22 posts tagged “1972”

While I wouldn’t consider myself a “birther” (I am far too left-wing, relatively speaking, for that), there’s a part of me that wishes the American president would show his birth certificate, just to silence a good group of his critics and get them focusing on more important matters. I publicly said so at the time when the matter first came up and yes, it did seem odd, even if his challengers in the courts’ system had fairly ill-prepared cases.
   However, I remember how John Major, then PM of the UK, resisted showing his O levels, which he also had sealed, because he felt they weren’t important. Eventually, he released them, and his marks were unremarkable. They made absolutely no difference to his authority and it was a “nothing” story that the British media were good at pushing. Maybe President Obama is taking a lesson from a conservative politician: showing it would be a waste of time.
   I imagine in the US, things are so divisive politically that if President Obama were to show his (original, long form) birth certificate, there would still be people saying it was faked. I have read some comical criticisms even of his certification of live birth, pointing out the colour differences between ones they had seen and the one on the President’s campaign site. I guess those people have never used more than one scanner, or more than one digital camera.
   The political right, even if its case had merit, kept shooting itself in the foot with some of the less thought-out theories. I admit there is a question that could be easily cleared up, but Obama’s own critics are clouding the issue. While they’re doing that, then the President and his allies can sit back comfortably.
   Still, just to get a bit of closure as I potentially enter local politics, here’s a 37-year-old piece of paper (in fact, it is 37 years today that Dad had my birth registered):

   Queen Elizabeth Hospital is still there, as is 4 Victory Avenue, though we soon moved into the front apartment. Here is how the entry to the building looks these days:     Now, that should all check out, not that local politics gets as nasty as American national politics.

The stories are different enough that one could not accuse the Hong Kong film-makers of outright copying, but there is clear inspiration between the English Ooh, You Are Awful (or Get Charlie Tully), starring Dick Emery, and the first of the successful franchise 最佳拍檔 (Aces Go Places). The films are 10 years apart.
   The plot lines are similar: in the original, Emery has to find a Swiss bank account number, separately tattooed on four different girls’ behinds. In the later film, Sam Hui (the father of Canto-pop) and Karl Maka’s characters have to find a map reference, tattooed on two different girls’ behinds. The following is of two very similar scenes, one set at Waterloo Station in London, the other at a taxi company’s radio department, and subsequent scenes involving photographic booths, where one might be able to claim there was a fair amount of direct copying. Emery is more blue, while the later film is more slapstick with better pacing.
   And yes, that is the lovely Cheryl Kennedy in the first clip.
   In the 1970s and 1980s, it was highly unlikely for Hong Kong cinemagoers to have seen the Emery film.
   Head to 2.45 for the above scene in the first video; 0.43 in the second clip.

Here are some more neat finds on YouTube. I have only a vague recollection of this show, but I might be confusing with others that had fake computer messages going across the screen (The Invisible Man, The Gemini Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, etc.). Apparently, it was originally entitled Probe, but was retitled Search (possibly due to a conflict with another TV series). It didn’t last, due to a producer change and the idea of a revolving star each week (mixing between Hugh O’Brian, Doug McClure and Tony Franciosa). But the theme music and titles are great (note the use of the MICR typeface) and very early 1970s. They also hint at the optimism people had toward technology as a tool to aid mankind, in this case, an agency specializing in searches.

I had no idea that the love theme from The Godfather, ‘Speak Softly Love’, was originally used by the same composer, Nino Rota, for a 1958 film called Fortunella. Apparently, Mr Rota was nominated for an Academy Award for The Godfather and it was withdrawn when it was discovered the theme had already been used. (Strangely, he went on to win one for Part II and that had the same theme, and he did win a BAFTA for the first film.)
   I don’t think it’s uncommon to see composers reuse work but it is a little out of the ordinary. Monty Norman maintained that ‘The James Bond Theme’ was based on work he did for a musical; John Barry, who went on to compose and score most of the Bond films in the 1960s to the 1980s, reused a traditional tune from Zulu in Cry, the Beloved Country, and I understand a rejected theme for The Prince of Tides appeared in Across the Sea of Time. Then there are those confusing things like the Grange Hill theme on Give Us a Clue …
   Here is the Fortunella tune, which was interesting to hear—this would have been the first version some people heard of this theme, and the treatment is very different to that of The Godfather.

Let’s compare these Life on Mars casts:

UK: Marshall Lancaster, Philip Glenister, John Simm, Dean Andrews, Liz White. US rejected pilot: Lenny Clarke, Jason O’Mara, Rachelle Lefèvre, Colm Meaney. US definitive series: Jonathan Murphy, Harvey Keitel, Jason O’Mara, Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol. Spain: La chica de ayer cast. I only recognize Manuela Velasco, Ernesto Alterio and Antonio Garrido (second, third and fifth actors from left). I assume the two actors in the back are Spanish Ray and Chris.

Some lads decide to have a go at the terrible and now-scrapped David E. Kelley version of Life on Mars and its star, Jason O’Mara. If you have seen any part of the remake, you should enjoy this.

For those who saw my earlier post on the ABC retro-style promo—and the discussion that it wasn’t that genuine—here’s what a 1972 promo for the network really looked like.

   Gotta dig that slitscan technique—no computers doing these effects then!
   Some from 1973 announcing programmes:

   Since ABC has used the Mod Squad theme for its Life on Mars promo, how about a real one for Mod Squad—really from 1973 itself?    Surely if the BBC can re-create its 1973 graphics, and ABC wants to play the same trick, it wouldn’t be that hard to make something like this, would it?

More casting announcements are emerging from Hollywood about the American re-remake of Life on Mars.
   Jonathan Murphy (formerly Ronnie of October Road) has been cast as Det Chris Skelton, which means David E. Kelley’s successors on the programme have brought back both Chris and Ray—two characters missing from the first attempt at remaking the British series.
   The Hollywood Reporter’s description of Chris is familiar: ‘a jittery young detective who is new to the department.’
   It may mean that the redo will try to forge relationships between Sam Tyler and the rest of the department akin to the original’s.

After seeing the (now-scrapped) pilot, I am of the mind that

LAPD Det Sam Tyler in US Life on Mars should have been played by a black American actor, with due respect to Jason O’Mara. It would really highlight the race problems of the 1970s, the progress (and lack thereof in some quarters) in US race relations, and take Life on Mars into its own direction. It was an area inadequately explored in the original, but with the larger black community in the US, it’s an inspired opportunity. Since I have been watching re-runs of Day Break here, someone like Taye Diggs could pull it off.

I don’t expect Gene Hunt in the US to be identical to Philip Glenister’s portrayal. After all, Americans will not get how the original evoked DI Jack Regan from The Sweeney. When the pilot is rewritten and remade, may I suggest these two characters are borne in mind for American audiences?

   The guy on the right is even called Gene H. In fact, I suggest the following image is printed off and posted in the scriptwriters’ rooms for inspiration: