanny to me that a Greek citizen, whose introduction to Jamaica was getting arrested there in 1975 on suspicion of being a CIA spy while on assignment as a press photographer, would have the kind of understanding of Jamaican culture that would be needed to make a film like “Rockers.” Though given the desperate political and economic realities of Greece these last fifty years, he might have understood a character and situation like Horsemouth’s more than any of us could.

LILY & GENEROSO 4EVER!

Author: Generoso Fierro