The Drive-In Speaker Box is a weekly two hour radio program devoted to the bizarre and colorful underbelly of the wide world of cinema and TV.
Tune in Mondays from 8pm to 10pm on KXUA 88.3FM in Fayetteville Akransas
For such an enormous pop culture icon, Matt Frewer's character Max Headroom has started to drift off into oblivion, remembered only in reference as a Ronald Regan likeness video guy that fends off Ayatollah Khomeini as he is offering Marty McFly 'the hostage special' in Back to the Future 2. I think Max is ripe for a comeback. With the popular resurgence of high contrast colors and symmetrical outlines, I'm really surprised France hasn't adopted Max as their new pop-culture poster child. more to the point though... For those of you that didn't know, there was a very interesting, albeit short lived, television series based around the character which was one of the first full on cyberpunk television dramas on a major network. Unfortunately, audiences felt that Max Headroom was best suited for introducing music videos in Britain, which is where he got his start, and eventually ended. My good pal The Negative Cutter just so happens to have the very rare and very out of print made for TV movie that sets the story for the television series, and you can grab your copy over at www.allcluesnosolutions.com. Enjoy!
"Max Headroom: The Original Story" (1985) (Rocky Morgan + Annabel Jankel)
American Gladiators (1989) Music by Dan Milner & Bill Conti
Ever since NBC decided to resurrect the sleeping titan known as American Gladiators, I've been thinking about the old show a lot. This new show isn't half of what the original was, since all the new gladiators are pretty much muscle heavy sissies, and aren't real all around athletes like some of the old gang. Granted I'd more than likely die of a heart murmur and lung failure even if I just tried to play "Assault" (which has and always will be one of my favorite things ever) so those guys are in shape and all...but as with most things, it just ain't how it used to be. Which leaves me with the most radical of soundtracks by Dan Milner and Bill Conti. Bill Conti really is only credited for the theme (as pointed out to me by Mr. Milner, he only had 4 notes to his credit) but since Conti is such a musical gladiator in my mind, he should get a little credit. I've left you with the original theme as well as a medly I put together of some of my favorite Milner tracks from the soundtrack. Enjoy....or else it's to the gauntlet with you!
Okay, to be honest, this isn't technically a score, but I just happened to be listening to it again the other day and thought I'd give you guys a taste of something different than my norm. Massive Attack, for those of you that didn't know, rose to super fame with their trip-hop masterpiece Mezzanine in 1998, and has been on the iPods of depressed teens and college student's trying to get laid ever since. As upsetting to casual fans as this soundtrack was, it was still a pretty nice achievement as far as I'm concerned, and really shows the versatility of Massive Attack to break out of mold of what people were expecting of them. Like the film, and the band for that matter, the music is dark and solemn with bursts of anger here peppered throughout (usually when Jet Li is about to go ape-shit on some brits). It's a pleasant listen even for folks that aren't film score junkies like me, and is why I thought I'd spotlight it this week...let's attract some new readers shall we?
"Little Red Riding Hood And Tom Thumb Vs. The Monsters" (Caperucita Y Pulgarcito Contra Los Monstruos) (aka "Little Red Riding Hood Vs. The Monsters) (1962)
The Negative Cutter says: For the first time anywhere; AC.NS! is proud to present "Caperucita Y Pulgarcito Contra Los Monstruos" (Little Red Riding Hood And Tom Thumb Vs. The Monsters) (1962) in its original Uncut Mexican Theatrical Version with new exclusively commissioned English Subtitles.
Here it is: the one and only, legendary, wicked warp wild, diabolical, dark forest, phantasm ph-airyland, morbid, monsterfestating, kooky kiddie kreepshow obscurio from Mexico; haphazardly bizarrely blossomed from a fever-dream fusion of the favored genre genes of the gothic horror film and the wacky fairytale. Co-written/created by Adolfo Torres Portillo, who was also co-responsible for the notorious Mexican "Santa Claus" (1959); as well as other wonders. Two other "Little Red Riding Hood" films were made ("Little Red Riding Hood" (1960) and "Little Red Riding Hood And Her Friends" (or "And Her Three Friends") (1961)) by the same creators; but this one is the cake. Considered by some to be the Holy Grail/Fairy Grand Mother of weirdo kiddie wonders (if you believe such things exist). It was notoriously bottled and imported in the 60's to shopping mall-land america and uncorked on unsuspecting Matinee-Land golden age era, coat-checked children as their mothers went off to get their hair done and shop for peasant topped dresses. And while, people like to go on and on about the psychological warping of kid's unformed mental capacities that this film, and the like (if you believe such things exist), must have caused, but I suspect the kids who saw this were more at home tucked in the dark theater with this nightmarish, imaginative, "illogical" dream-world than the countless disney, and the like, films created by pandering, clueless adults that they were no doubt expected to endure before inevitably, like us all, being forced to grow up and enter the rigidly logical and equally boring adult society. Life long impressions, time traversing head ghosts, apparitions and mind makers don't come from "The Lion King". Reclaim the void. The Contents: Evil forces rule the world; Little Red Riding Hood (along with Tom Thumb, Stinky The Skunk and Ferocious Wolf) must do battle with the evil witch and her forrestland of freaky, fevered fiends. Inside each DVD: a starfield of monsters, robots, vampires, ogres, witches, dragons, skeletons, carrot-heads, etc.; all bewonder across this atmospheric, darkly colorful, ominous, surreal and beautifully strange classic Mexican marvel fantasy of adventures.
1962 / 81mins. / Spanish w/ English Subtitles / Color / Mexico
The Boom Operator says: This is a real gem. I saw this for the first time with NO subtitles and it was still pretty fun to watch. My pal the Negative Cutter managed to commission a translation for this one. Very cool. Also, here's the trailer!
Sure this score selection isn't on Saturday, but it's a special one. If you haven't heard, Leonard Rosenman died just the other day at age 83. I'm not going to write an obituarty or anything, you can check that stuff out here (courtesy of LA Times). However, I will say that this guy was a pimp, and speaking of pimps, I'm giving you a taste of his work with the metallic law enforcement pimp Robocop. Robocop 2, while no where near the film that the first one was, still had a robot-man-machine shooting up bad guys and saying "Drop it!" in a respect yielding monotone voice. That deserves at least a little merit. Anway, Rosenmans work is suspensful, exciting, and even whimsical at times which creates a good listen even if it wasn't as good of a watch. I leave you with two tracks from the film that I particularly enjoyed. R.I.P. Leonard, you will be missed...
From the lost vault of George Lucas produced pictures, Howard the Duck is one of those movies that you remember seeing but remember nothing about. Except me, I remember it clearly cause I'm weird like that. Starring Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins and the child porn charge battling Jeffery Jones, this movie is a bizarre ride on a live action adaptation of a cult comic book. Ray guns that bring aliens to the planet, life size ducks and mad scientists abound in this film that many people hold as "gladly forgotten" but I beg to differ. Sure, it's not a master piece, but have you been to the movies lately? At least this film is fun to watch...and unfortunately not in print. Thankfully, my pal the negative cutter can fix that. So pick up a copy over at...
Oh man, this is such a gem. The score to this classic 80's television show will make you want to drive your attack helicopter in to the most trendy 80's fashion store and buy red leather. Sylvester Levay created a synthed out masterpiece in this show and now's about the time you noticed! There are exciting moments, ballad moments, and everything in bewteen. If you like Tangerine Dream scores, you'll probably dig this one. I leave you with two great tracks...Enjoy!
These are from the recent re-recording by Mark Cairns
