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I have this habit of buying old Italian Westerns hoping that I'll find a good one. I know it's probably not ever going to happen. I've been looking for the past thirty plus years. It's been a big waste of time, yet something keeps driving me. I keep picking up movies in the discount bins ~ Italian Western titles I've never seen before. There have only been a handful (or should I say 'fistful) of Italian Westerns worth their salt (or should I say garlic). Last week I found a collection of ten movies for 3 dollars more and reached for it. As I try to watch them, I find myself falling to sleep about thirty minutes into them.
There was a time in the early sixties that the Italian movie industry was tanking. I guess their audiences were getting weary of watching gladiator movies. That seemed to be the majority of the movies exported. Sergio Leone made a Western that turned the heads
of movie goers everywhere and so Italian producers wanted to
get in on the action. Instead of churning out Sword and Sandal'movies, they started churning out what became known as Spaghetti Westerns. They'd make them until their audience everywhere got weary of watching them.
It was Sergio Leone that introduced the genre, catapulting American second string actors into international super-stardom. Unlike his rivals, Leone didn't just make Westerns, he made epic Westerns. He had a style of shooting that all the other directors emulated, but no one ever came close. I know, I've seen a lot of Italian Westerns. Other production companies tried to deliver Ennio Morriconesque scores, (some were pretty darn good scores) but their movies sucked nevertheless. The anti-hero, the tight close-ups, the extreme panoramic shots, the familiar gunfire were always in the mix. They tried to copy everything - but they never succeeded.
What they lacked was a good story and the ability to tell it. Only Leone could do it. He could tell the story. He knew how to use the lens. He was an artist of the same calibur of the directors he himself emulated - John Ford and Akira Kurosawa. His emulations were not mere copies of the works he admired. He told his own stories his own way. Leone didn't do cheap imitations - he did works of art.
I don't know why I do it. Maybe I'm doing it to see if there was another master at work back in the day. Wishful thinking I know. Why do I keep picking up these bargain movies hoping to find gold among the rubbish? If you happen to have a title of an old Spaghetti Western that you really liked ~ let me know. I'd be obliged.
I noticed when Scooby-Doo pranced into the scene on Saturday mornings, that he sounded exactly like another dog I'd already met. Scooby-Doo sounded exactly like Astro from The Jetsons. They both shared the same speech impediment and said the same thing when they found themselves in trouble ~ RUH-ROH!
The reason they sounded alike is because both cartoon characters were Hanna Barbera characters, voiced by the same voice-actor - Don Messick. Don created the now so familiar voice pattern, and used it for both Scooby and Astro. Don by the way, did many-many voices from the Hanna Barbera cartoon menagerie.
Later in life, Messick said he could no longer do his most famous voice because he had quit smoking, the rasp that made Scooby - Scooby was absent.
Personally, I always favored Astro over Scooby-Doo. My 10 year old daughter would beg to differ.
Comparing the great Jack Kirby to the magnificent John Severin is like comparing apples to oranges. Both were incredible artist with their own individually incredible style of illustration. My introduction to them wasn't through superhero comics, but rather through an unusual war comic 'Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos' that first came out fifty years ago. Sgt Fury was the concept of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. John Severin came in later and took on the inking of the war mag with 'Darling' Dick Ayers as the penciler.
Kirby and Lee had defined the Fury characters. No one after Kriby and Lee changed the characters, but defined them. John Severin later came along and gave those Kirby/Lee characters more definition ~ added realism. Some folks didn't like it and I won't argue, because the original Howling Commandos was a WWII war comic on steroids - with a lot of fun comic book exaggeration. I can't help but be drawn to Severin's way, making each little panel a magnificent work of art. I appreciate both Kirby's and Severin's talents. It was Severin's version of Nick Fury that I started trying to mimic. Still today I see Severin's influence in much of my ink work. His sister Marie was just as good as John - the Hildebrandts of the comic book universe.
John Severin's work made me feel as if I were watching a movie, rather than reading a comic book. I appreciate the details, the movement, the action of his inking. I am no longer a child with a flair, I'm a seasoned artist with over 30 years of graphic design experience under my belt. Still today I look at John Severin's work and marvel at it.
Back in the late eighties I worked at a production company with an old friend. We did video for commercials and industrial presentations. We created a lot of promotions for other companies and rarely for ourselves. Among my favorite projects was a self-promo piece we produced for cable insertion.
Jamey and I came up with the concept and I had a lot of fun developing the storyboard and coming up with the props. I remembered securing a skull from my friend Derick Mitchell. The skull had been sawed open like most class room skeletons are sawed open and hinged so students coule inspect the interior of the skull's cavity. In order to conceal the the cut, I wrapped some masking tape around it. I was surprised how well the masking tape worked, the color of the tape matched the color of the bone. It looked great on video and I didn't have to do anything else to it. I also created a treasure map for our little jungle expedition under Noccalula Falls. I rendered it in charcoal and design markers on a piece of a brown paper grocery bag that I wrinkled. We spared no expense.
It was great working on the concept, props, and co-direct. I believe it was the only time I was in front of the camera at JMP. Jamey was also on both sides of the camera. My brother Brook was recruited to join the party. All of this took us back to an earlier day when Jamey and Brook shot movie shorts under the Falls years earlier.
After we had the footage in the can, we did the post at Jacksonville State University Communication Department. At that time, they had a new facility, equipped with the latest editing equipment. After Jamey and I had polished the copy ~ I got to do the voice-over. I learned to mimic the voice of Geoffry Holder just for this spot. At the time, Geoffry was hawking 7-up's 'UnCola' campaign.
I love doing video because it encompasses all of my talents/skills. This video was challenging and so much fun! My old picture Jamey posted this image on his facebook account today. It took me back.
Warren Zevon died ten years ago today. I loved his music and wish I could still hasten down to the music store and buy a new album of his every now and then. I used to look forward to going to hear him perform live anytime he was in our neck of the woods.
I miss having you around Warren.
