From the Couch Hole: I’ve Been So Many Places, I’ve Seen Some Things

Previously on FTCH, the blue eyes crying in the rain fed the seeds of doom. The mission impossible was Goldfinger enjoying the worst Hot Pockets ever. This week was a race to finish work to prepare for a three-day weekend that will be doing very little other than reading and watching movies. I’ll catch a glimpse of Caleb at some point as he’s moving apartments and will be here to grab some more stuff. This week the miracles of the dragons domain include an impossible mission and a ghost protocol. The Blade Runner uncovers beer-braised steak and orange-creampop cereal. Remember, FTCH is three toothpastes in one.

Pop Culture Ephemera

• Blade Runner (1982) (Directed by Ridley Scott): “Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.” – Batty. I’m trying to think of a film in my generation that has more variations. I know I’ve seen at least three distinction versions in theaters. The influence on every science-fiction film set in the future (2019) is undeniable. The powerful corporations, the over-populated cities, the ubiquitous advertising, the robots, the overly rich, and the mass of poor citizens all define the science fiction of the future. I recently watched the version with Harrison Ford’s narration. I’ve always considered this a weird aspect to the film. It comes across more like a hard-boiled detective novel, like Sam Spade, but the words highlight the real conflict, that of what it means to be human. The film highlights the stories of the replicants as a way to define humanity. I think the non-narration version helps bring out Decker’s humanity. His voice is without emotion, lending to the “Decker is a replicant” theories. I’ll listen to your “the movie’s slow” and “the plot doesn’t make sense” arguments, but I see something much more interesting happening behind that. It’s a movie-fan’s movie for me.

Buy Blade Runner – The Final Cut Blu-ray

• Space: 1999 – “Dragon’s Domain” (1975) (S.1 E.9) (ITV): “He’s a suppressed hysteric. Where do you think he was trying to get to, out there, in his pajamas?” – Dr. Russell. This is easily the best episode of the series to this point. I reviewed the Doctor Who (BBC) episode from roughly the contemporaneous time period last week. It feels like both of these shows were taking pointers from each other. This is the most Whovian episode of Space: 1999. It’s a space version of Saint George and the Dragon. It takes place in 1996 and in the contemporary time as the story cycles back to the scene of the encounter with the “alien dragon” in the past. The structure of the story is what sets this apart. I’ve found the pacing to be uneven across the previous episodes. The monster is simple but effective, very reminiscent of the same era Doctor Who monsters. The main character of the story, Cellini, suffers from PTSD from his encounter with the dragon, which had to have more significance in 1975 as the Vietnam War was coming to an end. This episode was enough for me to continue a series I was just about to bail on.

Buy The Essential Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship CD

• Jefferson Starship – “Miracles” (1975) (from Red Octopus): “When you’re right where I found you / With my arms around you.” It only takes 25 seconds to know this is something special. Marty Balin is back with the band, Grace Slick and Paul Kantner’s harmonies are top tier, and the balance of keyboards and strings make this one of the most memorable songs of 1975. The cheesiness of the lyrics that are also somehow vulnerable makes this one of the important proto-Yacht Rock songs. It’s got the high-class production values that mark the genre. The sax solo at the end puts it at least in the argument for inclusion. If it was released four years later, I think it would be squarely in the pantheon of Yacht Rock songs. I still include it in my mixes. Addendum: you aren’t experiencing the song if you only hear the radio edit.

• Mission: Impossible III (2006) (Directed by J.J. Abrams): “Mr. Musgrave, please don’t interrupt me when I’m asking rhetorical questions.” – Brassel. The director parade continues with J.J. Abrams’ first feature film. If he puts any stamp on the series, it’s the production style. The six years since the previous entry brought lots of advances in special effects. This film is even more in the “Bond meets Bourne” genre. The plot involves getting something back that neither Tom Cruise nor the viewer has any good understanding. There are latex masks, Tom Cruise descending on a wire to almost hit the ground, and very nimble helicopters as you’ve come to expect from these films. There aren’t many logical aspects to the story, but the three separate action events formula is adhered to again. I am starting to bore with the formula in a way that I don’t with the Bond films. I hope that there’s some improvements in the fourth installment.

Buy Mission: Impossible – 6 Movie Collection Blu-ray

• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) (Directed by Brad Bird): “The Secretary is dead. The President has invoked Ghost Protocol. We’re shut down. No satellite, safe house, support, or extraction.” – Ethan Hunt. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. The IMF group is shut down by the government, there are masks, skyscrapers, three distinct action sequences, and the safety of the world is at stake. Animation director Brad Bird helms this entry, and it’s hard to get much of a feel for his own style compared to the previous directors. The supporting crew has come together nicely, with Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, and Simon Pegg having the best chemistry of any previous incarnation of the team. The action sequences will grab your attention; the camera is even more free than I remember in the earlier films. The transition to being a Bond franchise is only slightly paused, as Bird tries to steer it into a different lane, but ultimately, it still lives in that shadow.

Best of the Rest

• The sample of “Miracles” is so subtle on De La Soul’s song, “I Am I Be,” that I only recognized it a couple of months ago on a new listen. I was always fascinated by the sample of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Listen under Posdnous’ rhymes for the haunting sample. This is one of the most powerful De La songs. It is their rare self-referential song that addresses the falling apart of the Native Tongues.

• Entertainment Weekly (3/28/97): “Best Commercials of All-Time” #20: AT&T “Joey Called” (1981): “Our Joey called 2,000 miles? The kid’s alright?” Part of the “Reach Out and Touch Someone” ad campaign. This was right on the brink of the break-up of the Bell System. AT&T was fighting to convince people to call long distance just for the heck of it and not only for delivering bad news. This was an effective ad but it created the template that last week’s MCI would use as parody. The sign that this was a good ad is that I was singing the jingle before the commercial ended.

• The shame of Marty Balin’s beautiful song “Miracles” is the lack of acknowledgment of the chorus he borrowed/stole from Lambert & Potter’s song “If Only You Believe”. The best version is done by Gayle McCormick (also vocalist in the group Smith) from her 1971 album. This is a wonderful song in it’s own right, just a different take on the same theme.

Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback

• On the Sunday Morning Tuneage from 6/4/2007 to 7/12/2009, I ranked my 100 Favorite Films of All-Time. I did one per week with the arbitrary rule that they had to air on television that upcoming week. It ended up being a pretty representative list in retrospect. A few were ranked out of order, but I stick with that list for that point in my life. The 2009 stats check out.
  
  6 – Alfred Hitchcock films.
  5 – Steven Spielberg films.
  4 – Stanley Kubrick films.
  4 – Billy Wilder films.
  
  I’m going to attempt the impossible over the next 20 weeks. I’m going to use that old list as a template and rank five films a week, without planning it all out ahead of time. Remember, these are “favorite” and not necessarily “best” movies. Enjoy critiquing me along the way.
  
  2025 Running Stats (#11-100)
  • 4 – Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
  • 3 – Directed by Terry Gilliam
  • 3 – Directed by Rob Reiner
  • 3 – Directed by Steven Spielberg
  • 3 – Directed by Quentin Tarantino
  • 3 – Directed by David Yates
  • 2 – Directed by James Cameron
  • 2 – Directed by Charlie Chaplin
  • 2 – Directed by Brian De Palma
  • 2 – Directed by William Friedkin
  • 2 – Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
  • 2 – Directed by John Hughes
  • 2 – Directed by Terry Jones
  • 2 – Directed by Stanley Kubrick
  • 2 – Directed by Sergio Leone
  • 2 – Directed by Kevin Smith
  • 2 – Directed by Billy Wilder
  • 1 – 1900’s
  • 2 – 1920’s
  • 2 – 1930’s
  • 4 – 1940’s
  • 5 – 1950’s
  • 8 – 1960’s
  • 21 – 1970’s
  • 17 – 1980’s
  • 17 – 1990’s
  • 8 – 2000’s
  • 4 – 2010’s
  • 1 – 2020’s
    
• FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL-TIME (2009)
  • 15. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
  • 14. Citizen Kane (1941)
  • 13. Psycho (1960)
  • 12. Goldfinger (1964)
  • 11. Vertigo (1958)
    
• FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL-TIME (2025)
  • 15. Modern Times (1936) (Directed by Charlie Chaplin): This easily sits in the same world as 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451. This critique of the impersonal aspect of the industrialized world is amazingly prescient for today’s world.
  • 14. French Connection (1971) (Directed by William Friedkin): There might not be a film in the Top 50 of this list that has moved up more with each subsequent viewing than this one. The Friedkin and Hackman combination is brilliant.
  • 13. The Searchers (1956) (Directed by John Ford): It took this long for one of my favorite directors to show up on the list. I am utterly fascinated by this film as a western and as a commentary on the post WWII world of the ’50s. This is one of less than a dozen films that I feel I could write a book about.
  • 12. The Birds (1963) (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock): Initially, I wrote this off as just a really good scary Hitchcock film. The more I learned about film theory and the more I watched Hitchcock’s films multiple times, the more I’ve understood this to be one of his best achievements. I don’t go more than a year at a time without watching it.
  • 11. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) (Directed by Frank Capra): It’s mostly nostalgia. I’m not going to deny that as I rank my favorite films. There’s a postwar message that still resonates in today’s world about the importance of the people in your life. I like to watch it out of the holiday cadence just to prove that it’s more than a Christmas film.

Buy It’s a Wonderful Life Blu-ray

1975 in Review

• May – Captain Marvel #38 (Marvel): Art by Al Milgrom. Written by Steve Englehart. “I am . . . unworthy.” – The Watcher. I don’t remember the names of the members, but the name, The Lunatic Legion, is awesome. These cosmic adventures didn’t intrigue me as a seven-year-old at the drugstore looking over the rack, but these covers were always cool.
• May 25 – The Golden State Warriors defeated the Washington Bullets in four straight games to win the NBA Championship. Rick Barry was named the series MVP. The four-game series had an odd format for the Home Court advantage Bullets. Because of scheduling problems in San Francisco, the series went 1-2-1 with the Warriors becoming the first team without Home Court advantage to sweep a Finals.
• May 20 – Game 3 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals is known as the Fog Game. It was the Philadelphia Flyers at the Buffalo Sabres (the first Stanley Cup without a member of the “Original Six”) at Memorial Auditorium. With temps around 90 degrees and no air conditioning, the rink was covered by thick fog. By the third period, officials and fans could not see the puck. The game was stopped 15 times so that rink employees could skate around to disperse the fog. As if that wasn’t enough, Sabres player Jim Lorentz would kill a bat that was flying around the players with his stick. The Sabres would win the game 5-4 in overtime. The Flyers would later win the Stanley Cup in six games, becoming that last team with an all-Canadian born roster to win the Cup.

What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?

“I might have to move Heaven and Earth to prove it to you, baby (baby)
So we’re making love, you feel the power and I feel the power
And there’s really nothing we can’t do
(You know we could, you know we could)
If we wanted to
(You know we could, you know we could)
We could exist on the stars, it was so easy” – Marty Balin