Performance (1970) With Mick Jagger

I can talk about PERFORMANCE anytime. Rebecca and Sam Umland’s biography of Donald Cammell is essential reading for any fan of the movie.

Donald and his girlfriend, model Deborah Dixon, were friends of Anita Pallenberg going back to the early 60s. They were all involved together, as you might say, and Donald and Brian Jones became friends through Anita.
Donald was an accomplished painter and carried his artistic vision into cinema. He also considered Brian an artist, which was high praise from someone like Cammell. As you might expect, there’s a lot of Brian in the character of Turner in PERFORMANCE.

Nic Roeg and Donald co-directed the film. Donald wrote the script and he would work with and block the actors while Nic blocked the cameras and set up the shots. Cammell humorously noted that Roeg wore the tie and blue blazer to keep the studio at ease while he wore all the hippie gear. They worked so efficiently together that people on set would say that the two director approach was the way of the future. Cammell was proud of the film, but his enthusiasm was somewhat tempered by the fact that Roeg tended to get sole credit for PERFORMANCE while Cammell was just as crucial in getting his vision to the screen.

As an aside, Keith Richards despised Donald, I think not only for disrupting the Stones working while Jagger filmed, but also for Donald’s intimate relationship with Anita long before Keith was even a factor. Perhaps a little jealousy there. He would sit out in his limo fuming while Mick and Anita were working with Cammell on the closed set. Cammell was also close to Jones, which I’m sure didn’t endear him to Richards either. Donald had great respect for the group and their musical accomplishments but they were not really in control in his realm.

 

Good post.

I also think there is some of Cammell himself in the character of Turner. By all accounts, Cammell had always harboured a death wish, although he did not act on his suicidal impulses until 1996.

With regard to Roeg garnering the majority of the credit for the film’s direction, it is worth noting that Cammell supervised a complete re-edit of the footage, after Warner Bros rejected the initial cut of the film. Roeg wasn’t involved, as he’d already moved on to his next directorial project, Walkabout. I’d love to see that first cut, but I fear that’ll never happen.

 

That's exactly what I felt when I first saw it. It suddenly alters the pace of the film, which resumes when it ends.

I like it but I'm not sure it belongs in there.

 

I thought there was a same sex conotation there as there appears to be in the lyric also, hence the strip in company part.

 

It is implied in the film that Chas may have had a past homosexual relationship with Joey Maddocks, but Maddocks does not appear in the “Memo from Turner” sequence.

The gangsters stripping off is more a reference to them embracing the hippy counterculture. IIRC, Dennis is wearing beads, but not much else.

 

Excellent OST from Performance.

 

Freejack is one of the worst films I have ever seen.

 

I loved the movie back in my younger days. I found that smoking a joint before watching helped a lot. Haven't seen it in decades.

I saw quite a few Roeg movies back then. "Insignificance" was another favourite of mine.

BTW, Roeg was also the cinematographer for Truffaut's "Farenheit 451".

 

Gone Dead Train!

 

FYI the mono single mix is very different

 

Cool. Is it a promo or an actual commercial release?

 

And Running Out Of Luck is just a dire (& perhaps) egotistical lack of judgement.

 

I have heard but do not know for a fact that the commercial single is the same odd mix in stereo. The recording I got was a mono promo single.

 

He was also 2nd unit Cinematographer for 'Lawrence of Arabia'.

 

I like the Crazy Horse version. Their first album, with Jack Nietsche and Nils Lofgren, is one of the all time great debuts. Yes, this has nothing to do with the thread, but why not keep things fragmented in the spirit of Nicholas Roeg's gleeful aproach to shattering narrative? (It all makes sense eventually)

 

Nitzsche’s score is a major part of PERFORMANCE’s power. It could really be considered World Music long before the term became popular.

The Moog work really cranks up the tension in the film, and Ry Cooder’s guitar work is great as always. Randy Newman rocks out on Gone Dead Train as well.

I have the promo single and the mix is substantially different with female background vocals and a different lead vocal from Newman if I’m remembering correctly.

 

Great song and your single sounds intriguing.
I have a US WB Performace 7" Radio Spot single.
It plays 1.00 same both sides and has snippets of music and dialogue plus a voice over.

 

OK my post of Johnny Bindon's meat n' veg didn't last very long. I would've thought that most viewers of a thread about Performance would have realised the validity (nothing sexual about it whatsoever). If I mortally offended anyone with it I'd suggest they definitely don't watch Performance.

 

This movie got me into Jorge Luis Borges and The Last Poets.

Definitely one of the best British films of the 70s.

 

I must re-watch this. It's been a long time since I last saw it.

 

I watched another film by Donald Cammell at the weekend, White Of The Eye from 1987. It was in the Fopp sale for £6.

Anyway, one of the special features is an hour long BBC doc on Donald Cammell and they obviously focussed a great deal of time on Performance. He was a bit of a character for sure.

White Of The Eye was a decent film but the extras make it a great buy at that price.

 

I view Performance as the British "Easy Rider". Two art house films trying to tap into the Rock zeitgeist. Viewed as such they are both brilliant. Viewed as traditional cinema (plot/character development/etc) they will induce head scratching and/or yawning. I had to watch both a few times to appreciate them.

 

I mentioned this briefly on page one of the thread.

White of the Eye is an odd film. From what I gather, that 1980s soap opera look was a conscious parody at the time, but, looking back some 30 years later, it dates it badly, IMO. Like you say, decent enough film, but the documentary is the real carrot on the end of the stick here. For those with a serious Performance obsession, it’s essential viewing, and well worth six quid.

 

I think you'll find that The Stones have always adored women.

 

Lame.