Prolific Composer/Songwriter Billy Goldenberg dies at 84 years old–August 3rd, 2020

Emmy Winning Billy Goldenberg, we say goodbye…

One of the last great composers has left the stage. There are over 192 credits listed for composer, Billy Goldenberg, the songwriter, music director and conductor. Goldenberg added his dramatic, evocative, dreamy and groovy style to so many popular films, tv movies and television themes, you might not have known, was his.

He is an Emmy Award winning composer who garnered over 25 Emmy nominations, and created some of the most haunting melodies, trippy electronics, and catchy themes than are unequaled.

From Steven Spielberg’s 1971 “Duel”; his combination of electronic and orchestral music for Rod Serling’s 1969 “Night Gallery” pilot; and his grandly romantic 1971, “Ransom for a Dead Man,” the second “Columbo” pilot that sold the famous Peter Falk series. -Variety

I had the incredible opportunity to see Billy Goldenberg live in New York, while he went on the road with Bea Arthur, playing piano for her one-woman show “…And Then There’s Bea” in the early 2000s.

It was a an incredibly memorable experience to be right up front, near the stage, with two of my most beloved talents. Bea Arthur crooned sentimental tunes, accompanied on piano by the marvelously intuitive Billy Goldenberg. Their synchronicity, their chemistry created a magical evening of music, nostalgia and a deep friendship between these two geniuses.

Billy Goldenberg will be honored in a documentary that is close to completion by writer, director, film producer and friend, Gary Gerani, who has been putting together the tribute, with tireless effort, respect, awe and love for his friend and one, who is one of the greatest composers/musician and mensch.

2020 has seen many, many losses, Olivia de Havilland, Shirley Knight and now Billy Goldenberg. It’s a piece of sweet memories starting to fade away from this side of the veil, but we have to hold on to their presence, because remembering them and their legacy is vital to keeping them with us, and keeping their legacy alive.

Billy Goldenberg scored many popular feature films, for instance: Play it Again, Sam and Up the Sandbox 1972, The Last of Sheila 1973, Busting 1974, Queen of the Stardust Ballroom 1975, and The Domino Principle 1977.

The Domino Principle 1977

The Last of Sheila 1973

Just a few television credits — Steven Spielberg’s directorial debut with -Duel 1971 tv movie, Alias Smith and Jones tv series 1971-73, Reflections of Murder 1974 tv movie, Smile, Jenny You’re Dead 1974 pilot for Harry O, The Legend of Lizzie Borden 1975 tv movie, One of my Wives is Missing 1976 tv movie, Helter Skelter 1976 mini-series

He was responsible for 7 episodes of Columbo with Peter Falk including some of my favorites, Ransom for a Dead Man, Murder by the Book, Suitable for Framing, Lady in Waiting, A Stitch in Crime and A Friend in Deed.

Billy Goldenberg set the trend of staging musical scores that were bathed in supernatural, intriguing and enigmatic atmosphere. He was a weaver of spellbinding dreams!

Here’s just a snippet of his work in television-

Ransom for a Dead Man

Prescription Murder

Murder by the Book

A Stitch in Time

The Name of the Game 1968-71

Fear No Evil 1969 tv movie

Night Gallery 1969 tv pilot

The Neon Ceiling tv movie with Lee Grant

The Sixth Sense 1972 tv series

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark 1973 tv movie

Circle of Fear tv series 1972-73

Ghost Story/Circle of Fear 1972

Harry O tv series 1974-76

Kojak tv series 1973-77

Your EverLovin’ Joey, with music in my heart says, Farewell Billy…

Olivia de Havilland is gone with the wind…

Olivia de Havilland passes away- July 26, 2020

At 104 years old, this incredible Hollywood legend, leaves us behind. But we’ll remember her movies, her beauty and her spirit! I can hear Bette Davis saying “What took you so long!”

I love you Olivia, Joey

Quote of the Day! Design for Living (1933) A banana peel under the feet of truth!f

It GIVES WOMEN NEW IDEAS in LOVE!

Miriam Hopkins got the part of free-spirited Gilda in Ernst Lubitsch’s Design for Living 1933. A Pre-Code romantic comedy with suggestive dialogue and superb comedic timing. Based on Noël Coward’s play that breaks social moral standards and flirts with sexual taboos, sexually empowered women and features a Ménage à Trois between the three Bohemian lovebirds in Paris of the decadent thirties. The film stars Gary Cooper as artist George Cooper, and Fredric March as screenwriter Tom Chambers. The liberated Gilda becomes the girl both men fall in love with.

Ben Hecht’s screenplay and Ernst Lubitsch known for his sophisticated style, directed memorably witty interactions between all four players. Edward Everett Horton as Max Plunkett plays Miriam’s bland suitor, soon to be husband. Horton is as usual, a whimsical idiosyncratic delight to watch.

Max Plunkett: “I’ve come here to speak to you man to man.”

Tom Chambers: “My favorite type of conversation.”

Max Plunkett: “I wish to broach a rather delicate subject.”

Tom Chambers: “Oh, now don’t let’s be delicate, Mr. Plunkett. Let’s be crude and objectionable, both of us. One of the greatest handicaps of civilization, and I may say to progress, is the fact that people speak with ribbons on their tongues. Delicacy, as the philosophers point out, is the banana peel under the feet of truth.”

Gilda Farrell: “A thing happened to me that usually happens to men. You see, a man can meet two, three or four women and fall in love with all of them, and then, by a process of interesting elimination, he is able to decide which he prefers. But a woman must decide purely on instinct, guesswork, if she wants to be considered nice. Oh, it’s quite all right for her to try on a hundred hats before she picks on out.

Tom Chambers: “Very fine. But, which chapeau do you want, Madam?”

Gilda Farrell: “Both.”

Gilda Farrell: Max, have you ever been in love?

Max Plunkett: This is no time to answer that.

Gilda: Have you ever felt your brain catch fire? And a curious grateful thing go through your body? Down, down to your very toes, and leave you with your ears ringing?

Max: “That’s abnormal”

Gilda: Well, that’s how I felt just before you came in.

Max: Yeah? How’d you feel yesterday after your promenade with Tom?

Gilda: Just the opposite. It started in my toes, and came up, up, up very slowly till my brain caught fire. But the ringing in the ears was the same.

Coming very soon to The Last Drive In 🏳️‍🌈

In celebration of Pride, I intended to publish my special feature “Queers and Dykes in the Dark: Classic Noir & Horror Cinema’s Coded Gay Characters” for Sunday June 28th’s Pride… but it’s a very weighty proposition and taking me more time than expected. I promise to release it within the next few weeks, so bare with me. I’ll be publishing the feature in chapters… See ya soon… and Happy Pride!

— Your EverLovin’ Joey, who got out of that closet a long long time ago. Now I just go in there to sort my shoes and let the cats play for a while!

Quote of the Day! Tony Rome (1967) You’ve got a pussy, and it smiles?

TONY ROME (1967)

Directed by Gordon Douglas, Frank Sinatra takes to the screen as the slick private detective in 1960s Miami, looking for Sue Lloyd’s stolen diamond pin, after she sleeps off a bender in a seedy motel. Her father (Simon Oakland) is the influential Rudy Kosterman, a millionaire construction mogul. He’s married to the lovely Gena Rowlands, who used to be a cocktail waitress in NYC. All three hire Rome to help them locate the missing jewelry. But Rome uncovers a more nefarious plot is underway.

Then there’s the sultry red head Ann Archer played by Jill St. John. She’s a sexually independent woman and proud of it, and is completely aroused by Tony’s playing hard to get. Somehow Tony and Ann can’t seem to wind up together, though there’s red hot passion waiting to ignite.

Tony’s too busy trying to find a lead, getting chloroformed, punched in the guts, and led astray by strippers and fences. Richard L. Breen wrote the screenplay and he makes this 60s crime flick glide like the Miami waves with Sinatra getting off zingers as smooth as his song lyrics. There’s several scenes with film noir lion, Richard Conte as Lt. Dave Santini.

There’s a lot of shiny efficient moments that make Tony Rome worth watching just for the nostalgia of the mod 60s hairstyles, fashions, dive bars, the look of old Miami with the cars and trendy music.

There’s one scene that left me howling, and I couldn’t resist making it a Quote of the Day here at The Last Drive In. And rather than just transcribe the exchange here, I think this is something you have to see for yourself. It’s a riot and I applaud Templeton Fox and Frank Sinatra who pull off the scene without busting out laughing.

This is your EverLovin’ Joey saying I’ve got several pussies and they all smile! Hope your’s does too!

“The Laziest Girl in Town”

MARLENE DIETRICH AS CHARLOTTE INWOOD IN ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S STAGE FRIGHT (1950)

Jane Wyman plays Eve Gill an aspiring actress who gets involved with her friend Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) when he is accused of killing his lover’s husband. Marlene Dietrich is Charlotte Inwood a high society cabaret performer whose blood stained dress becomes the flailing truth behind the murder. Michael Wilding is wonderful as Det. Ordinary Smith, and Alastair Sim is equally entertaining as Eve’s quirky father who is recruited to help Jonathon prove his innocence. Sybil Thorndike is Eve’s prickly mother.

Dietrich is glowing with sensuality, emblazoned in Christian Dior, crooning like the sultry Diva she is.

Your EverLovin’ Joey saying these days, it’s alright to be the laziest in town!

It’s a gay, gay month! 🧚‍♂️ 🏳️‍🌈

The Gay Divorcee (1934)

Queen Christina (1933)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Morocco (1930)

Rebecca (1940)

This is your everlovin’ Joey saying Be Gay, Be Happy, Be Safe!!!!!! 🌸

Classic Movie Blog Association interviews The Last Drive In!

I had the great honor of being interviewed by John Greco from Classic Movie Blog Association. He asked great questions and I didn’t feel like I was being interrogated at all!

CMBA Profie: The Last Drive In

Aw-Shucks!, Your EverLovin’ Joey

70s Cinema: Runaway Trains, Racing toward oblivion, psycho-sexual machinations and ‘the self loathing whore Part Two

Vanishing Point (1971)

It’s the maximum trip… at maximum speed.

Watch carefully because everything happens fast. The chase. The desert. The shack. The girl. The roadblock. The end.

Director Richard C. Sarafian (prolific television series director, The Twilight Zone ep. Living Doll 1963, Fragment of Fear 1970, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing 1973). With a screenplay by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, story outlined by Malcolm Hart. Cinematography by John A. Alonzo (Bloody Mama 1970, Harold and Maude 1971, Lady Sings the Blues 1972, Chinatown 1974, Norma Rae 1979). Alonzo offers up a minimalist vision not unlike Steven Spielberg’s first film Duel (1971).

Vanishing Point (1971) conjures an image of Americana with it’s dusty realism yet the landscape seems to exist on a desolate otherworldly planet.

The groovin’ sound track is a collection of various artists who create the perfect fabric of seventies resonance. The singer/songwriter (of Bread fame) plays the piano with the J. Hovah singers during the revival scene in the desert. Other songs include Mississippi Queen sung by Mountain, Welcome to Nevada by Jerry Reed, Nobody Knows sung by Kim Carnes and So Tired sung by Eve. Carnes’ most notable song is the cult hit, Betty Davis Eyes.

DJ Super Soul: “And there goes the Challenger, being chased by the blue, blue meanies on wheels. The vicious traffic squad cars are after our lone driver, the last American hero, the electric centaur, the, the demi-god, the super driver of the golden west! Two nasty Nazi cars are close behind the beautiful lone driver. The police numbers are gettin’ closer, closer, closer to our soul hero, in his soul mobile, yeah baby! They about to strike. They gonna get him. Smash him. Rape… the last beautiful free soul on this planet.”

… speed means freedom of the soul. The question is not when’s he gonna stop, but who is gonna stop him.”

Vanishing Point stars a very gruff and sexy Barry Newman (The Moving Finger 1963, The Salzburg Connection 1972, Fear is the Key 1972, Petrocelli 1974-76) as Kowalski, dynamic Cleavon Little as blind radio DJ Super Soul, Dean Jagger as the prospector, Paul Koslo as Deputy Charlie Scott, Robert Donner as Deputy Collins, Severn Darden, Karl Swenson, Anthony James as 1st gay hitch-hiker, Arthur Malet as 2nd gay hitch-hiker, Gilda Texter as Nude Rider, and although she was deleted from the U.S. version, Charlotte Rampling as hitch-Hiker.

The film has a beautiful bleak vision and atmosphere of “Dead-already-ness” in the narrative that foreshadows Kowalski’s ultimate destiny. The film doesn’t contribute much essential dialogue, in the way The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) thrives on it’s repartee. Vanishing Point is fueled by it’s visual movement.

Vanishing Point seems to reject the sensibilities of a contrived ‘road movie’ that embodies or symbolizes liberation, but in actuality “the road is not ‘open’ but merely a channel through which the vehicle hurtles.” (John Beck)

Vanishing Point is an inauguration of the New Hollywood road/chase movies of the 1970s and one of the most significant cult road movies of the mythic ‘wandering hero’ archetype and ‘the outsider’ roles of that decade. What makes Vanishing Point stand out from other more mainstream Hollywood rebels and road movies is it’s resistance to embrace the glorification of films boasting the (as writer John Beck puts it) “freedom to drive.”