I was thinking about some of my favourite films--not just the films, but specific scenes from those films. There are certain movies where one certain moment in the film moved me in such a way, that I don't have to watch the entire movie--just that particular scene. For as much as I love Mary Poppins--and I do--I'm perfectly content to just watch the tea party on the ceiling.
This week's film is kind of like that. I love the whole movie, but one scene near the end has always stuck with me and I find myself pulling it up on YouTube once in awhile just to watch it out of context (I've included a link to it as well). It's kind of sentimental, because it stars one of my heroes.
I think it's safe to say that Wolfman Jack has been a profound influence on me since I read his memoir Have Mercy! Confessions of the Original Rock 'n' Roll Animal in the summer of 2001. Admittedly, the Wolfman was a little before my time. I do have faint childhood memories of seeing him on "Hollywood Squares" when I was in preschool. And he died in 1995 while on a book tour for that memoir which had just been published. But in reading it, I felt like I had found a kindred musical spirit. He seemed like someone I would have liked to have known--like someone I could have been if I were considerably less restrained than I am, both personally and professionally.
His influence, at least subconsciously, wormed its way into the promotional announcements I would make at Barnes & Noble in Bloomington in the 2000s. In 2008, he even came to me in a dream and told me that he really liked those announcements. I was terribly flattered. I didn't even know he'd been in the store, let alone heard my hijinks over the store's PA system. Of course, after I awoke, I remembered that he had died the year the store opened--two years before I even worked there. And I've still never figured out what we were doing in my high school gym. But it was enough to keep me doing it, both in and out of the store. If you ever had the dubious honour of witnessing me announce a roller derby bout, you would not be wrong in saying that Wolfman Jack had some influence on The Reverend Will the Thrill. I had a lot of fun earlier this year cosplaying as the Wolfman for a trivia competition. (This is something of a long story, but I enclosed a picture. I just wish I could have had his hair.)
I finally saw the movie American Graffiti after my father passed away--I found it among his DVDs. I don't know why I had never seen it before, but I hadn't. It was one I had always wanted to see and not just because Wolfman Jack is in it. I grew up watching many of the actors in the cast and wanted to see the film that was a huge boost to so many careers, including the director.
To call the film nostalgic is a gross understatement. I'm not sure there is even a word in the English language to describe the level of nostalgia that practically drips from this movie. The soundtrack is fully loaded with some of the greatest songs of the first decade of rock 'n' roll, often punctuated by the Wolfman's full-throated introductions. (As a call-back to my earlier tribute rant to Steve Cropper, I will say that the film is set in 1962 and the soundtrack does contain "Green Onions" by Booker T. & The MGs.) It's a wonderful look back at young adulthood, that transition between high school and life, and the car culture of California in the early 1960s.
The film stars future Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (or "Ronny" as he's billed here), Richard Dreyfuss, and Charles Martin Smith as high school friends on their last night together after graduation before heading out into the great big world. Along for the ride (before they were widely known) are Cindy Williams, Paul Le Mat, Candy Clark, Suzanne Somers, Mackenzie Phillips, and Harrison Ford.
Four years before Star Wars changed the way movies were made, George Lucas made a name for himself by co-writing and directing this love letter to his youth. The movie would go on to be nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay (which Lucas shared with Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck), Supporting Actress (Candy Clark), and Film Editing (Verna Fields and Marcia Lucas). Released in 1973, this week, please enjoy American Graffiti--whether it be the whole film or just Wolman Jack's scene with Richard Dreyfuss.
Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that the Wolfman is everywhere!
Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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| Yes, gracious, ladies and gents, everthing's gonna be everything, 'cause the Wolfman is in the house! And we're gonna be rockin' and rollin' and movin' and groovin' to the greatest songs of all time. All. Night. Long. HAVE MERCY!!!! |
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