Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

When Tim Curry died last month, I immediately began proselytizing for Times Square (1980)   because hardly anyone I talked to had seen it. Allan Moyle based it on a diary he found in a used couch he purchased that was written by an emotionally disturbed young woman. Director Moyle, best known for the later music films, Pump Up The Volume (1990) and  Empire Records (1995), it tells the story of runaways from different sides of the tracks who meet in a psych ward and start a punk band called the Sleez Sisters. The film purports to be a sort of punk rock Saturday Night Fever (1977) because of the involvement of producer Robert Stigwood. As producer, he wanted less dialogue and additional musical sections, so he fired Moyle.  Despite this contentious situation, the film is a true gem that should be discussed in any conversation that includes the other commonly cited punk classics: Rock and Roll High School  (1979), Ladies and Gentleman, the Fabulous Stains (1982), ...

Don't ask me how, but I had never seen Bob Rafelson's cult favorite Head (1968), the movie that exploded and disrupted the Monkees' legacy as the prefab four. I love the psych-laden soundtrack, particularly "The Porpoise Song" which presents a typical Monkees melody with psychedelically appropriate lyrics.The song's appearance early in the film offers a good entry point as it reaffirms how Rafelson and co-writer Jack Nicholson analyze and invert the television Monkees and their humorous quests. Indeed, the movie takes typical show plot points and changes them into something even stranger. In the first scenes of the film, the four Monkees, Peter, Mike, Davy and Micky, run through the officials who are dedicating a bridge. Often, the show shows them running around in a more positive manner. As they fall into the water, the song plays while the band sinks into a psychedelic montage of lights. The film ends in the same spot, perhaps signifying the failures of the ...