My favorite movie of 2019 was Jojo Rabbit. I found it irresistibly sweet and hilarious and it was just a really nice movie. The best film I saw last year, though, was a 1958 western starring Van Heflin and Tab Hunter called Gunman’s Walk. I caught it at the New Beverly Cinema out here in L.A. and in a way, it felt like it could have been made yesterday. It was still a 1950’s western, but it was one of the most scathing portraits of toxic masculinity I’ve ever seen, a theme that felt unusual for a movie from that time. The plot is well worn old western territory as it’s about a good son, and a bad son, and their father; and the bad son, played by Tab Hunter, does bad things and Van Heflin, the dad, eventually has to kill him after having made excuses for him for years. It did an impressive job of showing how bad men are the product of many generations of bad men. Highly recommended. In the middle of it, Tab sits down at a piano in a saloon and croons this charming song which became a minor hit for him. He was never the greatest actor with a career largely based on good looks, but he gives a crackerjack performance in this one. And he had a pretty good singing voice.
Tab Hunter – I’m a Runaway
A little Bonnie Raitt Runaway remastered.
I was just listening to that record.
Great minds,Jonee.
Slaughter And The Dogs
A catchy tune from Alive ‘N Kickin’
All the stars for digging this up!! Kudos!!
Since we don’t go out to movies that often I’m usually a year or so late to movies and can’t really participate in Awards Season® predictions and the like. I rely on HBO, SHO, Starz, et al. for my fix. I did see Star Wars in the theater but don’t really feel it helps the movie for me and I actually think it hurts how I’ll view the movie after.
I am an easy mark tend to like most every movie I watch. All I seek is to be entertained and if you can get me to sit for 90 to 100 minutes then you have a good movie in my book. I could say what was the best I saw in 2019, it might have been my 245th viewing of The Hunt for Red October for all I know. I just love movies. I even wanted to be Making Movies at one time in my life….but….well…yep.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome. Dire Straits…
When you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah
Now you just say “oh, Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him”
Hunt for Red October is on my list of movies I can watch whenever it’s in front of me. It probably was the best movie you saw last year.
Mark Knopfler is a criminally underrated guitarist, in my humble opinion. He is so brilliant, yet it seems that he doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves.
He was with Clapton one of the times I saw God in the 80s or 90s and during one of the encore tunes did a little dual that brought down the house.
Jeeves says it was Sept 1988 and Elton John would join them for some of the shows. I don’t remember that at all but there is a lot of 1988 that would be very fuzzy for me today…or in 1988 😉
This is my favorite Dire Straits song.
The Runaways – Cherry Bomb
this is a can’t sit down tune for me…
In honor of her being nominated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, FINALLY!
Pat Benatar – You Better Run
We were talking about 1st concerts the other night, Pat was my 2nd concert.
Congrats Pat. Long overdue.
The other noms. I’m glad to see Chaka Kahn on here, Todd Rundgren, Nine Inch Nails, Motorhead. I don’t understand how some of these are only being nominated now.
https://www.rockhall.com/class-2020-nominees
Yeah, how are the Doobie Bros & Thin Lizzie not already in?
MC5, Judas Priest? How do they do the nominations?
I will forever be biased against the Hall for passing on Detroit for Cleveland but it does have a bad history of getting everything wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_Roll_Hall_of_Fame#Criticism
“The most frequent criticism of the Hall of Fame is that the nomination process is controlled by a few individuals who are not themselves musicians, such as founders Jann Wenner and Suzan Evans, and writer Dave Marsh, reflecting their personal tastes rather than the views of the rock world as a whole. A former member of the nominations board once commented that “At one point Suzan Evans lamented the choices being made because there weren’t enough big names that would sell tickets to the dinner. That was quickly remedied by dropping one of the doo-wop groups being considered in favor of a ‘name’ artist … I saw how certain pioneering artists of the ’50s and early ’60s were shunned because there needed to be more name power on the list, resulting in ’70s superstars getting in before the people who made it possible for them. Some of those pioneers still aren’t in today.”[50] Sister Rosetta Tharpe is often considered “The Godmother/Grandmother of Rock & Roll”,[51][52] but was not chosen for induction until 2017. Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker has dismissed the Hall of Fame as the “Hall of Lame”.[53]
There was also criticism of the opacity in the selection process. Janet Morrissey of The New York Times wrote:
With fame and money at stake, it’s no surprise that a lot of backstage lobbying goes on. Why any particular act is chosen in any particular year is a mystery to performers as well as outsiders – and committee members say they want to keep it that way.[54]”
Tab Hunter will always be Todd Tomorrow to me.
I will always give One Ping Only to any mention of Hunt for Red October.
I love Romeo and Juliet from Dire Straits – the Indigo Girls did a version many moons ago that’s good too.
Cowards, the lot of you.
…so my first thought was “born to run” but then the cowboy thing made me check for this tune…& although I think I prefer the regular version the 12-string was such a nice guitar…
…nobody’s going to believe I haven’t spent literally all the intervening time watching bon jovi clips but I blame Keitel for sending me back to you tube to find this waiting for me…I don’t think the three-necked effort is as good-looking a guitar as that 12-string but someone out there thinks it’s peak-Richie for this tune?