Classic Ross Amico

1982 Summer of Movies A Nostalgic Look

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Ross Amico

May 26, 2022

in Daily Dispatch

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Was 1982 the Summer of Fun?

Projecting myself back 40 years, on the cusp of Memorial Day weekend, I was already caught in the gravitational pull of summer. Sure, school was still on its molasses creep toward final exams and their denouement, the padding of allotted days in hot classrooms until the final bell.

But I had already seen “Conan the Barbarian” (with a hilarious weeknight audience in a mostly empty theater), I was reading Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” in anticipation of the release of “Blade Runner,” and on top-40 radio “Chariots of Fire” was sharing air time with “Ebony and Ivory.”

There was war in the Falkland Islands, and “Jane Fonda’s Workout” was everywhere, but on the whole, for a high school student in the U.S., summer was about to crest and life was good.

Here are just some of the popcorn movies that were issued in the summer of ’82, with their release dates, and in parentheses, their composers.

“The Sword and the Sorcerer” (David Whitaker), April 23
“Conan the Barbarian” (Basil Poledouris), May 14
“Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” (Miklos Rozsa), May 21
“The Road Warrior” (Brian May), May 21
“Rocky III” (Bill Conti), May 28
“Poltergeist” (Jerry Goldsmith), June 4
“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (James Horner), June 4
“E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” (John Williams), June 11
“Blade Runner” (Vangelis), June 25
“The Thing” (Ennio Morricone), June 25
“The Secret of Nimh” (Jerry Goldsmith), July 2
“Tron” (Wendy Carlos), July 9
“The Beastmaster” (Lee Holdridge), August 20

I would come to own most of the soundtracks for these movies. In fact, the only three missing from my collection are “The Secret of Nimh,” “Tron,” and “Rocky III” (not that I want it).

And these were just the foil on a roll of SweeTarts, the tip of a bottomless box of Nonpareils. There were interesting and diverting movies released all summer long, many of them quite good – among them “Fitzcarraldo,” “Annie,” “Gregory’s Girl,” “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy,” “The World According to Garp,” “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Night Shift,” “Pink Floyd: The Wall,” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

On July 4, I was 16 years-old, I could legally drive to a movie theater, and the world was my oyster.

Were all of the movies good? Not all of them were on a level with “E.T.” or “The Road Warrior” or “Fitzcarraldo,” but most of them have endured fondly in memory, as pop cultural touchstones for a certain generation, or at the very least as guilty pleasures. (There’s a reason I’ve included “The Sword and the Sorcerer,” even though it opened in April.)

Going by film scores alone, I often cite 1982 as Hollywood’s Second Golden Year – the First, of course, widely accepted as 1939. Few of the movies were of the caliber of those released at the time of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind,” among many, many others, but the music for even the weakest of ‘82 was generally of a very high quality.

By 1982, the “summer movie” was a well-oiled machine. There may have been no “Star Wars” and no “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but man there was a lot of fun and fantasy to be enjoyed in an air-conditioned theater.

“Jaws” may have given rise to the modern summer blockbuster in 1975, but it wasn’t until “Star Wars” – released on May 25, 1977, a Wednesday, on the week leading up to Memorial Day – that the industry was codified. That’s when the studios figured out that the lazy days of summer were being underutilized as a dumping ground for low expectations and undemanding fare. The old thinking was, it’s summer, right? People are busy. They’re on vacation. Who’s going to go to the movies?

Now of course the summer movie mentality is year-round, whenever they feel like dropping another Marvel movie. But the magic that so indelibly marked the summer moviegoing experience from the mid-‘70s through the mid-‘80s seems to have entirely dissipated. Who knows, maybe it’s my age. But I think I am correct in observing that commercialism has long since outstripped creativity, if not craft, and a lot of the soul has been superseded by breakneck editing, refinery noise, and computer-generated nightmares.

Alas, the change of seasons now holds little significance for me, in terms of entertainment. Going to the movies in the summer is no longer a part of my routine. Gone are the days when I would actually create a countdown calendar in anticipation of the next “Star Wars” sequel, or that I would leaf through the movie ads, with their alluring artwork, in the Friday newspapers.

I guess to some extent I’ve put away childish things. (Don’t you believe it!) But it’s not because I’ve abandoned the movies. Rather, it’s the movies that have abandoned me.

When I die, if they let me into Heaven, I hope it’s a little bit like 1982.
Harmy’s Star Wars Restoration: May 25th Matters

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Ross Amico

May 25, 2022

in Daily Dispatch

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Okay, laser brains. While all you heretics were out there waving your lightsabers on May 4th, strutting your fandom for Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be with you,” har har), the Jedi hermits among us continued to quietly stroke our beards and shepherd the wisdom that true Star Wars Day is May 25th – the anniversary of the film’s opening in 1977.

That is, when we weren’t indulging our Dark Sides by ranting about the corruption of the series, even at the hands of its own creator, in epic Facebook screeds.

You may recall my lamenting the numerous post-“Special Edition” incarnations of the original trilogy (released 1977-83), as George Lucas continued to tinker in his digital keep, even as he denied us pristine restorations of the films’ theatrical cuts. These have been withheld by Lucasfilm, despite enormous demand, as its mad emperor continued to overthink and perform unnecessary surgeries on his creations, like some misguided Hawthornian scientist, who would sacrifice beauty in a quest for “perfection.” Instead of, you know, just making more movies.

With the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, some have nurtured a new hope that its current owners, in a rare moment of grace (albeit motivated by the promise of massive sales), might release restorations in time for Star Wars’ 50th anniversary in 2027 – in the process, redeeming Lucas and allowing him to join Obi-Wan and Yoda in Force heaven.

In the meantime, the thought did occur to me that, while an authorized Disney release would be wonderful, there actually has been a rebel movement among diehard fans and guerilla restorationists, who have taken matters into their own hands to return “Star Wars” to its original glory. This ragtag band has been overseen by Petr Harmáček, an English teacher from the Czech Republic, who goes by the handle Harmy. Harmy has made it his mission to undertake private restorations of the original “Star Wars” trilogy, drawing from all available sources.

Keep in mind, this is in flagrant disregard of George Lucas’ wishes. While Harmy’s “Despecialized Edition” is available for download on the internet, he has so far avoided prosecution and his work has received no legal challenges, since he has charged no fee for his work and has managed to walk a razor’s edge between “fair use” and copyright infringement. You can read more about him and his cause here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition

Then you can savor the fruit of his labor, getting as close as possible to the experience of seeing the film as it was released on May 25, 1977. Ideally, you should also have decent playback equipment. Best of all would be to download the file for yourself from a reputable site. Did I mention, it’s free? Also, use the Force to blot out all unhelpful memories of anything that came after to desensitize us and diminish our pleasure.

https://archive.org/details/star.-wars.-1977.-despecialized.-720p.x-264.-ac-3.5.1

You know it’s an upside-down universe when it falls to somebody named Harmy to do goody.

Why is it so important? Watch this video (also by Harmy) and learn for yourself.

May the Force be with you. Happy Orthodox Star Wars Day. “Star Wars,” 45 years-old today.
Busby Berkeley’s Dark Side and Dazzling Dance

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Ross Amico

May 24, 2022

in Daily Dispatch

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Classic movie buffs remember choreographer and director Busby Berkeley primarily for his opulent dance numbers, in which the intricate movements of garishly-appointed showgirls create mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic patterns, frequently documented from on high. His influence was enormous, and his “style” is still being referenced in popular culture and the visual arts all the time.

But for a visionary and highly successful filmmaker, who provided amusement and escape for millions during the Great Depression and World War II, Berkeley struggled with his own personal demons. He was married six times, drank like a merman (and I don’t mean Ethel), and even attempted suicide.

In 1935, at the peak of his fame, he was in an automobile accident in which two people were killed and five were seriously injured, when his vehicle swerved into oncoming traffic and plowed headlong into one car and sideswiped another. He had to be carried into the courtroom on a stretcher. Witnesses at the scene testified that he smelled of alcohol. The first two trials, for second degree murder, ended with hung juries. He was acquitted in a third.

Somehow, through the grace of God, maybe, Berkeley managed to make it to 80 years-old. He died of natural causes in Palm Springs, California on March 14, 1976.

Despite his catastrophic personal life, as a creative artist, he was innovative and audacious. With good cause, TCM has been highlighting his films throughout the month of May. I had never seen this one, “Small Town Girl” (1953), with Ann Miller tapping her way through a Cocteauvian, “Beauty and the Beast”-style, partially submerged dance band!

“42nd Street” (1933)

Shadow Waltz from “Gold Diggers of 1933”

Human Waterfall from “Footlight Parade” (1933)

Cagney (also “Footlight Parade”)

Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in “Girl Crazy” (1943)

Carmen Miranda as “The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat” (1943)

Esther Williams in “Million Dollar Mermaid” (1952)
Edmund Rubbra & My Easton Neighbor

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Ross Amico

May 23, 2022

in Daily Dispatch

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Who knew that between the ages of 5 and 10 I lived next door to the world authority on the music of Edmund Rubbra? Who’d have thought that such a figure would have resided in Easton, Pennsylvania?

Rubbra is a now-underrated British composer of rewarding symphonies and choral music, sometimes overtly inspired by his Roman Catholic faith. The music is full of fantasy and often dreamy melody, but by no means at the expense of architectural logic.

Ralph Scott Grover joined the faculty of Lafayette College, in Easton, in 1965. He was the first head of Lafayette’s music department. His affection for Rubbra’s music yielded a book, “The Music of Edmund Rubbra,” published in 1993. He was also invited to write the Rubbra entry for “The New Grove Dictionary.”

Grover himself was a composer of art songs, or so I’m told. I remember he and his wife would spend time each year visiting at Rubbra’s castle in the UK. Earlier, in 1980, he had also written a book titled “Ernest Chausson: The Man and His Music.”

I find it amusing to reflect that as a boy I would be playing on the sidewalk, around a tree out front, not knowing the first thing about classical music – my grandfather, with whom I lived, was a product of the Great Depression and World War II, who spent most of his life working with his hands – and here I was, living next door to someone totally steeped in English music, which would later become one of my life’s passions.

Mr. Grover died in 2002. I am happy to say that I met him again later in life, by which time I had already become quite knowledgeable about the subject. In fact, I know he listened to me on WWFM. I remember that he and his wife pledged their financial support during one of my shifts. Grover also expressed an affection for the music of Gerald Finzi, whom I also happen to adore, and was a member of the Peter Warlock Society.

I do regret not having had more of a master-disciple relationship with him. By that time, I had already left Easton, and though he extended a non-specific invitation to visit, nothing ever came of it. We nearly missed one another entirely. I’m thankful we had the conversations we did, and that he saw that I had become something more than the goofy kid he scarcely regarded.

Happy birthday, Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986). It is you I have to thank for this reminiscence.

Here’s a sample of Rubbra’s music: “Overture Resurgam,” from 1975, inspired by a memory of the war and an example of the composer’s religious convictions translated to sound. In March 1941, Nazi planes bombed Plymouth and laid waste to much of the city, including the Church of St. Andrew. Only its tower remained intact. On the north door of the tower stood one word, “Resurgam” – “Risen Again.”

The Symphony No. 4

His orchestration of Brahms’ “Handel Variations”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXHjZI6tWZw

PHOTO: Rubbra resurrected
Wagner’s Birthday Broadcast Vintage Recordings

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Ross Amico

May 22, 2022

in Daily Dispatch

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Time to get out the crazy party hats. You know, the ones with the horns and feathers. May 22 is the birthday of Richard Wagner (1813-1883). This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll honor the composer with an handful of vintage recordings.

American baritone Lawrence Tibbett never actually sang the role of Wotan on stage, in the context of a “Ring” cycle. However, he did record “Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music,” magnificently, in 1934, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski.

Karl Muck was a casualty of anti-German sentiment during his time as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which, unfortunately, happened to coincide with the First World War. Be that as it may, he was held in the highest regard by fellow musicians and thought by many to be one of Wagner’s finest interpreters. We’ll hear a fascinating 1927 recording of the Transformation Music and the beginning of the Grail Scene from Act I of “Parsifal,” made at the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth.

The recording employs the original bells designed by Wagner, which would be melted down by the Nazis for ammunition during the Second World War. So this will be a rare opportunity to experience the “Parsifal” Wagner actually knew. Muck was principal conductor of the Bayreuth Festival since 1903. He conducted “Parsifal” at Bayreuth 14 times between 1901 and 1930.

Incidentally, it was on this date 150 years ago – Wagner’s 59th birthday – that the composer laid the cornerstone for his Bayreuth Festival Theater.

Finally, we’ll return to “Die Walküre” to wrap things up on a buoyant note with Siegmund and Sieglinde’s love music from Act I, which concludes with the lovers fleeing together into the welcoming spring. Nine months later, Sieglinde gives birth to Siegfried, the saga’s hero-without-fear. Lotte Lehmann strikes sparks with legendary Danish heldentenor Lauritz Melchoir in a 1935 recording with Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic.

The power of these performances remains undiminished by the passage of time. It’s a Wagner power hour on “Vintage Wagner,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTOS: Lotte Lehmann as Sieglinde and Lauritz Melchior as Siegmund