I love it! Honestly one of my favourite films of all time! But I don't want to get into that argument again on a Kinks thread!... in any case despite what many may think of it it was high profile and artist/auteur led.. The members of The Who and their vision are upfront throughout; a far cry from Percy where the music is fairly obscured and only used as a tertiary selling point.
Nice linear comparisons but let's not even get started in the equivalent bawdy comedy of the time (and it's regular lead actress) in Italian cinema!
Add 1971's excellent Melody, with superb Bee Gees songs (even though most had been released before). It would be the case if we were criticizing it for being too broad or too raunchy or too sexy or too outrageous or too whatever. But our criticism is quite the opposite, that it's not provocative enough, not funny enough, not entertaining enough, not enough anything, really, and yet managing to be stereotypical AND moralizing (puritan, as @ajsmith put it). I mean, the films you mention don't have talents like Hywel Bennett, Britt Ekland, and geniuses like a Monty Python and the Kinks leader/songwriter involved! In this thread, it's all about assessing the quality of vision and judgement or this Ray person. That's the kontext against which we're evaluating the film here.
I saw this upon release in Japan. A big hit. Fast forward 35 years or so and I was watching a Japanese television show where people are reunited (surprise! type of show). The show detailed the unrequited love of this one guy…and I laughed aloud as the narrator said the lovesick chap spent his evenings pining away watching the ‘Melody’ video over and over.
Oh…and as to my story above: at the end, the woman who was loved from afar comes out from behind the curtain. Ta da! And takes one look at the guy and says, “Sure I remember you. You were creepy as hell and I don’t want anything to do with you. Quit thinking about me, you f-ing nut job.” (Or words to that effect.)
The stereo Face To Face is not fake stereo. Most songs are mono or maybe very narrow stereo, some have stereo sound effects, and a couple are in stereo. The mono mix is definitive though as it has lovely backing vocals from Rasa on "Rainy Day In June" and it mixes the rhythm electric guitar much lower in the mix on "Little Miss Queen Of Darkness" so you can here the very nice acoustic guitar licks a lot better. Unless you're talking about a pirated copy which I have not heard of.
Very good comments about Percy, especially from Avid Fortuelo. I did see a YouTube thingie of highlights of the movie w/the Kinks songs, which also got pulled down recently & that was enough for me. It seems that for most of those involved, it was a rent-paying gig (Raymond had Robyn in a private school, Michael Palin probably needed a new cooker). From what I read from the Brit & Aussie Avids, it seems that the British sex comedy was an offshoot of the "naughty" postcards of the 1930s that Orwell wrote about. It's too bad that WB/Reprise passed on issuing the Percy soundtrack in the States. I can imagine Stan Corwyn & his merry band at the Promotions Dept. try to come up w/something to sell it. Perhaps an ad w/the headline "ALL RAY, ALL DAVE AND NO DICK!" with a picture of President Nixon just below it.
I’m trying to walk the dog. What are people thinking as they look out windows and see me shaking with mirth?!
The trailer is pretty good, probably the perfect amount of Percy based on the great reviews you all have posted. It reminds me of how much I like "Completely". Also, a surprise appearance (for me) of the butler from Trading Places, who's name I learn is Denholm Elliot.
I think I now know more than I ever wanted to about Percy. On a semi-related note, I happen to have a copy of the novel All Night Stand (© 1966 Shel Talmey [sic] Productions, Ltd) and read about 20% of it before giving up as it's not particularly interesting except maybe as a glimpse into what was hip in mid-'60s London. Let's just say it's as "of its time" as Percy seems to be. Funny how a lot of music--outside of novelty numbers--doesn't really show its age like other media do. Certainly not the Kinks' music, anyway. Is the next song on Monday (Oct. 18th)?
A (few) hundred pages late, but I happened upon this 7" EP for cheap the other day. I couldn't resist even though I already have all these songs on other records.
Yes, Invisible Man, we start Monday w/"God's Children". As for All Night Stand, Ugly Things magazine (which is based near you, have you ever heard of it?) had a story about it a few years ago. Also, congrats on that Dave Davies EP, great track listing & snazzy cover.
The great thing about opinions is that we don’t have to agree on everything. Personally, I think the movie was better on all those metrics than you make out. It could have been another bawdy skirt-chaser popular at the time but retained a questioning element. And for the most part the actors -male and female - kept their clothes on. I don’t think Ray - or Michael Palin for that matter - should be embarrassed about their association with the movie. It is something of its time.
I’m holding off on reading all the film comments since I still want to watch it tonight or tomorrow. The first few comments almost had me sending it right back without watching! I ordered Dave’s book Kink last night. Thought that would be a fun read while we go through the 70s. I feel like I may have read it but I can’t remember. I know this has come up in this thread before, but what are everyone’s favorite Kinks related books?
Nice. I have read mixed reviews on this one, but I recall it being recommended earlier in the thread. I will have to pick it up.
